WHAT I'M READING V. 15

It's been 3 months since I did one of these! I've been keeping busy with podcasts and reading things here and there, but I apparently I had lost the rhythm of the thing. Here I am getting back into it.

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma 

I LOVED this book. This book is about a promise that a seven year old and her father makes to each other to read together every night for 1,000 nights...which turned into them reading together for 3,128 nights! It recounts the journey of that promise, including the story of her mother leaving, the strain of adolescence, all the way up to when she starts college, when it finally comes to an end. I loved the premise, I loved that her father read the introduction for the audiobook, as well as all of the literary quotes at the beginning of each chapter, and I thoroughly enjoyed her recounting the books that they read together because it reminded me of my childhood. Something about this book was so familiar - the relationship with her father? her passionate love of books? her personality? - that it almost felt like I was reading a journal of mine, which is a surreal and lovely feeling to encounter while reading a book.  If you loved books as a child and still do, I can't recommend this book enough.

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis 

This one I've read before, a long time ago, but a friend who I did a reading panel with last week told me she is rereading this series and it made me want to do it all over again as well. I wanted to read in chronological order this time and so I started with this one, listening to it on audiobook. It took me right back to when I was a kid listening to it all for the first time - feeling the thrill of learning an origin story and of discovering  Aslan. I was captivated every moment, even knowing exactly how it all turns out.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

This is one that sucked me in after the first few sentences, which seems to happen rarely these days. The author describes the setting and actions so well that images of the scene immediately rose to mind and stuck there. I trusted her as an author immediately because of this, and so I found myself happily going along with the plot, which is about an epidemic that wipes out the majority of the world's population and a troop of actors roam around in the altered world performing plays.  I can't wait to find out what happens next.

The House of the Spirits by Isabelle Allende

I am a few chapters in and I am just now starting to get immersed in the story. It took a little while to get used to the magical realism and distant tone (I wonder if this is one of those books that would be better conveyed reading off the page rather than listening to on audiobook?) but once I accepted that the ideology was intentional, and started falling in love with the prose, I found myself nestling in for the ride. It's about three generations of a family, post-colonialism, South American culture and politics, the role of women, and the  interplay between good and evil. In that way, it reads almost like a fairy tale, to which the magic realism fits perfectly.

NYC PART 4: SUBWAY AND UPPER EAST SIDE

Here we come to a close on the NYC series; a short trip but boy am I stretching it out here on ye ol' blog. Recap: I posted photos from my sister's wedding here, and then the rest of the photos to part 1, 2, and 3. This trip will always be near and dear to my heart because 1) it took us out of the norm, 2) all my favorite people in one city! 3) for such a joyous occasion and 4) I don't when the next time a trip like this will happen.

!!!
Let me also interject here to share some things on my mind as we are back to the day-to day, of no particular import or theme, just that they are things I am itching to jot down somewhere:

I am filled with dread about summer ending. There's nothing I can do about that except brace myself. I'm also starting to make a list of things to combat the onset of blues that inevitably come with the decrease of daylight. Is this the year I get some sort of light therapy lamp?? 

I have about 18 things that I need to do in the evenings in the house to get ready for the week and then a solid eight or nine routine things each night for the next day, and as I patter about the kitchen being efficient and intentional and all that, I'm also checking off to-do lists and doing things like thinking about that text I'm going to send, thinking about it so hard that at the end of the thought I'm sure I've already sent it, and come to find out five days later that I never had.

I employ my stern voice with Sloane, reminding her about this and that, and hating myself when I hear the annoyance creep out, already feeling the weight of how much I am going to miss her five minutes after I put her to bed that night.

I think my heart will break into a thousand pieces when I think about how I can't get back these days with this amazing four year old and adorable one year old, ever again.

The other day Logan waddled after Sloane as fast as she could wanting Sloane's juice box, which Sloane would have gladly shared (she had immediately asked me upon receipt of juice box, "Mom can I give some to Logan?") but I said Logan wasn't allowed, and of course Logan was distraught about it all.  After a few minutes of this, Sloane couldn't stand that she couldn't share her juice with Logan so she asked me to put it away for a little while, out of sight, and then asked for something else that she could give to Logan instead to soothe her.

I still listen to podcasts whenever I can and once in a while there is a story that moves me to tears, gives me pause, and I look up from the work on my desk smile into the air at nothing in particular and feel all the feelings.  These can arise from a funny story, two unlikely people connecting, the glory and mystery of science, personal journeys, a well-crafted sentence. How rich I am to exist here on this earth, I think at the top of my lungs. 

The exhaustion of the end of the day cannot be overstated. Neither can the joy of seeing my girls when I pick them up at said end of the day.

On our last day in NYC, we decided to take the subway to church, which ended up being a hilariously bad decision with all sorts of mishaps but we don't regret it one bit: Sloane loved the train, Logan got her morning nap in the stroller.  It was a disastrous and delicious morning.  

After we checked out of our Airbnb we headed over to my sisters apartment on the Upper East side to meet with family and gaze at each other happily.  Their apartment was beautiful! I didn't want the weekend to end! I missed my family terribly even being in the same room with them!

This is me taking respite in Sharon's room to nurse Logan. I nursed Logan all weekend long, all over the city. I had thought that I would have weaned her off by this weekend (I weaned Sloane around this time, at 13 months) but after a couple of sicknesses here and there and the traveling schedule, I was glad for the ability to nurse her.  I am still figuring out how and when is best for both of us to wean, taking it a day at a time.

And then some random photos that I had on my phone from afternoon that I thought I should unleash here: Ken and Paul, my dad, my baby.  We walked over to a nearby sashimi place after leaving the apartment and put sushi in our bellies to fortify us for the drive home. Amazingly, the drive was free and clear (the only time this has happened in recent memory!) and we tumbled back inside our house late in the evening, with armfuls of sleeping babes.

That's that.  I'll leave you all here with a photo that Sloane took of Ken and myself at the Airbnb before we left NYC.  She was really proud of it.

NYC PART 3: STUMPTOWN AND WEST VILLAGE

That's right, more NYC trip photos. Indulge me! this is me reliving the weekend.

On Saturday morning, Logan woke up early, as she is fond of doing (except at 6AM instead of 5! hurray!) and with both Ken and Sloane still in slumber, we ventured out just the two of us in search of coffee and found our way to Stumptown Coffee. I'm a fan of their cold brew and I'm an even bigger fan of being able to walk to a coffee shop.  The streets were quiet and the air foretold of a hot day.  Ken and Sloane, my parents, my sister, and my aunt all met us there a little while later and we did coffee like the Kims do, which is often, and with lots of conversation. 

There were a TON of dogs everywhere we went and Sloane was delighted by them all.

Sloane and her faithful companion. 

We met up with friends from Richmond who now live near the city and had lunch (Joe's pizza and by Chloe) together in a nearby playground.  This is when I was full-blown imagining what it would be like to live in the city with kids.  I'm all about it.

Sloane was all about it too. The playground had a splash pad and she went at it fully clothed...and had no regrets.

I love the West Village and I loved hanging out with friends there. I wish it was longer than an afternoon, but I'll take whatever I can get.  Before heading back to our Airbnb, we made a stop at Ice & Vice for ice cream - their flavors are so unique and they have different flavored and colored cones. I can't stop thinking about their pink guava ice cream. 

SLOANE'S 4TH BIRTHDAY

Howdy all, I'm coming at you from a week where I am being dragged by the feet from day to day because apparently the days keep marching on, even if my body says no-no-no. It's very much -can I please catch my breath, what is this fat cold sore on the side of my tongue, and will I or won't I get myself to the gym - kind of situation over here.

Its only been a few days and I already feel nostalgic about this past weekend of being enveloped in Sloane's joy about her birthday. She turned FOUR last week and we were both so excited about it; it was one of our main topics of discussion in the weeks leading up to the party.  My favorite part of it all was planning together, she being old enough now to have considerations about who she would like to invite and the kind of cake she prefers. 

Is there some sort of jar that will forever hold the image of her face talking about her beloved friends coming to her party, the big grin when she saw the ice cream toppings, or the little happy dance she did about the prospect of receiving birthday cards, and the yelp of excitement that came out when she saw Ken's mom had come up for the party? Those are the little treasures I'm taking away from it all.

So all that to say, I'm interrupting the normal programming (that being the series about our NYC trip - that's right, I'm still not done) to post about Sloane's 4th birthday party!  

Excuse me, humor me, because there are a gazillion photos here!

She loved receiving cards this year. There were some really special ones - ones with stickers, a paper wand, tinkerbell, princesses and little cut outs, a coloring one, hand crafted and hand made ones - she loved them all. 

As soon as the guests started coming in, we handed each a bowl of ice cream and directed them to the table with ice cream toppings so they could go to town. 

First order of business after ice cream: water balloon fight! Kids vs. grown ups. Sloane was tickled pink about this concept.

Then red light, green light, yellow light, purple light! 

And then inevitably, happily, the pool! 

The kind of cake she wanted was a topic of great deliberation. She finally decided upon a cake made out of fruit and I had come up with a basic blue print of how I would make that happen, but then the week of the party, she came up with the even bigger dream of a shark cake made out of fruit! With the help of a few google searches, planning, and some grit, I present to you...sharkie! The fruit cake shark. With candles in its teeth and everything.

Look at that face when everyone was singing happy birthday to her!! I wish I had gotten that on video.

Sloane, you are the most amazing thing I have ever accomplished and my favorite person to get to know right now. I miss you when you go to sleep and I am so excited to see you again in the morning. I am so proud of you and so proud to be your mom!