In memoriam to my Omi

She plugged in the waffle iron at the breakfast table so she didn't have to keep running into the kitchen (why don't I ever remember to do that?). She grew the biggest, most beautifully scented roses I have ever had the pleasure of burying my nose in. She never failed to have a treasure set aside for me and my sisters each time we visited, a "little something" that she had found while volunteering to sort donated goods at Vashon's famous Granny's Attic thrift shop. She always had a book in German that she was reading, and reverted to speaking in the language of her youth as Alzheimer's overtook her. When she continued to recognize me but not Jeff, she was always delighted to discover this tall, handsome, funny man was my husband.

She was my "Omi" (a German term of endearment for "Grandma"), and she passed away Thursday, March 18, at the age of 91.

Her death was not unexpected, and she died peacefully in her sleep, in the house she'd lived in for decades, lovingly caretaken by my grandpa -- who refused to consider any other living arrangement. His devotion is inspiring to me.

Although the last time we spent together was right before New Year's, at our Garrison family reunion in Port Townsend, I'm grateful she got to know Soren (pictured above at his first Christmas, in 2008). He was a lucky boy to be born with three great-grandparents...now, two.

I hadn't really cried until just now. It feels good and right. Her time with us was at an end.

I love you, Karin, my Omi, and we'll miss you.

Soren's first kayak paddle

Saturday, Feb. 20, was the day we decided the weather, Soren's attention span, and our energy levels aligned well enough to try Soren in one of our kayaks. So we loaded our two singles onto our car and drove the half-mile down to the boat launch at the new Northwest Maritime Center. (Note the cool faded-letter signage, echoing the faded painted advertisements that are common on brick buildings in the historic downtown.)
Jeff thought he would try paddling with Soren seated between his legs in the cockpit. They made a good start off the beach, and Soren was of course intrigued by the new experience, but in retrospect, his lifejacket was too tight and uncomfortable.
And he wanted to help paddle -- or at least to have his own paddle!
Jeff didn't take Soren too far offshore (and in fact, I never got into my boat, just took photos from shore). After about 15 minutes, Soren got really wiggly and attempted to stand up, at which point Jeff headed straight for the beach. Session over.
If we could zoom in on this photo, we'd see Grannie and Papaw watching our paddle attempt with binoculars from the passing ferry. They'd stopped by to see us an hour before, on their way home to Anacortes. They said they could see us!

That afternoon, Jeff set his kayak on the ground in our backyard and we dug out the next-largest lifejacket we had, and he and Soren had a practice paddle in a less watery environment. Next time we'll try borrowing a friend's double and the adult sitting with Soren won't have to paddle. But here's to more fun on the water in 2010!

Soren's a year and a half!

Here he comes, crawling through the tunnel of toddlerhood! Isn't he getting so big?
Our little boy is an astounding 18 months old now -- his half birthday was Feb. 27 -- and it's just a delight to witness him developing as an individual and a person who delights in making other people happy.

He is such a ham. For example, we attended an open house at a church in our neighborhood yesterday and I sat him down to eat a snack at a table next to a very elderly man. He wore hearing aids, and it took a few back-and-forths before he understood our names. He seemed fairly reticent. But I jumped up to get some drinks and when I came back, Soren and Carl were grinning and winking and giggling at each other. Soren was full of energy that day and couldn't sit still. Every few minutes he would jump off of his chair, run out the door, run pell-mell down the hallway (making everyone laugh along the way), run back, belly up onto his chair, and grin at Carl all over again. After a half-hour of this good fun, one of Carl's friends came up to us and said we'd made the old man's day.

When we went to say goodbye to Carl, I shook his hand and then Soren very seriously offered his hand to be shook. When he felt the old man's large and wrinkled hand close around his, he paused and got even more serious. Then Soren lifted up his other hand and rested it outside Carl's and they just stood there like that for a moment, his two little hands clasped around the big one. It brought a tear to my eye.

And it reminds me that Soren's physician commented on his excellent eye contact at his 18-mo. well-child exam. Yes, those soulful blue eyes can just bore right into you. He weighs 26.1 pounds now, and both his height and weight are right at the 50th percentile.

Here are a few more pictures from Feb. 27 of Soren's visit with his age-mate Tayla (11 days older). They have very similar physical abilities and really enjoy push-toys -- provided they aren't fighting each other for the same toy!


And here are the two munchkins cozied up reading with Mama Shannon. What great friends!

Work-At-Home-Moms group featured "above the fold"

I'm quoted in a front-page, above-the-fold article in today's Peninsula Daily News about my participation in a Work-At-Home-Moms group that started up in January.

Life coach (and my good friend) Heather Flanagan leads the group, but in the article she kindly gives me credit for the idea of starting it. The way I remember it, over the course of our Friday morning stroller walks around town last summer, we jointly conceived of a forum of other work-at-home moms--we wanted to find them all and drag them out of their home offices!--where we could share challenges and advice and build camaraderie.

I like to say that being a work-at-home mom puts you in a halfway place: you're not a stay-at-home mom because you're always sneaking away to the computer during naptimes instead of taking a nap yourself or tidying up the house, and you just don't get to take your babe to the beach as much as you'd like, or attend every library storytime; and you're not a working mom who lines up day-long childcare and leaves the house to go earn a living. You're a bit of both, and really only other work-at-home moms understand that.

In just a few weeks, the group has helped me get focused on my long-term business goals--something I'd set aside for the first year and a half of having Soren in my life. And Heather has coached me through raising my fees as well, which means I'm working less (and more efficiently) and earning more (and striving to give my clients more value).

Ah, it's an ongoing process of adjustment, but I wouldn't go back to being an employee for anything!

Read the article here.

Closing the door

Well, we can close the door on one project around here: The Nest and attached two-car garage passed its final inspection with the city building department this week. Hooray!

Sort of apropos, here's Soren playing in a kitchen cabinet at the family reunion rental house at Fort Worden in December. (Honestly, none of our kitchen cabinets are that uncluttered!)




Spoken language is arriving in dribs and drabs. Soren's newest phrase is a very cute and clear "Uh-oh!" He continues to sign a whole bunch, with a recent addition being the word "dirty" (waggling fingers under chin). I find this useful for pointing out dirty dishes (NOT to be unloaded from the dishwasher), dirty shoes (NOT to be worn into the house), and dirty trash (no, that cigarette butt on the ground is NOT to be touched).

OK, this anecdote is rambling along, but the other day Soren stepped in duck poop at our neighbor's house and I used the sign "dirty" as well as the same sign for "poop" that we use for his potty training. This made a big impression on him. Now when I sign "dirty," he worriedly signs "poop?" I can't explain how he signs a question, but he does. No, the dirty dishes are not poopy!

To all of you in houses where potty talk is not a daily occurrence, count your blessings.

The Nest takes shape

I haven't posted an update on The Nest/garage construction since Nov. 10 and I'm sorry to report the project is not wrapped up yet. But soon, we hope -- soon!

You can see that The Nest is looking more friendly, with lights, heater and carpet installed, and a few pieces of furniture moved into the space. No bed yet.
The Nest was supposed to be ready to host guests for Christmas, but in early December we hit a roadblock with a mis-ordered toilet part. This sounds silly, but when we ordered a low-flush Caroma toilet like the ones we have in our house, one of the parts that arrived was for a different model and not usable. This was not noticed until the plumber came to install the toilet. A new part was ordered, but by then the holidays were approaching and we were told all shipments would be delayed. Apparently our part was being shipped from Australia by barge.

Christmas came and went with no toilet.

A replacement part arrived the first week of January, and dang it if it was still not the right one! We sent it back and it was not until today that the correct part was delivered. We can't schedule a building inspector to come and sign off on our project until the toilet is installed, so it may be a couple of weeks more.
The paved driveway is working out really well. Jeff is slowly building a retaining wall on the left-hand/uphill side using small interlocking concrete blocks. And he's built a wooden gate (and painted it bright yellow!) that will replace the metal gate at left that got ripped off its hinges by the excavator during the earth-moving phase. Hopefully the new gate will be installed this coming weekend.
Everything else is pretty much done, and we've been slowly working on the furnishings and decor. To date:
--Cabinets installed, sink hooked up and working. Need to purchase under-counter fridge.
--Corner bench seats built in. Cushions yet to be made (need to select fabric).
--Carpet installed -- a nice neutral gray.
--Pedestal table for corner nook purchased from restaurant supply store. Jeff is in the process of stripping the finish off the heavy oak top and installing a swivel so it can be rotated to allow easier passage past it on the cabinet end.
--Curtains and rods purchased but not hemmed or hung.
--Desk moved to Nest, but modem for Internet still needs to be hooked up before I'm going to go to the effort of moving my operations out there.

Jeff is sure glad to have Soren as a helper as he builds the retaining wall!

Holidays with the Garrison clan

Soren met several members of his extended family for the first time over the holidays, at the (in)famous Garrison family reunion, which has been undertaken in the week between Christmas and New Year's for at least 12 years running. In attendance this year were my new-to-Soren cousins Forrest and Gwen (the two oldest above, both college students in Montana and Oregon respectively) and also my cousins Luka and Shanti (lower center and on lap at right). Cousin Melanie (upper center) was introduced to Soren last year. What a wacky, fun bunch!
We rented a big house at Fort Worden State Park, which is a 7 minute drive from our house in PT, so we got to home at night but showed up every day ready for group meals and action. Soren loved hanging out with the big kids, especially Shanti (5) and Luka (8).
They live on Quadra Island in British Columbia, and their mom Robyn (pushing, below) made the two-ferry trip down with them.

The hallowed tradition of "Spoons" was faithfully followed one evening. A simple card game with cutthroat silverware grabbing. Like musical chairs, there's always one spoon too few, so someone is knocked out of the round. I was runner-up to Gwen! Speed Scrabble and Apples to Apples were other favored forms of table-top entertainment.
Another fun activity out-of-doors was exploring the batteries and bunkers of early 19th-century Fort Worden. Everyone had their own flashlight, even Soren, and with my dad and I "supervising," we had some adventures indeed. At one point I wanted to turn around in a tight tunnel, leave the others, and go back the way we'd come, but Dad insisted we stick together. Soren never made a peep on my back, just shone his flashlight all around. Quite the explorer.

One day we hosted a gaggle of relatives taking a break from their nearby family reunion for a day visit to Port Townsend. They hail from California, Kansas, New York and other points of the U.S. Left to right are Karina, Scott, Cayley, Seth, Megan, and my mom, Ann.
We're out walking around Point Wilson and the lighthouse at its tip. This is all part of the state park, and I daresay it's one of the most beautiful places in the world that we are so fortunate to live in. Don't disagree with me!
Aunties Jill (above) and Nora (below) enjoyed beach time with Soren (watched over by Mt. Baker). We had a spell of warmish sunny weather that we soaked up.

And this reunion story would not be complete without Soren's great-grandparents, Karin and Gerry. Although she is frail, they make the trip from Vashon and fund this gathering so that we can all build up stores of happy family memories for the years to come. Thank you!
A span of four generations washing dishes...