Baby carrier of her own

I am the absolute worst when it comes to waiting on presents until Christmas/birthdays, etc. I can hold out ok on my own gifts, but I pester (mostly Will) endlessly for folks to open my gifts to them early. I just love it! So it is no surprise in this house that Edie got one gift early this morning: a baby carrier of her own. Edie rode in one like this for many, many hours of her life, especially when she was a tiny one. She would sleep, gaze at passers-by and even nurse all within the confines of her carrier. These days, though she's still quite happy in it, I don't find as many occasions to use it with her increased walking stamina and our lamentable new dependence on car transportation (baby carriers make a ton of sense when you are on and off of trains and buses all day!). But she still has fond feelings for her "Ergo" - the brand of carrier we use, for which Edie has become an unwitting walking advertisement for since that's the name we taught her for it.

Anyways, I've been tying her baby dolls to her with bandanas for sometime and decided to make her a proper one for Christmas. For a novice sewer, I think it turned out all right! It was really simple and fun to make. And it is dang cute on her, if I do say so.

Shelby Bottoms

In Munich, we lived near the English Gartens. This gave us daily access to one of the largest, loveliest parks in Europe, full of trails, rivers, wild life, and, of course, beer gardens. I sure miss it there, but I am finding more and more about the treasures we have in our neighborhood in East Nashville and I must say, we've lucked out again. The Shelby Bottoms Greenway - between 1/2 and 1 mile from us, depending on what entrace we use - gives us access to beautiful scenery and trails, as well as a Nature Center with activities for kids. Edie is too little for the events I've seen there so far, but she's not too little for the Center's adjacent Natural Playground! Today was our first trip there and it was great. A playground made entirely of sand, dirt, sticks and stones, complete with a fir tree fort. After playing, we took a walk around the trails and gave the dogs their turn to have fun. And with temperatures approaching 50 degrees, we were comfortable even on a cloudy day - we sure are loving these mild Tennessee winters!

Happiness is a Warm Cinnamon Roll

Christmas came a little early.... which is a very nice way of saying that I opened one of Edie's presents the other day. It was a Learning Tower from her Grissom Grandparents and I was so excited to start using it! It's basically kid scaffolding, giving them a safe way to be at your level while you cook, clean, or do other standing tasks, and kids can participate or at least check in with you. Edie LOVES it! She is a great self-entertainer, but like most toddlers, those moments she wants your (read: Mom's) attention, she becomes quite agitated when she can't get it. This gives her the ability to climb up, say hello, count some lemons and watch me chop potatoes, and then down she goes to her next task.

Her first big Learning Tower activity was frosting cinnamon rolls with her Dad. She started out frosting, anyways. About 10 seconds in she wordlessly picked up a roll and began devouring. I have never seen a more self-satisfied Edie.

Thank you so much, Grandma and Grandpa!!

Play doh time

I finally got Edie a pack of Play Doh. I loved the stuff as a kid but I wanted to make sure we were past the everything-in-mouth stage before I tried a soft, salty, squishy toy. Well, I can't say the stuff hasn't been licked just a tiny bit, but mostly she just loves playing with it. Even by herself, she hums and laughs and goes to town for ages with the stuff. Now mommy-santa is wishing she'd bought her a dough utensil set for the holidays.... I think we'll get by with plastic cutlery and fingers for now, though.

First US Thanksgiving

Will and I decided not long after our move that we were not going to travel for the holidays. As much as we'd love to have our family and friends around, we just needed a few months off from cars, planes and not our beds. We are so very lucky to have a family that not only forgives us this, but actually hit the road to come and see us in Tennessee! My brother Jens, and his fiancee Donna, and their three girls all made the long journey. It was a full house and we loved it! Edie was dealing with a nasty cough, which meant we were all dealing with a lack of sleep. But the family stepped in, kept that baby happy all day long and even helped (a lot) with the cooking.

Here are some pics from our Thanksgiving feast. (p.s. Why didn't I use place mats? I'm no Martha Stewart, but come on....) (p.p.s. Will's bandana-hand pic is to memorialize the frying of his hand after he had that millisecond brain lapse we've all fallen victim to: putting your un-mitted second hand on the dish you are removing from the oven. Ouch)

Amma and Afi

My parents came to see us for their first joint trip to Nashville a few weeks ago. We enjoyed beautiful weather and a little too much good food. Will took everyone on a tour of Vanderbilt's campus and Amma & Afi got to experience the wonder of the Nashville Main Library's storytime theater. Edie has been talking about them for weeks since. In fact, as I type, she found a photo of the two of them and is saying "Amma, Afi, WOW!!" It sure is nice to have family (relatively) nearby again.

Great Grandmas

Our stint in Germany made it impossible for Edie's great grandmothers to meet her until we finally moved back to the US. Two of them came down just before Thanksgiving. Edie was under the weather, but as cheerful as she could manage and of course still awfully cute. The toughest task was getting her to stay still for some group photos. The instant I pull out a camera these days, I hear "NOOOO!!" followed by much stomping and unphotogenic movement. For the record, I don't even think I'm too bad a momarazzi and when I do snap, it's usually candid, so not too sure where this "cheese"-aversion is coming from. Harumph. Here are some of the best we got.

Aunt Jen!

My dear friend Jen has visited me no matter what my cock-eyed life plan throws at her. From California, to Munich, and now to Nashville. This time round had a little more draw than just me and my charming family, however, in the form of a yoga workshop. There was much yoga in 3 days time and it was fantastic! (Google "Kino MacGregor" if you're interested in this wonderyogini.) In between sessions, we ate, slept, read to toddlers and cuddled the dood dogs.

James, Jenny and Lillian

This visit was written in the stars! Will's friend from way back, James, had a conference here in Nashville at the end of October, so his family joined him and they all stayed the weekend so we could catch up and finally meet each others kiddos. We had so much fun that the little ones slept in till 8 am and we wild adult types got nuts and almost made it to midnight. From dog parks, pizza and puppet shows to tu-tus and grown up drinks, it sure made us wish Iowa was a lot closer.

Haley and Julian

I've been a terrible delinquent with updates! Part of this has been on account of our incredible fortune to be visited by so many family and friends. So, long over due, but here we go....

Haley and Julian - my BFF from law school days gone by and her progeny - came to see us in August. They were here when we closed on our house, so they were able to enjoy the luxurious rental accommodations as well as the delightful Tennessee summertime (cue trombone: *waaah waaah*). This is to say, they were great sports about staying in a house whose design aesthetic is "trashy treasures" (art is so subjective) as well as the 100+ deg heat with beaucoup humidity. Edie and Julian got along great, thanks in large part to Julian's very sweet and tolerant nature. It took days of asking before Edie finally accepted that her "Juni" had gone back home.

First Halloween

I savored my final Halloween to sit back and enjoy trick or treaters, deciding that at this juncture, costuming a toddler who currently reacts to being dressed with violent writhing and shrieking and who can only walk in a straight line for 5 steps at a time just wasn't on my Must Do list. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the Halloween spirit and waited for our costumed neighbors to pop by.

Uncle Matt and Aunt Lindsey

We had a short visit from Matt and Lindsey on their way to the Smokey Mountains. Edie couldn't get enough of her Chicagoan family! It's been weeks and she still asks about the two of them. We took a group trip to the Nashville Zoo and spent a lot of time reading books that a certain toddler tossed at us.

Who's coming next?!

E's reading voice

Edie's fake reading voice and fake talking on the phone voice shine a strange light on what I must sound like to her. Nonetheless, it's awfully cute. Today, I wrote her some notes for her to interpret. Amazing how she can even read them from the back of the page!

Walking Good Girl

Edie and I have a several-times-a-week tradition now of taking a walk to our nearby dog park. She loves meeting all of the dogs and is quite good with them. She's much better with other folks' dogs than she tends to be with our own. I have successfully taught her to show a dog her upturned hand before petting them, but have not successfully convinced her that if they don't want to smell her, chasing them yelling "hand?! hand!!" probably won't help. One of E's primary functions is her self-appointed Hydration Police position. There are especially stringent laws placed on Billy in her jurisdiction, and so he is subject to many loud demands that he return to the water fountain for a sip. In order to get Edie out of the dog park happily, I promise to take her on the swings at the adjacent playground. Though she acquiesces, the new contingency is that I let her walk Sugar from the outside of the dog park to the playground. Edie calls Sugar "Good Girl" - I think it sounds a lot like her actual name and it is something we say to Sugar a lot when she is being tolerant of Edie. So Edie says "Walk Good Girl? Walk Good Girl? Walk Good Girl?" (x 300) the instant we leave the dog park. Here are some pictures of their latest stroll together.

Down but not out

Well, E and I were abandoned once again by Daddy "I Don't Travel That Much" Grissom. He jetted off to Sonoma, California for a wedding in wine country. While I stayed in Whine Country. Hey-O! No, actually Edie and I had a nice time. We looked at pumpkins, ate out one night, and experimented with some no-mess art projects.

Backyard Heaven

Our backyard is filled with crab grass and mosquitoes, but in spite of those temporary woes, it is still the most favored room of the house. The kitchen/living room open right on to it, so Edie grabs her shoes, taps the glass doors and chants "outside? outside? outside?!" many, many times each day. We've got a million plans for how we will make the yard our own, but for now, we've got our swing and a few toys, not to mention infinite sticks with which one might chase a Schnoodle. Plus, Will used one of our one million moving boxes to make a pretty sweet fort.

We are back

Lots to catch up on! We closed on our new house on September 2nd, our belongings finally cleared Customs a week later, and we are about to celebrate our 2 week anniversary in our new abode. We love, love, love our house and are getting to know our neighborhood and are enjoying that immensely. There are still a few boxes and a lot of organizing to be done, but we've settled in enough to be cozy. Here are some highlights from the move.


Edie was thrilled to get her toys back!


Stuffing her face with beet hummus and tofu with mom on a much-needed girl's afternoon out.
We only had a folding chair and a side table until our boxes showed up, but Edie didn't seem to mind!

Dad and E on closing day!