Archive for September, 2009

  • 30 Sep

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Kindness and Sadness

    0

    Just a quick post to note the kindness Jude and I have been on the receiving end of lately.

    Yesterday morning, our friend (and upstairs neighbor) invited Jude and I over for a playdate (for the kids) and coffee (for the moms).

    Yesterday afternoon, that same neighbor sent me a message letting me know that she was planning to make a huge pot of split pea soup for dinner and would Jude and I like some? Tuesdays are Josh’s 12+ hour days at the church, so I don’t usually get any kind of break from sun up to sun down. Not having to cook dinner last night made my day so much easier. Plus, it was super yummy, and Jude loved it!

    Earlier in the week I had made plans with a friend (another neighbor) to get together for lunch. When I called her today to confirm and let her know I was going to have to dash to the store for something to eat, she replied that she was, in fact, planning on bringing lunch to us! So, not only did Jude and I get an hour of really nice conversation with a really good friend, but we also got some really awesome home made fajitas!

    And on the sadness end of the spectrum, my best friend in this here Windy City is moving. In like, three weeks. Her oldest daughter is 18 hours older than Jude, and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t already have the wedding invitations picked out. Our entire family, but especially Jude and I, will feel the effects of their moving. I love her daughters like they were my own, and I am sad that I won’t be able to watch them grow up. In the same way, I love her and her husband and will really miss getting share our lives with them. Jude and Elenora play so very well together, and he absolutely LOVES Nori and her husband. It’s rare that a day goes by without Jude asking for “Ella,” and I don’t know what we’ll do when hopping the red line south to see them is no longer an option.

    Three weeks… boo.

  • 28 Sep

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Letter to Jude: Month 28

    0

    Dear Jude,

    For me, the biggest problem I have with being a stay at home mom is that I never really know what day it is. Monday or Tuesday? The fifth or the sixth of the month? Days and weeks fly by in rapid succession, and I never seem to be able to fully ground myself. All that’s to say, this letter is late, and it would be even later if your great-grandpa hadn’t made me privy to what day of the month we were on.

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    So. Here we are. This past month was really exciting for all of us. Your first cousin, Gavin, was born near the middle of August, and early in September we drove to Springfield to meet him and to visit with your Aunt Erin and Uncle Grant. Papa and I thought you would be all over your new cousin, but surprisingly, you paid him little attention (though you did give him two soft kisses before we headed home). While we were visiting, we played at a few neat parks, and your aunt and uncle showered you with attention. The hotel we stayed at had an indoor swimming pool, so you and Papa got in a much-desired, last-of-the-season swim, as well.

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    I’m not sure exactly when you started, but recently I’ve noticed you singing along with all the VeggieTales songs you love so much. It’s really awesome to hear you and really amazing to witness that brain of yours working. Your memory is so good that you often speak lines from your favorite movies before the characters in the films can get the words out of their animated mouths. Also, you dance. Thanks to the Fox series Glee, you dance to that Beyonce song “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” It’s really, really hilarious, and I love watching you when you get in that dancin’ mood.

    We’ve recently started up our weekly trips to the library after having taking a bit of time off. The last time we went, we picked out a few really, really fantastic books: What Happens on Wednesdays, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, Duck for President, Imagine Harry, and So, What’s It Like to Be a Cat? Much of the time, you’d rather page through the books on your own than have me read them to you. Sometimes, however, you cuddle up on the couch with me, pull a blanket up over you, and let me read story after story out loud. You like to name the objects you recognize on each page and get very excited when you notice something new.

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    You’re in this funny kind of stage right now. You’re constantly asking for help at the playground, even to perform the simplest tasks-like climbing the step to the slide or hoisting yourself into the tunnel. You’ve been doing these things on your own for months and months. I think you just like the attention. These days, you walk without holding my hand, except for when we cross the street or alleyways. You like to lag behind and then RUN to catch up with me. Sometimes walking two blocks to the nearest cafe wears me out, but most of the time I just enjoy how in awe you are of everything around you.

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    We’ve got big plans for the upcoming months, Monkey… apples and pumpkins and costumes and puzzles and art projects and music and movies and popcorn. Autumn is my favorite season, and I can’t wait to share another one with you.

    Love,
    Mama

  • 24 Sep

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Who?

    1

    When Jude is sick I make him tea, give him warm baths, make him yummy, healing food, and snuggle with him… Who should I expect to take care of me?

  • 24 Sep

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Attack of the Killer Unibrow

    6

    Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration.

    On Saturday, I went to Jacklin K. Salon in Evanston to get my hair cut. The last haircut I got was in November–nearly a year ago. Sunday had potential to be a big day for me (more on that in another post), so I decided to say goodbye to my many, many dead ends. So long suckers. It was nice knowing you.

    A girl named Crystal cut and styled my hair. She was attentive and seemed to get it when I said that I have NO TIME to do my hair on a day-to-day basis. I wanted her to cut in a few long layers and some long angled bangs, but only if they weren’t going to interfere with my wash/comb/bun-type-thing/volia! routine. She was confident that the bangs would work and, thankfully, she was right. So now, I have some style to my hair… that is, I have style if I can resist clipping back my bangs with bobby pins.

    On my way out, I decided to talk to Sue, their esthetician, to see about perhaps getting my eyebrows waxed. My eyebrows are, uhm, uneven. I had them waxed by a family member way, way, WAY back in the day, and well, lets just say she wasn’t exactly skilled in the process. Since then, I’ve been a super-tweezer. I’ve tried my best to stay within the boundaries of my once-waxed brows but have inevitably tweezed one too many hairs here and a few too many hairs there. Anyway. I told her about what I had going on on Sunday, acknowledged the fact that yes, my eyebrows are uneven and that there wasn’t much that could be done about that at this point, and she suggested that I lie back and let her have a go at rectifying my unibrow problem. Uhm. Okay. I didn’t think I really had a unibrow. I mean, yeah, a little clean up between the girls was welcomed, but, unibrow? I don’t know about that.

    Anyway, she cleaned up my brows and told me to stop tweezing and to come back to see her when my brows have grown in so that she can fix their asymmetry. So, for the past few days, I have, with great restraint, only been tweezing between my two brows. I mean, I can’t stop doing that, right? HELLO! UNIBROW, REMEMBER? I’m embarrassed to go out in public with all these stray hairs growing in, but honestly, what else can I do? I’d like them to be even one day, and for that to happen, I need to start over. I need my full brows back. (Also, I’m bringing sexy back. Just sayin’…)

    If at any time over the next few months you’re in Chicago and you run into a girl with out-of-control eyebrows and a toddler who is denying his relationship to her, say hello! Though I’ll be super embarrassed to be meeting someone new looking the way I do, I’ll also be delighted to make your acquaintance.

  • 22 Sep

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Sniff, Sniff

    2

    Is today the first day of Fall? I swear I heard someone say that as Jude and I made our way down the steps at the L station in Evanston. Anyway, Autumn or not, I think I can officially say that it’s cold season.

    I woke up this morning to a bright-eyed little boy saying “Hi, Mama!,” a wet spot on the bed from a leaky diaper, and dried snot on my son’s face. It was rough, to say the least. Luckily for me (and him), Jude seemed to be feeling pretty well, despite the copious amount of snot flowing forth from his nose. We had a quiet day; we watched movies and drew pictures; ate some yummy food and napped. We briefly left the house for a quick trip to Whole Foods, but other than that outing, we stayed inside and vegged all day.

    Speaking of drawing pictures, Jude is starting to hold his magna doodle pen properly (for lack of a better word). I mean, he seems to have moved beyond wrapping all four fingers around it and now holds it in his finger tips. He has also started to draw more definite objects instead of simply scribbling on the paper/magna doodle/whatever. Right now, everything he draws is a “WHALE!” so, feeling inspired, I took him online today to look at pictures of different kinds of whales. We both had fun, and honestly, I think he would have looked at whale pictures all day if I would have let him.

    Hopefully tomorrow Jude will feel good enough that we’re able to make it to Lincoln Park for Green City Market in the morning. If not, I predict that tomorrow will be jam-packed with many a movie and super-long nap. Can’t say I’ll be disappointed with either outcome.

  • 21 Sep

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Menu for September 20-26, 2009

    1

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    Yesterday was my group’s monthly food swap, which means little to no cooking for me this week! So, with little effort on my part, here’s what our menu looks like this week:

    Breakfast
    Eggs and Bagels
    Oatmeal with Flaxseed, Fruit, and Honey
    Greek Yogurt and Green Smoothies

    Lunch/Dinner
    Baked Ravioli with Spinach and Artichokes
    Black Bean Empanadas
    Multi-Squash Curry
    Homemade Pizza
    Chili
    ALTs

    Want more? Check out the Weekly Menus archive.

    Need more dinner ideas? Check out Jenna’s Chive Talkin’ Blog!

  • 17 Sep

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    It Used to Be a Five-Minute Walk

    3

    A few months ago, walking to one of the nearby L stations would have taken five minutes, top. A trip to the library, maybe fifteen. Now these trips take a lot longer.

    Jude used to ride on my belly or my back in our Ergo Baby Carrier. Now, most of the time, he prefers to walk. This new bit of independence has done more than drive me batty (because, honestly, walking to the L should not take as long as it does some days); it has left me utterly speechless.

    Have you ever seen the world through the eyes of a toddler? I have, and those eyes see everything: There’s a squirrel, and another and another. Now they’re chasing each other. What do you think they’re doing? Looking for something to eat? Look! There’s a bunch of birds. And yes, there’s a leaf and there’s a leaf, and well, Jude-there are lots of leaves on the ground. Ahhh! a stick! Right! We can pretend to play the drums using large twigs as drums sticks. And then there are rocks… there are lots of rocks on the ground. Flowers, they smell good, and green leafy plants? Right, might as well smell them too. And, “Mama! Cars! Cars! Cars!” Oh yes, that’s a man, uh huh, and a baby, and right, a girl. And there are some more rocks. Oh! A dog. TWO dogs! Wow! There’s a door and a window and yes, Jude, the bricks feel rough. Trees! Yes, I see the trees! Uh huh, there’s an airplane in the sky, and yes, Monkey, I see the cars.

    This happens day after day, walk after walk. And, you might not believe me, but I find Jude’s exploration and his commentary exhilarating! Before these shared walks, I hadn’t “stopped to smell the roses.” Ever. I didn’t notice the antics of the neighborhood squirrels or birds, and I paid no attention to the butterflies. Now when we walk, well, I allow a lot more time for each errand–that’s a given, but I also slow down. Jude and I have long, thoughtful conversations. He and I… we enjoy living.

  • 14 Sep

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Menu for September 13-19, 2009

    2

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    I really love living in the city and not having a car. Most of the time. What I *don’t* like is living just far away enough from my ideal grocery store to never get to shop there. Our corner market is great for produce, but doesn’t offer much else. The local chain grocery store is wicked over-priced, and I just can’t bring myself to purchasing an entire order there. So, I’m stuck. I’ve got a really nice menu planned for this week, but it’s going to require some major shopping. Hopefully I can con a friend into driving me to the store. If not, I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and pay probably triple what I would like to. Here’s what’s, if all goes well, cooking this week.

    Breakfast
    Oatmeal with Flaxseed Meal, Fresh Fruit, and Honey
    Green Smoothies

    Lunch/Dinner
    ALTs
    Homemade Pizza
    Rice and Bean Burritos
    Stuffed Baked Tomatoes with Ricotta, Sweet Corn, and Pesto
    Red Lentil and Tomato Soup
    Black Bean Soup and Corn Muffins

    Want more? Check out the Weekly Menus archive.

    Need more dinner ideas? Check out Jenna’s Chive Talkin’ Blog!

  • 10 Sep

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Rainy-Day Fun

    4

    One rainy morning a few weeks ago, I got the brilliant idea to do a major finger-painting project with the boy. (“Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear!”) I called our friend, Tracie, to see if she wanted to bring her son over to join in the fun. She accepted the invitation, and I started making preparations for fun.

    There used to be a children’s resale store down the road from us. It was called The Pig Pen, and Tara, the owner, had half the shop set up as an art studio where you could take your child(ren), pay a small fee, and do arts and crafts for the day. During her going out of business sale, I scored a HUGE role of butcher-type paper and a bunch of finger paints. Until that day, I had only used the butcher paper up on the counter. There, Jude could stand on his Learning Tower and paint or draw to his heart’s content. On this day, however, I decided to roll the butcher paper out onto the floor and let the boys go wild.

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    I ended up with a palette that was approximates 5′ x 5′. I put down two layers of the paper, and taped down the edges to stop it from shifting. The next thing I did was pour six different colors of finger paint into small plastic containers for easy access.

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    Then, shortly before Kainoa and his mom showed up, I stripped the boy down to his diaper because honestly, clothes just get in the way of finger painting, ya know?

    The boys painted for about half an hour. They painted their bodies and ran across the paper. Tracie and I did a fair amount of painting ourselves. I mean, we had that HUGE palette and all that paint ready to go. When you’re surrounded by that much fun, you just can’t help but dive in.

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    When the boys’ attention span was well surpassed, Tracie and I pulled up their masterpiece and moved it into Jude’s room to dry. She took Kainoa upstairs for a bath, and I wrangled Jude into the shower.

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    Now that the weather is turning cooler, I’m gearing up for some indoor fun. I would really like to stock up on all different kinds of art supplies for the winter months, but don’t know where to start. Do you have a favorite arts and crafts store you like to patronize? Any suggestions for online stores where I can get supplies on the cheap?

  • 09 Sep

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    More Fun Than He Could Handle

    0

    Considering the action-packed day Jude and I had yesterday, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that he went down for a nap a mere three hours after waking up, but I am. I mean, yes, the dark circles under his eyes were screaming “I NEED A NAP,” but I really thought that after eleven hours of hardcore sleep last night, he would be able to make it to mid-day before needing to rest. I was wrong.

    Nori, my best friend in this here windy city, got back into town after having been in Michigan for the past five weeks. Nori’s oldest daughter and Jude love playing together, so yesterday, after a nap and some lunch (and a second viewing of Monsters, Inc., Jude and I took the train south to Lincoln Park for a play date.

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    Nori and her family live across the street from a really nice playground. We took the kiddos there and let them run wild. They climbed and ran and played in the sandbox and generally had a really great time. I say “generally” because Jude fell off of a short concrete wall and went headfirst onto the sidewalk behind him, and ended up with a nasty cut/abrasion on his forehead. The fall and the injury only phased him for a few minutes, then he was up and running around again.

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    After the park, we walked to Jimmy John’s and Potbelly’s to pick up some dinner and had a picnic in the Emerald City Gardens at Oz Park. Jonathan, Nori’s husband, showed up shortly after we finished eating and proceeded to take all three children and entertain them. The kids spotted a few butterflies, and Jude took great pleasure in showing them to me.

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    We ended the at the playground in Oz Park. By the time 7:15pm rolled around, everyone, adults included, was beat. Josh, who had recently met up with us, Jude, and I said goodbye to our friends started the trek back to the red line station. Jude was in bed and asleep by 8:30pm. He slept, nearly straight through, until 7:35 this morning. I started writing this post at around 11:30am, and at that point, he had already been asleep for at least 35 minutes.

    I guess yesterday was a little more fun than he could handle.

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