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From near and far: Summer family visitors

August 21, 2014catherinemryan

Summer in Oregon is pretty much the best time/place combo I can think of. With the state’s beautiful weather, easy access to swimming holes and unbeatable hot-weather harvests, it’s no wonder we get a ton of visitors this time of year.

It’s just mid-August and a slew of family members from afar have made the summer even more wonderfully full.

Eric’s parents drove their mini-RV out from Michigan. They hadn’t seen Peeper since January, so she was quite a bit different! They witnessed her first solid food then; this go around, they joined us for her first camping trip. We also visited the zoo, though Peeper was more interested in playing with leaves and bark chips than watching the animals. And we captured a rare moment: Peeper with all four of her grandparents.

My brother, aka Uncle Fuzzy, jetted out to surprise a friend for a camping bachelor party. Thankfully he had a few days to hang with Peeper, too. We went berry picking and played at the park, but the highlights were tickle fights and roughhousing at home. Even better: Uncle Fuzzy will be out later this summer, too!

My sister from another mister Monica and her son T joined us for Peeper’s birthday celebration in Welches. We discovered an island along the Old Salmon River Trail and plotted a camping trip at the secret spot. T pretended to fish in the creek, and Peeper pointed at the water a whole lot.

My younger sister and her husband moved from Berkeley to Seattle this summer. Now that they live much closer, that means more games of chase and high fives lessons for Peeper.

We also visited Mr. T for his big 4th birthday party. He loved his superhero costume (which I ordered from the Etsy shop Fun Kidz Stuff) and his alien-themed party in the park. I enjoy eating blue-frosted cupcakes and wearing bobble alien headbands as much as the next guy. But most of all I loved being with those I care about.

Have you had family visitors this summer? What parts of your town or state do you show off?

11 months

June 24, 2014catherinemryan

“Peeper, can you say ‘dada’?” We were driving to Woods Memorial Park for a family walk recently, and I could hear our little one playing in the back seat.

“Dadadadadadada,” she replied, pulling off one sock.

“Good job! Peeper, can you say ‘mama’?”

She paused.

“DADADADADADA!”

Despite her continuing refusal to say mama, in the last month she has come so far in learning to express herself.

Jamberry Baby

June 19, 2014catherinemryan

“Mountains and fountains

Rain down on me

Buried in berries

What a jam jamboree!”

—Jamberry by Bruce Degen

The Portland area is going nuts over Hood strawberries—folks getting to farmer’s markets early and buying as many as they’re able (as some growers limit the number of baskets you can buy), making jam to make the taste last all year, eating the red gems at every meal—and I can’t blame them, especially after our family strawberry-picking outing.

We went to Baggenstos Farm on a gorgeous day. After greeting the goats and playing on the tractor, we took our boxes to the strawberry fields. We planted ourselves among the rows of berries and set to picking.

Soon, though, Eric and I realized that we wouldn’t be the efficient pickers we imagined, and I bid adieu to my plans for strawberry tarts, jam and fruit salad. We didn’t have time to search out the perfectly ripe berries because we were too busy watching our little bug who had gone crazy for strawberries!

A Father’s Day reflection from Peeper’s papa

June 17, 2014catherinemryan

Hi all, this is Eric Franklin Gregory, husband to Catherine and papa to Peeper. This weekend was my first Father’s Day and this is my first blog post. Here goes…

One of my favorite moments of the day is bringing Peeper into our bedroom where Catherine is catching a few extra sleeps. Catherine rolls over and smiles and says hello and good morning, and Peeper smiles, breathes out through her nose over and over and lunges out of my arms toward her mom. It’s the same display of joy every time she sees her mom.

The other day I was watching Catherine and Peeper interact so naturally in a supportive, mutually enriching, wordless relationship. A typical day for my wife (her mother helps out a ton, but when she is not around, this is what Catherine does): Feeds, clothes, changes diapers, cleans up after, watches Peeper take the DVDs out of the box for countless hours, makes sure she doesn’t eat something bad, does laundry, dishes, feeds and walks the dog, might go shopping, rocks and nurses Peeper to sleep for two naps and night bedtime every day.

I work most days and have grad school two to three times a week so cannot be home as much as I would like. Catherine runs the home show and finds a way to always greet me with a smile when I come home. She reads Peeper books all day, sings songs when she is upset or getting sleepy, gives her alternatives to biting that are more suggestion that command. She is a wonderful model of kindness, compassion, patience, and cleverness. She is clever with a tune, clever with the lunch and dinner menus. She meets cries with a song or gentle breath of air onto Peeper’s face. Read more →

The most Oregon-y Father’s Day

June 16, 2014catherinemryan

We celebrated Father’s Day in full Oregon style.

We began with a hike to Old Salmon River Trail outside Welches. The path was an easy grade along the river, which Peeper loved. She was fascinated and couldn’t tear her eyes away. Her finger got quite a workout as she pointed at it for, oh, the entire hike.

We walked through the old growth forest and marveled at the enormous trees. As the rain came down harder, though, we zipped through uncovered stretches (“quick feet, quick feet!” Eric would say, echoing what he tells his students when they have to hurry through the halls).

The trees didn’t offer quite as much cover as we’d anticipated, and the 10-30% chance of rain turned into more of a 100% situation, so we had to turn back earlier than we’d anticipated.

Drawing blood and drawing strength

April 29, 2014catherinemryan

I always look forward to Peeper’s pediatrician check-ups, especially when—like at her 9-month appointment—they don’t involve shots. So a few weeks ago when we headed to the doctor, I was excited.

The check-up went great: Peeper even waved to her doctor. As we were about to leave, the pediatrician looked at one of the routine forms we’d filled out. She paused.

“You have antique furniture?”

Antique might be overstating it, but we do have a few old-ish pieces among the IKEA tables, bookshelves and such.

After asking us a few more questions, the doctor recommended we test Peeper’s blood for lead.

Yes we can

April 28, 2014catherinemryan

Clink, clink, clink. Beer bottle, Pepsi can, Budweiser. Men and women dropped them into the heavy duty garbage bag I held out in front of me. Clink, clink. To my young ears, the noise of aluminum and glass falling into the Hefty sack was the music of money.

Growing up, my dad and I collected cans and bottles then returned them for the 5-cent deposit. I stood outside the gates at University of Oregon Duck football games as fans filed in; I scoured bleachers for left behind “empties”; I hopped out of my dad’s Dodge Caravan at stop signs to snag “nickels” discarded by the side of the road.

Collecting bottles and cans was like a treasure hunt. I trained my elementary school-aged eyes to scan tall grass for the glint of aluminum as we drove along. We celebrated when we found a stash of malt liquor cans on a walk along the river. We never knew when opportunity would present itself, so we went about our errands together as if a cache of cans—just waiting to be transformed into cash—might be waiting for us anywhere if only we were ready.

It was a grand adventure.

Photos capture slipping time

April 16, 2014catherinemryan

Peeper was five or six weeks old when I realized that I hadn’t taken a one-month picture of her.

You see them all over Facebook and Pinterest: monthly shots of a baby, often with a button or brightly decorated chalk board marking her age. Look at a year’s worth and you can see a child grow from a slumpy infant to a one-year-old who will hardly sit still long enough for a parent to snap a photo.

I felt guilty that I’d let her month-birthday pass without commemorating it. And since I missed the first one, I figured I couldn’t catch up later. What’s the use of having a “I’m two months old!” photo when you don’t have the one-month-old one?

At the time, I was struggling to do anything besides nurse. Breastfeeding was still an awful, painful, teary, bloody struggle. Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t add one more expectation, even if it seems like taking a photo is pretty minor. Because when something as fundamental as feeding your child is really, really hard, staging a photograph, printing out a sign with a big “1 month” on it and taking a picture with an actual camera is also really hard.

So we don’t have a series of photos that shows how Peeper has grown each month. But we have other ways to mark her changes.

Six months

January 7, 2014catherinemryan

This morning as I was feeding Edith in bed, I switched her to the other side. Evidently I didn’t get boob number two to her quickly enough because she rolled over, got up on all fours and lunged at me.

Welcome to having a six-month-old!

The taste of Christmas

January 6, 2014January 27, 2017catherinemryan

You know when a recipe includes the instruction “stir like the devil” that it’s going to be good.

My grandma (on my mom’s side, Edith’s daughter) baked and sent my family two tea rings every Christmas since I had memories of carols and presents under a tree. We all knew what treat was inside the box addressed with carefully printed letters that arrived on our doorstep every December.

We never dug into the homemade pastry until Christmas morning. We each ate a slice—or several—as we unpacked stockings. I carefully licked my fingers before pulling out a toothbrush, lotto cards and an orange so I wouldn’t smudge my stocking with sticky cinnamon filling.

For me, the soft bread made gooey by butter and baked brown sugar is the taste of the holidays. So when I learned that Grandma wasn’t planning on baking tea ring this year, I knew I had to step up. (Recipe below.)

One of the best things about baking tea ring is your house smells like cinnamon rolls for days.