Park. Coffee. Fall. A homemade globe at a yard sale. That is our pumpkin.

Andy and I recently got tattoos in honor of our daughter. We both wanted the tattoo to represent the adoption process and the uniqueness and beautify of our daughters country. When we were in Ethiopia in May and touring around we were looking for ideas.  Andy opted to get the stamp that was on all of Davy’s documents. It is the official stamp from her region. He wanted it too look all smudged and – well stamp like. He got it on the inside of his arm right where Davy lays her head when he rocks her to sleep.

I wanted to get tattoo of an Tukul. When we met her birthparent we confirmed that she was born in a home that looked very similar to the tattoo on my leg. Her birthparent also gave us some grass as a promise that we would care for Davy. The grass is incorporated into the bottom of the tattoo. I have been stalking tattoos for a while. In Portland it’s easy. I wanted the tattoo to be very stylized and feminine and represent the tukul is a sacred place.  I found Shauna at Robot Tattoo. I love her drawing style and the quality of her line work. It was really fun collaboration working with her on the tattoo. She really “got” what I was looking for. Too bad the tattoo hurt like hell…..

Can Davy get tattoos? Heck yeah- when she is old enough. By old enough I mean 38 and 40, not 18. When I was 19 I got a tattoo of the woman from the woman’s bathroom sign. It’s cute and funny, but well as deep as a 19 year old can get. The tattoos I have gotten later in life have been deeply personal. They are decisions that I know in 20 years I won’t regret. As long as Davy doesn’t get a dolphin jumping through a ring of fire- I am cool with it. Well when she is 40 I will be 80 and my eyesight will be so shot I won’t notice that giant blurry dolphin on my daughters forehead.

On the way to get some coffee. I love fall, I love playing with my camera and I love the Turbo Collage Ap. I also loved that my daughter was wearing a handmade sweater, her hat was knit by a friend and a blanket given to us by another dear friend. Her boots were accidentally stolen from a yard sale- but they were jerks so it was okay.

A yard sale find, patriotic gnome, my daughter’s perfect hair and good coffee

The day after we celebrated our 11th year of marriage I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I had over-caffeinated myself trying to match Davy’s energy. All it does is keep me exhausted and unable to sleep for hours. Davy turns one next month and is slowly easing into toddlerdom. If we give her food she doesn’t like she takes it out of her mouth and throws it on the floor to give to the dogs (even if the dogs are outside). She has also been swiping my glasses every chance she gets. To make a long story short- I took my frustrations out on my husband of 11 years.

Not a great way to start year 11, but after 11 years of marriage he wasn’t so surprised by my reaction. And he is the forgiving sort. I took a nap when Davy took a nap.We went for a long walk that ended in the park. It was a beautiful fall day and Portland was in full quirky bloom. The day ended with cheesy grits and a piece of chocolate cheese cake.

Favorite part of being a mom- getting to be a kid again

a patriotic gnome, yard sale find, feather neighbors, my daughter perfect ringlets, good (as in good coffee
The day after we celebrated our 11th year of marriage I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I had over caffeinated myself trying to match Davy’s energy. All it does is keep me exhausted and unable to sleep for hours. Davy turns one next month and is slowly easing into toddlerdom. If we give her food she doesn’t like she takes it out of her mouth and throws it on the floor to give to the dogs (even if the dogs are outside). She has also been swiping my glasses every chance she gets. To make a long story short- I took my frustrations out on my husband of 11 years.

Not a great way to start year 11, but after 11 years of marriage he wasn’t so surprised by my reaction. And he is the forgiving sort. I took a nap when Davy took a nap. Then we went for the kind of walk that heels the soul. It was a beautiful fall day and Portland was in full quirky bloom. The day ended with cheesy grits and a piece of chocolate cheese cake.

I love that Davy loves slides as much as I do, and now I have the excuse to slide down them a million times.

We went to the pumpkin patch today. It was Davy’s first trip to the Pumpkin Patch, then we went to the beach at Sauvie Island. Fun was had by all.

Yes my mother dressed me appropriately in orange

Only in Portland

uh, no comment

The world’s happiest baby

The world’s happiest momma

What do you mean I can’t go swimming!?!

that won’t end well

My grandma Leah used to say that you can count all of your real lifelong friends on one hand. I think there is truth to that. I think friendship is fluid, you will never know who you will be friends with in 20 or 30 years. I like to say “you never know who shakes out in the end.” As someone who has moved a lot in my adult live, I have embraced the fluidity of my friendships. Some stick, some don’t but there are always lessons to be learned by every person who passes through your life.

My friend Erica is one of those life long friends. We met in collage. We had a mutual teacher in common. We were on the elevator together our teacher asked if we knew each other. We said we didn’t. She suggested we get together and barrow each others clothes. At that point in our lives we were creepy doppelgangers–short, chubby, Jewish girls with bobs and big glasses. Lots have changed, we don’t really look alike anymore but our friendship has blossomed into one of the richest ones i have.

I love LOVE her buzzgack Adam. Don’t know what a buzzgack is? What you don’t speak the language of 20 years of friendships and “in” jokes. Adam is Erica’s non- legal spouse, life partner, best friend, boyfriend, common-law husband. There is no word in the English language that describes what they are together, so they made one up. Buzzgack. Go ahead and use it. They won’t mind.

Erica has been there for all of the pivotal moments in my life, she is funny, dry and sarcastic. She will always keep me in check and will remind me when its time to wax my chin. Both her and Adam been a huge support during this adoption. I was so thrilled that she finally got to meet Davy. I think Davy really liked her Auntie Ec. and Uncle Ama.

I made this skirt for Davy but it came out uh, a little um, big. It’s gigantic on my friend 6-year old daughter, but she wore it when she came over anyway, because she is a good sport and green is her favorite color and her mom probably made her wear it.. Her little bro, hung out for the photo. I love StarWars. And all of the Rooneys.

It also occured to me that I hadn’t made Davy a hat! What the hell kind of mother am I? I made this one for her rather quickly. I made up the pattern, although I was inspired by the one that I saw at the yarn store. The yarn is Spud and Cloe Outer. Soft and bulky and totally adorable on Miz Davikins.

Look at that graphic? Africa is so huge. I am a total map geek. I just spent the most of Davy’s nap looking at the World Mapper site. Having that graphic representation really puts this big ol’ world of ours in perspective.

We have been a family of three for three months, a quarter of a year or one full season, summer to fall. One one hand it feels like forever, on the other it feels like everything is new. My mom recently asked me if parenthood was harder then I thought. I said yes, and I am by nature, a pessimist. Parenthood is physically exhausting. I am 40 years old and my rotator cuff hurts. I would love to have done this at 35 but for the life of me, I couldn’t even think of 5 years of my life that I could have shaved off. They are all so precious to me. I like being an older mom, I like that we have lived our lives and had many adventures that brought us to our little Davy.

Davy is learning to walk on her own. She does this thing that is an utter miracle to me. She stands on her own, she will push off from my lap and stand for a few seconds. Sometimes she claps her hands for a few beats. She always falls onto me and I alway catch her mid fall and we laugh together. I gotcha. I will always catch you sweet baby girl. Happy Familiversary to us all.

Yeah, Yeah, I made that sweater too