Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Maestro, If You Please! (Or We're Back from Hiatus)


It's been a long time. Time has been going fast for us these days. Maybe that's why it sometimes feels like we have been sick forever! (Although we are all feeling a bit better. For now.) I am amazed at how time speeds up as we age. My dad always says that and only recently have I felt that to be true for me. I think having a child makes time fly by and also makes me more conscious of how quickly the time goes. I used to wonder how people could be good friends with people that they only see once a year or only correspond with via email and the occasional phone call. Now I realize that I can't remember the last time I saw (or talked to) some of my best friends. I find myself remembering some event that happened and realizing that, although it feels like that event was a few months ago, it really happened a couple of years ago. These things, in turn, have led me to want to be more conscientiousness of my choices, how I spend my time, and my goals and priorities. I never really understood the phrase "live with intention," but (without being too "new age-y") I think that is precisely what I am working on. We'll see how that goes.

Since my last post, there have been a few major holidays. We spent Thanksgiving in town this year with the extended family of some dear friends of ours who always invite us to be part of their family when we are unable to travel to be with our own. We traveled to Madison for several days at Christmas and enjoyed spending time with Grandpa Roy, Auntie Anne, Uncle Grant, and Cousin Andy, as well as some extended family. (I will try and post some pictures from Christmas before, oh, Memorial Day?)

Our big Christmas present here was a "new to us" piano. This is part of my effort to "live with intention." Recently, listening to others talk about running, knitting, scrapbooking, or other various hobbies, I thought, hmm, I don't really have hobbies, other than work, Jack, Nick, taking care of the house, etc. And then I thought, wait, those aren't hobbies. It took me a while to remember that I DO have hobbies, but I have just gotten out of practice with them. One of those hobbies is music and, specifically, playing the piano.

Nick took our conversations about how my love of the piano is so important to me to heart, scoured the ads on Craig's List, and was able to find us a very good piano for a good price. We were able to arrange to move it for slightly less than we payed for it (only a slight exaggeration) and the piano is now in our home. While it still needs to be tuned, Jack and I have enjoyed noodling around on the keys a bit. Over Christmas, I gathered my old sheet music up from my dad's, and I am excited to get back into some of my old favorites, like George Winston's "Thanksgiving," Bach's Inventions, and maybe even "November Rain." (Wow, I had a wide variety of musical taste and little sense of what songs may not translate fully to piano.)


In other Henderlembcke music news, we signed Jack up for a Saturday Music Together class and we have all been enjoying it. Jack loves dancing around to the music CD that we received as part of the class package and sometimes he even does the "right" actions for the song. I love to have an opportunity to sing once a week, even if it is with a bunch of under 5 year olds and their parents. Jack's daycare provider has commented on how much he loves music and how he has the sweetest little "singing voice." While he doesn't sing words, he does love to hum or la-la-la a little tune. The class is another piece of being intentional about spending some time having fun together as a family on the weekend. Maybe we have the next Beethoven or Axel Rose on our hands?

Who says you need lessons to play this thing? Please.

What do you mean, "Careful, if that closes on your hands it could cut off your fingers?" You mean these fingers? Mine?

Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween! Rahr!

I'd be "lion" if I said I didn't like Halloween!

Fired up! Ready to go!

How do you like my new wagon?

Leaves are so much fun!

One last thing...don't forget to vote next Tuesday!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The Birthday Boy

Well - it's official. According to the books, we no longer have a baby, as Jack turned one yesterday as is now considered a toddler. He can't quite toddle (walk) yet, but he's gotten very good at crawling, pulling himself up on furniture, walking along the couch and coffee table, and terrorizing the cat.


We had a small birthday party for Jack on Saturday. We were happy that Grandpa Roy was able to make it up to "represent" our Wisconsin family and we missed our other family members, particularly those overseas, but we know they were all with us in spirit and we were able to celebrate with some of our Wisconsin family in Madison earlier in the month.


I can't believe our little boy is one. The year has gone by so fast and brought so many changes for us. Many days, I can't believe that I am a mother. It has been an amazing, difficult, eye opening, impossible to anticipate and even more impossible to explain experience for me. In the past year I have learned: breastfeeding is not initially instinctive for all babies, diapers can be changed in a back car seat in a McDonald's parking lot, work is not as important as I once thought it to be, some days I want to be a stay-at-home mother, some days I don't want to be a mother at all, my husband is an amazing dad, sometimes no matter what you do, there will be tears, there is never enough time no matter how organized I am, it is possible to survive a 12 hour plane ride with an infant, and I secretly like it when my baby can't sleep in the middle of the night because it is the only time he is snuggly. I continue to learn about my identity as a mother and how that intersects with my identity as a woman, wife, social worker, daughter, sister, friend, and person. I can't imagine what the next year will bring.

I love you, little man. You truly are life's greatest present. Happy birthday and here's to the next year.

P.S. For a look at a cool birthday collage, take a look at this post from my best friend's blog. Thanks, Jen, for the tribute to Jack and the awesome pictures on this page. Motherhood without you would be much more difficult!



Monday, August 4, 2008

Happy Birthday, Uncle Grant...364 Days Early

Jack says, Happy Birthday, Uncle Grant, 364 days early, or 1 day late, depending on your perspective. He wanted me to let you know that he would've posted earlier, but he has been busy this summer with:

avoiding spontaneous geysers

sporting his Harley do-rag

riding his dad

penning his memoirs

entertaining Grandpa

trying to convince his mom not to make him wear stupid hats

relaxing in the bath after a long hard day

and, you know, all of the other baby-like summer things.

Hope you had a good one! We'll whoop it up when we see you this weekend.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Trip to New Zealand - Part I: California

Finally, I am going to start posting about our trip to New Zealand. I will do it in parts, making it more manageable to write (for me), to digest (for you) and to download (for your computer).

After a bout with the croup, a visit to the doctor for hopefully unneeded steroid medication for Jack, and a morning of harried work and packing, we left Minneapolis on May 20th in the afternoon to head for our first stop on our New Zealand adventure, Los Angeles. The check-in was uneventful; I highly recommend traveling on Tuesday afternoons to whip through airport security. We arrived at LAX around 7pm Pacific time with one tired, but well-behaved little baby.

Normally, Nick and I would travel straight on to Auckland, but we had decided that might be a bit much for our first trip with Jack, so I had booked a hotel in Marina del Rey for the night. We made our way through LAX to find a taxi to take us there. The taxi cab area was temporarily relocated due to a filming that was taking place. I assumed that it was a UCLA film student thing, until I walked through a highly choreographed scene with Jack in his stroller and heard the director yell "cut." I turned around and noticed that the director chairs all said "Entourage." Oops.

We arrived at the hotel and Nick's um, advocacy skills, landed us a crib for Jack about an hour earlier than had been promised to me. (I think the clerk had gave me a line in hopes of eating his dinner before bringing the crib to our room.) I got Jack ready for bed while Nick wandered the nearby streets to find us some dinner. Nick and I huddled in front of the bathroom sink eating takeout Mexican as quietly as possible so Jack could fall asleep and voila, leg one of our adventure was complete.

We all slept well and ate a continental breakfast at the hotel. After a nap for all, we took a walk down to the marina. It was a beautiful day, especially coming off of the long winter and chilly spring we had been experiencing in Minneapolis (highs only in the low 60s in May). Jack got to experience his first swing ride at Mother's Park (see below), which ironically was filled with nannies and the children they were minding. Such is the life in Marina del Rey, I guess.


We ate lunch outside on the deck at the Cheesecake Factory. Our waitress was very taken with Jack and told us about her daughter who was named Daesha Jade. She explained how she had wanted her daughter to have a very meaningful name and that Daesha was a Dutch name and Jade was symbolic of something precious. CK replied, yes, our son is named Jack because we got a flat tire on the way to the hospital and needed one.*

I went to the Cheesecake Factory and all they gave me was this lousy piece of bread.
It ain't the Bread Factory, people.

We returned back to the hotel, took an afternoon nap, went to the Indian restaurant across the street for dinner (disappointing compared to Chapati, our New Zealand favorite, but what one isn't when compared to the best?), and we were off to the airport for the second leg of our adventure: LAX to Auckland.

*This didn't really happen. In case you were wondering.


Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Happy Birthday, Grandad!

George and Jack

Today (in America) or yesterday (in New Zealand), Grandad George turned 75. We wish we could be there to celebrate 75 grand years of life with him. Here's sending lots of hugs, kisses, and well wishes across the miles. We love you!

Grandad, Jack, and Nanny at Chapati, the family's fave Indian restaurant

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Give Me A Head Full of Hair...

Those of you who were particularly good at Highlights Hidden Object puzzles as a child may have noticed a couple of changes in Jack in the latest pictures. As of yesterday, he now has 5 teeth: the 2 front bottom ones, the most visible, and the top right front tooth and neighboring eye tooth which he got after screaming most of the plane ride home from New Zealand, the biggest headache...but that's another post. Also, a couple of weeks ago (June 22 to be exact), Jack got his first haircut. The CK has been pushing for Jack to get a haircut for some time. As Jack's lack of haircut edged him to resemble that of a Hasidic Jew (which he is not) or, as the New Zealand customs agent suggested, a girl (definitely not), I finally agreed that it was time. All grandparents had gotten to see his baby hair, so it was time to move onto the big boy hair. The only question that remained was what kind of haircut to get.

I advocated for a mohawk or at least a faux hawk. The CK thought cornrows might be low maintenance. Hank (our cat) expressed preference for a mullet or hockey hair as it is often known in Minnesota. Ultimately, Jack, the voice of reason won out - a simple big boy haircut.

Can you do anything about these cowlicks, lady?

I wish they served popcorn and milk here.

And then I said, hey, baby (and I do mean baby), what's your sign?

What do you think?