Many thanks

Many thanks for the birthday wishes (by phone, facebook, email, card).  I now have one more year separating me from my students.

Sydney began the morning by telling me we’d be taking the day off.  We had a nice, leisurely morning at home (with much hugging and squeezing of Katherine and the cat, who both loved the attention).  I now see why the parents get the big bed: it ends up housing the whole family!

Sydney then led us on a walk in the woods near where we live; I’d never been on the trail before, and found myself smitten.  I loved the beech trees that seemed to be everywhere, and Sydney looked hard at a lot of the wild mushrooms that showed up in various textures and colors–he’s been on a portabella kick recently. I have been begging for family walks and hikes, so this was a real treat for me.  And Sydney carried Katherine in the backpack, so I got a free and easy walk.

On the way home we stopped by the orchard store to pick up another big load of peaches and plums, and we stopped by the garden, where Sydney collected two gigantic bouquets of gladioli and zinnias for me to take home.

We then had a bit of time at home to give Katherine a bath and dress her up before we headed to the philosophy start-of-the-year party.  As you can imagine, Katherine was a hit.  Her funny facial expressions and her good grip even got a few laughs out of the young, single guys.

And then we headed to the grocery store and loaded up on as much good food as we could find to help us get through the next few weeks of craziness.

The best birthday present?  Christi came in pretty close by giving me a beautiful, whimsical teapot that was made by a friend of hers and that I’ve admired numerous times.  But Katherine wins out: rather than leaving me sprawled out on the couch with morning sickness as I was for my birthday last year, she was for me yesterday the picture of health and happiness.  After our first week of splitting parenting duties in order to get some work done, I was very, very glad to have a day with both members of my little family and be able to just sit back and enjoy their company.

Erin