Cranney Calendar

In Stephen's newfound time he's decided that we need an updated calendar and has mapped out the entirety of our lives, including when I'm going to finish my thesis. He's giving me one day for my analysis, hmm I'm not sure how I feel about this calendar. Anyway I thought I'd let you guys all know what we're up to:
We moved out of the commune/Wymount a couple weeks ago and have been having a party at Stephen's parent's house while they've been gone in Russia. Aunt Katja and Uncle Caleb have been making this a luxury stay with all the attention they've been giving our spoiled Kumquat. On Saturday we'll stay the rest of the summer at our favorite Landlord's/parents basement apartment to save on rent before we head sometime in August out to Philadelphia. We're planning on flying so we decided to stop on the way in New Orleans and visit my brother Joseph and his adorable family during hurricane season when the flights are cheap. Where is my thesis defense you ask. We're still planning on me having a very good draft of my thesis by the end of the month to send to my chair, but the actual offical defense may take a while longer since one of my committee members is out of the country/reliable internet connections until the beginning of August. sigh.
Sigh, so we'll probably settle down in Philly around mid-August, Stephen starts at UPenn in September and then little Appleseed is due October 21st.

Not on the official calendar but certainly is going to happen this Summer? A party every day since Stephen is out of school and only working part time, ohhweee!


side note: Kumquat says Mom and Dad in the right context. Wow. Those just happend to have come after he had a name for everything and everyone else, sigh.

Motherly Advice

So I knew today was Mother's Day, but until Stephen nudged me today in church and told me it was Mother's Day and gave me a "oops I forgot" look, I forgot that I fit in that classification. I was thinking as Christian laid his head on my shoulder, the way he usually only does right before we put him to bed and he's trying to stay up longer, I thought how much I simply love being a mama to my little guy. As I thought about why I might like it and why some people go crazy with it, it occurred to me that I should write a parenting book and make loads of money (that when I carry it I'm as big as a camel). I would of course make the book very thick, but the only words would be: Get your sleep. I am sure that so many problems people have with parenthood is simply because they don't get enough sleep. Thankfully with one pretty good sleeper I've been able to do that so far. It helps that now that I'm done nursing Stephen's the one who gets him his bottle (yes he still has a bottle) at night. I just hit wake up Stephen and he so sweetly gets up and gets him what he needs (much better than flowers on mother's day). I also found that while nursing, co-sleeping was the only way I coped. The problem is what we'll do with number two, let's hope the next one is a decent sleeper too, or we're in trouble!

But speaking of mothers, my sis-in-law Robin just became one again:

http://cranneysrus.blogspot.com/2011/05/welcome-gabriel.html.

Let's admit it, the one thing I like more then matchmaking is seeing more kiddos, especially when it means more cousins for little kiddos.

p.s. Don't worry, Stephen treated me like a queen all Mother's Day once he remembered.