James, 10 Months

James is 10 months old today and he is 100% energy. He is into absolutely everything. He does not stop. He is babbling up a storm, carrying on conversations with himself, everyone around him, and nobody in particular. He is opening cabinets and slamming his fingers in doors. He is getting stuck on thresholds and cleaning the floors with his wriggling belly. He is smiling and laughing and screaming and crying and SHOUTING. He races around in his walker all over the house, chasing us. Nobody is safe, especially not Loki. We cower in corners and jump on furniture to protect our feet and he thinks it is the funniest game he has ever played. He is filled with love and joy and everything that is wonderful and, even though he wears us out every day, he is the perfect reminder to enjoy every single minute because soon he will be walking and then saying words and after that speaking in sentences and learning to tell time and tie his own shoes and I will be scratching my head trying to figure out where the time went.

The challenge of taking the monthly picture has reached new heights. I could only do it by strapping him in the highchair. So, here he is after a LONG day of wearing Christian out (the threat of Hurricane Ida shut the schools in NOLA down for the day so they were all stuck at home while I was working). There is nothing glamorous about the pictures. This is very much the way Jamesy looks at the end of the day:




Cute as ever...

Satsumas!

We spent most of Saturday in Thibodaux picking satsumas and grapefruit and checking on the progress of the sugar cane harvest. It was one of those perfect days - the weather was just right, the sunlight nice and warm, the birds were busy and singing, the sounds of the cane trucks - totally peaceful.

The satsumas are delicious this year and bountiful...more than making up for the poor performance last year.

My first one of the season, nature's candy:


James' first one of the season and of his life:


and on the porch and with me:



La Luz, enjoying the porch, getting ready for sunset:


and with Xian:


Loki, burning off some serious steam with Star:


He slept the entire time we were driving home.
My favorite shot of the weekend, courtesy of Christian's eye:

Sooooo

I have been feeling stressed out and anxious about work. Things have been a bit hectic both at the office and at home and I am just feeling sort of like my focus is off a bit and it is causing my mind to race and my heart to beat a little too fast (not in a good way). I wish that I could calm the nerves, alleviate the anxiety a bit and take a deep breath. I wish I could feel that if I try my best it is good enough. So, right now in particular, I am thankful for the beautiful distractions, the love and support of family and friends (GG's paella tonight was such an unexpected and incredibly welcome surprise - not to mention - it was delicious) and the preoccupation with wondering just how long we can wait to child-proof things around the house. James has become fixated with opening and closing things. I never understood all of the locks and switches and bars on top of doors and handles and toilet seats...until now. Forget about the millions of safe and entertaining toys around the house, all this guy wants to do is open La Luz's dresser drawers and proceed to open and close them until he catches his hand inside, whacks his head on an open drawer, or tries to pull up on it and dislodges it. The game never ends well.

Here are the two beautiful distractions earlier tonight, getting ready for a Thanksgiving story and carefree sleep:




The lighting was challenging (so was James - what a face!). I wish I had more time to learn how to take pictures.

Celebrating Our Loved Ones

Mom and I took La Luz and James with us to the cemetery last Sunday. It was a little tricky trying to explain the concept of burials and cemeteries to La Luz. She has a pretty profound understanding of heaven (or at least what she believes is heaven) but the idea of a cemetery is a little bit beyond her grasp. I don't suppose that is surprising because some parts of the idea are still things that I struggle to understand. Needless to say, despite a few irreverent suggestions that we open doors and climb stairs, she was totally respectful and intuitive during her first visit. James, on the other hand, just ate grass. I am telling you he eats anything and everything he can get his hands on. Clearly, he is part goat:

All Saints

I suppose it is fitting that today in particular I am really missing Pop. I thought about him quite a bit yesterday since it was All Saints Day and then again today when I really couldn't get him out of my head. It started with an email from mom attaching a picture of James. She noticed a very uncanny resemblance and I sort of have to agree:



And then today was one of those perfectly beautiful NOLA fall days. The sky was blue and the air was thin and clean thanks to cooler temperatures and a burst of low humidity. On top of the picture perfect day, NOLA was vibrant. The Saints are playing the Falcons in the dome tonight and it felt like Mardi Gras or New Year's Eve or Halloween downtown. The streets were packed with people, tailgaters were already setting up as I pulled into the building for work this morning, tourists spilled out of stores and restaurants and on to the sidewalk, and it was all so energizing to see. I know Pop would've appreciated it so much. I know that on a day like today he would have disappeared from behind his desk at lunch time and spent the rest of the afternoon over a long lunch with friends and then strolling down Bourbon Street checking out all of the 'fools' celebrating in the French Quarter. Later on he would have asked me, ironically, 'what they all do for a living that allows them to hang out in the Quarter at 3 p.m. on a Monday' and it would make me smile and I would email my siblings so they could have a laugh.

Pop was a die hard Saints fan and, like all Saints fans, excused their abysmal performances and hoped for something better next year. I know that he would have appreciated the mood in NOLA today, this incredible swelling of pride. I guess I am comforted imagining that he is watching it all unfold, this time from the best seat in the house.

Halloween 2009

Although La Luz is still operating off of a sugar high that started sometime around 5 p.m. yesterday, I managed to get her tucked into bed by 7:30 p.m. (thanks, I am sure, to the time change). I watched the excitement and the craziness of Halloween through her eyes and I just don't think it could have been any more spectacular. We spent Saturday night at Margot and Walker's hanging out with friends and family, enjoying the street party that went on for blocks and thinking that there isn't a more perfect way to celebrate Halloween.

Here she is, ready to go:



Waiting, so patiently, for the sun to set and for trick or treating to begin:


Jamesy, so much less enthused about costumes and candy:




and by the end of the night it was something like this, La Luz eating a pixie stick that was longer than she is tall - at some point she figured out that physics dictated a change of position and decided it would be best to lie down:


and James, chewing on a Strawberry Shortcake Dream house toilet:



La Luz woke up this morning wondering why we couldn't just trick or treat every night. It was all that fantastic to her and I really remember that feeling. It is so hard to explain to her that she wouldn't appreciate it as much if she did it every night; that is not a concept that she can wrap her head around. When you are 4 years old there is no such thing as too much of a good thing.

Great Pumpkins

We are getting all geared up for Halloween around here - decorations outside, pumpkins ready for carving, Halloween specials way past bedtime for three nights in a row - and I couldn't be happier. I have been feeling a bit bummed out at work lately so the distractions around here are good. I am happy to be preoccupied with locating glitter for the perfect fairy costume and figuring out whether James will be more comfortable as a ghost or a dragon. I like worrying about when we will actually find the time to carve pumpkins and whether it is more important for La Luz to sleep or watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. So, that's what is going on over here, that and the Real Housewives of Atlanta Reunion show. Is it terrible that I enjoy watching the RH series? I think that is a rhetorical question.

Getting ready for Halloween - picking out the perfect pumpkin:


test run of the fairy costume: