Nablopomo Win

Um hi. I’m Ziggy. Unlike my mommy, I use capitalization.So this is the last nablopomo day. According to my tally, mommy only missed one blogging day, and that was utter forgetfulness–forgetfulness that is largely due to the brain cells that leak from her boobs when she nurses me. Fact.

Sure, she relied heavily on photo blog posts, but she set that expectation at the outset. So. With that in mind, I’d like to call nablopomo a success. Not bad for a mom of two who often does not remember how long it’s been since I last had a bath. Hint: only 2 days at the time of this writing. I’m still clean as a whistle. (What’s a whistle? I don’t know; I’m only 10 weeks old. And why am I using semicolons?)

Anyway, I’m off to bed for the next 6 hours or so. But before I go, I want to tell you to keep reading wearefambly. My mom may not write everyday, but she sure loves to share our stories with you.

Goodnight all.

Sincerely,
Isaac
(Yes, I know my name.)

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two months [read: 10 weeks.]

dear isaac,

you may not know this, but your given name is isaac. isaac silas to be exact. your mama and i were certain that if we ever had a little boy, we’d call him isaac. we kind of liked the double ‘a’ action happening in that name (it would nicely complement the little ‘c’ big ‘c’ in your last name), and we loved the fact that isaac means laughter. when we found out that you were an external american, you were already isaac.

your middle name was more difficult to decide upon. you were nearly isaac henry–henry was my father’s middle name after all–but then we found out that uncle g’s paternal grandfather had the middle name silas. as you already know, your uncle g and his father, your pop pop, are the men in your life. they are good men, kind men, gentle men. we wanted to honor that heritage of which you are now a part. and your middle name is our thank you to uncle g’s family for bringing you to us.

so yes, your name is isaac silas, but at the time of this writing, you are indisputably ziggy. a few weeks ago, your aunt kate performed a lovely blessing/christening/baptism for you in our home, much like she did for your sister. in preparation for the ceremony, she asked me why we call you ziggy. and here is what i told her: in utero, you were ziggy. your mama picked the name. ziggy stardust. you weren’t so much named after the actual character ziggy stardust as just the magic of the name. your existence was nothing but stardust to us, you know? (you will know. we’ll never stop reminding you.) it made us happy to say the word at all: ziggy ziggy ziggy. and when you were born, your personality just sort of fit all the emotion we poured into the name as we talked to you in my belly. silliness. joy. also, your sister loves to call you ziggy, and it’s ridiculously adorable to hear her do so. to be honest, son, you were doomed to be stuck with the name.

you own ‘ziggy’, sir. you’ve got this crazy tuft of hair that stands on end most days, and refuses to be subdued. you are the mellowest of babies–you go for days without crying at all–until you’ve reached the end of your patience, and then you are all fisticuffs, snorting and yelling. the end of your patience, by the way, occurs when a. you are very hungry and there is no discernible boob in the area, or b. when you are in the car and it is going too slow. combine a & b, and omg, ziggy, you are an absolute rock star with the screaming and flailing.

also, right now, you kind of resemble the cartoon character:

so there are you are, my boy. you are ziggy, zig, zigs (that one is all jude btw), or z. sometimes i whisper isaac in your ear so you do not forget that you are laughter. i do love the lilt of your ‘real’ name. your mama and i tell everyone that we will call you ziggy until you ask us not to. but we sort of hope you never do.

i love you,
mommy

ps welcome to the family. thanks for picking us, even though we’re nuts and call you ziggy.

your favorite thing: nursing.

your best friend, jimmy.

an actual photo with your mommy in it.

mister halloween jammies.

your sister adores you.

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First bath together

…with the recurring admonition of “please do not touch ziggy’s peep. That’s a private spot and it’s very delicate.”

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Date night.

Our first night alone since august. Bliss.

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Morning at nana’s house

Jude, baby, ziggy all on my bed this morning at nana’s house. This may just be my favorite picture of my daughter. That expression is so much the essence of who she is. And omg she is beautiful. And her hair? Impossible to tame. It suits her. And peep those Thomas jammies. Doesn’t she look like a superhero?

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thankful.

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for michaela

Reader Michaela wanted to know what the kids look like straight out of the camera, ie color correction-free. Well, here’s 50% of the kiddos for you, taken this morning in the kitchen.

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homework.

ok, i’ll admit that this entry is a total cheat, nablopomo style. it’s 11:11pm, and i’m about to pass out at the keyboard. also, i am distracted, waiting on news about a dear friend in the emergency room. so, no actual blogging tonight. instead, i’ll ask you, readers who have stuck in with me all month, what are you interested in reading over the next several days? i’ll do my best to blog for you.

for now, buenas noches.

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apps.

so, i was totally going to write mister ziggy his first monthly letter, since he turned two months old yesterday. however, as noted earlier, i forgot to blog yesterday. and then this evening, h & i had an evening to ourselves [read: the boy fell asleep earlier than usual] and so we split a bottle of good wine and caught up on 30rock. it’s now pushing 10:30pm, and i confess that i am a little tipsy. i don’t want to be a tipsy mommyblogger writing a love note to her son, so instead i shall blog about apps.

having two kids has taught me one definitive thing thus far: omg i don’t have time to edit photos from my actual camera. and especially since upgrading to the iphone4, i am having so.much.fun with all the easy breezy photo apps available. i’ve got a camera that has nearly the same pixels as my dslr, and i can achieve the kind of effects i’m going for, all while working one-handed, as i nurse an enormous baby. i do feel a little like i’m cheating, but did i mention that i am having fun? and i keep the grandparents appeased, almost real time.

without further ado, the apps i am currently digging:

first, there is hipstamatic. this one is all kinds of fun. as you may have noticed, i’ve been a fan of it for a long while now, and have probably over-saturated you and facebook with it. i love that you can be as purposeful or random as you want with it. you get to choose your filter, film, and even flash. there are several in-app bundles you can purchase if you want, but you have plenty to work with for $2. you can also choose the quality of each print.

here’s an example of hipstamatic. (photo taken by uncle g on my birthday…one my first gen iphone.)

second, there’s camerabag. i really like the versatility of this app. (you can purchase it for you computer as well as iphone, btw.) you can use it from within or without the app itself, which means that older pics can get the fun filter treatment. camerabag has a variety of filters, which you can preview and tweak before you commit. i hope there are more filters in the future, but the ones currently available are satistfying.

here are h&j flying a kite today, as rendered by the colorcross filter:

and then there’s instagram, which is FREE! again, you can take pics within or without the app, and have a variety of easy filters from which to choose. this app is a little more communal than the others. it feels a little like flickr, what with popular photos and commenting enabled, etc. it can be as public or private as you want it to be.

here are both of the kids, instagram-style:

and finally, there’s pano. at $2.99, it’s a little pricier than the others, but it’s a seamless, easy app to use. and the finished product is pretty cool. take, for instance, my livingroom/diningroom/kitchen this past monday morning. i was nursing as i took this. jude and h were painting, as lucy dog looked on.

[click to embiggen.]

so yeah, these are the apps that are making my life easy and happy right now. how bouts you? [iphone-free folks, i’m asking you too, btw. hope you haven’t been too bored by this post.]

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F

I can’t believe I completely forgot to blog yesterday. Grrrrr. In the words of Jude, “sorry bout dat.”

…more later.

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