Weekend Wanderings

Photo via Flickr.

I cannot believe that as of yesterday, I am exactly one month from my due date!  I am definitely at the point where I'm just taking it one day at a time, trying to survive being hugely pregnant in the heat of summer with an energetic toddler, and at the same time savoring the last weeks and days of it just being the three of us.

This weekend we are planning to get our nesting on.  There's still a long list of things to prepare and do before the baby arrives, and now is the time to do it.  Taro is leaving town soon for eight days (to run Camp Our Time) and when he gets back I'll be practically ready to pop!

I found a ton of great stuff online this week, so allow me to share.  I hope you enjoy the links and have an all-round wonderful weekend:

I'm totally digging this awesome Color Palette Generator.

Are you a Birth Junkie?

Caravan Chic.  An official trend?

Oooh, pretty feathers!

How to be an explorer of the world.

Recycle old birthday cards.

I love love love this idea!

Feminist coloring books.

A recipe for love.

Fun postcards by Ruben Toledo.

Shoemaking!

This is the craziest pregnancy photo I've ever seen.

Of course, I want this.

Photos of kids playing video games.

What a cool product!  

Amazing paper jewelry.

My Dad

I'm sending out all my love and tons of healing thoughts and prayers to my father, Bob Pennebaker, who is recovering from surgery this afternoon.  Feel better soon, dad!  We love you sooooo much!

When a Pregnant, Breastfeeding Mama Goes to the Farmer's Market...

...she comes home with blueberries, peaches, mint, cilantro, tomatoes, apples, okra, carrots, red and yellow onions, garlic, basil, walnut raisin bread, a baguette, corn on the cob, local cheese (sheep's ricotta, gouda, and goat cheese), ice cream (butter pecan, coconut), eggs, black currant apple juice, free-range local turkey burgers, a sunflower, a zinnia, and two purple gladiolas.

Perhaps she will concoct some of these yummy and simple summer recipes.

We Were All Marvelous Kiddos: Vintage Baby Photos, Part 2

Thanks to all who continue to enter!  I think I will have to make this a regular feature :)

Today's first photo was sent in by Katherine Gooch-Breault, who said,

"My folks had a baby photo shoot and I think it is just so funny that someone propped me up in such an adult pose at not-quite-three-months old. It's probably more that I needed the help keeping my head up!"

Anne Sage, author of the always-lovely blog The City Sage, sent in these two adorable photos from her childhood (I am in awe of that perfect little clown costume!):

Meanwhile, my mom and mother-in-law continue to provide me with eerily similar photos of their early years!  The next one is of Riki and her mom, Nanette, on the beach.  The one after that is of Martha and her dad, Wiley, and brother Chuck, also on the beach!  I love how glam their parents are in these photos.  The Kiddo has some smokin' hot great-grandparents!

I adore this cute little baby-photo collage submitted by Nell of Casual Friday Everyday.  Nell writes, "I look back on these pictures with such love and gratitude to my Mother. Even in the midst of the chaotic life we lived, I remember my childhood with such fondness because of her love and calming spirit."

One of our dearest friends, Stephanie Marshall, recently gave birth to her first child, and she blogs about their exploits at Wild About Baby.  Here are two amazing and sweet photos that Stephanie sent me for this post:

About the images, Stephanie said, "the first picture is of me & my Mom. I just love the sentiment between us, the beginning of our extremely close, loving relationship. Plus I love how young my Mom is, not to mention her mod 60's style (and check out my crocheted pullover)...Even though I am not featured in [the second photo]...I thought you would appreciate it, and I love it. It's my Great-Grandmother holding my Grandmother. My Great-Grandmother was an awesome record-keeper & wrote on the back of all her photos, which I so appreciate. She wrote on the back of this photo to her mother: '6 weeks old', which would date the photo late June 1913. Check out the style!"

Next, we have a glorious example of father-daughter camaraderie, sent in by Mrs. Boo Radley, of Just Like Camping.  I love love love the skill set she's developing at such a young age!  Here's what Mrs. Boo had to say about the photo: "Here I am...with my dad...fixing farm machinery! I practically grew up outdoors, chasing chickens with grandma, picking berries with grandpa, and of course, tagging along with my dad and "helping" wherever I could."

My New York City babywearing friend, Nancy Groves, didn't have any readily available baby photos of herself to send in, so she sent these irresistible photos of her parents as babies, circa the 1940's:

And now, last but not least for today, here are two fabulous shots sent in by Katie Richards of Where is Tumbkin?:

"[The first one] is a picture of myself when I was two and just waking up from a nap.  Just seeing that sleepy face makes me want to hug that little girl.  I thought you might get a kick out of [the second] one as well. This is a picture of me, my mom and my dad.  My dad was pinching my mom's bottom -- note her expression!"

I had so much fun receiving all the photos for these posts, and I am beyond excited that everyone seems to love this idea!  I'm serious about starting a regular feature, so if you have any more vintage baby photos, send 'em my way!  XOXO, Leigh.

We Were All Marvelous Kiddos: Vintage Baby Photos, Part 1

I have been positively tickled by the enthusiastic response to my post, wherein I solicited the vintage baby photos of my awesome readers.  I received so many great photos, and so many excited comments and emails, that I am re-extending the invitation, so as to allow more people to contribute.  So, in case you haven't sent your pic in yet, go ahead and do it!  I'll post part 2 tomorrow.

Now, without further ado, the highlights of what I've received thus far...

Kelly Anne of Have Degree Will Travel, with her lovely mom.  

Kelly Anne wrote:

"This is my mom and me at the Steinway baby grand she bought for a song (not literally) before I was born. It celebrated its 80th birthday this past January. It's so weird to realize how red my hair was when I was a baby. It looks nothing like that now! My mom's still as gorgeous, though." 

Joanna Goddard, of A Cup of Jo, with her twin sister Lucy (top photo) and Lucy and Joanna with their mother (bottom photo):

Joanna wrote:

 "The first is my twin sister and me, getting ready to go roller-skating in our neighborhood. (I love those old-school skates that tie onto your shoes!) My mom tried not to dress us in matching outfits -- to encourage separate identities, etc. -- but I guess sometimes she couldn't resist. :) Lucy is on the left, and I'm on the right.  The second is my twin sister (middle) and me (left) with my mom. I'm always struck by how young my mom looks in this photo -- she was only 28! We were visiting my grandparents and eating Popsicle after Popsicle. :)"

I was struck by the similarity of the next two photos.  The first one was submitted by my mom, Martha, and it shows her on my grandmother's lap, sitting on stairs, when she was an infant.  The next one was sent in by Taro's mom, Riki, and it depicts basically the exact same scene -- her as an infant with her mother sitting on steps!  How cool is that?

Here's another one of my mom when she was a little older, which is absolutely hysterical:

The next two are from my friend Coralissa Delaforce, who writes the blog, Family of Force.  In her email, Coralissa pointed out that she once looked like her newborn son, Nainoa, and I couldn't agree more!  Click here to compare for yourself, and coo over Nainoa's supreme cuteness!

The next fabulous baby pic was sent in by Peta Mazey, of Wellington, New Zealand.  I love that it shows her with her dad :)  Peta is an extraordinary photographer.  Check out her amazing photos, here.

How cute is the next photo, sent in by Sara Banal of Barcelona, Spain!  It shows Sara eating her very first cookie.  You can't beat that!

And last but not least for today, we have two photos of Laura Peterson, of The 6 La La's.  Here's what Laura had to say:

"The first one I am one year old and my father, who is the HUGEST joke-ster, put a long black wig on me. It's funny to me because I love to see that he has always been like that and no age is safe from his sense of humor. :-)  The second one, is right before my first airplane ride. I was born in Honolulu and we were getting moving back to the mainland. I'm 3 and I don't have a care in the world."

I had so much fun doing this post!  I can't wait to see what else you guys send in...

Today I'm Listening To...

I love her.

Caravan of Dreams

I am totally smitten with this incredible little gypsy caravan that I spotted on Desire to Inspire.  Isn't it just pure magic?  Go here to see tons more captivating photos of this unique home.

The Boys Are Back in Town: An Update

So, I wanted to fill everyone in on the return of my husband and son, after their Florida adventure and my solo staycation.

We were reunited on Sunday afternoon, when they leaped out of a cab into my waiting arms, in front of our building.  I was shocked to see it, but the Kiddo was already older-seeming, with more words at his disposal after only three nights away!  We hugged so tightly, there on the sidewalk.  It was the sweetest reunion ever.

When they left, the Kiddo was still a zealous breastfeeder (at 25 months and counting) and I have been in no hurry to wean him.  This was perhaps the largest hurdle that we expected to face upon parting for so long: would he come unglued without the boobies?  Would Taro be able to provide alternative soothing mechanisms for those times when it seems like only the boobies would do?  What about nighttime?  I have never so much as pumped my breastmilk a single time since the Kiddo was born, so he has never had a bottle or a plastic nipple (he drinks liberally from regular cups and glasses, though, I might add), and well, forget about pacifiers.

In preparation for the trip, and on the advice of Taro's mother, I bought a bottle.  Riki had suggested that for those times when the Kiddo was really missing the breast the artificial nipple might serve as a better substitute than, say, a sippy cup.  Right before the guys left on Thursday, I presented the apple-juice-filled bottle to the Kiddo for the first time.  He took it from me, gave it a quizzical look, took a few swigs, and in an astonished voice announced,

"tiny mammo!!!"

He loved it.  Apparently, between the tiny mammo and the occasional bedtime-stroll-in-the-Maclaren-around-the-hotel, my breasts were not missed.

I had been hearing about this state of affairs all weekend, so I was extremely curious to see what would transpire upon the Kiddo's return home.  Would he be weaned?  I was determined not to bring it up, but planned to wait until nursing was explicitly requested by the Kiddo.

Turns out, I only had to be in suspense for about ten minutes.  That's how long it took for the Kiddo to get the initial welcome-home hugging out of his system before he looked up at me with a sly smile and said,

"mammo!"

At which point I happily sat down and nursed my boy, secretly pleased and relieved not to have given up that beautiful bond quite so soon.

Photo of the Day: Vintage Mom & Me

My mom just emailed me this photo my dad took of us when I was a baby and I couldn't help posting it.  It got me thinking, we all see and share so many images of our children on our blogs, wouldn't it be fun to even the score a bit and post some of ourselves as babies?  

Towards these ends, here's what I'm going to do: send me your favorite baby-picture-of- yourself, and I will do a post featuring what my readers send in.  It'll be fun and (funny, I'm sure)!

Email your photo to:  leigh (at) leighpennebaker (dot) com

Thanks!

Made Me Smile: Homeschooling in This Week's New Yorker

Home schooling the cast of Snoopy the musical: newyorker.com

by Rebecca Mead, Illustration: Tom Bachtell

Central to the actor’s craft is the ability to imagine oneself into the unimaginable; consider Meryl Streep choosing between her children in “Sophie’s Choice,” or Marlon Brando roaring in the jungle in “Apocalypse Now.” For Mary Albert, who recently appeared in a musical production of “Snoopy!!!” as Sally Brown, Charlie Brown’s little sister, the challenge lay in embodying her character’s notoriously ambivalent relationship to the classroom, since Mary, who is twelve, has never actually been to school. “When in rehearsal the director would say, ‘How do you think, at this moment, you’d be responding to your teacher?’ I would say, ‘I have no idea,’ ” Mary, who has long dark hair and a wide smile, the dazzle of which is only partly obscured by braces, explained the other evening, at a party following the first performance, which took place at the West End Theatre, on Eighty-sixth Street.

Mary, like her three siblings—Lucy, fifteen, John, ten, and Jane, eight, all of whom were in the production—has been homeschooled her entire life. “We were part of a parent-run playgroup, and at some point everyone started testing to get into the right school, and I thought it was insane,” their mother, Erynn Albert, said. (As it turns out, all four Albert offspring have got into the most insanely competitive gifted-and-talented program of them all, the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus; the two middle ones will appear in “Tosca” this fall.)

Lucy Albert, who played Snoopy—she wore white pants and a white long-sleeved T-shirt with a black spot sewn on the back, and had her long dark hair looped up into floppy ears—explained that she was about to drop out of homeschool: she just won a coveted spot at the LaGuardia high school for the performing arts. In the show, Snoopy grumbles that he isn’t allowed to attend school on account of his species; but Lucy said that she thought Snoopy represented the best of the homeschooled individual. “He teaches himself everything, and he has so many sides, and he has time to do all the things he wants to do, and he’s not ashamed of it,” she said. “It’s kind of like me, except I’m not a dog. Maybe a bitch.”
As she spoke, Lucy leaned her head fondly on the shoulder of Briar Montana, fourteen, who played Linus. Briar has been a leading light of the homeschool musical scene for the past several years but is obliged to retire, since he is about to enroll in his first academic institution: the High School for Dual Language and Asian Studies, in Chinatown. Briar, who has wavy hair and delicate features, sounded dubious about the prospect. When you’re homeschooled, he said, “everyone you meet is your teacher, and you have more freedom to pick what you want to learn.”
“Like, I did chemistry when I was nine or ten,” Lucy said.
“That wasn’t real chemistry,” Briar replied.
“Yes, it was,” Lucy insisted.

Ben Goldstein, who is also fourteen, and who played Charlie Brown in the show, actually did a year at school, in the sixth grade. “The fun part is messing around, and interacting with people who aren’t very nice,” he said. “Probably the main reason I left is I found myself being mean.” He did not think that he was missing out on anything educationally by not being in school. “If you’re talking about facts that you’re never going to use, like when they changed the American flag—well, then, yes,” he said. “But I think I can solve problems more creatively than kids who go to school can.” (One problem Ben plans to solve creatively: homeschooling his own future kids without sacrificing the career—as yet undetermined, but definitely intellectually rewarding and lucrative—to which he also aspires. “I want to get rich and then have kids, and then I can have them do all kinds of cool things,” he said.) Regular school, Ben reflected, “can be kind of a dirty pleasure. It’s like watching ‘America’s Next Top Model.’ ”

As the end of their homeschool careers approached, none of the cast intended to go so far as to home-college. Not having a high-school diploma might take a little explaining to admissions staffs. Cole Houston, the show’s eighteen-year-old lighting designer and stage manager, who spent last year doing college applications, said, “You don’t have the transcript, so it’s hard for them to measure what you were doing, and to see that you weren’t playing video games all day.” Not to worry: in the fall, Cole will be heading off to M.I.T. on a full scholarship. ♦

We Have a Winner!!!

Congratulations to Martha, who's comment was selected by random.org to win her choice of the Radio Flyer Scooter or Rody Horse!  Thanks to everyone for entering :)

Photo from here.

Shoe Lovely

These adorable Repetto pumps are insanely on sale at Toast.

Don't Forget...

Today is the last day to enter!

Monday Blog Love

Daydream Lily

The Man-Nurse Diaries

Sugar Pie Express

On His Way Home

Photo taken this weekend by the Kiddo's Uncle Rob, who hung out with the guys while they were in Florida.

Souvenirs

First, we have the little wallet I made yesterday at the sewing class...

The class was called "Intro to Sewing Machine" so we mostly learned how to thread a machine and wind a bobbin and the project was very simple and basic.  Still, I don't think I've ever done a sewing project from start to finish before, so it was very fun and satisfying to walk away with this cute little (imperfect) pouch.

Second, we have three colorful bangles made from recycled materials that I picked up yesterday at Sustainable NYC...
Third, we have the funky little cropped jacket by Alexander Wang for the Gap, which I scored today for only thirty bucks (marked down from $88!)...

Over the last two days, my adventures have also included:

Going to see a movie.  I decided on Public Enemies, because I was helpless to resist the opportunity to stare at Johnny Depp for two hours, lol.  Turns out, I fell in love with Marion Cotillard too!  She was gorgeous and her performance was really intense.  The costumes and production design were fantastic, as well -- seemingly spot-on for the period and yet also incredibly chic by today's standards.  I kind of zoned out during all the shooting, but nonetheless enjoyed the film a lot.

Going to a spa.  Seizing an opportunity that perhaps will not arise again for years, I took advantage of all this alone time and signed up for a discounted package that included a mani-pedi, a relaxation facial, and a prenatal massage.  Also, there was a sip of champagne and a piece of chocolate at the end.  Heaven.

Going to a Museum.  Today I met dear Joanna at the MoMA for a light lunch and hours of wandering around the galleries gabbing our heads off.  Here and there we checked out the art, which included the amazing work of Song Dong.  Read about his incredible installation, here. (Photo by Todd Heisler for the New York Times).

So, as you can see, it has been an absolutely marvelous staycation, all the more renewing because of the frequent updates I've been getting from Florida, in which Taro and the Kiddo have related all the fun they're having.

Still, I absolutely cannot wait to have both of them in my arms again.  Tomorrow!