I heart Patrick Stewart

Interview with the Emmy-nominated former Captain. Apparently I missed it - he was Knighted!

No pics yet

Nausea has taken over with a vengeance. So it's ginger ale and ginger snaps for me, with high-protein snacks. Thank goodness I have a husband who takes care of the house and boy. So we have piles upon piles of pictures and videos. They'll get put up here someday.

In the meantime, here's some reading, found on the very mainstream CNN site.

Home Birth... Why I Did It (And I'm Not a Hippie)

Oh yes, and our train-obsessed son? Absolutely in love with his present from Jeffrey and Courtney, the stacking train. Yes, there are pics of him playing with it... but again, not uploaded.



Shabbat shalom!

First days of school

YAY! I had forgotten how much I loved being here. My summer wasn't the best, but the first few days back have really made up for it.

Some highlights:

- Stephanie got me the most beautiful necklace on behalf of the class, as a "happy pregnancy" present! It's gorgeous.



- While looking for a pen in class yesterday, I fumbled in my backpack and pull out a small Thomas the Train model instead. The people around me smirked, it was cute.

- Laurel marked 30 years of being at HUC today! I was privy to the celebratory bagels. :)

- President Ellenson and the president of the Board of Governors came to visit the campus. I sat in on a lunch with them. Lots of talks about money, but they were very willing to hear our suggestions on how to improve some things.

- Class-wise I'm taking "Laws of Prayer," "American Jewish History," "Leadership," "Converts in Jewish Literature," and "World of the Talmud." I'm not particularly fascinated by the subjects of the first two classes, but Leadership looks great! We learn about budgets and organizational management and our role in a board meeting, that kind of thing. The literature class looks like a real literature class - there are only four of us in it, so we know all of us want to be there (me, Jessica, and two grad students). And then World of the Talmud is the class I asked for, and the prof went over the syllabus with me today. Stuff on gnosticism, Roman Christianity, women and gender, philosophy - it looks amazing. I'm really jazzed.

- High Holiday prep is going. Slowly. I have one sermon idea, and I've reviewed the Rosh Hashanah Torah portion. Does that count?

And last but certainly not least, I've reclaimed my library table. Ahh the joy!

Back from Minneapolis

Wow. Sometimes life is so busy, I don't even have time to write about it.

The HUC retreat last week was.... it just was. It's done. That's the best thing I can say about it.

I was oh so tired when I boarded that plane to Minneapolis, but I am SO SO glad I did. The time was amazing. Holly's three year-old is much more of an active child than Xander is, so we went to a park/nature center/jungle gym area every day, to let the kids run and jump and scream and play. (Her two-month old is the most chill kid I've ever seen though, so makes up for him.) We also hit a farmer's market, a hip round-the-world global market with fabulous gyro, Mall of America, and a picnic for the local Attached Parenting group. Her family celebrated Shabbat with me and Xander, and we went to church with them on Sunday. Mostly though, wherever we went, we just talked. And talked and talked and talked. And it was perfect.

One of the coolest things about the weekend? One of Holly's midwife friends came over to listen to my belly, and she found a strong heartbeat. So I can now officially tell everyone that I'm expecting! I'm due in late March. Hopefully the nausea will start to abate soon. I can't wait for the year to unfold.

So disappointed

I'm feeling sorry for myself.

This was going to be my one day off all summer. Literally. The one day to spend with Jonathan that wasn't a weekend. I went from the Friday of spring semester finals to Monday summer class. That ended on a Friday, and CPE started that Monday. CPE ended Friday, I was going to have today FREE with Jonathan, and then my HUC retreat is tomorrow (Tuesday). I'm going to visit Holly after the retreat, which will be great, but I get back from her house the day before school starts, so I still don't have any time at home free. Except today.

But no.

Our babysitter called in sick.

Her ONE day sick all summer, and it had to be my one day off!

I love my son, but it would have been so nice to go a matinee. We had all these plans....

History revisited (thanks to Bev's FB page)

From YouTube:

"Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand sing "Get Happy" and "Happy Days Are Here Again" in a counterpoint duet.

This performance is from episode 9 of the Judy Garland Show, broadcast on October 6, 1963. It is available in a number of DVD "Judy Garland Show" collections which seem to go in and out of print.

Barbra was 21 years old at the time and received an Emmy nomination for her guest appearance."

DONE with CPE

I am so relieved. And also sad. Even though it was emotionally very difficult, I know that I did make a difference for people. So I'm sorry to lose that, as well as the bonds I formed with some of the other CPE students.

In other news, Xander is officially train-obsessed. He hands me the TV remote and asks for "choo-choo" to watch Thomas the Train Engine as a special treat. All our books with trains in them are dog-eared. And the latest cardboard box has gone from being a spaceship, to a Yentl hideout, to.. you guessed it... a choo-choo.

Jonathan is studying for the PMP exam, which he takes in a couple weeks.

A friend of ours is getting divorced and so has been staying with us for a while, but she moved out yesterday and is getting her own apartment. And another friend moves in on Monday! Then on Tuesday HUC kicks off with a Sexual Ethic Retreat. It's a busy time of year.

Shabbat shalom, all. And lilah tov (good night).

I love this

Reminder - you can click on the picture to blow it up and magnify if you need.

Long-overdue videos

Angela is writing each letter on the etch-and-sketch. He can do about 1/3 of the alphabet if he tries.







Lauren and Aaron are his new best friends.

And immediately following the last one....

More pics

Walking in Bubby's shoes last month.

Xander helping Jonathan open his birthday presents, with Bubby on webcam.

Swimming with Daddy is the bestest!

In the middle of a game of catch.

Jonathan's project last week. The dark part on the right is the part not cleaned. The stained glass window in the entryway looks incredibly bright now.

Sadness alleviated by pictures

First, it's a sad, sad day in the Loving household. We sold the Mini. It went to a great guy who appreciated it, so we can console ourselves with that at least.

To cheer Jonathan up, I sat down and sorted through the almost 200 pictures on our camera. I'm still working on the Xander ones, but here are some good ones from his birthday. The ones of the people and the show didn't come out so well, because it was so dark in the club. BUT I had arranged for "Marilyn Monroe" to sing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to him. And she was fabulously risque - it was perfect.

Beginning to sing.

Starting to giggle.

He loses it.

Full-on guffaws.

Smile for the cameras!

A kiss to build a dream on.

Offline for almost a whole week!

Oh my.

Let me fill you in on the events of the past week, however, and perhaps I shall be forgiven.

One... my overnight on Wednesday was extremely rough, and threw me for a loop. I ministered to the family of an 11-day old baby who came into the ER and later died. It was almost three hours of talking to the mother, grandmother, other family members, and then the staff who had never dealt with a child death before. I was very glad that I was able to be there for them in their time of need, but it was emotionally very difficult.

I had to shift gears quickly though because Friday was Jonathan's birthday! There was much party planning to be had. On Friday day, his actual birthday, Jeffrey came over and they both took the day off and played video games all day. That night I gave him his present... it started with a huge beautifully wrapped box, which contained another gorgeously wrapped box, which contained another. I had five boxes overall, and in the last one was a printed certificate, wrapped up like a scroll, announcing that Jonathan was gifted with one two-hour flying lesson on a Cessna at a local airport. He was suitably shocked and gratified.

Our friend Antonio, who travels a lot for work, also came in on Friday night and is staying with us for the weekend. On Saturday he, Jeffrey and Jonathan hooked up all their laptops to play some kind of group video game, and they were happy as clams. Saturday evening it was party time! Anyone who's in Cincinnati and wasn't invited, please don't be offended. There were only 6 of his nearest and dearest, and we went to a comedy club and then to Game Stop. Pictures of all of this to follow. Eventually.

This morning Antonio joined me for Xander's swim lesson while Jonathan slept in. And right now both men are with Jeffrey and Nick at a guy movie. I'm listening to Xander cry, because Jonathan puts him to sleep usually and it's been an hour and a half since he went to bed, so I finally gave up and closed his door.

So in short... Jonathan had a fabulous turning-40 weekend. I earned much brownie points in my marriage. AND... perhaps the very best part... Antonio made me deviled eggs!