One is Alex. When I was at my most prolific during the first few months of "Raising Alexandra," Alex was largely non-mobile. Once she got active, and mobile, my writing trailed off -- faced with a choice of interacting with her or sitting down and crafting some paragraphs, the writing slowed down. And she certainly hasn't gotten any less active or less mobile since then.
The other is work. When I have an argument to prepare for, I try to be as single-minded as I can in the weeks leading up to the argument date. Of course, I have other cases and other work obligations going on, but even with those, I try to push as much and as many of those obligations to the side as the argument approaches. That means any extracurricular writing -- like this blog -- dries up completely.
With that in mind, let's review my schedule over the past six months or so.
September 1, 2009: Get call telling us we have a new daughter.
September 8, 2009: Pick up said new daughter, Ft. Worth, TX.
October 6, 2009: Federal Circuit argument, Washington, DC.
November 4, 2009: Federal Circuit argument, Houston, TX.
December 10, 2009: Federal Circuit argument, Washington, DC.
December 14, 2009: Argument in federal district court, Boston, MA.
January 4, 2010: Federal Circuit argument, Washington, DC.
February 2, 2010: Federal Circuit argument, Washington, DC.
So since Ella-Anne arrived, almost six months ago, I have either been preparing for, presenting, or recovering from presenting, arguments. No wonder my last entry was over a month ago.
But, thankfully, I have March off from arguments (I should be back at it in April and May, however), so I'm back at the keyboard today. Let's recap.
First of all, Happy Valentine's Day to one and all (or, as one of my Facebook friends/work colleagues describes it, Happy Singles Awareness Day). Happy Valentine's Day especially to my bride of almost 10 years, the preternaturally youthful Jane Castanias.
It is a testament to the strength of our relationship -- or, perhaps, to the size of our house -- that we enjoyed being stranded at home from the evening of Thursday, February 4, through the morning of Friday, February 12, thanks to a 30" snowstorm followed only a few days later by a blizzard containing another 14" of snow. Not once did it seem like one of us was about to drive the other one nuts.
Alex, on the other hand, occasionally tested our sanity. At one point she was so wound up about being trapped inside that I took her down to the basement and told her to run laps. "I'm exercising!" she repeatedly pronounced. "I'm exercising!"
Ella-Anne continues to be the calmest human being I've ever met, wth the only challenge being her recent teething. As I noted in my December 23 post, Alex got her first tooth around March 1; Ella-Anne's first two have already emerged (both on the bottom front, like Alex's first two). It appears that she's getting another one, if saliva production is any indicator. Despite her overall easygoing nature, though, we are beginning to see signs of a temper. It appears that Ella-Anne will wait out just about any inonvenience, but only up to a point. Then she just gets pi--, ahem, ticked off. "Mad Baby" is what Jane calls it; I call it Wet Hen with a Touch of Evil.
She's also started solid foods in the last couple of weeks. That is, if you consider pureed sweet potatoes mixed with formula to be a "solid."
Beyond that, she's talking up a blue streak right now. Most of it is gibberish, but it really seems like she's trying to communicate. To me, it sounds like "Aggle Flaggle Klabble. Blaggle Plabble. Lumpy Flappy. Snurp."
The four of us just finished Valentine's Day dinner about an hour ago. (With all due respect to those who ate out in restaurants with their sweethearts tonight, Valentine's Day is Amateur Night for Eaters in the same way that New Year's Eve is Amateur Night for Drinkers.) I askd Alex this morning what we should make for Mommy for Valentine's Day dinner; she thought about it for a minute (with an audible "Hmmmmmm"), and pronounced "Chicken Pot Pie!" Now, to the best of my knowledge, Alex has never had a Chicken Pot Pie in her three-and-a-half years. But that was what she said, and since (as is my motto) I JUST WORK HERE, I went to the store to purchase the ingredients for the requested Chicken Pot Pie.
And some other stuff.
First course: Butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter:
Second course: Chicken pot pie with a puff pastry cap:
Third course: Maple souffle served with a maple sabayon sauce and whipped cream:
A la Iron Chef America, "The Secret Ingredient is . . . TIME."
But you don't want food photos, you want GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS!
Here, Alex prepares to brave the Oakton tundra on February 8 (after first storm but before the blizzard):
Here she is outside in the driveway (sticking out her tongue at the camera is a favorite pasttime):
Alex, in her costume of alter ego "Clara," attempts to hold her baby sister:
The aftermath of Ella-Anne's first solid food (oatmeal):
Finally, allow me this observation. I now have irrefutable proof that men are just larger boys. As I was driving to the store this morning to obtain the supplies for Valentine's Day dinner, I found myself feeling sad that the 40+" of snow was cleared from the roads, and was melting (somewhat) in the bright sun. My sadness was directly related to the fact that when the snow disappears from the roads like this, there's no way school will be cancelled. After a few moments of this melancholy, I realized: YOU'RE ALMOST FORTY-FIVE YEARS OLD. YOU DON'T GO TO SCHOOL. YOU WORK WHETHER THE OFFICE IS CLOSED OR NOT. YOU DRIVE A REAR-WHEEL-DRIVE CAR THAT SUCKS IN THE SNOW. YOU CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF BEING COOPED UP IN THE HOUSE. YOU WANT THE SNOW TO MELT AND THE ROADS TO BE CLEAR.
Yet, despite that obvious intellectual truth, my visceral, emotional self was the same 13-year-old boy sitting in the Northview Junior High School library, sketching out what the forecasted "ice topped with snow topped with ice" would do to the roads the next day. The same 13-year-old boy who got up early on potential snow days to listen to WIBC-AM 1070 for the school-closing announcements, hoping to hear "Washington Township Schools, closed" so that he could go back to bed without guilt.
Of course, my wife would tell you that she already knew I was 13 years old. She knew that from my sense of humor.
It was so cold in Central Park today, I saw a squirrel winterizing his nuts.
