A New Mango

Hopefully this is not a glimpse into the future of our protruding parts- but it probably is.

Aeli is gearing up to be a big brother. He is thrilled, and gives copious kisses and hugs to my ever-rounding belly. He has dubbed the baby "Whatchama," which we first thought was just a fabulous combination of syllables, but we recently learned to be short for "Whatchamacallit."

Portrait of a Difficult Morning

Did you even know this blog still existed? Thank you, internet, for not getting dusty. 'Cause geez it's been a long time.

But here we are now, or here I am: on the internet, with an Arnold Palmer, home earlier than almost ever from work, and I have something to post here! 

Cravernak Holiday Poem 2013

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the city

Folks stapled lights onto siding to make houses look pretty.

Aeli’s sinuses didn’t like the jarring changes of weather,

So he sniffled and snuggled while his mom tried to get it together.

Balloons were strewn everywhere: wreckage from the weekend’s fete,

Laundry perpetually unfolded; cards not addressed yet.

Carrie paced the house, which was a shotgun,

And took inventory of the things to be done.

Having assessed the mess, and written down the to-dos,

She decided to lay down with A, and have a good snooze.

When she awoke, she decided, she’d feel a lot better,

And finally write the fam’s Christmas letter.

Wait though, should the epistle’s label be one-denominational?

No: Christhanksgivvukah + Solstice + Birthday Celebrational.

Here is the news in this fun month of festivus,

Mostly about Aeli, but a little re: the rest of us.

You might recall a snug little trooper,

Who crawled and then walked and never was a party-pooper,

He’s still all that, but gee-whiz has he grown,

He even goes potty (almost) completely on his own.

He speaks in full sentences, writes and reads most letters,

He’s good at throwing and catching, and always getting better,

He’s got a penchant for puzzles, and baseball, and art,

And a sense of humor that leads to lots of laughs about farts.

Stefin and Carrie are still pretending to be grown-ups,

And bought a house this year, although it feels like they don’t know enough

About plaster and foundation and old plumbing glitches,

Thank goodness for experienced friends, who help with some fixes.

Here’s a fact to nerd out on, in a “This Old House” type of way:

The main water line to our house was made out of clay!

Apparently this is how they did it back in the day,

And our house is quite old. (We replaced the line.) Yay!

The pretend grown-ups are still teaching, still working in schools.

Although they often wonder if they really need so many rules,

They are grateful for their work and for being employed,

And working with kids, even teens- most days- does bring them joy.

Travels this year included Seattle, San Diego, Israel;

Dances were choreographed and performed to Yelle;

Friends moved and moved back, fought fires, told stories,

Designed, skied, and had babies, and were never an ounce boring.

We are so grateful to have all that we do,

Not least of all, the honor of knowing YOU!

We hope you can come visit us in our new home.

(And thank you for reading this very-long poem).

What Thanksgiving Prep Looks Like Chez Nous

Aeli helped me make the cranberry-apple sauce to go with latkes and turkey!

Evidence of his internship with Auntie Nico, expert practitioner of stopping to smell and pick a flower while walking.

What do you call the middle of a grandma sandwich? Spoiled rotten.

New Orleans was COLD on Thanksgiving (read: I saw my breath in our bathroom), so fortunately A had his awesome jacket to keep him warm.

Also, I know you've been wondering: What have those Cravernaks been crafting lately?
Mostly food, but a few other things here and there.

It was so lovely to have folks here for Thanksgiving.

I feel very
very
grateful.

Before, After, Before

We had a lot of good help moving out of our old place.
HQ of multiple Mardi Gras, house of so many big dinners, guests and semi-permanent residents, garden work-parties, backyard film nights, amateur pop-up restaurantiness, and studio for various choreographed dances...
It was really hard to leave.
It made it a bit easier that the majority of the Compound had dispersed in the month preceding the purchase of our new home. Like a, "Well, no one's here anymore anyway, so let's go nest somewhere else" kind of thing. But that wasn't totally true either. Some older neighbors- Compound members by proxy- were hard to leave as well. Not to mention the constant vivacity of that little corner of the Marigny. Aside from some neighbors who like to blast bounce music on weekend nights, our new street is pretty quiet. Our soundtrack here is largely made up of the wind through the oaks and the hum of power tools (from the work being done in our house, and on the house across the street).

AHHHHH can't believe we are here now!

A before picture of the backyard. Aeli pointed out toward the back one day and said, "Is that our garden out there?" I said, "No, it's not a garden yet." He said, "Then what is it?" I love that. What is outside if not a garden? Sweet, spoiled kid.

"Doing concrete" is one of Aeli's new favorite games. "Can we do concrete today?" It's a regular request.

In the fog of having so many huge projects to do and not feeling equipped to make a move on any of them, I bought a cabinet and managed to cut a few stencils (rom-com-y ones of me and Stef) to add some flair. I was especially proud of carrying the heavy thing from the car to the porch by hoisting it up on my knees and scooting forward while remaining in a pretty good chair pose the whole way.

 Before now, I always judged people harshly (who, me?) when, talking about remodeling, they said things like "We redid the bathroom," when they had definitely hired someone to redo the bathroom. I thought that was not giving credit where credit was due, and inaccurately involving yourself in something you were not involved in.
I hereby renounce all those judgments.
It is certainly not the same as doing all the work yourselves, but having people in your house, plaster dust and scaffolding everywhere, is more involved than I initially imagined. Not to mention borrowing more money right after signing your life away on a mortgage. Blyuck.

Plaster walls (on the side of the house that we will be living in- shortly?) and ceiling being repaired

Water + termite damage. Termites like water, I have learned. We got a termite contract as part of the term of our purchase, so we're set with support on that.

 It is so great to have everyone congratulating us and expressing their excitement. But it has been hard to consistently respond with ebullience. An era of living across the street and next door to some of the best people in town has ended. (Hopefully this is only temporary.) There is much I could say on this subject, but I don't want to dwell. (Ha! Dwellings! Get it? I promise that one was an accident.)

We are so glad to be here.
It will start feeling more and more like ours each day, I know.

I'm excited for the day we install a shower.

We'll miss you, Dauphine.