with one more merriam it’s merrier

Check out Rick Steves’ blog for a recounting of his trip to Iran. Very cool idea.

Start here and go forward.

Aaahhhh. Just imagine the promising possibility of our country being led by a president who actually takes pride in being intelligent.

Bye, bye tyranny of willful ignorance, you’ve made a desperate mess of things.

Maielle is approaching 19 months now, but she’s already making a play for being a 2 year old.

She likes giving hugs, learning words, reading books, riding ponies, hearing music (especially Itsy-Bitsy Spider, The Rolling Stones and violins) being outside, running, walking, climbing, seeing animals, pinecones, flowers, the moon, birds, spiders, beetles, bikes, surfboards, playing with comedic 6 year old boys, eating fruit, and a whole bunch of other things. Car seats, high chairs and diaper changes…eh, not so much.

Maielle’s cousin Ava seems to have a preference for the letter M. She refers to Christmas as “Missmas” and Uncle Brent has been renamed Uncle Mott. This pro-M bias works out perfectly for Maielle…Ava pronounces her name beautifully every time and says it often.

Anyway, with 3 girls under the age of two in the family now, the giggling has already begun. They don’t know how to put on puppet shows yet, but we suspect that is not far away.

Inspired by Maielle’s adoration of Talula B’s yellow pony, we picked up a green one for her “big” Christmas present this year. Ironically, Rody is made in Italy, just like Maielle was.

So as to: 1) avoid cooking a couple of meals, 2) see some gingerbread houses and 3) be served unlimited mimosas, we took Nana and Maielle to The Wentworth By The Sea for Christmas brunch. And, seeing as we ought to at least dress up once for the holidays, we seized the opportunity to dress Maielle in a coat and hat that Nana had saved from when I was a wee girl. She wore it well.

Brent wore his best Bajoran/Klingon face mask, courtesy of his Missmas Eve run-in with his surfboard fin. The fin, sadly, was lost at sea that day.

Needless-to-say, the food was great and we discovered a new staple for Maielle’s diet: gingerbread men.

After some much needed digestive work, we capped off the day with some curry and a visit from cousin Tyler and his beloved parents, Jenn & Jeff. While we don’t have it on film, Tyler managed to tame Rody so that he is now a safe and docile companion for Maielle. In other words, he doesn’t bite.

…when are you going to update your blog?”

Last October, we welcomed Maielle into the world.

Today, she turned 1.

We are so grateful that she has graced our lives with her presence.

The International Women’s Media Foundation recently presented a Courage Award to six Iraqi women who risk their lives every day to report for McClatchy’s Baghdad bureau. Below is an excerpt from one of the journalist’s acceptance speech. Her pen name is Sahar Issa and she lost her eldest son to crossfire.

“So why continue? Why not put down my proverbial pen and sit back? It’s because I’m tired of being branded a terrorist: tired that a human life lost in my county is no loss at all. This is not the future I envision for my children. They are not terrorists, and their
lives are not valueless. I have pledged my life — and much, much more, in an effort to
open a window through which the good people in the international community may look
in and see us for what we are, ordinary human beings with ordinary aspirations, and not
what we have been portrayed to be.

You can read her full speech here.

The McClatchy Baghdad Bureau blog is here.

If you didn’t catch Frontline tonight, it’s a must see. You can check it out here: “Showdown with Iran.”