Look at those smiles!

Elijah is so fun these days. He is such a happy baby (when he is fed continuously). If you saw our pictures shortly after he was born, you'll notice that since then he has developed a pair of gigantic cheeks and an extra chin or two. All I can say is that the boy loves to eat.

Anna Karenina

This is not a book that I would probably ever have picked up on my own. My brother Bobby gave it to me as a birthday gift, so I was sort of obligated to read it. Plus, I keep seeing it on lists of the "greatest novels EVER" and the like, so as a lapsed English major, I was failing a little bit like a failure anyway having never even picked it up.
Tolstoy surprised me though. I haven't read much Russian literature, but it certainly compares favorably (in my opinion) to Dostoevsky. I'm sure that many of my Karamazov-loving friends would disagree with me. The characters seemed more vivid somehow. It mattered to me what happened to them, Kostya and Kitty particularly. Interestingly enough, the title character was not as significant to me. It was difficult to sympathize much with her tendency to selfishness and obsession, as though it is more noble somehow to live for yourself rather than to willingly sacrifice in order to benefit others.
I only wish that the writer of the foreword had started with a spoilers disclaimer -- he gave away some pretty significant plot points in the course of his analysis. I would have liked to see if my reactions would have differed with less awareness of the ending of the novel.

It may be harder than I thought...

...to actually write anything here. I thought that I would be able to get some kind of record of what I'm reading going on this thing, but I haven't had time to actually sit and put thoughts together. That's got to be the hardest part of mom-ness for me - very little time to actually sit and produce actual significant original thinking. And when you have time, you sure don't have the energy. So I guess I should start making changes to make that happen. Like go to bed earlier instead of staying up reading other peoples' blogs.

the fridge is open

It's my inaugural post - and I already have a child getting into something that he KNOWS he shouldn't be. And my phone rang. The busy life of the mother of two boys, I guess. It seems like my life is either too empty or too full these days. Though I wouldn't trade it for anyone else's. My social life is pretty narrow, there may not be many thrills, and I never get enough sleep. Lined up against that are the three sweetest guys on the planet. I can't imagine my life without them.