1. Is there anything you’ve ever eaten that was so delicious that you think of it and go kind of misty-eyed to this very day? Mm. I love the grilled calamari at Cafe Ferreira and we once had a perfect meal at a restaurant in Stockholm called, if I remember correctly, Restaurant. But the one thing that immediately comes to mind is the heaping plate of fried fish (probably sardines or some similar small fish) that I ordered on a family trip to Europe when I was 15. It wasn’t delicious. It was horrible. So horrible. It looked like a plate of french fries with eyes. Beady eyes daring me to eat them. I think I managed three bites. Gah.

2. Are you a city person or country person? Half and half? Why? I guess I am half and half. Although my teenage self would argue that being in the country is so boring, I love being surrounded by woods, or on a lake, with nothing to do but read books and sit in a hammock. Perhaps I enjoy it so much because it is so different from our life in the city.

I suppose in an ideal world I would like to raise my kids in the country until they are school-aged and then spend the weekdays in the city and live in the country on weekends and holidays.

3. You know how, before you actually have kids, you have all these parenting principles (”I’m going to home-school/make all the clothes/never buy junk food/bury the tv in the back yard”), and then when you actually have to raise a kid/kids, you end up kind of abandoning said principles? Do you have any of those? Do you feel guilty? Liberated? Indifferent? We don’t let Amelia watch TV (although she is allowed to play with the iPhone — with the phone/wireless turned off) and we are pretty strict about our bedtime routine (we don’t let her stay up late even if there are people over or we are out somewhere). I gave up on the “no pink” rule because it is a) impractical b) the girls look cute in pink. I don’t feel guilty about it but I do try to make sure to tell both girls how pretty/cute/nice they look no matter what they are wearing, after reading somewhere that girls want to wear dresses all the time because they get more compliments. I’ve gotten more lax about letting Amelia have some sugar (ice cream, the odd cookie or small piece of cake) but I do try to limit it.

4. What’s the loveliest place you’ve ever traveled? Could be wildly exotic or comfortingly local. The island of Kauai was spectacular, as was the Isle of Skye. But if I could choose one place to return to I think it would be Switzerland. Everything about that country is breathtaking.

5. Okay, same as Sigrid: Laundry tips? Please? I hate doing laundry. Or, rather, I hate folding and putting it away. I must have tried 15 different brands of eco-friendly washing detergent and I still haven’t found one kind that gets the job done every time. Oh, and I find that dryer balls work well enough that we no longer use dryer sheets.

6. Do you have a life plan, or do you just sort of truck along? I’m not one for setting hard and fast objectives, such as being married or attaining a job salary/position by a certain age. I thought I would go to law school after getting a liberal arts degree until I stumbled into publishing. I never imagined that I would travel the world to play Ultimate or spend two years living in NYC to get a master’s degree. On the other hand, I have known for many years that I wanted kids and that I wanted to stay home with them for as long as possible. As Melanie said, there are things that I want to do in my life but I do not have a definite plan.

7. Would friends of the teenage you recognize the current you? Would you still get along? I am not sure how to answer this question. I am still friends with a bunch of people from elementary and high school. Does that count?

8. Any novels to recommend for an almost-seven-year-old girl? What were your favourites? Which are you looking forward to sharing with your own kid(s)? I can’t wait until the girls are old enough to be able to sit through chapter books. The Secret Garden, The BFG, Matilda, Island of the Blue Dolphins, A.A. Milne’s books, E.B. White’s The Trumpet of the Swan, Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little are a few that come to mind.

I am not really one for tagging people. But it’d be cool to hear what Marie-Eve, Amy and Julie have to say.

Both girls love summer. Amelia wants to be outside all the time. Almost as soon as she gets up in the morning she starts asking whether we can go “outside.” And she never wants to come in once we are out. The other day it was pouring rain but she still spent about two hours splashing around in the puddles.

Clara continues to sleep through the night on most nights (except last night, when she ate at 3 am. I think she’s in a growth spurt again). In fact we almost can’t keep her awake long enough to give the kids separate bathtimes/bedtimes. Right now they are overlapping because Amelia’s bathtime starts around 6:30 pm and Clara’s around 7 pm. We were trying to keep Clara up longer so she wouldn’t wake up too early, but we decided it wasn’t worth it. And luckily she has been sleeping until about 6 am. Last night she got both a leg and an arm out of the Miracle Blanket so tonight I decided to try her in a sleep sack. I’m not convinced she will be happier with her arms free, but we’ll see.

Amelia practicing her smiles for the camera while Clara stares at Dada.

Yesterday, while we were waiting for Ian to come home from work, I took about 15 minutes of footage of Amelia and I chatting. I did some very rough cropping to get it down to 10 minutes so I could post it to YouTube. So it’s long and not very pretty, but it shows her verbal skills and a little of her “I am almost two” attitude.

She cried for about two seconds after she received her shots and when we got home she napped from 11:30-1:30 pm in her crib. And she fell asleep on her own. I hope she doesn’t get a fever because it is hot enough already!

Here’s a little video of Clara telling me stories. I can’t embed it using the iPhone so I will have to fix it later:

Amelia also enjoyed watching me play, and would wave when I was on the field. She got to see Ian play a game and by all accounts was very excited to cheer on her Dada. And like every kid I’ve ever seen at an ultimate tournament, she had a blast playing with the cones on the field.

Clara was also an excellent little ultimate fan. Plus she decided to start sleeping through the night on Friday so I wasn’t too exhausted to play. Nonetheless, I felt pretty out of shape and “foggy” on the field. For me, ultimate requires a clear head so I can play intuitively. So even though Ian was there to take care of the girls, with two kids on the sidelines my focus was definitely not on the field. It was fun, but I’m not sure how it would work in a more competitive setting.

Regardless, I’m enjoying getting to sleep more than three hours in a row. Clara has slept between eight and ten hours a night for the past four nights. I realise it might not last. But at least we know she is capable of making it through the night now. So we’ve started the same bath, boobies and bedtime routine that we used with Amelia.

I am nowhere near in shape but it was still fun to play. Amelia seemed to really enjoy herself and kept saying that she wanted to play “soccer” too. I guess she calls it soccer because Ian always tells her when he is going to soccer.

Meanwhile, at 9 weeks Clara measures 24 inches and weighs 12.3 pounds. She has grown 4 inches in 9 weeks! No wonder she isn’t fitting in the 0-3 month clothes. And how do we have a tall baby? We are definitely not tall.

Here’s hoping Clara will have another good night.

For some reason this morning she wanted to be in her stroller (in the house) while Ian read her some books: