Hindu Wedding

A little over a week ago we attended a Hindu wedding in northern New Jersey. My friend Liz married a man whose family is originally from India. They had a Christian wedding over a year ago, and then his family threw a Hindu wedding for them. I felt honored to be a bridesmaid in both of her weddings. Hindu weddings traditionally don't have bridesmaids, but Liz's mother-in-law suggested we all take part in this wedding as well. I wish I could elaborate on the ceremony, but since I was chasing Luke around most of the night, I really can't because I'm not sure what happened.

The ceremony took place while people were milling about and eating appetizers. This was great because I could 1) eat and 2) not worry about keeping Luke really quiet while during the ceremony. Everything was beautiful and the food was phenomenal, although a little too spicy for Luke. I walked next door to an Indian market dressed in my sari with Luke. I definitely elicited some intriguing stares as a caucasian woman dressed in fancy, traditional Indian clothing. One woman stopped me to ask if I knew how to tie the sari. Apparently she was impressed with the job that Liz's mother-in-law did. I told her I didn't, and that I was at a wedding next door and looking for something my son could eat. She smiled and pointed toward some biscuits that her son likes. I bought them, along with an orange and some yellow raisins, and walked back to the wedding. Dinner wasn't to be served until 9 p.m. Around 8:30 I tied Luke to my back in a wrap where he slept until we left around 10:00. We had a great, mini-family vacation. Luke's favorite part of the whole trip was the hotel room, where he got to play with the phone and bounce on the bed. We're going camping for a night this weekend on our way down to PA to visit family. I hope Luke likes camping.

Lack of sleep, bitterness

I will come right out and say that my 16 month old Luke is a very mild-mannered and resilient kid. He is very curious and can keep himself entertained, as long as it involves something he shouldn't be doing, like scaling the washing machine or turning the printer on and off. The one complaint I have about this kid is his blatant disdain toward sleep. He is not a sleeper. Zach and I aren't really sleepers either, but we do like our minimum 7 hours at night. Now Luke will sleep on his own bed for a 6-7 hour stretch. When he does wake up, he goes back to sleep with just a little reassurance from me or Zach. I just expected that he would sleep "better" by now. Luke has an intense need to be close to us, and that I don't mind. In fact, I think it's a very healthy need. What does bother me is when he obviously needs to sleep, but instead puts up a fight that results in us leaving him in his room crying, yelling and screaming for several minutes at a time. This can go on for quite some time before we finally give up, let him walk around zombie-like for the rest of the afternoon and decide to put him to bed early, which usually ends up being a measly half hour early. It can be stressful, and added to that stress is the fact that we live on the third floor of a three-family apartment building.
I am paranoid that Luke's crying will result in our college neighbor calling child services on us. It sounds crazy, but this neighbor has given us reason to feel this way. She once ran to our landlords to complain that there was a baby sleeping out on the landing by himself, with no parents around. My mom and I were 20 feet away in the kitchen with the door open. Luke was sound asleep safely secured in his stroller at the top of our landing. It's like our front porch. Someone from the landlord's office came running over to see about it. At that point Luke was awake and no longer on the landing. Crazy landlord lady just kept repeating "you can't do that. you just can't do that". I told her I hoped she didn't come all the way over here just for that, but while she was here, could she look at our oven which had been broken for three weeks at that point with no sign of repair after numerous complaints. I later called the office and spoke with someone a little more levelheaded, someone who actually has kids, and he apologized. I told them that if it's an issue of not having anything at all on the landing, then I would understand, but this overreaction implied that I was being negligent. I am not negligent. So, I'm a little on edge, and I don't feel good about it. Babies cry, and it's natural and okay for them to cry. I am just a little angered by the screwed up society we now live in. I can appreciate someone taking the time to investigate something troubling, but how about the notion of just talking to someone before running to the RA (resident assistant of a college dorm) to tattle on someone. This happened in May, and I am still bitter about it.

Singing Beach

This beach is located in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. We've heard that when it's hot and humid enough, the sand sings. We didn't hear it, but we hope to go back soon.

Happy 4th of July weekend!