Strange and Benevolent

(Nearly) Six Months

2012-01-15T15:30:00.001-08:00

Dearest Otto--

If something were to happen to us and you were left with the evidence of this blog and our photos to determine our love and interest in you, you might feel--in comparison to Stella's first half year--that something was lacking. And, to be fair, there are fewer videos, fewer photos, and fewer blog posts. But that wouldn't really be the truth. While we are busier and more distracted and (perhaps) more tired, we really couldn't love you more. I am equally fascinated with all your stages and new developments. I bask in your smiles. I treasure the moments I get to spend with you and get to really focus on you. I think you're a really fascinating human being.

And you look pretty cute in hats, like your dad!

Case in point, number 2

You've nearly already/only been with us six months. In some ways, it's hard to remember life without you. In others, it's been a blink of an eye since we brought you home and began life as a family of four. In that time, which is practically inconsequential to me as an adult, you've nearly doubled your weight, grown about 4 inches, started smiling, rolling, grasping things, babbling, laughing, and very nearly sitting up reliably. You love to bounce and, I swear, already wish you could stand up and follow your sister around the house.

Not to be left to your own devices for long, but you're starting to be a sitter!

Otto and Stella! We haven't been as good about taking videos and even less good about posting, so here's a livelier view for our friends and family who don't get to see the kids as much in person.

And you're about to start getting to eat food! This feels slightly bittersweet. On the one hand, I can't wait to introduce you to new things--avocado! Sweet potato! Fruits and vegetables, new tastes and textures! You'll finally be able to partake in one of my favorite things and something that really binds us together as a family. At the same time, I feel so blessed to have nourished you up to this point. Until you take that first bite of food, everything that's gotten you to where you are today has come from me. (Well, your father might take slight exception to that, but he knows what I mean!) Sure, sometimes breastfeeding has been taxing and meant I've had to pretty exclusively shoulder a major part of your life, but it also means we've had so much time together. And it's a pretty amazing thing women get to do, and I'm happy this worked out for you and I.

Sitting at the table!

And now you're at school--your first week under your belt. You're a social little guy, so I think being with new kids and adults is a good thing for you. A change for sure, but also a chance to experience new things and have an even broader circle of people who care for and love you. Like your sister, I have a feeling that you're going to thrive in the Montessori setting, where you'll get to be independent and self-driven in ways that are sometimes hard to replicate at home.

Hopefully you're this smiley at school, too!

And, finally, sleep. This is the one area where you've had to get with the program a little more quickly than your sister. I just couldn't keep waking up two, four, six times a night and be a good mom or functioning consultant. So you've cried it out. With the crib in the living room. (One day the remodel will be done and you'll have a proper bedroom!) The first night you cried three times and for some decent stretches. By the fourth night, you did it--sleeping through the night from about 8PM until 5AM--wow! Of course, then you got sick and backslid, but the last two nights you've done it again, so we're hoping for more sleepy nights than not going forward.

Otto, the elephant wrangler! Can't wait to take you places where you could conceivably ride an elephant--Vietnam, India, Thailand....

So know, Otto, you are beloved by your parents. And your sister (who you think is pretty much the coolest thing on the planet). And the rest of your extended family. And probably even many of the readers of this blog.

Love, Mom

Everything old is new again, or is it vice versa?

2012-01-09T20:22:00.000-08:00

Q: What's the difference between a blog about a family with one child, and a blog about a family with two children?

A: The parents in the first situation actually have time to post on their blog.

...or, at least that's sort of how I've felt recently whenever I think of this blog. Then again, the last couple of months have been dominated by Birthdays, the holidays and a slew of never-ending changes, so I think I can be forgiven. But, it also means that I have a lot to catch up on...

So, let's just jump, into it, shall we!

With Thanksgiving behind us, it was full-speed ahead into Christmas. Neither Sarah nor I have generally been the type of people who jump the gun on Christmas decorations, but with it being Otto's first Christmas, and the first Christmas that Stella really "got it," we ended up getting our tree up fairly early this year...

December 2nd, and we've got a decorated tree.

After that, the next couple of weeks were a flurry of parties: my mom's Birthday, lots and lots and lots of holiday parties and (of course) my Birthday! Last year, my Birthday was actually a bit of a bust. I'd organized a big pizza party, but due to inclement weather and a slew of over-lapping Christmas parties, most of the invited guest ended up cancelling out at the last minute. It was still a fun time, and it made me doubly-appreciate those friends who were able to make, but it had left me a little disenchanted with the position of my birth date on the calendar. So, this year I almost didn't have a party...

...until, literally the day before, Sarah urged me to have one anyway. So, at the last minute, I sent out a flurry of emails inviting people to just come on by. And, y'know what, it ended up being one of my favorite Birthday parties in a long time. Not too big, not to small. Just fun a fun evening surrounded by friend, good drink and Korean beef tacos. Cheers!

Me and a couple of my friends -Rhett, Stephanie and Liam- toasting the start of my 36th year. (Photo by Ambika Beck.)

Oh, and somewhere in the middle of all the parties, Otto turned 5 months old...

Congrats, big guy!

...speaking of the "big guy," as Otto get's older and older, he's been able to do more and more. He's rolling now, and can jump in his bouncer. He's also big enough to ride in the hiking backpack. Which, means he's also big enough to fall asleep in it...

Soon though, it was the big day...

Presents under the tree! Plus, stockings! (...including the new one Sarah made just for Otto! Great work, honey!)

Stella shows Otto how to open presents.

After opening presents at our house on Christmas morning, it was over to my parents house for Round Two of presents and more festivities.

Otto spends some quality time with Uncle Travis, while I break out my Christmas hat.

The day after Christmas we finally rested... oh, wait, actually we loaded up our suitcases to fly to Texas to visit Sarah's family! Though Stella's already flown more times than I had by the time I was in my early 20's, this was Otto's first flight and our first out-of-state trip as a family of four. I'd be lying if I said the flight was easy, but -all things considered- I have to admit it went smoothly. But, as seems to be a running theme with child #2, we failed to take a picture of Otto on his first plan ride.

In Texas, first we visited with Sarah's mom and step-dad, or as Stella calls them: Nana and Grandpapa. Our visit with them included a trip to the Dallas arboretum to see a number of fairy tale inspired castles and houses.

Walking with Nana and Grandpapa in the arboretum. You can see one of the fairy tale style houses in the background. (Otto's managed to flip up the front of his bjorn to cover his face. A favorite trick of his.)

Sarah's mom, Sarah, Otto and Stella sit in "Cinderella's carriage." One of Stella's highlights of the visit.

After a couple days, and more presents for Stella and Otto, it was on to Commerce, TX, to visit Sarah's dad and step-mom. While there, in addition to Round 4 of Christmas presents, we also spent a lot of time at the park. One of the nice things about this trip down there was the weather was excellent, in the high 60's and even low 70's. Seattle's actually had a mild, dry Winter so far, but it's still nice to get outside and enjoy some sun!

Otto enjoy's his first slide, with Grandpa Bob. Notice Stella in the background: She won't have anything to do with slides these days. She's a swing girl.

Otto meet's his Great-Grandma Jean.

A random picture of the kids playing in a cardboard house Grandpa Bob had made for Stella in a previous visit. It cracks me up every time I see it.

And, then suddenly, the holiday's were behind us, and we were back home...

Otto and Stella arrive back in Seattle... their parents were only slightly less beat.

With 2012 ahead of us, things have started to slow down a little again. And, while there are always new developments in life -good and bad- I anticipate that the next couple months will be quieter. More time around the house, and hopefully wrapping up the remodel and settling into the new rooms. But mostly, hopefully, a little quiet time. Read all the book we accumulated over the holiday. Maybe play some board games...

Stella beats Grandma Susan, Grandpa Rick and I at Candy Land.

But, that brings us to the final development that happened officially today: I went back to work after 3 months at home, and Otto started Day Care Full-Time. To be honest, the whole thing sort of snuck up on us. And, I'm probably still emotionally unpacking it a little. I have to admit that there is part of me that was starting to go a little stir-crazy; bouncing around the house and fretting over clutter and the remodel. And, there's part of me that was happy to walk into an office this morning, turn on a computer and start working again. But, at the same time, I'll definitely miss getting to spend so much of my time with Otto. These last couple of months have been challenging at times, but have also been a bit of a revelation as I got to know the little guy, and learn what an incredible little person he is. I'm proud of the fact that we got to spend this time together, and that I made the decision to take this paternity leave.

I'll miss being around him all day. But, at least I can console myself by coming home each evening to see his smile...

It's been wonderful, Otto. I love you.

4 Months & 3 Years

2011-12-04T09:31:00.001-08:00

Otto turned four months!

Well, sure, really he's almost closer to five months now, but we did get the picture on the actual day. And he's doing fun stuff, like rolling over, using his bouncy chair and just being more with it.

Helping daddy!

Tummy time!

Bouncing!

He also had his well-baby check-up. He's 17 pounds and 26 inches. Surprisingly, he's only in the 76th percentile for height and weight. (Surpising since he's in 9-month clothes and almost always the biggest baby in the room.)

And Stella turned three!

Last February, after her friend Lucy's party (and three months after her own), Stella got really into the idea of a birthday. Now her interest was cute but unfortunate, given that she had nine months to wait until her birthday rolled around again. So for the previous nine months we've had to talk about how Stella's birthday is after summer, after Otto's birthday, after Halloween and the day after Thanksgiving. But it did finally arrive and we made the most of it.

First, birthday presents on Thanksgiving with Grandma Susan, Grandpa Rick, Great-Grandma Gloria and Great-Aunt Debby.

On the actual day itself, she got pancakes for breakfast, more presents, a trip to the aquarium, a ride on a carousel, her choice for dinner (surprisingly, she requested tofu, and ate a lot) and a birthday cupcake.

Our fairy princess

Birthday carousel ride--I forgot these things make me feel a little carsick

Make a wish! (I believe it ended up being for "candy")

And then came the birthday party. We weren't sure how well-attended it would be right after Thanksgiving, but we had a good number of friends who could come celebrate with us, and it was really fun to see lots of different friends and watch the kids play in the "Zany Zone".

One crafty goal achieved: I saw this and thought it would be perfect for princess-obsessed Stella. It was down to the wire, but I finished it before her party!

Party time!

Stella kept saying she wanted a "rainbow cake" and different colored flowers had to do the trick. I also love that one of her friends in the background has her ears covered up for the birthday song. (I'm almost surprised Stella doesn't!)

And here's Stella holding her baby brother:

Oh, yeah, and Thanksgiving dinner happened amidst all that, too!

Dinner with the Hills!

Laughter

2011-11-19T14:45:00.000-08:00

As Tyler mentioned in the previous entry, Stella has better success at making Otto laugh than any of the rest of us:

Ignore the fog--I had called Tyler in to record this while he was in the middle of washing dishes. Apparently the heat from his hands on the cold camera created its own little weather system.

Probably good to have this on tape for those moments that are less smile-worthy....

Life in the Otto-man Empire

2011-11-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

Quick Note: I started this entry about a week ago, and then abandoned it. I'm not 100% sure why, but mainly it just started to seem to be ramble and become unfocused. And I wasn't sure if our readers (Who are those people anyway? Grandparents? People who wonder why we don't post about travel any more? Emily and Charity?) would have any interest in listening to me talk about the trials and tribulations of being a stay-at-home dad again.

But, Sarah read my abandoned rough draft, and encouraged me to post it. So, here it is, with a quick ending tagged on. I'll post some Halloween pictures at the end of it, to make it worth-while.

About a month ago, I began my Paternity Leave. The idea was that I would take the rest of 2011 off, to watch Otto until he was 6-months old, at which point we will be moving him over to Stella's Pre-School. In the days leading up to me going on leave, I'd begun to naively fantasize about how my average day would play out: Maybe I'd wake up late, and then sip coffee while leisurely playing with Otto. Then around noon, he'd knock off for a nap, I'd eat lunch, and then spend the afternoon wistfully working on a variety of personal art projects, board game designs or maybe write a novel or two. And, of course, I would blog the whole thing daily.

It goes without mentioning that a supernatural, amber light -which filters through the windows and highlights playful dust-specks- illuminated this vividly imagined world.

The fact that I started my leave on October 1st, and am just now getting around to this blog entry should indicate how grounded in reality that all was. In all honesty, the first couple of weeks were rough. Being the adoring father is easy... doing it all day long, while trying to decipher why Otto is screaming at you, is another matter entirely.

It didn't help matters much that at first Otto stubbornly refused to take the bottle. Sure, he'd take a sip now and then, but only enough to tide himself over for the next hour or so. Then, resume screaming.

Also, I don't think I fully took into account what we can affectionately call our "Third Child:" The remodel. As I'm sure we've mentioned in this blog more than once, over a year ago, we began a basement remodel to convert our little 2-bedroom, 1-bath bungalow into a little 4-bedroom, 2-bath bungalow. Anyhow, with Otto's arrival, it because increasingly apparent that we needed more elbow room, so we've redoubled out efforts to push it through to completion. After a few fitful starts and stops, it's been in pretty full-swing since I've started my leave. And, as a result, when I'm not down there tearing up old carpet or peeling off old wood paneling myself, someone else is inevitably down there pounding away with a hammer, firing a nail gun, running a drill or electric screw-driver or otherwise making a huge racket. And, while sometimes Otto impressed me with his ability to sleep through the cacophony, other times it has been just too much for him, leading to an erratic sleep pattern.

This pretty much sums things up.

To top that all off... the poor eating and poor sleeping has then played havoc on Sarah's ability to rest up, since he would pretty much permanently latch himself to her in the evenings and nights. So, she wasn't getting the sleep she probably needs. Add to that the fact that her work has been hectic enough that it's been eating into her evenings and weekends, and Sarah's been, well, beat tired.

As for Stella... well, Stella's a 2-year old. A 2-year old who probably hasn't been getting the attention she thinks she deserves, and who is busy defining herself by wanting the exact opposite of whatever it is the rest of the family wants or needs at that particular moment.

To sum up, it's been a bit rocky at times these last couple of weeks.

So, when, at the end of last week, Sarah needed to go to LA for a couple of nights for a conference, I was a bit intimidated by the idea of staying home alone for two nights with both the kids. Otto still wasn't really taking the bottle, and Stella has been in a bit of a mommy phase since... well... sometime around when she turned one. So, my imagination was suddenly picturing less in the way of amber sunlight, and more in the way of lots of screaming and tears.

There were so many ways the whole thing could have gone horribly wrong and......y'know, it went really smoothly.

Sure, there were moments. Sure it was hectic. And, sure there was a meltdown or two. But, overall, it was a nice couple of days. About, halfway through the first day, Otto decided that bottles weren't intrinsically evil, and went from drinking 1 or 2 ounces a feeding to more like 6 to 9 ounces.

Meanwhile, Stella confirmed our working theory that she is better behaved when she's around just one of us than she is when she's around both of us. Maybe it's because when Sarah and I are talking to each other it means we aren't paying attention to her. But, whatever the reason, she was a delight to be with for most of the weekend, more or less living in her Princess dress and helping out in her own 2-year-old way (though, note, as she'll let you know, she's almost 3).

On the morning of our third day together, realizing we didn't have any bread in the house for toast, we piled in the car and headed down to All City Coffee Georgetown. I grabbed a mocha, while Stella went for the ginger muffin and hot chocolate. Otto, meanwhile, was content to sit in his car seat, watching members of the Cretin's Motorcycle Club mill around and prepare for a ride to some distant location. Everything just sort of clicked. Even, when I realized we'd lingered to long too long, and need to head out to a birthday party for one of Stella's classmates, the curve ball went smoothly. And, instead of panicking, we just switched gears and headed straight to the party.

Maybe, we rounded some sort of corner. Or, maybe I just adjusted my expectations about what my leave would look like; and Otto adjusted his expectations about what feeding time would look like. Regardless, I feel like him and I have started to find our rhythm together. Which is great, because it means that I'm getting to focus more on what a wonderful little person he is.

Its funny how, when people compliment your baby, certain compliments seem to bubble up again and again. For Stella is was always some variation of "she looks like she's really taking everything in" or "she sure seems observant." For Otto, the reoccurring compliment is "he sure seems happy" or "look at that smile!" And, its true! He's just a smiley, smiley kid. That's not to say he doesn't have his freak out periods (and, boy, does he have some lungs when its one of those), but for the most part, he's just a really easy going, happy kid.

He's also started laughing, and its Stella who seems to have a line on his sense of humor. Often, she's be hugging him, kissing him, squeezing him or otherwise man-handling him to the point where Sarah and I get concerned he'll be crushed... but usually he's just grinning away. And, Stella has a number of faces and sounds she makes that will leave him in stitches. It's fun watching their relationship blossom.

Me and the kids, one random morning. When either Sarah or I am watching both of them, this is how things usually end up.

Like his sister, Otto's also a real physical fellow. He likes to be held facing out, and is perpetually moving and grooving. It can be tiring on the arms, since he's also a big of a baby behemoth, but still.

All in all, its been exhausting. But, at the same time, it's been good exhausting. And, things seem to be getting better. Heck, even the remodel seems to be getting closer and closer to being done.

OK. Halloween! With pictures!

This years, Halloween was a lot of fun. While, of course, the festivities flew right over Otto's head, Stella was able to get into the fun more. All in all, there was a field trip to a pumpkin farm, two different pumpkin carving parties, another trip to a pumpkin farm with my parents, decorative ghosts for our front yard and Trick or Treating! Good times all!

"100% Princess, 100% of the Time" is my recent, unofficial slogan for Stella. Stella is still deep into her Princess Phase, so this years costume wasn't a big surprise.

The day before Halloween, we went with my parents to a pumpkin farm. By the time we got there, the pumpkins were fairly picked over, but it was a fun chance for Stella to run through the muddy fields, explore a corn maze and ride the "Animal Train"...

My mom, Stella, Sarah and Otto get ready to ride the Animal Train at the pumpkin farm. Belle looks eager to join them.

Trick or Treating.... which lasted exactly 3 houses this year, before Stella decided she'd had enough and was really to call it a night. She tends to be timid around strangers, so not surprising that she wasn't a big fan of going door to door demanding candy from them.

Mini-Catch Up

2011-11-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

A lot's been happening: I'm back at work, Otto turning three months, Halloween and going away for my first work trip. And besides that, there's just the daily work of having two kids, a job, a remodel and still not enough sleep. So this little quick update will have to do for now!

While I was in Anaheim for the annual American Evaluation Association's conference, I was shocked to realize that we had taken photos of Otto on the day he turned three months but had failed to document it here:

Otto at 3 months (with his sister who can't stand to not be part of the action)

Otto continues to be a pretty easy-going baby, hanging out, watching Stella, and starting to roll over and be obsessed with his toes:

Rolling over! It's still an occasional occurrence, and he gets frustrated that his arm gets stuck under his chest, but it is offically part of his baby repetoire. (And, funny story, this outfit was from a family at Stella's child care that had a slightly older Otto and handed this down! Even stranger is that they're a friend of a friend of a friend. With a son named Otto. Small world.)

Wearing a cute hat from Nana!

Starting to sit in his little baby seat and hanging with his fantastic older sister

Stella keeps things interesting, too, coming home from preschool with all kinds of new skills (necklace beading) and songs:

Apparently they sing this during birhday circle times: 12 (months), 52 weeks, 365 days, the earth goes round the sun....

And here's my fantastic family--big sister, big baby brother, and wonderful husband. I missed them so much while I was gone:

Crushing

2011-10-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to do this post for a while now, but have learned that when you are living in the Otto-man Empire, nothing ever quite happens on schedule. But, more about that in a later post, because today I wanted to talk about the 2011 Grape Crush!

For the last 5 years, Sarah and I have been making wine with a loosely organized group of people, in could what maybe be described as a Co-Op. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, ranging from people moving, to money, to just having too much wine, most of the people bowed out of the group this year. With the recent arrival of Otto, plus the ongoing basement remodel, Sarah and I seriously concerned taking a year off ourselves... but, in the back of our minds, we were worried that -if we took this year off- we might not pick the hobby and tradition up again next year.

So, after some soul-searching and convincing the old groups ringleader and organizer, Gary, to buy in on a third of our barrel, we decided to solider on ahead. But, since the grape crush has traditionally been held at Gary's house, and because Gary recently moved, we'd need to host it somewhere new: Our house.

This years crush would be significantly smaller than previous years. But, calling on friends old and new, we planned on having people meet at our place to crush grapes, enjoy a potluck meal and, of course, drink wine. And, since it was hosted at our house, I thought it might be fun, this year, to walk you all through the process.

(One of the surprising bonuses of this years crush was that our friend and fellow baby-sitting Co-Op member Erika Warner-Court and her family attended. Erika is an amazing photographer and all the photos featured in this entry were taken by her and, obviously, © Copyright Erika Warner-Court.)

The Grapes! In past years, we've generally purchased 2-3 tons of grapes directly from a grower in Eastern Washington. This year, with only one barrel to fill, Sarah, Gary and I ordered 500lbs of Syrah grapes from WWAWA (the Western Washington Amateur Winemakers Association... I think).

The Crusher! From the truck, the first place the grapes go is through the crusher. The crusher, like the press (more on it later), has plenty of Old World Charm™, and has connections to noted food writer Angelo Pellegrini. The crusher is used to loosely break up the grapes. From there it's off to...

De-stemming! Probably the least glamorous, but arguable the most important part of the Crush. A team of workers digs through the tubs of crushed grapes separating stems from the grapes and juice. Many winemakers try to remove nearly all the stems from the grapes before fermentation. But, we traditional try to leave some stems, which we feel helps add to the tannins in the wine.

The Vats! The separated grapes, juice and some stems are then dumped into our fermentation vats. At the end of the day, we'll add SO2 to the grapes to help kill any bad bacteria. Then the following day, we begin adding SuperFood and Yeast to the grapes to begin the fermentation process, which will last for several weeks.

The Press! After being separated from the grapes, the stems are dumped into the press. After the press is filled with stems, they're pressed to extract any last juice from them, and that juice is also added to the vats.

The Clean Up! - After successfully crushing and de-stemming the grapes, everyone is eager to get on to the drinking and eating (OK, so we've been drinking and eating the whole time... but still), but it's important to get things cleaned up, especially since most of the equipment, from the crusher to the press to (in this case) my dad's truck are on loan. But, that taken care of, it's on to...

The Feast! - Traditionally, this takes the form of a spaghetti feed in Gary and Cynthia's garage. But, this year, it took the form of a backyard banquet, with lasagna, chili and a variety of sides.

The Wine! - The Crush also serves and an opportunity to drink wine. Lots of wine! This year, we opened a bottle (or two) of our four previous vintages. (Photo by Ambika Beck, who also took some really great pictures.)

Sarah and I were both really pleased with how this years Crush went. And, while we miss having it at Gary's house, we both agreed that we'd be happy to continue hosting future crushes at our place. Now, for the grandparents and various family members, some additional pictures of Stella and Otto...

Back to Work! (Not that this hasn't been work....)

2011-09-29T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it's arrived. My last day of my maternity leave. No, I'm not going back to work on on Friday. Rather, it's the last day Otto and I have home alone together before I go back to work on Monday. My maternity leave has felt of two parts: Monday-Thursday while Stella's at school and Tyler's at work, and Friday-Sunday when the whole family is home.

Kicking it with Otto-man

I feel bittersweet about the return to the work. In some ways, I dread finding the new new-normal. We have this routine down, with mornings getting Stella and Tyler out the door, time to nap as needed, and time to run errands and cook dinner before everyone else is home. Going back to work is definitely going to mix that up. And, of course, I'll miss being around Otto so much just as he's opening up more to the world and getting more fun.

But, to be truthful, part of me is also happy to get back to the adult Sarah. The one who can focus on a task for more than an hour at a time and gets to have a fulfilling professional life in addition to being a mom. Because I've been able to (and chosen to) exclusively breastfeed, Otto and I have been inseperable since his birth. In some ways, having some time alone beyond the one or two times I've made a 20 minute run to the grocery store will be welcome, too.

Part of the sadness probably is also due to the fact that I've enjoyed these early days with Otto more than I did the first time around. Partly because I think we're more experienced this time around. Partly Otto is probably just a bit of an easier baby. Partly because of the sunny days. And partly because we haven't had our life turned upside down. As I've mentioned before, with Stella around adding Otto to the mix hasn't given us carte blanche to mix things up. She still needs her usual routine, so it's been more a process of incorporating Otto into family life than creating a new life with kids.

And my own sadness can be tempered by the fact that I'm excited that Tyler (who will likely soon be the more frequent contributor) is going to be stay-at-home dad for the next few months. Tyler and I both took off the first three months with Stella, and he still watched her part-time when I went back to work. With Otto, he's been home some but working a contract gig the last six weeks or so, so he hasn't had nearly as much one-on-one time with him yet. And because Tyler is such a great dad, I'm excited for Otto to get to have so much time with him, too!

It's going to be an interesting week, for sure. Otto hasn't yet had a bottle, and I'm a little worried about how tired I'll get (Otto's been back to up 4+ times a night), but we'll forge ahead! Onward!

Pacific Beach, 2011

2011-09-24T14:48:00.001-07:00

Last year, we made our first family trip to Pacific Beach with our friends Alison and Rhett. We camped at the state park and spent lots of time letting Stella and their dog Bisou run around in the sand. This year, Alison asked if we wanted to join them again, this time renting a house instead of camping since we both had little ones. (Fun fact, Alison had her son Oliver two days before Otto was born!) So, with a house rented, a good weather forecast, and our car packed to the gills, we set off on our first family overnight trip since Otto came on the scene.

Me and Otto hanging with Alison and Ollie!

We stayed in a little house a few blocks off the beach called the Salty Dog, and I think we'd all agree it was a little...salty. Clean and adequate for sure, but I don't think there was one 90-degree angle in the entire place. But it was a fine home for four adults, one toddler, two babies and one dog for two nights.

View down Pacific Beach--we were happy to get some sun, but we also love the more typical moody Washington coast

And we got there to beautiful sunny weather. The only downside? Infants and sun don't really mix since they can't have any sunscreen at this point. And, despite the sun, there was a fierce wind blowing when we made our first attempt to the beach. Shortly after we got to the beach, Otto decided to get hungry. Seeing as there wasn't any way to shield him from the elements while he ate, I walked the thankfully short walk back with a screaming baby while Stella and Tyler had some fun playing.

The next day was more of the same--sunny but windy. We went down for another visit after breakfast and had better luck. Stella, remembering Mexico perhaps, insisted on wearing her swimsuit--and only her swimsuit--out, but fortunately agreed to add on the layers we'd insisted on bringing along and had a good time building sand castles. Well, she quickly tired of the sand castle building and then ran around Tyler's castle fortress and added decorations she found in the sand.

Otto, geared up for the elements, including a sun hat and fleece blankie. this time he stayed blissfully asleep so I could have some time by the coast!

Stella, starting to build sand castles until she decided it was more fun to....

decorate ones built by...

Tyler, sand castle fortress builder extraordinaire

Queen (or probably princess) of the castles! Notice the swimming suit under the more weather appropriate clothes....

Later that day, we decided to try one of Alison and Rhett's tricks--driving onto a part of the beach further north from where we were staying so we could enjoy the view without all of the elements. And we were excited to have a chance to put the new car to use--four wheel drive and a nice big back we could sit in. Unfortunately, when we got there a sweet but abandoned dog wanted to make friends. Though he was friendly, he scared Stella who then refused to play or sit in the trunk. And the dog's sad situation made the rest of us depressed. So we hung out, briefly, with a little bit of kite flying before heading back to the house.

The new Subaru on the beach

Not exactly how we thought we'd spend that beach trip...

At least someone got to enjoy himself...

Not too surprisingly, between the babies and Stella, we spent a fair amount of time just hanging out in the Salty Dog. Here you can see the fate for newborns of this day and age:

Baby in one arm, iPad keeping the hands busy....

On our last day, we struck beach "gold": it was cloudy but warm and surprisingly calm. We made one last trek down enjoying the moodier Washington coast before it was time to head back to Seattle.

Last visit to the beach, at least for this year! (Otto slept through the whole thing.)

coming back from feeling the icy cold Pacific on my feet. Stella still found it "too loud."

Before we left, we thought it would be great to get a family portrait since we don't often have an easy way to have all of us in the picture at one time. Sadly, the kids didn't seem to be in the mood to cooperate:

Two crying kids, two worn out parents...not quite the portrait we had in mind...

But we did make up for it a bit at the beach:

Family self-portrait. No tears!

Fortunately, Otto was a great traveller, even though he's often a pretty fussy car passenger. And Stella kept up her enthusiasm for being in a "new house" as she calls any hotel or rental, and enjoyed having other adults to pepper with questions. (queue Stella ad nauseum: "Alison, what are you doing?" Lucky for us, Alison and found this cute rather than annoying.) And it was surprisingly calm and easy considering we had two babies about six weeks old in one house!

Already looking forward to next year's trip!

2 Months Stats and Ruminations

2011-09-21T09:12:00.001-07:00

Otto's already two-months old!

Otto at two months!

And he's growing like a weed! At his two month well-baby appointment, our doctor confirmed what's pretty much obvious to everyone--Otto is a healthy, strapping young boy. He's already 24.75" long (96th percentile) and 14 lbs 9 oz (also 96th percentile), which, while a workout for us, is apparently a little light for his length.

He's already nearly outgrown his Moses basket....

And here you can really tell he's already about half Stella's weight...

People always say he looks very "boy"--I don't know if that's partially due to his size, but he is sturdier looking and broader-chested than Stella was at this age.

Smiley boy!

It's interesting being mother to a boy. Being a feminist, I was really cognizant with Stella about not "over" gendering her or only introducing girly things. She's got blocks and toy cars, and we purposely often got gender neutral colored things (pacifiers, dishes, etc.) even after she was born. I didn't think there was any need for her to be a super girly infant, and I didn't care if sometimes people assumed she was a boy. (And I still find myself being annoyed about little girls being left out of certain baby themes. Why can't little girls also be "rockstars" and have cute guitar-themed PJs?) But there are such stronger norms about boys not being girly. For example, we were trying to introduce the pacifier using some leftover from Stella's newborn days. He seemed to like one best that happened to be girly (a pink heart on the end of it), and we found ourselves discussing how we felt about using it in public or getting something less feminine. It's also interesting how it plays out in the way we talk about/to Otto. He's "little man" versus Stella's "baby girl" and "flirts" when he's smiling. There are probably myriad other tiny ways we telegraph certain expectations about being a boy that are so deeply ingrained in our subconscious that we're not even fully aware of them. It's something I'll be interested in continuing to ponder and examine.

And Otto's just different from Stella, too, in temperment and certain preferences. On the happy side, he seems to be moving towards being a better sleeper than Stella. For the past week or so, he's only woken up once or twice a night, which I hope he keeps up as my return to work is fast approaching which will mean far fewer opportunities to nap and play catch up! And he hasn't taken to a pacifier (which we find a mixed blessing given Stella just gave hers up) but instead seems to want to suck on his fist. He's more content to sit quietly (Stella was constantly in motion), but, like her, he wants to be sitting up or facing out.

Working on finding his thumb/fist

Being held, upright of course, by daddy

It's also been interesting to adjust to being a mother of two instead of just one. I've heard people worry that the second baby gets the short end of the stick. In some ways, I suppose it's true. But I almost feel like I'm a better mother of two than one. With Stella, I sometimes just felt like I had a hard time balancing spending quality time with her and feeling like there were other things I needed to do with my time. With Otto, that's just a fact of life. And because we've been through it before and don't intend on doing the baby thing again, the sweet things are that much sweeter and the less sweet times seem less bad. This time we really do know that it will all be short-lived.

Our two babies! (Of course, Stella needed her time in the photo, too....)

And it's cute to see the two of them starting to develop a relationship. Sure, a lot of times Otto's just along for the ride that is life with Stella, but he's also fascinated by her and will get to experience a lot more as a baby. And I think Stella will love it when he's a little older and more interactive. Yesterday, she was playing peekaboo with him and trying to give him toys to play with.

Along for the ride

Looking up to big sis!

I've got another week and a half of maternity leave. So while things feel like they're well in hand now and we're getting a good handle on this family of four thing, we're all about to have a new adjustment as I go back to work and Tyler starts his paternity leave with the growing, amazing Otto!

2 and 3/4s

2011-09-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

When Stella turned two, she enjoyed having cupcakes and seeing friends (if she also found it a little overwhelming when suddenly everyone was singing and looking at her). About three months later, she got really interested in my birthdays--a bit unfortunate since her birthday was then a *long* ways away. So we've been talking about how far off her birthday is for awhile now (after Mommy, before Daddy) and it occurred to me that while we still tell people she's 2 1/2, she's getting closer and closer to being a three-year-old. So while Otto's been going spotty and smiley and cooing, this is what Stella's been up to.

Stella at the beach, looking so happy and carefree!

As she has been for awhile, Stella continues to be very independent. She picks out her own clothes and dresses herself and has strong opinions about what to wear. And lately that only includes dresses and skirts, sometimes in exciting color and pattern combinations.

Red and white polka dot dress, striped tights and blue plaid shoes? Yes, please!

the glasses are upside down, but at least the shoes are on the right feet!

Shirt, skirt and mommy's shoes were the choice this day

She's also discovered the little girl drug called Disney Princesses, which might have some relation to the wearing of skirts and dresses. Now she wants long hair "like a princess." Since seeing "Tangled," it's also long hair to the floor that goes "around and around and around." (We've tried explaining that this will make her least favorite part of bathtime--combing her hair--that much harder to no avail.) I don't think her first haircut will be coming anytime soon!

A new favorite dress with the appropriate accessories--nametag beads turned necklace and bracelets, and, of course, long hair

She's also full of songs--songs she's learned from school (Mary had a little lamb, baa baa black/green/pink/etc. sheep, skinamarinky dinky dink, etc.) and, increasingly, those she makes up to fit the occasion at hand. (Hello, Tyler genes!)

She's also expressing more of her creativity and doing make believe--I'm the princess, and she's the queen (again with the princesses!), creating elaborate picnics for all of us in the living room, and setting up her tent for all of us to sleep in, with blankets and stuffed animals for each of us, including Otto!

Picnic for me and Stella

Then she created picnics for Tyler and Otto, too, recognizing that Otto doesn't really need much food yet (in the foreground)

She's also more interested in what's going on around her. A regular refrain to Tyler and I is, "What are you talking about?"

And, excitingly, she is now soothie (aka pacifier) free! We'd been a bit reluctant to make the break, given the arrival of Otto, but it was definitely time. While on our weekend away at Pacific Beach (more on that soon!), she'd bitten a big hole in her soothie and had to go without for a day and night. And this was getting to be a regular occurrence, and a further sign that she was too old for them. We gave her the last one, as promised, when we returned home and told her to be careful with it if she wanted it for any length of time. I think that she must have been ready to give it up, because the next day she gave it to me and told me to throw it away and that was that. The first night was the hardest as far as crying up and waking up in the middle of the night. The second day she cried a bit at nap and bedtime, but it was better than I expected in that she didn't ask for it umpteen times throughout the day. But by the third day it was over, and I think she also felt really pround of herself.

No more pictures like this--woo-hoo!!

Stella continues to do really well as an older sister. She's gotten less jealous than she was at first and has really incorporated Otto into her little world. When he cries, she'll try and help with blankets or his own soothie (even thought he's not so interested).

Another blessing for Stella being independent--she's adjusted well to the new scene of a slightly distracted Mommy

We'll have another milestone in a few days--she's moving up at her Montessori child care from the toddler room to preschool proper. This will mean a new teacher, a new room, and new kids. We're excited for her, but I feel like I'm getting a peek at how I'll feel when she starts kindergarten. Is there more I should be doing to prepare her? Will she handle the transition OK? Is she really ready?

So that's our daughter! Still the loving, somewhat sensitive, cautious, happy, independent, well-behaved girl who's been in our lives for almost three years! Especially in comparison to Otto, she seems so grown up, yet it occurred to me for all the time and energy that have gone into these years, she probably won't remember any of it!

Beachcombing find for our little girl!

Baby Acne and Baby Smiles and Baby Sounds (updated)

2011-09-02T13:19:00.001-07:00

I have not remembered the exact timing of all of Stella's developmental milestones (thank goodness for the blog version of the traditional baby book!), but one I did remember for Otto was that baby acne would likely hit right around four weeks. And why was this less than pleasant baby phase so memorable? Well, Stella's birthday is November 25th, which meant that she was one month at Christmas. Of course, we still thought she was very cute, but she was sporting a teenage complexion and a middle-aged man do for all the holiday photos:

Her head is covered up, but here's Stella out in the snow around 4 weeks old

So I knew with Otto to be prepared. And it did come. Maybe with slightly less vengeance than with his sister, but he's been spotty for a few weeks.

Otto seems to be taking all this baby acne in stride

And really it's no big deal. It will go away and we'll stop having to warn people meeting him for the first time that he's not as his most dapper. Plus, now we get real, honest-to-goodness smiles!

Luckily caught one of Otto's smiles on camera!

In addition to the smiles, we're getting more alertness and facial expressions, like this one which seems to convey, "What the heck are my parents subjecting me to now?!"

Yesterday while trying to crank this out during a quiet moment, I also forgot about the new sounds and noises Otto is making! More than expressions, we're now getting "goo"s and other cute little sounds as he interacts with us.

Now we're hitting the six week growth spurt, eating marathon. Can't believe only one more month before I go back to work!

First Month with Otto

2011-08-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

Newborn time: cycling between eating, burping, getting a diaper change and sleeping. I'd forgotten how being in the middle of that schedule makes time move differently and makes it harder to get anything done (while at the same time not always feeling like I'm doing much.) But this morning Otto is having a little snooze, and of the many things I could try and get done, and as Otto's a month old today, a blog entry seemed fitting.

One month already--it doesn't feel like that much time has passed....

So many things have been different this time around. Otto's birth was really different. Tyler shared the basics before, but this time we were in the hospital longer, the labor was a little longer but the intense time was much less. And after Otto was born we were, as expected, as in love with him as possible. But it didn't feel so new this time. Rather, it felt as if now things were somehow complete. We now had the two healthy children we were hoping for and it felt right and natural to add him to the family.

Otto with an adoring daddy!

It's also been easier to do the newborn stuff. Breastfeeding? No problem. Crying jags at night? Now we know it won't last forever, and we have better soothing skills. Gassiness? I already know the likely culprits to cut out of my diet. Getting out and about? Piece of cake.

Taking a snooze after a little snack!

Otto's first bath--just as relaxed as his sister used to be!

I'm also being smarter about making sure I get sleep this time, which cures a whole host of ills I experience when over-tired (including being irritable, anxious and easily overwhelmed). We know this time that this is a marathon, not a sprint, so we're happy for any help we can get, any time anybody wants to spend holding Otto and sleeping whenever I need it and can get away with it. And Tyler and I do more dividing and conquering. When Stella was a baby, we both would be up at night for feedings and diaper changes. Now that Tyler's back at work, I let him sleep as much as possible, and he does the same in the mornings or weekends when I need to play catch up.

I think I'm also helped this time by having a toddler who still needs schedule and routine. Stella's still in childcare four days a week, so I get a nice mix of morning and evening time with her with our usual activities (dinner, bed time, making pancakes, etc.) and then I have my four days with Otto that can be a lot of nothing if need be.

And Stella's been adjusting about as well as a 2 1/2-year-old can probably be expected to. She generally seems to like Otto, giving him blankets, talking about being a big sister, sometimes asking to hold him and taking turns doing things like laying on the play mat.

Holding hands! Stella got so much positive attention this time when she first did it that it's become a regular thing for her to do.

Sharing bath toys during Otto's first bath

Being part of the birthday fun! (She's very anxious for her next birthday)

Multitasking--brushing Stella's teeth while giving Otto some tummy time

The biggest challenge is the jealousy over me feeding Otto. Almost as soon as I'm holding Otto, she wants to be in my lap. Now.

We took this because Stella was getting jealous of us taking photos of Otto, but it turned out so cute I just had to include it here too.

I worried before Otto was born that being a second baby would mean an early babyhood overshadowed by his sister. But we are just as enamored with him as Stella, and in some ways he might be getting less of our undivided attention (and there probably are fewer photos and videos), but he's probably getting better quality attention since we're more relaxed and experienced this go around.

And because we still think Stella's pretty cute, I wanted to include these shots:

At the Samoan festival, happily running back from throwing away some trash!

Tyler and Stella as moody French film stars

Six Years

2011-08-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

I know that most of you are waiting for more pictures and stories about Otto (and believe me, they're coming), but I wanted to do a quick entry about another person who I'm constantly in love with and in awe of: Sarah!

...since today marks our 6th Wedding Anniversary!

In past years, we've marked our wedding with cards, renewed vows, remarkable dinners or, of course, travel. But, while having a 4-week-old and a 2-year-old might make some of those things a bit ambitious, I thought I'd at least take the time to make this quick post to mention -yet again- how much I love my fabulous wife.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first picture of Sarah and I together, snapped by someone's Polaroid camera at a random party just a month or two after we started dating. If for no other reason, it will always be a favorite of mine, and the original hangs in the hallway of our house.

And it begins! Our wedding day! (Fun fact: You can see our friend, Alison, adjusting Sarah's dress on the right. Her son, Oliver, was born two days before Otto!)

Sarah and I on our honeymoon! (Regular readers will recognize this as our "profile picture" in the upper right corner.) We took the ferry our of Bellingham up to Southeast Alaska. It was an amazing experience, and one we largely credit for the reason we decided to go on our Round the World trip together.

Our second Wedding Anniversary, in Istanbul, while on our trip. While it's been years now, that trip was still one of the defining moments of our lives and -specifically- our lives together. If you can survive marathon bus rides, strange stomach bugs and questionable accommodations together for 7 months, it leaves no doubt that you can survive anything.

Stella's birth... still one of the most amazing experiences of my life. And, along with watching her through Otto's birth, I will forever be in awe of what she's capable of.

And, finally, recently, Sarah with Stella and Otto. Sarah is my amazing wife, but both Stella and Otto are lucky to have her as their amazing mother.

...Which brings us, briefly, to today. I'd be lying if I didn't say that things haven't been exhausting recently. A newborn and a toddler live to come up with new ways of making adults tired. But, I couldn't hope to have someone better to be exhausted with. Knowing Sarah for these last 7+ years, and being married to her for the last 6, has been one long lesson in the best sense of the word: I've learned how much I'm capable of loving someone else. I've learned to explore the world and to embrace food and life. I've learned how much I could love the two small people we've brought into this world. I've learned compassion and learned strength, and how to treat others with dignity and respect. I've learned all these things and more because I've had someone to inspire me: Sarah.

I love you, Sarah, Happy 6th Anniversary!

Otto's Arrival!

2011-07-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, July 17th, at 2:55pm, our family had it's newest edition arrive: Otto Allen Hill-Stach! Otto weighs in a 9lbs, 1oz, and is 21 inches long and is, well, amazing.

I'm sure that Sarah will want to tell the birth story in more detail at a later date, but here are some rough details for those of you who are interested: Her labor started around 12:30am, and we headed in to the hospital around 3:30. From there things progressed steadily, until they stalled out a little before noon, with Sarah dilated at 8 centimeters. Around 1:30, the mid-wife suggested breaking her water to help move things along, and -once broken- things progressed very rapidly, with Otto making his appearance at 2:55pm after only 10 minutes of pushing.

Like Stella's birth, Sarah managed the whole thing with out any sort of pain medication and amazed not just me, but also the nurses and mid-wife, who were heard commenting things like: "Can you believe she's at 8cm, and still walking around and talking like this?" I am, again, amazed and inspired by her.

Anyhow, on to the baby photos!

The man himself! (Or should I say "Otto-man"?) What a handsome fella! It's amazing how much different he looks than Stella, he's very much his own little person.

Stella meets Otto. It's crazy to think that these two little people will likely spend their entire lives hanging out together and being best friends. And, here they are, just meeting.

Stella seems to really like Otto overall. There have been a couple moments since his arrival, that you could tell she's a little jealous of the attention he receives and the amount of time he spends on mom's lap, but overall, she seems to really like her "baby brother Oddo."

Sarah looking stunning the day after giving birth. Anyone who believes the stereotypes that men are strong while women are prone to tears should watch Sarah and I in the delivery room.

The Birthing Room, with my parents and Otto on the left. I thought I'd include this so I could mention a little piece of trivia: This was also the same room that Stella was born in, and both Stella and Otto ended up being delivered by the same mid-wife. Continuity!

Anyhow, I'll end this by saying that we are all happy and excited to be settling into our new life as a family of four. Someone asked me the other day, if I felt a sense of pride because I have a boy now, and I while I sort of go back and forth on that (since, honestly, I would have been just as excited about having another girl); I will say that I feel sort of a sense of completion now. Both Sarah and I have always imagined ourselves with two children, and now we have them. We've arrived at our imagined goal... and now, we are all looking forward to our shared future opening up to us, together as a family.

But, first, I probably need to check to see if Otto needs his diaper changed.

40 weeks!

2011-07-14T19:18:00.001-07:00

Today is Baby Number 2's due date, and it doesn't look like anything will happen before the day is over. I'm not too impatient yet--honestly, I was happy to have the past few days this week with Stella in child care and me being on maternity leave to take care of some last minute details and get some extra rest.

40 weeks! And ready, physically, mentally, etc....

The added time has had some advantages:

A little more mommy-Stella time before I'm officially having to share my attention with the new one

Checking out the fantastic new Bar del Corso pizza place that opened this week on Beacon Hill

Taking long walks with Tyler around Seward Park, getting a pedicure, meeting friends for lunch and brunch. And if nothing happens in the next 24 hours, I figure my reward is to see the final Harry Potter on the big screen. (And I'm superstitious enough to hope that means I'll go into labor before that can happen!)

So, baby--if you're listening--we want you to come when you're ready, but we're ready for you any time now!! And hopefully I won't be doing any 41 week entries....

Preparations

2011-07-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

A week ago, we thought we'd have a one-day-old baby today. But we found out last Wednesday and Thursday that things had, in fact, changed--my uterus had grown in such a way that my placenta went from being .77 centimeters (too close) to my cervix to over 4 centimeters away, well outside the dangerous zone. As probably most of you know, this was a major relief. While I had accepted the need for the surgery and was excited to meet this new baby, I did experience a profound sense of relief to get to go back to the original plan and back to the midwives at Swedish Ballard.

With that came the funny feeling of having both more and less time--we suddenly didn't know when the baby would arrive and needed to start figuring out things like birth plans and contingency plans for how we'll juggle Stella and labor. It's also meant that we've had (hopefully only) a few more days since I officially finished up work for my maternity leave to finalize last minute details.

39 weeks! Stella fits snugly under my belly where she likes to "bonk heads" with the baby.

Like setting up the baby's space. As most of you know, we're in the process of remodeling. Someday we'll go from a 2-bedroom 1.25 bath house to four bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. But that day isn't going to be in the next week or so, so Baby #2 will be formally living in our room with us for the first 3-6 months. In reality, that's where Stella spent all of her early days as well, so we've just been making a more formal space for it. We have the changing station, clothes and the Moses basket ready to go!

I'm standing in the corner where the Moses basket is, but you can see the dresser and changing station. While Stella had a fully decorated room, I think this is cozy and practical and will work well for a few months at least!

And I'm pleased to say I finished the baby's quilt. I had a long period of procrastination but was able to finish it all up the week before the due date, so baby, like Stella, can have this as a special gift right away.

The pinwheel quilt! If I'd had more time, I might have been a little more ambitious with some of the quilting, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

We're still trying to prepare Stella. I think she knows and understands as well as a 2 1/2-year-old can. She'll talk about being a big sister and how when the baby is around she wants to hold it and burp it and kiss and hug it gently. But we'll see. I think it's going to be a pretty major adjustment...

Stella "hugging" the baby--she'll say "hi" to the baby when prompted, but she mostly still wants to be on my lap and the center of attention....

And now we're preparing for birth. I'm hoping that the experience is as good as it was with Stella--14 hours, no interventions necessary, everyone healthy and happy. Because of the c-section plan, we had cancelled our child birth class, but today we met with a friend we met when pregnant with Stella who has since become a doula and are really diving into thinking about the birth plan, how I'll cope, and how Tyler can again be an invaluable support to me during the process.

But mostly we're getting very excited to meet this new little person and get started on this adjustment to having a newborn again and a family of two little ones. I remember when Stella was born being overwhelmed by how much I loved her and how amazingly it didn't decrease the love for anyone else in my life. I know that will happen again, though knowing it intellectually is still different than really feeling it. I know this will open my heart up to people and the world again in a way that is such a gift. So even though I'm going into this whole baby venture with eyes wide open (which includes remembering that it's not always lovely and fun) I'm feeling thankful to have the opportunity to experience pregnancy and birth again and share this journey with Tyler.

Mad Dash

2011-07-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

Something clicked in May, I think, and suddenly as the reality of having an impending a new edition hit, we found ourselves in a mad dash to try to enjoy as many activities as we could, see as many friends as we could and get the house into some sort of shape before we re-enter that duck-and-cover world known as "having a newborn." We've already talked about our trip to Mexico here, but here are a few other events and activities that have filled up the last month or two...

The Bay Area
At the start of May, even before our Mexico trip, Sarah had to make a trip to the Bay Area for work, so we leveraged that into an opportunity to visit with her brother and sister-in-law who live near San Jose (in Fremont). In edition, Sarah's dad and step-mom ended up coming in to town too, making for a quick family get together, as we hung out in the Bay Area and made a day trip to Monterey.

Stella disembarks at San Jose airport. Someone's getting to be old-hat when it comes to flying. But, notably, this marked the first time that Stella and I flew together without Sarah, since she had flown down a day earlier for work.

Walking on the beach in Monterey. (To golf fans: That's Pebble Beach on the bluffs in the background.)

Stella strikes a pose by a small pond in Monterey.

Smokefest
No, this isn't some variation on Seattle's Hempfest. But, instead, it was a backyard BBQ party (or rather smoking party) organized by several of our friends who have become masters of smoking meats.

Jason and Todd, the SmokeMasters™, do their thing.

The Ribs! (There's was brisket too, as well as a huge spread of food provided by the rest of the guests.)

Stella, and her friend Lucy, try our the John Deere. Note the bungee cord which kept them safely circling in place.

I've got my fingers crossed that this becomes an annual event.

Dry Falls Camping Trip
Shortly after returning from Mexico (literally, three days later), Sarah, Stella and I traveled to Eastern Washington to do some camping with our friends, Shahaf and Pnina, at the Dry Falls State Park. While the campgrounds themselves proved to be more of a glorified parking lot, the hikes were amazing, and reminded us -yet again- how different and varied the terrain, climate and wildlife can be within our own beautiful state.

Stella stops to smell the flowers, or at least point them out, on our first hike

Sarah... 8-months pregnant... carrying Stella... through the desert. Stella's definitely able to do more hiking herself this year, but we still spend a lot of our time with her riding on our backs.

Shahaf and Pnina trail blaze on our hike the second day along a stunning lake.

We're not sure if we are going to have the chance to do more camping this year, with the baby set to arrive. But, we can still hope and dream!

Art Projects
In addition to being busy professionally, I also had several exciting illustration opportunities that I got to take part in in early June. First off, I was part of the Gallery (206) Project which featured art by over 206 local artists. 20 artists created pieces for the glass panels on the outside of a re-purposed phonebooth, while the rest of use contributed pages for the "phonebook."

My piece. You can see more pictures of the booth itself on the website linked above.

In addition, I also took part in the Bureau of Drawers "Economy of Line" one-night exhibit, the conceit of which is that we started the night with a blank gallery, and attempted to fill the walls with our drawings which we creative live at the event.

The space at the beginning of the night. There was also a second group in another room upstairs.

Gallery goers take a look at our creations as the night went on. All the pieces were made available for sale for anywhere from $1 to $20. Though I only sold one piece in the "Things Wearing Underpants" series.

Alki Point Light House
Sarah's coworkers also hosted a baby shower for us at the Alki Point Lighthouse. Normally, this lighthouse is closed to the public, but someone that Sarah works with lives there, since her husband is an Admiral in the Coast Guard, so we got the rare opportunity to walk the grounds, tour the lighthouse itself and get quintessential Seattle photos like this...

4th Annual Housewarming
We also held our 4th Annual Housewarming BBQ, which -true to tradition- we barely took any photographs of. Since the party was being held exactly one month before Sarah's due date, I offered to do most of the organizing and food prep... which I promptly delegated to the guests by making it a potluck.

The backyard waiting for the party to start.

We always do the same thing, where we take a bunch of pictures right as things are starting, then set the camera aside and forget to pick it up again, until after everyone has left. Maybe we need to hire a photographer for them. Still, it was definitely a success, with probably our biggest turn out yet (over 50 people, easy) and perfect sunny weather (despite ominous predictions that morning).

This year was a major sausage fest... er, wait, that's not what I mean. This year, I organized a "Build Your Own Hot Dog" bar, with a variety of hot dogs and more toppings than a person could ever want.

Stella enjoys the festivities, in the "sherbet-cupcake tutu" she picked out for the occasion.

The Remodel
The remodel of our basement continues in fits and starts. We're still excited about what it will eventually look like, but at times we still feel depressingly far from ever reaching that point. Most recently, we've had the old oil furnace replaced with a new, electric one. And, then had our basement floor literally jack-hammered up so that plumbers could lay in new pipe work for the future bathroom. We've still got our fingers crossed that the plumbers will be able to wrap up their work before the baby arrives. But, if working on this remodel has taught us one thing its that things never move quite as fast as your like.

On the upside, we feel like we've finally rounded the point where we are disassembling and demolishing things in our basement and are now adding to and improving on it. Hopefully, it'll only get better from here! And, someday, we'll have exciting pictures of our new basement to share.

...and on, and on...
In edition to all that, it feels like we've done a million other things: Sarah's Birthday, Father's Day, yard work and, oh, we bought a new car! As the weeks have passed, we've started changing gears from travel and adventures to just trying to get our house and lives in order and prepared for the new edition to our family. Nesting has definitely started to take hold, and both Sarah and I find ourselves doing all sort of random and unexpected cleaning activities in preparation. Cleaning and organizing random cupboards. Endlessly dusting. Building IKEA furniture.

Tomorrow, Sarah has a final ultrasound to determine if she'll have to have a C-Section for sure, or if there's a chance she can have a natural childbirth. We're trying to stay realistic about it, but also can't help but cross our fingers that something has changed. Regardless, we'll probably be meeting our newest family member in the next week or so. Egad!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T17:49:00.001-07:00

Right now, I'm listening to Tyler and Stella playing and laughing outside. Which, if Tyler feels at all like I do on Mother's Day, is probably a blessing ("I'm being a good dad") and a little something else too ("I should get a break for being a good dad every other day of the year"--even more fair since I'm mostly sitting inside getting some work done).

Tyler, as most of you who read this likely know as well as I do, is an amazing dad. And sometimes it's a little thankless for him these days, with a daughter who can be seriously mommy-centric.

This photo from our camping trip exemplifies a lot of what Tyler adds to Stella's life--a lot of fun, laughter and love. I'd love to write more about how wonderful Tyler is and how excited I am to expand this parenting adventure with him this year, but it would probably be better for me to get off the computer and join the fun outdoors!

Happy Father's Day, Tyler!!

Probably July 11th

2011-06-17T18:57:00.001-07:00

This week I started the 9th month of this pregnancy:

36 weeks!

We also got some news--the c-section has been scheduled for 11AM on July 11th. 7/11/11. Of course, this birthdate is likely but still not totally certain. I could go into labor before then (though I hope not). They'll check the location of the placenta the week prior, and it could have moved and they'll cancel the c-section and then I'll just wait until I go into labor (unlikely, but mathematically possible). But probably this baby will make an appearance mid-day in a little over three weeks!

We have plenty to keep us busy in that time. Three weeks just doesn't sound very long!!

Pre-Baby Navel Gazing

2011-06-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was casually futzing about on facebook when I found myself scrolling through a friend's profile pictures, which were filled with adorable shots of her two kids, who got younger with each click through. Looking at them made me wonder about what my profile picture choices would show me about Stella. So I started looking. And being the nerd/professoinal evaluator I am, I started categorizing and summarizing the data:

100% of my pictures include me
69% include Stella (not terribly surprising, and often when we were headed out on our Friday adventures together)
In 34%, I'm wearing green (my favorite color)
In 29%, I'm travelling (in another country except for one shot from Hawaii)
In 23%, I'm in side profile (which is only interesting because at one point in my life I thought my nose looked too big that way, but apparently I have come around on that point)
And, sadly, only 9% include Tyler (which I think says more about how many photos there are of either the two of us or all three of us) or are from a camping trip (that might have something to do with fewer trips and the generally grubbier photographic evidence)

What can I say--I'm well-suited for my job. And, yes, I busted out Excel to be precise.

As I went through the ways to categorize my photos, I was reminded of an exercise Tyler and I went through this spring. We spent a day taking a workshop based on the work of John Gottman, a nationally known (but locally based, go Seattle!) researcher on relationships. In the course of his research, he found that many couples experience significant decreases in marital satisfaction after having children, so he studied them and created a workshop on ways to maintain a strong relationship post-kids. We did the first workshop shortly after Stella was born (one of my big takeaways was that Tyler and I are both conflict-avoiders, which means we don't really fight and are both happier that way) and found it really valuable. So in preparation for Baby Number 2, we decided to try a new follow-up workshop. While I think we do a pretty good job of keeping our relationship strong and healthy, we figured a little "tune-up" could only help.

One of the exercises toward the end of the workshop was to create a shared family philosophy. So we decided to think about how we like to spend our time and what those choices reflect about how we want our life to be.

When time, energy and resources allow, we'd like to prioritize travel, the outdoors, cooking/eating/wine, reading/drawing/cultural stuff and generally doing things together. Then we thought about what we thought really undergirded those choices, things like having fun ways to spend time together, trying new things, seeing everyday things in new ways, being creative, creating opportunities for meaningful conversations and experiences, appreciating culture and diversity.

Our brainstorm of priorities, what they mean, and how they are related

It was fascinating how intertwined these seemingly disparate interests were. For example, we found travelling, reading, drawing, cooking and spending time outdoors all provide opportunities to be reflective, which we valued. So while on the surface it sounded like a slightly woo-woo/west coast kind of activity, it led us to have a really interesting and useful conversation.

I guess the reason I'm navel-gazing about all of this now is in thinking about how life is going to change in just a few short weeks. I don't want to lose sight of what's most important to us and what kind of values we want to pass down to Stella and the baby-who-has-yet-to-be-named. And I just realized we've spent most of May and the first half of June cramming in exactly these kinds of things: a trip to Mexico, a camping trip, BBQs with friends, date nights and delicious meals. I know Stella's first three months, six months, possibly first year were just a bit of a blur. It's going to take awhile to find our sure footing as a family of four instead of three (particularly when you consider that the current youngest member is getting significantly more self-sufficient as of late) and figure out how to do all these things as a new and expanded unit.

I know it will happen. I also know it will take some time. Any suggestions for easing the transition?

All of us on a hike--in keeping with our spending time outdoors theme!

Sayulita: Our Mexican Vacation Part II

2011-06-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

I think it's interesting that it's taken Sarah and I this long to get around to blogging about our Mexico trip. Back when we were on our big trip, years ago, we blogged nearly daily. I think that's less a comment on this trip itself, but more about our lives outside of this trip. With both of us being busy with work, wrangling Stella and managing the basement remodel, it's a lot harder to find time to type up an entry like this. And, when we do have the time, the energy is often lacking.

Anyhow, it's a slow work day, so here goes...

As Sarah mentioned in her entry, Yelapa was stunning. But, after a few days of life eating the same meals on the same beautiful beach, I think we were all getting a little antsy to catch the boat back to Puerto Vallarta, and head on to our second destination: Sayulita.

So, when we awoke on the morning of our fifth day in Mexico, we quickly began gathering our stuff, and headed down to have one last breakfast on the beach. Stella, cheerfully oblivious of the coming journey, took her time ignoring her breakfast, and fixating -as always- on the array of dogs which roamed freely around the "all dogs must be leashed" sign. Meanwhile, I found myself becoming increasingly, and unexpectedly tense. Basically, there were three morning water taxi's: 8:00, 9:30 and 10:30. After that, it was siesta time till the next taxi arrived at 3:00. As much as I had enjoyed Yelapa, I didn't want to miss that 10:30 taxi.

Finishing up lunch, we returned to our room, and then Sarah headed down to the office to settle up our bill, leaving me to finish up the last bit of packing. It was about 10:15, and though a small grip of people had amassed at the end of the small pier near our hotel, we figured we were doing fine time-wise. Then, I looked again, and noticed that a water taxi had arrived, and the people were loading into it! Running out onto our front deck, I shouted "wait!" as the taxi began to pull from the dock. The people on board heard me, and killed the engine.

Desperately, I looked around me: Big backpack? On my back! Medium backpack? On my front. Small backpack? Over one shoulder. Two other loose bags? Over the other shoulder. Stella? Well, at first I tried to coax her to "follow daddy?" But, that just led to panicked "wo mommy go?" So, ooof, I scooped her up in my arms, and began lumbering down the stairs toward the pier. Reaching the beachfront walkway, I looked up again... just in time to see the taxi fire up its motor again, and pull away. "Wait!" I collapsed at the end of the pier, as the boat disappeared around the corner of the bay.

When Sarah arrived on the pier a few minutes later, she found (despite the clear blue skies overhead) a distinct, dark raincloud hanging over my head. Stella, meanwhile, had discovered that the pier was crawling with dark medium sized crabs, which she watched with something halfway between fear and joy. The next 15 minutes were spent with Sarah and I trying to decide if, as I maintained, we'd missed the 10:30 taxi, or if, as she maintained, that was another taxi, and the 10:30 was still on its way.

Then, we boarded the 10:30 water taxi.

The taxi ride to Puerto Vallarta went smoothly. The waters weren't very choppy, and Stella even seemed to be warming to the experience. As we approached the beach, we could see that the pier the taxi usually docked with was under repair, and that boats were simply pulling directly onto the beach, and unloading onto the sand. Easy-breezy, right?

So, our boat pulls up to the beach and... Bam! A big wave hits. Now, as you might be able to see from the photo Sarah posted in the previous entry, these boats aren't too big. Maybe, like, 10 or 15 feet long, with six rows of benches. I'm sitting the second row from the front, with Stella on my lap. Sarah is in the front row, with one or two other people, and one of the guys running the water taxi is sitting on top of a pile of luggage in front of her. The boats actually turned around, and beached with the tail end in the sand. So, when this sort of freak wave hits, it basically pounds our luggage, crashes in over our heads and fills the inside of the boat with water up to knee level.

"Everyone out!" Someone shouts. "Another wave, soon!"

Suddenly, I'm faced with a dilemma: Do I focus on getting a scared and screaming Stella off the boat? Go try to help my pregnant wife? Try to save our luggage? Quickly, I make me way to the end of the boat, and pass Stella down to some random person standing on the shore. Leap out myself, and then turn to try to help Sarah down and grab our bags, which are basically being hurled overhead onto the sand.

30 seconds later, everyone is standing on the beach, surrounded by soggy backpacks, and watching the crew work to bail water out of their boats. Meanwhile, the beachfront jewelry hawkers circle warily, trying to decide if now would be the correct time to try to sell us a bracelet. Stella, regaining her composure after the initial surprise, begins explaining to us what just happened: "Big wave! Little scary. Cry." It's a story she'll repeat to this day, if you ask her about it.

Remembering that our Yelapa hotel has an office near the pier, we make our way there, where the man working at the office turns out to be a godsend: He let's us in, allows us to clean out our bags, use the restroom to change clothes and freshen up, even gets us a refund from the water taxi, and helps arrange a cab on to Sayulita. Our stuff though? Soaked. Clothes? Wet. Books and magazine? Dripping. Portable DVD player we borrowed from one of Sarah's coworkers? Destroyed and smoking. Electric baby monitors? Fried. Camera? Well, already dead, but still.

A short time and many "Gracias" to the hotel office employee later, we are in our cab and off to Sayulita. Initially, we'd planned on taking the public bus to save money to get out there, but having filled our adventure quota with the soggy disembarkation, we decide to splurge on the ease and luxury of the cab.

The ride is quick and -thankfully- uneventful, and soon our nice cab driver is dropping us off in Sayulita's main square. And, only minutes later, a real estate agent is escorting us to the Casa we've rented for the next couple of days: Casa Sorpresa!

The front courtyard of Casa Sorpresa. I was excited about this place when I reserved it, and was happy that it exceeded expectations. We had this whole courtyard, with the pool, an outside sitting area, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a back courtyard all to ourselves. In comparisons to most places we stayed when we've traveled in the past, this was palatial.

Mine and Sarah's bedroom. Stella had her own room, though she'd usually end up sleeping on (and falling off) the couch in our bedroom.

The back courtyard. A large lizard seemed to live on the roof of our casa, and we'd sometimes see him circling on the courtyard walls.

The front gate, which featured the places one hiccup... the street was being repaved. So, entering and leaving involved, as Stella noted, a "big step!"

Settling in to our new home-away-from-home (or the "new house" as Stella dubs it), we also quickly settle into our new routine: Mornings are spent relaxing at the Casa, including maybe a dip in the pool. Lunch at a restaurant, often our favorite taco place: Fish Taco (though, oddly, of their 6 tacos, only one is fish). Maybe some time on the beach. A siesta for Stella in the afternoon, while Sarah and I relax, maybe take another dip in the pool, read and I enjoy a Pacifico or two. Then wandering around trying to pick a dinner place. And watching sunset on the beach.

Pretty rough, I tell ya.

The view from inside of "Fish Taco." Watching a team of men thatch a roof.

Lounging in the pool.

Sayulita was apparently, originally, a sleepy fishing village, that turned into a sleepy surf town... and is now on its way to becoming a small tourist town. Still, while the main beach is now lined with beach chairs and umbrellas, and a number of shops selling tourist tchotchkes is increasing (Che handbag, anyone?) it still retains its small town charm. It's definitely more active than Yelapa, which at this point in our vacation wasn't a bad thing.

Highlights come scatter-shot over the next few days, and its hard to recall what happened first. One night, we end up sitting and eating popsicles from the Wa Kiki ice cream shop (definitely recommended) in the town square, surrounded by locals and tourists talking and laughing, and are reminded of our time hanging out in similar town squares in South America. Another morning it spent on the beach, relaxing, enjoying splashing in the surf and trying to coax Stella to come down near the water (which is still deemed "too loud"). Dinner at a Cuban restaurant proves to be fun, with Stella enjoying the live music and the orange sauce our all-you-can-eat chicken come drizzled in. And sunsets, with Sarah and I siting on the beach, and Stella collecting rocks and bottle caps around us, are always a highlight.

Sarah and Stella relaxing on the beach.

Playing with Stella on the beach, this was about the closest she ever willingly came to the ocean.

We need to figure out what these are called. Basically, they were like Cheetos (minus the cheese), and the vendor would drizzle hot sauce and fresh lime over them. We all agreed they were a super-tasty snack.

Stella and Sarah in the Cuban restaurant. This photo is a bit Lynchian, but it was a good time... honest!

Enjoying another Sayulita sunset.

...the sunset in question.

All in all it's a wonderful time.

But, honestly, there are challenges too. One day seems to be dominated by Stella either wetting herself in public, or asking to be taken back to the Casa to use her little potty we've brought along. Then there's our first trip to the little market across from our Casa. While Sarah and I gather groceries, Stella plops herself down on a rocking chair in front of a TV... and then wets herself, a pool of her pee forming on the market floor under the chair. Sarah hurries Stella back across the street, while I grab a mop and start sopping up the mess. Then, returning to shopping, I manage to drop and egg on the floor. So, out comes the mop again... except, this time, I manage to knock over the pail of mop-water while mopping... spilling it all over the market floor. "Don't worry about it," the woman behind the counter says, with a less-than-impressed look on her face.

But, often even the challenges end up having positive spins. One night, dragging a screaming and wet-pants Stella back to the Casa, we pass a brass band playing amazing music in a courtyard near our house. Back in the Casa's own courtyard, we clean Stella up and then decide to take an evening dip in the pool. My frustration melting away as we play in the water with the sound of the band drifting in over our courtyard walls.

On our second to last day, we arrange a cab ride to the neighboring town of San Pancho. Pulling up to the little main square, which also serves as the entrance to the beach, we are delighted to find what appears to be a smaller, sleepier and nearly abandoned-seeming version of Sayulita. The narrow green streets are deserted and not more than one or two people lounge on the beach. Perfect.

Perfect. And, apparently, abandoned.

...So, promptly, we organize a Death March.

"Hmmm, I wonder what the big white building is over there? Looks like maybe some sort of church, or something." So, off we go, through town to try to find out how to get to it and see what it is. Unfortunately, this ends up involving a long, hot, winding slog up a gradual, wide boulevard... taking turns carrying Stella. The church? Ends up being some sort of exclusive resort. So, its back into town. Though, thankfully we find a way to walk back on the beach.

The objective of our Death March. Not a church.

After enjoying a drink on the beach, and letting Stella check out a monkey living in a depressing cage near the bar, we meet up with our cab driver and head back to Sayulita.

The next morning, it's back to the States. We catch the public bus home, which ends up being both 1)a much longer ride and 2)a much cheaper one. The flights home are long, but go smoothly, despite Stella not having the DVD player to keep her occupied. And, around 10pm, we are back in Seattle again.

Yelapa: Our Mexican Vacation, Part I

2011-06-05T14:49:00.001-07:00

As Tyler mentioned in a previous entry, Stella is a great traveller. In less than three years, she's probably been on more plane rides than I had been through graduate school. She does well in transit, she loves hotel rooms and adventures and changes of scenery. But most of our travel the last two and a half years has been to visit family. My parents are in Texas, our siblings are in California, and my mom's family is in Illinois, so seeing any of them mostly means hopping on a plane.

Our last real vacation was almost two years ago when we went to Hawaii. We'd been talking about another real vacation in various locations (Iceland, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Portugal, Hawaii's Big island) at various timepoints (fall for South America, winter for Mexico or Hawaii), but there were many practical reasons to keep putting things off: I was busy with work, we'd be on maternity leave this summer (which isn't a vacation, but did have work implications), and we could use all the money we could get to keep our basement remodel moving along. But one day it seriously struck us that travel was only going to get harder for awhile after baby number 2's arrival, and we got serious about planning. We saw some sales for Mexico, Seattle had experienced an unusually cold and rainy spring (after an unusually cold and rainy summer last year), and we just decided we had to make it happen.

So Mexico it was. We'd had a couple friends go to Yelapa, a small Pueblo only accessible by water taxi about 40 minutes south of Puerto Vallarta) and others who raved about Sayulita (sleepy fishing/surfing town about 40 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta), so we decided to get the best of both worlds and spend four nights at each location.

So early Monday morning (4AM early), we headed to Seatac. We had a brief stop in San Francisco and then continued on to Puerto Vallarta (PV). The only possible flaw in our plan was that the time between when our plane arrived in PV and when the last water taxi left for Yelapa headed out was do-able but tight. To help decrease the likelihood of missing the boat, we had asked our hotel to arrange a car to take us to the water taxi pier, thinking that one less thing to deal with after a long day of travel would be good. But, lo and behold, when we got to the exit, there wasn't anyone holding a sign with our names. So much for that plan. After hmming and hawing a bit and trying to call the hotel, we decided to just take our chances with one of the drivers trying to pick up riders. One bumpy ride through PV later, and we found that the last water taxi had already departed from there and we'd need to go to another town about 20 minutes away to catch the very last option for the day. We'd kind of known that was a possibility, and we had about 30 minutes, so not all hope was lost, but we were not excited about the possibility of having to make last minute arrangements for an alternate plan. Fortunately, our driver was very nice and helpful and we did, in fact, make the other ferry after a slightly tense drive on a speed-bump-filled road. Our aggravation with the hotel and our fatigue quickly gave way to relief and a starting sense of relaxation as we then bounced across the waves to get to Yelapa.

The water taxi to Yelapa

Stella seemed to do pretty well, hanging out in my arms with her life jacket on (which we brought), though she did look a bit green at one point. Soon enough it was time to disembark, which meant pulling the boat nearly to shore then jumping out into the water. We hopped off (some of us more gracefully than others) and started trudging down the beach with all our bags to get to the hotel.

This was another less than promising bit of the arrival--the beach is beautiful, but the sand is really gravell-y and it was hot, so it was not so comfortable to walk on. And, being 7+ months pregnant, I couldn't carry much. And Stella thinks waves are "too loud" and wouldn't walk, so Tyler ended up being quite the beast of burden. But we arrived to a very welcoming staff and knew soon enough we'd really get to unwind.

One of our first pictures--I wanted to post this on facebook with the caption "this does not suck"

Hotel Lagunita was delightful. We were in a thatched roof "casita", with big windows that opened up to a view of the saltwater swimming pool and bay.

Hotel lagunitas from the restaurant--not a bad home for a few days.

From our balcony, our daily view of the saltwater pool and the bay. Stella doesn't like waves, but she does like water. It did take us a few dips to learn where all the rocks were (so we could avoid kicking them) and the shallow spots were (where we could hold Stella or have her stand).

Our casita's balcony as seen from the pool

Pretty quickly, our days took on a routine: Tyler and Stella would wake up first, walk to the restaurant to get a pot of coffee which we'd then enjoy on the balcony, then breakfast on the beach. We'd watch pelicans dive for food and watch fishermen arriving back with their fishing boats then take their kayaks back to shore. Terrible start to the day, no?

Good morning! Stella thought it was pretty fun to have the windows wide open.

After a cold summer, winter and spring, it was nice to let Stella wear a dress and sandals, without having to complement it with pants and a sweater. She seemed to agree she looked pretty cute!

Stella primarily lived on pancakes for breakfast and quesadillas the rest of the time. Not ideal, but we figured it wouldn't make her sick, and she probably couldn't get scurvy in 9 days....

After that, we'd either hang out on the beach or take a swim in the pool (the beach in Yelapa isn't a great swimming beach). The hotel had thatched areas with lounge chairs and hammocks where they'd also provide food and drink service.

R&R on the beach under a palapa--my belly apparently makes a pretty good pillow!

Who can complain when they're in a hammock on a quiet beach?!

After a day or two of this, Tyler started getting a little antsy to do more exploring. So one day we hiked along the stretch of beach from our hotel's side to the pueblo's ("city") side. One of the reasons we'd been interested in Yelapa is that it's very quiet--as I mentioned, you can only get in and out by boat, so there are not cars. Mostly people use horses or donkeys, though we saw a few ATVs.

The beach and hotel from the other side of the bay

The first day, we walked through the more main part of the little town to see a nearby waterfall. It's dry season now, so there was only a small trickle. And the other challenge of the hike is that Tyler has to carry Stella a lot. In the heat and on the sand. And she complained the entire time that it's "too loud." We didn't get tons of pictures of the town because on the third day of our trip, our camera just completely died, so the rest of the trip was captured on Tyler's phone's camera.

This is how Stella spent most her "walks" on the beach, on Tyler's shoulders with her ears covered, saying "too loud!"

We did decide to take a second trek over and walk the other way along the river where most of the residents live and which eventually leads to another waterfall, though we knew we wouldn't get that far.

"Hiking" along the river on the pueblo side--lots of lizards, horses, donkeys, beautiful flowers, chickens and roosters

Probably Stella's favorite time in Yelapa--looking at tadpoles and throwing things into the river

On our way back from that walk, we ran into a man from Montreal who was living in a small house in Yelapa with his wife and two kids. We found out they had started off on a two-month trip but had decided to extend it indefinitely, selling most of their belongings remotely and documenting the process of living abroad in this manner with kids through a blog. They were very nice and fun to talk to--we wished we had met them earlier so we could have talked with them more. But, interestingly to me, I didn't find myself envious of them. I think what they're doing is admirable and interesting and, in some ways, enviable, but I was somewhat happy to realize that I really am happy to be in a more settled place in my life for now. I like our house and my work life and our friends and our stability. Sure, I'd like more travel and adventure on a more regular basis, but I didn't find myself wishing we were still on the road being intrepid travellers again.

Given Stella's displeasure at making the trek to the town, we spent all our evenings at the hotel, which had its plusses and minuses--the food was fine if it got a little predictable after a couple days, but the view was gorgeous and it was great to have a built in playground of sand so we could linger over drinks and our meals.

We got tired of the selection, but the location of the hotel restaurant really never disappointed.

One of our daily habits--sharing a limonada on the beach

Not a terrible way to spend our evenings, watching the sunset with a lemonade (for me and Stella) and a Pacifico (for Tyler) on the beach.

Of course, I realize as I write all this, two weeks have already softened some of the rougher edges of travelling. I won't lie--there were moments when it did not feel like a vacation to be with Stella. She decided for almost the entire time we were in Yelapa that she was no longer using the potty, a contingency we hadn't planned for. And her dislike of being close to the waves limited what we could do and meant not taking some cool possible day trips that we might have taken otherwise. But I left really charmed by Yelapa. The people we met there were all very nice, and the slow pace was a great way to start our vacation.

Week 34 and a Change of Plans

2011-06-04T09:03:00.001-07:00

I might have mentioned this before, but one thing that's been interesting about this pregnancy is that I've been much less focused on being pregnant and much more aware of the fact that there's a new little person developing inside me that we haven't met yet. At least, that was the case until last week.

At my 21 week ultrasound, the ultrasound tech and midwives told me that I had marginal previa--a fancy name for the placenta being too near the cervix. I didn't have full previa, where the placenta is covering the cervix, and in most cases, the placenta will move away as the uterus grows with the baby. But, because they'd found that, it was important to call if I ever had any bleeding and to be sure to let the person on call know that this had been found earlier. So I've been going along my merry way, optimistic that this would resolve. I probably worried more at the beginning, but then I met three or four people who had had a similar finding early on but in all cases the placenta moved far enough away for it to not be an issue.

And I hadn't had any bleeding. Until last week. Wednesday I was planning to drop Stella off at home then run out to an evening work event but I wanted to run to the bathroom first before diving back into traffic. And I saw a tiny bit of spotting. I thought, well, I better call, but I'm sure they'll tell me that it's not an issue unless there's more. A conversation later, and Tyler, Stella and I were all loaded up in the car to head to the childbirth center to check things out.

We arrived, got put into the exact room that Stella had been born in (which was kind of cool), and then waited for the on-call ultrasound technician to show up. The nurse on duty even seemed very blase--I had the distinct impression she thought the midwife was being overly concerned--and they monitored the baby for awhile. (Now we had medical proof that "little kicker" is an apt nickname--baby was moving and grooving almost the entire time.)

Finally the tech arrived and she did an ultrasound. I'd been a little excited to have another ultrasound, thinking that compared to the early one, we'd really be able to see more. In fact, we could see less distict body parts, and it didn't seem like the kind of situation to ask for more baby peeks. As soon as she saw the placenta, she said it looked close. Too close. And the midwife later confirmed that it needed to be a minimum of 2 centimeters away, and it was only .77. If it had only moved that much in 11 weeks, it was unlikely to move significantly further. Which means a scheduled c-section.

I know I'm lucky to be in a position where this is known and can be addressed. In other parts of the world and in older times, this kind of thing is serious enough that it can mean death for mother and/or baby because of heavy bleeding. I'm adjusting to the idea, but I'm still bummed. It's the polar opposite of what I would have hoped my birth plan would be (like with Stella, med-free vaginal birth), and I'm not looking forward to more time in the hospital and longer recovery when I'll already have a toddler at home. For some, this would be a welcome option. For me, not so much. I have to change providers, probably have an earlier birth, and anticipate surgery instead of labor.

So now I'm spending *lots* more time thinking about the birth than I probably would have otherwise. And, to be frank, in a way that has more dread than I would have otherwise. Which makes me really sad. Fortunately, I have friends who've been in similar situations who can provide advice and support, and I can have one of the midwives assist with the c-section even though I need to move to having an OB as my provider. I know that I can still make this the best birth possible and that having a healthy baby at the end will make it all worth it. But I'm still adjusting. It's really a fallacy to think I could plan any of this anyway--I guess I'm just getting an early reminder that a new baby is going to require many adjustments.

So, stay tuned. I'll probably even know next week when the birthday will be, which seems odd but should also appeal to the planner in me. Until then, I'll just spend a little bit more time mourning and adjusting. Soon enough I'm sure I'll be able to focus on all the positives, which will still include meeting this new little person and watching Stella transition into being a big sister.

Arboretum Waterfront Hike

2011-05-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

While I'm excited to have baby number 2 in the summer, it does likely mean a decrease in our usual hiking and camping activities. So when we had what's been a rare sunny day in Seattle a few weekends ago, Tyler and I decided to take advantage of the weather and go for a little urban hike. So we loaded up, stopped by Ezell's for picnic fixin's and headed to the Arboretum's waterfront hike.

The hike starts near Lake Washington and takes you, via boardwalks, across two islands.

We spent much of our time slogging through puddles, but it was still worth it for great views, fresh air, lots of boats and a little wildlife.

It clearly hasn't been our imagination that it's been a soggy spring!

In addition to our little duck friends in the previous picture, we also saw this lovely heron and evidence of beavers.

This little viewpoint raised us up for a view of all the people on the water and the lowering of the University bridge.

Post-picnic!

The only downside was that Stella apparently associates "park" with "playground" and was not very impressed that there wasn't one to be found on our outing!

Great Little Traveler

2011-04-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

You know who's a great little traveler? Stella.

Knock on wood.

Sure, with the exception of Hawaii two Summers ago, Sarah, Stella and I haven't done any major traveling or vacationing outside of Washington. But, with Sarah's parents in Texas, some extended family in Illinois, and our respective siblings in California, Stella's already been on a plane more times in her first two and a half years than I had by the time I graduated from College. And, with the exception of some squirming and fussing and some trouble with sleeping in strange beds, she's been a complete breeze to travel with.

Again, knock on wood.

Two weekends ago, we had the opportunity to travel to Illinois again. Sarah had to travel to there for work, and so we decided to take advantage of her free flights and downtown hotel room, and make a little mini vacation out of it. It had been the better part of a year since our last visit to the area, and it was a good opportunity to visit with Sarah's family there; and for Stella to see her Nana, Grandpapa, Grandma Geri and, of course, Mia. Stella doesn't have any cousin's yet, and is still an only child (for a couple more months), so its good for her to get a chance to visit with Sarah's large extended family in Illinois and jump into the swirling mob of second cousins that live there.

But, in addition, it proved a fun chance for Stella and I to do something that we hadn't before: Explore a (relatively) new city together. Without Sarah to help us both along.

Stella checks out the bed at our hotel, during out night in downtown Chicago.

After getting in late on Thursday night (and after having to deal with a cab driver "forgetting" to return Sarah's credit card), Sarah had to wake up early the next morning to head to her day-long meeting. After sleeping in a little more, Stella and I got up and got ready for our day together in Chicago. First up: Breakfast!

Dig in! Stella focuses on the yogurt parfait, while I have a selection of eggs, bacon and potatoes. Plus, coffee!

After a tasty, if too expensive, meal at the hotel restaurant; we went back to our room, grabbed our stuff, and made the couple block trek to catch a bus to the Shedd Aquarium. Though the swooping pigeons at the bus stop were a bit daunting to Stella, she seemed to roll with the punches as we boarded the standing-room-only bus. Being a cute 2-year-old though, it wasn't long before she scored a seat, and soon even looked like she would have nodded off, if not the "bumpy road!"

Arriving at the Shedd Aquarium, we discovered that it was Spring Break for the Chicago area public schools, and that a line literally extended around the block to get in. An aquarium employee explained that the wait was an hour and a half long just to get in. Stella, initially seemed undaunted, insisting that she would wait in line to see the fish... but 5 minutes later grew bored of the line and wandered off to look at the giant stone head statue nearby.

Next to the Shedd Aquarium is the Field Museum. I'd already been there with Sarah on our last trip to Chicago, but I knew it was big enough that there would still be new stuff to see, and that it would have enough variety to hold Stella's attention. And, while the Shedd featured mutant-long lines, we were able to walk right in to the Field Museum.

The Museum did end up being a hit! Most of the exhibits seemed interesting to Stella, with only one or two causing her eyes to start to glaze over. And, only one -featuring giant animatronic insets- scaring her. In addition, there was a great toddler area, featuring a family restroom with a child-sized toilet... always a great find with a recently potty-trained toddler.

Anyhow, pictures!

Trying our the saddle at the Horse exhibit.

Playing some music in the children's exploratory area. Notice she took her jacket off, but insisted on keeping the hat on.

Probably Stella's favorite exhibit, a scooter with a ghetto blaster strapped to the back. Pressing one of three buttons would play part of a song. Stella enjoyed dancing to the music for a good 10 minutes or so. I took video, but Blogger is being disagreeable.

Giant robot bug = scary. T-Rex = not so much.

Leaving the Field Museum. Little girl, big steps!

As Stella began to grow more and more tired looking, I realized it was time to head back to the hotel to meet up with Sarah. Unfortunately, while the bus to the aquarium and museum had come nearly right away, the bus back took about 20 minutes to arrive, and Stella and I found ourselves packed into a crowded covered area, waiting for it to arrive (we'd brought the Seattle rain with us). One of the nice things about traveling with a little kid is that people who would usually be inclined to ignore a bearded 35-year-old suddenly become your best friends; and I soon found myself chatting with other tourists, as middle-aged women snapped Stella's picture like she was one of the museum exhibits.

Then again, who wouldn't want a picture of this?

Back on the equally crowded bus, Stella stood, wedged against my legs, gripping the pole and looking like she'd rode the bus a million times before. It was only after we were reunited with Sarah, and she was safely and snugly situated in her stroller that she finally dozed off. Which was probably the best, since Sarah and I spent the better part of the next hour pushing her around downtown, lost while trying to find the car rental place.

So, yeah, mine and Stella's little half day adventure wasn't anything spectacular, but it was just another reminder of what a great little traveler she is. (Knock on wood.) ...Which is a good thing, because in a little over a month, Sarah, Stella and I are going to go on Stella's first international adventure: A week long trip to Mexico!

I have to admit that I'm personally, really, really excited to be making the trip. And, I know that after all her hard work both professionally and as a mother, Sarah deserves this vacation. But, even Stella seems to be looking forward to it, stating daily that she "wants to go to the beach!" And, picking up our guidebook, and announcing "Want to go to Mexico!" So, we're all looking forward to this last big adventure before the arrival of our latest edition to the family!

Speaking of which, here's Sarah at 26 weeks!

Also, between now and our departure in mid-May, we'll be making another quick trip to the Bay Area. Again, Sarah has to go down there for work, but we are going to parlay that into a quick visit with her brother and sister-in-law. The big adventure for me on that trip is that Stella and I will be flying down in a separate flight than Sarah.

Wish me luck.

Wo Go?

2011-03-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

My mom likes to talk about how, when I was little, I would walk up to complete strangers and ask them: "What doing?" My brother, meanwhile, was always pointing to things and asking: "This? This?" My mom and dad were never quite sure if he was just stockpiling as many words as possible, or if he was testing them.

Stella's question is "Where go?" Or, as she pronounces it "Wo Go?"

(Obligatory Stella photo.)

Sometimes, its particular: "Wo soothie go?" Sometimes, its joking. "Wo go?" ...as she tosses the item in question over her shoulder. Sometimes, its enigmatic, leaving us to guess what she's even asking about. Other times, it almost seems rhetorical, as she asks about something sitting directly in front of her. Regardless, I've never encountered someone so obsessed with the situational geographic locations of various trivial objects.

It probably doesn't help that, often, if you ask her a question in return, she will greet it with a "huh?" as though she didn't hear you. A sample conversation:

"Wo go?"
"Where did what go?"
"Huh?"
"What are you looking for?"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Soothie."
"It's in your hand."
"Two soothie. Wo go?"
"The other soothie?"
"Huh?"
"Where did your other soothie go?"
"Wo go?"
"I don't know."

...You get the picture.

Actually, it's generally pretty cute.

Another favorite activity of Stella's, when not reading or wondering where things are, is putting her various stuffed animals and dolls to sleep. She'll spend hours dutifully and diligently spreading her blankets and towels out gently over them. Leading Sarah and I to observe that they must have all been bitten by tsetse flies, because they are the sleepiest batch of play things we've ever encountered.

Some examples...

My old Snoopy stuffed animal asleep on a bin full of his clothes.

The baby in her doll house, asleep under a giant hand towel.

Her bath penguin, asleep on the coffee table. Note: That these are all just pictures I took this morning.

At least she now lets their heads stick out from under their blankets. Originally, she'd cover them from head to two... which sort of made our house look like one giant homicide crime scene.

Transitions

2011-03-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

It's a busy time in the Hill-Stach home--baby number two's arrival keeps inching ever closer, and Stella's making strides of her own every day....

I don't know why, but Stella looks like such a big girl in this photo to me--she's growing up!

One thing I didn't know before having a baby was how much life would revolve around going to the bathroom. When you have an infant, checking for wet diapers is one of the few communication channels you have for knowing if the baby is eating enough. You know you're really in love with your little one, because you think even their poop (at least until they start eating food) is cute. And then there's potty training.

Somehow, like a number of things, Tyler and I just fell into potty training. We had gotten some training pants at some point--her child care teacher must have mentioned at some point she thought Stella was getting interested in undies that older kids were wearing. One Saturday she wanted to wear them, so we put them on and tried to keep her off the carpet. She wore them most the day that day and most the day Sunday except when we went out to run errands and stuck a diaper back on. (In some cases, over the undies, which she didn't want to take off.)

On Monday, we brought undies and diapers to school and told the teacher Stella had started wearing them. She asked if it was OK if they just stopped using diapers at school, and--poof--there you had it--we were out of diapers just like that!

Potty time! Also involves lots of book time.

Surprisingly, it doesn't even feel so much like "training." I was sure there would be something else involved--sticker charts or M&Ms, a weekend of "boot camp" with Stella running around make a mess of things. Rather it's been a few weeks of reminding Stella to use the potty, getting very excited when things happen in the potty, and getting less and less excited about the occasional accident. I wouldn't call it a done deal, but she almost always makes it through the night, she's not yet had an accident in the car or in public, and the biggest challenge to overcome is having BMs in the potty, but she's made great strides on that front in the last few days. So yay for no more diapers, at least for a little while!

Stella made another big transition right around the same time--moving from the crib to a big girl bed! Funnily enough, the night before we got the bed, I was assuring a friend we were in no hurry to move her out and didn't expect her to go into a bed until after the baby came. But a friend made a comment about being careful about it seeming like the baby was kicking Stella out of something that was hers, a great bunk bed was on sale, and--ta-da!--big girl bed it is. That transition has been shockingly easy. Stella took right to it. She hasn't been getting up earlier, more often, or coming out of her room in the middle of the night. On the first day she was home for a nap, she did discover she could climb out if she wanted to (and, cutely, was laughing loudly, clearly wanting us to know she had discovered this as well!).

The first test run. She had to tuck in her doll, Claudette, next to her, along with a blanket and stuffed animal. She also picked out the bedding--loves the animals!

On other fronts, she is mostly totally awesome and fun (except when she's not). She's suddenly gotten less picky about food (yay!) and is getting more and more talkative. She's talking more about being a "big sister" so that seems like a good sign. Here are a few of Stella's current favorite things:

Riding her tricycle--she's getting better at peddling and steering! And she's learned about helmets at school. Since we are (apparently) negligent parents, she decided to make her own with this toy box.

Picking out her own clothes. On this particular day, she needed to wear her frog hat, her flower jacket, her dog purse, and her owl socks on her hands as mittens. Whatever works.

Taking photos--I think the self-portraits are accidental, but cute.

Helping cook!

I'm really enjoying this stage, where Stella's still really affectionate and fun to play with, but also independent in many ways too. I have to admit that as the weeks go by, I'm really trying to appreciate the things that have gotten easy with one child who's older. We're about to enter a whole new ball game...

If we get around to it this weekend, I'll add a photo of me at 24 weeks!

Introducing Baby #2

2011-03-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

This morning Sarah, Stella and I hopped in the car and drove to Swedish Ballard for Sarah's ultra-sound appointment. I could make small talk, but instead, let's jump straight to the images, since I know that's what the Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles are all eager to see....

Boo! OK, so this image is a little skeletal, and that blur above the baby's head makes it look like it has my haircut, but look at all the amazing detail, you can see babies head, and left forearm and hand really clearly (and the their respective bones). Baby is giving us a little wave!

Here you can see the baby's lower right(?) leg and its foot while it pushes off of the inside of Sarah. While we were watching, at one point, it gave a little kick that Sarah could feel. She said it was pretty cool actually seeing the little movements she's been feeling increasingly. Recently, holding my hand to her belly, I've even felt a little kick or two.

I love this little detail. The perfect little hand. While not one of those fancy 3D ultrasounds you see ads for, its still amazing the level of detail that will flicker into view. Like this...

Here you can see its head, with its right arm sort of reaching toward us, and its left arm folded up around its head. While most of the head images looked like little skulls, this one you actually get a sense of the heads shape more (though the lower lip and jaw appear to be hidden by "darkness." Still its interesting to see how this baby definitely looks different than the ultrasounds of Stella. As Sarah observed, "its already its own little person."

And, just to compare, here's a little profile that matches up pretty closely with Stella's from her ultrasound (though flipped):

As for Stella, she was pretty non-plus about the whole thing. I'm pretty sure the images were too abstract, and she's still trying to get her head around the idea that there is a "baby in mommy's belly." Its funny because sometimes she doesn't seem interested, other times she seems excited by the idea and occasionally you can tell she feels a little threatened by the whole thing. For example, during the ultrasound she suddenly exclaimed "don't want baby!" ...Much the same way she would declare her dislike for a dinner she didn't want.

And, just so that this isn't all just pictures of the inside of Sarah's belly, here's the outside!

Sarah at 21 Weeks!

Quilts! (a suprisingly non-baby-centric blog entry)

2011-02-18T13:49:00.000-08:00

I started quilting when Tyler and I returned home from our round-the-world trip. I had two weeks before going to back to work and, besides getting over jetlag, finding an apartment and moving our belongings out of storage, I had plenty of time. We were staying with my in-laws, and my mother-in-law, Susan, is a master quilter. It seemed like the time to take a crash course (and to have the perfect opportunity to raid her fabric stash, use all her supplies and have her tutelage readily available!). I didn't start small; my first quilt was a bed-sized quilt Tyler and I still use. The pattern was probably about as easy and forgiving as one could be for a beginner: cut many long strips of fabric, cut them in uneven lengths, sew together, and--ta-da!--quilt top made.

My first quilt: a Kaffe Fassett pattern in various blues, creams and some browns.

Before then, I had dabbled in various crafts, but mostly when I was much younger. Some sewing, some cross-stitching, but I hadn't really done really anything craft-y since middle-school. The first hook was probably set when Tyler and I got engaged. It was tradition for Susan to make a wedding quilt for her sons; the fiancee got to pick the pattern and the fabric. I was in heaven amidst all the fabric options. I loved finding fun patterns, quirky combinations and using lots of different colors and designs.

My second quilt was a small, lap quilt for my friend, Alison. She had also put us up as Tyler and I transitioned back to work and life in Seattle and had been really supportive of my first quilt attempt. This time I was slightly more ambitious--I had seen a pattern I liked online that I wanted to replicate. Still fairly straightforward, but it did mean that I had to figure out my own pattern.

Alison's quilt in browns, pinks and golds.

Then I was pregnant. Between Susan's quilting and my mother's amazing knitting, this baby wasn't going to suffer for coverings, but I wanted to make my own baby quilt. I went simple, with a pretty traditional square patchwork design, but again mixed it up with some retro fabrics, some Asian, an eye-popping orange, and flannel sock monkeys on the back.

Stella's quilt, in gender neutral blue, green and yellow.

So now it's baby number two's turn. I know it's practically tradition to not finish the second baby's project, but I'm on a mission. I had a hard time getting started on this one. I picked fabrics and decided they were too mature. I picked a design and then changed my mind. Finally I decided to tackle something I've wanted to do for a long-time--pinwheels.

Baby Number 2's quilt: probably my most ambitious piecing and first time with prairie points, too.

I'm glad I waited until now to do it. It definitely requires more attention to detail and more consistent sewing then I could have pulled off with my first few quilts. I've learned over time that it really is worth it to get it right, measure closely, sew straight lines and pull things apart and start over if they're not right. (It's funny--I enjoy that kind of fastidiousness now with sewing but I still prefer cooking over baking for its forgiveness of improvisation.)

I'm thankful that meeting Tyler and then Susan introduced this kind of activity back into my life. I love the fabrics, the opportunity to connect with other sewers and crafters, the creative outlet and the way to show love and appreciation to people in my life. I have far more ideas and quilts I want to make then time!

PS: here's how I'm looking at 19 weeks. You can definitely tell this is a second pregnancy. Here I am at 19 weeks for comparison!

Two-Years-Old/Baby Number Two

2011-02-16T20:09:00.000-08:00

It's been too long since I posted. That's mostly because right before Stella's second birthday, I went from being "happy-go-lucky" pregnant to "24-hours-a-day nauseous and exhausted" pregnant. For 8 weeks. But more on that later.

Stella's two. And until about a week ago, I was regularly telling people how awesome I thought two was. Sure, we had moments, but on the whole, it's been pretty great. High points: unsolicited "I love you"s, singing (particularly "itsy, bitsy spider"), "reading" books like "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" from memory, and generally being engaged, talkative, curious and fun.

Stella in her butterfly pants and with her first ponytail. She was quite pleased with herself!

Well, a week ago, Stella decided to embrace two in a new way. And it's still not terrible, but I have a feeling we're getting a taste of the next year....or so. Now when she sits down for dinner, she immediately says, "I don't like it!" and pushes her plate away. The response to nearly any suggestion is "no", and today she pulled a teenage move by getting offended by Tyler for some mysterious reason (have I mentioned she can have a flair for the dramatic and sensitive?), ran to her room, and shut the door hard. I thought we wouldn't get that for at least 10 more years! There's also the bedtime procrastination, the fight to put on her coat *every* morning, you get the idea. I know this is an important stage, and she's just asserting herself, but living with a constant contrarian can be taxing.

But overall I'm feeling much less taxed lately. Baby number 2 is doing her/his thing, but I'm back to having energy and generally feeling good. Nineteen weeks tomorrow--nearly halfway! The due date is July 14th, and I'm pretty excited about having a summer baby: sunlight, long days, lots less worry about keeping the baby warm. Poor baby could stand to have a better nickname, but it doesn't mean any less actual excitement. It's interesting being pregnant again. I'm more impatient to get the show on the road, but also more aware that there really is a baby we just don't know yet who's in the process of developing. Stella doesn't seem quite sure what to make of it yet. Sometimes she knows the baby is in my belly (one morning she was insisting it was a girl), and other times she says the baby is in her tummy or that *she's* the baby. This will be an adjustment. Ultrasound is in two weeks--so we'll have pics to post soon! And it's probably nearly time to start with the belly pics--I'm actually still not showing much, but it's not far off....

"Book!" Click! "Mommy!" Click! "Red!" Click!

2011-01-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I posted here. So long, in fact, my little "Stella Reporting" header graphic barely even looks like me any more. But, I figured it was worth doing an entry so that I could make a big announcement:

I am a photographer.

After much pleading, I finally managed to convince mommy and daddy to let me use their camera. Daddy insisted on trying to explain the "proper" way to hold it and showed me where the button was that caused the camera to click and (sometimes) the light to flash. But, after these brief instructions, it was time to show the world my unique photographic vision. A couple of quick notes on how to take a proper picture:

1) It's important to announce the name of the subject, as you take its picture. This lets the subject know you are photographing them. For example if you want to take a picture of the giant stuff elephant in the living room, shout "elfant" first.

2) Place at least one finger over the lens. I'm not sure why this is important, but it is. Trust me.

3) Aim the camera slightly above or below the subject. This makes the photo more artistic.

Now, on to my photos...

A self-portrait.

My baby, Claudette.

Can you spot the elephant? Where'd it go?

Bike!

Mommy. Mommy is a great subject for my photos.

Daddy. Meh.

Mommy and daddy.

My feet.

A plate for pie. I discovered that putting the camera on a flat surface and pressing the button works well.

Mommy again.

Me and my soothie... plus daddy photo-bombing me

"Melmo" and a doll that my friends, Liam and Meerim, brought me from East Timor, laying on the rug that my parents say I can't have juice on.

Books and mommy.

...Well, that's just a small sample of the 160 or so photos I've taken. Daddy promises he'll upload a bunch of them to Flickr, but we'll see how that goes. After all, he did end his last post by saying "more soon" and that was, what, over a month ago.

Speaking of which, a lot has happened in the last month or so. Daddy turned 35, and must be having some sort of mid-life crisis early, because he got a new tattoo. He says it is me, but it looks like a flower and a star... go figure. We also had a lot of fun during Christmas. First with family up here, and then we went down to Texas to see some more family, but maybe I'll see if mommy wants to post about that.

Oh, and one other piece of news, I guess. Mommy and daddy keep trying to tell me there's a baby in mommy's belly.

I have no idea what that's all about.

'Tis the season...

2010-12-14T14:40:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season... to fall behind on blog entries. Fa la la la la la la!

I can't believe that nearly a month has passed since our last entry here, and that last time we checked in, it was only a little after Halloween. Yowza! Anyhow, let's see if I untangle the last couple of weeks and get everyone up to speed!

Late November brought not only Thanksgiving, but also Stella's 2nd Birthday! Since Stella's actual Birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day this year, we decided to throw a party for her on the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving week. While Stella can sometimes be overwhelmed by large groups, this time she really seemed to enjoy being surrounded by her friends, playmates and ...well... cupcakes!

It is basically impossible to take a picture of a room full of 2 year old's and their parents, but this off-the-cuff image catches some of the chaos.

Cupcakes from Seattle's Trophy Cupcakes!

Stella's old nanny, Tirza, and her daughter, Natalie, were able to come to the party. It was great seeing the two girls play with each other after several months of not seeing each other, but you could tell it was hard for Stella to say "bye" at the end of the party.

After that, it was on to Thanksgiving proper. And while, sadly, my Grandmother, Aunt and Cousin's were unable to attend our Thanksgiving dinner because my Grandma had surgery just a couple days before (I've been assured everything went smoothly), we did end up with a full table since Sarah's mom, stepfather, bother and sister-in-law came into town to celebrate with us (as well as Ambika), and be there for Stella's actual 2nd Birthday...

Stella blows out the candles on her cake. (Thanks dad, for catching this picture.)

Unfortunately, while I did click several photos during the actual meal itself, they all pretty much turned out dark and/or blurry, so I'll spare you. But, you can be assured that Sarah cooked another wonderful Holiday meal!

Owing largely to the snow (more on that later), most of the rest of that week was spent hanging out and relaxing with Sarah's family. But, we did make one or two trips out to do some sightseeing with them. Including a trip to the aquarium (which, again only yielded one or two photos) and to the Museum of Flight.

A typical scene from that week, curled up on the couch, talking, read and napping.

Sarah, Tim and Jeanne standing in front of Air Force One, which we got to walk through. I'll spare you the pictures I took of the Air Force One bathrooms...

...but I won't spare you the picture I took of the Lockheed Blackbird. AKA: The X-Men's jet. I geeked out a little.

The one cute picture from our aquarium visit. Sarah and I have gotten bad about not taking pictures any more. Need to get back in the habit. Still, this one is cute.

After Tim and Jeanne left, Sarah's mom and step-dad accompanied us on one other family tradition: Buying a Christmas Tree. For the last couple years, we've bought our tree at the Dunshee House, a support group for people living with HIV/AIDS. A great way to combine two Holiday traditions (buying a tree and giving) into one!

The tree strapped to the top of our car!

That evening, after Sarah's mom and Don had left, Sarah and I decorated the tree... with Stella's help of course. Last year, when it came time to decorate the tree, Stella was just a little over one, not yet walking unassisted, and was in bed before we even began unpacking the ornaments. This year, she was more than happy to help out. Surprisingly, she didn't show much interest in breaking or throwing anything, and instead did her best to actual hook the ornaments on to some of the lower branches. Usually these attempts ended with a plaintive "help peas," but still its the thought that counts.

Making sure every ornament is "just right."

Stella checks out a Christmas book with the tree glowing in the background.

The "family by the tree" photo. Something that's become bit of an annual tradition.

As I mentioned above, it also snowed that week. The first flakes started to drift down during Stella's Birthday Party, but it wasn't until Monday that things started to get white. And, unlike most Seattle snows, this snow actually stuck around for most of the week. The whole thing seemed eerily similar to the snow storm right after Stella's birth, but Sarah and I tried to just roll with the punches, making sure things went smoothly with her family and the Holiday plans.

For her part, Stella seemed nonplus about the snow. She took a couple strolls in it, but was otherwise content to stay warm in doors.

Trying to catch snowflakes with mommy.

Taking it all in...

...but then heading back inside to get warm.

Well, when I initially started typing this, I had hoped to get things caught up through Mid-December, but just realizes that it is nearing 4:00pm, and that I need to get ready to head down to Stella's Day Care to take part in some holiday festivities there (cookies and singing). Sarah is, sadly, not feeling well. Both her and Stella have been struggling with another string of colds recently which is another reason we've fallen behind here. But, hopefully, Sarah or I will be able to do a follow up entry in the next couple of days.

That said, I wanted to end by noting how much Stella has changed in the last couple of months. More and more, her single words are being strung into simple sentences. And, more than once, I've been struck by the fact that I almost feel like I'm having actual conversations with her. Her favorite question is still "wo go?" (where go? ...and half the time the challenge is just figuring out what the "wo" is), but she's also big on color and counting (though her version of counting involves repeating "two, three" again and and again). She still loves coloring, but also loves her play dough (which she play cooks with), her toy pots and wooden food, and especially her dolls (which she spends countless hours putting blankets on top of). She loves Elmo, but has a much more complex relationship with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, as seen in this sample conversation:

Stella: Roar!
Me/Sarah: Is the abominable snow monster scary?
Stella: Yeah. (pause) No teeth!
Me/Sarah: Yes. Then they take his teeth out, and he becomes nice.
Stella: Nice! (pause) Wheeeee!
Me/Sarah: Yes, and then the reindeer fly.

Hopefully more, soon.

Ye-ya (aka "Stella")

2010-11-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

Stella, tonight. We haven't been good about taking many videos for awhile. Partly because Stella usually doesn't really cooperate (as soon as we turn it on, she wants to be *behind* the camera) and because we've just been too darn busy. But tonight I realized that she won't talk like this forever. And I couldn't resist sharing.

Who's a Busy Bee?

2010-11-08T20:39:00.000-08:00

In a number of ways, I think I'm a pretty good mom. In others...let's just say there's room for improvement. Halloween is probably one of those areas. For whatever reason, I feel pretty ambivalent about the holiday. Some people love it, plan costumes out months in advance, put out decorations, really see it was the best holiday of the year. I'm not anti-Halloween, but let's put it this way: before Stella was born, I think Tyler put a costume together for me the day of a party for about three years in a row. So you can imagine some of that washes into Halloween where Stella is concerned. And this year we had an extra hill to surmount when we all got a stomach flu the weekend before. (So much for the idea of cute pictures of Stella in a pumpkin field.) Tyler spent the Thursday before Halloween running around trying to find a last minute costume until I asked one of my coworkers if she had one from when her kids were younger we could borrow. (Thanks, Kasey!!)

But I get ahead of myself. Our first Halloween activity (on the Friday before...) was pumpkin carving. Tyler and Stella had picked one up the night before at our local produce stand, where the pickings were a bit slim. But Tyler, being the lovely anthropomorphizer he is, has a soft spot for the less than perfect gourds. Though Stella's preschool had had a few days of pumpkin-related sensory activities and an actual carving, she seemed a bit unsure and then downright disinterested.

My part--getting out the guts. The expression here is probably Stella's face after saying "no!" to my suggestion that she participate.

More carving ambivalence

Tyler steps up for the artistic part...

and acquits himself nicely!

We followed that up with our first costume party, when Stella promptly refused to put on her costume. I decided not to push it since we really wanted her to warm to it by Halloween. You'll notice she's wearing a fleece vest--she just couldn't understand why I was offering some other jacket to wear when she had a perfectly good one on!

Stella, along with a sock monkey, tiger, Snow White, Batman, Superman and Winnie the Poo.

On Saturday, we went to the zoo despite some sogginess. We had a good time but didn't manage to see the main attraction--animals eating jackolanterns. (Nor did we take any photos. Nor would Stella wear her costume.) On Sunday we had a second costume party with our PEPS group. This time, Stella acted like she didn't want to wear her costume but I popped it over her head and she decided she loved it! She'd point at herself and say "Bee!", "Bzzz" around and flap her "wings"--very cute.

This is a pretty bad phone photo, but I love the controlled chaos of trying to get a group shot of near two-year-olds. (And you can see the awesome squirrel costume Lena wore!)

Finally, it was time for the main event. We took Stella to Grandma and Grandpa's house for trick-or-treating. Stella was a little unsure of going to strange doors, but she was intrigued by the idea of candy, and like Grandma Susan's decorations!

Stella the bee! The flower-y skirt is a bit unconventional, but I figured it kind of looks like she's hovering over a field....and she wouldn't put on her black pants.

So hopefully next year we'll get our act together and avoid last-minute illness. Of course, by then, Stella will also probably have her own opinion about what costume she wants, which will be a whole new ball of wax!!

The leaves aren't the only thing turning red

2010-11-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

With the leaves turning red and the gray clouds swirling overhead, it can only mean one thing: Fall? No, wine-making season! Several weeks ago, we kicked off this year's batch of wine over at Gary and Cynthia's house, with the Annual Crush. After two years of having to juggle the crush and the U-District Foodbank Auction on the same day, this year we were excited that the crush and auction fell on separate days, and we wouldn't have to rush off halfway through de-stemming.

Anyhow, pictures!!

Our previous years wine, 2007's "Ranger Rick Red," 2006's "Round the World Red" and 2008's "Stella Rose's Stellar Red."
Ready to toss some grapes! Behind me is the 2-3 tons of grapes for this years wine.
...And speaking of grapes! Here's this years grapes. Like last year, we are doing Syrah.
...And speaking of Syrah, er, I mean Sarah! Sarah after a hard days work, proving you have to be willing to get a little messy.
Last year, we got a picture of Stella sitting on grapes. This year: Stella in a grape press!

One thing that has changed from previous years of wine making is this year, after the crush, we brought our portion of the crushed grapes back to our house for fermentation in the newly built wine-making room in the back of the garage. So, after a couple weeks of fermentation, my dad, our friend Gary, and I did the Press: Where we separate out the newly created wine, and then press the remaining skins and stems for any last wine we can get out of them.

More pictures!

The infamous Press. It was down-pouring so we did most of the press in the garage itself. Beyond my dad and Gary you can see the wall and door leading into the wine room.

Dad and Gary bump stems and skins into the press. Try not to cry for all the spilled wine on the ground.

Gary and I try some of the newly created wine. Tart and acidic. It can definitely stand to do some aging in the barrel.

My dad holds up what's left over after the press: Compacted stems and skins. Hmmm, I wonder if this would make good fertilizer?

Finally, not to worry, pictures of Stella in her Halloween costume are coming soon! We just wanted to get caught up on this, but Sarah promises to do a Halloween entry soon.

That's what she said...

2010-10-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

Back in March, I wrote a post talking about the various words and sign language signs that Stella had been using. In that entry, I made it sound like, within the next 24 hours, Stella would be busting loose with a (to quote myself) "veritable tidal wave of verbiage." Well, it turns out that things have been a little slower going than that. But, after several months dominated primarily by grunting and rapidly deteriorating sign language skills, it feels like in these past couple of weeks Stella's finally rounded a corner and not a day seems to pass where she isn't introducing a new word. Partially, I think that some of the credit should be given to her Day Care. Without being to rely on me and Sarah trying to decipher fits and screams, she's been forced to explore the world of verbal communication. But, partially, I think she was just finally ready to start talking.

So, let's take a look at some of the things she says:

"Yeah" and "Mo" - In the entry Sarah posted recently, you got to watch her uber-cute way of saying "yeeeaaahhh," which has replaced her jaw-chomping nod. But, she also says "no" too. Or, more accurately, "mo" ...which was a bit confusing since its also how she says "more."

"Mama," "Papa," "Bumpa" and "Nana" - Much to the various Grandmas joy and relief, Stella has finally started saying "Nana" in addition to the other three.

"Oocy" and "Meme" - For her friend, Lucy, and her second cousin, Mia. "Meme" is also, incidentally her word for "Kitty" these days, which is a little odd, since her first word was "kitty." I also think she knows some of the names of the kids at her Day Care.

"Keekee" - Her blanket... or her pacifier ...or "drink" depending on the circumstance.

"Hi" - Used for both "hi" and "bye." Though I think the occasional "bye" sneaks in there too.

"Tank you" - One of her cutest things she says, partially because she will often thank us for stuff without a prompting. Give her something she wants and she just respond with a quick "tank you." Very polite.

"Anana" and "cacka" - For banana and cracker. These ones are mixed blessing because usually she's screaming, crying and begging for one of them... and quite often we don't even have any bananas or crackers to give her.

"Buboh" and "Baboon" - "Bubble" (usually accompanied by the sign language sign for "bubble") and "balloon." She loves both of these things, and is happy to point out one out, whenever she sees one.

"Memo" - I discovered this one just today, when she started begging to watch her "Elmo" DVD.

"I wah..." "Wo...?" and "Igahit!" - The first two are usually used with another word above to say "I want (a banana, for example)" or "Where is (the blanket)?" The last one, "I got it," is her cute little exclamation whenever she, for examples, manages to hook some food on her fork, or some similar accomplishment.

Animal Noises - She doesn't call many animals by name, and still uses their noise to identify them. So, we have dogs ("bwu-bwu"), cats ("me-me"), birds ("caw-caw"), pigs (snorting through her nose), and various lions, tigers and bears ("raaah!" ...almost always accompanied by a charging, arms-raised run). Plus, cars ("bwoom-bwoom").

"Eish" - Since fish don't make noises, they get to be called by their name, usually while also making the sign language sign for "fish."

"Gee" or "Gish" - Sort of multi-purpose sounds, usually made while pointing something out. Probably equivalent to "see" and "this."

EDIT to add:
"Ut-oh" - Self explanatory. Whenever something gets dropped, its a big "ut-oh!"

"Ow" - Not "ouch," but "owl." In particular, here little miniture owl blanket/stuffed animal friend, that has become a constant companion.

"Wo go?" - "Where did it go?" Whenever she's looking for something, or someone leaves, we get a "wo go?" Along with questioning upturned palms.

Anyhow, that's a small sampling of some of the words Stella's been using. Hopefully, Sarah will have a chance to do a follow up entry, and maybe add to this list. I'm sure there are more, and words that I'm forgetting. But, at least this is a small sampling of what you might hear around our house these days.

And now, and obligatory Stella picture...

LA Story

2010-10-04T21:14:00.000-07:00

About three years ago, shortly after Sarah and I returned from our trip, my brother, Travis, and his wife, Meghan, moved down to Los Angeles so that she could pursue a career in acting and he could pursue one in film production. Sadly, while they've been back up to Washington a least a couple times each year, we've only been able to go down to visit them once. But, because I have the Best Wife Evah™, and because she offered to watch Stella while I went down for a long weekend, I was able to spend some time with them, see their latest apartment (they've moved since our first trip) and explore LA some more.

So, last Thursday evening, I boarded my neon-pink-lit Virgin America flight, sat down 15 rows behind Arianna Huffington, and quickly found myself at LAX, being picked up by my brother. Unfortunately, because my flight arrived a little after 11pm, it didn't provide us with much time to explore; but we were still able to grab a late night beer and bite to eat at a neighborhood pub.

The next morning, feeling slightly worn out from our 3am bedtime, my brother and I fumbled through our morning routines, and then he took me out to show me a couple of neighborhood comic stores. The first, Skylight Books, was actually a book store proper, but their annex store features a large collection of trades and graphic novels up by the front door. The second, The Secret Headquarters, was a smallish comic book store with an old-time leather and polished wood feel. As someone who's always argued that comics should be treated with the same respect as other book forms, and not be surrounded by and buried under piles of action figures and Magic cards; both stores made me very happy.

After checking out both stores, we picked up Meghan back at the apartment, and went to check out a Cuban restaurant that they'd heard good things about, La Caridad. La Caridad ended up being a small, unassuming hole in the wall. The type of place where everyone else being served was speaking Spanish and the food was tasty without being flashy. As I eagerly ate my beef, rice and beans, I announced to Trav and Meg that this was exactly the type of thing I was hoping to do there.

As we finished our meal, we talked about what our options were for the day. Since I've been to LA a couple of times before, and even lived near Anaheim for a super-brief two-month period back around 2000, they didn't feel obligated to take me to all the usual tours traps. But, when one of them mentioned that they new the location of the entrance to Batman's Batcave (from the old, campy TV series), I knew that's what I had to see first.

A short drive, and an even shorter "hike," and we were there. A short tunnel punched through a narrow hillside, dead-ending on the other side of the tunnel.

Trav and Meg do their best Batman and Robin impression. I'll let you decide which is which.

Coming back from the Batcave, we noticed that we were near the trail-head up to the Hollywood sign. And, since Trav and Meg had never made the hike themselves, we figured it was worth a go. Now, apparently, the hike was only supposed to be about a mile and a half one way, but after going the wrong way at least once, and tromping up broken pavement in the afternoon sun, it somehow turned into a "Death March" not dissimilar from mine and Sarah's hike to the Virgin Mary's House in Turkey.

To add a little insult to injury, when you got to the top of the trail, you couldn't even walk up to the sign, but instead found yourself standing on a fenced trail above it. Still nice view, at least!

The Hollywood sign from above, and the sprawl of LA beyond.

After taking the view in a bit, there's was nothing left to do but head back down the hill and go to YogurtLand! Yum! I've never been so excited about frozen yogurt before. It was actually sort of embarrassing.

With our bellies full of self-serve yogurt, we headed back to Trav and Meg's place to burn it off with a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit, and then a late night app platter and beer at another neighborhood sports bar, Good.

Saturday morning, Meghan had to work, so Trav and I hoped on the bus and headed into downtown to walk around and do a little site seeing. First off, he took me into the library where we marveled at the atrium and this painted, domed ceiling:

The mural was amazing in its detail, but probably my favorite touch was the globe chandelier.

After the library, we wandered pass the toy district where I picked up a $2 pair of sunglasses. Note that, despite having bought sunglasses in several developing countries, this was probably the cheapest I've ever scored a pair. Then it was on to Little Tokyo for a sushi and Bento box lunch. Poor Sarah, she always has to listen to me grumble when she suggests we get sushi and what's one of the first things I do when I go on vacation without her? Get sushi. Though, to be fair, I was in Little Tokyo. It only made sense.

The Bento Box and some sushi from lunch.

With lunch in our bellies, we headed onward to Union Station. I'd seen several of Trav and Meg's amazing and atmospheric photos of them in Union Station before, so I thought it was important that I take some too.

Ooooh, artsy. I swear, someday, I'll learn to take decent photographs.

Me, posing in my $2 sunglasses, for what might someday become a Facebook profile photo.

Also, while we were there, we watched as staff set up for some formal event in a side room. The man working the information desk speculated that it was an Armenian wedding. Whatever it was, it was probably going to be a wild time, since each table included not just a bottle of wine, but also a bottle of whiskey.

Olvera St: Touristy, but pleasant.

Back outside, we made our way to Olvera Street. Besides being a market filled with Mexican themed tchotchkes, was also a quaint and shaded (if crowded) cobble-stone street, that also featured tourist-centric restaurants and LA's oldest house.It was cute, but by then we were both getting a little hot and tired and decided to make our way back home...

...but not before swinging back past the Grand Central Market and La Cita. The Grand Central Market was, like Pike Place Market for Seattle, LAs original market space. And, wandering through it, they still sold an array of fruit, vegetables, seafood and meat. La Cita, located right next to the market, is a funky old Mexican bar that seems to live some sort of weird double life: Inside, it was filled with middle-aged Mexicans and on the back patio it was rapidly filling up with 20-something, urban hipsters. The seemly easy truce between the two groups made for a surreal experience, to say the least.

Grand Central Market. When Sarah and I travel, one of our favorite places to visit are market places. The ones you find in the US might not feature as much bizarre food or questionable sanitation, but they are still great to stroll through.

Trav and La Cita. Unfortunately, you can't see much of it... beyond the wrought iron fence of the courtyard, and some Budweiser banners. But, trust me when I say the inside looked like Terry Gilliam's version of a Mexican-themed bar.

After throwing back a beer at La Cita, and making a mini-hike back to the bus stop, we were soon back at Trav and Meg's apartment. Meeting up with Meg, we decided to head back out for a taco dinner at El Chava. At El Chava, we were rapidly befriended by a guy named Al. Al was so quintessentially LA that I had trouble believing he was real: A hyperactive hip-hopper who managed to squeeze three or four celebrity names into each of his partying stories... while simultaneously declaring that he didn't really care for all that "celebrity stuff."

Making our eventual escape from Al, the night made the slow transition into a mini-pub crawl, which featured eventually running into our friends Russ and Ang, and brief (but unfortunately not brief enough) visit to "Jumbo's Clown Room," and eventually ending up with Trav and I shouting over the music at some vaguely Buddhist-Circus themed club near their hour.

The next morning, moving slowly again, we made our way back to Good for a long breakfast, and so that Trav could watch the Seahawks play.

Maybe not the most flattering picture of Travis, but it still pretty accurately represents that morning.

Then, with an unfortunate Seahawks game behind us, I was back on the plane and home again. All in all a fun trip. Before Trav and Meg moved to LA, I would always declare that it was possibly my least favorite place I'd been. But, I have to admit that, based on this visit and mine and Sarah's previous trip, I've begun to warm to LA. Sure, its large, dirty and congested. And, sure, vast swaths of it tend to suffer from the type of suburban sprawl that makes my skin crawl. But, at the same time, it's also now revealed itself to be a city filled with an amazing mix of cultures, food, interesting neighborhood and fun people. And, as long as Trav and Meg are down there, I'll look forward to visiting!

...though, maybe next time Stella and Sarah will be there too!

Yeah!

2010-09-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

Stella's second most frequent word these days is "yeah." Much better than uh-uh. And she practically turns it into a three syllable word, making it sound full of enthusiasm and pleasure. We're not complaining!

The rest of the speech in the video is somewhat incomprehensible, even to us. But we have counted and she's got 30+ words she does use. One of these days we're pretty certain she's just going to start spouting full paragraphs.

More of an update soon. Between my job, Tyler working and the remodel, the blog has been a bit neglected!

Pacific Beach

2010-09-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

For the past few years, my friend Alison and I have talked about going on a camping trip together, and this year it finally happened. We were all free over Labor Day weekend, so made plans to head to Pacific Beach, a small coastal town about 20 miles north of Ocean Shores. The coast felt like a bit of a risky choice at the end of the summer weather-wise, but Tyler and I hadn't been for about four years, and Alison's husband, Rhett, owns some property there (and it was where Alison and Rhett got married last year), so we were anxious to head west and hope for the best.

I wasn't too optimistic going into the weekend; the weather forecasts had all said good weather Friday, but rain on Saturday, so we braced for the worst and headed out of Seattle on a sunny afternoon hoping to get at least a little dry weather. As we turned toward the coast from Olympia, the sky got more and more gray and the wind looked stronger. Drat. We were going to miss the sun after all--mostly a bummer from our non-existent summer this year. But, hey, we're hardy Northwesterners, right?

The old pier logs on the beach

We got to the camp and quickly set up. Stella spotted some blackberry brambles and quickly got into some berries (which were definitely less ripe and more tart than those close to our house). We wrestled with our tent, sleep mats and bags while Rhett did a bit of set-up with their accommodations. He'd taken an old Ford van and turned it into a homemade camper, complete with a fridge, bed, storage, awning, portable DVD player, and rack off the door for the Coleman grill. (Sadly, I didn't think to photograph it for the blog. You'll just have to take my word for it. It's cool.) Tyler and I couldn't help but think back to our days in New Zealand, tooling around in the Spaceship.

After dinner, we decided to meander onto the beach. Following our first camping trip this year, we'd thought that the beach might be a better place for Stella at this age. Our intuition was right. She *loved* the beach. She probably could have happily spent all her waking time there--playing in the sand, sliding down hills of sand, checking out bits of shell and seaweed, looking at dogs. She still seemed to be a little overwhelmed by the ocean itself, but it was all and all a pretty awesome time.

Happy Stella on the beach! It was pretty cool and breezy, as you can tell by the serious bundling....

Kite surfer. All I can say is, "Brrrrr." I am not that hardy.

Day 2, in the sun, not crossing over past the water's edge. Apparently ocean waves are still scary.

Day 3, and the sun's still shining! Stella played with this bit of seaweed for a while--touching it, smelling it, poking her finger into, trying to stuff sand into it. A little biologist!

The camping went well, too. Stella slept well in the tent, enjoyed being outside and generally a good time was had by all. I'm beginning to think that our less than stellar time over Fourth of July was just a fluke.

Stella always sleeps in the tent with her head wedged up against the wall of the tent, often near mine.

Morning at the camp!

Rhett and Alison make "eggels" for breakfast. Apparently this is from Moonstruck? I grew up knowing this as "egg in the hole".

We were in the minority sleeping in a tent at Pacific Beach. Most people were in big RVs, and almost all had these funny wind/kite things. Stella loved them, especially these fish.

Pacific Beach itself is an interesting little place. It's tiny, but there's a cute little coffeeshop with delicious cinnamon buns, a gift shop with neat beach-y items (and cute homemade hats--where I picked up a new one!), a place called the "Wacky Warehouse" and some cute houses and cottages near the park. There's also an interesting development just down the road called Seabrook that seemed to be hopping, with pretty East Coast style houses, a cafe and a little gourmet market. But I think one of Tyler's favorite parts was the "Rhythm Katz." Over the weekend, there was some kind of festival in PB, which included a "street dance" on Saturday night and a parade on Sunday. We left before the parade, but we couldn't miss the music. Tyler and Rhett decided they had to check it out. Not having seen it myself, I'm sure I can't do it justice, but I do remember it involved a guy with a glo-stick headband, biker band members and some serious rockin'.

I think this was the first time I've camped somewhere without fire pits for the individual campsites, but you are allowed to have fires on the beach. We struggled a bit to get it started (others seemed to use copious amounts of lighter fluid), but Rhett and Tyler's perseverance eventually paid off with a very respectable fire.

We caught the sunset right before we got the fire going

Alison and I were anxious for some toasted marshmallows! Tyler rigged our toasters out of kindling and duct tape.

Long exposure of Rhett, Alison, Bisou and I by the fire

In the end, our worries for weather were proven unnecessary. Saturday morning started sunny and beautiful, and it stayed that way until we came home on Sunday. I'd forgotten how gorgeous the coast is here, and how soothing the sound of the waves is. You can't help but be relaxed while walking along the tide's edge. And it was fantastic to have some time to spend with Alison and Rhett. Perhaps this will become a new annual tradition?

Tyler on the beach

Happy Hill-Stachs!

Stella on her last morning foray to the beach, a bit weatherworn from three days on the road, but happy!

The more things change...

2010-08-29T15:43:00.000-07:00

For the last week or so, I've been meaning to take a second to talk about Stella starting "Baby School." Sarah did a great job encapsulating the first week or so in the last entry, and Stella is actually adjusting to the new situation and schedule pretty readily; but at the same time I thought that it was worth mentioning that -in some ways- this transition has been as big of a change for me as it has been for her.

For the last 20-odd months, I've been more-or-less a stay at home dad. Sure, Tirza was watching Stella several days a week, and Sarah was home on most Fridays, and sure I was working part time. But most days involved at least a couple hours of Stella and I bumming around together; trying to keep busy or find a fun way to pass an afternoon. But, for better or worse, with Stella beginning Day Care, that's all changed.

The first couple of half-days that I took Stella to Day Care were mainly just exciting and fun. It was a change in the routine for both of us, and Stella seemed to enjoy the space and experience. But, when that Thursday and Friday rolled around, it began to hit me more that my little sidekick was leaving me. And, by Monday, when she had her first full day of child care, as I watched her diligently follow Sarah down the front walk on their way to the car, I suddenly felt the lump rising in my throat and my vision started to mist up.

Then, as the car pulled out of the driveway, it was just me in a quiet house by myself.

...Although, to be fair, our house wasn't quiet for long. That same week, with my dad working as the general contractor, we began the first stage of our basement remodel. This stage, which we are now probably halfway through involves turning the large basement rec-room into two bedrooms. Demolition, carpentry, electrical work, cement-cutting, heating duct rerouting... the last two weeks have been marked by a flurry of activity in basement. Previously, while I worked in the basement and listened to Stella and the nanny's daughter, Natalie, crash around upstairs, I thought it got loud; but that doesn't even begin to hold a candle to trying to work upstairs while electric drills and saws whine and roar beneath my feet.

A view of the basement before the remodel...

...and roughly the same view about a week later. I'm pretty sure we will do an entry about the remodel specifically, so I won't go into too much detail here.)

The remodel, combined with trying to get started working again, my first on-site contract in about two years, a ton of activity with my drawing group the Bureau of Drawers and packed weekends (the Annual Lake Phuckalia Camping Trip, the Annual Whidbey Island Country Club Party) have led to me feeling like I'm in a perpetual state of flux. People keep asking me how I like my new routine, but it's hard to give them answer since I seem to be unable to establish any sort of routine. It's made for an exciting couple of weeks, but also an exhausting couple of weeks.

The Annual Lake Phuckalia Camping trip. This years trip was marked by a creepy van guy, bee swarms and probably too much whiskey. But, Stella has become quite the little camper, and enjoyed spending time with her doppelganger, Ryder.

Me and fellow Bureaucrat, Nikki, hold up a long communal drawing that was created as part of our illustration groups activity at a recent Seattle Art Museum event.

This entry seems a little off, maybe a bit unfocused. But, maybe that's appropriate. I'm sure things will settle down sometime soon. And, I'm sure that -at some point- I'll get used not hanging out with Stella during my weekdays. Still, right now, I'm just trying to roll with the changes, stay flexible and not get overwhelmed.

And enjoy my evening and weekends with my favorite two ladies.

Stella riding on my shoulders at the Phuckalia Camping Trip.

Sarah and I enjoy our 5-year bottle of wine... a wedding gift from our friends Justin and Yachi. Love you, honey!

Stella's Start in Montessori

2010-08-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

In late June, our nanny of over a year gave her two week notice. She was getting farther along in a somewhat difficult pregnancy and keeping up with her own 2 1/2-year-old daughter and Stella was just a bit more than she was able to do. We were sad to see her go; she had been a steady, happy and loving presence in Stella's life for a long time. Then again, we knew as soon as she told us she was pregnant that the end was in sight--it was just a little sooner than we expected.

At around the same time, we felt like Stella had turned a developmental corner of sorts. While I had been really happy to have her mostly home all that time, I felt that she--and we--were ready for her to be in a setting that would get her around other kids and give her some new experiences. So, sad though we were for Tirza's departure, it felt like an opportunity to find Stella another child care arrangement that would work well for her now that she was older.

We started looking into different child care options. We checked out our local resource and referral agency which provides information for licensed child care options, but while helpful, it's daunting to have a list of 100+ places that aren't rated in any way. So we ended up mostly calling places that we knew were close to home, en route to my office or recommended to us by friends. Even though Stella's older and the ratio of staff to kids is bigger, it's still hard to find an open spot, which meant Tyler took a break from freelancing to be a summer stay-at-home dad for about a month, but we finally did a few tours and found a place we liked and finally decided to make the transition to center-based care for Stella.

We decided to go with a Montessori center. People have lots of different ideas about what Montessori means--some positive and some less so. Montessori method is based off of practices developed by an Italian doctor, Maria Montessori, in the early 20th century and focuses on giving young children freedom in an environment prepared with materials designed for their self-directed learning activity. The focus on seemed a perfect match for Stella who's independent and very curious.

And we were really impressed when we went to visit Minor Avenue Children's House, a new place that I can literally see from my office window. Fortunately for us, it was just opening, which meant we were able to get in. Right away were liked the feeling of the place. The teachers and director are all very quiet and calm. It's built for kids--a good outdoor area, child-sized sinks and tables and potties, and lots to explore.

They had a nice transition plan. For four days, Stella slowly eased into visiting the center. The first day, Tyler took her and stayed for about an hour. The second day he dropped her off and came back after about a half hour. The next two days I decided I should participate since I'd be the one dropping her off and picking her up on my way to work. At first all went well. We walked in, Stella showed me around, Tyler showed me the routine ("Her diapers go here, her cubby is over here, you set her lunch here"), but as soon as Stella realized I was leaving she panicked. Grabbed me, cried hard and was kind of frantic. Ouch. But she seemed fine when Tyler went to pick her up after lunch. The next day, same routine, but no papa. Less frantic, but still really upset. And she was fine when I picked her up after nap. Well, after nap time. When I arrived, she seemed quite pleased to walk me over to her little mat and show me how she could lay down on it with her blanket, but that was as close as it got. It was a fun evening.

Then, the next week, it was starting in earnest. Four days a week, all day while I was at work.

Stella on the first day of "baby school"

Day 1: "Are you excited to go back to Montessori today, Stella?" "(head nod/teeth nod), but this day she cried as soon as I parked outside the front door. And then, in my flustered hurry to get her settled and leave with as smooth a goodbye as possible, I left with her shoes. I couldn't not take them back--she'd need them for play time and they often take walks and even have picnic lunches in the neighborhood. So I had to go back. And I had to put them in her cubby, which meant going *back* into the room. It had been about 20 minutes, and she was still red-eyed and sniffly, with the teacher still trying to distract her. (The teacher is very nice, but I did detect a bit of an impatient look when I walked back through the door; I couldn't blame her--she was the one who had to hold screaming Stella and still also keep up with the other children already there). Stella soldiered through--she was still resigned, I think knowing that it really wasn't time to go yet--but it destroyed my illusion that while she was sad when I left, she was OK pretty quickly. Another ouch. But that same day I was also able to leave a little early to stop by and join a little circle time, hoping that my presence for a little while would affirm to Stella that it's an OK place.

Day 2: "Stella, just so you know, we'll be leaving for school in about 15 minutes." She cried and sat sadly on Tyler's lap while I finished getting ready. And she was crying when I left the room, but the crying was more resigned, though definitely sad. The teachers shared she was transitioning well, though they also said one day she cried every time one of the parents left.

Day 3: All smooth at home and in the car, and when Stella realized it was time for me to go, she got her big, pre-cry frown, but then engaged with the teacher in something and wasn't crying when I left. Yay! She was still definitely looking for me when I arrived, but she seemed to be interacting with the other kids. The teacher said that every once in awhile she'd say "mama" and cry, but she was doing really well.

Day 4: No crying when I left! She actually went to a play area in the room while I dropped off her various things and then waved and blew me a kiss goodbye. She still seemed a little solemn, but not tears! And she was having fun when I arrived--running in the outside area, drawing with chalk, excited to show me what she was doing rather than being ready to leave immediately.

So the transition wasn't so bad. It seems that she's already learned some new things (better with a fork, can take off her shoes, "sings" songs with hand movements) and says she's had a good time at the end of the day. And I still really like the center and the teachers, who always take a minute in the morning or the afternoon to check in. And I think even the sad moments are going to be worth it. I think it's going to be a great place for Stella. And eventually--when she's really transitioned--it will be nice to be so close by. I could stop by for lunch or during the day. Even though I can't see any children, I am comforted by seeing the place she is while I'm at work.

Now, we'll see if it "sticks" tomorrow, as week two begins...

Four Generations Part 2: The Freebairn Family Reunion

2010-08-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

Hanging out with my mom's side of the family wasn't even the impetus for our trip this year. My dad's cousin had helped organize a Freebairn family reunion, gathering my dad's mother's siblings and their families.

My dad's family has always been more far-flung, with his siblings in New York, Virginia and (now) South Carolina and my grandparent,until a few years ago,in Virginia. During this time, we lived in Arkansas, Indiana and Texas, so our trips to visit were fewer and farther in between.

But I did know my great-aunts and uncles a bit better since they live in the same farming area as my mom's family. My dad grew up spending summers on his uncle Tom's farm (which explains how my parents met), so holidays and visits to Ottawa always meant a trip to see Tom and June on the farm, who were really a second family to my dad. I remember going to visit my affable Uncle Tom and Aunt June who always had ice cream on hand for the kids, as well as visits with my dad's uncle Wes and aunt Naomi, typically around the holidays, when their houses would be filled with their kids, and their kids' kids and lots of delicious baked goods, like shortbread and Scotch cookies.

So while I grew up knowing my great aunts and uncles on that side of the family, I hadn't really seen many of these relatives since the last reunion, 13 years prior. So Tyler and I decided to make the trip to the reunion happen so we could re-connect with that side of the family, too. And I was happy that the reason for the gathering could just be for people to get together. Over the past few years, more of that generation has passed on, including Tom, Wes and Naomi. Of the five Freebairn siblings, only my grandma, one of her brothers and Tom's wife June are still with us.

Despite 13 years or more, it was amazing how recognizable some of my second cousins were. I'd see them and have vague memories of running around together when we were little during the holidays. And even people who I was really meeting for the first time were so nice and friendly. There were a few gatherings over the weekend, but the last one was a potluck picnic at my great aunts house out in the country--again, lots of family and lots of food.

Once again, I did a terrible job taking photos (still hoping to snag some from others who were there!) so I borrowed this one my aunt took of all the baked goods, most of which my grandmother made--Scotch cookies, short bread, orange slice cookies--mmmm.

I might have to update this after some further investigation. I can't Google and get a good explanation for what Scotch cookies are. They're not butterscotch--they seem like good sugar-type cookies with the defining characteristic of having some egg cooked on top.

And spending time on a farm is definitely different than hanging out in the city:

Stella's favorite part was probably the battery-powered cars that were on the farm. This one's battery was charging, so Uncle Dick was nice enough to give her a Stachowiak-powered ride.

Eventually, Stella ended up in a car with a battery. She was in heaven.

Did I mention the driver is three?!

It was a blessing to get to spend time with so much family who travelled everywhere from New York, South Carolina, St. Louis, Georgia, Texas and maybe other places to get together. Thanks to Rita and June for all their planning! Hopefully we can have another get together just because it's fun before another 13 years pass!

Four Generations: Soenksen Side

2010-08-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

As Tyler mentioned in his entry about our night away in Chicago, we went to Illinois a few weeks ago to go to a family reunion. We got to spend time with two sides of my family, the Soenksen clan (my mom's family) and the Freebairn's (my dad's mom's side).

I realized on this trip to Illinois that my grandma's house has been the most constant physical location of my life. My parents have moved. I have moved. My dad's parents have moved. My grandma still lives in the house they moved to when my mom was probably about 10 years old, so I've been visiting here always. There's always been a big back yard to run around in, a basement full of toys, and plenty of snacks to nibble on.

The other thing to know about this side of my family is that it's big. My mom is the oldest of seven siblings. I'm the oldest of 21 grandkids. Stella's one of 10 grandkids, ranging from 7 to 1. And that's without even getting to my mom's aunts and uncles and cousins. So my whole life has included trips to Ottawa to see lots of family.

When I was really young, all my aunts and uncles still lived at home, so I got to play with them. As I got older, there was a growing bevy of young kids. And there was some point when I was of an awkward generation--too young to really relate to my aunts and uncles, but too old to relate to many of my cousins who were 10+ years younger than me. But much of that has changed. Now I can relate to both the older and younger parts of my family--and it's fun getting to really know many of my cousins for the first time as adults. Most of the family still live close together--in the same town, even, or in other parts of Illinois or Wisconsin and grew up together--five cousins are the same age. Even though that's not true for me, it's important to me to visit and still be part of the family even though I live far away.

I did a terrible job of taking pictures during this trip (I was too busy enjoying myself, I guess!), but this shot just feels like time at Grandma's house--hanging out in the living room, with various aunts, uncles, cousins and kids around.

And if we're not in the house, we're hanging out on the back porch, chatting while people keep an eye on the kids running around the back yard.

And now that I've had Stella, I'm even more anxious to get back and see everyone and have her know that side of the family. She's the only grandchild on all sides of her family. When we get to Illinois, there are lots of kids to play with, lots of adults to keep an eye on things, and lots of new things to try out.

Out on the town with Great Grandma Geri

Spinning on the back porch with Maddy, my cousin Lindsay's daughter.

Trying to get a turn on the slide. We were so shocked when Stella played on it--she tends to shy away from slides at the playground, but I think she was inspired by her cousins!

On this trip, we also got to meet two of my cousin's kids for the first time, Jonas and Mila who's just three months younger than Stella. Trying to coordinate a photo of a 20 and 17 month old is a bit like herding cats:

Mila up, Stella down

Stella up, Mila down

Stella got to ride a tricycle toy in the driveway, but what I really love is how casually on a Monday night you'd have a cousin over to mow my grandma's lawn and my aunt stopping by to stay hi and we're all hanging out and watching Stella.

Stella also seems to be in a phase where she really likes four-year-old girls. This included my cousin's daughter, Mia, who Stella called "Me-Me."

Swinging on a big girl swing like Mia

Matching head wounds--only Mia's was real....

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye and head back to Seattle. I know Stella had a great time, and I can't wait to go back for our next visit! While I love my life here in Seattle, I do miss the fun and chaos of being closer to my extended family. Hopefully we'll get back again before too much time passes.

Four generations: me, my grandmother, my mother and my daughter

Canlis

2010-08-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to do with Tyler is go out for a good dinner, preferably somewhere with a tasting menu and paired wines, so we can sit back, relax, and let ourselves be surprised by the chef.

This year for our anniversary we decided to try Canlis. Perched on the edge of Queen Anne and the Aurora Bridge and overlooking Lake Union, it's an institution. All I really knew about it was that it was a family run place, fancy and a bit expensive.

Arriving is like entering a sanctum--Tyler thought the dining room looked a bit like it could be a Bond villain's lair, but in the best possible way. Greeted by an actual Canlis family member (one of the grandsons of the founder), we were shepherded to our table. One thing I liked immediately was that they had tables along the edges of the room oriented so that couples sit next to each other rather than across from each other.

We already knew we were leaning towards the tasting menu, where you get five courses that are pre-set by the chef. I have to admit, when I first saw the menu, I felt slightly underwhelmed--caprese salad? Proscuitto and melon? Classics, of course, and appropriate for the season, but I thought it sounded slightly pedestrian.

Fortunately, I was proven wrong in that initial assumption over the course of the evening!

First, an amuse bouche, or little bite to wake up our appetite--a small cup of tomato pepper gazpacho with a bite-sized "grilled cheese" with house-made mozzarella, basil and a tiny sliver of tomato.

The gazpacho was rich and smooth, with a great punch of pepper flavor without being overwhelming. Sometimes I think gazpacho can be a little water-y, but this was rich and flavorful. And the presentation, with tiny, perfect drops of oil dotting the surface of the soup. I was intrigued.

Next came the caprese salad, a beautiful array of various tomato types, more of the house-made mozzarella and more. Unfortunately, I didn't pay enough attention to the waiter to really hear everything that was on the plate. There was an avocado mousse, which also tasted a little smokey, an aspic-like gelatin on the plate with basil seeds, and some green, popping things, that tasted a little fish-y and a little mustard-y. Maybe some kind of caviar with wasabi?

We had decided to also do the paired wines with our meal, and they had two options for that: the pairings listed on the menu or, for more, the "sommelier's pairing, with different pairings that the sommelier would come out and describe. We decided to do one of each, and Tyler was gallant enough to offer me the sommelier option.

The wines were delicious, but the best part about doing both was to see how the pairings differed. For the caprese, I got a sparkling rose, with a nice toast-y flavor that I thought complemented the tomatoes and cheese while Tyler had a Walla Walla rose which was very darkly colored and dry, but fruitier.

Next was the proscuitto and melon, which also included some dried/fried prosciutto (as Tyler described, like the thinnest piece of bacon ever), fennel fronds, fresh fig and pickled fennel and figs. Tyler got a Vouvray, while I got a dry Riesling. At first I thought I got the better wine of the two--I tend to like drier wines anyway--but I ended up feeling that the Vouvray went perfectly with bites that had the pickled flavors whereas the Riesling brought out the earthier, herbaceous flavors of the fennel and prosciutto when paired with the fresh melon. Mmmm.

Now onto the meats, and maybe my favorite course--basically chicken and truffles. Chicken breast with truffle under the skin, a perfectly seared morsel of chicken thigh, some chicken truffle sausages and an amazing truffle sauce. Earthy, rich goodness. For this course, we both got Pinot Noirs--one was earthy like the dish, the other more acidic as a counterbalance. I can never get enough of the earthiness, so I co-opted Tyler's for my own to bask in that flavor profile.

Then lamb. A slender tenderloin with ras el hanout, a North African spice blend, a baba ghanouj-stuffed squash blossom (I'm always a sucker for a squash blossom), some greek yogurt, and small bites of zucchini and a sun-dried tomato. Tyler got a nice Bordeaux-blend pairing, while I had Tempranillo. Again, both tasty, though I loved the lightness of the Tempranillo against the richness of the lamb.

Just as we were getting full and up to our eyes in richness and red wine, it was time for the palate cleanser. In this case, homemade ginger beer with flowers and cherries. These cherries were amazing--skinless and soaked or injected in the ginger beer so they burst in your mouth. (I think the waiter described them as grown-up "gushers".) Just the thing to wake us up from the rich food stupor, and heaven for Tyler who loves ginger.

Then dessert, a pannacotta that was strawberry shortcake-inspired, with shortbread at the base, strawberry gelato and other sweet goodness. (Yes, it's not your imagination, my memory blurs a bit as the evening wore one.) And, being Canlis, they noted why we were celebrating. This came with a dessert wine from Washington grown from very old vines (maybe 1917?) and a sparkling wine. Again, they were paired well for each of us, with me loving the sweet on sweet while Tyler liked the lighter acidity to match his dessert.

To stretch the evening just a bit further, we sipped some decaf americanos, where Tyler got his choice of four sugars to add to his coffee: raw sugar, regular sugar, splenda and vanilla sugar.

Then the evening was done. Along with our check came two treats for each of us: a Fran's salted caramel and another bite of deliciousness--and I failed to photograph them before popping them into my mouth.

So--my overall impression? Wow. The food was interesting, suprising and well-executed. The service unwaveringly good. Great view. Nice dining room. Excellent wines. We didn't know this before we arrived, but they're known for their valet service, which was impressive. You drive up and get out. When you leave, your car is ready for you. No tickets. No waiting. No asking for your car. Tricky!

If I were to split hairs, there were two things that was a little disappointing. We had one sommelier bring out our wine for the first two courses, but then another sommelier came out for the other courses. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal, but after the first course, I thought we should take advantage of having a knowledgable wine steward tableside, so we had a nice conversation about the pairings and he left saying, "I'll be interested to hear what you think about this one" but then we never saw him again. And later in the evening we're pretty sure the new sommelier started serving Tyler the sommelier pairing instead of me, which was probably just a small oversight, but felt a tidge sexist.

All that said, it was an amazing meal and an amazing experience. Pricey, but worth it. I would definitely add it to my top five dining experiences and hope to go back for another celebration.

I remember when these rings felt new and strange; now we feel naked without them. Looking forward to another picture like this when our hands are old and wrinkled!

Almost Five Years

2010-08-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a good night. My impromptu israeli couscous dinner was a success, the sun has been shining, and Stella and I had a good evening together while Tyler was out at his weekly illustration group gathering. Before Tyler left, he had guiltily said on his way out to just leave the dishes for him to do later or tomorrow.

But there I was washing the dishes, squinting out the west-facing window into the setting sun--and not just because we're battling ants. Tyler always does the dishes since I almost always cook, so I thought I could give him the night off. And all the sudden, up to my elbows in hot water and soap, I felt overwhelmed by how surrounded I was by signs of Tyler's love and kindness. Here I was, washing the knives I used for dinner that he had sharpened for me for Mother's Day. And then rinsing off the cutting board that was the other part of my present. While those may sound unromantic, they were perfect--practical but lovely, thoughtful for someone who loves cooking and often finds chopping a bunch of vegetables a perfect way to unwind.

Then there's the clothes I'm wearing. Guess who does the laundry every Monday while I'm at work?

And the snacks on the counter he bought so we'd have things to send in Stella's lunches as she heads off to Montessori, in case I get too busy to follow through on some of my more ambitious cooking plans.

And, beyond my squinting, there's the yard he mows.

And there's probably a thousand other little things that I don't necessarily even realize.

Maybe I'm just feeling sappy because our fifth anniversary is Friday.

I feel so lucky to have Tyler as my partner in life. So we're probably kind of boring these days. We're not the young newlyweds, living on Capitol Hill, heading out to meet friends more nights of the week than not. We're not the intrepid travellers, heading out to travel around the world. We're just your fairly typical, home-owning, child-rearing mid-30s people. And our marriage has definitely changed through all those transitions. I now better understand a line from the movie "Before Sunset" when a character says of his marriage, "I feel like I'm running a small nursery with someone I used to date." There are lots of logistics. And we're more tired and more distracted than ever. But I still love Tyler's company, the way he thinks and views the world. I love that he's taken a chance to run his own business, partially for more artistic fulfillment and partially because he really values his role as a father. I love that he keeps pushing us to still keep some of those parts of us that are travellers and urbanites. Basically, I just really love him.

Happy early anniversary, Tyler.

And to those of you readers who made your way through this possibly overpersonal entry and who were there celebrating our marriage with us five years ago--thanks for being there to witness that day and for supporting us in various ways these past few years.

P.S. Thanks to Timothy Aguero Photography for the great wedding photos!

Happy Hiking Heather

2010-08-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we'd planned on doing a camping trip, but since Washington State is protesting sunny weather, and because we felt like we were falling behind on our chores around the house, we decided to just do a day hike. So, Friday morning we loaded into the car, and headed up to the Mountain Loop Highway, just east of Everett.

Initially we were thinking that we'd planned on doing the Lime Kiln Trail, but the road to the trail head was mysteriously closed off, so we again changed our plan and headed to the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest to pick a trail at random. We've actually hiked several trails in this area before (Dickerman, Lake 22), but decided on something new instead: Heather Lake. What promised to be a relatively easy 4 mile hike (round trip) to a sub-alpine lake.

Sarah and Stella at the trail head. Let's go!

Parking our car at the trail head, and loading Stella into the trusty hiking back pack we set off. The first portion of the hike was a little mixed, the heavy canopy of trees blocked most of the sunlight, so there's wasn't much in the way of ground cover, and a stubborn mist hung in the sky giving the entire woods a dark and atmospheric vibe. But, on the interesting side, we were treated to the site of giant old growth stumps... many of which had become nurse logs themselves.

One of the many old growth tree stumps. A little sad, but still impressive, and the new trees growing out of them are a cool looking addition.

Farther up, the mists rose, green bushes appeared and the old growth stumps were actually replaced by some surprisingly large old growth trees, literally rising into the clouds.

Higher and higher. While some trees were broken off at the tops, others seemed to simply rise into infinity.

Hiking with Stella poses some unique challenges in that she is only happy to ride in the backpack for about a mile or two, and then wants to explore a bit on her own. Unfortunately, once she's out of the backpack, she's reluctant to get back in. So, we have to pick out hike lengths carefully. That why we were luck that, just as she began to fuss, we crested the hill, and entering into a large, stunning bowl canyon, with the equally stunning Heather Lake at its center.

Our first peak of Heather Lake. Wow. My initial reaction: "Now I wish we'd brought out camping gear and could stay the weekend!"

Stoically surveying scenery.

The lake was small enough that it was easy to walk the entire way around it. So, we started around looking for a nice place to stop and have our snack/lunch. But, not far along, Sarah introduced Stella to the joy of Salmon Berries, and from about that point on, Stella's main goal became the acquisition for the tart, orange berries.

Salmon Berries... Stella's new hiking obsession.

Stopping on the far side of the lake, we took off our packs, sat down on some small boulders and dug into our food. Momentarily forgetting the salmon berries, Stella made another discover: Beef jerky. Her little teeth didn't seem to be able to bite through it easy, but she happy jawed and sucked on it until the meat became a slimy mess.

Babies first beef jerky!

Looking back across the lake, I made the same observation I seem to make every time we take a hike: I don't know why I always drag my feet to go hiking, when I always love this type of thing so much.

Gratuitous beautiful landscape.

Soon the food was done, so we made our way around the lake a little more to find a beach for Stella to explore. Most of the lake was hedged in by marshy grass or boulder fields, but we still managed to find a small gravelly beach of Stella to get muddy on. While she played and tossed gravel into the lake, she managed to inadvertently summon some strange little brown/black ducks who obviously thought she was trying to feed them.

Getting ready to test the water. By the end, Stella was stripped down to her diaper and shirt, and was wading out to her knees. So, like, six feet out.

Drying Stella off, we loaded her back into the backpack and made our way back down the mountain. A simple, beautiful day of hiking. Who could complain about that? Another thing you can't complain about: Beer and pizza at Stellar's Pizza as our post-hike reward.

In the next couple of weeks, we have a couple more camping and hiking trips planned. After this, I'm looking forward to them!

Time Away, Part 2

2010-08-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

As Sarah mentioned in her last post, the week before last she was out of town for a couple of days, allowing Stella and I to have some dedicated daddy-daughter time. It's probably a good thing because, while I possibly spend more time with her during the week, she's been going through a definite Mommy Phase... or, as I sang tonight:

Daddy, uh... What is he good for? Absolutely nuthin'!

Actually, while this was the longest period of time that Sarah's been away for work, it was probably mostly notably to me in how smoothly it went. While I had expected periods of fussiness, or crying for "momma," that ended up largely not being the case. And, since I'm still in full-time stay-at-home-dad mode, our days tended to be mainly leisurely affairs. Generally, we'd spend some portion of the day running errands, but we'd also spend a lot of time just hanging out.

One evening she tagged along with me to my weekly illustration group. Another afternoon, we wandered around the Seattle Center, and spent a lot of time looking at the rides in the Fun Forest and watching the elevators go up and down the Space Needle. And, another afternoon, we went for a walk around Seward Park. Sadly, because I wasn't thinking, I didn't take my camera with me to any of these things, so I only have a few photos from my phone, including these two...

Stella sitting on a small metal pig statue at the Seattle Center. I didn't need to pose her for this shot... she decided that the pig needed to be sat on.

Stella on the beach at Seward Park. I tried to get her to turn around but, frankly, would you turn around with a view like that?

I have to admit that I was really happy to have that time with her though, especially in light of the fact that next week she will be starting Day Care. While I'm really excited about the Day Care we've chosen for her, and I think that she will benefit in a lot of ways from it; I will say I'm a little sad about this next step. Ultimately, I think at this point its the best and logical step for the family, but I've also been proud of the way that Sarah and I have been able to juggle our work schedules in a way that has allowed us to spend more time with her than many parents get to spend with their children. Anyhow, I won't go into the Day Care situation much, since she hasn't even started yet, and I'm sure that this transition will warrant at least one entry of its own... so stay tuned!

Also, while Stella and I spent the most of the week before last hanging out one-on-one, she wasn't the only lovely lady I got to spend time with: Sarah and I also finally had our first full Stella-free night. Last week, we went to Illinois for a couple of reunions on Sarah's side of the family. And, while most of the time was spent in Ottawa, a farming town a little over an hour and half out of Chicago, Sarah's mom, step-dad and grandma offered to watch Stella for a night so that Sarah and I could go into Chicago, sight-see and have a date-night.

While I have to admit I was nervous to leave Stella in someone else's care overnight, I was comforted by the fact that Sarah's grandma had raised 7 children of her own, as well as helped raise 21 grandkids, and now 10 great-grandkids. So, I imagine that her, plus Sarah's mom and step-dad could manage Stella for 24 hours.

Sarah's been to Chicago several times before, and I've actually been to Illinois a couple times myself, but this was my first time to Chicago itself. So, in addition to getting to spend some time with my favorite traveling companion, I was eager to check out this exciting city.

Borrowing Sarah's parent's car, we made good time into Chicago, and checked into our hotel room at the James. Those who have been following our blog for some time know that Sarah and I aren't afraid to rough it a bit. But, when our opportunities to travel and relax are as few and far between as they've been in the last couple years, we figured it was worth splurging on a nice room this time out. In those regards, The James definitely didn't disappoint.

Sarah rests and checks her phone after our drive into Chicago.

After getting settled in, making some reservations through the concierge and running and errand or two, it was time to grab some lunch. We knew we were going to be going fancy for dinner, so lunch was decidedly less so: A Visit to the "World Famous" Billygoat Tavern. Made famous by SNL's "Cheezeburger! Cheezeburger!" skit.

A quick exchange at the Billgoat:
Waitress: Are your Bulgarian?
Me: No. Why?
Waitress: Your shirt says 'Bulgaria.'
Me: Oh. I bought it there. Are you Bulgarian?
Waitress: No. Russian. But I can read.
Cook: Try the double cheez. It's the best.

Me, wearing my Bulgaria T-shirt, enjoying my Pepsi ("no Coke.")

With our stomach full of double cheezeburgers, Sarah and I went to check out Millennium Park. Before heading there, several people had suggested we check out 'the bean.' And, while Sarah and I weren't sure what 'the bean' was, exactly. We figured that we'd know it when we saw it. And sure enough we did. This, is the bean...

"The Bean," also know officially as "Cloud Gate."

The reflections you see while standing under the bean. Try to spot us!

After wandering around it, and attempting to take witty and artsy photos of it, we continued on to Buckingham Fountain, aka the "Married with Children Fountain."

"Love and marriage... love and marriage..."

A couple of photos and one quasi-panhandler later, we realized we needed to hurry in order to make it to our next destination in time: An architectural boat-tour of Chicago. Before we'd arrived in Chicago, I'd posted on Facebook that I was about to explore Chicago for the first time, and asked if people had any suggestions. Probably the most common response was to do an architectural boat tour. One person even posted something to the effect of "I don't even like architecture, and I still gawk at Chicago's buildings." And, while I can run a bit hot-and-cold on a lot of more recent architecture, I figured -if nothing else- a relaxing hour on a boat couldn't hurt.

But, in short, the tour ended up being really interesting. It was fascinating to see some of Chicago's older architecture, since Seattle is still comparatively young. And, since the tour took place on the river which winds through Chicago's urban core, it was a unique experience to float through a massive canyon of concrete and glass, and under Chicago's seemingly bridges. Plus, from the oldest and more modest buildings to the latest towers of industry the tour guide did a good job of giving everything context and creating a sense of history. It honestly made me wish that Seattle had something similar, and not just the noisy novelty of our Duck Tours.

Admittedly, this photos isn't from the tour, but it was really hard to take interesting pictures of buildings, from the river, from a boat, in glaring sunlight. Still, that's the river we floated on, and in the background you can see some of the architecture we gawked at.

I wanted to include this photos because, while not the best picture, it illustrated something about Chicago that I thought was really striking: Its a very vertical city. Everything seems stacked. Here, you apparently have a skyscraper, on top of a street, on top of a train station, on top of the river. Layers upon layers.

After the boat tour, it was back to the hotel room to clean up (rinse the sweat off since -in comparison to Seattle cool summer- Chicago was sweltering), and then head out for dinner.

Again, before coming to Chicago, we'd sent an email to our friend Jody (who, you may remember, teamed up with Sarah during our Round the World Trip, to make recipes that matched the locations were were visiting, on her food blog Eddybles). Jody has a keen eye and ear for whats going on in the culinary world, and we knew she could give us suggestions on where to eat in Chicago. And, as we predicted, she responded quickly with some amazing recommendations.

First up, it was drinks at the Violet Hour. The Violet Hour is a speakeasy (or at least a faux-speakeasy) in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. This allowed us to also ride the subway and the El for the first time. When traveling, even within your own country, there's nothing quite as humbling as riding public transportation the first time. As Sarah and I fumbled with our newly purchased tickets at the turn-styles, the security guard there finally took pity on Sarah and let her through. Meanwhile, since I was presumably less physically attractive to the guard, I was left to figure things out on my own. A feat that involved sticking my ticket into the wrong slot the wrong way while throwing my weigh against the wrong turn-style. Once through, I then attempted to direct Sarah toward the north-bound train, when we needed to head south. Needless to say, I did not look like someone who has navigated cities on the far side of the globe.

Arriving at the Violet Hours location, Sarah and I paced up and down street trying to determine its location until finally a large man in a sharp suit inquired: "Violet Hour?" Yes! "Follow me." And led us through an unmarked door and into a dark and intimate lounge. The whole speakeasy entrance was all effectively performance art, but still left us with the thrill of having "discovered" someplace secret. Plus, once inside, the drinks were excellently mixed and they had tater tots as an appetizer. Good stuff around.

Drinks and tater tots at the Velvet Hour.

With a drink in our stomachs, the next stop was the Publican, a restaurant that -with about 50 beers available and half its menu dedicated to pork- could effectively be described as an upscale beer-hall. Again, excellent. Tasty food, well-paired beer and a great server (that Sarah and I agreed oddly reminded us of the lead character from Six Feet Under). Full, happy and excited to have this little opportunity to be exploring again together, Sarah and I returned to our hotel room and called it a night.

The next morning, we awoke still full from the previous nights dinner, and decided to skip breakfast so that we could get a head start on the Field Museum. I wasn't to see some dinosaur bones!! Luckily, with the T-Rex, Sue, guarding the entrance, I wasn't disappointed.

The Field Museum.

Gah! Maybe the first time I've seen a dinosaur skeleton in person. Maybe.

Slightly more disappoint was that, despite mine and Sarah's hopes (sic), it turned out the Hope Diamond wasn't on exhibit there. Still, we enjoyed exploring the massive museum, looking at robot dinosaurs, Tibetan clothes and art, and being surprisingly moved by the Half Asian, 100% Hapa exhibit we stumbled upon.

After the Field Museum, we headed over to the Sears... er, I mean... Willis Tower to head up to their observation deck. Sarah's brother is fond of going up in tall buildings, so years ago Sarah and already been. But, after noticing something during the previous days boat tour, I had become fixated on the idea of heading up to the observation floor too.

A view of the Willis tower from the boat the previous day.

Getting to Willis Tower wasn't a problem, but getting to the top proved to be a little more tricky. What Sarah and I hadn't anticipated fully was that apparently every other tourist was also on their way to the top of the Willis Tower. Thus, we found ourselves in what seemed to be a never-ending queue to the elevator. First we queued up to get through security. Then, we queued up to get our photos taken (presumably for souvenir photos... it wasn't optional). Then we queued up to actually buy our tickets. Then we queued up for a mandatory, pre-elevator-ride film... at which point Sarah and I realized we were rapidly running out of time before we needed to be back at our hotel room to check out. As the security guy working at the theater entrance began to let people in to the movie, we approached him:

Me and Sarah: We need to check out of our hotel room in less than a half hour. Is there anyway we can skip the movie and go straight up?
Guard: (Quietly) Um, yeah. Just wait until everyone else is in the theater.
(Then, once everyone had filed in, and he had closed the door.)
Guard: This way. (Opening a door and peaking in.) Hummm... Never mind. Those people don't have anywhere to be. You do. Here's what you do. Go around that corner, and then merge with the front of the line at the rotating door.

So, following his directions, we quickly found ourselves at the front of the line and finally boarding the elevator for our minute-long ride to the dizzying heights of the Willis Tower's observation floor. (As a side note, if you work at the Willis Tower, read this, and are inclined to fire the guy who helped us cheat the endless queues there: Please don't. Seriously. He was awesome.)

Finally, at the top of the tower, we were able to make our way around taking in the cityscape.

A view of downtown Chicago from the 103rd floor.

Furthermore, I was finally able to experience what had originally drawn me there: the Skydeck Ledge. The Skydeck Ledge is basically a small clear box that protrudes from the side of the Willis Tower's 103rd floor. Standing in it allows you to look directly down... 1,353 feet.

Looking straight down 1,353 feet.

Me on The Ledge. As you can see by the person in the foreground, only the most daring and adventurous people even dare even try!

Apparently, like climbing down into the sweltering, claustrophobic depths of the Great Pyramids, it was a thrill that Sarah was happy to pass on. But, I enjoyed it.

Having taken in the Ledge and the views, Sarah and I realized that it was basically time to check out from our Hotel. Unfortunately, we were still 103 floors up and stuck in another queue for the elevator down. Even more unfortunately, when I called the James' front desk they seemed less than willing to flexible on check out times, and we were worried that we'd get stuck paying for a second night.

One long line, an elevator ride, a couple stops on the subway, and a mad dash through several blocks downtown brought us back to the James. Sarah, having had to listen to me grouse, swear and complain about the situation the whole way, decided to made more sense for me to go grab our bags while she checked out with the front desk. And, several minutes later we were back on the road to Ottawa.

Unfortunately, the electronic navigator we'd borrowed from Sarah's mom and step-dad didn't like traffic. Normally, we don't like traffic either, but equally unfortunately, it started leading us down obscure side roads to avoid traffic, and eventually stuck us on some arterial that was severely backed-up as a result of three construction works attempting to drill a very small hole in the middle of the road. Even more unfortunately, despite the fact that it was now well past noon, neither Sarah nor I had had anything to eat.

Still, eventually, we made it back to base camp, got some food in our stomachs and -most importantly- were reunited with Stella.

Who, in typical fashion, acted as though we'd never left.

All in all, it was a great little excursion. An exciting chance to explore a new city, and an opportunity to spend time with my best friend and favorite fellow traveler: Sarah.

As a final note, as you might have noticed, Sarah and I are getting caught up on Strange and Benevolent this week. With any luck, we'll each get another entry or two done, hopefully including more details on the Family Reunions, plus a hike we took this last weekend. After that, I'm sure that we'll have more to talk about including Stella starting Day Care and the basement remodel we are hopefully starting soon. As I said before: Stay tuned.

Time Away, Part 1

2010-08-07T13:19:00.001-07:00

Since Stella was born, I've been lucky to have pretty minimal travel for work. But I currently have a project with a client in the Bay Area, and I don't mind going there since I have been able to combine my on-site meetings with an extended visit to stay with my brother, Tim, and sister-in-law, Jeanne. For this trip, Jeanne was out of town, but I luckily hit one of the weeks when Tim has Friday off. (He works a "9-80" schedule, which means every other week he has a free Friday.) So after my meeting, which conveniently is close to the town he works he, he picked me up.

First we went to the Stanford campus. He'd hoped to show me the chapel and the Art Museum. Unfortunately, the chapel was closed, but Stanford has a beautiful campus, and it was interesting to see the Ivy League look mixed with California mission. Stanford also has a large collection of Rodin sculptures, including a version of the Burghers of Calais, a set of statues which commemorated the sacrifice of six elders during the Hundred Years' War to spare the rest of the city's population. The Rodin Museum in Paris was one of the highlights of a trip there years ago and the story is moving, so I appreciated getting to see these in person.

A great photo of the sculpture, not taken by me. I didn't bring my camera on the trip, so photographic evidence is a bit few and far between.

Tim had originally proposed we go to Alcatraz on this trip, but tickets were already sold out, but the next morning we decided to go into the city anyway, starting with the BART ride to the Mission, where we ate at a great (and popular!) bakery called Tartine and checked out the view from a park.

I couldn't believe how long the line was on a Friday morning! But the wait was worth it. This bakery felt a bit like entering France, and our morning bun and brioche fruit bread pudding were fantastic. And there's always something decadent and wonderful about a big bowl of latte to sip.

View from a park in the Mission--we had lovely weather and a great view.

Next we went to the Ferry Building, a refurbished port building that's been turned into a market. A bit like Pike Place, but smaller and focused on local artisanal products: olive oil, cheese, salumi, coffee, pottery--pretty much my idea of heavenly shopping!

First I ogled the beautiful Heath ceramics--maybe someday I'll have an excuse to get another set of dishes, or at least this little water pitcher!

Time for lunch--there were many good looking and smelling options, but the "salty pig parts" caught my eye, and the daily special was fantastic. I almost got Tyler a t-shirt, but he was worried he'd seem like a Salumi traitor.

My friend has raved about Blue Bottle coffee, so I decided to bring some home as a treat for me and Tyler. Their descriptions were almost worth it alone.

After shopping and eating, Tim took me to the Wells Fargo Museum, a free historical museum with displays talking about the stage coaches, pony express, and banking from early days of the gold rush. It was pretty interesting and fun to see one of the old stagecoaches up close. They also had samples of all different kinds of gold which were found in California, which was fascinating, along with photos of the great earthquake and fire.

That night we went to a chaat house, which they seem to have lots of in the Bay Area and not in Seattle, where most the Indian food seems to be Punjab/Northern, rather than Southern. Even though we didn't go to the South on our trip, I have a soft spot for dosas (a crepe filled with spiced potato yumminess) and thalis (a platter filled with small bowls of various dishes).

We started the meal with poori, which can be different kinds of things, but this seemed like crunchy puffed rice with cilantro, lime, red onion and probably some other things, which was light and refreshing and delicious.

Along the the thali in front of me, Tim had recommended a rose lassi, which I'd never seen before and was so good!

That night we went for a movie, something that's been a bit of a luxury post-Stella. The next day, it was time to come home. Thanks to Tim's usual planning and considerations, it was a wonderful trip! But much as I loved my visit,and having a few baby-free days, I have to admit that by my third night away I was missing Tyler and Stella more acutely.

Of course, I expected that my reunion with Stella would be filled with her relief and happiness and a big hug. And she was happy to see me, but after she smiled and laughed a bit, she went about her business, by showing me that Tyler was wearing sandals. I guess I should be happy that she's not traumatized!

Before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Stella again, but this time just for a night as we headed to our friends' wedding that was on an Argosy boat in the Puget Sound.

Congratulations, Mike and Kristie! It was a fantastic wedding!