Yeva's new play place.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Birthday!
We had breakfast at Aunti Em's in Eagle Rock.
A relaxing birthday nap.
Were going to head to the beach but took a different turn and decided on mountains! How cool to discover that there was already snow on Mt. Baldy. We were a bit ill prepared...It was 70 in Pasadena and in the 40's on Mt. Baldy. We didn't stay too long but are planning our return for very soon when we have the right clothes.
Only my L.A. son would wear crocs in the snow.
Tried to pose them for a quick birthday picture.
Loving the snow!
Ale helps with the sugarless birthday cake preperations.
We had breakfast at Aunti Em's in Eagle Rock.
A relaxing birthday nap.
Were going to head to the beach but took a different turn and decided on mountains! How cool to discover that there was already snow on Mt. Baldy. We were a bit ill prepared...It was 70 in Pasadena and in the 40's on Mt. Baldy. We didn't stay too long but are planning our return for very soon when we have the right clothes.
Only my L.A. son would wear crocs in the snow.
Tried to pose them for a quick birthday picture.
Loving the snow!
Ale helps with the sugarless birthday cake preperations.
She's 1! Can you believe it?
Saturday, November 28, 2009
On the eve of her Birth.
Nothing has made the passage of time more evident than having a child. It has gone even more quickly with another baby thrown into the mix.
I remember waking early in the morning with a few contractions. I spent the morning wondering if this would be the long awaited day but not really believing it would ever come (or that I would get lucky and have both babies come early.) David and I got on with our routine not wanting to act prematurely. The day progressed, contractions stopped and started just as they had for the weeks proceeding. We went for a couple walks (saunter would be a more accurate description since Ale was with attempting to ride his tricycle). A trip to trader joes was made, a random man comments on my enormous abdomen, a courtesy smile is returned.
Dinner was made. (Salmon chowder if you're curious). The evening goes on and the contractions pick up. Tiff and Kelly are called--just letting them know that this might actually be happening for real. The kitchen is cleaned. Birth tub begins to be filled. Bread ingredients are put in bread machine.
The birth dance begins.
Sheila Kitzinger is the great social anthropologist on the subject of birth. I love her writing and stories of birthing styles as known around the world. She writes at length about the birth dance. That is, the way a laboring woman moves and acts when permitted to labor without constraint or inhibition.
The lights were out as I finished cleaning the kitchen. A contraction would come, my head would fall into my arms on the counter, my knees bent, hips swayed. I gave into the labor. In retrospect, this was very different from my experience with Ale were I spent the beginning on my tip toes, rejecting what was happening to my body.
Margo or Kelly would occasionally come in, feel my contracted stomach, glance at their watches, step aside. They were casual observers. Letting me follow the rhythms of my own body.
My birth experience with Ale was one of step by step guidance from the midwives. And constant attendance by David or Tiff. I needed that. I asked for that. I could not have birthed Ale without that type of intervention and involvement.
Yeva's birth was about submission. To myself, the body, the baby, and the process of birth.
The birth tub was filled. Margo poured water over my back. The lights were out. My fondest memory of that night was Ale watching Nacho Libre in the living room and how I could see him from the back and how Tiff sat beside him. I never would have invited Jack Black to my birth on my own initiative.
I had to get out of the tub, walk around, reposition the baby. It sucked. It hurt. Tiff held my hands as I tried to walk through those contractions with knees lifted high.
The tub was re-entered. The baby still wouldn't turn. The tub was exited.
My water was broken. My relationship with Kelly and Margo was one of love and trust. They recommended breaking my water, and I was fine with that.
5cm to full dilation in one contraction was quite a feat. I pushed. No one told me when. (I skipped every other contraction). I roared like a lion. I was in my world. No hands were held this time. This was me and baby.
45 minutes later Yeva entered the world, a little blue, insanely fat, 10lbs of smushy love. David told me it was a girl. I shrieked with joy. (At this point I'll give the cliche statement that I would have been content with either gender, which is true. However, to have been given a girl, melted my heart with an overwhelming delight.)
Everything is cleaned. The placenta examined (largest one the midwives had seen in a while...) Everyone leaves. David and I are left to bed down for the night with our sweet new one.
Oh how she cried that first night. The girl still has pipes that are ear splitting. I got up in the middle of the night, Ale woke up, David told me to go say good night. I walked into his room wearing a t-shirt and hospital issued mesh underwear. I expect Ale to say something sweet like, "you had a the baby" or "Come cuddle me mommy" but instead the first words out of his sleepy mouth were, "Hey mom, can you go put some clothes on?" My sweet boy. No one says things quite like you.
Yeva's birth was a transformational experience for the both of us. What a gift, this sweet child, full of life, obsessed with her belly button, in love with her big brother's mop of hair, willing to give Ale a fair fight, a little bit naughty, and not at all compliant when it comes to night sleeping, has been to David and me.
Nothing has made the passage of time more evident than having a child. It has gone even more quickly with another baby thrown into the mix.
I remember waking early in the morning with a few contractions. I spent the morning wondering if this would be the long awaited day but not really believing it would ever come (or that I would get lucky and have both babies come early.) David and I got on with our routine not wanting to act prematurely. The day progressed, contractions stopped and started just as they had for the weeks proceeding. We went for a couple walks (saunter would be a more accurate description since Ale was with attempting to ride his tricycle). A trip to trader joes was made, a random man comments on my enormous abdomen, a courtesy smile is returned.
Dinner was made. (Salmon chowder if you're curious). The evening goes on and the contractions pick up. Tiff and Kelly are called--just letting them know that this might actually be happening for real. The kitchen is cleaned. Birth tub begins to be filled. Bread ingredients are put in bread machine.
The birth dance begins.
Sheila Kitzinger is the great social anthropologist on the subject of birth. I love her writing and stories of birthing styles as known around the world. She writes at length about the birth dance. That is, the way a laboring woman moves and acts when permitted to labor without constraint or inhibition.
The lights were out as I finished cleaning the kitchen. A contraction would come, my head would fall into my arms on the counter, my knees bent, hips swayed. I gave into the labor. In retrospect, this was very different from my experience with Ale were I spent the beginning on my tip toes, rejecting what was happening to my body.
Margo or Kelly would occasionally come in, feel my contracted stomach, glance at their watches, step aside. They were casual observers. Letting me follow the rhythms of my own body.
My birth experience with Ale was one of step by step guidance from the midwives. And constant attendance by David or Tiff. I needed that. I asked for that. I could not have birthed Ale without that type of intervention and involvement.
Yeva's birth was about submission. To myself, the body, the baby, and the process of birth.
The birth tub was filled. Margo poured water over my back. The lights were out. My fondest memory of that night was Ale watching Nacho Libre in the living room and how I could see him from the back and how Tiff sat beside him. I never would have invited Jack Black to my birth on my own initiative.
I had to get out of the tub, walk around, reposition the baby. It sucked. It hurt. Tiff held my hands as I tried to walk through those contractions with knees lifted high.
The tub was re-entered. The baby still wouldn't turn. The tub was exited.
My water was broken. My relationship with Kelly and Margo was one of love and trust. They recommended breaking my water, and I was fine with that.
5cm to full dilation in one contraction was quite a feat. I pushed. No one told me when. (I skipped every other contraction). I roared like a lion. I was in my world. No hands were held this time. This was me and baby.
45 minutes later Yeva entered the world, a little blue, insanely fat, 10lbs of smushy love. David told me it was a girl. I shrieked with joy. (At this point I'll give the cliche statement that I would have been content with either gender, which is true. However, to have been given a girl, melted my heart with an overwhelming delight.)
Everything is cleaned. The placenta examined (largest one the midwives had seen in a while...) Everyone leaves. David and I are left to bed down for the night with our sweet new one.
Oh how she cried that first night. The girl still has pipes that are ear splitting. I got up in the middle of the night, Ale woke up, David told me to go say good night. I walked into his room wearing a t-shirt and hospital issued mesh underwear. I expect Ale to say something sweet like, "you had a the baby" or "Come cuddle me mommy" but instead the first words out of his sleepy mouth were, "Hey mom, can you go put some clothes on?" My sweet boy. No one says things quite like you.
Yeva's birth was a transformational experience for the both of us. What a gift, this sweet child, full of life, obsessed with her belly button, in love with her big brother's mop of hair, willing to give Ale a fair fight, a little bit naughty, and not at all compliant when it comes to night sleeping, has been to David and me.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Some more baby gifts I made. Two t-shirts done with a batiking method found HERE. The Onesie was done with a freezer paper stencil I made (inspired by my sister's water bottle).
And because the box was so big and I had no wrapping paper I was eco-hip. Ribbon and bow made from magazine pages, wrapped in an old L.A. Weekly.
And because the box was so big and I had no wrapping paper I was eco-hip. Ribbon and bow made from magazine pages, wrapped in an old L.A. Weekly. 
Friday, November 13, 2009
SICK
Ale is rarely sick. Maybe it's a strong constitution, maybe it's because he hasn't been bombarded with vaccinations, maybe he's been lucky, maybe it's a combination of all the above. On Wednesday afternoon he came home from a friends house and felt a little warm. The kid is naturally hot bodied. It is typical for heat to radiate out of his head so when I say he felt warm, he felt warm even for him. His temp was low, only 100 or so. We laid low he went to bed feeling cold. I came home from school later that night and took his temp again while he was sleeping. 106. I'm fairly laid back, especially when it comes to sickness. I know fevers are beneficial. I've been known to let 103 ride for a few days in the past (though towards the end I do start getting a bit nervous). But 106 is scary. Like, I'm not sure how long I wait before taking a trip to the ER scary. He was wearing a beany so I took it off and waited a few minutes before taking his temp again. It kept registering between 104-105. Even I have a limit to my laissez faire approach to sickness and medicine. It was already 10. So we called our friends hoping they were more responsible than we and had children's tylenol on hand. (Did I mention that Ale has NEVER even had tylenol? Nothing. No meds ever.)
When David returned from our friends he had Tylenol and a few homeopathic remedies. I'm a big fan of homeopathy albeit a bit skeptical even though I've seen it work continually. Arnica has been my savior on numerous occasions as Ale is daring and always falling down or getting banged up. Another remedy is what got me out of stalled labor and into active labor. I know it works. But in a culture that has no regard for alternative medicine it is sometimes hard to reprogram the mind that has been told to pop pills for whatever ails you and steer clear of quackery. (Ironic, I know, being a student of Chinese Medicine and all...) We gave Ale one dose of Gelsemium Sempervirens because according to our midwife that seemed to be what was treating whatever flu was circulating this area. I wasn't going to wait long as his high fever still burned through his body. So after giving him the dose I brushed by teeth and got ready for bed. 10 minutes later his temp was 103. David took it a bit later because he was sleeping with Ale had it was 102. When he woke up in the morning it was back down to 98. That's right. It knocked whatever was in his system out of it and we still didn't have to give him the Tylenol.
Two days later I'm left with a spunky but snotty little boy who I'm having to try very hard to make lay low. (Ale, will you please just sit and watch another movie...).
There are so many therapies out there that are equal if not better than the default in our culture. I'm continually amazed.
Ale is rarely sick. Maybe it's a strong constitution, maybe it's because he hasn't been bombarded with vaccinations, maybe he's been lucky, maybe it's a combination of all the above. On Wednesday afternoon he came home from a friends house and felt a little warm. The kid is naturally hot bodied. It is typical for heat to radiate out of his head so when I say he felt warm, he felt warm even for him. His temp was low, only 100 or so. We laid low he went to bed feeling cold. I came home from school later that night and took his temp again while he was sleeping. 106. I'm fairly laid back, especially when it comes to sickness. I know fevers are beneficial. I've been known to let 103 ride for a few days in the past (though towards the end I do start getting a bit nervous). But 106 is scary. Like, I'm not sure how long I wait before taking a trip to the ER scary. He was wearing a beany so I took it off and waited a few minutes before taking his temp again. It kept registering between 104-105. Even I have a limit to my laissez faire approach to sickness and medicine. It was already 10. So we called our friends hoping they were more responsible than we and had children's tylenol on hand. (Did I mention that Ale has NEVER even had tylenol? Nothing. No meds ever.)
When David returned from our friends he had Tylenol and a few homeopathic remedies. I'm a big fan of homeopathy albeit a bit skeptical even though I've seen it work continually. Arnica has been my savior on numerous occasions as Ale is daring and always falling down or getting banged up. Another remedy is what got me out of stalled labor and into active labor. I know it works. But in a culture that has no regard for alternative medicine it is sometimes hard to reprogram the mind that has been told to pop pills for whatever ails you and steer clear of quackery. (Ironic, I know, being a student of Chinese Medicine and all...) We gave Ale one dose of Gelsemium Sempervirens because according to our midwife that seemed to be what was treating whatever flu was circulating this area. I wasn't going to wait long as his high fever still burned through his body. So after giving him the dose I brushed by teeth and got ready for bed. 10 minutes later his temp was 103. David took it a bit later because he was sleeping with Ale had it was 102. When he woke up in the morning it was back down to 98. That's right. It knocked whatever was in his system out of it and we still didn't have to give him the Tylenol.
Two days later I'm left with a spunky but snotty little boy who I'm having to try very hard to make lay low. (Ale, will you please just sit and watch another movie...).
There are so many therapies out there that are equal if not better than the default in our culture. I'm continually amazed.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
We went to Newport Beach for a bit today.
We hit up the fun zone.
Road the ferry to Balboa Island for some cheap entertainment.
And had lunch on the beach where Ale burried cheap prize from the Fun Zone in sand, proceeded to forget where cheap prize was burried, break down in tears, and ultimately leave the beach with no sign of cheap prize. It's tough to be three.
We hit up the fun zone.
Road the ferry to Balboa Island for some cheap entertainment.
And had lunch on the beach where Ale burried cheap prize from the Fun Zone in sand, proceeded to forget where cheap prize was burried, break down in tears, and ultimately leave the beach with no sign of cheap prize. It's tough to be three.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Pics from Maine and Massachusetts.
Ginny and I pose proudly with our cake we made as a collaborative effort.
Seth #2
Seth #3
Ginny and I pose proudly with our cake we made as a collaborative effort.
Mom, you wanted pictures of the grand kids all together. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get 5 kids under 4 years of age to all look at the camera at the same time?
Seth #1
Seth #2
Seth #3There were more attempts. We decided to give up and go drink gin and tonics at home.
We had a picnic in Boston.
Ke'ano with his Yevita.
Red Shirt Ale.
We stopped in Ogunquit on the way down to MA and ate clam chowder on the rocks by the beach.
Emo Ke'ano
You will see in the pictures that follow that Ale has his uncle Billy's camera presence (as does Seth).
This was one of the better pictures.
finally, a straight face.
David as photographer and model.
We had a picnic in Boston.
Ke'ano with his Yevita.
Red Shirt Ale.
We stopped in Ogunquit on the way down to MA and ate clam chowder on the rocks by the beach.
Emo Ke'ano
You will see in the pictures that follow that Ale has his uncle Billy's camera presence (as does Seth).
This was one of the better pictures.
finally, a straight face.
David as photographer and model.
I've been a blogging slacker, I know. I'm sorry mom. I think about blogging all the time. I just never do it in favor of trying to do 1001 more seemingly important tasks. I'll try to be better.
Alas, a brief photo catch up.
David and I took the bikes down to Point Mugu on the ocean. The kiddie road charriot style.
Love this picture of Andres. Wonder if we can photoshop the gun out of his pocket.
Yeva and David last week at Gina's church celebration.
Yeva all ready for halloween. Ale was slated to be a pirate. He's been dressing like a pirate for weeks now. But when Halloween arrives what does he decided to be? A penguin. Go figure.
Day of the dead altar by Olvera Street. I made a memorial for our family this year. I kind of like the tradition of giving a day to remember those who have died. I think I'll do it again in the future. I haven't taken any pictures of ours yet. If I do, I'll be sure to post them.
Ke'ano playing soccer on his team, Nuttin' but Gold.
Alas, a brief photo catch up.
David and I took the bikes down to Point Mugu on the ocean. The kiddie road charriot style.
Love this picture of Andres. Wonder if we can photoshop the gun out of his pocket.
Yeva and David last week at Gina's church celebration.
Yeva all ready for halloween. Ale was slated to be a pirate. He's been dressing like a pirate for weeks now. But when Halloween arrives what does he decided to be? A penguin. Go figure.
Day of the dead altar by Olvera Street. I made a memorial for our family this year. I kind of like the tradition of giving a day to remember those who have died. I think I'll do it again in the future. I haven't taken any pictures of ours yet. If I do, I'll be sure to post them.
Ke'ano playing soccer on his team, Nuttin' but Gold.
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