Kiera's Birth Story

For anyone who's interested, I finally wrote Kiera's birth story. I posted it on her birthdate, so if you go back to June 15th, 2009, there it'll be. It's very long, but pretty cool. I enjoyed writing it, and really encourage all mothers to do the same-regardless of how long it has been. You remember things, and realize things, and it's neat for them to read when they're older. Anyway, enjoy.

Little Witchlet

Halloween was a little hectic this year, due partially to my tendency to procrastinate and partially to my dearest bestest friend deciding to have her first baby that weekend (which we will forgive her for, because it was super-exciting). That made an impact on Halloween because I was her doula, and so was with her from 1 AM Sat morning until about noon on Sunday (see the pic above? That's how my face looked in every picture. The longer I'm at a birth, the harder it is to change my expression). Luckily I had enough warning to put the finishing touches on the kids' costumes Friday evening, so they were ready to hit the pavement Sat afternoon for the annual Olde Time Trick-or-treat in downtown Renton.

My husband can be a real stick-in-the-mud. He is a homebody, and comfortable with that, but bless him, when I am at a birth he really tries to kick it up a notch for the kids. When I knew I would be gone Saturday, I really thought that the kids would just have to miss the Halloween pre-funk this year. Sometimes I really don't give him enough credit. He didn't make it to the Boo carnival that morning, mainly because the kids were a little rowdy (that happens when they wake up to find me gone unexpectedly), but he pulled it together, despite it being close to lunchtime, despite the need for naps, and despite the POURING rain, he got everyone dressed up, buckets in hand, and a'-treating they did go!

All three of the kids looked great (no pics of the pre-funk, the camera was with me), and I am particularly proud of Kiera's costume. It was simple, leggings and a short she already had, and a tutu and cape I made (and of course a broom and hat), but she OWNED it. Goodness me, that girl can strut. With bucket in hand she marched straight into each establishment (and the next night, each house), hand outstretched, commanding, "aaaannnddd!!" Lord forbid if the giver of candy tried to put it in her bucket instead of her hand.

Halloween night (after getting home at 2:30 and sleeping until 5), we piled into costumes again and headed to our friends' house for their wicked awesome haunted house (their neighborhood is better for treating, to). Kiera knew what we were about before we were even fully out of the car-we had to chase her out of someone's yard on the way to the Schlegel's. She was READY. And just you try to take her pumpkin bucket away-so what if it weighs 8 pounds? That's her CANDY Jack, MITTS OFF!

Garrett loves to help scare at the Schlegel's

Morgan even got in on the House-she hosted a touch box game and managed to look mighty creepy doing it, pristine bridal attire and all (and can I just say, I really thought it would be awhile before I had to make her a veil).

SOOOO CUTE! Of course, I don't yet have a pic of her with all her parts, but you get the idea.

Little Witchlet

That's my handsome husband going after the ankles of passers-by. He LOVES doing this.

Random things....

• I have been putting off a new blog post for so long, I don't even know where to begin.
• Summer ended Monday. Just ended.
• Kiera started walking in July. She just decided one day that she didn't need to crawl anymore, so she didn't.
• Kiera started standing on the coffee table last week. She thinks it's terribley hilarious and laughs like a cheeky little monkey when I catch her at it. I often come into the room to find Garrett and Morgan engaged in table activities, with her sitting in the middle of them-on the table.
• We managed to go camping twice this summer. THAT my friends, is a record.
• Garrett and I did not get our playhouse built. That makes me sad.
• Morgan has a bright future in musical theater-whilst camping last weekend, the musical theater teacher from our HOME program (who hosted the campout) observed her, during a game of charades, announce "OK, now, is everyone looking at me??" Mrs. B can't wait for her to be old enough to join her class.
• We went on many adventures this summer-but alas, none of them included bike riding. I haven't lost hope.
• Speaking of bike riding, Garrett can now ride a bike. He saw some friends doing it, decided he wanted to, and did. As far as I know he's never had a fall. He astounds me.
• Speaking of Garrett astounding me, he also learned how to swim-using the same tactic. He could be a spokeskid for Nike-Just Do It
• Troy got to ride Shotgun on the Wells Fargo stagecoach in the Mercer Island parade this year. Last year he had to ride inside. Being up on top again made him very happy.
• School starts Monday. I am teaching 4 different subjects, and am not quite sure how that happened or what I've gotten myself into.
• My first sibling birth (meaning second baby with same clients) will be happening in the next couple of weeks, and I am so excited-I love that they enjoyed me enough to use me again, and that I already have such a bond with them. And she just texted me with a good progress report from her doc, so maybe sooner rather than later (but don't tell her I said that ;)!
• My sister went to Disneyland last weekend and had an awesome time--now I can't stop thinking about going.
• My yard is so nitrogen rich that I have the most beautiful looking veggie plants in the neighborhood-but they don't produce any veggies. I suppose we'll have to bite the bullet next year and build raised beds.
• Garrett has decided to be a wizard. He's going to be Harry Potter for Halloween. He has a wand and everything. He goes around the house casting spells, and then asking me why I think they aren't working. He has determined that, due to a small crack in the tip of his wand, that the dragon heart string inside is bent and thus cannot conduct magic properly. He believes that when we fix it, his spells will be successful. I do NOT want to fix it.
• Hot peppermint tea reduces fevers. Cold peppermint tea does not, but is a diuretic. Go figure.
• I want to be in a flash mob. A really good one.
• Troy and I are going to take a trapeze class. I CAN NOT WAIT.
• I have been taking hot yoga. I had to stop after injuring my foot. Tonight I will go again for the first time in two weeks. I did not think it humanly possible to produce THAT MUCH perspiration without turning into a giant prune. Which reminds me, I should drink some water.
• Kiera can say done, cat, Bumble (one of our cats), mama, boom-boom (to nurse), mum-mum (to eat), no (all the time), Ga (Garrett), and runs to the kitchen when she hears the garage door, where she bounces and giggles until Troy comes in the back door. Unless he takes too long, then she wanders off and ignores him. She will also hold out her hand, say "aaannnd" very slowly and quietly, and expect me to give her whatever I happen to have. She gets this from me asking her to "put it in my hand."

She went and did it.

Yup, she did it. She turned one. I told her it wasn't a good idea, encouraged her to embrace her youth, whimpered how mommy would miss her widdle baby, all to no avail. She just went and did it anyway. Kids today. Sheesh.

As with her older siblings, Kiera has had a birthday luau in the works since before she was born. In the cold, wet, sometimes dreary Seattle weather, I love this one tie to my beloved Hawaii-love it so much I torture myself with weeks of planning, shopping, planning, making invitations, planning, ordering, and planning, all capped off with three solid days of cooking.

Getting things set up, bday girl asleep on my back

For those who aren't in the "know," it's tradition in Hawaii to throw a big luau for your baby's first birthday--this is left over from the days when babies had to work pretty hard to survive that first year, and doing so was cause for celebration. Depressing, yes, but still a great reason to eat too much food! Also, for those who haven't had the pleasure of experiencing a real Hawaiian luau (meaning in somebody's backyard), you probably won't find "grass" skirts, definitely no coconut bras, an MC or fire knife dancers. It's all about the food. You make lots of it and you eat allllll day. We do it up cheesy tourist style with our decorations, cause it's fun-but we still focus mainly on the food. Kahlua pig, shoyu chicken, chicken longrice, baked beans, potato mac salad, fried rice with portugeuse sausage, sticky rice, fruit, and some veggies for you mainland people who think that should be part of a meal (drooling yet? No? Then it's time to discuss the guava-infused yellow cake with cream cheese/whipped cream frosting and guava gel on top, or how about the chocolate haupia layered cake with coconut cream frosting? How 'bout now?)

And man, was it good food (if I do say so myself). Poor Kiera didn't even end up eating any of it, aside from her little cake.

Grandma, Papa, Sk8tr and Kiera at the cheesy tourist photo op-they and my sister's family drove up CA

All in all, it was a very successful party-we even almost started on time (if I hadn't tried to pare things down by only buying 3 water pans and then forgotten to get a 4th (for the hot food chaffing stands), thus requiring Troy to run to the party store for another while the guests were arriving). Kiera had fun seeing all her people (I really do think she believes we all belong to her in some capacity), though I could tell she was trying to figure out what they were all doing at the park. My favorite part of the event was, hands down, the lei making. I got this idea in my head a couple months ago and while it was a bit of a pain to organize and the flowers I wanted were super-perishable which was tricky as the party was on Sunday and FedEx doesn't deliver Sunday so we got them Sat and they were late which made me nervous and I had to just lift the cooler lid really fast to peek and make sure everything was there before rushing them into the cold basement to sit overnight because there was no refrigerator space due to the growing quantities of food and we just prayed they would make it to the party still pretty which they did so WHEW!! Feel my anxiety?

So worth it, though. One guest told her daughter, who was hesitant, the she needed to make a lei because "when will you ever get this opportunity again?" So cool. The smell was heaven, and Morgan and I got to wear "real Hawaiian flower necklaces" (as Garrett calls them) and flowers in our hair when we danced later (she did Pearly Shells, so cute). Talk about the memories......ok, I'm back.

We all had much fun, and were fortunate enough to have beautiful weather (until cleanup time, when a frigid nasty wind kicked up and nearly stole my pa'u skirt). Kiera had a ball wiping every last speck of frosting from her cake, of which we have no pictures-my sister has some, and Uncle Dewey, I know you have some to! When we get copies of those, we'll get them posted.

Troy's family, who drove from far away

Finally, the birthday girl on her actual birthday (Tuesday), eager to get her fingers into her cupcake (she recognized the frosting).

Happy Birthday my sweet baby, the day you were born was possibly the most perfect day I will ever have. You brought together nearly all of my favorite people, and sharing your arrival with your father, brother, and sister was beyond sublime-an experience none of us will ever forget. When you are 16 and tired of hearing that, be patient. The day your family is born you will understand.

A Summary of Recent Events

• Garrett's arm was broken at school. He spent 6 weeks in 3 different casts, and is now finally fiberglass-free. He (and we) is very happy.
• We have doubled our rat population-a family at school needed to rehome theirs, as they had discovered their son was allergic. So their two girls (and their giant ratty skyscraper) came to live with our two girls. It has been very interesting watching them establish a pecking order (unfortunately Emily Dickinson-so named for her shy, homebody nature-my personal sweetheart, has landed on the bottom of the totem pole--she will be getting some special attention). They are all very sweet and well behaved, and after we've had some more time to train them they will be great pocket pets.
• Kiera has realized she can stand alone. She is THRILLED, but nervous about it. As soon as she shakes her jitters, I am sure she will take off walking. Here's hoping she stays nervous for awhile.
• Kiera was 11 months old yesterday. Yikes.
• Morgan has adopted a super-hero princess persona. This requires the wearing of pretty gowns AND capes. A biproduct of having an older brother, I think.
• We have planted many things for the summer, but have yet to get them in the ground. They have outgrown their seed trays, and are not happy about it.
• We planted an apple tree in the back yard. It grows 5 different varieties of apples.
• Troy is asleep on the sofa. His mouth is hanging open, and it's making him have obnoxious cartoonish breathing.
• In fact, everyone in the house is resting. Except me. I'm blogging.
• I am on-call for my first clients since I was pg w/Kiera. I'm anxious, but excited-she's "overdue" and could call any time.
• The school year is almost over which is wierd because I feel like I'm just getting into the swing of it.
• I made ridiculously good brownies and can't stop eating them.
• My parents have, in the last month, acquired 6 goats and a hive of bees.
• Garrett has taken to reading Morgan stories in the evening. I can't watch, because it's so sweet I'll start to cry.
• I am always humbled by the kindess and generosity of the people we know. I do not always feel I deserve it, often can't repay it, and am anxious for the day when my own time is less full and I can turn to someone else who's hands are always full of projects and young children, occupy said children for awhile and give HER flowers and candy.
• My K-1 math class hosted a lemonade stand at school-they planned it, prepped it, squeezed the lemons (I mixed it), sold it, made change (whether it was needed or not), and earned $60-they overshot their goal by more than double. They were raising money for prizes for the games they would host at the Gratitude Gala for school (last Fri), which were a huge success. They wanted everyone to earn a prize no matter what. I am very proud of them.
• There has been roadwork outside our house for the last week. They ripped a huge ditch alllll the way up the hill. They knocked on our door every morning at 7:30 to tell me to move my car before they completely blocked our driveway and house. They were noisy. They made our house shake and the things on our shelves rattle. I was proactive one night and moved the car ahead of time. The next day, they didn't block our driveway. They blocked the alley where I'd left our car.

Easter morning

Sadly, I forgot my camera when we went to the Stein's in the afternoon for egg-hunting, but here are the shots we took prior--our traditional Easter morning goody hunt (we don't fill the baskets, we hide the stuff throughout the house and they have to find it), brunch with the Easter Bunny, and our attempt at getting all three kids looking at the camera at the same time.

Kiera among the bunnies. They have been given many, many bunnies.

Morgan insisted their dresses match. Not coordinate. Match.


Our favorite in-town family resteraunt, Plum Delicious, invites the Bunny to brunch every year. The kids got to pick eggs from his basket. Morgan got a $5 coupon, and Garrett won a free meal!

I didn't bother rearraning the photos (blogger always loads them wrong) so this is earlier in the morning, as the kids were finding their goodies.

Kiera WANTS!!

Alright, this isn't Easter-just really cute.

About Kiera...

So much has happened in the last several weeks that I couldn't possibly put it all in one post, so I've decided to go child by child. I'll start with Kiera as she's the baby and by default the most interesting.
Kiera just turned nine months old. Yup, nine months. I know, crazy. Too fast. Where did the time go and all that. I don't like to think about it, actually, as in another few months I'll be all out of babies. When Kiera was five months, she began to push up onto her hands and knees, which was quickly followed by the standard rock-back-and-forth that precedes crawling. Oh goodness, we all said. Any time now. She'll be an early crawler, no doubt. She's so strong for her age (even her doctor said this).....................................
She finally started crawling a couple of weeks ago. She spent FOUR MONTHS rocking, belly flopping, dragging, and rolling herself around. For those in the yoga "know", she developed a mean downward facing dog. Even when she did start really crawling, she was very slow and tentative, alternating between crawls and flops-especially once she hit the hardwood. And she wouldn't follow me--if she really wanted something, she'd just flop down and cry.

She loves seeing her brother and sister when she wakes up-she doesn't look it here, but I promise, she was happy.

I have always said that she is a person that requires a strong motivation to persue a task or accomplishment. I think that, until recently, she just didn't see the point. She couldn't go very fast, didn't see a need to be anywhere but where she was, and she has these nifty giants who will carry her anywhere she does need to go-so why put forth effort that can be better spent picking miniscule specks of junk out of the carpet? Cause that there is an important endeavor.
Five days ago she found her motiviation. I don't know what it was, I think she may just have realized there's LOTS of places to pick miniscule bits of junk from--maybe she finally got the carpet thoroughly picked and needed greener pastured. Maybe she realized if she chases me, it's a lot harder for me to put off her requests. Perhaps she finally felt she could employ enough speed to make it fun. Regardless, five days ago she made up her mind-and got FAST. In the space of the last five days she has explored more of the house than the rest of her life combined (independently, that is), along with learning to pull up (she did it by accident several weeks ago and didn't see fit to repeat the process until now), cruise along furniture, and push anything mobile across the floor (toys, highchair, books, her piano, people). Oh, and she's decided the stairs look like fun, too.
So in the space of five days we have gone from "how cute, she's finally trying to crawl" to "Kiera come back here! Get Down! Stop pushing that! Let go of the cat!"
And oh, is she proud.

Immediately after she very stealthily consumed a quarter of a blue crayon. The tear is because I took it away.

She's also eating anything we put in front of her (and few things we don't...no nut allergies here!) and enjoying clucking her tongue. At the moment she's standing at the toybox banging away on the lid and clucking along, and blowing raspberries--I think she's composing her first song.
She's sweet and playful, funny and smart (when we ask for hugs and kisses, she complies-she has said several words and can repeat even more when she so chooses) and she sleeps like poo at night--but that's an entirely different post.

Whilst suffering from a high fever but still trying to play, she crashed

Random things....

• Garrett can read. He started learning in October, and is now probably at a 2nd grade level.
• Morgan wears dancing clothes all the time-even if she's freezing. When we watched the US figure skating championships, she donned her dancing clothes, grabbed a baby doll (it was the partners'), and spent about an hour "icing" around the living room. "But Mommy, we can't really skate because there's no ice in our living room."
• Yesterday on the way home from the zoo, Kiera started laughing. Hysterically. She laughed the whole rest of the way home, about 15 minutes. I have no idea why.
• I have rose bushes and climbing vines waiting to be planted. They've been waiting for 3 years.
• It's raining.
• I am having a difficult time not obsessively over-planning our upcoming Disneyland trip. At least I don't write daily schedules anymore.
• Troy is working today, and it's Saturday. That stinks.
• Kiera just woke up and she's only been asleep 1/2 hour. That also stinks.
• Last night we had beans and cornbread for dinner. One of my top 5 favorite meals, and costs less than $5 to make.
• Last night I dreamt that I ate a plate of spaghetti (not gluten-free), and when I realized what I had done, I got really scared. This is wierd because we've been gluten-free for so long I don't even think about it that much-and I never accidentally eat something with wheat in it.
• Kiera will turn 8 months while we're in CA-that makes me a little sad. Like she'll officially be a big baby instead of a little baby.
• Last night when I asked Morgan what she would like to do while the boys played Mario Bros, she immediately said, "Go upstairs and watch a movie with you and eat popcorn." So we did.
• I need to get to Costco and buy a couple grafted fruit trees before they are all gone.
• I also need to send in the rebates for our new cell phones.
• I might get to attend a homebirth in early March, if the mom is willing to wait for me to get back from DLand.
• Eucalyptus oil, diluted in olive oil, is the best cough supressant I've found.
• Troy overcame enormous odds to earn a bonus for his January performance at work.
• I have a new chocolate pie recipe that's super easy, not too unhealthy, and incredibley yummy. I may need to make it tonight.
• Garrett is fantastic at taking care of Kiera, and she loves it when he does. I have to remind myself he's only 6 and not leave her entirely in his care, as much as he wants me to. Right now he's helping her try to go back to sleep. Oh, wait, nope-they're in there playing. Oh well, they're both happy. He says she wants to get up and watch the movie with him. She has a huge smile, which I take to mean she agrees.
• Garlic has been shown in studies to be as potent an antibiotic as many perscriptions types.

That's all.

Holidays? When were the holidays?

As we age we all say the same thing at the same time every year, "wow, I just CAN'T believe how FAST this season has gone by...(say it with me) it just keeps getting faster every year!" Now while I don't necessarily wish to recite this particular litany, I will say this, "holy cow! It is difficult for me to conceptualize the rapidity of this and the last month of last year. I perceived that prior to this particular rotation round the sun, the festivities of the holiday season perhaps were a tad more prolonged." Totally different.

Over the last few weeks much excitement transpired within the walls of our home-Kiera turned the mystical magical 6 months old in December (and will turn 7 months tomorrow!) and mastered the art of sitting up. Since then she has been focused on rockin' out-on her hands and knees that is. We've been saying "she's gonna crawl any day now" for about two weeks. With her it's all about the motivation. She just hasn't found a good enough reason to do it yet. When she does, off she'll go! She's started sampling food, which is a mixed bag--she LOVES eating with us, and loves what she's tried so far (apples, bananas, and sweet potatoes), but unfortunately it doesn't love her. Her tummy is having some issues processing the new foods, and really we should hold off a few more weeks (little known fact-infant digestive tracts aren't finished developing until 9 months)....but I think our little sweetheart might begin to tremble, swell, turn green (baby MMAAAADDDDDDD) and rip out of her diaper if we stopped. She REALLY likes to eat. Luckily she's appeased by small chunks in a mesh pouch/feeder that she can chew and suck on while we eat. ALSO, she cut two new teeth! She now has all four front teeth, and enjoys rubbing them with her tongue and grinding them together (yikes!). Mommy isn't enjoying them as much while Kiera figures out what she can and CAN'T use them for.

Coincidentally, the same day Kiera cut her left upper tooth, Garrett lost his. WEIRD. He is now totally gap-faced on top, missing his opportunity to express his desire for two front teeth by a mere week and a half. Another milestone for big G-he made the decision to cut his hair. For the last couple of years, he has been in charge of his hairstyle-much to Troy's dismay. Sorry hon, you're still the only one who didn't think he looked super-fly with his wavy shag 'do. I sat him down two days before Christmas for a quick trim. Every time I asked if it was short enough, he's say, "it's a little bit short enough." "Does that mean you want it shorter?" "ya, a little bit." We had this exchange so many times I had to finally get out the clippers. The worst part was Troy's smugness-like he had won a battle. See, he has always felt that I pressured G into the shaggy look-but really, he wanted it that way. It was a bonus that I liked it, too. I don't think Troy really believed me every time I said it was his choice--until he came in and saw me wielding the clippers and sniffling. Just one more notch in the "growing up" belt.

Poor Middle Child Morgan. Not a lot going on for her this last month-she had her final dance class for this session, and we got some adorable video of her demonstrating what she'd learned. She still wears her "dancing clothes" whenever she has the opportunity. Her biggest piece of news would probably be the dollhouse she got for Christmas ("Oh look! A dollhouse! A dollhouse that's just for me!). We have a big dollhouse already, one Troy bought for me years ago. Last year we bought her dolls for it, and she's always allowed to play with it, but she knows it's Mommy's tiny house, and she can't do QUITE everything she'd like with it. It was terribly sweet, and a little sad, when her initial exclamations over her dollhouse were followed by a small sigh and, "I guess I can't play with Mommy's anymore." I reassured her that she could indeed still play with mine. Since she started playing with hers, she hasn't given mine a backwards glance.

January is always a tough month for us-recovering from the holidays plus being Troy's biggest "push" month at work, so we see less of him. I have taken on a bit more as well, adding the upper grade theater class to my teaching duties at school. I'm very excited about it, I love working with middle schoolers, but it's a very high-energy class and crew and getting their production of Hood (as in Robin) stage ready is going to take a LOT of work. At least we have until May.

Christmas was awesome, and will require a separate post which I probably won't ever write--but I will say that I haven't encountered many other families that could all reside in one house for 4 days without making each other insane. We had 15 people sleeping in our house, and it was so fun. Thank god for our big old house and its secret rooms-nobody even had to sleep in the living room! It was chaos and noise and mess, but it was worth it to see everyone in their PJ's Christmas morning.

And now we stumble into 2010, still rubbing our eyes and trying to catch up on the sleep we missed finishing off 2009! It just seems to go by faster every year!

Our walk in the wetlands was a little too much for her.

Big G (with his new haircut) displaying his gift for cramming an ungodly amount of frosting on a gingerbread cookie.

Kiera getting the giggles with Auntie Cissa

Morgan marveling at her new dollhouse (it talks and tells her what to do- c-REEE-py)

Playing with her new bumpy balls-she loves these things.