Baby Fish

Evidently my little Tater Tot loves the water. We attended a swim party tonight (and by tonight I really mean a month ago since I never posted this) to bid farewell to some of our dear grad school friends (a fact I'm quite conflicted on) and Tate got his first real swimming experience. It was a cool day and I wasn't sure he'd love being wet, but our friends turned up the heat on their pool and it was quite pleasant. At least that's what I hear as I chose to stay dry. 

The girls were here somewhere too. They spent a good chunk of time in the pool and possibly more time in the hot tub. It's so nice that they are both strong enough swimmers now that we don't have to be right by them every second.

I don't know if Tate or Jim is enjoying this more. 

Since he's already signed up for a mom and me swim class later this summer, I'm relieved to see he is already keen on this. I think baby swim trunks are the cutest thing I've ever seen and I plan to dress him in them as often as possible. 

My Husband Rocks

So, May has been a bit of a whirlwind. Jim was ready to take his comprehensive exams and that was a time consuming and stressful experience. He's been gone studying until very late most weeknights and weekends as well. The exams consisted of two major written sections and an oral discussion section. I can't explain it adequately, but the tension was palpable. He has said it the oral section was the most miserable 3.5 hours of his life but in the end, success was won! Jim has now earned ABD status (all but dissertation).

There is actually some debate as to whether he's ABD now or if it will be official once he does his dissertation proposal, but as far as I'm concerned it's real. Part 1 of 2 is done. Wooohooo!!

After that chaotic day we hopped in the car and drove to Newport for the marathon. Jim was registered to run the half. This was the first year they had a half marathon in conjunction with the Newport marathon and it was quite well organized. Jim hoped to run the full but didn't get registered before it was full. With the chaos of the month it turned out to be a good thing, as he didn't have the time to train for the full thing.

We stayed the night in a little hotel and in the morning Aeryn and I waited and watched for Jim to finish. I'm not sure the inventors of the Find My Friends app knew how much I would appreciate being able to keep tabs on Jim's race progress.

Look at those muscles! Dang!

He came in and finished pretty close to when we expected him, and he was clearly feeling good about things. He finished second in his division.

Tate was a good sport, as always. This baby is so very mellow and generally happy. Aeryn loved hanging out with him and being his buddy.

Several friends were also running this day and we met up and spent a while together after everyone had finished. Aeryn was "meditating" with some of the other kids.

Our friends Laurie, Katie, Heather, and Marci were there. We have the best friends ever. How will we ever leave Eugene????? Fortunately, we don't have to think about that for a while.

After hanging out at the race events for a while, we headed to the beach. I mean, who can spend a gorgeous, sunny weekend day at the coast and not go play in the water? By sunny, I clearly mean gray and cloudy, but it was warm and glorious with very little wind. A rare day at the Oregon coast after all.

The kids had a total blast in the cool water. I feel like I post pictures like this a lot and subsequently end up saying "the beach is fun!" way too often.

My boys are seriously my favorite. I've got to say that it's been really fun to have the Hubs be his normal not-completely-stressed-out

Aeryn didn't get deterred by a lack of spare clothes and still ended up wet to her waist. Surprisingly, she made it the full two hours home without one complaint about being cold or wet. She was the smart one and wore sunscreen while I neglected that detail and now one of us is comfortable and flesh-toned while the other is quite the opposite. 

Jogathon 2014

It's that time of year again... the school jog-a-thon. Aeryn gets very excited for it every time, which I love because she isn't always the most motivated where athletic endeavors are concerned. Tate and I got to the track just a bit late so I missed the madhouse of a start, but she didn't mind.

She has been planning her running clothes for a full week. Somehow the school succeeds in building great excitement for this among the kids. At least, among our kid.

She ran by herself most of the time this year, unlike past years where she would be holding hands with a friend for most of the hour.

Tate really got a kick out of it for the first fifteen or so minutes. We were dancing to the music and he was really intrigued by all the kids and movement, which he demonstrated by smiling and cooing at everyone around us. After that I think he went into endurance mode, which was later followed by tired and I just don't care mode.

Squirt did 19 laps this year. I'm a little surprised based on how frequently she was walking slowly and talking with various friends instead of jogging.

Aeryn and L. She lives near us but will be moving this summer as her mom is graduating. They have had some fun times together - and running through the hose at the jogathon was one of them. 

Aeryn in the Grass

Yesterday I took family pictures for some good friends. Since Jim is still out of town on frat week I needed some help and made Aeryn come with me. I mean, someone has to be able to watch Tate while I frolic around clicking. When we first got there, I drove her nuts testing out settings with her as my model. "Go stand right there." "Now move over here." "Two steps back." "Would you smile please and at least pretend you are happy to be here?" Eventually, she had a little fun with it. Not to mention she was incredibly helpful with Tate and with our friends' two year old. I should always drag her along with me.

It hit me that next year she will be old enough to go to girls camp with our church, this is her last year in elementary school, and at her next birthday she will have reached the magical makeup-is-allowed age.

Part of me still sees her as a little kid, but she really isn't anymore.

We are so much alike, yet so different, and at times we drive each other absolutely crazy. She tries to be completely independent and I struggle to let her be more so. She has such a kind and compassionate heart and is very concerned with helping others feel good about themselves. She has no sense of time and does not know how to hurry, but she does know how to look around and drink up the beauty in the world, enjoying the little things all along her way. She is creative, silly, tender, forgiving, and happy.

She has changed me for the better. I don't know who I'd be without her.

Outdoor School

Aeryn had the most exciting week of school in her young life. This past week was the 5th grade field trip. I remember going on an overnight trip in either 5th or 6th grade, though I remember little about it. Aeryn's school has typically stayed overnight at OMSI, but this year they decided to do an outdoor school instead. 

The 4th/5th grades spent two nights at a camp not far away. Each cabin had three sets of bunk beds for kids and a bed for a chaperone, there was a mess hall, and the kids each had chores. They did a number of hands on science based lessons outside coupled with some adventures. Rain was in the forecast (It is Oregon in the spring after all) so the kids were supposed to pack their stuff in garbage bags. I dropped her off at the school and hoped to stay and take a bunch of pictures; her with friends, loading the buses, driving off - reminiscent of pretty much everything she did in kindergarten. Once we got to the school however, she was ready to be rid of me and let me snap one pic before letting me know it was OK if I left then. 

She was very excited that this girl, J, was going to be in her cabin and educational group - The Forest Bunnies. They have been really good friends this year and fortunately will be at the same middle school in the fall. 

When I picked her up a couple days later she was beaming. Her favorite activity was canoeing, though she made sure to tell me the canoe was green, not yellow like Grandpa's. 

She insisted that she didn't need any help carrying her stuff, so I let her struggle through it. 

The kids made these tree cookie necklaces in class before camp to wear while they were there. I'm not sure that when she decided to be a giraffe she thought about how they would most likely not live in the forest. Who knows though, I'm sure stranger things have happened. 

They succeeded in wearing her out. This girl who normally wakes each day at 6:00 a.m. without an alarm slept in today until 8:00. It seems as though she loved everything about it. What a great end to elementary school.

Tate's Blessing Day

It seems all I talk about anymore is that cute little man-cub who has come into our world. He is pretty awesome, and sort of consumes my days. I've been meaning to write about his blessing weekend but since it was a little bit stressful for me it has taken a while to regain my grounding enough to talk about it. That makes it sound like it was terrible - it most definitely was not; in fact it was delightful. I just tend to stress myself out at every possible opportunity and this was no exception.

I knew the weekend was going to be nuts. Both of our families were coming and they are very, very different. Plus our house is small and there is not a ton to do in Eugene, not to mention that the star of the show has his own schedule and needs. In order to make it more manageable, I made sure to pump extra milk so we could give him a bottle when needed. I didn't know where we would be or who would be holding him so I thought this was a smart plan. 

Things seemed to work very well for Friday evening and Saturday. We found great places to eat, all hung out at a park, and somehow crammed into our tiny apartment when need be. Then sometime on Saturday night after everyone went back to their hotel rooms I became a crazy person. We had taken great care in planning the menu for a luncheon afterward on Sunday and Jim and I each had our plans worked out. Out of necessity and sanity I had already abandoned half my plans (i.e. photobooth) and was determined to make the rest go off without a hitch.

I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. getting cupcakes made, ironing tablecloths, setting up a basket for serve ware and dishes, getting condiments into attractive serving dishes so that we wouldn't have plastic containers all over the place, and setting out all the attractive serving bowls and platters that food would need to be transferred to the following day. In my mind it was all ready to go and would be uber simple to get set up. I had rambled on all night long about what needed to be done and felt I'd made it as easy as possible. Besides, I'd be there to do it all myself...

But then Tate didn't sleep through church like normal. He was awake and starving after church was out so instead of being the one to set things up, I was holed up in my bedroom trying to keep my baby somewhat content. Naively I assumed other people would be able to read my mind and know what was already done and what things just needed to be relocated. I had rambled about everything for hours the night before... however I have told Jim that sometimes I just need to talk and he's ok tuning me out. This was one of those instances that had I been listening I would have tuned myself out. As petty as it sounds now, I was really irritated on Sunday when everything I stayed up making sure was done didn't actually help. 

When I walked into the community room and saw plastic containers and plastic utensils where I'd already set things up to be served in nice dishes I pretty much lost my mind. This was such a special day to me that I did not want a single thing about it to resemble a tailgate party. When I frantically started trying to redo it all, Jim's dad just said to me "it's only friends and family, nobody cares." He was right of course, but I cared. I still do. Part of me is still irritated that I couldn't plan it all perfectly. Therein lies the key lesson learned from being a parent: you really have no control at all, only the illusion of it.

It stressed me out so much that I have declared I'm not throwing another party at all until we have our own house. Except Ellie's baptism. And probably Aeryn's next birthday. And Jim's graduation. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll probably throw a party next month, just because.

At some point during the whole crazy post sacrament time I realized that we didn't get a picture at the church. Not one. No picture of Tate in his little dress shirt and tie, no picture of our family all together, no pictures of the kids. Basically, no pictures. None. Zip. That was what really made me lose it and I tried desperately to not cry all afternoon from the disappointment.

The reality is that none of it matters. The blessing itself was beautiful. Jim was choked up at the beginning which brought me to tears. Our family was all together and we were surrounded by loved ones. Tate is healthy and happy, and truly, no one would have cared if it did look like a tailgate party. The cousins were all together and running around outside. Some friends and family we haven't seen in a while came by. Everyone doted on our little man. It was a good day.

The next morning, we dressed him up again in his dapper digs and Jim's dad snapped a few pics of our family. Both families headed home and we returned to life as normal. It was a whirlwind, but the things that really mattered were there. 

Me & T

It's not a secret that I tend to hide from the camera, I always have. Today I decided that I needed a picture with baby Tate. He wont always be this little, and I want proof that I was here. I'm not going to wait until my pre-pregnant clothes fit or my hair is longer, I want to remember our life just as it is today.

I'd never been to the rhododendron gardens at Hendricks Park, but stopped in quite accidentally with a tripod in hand and fifteen minutes to kill. Things are starting to bloom and the magnolia trees are losing petals. It was truly mesmerizing. I may just end up going back tomorrow.