Category Archives: family

development, family

Life in the fast lane

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Can I say we’re hitting a stride with this Quadripod thing? I don’t know. I’m halfway through my second week back to work after taking six weeks off for Maia’s birth, and although getting back into the work thing is tough, it does feel like we’re adjusting. Admittedly when I returned to work on the sixth I felt like I was leaving Sarah with the short end of the stick. Being with the girls is wonderful, amazing, and fun, but it is WORK. Of course the work I do with the NWP and with teaching my students is work too, but compared to soothing a newborn and keeping a two-year-old entertained, “normal” work seems more like a vacation.

But we sailed through the first week and it was hard, but doable. Then we had a very busy weekend. Sarah’s birthday was on Saturday and Iana was in town so they did the spa thing and I stayed home with the youngsters. Everything was going fine until Maia woke up and realized there was no mama and no milk. She was pissed. Earlier that day Keana had scraped both her knees (very lightly) on the way to the park and she waited till just this moment to demand to be held. I couldn’t set Maia down so I tried to reason with Keana. She was not having it and within a few seconds I had two screaming girls, bawling their eyes out. It was one of those moments that you realize those ridiculous scenes in those comedy movies, you know those ones where the man has at least two kids puking or crying or whatever; those actually have a factual base. Maia really likes constant movement and background noise, so eventually I got the situation mellowed out by making a human train where I bounced Maia and repeated “chucka-chucka-chucka-chucka” and Keana followed along throwing in a “TOOT! TOOT!” as the three of us paraded around the entire house. This only lasted five minutes but it was just enough to calm them down. Then I was able to sing them both to sleep in Keana’s room with a variety of songs ranging from Paul Simon’s Diamonds On the Soles of Her Shoes to Creedence’s Someday Never Comes. There was something about singing those songs and holding little sleeping Maia in my arms while watching Keana sleep on the bed that got me all choked up. Maybe it was a stress release, maybe it was my love for them, and maybe it was both. I had to push back the tears though because it was ruining the song, but at that moment I couldn’t have been more thankful for that time together. Of course 10 minutes later Maia woke up screaming again and cried for another hour until Sarah got home, but at least there was that wonderful, brief moment of peace.

That night my brother Peter came up to see Maia for the first time and we had a fun birthday dinner/slumber party with the siblings. The next morning Peter had to leave early to pick up a friend from the airport and shortly after that Iana had to run to the airport to fly back to San Diego. Then we quickly got ourselves together for a homebirth potluck at our midwife’s house. Sunday night arrived much too soon when we realized we were about to start another week.

Needless to say, Monday was very tough for Sarah and the girls, but the week has gotten progressively better. On Tuesday our friend and doula Joscelyn came over and did a ton of work around the house and helped out a lot with food prep and meal ideas for Sarah. I arrived home from teaching at 10:15 p.m. on Tuesday night to a house full of sleeping ladies. As I ate my late dinner, silently at the kitchen table, I turned our new life over and over in my head. Our life with just Keana wasn’t ever really easy (though it had gotten easier), and now with Maia our life is certainly much harder. But I know we’ll look back on these early days and nights as a Quadripod—probably in the not-so-distant future—and just laugh at how crazy we were, being thankful that the hard stuff is over and looking forward to all the good stuff that lies ahead.

family, trips

Family Campout

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We just got back from Sarah’s family campout, and as usual, had an amazing time. Sarah’s been going since she was 4, this was my 5th, and Keana’s 3rd. I think Keana holds the camp record for average appearances; she’s batting a thousand so far. She’s really the only kid at the campout these days as most of our peers have opted out of the baby-making for the time being. This, of course, has its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, we have unlimited baby-sitters and Keana steals the show in the “under 18 category” every time. But on the other hand, we don’t have anyone else to hang out with that’s on parent duty. So while the moon rises and the drums rage on into the night and campers wander from circle to circle, fire to fire, we get out the tooth brushes, pack it in, and hunker down for an early, cold morning.

And yes, Keana woke early every morning, poked her tiny head out of the tent divider in our ginormous tent, and eagerly, excitedly squealed, “I’m awake! Let’s go out and play!” followed closely by, “Grandma’s awake. Can we go visit? You can come.” It was wonderful, heart-melting, and exhausting all at once. You know how it is when you’re camping and it’s so damn cold in the morning that you don’t even want to wake up to go out to pee? Well, imagine that with a two-year-old with endless energy and amazing puppy-dog blue eyes begging you to go play with her. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa were awake shortly after to entertain her while we cooked breakfast. Most of the mornings we would play in the meadow with bubbles and coloring books and stickers, eat second breakfasts, then go down for a nap around 11 or 12. Sarah and I would spend that nap time doing dishes from breakfast, getting things together for the afternoon trip to the river, and resting. Once Keana woke up, it was time to go-go-go again in a whirlwind of diaper change, outfit change, lunch eating, and hiking down to the river. Once we got to the river I would hold Keana and jump from rock-to-rock to get to the perfect spot where the water was deep, but calm. Most of the campers hung out at the river during the day, but by the time we got down there, everyone else was back up at their camps snacking and resting before dinner. So we enjoyed the mellow company that remained and spent the time splashing in the water and cringing and laughing at the crispness of the river.

Keana continued to amaze us with her knack for remembering names and faces. When we arrived on Tuesday (July 24, 2007), Sarah’s uncle Jim and Aunt Christina came to greet us as we set up camp. We joked about how we would definitely be the first ones up to wake the camp, and Jim said he’s up having coffee by 6:30 a.m. and invited us over. I told him not to joke because not only would we be up, but Keana would be talking up a non-stop storm. The next morning Keana woke up at 5:30 a.m. and once we got out of the tent she said, “Let’s go visit Jim.” Thinking it would be funny to take Jim up on his word, we walked over to his camp for a little coffee visit. In the end it didn’t quite work out because although Jim was up, let’s just say he wasn’t quite ready, so Keana and I turned right around back to our own camp. Keana didn’t quite understand and kept saying, “But I want to visit Jim!” Some fresh cherries quickly erased her mind of our previous task and she was on to new things instantly. It wasn’t long though before she was saying, “Let’s visit Christina!”—baby’s got a memory like a pachyderm.

The thing that’s really beautiful about the campout though is the community. Some people are related by blood, some by marriage, and the rest by friendship or acquaintance, but everyone is accepted and made to feel like blood. This community is fostered through a Friday night cocktail party that always has a theme- this year was Caribbean- and a Saturday night potluck where all those camping bring food to share in a big sit-down dinner in the meadow. On Friday evening Sarah and I were working on getting our food contribution to the cocktail party together and Keana was off having fun at Grandma’s camp. As I flipped the steak on the bbq I glanced across the meadow and saw Keana holding court with Sarah’s brother Michael, sister Rachel, and their camp-mates Alexis, her brother Neal, Eli, and Emily (and maybe more?). Emily’s mom, Lorraine, also spent quite a bit of time keeping Keana entertained too. It was so nice to be able to send Keana off across the meadow to an entire group of people that she not only loved but that we could trust. It was also cool to see so many youngsters between 18 and 21 show so much love for Keana.

Sarah and I also got some down time too. While Keana slept in our tent-mansion nearby, we hung out around the campfire in the evenings with Iana, her boyfriend Ryan, Joscelyn and her boyfriend Jahee, our camp neighbor Sue and her boys Travis and Finn, cousin Nathan and his girl Jennie, Grandma Jennie and Grandpa John of course, Uncle Jim and Aunt Christina, and so many others. I’m trying to get as many names as I can in here so years from now it will spark our memory and we can tell Keana about her early family and friends at these crazy campouts. I know this isn’t everyone, and the list changes from year to year, but the bottom line is that there are many, many wonderful people that we share this camping experience with.

Packing up is tough, and leaving is even harder, but with help from the grandparents we got everything packed up and were on the road by 1 p.m. on Sunday (July 29). The trip to the campout was smooth, but the trip home was not. Keana was all tuckered out and so were we. She made it to Hwy 5 before we were forced to sing “the Tigger song” from Winnie the Pooh about 100 times to keep her pacified. And eventually she only wanted Sarah to sing it. That lasted until outside Livermore at which point Keana was angry. Actually, the word “angry” makes it sound slightly unpleasant. This was worse. She was outright pissed. She began crying and it quickly turned into screams of rage and frustration. We finally pulled off the highway into Livermore, just an hour from home, and had some burgers. She was easily pacified once she got out of the car but this girl has a temper. She’s all “cinnamon and spice” 99% of the time, but when it comes time to rage, she let’s_it_out. The trip to the campout took about 6 hours and the trip home took about 7.5.

Luckily that trip home didn’t taint Keana’s campout experience. The very next day she was already talking about going back to the campout and even today, while she washed her hands, talked about how they were “dirty from the campout”. So the campout is definitely on the list for next year, and we’ll be packing for four with an emphasis on the family in “family campout”.

development, family

Present, past, future

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So much is happening, has happened, will-be-happening that I hardly know where to begin. Maybe I’ll just start at the present, move back a little, then jump ahead to a not-so-distant point in the future…and probably all over that timeline in-between.

I’m hungry—be right back…

I just had some of Sarah’s amazing mac-n-cheese. Damn that’s good. (I told you I’d start with the present, right? Okay, let’s move on.)

Side thought: Our camera is still broken! I finally mailed it in to get fixed, but who knows when it’ll be back. I feel like we’re really missing out on things here.

Let’s really begin:

Keana’s downstairs sleeping and Sarah is with her sister Iana for a night out and a slumber party. For those of you who don’t know, Iana is moving to San Diego in August with her boyfriend Ryan. Ryan’s already down there in law school—just finished his first year—and Iana’s going to join him in Ocean Beach. She’ll still be working at the National Writing Project and coming up to Berkeley about once a month once she moves, so we’ll still get to see her a little. It’ll be interesting to see how Keana deals with the move since Iana comes over to the house once a week to play with Keana and visit with Sarah. I’m sure she’ll miss her lots.

Before Iana leaves she’s been trying to get time in with all her friends and family here in the east bay (hence the “sister night” tonight). Also, as part of the ongoing going-away flurry of activities, Sarah, Keana, Iana, and (Grandma) Jennie went to Big Sur for the weekend of June 30–July 2. They hope to make it an annual trip just for The Ladies and it sounds like they had a really good time. Since I wasn’t there I can’t really fill you in, but maybe I can get Sarah to write a blog entry soon to cover all the ins-and-outs of that trip. For now though, I’ve put together a video from footage that Sarah took one evening of the trip.

I can, however, tell you what I did that weekend. Oh man. As a little background info, I haven’t had time alone at our house since Keana was born. I have had some time to myself while traveling for work and other short one-nighters here and there visiting my brother Peter in Santa Cruz, but this was the first time at home alone. Seeing how this blog isn’t just about me, here’s the synopsis:

June 30, afternoon:

  • Ran errands
  • Got car washed
  • Slept on floor with cat

June 30, evening/late night:

  • Went to Giants game (vs. Arizona Diamondbacks) with friend Kacie
  • Ate donuts
  • Watched movie

July 1, early early morning:

  • Watched movie
  • Slept

July 1, morning:

  • Still sleeping

July 1, afternoon:

  • Ate breakfast
  • Went hiking at Tilden

July 1, evening:

  • Went to movie theater and saw Live Free or Die Hard (third time to theater since Keana was born)
  • Ate
  • Practiced trumpet
  • Backed up music
  • Cleaned toilet
  • Slept

Exciting, huh? I had a blast but realized that I am truly a changed man. Staying up till 4 a.m. just isn’t the same and I truly missed my Girls. The house was too quiet and although it was really good to just do things for myself, it didn’t have the same magic as doing things for the little person with pretty blue eyes. Of course I missed my best friend Sarah too.

June flew by extremely fast and here are some magical Keana things we’ve really been enjoying the last month:

  • I may have mentioned this before, but before bed, while brushing teeth, it is so much fun singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Keana knows all the words and has added a hilarious “BWAAAAHHHH!” at the end while shaking her head back and forth vigorously. She’s crazy and we love it.
  • While walking without shoes on she’ll often say, “I’m just in my feet!”
  • In June we made it to the ocean twice and while standing in the ocean, Keana yells, “I love it! I love it!” and, “Here comes the ocean!” as the waves come to shore.
  • The other day, while sampling some of her imaginary soup, I said, “You are very skilled in the culinary arts Baby,” and she replied, “I don’t have any culinary arts Papa.”
  • Playing ball: Keana loves to be chased while carrying a ball and faking you out by throwing it off to the side instead of towards you. She’s also perfected the reverse over-the-head throw where she throws the ball backward over her head. The ball thing has really added a whole other dimension to “I’m gonna getchya!” one of our favorite games.
  • Keana continues to be the sweetest ever, often saying, “Oh, I love you so much,” and requesting hug after hug before I go to work. And what better way to come home from work than with her screaming, “Papa’s here!” as I walk up the stairs followed by a, “Oh, I’m so glad you’re here Papa!” when I walk in the door. Of course she does this when Sarah comes and goes too, but Sarah doesn’t leave as often.
  • Clinging to Mama: maybe it’s because Sarah’s pregnant or some other developmental thing, but Keana has been all about Mama lately. When I’m here Keana often refuses to let me change her diaper, feed her, and brush her teeth. I know Sarah could use the break but I think she knows this will pass and happily pulls the weight even when I’m around. Aren’t moms great?
  • While in Big Sur, Sarah said that after she gave Keana a bite of food Keana ran down the hall a little bit, stopped, turned around, and in a stylized, deep “monster” voice said, “Thank you Mama.”
  • Keana loves to pretend. This morning we were playing downstairs, opening and shutting doors so the dinosaurs wouldn’t get us while eating imaginary pie out of tiny to-go containers that were used for pickles.

There’s so many amazing things we get to witness on a daily basis that I can’t possibly write them all down here. Today we were watching videos from Keana’s first year and Sarah noted that we’ll never be first-time parents again. In the videos the giddiness in our voices and apparent amazement at every little thing Keana did was so obvious that I couldn’t help but agree. What’s it going to be like when this next little one is born and changes all our lives in a new and different way? I also noticed that the amount of documentation by photo, video, and words has slowly decreased as Keana has gotten older and it made me a little sad. Have I gotten lazy? Have we started to take the day-to-day wonders of Keana for granted, and therefore haven’t dedicated the time and energy to capture the latest fleeting moments? I don’t know- I’d like to think not.

Only two things to do: get that damn camera fixed and keep writing.

family, holidays, trips

Home for the holidays

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This year, “Home for the holidays” really took on its true meaning for us. I mean, we had three Christmas celebrations with three different portions of family in three different locations, but we spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s at home, in OUR house, just the three of us. Was it a little selfish? Maybe. Was it fun, amazing, and wonderful? Yes.

I took two weeks off work which was just barely enough. We celebrated Christmas with my Mom’s family on 12/22 and had the usual great time with the Petersons at Keana’s great grandparent’s house in Los Altos. She adores her second cousins (which are closer to her age than mine). They’re still years ahead of her, but lots of fun. And now that Keana is walking, running, and talking, she’s just a like a “real person” to them now, which means running all over the house, passing out gifts together, and sharing gifts- at least for a moment or two. At dinner she sat on Great Grandpa’s end of the table and even got him to play a little game of “I’ll throw my toy on the floor and you pick it up for me” which lasted longer than I thought it would. It’s good to see I’m not the only softy for those baby-blues. Keana also enjoyed a nice dance session with Great Grandma Jacquie after dinner. Great Grandma kept an excellent beat and Keana obliged with some nice shakin’ of the tail feathers. Keana was having such a blast that night that we couldn’t get her to go to bed and she stayed up till almost midnight.

The next day we spent time with my immediate family for a mellower Christmas celebration. Keana had a great day walking around in Grandma’s shoes and playing on the floor of the kitchen while dinner was being prepared. She loves to say, “Boots are walkin'” which often spawns round after round of the song, “Those Boots Are Made for Walkin'” to which she dances and calls out for more verses at the end of each previous verse. She never gets tired of dancing to that song. That night while opening gifts we had a great time with tons of laughs. Pretty much any time we get Uncle Peter in the mix, laughter is never far behind, and we all feed off of eachother’s stories and laughter until the night is late. Christmas Eve morning we packed up our loot and headed back to the east bay.

On Christmas Eve I bbq’d some New York steaks to get our stomachs prepped for the amazing rib roast that Sarah fixed on Christmas. Sarah and I also made biscuits and gravy for a special Christmas breakfast. And because it was just the three of us, we moved at our own pace, opening gifts all day long and Keana got a chance to enjoy each gift as she opened it, before moving on to the next. I also felt that we really had time to enjoy eachother and especially Keana which was something new for a big holiday event such as Christmas. Eventually the last gift was opened, only bones were left on the table after dinner, and it was time for Ms. Keana to don her PJs and sleep out of her second Christmas and on towards the new year.

The next day we packed up our gifts and our cooler and headed to Great Grandma Bev’s house—which overlooks Millerton Lake outside of Fresno—to celebrate Christmas once again, this time with Sarah’s immediate family. We spent a couple days up there and had lots of fun, including a great dance party with Keana leading the way, paying tribute to the recently deceased Godfather of Soul, James Brown. We also had a chance to make a visit to the snow up by Shaver Lake and it was gorgeous—bright and sunny and clean with fresh snow. Keana’s very first encounter with snow was tentative. She did walk a little on it, with the help of Tia Iana and Rachael, and Sarah was able to feed her a little bit to try it out on the tastebuds. So it was a fun, new experience and I’m sure she’ll dig the snow to a much higher degree when she’s older.

On 12/29, once again, we packed up our loot, said our goodbyes, and hit the road back to the east bay. Keana’s break-down, complete with tears and screams of “I hold your hand!”, an hour from home was a clear signal that she was ready for a break from our holiday tour schedule.

In the following days the new year approached and started without much event. It was amazing to think back on 2006 and remember the major life events that took place. Here’s just a few:

  • Keana’s first steps (and subsequently running, jumping, and more dancing)
  • Keana’s first birthday
  • The beginning of sentences
  • Keana’s first plane ride and trip to Hawaii
  • Our second wedding anniversary
  • Grandma Linda turned 50
  • Great Grandma Ellie passed away

365 days is a long stretch. And given the fact that most major events in life, good and bad, happen in split seconds, a year is bound to be packed full of both. Day six of 2007 is coming to a close and we can only look forward, ready to laugh, cry, walk, crawl, and dance through the other 358.

Happy New Year and good night.

family, holidays, trips

Babies don’t care about holidays

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Keana does not care about the holidays…yet. Some people out there may be getting a little worked up over that statement, so let me explain. Holidays are really for us adults and older kids. It’s for those who realize how important getting family together is, even if for just one day. But it’s also a time for us to express and recreate all the traditions and expectations that surround the holidays—for better or worse—that we’ve learned and assimilated for ourselves through our lives. I think Keana sees things differently. I think Keana is excited to see our extended family any time and there just happens to be some random pumpkin on the porch—which, by the way, someone totally messed up by cutting holes in it—or everyone makes a big deal about eating turkey instead of the chicken and rice she requested. But as a whole, I think she just takes everything and everyone in stride, at the moment, and enjoys (or doesn’t enjoy) things as they happen. There’s no expectations or sense of tradition and I think that’s pretty cool. It’s so fun to see Keana still really new to this world taking one day at a time, and hopefully she’ll grow to love and understand the traditions we create together. Or, I guess it’s always possible she’ll grow up hating our family traditions and once she turns 13, when November/December rolls around, she’ll dress in all black, swear she’ll disown us when she turns 18, and refuse to get in the car to go to so-and-so’s house for “one more stupid, pointless holiday celebration”. I truly hope it’s the former and not the the latter. Anyways…

Unfortunately we just couldn’t see all the family this Thanksgiving. This year we drove to Fresno with Sarah’s sister Iana (Tia) to be with Sarah’s family. Thanksgiving day we saw Grandma Jennie, Grandpa John (our hosts), Tia, Great Uncle Jim and Great Aunt Christina, second cousin Shawn, Great Aunt Blanche, second cousin Shanti and his girlfriend Alysa…and I think that’s pretty much it. Uncle Michael got stuck in Olympia where he’s attending college because plane ticket prices sky-rocketed. It sounded like he was going to have a typical college tofu-no-stuffing-kegger-video game-potluck Thanksgiving—which I’m sure was fun—but we did miss him. My family (Grandma Linda, Grandpa Sam and Uncle Peter) went over to our friend Rhonda and Baptiste’s house for Thanksgiving in San Jose, so we had to settle for the holiday phone call instead of actually seeing them. I’m not sure what Great Grandma Jacquie and Great Grandpa Vic did (or the rest of the Petersons), but hopefully we’ll get to spend Thanksgiving with them next year.

Speaking of great grandparents, Sarah’s Grandma Ellie passed away very early Thanksgiving morning. It wasn’t entirely unexpected and we just imagine her somewhere wonderful and peaceful with the love of her life Charles and all the other family and friends that have gone before her.

The day following Thanksgiving we had a great visit with Sarah’s Dad Robert and his wife Cindy. They are always great hosts and Keana had a blast playing in the backyard and with all the little treasures that Grandpa found for her. Eventually she got so sleepy that she drifted off to Nap Land and had a nice two-hour nap which gave the rest of us a chance to catch up on the last year. Once again we were reminded of how fast time seems to be flying by.

Saturday we packed up and headed back to the bay. It was great to see everyone but we we were very thankful to be home. Then, tonight, Grandpa Jon flew in from Denver for business and took the three of us out to dinner in celebration of my upcoming birthday. It was fun getting caught up and we are thankful that he’s out here so often on business.

It’s been a week filled with family events, a little road trip, and great food. I think it’s safe to say Keana’s second round of holidays are shaping up nicely, even if she doesn’t know she’s supposed to care about them yet.

(look for November pictures in the upcoming weeks)

birthdays, family, holidays

Creeping up on Halloween

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Halloween is coming up in just a couple days and we’re definitely finishing out October strong. Last weekend we had the surprise portion of my mom’s 50th birthday party (two weeks after her actual birthday) and it turned out great. Peter stepped up and pretty much planned the whole thing with just a little input from Sam (mom’s husband) and me. The party was catered and the morning of, Sam took his parents (who were in town from Oklahoma) and mom out to breakfast as a distraction. While they were gone, mom’s mom Jacquie came over to the house and helped get things set up. Peter’s girlfriend Bryn and friend Ject (sp?) from Thailand also arrived early to set up while I grabbed beverages and last-minute supplies. Guests started arriving around noon and helped with set-up and decorating as well. Mom arrived right on time and seem thoroughly surprised. I think having this party two weeks after her birthday really helped with the surprise element. Halfway through the party Keana started getting really tired but wouldn’t lay down without both Sarah and I. So the three of us cuddled up in the spare bedroom in mom’s house and were able to get a little sleep. It brought back fond memories of when Keana was first born and we all shared a bed. And, just like old times, I was barely hanging on a sliver of the edge of the bed, with one arm underneath me falling asleep and Keana snuggled right up next to me. I loved it. Because of our little nap we missed the pie ceremony and birthday speech, but that’s just the way things go now.

Last week flew by, we fought off Keana’s cold that she had last week, and found this weekend arrive seemingly out of nowhere. Yesterday our little homebirth group got together for a little Halloween soirée. The theme was cross-dressing for the adults and I think the babies were a little confused but thoroughly entertained—or at least we adults were. All the babies were adorable in their little costumes of course, and we had a great time as usual. When we all get together, it’s always a little bit of mayhem, but always good to see everyone and get the babies together.

And now it’s Sunday. I bbq’d some chicken outside in the dark this evening, and Sarah padded the kiddy-pool outside with a little quilt and she and baby shmooped around in it staying just under the smoke. Then they danced around their shadows waiting for the meat to finish cooking, singing silly songs, and I grilled away and drank a beer. Now Sarah’s eating mochi ice cream while I finish this thing up. Fall feels like it’s really here now and life is good as usual.

family

Family

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I’ve got this great mix in iTunes that I call my “late night soul” that has everything from Marvin Gaye, to The Isley Brothers, to Michael Jackson, to The Roots. I like to put this on when I’m hanging out at home by myself or staying up way too late working on web stuff while Sarah and Keana sleep. It has a tendency to make me think about what’s going on, what’s happened recently, and stuff that happened years ago. I know, “uh oh” right? Don’t worry, it’s not late enough for me start waxing too prolific here, but I be alone and it’s time to put some stuff down here about what’s been happening in our life lately, especially with regard to family visits.

My mom just turned 50. For some reason that sounds really old, but at the same time it doesn’t seem old at all. What’s hard to believe is that she has two kids, 28 and 26, and a grandkid already. Not bad at all huh? I told my mom that it was great she had us when she was young because it gave us more time to get our shit together before she needs us to start taking care of her. So last Friday, 10/6, we congregated in the city at this fabulous restaurant called Rubicon. It was Mom, her husband Sam, my brother Peter and his girlfriend Bryn, Sarah and myself. We decided to let Keana sleep this one out while Tia Iana watched her. Afterall, whenever Keana comes along she’s really the center of attention and it was Mom’s night to shine. We had a blast. Really great food, lots of good stories and tons of laughter. This was the sort of place too that made you feel like laugh-out-loud-hilarious wasn’t quite legal. We, of course, didn’t give that feeling much thought and just kept on having good conversation and lots of laughs.

Then, on Saturday, my dad, his wife Susan, and their girls Grace and Lily were out here from Denver for a wedding. They came by on Saturday and we bbq’d some burgers and all hung out. It was the first time Grace had met Keana. She was on a band trip to Hawaii when Dad, Susan and Lily came out when Keana was born. We had a good time and it’s fun to see the girls growing up. Grace is a junior in high school and is starting to think about colleges and future academic plans, and Lily is a freshman just getting into the whole high school experience. Truthfully, we don’t really know Grace and Lily that well but certainly wouldn’t mind getting to know them better. Both Sarah and I have half-siblings, but Sarah grew up with her little brother Michael and they’re pretty close. Grace and Lily on the other hand grew up in Colorado totally separate from my brother and I, so we’re not that close. At the same time though they still feel like family, and because we share the same dad I can see part of myself in them which kind of weirds me out. I often think that family isn’t who’s related by blood, but who you spend the most time with. And while I still think this is true to a degree, I can really see that there is some kind of weird cosmic bond through genetics. It’s also strange to see my dad being a dad to these girls while I’m just beginning to be a dad myself. When you’re a kid you watch movies and see other families and have all these notions of what life will be like when you “grow up” and have kids of your own. Let me tell you, my life has not panned out at all like I thought it would…and it’s awesome.

And tonight I’m sitting here alone because Sarah’s mom Jennie came out from Fresno to spend time with Iana for her birthday. Jennie wanted to spend time with Sarah and Keana too so they came over and brought 2 racks of ribs, cornbread and greens. We had a great dinner and then they went to Albany Sauna for some mother-daughter time. We’ll probably have breakfast with Iana and Jennie tomorrow too.

As you can see, we’ve been having lots of family time lately. Yes, it’s exhausting, I’m not gonna lie. But I think relationships are some of the only things in life worth working for, and I think it’s important for Sarah and I to keep these relationships strong to set a good example for Keana when she’s old enough to maintain her own relationships.

family, holidays

Seasons change

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The backyard is filling up with leaves, the World Series is on its way, Shelby my coworker has already carved her pumpkin and its getting dark earlier and earlier. This can only mean another year is on its final lap. That last moment where we can all breathe right before Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa and New Years bum rush us and leave us all on our asses wondering where the hell it all went.

This is Keana’s second round of holidays already and the tradition solidification process is already well on its way. She continues to change on a seemingly hourly basis. For those of you who don’t have kids or have forgotten, she is almost a year and seven months now, and eats everything we eat, sans the processed foods and sugar of course. She can form crude sentences now like, “I hold you”, “Mama sleeping” and “Shoes on”. What’s really amazing is she’s starting to grasp what seem like really complex associations. For instance if someone stays over—as Grandma Linda and Grandpa Sam have recently—she asks the next morning, “Grandma here?”. Now just about every morning I get her up she asks about Grandma or Tia or if “Mama sleeping?”. Really fun and amazing.

Adorable, amazing and “smarter than I am even now” continue to inadequately describe little Miss Keana. The more and more she wants to do things on her own and try out new things, the more we realize that she is becoming the little person she was meant to be.

development, family, holidays, trips

1500 mph and Accelerating

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A friend of mine once said it’s amazing how fast time and money disappear once you have a baby. Sarah and I have found both to be true. But what better investment for time and money than the one they call Keana?

Halloween: There’s nothing scary about a baby. Wait, maybe I mean there’s nothing scarier than a baby? This baby crawling around our living room relies on us for everything. That’s scary. Just about everything she’s learning right now comes from us. That’s scary. When she pulls herself up on the furniture, then balances with one hand while reaching for something completely out of her reach all the while tottering on legs tingling with new muscle sensations. That’s scary. The fact that Keana will some day want to go to some Halloween party- instead of hanging out with us- with teenage boys that are surely stupider and more dangerous than I was when I was their age…that’s scary as hell! But on the surface…no…there’s nothing scary about a baby.

This year Keana was a little Giants player dressed up in her Giants outfit that Kacie gave her. Halloween night we carved pumpkins, made a music video to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, and passed out candy. Not much else you can do on Halloween with a baby that’s not very scary.

Visits: While Papa’s been visiting PA for work, Mama and Baby have had visitors and have been visiting on their own. In November Grandma Jennie came out for a couple days and Sarah and Keana went back to Fresno to visit Sarah’s high school friends Katrina, Mary, and Gina. They also visited with Grandpa Robert and Nana Cin and had blast with all parties in attendance, everywhere. Keana also had her first trip to the bar when we went down to Pescadero and visited with Auntie Sara, Sam, Jack, Sandy, Byron, Mollie, Leiban, and the whole Duarte’s gang. Grandma Linda was also up last week visiting and hopes to make it a semi-regular thing since she’s so close.

Thanksgiving: The real question this year is what DON’T we have to be thankful for? We shared Thanksgiving with family friends at Rhonda and Baptiste’s house in San Jose. Everyone who came to dinner had a customized crown to wear (which was required to eat), so beat that!

Eating: Keana has recently begun sampling the wondrous array of food items on this planet called “vegetables”. So far she’s tried sweet potato, squash, and avocado. She was skeptical at first, and even a little concerned, but has started to enjoy it. Her two front, bottom teeth are coming in nicely and they’re almost halfway up. She teethes pretty intensely at times, grimacing and munching down on many objects with fierce little baby force.

Sleeping: Keana is a great sleeper. She usually takes a couple naps a day and mostly sleeps through the night, waking occasionally to fill her tiny stomach. She has a few rough nights on and off which keep poor Mama- and sometimes Papa- from actually recovering from the busy days, but as a whole, she is a great little sleeper.

Mobility: Keana is now crawling at astonishing speeds. When motivated- for instance in pursuit of the cat- she can really make her way across the room quite quickly. She has also started pulling herself up on furniture and legs, and takes decent steps to advance her position. Keana’s also taking a liking to pointing at objects and where she wants to go. She’s been able to sign for milk and clap for a while, but now she also waves goodbye (and hello!). It’s really enough to make your heart melt; imagine little Keana, standing in her crib, waving goodbye as you’re heading out the door for work!

Christmas: It’s just around the corner and we’ve been busy making Keana’s first Christmas a great one. Last Saturday we went down the street and got a great tree and decorated it Monday night with Tia Iana. Uncle Peter called from Thailand, so in a way, he was there too. She loves playing with the tree and especially loves to point at and touch all the different ornaments. This weekend we’re going to Fresno for a Solstice Party at Nino and Mia’s and having early Christmas with Grandpa Robert and Nana Cin (and hopefully Great Grandma Bev too!). Then on the 20th is the Peterson family Christmas and we’re very excited about seeing Great Uncle Vic, Great Aunt Kristie, and second cousins McKenna, Cassidy, and Riley for the first time. THEN, on the 21st, is Great Grandma and Grandpa Peterson’s 50th wedding anniversary, so we’ll be in Los Altos for that. I think we’ll have our own 4th Annual Christmas Party on the 23rd, Christmas Eve mellow-styles on the 24th, and on the 25th, Grandma Jennie, Grandpa John, Grandma Linda, Grandpa Sam, Uncle Michael, and Tia Iana will be coming over to our house for Christmas Clamb Bake 2005. Soooo… if you want to spend time with us and you’re not on the list, sorry. Please call back soon for 2006 reservations.