Tag Archives: development

development

To my unborn child

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You are getting quite big in there Little One. You’re big enough now that we can see your every move from the outside. Oh, and we were wondering, do you actually play with Mama’s organs and stuff cause you’re bored, or does it just feel like that to Mama? I remember with your big sister Keana, my first time seeing the pregnancy process, I was constantly reminded of the movie Alien, and watching you reminds me of this amazing, foreign feeling I had. Don’t worry, I don’t think you’re an alien or scary or anything, it’s just amazing to see the movements of another human inside another human. Last Friday night I watched you for almost ten minutes, just amazed at the physical prowess you already have. And although I’m tempted to always feel what’s going on from the outside, I know it gets you riled up, so I’ve been trying to keep my curiosity in check.

I thought you’d like to know what’s going on in the upcoming weeks before you’re born so you can hit the ground running here with Team Hokama when you finally make it out. You should know that although we’ve been quite busy with your sisters, we think about how amazing you are every day. Your mama is starting to really feel how big you are, but it’s not your fault, it’s just the way things are. The last week of April we had a brief scare because there was a tiny amount of blood after Mama went to the gym, but it stopped, she rested, and nothing came of it. Turns out it’s a small infection that we’ll get some medicine for soon. Then when I was gone for another work trip in Berkeley, on April 8, your mama was nauseous and had blurred peripheral vision. Again, we were worried but she had just had some blood drawn, so that was probably it. Other than a couple little things like that though, your voyage has been smooth sailing (as far as we can tell from out here). We just ordered some shots of B-12 and folic acid, so you should be feeling a little boost in there soon. I’ll warn you before it happens, though, don’t worry. You’ll like it.

You should know that Keana and Maia have been having a blast with each other lately, so their team dynamic will be a strong one to support you when you come out. Just a couple days ago, when Maia woke up, Keana exclaimed, “Oh Maia! I missed you. Can I have a hug?” and Maia came and gave her a little hug. Then a minute later Keana says, “Can I have another hug Maia? That one wasn’t big enough.” You’re going to be glad you have such sweet sisters. Of course, it’s not all lovey-dovey out here as you’ve probably heard. Maia has been quite the spit-fire lately. Recently she was really upset about not getting something off the fridge, and Keana and I thought she wanted one of the pictures. So we pulled it off and asked if she wanted it. She screamed, “Nooooo!”, grabbed the picture, threw it on the floor, and stomped on it with her feet while staring me down. Fierce. So watch out for that; she’s still working on her communication skills. (Though I guess that goes for all of us out here.)

Anyway, you’ve probably already noticed, but we’re starting to do prenatals with Dr. Kopascz every other week and will be meeting with Jacque the midwife every week starting in two weeks. With you we’re doing concurrent care with an OB and a midwife, which is new territory for us. It’s just the way Jacque likes to do things, so there you go. Hope you haven’t minded the ultrasounds. You’ll be happy to know we’ve refused most of them on your behalf and there will definitely not be any more.

So that’s the gist of it. It’s time to really start preparing for your great arrival, as a family and individually, so I’ll try and give you an update every week. Oh, and this weekend I’ll see about those Team Hokama sweat/wrist bands for The Great Event. After all, this may be the last time we can rally with the legit Team Hokama birth gear.

Love,
Papa

development

Train outta Fresno

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Wrote this on the train out of Fresno, heading to Berkeley for work: 4/7/10. Also trying out a bigger font, hope it doesn’t look “playskool”.

More run-down backyards filled with old, rusty cars than I could imagine are passing by my window. There’s beautiful fields and farmland too, which is strange, right? Farmland, beautiful? Well, rows and rows of organized nature at times seems like some of the best of what the world has to offer and humankind’s ingenuity. Maybe. I don’t know. But before I dump out that can of worms, to my point. I am running on two hours of sleep. Why you ask? I got two names for you, Maia and Keana.

Keana always gets anxious before I have to leave for work trips because often I leave early in the morning and she figured out that when I say “I’m going on a work trip” that means “Papa’s going to be gone when I wake up”. Even with days of prep and explanation, she still gets upset. Maia on the other hand says, “You comin’ back?” and when I say, “Of course, I’ll always come back” she seems quite satisfied. So last night I explained to Keana I’d say goodbye and she didn’t need to worry in the middle of the night and call out. She seemed to understand, but sure enough, 2 a.m., “Papa? Papaaaaaaa!” I go in and explain it’s still night time and she needs to be quiet so she doesn’t wake Maia up. She says okay, but looks worried, and I leave her. 15 minutes later, whining. “Shit! Dammit! What the hell?!” are some sentiments going through my head. This time, Maia does wake up calling for Sarah. I try lying down with Keana in her bed and Sarah goes into Maia’s room. 10 minutes later, Sarah comes in and says Maia wants me. It is now a little after 3 a.m.

I go back into our bed because it’s the biggest, and I have Maia crying on my right and Keana snuggling desperately on my left. I finally get Maia to calm down and she tries about a million different positions to get comfortable. She uses my stomach for a pillow. She says she’s cold. She says she’s hungry. She calms down. Time goes by. We’re not sleeping, none of us. Finally I take Maia back into her room where Sarah’s been sleeping, pretty sure she’s ready to sleep now, but with Mama. It’s now 5 a.m. Alarm goes off in 40 minutes. “Shit! Dammit! What the hell?!”

Alarm goes off. Keana wakes up and wants to sleep with Mama and Maia. I take her in and Maia says, “Hey, this is my bed.” Mama growls, things quiet down. Was Maia ever asleep in there? Are they sleeping now? As I roll past a waking Modesto I certainly hope so. Damn, longest shortest night ever. Well, not ever. But put it the books along with the rest.

development

Stream of some catchin’ up

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So many good things are going on here that I don’t know where to begin. Let’s see how random this stream of consciousness is. Here we go…bath time! But first, why do you need a bath? Because you had some MEAT ON THE BONE!!!! That’s right, tonight was bbq chicken night, the little wolves’ favorite. In fact, Maia was practically howling it before I brought it in, “Meat on the booooooooooone!”. And both girls really dug Sarah’s dino-kale-mushroom-concoction which always gives us hope for vegetable’s future with these carnivores. #3, The Final Episode, is baking well. SHE is about 25 weeks I think, and starting to really rock and roll in there. Though she does seem a little shy, she gave me a few good kicks last night before retreating, but Sarah definitely feels her all the time. I really should start recording people’s voices when they find out we’re having a third girl. In my head I can imagine this loop of the same phrase and tune, in different keys. “Ohhhh, another girl! What do you think about that?!” with each part of the phrase trailing up slightly as if it were a leading non-question filled with the sayer’s idea of what that means. We’re excited. It’s something we have no control of, obviously, and we have made some pretty ridiculously awesome girls so far, so I expect a trifecta of course. I’ve always said our children will be smart, funny, beautiful, and fast, so there you go. Did I also mention sassy? I should have. I’m still loving how Maia runs from just about every point A to every point B, and when she walks, that girl plants each foot like she’s on the moon. She and Keana continue to play really well together and I love hearing their squeals of delight and laughter streaming through the house. Of course squeals of pain are happening too, and both are really learning peace-making. It’s not uncommon for us to walk into a room and see Keana curled in a ball, hands over head, screaming, “Maia’s hurting me!!!” And of course Maia has a fierce samurai scowl on, hard plastic baby in hand, being wielded like a battle club. She punctuates her violence with a raspberry toward her sister. Short time outs have been necessary and are working quite well in cooling everyone off and allowing each girl to contemplate their actions. The other day though, Maia accidentally backed into the corner of the piano and started to cry, and Keana came over, put her arms around her, and said, “Oh, I hate it when that happens.” Really sweet. It’s easy to say we are more in awe of our kids than not, that is for sure. And then there’s Keana’s humor. That girls is definitely our drop of sunshine. No matter what time it is, what’s going on, or how tired she is, Keana is ready for some fun and games. Tonight when we put her to bed, as she hugged Sarah, she gave her a big “zerbert” on her neck, laughing with delight, her eyes flashing such pure joy at her talent. She’s growing growing growing, and eager to try out her new physical prowess in games of chase and wrestling. There’s no denying she’s growing up, fast, and we’re already feeling kindergarten creeping in. She’ll be attending a magnet school called Alexander Hamilton K-8, and their theme is global discoveries through the arts, the first year focusing on each kid’s origins. Seems pretty cool. Her thirst for knowledge is really beginning in preparation for this. Yesterday she and I sat down at the piano and I began to formally teach her. “Look for the two black keys, then go down. There. That’s C.” I tell her. We count and play up from there to eight, then back down. Then patterns. 123. Repeat. 123. Repeat. 321. Repeat. 321. 132. Repeat. 132. Repeat. 1321111. Repeat. And on. Singing along with it as we play. Her ear is quite good and she can sing simple phrases back easily. We also did a little rhythm exercise in 3/4, emphasizing 1 in the count, which Keana handled with ease. That’s my girl! She was so excited she didn’t want to stop, and as I prepared dinner she sang patterns back to me. Good pitches, not lined up with the right numbers, but still really fun. For a first lesson, she was a smash hit. So there it is, some of it. A small picture of the last month. Oh. And we’ve really gotten into a story just for Maia too before bed. She’s quite inquisitive of everything, so we have to pick short ones so we have time to get to all her questions, but she really enjoys that time. And while Sarah sings her to sleep/calmness, Keana and I have been reading the Chronicles of Narnia. We’ve already finished them and are rereading her favorites, starting with Prince Caspian. Her comprehension is insane, and she even remembers the titles of random chapters. Sometimes I swear she must be reading it. Anyway, time to wrap it up for some decompression time with the Mrs. More sooner than later.

development, family, holidays

Happy “Balentimes”!

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As Keana says, “Happy Balentimes”! Don’t you remember how crazy that word was when you were little? What little kid can actually pronounce “Valentine”? Anyway, we’ve made several decorated hearts today, and also attended Fresno’s Mardi Gras parade in the area called the Tower District. I can’t say it was the best parade ever, but there were some fun costumes and some great live music on flatbed tow trucks. The girls seemed to enjoy it, but it was a lot of waiting. Something different to do though. Thanks for the tip Grandma Jennie!

In other news, number 3 is kickin’ up a storm! What’s that you say? THREE?!! You haven’t heard? Well, consider yourself informed. What’s that you say? THREE?!! Yes. We are crazy. Sarah’s about 21 weeks now and everything is looking perfect. This was really the first week I was able to feel the scruffer kicking too, and it was good to remember that “in utero” magic. I guess the little baby had hiccups most of yesterday too, which is pretty fun and much less alarming with each pregnancy. For those of you who know, those first hiccups are weird, right? Even on our third it’s something to pause about and enter a space of wonder.

The girls have been amazing lately. I think I mentioned last time that they’ve been playing really well together and that certainly continues. They’ve been taking the cushions off the couch and making forts and magic forests. Hearing their laughter and squeals streaming into the kitchen or back rooms always brings a smile to our faces. And even when those squeals of pain or rage come charging in, we sit for a second and try and let them resolve things themselves. They do surprisingly well and I think we have to intervene less and less.

In other news. Uncle Peter has been crashing in our garage, applying for jobs and looking into life in Fresno. He’s been on constant dish/kitchen duty and I know we’re going to miss that. If we could we might just employ him as our house boy. The girls certainly have loved having him around and it’s good to see them strengthen their relationship with him. I’m pretty sure our frantic, non-stop lifestyle is challenging for him, but he also seems to enjoy being one of the kids.

Anyway, I best be on to some photo/video editing now. Stay tuned for some footage from our trip to the snow up at Grandpa Robert’s house in North Fork, and stuff from Iana and Olivia’s visit last weekend!

development

Who dat?!!

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Our little Maia’s verbal prowess just gets more amazing every day. What’s really interesting is her attraction to colloquial speak. Saying things like “Oopsa-daisy!” “Oh man” and “Oh goodness” and “silly guy”. It’s fun how she shortens words too, like “pop” instead of “papa”, “sis” instead of “sissy”, and “babe” instead of “baby”. As her language skills increase I think so does her patience…a little. She still gets quite fierce when she’s not understood, and of course when she’s tired or hungry, but being able to say what’s on her mind better is definitely helping with that. I’m also glad that she still has those cute “kid” sentence structures. For example, the other night she came walking into our room at 3 a.m. saying, “I good sleepin’ Papa!” to which I could only respond with tired laughter and, “Not exactly baby,” before putting her back in bed. Maia also doesn’t quite have “I” and prepositions down, so she says things like, “Granola bar me?” and, “Mama sleepin’ me?” Another example is how she says “dat” and “dere”. One of my all-time favorites now is how she says, “Who dat?!!” in a super-excited voice when she sees anything that she doesn’t know the name of. And it isn’t just for people, she phrases the same question for objects and actions too. Hilarious.

Language is definitely entering into her own play as well as she narrates things like taking care of her babies, much like Keana did when she was this age. Maia is really sweet with her babies, often rocking them to sleep saying, “sh-sh-sh-shhhh” or singing a made up song like, “I love you, I love you…”. It’s fun to be reminded of the similarities between them at various ages and it takes us back to some of our favorite Keana moments as well. Keana and Maia have also been playing really well together the last couple months. Sometime in early December a switch flipped and they’ve been having a lot of fun together. Before that, they often played together, but conflicts would arise quicker or they just wouldn’t have quite as much fun. I attribute some of this to Maia’s ability to communicate better verbally with Keana. Keana can ask her lots of questions and figure out what she wants to do as well as tell her what she wants to do. Maia no longer feels the need to bite when she’s frustrated, though there is still the occasional punch or hair pull, but from what I understand about sisters, that doesn’t go away until one of them moves out.

This leads to our issues around sharing. As they play more together, this issue comes up more frequently. Maia is actually pretty good about sharing her toys, it’s Keana who has trouble realizing there’s plenty to go around. I’ve been reading about this in Becoming the Parent You Want to Be and have found some very useful tips in there. The tough part is remembering these tips and having the patience to execute them when you’re tired, trying to get work done, or brokering a deal between them for the 20th time that day. I’d like to think it is getting better though, and the less angry I get around these issues, the better they deal with them as well. Surprise, surprise.

development

Sometimes it ain’t easy

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Note: This is a little bit of a rant, so for those of you who just want the feel-good stuff about parenting, skip to the last paragraph.

I feel like we go on a roller coaster of frustrations. The majority of these moments of frustration don’t stem from new issues, but issues we deal with day in and day out. That makes sense of course, because most of us learn through repetition, so when one of our darling children is working something out, we experience it over and over again. One of the most difficult things we’ve been dealing with Keana on is possession. Since she’s been on the planet longer, she has more toys than Maia. To be fair, I think if we added up all instances of “toy interaction” with Keana and Maia, on the whole, Keana would be considered a phenomenal sharer. However, it seems like every day, there’s some sort of altercation—or on the worst days, many—where Keana rips a toy out of Maia’s hand because she wants it. Or she performs what I call “mental warfare” on Maia, where she doesn’t necessarily take something outright from Maia, but she constantly pesters Maia to trade or share with her, asking her over and over if she can have it. Eventually Maia is worn down or confused by the verbal assault and ends up forfeiting her possession. This issue is especially hard for me because when I was growing up I didn’t have a lot of toys and I feel like my brother and I shared really well. Of course we were closer in age, so maybe that makes a difference? Boys vs. girls? General temperament and personality? I see so clearly how much Keana has, but it never seems to be enough and at times there is no reasoning with her. She could have every toy but one in the sandbox, and she’d want that last toy too. We definitely need to do some research on this one.

As I mentioned in my last post, there’s the sleeping issues. This last week Keana was sick and waking up more in the middle of the night with a runny nose and cough. So we put her to sleep in her room initially and let her switch to our room when we went to bed—moving her to her little mattress on the floor—as a way to provide some comfort for her while she’s sick, and therefore more sleep. Which was great, but that little change somehow triggered something that made it more difficult for her to fall asleep. She would call out and use every excuse known to four-year-old as to why she couldn’t fall asleep: “Um, I need another stuffed animal.” (when she already had about 20 on her bed), “The closet door isn’t open enough.” (we leave the light in the closet on and the door open so it’s less scary), “I need another hug and kiss.” We played sweet at first and accommodated her silly requests, chalking it up to not feeling well, but eventually had to take a stricter approach. I’ve said this before, and to new or non-parents it often seems like we’re being “mean”, but you give them an inch and they will go a mile (and then some).

Another good example of frustrating moments is bath time. First Keana doesn’t want to get in the bath, which we know is her just being “four”. Once she’s in, she and Maia often play well together. However, the time comes when things get too rough or she takes Maia’s toy or whatever, and we have to intervene. While we do our best to ask her to stop or explain why what she’s doing is a problem, she’ll make a face at us or stick her tongue out, which honestly really gets to me. We explain she has a choice to either stop the negative behavior or end bath time. She pushes and pushes and again, we try to “play nice” but the time comes when we have to be the parent and back up what we say by ending bath time for her prematurely (as we said we would if she didn’t stop). At this point we know full well there will be a tragic meltdown, but those moments seem to be really necessary lessons for her so she knows what the boundary is.

All of these things are related and like I said, I think some research might help us at least understand things better. But the bottom line is you have to be the parent and “lay down the law” which won’t always—if ever—go over well. It’s a really, really hard thing to do and it can keep you up at night wondering if you’re a saint for teaching your kids a valuable life lesson, or if you’re just a big, bad, mean old person.

You may have noticed that all these frustrations I’ve mentioned involve Keana. Maia has her moments- like when she hits or pinches you because she’s frustrated- but she’s not even two yet so she’s coasting on her cuteness for now, and hasn’t developed all the emotional complexities that Keana has.

The really interesting part of all of this—and really critical part—is that it doesn’t last. At the end of the day, usually starting with story time right before bed, the negative stuff just melts away. We have a chance to sit down with each other and just enjoy a fictional adventure accompanied by great artwork. Maia goes off with Sarah to nurse and have her bed time, and Keana snuggles into my armpit, leans against my chest, and is at complete peace with the day, me, and the story. We tuck her in, say good night, and embark on some time with each other. Mama and Papa. Sarah and Luke. Big, bad, mean old person to big, bad, mean old person. Sure the hard times and mistakes of the day still echo in our heads, but when our bed time comes, I replay all the cute, amazing things I experienced with Keana and Maia throughout the day and feel almost refreshed.

development, education

Summer’s end and new beginnings

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Summer may be over but the heat certainly isn’t here in The ‘No. Lots of 100 degree days and “lows” are 90. Ouch. But we’re surviving it. The morning is the time to make your move outside the house and it can be 80 as early as 9 a.m. (probably even earlier some days)! I’ve had a few meltdowns about it (no pun intended), and it’s hard to tell the girls we can’t play outside because our skin will melt off, but whatever. Anyway, we all know the heat is an issue, so what the hell has been going on?!

Keana started school two weeks ago (August 17) and we’ve been slowly sinking into the schedule. We’re excited to be heading to Santa Cruz this weekend to visit Peter and attend Neel and Sai’s West Coast wedding reception in Aptos. Sarah and the girls couldn’t go to the Hindu-wedding-extravaganza in Boston in May, but Team Hokama will definitely represent this weekend! We all really miss the coast and it will be good to get out of this heat and back to our old stomping grounds. After all, it is where Sarah and I met and got engaged, oh so many years ago. The only real events on the agenda: beach and good food.

Both girls have been amazingly inspiring lately, and Maia especially continues to win our hearts. Keana won our hearts in the same way in her early-early years, and now it’s Maia’s time to show off all her little developing characteristics. She’s fiercely independent and insists on doing most things by herself and on her own terms. Her temper is quick to flash, not unlike her papa’s, but is always followed by a sweet gesture of love or shyness at her ferocity, as if she didn’t know it was going to be so extreme and she’s a little afraid of it too. Mostly though, she’s the sweetest, funniest thing you ever met. Maia is really talking but still says things like “nilk” for milk, and “mo again” when she wants more of something. The cow’s milk in the fridge has taken on the term “papa nilk” since it’s the only milk I’m blessed with and it cracks me up every time. Even Keana uses the term and I must say, it catches other people off guard. I took the girls to ice cream yesterday, and of course both Keana and Maia wanted to walk on their own without holding hands, which I figured was fine on the sidewalk, and when Maia and I accidentally bumped into each other, she smiled sweetly and said, “Sorry, sorry!” as she moved on her way. Makes my heart melt.

Keana continues to be our bright, shining star. She’s been reveling in her physical abilities to run fast, flex her muscles, and move in the craziest ways. Like her mother, and maybe a little like me, she can make the funniest faces. We could spend hours just making faces at each other and laughing. She’s been very good playing with Maia lately, but the burden of having to share her toys, space, and parents with her little sister definitely comes through. It’s hard to see it happening, and Sarah and I are both second children, so I think we tend to favor Maia in most arguments. Although we are starting to see Maia’s little antagonist emerging as well, and often Maia will scream, we think, just to incriminate her sister unjustly. It’s a big balancing act and we’re trying to be fair about it all, but you can’t be all places at once and we’re definitely trying to let them work things out on their own. I remember having to do that all the time with my brother growing up. We had some serious fights, but for the most part, we were so close in age and interests that there seemed to be little conflict. I see a lot of myself in Maia though, especially when she walks up to Keana and pinches her out of the blue, just cause she has a wild hair. When Maia gets frustrated, she gets physical and I have to say Keana handles that quite well, often enduring the pain and holding back retaliation. Pretty impressive for a four-year-old I think.

Sleeping has been our issue lately (and again). Every time the schedule gets thrown—by a family trip or me being out of town or whatever—it seems like it takes at least a week to readjust. Both girls typically go to bed in their own rooms quite well, but often wake up in the middle of the night; Maia for milk (and late night parties), and Keana to pee and say she had a bad dream and misses us and wants to sleep with us. On Tuesday I just gave up and crawled into bed with her, cause who has the energy for an emotional breakdown in the middle of the night? Especially because if one of them loses it, the other wakes up and then you got double-duty. Keana can often be reasoned with, but Maia is one stubborn baby. She’s very sweet and cuddly and even whispers while patting you or kissing you, saying, “Nilk? Papa nilk? Papa up?!” We endure quietly, trying to ignore her until it goes too far and Sarah ends up putting her back in her room and closing the door to let her cry it out. There’s no silver bullet for the sleep issues and the only thing we really know is that we all do better sleeping in our own rooms (at this point at least), and consistency is key. Don’t mess with the sleep schedule. And if you have to, then just be prepared to be patient and make sure you have some good coffee on hand for the days after the tough nights. I almost feel it’s my duty to document this appropriately for those that have yet to experience this. That way I’ll remember when the girls have their own kids and will then be able to sympathize appropriately! (And not try and offer too much advice, cause what the hell is going to work anyway?!!)

Speaking of neophytes, Iana is due in two weeks and technically could go at any time now. We’re very excited to meet the first, first cousin! Sarah is on Iana’s birth team, so I’ll be watching the girls whenever she does go into labor and then Keana, Maia, and I may drive down to Long Beach for a sneak peak right after the birth. We definitely want to give them their space and be respectful of their newly budding tripod, so we’ll just be happy with whatever introduction we get. Maia’s been asking, “Tia, baby?” lately and Keana is so sweet when she talks to Tia on the phone. A couple weeks ago she said, “Hi Tia! How are you feeling? How’s the baby?” and she asks Iana all the time, “What is the baby saying?”, trying to get a feel for how the baby might react to her, the default “Leader of the Children”. From what I understand, most people really enjoy being the oldest sibling/cousin, and I certainly think Keana won’t mind being leader of the pack one bit. Of course Maia will be a formidable lieutenant, but I’m sure they’ll just be very excited to share the younger stage with the new talent.

development, family, trips

Bum rushed

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The other morning, while Maia and Sarah slept, I was sitting at the table checking my email and eating my bagel. I heard Keana’s footsteps all over the house, stopping in this room, then that one, no doubt collecting toys to play with. To accompany her footsteps was a constant stream of talking, role-playing really, between the characters she had collected. I didn’t see her at all though until something caught my eye. Out from behind the couch straight in front of me, in the only patch of sunlight that filled the normally shaded room, two little hands, each holding a character, danced around to the narrator’s voice. I couldn’t see her face or feet, just two sunlit hands playing. And just now, I walked out into the living room to stretch my legs and Sarah’s dozing off on the couch as Keana’s crooning “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty. She’s getting quite good at that song, hitting almost all the pitches and remembering all the words to the chorus. Hilarious.

Maia is growing into her independence. That girl definitely has some sass in her step, literally. Today she was standing on the shoe rack which is about 18″ off the ground. I warned her of the edge, and she purposely walked right up to it, put half of one foot over it and looked up at me with a huge smile on her face. I think that pretty much says it all. She can string together two and three word sentences now and continues to dazzle us with her sense of humor. She’s basically potty-trained too, so her independence grows and grows. I’m also amazed how much she and Keana can play together. Keana does get bossy, but she’s also really good at asking Maia questions about what she thinks about something or what she wants to do.

I feel like we’ve been “bum rushed” by the end of July and August so far. We spent the end of July decorating our house and really moving in. The ass-kicker for us there was hosting Iana and Ryan’s baby shower at our house on August 1. We always need an ass-kicker to really get us to finish less-essential domestic tasks. The shower was great and we really enjoyed being able to have so many family and friends over. The next day was spent quasi-cleaning up and getting ready for the annual family camping trip with Sarah’s family. It wasn’t easy, but we got it done. I think we were more inspired this year because from Fresno it’s only a two-hour drive to the campsite instead of the six-hour-usually-hellish drive from Richmond. Indeed, we got up there without much event, and setting up camp was pretty easy since Iana and Ryan were up there first and were available to help out with the girls.

I’m not going to lie though, this year’s campout was not the greatest. There were lots of family issues flying about, both Maia and Keana were sick, there were several cloudy/cold days, there was more of an agenda due to Nathan (Sarah’s cousin) and Jennie getting married up there, etc. But let me tell you what was great. Being outdoors for a week is always good for our souls. Being by and in the river was great. Keana had a blast with older friend Phoenix (9). And of course both Keana and Maia had a ton o’ fun with Uncle Michael, Iana, Ryan, Grandma Jennie and all our fellow campers. Iana and Sarah sang at Nathan’s wedding, and the wedding and their singing were quite beautiful. There was a live band in the meadow too, and our whole family enjoyed a little dance party after the potluck reception. So even amidst the stressful family shit, there really was a lot of great moments. About halfway through that trip though Maia started crying, “Home!” on and off, and I think she was spot on because it was really nice to go home.

We slipped back into our routine on August 10th, at which point Sarah got sick and now I’m sick. Keana started her first full year of preschool yesterday, August 17, and I think it’s going to be a great year. It’s hard to believe summer is coming to a close and I can only hope that we can squeeze in some redemption camping before the weather starts to change. Speaking of which, this Fresno heat is no joke and I’m really looking forward to the decline in temps as fall approaches.

development

Things I love about Keana

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I love your light. The way way you light up a smile on a strangers face in the grocery store when you just smile and say “hi” to them out of nowhere. The way your eyes light up when you sense some fun, goofy game coming on. The way you light up your little sister’s face when she sees you first thing in the morning and squeals, “Sissy!” I love what a conversationalist you are. I love your imaginative narration when you’re playing by yourself with your dolls and stuffed animals. I love how you make toys out common objects. I love the way you improperly pronounce certain words. I love that one of your favorite people in the world is the silly character Lothar the Hunchback that I made up to entertain you guys. I love how you do your Mama’s hair while she’s napping and while you’re supposed to be napping too. I love how you convince me to do things just by saying, “Oh Papa, just let me do it.” I love all your multi-faceted expressions, especially what you do with your eyes; making them worried, or sad, or serious. I love your cheeks. I love how excited you get when Maia wakes up from a nap and you run down the hall shouting with sheer joy, “Maia’s awake! I’m gonna go get her!” I love how you say “chillllly” and the “cold face” you make, tensing every muscle in your face and neck. I love when you don’t know a word you make something really crazy up. I love that you scream, “Meat on the bone!” when we barbecue. I love that you know everything, and sometimes you’ve learned it because Mama exposed you to it when you were in her belly. I love how well you brush your teeth. I love how engrossed you get during story time, taking in every word and picture. I love your memory. I love the way you sing. I love how peaceful you look when you sleep and how soundly you do it. I love when you wake up way too early and say in a whisper-yell, “Papa! Wake up! Feed me, I’m hungry!” I love how much love you have and that your ours to share. I just love you little Zooba.

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Things I love about Maia

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Maia Maia. What a little firecracker. I love the way she says “baby”, pronouncing it more like “bobby”. I love hearing her wake up by going through a checklist of people in her life, “Papa. Sissy. Tia. Doggy.” Speaking of which, I love how she notices every dog or bark she hears ever since having a visit from Tia and Ryan’s Jani. I love when she jumps on the bed with seemingly reckless abandon, but never falling off. She’ll get a gleam in her eye, pause, and free fall to her butt laughing, or lay out on her stomach like a center fielder diving to catch a line drive. I love how she gets a wild hair to throw one arm up in the air, the other straight back behind her and dance in a circle, going round and round. I love that she loves to dance. I love that she wants in on every hug Sarah and I share, coming up to our legs and squeezing them. I love how she puts her chin down being very serious, as if ashamed, just long enough to make you think she’s upset, but lifts her head up quickly and buzzes her lips followed by a big smile. I love how she scream-growls, “Pizzaaaaa!” or “Papaaaa!” I love how she says, “Aw foo!” when she’s “all full”. I love how she’ll be laughing and joking then drops her face to a dead-serious look out of nowhere, resuming her bright smile two seconds later. Such a jokester with impeccable timing, even at the ripe age of 1.5 years. I love listening to her sing in the back seat after we drop Keana off at preschool. I love her crazy high-pitched squeals, unleashing them by accident at first and being so astonished by their piercing volume and frequency, that she does it again and again, overjoyed at her talent. She is such an amazing addition to our family and I could never imagine a world without her.