Happy Holidays 2002

The last 12 months have been pretty eventful for our family – we grew!  We found out N was pregnant on Christmas morning and at 7:23 pm on July 28, 5 weeks early (again), A was born healthy and well, weighing in at 6 ½ pounds and 19 ½ inches.  He’s now a hefty 4-month old with blue eyes (still), dark hair, and dimples.

None of the four trimesters have slowed us down much.  N and the kids still go hiking with the Sierra Club, and have started up a mini preschool with three other moms.  Swimming has become a weekly family excursion involving Mexican food and one wet parent.  (B will be a “super tadpole” next quarter and thoroughly enjoys it.)  Also as a family we are quite involved in BACAP, a parenting group, including park days, mom’s night outs, and sing-a-longs.  We still play board games at least monthly, we dabbled with a CSA (community supported agriculture), we hosted lots of family visitors, C and a co-worker made it to the 3rd round (so far) of a S_____ foosball championship, and the home remodeling continues.

We have to admit, though, we are looking forward to seeing a movie again, but can’t predict when that will be, especially as we’ve put our television away for a while (Oh, CSI, I miss you.).  Also, our website hasn’t been updated in a (long) while, our photographic equipment grows but the pictures await albums, and the thank you’s languish unwritten.  I guess, then, that we haven’t slowed down so much as dropped bits and pieces as we barrel along.

It amazes me that 10 pounds and 10 inches are all that separate A from B, now, when those 20 months are probably as large a gulf as they will ever be.  Though enjoying the sunny smiles and steady gazes of his brother, B seems eager for A to grow.  As parents, we too are looking forward, but back as well – as each stage is passed through we are done with it forever.  There’s nothing like an infant to emphasize the passing of time.

We now have a 2-year-old in the house.  I don’t know if it was his birthday the other week or just a perceptual change when we cut off his long curls, but it seems two is very different from one.  We are slowly adjusting to the new changes.  It is often amusing to see the conflict when what he wants and what we have suggested are the same.  B is discovering what we have always known, that he is his own person with desires and needs that come from within, some of which he can fulfill himself.  It is a joy to talk to him and find out what he thinks; his memory, imagination, and sense of humor are amazing to us.

We are preparing to end our stay in the Bay Area and move back to Seattle as the “five year plan” wraps up in 2003.  In many ways this is difficult, as we have worked to build a community and group of activities down here that fit us, but we are looking forward to the weather, proximity to family, and putting down roots up in the Pacific Northwest.  We have still not seen our Bay Area friends as much as we would like, or gone to the beach as often, and N STILL hasn’t been to the Exploratorium, but neither that, nor the pull of B’s friends will stave off the moving trucks.  Not even if our kitchen is still carpeted in ugly brown flowers.

In other miscellany, as predicted in our last holiday missive, our old VW Golf bit the dust last May.  We replaced it with a wonderful silver/blue Honda Civic Hybrid that we all love – even Pepper fits in the middle between the car seats, though Quixl only likes it when stationary.

We hope this holiday season brings you peace and joy, fun when you want it, and laughter when you need it.  With much love,
    N, C, B and A