Dear Summer: Welcome!

Dear Summer,

    You were born two days ago, on August 2nd, 2011.  The time was 6:22pm and we had just gotten to the hospital about 20 minutes before that.  One push and you were out!

    Since it's still fresh in my mind, I might as well go over how the day went.  12 hours before you were born I was still asleep in bed.  Around 8am I told Daddy that maybe he should stay home from work, to be on the safe side (since he didn't want to go in anyway, as we thought you would have been born already).  Late in the morning the whole family went and did errands.  We went to the grocery store, Sabine got her hair cut, etc.  Daddy thought I was crazy to be out and about, but it wasn't even that bad until about noon.  I wasn't even sure it was going to be the day until a couple hours after that when we'd gotten Sabine down for a nap.  I cooked an early dinner, vacuumed the house, and Daddy was getting so mad at me because even though I was having contractions, I couldn't just sit still.  Sometime after 5pm I called MamMa to tell her maybe she should come by to take your brother and sister.  Then I went in the backyard to tell Daddy I'd called you and I started weeding the garden.  That's what I was doing an hour before you were born!

    I think I was just afraid to sit still because I was so scared of what was coming.  When MamMa and Papa got here I didn't want to leave your brother and sister.  I kept giving them hugs and telling them I loved them.  And Daddy was getting more mad because he wanted me to get in the car.  And then when we were partway to the hospital is when I realized you were going to be born very soon.  Just like when your big sister was born, I had to have Daddy drop me off at the door, but this time I made it inside and could still talk.  I couldn't sign to admit papers though, I was shaking too hard!  Inside the delivery room the nurses were being very vague, so in retrospect, I think they realized you were ready to be born, but they were trying to wait for the midwife to get there, and not make me too scared about her not being there.  The same midwife that delivered Sabine walked in and one push later, literally 10 seconds, it was all over.  I can honestly say it was easier than and not as painful as my last birth.  I feel like I won the gold medal in the Childbirth Olympics.

    You are so tiny, Summer!  You were 5lb 7oz, 19 in. when you were born.  And I was a week late with you - I don't know how you go to be so tiny.  Jacob was 7lb. 7oz, so you are a whole two pounds lighter than he was at birth.  Sabine was 7lb 5oz, which is the exact reverse of you, a fact that will make it easier to remember these new statistics.  All of us girls in this family have S names, not something that was particularly planned.  We girls also have only 2s in the day of our birthdays; Sabine is June 22nd and I am October 2nd. Oh yeah, same month as Daddy's birthday, same day of the month as your mother. Anyway, numbers are important to me, so I've been doing a lot of playing around with them in my head the past couple days.

    You're coming home to a full and loving household, little baby.  We have four rabbits, two dogs, and now three kids!  You have one big brother and one big sister, just like I do.  You and I are both the baby girls of the family; it's going to be nice growing up, you'll have lots of people to do stuff for you.  It probably won't be very quiet, but I promise it will be very fun!  You will learn to love being outside in nature, eat lots of healthy foods (you'll probably also develop an amazing appetite for ice cream), read tons of books, and chances are, you'll be one active kid, just like your siblings. You'll grow up with a deep respect for our planet. You'll be introduced to the Tickle Spider and The Bull.  You'll run circles inside our house and always have someone to try to catch.  You'll quickly discover the joys of snuggling in bed with a warm body next to you, and I promise we'll find a place to fit you when there's already a full bed.  You'll get lots of shoulder rides from Daddy.  Jacob will dote on you he'll share his construction vehicles and tools.  Sabine will teach you lots of songs and encourage you to dance.

    I'll keep you ever so close to me and will probably be over-protective; and even though I can't imagine it yet, I know I'll let you go out in to the world when it's your time because you'll teach me things too.  You'll teach me about parts of my heart I didn't know could exist, and I'll learn (perhaps painfully) that I'm capable of things that I thought were impossible (like letting go).  I can't fathom these things yet, but I know they'll happen because I love you with an indescribable fierceness that, surely, can overcome any obstacle.

Day 14: Goodbye Pictures

Before we left on Saturday morning for our long journey home, we took come cousin pictures.  Here is everybody under 10 sitting on the front steps.

Day 12: 2nd Cousins

This was taken in the afternoon when everyone was getting up from their naps.  Emma came in to help us wake up and get going.  Jacob snuggled with her for a while before she got sick of it and started to cry.  I love the pictures I took of them then.  I love Jacob's big lashes and Emma's big cheeks.  I actually think she looks a lot like her mother here.

Sabine keeps asking me if she held Baby Emma, and I'm pretty sure she did, but I guess I didn't get any pictures of that.  Oops.

Day 10: Cinnamon and Sugar

This is the last donut picture.  They just made such good pictures.  Jenny doused them in cinnamon and sugar when they came out of the oil(?) they were cooking in.  She used Crisco, but my mom remarked that of course back when she used to make them with her grandmother, it was lard they used.  Mmm, mmm.

Day 8: A Donut, a Mug and a Smile

I think that's how Dave put it when he was standing there observing Sabine.  We had just made donuts as our first big activity when we all got up for our day in Virginia.  My mom, Jacob, Sabine and myself made a trip to visit and meet my cousin Jenny's new baby, Emma.  We didn't get there until very late the night before because the drive took 10 hours, but the kids were remarkably good in the car so it actually wasn't the hell that it could have been.  Our visit was nice; I'll post more pictures as the days go on.

October 2010 - December 2010

It's been quite a while since I've caught up with things in a long-term kind of way, so I decided to back-track a little bit in order to keep track of our memories.  It looked like October was the month where I started to lose hold of recording the days.  So I'll start in October and finish up the year in pictures. 

 

 Jacob turned 7 at the end of the month.  I made his cake again this year and stuck with the baseball theme, but this time I think I got it right.  The year before he'd asked for a baseball cake, so I made it in the shape of a giant baseball.  Jacob explained to me that when he asked for a baseball cake, he's wanted a baseball themed cake.  So I waited a whole year to redeem myself, and this was the result.

 We asked again that people not bring presents for Jacob's birthday, but instead could bring a donation for the animal sanctuary.  After his birthday we took our annual trip to the sanctuary and turned in our donations.  We took a tour and Jacob sponsored a rabbit named Harvey.

 For Halloween, Jacob wanted to be Jorge Posada.  I found a decently priced jersey at Target, and then had a hell of a time getting the letters and numbers on the back the right way.  But it was worth it, I think he looked pretty cool.

I always try to match the kids up somehow for Halloween.  Since Jacob was a catcher for the Yankees, Sabine became a baseball.  I found a used homemade baseball costume on ebay for six or seven dollars, and it was just the right size.  It was a nice, warm outfit for another frigid and rainy Halloween.

 My brother and his girlfriend, Katie, got engaged.  Congratulations!  More family drama to come, I'm sure!

 Jacob and Sabine are both still taking gymnastics lessons.  Sabine takes a class on her own now (no longer parent and tot).  She's awesome; taking classes with four year-olds but doing just as well, or better.

In November we hosted Ace, a black lab puppy, but huge nevertheless.  We pet-sat for the better part of a week and it was chaos.  Zach and I decided that we were definitely at our max with kids and pets; we were full-up at two kids and six animals.  It was just a few days later that I found out I'm pregnant.

  

We also played host to a number of the kids' fantasies.  Little Baby (in the foreground) started joining us at the dinner table on most nights, as well as certain Lucky members of Bob the Builder's crew (Roley, Dizzy, Muck and Party Muck can be seen in the background).

 Years after his obsession with his animal friends began, Jacob is still enjoying setting up dinner parties and luncheons for his crew.

 

Sabine provided me with many photo opportunities.  Here she had just gotten into my makeup and discovered the enhancing effect of lipstick. 

Just being a ham.

  

Little Baby got the thrill of her life when she was asked to be a stand-in for Baby Jesus at Christmastime.  I find that her pose is actually quite conducive to filling that role.

 Sabine got to spend lots of time with her cousins around Christmas.  Here she is finally coming out of her shell and warming up to twins, Nicholos and Christopher, respectively.

 I attempted a from-scratch gingerbread house.  While our efforts started out strong...

...The final result ended in disaster.

 For Christmas gifts this year, we use all home-made wrapping paper.  My favorite design was Jacob's reindeer.

And then it snowed and snowed, and snowed some more.  The end.

Wann she Baby Emma

This is what Sabine says to me every day.  She wants to see Baby Emma, meaning pictures of her on the computer.  Emma lives several states away from us, so it will be a while before we get to meet her in person, but in the meantime we've been keeping up with her daily progress via photos on the internet.  Actually, it's been a couple weeks since we've had to check in daily with Emma's photo page because thanks to Emma's mother and grandparents, Sabine's gotten her very own 3D 'Baby Emma Wall'.  In the photos there's only one picture, but now we've got five of them scattered about that wall.  I've been promising to post them for Jenny for a couple weeks now, so here they are. In the third one she's 'kissing' Emma.

 

Dear Emma

Dear Emma,

      I know you were probably trying to arrive on my birthday and you simply fell short by a few hours.  Don't worry about it, I, of all people, certainly understand the difficulties of being on time.  I'm also interpreting your time and day of arrival as a slight nod in my direction, as if you were saying, Yeah, I could have come on the 2nd of October, but hey, instead of honoring my mom's cousin in that way, I'll take my time because I know she'll totally get the late thing.

      I'm also writing to inform you that two nights in a row Sabine has spent several minutes looking at your picture on my computer before she'll fall asleep.  "Wan she Baby Emma," she demands.  Last night I thought it was safe to turn off the computer, but she asked to see your chubby little picture again and indicated to me that she wanted to give you a kiss.  Which she then did.

      So Miss Emma, we are glad to have you with us, and I am looking forward, with great enthusiasm, to meeting you.  Oh, and please tell your parents that we'd love some more pictures of you when they get the chance.  Hopefully your mom gets to read you this note because I'm sure you're not reading yet, but if you're anything like your parents you're going to be a very smart little thing.


     Welcome to the world, and tell your parents welcome to the club!

Day 87: My Mom and Her Kids

It's not often my siblings and I are in one place and we don't think of killing each other, or maybe that's just me? But here we are, photo proof that we were at Camp together and everyone made it out alive. We're even smiling! And touching each other. It was just one night that my brother was there with us, but my sister and I spent a record five nights in one place. I made everyone sit for this picture for my mom because I know that having us all the there and getting along meant the world to her. Could it be that maybe we're not kids anymore, that maybe we've grown up?

Day 85: To Be Fair

Since I posted that really bad picture of my sister, I felt like I should post a good one to be fair. This photo was taken not at our lake, but over at the 'swimming lake', and adjacent one that we sometimes go to. I took the photo earlier in the week, you know, before my sister was inebriated, because she wanted one of herself and Marisa in their matching bathing suits. It took an awful lot to get Marisa to make a normal face, and check out those abs on her!!

Day 84: There She Goes!

Even though this isn't a really great photo, it's still going to become a family classic. Right after my brother hit the ball that was the one a bunch of us headed out in three different boats to collect as many balls as we could. There's a significant sand bar in the middle of the lake, due to it being man-made so several of the balls we actually within reaching distance.

The ball my sister was reaching for, however, was not in reaching distance. So she just kept leaning further and further to her left in order to reach the ball, until the kayak tipped right over. You can see from this photo that she did, in fact, have success in getting the ball. I also love (in the photo I linked to) that look on my brother's face as he's laughing his ass off because that's what we do in my family, especially when it comes to my sister.

Also, I'll link to this photo because I think maybe it's the one my brother has been asking for?

PS - this post is a day late because we have no internet at the house right now, the hardwood floor project is still going on.

Day 83: That's the One

Another picture from Camp...there will probably be at least a few more since it's my favorite place on Earth. This is my brother's immediate reaction to the ball he just hit as it landed on the island (just above his head in the picture), which is what he was aiming for.

For some reason I just really like this photo, maybe it's the composition. I like Jacob and Marisa in the foreground, standing in the kayaks, pretending to be paddling somewhere. And I like how they frame my brother. It just happened that way, I hadn't even been standing there a minute before. I think I snapped the picture as I was walking toward the lake.

Anyway, the photo nicely captures the energy of my family, and since it's one I wasn't even trying for, it makes it all the better.

Day 79: For Jenny

We got back home last night from a week at Camp. The kids and I left the house in order for Zach to take on the huge project of redoing our hardwood floors. Needless to say, because he's a perfectionist, Zach turned the project into something way bigger than originally planned. He tore down all this wood paneling we had in one room, and put up sheet rock in it's place. So now he still needs to tape and spackle, sand that down, and then paint. The floor boards have all been rewoven so that they face the same direction, and some odd-looking patch boards that Zach had put in a few years back were taken out. So for that project he still needs to sand the floors down and do three coats of poly (24 hours in between each) on the wood. And now we're back home. All the furnishings of the house are crammed into half the space we're used to, and pretty soon we're not going to be able to walk on the floors because they'll be in various stages of drying. Yikes!

But that's not what this picture is about. This picture is Sabine on my mom's lap at Camp with my Uncle Bill (who is practicing very hard for his about-to-become-a-grandfather status). Jenny gave this book to Sabine, and it is her favorite book right now. She was rapt when Uncle Bill was reading it to her that night, and I thought jenny would like to see this photo because Uncle Bill is her father.

Day 72: Go Fly a Kite

Jan bought a kite with Jacob, an octopus, and he had a lot of fun flying it on the beach. Jacob actually did really well with the kite. I wasn't involved with the whole process so I can't say if it was easy or not, but I was a little jealous that Jacob took to it so easily. I have no talent for that kind of thing.

This photo was taken on the day we went up to Sea Isle City to visit with the cousins again. They all had a blast burying each other in the sand and riding the waves.

Day 71: The New Face of Back Woods IPA

I'm not clear on the entire story, but then again, I'm not clear on most of the things that happened on our trip. This (the missing tooth) happened before we got to Cape May, which accounts for why I don't have my facts straight. Apparently Richard was in the ocean when this happened? He either lost his bridge, or lost the tooth. Either way, they both came out and one was lost, the other he was able to save. But it doesn't matter...what matters is that Richard walked around all week like this and it was pretty funny.

He let me take this picture at one point and we had a lot of fun deciding that it would grace the label of a beer, and what the name of the beer would be. Classy, right? I'm pretty sure it's ok to be posting this picture, if not, it's a good thing I'm leaving town one more time.

The only thing that could be more funny, would be to hear how he originally lost that tooth way back before it fell out the first time, causing the need for a bridge in the first place...

Day 67: 2nd Cousins

Some more of Zach's family was staying at another beach town nearby. We got together with them one night for a big family gathering. Here are our kids (the ones with veggie burgers on their plates) with all of their second cousins on that side of the family. The kids all had a raucous time with one another, such a fun bunch. Eight kids between the ages of two and seven...surely some multiples must be involved here.

Day 66: Flip Flops

Zach's mother turned 60 this year, so in celebration, she and Richard rented a house in Cape May. And that's how we ended up vacationing there for a week. Jan has gotten into making jewelry in the past few years. Here are all the flip flops that she made for each of the women who were going to be staying at the house that week. Well, she didn't make the flip flops, but embellished them with her jewelry-making skills. I like this photo because it has a nice beachy feel to it.

Day 65: Dutch Wonderland

I'd been waiting a whole year to go back here and take a picture like this. Click on the photo to see the one just like it from last year. Last year they look all bright and cheery; this year they look tired and sullen.

We really loved Dutch Wonderland last year, and it's a good thing that we did have an enjoyable first experience because if this year's trip was our first time, we probably wouldn't go back in the future. Last year we were there on a weekday, so it was much less crowded. Also, we had arrived the night before and purchased out tickets for the next day after 5:30pm, which allowed us to get into the park that evening with the next day's tickets. Having those extra few hours there really made a difference. Not to mention the fact that this year we were alone, as opposed to last year when we traveled with my mom and Jamie. It just wasn't the same without them.

We did have a good time, but after the car ride the day before and then the late-night tent set-up, we were all exhausted. It's hard to enjoy something to the fullest when you're that worn out.

Day 59: Wild Goose Chase

Here we are again back on the golf course, but I liked to think of it as the backyard. Sabine was really into the geese and she liked to follow them around. This is my brother again in the photo, he followed her following the geese. He just thinks Sabine is the best thing since sliced bread - I've never seen him like that about a kid. I am trying to figure a way to get his affections for her funneled into paying for her college tuition?

Day 58: Zach and his crazy kid

Ok so I just realized it's Zach's birthday (no, not just now, I'm doing this 5 days ago and post-dating) so I had to come up with a photo of him. So here he is, carrying Sabine in the Ergo Carrier (Kevin and Bethany, take note), and walking with Jacob and Marisa to go miniature golfing. We took those crazy kids mini-golfing twice on that trip and I swore I'd never do it again. They cannot control themselves when they are together. Anyway, the picture is adorable, and how about Jacob in his calf-length baseball socks? It was a phase...