Happy 4th!

What a lovely weekend… a few lush hikes in the blooming desert of a rainy year, all three kids put miles on new-to-them bikes/trailers, three merry meals with friends, swimming at “Little Tamaya” (aka our backyard), seeing L & E use sparklers and set off fireworks for the first time, skyping with much-missed family, trying to keep up with our crazy crawler-cruiser babe, and an espresso machine on loan from a friend! (: Hope you had a blessing-filled holiday!

Levi’s arrival

On the morning of my 34th birthday we headed to the hospital for our labor induction appointment. Our previous two delivery arrivals had been punctuated by contractions and preoccupied with timing intervals. This time all was peaceful. My parents were in town, our kids were safely in their care and I half wondered if this was some sort of rare date with my husband. Without two kiddos to corral, there was plenty of time to appreciate the mild November morning that beckoned for a stroll, a few last leaves still green on the trees, even the traffic seemed quiet and harmonious. They quickly assigned us to a delivery room but it wasn’t until the afternoon that they started the induction. In those strange waiting hours, my eyes were always drawn to the empty bassinet, knowing that before they let me leave this room, I’d have to produce a baby in it. An impossibly brazen exit requirement! But I was certainly ready to meet our sweet babe, and what a euphoric introduction it was at 6:48 that evening. When the midwife placed Levi on my chest he opened his inky blue eyes and gazed, not inquisitively but with a serene warmth as if we’d known each other a long time already. It melted away the intensity of the moments freshly past. Could he be thanking me?

Soothing my concerns with his sweet calm for almost an hour, then eating well and falling into a peaceful sleep. Our little Levi, an angel babe for sure.

Levi means "joined in harmony". We named him praying that he will be joined harmoniously to the close friendship of his siblings, to us his parents, and to the Lord. His middle name (also Erik’s middle name), Gregory, means "watchful and alert" which suits his alert gaze and our great God’s watchful care over his arrival. The most precious birthday bundle.

This peaceful soul was unfazed by the giddy big sibling excitement when we brought him home too. Luke the proud big brother,

And Eleanor the marveling big sis.

Levi you have our hearts, precious boy!

Waiting for Levi: A party, 4 books & a poem

Let’s backtrack to just before Levi was born to remember that eager season of awaiting his arrival. We’d already wonderingly anticipated our first child, then waited for our first girl with hearts and bows, and now we got to see our kids marvel at an addition to our family. During the pregnancy, Luke often informed us of his plans to teach the little one all sorts of things, from Legos to making mud balls. Eleanor loved shopping for the babe and playing with her dolls became a favorite activity.

Two of my friends were expecting babies within a week of me, and also each had a little girl Eleanor’s age. So to build up the big sibs in their special new role, I hosted a Baby Party about a month before the real babies arrived. Everyone brought a baby doll and I prepared a bag of baby supplies for each big sib. We practiced diapering, feeding, and swaddling the dolls.

We read books about babies and invited the kids to talk about their new siblings. Then we put the dolls down for a nap and painted pictures for the babies’ nurseries.

The little ergo-style baby doll carriers sewn out of fabric and ribbons would be a terrific craft for a baby party but my kids didn’t seem interested in those… and amidst my late-pregnancy discomforts I wasn’t looking for any unwelcome projects! But a special lunch to celebrate the big sibs and build confidence and excitement for all the changes a baby brings was a worthwhile endeavor. A baby shower for the big sibs!

It was harder than I expected to find good books on a new baby sibling. We read a bunch of them and the majority focused on a big sister or brother’s frustration with the changes a baby brings. I don’t mind a couple well-done books with that plot line (such as the humorous Julius the Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes for elementary age kids) but I think it’s important that kids who are unsure about a new baby aren’t inundated with the idea that babies ruin their lives! Here are two we did like, though there must be many more good ones out there.

How to be a Baby by Me, the Big Sister by Sally Lloyd-Jones : This made my kids laugh and communicated in a fun way that they were in charge of how they respond to the baby.

What Sisters Do Best / What Brothers Do Best by Laura Numeroff : Perfect when there’s an older sister and brother, the two-books-in-one layout appealed to my kids and I think they liked how it focused on the big sibs, not the babies. A kid pick though, not a literary one.

I also like having a few informative books about new babies. Five-year-old Luke preferred What to Expect when the New Baby Comes Home (by Heidi Murkoff) with its baby diagram and Q and A format. Three-year-old Eleanor was more interested in What Baby Needs (by William Sears). I liked the way it rang true to life with a baby but it was quite dogmatic on attachment parenting, which isn’t for everyone.

The kids also liked my poem for our baby-waiting season. We would laugh about how Levi kept us guessing about his arrival!!

Hello, blog! + spring pics

Well it certainly has been a while since this blog has seen some updates! I’ll just jump back in with some favorite spring pics, taken under the riotous blooms of the crabapple tree that sold me on this house three years ago. We have sibling love,

A silly princess,

A thoughtful knight,

AND…. the newest angel-babe! It’s Levi, now six months old and much overdue for an official introduction of his own. Here he is at four months, climbing trees and picking flowers for mom. Such a cuddle bug!

In addition to more timely family updates, I’d love to write here with reports on our home schooling adventures. We just finished Luke’s kindergarten year and have been trying out a number of approaches for learning together. One focus has been poetry, so here’s a poem from our porch chalkboard. My ode to the pink tree that ushers in spring at Wild Oak!

Kitchen progress, stage 2

Ever since we moved in, we’ve been working in spurts on remodeling our kitchen. I wrote back in November about the progress we’d made – opening up the partial wall between the kitchen/living area, moving the oven, adding a hood, taking out the bar, and replacing the hardware/fixtures. But it remained very much unfinished, with exposed slab, dangling wires, and open walls. So when we found out we were expecting another baby, finishing the kitchen was one of the first items on our pre-baby bucket list – for the little one’s safety and to avoid indefinite home project purgatory.

When we took stock of all the work to be done and the accompanying dust and chaos, we decided that our best action plan would be for Erik to tackle the messiest jobs while the kids and I took a trip to North Carolina. While I was gone, he took a kitchen that started like this when we moved in:

And moved it most of the way toward its current status!

What better welcome home present?!?

The room looks so much larger now with continuous wood flooring and bright white cabinets!

We switched from a U to an island configuration, and faced the stools toward the window to take in the mountain views.

It’s so convenient to empty the dishwasher and place things into the drawers just opposite it. Eventually we’ll add a little open shelving on the wall just above the dishwasher for our most frequently used glasses and plates.

There’s still a ways to go until the kitchen is checked off our pre-baby list: new counters, replacing the window, finishing the drywall and installing wall tile, moving the light fixtures, and adding cabinetry around the fridge and hood. Basically, it’s almost finished below the counter line, but with bright blue dry wall and temporary materials above that point. We’ve already hosted many a meal with the new layout though, and it’s so much fun to have guests seated and snacking on the stools while I finish cooking. I’ve also loved having the kids color or snack at the island while I work in the kitchen. And we brought the kitchen a little bit into the living space which really makes sense considering how much time we spend there. It’s so gratifying to see our kitchen plans come to life and now we’re enjoying deliberating over the materials to finish up the job!

{I’ll try to write again later this week with more details on the construction/demolition process and our choices so far. You can find more photos here.}

Colorado

It was a little bit of deja-vu when we tagged along on Erik’s work trip to Denver in March. Two years ago the kids and I joined him on a conference trip to the (other) Mile High City (blogged about here and here). We visited some of the same kid attractions and a few new ones, and it was eye-opening to compare the ease of travel this time with the relative ordeal of our previous trip! We’ve surely gone from a baby and a little boy to two kids. Now Luke and Eleanor enjoy the same kinds of activities and feel so at home wherever we go with their best friend by their side. I’m so delighted to see how their friendship gives them a sense of security and sparks natural play at any kids’ activity, whether it be mobbed with kids or empty. The trip was also simplified by my a-little-less-is-more attitude. I wasn’t as insistent that we fit numerous attractions into each day and I brought a few toys and books and let the kids have some playtime in the hotel room to decompress from time to time.

This year we returned to the Museum of Nature and Science twice. It’s hard not to when admission is free with our membership at Explora in Albuquerque, and it takes a few visits to see everything that the enormous museum holds! They were in the process of constructing a new and improved young child discovery zone (plus some other exhibit space I think) and we can’t wait to return when that’s finished too. The kids loved the wildlife, gems, space, dinosaur and human body exhibits, most of which have a little section geared toward younger kids. Eleanor never completely forgave the museum for one grievous shortcoming though. We checked just about every bathroom in the huge facility and not a one is equipped with a manual flush. She can’t be the only tot who is terrified by the sudden whoosh and spray of the capricious automatic toilet. I love to save water, but not at the expense of underwear… can we get a manual flush somewhere please? (:

The conference hotel was right downtown, a perfect location for walking to an excellent story time at the Denver Public Library. On the way back, we strolled past the capital building and other landmarks and Luke was sure to give the pigeons a friendly chase or two. Another day, we walked over to the Firefighters Museum and enjoyed their story time and soon had the museum to ourselves. We did our duty responding to emergencies with their play-friendly fire truck, fire gear, hoses, and walkie-talkies. The small and friendly museum was a great deal with this coupon.

We never made it to the pricier attractions like the zoo and children’s museum, but those are terrific options too. If our last day in Denver hadn’t been monopolized by wintry mix, we would have spent some time at Westlands Park, a public park in South Denver with glowing reviews for its innovative playground.

We enjoyed two evenings with sweet friends who recently moved to Denver, spent a few crazed hours in Ikea (my second trip, and I still want to love the store but actually find it frustrating, especially their shopping carts and out of stock items!), and did plenty of swimming in the hotel pool. On the way home we spent a night in Colorado Springs to allow for some mini-hikes around the Garden of the Gods. The views were spectacular and we even bumped into Sarah B., a friend from NJ, and her friend who happens to go to our church in ABQ! Luke especially loved scrambling around on the enormous boulders by Balanced Rock and holding the map for our hikes. Eleanor was more taken with the deer and bunnies that we saw, and snack time.

It was a wonderful getaway, and despite a few meltdowns along the way the kids thrived on sleeping at three different hotels (my favorite was the Inverness – such a lovely location and facility!), new experiences, and more Chick-fil-A than they’ve had since then. We’re all hoping Erik has another trip up that way soon!

Oh, and on our drive home we stopped at the Rio Grande overlooks back in home sweet home New Mexico. What a perfect nature escape pit stop right along the road back down to ABQ.

Oak Creek evacuation

Back in May we headed west with camping gear on board. We’d reserved a prime campsite along Oak Creek, just a little north of Sedona, AZ in a glorious forest of towering ponderosa pines. Here we are making oatmeal in the chilly morning air.

By midday the temps warmed pleasantly. The kids cooled off their feet in a sparkling brook mid-hike and we thought about letting them swim.

It really got toasty when we drove down to Sedona for more hiking. But the beautiful red rocks made it worthwhile!

Our favorite spot was the magical creek that ran just behind our campsite.  Down a little hill you entered the kids’ secret realm. The creek was filled with interesting bugs, darting minnows, and stocked with interesting rocks and sticks. The perfect lush oasis for our desert-dwellers to explore.

On the afternoon of our second full day of camping, we started off merrily on a hike that was lauded in the guidebooks as a must-do for the region. We didn’t know that this hike would prove the turning point for our trip. Here we are heading into the trail; I love this photo because you see Luke, ever the gentleman, carrying my backpack for me proudly.

Here we are rushing back on the same trail a few hours later, with a very different mood.

A couple miles into our leisurely hike we started smelling smoke but assumed it was from local campfires. Then 20 minutes later thicker smoke rolled in and sirens began to blare from the direction of the road. We turned back toward the trailhead and as ash started to fall we walked faster. Within a mile of the trailhead came the final warning – we passed a grim search and rescue team who told us to get to our car and drive north immediately. A forest fire had started just 4 miles away and was spreading fast.

The road south was closed but our campground was just off the road a mile north. As we pulled into our site we were the only people in an entire campground of abandoned tents and RVs. We threw our tent and gear into the car amidst the eerie emptiness, uneasily broken by the sounds of emergency vehicles careening south on the adjacent road. I pleaded with Erik to abandon our gear and speed away. But he assured me it would just take a few minutes and we finished our take-down and loaded the car in record time. When we jumped back in our seats, ready to rush off, Eleanor stopped us. “Wait!! Do we have Luke?!?” Even though the kids were both sitting in the second row, they had zero visibility of each other due to all the gear chaotically jammed around them. We had left them in their car seats while we packed and the tenseness of the moment had kept both kids quiet. Sweet Eleanor wanted to make sure that her best friend and beloved brother wasn’t being left behind! Luke assured her that he was present and we headed north to Flagstaff, passing speeding fire trucks and earth movers all the way.

We’d been planning to camp for two more nights but couldn’t find any campgrounds that weren’t already closed or very smoky. The rapidly growing fire eventually consumed 22,000 acres of forest. So after a night at a Flagstaff hotel, we drove down to Phoenix for a more city-style vacation. We enjoyed the Phoenix Zoo, a trip to Ikea (where we bought the perfect sink for our kitchen renovation), and lots of time in the pool at our fancy hotel.

It was still a fun trip but a little less peaceful than the quiet camping retreat we’d envisioned, with hotel-hopping and plan-making at the last-minute. Plus we were all a little shaken up by the drama and tragedy of the Slide Fire. The kids kept asking if their caterpillar friend that kept visiting our campsite would be okay and if our campground would still be there. It was sobering to think of how quickly the fire could decimate such a beautiful forest, and how close we’d been to its devastating power. But thankfully, according to the final reports our campground escaped the flames and no people were injured in the fire. Maybe one day we’ll go back and visit that friendly caterpillar and its sweet creekside home again. Only next time we’ll be sure to avoid fire season!

{More pics here.}