Otters and Jellyfish and Elephant Seals, oh my!

It's Thursday, and I'm just now getting around to writing about our fabulous weekend. It was so good, i had to have time to gather my thoughts (ok, I'm lying, but you'll indulge me, won't you?).

Friday night, Rich, Vivian & I drove up to Monterey (and listened to a very interesting book: "The Year of Living Biblically" -- I highly recommend). I've been wanting to take Vivian to the aquarium for months, but it took a while for schedules to align. I have very fond memories of going to the Aquarium as a kid, and I couldn't wait to be able to share that with my family.

On Saturday, we, along with my dad, Grant & Mel and their son Mark, headed over to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Well, almost. Before we went to the aquarium, we headed out to breakfast (because these babies wake up early! Believe me, this group of people would otherwise never voluntarily be out the door for breakfast at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday when on vacation). And then we had to head back to the hotel for mid-morning naps (babies, not adults -- although aren't adult naps awesome?). So we finally headed over to the Aquarium at about 12:30 p.m.

This aquarium is awesome. I've been to zoos and aquariums all over the country, and this is still my favorite. You just get so close to the animals and see them in great detail. I was afraid that Vivian would be too young to be able to get anything out of the visit, but she really seemed to enjoy it. Fast moving animals, like the otters, were just a blur to her, but she was fascinated by the bright colors of the jellyfish, which moved slow enough for her to follow.


We stayed until closing time, and then took the kids back for naps. Dinner was (awesome) pizza eaten with friends.

Sunday, we took the opportunity to bum around and tour the area. We drove 17-Mile Drive and were in awe of the scenery. It was just beautiful.


Monday, we checked out of our little hotel, leaving our friends and my dad. We decided to drive down the coast, taking the 1 from Monterey down to Paso Robles and then the 101 into LA. We'd stop every once in a while to take in the beautiful sights.

We happened to pull over in Piedras Blancas, which is the periodic home to hundreds of elephant seals. It turns out that it is currently mating season for the elephant seals (late December to early February). The females come ashore to give birth and then the males line up to mate again. The beach was covered with seals!


The beach was even more covered than this photo shows (we forgot our camera!). It was just incredible. And then, as we looked on, an elephant seal gave birth right in front of us, maybe 30-40 feet away. It was the most beautiful, amazing site I've ever seen in nature (beyond Vivian's birth, of course). Rich & I were so moved, we could hardly speak. We stood there for 20 minutes, just watching the mom clean her baby (and the sea gulls trying to sneak a beak into the placenta). It wasn't until Vivian had had enough of the cold and the wind that we left.

The weekend totally recharged me. Sometimes just connecting with friends and family for a few days can completely change your point of view and remind you of what's really important.

reconstruction

I love making clothes for Vivian, but it can be hard to have enough time and energy to sew something complex in the time from when she goes to sleep and I fall into bed.

I was going through my fabric stash when I found an old pair of Richard's jeans. I noticed that the width of the leg was the same as the width of Viv's jacket. So with a few cuts, and a couple of seams, I turned one leg of his jeans into a vest! After I sewed it together, I broke out the embroidery floss and stitched her first and middle initials on the front, and her name on the back.

Front:

Back:

I loved how this project turned out, especially given that it took all of about 2 1/2 hours to complete.

And to finish on a completely different topic, I leave you with a photo that depicts how things are going at home, now that we've introduced Vivian to solid foods.

This is what Vivian thinks of carrots!

Resolute

For 2007, I had 1 resolution: no emergency room visits. And other than passing through on the way to the maternity ward for Vivian's early entrance, I was able to keep that one. I'm pretty proud about that.

For 2008, I’m going to be a bit more ambitious.

Craft-Related Resolutions

1. RIIIPPPIIITT! I pledge to actually frog those projects that are unflattering, undesirable or otherwise unwearable. I will reclaim the yarn, and therefore cut down on the need for stash enhancement.

2. Reorganize the Craft Closet. I have a lovely walk-in closet that I have designated for my craft supplies and sewing machine, but it has become so cluttered that I can’t find anything and can barely weave my way back to the sewing machine. This will change.

3. Get back to sewing more of my clothes. I used to sew about 50% of my wardrobe, but pregnancy, having a small child and the craft closet disorganization (see above) have stymied my efforts. I have a huge fabric stash, and I need to get back to using it.

4. Finally finish knitting Richard’s sweater (started in Nov. 2005 and lying dormant ever since). It’s the Baseball sweater from Knitty’s Man issue, and I have the back and 1 sleeve done. He wants an intarsia picture of Elvis Costello worked on the front. I have the chart worked out, but I just need to get up the courage to do it.

General Life Resolutions

1. Exercise. I’m not going to focus on losing weight, but I just want to have more energy. So whether it’s taking a walk after work every day or hitting the gym, I’m going to exercise.

2. Better organize Vivian’s nursery. I’ve seen great tips on the ikea hacks blog, and I want to copy some of them for her room, such as using a CD shelf to store diapers.

3. Cook dinner at least 3 nights a week. I was doing pretty good on this already before, but the holidays made it difficult to be consistent.

4. Start a college fund for Vivian. I think we're going to open a 529 account for her, even just with $50 a month. My goal is to have enough saved for her to pay for undergraduate at a state school – if she wants to go private or grad school, that’s what loans are for.

I think that’s enough for one year. A bit of a stretch, but still totally achievable.

Year in Review

2007 has been quite a year. Up and down (more up than down, though, and that's a good thing). This post may be more for me than anyone else, but I want to take this opportunity to take a walk down memory lane, and revisit just how far I've come this year. Think of it as a personal newsletter that I'm too lazy to put in my Christmas card.

I started the year in January by announcing that I was pregnant with Vivian (only named Pumpkin at the time). It was an incredibly emotional time for me -- incredibly happy, yet sad and grieving. At the end of the month, we traveled back up to Tahoe to scatter Eliza's ashes, a cathartic and beautiful experience.

In February, I started making Vivian's Pumpkin quilt (which is still in the unfinished state it was in when she was born, but which I plan to finish after Christmas knitting is finished). And Mark was born! Looking back at those first photos of him, it's hard to remember how small he was to start with! February was also the first time I felt Vivian move -- and it was the most awesome, incredible feeling.

March started Richard's uber-travel schedule, in which he was gone 6 weekends in 7 weeks. I remember that getting really old, really fast, for both of us. We found out Vivian's gender this month, and also gave her her name. Giving Viv her name was very important to us, as it helped us identify with her as an individual person, and begin our relationship.

April was an emotional month for me, as I reached, and finally passed, the 25-week-2-day mark at which I lost Eliza. Once we passed it, I felt this huge weight lifted off of my chest, as I entered into new pregnancy territory. And it was awesome.

May was a fairly light month, emotionally. We attended the Red-neck Wedding party, and it was awesome. We also got to prep more for Vivian, signing up for childbirth, infant care and breast feeding classes (only some of which we actually got to take).

June was certainly an eventful month! We started with my awesome shower, at which we were showered with so many amazing gifts, handmade and otherwise. Towards the end of the month, we had another ultrasound, which showed how big Vivian was getting. We were preparing to welcome her in the middle of July, when she decided she had things to do and people to see. My water broke on Friday morning, June 29, when I was 34 weeks, 2 days pregnant.

July is pretty much an emotional blur. It started with me & Vivian being in the hospital, and then transitioned into Vivian staying in the NICU, which sucked, but we got through. A good thing that also happened, which I never really wrote about, was that our FORMER health insurance company FINALLY agreed to pay my medical bills from when we lost Eliza. I literally had a collection agent calling me on my cell phone while I was doped up on Vicodin in a hospital bed, with Vivian in the NICU, telling me that my bill was now almost a year old. Like I could forget that it had now been a year since Eliza had died. It finally got resolved when my company's insurance broker finally shamed the insurance company to stop stalling and pay the damn bills. We were finally able to bring Vivian home, and while tiring and stressful, it was the most amazing experience of my life.

In August, we took our first trip with Vivian, out to Tucson to see the family. I loved introducing her to my grandmother and stepfather. We also continued the stressful experience of trying to find daycare for Viv - stressful, but with a happy ending, thank goodness.

September was a great month. I finally started to feel comfortable with Vivian's schedule. She finally got the hang of breastfeeding. We took our first plane trip (out to Tucson again) and Viv did awesome, sleeping through most of the two flights and a layover.

October marked the tragic end of my maternity leave and my return to work. Jenny came to visit, and I got my hair cut. I cried on Vivian's first day at daycare, but we both survived. Vivian had her very first visit to the pumpkin patch, and I made a somewhat misguided attempt to take a photo of a baby in a pumpkin. Vivian was not exactly fond of being placed in a wet, slimy gourd. Oh well, live and learn. If she ends up with some horrible phobia of enclosed places, it will be all my fault. Probably only one of many things I'll be guilty of.

In November, we started in on our very first holiday season as a threesome. We shared Friends Thanksgiving and found out that there is a whole new bumper crop of babies expected in the spring! Vivian won't be the youngest baby for very long.

And now we're in December. We've taken Vivian to see Santa, hung the stockings (although not Vivian's yet because I still haven't sewn the lining for hers -- tonight, I promise!). Vivian had her first renal ultrasound since leaving the hospital (her hydronephrosis is improving, although not yet gone completely. We'll do another ultrasound in a few months). We had our first bout of daycare-related sickness (rotavirus), and managed to pass it on to many of our favorite people. The gift that keeps on giving! We leave for Tucson tomorrow in a purple PT Cruiser packed to the gills with clothes, diapers, presents, and unfinished knitting. That was 2007 for us. I can't wait to see what 2008 will bring us.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!