We Blog (sometimes)

Sunday, October 4, 2015

On Growing Humans and Other Super Powers

Something about being "great with child" makes me slow down. It's a blessing and a curse. The curse is the aching legs, hips, back, etc. the heartburn, and of course all the whining if you're me

(which, I suppose is more of a choice than a curse, but one that I make quite often). I find myself constantly bemoaning the molasses-like pace at which I knock things off my to-do list and the bottomless hunger I feel for sleep. I'm a sleep glutton.

Today, however, I want to talk about the blessing side of being forced to slow down. There must be some divine design in this slowing that prepares moms for having new babies. It's a wake-up call that says, "Hey, you're about to bring a PERSON into this world, maybe you should look at it for just a minute."

Some of my favorite moments recently have been the kind I could never have planned. We've developed an accidental ritual when Colin comes home from work. He comes in the house and asks Phoebe if she wants to go for a "daddy ride" to get the mail. The mailbox can't be more than a dozen sidewalk squares from our front door, but to Phoebe, it is an expedition. Sometimes she gallops beside her dad like a horse. Other times she'll hop home like a frog. Acting like a dinosaur is a big deal too. She walks like a dinosaur, take dinosaur steps, and dinosaur bites. It can be quite alarming if she decides to roar at you like a "surprise dinosaur." The other day she and Colin were giving each other dinosaur hugs, when she looked up at him in all earnestness and said "I lubs 'dis dinosaur!"

When they get back, Colin and I will sit on the front step and aimlessly rifle through the mail while we talk about our day. Phoebs will bring us rocks and flowers. Dandelions are a particular fascination these days. I think she has taken single-handed responsibility upon herself for their propagation. She might ride her wagon or chase the other kids around the end of our street. Sometimes I can't believe the joy she gets from such simple surroundings. Her shrieks of delight and surprise when she's throwing the ball to her dad or playing ring-around-the-rosies are the bittersweet stuff of childhood. You know it can't last, which makes it all the more precious. It makes me want to take a million pictures, bottle, and preserve these moments for the harder days--and there are harder days--but perhaps the best method of preserving the good stuff is simply paying attention.

With that idea in mind, here are a few of those slow motherhood moments I've gathered recently that I hope I'm paying enough attention to remember:

Chalk bum. It's a thing. So are chalk feet, chalk hair, chalk cheeks. Baby girl looks like she just left Holi when she's done with sidewalk chalk.
Puppy mooching, and the delight she shows when she's being licked
Baby brother's kicks and squiggles.
Phoebe knocking on my tummy and saying "Hello, baby brothers! Anyone home?"
Picking peaches low enough that Phoebs can get to them.
Watching her be swarmed by ducks when she's holding a piece of bread. Fending off the super aggressive man-goose (gander?) when he gets to aggressive. Seriously, man-goose? What is your major malfunction?
Hearing her tell the kitties in the pet store that she "lubs" them and seeing her laugh hysterically when they pounce on each other.
Seeing baby girl try to fold my dish towels, saying "In half, in half, and stack!" while she makes a jumbled pile of them.
Watching her be "in a cave" with daddy under a blanket.
Snuggles of all kinds.
Watching her endlessly spin in circles, crash into a wall, and start spinning again immediately.
Wearing her dads shoes
Half demolished pigtails
Her love for any set of pjs that has animals on them. She treats them like friends and becomes very upset when they have to go for a ride in the washing machine.
Seeing her "knit" with me--it's a process where she sticks my 5 pointed needles over and over again into a ball of yarn and then eventually in my hair. She'll also thread large wooden beads onto them.
Seeing her try to fix everything like Dada. One day she broke the eraser off a pencil and said to me, "Need Dada! Dada has to fix it!" In her mind, there is nothing her daddy can't fix.
Pirate face
Hearing her sing the ABCs and count Dandelions...even if we're still missing a few numbers.
Listening to her fill in the words in familiar books
Paying extra attention the the mundane and spectacular in nature right outside our back door. I can't tell you how excited she was when we first started watching rain come and go on the back porch and the first time a rainbow appeared. She was fascinated when apples first appeared on our tree, and I could't keep red cherry tomatoes on the vine long enough to cook with them because Phoebs was eating them so fast. Going slow with her I notice more bugs, butterflies, types of mud, mulch, and dirt. I look at the birds and watch for the leaves to change. It's not that I didn't do these things before, but something about a toddler's enthusiasm makes me feel like I'm seeing these things again for the first time.

There's that belly. We are at 2.25 years on baby girl and 36 weeks on baby bump.

Guemes Island Ricks Family Reunion

This year was the Ricks family's first stab at a semi-annual family reunion. This year, his family decided to spend a few days at his parents house near Seattle and a few days on Guemes Island.

Of course, we know how to entertain ourselves at home.

Epic couch-cushion fort building (it helps that his folks have a half-zillion cushions)

Grandma and Grandpa's dog, Penny, was a huge hit with Phoebe. This dog is seriously addicted to catching the ball. Luckily, after the rest of the family wore the poor dog out, she still had plenty of energy for toddler throws.

Kevin and Nathan spent a bunch of time teaching the family how to play Werewolf, the self-described "party game for devious people," on make-shift cards. It has some similarities to Mafia. There's lots of lying involved.

Here's Phoebe trying to play pickle ball with Grandpa. Most the siblings took a turn playing, and it drove the ball-hungry dog nuts!

I think it was our second day there when we all went into Seattle to ride a Duck. We figure it's ok to be touristy when you live there. Colin's folks had heard lots of good rumors from their friends about how energetic and funny the tour guides are. This is Phoebe taking her beloved "pana bear" along for the ride. She was really into the dancing. They gave her, and all the other kids these quacking duck bill whistles, that thankfully she never learned how to use. While riding the ducks was fun, I wouldn't say it's an activity for the shy or faint of heart.

This is Captain Marv Ellis. Get it. MARV ELLIS :

When riding the ducks, one must of course bring quackers....sorry...just couldn't help myself

This picture is from the cabin we stayed in on the island. I have no idea how old the book Rodger is holding is, but it might be as old as the cabin. ABC books are classics. I think they both had a good time.

While we were on the island, Colin and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary. His folks were nice enough to stay with the baby so we could have some time to go off exploring. I definitely felt like I was having a true west-coast experience when we literally stopped by the side of the road to pick blackberries. Nothin' tastier than mooched foragings.

That night we went out in hopes of catching salmon. There were a few other boats that pulled fish in, but we weren't lucky enough to catch anything. This is when I became familiar with the fishing term "getting the skunk off the boat." Cheesy jokes are to follow. Even though we didn't catch anything, the views were to die for!

Of course, there were lots of other diversions on the island amuse ourselves with. This is Phoebe trying to play horse shoes.

And trying to throw the ball to Penny. Still a classic. Poor Penny really got a paw full of salt and rocks, so we had to take it easy on her a day or two into the trip.

Dominating your big brother is a time honored tradition as well--a noble pastime, if you will.

Here's KelliAnne trying to teach Phoebe how to do knuckles.

When we were out exploring and berry picking, Colin and I came upon a trail head, for what I'm sure is one of the only hikes on the mountain. LaRee had talked to someone who had done it before and described it as short, but a grueling straight-up climb. We looked it up online and found mixed reviews. I was a little hesitant since it was the middle of summer and I was about 30 weeks pregnant, but we decided to give it a shot anyway. I decided as long as I took my time I'd be ok. LaRee, Colin, Phoebe, Penny, and I started off first while Rodger went to get the second carload of much faster hikers. Phoebe actually hiked almost all the way to the top on her own two feet and was an excellent pace setter for her mama. It actually turned out to be a pretty doable little hike. Props to the island for having a stand of borrow-able hiking poles at the trail head too. We had great weather and the hike was nice and cool for the most part due to all the trees. The beauty of the slow pace was that we got to see lots of silvery spider webs, fuzzy little critters, and wild flowers. Penny also got to sniff and snuff to her little heart's content.

Brian and Mary Celeste took the reigns over on the dog after a bit. I think she enjoyed the faster pace too.

Cheesy grins "we made it!" at the top of the mountain. Colin came to join me in the shade, where I was resisting the urge to pop my belly out and feel the breeze.

Here's Phoebe with daddy on the boat pretending to be a pirate. Stay tuned, there's plenty more where that came from.

While we didn't have a ton of success with fish, we did have a great catch of crab. I was suprised that Phoebe wasn't scared at all by them when they were alive. However, when she saw the giant bowl of legs on the table at dinner, she refused to eat and of them.

A bunch of us headed out in kayaks that belonged to the place we were staying. We thought about paddling out to that island behind KelliAnne, but somehow got a strange sense of what time it was and decided we only had enough time to go along the coast. Too bad, I bet we could have made it.

A few of the couples, including us and Brian and Mary-Celeste tried out the double kayaks. Several minor squabbles ensued about who was splashing whom, and who exactly was making the boat go the wrong direction. LeRoy couldn't make it this time due to a business trip, but hopefully we'll see him at the next one.

This is a piece of drift wood Colin tried to paint one night as we went out Plein Aire Painting. This was his first time to come out with me and actually paint himself. We had a nice picnic table that made for an ideal set up. Definitely going to have to do that one again.

Here are the final products.

I came to find out that LaRee was a collector of heart shaped rocks, so that was another little scavenger hunt that kept us busy.

I came to find out that there is a local root beer store. I never knew such a thing existed. I guess Colin's family have done this a few times, but we had a nice little taste testing on a few different nights.

Kellianne brought a ton of black licorice for the same purpose, It got a little serious.Notes were taken. Things were swished and smelled. It was a whole event. Personally, I refrained from the tasting of the devil's licorice, because, well, I find it disgusting. But to each their own.

So to end this post, and this trip, in fine Ricks family tradition, we all decided to take obnoxious pictures. This time we had something of a pirate theme going. In honor of the cheesiness of the event, I've chosen to capture each one of the following pictures with a terrible pirate joke. Please enjoy.

Pirate 1 "My what a fine vacation" Pirate 2 "Why yes, I could use some Arrrrrrhhh and Arrrrrrrhhh"

A pirate walks into a bar:
Bartender: You look awful!
Pirate: What do you mean?
B:Last time I saw you you didn't have that peg leg
P: Oh, I lost it to a shark, really it's not all that bad.
B: Last time I saw you you didn't have that hook.
P: I lost that one in a duel. Took my hand off, but I got away with this awesome hook.
B: Well, how'd you get that eye patch?
P: Bird pooped in my eye.
B: You mean you lost your eye from bird poop?!
P:Oh no, it was the first day with me hook.