We've come a long way, baby!

Also known as Pat and Rachel's annual holiday letter!
If you’ve gotten this far, you either a) love us so much that you are interested in the minute details of our lives, b) didn’t know what a blog was but had to find out, or c) are very, very bored. Either way, we’re glad you came! I have another blog with many more recent entries here, but figured we’d leave that for the die-hards! Before we get into the details of our year, we just couldn't resist a little time warp.

Santa photo 2007 - Lance (5) and Audrey (18 months)






Flashback 30 years - 1977 (Rachel 5 (yes that makes me 35 now..) and sister Emily 3). No comments about my choice of holiday outfit OR the hair, please...



2007 Holiday Letter to our Friends and Families

Once again, I can say that another year has flown by, this one slightly blurrier than the last. Having two children has more than doubled the craziness, the mess, and also the laughter.

LANCE is FIVE!!! On December 14, to be exact, and he is practically counting the minutes.
Highlights of his year: Learning to ride without training wheels, writing his name, going roller skating, becoming a serious Star Wars fan without even seeing the movies, claiming to be the resident expert on every action figure line in the toy stores (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Star Wars, and various Super heroes), being a wonderful big brother who teaches his sister all sorts of tricks, and telling jokes.

Audrey at 18 months, going on five, wants to do everything like Lance. She is spunky and strong-willed, constantly moving and into everything. She’s much smaller than Lance at this age, and has no need for as many words, since she has Lance to speak for her most of the time. That means we have a lot of whining and pointing and screeching, so we’re working on the sign language and hoping the words come soon, knowing that once she starts to talk, she’ll never stop.
Highlights of her year: Eating "big people food," learning to walk, learning to run, getting 6 ½ teeth and waiting and waiting for the rest, getting her tear ducts probed (see 8/19/07 post), learning to climb stairs, loving babies (we mean REALLY loving babies) and Elmo and Lance’s action figures, becoming a major Daddy’s girl, adoring her big brother, and tolerating many games of chase/wrestle/knock down with very few tears. Lately, it’s more likely to find Lance complaining that Audrey hurt him, or to find him pinned beneath one of her endless hugs!

Pat is still teaching elementary P.E. at Syre, and finally got his 1.0 (100%) full time contract! It was a welcome benefit after a rough start to the year that almost went to a teachers’ strike in Shoreline. He continues to be the chef of the family, as well as Chief Cleaner & Organizer.

I am still working half-time writing grants for the Boys & Girls Club, one day a week in the office. Still juggling too many balls in the air, still feeling crazy most of the time, but thankful to be home with the kids as much as I can.

We have had several friends and loved ones with serious health issues this year, so we are mostly thankful that everyone is well. We are trying to find little things to be thankful for each day, and Lance and Audrey are wonderful reminders about what’s really important.

We wish you all much love, good health, lots of laughter, and peace in 2008.

Love,
Rachel, Pat, Lance, and Audrey

Getting her eyes done

August 17, 2007: After 14 months of goopy, watery eyes, and hundreds of “Oh, is she crying?” comments, the big day had arrived. Two appointments with Dr. Epley, the ophthalmologist, and we’d decided it was time to have her tear ducts probed. Because of her age, it had to be in the hospital under general anesthesia. That made me worried, and feeling partially like we were taking a big risk for a possibly-unnecessary procedure. But the doctor’s stats about resolution without surgery and success rate of surgery after 18 months helped us make up our minds. I didn’t want her having a goopy watery eye her whole life. So far, she hadn’t had any infections, but that might be the eventual result.

Of course we were scheduled for the day after our trip to Seaside. Three days at the beach and she had plenty of sand and wind giving her extra clogs in those tear ducts. We had to be at Swedish at 7 am. Audrey had a lovely day on our return trip—didn’t eat well, only an hour nap in the car, and bedtime at 9 pm. She was exhausted before we even started.

Morning of the surgery: We had to wake her up at 6:15 and couldn’t give her anything to eat or drink. She was fine at first—not sure where we were taking her, I’m sure. Luckily Nanny Karen and Auntie Catherine were at our house sleeping over to stay with Lance, so no one else had to wake up early. We arrived at the hospital, got checked in and led to a great playroom. The nurse gave us a Looney Tunes hospital gown and yellow fuzzy slipper socks for her – she was the cutest patient ever! She played with the toys, flirted with another family, and was generally pretty happy, even with no food or milk, for the first hour or so. Then we went into the actual surgery waiting room to wait for the doctor and anesthesiologist to come meet with us before surgery. The doctor was late, so it was almost 9:30 by the time we met with him. Audrey was pretty crabby by that time – no toys would make her happy, just brief periods with Daddy’s wallet, the big Batman balloon waiting for the 5 yr old having hernia surgery, and the people out in the hall. She was tired, thirsty, and hungry.

Finally, we met with the doctors, got the overview of the surgery, and away she went with Pat. We decided that he’d be the best one to go with her while she went to sleep – he’s calmer and would handle it better if she was upset. They have to hold the mask over her face while she breathes in the medicine that makes her fall asleep. Overall, it took about 15 seconds, so she was fine. I went down the hall to eat something, and was just flooded with fear—what if she doesn’t wake up? What if something goes terribly wrong and her eyes are damaged? What have we done, risking our baby’s life for something dumb like watery eyes?
The whole surgery took about 15 minutes. What a relief to see Dr. Epley come out and tell us everything was fine. Her right eye was “a goopy mess,” to use his words, with the membrane closed and a couple of other membranes grown over it. He said tons of goop came out when they popped the membrane open, and his opinion was that it never would have cleared up on its own. The left side (which we didn’t think was plugged) was partially obstructed, so it just needed a little pop with the probe. He said she’d be waking up soon and they’d come get us.
About 10 minutes later, we were called to recovery. I will never forget the sight of my little girl, hair rumpled, gown pulled up in back, being held by a nurse and looking so confused and tired. I wish we had been there right when she woke up. She started crying when she saw us, but settled down on my shoulder quickly. She had a little blood coming out of her eye and her nose, which they said was normal. She just looked so confused and tired. She cried and cried until we gave her a bottle of sugar water. She then proceeded to suck down 8 oz of water, in 2 oz bottles at a time. She seemed to relax when we gave her the usual Avent bottle instead of the hospital baby bottle. She was still fussy and wiggly, luckily Pat thought to swaddle her up. She almost fell asleep on the bed while we were wrapping her up, but then fell asleep in my arms. Her pulse ox seemed kind of low, like 87-92, but she was crying and still pretty wiped out from the anesthesia, so the nurse wasn’t concerned. Once she settled down and slept, both Pat and I felt better. We waited for an hour or so until the 2nd recovery room upstairs was free. Pat got her some milk, but she wasn’t interested in anything but sleeping. We made our way upstairs, where she continued to sleep in my arms while the nurse checked her vitals and finished the discharge paperwork. The 5 yr old boy with the hernia surgery was upstairs eating a blue popsicle and getting ready to go home too – we visited with his parents while Audrey slept. Pat went to the pharmacy to get the eye drops while she slept. The only time she got really upset was when the nurse took out her IV, but a little milk settled her down. By about 11:15, we were cleared for takeoff and on our way home. Audrey slept most of the way home, and wasn’t too crabby.

We arrived home to Lance, my mom, and Aunt Catherine making us lunch. Audrey was pretty sleepy, but seemed glad to see Lance. Pat took her right upstairs for more milk and a nap. She slept from 1:00-4:30 pm – sacked out! I kept checking on her to make sure she was ok. Just a little blood-stained tears and nose, but nothing too bad. When she woke up at 4:30, she was happy but hungry. She had some milk and soft food and wanted to play. She was definitely a little clumsy – they said to watch her carefully today and not let her play outside. We saw lots of tripping, and Lance tried hard to be gentle. But she seemed in good spirits, just tired. A little more dinner and off to bed, and she slept all night. No more bleeding from her eye, but her nose was a little drippy and bloody.

Saturday morning 8/18, she woke up happy and seems back to her usual self. Lance left around 10 am to go sailing with Nanny and Papa Steve, so we had a quiet day with just Audrey. A walk in Edmonds, a good nap, and dinner out at a new Thai place. Her right eye is a tiny bit watery, but not sure if that’s from the eye drops or just the trauma of the probing. Hopefully it’s all opened up and not still blocked at all. No goop – just a little extra tears.

So we survived her first hospitalization. I feel very lucky that it was for something so minor—so many people have sick kids or major injuries, and we have been very lucky. I keep thinking of Em with Maggie and her oxygen, lung biopsy, and two hospital stays, the first one being 9 days—I can’t even imagine how difficult that was for her. Hopefully it’s Audrey’s last trip to the hospital, and her eyes will be clear, brown, and beautiful from now on.

Monster stew, boat rides, and ball pits

Our weekend in the Tri Cities was sunny and full of playtime.

Audrey had her first boat ride,

Lance spent hours playing in Ethan's massive backyard, creating monster stew and setting a new record for how dirty two boys can get in one afternoon,

(notice the difference between Lance's "crazy face" and Ethan's "crazy face")

and Audrey and Riley spent some quality time in the sandbox/ball pit

Happy Birthday, in a 2nd child short-end-of-the-stick kind of way

Audrey,
You are such a second baby. On your birthday, we decide to drive to the Tri Cities and get stuck in horrendous Memorial Day weekend traffic. We mess up your sleep schedule so you're ready for bed before the birthday cupcakes even come out the next day. Finally, on Monday, you get some sort of a haphazard party. At least we had family, cupcakes, and one measly balloon.


But somehow you tolerate us, and seemed to enjoy the cupcake--or at least the frosting--once you figured out it wasn't a toy!


We love you, Audrey girl! And we're glad you have such a "take what you get" attitude with us and all our craziness!
Birthday stats for anyone interested: Audrey is 18 lbs 12 oz (still a little skinny thing), 29 inches long. And for the record, she was NOT happy with the 3 shots she got at her checkup today. She gave the nurse a hurt look, like "I thought you were my friend....."

The eyes have it

My beautiful brown-eyed babies...
Today my "salad day" was more like the wilted stuff with some slimy green spots, but who's complaining with these sweet faces?



Although Audrey was more like this most of the day... (Note the "one knee" stability pose. She figured that out long ago--made her more ready to deflect the Big Brother Knockdown)

Happy Almost Birthday, Audrey Girl! It's hard to believe she's a year old in two days!
She is like 1 going on 4 1/2, because she just wants to do everything, eat everything, and play with everything LANCE.

Everything she does, she does with ATTITUDE!

Favorite toys? Little People, you might say, or her activity table, or stacking blocks? Nope, nope, and nope. The top choice would be Lance's Spiderman action figures, followed closely by his Little Mermaid figures, any cheap Happy Meal Toy Lance has accumulated, our dishtowels, Lance's shoes, and any socks that are lying around. Makes shopping for her birthday a little easier, though..

She has, just this week, become a picky eater. The tofu burgers she has been gobbling up lately were shunned today--until she saw Lance eating one. (And you are all under a strict gag order--under no circumstances are you to tell Lance that there were black beans and peas in those tofu burgers. I was shocked enough that he ate it knowing it was tofu, but am going to trick him as long as I can.) Once it came off Lance's plate, she swallowed it down.

She is so close to walking. She took a few steps last weekend at Grandma and Papa's house, and will take 1-2 steps to reach something, but if it's farther, she still wants to crawl.

The last 2 days she's refused her afternoon nap. Maybe she thinks she'll miss her birthday party.
I'm ready for her to take one nap, but I don't quite think her tired little body is ready yet. It makes for extra "nose scrunchy faces" and exasperated sniffing and waving of the hands when Mommy can't figure out what she wants.

She's figured out how to get Lance in trouble already--look out! When he takes something from her or pokes her too hard, she squawks, knowing that I'll look at Lance as the guilty party. But I already told him that I remember when Auntie Emmy bit herself and blamed it on me, so I'll be watching Audrey's tricks closely.

More birthday letter coming soon...

May salad days

I just cannot keep up with myself... A million half finished blog posts running around in my head, some jotted down on post its or other paper scraps.. I just can't scrape together the time to write them down..

"These are our salad days," Pat calls from the living room. He's flat on his back on the floor, with Audrey draped over his belly. She's cackling at Lance who's doing peekaboo behind the couch. Of course Sappy Mama gets all teary-eyed.

For those not familiar with the salad reference, see Nicolas Cage in "Raising Arizona." I looked up "salad days" and realized the actual reference is from Cleopatra, so I'm muddling it a bit. But the point is there. My grandma has her own "salad days" story about my mom and her twin sister streaking in different directions up and down their street and the neighbor saying, "Lucille, these are the best days of your life."

So salad days it is - This is what it's all about. Not the dirty floor or the dusty blinds or the unfiled papers or weeds in the backyard. Not the 2+ years of loose pictures not in albums, the 10,000 post it notes with "To Do" lists, or my unorganized closet(s).

It's about watching Lance ride his bike, and buying rocks and buckets and other treasures from his "tool shop store" in the backyard. It's about Audrey squealing with glee as she chases Lance around the room. It's about "all eyes on Audrey" as she pushes her shopping cart around the room, practicing her walking. It's sitting in the bathroom while Lance plays scuba diver games and covers himself with 15 washcloths as part of his diving suit.

The other day my life literally flashed before my eyes. I looked in the mirror and suddenly I could see myself at 70. Maybe it was the bags under my eyes, crows' feet, and frown wrinkle? But I had an instant flash of--this is what I want to look back on when I'm old. Not "Wow, I had such a clean house! No cobwebs here!" or "I was so productive during my 80 hour work weeks!" I want to remember the trips to the park, underdogs on the swing, picking blackberries, running through the sprinkler, playing soccer in the backyard, snuggling to read stories with Lance while Audrey napped, telling Bob Kitty stories, watching Lance make Audrey smile, Daddy coming home at 4:30 pm and being home all summer because of his great teacher schedule, "Are you taller than Dale?" Saturday morning swimming, "doing important work" like weeding, cooking together, and Zerbert action.

This is why I wanted to have kids. The irreplaceable moments that will change and disappear and melt into other kinds of moments all too soon.

I am trying to be more appreciative of my salad...

Cousins and more cousins

My most recent excuse for not posting more often--cousins.

My cousins Sarah and Liz visited at the end of March, with Sarah's baby Leo. Note how excited Lance looks to be part of the "Sheldy girls" picture..

And then we went to Pittsburgh on April 7 to visit Maggie. We miss her desperately already and can't wait to see her again..

Audrey doesn't miss the snuggling, though.. check out the actual SNEER...

NuNu's 88th birthday

March 10, 2007.....Yes, I know it was 2 weeks ago.

We were lucky enough to help my Grandma (NuNu, as Lance named her, for Granny Lu) celebrate her 88th birthday. So we hauled the troops up to Bellingham, complicated it with a swimming date for Lance that never materialized, made up for it with a trip to the boat, and left NuNu waiting for us until nearly dinner time. So much for making the birthday girl feel special!

But we eventually got there, Lance was wearing a "nice shirt," Audrey in her party dress, and we had great pizza and conversation at a RESTAURANT!!! Kids were angels, Audrey threw about 10,000 Cheerios and pieces of bread onto the floor, but we made it and NuNu felt special.

We love you NuNu! We promise more time with you next year!