'Tis the Season

I have always craved the coming of the new year. Ahhh, clean slate, new horizons, time to explore new opportunities, leave behind all the clutter and start fresh. Right? Well, at least for a week or two I can be full of hope and joy that this year my to do list will actually be done. To start things off right I sat down with Lyell today and we made a list of resolutions for ourselves. After all he is over six months now, able to sit up all by himself, can eat almost a tablespoon of rice cereal, and I am teaching him to do his own taxes.

Resolution # 1: Sleep through the night
Lyell and I are still pining for the elusive eight full hours of sleep, which I haven't experienced since June 22. Unfortunately, the holiday season did not further this endeavor, as most of the events took place well after Lyell's bedtime. Our major post-bedtime activity this year was the Bracebridge Dinner at the Ahwahnee. Lyell dragged us there almost every performance, as he took on the role of "the Bracebridge baby." We were the Forest Folk, and during our few entrances, Lyell was a star, eliciting many ooo's and aaah's from the crowd. He was so mellow that the leading lady decided to pick him up and parade him around the room to further the baby love. Lyell just stared around the room like he was born for the role.
We weren't allowed any pictures during the performance, but my parents got a couple from the backstage screen, which gives you an idea of the show. Lyell's the little guy in red.



He also had a lot of friends backstage that loved to help take care of him.

Resolution #2: Simplify
Our family spent much of the past month shuttling back and forth from El Portal to Mariposa to the Bay Area and back. And forth. And back. While we loved visiting and house sitting, we began to ponder the addition of stuff that has permeated our lives as new parents. One of our core values is simplicity, and we have wondered how that manifests when all we want is the best for Little Man. As we look around our house we realize that we were blessed to be given all that he needs before he was even born. And as new needs arise, hand me downs from neighboring families seem to be magically filling in the gaps. But as I give myself a parental pat of the back for all the paring down we have done thus far, I realize that this is the easy part. The more challenging times will be in the future as we will gently take on the advertisers as theyl try their hardest to convince poor unsuspecting Lyell that he NEEDS everything from the latest Lego set to a jumbo Whopper.
Enough of the philosophizing, I will end by noting that we started this resolution early by having a very simple Christmas. Lyell had a blast opening his two presents (Which I think is a perfect number for a baby) while we stashed away the rest of his loving contributions into his college fund. Here is Lyell enjoying the holiday spirit...

The little guy meets the big guy (with mixed results)

Lyell eating his first solid food for Christmas Dinner

Unwrapping

Checking out his Christmas presents

Resolution # 3: Delay crawling as long as possible
As a slightly competative person myself (those who know me well can laugh) I find myself getting caught up in the "trading of firsts." You know, the inevitable questions from other families, "When did he start ______?" fill in the blank with whatever child development milestone you please. Mostly it's all just fun and conversation as we trade experiences, but I did find myself having a moment of panic as Lyell has passed the six month mark and doesn't show much interest in trying to crawl. However, as I put him down on his belly the other day and he promptly rolled himself over onto his back and let out a happy gurgle as he reached for his hanging airplane toy, I realized that I should relish this stage as long as possible. Lyell happily stays in one place for 20-30 minutes at a time, and I can put him down and get the dishes done without too much concern. Odds are that he will learn to crawl and he will learn to walk, and I resolve to not worry about it. Besides, watching him in the "writhing and rolling around" phase has prompted some full belly laughs from mommy and daddy. Here are a few of Lyell's current favorite play positions.






Resolution #4: Triathlon in June
No set of resolutions would be complete without something about exercising and losing weight. While I have no interest in losing weight as I can't seem to eat enough these days while breastfeeding my 21 pound boy, Lyell and I both know that I am a much happier person when I get a good workout in. Matthew and I dusted off our bikes the other day and attached our Chariot to the back, and the three of us were cruising around the neighborhood in no time. Unfortunately there is no "swim" attachment to the Chariot, but if you wanted to invent one we would consider investing :) I have my sights set on a triathlon in Monterey in June, and if the swim and bike training proves impossible with a baby, then I will switch to a half marathon. Lyell continues to be a champion in the Chariot, which he considers his second home, as he goes running, walking, gardening, and biking in it almost every day.
Lyell has communicated that he is pretty happy with his body image and exercise regime. So much so that he had a little photo shoot done to show it off...




Resolution # 5: Be with the Fear
I have found, as a new mother, that my relationship with fear has changed. I now experience fear on a daily (and nightly) basis. Much of this is biological, as fear is a natural emotion that has kept us alive for thousands of years by alerting us of dangerous situations. I now have that responsibility for two people, and I find that my fear has increased exponentially. Lyell, on the other hand, has no fear. Observing his complete lack of fear as he playfully grabs for a sharp knife, and the intensity of my fear, as I go in to check on him for the umpteenth time while he naps, I resolve to spend more time with this emotion. It seems that not only in my little mother world, but everywhere I go, fear has become pervasive in our culture. A old friend recently posted a picture of us on Facebook; we were in Kindergarten together and waiting at the bus stop to take the public bus to school with our first grade siblings. Five and six year olds taking the public bus to school, something that is unheard of today. Is this rampant increase in our fear level necessary to our survival? I hope to be able to sit with my fear this year, to understand it better, to separate the real from the perceived. Besides, something tells me that this is just the beginning...
We'll leave you with a few shots of Lyell and friends.

Meeting Bella on New Year's Eve

Lyell skypes with Georgia on Christmas Day.

New Year's Day hike with the whole Mariposa family crew.

Lyell and Marley at Potluck Preschool in El Portal.

Love to all,
Kim, Matthew and Lyell

Georgia, Snow and Another Georgia!

Greetings from Mariposa! Tis' the season for Holiday Silliness as shown here by the El Portal Elementary staff.

Lyell the Brave has weathered many new experiences this past month, not the least of which was taking his first four airplane flights. Here are Lyell and Matthew waiting at Fresno Airport, the mellowest airport we have been to. We flew to Atlanta to visit Matthew's family and Lyell was a trooper on all the flights. He has the funniest expression that I haven't yet been able to capture on camera when we go to new places. He is now so aware of his surroundings, and he perks his head up high and gets this big smile like, "I'm ready for anything, folks, let's go!"

When we got to Georgia, we met cousin Amber. It was precious to watch her interact with Lyell as she got to know this new being.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Matthew's parents, his three sisters and their families.

Ruth, Matthew's mother, was the head cook and we devoured the beautiful meal.

While in Georgia, Matthew got to reconnect with his waterskis on the family boat. Carrie and George look on while Wally drives.

We spent a little time fishing and relaxing on the dock in the backyard.

Matthew's sister Emily and cousin Amber with the house in the background.

Lyell go to go swimming for the first time and of course he loved it. We even dunked him underwater a few times and he came up quite surprised but with a smile.

We left Georgia with full tummies and Lyell did great on the two flights home.

Back in Mariposa, Lyell has been very busy growing up. He can now sit up for a little while and loves to roll over and grab his feet. Here he is at playgroup with his friends Silas and Matiah. Lyell and I spend quite a bit of time with other mommies, which helps both of us develop in our new roles; Lyell's as a human being and mine as a mommy. As someone once said, "It takes a village."

I have started leading Family Hikes at our local preserves through the Sierra Foothill Conservancy. Our first hike went to the Striped Rock preserve (you can see Striped Rock in the background) and we had children aged 0-6. I am designing a hike series for the springtime.

This picture was taken back in April when there were four of us pregnant at the same time.

Here we are, almost seven months later, with our babies and our dear friend Jen who is 4 months pregnant, and starting the cycle all over again. Lyell, although not the oldest, is the biggest as he has just weighed in at over 20 pounds. All that chunk and he has yet to taste solid food.

Just as we were basking in the 60 degree fall weather we woke up to snow starting to fall. Soon it turned heavy and all of a sudden our golden hills with subtle red, yellow and oranges has been transformed into a world of white.

But amidst this subzero weather, all our attention was tuned to Hawaii, where my sister was giving birth to her first daughter Georgia!!! Born December 6 at 7am, Georgia Anne St. Germain is the newest member of our family and we are ecstatic she is here. My parents were there for the birth and hopefully we will be seeing Georgia as she might be the youngest passenger flying across the Pacific for Christmas.

Daddy Chip rests with his daughter.

Less than 10 minutes old, and unbelievable shot of new life.

Road Trip!

 Mommy and I had so much fun on our road trip last week... so much fun that I forgot to sleep! I was way too excited to sleep all seven or eight hours I had in my boring house, so I decided to wake up every hour or so to check out if anything new was happening. Mostly all I noticed was my mommy's eyes getting more and more red :)

First, Mommy, Daddy and I went down to Palo Alto to visit all our friends and relatives there. We went to our big neighborhood tailgate at the Stanford Football game. I tried to stick with Daddy and the boys to learn more about why men choose to barrel into eachother at full speed and inflict maximum bodily injury to themselves and their opponent. All I gleaned was that it's supposed to be "fun."

The next day we did another one of these races that mommy likes so much. I think Daddy and I had a much better time people watching in Golden Gate Park on a Sunday morning. Daddy explained to me that the people moving fast are exercising, and the people moving slow or not at all are recovering from something called a hangover.

Then came the sad part when we had to wave goodbye to Daddy as he went home on the train.

But there were so many more people to see. We spent the evening with Pat, Michelle and Molly learning about this whole MRI thing that I have to do soon. Everyone keeps saying it's no big deal, but going through a tube on my back seems a little scary. Or maybe it's my claustrophobic mom who thinks its so scary. Anyway, I was feeling a little shy and I couldn't preform my new rolling over trick for my guests. I still need some practice.

In her last post Mommy talked about how I didn't like her new baby carrier. Mommy is just a little impatient sometimes; I just had to get used to this new thing. Now I go everywhere in it, and I can tell that Mommy is a lot happier as her back doesn't hurt as much. She says I am really, "a big chunker" but she doesn't know that I have a secret contest with my friend Karsten to see who can cultivate the most inner thigh rolls before we start crawling. Anyway, here I am in my carrier visiting some Bay Area friends.

I got to see the real ocean in Santa Cruz, not the silly ocean sound that comes out of a sheep when Mommy is trying to make me go to sleep. Then we went to the place where Grandma works with the tallest buildings I had ever seen. We got to have lunch with Grandma, and Mommy told me that she comes here to work every day and still has energy to cook dinner for her family every night, although I have heard the word "retire" in some conversations lately.

We took a long car ride up north to see Aunt Josie and Uncle Nate in Sebastopol. Mommy says they're like my aunts and uncles because we love them so much. Aunt Josie even babysat me so mommy could go to a yoga class. Mommy seems to like all these things that make her hot and sweaty. Not me! My car seat keeps making me hot and sweaty and I'm trying my hardest to let Mommy know I don't like it, but she keeps sticking my in there anyway! I liked Sebastopol a lot because I could ride around in the stroller everywhere and we didn't have to get in the car at all. I noticed that Josie and Mommy liked to drink hot beverages and talk, talk, talk, until I reminded them that we had places to go :)

Here I am sneaking my first taste of Indian food while Mommy smiles for the camera.

Finally I got to meet Phyllis and all of her beautiful cats at our last stop in Napa. Phyllis made me laugh with her stories of her own grandchildren and her travels.

I think that Mommy was a little bit nervous about driving 5 hours home with me alone after I let her know that the car seat was no longer my favorite place. She seemed like she was in a bit of a hurry as she pulled over to quickly change my poopy diaper. She didn't notice the large stink bug that crawled into my onesie during the diaper change. I didn't mind too much, as I knew from my insect studies that stink bugs are harmless creatures. Besides, I will never forget the expression on my mom's face after we arrived safely home and she took off my outfit. She nearly jumped out of her skin as a large insect crawled out! But we all survived and we are happy to be back in our cozy home where the November temperatures are reading 81F. Until next time...