weeks(7-10) 2013

Weeks 7-10, February 10 - March 9

Life changes quickly. 2013 sucks royally for me and many of my friends and their families. It's going to be the toughest year of my life regardless of the outcome (no questions on this, please). I'm taking it day by day, hour by hour. Some days are quite good, relatively speaking; other days are agony filled with confusion and anger and sadness and bewilderment. But as I keep telling myself, onward and better.

Avery
Avery's reading and writing has exploded. One day she's just writing her name, the next day she comes out of room having written a "book." The words are all squished together and spelled phonetically, often missing vowels, but it amazes me how many of them I can read. Her drawing is also improving quite a bit, though she still doesn't draw bodies on her people (arms and legs all come out of the head).

Activities for the start of the new session of things will be one dance class - jazz/tap - rather than two classes. We are hoping to do another semi-private swimming session with Henry, but we won't find out about that until today since they don't let you know until the last day of the current session. We've discontinued piano due to lack of practicing and that I didn't at all like her teacher. Kung fu is still on hiatus.

Abbie
Oh, where to begin? She's smart. She can open the door to let herself in within 2-3 attempts if the door is unlocked. This is a door that you push to open. She has TWICE locked me out of the house by trying to open the door from the kitchen to the garage (which is a pull to open door from that direction). This happens when she tries the same method she uses with the push door, then hits the lock. All I can say is I must have sensed this was coming since just the week before the first incident I had an electronic deadbolt installed on our front door. 

Oh, and I was talking to my therapist about the challenges of being responsible for a GS puppy with a 5yo in the house and other challenges. I explained how I'd have an adult greyhound right now if I'd gone with what *I* truly wanted. But I didn't. I went with what D wanted and here I am with a GS puppy. I compared how much easier it would be with the greyhound vs the GS. She said, "and a greyhound would be easier?" You know someone is not a dog person when they have no idea how much easier an adult greyhound is than a GS puppy. I got a good laugh from that. She's not a cat person either. I'm not sure I can trust her after finding all this out.

With all my complaining about Abbie, I do love her. When she is not in puppy mode she is so great. She's GOING to be a great dog. Just not right now. She's a constant challenge when she's not asleep.

Training is going OK. The past few weeks it's been really hard to focus on training, but I've managed to start focusing on it in the past few days. We had a good day at class on Tuesday.

She and I have been going on daily walk/jogs. I'm very proud of this and my consistency with this. I've lost about 17 pounds and gained a lot of muscle doing this. I run the major uphill portions of the route, walk the steepest downhill portions, and run most of the flat portions. Abbie likes to sniff, so there are some flat parts where I let her stop and sniff.

job
This goal has morphed due to several factors. Rather than trying to find a job just to occupy my time, I'm going to get back up to date (as much as is possible/necessary) with a particular technology solution, then look for a fulltime job in that area. I'm not sure how long this will take me. I am talking to a friend of mine (hi Aug if you're reading) who works with this technology solution (Sharepoint) on Sunday. I know I don't want to do the deep technical, architecture stuff. In discussing with D what my best options are given my strike zone and preferences, he said he sees me in a role of configuration. Summary level: lots of companies have implemented Sharepoint. Within those companies various divisions/departments are using Sharepoint and want to do x,y, or z with it, but no one knows how. That's where my theoretical role would come in. All this is very theoretical in my head. As I dive into it, I may find that it's not for me. Then I'll refocus on another technology solution until I find the right one.

personal progress on depression
A main focus in my life right now is managing my depression in a more thoughtful way for myself and those around me. Back in late January or early February, I pushed my new therapist for a diagnosis based on her 45 minutes of discussions with me. At that point, she speculated that I might have bipolar II disorder, but reserved the right to revise that once she'd had more sessions with me.

After many more sessions (twice weekly), she has said that I don't have this disorder. I'm lacking the hypomania that comes with the disorder. I do have "high" moments, but I believe these are just in such stark contrast to my depressive episodes that they just seem like hypomania to some people. I don't go out on uncontrollable binges of any sort (though I'm prone to have more fun shopping, but not out of control).  I'm glad I don't have the disorder, since no one wants such a label. But it doesn't change the work I need to do to manage my depression and its results more effectively. The work is the same with the label or without it.

I have made what I believe and feel to be significant progress in this area in the past month and half, particularly in the face of my life at the moment. Still lots of room to improve, but I am fucking proud of myself. That's right: fucking proud. :)

Changes I've made include:

• cutting out diet soda, which is often linked to depression
• cutting out most sugar. I'll still have bites of dessert now and then, and I still have sugar in my tea in the mornings, but I have easily cut my daily sugar intake by 75-80%. 
• working out (via my dog walk/jog) daily. This would have happened regardless of my focused effort on depression progress because Abbie simply needs exercise. And one of my core beliefs is that every dog deserves at least one daily walk. Probably more, but at least one. Nonetheless, it's key in getting my day going right, or putting it back on path.
• adding meditation to my daily routine. I had tried this, half heartedly, in the past, but I kept falling asleep, then I'd not see any benefit and would drop it. I can now successfully not fall asleep! Woohoo! It's really helping. 
• keeping a fairly regular sleep routine. For a while I was hitting the sack at 8 pm. Then it pushed to 9. I've now pushed it to 10 with a wake up time of 6/7, which depends on what Abbie allows on any given morning. 
• practicing mindfulness. This is from the book I'm reading, Mindful Way through Depression. It's been an amazing help. It feels like it's more helpful than therapy (though I have no intention of ceasing therapy anytime soon). 
• thinking of feelings and emotions differently. This is from the book, as well. In order to stop the downward spiral into depression that unpleasant emotions or feelings can cause, the book talks about thinking about feelings and emotions like clouds. They are not who you are, they are not fact. They are simply there, then they float away like clouds. So if something makes me feel unworthy, I feel that, think about what it makes me feel like physically, then imagine it floating away like a cloud. Because the thought is not a fact. It is just a thought. I'm still working on this, but it's a way of thinking that never occurred to me before. 

Results of changes include:

• I can't think of a time in the last couple of weeks where I've lost my temper with Avery. I've been calm and kind and not short with her. To be clear, it's not like I was yelling at her all the time or anything like that, but I would definitely get short with her quickly. 
• I feel so much better physically. My last bout with headaches was back in mid-February, and those were either tension headaches or sinus related. They definitely weren't food related. I can't explain how I know this. I just do. 
• Less rumination. Again, this is from the book. The mindfulness practice allows me to stay more in the moment, rather than replaying tapes in my mind of the past, or worrying/thinking about what the future might hold. 
• Slowing down. I'm like a terrier sometimes. I just get caught up in the chaos of a moment or wrapped up in my head with no clear idea of what's going on around me. I can't remember if the book said this would be a result, but for me, the mindfulness thing kind of allows me to step back and see the situation isn't as chaotic as it might initially feel to me.

Anyway, big changes in this area. Big and hard changes. 

Avery

friends & hugs
The other day Avery and I were waiting for her ballet/hip-hop (strange combo, I know) to begin. A girl I didn't recognize ran up to Avery and they embraced. This has been happening a lot: Avery hugging girls I don't know as a greeting. I know it's not unusual as I see girls doing it all the time, but it's a very real reminder of just how old she's getting. She makes her own friends, she greets them, she has conversations about standing next to them in the show - all on her own.

I have no recollections of hugging my girlfriends on a regular basis, at five or any other age. Was it just me who didn't do this? Or is this something new for this generation?

playing on her own
As I type this, Avery is upstairs in her room playing on her own. I hear the occasional rescue phrase yelled, screeches, etc. She started playing without my urging. This may be something that happens all the time with other kids, but not Avery. If I'm cleaning or doing tasks, she'll start to engage herself with games and imaginary play, but it's always near me. And only if I'm BUSY. This is a new stage that I'm definitely on board with.

BFFs
Avery and Elise had a sleepover here last night (Friday, 2/1). They decided to sleep on the floor of our bedroom. They, of course, both ended up in bed with me (D was in the guest room after I warned him of the girls sleeping on our bed). But before they ended up in bed with me ...

Elise had a runny nose apparently.

FIVE!

Avery turns 5-years-old today at 11:52 PM. Five. Hard to believe. I am not the parent who wants to slow down time and hold onto the younger ages. I find I enjoy each year more and more. As I look back at the years, I wish I could pop briefly back and visit Avery at each age to give her a big squeeze, but I absolutely love watching her grow. I love watching her become more independent and more confident. I love hearing her observations of the world and her surroundings and her feelings. I love how ENTHUSIASTIC she is about absolutely everything, even if that enthusiasm often exhausts me. It's an energy I can't match. I don't think I was ever able to match it. I am so in awe and grateful for her energy (not always, of course, but this is about the 90% good, rather than the 10% challenging).

As I was watching my almost-five-year-old behind the stage at her dance performance this past week, I put this on FB:

I find that many of my most intense moments of love for Avery come at times when she's doing something that is so not me. Maybe because it's evidence that she is her own person and seems to know just who she is.

She was decked out in full makeup for the stage (ahhhhhh - so not my desire for a 5-year-old, but the boys had to wear it, too, so that made it more tolerable for me), she was bouncing around the room so girly and graceful, she was talking all about fairies and princesses and all things girly and I loved it all. None of it is me. All of it is her. And I love that she is so different from me. I love that she knows what she likes and seems to know herself better than most adults know themselves. Maybe all kids are this way at this age and then we lose that as life gets more complicated. Whatever it is, it's a very pure thing to watch.

Avery had four birthday celebrations this year.

#1 - family celebration
A couple of weeks ago, we had family over to celebrate Avery's BD. Attendees:

• Nikki - birthmom
• Garrett - brother
• Ashley - Nikki's best friend
• Grandma J - Nikki's mom
• Grandpa Paul - Nikki's stepdad
• Grammie Tina - Mike's (birthfather) mom
• Grandpa Ron - Tina's husband
• Nain
• the three of us (of course)

It was a very nice visit. Avery got to do a few dance performances for the crowd and basked in the attention of so many. At one point, Avery spontaneously broke out into singing Feliz Navidad. Avery got the first 'feliz navidad' out of her mouth and Garrett, not missing a beat, did the clapping part. It was as if they'd planned it and worked on the timing of it. 

Garrett grinning with excitement while Avery opens her gifts. Ashely and Grandpa Paul in the background.

Avery and Garrett danced together and played together and sang together. While I don't regret/feel guilty about the lack of a live-in sibling for Avery, I do have a hard time seeing her and Garrett together. Realizing that she is losing out on a close sibling relationship with Garrett in particular. Seeing them together is amazing. I grieve her loss of that special relationship and hope we can maintain as close of a relationship as is possible given the differences in their lifestyles and the busyness of their separate lives. 

And while this should be a bragging post all about Avery, I do have to mention Garrett's reading. He's in kindergarten now. We gave him his xmas and BD presents during this visit. He opened them up and started to play with one of them. It required he read the directions. Not only could he read all words (among them 'illustration', read with difficulty and perfect pronunciation), he could also read with the right inflections and with a smooth flow. His reading is so advanced that he was able to read the directions for a game meant for a 8+ kid and understand them while reading at the same time. I was truly impressed. 

#2 - school celebration

This was just a minor celebration at school. I brought brownie bites and left them, with candles, with her teacher. Avery enjoyed, again, being the center of attention (which was evident when I picked her up - I didn't stay for the party). 

#3 - friend celebration (the big one)

Avery's party this year was at Playdate PDX at the request of Avery. There were 16 total attendees, including Avery. Everyone seemed to love the castle (duh). Rounding the kids up from the castle was a lot easier than I expected since we had a hostess to help us. Thank goodness I brought a clipboard to write all the attendees names down so I knew who we were missing at various points. 

Avery picked out a fluorescent pink Hello Kitty cake from Safeway. When I ate gluten, I liked the Safeway brand cakes best out of the grocery-store-level cakes, so I always go with them. The cake looked exactly like the picture in the catalog, so I guess that was a good thing. It was for Avery! 

The main thing to note about Avery's party was the present opening portion of the event. Avery had that thing running smoothly and exactly as she wanted. At the beginning, one of the girls asked Avery to open her present first. Avery responded, in a very teacher-like tone, that she would be opening the present of the quietest person first. She told them all to sit criss-cross applesauce, and they did. She hammed it up as she opened the presents, soaking up all the attention and loving it when she made her friends laugh. I was, to tell the truth, at bit taken aback at her bossiness/leadership/assertiveness surrounding the whole thing. We do have most of it on video, so perhaps I'll get to editing it so everyone can see what I mean. It was interesting for me, because watching this, I was both extremely proud of her maturity and leadership skills (I'm not sure it's fair to label it as that, but bossiness doesn't sound right either because she was more calm about it than a typical bossy kid), while at the same time I was cringing a bit because of her domination/bossing of the other kids. I can't really explain the combination. In the end, I'm proud and feel that, when molded and guided, this personality trait will serve her well in life. 

#4 - mom & dad & nain celebration

This morning we woke up and came downstairs. Nain was waiting for us. Avery proceeded to sit on the table and open all her gifts. My favorite part was when she opened the butterfly tea set from Nain. Avery has been asking for a specific butterfly tea set that we've bought for two of her friend's recently. Mom found a china one versus the plastic one we've been giving; she bought the china one. Avery opened it and said something like, "This isn't the one that I've been wanting, but that's OK, I think I will love it!" However she said it, it was really sweet because she told the truth, but then decided it was OK that she didn't get the exact item she'd be asking for.

As I type this, Avery and Elise are in the living room dancing to Feliz Navidad. I guess there are worse Christmas songs to play over and over again. Like the Jingle Bells version done by Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters. That one is so annoying, yet Avery loves it so. 

fawkes

guy fawkes
Tomorrow is our annual Guy Fawkes party for D's office. This will be the last year of hosting at our house since we're already going to be bursting at the seams, depending upon how many people come.

I scheduled the cleaners to come today so the house will be clean for tomorrow night. And RHG just canceled their date night, so I won't have to clean up after the kids tonight - woohoo! Avery will be at the G's house for an overnight tomorrow night during the party. I heart the Gs.

nyc
We're still scheduled to go to NYC. D and I wondered via email a few days ago whether we (Avery and I) should still go, but we haven't had time since them to discuss in person. I lean strongly towards going even if it's not quite as smooth as it would have been had Sandy not hit. I'm assuming, of course, that all power will have been restored by this weekend so things will be fairly on-track by the time we get there late next week.

avery & fits
She's been doing really, really well lately regarding fits. She has been able to get upset within what I'd consider an acceptable range and deal with whatever was upsetting her. Massive improvement. I'm so pleased. One of the moments she had particular trouble dealing with before was when I'd get angry with the way she was speaking to me. I never yelled at her, but even just looking at her with a stern face would make her start crying and moving toward fit mode. This morning, she was able to take a moment then say she was sorry and we moved on. Massive improvement.

halloween
Avery dressed as Merida (from Brave) for her school Halloween parade, but chose to go as Jessie (from Toy Story) for the evening trick-or-treating. I'm not sure why she made that choice. I wasn't really up for trick-or-treating that night, so I asked D to go with her. He went around with Lily & Grace and their parents for 45 minutes or so of trick-or-treating. Avery came home with a perfectly reasonable amount of candy. It's funny because I don't think she even knows that other kids might eat more than one piece of candy that night. She asked to eat one then she asked to go to bed and it was an evening like any other. I stashed away all that candy in the treat drawer and she gets to pick one a day for lunches.

While Avery was totally reasonable and balanced in her consumption of Halloween candy, I was less than stellar. I at least had the good sense to buy mostly Kit Kats as the type for us to give out. Since I can't eat Kit Kats, those are still in plentiful supply. I also bought York Peppermint Patties, which I will eat once in a while, but would never eat more than one and can easily avoid them for months. Unfortunately, I also bought a bag of miniature peanut butter cups. I took the whole bag upstairs before bed and ate about half of it. I left the other half sitting on my nightstand. The next morning, Avery found the peanut butter cups on my nightstand. She said, "Mommy, if you eat all these at once, you'll get a stomach ache. I'll take them downstairs." I said, "Oh, you're right, Avery. Thank you." She was so very grown up about it. Thankfully, not grown up enough to look in the trash can and see what I inhaled the night before. She has always believed us that she'll get a stomach ache if she eats too much candy. I wonder when she'll finally test this theory, or bug us to let her test it. Soon no doubt. (Oh and yes, I did eat the other half yesterday while she was in school.)

avery & sleeping
Since we've returned from England, Avery has been going to sleep early and amazingly fast. We've been laying with her in bed until she falls asleep because we did it the first few nights we were back and it is working great, so why not. She falls asleep within 5 minutes of us saying "time to go to sleep." She's also been asking to go up to bed earlier than we were going up before England. Clearly, I love my daughter's non-resistance of bedtime. More often than not, she's the one who says she's ready for bed.

She's also, for the past couple of months, been coming into our bed in the middle of the night about 50% of the time. I actually rather like it, so I don't feel compelled to do anything about it. She's quiet (usually) when she comes in. Typically brings her blanket so she doesn't get under our blanket and just snuggles in between us. D may have a different version of this story, but for me, it's nice.

refugee family sponsorship
Amber, Christie, Stacey and I are sponsoring a couple of refugee families for Christmas again this year. This year one family is Bhutanese and one is Somalian. All members of both families need winter coats. Several bikes were requested. Then there are various items requested within the household. The list provided is just a wish list and we are in no way obligated to get all things on the list, but I would love to get each item. We'll see what we can do.

mom's back
My mom is back from her visit to Colorado and Wyoming. It's nice to have her home. She came inside for just a bit after I picked her up for the airport (her car was parked here while she was away, and Barkley was here, too). While she was in the bathroom, Avery asked if she could share her Halloween candy with Nain. She gave Nain a Kit Kat (from her stash, not from the stuff we have left) and had a bag of Skittles for herself. It was so grown up the way she shared. Melted my (so non-sentimental) heart.

pix

Avery's school pictures

My absolute favorite!

dipping

recap
I'm dipping my toes back in the blogging waters. Bullet points are the only way to resume blogging when so much as happened between posts.

• Our surprise visit to England for Dag's (D's dad) 70th BD party was a success! Dag was truly surprised and we had a great time. Avery and Olly were attached at the hip and couldn't wait to be around each other.
• D, Avery and I went to Barcelona, Spain for several days in the middle of our England trip. We had a good time. As always, I enjoyed seeing another country. More on that when I'm more able to concentrate on details. 
• Avery was a stellar traveler. She adjusted to the time change quite well and did very well behavior-wise until our last weekend in London. And I can't really blame her for that fit because she was running on a huge sleep deficit at that point. Something had to give. 
• Avery can carry all of her belongings through the airport: clothes, toys, everything. I guess this isn't that shocking, but I didn't picture getting back to easy travel so early. I figured I'd always be lugging a ton of stuff for her around. With her wheely bag and backpack, she's all set. (Sometimes she does ask for us to carry her pack back so she can run, but sometimes I ask D to carry stuff so I can do x,y, or z, so I figure that still counts as her being a self-sufficient traveler). 
• Avery will sing and dance in the middle of a crowded airport for hours it seems. We got stuck at several points in Heathrow on our way to Barcelona. Avery was just signing and dancing away. It could have been awful to be stuck in lines with a kid in tow, but Avery didn't make it any more difficult. 
• We've been back a week and things are starting to normalize for me. I did GREAT the first couple of days back. I worked out, I did all the laundry, got the house back in working order (food, tidy, laundry, etc), then I just hit a wall and crashed. Vacations, while wonderful, are hard on introverts. Spending so much time with people with little alone time is tough for me. I had a massive amount of alone time (relative for a parent) last week and I'm just now starting to feel like my head is above water. 
• We are heading to NYC in a couple of weeks. D has a business trip. Given I've only been to NYC once, I said let's extend the trip and make a long weekend of it. We've made reservations at some good restaurants and have tentative plans to see The Lion King (for Avery's sake, not mine).  I should buy tickets now ... done. Man, those shows are expensive! My dislike of the theater has saved us a bundle!
• Right now I'm doing my best to split out my single (massive) iPhoto library into years. I hate iPhoto for many reasons, but I've also gotten used to it, so I don't wish to switch. Especially since I have little interest in pictures except as keepsakes. Meaning, they're not a hobby. 

flu shot advice

Avery had her flu shot before Elise and Nolan got theirs. RHG sent this email to me a few days later:

I asked [Avery] to give advice for Elise and Nolan since they were getting flu shots tomorrow.  She asked what "advice" is, and I said tips or ideas to make it easier.  She said "yes aunt chele:
1 - sippy of milk
2 - have a stuffie
3 - hold mommy's hand and
4 - lots of hugs with mommy afterward"

She numbered them and held up her fingers in count as she rattled them off. Impressive.

puppy

It looks like the amount of time off I need from dogs is about 1.5 years. As a BD gift of sorts, I told D that we could get a GS puppy. I'm not sure if we'll get a pure bred one or just wait for one from the humane society. I saw a GS that I fell in love with when we were apple picking. I'm waiting for the woman who owned the dog to get back to me with the breeder information for it as it had a great temperament. 

I always said I would never get another GS and now it's all I want. Go figure. 

60

home sweet home after flight (Avery)60
Yesterday Avery took her 59th and 60th flights. How do I know the exact number you ask? Well, while in Mexico, I became obsessed with figuring out how many total trips to Mexico. That required I go back and document all those. I couldn't very well do that without documenting all the other travel we've done, so I did that too. Then I went and labeled all the blog posts during Mexico trips by their number. A useless exercise that only I care about, I know, but I'm still a bit obsessed with it. It's not easy being me.

We got home at 12:30 am last night (technically this morning). Despite a long layover in LAX (5 hours), it was a very easy travel day for me. The kids kept each other entertained wonderfully and when they got a little bored, Christie whipped out that iPad. iPads are god's gift to traveling parents.

Summary of our trip: pool, hot, beach, pool, hot, beach, pool, pool, beach, eat, hot. Done. Avery slept beautifully this trip. She's to the age where she always sleeps well, but her falling asleep times during this trip were unbelievable. I'd say "calm down" and she'd lie still and be asleep 15 seconds later. Amazing. It was the same tonight when we put her to bed.

iPhone stuff
So far, the thing I am most excited about for the iOS6 release for iPhone is the ability to set a Do Not Disturb time. I could always do this with my Blackberry where I had it shut itself off at 11 and wake up at 7. I like the way Blackberry did it better since it actually shut the phone off and therefore saved battery power during the night, but this will do. Plus, you can set it so that some callers can get through and can activate a feature that will let a call through when it comes from the same number two calls in a row within a few minutes of each other.

D new iPhone has shipped. We're going to get Mom set up to use D's old iPhone.

reentry day
It went pretty well today, especially because Avery had a playdate at Elise's after school. Avery made it to school on time and we didn't even rush to do that because I'd mentally decided she'd be late given our late flight. I had to run to the grocery store after drop-off to get stuff for her lunch, then take it back to her, but no biggie. I also managed to get stuff for dinner while at the grocery store. It's embarrassing how often I'll go to the grocery store in the morning to get a couple of things and talk myself out of getting something for dinner. Things I think: "maybe I'll come up with what to make for dinner later" and "another stop at the grocery store is no big deal. it'll probably even be easier" and "maybe we should just eat out?" That last thought is the one that has been winning out lately. But not today! Of course, we ate our standard meal of salmon, green beans, and (brown rice) pasta, but whatever, we still ate at home and I still cooked.

When I got home from dropping A at school and taking care of couple of minor errands, I took a nap. I slept until 2:30. I slept hard and solid. I needed that sleep. It was lovely and I'm so very, very grateful the scheduling gods (aka school and RHG) made it happen.

Mom came over to join us for dinner and to read to Avery. It was great to see her after being gone so long.

toys
Poll: how long does one have to pine after a toy before purchasing it for oneself? Like, if it's totally unnecessary, but you've wanted it for years, does that mean you're in the clear to buy it for yourself? There's a correct answer to this question and I'm fishing for it. One guess what I want the answer to be. In all seriousness, what is the threshold you use for allowing yourself to buy a somewhat expensive toy (under $500, but more than $200) for yourself that you absolutely do not NEED.

best pictures ever?
I'll let you decide. The last night in Mexico, we went exploring along the beach, then to dinner, then let the kids run the length (the FAR length) of the beach. Avery had complained earlier that her swim bottoms were hurting. We determined the cause was they are now too small for her. Since she couldn't very well walk around naked, I pulled them down slightly to make them more comfortable. She left them at this acceptable level for quite a while. When she and Henry took off running down the beach well ahead of Christie and me, I noticed a little white patch on Avery way in the distance. When we finally caught up to them (or rather got close enough to them to yell "stop!"), this is what we discovered the white patch to be.

Photo by Christie Glynn

Photo by Christie Glynn

Flying

Flying - time!
Since I last posted, some highlights:

• I finished up all of the wedding-related stuff I was doing for the teacher at Avery's school. She got married on Saturday. I couldn't attend because we were out of town for the weekend. I was up until 2:30 AM on Wednesday night doing to place cards for the tables, but it was worth it. I was very pleased with how those turned out.  And I'm now a total expert at using many types of pens with my Silhouette. You need place cards or the like, I'm your woman. During this process, I also discovered that it's cheaper and better to buy large sheets of high quality paper at Blick (or another art supply store) rather than using cardstock or scrapbooking paper. It takes the ink better and gives you more flexibility ... you know, in case you were wondering. 
• We had a visit with some of Avery's birthfamily! It went very well. Nikki (birthmother), Grandma J (maternal grandmother), Grandpa Paul (maternal grandstepfather), and Garrett (brother) were all there for the BBQ at Grandma J's house.
• We had another visit with the grandmother we hadn't yet met, Grammie Tina. She is Mike's mom. It was great to finally meet her. The visit was a good one. Avery took no time whatsoever to warm up to Grammie Tina. She commenced trying to impress her immediately. The two of them made bead bracelets together. 
• D and I attended his office's annual company trip. This year it was held on the coast at Salishan Lodge. I remembered to bring gluten-free graham "style" crackers for the beach party where s'mores were the dessert. While D went kayaking, I hit the spa to enjoy a scrub. 
• Mom and I painted ... and repainted. Fortunately, I actually enjoy painting for the most part. Mom wanted a smokey blue for her room. We picked out a blue, painted her whole bedroom (the largest room we were painting ourselves), then decided it wouldn't work. So we repainted it and it looks much better. She and I also painted her office and the guest room. The professionals came in and painted the dining room, living room, kitchen, and hallways, as well as all the ceilings. Mom and I will still need to paint the two bathrooms, but we can do that after she's settled in a bit. 
• MOM MOVED! She moved on Tuesday with the movers doing all the heavy lifting. I've been over to her place to help out everyday except yesterday. She's making great progress. The kitchen is unpacked, the living room is done, the office is nearing completion. Her couches fit perfectly in the living room, and they are much more attractive in this house than they were in her CO house. 

Flying - Avery's schedule
I've been flying* through Avery's fall scheduling, arranging and scheduling and registering for Avery's fall classes. So far, I think we can manage gymnastics**, dance***  and swimming****. Whether theater***** can be added into the mix remains to be seen. Swimming and theater conflict. When asked to choose between them, Avery chose swimming.

* Yes, I'm stretching the use of the "flying" theme here.

** Gymnastics, for us, is dependent upon two spots being open for Avery and Elise. We're out of district for THPRD. I suppose if we can't get into gymnastics there, I'll check if Avery wants to do gymnastics without Elise. If she still does, then I can look outside of the parks & rec program (probably go to the place where Teacher Jackie is teaching).

*** I was very happy to learn that the studio I found for Avery has both online registration and the ability for me to schedule particular days during a session. This means I don't have to pay for those days we'll miss due to vacations, etc.

**** Swimming is dependent upon being able to find an agreeable time that Henry can do semi-private lessons with Avery, as well as SWCC having a semi-private slot open during our requested time(s). So many dependencies.

***** I decided to just sign Avery up for theater on the off chance that things will work out exactly the way I need them to for this class to happen. If they do, great! If not, then I will lose my $25 deposit for that class.

Flying - travel 

I have been missing Mexico. I also realized this is my last school year where I can just do as I please with Avery's schedule. As such, I decided to see if Christie & Henry would be up for a trip down to Mexico in September. As I was proposing this idea, I realized that we have to connect through LA and what's near LA? Disneyland! After some back and forth with Christie regarding dates that would work, we scheduled a trip. We'll be hitting Disneyland for two full days and we'll be in Mexico for 5 full days (7 if you count travel days). I'm very much looking forward to this. And D will be able to join us for one full day in Disneyland.

Christie is opting not to tell Henry for fear that he'll ask everyday for a month if it's time to go yet. I did not take this route with Avery and told her almost immediately. Today we had the following conversation:
A: "Am I going to school today?"
M: "No, it's Sunday."
A: [pause] "Disneyland?"
M: "No."
A: "Mexico?"
M: "No."

At least she asked about school first?

Dress

Megan does crafty things
I accomplished a few crafty things recently. I'm moderately pleased with both. First, I recovered a hat box from Ikea with some decorative paper from Collage.

Boring hat box from IKEA before crafting

Brilliant box from IKEA after crafting

And last night for craft night (which totally rocked with just Christie and me, tyvm to those who bailed!), I started a dress for Avery. It's made from one of D's old work shirts. I had to draw the pattern myself, which I totally suck at for those wondering. This afternoon when I picked up the project to finish it, I sewing both arm holes shut. But I pushed through and finished. I made a few modifications. First, the belt for the tutorial has three separate bands of 1/4" elastic. I substituted a single band of 2" elastic and called it good. Also, I didn't put elastic in the arm holes since Avery didn't object and I think elastic around arms is uncomfortable. I'm kind of curious how much better a second one might be, but I'm not sure I'm curious enough to push forward with it. Time will tell.

I told Avery to strike a p ost and this is what she did. Not bad, eh?

Kids with iPhones
I was downloading photos from my phone to the computer a moment ago. This one came down with it. I didn't do it, so Avery must have done it while she was playing with my phone.

Speaking of kids and iPhones, we had given Avery my old iPhone (though with no phone service) when I got the 4s.  Then D got water on his at Nolan's BD party.  Since then, it thinks he always has headphones plugged in. So D is now using my old iPhone to get him through to October when the iPhone 5 is released. So our poor, poor 4.5 yo has no iPhone. Sad, sad story, I know.

Nap

Reason #31,897,328 I love my daughter
On the way home from summer camp this afternoon, Avery asked me, "Can I take a little nap on the couch when I get home?" I, of course, said yes ... you know, because I'm not crazy. Then, SHE DID IT. She's still asleep now. I love that she knows when she needs sleep and is willing to give that sleep to herself.

Swimming
Avery's enjoying her swimming lessons, however, I think the semi-private lessons are key until the kids can really swim on their own while instructors are helping other kids. When they need to be spotted/helped when swimming, it means that they spend much of their time on the wall practicing kicking. There is no one there to correct their form most of the time - since the instructor is working one-on-one with one particular child while this wall time is going on - so, to me, it's rather pointless. So back to semi-private we'll go in the fall.

Speaking of swimming, we need to get a move on to get there soon.

Amusement

Amusement Park
Avery, Nain, and I met up with friends at Oaks Park, which is an amusement park here in Portland. It was my first trip there. Overall, I give it a thumbs up as far as amusement parks go. Not too big, not too crowded, definitely not too expensive, and fairly clean.

Avery, upon exiting many-a-ride, would exclaim, "That was AWESOME!" My girl does not lack for enthusiasm.

Volunteer
I've started volunteering with a (fairly) new non-profit here in Portland called Sharecycle. I was bored one night, went onto craigslist to see if any volunteer opportunities "spoke" to me, and found one posted by Sharecycle. Its mission is to distribute recycled items from the US to communities in developing countries with a need for basic goods. As everyone knows, I like to organize Stuff. I like, even better, giving Stuff I Don't Need to people who do need it and will use it. And I like to help Stuff avoid landfills when possible. So this spoke to me.

The current project the group is working on is sending a batch of sewing accessories and educational supplies to a girls' orphanage in Tanzania.

They We are having a fundraising event on Monday, July 16th at East Burn. A portion of the  profit from the restaurant that evening will be donated to the charity. So, if anyone is looking for dinner plans that night, I say come out, have dinner, and join us!

Slacker Week --> Not So Much Slack Week
This should have been called Slacker Week for me. I skipped Crossfit both days, Avery didn't have her usual slew of activities, and I've generally not done a whole lot this week.

Next week, it's back to the grind. Avery starts her summer camp through her school, thank goodness. She's been asking me for the past few weeks, "Will I get to see Teacher Millie today?"

Avery also starts two weeks of daily swimming lessons. She kept asking about them, so I finally got on the ball and signed her up for general (meaning not private and not semi-private) lessons.

In the evenings next week, I'm busy with two dinners out, a volunteer meeting, a G date night, and a Timbers game.

Spy

Spy Games

We have some walkie talkies down here. I bought them to use while snowboarding and never used them, so bringing them down here seemed like a good idea. Avery asked to play spy with them, so I obliged. We spent 30 minutes or so running around the neighborhood playing spy. Avery's code name was Pinkalicious and I was Mickey Mouse (because I had MM on my hat). We'd take turns reporting things to each with urgency in spy/military terminology, like, "fall back! fall back!" and "Pinkalicious on point. Mickey Mouse stand down." Fast forward a bit to a trip to eat a meal at the pool bar. Avery gets the walkie talkies out and decides she's going to go walking about for a bit. She takes the walkie talkie with her and ventures off. When she reaches the part of the cement not covered in shade, she steps out carefully and then immediately talks into her walkie talkie to report, "TOO HOT! TOOOOO HOT!!!!" It was hilarious. Trust me.

It was during this game that Avery discovered the most fun person to have on the other end of the walkie talkie was Uncle Mike. That'll teach him to be funny.

Avery
As we were walking about from dinner the other night, Avery wanted us and the U's to have a race. She said, "Smiths go this way! Vics go that way!" As Vic said, she clearly knows who wears the pants in the U family.

Overall, Avery has done stellar down here. I can see how it's a bit rough for her when D and I get together with Vic and Mike. More so than with any other group of people, we're nearly constantly engaged in banter and catching up and just general talking. Avery gets left out of that much of the time. On top of that dynamic, we're down here with an 8mo whose naps are precious. Every time Bear goes down, we remind Avery to be quiet and not play in the courtyard, etc. There've been a couple of attitudes about being left out or about having to be quiet, but overall, I've got to say I'm absolutely proud of and thrilled with her behavior.

Along those behavior lines, she's also seemingly maturing quite a bit with the tantrums. The epic tantrums have been at bay for a few months now. The mini I-didn't-get-my-way tantrums are short lived and well within what I consider to be normal 4yo behavior. She's starting to respond better to logic and reason when we explain why she can't do something or why she can't eat something. She's also starting to negotiate better when she disagrees with our answers. While I never reverse a No when she's throwing a fit or when she just continues to whine about it, I will  compromise when she presents a logical and calm argument. It feels like she's made a leap (that I'm sure will backslide at times) to understanding a No can be changed with calmness and logic, but it can never be changed with a fit or whining.

Avery can swim! It's not pretty, but it's fun to watch. It's mostly a doggie paddle, but sometimes she throws her arms in there and gets some good strokes in. She has close to no fear in the pool, which is a bit disconcerting. She will reverse course and head for shallower parts when she starts to feel out of her depth, so that makes me feel better. Her confidence and ability in the pool made it much easier for us to sit on the side while she happily played in the pool. She wanted us to join her, of course. And we both joined her for extended periods of time (versus a quick dip) to play, but she also had to come up with games to play on her own. Some days were better than others. I must say watching her play fetch with a plastic cup all by herself was odd. She'd toss someone's old cup then swim to it. She could do this for a solid 20 minutes.

The last few days there have been more kids around the pool. Most of them have been Mexican, so they don't speak English. Avery clearly wanted to play with these kids, but just couldn't summon up the courage to say, "Hola!" So what she'd do is follow them around the pool like a dolphin following a boat. She'd then stick her head in the water and make really loud bubble blowing noises to get their attention. It was awkward to watch.

Me
I was sick all day today. Not with food problems - which both Mike and D suffered the day before - but with flu-like stuff. It hurts to swallow and my whole body aches. I spent from noon to 6 pm in bed, got up to drink a protein drink, then went back to bed until hunger finally woke me up at midnight. It's 1 AM now.

I utterly failed on my goal to walk everyday. The reasons for failure are numerous: laziness, hotness, boredom. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get back on things when we get back to Portland.

My good(ish) eating habits also slowly disintegrated as we've been down here longer.  Who knew how good tortilla chips dipped in condensed milk and washed down by grape Fanta could be?

Good Friends & Good Life
The 24-hour technical blackout last 24-hours, but no more. We all did discover that when we're together in a group, it's better to just put the damn iPhone/iPad/Kindle down. Victoria has coined a phrase which I think should catch fire soon: iJacked. When you're having a lovely meal and then suddenly everyone is checking their devices, your meal has been iJacked. Same goes for a vacation.

Despite sitting here not feeling great, it's been a fabulous trip. I'm so grateful we have Vic and Mike to join us on some vacations. It's hard to find a couple friend where all parties have fun and click with each other. We also have the same general attitude about relaxing. Dinner plans are made a few hours beforehand and eating out is the preference. There's little scheduling or pre-planned structure. Everyone just wears whatever to dinner. There's no application of make-up or doing of hair. There's no wondering if this excessively casual approach is OK. It is.

Finally, I am ready to be home. I love it down here. I'm grateful we get to come as often as we do. I'm grateful Avery loves it so much. I'm grateful for the slow pace of life when we're down here. And I'm grateful that I look forward to returning to our daily routine in Portland. Life is good.

Treats

Mexico!
Yesterday we arrived at the casa around 2 or 3 pm. We settled in quickly, then hit the hotel pool*. Mike and Bear joined the three of us at the pool while Vic worked on paperwork for a house sale (Realtors never stop working it seems). Vic was able to join us for dinner. The six of us ate at the hotel pool bar.

For sleeping arrangements this trip, Vic & Mike & Bear are in the lower bedroom that has the two queen beds in it. Avery, Damian, and I are in the upstairs bedroom with the one king-sized bed in it. We brought down a memory foam mattress topper (thanks Mom!) to fold over and use on the floor for Avery's bed. It worked out even better than I'd hoped it would. Avery was more than happy to settle onto it for bed and stayed in it all night.  When I came up with this idea, I envisioned that we would simply put the mattress topper on the floor each night, then fold it up and move it out of the way during the day. When we got here, I realized that we're not the type of people to do this on a daily basis, especially on vacation. I also realized that I don't really use the nightstand. So I shoved the nightstand into the corner, folded the mattress topper in half, and wedged it between the bed and nightstand. It's perfect and just what Avery needs at this age. Eventually we might have a trundle bed somehow installed under our bed to accomodate Avery when we have guests with us when we're down here.

I slept great last night. Avery woke me up at 8 AM here (7 AM Pacific time). I'll take it!

Avery declined to go on a walk with me. I only managed to go for 45 minutes before I was too bored and hot to continue. I struggle with boredom on my hour-long walks in Portland, but it's better there since there are significant hills to break up the monotony. No hills here - at least not where I'm walking. Tomorrow perhaps I'll set a goal of walking earlier in the morning so I can venture further without worries of getting far out and then having to make my way back in the blazing sun. Anyway, my goal down here with regards to daily walks is just to go for as long as I can. If I walk slow (because Avery's with me or whatever) that's fine. I just want to stay in the habit of the hour-long mental dedication to some sort of physical activity. So far, so good.

When I got back from my walk, A wanted to go for a bike ride. So she biked and I walked down to the store for a treat.

Avery sitting down to enjoy her treat

Leading the way back to the casa post-treat consumption

* The community pool is being repaired, so it's out of commission for our entire time down here. We can use the hotel pool free of charge and that works just fine for me.

Cuddles

Cuddles. She just doesn't get enough. Sigh.
As usual, Avery fell asleep on the floor in her bedroom. This happens almost every night. D always moves her from the floor to her bed before we go to bed. Last night he picks her up and she sees me in the hallway. She says, "Mommy, do you know the reason I come into your bed at night? It's because I don't get enough cuddles before bed so I need to get more cuddles." Talk about a master manipulator! Not enough cuddles my ass! You can make me feel guilty about a lot of things related to my parenting, but amount of cuddles is not one of them! I will cuddle till the cows come home, thank you very much. It just cracked me up.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, she's coming into our bed every night right now. It bugs D more than me because it keeps him awake more. I always wake up throughout the night anyway, so there's no difference to me if it's because she's squirming next to me or not. What was working for a long time was making a morning TV show contingent upon her sleeping in bed. We still don't let her watch TV in the morning, but she doesn't seem to care all that much about it anymore. Yesterday she asked for yet another song for her phone*, so we said we'd buy it for her today if she slept in her bed all night. She was very excited, but once again came in at some point during the night.

* I gave Avery my old iPhone, so she calls it her phone, but it obviously doesn't work as a phone for Avery.

Polish Nail
Bit of a repeat from my FB status last night ...

Avery's been asking if she can polish her nails for a while now. She saw Elise with nail polish (I think because Elise was at a friend's house and they did it there? RHG can enlighten me) and that was it. I don't have anything against painting nails specifically. I just wanted to delay any of the nail polish, make-up, etc as long as possible. So I finally caved yesterday and said she could pick out a couple of colors at the drug store when we were picking up her fluoride prescription. Avery, by the way, cals it "polish nail" rather than "nail polish." I corrected her, but we'll see if it sticks. She still calls her forehead her headfore.

Anyway, she picked pink sparkles and blue. She was so excited about it I thought she was going to explode. Seriously. Avery gets excited about pretty much everything, but this was a level beyond that. I had no idea she wanted it THAT badly.

She and I painted our nails before we went out for dinner. She wanted one of her hands done in pink and the other in blue.

I haven't bought nail polish in maybe nine years? Something like that. Nail polish has really changed in that time! There were all sorts of magnetic colors (not sure what the purpose of that is other than maybe it looks a certain way?) and all sorts of crackly colors. And there are definitely way more colors outside of the traditional pink/purple/neutral colors that used to be the dominate ones.

Timbers Game & Date Night
Tonight is the Timbers game. D is taking Avery because the guy who has the season tickets for the seats next to him is bringing his daughter. They decided to bring the girls to the same game in hopes the girls will like each other and enjoy the games a bit more. Following the game we'll drop Avery at the G's house and head out of our date night. There aren't a lot of movies playing that we want to see, but that will not stop us from going on date night.

Flatline

                     
☝that is a graph of my weight loss 
So that goal of losing weight? I'm being as good as I can be without going overboard. I'm walking 4 miles (fast) up and down the hills around here everyday. I'm doing Crossfit twice a week. I'm logging my calories to make sure I don't go crazy. I've been doing this for three weeks now. Do you know what I have to show for it? NOTHING.  Absolutely nothing. I have lost exactly one pound and that's a come and go pound (you know, the one you have if you weigh yourself now, but not when you weigh yourself in 5 hours, but then it's back in another 5 hours).  WTF? Stupid, stupid aging. I blame it all on aging. There are two things keeping me going on this kick:

• I feel better, mentally and physically, throughout the day when I walk in the mornings. 
• My body has rearranged some of its mass in a more pleasing way. 

However, my body fat % is still very high and my weight is still high. I haven't paid close attention to my body fat percentage, but I can say that if it's changed, it's only changed by at most 1%. 

So this is my frustration for the moment. I don't really have much else to say about it other than fuck aging's effect on my metabolism. 

Crossfit yesterday was more squats, alternating those with handstand pushups. Before you go and get all impressed by me (as if you could after reading the above), know that I can do a handstand, but I cannot do a handstand push up. So I would do a handstand, then drop down and do a cheater pushup ... because I can't even do more than one proper pushup.

Fountains and Parks and Parenting Self-Esteem
Avery has been to fountains around town three of the last three days, tyvm. At least I'm keeping her active. We played at the OHSU fountain for two hours on Monday. I had Elise and Nolan for the afternoon, and we met Christie & Henry there for part of the time, so that two hours went by fast. After that I took all three kids to the park for a bit. I felt like a Good Mom and a Good Babysitter because of those things. But, on balance, Nolan exited the school without me or any other adult and made his way down the sidewalk in the parking lot where cars are typically going every which way. And later in the day, Elise just strolled out into the street when I was focused on Avery and Nolan. So, overall, it was a wash of a day in my parenting/babysitting/child handling self-esteem.

TV
Is anyone else watching Veep? The first episode I had trouble thinking of Julia Louis-Dreyfus' as anyone other than Sarah Palin, so I thought that would be a hinderance to me watching the show. A few episodes later and it's clearly not based on Sarah Palin in any way. It's a very funny and very clever show. Watching the show the other night, it struck me that I in no way have trouble thinking of it as a leap for a woman to be the VP. It's not like I've ever doubted a woman could do the job of VP, I think it's more than 10 years ago I would have looked at it as Hollywood trying to be progressive or whatever. Now it's just something that hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure it will soon(ish). I should note, the show is a comedy and funny for those who aren't into politics.

Hike

Going Forth
I'm going to sign up for Crossfit. After my last blog post, I started to reconsider it. Not because I didn't like it because I did like it. I was reconsidering because it threw my walking routine in disarray due to the extreme soreness. I am pleased with my energy and desire to keep up with my daily 4-mile walks. I don't dread them and my days go much better when I've done them.  That said, I know if I stop for more than a couple of days, I'll fall off the wagon completely and not get back on for months. When it comes to good habits, I have to work really hard to be consistent. When it comes to bad habits, I'm an expert level backslider. All this self-knowledge made me think perhaps it was wiser to get a few months of daily walks in before taking on other activities. Two things changed my mind:

1. Today I did my walk in the morning before I took Avery to school (6:30 - 7:30). That was great because it was done and out of the way for the day. Doing it mid-morning made it feel like it just ate up my entire mid morning. 
2. I talked to one of the women in my Crossfit class after Avery's Kung Fu class today. And the instructor remembered my name. Two minor human interactions and I felt like, OK, I can do this. 

The key will be to not push myself in the Crossfit class so I am not too sore to walk the next day. Also, I'm going to (try to) walk in the early mornings. This means I will still be doing my usual hilly walk everyday. Originally I was planning to just walk around Gabriel Park for an hour on Crossfit days, but it's not hilly enough. I feel like I'm "wasting" my hour because of the lack of hills. 

Hiking

Today was my day with the G kids. It was such a nice day that I decided to take Avery and Elise and Nolan on a hike up the trail, then down through the cemetery. Considering it was over an hour, in the hot sun, and a 1.4 mile hilly walk, they all did great. Breakdowns of each child's positives and negatives (clearly this is subjective to what I like on a walk). 

Kid	Positives	Negatives
Avery	--Strong and fast walker --Easily excited by New and Exciting Destinations! (makes it easy to keep her moving)	--Does not ever stop talking --While not whining exactly, Avery does announce every so often that “I’m tired, but I’m going to push through it. Did you hear me, Mommy? I’m going to push through it!”
Elise	--Doesn’t whine --Quiet for long periods of time --Can walk barefoot on grass without complaining once about needles or ouchies.	--Slooooowwww --Unwilling to run to catch up; sits down if a race is ongoing to declare her lack of participation in said race. --Wants to “rest” (WTF is that?)
Nolan	--Willing to run to catch up --Doesn’t whine --Doesn’t ask to take off shoes in the grass.	--Slowish --Talks not loud and like an almost 3yo boy = hard to understand if I'm not concentrating completely on him.

Tulips

Tulip Festival
This morning Mom and I met up with Christie & Henry to carpool down to the tulip festival. Sara and her three kids managed to meet us there with only a couple of hours notice. The kids all had a great time. It was sunny and a bit on the hot side, but overall, still very nice. And considering the lateness of the season, the tulips still looked relatively good.

Of course, for Avery the festival is more about what rides she gets to go on rather than about looking at pretty flowers. This time around those rides/activities were: bouncy house with slide (which was supposed to have a 5 minute time limit, but the kids stayed in for about 25-30 minutes); strap supported trampoline jumping; cow train. There were pretty pictures taken of tulips by others, but I just aimed to capture a few on my phone.

Avery loving the strap-supported trampoline

Nain waiting with the four kids to get on the cow-train ride. 

Nain and Avery, who is most excited, before the departed on the cow train ride around the tulip fields. 

Garden 
Mom took Avery with her to get a few flowers for our back deck on Saturday morning. When they got back, Mom set about planting with Avery helping out. They not only bought flowers, but a strawberry plant and a snap pea plant. Avery woke up the next morning excited that her pea plant might have grown. Her enthusiasm is enough for me to consider putting in a container garden and putting Mom to work on it. She's got to earn her keep somehow, right?

Avery doesn't get not choosing a winter hat for the summer. A hat's a hat, right?

Kung Fu
After the tulip festival trip, we were home for about an hour, then headed back out to go to Avery's first solo kung fu class. I knew she'd be a bit shy since she didn't have Elise there to conquer the boys with her. It took me encouraging her for about 5-10 minutes at the beginning of class to convince her to join the boys on the floor. Once she started in on it, she loved it, but she wasn't keen on the idea of being the only girl. I was so proud to see her go out there are (fully) participate despite her nervousness. She even raised her hand to get up in front of the other kids to demonstrate some moves. Granted her moves looked more like dance moves than kung fu moves, but I'll take it!

We are committed to at least 2 months of the classes, then we can cancel anytime with 30 days notice. Hopefully it doesn't take her 5 minutes of convincing her to get out on the floor each time. The woman sitting next to me said it took her son six weeks of watching before he'd even go out onto the mat, so I guess if I have to prod for 5 minutes each time, it's not bad.

Here

Avery & Henry! They're here! They're here!
They made it! They made it! It seemed a bit touch and go for a while, but it only seemed that way. It was never that way.

We all watched as Damian, Avery and Henry got off the plane and onto the tarmac. Stacey and Amber left to go to their gate while Christie and I went to anxiously await DAV. They were among the first off the plane, so we were expecting them to be among the first through customs. We waited and waited. Then waited some more. Then more. Then a little more. Then realized there were very few people still waiting for passengers. Then the security personnel looked at Christie and me and said, "No more people!" And Christie and I were like, um, no our CHILDREN! We thought there was some issue with D getting Henry into the country, being that he's not his parent and it's a bit odd to enter a foreign country with someone else's kid. But that process went just fine. The notarized letter was all that was needed. What did delay his entry was his lack of a receipt for the locks he brought down for our house. I had him bring down four locks from Home Depot. They are about $130 a piece, so just over $500 total. Each person can bring in $300 worth of goods, so with the three of them, they could have $900 worth of goods. Since he didn't have a receipt, they insisted that they'd need to look up the price of the locks, but didn't do that everyone else had gone through the line (fair enough). So our lesson learned: always bring a receipt.

On the drive back to the casa it felt like Avery had aged years instead of just the four days I was away from her. She seemed so grown up. So did Henry. You might be wondering how the flights went for D and the two 4yos. Easy peasy! The kids kept each other entertained for the most part. Henry only has about 30 minutes worth of interest in a movie on the iPad. But fortunately, he managed to entertain himself for 1.5 hours on the flight from LA to Loreto. D used the avoid-all-eye-contact approach and it worked. Avery was, of course, glued to her movie on her iPad. D even got compliments from people on how well behaved the kids were, so that's good.

Cooler
It's a bit cool today, still. But it's only 8:15 AM. Avery and Henry have asked several times for the pool, not grasping that it has to be a bit warmer. Overall, though, they're being very patient.

Recycling

Recycling

With the introduction of the new food scrap composting program in Portland, I've been reassessing what else can be recycled in our house. Granted, it is always far better to reduce consumption and reuse things. But recycling is better than not recycling, so there we go. 

This morning, I took in my plastic bags and film, as well as rigid plastics not recyclable in the curbside program. The recycling company reorganized and relabeled their bins making it more clear what is recyclable and what is not. Specifically, I've wondered what plastic bags are recyclable and which ones aren't.  After much online research, I've found that the best test is if you can stretch the bag (grocery bag, dry cleaning bag, bubble wrap), it's recyclable. An exception to this rule is that plastic packaging prepackaged food products (including frozen foods) cannot be recycled. This means chip bags and cereal bag liners which I'd been inappropriately lumping into this category. 

So then I tried to find another place that will take chip bags, cereal lines, etc. That seems to be a bust, so the best thing to do with those is to find another use for them before tossing them in the garbage. There are several sites with suggestions, but I know I won't use them for wax paper for food. I'm not a germaphobe by any stretch, but I like to know for sure that anything I'm setting food for consumption on is not contaminated.  The best I've come up with, in terms of what *I* will realistically reuse cereal bags for, is for crafting purposes. It can be used as a liner when you're doing some glueing and want to protect a table or whatever.  I'll give this a whirl, but if I find I just can't get a good system down for reuse, then I'll have to let the cereal bags hit the landfill.  Ironically, they're not even my cereal bags since I very rarely eat boxed cereal. They're from D's morning granola. And, just in case there are any readers who suggest we could make our own granola or buy bulk to avoid this problem, no we can't. D has exactly one brand of granola he likes; within that brand, he has exactly one flavor he likes. We have tried many, many other types and he never finishes a single one. I'm just happy he eats breakfast since he didn't do that before we met. 

I also feel more confident that the rigid plastics container takes all of the items I've been putting in it.  This is where we have a large volume that previously went to trash. Clam shell packaging, the plastic packaging on toys or batteries, lids from tubs or bottles, etc. 

We currently have the smallest garbage can that is provided by the program and we still aren't filling it full every other week.  I'm going to wait a few months to see if I can reduce our trash pickup to once per month. This would only save us $8.90 per month, but for me it's more about achieving once-a-month garbage pick up. 

Avery Updates

Avery is officially able to write her name now. She's been able to do A V E for several months, but now the R and the Y kicked in. 

Also recent is her heightened interest in doing crafty things. At school for the past week, she's been at the craft/writing station every time I've picked her up. Prior to this she's always been over on the rug playing with toys or listening to books. Her teacher also said she has almost predominately been into playing and moving around until recently when she is starting to show more interest in crafty things.  This week she's been making envelopes and invitations for her BD party (note: they look nothing like invitation or envelopes, but that's what she says she's doing). 

The reward/token board I made seems to be having a more definitive impact on her action.  The other charts certainly worked, but the idea that she'd not get a ticket/flower didn't seem to have much impact on her decision to do or not do something.  The newness of the token has an impact such that I can tell her if she continues asking questions after I've put her to bed, then she won't get a token the next morning. This results in her stopping her questions/talking and either go to sleep or entertain herself until she is ready to go to sleep. 

For the past several months, it has become uncommon for us to tell Avery it's time to go to bed. Typically about 7 pm or just before, she'll look at D and I and say, "I"m ready for nighttime now," then we head up to bed. That getting her to go to bed isn't a battle is something I'm eternally grateful for. She only goes to sleep shortly after 7 if she hasn't a nap that day. If she's had a nap, we typically read books, brush her teeth, and kiss her goodnight about 7:30 and she "reads" or plays quietly in her room for 30-45 minutes after that. 

Rearranging

We'll be doing some rearranging of the furniture in the casa tomorrow.  I'm not going to explain why, but we have too much furniture for this place and much of it is too big.  There are several other homeowners in the same situation so selling it is a long shot.  Our main problem is that there's not enough room in the living room.  We have a gigantic armoire housing our TV which is not gigantic.  After much deliberation (which for D and I means about 15 minutes total), we've decided on the following moves:

• Move one of the armoires from the lower bedroom into the upper bedroom.  This will put two identical armoires side-by-side in the upper bedroom.  A little kooky looking, but not too bad. One will house the TV up there, the other will have a hanging rack in the top of it. 
• Move the armoire in the living room into the lower bedroom.  This armoire will be converted from a TV armoire to a clothing armoire. 
• Move the bookcase from the upper bedroom to the living room.  The TV will sit on the top of the bookcase; the DVD players will go on the top shelf; DVDs, books, and knick knacks will go on the other two shelves. 

This should free up a bit of space in the living room, as well as free up the closet in the upstairs bedroom since we'll have two armoires in that room - one for the TV and one for clothing. 

This morning I used those as-seen-on-TV storage vacuum bags to seal up the excessive linens we have for the casa. Again, I'm not going to explain why because it's boring, but we have many, many sets of sheets and mattress pads and blankets down here. They were taking up all the spaces in the armoire drawers.  So I decided to leave out an extra set of sheets for each bed, then seal up the rest and store it away in the closet. I borrowed our neighbor's vacuum and sweated my way through the process, but it's done.  We now have drawers, people, drawers!

After the great linen storage program of '11 was completed, we headed over to use the pool in our friends' casa. They have a swanky custom with a private pool.  It's a small, but deep pool. Their grandkids - close in age to Avery - have all learned to swim quickly in the pool because the width is relatively small, so it's less intimidating to kids.  Avery's making good progress. 

Let's see, what other news do we have? Well, there are now enough restaurants and businesses within walking distance of our casa to avoid renting a car when down here!  Next time we'll depend on friends or taxis to get to and fro the airport, and maybe a trip or two into town, but skip the car rental. D and I have decided it's our duty to support the walking-distance restaurants by not cooking.  Plus, it's probably cheaper since we often have to restock basic staples that then go bad before our next visit.  

What else? Oh! There's another airline out of Canada that's going to start flying in soon.  This will put pressure on Alaska Airlines to cut the cost of it's seats.  It also means the Canadians won't have to spend the night in LA to get down here.  Apparently the LAX - LTO route is one of Alaska Airlines most profitable routes.  They flights are always full to the brim, they fly on the cheapest type of aircraft to fly, and they have little competition (I would say none, but technically there are now flights coming in from Cabo and some other Mexican city). So this is excellent news.  

Avery and napping down here rocks.  She asks to go to quiet time and puts herself to bed and goes to sleep for 2 hours.  Bedtime is similar. I think it's all the work of swimming in the pool and the heat and the sun.  Whatever it is, I'll take it. 

Oh, I forgot to blog about yesterday.  We booked a boat and took it over to Carmen Island. On the way, we found a school of maybe 200 dolphins.  They swam right next to our boat for a good 15 minutes, jumping close enough that it was as if I could reach out and touch them.  Anyone who can kill a dolphin is not human.  That's all I have to say about that. We boated part way into a cave, then headed over to a white sand beach (even more private than the white sand beach we visited before, fellow girls' weekenders). This beach wasn't as good in that it's rockier, but I liked it better because it was totally private and secluded.  We didn't see a single boat there.  Plus, the snorkeling in the little inlet was amazing.  D and I have never been impressed with our snorkeling adventures, but this one was great. We saw huge schools of all kinds of fish. I think I'll try scuba diving next time we're down. The tour guide we used is a dive master, so we'll be able to use him again.  His English was excellent and he was very knowledgable and cool.  In case you're wondering, we took turns snorkeling.  One of us snorkeled while they other stayed with Avery on the beach collecting "crystals."