September 10

Our baby girl turned five years old today.  Five!  That's a whole hand worth of fingers.  It's a big deal.  I'm looking at the time right now (10:16 p.m.), and I'm remembering that five years ago this moment, I had known my daughter for less than an hour.  That seems just impossible to me because I feel like there has never been a time when I didn't know her.  When her face didn't dance through my thoughts or her laugh ring in my ears.  I am learning that perhaps the greatest joy of parenting is discovering who your children are, and I feel like we're really getting to know our girl...how she sees the world, what excites her and what terrifies her, how she sees other people, what she values.  This year between four and five years old felt pivotal in that she no longer rides the fence between "baby" and "girl" -- she is most definitely not our baby anymore.  She is sophisticated in so many ways and fiercely independent and feisty and sensitive and compassionate and utterly determined to reach her goals.  And yet...  I rocked her to sleep last night -- for the first time in well over a year -- all curled up in my lap after she fell out of bed and totally busted up her bottom lip (those full lips of hers didn't need to get any fuller, let me tell you).  She was so upset, and even though I completely celebrate her growth and development and delight in seeing her begin to make her own way and choose her own life, I relished those 30 minutes of dependence and intimacy.  I know things often get complicated with mothers and daughters, but I hope Madelyn knows that no matter how old she is or what path she has taken or what other busted lips life gives her, she can always return to her mama's arms. 

Happy Birthday, sweet girl.  It is a privilege and a blessing to have you in our family.  We delight in you, and we love you!

Manzanita

We just returned from a short but sweet trip to the Oregon Coast -- Manzanita, to be specific.  We decided about a week ago that the summer wouldn't be complete without a couple of nights at the coast, and we were able to find a room at a modest but clean (e.g. no bed bugs) motel directly across from the beach right in the heart of the little town.  Perfect.  The weather forecast said "AM clouds/PM sun" with a high of 67 for the three days we were there, but the sun shone brightly and warmly from sunrise to sunset the whole time.  We even went swimming.  Swimming!  Not in the ocean, mind you -- we're not crazy.  The motel has a small heated outdoor pool that looks directly out to the ocean.  Between the pool and the endless running on the beach and the "treasures" found in the sand and the ice-cream cones, my kids were in heaven.  

I realize that for many people, a "beach" isn't a "beach" unless the air is hot, the water is warm, and the primary reason to go is to actually swim in the ocean.  I get it.  I've been to plenty of warm beaches, tropical or otherwise, and I find turquoise water, palm trees, and hot sand just as gorgeous and seductive as anyone.  But they don't restore my soul like the Oregon Coast does.  They don't leave me with a sense of wonder and awe at the utter magnitude of God's creation.  They don't fill my lungs with crisp, salty air and cleanse each cell in my body one breath at a time.  And, particularly poignant, they don't carry a lifetime's worth of family memories that I get to relive every time I visit.  Alas.  I'll forgo the care-free, pleasing, bikini-clad blonde-bombshell of a beach in favor of my moody, mysterious, bespeckled brunette bookworm of a beach anyday.  

Here are some 2012 highlights:

 Ice-cream before dinner?  Sure!

 I love this shot because it shows the grandeur of the Oregon Coast.

 Inspecting a crab's claw.  The beach is full of surprises and treasures.

 At Camp 18 about 30 minutes away from the coast.  I have been eating here for as long as I can remember, and absolutely nothing has changed.  I think I would literally cry if it ever closed down.  

Riding on a surrey in Seaside on our way out of town.  Kurt and I peddled that thing for 45 minutes and earned every bite of our lunch at Camp 18! 

Sunriver 2012

We just returned from our annual trip to Sunriver with our friends.  Man, did we have a great time.  I cannot overemphasize how grateful I feel to be a part of this group of people and this fun tradition.  Each one of these men, women, and children holds a tender and unique spot in my heart.  I start looking forward to next year's trip on the ride home from the current year's trip which is saying a lot considering there are 8 adults and 9 children sharing one roof for five straight days.  Here are the Olmsted's highlights for this year's adventure:

- Our dear friends, the Coulter's, joined us this year.  The Hintz's weren't able to go, which was truly sad for us, and we missed them!  In their absence, we invited the Coulters who moved away nearly 7 years ago.  What a gift to just pick up right where we all left off...the mark of true friends, right?  I hope they join us again and again!!

-  We rode our bikes everywhere everyday.  For those who haven't been to Sunriver, there are over 35 miles of bike paths throughout the resort that, quite literally, take you over the river and through the woods.  One day, we rode out to the marina, past the stables, past the little airport, all along the Deschutes River, and back through the woods and houses into the village.  The loop ended up being around 9 miles, and Madelyn rode her own bike the entire way.  This has definitely been the Summer of Bicycling for our family, and we are having so much fun with it.  Both kiddos love to ride, and it's so exhilarating to feel the wind against your body, knowing that you're moving by the power of your own two feet.  

-  Sunriver just opened a new aquatic center that is unbelievable.  Two huge water slides, one lazy river, one beach-entry baby pool with bubblers and fountains, a sand pit, one shallow pool, one deep pool, a restaurant, and 400 bike racks outside so you can easily ride to and from.  So awesome.  We all went every day, and both of our kiddos just loved being in the water.  Henry had this cool little float-suit that let him feel like he was "swimming," and Madelyn learned how to jump off the side of the pool and get her face in the water, which is a big deal for a Portland girl who only gets to swim about four times a year :)

-  There are deer all over Sunriver.  Given that the Olmsted children have no respect for sleeping in on vacation, Kurt and I took turns waking up early with them and going on a crisp, quiet walk looking for deer. We saw countless mamas with their twin babies, and the kiddos were delighted to see that the babies don't run, they bound like little spotted springs with floppy ears.  So stinkin' cute.  One morning, we even saw a daddy and a teenage boy deer with their antlers and fluffy necks.  

-  My kiddos don't have any cousins (yet?), so for us, being with this group of people is particularly special because these children function just like cousins for my kids.  I loved seeing different combinations of kids curled up on the couch together or chasing each other around the park or playing imaginatively in the bunk room.  Each pair or trio has their own unique way of relating, and I loved how fluidly they could move from one friend or activity to another.  

-  All of the kids go to bed around 7:30, so the adults got some good adult-only time every night for several hours which was super fun.  It felt like one big non-scandalous co-ed sleepover where we laughed and told stories and goofed around...and drank a Coulter concoction that henceforth will be known as the "Loosey Brucey" (Bruce being one of our friends who evidently becomes uncharacteristically verbose with one of these under his belt.  Funny, funny stuff.).

Anyway, I could go on and on, but I'll let these photos fill in the gaps.  Loosey Brucey put it together for us and did a great job :) 

Catching Up

How is it already the end of July and I haven't posted anything yet this month?  Henry, when you read these posts someday and wonder why I told so many more stories and posted so many more pictures when your sister was tiny, just know that all of your stories are tucked safely away in my heart for you to hear one day even if I haven't shared them.  That, and you are one busy kiddo.  Keeping up with you takes every ounce of energy I have most days, and I figure you'd rather have me playing motorcycles with you, reading you Beautiful Oops one more time, and kissing your scraped knees than staring at this computer.  Anyway, here are a few photos of the last several weeks to catch up at least a bit!

 

This is one of Henry's many motorcycle shirts.  He gets so excited to wear them and then rediscovers the motorcycle at several points throughout the day and gets just as excited.

 

Madelyn in her ballerina fancies.  She took lessons for the first time this past spring and loved it.  She's not currently taking lessons, but about once per week she has to get all dressed up (including fancy make-up) and dance around in our living room.  

Henry driving Uncle Jeff's Scout.  He was pretty chuffed about the size of that steering wheel!

I caught Madelyn reading to Henry one morning.  Believe me, there are plenty of times when I catch her tripping him with her feet or him biting her on her arm, so we take our sweet moments as often as we can get them!  (And there are plenty, truth be told.  They are particularly fond of kissing each other goodnight lately and it just about melts me every time.)

Henry "working" in the backyard during a morning of weeding.  He absolutely loves to be outside, and we have made our backyard our favorite room of the house these past several weeks.

First raspberries of the season which means Henry's first raspberries ever.  I canned jam for the first time this year (and am now a total canning addict!), so he can enjoy fresh raspberries all year long!

 Good gracious, I love this boy.

Henry has formed an unbreakable attachment to his blankie "BeeBee" and his polar bear.  Lately, we don't go many places -- including the high chair at mealtime -- without them.  Consequently, polar bear in particular gets a lot of baths.

4 1/2 year old Madelyn wearing 18 month old Henry's clothes.  Our girl just seems to stretch taller and taller these days.  The funny thing is, given her September birthday, she will be one of the oldest children in her Kindergarten class in 2013.  By that time, she'll be so tall people will wonder what this third grader is doing in a Kindergarten classroom.

Madelyn got to go to the American Girls store in Seattle when we were there visiting Auntie Kari, Uncle Brad, Uncle Kris, and Auntie Laura.  This picture pretty much says it all.

We transfer our girl from our bed to her bed every night.  I wish I could sleep this hard!

A recent trip to the zoo with Daddy.  Cheetahs are my absolute favorite, but kind of crazy to think that a one inch piece of glass is the only thing that stands between my baby and those teeth. 

 

Henry likes to experience his food with all five senses.  All 7 foods that he eats, that is.  Our Vitamix is in the mail as we speak because I'm genuinely worried about this boy's nutritional intake.  Trust me, I wish mac 'n cheese fulfilled all of my nutritional requirements too, but the world just doesn't work that way.

Number One Fan

When I was pregnant with Madelyn, we didn't know she was a "Madelyn" until she was actually born.  I didn't really think too hard about what it would be like to parent a little boy or a little girl because I was genuinely excited about parenting either and I didn't want to start hoping for one over the other.  As I was coming out of the anesthesia fog and Kurt told me that Madelyn Grace was waiting for me, I felt an immediate sense of relief and connection.  I would've been just as thrilled with a baby boy, but there was less mystery about a girl.  I'm a girl.  I know how to be a girl and connect with a girl, and indeed, parenting a little girl has been a delight and a blessing.

When I was pregnant with Henry, we chose to find out that he was a "Henry" at twenty weeks, so I had several months to imagine what it would be like to parent a little boy.  I knew I would be bonkers in love with him, but I did worry that I wouldn't connect to him as easily as I did with Madelyn or that I wouldn't be as motivated to play with him because I've never been super excited about typical "boy" activities.

Well as it turns out, all that worry was a complete waste of time (story of my life).  I connected immediately, deeply, and eternally to that little boy the second I heard his cry, and the second I held him in my arms, I knew I would enthusiastically hunt for worms, play cops and robbers, or roll around in the mud if that's what would bring him joy.  In the last several months, we have really seen Henry's little personality emerge and begin to blossom.  He has had access to the same toys and the same activities that Madelyn did when she was his age, but the toys toward which he gravitates and the ways that he plays with them are completely different.  This boy is all about wheels.  In a book full of gorgeous, colorful animals, he can find the one page with the one tiny truck drawn in the distance and he doesn't want to look at any other pages.  Thursdays are the best mornings at our house because the garbage truck, recycle truck, and compost truck all come in their big wheeled, loud engined, smelly glory.  He can (and does) make a car out of anything and somehow instinctively knows to drive it along any surface (floor, arm chairs, my legs) while making an enthusiastic "bbbbb" sound.  But in Henry's world, even garbage trucks, racecars, and tractors are trumped by anything with two wheels, much to his father's and Papa's utter delight.  He is absolutely fascinated with bicycles and motorcycles.  We start every day with a MotoGP motorcycle video, and he can always hear a motorcycle coming before I can.  Daddy is practically a superhero because he rides his bike to work everyday, and even at just 17 months, he tries desperately to ride his sister's Strider bike and is getting closer and closer to actually doing it every day (he doesn't know this yet, but a brand new red Strider is in his near future).  Papa gave him a short motorcycle riding demo up and down their street yesterday, and Henry stood on the front stoop and watched with rapt fascination.  

The thing is:  I absolutely love connecting with my son over motorcycles.  I think they're loud and dangerous and pretty impractical in Portland, but none of that matters one lick when they bring my son joy.  I know I might sing a different tune when he's 16 and wants to actually start riding them (Lord help me), but for now, I genuinely enjoy sitting down with him and pouring over the pages of the most recent issue of Cycle World and watching him point out all the Ducati's (how does he already know this stuff?!).  

Anyway, no matter what the passion, I love being my son's number one fan, and I so look forward to continuing to learn about who he is and what he loves.  Who knows, maybe he and his MOMMY will ride motorcycles together one day!

Meet Kirsten

My oh my did I have a great parenting moment the other night.  A couple of weeks ago, my parents dropped off a big Rubbermaid container of my old books (SO glad you saved them, Mom and Dad!).  In there were all of my American Girls books -- the original ones with the vintage sketches that actually say "Pleasant Company" on them.  Madelyn became immediately interested and started flipping through the books, asking all sorts of questions about who these girls were and what they were doing.  We began reading them that night, and she pretty much hasn't talked about anything since.  Imagine her reaction when she learned that there were dolls and all sorts of accessories that went along with them so you could actually play out all of the events in the books.  I told her that I had Kirsten when I was a little girl and that my sister had Molly and that we loved those dolls and used to play with them all the time.  (True.  We had to earn the $69 to buy the dolls ourselves, and while we were earning the money, we would kiss their catalog pictures every night before bed.  When they finally arrived in the mail in this perfectly huge box, I really thought that this would probably be the pinnacle of my whole life.  When I told my dad that story a few days ago, he laughed and stated that in some ways, it just might have been.)  

Thursday evening, my parents brought Kirsten and her world of belongings to our house.  We had to leave for her school program shortly thereafter, but when we returned, after her brother was down to sleep and no longer occupying her mama's attention, she asked if we could look through Kirsten's things together.  I sat down with her and began going through each of her outfits with their matching shawls, aprons, socks, boots, etc.  I showed her Kirsten's fish basket, her lunch box complete with a tiny sausage, apple, hunk of cheese, and loaf of bread, her tray of Christmas buns, and her birthday quilt.  We compared them to the book covers, and she was absolutely delighted that everything was exactly as it was described and depicted in the books.  She held Kirsten in her lap this entire time, and I had a total time-pausing, heart-exploding, out-of-body moment where I thought that I never would've imagined that someday, my own little girl would hold my favorite doll with as much tenderness and affection as I once held her.  I got a little joy-weepy and told her that I was so happy that she liked Kirsten and that I hoped she would get to know her and have as much fun with her as I did.  She looked up at me with wide, excited eyes and said "Yeah!  And I will keep her and someday my little girl can play with her too!"  It's so perfectly Hallmark Channel that it can only be true, right?!

Sigh.  So I've pretty much been playing with Kirsten nonstop for the last two days.  Errr, I mean, Madelyn has pretty much been playing with Kirsten nonstop for the last two days.  She changes her clothes about every two hours, pulls out her accessories and enacts various scenarios, and has had to take her along everywhere we've gone since Thursday night.  Just like I used to do.  And, word has it, just like my grand-daughter will do someday, too.

Backyard Shots

These shots were taken by my neighbor and friend, Eden.  Aren't they fantastic?  She took them super off the cuff when all four of our kids were running around our backyards having a blast.  She has recently started her own photography business.  Just imagine what she can do when her shots are not off the cuff and she's not on-duty with her own kids!  Let me know if you'd like her contact information.  I enthusiastically recommend her!

By the way, THANK GOD for sunshine and backyards and warmth.  And plants and s'mores and bicycles while we're at it.  Until July 4, we Portlanders never know how long the sunshine will last so we soak up every glorious minute.  We even broke out the kiddie pool today much to the splashing delight of both children.  The garden is fully in, and Kurt worked hard all afternoon and evening getting an awesome irrigation system put in.  All in all, a pretty fantastic couple of days, and I'm feeling pretty grateful.