welcome, baby lulu!

it's funny how life gets all busy, and i don't blog for like a SUPER long time.

this blog first evolved after adam and i moved to the netherlands -- tired of writing really long mass emails that got sent to everyone but us, and never the same group of people twice, we began what was essentially a travel blog.

then news came that we were expecting a baby, and it became more personal -- stories of our "spruitje", written for posterity, so that our little one could someday go back and read about the time when she was just a tiny baby in her mama's womb, and the fun things she did as a baby living in holland.

then facebook came along, and it got super way mucho easy to just put everything on there. but that's not quite the same.

well, it's time to break out the old blog again. because we're expecting baby #2 in mid-may. and it hardly seems fair that miss mary grace should have all the fun stories, and poot little "baby lulu" gets nothing!

so, here goes the story of lulu:

back in august, we had what i suspect was a very early miscarriage. i was devastated. i had been on this hormone cream supplement for months, trying to prepare my body for pregnancy -- my doctor kept promising me all these miracle side-effects: shorter periods! no pms! better sleep! but i never experienced ANY of that. if anything, the stupid cream just made me MORE irritated -- probably because i was expecting all these miracles that my doctor kept swearing were coming any day now -- "we just have to change your dose," she'd say. sigh.

so, after what i believe was a miscarriage (but my doctor disagrees), i say "hey, doc. i'm going off this crap for a while." went the herbal route: chaste berry and wild yam. called an acupuncturist. got an intuitive reading. pulled out my tarot cards for the first time in FOREVER. bought pretty underwear. you know... witchy stuff.

suddenly, my period was late. "AHA!" i thought. "these herbs really work! my cycle has been balanced naturally!" and then my period STILL didn't come, so just to rule out pregnancy (cuz i was SURE i wasn't!), i peed on a stick and it came back positive. i could hardly believe it! i felt so NOT pregnant! i remember with gracie, i had been feeling slightly nauseous and EXHAUSTED for several days before i finally pieced it together. but this one was nothing like that. had the bloodwork at the midwives office not come back with hormone levels through the roof, i wouldn't have believed it at all.

well, fast forward -- i'm now over 14 weeks along. just done with my first trimester. and WOW is this pregnancy different than the one with gracie! for instance:

cravings:
gracie: tator tots, clementines, carrot juice
lulu: tator tots, bacon, pickled ginger, glasses of milk, bananas

symptoms:
gracie: none. i was all "i don't know why everyone is complaining all the time... being pregnant is SUPER easy. blah blah blah, look at me, i don't have any stretch marks, blah blah blah..." i did feel hot a lot of the time, though.
lulu: exhausted. puking. can't brush my teeth. headaches.

dreams:
gracie: babies
lulu: food

my mom says that i must be having a boy because i'm dreaming of food all the time and i want to eat biscuits and gravy morning, noon, and night. my sister says i'm having a boy because i started showing like day 2 of this whole thing, just like her. my acupuncturist says she feels boy energy. (i felt boy energy from gracie, too, and i was kind of partly right, but also kind of not...) gracie, however, says "he's a girl." so there you go. she's pretty certain lulu is going to be a sister. and kids are pretty in tune with stuff like that, so i'm going to guess she's probably right.

(and no, we won't be finding out the gender at our 20-week ultrasound. it's way more fun to keep guessing!)

gracie has had so much fun with this whole baby business. and honestly, i have no idea how she found out about "lulu" in the first place. we really weren't going to tell her until maybe the big ultrasound day, because 9 months is a long time for anyone to wait, especially a 3-year-old. but somehow, she got it. like, RIGHT away. "mom, can we name the baby lulu?"

wow.

don't ask me how she came up with that name. she's at the age where all of her stuffed animals and matchbox cars are named just like how they literally are: "froggie", "blue car", "zamboni", "yellow bear", etc. so -- lulu. that threw us for a loop. but, lulu it is, at least until baby is born and we put something different on the birth certificate.

(and, gracie tells us that after lulu is born, we can name her "batman" and then change gracie's name to "transformer." sounds reasonable to me!)

she's been SO sweet -- coming up to me to rub my back (without me asking her to!) when i'm bent over puking up this morning's breakfast. saving her old clothes and toys and shoes for lulu in a box in the garage. wondering if lulu will like to eat marshmallows and have a fire pit in the backyard too. wanting to teach lulu how to read books and do art projects. she's just so freaking amazing -- where did this all come from? it's completely intiated by her -- she just stops what she's doing and mentions something about wanting to share this with lulu when lulu is born, and then comes up to my belly to yell in there, to see if she can get lulu to kick and squirm (she usually can). it's amazing. it's adorable. it's very reassuring and sweet.

except for some mild spotting around week 7 or so, i've been feeling mostly fine. pukey and tired, but fine. my mom has been a great help, coming over and loading the dishwasher unannounced. adam has been doing daddy duty double overtime so that i can go to bed early. and, as i said already, gracie has been considerate, helpful, compassionate, and sweet.

i just wish i had more time to spend with this one. i feel like i spent so much time with gracie before she was even born -- and this child is just lucky to get 5 minutes from me at the end of the day. i often wonder if that's the reason i've been so sick during my first trimester: it's lulu's way of reminding me that she's actually in there and i need to pay attention to her!

anyway, i hope to utilize this blog much more as my pregnancy progresses and we get to know lulu better. so far i can say that she responds really well to gracie's touch and voice, likes potato chips, and has been kicking and squirming for at least the last 3 weeks. midwife appt tomorrow afternoon -- can't wait to hear her little heartbeat again! it's the prettiest sound in the world!

love you, lulu!

yay democracy!

yesterday i cut gracie out of school early for her civics lesson: i addressed city council on a vulnerable road user ordinance that was up for vote later that evening. she was such a good girl, sat in the peanut gallery with all the other observers, and quietly ate her goldfish crackers while i spoke my piece.


the denton record chronicle, our local paper, did a very brief write-up on what council did at last night's meeting, and it says that they:


• Passed a “vulnerable road user” ordinance designed to offer better protections for pedestrians, cyclists and people whose jobs force them to work around roadways.

The ordinance sets a safe passing distance of 3 feet for cars or light trucks and 6 feet for commercial vehicles. Violators could face $200 fines.

The ordinance is based on similar laws in 16 states and several Texas cities, including San Antonio and Austin, city officials said


here is the link to the video of my address, if you're interested. i'm the first one up, so you don't have to watch for very long to get to the point. yay, democracy!

"martin luther king day" or "how to raise a good UU"

"justice is what love looks like in public" ~dr. cornell west

to be honest, i've never really thought much about martin luther king day. it was always "just a day off" for me. i've never thought about it as a day of service, or a time to stop and reflect on the life and legacy of dr. king. i know, i'm a jerk.

but the more time i spend learning about my religion, unitarian universalism, the more and more i am learning to really appreciate not only the holiday, but the man and the movement behind it. as a unitarian universalist, i adhere to the seven UU principles:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

martin luther king day should be, as UU's, our biggest holy day: for in this one day, nearly all of the 7 principles are met! inherent worth and dignity of all people, justice and equity, the use of the democratic process to manifest change, peace and justice for all, respect for every living being... i mean, come on! this is it! and the more i embrace my UU beliefs and values, the more and more i am realizing that this one day is really a very special and sacred and holy day. for on this day, we remember the struggles of those who made these principles possible, and we vow to continue their good fight by serving others and working tirelessly for equality, peace, compassion, and justice.

and, as a good UU mother, i want to raise my daughter to be a good UU too... or, at the very least, i want gracie to appreciate her UU upbringing and the UU values that we cherish in this household. (because, if i'm truly a good UU mom, then i will ultimately embrace whatever path my daughter chooses to connect with the Divine. hence the creation of her "god squad.")

so, today, in honor of the rev. dr. martin luther king, jr, and all that he (and others!) did to make this country and our world a better, safer, more loving place to be, gracie and i took part in some of the many celebrations that were happening in our town today:

after a trip to the gym, where i practiced ahimsa (nonviolence) in my yoga, we joined a group of friends to have a birthday party for dr. king. we made brown-bag lunches of cheese sandwiches, apples, and poundcake (the contents of the nearly 80,000 sack lunches that the people ate when they marched in washington, dc the day that mlk gave his "i have a dream speech"). then we sat on picnic blankets on the floor and read two storybooks: one was about the life of king, and the other one was his entire "i have a dream" speech, with color illustrations. along the way, we'd stop and talk with the kids about the big words in the book: "segregation," "discrimination," "slave." we talked about what it meant to be an upstander, vs being a bystander. we talked about the power of words and how that created a more lasting and powerful change than if people had used fists or guns or called each other bad names. we talked a little about the connection to ghandi, and his nonviolent struggle to end oppression (another big word we talked about). it was wonderful. inspiring. really amazing to see and hear these children, ranging in age from about 2 or 3 on up to 10 or 11, understanding, comprehending, discussing, questioning... absolutely beautiful.

then later today, gracie and i went on a march with about 100 other people, sponsored by a sorority at UNT. we gathered near the student union center, and after a few songs, speeches, and prayers, we walked about 3 miles to the MLK rec center. the weather was beautiful: nearly 60 degrees, sunny, breezy, and lovely, and the people marching were in good spirits. as we passed a park along the way, we seemed to double in size -- maybe people were having events of their own and were waiting for our group to show up? and then, just when i thought i couldn't push that damn stroller with my enormous 3-year-old in it any further, we were there!

when we walked into the MLK center, we were escorted to the gymnasium, which was set up with bleachers and chairs, and was already half full of people. i really had no idea what to expect -- i think was thinking that we'd get there, there'd be a speech or two, and people would say "thanks for coming, here's the bus to take you back to your car." but no, this was a big deal! the news was there, the mayor was there, a councilwoman was there, several ministers were there, people from the NAACP were there, there was the colorguard, a high school dance team, and a gospel choir. a kindergarten teacher gave a moving speech about the itsy bitsy spider and how he didn't give up, even when he kept getting knocked down, and how water can refresh us and sustain us, even when it seems like we're getting pushed around by it. (i'm not doing her justice -- it really was a great speech!) apparently there was going to be a dinner afterwards (i assume that some of the churches coordinated and asked people to contribute to a potluck???), but we left early: i called adam and he brought the car over to bring us home.

on the way home tonight, gracie and i were talking about martin luther king and our day today and what we learned. and though she is not quite 3 years old yet, i do think she understood two very important lessons today: one, that it's not okay to treat people differently, just because they have different skin, or different hair, or different clothes, or a different accent. all people are important and deserve respect and friendship. and two, words are more powerful than guns, fists, or name-calling. as for the rest, i think that we can build on that in years to come. it's a good start, and i'm proud of us for taking part in the events of today. i hope to make this a tradition in our family.

and, as long as i'm at it, where were all the unitarians today? not cool, guys! i didn't see anyone from my church, and i'm disappointed! i hope next year to get a group together (now that i know better what to expect), and possibly get us a banner so we can represent our church and our religion! so consider this your warning: i'm recruiting you for next year's rally! and we should do a service project too! this is an important event that we need to be a part of!

mother-daughter spirituality circle

shortly before my best girlfriend, teresa, got married in 2009, i was invited to a spirituality circle of her mom's. the group had been meeting semi-regularly for years (maybe even decades?), and we young daughters were invited to join in as one of the women was celebrating her crone-ing ceremony. i was so inspired by the group's depth, connection, and divine power, that i decided then and there that i too was going to begin a spirituality circle of my own.

then we moved, and things just got away from me. unpacking three-years' worth of stuff that had previously been in storage in the usa, plus three-years' worth of stuff that we had accumulated while living in the netherlands, plus getting my husband and child settled in to their routines, plus trying to build a business of my own, plus getting to know my new town and make new friends... well, i just didn't have TIME! but i never forgot. i kept tossing it around in my brain and in my heart, quietly discerning what this group would look like, who i would invite, and what our focus was going to be.

all the while, i was making countless friends, most of them with children of their own, many of whom were girls nearly the same age as gracie. and that's when it occurred to me: start a group of mothers with daughters gracie's age. and meet as often as we want/can, to teach our daughters about the divine power within each of them, the power of intention, the importance of service, the importance of ritual.


we've only met a few times thus far:

the first time we met, we gathered on a playground outside the denton unitarian universalist fellowship to celebrate the fall equinox and to meet everyone else who had been invited to the circle (thus far). we introduced our daughters by telling the stories behind their names, and made a tea for the trees using acorns and herbs from our garden. then we offered these libations to the trees and earth, as a way to say thank you for all that they have provided to us in the past year. each daughter got to take home a small bit of tea, which they were encouraged to pour into their gardens, beneath the trees that protect their homes, or somewhere else spiritually significant to them.

the next time we met, it was at my house to celebrate a traditional halloween (samhain), the way that the ancient celts and druids (and many modern-day pagans) celebrate: a feast for the ancestors! we brought items to place on the altar (pictures of the dead, mementoes from our ancestors, keepsakes from our ancestral homelands, family heirlooms, pomegranates, apples sliced along the equator to display the 5-pointed star in the center, and a nice place-setting for the ancestors to eat at). everyone brought a little vegan-friendly potluck item (squash and mushroom soup, salad, gluten-free bread, nuts and seeds, fresh fruits and veggies, apple cider, etc), and then each child served the ancestors by placing a small amount of that particular food onto the ancestor-plate on the altar. then we all served ourselves and as we ate, we talked about our ancestors, and remembered especially those who have left us in the last year. the girls all got to decorate pumpkins and gourds with stickers and crayons, and we got out the face paint so our daughters could decorate our faces too!

the most recent gathering was at j's house, on the winter solstice, where we welcomed our newest member (w, a girl who was born at the beginning of november) and literally rang in the new year by welcoming the sun with bells. we were also fortunate that some of OUR mothers were there, so that even the grandmothers were able to partake in the events of the day. the daughters made sun bonnets out of yellow felt and way too much glitter, while we mothers sat and ate and drank coffee and just generally enjoyed the coziness of each other's company. before we left, everyone went outside into the cold, bright sunshine, and rang bells to welcome back the sun. (it gives me a new perspective when i hear an alarm clock now.) :-)

on monday we will gather once again to celebrate martin luther king day. i'm not sure what all it will entail, but it will be guaranteed to be a remarkable, powerful, and spiritually-uplifting event. and i look forward to many future gatherings: learning about other cultures (chinese new year, perhaps?), serving others (as the girls get older, maybe we can volunteer somewhere to give back to our community), becoming politically active (writing letters to amnesty international or taking part in the annual "take back the night" marches across the country), celebrating the seasons (let's dance around a maypole on the summer solstice!), connecting with the earth (camping trip, anyone?), and celebrating the cycles of life (significant birthdays, first menses, graduations, etc). as our daughters grow, i am hopeful that the connection we are building in this circle will grow as well. and as our daughters grow and eventually have daughters of their own, i pray that the lessons we learned together in this group will be passed on to their daughters, and their daughters' daughters, and so on, throughout all the generations.

introducing gracie's newest goddess-mama!

i'm sure you've guessed it already: auntie valerie!

valerie has been the most amazing, generous, incredible, amazing, wonderful, amazing friend ever ever ever. seriously. this girl is MADE of love and hugs and sweetness. she has been an extremely important friend for me over the years and continues to take up more and more room in my heart every day that passes. she is amazing. have i told you how amazing she is?

i first met valerie when i had JUST moved to the netherlands, back in 2006 (can it be that long ago?!). i found a unitarian universalist congregation in holland -- there was only one in the whole country, and at that time they only met one time a month -- and she and i happened to be there on the very same day. and, to make it even MORE spectacular and serendipitous, she had actually been to my former UU congregation back in boulder on more than one occasion -- she even attended on a sunday when i had a solo in the choir! can you believe it?! what a crazysmall world!

so of course i attached myself to her immediately -- for better or worse, i was in love with the woman who was in love with the UU church of boulder.

valerie was the first friend i made in the netherlands who just called me to talk one day. like, just dialed me up one day on her cell phone and was all "hey, wanna keep me company while i commute home?" i don't know if she'll ever know how much that meant to me, just to gab on the phone with a girlfriend. it was definitely memorable -- i'm still talking about it four years later!

valerie always opened her home to us, whether we came out by ourselves to amsterdam or brought out friends who were visiting from the usa. she even let nick and teresa cootie-up her apartment when they were spending a couple of days in amsterdam before flying home from a visit to us at christmas. teresa and nick got TERRIBLY sick with the flu and needed a place to crash before their flight home -- valerie, without hesitation, opened her home to them and then quickly ran away to her boyfriend's house so she wouldn't get the crud. and like, valerie hardly knew them! but she did it anyway. she's just that great.

and, one more story, just to prove my point: adam and valerie had been planning a surprise baby shower for me, but a few days before the party was to begin, valerie got the terrible news that her opa had died. the funeral was going to be back in the usa, and she needed to be there. but instead of packing up at her place in amsterdam, and trying to catch up on work that she would miss while she was gone, she got in her little red car, drove across the entire country, and delivered my sheet cake for the party with the most disappointed-sounding "surpriiiiise...." that you'd ever hear. then we went shopping for an outfit for her opa's funeral, she got back in her car, and promptly broke down before she even got out of town. this girl! she's so amazing! who DOES that for their friends?!

so i don't know why we didn't think of inviting valerie to be a part of the god squad from the get-go... i think maybe at that point i hadn't really realized how incredible she was, as we'd only been friends for a couple of years. and we'd only see each other maybe once a month, if that. but she has proven time and again how loyal she is to us, how dedicated she is to be a part of gracie's life, and how much she loves all three of us.

when we learned this past summer that valerie was going to be in colorado to see her dad at around the same time that we were going to be in colorado too, we formally invited her to be a part of this god squad. to be fair, valerie had kind of already bestowed upon herself the honor, by writing letters in dutch to gracie, sending gifts from sinterklaas, mailing her birthday presents, always asking about her in every phone call and email, and just generally staying REALLY involved in gracie's life (and ours too). in fact, she's been more involved than some of gracie's own relatives. now THAT says a lot!

so we were really excited to see our dear friend, and to celebrate her BIRTHDAY with her, no less! valerie found a water park in engelwood that she wanted to take gracie to, so we drove up there from colorado springs to meet her, and we all magically showed up in the parking lot at the exact same moment! we spent the day splashing and swimming and digging in the sandbox, going down waterslides, getting soaked by giant buckets of water, and just goofing off and playing all day long. she is amazing. have i said that already? cuz she is. it seemed like no time had passed at all since i last saw her, and yet it had been more than a YEAR. that's when you know you have found a good friend -- when you can just pick up where you left off. she's amazing.


after an afternoon of splashing and playing and having FUN, we all went out to dinner in castle rock, CO. valerie chose a place that served both italian and mexican food, and we all cozied up in a booth, drinking wine and coffee, and enjoying our pasta (or, in valerie's case, her chimichangas or whatever it was she picked out -- mexican food is hard to come by in holland, so she really wanted something smothered in green chili, naturally). we told gracie about her god squad and explained to her how it came to be and who is in it. we told gracie why she has a god squad, and why that is important to feel a connection to god/goddess/the universe/the divine. we told gracie about some funny/sweet stories about her and auntie valerie. we asked valerie what her intentions were, and how she saw her role in the god squad. then we all toasted each other to make it official. it all seemed very appropriate that we would celebrate auntie valerie's induction to the god squad in a restaurant, after spending a whole day playing in the water. holland is wet. valerie loves to cook (and to eat!). so water and food seemed like perfect elements to have in our day. how absolutely appropriate!

(oh, and then we went to a bar to teach gracie how to shoot pool. as long as it was pouring outside and unsafe to drive, we figured we had better do something fun while we waited for a break in the weather!)


valerie was generous enough to give gracie a necklace with a little vial of purple fairy dust in it to honor their connection. and knowing valerie as i do, it was the perfect gift. i am still finding purple glitter around my home, all these months later... either i am a terrible housekeeper, or the fairies keep visiting my daughter to tell her how much auntie valerie loves her.



welcome, valerie! i am sorry that we didn't invite you sooner, but we are so grateful that you are a part of gracie's circle now! (and, to your credit, you kind of always acted like you were in the god squad anyway, so it's absolutely appropriate that you are now "formally" a part of it!) thanks for all you have done for our daughter! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

my halloween with spiderman

neither adam nor i are completely sure exactly when or how gracie got on this whole spiderman kick, but here it is. in fact, gracie will no longer answer to her name. "actually, i'm not gracie," she explains to me. "i'm pie-doo-man." or, more often than not, "i'm spiderman-manray-batman-diego, mom." aha. sorry i mistook you for someone else. my bad.

no matter how she got on this fixation with spiderman, the fact is that all day everyday, she IS spiderman. even people at our church are beginning to call her "spiderman." maybe they don't know her name? or maybe they don't want to be reprimanded by a 2-year-old on exactly how she should be addressed? but when she wakes up in the morning, often the very first thing she says is "i wanna put on my spiderman suit and my spiderman song and my spiderman cape."

so of course, when we asked gracie what she wanted to be for halloween, her emphatic reply was "i'm not gracie. i'm pie-doo-man!" so that's what she went as. (in fact, that's what her jack-o-lantern went as this year too.) her former teacher, miss lucy, gave gracie her son's old spiderman costume, complete with built-in muscles and mask. and this is what we now wear ALL. THE. TIME. i have to sneak it in the wash when she's not looking or is asleep, like how most parents have to wrestle a stuffed animal or favorite blanket out of their child's sticky fingers. for us, it's the spiderman costume.

right around the time that gracie got her spiderman costume, adam found a 2-sizes-too-small superman costume which he HAD to get. so, going along with the theme, i decided to go as wonderwoman. (and, btw, finding a wonderwoman costume -- or, indeed, ANY women's costume -- that ISN'T skanky/slutty/offensive is disturbingly difficult to do. check out this HILARIOUS video to see exactly what i had to deal with this year. it's funny cuz it's sadly true.)

not that we needed to get our money's worth out of gracie's costume since it was free, after all -- but we did make sure we spent as much time at halloween events as we could so that she had lots of opportunities to dress up like spiderman. (little did we know that she'd be wearing her costume first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and struggling with her to take it off because she actually needs to take a bath/go to school/put on something CLEAN.) so we went to lots of different things: a kids concert with halloween music, spooky storytime at the library, and of course trick-or-treating with all of her friends.

gracie did much better this year at trick-or-treating than last year. last year, she was most excited about ringing the doorbell. then when someone would answer the door, she'd get all shy and scared and hide behind our legs, until we took a piece of candy for her and said thank you, and then move along. this year she rang the doorbell, said "trick-or-treat" in her sweetest voice ever, took only one piece of candy willingly and without help, and then politely said "thank you" as she skipped down the sidewalk chatting with her little girlfriends about what they got. too cute!

after a couple of hours of trick-or-treating, we finally made it home just in time to offer candy to trick-or-treaters of our own. (sadly, our neighborhood is LAME when it comes to t-or-t. many of the residents of our neighborhood are not only grandparents, but many are great-grandparents. and no one goes trick-or-treating at great-grandma's house. so the majority of homes in this neighborhood are dark on halloween because 1. no one is coming by anyway, and 2. it's too hard to get up and down off the couch to hand out the candy. sad, but true. our adorable neighbor across the street -- who is 92 years old and lives alone and weeds-whacks and puts out the trash bins and fills the birdbath all by herself -- basically told us this is the case. but we predict that will change as more young families like ours move into the neighborhood in the coming years...) anyway, we got home around 7:45, switched on the porch light, and within a minute we had someone ring our doorbell! huzzah! we had hoped gracie would be able to hand out some candy before bed, and we were just really lucky that someone rang our bell so early!

well, we had already dumped out her stash of goodies on the floor to inspect the candy that might be unsafe to eat. and gracie is so excited to eat her yummy treats that she picks out a piece for herself (a sucker, naturally), and then really wants daddy and mama to enjoy the candy party too and starts just handing us pieces of her OWN candy. what a doll! then the doorbell rings, and i jump up and say, "hey, spiderman!" -- because of course i can't call her gracie -- "there are trick-or-treaters at our door! let's go give them some candy!" and being the sweet child that she is, she starts happily picking up her own candy up off the floor to bring it to the door to give it away to the trick-or-treaters. and being the doofus i am, i was like "oh no, honey -- that's YOUR candy. we have DIFFERENT candy for the trick-or-treaters." argh! i'm so stupid! i should have totally let her give her candy away! that would have been so sweet of her! candy as communal property! what was i thinking?!


anyway, it was wonderful. as is everything that we do with her. it's all just wonderful. full of wonder.

(and, within a couple of days, she forgot all about her candy, so adam and i ate it all! nom nom nom!)

happy halloween!

auntie shelby's god squad adventure

as most of you know, adam and i have assembled a team of spiritual advisors/mentors for our daughter, in the hope that she will someday become a spiritually-minded person herself. who are we to choose a religion for our daughter? she should have the right to choose for herself which path will bring her closest to god, and so in that vein we have invited a handful of people to share spiritual activities and reflections with gracie.

one of the people we are blessed to have in gracie's god squad is her auntie shelby, who lives in denver. so when we were back home in colorado over the summer, gracie and i spent a couple of days with shelby so that shelby could pass on some of her wisdom and reflections to her little goddess-daughter. (and also so that i could see shelby, who is one of my best friends ever!)

one of the activities that shelby enjoys doing year after year is going to the renaissance festival and collecting things for her altar back home. gracie and i happened to be coming to town during the last weekend of the colorado renaissance festival, so we took the opportunity to drive up to larkspur to see shelby and wander through the renfest (which i also hadn't been to in almost 10 years i think!).

we didn't see very much of the faire since they didn't really have sidewalks in medieval times and my little umbroller was difficult to push up the rocky mountainside, but what we did see was definitely worth it. we had a feast fit for a king under the shade of a ponderosa pine: turkey drumsticks the size of your arm, roasted corn on the cob, french fries dripping in grease and testosterone, and ice cold beers. we saw the king and queen, along with their court, parade through the park and process to the podium for a jousting tournament. gracie and i watched a brother/sister act tell bad jokes, juggle, and do some acrobatics. gracie got to ride on a pony, feed the animals, and get a ride on a magical butterfly being pushed by a "wench."

after we had enough of the faire, we made our way over to our campground for the night: the jellystone campground just north of larkspur. NOT QUIET. wow. like, the loudest night of sleep (if you could call it "sleep") that i'd ever had! but shelby loves to camp, and she found a great deal on renting a yurt, and it seemed like another good goddess-mama activity to share with gracie. so, we toughed it out. usually, when i say "tough it out" i mean sleeping on the cold, hard ground and having to dig a ditch for your bathroom, hiking your gear in to your site and keeping things in bear-safe containers. but not this place! by toughing it out i mean somehow convincing your mind that the roaring traffic on i-25 and the constant train engines barrelling down the tracks literally FEET away from your thin canvas walls is some sort of white noise to lull you asleep. neither of us really wanted to do anything that night because we just couldn't get comfortable with all the noise noise noise (i feel like the grinch saying it, but the dude does have a point). plus, it was threatening to rain. so what did we do? we tapped into their wireless internet and watched a movie on netflix.


gracie was in HEAVEN! trains rumbling past every 5 minutes, sleeping on an air mattress in a yurt, watching a MOVIE on mama's laptop, holding a flashlight, peeing outside... omg, she loved every minute of it! so for that reason, shelby and i toughed it out. and i'm glad we did, too: it was the first time in MONTHS -- maybe over a year -- when gracie actually snuggled up to me ALL NIGHT LONG. she is NOT a snuggle bug, this girl of mine. so it was really a special treat for me to spoon with her and cuddle through the long, loud night.

the next day we had a relatively unexpected happy-ning: teresa (another one of gracie's goddess-mamas) was passing through denver on her way home from a camping trip in grand junction with her mom. her flight was in the early afternoon, so we agreed to meet for brunch at shelby's house before she went to the airport. so shelby, gracie, and i all went to the natural food store and picked up organic mango juice, a fancy-ass quiche, some gorgeous bread, delectable cheese, and... hmmm.... i forget it all. but you get the point. we ate together in shelby's dining room, then went out back to appreciate her amazing and inspiring garden, complete with pergola and koi pond! (i wish i had a green thumb like shelby. all i can grow are radishes and weeds.)

thank you, auntie shelby, for sharing your love of the ren fest and camping and brunch with my daughter! and thank you, teresa, for making a serendipitous trip to colorado so we could see you and so you could teach some yoga to gracie -- another PERFECT god-squad activity!

what i did over the summer (colorado springs)

as if our road trip out to colorado wasn't fun enough, we also got the added bonus of spending 2 solid weeks in the company of bob, rae, and adam's brother matt in colorado springs.

there used to be a day when we briggles would converge at bob and rae's and enjoy endless hours of basically doing nothing: reading (magazines, books, newspapers, cereal boxes, etc); napping (on the couch, in a chair, on the floor with the cat, etc); playing cards (only shanghai -- it's pretty much the only game we play, and we're okay with that cuz it pretty much rocks); and drinking (microbrews and wine, though occasionally a stinger or some scotch).

but now that we have a 2-year-old who demands constant entertainment and excitement, our lives have taken a different turn on vacation in colorado. gone are the days of wondering "what day is it again? what time is it? do we still need to eat dinner, or will these chips and salsa count?"

within a day or two of us arriving, we all got out our calendars and coordinated our schedules to make sure that we could do it all. (such an anti-briggle mindset!) we had soooo much to accomplish and experience while we were home, and inevitably something was going to get left out. but we were fortunate that we did get to most everything -- only missing the zoo and a trip to america the beautiful park, which, considering how much we had planned on doing, is pretty darn good.

we had several lovely moments of just playing at the house with oma and opa, and a wonderful playdate with gracie's betrothed, james. james is the grandson of rae's best friend, and is only a few months older than she is. each grandmother has pictures of both james and gracie in their offices (they work right next door to each other too), and the grandmas have basically decided that james and gracie are going to grow up and get married, so now that that's out of the way we can work on everything else: which college to choose, how much money to save for therapy and braces, which religion to raise them in, etc. you know, the less important stuff than who you will spend the rest of your life with :-)

and the weather! omg! we left on the first day of an obnoxious heat wave that hit texas -- at one point in our north texas town it was 114 degrees f (46 celsius!). but in colorado? the highest it ever got for those two weeks was 87 f (30 c)!!! NICE! and at the hottest part of the day, a nice big rainstorm would roll through and cool everything off by like 15 degrees. plus, bob and rae live about 1500 feet above the rest of the city, so it's even cooler up there than down below. i was so chilled, in fact, that i actually had to go to the store to buy warm clothes. it was amazing!

we had another playdate with some girlfriends who invited us to the pool at the elks lodge in colorado springs. since gracie is basically a fish when she's in the water, it was a very nice treat for us to bring her swimming. thankfully the rain held off until about an hour after we got home -- just in time for a much-earned nap!

of course, being that gracie comes from a hockey family, and being that colorado springs is the home of usa hockey, we absolutely had to bring her skating. this was actually entirely her idea! she remembered from back at christmas, when we brought her ice skating at the world arena -- and a few days into our trip, she asked us when she was going to go ice skating again! we had completely forgotten that we wanted to bring her skating, so we were of course so glad that she reminded us! within a day or two, we made our way over to sertich ice arena, renting skates and a helmet for gracie, and teaching her crossovers and turns. she's so good at it! next step: find out where in the great state of texas we can find some ice time in order to encourage this interest of hers...

we of course did very touristy things, being that colorado springs is, after all, a very cool place for tourists to come and play. we took the cog train up to the top of pikes peak and appreciated the views from the top of the "fourteener" (elevation: 14,100 feet = 4300 meters). the

hour-long trip up the side of the mountain brought us through forests, rock outcroppings, canyons, alpine tundra, and eventually up to the snack bar at the top of the mountain, where we all enjoyed the famous high-altitude donuts. it's very odd to be eating donuts and shopping for coffee mugs at the top of one of america's most famous mountains. but it is america, after all, so maybe i shouldn't be so shocked by it all...

we spent a whole afternoon at the north pole -- something gracie is still talking about all these months later. it was essentially all of us grown-ups totally in heaven watching little gracie take turn after turn after turn on all the rides: the boats, motorcycles, slides, cars, roller coasters, carousels, ferris wheels, rocket ships... we got to meet santa claus, too, but by that time gracie was pretty much wiped out from all the excitement, and she's never really been one to take to overly-excited or snuggly strangers (a good thing), so she pretty much clung to mom and dad until we left santa's house. then, as soon as we left, she was like "i wanna go see santa!" sigh. there were also, of course, toy shops for boys and girls -- we skipped the girl one since it was inevitably going to be princess crap and boring dollies. but the BOY one was awesome! trucks, dinosaurs, and airplanes EVERYWHERE! (there were plenty of toy guns too, which we explained to her were NOT cool, and were dangerous, and we don't play with guns. she's been reminding us of that on a pretty regular basis: "guns aren't cool, mom. but TRUCKS are cool! we can play with TRUCKS!" (glad to be teaching my daughter this important lesson since we live in texas and i'm pretty sure someday she'll be playing at a friend's house where there are guns on the property. i pray often that she will know how to stay safe in such a situation. guns are NOT toys, they are NOT cool, and they are dangerous. i think she's starting to get it.)

we briggles don't have a ton of traditions, but something that we DO do just about every year is take a trip out to the flying W ranch -- a real, working ranch in the foothills of colorado springs, with the most amazing singing cowboys your ears will ever be blessed to hear. every summer (and sometimes the occasional christmas) we head up to the flying W and wander the grounds, which are set up like an old-west village, complete with tipi, chapel, trading post, and blacksmith (where you can watch a horse get new shoes just about every night). afterwards, we are called to supper by the clanging of a big ol' bell, and gather to hear a ranchhand tell bad jokes while each section is dismissed to get their grub: homemade biscuits, applesauce, baked potatoes, beans, barbecue, and spice cake. nom nom nom! after everyone's eaten and gotten seconds, the cowboys come onstage (the same cowboys who worked the ranch by day and also just served us dinner) and sing old country-and-western songs: gene autry, hank williams, roy rogers, sons of the pioneers... gooooood stuff.

add to that a trip to the renaissance festival and camping in a yurt with auntie shelby, a birthday party at a splash park with auntie valerie, formal family photos at a park in colorado springs, and a few trips to usa hockey to visit all of oma's friends and colleagues... we were busy busy busy!



originally we thought we'd only make the drive once a year, just in the summertime, to see everyone back home in the mountains -- but thinking about all the time that will pass between now and then -- A WHOLE YEAR! -- that seems WAY too long. plus, the drive is so darn pretty, and the city has so much to offer, and bob and rae are just so amazing and generous and fun. so, plan on hearing a report sometime after the winter holidays about our christmas adventures back in CO!