Family Holiday

Our energetic and adventurous 1-year old survived a 12 hour drive up to Michigan to spend Christmas with my brother's family -- she actually managed it better than I had imagined.  I was envisioning screaming fits, for hours on end, with long breaks at odd truck stops to try and satisfy her need to explore.  But she was a trooper, man.  Not exactly thrilled about being strapped into a car seat for an entire day, but as long as we fed her at appropriate intervals, handed her interesting objects to explore on a continual basis, put in a Baby Einstein video on occassion, and held onto one of her feet to ease her into sleep, she was cool.

The trip was totally worth it -- Evelyn had a ball up in snow country with Uncle Paul (professional goofball - who can resist?), Aunt Lisa (loving provider of chocolate spread for breakfast - Ev will be begging to spend summers at Auntie Lisa's), and cousin Helen (knows her way around a toy store and shared all the cool toys with Evey).  Oma & Opa made the trip up also, so the Sachs' clan spent the holiday as a complete unit. 

Favorite moments:

1) Uncle Paul making Evey laugh with his goofy faces

2) Opa getting air on the sledding hill ramp, riding down on his BELLY (fearless, I tell ya)

3) Evey tasting Nutella chocolate spread for the first time (BIG eyebrow raise on that one, which means "YUUUUM!")

4) Evey diving in, mouth wide open and eyebrows up, for a second sip of warm maple syrup (yes, she drank a shot of straight maple syrup.  apparently that's a Fogle tradition at the Sugar Shack)

5) Playing (losing at) Hearts the second night in a row, using Uncle Paul's Hooter Girls playing cards (oddly distracting)

6) Racing Uncle Paul around the backyard pulling Helen and Evelyn on sleds

7) Opa flapping (on his belly again) on the floor of the dining room, imitating a mermaid to win a point for his team in Cranium

8) Paul singing and playing his guitar with Helen, who got a beautiful (pink!) guitar from Santa

9) Helen and Evey taking a bath, Helen calmly putting up with Evelyn's happy screeching and splashing (and unladylike biological functions...)
10) Hearing the story of "Great Big Bear" (aka Hollywood) and finding a way to squeeze the entirety of him into the back of our vehicle for the journey home.

A year of transformation

I knew this journey would be full of amazement and joy as we witnessed the emergence of our daughter's personality and engaged with her as she started to explore the world around her.  I also anticipated lack of sleep, stress with juggling all the tasks that would demand daily attention, and uncertainty about properly caring for a teeny tiny person.  What I didn't anticipate was the depth of transformation that I would go through...

I feel like my spirit has plumped and rolled and snuggled up inside me to tuck up against all the little spaces that I didn't know were empty.  Where I used to easily lose my temper over minor delays or inconvenient disruption, I now seem to have more room to breathe and gain perspective.  (insert disclaimer: yes, Tag, I still lose my patience, but won't you agree there's a significant shift in intensity?).  Where I thought I might be overly protective or controlling, I seem to take a relaxed and easy stance.  It seems that joy has moved in with such a commanding presence that petty frustrations have moved off to the side.  I am a more friendly driver (!).  I am a kinder grocery shopper.  When a debate or argument fires up, I don't seem to take a scrappy defensive position [Tag, again, you are my sometime exception only because you are so fun to scrap with ;o)].  Evelyn has inspired me to take inventory of my priorities and shift my thinking to allow for greater compassion, better balance, truer emotion.  She's going to make me a better person.  What a gift it is to be allowed to care for one of God's precious precious children.

As I reflect back on the past year, it's confounding how much has taken place; how many small but incredibly potent moments add up to build this beautiful story of Evelyn.  She is so full of happiness and energy.  So eager to meet a new face or greet a familiar one.  She practices her "frankenstein steps" regularly and seems to now prefer the perspective on two feet over all fours.  How is it that this incredible child is mine?  I still look at her sometimes in complete disbelief, as if I'm watching a movie, and I have to reach out and stroke her head to convince myself that she's real.  And of course, she never fails to turn her eyes up to look at me and smile, babbling and giggling, as real and solidly present as the ground below me.

Magical Birthday

We kept it simple, and enjoyed a truly special One Year Birthday celebration for Evelyn.  We attended a family luncheon at her school, and they planned a little suprise birthday party for her right in the middle of all the action - it was super cute.  She sampled the potluck goodies for lunch but mostly just enjoyed the extra attention from everyone and having Tag and I there in the middle of the day.

In the evening, Oma and Opa came over as well as Sandy and her daughter Maggie.  We toasted Evelyn with champagne (and sparkling cider) and sang Happy Birthday as we presented her with a mini-double-layer pumpkin cake that I baked.  She was totally into it, and instantly decided that cream cheese frosting with pink sugar decoration was FAB-U-LOUS.  She tore that cake apart. It was awesome.  She was willing to share some with others, including the dogs, but especially Sandy who braved Evey's pumpkin and frosting coated fingers to allow cake to be shoved into her mouth.  Totally hilarious.  Loved it.

Evelyn got two sets of very fun balloons (she loves balloons) and an amazing little Zebra scooter toy that makes all sorts of engaging sounds and music -- perfect toys for her special day.

Now I can tell people I have a one-year-old... Crazy. 

Birth....Day

It was at this exact time last year that I officially started labor contractions.  It was the beginning of the journey through the most amazing day of my entire existence.  I get chills looking back and remembering the excitement, the disbelief and yet absolute certainty of the event.  Tag remembers it as the beginning of the longest 28 hours of his life (!)

And now, we blinked and it's a year later. We celebrate her first birthday tomorrow.  Tag sent me the most tender text message today -- "Congrats my love.  It's as much her birthday as it is yours.  Birth....day."  It doesn't get any better than this.  My heart is full.

Here are some images from our visit to the Children's Garden this past weekend.  Evelyn loved playing in the various forts and garden houses -- Come spring she'll be trotting around through the flower beds on her two strong legs.

Putting away the Pump

It's been a long run, but with the recent battles of cold, flu and tonsilitis, my body couldn't keep up with baby milk production and my days of nursing are officially over.  I won't miss the pump.  I'm actually happy to retire that awful contraption.  Loathed pumping.  But it did allow me almost 12 blissful months of nursing my sweet baby girl even when I had to return to work.  Proud to have made it this far. Gave her the best possible start I could give her -- My gift to my growing, healthy Evelyn.  Good job Ta Tas.

Girl Time in Dallas

 

Took advantage of a rare open weekend on my amazing friend Beth's calendar and flew Evelyn to Dallas for some girl time.  Beth has a beautiful home, the sweetest hubby, cutest kitty cat -- and we descended on all of them for two days and nights of baby mayhem. Poor Blu, the kitty, was nothing short of terrified by his 22 lb invader and Ev seemed to sense it. They would have stare-downs, which ended abruptly when Ev would scream with delight and fascination, sending Blu careening across the hardwood floors to the nearest hiding spot.  Evelyn scored major on her first kitchen raid - hit the plasticware bin - Jack Pot !!  It was a wonderful catch-up weekend and we will miss Beth and her gang until we get to see them again.

Gorgeous. My heart swells to bursting whenever I look at her.

Tooth Number Two!!!

Didn't realize it, but tooth #2 snuck it's way in and is now neatly counterbalancing the first, both pivoted diagonally on her lower gum.  Wow.  Two teeth, three steps, and she's still a month away from her first birthday.  This is all happening sooner than I was prepared for (!).  Luckily, she's still fairly bald so she doesn't look a day over 9 months (if you ignore her perfect posture, amazing finger dexterity and uncanny sense of humor).  I have not been taking enough photos of her the past couple weeks, so I'm redoubling my efforts in order to capture her beautiful baby state before she goes and turns one year old on me.

Got the first "should" from my mom:  "She should be sleeping through the night by now."  Yeah, I know.  Tag keeps wondering about that as well.  I guess Evelyn didn't read the manual.  Or, more likely, she read it and decided simply to ignore it completely and do her own thing.  I would love it if she slept through the night of course.  I'm not waking her up on purpose; it's not my doing.  8 hours of continuous sleep sounds blissful to me.  But my baby girl is teething, she's growing, she's still nursing so she gets hungry in the middle of the night, and she likes to cuddle so it's a recipe for middle-of-the-night wakefulness.  It will all be over much too soon, so I'm just going with it.  What am I going to do, force her to sleep?

Gimme three steps

Tag had a vision this past week as he surveyed the daycare one morning during drop-off.  The older infant room babies were all wobbling around upright, either surfing the edges of toybins or venturing out into open spaces on their chunky uncertain legs.  "Any day now...maybe even today" he thought to himself, "Evelyn will take her first steps."  That was Wednesday morning.  Wednesday night when we were visiting at Oma & Opa's house, Evelyn took three solid unsupported well-balanced steps into my arms.  My mom and I hooted and hollored in excitement and amazement at the event we just witnessed and Ev, a little stunned perhaps, happily joined in, not fully understanding why we were making such a fuss but loving every second of it.  The funny part is, while Tag wasn't there, he happened to be on the phone with Opa (discussing a car maintenance issue of course) and heard us hollering.

Haven't seen any solid steps again since Wednesday, but she sure is getting steady on her feet.  I love watching this process of early development.  It's pretty incredible how quickly babies figure stuff out.  Speaking of figuring stuff out, Ev and I went to Babies R Us yesterday and loaded up on toilet seat and cabinet door fasteners...she knows how to open just about everything she can reach and we can't keep up with it any longer!

Party Time !!

In honor of Tag's 49th year, I decided to throw him a surprise 'Almost Fifty' party on the eve of Halloween (his true birthday).  Despite an ever changing schedule it somehow came off without a hitch (he was completely shocked) thanks to the help of his many caring friends and his brother Scott who flew in from Michigan just for the occassion (despite his story that he was attending a dental conference...Ha!).

 

We had a fun crowd -- almost 40 people all together -- and some great costumes.  The one comment I heard the most from folks though, was how Evey seemed to just take it all in and roll with it -- the faces should have terrified her, not just becuase they were strangers but because they were made up like zombies, ghouls and KISS rock stars...  But she doled out smiles with only a moments hesitation.  Loves new faces.  Even when they are the faces of Death 1 and Death 2 (our friends Rip & Natalie).  She dressed up as well, of course, and you've never seen a cuter giraffe  ;-)

For more party photos, follow this link:  http://memphisgrahamclan.shutterfly.com/

Laurie comes to town

Our dear friend Laurie, who bred both Potter and Stella (she owns their mom, lovely Caraway), came to visit for a long weekend and meet our latest addition.  Evelyn smiles at everything, and Laurie always has a smile on her face, so needless to say they adored each other and the laughter they shared was contagious.  Very very fun and a priceless memory.

Settling back into the routine

Back home after a fantastic visit overseas, we took plenty of time to sort out our schedules...  Tag, Evey and I all woke up at 4:30am the first night home, oddly lucid but not quite ready to start our day.  So we cuddled up in our pjs and put on a pot of coffee and played in the hearthroom, watching TV and generally lazing around until about 7:30am.  It was heavenly.  Tag and I both had the day off work to recover from jet lag, so we didn't have to follow a schedule or be anywhere.  Evelyn struggled with her sleep schedule for the next few nights, but gradually moved back into her routine and the fits of frenzy we witnessed on our trip in Europe dissappeared.  Babies sure do like their routines.

Returning to work was difficult for me.  I generally suffer from post-vacation blues anyway, but post-two-weeks-straight-with-Evelyn was a particularly painful adjustment.  Tough choice to be a full-time working mom.  I question myself all the time.  But Evelyn seems to enjoy her time at the daycare, playing with ALL their many toys and hangin' with her toddler peeps.

Leaving the Netherlands

It's our last night here in Nijkerk -- we catch a 2 o'clock plane back to Memphis tomorrow afternoon -- not sure how we're going to collect our things from all over Tante Pauline's house by the time we have to leave....Evelyn insists on unpacking and tossing things everywhere when we try to pack up!

Today we drove to Giethooren for some walking and sightseeing.  It's a pretty farm country village of canals and walking bridges and old thatch roof homes with lovely gardens.  I got to borrow Gijs' awesome zoom lense from his Canon camera and now I know what I am buying for myself when we get home.  :-)  We took a canal tour and a nice young man provided the history of the area. Evelyn flirted with him shamelessly the entire trip; he had trouble with some bits of his presentation because she made him laugh and blush.  Adorable.

Evey's currently in the living room with everyone, cooing and growling happily with her freedom to roam the house -- today we've had her strapped into a car seat or a stroller, or held captive at a cafe table, from late morning until early evening.  That's a long day for an active baby girl. 

Watching her playing with Spike (the handsome, well behaved border collie) is hilarious.  She screams and growls and laughs at him and he's so confused he shouts out a bark at her which causes her to fall into shock and amazement, and then tumble into laughter again. She head-butts him and taunts him with her toys, which he's not allowed to play with because I guess he'll just chew them into tiny bits.  I wonder if she'll expect Jack or the Bouvs to play with her like that when we get home!

Yesterday we all rode bicycles to Oma's for a visit at her apartment -- I had Ev in a baby seat on the back of my bike and it was so fun -- she hummed the whole trip.  We rode past Oma's old house on Ahornlaan and everything looks just as I remembered it, except maybe for the trees which are much taller. 

We drove to the Woods in the afternoon and walked Spike along a beautiful trail.  Makes perfect sense to me that the neat and organized Dutch would have naturally pristine and perfectly "groomed"woods just as you'd expect to see in a fairytale movie.  Was a great day for a long walk in the woods.

In the evening we went to Om Dirk and Tante Janni's for visiting and some Dutch Chinese (delicious - not like American Chinese).  Evelyn got to pet their two charming cats -- she'd never seen cats before and she seemed pretty enchanted. Tante Anna was there and Evelyn was so happy to see her again!  Very sweet.  Gentle Anna was able to keep her happy even in Ev's tired state so I could enjoy a plate of Chinese food. The whole gang was there:  Dirk, Janni and Thomas, Henk and Anna, Oma, Pauline and Gijs.  It was a fun mix of english and dutch conversation.  Tag admired Dirk's work shop and HUGE water pump engine and chatted with my cousin Thomas about motorcycles; he filmed most of it with the video camera which was cute -- they couldn't understand why he was filming everything, but I assured them it was a compliment!!

Overall I think Evelyn has done amazingly well this entire trip, but I can tell she's tired and maybe struggling with some frustrating teething pain.  She made Tag and Pauline work the entire 1-1/2 hour ride home this evening as they battled to keep her from crying in her seat.  They were busy making faces and funny noises and letting Ev pull off her socks.  Good teamwork :-)

We have had an amazing 10 day visit -- our Family over here has been exceedingly generous with their homes, their time and their hospitality.  We look forward to hosting them back in the states should they decide to come visit - and we look forward to our next trip back here when Evelyn can ride her own bicycle through the village!!!  Until then, I have my brand new Dutch bicycle bags that I will attach to our bicycles at home -- we've had so much fun, Tag is inspired to trade in our mountain bikes for some good street bikes so we can take Evelyn out and about.

Amsterdam to Nijkerk

We spent our last day at Henk and Anna's with a visit to Henk's work (so close, it was only a two minute ride by bicycle!) and he toured us around the offices and labs that support the Atlas project.  Very impressive.  Our ride there was Evelyn's first bicycle ride!!  We strapped her onto Henk's back in her Ergo carrier and she feel asleep as we toured a couple different neighborhoods near Henk's office.  

Everything of course is geared for bicycle access, and we rode a special bike bridge over a very wide canal/river to explore a new neighborhood built on land that is only 10 years old -- they created the new land area by way of a dike system.  The homes are very sturdy and modern and beautiful, and nicely located in a '"suburban" family community on the outskirts of downtown Amsterdam.  Perfect!

Gjis and Pauline drove out again from Nijkerk (about one hour east) to pick us up and bring us back to stay with them for the next three days.  The weather has been perfect (sunny, even warm) but on the drive to Nijkerk it rained (good timing!) and with the rain came a cold front so today (Saturday) we had to bundle up for the Market in Sparkenberg.  The amazing food continues; Gjis make a HUGE batch of Indonesian Nussie Goering (sp?) that we filled up on last night - one of my favorite dishes - with lots of fresh satay sauce.  Yu-u-u-u-ummm! 

Got to meet my cousins Natasha and Thomas for the first time.  Very friendly, super bright and independent, and both speaking excellent English.  We feel very welcome.  And Evelyn is enjoying meeting all the new faces as well, although she has adopted a new fussiness/clinginess that makes me wonder if she's teething or overly tired or ??? not sure.  She can sure pitch a good fit all of a sudden!!  Wow!  Anyway, bellies full, and bodies tired from all the exploring and traveling, we crashed into bed early so we wouldn't sleep till noon today.

The market this morning was nice - Sparkenberg has a cute little harbor town area with beautiful wooden sailboats lined up along the wharf.  Stopped at a few shops to buy Evelyn some cute things, and sat in a very nice coffee shop for some more pofferties and koffie verkeerd. We're hoping to be able to get on the bikes again this afternoon...weather permitting. But even a stroll around Tante Pauline's neighborhood will be nice; everything is so different, so pristine and green and efficient.  And everybody has such huge picture windows, it's easy to get a peek at life behind the glass  =;o)

Got a visit from my namesake this evening, my mom's best friend from her childhood -- Heidi Beijer came to see us, bearing gifts for Evelyn and Tag and myself.  She looks amazing -- I have memories of visiting with her and her mother when I was small, but I wasn't sure what to expect.  Heidi is an accomplished teacher and I must say, she has an incredible presence about her.  It's obvious that she makes a lasting impact on each of her students.  It was an honor to meet her, and I'm so glad to have photos of her with Evelyn to show my mom.

The Colors and Aromas of Amsterdam

What a fantastic city !  Henk and Anna have shown us around for three days now (we are pretty exhausted, even the non-stop energy Anna but she continues to press on, whipping up amazing dinners and freshly baked desserts even after a full day of showing us the sights of her city).  Evelyn has been amazing each day -- dozing in her strolller when she feels the need for a little nap, and particularly when we bump our way across a cobblestone plaza (she loves the vibrations). 

Henk toured with us the first day when we took a canal boat tour -- and then showed us all his favorite little alleyways and secret gardens tucked away behind university buildings and next to enticing little cafes.  What strikes us most is that this city, in every way, is a working, living, breathing (smoking) city - not a tourist town.  Loooove that about it - the bikes, the boats, they are all on their way to and from some meeting or art exhibit or school room. 

The food and drink have been particularly awesome -- Anna accomodates our American-sizes appetites as we stop off at all sorts of kroket vendors, cafes, pubs and waffle stands all day long (!).  I found my favorite spot that I will frequent when/if I ever move to Amsterdam -- you will find me at the Cafe 't Smalle eating pofferties and drinking koffie verkeerd.

We've strolled through the flower district, walked the red carpet at City Hall after the Crown Prince William arrived there by royal limousine, took a picture with a Swedish Chicken Man (more on that later), gotten yelled at by a market vendor for trying on a fun wig and taking a photo (oops!), walked the streets of the Red Light District (yes, women and their wares for sale even at 1 in the afternoon), and didn't even once cause a collision with a bicyclist.  I haven't really practiced my Dutch since everyone speaks English and Anna has been our tour guide, but this afternoon Tag chided me into ordering him another beer and after some coaching from Anna I think I pulled it off - his beer arrived shortly thereafter!

Tag has been having a good time - and thoroughly enjoyed his first European Futbol match (Holland vs Sweden at the Ajax home stadium).  The ride to the stadium might have been the most memorable part of the evening though.  We waited and waited at the station for the train to arrive (unusual, because they are normally very punctual).  But when it pulled up at last, we realized the reason for the delay - it was Jam-Packed with Cheering, Chanting, Yellow and Blue Swedes (Hooligans, Henk calls them -- any soccer fan, that is) all liquered up and dressed in their Futbol Best !!  Poor Henk doesn't like a crowd, but one look at Tag's face and I knew we had to get on that train, so I begged a tall Hooligan to allow us space onto the rail car and He Did !  So we rode the 15 minutes or so to the stadium sardined in a rail car full of boisterous Swedish Futbol fans and a token few Hollanders, and it was absolutely hilarious!! They were singing the entire time and I think we were a bit deaf by the end of the ride... The costumes on these folks is impressive -- large (Dr. Seuss large), brightly colored hats with bells, painted faces, Chicken costumes (?!) - you name it - these fans are the definition of die hard.  So much fun to be a part of it. Tag and I bought Holland caps to wear into the game (Henk wore his Holland t-shirt -- he's such a good sport).  We sat amidst a sea of bright orange at center field and watched Holland beat Sweden 4 to 1.  Pretty spectacular evening.

Tonight we enjoyed another amazing meal by Anna and now we're settling Evey to sleep (she's so exhausted and beyond knowing how to fall asleep...it's a battle each night...but when she finally goes down, she's down for good).  It's our last night in Amsterdam and then we give Henk and Anna their house and bedroom back (Henk joked this evening on the "stuff covering everything!" and that we'll need to "move out"  when we leave for Nijkerk tomorrow...Ha!).  They have been more than gracious in everyway -- we are so fortunate to have such wonderful family over here in my mother's beautiful homeland.

The Netherlands - Flying over the ocean - Arriving in Amsterdam

We arrived at the airport well before our international flight was scheduled to leave at 7:20pm.  My mom delivered us and all of our luggage so we didn't have to bother with parking.  When checking in at the front desk, however, we found out we were required to have an infant ticket...oops.  They didn't tell me that when I bought the tickets and confirmed that a child under 2 didn't need to buy a ticket, and even requested bulk-head seats to be more comfortable with the baby.  So we stood there for an hour while they processed an international "infant in arms" ticket.  Luckily, it was only the cost of the taxes, so it wasn't a big expense. But I was pretty frazzled as the clock ticked and ticked and ticked - that, plus the fact that on the way to the airport I had an argument with Tag about his vehicle choice for driving to the airport (his truck doesn't have a very comfy carseat for Evey, and the front passenger seat is pushed all the way up to fit the uncomfy carseat so it's not comfy to sit up front either, and we had all day to get ready but he selected his vehicle to take us to the airport and didn't have any gas...!).  So anyway, when we finally reached the gateway and sorted out some additional issues with the infant ticket, I was able to relax and the rest of the trip was very smooth.  Evelyn greeted each of the passengers with a smile and a wave as they boarded and found their seats.  The flight attendants were charmed by her and visited us frequently throughout the flight.  Poor Tag had trouble getting comfortable, but all three of us were able to rest on the night-flight to Amsterdam.  They gave us three seats, so we had plenty of room for all of our "baby accessories."

When we arrived 9 short hours later, Henk & Anna were there to greet us and all of our bags (three suitcases, one duffle bag, one backpack, one purse, one diaper bag, one cameral bag, one stroller, one carseat with collapsible booster chair bungee-corded inside). Somehow we made it onto the train, then switched trains, then hauled our goods down the street, up the elevator and, at last, into their apartment.  More on our visit later -- it's Day Three and I'm ready for slaapen !  Slaap Lekker!

Cleared for Take-Off!

Today we leave on our visit to the Netherlands !  We're all packed up, Evey's ears are clear of infection and her bum is fresh and pink again (no more painful rash).  We're so excited to get reacquainted with family overseas and see the sights in beautiful Holland.  Tag (and I) will take in our first official European soccer match, which has got him soooo excited. I have a feeling we'll be geared up in Dutch Orange on our way home...  Bon Voyage !!!!

It Has Arrived !!! Tooth Number One

It's been fairly smooth sailing on the teething front -- nothing more than excessive drool to deal with.  But with the arrival of the tip of her first little tooth, we are now in the midst of drool rash (ouch) and diaper rash (owwwey) and also her first ear infection (oh dear....).  She was pretty clingy and fussy for several days, and there was a tiny little purple blister on her gum that you could occassionaly get a glimpse of (she wouldn't let us near it, especially not to probe with a finger tip - it was very tender of course).  She ran a slight fever at the same time, which is common, so we assumed that the fever was purely teething driven.  I stayed home with her that morning (she can't go to daycare with a fever greater than 100.1 F).  She seemed fine that afternoon and the next morning, but daycare called when her fever cranked back up and hit 102...and climbed to 103 when Tag took her to the doctor.  Sinusitis and a double ear infection.  We apparently caught it early, thank goodness.  She's on (awful nasty terrible) antibiotics twice a day for ten days... will finish up right before we head off to Europe.  I pray that her ears are fully healed by then....I hate to think what a plane flight would feel like with a remnant ear infection.

So now we're dealing with antibiotics and the resulting gastro complications....and her mouth is broken out in a rash that I keep ointment on....and her poor bum is bright and painfully red so that also gets slathered in various ointments (one for the rash and one for what the doctor thinks is a spot of yeast infection).  But overall she seems to be feeling much better.  Her little tooth (lower left front) is just barely peeking out... I wonder how close behind the next one will be....