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.