Mel's Sandbox

August already?

2009-08-14T20:16:00.014-06:00

Whew! What a summer! Or should I say, 'What was I thinking!?!'

Between having a baby in June and getting married in July, we've had quite the summer! Unfortunately, all of the fun things I had great intentions of doing with Ayshia didn't quite happen like I'd hoped. We had great plans to go on lots of hikes with picnics, read lots of books and practice math, go swimming, and visit lots of museums and parks. A scrapbook was even in the plans to record this oh-so-fun summer. The reality of it was that I was just too busy and too drained of energy to be much fun. The poor girl heard more of 'go find something to do with yourself' than was probably fair to her, considering this has been the only summer I've 'had off' since she was born. However, having the summer 'off' hasn't been exactly that. Any parent knows that having a newborn, while incredibly fulfilling, it can, at the same time, be incredibly draining as well. And even with the best laid out plans, you just don't ever seem to get everything 'done'. (Especially if you, like me, happen to forget that baby's aren't supposed to go out in public for the first six weeks!) And, every parent carries the guilt of not spending enough 'quality time' with thier kids, (mainly due to the gianormous laundry list of things to do because you have kids).

But while I could beat myself up for not winning the 'Mom of the Year Award', or for us not having the Best Summer Ever, I'm going to instead look back on the fun stuff we were able to do, in spite of it being the Craziest Summer Ever. I can honestly say that for the most part, we did, in fact, have some fun times, and just to convince my guilty self of it, here's some pictures to prove it...

After waiting "forever", she became a big sister on June 9th...

Got to hang out at the oh-so-cool BMX track...

Sang in a concert...

Dressed like a princess...

And we did eventually get some fun hikes in, too!

Red Rocks

We also had fun in our garden, going on 'Moonlight Rides', riding the Trail 70, playing with the horses...

So after it's all said and done, Yes, I should have left the house cleaning for another day. Yes, we should have eaten more ice cream. I can go with all of the 'I should haves'. But, it's over now, and as long as I can convince Ayshia, and myself too, that we did, in fact have a great summer, that's all that matters, right?

In the beginning...

2009-06-16T19:53:00.005-06:00

Dear Amelia,

A year ago, you weren't even a glimmer in our imagination. By then I had decided that I wanted another little one, or two, but no set plans were in place. It wasn't until the beginning of October 2008, that we knew about you!! And boy, were we surprised! We arranged a special night out at the Melting Pot for cheese and chocolate fondue to celebrate your anticipated arrival and her becoming a big sister! We were so excited to see your little heart beat on the ultrasound, and Ayshia especially, was thrilled to go to the doctors to see if she was going to be blessed with a baby brother or sister (she really wanted a sister!). The first ultrasound, I brought in pictures to my work and the ladies there were so excited that you were coming, one went shopping right away...

I won't say you were easy on me though, those first nine months of your existence. Between the aches and pains and naseua and heartburn, not to mention the sleepless nights, extra 50 pounds (!) and continuous false labor contractions, you were making your presence known, little lady!

Then on Monday, June 8th, I was having terrible contractions again. I was up most of the night with them, and they continued to be intense through your sister soccer practice all that morning. I remember having to walk part way back to the car with her because we forgot something and just being in the most terrible pain-I was almost brought to tears! And by then, I was really looking forward to coming into this world and so excited to meet you and be able to have you join me in watching your sisters soccer!

By then I had started looking into 'tricks' to help start labor, and one of the more harmless ones was to eat pineapple. So that night I ate a whole can of crushed pineapple. I didn't really believe in any of those things, but it was yummy so I tried it. We went to bed, and again, I was up most of the night with strong painful contractions, and your dad was up with me timing them. They kept coming, but weren't consistent so we kept waiting.

Later that morning, I thought my water might have broken (it hadn't) and I had an appointment that Wednesday, your due date, that I need to reschedule so I called the doctors to see if they could get me in that day, just to make sure you were doing ok.

They scheduled me for 11:40, so until then I laid down to time the contractions and got a hold of Yaya to watch Ayshia. The three of us sat in the waiting room a while, still having contractions and talking about how excited we were that you were coming soon (when? we didn't know, but soon).

The doctor called me back and checked me out and told me I was 3-4 centimeters dialated, 75%effaced, with the bag of waters 'bulging', and to head to the hospital. I asked her if I had time to stop at home to get my things and her response was "Do you have lip gloss? That's all you need. Just go." So we did. Ayshia had her Hot Cheetos and Cherry Coke that she was so sweet to offer me (I would have taken her up on her offer had I known how terribly hungry I'd be in a little bit!) She also gave me what ended up being a life saving tool during your birth-a rock. But not just any rock. A rock that she found on a walk with Sam that was smooth on one side, rougher on the other, that fit into my palm just perfectly to be squeezed and stroked almost to sand during my contractions with you. I held onto that rock from the time she handed it to me in the car, all through walking up and down the corridors of the hospital, through the incredibly painful contractions, until I had to hold my legs to start pushing. That rock was a life saver. We kept that rock.

The ride to the hospital was surprisingly very peaceful. Not at all like what you see on the movies. I was really excited to finally meet you and relieved that it was the real thing and not another false alarm.

We got to the hospital and checked in about 1:30ish. Ayshia had gymnastics that night, so she and Yaya left to go there and Dad, Aunt Nicolette, Poppy and Nana stayed at the hospital with me. We walked up and down the halls, encouraging you to make your grand entrance. Then the hunger hit me. There was a pack of big muffins in a refreshment station sitting out in the hallway and boy did I want a muffin! Nicolette had to hear it the most-that I really wanted one of those muffins, but they wouldn't let me eat anything. I was regretting not taking the Hot Cheeto that was offered to me.

I won't go into the details, but let me tell you, little lady, did you cause your mom some pain! I ended up not being able to sleep later because of the flashbacks of the intensity of it all! But through it all, you arrived at 5:20 p.m. They laid you on my stomach and boy were you cute! I was worried because you were still kind of purple, but they reassured me you were healthy. For a while you just looked around, taking in all of the new sights to see, and letting us look at you. You didn't cry too much right away. You just kind of hung out. You are so beautiful and we are so blessed to have you in our lives. We all just fell in love with you right away!

We stayed in the hospital that Tuesday through Thursday and there were many people who wanted to meet you! Aunt Sam came within minutes of you being born, and Ayshia and Yaya came back after gymnastics to meet you. The next day Carol came back to see you, and so did Aunt Nicolette and our friends Kaley and Megan with Matthew, Mitchell and Adison. Your Uncles Jeremiah and Tyler came later that night. On Thursday, your Aunts Nicolette, Hannah and Sam, and Yaya all came to see you off in your first car ride. You and I were wheeled out in a wheelchair and as soon as you 'wheeled' outside, there was a huge crash of thunder and it was raining heavily. Quite the welcome to the world!

We made it home without event, besides it taking seemingly forever in the bad traffic from the rain and me on such little sleep. We walked in the door and it already felt like you were just part of us. You have been a wonderful addition to our family and we can't imagine how we lived without you! We love you Amelia!

Love,

Mom

July 16, 2007

2007-07-16T10:57:00.000-06:00

My first REAL mountain bike race. Ayshia and Scott were there to see me off. All of the beginner women's age groups started together at the base of the mountain, around 1:30pm. I was so nervous on the drive up to Winter Park, but when I got to the start line, I was frustrated because I was in the back of the pack, but I felt strangely calm. We took off down the road where it turned to kind of a double track trail before turning to single track. It went down gradually for a ways until it turned and started to climb. I felt pretty good, but let myself slow down when I came up to someone. I passed a lady, who passed me, and I didn't want to pass her again, so I rode right behind her for a while. Not smart in a race, but give me a break-it's my first one! It's a learning experience, right?

I passed Marni whose chain had fallen off. I felt so bad, I wanted to stop, but knew I would be useless. I checked to make sure she was ok and had to pedal on.

We came up to a steep, rooty turn. The lady in front of me stopped and hiked. So I did. Then when I got over it, I was trying to clip back in and something went wrong. I ended up on the ground, scraping a tree on the way down. I was passed then, but I didn't care. I was having fun!
It started raining on the climb up and it was such a relief-the loud thunder made me keep pushing harder. The climb up was tough, but the ride down was all worth it. My category was pretty spread out during the climb (and I did pass the lady on the service road) so it made going down a lot of fun.

Seeing Ayshia and Scott at the bottom was so awesome! She usually can't go with us because we are both racing, but Scott wanted a day of rest since he wasn't feeling well and was nice enough to hang out with her while I rode. What a guy!

Hopefully, this is just my first of many mountain bike races to come. I learned a lot from just this one and I am very excited about the next one. And since Ayshia has learned to ride her bike, I'm very excited to get her out on the trails!

Winter Park #1 Hill Climb

2007-06-09T10:59:00.000-06:00

Not sure how, but I successfully completed my second hill climb and my first mountain bike race! Marni, Michelle and I all raced in the beginner women's 20-29 category. We started at about 11:00, and it was already warm out. It was a long, 5.3 miles, of uphill climbing up the side of Mary Jane. I almost gave up in the first mile; it was so steep and so demoralizing that I never thought I was going to make it. I was ready to just turn around and wait at the car for everyone else. But then it ever-so-slightly flattened out for a little bit and I was able to look down this gorgeous valley surrounded by pines and evergreens and watch the butterflies. I remember thinking that as much as the mountain was kicking my butt, there were much worse places on earth that I could be at that moment...

So trudged on...

I borrowed Scott's GPS and was able to track my progress (or lack thereof), which helped immensely. It was really nice to have actually, it reminded me of him and I was REALLY looking forward to seeing him at the top.

I realized I'm not meant for the competitive stuff. I felt really bad passing people. I made eye contact with a lady who was hiking down and she simply said 'you go, girl!' and I smiled and kept pedaling. As I rode higher, more people were heading down, hollering out "You're almost there! Keep it up! Doing great!" I loved "Just one more turn" from some guy bombing down the steeping hill towards the end.

I'll never forget that turn either. I had been chugging uphill, pedaling pretty much nonstop, cursing the mountain (or was it Scott??) for at least half of it, for over an hour. I hurt, I smelled, I was hungry. I came around that last turn and to get to the top we had to climb a very steep, rocky section, but after that it was over. Scott and the whole group was at the top and they made it possible to finish. They were cheering and squeaking their bike buddies and somehow I made it up that last terrible part. I yelled 'I love you guys!' as I passed but it probably came out all garbled at that point.

Having Scott run with me into the gate and then be there to hug when I was done as I was sweaty and shaky and dizzy was one of those moments in life that will never leave me. The only other climb I had done before was up Deer Creek Canyon just a week or two earlier. I hated it. I swore I'd never do the hill climb. But Scott had faith in me-way more than I had in myself-that I could do it. I tried, and I did it.

More amazing was the rest of our group-Bill won the Clydesdale category and Michelle won the beginner women’s! Congratulations to both of them!

My boyfriend did wonderful-he got out there, despite not feeling well, and kicked that mountains butt! I am so proud of him!

I remember climbing up thinking that I was never going to do this again! But, looking back, it is quite an accomplishment and it felt great when we were done!

June 6, 2007

2007-06-06T10:50:00.000-06:00

SD and I decided to go out of town to celebrate our one year of dating. We headed out to Fruita late Wedesday night with plans to camp. However, after a long day at work, close to five hours of driving in the dark, we decided that rather than looking for a site and trying to set up camp in the dark we would just crash in a hotel in town. In the morning, we met up with Piglet, found a site and headed for the Kokopelli trail. We started on Rustlers Loop. It wasn't too hot yet, we were the only ones riding the trail and it was a lot of fun. That is until I heard Piglet shout "oh no!" from behind me.

I stop and turn around to her off her bike with her seat pointing straight up to the sky! Her seat post was busted and we couldn't fix it on the trail so the poor girl had to finish the loop with no seat! (Pictures coming soon!) We headed back to town to get it fixed and grab lunch and headed back out to ride Horsetheif Bench.

We took Mary's Loop to the Horsethief Bench Trail. It was an awesome ride. We were pretty much the only ones back there, blasting around in the desert with the lizards and the heat and the majestic Colorado River running below us. It's a nice cruiser trail with a few technical spots. I sometimes have to remind myself not to get frustrated when the other people I am with can bomb up and down pretty hairy stuff on their nice fancy bikes and I can't always do the same on my less fancy one. I love my bike Trek, but I sometimes feel it's holding me back a little. It was a lot of fun just the same. Fun but very hot.

Friday we rode around the campsite, Joe's Ridge and Kessler's Trail, then we packed up camp and rode Mary's Loop. This loop was a lot of fun also, with the dried river beds and everything. But again it was very hot. I don't think the heat has ever bothered me as much as it did on that ride, therefore, I don't think I have ever whined so much on a ride. I felt kinda bad for them putting up with me. Piglet headed home afterwards and SD and I headed to Grand Junction, stopping in Fruita for lunch again.

We stayed at a cute B&B called The Gallery and our hosts Karen and Damian were wonderful. We had great breakfasts in the morning and Damian gave us a tour of his pottery studio. We cleaned up and headed out to see our friend Plesko off on another one of his crazy adventures. Only this time he might have reached a peak in the craziness scale. He set out on a mountain bike race that covered close to 400 miles! INSANE! Mrs. Plesko was also of course there to see him off. Read more about his adventure at slipangles.blogspot.com. We wished him luck and watched him ride away.

We decided to check out the downtown scene for dinner and found a delicious italian restaraunt there. SD and I were exhuasted so just went back to our room for the night. In the morning, we packed up a day pack and head to Catfish Canoe and rented a Duckie (inflatable kayak). The owner, Henry, was a nice fellow and the setup was awesome. We rented the boat, he drove us to our put-in in Palisade and picked us up at our put-out, in Grand Junction. The Colorado River was flowing high enough that we pretty much just floated the entire 16 miles. There was one Class III, probably, at the confluence of the Colorado and Gunnison rivers that we hit which was exciting, but besides that it was a very peaceful, relaxing day of floating and eating cherries and looking out for Blue Herons.

I gave SD his gift that night. I put together photographs of some of the adventures we have been on together in the last year, framed them for him to hang on his yet-to -be-painted bedroom wall. The next morning he gave me a beautiful set of hand crafted glasses made by Damian, our host at the Gallery, to remind me of our wonderful weekend together.

Before heading home on Sunday we took a partial tour of the wineries in Palisade. This was an awesome experience. Most of the let you try as many different wines as you'd like-for nothing! We got a delicious cherry wine and yummy, mild mead from the meadery. We also stopped at a few of the quaint fruit stands, though not much was available yet.

We had a wonderful time, and although I missed A very much while we were gone and I always have her to look forward to coming home to, there's still a bittersweetness about the end of a fabulous weekend, time passing, and having to get back to reality...