Less than Twelve Parsecs

I fell in love. The kind of love that makes the entire world disappear and there's just you and her, two souls staring into each other with complete and utter trust. Her name is Fae Evelyn Tener. She has the sweetest warm blue eyes which she opens sparingly, as if to let you know how precious every glance bestowed upon you really is.  I've known her for a while now, at least I've known her active temperament in the long hours of the night, when she would stretch and kick and kick and kick.  But last Saturday, on November 2, 2019 at 7:23am, was the first time we saw each other and held each other's hand. The first time we hugged and cuddled and fell asleep together. She was 7lbs 6oz and 20in long, head circumference of 35cm, birth Apgar score of 9/10. Yes, she's a tiny gem of a person, but passing every test thrown at her with flying colors.  We've been in pure bliss for a week*, day and night, treasuring every moment we're together**. Fae has shi...

Late night, the Eve of November 2nd 2019. The kids have been kidnapped by grandparents, who've been kindly trying to give us one last weekend alone together before baby arrives. Both Greg and I had sought ideas of things we wanted to do this weekend and came up short. Not that we didn't try the basics: Fancy dinner plan: not worth it due to strict diet-control for GD these past 3 months, so I wasn't really in much of a mood for it. Greg's point of view on fancy food is mostly Cheerios-based anyway. Movie theater: there's really not much playing right now. Big titles not worth the time, indie movies right now also at their lowest, given the right radius around our hospital (we had decided even SF is too far to wonder because we're already full term). Music night: again, can't believe there's nothing going on right now. A small-room underground concert by Cellista downtown, which actually has a great sound but it overflows my taste after the ...

Mara is about to turn 6. Just a few more weeks until the happy date, but she's already there mentally and physically. This summer she went: Kayaking at camp - first in her age group to kayak on her own without an adult during this whole summer, according to her camp instructors Biking on mountain trails - yes, she started biking with no training wheels after several months of sparse strider bike rides, and is so smooth at it now! Stand-up paddleboarding ( SUPing at Shoreline Lake ) which I've personally never even attempted. Greg got his opportunity to try it for the first time just this week, same location, with his coworkers. Horseback riding on Wizard who is a 30yo mare at Garrod Ranch . She can read piano music and play several songs with two hands on it - whenever she's patient and rested enough :-). She figured out the notes of "Doe, a Deer" and wrote them on sheet music one afternoon. Can swim end-to-end in the pool at swim class in a bunch of dif...

It all started with a Dow-and-Darrow . What??! ... you might ask, and rightly so. It is something likely unheard of, before Gaius's stories. He started talking one night about how a Dow-and-Darrow is so, so much stronger than a Bow-and-Arrow. We tried to tease out details - is it a crossbow? a longbow? does it even shoot out arrows? (no, it doesn't, it shoots out Darrows, thanks for asking). But it's strong... so much stronger than all other weapons you could think of, except maybe Najinatas which still retain their sweet spot in Gaius's heart. Though you'd use them for different tasks; Dow-and-Darrows are still much better at a distance. Gaius's portrait of DinDin (3.5yo) As far as we can tell a Dow-and-Darrow is sort of like a rifle. Weeks passed, with us hearing a consistent repeat of this theme of Dow-and-Darrows, without us emphasizing it much or drawing it out. Others likely dismissed it as a speech quirk by a 3-year-old. Until DinDin came...

Gaius is talking a lot more! Coming back from a short visit to Crystal River with his grandparents, Gaius talked constantly through the 2h drive back. He has a new way to say "Twuck!" and is quite determined when showing & telling you all the parts of an airplane. But sweetest of all, on his first day back to school after our Florida vacation, his teacher Amy described the highlight of his day beautifully: We were using clay outside and he talked non-stop about the things he was creating (mostly marshmallows and dragons).  Yes, that sounds like him alright. Afterall, he's had dragon-filled dreams this summer.

In the past 6 months we've travelled over 27,000 miles, if we were to add up all of our trips with the kids. That's more than the Earth's circumference of 24,901 mi, so we could technically say we travelled around the world. On one of the last trips, our two seasoned travelers Mara and Gaius were so self sufficient: they knew how to handle the security line, and even carried all the luggage in the airport. Elena: Do you guys need us anymore? You carry your own luggage, and Mara already knows how to give the tickets to the airport people. Maybe next time you could just go on your own without us. What do you think? Mara: But I will still need your money. Way to be pragmatic; I guess parents are still good for something. Here's some highlights from our trips (non-chronological):  Seattle Zoo, USA  Space Needle, Seattle, USA Chisinau Airport,  Moldova  Bucovina Monasteries, Romania Palace of Culture, Iasi, Romania - wi...

Early morning, in a hotel room in Seattle. The kids are sprawled on the floor with a sheet of sea creatures stickers, having a very serious conversation with each other. Excerpt: Gaius:  Quid. Mara:  No, is not quid, it's Squid. Gaius tries again:  Quid . Mara:  No, it's Squid. SQUID! ... It starts with a  C . Gaius has a pensive moment; then, finally:  Octopus! Mara concedes:  Yes, it's an Octopus, that is wearing a birthday hat. Ha ha ha. See that pointy thing?