little black journal

We’re three months out from officially entering the terrible two’s, but it seems our boy is ahead of the curve.  We’re IN IT.  Isaac is fiercely independent and helplessly needy all at once these days, desperate to do things on his own but lacking the skills to put on his own shoes.  Toddler-hood is hard.

But progress comes fast!  He’s finding more words, finding ways beyond crying or stomping his feet to tell us what he wants.   He’ll ask “wa-wa?” when he wants his water bottle, and I respond, “oh, do you want water?”, and he says, “YEAH!”, and it’s wonderful when communication works.

Other words include “cow!”, shouted at any animal with four legs, “peeeeease”, said as as a sweet plea while we’re getting his bedtime bottle prepared, “poopoo?”, muttered after a series of grunts, and a round of “nigh-nigh’s” for dad and sister before we head to his room for the evening.

He yuks it up a lot at mealtime and is the jolliest of dinner companions.  Except when he asks, “Mo? Mo? Mo?” and then swipes his extra helping to the floor the minute I put it on his tray.  I guess he’s got to remind us who’s boss.

Sleep.  SLEEP.  We’ve had a couple of bouts of sleep regression where Isaac was up four to five times a night several nights in a row, but I chalked those up to teething spells and they eventually passed.  Now if only we could get him to sleep in a little…he’s up between 5:00 and 5:30, jabbering, then whining, then jumping in his crib, which is my cue to start warming the morning bottle before all hell breaks loose.  Rise and shine, Mama!  We snuggle up on the couch or in our gray chair while he drinks his milk and the sweetness of that time almost makes up for the fact that I’m getting up with the sun.  And then I pull out books and toys and do my best to encourage “independent play” so that I can doze a bit more.  It usually works for about seven minutes.

I know, I know – we’re supposed to be done with the bottle thing by now.  But can you see why we’re not?!

There have been a handful of mornings when Isaac has woken up at 5am and I can see he’s totally tuckered a couple of hours later.  If I don’t have to commute into work, I occasionally use my extra time to take Buddy for a drive so he can grab a power nap in the car before I drop him at daycare.  I sip my coffee and catch up on my podcasts and enjoy the water view along Harbor Drive.  He catches some Z’s and is not an exhausted disaster when I eventually hand him off to his teachers.  Win-win!

Weekend naps are kind of a free-for-all; we try to just let him sleep when and where he’s tired.  Sometimes he falls asleep on the way to one of Juliette’s soccer games and then I sit with him in the car for an extra 30 minutes.  Sometimes we grab a 10 am chair doze.  I prefer the latter.

Isaac still tinkers with his toy cars, but his collection of balls are his greatest treasures.  He loves to play catch, but also loves to just tote them around like a favorite stuffy or a security blanket.

We find bouncy balls in the bathtub, in the car, in our shoes…I feel like they’re multiplying, like Gremlins in the night.

This stacking toy from Christmas is finally getting some play…

And our tried-and-true favorite books get pulled out every day.

I can’t say enough about how patient and kind and joyful Juliette is as a big sis.  Isaac has no clue how lucky he is.

Although if that’s not a thank you, I don’t know what is!

A mom at one of Juliette’s softball games a couple of week ago remarked over what a happy kid Isaac is, and I thought, “Is he?!”, and then I looked at him again and I thought, “HE IS”.

It’s easy (and normal) to be worn down by the hard stuff, by the whining and the early wake-ups and the constant strewing of toys on the floor.  But let’s not forget the utter delight.

You’re somethin’ special, Isaac Henry.

Keep on smiling, sweet boy!

Spring has sprung!  Feels like summer is springing this past week, actually – it’s 80 degrees and the cherry blossoms have long since fallen from the trees.  I have swept up the last of our magnolia petals and I bought a watermelon on Sunday!

But a backtrack to April, when Juliette was still wearing her fleece.

And Isaac sported his navy blue sweatsuit at Roxhill.

We discovered a new playground in the neighborhood recently and Juliette has been refining her hopscotch skills.

Isaac has some work to do.

I spent a Saturday morning out in Redmond with the kids while Shane played at a nearby pickleball tournament.  We roamed around Farrel-McWhirter Park and Isaac befriended a pig, a goat, and a cow.

Juliette loves to play hide and seek with her brother; the moment she darts out of sight, he throws his arms open and asks over and over, “Where go?!  Where go?!”

Found her.

Donuts, then another playground, because I love these kids that much.  And because Isaac is driving me peak crazy when cooped up indoors.

Our mornings start early, but Juliette has learned how to brew my coffee, bless her heart.

And sometimes we’ll pile back in bed at 8am on a Saturday morning for snuggles and shenanigans.

We’ve been mostly healthy these past few weeks, knock on wood, but there were a handful of days in April when Isaac stayed home with a fever.  We worked around it, literally, but oh, it was rough.

We were in Santa Monica on Easter Sunday, so we did our egg hunt and our reading of Luke the weekend after.  Juliette still loves a good game of “you’re getting warmer”…

I filled Isaac’s eggs with his own toy cars and bouncy balls, but he was still pretty enchanted by it all.

We spent much of the afternoon putting the eggs back together so that he could crack them back open and leave the remnants on the floor.

Is that all there is?  WHERE GO?!

After several days of travel and of not feeling our best, that particular Sunday at home felt extra sweet.

DJ Raphi dance party to burn off those jelly beans!

And then a brief moment of mellow.

Backyard weather has been such a boon.  Tee ball and bubbles and basketball, oh my!

Lots of neighborhood strolls to admire the corner tulip patch and our favorite cherry blossom lane…

And perhaps most notably, spring sports have begun!  Our weekends (and the the occasional weeknight) are consumed with Juliette’s soccer and softball games.  I’m not mad about it – I love watching this girl hone her talent and her team spirit.

Isaac is VP of her fan club.

Shane is assistant coach on both teams, which means I’m on Isaac watch, but occasionally Buddy hangs with Dad and I get a moment to focus on the field.

We have our short list of favorite softball venues – Lincoln Park is top notch because of the nearby woods to wander in.

This is the first year that Juliette has played kid-pitch softball and she’s spent hours doing target practice in the backyard.  A parent remarked at a game last week on Juliette’s intense focus when she pitches.  It’s like she’s willing the ball over the plate with equal parts arms and mind.

Get it, girl!

Juliette has the sweetest buddies that love to hang with Isaac between innings.

Ball boy is really falling down on the job…

Game over, but one last loop around the bases for Buddy, of course.

Seriously, though, SO MANY softball games.  I don’t know that we quite anticipated what we were signing up for.

Isaac goes to the evening games in his PJs and we usually split after the third inning.  It’s a lot, schlepping a toddler to the ball field a couple of times a week, but he’s a good sport about it.

And soccer!  I like watching Juliette play softball, but I love watching her play soccer.  Her team has come such a long way in the couple of years they’ve been together and she is fierce out on that field.

Go green!

(Plus Isaac.)

Now, let’s tuck that beanie away for awhile, huh?

We were en route home from our Maui vacation when I started scheming another beach getaway for Spring Break – the kids were so happy in Hawaii (who wouldn’t be?!) and Juliette had a week off in April that we hadn’t booked anything for.  Flights to LA were cheap and it seemed an easy way to get a couple of days worth of sun and sand.  To Cali!

The minute I said “easy”, I think I jinxed our plans – no such thing with a toddler in tow.  The low-grade fever that Isaac had been muddling through all week spiked the evening before our flight and so in the wee hours of the morning I pushed Isaac’s and my departure back a day in hopes he would make a turnaround within the next 24 hours.  Shane and Juliette left town without us and lived their best baby-free lives on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.  Though the circumstances weren’t ideal, I’m glad they got this time together.  Hollywood or bust.

Isaac’s fever broke on Friday morning, about four hours after I pushed our flight, so we had a chill day at home together and were travel-ready by Saturday morning.  We missed our other halves!

We eased into LA life on Saturday afternoon with a trip to In-N-Out and a couple of hours at our AirBnB’s pool.

SUN!  My kids look so good in the sun.

Isaac was not so much a fan of the relatively cool-watered pool (spoiled Maui boy…), but he was content to spend a couple of minutes in the oversized hot tub.

I was completely tuckered on Saturday evening, exhausted and maybe a bit under the weather myself, so I gulped down a green smoothie from the corner cafe and turned in early.  VACATION.  Hardly the fancy-free fun it used to be, but still, I was glad to be under one roof with my people, away from what was feeling like a never-ending winter in Seattle.

Sunday was a new day, with a morning made bright by coffee and pastries at Gjusta.  We chowed down on croissants and scones in their sweet little courtyard and put together the day’s itinerary.

Isaac really liked his blackberry scone.

Next stop was Tongva Park, which was a favorite of Juliette’s on her first trip to Santa Monica several years ago.  It’s funny – this playground looked so much bigger when she was so much smaller!  And now she looks so grown-up, wearing her dad’s puffy vest and helping her brother down the slide.  Time marches on.

We strolled over to the pier from the playground and took a peek at the beach before booking it back to our AirBnB so that we could get Isaac down for a solid nap rather than just letting him doze on the go.

We…didn’t make it.  Rascal fell asleep on the way back and then woke up the moment we stepped inside, fresh as a daisy and rearing to go again.  I, however, was ready for a rest, so I popped on Bluey and we all lazed around for a bit before our condo started feeling much too small to contain Isaac’s energy.

To the beach!  Shane hit the pickleball courts while I walked with the kids to nearby Venice Beach.  Though Isaac seemed eager to play, his feet became rooted to the sand the minute I set him down.  Run free, Buddy!  RUN!

Or…let your sister do the running for you.

Shane picked us up and we headed to True Food Kitchen for lunch and colorful drinks.

Though it was gray and a bit chilly that day, Juliette begged to head back to the pool, so we spent some time there after lunch watching our little fish swim free.

We drove over to Abbot Kinney, my favorite Venice drag, for dinner and found ourselves at the courtyard of De Buena Planta sipping margaritas and eating chips with guac.  This girl’s got next-level style, huh?  Such a cool kid.

Her brother, meanwhile, lacks a little class.  Can’t take this boy anywhere.

Chips for dinner, ice cream for dessert.  When in LA…

We were back at Abbot Kinney on Monday morning in search of brunch.  The Butcher’s Daughter was light-filled and lovely and our server was very friendly when Isaac dumped water all over our table.

We took a stroll through the Venice canals after brunch – I’d never explored this area before and though the waters were a bit mucky, the neighborhood held its own sort of charm.

Isaac befriended some ducks and we had a heck of a time getting him to say goodbye to them.

But then we stumbled upon a sweet little playground that served as a perfect distraction from his feathered friends.

Vacation with a toddler is exhausting, but the naps are next-level.

We spent Monday afternoon at El Matador State Beach in Malibu, picnicking and playing.  This is one of my most favorite SoCal spots.

Someone got over their aversion to sand…

Again, a bit gray, a bit chillier than hoped, but still so beautiful.  Juliette and I took a little stroll while eating the matcha shortbread I had picked up from Whole Foods and I felt so happy to be oceanside with my girl.

We got back from our walk and Juliette started on a sand castle that Isaac kept threatening to demolish, so I walked him down the beach and we sat together at the water’s edge.  We spent awhile tossing stones and I was thrilled to learn that Buddy inherited his dad’s and sister’s love of rock-skipping.

We rolled up to our condo around 5:00, planning to rest a bit before getting dinner.  Shane parked the car and I got the kids out and suddenly Shane was very nervously patting his pockets and then rooting around under the front seat and then sharing the unfortunate news that our door key was missing – it must have fallen out of his pocket at the beach.  He got a hold of our host, who was 2 hours away, so we quickly adapted our plans and Shane dropped me off in Santa Monica with the kids while he drove to meet our host at a halfway point.  To the pier!

Juliette, it seems, is getting a bit old for the merry-go-round, but she hopped on a horse for her brother’s sake.

Next stop was the ferris wheel, which Juliette and I loved, but Isaac was undecided about.

He couldn’t believe we were asking him to sit still for a 10 whole minutes.

We walked up to the 3rd Street Promenade to kill a little more time and grab some food.  I took Juliette into her first Urban Outfitters and we bought a bottle of electric blue nail polish (as if she wasn’t already hip enough!).  Shane picked us up, key in hand, just as Juliette and I were finishing our evening tea and hot chocolate and we made it back to the condo in time for Isaac to get to bed at a reasonable hour.  Look at us, going with the flow!

Tuesday we packed up our things and said goodbye to our little home at Marina del Rey.

Pastries and coffee at Tartine…

And then Juliette and I spent an hour romping around Manhattan Beach while Isaac dozed in the car.  It was chilly that morning as well, so we steered clear of the water, but we hunted for shells and played tic-tac-toe and drew pictures in the sand.

Juliette won our long-jump contest.

Isaac’s awake!  Kind of.

We dusted the sand off our feet, grabbed a quick bite, and were soon airport-bound.  This trip didn’t go entirely as planned, what with the fever and the gray skies and the lost key, but then again, not much does go as planned these days!  We proved ourselves adaptable, if nothing else.  Sweatshirts can be beach-wear, too.

Though I’m still reaching for my beanie and puffy coat most mornings, the cherry blossoms on the trees tell me that winter is waning!  I’m ready – we’ve had our fill of snow and rain and pre-dinner sunsets, but now I’m ready to see our backyard bloom, to enjoy longer days as we settle into Spring.  One final winter photo-log…

Cold, schmold!  Isaac is happiest when he’s got room to run, so we did lots of bundling up and roaming free.  Saturday morning jogs with Dad…

Afternoon trips to the corner patch of grass to kick the soccer ball around…

And some family pickleball when the courts were dry.

We spent a lot of time at Ercolini Park, whiling away the hours till dinner and bedtime.

The playground at Juliette’s school also saw some weekend action.  Most of the equipment there is too big for Isaac, but Juliette makes a very good recess monitor.

On the mornings I couldn’t muster the energy for a full playground romp, we took a quick spin around the block to get the wiggles out.

Shane had a standing sans-family pickleball commitment on Sunday afternoons in January and February and the kids and I fell into a routine of walking to Starbucks for steamer cheers, then heading down the hill to Ercolini.

Round 2!

We still find a full sit-down restaurant dinner a little challenging with Sir Isaac, but he’s getting awfully good at late afternoon Happy Hour.

Though Buddy (and Sister) prefer to be out and about, there were still plenty of cozy days at home.

Other miscellaneous highlights include the afternoon Juliette, Nance and I spent watching the UW women’s gymnastics team compete.

Juliette’s school art walk 2023, where she proudly hung her self portrait…

And a quiet Valentines Day at home with my girl while her dad travelled for work.  There were new earrings and ice cream sundaes and some serious chick-flicking.

A sleepover with the girls (and baby bro)…

And a lot of jumping rope.  Like A LOT of jumping rope – this has become Juliette’s favorite pastime with her buddies and I love watching them double-dutch or work on their latest routine on the back patio.

There was a random end-of-February snow day when we used nearly all the snow in our yard to make a humble little snow man.

And softball season!  It’s begun!  Juliette has leveled up and is in a league this year where the kids pitch (rather than the coaches), so she’s been working extra-hard on her wind-up.

Spring is most definitely in the air.

It’s been three months since I’ve done one of these posts and in that time it feels like Isaac has officially made his transition from baby-hood to toddler-hood.  Three months ago his vocabulary consisted of just “mo?  mo?  mo?” (more, more, more) and “UH-OHHHHH!”, but now it’s “Dada” and “cah!” (car) and “bah-bah?” (bottle) and “buh-buh!” (bubbles) and “nana” (banana) and the sweetest exclamation of “Mama!” when I walk in the door in the evening.

And my personal favorite, “JUUUUUUU-YEH!” (that boy loves his sister).

Oh, and “cheeeeeese!” (cheers), said with much gusto when he has a sippy cup at hand.

He’s on the move all the time, sprinting down the hallway, running circles around the kitchen and living room, and then begging to go outside, desperate for extra room to roam.  He’ll perch at the window for a moment…

…start jiggling the front door handle…

…and then grab his shoes, thinking these are the golden ticket to a backyard play pass.

Sometimes he brings me his boots before his pants.  It’s a good look, actually.

We take a lot of short walks and he’s just so happy to be outdoors, where there are a hundred different things for him to get into.  Typically eighty of those things are off-limits, like strangers’ front doors and gutter grates, so we do a lot of redirecting.

I’ve started taking Isaac on Saturday morning stroller walks down to the water and while it takes a lot of snacks and warm milk to keep him strapped in for an hour, he does seem to love the view.

Current favorite toys are this tambourine, which he bangs so hard my head rattles.

And CARS.  Some friends gave us a bag full of Hotwheels that their son had finished with and we spend a lot of hours zooming them across the coffee table.

He’s getting more into books, though he still rarely has the patience to sit in my lap and let me read something cover to cover.  He much prefers to flip pages at his own warp speed.

We’ve dabbled with art projects, mostly with crayons, but I pulled out the paints on what felt like a particularly long Sunday afternoon.

Bathtime follows painting time.

Isaac can be a little grumpy, like all one year olds, and has hurt Juliette’s feelings on more than one occasion when she leans in for a hug and he pushes her away with a huffy NNNNNNNNNNO!  But he’s also starting to show the first signs of empathy and will trail after her if she leaves the room in tears, patting her head with his chubby little hand in an effort to right his wrong.  It usually works.

He’s a rascal, but he’s also irresistibly forgivable.

 

On that note, Isaac, I forgive you for the way you insist on clutching my hand as you drift off to sleep.  It’s not convenient, per se, but I sure do love the warmth of your hand in mine, the sight of your eyelids fluttering closed after a full day of play.  You are running, talking, growing, changing all too fast and I’m hanging on for dear life.

 

Ooof.  March thus far has been a month of too much work, too little time with the kids, and no time for myself, but I daresay I’m over the hump and able to carve out a couple of hours to sit in a coffee shop and reminisce about our final days in Maui.  MAUI.  Already feels like a lifetime ago that we were there.

Juliette and I had booked a snorkeling trip with the Chens early-early on Wednesday, so we walked to their hotel in the dark and perched at our favorite photo op while I sipped my coffee.

The sunrise boat ride out to Molokini Crater was actually one of my favorite parts of the whole expedition.  So serene and pastel – I love Maui in the morning.

Juliette was super-excited until the moment we anchored and people started flipping into the water.  You mean, I have to get in?  All the way?

But after a little coaxing, several snorkel adjustments, and one more in-water pep talk, she went for it and we both ducked our heads underwater.  And front and center, as if they were waiting for us, were so many fish.

Thumbs-up for pushing through the nerves, Kiddo.

Meanwhile, Shane and Isaac lived their own best lives.

We all hopped back into the boat after an hour of snorkeling and started to zip toward shore when our guide quickly brought us to a halt so we would all watch the mama and baby whales playing in the water remarkably close to us.

Stunning creatures.  Top moment.

We made it back to the boys just as Isaac was wrapping up his morning nap.  Time to swim some more, I guess!

Isaac added the word whoa to his vocabulary while on this trip and would say Whoa!  Whooooooooooooa! as we spun him in the water.

You look good, Buddy.

Our family pool time was really one long, sweet continuous top moment.  What a treat this was.

And speaking of treats, since it was our last full day in Maui, I splurged on an overpriced poolside pina colada.  Worth it.

We took a short sun-break back at the room after lunch, but Juliette was begging to go swim with N after 30 minutes, so back out we went!  Maybe it’s because our trip was winding down and I was so intent on soaking in every last detail, but goodness, the sky looked extra-blue and the grass looked extra-green that afternoon.

Juliette and Isaac played hide and seek and tag and I sat in the shade.  For two minutes.

And for record, “playing tag” is really us chasing down Isaac and trying to get him into his stroller.

Finally, though, Isaac was strapped in and Juliette was dropped off with her best bud.  Buddy and I walked over to the market for iced coffee and a box of souvenir cookies.  We came back an hour later to these two living large.

I mean, it’s hard not to be giddy when you’re in an ocean-front cabana.

We walked back our place to rest and freshen up a bit before meeting up with the Chens for a final round of Mai Tais.

We don’t do a lot of kicking back on vacation in this current season of life (love you, Isaac!), but this was as good as it got!

And one last sunset…

I love our family time, but vacationing with friends is next-level.  So thankful for these people.

Whooooooooa!

Baby footprints on the beach!  Freeze-framing that one, too.

These five spent several minutes standing at the edge of the waves, wanting to see how far into the sand their feet would sink.  Isaac played that game for about four seconds and then opted for his own game of seeing just how many baby footprints he could leave in the sand.

One more game of chase-the-waves…

A round of high-fives for a top-notch day…

And goodnight, sun.

Shane tucked in Isaac while Juliette traded in our swimsuits for dresses and grabbed a shirley temple and a matcha mojito at the hotel bar.  There was a guitarist playing cover songs across the room and when he started crooning Harry Styles’ Watermelon Sugar, Juliette and I bopped along.

My grown-up girl…she makes a good date.

We talked about school and friends and Isaac and sports while we ate our matcha creme brulee.

Thursday!  Just a few precious hours left…

One last acai bowl, one last round of beach play…

(You can see from Isaac’s onesie that he very much enjoyed the acai as well…)

We got our mileage out of these $5 sand toys!

Keeping Isaac from destroying Juliette’s masterpiece wasn’t easy.

DON’T DO IT, BUDDY!

Pure mischief, this kid.

A final dip…

A final rollick with friends…

And a final group pic.  See you in Seattle, Chens!

Isaac really got the hang of the beachfront showers.  Life skills!

A quick pause at the lucky mermaid, where I made a quiet wish that I’ll see her again next year…

Mahalo, Maui.  Our trip didn’t start quite as planned, but gosh, those last few days were a dream.

Shane awoke on Monday feeling right as rain, so he made plans to play some island pickle ball while I took Isaac for a sunrise walk.  A pre-sunrise walk, actually.  Buddy was up at 5 am and jiggling the door handle begging to go outside by 5:30…  The hotel coffee shop opened at 6am and I was first in line!

Dark, schmark.  This boy was ready to roll.

A new day dawns in Maui!  Such promise…

Isaac loved this wide-open lawn.  I thought I’d sit down with my back against that tree and finish my latte while he ran wild, but then he tried to cut in on a couple of guys playing football, then he tried to climb the rocks down to the ocean, then he started chasing after a stray cat, and then I gave in and the two of us played a too-early game of tag.

We headed back to the room around 7:30 to find sister still snoozing.  Rise and shine, girl!

We walked up to the market for acai bowls and a sausage scramble.

Morning nap for the early riser…

And then pool time!

So much pool time.  The four of us felt so good to feel so good.

Isaac dug his first water slide.  Next year he might be zipping down this thing on his own!

Juliette’s freckles were poppin’ by this point, which made me so happy!  (They’ve already faded by now…)

We did the slide circuit several times over, lunched at our lounge chairs, and then got back in.  I had a fleeting thought that maybe we should go exploring, go see something new, but then again, if it ain’t broke…

At this point I think Isaac officially pooped out.  WE DID IT!  We exhausted the energizer bunny!  Afternoon nap was goooooood.

There was some late afternoon beach play…

And then dinner at the Chens’ hotel, where Isaac refused to sit still at the table for even a minute (bunny was BACK!), so Shane and I took turns playing with him out front while the other parent ate.

Evening zoomies on our favorite lawn…

And then a set of pushups to round out the day?  We walked back to our room and Isaac snoozed deeply while Shane, Juliette and I watched Rookie of the Year, which was just how I remembered it from 30 years ago, for better and for worse.

Tuesday morning brought more coffee and scones in the dark.

I will say, I do very much enjoy watching the sky turn from blue-gray to lavender to pink.

Isaac stopped to take a call on the grass…

And then Juliette joined us as Shane was heading out for pickle ball day 2.  This girl does not awake with quite the same joie de vivre as her brother, but she comes around…

His pants were soaked and came off within a minute of us landing on the beach.

And then the onesie…  I tried to teach this kid a healthy respect for the ocean, but when the water is that warm and the waves are that gentle, it’s a hard lesson to learn.

Just one more quick dip, Mom!

Ok, now she’s awake!  And ready for a game of tag!

We dried off back at the room and then settled in for a little doze.

Isaac has the best surfer hair post-nap!

We beached a bit before lunch.

And pooled a bit before lunch…

And then actually got in the car for the first time in several days, to grab fish tacos and sandwiches at the food trucks at South Maui Gardens.

We laid low the rest of the afternoon, having hit our sun limit by 1pm.  But when the cloud cover rolled in, back to the pool!  I walked Juliette over to the Chens’ pool so she could swim with N, then circled back to our pool to hang with Shane and Isaac.  I wish I could freeze-frame the sight of the two of them swirling and laughing together, caught up in their own world…  I mean, you know I tried to freeze-frame it, but pictures hardly capture how sweet it was.

Isaac’s afternoon nap had done him good.

Back to the beach!

I waded into the water with Isaac and let the waves lap at his legs.  Juliette said she was too tired to play anymore, but her fatigue was short-lived.

Seriously, these are the gentlest waves ever, but the look on her face!  Such drama!  I love her.

It was so cloudy that night that it was hard to tell when the sun actually set, but I’m fairly certain it was below the horizon by the time we headed in.

Ok, I’ll stop now.

…after ice cream.  Another two glorious days in the books.

When planning a vacation with two children, one of whom is a strong-willed, rambunctious toddler, there are a number of emotional stages a parent goes through in lead-up to the trip.  Case in point:

Stage 1 (6 months prior to trip):  Unbridled excitement.  Trip is booked!  Maui in February!  Let’s gooooo!

Stage 2 (1-2 months prior to trip):  Mild anxiety.  Gosh, I hope we don’t get sick and have to cancel our trip.

Stage 3 (one week before trip):  Cautious optimism.  There’s so much to do before we leave.  But Juliette is positively bouncing off the walls with glee and we all feel good and I can’t wait to see her zip down that waterslide!  

Stage 4 (2 days before trip):  Utter forlornness / temptation to bail.  I “got an early start on packing” but really just have a pile of clothes and diapers that can’t possibly fit into our three suitcases.  The house is a mess.  And, wait for it…baby boy just got sent home from daycare because he threw up after naptime.

Stage 5 (night before trip):  We have come full-circle back to excitement!  Baby’s bug seemed to just be a one-day thing and the rest of the family is unscathed.  Bags are packed.  House is clean, with much help from the determined-to-swim nine year old.  Out-of-office assistant has been turned on.  Alarm is set.  We’re really doing this!

WE WERE DOING THIS.  We arrived at the airport early Friday morning and we were pumped.  Isaac was in good spirits, I had packed a couple of special toys and snacks to keep him entertained on the six-hour flight, and Juliette was adorably over the moon.  Seriously, let’s goooooooooo.  We could almost taste the shave ice…

We were stuck on the runway for about an hour due to a minor maintenance issue, but we rolled with it.  And then, just as the plane was cleared for take-off, Juliette looked at me, the color immediately draining from her face, and said the three words no parent wants to hear on an airplane:  my stomach hurts.  I encouraged her to take a few deep breaths and close her eyes and she fell asleep almost immediately, her dozy brother following suit and collapsing against my chest before we’d even left the ground.

She opened her eyes 20 minutes later and smiled weakly, saying she felt better, and I thanked my lucky stars, but the relief was short-lived and suddenly we were reaching for the barf bag with five and a half hours left on our flight time.  Ugh, that poor girl.  She used up all the sick bags in our row within an hour and I had to ask the flight attendant for another, at which point she handed me a ginormous garbage sack.  I thought that was a bit much, but Juliette spent most of the flight with her head in that bag, heaving at 15-minute intervals, whimpering in between that she just wanted to turn around and go home.  It was brutal.

Isaac, thankfully, was content for most of the flight, playing with the window stickers and suction spinners I’d ordered from Amazon earlier in the week.  Shane and I took turns with the kids, but he did the majority of the bag-holding and I in turn bear-hugged Isaac through his 30-minute crying fit as we neared the end of our flight.  We’re a good team.

I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to step off a plane, though Juliette was still feeling awful and clutched her garbage bag all the way to baggage claim.  I sent Shane ahead to pick up our rental, not wanting to make Juliette walk any farther, and then stationed her behind a column where could discreetly wretch while I chased Isaac around between yanking our suitcases off the conveyer belt.  That whole fiasco was in my top five toughest mom moments, no doubt.

But Shane arrived curbside with the car, hero that he is, we loaded our circus into it, pit-stopped at Target for electrolyte water and wine, and checked into our room at the Grand Wailea without any of our usual “Hooray, we’re here!” photos because all we cared about was tucking our sick child into a clean bed.  Juliette melted into the sheets, relief flooding her face.  The worst was behind us.

I walked up to the market with Isaac to pick up some dinner for Shane and me and we ate on our patio, very tentatively easing into vacation mode.  I took Isaac for a walk to burn off the last of his pre-bedtime steam and introduced him to the magnificent Pacific.  

He was undecided about the squishy, uneven ground.

But give it time, Buddy.  You’ll love it here!

We came back to find a slowly-recovering sister.  She was still up every hour or so, choking up her few sips of Gatorade, but she managed small bouts of rest in between and by 9pm she was sleeping soundly.  Praise the Lord!  

Then I threw up at midnight.  DAMMIT!

My stomach woes were short-lived, but I was a little achy and low-energy on Saturday and spent much of the day napping in the room.  The kids had a good day, though, and I was so happy to see Juliette on the mend and enjoying pizza by the pool.  If anyone had earned the right to feel good that day, it was her.

The pool threw Isaac for another bit of a loop, but like the ocean, I assured him he’d learn to love it.

I napped while Isaac napped (and then some), but there are worse rooms to be confined to…

By late afternoon I felt good enough to take Isaac for a nap-walk in the Ergo, though that tuckered me out and after a watching a sunset rainstorm pass by our patio, we fell asleep together at 7pm.

Sunday!  Gosh, on Sunday I was a new woman!  Isaac and I had each logged 11 hours of sleep and I felt great.  I headed out the door with the kids at 6:30 for a sunrise breakfast.

Isaac cheats at cornhole, by the way.

Reunited!  The Chens had landed the previous evening and the kids met up for a round of super-sized chess.

Juliette decided that if Isaac was a chess piece, he’d most definitely be the Queen, going any which way he pleases, mowing down anything in his way.

That Maui morning light is so beautiful here…

We headed back late morning to see if Shane was up and ready to play.

Since we’d skipped the leis upon our arrival, I went to the front desk and asked if we have a first day do-over – they were happy to adorn Juliette and me with fresh orchids.

Shane, unfortunately, was the last soldier to fall and needed to spend much of the day sleeping off his aches and pains.  Storytime with Isaac took most of the energy he could muster.

It was a bummer to see Dad down and out, but the kids and I managed to find our groove – Isaac grew fonder of the pool, Juliette grew fonder of Isaac in the pool, and we all grew fonder of Maui in general.  This felt good.

Like, really, really good.

SO GOOD, you guys.  What a joy to see these two play in the water together – this was the trip I’d been dreaming of six months earlier.

Isaac took a late morning nap with his dad and then Juliette and I headed out to work on the hotel scavenger hunt.

She was looking very Carmen Sandiego in her hat and glasses.

We made it through most of the scavenger hunt and then popped back to the room to pick up brother for poolside (in-pool?) iced tea.

Shane turned a slight corner and joined us for a bit.

Juliette and I crossed the last item off her scavenger hunt list on our way back to the room and swung by the front desk for prizes.

Isaac weaseled his way into getting his own prize and was very pleased about it.

Watch out, though – his fish bites!

It took us upward of 20 minutes to get from the front desk to our room as the kids zig-zagged the lobby and played 13 rounds of hide and seek near the elevators, but the lack of need to get anywhere fast was one of my favorite things about this trip.

Juliette wanted to do some swimming with N at his pool in the afternoon, so I dropped her off with him and took Isaac up to the market for a smoothie break.  One slurp of my avocado smoothie and he was all grins, asking, “Mo?  Mo?  Mo?”

More, Mom?  Pleeeeeeease?!

I picked up a cheap set of sand toys for Isaac, feeling like we’d delivered Christmas in February, and then it was back to the room for afternoon nap (or so I thought).

LaV and I toasted with poolside Mai Tais while the big kids swam and the little kid (didn’t) nap with his dad.

At 5pm Shane and I called off hopes of a late nap and I took Isaac down to the beach to try out his new sand toys.

Again, looking a little concerned…

But…that water looks kind of fun?

Let’s do it.

I held Isaac’s hand as the water lapped at our feet and he clutched my fingers tightly but cracked a small smile.  Ease into it, Kiddo!

It was ultimately the trusty plastic shovel that made him forget about the strange feeling of sand between his toes.  Once I pulled that out, he spent a good 30 minutes filling his pail, a few grains at a time.

The boy was focused.

The beauty of Maui is largely lost on a one year old, but there were moments that I felt like he understood, just for a flash, how spectacular this place really is.

Juliette, meanwhile, was enjoying being the Chens’ second child.

But…wait.  Is that Sister?!

Such a sweet, happy reunion, Isaac bolting toward her, yelling, “Joo-yeh!!!”

I say this every year, but every year that we watch these kids get such a kick out of playing tag with the ocean, my heart swells.  The magic lives on.

Isaac watched from a distance, but I could see him scheming.  That looks fun…

And then, he was off, with a major case of the beachfront zoomies.

We chased each other until the sun dipped below the horizon, Isaac’s butt soaked, our feet caked with sand, my cheeks sore from grinning.

Goodnight, Maui.  More joy (with a fully-healthy family) on the horizon!

The annual Schnell family snow-cation!  It’s a favorite.  I initially made resos at a hotel in dreamy Winthrop, but as the date drew closer and Isaac’s patience for being strapped into his carseat drew shorter, we changed course and opted to stick a little closer to home with a long weekend in Suncadia.  Shane and Juliette took the ski-bus on Friday morning to Snoqualmie to get their downhill fix while Isaac and I followed with the car later in the afternoon to scoop them up on our way to the resort.

We checked into our room with our piles and piles of stuff (snow-tripping with two kids is no joke!) and then took a short walk to dinner.  Since Shane and I had lugged all of our bags into the lodge, Juliette offered to lug the baby to the restaurant.

Cozy vibes…

And the glowing-est ice skating rink!  This place is a madhouse during opening hours, but when it’s closed, it’s the perfect place to perch by the fire for a quick warm-up.

We all slept well Friday night, but sweet Jesus, baby boy was up early on Saturday.  I took him down to the lobby at 6:00 am to burn off some steam while Shane and Juliette grabbed some extra Z’s.  Thank goodness for hallways to roam in and fireplaces to sit by.  A staff person walked by as I was chasing down Isaac and said, “You know there’s fresh coffee by the front desk, right?”  I about hugged her.  To the front desk, Isaac!

We headed back up the room around 7:30, having covered what felt like every square inch of the ground floor, and the kids caught up on some business while I prepped breakfast in our small kitchenette.

Cinnamon rolls were devoured and Isaac was climbing the walls again by 8:00, so we jetted back out to hit the sledding hill.  It was misty and quiet out there, because who eats breakfast and gets dressed and leaves their room by 8:00 on a winter vacation?  We do, friends.  WE DO.

He makes me awfully tired, but dang, he’s awfully cute in his puffy gray snowsuit.

Isaac didn’t love the fast runs down the hill, but a nice gentle tow by big sister was definitely his jam.

Faster, Daddy, faster!

Biggest trooper award goes to the guy who forgot his snow boots but still dragged his kids up an icy hill several times over.

Funny how watching your dad haul you around poops you out, huh, Jules?

We walked back to the lodge after awhile to grab some hot chocolate and a late morning nap.  All in a morning’s work…

We snoozed, ate some lunch, and then piled into the car to check out the Nordic trails at Salmon le Sac.

It was pretty icy out there, but a good time was had by all.

I sure do love skiing with this girl.

High five, Buddy!  You nailed it.

We lazed around in the afternoon and grabbed a second nap (myself included), then drove into Roslyn for dinner.  More cozy vibes!

And a very long wait for our food, but the kids were good sports about it.

…and to all a good night.

Sunday!  Rise and shine!  At least this time I knew right where to head for the free coffee.

Juliette woke up as Isaac and I were putting on our shoes and begged to come along on our obnoxiously early hallway shenanigans.  Knock yourself out, Girlie.

…and more early sledding!  We discovered that this hill is packed by 10am, so I guess there are some advantages to not sleeping in.  Some.

“You’re not going to send me down the hill by myself, are you?!”

You’re safe with me, Kiddo.

The skiing and sledding were fun, but the kiddos seemed to especially love the leisurely strolls around the grounds of the lodge, stopping to make a quick snowball or see how deep they could burrow their footprints.

Pure joy, I tell you.

Juliette requested a little break from Brother and we let her fire up the iPad and put on the headphones, but Isaac kept wandering over and putting one hand gently on her leg while waving with his other arm and exclaiming, “HI!”.  She couldn’t resist.

Napped and happy.

To lunch!  We drove back into Roslyn to check out the Mexican food scene there.  Again, the food took awhile, so Isaac and I wandered while Shane and Juliette ate their weight in tortilla chips.

The salted caramel chocolate from the corner candy store got an enthusiastic thumbs-up from Juliette; I gave my latte from Basecamp Coffee a solid 4 stars out of 5.

We gave up on the idea of more skiing due to the crusty snow and instead opted to romp around a nearby playground.

Juliette stock-piled ammo for a family snowball fight…

But Shane had her laughing so hard with his antics that she had a hard time nailing him.

Afternoon lazing…

And an evening walk through the twinkly woods.

Monday was check-out day, but we were in no great hurry to hit the road, so we spent the morning at the lodge, sipping coffee and reading in cozy chairs by big windows.  Isaac seemed sleepy, so I tucked him into the Ergo while I walked the halls.  It’s not too often anymore that this boy naps on the move, but sometimes it works.  And it’s so sweet when it does.

He’s up!  I let him borrow my Kindle so he could be just like Big Sis.

We piled our stuff back into the car and said goodbye our cozy-though-confined room.  One last stop before booking it to Seattle, though…

Three cheers for Juliette!

And a lot of laughing at Shane, who took that last little sled jump none-too-gracefully…

We maxed out our mileage on our trusty red sled and then headed to the playground for swing-time and sculpture-carving.

He has the best hat hair.

Whew!  That was…exhausting.  But packed with good memories.

The annual roundup!  2022 started quiet as my maternity leave and long days at home wound down, but life seemed to pick up speed as the year went on and now I’m reeling over the fact that Juliette’s third grade year is nearly half over.  And were those tulips I saw in the Trader Joes flower aisle on Sunday?!  Some days were long, but dang, the year was fast.  Below is the best of the best…

 

Favorite book:

24 books last year!  A new record for me!  And a good mix of poetry, non-fiction, memoir, and fiction.  

Favorite book of all was A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.  It’s the fictional story of a charming man placed under house arrest in a famed Moscow hotel and it just…swept me up.  

Favorite non-fiction was The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantu, because for as many times as I’ve heard the phrase “crisis at the border”, I haven’t spent enough time considering the humans at the center of that crisis.  Cantu makes it real.  

 

Favorite TV show:

Top honors to Bad Sisters.  I started this on a whim one evening after the kids were in bed, put it away for a few weeks, and after watching episode 2 on a morning when I had the house to myself, I followed with episodes 3, 4, 5 that very same day…such dark, smart humor.  Such love among sisters.  Such intense, intense hatred for the villain!  The mark of good character development.

 

Favorite movie:

CODA!  This movie was beautiful and sweet and shed new light for me on life without hearing.  The main character (who is not hearing-impaired) is an incredible singer, but can’t fully share her talent with her deaf parents and brother.  That scene in the auditorium through the mother’s eyes when all is perfectly silent – so powerful.  And when the dad puts his hands on his daughter’s vocal cords to feel her sing You Are All I Need to Get By.  I smiled and cried and felt all the things.

Honorable mention to Nope, even though I watched a good portion of it with my face hidden behind a blanket, but sometimes being scared is fun.

 

Favorite podcast:

Top honors to Glennon Doyle’s We Can Do Hard Things.  I admit, I don’t listen to all the episodes (I don’t have the emotional bandwidth to unpack all the things!), but I’ve loved her handful of parenting-focused episodes with Dr. Becky and really love the glimpse I get of how her and Abby do life together.

 

Favorite song:

You know it!  T-Swift again!  And I’m not gonna apologize.  Everyone in our family has loved the album Midnights a little more with each additional listen and I’m smitten with Maroon in particular.  It’s a bop.  

 

Favorite purchase:

I got new eyeballs last year!  Or at least it they felt new after I finished my Lasik surgery in October.  And it’s been a game-changer.  To wash my face and brush my teeth and then just go to bed, without the fuss of contacts!  To SEE in the morning, without fumbling for my glasses!  I’m a new woman.

 

Favorite personal pastime:

I’ve been working on carving out a couple hours of solo coffee shop time every week or two, to read or write with a latte in hand and it’s been life-giving on a level that’s almost ridiculous.  But do you know what my favorite way to pass the time was in 2022?  I super-duper loved my naps with Isaac in our cozy gray chair.  I know, it’s hardly personal time and it’s hardly a hobby, but it’s how I chose to spend so many of my afternoons and I don’t regret any of it.  It’s not a pastime that will make it on this list any other year going forward, so I’m doubling down on all those times I chose not to put him in his crib.  Plus, all the reading I got done as he dozed in my arms!  When do you think I plowed through those 24 books?

 

Favorite family pastime:

Our summer family bike rides to the library and the brewery and the swimming pool were a sweet Sunday ritual.  I love these people and I love that clunky orange Rad Wagon and I love where we live.

 

And, favorite moments…

A magical, misty morning in Winthrop.

 

Maternity leave coffee walks with my boy.

 

Watching big sis show little bro the world.  Or the local playgrounds, at least.

 

An Alki nursing session while Juliette danced in the sand.

 

MAUI.

 

We’ve got a crawler!

 

Softball Saturdays.

 

Proud Mama moment.

 

On those days that I had him nap in his crib, I was rewarded post-sleep with the sweetest of smiles.

 

An Idaho Fourth.

 

A Mama-Jules hike.

 

So many sibling couch cuddles.

 

Summer days at Colman Pool, where Juliette passed her first swim test!

 

The loveliest sunset paddle with my best first mate.

 

Our smiles say it all.  This was BIG.

 

But also, it’s the little things.

 

The dreamiest Bainbridge Weekend.

 

The happiest of reunions.

 

He’s ONE!

 

Sunset fishing to cap off our best-yet trip to Minnesota.

 

And she’s NINE!

 

Evening walks with my little buddies.

 

The best birthday bike ride.

 

Autumn joy.

 

Sometimes he’s so happy it’s silly.

 

And we’ve got a walker!

 

A cozy, quiet Thanksgiving.

 

The prettiest tree hunt.

 

A most favorite tradition.

 

Girlie is growing up and I’m here for it!

 

Sharing the Christmas magic.

 

Sometimes it’s fun to leave the baby at home.

 

CHEERS.

 

I’m feeling that familiar mix of gratitude and melancholy in looking back at a year gone by.  Oh, this season has been been full…full of joy and exhaustion and laughter and runny noses and so much heart-bursting love as we fall harder for our fourth wheel.  Sometimes I fear that life will never be this sweet again.  And that’s probably true – I’m not sure that baby snuggles can be topped on the sweetness scale.  But I also know in my core that there is more ahead.  More pool days and sibling shenanigans and sunset paddles and hopefully more sleep.  There’s definitely more.