Volcanos, Road Trips, and the Burbs

Volcanos, Road Trips, and the Burbs

25 Years in Seattle!  Yep, it was 25 years today that I arrived fresh off the ferry from Alaska.  The sun was brightly shining then as it is right now.  I checked out of my dorm in Fairbanks, drove to Sitka, caught the ferry to Bellingham, and then used my Thomas Guide to navigate to my rental home in the University District.  All this on my own with $800 in my pocket and a pet beta fish on the front seat.  I had a brand spanking new Bachelor’s degree in hand and was ready for any and everything.

There have been so many adventures – too many to count.  Here’s a silly list of some of the major components of my life.  What time of my life do you most remember? 

• Home
• University District, Ballard, Crown Hill, Edmonds, Lake City, Bothell
• Churches
• University Presbyterian, Meadowbrook, Canyon Hills, Inglewood Presbyterian
• Jobs
• Hyatt Regency Bellevue, Schwartz Brothers Catering, Security Pacific Bank, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Seattle, Nintendo, John L Scott
• Cars
• Renault Alliance, Nissan Sentra, VW Camper Bus, Toyota Camry
• Home-Based Businesses
• Tupperware, Creative Memories, Usborne Books
• Parenting
• Evergreen Hospital, Elite Kids of Kirkland, Mack Elementary 

Through this amazing journey I have experienced lots of life lessons, met cherished friends, and created a family with my love Gene.  My mind is flooded with all the memories. 

Spring for me has always been such a special time – fresh new beginnings, the garden opening up, the days getting longer.  But 10 years ago, in May 2005, our joy was stripped away.  I’ll never forget it, as my heart broke and I was changed forever.  Noah Michael Lowry is your name and you’ll always be our son.

So 25 years after that spring day when I drove into town, I find myself a wife, mom, and real estate broker living in the Seattle suburbs raising a beautiful little girl.  It’s a busy and yet simple life.  We need to buy a new washing machine, but will likely buy a small travel camper instead.  Simple, just simple.

As for the volcano – Mount St. Helens erupted 35 years ago today.  I was an 8^th grader living in Missoula, Montana.  The town was shut down for four full days while ash cleanup ensued.  I’ve got bags of the stuff somewhere in storage. 

Our Seattle family of friends is huge and we so appreciate your friendship.  My Seattle journey has been remarkable.  Cheers to the next 25!!

2012

I posted twice on my blog in 2010 and twice in 2011.  How about I start out 2012 with a blog post?

Not much to say at the moment, as I’ve been sick for three weeks.  I just coughed through the second half of December.  Doc says it’s likely pneumonia.  The cough is just horrible, and each day I think I’m finally getting better, another coughing fit and back to what feels like square one.  I’ve been in this darn house for four days now.  The steroids for my lungs keep me awake.  Ugh.  Happy New Year!  I guess it can only get better from here, right?

There’s so much I want to do in 2012 and so much I NEED to do.  I’ve got to stay focused and ensure that I go after what I want.  I feel like the past few years have just “happened” and I’ve sat on the sidelines watching in disgust.  There have been way too many disappointments and it’s time to turn this ship around and get back to the Kirsten that got lost.

I’ve got a new website – thought of the name all on my own!

www.readinginseattle.com

If you want to get technical, the site is really  http://www.myubam.com/ecommerce/main.asp?sid=P3490&gid=131368612 , but that’s a dumb url so I took care of that!

I love Usborne books and Amelia is now hooked – she’s reading!  I don’t know what she’s going to do in the fall when she gets to Kindergarten.  I hope their ready for my genius child.

The books are really fantastic – check ‘em out for yourself and order a few.  If you need more details or have any questions, just drop me a line.  I’m on Facebook at www.facebook.com/readinginseattle.

So, let’s see where 2012 takes us, but rather, I’d like to see where I take it!

Love to all,

K.

It's Been Six Years

It’s been six years. In some respects it does feel like six years have passed, yet some days the pain feels raw enough to be from yesterday. A song, a random thought, or even driving by a specific place or on a specific road can release a flood of tears.

Oddly enough, one of the clearest memories I have of that time is of sitting in the funeral home just staring out the window. Gene and the man were making arrangements and I sat quietly, fixated on the beautiful rhododendron just outside the window. There were bumblebees swarming around each bud. The man said or asked something and before Gene answered I turned and replied, “Look at all those bees.” It’s all I had. I was probably still in shock since just days prior I had been blissfully pregnant and now I was sitting in a funeral home making decisions for our baby boy.

Six years ago I was completely naïve about the miracle of pregnancy and birth. We decided we wanted to start a family and didn’t give it another thought. It never occurred to us that the journey to parenthood would be so full of heartbreak. To this day I cringe when someone proclaims their excitement to me with “I’m having a baby!” I think inside to myself, “No, you’re not. You are pregnant.” There is most definitely a difference. Having been pregnant three times, I got used to not having a baby. I was just always pregnant. I’m certainly happy for my friends who get pregnant and have babies. I just know from painful personal experience to not make any assumptions. You could say I’ve been hardened.

My life is certainly different now than it was in May 2005. The biggest change is that we have a healthy almost five-year-old running around our house singing, dancing, and playing teacher. I realize how much of a blessing Amelia is to our lives.

Where am I at now? I mourn for what could have been. I mourn for what I was teased with. I will never know the joy of birthing another baby. After Amelia was born I was never able to get pregnant again, not even with the help of modern medicine. She truly is a gift from God and we do treasure her each day.

Noah Michael Lowry, Mommy and Daddy miss you so much. We’ll see you in Heaven someday dear son.

"Kiffkk. Kiffkk."

Slow and methodically, Amelia said "Kiffkk" a few times as we were pulling into school this morning.

I asked her "What is a Kiffkk?"

As we drove past the fast food restaurant on the corner to park the car, she spelled out "K F C."

Smart girl sounding out those letters!!! Maybe she's also hungry for chicken. Acronyms will come later.

Memorial Day Weekend

It's Memorial Day Weekend and it's raining... and I have two more words that apply to our home at the moment...

CHICKEN POX!!!

30

It took 3 years, 5 months, and 13 days.

That's 1262 days. And that's how old Amelia is today.

Amelia hit 30 pounds even on the scale.

She's still one of the smallest kids in her class and barely on the pediatrician's chart, but really - who cares!?

Pledge of Allegiance

Amelia has learned the pledge of allegiance at school!

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wR1K0zE3JI

Pneumonia

One word has ruled our world the past week - pneumonia. Poor little Amelia has been sick since Friday, October 23 when the school called to say she had a fever and please come pick her up.

She was just not herself for several days and then she spiked a fever of 102 and became completely lethargic. We rushed her to the doctor where we found out she had pneumonia. That night her fever topped out at 104.7. We were so frightened and certainly never want to go through that again.

Gradually the fever has subsided.
The cough has kept her up several nights in a row.
Her nose is running constantly.
Nobody is getting any real sleep.

She's definitely on the mend, but still home getting rest to build back up her strength.

'til next time.

Potty Training

DONE!

Amelia is sleeping through the night WITHOUT a pull-up.

We are TOTALLY done!

Nice work little gal!

Third Birthday

In looking back, I realize that I didn't mention Amelia's third birthday festivities. Gosh, it was a weekend extravaganza!

We started with a celebration at school on Friday. This mom brought cupcakes and juice for the kids and the teacher took some pictures. Amelia was so excited for her party at school.

On Saturday, August 15 we had our family celebration. We spent the day downtown at the Seattle Aquarium and had lunch at Ivar's. She got a fancy dessert with a candle in it from the waiter and we sang happy birthday to her. At home we opened presents and she fell into bed so tired she didn't play with any of them.

Sunday was the big ELMO birthday party. We invited her playgroup and a few other friends. The kids played with bubbles, the soccer net, and the parachute. We also played a game of pin the nose on ELMO. Everyone had a blast and the weather was perfect.

Amelia had quite a birthday weekend and now has all kinds of new toys to play with. Thanks everyone!

Two New Amelia Quotes

One morning last week this was said to her shoes while putting them on.

"You're freaking me out."

Then the next morning while the morning news was playing, she pointed to the TV and said "That's a murder show."

Where does this stuff come from? Hilarious.

On an academic note, Amelia is now attending phonics classes two days a week. She's writing her capital letters and loves the one-on-one time with her teacher. This growing-up things is happening way too fast.

Next weekend we're off to the pumpkin patch with her playgroup friends.

12:30 am

Last night Amelia wandered into our room/bed around 12:30 midnight - for the FIRST TIME!!! Yep, since the big girl bed arrived, she's slept straight through each night. NICE that it took several weeks for her to begin getting up at odd hours. We anticipated much worse!
And last night was no big deal. We just let her relax with us for a moment, and then put her back in her bed. She then slept in until almost 7am, which is much later than her usual 5:30 am rise and shine.

MJ

At the ripe age of three years, one day, Amelia just pointed to a picture on my computer and said with confidence "That's Michael Jackson."

She was right.

When I asked her how she knew who that was, she clearly stated "He's the man on the TV."

Clearly we have the TV on too much.

Forever

This morning after Amelia woke up a bit startled and grumpy, we crawled into my bed and snuggled for a while. She must be tired because she was actually snuggling; calm with big long hugs.

Then, as we're cheek to cheek, she said "Mommy, Let's stay here forever."

My heart melted.

Big Girl Stuff

On July 3 Amelia started wearing her new Dora and Princess panties each day. Or, shall I say, three or four different pair per day! The first day there were three accidents in less than one hour. I immediately threw in the towel (or rather, wet panties & shorts into the washer) and had her return to wearing pull-ups for the next few days because we had several parties to attend.

We then picked it back up again on Monday, July 6. She only had two accidents the entire week. Nice job! The success continues with random accidents here and there. She asks to use the toilet when she needs and it’s soooo much easier than diapers. I didn’t realize making the leap would be so easy for her.

Now on to the next big milestone – she’s sleeping in her new BED! We haven’t found the perfect wood bed frame, but that’s ok. She’s got a brand new mattress, sheets, and pillow set up in the corner of her room on the floor. If she falls out, she doesn’t have far to fall!

We’re at 100% success for the first two nights; no falling out and no wandering. We hope the success continues. She’s sleeping about nine hours straight, which is much better than her recent sleep in the crib. In hindsight, she probably wasn’t comfortable in the crib anymore and it showed in her crazy lack of restful sleep.

Our baby will be three next Saturday. We’ll spend the day together and take her to the aquarium. On Sunday we’ll have her friends over for an official birthday party. It truly is amazing to look back at the pictures of three years ago and realize that in a blink they’re not little babes in our arms.

The journey continues.

Silly or Embarrassing??

Friday after work I picked up Amelia and we headed to the grocery store for a few items. While standing in the check-out line, she looked at me, reached out, squeezed my boob, and asked quite loudly "Mommy, is this your booby?"

I proudly replied "Yes, it is."

I'm glad my daughter was able to give the two teenage baggers a great story to share later with their friends.

Who Hops?

Amelia read her first book tonight!!!

"Who Hops?" by Katie Davis

Gene read it to her a few nights ago and tonight I read it to her. She then took the book and read it to us.

"Slither" was "sliver," so the snake slivered.

Fantastic!!!

The L Sound

While driving to work & school this morning, Amelia was happy and clapping in the back seat.

She happily announced “Mommy, I crap!”

She went on to ask me “Mommy, you crap.”

She then saw a small spider on the outside of her window and asked him “Spider, you crap.”

She still can’t say the “L” sound. Good thing we didn’t name her Ella Lowry. Too many “L”s.

On this sunny Friday morning, we clapped as we drove in.

Manipulation Skills and Funnies

I’ve been keeping all kinds of notes on the funny things that Amelia’s been doing. Before the list gets any longer, I’m finally posting them for you all to enjoy.

April 13
Last month Amelia began practicing her manipulation skills. She’s been potty training for a few months now and she’s slowing getting the hang of it. I got her set up on the toilet and returned in a few minutes to check on her progress. To my surprise, I found that she was off the toilet and quickly flushing it as I walked in.

She proudly told me that she pooped AND peed. This would be big news if it really did happen, but now the evidence was gone. Upon inspection in the clean up department (wiping the ole bottom), there was nothing.

She LIED to me! I’m sure it won’t be the first time.

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April 14
The next day Amelia told me that she didn’t want to go to school. When we were about a block from school (she knows the way and knows when we’re near), she closed her eyes and pretended to be sleeping. When I parked the car she was faking the sounds of snoring. I was cracking up. She played limp when I picked her up out of the car seat. Too funny.

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April 15
As I walked into her bedroom, I asked her how she slept.

With a happy pitch, she exclaimed “PERFECT!”

She's not always this happy first thing in the morning.

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April 30
While sitting on the couch, I told Amelia she was growing and getting so big.

She looked outside at her dad mowing the front lawn and said, “I’m not growing. The grass is growing.”

I cracked up and said “You’re funny.”

Amelia replied, “Yeah.”

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May 6
Now this a funny story that happened at school, told to me by Amelia’s teacher.

The kids were all in a circle and they were practicing counting. There are at least four different languages being spoken in the homes of her classmates (English, Spanish, Japanese, & Portuguese) and as a class, they all learn from each other.

The teacher looked at Mila and asked her to count to ten in her first language of Japanese. Mila politely declined and didn’t want to count this day.

That’s when Amelia piped up and said she had Japanese. She was patting her knees and stating “I have JapaKNEES.”

Both teachers cracked up.

She’s just so funny!

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May 15
I brought home my work laptop and had it on the table instead of my personal laptop.

Amelia noticed the difference and asked “Mommy, your new compooter?”

I said yes and told her it was from work.

She then pointed to the front cover where the round Dell logo is and asked “Does it have an apple on it?”

She then corrected herself and said “No, it has a round circle on it.”

I was shocked. Where in the world did she get that? We don’t (yet) have Apple laptops. We don’t let her watch much television at all. How in the world does she know that some laptops have apple logos on the covers? Crazy world full of marketing! She got it somewhere?

Now this is funny

When I was dropping Amelia off at her school last week, one of the dad’s was asking which child was named Amelia.

I politely told him that was my daughter.

He said his son had been talking about her all night long.

The teacher piped in and said “Oh yes, Amelia is the alpha female in the class!”

Gene and I have been laughing for days. She’s definitely like her mom!

We continue to get feedback that she “runs” the class and directs the other kids on what to do and where to do it. At home she does the same thing with her babies, stuffed animals, and invisible friends from class.

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Another fun new word:

Little toy Zebra = “pizza”

That kinda sounds alike.