Merry Christmas!

Hello beautiful friends and family, and Holiday Greetings!
We are now a family of four plus cat, and life is good!
I was 4 months pregnant at the beginning of the year, so frankly, I don’t remember much. Matthew seems to have some amnesia as well, so I’ll just give the general scoop—based on what we gathered from researching our schedule calendars and photos we’ve taken.

2010 started off with…? I know it snowed... Isaac was in “playschool” and loving it. The as-yet-unborn baby was a major kicker and mover, so I contemplated the novelty of raising a child who might move more quickly than the average 3-toed sloth. Anyway, winter…spring…not much more to relate there.

We could not have asked for better timing for Cora’s birth. She was 4 days late, much to my (then) chagrin, but the extra time allowed me to get Summer Music Together classes all settled so I could turn over the reins for a few weeks. Matthew and Isaac got their semesters all wrapped up before baby arrival. And finally, after miles of walking, hours spent in odd “turning the baby head-end down” positions, many chiropractic appointments, many Braxton Hicks contractions, one failed acupuncture treatment (needles = faint), one eggplant parmesan meal (2 if you count leftovers), and one “membrane sweep,” Cora Gayle Richmond finally made her appearance on June 4. In an early demonstration of her “move it or lose it” personality, she was born at 7:56 AM after just 5 hours of labor, much to the delight of her parents! She weighed 6’13” and was 19” long.

Since Cora was born, we spent a week in Virginia Beach with my sister Julie in July; Matthew and I saw our first opera as audience members: “Carmen!”; and we saw Cyndi Lauper in concert. Cyndi was way more fun than Carmen. We lost Isaac at the annual farm picnic—he trekked off to the swimming hole with a group of folks…without telling us first. Argh! We found our new favorite restaurant – the best home-cooked German and possibly the best food I’ve ever eaten. Aside from Mama’s, of course.

Matthew had lots of career excitement this year: He wrote and performed his first movie soundtrack for locally made “Flight of the Cardinal.” His jazz group, Like Mind Trio, has been playing a bunch. He spent a lot of time onstage for theatrical productions, playing drums in “Buddy Holly,” “Chicago,” and “Peter Pan” (in costume as an Indian chief!). And he continued to play regularly with the Asheville Symphony and Stephanie’s Id. Matthew was hired full-time at UNCA for the current school year (yippee!). We weren’t sure if the FT position would continue after this school year, but we just heard that he will be re-hired at 3/4 time for 2011-2012—great news!

Music Together is still going strong. I took the summer off from teaching, and once I started back in the fall, it was with reduced MT teaching hours and limited lessons. I’m still managing the Music Together business, but I gave up the High School drum line.

Isaac turned 5 in August and started Kindergarten. He enjoyed school at first, but he has started saying lately that he doesn’t want to go any more and that he’s been going “for SUCH a long time!” Poor guy. I’m not sure he has any idea that he’s not even halfway through the year. He has recently announced that he wants to be a scientist and possibly study snakes. His favorite sport is bowling, but since the real deal is somewhat physiologically inappropriate at this age, he’ll start soccer this spring. Here he is with his homemade bowling set this summer. He got a "real" set with 10 "real" pins for Christmas.Isaac loves his little sister, and she adores him. Their play together is a treasure. Isaac has never expressed any jealousy of the attention Cora needs--he generally loves to help wash, feed, sing to, and play with her. I love to hear the sounds of their nonsense babbling at each other and especially of Isaac singing and reading to her. The other day, he asked if I was pregnant again...yet. Whoa.



Cora is a delight. Her favorite toys are human hair (attached only), computer power cords and plastic bags and paper – the shinier the better. She’s got two bottom teeth and is in the unpleasant throes of sprouting more. She is sitting up and just starting to crawl! She's eating winter squash, bananas, and a few other "solid" foods quite enthusiastically.


We had a fun Halloween...


So there you have the high points of our year, but I’m struggling to find words to convey a general sense of the beauty and growth we’ve experienced—I want so much to share with you some small portion of the love that has surrounded our family. Through my Bible study group and Matthew’s religion/spirituality discussion group, we have separately enjoyed spiritual and philosophical conversation and fellowship. This enlivens and deepens our conversations with each other as we share our thoughts later.

We have learned to receive this year as so many of our friends and family loved us through their gifts of time, baby gear, food, and more when we welcomed Cora home. It’s surprising how challenging it can be to just accept these gifts of love that have no strings attached. I admit that I like to think I can do it all myself, and I suppose technically I could…maybe…but it is ultimately sweeter to accept love and help from others.

When Cora arrived, I started to think about how the rest of 2010 would proceed. I perceived that the dim 6-months-away future would bring cold weather and long nights, and I really dreaded it. The darkness and cold seemed like challenges to endure. However, as we’ve watched the weather and the light turn winterly, I have found myself embracing, even enjoying, the dark, the cold, the snow. I feel a greater sense of intimacy with the Divine these dark days, not in spite of, but inspired by the Winter, much as candlelight is easier to perceive and appreciate in the dark. Perhaps the gifts of 2010 have been greater than past years, but I suspect that I am far more aware of how blessed we are.

Here’s wishing you a Winter of Light and a 2011 filled with blessings and love.
Much love to you from the Richmonds!

Isaac's First Limo Ride

Yesterday, Isaac came home from school ALL a-twitter. The friend who dropped him off told me he had some very exciting news, and it was all he could do to get it out:
I: Knock knock.
Me: Who's there?
I: Ten dollars!
Me: Ten dollars who?
I: I got ten dollars at school!

Several questions later, it came to light that the "pig race" was yesterday, and Isaac won twice! You may well be asking, "Why was there a pig race at school yesterday?" Oddly enough, we're STILL experiencing the ramifications of the selling-stuff-fundraiser from several months ago. The pig race and hotdog lunch yesterday were open to any student who participated in the fundraiser. All I could discover about the pig race is that it involved wind-up toy pigs, and "whoever's pig falls off first wins."

Anyway, so now, because Isaac sold 12 items for the fundraiser, he not only won the various little prizes for selling 1, 2, 5, and 10 items (chocolate milk slime!), he garnered the title "Top seller" in the Kindergarten and thus earned himself a limo ride to downtown for a special lunch with milkshake AND a visit to the Chocolate Lounge for a free piece of chocolate, AND just for participating at all, he got to do the pig race, which he also happened to win. Also, just to kind of cap things off, Isaac got to sit next to the Mayor at the special limo lunch, because her son was a top seller in his grade (they picked 2 from each grade). Here's a photo of (probably) Isaac's favorite reward: getting his free chocolate! It was probably worth at least $2. Chocolate Lounge is very yummy gourmet level stuff.




I find it all pretty funny. Since I did all the selling, I keep thinking along the lines of, "Where's MY limo ride and free piece of chocolate and hot dog and pig race and $10?" But I probably would not have won the pig race. Perhaps with all this long-reaching positive effect, Isaac will be inspired to do more of his own selling next year.





And just for kicks, here's a photo of Isaac on blue-hair day. Also a fundraiser.

The 4th Snow Day of the Year!

Today was Isaac's 4th snow day and his 6th missed day (two missed 2 weeks ago due to strep). The homeschool thing is becoming reality in spite of his enrollment in the public school! Ha! Yesterday's interest in snakes was gone today, but we cut snowflakes out of coffee filters, had a reprise of Jingle Bells (no mistakes!), played a silly game with bouncy balls in the basement, had friends over to play for a few hours, and cleaned and partially de-cluttered Isaac's room. We did NOT go outside. It didn't get above freezing, and Cora doesn't like her hair (fuzz) to get mussed in the wind.

Cora continues to EAT. We are doing pureed banana or winter squash 2 or 3 times a day.

I continue to be mystified that the contoured changing pad with rails around is the one place where she always flips to her tummy and starts trying to crawl...whereas the wide open carpeted floor is her preferred sit-and-fuss-til-somebody-plays-with-me-or-picks-me-up spot.

School is on a two-hour delay tomorrow, and then the weather is supposed to get ugly again Thursday. Friday is the "last day" before Christmas break. Again, ha!


We made these yummy-smelling ornaments on Isaac's 2nd snow day (last week).




Another 2-hour delay:

Cora's sleeping!

So, I was just looking over Cora's sleep chart tonight and realizing that she, the baby who used to fuss-if-not-scream every time we put her in bed, has cried at bedtime very little in the past week! It seems unbelievable that just 3 weeks ago we were struggling at every nap--rolling her bassinet back and forth for 10 minutes or more, playing the music boxes or humming, and her naps were short and inconsistent. It wasn't ALL bad: bedtime seemed okay, and although she was waking every 2 or 3 hours to nurse, she was going back to bed quietly each time. But I finally got frustrated and tired enough with the napping trouble (Isaac was always such an easy napper!) that I begged a friend to loan me her much-loved copy of "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child."

A lot of the author's wisdom is stuff I already knew and common sense, but in my fog of sleep deprivation, I lacked perspective and direction. After reading, I decided to
1) put Cora down at 6 instead of 7 or 7:30 (with Isaac)
2) solidify a regular bedtime routine (which we kind of already had)
3) hardest: let her cry

The first night was rotten. She woke 4 or 5 times and cried for who-knows-how-long each time. Probably not more than 10 minutes per wakening, but an eternity to the unhappy mom. But as with most of the families who give testimonials in the book, the crying period was very brief--for us, just ONE night. In just a couple of days, she was re-trained, the naps settled into place (napping at 9 and 1 for 1.5 to 2 hours each time), and now she rarely cries when we put her in bed! When she wakes at night, she cries for a minute or two and then goes back to sleep. I'm thrilled to "pay" the one hard night in exchange for who-knows-how-many-months of difficulty (and tears from both baby and mama!). Now we're all sleeping so much better, and I'm feeling so much more sane.

Another Snow Day

What a fun day today! Mostly. It was Isaac's 3rd snow day so far this year, and tomorrow will be the 4th. I am feeling more and more like we ought to just go ahead and homeschool. I mean, I'm pretty much there anyway since with his 2 days off for strep and all these snow days, we're more used to hanging out at the house these days.

Today's Highlights:

Being ophiologists (snake scientists) with Isaac this morning. We studied anacondas on the national geographic kids site, which I think actually got a little disturbing for him after we watched the video of people catching them with bare feet and hands.

We colored designs on paper to make gift boxes for the ornaments to give to Mrs. Dowers and Mrs. McIntosh. One of the few bad times of the day came during the attempt at folding, which is difficult for me even.

A quiet snuggly lullaby moment with Cora in which she put the period on the end of my Brahms rendition with a very delicate raspberry into my neck.

Teaching Isaac how to play Jingle Bells on the small set of student bells. Some tension occurred as he (like every dadgummed student I ever have) got antsy about not being able to get the last phrase right, and so instead of working on that phrase alone, thought it best to start over at the beginning.

Feeding Cora. She now gets three portions of solid food a day. Even though she's only eating bananas and winter squash so far, she loves to eat!

My one regret is that I didn't get away from sugar today. The chocolate covered pretzels that one of my MT families gave me are just irresistable...especially since, as they're just pretzels, they're easy to mistake for "healthy," or at least "not that bad." I don't regret that I didn't walk today--it was frigid outside. But between the lack of exercise and the sugar, I'm feeling a bit toxic. There's always tomorrow...

Halloween

Halloween 2010 was awesome! Guess who each Jack-o-Lantern belongs to. You can't get this one wrong. Cora's little pumpkin just had stickers on it, so it doesn't show up in the dark.


Isaac was an adorable (I mean terrifying) little skeleton, Matthew was dapper, Cora was a lobster, and I was a chef.























I had planned the lobster-chef duo ever since Isaac's 1st Halloween. He was a lion, but we saw a mama-baby duo decked out for lobster dinner at a Halloween parade, and I resolved that any future baby of mine would have to be a lobster. The only downer was that Cora was too big for any pot we had (that we could find), so instead of wheeling her around in a pot/stroller rig as I had hoped, I had to carry her for a couple of hours. Matthew helped, but the effect when he carried her wasn't quite as dramatic. I don't know how many times I overheard, "Oh, look at the lobster! How cute!" as we walked Vermont St. And several times: "Oh, and the mom is a chef! That's just wrong! Ha ha!" Lots of people we don't know took our photo.

It was fun, and though I was a little concerned that Isaac would feel bad that his costume wasn't getting noticed, he didn't seem to mind all the attention Cora got. He was mainly stoked about the candy. He did have a pretty impressive scary look, which he showed off when prompted.
























Cora finally lost it after nearly two hours of cuteness and flinging her red socks off. She fell asleep in my arms on the way home. Grandma took these photos a couple of days later. AFTER I found the big pot.

Isaac's first school fundraiser

Please consider buying something to support Isaac and his school! The schools are scrambling to deal with serious budget cuts, and Isaac is pretty pumped about the prizes he can win if he sells a certain number of items. If you don't need any more shtuff, but you'd like to donate funds to the school, you can deposit some moolah into my paypal account, and I'll pass it on. Or, you can send a check made out to Vance Elementary School, and we'll pass it along.

If you want to shop online...

I felt a little odd entering your e-mail address in the online account area, so I decided to just tell you how to log in yourself.

1) Go to http://www.gaschoolstore.com/

2) In the window on that page, enter Isaac's online ID number: 2274F72

3) You'll automatically go to the magazine subscription main page. Magazines must be lucrative, because each subscription counts as two items for the selling kid. If magazines aren't your thing, just look at the box on the left for other categories of items.

If you'd rather not buy online, just send me a link to the item(s) you'd like, and we'll enter them on Isaac's paper order form. Most stuff is available through the paper order form, but the personalized things and some other items are only available online.

According to the printed catalog. All the jewelry is made without lead or nickel. Earring posts are stainless steel.

My favorite things are some of the handcrafted jewelry.

Go to the Gifts & Holiday Items.

Click the Helping Hands icon...

Browse jewelry, bags, and fashion items that are handcrafted in Project Centers in places like Africa, Southeast Asia, India, Cambodia, and other places. The mission of the Project Centers is to improve the lives of the workers they serve. Plus they have some really pretty stuff! There is a ton of jewelry in general, with everything from silver or gold plate to sterling silver, or corded beads.

Introducing Cora Gayle Richmond

Adding this post in December, but making the post date June so that it'll be more chronologically accurate in the blog.

May 31 came and went sssssslllloooooooowwwwwwlllllyyy. And at bedtime, when I didn't have a baby, I suddenly got pretty despondent. I tried to remind myself labor could begin without warning at any time, but truthfully, I just hadn't really been open at all to the possibility that I would get to Baby's due date and not have a baby. Second babies usually come early, right?

In an attempt to take some kind of positive action step, I arranged for acupuncture the next day.
Unfortunately, the acupuncture treatment was a bit of a fiasco, because I almost immediately got light-headed near the point of fainting. I did get a really nice shoulder massage out of it, though--Thanks, Briana!

The next day, I succumbed to "wives' tales" and took the family to Nona Mia to have the fabled eggplant parmesan for dinner. The food was good, but no baby.

On June 3, I had an appointment with midwife Alisa. She was very kind during our appointment. She offered to "sweep the membranes," (what others call "stripping the membranes") saying that if the baby and I were basically ready, it might move things along.

My mom arrived in mid-afternoon, much to the surprise and delight of Isaac. She brought a lasagna, a crock pot of beef stew, a loaf of Italian bread, 5 dozen eggs, and a chicken casserole...along with a bunch of various and sundry snack and drink items. And a bag of peanut dark chocolate M&Ms. We pluck a couple of blossoms, and I put them in water next to my bed.

Friday, June 4, I wake at 2 AM with contractions. My first thought is, "Do these feel different? I think so." But I wasn't sure. I sat on the exercise ball and worked on my laptop, finishing up more MT things, again glad for the extra hours to wrap up more details. At about 5 AM, I finish up everything that seems pressing, close my computer, and walk around a bit. I decided that since the contractions seems stronger and more frequent and that this really is labor. I woke Matthew at about 5:30 after a couple of breathtaking contractions. Matthew, bless him, was happy to get up. After seeing me go through a couple of contractions, he called Alisa to meet us at the hospital and started to move with some urgency. I didn't really have a sense of urgency--just in a bit of a fog and knowing that I had to stop and really focus and relax through the contractions. We woke Mom, and as we headed to the car, I did start to feel a sense of urgency.

We went to check in at the emergency room desk as directed during our childbirth tour, and the two employees ask why we're there. Matthew tells them childbirth. The ladies are obviously at the end of their long night shift, as it takes them a couple of more questions and me gasping against the desk for them to discern that I am IN LABOR NOW. You'd think, working at a hospital, that they might anticipate that happening sometimes? Once they figure it out, though, they offer a wheelchair. After initially turning it down, I agree that it's a good idea.

Alisa is waiting for us in labor and delivery. She announces that I am 10 cm and ready to push! Whoa! This is SUCH good news! I'll spare you the details of the next 45 or so minutes, but after only about 15 minutes of pushing, she's HERE...a tiny little cry of protest, and Matthew has touched her first, and the room becomes very busy, and I'm elated and laughing. I look at the scrunched up little face and decide I'll take her home with me soon.

Here she is, after she's had a bit of time to "unscrunch" her face.