New Orleans Jazz Fest 2011

We are heading to New Orleans for the Jazz Festival this week.  We took Kora there last year (she was 1 1/2) and we had a great time.  Here is some footage from last year.

Camping October 1, 2011

I love this video!

dancing!

March 2012

Our new worms

We just got worms for vermiposting (basically, the worms eat a lot of our food waste and crap out some valuable fertilizer).  Here we are getting the worms set up in their new home.

An older video...Sep 2011

Kora and I chatting while sitting on her potty after a bath

Kora Counting in Chinese!

Vlogs!!

Ever since I started working full-time I just don't seem to have any time to post.  So, I'm going to try and just post videos here and there. 


Quick update: 
My job stresses me out very much so I am looking for a new one.  Darren is also looking for a job but it looks like I'll find one before he does, just because my industry isn't in tatters like his is.  Kora continues to go to a montessori school 5 mornings a week, and she is with daddy in the afternoons.  I want to be home with her so badly, but this is our situation for right now, and we're trying to make the most of it.


We have committed to each other that we will be going on our family sabbatical no later than fall of 2013.  Yes, a year and a half from now.  Details are emerging slowly but surely and of course we'll update everyone.  We hope to use this sabbatical as a 'reset button' in our lives.  We will explore new lands and new careers, and hopefully we'll emerge with a slower pace of life in general.  Because life is just too damn short!


I have a new domain that I'm parking for when I'm ready to start our sabbatical blog: www.threepencetotravel.com.  Should be soon.  Hopefully when I start a new job I'll be less stressed and able to blog a bit more.


Thanks for staying tuned!

Kora in Boots

Here's a wonderful rendition of "Happy Birthday" by our little girl. She was singing to her Uncle Tim. And those are new boots.

A bit o' news

Times...they are a changin...no longer are the men expected to bring home the bacon while the womenfolk stay barefoot and pregnant. This is a new era! We have decided to embrace this new era by switching household roles (again) and Darren is now the stay-at-home-dad (again).

You may remember my post on March 1st, when Darren got an opportunity to build a custom home. Since I was not really cutting it with my own business, we decided that he would take this opportunity and I would get to be home full-time with Kora. You may remember, also, that this put our Plan B on the back burner.

Well, long story short, the home-building opportunity has fallen through, and last month we found ourselves back where we started in the winter. Except, that we had now burned through five months' worth of savings.

Around that time (serendipitously, I say), a former client of mine called me up and basically offered me a job. Now, I am not going to go through the agony of what we went through for me to make my decision and take the job, but I ended up taking it. It is a sales job that will allow me to be based out of the home most of the time, but I will have appointments around town. More importantly, it will allow us to rebuild our savings.

So, I am working full-time again and Darren is staying at home with Kora for now. In mid-August, she will be starting a montessori school near our house in the mornings, so that Darren can pursue his interest in solar energy. Our thought is that he can use this time to learn about the industry to see if it is something he wants to pursue more. If it is, he will start networking and try and get into it.

Of course, this sales job is not my career. We are not abandoning our Plan B, as a matter of fact, we are now pursuing it full force. So, I should go ahead and announce to our family and friends that our plan is to take a family sabbatical in two years, probably in South America (strongly leaning towards Chile). Two years will allow us to build enough savings so that when (if...just kidding...?) we come back we aren't stressed to find jobs. It also allows us time to plan for our trip. There is a lot involved. Already I've starting downsizing our 'stuff', and we've started researching destinations.

Anyway, that is our news, in a nutshell! Needless to say, we are very excited about our upcoming adventure. Even if I hate my job (which we'll see), I am so excited to be working towards something so special with my family!

Happy Father's Day!

Kora made her daddy a beautiful present for his second father's day. Here are some pictures of her giving him her gift. She even decorated the bag it came in!

Father Daughter Picture

Look daddy what I made you...

I think daddy likes it!

"This is the hand you used to hold, when I was just one year old"

Video from June 1, 2011 - Working with Shapes

I keep forgetting to post this video so it's over two weeks old. I mention this because I want you to know that Kora had these skills two weeks ago, so it should be pretty obvious that she is extremely gifted.

Kora working on her shapes from Minh-An Pence on Vimeo.

Our little gymnast

This video was taken a couple of nights ago before bed. She kept on saying "gymnast!" and getting on the sound machine and jumping off, usually doing something cute with her hands. She even threw a couple of somersaults in there. Unfortunately the sound is quite bad, so I added in some music for effect.

Self?

Kora's language is exploding. I can't even begin to try to list the words she knows now. And she's recently begun combining two words at a time. So, she'll say stuff like, "hi, mommy" and "bye-bye, daddy" and "Kora's cup". So cute.

Yesterday she started saying "self?" to let us know that she wants to do something herself. She's done it only a handful of times so far, but I already can see that miss independent is going to want to handle more and more things on her own in the very near future.

Two new videos!

Been super busy lately chasing after a certain toddler. Enjoy these two videos! Probably more exciting than reading a bunch of words anyway.

Darren built Kora a balance bike using parts from two bikes we got at a consignment sale. She is still a little short for it but it looks like she likes it! To finish it up we need to add cushioning to the seat and decorate the bike.

This video is a day or two after we got back from Jazz Fest. She didn't dance this much at the festival itself, so it was funny to see her all of a sudden break loose like this.

Words Kora Can Say

Balloon

Kody

Waffle - pronounced Awful

Kitty

Berries - pronounced Bees

Bee

Boob - pronounced Boop

Poop

Pee

Potty

Orange

Apple

Outside

Mole

Bus

Draw

Hua (Chinese for flower)

He Shuei (Chinese for drink water)

Cat

various onomatopoeia

Gou (Chinese for dog)

Mao (Chinese for cat)

Keys - pronounced jees

Cheese

Ice

Eyes

This

That

Hat

Hot

Bug

Buckle

Bubble

Shoes

Cracker

Umbrella

She can also identify many members of her extended family and friends.

That's all I can think of right now. Not bad huh? She's not even 18 months old yet!

Last minute vacation....from hell?

It's completely my fault. I've been getting cabin fever since it's been FOREVER since we've been ANYWHERE. Whine whine. I (easily) convinced Darren to take us away for a long weekend. We were just unsure where to go. Taking a 1 1/2 year busy toddler on long road trips can be excruciating. Darren wanted to go somewhere a couple of hours away and camp. I really wasn't feeling the whole camping thing. My butt still hurt from a recent fall down the stairs (don't really want to share more, thank you), so the thought of sleeping on the ground didn't really interest me.

I had heard of this awesome Hostel in the Forest where you sleep in treehouses, are fed vegetarian meals, and are basically in this oasis about an hour south of Savannah. We love Savannah, so I thought, why not spend a couple of nights at the hostel, then a night with our good friend Shannon?

Of course, this would require a 5 1/2 hour drive down on Wednesday, an hour drive to Savannah on Friday, and a 4 1/2 hour drive back to Atlanta on Saturday. That's a lot of driving even for us, let alone Kora. I hemmed and hawed for hours, and finally decided on Tuesday that we are doing this. We borrowed a DVD player from Brian and Luisa (thanks guys!) just in case. Maybe this was a sign of things to come, but just the Tuesday drive to and from Lawrenceville to pick up the DVD player wore me and Kora out. God, I hate driving.

Anyway, we got on the road on Wednesday around 1:15. We hadn't eaten lunch, so the first thing we wanted to do was get something fast. Oh, did I mention we're gluten-free this month (long story for another time)? Well that makes our choices interesting. I decided on a broccoli & cheese baked potato from Wendy's, and Darren got a chicken salad. Not our typical roadtrip fare but at least it was healthier!

We were able to make it to the hostel with only one major stop at a gas station and a playground(!) to stretch our legs. Bob the Builder was a hit with Kora and she even slept for about 2 hours.

The hostel is very beautiful. But, I'm not sure it's the best place for a toddler. First of all, dinner was served at 9PM. Now Kora is a pretty flexible kid, but 9PM is way past her bedtime. And before we could eat, everyone held hands and individually said what they were thankful for. Since there were almost 30 people, this took about half an hour in itself. I swear some people were so high that they were thanking the most obscure things, and taking their own sweet time while doing so. Kora did not want me to hold anyone else's hand, so we had to leave the circle (and nurse in the corner). About 20 minutes later, she decided she didn't want daddy to hold anyone else's hand either. Finally the thanksgiving was over and daddy went to get us some food, which was...actually great!

Immediately after dinner, I took Kora to our room for bed. I forgot to mention that our room was right in the main area: near the kitchen, the fire pit, the laundry room, the common room, and the dining area. I think if we had a tree house that was located further away it would have been a much different experience. On their website they state that they enforce a quiet time beginning at 11PM*. Let me just say that there was NO quiet time enforced. Loud trance music and talking (yelling) went on and on until what must've been about 3AM. And THEN, the roosters started cockle doodling about an hour or two later. Ay. What an awful night.

One of the G**D***ed roosters

We all trudged out of bed the next morning and made the most of our stay there. I cooked up some of the free eggs for the family and made some much needed coffee. We did a lot of walking around the property. It is very beautiful. We went to the lake, to the labyrinth, the yoga studio and the garden where they grow all of their vegetables. Kora slept on my back for some of this, so it was nice to walk and talk with Darren with no interruptions.

Daddy and Kora reflecting

Nevertheless, we decided to cut our stay short and head to Savannah that night. But, not before a quick trip to Jekyll Island! I had never been there before and we walked around a bit. It is a nice beach. Not crowded at all. We didn't get in the water, but instead just walked and enjoyed the lovely weather.

Then, the car again. Ugh. The hour ride to Savannah ended up being about an hour and a half due to traffic. Quick dinner at Sol then put our little girl to bed. She actually slept pretty well, and I did also!

The next day (Friday) we had some breakfast at a coffee house and played at Forsyth Park for a while. Then we left for Tybee Island, counting on Kora to take a nap in the car. Boy, did she. Almost two hours later, she finally woke up and we had some lunch at The Crab Shack (by the way, yum!). Kora was a bit antsy so halfway through lunch we took turns taking her to see the gators and birds they have there.

After lunch we spent the afternoon on the beach. I was so nervous about getting the suncreen on correctly since she wouldn't wear her hat. I knew that if she got sunburned, she would be miserable, which would in turn make us all miserable. Luckily she was fine. What I didn't know was that there was something else in store for us that evening.

Protecting baby skin

We picked up some Thai food on the way back to Shannon's. It was getting pretty late and I was anxious to put Kora to bed, so I took her upstairs to give her a quick bath. She cried a bit, and then threw up on me. I called for Darren to help at that point. We cleaned her the best we could and chalked it up to excitement. She slept for a couple of hours and then woke up coughing. I went in the check on her and saw that she was covered in vomit. Poor thing! Shannon helped me take the sheets off the bed and put new sheets on. I changed her and decided to just hold her in bed with a few towels around us. Well, she threw up so many times that night that I lost count. I withheld nursing her a few times so that she wouldn't have anything left to throw up. Instead, I held her and danced around the room singing. That night is still kind of a blur. I remember waking up at 6:30 to her throwing up a bit again, and then Darren taking her downstairs to give me a break. I slept until 8:30 and went downstairs. Kora was asleep on her daddy and she hadn't thrown up again.

She slept most of the day while Darren and I cleaned up the place and did laundry. We were scheduled to leave that day and boy was I dreading the drive back. We finally got on the road around 3PM after picking up an anti-nausea prescription for Kora. She did sooo well on the drive home and we didn't even have to use the DVD player! It certainly helped that she slept for over 2 hours. And we made record time! No stops, and home in just under 4 hours!

Kora is doing so much better. She didn't eat anything on Saturday and Sunday, but today (Monday) she ate some crackers, eggs and blueberries. I am so glad that I am still nursing her. It kept her hydrated and comforted at the same time, not to mention she got some of my antibodies to help her through the illness.

Unfortunately, it looks like Darren has succumbed to this virus. He started feeling ill Sunday night, and spent most of the night throwing up and dry heaving. He was in bed all day today. He took some of Kora's medicine and hasn't thrown up since, but he's pretty weak. Hope it is pretty quick for him, too. Also, I am really hoping I don't get this nasty bug. Moms shouldn't be allowed to get sick.

I think I'll think twice before I start whining about cabin fever again.

*I reread their statement on the site and the sentence goes like this: We enforce a quiet hour beginning at ll p.m. Soooo, maybe the quiet time is only for one hour?

Art never tasted so good

One of Kora's new favorite things to do is draw. Whenever she sees a a crayon, a pen, or even a piece of drawing paper, she immediately says, "draw? draw?". As a matter of fact, her first sentence was signing, "help" (waving the crayon to me) "fish". Needless to say, D and I have drawn dozens of fish over the last couple of weeks. We've also worked on snakes, flowers, babies, butterflies, birds, and of course, Pop.

Yesterday I decided to introduce her to the wonderful world of finger painting. This was no small decision for me. Remember that any project with a toddler turns out to be about 30% art, then 70% clean-up. And finger painting was a doozy. Another factor for me was trying to find a non-toxic finger paint that I felt comfortable with the possibility of her putting it in her mouth. I decided to use plain yogurt. I am equally paranoid about food coloring, so I decided to make my own. Unfortunately I wasn't completely prepared so I ended up with only two colors. For the yellow I mixed in the spice turmeric with the yogurt and got a beautiful yellow. For the green I juiced some kale and just a bit of it was enough to turn the yogurt into a nice shade of green.

Kora's palette

Kora was a bit tentative, like, what am I supposed to do with this? I had her in her booster chair with her tray, but she thought I was serving her food because she dipped her fingers in a licked them. So, I put her on the floor instead with a big piece of drawing paper.

Here are the results:

Spring is in the air and I am F-ing miserable

After a bi-polar winter, it looks like spring is finally upon us. I enjoyed about five days of it, then my allergies hit me hard. It is really hard to put a baby, er, I mean toddler, to sleep when you are sniffling and sneezing every five minutes.

Kora's canines are through her gums, so we are hoping that the worst of that is behind us. Until her 2-year molars start coming out, which will probably be in a couple of weeks. Yeah.

I haven't mentioned it before but Kora is taking a dance class! She takes it with some of her buddies from our mom's group every Friday. It is fun. In the first class she kind of just stood and watched the teacher but now she is starting to get it. She *may* have a recital in May so I'll keep you all posted. I don't want to get the family all riled up and it ends up not happening.

Speaking of dancing, her new favorite thing is to dance to Shakira's Waka Waka video. She asks to watch the video over and over again. She even knows part of the dance. I'll have to record it and post it.

Boop!

Kora is 16 1/2 months old (so big!). And I breast-feed her. Yes, still.

Yes, I've become that hippie mom who breast-feeds her toddler. Sometimes in (gasp!) public.

I always knew I wanted to breast-feed, I just wasn't sure if I would be able to. I had heard all of these stories about women who didn't have enough milk, or their baby wouldn't latch on correctly, or it hurt too much, or...a thousand reasons why they didn't breast-feed.

Then I found two websites that changed my perspective on mommyhood forever: Kelly Mom and MotheringdotCommunity. These sites (and their community forums) provided me with endless hours of reading during my pregnancy. In the absence of a village-based community, these online communities gave me much needed advice and support when I was seeking answers. Breast-feeding was one of the topics I researched a lot. When I finally went into labor, I felt ready to do it.

It took me and Kora about 2 or 3 days to finally 'get it', and thank goodness that her pediatrician is also a board certified lactation consultant; since then our nursing relationship has blossomed and we've never looked back. We have had our slight struggles: a bite here and there (due to teething, not mischief), acrobatics while latched on, middle of the night nursing that seems to NEVER end. But all in all it has been a wonderful experience.

For the first five months or so all she took in was breast milk (except for about 1 CC of formula at the hospital her first day of life...grrr..don't get me started). It sure was amazing seeing her grow and thrive on nothing but my milk.

Even after she started eating solids, she still wanted to nurse a lot. And even now, she eats A LOT. Yet, she still wants to nurse several times a day (and night). Yes, I know a lot is due to comfort, but she still gets nutrition and immunities from my milk. In fact, about a third of her nutrients still come from my breast milk.

The way she communicates to me that she wants to nurse has changed over her life. Of course, she started out by smacking her lips, rooting and searching (then crying if she didn't find what she was looking for), then at around 8 months, she started signing "milk". A few months later, she would stick her hand down my shirt (she still does this...it can be a little embarrassing if we're out and about). Her most recent thing that started about a week ago is to say "boop", which is how she says "boob". Hindsight maybe I should have called them something else, like, "nummies, or "bah-bahs" or something cute and not so obvious. But "boop" it is, I guess!

I've often heard people comment, "They're too old to nurse if they can ask for it". One of the dumbest comments I've ever heard. They're asking for it very soon after their born! Luckily I don't pay attention to comments like this. I am, however, a bit more reluctant to nurse in public now that Kora is older. I just feel like people are more likely to be negative with her age.

What is my timeline for weaning Kora? Well, just by giving her solids is a step in weaning. The rest is probably up to her. I already don't really offer except at bedtime. The rest of the time she asks to nurse.

The normal weaning age for babies is between 1 and 3 years of age. The rate she's going I think she'll probably nurse until at least 2, but she'll change a lot over the next few months and maybe nursing will fall by the wayside. Right now I am just happy to have this for her so that she can explore the world while still having a safe haven she can return to as needed.

Kora sleep-nursing in my carrier

Switching Roles

Some of you may know that since our trip to Australia last spring, Darren has been the official 'stay-at-home-parent' and I have been concentrating on building my health insurance business. It worked out this way since Darren's industry has pretty much been at a standstill, and health insurance is (was!) a stable industry.

Fast forward to December 2010. It was getting pretty obvious to Darren that I am miserable doing what I do, and felt that I was 'missing out' on Kora time. Missing out is in quotes because I am VERY lucky to be working from home and still around to eat meals with the family and I KNOW we have it good. Kora has it good.

However, my heart really wasn't in my work anymore. I'm not sure it ever was. It is hard to start a business anyway. It's doubly hard when you just aren't interested in the work. I made some money, but nowhere close to where we thought we would be by that point.

So, we had a few come to jesus talks, and tossed around some ideas. We knew we couldn't keep living the way we were without money coming in; our savings has already suffered enough.

Right around this time Darren was approached by someone to see if he would be interested in building a custom home. When all was said and done, he was selected to build this house, which will probably break ground in May and finish in December. This is bittersweet news. Sweet because this allows me to take a step back and be a constant presence in Kora's day. Slightly bitter because we actually had some other plans, a plan B if you will, that would have been pretty exciting. However we've put plan B on the back-burner for now, not to be discarded. My hope is next year we'll be able to pursue it.

So anyway, while I am still selling insurance and maintaining my client base, I no longer have the pressure of sell sell sell. I can relax and enjoy the days. For example, this afternoon Kora and I went to Monkey Joe's Inflatable Playground. By the way, Kora has no fear. She wants to go on the highest slide over and over again. That's our girl!