He's Here!!!

Calvin Jeffrey Havenar joined us on July 28th, 2011. I am still amazed that he and Reed share the exact same birth "stats"...7lbs, 7.9oz and 21.5 inches long. And Calvin was 8 days early, and Reed 9. I think this is because their long legs and big feet no longer fit in the womb! :) He arrived quickly and easily, and I am very thankful for such a wonderful labor experience. Also thankful for the sweet love that Reed has showered Calvin with, and the very good baby Calvin has been in his first week of life! Eating and sleeping like a charm, nothing more we could ask for!
I love my boys!!!

Another boy on the way, hip hip hooray!

Spring Break San Diego

I put much emphasis on this spring break, I think. This is in part because I think I have felt a little "trapped" in this growing pregnant body of mine :), as well as I can't help but think that this is our last family-o'-three vaca...a thought that makes me sad (resistance to change, here I go again...:)), though happy for our "complete" family that will make up the memories of our next family getaway.

Hmm, where to begin? Let's start by saying that I hope to relive this very vacation again and hopefully again and again...maybe make it a "tradition" of sorts. We LOVED our hotel, The Catamaran, and found it to be perfect for us. Reed exclaimed, "Our hotel is a RAIN FOREST!" upon our arrival, and the amazement, impressiveness, and good times kept rolling thereafter.

Our hotel had a "bay side" complete with sand toys for the kids, cabanas and food and drink for the 'rents, and nightly cruises for the whole family. Two blocks away was the non-bay, 'real' beach, "the wave beach" as Steve and Reed called it, Mission Bay. Plenty of shops and restaurants and easy rinse off and whatnot for built-in fun plus convenience...a family's "must". Within our hotel we had lush palms, talking parrots that greeted/repeated the guests, refreshing pool and plush cabanas, and...Steve's favorite...a large room with built in full-but-mini kitchen :).

SEA WORLD was a highlight of our stay, Reed rocked the place and we stayed until almost 5:00, skipping his usual 2-5pm nap altogether (he slept for the night, 12 hours, from 6:30pm-6:30am after we left :). We rode rides, hit three shows, lunched and snacked, played on the play structures and (literally) soaked up the mini water park. Reed feeding the dolphin was picture-perfect and he's talked about it several times since. Luckily, we were the very last people to be able to do so before they cut the line off!

Steve surfed, I had some pool time, and we enjoyed the perfect weather and beach as much as we could fit in. We were also thankful to spend time with Reed's former nanny (2nd mom, actually!) and best bud (like a sister, actually!) who live there. Eric, Jessica, and Bella were kind enough to host us for an evening and Reed and Bell had a BLAST (to say the least) slipping right back into their old days of both reckless fun (contributed by wild Reed) and structured play (thanks to Bella :)). Bella cried when it was time for us to say goodbye and Reed has mentioned moving to San Diego, staying at Bella's, Bella visiting here, and talking about the fun had ever since. Peas in a pod!

The only flaw of our time had was that was it was too too short (aren't getaways always that way? :)). We didn't spend time with all the peeps we wanted to, but that just makes for another excuse to head back again...hopefully, as I said, a Havenar family tradition!

"Choo, Choo, Choo...Reed Havenar's no longer TWO!"

My "baby" is THREE!
This is the first birthday that Reed "owned". It was all about him and his good time with friends, only a handful of his nearest-and-dearest as opposed to the bigger groups we have had in the past (which often included OUR friends with kids). It was priceless to see him interact with his "buddies" and also a bit embarrassing for me, too, when he played favorites with a few instead of including all...natural, I know, but not in my adult, "social etiquette" comfort-zone :).

Reed has been having on-and-off behavior at school and it often includes his interactions with his buddy/girlfriend-of-sorts :), partner-in-crime, Annie. She was his side-kick at his party, too, and the only one "picked" to sit by him on the train, for pictures, etc.. Other guest included friends Emerson and Brady, Annie's twin Ben, usual BFF Bella and her mom Jess, the three grandparents, and cousin Cooper.

We celebrated at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, and it was wonderful! Balloons, pizza, and cake on the "party car" all to ourselves and train rides for the kids. Roamed the grounds a bit, too, and Reed could have cared less if we were there, I think, he was in his "element" :) and a happy, social butterfly to say the least. He's growing so fast and, though it makes me sad that all of our family can't be a part of these experiences and changes, we treasure every day of them and honor each year of memories with a day of reflection and BIRTHDAY FUN. We love you, dear dear REED! :)

Reed Starts Pre-school (boo-hoo, sniff-sniff) ;)

Last February, I got teary when Steve and I visited some pre-schools because I just couldn't believe we were turning that "big boy" corner...I am sentimental and over-emotional about such things (I already know to prepare myself with much kleenex for real "milestones" in my children's' future). So, when his 1st day came, I should have known that it was a parent issue just as much as Reed's when the separation was difficult. As rough-and-tumble as he is, our firstborn is an attached, sensitive little thing!

We took pictures and did the long goodbye on Day 1, and Steve even got watery, too...who wouldn't when your son is clinging to your leg pleading, "Daddy, I don't want you to GO!!!!". Day two was the worst, he sputtered out through sobs, "Mommy, I want you to stay one and two and three and four more times" (which I took to mean "a long time" in 2-year old language). He also told me he "needed to suck his fingers again", which killed me as he never has done this, so I wondered if that was a self-soothe thing he'd discovered? (Pretty introspective and so sad, I thought!). I picked him up that day to find him in a change of pants and his teacher handed me a bag with his wet ones, along with his lunchbox with untouched food as he didn't want to eat, either. She explained that he'd cried on and off all day. On the way home he told me, "Dereck pushed me. He is BAD. The teacher said 'Dereck, we don't push our friends!'. Mommy, that's BAD". Sigh...
...and that night was back-to-school night. I felt that the teachers were only talking directly to us (though I realistically know that they weren't) when we all signed "potty contracts" which basically said that if our kids were still having a hard time with their training at school, it was legitimate for them to ask us to find another school with week's notice. Um, great. So, I cried again that night...this time out of despair as the "mama bear" came out in me, my poor baby :)!

Day three was much better...one of his best...and I chalked up my tears from the night before to my own back-to-school exhaustion. Note to self, I reminded my thoughts: this new experience is indeed NEW to us all, of course it's not going to be "butterflies and rainbows" from the get-go, though that's all I'd pictured when I'd happily read pre-school books to him all summer and when we'd merrily shopped for and packed up new classroom supplies, taken pictures of his cuteness (lunchbox in hand and all) in the yard, etc.! The teacher in me, I guess ;)

Despite the center's director mentioning to me that Reed "has lasted the longest" of all the 'criers', and also the morning that a parent said to me upon drop-off, "oh, he's so cute. I felt so sorry for him the other day when I peeked in their room to see it was him that was crying so hard", each day his tears have lessened from the previous and we have even had two NO TEAR days. I actually almost shed happy ones the day he looked super nervous but instead of crying seemed to think things through to get his act/courage together and exclaimed, "after a while, crocodile!" as I was leaving.

I still have some Kinders in my room who cry for their parents when saying goodbye in the morning and we are one more week into school than my Reed, so I am proud of his gradual-though-definite bravery during this big adjustment (and, may I say, of mine too ;)).

Thank You, UPark!

A year under my belt at University Park, woot-woot!!! I can not tell you how much happier I am on a daily basis going to work, and what an overall life change that meant for me. Loving one's job is HUGE and I feel blessed to say that I thoroughly enjoy my mornings of teaching and interactions with colleagues and, when I return home, my positive energy goes a long way. I didn't realize how much a 'professional' environment could carry over to personal, "non-work" time and relationships until I really reflected on this the last two years. Having experienced both extremes during that time, I know how very fortunate I am to have changed my course. Life is short and challenging enough, so, at the very least, seek and demand for yourself zen in what you can control- you are worth it!