Looking through the Lens of the Year.

Friday night we drove to a sacred spot in Chelsea’s family. It is about three hours north of Sacramento, along the coast, through winding roads and hills. We left around 7:30 PM  for the sake of the baby. Yeah, that’s a new thing: traveling during baby sleepy times. It’s ingenious. (Baby tip #56 - Drive when babies sleep - Just to be clear…there are no set numbers for the baby tips…yet.) She slept the whole way, this is something we discovered over the holidays as we drove down to Southern California.

During this drive, the rain fell steadily for the second half of the journey but Chelsea handled it like a champ. My SoCal nerves would have been frayed. This spot is called The Sea Ranch and someone told me once that it is a magical place. A place where ionic particles rise from the crashing waves that run roughshod over the roughened coastline. The ions float and encircle this whole coastal area. I am not sure of the veracity of that claim since I have never really looked into it, but I like the story regardless. But, anecdotally, I always feel a little refreshed coming away from here. The baby naps on my chest, while Chelsea is out studying...So now, I can reflect on what has been happening these last few months:

First, not much has changed on our front. I am still working and Chelsea is still working, but one thing that did happen was she did not pass the California Bar Exam. She missed it by the skin of her teeth, just 2 percentage points. That was pretty stressful considering she was ready to move into a full time position at her job. But they kept her on and have put her on an hourly wage rather than a salary. But despite the drawback, there are benefits, the money isn’t the same, but she is able to adjust her schedule a little better to give her some study time. She’s taking the Bar again at the end of February.  GO Chelsea!

Tori has changed dramatically since our last update. She is walking now, which changed our lives forever. She took her first “steps” on October 30th. These were only 4 at a time before she plopped down, but by the time her first birthday came around on December 18 she was walking everywhere.Chelsea says she feels like just when we learned the rule of the game, Tori learned to walk and changed them on us. She has also been forming words. She can mimic what we say, but it isn’t perfect since she is still waiting for some teeth and her pronunciation needs a little work. But her syllables are coming along nicely. She can say things like “cheese” and “daddy” and, thanks to her T-ma, she also bows and gives thanks to here food during meal times. It’s cute, if not a little strange, but we love it.

She has pretty set routine, bath around 6:15-6:30, depending on the day, then being rocked and nursed down to sleep after. So by 7 on most days she is out. She wakes up now again, and hasn’t mastered the 'Sleeping Through the Night'. Some days she does and some days she doesn’t, especially since her teeth have been growing lately (Baby Tip #57: teeth ruin everything). Moreover, during the day she still attends day care where they love her. Chelsea drops her off about 7:45 in the morning, and then I pick her up between 4:15 and 5 depending on my work stuff. She naps with the bigger kids from 12:30 to 3. We are in awe at how they get her nap so long. Her weekend naps aren’t nearly as long! (Baby Tip #58: If you find people who can get your baby to nap, keep them round forever and buy them chocolate!)

The other day Chelsea and I were eating at a happy hour with Tori (Baby tip #59; going out to early happy hours and/or day drinking is key; brunch also rocks - although now "brunch" is really breakfast because the kid is up at 6 am...) and we were talking about the past year as being parents. We were reflecting on what we have learned. I made a joke referencing Malcolm Gladwell’s 10, 000 hour theory: as long as you do something for 10,000 hours you master it. I did a quick calculation and realized we had clocked about 8,856 hours as parents for Tori! We rejoiced! Only 1,100 hours to parenting mastery! However, we quickly came to the conclusion that there is a flaw in that theory. In a regular job, you perform the same tasks over and over again, and if you do that for 10,000 hours you master them. There isn’t much flux. But, wouldn't you know, babies change. So despite our 8,000 plus hours, Tori's constant evolution from just being a blob to crawling, talking, walking, grabbing, feeding herself, drinking from a cup, and evolving ways of playing, that theory is moot.

We learned so much in this last year and a month, but I feel like we are still learning every day. Every new experience she has is a new one for us (and her!). Which is great, it keeps things interesting, but it is extremely exhausting. There is a ton of joy, but there are also times of struggle (Baby Tip #60: The Struggle is real). But I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Newbs

So yesterday we had an interesting experience. Chelsea and I are spending a whirl-wind weekend in Southern California. We are visiting my side of the family so they can have some quality time with the T-Bug and for Chels to attend one of our best friends' baby showers; we are also going to check in with some of our So-Cal peeps (but the time is too short to connect with all of you! Sorry!) .  Regardless of our itinerary, we are feeling quite newbie-ish at this whole traveling-with-a-new-baby thing. Hence, the title.

So last time we came down here was in June to attend an amazing wedding in San Diego. (Whooo Brangelista!). It was during the summer so we drove. Bad idea. It took us 10 hours and Tori was not feeling it. Especially in L.A. traffic. This time we chose to fly from Sacramento to LA, and then rent a car. 

Here are some useful things we have learned from our experience: 

1) When traveling with a baby remember to bring shot records, birth certificates, and/or some sort of identification for the child. Yea, we forgot. But the nice guy at the counter helped and informed us about the situation; however, we still need to get that information sent to us some how before we depart Sunday night. 

2) When going through security do not wear your baby in a wrap for it will set off the metal detector. Chels was wearing T-bug and walked through the detector. She set it off because of the metal ring attached to the wrap. She stepped back through and was about to take the wrap off, but since she set off the metal detector already,  she had to go through a super search anyway. She and the baby were both throughly, thoroughly searched. Also, the milk we'd brought had to be put into a machine to make sure it was not and explosive device. Win for TSA! We are safe to travel. 

3) Great! With a child you get family boarding! But, do remember to check your plane side car-seat, stroller,  or other things before you pass through the gate or be ready to get a withering look from the attendant and a guilt trip as he reluctantly goes through the 30-second task of placing a gate claim ticket on the item. Sorry, guy. It was our first time! 

All very good lessons. One's we will not forget. But I had to share them to the world at large! By the way, she travelled like a champ so lets see what Sunday brings! 

So this couple, a pup, and a fetus go for a drive…

Last weekend Tim, Toast, and I drove down to Oxnard to visit the Tibbses and our So Cal friends. I found out that the six-hour drive is a lot more difficult when you are five months pregnant. It isn’t as easy to sit comfortably in a car for long stretches as it used to be. But Tim made the drive pleasant by reading to me (and Bibbs). He learned that the baby can hear his voice so he started reading us a novel – the Dresden Files. It is a very entertaining story about a modern day wizard who solves crime in Chicago. Bibbs apparently loves to hear Tim’s voice because I can feel baby kicks and flutters every time he reads aloud. It is cool! Toast is generally ambivalent to Tim’s orations.

It is amazing how many things we managed to cram into one busy, fun-filled weekend! Mostly, we enjoyed the beautiful warmth of the Southern California summer with family. We played beach volleyball with Tim’s brother and niece (who is trying out for the freshman volleyball team when she starts high school next year) and splashed around in the ocean. We brunched with the in-laws and caught them up with all our baby related news. Everyone is so excited that we are adding to the Tibbs clan! We took Tim’s pop out to a movie, which was luxurious, since the two of us haven’t had time to see many of the summer blockbusters. 

 

On Friday we had dinner with some of Tim’s oldest friends. They have a 14^th month old so we got another preview into what life with a baby will look like. It was especially interesting to watch Toast interact with a baby. We were nervous but she did really great! Sometimes she wanted to play with the baby so she would go into the downward dog bow position and then started running away to get the baby to chase her. The baby had no idea that the game worked that way and Toast got a little bored. Then Toast brought the baby her ball. She apparently wanted to teach the baby to play fetch but the baby didn’t get the idea that he was supposed to throw the ball. He would pick it up and Toast would wait patiently but the baby never threw it. Toast would nudge him gently but eventually gave up and came over to us. She seemed exasperated and, if we could read her mind, we think she would have told us, “That ‘puppy’ is either broken or stupid.”  Anyway, it was a hoot to see how she will do as a nanny dog. We are still planning on entering her into personal dog training starting next month though so we can rely on her to obey us 100% of the time when the baby comes, just to be safe. 

Tim and cousin Joey in a pic from 1994(?) found in an old photo album. What goobers! Some things never change...

Anyway, that night Tim and his cousin went to see his brother’s band play at the local bar (I stayed in because I am a lame, tired pregnant lady and didn’t want to be on my feet around cigarette smoke and drunk people). The boys had a great time without me and I got a wealth of advice from two experienced mom friends and then a great night’s sleep. It was good that I was well-rested because the next day we went to the Oxnard Salsa festival with our friends Heather and Jeff. The festival was such a fun event! It was a free fair that highlighted all things “salsa”. There was salsa music and dancing and, for only $5 we got a bag of chips and got to taste hundreds of gourmet salsas made by local restaurants and vendors. We had such a wide variety of salsas, everything from a sweet and mild strawberry to super hot habanero. It was, as Heather said, like wine tasting for pregnant ladies!

After our tatsebuds were fried off from the spice, we headed to Heather and Jeff’s house for the night. We got to meet their 4-month old puppy, Franklin. He is a cute pup and just loved Toast. The two dogs played all evening as we caught up with our friends. It was hilarious to watch Franklin follow Toast around everywhere and take cues from her, like Toast used to do with older dogs when she was a puppy. For example, Franklin didn’t know how to climb down the stairs in the house but after watching Toast do it a few times, and a little coaxing from us, he got the hang of it. Now Franklin is a pro at the stairs. 

They look almost the same size! Franklin "Beast" is going to be a big dog!

All in all it was a great weekend! Tim started back at work this week (teaching work days and professional development all week and the students come back next week). I am wrapping up work at the immigration law clinic and getting ready to start classes in mid-August. All that new school nonsense deserves a post in itself though.

And in brief, baby related news we saw Bibbs on an ultrasound a few weeks ago! All is healthy and well with the baby. We decided to wait to find out the sex of the baby until we meet him or her in person in four short months. Both baby and I are growing and doing well. Here is an updated Bibbs photo for your hilarity. 

Short scenes of summer

This summer seems to be flying by. Before we know it, it will be mid-August and Tim and I will both be back in school. During the weeks, I have been working at the Immigration Law Clinic at school and taking summer school classes Monday through Thursday evenings. I am constantly busy, with real work, school work and work to prep for the upcoming year of Moot Court. Tim has been likewise busy, but in a different way. He is home for 5 weeks of summer “break” but, as anyone who knows a teacher knows, his break involves prepping and planning for next year. After we run-walk (I walk, then he goes farther for a run) in the mornings, he settles in for a day of reading the literature he will be teaching this upcoming year (Lord of the Flies, Hamlet, and Brave New World, among others). He has also been reading books on classroom management and teaching strategies and planning the first 6 weeks worth of lessons so he will be ready to go in early-August. So, as usual, the Tibbses stay busy, busy, busy.

However, this summer we decided that we needed to really make the most of every free moment and take advantage of this last summer that it will be just us two. So, almost every weekend (which are all three day weekends, since I don’t work or have class on Fridays), we make fun plans. Last weekend, for the Fourth of July we jam-packed so much into the weekend it was dizzying. On Friday my mom and her long-lost cousin, Josh, came to Sacramento. The four of us, and three of our friends went up the American River for an inner tube float with a BBQ picnic at the take out. When we got back to Sacramento, we joined our neighbors on our front lawn for a personal firework show. Since we weren’t allowed to have fireworks in Santa Cruz as a kid growing up, I was as excited by the thrill of lighting them off as much as our 7 year old neighbor was. Tim and I can imagine a future of lighting fireworks on future Fourths with Tibblet(s) in tow. Then, on Saturday, we headed to the Sonoma Valley to join Oma and Sampa to watch a show, a Broadway medley, in an open-air theater in Jack London State Park. We just love being outside these days! 

Last week, my dad came up to Sacramento for a visit and to watch the semi-final matches in what has proven to be one of the best World Cups ever (and also probably my sober-ist). This Mundial, Tim and I enjoyed watching almost every game, and wagering on the elimination round predictions (neither of us were right on, but Tim was closer this year). We aren’t quite sure what we will do with all the free time now that the tournament is over. Anyway, it was fun watching with dad since he is the one who introduced me to the love of futbol. I wonder what Tim will teach Bibbs to enjoy? 

This weekend, Tim and I drove up to Sea Ranch for a quiet weekend alone. It was lovely to be by the ocean and out of the Sacramento heat. We did what we normally do at our family’s house in Sea Ranch: read, hike, walk on the beach, nap, cook, read, write, and repeat. I got a lot of work checked off my to-do list and feel so super refreshed coming into this new week, which is good considering that in the next seven days we have an ultrasound appointment, an appointment with the midwife, school and work, a visit with my cousin Dallas and her kids who are visiting from Oregon, a wedding, a dinner date with friends, a baby shower, a brunch date, and hopefully a trip to visit more cousins in the central valley. Did I mention we are trying to have ALL the fun this summer? 

18 Weeks! Almost halfway there!

In the midst of summer fin, Toast helped us organize our file cabinet (our first step towards reorganizing the house to make room for the third Tibbs)

Fabulous Fall Break

Toast playing at the dog park. Gorgeous Sacramento sunset behind.

     This past week I have been home from work. It was a scheduled fall break where the kids don’t have to be in session all week and neither do the teachers. I have other stuff to do like plan, examine data, and correct papers, but I haven’t really been working too hard. I am taking it easy and taking care of myself. 

       The last two weeks were insane before fall break. I was always one step behind and quickly getting burned out. My teaching was a little bad, but in the end I think my efforts went to a more extraordinary cause. Basically, in order for classes to be eligible college prep classes for Cal States and UCs, the UC system needs to approve them as rigorous enough. In order to do this the schools (usually districts) have curriculum developers write these reports that outline the entire curriculum for an individual class. This report gives a brief purpose for the class, a large course outline that includes the units taught, the skills learned, books read, essential, guiding questions and key assignments. Then, the writing assignments, unit-by-unit, need to be described, as well as the listening and speaking assignments, unit-by-unit.   

      It is a lot of work and some stuff is redundant but these course descriptions need to be done. Each school gets two chances to get courses approved. First, you can send in a course description and if it is approved, it’s all good, but if it is not approved it is sent back to the school with some comments and then the school has 10 days to rewrite the course descriptions and send them back. I was working with some colleagues a few weeks ago I noticed them working hard on these and I laughed a little bit not really understanding how important these descriptions are. Anyway, since I am the only English teacher at the high school level, I offered to help out with the English courses, if they had not been approved already. A few days later the school was sent the first of the English courses back. Not Approved. I was called into the office of the college/guidance counselor and asked if I was still willing to help. Being as helpful as I am, I said, “Sure. This will be fun.” 

        I was given a sub for a day as I delved deeply into the format that was required. I worked on the weekend and clocked about 14 hours. I finished the first one. There were 3 more. I was given a sub for two more days so I could work on them during school hours, but I still had to clock another 14 hours the following weekend. That was the weekend before last. Needless to say I was behind on my standard prep; going day-to-day, but once I turned in that last one I was super excited. I really appreciate the experience. I wrote about 35,000 words (about 85 pages or so) in 10 days and really got some insight into the Common Core standards since the format required the descriptions be based on the Common Core skills. I found that I really enjoyed writing and planning these massive reports, so this may be something I pursue in the future. Anywho, now I can only hope that they get approved. 

         So far this break, we went to Santa Rosa Harvest Festival this last weekend and stocked up our wine cabinet. We also saw our first live symphony with this phenomenal violin player.  A straight virtuoso! Also, we spent some quality time with Chelsea’s grandparents. Then we came home. I re-organized my classroom, graded a few papers (with many more to go), went to gym (with horrible chest aching side effects; I could barely sleep last night because of chest pains.), I’ve cleaned the house, took Toast to the dog park, finished a few books I need to read for school, saw an early private screening of a documentary about an undocumented alien called “Documented” and even wrote a little bit. And it’s only Wednesday!    

Walking around Spring Lake in Santa Rosa with the Grandparents. It was a perfect fall day.

     I am about to finish grading, plan for next week, and then spend the weekend in Oxnard for my Mom’s 60^th Birthday! We are going to her 60s themed party and then hopefully see my brothers new band play! Then back to the grind. But I promise to take things one at a time and relax before then!

Random Pic: My new classroom set up. They are in pairs instead of fours.

Thoughts on September

My "crafty" thrift store wreath

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It is officially fall, both in the Northern Hemisphere and in the Tibbs household. I waited until the fall equinox to put up some decorations which I have been collecting and Emily and I found on the cheap at Thrift Town (cue Mackelmore song…). I took a whopping 15 minute study break to make a wreath for the front door, string up some orange Halloween lights and put out cornucopia and the Dia de los Muertos skeletons on the mantel (and fill the candy bowl the Halloween treats!). Even though my decorations are no pinterest masterpiece, I love that it feels festive in my house. Yay fall! It is finally chilly enough for me to wear fuzzy socks in the evenings too. I love this season!

The coming of fall also means I am rapidly progressing through my second year of law school. I am half way done with the semester already and when the semester is over, I will be halfway done with law school! Woo hoo! What a crazy thought.

Tim and I have planned to take our winter vacation (the only vacation time we both have off together at the same time) in Hawaii this year. As much as we feel sad that we will be abandoning our families, who we see so infrequently with our busy schedules normally, we decided we need a luxurious break for just the two of us. So, we have our tickets purchased for a week in Oahu! We are seriously looking forward to relaxing on the beach, snorkeling, and enjoying a mele kalikimaka on the island. As a bonus, we will get to see our dearest friend, and Peace Corps Guyana housemate/sister Sara! She and her boyfriend moved out to Hawaii last year and they will be our hosts for part of our vacation. We are really looking forward to seeing her and relaxing in island style! IT is certainly something to look forward to.

Toast gets lazy if she doesn't get walked enough.

In the meantime, school is going well. I like most of my classes, although there are some required courses on subjects that I never imagine I will ever use when I am a real grown up lawyer, that I am just trying to endure/pass. By far, the toughest thing about the second year of law school is managing time and conflicting obligations. The workload is about the same, but I have gotten much more involved in the activities that I treated as secondary projects last year.

Plus, I am working ten hours a week this semester at a small, but BUSY, immigration law office. So far I love it! I am learning so much more about the practice of immigration law. We do family-based immigration, humanitarian cases (asylum, victims of crime and domestic violence) and employment-based immigration. My coworkers are fantastic. They are friendly and smart and willing to teach me. And I believe we all share similar values, which makes for a wonderful work environment. I love that I get to interact with clients on a daily basis (my Spanish is rapidly coming back to me by necessity!). My favorite thing about this type of law is that it is basically my job to be a strategic story-teller. By this I mean I get to take someone’s life story and present it in legalese in a way that meets all the required statutory legal elements in a way that is compelling enough to win the case or get the requested relief and, ultimately, make a huge impact on someone’s future. It is basically exactly what I want to be doing when I graduate!

Mt office. I was invited to personalize it. I love that, although I have no windows and am only there two days a week, I have a few things that make it feel like me.

I guess, all in all, when I have a minute to sit back and reflect, life is pretty great. Tim and I are only busy because we choose to be and, frankly, we love what we do and where we are in life right now.

Happy fall evening, working together, enjoying the beautiful patio!

Through the Rabbit Hole, the Looking Glass, or Even the Wardrobe and then the Fourth

The Vistas over Ventura County

 These last few weeks have been a flurry of activity. First, Oxnard was really great. I hung out with some awesome people, with my parents, my fabulous friends, my cousin and my brother. However, there was an instance that dampened my mirth: I lost my job.

Okay, so I don’t really want to get into it, but the whole plans of teaching 12^th grade and so forth: scrapped. Basically, Tuesday June 18^th I was called by my former principal and I had to reapply for the position and interview again…in other words, jump through some hoops. I started looking for work right away. From that day on I looked for job openings. I spent the rest of the week hanging with my Dad, looking for work, hanging with my mom, visiting fabulous vistas in Ventura, and then picking fresh avocados and stone fruit. Though, I was a bit stressed Chelsea, Dad, Mom, and Phil were super supportive and kept me grounded.  Eventually, Chelsea and Toast came down late Thursday night, and we spent Friday and Saturday in Oxnard doing the rounds. Moreover, on Friday I got the official word:  I was not rehired.

 Though this caused more stress, I had an interview set up for that Monday at my dream school and I wanted to prep for it. We left Saturday evening and spent Sunday in Sacramento getting settled. The rest of the weeks leading up to now I spent job hunting full time. I looked on all the sites from non-profits to district schools to charter schools. I wrote cover letter after cover letter; posted and re-posted my resume. I sent e-mails to everyone I knew asking for letters of rec or leads on jobs. I even had a spread sheet set up that listed all my contacts, all the applications I had sent in, and if I had followed up with them or not. By the time the fourth of July rolled around I had a list of 17 jobs and 12 contacts. Unfortunately, I did not get the job at the dream school, but there is a happy ending.

I had another interview at a different school set up for Friday the 28^th of June.  It was a school I had applied for last year, but heard nothing back from them so I gave it another shot this year. I interviewed on Friday. They called me back for a demo lesson on Tuesday, and they offered me a job on Wednesday July 3^rd.   YAY!  I am super excited. They wanted to move quickly and so did I. It’s an inner-city school and I think I will be teaching 2 classes of 8^th Grade, 1 class of 9^th Grade, and 1 class of 11^th grade. A lot of preps, but the classes should be small (about 30 students per class) and I am really looking forward to curriculum development. Furthermore, this school really emphasizes evaluation and peer feedback so I will be reviewed by my principal, my humanities leads, and get structured coaching and tons of feedback. At the end of the year I know I will be a better teacher.

So we come full circle, we stepped out of the wardrobe, pierced our way through the looking glass, and climbed out of the rabbit hole. We headed down to Palm Springs for the fourth with a lighter heart.  

In Palm Springs we mostly spent time near the pool, having wonderful conversations, seeing some fireworks, reading and relaxing. All the pieces that make a vacation a vacation: good people, good food, good times.

As of now I am finalizing the paper work for this new school, I have a week long training next week and start my first full day on July 30.

Chelsea is doing great she is still plugging away at her internship and learning so much about the law. She can write her own update when the time comes.  But for now summer is in effect, the state fair is coming to town, and stability is returning.  

TOAST!!! At the beach for the first time!

Madre at the Beach go SO CAL! 

Tom and Llewellyns Baby!!

More vistas of Ventura

Palm Springs! 

Fireworks!!!