After the Summer Solstice

July 22, 2014 ~ Crystle ~ Leave a comment

This poor blog has been at the bottom of my list of priorities lately. We haven’t traveled much in the last couple of months, and recipe development has been on the back burner. I’ve been relying on sandwiches, seasonal berries, crock pot meals, and greek yogurt to sustain my family — and on particularly busy days I feel like I’m throwing crumbs to the birds, shouting ‘fend for yourselves!’ as I head out the door for Book Club or an evening photo session.

Summer is winding down, I can tell because the further we stray from the Summer Solstice, the less daylight we have each day.

Sally the Beagle Even with the long daylight hours, summer in Fairbanks has been very wet this year. Although I have no previous experience in Alaska to compare it to, I can say that it’s similar to springtime in Washington. We’ve had a handful of warm sunny days, usually when it counts, like during the Summer Solstice festival.

But overall, it’s been a very wet summer. The wettest in 100 years, I’m told. And overcast. Today we’re under cloud cover once again. The temps linger in the sixties and low seventies, exactly where they need to be for a comfortable summer in maternity clothes. I can’t imagine wearing full panel skirts and shorts when temps top 100, or attempting to buy a swimsuit while 7 months pregnant. I’m definitely thankful for the cool, brisk summer we’ve had so far.

Rainy day play dates and gatherings at the local community centers have been the norm.

Work has been steady over at Yea Yea Photography. But Margot, my assistant, only likes to help when I’m working with packaging materials, or editing photos of babies. More often than not, she insists on sitting on my lap and yelling ‘ga!‘ at the computer monitor when I cull images. Her clumsy little fingers smack against the keyboard in an attempt to help me type; it’s a much less endearing effort when she accidentally closes a window, or somehow hits ‘undo’ on my work.

Juggling childcare, work and service is a challenge. This year I’ve taken on a board position at the Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC), a military spouse ministry I’ve been involved in since moving here to Fairbanks. I’m the Historian this year, meaning I walk around our events with my camera around my neck (as usual), taking photos of everyone having a good time. It’s a great way to serve in accordance to my skill set. You can see my photos on their Facebook page.

I’ve also been meeting up with other photographers in town. I’m proud to have the talented Sarah Lewis in my collection of friends up here, and excited that she’ll be doing our Fresh-48 photo session when Woody arrives. She recently gifted me a jar of SCOBYs, and a vintage yogurt maker, both of which will get plenty of use.

It’s nice to talk shop with Sarah, and a few of the other photographers in town, whose experience and knowledge far outrank mine.

This weekend should be the busiest in awhile. My friends are throwing me a baby shower Saturday morning, then I’m shooting a wedding (my first!) that same evening. After a busy period of culling and editing in the days following, I’ll be wrapping up some orders, then taking it easy on a brief Maternity leave.

Woody will be here in about six weeks. As his due date draws nearer, my confidence wavers. I’m terribly nervous about multiplying my parenting responsibilities and meeting everyone’s needs. The lack of sleep is also a daunting prospect. I expect difficulties in keeping up with Margot who is more and more active, yet needy, all the time. Right now she’s in the throes of a ‘don’t-put-me-down’ phase, it’s kills my back when I carry her without with the ERGObaby Original Baby Carrier, which has proven itself essential more times than I can count.

Regardless of the workload, or the changes in responsibility, we’ve got a good thing going. Our family dynamic changes a little bit, everyday here in Alaska — a lot like the waning midnight Sun.

Oklahoma City, OK

May 1, 2014 ~ Crystle ~ 6 Comments

Touring a metro area that I called home for nearly a decade seemed a little surreal to me, especially with a growing baby bump and a toddler in tow. I commuted back and forth from the City to Norman, 70 miles a day at my claims adjuster job in what I can only refer to as my ‘old life’.

I worked hard. I still work hard, but I don’t have a paycheck to reflect that every two weeks. Visiting OKC reminded me of the career and young adult life I left behind a couple of years ago. I appreciated the work experience I gained, but I’m happy as an entrepreneur and housewife. On days that I’m bored and cooped up in our on-post housing in Alaska, I remind myself that it could be worse — I could be sitting in my cubicle in OKC, dealing with unhappy insureds, with only a long commute home and a cold meal to look forward to. I spent those days counting down until the weekend when I could have brunch with friends, or until the next payday. Now I’m watching Margot grow up little by little everyday while her little brother tosses and turns in my belly. It’s been so much more rewarding than the insurance workflow I was previously overwhelmed by.

It seems that even while I’ve been away, making major changes in my life over the last two years, Oklahoma has remained the same. Sure, there are a few I-35 improvements, new restaurants, and expanding suburbs, but the landscape hasn’t changed much overall. The scars from the Oklahoma City Bombing remain, although healed in part by a spectacular memorial site. The University of Oklahoma in Norman retains its Cherokee Gothic integrity, even while enduring its decadent student housing expansion. And the downtown area is still under construction — a metropolitan anomaly that is not unique to Oklahoma.

The Arts Festival was more of a people-watching event for me, since Oklahomans wore their Sunday best everywhere. Where were the Chacos? Where were the zip-away hiking pants and gawky gardening hats that I’m used to seeing in the Pacific Northwest? It was a deviation from my new norm, to say the least.

It only took 12 years since moving to, and moving away from Oklahoma to finally visit the OKC Zoo. I guess I was just waiting until I had a toddler of my own to make it more fun. Margot enjoyed waving and playing peek-a-boo with the animals in their exhibits. It was a fairly one-sided engagement for her, since the animals didn’t wave back. It was a sensory treat for her.

Margot got an even better look at the animals near her Great-uncle Sam’s house on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. She ‘helped’ feed the goats, horse and donkey that lived on farms close by. Outside of the zoo, she’s saw her farm animal friends from books in real life. She gleefully waved to them as well.

Traveling with a one-year-old went better than expected; she kept the screaming to a minimum onboard the aircrafts, and back on solid ground, she happily played ‘chase’ and ‘peek-a-boo’ with her Aunts and Grandparents — she even got to meet the Great-aunts who have welcomed her so warmly since her birth. I speculate she is receiving special treatment from Isaac’s maternal side of the family because Margot is the first great-grandchild. She is the changing of the guard, so to speak.

My side of the family is ever-booming in population, so much so that I have aunts and uncles younger than me, and my grandparents have grandchildren older than me. The Sanchez and Shamblin generations know no cyclical bounds in my neck of the family tree.

Visiting to the lower-48 was totally necessary, really fun, and a little too short lived. Next time we’re up for traveling again, we may not be ‘up’ for traveling again! Woodrow Paul will be here, yay!, and Margot will be old enough for us to purchase her plane ticket…grumble.

Oh, looks like you caught that — Woody is what we’re naming our boy. We think it embodies his Okie roots well, while still nodding dutifully to his wooded Alaskan birthplace. We’ll meet our Creole-Mexican-Alaskan baby boy in September, when the leaves turn amber, and the air turns cold once again. Until then, we’ll stick close to Fairbanks.

One Year Later

March 18, 2014 ~ Crystle ~ 5 Comments

One year ago today, I met my little girl for the first time. When I went into labor early St. Patrick’s Day morning, I was certain she would be a holiday baby, but I labored for 36 long hours — Margot, already 10 days behind schedule, was shy. She was finally born March 18, 2013 at 4:26 pm.

Margot was a mellow newborn, only crying when necessary, and sleeping through the night at only two months old. Each month we clapped excitedly as she gained new motor skills: lifting her head, rolling over, crawling, standing — now my Margot is independently taking 2-5 wobbly steps at a time. She’s also getting better at word recognition. When I ask, “where’s da-da?” she instantly starts waving, and scanning the room for her dad. She does the same when I ask her where the doggie is. It’s precious.

Little Girl Birthday Party Decorations The doggie I refer to is Sally, the new furry addition to our home. She’s an eight-year-old beagle we adopted from the animal shelter, meaning she’s the same age Yango was when I adopted him. Old age brings out the sleepy, peaceful, ‘kumbaya’ attitude in dogs. She’s gentle, and reminds me so much of my sorely missed Yango. First Birthday Anyway, Margot is a one-year-old now. She’s also going to be a big sister! If you haven’t heard, our second child is due early September 2014. We will be sure to share the gender once we know what we’re having. We are excited to have our children close in age. The military lifestyle means our kids will be pulled from their social circles and dropped into new ones in new cities every few years. Having siblings close in age will hopefully make that process much easier on them.

Plus, babies are just the sweetest blessing on earth. How could we not want a few?

095A7765 So — for her Birthday, we’ll be having a small Birthday get-together for Margot this weekend, she’ll have cake and balloons and all the normal first world Birthday spoils. The real celebrations will come next month, when we head down to Las Vegas, and OKC to visit family and friends, many of whom haven’t seen her since last summer. Hopefully my shy baby will warm up to all the old and new faces quickly during our visit. If they have snacks or toys, I’m sure she will.Happy Birthday, sweet Margot! And many more!