I love Christmas. I am ridiculously, cornily, excessively excited by the entire holiday season. We just started decorating yesterday and we bought our first few presents. I am disappointed that I never wrote an entry on here about last Christmas because it was definitely one to remember and one that Kaya was very much a part of.
I was 9 months pregnant, I had to go to the OB-GYN the day before we left for Oregon to be examined, just to make sure that I wasn't going to have the baby in the van on the freeway in the snow. My due date had originally been February 4th then changed to January 27th but it was only December 22 so I wasn't overly concerned.
I was still working full time, walking a mile and a half from the bus stop to Morris' everyday and taking him all over Los Angeles County by bus, train, subway and paratransit. I was determined to go on this trip because I knew it would be the last one I would ever take as a childless person, with responsibilities for no one but myself. So, I went to the doctor to get the final okay and was told that I was cleared to travel, we would both be fine BUT this was not a February 4th baby or even a January 27th baby, this baby is coming the first week of January". Wow.
Okay, so the next night, I get off work early- at 9pm and Kelsey and Kirk come and pick me up. We leave for Oregon with the dog and the cat in the minivan with us. By the middle of the night, it was freezing and dark and we were in the middle of no where and it started to snow. We really couldn't see very well so we decided to exit at the next ramp to put the chains on the tires. That wasn't as easy as it sounded as the ramp road hadn't been cleared and was covered in deep snowbanks. We drifted right into one and got completely stuck. There was absolutely nothing that we could do to get out of the snow and HELLO I WAS 9 MONTHS PREGNANT SO USELESS. Long story short, 2 calls to 911, one helpful Cal-Trans trucker and 8 hours later, we got back on the road. And, just when we thought that we were on our merry way- we got a flat tire.
Sidelined again, we waited on the side of the road for a tow truck mechanic. 22 hours later, we arrived in magical, snow-blanketed Sunriver and it was all worth it. I couldn't enjoy it like I usually did, definitely no sledding or skiing. I mostly stayed in and ate and read true crime novels that I had gotten from the Burbank Public Library.
We had a beautiful holiday, it snowed the whole time, there were long icicles hanging from the roofs and balconies. My mom always decorates the whole house with the same decorations and ornaments that I remember from all the Christmases in Sunriver from my childhood. We were all there- my parents, Kels, Kirk and Amy and Kaya was so much WITH me- heavy and active and kicking and twisting and shoving at my ribcage. I knew she wanted out and I agreed- it was just about time. I was so excited to meet her.
Most, if not all of my presents last year were things for her because I was just MAD with the whole experience and anticipation of pregnancy and HER. I couldn't really think about and didn't much care about anything else. Getting all the wee clothes and shoes and bottles, I was about to burst with joy and excitement but, I was brought back to earth by the fact that Shaun was in Tucson working on a movie, very far away.
I wished that we could have spent our first Christmas as a family but we promised that next year, her first Christmas, we would be together. Anyway, here are some kinda blurry pics but they accurately depict the massive proportions that I had last year at this time. Imagine that body in a mini van with 2 siblings, a dog and a cat in a blizzard for 22 hours.
And it was still the merriest Christmas I have ever had.
But, she kind of had mixed emotions about the whole bubble bath experience.
Here is some more Kaya doing assorted cute things over the past few days:
