To see the rockets!

The Association of Experimental Rocketry of the Pacific (AeroPac) holds several high-powered rocketry launches every year from a launch site in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. As long as I've known him, Joseph has been seriously interested in space and rockets, and a couple of years ago he was introduced to Bill Earls, a high-powered rocketry expert who made the trek to Black Rock every year to set off some BIG rockets. He invited us along in 2011 and we had a great time, so we wanted to go again in 2012... even though we had a toddler and a baby. It was, predictably, an adventure. Luckily, I kept a journal, so even when my mind blocked out the terrible parts I forgot all the good stuff, I have a record of what happened. It went something like this:

Sunday

Diana "driving" the RV.

Joseph and I managed to only get 3 hours of sleep thanks to work (he was desperately working to release an iPhone app) and packing, but we still got on the road by 8:30 AM. We were riding along in a palatial 35-foot RV that Bill had rented. Absolutely the first thing I did when I stepped on this beautiful giant was BREAK IT. I tried opening the fridge and ripped off the water dispenser instead. Great start.

The drive is something like 10-15 hours, depending on who's driving, but Diana was a great traveler. 

Last year, because I was traveling with a bunch of men, no one bothered to get exact directions to the launch site, so we ended up driving around the completely flat, dusty desert in the dark for hours while a tired, hungry, 9-month-old Diana cried and then finally we just gave up and camped out for the night. This year, because I was traveling with a bunch of men, no one bothered to get exact directions again, but miraculously we managed to find the launch site while it was still light.

After dinner, Joey took Diana out to expend some energy. They took glow bracelets (yeah, I'm going to let a wayward toddler wander off for literally miles in any direction without being festooned with bright lights), which Diana LOVED. "Pretty!" "Magic!" she said. She loved them so much we decided she could take one to bed with her. While we were getting everything arranged for the night, I heard "Mommy, Diana make magic water!" Sure enough, the bracelet had snapped and sprayed all over. When we turned the lights out, Diana looked like a creature from the movie Avatar. Her hands, hair, blanket, etc. were all covered in a spray of glowing liquid. 

Monday

Diana and daddy ready to watch rocket launches!

We had one of the worst nights of sleep in recent memory. Most people slept in the RV, but we were in our own little lightweight travel trailer so we could have our own space and not disturb everyone else. Probably weirded out by the change in surroundings, Diana woke up around 1 AM and didn't fall asleep until Joseph climbed into her bunk around 3:30. By that time, it had started to get down into the 30s outside and Liam woke up a little baby popsicle. I snuggled and nursed him back to sleep. 

The desert wrecked the kids' skin. Diana was very rashy from the heat (mid-80s with a light breeze during the day) and Liam's skin was so dry his little lips cracked and his cheeks were cracked and oozing. Poor kids. Our highest priority became keeping both of them very well hydrated.

Joseph helped Bill with rocket assembly. During the day, a rocket came down not far away from us and Diana casually wandered out past the flight line to inspect it. Too cute. At night, Joseph and I talked outside under the stars and saw some shooting stars. I have never seen all the stars in the heavens more clearly than out in that desert. It's breathtaking. 

Tuesday

Diana flying her kite in the morning.

Everyone got at least seven hours of sleep! Unfortunately, the sun is incredibly bright and the glare off the flat, white playa is incredibly strong, so when I opened the door in the morning, Diana may have gotten some sun directly in her eyes. She whimpered and rubbed them for a while and appeared unable to open her eyelids fully for several minutes. From what little she could open them, I could only see the whites, like her eyes had rolled back and she couldn't fix them. She recovered after a few minutes, but seemed sensitive to light after that, so we made sure she wore her sunglasses all day every day.

Joseph helping Bill put the GPS unit in the nose cone.

Diana was an incredibly sweet and helpful girl. She appeared to have accepted her bunk in the trailer as her "safe place," which she called "Diana's little house," and that helped her calm down. Joseph and I both got to read and relax during the day and Joseph and Diana got to fly her kite a little bit when the wind picked up.

I took a spartan shower using the equivalent of probably half a gallon of water. It was awesome.

Wednesday

Happy Liam in his silly safari hat.

Because the nights were freezing and the trailer was cold, Joseph slept in the top bunk, Diana slept in the bottom bunk, and I snuggled with Liam in the convertible bed/dining area. It turns out babies are TERRIBLE bunk mates. Liam snuffled and wiggled all night long. I don't know how co-sleeping moms don't lose their minds. Thanks to juggling two active kids, not sleeping, not exercising, and being trapped in a small, messy trailer nursing all day, I was a wreck. Joseph watched the kids while I took a 20 minute bike ride out into the desert. It was exactly what I needed. It was completely and absolutely still and quiet. It's amazing and calming to be pressed upon by utter silence all around you. I could only hear myself breathe. Absolutely incredible.

Thursday

The only positive thing about Thursday may have been that Joseph's dad and two youngest brothers arrived. This was their first time out to Black Rock and his entire family has such great attitudes, it's fun to share things with them. 

Our part of the camp. Bill's RV, our trailer, Diana's bike.

Thursday was mostly notable for being one of the worst nights for sleep in my life. Earlier that evening, the water pump had stopped working, but we figured we'd just look into it in the morning. Diana woke up crying around midnight. We spent about an hour sweetly telling her to go back to sleep, giving her hugs, ordering her to be quiet and stop screaming, etc. Nothing worked. Meanwhile, Joseph was dehydrated and had a splitting headache and felt sick. Once Diana had finally gone back to sleep, a loud beeping alarm started going off. It was the propane gas detector. We couldn't smell gas, so we deliberated sleepily for a while. We were both tired and felt sick, which made us worry that there really was gas. I noticed the alarm light was blinking red and green, a code that meant it needed the battery changed. So I pulled the detector off the wall and found- batteries? No. Two wires going into the wall. How are we supposed to change the batteries IF THERE AREN'T ANY? I called Joseph down from his bunk, and by that point he was fed up with life and anything that got in the way of sleep. He became angrier at that stupid blinking machine than I've probably ever seen him. He's got a pretty even keel. He tried prying the detector apart with two butter knives and when that failed, smashing it into oblivion with a flashlight. Diana very happily watched the whole thing and thought it was great fun. Ultimately, Joseph ended up cutting one of the wires. He went straight back to bed and after I settled Diana in, I noticed the fridge had an alert light blinking. I HATE dealing with people who are already feeling grumpy, but I decided it was better to wake him than have all our food go bad halfway through our trip. When he turned on the light to investigate the fridge, it was very weak. Somehow we'd been unplugged from the RV and our batteries were dying. We turned everything off and went to bed. I couldn't sleep for worrying about everything. It got so cold in my half of the trailer that I moved myself and Liam into Diana's half bunk where I got no sleep thanks to worry, having a child on either side of me, and having my feet hang off the bed in the freezing cold. In addition, Diana didn't take her afternoon nap. Oy.

Friday

Joseph helping Bill assemble his Patriot rocket.

Some small dust storms brought lost of dust into the trailer and camp, but everyone slept pretty well. (Thank goodness!) Thanks to lots of encouragement, help, and sometimes hassling by Joseph, Matt and Thomas, Bill launched his Patriot rocket which was dedicated to his parents who had passed away earlier this year. Unfortunately, it arced shortly after takeoff, the fins and fin section blew off, and it exploded and tumbled to the ground. At least it got up! 

Diana didn't take an afternoon nap and was a handful all day, but we were both a little crazy from mostly being in the trailer. 

Joseph, Matt, and Sean carrying Patriot out to the high-powered pad.

There were high clouds in the evening, so it was hard to see if the 'chutes opened on the rockets or if they were coming in ballistic. In addition, there happened to be a handful whose chutes didn't open, but no one could tell where they were coming down. Did the threat of being pinned to the desert floor by a wayward ballistic rocket stop anyone from launching? Of course not! That made dinner exciting.

I had a shower. It rocked.

Saturday

Diana hanging out while Daddy worked on rockets.

Another truly terrible night. Shortly after Joseph and I went to bed, Diana started coughing and screaming. We let it subside, but when it started again, we found she'd thrown up most of her dinner all over her bed, PJs and blankets. Meanwhile, Liam was bellowing because it was time to eat. One screaming, still-coughing and drooling toddler, one bellowing infant, a small, dark trailer, the smell of vomit, and mom trying to clean and calm both while dad changes the bed was surely the depths of the parenting experience. After Diana calmed down, we found she was breathing very fast and with a lot of effort because her lungs were full of rattly junk. (She'd had bronchitis earlier in the year.) We didn't know if it was an allergic reaction or an illness of some kind, so we gave her a half dose of Benadryl. She seemed in good spirits, so we weren't too worried, but we knew from her bronchitis episode that she could change very quickly. She coughed some more junk up so hard that she threw up again. Her breathing was still so fast and labored that we were afraid we'd have to drive her to a hospital in Reno or Life Flight her out of the dessert. Joseph boiled some water to turn the whole trailer into a humidifier (it was 2:30 AM by then) and I took her up to the steamy top bunk to sleep with me. After some initial fussing, coughing and hard breathing, she fell asleep and by the time she woke up in the morning, she was back to normal. PRAISE GOD!

Despite getting FAA clearance to make the launch site a no-fly zone (for obvious reasons), in mid-morning shortly after a rocket launched, an F-15 flew in low overhead over the launching range, with another two circling around the playa from either side. We think they were just playing around, but it was still really cool! 

Some sporadic and some giant, towering, sun-obscuring dust storms and incredible wind blew through starting mid-morning. Good for Thomas's wind racer, bad for us since it was dust in her lungs that led to Diana's episode the previous night. The wind was probably around 20-25 mph.

Diana and Liam waiting in our trailer to see the rockets.

After a lot of work on everyone's part to get the last rocket ready, the range closed JUST after they got it out there. So frustrating!

Diana began to cry whenever she wet her diaper. I suspected the beginnings of a bladder infection. Just what we needed. We spent the rest of the day playing drinking games with her- rewarding her with mini marshmallows for drinking all the water in her cup, drinking out of a straw, drinking out of a big-girl cup, etc. to keep her hydrated, but we could only do so much.

Sunday

Diana and Uncle Abe watching rockets from the RV.

The hope was to get Bill's rocket launched first thing in the morning and head home by mid-morning. The launching range opened around 8 AM, but Bill didn't end up launching until around 10 AM. It went straight up. It was a beautiful flight. But no one could see a chute open up. His rocket was pretty enormous, so even though no one else seemed worried, I was slightly concerned about losing sight of it. A few seconds after we lost sight, there was a sound like a jet flying overhead, which was apparently a rocket segment breaking the sound barrier as it plummeted to earth after the chute failed to open properly. The men-folk managed to locate it, but the fin section had buried itself about four feet into the rock-hard playa floor. So that took a while to extract. We probably ended up leaving around noon. The long trip was a little tougher for the kids on the way back and we got home around 11 PM or midnight. We were all so exhausted, dirty and happy to be home!

Black Rock Desert playa 2012

Catching Up: Part I

I always do this with my diaries/journals, so I'm not sure why I thought I'd be able to consistently keep up with a blog. I guess I wasn't really thinking about it at all. Catch-up entries aren't all that bad. It means I've had time to filter out most of the unimportant things that seemed important at the time. Where to begin....

Pregnancy

At this point, I'm now 37 weeks pregnant. By the end of this week, baby will be considered full-term, thank goodness. I'm definitely ready to have my body back. (Yes, I've breastfed before. I know it technically won't be mine again until he's weaned.) Mostly I can't wait to be able to do normal things: bend over, walk, lift anything, throw a ball for the dog, have energy... Pregnancy is VERY uncomfortable by this point. This kid is very active, which always becomes uncomfortable when space gets tight. Contractions can be very strong. In fact, last night, they were six minutes apart and lasting a long time, but I decided to go to sleep to see if they'd last and they were gone by the morning. :P 

Baby has dropped, which means he bounces on arteries that cause the upper part of my legs to go numb at random times. I can literally be walking along and have my legs essentially fall asleep or feel like they're cramping up. Sometimes he also does something painful that feels like bouncing on my cervix. I don't know what it is exactly, but it makes it so that I have to stop where I am and just rest for a minute or two- something that doesn't always work well if I'm trying to run errands or do anything when my energetic toddler is involved. She has been very sweet about helping to pick things up off the floor and hold my hand and walk around very slowly with me. Our adolescent dog is not so patient. I feel bad- I WANT to play with her, but I waddle very slowly on our walks and I threw out my back slightly after one night of throwing her ball in the park. 

I feel like I've pulled probably every muscle that has to do with my pelvis or lower back. Actually, it feels like my pelvis is trying to detach from everything else (which is a major pain in the lower back and hips) and do its own thing. I feel compelled by a strong nesting instinct (oh, it's real, people) to start/finish a thousand house projects, but I don't have the strength or energy to do any of them. It's so frustrating. I feel useless and handicapped and huge and I just want this baby out! (To hold and cuddle and snuggle, of course. I still have some maternal feeling.) 

Diana

Our little girl grows up more every day! She can imitate just about every word we say, but sometimes she jumbles them up in adorable ways. If mommy needs a few minutes of time without Diana constantly scattering toys around or asking for "UP?!?" I put on the show "Kipper," or "Pikker" in Diana Speak. She often fingers the "pick" (clip) I have in my hair. She enjoys eating "Ogur" (yogurt). She will say "mess you!" when someone coughs or sneezes, she is very quick to point out when someone else makes an "uh oh! Mess!" She loves her dad and mom and "Nowa" (Nova). She does a happy stamping and twirling dance when she knows she's getting a snack or something she asked for. 

For some reason, clutching cheeks indicates happiness. One of the most endearing things she does is putting her hands on someone's cheek and telling them "hap-PY!" or randomly chanting "happy day!" It's so sweet and disarming when I'm frustrated or gloomy and she smiles into my face and tells me "happy day! happy day!" She is also very friendly to everyone and everything. She will wave and say "hi! hi!"  and then blow a kiss to anything you can think of: the moon in the sky, birds on the lawn, Nova, the train she hears in the distance, sheep in a field, characters in a book, etc. 

Diana has also begun to name things. Her special blanket is "Minky Blankie." The round stuffed giraffe she has is "Onk." Her bunny is "Hop-Hop." Her stuffed owl is "Howl." She probably has a host of other names for things, but Minky is definitely the most important. There can be no happiness in the world without Minky blankie. 

Diana has had eczema since she was four months old, and her skin is an ongoing battle, although as she grows older and grows out of some allergies, it has been slowly getting better. She has good weeks and bad weeks. The strangest things can set it off- like using anything with cocoa butter or introducing a new hand soap at home. Using dye- and fragrance-free laundry detergent helped, as did cutting out fabric softener. We experimented with dozens of soaps and lotions for her before finding that Aveeno's Eczema Therapy Moisturizing Cream and their Aveeno Baby Cleansing Therapy Moisturizing Wash were the only things that soothed her skin. The best thing we found was that by adding just a couple tablespoons of bleach to her bath, her skin (and occasional diaper rashes) could clear up overnight. I guess a lot of the redness was caused by bacteria on the skin naturally or that had been deposited there by her scratching. I discovered that I had to switch to a natural (Burt's Bees) body wash since she came in contact with my skin so often. I also had to stop using any lotion anyplace that wouldn't be covered by clothing (my arms, neck and face, usually). Consequently, I haven't used a facial moisturizer in like a year and I'd REALLY like to find one that works for both of us. 

Physically, Diana is so much more capable that sometimes it brings a tear to my eye. (I blame it on the hormones.) She loves playgrounds and sandboxes. She climbs up on couches and chairs and carries things around that should be way too big for her. She's sweet and very smart and still very much like her dad. Since she's over a year old, we've started on a catch-up schedule for the vaccines we thought were necessary. Unfortunately, since she's over a year old, she has a pretty good memory, and the doctor's office has become a sad place. Poor girl. 

Matt's Diet

Part of the reason this blog started in the first place! Again, Matt is the person most qualified to talk about this, but since he hasn't gotten around to writing a guest post, I guess I can write a bit of an update. After the initial Reboot diet, Matt went on and did his own exclusively juice diet for another month or two. He said he felt better than he had in a long time, and he was eating a great healthy diet (lacking only in protein and some fats and carbs), but Matt didn't actually lose weight on his juice diet. In fact, he gained it. At one point, Joseph's brother Kevin estimated that Matt was actually consuming 4,000-5,000 calories per day. No wonder he didn't lose weight! Since Matt really wanted to see results, especially if he was depriving himself of protein and caffeine, he was depressed and dismayed by his weight gain. So after talking it over with Joseph and Kevin, he decided to go on the Joseph Diet.

Joseph is a big and healthy man, but he has a stomach that may actually be smaller than mine, even when I'm not pregnant. He rarely goes back for seconds, or if he does, he usually regrets it later. Their thought was that if Matt could eat a healthy balanced diet that included protein, carbs, and limited amounts of caffeine but control his portion size by only eating exactly what Joseph ate, he might be able to lose weight and transition from a very sparse vegetarian diet to a more normal diet without swinging in the opposite direction toward giant portions of highly processed and greasy foods. 

Surprisingly, the Joseph diet did not work. Since we have a limited grocery budget, and we (by which I mean I) were suddenly feeding two grown men, we used meat very sparingly. I guess we ate more carbs and less meat than Matt was hoping for. He enjoyed eating meals that weren't vegetarian, but it still probably wasn't great weight-loss food. Also, despite my best efforts, Joseph never manages to eat breakfast and makes up for it by eating more at night or snacking on carbs (mostly chips) during the day, which I realize (though it is hard to convince him of) is NOT HEALTHY. I told Joseph that for his next diet venture, Matt should spend a couple months cooking for us, since I spent so much time making food for him and Joseph. ;) 

Matt's current eating plan is mostly just trying to eat a healthy, balanced diet on a budget, but he does love good and flavorful food. While he's not gaining weight, he's not really losing it either, and continues to flirt with the 300 lb mark despite working out very hard on a mostly regular basis. We'll see what works for him in the long run!

Everything Else

Family Trip to Mexico

We went on our first international family vacation with Diana to San Jose del Cabo in April. Joseph's friends really wanted to do a "guys' trip." Since we want to go on a big family vacation in the fall, and I suspected I'd need his help more in the last part of pregnancy, I suggested that the best time to go would be in early April. I've had lots of people tell me how generous and tolerant I was to let him go on a trip while I was 34 weeks pregnant and had a toddler. But I wasn't. I was just naive. If I'd had any idea how difficult that week would be, I would never have suggested he leave. It was a huge mistake. But he appreciated it, even though I felt each day like I was just fighting to survive with an energetic dog, an energetic toddler, and a baby using all my spare energy. :P He felt so guilty about leaving us that he arranged for Diana and I to fly down to meet him after his friends left so that we could spend a week together in Mexico as a family. One of my greatest fears with children has always been air travel, just because I know how loud, fussy, wiggly and bothersome kids can be. Did I mention Diana was going to be my "lap child" when I was 34 weeks pregnant and HAD NO LAP?? Luckily, the flying went much more smoothly than I anticipated. The novelty of travel was interesting enough to keep Diana entertained, and we flew down with my brother- and sister-in-law Kevin and Michelle and their baby, so we had help and company. Thanks to some fantastic company policies by Alaska Airlines, we actually had an open seat next to us on one leg and an entire row to ourselves on the longer leg, so Diana had room to play around. 

It was so much more relaxing in Mexico than at home, partly because I had help from Joey, who made up for the week before by watching Diana, cooking, and insisting that I take naps and read under umbrellas by the beach. Diana's skin cleared up in the sun and dry air and she loved wading and eventually being carried around in the pool. Overall we had a great time!

The Big Family Trip

Joseph and I love traveling internationally and we didn't want to stop just because we were having kids. In 2010 we went on a "Babymoon" (really an anniversary celebration) to Belgium, France, Switzerland and Germany and loved it. We wanted to go back and see more of Europe this fall, but it was going to be challenging with a 21-month-old toddler and a 3 month old baby. One of Joseph's younger sisters is studying German, so we invited her and another sister to come along with us. That way they can get to experience international travel and maybe help us with the kiddos a bit. We're very excited to plan out our trip, but really don't know exactly where we're going. It looks like it's cheapest to fly into Paris, and we'd love to see France again, so we'll probably come into Paris and swing through Strasbourg, but we're not sure where we should go in Germany. If anyone has any suggestions, we'd love to hear them!