The Beginning

This is a story not many of our Colorado friends know. Almost eight years ago, Chris and I came to Fort Collins on a rainy August weekend. It was one of those random cool summer weekends, not one of Colorado’s marquis “300 days of sunshine.” We flew using Airtran tickets I had won in a raffle, and stayed with a family friend who we had never met. In that weekend, we decided we would carry through with our plans to move to Fort Collins. Jeff, our gracious host, showed us around town (lunch at Avogadro’s Number and of course a stop at the New Belgium brewery) and helped us find a duplex to rent. Then Chris and I took our rental car up the Poudre River for a short hike.

“This is where we can be the people we were meant to be.”

I don’t remember if one of us actually said those words, but that was the sentiment of the weekend. The deal was sealed when we drove back to the airport. It was very early, and the sun was beginning to rise over the plains to our left as we headed down I-25. To our right, the moon was just ducking behind the mountains, which were slowly being illuminated by the sun. It was a magical scene – a typical glorious Colorado morning.

Two weeks later, we packed everything we owned into our cars (plus 8-linear feet we rented in a semi truck). Tiger came along too, to make sure the next 3 days were anything but quiet. We were leaving Georgia just after Hurricane Ivan made landfall, and hoping to get through Alabama and Mississippi before the storms hit. It was Labor Day, 2004. We had been married less than a year, and were ready to create a new and exciting life together. It took 2-1/2 days to get to Colorado. Tiger kept me entertained, after I learned that he was much happier choosing his own fate than locked in his carrier. Sometimes he ended up walking across my lap as I drove, but mostly dozed in the open carrier or on the floor in the backseat. We tried to let him walk around and go to the bathroom at a rest stop in Alabama (with some makeshift leash tied around his neck), but he was pissed to say the least, and I don’t think he peed once the whole trip. Chris was driving his little red truck with a small U-Haul attached to his truck (the bed of which was full with our 4 bikes).

Not many people know that we came to Colorado with no jobs and just a month-to-month lease, in case things didn’t work out. (Although Chris had some job prospects and I planned to apply for grad school once we established residency.) Within 3 weeks of being here, we climbed a fourteener (Harvard) and did a 16 mile “circumnavigation of Mount Wuh.” Chris found a job in his field, doing video production at Media Tech. I helped pay the bills with a housekeeping job at a nursing home (!). Then I got a job at Peleton Cycles – which helped escalate my interest in cycling into a full-fledged addiction J. We started going to a church that advertised free Wednesday night dinners (First Presbyterian), and met other young couples in a Bible study group (Matt and Beth were two of our first Colorado friends). Our Bible study started meeting at the Bean Cycle right after it opened. Eight months after our arrival, I found out I was accepted into the atmospheric science graduate program at CSU. We ended our month-to-month lease and bought a house. I guess the rest is history.

From the beginning we’ve lived in Fort Collins because it feels like it is where we should be, and not because of a job or school. So now the idea of leaving for a job feels kind of wrong, in some ways. When we were deciding where to move, one of the con’s for Fort Collins was that moving to Colorado seemed cliché. But whatever, it worked and became our home. Our lifestyle, our friends, the opportunities we’ve had (work, school, mission trips) – it is so intertwined with where we live. Heck, we even started a family in Colorado, something we never dreamed would happen (we figured we’d only stay a few years). Now Fort Collins feels like home, and it will be hard to leave. I’m writing this as I fly to Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, to consider a post-doc position there. Who knows what will happen next. I hope we can approach the next stage of our lives with the same excitement we had when we packed the cars up and headed west 7-1/2 years ago.

On Nursing

(Note: if reading a whole post about breastfeeding makes you uncomfortable, stop here :)

Before Emmaline was born, I really thought I would hate nursing. My goal was to nurse for 6 months, and then I figured I would be overjoyed to stop. Luckily things were different than I expected. Feeding her has been a privilege, and some of the tenderest moments of the past 6 months have been spent in the glider with her curled up against me. Now I think it is about to stop. I made it 6 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days J.

The thing about nursing is there are two different parts to it. One is actually physically feeding Emmaline, which I’ve enjoyed. Aside from the reasons above, it forced me to sit down and relax every few hours while I was home with her (although I would have rather slept in the middle of the night!). Sometimes I felt very refreshed afterwards. I learned which tv shows were on when Emmaline got hungry, and watched lots of “How I Met Your Mother” and “Friends”. It was also nice when we went out, because I knew that I was all she needed. Now we have to bring bottles and formula and who-knows-what-else.

The not so fun part of nursing was pumping. It is a drag. This is the main reason I’m giving it up. I must say, I am pretty psyched that my life is no longer divided into 3 hour increments. If you figure I was pumping up to 6 times per day sometimes, at least 20 minutes each time – I’ll now have more than 2 hours of new time for myself! Now I can afford to spend more time doing the things I enjoy, like exercising, sleeping, or playing with Emmaline. I will miss my podcasts though, which is how I made it through the work pumping sessions (two college football podcasts – the Dawgcast and Solid Verbal – and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me).

Considering I went back to work after 2 months, I’m pretty pleased to have made it another 4 months of nursing. Emmaline is growing well and is healthy, which is the most important thing. I definitely noticed a decline in milk as soon as I went back to work. It’s interesting how your hormones are all linked, because I also started having my cycle again at that time. Then it fell more right about the time I decided to set a defense date (I guess because of stress?). I started taking fenugreek and drinking more water, and that definitely helped. I also took over the nighttime feedings again (Chris had been giving her a bottle so I could sleep). The nail in the coffin for my supply though was AGU. It was such a busy meeting, finding time to pump was very hard. So Chris and I agreed to start giving Emmaline formula a few times a day. Ever since then, she’s had a mixture of milk and formula, and doesn’t seem to mind switching back and forth. Now that she is eating some real food, it’s a good time to switch to full formula.

I’ve managed to schlep my pump and breast milk to Palo Alto, San Francisco, Fort Lauderdale, and Atlanta. I’ve pumped on mini-vacations to Steamboat, Winter Park, and Breckenridge. I pumped mid-way through a hike with Chris, at about 10,000 feet in 35 degree weather with snow flurries falling. I’ve pumped at trailheads before and after mountain bike rides (and considered using my own milk after bonking only halfway through a 15 mile ride). I’ve been “busted” by mall security when I stopped to pump on the way to Breckenridge (apparently those big, empty parking lots have pretty high-res security cameras!). All in all, it’s been pretty entertaining. I think I will miss feeding her but am ready to move on to a new phase in our lives together.

Goodbye two thousand and eleven

It's a new year! 2011 was very different from previous years, like 2009 and 2010. Obviously the highlight of the year was Emmaline's birth. But what were some other highlights of 2011? ...

January: I went snowshoeing a couple of times. I love snowshoeing - the quiet of the mountains, the crunch of the snow underfoot, the gradual warming up as you exert yourself (even if it's cold outside), the delight of a warm thermos of tea, and knowing that you are in a wilderness that in many ways seems more true to itself than the hot and fair days of summer, and yet is also a little sleepy.

February: We started on our kitchen remodel. It took a lot of work, mostly on Chris' part. But now almost a year later, we are so happy with the finished product!

kitchen before

kitchen after (a little messy, but better!)

March: I celebrated my 31st birthday while at a meeting in Boulder. I stayed with my friends Michelle and Leigh, and I had the best burger ever (4 words: blue cheese, onion rings). I ran a 5K with my other preggo friend, Mollie, in 32:30, and then gave up running for the rest of the pregnancy!

April: Chris and I went on our "babymoon" to Colorado National Monument. I hiked, he trail ran, we rode our bikes 1 mile in a torrential downpour, we sat in the tent a lot, and ate a lot of chinese food. Also, Chris ran in his first half marathon. I got vengeance for all the post-race pictures he's taken of me, and he figured out just how not in the mood you are for photos after running 13 miles as fast as you can.

May: We started to get more excited about the baby after taking a birthing class!

June: One of my favorite outings was to Rocky Mountain National Park with our friend Nick. We drove up to an overlook at 10,000 ft. on Trail Ridge Rd and set up some easels. Many people were curious about our artwork, but were very confused when they looked over our shoulders and saw us painting tropical scenery in a paint-by-numbers. It was pretty funny, and a beautiful day in the mountains :)

July: Our lives were changed forever on July 5!

August: I will always remember our first family vacation to Steamboat Springs. It felt like paradise - a perfect mesh of our old (bikes) and new (Emmaline!) loves.

September: Chris did a solo backpacking trip in the southern Rawah Mountains.

October: My mom came to visit and we did a "zombie crawl" - dressed like the living dead, we went from bar to bar in Old Town and tried to revive ourselves with some spirits. It was a pretty silly night, and the only time you could just start moaning while walking down College, and hoards of people would join in. We also each had a chance to enjoy the fall colors - I went to Breckenridge with Mollie and Cindy of a weekend, and Chris went up to Rocky Mountain for a day.

November: We celebrated our first Thanksgiving with the newly expanding Harper/Biagi family. My brother, his wife, and their 14 month old daughter were in town for a week, and we had a great time. There was lots to be thankful for!

December: I returned to the running scene and ran a 5K in San Francisco in 27:00. It feels good to be active again! And, finally, after 6-1/2 years of work, I finished my PhD! I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I'm done - it feels strange. My mom and stepdad came out to help us celebrate, and since then Chris and I have been pretty lazy! Just enjoying each other's company and time with Emmaline.

I hope your year was full of fun and blessings, too! And may 2012 be even better!