The Kite Festival on Random Photo Tuesday

Scott has a thing for kite-flying so we've been going to the kite festival for years... Technically there's the Art & Wind Festival in San Ramon (every May) and the Kite Festival in Berkeley (every July) but to me they're both Kite Festivals and we usually go to at least one of them every year. We went this weekend and it was fun, as usual, except that for some reason they didn't do the big candy drop. That's Amanda's favorite part. Because what's not to love about candy falling from the sky? WHY didn't they do the candy drop? I have no idea, but Amanda was wildly disappointed. Until we found the cotton candy.Last week Amanda asked me some question that prompted me to get out the journal I kept when I was pregnant with her. I ran across the entry below, in which I talk about the kite festival... and since this is my blog, I'm sharing it:

May 31, 2002

Dear Baby,

These last few weeks with you have been the most fun of all, I think. I can feel you moving around and kicking on a regular basis so I can worry less about you and instead, just revel at the wonder of you. Sometimes I sit in front of my computer at work grinning like a fool because I feel you flip-flopping around and I know that anyone who walks by and sees me might think I'm crazy. But who cares? How lucky am I, that for me, every day is "Bring your baby to work day."

I probably worry more than ever now though when I don't feel you move for a while. Your daddy and I went to the Art and Wind Festival on Monday. I spent much of the time thinking about how fun it will be when we can bring you in a couple of years. Maybe it was because we were walking through a sea of strollers, but I couldn't stop thinking about you...imagining you at the petting zoo playing with the goats, imagining getting you wired on your first cotton candy, imagining your daddy teaching you how to fly your first kite. We stopped for ice cream and then headed home, and it was then that I realized that I hadn't felt you move all day.

I remembered hearing that doing a lot of walking can lull the baby into deep sleep so I decided not to panic. But a few hours later I tried to gently wake you up by jostling my stomach and then I jumped up and down a few times, saying, "Hey Baby, it's time to wake up!" But nothing.

That night I must have woken up at least fifteen times relieved for a second that I'd finally felt you moving and then believing the next second that maybe I'd only dreamed it.

I woke up long before I was supposed to that next morning and didn't bother trying to fall back to sleep because I was so happy to feel you kicking at last. I jumped out of bed and your daddy asked, "Have you felt the baby kick?"

"Yep!" I was glad to know that he was worried about you too.

We've decided that if you're a girl we're going to name you Amanda. I hope you like it. I sent your grandma (my mom) an email saying that Amanda was one of my favorite names and she wrote back saying that my Grandma Nelson (your great-grandma) would have been thrilled for you to have that name because it was her mother's name. Then a few minutes later I got an email from your Grandpa Nelson (my dad), saying that Amanda is simply the best name in the world because it was the name of the Grandma he adored.

According to your Grandpa Nelson, your Great-Great Grandmother Amanda Larson Imsland was a wonderful grandma with a soft lap who gave gentle kisses.

All that enthusiasm sort of clinched it for me. I decided right then, that as long as your daddy didn't object, you would be named Amanda. But only if you're a girl, I promise!

Coming up with a boy's name is proving far more difficult. That and a middle name for Amanda are yet to be determined.

Last Friday night we went out for Mexican food with your Aunt Cara and we tossed around names for a while. Our favorite was Jake. What do you think of Jake?

I don't know. I like it because it's such a masculine name (which your daddy insists on!). I can already picture the girls swooning over Jake. But should it be "Jacob" and "Jake" for short? I'm really not as fond of the name Jacob.

Oh well, we'll figure it out. We still have a few months left to scour the name books. Unless you decide to come early, that is.

Monday morning at about 4am I must have woken up your daddy when I got up to go to the bathroom. When I came back to bed, we were talking and I told him that you were kicking like crazy.

Until then, he'd only felt some of your smaller, barely perceptible movements, so this time when he put his hand on my belly and felt you really bouncing around in there, he was shocked. He said, "Geez! What's it doing in there?!? I think it's trying to chew its way out."

That line struck me so funny that I couldn't stop laughing. I was trying to hold still so he could feel you kick some more but that only made it worse and I would laugh even harder. He was laughing too. I wonder if you were.

All along I'd imagined you as being perfectly content in there. Safe and secure without a care in the world. That's how my baby would be. But you're not just my baby, you've got your daddy's DNA too, and a baby of his may very well be bored out of his mind. Completely frustrated with the knowledge that he's missing out on all the excitement, and hatching a detailed escape plan.

I guess it's a good thing you don't have teeth, because if you did, you might be trying to chew your way out!

I love you, Baby!

Mommy

Now for your viewing pleasure, I pulled out some photos of us at kite festivals through the last few years. I'm sure I have a bunch more but these were the ones I was able to find easily.

2003, Amanda's first kite festival... chubby little thing, isn't she?
2005... I was pregnant with Alyssa in case you notice I was a chubby little thing:Before the candy drop:After the candy drop:
2006, Alyssa's first kite festival:
And finally, this year:

This last one is the scene that happened while we were unpacking the car. In the last few weeks, Amanda has started carrying this little red journal around with her and she stops frequently to write down whatever happens to be going on in her world. Of course I have absolutely no clue where she might have picked up such a habit but I LOVE IT. So maybe if she decides not to be a teacher or a massuese, she'll be a writer. Or she can be all three. That could work too.