Our Superstar

Now performing in a country near you, our little superstar Paden...

Oh yeah, just a reminder - he's 4.5 months old.

Time Flies!

Wow, we are amazed that we have a three month old baby! Paden is growing consistently and quickly and has passed 14 lbs already. A big boy for saying he came from Forrest and me. Seems like all the little boys we meet are very sturdy and thick, whereas the little girls are just hollow and light - a very nice change when I get to hold one!





Since we wrote last, we went to Idaho to see the majority of relatives. Paden went swimming for the first time and was a brave little soul - not one tear despite an intentional complete dunk. We had his aunt Dani and uncle Neal (both nurses) as well as Dr. Dad on standby for any incidents - but their services were not needed as Paden is a natural in the water.




We spent a lot of time with both sets of grandparents along with aunt Kristin and cousin Alexis (who had already visited us and met Paden). Paden met his Great-Grandma Leydet, Great aunts Jan and Joanne, aunt Dani and uncle Neal, and cousins Liam, Henry, Laura, Brooke, Elise, and Emily for the first time. He loved every minute of it! We picnicked on the Snake River with Nicole's family, caught a lot of sun and warmth, watched Forrest play in a tennis tournament, and took lots of great walks with Grandma.




















On the way back to Port Townsend, we spent Forrest's 33rd birthday with aunt Kristin and uncle Nome in Portland. Forrest's birthday was overshadowed by a memorable yet disappointing final match at Wimbledon in which his idol Roger Federer was overturned by Rafael Nadal in the longest men's Wimbledon final ever (nearly 5 hours of play plus another 2 hours of rain delays!)




We headed back to Port Townsend to settle in for the summer. Moving into a small studio just a few blocks from our clinic. We are working at the clinic on Fridays and trying to take in all the special moments with Paden. Just this past Friday, I laid Paden down for a nap at the clinic and when I heard him wake later, I went in to find he had rolled from his back to his stomach for the first time! I'm sure he didn't mean to be so sneaky, but come on - one day out of seven that I work and he has to choose that day for new tricks? It was also a Friday that he offered his first laugh - to my friend Julie. Much to my disappointment that I couldn't coax the first one. That was on his 2 month birthday July 11th as Julie will remember for the rest of her life. What caused the laugh is something I will never forget - Julie's commentary on Paden's private parts and the word "anteater" being repeated several times.




Settling back in to life in Port Townsend has been so easy. Such a great group of people here and Paden must feel like the center of the universe with all the love he gets everyday, everywhere we go. Today we came down to Portland again to see Kristin and Nome as well as Grandma and Papa who are up from Idaho. Paden will be three months old tomorrow and each day is truly a gift. We had so many reservations about becoming parents and they have receded to faint recollections now that we are in the midst of our new lives. We are in love and happy. Check back in a few weeks and we should have details of our next trip - Panama here we come!


Much Love,
Nicole, Forrest, and Baby Paden

One Month Old!

It has been such a special treat to introduce Paden to so many people at such a young age. His presence seems to brighten everyone's day and makes us realize what a unique time this is when people consistently comment on how long it has been since they saw such a young newborn. But here we are and Paden is already one month old. It is sad to announce his age in months rather than days - the time is flying by.

Forrest and I have always stated our preference for toddlers and older children above babies. We love the more interactive and curious nature and look forward to this time with Paden. In the meantime, we are loving him for his helpless little self. I think we have found this phase to be more enjoyable than we expected - as everyone has said "it's different when it's your own." Paden sleeps a lot and we can tell he is expending an incredible amount of energy just by growing his little body. Bath-time, which used to be a nightmare for both Paden and myself has become a happy occasion (thank God!).

We spent an afternoon at "Nana Val's" house to visit Val and Scott. Val has been instrumental in maintaining Paden's great personality and his health and vitality. She is a cranial-sacral therapist, and after such a long and intense labor, Paden was suffering with nightmares. Val came up to Victoria when Paden was only 3 days old to work on him (and me) and restore some of his organs and bones to their proper stations. This type of work also provides an emotional release for past traumatic events. He does amazingly well after treatments and is surely letting go of some unfortunate stresses early in his life.

We just finished a fantastic weekend with Forrest's immediate family, his parents visiting from Idaho and his sister and her husband from Portland. Papa Dale finally got Paden to take a pacifier with a little coaxing and Paden spent many comfortable hours in Grandma Barb's arms.

We have been asked many times about the origin of Paden's name. It comes from the 1985 movie "Silverado" and is the name of Kevin Kline's honorable character. We wanted a name that was unique, but not too unusual. We looked up meanings after we had chosen the name and found that Paden has roots in Old English ("path hill" and "fighting-man's estate") as well as Scottish ("royal"). But really it is just a cool name and we think it is perfect for Paden! FYI - "Silverado" is a fantastic movie if you haven't seen it. As an interesting side note, the morning we decided Paden's name was also the day we checked out of the hospital. When we turned on the television that evening to unwind, "Silverado" was playing!

After Paden was born, Forrest immediately got what he referred to as "Breast Envy". The ability of the mother to soothe baby with immediate and consistent results using her breastmilk. He remedied the situation by creating his own method of soothing that has been nearly as successful as the breast, at least for short periods. Watch this video!

Hoping that summer finds its way here soon! Love and Peace to you all and thanks for checking in on us!

Nicole, Forrest, and Paden

2 weeks into parenthood

Paden has surpassed his two week birthday and Forrest and I have survived thus far. I think we are pleasantly surprised at how we have eased into it, yet always cautious that the "easiness" may end at any moment. He continues to be a good eater, a good sleeper, and all around a joy for us to know.

I have taken to affectionately calling Paden "the little pisser" as he frequently catches Forrest off guard during diaper changes. I too have had my share - while at a nice Sunday brunch yesterday, Paden managed to pee all over my skirt and then proceeded to spit up down my shirt.

Here is a quick rundown of what we have been up to:

When Paden was six days old, we rested in Sax Pointe Park in Victoria, BC and watched the cruise ships come and go.

At nine days old we packed up and made the trip back to Port Townsend. Paden's first international travel - we didn't even have his birth certificate yet - just paperwork from the hospital for our little Canadian. Apparently, his baby blues did the trick on the homeland security agents and we were able to cross without issue.

Oh sweet sleep....you are precious to us.

On day thirteen, Forrest, Paden, and I went to the farmer's market and then Paden and I laid in the sun and watched Forrest play tennis for the first time in months!

On day fourteen we took a beautiful walk down to the beach at Fort Worden. We are house-sitting right across the street from the Fort which is a fantastic location for recreation. Paden and I met up with our best friends in PT - Pete and Jocelyn Davis. The Davis's have new grandbabies as well, including a little boy born just a week after Paden. We expect they will be fast friends in the future.

Baby Beck Arrives!

Well, it's 3:30AM on Thursday morning, is that close enough to the Wednesday update I promised? What an amazing few days we have had up here in beautiful Victoria, BC! We wanted to share Paden's birth story with everyone as well as some photos and video of his first days. He is an incredible baby boy and we can't wait for you to meet him. By the way, many people have asked, the pronunciation is Pay-den.

I finally went into labor at 11PM on Thursday May 8th. By about 4AM the contractions had strengthened enough to check in with our midwife Uta. She suggested a bath to ease the discomfort and I gladly obliged, knowing that I intended to labor primarily in the water.

Uta came by in the morning to check on me and had the unfortunate job of reporting that after 12 hours I had only dilated 2cm. During that time, my contractions were intense and between 60 and 140 seconds long, but anywhere from 3 to 8 minutes apart with no real pattern or progression. I kept working with the surges and tried to get some rest in between them as Uta explained I was in for a long early labor and dilation would be slow coming. At about 24 hours into it we decided to try some positions outside the confines of the tub, but after emerging from the water, I had a contraction that was over 5 minutes long and 12 minutes later another that was 4.5 minutes, both very debilitating. Forrest called Uta immediately and she came over to see the progress. Unfortunately, at this point she could only stretch my cervix to about 3cm. Uta stayed with us as we labored through Friday night. I say we, because the process for Forrest had to be incredibly exhausting. His physical and mental support was unwaivering and kept me going strong. My mom was also there offering support and nourishment throughout the process. She had all three of us girls naturally and knew my struggles from personal experience. Again, the contractions were generally 75 to 180 seconds long, but anywhere from 4 to 8 minutes apart and no real pattern or progression. In the morning (after 30 hours), we made the decision to transfer to the hospital. The plan was to continue to attempt birth vaginally, but under the aid of an epidural as fatigue was setting in. We thought that the pain management may help relax my cervix and allow the baby to get moving.

For those interested in the socialized medical system in Canada, Forrest and I have some real perspective. We checked in at 9AM for pain management and I got an epidural 12 hours later! Needless to say, I spent an unintended 12 hours laboring in the hospital, but I did get a drug-induced nap and at 6PM my water broke during a contraction. This was exciting, as I figured I must finally be making progress. But alas, my next check I was only dilated to 4cm.

Throughout the labor, all the medical professionals kept commenting on what a strong baby we had. To take such intense contractions for such a prolonged time and maintain a very steady heartrate was quite impressive. But after about 48 hours of labor there were a couple of instances of a slowed heartrate. Just after midnight at the beginning of Mother's Day, we were advised to undergo an urgent cesarean section. Forrest and I both knew in our hearts that it was the right thing to do for both me and the baby.

I'm sure everyone is wondering why this happened. A perfect pregnancy that ended so differently than we expected. We knew prior to delivery that the baby was turned "OP" or occiput posterior. This means his face was towards my front rather than by back which is the preferred birthing position. We had tried a series of chiropractic techniques to turn him weeks before delivery, but it was a tight fit when we started. Paden was also a large baby for me. At my last pre-natal appointment I had gained 16lbs and Paden weighed 8lbs 1oz at birth. He was 22in long and was even difficult for the surgeon to remove via cesarean. Uta said she has never seen one where they had to manipulate the ribs so much to get a baby out.

Paden Forrest Beck was born at 1:19AM on Sunday May 11, 2008. He was deemed "lazy" by the O.R. staff as they could not get him to cry. He was breathing and content, yet they wanted him to cry to make sure his lungs were clear. It turns out he is just one cool cat (or totally exhausted after 50 hours of labor). So easy-going, we got just what we ordered! It was so special to find out that my dad, sister, and niece arrived just minutes after I was transferred to the recovery room.

At four days old we hit a few milestones. Paden has already exceeded his birthweight and was up to 8lbs 2oz. He is a breast man for sure as he began nursing while I was in the recovery room and has taken his newfound profession very seriously. He has a determined and almost angry look on his face as he sucks. It is very funny. He also slept really well on day four and we look forward to more of the same! Today was a big day for me as Uta removed the staples from my incision and I went back to wearing some of my old clothing! Yeah!

We are so incredibly fortunate to be able to spend this time so present for each moment of our new lives together. It is an amazing experience to say the least and we are enjoying almost every minute of it (1AM to 4AM may be excluded). Please take a minute to enjoy the following photos in video form. He is an absolute joy and we can't wait for you to meet him!

Love and Peace to All!
Forrest, Nicole, and Paden

Las cataratas del Iguazú (Iguazú Falls)

Hola. This last leg of our trip around Argentina culminating in Iguazú Falls was completed about 4 weeks ago. So, this is a little late in getting posted. But, what an incredible area!
Iguazú National Park, a subtropical jungle, sits in a corner of Argentina that shares borders with Paraguay and Brazil. It is home to a variety of plants and animals, and after a dearth of animal sightings throughout our travels, it was nice to come across some wildlife. The park features more exotic animals like jaguars, ocelots, tapirs, anteaters, etc., however, we ran into the more garden variety.

The little guys in this video are called coatís, related to the raccoon. I saw several signs warning they would bite and to keep food away from them, but unfortunately not before we ran in to this cunning pack. You can see they are ferocious as all get out and one of them ended up latched on to Nicole’s leg. Apparently it thought it had a good chance at the 5 foot long red licorice rope dangling around her neck, but to no avail. No worries, I had my wits about me and whipped the licorice rope off Nicole, quickly doubled it for greater strength, and proceeded to beat the little critter mercilessly until it released its grip from her bloodied leg. Needless to say, I don’t know if we will venture on these dangerous trails again.

In all seriousness, we did manage to see a cayman (crocodile) sunning itself about 150 feet from the walkway over Iguazú river. The park is very easy to navigate with nice raised walkways minimizing impact on ground below. There is also a small train that carries people to different areas of the park- Upper Falls, Lower Falls, and close to the park entrance. This isn’t one of those parks where you see a lot of additional trails made by bored adventure lovers who don’t enjoy adhering to the conventional design. The jungle is very dense and it looks as if you could easily become disoriented within no time. With that said, a major attraction of the park layout for us is the proximity to the waterfalls themselves. Having both been to Niagara Falls and our own Shoshone Falls in Idaho, one can’t help but contrast the nanny state in action at these locations- signs of your imminent death, cables, glass, and most importantly the great distance from the main attraction. Iguazú truly is a visceral experience. No, they don’t throw caution to the wind, barriers are present. But, they do provide a courtside seat to a fantastic spectacle and assume people will make the decision to preserve their own lives when faced with the choice of jumping from 200+ feet.

To get a better sense of all of this I am including a number of photos lumped together of the waterfalls (there are a total of 275 cascades along 1.67 miles) and a video of Devil’s Throat, rather than narrate each one individually. Also, there is a very nice panoramic picture on Wikipedia’s site which gives you a better idea of the many waterfalls to see, click and scroll halfway down:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguaz%C3%BA_Falls.

Soaked, but still kicking and getting kicked.

We found this pretty bunch of bananas just outside our hotel. Did you know bananas come from the largest perennial herb in the world, not a tree as many imagine?

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading as always. We look forward to seeing you soon!

The Beauty of Bariloche

Hi Everyone!

So many sites to see and so much traveling has put us a bit behind on the blog updates! We spent about one week in Bariloche, Argentina over New Year's. San Carlos de Bariloche (as it is properly called), along with Villa Angostura, San Martin de los Andes, and El Bolson are a group of towns at the base of the Andes in the Patagonia region of Argentina. The area as a whole is an extremely scenic province, well known for its high concentration of mountain lakes.

We visited each of these towns on what is commonly called the "Seven Lakes Tour". We took the extended version (meaning dirt roads) of the trip and eventually lost count of the number of lakes seen in that one day. It was incredible to say the least. Each of the lakes was a beautiful blue and the crystal clear waters from the Andes seemed inviting on such hot days. Needless to say, just wetting my feet in the glacial runoff managed to cool me down. After about 100Km of dirt roads in the smallest (cheapest) rental car we could find, we decided that Baby Beck may make medical history as the first baby actually born with shaken baby syndrome! This tour was so remarkable it is hard to choose one or two photos so here is a short slideshow instead.

El Bolson was about the farthest south we ventured on our entire trip. It lies just past the 42nd parallel (equivilant to going as far North of the equator as Chicago). We drove a little south of the town to visit another lake, Lago Puelo and then to an incredible lookout properly named Cabeza del Indio (Indian's Head). This was a big hike for me at 5.5 months pregnant, but was so worth the effort! Look at the photo closely and you can see Lago Puelo in the far background at the base of the Andes.

More posts to come!

Nicole and Forrest

A lively slideshow for your enjoyment

More News and Views From Buenos Aires

Hola a todos,

Forrest here. I am going to take a turn and give you my perspective of some of the sights, sounds, and smells we have come across in BA. This posting will be more of a rambling rather than a chronological account. So, for those of you who enjoyed the polished post of Nicole's previously, I hope you won't be disappointed. Also, as requested we have included more pictures of us this time, too. This was originally intended for a late December posting. We are currently in the Mendoza province, not in Buenos Aires, so don't get confused.

We are still doing well here. My sister and her husband visited, allowing us to share some of our experiences. For example, as many of you know I am a big tennis fan. We were able to attend a couple of evening matches over the weekend of some professional players at the Argentina Cup which was a real treat. I've included a picture of Juan Monaco, a charismatic Argentinian, who went on to lose in the final to David Nalbandian.

In addition, Guillermo Vilas attended, he is a legend here in Argentina and a Tennis Hall of Fame inductee, winning many titles during his career in the 70s and 80s including the Australian, French, and US Opens. You can learn more about him here if you are interested. Okay, no more tennis for now.

We definitely stepped up the tourist activities while family was here, which has been a nice change in routine for us. We went to the San Telmo district, known for its resident artists, antique shops, tango halls, and the Sunday street fair centered around Plaza Dorrego. You can see in the pictures and video some of the samplings available. The musicians were a lot of fun to watch, and a few of the guitarists were quite good. This is one of the dirtier barrios in the city, in my opinion, with broken and missing tiles on the walkway common place, making for an adventurous outing when you add in the dog excrement the owners must have forgotten to pick up. But I digress.

On a similar theme of dirty barrios, La Boca is the other that probably takes the cake. It draws a lot of tourists for the soccer stadium of the Boca Juniors, as well as the colorful houses along Caminito street seen in the pictures. Other attractions include tango halls (we happened to see a couple of very good dancers the day we were out), some Italian restaurants/taverns, and the little port area that butts up against Caminito street. Nicole and I walked around quite a few of the streets off the beaten path for a couple of hours and needless to say it failed to spark an appetite despite no food for several hours.

As we all noted when we joined my sister and her husband following their tour of the Boca Junior stadium, a lot of neighborhoods that immediately surround sports stadiums in major cities are pretty sketchy, this being no exception. Aside from the slum-like conditions and lean-tos, the port that I mentioned previously looks and smells more like some of the initial holding ponds for wastewater treatment plants rather than a healthier ecosystem. The bacteria must be happy, though. I have included a picture of this as well. I hope this hasn't turned you off to visiting Buenos Aires, but all is not a bed of roses as you can see.

Moving onward and upward we had a very pleasant visit to Recoleta Cemetery. I have seen several cemeteries in different parts of the world and found this one to have a much different feel than the others, for the better. It is very clean, bright, has some trees in it, though mainly in the center of the cemetery, and of course some amazing monuments to the deceased. Here are some samples.

Taking a moment to discuss some of the restaurants and food, we have had our share of good and mediocre meals, with only a few downright bad. We have sampled traditional plates, to the Argentines takes on Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Asian Fusion, and other more gourmet dishes that we have grown to love in the Northwest. Again, the pictures may not do justice, but the taste was magnificent and makes me hungry. The photo below is Patagonian lamb.

Buenos Aires and Argentina are very interesting in many respects. On the one hand you can find a great variety of things, from food to clothing, sporting goods, electronics, etc. But, finding organic and natural foods has been a little more difficult than we anticipated. One barrio that was a surprise in its cleanliness, nice shops, architecture, and natural/organic food options was Belgrano. In search of a particular health food store/restaurant, we stumbled upon a beautiful and immense church that you can see below, called Inmaculada Concepción or more commonly La Redonda, the round one.

Venturing out of the city on a quick day trip, we took the ferry over to Colonia del Sacramento, the oldest town in Uruguay (pop. ~22,000), dating back to 1680. After a 60 minute ferry ride we landed and met up with our tour guide. The following experience was a little like being in a strange movie. Let me explain. With "extra" time on our hands since we arrived on the first ferry from Buenos Aires, we proceeded to a local farm.

On the one hand it was quite interesting, as they made all natural marmalades from fruit grown on their farm, even filling a niche out there for the greatly demanded onion marmalade. True, they made it. No, I imagine it's not a huge seller. On the other hand it was a little surprising. A larger building was converted to a museum for the owner's various collections, several of them holding Guinness Book Records including the largest pencil collection (8,000+), largest number of key chains (27,000+), largest matchbox collection (9.100+), etc. The woman who led us through the museum was the wife of the collector. She was very sweet and beaming with pride. Though certainly not for me, I could appreciate the effort that went into the collections. There were also items that I did find very interesting such as one of the first china sets made for a hotel in Colonia from the early 1900s. Also, various antiques were scattered around.

After a very quick and unsatisfying tour of the city via bus with our tour guide, we walked around on our own, looking at the old city gate and wooden drawbridge (1745), church, lighthouse, and plaza. Most of the buildings are quaint and in the image of Portuguese and Spanish architecture, while the streets are very irregular cobblestone. This helps keep your balance sharp, but doesn't make for a happy pregnant wife or family members when driving. After lunch, I rented a golf cart and we took off to a beach and visited the dilapidated bull ring. It was built in 1910 and only hosted eight fights before bullfighting was prohibited in 1912. There is a movement to restore the stadium for concerts and such. I'm sure it would be quite a nice venue.

After a sufficient amount of time in Colonia, we caught our return ferry to BA. Nicole and I are looking forward to going back to Uruguay in February when we will be in Punta del Este and Montevideo, the capital.

That about wraps things up for now. Thanks to my sister and her husband for making the trip down to Buenos Aires. We had a great time!

Thanks for reading.

Forrest