Pictures from the beach

Pictures from the Sharks game

Candlelight dinners

When I was pregnant with K I made T have candlelight dinners with me pretty much every night... And so he obliged me by sitting chatting and catching up as we ate dinner... My thought was we would never have candlelight dinners again so why not have them every night even if we were just sitting in our sweats after working and going to the gym together.

Last night after gymnastics we sat down for dinner and K requested candles as she loves candlelit meals. We were all sitting at the table together (K is even sitting still and chatting - a rare moment) when I realized no candlelit dinners don't go away, they are just on pause for a bit. Now we had a beautiful little girl dining asking for candle light and it only took three years. The only difference is I didn't go to the gym, T did and we took her to gymnastics after meeting at home. And now we talk about dolls, scooters and eating candy.

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday. The doctor said that hopefully in another month I will feel better. Basically no relief in sight yet, either take the anti nausea/migraine medicine which T filled for me weeks ago that I am refusing or stick it out... So the migraines, nausea and lack of energy continue. The baby still looks really healthy and we are all still excited even though I am threatening to get a calendar out to start marking off the days till my due date. Especially as the Doctor also said I must return to the gym something I haven't done in weeks because I have had NO energy. Basically she told me I must force myself to go no matter what.... Maybe I will get that calendar out.

Sports and more sports

The whirlwind East Coast trip was freezing and crazy as I spent a day in DC, a day in NYC and a day in Boston. Luckily I got to spend some time in one of my favorite places, NYC for a little bit. And when I got home I had the cabbie drive me straight to meet T & K at Stanford women's volleyball Friday night. K loved the tree and the dollies (the cheer/dance group at Stanford) although she didn't understand why the dollies are being called babies by everyone. The dancing and the festivities were great, but she was rather distracted by the presents in Mommy's suitcase. We went for sushi with M&J afterwards where K consumed more edamame than the table combined and loved her late weekend night, which is getting to be quite a theme.

On Sat we went over to some friends for big game where K got to eat cupcakes after being forced to eat turkey burgers. The food battles continue... so hard to get her to eat... cupcakes make things a tiny bit easier. As I told T, luckily we went to women's volleyball on Fri night so we could see Stanford win a sporting event as the football was not quite the same. Pmogi was thrilled with CAL's win when I met her on Sunday. After the party we headed to a Sharks game where K although bothered by the noise loved the shark mascot and being up high watching everything. Especially since Gma S came with us and covered K's ears whenever the noise levels got too high. Gotta love Gmas! K didn't make the drive home and was so excited when she woke up Sunday to find she slept in her daytime clothes.


Sunday M & K hung with Daddy while he had the two girls solo flying around the market and the bookstore. I am so impressed he took on two three year olds solo! Especially as Mommy headed up to the city with Pmogi for a girls day in SF. P & I went to breakfast at Eat's (yummy fruit crepes) and wandered the Marina and Fillmore areas while the sun shone. We got mani/pedis and headed home when the weather turned... K immediately noticed my nails and demanded to know when I went to the spa. Luckily one of her presents included 4-6 bottles of glittery polish so we had a nice mani/pedi session before bed...

Hot, hot, hot

Gma S covered for me and T on Friday night letting us have a glorious date night followed by connecting with some friends for dessert... This time we didn't come home early and so K was sound asleep when we walked in the door...

Saturday we were going down to S&R's party when we realized there was no way to go down there and not hit the beach. After a requisite stop at Bad Ass for coffee (unfortunately I inadvertently gave mine to the seagulls) we went down to the beach where it was 90. The warmest NorCal beach day we have ever had. K loved it and had a great time and finally even put her toes in the freezing cold water... Just when we thought the outing couldn't get any better, an ice cream man came by and we bought her a pineapple fruit bar that was consumed in under five minutes. The beach was fantastic, but it was made better by an awesome party.

K was thrilled to follow R around for the night and a few times I noticed she almost was stepped on as she was shadowing him so closely. About 40 minutes into the party the power went out on the block because of a fallen tree. I think that made the party even better for K. She ran around with a flashlight chatting with everyone, eating, playing and finally collapsed in our arms at 10pm.

Another nice weekend. It was great to have some hot weather, but now I am missing the last heat wave. When I landed in DC last night the temp was 34. Yuck!

The simple pleasures

We are still happily working through our Halloween candy. K is having one piece a day and sometimes if we are really lucky two, as a result there are lots of candies left. This morning I watched her eat a piece after breakfast and watched the sheer pleasure of her enjoying the sugar. It was actually pretty incredible to see that one tiny Starburst can bring such joy to anyone. The quiet intense happiness that I watched as she had her candy treat was pretty neat to watch.

Watching I meant working with Daddy on a puzzle

What a weekend!

K's weekend started perfectly... Friday night we rushed home from school to open a package Mommy sent K from Nordstrom. Two winter twirly skirts. We have been swapping them all weekend but can't take them off. I think we will have to do laundry in the middle of the night when she is not wearing them... Gma S came over and played with K while T and I went out to dinner with S&R.

And on Saturday T took me to get a feel better present at the mall only to find Santa there already... and cookies and hot cocoa. K was thrilled... especially as we went out for dinner in downtown PA and afterwards took K to the Creamery for the first time. She probably thinks she found heaven. We got a couple scoops of ice cream and sat at the bar twirling on the chairs.... How great a restaraunt where you don't have to sit still and they only give you ice cream.

Sunday we went over the hill for our annual holiday photo shoot and met S&R for lunch. K was thrilled to be with both of them, but particularly R. She spent most of the time following him around well everywhere! After we split up we took K to Bad Ass coffee for some playtime as it is a very kid friendly coffee shop with a matted tumbly jumpy area before finally going off to the beach for the pics. K was a superstar and really loved the post photo play time at the beach. We finished what may have been one of the most perfect family days in quite a while at Ristorante Avanti, where K had her first three course kids meal... Who even knew they had prix fixe menus for kids, but K loved it and finished every bite. And who knew Mommy can order soup at every single restaraunt we dine at in an attempt to keep the food down. On the plus side since we ate out this weekend more than we typically do in a month this helped to keep the caloric intake down.

Our girl

At some point after we got home from school last night K turned to me and said Mommy, you know something, I am happy! Ok, insert loads of happiness and warm Mommy feelings when I heard that. I am wondering if the happiness has come from Mommy letting K have one piece of Halloween candy in the morning. We haven't taken the candy away yet so she happily counts it and recounts it and examines all her treasures every morning. She may be missing a few Snickers that I stole, but luckily she hasn't commented yet.

Yesterday in case anyone was wondering whether she was really my girl K looked at me and said "Mommy, my name is the same as Kate Spade" I had no idea she even knew what Kate Spade was (ok she is daughter, but still we never talk about the shop and I don't ever really even take her shopping)... So when she told T he asked what Kate Spade was.... Her response it is a shop and my name is the same! And since I only realized that when someone mentioned it recently I had no idea either.

You better go vote Daddy

T left the house early this morning to be at the polls before they opened. K was in bed chatting with me as he got ready and so he gave her a quick run down of voting and how important it was. K looked at him yelled Barack Obama right? and told him he had to get to the polls fast! For our early bird Daddy that is not a problem. Luckily K and I hung out in bed reading books for another 40 minutes before starting our day.

Last night when T and K were chatting about the President and who should become President K suggested Aunt Stephie would be best. When Tom suggested that was impossible K mentioned that well maybe Aunt Stephie and Cath could do it together.... All part of our daily conversations about our superstars Aunt Stephie and Cath.

Both batteries are now charged

I failed on photos this weekend. Either I forgot the camera or I forgot to check the battery status.... Horrible!

We still celebrated Halloween A LOT! K's school had a great party Friday afternoon which Daddy flew home just in time to make and we all went out trick or treating in the neighborhood before we scooped her up and took her home for more trick or treating at home. She ended the night riding bikes with S and pretty much collapsed in bed from all the festivities. On Sat we went to the Mom's group party where she continued to wear her costume as a pink ballerina kitty although by this time she was bored of the kitty mask... Definitely not bored of the twirly skirt and we finished Saturday with one final party where she got to dance and enjoy the music still in her twirly ballerina skirt until again we made her go home around 9:30. She is going to be sad that these parties are over and now no late Saturday bedtimes at least for a few weeks until the holiday parties begin.

Sunday T and I went out for a morning date. It was fabulous! We went to coffee, out for breakfast and even got a few little errands done. Amazing how much you can do when you don't need to balance on curbs, stop for sticks or rocks and can just get in the car quickly. It was lovely.... K spent the morning with M and I think she had more fun than we did. Impossible, but she definitely came home glowing...

And Sunday night I returned home from a long school group project to a fabulous home cooked dinner from my awesome husband leaving us time to build a fort in the living room. Most of the fun came from the remodels where we added chandeliers, extensions, higher roofs, baby highchairs and of course a chair for K... It was a really nice family evening and nice to have some quiet after lots of parties!