Five year appt is great

So cute to watch K talk to the doctor and share her story on everything... her new friends, her school, listen to her heartbeat and pick out the stickers at the end. The doctor mentioned she was dressed very bright and beautifully! K beamed. 43 pounds and 44 inches... Last shot for public school kindergarten forms done!! Finally, can turn in my application.

3 nights... ok four!

Being gone ok for four nights if you count the red eye felt like a really long time this time... I missed the girls a lot!! K had a harder time as well and C well I am looking forward to our reunion tomorrow morning... Apparently she hasn't been as interested in her morning feeding.... hurrying home to cuddle and reconnect with the girlie girls! As always my rockstar husband kept everything together, Gma S kept K so T could get his golf round in and Gma C kept C happy and content...

Highlights... from one of my favorite cities in the world!
Walking, walking and more walking even in the pouring rain and 30 degree weather. Shopping, shopping window shopping and window shopping all over town..

An amazing upgrade after a really super on special rate at the Waldorf... A beautiful suite with two bathrooms, two man tvs... sorry T I never even turned them on...

Seeing Sarah Fergurson Duchess of York talk about women and equality in society. Seeing Geena Davis bring her daughter to the same event she was also a keynote at in the UN focused on women and the economy, in developing countries and how to grant them equality...

New York City Ballet with Pmogi

Great coffee at Ground Support in SoHo and even better conversation with Pmogi

Great ambiance very just ok food at Tao with Pmogi

Yummy greek food at Gazala Place in hells kitchen.

Vezzo Yummy pizza! Went with my boss and had a mushroom and white truffle oil pizza with an amazing beet salad.

Yummy panna cotta and sangria at Salute and great conversation with my awesome boss

I am going to be on a salad diet for the next three weeks after all my yummy meals. It was well worth it and lots of fun!

Of course bringing home presents for the girls and loads of milk... Got to love the fact you can pump and restock the freezer upon the return.

Never say it...

I had to say it last night... wow seems like C is sleeping well... this is great... And well we all know what happened next... C woke up crying and I just assuming it was 6 and time to nurse stumbled out of bed to get her... luckily I looked at the clock and saw it was actually 2:50... realized it was for her to work out...

After a few minutes of fussing T decided to go and look at her and saw she was sitting up... so he set her back down... after a few minutes everything settled down... an hour later she let out another shriek.... lately she shrieks and not cries as K and her often shriek at one another.. they love the noise and conversation... we are all less thrilled... anyway so I went and peeked and she was sitting up again.. Set her down again with a binky and all quieted a few minutes later...

Looks like we have entered that stage of figuring out how to get up and sit from a laying down position... the piece we haven't figured out... how to lie down after sitting up... especially in the middle of the night.

Another favorite position the runner stance... you know the one right at the start line of a race... yes you can catch her in that positiona lot! She like her sister thinks crawling is SO overrated and wants to start walking... like now... she fell on the floor yesterday as she also always tries to shake our hands of when she is walking... yesterday my reflexes were way too slow and so I lost her to the floor... she didn't seem bothered... K and I were in horror, but C seemed to be happy to be walking the way she really should... without help!

I learned my lesson though... no more conversation about her sleep when it is good... never again!

more pics!

Five teeth

C decided to celebrate the President's day weekend with five new teeth... One more on bottom and four on top... She is going to love food even more. Her spirits remained high despite all the teeth and loved family time...

We enjoyed bday parties, playdates and family activities... making the long weekend nice, although I am not sure how relaxing as a family can leave me so tired at the end of the time...

The highlight was definitely our celebration for Gma S & Pmogi in Santa Cruz who both have their bdays today... K was a little worried about sharing the bday spotlight, but she will be excited tonight when we are serving mango for Gma at dessert time... They are the two mango lovers!

Anyway our big celebration was great because of a few things... pmogi flew home for the weekend, the weather was great and we took a nice long beach walk... It must have been over two hours of walking and chatting as a family... C loved the sand on her toes, K learned to count the rings of a tree to determine the age and we all just hung out as a family... so nice!!!

Happy bday Gma S & Pmogi!!!!

Our beach girls... a nice day in Santa Cruz

K's prayer

K's new school has prayer time... which I am thrilled about and T is ok with... today she told me her prayer yesterday is that we get a new baby in the house... I told her those are the prayers you are careful with because you might just get them...

Other fascination right now Persephone... T told her the Greek myth about her living with Hades... she loves loves the story and demands he tell it to her all the time. He bought her a book on the Greek myths, but that is her favorite. Whenever I eat pomegranates she reminds me that I am going to go with Hades.

pics.. and more pics.

And the day is here

She is five today... K has been waiting for this day forever. I am sure she would tell you her whole life... (after all this is the age of great great drama)

Five years ago I would never ever have imagined how much love one little girl can provide... She is kind, stunningly beautiful, intelligent, inquisitive, sweet, outgoing and really really caring. Watching life through her eyes is a blessing, being her friend and playmate is a great moment that I will never forget and being her mom is rewarding and an incredible amount of work.

If someone would have told me I would love her even more once she became a big sister I would have said that is impossible, but it is true. Watching the two girls together has made me love K even more. She is so kind and sweet with C. She truly is a third parent even though we try to keep that role away from her... She advises her Gmas and us on what her little sister wants already being the voice her sister doesn't have yet. She squeals with delight when she sees C accomplish something new and yells us over in case we aren't watching. She is truly the doting big sister sharing her with strangers and friends alike. Look at my little sister... she is nine months and she does...

Going from two to three and now four has made me so grateful I have such a wonderful husband, best friend and partner to experience this with..I think back to the first weeks when K entered our lives and I think it may have been the best time of our marriage... We were so proud of what we had created together that we would fight over who got to push the stroller when we were out and about.. We are still just that proud. K has contributed to our family in so many ways in the five years we have had her we are thrilled to be her parents... and sad that time is going so fast. Yesterday I looked at T and said oh no... she will be leaving for college in 13 years. Somehow that seems way too fast for my liking.

Happy birthday K.. You are the best five year old in the world.

Tonight she requested we celebrate her bday with her favorite things... so we are eating at home... mac and cheese, eggs, asian pears and apples... followed by with vanilla ice cream and sprinkles. The sprinkles are the only color in our meal.

Our weekend get away..

As always Ojai didn't disappoint... great weather, yummy food, beautiful resort, beautiful room with lovely fireplace and lots of reading, walks and yoga! We appreciated the time, were reminded how lucky we were to have such great mom's and missed our girls a lot! In fact I almost packed them up with us the night before we left... Luckily I restrained and we had a very peaceful get away... The countdown is on till our return next January.

K enjoyed her playdates, her sleepovers at Gmas and made cards for us for our return. They were very sweet and beautiful.

And C waved to us this morning.. She started to wave. OMG!

Baby Jesus

At school K was recently shown an image of how the school believes Jesus to look as a man... K was in staunch disagreement... She said that is a grown man... and so can not be baby Jesus... After all he is just a baby...

The next question I was asked after having to explain that Jesus isn't a baby forever... why he isn't a girl...

The days of wanting to be an elf

K no longer wants to be an elf when she grows up. She feels she will be too tempted to take the toys from the kids that she would be giving toys to.. I thought she was making a good point..

Instead today she wants to be a painter!! I am loving all the career opportunities.

And yesterday was a harder school day.. I picked her up to find her in tears because she was missing mommy... So today I think I am taking her for ice cream or a jamba after school..

Lady gaga...

K caught the opening of the grammys with us the other night... Lady gaga really really impressed her... especially when she disappeared inthe fire... Last night she requested to watch lady gaga again... This girl has some trendy music taste. She recently informed me that fergie is not mommy music, but rather K music... Mariah however is mommy music. I know T would agree on that one..

This morning in typical four year old fashion K decided Swiper from Dora would be thrown in the fire by Lady Gaga... Didn't know that Lady gaga could be a super hero, but guess she is!!!

And yesterday when I picked her up from school... she said her day was great.. Today they are celebrating the 100th day of school so I was requested not to be late... Looks like the transition is going well. Hurrah!

9 mth appt

C is doing great... A wonderful appt as no shots were involved! Hurrah... 19 pounds and 29.5 inches... growing perfectly... smiley, happy and all in all perfect!

A few pics from the last few weeks...

And as the day continues

and as I am sitting at my laptop working I continue to worry if I made the right choice in changing schools... this email comes in...

D... Just wanted to let you know how well K...is adjusting! She’s sweet, verbal, outgoing and funny! We are all enjoying her thoroughly!J

And a tiny bit of relief sinks in that maybe she will survive the horrible transition that is a new school... Maybe!

First day

The first day went well of K's new school went well. T did the drop off and I picked up early... some trouble with food... nothing will compare to the amazing fare of Nelly's, lots of new friends, no nap - OMG and lots of learning... She seemed ok and overall very brave. Day two... This is harder than I thought. Just want her to be happy and we cried a bit about wanting a blanket at school... got it in the wash so it is ready for tomorrow, but once again another good drop off...



Back in midterms... one down, two to go! Yuck!!! But after that T and I are heading to Ojai for our yearly get away.. A shorter time this time with nursing, but still very exciting... And next week... the big day K turns 5.

K loved loved the party at Nelly's... It was so cute to see her with the cake, her friends and all her teachers. They did a great job sending her off! As a special treat we finally stopped by a new dog hotel that is on our way home from school..She said hello to all the dogs being picked up from daycare, some of the folks let her walk their dogs, lots of petting and cuddles. Thankfully no request for a dog... she showed off her cat with pics from the phone and quickly learned to ask if the dogs were hyper... if they were she ignored them all together.

C is so close to moving.. she drags herself around, but isn't offically crawling.. prefers the three limbed crawl and of course the rolling.. She is still such an amazing eater... if it is offered she loves it... lentils, pasta, fruits veggies... anything...

Milestones

Today is K's last day at Nelly's. A big deal for all of us as she really turned from a toddler into a little girl with their loving help... They have been a huge resource for us and a very reliable place for our little girl and us... But now she is too old and so it is time to move on. She starts in the kindergarten class at her new school on Monday. One of her old teachers will come over every weekend to help keep up the Spanish as we definitely don't want to lose her level of fluency. We need more tips... so send any other spanish ideas over! Talking about the new adventure on the way over she told me she was sad to leave Nelly's as she wouldn't see them and they loved her and that she was scared about the new school... especially if they don't know the kids bdays... Her fifth bday is over two weeks away.

C turned nine months today and had her first bites of yogurt and cheese. She preferred the cheese. Smart girl!

And her first tooth is in... bottom side... tears... I remember wondering if K would be beautiful when her teeth started to come in at 11 months... little did I realize she was going to be so stunning.

And we are back to the gym. Hurrah! A bit sore this morning as I am 5/5 this week... Gotta keep it up.. Have big shopping plans for my 30th parties... and our 10 year anniversary parties... and graduation parties... and the lists go on.

The start of Daily Candy today

read... "Ah, young love. When you were attached at the hip, lived for endless caresses, and wanted nothing more than to fall asleep in each other’s arms." Chloe in a nutshell. She cries every morning when K and I leave for school...

And have I mentioned that K may be the best big sister in town.. she is so caring, kind, thoughtful and sweet with C. Today K was running around screaming and I looked at C and said well what do you think C... she just looked at me and mimiced K... K was thrilled and played the game for 10 minutes. My ears didn't survive, but watching them laugh was pretty awesome.

Friday we continued our happy hour tour with Sundance with M&J... Lots of fun! Sat we had a bday party at Sab. which was great and Sunday we had brunch at our house with C, R, S & S... Lots of kiddie happiness especially as they got to watch some tv... T as always made amazing wonderful food... And of course errands and more errands.

My big question of the weekend was how can I spend the same amount at Costco that I would for a nice purse each month... what do I buy?

Back to rain, school, work, and hopefully the gym for the week!

A new school

We found a new school for K. She starts on the 1st... BOO! Very exciting.. the same day kindergarten apps are turned in... OMG! Who is this big girl we are calling our daughter?

The school looks awesome... so awesome that when K visited last week she asked if she could have her bday there... Since her bday is after she starts school... her wish will come true! Lucky girl.. They helped make the school look really cool as it was pajama day so everyone was in their pjs including their pjs. Also, they were pretending to fly on an airplane to Hawaii and getting their snack from the flight attendant. K is my girl so this thought really thrilled her! Anyway so she starts next Monday.. The big concern is how to keep up Spanish as it is an english school. ALL INPUT welcome! The plus it is five minutes from our house, great references and looks amazing.

And in equally exciting news we booked our first international trip this week for the four of us.. Japan bound for spring break! Can't wait. More input requested.