Mother's Day... mommys everywhere

Celebrating Daddy's bday last night... Daddy's request ...family, pizza and beer...

A ride in a little car

K loves loves little cars and convertibles... Yesterday A showed up to take K for a ride in her tt... K was thrilled... She got to sit in the front seat.. another huge victory for a girl who wishes she could sit up there now. And they went shopping... K came home with a twirly dress with rhinestones and tons of excitement for her non Mommy girl adventure.

CAN'T SLEEP!

We were in the middle of our feeding last night when K screamed out... CAN'T SLEEP! Couldn't agree more... two minutes later as Baby C continued to fuss K said "Don't forget about me. I can't sleep." Of course T and I rushed into her room independently to chat with her about the fact that Baby C can be a bit noisy, we would do our best and we were sorry we had bothered her. I was in tears laughing so hard about the can't sleep comments as we are back in diapers, nursing and middle of the night wake ups. However we are just thrilled. I am finding the sleep deprivation much easier to handle. Baby C is an incredibly easy baby (just jinxed myself...) and we are doing fantastic as we have a great eater and a great sleeper. She is only waking up once a night and having her in our room has made me feel much less tired. Her doctor's appointment yesterday shows she has already gained an inch since last week. We are still working on getting her up to her birth weight - not sure how since we are a great nursing team.

We are also incredibly impressed with K as she is in love with her little sis. She comes to check on us any time she hears fussing. She even turned off George and came up yesterday to see what was going on - a major tribute since tv is pretty limited and George is one of her favorite things to watch. She is bummed when she misses a poop and asks about the poops she missed during the day. We are so proud of her and have promised her a dinner out as soon as I am a bit more mobile.

It is great to have the confidence of having one baby behind us. We are much more mellow about everything. Knowing this is my last baby I am really enjoying all the cuddles and snuggling you get with such a tiny little one. T as always is being incredibly supportive and helpful with my recovery (which is much slower than I would have liked) and doing a gret job taking care of Baby C and keeping K in her routine. My mom has been fantastic with all sorts of food, coverage and just great support. And our friends are just great... so many friends have brought us great meals, coffees (critical to my happiness) and offers of help. We feel really lucky.

One week as four

The best gma ever... our saviour this last week!

K is in LOVE with her baby sister!!!

Baby C is here and we are IN LOVE!

Sunday market fun! and post gymnastics glow!

K decided she had to sleep with her old changing pad

K enjoying Santana Row

Nesting

Nesting is a horrible thing... Currently on my list of things to do tonight: organize stationary, rearrange ceramics in kitchen, arrange wine glasses in kitchen, finish washing linens, organize bath toys, K's toys downstairs, stuffed animals and the lists go on... Apparently you can also nest at work as my boss just sent out a soft apology note for all the emails I have sent in the last couple weeks. I think T will be thrilled to have me in the hospital while he hangs with K... No more requests or lists. Soon however you will be able to find all our candles in one cabinet organized by size, our bills filed in perfect order and our bookshelves in a perfect state.

The last weekend as 3

Sat morning Aunt J came down to hang with me and K.. She brought K a beautiful fairy who we have hanging next to our car seat as we drive around. We went to coffee - did more art, went to ballet and tap before going to Target where K ended up with a few summer outfits from Aunt J and us... I swear taking K to Target doubles my bill every time.

Sat afternoon I met two girlfriends. One for lunch and shopping and another for coffee. Both girls are undergrad friends and are in the process or have moved back making it a really nice girlie afternoon with many more planned adventures. Somehow I missed Pinkberry again... How can this be?

On Sunday we went for coffee and the market before I went out with Pmogi for shopping before going to my mom's for dinner... Lots of pre baby C adventures, but all great... And we continue to organize every corner of the house... Goodwill must love or hate us!

Baby C

After spending the last few weeks trying to convince Baby C she has her head in the wrong spot we have given up... Chiropractors, consultants with acupuncturists, walks, strange yoga and other poses yielded nothing, but a tired mommy. So we have booked the c section...

Baby C is scheduled to arrive next Wednesday by mid day.. We are all excited to meet this little one. Today for the first time ever K informed me she was tired of waiting and wanted to be a big sister already. She has her big sis shirt on again... She is ready. I am less ready and not too excited about the process that is ahead, but know I am soon on track to feeling better again which is exciting.

Last night K and I went out for a few errands as T was out. We ended up at REI for summer sandals for her... She had quite a fall the other night when we were out for a walk because she didn't have good summer running shoes on. She loved the store. Not only did I get her a helmet for the big girl bike which she is starting to enjoy more, I let her pick out shoes. The only rule... she had to be able to put them on by herself. She picked pink tevas with little hearts and spent the next 40 minutes climbing on this rock they have for people to test hiking boots testing her tevas. This morning when she woke up she immediately asked if we could just go hang out at REI so we can get on the rock. Time to get her out hiking - maybe we can return to our weekly hikes as soon as C arrives. We haven't done them since before K's arrival.

K continues to be so sweet. While we were out she asked if we could cuddle when we got home... This from a girl who hates being kissed. This morning she asked me if she could feed MoCa. Unfortunately she couldn't get the lid off the meat and so MoCa ended up on our table trying to get the can K left. She is really excited about becoming even more of a helper when C arrives. Let's see how long it lasts.

Loved the weather.

We loved the weather this weekend... Friday night we went to the park till 8:30.

Because of spring break there was no ballet Saturday morning and so K and I headed to Santana Row to meet a girlfriend for brunch. My girlfriend brought her cute little Pomeranian. K was in love and held the leash trying to convince the dog to drink water at every water bowl and fed him bread. We all had lunch at Left Bank (K was even more excited as she loves their mac and cheese). Somehow we all got a little side tracked by the shops (she is one of my many girlfriends who has moved back to the area as of late and also one of my favorite shopping partners - we have managed to have two shopping adventures in the last week alone).

Sat night T and I headed to LG to meet S&R for dinner... almost can have maguro again instead of the cucumber rolls I have been having for sushi when going out.

Sunday we met up with D&J for breakfast at their place where K wandered around finding lizards and lizard tails - it appears they were soaking up the sun as much as we were!

And finally we went to Babies R Us. After months of being afraid of the store (still am - not sure why those places overwhelm me so we got what we needed for the baby. A couple more runs next weekend and we should be set!!! So awesome!)

Sunday night we hosted M for a playdate. The girls ran around outside and played forever. Needless to say K was wiped from all the activity of the weekend and even slept till 7:15 this morning! Now that is exciting.

And a funny conversation on the way to school this morning.
"Mommy, shut up is a bad word right"
"Yes, K it is"
"But it is ok if we say please shut up"
"Umm actually that isn't ok why don't we say please be quiet instead"

Baby shower

So there is major nesting going on at our house... Everything is being cleaned out, reorganized or redone... Which is great because we have nothing but time.... Ok so maybe not, but we are still trying to set everything up for the baby. T even cleaned the windows which watching the masters this weekend... See everything is being organized.

On Monday my office threw a baby shower for me... It was really nice. Apparently they contacted T to see what I might want and he mentioned that I have been staring at this Pottery Barn bassinet. The one that costs about the same as a crib. I had decided that it was not a wise purchase and so tried to put it out of my head but the "this is the last baby I will have" thoughts kept coming back to me and I kept dreaming of THE bassinet. I know - completely illogical. Anyway everyone in the office suprised me with the beautiful bassinet... Fantastic.

The sweetest thing was that they got a gift for K... As they know she loves horses and pink they tried to find a cold pink horse. Instead they found a cute little dog and on the way out the salesperson found them a horse with a bit of pink ... So she ended up with two things - a pink horse and a pink dog that kisses. She loved the suprise and thought the bassinet was quite a boring gift... I am sure once we set up the bedding and she figures out how to put her dollies in there the gift will be much more interesting. I however am in love.

Easter

K and I had a great Easter weekend. Daddy had one more mancation planned coupled with the Masters (the same Masters I was supposed to have the house painted so he can get the man tv which I still don't have done - yuck) and so me and K hung together.

On Sat we went to ballet followed by two hours at the park... She was in heaven.

On Sunday we had a family breakfast out where she was treated to easter eggs . Me and K followed breakfast by a fantastic Easter egg hunt at Shoup Park in Los Altos where we met up with M and her family and some friends. They loved finding the eggs and playing in the stream afterwards.

The best breakfast ever

Ever since I have been pregnant T has been bringing me and K an apple or little snack in bed to help with nausea which comes on like a ton of bricks when I leave the bed. As of late the nausea has gotten so bad it wakes me in the middle of the night and I secretly dream of going downstairs to eat food. I even have had dreams of brownies and hot fudge sundaes - thank goodness we keep neither in our house, otherwise I would definitely be eating in the kitchen. Whoever thought I would be brought breakfast in bed every morning.

This morning I heard K waking up and moving around and expected her to come into our room as she does every morning. Instead I heard her chatting with MoCa and hanging out. Assuming that MoCa was upstairs I didn't think anything of it until I heard her come up to me and I opened my eyes...

K had gone downstairs, gotten a bowl and got an orange out of the fridge for us to share.... She proceeded to scream into the bathroom that Daddy didn't need to cut up an apple because she had already gotten us breakfast... I was beyond touched and definitely think that was the best orange I have ever had... She continued in her princess ways and got dressed by herself, went to school without needing to gather fifty things from the house and ran an errand with me on the way... I think I am more in love with her today than I was yesterday, if that is possible!

A 12 hour holiday

Last night we decided to take a 12 hour holiday.... We picked K up together after work and headed to Half Moon Bay for dinner at this little restaurant that is right on the water. We went over to the Ritz for dessert and came home. This morning my doctor's appointment was at 9am instead of our standard 7:45 appointments and so we continued our little holiday and went to Peets. A nice mid week adventure.

A few pics

The countdown is on!

I really see the light now... We are almost at the end of some of the toughest nine months we have had as a family... I guess I really needed to take some time and appreciate how important being healthy is.... And I so do... especially as I sat in class last night and plotted ways to steal another chair to sit in... Desks are not made for pregnant girls and for some reason none of my classes are in the new b school this quarter and I am stuck in an actual desk... Yuck! We are almost there!!!!

Since I didn't make an 09 resolution... it looks like I am carrying over my 08 resolution. A and I were randomly chosen again to run in the Nike women's marathon. Guess that BOB will be getting more use with Baby C while I am on maternity leave when I start to train. (I haven't worked out in quite while - embarrassing, but true!) If I completed the 1/2 completely sick last year I can only imagine how much better this year will be. Especially the day after.

The shower

The shower this weekend was loads of fun. The theme: Sugar and Spice Manhattan style was organized by my girlfriend A... Virgin cosmos, little brown bags as favors in honor of bloomie's shopping bags, loads of good food and really originial games.

K joined in on the shower... She loved decorating the onesies that were out for painting. They are rather cute, but two days later they are still wet due to the heavy painting. She also took photos of everyone and was thrilled to win first prize for the best onesie... The other highlight was Gma S's super present - a big sister shirt. She wore it for 24 hours. We got it off at bathtime last night, but she showed it to everyone. Her other favorite a chocolate egg from A to help her feel more comfy with the presents filled with Joseph Schmidt truffles - I already have to admit to stealing one.

Since most of the gifts were geared towards adults K won a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the local ice cream shop which she redeemed Saturday night. As I was freezing we went into the local coffee shop to sit. Apparently they have music on Saturday nights and so there was a band was setting up. K requested they sing Mary had a little lamb as she is only used to the artists at the farmers market. Unfortunately and not suprisingly they didn't play it for her, but we left before they had started to play. It was still really cute to see her ask.

An awesome shower, but what has been even more wonderful is having A back in the area. We have been lucky to be able to see each other almost everyday which is fantastic despite crazy schedules. It is great.

On Sunday we did our standard market coffee shop run before heading back home to continue the organizing of the house before the baby arrives. I think we will be at Goodwill daily for the next three weeks. K is getting so that she can walk all the way into town with only tiny breaks on the stroller. I think it is about 2 miles so we are rather impressed. Despite garage cleaning K and I also went for a walk last night where we made daisy necklaces... Lots of fun epecially with this great weather. And one of the nicest parts of the weekend... date night with my fantastic husband.

Loving Mommy's summer finds in Europe

I don't dream

K and I normally read books together in the morning for about 30 minutes before adventuring to start our day and the process of actually leaving the house... This morning she stated Mommy, I don't dream. In fact I never have dreams. (Yes she really did say in fact, just like she loves to say actually and perhaps in sentences).

She proceeded to spend ten minutes talking about her non existent dream of a fox. I am not sure how she has gotten so chatty, but in the last six months it has been hard to get a word in while she chats away.

Our weekend

We decided to meet T in the city after golf to enjoy the beautiful weather. We went to Cafe Balboa in the Marina for a really nice meal. After lunch we decided to take K over to the local fire station. They were really nice and let her explore the truck, try their gym out and ring the bell. She loved it. The weather was great and so we wandered the Marina, took her to the park and just explored. We also took her down the windy part of Lombard, which she loved. We tried to go to North Beach for dinner, but couldn't find parking so we took her home for the global light's out hour. She loved dinner by complete candle light and seemed to have a great day.

On Sunday we met up with Gma S for the farmers market. Gma bought K flowers and we all wandered to her house for lunch. Later in the evening Aunt J came over and we hung out, played cards and went out for sushi. Lots of fun.

K camping...

After we put her to bed Sunday night, T found K had made her own bed on the floor. She also decided she wasn't ready to stop playing Candyland and so set it up again.

Trip

The trip was really good although really busy.

London gave us a few days of sunshine allowing us to sit outside without coats. A rarity. We went to some neat exhibitions at the Royal Academy and National Portrait Gallery, met up with some of my friends from when I was a kid for really fun meals, shopped in Sloane Square and Covent Garden and just soaked up the weather. One day we ventured over to Oxford and explored the high street, visited the botanical gardens, wandered some of the colleges and just enjoyed the town.

Southern Spain was really great. We had a wonderful time at the Allahambra, exploring the Moorish quarters of Granada, had yummy food and most of all loved the spa hotel. The hotel was stunningly beautiful and the spa didn't let us down. We also went to Cordoba, where we visited the largest mosque in the Western world, Ronda and Maravella. Ronda is a beautiful town nestled in the mountains with great views... Maravella is less attractive and rather built up, but the weather didn't disappoint.

Now the countdown has begun for C's arrival...

A quiet weekend

With finals behind me we ended up spending the weekend at home relaxing and hanging out. It was really peaceful. On Fri night we went to dinner with M&J where we watched what happens when non parents sell food to get our girl to eat... The food Daddy provided looked unappealing, but when J sold it to her as bite size appetizers she ate everything. Marketing I tell you.

On Saturday we went to a fun 80's party although I can't say I looked the part. Getting dressed these days is a challenge let alone in costume... And on Sunday K got to go to M's for a play date while we hung out and went out for a late breakfast. I forgot that there can be a line for breakfast when you go at 11am. Sunday we also met up with S&R for dinner, making Gma S our super hero covering two nights in a row.

K has been really into the card games she received for her bday and so we played cards last night. When Daddy didn't win she ran over to him and said "Daddy, it's ok. It's not all about winning."

Being grounded

Spring break starts tomorrow afternoon. Needless to say I am thrilled.... Taking courses while feeling like this has only been possible because I have the best husband, daughter and mom in the world... They make life much easier.

MoCa seems to be bothered by the pillow and the large belly taking over the bed, but luckily she doesn't mind the extra petting she gets as I lay there awake in these last few weeks.

Today K told me I would feel better in this lifetime... Let's hope so as I only have seven weeks to go and realize the doctor was not quiet honest... You can feel gigantic, nauseous and full all at the same time. The rest of the symptoms that have developed... well not enough space on the blog for the list. I am getting the countdown calendar on the first of April!

In the meantime before being grounded I have decided on one more trip during spring break... That's right I couldn't convince my husband to come with me as no one has the travel bug the way I do, but he volunteered to cover the home front so I can go on one more adventure before being grounded... The doctor cleared the air travel and even gave me a note should I need it so that I can go. I am leaving for London later this week to meet my sister in law. After a couple days in London we are heading to the South of Spain for spas and shopping, I mean historical sights...

It should be fun... even though planes are not my favorite thing. I now understand the torture T experiences being jammed in a coach seat while I casually cross my legs and try and take as much of our row as possible...

K will beyond bummed to miss her Aunt on a trip... But since she tells most people my trips are for the sole purpose of buying her presents I think she will be ok with Daddy so that I can shop. Especially since Aunt S will send a few presents her way in my luggage knowing T's family.

K enjoying the packages from NYC shopping

K and Daddy!

Want to go to the moon?

Last night I took a break from working on finals to call home. Yes it is the nasty week of finals this week.... K answered and mentioned they had her and Daddy had all the lights off and were looking at the moon shadows. She said they had decided to ride in a rocket ship to go to the moon. Lucky I had good timing and rang as she said I could come to if I wanted.... Of course T immediately mentioned that of course I would go to the moon as after all it was another trip. So now we have decided we must travel to the moon in a rocket ship. Way to make my trip planning for 09 look rather lame!

This weekend

Hurrah I got out of a business trip this weekend and didn't end up having to travel... Instead we got to be together as a family!

On Friday night we returned to the creamery with Gma S... K remembered the place from the last time and still loved the barstools. It was really fun especially as we all hit the bookstore and took turns reading to her. Sat K had another bday party for Tre. where she got to play with balloons as swords and of course play with all the other big four year olds! We went to Los Gatos where she played jumprope with girls she met at the park and wandered around. It was really nice to be together.

Sat night Gma S covered for me and T so we could celebrate our 10 year anniversary of being a couple. 10 years of true bliss.... we are so lucky!

Sunday we headed up to the academy of sciences where we got to check out the planetarium and just enjoy being in the city. We hit Citizen Cake finally and shared a nice lunch there before heading back so I could go to an Indian dance performance with Gma S.

Lots of family time and just enjoying one another... Awesome!

Last weekend

On Fri A presented K with her bday present... K received her first Cabbage Patch doll. Dolores Vivian and K took their oaths to be a wonderful Mommy and daughter team Fri night at Gma S house where we all had dinner. Loads of fun... Dolores has a very clean diaper... I think that is the best part of the dolly in K's opinion. She keeps changing her.

Sat I had class for 12 hours... A cruel thing that should not be forced on anyone. K went to Fi's bday party with Daddy at Hidden Villa. Her favorite moments the chickens...

Sunday I had to fly to Texas for work and so thanks to wonderful Mom group friends, Gma S and Daddy K got to LG's Tinkerbell party. K loved it and especially loved the face painting. She took her stickers to gymnastics on Monday and shared them with everyone. Especially T our teacher who we LOVE!

T and K picked me up Tue night from the airport and we all went to Il Postale for dinner. It was awesome to be together as I had spent so much time back east and traveling for work recently. K kept giving me big hugs and kisses... These are normally hard to come by... The flight home was rather eventful as we had to make an emergency landing in El Paso due to mechanical issues. Luckily the airline fixed the plane in two hours and we even made it home that night, late but still that night. Definitely the first time K ever got to go out for dinner at 9:30 at night.