Sunday walk into town and Sat pumpkin fun

Princesses, Pumpkins and Aurora!

K and I went to Disney on ice... The best part of the show for K was letting her pick out a Disney priced doll... She looked and looked and analyzed and analyzed what to buy... She bought Belle... and was completely sure of her choice... and when we got home we mentioned how Belle was such a careful choice etc.... until K looks at me and says well her name is Aurora. I really wanted Aurora but some other girl bought her so I picked Belle instead... So much for careful anaylsis... she thought there was only one of each doll and so now we are calling Belle Aurora Belle... The best part of the show for me.. having her sit on my lap for two hours.

We went to our friend's annnual pumpkin carving party... which was awesome as always... K ran around playing with another little girl screaming, laughing and shrieking... it was great... She also carved a pumpkin with many many faces... he is scaring everyone outside our front door.

And finally I tried to take K clothes shopping. She is so picky about what she wears that I decided to see if we could go together to get things that worked for her... totally not a hit... she picked out 20 shirts and was more focused on the pajamas, watches and accessories they sold... so I guess I am back to hoping I pick the right thing and it will get wear...

more pics

Another half

I ran my second half last weekend... I really enjoyed it... if only I had more time to train I think that I would have loved it. Regardless I did it and really enjoyed it and can't wait for more time to work out...

K is going through a tough sleep period and as a result is a bit grumpy... not sure what to do to break out of it, but just keep trying to get her to sleep so she will agree to eat and be up for being more of a helper. Maybe being a big sis is finally getting tiring...

C is eating and eating and eating. Someone at wf asked me what I was feeding her and if it was just home food because she is so large... She is almost 6 months... Hurrah for almost being halfway done with nursing... she is doing great!!!

Last night we had an awesome few minutes with K watching music videos on YouTube... She was really enjoying the music and we all really enjoyed a quiet family moment.

K made it

She did what she needed to and made it to mini stars 2... we are on the wait list for our favorite teacher and we are celebrating tomorrow night with a Mommy manicure... gotta love that she request I paint her nails with three different bottles of sparkly polish.... Other celebration finding a new leotard since her current one is getting too small... all suggestions of where to look would be awesome!

Who has time to eat

C has found that nursing really is tough to do when you are trying to watch the world... and you wouldn't believe all the things there are to watch in the world... lights, big sisters and well everything... This is a first for us as K was already on the bottle at this point as she thought nursing was overrated by three months and so my pump became my best friend. Now we have to figure out how to feed C when there are no distractions. Impossible when everything is distracting.

Today K's best friend S started at her school. Not only did they get to drive together they got to spend the day together. Both girls were soo excited. K was really worried that somehow she would be forgotten and finished breakfast in record time.

Last night she joined T at a Sharks game... this time she decided the game was just boring without the flying shark, mascot etc. but she did love staying up late...

October... first bites of food, smiles, tummy time and lots of family love!

C, K and life

C is loving her food... she is putting her hands in it, trying to grab the spoon and enjoying getting messy with the rice cereal. Her sleep has been good lately and that makes everyone really happy! K told me she was giving C an ice cream treat on Sunday morning because she didn't have any wake ups on Saturday night... I can't say enough how impressed I am by what a great big sis K has become. She has been rather sick off and on over the last few weeks and gotten three colds and one which turned into a double ear infection. Hoping she isn't sick most of the winter.

I am finishing a US tour and get to come home tonight. I went to DC for a great conference, saw pmogi who relocated there earlier this year and heading to NYC... As always it was wonderful despite the rainy Sat afternoon... Great sample sales, my first opera at Lincoln Center where I was lucky enough to sit in the fifth row, lots of walking and some yummy food and of course two visits to Magnolia. Now I am in Chicago for another conference and coming home tonight. Loads of milk to pray that gets through security.... and hurrah for less pumping over the next few days as I will be with baby C! Very exciting to be going home to hang with the family.

A's 30th, Napa, San Francisco all in all awesome!

the family...

The last weekend of summer

It felt like the last weekend of summer, especially since school started up again yesterday.

On Saturday K played with Gma for the day as T and I went with S & R for a golf shop day... The shopping was great... too many new shoes to share... C was a champ through the whole day and really did awesome. We had great sushi in LG at the end of the night before heading home.

Sunday we took K's friend M for a playdate in town. Lots of samples at the farmers market, a quick coffee and acorn collecting at the park. Very relaxing minus the managing three little ones in the market. K and T went swimming and T and I went on our first date in a while. We wandered through the Stanford campus before feeding my current addiction to creme fraiche a froyo shop in PA.

The sleep issues continue. No idea what is going on, but C is having a really hard time going to sleep at night and an even harder time staying asleep. We are getting up 3-5 times a night. Hating it... she is really growing though... pics to be downloaded very soon!

Drop off

This morning I dropped K at school... and watched in amazement as she was asked in Spanish what was written on the board. Calmly her response mama. And so the teacher kept writing... and as I stood there I watched her read mi mama mi ama... I almost wanted to cry.... I think that moment will remain up there with her first steps and her first word... yet the amazing thing... it was done with such nonchalance I was shocked... she just read a whole sentence!!! She has been reading words from books, but to see her read the words and be able to read the sentence right away... I was so impressed.

Chicago

On Thursday I headed to Chicago for a weekend with a friend from college.... It was so great... I wandered Michigan avenue for presents for K, went to the Art Institute, went to a art/wine walk and hit some fun neighborhoods, went on great walks, had awesome meals and went to a great yoga class... It was really nice to sleep through the night... great to catch up with my friend and even nicer that security let me bring back the 100 ounces of milk I pumped while I was away for the three days... We made a small dent in our freezer stash, but still can not have a power outage unless we consider buying a generator first.

T did great with the girls... The bummer K got sick on Sunday but she is back to school today! Phew... And our camera arrived so I can return to taking pics.

K loved all her presents, but definitely loved her tiara best of all...

Last night she told us I love all the people in the world, but I love my mommy and daddy best of all...

On Sunday

K burst into tears after we told her not to tug on C's arms because she needed to sleep... the reason why... she thinks she is not a great big sister. She told me she wants to be as good as a mommy. I was shocked ... over and over again we are touched by how wonderful she is with C and how caring she is... C is also starting to notice K and smile and really focus on her when K plays with her. Look at our big sis and awesome helper on the way in to town on sat. She is always so considerate and so thoughtful. It is funny to hear with the gmas. " Gma Sing to her while you carry C down the stairs". "Gma If she spits her binky out don't put it back in until she cries". After thanking her and reminding her of how proud I was I reminded her she still has to be her and not only worry about being a big sister...

summer fun continues

Sunday morning we headed up to the Academy again.. We finally went to the rain forest... which was really fun. Plus C loved the temp... just right for a girl who likes it hot. We ended with lunch and a visit to the tire swing in the Marina giving K the perfect city day... Sleep training day 3- 15 minutes of crying. Phew!

Monday we went to Finn's bday where K got to see the sippy cups... She was even called up to the front. And she did really well... I was so nervous watching her up there while one of the band members rode a unicycle and balanced on her head... She did great though... and consumed more sugar than good for a little one as she ate a cupcake and most of a lollipop until a fall while exploring. She had Sabrina over for dinner and crashed. C only cried for 20 minutes.

Can't wait for sleep training to end... the results so far have been great... much better sleep and no real demand for the binky at night.... fingers crossed it continues.

And now I must buy a new camera as I am missing every one of these moments.

Sleep training night two sorta

We put C to bed without binky tonight... We did it on Thursday -- an hour forty of crying.... (we did comfort and pat downs) last night we let her have binky ... not sure where our resolve went. Oh yes I know... too scared... afraid... actually panicked about putting a baby in bed without a binky knowing she loves one and knowing she will sleep with one... but when I got up at midnight to nurse her and got all ready only to learn she just needed her binky I remembered why we were doing the whole sleep training thing... and right of course it gives her better sleep... which she desperately needs given somedays she will take only three five minute naps for me and I really want to cry for a lot longer than 1 hour and forty minutes... Tonight was better - 30 minutes... No idea what tomorrow will be. Just hoping that it is better and she starts to sleep.

K had a great day or two. I picked her up early last night and we went to SBUX with Fi and And. We had to head off because K was so excited about the next affair... the train into town for dinner with our neighbors who have become good friends. We met the daddy's hung out and had fun. The part on the way back may have been her favorite ... bookstore and gelato. Perfection! Today we took the train back into town for coffee with Gma. We met a friend for lunch who was visiting from out of town and headed back home for a swim playdate... two plus hours in the pool! And the night ended with a sleepover at gmas... unfortunately no date night as poor t was sick and needed rest.

oh

C has her first cold. K was sick on Sat/Sun and now C is all stuffed up... She is in good spirits despite. Her four month check up... she is 27 inches, 15lbs 4 oz and very very active... Doctor thinks she looks like a crawler... unlike K who was completely unimpressed by the concept. We are to scale down on the binky, help her learn to self soothe at night and we are only a month away from rice cereal...

heat wave weekend

We really enjoyed the heat wave.... Friday night we had a yummy picnic at the park near town... Saturday we went to HMB.... had breakfast at our new favorite breakfast place, went to their local farmers market, found a really nice bookstore, and went to the beach... for hours. We walked on the beach, K dug holes and we looked for seashells... We finished at the Ritz for a late lunch... Both girls fell asleep at lunch... guess we showed them a great time. K fell asleep in my lap... so snuggly and talked to me about how long I will love her... Her thought today... Mommy, you will still love me in heaven.. My response oh yes I will love you a lot in heaven even though that is a LONG time away. Sunday we went to ride ponies, hold chickens, pet goats, pigs and ducks.... Found a local ice cream social and jumpy house to play in and ended the weekend with a baking adventure. K really enjoys cooking now so we baked... Unfortunately we were all more interested in baking and so now there are 20 sugar cookies to toss as noone ate them. The rasberry cobbler ... that is another thing as the calories, sugar and sat fat in that is verry low...

I need a new camera... taking all suggestions... Our is broken and we need to hurry and get pics of our little girl. We are leaning to another sony as we can use our old memory stick, batteries etc... but maybe we should take our superstar camera friend's advice and buy one of the canon's...

Four months...

C turns four months old tomorrow... She started to laugh this week. That crazy intoxicating giggling is just as good as I remember when K first started to laugh. Sleep has been horrible the last few weeks... at least for what C was doing... she looked like she was even starting to show signs of sleeping through the night... ie we were getting to 5 or even sometimes 6 before food... now that has all changed. I think some of it is our fault. C loves her binky... and shock uses it as a sleep transition tool... so now we are trying to figure out how to change this... and so we are brainstorming, researching and over analyzing... Even with the hours we are clocking in the rocking chair each night her smiles are making it worth it... however we know we aren't ever going to three... not sure how we could/would handle the work.

K is my doll... she is so sweet and so caring and sooo helpful. She may be the best big sis ever. She loves babies particularly c who she calls the "family baby." She reads her stories, helps grab things for me and mimics the mommy behaviors on all her dollies. I just saw one of her baby bottles on a coaster in our family room... Funny things she has said... "C is like an airplane they both make a lot of noise" "Can Santa live with us" and too many more to remember... her love of music is growing and now listens to music every night. Her swimming skills are improving... we were behind on this one..

And today is my last day of maternity leave. I am back in the office on Monday... luckily for awesome family we will keep C home until she is older... not sure until when but she is staying home for at least the winter while she continues to strengthen that immune system.

Almost all the things I hoped to do on maternity leave and all the places I hoped to visit didn't happen... so my while on maternity leave list is now a when I return to work list... but I did get quality time with C, some quality moments with K, painted our house, put in new carpet, got T a man tv, and some furniture to match... finished five classes and that's about it...

C continues to become a baby....

She is grasping her hands together, trying to put things in her mouth and smiles all the time...

summer evenings

Due to summer school we spent our evenings together.. Friday night A & I went out for dinner and caught up. T and I returned to a more normal workout schedule... two runs in three days! Sat T and I had our first date in months... thai food, frozen yogurt and time together in Palo Alto... On Sunday we went over to M&J with baby c... C loved all the baby toys they had... so tomorrow I plan to hit the stores and get her some toys... she needs more toys and clothes so it will be really nice. Gma C is in town so K is loving her time with GMA!

C loves to be outside.... loves it!

Today

This morning T served K breakfast before leaving for work... I was upstairs praying/dreaming of more sleep... I was checking in on K to make sure she had everything she needed...her response... just need company. of course I went down and pumped next to her while she avoided any attempts at eating... I swear she will learn to like eating one day.

One mega change... independent play... For the first time every she seems interested in playing by herself. She even picks up games and starts doing things.... all in all very positive to see... minor negative... giant messes everywhere from "playing."

Girl moment

Yesterday morning K and I left C with Daddy.... for some girlie time. We got on a conversation about what she wants to do when she grows up... here is her life plan as of yesterday... sure there is a new one today...

15 babies, all girls.
A pink convertible... the top will always be down. The babies will have to hold the umbrella when it rains.
She will be a doctor and never go on an airplane or in a car as she will stay at the hospital to take care of the babies. She will also be mommy's doctor, but that is it she really wants to be the doctor to you guessed it... babies.

We shared a smoothie and pop rocks... she sat on my lap while we had pop rocks and listened to the noises. It was sweet and fun.

She loves C she told me... except when she sleeps and cries. Her favorite time with C... playing... the playing is just beginning. C rolled over for the first time on Thursday. and have I mentioned she is getting to be too cute for words. pics soon.

Today I redeemed my bday gift from T... a day of spaing in Carmel at my favorite spa. As always heaven... so nice! Wandered the downtown and took in sunset at the beach... lovely!

Loving Daddy!

Cute comments

Mom, show C the moon... See look C your first moon. Isn't it beautiful?
Tell C I love her to the sun and clouds and back.
I love C more everyday she gets older.
K is so in love with baby C!

Another summer weekend

The summer weather is awesome. Having summer school take time away from summer weather and family time is tough... This is the tough part... I know the end will come, but not soon enough. Remember this feeling from my undergrad days... It came sooner but must be because of kids etc.

We had a great time at C, T & Fi's shower... K is loving the swimming especially with the overtop life vest she is in... She is getting more comfy with the water. The shower was fantastic, beautiful and awesome.

Pmogi, C and I went to the city on Fri... A nice treat with manis, pedis and some yummy food and great exploring.

Maternity leave is drawing to an end... not sure I am ready for it to be over. I have loved my days with C... Luckily actg and stats are also coming to an end as well. Can't wait for those to end.

Ready for an adventure. Dreaming of a warm beach with the family and no schoolwork.