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.

Park picnic

We had a super quiet weekend... filled with way too many errands and study groups. The prep for finals has begun... Can't wait to not have class every night... hated it and afraid I have to do it again fall quarter.

However we did go out to Shoreline Park for a nice picnic lunch on Saturday with Gma S! Fabulous.... No wind, lots of smiles from both girls and really good picnic fare thanks to Daddy.

K is really interested in God. She keeps asking questions... very interesting. Hard to explain why she can't live in the sky with him, why she can't see him and why he is chosen the sky as the right place to live...

Her favorite part of this weekend.. sleepover at Gma S.

C has been eating all the time. Like every hour some days. Not sure how it is possible until I have to change her diapers. YUCK! Can't wait for that to end. Still two more years I know. She is also just like big sis and hates the car. She can cry for entire car rides and in fact she does..ahh nap ended for c. more later.

12 weeks

C is 12 weeks today.. She is trying so hard to laugh. Instead we get lots of smiles and heavy breathing... She is a great eater, sleeper (no not sleeping through the night yet) and is starting to get rid of that always cold thing she had for the first few months. Her naps are so much better if with a nap buddy. I napped with her for the first hour of her nap on Monday. She napped for five more hours by herself. Normally we can only get 15-20 naps during the day. The second baby still feels so much easier. It is great to have more confidence and be calm enough to try a variety of things without worrying if you are doing everything wrong.

Being parents to two while very busy is even getting better. When things meltdown someone has to wait and we are getting used to that concept. K continues to be such a great big sister. This morning when C peed while her diaper was off I took a tally of our room. I was pumping for the freezer supply, T was cleaning the pee and I looked over and K had gone over to where the changing pad covers are and was putting a new changing pad cover on. Pretty incredible to see no signs of jealousy and only too much enthusiasm from K. She still even goes up to babies around town to meet them. She told us last night at dinner that she can't wait to be a parent. After she asked us if we like being parents... of course we responded that we loved it!

This weekend was really nice. K had her first 1:1 swim lesson and it went really well. She seemed to enjoy it and will have a lesson every week. She is also just starting to identify words in books... We are working on reading as she seems open and interested in books. We also went up to SF with my mom and went to the Academy and the new Tut exhibition. We were rewarded with lovely lovely weather and even ran into a ben and jerrys free ice cream day. Yummy! We went over to D&Js's for a bbq. K loved it although both girls were tired it was amazing to be able to chat and catch up with two little ones in tow.

Gone are the infant days

Now there is a smiley little baby in our arms... She showed up quickly... We are so excited. She held her first toy yesterday. We were thrilled until we took the picture with K sitting next to here and C started to fuss. K was so upset that she told me she just wasn't happy with the picture because C wasn't smiling. Therefore she felt it was a bad picture.

K has taken her girly interests to a whole new level. She received some Barbie stickers from a friend and is carefully analyzing each sticker and where to put them. We had to put one of C's outfits between the stickers that were on her shirt and her seat belt today for fear of hurting the stickers. She is wearing headbands, rings and bracelets to school everyday. She wants to wear perfume and facial moisturizer... We have a full blown girl on our hands.

She is still a sweet sweet big sister. Today I was late getting out of the house because K turned on the swing music and rocked C in her car seat while singing her a song. When I turned the music off I was chastised for ruining the song... We turned the music on in the car to finish the song, but she was done... the moment was over just to prove how four she really is. However I am just so proud of what a great big sis she is.

No posts..

I have been horrible at posting...

why...
Reason 1statistics
Reason 2 accounting
Reason 3 management
3 classes in 6 weeks. I am dying.

Reason 4: Still adjusting to being a mommy to a newborn again... C is awake a lot more... now I am trying to figure out what all those crys mean. Is she hungry? sleepy? wanting stimulation and interaction? or just cold? Normally she is just cold... and always my big worry... will she pull a K on me and only drink from a bottle... This week we have had nursing wars... Not sure if she doesn't want to nurse with me or just is not hungry and I am offering her the wrong thing... Also, consuming our time exploding diapers. YUCK! and the best part about baby C... which is great... seeing her smile, cuddling with her, napping with her, watching her and K and just being around her.

Reason 5: trips... T and I have both done solo trips... some fun some not... being solo with two is intense.

Reason 6: just everyday life. Getting K to school is a challenge... nursing, pooping, feeding oh and maybe breakfast for mommy and what even a shower! Mornings are hectic.

Reason 7: work... trying to keep caught up while on leave and T keeps having to go to work... maybe he will take that paid family leave one day...

Overall though we are madly in love with our new family unit. We are so grateful for Gma S who saves us on a daily basis with food, coverage for both girls.... and just comes over to hang.

Today before 12 hours of studying we all went to breakfast as none of us had time to eat before leaving the house to meet a friend and so we went out. It was great to chat and be together. We are lucky and so happy. A few weeks ago we went to the beach... also great. If only we had more time for family outings. One more year of juggling everything before a more calm pace can begin. I can't wait.

So for now I am dreaming of a beach vacation where we all sleep and baby C sleeps through the night... ok enough of a random post. more later.