Couple time!

Off to Ojai... Thanks to the best Gmas in the world we are off for four days of couple time in Ojai at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa. This has been an awesome tradition to implement since having K.. Time to relax and enjoy being two. This trip is extra special as we know we are in for some sleepless nights in a few months and that life is going to change. In the meantime we are very appreciative that we are three soon to be four.

My first Spanish love letter

K has been mentioning that she wrote us a letter at school the last couple days. I didn't expect anything big until I opened the note and found she had written us this in Spanish....

To my love mama

To my love papa

What more do you need to melt your heart (especially when hormonal due to pregnancy).

Our first haircut

The other day N was cutting the kids hair and K really wanted to get her haircut. I have been trying to convince her to get a trim since the holidays, but she really really didn't want to. However as we know N's is an alternate world where wonderous things happen.... so after getting the ok from us, K got her haircut.

Last night she came over with a beautiful haircut... We are all excited.

LA

I spent a long weekend in LA helping A move back to the Bay Area. Very exciting.... After she moved away to go to college we have only gotten a few million hours of phone time, a couple weekends together every year and an epic Europe tour a couple years ago. Now she is back living here so loads of fun ahead. And loads of crazy papers. Last year she and I created the most perfect admissions essay for SCU. Since I had a paper due yesterday we spent part of the weekend editing what I am sure was a masterpiece. As T said when we mentioned we were editing my paper... he would need galoshes. Two English majors together can come up with some umm good writing. Especially at 2 in the morning and this time no wine was involved.

LA was nice and a bit warmer... We packed and organized, but still found time to go shopping in Old Town Pasadena, go to the spa for facials, pedicures and massages, multiple lattes and some really fun dinners. We checked out a really cool and trendy Mexican restaurant on Sat and had yummy Afghani food on Mon. Driving home was of course fun with loads of laughter and chatting. Lucky for me she also knows where all the clean bathrooms are between here and LA after ten years of driving the 5 so even a pregnant girl could make the journey.

K had a great weekend with Gma C and Daddy.

T and I had a date on Fri night and finally tried The Counter. Funnily enough we finished our date at Target and Whole Foods. Ok not quite a first date experience, but still fun.

S turned 4 this weekend so K spent the weekend with her playing at her house and our house. Back and forth the two went, which is fast becoming the theme of every free weekend moment. K had her first ice cream cake as that was S's bday request and was thrilled. Especially thrilled as they bought two cakes and left one with us.

The rain

If you are wondering why we lost our beautiful weather, it is because I got both my and T's cars washed on Tuesday. That's right now we know why all the dark clouds appeared on Wednesday.

In much brighter news, Gma C has just arrived for a month long visit and to be here for our girl's bday.... K is thrilled. The dynamic duo are happily reading books, playing with play doh, taking care of baby dolls and drawing pictures. Mommy and Daddy don't really even exist and so as is the way when Gma C is here we have returned to the back up staff, making dinners, cleaning up and staying out of the way so the two girls can have fun. K had to wait almost seven months for this visit as Gma C was in England and so the lovefest is in full swing.

The two girls sitting in clean laundry, while K tries to read to MoCa

Better start showing some pictures

K had a great time at A's bday party on Saturday although she was very reluctant about giving him the bow on the present. She tried to have me ask him about giving her the bow only if he was going to throw it away. The party was so much fun at Pump it Up with Daddy playing on the slides with her that the bow was completely forgotten.

T got an email about meeting Cat in the Hat at Pottery Barn Kids so we decided to take her and surprise her... She was pretty excited and now we won't have to talk about Mommy's spotting of Cat in the Hat in SoHo and how bummed we were that we missed it.



















We also met up with Tay for the market and park, but a big tragic owwie on our foot left us on Mommy's lap after the market and the flower exploration until the very end. Being out of the habit of the camera I missed on lots of photo opps, but got a few.

Bday party

Argh, the challenges of figuring out a bday party for K... We had booked the gymnastics studio, created the evite and set the date only to find out the teacher we wanted can't teach the course, which was a dealbreaker for our girl. So now we are looking for a new bday party idea. K wants to have her party at the coffee shop where we go on Sunday's before the market... We are looking for other ideas and having a bit of trouble although we would never complain about taking her to coffee for her bday. Her bday falls on a Tuesday this year which means work and class for me. I think we will take her out for breakfast before dropping her to school, but we still need that great party idea.

The coyotes

Over the last few weeks we have noticed that K has gotten up a couple times a week for fear of something or the other. My internet research suggests that this maybe in part because of her imagination or even a change in her life. Since there have been no changes in her life unless she has some anxiety with the baby coming, which doesn't appear to be the issue, we have been wondering what was going on. Last night after tucking her in to bed she had us come upstairs a couple times and after the you must go to bed conversation we heard her chattering for quite a while until finally it was quiet upstairs. T was heading upstairs while I did a couple little things downstairs only to call me up... K had set up a bed in the hallway and was fast asleep. I would have gotten a picture if I wasn't so worried I would wake her... She had brought a pillow, found a big blanket to cover herself and brought her blankie and was fast asleep in the middle of the hallway. Needless to say it was too cute, but we carried her off to bed, tucked her in and didn't hear from her till morning.

This morning when we asked her what happened she explained that she was worried coyotes were going to blow our house down. That three little piggy story has always troubled her. Once in London she had a horrible time napping with Gma C because she was so concened about the wolves that she swore were in the hotel hallway. Looks like we will have to keep working at helping her feel comfy at night.

K's empathy

Now that we are all getting back into the routines of no vacation days, work and school, Gma S was covering for me as I had an 8:30 class on Saturday... On Thursday and Friday K was going to the bathroom every fifteen minutes. On Saturday morning by the time I left for school she had already gone to the bathroom about eight times from 7-8am... So now I am getting concerned. What if she has an infection... So on my way to class I ring the advice nurse who suggests that K has to come in on Sat... Unfortunately I can't take any time from this course so I step out of class and ring K to tell her about the appt and let her know that she has to go to the doctor. For whatever reason she really didn't want to go. My bargaining while on the phone wasn't working so I called T who also rang to try to make her go... No luck.... Gma S (THE SUPERSTAR) decided to pull out the big guns.... a trip to the toy store if she went to the doctor... Of course K agreed and enjoyed the visit, the stickers and you guessed it the purchase of ANOTHER baby doll and comfy pajamas....

So what was the diagnosis.... nothing... that is right she is mimicing Mommy and my pregnancy. As a result K is going to the bathroom because of the baby in her tummy. Talk about major empathy from my girl.

The rest of the weekend was really peaceful. Playdates, dinners out and a date for me and T. We even made it through all our baby stuff and organized everything so we can prepare for C. K has already learned how to write C's name and I picked her up on Fri where she was working on writing her little sister's name. She has also started to talk to C by yelling into my tummy... Too cute... She keeps telling her she wants to see her and can't wait to meet her.

K's baby

Turns out we don't have one baby on the way... but rather two as K is also "pregnant" with her own little baby. Since we are having a girl she is having a boy and since we didn't pick Brooke the name she picked for the baby she has named her little boy Brooke.... Brooke is the name of one of the dollies she got at Target a year or so ago who she loves SO much. K has all the symptoms of pregnancy... frequent bathroom visits, tired, nausea, headaches and the list goes on. It is hilarious to hear her talk about her baby.

And now back to the real world

We went back to work/school today and my classes start tomorrow so the holiday is over... A little overwhelming to know that this is the last break for quite a while as we know adding the little one will be a lot of work. The time off was filled with lots of awesome family time. We did a lot of play dates, park trips, visits to the library, adventures around the area and clocked some time at home trying to organize. Lots left to do as there was no way to get our list done! I think we did burn through our list of things to do with K around the area though so clearly we need to expand our list.

K requested that we take one more day off today to stay home, but there is no way she was going to miss any more school. She flew out the door, opened the garage and buckled herself in this morning. It was just too much to be away for over three weeks.

home again

We rushed from the airport Monday morning to go to M's for a crafts and cookie decorating party. All the kids loved the decorating, the eating of cookies and made some super cute crafts! K and M were so excited to be together after being separated for two weeks that it took some poking to get them to join in with the planned activities. Sugar is a powerful tool though and we have some beautifully decorated cookies to eat tonight.

Yesterday me and K went out to get our first family tree. T and I have never done them for just the two of us and for the first few years we didn't know if K would really get it. This year Christmas is such a big deal there is no way we could skip it. Last night we put the tree up with the decorations we have received over the years and K is so excited... T and I even waited to have dinner till K was in bed so we could have a romantic picnic dinner with just tree light... I missed that glass of wine to totally enjoy the experience, but we still had a great time.

Now we are gearing up for some fun cooking and visiting with family for the next couple days while everyone is home from work etc. And lots of present wrapping late into the night so our girl can wake up to a stellar Christmas morning.

The last bit of Mexico

The 10 day trip to Mexico was fantastic. We perfected the perfect beach day with K and spent lots of great family time together. Our best dinner was on our last night outside the Cancun area. We went to this cool Thai restaraunt that was on the water. Guests got to sit in little huts or tables directly on the water and the server came out with your meals. The food was divine, the atmosphere was awesome and K was an open minded eater that night! Hurrah for small miracles.

The second hotel was a complete flop and so we spent most of our days there luckily only two laughing about the experience. It was in the middle of a jungle and so had beautiful scenery nonetheless. We got to go to Tulum and Coba and check out the ruins. Really really cool. K climbed 150 feet on stairs in Coba to get to the top and we were all rewarded with a spectacular view of the Yucatan Peninsula. The second best meal we had was a lunch in Mayakoba sp? where K got her only mac and cheese of the trip, I had the most incredible tacos and T had fantastic enchiladas with cilantro rice. Yummy. We also saw lots of cool reptiles including tons of iguanas, K spotted a chameleon, saw crocodiles, heard a snake or two and watched beautiful butterflies fly around.

Mexico

Heaven... The travel day was perfect with our rock star traveler. We got to our hotel and quickly tried to meet every kid from 2-5 so we can play.Suprisingly there are a couple of other families here and as T said we are a strong group enjoying our holiday experience to it's fullest. The hotel is decorated for xmas. Even the palm trees have lights around them.Beautiful!

The first night was a full moon and so the hotel set up bonfires on the beach. They set up multiple chairs and brought blankets for everyone so you could watch the moonlight illuminate the ocean. Stunning!

We have spent the last couple days on the beach, digging holes, searching for seashells, playing in the water and decorating sandcastles with our seashell finds. Every morning we start with a walk on the beach, go to an awesome breakfast, and hit the beach for the day. K has been a trooper and takes her nap on the beach allowing me and T to have two hours of coupley time to chat, have lattes and watch the green water. After the nap we clean up and grab dinner. The finals stress is starting to fade.

K has made friends with the hotel pianist and so they play the piano together at night. After dinner last night we got to watch the live band and dance since our naps are so great. K was wearing a twirly dress and we heard her for the first time ever ask to go to sleep after her ice cream from the dancing and dinner adventure. She was asleep in under 2 minutes from brushing so I think she is having an outstanding time.

Caroling!

Last night K and Daddy made me pizza for dinner with no onions the most evil food in the world (at least with this pregnancy). I can smell them from miles away! Our neighbor brought me a huge tupperware of one of my favorite dishes she makes all while I got to take a shower and relax.... I have the best family and friends in the world!!! Gma S called and came by to hang out and so we were all sitting down when the doorbell rang....

We opened it to find carolers from the local high school.... If only I grabbed my camera to catch K's face. It was classic!!!! We bought a cd featuring their xmas music and K requested as a special treat that she listen to it while she fell asleep. This morning 30 minutes after waking up she had figured out how to open the cd player in her room and brought the cd into our room and turned on the music. We are loving the holidays!

Counting down..

Lucky for all of us of K's weird flu bug was gone by Sat morning and we got to watch her ballet recital Saturday morning. Beyond cute... all that pinkness with princess wands, teddy bears and sweet little dances.. The whole group was a bit distracted, but watching them twirl around the room was loads of fun.

Saturday night T and I went up to SF to have dinner and go to a friend's bday at a fun club. They rented out the entire club and so we got to do some fun people watching. It was a nice way to hang out and spend time togetheras most of my weekend was spent studying for finals

And now the countdown has begun until our Mexico adventure. We are leaving Friday first thing for ten days of sunshine, ruin exploring and beach bumming... K is thrilled and because her school closes on the 19th of the month she is going to be home with us until the 5th of January. Lots of Mommy/daughter and family adventures coming our way.

A girl!!!!

Today we went for the ultrasound and were told we have a little girl on the way...

K despite being sick and throwing up this evening just told T "I told you so." She was telling people for weeks up until about a week ago that Mommy had a baby sister in her tummy. And she is right... I do!

The ultrasound prep was not without amusement especially as I drank the water at a lunch with 200 VCs. Crawling out of the Four Seasons and to PAMF was a memorable drive. And as it turns out things have changed since K and they sent me off to the bathroom so they could actually see something on the ultrasound... The baby didn't fully cooperate and so I have to go back because the three hour appointment failed to yield the full details.

pics, pics and more pics

A long weekend

K really enjoyed the long weekend... We went up to Sacramento for Thanksgiving day... Really nice especially as when we stopped for breakfast Gma S taught K how to blow bubbles with a straw... K thought that was just awesome! Pictures to come... Seeing all T's family was nice as always and K followed Gma C's sister around everywhere as they look similar... She is really missing her Gma! She loved playing soccer outside with the kids, getting all the cousins to read her stories and talking with everyone.

Friday and Saturday were just nice family days, doing some things around the house, making a dent on xmas shopping at some local shops for K while she was distracted by the other parent, going to the park to enjoy the weather and just being together. All lovely!

Sunday was definitely the big hurrah as we finally went to the Academy of Sciences. We got to watch the penguins feed, see the white alligator and check out their beautiful coral reef display. We saw the bugs 3d movie, but also left a little bit for the next few visits as we became members. Very exciting, the bummer of course was major major crowds. Yuck!

Afterwards we got to wander in the park and went over to the Cliff House for a beautiful lunch and beach time. K even played in the water as it was about 70. The night ended with Tay and her parents coming over for dinner. The girls giggled and giggled until finally being separated at 9:30 or so for bedtime.

And now the sprint to finals has officially begun.