The GVZs

Go, Go, Go

2012-02-12T08:37:00.000-08:00

Louis' new trick is to shout GO, GO, GO when he cruises around on his car. It's been tough to get on video and this isn't the best but you'll get the general idea.

I would like...

2012-02-12T07:48:00.001-08:00

...to punch another parent in the face right now. I rarely feel this way. Unless you are doing something to endanger your kid I am basically eh, to each their own. This parenting gig is hard enough without other people telling you that you're doing it wrong.

Norah had her school Valentine's Day party on Friday. We made valentines for her friends. Cute, right?

Since she only goes a half-day on Fridays, I picked her up after lunch and then took her back at 3:00. I was one of about eight parents (roughly 50%) that were there for the party. It was cute and the kids seemed to have a good time having snacks and exchanging valentines. There was one little girl, S, who was not having a good time. That would be because she was face down on the table with dripping eyes, a dripping nose, a dripping mouth, and a cough that made her sound as though she should be in a tuberculosis ward. Fantastic, especially given the fact that I can pretty much guarantee Norah played with her all morning. For some reason, her teachers seemed to not notice the hacking or the fact that a lot of the other kids seemed to have picked up a bit of a cough as well. At one point one of the other moms said that she should have brought respiratory masks instead of baby carrots. S's mom picked her up as we were getting our stuff ready to leave and at least appeared to be unconcerned at her daughter's current state of being very, very sick.

I did my best to run interference between Norah and the afflicted, but sure as shit, by Saturday afternoon she had developed some major congestion and a raspy smoker's cough. At dinner she had such a bad coughing fit that her dinner ended up on her dress, the table, the floor, and in my hands (gross, right?) By 1:00 am she was at the side of my bed because she couldn't catch her breath due to the coughing and her sore throat. (BVZ was already in the guest bedroom, having been banished for Nyquil induced snoring). We were up from 1:00 to about 4:00 am, taking steam showers and sipping mugs of warm water with honey. I probably got a full cough to my face at least 73 times.

Look, I get it. Having a sick kid when you have to go to work is the worst. The school guidelines are that you have to keep your kid home for barfing, the runs, or a fever, but everything else is pretty much left to the discretion of the parents. When working full time I had the luxury of a flexible schedule and paid time off. That was essential because BVZ did not have a flexible schedule and it would have been incredibly difficult for him to stay home with a sick kid. Not impossible of course, but very difficult. With no family in the area at the time, our options were pretty limited. I can only speculate as to why this mom sent her kid to school so very sick. Maybe she's a single mom without anyone to help. Maybe she doesn't get paid if she doesn't work and the loss of even a single day makes a huge financial impact. If you keep your kid home you still have to pay the school, so it's a huge double whammy. Maybe she doesn't understand the basic concept of how quickly a virus can travel amongst pre-schoolers.

Regardless of her reasons, her actions now have far reaching consequences. I guarantee at least half of the kids in Norah's class are now as sick as she is. I guarantee that Louis will get sick too and likely get another ear infection, which means weeks of doctor visits, co-pays, forcing antibiotics down his throat, and many more sleepless nights. It also means that Reid will probably get sick as well, and who knows who else (I already have a scratchy throat). I am empathetic to anyone who feels caught between a rock and a hard place. Really, I am. I just hate that in this particular situation her problem has now become my very big, dripping, snotty problem.

(It would seem as though Norah has inherited my uncanny ability to close her eyes in just about every picture she's in).

Destruction

2012-02-11T14:52:00.001-08:00

Norah is feeling a little under the weather today so she was "taking a tub." Lou was pissed he wasn't allowed in. I had him in his room wrestled to the ground so that I could change his diaper. As I tried frantically to wipe up all the crap, he did a gymnastics move and flipped himself around. Of course he made a beeline for the tub where he proceeded to 1) stand up at the tub and pee, 2) attempt to fling himself in a good six inches of water, and 3) pull down the shower curtain and rod on top of himself. All within about 20 seconds.

Happy hour starts now.

By The Numbers (Take Two)

2012-02-10T08:18:00.000-08:00

When Louis was two months old I did this post comparing him to Norah as a newborn. Now that we are staring down the barrel of being a WHOLE YEAR OLD, I thought I would revisit the same topics and see how things have changed.

Weight: At her one year well baby visit Norah was a few ounces shy of 20 lbs. She has continued on that same curve and is about 33 lbs. right now. The last time we were at the doctor for an ear infection Lou weighed in at a few ounces shy of 20 lbs. He wasn't quite 11 months. My bet is that he is closer to 21 lbs. by his birthday. He eat a lot now and just feels heavier. That still puts him in the 10-20% for weight (boys and girls are on a different scale). He and Norah have the exact same body type and it is all attributable to BVZ. They are tall and skinny kids, which I hope means they will be tall and skinny adults. Neither have much body fat and there's not a cute baby pot belly in sight. I think it is interesting that they are virtually identical given that one was breastfed and the other formula fed.

Height: I have no idea how tall Lou is but people are continually surprised by his age (everyone assumes he's much older). It's his height and his massive amount of hair.

Sleep: There's absolutely no comparison. Louis had a few rough months around the time we moved to Texas, but he's back in a groove and is a great sleeper. He sleeps a ton, averaging 12 hours a night and 3 to 4 hours a day, split between 2 naps. He has a hard time with teething at night and still sometimes is woken up by gas, but I would say 90% of the time he is out the entire night. He's a GREAT napper, and literally just has to be given a hug and put in his crib. We didn't do anything radically different with him, rather employed many of the same techniques that failed with Norah. Some kids are just good sleepers no matter what you do. Some kids are just shitty sleepers no matter what you do.

Eating: Louis has found his stride with eating and eats a LOT these days. He is pretty picky though and often will outright reject what I have offered. Norah didn't eat a lot at any one time but wasn't super picky. She would eat a few bites of just about anything, but just a few bites (for those keeping track she's a great eater now and I have zero concerns about her). If Lou loves something (ie, quesadillas) he will eat a ton. If he doesn't love something (ie, any vegetable other than peas) you are out of luck getting him to even take a bite. Little does he know I am very persistent. He is fabulous with a straw cup and seems to like milk just fine (he gets a little with breakfast now). I plan to dump the bottles and formula completely the day after his birthday and I think he will be just fine.

Diapers: It's not even a contest. Louis is disgusting. He regularly pees through his diaper at night (we are working on this one), and his poop smells like the zoo. He's had more blow outs than I can count. The other day we were playing in his room and he started to poop and I could literally SEE IT smush out the back of his pants. It couldn't be any grosser. Norah was a basketful of roses in comparison.

Barf: Lou has grown out of the barfing, I think. Sometimes he will get a little food in the back of his throat and that will lead to coughing-gagging-barfing, but other than that he keeps it down.

Disposition: They are both really easy going. Louis is into EVERYTHING in a way I just don't remember with Norah. He throws stuff in the toilet, tries to pull down book cases, climbs in cabinets, and basically gets into 30 to 40 perilous situations a day. He is always on the move. Norah was very agile and curious, but I don't remember being so exhausted chasing after her. I could take a shower and leave her sitting on the bathroom floor with some books. I would never even consider doing that with Lou. If he didn't nap I would be a wreck. He is developing a quick temper when he doesn't get his way. He is great at independent play (so was Norah for the most part). I want to start getting him around other kids soon. Although he sees Reid most days out of the week, I do think he needs some more interaction with kids his age. Norah had our playgroup of course and I feel bad he doesn't have the same thing.

Motor Skills: Norah crawled at 6 months and walked right before her first birthday. Lou waited until 9 months to crawl. It will be interesting to see when he starts walking. He walks really well with assistance and cruises all over the place but hasn't seemed interested in taking independent steps yet. He will stand in one place on his own for a few seconds, but that's about it. He's pincher grasp is really good, as is his ability to throw a ball, pick up blocks, and manipulate toys. With the exception of ball throwing I remember Norah being very similar.

Misc.: Lou has WAY more hair. Lou is addicted to the pacifier (but only gets it at sleep time), Norah hated it. Lou is sick way more often than Norah ever was. Lou hates to take medicine, Norah couldn't get enough. Lou has 6 teeth. At this age, Norah only had two.

I tried to find pictures taken while they were as close in age as possible. Here I think Norah is 11 months, 1 week old and Lou is 11 months, 2 weeks old. Cute kids, if I do say so myself.

Up To Date

2012-02-07T16:11:00.001-08:00

I am not terribly organized about what we've been doing lately, so this is just a random assortment of pictures from my phone. I have quite a few work-related pots on the stove right now and my free time feels even more limited than usual.

Norah and I went to the Inner Space Caverns last weekend with my friend Joe. It was pretty cool, despite the fact that I am a little scared of caves (due entirely to the scariest movie ever made, The Descent). Norah was not scared and instead asked me to take pictures of her making scary faces.

We've been spending a lot of time at the Children's Museum. It's a miracle no one has contracted pink eye.

Lou is all about walking with his car. Norah will often hitch a ride.

Norah has never been a fan of bouncy/jump houses and is actually a little scared of them. We went to a birthday party a few weekends ago at a jump house place and out of nowhere she decided to go down the giant slides, bounce with other kids, and fling herself into this pit filled with foam blocks. I don't know what got into her, but I like it.

Louis loves these mega-blocks and insists on sitting IN the bucket at all times.

Norah got a haircut a few weeks ago. They washed her hair in the sink which she was totally not prepared for.

But then she got to sit in a pink jeep and watch a Barbie movie so it was all good.

Lou discovered how to get into the kitchen cabinets and has enjoyed the timeless art of pot banging. Today the boys made a two-man band.

We are doing a trial class with the kids at Little Gym. Unfortunately it is right at nap time. Despite the bad timing the boys seem to be into it. Lou gets to crawl everywhere and hang on bars. What's not to like.

They spent a good part of the class banging on the window.

A post-workout snack.

These two definitely have a love-hate relationship. They are starting to interact in a meaningful way, which includes a lot of face smacking, hair pulling, and body slamming. But then sometimes I catch them reaching for each other and holding hands. I like that part best.

This morning during breakfast Norah drew a picture of a mermaid. It totally looks like a mermaid! I thought the dark orange wings were arms but they are in fact ears.

I have been moussing Lou's hair for special occasions. I think it makes him look like the mean blonde kid from Harry Potter.

See that mark near his eye? That would be from falling face first into the train table. I suspect he'll have a bit of a shiner tomorrow. It was the first of 54 injuries that he inflicted upon himself today. I imagine it will only get worse before it gets better.

Norah reads to Lou all of the time. Sometimes the dog book, sometimes the dinosaur book, and this evening it was "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child." Oh, the irony.

Louis: Eleven Months Old

2012-01-29T21:00:00.000-08:00

It feels like Louis has become a brand new person in the last week or so. So much less of a baby and so much more of a big kid. Which is exciting and heartbreaking all at the same time. We have had a rough couple of weeks with snot and sickness, but he finally seems to be in the clear (at least for now). He has decided that formula is for babies and eating is the new thing to do. His current favorite foods are pancakes and avocado/cheese quesadillas. I've started giving him a tiny bit of real milk in a cup for breakfast and he is beside himself with joy. We have officially started the countdown to no more bottles. I can't wait.

Lou is a crawling, cruising and pulling up on everything in sight machine. I don't think that independent walking is imminent, thank goodness, because my nerves can't take it. We are definitely on 24/7 suicide watch. He manages to get himself in some kind of perilous situation every 30 seconds or so. We need to ramp up the baby proofing. Hell, we need to put him in a plastic bubble. His new thing is climbing. On everything.

He loves balls. And trains. And Norah's dress up magnet girls. And pretty much anything that Norah is playing with at any given time. We regularly refer to him as Lou-zilla as he is prone to destroy anything in his path. He loves textured books and beating on every surface as though it was a drum. He loves music and has a decent sense of rhythm for someone who isn't even a year old yet. He's a great dancer. He's a great snuggler.

He is obsessed with baths, specifically bubble ones. He took lots of warm soaks when he was sick and now just turning on the faucet will send him scurrying to the tub. He can't stand it when Norah's in the bath and he's not and will try to fling himself in with her. He says Mama and Dada in the proper context and I am pretty sure he can say ball. We're picking up on some of his receptive language development and he definitely understands requests like 'throw me the ball' and 'give me a hug.' He's in a total mom phase right now, which is awesome. He is a string bean and still hasn't hit the 20 pound mark yet (although he's really, really close). At least 2 pounds of that is hair.

He's a great sleeper with a few exceptions. He is still a really gassy kid and will often times wake up in pain. Nothing seems to work except letting him work out the gas himself, which usually involves snuggling on the couch and letting him watch a few minutes of late night television. Clearly, he is smarter than we are. His diapers are beyond disgusting and I have to pin him down with one elbow and a knee just to change his pants. He loves being outside, loves the stroller, loves the swings at the park.

He is walking all over the place holding on to his little car (he totally won't bend his knees), and demands to be pushed on it at least 47 times a day. His laugh is by far the greatest sound I have ever heard. Norah loves to be the one to go get him in the morning and after his nap. She tickles him through the slats of his crib and then climbs in with him until I go and get them out. She told me today it's one of her favorite parts of the day. He is beside himself with joy the second he sees her. (Then he pulls the crap out of her hair and she head butts him and they both cry until rescued.) He's more into books than ever before and stacks blocks like nobody's business. He's a cool customer.

Babyhood is slipping away faster than I thought it would. I am so excited to see what toddlerhood has in store for us.

Take a Moment

2012-01-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

Please take a moment to get to know my friend Kristy. She lives in Texas and is a teacher. She has two exceptional daughters, Juliana and Olivia. Her oldest daughter Juliana has Rett syndrome. Rett is a progressive, neurodevelopmental disorder. Rett is a cruel disease that has robbed Juliana of her mobility and her ability to speak. She is literally trapped in a body that does not work. Although Juliana continues to make amazing strides every single day, every one of those days is a struggle. A struggle that no person, especially a child, should ever have to endure.

Kristy and her family are very involved with the organization Girl Power 2 Cure a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness, funds for treatments and a cure for Rett Syndrome. A cure is possible. The research is promising and new therapies are on the horizon. Kristy and her husband (and their "dream team") work tirelessly to raise awareness about Rett and to raise money for the organization so essential to families living with Rett.

It's a cause that Kristy believes in so much that she's putting her legs on the line and running a half-marathon. For her daughter. For the thousands of girls just like her. Please support her. Every penny she raises goes to Girl Power and the fight to beat Rett. Make a donation, or leave a word of support, or just spread the word. Juliana deserves a voice. And a fighting chance.

I am writing myself a check for $15

2012-01-25T22:01:00.001-08:00

On Sunday Lou had a temp of 104. On Monday it was 102. On Tuesday he had no fever but was grumpy as hell. On Wednesday I worked all day and when I got home he was still grumpy as hell. I stripped him down to get him in the bath and little dude was covered front and back with a speckled red rash. Bam. Roseola. I am so confident my diagnosis is right on that I am happily paying myself the $15 co-pay that it would have cost for the pediatrician to tell us the exact same thing. Holla.

Got It

2012-01-23T17:29:00.000-08:00

Louis is an exceptional catch player. Well, I guess I really don't know if he's exceptional. I am comparing him to Norah who refused to play ball with me as a baby and is terrible at it to this day. I think Lou is an awesome ball player. He will play catch for 30 minutes at a time and his throw is surprisingly accurate. I was trying to get a video of it today and while it's not a great reflection of his abilities because he kept getting distracted, he says very clearly what sounds like "GOT IT" when asked "did you get it?"

Now, I doubt that's what he really said, but it totally sounds like it and that's good enough for me.

Drowning

2012-01-23T16:46:00.001-08:00

We are drowning in snot over here. Early last week Norah picked up one of her cootie colds at school and promptly passed the bug to her brother. Like clock work, two days later I took him in for what I was sure was another ear infection. I was correct, another double. Because this is his third in a short period of time he was put on a much stronger antibiotic. He seemed to get better over the course of the next couple of days; the snot stayed the same but his disposition definitely improved.

Then on Saturday he became a crying, cranky, whiny, snotty hot mess with a fever that hovered around the 101 mark. On Sunday the advice nurse advised us to go urgent care because it sounded like the antibiotic wasn't working. His ears looked pretty good though and the doctor was certain something else was causing the fever. Of course she had no idea what that thing might be. Thank you, $15 co-pay. Lou hung out with BVZ most of the day on Sunday watching football while Norah and I ran around doing errands and helping Bubby get old toys out of the attic. I have never been so glad of her hoarding as I was when I saw my old Sesame Street village yesterday.

When we got home about 6:00, BVZ told me that he had put Lou to bed because he "was burning up," but of course didn't think to check his temperature. I pulled him out of bed and sure enough, 104. We, and by we I mean I, woke up every four hours throughout the night to check on him and dose him with medication, which was very successful in bringing down his fever. He has been very sad and sick, not interested in toys or playing at all. This morning at about 11:00, he was back up to 102 even on Motrin, so the advice nurse advised us to bring him in (shocking). Another $15 co-pay, another report of fine looking ears and no real answer as to the fever other than "it must be viral."

Oh, and this particular antibiotic he is taking has to be refrigerated to remain stable. Someone-and I am not naming any names-left it out last night (okay, it was me), and so it had to be replaced this morning by the pharmacy. Of course our insurance company wouldn't pay for it, so that was another $54.

Things really turned around after his afternoon nap though, and appear to be looking up. He still has a bit of a low grade fever but acting much more like himself. I think I am going to stop calling the advice nurse. She keeps costing me $15.

In Norah news, this is the outfit she dressed herself in this morning. I don't monitor her getting dressed in the morning, basically I just tell her to go pick something out and get herself in it. I just have to tell her it has to be something with sleeves and she can't wear her fancy Christmas dress to school. She does a pretty good job putting it together. So good in fact, that unless I was there to witness it, I would wonder if she belonged to me at all.

Picture Palooza

2012-01-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

I finally downloaded all the pictures off my phone for the first time since before Christmas. In no particular order, these are the ones I thought were worth mentioning.

We gave Reid a toddler slide for his birthday but it arrived damaged and had to be sent back. When I went to an actual store to get him a new one (oh the horror of non-online shopping), I made an executive decision and got this inflatable race car/ball bit instead. The babies basically want to live full time in it.

There are a lot of great parks around here. This one has a duck pond.

Everything in this town is kid-centric. Especially the local mall where you will find a full-size carousel, train, and play area. I call this picture, "building their immune systems."

In the blink of an eye the baby became a kid. He crawls, cruises, talks, waves, points, and walks (with a lot of assistance).

She looks more and more like me every day, pointy chin and all.

We got a membership to the children's museum downtown. They have this great room where you can build a wheel and race it down a ramp.

Being Belle.

Lou's eating has improved tremendously. Unfortunately, Norah brought home a new crop of pre-school cooties last week, they both had a terrible cold, and Lou ended up with his THIRD double ear infection. The snot, combined with his inability to breathe, combined with the upset stomach he gets from the antibiotic, means he's back to eating like a bird.

Good thing he's a cute bird.

The kids received this wagon as a Christmas present from GG. It gets used daily.

The train table is still the biggest hit around here. It gets played with for hours and hours every day. It has replaced the coffee table in the living room. I should have know actual grown up furniture was too good to be true.

Norah likes to get in the crib with Lou after his naps. See the video monitor on the edge? Because it's a strangulation hazard we had the cord taped to the wall. Hulk Lou ripped it down during his nap one afternoon. So, I tripled taped it. He ripped that down. Needless to say monitor is now on the ground.

Garbage day never fails to impress these two.

Norah's new favorite thing is "floating" in the bathtub. I love it because it detangles her hair better than anything else I have tried.

Both kids are bath obsessed. Norah will often ask to "take a tub" in my bathroom while I get ready in the morning.

Look closely at the car and you will see Lou about to do a face plant in the ball pit.

Norah loves weddings. She likes to hear the story about when BVZ and I got married and she loves to look at the jewelry I wore and pet my dress (it's in the closest, still hasn't been cleaned and put away....) Last night she asked if she could try it on. For sure.

Whenever Norah is really missing Ruby she will wear her Tinkerbell pajamas. And then she will tell me, "send a message to Ruby's mom that Ruby should wear her Tink kajamas too so we won't be missing each other so much." Done and done.

Better Late Than Never

2012-01-14T18:05:00.000-08:00

Norah's school had a cute little holiday program a few weeks before Christmas. They all sang, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "Five Little Christmas Trees." Norah got to be the "number one Christmas tree" which apparently was a pretty big deal. According to the teacher, she got this honor because she was the only kid the teacher trusted to 1) actually sing, and 2) not cry and/or run away. She did great and even announced when her part was coming up. She told me that it starts off as a sad song (the trees don't have a home), but ends up as a happy song (the trees get to go home with a family). It's a win-win.

11 in 11

2012-01-10T12:36:00.000-08:00

I shamelessly stole this idea from my friend Suzy's blog....go through your photos from 2011 and choose your 11 favorites. It was damn near impossible. It's not that we have a ton of great photos, in reality the good majority from the year are from my iphone. But there are a ton of memories. A zillion trips to the beach. A billion play dates with friends. Tons of cousin hugs. Museums, adventures, excursions, and family visits. And then there are the boring Tuesday afternoons. Some really awesome, boring Tuesday afternoons.

In no particular order, these are the ones that tug at my heart strings the most:

1. Everyone told us this was a good time to move because the kids wouldn't be too attached to the place they were leaving. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Norah has the very best friend a three-year-old could ever ask for. I fully expect Ruby to spend a week with us every summer when she's in high school.

2. This was after the moving van left, right before we left to spend the night in a hotel our last night in California. It was incredibly bittersweet. It was a house that could not contain us any longer, but it was our first house together. The house our babies came home to. The house we first called a home. It didn't have enough bathrooms, but I loved it just the same.

3. This is so representative of Louis's first few months. An adoring big sister. And a whole lot of barf.

4. This was the very first time that Norah held her baby brother. (Thanks Suzy, for the great photo). She visited on the day he was born but didn't want to hold him. The next day she did. And she hasn't stopped wanting to hold him since.

5. This is my all time favorite photo of Norah and Louis together. They are such great and happy kids. They both have fabulous hair and beautiful blue eyes. I love them more than I thought was possible (hokey, but true).

6. I never thought I would throw my kid a fairy themed party for her birthday. But, I did, and it is quite possibly one of my favorite days of all times. It was pure magic. I love the joy and wonder in her eyes. That day she knew anything was possible.

7. I sure hope they will always be this content in each other's company.

8. Louis is so lucky. He has a forever playmate. A best friend for life. Not just a cousin. More like a brother. A brosin.

9. Norah's birth was scary and stressful. I don't remember the first time I saw her and there are certainly no pictures of it. That has always made me tremendously sad, and I was determined not to let history repeat itself.

10. The kids have awesome big cousins. Megan and Trevor are so great with them and every single morning that Norah wakes us she asks, "do I get to see Megan and Trevor today?" Seriously. Every.single.morning. Norah will never have a sister. I don't even remotely feel bad about that because she has Megan. Even though there is a seven year age difference they are thick as thieves. It's the best of both worlds. Someone you adore who will never steal your clothes.

11. We are so lucky to live around family now. But, we still miss the family we left behind. These are forever friends, for me just as much as for Norah.

I probably have 2011 more that mean just as much, but that will have to do. Bring it, 2012.

2011: A Year In Review

2011-12-31T08:46:00.001-08:00

It's been a crazy year. CRAZY. Here's how it broke down:

January:
We frantically prepare for Funkhouser to join the fold. Norah earns her place as the easiest kid of all times to potty train and settles into her big girl room. I remember how horrible late pregnancy is. Norah starts, and loves, ballet. We spend a lot of time at the beach. BVZ comes to the realization that he is really unhappy and needs a new job.

February:
It rains, and rains, and rains some more. Norah jumps in a lot of puddles. We spend as much time as possible doing fun things with her. This includes seeing the tragically bad, "Gnomeo and Juliet." I suffer from late pregnancy anxiety attacks and come down with a terrible head cold and case of bronchitis the day after going on maternity leave. Bubby arrives and takes over. Louis GVZ is born via scheduled c-section and is every bit as awesome as we expected him to be. Norah is in love.

March:
I spend four horrific nights in the hospital and have a difficult recovery from the c-section. Louis is diagnosed with a tongue tie and has it clipped once. Louis comes home and Norah bakes a birthday cake for Bear. Four separate professionals advise against clipping Lou's tongue any further, despite his inability to latch and successfully nurse. I pump. Then I get mastitis. We get an amazingly awesome king sized bed. BVZ takes four weeks of paternity leave and takes care of me and Louis. Bubby is a godsend and takes care of Norah. Norah turns out to be an amazing big sister, just as we expected. I have never been so happy to have such good friends. G.G. visits Norah and meets Lou before undergoing hip replacement surgery. I pump more. Louis barfs. Bubby and I watch a lot of HGtv. The month passes in a blur.

April:
I pump. Louis barfs. BVZ goes back to work. We tearfully let Bubby go home. I adjust to taking care of a newborn and a toddler (thankfully, Norah still spends three days a week with Pamma and Ruby). Louis smiles all of the time. Sweet baby Lucas turns one. Louis's butt explodes in Norah's hair. We spend a fun Easter Sunday with friends. Louis successfully latches for the first time and then barfs a stomach-full of blood (mine). After eight long weeks, Louis becomes exclusively formula fed. I feel guilty about it for about five minutes. Louis goes to urgent care for the first (and only) time, due to suspected, but thankfully unfounded, pink eye. Norah becomes obsessed with who has a penis and who doesn't. I celebrate my 35th birthday and officially enter my "mid to late" thirties. BVZ unsuccessfully looks for new job opportunities in the bay area.

May:
Amy and Reid come out for a fabulous visit. We go to the beach. Amy, Norah, and I all get food poisoning. Norah and I get sicker than we thought possible, but are at home. Amy gets sicker than we thought possible, but is on a plane. With a baby. We celebrate BVZ's 37th birthday with ice cream cake. I get mastitis again, with a suspected abscess. We spend well over $200 in co-pays before I am released from the specialist's care. Louis thrives. Norah expands her vocabulary by what seems like 50 words a day and keeps us in stitches. We celebrate a belated Mother's Day at the beach.

June:
Stephanie, Megan and Trevor come out for the best long weekend possible. Louis grows an inordinate amount of hair. Norah has her last day with Pamma and Ruby with a great many tears shed. Norah starts pre-school and loves it. The birthday season kicks off and we spend many weekends at super fun kid parties. G.G. comes to visit. We turn the backyard into a fairy wonderland, complete with a real, live fairy, and Norah has an unforgettable third birthday party. Bubby arrives and Norah turns three. We celebrate for multiple days with multiple cakes. Louis proves to be the easiest baby in the universe, even with all the barfing. I stop fighting the inevitable and buy Norah a princess nightgown. BVZ is increasingly unhappy at work.

July:
The birthday season continues and we get to see lots of our favorite friends. Aunt Vanessa comes to visit, so we get to spend the afternoon with her, Grandpa Gene, and Ms. Mary. Louis tries rice cereal for the first time and is unimpressed. I continue to figure my way as the primary care taker of two. Norah coats herself in Vick's Vapo-Rub at the exact same time that Louis has the world's biggest diaper blow-out. Norah discovers her love of sushi and intense dislike of seaweed. We visit Fairyland for the first time with Caroline and Kevin and Norah never stops talking about it. We finally meet Helyn and James, the cutest twin babies of all times. BVZ's unhappiness at work reaches a critical mass. Louis stops sleeping in long stretches and we buy him a $40 magic sleep suit. Norah trips on stairs and smashes her face at Ruby's birthday party. We go to the beach a lot. We lose Caleb there once (thankfully, just for a minute). Norah and Ruby go to Build a Bear together. BVZ goes on a job interview in Austin. He gets an offer the next day at a small, up and coming firm. He applies for two other jobs in Austin just to make sure he has options. He goes on two more interviews and gets two more offers. We agonize. He takes the first offer.

August:
It becomes very apparent we are moving to Texas and moving soon. BVZ resigns and is content. And excited. I tearfully leave my job and my co-workers throw me an amazing farewell lunch. We meet with a real estate agent and get quotes from moving companies. We go to Fairyland with Caleb, Lucas, and Ruby. Norah makes me pinky swear we will come back when she is four and can go on the dragon slide. We buy four one way tickets to Austin. Kiki comes to town to help pack. She is a task master and reminds BVZ about seventeen times that taking Louis on a long walk does not qualify as "helping." G.G. and her new and improved hip fly in for a quick visit. We spend as much time with friends as possible. I cry a lot. Norah cries a lot. Norah and Ruby try to have a sleepover that ends at about 11:00 pm. Louis has his final echo-cardiogram and graduates from the cardiologist's care. Amy, Stephanie and Bubby find us a house to lease and prepare for our arrival. We visit with friends and family every chance we get. Movers come and take all of our stuff. We buy Loretta a plane ticket. We ship our cars. We say good-bye and get on the plane.

September:
We spend a week at Bubby's house while our stuff is in route. We buy a lot of new furniture. We get lost in our giant, lovely rental house. I bask in the glory that is more than one bathroom. Our Belmont house gets landscaped and staged and goes on the market in exceptional condition and for $95,000 less than what we bought it for. We encounter several Texas sized roaches. BVZ has a mild heart attack every time he sees one (thankfully, it is only three times). We catch up with old friends. Norah starts a new school and has a hard time missing her old friends. We meet new, mostly nice, neighbors and adjust to driving everywhere we have to go. We get to celebrate with Trevor at his birthday party. BVZ starts his new job and loves it. I start working one day a week downtown doing post-conviction capital defense, and love that too. The Belmont house is on the market for 19 days before we get the first offer. We counter, they accept. It sells for $23,000 under asking. Norah asks to see her cousins every single day.

October:
Norah continues to be a big, giant ball of awesomeness. Louis is too, despite the fact that he is sleeping only sporadically at night and refuses most all forms of solid food. Escrow closes on the Belmont house and we write a heartbreakingly gigantic check to Wells Fargo. We settle in, missing friends, but loving the family here and all the support (and free babysitting). BVZ officially becomes a super star at the new job. Kiki comes to visit. We host a fun Halloween party.

November:
Norah starts a new ballet and tap class. We have a fun overnight adventure to San Antonio and see an old friend. Baby Ella (aka, Baby Goo Goo) is born. Louis becomes increasingly mobile and manages to get his poop covered hands in his actual mouth. G.G. and Vanessa come to visit and we celebrate Thanksgiving/Christmas with them. We eat at the Salt Lick and I contemplate vegetarianism. Something finally clicks in Louis' brain and he is officially on the move.

December:
Norah and I take a girl's trip to California. Norah brings home 400 different strains of pre-school cooties and we all stay sick for about a month. Louis takes two courses of antibiotics and is generally miserable. Reid turns one and Stephanie and I make a dinosaur cake. Kiki comes to town for a long visit. Louis decides crawling makes him hungry and starts eating like a teenage boy and sleeping 12 hours at night. We celebrate a wonderful Christmas surrounded by awesome family. Norah is obsessed with the holiday and makes it genuinely magical. Mark and I come in second at the annual cooking contest. The kids play with their new train table every second of every day.

I never imagined at this time last year this is where we would be, but here we are and it's pretty sweet. We are so lucky to have such great family and friends, spanning multiple states. Everyone is happy and healthy and I could not possibly ask for anything more. We are looking forward to all that 2012 will bring...Louis turning one, buying a new house, having lots of out of town visitors, and spending as much time with cousins as humanly possible. I am campaigning for a trip to London (to see the L-J's), or Australia (to see the B-D's), or Disneyland (with the S's). We'll see how successful I am.

Happy new year to all!

Search Words

2011-12-30T23:38:00.001-08:00

There is a function on blogger that will show you how people get to your blog. Basically, you can either get directly here by typing in the web address or going to your bookmark; clicking on our blog from another blog that lists it; or by typing in some kind of search term into google. The blogger function will list what people have typed into google that brought them here. These are my current favorites:

"swimming in their clothes kids"

"bay and toddler room"

"costco slipcover 2003"

"smashed face"

"vz"

"buzz lightyear's penis"

"buzz lightyear's dick"

"the blondes and the brunettes"

Louis: Ten Months Old

2011-12-29T08:04:00.000-08:00

So, here we are again. Ten months old. These past few weeks Louis has become a whole new baby. He is a crawling dynamo, pulls up on anything and everything, cruises around, and basically wreaks havoc wherever he goes. BVZ announced the other day that we have officially entered the stage of "24 hour suicide watch." I forget how quickly they learn stuff at this age. All in the same day he figured out how to climb stairs, wave, and say "bye" (which we are officially counting as his first word, I think).

He's a string bean baby, weighing only about 19 lbs right now. He's very long. Long fingers, long toes, lots of hair, four teeth. He's wearing mostly 12 month clothes, but the pants are already getting too short. Eating has improved exponentially since the crawling bonanza began and he is now sleeping 12 hours straight in his crib at night. Still takes two good naps. He sleeps on his stomach with his bum in the air. Loves the bath, especially with his sister. He kicks and splashes like Shamu. Kiki called him a one man jacuzzi tub. He is obsessed with balls and plays a pretty good game of catch. He loves being tickled. He likes books but has to be the one to turn the pages. The music table is by far the best $15 I ever spent, as he will stand there and groove until his little legs can't take it any more. If you sit on the floor, open your arms and say, "I need a hug and kiss" he will come and give you one. It's awesome.

His bottle days are numbered (we will drop them as close to a year as possible), but he digs the straw cup so I am not too worried about him. He loves all carbs, most fruits, and almost no vegetables. He would eat a tortilla at every meal if I let him. He loves to drink water and acts like it is the best treat of all times when I give it to him with meals (keep thinking that, kid). He will eat most things he can pick up himself and every once in a while will let me sneak a bite in him. I think pasta is probably his favorite with waffles a close second. I can tell he is actually digesting said food as his poop if finally flushable (too much information, M? :)

His hair is starting to curl up in the back so I am very curious if it will go the same route that Norah's did. I hope so. He is starting to get a temper if something doesn't go his way. Diaper changes are a nightmare. I basically have to pin him with one of my knees to get him to stay down long enough to get him in a diaper. Last night he managed to pull of the tabs and at 2:00 am he wanted out of his pee soaked pajamas. Changing a crib sheet at 2:00 because it's soaked in pee is no fun. No fun at all.

He is so good natured and fun. He loves Reid, and head butts him every chance he gets. Loves Norah, she can do no wrong. Is saying Dada, Mama, and Baba, but not necessarily in the correct context, so I am not counting those just yet. He has incredibly sensitive eyes like me and is bothered by the sun and camera flashes. 95% of pictures of him look like this:

He's my dream come true.

Christmas Weekend

2011-12-26T18:02:00.001-08:00

I took almost no pictures this weekend. I hope someone else did a better job because there were a lot of cute and fun things that happened. I guess I was too busy enjoying myself. And I may have had a lot of wine.

Christmas Eve was chili and tamales at our house.

Amy got the boys these ridiculous Santa outfits. They totally loved them. The day before, Reid wore his during cookie baking and had an off-white thermal onesie under the jacket. He ate lunch and so the jacket came off and the belly came out. We called him Bad Santa for the rest of the afternoon.

Megan was a superstar and rode Louis around on the plasma car for the better part of the afternoon.

Then she pushed him around on his car. We love Megan.

Several weeks ago I decided to let Norah pick out matching pajamas for her and Lou to wear on Christmas Eve. She picked ones with two reindeer on the front--one with a green scarf (Lou) and one with a pink scarf (Norah).

Santa got cookies and milk and the reindeer got carrots. Megan and Trevor introduced Norah to the practice of throwing oatmeal and glitter on the front lawn for the reindeer as well. It was pouring rain when we tried to do the throwing. I hope the reindeer appreciated it.

Santa brought a train table. I hurt my back picking up Louis earlier in the day and so I wasn't much of an assistant. I think Santa appreciated the fact that I had to sit on the couch rather than supervise the assembly. It was a late night, but Santa's marriage is still intact, so I suppose it was a win-win.

They absolutely loved it. Norah has pretty much played with it non-stop. She took her new Sleeping Beauty figurines and worked them into her train story lines. I think most involved Malificent's train carrying Prince Phillip to jail. Louis became Lou-Zilla and pulls up and crashes down. I have reassembled the tracks multiple times already.

We spent Christmas day at Bubby's house. The boys wore matching vests.

Kiki made a homemade cheeseball. It might have been the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. Thankfully we ran out of crackers early on or I might have eaten the entire thing. And then had a tomato-basil cheese baby.

Bubby busted out the good china.

It was a great holiday. We loved not having to travel. It was so great to spend the day with everyone and then sleep in our own beds. Norah was SO into Christmas this year. She made up the best song that she's been singing for a week. The lyrics basically consist of some variation of "I love Christmas even though it's not all about me, it's about giving to other people, it's a little bit about me but not all about me." The kids (and BVZ and I) were totally spoiled by both sides of the family. I took Norah to the Dollar Store last week and she picked out a gift for all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and Bubby. She got BVZ a bank in the shape of a baseball because "dad loves baseball, especially the Giants."

Nothing quite compares to Christmas with a three-year-old. It's pretty much perfect.

The Torta/Cupcake Showdown

2011-12-26T18:00:00.001-08:00

Today we held our fourth annual cooking competition. Due to the gluttony of two years ago, we decided to mix it up a little. Instead of everyone doing their own course we drew names and created teams of two. To make it even more interesting, we then had the teams pick out of a hat the course they would cook. And as if that was not interesting enough, we then wrote down ten or eleven random ingredients, put those into a hat and each team picked their "secret" ingredient (I had done a similar theme with my cooking club a ways back and it was a big hit).

The kids were really into it this year and wanted to be in on the action. They decided to do drinks and came up with a concoction of ginger ale and cranberry/grape juice, with an orange juice ice cube. Megan came up with the idea of making a sugar rim. Stephanie wondered where she thought of that. Mind you this is the woman who orders strawberry margaritas.

First up was Amy and Kiki who had the appetizer course and the ingredient cream cheese. They made an eight layer Sun-Dried Tomato and Pesto Torta* with alternating layers of homemade pesto, sundried tomato/cream cheese, and creamed butter/cream cheese. It was topped with toasted pine nuts and fresh basil.

They served it spread over toasted french bread. It was pretty much incredible. It wasn't nearly as heavy or dense as you would have expected from all of the dairy. I would love to use it in a panini or Kiki suggested folding the mixture into pasta. Yes, please.

Stephanie and BVZ had the main dish and cinnamon and Bubby and Andy had the side dish and cilantro. Steph and BVZ did a pork loin in the slow cooker with a marinade of garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, cinnamon, honey, and maybe a few other things I am forgetting. I don't particularly love pork loin, but this was very tender and very good. Bubby and Andy did a pair of sides. First was a roasted potato with a garlic, lime, and cilantro rub. The other was a carrot, cilantro, and jalapeno slaw. Both were excellent. They set off the fire alarm during the cooking of the potatoes (BVZ called for a point reduction on account of the smoke).

Mark and I paired up for dessert and our secret ingredient was beer. We used this recipe for Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, with a few minor modifications. Instead of using Guinness, Mark opted for a microbrewed coffee porter. I had my doubts (and was pissed at first he didn't get Guinness), but it ended up being a great substitution. We also added an additional tablespoon of whiskey to the ganache and made the frosting Bailey-licious. It was basically a total drunk cupcake (don't worry, no kids ate one).

I am bummed I forgot to get a close-up of a cupcake.

Like in previous years, the voting was done by secret ballot. Your favorite gets three points, your second favorite two points, your third favorite one point. This year we instituted the rule that you couldn't vote for yourself. Because of that each person had to decide between the other three dishes. It was close and the torta won by ONE POINT. Mark and I realized we were idiots because we both gave the torta three points, whereas we should have chosen the pork, which was good but had no chance of winning (really guys, it was good).

The victors with the winning crown.

I am already thinking of ideas for next year.

*Kiki pronounced her dish tort-A, and I made fun of her because as everyone knows, the word is torte and it is pronounced "tort." She claimed there was a difference between a torta and a torte and I scoffed. We bet $5 and I just looked it up. A torte, of course, is a layered cake. Whereas a torta is really just a sandwich. With layers I suppose. I still think it could go either way, but since there is actually a word torta, I guess she wins. Nerds.

New Lou

2011-12-18T10:03:00.000-08:00

Something finally connected in Louis' brain the day after he turned 9 months old and he went from sweet, cuddly, trying to crawl baby to I WILL CRAWL EVERYWHERE AND PULL UP ON EVERYTHING YOU CAN'T STOP ME I AM GOING TO EAT THAT CAT INCREDIBLE HULK BABY. Don't get me wrong, I like this baby too, we just weren't quite prepared for him. Turn your back to heat up some peas for less than 10 seconds and he is in the bathroom, unrolling the toilet paper. And trying to climb in the bathtub.

He refuses to eat anything I try and give him on a spoon. He will knock said spoon out of your hand, grab the bowl, and give himself a yogurt and oatmeal facial. Like his haircut? I made the mistake of letting Amy "trim" the front of his hair that was constantly hanging in his eyes. He looks like Mo from the Three Stooges.

He would spend up to eight hours in this tunnel chasing the cat if we let him. Maybe sometimes we do.

He is pulling up to a standing position on anything and everything. Norah's Beauty and the Beast figurines have met their match.

Unfortunately, he's also been really sick lately. Norah brings home a LOT of pre-school cooties. She has had a cold for about six weeks now, which of course means, so has Louis. Mid-November it settled in his ears and we dealt with his first ear infection. Not fun. Less than a month later SINCE HE STILL HAD A DAMN COLD, he got another double ear infection. This time he was put on a different, more potent antibiotic that turned his poop beet red and made him puke.

He has woken up inconsolably screaming in the middle of the night for, oh I don't know, the past two weeks? He currently has a raspy smoker's cough and more snot than one baby should ever have. Thursday he pretty much stopped eating and drinking. Friday at 5:00 pm, just as the pediatrician's office closed, he spiked a 103 fever and cried non-stop for over an hour (so very out of character). To urgent care we went where it was discovered he not only STILL had a raging ear infection, but a virus that had caused him to get two nasty ulcers on the back of his throat. Fabulous.*

We have spent a lot of time lately looking like this:

Thankfully, he has still felt up to making out with himself in the mirror at the doctor's office.

And has enjoyed the pass he's been getting to sleep in our bed.

I think we've finally turned a corner this weekend and are on the road to recovery. Until Norah gets home from school tomorrow, I am sure.

*At one of our many pediatrician visits I bemoaned that perhaps Lou has been hit with the sick bug so much because he lacked the antibodies he should have gotten from breastfeeding. (Don't get me wrong, I don't feel guilty about it. I did what I could do and when it didn't work, we moved on. I just feel bad that he's so sick, so often). Alternatively, my breastfed kid has only been sick a handful of times and has had one ear infection in three-and-a-half years. His doctor doesn't think it would have made a profound difference because she says that generally, pre-school cooties make short work of breastfeeding antibodies every time. Not sure that makes me feel entirely better, but at least she tried.

Christmas Spirit

2011-12-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

Norah has some serious Christmas spirit these days. Which is remarkable given the fact that she has a mother who (on December 18) has yet to put any treats in her advent gingerbread house (not pictured). Maybe next year?

We have an Elf on the Shelf, which she is really into. First thing she does upon waking up in the morning is look for him. The other day I heard her get out of bed and yell, "hold on Elf, I am coming, I just have to pee first!"

We baked cookies for the neighbors and Norah was in charge of the decorating. I didn't tell her this, but none of the cookies actually went to the neighbors. There is just something incredibly unappetizing about a holiday cookie decorated by a three-year-old. I think I am going to make a new batch while she is at school tomorrow and then we will deliver them together. She will be none the wiser, I hope. (You can see the aforementioned gingerbread advent house in this picture. It is so cute. All the doors and windows have the numbered days and are perfect little spots for a treat. My bad).

We finally got a Christmas tree last weekend. We went to two independent lots that were cleaned out of trees completely (one had a lady putting discarded branches into the chipper). I was very surprised, given the fact that it was TWO weeks before Christmas. We ended up having to go to Home Depot which I wasn't thrilled about, but whatever.

Apparently Norah was under the impression we were going to actually get to chop down our own tree (I blame the Curious George book for this one).

She was consoled by the fact that she got to put the star on top.

The spirit of giving, not only to friends and family, but to our greater community, is something we've worked hard to instill in Norah. We do Toys for Tots every year and she likes taking the gifts to the firemen. This year we adopted a family in crisis from a local domestic violence shelter. These families (typically moms and their kids) are in transitional housing and most need basic household items to restart their lives. We got matched with a family that consisted of a mom and her two kids: a five-year-old boy and seven-year-old girl. I debated how to explain to Norah what had happened to them-I want her to know how and why people need help sometimes, but I didn't want to scare her. She asked where the dad was and I told her that they couldn't live with him anymore because he was in jail for hurting someone and they had to live in a new place. She was sad for them but had a LOT of questions about jail (more about that sometime later).

We were given their names and a list of their needs. With Norah's help we were able to find a comforter set for each of them, along with several other things on their wish list. Norah was enamored with the idea of finding the perfect thing for each of them, which was super cute. For example, we were at Kohl's and walked by a display of necklaces in which the charm was an initial. She wanted very much to get one for the mom to make her "feel beautiful." (How could I say no to that?)

The little girl had asked for a Tinkerbell comforter and a few other things Tinkerbell related that we had found for her. Norah wanted to buy her everything and anything Tinkerbell related that she saw at Kohl's (there was a lot), and I had to tell her that we had what we needed and we couldn't get everything, even if we wanted to. We were in line to check out and there was a display of nightlights, including a Tinkerbell one. Norah immediately grabbed it and said we had to get it. I told her we had everything we needed. Her eyes filled with tears and her lip started to tremble. I saw a lady giving me the side-eye, like she just knew my kid was going to throw a fit because SHE wanted something. What an asshole. Anyway, Norah said something to the effect of we HAD to get the nightlight for Gabriella because she lives in a new place now and is probably scared at night and this will help her feel so much better. Please, please, please.

Holy shit. How awesome is this kid? She totally gets it. I was so proud of her. Of course, she continued to have her moments all this week when she was worried Louis might, god forbid, be getting more Christmas presents than her, but I will take what I can get. I still think she's pretty great.

We took the gifts to the community resource center for the shelter after school one day and she insisted upon carrying the bags for Gabriella. She was disappointed we didn't actually get to meet her but seemed really happy to help someone else and grateful that her dad isn't in jail (although, really. The kid is obsessed with jail. Again, more on that later).

Reid Turns One, So We Make Cake

2011-12-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

Sweet baby Reid turned one on December 7. Amy decided to have a dinosaur themed party and I offered to make cakes. I also volunteered Stephanie to assist me in making cakes. I have lofty ideas and Stephanie has excellent execution. Now, I consider myself a good cook but an eh, baker. I don't necessarily love the structure that baking requires (you know, all of that measuring). I would like to say it is because I enjoy the creative process of freestyle cooking so much more, but the real truth is just that I am just pretty lazy. And if I measure something it is required that I 1) pay attention, and 2) do more dishes. Thankfully, Stephanie is as OCD as I am lethargic and so we made a good team.

There were three cakes to be made. First, a full fat, full sugar dino-licious main cake. Second, low sugar, somewhat healthy cupcakes for the kids. And finally, a vegan cake for the birthday boy (Reid is both ovo and lacto intolerant). The party was last Saturday, so on Friday I met up with Stephanie at her house because she has more baking accessories than a full service bakery. I now refer to her as Cake Boss.

We started at 3:00 pm. I made the batter for the cupcakes and the vegan cake while Stephanie cut out fondant for the dinosaur. She looked away and checked her blood pressure as I eyeballed the amount of vanilla I used and poured straight from the bottle.

These are the same cupcakes I made for Norah's first birthday (and have made many times since) and are an awesome alternative for a kid's party. The recipe can be found here (it's the apple swirl cake). I don't put extra sugar on the apples, just cinnamon, and I reduce the overall amount of sugar to just a cup and a half. For cupcakes you just fill the cup up halfway with batter, add a layer of the cinnamon apples, and then cover with more batter. The cupcake itself is very dense, almost like a coffee cake, so you can fill it all the way to the top without fear that it will spill over in the oven. The icing is just cream cheese, vanilla, and just enough powdered sugar to give it a frostable consistency.
Reid's cake was a simple vegan vanilla cake recipe that I found online. Obviously no eggs and uses soy butter (I used Earth Balance). The frosting was vegan vanilla and it is garnished with the slightest hint of oreo cookie crumble (likely not vegan, but Amy gave the okay). Norah generously lent her dinosaur to be the topper.

Once that was done we could turn our attention to the main event. I made a very dense vanilla cake that was baked in two 9-inch round pans. Stephanie made a huge batch of Grandma Mary's buttercream frosting. I may or may not now have diabetes from eating a good majority of it out of the bowl.

The first round was cut in half and then pasted together with frosting.

We cut the rest of the cake using an online template (but Steph freestyled the actual cutting because we couldn't get it to print using the correct sizing), and assembled the dinosaur body.

He held together well with the exception of his head (too heavy), and so we rigged up a support mechanism for the head and neck. That basically consisted of impaling him with kabob skewers.

He was then frosted with a layer of green frosting and we worried that he looked like a sad crocodile. I left at this point (about 6:00 pm) to feed and put my kids to bed and Steph cleaned up most of the disaster I had made of her kitchen to that point.

I came back at about 8:15 once BVZ got home and Steph had started the piping. Oh the piping. It was a delicate balancing act because there were so many angles to the cake that the frosting started to slide off. Steph would pipe for about 15 minutes and then have to return the cake to the fridge so that the frosting wouldn't melt off. I started to pipe too and it sucked. I don't have the patience to pipe. I got carpal tunnel syndrome within the first 5 minutes. I decided my job would be to drink wine and entertain Steph while she worked but she disagreed. We piped that mother f'er for the next 3 hours. Andy had to go buy wine and then said something to the effect of, "I don't understand why this is taking so long, it doesn't look that hard." We made him pipe. He quickly realized how hard it was. I ate more frosting. By midnight both Andy and I were saying things to the effect of, "just put frosting anywhere you see a goddamn hole." Thankfully Steph was much more level headed.

Fondant scales were added, as were m&m eyes and toenails. He looked so cute.

I got home about 1:00 am but couldn't fall asleep for hours. I had eaten probably the equivalent of 17 cups of frosting.

In the morning, Steph took dino over to Amy's house and set him up with a fan (we were paranoid about the melting/sliding, which thankfully didn't happen), and an oreo cookie dirt nest. He looked fabulous.

Cupcake display.

Birthday boy smash cake.

It was a smashing success and I would estimate Reid ate at least 75% of his cake (see Norah trying to get in on the action?)

Amy did a bang up job with the party. Reid is one lucky kid. Every detail was amazingly fabulous (she MADE a freaking pinata!) and everyone had a really, really good time. I can't wait for Louis' birthday now. Oh Stephanie....I have ideeeeeaaaasssss...........

I Left My Heart In San Francisco....

2011-12-10T18:05:00.000-08:00

Before we moved we had already made plans to return to California for a long weekend to meet Baby Goo Goo. The gorgeous Ella made her debut on November 15, so was just over two weeks old for our visit. Norah and I talked about our trip for months. At one point I thought I would take both Norah and Louis, but thankfully every single person I consulted talked me out of it. Logistically it would have been a nightmare, and this way Norah and I got to have a girls only trip. Big thanks to Bubby (and Amy) for taking care of Louis on Thursday and Friday and a good job to BVZ for successfully keeping him alive on Saturday and Sunday.

We left for the airport before dawn on Thursday. We were both too excited to sleep. Norah is such a great traveler. We always fly JetBlue because of the individual television consoles. Norah loves the idea of getting to watch Nick Jr. for like four hours straight and getting to eat the special snacks we picked out the day before.

We were beside ourselves to get there.

The flight was uneventful and we were able to quickly rent a car at SFO. Grandpa Gene and Ms. Mary graciously drove all the way from the east bay and met us at the Millbrae Pancake House. We were tired, which I hope excuses the fact that I didn't take a single picture. Norah was over joyed to see them both and gave Grandpa Gene one of her awesome, running bear hugs. We had a great brunch and had a chance to catch up with them a bit and exchange Christmas gifts.

After pancakes we immediately drove to Ruby's house. We timed it just right and got there about 10 minutes before she needed to be picked up from pre-school. Of course, Ruby knew we were coming for the weekend, but no one told her that Norah would be picking her up from school because we didn't want to set anyone up for disappointment if the plane had been late, breakfast delayed, etc. Ruby's school is about a 2 minute walk from her house, so we walked over with Pamma, Megan, and Ella. As soon as Norah saw Ruby emerge from the classroom door she ran over and basically tackled her with a giant bear hug. I don't think that Ruby quite processed what was happening for a good 30 seconds, but once she did there was a lot of screaming and a lot more hugging. One would say, "I LOVE YOU!" and the other would scream, "I LOVE YOU TOO!"
Then they took off running holding hands and made a beeline straight for the swings.

It was cold and windy so we went back to Ruby's house and the girls immediately changed into princess dresses.

They took a breather while we waited for Caleb and Lucas to come over. At any given time there was a lot of hugging.

The boys got there and it was just like old times. We all fell into play and chatter the way it has been for the past 3 and a half years. Which was awesome and terrifically sad all at the same time. We ordered pizza and let the kids have a movie party. Lucas is only 20 months old but man, he can hang with the big kids.

We took turns cuddling Ella. She's such an awesome baby. She's a good eater (already gaining a ton of weight), and is in that great and cuddly, sleepy newborn state. When I first met her on Thursday I thought she was the spitting image of Ruby as a newborn, but by the time we left on Sunday she looked completely different. Her own little perfect self.

There was a costume change and then a lot of running.

We stayed the weekend at Chateau B, which was fabulous. They were great hosts and accommodations were perfect. I felt so bad because I wanted to stay up until all hours of the night with Aileen, talking and watching horrible television, but I went to bed every single night with Norah (so, like by 9:00 pm). I knew that being away from Louis was my chance to SLEEP and I took advantage of it. Norah was out like a light every night and didn't move until morning. It was GLORIOUS.

Friday morning we met up with everyone at Cafe Zoe. I had never been there even though it was a place that Pamma, Ruby and Norah frequented on a daily basis during their "Gramma-share." It's a cute cafe with a play house in the back. Ruby and Norah asked to wear princess dresses and they are pretty irresistible, so Rapunzel and Aurora ate bagels and played "jail" for a good two hours. Caleb was not into the princess aspect, but soon warmed up and agreed to play jail. Lucas was a good sport and was basically willing to play anything that the bigger kids would let him.

Ruby has Rapunzel hair (a crown with a long braid attached to it), which was a very popular accessory.

Norah and I snuck away for a bit and had lunch with our friends Diane and Josie. Josie and Norah are only three days apart in age and became fast friends when they were in the same music class (and our families got to know each other well over the years). It was great to see them again. Josie is a peanut but has the vocabulary of a first grader.

We drove up to our old neighborhood because Norah asked to see her friend Tony (the 96 year old neighbor). Unfortunately he wasn't home, but it gave us a chance to drive by our old house. Of course it looked the same, I mean, we've only been gone three months (although sometimes it feels like a lifetime), with the exception of the cosmetic renovations that were done in order to sell. Norah asked whose car was in the driveway. She absolutely gets that we don't live there anymore, but I don't think was ready to accept the fact that someone else lives there now.

We consoled ourselves by buying marshmellows for hot chocolate and went back to Ruby's house. Ruby adores her baby sister and liked to show her off. Norah asked for a baby sister. I told her there was no chance, no way. She got a brother and that was the end of it. She thought about it for a second and then told me that if she couldn't have a baby sister, she wants to share a room with Louie when they are bigger and she wants bunk beds. Done and done.

Pamma very graciously offered to host a kajama movie party with the girls so that Megan, Aileen and I could go out to dinner. We had a great night out, one I desperately needed.

Saturday morning we popped over to see our friends Tara and Sean for a quick visit. They rescued a dog that recently had puppies and Sean was stoked to show Norah the dogs. Norah is like me and is very apprehensive about dogs, but she was pretty into the puppies. We had hot chocolate and coffee cake and did a Christmas ornament craft project.

Then we met up with Megan and Ruby at the Muppet Movie. The girls were only too willing to pose with these guys outside the theater.

The movie was disappointing at best. Totally boring at worst. I was super bummed. I was really looking forward to seeing it, but the first 85% was just, well. Dumb. And really, really boring. Things picked up towards the end, but overall I thought it was kind of a turkey. The girls liked it, but these girls would watch paint dry if it was on a movie screen and they got to eat popcorn while doing it.

We made a quick stop to pick up treats for our Louis babysitters and dessert for that night. Then we headed back to the B house where Aileen made chili for us and pasta for the kids. Caleb and Lucas have a great playroom that has a spare bed in the corner. Despite the fact that there are approximately 18,000 toys in the playroom, all they wanted to do was jump on the bed.

Ella made a quick appearance as well.

At one point all the kids were downstairs playing in the playroom and Megan, Aileen and I were upstairs chatting and I had that moment where I thought...THIS is the sweet spot! This is what we've been working towards all these years. Getting the kids to go off somewhere on their own and leave us alone to gossip and drink wine. It made me so sad to think we won't get to do this on a weekly basis, but it made me very happy to think we'll be able to have these kinds of special weekends for years to come (and maybe some joint vacations...hint, hint).

Now, come to find out they weren't actually playing in the playroom. They were ah, well, playing on the stairs. A game called TRAP! (it seems to me the game is spelled in all caps with an exclamation mark), that they made up themselves. From what I understand, they way you play is one person gets on their belly and slides down the stairs feet first. The other two would try to catch the slider before the slider got to the bottom. If they didn't save the slider, the slider would hit the TRAP! and "be dead." Luckily, it seems the slider was always saved before he/she met their untimely demise. Very good times.

Sunday morning Norah got to spend some quality time with the B boys and we headed back to Cafe Zoe for a bit.

We then met up with Ruby at a local park where the kids got their play on.

There was rock climbing.

And tag/hide-and-seek.

We picked up lunch and took it back to Ruby's one last time. Leaving was hard. And really sad. Norah did great until she actually had to put on her shoes and say good-bye. Thankfully, Megan, Pam and Aileen totally understood that I needed to just give them a quick hug, say see-you-later, and then have them go inside before I completely lost it. Norah apparently didn't get that memo and was hysterical. She cried until we were about two minutes from the airport and then fell sound asleep. And then cried when I had to wake her up at the car rental return. And then was excited about the flight and getting to see her dad and Louis, so she perked up a bit.

It was such a great weekend. There were so many people we wanted to see but just didn't have the time to make it work. Next time we're going for a week. Maybe two. Everyone ready for that one?? :)

Santa

2011-12-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

I took the kids to see Santa yesterday morning. Norah was sweet and a little shy, but VERY excited. Santa asked what she wanted for Christmas and she told him, "a necklace and a bracelet for me, and a new ball for my brother because he can't talk yet, and maybe the same necklace for my friend Ruby." Later she told me that her wish was a secret, but it was okay if I knew about it too.

Louis was somewhat unimpressed. We went in lieu of his morning nap, so it could have been a disaster. Here he is wearing shoes for the first time (hand me downs, thanks A!) He didn't quite know what to make of them and eventually made me take them off.

I am looking forward to the holidays with a kid who really gets it this year. We adopted a family from a domestic violence shelter and Norah and I plan to do the shopping for their gifts this weekend. Norah has also been going through all of her toys and books and picking out the things she wants to donate to a program that collects gently used items for the children of incarcerated parents. She attempted to give away her library books. She's generous like that.

Houseguests and Holidays

2011-12-07T18:27:00.000-08:00

We got our first out-of-town guests over the Thanksgiving weekend when GG and Aunt Vanessa came for a visit. I hope they found the accommodations agreeable and recommend to others that they come visit as well (hint, hint). They were exceptional guests and we can't wait to have them back. Aunt Vanessa was an especially good sport given the fact that she was forced to sleep on a futon mattress on a three-year-old's bedroom floor (the forcing was done by said three-year-old, not me).

On Thanksgiving day we all headed to Stephanie's for the big meal. I don't have pictures because I was too busy drinking Pinot Grigio and cooking vegetables in bacon fat. It was a great meal and everyone had a lot of fun.

After stuffing our faces for several hours I took the kids home and we passed out. BVZ, GG, and Vanessa stayed up at Stephanie's watching the Niners game (Andy has the NFL network). Stephanie and Bubby went Black Friday shopping from 10:00 pm to 5:00 am. They are bananas. BANANAS.

The next day (Friday) was our traditional VZ Christmas celebration. We had a ton of fun exchanging gifts (I got a neck massager and tickets to Wicked! I rule!) and the kids were showered with love, affection, and spoils by GG and Vanessa.

One of the biggest hits with Lou was a stuffed dog attached to a stocking. It played Jingle Bells and he basically went nuts for it. I have since had to hide it from him, or I would have to listen to Jingle Bells all.day.long.

Louis very much enjoyed being a baby at Christmas. Which basically consisted of being cute and eating wrapping paper.

Lots of love to go around.

After "Christmas" we decided to go to the Salt Lick, one of Austin's most famous BBQ joints. I am not a huge meat eater, and I am even less of a place-with-the-word-lick-in-the-name eater, but it's an Austin institution and I had never been. Plus, I am a good sport. Most of the time. They make no secret of their carnivore-ness.

See these guys?

They are hacking up giants slabs of meat. Good thing I didn't notice them until we were on the way out.

Lou was a good sport and took his nap in the stroller. He was a serious trooper all weekend, as we hauled him around with little to no regard for his usual schedule.

Thankfully it wasn't crowded (maybe everyone was still full from Thursday?) and we got the family style all-you-can-eat meal, which consisted of platters of brisket, ribs, sausage and bowls of coleslaw, beans, and potato salad. Plus, some awesome sesame bread. I don't eat ribs or sausage, but the brisket was very good (I requested super lean), if I closed my eyes and put a lot of sauce on it.

Norah was a big fan of the bread and the sauce. Me too.

We then took GG and Vanessa up to Georgetown to check out BVZ's new office and to walk around the downtown area (and by downtown I mean the square directly around the historic courthouse. That's about the extent of it, but the shops and restaurants there are super cute).

We got some lattes and hot chocolate at the local coffee shop which perked everyone up.

It perked someone up enough that she then began running maniacally down the sidewalks of Georgetown. Norah is really into dressing herself these days. Her outfits tend to involve a lot of accessories. Including purses. I am not sure she is actually my child.
The main purpose of going to Georgetown (other than to show GG and Vanessa the new office), was to see the tree lighting ceremony. This was the tree. A bit underwhelming, especially compared to where we were last year. It didn't matter one bit to Norah, though, and she thought the tree was spectacular.

We found a place on the grass to watch the carolers and wait for it to get dark. Louis, again, being the most well adjusted and agreeable baby in the universe. I can't even get mad at him when he wants to party at 2:00 am because he makes life during the day so easy.

All of the kids were invited up to the courthouse stairs to join the carolers. Norah was interested but made me go with her. You can kind of see her in the red dress at the bottom of the picture.

When I first saw this picture I thought, "dear, god...BVZ is even more bald than I thought!" Ha. It totally isn't him.

We waited through a lot of caroling. And then a speech from the mayor. And lots of city council people. And maybe the mayor again. We all wanted to leave because this was a whole lot of waiting to just see one tiny tree with some tiny lights. GG told us to suck it up and be patient, and I am so glad she did, because when all the speeches were finally over the entire TOWN was lit up with thousands of lights. Lights on that rinky dinky tree, all over the courthouse, in the trees lining the square, and on all the surrounding businesses. For a quaint little place it WAS pretty spectacular.

On Saturday, we just hung out and enjoyed GG and Vanessa's company...there was miniature golfing. And margarita drinking. Not necessarily in that order.

We hope they come back soon.

Louis: Nine Months Old

2011-11-29T18:19:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not. Another month down. Second baby syndrome is in full force and time is flying by. Louis had his well baby appointment today and is coming in at 18.5 lbs and just shy of 30 inches tall (well, long). That puts him in the 25 percentile for weight and 75 percentile for height. He's stayed steady on his growth curve and although he is a string bean he feels incredibly heavy to lug around. I looked up Norah's stats at the same time and he is about a half pound heavier than she was and an inch longer. He was born a pound less (same length) but the growth chart is different for boys so they are right in the same ball park. Very interesting given since at this point she was exclusively breast fed and he has (for the most part) been entirely formula fed. Genetics are strong, people.

I think as of maybe yesterday we can officially call him a crawling baby. He's been pretty mobile for months (army crawling, hysteric rolling, flinging his body backwards, etc.), but he finally seems to have the coordination of arms and legs working together. He loves to do this move where he basically gets in a downward facing dog yoga position and then hurls himself forward. Hey, whatever works.

His disposition continues to be mellow and sweet. His curious side is starting to emerge a bit more and his favorite game in the whole world is to have someone else build a tower of blocks, then lumber over and smack it down. He loves trucks and balls and blocks, as well as dolls, tea cups and his sister's princess shoes. He loves bath time and textured books, being outside and getting tickled. He gives great hugs and loves to drum on anything and everything he can get his hands on.

He hates the drain in the bathtub (scares the crap out of him), holding still for diaper changes, getting his hair washed, eating food from a spoon, not being able to move his body as fast as his brain, and sleeping by himself at night. Good thing the good outweighs the bad.

Norah and Lou are thick as thieves. One of my favorite things IN THE WORLD is when they take a bath together. I don't let them do it every night because it 1) soaks the entire bathroom, and 2) is hard on one's nerves (constant vigilance). But the splashing. Oh, the splashing and laughing and laughing and laughing. One of these days I will get someone else to take video of it (I am on high drowning alert), because it's pure gold.

Happy nine months, Lou. You are such an integral part of what makes this family work. Plus, you're cute. We love you a whole lot.

Pumpkin Pie

2011-11-29T16:02:00.001-08:00

Louis has not been the most consistent eater when it comes to solid foods. Basically, he refuses anything off of a spoon and will only entertain the notion of food he can pick up himself. Although he has quite the pincer grasp for a 9 month old he is, well, 9 months old. And there is only so much stuff I am willing to allow him to try and cram in his mouth. Even finger foods are hit or miss, though. One day he can't get enough cheese cubes. The next, cheese is the devil. So, basically, he eats just like Norah did. Hooray.

He was pretty uninterested in Thanksgiving dinner and even less interested in Thanksgiving leftovers. Until I gave him a taste of Aunt Stephanie's pumpkin pie. Then it was game on. He could.not.get.enough. I know, I know, pumpkin pie is a dessert. With sugar. But it isn't like it's chocolate cake. It's pumpkin. That's a vegetable.

Anyway, today Aunt Stephanie made Lou his very own pumpkin pie. It was waiting in the fridge when we got back from his well baby visit today. Now that's service for you.

Jealous yet?

I don't skimp on portions when we are talking about pie.

He was hooked from the first bite.

And kept looking for more. This is his "lady, move faster. Put that pie in my face!" look.

He ate that entire piece of pie, save for about a bite (that went in my mouth) and most of the crust. Hey, the crust is my favorite part.

See, there are peas on his plate too. I am not that bad of a mom!

Norah was horrified at the thought that she would have to eat regular dinner (ie, ravioli and broccoli), while Louis got to have pie and peas. So, she got pie for dinner too and I didn't have to make ravioli and broccoli. Everybody wins.

Swoon

2011-11-26T19:54:00.001-08:00

Norah has been saying such sweet and funny things lately, I want to remember them forever:

Lou has had a string of really, really bad nights and the other day I stumbled out of the bedroom more than a bit disheveled in a tank top and old pj pants. As soon as N saw me she said, "good morning mom! You look SO CUTE in those nice kajamas."

She has incorporated the word 'unfortunately' into her vocabulary with vigor. As in, "unfortunately, we can only have one treat a day."

Last week while Megan and Trevor were here they had to go home because Megan hurt her toe. When we were in the car driving to their house for Thanksgiving N said, "oh, I can't wait to ask Megan if her toe is okay!"

We have been doing some Christmas shopping together and at one point N melted down a bit because she was worried that no one was buying HER any presents. After many talks about the meaning of Christmas in our house (the giving of not only gifts but acts of service to others), I do really believe she gets it. The other day at breakfast she told me, "Christmas is not just about me. It's kind of hard to be three."

She will get upset for no reason sometimes, especially when she is very tired. We both agreed that sometimes you just need to cry, but that when it happens she needs to excuse herself and be upset in her room. She fell asleep in the car on the way home from Thanksgiving and was really grouchy and having a fit when I had to wake her up. I gave her a hug and she told me, "I will just be in my room having a good cry."

We went out yesterday and she insisted on wearing her Christmas dress and carrying a black leather purse that said 'I love shoes.' (See pic.) We were at lunch and she busted out all of these toys to keep Lou entertained. She packed her purse full of crackers for them to share and toys for her brother.

Best kid ever.

Game Changer

2011-11-26T18:30:00.001-08:00

Lou was already in bed and started fussing. I let him fuss for about 5 minutes but went in when it evolved into an actual cry. This is what I found. Not sure we are ready for this.

Happy...

2011-11-24T18:12:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!

Louis Ate Sh*t Today

2011-11-23T17:12:00.001-08:00

Louis ate shit today. This is not a euphemism for falling on his face, taking a tumble, etc. He actually ate shit. As in excrement. Of the human variety.

Like most boys his age, Lou is obsessed with his, ahem, junk. In fact, whenever he gets a diaper change it's the first thing he goes for. I am usually a step ahead of him and when said diaper is fully loaded, I clean the junk first and then it isn't a big deal when he puts his hands there (yes, yes, I wash his hands immediately after). Today, however, I opened his diaper to find a big, steamy, smells-like-the-zoo-on-a-hot-day mess and he immediately.... GRABBED HIS BUTT CHEEKS. With both hands. Butt cheeks that were smeared in a thick layer of, well, shit. Oh, the horror. I froze for a split second because there was shit everywhere on his lower body, and now on his hands as well. I frantically started wiping his hands first, but he jerked them away.

To put them both in his mouth. IN HIS MOUTH. My sweet baby boy ate a whole lotta shit. I was actually afraid he might choke, so I sat him up right away, fished it out as much as possible, and then hosed him down and let him drink as much water as he wanted. I was fully expecting there to be vomiting, considering the shit smelled as though it had come from an actual rhinoceros. But, Lou was pretty much unfazed by the whole ordeal. I, on the other hand, may never recover.

Enjoying a lasagna, pea, mango (and shit free) dinner.

Testing

2011-11-22T14:09:00.001-08:00

Being able to post from my phone changes everything! Now I just have to figure out how to properly size pictures....

There are a lot of things I don't like about this house, but the kids' rooms are amazing. They are both HUGE. Like a play room and bedroom in one. Plenty of room to host friends. Maybe even from California. Just sayin'.

Trying Something New

2011-11-22T13:45:00.001-08:00

I just downloaded an app that will allow me to post from my phone (thanks, M). Let's see if it works.

N is currently obsessed with playing Snow White and here she has just taken a bite of the poison apple. Grumpy is in the background doing some push ups.

Snippits

2011-11-17T18:09:00.000-08:00

We finally got some rain the other day. It thundered and rained on and off for most of the morning. Norah asked where thunder came from and I said the clouds. She said it sounded like Louie's butt (she's kind of right). At one point I took Lou to his room to give him a bottle and settle him down for a nap and when I returned (no more than 10 minutes later), this is what I found.

These two constantly swap pacis. It's rather disgusting.

It was the same rainy day but we had to get out of the house, so we headed over to Aunt Amy's where baby costume hijinks ensued.

Lou has gigantic feet.

I am not a shopper at all (shocking, I know), and before Norah was born rarely would set foot in a mall. I got used to malls when she was a baby, however, as they are good places to 1) get out of the heat with a baby, 2) get out of the rain with a baby, and 3) get out of the godforsaken house with a baby. There is a mall not too far from here that's exceptionally kid friendly with a play structure, ride on train, full sized carousel, and a plethora of Christmas decorations. We went to ride the carousel today and ended up walking around for two hours just looking at stuff. Norah was in rare form and made an excellent shopping companion. We were walking through the dress department of a big store and she was obsessed with all things sequin. She declared this one her favorite and said that she was going to marry Caleb while wearing this dress.

The end.

Message

2011-11-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

Norah asked if she could type her own message to send to Caroline, Ruby, Pamma, Sean, her pretend friends Ally and Sienna, Suzy, Tony (our old 93 year old neighbor), Caleb, Aileen, Megan, Ruby's little sister (born this morning, yay!!!!), Ava, Jennifer, Grandpa Gene and Ms. Mary:

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvjjjjjjjnnnnnnnnnnnnnnmmMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMKKKKKKKKKKLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOPPPPPP
PWWWWWWWWWWWWWWSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
FFFFFFFFFFF

A Night Away

2011-11-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

We had a bunch of credit card rewards points that were about to expire, so I decided it would be a (brilliant) idea to spend a weekend away in San Antonio. BVZ nixed the idea of going up on Friday and spending 2 nights, but agreed that a Saturday to Sunday plan was completely acceptable. In retrospect he was very right and I am (usually) glad he is around to temper my grand ideas.

The plan was to leave after ballet class and make the 90 mile drive. Ballet class ends at 10:30. I think we left the house at 1:30. Eh, at least we were being relaxed about it. We made good time (stopping only once to pee and get Norah her favorite thing of all times--a gas station treat), and got there around 3:30. We stayed at the historic La Mansion del Rio (now owned by Omni). Although check in was at 3:00 we were told there were no rooms available just yet because they were running behind. Little did we know that this was also the weekend of the San Antonio marathon and grumpy people filled the lobby (I am not sure why they were so grumpy? I guess that's what running 26 miles at a time does to your disposition)? They was also a large wedding party in one of the ballrooms and they took up a lot of space. But weren't grumpy. Because they had wine.

The kids were in good spirits, so we walked around the hotel for a while and stuck our feet in the pool. Norah wanted to get in but I told her we didn't have her swimming suit. She asked if she could go in naked. I told her that was called skinny dipping and no, she couldn't. So of course she proceeded to yell across the pool at BVZ, "hey, dad, want to go skinny dipping?" He said no too.

We waited about 30 or 45 minutes and then BVZ asked me to go ahead and be a squeaky wheel. So, I went up to the front desk with Lou and in a low voice told them that while we absolutely understood how busy they were, we were about to have two simultaneous meltdowns in their front lobby (not true), and they were very accommodating and pushed us to the front of the line. Two minutes later we got the keys to our room.

We headed up to our 3rd floor room to find....that it hadn't actually been cleaned yet. By this point at least Lou really was on the verge, so I called down and very nicely let the front desk know what had happened. I give them props for responding immediately and the manager personally escorted us to an upgraded room on the top floor with a view of the Riverwalk.

The manager was very apologetic and I told him it wasn't a big deal and not to stress about it. He thanked us for being so gracious and I told him that we tell our kids that they can't throw a fit just because something doesn't go their way and we are trying to teach them to pick their battles wisely. Because we expect them to behave a certain way and treat people with kindness, we have to lead by example and act the same way. He called us model parents. Ha. Little did he know that just that morning the neighbor heard Norah yell out the front door, "hey you asshole cat, get back in here!"

It was lovely but it made me nervous to have Norah running out there, so we let her check it out and then I locked the door and moved the giant armchair in front of it.

Someone was very glad to finally be there.

We decided to walk around the Riverwalk for a while and grab an early dinner.

The outside of our hotel.

There are a ton of good restaurants up and down the Riverwalk, but Norah was hungry (and BVZ wanted a beer), so even though I wanted to assess our options before deciding, I was outvoted and we ended up at the Iron Cactus. I have been to the Iron Cactus many times before (there is one in Austin as well) and it is always pretty mediocre. Norah liked her quesadilla, though, so that's something. They only had a handful of wines by the glass and only one kind of Sauvignon Blanc (my favorite white), so I just ordered by saying, "can I have a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc?" The waitress looked at me as though I had just ordered a glass of wine from the moon and said something to the effect of, "we don't have fancy stuff like that here." I showed her on the menu what I was talking about and she said, "oh, that wine is called Geyser Peak." Oh, Texas. Silly, silly Texas.

There are boat tours that go up and down the river and Norah become mildly obsessed with going on one. We made the tactical decision that BVZ and Lou should go get a beer and watch the game at the bar of the restaurant while Norah and I went on the boat. Tactical decision. Which was fine with me. We had a great time.

The tour was actually really interesting and I learned a lot of things I didn't know. Like, part of the river is man made (created for the World's Fair), and our hotel was once St. Mary's law school. I told Norah that when you are on a boat and go under a bridge you are supposed to kiss the one you love. There were about 15 bridges, so I got about 15 kisses. Love.

We found the guys and then found gelato.

We called it a night and went back to the room to get everyone in bed. Unbeknownst to us, during the course of our Riverwalk adventure, Louis had a big, disgusting, messy poop (he has had been sick the entire week before and ended up with a DOUBLE ear infection. Gah. So, he was on antibiotics that wreaked all kinds of havoc on his digestive system). But, because Lou is Lou he didn't complain one bit and so we didn't know of his butt explosion until it had likely been there for a while. A butt explosion that basically burned the skin in his diaper area-as it turns out antibiotic laced pee and poop is like acid on the skin. He actually had a blister and the entire area was incredibly red and sore. Of course, at that point, screaming ensued.

I have to give him credit though, he rallied and was a brave kid and both he and Norah passed out with very little effort on our part.

I knew Lou wouldn't stay in the pack-n-play all night, so the plan was to have Norah with BVZ and Louis with me. He woke up and I took him to bed about an hour later and the four of us had the best night sleep we've had in months. Apparently our children just need to 1) sleep with one of us, and 2) sleep in a hotel.

The hotel had also given us vouchers for Sunday brunch at a restaurant across the river for our "inconvenience" the day before, so we woke up and headed over there for a good meal. Norah was excited because we were going to the zoo after breakfast and kept saying at top volume, "IS THIS THE ZOO? WHERE IS THE ZOO? I REALLY WANT TO GO TO THE ZOO. YOU SAID WE WERE GOING TO THE ZOO. IS THIS THE ZOO? WHERE ARE THE ANIMALS? I DON'T SEE ANY ANIMALS." You get the idea. So, I was attempting to temper her and feed Lou at the same time. He was completely uninterested in breakfast and had antibiotic tummy, so quickly proceeded to projectile vomit all over the table and then again all over the floor. BVZ was not phased by this and went back to the buffet a second time. The food was great, but one of the most UN-relaxing meals I have had in a long time (I never actually even made it to the buffet-just had some of Norah's pancake discards).

The plan was to meet my old friend Monica and her family at the zoo. She was actually my roommate my freshman year of college and she and her family moved from San Antonio to Seattle, back to San Antonio. I hadn't seen her in 16 years. 16 years! We had kept up over the years through email and Facebook, but I literally hadn't seen her since we were 19.

Of course, she was just as awesome as she was 16 years ago, and it was though no time had ever passed. She has a lovely 2.5 year old daughter, A, and she and Norah became fast friends. They are also expecting #2 next spring. I can't wait to hang out with them again now that we are no close geographically. I see a lot of margaritas in our future.

I took very few pictures at the zoo. It was hot and I was too busy talking.

All in all, a successful family adventure.

Humans

2011-11-15T07:25:00.000-08:00

This morning Norah was running around the house being Belle (BVZ was Gaston and I was Mrs. Potts. I hate being Mrs. Potts). She got quiet for a while and then said:

"I know that a girl can marry a boy and a girl can marry a girl. But is it okay for a girl to marry an animal?" Clearly the logistics of Beauty and the Beast trouble her.

Louis went down for a nap a bit later and she asked to watch an episode of Max and Ruby. She told me:

"I like Ruby. But she's a rabbit. I LOVE my friend Ruby. She's a human. I like humans better than rabbits."

Sticky Sicky

2011-11-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

Lou has his first bad cold. Nothing serious, but an awful lot of snot. He's basically a hot mess. But look how cute he still is. SO CUTE.

Dancing Queen

2011-11-07T13:18:00.000-08:00

Norah has finally started dance class again. This time she's taking both ballet and tap. She's totally into it. Most days after school and on the weekends she will put on her dance clothes and give us a "showcase performance" (not sure where that terminology came from...my guess television). Luckily the fireplace makes an excellent stage. And yes, those are tv trays covering the opening to the fireplace. Loretta, the world's worst cat, likes the fireplace.

Notes From an IPhone

2011-11-06T18:07:00.000-08:00

No theme to this post other than a regular iphone dump.

The other day Norah found a bunch of bobby pins in my bathroom and asked me to give her fancy hair. I was totally impressed with myself.

We had a great evening carving pumpkins with the cousins. This is what you get after an evening of carving pumpkins with the cousins.

Really, can you ever get enough pictures of Louis' hair?

Every day I think crawling is imminent. Look how high he gets. He rocks on all fours like nobody's business. But then he flops and starts chewing the carpet. Oh well.

A little skeleton action.

Lou's crawling may suck, but his pincher grasp is out of this world. I give full credit to Reid and puffs.

Louis has hand-me-down Giants pj's from Caleb/Lucas. They are my favorite.

The other day at Amy's house I trimmed Lou's finger and toe nails. All was well until I got to the very last (pinky) finger. He jerked at the exact wrong time and I snipped the top layer of skin off of his finger. It bled. A lot. For a long time. At one point it crossed my mind he might need a stitch and I was going to have to explain to the ER that I mauled him with nail clippers. Obviously it stopped eventually and I think he's forgiven me. He cried so hard that he fell asleep in my lap while his finger was still gushing blood. That's trust, people.

We have a family history of being obsessed with Vicks Vapo-rub. My mom used to slather it on us when we were sick as kids and now I can't actually sleep at night without it. Norah has recently been introduced to the wonder that is Vicks and it appears as though the addiction has continued.

This was Norah's jack-o-lantern that she carved at her cousins' house. It was on the counter/bar in the kitchen and on Halloween night I went to change Lou in his room and returned to find this (those are plastic knives and forks). I like her style.

This past weekend we went up to see BVZ's new office and walk around the town square. His office is in an old historic building and I think it used to be a hotel at some point. Fabulous hardwood floors, exposed piping, brick walls. Very trendy and very cool.

We took the kids to an early dinner (4:45 pm. Sigh), at the popular Monument Cafe. Super fun vibe and great atmosphere. Food? Eh, not so good. Louis is really into menus.

Norah decided she would order for him (water and a biscuit).

He pounded the water and the biscuit. Please note the lack of any kind of high chair cover. High chair covers are for first children. Subsequent children love germs.

Norah had a handful of really rough days at school two weeks ago and she was crying a lot during the day. Mostly for Ruby, but I think she was just feeling overwhelmed by everything. She's been so great about adjusting to the move and the change in everything she's known up until this point that I knew there had to be a bit of a backlash at some point.

My approach to when she would be upset would be to empathize with her and tell her how I was really sad as well and how much I missed my friends too and that I totally understood how she felt. Then we would hug and talk about visiting our friends in December. I changed my approach a bit after her week of meltdowns and now we are focusing on how happy both our old and new friends make us and how Ruby would only want us to be happy and not sad. When she starts to feel sad about Ruby at school she goes and finds her friend Renee and thinks happy things about Ruby. When she gets sad about Ruby at home she puts on the Tinkerbell pj's Ruby gave her and thinks happy things about Ruby. So far it's working and last week she had a great, crying free, week at school.

After the first day of no crying she was so proud of herself that I wanted her to know how proud we were of how brave she was being. We went to Target and she got to pick out a movie. She picked Dumbo. Everyone warned me it was a bad choice because Dumbo is so sad. Eh, I know how tough she is. She loved it. She is mildly obsessed with it. She has a stuffed purple elephant that is Dumbo and her comfy Belle doll is now Dumbo's mom. Dumbo's mom gets locked in her closet every night because that's the "jail" and Dumbo gets to sleep in a special basket next to Norah's bed. She told me that if he doesn't sleep there he wakes up in the middle of the night and calls out, "Norah, Norah, where are you? I miss you!"

She tucks him in at night with one of Louie's old sleepers. I expect great things from this kid.

Flip Switch

2011-11-06T17:05:00.000-08:00

My iphone camera has something that Norah calls the Flip Switch--basically you touch a place on the screen and the camera flips so that what you see is facing you instead of facing outwards (this is a terrible description and will basically make no sense unless you already know what I am talking about). The pictures have this cool grainy quality. Both kids are obsessed with it. Norah will tell me, "let's cuddle with the flip switch." Done and done.

Continuing a Tradition

2011-11-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

I have never been that huge into the bar/club scene (shocking, I know), so even pre-kids BVZ and I were not big Halloween party goers. Instead, we would carefully select one or two delightfully scary movies (as in, read film critic reviews for weeks and stalk Netflix for the perfect ones. Ah, the good old days). Then we would make a traditional dinner of hot dogs and tater tots and eat the majority of the candy purchased for the trick or treaters.

By Norah's first Halloween, two important things had happened: 1) we had a new group of awesome baby friends, and 2) we lived on the "Halloween Street" in Belmont. As a result, the Halloween festivities were incredibly fun and went on for days. Halloween has easily become my all time favorite holiday. I wanted to establish similar traditions here in Texas, so we decided to have a big party.

Norah approved the idea and after waffling between Jessie, Sleeping Beauty, and a Chicken, she finally settled on wanting to be Princess Frostine from the board game Candyland (although she insists it is actually Princess Frosting....good luck trying to convince her otherwise). Lou was going to be Batman. Then Norah asked me to please, please, please be Lolly from Candyland and BVZ to be King Candy. We all couldn't be one theme and leave Louis to be Batman (I mean, the indignity of it all...talk about second child syndrome). So, Louis got assigned Mr. Mint and Norah strong armed Bubby into being Grandma Nutt.

The finished costume, complete with elbow length white gloves.

The dessert table. For the first time we have been able to have both a dining room and a kitchen table and I pretty much love everything about it.

Spider krispy treats:

Owl krispies:

Owl cupcakes (those are mini oreos as the eyes):

Platters of pumpkin, ghost and spider web sugar cookies:

Megan and Trevor brought a platter of eyeball donuts later on (white powdered sugar mini donuts with a m&m in the center and red frosting streaks...they were fantastic), but I somehow managed to not get a picture of them.

We had a run of the mill cheese plate (with crackers):

Fruit skewers:

The "Undead" Pizzas:

Mummy Dogs:

Evil Octopus Hummus and Squid Dip (spinach and artichoke dip....the monsters are bell peppers):

Worm Jello Cups:

Caramel covered snack mix. This was a huge hit. In fact, it almost didn't make it to the party because both BVZ and Bubby couldn't keep their hands out of it.

Then there was a wide variety of chips and crackers and veggies, etc. for the dips and cheeses.

We got a few new decorations this year, including:

The giant Jack-o-Lantern head.

A light up pumpkin.

This was put up so that people could put their heads behind it and take cute pictures. The stupid cat knocked it down before the party, BVZ moved it out of the way, and then I forgot about it. This is the only person who got her picture taken. Boo.

A light up spider web with giant plastic spiders in the center.

My Lolly costume basically consisted of a skirt and shirt I already owned and a giant lollipop scepter that Kiki helped me make the night before from the left over materials we used to make the magic wands at Norah's third birthday party.

This is the best family picture we got. I blame it on the photographer (Bubby), and the fact that BVZ and I are possibly the most un-photogenic people on the planet.

Amy and Mark showed up as Siegfred and Roy. Reid was their tiger. Words can never adequately describe how much I love them for doing this. Mark was wearing Amy's stretch pants. And some of her bronzer.

Grandma Nutt and the tiger.

Kiki flew in from Virginia just for the weekend. She was an enormous help with the party and just generally fun to have around. She was a raccoon. When asked why she picked raccoon she pretty much admitted it was so she could wear sweats to the party.

I had organized a few games for the kids to play, including ghost bowling:

Guess how many candy corns in the jar:

Pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern (not pictured), and shove your hands in a bowl of disgusting worms (spaghetti), eyeballs (grapes), bones (cinnamon sticks), and internal organs (beans) for a prize.

We ended up with a houseful of babies, toddler, pre-schoolers, and big kids, as well as 30+ adults. It was all kinds of fun. The rest of the pictures are in no real order but hopefully show how delightfully chaotic it all was.

Things were winding down and SLB (my best friend since before kindergarten) and her husband Ben showed up (they were at a baby shower earlier in the day), in these outfits:

They went out and got Snooki and Pauly D wigs specifically for this kid's party. The rest of their costume was found in their own closet. They brought blush wine. They talked in Jersey accents the entire time. I love these two more than words can say.

All in all it was a great time and something I hope we do every year. Kiki was instrumental in helping me with all the food and decoration and costume prep. Amy made both the hummus and the artichoke dip. Bubby cleaned up after us the entire time (no easy feat, I assure you) and entertained babies. Parties are so much more fun to throw with that kind of help around.

We missed our California gang tremendously (I may or may not have cried a little in the Target parking lot the day before about it), and Halloween didn't seem quite the same without them. Maybe I could convince them to all fly out at the same time next year for the party? Any takers??

The After Party

2011-11-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

After the Halloween party wound down (this won't make any sense until I actually put the Halloween party post up....soon, I promise), Reid got down to the business of eating some dinner.

And some of the rest of us decided to move our candy corn asses and take a walk. SLB agreed to walk around my neighborhood dressed as a streetwalker (she was actually Snooki, which you will see glorious pictures of if I ever get around to that pesky Halloween party post....) I am sure our neighbors have now called CPS.

Megan wore my Giants shirt and brought binoculars.

Norah changed into cat pajamas.

The beating heart zombie stayed behind to watch the babies (oh, and so did a few grown ups).

I think I took 276 pictures of these three yokels in front of this cute BOO sign and this is the best one I got.

We walked a few more blocks to check out the best decorated house in the neighborhood. We can only aspire to be this good. It was a fully stocked, completely decked out graveyard. It was legitimately really, really scary. Norah loves scary stuff and refused to look at most of the stuff. Megan was a little freaked out too, although she wouldn't admit it.

Trevor, on the other hand, decided to dare himself to do crazy things like lay in the graveyard, shake a skeleton's hand, kiss a tombstone, etc. Then he decided to make me take a picture of each thing he did. I think there are 60+ pictures. Here are some highlights:

Trevor and Kiki pretend to be part of the landscaping.

Trevor chills with a zombie.

SLB realizes how inappropriate her outfit was for a children's party. (Kidding! It was awesome).

Trevor shakes hands with the undead.

Bubby forces Norah in on the action.

SLB gets up close and personal.

Trevor and I danced with the devil in the pale moon light.

Being as "creepy as possible."

The kids came back to eat dinner and watch a Halloween movie, but were so exhausted they couldn't keep their eyes open. Trevor actually sneezed into and then drooled on my pillow he was so tired. Totally gross, but a sign of a successful party for sure.

Halloween Day

2011-11-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

Tired of posts about Halloween yet? Too bad. I have lots.

Monday was a regular day and Norah had school. After all of the festivities of the weekend it seemed pretty anti-climatic to do anything on the actual day of Halloween, but it wasn't like we could just ignore it. So, Lou wore some skeleton pajamas.

And Norah put back on her Princess Frostine outfit.

Check out the detail on this dress. We bought a cheapie dress from Target, snowflakes from the craft store, and Bubby worked some magic (I don't think I even own a needle and thread).

She was pooped, but the promise of candy was enough to get her to rally.

This is the best I could get of the two of them together. Pitiful.

I love our scary lady in the tree. Just love her.

BVZ was still at work of course, so Bubby helped out.

There were lots of kids running around the neighborhood and sadly, it made her miss her friends in California. A lot. We had a moment when she looked down with tears in her eyes and I asked her what was wrong. She said, "I am just thinking about Ruby right now." We went trick or treating with all of her besties last year and surprisingly she remembered exactly where they went and what they were all wearing (mind like a steel trap). In retrospect I should have taken her to her cousins' house and had her go with them, because truthfully it is kind of depressing to trick or treat by yourself.

She ended up being a great sport about it though and we had a good time. She got a few select pieces of candy when we got home and later on BVZ and I had a few select more (okay, maybe more than a few). Can't wait until next year when this one can get in on the action too.

Louis: Eight Months Old

2011-10-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

Louis is eight months old. Time is flying by and I don't know how to stop it. He is an amazingly hilarious baby...I have never heard a better laugh and we hear it often. He continues to be incredibly sweet and cuddly, and is developing a deliciously mischievous side. He kisses the side of my face, reaches his arms out to be held (so far just to me-suckers!), and shoves his face into the soft spot on my neck.

He loves the bath more than anything, is obsessed with balls (and it still makes me laugh every time I tell someone he loves balls-ha, ha), and can't get enough of those textured board books. He has a serious preference for yogurt and fruit and wants nothing to do with a vegetable. He shoves puffs, crackers, and peas into his face on a regular basis. He can drink out of a straw cup like a big kid, but much prefers to dump it in his lap.

He weighs somewhere around 18 lbs and is crazy long. He is mostly in 12 month clothes because of his length. Sleep continues to be hit or miss. More hit than miss when he's in his own crib. I don't mind so much (although if he wanted to give me a 7 or 8 hour stretch I would be all over it).

He adores his sister and loves his cousins. Every day we think it will be the day he starts crawling, but so far he's been content to moonwalk (crawl backward), and army crawl around in circles. He's starting to pull up on things and still totally digs the jumperoo. His hair is fabulous and grows longer and taller by the day.

Every day with this dude is awesome. I don't know what we ever did without him.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T19:49:00.000-07:00

Me: Wow, what are you going to do with all of that?

Norah: Put it in my mouth.

Norah-isms

2011-10-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

Norah was being particularly funny this morning, and I wanted to write things down before I forget:

This morning she came up to me, said "don't move" and then proceeded to wrap me up in a giant bear hug. She said, "you are in my cocoon."
Norah loves medication of all kinds. If we let her she would take Motrin on an hourly basis. Lou's bottle of gas drops was on my bedside table and she asked what it was for. I told her it was medicine for Louie's toots and she asked if she could have some. Given that she has the toots of a grown man I said sure. I uncapped the bottle and she got a panicked look on her face and said, "wait, mom. Does it go in Louie's butt?"
Norah has an, ahem, effective digestive system. She poops once a day, sometimes every other day, but more times than not it's a huge, huge, HUGE poop. We started calling her a hobo. Lately she's been demanding privacy when she poops but then will call us in to help her, ahem, clean up. This morning she asked me, "was it a hobo?"
I love cereal but I don't like milk. As a result, there is always a half cup or so of milk left in my bowl every morning. Norah loves to finish the milk in my bowl, so it's a win-win. She was slurping it up at breakfast and it was dribbling all over the table. I gave her the side eye and asked if she had spilled any milk. She hesitated and I told her that it wasn't a big deal at all to spill milk and everyone does it, but if she does she needs to tell me so we can make sure to get it off our nice, new table. Not telling me is the problem, not the actual spill. She told me, "mom, I promise to always tell you if I spill milk. And cheese. But only the melted kind."

On a completely different note, here's the family picture from the pumpkin festival two weekends ago. It's not on a 1,700 lb pumpkin, but it's cute nonetheless.

Fleeting

2011-10-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

As those who have been around awhile know, Norah used to be a crap sleeper. We agonized for the better part of two years as to what to do and tried just about everything to make her sleep better. We had just about every contraption ever made for babies (bassinets, co-sleepers, white noise machines, sleep sheeps, etc etc etc). For a solid stretch of eight months or so she slept in our bed every night because it was the only way anyone got any sleep. I worried she would never sleep on her own. I worried she would get too attached or if she slept alone she would feel abandoned. I worried we were somehow doing her wrong. I worried.

Lou on the other hand took to sleeping remarkably well. He slept alone and often and in long peaceful stretches. We thought we had it made.

And then he turned six months old. And wanted to play with us all of the time. And knew when we were gone and he was all alone. And started getting teeth. And started moving like some kind of jungle animal in his crib. And wasn't happy about it.

And so, here we are again.

But it feels different this time around. I don't mind as much. I don't worry as much. Because I know it's fleeting. Because in the blink of an eye he's going to be a kid. A kid who eats real food and sleeps in a bed and goes to school and uses the toilet. A kid who knows what a scepter is and the Spanish word for butterfly. A kid who asks 9 million questions a day and decides worms are nice but kind of disgusting because they eat dirt and probably their own poop. A kid who announces from the back seat of the car that a mermaid must pee out of her belly button because she doesn't have a butt.

Don't get me wrong. I am tired. Really tired. And I would love to sleep without getting drop kicked in the face. But I know that even though it may not be ideal right now, it isn't going to last forever. Most everyone I have talked to about it has found their second child to be easier. They trust their instincts, they don't worry as much (no time, no energy), and they are confident they know what they are doing. I bemoaned to our pediatrician once that I felt guilty that Lou didn't get the kind of attention that Norah did and she reminded me that Lou also isn't getting "the crazy." All of these things are true, but I think fundamentally the biggest difference is that the second time around you really understand that nothing stays the same. They change so dramatically, so quickly and if you look away you'll miss it.

I am a little obsessed with this music right now. It's a kids folk duo (and I apologize in advance, anyone who has a baby in the next 10 years is getting this as a gift from me....it's that good). One of my favorite songs (and really, they're all my favorites), has the lyric: "It's a big world baby, and you're little. For a little while." Maybe it's because Louis is our last and we aren't ever going to experience these "baby" things again, but lately the sentiment seems especially profound. I am trying to appreciate all of the little things, even when they are frustrating and exhausting and demoralizing (believe me, I still have my moments), but with a certain perspective even the shitty days don't seem quite so shitty.

I am lucky to have them. And I want them to know I always felt that way. Even when they were kicking me in the face.

Lou versus Barbie

2011-10-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

When Uncle Kiki was little she would chew on the hands and feet of her Barbies. Like, she would chew OFF the hands and feet. Her Barbie house was basically a horror movie.

Good to know we're keeping it in the gene pool.

C.O.S.T.C.O

2011-10-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

I despise Costco. I get overstimulated by the products and the crowds and always end up making very poor decisions (like impulse purchasing 17 lbs of lunch meat or a giant container of salted caramels). However, I agreed to go last week for one reason.

I was dying to see Reid and Lou in the cart together.

There was some hair pulling, eye gouging, and paci swapping, but for the most part I think they enjoyed it. Look closely and you can see a 3 year old in the main basket. She had a fabulous time enjoying all of the samples. Lou won't eat pureed apples, but he was all over the artichoke dip. Discriminating palate, I suppose.

Pumpkin Festival

2011-10-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

Every year we go to the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival. It's kind of surprising how much I love it, especially considering it involves a ton of traffic, massive crowds, and some questionable street food...all things that normally I would shun. But, there is also a ton of live music, beer drinking on the street, and every pumpkin flavored food you could possibly ever want. I love it. Plus, I love taking our picture on the giant 1,700 lb pumpkin and seeing how our family changes from year to year.

I was super bummed that we weren't there this year for the festival, especially given the fact that Louis has never been. Sigh. I was so bummed that when our friends the H's invited us to the Elgin Pumpkin Festival, we readily accepted even though it was predicted to be 95 degrees. Let's just say it was hot. And dusty. Did I mention how hot it was? There was so pumpkin crusted mac and cheese, no pumpkin micro brew, no live music. There were, however, lots of tractors. And a lady selling gatorade out of a ice chest. Sigh.

We met up with the H's and some of their friends. Sorry this picture is so small. If you look closely you will see 8 lawyers. In one picture. There's got to be a bad joke in there somewhere. Also, a lot of cute kids, including newborn Wallis. She's tiny and perfect.

Here's a rare family pic.

One of the highlights was that a giant tractor trailer hauled people around the farm (it's actually a Christmas tree farm). Lou was such a sport, especially considering the fact I had dressed him in a long sleeve black shirt.

There was some face painting.

And a sheep dog demonstration. That was legitimately pretty cool. Those sheep are wussies.

I sent this picture to Amy and she said I looked like one of the Real Housewives. That's the look I was going for.

You could buy a pumpkin and paint it.

There may not have been beer, but there was good company. It may have been hot and dusty but Norah LOVED it. I am grateful she is the kind of kid who is impressed by just about anything.

We'll totally go back next year.

Ketchup

2011-10-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Get it? A major catch up. Things have been pretty hectic and there's not a whole lot of sleeping going on around here. I blame Lou's teeth (oh yes, now he has two), my stupid bar application (which is now in the mail, thankfully), and the fact that Norah is convinced the backyard sprinkers that come on at 4:00 am are actually fairies.

Norah got two princess nightgowns from Megan a few weeks ago. Even though they are at least 4 sizes too big she wears at least one of them every night.

We went to "Fable Fest" several weekends ago. It was very hot. There was archery and jousting. Norah made a crown. It was really, really hot.

SLB is on a mission to prove to me that there is indeed culture in Texas and so we went to the ballet. It was well done (plus, there was wine). It's no San Francisco Opera, but a worthwhile Sunday afternoon indeed.

Here's a good close-up of the most awesome baby hair in the universe.

This may or may not be a preview of what Lou and Reid are going to be for Halloween....

Norah had a playdate and asked to make cupcakes for the occasion. She was heavy on the sprinkles. Check out her awesome apron. I have a matching one. I went to a benefit for a foundation that supports maternal and fetal medicine in Africa and won them in a silent auction. (Check out the website when you get a chance...it's an amazingly worthwhile cause).

Louis and Reid have broken in the swings at the park at the end of the cul de sac. We've been back several times. They totally dig it.

Louis spends a good part of his day doing baby crunches.

He's on the verge of crawling. Every day I think he's going to get it but he chickens out.

Monday was a school holiday for everyone, so we got to hang out with Megan and Trevor while Aunt S was at work. I pretty much consider myself to be the cool aunt around here. Evidenced by the fact that I spent a good hour letting the kids crawl through the ottoman and taking pictures with a bright flash. It was a 'who can be the best demon' contest.

We are trying to get in the Halloween spirit around here, despite the fact that it is still 9,000 degrees outside.

Norah has been practicing a lot of scary faces.

The boys got matching pajamas. It's pretty unbelievable how cute they are (even though Reid wouldn't wear his hat).

I mean, c'mon. LOOK at this kid!

This one too.

We have run the gamut of Norah Halloween costumes the past couple of weeks. For a long time she wanted to be Jessie (Toy Story), then Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), then a cat. I thought it was close enough to Halloween to spring for the cat costume. Now she really, really, REALLY wants to be "Princess Frosting" (ie, Princess Frostine) from Candyland. We'll see.

Being this cute is exhausting. Too bad its not exhausting at night.

Ruby

2011-10-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

Norah misses her friends a lot. She talks about them all of the time, asks questions about what they might be doing at any given moment, and loves to say "remember when..." and tell me something funny about one of them. Like, the other day she asked me if I remembered how much she liked the slide in Ava's backyard. Or how she once (or 10 times) took a bath with Caleb. Or how Caroline has a pretend ice cream cone toy.

But it is missing Ruby that generates all of the tears around here. We talk about Ruby a lot. A LOT. How much we miss her. How much we love her. How Ruby would like this and that and the other. She puts things away to "show Ruby later." There's a cupcake in the freezer that's "for Ruby." She tells the new friends she meets about Ruby. That she is really nice. And has yellow hair like Rapunzel. Norah wants a princess dress. Aurora is her favorite, but she "already has that one that lives at Ruby's house."

The other day we were driving to school and she was really sad (about Ruby), so I made up a song to make her laugh. I would sing, "Norah's got a friend named Ruby. She is such a cutie. She really likes to...." then I would pause and Norah would shout PLAY DRESS UP! Or READ BOOKS! Or EAT CUPCAKES! We did this for a good 10 minutes and must have gone through like 20 things Ruby liked to do. Finally I think she must have run out of ideas because when it was her turn she shouted TOOT REALLY LOUD!

A girl after my own heart.

Louis: Seven Months Old

2011-09-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

Louis is such a cool baby. He is long and lean and I think he's going to be some kind of track star. His legs are like steel.

He pretty much smiles all the time. Or laughs. Lou's laughing might be my most favorite sound of all times. He gets more mobile every day and I imagine crawling is going to happen sooner rather than later. He does 360 degree circles in his crib every night, which is pretty impressive especially given the fact that we still make him sleep in the sleep-suit. He seems to have moved past his string of sleepless nights and is back on track. Smart boy.

He loves his bottles, is the worst solids eater of all times, and shat up and out the back of his diaper TWICE today. He's really into balls, blocks, trucks, and Norah's Rapunzel doll. He likes to eat books. He's getting his first tooth. His hair is awesome (the pictures don't do it justice).

Love you, Lou. We think you're the best.

Stuff (mostly about Lou)

2011-09-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lack of pictures lately. Things have been hectic. For one thing I have been working on my application to the Texas bar. It's a nightmare. They basically want to know every move I have ever made for the past 7 years. I have to get official job descriptions from former employees. And all of my tax returns. And some letter from the dean of my law school. And 18 moral character references. And a whole lot of other shit that's making my head spin and occupying way too much of my time.

Oh and then there's this. Apparently, these assholes love cedar trees and we've got several in the front yard. That doesn't explain however why I found him in my KITCHEN.

You think the big tall man who lives here would deal with it, right? Not a chance. I captured him with a vase and then suffocated him over night. It's a cruel world.

In happier news, Norah and Louis are enjoying spending their days with their cousins. Reid is really into robots. Well, Reid's parents are really into robots. It's the theme of his nursery, he has lots of robot books, some robot themed clothing... you get the picture. Norah has picked up on this and so when he's around she will put blocks and/or boxes on her feet and hands and walk around saying, 'I am a robot, I am a robot' in order to make Reid smile. It's pretty much completely awesome.

Or she will wear her fairy wings and grant them wishes. The other day I was getting frustrated with the television remote (oh how I miss DirectTV and how much I hate this cable!) because it wouldn't work and she told me that the fairies who live in the television were just taking a break from working and I should be patient because they would be back soon. Funny, because when I was about her age (I think) I remember thinking that little men lived inside of traffic lights and would change them from green to yellow to red. At the time, it's the only explanation for how the lights would change that made sense to me.

Lou and Reid play very well together. And by playing well together I mean they either sit side by side and completely ignore each other or they pull hair and attempt some eye gouging.

I think Louie has surpassed Reid in the length department (although this picture is a bit misleading since Reid is slumped down a bit). I would guess they weigh about the same.

Louie's distrust of solid food continues. I routinely experiment with him in the bumbo, Stokke, and booster chair, but none of those options seem to particularly excite him. He just isn't into purees, but he really isn't ready for non-pureed foods either (he gave me a minor coronary the other day choking on a goddamn puff). So far he is much more into non-traditional baby food-he ate a fourth of a cup of hummus the other day but won't touch a sweet potato for anything.

He's way more into what we are eating and so has tried itty bitty bits of lots of things, but I am not up for the whole Baby Led Weaning process (which basically says skip the purees and feed them what you are eating). I am too scared of choking.

Aunt Amy bought him a straw cup the other day and it's his new obsession. He's actually pretty good and getting the water out of it. Doesn't he look ginormous here?

No crawling yet, but lots of rolling and scooting, and sitting, and baby crunches. As seen here.

Part of my 'if you make me move to Texas I get new dining room furniture demand' was that I got this.

Finally a place to store all of that china and crystal we use so much....

Here's a good shot of the play area in Norah's room. Her room has a freaking play area. It's that big, people!

Lou has abandoned the exersaucer for his new true love, the jumperoo. I can't get a non blurry picture of him it is because he jumps so fast and furiously the camera can't capture it. He's that good.

In other news, it's still hot. I am going to start working one day a week which means Norah will go to a full day of school one day a week. She is so excited to take a nap at school that's all she can talk about. She hasn't taken a nap for months. BVZ is really liking his job even though he doesn't get home most nights until after bedtime. Thank goodness for Bubby and her willingness to suffer through bedtime with me. Lou is sleeping much better, thank goodness. Rather, it was Norah who ended up in our bed at 3:00 am last night, or rather, this morning. If it's not one, it's the other. It rained today. Too bad that didn't make it any less hot.

3:00 am...

2011-09-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

...is when this picture was taken. Lou seems to have come to the conclusion that separation anxiety is in fact a real thing and when he wakes up throughout the night and we aren't there he tends to get a little pissed. Add to that the fact that he can't seem to get the paci back in his mouth when he really needs it (even though he does it reasonably well during the day), and we've had a stretch of very sleepless nights. We have been so lucky with Lou and his sleep thus far, and I think perhaps we've taken him for granted a bit. He needs a better bedtime routine (he pretty much just gets thrown in the crib at bedtime) and so that's going to be the first step. You may notice in the 3:00 am picture that he's not even wearing pajamas. That might be part of the problem.

Firsts

2011-09-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

Now that Lou is a legitimate sitter, the kids can ride together in the grocery cart. Which is great because Norah thinks she's too big of a girl to ride in the grocery cart 'like a baby.' I can con her into still sitting in the cart if she thinks it's because she has to take care of Lou. Here's their maiden voyage:

This is a picture of the first time Norah skied around the house. She found two plastic container lids and a tubular mailer and had a grand time. When I asked what she was doing she told me that she was skiing on ice so that she could escape from jail. And, who says television is a bad thing??

Alot

2011-09-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

I try to pay attention to things like spelling and grammar. I mean, mistakes are inevitable and I am not a stickler like some (Uncle Kiki, anyone?), but I do try and keep it as on the level as possible. There are some mistakes, however, that are unforgivable once someone is past a certain age or level of literacy. It's shocking how many people use it's and its incorrectly. Or their, there, and they're. Or your and you're. But my biggest pet peeve by far is the misuse of the word(s) a lot. Alot is not a word. It never has been, it never will be.

I first met my friend Joe 11 years ago on the first day of law school (feels like a million years ago). He is funny, interesting, and incredibly smart, and one of my all time favorite people. And when we first started hanging out, he thought alot was a word. He was somehow convinced that alot and a lot could be used interchangeably.... kind of like how when you have a word that ends in 's' you can either put an apostrophe after that 's' or you can do an apostrophe and another 's' (e.g., Louis' toy and Louis's toy are both grammatically correct). I told him we couldn't be friends until he straightened himself out regarding this alot business.

So imagine both of our delights when years ago we came across this blog devoted to grammatical errors, and specifically addressed the Alot situation.

Now, both Joe and I consider ourselves to be excellent gift givers. We agree that sometimes the perfect gift doesn't come at the most opportune time, which is why I will go for 3 years without receiving a birthday gift from him and then get something spectacularly awesome in November (note, my birthday is in April). He had been telling me for weeks that Norah's third birthday present was in the works and he came over for dinner on Friday and brought it with him. (As an aside, I have obviously been complaining a ton about how much I miss our friends and how sad I am to have left the bay area because of them, but we also have a ton of great friends here. Shout out to you guys...I am glad we're here). Anyway, he brought a big box that Norah tore into and she pulled out this.
It's the ALOT! It's the ALOT! (Go back now and check that blog link so you can really appreciate how truly awesome it is).

Apparently, Joe gave his talented seamstress mom a picture of the Alot and she sewed him by hand, without a pattern. It's truly one of a kind. Along with the actual Alot came the story of the Alot, which Joe had bound into a book:

With a special inscription. If you can't read it here it says, "For Norm*. So you always know the difference between a lot and Alot." (*Joe has called Norah 'Norm' since the day I told him the story of that nice old lady who thought my adorable baby boy was named Norm.)

It was the best kind of kid gift there is because it was actually more for me than it was for her. She and Louis both love Alot, even though the latter has been banned from Alot due to the massive amounts of fur he pulled out of Alot's head.

Joe hung out with us for the rest of the night, ate massive amounts of lasagna, and got conned into reading a certain someone bedtime stories.

And a good time was had by all. Especially Alot.

A Few Photos

2011-09-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

These two are so in love with each other. They have been since the day Lou was born, but it's been even better since we've been in Texas. Norah takes care of him like a mama lion. And he thinks she's the bees knees.

Lou is obviously doing great. He has adapted just fine and is stoked to have so many people around him that love him. Norah is a little hit or miss. Obviously she loves being around everyone, but she misses her friends, her school, our old house and really, our old life. She is so thrilled by who and what's around her, but has moments of true and profound sadness.

She says the sweetest, cutest things that are breaking my heart. Like the other night I told her that it was Friday and so maybe we could watch a movie. She got very quiet and very sad because she JUST KNEW that Caleb and Baby Lucas and Ruby were eating pizza and watching a movie without her. Or today when I picked her up from her first day of school and her teacher told me that she made a friend but told the little girl that while she wanted to be friends, she already had a best friend named Ruby who she loved and who loved her back. Oh, and Ruby's mom got them matching Tinkerbell kajamas and they are going to have a sleepover and go on the dragon slide when they are 4.

Anytime she is tired or upset she breaks down and sobs that she misses Ruby and isn't going to see her everyday. She will pick up my cell phone or a toy phone that belongs to one of the babies, and "talk" to people back home. She has frequent conversations with Ruby, Caleb, Caroline, Ava, Pamma, Rana (her old teacher), and Tony (the 97 year old neighbor). Of course the upside is that she is mildly obsessed with her cousins and would spend 24/7 with them if we let her. She's also pretty fond of her aunts, uncles, and Bubby. She and Bubby have this running gag where Norah plays mom and Bubby plays "the children." Norah's name for Bubby during this game is "Jewel." Who knows where she comes up with this stuff. The other day we were at Target and out of nowhere she sighed and said, "I miss Jewel."

Our friends made us an amazing book with pictures of the kids ranging from when they were brand new babies to big three-year-olds, with a sweet story about how much fun they've had together and how much they need and love each other. Norah and I read it together every night before bed. We both usually cry (just a little). I can't help it. It is that good (the last page is a picture of the moms with the line, "they are always in your heart no matter where they live"...it kills me every time). Geesh.

Anyway, in happier news, we live right across the cove (so like a 30 second walk) from the pool and playground. It will be awesome when it isn't 9,000 degrees here.

There's even a tire swing.

Here's a sneak peek of Norah's fabulous new room. Yes, I put that tree up (with the much appreciated help of Aunt Stephanie). What you see is only about a third of the square footage that all belongs to Norah.

All Louis does is sit up. He's a sitting maniac. It was all about peer pressure. He saw how good Reid was and he couldn't be left behind.

Norah likes to play at her cousins' house. They have cool toys. Like dominoes.

Lou is just big and gigantic and perfectly delicious.

I went to a Scentsy party at my neighbor's house. I am trying to be neighborly. It gave me a small nervous breakdown.

One of the best things is that we now get to go to all the events we have missed over the years. Like Trevor's birthday party. Where Norah got to bowl.

And get overstimulated by arcade lights.

Again with the loving.

Norah got a haircut yesterday. It looks exactly the same except for she now has cute bangs and no longer looks like a shaggy dog.

You can kind of see it here.

If I were a better mom I would have taken a picture of her before school today, given the fact that it was her first day. But like usual we were running late and then I took an unintended turn because I ended up in the wrong lane (small vent-you can be on a 4 lane road here and then with NO WARNING you will get to a light and 2 lanes will be turn only one way, another will be turn only the other way, and only 1 will go straight. Every time I need to go straight I end up in one of the turn lanes).

Anyway, I had to turn and was panicked because my GPS is worthless out here (it doesn't recognize the 8 million new roads out here) and so I said "shit!" under my breath. Of course from the back seat I hear, "shit isn't a very nice word, mom, you need to apologize." All I could think was that we were going to walk into pre-school, someone was going to ask Norah how her morning was and she was going to say something to the effect of, "it was great until my mom started saying shit." So, I didn't think about taking a picture. This was the best I got, Norah playing with the babies after school. Please note that she is wearing the same dress in almost every photo. She tries to wear that dress everyday. It's a great dress, but good grief.

That's it for now.

Wrap Up

2011-09-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

My good camera was packed away, so I am just now getting a chance to take a look at the photos I took right before we left. We were able to spend a lovely evening at Grandpa Gene's house. It was probably 60 degrees in August. I miss 60 degrees. Norah loves going to Grandpa Gene's house for many reasons, but especially likes the fact that it has all kinds of pictures of her dad when he was little (and had ridiculously long hair) and she gets to run around his old room. She spent a better part of our time there running up to his room and shouting to the rest of us out the window.

She pretended to take a nap "in dad's old bed" and made me take a picture. Can you believe that's BVZ's old bed? I mean, he didn't just grow to be 6'3 after leaving home. He was that tall in high school (and close to it in middle school). He is literally twice as tall as that bed. He must have really done something to piss his parents off.

Lou (who please note was not only wearing winter pajamas, but was wrapped in a blanket) conked out in Ms. Mary's arms.

Uncles Dick and Alan made Norah's day by coming over as well.

It's been so great to have the VZ's across the bay and we miss them a ton.

The Quick and the Dirty

2011-09-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

We finally have internet at the new house. And cable. If you having been keeping track, we left California more than two weeks ago. We stayed with my gracious and generous mom for about 10 days. She doesn't have cable (although she thankfully does have internet). That leaves a lot of television for me to catch up on. I can't wait.

There are lots of new developments around here. BVZ starts work tomorrow. Norah starts school tomorrow. Louis is super gigantic and can sit for hours all by himself. The new house is big and fabulous. New furniture rules. Austin is incredibly hot. We were not in any danger from fires (although my sister was). People are very nice. Almost too nice. We've met lots of our neighbors. They are very nice. Apparently they do up Halloween in a big way, which is a relief. I have a hard time being that nice. No one gets mail delivered to their house, rather everyone has central mailboxes. I hate that. You have to drive everywhere in Texas. I really hate that. Norah is doing great. She really loves her cousins. A lot. Norah really misses her friends. A lot. So do I. Having family around is really great. I can't wait to get a job. I love having more than one bathroom. Our California house went on the market on Friday. That's stressful. Groceries are way cheaper here. That's nice.

Pictures soon. I promise.

Anticipation

2011-08-31T22:34:00.000-07:00

The moving van (finally) gets here tomorrow. Very shortly, I will be spending an inordinate amount of time here:

This picture of the master bathroom only shows about a third of what's actually there. The closet alone is bigger than pretty much our entire California house. Holla'.

Louis: Six Months

2011-08-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Where has the time gone? Little itty bitty Lou is now 6 months old. We don't have our picture chair or the picture bear (they are in a truck in Oklahoma right now), so this will have to suffice and I will do a belated "official" photo when everything arrives.

Oh my sweet Louie Lou. He's the happiest baby in the entire universe. So mellow, so easy going, he's really nothing but a joy to be around. He definitely suffers from a horrible case of second child syndrome. He gets a bath when he starts to stink. He gets a book read to him when I start to feel guilty about it (note to self...feel guilty about this more often!) He hangs out in the exer-saucer more than I would like. Despite all of my shortcomings, however, he is turning out pretty spectacularly.

We had his final echo cardiogram last week to see if 1) his VSD (heart murmur) had closed, and 2) to check one last final time for any abnormalities in his heart's electrical impulses as a result of my autoimmune issues. I am pleased to report we have a 100% all clear on both fronts. He was a dream baby and just relaxed and smiled the entire time he had a cold, uncomfortable wand on his chest. The cardiologist called him a "zen baby" and said it was the easiest exam she'd ever done on a fetus, infant, or child. Not bad.

He has the greatest laugh. We hear it often. Most often when Norah is around. She continues to be his favorite person. BVZ is a close second (they've spent a lot of time together this past month). I am lucky to come in third these days. He loves: formula, ceiling fans, paper towels, my iphone, smothering himself with blankets, his light up seahorse, napping, baths in the infant tub we left in California, grabbing at his sister's hair, his pacifier, any and every toy on the exer-saucer, being tickled, and getting smothered with kisses. He hates: eating solid food, rolling over, baths in the bath seat we got him in Texas.

His hair is thick and shockingly blonde. It looks very red in certain lights, so we're unsure how it will ultimately end up. He has the coloring of a redhead and is fairly translucent. The pediatrician actually commented on how fair and thin his skin is and warned us that for him sunscreen probably would never be enough and if we were going to live in Texas we should invest in some SPF clothing for him on a daily basis. He has the exact same striking blue eyes as Norah does (no curls yet, but hers didn't show up until after her first birthday).

He is nice and solid, but surprisingly only comes in at about the 25th percentile for weight (I can't remember the exact stats from his appointment...how's that second child syndrome for you??). I hope that changes once he decides to be into solid food. He continues to be very tall, in the 75-90th percentile for height. His feet and toes, hands and fingers are incredibly long. He doesn't roll over with any consistency yet, although he is priming himself to crawl-when on his tummy his pushes up like crazy and tries to pull in his knees. He sits up perfectly with very little support and is almost sitting up on his own (Reid is a good teacher on this front).

His sleep is great. He consistently and with very little prodding from us takes 3 decent naps a day and is sleeping through the night with no problem. He wakes up at 5:00 am and I would love that to change to 7:00 am. Overall, however, I have absolutely no complaints on the sleep front.

He's as much like BVZ as Norah is like me. As she likes to say, "the girls are with the girls, and the boys are with the boys." We make a good team.

Where We've Been

2011-08-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks for sure. Lots of packing, lots of fun adventures, a little crying (okay maybe a lot of crying), and some more packing. We tried to squeeze in as much as friend and family time as possible. There were trips to Fairyland.

Lots of visits to the library.

A ton of running around the neighborhood.

Uncle Kiki flew in to save the day and help us pack. She was a serious task master but she made great progress and helped us out so much. We were able to do a few fun things. Like take Norah and Ruby to see the Winnie the Pooh movie (okay, maybe that was fun for Norah and Ruby).

We went to the beach.

We went to the MOMA to see a special exhibit Kiki was interested in seeing (I was too). We decided to take Norah on the off chance BVZ would get something productive done while we were gone. Norah absolutely loved the museum. We left Kiki to wander at her own pace and Norah and I walked through the exhibit together. She is a big fan of Picasso's blue period and decided that lots of the ladies weren't wearing clothes because "their tushies just need a little fresh air."

About halfway through the exhibit is a door to a rooftop sitting area where we took a little break and had some juice.

After making it through the Stein exhibit we went to the top floor which is always my favorite. It's the most abstract of what the museum has to offer...lots of found art, multi-media exhibits, etc. (not my favorite because that's the kind of art I like best-it's not-but always really, really enjoyable). Shockingly, Norah was immediately drawn to the televisions.

And a giant insect sculpture.

Norah had her last day of school.

And as many play dates as we could squeeze in.

Norah and Ruby had a slumber party. They got (courtesy of Ruby's mom) matching Tinkerbell pajamas. Norah was thrilled when she saw them and Ruby kept screaming, "you LOVE Tinkerbell! It's because Tinkerbell is your favorite!"

Caleb and Lucas were cool to eat pizza, watch a movie, and have a group bath, but they drew the line at having a sleep over with the girls. I asked Caleb many times if he wanted to stay, but each time I got an emphatic "no." I put the futon mattress on Norah's floor and told the girls they could sleep together or apart. They chose together. We read lots of books, they got lots of hugs and kisses, and then they were left to their own devices.

More books ensued, as did several rousing games of hide and seek, as did multiple trips to the potty and to say goodnight to myself and BVZ. I thought they might crash on the mattress.

But they didn't. I thought maybe they would sleep in the bed together, but there was too much fairy playing going on.

Finally at about 10:30, Ruby realized that she was going to have to actually sleep at our house because she asked very tearfully to go home. As I got ready to drive her home, Norah became very upset and cried, "but you can't leave! We have SPECIAL BREAKFAST in the morning." Finally they both agreed that they would try to have a sleep over again when they are four (which coincidentally is also when they get to go on the dragon slide at Fairyland....)

They were no worse for the wear and practiced having a sleep over again a couple of days later at a "kajama movie party."

We had to dismantle the kids' rooms which broke my heart. So much time, effort, and money went into those rooms and I am not ashamed to say that I cried like a little kid when the tree in Norah's room came down. She insisted upon helping take it down. I am not sure why she's naked.

We went up to the city a few times to see friends.

And steadily the mountain of boxes grew.

(We got to spend some time with Grandpa Gene and Mary, but those pictures are on my real camera, which happens to still be on a moving van right now).

Without all of our crap, the rooms looked downright spacious.

Norah made one last trip to the wishing well in our neighbor's front yard.

And said good-bye to her friend Tony.

The movers arrived Tuesday at 10:00 am and didn't leave until after 6:00. We learned that buying the movers lunch and giving them your entire leftover stash of beer to take home generates a lot of good will.

It was a huge truck.

The house felt very empty and it made me very, very sad. As much as I bitched about the size, the mortgage, the lack of bathroom space, etc., it was our home and I loved it.

We spent that night in a hotel.

Had a hectic morning including a doctor's appointment for Lou. Then we managed to get 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 suitcases, 2 car seats, 2 carry ons and 1 cat to the airport after dropping off the Prius to be shipped. It went much smoother than anticipated.

At least the kids were being positive...

We had an awesome welcome at the airport and all was well until we realized that someone had taken one of our car seats and left theirs (to their credit, the bags looked exactly the same). Thankfully, there was a phone number on the tag and although it took about 45 minutes of hanging out at the airport (at 10:00 pm), we were able to make the switch.

Since arriving it has been all about hanging out and staying cool. Oh, and buying a fridge, washer and dryer, dining room table, kitchen table, couch, dressers and maybe a nightstand or two. The credit card is smoking. Actually, it got a hold put on it by the credit card company-flagged as potential fraud. Apparently, changing your address and phone numbers online, moving 3,000 miles, and buying thousands of dollars worth of big ticket items is a red flag. Who knew?

Otherwise, we've been trying to get in as much hanging out time as possible.
\
And we are slowly getting the house in shape (our stuff isn't here for several more days). Here's the front.

It's even nicer than we were expecting-the pictures definitely did not do it justice. It's HUGE and very nice and very comfortable. I am anxious to make it our own.

The auntie and cousin fairies paid a little visit and did some decorating.

They also left a certain someone a "comfy Rapunzel doll," which she has not let out of her sight. We are about a 45 second walk to the community play structure and pool. Thank goodness because it would be too hot to walk any further. (Really, 105 degrees at 8:00 pm is just mean and wrong and bad).

Lou has adjusted just fine.

It's been a little tougher on Norah. She misses her friends and her house and her school. She sleeps with a picture of Ruby and whenever she gets sad she wails, "I miss Ruby! I don't get to see her every day!" She told me that although she's sad she doesn't get to see her friends every day when she is with her cousins she doesn't feel so sad. Thankfully, they are the most awesome cousins anyone could ever ask for and last weekend they took her to her first major splash pad. It was really impressive.

It's hot, but there are snow cones.

Bubby has been a great hostess and even lets us run the a/c pretty much 24/7. Even so it's much more comfortable to hang out like this.

We are definitely still adjusting to the idea that we live here now. The heat is pretty unbearable and I have no nice things to say about it. The family has been amazing and I have nothing but nice things to say about them. This bodes well for us. Hopefully it eventually cools down but family is forever.

Distracted

2011-08-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

I've got loads of updates but no time to post them. This is why:

So instead I am just posting my new favorite picture of the monsters.

Blind Sided

2011-08-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

I am very, very, very near sighted. Like, can't see the number on the clock on my bedside table kind of near sighted. My glasses have always had to be pretty thick, so I prefer contacts. I probably wear my contacts 99.9% of the time. When I was a kid I always worried about getting stranded on a deserted island because for sure there wouldn't be any contact solution.

About 4 days ago I was playing with Lou and he reached up and grabbed my eye. Yay for his fine motor skills, but not so good for the inside of my eyelid which he managed to scratch. The next morning I woke up and my eye was pretty much swollen shut. It got progressively worse and so I went to the doctor on Saturday morning and sure enough, the scratch was infected. I got some antibiotic ointment and it's definitely getting much better, but the worst part is that I am not allowed to wear contacts until it's totally healed.

Not to be out done by her brother's attempt to blind me, this morning Norah and I were singing to Louis together and she flailed her arms out for the dramatic finish, and....punched me right in the face, sending my glasses flying. Of course the frames broke. BVZ had to make an emergency run to the store for Krazy glue while I seriously contemplated fixing the frames with duct tape and driving Norah to school that way. Unfortunately it will probably be a few more years before something like that is appropriate payback.

The culprits (lucky for them they're cute):

The Best Village

2011-08-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

I have talked about my village of moms many times...the women who started off as "baby friends" but quickly became best friends. Friends I have only known for 3 years, yet I can barely remember a time in which they weren't a part of my life. And it's not just the moms. I love these kids more than I can say. I have seen them grow from itty bitty babies to pre-schoolers with the most amazing personalities.

Last weekend we all had dinner at our house and our friend who is an amazing photographer came over to take some pictures of the kids. This is one of my favorites and captures how fun they are and just how much they love each other (the only thing missing is Ava....she had just woken up from a nap in the car and wasn't quite ready to have her picture taken).

Leaving this village we have created is at the top of the 'why it's breaking my heart to leave the bay area' list.

Following Her Lead

2011-08-02T22:26:00.000-07:00

Upon the advice of some smart friends, I plan to make Norah a photo book of people and places that will always remind her of her home in California. This past week I have been conscious to have my phone handy and take pictures of her in her natural habitat doing her every day things.

I always (well, except for the days I am running crazy late) walk with Lou in the stroller to pick her up from school and on the way home she always wants to walk through the nursery (plants) that's along the way. Unfortunately the entrance we walk by has a flight of stairs and the ramp is completely on the other side. On Monday, however, BVZ walked with us and so while he went ahead with Lou, Norah and I took our time to walk down and smell the roses.

Yes, she's wearing her Christmas dress in August. It's only 70 degrees here and she picks out her own clothes these days.

Check out what's growing in our front yard. Not going to find that in Texas. Well, maybe there will be some flowers. Brown ones. Shriveled up from the fact that IT WAS 108 GODDAMN DEGREES TODAY.

I have a feeling central air conditioning is going to become my new best friend.

The Blondes v. the Brunettes

2011-08-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

The other day Norah told me that Lou is Rapunzel in the beginning and she is Rapunzel at the end (this will make sense to you only if you have seen 'Tangled').

In the Backyard

2011-07-30T09:45:00.000-07:00