Adventures with Patrick and Molly

Old School

2009-08-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

It was a HUGE day in our house, Patrick started kindergarten today! As far as I can tell, I was the only parent sobbing at drop off. Thankfully I had some lovely oversized sunglasses to hide my tears. Patrick was so excited. He loved it, proclaiming that he was happy there was "no math" and that his favorite part of the day was "recess". How is it possible that my little guy is off to big kid school?

Molly's also growing up quickly, she's dangerously close to being potty trained and is showing interest in sleeping in her big girl bed. My babies are growing up and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Hold me!

Paint It Black

2009-07-17T23:10:00.000-07:00

This was how Patrick looked when I picked him up from summer school today. The teachers let the kids do their own face crayoning ("They were crayons, not paint!" Patrick will remind me). While some of the other kids ~~painted~~ crayoned themselves as Transfomers or Spiderman, Patrick decided to paint himself as a burning house. Oh yes, a burning house. Should I be worried? Thankfully the ~~paint~~ crayon all came off in the shower and his shirt came clean in the wash.

Autograph

2009-07-13T22:39:00.000-07:00

Conversation with Patrick today as we left the grocery store.

P: Mama, how come nobody asked me for my autograph in there?
Me: Your autograph?
P: Yeah, my autograph.
Me: Do people ask you for your autograph?
P: Yeah, I'm a famous singer and dancer.
Me: Oh.
P: Do you want my autograph Mama?
Me: I'd love one!

I love that kid :)

State of Independence

2009-07-04T23:32:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th! Sadly, I did not get a good picture of the kids together. They had cute little matching outfits, you'll just have to trust me.

And from the last few weeks, here's a picture of Molly playing in the yard, and Patrick in the shower. Who knew goggles were necessary for the shower?

Dancing Machine

2009-07-02T23:03:00.000-07:00

I vow to take more videos with our Flip Camera. Because how cute is this little guy?

My Heart Belongs To Daddy

2009-06-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day, to an amazing dad and husband!

School's Out For Summer

2009-06-12T23:26:00.001-07:00

I've been a little weepy all day today. Patrick had his last day or preschool. He's officially off to kindergarten in the fall and I don't think I am ready. A few weeks ago Tom signed him up for AYSO soccer which resulted in me bursting out in tears. How is my little baby old enough to play soccer and be sent off to school every day? A school where he won't be singing and riding bikes and playing with play-doh, but instead will be learning reading, writing and arithmetic. A school where circle time will be mandatory, and not just suggested. A school where someone else will judge his work and rank him against his peers. It all makes me so sad. It's so grown up. And he's my baby.

Patrick's class had a little party today. His teachers told me they would be sad to see him go, that they enjoy having him in their class. He'll be around this summer for camp, but it isn't quite the same. Patrick's favorite teacher will be leaving a few weeks into the summer, to pursue her dreams (she's going to grad school). It's an amazing opportunity for her and we're thrilled for her. But there's a part of me inside that is sad because Molly will never have her as a teacher. Which brings me back to weepy...

I'm not sure it has all sunk in for Patrick yet. I don't think he understands that he isn't going to see all of his friends next year in kindergarten. That he will have a new routine, new teachers, new friends, a new school. Hopefully he will have happy memories of his time in preschool.

Bunny Hop

2009-06-12T00:28:00.000-07:00

Miss Molly is such a girlie girl. She is all about the accessories. Every morning after she gets dressed she wanders the house in search of the perfect shoes, hat and handbag. Sometimes her matching skills are a little off, sometimes they are spot on. Today, she insisted on wearing bunny ears all day (backwards, no less). She wore them to the mall, to the pharmacy, and the farmer's market. You go on with your stylish self girl!

Little Seahorse

2009-06-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

We took a lovely little day trip down to Monterey today. I had been anxious to see the new seahorse exhibit. It was way cool, check it out if you get a chance. They had everything from teeny tiny baby seahorses to sea dragons. The sea dragons were particularly amazing. They look like they are covered in ruffly leaves. Patrick took one look at them and asked if their look was for camouflage. Smart kid!

This week is Patrick's last week of preschool. I cannot believe my little baby will be starting kindergarten in the fall! It will be so strange to have him gone 5 days a week. Patrick seems pretty unaffected by the changes going on. This summer he'll be attending camp at his preschool, back with his favorite teacher. He's looking forward to that. And then in the fall Molly will start 2 days a week! That will give me the time to volunteer at Patrick's school, we've decided to send him to the public parent participation choice school here. So I'll be at the school 3 hours a week. I'm crossing my fingers that it all works out. In the end we figured that any of the choices we made involved a leap of faith, and this was the one that felt most comfortable at this point. We'll see!

Crazy Eyes

2009-06-05T22:59:00.000-07:00

This is why I never have decent pictures of both children. I'd really love to hire a photographer to do beautiful portraits of my children, but I worry "stink eye" and "the sprinter" would make it impossible. Sigh.

Notice Molly's new hair cut. It was sad to see her sweet little curls gone, but her hair was sort of out of control. Her new bob is sweet, but makes her look older. She was a champ during the haircut, no screaming and no barfing (unlike Patrick at that age). Phew!

Hey Mickey

2009-05-31T23:29:00.000-07:00

My poor neglected blog! Still waiting on that new laptop (which I have yet to order), so please do excuse my disappearing act.

Earlier this month we spent a week down in Southern California at Disneyland, Legoland and Seaworld. I look forward to the days when traveling with kids isn't such the production and may actually even be a little relaxing. We had a wonderful time, especially Patrick and Molly. Patrick was completely fearless at Disneyland and was pretty much willing to ride anything. His favorites were Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad and Star Tours. Molly declared everything a "fun ride!", but seemed particularly impressed with anything in Fantasyland. We had lunch with the princesses (per Patrick's request). He told them all his name was Luke Skywalker. Without missing a beat Cinderella replied "Oh, your kingdom is very far, far away!". Patrick was still smitten with the princesses, although he was a little disappointed that they didn't remember him from his last visit with them (at Disneyworld last year).

After Disneyland we went a little further south and spent a few days in Carlsbad. I wasn't quite sure what to expect at Legoland but we had a really, really great time. Patrick was at the perfect age to really enjoy it. We had only planned for one day at the park, but next time I would plan on 2 days (especially since the park has very short hours). The Lego displays were pretty amazing, there was a recreating of Barack Obama's inauguration, complete with a tiny Aretha Franklin and hat. Awesome! Legoland also has a small aquarium, complete with Lego people in the tanks. It was sort of interesting, but not worth the extra price of admission (we had free coupons).

Seaworld was just OK. The Shamu show was awesome and makes me rethink my decision to major in business when I could have gone to school for marine biology and been an orca trainer. But the other exhibits were pretty similar to things we can see at the San Francisco Zoo or the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Yawn. I would definitely skip that one the next time.

More pics on Flickr!

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

2009-05-06T23:06:00.000-07:00

Patrick and Molly had check-ups with the pediatrician today (one of the benefits of having birthdays close together, they can go in at the same time). For some reason Patrick was super excited about seeing the doctor, even though his last visit to the pediatrician involved 5 shots so we could register for kindergarten. Patrick has a little bit of a problem with the vision test, it was hard to tell if he was having a hard time seeing or if he was just bored with answering the nurses questions. We get to go back in in 3 months for another check. I'm really hoping he doesn't need glasses. Patrick weighed in at a petite 37 pounds and 41.5 inches, which puts his around the 20th percentile. I guess I hadn't realized that he was on thew small side, but it was confirmed today when I tried to put a pair of size 5, elastic waist shorts on him and them slid right down to his ankles. Molly weighed in at 26 pounds and 32 inches, which puts her in the 90th percentile. Go figure! She took her 3 shots like a champ, no tears at all. Not like a certain drama prone boy whose name rhymes with Batrick.

Now that the whole swine flu thing seems to have died down, and Tom is not longer slammed by it at work, we are going on a little road trip. Yeay! We're planning on seeing Mickey, Legos and Shamu. Please, oh please let the kids be angels in the car. Pretty please with a cherry on top. I'm begging.

Celebration

2009-04-19T23:44:00.001-07:00

I'm a blogging slacker! In my defense I still need a new laptop, I can't resize photos on this one. Since I last posted we went to Tahoe, celebrated my birthday, celebrated Easter, celebrated Patrick's birthday, and had a party for both kids. Next up is Molly's second birthday on Friday, then our wedding anniversary. Add in a few birthday parties for small friends and we have been busy! So click over to Flickr and you can see some pictures of what we've been up to, here are some previews! The first one is from today at the zoo. Molly is a tad obsessed with rhinoceroses right now, so we thought she would enjoy the chance to view one in person. Who knew they stunk so much? Molly was happy, but kept asking if the rhinoceros would bite. Hee!

And can you feel the birthday love here?

And in school news....Patrick got into both the public school and private schools we applied to. Last week we made the decision to send him to private. But I don't seem to be sitting well with it :( which makes me think we need to rethink it. I wish the future of public education in California didn't seem so bleak. Sigh.

Little Leprechaun

2009-03-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Oops

2009-03-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's Day is coming up so we dig out the decorations from the garage over the weekend. I had my decorations up for way too long last year (think into April) and I swear to you I never noticed this until I put up the banner this year. Me thinks this was probably made in China.

Molly is all about the dogs lately, or as she calls them, "shushes". Guess what everyone in this house is always telling the dogs? Shush! She's still working on Louie's name but she knows "Ella", she just pronounces it like She is speaking in Spanish. Bravo!

Hello It's Me

2009-03-04T22:36:00.000-08:00

I still haven't bought a new laptop but I did want to post 2 quick pictures. We're all doing well. In addition to worrying about kindergarten for next year I am now worrying about summer camp and what to do for that. Last year I signed up Patrick for 3 or 4 weeks of summer school, which probably wasn't enough for either one of us. Molly's vocabulary is rapidly expanding, it seems like she picks up a new word or two every day. Her newest words include "appie" (apple), "sippy" (sip), "pree" (pretty) and "bing" (bling). Now who would teach a baby to say bling? ;)

A few weeks ago Patrick went to a birthday party where "the real life Spiderman!" made an appearance. Patrick was in heaven. Spidey was kind enough to pose for a quick picture with his biggest fan.

And Molly continues to be completely stubborn about her hair, despit the fact that it hangs in her eyes when she pulls out her hairclips. Tom held her arms down so I could put in little piggies the other night. She screamed until she could get out the rubber bands. Sigh.

Little Valentine(s)

2009-02-14T23:40:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Patrick declared today "the best Valentine's Day ever!". He went to a birthday party this afternoon where they had a jumpy house INSIDE, which just about blew his mind. Add to that a little Valentine present and some chocolates an he was over the moon. We had a nice dinner at home, which even included heart shaped brownies for dessert. Hope you all had a great day too!

Where Did I Go?

2009-02-01T23:27:00.000-08:00

My laptop had a small crash last month and while it's somewhat recovered, I cannot load any software on since the CD-ROM drive is completely broken. So no photos, and I know what's what you all come for anyways so I haven't been updating. Bad me. I hope to get a new laptop soon.

So what's new int he last month? I've pretty much been focused full time on Patrick's schooling for next year and the big decision between public school and private school. I've spent way too much time on this, you wouldn't believe the applications for kindergarten. For the private school you even need recommendations! For a 4 year old! It's crazy. We ended up applying to a public choice school that provides a "progressive education", a Catholic K-8 school, and a private K-12 school. We won't hear anything on any of the programs (the public one has a lottery) until sometime in March. I have a feeling my anxiety level will not do down until we sign on the dotted line somewhere.

Patrick is doing well, he has started to do a little bit of reading. He goes back and forth between being really interested and being completely uninterested. I'm trying not to push. Batman, Legos, and Matchbox cars are still obsessions. New obsessions include Barack Obama and Chinese New Years. Go figure. We talk a lot about kindergarten and Patrick seems to be excited, but I am going to miss him so much when he is gone every day.

Molly is stubborn. That's the one word I would use to describe her these days. It is a battle to get her dressed in the morning, to change her diaper, to get her to eat, to get her in her carseat, etc. She loves her big brother and they play together pretty well. Their favorite game is chasing each other around the house. Molly's current obsession is shoes. She likes to change her shoes several times a day, and if you come over she will want you to take your shoes off so she can try them on. I've signed Molly up for preschool in the fall, starting in September she will go Tuesday and Thursday morning, just like Patrick did. I hope it helps her come out of her shell, she doesn't have as much exposure to other kids as Patrick did at this age. And for that I have mommy guilt.

In grown up news, our bathroom remodel is finally completely done. Tom's been busy at work and we're thankful that he's in an industry that seems pretty recession proof. I've been sewing more and cooking more and working on perfection my domestic goddess skills. I have a looong way to go.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays To You

2008-12-27T23:14:00.000-08:00

Once again I have been a neglectful blogger. We've been so busy over the last few weeks, hopefully next week will give us a chance to decompress.

In the past few weeks we...

Visited Santa

Made gingerbread houses at cousin Danielle's

Went to Patrick's preschool holiday sing (in the rain, ugh!)

Celebrated Christmas Eve at Grandma Mildred's

Set out cookies for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer)

Opened presents Christmas morning

Spent the afternoon with cousins and grandparents

And had dinner with Nana and Papa, where Uncle Nick gave Patrick this awesome Batman Big Wheels

And my Buche de Noel turned out fantastically

So there you have it. The last 2 weeks in pictures. Hopefully we'll have some adventures to report on next week :)

Big Science

2008-12-12T23:30:00.000-08:00

A few months ago the newly rebuilt California Academy of Sciences opened up in Golden Gate Park. I've been dying to take the kids but I also have a low tolerance for all the crowds a new museum brings. So finally this week I took the kids along with Nana and Papa. I loved the Academy of Sciences and Steinhart Aquarium when I was a kid, so it was fun to see that they kept so many of the original displays. We were all pleased to see our favorites return (mine was African Hall, Nana's was the alligators, and Papa's was the pendulum). If you haven't been, it's a must see. We plan on returning as much as we can in the next year (with our newly purchased family membership).

Patrick finally got to see a complete dinosaur fossil (skeleton?). He's been asking to see one. Here he is in front of the T-Rex, which it turns out has freakishly tiny hands.

Nana and Molly at the touch pool in the aquarium. Molly really, really liked it and probably would have happily climbed right in with the starfish. BYO Purell.

The alligator exhibit had some silly mist being pumped in so they were hard to see. This is the albino alligator. And they kept the art deco seahorse railing from the original building. Very cool!

More Academy pics on Flickr! Plus pics of our Christmas tree, check it out!

And in house news, out bathroom remodel is 95% done. Whoo hoo! We're still missing the quarter round trim tiles for the shower. Never mind that they were ordered the first week in October and we were told they would be in in a week. Don't order tile from Walker-Zanger unless you have nothing but time. The tile won't be here until mid January, so Jo will finish once that comes in. He's still got a few tiny things to do like adding cabinet hardware but we're mostly done. I need to figure out where to put the towel rack, and ideas? Common sense would be putting it under the window right outside the shower, but I hate the thought of covering up that pretty glass tile. I was thinking of maybe putting a train rack style bar over le toilette, like you often see in hotels. What to do?

Broke Down

2008-12-03T23:17:00.000-08:00

My laptop inexplicably died over the weekend. It had tens of thousands of pictures on it (someday I will get around to printing some of them) that had mostly been backed up. Tom was able to save me, but it involved completely recovering it, back to the original factory settings. Fortunately he was able to get all the pictures off before he did it (safe mode? I have no idea what that is). So I am back in business with pictures to share.

We had a nice Thanksgiving, Tom took a few days off so we had grand plans for something fun. Instead we shuffled around the house and mostly stayed in. We did get the Christmas boxes down from the attic and went to the Festival of Lights parade. And we'll will get a tree this weekend. Patrick is very excited. I am very nervous. I have a nice collection of Christopher Radko ornaments that I love. I had vivid visions of my lovely but fearless Molly crashing right into the tree and glass flying everywhere. I picture things like this often. Tom tells me it is not normal. I'm not so convinced.

A few pics from Thanksgiving and the parade...

And just for fun, a few outtakes of our Christmas card pictures.

(She's trying to bite him here!)

Be Thankful

2008-11-20T22:25:00.000-08:00

Patrick came home yesterday with a little book he made at preschool this week. On each page he wrote something he was thankful for and drew a little picture. Here's what Patrick is thankful for:

Mommy
Daddy
Our house
A sinking ship
A ship with a man on it
Meteors
Me (as in himself)
Molly
Me again

Oh. My. Goodness. It made me laugh so hard. Sinking ships and meteors? Where does he come up with this stuff? How do preschool teachers keep straight faces when they write in these books? This is definitely one that goes in the SAVE box.

In other news, I decided a few months ago that I wanted to learn how to sew again. I used to know my way around a sewing machine and patterns but somehow I forgot all of it. So a few weeks ago I bought a pattern, and some fabric and asked my mom for help in figuring it all out. She was happy to help me, and today, I made Miss Molly this little Christmas dress...

Whoo hoo for me!

Seaside Adventure

2008-11-16T23:49:00.000-08:00

We've had goregeous, wonderful, amazing weather over the last few days. Last night while watching the news we noticed that is was supposed to be 80 degrees at the coast today (which is rare even in the summer!) so it was the perfect day for a little trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's one of Ptrick's most favorite places int he world (right behind Disneyworld and Disneyland) and Molly loved looking at th "fish! fish! fish!". It was just one of those wonderful days that makes you happy to live where we do.

Someday Molly will not scream when placed in this clam.

Fish!

Cool Dad Tricks

True Story

2008-11-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

Today when I was driving Patrick home from school out of nowhere he asked me "Mama, why is Sarah Palin hot?". Exsqueeze me? "Patrick, where did you hear about Sarah Palin?" I asked. And like he loves to answer me, he said "Mama, I know everything". Further probing did not produce any details about where he heard this so I let it drop for a while. I brought it up again this afternoon and he told me Sarah Palin was "Sean McCain's helper" and that they were running for president. Now we watched every debate at home but I am pretty sure Patrick was not paying any attention to these. A few months ago he started getting excited every time he saw Barack Obama on the TV, but I really don't think he knew there was a campaign going on, he was just excited because he was convinced that Barack Obama was from Morocco. So anyways, I questioned him about it again tonight and he told me he had heard about Sarah Palin from Andrea and Matt. As in my cousin Andrea and her new husband, who we had dinner with last weekend. I know we talked politics but I am confident "Sarah Palin is hot" and "Sean McCain" were never mentioned. I tried hard to contain the laughs. A quick phone conversation with Andrea confirmed that she and Matt hadn't whispered sweet nothings about Sarah Palin into Patrick's ear. So where on earth did he pick this up? I am guessing it had to have been at school today. Why are 4 year olds discussing politics with each other? I imagine he will learn all sorts of interesting things next year in kindergarten. Oh boy.

Hey, Hey, It's Halloween

2008-10-31T23:40:00.000-07:00

It was a long day, so this is going to be a short post. Patrick loved every minute of it, he declared today "the best day ever". Molly caught on to trick or treating very quickly and enjoyed it. We got fewer trick or treaters this year, and have lots of leftover candy as a result. The bubble fogger machine I hunted down online was a hit. Both kids stayed up too late. Daylight savings ends this weekend. Mama is so, so tired and convinced the kids will not take the opportunity to "sleep in an hour". Gah.

Happy Halloween!

Cooking InThe Kitchen

2008-10-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

Look at the two little hams I had in my kitchen this afternoon. The aprons were a gift last year from Danielle, aren't they adorable?

Little Pumpkin

2008-10-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe October is almost over! Halloween is just around the corner and we've been busy getting ready. On Saturday we took the lids to the pumpkin patch (not the first trip, but this time we actually bought pumpkins). I felt bad dressing them in long-sleeved shirts just so I could take pictures. It was about 80 degrees!

Today Patrick and I met a friend at Great America for their "Nick or Treat" Halloween party. I think Patrick has been spoiled by Disney characters, he was not so impressed with Blue and Sponge Bob, even though they were handing out candy. Patrick didn't wear his costume because it is long and black (hmm, any guesses as to what he is going as?), but he and Jo Ann still had fun.

And on the home front, our bathroom remodel has turned out to be a lot more involved than initially planned (isn't that always the case?). It turned out our we had a leaking toilet, which attracted termites in the floor joists. So the joists had to be removed and replaced. And then there was a bunch more with plumbing vents and non-standard walls. In any case, we're gaining a few inches in the room and putting in a much needed medicine cabinet. I took a few pictures but the room is so small it is hard to take photos that show anything!

We have another busy week, and on Friday Patrick's preschool will have their annual Halloween Sing. I cannot wait, it is too adorable to see them all in costumes.

Autumn Leaves

2008-10-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

I've been a delinquent blogger again. Somehow my kids seem to be kicking my ass on a daily basis. I was talking to a friend recently about how 18-24 months seemed like such a difficult time with Patrick. I had forgotten about it until Molly got there. It amazes how similar she is to Patrick at that age. Every trip in the car is a struggle because she arches her back until I pin her down (screaming and crying) together into her car seat. In Molly's eyes, strollers are for wimps, she repeats the arched back and screams when I try to put her in it. She prefers to walk everywhere which turns every walk into a long and wandering one. Patrick seems to be going through a growth spurt, he is eating everything in sight and sleeping really well, sometimes until 9am (if only Molly would too!). He's still loving school and making new friends. Current obsessions include Batman, Legos and Disneyworld. He's at a really fun age now, he's just fun to hang out with.

On the house front, we've started our much antipated bathroom remodel. We let Patrick loose in the bathroom with some Sharpies the day before it was torn out. His only intruction was to leave the window alone. He thought it was the most hilarious thin in the world, and promised us that he knows he can never do that again. Like most little boys, Patrick is a fan of anything contruction related. He loves watching our contractor at work, and says he wants to "be a builder with Jo when I grow up". Earlier this week they shared a snack together on the front porch. Patrick was in heaven.

When the bathroom was torn out there was a lot of water damage, which we were expecting. What we weren't expecting were the subterranean termites that had eaten their way through some of the joists. So the project became a little more complicated. And since all that wood had to come out we decided to move the wall back a little bit, which necessitated replumbing everything. You know how it goes. Can't wait until it is done!

And in the "New Of The Wierd" category, I have ths to report. Molly has been taking amazing long naps while all of the contruction is going on. This is the child who usually wakes up from her nap if the doorbell or phone rings. But somehow she manages to sleep through power saws and sledgehammers. Right outside her room. Go figure.

Baby Mine

2008-09-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

My two babies, couldn't you just eat them up?

So Long Mickey Mouse

2008-09-18T23:02:00.000-07:00

We're back from Disneyworld! Patrick had an absolute and complete blast, he soaked up every single little detail and loved it all. It makes me want to take them back when Molly is 4 because it seems like such a perfect age for the Disney experience. Plus, at 40+ inches Patrick could most most everything. Patrick's favorites included Thunder Mountain Railroad, the monorail, the Kilimanjaro Safaris, Star Tours, and meeting the princesses (hubba hubba, he has stars in his eyes). Molly's favorites included running around after Patrick, the model trains at Epcot, the monorail, and frozen strawberry fruit bars. It was a wonderful time to go, the lines were pretty much non-existent everywhere we went. We missed the hurricanes, but did get a taste of Florida's rain which was really quite spectacular (I am thankful it doesn't rain like that here!). We all had fun but it was go, go, go all week and when we got home on Saturday night we were exhausted.

Here are a few of my favorite pics. I took about 500 pictures, and uploaded about 100 to flickr (including pictures from Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party), so please look over there too!

It's back to the grind here for all of us. Patrick is now in school Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings, and until the end of fall he'll be taking science classes on Thursday mornings. I think I am going to sign my fearless Molly up for gymnastics while Patrick is in school. My plan to get her down to one nap a day seems to be working, which is better for preschool pick-ups but unfortunate for me because I used to nap with her in the mornings sometime while Patrick was at school.

And on the house front, our hall bathroom is getting completely torn out in about 2 weeks. If you have never seen it it is quite possibly the smallest full bathroom ever known to man. It's the last big house project we have left, I'm really excited to finally get it done. Tom and I are going to pick out tile tomorrow, whoo hoo!

Missing Persons

2008-09-03T23:35:00.000-07:00

I've been a neglectful blogger. I can't even blame it on being super busy because school was out, summer camps were over, and we spend most of our time at home. But oh, how those weeks kicked my behind. I decided to use the break from our regular schedule to work on getting Molly down to one nap. Mission mostly accomplished. It didn't help that Molly was teething yet again, this time getting tooth #13 and 14, her eye teeth. Despite being a calm newborn Molly has proven to be just as willful as her brother, maybe even more so. Patrick was beyond bored being home all day and made sure to tell me as much. At least 10 times a day. That boy has boundless energy, it's really rather amazing. Anyone who spends a few hours with him is sure to comment on how worn out they are. Trust me, I know. In the last few weeks they've started to play together, which warms my heart to watch. Molly no longer seems hell bent on destroying anything Patrick is working on. Yesterday she sat patiently with him while he did a puzzle of the 50 states, she just watched and handed him pieces. Patrick continues to adore Molly and loves teaching her new things. Today he taught her how to jump on the bed. I am thinking he may need to run future lessons by me before hand.

Some quick picks of what we've been up to over the last few weeks...

Molly was cute.

Patrick went to his first Giants game. That's cousin Danielle in the background.

It got really hot and the kids played in the "pool".

We went to Chico for the wedding reception of cousin Gina (they got married on a mountain top in Colorado!).

Patrick played a LOT with Legos. New obsession!

And today, preschool started up again! Patrick's in new room this year and will go 3 mornings a week. Notice the ever present Batman cape.

Coming soon, another big adventure! Wish us luck on the airplane :)

The First Cut IsThe Deepest

2008-08-11T23:16:00.000-07:00

For years I've been hearing about trips to the ER and Urgent Care from my mommy friends. Mostly mommy friends who have boys. I considered myself lucky that we hadn't had to make one of those trips. Until today. We had a completely freak accident in the kitchen. Patrick pulled down a Cuisinart bowl off the counter that had the sharp chopping blade in it. And of course the blade flew out of the bowl and across his cheek. My poor baby! Patrick was freaking out, I was freaking out, Molly was freaking out because we were freaking out. I called Tom just as he was going into a meeting to have him come home and I took Patrick to Urgent Care. The cut wasn't deep enough for stitches, but did need some Dermabond glue. He was actually really, really, really lucky. It could have easily been so much worse.

Patrick thinks his face "looks like a zipper!".

And you may notice Patrick's cape around his neck. He has seriously worn it for the last 3 or 4 weeks straight. He only takes it off for school and to sleep. He is obsessed.

And I took this picture at the park this afternoon. Molly can now climb the slide and go down by herself. She has no fear. She's just like her brother. We may be in for it!

Swiss Cheese

2008-08-03T23:38:00.000-07:00

2 years ago cousin Olivia came out to visit from Switzerland. This year she is back with her mom and dad and 2 brothers for a few weeks. So many cousins! I think last time we figured out that Patrick and Olivia are fifth cousins. Pretty cool, huh? They've been busy traipsing all over California and the West and going to all sorts of cool places we've never been (can you believe we've never been to Alcatraz?).

Yesterday my mom and Michael had a BBQ for everyone in the family to come and meet the Swiss cousins. Cousin Catherine (Olivia's mom) is a professional face painter and spent some time painting the kids faces after dinner. Patrick of course wanted nothing to do with it, but check out the cool faces!

See Patrick's Batman cape in the picture above? He's been wearing that every day for over a week. The role playing has moved beyond firefighters, we now play super heroes. I suspect this is going to be a long phase.

Cut Loose

2008-07-29T23:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had 12 inches of hair cut off yesterday. It's now chin length. I don't remember the last time I had hair this short (1986?). I liked having long hair but it was constantly getting caught in car doors, under the straps of my diaper bags, and in Molly's fist as she pulled handfuls out. Plus it took so long to straighten it every day. You can just call me Shorty McHair.

Wedding Bells

2008-07-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

We had a very exciting weekend. My cousin Andrea got married in Carmel Valley on Saturday. Her new husband, Matt, is a fantastic guy and we couldn't be happier for them. Patrick was honored to serve as one of their ring bearers (or "ring bear" if you ask him). Andrea was an amazingly beautiful bride. The wedding was perfect and lovely, and Patrick was too, too cute in his tiny tuxedo. I took about a million bazillion pictures, here are some of my favorites.

Congratulations and best wishes to Matt and Andrea! We wish you a lifetime of love and happiness!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2008-07-16T23:20:00.000-07:00

Mine grows with 2 little cuties!

Recently, I was whining to my mom about the fact that Molly pulls rubber bands and bows out of her hair, and is a general spaz when I try to comb it ir do anything with it. She reminded me that when I was young, I used to pout and whine while she did my hair, and I swore that if I ever had a little girl I would let her wear her hair however she wanted and I would never force braids or bows or anything else. And you know what? I totally remember saying it. Crap.

Walk On By

2008-07-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

It's official: Miss Molly is walking! She spent about an hour before bedtime practicing going back and forth across the family room. Patrick is her biggest cheerleader. It's all just too cute.

Miss Independence

2008-07-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! We went to Grandma Mildred's annual BBQ, Patrick had fun playing with his cousins. And Nana and Papa were nice enough to take Patrick to see fireworks since it was too late for Molly. A good day for everyone!

Walk My Way

2008-07-03T23:31:00.001-07:00

Check out Miss Molly's new trick!

Summer Jam

2008-06-23T23:38:00.000-07:00

Guess what I've been doing? Making jam! Patrick's been helping as both my official taste tester and cherry pitter. In the last few weeks I've made about 18 jars, which will definitely be enough to get us through the year. Between buying all of the jars and the cases of fruit, I am pretty sure I've spent way (WAY) more than I would have spent on a few jars of Costco jam. But homemade jam is surely more delicious and maybe my scrawny little apricot tree will bless us with a bumper crop next summer!

Summer Days

2008-06-21T22:26:00.000-07:00

Happy summer! It's been crazy hot for the last few days, in the upper 90s. Every summer there are a few days that make us sit and pat ourselves on the back for putting in central air conditioning with our remodel. Yesterday was one of them.

Patrick has his first week at preschool camp last week. He goes again next week and then we're taking some time off. He's also been keeping busy with swim lessons twice a week. Yesterday for the first time he swam the long length of the pool, yay Patrick!

Molly's been practicing standing on her own, which will hopefully soon lead to walking. We're also making progress on the sleep front (knock on wood), she's been sleeping through the night every so often but when she does she gets up at 6am. Good times. Molly's favorite activity lately has been standing on the couch, looking out the window and pointing at any "buh" she sees. Today she actually let me brush her hair and put a little piggy in. She picked out a few pieces in front but managed to leave it in for 5 hours or so. Progress!

And remember my post about my post about my little baby apricots? Look who is almost ready to be picked? Yummmmm!

Who's Your Daddy?

2008-06-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

Poor Tom caught a stomach bug this weekend and spent a big chunk of the weekend sleeping. Poor guy! All father's day plans were put on hold today, we're going to try for a do-over tomorrow if Tom is able to keep any food down. I was sad for him because he does so much for all of us, I was looking forward to him having a special day. So while it was an anti-climactic day, I want him to know how much we all love him, and how much we appreciate all that he does for our family. Here's hoping for a healthier tomorrow...

Summertime

2008-06-07T23:28:00.000-07:00

Patrick's last day of preschool was on Thursday. I was so sad. He's had an absolutely amazing teacher this year and I was very sad to see him leave. Next year he'll move to a new room with new teachers and a new schedule (MWF). This summer he's spending a few weeks at "camp" at preschool and through the city. We also have a few weeks with nothing planned, I'm hoping we can do some day trips to Great America and the zoo. I may even study up on public transportation since the price of gas is so insane.

Here are a few pictures from Patrick's last day. This is Miss Tiffany, Patrick's teacher. We are going to miss her!

These are Patrick's 2 best friends at school. Braden is on the left and John is on the right.

Aloha

2008-06-05T23:14:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad blogger! We recently returned from a wonderful 2 week trip to Kauai. I thought about blogging while I was gone but I didn't. Then I meant to post pictures when we got back, but I didn't. So we've been back for almost a week now, and while I'm not blogging a bunch of pictures, I did manage to upload a bunch into Flickr, go check it out.

We went with Nana & Papa, and Uncle Nick and Leah. Everyone had a great time exploring the island. Patrick had a complete blast and a good chunk of every day swimming. Molly mostly enjoyed the pool, and thought sand at the beach made a tasty snack. Tom enjoyed having 2 weeks off of work and spending time with the kids. And I just enjoyed it all. So here are a few pictures, check out the rest in Flickr. I promise to be a better vacation blogger in the future :)

And how could a set of Kauai pictures be complete without an obligatory chicken picture. There seemed to be MANY more chickens this year than on our last visit 3 years ago. We were reminded of the growing chicken population every morning at about 5am with a few roosters in the yard :P

Mama

2008-05-11T23:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a very lovely day. Tom and Patrick made us all breakfast this morning. Tom does not cook much at all so this was a very big deal! It's nice to have a special day :)

We've been busy and I haven't been so good at keeping up with the blog. We're getting ready for a big trip and I am a little nervous fore Molly's first plane ride. When Patrick was her age he had been on several plane rides, but with two kids it seems a little more intimidating. OK, a lot more intimidating. And I'm having nightmares about the amount of luggage we need to bring!

Patrick started swimming lessons a few months ago. He has his good days and bad days in the pool, but he is completely comfortable going completely underwater, floating on his back and diving in. He's working on pushing off from the side of the pool and not freaking out when he gets to the middle of the pool. Last week he went on his first school field trip, all the way to the zoo. This one was probably a bigger deal for me as the thought of him going on a school bus and being away all day freaked me out a bit but he did really well and had a fabulous time. Patrick has started noticing differences in people and always seems to point them out to me in a loud voice in a public place. He's become so much more of a little boy and seems so grown up. He loves his sister fiercely and is extremely protective of her. I love watching him interact with her, it gives me the warm fuzzies.

Molly is cruising around as a rapid rate but still not walking. Everyone seems to think it will be any day now but I'm not so sure. She says a few words now, including Dada and Mama and something I think means "more". Sleep is still an issue. I wrote about it several months ago and honestly, it hasn't gotten much better. I was so convinced that we had a good sleeper when she started sleeping through the night at around 5 months, but then the teething started and in the last 7 months she's slept through the night twice. Napping is also a little wonky right now, she's still taking two naps a day but they seem to be getting shorter. I thought she might be ready to consolidate to one nap but by 10am every day she hits the wall and can't keep her eyes open. Sleep issues aside, she's a very easy and loving baby who adores her big brother.

I feel like a very lucky mama today!

Maria, Maria

2008-04-29T21:57:00.001-07:00

Guess who I got to meet tonight? The first lady of California, Maria Shriver. She had a private book signing for the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, and somehow my friend Leticia (who can be found at her blog Tech Savvy Mama, and on the DC Metro Moms Blog) managed to get an invite for me. It was an interesting event, there were some completely hard core bloggers there (as in they had their laptops out and were typing away during the Q&A, I have absolutely no idea what they found so compelling). Maria talked about her books, and signed copies afterwards. I had received an advance copy of the book but failed to actually start reading it until this afternoon. The book is short. Very short. I finished the entire thing in less than 15 minutes. But it is sweet, it mas a nice message to spend some time every day thinking about who it is you want to be, as is something that evolves.

And Maria was completely nice. She asked me about my kids, I knew she also had a son named Patrick so we talked about what a great name it was. Still not sure I'd vote for her husband though ;)

Party Girl

2008-04-27T23:39:00.000-07:00

Molly's birthday party was on Saturday, and I didn't even cry! It was a gorgeous day, and Molly seemed pretty excited to have all eyes on her for the day. The theme of the party was cupcakes, chosen from a moment of inspiration I had when my mom gave me a giant cupcake cake pan for Christmas. It looked easy enough to make. Boy was I wrong. I called my cousin Danielle in a complete panic last week because my cake was bad. Oh so very, very bad. Danielle helped me trouble shoot some of the problems I was having, and them being the total sweetie that she is, she offered to make the cake even though she was headed out of town. The cake turned out completely gorgeous, much better than anything I would have been able to do. Molly was very tentative with it, and mostly just mushed around the frosting. It was a great day!

Check out my party dress!

Uncle Nick taught us all cool party tricks to do with orange peels.

Molly with her Godparents

Getting ready for cake in her special birthday tee

Cake time!

And today was our 12th wedding anniversary :) It ends a 30 day period in which we celebrate my birthday, Patrick's birthday, Molly's birthday, and the birthdays of several small friends. Most years Easter in thrown in there too, we lucked out this year! This year it has been really bad because Tom had a huge project that he's been working on for 2 years go live this weekend. He went to work at 4 am the day of the party, came home for the party, then went back to work. He worked today as well, and will probably be getting into the hospital by 6 am every day this week. We are VERY much looking forward to vacation in 3 weeks!

Birthday Girl

2008-04-24T22:46:00.000-07:00

Good golly, Miss Molly is 1 today!

It's so hard to believe she's already one. The last year has just zipped on by, it seems like yesterday I was anxiously awaiting our sweet baby girl. It still amazes me to think that we have a girl, I was so comfortable in my role as a boy mom. I still get a little squee inside when I take pretty little pink dresses out of the laundry and put bows in her hair. In the picture above, Molly is wearing a dress I bought long before I was ever pregnant with her. I thought it was so pretty, wand worth putting away just in case I ever had a baby girl. So I thought it was fitting that she wear it today.

Molly has just been a precious joy in our lives. She's so similar to Patrick in so many ways (inability to sleep through the night being at the top of that list!), and so different in others. Molly absolutely adores Patrick, she is never far from his side and he doesn't seem to mind one bit. When he plays with his Playmobil men of Legos at the dining room table she will sit on the sidelines and watch, content to just be near him. Just in the last week she has started saying "dada" and "mama" in the right context. She's definitely attached to us and wary of strangers. When Tom leaves for work in the mornings she cries. And when he comes home at night she crawls as fast as she can to the door, stopping to lift her arms up for a snuggle. She doesn't seem that interested in walking yet. It's OK, I'm enjoying every minute of babyness.

Molly has her 1 year visit at the pediatrician yesterday. She weighed in at 18 pounds, 10 ounces (25th percentile) and 30 inches long (85 or 90th percentile). Her head is finally measuring in close to Patrick's in the 90th percentile! The doctor declared her nice and healthy, and wasn't concerned about her weight. We started her on a little cows milk this week, she hasn't taken to it as quickly as Patrick did but it is nice to know that she has an option other than mom! We also got the green light to start her on a few more foods like eggs.

So a very happy birthday to my sweet baby girl! You are the icing on our cake, and we all love you very, very much.

Happy Birthday, My Little Sonny Boy

2008-04-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

Little man turned 4 today.

It makes me both happy and sad. 4 seems so old. He's no longer a toddler. He's a little boy. I have to register him for kindergarten(!) in 10 months. Where did the time go? But on the other hand, it is so much fun seeing his personality develop. Patrick is really such a sweet little boy. He's polite, and a good friend, and loves his sister to death. He loves to tell jokes, his favorite being one he wrote himself, and is best repeated very loudly and very quickly... We go to school at 20 o'clock! Laugh hysterically. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

It's hard to believe I've been a mom for 4 years. It seems like just yesterday we were blessed with this amazing little baby boy. I was so scared about having a baby, let alone having a baby boy. What did I know about boys? I really and truly believe Patrick came into our lives to teach us. Patience, humility, understanding, unconditional love, faith... all things taught to me by my son. He's a blessing and a joy, and every day we are thankful to have him.

So how does a newly 4 year old boy roll? With a bowling party of course! Imagine 14 3 and 4 year old with 6 pound balls in matching shoes. It was a miracle no fingers were lost. It was a little chaotic, but the kids seemed to have a complete blast. They all seemed to have the most fun running in circles around the table after cake. Go figure.

Molly helped to keep score

The cake was from one of the very few Carvel's on the West Coast. Yummo!

Today, we let Patrick decide what he wanted to choose and he chose a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (surprise, surprise!). The weather has been absolutely gorgeous and summer like for the last few days and today was no exception. It was one of those rare 80 degree days at the beach, just perfect for a birthday celebration and some ice cream! Patrick even wore his new "Super Patrick" cape we gave him for his birthday.

Patrick with his seafood lunch. Seafood...see food...get it? I crack myself up. Now I know where he gets it from.

Apricot Baby

2008-04-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

7 or 8 years ago I planted a Blenheim apricot tree in our backyard. It was my own little personal homage to the Santa Clara Valley. For 7 or 8 years I would watch it blossom every spring and be disappointed every summer when no fruit was ever produced. I decided (in my infinite botanical wisdom) that it must have something to do with cross pollination or bee colony collapse disorder and I resigned myself to the fact that the tree would bear no fruit. Very sad. Then last summer, while in the backyard of a neighbor, I noticed a huge apricot tree that was just dripping with fruit. Like there were so many apricots the branches were practically snapping off.

So imagine my surprise this week when I noticed out apricot tree had fruit! Several tiny little green apricots, so perfect and lovely. Now I just need to make sure the squirrels stay in the neighbors tree, and not mine ;)

Walking In My Shoes

2008-04-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

Patrick has discovered the joys of walking in mom's shoes. Tom is not as amused as I am.

Baby It's Cold Outside

2008-04-02T23:05:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late in posting this, but we spent a long weekend in Tahoe over my birthday. It had been a very long time since we'd been up there during the winter, and I've decided I am so not cut out for cold weather. Patrick loved it though. He was thrilled to be able to make snow angels and go sledding. Molly tolerated it for small periods. She absolutely hates having anything on her head right now (including my beloved bows) so she would throw a complete fit anytime we put a hat or a hood on her. I am really hoping this phase is short lived, Patrick went through a similar phase at about the same age. I took a bazillion pictures, more are posted on Flickr.

On the way home we stopped off in Fairfield to tour the Jelly Belly factory. It's one of those things I've always wanted to do but never had the chance. The factory only operates on weekdays so I was excited about seeing everything in action. Well wouldn't you know it, Monday was inventory day so the factory wasn't running. We saw a bunch of empty machines and half finished beans but Patrick loved it just the same. He brought home his paper Jelly Belly hat and has been wearing it for 3 days straight now, insisting that we play "jelly bean factory workers". I'll admit it, that one can get old really quickly.

Easter Sunday

2008-03-23T23:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

I was lame today and left the house with a nearly dead camera battery. As a result I barely got any pictures. And not only that, I never got a picture of the two kids together. Ugh. I seem to go in hot and cold spells with the camera, I need to try and be more consistent with it. More so than being consistent, I need to actually do something with all those digital images. I have thousands of the,. Tens of thousands actually. And I've only printed out about 50 pictures in the last 2 years. Oops! But I digress...

Patrick and Molly had a very nice Easter. We spent the entire day with family, which included trips to 3 different houses, and no less than 4 Easter egg hunts for Patrick. He now has enough chocolate to carry him into 2009.

Here's 2 snapshots from today. Patrick is playing with his cousin Brandie, and Tom's mom is holding Molly.

Yesterday we went to a graduation party for my cousin Aerin. She graduated from UCSB in less that 4 years, with a double major! My aunt and uncle live in a farm, complete with llamas, sheep, an emu, and many, many hawks. Patrick was in total heaven. He had a fantastic time and can't wait to go back.

Patrick wore his "farm hat" to the party...

And Molly just enjoyed playing with sunglasses. She is her mother's daughter ;)

And here is my Molly Catherine, with my second cousin Molly Katherine. So the two Mollys are second cousins, once removed. When you come from a large family you actually know exactly what that means.

Last but not least, my birthday isn't for another week but my mom couldn't wait to give me my gift. I love it a million times over, it's a framed picture of Molly done over Andy Warhol style. Isn't this just the best?

The Luck Of The Irish

2008-03-17T23:21:00.000-07:00

My mom is 100% Irish. And anyone Irish knows that we tend to be damn proud of it. So not only is St. Patrick's Day a big deal in our house because of our heritage, but also because my little laddie shares his name with the saint. We had a traditional (well, traditional in America) corned beef (sans cabbage) dinner last night. If you've ready my blog for a while you may recall that last year on St. Patrick's Day I ended up with second degree burns all over my very pregnant belly while I was draining some boiling potatoes. I still bear those scars, though they now have a few stretch marks among them. So this year had to be better, right? Dinner was lovely, and Patrick loved the attention of his special day. He even helped me make Irish Soda Bread and green shamrock cookies.

If you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough :)

Rock N Roll All Night

2008-03-13T23:35:00.001-07:00

The other night Patrick decided he was a "rock star". I guess rock stars wear sunglasses and jammies :) He serenaded us with rocking renditions of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "The Alphabet Song". Never mind that his guitar is actually a ukulele.

Patrick has quite the active imagination. We spend a large chunk of every day playing out some role play that he has decided on. It usually involved pretending we are firemen, or pirates, or some version where I am the son and he is the dad (I'll admit that one gets a little old, especially when he insists on me calling him "Dad" when we are out in public).

Patrick's birthday is coming up in a few weeks and he has been very carefully planning his birthday party (warning friends: it involves bowling). He will happily tell anyone (even those who don't ask) that he is three and a HALF, and that his birthday is coming up. And he will be 4. And he is having a party. And would you like to come? And when is your birthday? And how old are you? And what is your name? And on and on. Luckily most people seem more charmed than annoyed by his outgoing personality.

Bathing Beauty

2008-03-08T21:48:00.001-08:00

Look who is getting ready for summer! If only the warm weather would come...

Mr. Roboto

2008-02-26T22:15:00.000-08:00

Patrick has an extremely active imagination. He's always coming up with new scenarios for role playing. It's cute, but is goes on and on. All. Day. Long. Lately he's been playing with cardboard boxes quite a bit, Tom had the idea to turn this one into a robot costume when Patrick kept wearing it and bumping into walls since he couldn't see. He spends hours a day as Patrick the Robot, even talking a a stilted robot voice. Now isn't this the cutest little robot you have ever seen?

By The Beautiful Sea

2008-02-17T23:31:00.000-08:00

The weather this month has been absolutely fantastic, free of rain which us a little unusual. Although it has cooled down this week we didn't want to miss the opportunity to get out and about so we headed down to Carmel today for lunch and browsing. If we win the lottery we are definitely buying a house there, nothing spectacular, just a little cottage on the beach. Feel free to come visit ;)

Most of my pictures of Patrick lately look something like this...

Oh my.

Love Is

2008-02-14T22:56:00.000-08:00

...these two little cuties!

California Dreamin'

2008-02-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

It was one of those beautiful California days today, the kind that makes you feel like it is a pleasure and privilege to live in this little slice of very expensive paradise. So we packed up and headed over the hill to the beach in Capitola. Patrick was thrilled to run around wild on the sand, Molly wasn't too sure about it all and made sure to stay on the blanket after deciding the sand was strange.

A little funny about the hat Patrick is wearing. He picked it out himself at the Gap insisting he needed a new baseball cap. Since the kid has a big noggin it is hard to find kids hats that fit him, this one did so we bought it. He will happily tell you all about the hat if you ask. It goes something like this... "See my hat? It says P-A-G. That spells 49ers baseball cap!".

Every Picture Tells A Story

2008-02-07T22:57:00.000-08:00

And the story these pictures tell is that it just may be impossible to get 2 small children looking in the same direction with genuine smiles. You'll notice at a certain point Patrick turns his finger into a "moustache like Papa's". The fact that Patrick has an extremely unfortunate haircut 2 weeks ago does not help. Tom took Patrick to the same barber shop he went to as a kid. The same barbers are still there, except now they are really old and have shaky hands.

Vote For Me

2008-02-05T23:00:00.000-08:00

Super Tuesday is here, which was exciting for Californians because we now vote in February rather than June. I've spent the last few weeks going back and forth, back and forth trying to decide who to vote for. I didn't decide until this morning, nothing like waiting until the last minute! I voted late this afternoon, and I got one of the last few Democratic ballots that was left (like seriously, I think they counted out 5 more after I got mine). So it seems like people turned out in droves, a good thing!

And on to my rant of the day... I took Patrick and Molly to the Picture People this afternoon to get Valentine cards. Every time I go there the experience is more awful than the last. My mom came with us today and she was just shocked at how long it took. I kid you not, we were in there for 2 hours! It's supposed to be snap and go, they take your pictures, upload them, pick your favorites and they are printed right there. There is no reason for it to take 2 hours! I think someone is going to be getting a nastygram from me about that one. Hmph.

We're Not Sleeping

2008-02-01T22:25:00.001-08:00

Actually, I take that back, Patrick is sleeping just fine (thank God!). Operation Get Molly Sleeping has been a horrible failure. For some reason when she ~~breaks her mama's heart~~ cries herself to sleep, it just doesn't stick. She's awake again in as little as 30 minutes. Cry, sleep, and repeat over and over again. No one is getting much sleep. We may give up on this. Everyone swears it works but it just isn't making much sense right now, we're all up more than we would be if she just stuck to her 11pm, 3am and 6am wakings. This sucks. In related news, I saw something on the news last night about sleep deprivation and how horrible it can be. They interviewed researchers at the Stanford Sleep Clinic and I was surprised to hear it takes 3-4 hours of additional sleep to make up for every hour of lost sleep. Wake me up in 2009, I may be ready to tackle the world then.

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream

2008-01-30T23:14:00.001-08:00

A little update to my post from last night. Like clockwork, Molly was up at 11. We were not able to get her to go back to sleep on her own. And not at 3 am either. She was grumpy most of the day. Tonight she cried a little less and went to sleep on her own, that lasted exactly 30 minutes. Where is the good sleeper I earned?

Time Keeps Slipping Away

2008-01-29T22:32:00.000-08:00

My little miss is now 9 months old. It hardly seems possible she's been in this world as long as it took for her to prepare to enter it. Molly had her 9 month well baby visit with the pediatrician today. She's measuring in at 18 pounds, 6 ounces (50th percentile) and 28.5 inches (90th percentile). Her height has stayed consistent since birth which continues to blow me away. Her weight dropped a bit int he last 6 months but the doctor didn't seem too concerned since Molly really only started eating solids a month ago. She's not too keen on pureed baby food but she loves self feeding and is a much better eater than her brother. Tonight for dinner she ate a half of a zucchini followed by a chaser of pureed peaches. She loves Cheerios and gets bouncy and excited when she sees that familiar yellow box. It took a lot of practice but she's crawling with determination (and speed!) which has freaked Patrick out just a bit. And she's far more interested in things like cords and plugs than her brother was (or maybe just more than I remember). I definitely need to keep my eye on her. She has 6 teeth now, and seems ready to pop 2 more through int he next week or so. Her hair is getting long enough to get in her eyes so I need to keep it clipped back (with a bow of course!). She continues to be an absolute joy for all of us.

BUT, and this is a big one, she has become a terrible sleeper. We thought we hit the jackpot when she slept around the clock as a newborn. She never had that night and day confusion. From day 1 she gave us great stretches at night. At only a few months old she started sleeping through the night occasionally. And then the teething started. One tooth was ready to pop through, and then another, and another, and before we knew it she was regularly getting up to nurse 3 times a night. You could set a watch by it, she was up at 11, 3 and 6. Mommy and Daddy started to get exhausted, naps were getting wonky, no one was happy and we decided we needed to get hard core. So tonight we tried the Ferber sleep method, which is a gentle method of crying it out but it break my heart nonetheless. The pediatrician was the one who suggested it today, so I know it is considered "ok" to do but I still feel like a crappy mom. I feel like we've broken her little spirit, like she's now learned that no one is going to really respond to her so don't even bother. It makes my heart hurt. I never could do it with Patrick, left on his own in the crib he would hysterically cry until he vomited. Every...single...time. After reading several sleep books that didn't work we ended up rocking him to sleep for naps and bedtime until he turned 1 and finally started sleeping through the night. He sleeps fine now, so no harm, no foul, right? So here I sit, typing away, as my (broken spirited?) little baby sleeps in her crib and I pray that this works because I don't think I have the heart to repeat this scene every night. This too shall pass. Until then I may just move to Australia.

Silly Stories

2008-01-15T23:08:00.000-08:00

Just a few thing I wanted to write down so I don't forget them...

Before Christmas my Dad sent Patrick a card that played "Run, Run Rudolph" by Chuck Berry when you open it. Patrick thought the song was hilarious and has been singing it ever since. The other day he was singing it and her turned to me and said "Mama, you know who sings that song? Blueberry Chuck!".

And this morning when we left for school it was really cold and foggy. Patrick looked outside and said "Mom, it is really froggy outside!". I asked him how it got "froggy" and he explained "You know, when there are lots of frogs, and then they do this thing, and it makes it froggy".

He makes me laugh all day :)

Check Me Out

2008-01-12T22:14:00.001-08:00

Mama has been busy shopping for spring. I don't think you're ready for this much cuteness!

White Wedding

2008-01-07T23:58:00.000-08:00

Tonight while Patrick was taking a bath he noticed my wedding rings and was asking about them. He sort of knows about the concept of marriage, he's seen our wedding pictures but this was the first time he had really asked about it. So he was looking at my rings and excitedly asked me if he could get married when he grew up. "Of course" I told him, when he grew up and fell in love he could get married. I asked him who he was going to marry and he excitedly told me he would marry Brayden, his best friend at school. I had to stifle the snickers. I asked him what they would wear, and he rolled his eyes at me and said "jeans!", and I would wear my "wedding shirt and wedding pants". He rattled off the list of friends he would invite, told me that there would be lots of balloons and how exciting it would all be. I was laughing so hard at this point I had tears.

He also told me that tomorrow morning at school he was going to tell Brayden's parents all about his plan. I'm thinking that might not be such a good idea.

King Pin

2008-01-01T23:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! It seems like just yesterday Tom was working on Y2K stuff so it seems a little unreal that the year 2008 is here. We spent the evening at home and didn't do anything special except break out the panini maker for dinner. Yum!

Patrick has been asking us to take him bowling for the last few days, today seemed like a perfect day and the bowling alley was practically empty. Patrick loved it for about a half hour before getting a little bored.

In the interest of time I decided not to bowl. But can you believe it cost $45 for a lane for an hour and 2 shoe rentals! I noticed later that holiday rates were the same as weekend rates, but sheesh! We used to go to that bowling alley all the time as teenagers, I can't imagine teens being able to afford that now. And this was at the local funky bowling alley, not the new hip one that opened last year. Fun treat, but if we go back it will definitely be during the week.

Little Fishies

2007-12-30T23:04:00.000-08:00

We had planned to go to the San Francisco Zoo this week, but nixed those plans after a young man was mauled and killed by a tiger on Christmas day. No one seems to know how the tiger got out of her exhibit, it seems she may have leapt a 15 foot moat then scaled a 12 foot fence. We go to the zoo a lot, there are pictures of me an a baby at the zoo, but honestly I'm not sure I will want to go back for a very long time. It concerns me that no one knows exactly how the tiger got out.

So anyhoo, we decided to venture on down to Monterey instead and visit our fishie friends at the aquarium. Taking a long drive like that involves very careful planning, the most important being that we need to leave the house exactly when Molly would normally take a morning nap, and we needed to leave Monterey exactly when she would take he afternoon nap. And then we all need to be quiet in the car so she can sleep. Molly is a fabulous baby, but she is not a good traveler. The tiniest sound (like the click of the car seat handle) wakes her right up. We would never be able to move her inside and have her stay asleep. Forget about trying to transfer her from a car seat into her crib. And there's no use trying to go more than about 10 miles when she is awake because she will scream to express her displeasure at being buckled in. Sigh. It's a small miracle we ever get out of the house.

It was a beautiful, clear and sunny day in Monterey. Sometimes I wonder why we deal with the insane cost of living here and then we have perfect winter days like this and it all becomes clear. Patrick and Molly both enjoyed themselves, Molly was particularly interested in the ocean.

In other Molly news, she now has 6 teeth, with numbers 7 and 8 ready to pop through at any time. At 8 months she weighs about 18 pounds, so her growth seems to be slowing (phew, especially if you have seen my stash of summer clothes). She's still not crawling (thankfully!) but she is close, and her latest trick is trying to pull up on things (unsafe things, like the bathtub). We need to baby proof the house stat. She's doing better with solid foods, sometimes taking up to an ounce at a feeding, we're now offering 3 meals a day. She babbles and coos a lot, and is generally a very happy baby who thrives on routine. She's definitely my little princess.

Patrick has just been a hoot over the last few months. He's very much into role playing, and is constantly making up stories and scenarios for us to play along with. Last week he was telling me that he had a set of twins who lived in his sleeping bag. When asked what the twins names were, he responded with Baby Jesus, Norman, and Teresa. Of course! The other day while eating yogurt he was chastising someone. I asked him who he was talking to and he said "I'm talking to my imaginary friend Calvin!". Calvin really does exist by the way. Patrick's latest trick is walking through the room and announcing "Watch out, rock star coming through!". I have absolutely no idea where he picked that one up. He also wants to dress like a rock star, which means wearing a shirt with a guitar or drums on it. Sadly, he hasn't yet realized that a ukulele is not typically int he line up of a rock and roll band.

And finally... Earlier this week we were in Costco just as they happened to unload a huge palette of Wiis. I've been sort of nosing around for one for the last year, I tried to find one for Tom for Christmas but I'd never actually even seen one in stores since they debuted. So with a little Christmas money we bought a system and we are having Fun (yes, with a capital F) with it. Patrick loves the bowling, and he is actually really good at it. He regularly scores strikes while I am lucky not to get a gutter ball. Tom and I have been playing golf after the kids go to bed, and Tom has been playing a twisted version of baseball in which he both pitches and bats, it's a sight to see. So 3 thumbs up from us on the Wii, in the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. "

The Day After Christmas

2007-12-26T23:31:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are a few pictures from yesterday. Seems I was too busy enjoying Christmas to really take very many pictures. Somehow I took 700+ pictures in December but not too many of the big celebrations, oops.

Patrick was quite pleased that Santa managed to bring him Aquadots. Santa attached a lovely note explaining that there were no actual dots in this package, and he promised to mail some safe dots as soon as they became available. That Santa is quite a guy ;)

Once again this year, we took Patrick to the dollar store to buy Christmas gifts for everyone. Some of the choices made a lot of sense, like this sippy cup for Molly.

Auntie Crista and Uncle Dave sent Patrick the Polar Express book, he likes it very, very much!

Patrick made Tom his very own painted mug for use at the office. Daddy was impressed with the
generous use of paint and color combinations.

Other dollar store gift choices didn't make as much sense. Witness Uncle Nick's new hair fall.

Nana and Papa got Patrick a wonderful wooden firehouse, Patrick was over the moon thrilled with it.

And Nana very carefully crocheted lots of cupcakes and ice cream cones for Molly. Once Molly got over her initial disappointment that they were not real food she decided that they make excellent play toys.

Tom is off work until the 2nd, so hopefully we'll be out on some adventures this week. I'm trying to avoid dealing with the issue of the Christmas mess that seems to have struck our home. For such little people, Patrick and Molly sure do take up a lot of space!

Merry Christmas Baby

2007-12-25T23:29:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Festivus and all that jazz! The whilrwind two days of Christmas are finally over in this house, the little ones are snug in their beds with visions of toy laptops (Patrick) and ice cream cones (Molly) in their sweet little heads. Too tired to download pictures right now, but there are a few from yesterday on Flickr, and I will post lots of pictures tomorrow.

Hope Santa was nice to all of you :)

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

2007-12-19T22:54:00.000-08:00

It's less than a week until Christmas and we're as busy as the elves! Last week Patrick had his preschool holiday concert. He's really been enjoying singing Christmas carols so we were looking forward to the show. Of course he was the one kid in the back row making faces, picking his nose and singing at the top of his lungs. Lovely.

On Sunday Danielle had her gingerbread party, Patrick and I both made houses. When he shows them to people he points out his his is the "crazy" one, hee hee.

We finally got our tree this weekend. You may notice that the top third of the tree looks a little crammed, all of my Christopher Radko ornaments are safely tucked up there and out of reach of little hands. We also got a small second tree, I've always wanted to do a smaller tree for my collection of moon and star ornaments. This year we finally got around to doing it and I love it.

And last night we had a surprise visitor! There was a knock at the door and lo and behold, Santa was there! Patrick promptly ran and hid under the coffee table until Santa announced that he had brought presents, Patrick scrambled out as quickly as he had hidden and happily posed for pictures. He's really learning how this Santa thing works!

Patrick has been very concerned about how exactly Santa will get down the chimney since he recently saw for himself that our chimney has a cap on the roof. Daddy had promised that he will unscrew it on Christmas Eve so Santa can make his way down easily ;)

Still on the to do list this week... wrap a zillion presents, make some cookies for Santa, decide on a menu for Christmas morning breakfast, go to the grocery store and finish a little Christmas shopping, all with a 3 1/2 year old and a baby. I'm full of the holiday spririt, oh yes I am. HA!

3 Years

2007-12-16T23:42:00.000-08:00

My blog is 3 years old today, happy blogiversary to me!

I'm Going To Disneyland!

2007-12-11T22:25:00.000-08:00

We got back from a nice little trip to Disneyland last night, we had a blast but it was soooo cold down there! I packed warm clothes for everyone but we really could have all used the extra heavy duty jackets us Northern Californians save for the few times a year it dips below 55 degrees. I even bought a scarf and gloves for myself because I thought I just might freeze to death out there on one of the rides. The drive down and back makes me wonder what I did in a prior life to deserve such cranky travelers. Patrick has gotten better with age (and with the investment in a portable DVD player) but Molly was at her limit after about 90 minutes in her car seat. Needless to say, it was a long trip. But worth it!

Patrick loved every minute of it all, especially the parade, the Peter Pan ride and the ginourmous Ferris wheel. Molly enjoyed Small World and people watching.

My mom and I made Molly the most adorable little Minnie outfit. Molly got about a million comments on it, but sadly it was so cold I didn't get a better picture than this, you can just see the top of her blinged out Minnie shirt.

Sleeping Beauty's castle was decorated for Christmas. Having been to Disneyworld a couple of times in the last few years I can say with great authority that Sleeping Beauty's castle is much smaller, and much less interesting than Cinderella's castle at Disneyworld.

I bought Patrick and Molly each a pair of Mickey ears. Patrick pretty much wore his straight for 3 days. He plans on taking them to school for show and tell.

We rode the teacups 3 or 4 times, we were even able to walk on with no lines!

Patrick has the same appreciation for churros that his mom and dad do. Here he is enjoying the Christmas parade with a churro snack.

Patrick really loved the huge Ferris wheel at California Adventure. I did not thankyouverymuch. Besides the fact that it was freezing up at the top, there were no seat belts and I was having visions of Patrick jumping up, prying open the doors and flying out. Tom assures me that these kinds of thoughts are not normal. Whatever. Molly and I sat out on subsequent rides.

We got to meet up with some friends while we were down there, Patrick and Calvin had a blast taking Fantasyland by storm. Calvin even tried to convince Patrick to ride the Haunted Mansion. We got as far as the elevator room before we took the chicken exit.

And finally Patrick got to "meet" two of his favorite characters, Mater and Lightening McQueen. He was actually a little giddy about getting to have his picture taken with them!

We have a nice time, but I am so glad to be back home. Molly seems to really thrive on her routine and is sleeping much better at home. I am sleeping better as well, hotel beds just aren't the same.

Up next on the agenda for this week: getting a Christmas tree, doing a little shopping, visiting with Auntie Cheryl who arrived from Holland, going to a wedding and a gingerbread house party. I am exhausted just thinking about it all!

Booty Scoot

2007-11-27T23:51:00.000-08:00

Despite my best attempts to delay the inevitable, Molly is officially on the move. Over the last few days she had started getting up on her hands and knees, so I knew it was coming. First it was just lifting, then the rocking back and forth, and today she figured out she could scoot herself backwards. Check out this little video...

All I can think about is all the toys Patrick has that have a million little pieces and how to keep her away. Sigh...

Baptism

2007-11-25T23:34:00.000-08:00

It was a big day for Molly, today was her baptism and she barely made a peep during the service, she just served up lots of smiles and coos.

With the proud godparents, cousins Danny and Anna

And with all grandparents, and godparents

There's a bunch more picture in flickr, click on over to check them all out.

It was a lovely day, thanks to everyone who helped us to celebrate, especially all of the grandparents and godparents! :)

My Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T23:19:00.000-08:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone! We did the usual two house Thanksgiving day tour, Tom was a little ill at the end of it all. Every years he says he needs to pace himself better and every year he overeats. Oops! :)

Tom's parents live on a street lined in beautiful ginkgo trees. At Thanksgiving they are always shedding their bright yellow leaves and it makes a perfect fall scene (well, as perfect as fall in California can get). I wanted to take some pictures of Patrick int he leaves but there weren't many on the ground. Somehow I convinced Tom to climb up into the tree to shake some leaves down (amazingly, he remembered exactly how to get up into the tree, he climbed it a lot as a kid). That didn't work so well but I did get some cute pictures of him holding the kids in the trees.

Here Comes Santa Claus

2007-11-19T23:55:00.000-08:00

Here I Am

2007-11-18T23:15:00.001-08:00

Yoo hoo (waving my hand), I'm still here! Life has been busy this week. On Tuesday I had oral surgery under full-on anesthesia (a wonderful thing), we finally got around to having the backyard landscaped, we're getting ready for Thanksgiving and Molly's baptism next weekend, and I've been doing some Christmas shopping. The Christmas tree in Union Square was lit this weekend which struck me as a little early, but I've been hearing friends talk about already getting their trees up this week! Halloween was only 2.5 weeks ago! I need to get through November before I even begin to think about setting up decorations. And here I thought I was pretty slick for having half my shopping done.

Total Recall

2007-11-11T13:08:00.000-08:00

I'm pissed. Sorry there isn't a more polite word to describe it. I've ranted before about Patrick's Chinese-made toys that were recalled. It's hard to explain to a 3 year old why Thomas could make him sick and that he needs to be sent back. Or Diego, or Sarge...

More than anything, Patrick has been asking for Aquadots for Christmas. Thanks to a few commercials on Nick Jr. he became quite obsessed, and has asked for them nearly daily for the last 6 months. Well wouldn't you know it that Aquadots it the latest toy recall. And it's not a lead paint concern that only applies it your child eats the paint off of toys. Apparently the manufacturer didn't make the dots to the correct specifications, and if swallowed the dots metabolize into GHB, the date rape drug. It can send your kid into a coma. What the heck is wrong with these manufacturers?

Patrick saw something on the news about the recall, and I had to explain that they weren't being sold anymore because they made some kids really, really sick. And that Santa probably wouldn't be able to bring him any for Christmas because there weren't any to buy. Patrick was crushed, almost in tears, and said "But Mom, I promise I won't eat any. I promise. I promise."

Being the good mom that I am I had already bought an Aquadots set for Patrick for Christmas at Costco. Costco was kind enough to call me and let me know I need to bring them back in for a full refund. My heart is breaking a little that the one thing my child wanted more than anything will not be under the tree on Christmas morning.

Picture Perfect

2007-11-06T23:13:00.000-08:00

Molly's first tooth came in just 10 days ago, and yesterday her second tooth appeared! Before she lost those adorable gummy grins I wanted to take some pictures. I used my 50mm prime lense, which I have very little experience with, and most everything turned out underexposed and a little blurry. But thanks to the wonders of PaintShopPro and Photoshop (because I only know how to do certain things in each) I think these will print out nicely. Since I can't freeze time, this will have to do :)

What Are You Looking At?

2007-11-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

We don't get the paper so my mom will sometimes save a few ads for me (especially my favorite, Target). Last week she saved the Target ad for me along with the Toys R Us Big Book that comes out every year before Christmas. As a kid I loved reading through it over and over again, fantasizing about what toys Santa will bring (Easy Bake Oven? Barbie Dream House? Snoopy Snow Cone Machine?). When Patrick saw it he immediately wanted to look at it and he's been "reading" it all week. He'll sit on my lap and we'll go through it together, or he'll sit quietly on the couch and look through it and the Target ad. This afternoon he was reading the Target ad and staring intently at one page...

I asked him to flip the ad around so I could take another picture. Guess what it was he had been staring at?

Oh dear.

All Shook Up

2007-10-30T22:49:00.000-07:00

We had a big earthquake tonight! It was a 5.6, centered in San Jose. Molly was already in bed, and Patrick was getting ready for bed. We gathered up Patrick and waited under a door frame (non-native Californians have laughed at me when I've done this in the past, lol!). It was a long earthquake, about 30 seconds and the house just rocked and rolled. No damage here thankfully! So now Patrick and Molly can say they are true Californians, having lived through their first big quake.

Yesterday Danielle came over to carve pumpkins with Patrick. I had purchased a pumpkin carving kit, complete with tiny little carving knives, last week and Patrick was just about to bust with excitement over finally getting to open the package (after carrying it around and even sleeping with the sealed package one night). Patrick got his pumpkin done but both knives ended up broken in the process, oops! Check out Patrick's super cute apron from Danielle. Molly has a matching orange one for next Halloween. Molly didn't help with the carving but she looked cute!

Today Patrick's preschool had a Halloween sing and wow, Patrick is quite the social butterfly. Instead of singing along with his classmates, he played the air trombone, complete with puffed out cheeks. My mom says he does this every week in art class too, usually encouraging the other students to join in his air band, then he starts conducting them. Several of the other parents commented to me that their child talks about Patrick all the time, and one of his little friends has even started calling him Patches. Awwww...

And today the director of Patrick's school was dressed up as a dalmatian. Aren't they a cute pair?

Halloween Rehearsal

2007-10-28T23:04:00.000-07:00

Another busy weekend! On Saturday Molly and I went to a bridal shower in Sonoma, it was a long day and a long drive but Molly was such a little sweet pea.

Tom took Patrick to Great America for their Halloween celebration and a little male bonding. Patrick had a great time, and especially enjoyed a soap foam station they had set up for kids. Patrick though it was snow, awww.

And today our playgroup had a Halloween party, it's so much fun now that the kids are old enough to understand it all. I got to use my new Cupcake Courier which thrilled me to no end (seriously, I love it that much). Tomorrow we're carving pumpkins with Danielle, Patrick cannot wait. Patrick (of course) is going to be a fireman for Halloween, and Molly is his "firedog". Since I thought the dalmatian costume looked a little gender neutral I had a friend make some bows that I hot glued onto the costume. Perfect :)

Patrick has his Halloween sing at school on Tuesday, then Trick or treating Wednesday afternoon downtown and Wednesday evening in our neighborhood. I think Halloween is even more fun as a parent than it was as a kid, I'm loving every minute of it all!

Sweet Tooth

2007-10-26T23:47:00.001-07:00

This just in: Molly has her first tooth! I discovered it this morning when she bit me. Ow.

Every Breath You Take

2007-10-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

My little guy is still having a tough time breathing. We were back in the pediatrician's office today for check-ups, but it turned into a 2 hour visit with oxygen saturation measurements and a breathing treatment by nebulizer. We came home with our very own nebulizer for breathing treatments for the next 2 days and then it's back to the doctor on Friday to check in. At least Patrick is pretty good about taking the treatments, I was never good at doing them.

Today our little Miss Molly is 6 months old. It's bittersweet (like so much of motherhood). I thought the time flew by when Patrick was a baby but now I know what it really feels like to fly through the months. Molly continues to be a sweet and dreamy baby. She absolutely adores her big brother, and he will do anything for a laugh from her including dancing like a monkey. Molly is a pro at rolling (but only from back to tummy), is starting to sit unassisted, and is thisclose to getting some teeth (note to self: take more gummy grin pictures before they are gone). We tried rice cereal this week, and while Molly was thrilled at the spoon the idea of it but the cereal made her completely gag and her first reaction is to spit it out. We got the same reaction on another try with butternut squash, I guess I'll just keep trying. She's still measuring in at the upper end of the charts, today she weighed 16 pounds, 14 ounces (75th percentile), measured 26 3/4 inches long (90th percentile) and those Murphy genes must have kicked in because her head has jumped up to the 90th percentile (44 cm).

Patrick weighed in at 33 pounds (fully clothed) and 38 inches. No clue what the percentiles are on that. He had his first vision test today, instead of letters they used symbols. There was a heart, a star, a circle and other easily recognized shapes. There was also a + sign, and I wasn't sure if he knew what it was called. When the nurse asked him what it was he said "A band aid!" and he repeated it again with the other eye. We both kind of laughed and I wondered where he got that from. One of the doctors was near the nurse's station when this happened and she overheard the exchange. She laughed about it but then realized that there is a red cross on boxes of band aids, and he was associating the cross with the band aids. Isn't that strange and cool? Almost every day I am amazed at how his little mind is working overtime and soaking everything up.

Oh, and I spent another $120 on copays today. That brings our total out of pocket costs this week to $208. And we still have another appointment on Friday. I need a rolling eyes smiley.

Deep Thoughts

2007-10-23T23:22:00.000-07:00

Why was is cold in September when we didn't have any cute fall clothes yet? And why is it now warm (80+!) in October when we have lots of cute pumpkin sweaters to wear? And how am I supposed to dress Patrick for school when it s 50 degrees at 9 am when I drop him off but 80 degrees at noon when I pick him up?

Being cute is hard work.

Breathe

2007-10-22T23:31:00.001-07:00

So last week I mentioned that Patrick has been sick. He was still coughing and wheezy this morning so I called the pediatrician and was able to get him in today to see a doctor. The doctor listened to his lungs and did her exam and told me that Patrick has asthma :( I suppose it shouldn't have come as a big surprise because I have it, my brother has it, and my mom has it. The same thing always happened to me when I got colds as a kid (and actually, it still does). Patrick now has an inhaler, and an aero chamber and a nifty duck mask to cover his nose and mouth so he actually breathes the medicine in. Patrick couldn't be more pleased with his new duck mask and medicine. This coming from the kid we have to sneak cough syrup to mixed in with Sprite. The good news is that he isn't contagious.

But I have a rant. We have good medical insurance, probably even great medical insurance. It's a PPO so we have deductibles and co pays but we also have the freedom to self refer and all that jazz. Despite having great insurance, I shelled out $88 today for the copay for the doctor, the aero chamber and mask (devices not covered), and a $30 copay for the inhaler. Seriously? And I know we're fortunate.

And the icing on the cake, I just realized that both kids have checkups on Wednesday, so we had plans to be at the doctor in 2 days and ~~my brain is apparently just that mushy~~ I forgot. I'll have the pleasure of shelling out $40 more in co pays. Sigh.

Light Up The Night

2007-10-21T23:18:00.000-07:00

Last night we walked the Light The Night walk for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with Team Izzy. Izzy is my cousin Isabel, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when she was just 5 years old. She went through many years of difficult treatments, and is now a happy and healthy 12 year old. In her honor we're happy to raise money for such a worthy organization in the hopes that a cure will be found very soon.

Patrick and Molly rode in the bike trailer which oh-so-conveniently turns into a bulky double stroller. Patrick had to be bribed to stay in with chocolate. That worked for abut half of the walk. Sigh.

Cough It Up

2007-10-19T23:28:00.000-07:00

Long time no blog. It's been a tough week, Patrick came down with a nasty cough on Monday evening and he is still fighting it. So we've been housebound all week which is not so much fun. He's still in good spirits and thankfully the rest of us have been spared of the bug. Tom came home a little early from work today so I got to go out and run errands. I even sneaked a quick trip into the new Michael's that opened up in town. It is HUGE, and so nice and shiny. Me likey.

Since we have no adventures to report on this week, here's a few pictures.

It's Fun To Ride A Firetruck

2007-10-13T23:31:00.000-07:00

Did you know that today is the last day of Fire Prevention Week? Some of the local fire stations had open houses today, so Nana and Papa took Patrick to a fire station to check things out. And it wasn't just any old station, it was one with a fire truck (moms of wannabe firefighters know that fire trucks have ladders and rescue equipment, fire engines have hoses and pumps). Patrick went in his firefighter costume and was apparently quite a hit. They let him sit in the driver's seat, hold the hose (with real water coming out of it!) and they may have even let him ride around the block in the fire truck after he begged them, insisting that there was a fire that needed their attention that was getting bigger.

As if that wasn't a big enough day we took Patrick and Molly to the pumpkin patch. We had to find a new pumpkin patch this year as the farm we used to go to has been razed in order to built high density housing (imagine me rolling my eyes here). But, we found a great new patch that had tons of activities, and best of all it wasn't crowded at all. While Molly was trying to eat hay, Patrick picked a pumpkin for him and one for Molly. This is the first year that he's really aware of what Halloween is and he is so looking forward to it. He asks just about every day how far away Halloween is and when can he go trick or treating. I'm almost as excited as he is, the kids will have very cute (and coordinating, duh if you know me) costumes. Can't wait!

Magnum Opus

2007-10-10T23:41:00.000-07:00

Patrick seems to have turned into quite the little artist (yay!). Between preschool and an art class he's been taking with Nana he brings home quite a bit of artwork, always with some interesting story about what it is. Here's a few of his masterpieces from the last few week, along with Patrick's description of what each one is.

"This is a bird in a nest" (Medium: cornmeal and pasta on construction paper)

"This is my favorite bubble monster" (Medium: cotton balls on construction paper)

"This is me with a lot of eyes" (Medium: googly eyes on construction paper)

"This is me, I am wearing a striped shirt and I have brown hair" (Medium: crayon and googly eyes on a paper plate and construction)

"This is me and mommy and daddy" When asked where Molly was he answered "Um, I think she's in your tummy" (Medium: paper on paper)

"This is a kaleidoscope" (Medium: sequins, foam, buttons and pom poms on cardboard)

"This is me and Molsie" (Medium: yarn, felt and googly eyes on cardboard)

"This is a beach ball" (Medium: tempera paint on paper)

"This is my favorite underwater sea family" (Medium: sand on construction paper)

"This is my family. This is me, this is daddy, this is mommy, this is Molly, this is Ella, this is Louie, and this is daddy's hair glue" (Medium: play doh on construction paper)

You must be asking yourself "hair glue"?

Yes, Patrick's family apparently includes hair glue. And since Tom's not sporting a Britney style weave or a Travolta toupee, we think Patrick is referring to hair gel. We have no idea why it made an appearance in the family portrait. Patrick's art teacher was both amused and impressed!

Fall

2007-10-06T23:29:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we went to a little fall festival in town, they had lots of games and fun stuff for the preschool set so Patrick had a blast. Is it bad if I admit I had both kids wear matching sweaters when it was like 75 degrees out? You all know how I love the anything matchy :)

Precious

2007-10-04T23:31:00.000-07:00

Awwwww

Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel

2007-10-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

This morning out of the blue Patrick started talking about how Molly used to live in the sky, that she used to live in heaven and when she was born she came down to live with our family. My heart started bursting with pride, the tears were welling up and I was feeling all warm and fuzzy. Then he said... "Can we send her back?".

Look Alike

2007-09-28T23:42:00.000-07:00

I thought this was pretty cool :)

Young And Growing

2007-09-24T23:48:00.000-07:00

Miss Molly is 5 months old today! She's starting doing so much in the last month, changing from a relatively quiet baby into an active one. New tricks include working out in the Jumperoo, reaching for objects (and trying to grab food out of our hands), swinging at the park, standing on laps (with support), playing with her dolly, and blowing raspberries. Official stats: 16 pounds, 10 ounces (which is actually about a pound less than I thought, maybe she had an empty stomach when we weighed her) and about 26 inches (I think that whole baby measuring thing is pretty much a guesstimate). Here's a few pictures from the last few weeks. Molly is the bestest baby (and not just because she lets me put silly shoes, bows and sunglasses on her), she's mostly (knock on wood) sleeping through the night, she very rarely cries (except at dinner last night), and she's generally pretty happy go lucky (as long as her schedule stays the same).

And I'm actually starting to think she looks a little like me, I'll have to scan in some more baby pictures sometime soon.

Wow, rereading this it is quite apparent that I am a fan of the parenthesis (oops!). ;)

Cut The Cake

2007-09-21T23:56:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday Tom! Now you are as old as me ;)

Patrick was in muuuuuch better spirits today, we actually made it to the grocery store but then a potty emergency necessitated cutting the trip short and jamming back home. I'm so ready for Patrick's potty issues to ease up. Anyhoo, Tom wanted to go out to dinner so we made our way over to the very kid friendly Peninsula Creamery, except it hasn't been called that in 15 years or so and I honestly do not even know the new name. Patrick's been eating and feeling much better but will happily tell anyone he comes across about his barf-o-rama sessions. Such a boy thing, I am sure!

Tom got a store bought, but delicious, birthday cake.

And a sweet picture of Molly.

And now for something totally random. Some friends and I were talking a few weeks ago about the fact that Jell-O Pudding Pops were the bomb and why on earth did they stop making them? They came in a zillion flavors and they rocked, plus they were low fat and low calorie. So I started digging around online and it appears Popsicle brand brought them back but they aren't the same. So we decided to make our own and they were awesome. Patrick loved helping and the end result was almost as good as the original. I highly recommend picking up some popsicle molds and making your own. We're also used the molds to freeze juice and applesauce. Applesauce pops are ~~surprisingly~~ magically delicious.

Oh, What A Night

2007-09-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

Actually, it's been quite the week and it's only Thursday. On Tuesday night Patrick came down with a horrible stomach flu, he threw up several times all over his bed and his room. Ick. On Wednesday suring the day he was pretty lethargic, he only had some watered down juice all day before finally asking for something to eat at dinner time. I have him some plain toast and some applesauce. We thought he was getting better until he woke up at 4 am, barfing all over his newly laundered sheets, blankets, comforter, etc. Ick. He was still really tired and went back to sleep, and amazingly slept until 1 this afternoon! I kept checking on him, at one point he asked for water but fell right back asleep. Once he was up, he was lethargic. Today he had a little juice (he refused the Pedialyte, and after tasting it I can't say I blame him) and 1/4 of a bagel. So in 2 days he really hasn't had anything to eat. He went to bed early tonight, and I am really hoping he sleeps through without that bagel making a reappearance. Luckily, no one else in the house has caught whatever bug he has. We're just all really tired.

Tomorrow is Tom's birthday. We haven't left the house in 2 days. Will scrounge the cabinets tomorrow, I'm sure we have enough to make a cake at least.