Family Bowling

This past weekend, my mom was here for a visit and we all went Bowling.
Kathy came.
It was great fun.

First Cupcake

Surrounded by her peers, she examines said cupcake and decides how best to tackle.

She decides the frosting looks promising and takes her maiden taste.
Not bad. I think I'll have some more of that.
Is this how you do it mama?

Meanwhile, Dylan decides he'll go for the frosting first on his birthday cupcake. After all, he's a pro now that he's FOUR.

Pause for a brief moment, then back to business.


When it is all said and done, sweet Addie is a... happy, sticky mess!

Harnessing my inner 'white trash'

Last night was Thursday Night Thunder at the Irwindale Speedway. The drag races went from 5-10pm and we were there for about 2 hours of it. At first I felt pretty embarrassed by the fact that my baby was barefoot and without a coat of her own (wearing an extra of her brother's and wrapped up in my coat). Then I thought a bit about the noise. Was I doing unrecoverable damage to my children's ears? Then I saw the kid with a mullet, the King Taco stand, the VW bug racing, the Uhaul truck racing, the funnel cakes... and I felt better.
The engines roared, the folks around us could care less if my kids were dressed properly, there were M&Ms, I had my diet Dr. Pepper, and the cars raced on!
By the end of the evening, Dylan and his buddy Joshua were running in the parking lot between our cars and the King Taco stand, pretending to be cars in the Piston Cup Championship. It was a good night. And we ALL had fun (Addie included!)

A Flower A Day...

Everyday Dylan somehow picks me a flower. Sometimes he does it in our courtyard. Other times it's at the gardens, the zoo, preschool, church, grandma's house, or even at Disneyland. I've come to love that daily moment when he reaches out to hand it to me, with that proud, warm smile, saying "here mama!"
Some things you have to enjoy for the moment, because it's only a phase and your child will stop doing it almost as suddenly as they first started. But this flower picking routine has been going steady for a while now.
Perhaps it began when he and I started our weekly routine of going to the local flower shop together on Saturdays to buy flowers. Perhaps it started with our walks at the gardens, where I pointed out all the flowers I know the names of and like. Perhaps it stems from his own love of nature.
But whatever the genesis of this routine, I'm glad to be an integral part of it.

Hoppy Easter

Took the kids to the Americana to meet the Easter Bunny. Dylan was all smiles and Addie was terrified of the big.bad.bunny.
It was pretty funny actually.







Addie on Easter morning before church. She got a special purse from the bunny and she loved it. But I think she still wouldn't be too keen on the bunny if she saw him just yet. Maybe next year.

Disneyland Birthday

For my birthday this year, we went to Disneyland. Sure it's a fun place to visit, but the real treat was being together with my sister, her family, and my parents for a couple days. The kids LOVED being with their cousins and I soaked up the time with my family.

In Toontown, waiting for everyone on the rollercoaster behind us (see the red rollercoaster? It's made for kids and it's pretty sweet.)

In Mickey Mouse's House, with some balloons to mark Andrew's birthday. (My nephew and I have the same birthday. Happy 4th Birthday, Drew!)

On Small World. Somehow it's even more special when you go on it with your parents and sister, remembering the first time you went on it as a kid.



Pixar Parade. Waiting for Lightening McQueen!
I love that parade. So much in fact, that the day before I dreamt that I was trying out for a spot as a dancer in the parade.

Little Minnie Mouse, asleep after a long day... along with her brother.

Dylan asleep in my dad's arms on the tram back to my car.
I didn't get home that night until after midnight. Thankfully I had my new GPS (thanks Mom and Dad for the awesome birthday gift!) to help me home (otherwise with the poorly marked detour on the 5, I'd have gotten lost for certain. Not good with two sleeping kids alone in LA!)

Nearly Crawling

At 8 months, Addie is nearly crawling. Tonight after getting her all ready for bed, she protested at the highest volume possible, making it impossible to put both kids to bed in the same room. So I brought her back to our room to nurse and snuggle until Ryan had Dylan settled. Addie had other plans for our mommy-daughter date. She was going to show me her new tricks. At first she cooed and tried her best to clap her hands (still a ways away on that skill). But then then her BIG tricks came out. She was rocking and rolling and showing off. See the video for a peek.

And yes, Dylan came back into our room to watch Addie's show and tell. It was a family event. Nevermind that everyone is tired and NOBODY was in bed yet.

Promises to a toddler gone wrong

Kathy watched the kids so Ryan and I could go out on a date last Wednesday night. We had fun, but apparently Dylan got the wrong idea about the evening. Kathy writes it better than I can, so I'll send you here to see the play-by-play of how it went.
Plus there is a precious little video at the end with Addie chatting it up with the camera. So if reading a funny story about Dylan doesn't lure you over to her blog, then I'll tempt you with the promise of a cute video of Addie.

3 months

Addie is 3 months old. She coos and smiles when she sees her mommy or daddy's faces, loves to be held (hello seperation anxiety!), and is gaining weight nicely now. She's right between the 10th and the 25th percentile for weight now, which means a lot. She still is primarily breastfed, but gets about 2 ounces of formula per day most days to add some calories.

Her eyes are still mostly blue, but changing ever so slightly now more to a greyish hue. She's got a sweet temperment, but really doesn't like being set down. It takes stealth-like skills to transfer her from my arms to the cradle some days for to get her to take a solid nap.

Dylan adores her, but is still learning about what she can and cannot do. The other night he spent about 5 minutes preparing her swing for her to sleep in. He laid out her blankets and pacifier and dolly on the swing in a very particular way, making sure it was 'just so'. He loves helping her calm down when she cries. He turns on her swing to play music (often to my dismay, but strangely it seems to help her when he does it and doesn't when I try). He gives her the pacifier. He sings her songs with me in the car. And he tells me to go to see the baby when she cries, saying 'she needs you mommy'. He rarely is jealous and when he is, we try to help him label his feelings and ask for attention in a positive way. I'm sure as she develops more of her personality and is awake more, we'll run into more of the 'jealousy' for our time, but for now I'm proud of him. He's a good big brother. And he loves his sister. What else can you ask for with a three year old?

Plus, Dylan is nearly all potty trained! GO DYLAN!!!

Ryan has stayed home with Addie a few times while I've gone back to work. It has been lovely to see how Ryan has 'risen to the occassion,' making up his mind to enjoy the day with his daughter instead of complaining about what he could be getting done at work. He's brought her to me at lunch so I could nurse her and see her halfway through the day. And he sends texts with sweet little pictures of her and notes updating me on what they are up to, which is just the reassurance I need (hello worry-wart mama!). He's a fabulous husband and father. And I'm thankful that they have had that time to bond together on their own.

Baby Shower

Back in St. Louis I remember when people had their second (or third) babies, it wasn't customary to have another baby shower. But here in Southern California, things are different. "Every baby deserves to be celebrated", as a friend of mine says.
And our baby girl was VERY celebrated today.

My friends (Anamara, Christy, Karissa, Genese, and Lisa) hosted the most awesome and carefully thought out baby shower for our family (yes, husbands and kiddos were invited as well). There were numerous games, a delicious cake (Portos!), sangria (no, I didn't have any), balloons, tons of food including fajitas, a towering diaper cake, toddler pool and sand table under a big awning for the kids, tiki torches, party favors (including a personalized cd of tunes in honor of our baby girl and bags of homemade cookies for everyone who came), and lots of VERY generous gifts.

One gift in particular was from the whole group: a new stroller!

And games? Let's see, there was the 'how big is briana's belly' game (actual size was 10 squares around), where Ryan nearly came in second to last with estimating my tummy as GIGANTIC! (Cagdas, thanks for guessing my girth to be a few toilet paper squares larger than Ryan - you saved him!)
There was another game where you guessed how many jelly beans, pretzels, and goldfish were in various baby bottles.
And the gold standard: Guess what kind of candy (smashed up in diapers, only to be guessed by smelling one by one).

And a beer drinking game for the dads. That was a sight!
Imagine 7-8 grown men, lined up in a row, fiersly drinking beer from baby bottles...

And the kids decided they needed to play too, so here they are chugging their bottles alongside the daddies. (don't worry, theirs didn't have beer!)

I am still spinning with excitement from today. I'm in awe of how much effort, careful planning, and generosity these women put into making this such a special celebration for our family. A labor of love, for sure.

Thank you so much, my dear friends!

Butterflies & 4,000 kids, oh my!

I was going to do my own post on this experience last week, but I think Kathy did it more justice on her blog. See here.
If you do, you can see a full (nearly 2-minute) video of me ranting (doesn't take much to get a 34 week pregnant woman to complain at length, it seems) about 'the bathroom incident' - which I'm sure you ALL want to hear about, don't you?
And while I do agree that Kathy got a pretty good picture of the butterflies, I got one too.
Now I just have to find some time for Ryan to upload it here for me. But if not, just take my word for it, it's AWESOME.

Happy Mother's Day

For Mother's Day this year, my sweet husband brought me a lovely bouquet of flowers, which was so big that I was able to separate it into two vases. Lilacs, Roses, Orchids, Lilies, to name a few. So many of my favorites. And the fragrance: Wonderful.

Tomorrow after church we are planning to go have a family picnic at the Huntington Gardens over by the Rose Garden or perhaps the Shakespeare Garden, which both are in full bloom right now. Dylan can play on the grassy hill and run around while Ryan and I rest on our blanket together, enjoying the perfect 75-degree-California-weather that is forecasted for tomorrow afternoon.

And on Monday, as a VERY special treat (for all of us, we've decided), we are having our house deep cleaned. We both are pretty tidy people, who like the house in order as much as possible, but things have been sliding a bit in the past few weeks and it drives us both nuts. I've been dreaming of how lovely it will be to have spotless bathrooms, kitchen, and bedrooms again - all at the same time.

Ryan, kudos to you for making this year a perfect Mother's Day!!! (and I think he's just as excited as I am about the house getting cleaned)

Note: Too bad my son is too young to understand how great a gift it would be for him to just take a daily nap (he's nearly given them up entirely and I find myself begging for just a few minutes off my feet each afternoon now - never mind the modified bed rest orders folks... how can you do that with a toddler, I ask?!?)

Update: Today was fabulous. We ended up having lunch after church with some friends, then over to the gardens where we took some family pictures and rested on a picnic blanket while the boys played. And as a bonus, we went out for some ice cream before heading home (Dylan had his first very-own cone!). And tonight Dylan ate his dinner nicely and went to bed at 7pm without too much of a fuss.
I'm one happy mama.

Turtle Baby

Dylan loves his stuffed Turtle. So much, in fact, that he plays with it, brings it along to the table at mealtime to sit with us, and sleeps with it. Tonight in the car he even told his Turtle all about our bedtime routine.

When I thought about getting him a 'baby doll' to help him with the idea of the new baby, Ryan suggested we just let his beloved Turtle be his baby. We just might. He does try to donn diapers on his turtle every so often and carry him around in his blankie (another beloved item worth a post of it's own one day).

And at night: bedtime just isn't complete without Turtle.
He usually sends me off to my room after our kisses and goodnights with the command to take a specific one of his stuffed animals (usually either his SeaHorse or Doggie) to my bed with me, but NEVER Turtle. No, that one stays with him!

A Candy House

A few of Dylan's highlights from our Oregon trip:

-Dylan helping grandpa make a fire in the fireplace
-Driving the boat with grandpa
-Making a candy house with grandma (gingerbread house)
-Staring at the candy house, eating the candy house, talking about the candy house
-Bathtime in grandma's huge spa tub (ok, that was one of my favorites too!)
-Pluto and Mickey Mouse movies
-Walking in town by the boat docks
-Christmas morning!
-Cooking with grandma
-Sleeping in everyday until after 10:00 (ok, another of my favorites)
-Chasing grandma's kitties around the house
-Singing "Pop Goes The Weasel" in the car with grandparents (over and over and over and over again)

Trimmin' the Tree

Sunday night we trimmed the tree. Christmas music was playing, ornaments came out from hiding, and little boys got giddy with excitement!
Dylan seemed to have a favorite branch (loading all the ornaments he could get his hands on - all together). And don't you even try to convince this toddler that he may like to spread them out. No way!

Back to his little branch.
And 'ol Thaddeus assumed the position most cats do at this time of year.

Time-outs

Here is our little man in a time out, kitchen-corner style.

And here is what we found the other night, carefully placed in a time out of it's own: His MACK truck. And when I asked if his Mack could come out of time-out, he readily agreed, telling him "all done time-out, Mack" like a little boy who clearly understands the routine. I have no idea what Mack did to earn his spot in the corner, but I'm sure it made perfect sense to Dylan at the time.

The funny part was when we turned around a few minutes later to find this one. I guess his Lightening McQueen deserved one too!

Zoo

At the San Diego Zoo this past week (which I HIGHLY recommend!)
We walked for hours and got a good workout - especially with a 30-pound toddler on my back!

The hippos were a big hit with Dylan!
Dylan and Grandma ("Nand-ma") by the elephants eating at the end of the day.

Nand-ma and Papa

For those of you who know, my mom had surgery on her jaw this month for a tumor, which needed to be removed and biopsied. Thankfully the results of the biopsy were favorable and all looks good (except for significant post-op pain and numbness).

The upside of all her appointments down here in LA was that her and my dad came to visit us enroute back home and we got a day or so each time they did to soak up some time with them.

Dylan enjoyed soaking up some quality time with them too!

And I finally got the chance to take them to see the Huntington Gardens, which is one of my favorite places in LA. Thanks mom and dad for coming with me to share this little LA treasure with you!

Camping

This past weekend we got brave and headed up north to Lake Lopez for a family reunion of sorts with my side of the family. We stayed with my parents in their tent, on very nice air mattresses (thanks guys for sharing!)
It proved to be a fun time for all. And there's nothing like a couple days without a shower to make you REALLY appreciate the comforts of home!

Here is our view of the lake from our tent.
Another pretty view of the lake.
Dylan and his Papa (my dad) over at the picnic table. I'm sure Dylan was VERY helpful!
p.s. That tent is the same tent we camped in when I was a kid! Crawling in it brought back a sea of memories of backyard campouts and Sequoia camping trips.
Dylan loved my cousin Tevin, following him around and playing in his shaddow as much as he could. And Tevin was the most wonderful role model for him, being sweet, helpful, and patient with him. (Thank you Tevin! We love you!!!)
My cousin Hayley, my mom, and I down by the lake.
Hayley, Dylan, and I hiking back up the hill to the campsite after an afternoon down at the lake with the kids.

Tub Time

There's nothing like a game of peek a boo with daddy over the side of the tub!
Dylan still loves his baths. And at times demands that mommy or daddy still gets in with him for the event. When I ran out of indoor things to do last week when Dylan was fussy and needed a nap, but didn't want to yet, I thought of bathtime... and it was a surefire hit. All you need is some bubbles and squirt toys and you're set.