A Thing We Love

We love this product so much we wanted to tell everyone about it:

Mom Suit

While I wanted this:

Photo Poached From This Blog

I settled for this:

You Too Can Buy It Here

Yes, I bought a mom suit. For heaven's sake just look at the model. I can just hear her saying to herself, "I am 40 and fabulous!" Sometimes you have to settle and move on to worry about other stuff. Now, if only I could find a fun wrap skirt that would take years off my suit.

Birthday Fondue

Andrew got me a fondue pot for my 32nd birthday. All I can say is YUM!



Anytime you are in the mood for fondue (chocolate or cheese) give me a call and I will plug in this little puppy and we will be minutes away from taste bud bliss.

Emma Prusch Family Farm

We met up with our friends at the Prusch Family Farm in San Jose for a "meet Reade" play date. Thank goodness Skyla was there because she saved Blake's life a couple of times. First, she screamed out because Blake had climbed under a fence and ended up walking alongside the duck pond. Then, he disappeared on us only to be found standing alongside a school group, smiling for their group photo. Last but not least, Blake was in the middle of caution tape and Skyla lured him out safely. Thank goodness for good friends who accept the fact I am a new mom of two and didn't judge me (at least not out loud). Onto the photos:

I feel I do have it better than this mom because I don't constantly have giants running after me:


Future farmers of America:


The duck pond Blake tried to be one with:


It was great weather and great company.

By the way, Reade had his two month check up and is doing great. He is in the 25th percentile for head circumference, 50th percentile for height, and 70th percentile for weight. He weighs in at 12 pounds, 8 ounces right now. He got his first shot and Blake didn't like it one bit. Blake now says "no shots" whenever we discuss doctors. I am sad he is so fearful already because I am finally over my fear of shots and was proud I was going to be a good example. Maybe it is genetic and I am off the hook?

Hmmm...

The chalkboard from the family room made its way up to Blake's room. Blake wanted me to draw all of us at the beach. We added football helmets and baseball bats later on in the day. This mural has been morphing for about a week now and last night I realized something was missing. It was Reade. Where did he go? It looks like Blake erased him. How sad and funny all at the same time.

1st Swim Lesson

Organized sports here we come. Andrew wanted to take Blake to the public pool for swim lessons this summer. The first lesson had little guidance, as they were to get used to the water. This frustrated me because I wanted Blake to start learning right away. I had to remind myself that Blake is a toddler and isn't trying out for the swim team so I can stop being so overbearing. I guess I just want him to learn swimming skills because he loves to jump into any body of water (supervised or not). He has three more lessons so I am sure he will learn important things in lessons to come.









My little swimmer. The goggles are not necessary for the lessons, but since Blake sleeps with them in his crib we decided to bring them along:


Daddy as instructor:


What else do you do at swim lessons?:

Taste Of Home

Reade had a great first trip to Sacramento. He met his great grandpa for the first time and a slew of new friends. I thought it would be a lot of work, but it ended up being very comforting for me. We turned their house upside down and added lots of noise, but hopefully they didn't mind.

Never a shortage of chihuahua love:


I miss the extra set of hands:


Wood projects. There was a plumbing leak so my father had to pull up the existing wood floor (which he put in himself) and do it all over again:


Blake being semi-still:


The green outdoors. We managed to create quite the playground out with kiddie pool and all:


We look forward to the next visit, but we need to let my mom catch up on some rest before we descend upon her again.

Am I Making This Up?

Okay, I can't help but post this email reply on my blog. Am I crazy, or is everyone else insane right now in the world of babysitting?

"Hi - I'm [so and so's] father, responding to you because [so and so] is in college today and would not be able to reply until late. She would be delighted to sit for you - babies are fine - and charges $10/hour."

A college student who can't check/answer her own email? Didn't know they existed!

Getting Back

We are back from a long weekend visiting my family in Sacramento. I had a great time showing off Reade to family and friends. I am trying to get back into the swing of things around here, but am moving like a snail slug, as I like to say.

Since my Monday is slow I figured I would torture myself by researching post-baby swimwear. Depressing! Here are my top three as of right now.

From Land's End:

On sale for $66.50

ShapeFX:

On sale for $49

JCPenney:

On sale for $49.99


Wow, mom suits already. Gone are those bikini days. If anyone knows of any other good "control" suits then by all means post them in the comments section.

Yesterday's midwife group went great and I heard loud and clear that I need to be asking for more help and not try to take everything on myself. Andrew took care of Reade for a couple of hours in the late evening so I could nap. When he climbed into bed I took over baby duty. I thought that extra hour and a half of sleep would pay off, but I am still tired and my patience was gone before I knew it.

First, Blake hit Reade and then put 50 small dents in our bedroom door when I exiled him from the room. He banged on it with a metal spoon and when I opened the door to stop him I couldn't believe the damage he had caused so quickly. Second, Teenie chewed up part of a tree under the coffee table and there are thousands of wood shards all around. Then, Blake wadded up half a roll of toilet paper into the toilet while I was switching over the laundry. I give him credit that he was taking care of business, but I have tried everything to teach him to only rip off three squares of toilet paper. I think I remember some sort of gimmicky thing they sell to teach kids that. At the time, I thought that was stupid, but I may look into it again.

Time to chant: Keep calm, carry on.

The precious times are precious though:

Sunshine

I got a bit more sleep last night so I think today will be better. I am dropping Blake off at the drop-in daycare and heading over to my midwife group to present Reade for the first time. My midwife's practice has monthly meetings for pregnant women and the moms who have had children with Rosanna's assistance. It is a great place for us to share our birth stories and support each other. I haven't been for quite some time now so it will be fun to see new faces and be one myself.

I am glad it has cooled down a bit, but here is a memory of hot days past:


P.S. The babysitter wrote me a huge email saying things like this:

"I just wanted to reassure you that had this been an actual job I would NOT have flaked on you so last minute and left you without care for your children."

-Not an actual job? Hmmm, when you ask for $17/hour I think the interview is actually important too?

"To me it seems you misjudged me and I would have appreciated greater understanding."

-Cancelling last minute and flaking on an interview is not exactly the most professional behavior. Of course I am going to judge you. I am a parent trying to find someone to leave my kids with. Crazy lady.

Hmph!

Babysit This Child Please

I am so frustrated, tired, and hungry. Most of the blogs I read celebrate the good things in life to give them a break from the bad. Well, I am not going to do that. I am going to use this blog for all my complaints with the hope they will leave me and disappear through the internet, never to return. With that said, here I go:

I want to hire a babysitter. I want to hire a babysitter who won't call five minutes before their interview and say, "I have to run errands. Do you mind if we reschedule?" I found this person on craigslist (yes, this has happened too many times before so I should know better), but I really thought this time it would work out. I wouldn't have cared before, but I spent two hours trying to pick up the house while feeding Blake, nursing the baby, and trying to get the baby to go five minutes without me holding him. So now it was 11am and I had a restless toddler on my hands who has heard "hold on" and "let me just pick this last thing up" all morning so I headed to the park for some needed fresh air. We kicked some balls around and then I just sat down Indian style in the middle of the sidewalk next to Reade's car seat (the child finally fell asleep). There was a group of moms up on a grassy hill and I noticed one of them smiling at me. I think she saw how run down I looked and sympathized. Two of the moms had toddlers and wee ones so being near them comforted me. Reade woke up so I headed to a bench to nurse him and the mother's group started packing up to leave. One of the moms walked by me and in a gentle tone said, "How are you?" I told her I was fine and then before I knew it, my babysitter story popped out of my mouth. Her response was, "A babysitter I was interviewing flaked on me yesterday." Other moms are so great. They can really pick you up when you are feeling down. Instantly, she asked for my email address and typed it into her cell phone. We found out we all live blocks away from each other and then they headed off in the direction of their homes. I don't know if I will ever see them again, but it was nice of them to listen to my woes and go on about their day. It was as if they chipped off a piece of my frustration and left it right there at the park. It is invisible so it won't leave a mark on someone's shoe if they step in it!

Does anyone want to see a video of my youngest falling asleep during tummy time?:

Last Friday was a Google Friday for the family. Andrew was part of two teams that received OC awards. Andrew explained to me that the awards are for projects/teams that went above and beyond. There were 14 awards given out in total. Blake got through the ceremony by shoving Google treats into his mouth the whole time. Let's just say he was crazy for the rest of the evening.

Cupcakes, yum:


Before the ceremony. Reade with his first Google badge sticker:


I am so happy to report I got some dishes done this morning with both of my children awake. I put Reade on a soft mat in the kitchen and Blake didn't totally clobber him. Blake was playing with his pretend kitchen and food so as long as Reade taste tested a few dishes all was calm. There is a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

To The Beach

Weekends are for going to the beach. Plain and simple.

Warm sand between my toes:


Warm sand for burying balls:


It is always fun to share the beach with friends you don't get to see enough (Suzie, Molly, and Mark):


Our camp:


Blake using the travel potty:


Why am I up at 2am with both the kids after a full day of playing at the beach? Because the house is pretty warm upstairs. This is why...

Earlier this week, we (me and the boys) were upstairs trying to get ready for the day. I went into Reade's room to get a onesie for him to wear and came back to find Blake perched atop the changing table with his head sticking out the second story window. He found our window lock and tried to put it on the window, but ended up pushing out the screen (still in my neighbor's backyard). So there he was, little hands on the window ledge trying to see down to where the screen fell. My heart still sinks when I think back to that moment. Anyways, let's just say I bought window guards and our house will resemble a jail once they arrive. For now, all the windows have window locks on them and we are only opening them the recommended 4 inches. That doesn't allow for a lot of air flow so I think the kids got hot tonight. Blake went back down after two tries, but this little donut hole on my lap seems perfectly content on being awake right now. It is comforting to know that other people are awake right now because of their wild social lives. Party on world.

I Give Up

Does this look like a tub that has been cleaned by professionals? Well, this is my downstairs bathtub after cleaners came. Google has a great maternity/paternity package for new parents. They give you $500 to be used towards take-out food, diaper service, or house cleaning. I called a house cleaning service and requested people to come clean my bathrooms. I mean a good scrubbing. I envisioned them sparkling white like when I moved into this house. The cleaners basically cleaned the bathroom how I would (in a huge cloud of Ajax). They didn't even clean the floors. They left a nice Ajax ring on Blake's step stool though. I guess if you want it done right you do it yourself or you hire better cleaners!

Vote Here

I did not vote yesterday. How horrible is that? I ALWAYS vote and ALWAYS yell at everyone else to vote so shame on me. Maybe I would have voted had my child not split his head open? I used to harp on people who gave me excuses like that. So today I am going to redeem myself by hosting an election regarding chocolate.

Vote Today! Dark vs. Milk (leave your comment and we will see who wins)



Side-by-side comparison to help you make your decision:
(Trader Joe's Swiss Milk Chocolate & Trader Joe's 71% Cacao Swiss Dark Chocolate)
Serving size: about half the bar
......................Milk............Dark................................
Calories:............. 230................ 240
Total Fat:............ 23% ...............28%
Sat. Fat: ..............45%................ 55%
Cholest.: ...............3%................. 0%
Sodium:................ 2% ................ 0%
Tot. Carb: .............8% .................6%
Fiber:................... 0% ................ 20%
Sugars: ............... 22g .................12g
Protein: ............... 3g .................. 3g

Ingredients:
MILK: Cane sugar, Cocoa butter, Whole milk powder, Cocoa mass, Carmelized sugar, Soy lecithin, Vanilla extract
DARK: Cocoa mass, Cane sugar, Cocoa butter, Vanilla bean pods


I am trying to branch out and add more dark chocolate into my chocolate habit. It has been hard since I want to chase the dark chocolate with some milk chocolate to give me that oh, so happy feeling I get from my addiction.

Don't forget to vote. I won't accept lame excuses like medical emergencies either!

Urgent Care

Blake fell back against the coffee table this morning, which led to a trip to the urgent care center. They used some Dermabond glue to seal it because it wasn't that deep.

A little cut never stopped anyone from playing ball:


Ouch:

One More Makes Four

Carolyn had her baby!

In her words...

"James Barry Llewellyn was born at home on Thursday June 3rd at 10:17pm. 8lb 2oz, 20" long. Big sister Elaine June saw her brother born and cut the baby's cord. We are all doing great!!!"

So calm:


So new:


Oh, how happy I was to receive this email. Carolyn gave me the courage to explore the realms of home birth and I am so happy to hear it all went well the second time around. Two adorable babies born in farm houses.

I love all these babies.

Weekend Kids

Blake drawing:


Reade smiling:

Hard Work

I feel fat so I started running today. I never run and usually hate it, but running is convenient and it will give me something to talk about with my triathlon husband. "I don't like being fat" ran through my head the first half of my run. Then it switched to "when did life get so hard" and on the last leg of my run I heard myself saying "yes, life is hard, but you aren't fat, you just want to be healthy." I hope I can stick with this and maybe I need to borrow Andrew's Ipod so I don't have to listen to myself think.

Brand spanking new treads:


Thursday and Friday were great potty training days. Blake has pee'd and pooped on the potty (on his own) with vigor. Today, was a different story because of the weekend schedule. Andrew was brewing beer so Blake took it upon himself to poop on the lawn outside. He tried!

Blake got hold of a pen during one of Reade's diaper changes:


We jumped in the car before dinner and took advantage of the free donuts at Krispy Kreme on Friday.

Last bite:


Does anyone have a favorite type/brand of baby gate for the top of stairs? I want a walk-through type, but am not sure if it is any better than one that swings all the way open. Andrew fell down the stairs about six months ago and busted through our gate downstairs. We moved the top one down to the bottom to keep the dogs from going upstairs, but we will need one upstairs relatively soon now.

72nd National Donut Day

Donuts

It is National Donut Day so go get your free donuts. Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts are offering free donuts today. Yummy.

Pleased To Introduce Baby Ellyse Junelle Balland

June 2nd was a great day. Danika had a successful VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and now has baby Ellyse Junelle in her arms. It was so hard to wait for the good news that I ended up emailing and texting them just to get her name! They are home from the hospital and Danika said they are a great breastfeeding team. Yipppeee. I can't wait to meet her. I am now paranoid about seeing her before 30 days since that number has been hammered into my head. Right now, I am just happy to have them all under one roof and able to settle in as a family of four. I also can't wait to hear how their family of four gets through these crazy/insane/bipolar wonderful/emotional/tender times.

Here she is in all her glory:



Jocelyn being ever so cute about her new, baby sister:

Six Weeks

I wanted to have a low-key morning with Blake so I decided to bake bread with him. It takes twice as long to prepare for when you have two kids to juggle. This is a two tone bread made with molasses. It turned out really yummy. My goal was to chill in the morning and then let Blake run amok around the San Mateo fairgrounds in the afternoon. Andrew is entering some of his beer in the county fair and I was to drop off his beer for entry between 2pm and 8pm. Blake wouldn't take a nap (he never does that) so he fell asleep in the car on the way there. Both kids were sleeping in the car when I arrived at the fairgrounds so I dropped the beer off and turned right around for a quiet trip home. So much for getting Blake's wiggles out. We did play baseball in our court once we got home.

The bread:


The recipe came from one of my grandmother's cookbooks:


I had my six week check-up with my OB yesterday. We are weaning myself off the blood pressure medication (Monday I will stop it completely). If my blood pressure creeps up again then I will have to resume the medication. I woke up this morning with a headache that felt like someone had hit me in the head with a giant club. They go away really quickly, but I have had enough of this headache nonsense. The OB said he is not concerned with the headaches and that hopefully they will go away.

He then addressed birth control. It was like stepping out of the dark ages. He had so many options and threw pamphlet after pamphlet my way. Who knew about all of these things? I was happy to find out that there is a non-hormonal option for breast feeding mamas. How cool. I told him I have always wanted my three children to be super close in age, but there was less excitement in my voice than other times I have said this. I want them close, but man has this been a crazy pregnancy/delivery/post-partum that I can't even imagine going through this all again anytime soon. I am in no hurry now!

All good news and off to bed I go (yippee it is 9pm and my little baby is getting into a somewhat normal nighttime routine).

Room For Baby

I am showcasing two of my pregnant friend's baby rooms today. They were both inspired by trees and are adorable.

My friend Danika is having her baby right as I write this post. I hope the baby is out by now, but I haven't received notice yet. Good job Danika! I am sending so many good wishes your way. Soon enough baby will be the perfect accessory to your wonderful nursery:

Bird in waiting:


My friend Megana is due with another baby girl (that makes three children) at the end of June. They just moved into this house and she whipped up a beautiful nursery:


We found this pie chest at an antique store together. She ended up going back to get it a few weeks later. What a great piece!:


Here is George next to the tree they painted:


Such a cute idea:


Aren't all the babies I know so lucky?