Kindergarten graduation

An oxymoron you say? Well, only if you've never had a child go through one . . .sooooo cute to see our little Emmers walk out of her classroom with her little construction paper graduation hat on, adorned with yarn tassle. Be still my heart. I can only imagine what a blubbering mess I'm going to be when she graduates from high school considering how misty eyed I got upon seeing her walk proudly by with her hat. It's a milestone, nuf said.
Her report card - fabulous. HUGE improvement (in caps) was the take home message. Ahhhh, our little girl is headed to 1st grade. No need for therapy just yet.

Well now, THAT'S what I call a perk

of working late, that is. That perk would be missing out on Miles rocketing out a poop in my husband's general direction which happened a) when his diaper was off (of course) and b) while I was driving home from work. HA! Gotta love that. Dad handled it very well - went into crisis management mode and by the time I got home, the two boys were bathed, reclothed and Miles' room was quarentined (due to the poop-spray that was hither and yon on the carpet - ewwww).

I think I'm in love all over again . . .who knew taking a poop shower would make me hot for hubby??

Germany prep and the stroller that ensued

One week from today we are leaving for Germany! I am so excited! We're headed to see hubby's family first near Cologne and will actually see a World Cup game while we're there - ahhhhh!!! So excited - did I say that already?? SO excited to see a real game!
After a few days we're going to head south to see Sleeping Beauty's castle and other fun things (yes, we're taking BOTH of our kids on this trip because we're lunatics). Then it's over to Munich to hook up with Emma's dad for a swap. He's taking her to Italy for about 10 days - she's got such a rough life that Emma. Then we head back north for our flight home via the sightseeing route. Can't wait to bask in the bratwurst, beer, castles, scenery and ack! crying from the backseat . . .hopefully not too much of that. . .we've never taken both of our kids on a trip anywhere - Miles is only 13 months, so that's not a surprise. But we decided to take the plunge and take them both to Germany - we had several offers from the grandparents to leave Miles with them, and I can always have Emma stay with her dad - but you know? We're total whimps and thought we'd miss them way too much and decided the sleepless nights and whining was all worth it. We're going to be on vacation right? So we'll just load up on the coffee to stay awake during the days and suck it up. What the hell. Anyway, that brings me to my next topic which is this: I needed a good stroller for getting around Germany that Miles would be comfortable enough in to sleep at any given moment (so we don't have to spend 2 - 3 hours every day in the hotel room smack dab in the middle of the day), could handle the potentially slightly rough terrain, had good sun/wind/rain protection (it's been raining there a lot lately) and was light enough to transport. So the search was on, and I mean the search. It took me for-ever to find the right stroller. I went from wanting something incredibly simple and light - to lusting after the much nicer models that come with all the features I was looking for. Thank gawd for all the great review sites out there - I found a particularly good one called: baby gaga
that had really great and thorough reviews on it. And otherwise I relied on the old stand-by: Epinions. Both were invaluable at providing information to this indecisive stroller buyer.
So, what did I eventually decide on? Wouldn't you know it, but one that I originally thought was wayyyy too expensive - mainly because I was convinced you could get the same features for less. And maybe you can get some of them - but no, not allll of them - and I wanted allll of them. So I decided on the Bumbleride Flyer - tee hee! If you click on the baby gaga link you can see it for yourself - I got mine in Bamboo - which I hope is not some obnoxious mint green - but rather a soothing green to calm the spirit - and at 300 bucks, I'll expect this puppy to make me a latte en route to my destination . . .and one for my shocked husband who thinks I'm a total nut for aquiring yet another stroller. Sorry babe, hadda do it.
So now I'm picturing myself strolling the streets of Germany with my sublime little tot inside blissing out on the Bamboo decor and reclining to his heart's content with no sun/rain/wind in his lovely little blue eyes . . .Mary Poppins, you got nuthin on me.

Watermelon Martinis and Thai food

Yumm-mmy! I made these the other night when some friends came over for dinner and let me tell you - no complaints. Good stuff - got the party rolling. Karen helped me make a fun Thai dinner that was enjoyed by all (ok, so the chicken was a little spicey for the kids) and the martinis were the perfect compliment.
Thai food is actually really easy to make if you know the secret: Thai Kitchen sauces in a jar. All you have to do is put a scoop-full of their curry paste into a pan, add a few simple ingrediants and voila! you've got yourself a fabulous Thai meal and your friends will think you're a genius. Works every time. The menu was as follows:

• Fresh spring rolls with BBQ'd Tiger Shrimp
• Spicey Beef Salad
• Chicken satay with peanut sauce
• Red curry Tiger Shrimp with vegetables
• Coconut jasmine rice

Makes my mouth water just thinking about it again . . .the meal was a little challenging, but much easier to pull off with help from Karen (thanks KBC!).

Give a try and prepare to impress!

Good-time Charlie

Is in full effect. To such an extent that my son has now decided that good-time Charlie is all he needs. Hmmm-mmm, that's right. Good-time Charlie saunters into the house after being gone for 4 days and Miles clammers, yells and reaches out for him. Then good-time Charlie stays for a day or two and is off again - mommy takes care of wee boy, day in and day out. Good-time Charlie returns 5 days later and the same scene unfolds - clammer-clammer, yell-yell, reach-reach. What the fuck? How did this happen? Do I not get up in the middle of the night and change your stinky-poopy diapers? Did I not walk you around endlessly until you learned to walk? Do I not feed you, hold you until you fall asleep, bring you fun toys and play with you? Yes, the answer to those questions is YES. I do all of those things - but does that matter? No. It doesn't. You only have eyes for good-time Charlie. Hmmmph. This should and could be a good thing for me right? Not having to be the go-to girl all the time for every little boo-boo. But you know what? I liked being the go-to girl with my daughter (I'm sure I'm filling one of the many voids left by my parents). So this thing with Miles and Papa? Not working for me so well.
So what's the secret formula? Who knows - probably something only my husband-who-comes-from-disgustingly-well-adjusted-family-life can produce. Whatever.

Typical . . .I will never change. . .

So my big thing in the morning is to get out the door in time to make it to the beloved commuter lane before it goes away. Ohhhh no, I do not like missing this opportunity to happily fly by all the sorry suckers who aren't cruel enough to stick their sweet baby in the backseat for an hour-plus so they can head off to their unpaid job with gleeful ease. Hel-looo, that's like throwing away a coupon for free diapers for a year! That said, I am constantly rushing around my house in the morning trying to get Miles and I ready (by myself, of course b/c hubby is travelling yet again) and debating whether or not to make myself that coffee that I can't live without (which takes 5 frickin' minutes because it's just GOT to be a latte). . .especially when I've stayed up late working for said unpaid job. On this harried morning I decided to go for it - roll the dice, play with fire - make. the. coffee. water. the. new. plants. before. they. die. pusssshhhhhhing it . . .the minutes tick, tick, ticking away . . .Miles happily playing with his walker just taunting me to do yet more things before I leave for the next 12 hours . . .whirl, hiss, spatter and voila! my beloved caffe latte is finito! - hmmmm, can't find my favorite commuter mug . . .ohhhhh yeah - I torched it in the microwave yesterday and almost started a fire - oooops. Who knew that you couldn't boil water in a metal/rubbery commuter mug from my husband's company??? Oh well, I'll have to use this other one - some hideously huge Starbuck's thing that will also serve the purpose of building my biceps while I drink . . .Another look at the clock reveals that it's already 8:29 - oh no! I'm in dangerous territory - must. get. in. the. car. Okay little guy, saddle up! Off we go, frothy, fabulous latte riding shotgun in the drink holder . . .cooling to a perfect blissful temp while I drive poll position over the windy highway that seperates us from the bustling Silicon Valley.
And here's the point of this long-winded blog entry - I pick up the coffee mug THINKING that I've put the lid on corrrectly . . .ah, no babe. That would be a mistaken thought. Lid NOT on right, coffee now ALL over my shirt - shit! still hot!! ouchy-ouch!
What to do now?? Ah-ha, brilliant - I have a bottle of water in the car! I'll just squirt a little dab on the stain to keep it from setting and that will dry by the time I get to my destination. . . dab being the operative word - you can guess what happened next . . .Ack! I spill water ALL over myself. I am now TOTALLY drenched with coffee and water. Fabulous. I am so talented - how did I get so talented?! I know you're wondering, how could you not? If my family reads this they will nod in agreement - this is standard behavior for me - as I said - typical.
An-nee-way - that commuter lane that I worked so hard to get to? Missed it. Gone. Nada, nada. The on-ramp to the freeway with the metering lights took soooo long that by the time I merged, it was parking lot city, and I was just another one of the sorry suckers sitting there - except that unlike those now lucky people I had my poor sweet baby in the back seat squirming to get out of bondage and, a completely wet shirt, nice.

My all-star daughter

Get. out.! Our little Emmers busted a move and went from "progressing slowly" to "knowing more than the other kids in class"!!! (okay, so the fact that her teacher told her that is just slightly disfunctional, but that's another post).
I am SO proud of my little girl! Wow, she was really not in the mood to learn her numbers up to 100 and her sight words and the alphabet backwards - but you know what? She did it. She has now experienced what it's like to do something you don't want to do and then reap the rewards of a job well done. I bought her a Juice Box that I've been saving for when she was finished with her test and I just gave it to her last night as a reward - she deserved it, she worked really hard. I hope this is a harbinger of things to come, although I'm sure they'll be plenty of challenges ahead. At least we've got our victory, I'm going to revel in it for a good while.

More adventures of the working mom . . .

I never quite feel like I have enough time to get any work done when I'm home with my kids - I always have grand plans of getting a bunch done and it just doesn't seem to happen. So, the other day when they were miraculously simultaneously occupied - one watching Sesame Street, the other coloring - I snuck off to my office for a look see at my emails. Of course they had been piling up and I was remiss on getting back to my co-workers on several action items .. .so I got sucked in and the next thing I know a 1/2 hour or more had passed . . .I would have gone blithely on if it weren't for the yells of my 5 year old - "mommy! mommy! Miles ate something! Miles ate something!" I rushed to find out what all the ruckus was about - oh. dear. Miles had somewhere found a Hershey's Kiss or two and managed to pop them into his mouth - wrappers and all - and then managed to mash them around and smear the saliva-gooey mess all over himself, the light yellow couch (I know, what AM I doing with a light yellow couch with two kids?!) and the carpet. Holy crap - what a mess. Mom gets to work a bit?? I think not. Pay the price lady.
Miles had a huge grin on his face - total delight - almost worth the mess . . .

My little Dracula . . .

Just love those teeth!

The Pinnacles

This past Saturday I woke up and had the hankering for a road trip. So we decided to head out to the Pinnacles - despite the fact that we found out it would be an almost 2 hour drive from our house. What the hell, we went for it.
So we packed up the kids, some food, the backpack carrier and hit the road. On the way we realized that we hadn't really brought enough food for all of us for the whole day - since we would be gone for the whole day - so we decided to stop in Soledad to pick up something - the last town on the map before we headed out to the middle of no-where. Okay, so Soledad didn't seem to have your average everyday market that you may find in, oh, say any other town in the Bay Area .. .nope, this town is mainly hispanic so the market we found didn't have the usual fare. But we did manage to find something in between the weird rainbow colored, custardy looking things in the fridge and the large slabs of meat readily available ...some peanuts that didn't end up tasting like typical peanuts, some milk for Miles, some bananas and ahhh, our lucky find - churros. Yummy.
Off we went, Churros in hand, ready to face the elements. Another 17 miles and we arrived at the visitor center. Despite the fact that it was cold and foggy at the coast that day, it. was. hot. at the Pinnacles. Whew - what a difference. We loaded up Miles in the backpack carrier, got Emma's shoes on and headed up the steep trail to the top of the high peaks trail. I was so impressed with Emma who hiked quite a distance to make it there. She did, of course, have to get carried by Pappi for a while - who btw, was already carrying Miles as well. Pappi gets his work out. But overall, she did a great job - and she was very cute to point out all of the flowers along the way and even tell me the name of some of them. Very impressive!
Near the top there were stairs carved into the rock and a rail you had to hold on to for stability - Emma charged on up and did a great job - go girl! I'm so glad she's at the stage now where she can start to hold her own, it's fun to see.
When we finally got back down the mountain we were pooped, pooped. I think before kids we would have probably gone a lot further and been a lot less tired - but where's the fun there?!
We had the perfect family day and were all warm and fuzzy on the long ride home.

Happy Cinqo de Mayo!

It's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday! Yippee . . .isn't it fun to love Friday's again? Only something I love when I have a job - otherwise, it's just another day .. .it's nice to love a particular day again.
Today we're having a little office par-tay .. .oh yeah. Celebrating Cinqo de Mayo .. .cuz we're all from Mexico, not. But what the hell, an excuse to have a party. Got the music going and the beer chillin' . . .too bad I have to drive the hill and can't have any. Oh well, wouldn't be so good for the post-barf-session-belly anyway. . ..tra-la-la-la-la-la . . .it's Friday, who cares?!
Miles is on his way here to join in the festivities, can't wait to see the little bugger!

My fabulous and not so fabulous week . . .

This past Sunday my husband and I took his brother and wife to see David Sedaris - and that. was. fabulous. That man is funny! I love his books and he was equally hilarious in person. He read a few pieces of his writing and it was amazing - the way that man thinks is so odd, and yet, he hits the nail on the head every time. I was thinking back to when I first picked up one of his books (Me Talk Pretty One Day) and started reading it - I had no background information about him - didn't know the extent of his freakish personality, or that the completely fucked up nature of his thought patterns and opinions would someday seem somehow normal to me. When I started to read Me Talk Pretty One Day I was taken aback by his writing - how could anyone possibly be so fucked up?? But once you get a little numb to it, it becomes so funny, and as I said - strangely normal - for him, that is. I really came to love his writing - and I'm sure that fact that it took me a while to warm up to it shows my lack of literary acuumen - whatever, bygones - I'm on board now!

So, the not so fabulous part of this week?? Getting Miles' stomach flu on Monday night . ..eee-gads, it's been a longgggg week full of nastiness. Mamas try not to let your babies puke on you multiple times .. . like my little lamb did. Oi-vey. On Friday night while we were having dinner Miles was squirming to get out of his high chair. So I lifted him out and the next thing I know he's unloading said dinner all over my face, chest, lap . ..etc. Poor wee fellow - poor mommy. Bummer dude. So, big surprise, come Monday I was in the same boat - except worse. Miles just puked a couple of times - me, I was up from 2 am until sometime the next afternoon praying to the porcelein god. It's now Thursday and I'm back at work, feeling a little hollow, a little lighter in my step and a little wafflely. ..still haven't had any coffee yet . . .deprived of my favorite vice - another blow. When will the injustice stop, I ask you? Here's to hoping for my iron gut back . . .

Happy Birthday Miles!

Miles, today you are 1 year old! You are our sweet, happy, curious, energetic, big-little guy and we love you soooo much. You have brightened up our lives and brought even more happiness to our house. You and your papa have a special bond and I love to see your face when he walks in the room - total delight and excitement and a full body smile!

Right now you love:

• Walking! You're a big walker now, taking a few timid steps here and there on your own, but still preferring to hold on to a pinky of the nearest grown-up or sister for balance and comfort.
• Blowing on the fish in your room above your crib to see them move (so cute!).
• Playing with your cousin, Derick.
• Clapping and dancing to music - you love the tunes, I can see a future for you here . . .
• Getting hugs and kisses from your sister.
• Kissing the stuffef Elmo, Dora and Po dolls.
• Avocado, cantelope, tofu, broccoli, mandarin oranges, salmon, cous-cous, rice, and chicken.
• Seeing your papa and/or mama after we've been at work - biggggg smiles!

Miles, you're the best, and worth every bit of the poop, barf and crying. We love you, love you, love you! Happy birthday bubba!

Adventures of the working mother:

April 27, 3 am: Emma comes into my room crying: "I have to go to the bathroommmmmm, I have to go to the bathrooommmmmm . . ."
Okay, okay, go already! Big surprise, she crawls into bed with me after using my bathroom and proceeds to kick me all night in the back, lovely. I stay awake for another hour remembering that I've forgotten to a) get back to friends who have called, b)organize a gift for Emma's teacher for teacher appreciation day (why in the world did I sign up to be room parent???), c)call the new housecleaner back since our current one sucks and left dirt all over the place when she came yesterday.

April 27, 8 am: we all wake up (impressive sleeping in!), Miles is still sick, poor fella, and it's his birthday!

April 27, 8:45 am: I've managed to get the two kids dressed and in their car seats. Miles has a bottle and his nose has stopped leaking like a faucet for the moment, good. I go back inside to get my shoes, jacket and anything else I've forgotten.

April 27, 8:50 am: I open my car door to hear: "mommy, mommy, Miles threw up! Miles threw up!"
Oh dear, the poor thing! He was coughing so much that he threw up his milk. Okayyy, get him out of his seat and take him up to his room to change him, wipe that nose, and try to get a smile out of the wee fellow.

April 27, 9:00 am: We actually leave the house, despite the fact that Miles is sitting on top of a towel on his wet car seat, nice. We head to Starbuck's down the street for a little pick-me-up since we're out of milk and I couldn't make my usual latte to go.

April 27, 9:10 am: Inside Starbucks: "Mommy, I have to go poo-poo!" Ooookay, let's order and then we'll use the bathroom.

April 27, 9:40 am: Bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 85. Miles sounds like some kind of wind machine in the back seat weezing and sniffling.

April 27, 10:00 am: I actually arrive at my destination, my sister-in-law's house where Miles and Emma will spend the day with the nannies. Drop off goes well, Emma gets to go to Happy Hollow with her cousin and cousin's grandma. I get back into my car, take a swig of coffee and let out a big sigh. . .ahhhhh, time to change the tunes and get.to.work.

Sassafrass

I think it's time to rename our little sass-machine. From now on, I'm going to call her Sassafrass - cuz she's all sass these days - even when on an Easter egg hunt as you can see here. Really wondering what the teenage years are going to be like - I figure it can go either way depending on who she ends up hanging out with - hopefully she falls in with the studious crowd and not the six-pack to get started crowd. Of course, I turned out all right . . .eventually.

Apres Easter tasting

Oh, and I can't forget to mention the little mission that Karen and I went on after the egg hunt . . .tee hee. Now that's when the grown ups started having fun. On our way home we stopped in at the Sarticious Spirits distillery in Santa Cruz to try some gin since Karen was in the market for some for her sister in NYC. I don't know if you've ever "tasted" gin before, but it's not something I usually drink straight - and I nearly fell over after taking a swig. Not to say that their gin isn't good - it's just a shocker to the system after Easter candy all morning. They also had some wine to taste there which we started out with which was pretty tasty, but I don't think it did anything to prepare me for the fire in the hole from the gin. So we tried the gin and Karen liked it well enough and decided to buy some - well, you can't buy any alcohol made from grains *at* the distillery in CA - only alcohol made from fruits can be bought directly from a distillery. Hmmmm, strange distinction that goes back to prohobition days. So after tasting we left and hit the liquor store to get our gin - odd, eh?
We also stopped by the Swift Street Courtyard to browse the fun shops there and we both found fun treasures. Karen got a water pitcher that looked like a wine bottle with it's top lopped off and made into a pour spout and a necklace and I found colorful handmade place mats for the kids. Gerroooovy.

The Easter Bunny came late this year . . .

Betweeen Emma being off in Hawaii this year with her dad and the crappy weather, we/I decided to arrange for an Easter celebration a week after the real Easter. So we all went up to my brother's place in Bonny Doon and had a little hunt . .. despite the still crappy weather. This will definitely go down as one of the nastiest springs in No. Cal. where we usually have beach day after beach day. Whatever. Anyway, the hunt - it was fun. We all brought food and had a yummy brunch before hiding the 72 candy filled eggs - 72 eggs becuase there were 4 little girls to look for them and we wanted things to be even and we were expecting a lot more hunters - but fevers and colds got the best of some. So Emma, Chloe, Rinnie and Nicole hit the jackpot and got to hunt down 18 eggs each (see, we're not just rotting their teeth, we're teaching valuable counting skills too). Not sure if Emma's actually eaten that much candy in one sitting before . .. she managed to get a ton down her gullet before I discovered what she was doing and confiscated the basket. Ever heard of pacing yourself girl? I think not. There was a lovely mood to follow later in the day. Charming.
Anyway, another holiday under our belt and moving on. Miles turns 1 this Friday - I can't believe it's already been a year!! Wow, time flies.

Remiss on a VERY important blog entry . ..

Let's see . .. where did I put that blog . . .hmmmm . .. .no, not there . . . hmmm . . .no, that's not it ... oh, shit, there's that parking ticket I haven't paid yet (!), better stack that over there so I don't forget again . . . ..hmmm, where is that blog . ..OH! There it is .. .oh! Hi, you're here already! Okay, well then I'll just get started: I have big news and I am 2 days late in reporting it:
Miles walked! He took 3 steps all on his own! I took him for a walk the other day with Angela and afterwards we went to the very yummy River Cafe to have a little nibble. While there, Miles was busy exploring, as per usual, and he made the executive decision that the River Cafe was where he was going to take his momentous first steps. I was holding his hands, walking him around and I pried my fingers from his grip and he just stood there for a minute - thinking about what to do next - Angela and I held our breath . . .and then . . .(drum roll please!) . . .he took 1 Frankenstein step! . ..2 Frankenstein steps!! . . .3 Frankenstein steps!!! We have lift-of!
Of course, this was that last we've seen of the walking for two days . ..but give him time, what's the rush?? Hey mom, I'm just getting this whole thing figured out - plus - who needs to walk on their own when you're there to hold my hand all the time and that's so much fun!
Our little guy is growing up, and so fast - how does it go so fast?! Part of me wants him to stay a baby forever and the other part of me can't wait for him to pack his own lunch and skip off to school ...

High Tea

Four fabulous ladies and 1 baby boy had high tea the other day in Capitola at the Country Court Tea Room. What fun! I got fun presents for my bday and got to spend time with my good friend Angela, her daughter Bianca, and Emma and Miles and sip tea from a fancy little cup. This has now become our yearly tradition around either my birthday or Angela's. Last year I was the pregnant one and luckily, this year she is.
Miles was a questionable guest for a tea room . . .not exactly the mild mannered clientelle they're looking to see. Luckily Emma and Bianca walked him around the majority of our time there (which I'm sure the other tea sippers loved - not) which kept him somewhat in line - but really, not the place for a baby. Maybe next year we'll have to change our venue since there will be 4 kids to keep a lid on.

Interesting letters . ..

My friend Karen (giver of name Mimi) collects pictures of interesting letters, so I've snapped a couple for her:

hmmm, they look a little blurry ...