Wordless Wednesday

Cheeeeese!

Amelia shows off her smile on Saturday for our girls morning together...
She has been working towards "rewards" for good bedtimes. This was a big one -- she had 7 straight days of good bedtimes and so we went to a pottery place where we could paint our own stuff. She LOVES art stuff like this so it was perfect. We then enjoyed Papa Gino's pizza afterwards since it is conveniently located next door... We also invited my friend Alli, who is also Amelia's teacher (the one with the famous car) and so she tagged along for the fun!

We get to pick our stuff up in one week (she made a bowl and I made a mug) and there is a nail salon next door. Soooooooo I told her if she has another week of good bedtimes, we could go get our nails done! I love having a girl! :) Let's all keep our un-manicured fingers crossed that she has the good bedtimes so we can have another fun day like this!

Wordless Wednesday

Girls' Day!

Last Tuesday Amelia's preschool class took a field trip (God bless those teachers) to a local gymnastics place (or "bimnastics" as Amelia says). They needed a lot of parents to come and I thought it would be fun because I never get to do fun stuff like that because I am working. I have been out a lot this year because the girls have been sick, but I decided that this was going to be fun for all of us and, after all, this is what personal days are for... It was one of the most fun days I've had with the two of them. It was not, however, a day without some doses of Amelia's humor...

1. I came home from work Monday night and said, "Amelia, guess what?! I get to go with your class tomorrow to gymnastics!"
She said, "Whose car am I going in?"
Me: "You'll go in mine; we'll meet your friends there."
Her: "Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! I want to go in Alli's car!" (her teacher)
Me: "uhhhhhhh okkkkay...." So, we actually took Amelia to school and then I met her there after she got to go for the fun ride in Alli's car...

2. Upon arrival at the gym, Amelia completely ignored me. Not for a few minutes. For over an hour. To the point that the other parents commented on it. I finally got her to perk up once she realized she was coming home with me...

Zoë tagged along too and had a great time. Love those eyelashes and that focused thumb sucking!

She spent a lot of time trying to play with the other baby at the gym...who had the same outfit on...She tried to hold her hand, but couldn't quite get it...and then just spent a lot of time talking to her... Funny, she said the same things that Zoë was saying! :)

Amelia spent a significant amount of time on the "big huge up to the sky slide." And she also liked the rope swing.

I had to join in on the fun, too. Zoë loved the trampoline - and Amelia let me go down the slide with her just once...

Sleep

Heidi gave me an amazing gift last night--sleep. I slept from 8pm to 4am and it was amazing.

The previous 2 nights had involved almost none. Wednesday night Amelia was up screaming, coughing, laughing, sobbing, and hitting me in the face. Thursday night it was Zoe who was inconsolable. For her it was much worse and I don't think that I slept at all from 3:30 am until 8pm last night. Agony.

Thursday night was bad enough but on Friday both kids were sick at home. Amelia with a temperature and croup and Zoe with just croup. I would get one to sleep and then the other would wake up and wake up the one I had just gotten to sleep. At one point I finally had Zoe sleeping and I had begged with Amelia for 1/2 an hour to let me get a little rest. She finally agreed to cuddle on the couch an watch a cartoon. My eyes had just closed when Zoe started screaming.

It went back and forth like this all day. It truly wasn't agony as much as it was really tiring. The one highlight was our sushi lunch. I had uni, tuna, octopus, an Alisha Roll and gyoza. Amelia had some chicken tempura that she really liked.

Finally at 3:00 I handed off the kids to Heidi and went home to rest and watch some basketball.

I was too tired to sleep so I cleaned.

A mom and her girl

One of the traditions I want to do for our kids birthdays is to have a picture of them with me - something special for both of us. I really never realized how special a birthday is for the mom, too! I will write more about the other traditions I have started, but for now, here are the birthday/mom pictures!


My little peanut doing some "kangaroo care." The nurses at the hospital had me wear her like this because it helped mimic the womb and can be good for preemies - I found that whenever we did it she would nurse better afterwards.

Amelia's first birthday.

Amelia's 2nd birthday...

Amelia's 3rd birthday...
She is such a big girl! Look at all of that hair.

I realize now that this picture taking tradition is great... but it will also showcase how I age every year as well. Hmmm... that's going to have to be something I sacrifice for my kid :)

Birthday outfit

Despite the fact that it SNOWED today, I still dressed them in their matching outfits - Amelia's present she got to open first thing this morning (and Zoe just HAPPENED to have a matching one). They both were ADORABLE and both ditched the skirts by 10am.

"I am THREE!"

And absolutely adorable! (an unbiased opinion...)

And now she is 3!

Today our baby is 3! We can't believe it... It appears as though 2011 is the year of sick birthdays - because both Tom and I were sick on our birthdays, and now Amelia is, too. She made it through school but then things fell apart this evening - she cried while opening gifts "I don't wanna open presents!!!" It was pitiful. She did have a good day at school, she eventually enjoyed her presents, and definitely understands that it is her birthday and that she is now 3. She keeps asking, "Why am I not 2 anymore?" When I explained to her that next year she would be 4 she got so excited and had a huge smile on her face... Here are some pictures...and we hope she is feeling better soon!

Amelia has taken a liking for our camera recently - she snapped this artistic shot recently - and so her present from us was a camera that is more geared for kids - and not break if dropped down the stairs.

Here she is opening it up - so far she's taken 296 pictures.

Blowing out the candles...

I love cake...

Yummy!!!! I'll eat this even if I do have a fever of 102!

8 months

The little nugget is 8 months old - she is turning from baby into little girl so quickly. Here is what she's up to:
1. Pulling herself up to standing.
2. Thinking about letting go so she can stand alone (EEEEEEK!!!)
3. Climbing one stair.
4. Jabbering incessantly.
5. Chewing on crackers and getting pretty good at eating chunkier foods.
6. Screaming whenever Mommy goes out of sight (this includes when she crawls away from me)
7. Continuing to love soft things -- she will find anything soft and cuddle with it and suck her thumb. This includes drapery, Mommy's fuzzy slippers, other kids' shirts, and Yoda. It is pretty cute.

mid-July

mid-August

mid-September

mid-October

mid-November

mid-December

mid-January

mid-February

March 14, 2011

Amelia gets in on the fun - why oh why did I not think to take one of the two of them together each month, as well? How cute would that have been? Oh well...

Nothing stays the same

Well we got sad Lake George news last weekend that our beloved neighbor, Isabella, had gone off to the great cocktail party in the sky.

She owned the house next door to us and our families have been spending summers together since the early 1900s. She was the exact same age as my grandmother (but she always reminded her that she was 6 months younger) and they spent a lot of their summers together starting when they were babies. It is somewhat fitting that we lost both of them this year - and Isabella apparently didn't want to outdo my grandmother, and she died close to 6 months after her... So technically, they lived the same amount of time :) Her grandmother and her mother lived to be over 100; she didn't make it that long but she certainly had quite the life. It's funny how when you read someone's obituary who you knew and loved you suddenly learn so much about their life! I always knew she was an important judge in San Francisco, but to me she was always just Isabella!

She was enamored with our girls this summer. Whenever we came over she was excited to see her "little friends" from next door. She was also excited to get to know Zoë because we got her middle name (Winter) from Isabella's family. She was thrilled we had done that.


I love this picture - Zoë held on tightly to Isabella's finger for so long that I ended up walking back home and being assured they would bring her back to me... They did when she woke up and started screaming :)


When we were at Lake George last week, I snapped this picture of Isabella's house and boathouse so that I could send it to her. I made a photo book of pictures of the lake all iced over - and when I emailed some family to tell them that it would be arriving soon they called back to say she had died. I wished I had sent it earlier but I learned that the morning she died someone had shown her the picture that I had posted on Facebook.

That night, I suddenly got the idea to walk over to her boathouse and have a gin & tonic with Tom. We headed out but it was pitch black and pouring rain and we didn't feel safe walking on the ice. Soooo we toasted her from a distance, but I am so disappointed we couldn't do it because I love the idea that the day she died, even though it was the middle of the winter, we could have been there on her dock with a drink toasting her. I have to hope the sentiment will be what counts the most!

If you want to read all about Isabella, you can copy the link into your browser:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/11/BAFV1I5M6O.DTL&type=politics

Wordless Wednesday (even though it's thursday...)

Beautiful weather & pictures

More from our fun week.

Snow squall on Lake George - I was really, really hoping I would get to see snow while we were there and I got my wish! I couldn't even see 100 feet across the bay. Beautiful!

Zoë enjoyed a sink bath.

Amelia climbed a "mountain" to go body-sledding.

After all that hard work, Daddy and Amelia were all tuckered out for a long winter's nap.

Thanks Aunt Liz & Uncle Scott...

...for letting us move into your house! We are all moved out of ours, have quit our jobs, and enrolled Amelia in a Lake George preschool.

Thanks so much!

:)

Wordless Wednesday

A fun comparison

Thing 1

Thing 2