Strike a Pose

Getting Addie to take a photo just smiling at the camera, apparently, is something only the school photographer and the teen elf photographer with Santa can accomplish. Mostly, Addie just likes to pose.

Addie, can I take your picture in the pretty dress that Gran bought you? Sure, but don't expect me to just stand there grinning like a monkey.

She thinks she's pretty fun. Here's a recent conversation we had in the car on the way home from school:

Addie: "Oops, I toot tooted. No, YOU toot tooted."
Me: "I didn't toot toot"
Addie: "I didn't toot toot. Let's fight over it!"
Me: "Well, I still think you tooted."
Addie: "You said tutu. Now you have to play ballet with me."

Addie also thinks its hilarious to blow bubbles in the bathtub right by Eliza's bum and pretend Eliza farted underwater. I have a video but, in the name of discretion, I'm not posting it on youtube.

Dads Rule

On Father's Day, Dad gets to do what Dad wants . . .

even if it means terrorizing your four year old



and poking your infant in the eye.


Papa Mit and Grandma Vede came over and we honored the Dads with a back yard BBQ and a lot of golf on TV. We dined well on 16-spice grilled tuna, an asparagus, pea and radish side dish, corn on the cob and ice cream cake for dessert. I need to work on presentation, but I'm definitely going to make this again. I softened two pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream (Americone Dream and Karamel Sutra) and refroze them in a bread pan with a layer of crumbled Oreos in between. Voila - ice cream cake!

Princess and the Pea

Visualize whirled peas (and blueberries)


Remember Addie and the blueberries?

First Tomato

Lookie a tomato! Addie has clearly stated in the past that she does not like tomatoes but may like them when she is a grown-up. Nonetheless, she has been an excellent tomato grower watering the plants, so she got to pick the first one tonight(and pretend she wants to eat it, which she doesn't).

I'm going to let is ripen a tiny bit more on our windowsill and then it's mine all mine! I just need some buffalo mozzarella and a sprig of basil from the garden and I'm in heaven.




The very same tomato 3 weeks ago


I let the cilantro go to seed but the white flowers were so pretty. The whole plant shot up about 3 feet with a spray of these tiny flowers.

The Funny Page

Can you guess who these two best friends are?

I'll give you a hint: one of them lives under a rock.

Need another hint?

His best friend lives in a pineapple under the sea.

Yup! You guessed it!

School Pictures

You've probably already seen these on facebook, but . . .




I was so bummed when I learned that we were going to be out of town for the girls' school picture day back in March. Thankfully, they had a make-up day because how cute are these with the old-school blue background! And Addie's face isn't hidden behind her hair. They still missed the awesome class shot which looked exactly how it was way back in the early 80s for my own school photos complete with that black board with your teacher's name written with the letters you slide on. I bet that contraptions has a name.

We'll be shipping the photos off to the grandparents soon!

Happy Father's Day

Gifts made by the girls for their Daddy. Addie's drawing features herself, Daddy as a flower, and a little blue duck in a tiny pond. Eliza's gift has her handprints in the background and of course her cute mug!

To the Dad that washes countless baby bottles, changes diapers, packs school lunches, plays My Little Pony with Addie and washes spit-up out of Barbie's hair - on at least two occasions. Happy Father's Day Cap!

Happy Father's Day to my great Dad and to Papa Mit who we'll be seeing later this afternoon for a backyard grill-fest.

The Sun Will Come Out

I was so proud of myself for arriving early enough to get a spot in the front for Addie's preschool recital, especially after last winter's guilt-ridden time snafu.

This is how the first song went.


Turns out the front row isn't a good spot. Addie immediately started to cry, feeling a little overwhelmed by the sea of parents as well as being so close to us and not able to come over. When I had asked her the night before if she was excited for the spring recital, she announced she did not want to go to school tomorrow. I know the feeling. I have to staff an exhibit booth for work on Monday and I'd rather stick a fork in my thigh.

Thankfully after sitting in our lap for a little bit she was able to jump back into line with her classmates to finish out Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, Tomorrow, and Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and then follow it up with her dance class performance. Some of the kids seemed like the recital was the best day of the lives, others seemed distracted, while others took the opportunity to make faces and goof off. To each their own! Addie loves singing and dancing, but I think she prefers our house as her stage and not the pre-school playground.




Of course it's all on video too but I haven't downloaded it yet.

The Birth Story

9 months old today. In honor of Eliza living 9 months outside the womb and 9 months in it, I thought I'd share her birth story which I wrote a week after she was born and never published.

The Birth of Eliza Wren
Following her big sister's cue, Eliza Wren was born six days after her due date. Four days after my due date, my mom arrived. Still no baby but she got to see me pregnant. very pregnant. On the evening of the fifth day post d-day, we were eating dinner and I was starting to feel a little, well, uncomfortable. Gee, my stomach seems to be tightening and I feel so much pressure. It wasn't until just before 10 pm that these odd sensations were happening more regularly and I was able to admit that perhaps, just perhaps, I might be in labor. How is it that even after having done this once before, I still wasn't able to recognize contractions when they happen. I kept thinking that it was just the baby doing one of her stretches that seem to cause my entire belly to expand like a star going super nova. Cap had been getting ready to go to a friend's party and was about 5 minutes from departure when I had to come to terms with the fact that we were going to have a baby. soon.

At 10:45, I heaved myself out of bed to better tackle a pesky contraction and then POP! my water broke. My water didn't break with Addie so I was just a wee bit surprised by the sensation. It was, actually, more like how it is on TV - a sudden pop and then a giant gush. I'm pretty sure I screamed and then hollered "my water broke!" before shuffling my soggy self into the bathroom where I went into hysteric peels of laughter. I couldn't help myself. HA HA, HAAAAAA, HAAAA!!!!. I was laughing, guffawing and cackling with such enthusiasm I had tears streaming down my cheeks. I'm not sure why it was so funny. Maybe I was a little startled and a little bit relieved that I wasn't making up this whole I'm in Labor shenanigans, and I was going to get to go the hospital. now.

I left my doctor a message. I was wondering why he hadn't called me back when I realized I had my phone on vibrate and missed his call. I could tell I'd woken him up because all the message said was, "go to the hospital." click. end of call. Cap finished packing our hospital bag and I woke up my Mom. I am so so so glad that she was already here. I didn't have to worry about Addie and maybe when she woke up in the morning, she'll be a big sister!

While I was waiting for Cap to pack up the car, I sat on the giant yoga ball but when I stood up to leave, splat! My water broke again. I changed into another outfit and brought a giant beach towel to sit on. Thank goodness I did because my water broke two more times in the car on the way to the hospital. WHOOSH! Gurgle gurgle gurgle. WHOOSH! Gurgle gurgle gurgle. It was like sitting in my own primordial hot tub except it was in the passenger seat of the SAAB, and I wasn't drinking a mai tai. Contractions were coming 5 minutes apart and it took me ages to walk to the maternity ward stopping for contractions, soggy with amniotic fluid.

By midnight I was all settled and hooked up to machines and tubes, 3 cm dilated and waiting for the magic anesthesiologists to rouse himself from his sleeping berth a few doors down the hall. By 1 pm, I had the epidural and was curled up on my side in complete bliss from having been safely delivered from pain. The nurses turned out the lights and told us to try and get some sleep. She'd be back to check around 3 pm. I was in this euphoric state, excited and amazed that soon we'd be having a baby and that I was given the opportunity to stop and reflect mid-way through the birthing process thanks to the epidural. I couldn't really sleep but I remember the sound of the machines whirring and crackling giving me the impression, when I closed my eyes, that I was sitting in a log cabin dozing off to the sound of embers slowly dying in the fireplace.

Giving birth at night was a magical experience. The entire world was asleep and quiet. It was just me, Cap, the doctors and nurses who had stepped into a small rocket ship and blasted off into space to circle the planet, bringing back upon our return a new life. At 3 pm, my nurse came in to check on me and said that she'd be back again around 5 or 6 am. By 3:25, I felt an enormous pressure, well, down there. I called the nurse and very eloquently announced that I either needed to poop really really badly or I was going to have a baby soon. Suddenly, the solitude of the last few hours was broken. Lights were on, sleeping husbands were woken up, doctors called and trays of shiny utensils were shuttled in. Wouldn't you know it too that my own doctor was (surprise!) on vacation which he neglected to mention when he left me a message to go to the hospital only a few hours before. The on-call doctor would be delivering my baby. Well, fine by me but he better get here fast.

Within 15 minutes, I was "bearing down". I still have no idea what that means but I tried my darndest to push push push. My contractions were irregular which meant I had 2 often back to back and then nothing for several minutes making this final stage a little unpredictable. Also the baby was facing up instead of down and I would have to push harder and longer for her to make it over the pelvic bone. All I knew was that there was no way it could possibly take 2 and a half hours like it did with Addie but she also wasn't go to just fly out after a push or two. I'm not really sure how long I did push for - maybe 40 minutes.

I had the nurse bring a giant mirror so I could see the birth. I didn't do that with Addie thinking that I didn't want to freak myself out and that why would anyone want to see something so gross. But this time, I thought, what the heck. Bring it on! When I saw the crown of her tiny fuzzy head, I burst into tears. There she was! She was coming! Push push push! Then her head came out. More crying on my part. Resting for a few moments and then the final push. Cap was there beside the doctor and helped deliver her. They placed her on my tummy, she cried. I cried. Cap cut the cord and then off she went to get cleaned up before coming back into my arms. She was so chubby and sweet with a little fold-up Murphy bed chin.

And down we came in our little rocket ship to land safely back on planet earth at 4:35 am with a perfectly healthy, little baby girl - all 8 lbs 8 oz of her.

Happy birthday Eliza Wren!

Little Bo Peep

Eliza is outgrowing her 3-6 months clothes, I'm shoving her into dresses that she hasn't worn. We were given so many 3-6 month dresses for Addie and some she never wore and somehow neither has Eliza, which is a shame. Addie now, however, only wears dresses which at least is easy and frees up more room in the dresser for Eliza's clothes.

Dresses on babies just aren't practical until they can walk. Poor Eliza has to crawl with her bum directed skyward looking like some sort of floral-attired crab. I tried to take a pastoral photo of her in the backyard in her Little Bo Peep ensemble, but she wasn't interested in giving me a big smile, instead concentrating on beheading the clover.

Sunday Art Section: Surfer Girl

This is a picture of Addie, Mommy and Daddy (Eliza is apparently not featured) at the beach with a yellow towel and a lifeguard. At the bottom is her cousin surfing the waves. She didn't specify which cousin and it remains a mystery. Addie doesn't have any first cousins but she knows many of our cousins and her second cousins. Hurrah for cousins!

The O.C.

We spent a blissful Memorial Day weekend sequestered in the 'burbs of Orange County at our friend Jamie's parents house. They were traveling and, along with the Emmett clan, we all took advantage of extra bedrooms, a giant jacuzzi and some darn fine hospitality. It was perfect for us - and especially for Addie who had 3 relaxing, glorious days to play with her pals. Heck, I even entered the neighborhood hula hooping contest!

Thanks Gaskins!


Hand in hand. These girls were inseparable.

Watching Ponyo for the second time

Drawing together

Eliza, Addie and Jake

Squatters

After we drank all the wine, look who moved in.