While We're Away

We are all heading off to New York City today for 5 nights in the Big Apple. I haven't been in over 5 years which is just embarrassing. I made it a goal of my maternity leave to take this trip but wish me luck because Cap is on a different flight out and will have to work for 3 days making me solo parent with both girls until the weekend. Quite honestly, I'm terrified. After having a mini-hysterical breakdown on a test-run to the aquarium, I almost canceled the trip. I'm readjusting my expectations now and am considering getting "Patience" tattooed on my forearm. Pray for me.

While we are gone, enjoy these videos of the girls.

Addie sings "Is There a Ghost" by Band of Horses. I love this song and I love it more when Addie sings along to it. We saw them open for The Decemberists at the Hollywood Bowl in 2007. Perhaps this will launch her career as a child-star.

Here I interviewed Addie on Halloween about her favorite things. Watch it to find out why Numbers is her best friend.


This video is just a few moments of little Eliza so I can remember what she was like at this age (7 weeks in this video). Remember how snuffly little babies are!

Parent-Teacher Conference

I had my first ever Parent-Teacher Conference which made me feel very Mom-like. The first thing Miss Amy said was that Adelaide (they call her by her full name at school) was very bright and intelligent. I knew I liked Miss Amy! She said that before she knew that Addie was going to be in her class this Fall, she saw her playing outside during the summer program and hoped that she'd get Addie in her class.

At Addie's Montessori school, they call their activities "work" since they believe that work is a positive activity that kids learn to enjoy and take pride in for their entire lives. She said Addie loves to work and often makes up her own activities, something that usually the four year olds do. Of course, this could also mean that Addie doesn't like to to be told what to do which is something else Miss Amy mentioned. She also said that Addie enjoys math (I had no idea!), was learning her letters (both the sounds they make and the writing of them), loves art and painting (no surprise here), has an affinity for caterpillars (again, no surprise), doesn't nap at school (didn't know this either!) and has an amazing sense of concentration. Addie can concentrate on her work so intensely that they often have a hard time getting her to move on to another activity - like eating lunch. This is one of the reasons we thought Montessori was a good fit for her since they believe in letting the children choose their work and then spend as much time on it as they want until the kids master the task.

I was also glad that Miss Amy demystified a few of the tools they use to teach math and reading so I can help Addie at home using their same method. I also wanted to be able to ask Addie more specific questions about her day other than "What did you do today?" which I think is too broad and often times she just answers the last thing she did. Other than their regular curriculum, we also signed Addie up for dance class on Thursdays and Mad Science program on Fridays. On Saturdays outside of school, she is taking private swim lessons. Busy girl!

I'm oh so happy that Addie is at this school and is really enjoying and thriving in the environment. As my Dad said, public school is gonna be a rough transition for her later on.

2 Months Old Today

You are my

delicious

dreamy

ooey

gooey

sparkle-eyed

sweet-lipped

chubby-cheeked

dimpled

super smiley

sometimes screamy

always adorable

absolutely gorgeous

little baby girl.

Happy 2 Month Birthday Eliza Wren!

Adelaide Shoes and Things that Sparkle

Wouldn't you know that what are obviously Dorothy shoes, are actually named Adelaide at Target. Adelaide loves her Adelaide shoes so much that she wanted to wear them to bed and of course had to wear them to school the next day along with her "twirly" dress. Now all of her dresses have to twirl and spin otherwise she'll refuse to wear them. In addition to sparkly shoes, Addie is on a steady diet of "sparkly water." She insists on bubbly water before bed and is keeping Perrier and San Pelegrino in business. Spoiled? I think so.

Creepy Crawlies

The petting zoo at the Los Angeles Zoo expanded temporarily over Halloween to include some spooky critters. Addie pet snakes and a madagascar cockroach and got to inspect a fuzzy tarantula and several walking sticks. Plus the docents were handing out candy in handfuls. Like she needs more Halloween candy. Well, she doesn't but I might.

The Princess and the Hot Dog

I'm feeling guilty. I didn't take a single photo of the girls on Halloween. Even the picture of the pumpkins above was taken last night right before we had to trash them. Bad mom!

A week ago we went to the block party by Addie's old daycare which we go to every year. Addie was Cinderella (of course) with eye shadow that is just reminiscent enough of the late JonBenet that it sort of freaked me out. We kept to just pink sparkly lip gloss for the subsequent two times she was in costume thankfully. Eliza that night was a hot dog and Cap was a Sith Lord (the below is the only photo of either in costume!). I was just the lady pushing the stroller who was not doing a good job taking photos and was paranoid about losing Addie in the crowd.

Then on Friday, Addie got dressed up again for her school Halloween Parade. They did a few laps around the yard, pet some fuzzy critters and rode a pony. There were plenty of other princesses in attendance, a gaggle of firemen and a couple of spidermans. Later that afternoon, I ditched the hot dog costume and took Eliza as Harriet Potter to my office party and Cap took Addie to his.

On Halloween night, we went to a halloween party with daycare friends again and went trick or treating with 11 other kids Addie's age partying until 10 pm. Addie has been asking for a month if it was time to trick-or-treat and boy was she excited when the answer finally was "today!" She was very good about only taking one piece of candy and saying thank you. After the second house and the second time I reminded her, she turned and said, "I DID only take one piece of candy!" Gee mom, like, get off my back, okay?!!! Cap and I went with a last minute 80s-themed costumes, Addie was Cinderella again and we only managed to get Eliza into a seasonal ghost t-shirt and orange stripped pants. I was amazed what Cap could do with only a single neon t-shirt to work with.

Cinderella (from Addie's school parade)

At the ball in our backyard.

Eliza as Harriet Potter at my office party

Cap as a Sith Lord and Eliza as a hot dog

Cap and I in our tribute to the 80s or as someone else suggested - Jersey Mall Rats

I felt so guilt that I didn't have a better photo of Eliza that I took this yesterday (3 days AFTER halloween). As you can see, Eliza didn't think this was such a great idea. Poor, sad, little dog.

Check out a few more photos here.

Who is Who?

The girls are both about 6 weeks old in these photos. Can you tell who is who?

Some folks think Eliza looks like Cap, some like me. Some folks thinks she looks like her sister, some folks don't as much. I think she and her sister do look very similar - same mouth, same chin and I think same eyes. I definitely think they have different noses, different eyebrows and different hands. It's kinda like a Mrs. Potato Head.

She Likes Me!

A little sister time.

The Photo Shoot

My friend, Jan Birch, whom I met when we were taking photography classes together, offered to do a newborn photo shoot of Eliza as a gift. I told her I wanted a few that captured how small Eliza is as a newborn (even though she's rather a big baby!) because I know I won't remember myself. These are two of my favorites. Those little feet! I have so few photographs of myself with Addie when she was an infant because I was always the one behind the camera. I love having these of me with Eliza. You can check out the entire photo shoot here.

Eliza is about a week and a half old in these photos. Today she is 6 weeks old. How did that happen? She smiles like a charmer and her vocabulary of coos is growing. The other day she made an expression exactly like her big sister that made me laugh out loud. Her eyes are lightening up, and even Addie exclaimed, "the baby's eyes are blue!" Just like her big sister.

Capt. Bones

Sunday we met up with Addie's pals from her former daycare for a little pumpkin time at Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch in Beverly Hills. Gone are the days when I can just plunk Addie down in a sea of pumpkins and expect her to sit and smile for a photo. Eliza was passed out in the Baby Bjorn so there aren't any cute pictures of either of them snuggled in between the gourds. Instead, Addie and the gang ran amok, got their face painted, ran some more, rode in a wagon, ran some more, jumped in a pumpkin shaped bounce house and then ran some more and more and more and more . . .

I'm not sure where the kids got this pirates hat, but there is a hatless skeleton somewhere.

Check out more photos (mostly of Addie getting her face painted) here.

Pumpkin Patch Round One

We made a detour on our way home from Idyllwild to explore Oak Glen which I had read about in Sunset magazine as a great day trip for apple picking. We missed apple season (next year!), but did get to enjoy a giant slice of apple pie with cinnamon sauce at a local diner, buy a mandatory jar of apple butter and pick our own pumpkin.

It was cold and a dense fog was rolling in making the fields even more romantic and mysterious. We had the pumpkin patch at Los Rios Rancho to ourselves. Addie selected her own pumpkin, and she and Cap cut it off the vine with a knife. I love pumpkin patches. There is something so timeless about photos of children in amongst the giant orange beasts.

On Sunday we are off with some friends to a more urban pumpkin excursion in Beverly Hills where we'll stock up on more pumpkins and funny shaped gourds. Can't wait! I still haven't decided yet what to carve on my pumpkin but Addie said she wanted a scary face on hers.

Check out more photos from the pumpkin patch at Los Rios Rancho here.

Where the Wild Things Are

Nothing like a little mountain town, a cabin in the woods, s'mores, an old-school metal slide and some football to put you in the Fall spirit. We spent 3 nights in Idyllwild nestled a mile high in the San Jacinto mountains. I had a cold (and a clogged milk duct - ew) unfortunately but our cabin was a great place to convalesce - a one bedroom with kitchenette, TV and fireplace. Plus it was Eliza's one month birthday and taking a mini-vacation is a great way to celebrate. Happy Birthday my sweet little pea pod.

Let the wild rumpus start!

Spoiling Addie is super fun.

Old-school metal slide

Bird watching from our cabin's front deck

S'mores in our cabin

Hanging out in the local coffee shop, a short walk from our cabin

Check out more photos from our weekend here.

My Crafty Wreath

In between bouts of Eliza screaming, I finished my Halloween wreath today. She's either colicky or I'm just really bad at calming her. Right now I have her in the car seat on top of the washing machine set to the spin cycle. It works for a few minutes and then I have to reset the spin cycle over and over again.

I bought this fall wreath at the end of season, half-off sale at Target last year and then spray painted it glossy black for Halloween and added a silver ribbon. I think it looks splendidly gothic.

Sisters

"Where's my baby?"

That's pretty much the first words out of Addie's mouth when she wakes up in the morning or comes home from school. She adores her little sister and is eager to help out - often a little too eager - although she has learned to apply diaper cream which is always a useful skill. When we remind her to be careful around Baby Eliza, we're met with an indignant, "I AM being careful!" Addie also enjoys impersonating her sister's facial expressions which has Addie in stitches. Her new nickname for Eliza is Baby Eliza Weedy or just Weedy for short. This is in honor of the Weedy Sea Dragon we saw at the aquarium on Saturday. Eliza Weedy is not so weedy though. At her 2 and half week doctor's appointment, she weighed in at 9 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches (8lb8oz and 19.5 in at birth). No wonder she doesn't fit in her newborn diapers anymore!

When Addie and my mom came to visit us in the hospital, Addie immediately noticed that her baby sister, her mama and her dada all had fancy new hospital bracelets compliments of St. John's Medical Center. She demanded that she get a bracelet too. The nurses kindly made Addie her very own Big Sister bracelet. How sweet is that?!

I was a little nervous about what Addie would think of the whole breastfeeding concept. "Oh, my baby sister has special milk from your nipple?" (pronounced with an equal accent on both syllables - "nip pole"). The first few days Addie would head off to school with her own nipples lubed in Lansinoh breastfeeding cream in solidarity. She also concocted a special pretend soup for her baby sister which she presented to her in a silver goblet. The secret ingredient? Special Milk from the Nipple of course!

Despite the outpouring of affection for her sister, Addie is also struggling with all the changes. She's a tough cookie, and I know she will adjust to our new family of four.

Hot and Cold

Two weeks after we brought Eliza home from the hospital, we finally got around to giving the poor girl a bath. With two weeks worth of kisses plastered on her head, she was dirtier than a Port Authority bathroom. Eliza appeared content at first with her sponge bath and then changed her mind - a few times.

Content 1:30 pm

Discontent 1:31 pm

Content 1:32 pm

Discontent 1:33 pm

GranJanne bought Eliza her very own Dwell Studio owl hooded towel (their new baby collection is out!). Addie has one too from Dwell Studio which she got from Papa Mit, and we still use it three years later making it one of my all time favorite baby gifts.

2 Weeks Old

Miss Eliza is 2 weeks old today. Happy day my sweetness.

Here is what's been going on:

Cap went back to work.

My mom had to go back home after having been with us for 10 days. Sniff sniff.

GranJanne arrived to stay with us for a week. Hurrah!

Eliza's umbilical nubbin fell off and was MIA until I found it on Cap's pillow. I'm not sure what to do with it. Why can't I bring myself to just throw it away?

Eliza has outgrown her newborn diapers.

Eliza has figured out day from night.

Eliza sleeps 2 hour stretches at night, eats and then goes back to sleep. Not too bad.

Eliza saw (slept through) her first art exhibition: Pompeii and the Roman Villa at LACMA

Eliza went to (slept through) her first restaurant for lunch: Swingers

Eliza went to (slept through) the aquarium. the first trip of many.

Eliza had her first photo shoot. My friend Jan spent an hour and a half taking photos of her. Most of the time though was spent trying to calm Eliza down so she wasn't crying in every shot. I'll share the photos when I get them.

Eliza also has the most engaging smile that moves her ears a quarter of an inch up. I can't wait for her to mean it.

Big Yawn

I'm too sleepy to write much now, but I wanted to report in. Eliza has gone from needing to be fed every hour all day and night to last night where she at least gave us a few 2-3 hour windows of sleep. I actually felt rested this morning. Or at least I didn't feel like a might melt in a sobbing ball of goo.

I am slowly returning from a sleep-deprived stupor to a world where I once remember valuing personal hygiene. I've been wearing a nursing bra and sweatpants for a week and to make it worse, they are the same bra and sweatpants. Aside from a trip to the pediatrician and a trip to my doctor because I was sure I had tonsillitis (I don't), I haven't left the house until today. The post-partum cramping, which at times was so horrifically painful I sent myself into shakes, shivers and chattering teeth, has subsided and it seems that maybe there is hope that breastfeeding won't always be this painful.

Eliza is a dream and love to watch her make a thousand faces in her sleep and rub her soft, downy head. She has the sweetest rose bud lips and a tiny button chin which sinks into her cheeks. My mom discovered two submerged dimples on those cheeks too, just like her big sister.

Thanks to my mom and Cap too who are doing countless things to help.

Meet Eliza

Welcome Princess!

Eliza Wren
Born Saturday, 9/12/2009
4:35 am
8 lbs. 8 oz.
19.5 inches

With love,
Mommy, Daddy and Big Sister Adelaide

Labor(less) Weekend

Here's a little of what we did this weekend instead of spending it in the hospital popping out a baby as I had envisioned. I didn't take photos either so this will have to do of Addie on Sunday entertaining us in the backyard. You'll have to imagine the entertaining part since this is just a picture of her elbow. Apparently, even clicking a small black button on my camera is proving to be to much for me as I enter Week 40. Cap has been a complete saint though - cooking, washing dishes so much that he even has a blister on his thumb (really), and watching Addie so I can just sit down. I love to sit.

Our laborless labor day weekend:
ate pancakes
went swimming
tried to nap
didn't go into labor
ate pancakes
went swimming (Addie put her head under the water for the first time!)
tried to nap
had a BBQ at our place with Papa Mit and Grandma Vede
didn't go into labor
didn't eat pancakes
went swimming
road the trolley at The Grove
ate gummy alphabet letters
ate ice cream
tried to nap
didn't go into labor

and now to just sit for a little bit longer. Ahhh.

39 Weeks

No baby yet and no signs of a baby other than the existence of my enormous belly. My doctor said that with the second baby there may not be any indication that labor is imminent. It will just happen. Actually that was how it was with Addie. No false contractions, no dropping, no dilation, no water breaking, no nuthin' until I was in labor and then BAM out she pops (okay she was actually sucked out with a vacuum) 6 days past her due date and 17 hours of labor.

My due date is this Sunday, but I'm actually fine not having the baby early now (or so I tell myself). I've been a whirlwind errand runner and movie goer this week having seen a movie in the theater every day. Just me, a large Mugs root beer and a pack of red vines. Plus Cap has fallen victim to a cold so we absolutely can't and won't have the baby until he's better. As if I have a choice in the matter.