Does He Like It?

It's rice cereal time! Mmmmmmmm.
Xavier had his first bite of solid food and the whole family was there for the occasion.
Does he like it? Eliza votes "no."

7 Months

Happy 7 months, Bubba!

Xavier continues to be our patient, mellow, smiley little guy. With two exuberant big sisters, he often has to wait his turn which he does with little protest. His two bottom teeth are growing in giving him a deliciously cute grin, and the top two have started to make an appearance. He's getting closer to sitting up, the next milestone for him before crawling. He also had his first taste of solid food.

And with sadness, he has decided to stop nursing. It was final on Valentine's day which did, in fact, break my heart. He had already surpassed his sisters at 6 months and I had hopes he might make it to 9. I'm trying to pump once a day but I think the end is just around the corner. I love the freedom the bottle gives, but will miss our quiet time together snuggled on the little sofa in his room in the morning and before bed. Knowing that this period in my life is over forever makes the end that much more difficult. Thankfully there is always much to look forward too and he'll always be my baby.

Smash!

Opening to a full house on Tuesday, Addie appeared in her first musical as a mouse in The Cinderella Story. All the kids ages K-5 in the after school program participated in this adaptation of Cinderella, but this time with an anti-bullying message. Cinderella wins the science fair!

Addie wasn't nervous at all and enjoyed the experience of being on stage, much like her theatrically trained Daddy. In addition to the singing, she had one line, "Wow, Macie, they're huge!" (tee hee). The elementary school musical is this spring and all the kinders have a group song so we will have another opportunity to see Addie on the big stage.

Spring is in the Air

Signs of spring are popping up everywhere although we never really said good-bye to summer as our tomatoes continue to produce. Ah Southern California + Global Warming.




Lesser Goldfinches. Attracting colorful song birds to our yard is on my 40 under 40 list (can check that off!). We now have 2 sock feeders as of this weekend and the finches are flocking to them. They are right off of our dining room and since we have no curtains (I can't decide how to redecorate . . .) we can watch them from our windows. I love them!


Eliza sunshine

Run Addie Run!

Addie's school had their annual Jog-a-Thon fundraiser on Friday. Kinders are supposed to only walk but Addie surprised us by running 15 laps collecting $210 in pledges. Cap and Papa Mit were there to cheer her on. As you can see from her red face, she really got a work out.

Thanks grandparents for your pledges (you'll be hearing from us soon to collect those checks)!

Me and Po by Addie

A drawing of Cap and I by Addie.

It was nine years ago today that we got engaged.  Happy Valentine's day everyone!

xoxo

New Year's Resolutions

It's February and I'm working on my New Year's resolutions. They aren't about eating better or exercising. They aren't about bettering my family or helping others in need. They are both vain and mundane at the same time. And they are achievable.

1. I resolve to wear make-up everyday. I turned 38 a few weeks ago and, guess what, I look old. Funny how that happens. I resolve that make-up is not just for special occasions or when I remember to apply it. It's for everyday. While I don't have to look at myself in the mirror much, other people have to look at me all day.

2. I resolve to to use up all my gift certificates this year. This is a good problem to have, don't get me wrong. You'd think this isn't really a challenge but I sort of hoard these things. I have one to an architectural/art book store dated 2007. This year, I will buy books, go to the spa, shop on amazon and get a free appetizer at Islands.

3. I resolve to use all of my health and beauty products by the end of the year and stop hoarding them. Soaps, gels, serums, oils, lotions, shampoos, sprays, perfumes and scrubs. All will be used. No more stockpiling hotel toiletries, fancy décolletage creams, youthful moisturizers and special foot creams that I only apply once or twice a year. I even have gone so far as using a funnel (seriously one of my favorite household items) to decant an absurd assortment of scented hotel body lotions into a single pump. It's rosemary, ginger, rose, sage, mint and old lady perfume scented body cream and it's fabulous.

Happy New Year!

(Hyper) Active

If you know Eliza, you know she's always in motion - a hurricane of activity. Sure, all toddlers are bundles of bottled lightening but Eliza is nuclear. Parents of other toddlers mention it and even her gym teachers comment to me how active she is. Her gym teachers. At the gym. A place where everyone is expected to be active, Eliza stands out as the most energetic kid. It wasn't until Coach Brian brought it up that I thought, wow, maybe she's not just active but hyperactive.

After some cursory googling on the subject I decided that it's too early for hyper active to mean anything more than we just have a really high energy girl in our lives.  Thank goodness for her school which has her both physically and mentally challenged all day, and for her toddler tumbling class on Sundays. Eliza's gym class is my special time with her. I have to endure group singing but it's worth it. She really loves the gymnastics part of it and is super strong and fearless.

We took both girls out of weekly swim lessons after the new year to cut back on costs. We needed a break. Addie has been in private swim lessons every Saturday morning for 2 1/2 years. She can swim the front crawl and the backstroke. Eliza loves swimming too and is pretty close to being pool safe. We'll probably start up again in the summer. In the meantime, we need to make friends with people who have backyard pools  . . . that are heated, of course. Now there is a new year's resolution.

6 Months

Time seems to have sped up. Strangers in the grocery store or in the security line at LAX remind me how quickly their own kids grew up; how I should enjoy them at this age. I know from my girls how quickly time passes. They grow up too fast.

I look at Xavier and breathe a sigh or relief. He's still a baby.

But not for long. He's half way to one.Two teeth have emerged and he's getting stronger. Not crawling yet. Not even close and i'm relieved. Phew, still a baby. A sweet, smiling baby.  A baby with eczema, who scratches his legs and head until they bleed but still smiles. And a baby that sleeps through the night now.

So thankful. So in love.

Christmas in Chicago

After a few Christmases where my parents flew to LA, we finally sucked it up and decided we'd pack up our clan and brave holiday travel to visit them in cold, windy Chicago. Other than an absurd amount of luggage in a towering mound on a luggage cart, we managed to tackle LAX and arrive at O'Hare without any major hiccups.

We spent the first 5 days with my Mom, Mark and my sister in McHenry. My Mom retired just a month ago and is thrilled to be back in her home with the fat, puffy squirrels and the assortment of winter birds in her backyard. The girls loved looking out the windows at the critters and playing with Gran and Auntie Jennifer. We were total homebodies where we ate, opened presents and ate again. Unfortunately my Bro wasn't didn't to make it, but it was great to hang with my sister and Mom. Santa visited us there and Addie played Santa's helper. She could read the tags on the gifts and distributed every last one of them from under the tree.

The second half of the week we spent with Dad and Nanci in their condo in Northfield. If our time with Mom was about being cozy inside, our time with Nana and Pop Pop was all action. They took Addie to her first nutcracker ballet which is adored. This is a tradition in our family as I went when I was five for the first time. Her favorite parts were the Sugar Plum Fairy and Mother Ginger. We also went to the children's museum, saw the Jellies exhibit at the Aquarium and visited the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was Go Go Go!

Xavier was great during the day but at night he thought it would be great fun to wake up every 2 hours. After several weeks of this, I was on the verge of collapse. I wasn't even sleepy as much as I was a bundle of raw nerves and emotions. This did not make me the most patient parent or the happiest person unfortunately. Nonetheless, I loved seeing the girls play with their grandparents and it was great to hang with my family.

Next Christmas, it's LA or Bust. Come one, come all!


Christmas Eve bubbly in my Grandmother's gorgeous flutes. Don't you love the studio portrait of me and my sibs from 1987?!


Santa's helper


Exhausted and we had only opened the stockings


Christmas baby with a holiday carrot from Santa


Gran and Addie playing


On a cold walk


Pop-Pop playing with the girls


At The Nutcracker


Jellies at the Shedd Aquarium


Playing at the Children's Museum. I really wish we had something like this in West LA.


After several kid-focused events, I picked our adventure - The Museum of Contemporary Art. Minimalist art and toddlers are not a good mix as it turns out. Eliza wanted to touch or step on everything in site. We survived though as did the art.

Check out more photos from our midwestern Christmas here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Fa La La La La

Nothing is cuter than little kids singing.  Or just standing there. Or jumping up and down.

One night Addie had Mit, Cap and I hold hands circling the Christmas tree to sing carols. It was mortifying but I pretended it wasn't. Aren't I a good mom?!

Seaweed Santa

One of our advent calendar activities was to make a sand (snow) man at the beach. Some days our Advent calendar was just M&Ms or maybe a tiny toy. Other days it was something fun to do that would get us into the Christmas spirit. We were at the beach for Mit's birthday but the sun was rapidly setting so I quickly made this Seaweed Santa. No one was impressed but Addie loves the Santa hat and has worn it to bed on more than one occasion.

Papa Mit Turns 70

On December 11, we celebrated Mit's big 7-0 with a family dinner at his favorite spot - Paradise Cove Beach Cafe in Malibu. After our feast, we ran out to the beach just catching the sun setting over the ocean. The girls stripped off their pants but kept on their parkas to play in the surf. 

What would we do without Mit? We are so lucky to have him across the street from us. He is always on hand to help us out -- which turns out is pretty much every day. Have I mentioned that having three kids is really hard?! He picks up Addie from school, helps her with homework, plays with Eliza, holds Xavier and changes diapers. And, he even hangs out to watch The X Factor with me. I wonder if I can get him into American Idol too . . .

Mit - you are the best!  Happy Birthday (again).

4 Months! (Okay 5)

Yes, I realize he is 5 months now, but look how cute he is at 4 and a half months!

He also rolled over at from his back to his tummy - a feat with a big noggin like that. He was a week shy of 4 months. He started daycare down the street at 4 months, and then we got word that a spot opened up at Eliza's Montessori school. He started there this week and is taking all of these transitions in stride.

We've also been battling eczema these last two months. The big guy scratches up his head so badly, he is now under sock arrest. His hands are mittened and to protect him at night, I even sewed a pair into his pjs. I'm hoping that his dry skin is something he will outgrow - and soon. Even with his scratchy skin, he's still a smiling, laughing happy, little Bubba beloved by all - especially his sisters.

Weekend Away in Idyllwild

Christmas and New Years have come and gone (I'll try to get caught up!), but here we are back in November over Veteran's Day.

We spent 3 nights in Idyllwild - a cute, forested mountain town 2 hours from LA near Palm Springs, where we rented a log house with the Hazlitts and Emmetts. 6 adults and 7 kids. It was mayhem. But fun mayhem as the kids could entertain each other and the grown-ups could talk and play cards (and maybe have a few glasses of wine). When we weren't nestled in the house, we were hiking (strolling?) in the woods where the kids got to see some snow . . .


 . . . and horse poop


Snowball fight


Eliza has no problem adopting new parents . . . and beating them with a stick


Girlzzz


Crack kids


Baby transporters


Babies


Mud puddles

That Sunday, we packed up to head home and then decided to stop in Oak Glen for some apple pie. I had hoped to go apple picking but a May frost damaged the crop. Still, we did have pie and then went for a great walk past the orchards, around a pond and through the Oaks collecting acorns. Lovely.




Addie in the corn


Eliza inspected every hole in the wood boardwalk sure there was a spider living in each.


Making a wish