(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

Catching Up

So . . . Wow. It's been a while. I just noticed I still have Halloween Photos on the side bar.

Much has happened since my last post on Nov. 10. We spent a lovely long weekend with friends in Idyllwild over Veterans Weekend. Cap and I enjoyed a few weeks of Funemployment with Xavier until Cap started his new job with Amazon right after Thanksgiving. I went back to work. I got laryngitis. Thanksgiving happened. We battled Xavier's severe eczema. Xavier started daycare. Xavier turned 4 months. Mit turned 70. Xavier had the stomach flu. We enjoyed Eliza and Addie's holiday recitals at school. I got a gross infection in my nose and was on antibiotics (thank you little sleep and a weakened immune system for that). Xavier had his last day at daycare as he'll be moving to Eliza's school after the holiday, and I have 2 weeks off of work.

I've been home with Addie and Eliza this week and today I have all three kiddos while I pack. Tomorrow we hop on an airplane to spend 10 days with my family in the Chicago-area. I'm excited for all of the extra hands! It's been a hectic, exhausting and emotional winter as we juggle minor illnesses, new schedules and new routines.

And here we are -- all caught up. Just like that.

Bubbles

There really isn't a story to these photos; they are just cute. The girls were taking a bubble bath together and Addie decided it would be hilarious to fill her mouth with suds. Of course Eliza followed suit. Look how totally, unabashedly, happy Eliza is in that third photo.

We are packing up for our long weekend away in Idyllwild. We've rented a huge log house in the mountains with friends. The last time we were in Idyllwild Eliza was Xavier's age. Rain is in the forecast but I'm looking forward to hanging out, eating, drinking, hiking (if weather permits) and playing with the kids. We are armed with board games and scotch. Can't wait to rev up that fireplace!

For Target

I got caught up a little in the Missoni for Target craze. You may remember I did the same when Liberty of London came out with their collection for Target a few years back. I love their designer collaborations - total genius. Both times, people lined up before the store opened and the entire collection sold out in a matter of minutes with Missoni taking down an overloaded target.com. I wasn't waiting in line on opening day, but every time I go to target I scour the store for items people have returned and have found a few great items for the girls.

Here Addie is modeling items from both collections (it was her idea to wear the poncho). Boho gypsy haute couture I think. Oh and in these photos she's holding a dead roly poly bug she found in a spider web in case you thought she was getting too precious.

Trick or Treat

Kapow! Bam! Smooch!

Addie wanted to be be batgirl this year which was perfect since Cap and I could resurrect our same costumes from last year. Hello Bat Family!

On Saturday, we all got dressed up and went to the Halloween block party which we've gone to every year. Addie insisted we go into the haunted house. She loves to be scared. She told me my scary stories weren't scary enough. "More ghosts Mommy!" She freaked about a minute in though and I had to carry her but she made it through unscathed.

On Monday we had a full day of festivities. I volunteered to lead a craft in Addie's class. I made glittered bat magnets with 25 kids at 8 am (on no coffee I might add). The project turned out pretty well and it was fun hanging out with her classmates. Then her whole school had a Halloween parade after an orange themed potluck. Our neighborhood is predominately Jewish and some of the kids in her class don't celebrate Halloween. Addie asked me on Sunday night if she was Jewish. I think she just wanted to know if she would get to go trick or treating. School was out early that day and we went home to rest before Eliza's school parade at 3:30. It wasn't a parade as much as it was two dozen kids in costume milling about the playground or clinging to their parents. Still cute though. This was Eliza's first year trick or treating and boy did she like it. She's a total sweet tooth too and both she and her sister (and their parents!) are still enjoying the spoils of Halloween night.

Check out more photos of our Halloween weekend here.




My black bats. The Dark Knight, Batgirl and Baby Batboy. Addie loved her costume and even wore the mask ALL day at school.



Eliza Batgirl or maybe our rapid bat. This girl is always in motion. I laugh when I see photos of other people's kids standing politely by the front door holding their trick or treating bags. Eliza? Standing still? That would be a good trick.



Here is our best attempt at a family portrait. It perfectly represents the chaos of our lives. If only we had super powers all the time.

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Palindrome Day!

Also, Xavier's 3 month check up. He's a healthy chap with a cold, dry skin and a large noggin - 90th percentile! Perhaps he will be telepathic like his namesake.

He also entertained us at the doctor's with his giggles. This was the first time we heard him really chuckle - total magic.