A Day by the Sea

August 30, 2016 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

We have been keeping busy the past few weekends. The Chula Vista Harbor fest is the one thing we do each year. It’s the perfect mix for kids and adults. Most of the time you find these festivals have it all, food, booze and a kids zone. But in the city of San Diego, the booze has to be kept in a 21 and over “beer garden.” In Chula Vista, they don’t give a shit and we like that kind of thinking. We can grab a drink and walk around with our kids or sip our wine while our kids bounce in the jumpers. I mean it really is common sense, happy parents + happy life?

The girls had so much fun. From the bouncers to the ice cream…they were kept busy.

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Kaili did a little bungee jumping.

Ave’s had fun on the playground.

There was hula hooping. I just realized I don’t know how to spell that…is it hula or hoola? Oh, man.

It’s all fun and games outside of SD limits.

After the festival we headed to Coronado for a late lunch. A day out in San Diego really does feel like a mini stay cation.. What’s not to love?

Seahawks and Questions

August 25, 2016August 26, 2016 ~ Girlmom ~ 3 Comments

Shane is watching the Seattle game so I thought I should blog. Minutes passed and I couldn’t think of anything to write. I have some festival pictures to share with you soon but for now, this is what I am doing..a survey blog post. Pull up a chair.

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1.What are your favorite smells?

Coffee, ocean air and anything coconut.

2.Can you go a whole day without caffeine?

Well I did it for two trimesters so I guess I can.

3.Who knows more about you than anyone else?

Shane

4.What song did you last listen to?

Say Goodbye DMB

5.Who is your celebrity crush?

I have more than one. Dave Matthews, Michael Vartan, Ben Affleck and David Beckham

6. Most romantic moment?

Marriage proposal in the Caribbean

7.If you could choose one color to wear for a whole year, what color would you choose?
Black

8.Do you cook often?

You know I do

9.What was the last film you watched? Did you like it?

Eye in the Sky, yes very good

10. Can you sew?
I can put a button back on if you need it.

11.What is your favorite fruit?

Fresh papaya with fresh lime juice

12. When was the last time you had a pint of beer?

Hmm, a few months ago? But I just tried horchata beer and it was really good.

13. Is there a certain food you often crave for no reason?

Chicken wings

14.Where was your last vacation?

Real vacation? Europe four years ago. Gah, that is sad.

15.How do you like your eggs?

Preferably poached on top of a fluffy english muffin with fresh tomato, crispy bacon and smothered in hollandaise sauce.

16.What was your last argument about and who with?

Probably the 5 year old about eating.

17. Are you satisfied with the way your life is right now?

Absolutely

18.Do you drink enough water?

Everyday

19. When was the last time you ate at Burger King?

Before I had kids, who knows.

20.Do you prefer the beach or the mountains?

Always the beach

21.When was the last time you wore high heeled shoes?

Girls night

22. Vodka or wine?

Wine

23 Have you met more than ten celebrities?

No, but sign me up

24.Do you sleep naked?

Nope

25.What was the best music gig you’ve attended?

One of the DMB concerts, too hard to choose.

26. Do you think Benedict Cumberbatch is hot?

27.Favorite Disney princess?

Ariel, the little mermaid

28. Favorite city?

Paris

29.What do you fear most about death?

Leaving my girls

30. Introvert or Extrovert?

Extrovert

31. Favorite TV shows?

Homeland, Life in Pieces, Animal Kingdom and SATC, ok, throw Girls in there too.

32. Are you scared of anything?

Losing my girls and clowns

33. Any Phobias?

No but if running into a clown in a dark alley is a phobia, I have that.

34. Do you like to play board games?
LOVE THEM.
35.Would you eat a live spider for one million dollars?

Yes, wouldn’t anyone?

36.What is one thing you wish had zero calories?

WINE!!

A Reason to Cook

August 14, 2016 ~ Girlmom ~ 3 Comments

I gazpacho you a recipe. I’ve been holding out of you. I found the best recipe for gazpacho, seriously. It’s from Food and Wine and it’s called Gazpacho on Fire. Basically you throw all the veg on a roasting pan and once it’s nice and charred you peel, seed and throw it in a food processor with a few other goodies.

It really is one of the best I have had and perfect for these hot days.

We’ve been beating the heat by heading to the bay early in the morning. The playground has sand and the sprinklers are on providing perfect sand castle material.

We had a low key weekend which was really nice but Kaili is getting stir crazy. I thought that since her first day of school was before Labor day that she was starting early, but compared to other kids in CA she is one of the last…and I’m jealous. I’m ready, she’s ready and I think even Averi’s ready.

Long Time No See

August 4, 2016 ~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

It’s been forever since I blogged huh? I just don’t seem to have the time now that Kaili is out of school, or should I say my free time at night is spent watching trashy reality shows? I mean, how good is Bachelor in Paradise? And it just started.

Last I left off Averi had turned two years old. She had her doctor visit and she is perfect, a little small in the weight department but this girl eats so I am not concerned. We’ve been through this with Kaili already, it’s so much easier on the mind the second time around. About four days after that doctor visit Averi came down with a fever that lasted three days followed by a rash. Turns out she had Roseola and I am sure she caught it at the office.

I had been having a hell of time with her at night. She would cry and cry for hours before finally giving in and going to sleep. I was all set to move Kaili out of the room and go big, letting her cry it out without going in there at all, per her Pediatrician’s advice. But after her bout with that nasty virus, she went back to her old self and no more crying at night. Who knows what that was about, hopefully we are good now, because I was about to lose my mind.

We’ve been busy spending time at my parents house in OC. The girls have been swimming, to the petting zoo, playing at the parks and splashgrounds.

Our good friends came out for a visit from Arizona and of course the first stop was breakfast at World Famous on the beach.

Averi doesn’t dig the beach, just like Kaili wasn’t fond of it. Luckily Kristi and I got a chance to head to the beach sans kids and it was magical. We laid in the sun and played in the water without any worries.

We also had our sitter come and watch the girls while we spent the day in Ramona wine tasting! The girls had fun, we had fun, everyone wins.

Kaili has another month until Kinder starts and soon after that we head to Rio. I will try to be better about writing but I promise I will be blogging the Paralympics and our trip to Brazil!

BAE is TWO

July 12, 2016 ~ Girlmom ~ 2 Comments

I can not believe that Averi just turned TWO years old, I also can not believe that it’s been two years since she came home. It’s hard to imagine life without her and it’s hard to believe I haven’t spent a night away from her.

We didn’t have a big party and I haven’t finished going through all the photos, so this will be a short post.

But a bragging post about how much this child is loved. My heart is full and I hope she understands one day how my heart aches for her.

She is a perfect half girly girl and a perfect half dare devil!

She is TWO!

Mom, Mama, Mommy MOMMY!

June 28, 2016 ~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

. I always have great expectations at bedtime, probably too great, I’m mostly disappointed. I think it’s been five times now, in and out of their bedroom, spewing threats and wishing they weren’t room sharing. They feed off each other, obviously, but the younger one is the culprit! How do I work that one out? They wake each other up and keep each other up, it’s 8:00 p.m and the two year old who woke up at 6:00 a.m. because of big sister is in their room laughing and yelling “Mama! Mama!”I’ve been called lots of things but only “mom” 763 times in one hour.

Of course no one is forcing us to make them room share, it’s my choice right? Yes, and it will be good, it will be great, it will be hard and it will suck. But I believe the benefit of them being together will outweigh the negative. So every night I chug along, thinking of something new I can try or do or say. I mostly talk to myself but my husband gets lucky on the weekends.

Lately, Averi’s favorite words are “no, mine!” Side eye….

Her language is coming along but most of it is still foreign gibberish.

She is a picky eater but if Im eating something chances are she wants it. She is very smart, too smart and she is persistent and head strong. If she is upset, life as you know if is dedicated to her, she will not let you live until we solve her drama. Problem is, nobody knows what she needs, also known as the terrible twos.

We attempted to hit up the San Diego night market last weekend.

Averi had been a mess all day but I was so sure she would liven up once we headed out, she always does.

But she didn’t!

Looking forwarded to something relating the Asian night markets we had all once experienced….in China….we arrived disappointed. It was much more like an Asian Fusion food truck festival. No buns, no dumplings, no insects…so sad.

There was some good food and some not good food, I got the lobster noodles and it was good but not good enough for the price.

We ate, spent money on keeping the kids busy and then headed home with less cash and pretty disappointed. I guess now we know.

Tomorrow we are going swimming with friends, Kaili whispered to me that she wants me to cancel. I asked her “how come?” “She say’s, there might be a bumble bee there!”

Keeping Busy

June 20, 2016 ~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

Kaili has two more weeks at her school and then she is out for summer. I finished her Kinder paperwork which I have been procrastinating on. She is up to date with her school vaccinations but she still needs to have a doctor fill out a medical record and apparently they want the same done with her dentist.Two things that are easy to want to push aside, but I finally made appointments to get it done.

We have been watching a lot of soccer with the Copa America going on. Kaili picked out a new shirt to wear for our viewing pleasure.

How do you like that garden back there? We have been eating a lot of sweet tomatoes, plenty of zucchini and we have six baby artichokes on the way.

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I have been taking Averi to the park in the mornings without K so I can focus on playing one on one with her. She is not as adventurous as her sister was but slowly she is starting to test her fear.

Can you believe she is going to be two in less than a month? Ya, me either. She looks up to her sister, has to do whatever it is Kaili is doing, eating, watching you name it. It’s what I always wanted with siblings but it’s also very draining.

The girls were invited to a birthday party out in Ramona last weekend. The land you can have out there is attractive to me but then again you are out in Ramona which isn’t attractive at all, to me.

We try to stop at a winery or two when we are out there. This time we tried one that had recently opened. It had a great outside area, live music and luckily some decent wine. The girls spent most of their time chasing the dog around. The little winery Chihuahua was the hit until she stole Averi’s chocolate chip cookie and booked it across the lot. Averi was more stunned than upset and I was more worried about the tiny dog eating a whole cookie, but the owners weren’t phased. Must happen often.

TK Graduation

June 6, 2016 ~ Girlmom ~ 2 Comments

Kaili is officially out of transitional kindergarten and on her way to elementary school.

She has always enjoyed school and most of her teachers. Last week she “graduated” from TK and it brought all of the emotions.

Saying thank you and goodbye to her 3 year old teacher, Mrs. Borck is moving back East.

They handed out little diplomas, omg y’all SO CUTE!

Then they sang.

I was in the minority for only recording ONE of their songs, you’re welcome.

Kaili singing at graduation

She was the best, come on, you know I am right.

Today was her Kindergarten orientation at our neighborhood elementary school. It seems most people aren’t attending their neighborhood schools anymore. They are lotto-ing into the local immersion programs, the “better” schools down the way, or they are coughing up the big bucks for the best private schools.

Now, don’t think we didn’t play around with the same thoughts, we did. But in the end we agreed on her attending our neighborhood school.

It’s diverse, ethnically, racially and monetary. She will meet friends that live near our streets and it’s walking distance. For me, those are all important factors I want her to know as “normal”.

Wandering around her soon to be Kinder campus I had mixed emotions. From holy shit, she is going to be in elementary school ! To holy shit, she is going to be in elementary school!

Call me biased but these are some of the best of the childhood years. We get to watch them become more independent, we get to watch them learn to read, most amazing thing ever AND we watch our littles become big- kids. They are full of confidence, accept everyone, want to help, thrive on positive reinforcement and still totally love the sh*t out of their mommy and daddy.

Congratulations baby girl, you’re moving on up!

Knee Scopes and Viruses

May 16, 2016 ~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

A year ago I hurt my knee while stretching. I was in a lunge position when the mat moved underneath me during a transition. Not sure what exactly happened but the pain was instant. I nursed it for a couple weeks and although it never got really swollen, it was painful to put weight on it. I went to the doctor and he didn’t think I did anything serious so he suggested physical therapy. After months of “rest” and physical therapy I still couldn’t fully straighten my knee, I definitely couldn’t kick out that leg and it really hurt if I accidentally stepped wrong or one of my kids tried to put their weight on it while I was sitting straight legged. Long story short, I switched doctors and ended up getting a second opinion and finally a year later had arthoscopy on it.

I have my post-op appointment this Friday. The swelling is way down…

It’s going to take some time and daily PT exercises to get my full range of motion back, let’s hope I am as good as new sooner than later.

The kids had a rough time adjusting to my recovery. I was told to stay off my feet for a few days so that left Shane and my parents doing all the things. Averi had meltdowns over anything, especially when she wanted to me carry her around and Kaili had tears before school and swimming. I was surprised they had such a hard time but just when things were getting back to routine or so I thought, Averi got sick.

She was beyond cranky, fever out of nowhere, extra long naps…all she wanted was for me to hold her…ALL DAY LONG and sometimes that wasn’t soothing her either. I had no idea what was wrong, she didn’t have a runny nose or a cough. I started to think I should make a Dr. appointment just to ease my mind. Then Sunday morning, I gave the inconsolible Averi a bath and that’s when I noticed little sores dotting her ankles. The closer I looked the more I saw. I hollered to Shane “hey, Google Hand Foot Mouth disease” and while he was reading me what he found, I knew that is what she had.

The past few days have been a doozy, the poor girl has sores in her mouth on her butt, legs and around her mouth and looks like this a lot of the time.

After messaging our pediatrician, doing some research and asking other mommies I realized there wasn’t too much I could do. It’s a virus that has to run it’s course while I do my best to keep her comfortable.

Kaili seems just fine for now, fingers crossed and double crossed this stops with Averi. I disinfected the whole house, washed ALL the sheets and blankets, got new toothbrushes and do my best to keep Averi’s mouth away from everything. One day at a time!

The Party

May 9, 2016 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

This year Kaili had some of her own ideas for what she wanted at her party. Reminding her that Disneyland was her big present, we weren’t going to go overboard on the party. A few of her ~~demands~~ requests were that there was to be a piñata, preferably Peppa Pig and she wanted butterflies on her cake, she was totally reasonable.

I was able to get all the party shopping done in a day. I made the cupcakes and the birthday cake the night before. Kaili suggested a Peppa Pig birthday and even though she loves that show I wondered if it was a tad too immature for a fifth birthday. Right or wrong I agreed on some Peppa decor and of course the piñata. In the end, it was perfect.

My only concern was this precious face.

So sweet but yet so deceiving. She has become so attached to me that anyone trying to take her or occupy her usually led to a complete meltdown, noodle body and all. It took a village to keep her away from me and we are not above using sugar as an incentive.

I set up a cupcake decorating station which was a hit. I ordered round plastic palettes from Amazon. I bought a bunch of different topping ranging from mini m&m’s to sprinkles. We put the cupcake in the middle of the palette and gave them a cup of frosting and let them have at it. Huge hit.