“Thanks, he is 24 months. Hey, do you have the time?”
“Sure. It’s 972 minutes past midnight.”
I think I did that with Kaili and I blame the Doc. “We will see you back when she is 18 months.” I will do my best NOT to do that with Averi.
Aves just had her 1 year doctor appointment I am happy to report there is not much to say. She weights 18 1/2 lbs and is in the 40th percentile for height and weight.
She is still going to bed about 6 and still waking up at 5:30 sometimes she goes back to sleep but most of the time not.
Unlike her sister she doesn’t love the bath, she would rather climb around knocking things down. She just wants to be on the move, investigating and eating everything she finds on the floor.
.
I think she has a few teeth trying to make their appearance, I can’t wait for the teething to be done with.
We are slowly working with the whole milk situation. I am adding a little to her formula each day until she seems adjusted to it. Some days she gobbles up the fruit I give her, some days they all end up on the floor. She isn’t keen on the veggies, or the meat. So now I have two picky eaters.
She whines.. A LOT. She sees me and starts crying. Her vocabulary consists of MAAM. DADA. WAH. NO. and EHHHH WHINE. My head hurts typing this.
But she is a lovable, cuddly, sweet little girl when she isn’t crying at my legs or throwing herself on the ground, I promise.
I am saving up for my next life. I am going to hire a night nanny. She will come at 6:00pm and take care of all the tedious bed time hoopla {we will keep story time} wake up with the kids when they cry, fall out of bed or just plain don’t want to sleep and wake up with them at 5:30 in the morning. Then I will glide in, all bright eyed and bushy tailed and redeem my position.
We spent part of the day in Seaport village last week, I have been there so many times now I can’t keep track, we seriously live in the best place. Averi went on her first carousel ride and we had a very overpriced lunch but the view….
Sisters first rodeoLunch with a view
Shane and I were lucky enough to get away for a 21 and over dinner while the folks were here. Averi had been being such a little PITA that I was nervous about leaving her…but she was just fine. We wanted to stay away from downtown due to Comic Con so it was the perfect excuse to try Brian Malarkey’s La Jolla eatery Herringbone. The vibe of this place is sound. I wish I lived walking distance, I would be a regular.
Herringbone
There is a booze bar and a raw bar and I want to get to know both. I ordered the Branzino and it was by far the best I have ever had. Don’t forget that the cheeks on fish are the best part, just slap that hand away when someone tries to be cheeky. It was paired with an artichoke salad and a minty pea puree that put London’s mushy peas to shame, sorry lads.
Sun goes down in LJ
We also knocked out another restaurant on our to-do list…The OB noodle house. This is a place where you need a group of people and everyone is into sharing. So many great things on their menu. Everything I tried was good, Kaili liked the Pho and you have to try the garlic chili chicken wings…drool.
Sunset Cliffs, OB
It was a fun visit with the in-laws as always. Averi is back in her room and her crib and it’s been glorious. Good sleep has her like….Chillen.
11 months old. I can’t remember Kaili at this age, even going back and looking at her pictures it’s like I lost all memory of what she was doing at this age.
Averi is cruising around the furniture like a pro and has stood on her own for .2 seconds but that’s it for now.
I can’t tell you how excited I am to get rid of formula and stop washing bottles. I’m like really really excited about that.
She still puts anything and everything she can grab into her mouth. She is also getting better with eating solids. She loves her carbs, bread, crackers, pasta, pizza, bagels, waffles, veggie chips you name it. She usually takes a bite of her fruit and then drops the rest on the floor, along with anything else healthy.
Not sure how much she weighs but I’m betting she is gaining on her sister.
She has 4 teeth and two pushing through as we speak. She is getting her own little personality and for the most part is a happy girl. She is easy to take places, she likes to people watch and is happy to be pushed along in her stroller. A friend of ours got her to fall asleep in her stroller at a party. Kaili never did that, as a matter of fact Kaili has never fallen asleep anywhere other than her bed or the carseat and that has only happened about 3 times.
I can’t wait to see what the next few months brings.
Averi is 11 months old today, more on that soon. Kaili has turned a corner in her maturity and it’s awesome and scary at the same time. We moved her kid table into her room and now she can do her activities at our dining room table. She spends a good amount of time in her room playing by herself…(A dream I never thought would happen.) Last week I let her stay up until 8:30 (GASP) to finish Frozen. I thought maybe she will sleep later than normal but no, she woke up at 6: AM.Bullshit.
Isn’t she beautiful? Little sister, just as cute, has been making this weird face. I love it and luckily strangers adore it.
Kaili moved from the 3 year old class to the 4 year old class this past week. Luckily her bestie moved up with her, that made it an easy transition. Along with gymnastics I am hoping to sign her up for a two week swim class at a new pool this month.
Kaili is mostly nice to sister but not really. She is really starting to piss me off with the way she goes out of her way to poke, prod and irritate little sis. She is spending a lot more time “thinking” these days…sigh. They will be besties soon right?
We spent Memorial day weekend up in the mountains. We left Friday morning and arrived less than three hours later. We rented a place next-door to the village and a grocery store, the best location if you want to avoid the car. It was a 2 bedroom condo I found through VRBO. The girls shared a room and although I had to tweek the room a bit, it worked great. I pushed two twin beds together for Kaili and threw the pack n play in another corner for Averi. We had a bedroom next door and the living area just out front. Our balcony over looked a very cold pool and luke warm hot tub. I must confess I was worried about the girls sharing a room because A. Averi has been waking all times a night and cries until I come in and B. Kaili falls out of her bed and hollers, or gets up and comes into our room. Turns out, I over reacted because they both slept through the night both nights. Averi woke up the third morning at 5:30 but Kaili slept through her hollering. the only downside with room sharing is once one of them is up, you really can’t put them back down since there isn’t the option of “cry it out.” Doable but not desirable.
The Village
The weather less than desirable, the crowds scarce. We got there around lunch time and walked the village, scoping out the must-do’s. We had lunch at the very popular mexican place, Papagayos and although underwhelmed by the food, the atmosphere and people made up for it. They had a large out door patio that featured a bar and grill for margaritas and tacos that locals and tourists gather on warmer days, we will get to know this place well.
After our big lunch we decided to go back to the condo, put the kids down and enjoy a small dinner of wine and caprese. After a good nights sleep we would devour the town in the morning.
We started the day with breakfast at the Belgium Waffle Co. which was a recommendation from a local. After an indulgent meal we fed the ducks, walked the village and watched Kaili go on kiddie rides at their local “amusement park. Then we got in the car and hit up all the open houses and boy did we find some gems.
After house hunting and a little shopping, we ended back at the village on a patio semi shivering due to the cold weather as we sipped margartias. Sitting next to us was a group that were Arrowhead vacation owners. We got to chatting and luckily the weather lifted and the day unfolded nicely. We learned a little more about the place and which parts of the lake was the most desirable yada yada yada. The day ended a lot like the day before with a quick swim in the warm tub and a light dinner of caprese.
Sunday, I made breakfast at the condo and then we went back to some house hunting. We also made our way to a “festival” at the next town over and although it was a very sparse “festival” it lead us to the best pizza place. Another gem told to us by a local, this place will one day be featured on Food Network, I’m sure of it. We devoured an amazing pizza and some beers while Kaili ran around with a little friend she met. Everything about this place was awesome, my only regret was there weren’t more of us so we could have tried two types of pizza. Two thumbs up for Lou Eddies Pizza.
That afternoon we went back to the patio at the village but now that the sun was out it was packed. I lucked out and got a table but soon after Averi managed to dump my entire beer all over us. We paid the tab and went back to the condo for a replay of hot tub and dinner. We were all in bed early and ready to head home the next day.
Our drive home was fun. Halfway down the mountain Kaili said she had to go potty, we told her we were on our way but then she got quiet, too quiet. She got sick, so much sickness out of a tiny human being and I had nothing but clorox wipes. We were able to change her out of her clothes and I cleaned up as much as I could but the 2 hour drive was smelly.
We are heading back again in another month or so. Looking forward to checking out more of the surroundings and maybe partaking in some water activities. Hopefully the weather will be in our favor.
Worst blogger ever. I have been so terrible about taking time to catch up. We were busy with a certain four year olds birthday party and since then we have been on the go. Just as I sat down to write this I had to stop more than once to tend to a whiny child, not naming names.
Kali’s party was hit, most of it great, some of it not. I have a ton of thank you cards to get to but I will have a post dedicated to the birthday party soon.
Shane’s mom has been in town all week and we have been all over San Diego..Mission beach, downtown, Old town, Little Italy and Coronado. We ate our way through a lot of neighborhoods and had two nights out with friends without the kids. So much fun.
For an early mother’s day we went to the Hotel Del Coronado brunch buffet. I didn’t get any pictures but it was quite an ordeal. Imagine being inside a grand dining room. Waiters bustling, champagne flowing and food galore. The stations were spread out and separated by cuisine. Breakfast and omelets, seafood, carving station, soups, salads, soup, cheese, charcuterie, chocolate fountain, desserts and candy. Figuring out what to eat is almost like a science or in my case, all the crab legs and the double cream cheese. The girls were good, having Averi in a high chair now helps tremendously and lengthens our stay, but really, if you are going to have this experience, go without kids.
Have you ever had a dream where you knew you were dreaming but couldn’t wake up, and then when you do “wake” up, you’re not actually awake? It’s called False Awakening and it happened for the second time in my life last night. Scary shit. I had gone to bed early to read when I kept hearing weird noises. I used to blame them on my cat but now the cat is dead so….I got up and checked the kids once, twice, and then fell asleep. My dream was vivid and started to get scary when I lost the ability to talk. Somewhere I realized I was dreaming so I willed myself to wake up. My eyes open and I am in my bed, I get up and go out into the front room. I tried turning on the light but the power must have been out, none of the lights worked. I went to open the front door and their were two men rummaging through my car that in the driveway. I tried to scream but nothing… I realized I was still dreaming.
Finally I really wake up and I feel strange, the room is like static, my heart is pounding. That was zero fun and now I in no way wanted to go back to sleep. I read until midnight and must have fallen asleep but this time I was sleeping like a normal person and didn’t wake until the Averi alarm went off at 6 AM.
Remember the swim class Kaili was enjoying? That has taken a 180. The class got a little bigger with a 1:5 ratio and there was a lot of “standing” around. Although the pool is heated she was getting really cold, shivering cold. It wasn’t fun for her and she would get upset and we ended up leaving class early. Along with that her ear started bothering her and with a fever we took her to see the doc. Turns out she had a double ear infection that started with swimmers ear. She is on a 10 day dose of antibiotics and drops but 4 days later she still complains her ears hurt. Not quite sure what to do about swimming, the YMCA has left a bad taste in her mouth. I want to sign her up at another school where the ratio is smaller but she doesn’t seem thrilled about it. Maybe they will let me do a trial run before paying for a full month of classes, what do you think?
Averi had her 9 month baby check. She is 17 lbs, only about 10 lbs lighter than sister. Average in length and head size and got a stamp of approval from the doctor. She only had one vaccine injection and she didn’t even flinch, thats the sign of a good nurse.
Photo courtesy of Brian Kerr
Kali’s birthday party is this weekend and half of the kids she invited have not RSVP’d. What the hell is wrong with people, these are kids, if you can’t or don’t want to come, let us know. I feel bad because she keeps saying “so and so” is coming because she invited them but doesn’t comprehend that I haven’t heard from their parents. Ugh, I just hope she has a fun day and can the rain please stay away.
I finally got my computer fixed after I spilled apple juice on it, ironic huh? Apple on Apple? Gah, no more liquids around electronics for this girl. It was really hard to motivate myself to write on my iPad.
So all of the sudden it’s April, birthdays are looming ahead of us. Little Averi turned 9 months, she is moving along with her own unique crawl where she uses her upper body strength to pull herself along while her feet kick about. It doesn’t slow her down. We got a baby jail for her which is great when I need to turn my back, she will find anything and everything on the ground, put it in her mouth and then gag on it. Where there’s a will there is a way, she is a determined little thing.
She is still on purees because she chokes on anything that isn’t and it scares the hell out of me. I didn’t make my own food this time around because it’s so easy to buy and the variety of food available is amazing but it’s not cheap.
She has been sick the past month AND her two top teeth just poked through so sleep has been a mess, with wake ups sporadic. Like her sister she is an early riser and I have come to the realization that these girls are not late sleepers and I will never sleep in again.
Kaili turns 4 in a couple of weeks, this amazes me. She is doing great in school, can write her name and is working on writing MOM and DAD. I can look at her and say Shane and I have done good. She is compassionate, empathic, funny and relatively a good listener. She is starting to act out a bit which is actually coming later than I expected. Nothing that’s not age appropriate but her baby sister usually gets the brunt of it. This sharing thing is harder than in looks.
She started swimming lessons twice a week at the Y and she loves it.She is picking it all up really fast.
We got her a bunk bed for her birthday with Frozen sheets to go with it, of course. She is excited to share her bed with anyone really, and soon enough Averi will be her roommate. I told Kaili she will be in charge of getting Averi back to sleep once that happens! Good times ahead!
It was in the 90’s this past weekend. You would have thought it was summer if we all weren’t in different stages of fighting a cold….Because everyone knows you don’t get sick in the summer. Kaili woke with a lowgrade fever Sunday morning but by the afternoon it spiked up to 104, I only mildly panicked. In my mind 104 is no joke and its higher than she’s registered but the nurse assured me she would be fine. Some Advil and a nap later she was feeling a bit better and by Monday afternoon she was fever free.
I told Kaili that on St. Patrick’s day we can only eat green food all day or the Leprachauns will break into our house at night and steal all our chocolate. Okay, the second part isn’t true but the first part is and she responded with “yuck! I don’t like green food”! This was once my good eater. Speaking of chocolate, I haven’t met a kid that will turn down candy and sweets, she just doesn’t really care about it unless it’s chocolate, that she will devour. It isn’t parenting until you have hid chocolate from your kid.
Three wine corks taped together makes an excellent shamrock stamper. Pin this for next year!
That was the extent of our Irish celebrating, being a mom, alone, on a Tuesday I just couldn’t muster that much excitement. I probably should start thinking about Easter, you know the day where all you eat are eggs or…..
The Art of Thyming 