Kaili’s birthday party was a success. Thanks to family I have some pictures to share with you because I didn’t take more than one. Too much on this gals plate and by the time the party came, I was WIPED.
The party was loosely themed around Minnie Mouse so I made Minnie Mouse cupcakes that I saw on Pinterest. These are SO cute that they deserve a blog post all their own.
I also made a Minnie head out of styrafoam balls, also something I saw on…you guessed it, Pinterest.
We kept the food simple ordering pizza’s from Luigi pizzeria and a cake from the local store.
I made a big batch of Sangria for all the lucky ones that can partake in adult beverages and that was about the extent of it. We enjoyed the company of our friends and family and Kaili seemed to enjoy every minute of the day being all about her.
I can’t believe we will have 2 birthdays to celebrate next year.
Kaili asked to go to sleep twice today. Even at SeaWorld she said she was ready to go home and take a nap, this marks the first day I didn’t have to drag her out of the park. I will admit though, that 5 minutes after she went to bed she came out saying “she slept good” and wanted to get up. No way Jose. It must be all the sunshine wearing her down, not to say she is sleeping in at all…sheesh, that’ll be the day.
Have I mentioned how nice it is now that she is in underwear? Not having to lug around diapers and worry about where I am going to change her. She has blown my mind with how fast she got it down and how well she is doing. Her first big accomplishment, this must be the proud mom thing I am feeling.
On the flip side I feel like I am telling her no all.the.time. “Kaili, don’t drill the cat.” “No, don’t lick the cat either.” “Don’t eat your toes, gross!” “NO, you can NOT poop in the shower.”
She doesn’t quite understand why there are certain things I can’t do due to my growing belly. She gets that there is a baby inside but you can’t reason with her. So when I tell her I can’t hold her for very long, shouldn’t lift her up all the time and can’t go on rides with her I feel so bad. She gets frustrated and I don’t blame her. I wish I could explain to her all the whys and why nots, I want to relish in these last few months where it will be just me, her and daddy. She gets so much one on one time with me that my heart breaks a tiny bit when I think about how that will all change,{in a good way} but nonetheless it won’t ever be like it is now. Not that I am worried for her, shit, that kid is some kind of fierce. She will handle everything just fine, it’s me that I’m worried about.
I sent K to school in underwear for the first time and I worried as if I had just sent her off to college. I had high hopes on the way to school but It was just my luck that the one day, one day I decide to do this, her teacher was out sick. My optimism on her staying dry throughout the day suddenly diminished to a mere zilch. This growing up thing is a pain in the ass…me, not her.
Go ahead and call me Mrs. Positivity because I imagined the worst. But when I picked her up from school she was in the same clothes I took her in, that’s a good sign. Turns out she did great. She asked to use the potty when she had to go and didn’t have any accidents. Kaili-1 Me-0
Can you believe she will be 3 this month? What the hell time, slow down! {well slow down after I have this baby} Everyone always tells you how fast they grow up. The first year of her life seemed like the longest year ever, I doubted everyone who told me that. “They know nothing.” I thought.
But I regress, the past two years have galloped by and now I have a daughter who is using the potty and very excited about her birthday party. Perfect timing to throw a newborn into the mix if I do say so myself.
Kaili has changed a lot over the past few weeks, entering the terrifying threes if you will. You have to take that with a grain of salt because even on an off day she isn’t that bad. Lately however, the days without a nap are the scariest and come witching hour she is a force to be reckoned with. Along with the negatives come the positives, she has become more mature and independent. She is becoming interested in the “girly” clothes, loves wearing a skirt and pretending she is in Wonderland. You can thank Dora for that.
Lately when Kaili sees my hideous c-section scar she comments on how I have an owie like she does and points to her hand. I always tell her how that was way the Dr. got her out of my stomach, then she replies, “ya, you let me out.” Ha, more like dragged you out kid.
“I’m in the mighty forest.”
She says some wild things that just remind me how great this age is. While strolling around SeaWorld she was pointing out every man saying “that’s not my dad!” At least she wasn’t asking them if they were her dad, awkward. She had less interest in the actual mammals and fish this time around, poking around the stores and just being on the go was more exciting. We wandered around the entire park until mama had enough. We visited Shamu last, he was her favorite this time.
My favorite is when she takes my hand and says “I love you, you’re my friend” in the cutest little voice. My heart flutters.
I spent most of the morning shelling pistachios for the kid, if you wondered what it’s like having a 2 year old. I should know by now that if I want to eat something, she will want it too. I have come to the realization that nothing will ever be just mine again. I can here Shane now, “I realized that the day we got married.” Shh, no one asked you.
I need to apologize to my mom for all those times I begged to order the bubble gum ice cream but ended up wanting your butter pecan cone. I now know the pain I put you through.
In preparation to get K ready for the queen bed, we took off the safety rail part of her bed. She fell out of bed twice the other night, so it’s working out well. The first night she did fine, the second night I heard a loud thud around midnight. The first thing I thought was “she fell out of her bed” but it wasn’t followed by crying so maybe not. A minute later, “MOM, MOMMY, MOM, MOM!!” I walked in to find her laying on the ground. “I fell, but I’m okay.” I told her she was brave as I layed her back down. An hour later, THUD, this time followed by crying. Dammit kid, get it together! This time I gathered some pillows and put them on the floor, obviously the pool noodle I put under her sheet doesn’t do a damn thing. She was quiet the rest of the night and the night after that. I don’t know how you teach a kid to not roll out of bed but I think that has to be a terrible way to wake up.
She has plenty of time to sort it out before she moves beds and I like to think that with all the room she will have with the queen, it shouldn’t be an issue, right?
We took K down to Coronado beach this weekend. The weather has been gorgeous and she has a new found hobby of building sand castles. Once your toes hit the soft sand of Coronado it makes you wonder why you ever go to any other beach, it’s that nice.
We wandered the streets of Coronado hitting up a tasting room, eating a decent lunch and stopping to pet all the dogs. By the end of the day K and I were wiped out. It felt like a summer day and to think Spring is only a month away.
“Now I want y’all to repeat after me, penis, penis, penis, vagina, vagina, vagina!” Name that movie!
I got the results back from the Harmony test I took. The results were good. The risk for Downs and Trisomy were really low, less than 1 in 10,000. The results were so good I got them twice, once from my Dr. and once my the genetic counselor.
Then I was asked if I wanted to know the sex. Duh
Here was Kaili’s reaction when I told her what we were having.
She was the first person I told while I impatiently waited 30 minutes for Shane to message me back. Longest half hour evah!
I am anxious for my Dr. appointment today. Now that we know what we are having and that things are seemingly on the right path I find new things to worry about. Looking forward to hearing the heartbeat and having a little reassurance things are still going strong. Do all expecting mothers feel like this or just the ones that struggle to get pregnant?
Oh wait, I forgot to tell you what we are having huh? It’s a girl. This gal is getting a little sister.
Have I bragged about how great my daughter is lately? No, Okay here I go…
Two and a half and she surprises me daily. She wants to please and is a great helper. Almost always upbeat, it takes a lot for her to cry and when she does it breaks my heart. She ran herself into the corner of the wall the other day and went down crying but quickly got up and said “I’m ok.” She had a big knot on the side of her head and the top of her ear lobe was purple and swollen. I tried to tend to it but she assured me she was fine and went on with her day. She also showed me up in the flu shot department. After getting my first flu shot I was preparing her for hers by explaining what was going to happen. When we were at the Dr office I left the scene because I hate to see her in pain. I mean the shot was not painless for me, why would it be for her. Less than 5 minutes later she came trotting out to the waiting room with dry eyes. Shane said she didn’t even wince. The girl is stronger than I am.
She loves to describe her food as “DELICIOUS” and says it “tastes yummy in her tummy”. She is a pretty good eater with hummus, mac n’ cheese, berries and chocolate topping the favorites list. She says her favorite food is chicken nuggets but she lies.
We caught up with her speech therapist and she likes where Kaili is at. My only concerns for her were that Kaili sometimes speaks in the third person and leaves out words in songs and sentences. This should resolve itself by the age of 3, or in Kaili time 3 and 5 months but I am already seeing improvements.
She is not a homebody by any means and is used to ALL of the attention. Having a sibling is going to be a wake up call for this one. She is a very quick learner, say something once and she will remember it and then repeat it to her advantage. Luckily swear words haven’t been an issue…yet.
We hit the “how to prolong bedtime” milestone last night, first she wanted medicine {tylenol} then she wanted a drink of water and the third time she told me not to put her gate up. I thought to myself, isn’t it too soon for this but what do I know?
We had been putting the baby gate on her door at night so she wouldn’t wake up and wander around the house at 4 or 5 a.m. which worked like a charm. We continued with the gate on nights we were watching the Walking Dead so she didn’t come down the hall to see a Zombie get his head bashed in. Good parenting award.
Is she done yet?
Almost. I also got her the Teach Me Time alarm clock. It has a lot of features that she will grow into but for now we are using the “ok to wake” green light. You can set the light to come on at your desired time in the morning and it has been working great. She knows she needs to stay in her room until it comes on. The neighbors can probably hear her screaming “it’s green, it’s green” each morning. Does she wake up before it? Sure sometimes, but a gentle reminder for her to wait until the light comes on works like a charm. She is still sleeping as I write this and the light came on 10 minutes ago. Worth every penny.
Kaili is such a good spirited little girl with a big heart, I am lucky to be her mom.
I have my first appointment with the perinatologist scheduled, I got a load of blood drawn Friday, a flu shot on the calendar for Kaili and I picked up my Harmony prenatal test, once our insurance updates I can go get it taken care of.
We spent the weekend watching football of course but looking through my photos it also revolved around food.
I actually bought strawberries at Costco to make fruit roll ups but this ended up happening. Sorry, not sorry.
Does she look 2 here? I’d say more like 2 1/2 right?
We woke up Saturday morning and made banana bread. She quit on me early.
Fresh squeezed orange juice, it tasted as good as I hoped.
Hummus is one of K’s favorite things to eat so instead of buying stock in it I decided to make some. I used this recipe, recipe approved.
Sunday morning we hit Miramar resevoir for a glimpse of the ducks and a short walk.
I managed to stay off all social media last night so that I can enjoy the Golden Globes all alone this morning. A few of our shows started back up and I can say I really missed Shameless and I think True Detective is going to be some good T.V. You should watch it.
We spent the weekend checking out a local roaster, putzing around Little Italy and taking pictures of everyday life. I am happy to say I am almost done with my Christmas shopping and we even hit the beach for Christmas pictures.
My doctor appointment is this morning…duh duh duuuuuh. Fingers crossed everything is good.
I pulled out the felt tree I made Kaili, still fun a year later.
I made this spaghetti squash lasagna without the boats and it was delicious, this recipe is being put on rotation.
Kaili loves making this face because it cracks us up.
Our first time at Bird Rock Roasters in La Jolla, what took us so long?
Another first, we hit up San Diego Cellars downtown. Good wine, nice winemaker, can’t wait to go back when I can have a glass.
For dinner we tried Davanti in Little Italy. We had amazing Ligurian style baked focaccia + fresh soft cow cheese with local honey, crispy pork belly with mustard, cheese filled meatballs and grilled octopus on a warm potato salad.
BabyCakes in Hillcrest is half bakery, half bar, pure brilliance.
Hey December, what’s the rush? Wasn’t it just Thanksgiving 4 days ago?
We had a laid back day that didn’t involve turkey but gluttony may have been a factor.
It was delightful.
Shane didn’t waste any time moving onto Christmas, the next day we were rocking the lights and a 10 foot Mickey Mouse.
When he deflates Kaili gets concerned that “Mickey fell down.”
We spent the beautiful weekend lazily lounging around. We got some shopping done down at Seaport Village.
This is where you will end up if you don’t listen to your parents.
You can’t leave the Village without hitting up the Carousel . I have memories of riding these same fake horses, cause who rides the ostriches.. when I was a child.
Our tree is up, decorated and there are even wrapped presents underneath. Now I get to spend the next 23 days telling K to not touch the ornaments and hands off the presents. How much do you want to bet that one of the two will have a casualty by the end of the week?
The Art of Thyming 