My dad’s name is….. “Shane”
My dad is…. “3 years old”
He likes to…..”pack up and go to work.”
He doesn’t like to….”eat blueberries”
His favorite food is…..”Spaghetti”
His favorite drink is…..”coffee”
His favorite sport is…..”Seahawks”
We like to….”go in the hot tub together”
It makes my dad happy when….”I help my sister”
It makes my dad sad when ….. “I step on Averi.”
I love my dad because…..”He loves me.”
Happy Father’s Day!
Kaili was adamant she wanted a “Frozen” birthday party. To us that consisted of a “Frozen” bounce house and some “Frozen” themed gift bags, ya that’s it.
We had finalized the guest list a good month before, a chunk of our friends, some family and our neighbors (because we have the best!) She was inviting 6 friends from her school and 3 not in her school. I sent the invites out early and literally only had 2 RSVPs from her school mates, one I had to fish out. That was enough to make me not want to do this again, but tough shit I guess.
I went back and forth on having a taco stand but the price was a leeeeetle too much, so I ended up catering it from our local Mexican market and it worked muy bueno. Carnitas, carne asada, shredded rotisserie chicken and quesadillas ( thanks mom) beans, rice, guac and salsa. An abundance of food and I am pretty sure we just threw out a good 4lbs. of leftover rice and beans.
We had the bouncy in the front yard so the kids ran from there to the backyard where the playhouse is. I think it all got good use and went smashingly. The weather wasn’t the best and when it started to sprinkle I almost lost my shit but it turned out fine. While the majority was outside eating, chatting and playing, my family was huddled on the couch busy with something important, socialites.
I had decided before the party that presents weren’t going to be opened when the kid guests were still around because it’s hard for them to sit still and with the amount of people we had it would be a lot easier to “maintain” later that day. See this post. But, if you can believe it, Kaili started opening presents earlier than I wanted, and not with me…or Shane! Yep that is right, someone else decided it was okay for Kaili to open some presents without her parents present. I ran in to find the unwrapping underway and then it was apparently time to open presents. I have been called “dramatic” before and I have to say it took a lot for me to not lose my shit over this. I am still not happy about that.
Kaili had fun and got way too much good stuff, that is all that matters. Eventually everyone trickled out and the kids went to sleep so the adults could play.
Next year might be a little different as we will be having a very quiet party and Averi might just be shit out of luck and never have a birthday party.
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…..
I have a 6 month blog post written and waiting but for Averi’s half birthday she was given another bottom tooth and a bad cold. It’s the type of cold that came on really slow and gets worse each day. Yesterday she developed a cough which kept us up most of the night. So before I post about how amazing she is and all, I want to make sure she gets through this and returns to her awesome self and that her wonderful sleep habits return because lately it’s been a tad challenging and I am tired.
Right now she is happily playing in her exersaucer allowing me a few minutes to write this because honestly by the time K goes to bed I watch one show and then head to bed, I gotta take what I can get.
Saturday, Kaili started complaining about her ear hurting. This is new, she has never had an earache before so I was semi-concerned. When it wasn’t gone Monday I took her into the Dr. I assumed it was associated with her cold but it turns out she has Swimmers ear. Must have been all the mermaid action in the bathtub. We have been putting some prescription drops in her ear and three days later it’s already getting better. If you have had Swimmers ear before than you know how painful it can be, poor thing.
There ya have it, our exciting life thist past week. Averi has her 6 month well check tomorrow, thankfully and hopefully she will kick this cold sooner than later. Once she is snot free I will take her 6 month photos for all to see. I am off to wipe a nose.
Our first night in town everyone was beyond exhausted. Averi quickly showed symptoms of a cold and spent the ENTIRE night sniffing and moaning…so tired.
The next morning, with two sick kids on our hands we knew we too were probably doomed to be hit with the sickness. However the sun was shining and it seemed like a fine day to go check out the new cabin the folks had just purchased in Tollgate, OR. We left Averi home to sleep with grandma and Shane, Gordon, Kaili and I hit the road. Just about 3/4 of the way there Kaili got sick, really sick, all over herself and her carseat…barf. We were in the middle of nowhere, literally. We had nothing, no water, no wipes, just a few tissues and luckily a change of clothes in her backpack. We were headed to a cabin that was basically closed up for the winter, meaning no running water. We did the best we could wiping it up and turned around and headed home. That was a long 30 minute drive.
After a bath, Kaili perked up and as the day went on Shane started to feel worse. I have been dosing myself with everything including naps to stay healthy. This is how our trip is starting and come to think of it, pretty much the way our trip here always starts…minus the throwing up.
Poor Averi is super congested but Kaili is already on the mend, hopefully this is a short lived cold and we can all survive before wine tasting and football commences.
GO HAWKS.
This is how our Thanksgiving day started out. Pretty brilliant, right?
We started our gluttony early in the day and we were lucky enough to do so outside.
We devoured a traditional menu and it was all so delicious, I am still full.
What wasn’t traditional was that the Seahawks were playing the primetime game against the Niners..I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the most watched primetime game in Thanksgiving past.
I usually prefer a good morning game when the kids are happy and awake and I don’t have to be bothered by baths and bedtime. However seeing this at the end made it all worth it.
Seattle 19 – 3 ( Enjoying turkey on the Niner logo )
That was a great way to end our Thanksgiving.
The next morning we had a visitor.
Meet Elf King Felix <<<— (sometimes you just have to let the man have his way)
Elf Felix is here on Santa’s behalf to watch over Kaili and report back to the North Pole each night only to return in a new spot each day.
Day two and I almost forgot to move the damn elf… This should go very well.
I guess life has gotten in the way of my blogging. Not exactly sure what we have been doing with our free time but it comes and goes and then I realize I haven’t written in days.
A few weeks back Senna, my elderly kitty of 19 years had a stroke and wouldn’t leave the side of the house. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with her but she had no interest in food or water and could barely walk. My neighbor said I should take her to the vet, but I was alone with two kids with no crate, how was I going to manage that? I decided I would wait until the next morning to make a decision, it was all too sudden. But a few hours later I realized she was in misery, so I called the vet and asked what my options were and decided to take her in and have her put down. I am so thankful for my next door neighbors, one of them watched the kids while the other drove me to the vet. The vet confirmed it was most likely a stroke and that it happens in older cats. I stayed with Senna while she was sedated and then I left, not wanting to sit through the end. I was heartbroken and two weeks later I still think I hear her meowing and go to the door to let her in or to offer her chicken. She lived a long life as an indoor and outdoor cat. She traveled through California with me and probably used up many of her 9 lives battling cars, coyotes and possums throughout the years.
Last weekend was our monthly dinner party and the theme was “retro”. My plan was to make beef wellington but when I saw the price of the beef tenderloin at Costco, I decided maybe not -cha-ching! I then went back and forth on what to make and finally settled on Swedish meatballs. After staring and comparing 10 different recipes I went with Alton Browns. It was farely easy to make and it turned out great. The bowl was empty by the end of the night.
I also had my hysterosalpingogram (HSG) test. This is the same test I had when I was trying to get pregnant…oh the irony. After I had Averi the doctors had a hard time actually finding my fallopian tubes due to the mess of scar tissue left from Kaili’s delivery. They weren’t exactly sure if they were successful in their attempt to tie them so I patiently waited 3 months and then had my HSG. Two thumbs up, everything is as I want it.
Speaking of Averi, she turned 4 months a few days ago, can we talk more about that later? Someone hasn’t taken her monthly pictures yet. (points to self)
Is it really two weeks until Thanksgiving?
It’s been awhile since I have had one of these blog posts, which means I am doing more things, AND there were even a few firsts this past week, winning!
First off, coffee! Since I don’t support big coffee chains anymore (insert snob emoji here) I will only drink local coffee when out and about. Luckily good, local coffee is not hard to find in this fine city. I met a friend I havn’t seen in awhile at The Swell, in Mission Beach. This friend is also the face behind SD Coffee Club. Having coffee with her is like eating with a food critic, the service will be red carpet and they will chat with you about shit you don’t know or really care about..but it’s good coffee.
I also tried a new restaurant, El Agave in Old Town. It was a last minute lunch and it was one of the best I have had in awhile. You must try the Mole enchiladas, the sopa cilantro and the sopes surtidos. It was a quiet lunch which means, perfect with two little ones.
*Side note.-I always check the restaurants website and Yelp to see if it’s kid friendly. Most of the time...unless it’s a five star dining establishment, they will be happy to accommodate kids, (assuming yours isn’t a little shit) especially at an earlier time. They just might not have a child’s menu.
Another first, we went downtown to the new waterfront park. Think new age play area for the kids meets fancy water feature splash pad but less impressive. Jeez, I don’t mean to be a downer but i think the space could have been a lot more impressive.
Clearly she didn’t mind.
This kid of mine must have hit a growth spurt because she has been sleeping 12 hours STRAIGHT at night. The first few nights I woke up around 4 and like a creeper went into her room to make sure she was breathing #paranoid. The other nights I just look at the video monitor to see if she moves.
Kaili has been taking gymnastics at our YMCA, she loves it!!
I took the kids to Fiesta Island for the first time…solo. The trip just reminded me how inconvenient it is to do this shit alone. That is all.
Next week I expect SO much more…oh who am I kidding?
Last week I got to meet Jenny Mollen. “Who?” is what you are thinking…right? She is an actress, author and married to an “American Pie” actor. I have followed her on social media for awhile because she is hilarious and when her book came out I read it in 2 days. So when I saw that she was going to be in San Diego for a book signing I was eager to go. My girlfriend and I went down to meet her and listen to her chat about the book. I had never done anything like that before and although I didn’t need my iPad signed or even feel the need to have a picture with her, it was fun and i would do it again!
Averi is turning 3 months in a few days. It’s been a LONG 3 months. Her favorite thing to do is visit our newest winery.
Kaili is eagerly awaiting Halloween. She has been adamant that she wants to be a Dinosaur.
ROAR!
The Art of Thyming 