Saturday, March 31, 2012

tantrum


this is the sort of tantrum, or crying spells, that have been common place for the past two years. z gets upset over the tiniest things.

shamrock baby


another tender moment between z & little s.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

weekend.

yesterday was a beautiful day outside. j let me sleep in until i woke up at 8 (after being up with s a couple times). we spent the day getting stuff done around the house while the neighborhood kids played outside. j decided it's time for us to get a rack for our car (to carry luggage & bikes), so after researching what to get, he cleaned out the shelves in the garage to make room for one. i went grocery shopping with s, and j took z to the climbing gym. i made lemon bars (from scratch!) while both kids slept. i used our fancy shiny new cooktop to braise ling cod - it's so wonderful having a burner that can actually simmer! cooking rice & quinoa is going to be a completely different experience. we might even have to try risotto sometime!
last night, s woke up at 11:30pm, 1:30am, 2:30am, and 3:30am, before getting up for the day at 7:30am. NO FUN! she better not do it again tonight! j let me sleep in again, thank goodness. after i woke up, we went for another family run before brunching at meriwether's. z fell asleep on the way home, so we put him down for an early nap. j & s both took naps, too, and i got some editing done on my scale book. when everyone woke up, j went to buy booster seats to replace z's car seat, while z & i & s went to the neighbors' house to play. it was sunny until the early afternoon. some other neighbors from 116th came over for a play date, and both sets of neighbors on either side of our house came over for wine & snacks & to play. z was a little mean to little p... :( but i made him apologize.

Friday, March 23, 2012

family run

z had a really bad night last night, as did j, who got up with him twice. one time z said "he had bad dreams about his trash can." poor thing. s got up twice, too, but j was nice and let me sleep in before my morning students. life is so much easier when you've had enough sleep (although "enough" is used loosely).
z, s, & j went to playdate pdx & met up with our neighbors l & g while i taught this afternoon. z had a really fun time, and s behaved. when they got home, we all went for a family run, thanks to our neighbors - we borrowed their bob stroller. z kept telling daddy to run faster up the hills. z got out for a short bit to run, himself. when we got back from running, all the neighbors were out playing, so we stayed out chatting, with the kids playing, until almost 8pm! i immediately did s's bath & bedtime, so i'm just now enjoying a beer & dinner. nice buzz going on... the weather was absolutely beautiful today, and it was nice to get outside. i anticipate being really sore tomorrow...

Thursday, March 22, 2012


as it happened, z took a good nap this afternoon despite his coughing, and s actually took a real nap lasting two hours!
here is a video from dinner time. we asked z to entertain s and make her laugh, so z did his best to
laugh himself. he got tired after a few seconds - so cute - and then you can hear little s laughing. she loves her big brother!!!

what a day...

as it turned out, s did a good job sleeping last night. the elder, however, did NOT. he began croupy coughing early in the night, which kept waking j & i up. j finally went in and gave him medicine at 5:30am. s got up the 2nd time at 7am, which wasn't so bad.
abuelo & abuela came to visit, so i got a nap. while they were here, a raccoon made an appearance on our house, climbing the gutters by our path down around the house. i'm guessing it's a mama raccoon, who was trying to find a way into our warm house to give birth to her babies. it's time to set the trap again...

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

what a day...

s woke up extra early today, and refused to go back to sleep. then z woke up, and i knew i was up for good. today was gymnastics day for z at 9:30. i have to help him in the class, so i wear s in the mei tai. last week my mom watched s for me while i went with z, because the previous week z fell while i was holding s & she got scratched, and the whole thing shook me up. of course with my luck, last week there was little i needed to do to help z, as the balance beam activities were entirely avoided, so it would've been easy to have s with me. today, the main concentrations were on the long running trampoline & the beams. after going down the trampoline (jumping backwards, jumping in/out, bear crawl, etc), the kids were supposed to jump in the foam pit at the end. we were to count to 10, then have the kids crawl out, before going back for another turn on the trampoline. getting out of the foam pit is one of the hardest things for z, and i had to pull him out with both hands, with s on me, crouching down, about 5 times. the rest of the class was beam stuff. this time, i held onto z instead of making him brave it alone. it ensured that he didn't fall at all, but didn't really help him improve his balance beam skills.
after the class i spoke to the teacher, asking if he could please please please move up to the next level so i didn't have to wear s anymore while helping him out. the teacher said she had been meaning to move him up, and that i just need to wait one more week. thank goodness! not sure we'll be able to do a class that is convenient, but we'll see. i also asked about the spring break camp, as i wasn't sure z is old enough for it, but it turns out he is, so i hope to sign him up for a half day for next friday (although with my luck, he'll get sick and have to stay home).
after gymnastics we had to drive to the violin shop in se portland to pick up bows that had been rehaired. an adult student of mine dropped mine & hers off on saturday, and i was to pick them up for both of us, before her friday lesson. the drive over there is 20-30 min, depending on traffic. thank goodness i packed a pb&j sandwich for z, because he was starving & didn't want his normal string cheese after class. when i got to the shop, they told me THEY WEREN'T FINISHED, and it would take at least an hour to complete both. the one guy said he could do one of the bows in about 30 min, so i asked him to do my student's bow, as i don't absolutely need that bow (i have several) in particular. so off i went from the shop, lugging my violin, s in the car seat, and z back to the car. i drove aimlessly for awhile, not quite sure how to spend 30 min pre-nap with two young kids. if the weather had been balmy, it would've been easy to stop to play at a park. however, it was half raining, half snowing, so that simply wasn't an option. i ended up in sellwood near a starbucks, so i found street parking quickly & got everyone out, diaper bag and violin included. this was lucky, as z started hopping around saying he had to pee. we high-tailed it into the starbucks, myself praying that the bathroom would be unoccupied. z & i both used the potty, and s got a diaper change. i purchased milk & a cake-pop for z, and a chocolate chip cookie & iced coffee for myself, and we camped out in the back corner of the store. s started fussing, so i had to whip out the breast feeding cover & get to work. halfway through feeding her, z dropped more than half his cake pop on the floor. i wasn't sure at first that anything had fallen, but i heard a thunk, and after about 30 seconds, decided i better look under the table. sure enough it was there, so i had my awful mommy moment and just broke off a tiny piece of what i hoped was all that hit the floor, and gave the rest back to him to eat. after more than 30 min, i schlepped everyone back to the car: myself, my violin case, the diaper bag, s in her car seat on my arm, my iced coffee, and z in hand. i was so sore from all the schlepping and wearing s on me for a whole hour, but one doesn't have much choice. i thought i was stuck in my parking spot, as there wasn't much room in the first place, and someone had parked even closer behind me, but luckily the people in front of me were coming out of the coffee shop right after us & left before i had even gotten into the drivers seat. i was very lucky to remember my way back to the violin shop, and schlepped everyone back out again (minus the diaper bag & coffee, thank goodness).
it was my LUCKY day, or the luthiers just felt THAT badly for me - two of them had teamed up & got both bows rehaired, so i wouldn't have to make a second trip back out there. i was sooooo thankful. so thankful. so thankful. so thankful. i HATE driving out there, and even more so with two kids. the rest of the day went as smoothly as it can, with a rambunctious 3 yr old who both wanted & didn't want to nap, and a fussy teething 4 month old. i got to spend a couple of hours this evening with neighbor ladies, and it is snowing out, which is quite pretty. i returned just in time to finish putting s to bed. j had already fed her a 4 oz bottle of formula, but she was fussy & wanted to eat more, so i breast fed her. when she finally burped, she spit up at least a quart of liquid. i don't think i've seen her spit up that much. it wasn't spitting up- it was really throwing up. needless to say, i was drenched, she was drenched, and there was a puddle in the chair. i managed to change her without her really waking up, and then i started the millionth load of laundry this week. she just screamed & cried out loud a minute ago, but i managed to soothe her back to sleep without additional feeding. i have a feeling it's going to be a busy night... for now, off to bed.

Monday, March 19, 2012

z


our little kitty cat...

....daddy????


z is in bed, and i just heard him singing a song from the family library story time - "we sail & we sail & we stop!"
uncle c came over for dinner & helped j get all zombiefied for the climbing joust tonight. z got a little make up, too, while i was teaching. i didn't quite get it all off at bath time... hope nobody notices tomorrow.

baking


busy weekend(s)!
three weekends ago, we were invited to c & r's place for home made lasagna, meaning they made the pasta themselves, and they also made the ricotta! most amazing lasagna we've ever had. z & little s came along, too. it was fun after teaching all afternoon.
the following weekend, j worked at the climbing gym rating routes on friday night, so z, s, & i headed over to the neighbors' for pizza & a movie night. the next day j judged the climbing comp, and that evening we got a babysitter for s & z so we could enjoy the boedeckers' wine futures tasting & soup dinner. we try to go every year, except last year i stayed home because i was pregnant (although nobody knew it then). last sunday z had a birthday party to attend - fun at pump it up!
this past weekend was parents' night out again at pasitos, and z was healthy, so we (+ s) were able to enjoy a great dinner at higgins. we had a wine for the second time (had it first at wildwood on valentine's day) - st. innocent's shea, 2009. a most AMAZING wine! totally smooth, and tasted like grape juice (in a good wine way). they're still selling it, so we hope to visit the winery & buy a bunch.
yesterday morning i met friends r & c for brunch before going for pedi's. i now have pretty toes, although you would never guess it, given the weather - it snowed again this morning! last night i was busy cooking for the week - roasting cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, & beets. i also threw together some black bean chili in the slow cooker and some chocolate chip cookie dough for a friend who has just been diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. very scary. :( her daughter was one of my very first violin students here in portland. she's young and strong, so i know she'll put up a good fight.
this morning was one of the worst. i was trying to bake the cookies, make z's lunch, and get him fed & s fed before dropping him off at pasitos. s had the largest poop that went all up her back. it was at a most inconvenient time (when the cookies needed to be taken out of the oven RIGHT THEN & THERE). ugh. and she's been waking up a ton recently. i don't know if it's a growth spurt, or teething, or if she just wants to wake up & feed... i don't know if we should do sleep training. she has absolutely no nap schedule at the moment. it's pretty frustrating, because it's very hard getting things done during the day with her up all the time.

siblings


cute!

dance


evidently my son has a dessert dance...

hungry.


um.... uh oh...


silly baby! don't eat the plate!

yes, grandma, the baby DOES get fed...

growing up.


yay - our new cooktop!!! it's beeyooteeful!
we also finally got grown up towels. they match. j picked them out.

painting


painting, with a head lamp. mommy's head lamp, actually, to be specific. she uses it for night time running.

st. patrick's day


some things our little leprechaun brought home from school on friday.


he came home with green hair!

siblings


sweet.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

food!!!


i'm about to be fed... i just know it! i love playing with food!

interesting...


sigh. z just being z. what character!

food!!!


s's first pureed food experience!

food!!!


pediatrician recommended that we try food with s. it might help with the reflux, so we decided to start with peas. she doesn't look very excited...

silly fun.


silly fun with our little sweet pea.

vinny kitty


s & vinny on feb 25.

Saturday, March 03, 2012