Sisters

Tali loves Rosa absolutely to pieces.  She always wants to hold her, help change her diapers, help make her bottles, help feed her, and so on.  Today, she asked to feed her a bottle and I quickly took this photo.  It pretty much sums up their relationship at this point, although Rosie is usually much more wiggly.  She was very calm for a few minutes with Tali, which was sweet.

Tali and Rosa and I spent the morning together today while Mateo was at preschool.  It was just like old times, when Tali and I used to have every Tuesday and Thursday morning together, with the addition of Rosa to the mix.  Natalia stayed home from preschool because we had one last new preschool to look at for next year.  We just heard about it - it's a new Spanish immersion school less than half a mile from our house.  We went and took a tour and it seemed pretty good, although Tali went into hardcore shy mode the minute we walked in. 

We are really hoping that she gets into the first school we looked at, because she really opened up at that one.  Today's school would be a good second choice, as it has everything else we're looking for, and they have openings for next year.  It's good to have options!

We spent the rest of the day with my mom, who is in town for a few days.  We're looking forward to seeing her tomorrow, too!  Then, we are headed up to see Sacha's parents this weekend and will be celebrating Sacha's dad's 65th with them.  We're also excited to see Sacha's uncles and aunts, who are flying in for the occasion! 

Speaking of Sacha, she posed for a cute photo yesterday after Rosie took a rare nap in her lap.  It's a good snapshot of what life is like for her after she gets home from work - kids snuggling her everywhere!

Rosa's ten-month letter

Dear Rosie,
We're writing this to you as Rosie because that is what we nearly exclusively call you these days.  I'm sure you'll prefer Rosa at some point, but we'll get there when we get there.  Happy ten months!  As usual, time seems to be speeding up and the last month has sped by.  That is especially true since you've been sleeping so well, which I will get to in a bit.  Here are some of the things you've been up to in the last month:

You are doing all sorts of new things.  First, you have learned to pull up to standing, after about a month of practicing.  It's really cool to see you try to do something over and over and finally put all the pieces together and then do it consistently.  Once you are standing, you can cruise if you reallllly want something, but mostly you are content to stay in a standing position.  From there, you can grab all sorts of things, or just admire where you are.

You learned to say your first meaningful sounds during the last month, which come out sounding like "buh! buh!" You know that we always wave goodbye from the window in the front room, and so whenever we go near it, you will start waving and saying bye bye.  You also will do this upon being asked, unless, of course, there is someone else there, in which case you will most definitely not do it!  Watching you say bye bye is just about the cutest thing ever, so we ask you to do it all the time.  You are probably very confused about when it is socially appropriate to say goodbye by this point!

You have continued to show off your fine motor control by painstakingly vacuuming our house with your fingers.  You find any and all small objects and immediately put them into your mouth.  Despite our best efforts to keep things off the floors, your siblings are at the age where small things will naturally end up there, and so we have retrieved all manner of objects from your little grasp and mouth.  We call you our human vacuum cleaner, and you have consumed more mystery objects than we would care to admit!

Rosie, your sweet and mellow disposition has not changed in the last month.  You are generally happy unless you are tired or hungry, and even then, your fussiness is quite mild.  You are a pleasure to be around!  You have all of us wrapped around your little finger.

Things in the arenas of sleep and eating are going well.  You continue to eat an astonishing amount of food (at least, compared to your brother and sister before you) and to accept new tastes and textures with equanimity.  During a day, usually, you have a big bowl of baby cereal and fruit, two large helpings of whole milk yogurt, Cheerios, a couple of bottles, some kind of baby dinner with protein and veggies, and random other snacks throughout the day, along with Mommy's milk whenever she is home.  You are a growing girl!

Sleep is going very, very well.  We are all doing wonderfully well since you moved out of our room at night!  You are in your own room just down the hall from Mama and Mommy.  You go down about 6:30 or 7 pm and wake up around 5 am to nurse.  You then usually go back to sleep until between 6:30 and 7:30 am, when you get up for the day.  Of course, you make us pay for this by napping hardly at all during the day, and I do mean hardly at all. 

Most days, you spend about half an hour napping, total.  You take a quickie 15-minute nap in the morning and another one in mid-afternoon.  Every so often, you fall asleep in the car and snooze for an hour after I park in the garage, but that's not common.  You are generally wide awake during the day and fast asleep at night.  Luckily, you have such a sweet disposition that you are a pleasure to be around allll day long.  We are ever so grateful that you sleep so well at night.

Rosie, we love you with our whole hearts, all of us.  You are so loved.  We love you so much that our hearts burst with it sometimes.  We look forward to what your next month will bring!

love,
Mama and Mommy

Sibs

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bye bye

Rosie has a new skill! I wouldn't say she has said her first word yet, but she is trying.

We wave bye bye to Sacha every morning from the front window. Yesterday, at some friends' house, she crawled up to their front window and started waving and going "buh! buh!". She did it again this morning and repeated it again for me this afternoon. I am ridiculously proud of her!

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Home

Yarn is back!!  We searched for her high and low today and finally had to admit defeat.  We figured we would search again tomorrow.  Then, we went out to some friends' house for dinner and, upon driving into our driveway when we got home, we saw her sitting on the front stoop.  She appeared to be waiting for us.  Sacha got out of the car, scooped her up, and we had our cat back!  She must have had quite an adventure out there.  We're so relieved to have her back!

What's cookin'

The second week of our cooking project was a big success.  I tried two different recipes this week:  one a quinoa salad with chicken, avocados, and oranges, among other things, and one a meal of chicken skewers with a burn-your-mouth-off salsa of Meyer lemons, cucumbers, and one flaming hot serrano pepper.  Note to self:  next time taste it before adding the whole pepper to the salsa.  WOW.  Hot.  I tend to think even milder things are hot, but even Sacha thought this one was extraordinarily spicy.  Luckily, some judicious picking out of the pepper pieces led to a somewhat less flaming salsa that tasted delicious when paired with the chicken. 

I'm excited to continue our experiment into next week.  I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't too hard to cook more involved recipes with the kids around.  They even helped with some of the cutting up of easier things, like the pieces of orange.  I already can't wait for next week and the dishes we have coming up. 

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In other news, I think Rosa is starting to say the very beginnings of words.  For some time, she has been saying "Ba-ba" when asked to say "Mama."  She doesn't always do it, but she does do it enough of the time to make it seem like more than a coincidence.  Just today, I noticed her saying "dat!" several times and appearing to refer to an object near her.  And, she has been clapping and waving a lot, and signing "milk" when she is nursing.  She will also make her little hungry noise when asked if she wants milk.  She is clearly processing a lot in her little brain! 

Rosa is also in the middle of a growth spurt.  She has been eating a lot, and that is saying something for her!  She always eats a lot, but she has been downing extra much lately.  I have been taking her in to eat lunch with Sacha most weeks on one of our preschool days, and one of her colleagues commented that Rosa looked noticeably bigger than she had the week before.  She seems like a gigantic baby to me, although I'm sure she's not exactly high on the charts.  At least, she is bigger than she was!  If I ever manage to make the appointment for her nine-month check-up, we will see how big she is!

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Finally, in possibly unhappy news, Yarn is missing.  I realized today that I hadn't seen her in at least a couple of days, and when I went on a search, I couldn't find her.  I discreetly told Sacha when she got home and she did a very thorough search and found nothing.  Her litter box hasn't changed for a couple of days, which I know because I have been putting off cleaning it and suddenly realized today that it hadn't gotten any more full, and her food and water haven't gone down, either.  We don't know if she just suddenly died and we'll find her somewhere in the house, or if she somehow got out and is roaming around outside somewhere.  Unfortunately, the last few days have been really stormy and probably not to pleasant to be out in.  In any case, we hope she turns up soon, but things aren't looking too good.  Will update if we find out anything...

iPhone photos for the week

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Firsts

We have had some firsts in the past few days.  First of all, we got our first new roof!  The old roof on our new home was so old and in such bad shape that we couldn't get it insured.  This caused us quite a bit of worry, especially since we had to go through a lengthy application process to our homeowners association before we could get started on the new one.  Thankfully, the waiting period coincided nicely with a long dry spell in the weather, and our application finally got approved last week.  As it turned out, our roofers had an opening in their schedule, so they tore off the old roof and put on the new one this past Friday and Saturday.  It was just in the nick of time, too, because it started to snow on Sunday!  Whew.  We are very relieved to have the new roof in place.  It also looks much better than the old one, which is a nice perk, too.

Another first was Tali's first solo trip with me to California.  We spent lots of quality time with my parents and I even got to go to a basketball game with my dad.  The trip just happened to coincide with a baby shower for some old friends, which was a treat to attend.  Photos to follow in a separate post.

We got home just in time for the first snowfall in our new home!  It has been snowing on and off for the past several days and Sacha had her first delayed open of the year today, so we got her home with us for the early morning today.  Normally, she's out of the house by 6:45 am, so having her home until 9 am was quite a luxury.

Rosie has had a couple of firsts in the last couple of days:  she had her first playdate and her first steps holding onto a pushcart!  The two coincided, as we went out to a playpark for the playdate and that's where she took her first assisted steps.  We met her little friend at my favorite coffee shop in our old neighborhood.  I go there with Rosie just about every Tues and Thurs morning after preschool dropoff, and we have gotten to know a dad and his one-year-old who tend to go at the same time.  At some point, we talked about getting together outside of the coffee shop and yesterday was the big day.  It was so cute to see Rosie "playing" with another baby.  We know hardly any babies her age!  She seemed to have fun :)

Finally, Sacha and I had two firsts yesterday:  we each got our first iPhones!  Needless to say, we are both a little bit obsessed with them.  We have finally joined the digital age!  I'm going to explore posting with my phone and am also excited to have it with me when I'm out and about.  

Sugar, sugar, sugar

All I want to talk about today is Sugar!

Why? Because I appear to be eating way too much of it these days!

I went to a new chiropractor yesterday to get some help with my ribs, and she started talking with me about what I had eaten that day. It was a ton of sugar! A cookie, a brownie, some ice cream, a hot chocolate. Anyway, it was a bit more than normal, but I find that sometimes when I start eating sugar, all I want is more, more, more.

After quite a nice talk, she let me know that the only way she avoids massive sugar is by actually not keeping it in the house. So, last night, Alayna and I moved all of the ice cream out into the garage, as well as the frozen cookies, brownies and cookie dough. We shall see if moving them into the cold garage will decrease the consumption of the stuff.

We shall see how it goes. Wish me luck banishing the sugar from the daily routine!

Puppies

The kids just finished their first week of classes at the rec center.  In addition to Tali being in the preschool gymnastics class, which I wrote about a few days ago, Mateo is taking boys' gymnastics and a soccer class.  Sacha took him to his gymnastics class last night and reported that he had a great time.  He did all sorts of things on different pieces of equipment and had a lot of fun. 

He even parlayed a potentially bad situation into a good one:  a boy made fun of his name and called him Mr. Potato-head, and instead of getting angry, Mateo replied, "No, I'm not, I'm an orange-head!" and they both laughed hysterically.  He later reported that he and the boy were now friends. 

I won't pretend to understand the inner workings of five-year-olds, but both Sacha and I were pleasantly surprised to see how well he handled himself.  We could probably take a lesson from him, because both his parents and his Apa were ready to track down the kid's parents and give them a piece of our minds!  Ok, not really, but it doesn't take much for the protective instincts to come out. 

Anyway, today was Mateo's first soccer class.  He has been out-of-his-mind excited about this since we signed him up.  We took advantage of the beautiful day today and walked/rode our balance bikes down to the rec center.  (We gave up having many things within walking distance when we moved here, but having the rec center right down the street is really awesome.) 

The class reminded me, more than anything, of a group of puppies tumbling all over each other.  It was so, so cute.  They just ran this way and that, intermittently listening to the teacher, and soccer balls flew every which way.  It's a four- to six-year old class, so Mateo is on the older end of the spectrum.  This seems to be a sweet spot for him, or maybe he's just developing more confidence, because he has been in several groups lately where he has been on the older end of things and has participated in everything, be it new or not.  I hope this bodes well for him in terms of school, because he's going to be among the oldest in his class all the way through. 

It was wonderful to see him out there trying things out and having fun with kids he had just met.  It has been a good week for our family, as Tali has had several episodes of engaging in previously scary things, as well. She actually had a conversation with a teacher at preschool today - a big first for her!   Now, if we could just calm down the sibling rivalry at home, everything would be perfect :)

Tali and I head to California for our special Mama-Natalia weekend with my parents.  Meanwhile, Sacha and Mateo and Rosa are going to have special time here on the home front.  Happy long weekend!

Miscellany

We've enrolled the kids in some classes at the rec center that is walking distance from our house.  Tali just had her first gymnastics class on Monday and it went very, very well.  Sacha dropped her off and mentioned to the teacher that Tali can be slow to warm up, but it didn't turn out to be an issue.  When the kids and I picked her up, the teacher said she had jumped right in and participated in all the different activities that the class did.  This is huge for her!  I was so proud of her, and told her so.  She's struggled to come out of her shell at preschool and at the tumbling class she and Mateo took together in the fall, so this was a big, big step.   Here she is right before they left for class:

I love her.

Speaking of Tali, the reason Sacha was home to take her to gymnastics was that she and Tali toured a potential preschool on Monday morning.  We decided it made more sense for Sacha to go on the tour, since she's a teacher and all.  That went really well, too, and Sacha actually got a chance to talk to the teacher while Natalia...wait for it...actually played with the other kids!  It was a big day for her! 

Sacha really liked the school, which is the Waldorf-inspired one.  We're not so into the whole Waldorf thing on an academic level, but we think it would be find and good for preschool.  This school has a big nature component and they do a lot of play-based learning.  Most importantly, it's small and cozy and our daughter apparently felt comfortable there right off the bat.  Needless to say, we sent in the application ASAP and are hoping they'll have an opening for us.  It's also a parent co-op, which would be more work in some ways, but we hope it would also lead to us making some friends in this area.

We're also on the wait list for another preschool that's right down the street, which is also a co-op, and we have some other options that we're exploring, so we'll see what happens.

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In other news, I had something of an epiphany yesterday while I was waiting at the chiropractor's office.  I was there to have one last session for my tailbone, which she pronounced to be in good health and went on to say that I am all better.  Wahoo!

Back to my epiphany, I was reading Bon Appetit and getting hungry just reading all the delicious-sounding recipes, and I realized that we hadn't cooked something new in ages.  In fact, although we eat at home every night except for on date night, we have our same few recipes that we do over and over.  Most of them are very basic.  Add to that that we were inspired a few years back by some friends who had a theme for every year (like adventure, for example) and they would do things throughout the year that related to that theme.  We've done a couple of casual themes in past years, including a year of trying new things that mostly ended up with us trying new restaurants for date night! 

So, as I was drooling over the recipes in the magazine, I suddenly realized that this year should be our year of cooking.  I decided that we should subscribe to a cooking magazine and every week, we should try out a new recipe that actually takes some effort to put together.  I proposed this to Sacha and she thought it sounded good, too.  We make a good team, because I have time to do the bulk of the cooking during the day and she can come in and do the seasoning and fine-tuning at the end. 

I got so excited that I went out and bought that issue of Bon Appetit and tonight, we had our first meal.  It was a posole soup with shredded pork, hominy and beans, topped with cilantro, lime juice and cheese.  The verdict?  A huge YUM from the adults in the room!  The kids were a little less enthusiastic, but they were happy with the crusty rolls that we served along with the soup.

I was a little intimidated by the recipe at first, but I soon realized that I could do the pork in the slow cooker instead of roasting it in the oven for hours and hours.  I put it in early this morning and it had just finished by the time I got the kids home from preschool.  Then, they played so nicely this afternoon that I was able to cook the rest of the soup and get it simmering before everyone's attention spans ran out.  I did have to wrangle the baby, who was extra wiggly today, but it all worked out.  We even had time to make some cookies and play with food coloring afterwards!

I'm so happy to have delicious soup to enjoy this week (it made a ton) and to have a fun new hobby for this year!   

Photos from Apa

First of all, we'd like to wish Apa a very happy birthday!  He came over tonight and cooked us dinner to celebrate; we are very lucky!  He also took some photos of the kids with his iPhone and was kind enough to send them to me.  Here they are.

Inside

We had a longish day today with no plans.  We broke up the day with a visit to the children's museum, but spent most of our time just hanging around the house.  This always sounds a lot more relaxing than it actually is!  I have found that I have the most fun with the kids when we are out and doing something, but the kids themselves prefer to be at home if they get to choose.  Luckily, it's usually just a matter of coaxing them out the door and then they have a great time wherever we go. 

Late in the afternoon, we were running out of things to do and Mateo asked if we could open up the present we got from Galen and Megan for Christmas.  It is a set of games to be played outside in the yard, including a beanbag toss and other games that involve throwing things.  Not to be dissuaded by the drizzly day, we decided to try it out inside!  We opened up the set, got the various games set up, and the kids played with them on and off until it was time to get ready for bed.  Our living/dining room is so huge that we had plenty of room to set things up and do the tossing and such.  What a great present! 

Here are a couple of photos from the afternoon.  You can see the remnants of face paint on the kids' faces from our children's museum excursion.  The photo of Rosie is completely blurry but I'm including it anyway. 

 

Seeking

I am going to write about our preschool hunt for Natalia, but I just finished putting Rosa to bed and I want to talk about that, first. 

I usually put Rosie to bed and sometimes it can be a struggle, as she doesn't nap much during the day and is often over-tired by the time we hit bedtime.  Sometimes, however, we hit the sweet spot and she drifts off to sleep in my arms as she drinks her bottle.  Tonight was one of those nights. 

Whenever she snuggles up with me and falls asleep, I fall even more in love with her and am just so grateful that we have her in our lives.  We were so close to not having a third child and the fact that it actually worked out and that #3 is our Rosie is just about too good to be true. 

Sure, staying home with the three of them can be overwhelming sometimes, and keeping the house clean is just about impossible these days, but, overall, things are really great.  I still can't believe how lucky we are. 

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On a more logistical note, we are searching for a preschool for Tali for next year.  We hit the jackpot with their current school, as we got in when it was just opening for its first year and it still had spaces when we found out about it.  We didn't have to get on a waitlist or apply to a bunch of different schools or any of that stuff.  We just happened to find the exact scenario we were looking for on the first try and that was that.

Now that we have moved, however, we need to find a new school for Tali for next year.  Not only are we too far away from their current school, but we're not sure it's the best fit for her in the first place.  She has been very reluctant to participate in anything but individual projects there.  She doesn't want to talk or play with the other kids, she just wants to hang back and observe.  The school is also very busy, with three groups of ten kids all in the same big space, so there's a lot going on.  I think it's overwhelming for her. 

So, going forward, we're looking for a place that is either smaller or at least feels smaller.  I'm not stressing about it, just hoping we get into a place that's a good fit.  We're looking at several different programs, ranging from a Waldorf-inspired, nature focused school to the preschool at the local rec center to the preschool at the local children's museum.  The programs also vary from two mornings a week to five mornings a week.  We're thinking we'll just apply to everywhere we like and then make decisions if she gets into more than one place. 

I'm actually excited that we get to be intentional about this and find a place that really suits Tali.  It seems like a good chance to set her up well for kindergarten, which I can hardly believe is in only two years.  It's really true that they grow up so fast! 

Geese

The kids and I went to the park today and saw something cool.  We were at the park nearest our house, which is also known as Duck Park, due to the ducks and duck pond that take up most of the park.  There is also a big soccer field there, and today it was occupied by a HUGE flock of geese.  They were all honking at each other when we arrived. 

Shortly after we got there, something must have gotten their attention, because they all took off at the same time!  There were so many of them that the sound of all their wings flapping at once sounded like someone had just started up an engine.  Then they all rose up together and flew over our heads and circled around the park before landing again, all together.  It was extremely cool and jaw-dropping for grown-ups and kids alike.  It actually happened several more times before we left. 

I had to wonder what got the geese to all take off together in the first place, because there weren't any obvious threats or loud noises or anything.  Whatever the reason, it was fun and memorable to see.  We had a really nice time at the park overall, especially because the weather was so nice.  It was cloudy, but practically balmy and only the tiniest bit rainy, so we stayed and played until Rosa finally ran out of steam.  I think she finally just got bored by hanging out in the Ergo!  If she didn't put every single object in sight into her mouth, I would have just let her down to play, but I didn't have it in me to prevent her from eating all the bark chips, rocks, and pieces of grass at the park.  She was a companionable rider in the Ergo, though, and lasted an hour and a half before finally getting fussy! 

And that is the story of our trip to the park.   I want to make sure to remember spontaneous outings like this one, because pretty soon Mateo will be in kindergarten and our days will be a lot different.  I had such a nice time with the kids today and it made me remember that this stay-at-home mom thing is a pretty sweet gig :)

First time in the snow

Seriously, is she not just about the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Rosa's nine-month letter

Dear Rosa,
Somehow, you went and changed your age again!  You have now been nine months old for a week, so your letter is a little bit overdue.  Here's what you are up to at nine months:

You are now crawling up on your hands and knees instead of army crawling on your belly.  You occasionally slip back into the army crawl, but not too often.  You seem to enjoy trying out your new crawl and find that it gives you a good platform to reach up and grab things. 

You are all about grabbing things.  We have fished more things out of your mouth than we can even count.  We call you our human vacuum cleaner!  You have managed to stuff all sorts of things in there, including a marble that I retrieved today.  With your older brother and sister running around, there are constantly things on the floor, despite our best efforts to pick them all up, and you spend much of your time nabbing stray objects and trying to stuff them into your mouth.  This gives your Mommy and Mama the job of watching you like hawks at all times!  As anyone who has spent any time with you can attest, you are relentless in your pursuit of small objects. 

When you're not on the lookout for the next mouth object, you are usually being carried around by a parent or being affectionately hauled around by your siblings.  You very patiently submit to being held by your older sister and you laugh on cue when your older brother does something funny.  They both adore you and let you know that in their own ways.  It's a good thing you are so mellow!

In terms of sleep, your nighttimes have taken a turn for the better in the last few nights.  Mommy and Mama finally moved you out of our room and into your own room.  This has translated into you sleeping through the night for several nights in a row, which is new for you.  You had been waking up when we went to bed and spending the rest of the night in our bed, nursing sporadically, so this is a big change for the better.  We hope this is just the beginning of a long time of sleeping through the night!

Let's see, what other developmental things have you done?  Well, you have mastered the pincer grasp, as I alluded to earlier.  You can pass things from hand to hand.  And, you recently learned to clap and to wave, although you do both things only sometimes at this point.  You are also this close to pulling yourself up to standing.  You have done it a few times, but it still eludes you for the most part.  You also respond to your name and babble a blue streak.

Finally, I will just say that you have continued your love affair with food into this month.  You will eat pretty much anything we shovel into your mouth.  It's a little bit hard to tell when you are full, because you just love to eat so much.  Your I'm-full cues include biting down on the spoon and gagging, so that's what we watch out for.  It's a lot of fun to feed you and see you enjoying it so much.

We love you all day, every day, to the moon and stars and back again.  We love you just the way you are and we celebrate all the things you're learning how to do.  We can't wait to see what the next month will bring!

love,
Mama and Mommy

PS:  Photos are coming, I promise!