Summer in San Francisco

Since our extended vacation ended in June when Mark went back to work, we've been trying to distract ourselves with Summer.  Summer here has meant new adventures, big and small.

Movies in 3D:

Berry picking in Woodside

Bowling for the first time

Farmers Markets

Coyote Point Museum

Taking in the planes landing by the Bay

Dressing up

 Eating oranges straight from our tree

Mommy trying to get the nerve to cut her baby's hair

But I never do

Secret hideouts (that are not so secret)

Lunches (and dinners) at Baja Fresh

And visit's to the fire station

Cheers to Summer!

The Brewers!

Jacob finished his second season of t-ball this last May.  His first team was ironically (and appropriately) named the Longhorns.  :)  This past season he was a part of the Brewers.  The team practiced every Monday night and played on Saturday mornings.  Unfortunately, Maddie and I didn't make it to many games because she would INSIST on being on the field with her Daddy and big brother.  Mark was coaching so she couldn't understand why she wasn't out there as well.  It eventually got better, but we missed a great deal in the beginning.

Jacob is really starting to get a hang of catching with his mitt and beginning to understand the rules of the game.  It will be exciting to see how improves over the years! 

We used to bring her plasma car to practices so she could zip around while he played.

Maddie made friends with an older sister of one of the players on the team. Thank goodness for this little girl -- she kept Maddie entertained during practices!

Ah, the dreaded burpie.  I couldn't believe they were making the kids do these for exercise!  I wasn't introduced to the burpie until my first boot camp class years ago.  I still don't love it.

  

Maddie will be playing soon too -- we're certain of it!

Teeth. AGAIN.

You probably won't remember a post I wrote almost 5 years ago about how much time I spend thinking about my child's teeth.  (Woah. Let's pause for a moment and take in the fact that I've been writing this blog for 5 YEARS.  And yet, I am still anxiously pondering the same topics.  That doesn't say much about ME.)  Anyway, Maddie has wonky teeth.  It's my fault.  I take responsibility. 

Well, I will assume partial responsibility...the other half of the blame goes to THIS:

Both of our kids took this "soothie".  This is the pacifier that was given to them in the hospital and I never really tried to give them anything else.  Unfortunately, Maddie was way more attached to her paci than Jacob was.  When Jacob was 2 1/2, he started going to preschool at PSE in Texas and they didn't allow him to have it.  That, my friends, was the end of the story.  When I realized he didn't need it at school, I stopped giving it to him and he never looked back.

Maddie had a dentist appointment back in January and upon examination, the first question out of the dentist's mouth was "How often does she take her pacifier"?  ARGH.  I may have thrown in a little white lie and said "Only during naps and bedtime".  I forgot to mention any time she's in the car, or whenever she was upset, or if I just needed the child to stop talking (the child never. stops. talking.)  She pointed out the big "O" that formed with her teeth and that the top 4 don't even come close to touching the bottom 4.  I had noticed that when she needed to bite into something, she'd have to move the piece of food to the back of her mouth so she could break it in two (poor thing.)  The dentist used some formal dental jargon to diagnose the issue and said, definititively, "she will need braces when she gets older."  ACK!  Just because she's had this paci?!  Jacob, however, apparently has the most perfect teeth on the planet and she couldn't be more pleased.  I quickly pointed out that he took that same paci until he was 2 1/2.  But truth be told, he never wanted it as often as she did.  I knew it was a problem, but her attachment intimidated me and I wasn't ready to fight another battle. The dentist said that I should break her of it by the time she's 3.  That made me elated, actually, given that she had just turned 2!

Mark and I decided that we should try and wean her by 2 1/2, like we did with Jacob.  Since his teeth managed to find "perfection", we hoped hers would too.  Of course, we had LOTS going on at the beginning of the year...and then sabbatical.  Who wants to deal with a cranky toddler being denied her only soothing mechanism?  We procrastinated...but finally decided to pull the trigger after our trip to Disneyland.  Yes, we did need it to survive Mickey's house.

At Mickey's House back in April (the last week she had her paci.)  Notice how her top teeth don't touch her bottom.

Our good friend Millie just had twins and we decided it would be a good idea to have Maddie take all of her pacis to the "new babies that really needed them."  I explained over and over again how she was "such a big girl now" and how "the new babies need pacis!"  She was excited and didn't even hesitate.  We gathered them all up and delivered them to the babies.  I was proud of her for not even blinking an eye at the whole idea.  Then, nap time came, and I wanted to sprint back over to Millie's house to come get them.  Crying, not sleeping, crying, not sleeping...there were days with no naps.  And days it took her over an hour to fall asleep at night.  Days where she shoved her blanket in her mouth, trying to simulate the same soothing effect as the paci.  There really isn't anything more heart breaking than that.  But, we stuck with it and didn't turn back.  After about a month, she finally figured it all out.

And guess what?  Her teeth are starting the take a normal shape.  And she can bite into things now!  That, along with her now pooping in the potty, are 2 major milestones I'm glad we survived.  Take a look at that smile now.

Do you SEE the difference?!  I really can't wait to take her back to the dentist in hopes that whatever problems were caused by that paci have dissipated, and I don't need to waste any more emotional energy on it.

I tell all new moms now that they should expect to stress about teeth.  For at least 10 years.  Cutting them, forming them, brushing them, them falling out, more coming in...it's a neverending battle.  And don't even GET ME STARTED on the wisdom teeth.  That's another post for another time.

Wish us luck at our next dentist appointment!!

Hawaii 2012 - Mahalo Grandma and Grandpa!

It's hard to believe we've already been back from Hawaii for 3 weeks.  How time keeps ticking faster and faster I will never understand.  Our trip to Maui rounded out our sabbatical vacation fun and it was nice to go out with a bang (although facing reality has not been near as much fun).  I know Mark has had it especially hard after spending 2 full months with us and then having to go back to work.  But, we are thankful we had that time at all -- and are counting down the 2,190 days until the next one!  (ACK, that sounds like a LONG time!)

We love the Marriott Ocean Club where we stay every year.  It's staring to feel like "our vacation home".  And the even more fun part of this trip was that Paige, Frank and Tori joined us this year.  We did lots more dinners out this year which just proved that our kiddos are getting older and can tolerate an "adult dinner" every now and then (as long as there is an iPad and iPhone available for entertainment.)

Jacob was swimming all over that pool and spent less and less time near the pirate ship.  I'm already looking forward to the years to come when they can go swimming (real swimming) together!!

Not to downplay some awesome moments that were had on the trip, but I have to say the highlight for me was on the 2nd to last day we were there.  Maddie was in the bathroom and started screaming "Mommy, Daddy!  I went poo poo in the potty!".  If you didn't already know, Maddie has been "potty trained" since January.  But she never did figure out pooping in the potty.  In the beginning, she pooped in her pants every. single. day.  After a couple of months, she figured out how to time her poops with when she had a pull up on, so she'd just wait for that darn pull up an go then.  After a zillion bribes and endless talking about it with Maddie, our pediatrician told me to back off.  So I did.  Fast forward FIVE MONTHS LATER and she's screaming she went poo poo in the potty in Hawaii.  I of course didn't believe her because she's done this before when in fact nothing has materialized.  I go in, look in the toilet, and lo and behold, there is a POOP!  I kid you not, I screamed to Jacob "DID YOU DO THIS?!"  To which he responded "NO!" The girl has not looked back and literally TRIES to produce some poop each time she's on the toilet now.  She is so proud -- as are we -- and thankful that this stage is FINALLY behind us!!  FIVE MONTHS PEOPLE!!

As always, THANK YOU Grandma and Grandpa for letting us tag along for the third year in a row.  I keep saying we don't deserve it, but as long as you invite us, we will be there!

As always, this isn't even a fraction of all of the pictures. Click here to see the full album of our Hawaii trip!

They are so cute when they show each other love

Daddy showed Jacob this trick and he LOVED it

So of course Maddie had to give it a shot

This was taken right after a rogue wave hit us while we were waiting to get on the boat to go parasailing.  Seriously, nobody saw this wave coming.  All of a sudden we all just got nailed.  Including my fully clothed mom.  Dad was trying to make sure she didn't fall down!

Maddie wasn't crazy about the whole parasailing adventure.  I guess when you watch your parents fly away, it can be a little disconcerting.

 

In Lahaina, there is a "bird man".  He has lots of parrots that he puts all over you and then takes pictures.  This man must make a fortune.  We decided to do it as a family and by the time he had us all arranged with parrots, we had a crowd of 20 people watching us!  Jacob was awesome and stood still the whole time with a smile glued to his face.  Maddie was a little more timid and while she held the bird, she refused to crack a smile.  In my head I know she was thinking "what the HELL are these people making me DO THIS FOR?!"

These brave souls went first.  I love that my Dad asked my Mom if she would do it and she said "No WAY" but then when Tori said "Come on, Grandma, do it with us", my Mom jumped up to pose.

Please take a moment to look at the parrot on my Dad's shoulder.  He was EATING his EYEBROW.  Dad, your expression is priceless!

 


This was the first pose we tried but Maddie wouldn't smile to save her life.  So the bird man switched things up a bit.

He thought if Mark held her, it would help. No such luck. 


















This particular parrot will give you kisses.  If you look closely, Jacob was going for tongue!

She will be swimming in no time!

Maddie won't let me do ANYthing to her hair except put a bow on the side.  I begged her to let Tori braid her hair.  Look how beautiful it came out!  Too bad she pulled that sucker out after 2 minutes.

Hunting for pirate treasure!

Feeding the pink flamingos is also a highlight

Can't wait until 2013!