Ballet Class

There's this supper cute (and way inexpensive) drop-in 2-3 year old dance class that I just found out about. So this past Wednesday Mallory took her first Ballet lesson! She had fun... I had a blast! Pretty sure that watching a gang of toddlers prance around in tutus is VERY close on the cuteness scale to watching a pack of puppies wrestling... maybe even cuter (if I factor in maternal bias). She did enjoy herself...but really like when they got to skip and hop. When they were supposed to be doing boring stuff like stretching she got up and went over to the bars and started climbing...I think she may be more of a gymnastics sort of gal (before the gets WAY to tall and is kicked of that sport).

Wesley's ONE

 

 I can hardly believe that my little man turned ONE yesterday! It seems impossible that an entire year has gone by since I kissed that sweet, fresh smelling, perfectly round little head. That I looked into those indigo blue eyes, and that I feel madly, deeply and totally in love… again! And yet how is it that it has ONLY been one year… when I feel like he has been part of me for my entire life? Time, love, parenting… it is all so strange… it as if the true physics of time somehow leaves you exempt; and you get it all of time and none of it all at once. It’s crazy.

 

Anyway, Wesley Robert Klein is ONE! He is such a good boy! SUCH a momma’s boy (I’m not totally happy about it… though I LOVE the constant snuggles… it’s really hard for me personally to deals with the needy factor whenever he sees me). Mallory was sooooo independent I would have to practically have to hold her down to get a hug! Wesley on the other hand would spend his day monkey-hugging me and giggling into me neck. He has just started to say a few 2 syllable words…. Banana is Na-nA and Balloon is Baa-ooon. It’s cute. Oh and he now he points outside and in the air and will say ‘bird’… even if nothings there.

He’s motoring along with his walking. He splits his time walking and crawling about 40/60 respectively. He has recently become a little bit of a picky eater… and will spit out anything that anyone tries to give him (he has to do it on his own), and he likes to eat when no one is watching him (over wise, if you’re watching he wants to play and make faces/sounds at you).  He’s still a champ at sleeping. Down at 7:30 pm and up at 7 or 8 am, plus 2 naps during the day. He really, really, really wants to wrestle with Mallory and do all that she does (climb, swing, slide…) it won’t be long before those two are playing chase. He’s just starting to get into books… but he likes turning the pages more than listening to the story. Oh and he still LOVE music and will rock-it-out when it’s on.

He is such a joy. Love that little man more than words can say!

 

Disney

We all know I am not a huge princess person... not by any stretch of the imagination, though I do enjoy Disney, their movies and the occasional visit to their "Land". Yet Mallory loves it all. The animals, the princesses, the villians, the books/toys/stories/crowns...but her all time favorite is The Beast. You got to love her for that! She was actually in tears when her princess panties didn't come with a Beast pair. She is so my child! Any way, I was at Kohl's the other day, and I found this dress for $2.80 (before they took off my 30% coupon)! How could I resist?!?!

New Do

It's fun how a new hair style or bangs can make you feel like a totally new person!

Bay Area Discovery Museum

Before The Plague knocked our family out, we had a wonderful day visiting the Bay Area Discovery Museum. I hadn’t ever been there before (apparently I’ve been living under a rock)… this place is amazing. Both kids had a blast. We didn’t even make it in all the different sections. There’s music, streams, building stuff, arts/crafts, fairytale/dress up,  forts, planes, boats…. It’s like heaven for kids. I can’t wait to go back!



Hack, Hack

For the past 2 1/2 weeks my family has been quarantined in our house as we battled the dreaded flu (or as I like to call it The Plague). It did quite a number on us. The kids started out with just a little cold bug, which after a few days turned into the fever/upper respiratory/cough nastiness. I quickly followed suite but thought it would be fun to add vomiting, diarrhea and a sinus infection into the mix. Poor Matthew was the only healthy one… and he took all of last week off work to run the infirmary. I could hardly leave the bed/bathroom, Mallory bounced back pretty quickly, and poor Wesley kept getting more and more sick and eventually ended up on the correct antibiotic (because he got an ear infection on top of it all) and a nebulizer with Albuteral. We are finally on the mend though… I can eat, I’m slowly getting my sense of smell and taste back and I can walk around without feeling like I’m going to fall over from weakness and best of all nobody is coughing continuously through the night (making it impossible for anyone else to sleep)! Matthew truly was a saint through all of this. I had my doubts at first (I may or may not have said something to the extent of ‘You need to work on your mother skills’… I am going to blame that on the fever). But he really was amazing. Kept us all medicated, hydrated, bathed, breathing, rested, picked up medications/food/tissue… you name it, he did it. Meals, diapers, cleaning. I don’t know how I would have got through it without him. Thank you my love.

So Practical

I was doing my workout this morning and as always Mallory wanted to do some of it with me. We were about 10 seconds into a set of wall squats, when she looked at me said 'mama I'm going to go find a better chair!'

11 Months Old

I have to pinch myself… Wesley, sweet, tiny, baby Wesley is WEEKS away from turning ONE!!!!! How can that be? How is it that my little boy is growing up so quickly? He is 11 months now, and there is no stopping him. Today he took two steps, paused and took four more before plopping over. He thinks it’s wonderful and will clap for himself whenever he is happy or proud of what he has done. He grins like a cheese ball and laughs at his sister all day. He has 5 teeth (the sixth is coming). He is SUCH a momma’s boy it’s not even funny (almost frustrating at times… if he weren’t so cute about it). He has added a few more words… momma, dada, ba (for ball… which he is OBCESSED with), mo (for more), do (for dog) and anything else is still referred to with grunts and reaching. He loves to reach up and grab his ears when things are funny/excited, to bury his face in anything soft (especially our fluffy couch blanket or Mallory’s stuffed animals and cuddle into my chest and suck his thumb when he gets sleepy. Peek-a-boo and ‘find the ball’ are his favorite games, followed very closely by ‘catch’. He (and Mallory) are soooooooo perfect, they are making us doubt if we want more (why mess with perfection)?????

Oh and if you are wondering what happened to his forehead and left eye… he got in a fight with the garage step… it won.

Bries Visit

The wonderful and amazing Scott family blessed Sonoma County with a much anticipated visit! Poor Brie was practically torn to pieces from all of us Brie-starved friends vying for her time. She looks as beautiful as always, and her kids are growing into such sweet, funny, creative little people!!!! Her visits always go way too quickly, then it’s back to counting down the days until we can see them all again… but MAYBE this year I’ll have to go visit her!?!?!?
 

No Pressure

Since Christmas life has been fun, exciting and very full!!!! So I’m sorry about the lack of posts. For the past 5 or 6 months Mallory has had a favorite game that she made up…. It’s called ‘Lets Fix Tigger.’ In this game she is a doctor (along with Dr. Pig and Dr. Lion… which are little finger puppets) and we/they all fix Tigger. Sometimes Tigger is just sick, other times (like today) she says that he was bit by a fox on his leg. The back-stories that she comes up with of why Tigger is in the hospital are always really funny . So, for Christmas mom made her a Doctor coat and gave her a ton of doctor toys (stethoscope, thermometer, bandages, cap, masks, suction device, medicine bottles, reflex hammer, gloves….). Since then you can find her all scrubbed up and going into surgery to ‘Fix Tigger’ every day!!!!! She also LOVES to hear about my work. Every night when I get home, while sitting at the dinner table she’ll put her elbow on the table, rest her chin in her hand and lean towards me and say “Momma, lets talk about your day at work.” she wants to know about every case that I saw, how they got hurt, what test I ran, and how/if I could fix them. Not that I am pressuring her to be a doctor…. But she does have a innate love and interest in it. :)

Humpty Dumpty

Mallory and I were saying poems this morning... I would say a few words and then pause and she would fill in the gaps. She was getting all of them right, but apparently thought Humpty Dumpty needed a rewrite. This is now how it goes;
Me: Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty had a...
Mallory: great opportunity.

10 Months

10 Months old already! Time is zooming by. Wesley is growing like a weed, I think he around 22 pounds but I’m not sure how tall he is (sorry). He is now anything but stagnant! This boy is into any and everything! Don’t even dare think about leaving something within grasping-reach that you don’t want him to play with, because he’ll find it… and try to eat it. He takes a step or two without holding onto things, but he prefers to cruse/walk. If he’s in a hurry though, he’ll drop and crawl like there’s no tomorrow! This boy is FAST! Too fast. Thankfully he is (almost) always close at Mallory’s heels.  He says Daadaa, Momma and Baba-baba (bottle, I think). He has two cute little bottom teeth that he likes to rub on everything. We’ve been working on the sign language thing, but he is not having it! He is a grunter… and boy does he get his point across! He has different grunts/pitches for ‘more’, ‘water’, ‘done’ and ‘Hey, I want whatever it is that my sister is playing with/eating’… its sooooooo funny! He has had two really nice little bruises on his head all within the past 3 days (since when he’s going into ‘supper-speed’ crawl mode, he tucks his head and doesn’t look where he’s going)… BAM! Right into the wall/door/toy box/table /dog … you get the picture. He loves nothing more than having someone get on the floor with him. He’ll laugh hysterically, inches closer to you, than high-tails it in the opposite direction (giggling the entire time). If you don’t crawl-chase him, he’ll turn around and give you the cheekiest grin and then crawl back and rub his face all over you. This boy just kills me! (oh and is you are wondering what happened to the cute foam letters/numbers… a little busy-handed little girl found where I had hid them and has lost most of them… not to mention it would have been virtually impassable to get Wesley to leave them alone.)

B-Day Gal

Yesterday I turned 25 again… for the 7^th time. It was wonderful! I honestly think it was one of my favorite birthdays ever!

Saturday morning Joyce and John came over to watch the kids, while Matthew and I drove to San Francisco for a wonderful overnight stay. It was heaven. We first went to the San Francisco Academy of Science and then bought lunch from a fancy traveling/tuck lunch-place that had killer clam chowder and calamari. Then it was off to the Hotel Griffon. I had found a deal from living social and it was well worth it! This place was awesome! Super fancy and all that I could have hoped for…. robes, chocolate on our pillows and a beautiful view of the bay. We had dinner at a way up-scale place called Butterfly (Thanks again to living social), then we walked down to pier 39, then walked back to our hotel. Being the party animals we are, we are asleep by 10:30!

Sunday morning we didn’t roll out of bed until 8:30 (it’s amazing how long you can stay in bed when there aren’t kids to take care of or work to run off to), and then headed out for brunch followed by a 2 mile walk to and up Coit Tower. What a view. We walked back to the hotel (randomly met up with Carrie for a second) and then headed home. That evening Mom, Dad, Joyce and John all came over for an amazing dinner and dessert that Mom made. It was such a wonderful day(s). Thank you to all, it was perfect!!!!

Thanksgiving

I feel like I have been in a constant state of catch-up.
Here are some of the pictures from Thanksgiving. It was our year to spend it with Matthews family, so we went to Forest Hill for a few nights. It was really nice.... different, but nice. The biggest difference was that we have kids, so it's not just a get together and shoot the breeze sort of time. Its now a try to entertain/feed/care for the kids, make sure they aren't tearing someones house apart, and try and say more then just a passing 'hi' to family that we haven't seen in months sort of a time. Traveling with kids is EXHAUSTING! They are off, I am off (which makes Matthew feel off), NO ONE sleeps and yet the entire time I'm trying to tell myself 'relax, enjoy yourself, you're not at home/work,' which just stresses me out more because i KNOW i need to relax...(I need to remember self-pep-talks don't work for me). Any way, all in all it was a really nice time. Maybe next time we'll just leave the kids at home to fend for themselves so we can gets some adult time.  Just kidding.

Baby Crack

Pretty sure toilet paper is like crack to a baby! I mean seriously! The more they play with it, the more they want it. It all starts with just a innocent little swat of the roll, then before you know it they are crawling down the hallway with the entire roll trailing behind them.  Just say NO to T.P.

 

Remember this one? Mallory was the same age when she started dabbling in T.P. Thankfully she kicked the habit shortly there after. ;)

 

Trifecta

Today was a day of firsts for Wesley.

His first steps! Yep, at 9 1/2 months this boy is ‘walking’! Our life is about to get drastically more insane… just as soon as these two kids start running in opposite directions.

His first fat lip! Matthew as playing with him and Mallory out on the stone patio and Wesley was standing up or trying to walk and instead fell face/lip first into the stone. Brave boy didn't cry for more than 10 seconds.

His first visit with Santa! He was actually pretty cool with Santa. Mallory, on the other hand, all day couldn't stop talking about him, yet the second she saw him she didn't say a word or crack a smile (not even for a candy)!

Ice Cream

 We went out for ice cream the other day. It was some fancy place with CRAZY flavors (rose petal, hay, corn, avocado, chili... and then all the 'normal, boring' ones too). I think Mallory got mint chip, Matthew got Elvis (chocolate/peanut butter/banana) and some chocolate espresso one, and I got Vanilla Chai Tea. They were good! It was Wesley's first Ice Cream experience... I think he loved it! No surprise there! ;)

9 Months

Wesley has now been growing in the outside world, as long as he was growing in my inside world! I can’t believe he’s 9 months old. He is a wonderful little man. Full of joy, laughter, contentment and just the right amount of neediness to keep us from forgetting about him and we chase after Mallory. From the get-go I had pegged him as a laid back, don’t want to rush sort of fellow… I was wrong (so much for mother’s instincts). He wants to play and follow Mallory so badly that there is no holding him back, staying put or tying him down! This past month he has started doing so much… He says Daada, and will have a conversation with you (back and forth) if you ‘aaaaa’ at him. He ‘zips’ around the house doing what I have termed ‘Monster Crawling’ (since he drags himself around with his arms while on his belly like a zombie with missing legs)… most normal people call it an Army Crawl. Anyway, as a result you should check out the shoulder muscles on this boy! Dang! Wesley pulls himself up on everything and has started ‘cruzing’ and just tonight started using the push/walking toy and was taking lots of little unsteady steps forward. He has even started pushing himself up to a standing position from the ground (without holding onto anything) and standing there for 5-10 seconds before toppling over! So despite my hope of having a baby that wanted to remain stagnant, it seems that Mallory is too much of a temptation and he is determined to run after her (sooner rather than later). He’s a total cheese ball, and has grins like a mad-man when we take the camera out…these grins are so big that he practically goes blind in the process. It cracks be up! Oh and he FINALLY has teeth. Two cute little bottom ones. And no shocker here, he still loves, loves, loves to eat! I only am nursing him once a day (in the mornings). It was a joint decision between him and me. As his distractibility went WAY up, my milk went WAY down. I have tons and tons of frozen breast milk though so we don’t have to worry about buying formula ever!  Oh and he is weighing in at a whooping 21.2 pounds! There you have it.

Daada

 

Wesley LOVES his Daddy. I mean he totally and utterly adores him...(but don't take that to mean that he's not a Momma boy, because he totally is). But Matthew walks into the room and Wesley wiggles, giggles and beams. So it's no wonder that today he started saying "Daada, Daada, Daada"!!!!!! I'm not sure if he knows what he's saying, or who he's saying it to, but it's darn cute. And since Mallory said 'Momma' as her first word it's only fitting that Wesley said 'Daada' (besides, you should have seen the glow on Matthews face today!!!!!)

Happy Halloween

Halloween was fun. Wet, but fun.
Mallory wanted to be a Spider (don't ask me why, I still haven't figured that out), and Wesley was a Raccoon. It rained all through trick-or-treating, but it made for great memories. Mallory pretty much 'got' Halloween this year. It was fun to watch. She would stomp up to the door in her purple rain boots and umbrella and say "tick-or treat" to the closed door. "Mallory," we would tell her, "you have to wait until you knock on the door." She she would then knock on the door and immediately say "trick-or-treat." "Mallory, you have to wait until someone opens the door." Then when someone would open the door Mallory would shyly mumble "trick-or-treat." But as soon as she was given candy she would excitedly want to move on to another house (and the entire process was repeated). Good times.