Ladies Who Lunch

We had lunch with Rachael this week, who I have known ... well, forever....

If you wonder what I mean by that, here we are at my first birthday party (I'm center in white, Rachael is on the far left at only 7 weeks old!):


So, we got together with our kids to have lunch and catch up. Yes, our kids. Miss Chloe Lynn arrived on February 20th, just about 6 weeks after Mia.

Rachael and I grew up together - I spent the night at her house the night my brother was born, she joined my family on summer vacations to Lake Tahoe, and her Grammie took us on a wild train adventure through the redwoods of northern California in elementary school. She was just always part of my childhood... and now part of my adulthood also - she visited me in NYC and we attended each other's weddings and baby showers. I love that we still get together, after all these years and all of the different paths that we've followed in life. There's just something about a friend who has known you for SO long.

Lake Tahoe in the mid-80s - matching shirts and *cool* pocket shorts I have on!

I love that our girls are close in age, and that just maybe someday Mia will say the same things about Chloe that I can say about Rachael. Wouldn't that be fun?!



Oh, and by the way, I can assure you that our drinks of choice during our most recent lunch together were most definitely not Capri Suns (see top photo)!!!

New car photos

Well, following the Jeep post, I was planning to share some pictures of our new car. This isn't exactly what I had in mind:


Yep, someone hit our BRAND NEW car - UGH! I had the kids and we were coming home from visiting a friend for lunch. We were only a couple miles from home, and we stopped at a red light to make a left hand turn ... the car behind us forgot to stop.


As you can see, our car fared better than hers ... but still :( Initially, I thought it was just the bumper, but if you look closely, you can see that the right exhaust system is completely pushed back under the car.


The good news: no one was hurt, the person who hit us has insurance, the car is going to be completely repaired, and the kids are getting brand new, upgraded carseats (under California law insurance companies must replace car seats that are involved in any kind of accident).


The bad news: it's a royal pain in the rear - just lots of time, phone calls, etc., we have a lame rental car for a few weeks (but at least we have a rental ... there's a bright side to everything, I suppose) until the Acadia is repaired, we were hoping to have a large-ish car when James, Kate, Jacqueline, and Frederick come to visit at the end of the month, and it was seriously SO NEW!


Oh well ... maybe some pictures in a few weeks?

3 months old...

...and cuter all the time

Happy Easter!

Cute kids

Grandma and Papa with their grandchild and great-grandchildren:

Four generations:

Daddy and his girl:


Mommy with her little girl:

Happy 1st Easter, sweet Mia!

Easter morning 2010

Here is our morning in photos ...

The Bunny came overnight ... here is what he brought before he hid these goodies around the house:


Mia is the first up and enjoys some quiet time with her balloon from the Easter Bunny


Satya and Luke wake up and start hunting for baskets and treats from the Bunny ... Luke finds a basket full of goodies and a t-ball set!



Mia gets her first pair of sunglasses in her Easter basket


Brunch and the rest of the family arrive - Mia and Grandma hang out inside during the (cold) outdoor egg hunt


The egg hunt is on ... Luke loves looking for eggs, and eventually employs Paw to carry around his basket because it gets too heavy!

Satya picks up the most cleverly hidden egg by scaling the swing set! She is so sweet to Luke and even adds some of her findings to his basket.

Back inside after the hunt, Satya swings Mia to sleep...

...and the dogs are released out back - Luke wishes he could jump in and roll around with them!


Thankfully, Uncle Todd joins in the fun out back and quenches Luke's desire for chaos as everyone, dogs included, have a wild party in Luke's fort

By the time everyone leaves, Mia is asleep, Luke is asleep, and Mommy and Daddy wish they were alseep!

Egg Dying 2010

All the girls came to dye eggs with Luke this year. Day, Great Grandma, Bianca, Mommy, and Satya all took part in the fun!

Tubby Time!

Goodbye old friend

We said goodbye to our Jeep over the weekend. We had been thinking for a while about getting a new car at some point this year - we just felt that eventually (or now) we needed something bigger and that driving a car around that was no longer under warranty was taking some risk. When all of the car companies started offering 0% financing for the month of March, we started to get a bit more serious.

To make a long story shorter, we decided that we would like a GMC Acadia and started looking around for one. The only one that met all of our requirements was in Carson City, which just so happens to be not far from Tahoe. We had plans to be in Tahoe for the last weekend of the month, so we made arrangements to go see it ... and ended up coming home with it.

We traded in the Jeep, but leaving the car dealership when I should have felt overwhelmingly excited and grateful about getting a new car (which I am...), I ended up feeling a bit teary. This is sort of ironic for a few reasons, 1) the Jeep really was Michael's car, 2) I was the one who complained the most about it - the gas mileage, the rough ride in the backseat, and 3) I took charge and really put in the time and research to find the new car. I never knew or realized that I could be attached to a car, but this one I suppose I was.

When I ask myself why I was so sad to see the Jeep go I realize that, in so many ways, it saw us through some very important times in our lives. After we moved to California we only had one car (the Volvo), and my grandparents were overwhelmingly generous enough to gift us their Oldsmobile for Michael to use until we got on our feet. He drove that car for a good while, but always said that wanted a Jeep. In fact, he went so far to tell me after we were married that there was no way that we would be starting a family until he owned a Jeep. We bought the Jeep, the first car that either of us had ever purchased on our own, on October 23, 2006 ... Luke was conceived later that week. I rode to the hospital in labor in the front seat (covered in trash bags and bath towels ... Michael's precautions!) of that Jeep twice ... and we brought both of our precious babies (the most precious cargo a car can ever carry) home in that same car.

So, thank you black Jeep. Thenk you for protecting and safely delivering my family to destinations near and far, through numerous snow storms, countless times. We have so many wonderful memories attached to you.

All about Mia

I have gone far too long since posting about all Mia is doing. As with all newborns/infants, she seriously changes DAILY. Here are some of her recent news:

Sleeping

Mia has been sleeping in her own crib in her own bedroom since she was 8 weeks old (the same time that we moved Luke to his own room). It was an easy transition from the portable swing in our room - we just did it one night, and it worked. No problems. I was a bit worried just because she slept so terribly in the cradle in our room - guess she just didn't care for that bed!

Not too much had changed in terms of how long she would sleep at night and how many times she would wake up until just really recently. For the most part Mia had been waking up about every 4 hours to eat (usually around 4am). However, last week we did have a few good nights of 6 hour stretches, which is wonderful! :) Then there are those (very early) morning when Mia has woken for a 5 or 6am feeding and decided that she would like to start her morning ... ugh! I can say that at least she is really very pleasant first thing in the morning.

Talking

We've been hearing coos and gurgles for several weeks now, but really in the past few days Mia has found her voice. She can squeal and "talk," and just loves doing so. It's really so cute!

Eating

The girl loves her food, and can at times be very impatient about waiting for it! She is a good eater and is happy to nurse or take a bottle. She doesn't often get a bottle, but when she does, she usually drinks about 3.5 oz. at a time.

Mia still spits up all the time. Nothing to worry about since she continues to gain weight - it's just means lots more laundry around here!

Growth

At 11 weeks when I took her in for a check of her eyes, they did a "rough" weight check. With a wet diaper and all her clothes on, she weighed 11lbs, 7oz.

She is just now starting to fit well into certain brands of 0-3 month clothing. She grew out of most of her Carter's newborn clothing around 7 weeks, and has been wearing their 3 month size since. Her feet right now are between a size 0 and size 1.

Other news

In the past two weeks Mia has started to really reach and grab for things. She seems to really like the bird and monkey on the vibrating seat. She is also interested in looking at her hands now. Speaking of hands, she loves to put them in her mouth and will often find her thumb to stick in there!

Mia tried the Bumbo for the first time yesterday and did so well. I never would have thought to put her in it this early (I think Luke was at least a whole month older before we tried - and even then, he didn't love it right away), but she seems so strong and often tries to pull herself into an upright seated position when she is reclined.

She loves bathing. I got her a little mesh seat that goes in the tub so that she and Luke can tubby together, and she loves this even more than bathing in her own little tub. Luke happens to like it too, and it kills two birds with one stone for us ... so, it's a good thing!

She has had some trouble with her eyes - the right one seemed infected and after a round of antibiotic eyedrops, they both seemed infected and worse. I took her back to the Dr. and got a new type of eyedrop that seems to be working now. I think that she was actually allergic to the first round, which explains why as soon as we stopped it, her eyes looked better. Poor girl :(!

Her favorite piece of baby gear continues to be the Ergo carrier. She LOVES being in it.

She loves watching her big brother :)