"ooohh---awwww!"

that is how story pronounces "rudolf" when he is frantically trying to find him, wants him, sees him...i think this little deer could become story's "goggin" (a little white tiger sea attached herself to when she was about his age)...so all my photos (excessive, i know) are actually of sea, the big sister, holding "ooh-ah" shortly after acquiring him...
last sunday we went to a swap meet near our house...only a few bucks to walk around on a rather sunny san diego day together as a family thinking about random things we might need in our life...we actually found quite a few things...i got two sweatshirts for $5 each, several old-school seventies bowls with like bright lime green flowers on them, etc. that match our old school home, i even got a percolator for just one more way to make coffee...any advice would be appreciated...i LOVE my french press and thought it would be a similar concept but i made the grounds too coarse and the coffee was too weak...i'm getting off track here...my point was just that we spent all the money we brought and didn't intend to spend and on the way out story saw "ooh-ah" and pointed frantically and we had to say "i'm sorry, we don't have even a dollar left..." but once they started playing "rudolf the red-nosed reindeer" and saw our children light up, sing along AND dance right there they handed it over for free...i should have made a note of who they were and if they were there regularly to support them more...i apologize for all the photos that follow but i can visualize both children singing along with every different angle and view of "ooh-ah" so really this post is about holding on to that memory for me...some cute photos, too...









i'm sorry i haven't been as active on here as i'd like to be...we are in the process of researching kindergartens for sea and my head has been spinning...i'm also on the planning committee for my 20-year high school reunion which has gotten me thinking about my own childhood (i went to the same school for 12 years) and what i want to re-create and avoid with my children...i intended to a do a long free association post on the topic and it was just too much and i felt too drained so i posted these photos instead to remind myself of the more important parts of parenting...my children and the little moments with them...

farewell glider

i have trouble letting go of things...this dutrailier glider has been in our lives since just before story was born...sea was so colicky and fussy, up all hours of the night that i SWORE i would have a rocker/glider for our second child...of course story slept through the night early and my ideals of rocking the two together (nursing story while reading to sea for example) were quickly shattered by the reality of sea's spirited ever-moving nature...by the time she was old enough to settle down and let me read to her, story was over being held for long and wanted to wiggle away himself...so i've held on to this rocker imagining "what if" we have another child..."what if" sea and story are eventually in the same place attention-wise to have me read to them simultaneously..."what if" visitors really need to use a rocker...ok you get the point...but i have several really cute photos of our times in this rocker the past two years i thought i would post here before we sell it...(i'm hoping to pass it on to a mom i know or at least a friend of a friend so it won't be far away)...hope this next photo isn't too "in your face"...i have never been too shy about breast feeding in public so i don't figure there is more showing here than i would show in a public place...
daddy falling asleep with story asleep in his arms...sea probably telling me she needs to go potty...
daddy holding "two ones"...
me in the early days where sleep was hard to come by for all of us...you can see it is easy to crash in this chair/ottoman...
close up...
daddy giving sea a few tickles...
sea and story very serious about posing together...
a good view just of the chair if you are checking out this blog to buy it!
and finally, story using the ottoman to pull up (yes it locks!)...

taking my own parenting advice

i've never had as much anxiety in my life as i've had being a parent (ok, maybe when i was pregnant, worried about being a parent...)...especially having the privilege and responsibility associated with being a stay-at-home mom...i've gone through periods of wishing i could do more for my children and then, on days when we are rushing to get out the door to some new adventure and my daughter says "mommy? can we just stay home today?" realizing i'm probably trying to do too much...or less is more...i definitely believe that in so many areas...i just need to listen and act on that belief...
there was a long period before i became a part of the co-op preschool that i was really stressing about where to send sea for preschool...i wanted her in montessori or waldorf and couldn't afford either without going back to work...at which point my husband reminded me how lucky i am that i not only don't have to work but more importantly GET to stay home with the children for these few years before they are off and running in their own lives more and more outside of ours...i feel like our children have become so much closer to one another getting to spend every hour together, entertain themselves, entertain me, make friends, go on walks, help me cook, play in the garden, playhouse, blocks, puzzles, art, oh wait...this sounds like a lot of what i was hoping for in those preschools only WITH ME...i really can lose sight of my highest priorities sometimes...
the next few photos are mostly of sea so i wanted to throw a couple in of manuel and story from last night after his bath...he loves making a loud elephant noise whenever he sees one or wears this towel...
so this next series is from today...a simple day...woke up a little early around 7:30 but not too sluggish and fighting a few more winks (rare for me, not a morning person!)...made manuel coffee (iced with cocoa and milk), lunch (beans, rice and green beans...he is a much simpler eater than me) and wrapped up a couple pancakes i had made yesterday with sea...then i put our itunes "classical" music on random and tried to figure out our day...sea didn't wait for me...she grabbed paper out of the printer and started drawing...
these are two fairy cats...much more elaborate than her original drawings of fairy cats...there is even a flower on one's dress...i think that is the first time she has decorated their clothes...
next she drew a "furry" cat...with a hat...
and then she was pointing to a "male bird" and just as i was wondering why she didn't call it a boy bird, she pointed out how the bird was delivering mail to the other birds...
she looked up to show off her work...
next she drew the big bad wolf (with cute hat) "blowing wind" on the little pigs...
i decided we should get out of the house and get some sun and stretching on a walk since another storm was coming in and we would be indoors for the next 3 days or so...here is sea showing me some stretches i should try...
she stopped to climb our tree...and pick a leaf...
ran off ahead of me (the reason i usually entice her in the double stroller with some sort of sweet treat)...
i don't know if you can see that rain cloud with rain drops coming out of it on the back of her sweater but i thought it would be a cool shot to get a close-up of that with her looking over her shoulder and then actual rain cloud and drops in the distance...i only got her really but that is enough...

i just realized i got to the end of this post and never wrote what my "own parenting advice" was...what i was going to write about before i got distracted by all these photos was that i've been hosting a lot of baby showers since having children and inevitably i am either asked for advice or solicit advice from those attending the shower as interesting reading for the pregnant mom...usually my advice in situations like that is something like this:

"1) relax and enjoy every stage...they go too fast and i wish i hadn't spent so much time worrying about what to do differently, looking forward to the future, regretting the past...just BE in every moment...

2) take lots of photos but again, "be" in the moment and miss a few shots

3) don't listen to too much advice...i read a lot of parenting books, asked way too many questions but the best thing for me was when my pediatrician said "i can tell that you parent with your heart"...only you know what is best for you and your child and this may change with the circumstances so just believe in yourself and your intuition/heart/gut feeling..."

so i'll leave you with sea looking back but here's to hoping we can live more in the present...

mousy ears and helping haiti

one last disneyland shot...story put on his mickey mouse ears today...i really want to update this blog every couple days and i feel SO behind i'm not sure where to start...i think i should begin in the present and only allow myself to work backwards if i have time...otherwise i'm always behind...i feel like i spend more time thinking about what to write, analyzing, reading other blogs, making lists of what to write about, etc. and then the free time never comes...i've felt badly about haiti and self-absorbed...posting about disneyland! ha! while so many people are dead and just trying to survive...here are a few bloggers who said it better than i have made the time or effort to do so:

philosophical... heather of the extraordinary ordinary or ways to help on her blog here

elizabeth esther or you can help directly through her blog here

meg at penny carnival's suggestion to buy from a handmade community craft hope...

emily at wide open spaces or you can also help here on her blog...

or just practical advice like being prepared for emergencies ourselves, thanks julie prichard...

i'm enjoying reading others' and now it is late and everyone here is under the weather...plus our weather is cold and rainy with more of the same for the rest of the week...more later...

disneyland part 1

i feel badly posting on disneyland with all the tragedy in haiti but i guess you help your community and the world where you can and life goes on...
here is sea with skye and ayva right after finding out she was at disneyland...
she was afraid of the characters for the most part...here is auntie brina showing her the chipmunk is ok...she thought this was alvin, simon or theodore...oh wait she told me it can't be alvin cuz he has a hat...just now she asked me looking at this photo if this was really a "chickmunk or a puhson (person) inside a costume because he didn't talk..." i hate that she is figuring so much out...
first we rode on a merry-go-round
story loved the horsies and skye wanted to hold his hand...
next we rode dumbo...story loves elephants...this was one of his first sounds...
uncle matthew and sea rode behind us...
story kissing the elephants nose afterwards...
next the tea cups though i don't like to get dizzy so i didn't go...uncle matthew took skye and sea..they are in the turquoise one and went 3X as fast as everyone else so i'm REALLY glad i didn't go...
next the cousins, uncle matthew and auntie michelle all went on the matterhorn...i kept waiting to see them come past to get a photo of sea on her first "roller coaster" of sorts though it isn't too scary and must have turned to give story a lollipop and missed them...so auntie michelle took the cousins to get their faces painted...
here is story getting shy about getting his face painted...
sea hugging skye "too tight"...
and then i got a picture of all the cousins with their face paintings...ayva was really hamming it up...
namenee laughing about something (getting her face painted?)...sea hanging out with poppy and uncle matthew...
i love this photo breezy took of me with sea...i think we even look a little alike...
next we drove cars (they were on a track)...sea and poppy were in front of us...
skye drove me and story in the next car...
uncle matthew and auntie breezy were behind us...
story loved it...thought it was hilarious when we crashed, stalled, restarted, sped up...
skye took her driving very seriously...asked if we were going the speed limit (65?) yet...i think the sign was supposed to be what highway we were on...
preparing for her next curve...
matt and breezy behind us...
sun was setting...bright but fun...about to crash...did i mention i was doing the pedal?
matt making story laugh...
again...there is the matterhorn behind them...
more laughing...
skye wanted to go on space mountain...i really thought sea wouldn't be tall enough to go on it so i said "sure, let's go"...i was terrified of this rollercoaster even when i went on it (my first) at like 16 or something...
guess what...she was just tall enough...
and rode on it without screaming or crying...we just built it up to be "fast but not scary"...she was more afraid of the matterhorn cuz there was a monster in it...didn't like how the entire ride was pitch dark but she had fun...
i would have bought this professional photo on display that i took a blurry photo of but sea was covering her eyes so i couldn't see her...
sea and skye look a little dazed afterwards...and to think sea was terrified of the kiddy ride behind her just a few years ago...
finally story got some mickey ears...
these photos continue to part 2 here...we had a fun day!