Birthday Recap

This year Athena's big birthday present is a trip to Disneyland with her Daddy, so on her actual birthday we just had a small celebration at home with a few friends. We sent invites for a "party playdate" and asked people not to bring presents, told them it would be really casual and everyone we invited showed up which ended up being 11 kids and 8 adults. Most of the friends are a group who we're recently spent alot of time with. We all go to a neighborhood Parks and Rec art class and then usually end up playing in the adjoining park for an hour or two. The kids are really lovely, get along great and all live within blocks of us. There are a couple of potential "besties" for Athena, too.
I brought out all of Athena and Zoe's dress up clothes and every little girl immediately changed into a princess upon entry. Zoe however chose to dress as a giraffe with purple wings.
I made a ton of pink and purple playdough which I set out in case some children were feeling quiet, but it quickly became the focus of the party.
Athena's birthday cake was a simple store bought princess sheet cake and I accidentally bought trick candles! Oops. All the parents thought I was the meanest Mommy ever but honestly it did not say anywhere on the packaging that they would relight again and again. The kids had never seen those and a couple got really upset...After everyone left, we clean up the disaster and then had some quiet time with the new Madagascar DVD sent by PopPop (Thanks PopPop!). For the first time, Athena was allowed to choose dinner for the family as the birthday girl. Her first choice was (of course) "Candy!" but after a little more explaining, she changed it to "Sloppy Joes with potato chips and birthday cake for dessert." Following dinner, she opened all the presents that have been accumulating from family this week. Thank you Yiayia, Unca Stu, MorMor, Baba, Grandaddio, Nana, Mary and Buck and PopPop!
It was a lovely day. I think she felt really special and had a blast without over doing it. And the icing on the cake, she got to wake up and go to Disneyland with just her Daddy.

Auntie Mimi

Auntie Mimi arrived just before Athena's big day. Athena has not let her go since she got here. She clings to her, and I have to keep reminding her that Mimi is going to be here awhile. I don't even know what to say about their special bond, it makes me well up ten times a day. Zoe adores her Mimi too, but Athena is more expressive and seems to prefer Mimi above everyone else...

For instance, I explained to Athena and Zoe that when baby brother is born, Mommy is going to spend a couple of nights in the hospital and Daddy will be there alot too, but not to worry because Mimi will take care of them. Athena thought about this piece of news and then said "Mommy I want you to go to the hospital tomorrow..."

And today when Zoe went down for her nap, Athena immediately snuggled up to Mimi and said "Now I get my Mimi all to myself."

Also on Mimi's first morning, Athena asked Mimi to pick her up and hold her because "I don't get any holdes anymore since Mommy has a baby in her belly." (Oof, my heart).

Yet another reason we're happy Mimi is here, to spread the love around.

Happy Birthday

...to my four year old little girl!

Besties

I am so blessed to have not one, not two, but five wonderful girlfriends who I have stayed close to for more than 20 years. For most of those years we've been spread across the country, but our recent move to Cali has the added bonus of being within driving distance of three of my very best sisterfriends.

From the left: Me, Miranda ( lives in SF), Alaine (lives in Berkeley)
and Mariana (lives in LA)

My friend since we were 14, Alaine, lives four hours away in Berkeley and since our move has made the trip twice and we've been up to see her once. I've sat down to blog about our previous visits, but it's daunting because there's too much history, too many stories and so much to say about how grateful I am to have my wonderful, lifelong friend so close again.

This weekend Alaine, her husband Ian and two girls Delphine and Sophie drove down to help us get organized for the baby. Delphine, now six, was the first baby I ever held in my adult years. I fell in love with that tiny little girl and she convinced me I was ready to be a mother.

Delphine is the leader of the pack...Athena just idolizes her.

Practically the moment I found out I was pregnant with Athena, even though it was too soon to tell people, I picked up the phone to call Alaine. In that same phone call she told me she too was pregnant with her second child, Sophie, and our babies were born within two weeks of each other.

We celebrated Sophie and Athena's 4th birthdays with chocolate cupcakes and tea candles (couldn't find the birthday candles).

Since moving here, we've gotten the girls together three times, and each time they hit it off like wildfire. This weekend was no different, they galloped around the house screaming and giggling from morning til night. My girls are totally in love with Alaine's girls and my heart swells when I see them together.

Literally galloping around the house on shared horses.

The boys, Chris and Ian, painted the baby's room (woo hoo!) while Alaine and I went shopping, organized John Patrick's clothes and worked on some decorating. Alaine said she was not leaving until we had a working nursery in case John Patrick decides to come early. We still have some work to do, but it's looking really good (photos to come later).

I hope these are photos the girls will look back on many years

from now and be amazed at how little they were.

The one question on our minds this weekend is: what is a little boy going to do in the middle of all these girls?

Precious Moments

The Incident

We had a bit of an "incident" yesterday. Chris and I were deep in conversation about something terribly important (I'm sure), Athena was coloring on the floor and Zoe disappeared inside the play tent in the toy room. A couple or so minutes later, she reappears with no diaper and poop all over her standing in front of me with a helpless sort of look. I immediately ran her to the bath while Chris was left to clean the poop from the tent, the carpet, the wall (!?) and the little poop footprints leading up to where I stood. It was a four alarm emergency and quite dramatic in the eyes of the only observer, Athena.

Now normally, this is not a moment I would want to preserve here, however it was so funny because Athena immediately after the event felt she needed to express it in her art. So she drew the above photo, which you can see on the far left a figure that represents Zoe with poop on her, the blob next to her (I believe) is her partially poop filled diaper and the other spots are poop everywhere (note the brown pen).
The above photo is apparently Zoe in the tent (see the smiley face) with lots of poop inside, and around the tent is a representation of the wall with a spot of poop, and on the bottom and right are the poop footprints on the carpet.
And here we have Mommy and Daddy, who were very angry. Apparently I was so upset that my scowl took over all the other features of my face. Daddy still seems to be taking everything in stride and even smirking a little. But Mommy, not so much (*sigh*).

Happy Valentine's Day

Chris and his sweethearts.
Happy Valentine's Day!

When Blogs Collide

Guess what we did yesterday?! We met up with good friend and fellow Mommy blogger, Kristen. It was a totally impromtu meeting, their family is spending the weekend at Disneyland and met us for lunch in downtown LA. Despite horrific LA traffic, pouring rain and getting lost, it was a really fun afternoon at a restaurant that had an indoor treehouse, and ride-on toys and costumes that kept the little ones occupied. I so enjoyed meeting Kristen and her beautiful boys, it was a little bit like meeting a celebrity, and hope we'll see each other again soon.

Baby Shower

There's a baby coming! And coming really, really soon. Even though at this moment, I can see a little foot trying to poke out my belly, it still seems like the very distant future that John Patrick will be here. But in reality, it's only a handful of days and time is slipping by quickly.

Last weekend Aunt Barb and Cousin Laura helped us prepare for our new little one by throwing us an amazing baby shower. All our wonderful family spoiled us with little boy clothes and necessities.

There were beautiful decorations, great food and delicious cupcakes for John Patrick and even special "Big Sister" ones for Athena and Zoe - that were still very yummy the second and third day!

And so many special touches that made the day really special and personal. Like a DVD of my Mom, Dad, sister and brother answering questions about our family and me as a child. And a fun quiz where we had to try and match answers previously filled in by Chris.

Mariana, my friend for over 20 years, was there, too.
And the most amazing gift ever, everyone pitch in to create a "Big Sister Treasure Box" overflowing with new toys to distract the girls when I need a few minutes with the baby. How awesome is this?
It all added up to making this family of soon to be five feel very special and loved. We are very blessed to have such great family on both sides!

Thank you so much Aunt Barb and Laura, from the bottom of our hearts.

Mia Culpa

There have been so many different times I sat down to blog about some little story or thought, but Zoe needs milk or Athena bumped herself and needs kisses, or some other such thing. Spare minutes are few and far between. Also, work has been busy lately (so I'm actually working when I'm working and not blogging) and my evenings are spent flat on the couch trying not to move too much. I know I haven't been blogging enough when family starts calling to ask how the girls are! I always love a good chat, but it makes me realize that I am not doing a very good job keeping everyone updated. So here are a few little stories...

Athena catchup

• Lately Athena must do everything by herself, get herself dressed, brush her own hair, fill her glass up with ice and water, even get her own snacks (sometimes resulting in Goldfish all over the floor) now if only we could get her to play by herself (she usually demands constant adult interaction).
• The other day, Athena and I were snuggling and she had her head on my belly. John Patrick kicked her in the ear, which she thought was enormously funny. Other than that the primary form of contact with the "baby in Mommy's belly" is giving me zerberts or poking him when a little foot, head or bum presses against Mommy's belly. Every now and then, Athena does talk to my belly and introduces us: "Hello baby brother, I'm Athena and this is Mommy".
• Athena is really curious about vocabulary and she's beginning to ask me to define words that she doesn't know, which is great, but try giving a definition of "emergency" or "personal" in kid language off the cuff...it's not easy.
• She's becoming scarily good on the computer! She's only allowed to play with three games, a Caillou CDRom, a Sesame Street CDRom and an online webpage called Starfall. But we've created her own profile on the family computer and she knows how to turn it on, click on the frog icon and load either the internet or one of her games. She's already better with a mouse than Yiayia. Zoe enjoys her proficiency too and plays along, so it's a group activity.
• She recently told me she wants singing lessons.
• Her main fault right now is her constant playing. She walks into a room and starts to play with three different things at once. She cannot sit still. I see other children her age standing quietly in line at the library or post office, but this is impossible for her. She must be spinning or singing or laughing, she's very joyful, but it's frustrating when you are trying to get her dressed and all she wants to do is put her shirt on her head (arms dangling) and pretend to be a puppy. I have to tell her "Athena! Focus! We're getting dressed right now." I have explained to her what "focus" means and just the other day she was telling me a story about an elephant and his Mommy or whatever, I wasn't really listening and she said "Mommy! Focus!"
• We're going to attempt a little homeschooling soon. Athena and I spend our afternoons together while Zoe naps, sometimes we watch a movie (aka Mommy sleeps on the couch) but often we do "work" on the kitchen table. I check and respond to work emails and she does an activity from a workbook, paints or colors. I'm going to try to start focusing these activities on big picture, kind of scientificky, concepts (i.e. magnets, the solar system, geography, animals, plants, etc.). I have big plans (and a book) we'll see how it goes!
  

Zoe Catchup

• Zoe is obsessed with purple. If something is purple, then it belongs to her. She must have purple lids on her sippy cups, purple snack bowls, purple socks and outfits consisting of mostly purple. It's really really hard to dress her in nothing but purple, I only have about three outfits that are in constant rotation now.
• She has her Daddy wrapped around her little fingers. She can get anything out of him, but just asking sweetly enough. She asks to be picked up, she looks him in the face (sometimes with a hand on his cheek) and he just melts. If we ask her "Why" she wants something she wants her answer is usually "Because I miss you and love you."
  
• We forget that she is only two because she is so advance verbally and with her letters and numbers, she is literally just one step behind her sister. And sometimes we have to remind ourselves that she isn't as old as her sister and cut her a bit of slack.
• Even though Zoe is an amazing conversationalist for a two-year-old, sometimes her words are a bit muddled. Chris and I get 90% of what she says, Athena however understands 100%, and if we don't know something she's saying we'll look to her translator for help. Athena answers very matter of factly and sort of impatiently ("She says she wants a sponge!") like we should have known the first time.
  
• Zoe and Athena are best friends. It is a wonderful sister friendship. At their school they are in separate rooms and I constantly get reports that when one sees the other in the hallway or through a window, there are tears because they miss each other. They can be cruel however, if Zoe is mad at her sister she says the worst thing she can think of, which is "You're not my best friend anymore" and it always causes Athena to burst into tears.
  
• Every night as I tuck her in, she thinks for a minute and then asks me for the most obscure stuffed animal she can think of. It's her special delay tactic, however, she hasn't stumped me yet and even if that particular animal is on the bottom of the toy box, I have found it.
• She is still straddling the line between baby and child. I know she'll soon phase out of her morning, noon and night demands for being held and, like her sister, those moments will be rare rather than the normal routine. And I'll miss that so much.
  
• She has no idea how much her world is about to change.
  

My Bathing Beauties

We shook up our nightly routine tonight and the girls got to take a bubble bath in Mommy's big bathtub. They loved loved loved it and could practically swim from one side to the next. I've got alot to catch up on and about six or seven unfinished posts waiting in the wings...I'll probably just finish and post them all at once!!

Unca Stu says this reminds him of this classic photo of a wee Julie and Auntie Mimi.