wordless wednesday

oh the places you won't go!

 

A few nights ago, I was forced to talk Little Miss J off a ledge after a dramatic reading of Dr. Seuss's "Oh the Places You'll Go!" by her Appah. In reference to the "lonely place," she wanted to know, "why that little boy lonely?" Gus's response was to discuss how when you grow up you move away from your parents. Apparently, she was so devastated by this that:

 

(1) she announced she was going on a hunger strike (preschool syllogism - food makes you grow, growing up means you have to move out, I don't want to move out, therefore I will not eat food - actually pretty impressive logic for a 3.5 y.o., in my opinion); and

 

(2) when I went to tuck her in, she clung to my neck crying that she didn't want to move out because she wanted to stay with us forever.

 

My dear sweet Little Miss J - someday (hopefully not anytime soon), you will probably be packing a bag and announcing that you are running away from your mean old parents. Sooner than I can possibly imagine, you will be grown up and heading off to college. Until then, however, I pledge to try and savor every moment of this time during which you think that Umma and Appah are your favorite people to be with in the whole wide world. Someday I will be nostalgic (rather than exasperated) about your refusal to drink out of anything but a pink plastic champagne flute. In the moment it can be a little hard to remember that there will be a "someday," when you are asking me for something every 3.5 seconds. For now, I will just be happy that today isn't "someday" yet and that you don't want to go very many places without me.

 

gratuitous mommy daughter selfie

 

good things

Some good things from the past week -

Wine, painting, and making new friends!

Super fun 4th birthday parties

Date night. All things Asian. Sushi, Hello Kitty glasses selfie, and karaoke. There is no picture of the karaoke. Trust me. It's for the best. For everyone.

Hipster wannabe babies in ironic shirts.

Kids in hats.

Umma and J2 selfies.

Pedis with Little Miss J

Nothing like a recap to cure your case of the Mondays. Bring it.

mini me

Love this girl!

J1 + J2

All fears of having two children despite how paralyzing they were at the time were completely and utterly unfounded. I absolutely adore having two and being able to refer to them as "the kids." Little Miss J certainly loves her little brother and J2 seems to tolerate the attention.

This is what happens when I ask Little Miss J to play with her brother for a little while. That looks like fun, no?

 

 

And here she is reading to J2. So sweet.

 



Looking forward to more and more interaction between these two munchkins. Love these two!

hippity hip hop

Our Easter weekend eggs-travaganza started with an egg hunt at the neighborhood park on Saturday morning. Face painting, music, dancing, Princess Anna, ballon animals and the Easter Bunny - our Little Miss J had a super fun time with her friends. The (grown-up) key to getting through the egg hunting chaos was the mimosas. My friend, Wendy, and I opted to skip the OJ. Highly recommend.

 

swinging with Karly and Joe

Limbo!

Music Matt asked Little Miss J to come up and sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and with no hesitation (or prompting from her mom) our little diva raced up and sang right into the microphone.

After a quick nap it was Harabogee's birthday! We took them to Old Spaghetti Factory and then home for cake!

 

On Easter morning Little Miss J couldn't have been more thrilled to don the deer hunting orange dress. Personally, I was more impressed with J2's little necktie. I mean how cute is this little guy? I DIE.

 

If I just keep smiling ...

We managed to get through church with only about half a meltdown right before communion. Then home to see what the Easter Bunny brought.

The Easter Bunny also showed up at Auntie Rachael's and at Halmoni's and Harabogee's, and we have one spoiled little bunny with bubbles, bike horns, bunny lips, and candy. We rounded out Easter with a rousing game of duck duck goose, and then crashed out for the night. An eggs-cellent weekend with family and friends! Happy Easter everyone!

PS - This little bunny made his mommy so happy by wearing his tie and his bunny ears at the same time. Happy first Easter sweet little J2!

fun with friends

This weekend was jam packed with family and friend time - and a lot of cookies. Little Miss J spent Saturday morning/afternoon with her Auntie Rachael decorating cookies, learning about landscaping, and using a dust buster.

 

In the evening we headed to dinner at our friend, Biagio's house. Biagio and his wife have three kids and Little Miss J had fun playing with his daughter, who is a few years older than Little Miss J. Biago's son told me that he, "wished he had that baby," in references to J2, which I found pretty funny. I will say that I am anxious for J2 to be more stable sitting up on his own. I kept trying to set him down with some toys so that mommy could have a bit of adult time and as soon as I would turn around he would face plant into the floor. Poor kid. After dinner, the kids decorated some cookies and had ice cream. It was a late night for us, and J2 had a hard time with the change in schedule so he cried the whole. way. home. Thankfully, Little Miss J can sleep through anything and managed to cash out even amidst the screaming.

 

After church on Sunday, Little Miss J played outside with our neighbor, Karly.

 

 

With her outside and J2 napping, Gus and I managed to sit at the kitchen table and read the Sunday paper. I cannot remember the last time we had that kind of peace and quiet.

 

Little Miss J also had her very first playdate at our house on Sunday. Her friend from preschool, Beckett, came over to our house with his little brother, Benson, and their parents. We had fun hanging out with Wendy and Steve while the kids played in Little Miss J's room.

 

For the third time this weekend, Little Miss J decorated cookies. Apparently, the cookie decorating thing is a really good kids activity. After snack and cookie decorating, we all headed outside to enjoy the sunny weather. The kids blew bubbles, drew with sidewalk chalk, played baseball, and got pulled around in the wagon. J2 slept most of the late morning/early afternoon, and didn't wake up until the lack of sleep meltdowns from the older kids ensued.

 

Gus took Little Miss J for a car ride to get her to nap and I spent a few hours playing with my favorite little smiley guy.

 

 

 

It was a weekend of good clean family fun. Now, let's just hope that fun can get me through this work week.

 

throwback thursday

 

let's go fly a kite

Little Miss J has been rather obssessed with kite flying lately. The weather was gorgeous last Sunday so we packed up the kite and headed to the park with Gus's parents.

Little Miss J eventually lost interest in kite flying and told Gus that she "had lots of work to do." And by "work" she meant collecting sticks for her campfire. Gus had no shame in flying a Cinderella kite on his own and was so busy telling me what a great kite flyer he was that he managed to get the kite stuck in a tree.

It was a perfect afternoon, and the fact that we could spend it with Gus's parents made it all the better. I am so glad that they live nearby and that both my kids love spending time with them.

0.5 years

 

Dear J2,

 

You are six months old! I cannot believe how fast it has gone by nor can I believe that I am actually saying that I wish you would stay a baby forever. You continue to be a chill, happy little dude. Today was your 6 month check up. Appah took you to the doctor since I had a meeting so I missed you smiling at yourself in the mirror and your first little army crawl. Those are new tricks that we didn't even know you could do!

 

You've started eating solids and so far you've loved everything but the spinach purees. We'll have to give those another shot a bit later. You've been drinking less and eating more. You were 19 lbs and 27 inches long at your doctor's appointment. You wear 9 month pajamas, but can still fit into the 6 month onesies and pants.

 

I adore what a happy baby you are, but your tolerance for sitting in your own feces and your penchant for pulling blankets over your face is a bit alarming. You are pretty much over the baby swing and have moved full-time to the jumper. You can get some pretty good air in that thing. You still love it when we sing to you. The other night I managed to sing you to sleep using the "Sportsmanship Song" from the good old cheerleading days. I have continued to struggle with work (although, it's gotten better as of late) because work is simply not as fun as staying home and spending all day smiling and laughing with you.

 

There are few things I enjoy more than coming home to you after work and scooping you up for some smoochies. You continue to be a good sleeper and I have even witnessed a few stints of you sleeping in your crib. I have been convinced that thing is cursed since neither you nor your sister have been all that fond of the crib, but perhaps you are breaking the spell. I made this little gem to honor your magical qualities ...

 

 

You are one lucky little boy with so many people that love and adore you!

 

Love you forever, like you for always -

 

Umma 

 

 

 

 

 

sister sister

First came this -

 

 

Then came this -

 



wordless wednesday