Mother's Day Tea

Today was Mother's Day Tea at Natalie's school, and we had such a wonderful time! Natalie and I have been waiting for this day for weeks! The kids had lots of secret plans for the tea, and Natalie didn't spill a single bean! For weeks, I'd ask how school was, and she'd start to say something, then *finger to her lip* "No, no, no, it's a surprise! I can't tell you!".

Jon drove Natalie to school, as the tea wasn't until 10:30, and I didn't feel like making three trips to and from school today (30 miles RT each way, so cut me some slack!). For some reason, Natalie was afraid I wasn't going to come, so when I arrived, she started jumping up and down - it was so cute!

They had the tea in one of the room's at the church facility - lots of tables set up, pretty place settings, decorations, all that good stuff. Natalie's class performed first - they sang two songs and did such a nice job! Natalie sang nice and loud - I could actually hear her! She made me some lovely presents too - a pretty paper hat, a placemat that had her name, Mother's Day Tea 2009, and her hand prints - it's laminated so I can use it all the time. My favorite gift was a planter on which she glued buttons, and stuck in the planter were her handprints, painted, laminated and cut out (they made the handprints at Father's Night a couple of weeks ago), representing flowers - her hands represent her, and the stems represent me "to show we are friends - the best there can be". I'm a sucker for the kids's handprints, so I couldn't have asked for a better gift.

We had tea and lemonade, cake (Natalie couldn't wait to dig into hers!), strawberries, cantaloupe (Natalie gave me hers), and watermelon (Natalie took mine). Then the kids played for a while, the moms chatted. It was just a lovely morning. I walked Natalie back to her class, and received a perfect ending to the perfect day. I was talking to one of her teachers before I left, and mentioned how glad we are that we decided to put Natalie in school for the full day (I received a wonderful email from her teachers over the weekend talking about how well she's doing). Her teacher told me that Natalie has been good for the afternoon session too! She told me that Natalie has been so helpful, and participates really well which helps the other kids participate, and that she has a calming effect on the class. We couldn't be more proud of her, seriously. What a lovely compliment. She is thriving at school, and while of course some of it is just who she is, a big part of it too is the school and her teachers. I'm reminded daily that we are so blessed to have found her school - and are so grateful that her first school experience is in such a loving environment. We were asked again to consider placing her in Early Kindergarten this upcoming school year, and if we can budget it, we intend to. At the very least, she'll be in pre-K, with the extended day option as she loves it, and the routine and structure seem to be something she needs and does very well with.

She also had a follow-up at the Melmed Center today with her developmental Pediatrician. I was happy to report that her sleep issues are (and please sleep Gods, don't let me be jinxing us) almost non-existent, and good sleep = all around improved behavior, how well she's doing in school and Sunday School, and just in general, she's opening up a lot more with people. We don't feel that any of the issues are outside the range of normal, the screaming tantrums are rare these past few months. Dr. J said that Natalie was the one bright spot of her day today, was so pleased with the progress we've made - gave Natalie a super star award, and suggested one last follow-up in four months, and then if things continue as they have, "you don't need me any more". :-) If you just look at today, she had all the excitement of the tea, the rest of her school day, then we went from school to Scottsdale (where Melmed is), long drive home in traffic, and she was a trooper through all of it, no hassles at bedtime.

She has her moments for sure (who wants a Stepford drone/child anyway. Not me!), but she's just a typical 4 year old kid. Overall she's a funny, happy, outgoing, thoughtful, helpful, sensitive girl, and we are so very glad she's ours!

On the drive to Melmed, she was being so silly! She took off her shoe, and stuck her foot out at me and made it speak - "Hi, I'm Mr. Dirty Foot. How are you doing? Shake my foot!". Then the other foot came out, and she affected a really high-pitched tone "Hi, I'm Mrs. Stinky Foot. How are you? I'm married to Mr. Dirty Foot". I'm sad to report, her feet do stink after playing all day in her shoes. She gets that from Jon, of course! :-P

Oh and she informed me today that Jack at school wants to marry her, and the other day Paul told her he loved her. She was already torn between wanting to marry Charlie or Walker! :-)

Faith healing

Thursday morning, as I was finishing getting ready, Natalie walked up to me adorned with a bunch of necklaces and announced that she was a healer. I asked her what she meant, and she told me she can heal people "Like Jesus". She told me she was going to heal Oliver's head. I asked if she could heal his stomach flu, but apparently that was beyond her powers. She then threw out her arms, and intoned "Jesus and the spirit of God. Now touch a cross", went over and touched a cross that I have in the living room. It was all I could do to keep a straight face! She told me she was going to heal her friends at school too. I told her to remember to be respectful, and if her friends didn't want to be healed, to not force the issue.

I gave her teachers a head's up so they'd know that they had a little healer in their midst, and to also see if they had been talking about Jesus healing the sick or something - I couldn't figure out where this was coming from. They had been talking about Paul all week, but not healing, so who knows! But it was funny!

Talk about a God complex!

Sick again

Poor Oliver. He came down with the stomach flu again on Tuesday. The last couple of days he's been miserable - he was OK enough until Thursday, and he continues to be really sick through today. Throwing up less this time around, but it's coming out the other end - his diaper area is enough to make you cry. And he's so gassy. Added to that, he has all four first year molars coming in. Hopefully this passes soon. The poor little guy isn't himself at all. No energy, very fussy and clingy. He's drinking a lot of water, and so far doesn't appear to be dehydrating. Took him to his ped on Thursday just to be sure, and for now we just need to ride this out.

And the icing on the shit cake? In the last week, both cars have cost us a lot of money. Four new tires for Jon's car. I was driving his car to the Minute Clinic last Friday because I missed my doctor's office hours (sinus infection, yay!), and there was something in my lane, to the left. I veered to the right to miss it, and thanks to the truck ahead of me, I didn't see until too late that there was something just ahead to the right of my lane. I almost missed it, but the back tire clipped it (almost looked like rebar). By the time I got to CVS, the tire was flatter than flat. Two other tires were bad = four new ones. Ugh.

Then mine died at Safeway Monday morning. Fortunately, Jon was scheduled to take a later flight that day. But, guess where my cellphone was? Yeah, home charging. Safeway let me call the home phone, but Jon didn't hear it. They wouldn't let me call his cell because his # is long-distance. I didn't go off, but that kind of chapped my ass because I worked for them twice, the last time for 6 years, Jon worked for them (hell, we met there!), and my mom has worked for them for almost 36 years. Not to mention the small fortune I drop there weekly. I wanted to scream "just let me make a freaking 2 minute call and I'll pay you". The CSR took pity on me and let me use her cellphone. Jon got Oliver up from his nap, came over and tried to jump the car. It didn't do anything - just clicked and all the gauges went haywire. Had it towed, Jon took a later flight. As it turns out, my iPod charger/auto kit was draining the battery - I never unplug it (so word to the wise - unplug your iPod chargers every time you turn off your car!) and totally fried it. Since it was a non-standard component, the car repair shop was kind enough not to charge us for the diagnostics, but of course we had to pay for the battery and labor. And the front end was out of alignment, the brakes were at 20%, and the front tires needed to be replaced. We had all the work done - we were told we might get 6 months out of the brakes, but that's not a chance we were willing to take with the kids.

I've been trying to look on the bright side and actually be grateful. At least I was the only one in Jon's car when the tire went. With three bad tires, one of us could very well have had a blow-out on the freeway - you see tire pieces all the time on the road out here. And of course the kids could have been in the car. And with my car, we were told that it could have shut off when I was driving. Again, I do mainly freeway driving, usually with both kids in the car at 70ish MPH - the car shutting down on the freeway could have been a disaster. So I'm grateful that no one was hurt, but it still sucks.

On a brighter note, when Oliver got sick Tuesday (he woke up covered in vomit, but I was hoping it was a one-off thing because of his molars), it was as we were walking into Natalie's school. I was just floored, I couldn't speak, I was afraid I'd start crying, which I did anyway, I kept thinking "Oh God, not again". I was so worried that he'd have to get IV fluids again, Jon's gone, it's hard enough solo parenting when both kids are healthy, etc. etc. I just kind of lost it at school and on the way home (it's been a rough six weeks, it really has). One of the moms at Natalie's school helped me out with cleaning Oliver, myself, and getting hold of myself. The director offered to keep Natalie for the afternoon session so I could have more time at home with Oliver, and of course she lent a lot of moral support as well. I was a wreck driving home, just worn out, and our priest came over and sat with me for an hour and half so I could just get things out, and also get Oliver settled and comfortable, remake his crib. Then my mom came by for a couple of hours. She also picked Natalie up for me that afternoon - and the mom that helped me that morning sent a beautiful, encouraging letter home in N's backpack. I was given a lot of love and support when I needed it most.

Of course now Natalie wants to go to all day school all the time! I sent her all day for the rest of the week - the drive is 30 miles RT each way, and like Kristie said, it would be good to have more time in between the drives for Oliver. Many of her classmates are there, the bigger kids are there, she had lunch with the big kids and her friends. She did SO well - her teachers and Kristie (the director) kept telling me how great she did. She really thrived last week. Tuesday night she had all these stories to tell me about class and the kids - and you could see how happy she was. She really latched on to one of her teacher's son - Neil. He's 2. She kept telling me all about this little boy named Moo Moo that she played with, took down the slide, watched out for him crossing the parking lot (to the big playground). I asked who Moo Moo was, and she said Mrs. S's baby. I said "Neil?". She said "No, Moo Moo". I've attended a parenting class with both Natalie's teachers, and never heard Neil referred to as Moo Moo, but I went with it. The next day, I asked Jen if they call Neil "Moo Moo". She look puzzled, said no, but then told me how sweet Natalie had been with him the day before. I told her that Natalie calls him Moo Moo and we had a good laugh!

I like the afternoon session too - it's pretty much all Biblical - so they have their regular class (which is also Bible based, just not as heavily so) in the morning, then PM preschool (which is how they handle daycare) is different, so it's not a repeat of what Natalie already did that morning. We need to sit down and see if we can afford the extra fee through the end of the school year, it's beyond reasonable, but budget constraints, you all know the drill. I know Natalie won't be happy going back to her shorter day, she's already told me so, and she's doing so well all day, I think it's good. Also, another plus.... Natalie sometimes has a hard time with transitions. And she's already been a little apprehensive about having a new teacher for pre-K next year. Well, the afternoon kids eat lunch in the pre-K room, so Natalie got to spend time with Ms. Agnes (her teacher for next year). The first day, I asked her if she met Ms. Agnes. She said "yes". Before I even got to say "isn't she nice" (she is, the entire staff there is incredible), Natalie yelled "I LOVE HER". I told her Ms. Agnes would be her teacher next year, and she did a happy dance, yelling "Woohoo! That means I'm a big kid!". Part of me feels weird having Natalie in school from 9-2:45, but she loves it, so I need to get over myself I think. :-P

Then Wednesday, after dropping Natalie off, I was hoping to get Oliver down for a morning nap, then nap myself. Got him down, and a half hour later he was up. I was a little disappointed at first, as I was so tired.... Once he got up and got past his grumpies though, we had the nicest morning. First he'd run up to me, kiss my arm, laugh, run away, come back, gnaw on my arm, shake his head no, laugh, run away, repeat. Then he just started running up, throwing himself into my arms for a big hug and a kiss, would go back to playing, come back for hugs and kisses. It was the sweetest morning, and better than any nap. Just what my heart needed.

So highs and lows.

I'm in trouble

Long story short, Jon's car got a flat on Friday, which necessitated four new tires. My car died at Safeway today, not sure what's wrong. Maybe the alternator, maybe the electrical system. Anyway, he has to leave for LA this afternoon, so he got my car towed, and just set up the carseats in his car for me to use this week. I told him to go ahead and turn Oliver's seat around in his car, as it's much easier to adjust the straps - they are buried when rear-facing in his car, and I want to be able to tighten them.

We just took both kids out to the garage to make sure the seats were tight and straps were good. Natalie noticed Oliver's seat right off the bat - "Ooooooh! Wow! Look Oliver, now we can screw around**". I'm envisioning snacks flying at my head and all kinds of other fooling around. Should be interesting!

**That's one she actually learned from Jon, not me. When she's misbehaving, he's fond of telling her to "quit screwing around". She tosses out the phrase from time-to-time, and while not ideal, it's quite funny!

One Year Stats!

Oliver had his one year check-up yesterday -

Height: 31 inches - 85th percentile. (I swear they measured him wrong - I imagine it's hard to measure them lying down - he's grown more than an inch in the last three months, judging by how his pants fit).

Weight - 27.10 - 96th percentile

Head - 20 inches - off the charts

He's doing very well! He has a bunch of words - Mama, Dada, Na Na (Natalie), Ni Ni (night-night), Ba ba (bottle), shake-shake-shake (learned that from Natalie), Hi, and he tries to say Gentle - it sounds so cute when he says it! She also likes to do the typical villain laugh - "ha ha ha ha ha" - he imitates her doing that, and it just cracks me up. He walks around the house, stealing random things, saying "ha ha ha ha ha".

He also has teeth coming in. All four first year molars. Oy. Good times.

Congratulations!

After dinner tonight, Natalie let out a huge gasp, and said "MOMMY! I forgot to say congratulations to you when Oliver was in your tummy!".

First haircut!

Mitz and I took the kids out yesterday to get Oliver his first pair of real shoes - he needed them because he started Mother's Day Out this week (once a week). While we were out, we passed a kiddie cut place that didn't look busy. Since the little guy has been looking a little shaggy, we took him in. They did a nice job! Of course I'm having a bit of Mommy Remorse now, since he looks like such a big boy, but he looks nice! They sat him in a chair, put the little drape around him, then cut really fast. He was fussy through parts of it, but oddly enough, loved the clippers! Afterwards, they took a picture for us, gave us a lock of hair and Oliver got a certificate of bravery. :-)

And today was his first MDO at Natalie's school. Natalie was so excited - she says she misses Oliver while she's at school, so she was excited to be able to see him after lunch. The big kids who stay for lunch, but not PM pre-school, go to the MDO room for a half hour to await pick-up. They said he did well today. He had fun at the playground, didn't take a morning nap, but ate all of his lunch. Tearful and clingy at times, which was to be expected, plus I think he's working on a tooth or two. He was SO happy to see me when I picked him up! Biggest grin ever. I think once he gets used to it, he'll have lots of fun. The MDO room is a lot of fun, the staff is wonderful, and it will be good for him to have little playmates around his age. He even came home with his first art project today!

Edited to add: I was talking to one of Natalie's teachers today, and she told me that at one point yesterday, Oliver was upset, so the director brought him to Natalie's classroom. She said he saw her, his face lit up, and they gave each other the biggest hug. Stayed for a few minutes, and when the director took him back to MDO, he was calm. Does he have the best big sister, or what?!

Happy Easter

What a day. OMG. Between yesterday and today, I'm more exhausted than Christmas! It was such a wonderful Easter though!

Natalie got up first, got her basket with Jon. I came down a few minutes later, and the first thing she said to me was, in this scandalized little voice, "Mommy! The Easter Bunny wasted his carrot! Is that OK?". I assured her that the EB gets lots of carrots, so he usually just takes one bite at each house. Jellybeans for breakfast - what a way to start the day!

Oliver got up a little while later, and being the stellar mommy that I am, I showed him his basket first. He was starving, and grabbed one of the new sippy cups that the EB brought him, and started sucking on an empty cup. Oops! Hungry baby! Got him some breakfast, then the kids had some time to play before church. At one point, Oliver made a grab for Natalie's basket, and we heard "HEY! That's my basket, yours is over there!". All things considered though, she was very sweet with Oliver this morning, helping him with his basket and toys and sharing what was appropriate in hers. Many of you who read this have met our wonderful priest, Fr. Nicholas, he's a favorite (as is Mr. Rex!) with Natalie as well. Today she had Jon get out a baggie, and selected one of her favorite blue Peeps and a handful of jelly beans to take to Fr. Nicholas - "because he likes candy like me, and I want him to have it".

Went to church, lovely service as always! And normally Natalie isn't a fan of church without Sunday School - sit still for an hour? Perish the thought! Yesterday she was pretty good! During one of the hymns, she stood on the pew, wrapped her little arm tight around me, and "followed" along while I sang. During the last hymn, she did the same thing, but tried to sing too - she'd repeat the last word of a verse, and kind of hum the rest of the time - she's never done that before, and it was just so sweet. I hope she grows to love church like we do! I'm sure she will! Oliver received his first birthday prayer, and since he was the only birthday this week (I think, there were so many travelers I didn't notice other bdays), Fr. Nicholas made it a little special for him. Lots of people made a fuss over the birthday boy! The big kids had an Easter Egg hunt after the service, and I took Oliver over to coffee hour - we brought a cake to share with the congregation. The kids each got an Easter basket from church too!

After that we went to Mitz and Pops house, for more Easter fun! Aunt Jamie was there for a bit - the EB left baskets for the kids there, plus Aunt Jamie made one, then when Auntie Cindy came, she had stuff for the kids too! Five baskets each total. Holy moly! Mitz and Aunt Jamie had an Easter egg hunt for Natalie too! The kids had a lot of fun running around and playing, and we had a nice dinner. Oliver is displaying some kleptomaniac proclivities - he kept running around, grabbing random items (such as the phone, magnets from the fridge, etc.) and taking off laughing. The phone was a favorite! He kept trying to sneak up from different angles to get it, and succeeded several times! Silly kid!

And the best ending to the day? I was on the chaise, pretty much comatose. Natalie came up to me, asked if I wanted a snuggle, and damned if she didn't curl up with me for a few precious minutes!

So, all in all, a happy day, and a wonderful first Easter for Oliver! We wish all of our friends and family a Happy Easter!

I'm uploading all the Easter pictures. Natalie saw one from the egg hunt at church. The picture has all the kids in front of a raised garden area. Someone threw a plastic cup in it - I didn't even notice it. Natalie spied it right away and said "PIGS! Look Mommy, one of my friends is a pig". LOL. I really need to teach her litterbug.

Edited to add: Pictures are going up now. Oliver's birthday shots are first up - still have to edit Easter, but there are far fewer, so I hope to get them up tonight as well. Oliver's birthday shots are out of order - the pictures are from my mom's camera and mine, so the file names don't match up well enough to do an automated sort - too many to sort individually - sorry about that!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVER!

Our baby boy turned 1 today! It really doesn't seem possible, and everyone says that, but it is so true. He has brought so much love and joy to our lives, and the only thing better than getting a snuggle from Mr. On-the-Go (and big sis, of course!), is hearing him and Natalie laughing together. I've said this before to people, but I think it bears repeating. Some time before having Oliver, I read the saying "love multiplies". And it does. It just keeps on multiplying. I never doubted that I'd love a second child, but I never understood until Oliver came into our lives just how love truly does multiply. It just does. There's no shift, no curve, no breaking in period. Your heart just keeps expanding, and it's effortless.

So... We had his party today! Had about 18 people total, counting us! Oliver was spoiled rotten, but the best part of the day was he was surrounded by people who love him (both near and far! He got to "talk" to Grandma and Aunt Annie this evening too!). His giant cupcake cake was a bit of a disaster - that thing was hard to decorate - poor Mitz! I owe her for that. Probably have to pay for some more physical therapy for her wrist. :-P He woke up with a cold, but was a trooper. He ate a bit of cake, but didn't destroy it as I was hoping. But he had a great time running around, being loved on, playing with his toys and Natalie, Jackson (my friend Stacey's son), Uncle Mike and Aunt Jamie.

And if you'll indulge a sentimental mommy.... There's a song called "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks that always makes me cry when I hear it. I think it sums up perfectly how I feel about my children. At random times today, I kept hearing it in the back of my head... I'll post the lyrics. YouTube has clips with the entire song.

They didn't have you where I come from
Never knew the best was yet to come
Life began when I saw your face
And I hear your laugh like a serenade

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

I slip in bed when you're asleep
To hold you close and feel your breath on me
Tomorrow there'll be so much to do
So tonight I'll drift in a dream with you

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

As you wander through this troubled world
In search of all things beautiful
You can close your eyes when you're miles away
And hear my voice like a serenade

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

And some pics.... Working on all of the party pictures - that might take a couple of days with tomorrow being Easter!

Just hatched -
One of my favorites of Natalie and Oliver -

I always thought he looked like this invitation here -

Last Fall -

Today!

And Happy Birthday to Aunt Jamie too! XO

Awww, how, um, sweet?

I'm finishing getting ready for the day, and Natalie and Oliver are playing together in the playroom. I peeked in, and they were sitting opposite each other at the new lap desk I bought Natalie. Natalie was "serving" him a plate of play food. I said "Aww, that's so nice! Look how nicely you two are playing together!". She said "Yeah! I made Oliver some food. It's old food. That's why Oliver can have it".

There's always a catch.

Today it was....

Chasing poor Oliver all through the house, trying to put last year's Easter hat on him, chanting "Hey Little Bo Peep, come put on your hat! You lost your sheep!".

However, we stopped at Big Lots (ugh) on the way home (they had Lifesaver Gummies shaped like chicks and eggs for Easter that I wanted for N's class treat bags). Natalie started talking about how she wanted to "buy" Oliver something for his birthday. As we were wandering around, she spied a Fisher Price jukebox toy - "Mommy, let Oliver play with that and see if he likes it". He did, so I bought it for her to give to him. She told me she wanted to give it to him "because it makes Oliver happy".

He's also trying to say "Natalie"! If he wants her attention, he looks right at her and says "Na na! Na na!"!

Also, March pictures are going up after I post this. There are a couple of shots of Oliver standing in his crib, sans pants. I found him like that one morning - the stinker took his pants off! Forgot to rotate a few, but I'm too lazy to fix them.

He is going to deck her

One of these days, and my money is on sooner rather than later.

Natalie has discovered the joys of (playfully) tormenting Oliver. Last night, just before I took him to bed, she was chasing him around the house, trying to put a piece of fabric on his head. All the while singing "Oliver's a bride! You're a girl! Put your veil on! Here comes the bride". He was laughing, but trying like hell to outrun her.

Then this morning, she put a headband with sheep's ears on him. More chasing and "Mary had a little lamb". Over and over and over.

I tell him he gets one free shot. :-P

Random kid stuff

Jon got home from LA tonight, and I let Natalie stay up so he could put her to bed. He told me that she had him read "Going on a Bear Hunt" (I hate that book, BTW). She told him "We can get a bear! And put a cave in the backyard! But I don't think Mommy will like that". She has me pegged!

Also, she can write her name! Has some trouble spelling it, but if she sees it written, she can write it too - so cool! She wrote "Oliver" and "Jenn" last night too - the "m"s in Mommy were a little too hard for her. I've been singing a song, to the tune of the alphabet song to help her learn her name. It works well for Natalie, and well enough for Zakaras. "N A T A L I E, that's how I spell Natalie", sub Z A K A R A S if we're working on our last name.

And I think Oliver got a healthy dose of my Latin blood! I mentioned before that he loves Mariachi music. Well, I've been letting Natalie watch DVRed episodes of "Dancing With The Stars" (she loves the fast Latin dances, but will tell you she hates the Quickstep - which I love - and can recognize when it is being danced). Yesterday afternoon, I had it on for her. First dance was the Lindy Hop - she loved it - Oliver paid no attention. However, the next dance was an Argentine Tango, and the couple performed to traditional music - they didn't try to bitch up the dance to a popular song as some do. The minute the music started, he stopped what he was doing, stared at the TV, started smiling, laughing, and moving his feet back and forth very precisely! He did that every time a Tango was performed to a traditional piece, and again ignored the Lindy Hops! I thought that was kind of neat!

Happy Birthday, Maggie!

Kyle and Sara had their baby this morning, about a month early! Margaret Kayleigh, 6 pounds, 19.5 inches (Jon relayed stats and the phone connection was bad, so they may not be 100% accurate!).

Welcome to the world, sweet girl! We love you and can't wait to meet you!

Kyle posted a picture already, and she is just the sweetest, most precious, peaceful looking baby!

Congrats Mommy and Daddy!