there's a party in my tummy

It's been so long since I have opened blogger that I had to relearn how to start a post. Whoa.

The neurotic part of me wants to rewind and give highlights for every month I've missed. The realistic part of me knows that will never, ever happen. There is a giant part of me that is very sad that this is true.

And truly, it would be ridiculous for me to start out now, in June, talking about how we spent that weekend back in February, or the hours we put in for Santa Paula Ortho in April... when there's this:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will dispense of the required information as quickly as possible:

* Just one

* It's a GIRL!

* Due October 25, 2013

* I'm currently 20 weeks along

* Healthy as far as anyone can tell, and very active

* No names yet

* Jared is definitely the father

* I am definitely the mother

That about covers it, right?

We told Bethany & Isaac first, but only minutes before my parents arrived at our house and we told them. Jared's parents were the next to hear the announcement when they arrived the next day (story for another time). Jared got out the camera to record the announcement to the twins, but must have hit the record button twice, and then once again after we were done, so we caught on video the half second before the announcement, and then our reaction to not having recorded the reaction. We laughed at the tragedy.

From my memory (which is incredibly awful at this time), Bethany said in a sweet, soft whisper, A baaaabyyyy?? Isaac said nothing but held and stared at the ultrasound pictures for about 15 minutes. It was really fun.

Since then, we have had some great conversations with the kids about our baby. (We made a point to call it our baby so as to include them in the welcoming of this child into our family.)

Bethany decided early on that the baby would be a sister and that her name would be Bethany. That eventually evolved into Princess Mermaid Ariel Baby Bethany, which Bethany also started using to introduce her own name. Imagine her saying I'm Princess Baby Bethany to a complete stranger with a straight face. Isaac decided that the baby would be a firefighter. I'm not sure if that also indicates his wish for a brother-- I don't think he really cares, just as long as the baby can fight fires. When we told them that our baby was in fact a sister, Bethany was unsurprised and Isaac said, No, it's a firefighter!

Both of the twins are also having babies, apparently. They usually talk about the babies in their tummies at meal time, and how the babies are going to eat whatever it is that they are eating. I wonder if they imagine babies swimming around in their stomachs along with whole slices of cheese and entire PBJs, a la Yo Gabba Gabba (which JUST inspired the title of this post. Yes.)...

Oh, I guess I'm supposed to source this?

Isaac has also mentioned that the baby will come out through my mouth. Further evidence that he thinks she is growing within my GI tract. Bethany says her baby is This big, and holds up her hands to make an oval shape, like I did at about 15 weeks when the baby was supposedly the size of an avocado.

At first they really, really, REALLY wanted to see our baby. Asking, where is it? can I see it? or just taking matters into their own hands and lifting up my shirt and staring really hard at my tummy, like they were developing x-ray vision on the spot. They finally got the idea that Baby is deep, deep inside and that she won't come out until she grows for a long time. I think seeing my belly grow is helping drive that point home. It's actually happening, and it shows.

(Now would be a great time for a belly shot, if we had one. Poor third-baby-second-pregnancy.)

Jared & I are very excited to add to our little family. We've always wanted more kids, and weren't sure when the next one was going to come. Now that we know, we couldn't imagine better timing. I feel such a privilege to be able to carry this child, to be a mommy to my twintastic kids, to be a wife to my handsome and hardworking husband, to be a woman. Glory to God for each one of these miracles.

(So yummy, so yummy! Are you singing it?)

Happy Birthday to You... and Me

suddenly 3

Despite being Isaac & Bethany's THIRD!!! birthday, January 7 was admittedly kind of an afterthought. Daddy would have to go to work, and all my attention was going to the party the following weekend, so I hadn't planned a single thing for their actual day. However, we managed to pull off a pretty fun but ordinary day, and I wanted to put it on the record.

Superdad Jared cooked up some delicious Mickey and Minnie blueberry pancakes. We stuck candles in them, sang Happy Birthday, and practiced holding up 3 fingers instead of 2.

Over breakfast I asked the kids what they wanted to do on their birthday. Bethany said, We want balloons for our birthday! and Isaac concurred. So after getting ready for the day, I took them to Vons and let them each pick out whatever ONE balloon they wanted. Their selections came as no shock: Buzz for him and Dora for her. We then went to our favorite park in town and flew the balloons around like kites.

We came home at the regular time for lunch and naps. While I had to take a deep breath before paying $10 each for those balloons, it quickly became evident that they were a worthy investment: Isaac, show Buzz how you eat that chicken! Bethany, let's read our favorite book to Dora! The things that are usually the hardest (like leaving the park, or getting both kids up the stairs at the same time-- impossible!) were so ridiculously easy that I was ready to shell out 20 bucks a day for new balloons as long as the good behavior kept up.

It got even better. After a couple of pre-nap books, Bethany started chasing Isaac and Buzz around their room. She gave Buzz's leg a bit too rough of a tug, split it open, and Buzz slowly leaked to his death. We all just stopped and watched. I didn't know what to say and didn't really want to intervene, so I stayed quiet. After a few heavy seconds, Bethany meekly said, Sorry Isaac. A few silent seconds more, and she said, Want to share my Dora balloon? and held her toward him. (Yes, I'm thinking, that was the right thing to do!) Isaac, who had yet to make a sound, said, Okay, and he took Dora. They shared her back and forth for another couple of minutes, and then they climbed into bed under Dora's watchful eye. I walked out of the room absolutely amazed by my incredible kids. The most incredible kids on Earth, I'm completely sure of it now.

After that short but blissful moment began one of the least successful naptimes of all time. Playing, fighting, crying, whining, and generally making their mama go BONKERS. Neither got a wink of sleep.

Suddenly... they were 3.

A Dr. Seuss birthday. There's not much fun that is funner than that!

You could not, would not want to miss
A celebration such as this!

The invitation.

Sure, there are some Dr. Seuss rhyming invitations out there, but none, I tell you, none are like this! Other than the quotes from The Doctor himself, I made it up!

The Party Card.

As soon as kids walked in the door, they each got a Party Card. Kids could earn a sticker for each task they completed on their card, and they could also record their answers/scores for certain games. This card was the best thing I did for this party-- it kept the kids entertained and busy, without me having to direct each activity. It was my mother-in-law's idea (although I will humbly take full credit for its execution), and it's what pulled all this craziness together and made it fun for everyone.

The Activities.

1. Make and wear a Cat in the Hat HAT.

2. Wish Bethany & Isaac a Happy Birthday with a high five or hug!

3. Pin the star on the Sneetch. Grandma Suzanne made this board and ran the game! It was perfect. Kids went back again and again to play.

4. Read a Dr. Seuss book out loud with a friend. Between the local library and our small collection, we had over 30 Dr. Seuss titles to choose from.

5. Eat some SEUSS FOOD. It's very GOOD. More on that to follow...

6. Play Fish in a Pot Toss. Grandpa Jared helped the kids with this one. They loved it!

7. Drink Pink Ink.

8. Balance your Act like the Cat in the Hat. I just left out a bucket of random toys and kids had to see how many they could balance. There was no more instruction than that, so it's funny that most kids had a friend help them pile stuff up onto their head. The winner balanced 8 toys.

9. One fish, two fish... Guess how many fish!

Cat in the Hat Hats

The Reading Room. 

The Food.

Green Eggs*

Sam I Am Ham**

Cheese Trees

Hop on Popcorn

Thing 1 and Thing 2 Cupcakes***

Green Egg Cupcakes*

*Made by their amazing Grandma & Grandpa Lee

**not pictured, really (you can see the corner of the dish by the cheese trees)-- it was actually cubes of Turkey Ham, surrounded by crackers

***Made by Thing 1 and Thing 2 themselves

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Red Red Fish

The spread.

It's a shame this terrible photo the only one I got of all the food (well most... it was before the Thing 1&2 cupcakes were set out). The chaos does come through pretty nicely though.

H2Oh! (water with cucumbers and plain water with colored ice cubes)
and Pink Ink (Pink C-Light-- what Jared & I call Crystal Light to make it sound... cooler?-- with raspberries) 
...shared a table with the Red Fish guessing game.

Told ya those cupcakes were made by Thing 1 & 2.

I just didn't tell any of the guests.

That buttercream frosting (I made it alone) was heavenly.

The cheese trees and Cat's Hats were stuck with toothpicks and wood skewers into these babies...

...Party napkins glued onto foam cones or cubes, glued onto paper plates. A middle-of-the-night-the-night-before act of desperation/stroke of genius.

The Decor.

I had so much fun putting the decorations together. These hands haven't done this much cutting and gluing since I went to preschool. It was pretty awesome.

As luck would have it, in the weeks before the party we happened to have a few waves of visiting in-laws, and I promptly took advantage of the extra hands for crafting. Sister-in-law Kristine helped with the invitations. She cut each invite into different, crazy Seussical shapes. My mother- and cousins-in-law Jennifer, Emma and Grace helped with the poms. They were all first-time-pommers and got so excited at how great they looked.

The kites were probably my favorite creation. With all the idea-stealing I did off of Pinterest and Google (there are sooooo many great/fun/crazy ideas out there!) I was probably mostly psyched about the kites because I came up with the idea myself. (At least I think I did.)

The Dr. Seuss cutouts came from Oriental Trading. Oh, that little temptress of a party planning website.

ALSO... I posted up a few Dr. Seuss quotes all over the house ("...Youer than you" on the bathroom mirror, for example) but it felt a bit like overkill when I did it, and posting pictures of them here certainly would be. Believe it or not, I do have a radar for when enough is enough, and sometimes I use it.

Outside, Jared wrapped the posts under the awning all red and white and candycane-like, and he hung more Dr. Seuss cutouts from the overhang. Little Cat in the Hat Hats were scattered on the tables like confetti. But because the party fell on what was probably the coldest day of the year (a high of 50 degrees, what?!), all of this was sadly and completely untouched and overlooked as all the adults huddled inside and the kids flashed right by as they played their games and ran wild. Oh well. We were just so glad they came and seemed to have fun.

But... what did the birthday kids think of it all??

The Recap, by Isaac & Bethany:

At breakfast the following Monday, I asked my kids about their favorite parts of the party.

Bethany: Pink.

Isaac: Silence.

So, I tried again. Remember how all your friends came to your party? Who were your friends at the party?

Isaac: Pablo and Austin. (Characters from Backyardigans)

Bethany: Uniqua. And Dora.

Remember how we made and ate cupcakes that looked like Thing 1 and Thing 2?!?

Isaac: YEAH!!!
Bethany: Can I have a cuckape NOW??

Sigh.

Well, I loved it.

Happy Birthday, babies!!

a tree redeemed?

Before & After:

 

It's a Christmas miracle! 

More After:

The kids had a great reaction when they discovered the tree the next morning. 

(They did a little decorating before bed and then Jared & I finished up.)

Isaac shows Bethany his new favorite hideout.

The tree-- and everything on it, especially the sparkly red bird-- 

is a strong stall tactic for tired girls before naptime.

I'm sure we would have enjoyed the tree no matter what, but, just like the man that I married for all the right reasons, looking good is just an added bonus. 

Merry Christmas!

lately - everything else

I've been a bit of a whiner lately, mostly in my head, although whenever I talk to anyone about what we're up to, I feel like it must sound like whining to them. It's absurd, because life is good, really good, but the number of things happening all at once-- even though they are mostly good things-- has been at an all-time high. And it's not just the big events, but all the little things that fill up every moment of our time. We've always been a GoGoGo kind of couple, but we are now busier than college, than dental school, than ortho residency, and maybe even busier than that year when Jared was traveling twice a month as a trustee for ASDA and I was working 60 hours a week and together we were pulling all nighters to apply for specialty schools. Busier than ever, it seems, which is also absurd.

So, I really hope it doesn't come across as complaining, but I feel the need to put it on the record some of the big stuff we've been up to these past few weeks or so, when we weren't starting a business...

* Suffering from major mommy guilt while being so busy with the business. And, letting them watch more TV than I care to put on record. I know it was just a phase, and it's already better than it was for a few weeks there. I don't know why it bothered me as much as it did, but it did. (That was the worst one on my list. It gets better.)

* Potty training Bethany! This needs more exclamation points!!!!! This big girl has been diaper free (even at night!) for about a month. She was a breeze to potty train, and I can share that without feeling bad because I know her brother will be a bear.

Guess who picked out her own undies?
Oh Dora, she holds a special place in our hearts and, well, now you know where else.

* More growing up. It feels like we held onto a few "baby" things longer than a lot of friends who are the same age. (Not to say that that's good or bad, just an observation. I know for us it was part not wanting or seeing a reason to push the kids to grow up too fast, and part convenience.) Isaac just recently weaned from his pacifier. Bethany doesn't know it but she is soon to follow-- before (or as soon as) she turns 3, says the Orthodontist. They successfully slept in big beds when we travelled in November, although at home they are reluctant to give up their cribs so we just removed one side of each crib. Over the summer they stopped using their booster seats at the dining table, which was a sad loss for us parents-- they used to sit and eat forever when they were strapped in. And now, they (we) are working on their table manners, saying May I please be excused? and bringing their dishes to the sink. Staying seated is the hardest one, but they're doing really well overall, and it's pretty adorable.

* Letting our Santa Barbara Zoo membership expire, but getting in one last trip. We will miss it, but we will be back.

* Spending pre-Thanksgiving week in Palm Springs with my husband's parents, but not my husband. He had to stay behind because of some major construction delays at the office. It was pretty heartbreaking. But we went anyway because these kids needed loads of play time and attention from Mom and their grandparents, and I needed to give it to them.

Frosting cookies with Grandma & Grandpa.

Sleeping together for the first time since they were 4 months old.

Just like old times in the womb.

* Deciding at the last minute to host Thanksgiving dinner at our house so we could be with Jared. For the second time in 11+ years, we used our wedding china. I had about 15 minutes to prepare the table, and thankfully Jared's parents had pre-ordered all the food to be picked up that day. Not a bad way to go.

When Isaac saw the candles, he said It's a party!!

* Building a float for the Santa Paula Christmas parade. This was my work project while we were in Palm Springs-- printing signs, and planning and purchasing decorations. My in-laws were a great help in pulling it all together and loaning us this gorgeous truck that belonged to Jared's Grandpa Lee! Our dental school friends the Houlbergs were visiting their family nearby and surprised Jared by showing up to be in our float.

* Fumigating. People say termites are just a part of living in Southern Cal. I say getting your house tented is a downscaled version of moving, which I've done a lot of in the past few years, and it is possibly my least favorite thing to do. We had to bag all our food, medicine, toothpaste... anything and everything ingestible, with a few extra things like soaps and lotions just to ease our paranoia. We also moved out the kids' mattresses and anything we felt was too valuable to leave in a vacant house with a gigantic "welcome" sign to burglars. (I could hardly believe it but they say it happens.)


Welcome to our lovely home. Unless you're a termite.

* Moving out for the week and going to Disneyland and San Diego as consolation. The fumigation was the same week as an ortho conference for Jared, so after the kids and I spent a few days with their grandparents (who live near Disney), we went to meet him in SD and to be with Great-Grandma Dot. Seeing Daddy made the kids even happier than the happiest place on earth.

At Disney they hand out driver's licenses to just anybody, can you believe it?

Look who's driving.

Great-grandma Dot is the coolest. How many 85 year-olds have iPads?

* Fixing stuff. Amidst all this we've had issues (big and small) with just about every appliance in the house. Just yesterday I was getting ready to take all our post-trip laundry to the laundromat, when I decided instead to watch a few youtube videos and take our dryer apart myself. Somehow it now works. I seriously have no idea what I did, haha.

* And, as of Monday night... Buying the ugliest Christmas tree on earth. It's funny how Christmas trees can look so different in your home than at the lot... and as soon as we got ours inside we realized we took tree misjudgment to a whole new level. One side is smushed way up, the other side hangs down too low, and the back side is too sparse. But, it is HUGE! Good thing we don't have any furniture in that room, although it might be nice to hide the bottom half of that sad tree. Oy vey.


It looks way better in the picture than in real life.

By now I'm not whining, I'm laughing.

We have just a couple weeks to bring a little more Christmas home (and send out Christmas cards, maybe?) before packing up again for time with Jared's family in Newport Beach. Christmas! Family! Newport Beach! Who would complain about that? Definitely not me.

lately - the SPO edition

There is one thing that has dominated this household lately, and nothing else should really be mentioned until this is sufficiently addressed...

SANTA

PAULA

ORTHO

Monday was the first day Jared saw his own patients in his own space! Jared has been working pretty much constantly-- when he's not at one of his 3 other orthodontist jobs, in 6 other locations (deep breath)-- he is working on his own practice. For the 3 months that it has been under construction, this guy has been texting his general contractor at all hours of the day and night, visiting the site almost daily, and making decisions on computer systems, alarm systems, HVAC, flooring, ceilings, staffing, insurance, and all sorts of things that certainly are not covered in dental school. He has been so tireless and selfless to work so hard for our family. I know it stresses him out-- he tries to hide it but the sudden patch of gray hairs on top of his head is totally blowing his cover. He says it will help his patients take him more seriously. Such an optimist.

Now that construction is 98% complete, he has a practice to run. He put it best Monday morning before leaving for work. He said it's like going through all the effort to make and grow and deliver a baby, and you are desperate for a moment to rest... but, now you have a baby. I laughed, because of all the inane comparisons a guy can make to having a baby, I can't dispute this one. Jared has earned the right to make that comment, and-- if it means anything-- that's coming from a girl who birthed twins.

I've been roped in as well, helping out with odds and ends because there are a billion of them, and it's kept me much busier than I thought I'd be as a mom who quit my job to be home with my kids. Jared's dad was a great help by coming to stay with us a few days each week for a month or so. He would work from home while the kids slept so I could go run errands. The kids absolutely loved having so much Grandpa time.

We tried to make Grandpa's visits worth his while.

More to come on SPO as the finishing touches (not that things like this are ever really "finished") come in, like when the granite on the reception desk is finally installed and all the pictures are hung. We're getting there.