So I guess this is growing up

We're in the market for a new car. While we have three cars, two of them are old and break-down prone. Jake has this theory that we should have three cars because if one of them breaks down, there is a back-up. I have a theory that we should just have two cars that actually work. The only problem with Jake's theory is that occasionally, both of his cars aren't working. I have been trying to convince him for some time now to get rid of the two crappy cars and get one decent car, and I finally got him to see the light. The only problem is, now he wants my car. And he wants me to get a...

Ugh. I can't even type the dirty word.

Minivan.

Barf.

To be clear, I don't have anything against minivans for other people. I totally understand their usefulness and practicality. I've always said that someday we will get a minivan. I mean, after a certain number of children and associated gear, its kind of the only option, right? The sliding doors that open at a push of a button, the built in tv, the non-cramped seating...oh, there are so many features that make me sigh and drool. Right now I spend most of the time in the car yelling "Micah! Don't touch your sister! Stop stealing her blanket!" or "Wyatt! Stop pulling on her feet! No more kissing the baby!" I have fantasies of all my children spread out, unable to touch or bug a sibling. Mmmm. Wouldn't that be nice? Soooooo nice.

But then my pride and ego show up. Here's the thing. I KNOW, logically, that there is no part of me that is cool or hip (as evidenced by the fact that I use the word "hip"). I just have to run a few errands at the mall to be reminded of how out of touch I am. And I get reminded of my oldness every day when I look in the mirror and see the growing number of "fine" (hah!) lines on my face, the bags and dark circles under my eyes, and the saggy-jiggly bits that don't perk up post-pregnancy. I turned 30 last year. I have three children and an obnoxious dog. I have regular conversations about retirement accounts and college funds. I know all this and yet, there is still a part of me that pretends otherwise. There is a part of me that is clinging to my youth. There is a part of me that is in denial of who I actually am. This part of me says that even though I'm a MOM, I can still be a young and cool mom. Right? Then the image of me driving a minivan interrupts, like a big fat needle popping my little fantasy bubble. See, a minivan is part of my someday. Like, someday I will be able to stay on top of my laundry. Someday I will stop eating cheetos for breakfast. Someday I will do a pull-up. Someday I will stop letting my kids wear the same pair of underwear two days in a row. Someday I will get the garage organized. And someday I will drive a minivan. But when I get a minivan, then I am totally acknowledging the fact that my youth and carefree-ness are gone baby gone. Gone and not coming back. Gone like the days of not having to wear under-eye concealer are gone. I'm not happy about it. I can stay in denial all I want, but time marches on anyway. And time is marching me straight towards a minivan.

Jake keeps trying to get me excited about it. He tells me I can get the most tricked out minivan out there. He points out all the cool features. When I complain about the kids bugging each other in the car or how the car seats don't fit in the back row, he reminds of all the space in a minivan. He tells me that road trips will be so much more enjoyable (well, less miserable anyway). The car doors open at the push of button. I won't have to worry about hitting neighboring cars every time I open a door. The storage. The gas mileage. So many plusses. (Does anyone else think its weird that my husband is the one pushing the issue? Shouldn't these roles be reversed?) But it is still a minivan. I've tried to tell Jake we just need a bigger SUV. But then he brings up the gas-guzzling nature of such vehicles. And I REALLY don't like driving or parking big cars. And three car seats is really hard to do in an SUV. I know its hard in a van too, but its not as bad.

Now to be clear, I don't think other people who drive minivans are stodgy old farts. Just more in touch with their reality. And I'm not quite ready to accept my reality.

The Change is coming soon. Jake really does need a better and more reliable car (mine). I really do need more space. I can't avoid it forever. I'm sure once I start driving the minivan I will love it and wonder why I put it off for so long. Sigh. Growing up is hard.

And here are some gratuitous baby shots. I know that's why you're all reading this anyway. There is more to come soon. Promise.

And yes, she really is that cute. :)

Home for Christmas

As I mentioned in my previous post, Georgia and I were able to come home from the hospital on Christmas Eve. My parents were here helping us out. I was so excited for Christmas this year. Not only because I knew that by Christmas I would no longer be pregnant, but mostly because Wyatt was beyond pumped up. This is the first year he really understood what Christmas is all about (both spiritually and secularly). And as cliched as it is, I'll say it again. Christmas is magical with children. Talking about Santa Claus and reindeer and elves and stockings is so much fun when you have a 3-year-old hardcore fanatic hanging on your every word.

Wyatt loved every minute. But Micah, poor Micah, was sick. It ain't Christmas if you don't have a sick kid, right? He got a really bad fever the day before, and was still pretty wiped out on Christmas day. Just kind of listless and pathetic. He only wanted to sit on Grandma's lap and watch everyone else. In 99% of the pictures of him he is sitting on my mom's lap looking at the toys that Wyatt so helpfully unwrapped for him. My mom was not happy with the fact that I have so many pictures of her in her jammies and morning hair, so out of respect to her, there's only the one picture of Micah. We forced him to sit on his toy and act happy. This is the best he could do:

Wyatt got a new bike. He was all excited about the bike in the store and for the two months leading up to Christmas, but now he won't touch it. Micah has had more seat time with the bike than Wyatt has. I'm so glad that Santa spent the time and money to get it for him. Sigh. So it sits in our garage for now.
But Wyatt WAS excited about his new Lightning McQueen garage. Note to Santa: Just stick with anything Cars related, and the kid will be happy. Stop trying to get him to branch out with his interests.

This is Wyatt's excited face:
Um, and that's all there is. I was in charge of pictures, and since I was a little, shall we say, jet-lagged (by which I mean, heavily medicated and veeeeery tired), I kept forgetting to snap pictures of the process. And I was distracted by a baby who wanted to eat. So there aren't many pictures. Sorry, future Wyatt and future Micah. I hope if ever one day you are reading this, you won't hold it against me. Fortunately, you're male, so you probably won't care.

So, yes, moving on. We had dinner with my uncle and family, as well as my grandma, who live nearby. It was delicious. Waaay better than that hospital crap I had been eating all week. And it was nice to spend the holiday with family. I'm so glad I was able to be home and with my family and have our newest little angel with us. It was a wonderful Christmas.

Georgia on my mind

She's here! My sweet little precious angel princess of a baby girl is here. Georgia Grace was born on December 21, at 1:12 pm. She weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces, and was 20 inches long. She came out screaming, pooping, and "crawling out" according to the doctors performing the c-section. I was worried these were all signs of things to come, but she has the sweetest, quietest, calmest personality. Yes, I know she is only one week, so there is still lots of time for things to change (drastically), but I am really enjoying having such an easy baby, even if only for the time being.

The surgery went fine, the hospital stay was painful and long (as usual), and I came home on Christmas Eve. My recovery has been a little more painful than expected, but I am just so glad to be home and not pregnant anymore.

Georgia has been such a blessing. Its only been a week but I can't imagine our family without her. I feel like she was missing for so long, and our family is more complete now that she is here (although at the same time, I keep thinking "Holy crap! Where did all these kids come from?!?). Like all my babies, I am so obsessed with her. I can't stop staring, and smelling, and holding, and cuddling her. I love her dark hair and big eyes. I love the fur that covers her ears and shoulders. I love her long, skinny toes and fingers. I love her tiny eyelashes and fingernails. She is so perfect and I just can't get enough of her! This sleepy, teeny baby stage goes by painfully fast, so I am trying to get it all in while I have the chance.

She has been sleeping really well and eating a lot. She has been sleeping 5-6 hours at night (after 4-5 hours of non-stop, back and forth nursing), which is AWESOME. I keep waiting for the night when she turns into a normal baby and wakes up every two hours, but so far, my luck is holding out.

The boys have had very different reactions to her. Micah is kind of indifferent towards her, but has been more needy and cuddly with me since she arrived. He has smacked her a few times, and there has been a lot of poking. Not aggressively or maliciously, I think he is just curious. But Wyatt is in love. He loves to kiss her and stare at her and thinks she is so cute and "teeny tiny." He always wants to bring her toys and blankets. Her bassinet is sometimes overflowing with his "gifts" to his sleeping sister. The only thing he doesn't like is her umbilical stump, which he insists is "poop," and when I try to explain what it really is, I get "no mom, its POOP." He is not a fan of the stump. Well, neither am I, for that matter.

My parents have both been here, and are doing a great job entertaining the boys, and distracting them from the fact that I can't be a very good mom to them right now. Not to mention cleaning and cooking and taking care of everything else I can think of. It has been so nice to just be able to focus on my little Georgia.

I simply adore this baby girl. We are so happy she is a part of our family now!

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Georgia on her birth day:

Getting kisses from mommy:

She's got Jake totally wrapped around her little finger:

I LOVE this picture:

Jakes's mom made this cute hat:

Merry Christmas!

Angel baby:

Wyatt loves to kiss on Georgia:

One week old, sleeping like a baby:

And finally, to balance out all that sweet cuteness, a little picture of the other goings on at our house. Micah found his nostrils. And he loves them.

Thanksgiving

I was so excited when my sister Heather sent me a text a few months ago and asked to be invited to our house for Thanksgiving. I hadn't really made any plans, and absolutely didn't want to drive anywhere. But now, hooray! We would have a real Thanksgiving!

And then she said she wasn't coming. It's a long drive from Utah, you know, and such a short trip...I understood. I certainly wouldn't have made the trek. But I was still really sad.

But minds were changed again! And they were coming! Yippee! They had to drive south (which tacks on another 8 hours of driving), to avoid a storm through Tahoe, but they arrived safe and sound on the Tuesday before T-day.

That's when the cooking began. This was my first year hosting Thanksgiving, and I was a little nervous about everything. I had never made a turkey before. Usually I am strictly pies. We spent two days cooking, and made ham (ok, the Honey Baked Ham company made the ham. I set it on the counter to come to room temperature), a turkey (breast), parmesan-artichoke-sourdough stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rolls (mmm, and honey butter, mmmmmm), green salad, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, apple pie, banana cream pie, and a pumpkin cheesecake. There were four adults. And six kids who don't eat. Yes, we had oodles of leftovers. After the meal, it looked like the food hadn't even been touched. We could have fed 18 more people. People who eat. But it was fun to make everything and it was all very tasty. Heather and I were quite proud of ourselves for making it all come together, without any help from, you know, adults (i.e., my mom).

Anyway, it was so fun to have my sister and her family here. I wish they could have stayed longer. We always love having people over, and it was especially nice to have family around for the holiday. It was great for me to be able to stay at home, since traveling is kind of hard these days. Not just physically, but I've found the closer I get to my due date, the closer to home I want to stay. Some form of nesting instinct, maybe?

Thank you Millers for coming! It was wonderful to have you!

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Me attempting to carve the turkey. Heather looking pretty while watching. Lucy looking on hungrily, praying that I will mess up and the bird will fly off the cutting board onto the floor, so she can scarf it down in two chomps and a lick.

The whole spread. This picture is hilarious. If you look closely, you can barely see Heather behind me and my belly. I almost completely eclipse my tiny little (but older!) sister. ;)

Heather and I are very proud! It all turned out delicious!

I asked Heather to take a family picture for our Christmas card. Uhh, it didn't go so well. Getting our kids to smile at the same time was a feat that proved to be impossible, and in most of the pictures Jake and I are making some bizarre face because we were trying to tell the kids to smile, while keeping smiles on our faces. I really need to learn how to photoshop other faces into a picture. I think that's the only way we are ever going to get another decent family picture.

We hope your Thanksgiving was great too!

Halloween Week o' Fun

Better late than never. Have I used that excuse enough during this pregnancy?

To kick off the Halloween festivities, we went to the pumpkin patch. Here in Half Moon Bay, there are TONS of pumpkin patches. Like, real ones. Pumpkins are one of the main crops grown here on the coastside. So up and down Highway 1 you just pass pumpkin patch after pumpkin patch. They have the ones with all the bounce houses and slides and petting zoos, but I wanted the real deal. You can buy other produce grown there, it was super cheap, and there are even lots of pumpkins still on the vine, but we didn't bother with those.

Wyatt was very busy running around picking out the perfect pumpkins for everyone in the family. Even for baby sister and Lucy the dog. Poor Micah was just about squished in the wheelbarrow by the time we left! Wyatt doesn't believe that the perfect pumpkin is necessarily the most symmetrically shaped, blemish free pumpkin. He likes a pumpkin with character. Character to match the person for whom the pumpkin is intended. Kidding. Anyway, it was pretty funny to watch him during the selection process. He took his job very seriously.

While we were there, Wyatt "found" this old truck. It's Mater! From Cars!

As we were leaving...

"Wait, mom! One more!"

A few days later, the pumpkin carving. Here's Wyatt reading the instructions to dad.

And finally, checking out his handiwork, and singing "Five Little Pumpkins."

Wyatt's preschool Halloween party. The first of three Halloween parties we attended that week.

This was the first year that Wyatt picked out his costume. He wanted to be a ghost. I was a little surprised. I thought that he would want to be a race car driver, or McQueen, or Thomas, or something like that. But no. A ghost. Which was great, because it was the easiest costume ever.

Wyatt had a hard time staying in the costume parade. Twirling was irresistible. I understand, Wyatt, I really do.

The next fun party we went to was the party for the residents and staff at Jake's work. Micah was dressed as a puppy, because, well, if you've ever met Micah, you know that he IS a puppy. Jake was a dog catcher ("animal control officer"). Cute, huh?

There are no pictures of me (for what should be obvious reasons), but I was a black widow spider. I channeled my 7 year old self ("Going Buggy," anyone?), wore black leggings and tunic, filled black tights with stuffing, attached them to a black tunic, hung them from my arms, and then put a red hourglass cutout on my belly.

The boys (the little ones), were the hit of the party.

Micah's costume didn't stay on very long. He is a very sweaty boy. We don't usually require him to wear clothes.

Next up, the church party. Here are my boys in the parade.

After collecting some loot at the Trunk-or-Treat, we headed home, where the boys couldn't resist a little more time with the jack-o-lanterns. And a few more spooky Halloween songs.

Wyatt LOVED Halloween this year. He's finally old enough to really get into holidays and special events. He's only just stopped requesting and singing Halloween songs. Its so fun to watch him get excited about it. He's since transferred his excitement to Christmas, which he is even more pumped about. We can't wait!

The Stewart Family Comes to Visit

My cousin Jeff (and Jake's bff) and his family came up to visit us two weekends ago. They were here for three days, two of which were rainy. Boo. But that's San Francisco for you.

We met them in Santa Cruz the first day, and hung out there, letting the kids bark like sea lions while Kim and I tried not to throw up from the horrible smell. Sea lions stink. That afternoon, back at our place, we went down to the tidepools where Christian caught a sea star and brought it back to our house. Where it is still drying/dying in our front yard. Thank you, C. Its a nice addition.

Sunday was nice to just sit around and catch up. Our kids totally entertained each other downstairs holed up in Wyatt's room. Wyatt absolutely adored Christian and followed him everywhere. Everything Christian said or did just cracked Wyatt up. They just couldn't get enough of each other. Pretty cute.

Monday we went to breakfast at our favorite local restaurant. It got a little wild with 5 kids under the age of 4, but still fun. Afterwards, we drove up to the city to see some sights. We went to the Golden Gate Bridge, drove down Lombard Street, went to Fisherman's Wharf, took a bay cruise, and finished up the fun at Ghirardelli Square for some ice cream.

It was so fun getting to hang out with our friends again, we miss living near them. Hopefully they'll come back soon! And here is an invitation to anyone else who wants to come visit: Please come visit us! We love having visitors!

The foul-smelling Sea Lions of Santa Cruz:

At breakfast:

Brothers:

Wyatt wanted to do everything Christian was doing:

Can you feel the love?

Even on his day off, he can't stop working. He and Jeff were doing this all day.

This is a video from the bay cruise. Sixty minutes of complete and overwhelming nausea. I wanted to die. But instead, I sat down on the deck and focused on deep breathing and keeping my clam chowder in my stomach. People kept having to step over me and I know I ticked a lot of people off, but I couldn't get the strength the stand up and go inside. Plus, when I finally did go inside, it didn't really help matters.

Helpful tip: Turn off your volume for this one, the sound is LOUD and windy with obnoxious soundtrack music.

This last one was taken while we ate ice cream. It has nothing to do with ice cream. The only reason it is included is because I think Micah is cute. I could just eat those cheeks for breakfast. :) And yes, Micah does have a shiner. He was flopping and going crazy at church (the usual) and smacked his face on the pew in front of him. Two weeks later the bruise is just starting to fade.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Finally, the Hawaii post. I know I promised this post a while ago, but blogspot hates me. I have attempted several times to get these pictures loaded, only to get multiple error messages resulting in me cursing and banging my head against the computer keyboard. Well, the blogspot gods finally smiled on me, and I got the pictures loaded. So without further ado...

Back in September, Jake and I took a slightly belated 5th wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii. Our anniversary was in March, but because of work, we weren't able to get there until September. We (mostly me) had been planning this trip since Micah was born (dreaming of Hawaii got me through many colicky nights when Jake was out of town for weeks at a time). It was fabulous and exactly what this pregnant girl needed.

We stayed in Maui for a week. I had been having some major anxiety about leaving the kids for a week (although they were the most capable of hands with Jake's wonderful mother and sister...thank you again Laraine and Hollie! We owe you big time!!!), and when I am anxious about one thing, I get anxious about everything else. Which resulted in a minor panic attack on the airplane. Not at all embarrassing. I swear I get more and more neurotic and weird the older I get. Or maybe its just the pregnancy hormones. Yeah, I'm going with that. Anyway, our first stop after arriving in Maui was here:

What can I say? We love Costco.

This was the view out our room. Beautiful. I loved waking up to this every morning. So peaceful and gorgeous.

We drove the Road to Hana. We stopped at several places along the way, swimming, hiking, eating, hanging out on various beaches.

The water in all these waterfalls and pools was pretty chilly. Jake was brave and went swimming in all of them. I only went in the water in a few of them.
This is a black sand beach. It was stunning. A long time ago, when there was lava being flung into the water, it turned into rock upon hitting the water, and that's how these black sand beaches are formed. Or something like that. I had a few embarrassing moments here. It looks peaceful enough from here, but the waves were pretty strong. Also, most of the "sand" is actually rocks. Smooth and round. The waves were pounding, and while trying to come in from the water, I could not grip the bottom with my feet. Jake had on water shoes, so he had no problem getting a grip, but I kept getting knocked over on my butt, or hands and knees. Jake kept trying to pull me up, but I just could not. I was laughing so hard (as were several people on the beach. Can you blame them? I mean, I was laughing at other people when they couldn't stand up.). Can you imagine the sight? A 7 month pregnant lady who keeps getting knocked over by the waves in 3 feet of water? It was awesome.
This is the view from the other side:
I am intrigued by banyan trees. This was on the walk down to some pools off the Hana highway.
We did some snorkeling:


These are from the Luau:

More snorkeling pictures. One of the days we were out, we saw two sea turtles and a bunch of eagle rays. My two favorite animals.
This picture is kind of blurry, because its from far away, but thats a turtle swimming next to Jake.

This is the Nakele blowhole. It was pretty awesome. The water comes in from a hole on the side of a lava formation, goes through a tube, and then shoots up out of this hole, the water sometimes spraying as high as 70 feet. We got completely soaked.

Okay, I loved this so much, I even put up the world's most unflattering picture of myself just to show you how cute it was. The lava rock in the area has been eaten by seawater, making really crazy jagged formations. It looked like we were on a different planet. And this hole was formed somewhere along the way. Awww. I love it.


We had a great trip, lots of relaxing, eating delicious food, lounging, getting massages, eating shave ice, watching surfers, seeing sights, and generally enjoying our time off. It was such a nice vacation. We can't wait to go back!