Respite.

We continue with our Hand, Foot and Mouth, and it continues to suck. Naps are short, night sleep is terrible, mom is slowly losing her mind.

But we did have a brief break from the fussing yesterday, when Tim went to the hardware store and came back with a baby pool. He was the hero of the day, and our little bathing beauty was so excited to splash splash for her Mimi and Paw.

Having some tea with Mimi

Ah yes, that's the ticket.

The Plague.

Whelp, Ellie sure does know how to have fun on a holiday weekend.

Yesterday morning Tim headed down to San Diego for a nerdy cousin LAN party (ie: playing video games together nonstop while drinking Red Bull and eating chips) and I headed out to Balboa Island, where a friend of mine was borrowing her parents' fabulous house. Leslie had invited Cara and I and our husbands and babies to come and spend the weekend. I was unsure about having Ellie sleep overnight someplace without Tim around, but I knew we would have a fun Saturday playing with the other babies (and drinking with the other moms.)

We got there around 10 and after everyone got arrived and settled, we headed out to lunch. Ellie was happy as a clam when I loaded her into the Ergo carrier, but when I got home to change her diaper, her entire torso was covered in a red rash, as well as her hands, feet and mouth. Considering her friend Lexi came down with hand, foot and mouth disease last week, I was pretty sure I knew what I was dealing with. And then when she woke up from her nap, she was also running a fever, so it was a pretty easy diagnosis from the nurse on call at the doctor's office. Poor little Bug.

So after unwittingly exposing Penelope and Clare, we figured we'd stay the rest of the afternoon as planned, especially because there's nothing much to be done for HFM. It's a common virus, so the key is just to push fluids and watch the fever. But within a few hours, everything seemed to result in a lot of crying, so we packed up and headed to Gigi's. Ellie perked up with her grandparents, and it gave me a chance to run to the grocery store to buy supplies recommended by mom friends on facebook - mostly popsicles and pedialyte just in case Ellie got mouth ulcers.

Thankfully, she's been mostly an angel. Just a rashy one. She slept great last night - only woke up once, at 5am. I curled up in bed with her, where she informed me "Lulu sleep mama pillow" and then we both passed back out until 8am. Took a nice long walk this morning, and now she's napping again.

The other good news is that between Lexi, Ellie, Penelope and Clare, we have a plenty of places to go for play dates this week, since I can't really take her to swimming or music class. We'll make our own baby leper colony!

Amusing.

Hey, who wants some dip dip? You can just CRAM IT IN YOUR PIEHOLE.

Looks like someone is not "mom enough" to handle cosleeping with all of her babies. No attachment parenting for you, kid.

Monday/Wednesday Walk and Park.

Jonathan, Elizabeth Rosemarie (E1) and Elizabeth Layton (E2). They are quite the fun little trio.

Too Grown Up.

This morning we went for a lovely walk, and on our way home, stopped and talked to my kitty corner neighbor, who is an 81 year old Southern lady who I can't believe I haven't gotten to know sooner. She is a HOOT. She lives alone (though her daughter lives nearby) and bought her house when it was new. It has a pool, and she insisted that we come and try it out. Ellie was happy to oblige her by skinny dipping while Miss Mary and I chatted. I foresee more visits this summer.

So when we got home it was time for a bath, of course. Afterwards, I was combing Ellie's hair, and as she sometimes does when I'm fixing her up, she asked for a boinger. I told her that I could try doing TWO boingers, and she was very excited about this possibility.

Folks, I am absolutely dying over here. When did she get so big? The pigtails instantly transformed her from a baby into a little girl. I don't know that I'm quite ready for it.

Pushy, Pushy.

Ellie and Clare at Mr. Pickles, plotting their escape. Once the cookies are eaten, they don't have time to sit around and chat.

Six Remaining.

Our little friend Ellie is cutting her two bottom canines and ornery as heck today. The good news is that once those babies are in, she only has six more teeth to go. I loathe baby teeth. I can't believe someday she'll want money in exchange for those pieces of junk. I am going to make HER give ME money.

We managed to keep her close to the edge of sanity today through lots of outdoor play. Can't stop to complain about your teeth if you're busy on the slide I guess.

And this morning we spent our time getting a little fresh air at the Pre-Eclampsia Foundation's Promise Walk. We were walking in memory of Fluff and Jasmin's son "Blue," who was born in 2010 at only 24 weeks because of Jasmin's pre-eclampsia. They did the Promise Walk last year too, and said it was a nice way to celebrate their son's life and raise awareness about pre-eclampsia. Sadly though, they weren't able to join us because their baby Lucas has been in and out of the hospital since he was born, with digestive issues. He was having intestinal surgery today, and thankfully has been given a good prognosis. The little sweetheart is a fighter, and I know he's got his brother keeping an eye on him. Tim and I are hoping to see them and keep Lucas company in the hospital later this week.

But today, we were happy to walk in Blue's honor, along with Fluff's best friend Alfredo, his wife Denise and his sister and nephew. We were a small but mighty team! And as you can see, Ellie was fussing about her mouth (and her desire to swim in the fountain behind us.)

Two Funnies.

1. Today for lunch I made Elizabeth a peanut butter sandwich. The other day when I made myself a turkey sandwich she basically begged for an entire piece of bread, so I ate an open faced sandwich while she ate one slice of whole grain bread. To try to get some actual good calories into her, I took her piece of toast and smeared it with some peanut butter (chunky, of course. Smooth peanut butter is useless.) I plopped her in her high chair and worked on my own turkey sandwich in the kitchen. When I came back, she'd used her teeth to scrape most of the peanut butter off, and then looked at me and asked for more sandwich. Total waste of bread!

2. Then we moved on to folding laundry. I asked her to help me, and she certainly was a helpful little sprite. While I folded Tim and I's clothes, Ellie took her own clothes out of her laundry basket, told me what they were, and then put them back in. She was happy to do it until I finished my entire job, which is HUGE. She didn't try to climb on the bed or unfold socks or scream at me. Just clothes in the basket, clothes out of the basket, clothes back in the basket. She actually cried when I scooped her up and told her it was time to take a shower. Now if I could only have her figure out how to actually fold.

Balloon Animals.

Granny Janny let Ellie take her Mother's Day balloon home with her after knitting today, and hilarity and joy ensued.

Octomom

Or alternately titled: Babies Having Babies. Lots 'o Babies.

Happy Mudders Day, You Mudder.

I personally, have had a lovely day, and I can only hope the main mamas in my life have had one as well. We started the day going for a walk with Gigi down to the ocean. Originally, we decided NOT to bring E's bathing suit and a towel, figuring it was too cloudy and cold to let her run around in the water. But then we got there, and we couldn't resist, but we had to make sure she didn't get soaked, because we didn't have any supplies for cleaning her up (or even a second diaper.) She spent the rest of our walk home talking about the ocean, the shells, and the rock she threw. She and Gigi are now prepared to have a fabulous summer at the beach.

Afterwards, we went back to Gigi's, did some beading, petted some cats, and then I took Elizabeth home for a nap, got cleaned up, and then Sara and I took mom out to the Hat for a delicious pastrami sandwich and onion rings. I was amazed at how quiet the place was - don't people love their moms! Moms love pastrami! I mean, I am a mom. I love pastrami.

We got to take a few cute pictures with everyone when we got back to the house.

And then it was off to Mimi and Pa's house for more mothering fun! We had a trip on the duffy boat, where Ellie saw plenty of ducks and even a few puppy dogs riding on boats.

Tim and Jake and I picked up sushi for dinner, which we all enjoyed, along with a shortcake made by Tim himself! And then after a bath, Ellie helped Mimi open her special mail mail (Ellie LOVED being on special mail mail duty today, distributing cards.)

Beans refused to fall asleep on the way home, despite being exhausted. But she could not resist the power of some snuggling with mom, and so this is how my Mother's Day ended - absolutely perfectly.

I feel so lucky today, to have a beautiful, healthy, perfect little girl, a wonderful mama and a great mother in law who both live within a half hour's drive, a Grandma Rosie who we skype with on a frequent basis, and an Auntie Sara who would do anything for her little girl. All these ladies, big and little, make it wonderful to be a mommy (and Tim's not too bad too.)

Love and Baskebtball

This morning Sara and the Hawks basketball team had the regional games in Irvine. Her first game was at 10, which was perfect timing for Itty Bitty and I to attend.

For reference, at Sara's last basketball tournament:

She did not watch much of the action, as you can see.

This time, she was all about basketball. She happily sat in Gigi's lap through the first game, yelling variations of "Sara" "ball" and "swish." It was absolutely adorable.

In between games we ran around outside, got a sticker from the police officers, walked by the pool and were generally the cutest girl ever.

When it got hot outside, she contented herself with crawling up and down the bleachers.

 

We sadly did not get any pictures of E and Auntie Sara together, because she only made it halfway through the second game. Then the meltdown began, and so I strapped her to my back and headed back to the car. She was asleep within seconds once we got to her room!

Friday Night Lights.

The Beans.

I hope you have enjoyed all of the photos lately - here's a little update as to what Beans is up to, lifewise.

-We continue with the swimming lessons, in preparation for an entire summer spent at Jeff Thiel's underwater academy. She has really calmed down in the water, after screaming during back float time all winter. Not quite to floating on her own, but close. She glad puts her face in the water to blow bubbles, and goes underwater happily and comes up with an enormous smile. She will also splash and kick on command.

-She has a memory like a steel trap, which means that she continues to bring up the fact that I spilled a soda on Sunday. No spill is beyond her purview, and she doesn't seem to comprehend that once everything is cleaned up, it's okay to let it go. Nope. All day long it's "mama agua kaboom!" or "baby La hat kaboom." 

-Is back to playing with her babies nonstop. Now she can fit three dolls in her arms, and so will carry them all around the house

-She's finally starting to count to three. A week ago, everything more than one was two, but now three is actually three. However, she will usually say two, and then I'll ask "how many babies?" and then it's three. Sometimes when we are counting, she'll count along with us, which is sort of unbelievable to me.

-She's also getting slightly better about sitting in her high chair for meals. Yogurt is still her favorite food, but she also loves fruit (strawberries and blackberries in particular) and some vegetables (edamame and peas are big favorites.) Chicken, turkey, cheese, all delicious to her, as is bread. She is very much my child. 

-Always picking up new words, and also, beginning to use words instead of sounds (example: for months she has called dogs "woof woofs." This morning on our walk, she was saying "puppy dog.")

-Adores her friends, Baby La, Baby Claire, Baby P, Baby Jax. She also has her friend Elizabeth, who she calls "Baby Issbith." But of course, if you ask Elizabeth Rosemarie her name, it's still Itty Bitty.

Do Whatever You Want, Kid.

I'm a sign, not a cop.

People Let me Tell you 'Bout my Best Friend.

People let me tell you 'bout my best friend
She's a warm hearted person who will love me til the end

Cause she's my best friend
Yeah my best friend

 (Ellie and Lexi, post music-class.)

It's been a busy 24 hours. Today we had Mimi join us at music class, which was very fun, even if E was being a stinker and refusing to sit in Mimi's lap. Mimi did get to experience first hand how Ellie loves the songs, even if she sits the entire time being wide eyed and frightened looking (though that's not totally true, she was very interested in getting up and drumming.) We had some coffee and a lovely lunch date, and then there was some book reading before Ellie went down for a nap.

I am about to take me a nap too - we were up late and then up again early because Thor spent the night at the emergency vet. We came home from Taco Tuesday last night to find piles of barf in the house, and Thor laying in the dining room panting and wailing and obviously in distress. So off to the vet we went (which only distressed him more.) At first they thought it might be a liver problem, but additional bloodwork revealed that his levels had normalled out. As far as the vet can guess, Thor may have been bitten or stung by something, and hence the sickness and the liver reaction. Thankfully though, it's nothing serious and we don't need to follow up. Thor still had to spend the night getting fluids and antibiotics, and I picked him up at 7am, smelling of the vet, and with a hot pink bandage covering where they'd shaved his leg for the IV. The vet and the nurses were incredibly nice to our sweet, stupid boy, but we're happy to have him back this morning. I am ESPECIALLY happy that even though he smelled weird, Lulu did not freak out on him (nor did he freak out on her.) Life is back to normal, except for Thor's weird shaved leg (and my sad pocketbook.) We did find out that his hips are showing signs of arthritis. He always seems like such a young cat man, but he's already 7, and fully into mid-life. He needs to get him a damn job!

Tuesday Morning

Don't worry, we went and found Lulu.

Balls and Babies.

We've had another fabulously busy weekend. Yesterday we played outside for a good portion of the day, both in our backyard, and at Gigi's house. Ellie's new favorite thing is balls, especially when she can chuck the ball down Gigi's driveway and then yell "no ball ball street! No street!" while one of us runs after the ball for her.

In response to this terrorist action, Gigi decided to pen Ellie in, like the small savage she is.

 

She is especially pleased when she gets to hold both balls in her fat little arms.

She also liked when her daddy helped her play "swish."

She did not enjoy when I tried  to take her picture with the flowers on the side yard. It must be like getting murdered. She also hates when Gigi tries to get her to call flowers by the proper name - she is all about calling them shells.

Today we had our friends Bob and Nancy over for lunch, with their baby Amelia, who is about two months old. She is just the sweetest little thing, and Nancy and Bob make great parents. Ellie was a little slow to warm up to the crowd (we had a couple more college friends over as well, and good ol' Jacob) but she loved "Baby Mie" from the start. I was holding Amelia so her parents could eat, and Ellie insisted she be held as well, so that she could take Amelia's hand. Looks like I am going to be a good mom of two someday.

 By the time everyone cleared out, E was desperately ready for a nap. I just wanted one quick picture of the boys with their girls, but Ellie wanted exactly NONE of it. Of course.

Etiquette Lesson.

Table Manners Edition.

Sequined Party.

I think this tells you just about all you need to know about how Becca's recent visit to the Southland was. Everybody loves sequins!

Not pictured: the way that Bec and I yap nonstop at top speed, ALL THE TIME. Our boyfriends are saints.