Weekend Recap

The boys all got a much needed haircut his weekend.  I've been meaning to take them a few weeks ago but things kept coming up and I kept putting it off.  Number 1, they don't like getting haircuts.  Number 2, the last time I took Mark to get a haircut, he screamed and struggled through the whole thing.  This time, I decided to take Mark to Pigtails and Crewcuts - a place specializing in kiddie haircuts with the hope that it will be a lot less painful.

And...it totally was! He did great.  I think the lollipop that we gave him had a little to do with it! I paid the same here as for the 2 older boys' haircuts at Great Clips, but it was worth every penny to not have to deal with the screaming.

"I'm not so sure about this...."

"Oh, what's this?"

"Mmmm..this is good.  Go ahead.  OK, you can cut my hair."

Here's the "after" picture. Isn't he the cutest little baby EVER?!

After I picked Matthew up from a birthday party, we stopped by Southlake Square because it was so nice outside.  Can you believe that it was 72 degree in January? Crazy. We went and got some Jamba Juice and hung out by the fountain at the Square. Michael was at soccer practice so he wasn't with us. It was so nice to be outside and not worry about Mark getting cold. What a great weekend!

Saturday Brain Dump

I’ve never really done a brain dump or maybe I brain dump all the time but never really associated to the term brain dump.  In any case I’m getting back to posting again. I feel like I’ve missed so many details and feel really bad about not being as diligent as I should be.  Here’s what I’m thinking now (I bet y’all can’t wait!)

On the Weather

The weather – hello, crazy TX weather.  This month we’ve had below freezing temperatures one week and near 80-degree weather the next.  I’m loving the mild temps and I’m so over the cold.  Actually, what I’m really over are the morning struggles with Matthew to dress appropriately for the cold weather – no, shorts and crocs or not OK for below freezing temps. This of course, always leads to some degree of meltdown. Super big sigh…

On Work

Work is going OK except for the crazy commute.  I seriously did not think this whole thing through.  It takes me at least 40 minutes every morning to get to work and at least 50 minutes each night to get home. And I miss my little munchkin at home.  I’m starting to think this might not be worth it.  I have a business development position and am expected to bring in a certain amount of revenue-hard to do when customers are leaving left and right due to issues not related to me. I think I might be over work soon.

On Matthew

Matthew is doing great in Quest and loves it.  His love for Minecraft borders on obsessive. When he’s not playing, he’s watching people play on UTube. He hot invited to a birthday party this Sunday and when I asked him if he knew the person who invited him he said “no.” The thing is, I’m pretty sure that he does because there are a lot of his friends going to the same party.  I RSVPed “yes” because I’m sure he’ll recognize the birthday boy when he sees him.  I think they were on the same lacrosse team.

Matthew also had a little accident on the long board and has sworn to never get on one again.  He fell off and scraped up his face pretty badly.  Poor guy. After that incident, Sarah asked one day he was going outside to ride the long board and his response was, “What do you think?” and walked away. My little special boy….

This was right after his long board accident.  Poor baby.

On Michael

Michael had so much soccer this last week! Between tournaments, practices and games, it’s been exhausting.  He had a great tournament win last weekend and even for me, it got pretty intense.  His team won 2 games on Saturday, lost the first game on Sunday. But because they had a shut-out on one of their Saturday games, they made it into the semi-finals.  WHICH WAS IN MCKINNEY! They won the semi-finals and had to play against the only team they LOST to on Sunday. It was such a very close game.  I couldn’t even sit down during the game because I was so nervous for them. In the end our Solar boys pulled out a nice 2-0 win!

And he’s been doing so well in school.  Last Wednesday, all his schoolwork came home with 100% on them, except for one that had 93%.  He knew that that was almost a Chinese “F.”  I am so proud of him!

On our way to the first game of the Tourney...

                                         

Semi-finals team intro

Game at Stampede. I think the score was 10-2. Go Solar!

On Mark

Mark has been so happy lately.  I think he’s getting the hang of being home with Sarah.  She has been taking him out for different activities and he seems to be enjoying them.  They go to 3 different story times at 3 different public libraries each week (if the weather is good) and then she’s been taking him to the park afterwards to play.  There are these 2 twin girls who Sarah refers to as his “girlfriends” because he’s always trying to hug and kiss them at the Southlake story time.  So cute. 

He’s also developed somewhat of a temper. The other night, I was eating some Oreos and I gave him some.  I didn’t want to give him too many bites, so I quickly finished it up and when he saw that it was all gone, he held his hands into 2 tights fists, clenched his teeth and started to scream. It was so hard for me not to laugh.  Then, I told him it was all gone and held the wrapper out for him to see.  He swatted at the wrapper and started crying and screaming. At one point he threw himself onto a pillow and looked so distraught that I busted up laughing.

At the park after story time at the Keller Public Library

At the Dallas Zoo

At the park after Southlake Public Library story time

On Being Thankful

I am thinking right now how blessed we are.  My family is healthy and happy.  Last year was so amazing – we were able to see my family more often than I had planned.  We took an unforgettable 2-week trip to Maui with my mom, dad, sister & her BF - one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. No one got seriously hurt or sick. We got to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas with my parents. And we have my in-laws right down the street (literally) who are always there for us if we ever needed anything.  Blessed beyond belief is what I feel right now.

Snow!

We got to see snow this Winter.  It was a bit of a surprise to wake up to the white stuff because the weatherman said that there was only a slight chance of some flurries.  Well, we got a little more than a flurry - not much more, but enough for it to stick for a little while. 

January 15, 2013

Happy 14 Months

This post was originally written on January 3.

Happy New Year!  And today my little man is 14 months.  He seems so much older.  Quick story before I go any further – Little man was hopped up on Mountain Dew last night and didn’t go to bed until 10:30.  He got hold of some when Adrian threw his drink in the trash.  Little booger snuck over and started chugging it.  Adrian said he had about 20% left of it left, but by the time Mark was finished with it, it was gone. He was one happy little baby, going around smiling with everybody

What a year it has been!  2012 was very good to us and we have been so blessed.  I’ll do a monthly review andvacation/Christmas round-up when I get some time and motivation, but for now, I’m just want to wish my baby a happy 14 months and a welcome in 2013.  

Mark,

You are getting to be a funny little man.  I love playing with you!  Just this month, you got 4 molars for a total of 8 teeth.  You’ve cut your bottles down to about 2 at night and you don’t even take the whole bottle anymore.  Sometimes you’ll suck on it a few seconds a whine for you nuk-nuk instead.  This is a good sign that’ll you’ll be off the bottle by 18 months.  Dr. Scott will be happy about that!

Your clothes size is anywhere from 9 months to 24 months depending on brand.  You are understanding so much of what we say to you know.  You love to watch the “Opa GanghamStyle.” You love to dance and bounce up and down when you hear music.  You do not eat baby food anymore.  You’ll eat most anything and only meat if it’s warm.  Tangerine is your new favorite food.  You love spaghetti, lasagna, and roasted chicken.  

I don’t really have any stats, but we weighed you in CA and you are about 22 lbs. You cousin Benjamin who is only 6 months old is 18 lbs, so I would say you are on the small side.

You are getting to be a little difficult to handle sometimes because you have your own opinions on what you want now.  It’s getting harder to distract you from doing something I don’t want you to do.  You’ve also started having meltdowns when you don’t get your way.

You still don’t sleep very well at night and wake me up every couple of hours.  I am tired all the time and running on fumes and caffeine most days.

But, oh my goodness, you can turn on the charm! You melt my heart when you small at me.  I rarely get kisses from you when I ask you for them-mostly because you don’t quite understand yet-but when I do get one, I feel like the luckiest mama ever.  I love everything little single thing about you.  Your wide mouth smile, your chubby little cheeks, your little teeth , your baby smell, your soft baby hair.  I love it and will miss every single little thing as you grow up and start to lose it all.

This was taken on Jan. 1, but it was so cute I had to include it!

Actual 14 month picture taken on Jan 3. Love those cheeks!

Christmas Recap - FINALLY

This year, we spent our Christmas with my family in CA.  I was hoping for nice, sunny weather but got cold and rainy instead.  Oh, and the boys were sick most of the time we were there.  Yes, all 3 of them.  What vacation would be complete without a trip to urgent care and lots of trips to CVS and Walgreens?

But we did get to do some fun things.  M and I had an overnight date in San Francisco before the kids got sick.  It was nice to be at dinner without the kids but I missed and kept thinking how much they would have if they were with us. So we had to plan a overnight city trip with them as well.  Once they got better, we drove with them to the City and stayed at the JW Marriot which was 2 blocks away from the center of Union Square.  We got to see the Macy’s Christmas displays and the HUGE Christmas tree at Union Square,

Michael was still feeling under the weather when we arrived, so we hung out in the room for a little bit.  When he started to feel better, I took them up the Concierge Lounge on the very top of the hotel and admired the beautiful view and had some appetizers – mostly bread. Haha.

I was so happy the my sister an d her BF were able to meet us up in the City for dinner!  And of course, the boys were ecstatic to see their Auntie and Jeff again.  We went to Morton’s Steakhouse.  Michael declared that it was the best steak he’s ever had besides the steaks at Kirby’s. Funny boy. 

We walked over to the St. Francis afterwards and Jeff and Sandi took Michael up on the glass elevator to see the city from 31 floors up after dinner.  Matthew decided that he didn’t want to go last minute. He’s like me when it comes to height and roller-coasters – don’t really feel the need to try them out.

The next day, we went to Pier 39.  On the way there, Matthew was obsessed with looking out for homeless people.  He was disappointed because he didn’t see as many as he excepted.  He kept saying, “Where are the hobos?  Bring on the hobos!”  We drove through Chinatown, saw Coit Tower, the TransAmerica Building, and drove by Lombard Street.  I would HATE to live on that street.  M wanted actually drive down the street, but there was line of cares 3-4 blocks down so we passed.  Can you imagine having to live there and deal with that and all the tourist foot traffic? Nightmarish!

We went to see the sea lions and we saw Alcatraz and the Golden Bridge from Pier 39.  Then we went and had lunch at a diner a Ghirardelli Square.  Of course, M had to have an ice cream sundae.  They boys must not have been feeling very well at that point because they didn’t even want any. Well, except for Mark.  M said he couldn’t feed him fast enough. Haha!

And the weather was so good to us when we were in SF.  Out of the week that we were there the only 3 days it didn’t rain were the days we were in the City.  It was still very cold, but no rain. Yay for that!

Matching Christmas jammies!

This was the best picture I can get.

The view from our hotel in Union Square

We went to Morton's Steakhouse for dinner.  Mark enjoying the bread.

The ginormous Christmas tree in Union Square (bad iphone picture!)

The sea lions at Pier 39.

Alcatraz in the background

Giant presents

This has nothing to do with Christmas, but I love this picture...