So let’s see what happened since I last posted…

Dana came over for lunch one weekday last week, and I went over to her place yesterday. I got to hear Jason talk! And he’s walking all over the place now.  I also went to two birthday parties … a birthday party barbecue for John (Happy Birthday John!) and a kid’s party for Alex (Happy 4th Birthday Alex!)

There were over 40 people at John’s weekday barbecue. Zachary had a good time playing tag and hide/seek with the other boys. While it was a fun party, it was missing a very important guest. Ginger, their golden lab, passed away earlier this month. May Ginger rest in peace.

On Saturday, we attended Alex’s birthday party. Instead of the typical pizza lunch, Sam (and Melissa?) made pork chops, mashed potatoes, and a broccoli/cheese dish. To thank them for the extra effort, despite pleads of “no gifts”, we gave Alex a big shark tent. It’s basically the focal point of their living room. I wonder if we’ll be invited to his 5th birthday party?

Saturday evening through Sunday, James’ parents came to visit. Zachary loved playing with the model trains.

Friday night, a group of friends and I went to The Kitchen. It was awesome, and I can see why weekend reservations are hard to come by. Dinner was a 7 course meal that spanned 4 hours, including a sashimi/sushi intermission in their patio area. The entrees are prepared in front of the 50 guests, like a dinner show, with commentary on cooking style and ingredients used. And you can wander around the restaurant, ask questions, make special requests. Yay Karen for snagging reservations! And yay Sam and James for being competent dads (they stayed home with the kids.)

My favorite was the duck entree… I had 2 plates of it. And a double dessert and an extra serving of soup! The sashimi was really fresh – and they had real wasabi (I previously thought wasabi was just prepared horseradish!) I think this is my favorite restaurant – and I need an excuse to go again!

Of course, no post is complete without pictures of the kids …

Calie’s 7 week pictures (plus a bonus picture of a diaper cake my friend Tamara sent!):

Calie’s 8 week pictures. She is super smiley – but she can also be very loud! She likes to be held all the time. And since I know this stage won’t last, I’m cuddling her as much as I can. She also loves the papasan bouncer on vibrate mode – it’s her favorite napping place (since it’s way too hot/sweaty to sleep in my arms.)

And last but not least, Zachary’s 4-year-old school pictures. How much would you pay for the ability to blackmail your child in the future? I’m thinking it’s a steal at $75!

This week was actually quite eventful for a family with a 1 month old! On Tuesday, I had my 6 week postpartum check up. My recovery was great, and I weighed in at 154 lbs. I’m down 25 lbs, but I still have 11 lbs to lose before hitting my pre-pregnancy weight. I’d have to lose close to 20 lbs to get to where I was pre-Zachary … we’ll see. I love food and will use nursing as my excuse as long as I can. Later that evening, we had friends over for dinner; the crock pot rib sandwiches turned out pretty good!

On Wednesday, I took Zachary to the dentist. He did okay … he gagged on the xray mouth piece so they weren’t able to get a clear look at his permanent teeth. They’ll try again in 6 months. He did endure the cleaning though – I could tell he was trying really hard to cooperate and not close or cover his mouth with his hands. No cavities – yea! The next day, I went out for lunch and walked around the mall with my friend Dana. I brought Calie (obviously), and she did pretty well. I think it helps that the weather has cooled down – our carseat can get pretty miserable in the summer heat. Friday morning, I volunteered to be a parent chaperone for Zachary’s class field trip to the park. I figured I’d volunteer now since it would be much harder for me after I go back to work. The kids were well behaved, but their constant talking and questions gave me a mild headache. I bow down to preschool teachers!

This weekend, I took Zachary to a Family Expo while James stayed home with Calie. The Expo wasn’t that interesting (lots of vendors and free samples), but there was a kids’ section outside with 2 bounce houses and a few games. Also, by attending, we received free admission to the local zoo. There was a train ride next to the zoo, and Zachary was so excited when he saw/heard it that we bought tickets and wedged ourselves into a car. Afterwards, we went to Sam and Melissa’s house for dinner – baked halibut, grilled vegetables, salad, and ice cream! As always, Zachary had a fun time playing with Alex and Dylan.

The unflattering train picture reminded me of a conversation I had with Zachary this week.

Z: Is there a baby in your belly?

Me: No.

Z: Why not?

Me: Because Calie got big enough, so she came out.

Z: Then why is your belly still so big?

Me: It is? (I mean, it IS … but I thought I was doing okay for 6 weeks postpartum)

Z: Yea. Maybe you ate too much.

Me: (Now I am annoyed) Zachary, it’s not like you have abs of steel. You have a big belly too.

Z: (Arches his back to push out his belly) My belly is SO big… (looks at his belly and then mine) it is ALMOST as big as yours … (arches back as far as he can … looks at my belly, then his) but NOT QUITE.

 ARGH… Waaah!

Today, Zachary went to Gavin’s Lego-themed, bounce house birthday party. Zachary had a great time! Happy 5th Birthday Gavin! James stayed home with Calie again. She’s starting to show a preference for me (which makes sense since I’m home all day with her … and I’m her food source) so James is trying to spend more time with her.

Calie is super smiley in the mornings. She loves looking at faces and is generous with smiles. She’ll sometimes even make hooting sounds when you talk to her, almost like a conversation.  Her mood does slowly degrade as the day progresses, but overall, she’s a happy/easy baby. She gets up only 1-2 times at night … usually midnight and 3am or just 3am. She’s a very efficient nurser (~10 minutes vs the ~40 minutes it took Zachary when he was her age), and will often “sleep in” until 7 or 8am. Signing off with some 6 and 7 week pictures … goodnight!

Last Sunday, we took the kids to get professional pictures taken. The photographer also does weddings and usually her pictures cost quite a bit (ie. $55 for a 8×10, $995 packages etc.)  However, she was doing a charity event, and we only had to pay $10 for a 8×10 … and the $10 went towards charity. The “catch” is that the photographs will also be used as advertisement at a local kids boutique. While it might bother some parents, I think it’s neat and will post a picture of the display when it’s up. We also went to Kiddie Kandids this weekend and dropped $150 on pictures for us and to send to our family. Quite a deal compared to buying sheets from a real (non-mall) photographer!

Last Tuesday, we had Sam/Melissa over for taco soup and leftover cake. Sam had this great idea where we’d informally take turns making dinners. So on Saturday, he made a Greek themed dinner, complete with baklava. And tomorrow, I’m making barbecue rib sandwiches. I’m obviously going to keep this going as long as I can – I’m trading crockpot dishes and sandwiches for gourmet meals.

Yesterday, Melissa, Karen, and I took our boys (and Nicole) to Color Me Mine, a pottery painting place. We decorated plates with our kids’ footprints on them. It was crowded, but fun; we’re thinking in the future, we’d want to keep the kids home with dad … kind of tricky to paint and keep an eye out on kids at the same time. Afterwards, we went to my house to make pizza for lunch. It’s nice to have friends with boys around the same age as Zachary!

Calie is back to being pretty easy … at least we know her pattern. She alternates between days with long naps and days with very short, fitful naps. And after a few miserable days of wanting to be walked, she’s back to being happy as long as we’re cuddling her. At least she has always slept at night – meaning, she still gets up 2-3x to nurse, but she goes right back to bed. As of last week (5.5 weeks old), she’s in a crib in her own room. So we’re very lucky in that respect! <knock on wood!>

Her “moon eyes” crack me up!

Just because all parents secretly do it. A comparison of kids…

Zachary at 1 month 12 days and Calista at 1 month 10 days:  

I craved a lot more sweets with my 2nd pregnancy, and I think the results are pretty obvious!  

This week, my friend Dana came over to spend the afternoon with me. She brought Indian food for lunch and made a pot roast with a side of string beans for dinner! Of course, no meal is complete without sweets, so she also brought cookies, grapes, and Baskin-Robbins icecream. Yummy – thank you Dana! Luckily, Calie was having a good day (long naps), so we were able to chat. And after Zachary and Calie went to bed, we stayed up to watch a movie.

Of course, all good things come to and end, and after 2 nights in a row of sleeping 7+ hours, Calie is now getting up every 2-3 hrs at night. And her fussy period (evenings) seem to be getting a lot worse. She hates being put down and will insist that someone hold her while walking at the same time. And walking in place does not count … not sure how she can tell, but she can.

This weekend, we had a “Welcome Calie” open house at our place. We served my mom’s meatballs over rice, salad, and a “Princess” cake from Ettores (the same bakery that made our wedding cake!) James’ dad brought over a train set, which was a huge hit.

Even though it wasn’t a baby shower, we ended up with a lot of gifts … I don’t think Calie will ever have to wear Zachary’s hand-me-downs. And speaking of outfits, Calie is now in size 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. Kind of sad, but also a relief, to know I’ll never have a tiny newborn again.

In terms of milestones, Calie is smiling and holding her head up more. And Zachary is 100% in underwear. Since my last post, he’s been dry every night. I’ve read about kids regressing when there is a new sibling, but it’s been the opposite for Zachary. He wants to differentiate himself from Calie, and takes pride in being a “big kid.” He’s also talking more because we can’t hover and predict his questions like we used to. He knows he has to talk to get our attention.

After Calie’s party, I took Zachary to his classmate’s bounce house birthday party. Zachary had a great time – throwing balls down slides, chasing his classmates, running through obstacle courses, and well … bouncing. Happy 5th Birthday Braden!

Happy 1 month to Calie!  We did it! That crazy difficult first month is over, and it’s getting easier every day.

Here are some 3 week pictures… now that we know for sure we have a girl, I bought some baby hair bows.

And some 4 week/1 month close ups… the consensus seems to be that her nose and mouth look exactly like Zachary’s, but she has a stronger brow ridge and larger eyes. She weighed in at slightly over 11 lbs.

This past friday, James and I invited some coworkers over to meet Calie. Twenty-four guests came over. We served sweet and sour meatballs (my mom made/froze them when she visited), salad, an artichoke dip, and some of my coworkers brought food as well.

This weekend, we went to 2 barbecues … hamburgers, sausages (the host allowed me to eat all the tips!), ribs, homemade lemon meringue… Thank goodness my diet hasn’t started yet!

Oh, and a Zachary milestone… this week, James told Zachary that he could get up at night to go potty. And since that conversation, Zachary’s been dry overnight for 6 consecutive days (knock on wood!) We never attempted or even talked to him about nighttime potty training before, because we figured it was easier to keep him in diapers. Then we had Calie, and we definitely didn’t want any additional reasons to wake up at night. We never realized that he could stay dry if he knew that was a favorable option. So there you have it. Lazy parenting at it’s best.