Several weeks ago I asked Makena what she wanted for Christmas. She said a bear. A few days later I asked her again and received the same answer, a bear. Not realizing what a bad idea this was, I asked her what color bear. She said purple.
Easy enough, right?
I started my Christmas shopping a few weeks ago. I wasn't stressed about finding a purple bear so that remained at the bottom of my list. Whenever I was in a store that carried stuffed animals I'd take a gander. This occurred a few times before I started to realize purple bears aren't as easy to come by as I originally thought.
This past Sunday I had the babysitter come so that Mark and I could go on a date. Realizing the time was slipping we decided to turn this into a purple bear finding expedition. Seven stores later we were still purple bearless. We did, however, find two. The first of which was a little bear in one of those vending machines with the claw--you know, pay $.50 to watch the claw wrap perfectly around the bounty only to have the tentacles slip off like cooked, wet spaghetti. This was at Toy's R Us and the bear was buried deep beneath a zoo of other animals. :) Mark found the manager who was dealing with his own zoo at the customer service counter. There were at least five customers in line with returns--on a Sunday night at 9:30. We decided to continue on--it was an ugly bear anyway.
The next one we found was at Target--it was a Care Bear though. For some reason, I don't like Care Bears. I don't know why. We bought this one just in case, but letting a purple Care Bear be the result of all of our efforts just didn't sit well with me. Nor did it with Mark.
Yesterday he called me from a store in San Francisco. He was back to bear hunting. He called from store number two, still without bear. I started another online search--we had done many of these but never found a bear worthy of the shipping cost.
That was until I tripped across this site: www.800bear.com. Here, I found Souffle. A beautiful, cuddly, purple bear. Shipping was only 1.5 times as much as the cost of the bear--a bargain compared to other websites. I placed my order which included the words/image for a personalized bib. We Love Makena! In the comments section I asked if it would arrive tomorrow? (please). Within seconds I received an email from Bruce indicating that it would. And, that Souffle is now extinct! We bought the last one!
Mark called to tell me that he was in a store with more purple stuffed animals than he has ever seen in his life. He found another purple care bear, but no real bear. He decided to get a purple racoon and a purple skunk to keep Souffle company.
Souffle arrived about 15 minutes ago--he/she/it is safe and sound waiting in his/her/its box until he/she/it can be placed under the tree with love.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
An Older Photo
This photo was taken at Big Sur when Makena was a month shy of two.
It reminds me of the photo that I posted of Kessler and Mark so I thought I'd post it as well.
It reminds me of the photo that I posted of Kessler and Mark so I thought I'd post it as well.
Chicken What?
Makena was wandering around chatting to herself as she does. I noticed that she was saying something over and over again--Chicken Butt. Chicken what? When Mark came home he noticed as well. He asked me what she was saying and I told him.. Chicken Butt. We decided to question her about it. She repeated what she had been saying, Chicken Butt. I asked where she had heard that. She said, "Goofy"--meaning Goofy said it in an episode of "Clubhouse Mickey"; that's her favorite show.
Okay, so she can't possibly be saying Chicken Butt then. There would be no reason for Goofy to say that. So, after dinner we headed upstairs to watch our dose of Mickey and sure enough, in a sort of tourette syndrome-like outburst, Goofy says, "Chicken Butt!" How surprising!
Saturday morning Makena came in our room to go potty. Mark was helping her--out of no where she looks at him and says, "Chicken Butt!" Later in the day she came up to him to tell him a secret.. she whispered "Chicken Butt."
Needless to say we can't help but laugh. Not just because it's a silly phrase but because of Makena's little devious giggle. She's quite the jokester!!
!
Okay, so she can't possibly be saying Chicken Butt then. There would be no reason for Goofy to say that. So, after dinner we headed upstairs to watch our dose of Mickey and sure enough, in a sort of tourette syndrome-like outburst, Goofy says, "Chicken Butt!" How surprising!
Saturday morning Makena came in our room to go potty. Mark was helping her--out of no where she looks at him and says, "Chicken Butt!" Later in the day she came up to him to tell him a secret.. she whispered "Chicken Butt."
Needless to say we can't help but laugh. Not just because it's a silly phrase but because of Makena's little devious giggle. She's quite the jokester!!
!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Kessman
Semblance of Sanity
There’s a lot to report on the Kessler front! First, there hasn’t been much sanity to go around in my little world. Kessler was waking up between 5:45 and 7:00 a.m. at the latest. Even at 7:00 a.m., I just wasn’t ready for it. I haven’t been sleeping well, so I thought I was just tired. Even still, Mark gets up at 5:30, so I should definitely be able to handle anything later. I finally realized it wasn’t just that he was waking up earlier than I’d like it was that he was waking up quite upset. Often times he wanted to be held, but not while sitting. The day just seemed to go downhill from then on. Anyway, I resolved to get up earlier than him so that I could be mentally ready for it. I did this for about two days and it was great. Then, Kessler started to get up later and later. For the last week he’s slept in until 8:00 most days. A few days I had to wake him up at 8:45 so that I could get Makena to school. AND, when he wakes up he starts talking and talking and talking. It’s so sweet. When I get him from his crib he’s so much happier. Mark and I were even able to sleep in this weekend—though neither of could, it was nice to have a lazy morning for a change. In addition, Kessler has started doing marathon naps, up to four hours at times. I cannot begin to tell you how much better this has made my life (more the sleeping in than the extended naps). I don’t think I’ve completely realized it all yet (I’m very slow that way).
Speaking of naps, two days before Kessler extended his from 45 minutes to four hours, Makena stopped altogether. I thought this was going to be a problem but Makena is so beautiful and it’s nice that she has sometime to play without Kessler jumping all over her.
Kessler’s First Haircut
First, I forgot to bring the camera to Kessler's haircut!! The good/bad thing was that he cried from the time we put him in his little red convertible barber seat until about the time we strapped him in his car seat. Mark and I had to hold him down nearly the entire time while the wonderful stylist quickly made him look like a little man. So, there wouldn’t have been any good photos anyway. Does that make you feel better? Not me. Oh well. Here is our little stud:
Can we breathe now?
With Makena it was easy to commit to having our new life with child resemble our old life without. We still ate and traveled just as always. It wasn’t as easy, and some times were far worse than others, but as a whole it was fine. We definitely felt that keeping her in practice was better than locking ourselves inside. With Kessler we have had to make some changes. This is partially because Makena isn’t completely self sufficient yet but also because he is quite a bit harder to handle. He doesn’t like to sit still for long and the simple distraction techniques that worked on Makena do not work on him. We’ve definitely curbed the traveling and we’ve stopped going to nicer places to eat. But, we still go out, often with dread. We decided to go to Monterey Bay Aquarium today. It took us about two hours to get there, but it wasn’t too bad. Makena and I went to get a sucker (she remembered having one last time we were there in July). Mark and Kessler went to the otter exhibit. We returned to find Kessler glued to the glass. He was pointing and twisting and “talking” away. He didn’t want to miss a thing. We stayed there for several minutes before deciding to move on. He cried and made it very clear that he did not want to leave. We took him to the next big exhibit with sharks, cod and eel, etc—same reaction from Kess. He absolutely loved it. He would point and look at Mark and babble with amazement. We were elated to see him so interactive. I'm hoping we've turned a corner and can start looking forward to trips out of the house again.
We went for a short walk after leaving the aquarium. It was raining pretty hard, but we had such nice day we didn’t want it to end. I had to put Makena’s jacket on so Mark and Kessler went ahead of us. Again..the sweetest thing:
This was taken a little later:
I'm so glad things are getting a little easier.
There’s a lot to report on the Kessler front! First, there hasn’t been much sanity to go around in my little world. Kessler was waking up between 5:45 and 7:00 a.m. at the latest. Even at 7:00 a.m., I just wasn’t ready for it. I haven’t been sleeping well, so I thought I was just tired. Even still, Mark gets up at 5:30, so I should definitely be able to handle anything later. I finally realized it wasn’t just that he was waking up earlier than I’d like it was that he was waking up quite upset. Often times he wanted to be held, but not while sitting. The day just seemed to go downhill from then on. Anyway, I resolved to get up earlier than him so that I could be mentally ready for it. I did this for about two days and it was great. Then, Kessler started to get up later and later. For the last week he’s slept in until 8:00 most days. A few days I had to wake him up at 8:45 so that I could get Makena to school. AND, when he wakes up he starts talking and talking and talking. It’s so sweet. When I get him from his crib he’s so much happier. Mark and I were even able to sleep in this weekend—though neither of could, it was nice to have a lazy morning for a change. In addition, Kessler has started doing marathon naps, up to four hours at times. I cannot begin to tell you how much better this has made my life (more the sleeping in than the extended naps). I don’t think I’ve completely realized it all yet (I’m very slow that way).
Speaking of naps, two days before Kessler extended his from 45 minutes to four hours, Makena stopped altogether. I thought this was going to be a problem but Makena is so beautiful and it’s nice that she has sometime to play without Kessler jumping all over her.
Kessler’s First Haircut
First, I forgot to bring the camera to Kessler's haircut!! The good/bad thing was that he cried from the time we put him in his little red convertible barber seat until about the time we strapped him in his car seat. Mark and I had to hold him down nearly the entire time while the wonderful stylist quickly made him look like a little man. So, there wouldn’t have been any good photos anyway. Does that make you feel better? Not me. Oh well. Here is our little stud:
Can we breathe now?
With Makena it was easy to commit to having our new life with child resemble our old life without. We still ate and traveled just as always. It wasn’t as easy, and some times were far worse than others, but as a whole it was fine. We definitely felt that keeping her in practice was better than locking ourselves inside. With Kessler we have had to make some changes. This is partially because Makena isn’t completely self sufficient yet but also because he is quite a bit harder to handle. He doesn’t like to sit still for long and the simple distraction techniques that worked on Makena do not work on him. We’ve definitely curbed the traveling and we’ve stopped going to nicer places to eat. But, we still go out, often with dread. We decided to go to Monterey Bay Aquarium today. It took us about two hours to get there, but it wasn’t too bad. Makena and I went to get a sucker (she remembered having one last time we were there in July). Mark and Kessler went to the otter exhibit. We returned to find Kessler glued to the glass. He was pointing and twisting and “talking” away. He didn’t want to miss a thing. We stayed there for several minutes before deciding to move on. He cried and made it very clear that he did not want to leave. We took him to the next big exhibit with sharks, cod and eel, etc—same reaction from Kess. He absolutely loved it. He would point and look at Mark and babble with amazement. We were elated to see him so interactive. I'm hoping we've turned a corner and can start looking forward to trips out of the house again.
We went for a short walk after leaving the aquarium. It was raining pretty hard, but we had such nice day we didn’t want it to end. I had to put Makena’s jacket on so Mark and Kessler went ahead of us. Again..the sweetest thing:
This was taken a little later:
I'm so glad things are getting a little easier.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Karma and such
I like the idea of Karma. Do good things and you'll reap the consequences in your next life, maybe even in this life. My only issue is it can make your intentions a bit disingenuous. A kind act toward someone can really be the result of selfish motivation. But, that's only a small flaw relative to the gain of people doing good for others.
I read another theory several months ago. Basically, according to this theory, all you have to do is believe you deserve something and you'll get it. It was more about attitude and positive thinking. I like positive thinking as well. I believe it can work wonders. But, this particular idea intrigues me.
It all links to Mark.
I'll ask you--how often does a '59 Cadillac come up in conversation around your home? How often do you see one? For us, it comes up a bit more frequently than it might in the average home. Mark dreams of getting one and fixing it up. This makes me laugh as we currently pay someone else to WASH our cars. Anyway, the subject might come up once or twice a year--not a lot.
Several months ago we were checking out a new dog park. We went home a different way and well, drove past a house with a '59 Cadillac sitting in the driveway. Many weeks later we went to the dog park again. Mark, having his dream revived from the last sighting, decided to drive by the house again to see the car, only it wasn't there this time. I mocked him, of course. After I was done mocking him, I decided to work on squelching his dream--explaining how he hates doing stuff with his hands. In fact, nearly every time time he's forced to do such work, he ends up calling the object a whore. Wouldn't he be happier with the unrealized joy he envisions?
No sooner than I finish the gist of my rant, a different '59 Cadillac drives by us on the freeway as if to say, "SHUT UP KELLY, you whore."
Moving right along. We have been contemplating a budget for months and months now. It's gotten a little more serious as of late. Mainly because of mint.com. It's an awesome website that reports particularly unawesome spending habits. It has revealed that we spend a lot of money at coffee shops. (I don't like coffee--read between the lines). So, I was discussing with Mark, how we needed to.. say, not go to Peets/Starbucks three, I repeat, 3 times a day.
Mark did not have a response.
Last week, the day after we discussed a possible coffee budget, he called to say he received some letter of recognition from the client, which included a gift card to Starbucks. Of course it did. He called back later that day to say the card ended up being empty so he had to pay for his fix. That lets him off the hook for that particular purchase. The client gave him a new card so he could start all over again at his next visit (in two hours).
Earlier this week Mark called to recount a story. He ordered his decaf coffee at Peets. They were out so they started brewing some more. Several minutes passed and Mark started to wonder about his coffee. He approached the cashier who shamefully realized that he had forgotten about Mark and his decaf coffee. To relieve his guilt, he gave Mark a voucher for a free coffee. Again, of course he did.
Later in the day I received another call. Mark proceeded to tell me about how he went to Peets to redeem his free coffee voucher. The same guilt-ridden cashier was there. He refused to accept the voucher. Instead, he gave Mark a free coffee, leaving the voucher for a future visit. Yep, of course!!!!
It's not as though Mark goes around giving people coffee or anything, so it can't be Karma. It's more like he has conjured up this lot of "in your face, Kelly" spirits who run around creating "this cannot be a coincidence" events that serve only to prove to me that Mark gets what Mark wants.
I read another theory several months ago. Basically, according to this theory, all you have to do is believe you deserve something and you'll get it. It was more about attitude and positive thinking. I like positive thinking as well. I believe it can work wonders. But, this particular idea intrigues me.
It all links to Mark.
I'll ask you--how often does a '59 Cadillac come up in conversation around your home? How often do you see one? For us, it comes up a bit more frequently than it might in the average home. Mark dreams of getting one and fixing it up. This makes me laugh as we currently pay someone else to WASH our cars. Anyway, the subject might come up once or twice a year--not a lot.
Several months ago we were checking out a new dog park. We went home a different way and well, drove past a house with a '59 Cadillac sitting in the driveway. Many weeks later we went to the dog park again. Mark, having his dream revived from the last sighting, decided to drive by the house again to see the car, only it wasn't there this time. I mocked him, of course. After I was done mocking him, I decided to work on squelching his dream--explaining how he hates doing stuff with his hands. In fact, nearly every time time he's forced to do such work, he ends up calling the object a whore. Wouldn't he be happier with the unrealized joy he envisions?
No sooner than I finish the gist of my rant, a different '59 Cadillac drives by us on the freeway as if to say, "SHUT UP KELLY, you whore."
Moving right along. We have been contemplating a budget for months and months now. It's gotten a little more serious as of late. Mainly because of mint.com. It's an awesome website that reports particularly unawesome spending habits. It has revealed that we spend a lot of money at coffee shops. (I don't like coffee--read between the lines). So, I was discussing with Mark, how we needed to.. say, not go to Peets/Starbucks three, I repeat, 3 times a day.
Mark did not have a response.
Last week, the day after we discussed a possible coffee budget, he called to say he received some letter of recognition from the client, which included a gift card to Starbucks. Of course it did. He called back later that day to say the card ended up being empty so he had to pay for his fix. That lets him off the hook for that particular purchase. The client gave him a new card so he could start all over again at his next visit (in two hours).
Earlier this week Mark called to recount a story. He ordered his decaf coffee at Peets. They were out so they started brewing some more. Several minutes passed and Mark started to wonder about his coffee. He approached the cashier who shamefully realized that he had forgotten about Mark and his decaf coffee. To relieve his guilt, he gave Mark a voucher for a free coffee. Again, of course he did.
Later in the day I received another call. Mark proceeded to tell me about how he went to Peets to redeem his free coffee voucher. The same guilt-ridden cashier was there. He refused to accept the voucher. Instead, he gave Mark a free coffee, leaving the voucher for a future visit. Yep, of course!!!!
It's not as though Mark goes around giving people coffee or anything, so it can't be Karma. It's more like he has conjured up this lot of "in your face, Kelly" spirits who run around creating "this cannot be a coincidence" events that serve only to prove to me that Mark gets what Mark wants.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Laying the ground work.
Mark and I wanted something sweet after dinner. After Plan A fell through (Mark's mom's chocolate pudding), I decided to use the recipe on the cocoa label, Ghirardelli Chocolate Fudge Cake.
I was pretty late serving it (it came out really well--particularly by my standards). Anyway, when we were all finished Makena asked for some milk. We have this rule, nothing to drink after X:00 so we don't have any accidents or midnight potty runs. (The variable in the time is because I can never remember what time I originally set as a deadline, so I make it up every night.) We were past that time. But, she did just have chocolate cake, so it would be a bit unreasonable not to let her have something to drink. I gave my approval and she asked Mark if she could have some of his. He obliged by tipping his glass to her lips.
When she was finished she said... "Oh no mommy!!!! Daddy gave me too much!!! Now I'm going to be soak and go potty!!! Oh no!! Mommy!!! Mommy!!! Daddy gave me too much!!! I'm going to be soak!!!" (Yes, soak, not soaked.)
Now, when she wets the bed, or more likely throws a nighttime potty party with everyone invited, there will be no one to blame but daddy. Well played Makena, well played.
I was pretty late serving it (it came out really well--particularly by my standards). Anyway, when we were all finished Makena asked for some milk. We have this rule, nothing to drink after X:00 so we don't have any accidents or midnight potty runs. (The variable in the time is because I can never remember what time I originally set as a deadline, so I make it up every night.) We were past that time. But, she did just have chocolate cake, so it would be a bit unreasonable not to let her have something to drink. I gave my approval and she asked Mark if she could have some of his. He obliged by tipping his glass to her lips.
When she was finished she said... "Oh no mommy!!!! Daddy gave me too much!!! Now I'm going to be soak and go potty!!! Oh no!! Mommy!!! Mommy!!! Daddy gave me too much!!! I'm going to be soak!!!" (Yes, soak, not soaked.)
Now, when she wets the bed, or more likely throws a nighttime potty party with everyone invited, there will be no one to blame but daddy. Well played Makena, well played.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Photos
This past Friday we had some photos taken by a photographer we heard about in our neighborhood. We met him at this really cool little vineyard in Livermore. We thought there was no hope of getting any decent photos because Kess was pretty fussy the whole time and Makena was shy much of the time. But, he sent us this link yesterday. He did a wonderful job.
Monday, December 1, 2008
How much is that doggie....
It never ceases to amaze me how both of our kids respond to kid's music. One day, ages ago, Makena was crying in the car. We tried everything to get her to settle, but nothing worked. So, we turned on a kid's CD that we'd had for ages. It worked like a charm. Now, why does the annoying CD featuring awful songs sung by kids who shouldn't be singing appease kids when music that makes me happy won't?
I thought this was just a Makena thing, but "Mary had a Little Lamb" has been working wonders on Kessler. There are several songs on this particular CD that I can't stand. One has to do with pigs saying "wee wee" instead of "oink oink" or something.. and they end up dying. Something bad happens to some kittens in another song. So, I spend a lot of time skipping songs.
Anyway, the other day I noticed that Kessler was making a "squeaking" sound. It's a sound he's made before. It took me a while to make the connection--he was barking. Actually, he was singing the part of the dog that's barking in the song "How Much is that Doggie in the Window."
The next time I played it for Mark--Kessler did the same thing. I took a video of him just hanging out listening to the track before "Doggie" so you can see it's not a fluke. I am including the whole video, even though I did a horrible job, because he's so damn cute.. looking out the window and picking up his milk.
I thought this was just a Makena thing, but "Mary had a Little Lamb" has been working wonders on Kessler. There are several songs on this particular CD that I can't stand. One has to do with pigs saying "wee wee" instead of "oink oink" or something.. and they end up dying. Something bad happens to some kittens in another song. So, I spend a lot of time skipping songs.
Anyway, the other day I noticed that Kessler was making a "squeaking" sound. It's a sound he's made before. It took me a while to make the connection--he was barking. Actually, he was singing the part of the dog that's barking in the song "How Much is that Doggie in the Window."
The next time I played it for Mark--Kessler did the same thing. I took a video of him just hanging out listening to the track before "Doggie" so you can see it's not a fluke. I am including the whole video, even though I did a horrible job, because he's so damn cute.. looking out the window and picking up his milk.
It has since occurred to me that another sound he makes is a fire engine. We are constantly pointing them out to Makena. And we used to always ask her what they "say". He's been making the sound for a while, but I never made the connection. He also says "diggadiggadigga". We always point out diggers. Amazing that he so smart and we're so stupid.
Speaking of "Mary had a Little Lamb"....
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