Williams' by the Bay: August 2012

Here we are - mid bay area summer (yes, for those of you that don't live here.... summer weather continues until about mid-October... ready to move here yet?!?) and we are having loads of fun. So what has happened since my last post... hmm.... here goes.

We are settling into the house and area nicely. I can't believe it but we've been here 2.5 months already. It's been great. Probably the hardest transition for me out of everyone... Joe is loving the short commute, the kids can't get enough of the yard and all of our outside time, but I of course miss my peninsula friends and locales. If I was working (outside the home, I caught myself before any of you other SAHM's mutter to yourself while reading this, "taking care of kids is a JOB, lady!") it'd probably be easier since I'd have that same network in place every day. But my days are filled with kiddo activities and I had found some pretty fabulous people to do them with in San Mateo. Also had a lot of great spots we loved to go. The places I miss less than the people. Our playgroup was great, the mothers club board I sat on, etc... Anyway, the good news is that I've met some people down here and have jumped right into the local mothers club, neighborhood watch, etc. Of course I couldn't handle living here more than a month and not knowing everyone that lives around me :)

So, summer has been filled with lots of birthday parties.... let's see... Bella turned 3, Gavin turned 3, Jackson turned 13 (yes, we have a friend that now has a teenager, that makes us old!), Sofia turned 3, Gavin #2 (yup, we've got 2) turned 3... Cody turned 2.. shoot, am I missing someone? I feel like I should be getting a lot more rewards dollars from my toys r us club now that I listed everyone and am thinking about my many nights trolling the isles searching for gifts the night before the parties (because buying them any sooner would mean I was well organized). I've outed myself here... but if any of these kids parents looked at the dates on the gift receipts, they'd know my shameful secret anyhow. I'm not alone - I see the looks of shame on people faces 2 minutes to closing time buying the gifts, gift bags, etc... at least I have the stash of gift bags, cards, and tissue paper at home.. I've kind of got it together, right?

The kids... Claire is a beast! She's currently 8.5 months old. She starting crawling about a month ago (7.5 months) and is now flying through the house making us crazy! She can pull herself up onto just about anything and I'm fairly certain she'll be walking by 9.5 months. Some parents think this is great, they think their kids are "advanced". I find this, especially since we already have one mobile monster, to be a bit annoying :) Why can't she just sit there for a few more months?! We are definitely loving watching her grow. It's so interesting to see the girl vs. boy development. She is so thoughtful about everything. Gordon did and still does just do things. Not much thought behind it.... just do it. He doesn't go around stuff, he goes through it. Claire looks at stuff, assesses the situation and makes a decision. They're smarter than boys out of the womb. She throughly enjoys terrorizing her brother. She steals toys, pulls hair, all sorts of fun stuff. Gordon has yet to figure out that he is much bigger than her and could easily steal the toys back.. for now it's just funny to watch. Babbling has started, we're getting a lot of dadada and bababa.. I'm still waiting on the mama. Still just 2 bottom teeth but I'm sure more are soon to come. Thankfully neither of the kids is too bothered by teething so we never really know when it's happening until they sink one of the new ones into our fingers.

Gordon... well, I can't believe my baby is going to be 2 in one week. Man this has flown by. He is so much fun. Words are really flowing, 3-4 word sentences are starting to pop up here and there (not that we can understand all 4 words every time) and he's just generally loving life. He is obsessed with trains, trucks, cars, water, and pretty much anything with wheels on it or that makes loud noises (but not too close to him, of course.) Current obsession is monster trucks. I'm sure Joe is going to love when he requests to go to a monster truck rally..ha! Budweiser and cowboy hats here he comes. Oh - he has somewhat of an interest in the potty.. hasn't actually used it, but loves to sit on it and say poo poo or pee pee. Also, he found great fun in turning my bidet toilet seat into a waterpark in our bathroom. You can imagine my excitement when I found him in there splashing in puddles and using the bidet stream as a drinking fountain. And here I was excited that he was playing with his trains so quietly by himself... I should have known. You got me once Gordon... He's about half way through his swim lessons and is really doing well. He jumps in, goes under with no problem and is making progress with kicking. Right now he's in the parent/child class but they've approved him to enroll in the 3 year old class that is just child/instructor so that's next up. He's discovered Curious George and we had our first family movie night a week ago - all curled up on the sofabed and ate some popcorn while watching Curious George 2 aka "monkey movie". It was a hit.

What else... we've been exploring some local parks in San Jose, Los Gatos, and even made it to Gilroy Gardens once so far. We are loving our membership to Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose... the best toddler amusement park ever! Rides that they can go on alone? Yes please!! Gordon and I even got to ride the roller coaster over this last weekend since Joe came along and could hang out with Claire. The kid is fearless! Not many 2 year olds are tall enough to be allowed on, so I'd say he was one of the younger riders - I was impressed! We had a fun beach day in Santa Cruz with Maris and Fia (minus the CRAZY 2 hour drive home in traffic!!), a day at the Emma Prusch Farm also with Maris and Fia... and lots and lots of mornings at local parks. One more Fia activity - we went with Tom and Maris to Roaring Camp Railroads and road the choo choo. Such fun! It was the Day Out With Thomas event so lots of extra fun Thomas stuff to play on.

My garden has been going crazy. Me, the person who can't even keep a basil plant alive, has managed to produce real food. Like enough to make meals and even share with friends!! I know, shocking. I've got yellow zucchini squash, papaya pear squash, tomatoes, Japanese eggplant, red and green peppers, onions, basil, parsley, and the beginnings of a huge crop of spaghetti squash growing. Joe attributes my success to the built in irrigation system in my raised garden bed. I attribute it 100% to me being an amazing gardener. I'm like a plant whisperer. OK, it's most likely the whole consistent water thing....but whatever, the point is that we have lots of yummy, organic, FREE food in our backyard. I have BIG plans for next year.. more plants, another raised bed, chickens (if I can convince Joe) and more. I'm telling you... once we have enough money saved to put solar panels in we are going to be off the grid and self sustaining!!! Next stop, no shoes, bra-less, and dreadlocks. Kidding.. about the no bra thing at least :)

I'm now attempting to "get on the wagon" and lose some baby weight so there have been many visits to the YMCA. It's a great family spot and they have FREE child care when you work out!! Awesome. What is not awesome is that my kids have not allowed me to fully take advantage of this service. I typically get about 20 minutes into a workout only to see the look of dismay on the face of one of the Kids Club staff standing in front of my treadmill to tell me that one of the kids is losing it. First it was Gordon... he wasn't into me leaving him. Claire could have cared less. A few massive snotty nosed, can't-catch-my-breathy meltdowns and Gordon was great, loved playing with the kids, started really digging the idea of mom being gone.. I figured I was home free. Next thing I know, we walk in, Gordon runs right in to play with his "friends", I go to do the hand off of the baby and the very, very bad face immediately shows up. It's that face that you see and know it is far, far worse than an immediate cry. The kind where she's revving up, thinking about just how pissed she is so that in about 10 seconds when that first wail comes out, oh boy, it's a doosie. But, I stay strong (she's #2 - please, no more heartache for me!) and walk out giving the staff a big "Don't worry, you guys are great, she'll cheer up in no time" pep talk. "Nothing a little peek a boo and fruit squeezy can't cure" I say... HA! 16 minutes and 45 seconds later, there's that face in front of my treadmill again. I've now just resolved to smiling, saying "which one is it this time" and heading back like I'm being walked to the principals office. The good news is the staff is super nice. They just keep telling me that in just a few more tries we'll be there. I will believe it when I see it. Until then, I shall accept the fact that it may be a few more months of some unwanted poundage hanging around. It just becomes hard to justify the inner tube that is now my stomach as "baby weight" when the "baby" is almost walking. Oh well... that's way stretch pants were invented.

OK - what else... Oh, Grandma and Grandpa (AKA, Doug and Eileen) made their way to CA for a visit. Gordon and Claire loved spending lots of time with them and Joe and I LOVED our first official night away together since we had Gordon. I cannot count the night I spent in the hospital when I had Claire... even though it did almost feel relaxing to only have a newborn to worry about. We didn't do anything too crazy.. in fact, we were in bed with takeout cheesecake by 10PM. But, oh, was it nice to just worry about us and wake up when we wanted (which is now 6AM anyway, yuck!!!) We stayed at the Marriott downtown San Jose... only about 10 minutes from home, but they had a pool, restaurants in walking distance, and most importantly, a room that didn't have small terrorists running around destroying it. It was really nice to walk to dinner and not have to ask for a high chair or ask for more napkins, yet again, as you get judged by the waiter who sees that your toddler has now spilled his water for the 3rd time and your baby is throwing 80% of her food onto the floor. We do love that life, but wow, it was nice to have a night of freedom! Made us realize just how nice it would be to have grandparents that lived nearby.... we are officially jealous (as if we weren't before) of our friends that have the luxury of grandma and grandpa overnights.

We finally managed to have our garage sale last weekend. Purged a lot of stuff which felt really good... donated the rest to charity and will be donating some of the $ from the sale to charity and some to the charity of Gordon's birthday party fund.

I think that about sums up our last month or so. On the horizon - we are doing a short trip to Portland in late September.. just a few days where we'll stay at Danielle and Jason's house with Aunt Cecelia and Uncle Dan while they house sit and then get to spend the last 2 days with D and J when they return. We are so excited to see UD and AC and are very excited to see our (very jet lagged, I'm sure) West Coast family. Joe's high school friends Nicole and Adam are due with their first baby while we'll be there so we're hoping to meet the munchkin!! We're also eager to see Susan, E, and Niko.... it appears Niko may have a little baby crush on Claire. We'll see how that goes... Joe strictly enforces his no sharing cribs with boys rule and doors must remain at least 1/2 open during co-ed playtime. Michigan in October is still up in the air. Joe has been very busy with work and school and we're just not sure if he'll be able to swing it. I'm debating coming with the kids without him, we'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks. Maybe one night after one too many glasses of wine I'll decide I'm crazy enough to fly for 5 hours with both, by then fully mobile, kids. Then comes holidays... man this year has gone fast. We'll be celebrating both turkey day and xmas here unless something exciting comes our way. We could be convinced to go to Tahoe or do something else close and cheap if other friends are family-less for the holidays. Also, Claire's 1st bday is on the horizon. Once I get through Gordon's 2nd Birthday/Housewarming Soiree next weekend I'll start thinking about things for her. It's so nice now that we have room to entertain to be able to have the parties at the house... lugging stuff to a park is so much work!!

OK - I've successfully procrastinated trying to make a construction wreath for G's party so I better get back to work.

Hope everyone has enjoyed the last few weeks - stay cool and soak up that sun before it goes away!!