Growing up...

Yesterday Daniel attended his first day of preschool and Adam began his first day at daycare. It was Jay's last day of his "baby bonding" time off so we were both able to take the kids to their first day of a new chapter. We took their pictures before leaving home to mark the event. Both were happy and we set out for our big day!




The first stop was preschool, and the stage-fright immediately set in. Daniel was worried, nervous, and very cautious. I tried to get a big smile from him before entering the preschool, but as you can see, he was not so sure what to think about this brand new "big boy" experience. Once inside, he held onto our legs for approximately 25 minutes and kept saying he wanted to go home. Thankfully his friend Emma started the day before him, and was there to greet him. But he was still not letting go of our legs. All of the kids were playing outside and about 4 came up and introduced themselves to Daniel but he was still not budging. The teacher then brought over a box full of sidewalk chalk. I asked Daniel what color he wanted and he said he wanted "blue." Hallelujah, he spoke! I knew that meant he was finally warming up. Two seconds later, as I was drawing shapes for the two little other kids that were my new best friends, I looked up and Daniel was gone. He and Emma were chasing each other around the entire playground. Whew! I quickly gave him a kiss and hug, told him to have a great day, and off we went. I didn't cry, but was deep down a little nervous for him (although I tried to be as upbeat as possible).

Adam had a great day at his Auntie Abeer's. We were so comfortable dropping him off since we have known her for so long since she watched Daniel. Our only concern was Adam not sleeping anywhere else but home, but luckily he took two good naps - hurray! He played a lot on the activity gym and loves reaching for toys and rolling over! He has a little buddy named Ian that is 2 weeks older than him, and it is the cutest thing ever watching them stare at each other as they play on the floor.

When it came time to pick Daniel up, the staff said he did absolutely wonderful! Daniel seemed extremely happy and we treated him to Jamba Juice for being such a "big boy!" This morning was a breeze dropping him off. I unbuckled his seat belt and started to walk around the other side of the car to get Adam out and Daniel said, "bye mom, I'll see you later!" Like I wasn't going to walk him inside!?! Too funny.

Daniel's 4th Birthday

Almost a week late on this post --last Sunday was Daniel's 4th birthday! I can't believe my "baby" is now 4! Daniel had a blast at his party with an inflatable water slide, little pool for the younger ones, bbq'd lunch, and a yummy cupcake cake. He shared the day with wonderful family and friends. Daniel is obsessed with all of his new presents, including lots of Bakugan's (which was his party theme). He was also excited about getting more hot wheels, and as you can see loves laying out rows of cars in his playroom!

Adam is now four months old and is growing so fast! Yesterday, we all went to the fair and checked out the animals and of course treated ourselves to the greasy fair food - gotta love it!

La Porte

We had a great time in La Porte this past weekend. Arrived around 3:00pm on Friday and the weather was a little cloudy and cold. Jay bbq'd a yummy tri-tip, corn, and twice-baked potatoes (thanks Lena!). Had a fire and made s'mores then went to bed. On Saturday, the weather was beautiful so we went to the lake for a few hours. Daniel swam, and Adam just hung out in the shade under a tree in his bouncy seat. He loved people watching and then decided to take a snooze. When we came back from the lake, we went for a walk and then hung out until dinner time - had another yummy steak dinner, green beans and more twice-baked potatoes. We had one more fire, finished off the s'mores and reminisced around the fire with Aunt Judy and Nurk. Jay used his new skillet Sunday morning and cooked a great breakfast. Hooked the trailer up, took off around noon and both boys were konked out the whole ride home. It was a great weekend, just not long enough!!!

Completely Mortified

Last night my sister and brother-in-law came over. They were invited to a cocktail party with my brother-in-law's company in S.F., so they went shopping for a new dress for my sister. Being that indecisiveness runs in the family, she buys four dresses and brings them over to our house for my opinion. Of course she should know that I am the worst decision maker, and three out of the four were my "favorites." Couldn't pick just one. I thought it would be a great idea to take pictures of her in each dress and it would help us decide, plus she could email them to my parents and her co-workers for their opinions. Once we were done taking pictures, I grabbed my laptop and memory card out of the camera and went into the back room where Jason and my brother-in-law were sitting at the bar drinking beer. We all gathered around and I put the memory card into the computer and clicked through all the options to open up the folder that held the most recent pictures. Low and behold, up pops a bunch of pictures of my boobs! Yes, you read that right, my boobs! It was like a bad dream. All my brother-in-law could do was go, "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," and my sister and I started busting up in a laugh so hard that no noise was coming out. I immediately tried to scroll down to the dress pictures that I was expecting to show up on the screen, but somehow, the mouse moved and the boob pictures were smack-dab right in our faces once again. So you are probably thinking, "wow, Natalie, what kind of girl are you?" No, no, no, these were not porn pictures, but were taken, by myself, as evidence. You see, I was having problems with uncomfortableness while pumping, and if you're a mom, you'll know that everyone says "pumping shouldn't hurt." Well I was so discouraged (because it was hurting me!) that I figured that I'd take pictures of the "girls" so I could bring them to the lactation consultant and show her before and after pictures, and for her advice on what I may be doing wrong. Well I was soooooo embarrassed that I took these pictures of myself that I didn't even bring them to the consultant...someone who sees these things all day long. I never downloaded them onto my computer, and obviously forgot to erase them from the camera. Soooo, wa-lah -what a way to end the night.

Random Funnies

• Daniel has a new vocabulary: "I'm serious." "I've told you two times already." "Good God." "Hurry up, we're late, it's 7 o'clock."


• Jason took the wrapper off of Daniel's popsicle the other night and then proceeded to set it down on the table since we were still finishing up our dinner and Daniel says, "Dad, that's not the garbage. Does that look like the garbage to you?"


• Driving home yesterday, Daniel said, "Mom, can I have a TV in my room?" I said, "oh honey, I don't think three year olds have TVs in their rooms."... "But I'm bigger than that, I'm almost 4. Do you think that's something Dad could work on?"


• This weekend I was running errands with the kids. I opened the car door and Daniel jumped in as always, then I went around the other side of the car and put Adam in. I put the stroller and diaper bag in the very back. I pulled out of the parking lot onto Arden Way, made a u-turn to head back toward the freeway. I drove thru about three lights and just as we were making our way onto the on-ramp (nowhere to pull over) Daniel says, "HI, MOM, I'M RIGHT HERE!" I glance back and he's STANDING right behind the center console. (I thought, "HOLY SH!T!"). I shouted, "Daniel, get in your car seat! What are you doing?" "I'm right here" he says again. In a panic, I yell again, "get in your car seat now and buckle up!" I scared him and he started to cry a little bit. I said, "Daniel I'm so sorry, it's my fault. I forgot to strap you in! But stop crying, just get in as fast as you can and buckle up!" Ugh, it's no excuse, but lately Daniel has been awesome about buckling himself in, and all I have to do is tighten the strap. With my new "mommy brain," I have forgotten to buckle him in before, but he has always said something as soon as I get into my own seat before I even back out of the drive way or parking space. This particular day he was busy playing with a toy so he was distracted and I completely spaced.


• Daniel is a pro at Wii. His newest game is MarioKart. He knows how to turn on the console, maneuver thru all the options, and start his own games. He keeps saying he gets "24" when he's done no matter what place he ends up in. There are only 12 places.