3.4.16 - Deadpool

...was hilarious. Fun date night with Jack while Don and Merlene watched l'il miss.

3.4.16 - Clara in her crib

Two joys:

The morning, when Clara first wakes up and starts fussing and I walk into her nursery and she is standing at the edge of her crib nearest the door waiting for me to come get her, and then I pick her up and she burrows into my shoulder and acts super cuddly. I love that moment, not least of all because I feel like it's been so long since I held her the night before, haha.

The night, when she drinks from her bottle by herself while I read her bedtime stories, and she gets super relaxed. When I pick her up and she cuddles onto my shoulder (instead of popping her head up and squirming and looking around), I know she' ready to pass out. I take her in the dark nursery, give her a kiss, and lay her down in her crib. For a long time she would stick her arms out straight, push herself into a crawling position and start crying, but the past few weeks she just burrows into the crib mattress and coos and goes to sleep. Love that.

Burrowing.

3.3.16 - Clara's birthday

2.27.16 - Traveling home

Dad plays with Clara before we get ready to go.

Dad drove Clara and me to the airport. I'm glad he did because it's about an hour and a half drive and it gave us a chance to visit one-on-one without much distraction. And he was in a pretty good mood and our conversation was interesting and pleasant and maybe even important. We talked about the problem of evil and politics and some of our family dynamics. I got to tell him some stuff I've wanted to talk about for awhile but just hadn't had the opportunity. It was really nice, actually. Plus he had picked up some Kangaroo Coffee before we got on the highway, which was a good pick me up since I hadn't gotten great sleep last night. Clara slept the entire drive too.

Holding my hand while she sleeps.

The flight home went fine too. Traveling with a baby is still a lot more work than not, but Clara is such a good kid. Chill throughout all of security and waiting at the gate. And even though she didn't end up falling asleep on the plane, it wasn't that hard to keep her busy with bits of different kinds of food, her 100 word book, wrappers, magazines, a bottle of ibuprofen (basically a rattle to her), just any new object really. I also held her while she half stood on the chair arm and peeked at the guy behind us, and it gave me a chance to kind of take a "break." Whenever the seat belt light was off I'd stand with her so she could see more, or I'd walk her up and down the aisle to keep her entertained.

The 100 Word book was especially cute. Recently she's started pointing at the pictures and saying "ba! ba ba ba! ba!" like she's reading the book herself. But today was the first time she grabbed my pointer finger and used it to point at the different pictures. So I'd say the word of whatever picture she pointed at, and that seemed to make her really happy. Figuring things out...

Laughing at her image in the selfie camera.

Mom-daughter airplane selfie.

She fell asleep during landing and stayed asleep until we got to Jack. I love the arrivals section of airports even if no one is waiting for me specifically. You see so many eager smiling faces and so much delight and hugs. It's very sweet. In this case, though, Jack was waiting for us, and he couldn't wait to hold sleeping Clara, which was also sweet.

And it was nice to be home. The weather was great--we drove home with the windows down. It's nice to be in my tiny car again instead of the big Highlander. It's nice to feel like this is home, and the highways are familiar and everything is familiar. And Jack had straightened up the whole apartment before picking us up, which makes the homecoming that much more comfortable. AND he had leftover pizza from a nursing meeting he went to yesterday, bonus.

Back in her own crib.

2.26.16 - Rocket snippets from the trip

2.20.16
Everett: I don't like root beer.
Rocket: Do you know what the best part of root beer is??
Everett: What?
Rocket: The BEER part!

2.23.16
Rocket: Monica, can I tell you something?
Me: Yeah.
Rocket: There's "easy peasy lemon squeezy" and "easy peasy mac and cheesy"!
Me: Hm, I'm trying to think if there's any other ones.
Rocket: No, there's not.
Me: Maybe we could make up some together.
Rocket: No, thanks. They wouldn't be real.

2.24.16
Rocket, who is 5-years-old, upon discovering Fruit Loops in the pantry: "I haven't had these in YEARS!"

Rocket: One time there was SO much snow we could make three or four...or five...or SIX....snow cones.

2.25.16
Overheard at kindergarten: "If you squish someone's heart they'll die." 
Rocket, very casually: "Oh yeah, that's easy to do."

2.26.16

I have a board book for the song "What a Wonderful World," and I often sing it to Clara before bed.

Rocket sits with us and listens in, and he is really bothered by the lyrics "I hear babies cry, I watch them grow. They'll learn much more than I'll ever know." The first few days he said they won't ever know more than us, and I told him there might be new inventions they learn about that we don't know about yet.

Even so, tonight when I was singing that part he just exclaimed, "That is so *weird* that you think that!"

Also, Rocket loves King Bidgood's In the Bathtub. I read it to him and he tells me that the "part is coming" where the court says, twice, "Oh, who knows what to do? Who knows what to do?" And then when I finally read that part he just grins and grins, haha. Dunno why he likes it so much but it's pretty cute. Also, since we read the story so much this trip, as I read it to him he points out details of the pictures he's noticed throughout, like that the King and Queen have little figurines of themselves in the luncheon. It's really enjoyable to read to someone old enough to be so interactive, and makes me look forward to when Clara is that interactive.

2.22.16 - Game Grumps

2.20.16 - Reading to Clara and Rocket

Tonight I was reading to Clara while Rocket was getting ready for bed, and he asked if he could listen to some stories too, so I said "sure." Clara and I were just "reading" her 100 First Words book, which is really just her looking at the pages and pointing, so I just let her keep doing that while Rocket got ready. He asked how many stories I had left to read and I told him at least four and I said I'd wait for him, and he very very quickly changed into his pajamas while he recapped how he has already brushed his teeth and taken his allergy medicine.

Then he crawled into bed with us and sat next to me with his head on my shoulder. Very sweet. Clara was sitting in my lap and resting against my belly. I read them Toot, King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, Blueberry Girl, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and It's a Wonderful World. They both seemed to enjoy it, I certainly did. At the end Rocket went to his room, then came back down the hallway to give me a hug. <3

Later, after I put Clara to bed, Rocket called to me to tell me he might just stay awake all night. I said that was fine as long as he stayed in his bed. Sure enough he was asleep in 15 minutes or less, haha.

Clara "reads" to me.

2.15.16 - Study buddies

I'm grateful for Erin, who makes me laugh a lot and who is helping me get my thesis done by arranging thesis writing sessions for us. We edit each other's work and help each other figure out specific wording and just keep each other company. It's much more pleasant than working on my thesis alone.

2.12.16 - Clara is happy to see me

I absolutely love when the nanny brings Clara home in the evening. I walk out to the car to get her, and as soon as she sees me she starts grinning hugely and babbling excitedly. It's wonderful.

Sister Mary Clara and I skyping with Ja-Ma the other night.

2015 Dates

1. Jan 7 - Into the Woods
2. Jan 12 - Elephant Bar
3. Jan 18 - Selma
4. Jan 26 - Starlite Lounge
5. Feb 2 - American Sniper at the drive in
6. Feb 8 - Elephant Bar
7. Feb 13 - McKinley Park picnic
8. Feb 18 - 3 Fires Lounge
9. Feb 24 - Yogurt Agogo and walk around Capitol Park
10. Feb 28 - Panera BreadCo
11. Mar 1 - Buca di Beppo (trying to fit in more dates before Clara is born)
12. Mar 13 - Osaka Sushi while Mom babysat
13. Mar 22 - Ju Hachi while Don & Merlene babysat
14. April 3 - Elephant Bar while Dad & Jill babsat
15. April 18 - Ju Hachi and Revolution Wine and hotel while Ellen and Bryon babysat
16. May 8 - Wrap & Roll while Julianna babysat
17. May 27 - Woodstock Pizza while Shannon babysat
18. June 3 - Elephant Bar (with Clara in tow, but she slept through a lot of it and was very chill)
19. June 22 - Starbucks and walk around Davis while Shannon babysat
20. July 15 - Jurassic World at Davis theater while Shannon babysat
21. July 27 - Elephant Bar, can't remember what we did with Clara
22. Aug 7 - Fuji Sushi (all you can eat) while Shannon babysat
23. Aug 26 - Sushi Unlimited while Shannon babysat
24. Sept 6 - Inside Out while Mom babysat, and the movie was *amazing*
25. Sept 15 - Froyo and walk around Sac State, Clara slept in the stroller most of the time
26. Sept 19 - Gunther's, again Clara slept through much of it
27. Sept 27 - Ju Hachi while Don & Merlene babysat
28. Sept 29 - Pieology to celebrate Jack doing well on his nursing test, Clara slept through almost all of it, enjoying not-smoldering weather
29. Oct 2 - Burgers & Brew for Jack's birthday, again Clara slept through over half of it
30. Oct 17 - PoPo Garden (Chinese food lunch), Clara slept again, unbelievable
31. Nov 8 - Fuji Sushi and Cream (cookies) while Shannon babysat, enjoying chillier weather
32. Nov 23 - Burgers & Brew, Clara was awake so this one is iffy, but she enjoyed sucking on a pickle
33. Dec 23 - Lewis & Clark's in Old Town St. Charles while Mom babysat

1.29.16 - Financial Joy Inventory!

(1) Our new nanny, who is a total sweetheart, is watching Clara for an incredibly good--almost unreasonably good--price. 

(2) I got a flat on a worn down tire last night, but since Jack just bought warranties for all my tires two weeks ago, the new one cost $10, ha.
(3) I forgot to factor in the whole "we have a kid" thing, so turns out our tax return is going to be larger than I expected.

1.26.16 - SF collage

Last december I made this collage as a 30th birthday gift for Sarah. I scanned it before framing it and giving it to her. Last weekend I went to a paint party where we painted the Golden Gate Bridge. Since I was going to hang that painting up in our apartment anyway, I decided to get a print of my collage scan and frame it next to the painting. So for a mere $3 I have this nice copy that I've just hung in our living room, and I love it. The timing is very fitting, too, because Dad is renting out the SF house for at least a year this time, so we don't know when, or if, we'll be back to visit again. Now every time I look at this print I feel both nostalgic and happy.

1.19.16 - A Nanny

I've been really stressed out so far this year with everything we are going to try to accomplish. I'm assuming Jack will be incredibly busy with nursing school, which means I will need to earn most of our income on top of finding time to finish my thesis, and that also means I won't be able to watch Clara so often so I had to find childcare for her.

That's really stressful first of all because childcare is expensive, and second because I was nervous about finding someone I thought would be attentive enough to Clara, who is so little. I was anxious about daycare centers because our pediatrician told us Clara is still young enough she will probably get sick several times a season. Then I called a woman who runs in-home care and she claimed I'd have a hard time finding anyone to take Clara because she isn't on a regular nap schedule.

Disheartened, I posted in one of my FB mom groups asking if others had their kids on nap schedules before getting them into daycare. In response, one of the other moms in the group said she is thinking about getting into nannying and that I should PM her. So I did. I asked her about a dozen questions, all of which she answered in ways I found very encouraging. Then she told me how much she used to make nannying and I was disappointed because there is absolutely no way Jack and I could afford her. But she said I should talk it over with him anyway and see what we think, that she wasn't necessarily primarily doing it for the mony but also wanted a playmate for her son, who is almost exactly Clara's age.

So Jack and I talked it over and I worked the numbers and calculated that I could afford to pay her 28% of what she used to make. I figured she wouldn't go for that but I decided to try anyway, since she seemed like a very responsible and caring person and I would love it if Clara could have a nanny instead of going to a center somewhere.

So she and I met and our babies met and we all got along very well, and she easily agreed to the amount I could afford. I couldn't believe it. A few days later we met again, this time with our husbands, and her husband was really nice and easy to talk to, putting me even further at ease. Then, today, Clara and I went to her house and spent about 3 hours with her and her son and Clara seemed to be adapting really easily and happily. It helps that they have all sorts of age-appropriate toys and everything.

So I think we are going to go ahead and do this, and I just can't believe how lucky we are to have found her. Clara is going to be getting better quality care for less than the daycare cost and she will have a little playmate! I feel incredibly lucky.

Funny 2015 quotes from Jack

Your eyebrows.

1.14.16 - Helpful friends

1.10.16 - Once Upon a Child

While I was pregnant I went to the local Once Upon a Child only to find that it was closed down. For some reason the strip mall still had its logo up but the store wasn't there. Since then I thought there were no Once Upon a Child's in my area, but today I learned that there's one just a few blocks away. Erin came to visit me and we took Clara over there to look around.

They have new or lightly used clothes for half of retail price, and some of them on clearance on top of that. For the price of one set of baby PJs from walmart, at Once Upon a Child I got three sets of PJs and a "new" (new to her) toy for Clara. I'm so happy! Plus they have lots of baby accessories, even strollers and other larger items. I'm sure we'll be going there much more often.

Everything is already on sale at Once Upon a Child!

Picasso's Coffee House

I am glad Julie and I have this one-on-one tradition.

Good upbringing.

1.2.16 - Post-Christmas joys

Today I enjoyed dressing Clara in one of the outfits Mom got her for Christmas. I also enjoyed using one of the new bandanna's I got and some true knee-high (as opposed to shin-high) socks, which have kept my feet warmer than slippers would, I think. I enjoyed using some of Clara's new bath toys to squirt warm water on her back during her bath and watch her grin and arch her back as far forward as she could. I enjoyed reading to her from a few new board books she got too. Lots of little gifts that made the day more pleasant.

And on another note, I thought a lot yesterday about how, even though our apartment is small, I'm grateful we have a safe, clean, warm home to take care of Clara in. It's been chilly out lately (30s) and we've been using the heater, and I'm glad we have that option. After Clara's bath she was fussy, probably because she was cold, and I put her little naked butt right in front of the space heater in her room and she was so happy. She stood in her crib bouncing up and down in front of it for a long time, haha.