Yay! Good news from Tahoe

Yay! Word comes from the mountains that Ainsley finally found my camera!! Rumor has it that the couch ate it and only now, 3-weeks later, did it come into sight. I was really starting to sweat it. I wasn't sure I could possibly go much longer without a camera. So many missed photo-ops....the County Fair, swim lessons, their first Tae Kwon Do lesson.... At least we'll have it for the next family gathering in McCall, Idaho!
Also, the mystery of the missing maternity clothes was solved ....all the borrowed/shared bundles were safely located in Ainsley's basement, just as I thought....she WILL be comfortable and clothed while she waits for her January bundle.
It also appears, after a second IntelliGender test, that Ainsley & Patrick are still unclear if the stick was yellow/orange (girl) or green (boy). They are leaning to the yellow/orange (girl), but will probably have to wait until next month's ultrasound to be sure...assuming that Baby is well-placed.

Little Man gets a Little Haircut

Alessandro finally gets a "real" haircut and not one that Mommy tries to pull off one-handedly while he nurses at my breast.

I have to say, it was worth the $16! You can actually see his face! I was worried Daddy would get mad (he always gets mad when the girls hair gets shorter), however, when he came home, Daddy said, "Who's the handsome guy who got his hair cut today?"

Grandma asked if she could be the lucky girl he takes out on a date. Must be some special occasion that he looks so darned dapper! Nah - just my little guy with a little haircut.

Celebrating Alessandro's Birthday at 6-Flags

For Alessandro's "real" birthday, we took time for a family outing, traveling to Vallejo to Six-Flags Marine World. We had a whole lot of fun! We got the tickets free from a friend and didn't realize that we weren't supposed to bring in our own drinks and snacks. They were stuffed in the diaper bag which didn't get searched at the stroller entrance. We were amazed at how much money a family could spend provided they didn't have all the perks we walked in with. $40/adult and $30/child and drinks that cost $6/each, food that was equally expensive, we figured a regular family drops about $250 a visit!! Yikes! Who can afford that? That's what we spent for a weekend in Tahoe over the 4th of July (granded, we did have a locals special).

Apparently, enough people can afford it as the place was full - not too full, but certainly not deserted!

The girls enjoyed the rides, little kid roller costers, shark, dolphin, orca, and sting ray displays/show and of course the water safari ride where everyone got soaked!!

Fantastic day that everyone - except the birthday boy, probably - will remember!

The Facebook Handicap

I realize, now, that with Facebook, my blogging has taken a nosedive! I'm forgetting to add to my blog since it's so easy to just add a blurb to my FB profile. It is less effort and gives me the gratification of instant feedback. I will have to be more disciplined.....

Happy Birthday, Alessandro! A Year of Cuteness...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A video montage of the cutest little boy God ever created

I Want To Ride My Bicycle

Always wanting to be in the middle of things, Baby Brother mounted his trike and cruised the lane at Grandma's house like the rest of his siblings....acting as if he does it every day. He loved honking the horn and following everyone down the road. Got to love his sense of independence....Between this and his new steps at the barn, looks like it's time to get a helmet!

More Ballet Pictures

The girls with dance friends Morgan and Madison
photo with Grandma, who sponsors the girls' classes
Very proud parents!

The Big Demonstration

The girls had their big event today...the one they've been rehearsing for 6-months. We can now say that our daughters have danced on the big stage at the Lesher Center for Regional Arts in front of nearly 300 people! The pre-ballet class, the youngest of the show, were the cute little mushrooms that everyone ooh'ed and awe'ed, giggles and smiled about. They were so flippen cute! Grandma got them little rose bouquets that matched their tutus.
Ava has taken very easily to ballet and the steps have come easy to her. She just focuses on smiling at the audience and "keeping the magic in her cheeks." Bettina had a harder time, especially with the "step-hop" routine which looks like skipping. This week, however, she shone through and knocked it out of the ballpark each practice and on stage. They have improved a lot since January when they started at this ballet school.
It was nice to see the other classes dance as well and watch the progression of the different ages and students. From the pre-ballet like Ava & Bettina to the kids who start coming twice a week, then 3-times and finally up to 6-days a week. Who has that kind of money, I don't know, but we will just cross our fingers that we can afford whatever it is that gets their hearts aloft.
For the summer, we're putting our ballet shoes away and will try Tae Kwon Do, gymnastics and swimming lessons instead. Grandma like to sponsor the girls dancing and we will give them all a short break before coming back. We have made some good friends and the girls just LOVE their teachers here.

Alessandro - 11 Months Old

Alessandro is 11-months old on Saturday. He has covered a lot of ground in his 10th month: he added 4 new teeth (the upper eyes and fronts), experimented and then mastered crawling, learned to turn around to go down stairs backwards and he's now walking...like a drunken sailor, but he's walking!
He loves getting into the cabinets, dumping out Grandma's recycling basket, playing hide-and-go-seek, throwing the letters from A & B's stools and any bath toys he can reach down the stairs, the Cars toy Elio gave him and in his sisters' new Fairy House. He will be forever embarrassed to find out that, when finally in the bathroom cabinets, his favorite thing to play with is Mommy's tampons! He plays with gusto and enthusiasm, catapulting himself into the throws of things. He loves to do what everyone else is doing and just sort of fit in. He now gets angry when he's fed food that looks different than what everyone else is eating - no more jarred foods or he'll screech! "I want what they've got -- whatever that is..."
Twice this week, he's proven he's trying to communicate. His first word, ironically, was the same as the girls': "dog." I found this very interesting since we don't have a dog anymore. He saw a dog at the park and again at Great-Aunt MaryAnn's house. He pointed and said very clearly, "dog!" He has also repeated back to me "done" when he's finished eating and doesn't want any more. He signs "done," too. He has also started waving hello if you tell him "hi" and is saying, "uh,oh" if he drops something. We can't believe that he'll be a year old next month!! It's gone by very fast...

Ava & Bettina Turn Four!

With an "In the Garden" theme, we welcomed Ava & Bettina's 4th birthday with a party with all their friends and cousins. Here's a video montage of all the fun.... Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Grandma Calls Her "Fire Foot"

Bettina at the Bothin Burn Center waiting room

We just came back from a great vacation to the Carolinas. We planned to visit family and friends, see some sites, and attend a beautiful wedding. There was one activity, however, that we didn't have planned in advance: the urgent care.
While visiting my cousin's house in South Carolina, Bettina decided to test the theory that a smoldering ash-fire is hot. There were no live flames since the slow vegetation burn hadn't been fed for awhile. Only a little rising smoke indicated that this was nothing more than a hill of grey ashes piled up high just like an autumn stack of leaves.
We didn't see it happen; all us adults were sitting together inside. However, the screaming told us even from there that something was seriously wrong. Three little footprints inside the ash-pile told us that Bettina likely jumped straight in middle then, after feeling the burn, stepped sideways out and then rolled to the ground where we found her. Quick cooperation brought all us adults together into a team: Paul carrying her into the house, me drawing a quick cold bath and removing her clothes, Jimee googling burn treatments and Barry flipping the yellow pages for hospital and urgent care phone numbers. It's uncanny how well everything came together.
We were lucky that the local urgent care was able to see her right away and was able to prescribe some serious pain meds. It was the first question I had upon entering and I repeated the request about every 3-minutes: "where are the pain meds!" She was wide-eyed and screaming at the top of her lungs in terror and pain....for nearly 2-hours straight! They helped us dress the wounds and determined they were not serious enough to keep her in the hospital - just off her feet. Good thing we traveled with the stroller!
When we got home, our pediatrician took a look and sent us to Bothin Burn Center in San Francisco. The doctor, Dr. Deweese (a burn reconstructive surgeon), is not a man with any bedside manner. In fact, I'm not sure he ever looked me or Bettina straight in the eye. He was direct, efficient, and, apparently knows his stuff. It's a good thing he has a great nurse! She knew everyone by name and her sunny and helpful disposition more than made up for his gruff ways.
The first month, we had a steady regiment of bathing her feet, trimming the skin, applying the salve and gauze, taping it off and putting a pair of socks over the whole thing for protection. Bettina calls this part "putting on the banjos (bandages)." Bettina was very sensitive about the handling of her feet and didn't want to share the bathtub for fear that someone would knock her wounds and hurt her. She started using her feet as a crutch for activities saying she couldn't do things because her feet hurt. The doctors assured us she was no longer in any pain. Perhaps just feeling a bit itchy with the healing. We let her complaints go for about 5-days, then told her she needed to start getting tough. I pretended not to hear her when I dropped her off at school, pretended not to worry when I dropped her off at gymnastics, and didn't let on that I was half-expecting a wince when putting on her ballet slippers. Would they be too tight? She danced, tumbled and played just like normal as long as I pretended everything was normal. A very complex mix of relief and anxiety.
It's been a couple of weeks now and, after a bunch of salves, creams and lots of rolls of bandages, Bettina's feet look much better. After weeks of trimming, they are no longer bubbled or wrinkled, and the grey-white skin has been replaced by fresh bright-pink skin. We need to be very careful with this new skin. I tell Bettina (who doesn't like the look of it) that it's skin that's just been born, so it looks different. We need to take care of it differently, as well. Lots and lots of sunscreen and socks for the next two weeks to boot.
At our last visit to the Bothin Burn Center, there were two other patients waiting, both in electric wheelchairs. One of them, a man in his early 30's, asked Bettina who she was visiting. She answered that she was there to see the doctor and asked me why his hand and arm were covered in a bandage. I answered, "The same reason your feet are in bandages, I guess." He then introduced himself. "My name's Ben. What's yours?" Bettina answered. "Did you get hurt?" he asked. "Fire," is all Bettina said. "Yeah, I guess we all know a little about that, don't we. Fire is bad, huh." "I jumped on fire," she answered. I saw a bond and an instant appreciation start to develop between this little kid and Ben as she started to tell him about her accident. There are fliers in the waiting room describing how Bothin Burn Center addresses all aspects of burn wounds, the emotional, social, recreational and even nutritional therapies burn victims may need. Even though we didn't make an appointment to cover these issues with the hospital, I could see that Ben and Bettina were working out their own. I so had wished I could somehow covertly record this moment. It brought tears to my eyes. It wasn't long before Ben was giving Bettina a tour of his wheelchair, allowing her to try all the buttons and sharing his burn story as well. Ben doesn't always need a wheelchair, just after his accident which happened a week before Bettina's. He will, thankfully, get better, just like Bettina, and will be able to give up his wheelchair as well.
We tease Bettina about her feet now. Grandma calls her Fire Foot and we talk about the lessons we all learned about staying safe, especially around fire. It has been an incredible learning curve as well as an opportunity to feel blessed.

Alessandro - 10 months

Alessandro is a huge cuddler with Mommy -- she is just eating it up! At 10-months, Alessandro is very good at cruising and standing up by himself for awhile, but less than a minute. He can cruise along furniture easily and has even attempted a number of times to walk forward between things. However, each attempt just ends up falling forward on his face. Once, he got one step and a sort of trip before catching himself on the table in front of him. I'll bet by 11-months, he'll be walking!
He is able to crawl up steps, like he did in this play-tube at the San Francisco airport. He went from standing next to the tube to pulling himself inside and crawling to the other side. he plays often with his sisters and other kids, giggling infectiously with games of chase and pee-a-boo. He loves to pounce on and grab people, particularly attracted to faces (noses and eyes). On our trip to Raleigh, NC, we visited with cousins including the kids' second-cousins Ella and Rudy. Rudy is about 9-months older than Alessandro and the two of them were hilarious the way the wrestled and giggled with each other. They were certainly talking each other's language: the language of "boy!"
Although he still uses his pacifier for comfort, he is finally getting better about sleeping in the night. He can start to comfort himself at night and now I'm up only once with him per night, usually around 2:30pm. He has also started drinking from a sippy cup (yea!), but not enough that he would take his milk-meal/snack from it. We use it for water during meal times. It's a good start.
Favorite toys: balls, the sea captain from his bath boat, and he is really starting to enjoy opening kitchen cabinets and pulling everything out. I am very soon going to get those baby-proofer door latches, despite Paul's concerns they will damage/change the cabinets too much. I have also had to tell Paul that we need to get a legitimate door handle for the kitchen pantry as Alessandro opens the unlatched door and will throw all the food on the floor as well. he has two very-tall teeth on his lowers and I've been waiting for those uppers for some time. No sign of them yet, although I blame general crankiness on their anticipated arrival.
This month, Alessandro attended his 5th wedding, my friend Natasha's in Raleigh, NC. Here's another picture with a bride and him. We've put his sportscoat to good use!

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Hot Days, Sleepless Nights

The weather has been stunningly hot lately. Bayside, it's been in the high 80's. Today in SF, it reached 91!! This sort of weather has us bee-lining for the water. We tried a new (for us) beach at Lake Temescal with friends Dean and Catie. Great way to cool down. A nice sandy beach complete with lifeguards (and not just the cute one pictured below)!
However, the unusually warm days mean unusually warm nights. Last night we "cooled down" during the night to 75-degrees from 78. Too warm for covers; everyone was up tossing and turning with sweaty pillows and bunched up bedsheets. It's warmer tonight, but we'll hope that the last sleepless night will keep them knocked out a bit more solidly.

Beeping Eggs

This year, I took the girls to "Do Good" with me and volunteer at the Blind Babies Foundation Beeper Easter Egg Hunt in Golden Gate Park. We were suppossed to be volunteering, but there were so many volunteers, we ended up acting more as participants than helpers. There was much to do and was a great opportunity for the girls to learn about the visually impaired.
We got to meet "Enrique," a one-year old puppy studying to become a Guide Dog. We took pictures with the Easter Bunny and then make a tactile photo frame in which to keep it. The SF Fire Dept also came out so we could feel all the different textures of the hoses, truck and tools and, of course, ring the bell. "Thumper" and all his friends from the adopt a bunny foundation were there and we could touch them, too. There was Play-dough and painting with golf-balls (roll the balls in a tray), face painting, and of course, there was the egg hunt! Ava & Bettina met a set of twins just 3-weeks older then them and got to help kids find the beeping eggs; they could collect 3 non-beeping eggs to keep for themselves.

Easter Pictures

Ava sporting her bunny tail.

So, this year, I wasn't as organized as I usually am. I was distracted by some house drama and, come 10:30 pm the night before Easter, I hadn't got anything for the kids' Easter baskets. So, tired and a little perturbed, I searched throughout the closets trying to find things to re-gift before crashing into bed.
Ava wakes up first in the morning and wanders downstairs. She is the first to find the baskets waiting for them at the breakfast table. "Mommy, Mommy! Bettina! The Easter Bunny came! Wake up!" she screams excitedly. After we all arrive, she announces, "I don't think he came down the chimney like Santa, though." "How did he come?" I ask. "He must have come through the basement," is her answer. "Why do you think that?" "Because all our presents are from the closet we're not supposed to play in." Whoops! I guess I'm not as clever as I think! "And he used the Easter eggs we made yesterday, too!"
Good thing nobody cares what was brought but just that something was brought. Regardless of my conscious, the girls excitedly peel and half-eat their Easter eggs and play with the re-gifted toys. After going to church with Grandma, we head over to Sylvia's house where we have another little egg hunt, again with mostly re-gifted toys and the leftover coins from our pockets. All is well!

Getting Sea Legs

Alessandro, now 9 and a half months old, is really getting his sea-legs under him. He can stand for quite awhile like he does here at Grandma's house, while contemplating and choosing a toy in Grandma's sun room. He's getting so big so fast, it's hard to keep up!

April Flowers

Ever Watch 3-year olds Try to Eat Rice with Chopsticks?

Alessandro - 9 Months

Our big boy has mastered crawling and is starting to experiment with cruising. I bought him a few new pre-walking toys including this walker. He enjoys using it, getting used to taking steps and pushing the toy forward....or backward should his balance falter. We celebrated his 9-month at the doctor's office for his scheduled well-baby appointment, but attending to his cold that he hasn't been able to quite shake. Both he and his sister Bettina had ear infections. We left with only one shot (Hep B), leaving the polio for another time when he's not feeling so poopy, a couple prescriptions for antibiotics for the infections and a nebulizer for Bettina whose cough is a bit tight and wheezy. I've never had to use one of these contraptions, so I felt lucky that it took nearly 4-years to get the introduction. I fear that we'll be late to pre-school for the next week as the treatments take like 10-15 minutes and we'll never get out of the door on time.

Alessandro is still unable to sleep through the night and can't bring himself to drink from a sippy cup or a bottle. My pediatrician, who I love and is also a playful Facebook friend, suggested I take myself and my boobs on vacation out of the house for a weekend. One of her boys (she's got a set of B/G twins and another single boy) was the same way, and she says that cured him. Very tempting.....Part of me wants to quickly implement the "tough love" approach and then, the other part thinks, "well...he's my last and it's only for a couple more months.....he can't possibly be one-year old and not converted...." Which to I listen to, the devil on one side or the angel on the other? We'll see.

His appetite is good and is really more interested in what everyone else is eating than whatever is in the jar. He wants pancakes from his sister's plate rather than quartered bananas on his high chair or minestrone soup rather than that jarred apple sauce. He's still easy going, but determined to get what he wants. Don't get in his way, either, lest you want a lot of screeching in your ear. He's a real challenge to change his diaper...his sister Bettina was the same way for a long time. He plays easily with the girls who are good about removing the "little toys" too small for him. He is happiest in the middle of it all doing the same as everyone else and just blending in. The baby gates are all up now, so I breathe easier when doing the laundry or general cleaning up. The girls, however, have figured out how to open 2 of the 3 of the gates, so I'm constantly double and triple-checking to make sure they are locked. Life is pretty good and easy for this little man.

Scissors

Last Wednesday was Parent/Teacher Conferences at pre-school. I got a chance to sit down with the girls' teacher and discuss the social, cognitive and physical skills the girls have achieved during their time at school. I was never worried and in fact, looked forward to hearing glowing reports on what geniuses they are (they are, aren't they?). The paper given to me listed all sorts of skills that the teachers observe in each child. A check mark means they are still learning that skill; a plus indicates they have mastered that skill.
Ava's paper had all pluses, and Bettina's pretty much did, too. The one area I expected, communication, she had some checks because, when she's upset, Tina tends to shut down and not use her words to communicate. And, sometimes, it takes a couple requests before she will follow instructions. I know all about that. There was one other check, next to "knows how to handle and cut with scissors" that I didn't know about. You see, there are certain things that I just don't do at this age in my house: Play-dough (too messy), markers and pens (potential messy) and scissors (potential disaster) are just a few of them. However, after seeing a check mark, I had an attack of guilt. Perhaps it's not Tina's fault she has a check there, but mine. OK, I'll let you use scissors at home.
We go home and I review the "rules" about scissors before I go upstairs to attend to laundry and general cleaning: only use the scissors to cut paper...this yellow paper that I'm giving you. If you run out, tell me - I'll get you more. Stay at the crafts table here in the kitchen.
The girls were happily busy for a good chunk of time. I listened to their excited chatter from my room. Suddenly I hear, "OK, now it's my turn to cut hair." WHOA! INTERVENTION!!
"Girls??? You're remembering to cut only paper, right?"
"No, Mom, we're cutting hair," Ava answers.
"Stop right there and freeze! Mommy's coming down."
I can't tell just how bad it is or who has it worse, but strands of hair cover the floor. Baby brother, who I plopped on the floor to figure out what to do next, quickly gets it all over his fleece pants. Ack! I pick him up again. The mess stuns me like a deer in the headlights.
After running a bath, getting everyone in it and cleaning the floor, I decide it's not as bad as it could have been. Since they are training scissors, they only open very slightly, so Tina really just got a bunch of layers and not a blunt cut. Ava hardly got cut at all.
Friends on Facebook ask for photos, but really, it's not dramatic enough to be funny via a photo.
As Paul and I talk in bed that night in review of the day, he laughs, "Perhaps it's a good thing that Bettina hasn't mastered the skill of scissors yet! Think of what could have happened to Ava's hair if she had?"
Good point!