Parental Concern

Today in the car:
"Mommy, I got some strawberry on my knee. But you don't have to worry. I will wipe it up."
"So I don't have to worry?"
"No. If you worry I will have to tickle you."

Miss Manners

Tonight at dinner Zofia said to me, "Finish chewing and then we can talk about that, Mommy."
!!!!!!!

Video from a while back

Toothful

Maggie got her first tooth yesterday, and this we know because she bit Lala. Actually, I thought I had felt something on Saturday when she nursed, but it was on the wrong side, so I didn't think to check. I thought that babies always got their first teeth on the bottom, but Maggie has thrown convention to the wind and grown her first tooth on the top left. Yay, Maggie!

California Girls

Well, we got back from California at one in the morning on Wednesday, and we're almost back to our normal Texas routine. The girls and I had so much fun with Babcia and Dziadzio. It was a regular love fest. Zofia got giddy with happiness every time one of them entered the room, even if they were just returning from the bathroom! We packed alot into our one week visit. A rundown:
Tuesday: left Texas on an 8pm flight. genius on my part. put the girls in jammies when we got to the terminal (thankfully they let Roger go all the way to the gate with us to help me wrangle all the paraphenalia) and after the initial excitement of airplane, takeoff, people sitting around us, etc. wore off both girls fell asleep for the duration of the flight. got in to California around 11pm
Wednesday: much hanging around house relaxing with Babcia & Dziadzio.
First experience with "crunchy meat" (pork cutlet) at Babcia's restaurant.

Thursday: went shopping with Dziadzio, went to see Great Grandma in Oakland and more crunchy meat.
Friday: Shabbatt dinner at Aunt Denise's. Lots of family was there...Cousins Isaac, Shoshi and Sarah with boyfriend Trevor. Uncle Lenny and Aunt Linda. Great Grandma. Babcia & Dziadzio. While Denise and cousins were lighting candles for the blessing, I explained to Zofia that this is how Aunt Denise and her family say blessing, to which she replied, "yeah, so they can sing happy birthday!". She was a bit shy at first with so many new (as far as she remembers) people, but by the end of the evening, she remembered most people's names and even gave everyone kisses goodbye.
Saturday: went to San Rafael to see Kayleen & Chris's new house. Had brunch and took a walk to get ice cream. Both girls got little Star Wars keychains from Kayleen. Zofia got Dziadzio to put a key on hers and now runs around "locking" doors all over the place, including restaurants! In the evening I left both girls with Dziadzio, brave man, and went to dinner with Kristin in Oakland. Ethiopian food!! I've missed it so! Got home after midnight. Babcia and Dziadzio did an awesome job.

Sunday: went to church with Dziadio, who got lots of compliments on his gorgeous grandbabies and soaked it all up happily. After nap-time we went to see my friend Dudy and Peter's new house that they are renovating and then dinner at Babcia's restaurant. More crunchy meat...and bread for Maggie.
Monday: went to brunch with Great Grandma and then the zoo with Babcia. much exhausting fun. That evening Wujek (uncle) Andrzej and Gina and Peter came over to have chinese food for our last night in town. Crispy honey shrimp!
Tuesday: Packing, lunch, more packing, sadness, drive to airport. Thankfully again, they let Babcia & Dziadzio all the way to the gate with me. Flew to Las Vegas where a crew guy helped me get all the paraphenalia to the next gate for the flight to S.A. Got Zofia in jammies and she slept the whole way home.
More photos at yahoo.

Storytime

This video is a couple of weeks old, and I have some other video backlogged which I'll hopefully have time to work on soon. BTW, this seven or so minutes of video is a tiny fraction of the hour and a half I had on tape!


Also, we went to Dallas for a couple of days on Sunday, and there are a few pictures from our trip here. We had a great time. Zofia didn't sleep for the entire four plus hour drive there or back, plus she got to sleep after 10:30pm both Sunday and Monday nights, so her sleep schedule is totally wonky. Roger had some work to do during the days, so the girls and I walked all over downtown Dallas. I got the vibe that Dallas wants to be New York; it had a very "big city" feel. On Monday we walked to the Dallas World Aquarium, about a mile away from our hotel. It was fantastic. Not just fish, but a whole lot of random, different animals, birds, reptiles, etc. After that we went to lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse a couple of blocks away. By the time we finished lunch it was about 103 degrees outside. When we got to the hotel, we took a nice cool shower and then all the girls got a nap. When Roger got back we all went to dinner at an amazing steakhouse called Trulucks.
On Tuesday the girls and I went for another walk in the morning, and then Roger picked us up around noon and we drove back to S.A. We stopped off in Austin to see Julia at work. We got to see the new Hillel building where she works, which is a really cool space.
We are all a little worn out, and of course Zofia didn't nap again today, so hopefully she will go to bed a little early tonight.
Enjoy the video!

Sisterly Love

Maggie almost never cries. The exception is when she is really tired and can't fall asleep. I have spoiled her to the point where she can't easily fall asleep except when nursing, so sometimes in the car she really gets upset because she's tired and can't figure out how to get to sleep. This was the case tonight on the way home from dinner. During the 20 minute drive, Maggie cried or screamed for about 18 minutes. Even more heartbreaking than hearing Maggie cry, was hearing Zofia try to console her. Here is a list of things Zofia said the whole way home.

Don't cry Maggie.
It's ok Maggie.
I think Maggie is hungry Mommy.
Mommy will feed you when we get home Maggie.
Maggie is hungry in the car Mommy.
It's gonna be ok Maggie.
Maggie is just screaming Mommy.
What are you screaming about Maggie?
Stop Maggie.
You have to feed Maggie when we get home Mommy.

Some of these things she said more than once in rotation. While reading the list, keep in mind that Zofia can't really say her R's, so cry sounds like cwy; and she can't really pronounce TH, so think sounds like sink.

Then after we got home Lala took Maggie while I got Zofia ready for bed. She found Maggie's teething ring and ran to give it to her, but Lala and Maggie were not on the couch where I told her they'd be. She ran back to the bedroom and said, "I can't find them Mommy! Help me find them!"

Also in this category, the other day Zofia was playing with a Pocahontas doll that she got from our friend Lemira. Pocahontas is somewhat anatomically correct, at least on top, and Zofia had stripped her "naked-nudie". After a few minutes she said, "Can I have my sister? I want to feed my sister."
I brought Maggie over, not really getting where she was going with this. I put Maggie down in Zofia's lap (Lala was sitting right next to Zof) and Zofia put Pocahontas' boobie in Maggie's mouth!!! Then she said, "Is that good Maggie? Yeah, that's good!" Meanwhile, Maggie giggled as if she got the joke.

The last two weeks

Here is some video from the last couple of weeks...just random bits of daily life.

Reading

Here is a new video. Actually, it's not so new, but I haven't had much time lately to do videos. There should be more coming soon...

The Shape of this Mother

I recently found this awesome website and am jumping right on the bandwagon. I was a little shocked at first and then so relieved and heartened to see all of these women, looking like real women and not centerfolds or covergirls. Here is my story...

Before I got pregnant with Zofia I weighed about 130lbs. This was not quite two months after my wedding, so I was still more or less at "dress weight". I gained just under 40lbs by the time she was born (7/3/04, 7lbs 14oz, 20in)
This was about a month before she was born. I didn't get any stretch marks at all with this pregnancy, though I had a few on my thighs from puberty.

I had gotten down to about 140ish before I got pregnant with Maggie 11 months after Zofia was born. With Maggie I got back up to about 170 before she was born at 41 weeks (3/4/06, 8lbs 7oz, 21in)

This photo was taken about 10 hours before Maggie was born, just before we left for the hospital. I'm so glad I took this picture, even though when I took it I was sure nobody else would ever see it. It is amazing to me that Maggie is in there, already pushing to come out into the world, just hours away. I couldn't believe how big I had gotten. I got three stretch marks with this belly, one on the right side (which you can see in the photo) one on the left side and one just above my belly button.

Maggie is now four and a half months old and I weigh about 155, so I have a ways to go with my weight, but I'm in no hurry. I'm nursing, and will be for at least eight more months, so I'm not really monitoring my food intake too much. Roger teases me that I will need to come up with a new excuse once I stop nursing. I was still nursing Zofia when I found out that I was pregnant with Maggie, so I've been pregnant or nursing for almost three years now. I must say I'm a little freaked out that I will gain weight when I stop nursing because it will be difficult to shift gears down to a normal amount of calories.
Anyhow, enough stalling. Here are the photos of my belly now:

I barely remember what my body looked like before my girls, but I'm awed and amazed at what my body has done, and continues to do to nurture my children.

Check out the cute new photos

To see them all click on the Yahoo! link on the right...

Maggie's Baptism

Here is a short video from Maggie's baptism...

Zofia's Second Year

Zofia,
Another year has passed and we can't believe that you are already two years old! In this year you have gone from being a baby-going-on-toddler, to a toddler-going-on-little girl. Each day you delight and amaze us with the things you say, the things you remember, the things you understand. This year has seen some changes for you; a new house, new school, new little sister, but you seem to be taking it all in stride.
You love our house and yard and enjoy going outside every day to pick flowers, "climb" trees and swim in the pool. You love to play in your room with your many toys, love to color at (and on) your table in the kitchen or at (and on) the big kitchen table. Each day there comes a point when you ask to "go on the bed", meaning Mommy and Daddy's bed to roll around, jump and play monster with Daddy. You still enjoy cuddling up with Froggy to watch TV (Backyardigans, Sesame Street or Jack's Big Music Show) but you lose interest within five minutes and spend the rest of the show catching bits of it here and there while you play with your kitchen or the coasters on the coffee table or your dolls or your legos. You love to use your step-stool to reach the bathroom sink to wash your hands and brush your teeth and sometimes we hear you calling us to come turn on the bathroom light so you can wash your hands all by yourself. You have also developed your own sense of style and each morning you tell me how many ponytails and/or clippies to put in your hair, or that today it's a headband day. We are working on potty-training, and while you love sitting on the potty to read, so far you have steadfastly refused to actually make use of the potty for its intended purpose. I'm hoping that you catch on by the beginning of the school year in September.
You love going to school and get very excited at the mention of school day. Thankfully, you have not noticed that it's been almost a month since the last day of school. As far as you are concerned, you went to school yesterday and are going again tomorrow. In your current view of time, everything in the past happened "yesterday" regardless of whether it was last week or five minutes ago; and everything in the future will happen either "after nap time" or "tomorrow".
You love your little sister and want to be wherever she is. If I go to the bedroom to change her diaper, you always say, "I wanna come too!". You give Maggie lots of hugs and kisses, which always makes her smile or laugh, even when it makes me fear that you are cutting off the circulation to her brain or squishing her face in. You talk to her all the time and give me running commentary on what she is doing in her carseat while we drive. You are always concerned with her well being and any time she cries you tell me, "Maggie's hungry Mommy!" Recently you were playing on your couch while I was sitting on it with Maggie in my lap and you accidentaly hit her in the head with a piece of cardboard. You said, "I'm sorry I bumpled your head Maggie" and I almost cried.
You do have moments when we remember that you have indeed entered the "terrible twos", when you get so frustrated with us or with a situation that you just lose your cool and your vocabulary and scream your little head off. Usually this happens only when you are tired, hungry or under the weather. Even then we can usually get you to calm down and communicate or move on with life fairly quickly. Your Daddy came up with an ingeneous way to refocus your attention by asking you, "Is it crying time?" Invariably the answer is no, and you tell us that it is puzzle time, or swimming time or peanut butter and jelly time. You have even started telling Baby Maggie and sometimes Mommy or Daddy that it is not crying time.
You are a sweet, affectionate, loving child and freely give kisses and cuddles to those you know and love. You are amazingly intelligent and have a phenomenal memory. You are happy and funny and love to sing and dance. You bring us so much joy every day and we can't wait to see what new development each day brings.
We love you Zofia. Happy Birthday

Zofia through the year...

Here is a short vid of Zofia month by month...

What's that on your head?

Our daughter is developing her grasp of the absurd. The other day she was cracking herself up with this trick:

That's one of Maggie's onsies on her head, which she put on for no reason we could figure out. It was pretty funny, though; and note that it is color coordinated with the rest of her outfit! Very impressive, no?











Tonight we decided to throw bedtime out the window (especially given the fact that Zofia didn't wake up from her nap until after 5pm and bedtime is 7pm) and we all went to a baseball game. The San Antonio Missions are a local minor league team and tonight was Habitat for Humanity night. Roger is head of the HforH ministry at our church, so that was another reason to go. We just got home after 10pm! Summer time, and the livin' is easy...


There are a ton more photos from the past few days up on the web. Click either of the two links to the right (Flickr Photos or Yahoo Photos)

Unassailable Logic

When she wants to claim ownership of something (which is mighty often, these days) Zofia says, "MISE!" For a while we just thought that is was a cute mispronounciation, but then I thought about it... We say, "that book is Mommy's" or "that phone is Daddy's" or "that toy is Zofia's", so of course my logical daughter would say, "everything is the entire world is MY'S!!"

Other adorable words:
totato - as in: that mr. totato head is MY'S
musigut - as in: please turn on the radio and play some musigut

Whew, what a weekend!

What a fun and exciting weekend we had.
My parents and Roger's brother Doug arrived on Saturday. Saturday morning Zofia was still not feeling well, so immediately upon picking my parents up at the airport, we dropped my dad off at the car rental place and headed to the emergency room. It wasn't really an emergency, but Zofia's regular doctor's office is not open on Saturday.
Three and a half hours later we left the hospital with three perscriptions and four tired girls! We went to dinner and then to Sam's Club to do all of the shopping for the party on Sunday. Thankfully the doctor said there was no need to cancel the party as long as Zof was not running a fever, which she wasn't.
The next day we all woke up to a torrential rainstorm. We had breakfast and headed to the church for Maggie's Christening. The ceremony was lovely and, of course, I cried. Maggie looked so adorable in the dress my parents got for her.

After church everyone headed back to the house to start preparing for the party. We were expecting about 60-70 people! The rain had cleared up in the early afternoon, but as 4 o'clock approached, so did enourmous black rain clouds. Thankfully, we had so much help from friends and family. Cousin Julia Soccerball arrived to help around 2pm, LaLa was here and our friends Bob and Hyacinth, who had generously offered to help with the barbeque. Yes, I did say barbeque...in the rain! Our fearless crusaders Bob and Doug stood out under umbrellas and cooked up the most delicious burgers, sausages and hotdogs imagineable. Obviously, there was no swimming, but we all had a great time anyhow. Zofia really enjoyed her "Happy Birthday Party" and is still talking about it!

The next evening Doug grilled out again and we had some more friends over for an impromptu dinner on the deck. Yummy steak and fish and rice and peas and plenty of wine! We had so much fun!
Tuesday turned into home improvement day as Doug and Roger cleaned out the garage and my dad installed a closet organizer in Zofia's room. Tuesday evening we were supposed to meet Julia Soccerball in Gruene for dinner. We took two cars and my mom, Maggie, Zofia and I arrived around 6:30 just in time for more torrential rain. Unfortunately, the boys got lost in the rain and didn't get there until after 7pm. They helped me get the girls out of the car and into the restaurant, but we all got soaked to the skin in the process. We still managed to have a great time at dinner, and by the time we left the rain had abated considerably.
Sadly, Wednesday morning arrived to soon and everyone had to leave. It was a wonderful weekend and one I think we will all remember.
Click on the green title above to see all of the pictures.

Who's Who...

If you guessed Maggie on top and Zofia on the bottom...you were right!

In other news, last night Zofia had a high fever and woke up around 11:30pm crying. After giving her some Advil and a warm shower, the three of us sat up in bed until she got dry and sleepy. We watched Iron Chef America and Roger said, "look, that man is cooking just like Mommy, and just like Zofia" (she "helps" me cook almost every day). Zofia said, "No Daddy, I'm too little to cook dinner."

Who's Who?

Which baby is Maggie and which is Zofia? Post your guess under comments...

The Darndest Things

This morning on the drive to school:
Zofia: I went up the ladder and down the slide, but Maggie didn't go up the ladder and down the slide.
Agi: Why not?
Z: Because Maggie's too little!
A: But when Maggie grows bigger she will go up the ladder and down the slide too.
Z: Maggie is gonna get bigger.
A: Yes, just like Zofia is growing bigger.
Z: Maggie is growing bigger, and Zofia is growing bigger, and Daddy is all big.

This afternoon on the drive home:
Z: (looking at the keys in the ignition) Those are Mommy's keys.
A: Yes, these are Mommy's keys.
Z: No, those are Daddy's keys.
A: These are Daddy's keys?!
Z: Ya, Mommy stole them.