2008 in review (Or, what has inspired me this year)

These little guys (in 2005)...

...Who are now this big.

And him, my life partner, who is my source of balance and strength every day.

Quality time together as a family...whether on vacation or around the holiday table or simple, everyday things, like hanging out in our pajamas at home (or in this case, at a campground).

This awe-inspiring victory, and what it has meant for me, our children and the potential we can reach together...reminding me just how far we have come. 

The wonderful company of female friends who are trying-to-balance-it-all-dammit. And who can also relate to this stressful, crazy, but blissful time in our lives parenting little ones.

Believing in magic, and viewing the world with the hope and wonderment that my children see with every little thing that most adults take for granted.

The beauty of children in general, and what I learn from them each day...especially the lesson about being carefree and unapologetic about anything.

Letter to my Lu-Lu

My Dearest Lu-Lu,

You are my youngest child by one minute and you are now as old as the number of years I spent in college.   My, how time flies.

All too often, your daddy and I have referred to you and your twin sister as a unit. After all, you were conceived together, you lived in my belly and subsisted on my nutrients together, you were born together and have cribbed together. And now, 4 years later, not only do you school together but you are each other's 24/7 playmates. So unique is your relationship with your twin sister that I hope you cherish what you have...it is a bond unlike any other.

Despite all of this, please know that we've always recognized you and your sister as two very unique, lovely individuals who bring such different aspects of delight to our lives.

And, like my letter to your sister, I wanted to write you a letter so that you know who you are but also, and most importantly, so you understand what and how much you mean to me during this crazy, hectic, beautiful time in our lives.

If Hannah is the cat, you definitely personify the loyal puppy dog: you are warm, loyal, welcoming, perennially energetic, charming.  I love it when you run to me after a long day at work and knock me down with your enthusiastic, vigorous, signature Luke-hugs. You have one of the most warm, loving hearts I have ever seen.

There are many sides to you, Luke but at it's core, you are an open book.  On   one hand you are analytical, methodical in your approach to solving problems, organized.  On the other hand, you are a free-spirit and love to go where the wind blows.  You love to be the center of attention;  you are often the life of the party.  You invite people to participate in your world by constantly engaging others around you, including your not-so-gregarious sister.   You love to sing at the top of your lungs.   You love to dance.   You jump up and down when you get excited and scream, "Hurray!"  You are like the Energizer bunny and keep going and going and going... constantly in motion.   You are not easily embarrassed and are completely unapologetic of who you are and what you are doing.  I so admire this quality in you and am in awe of you every day.

You wear your heart on your sleeve, always - whether you are ecstatic or sad, angry or surprised.  You are a quick study.    Your self-awareness and emotional IQ in relating to others constantly amazes me; I only hope you sustain this awareness as you get older...it's a good trait to have.

And perhaps because of your self-awareness, you are able to project this awareness in how you interact with others around you.  You are a sensitive little boy - you are easily amused, but at the same time, you readily get angry or frustrated.    And sometimes this anger and frustration is manifested in playing control games with your daddy and I.  A favorite of yours is to "reset" and start over at the point the affliction was made.  You don't easily let things go; you often want to go back and start over  before you can move forward.   And like Hannah, you picked up a trait (or two...or three) of mine that I am not proud of  and that I am aware I need to change.   I only hope you can cultivate those coping skills as you grow older.

As your mother, I am so aware of your capability to charm and break hearts in the not-so-distant future.    In fact, you already have a following in our neighborhood.  :)   I am sensitive to raise you into responsible young man who is respectful of women and what we bring to the table.  And the only way I can best do this is by role modeling behavior of a woman, a mother, a wife who leads a balanced life.  I am hoping you pay careful attention to the woman who is raising you (and of course, your daddy too).

I love that you are not afraid to show me how you feel about me every day, whether it's jumping on my back and giving me a Luke-hug from behind, or slopping on one of your big wet kisses on my nose.    I especially love when you look into my eyes and tell me "I love you, mommy" and tell me I am beautiful.    What mom doesn't find her son saying such things music to her ears?

You are truly momma's little boy and are one of the biggest delights of my life.

If I were 4 years old again I would want to marry you.

Blog guilt (Or, random musings and justification of how I spend my free time these days)

Where did the month go? 

The election happened; my candidate won.

Work continued to happen, and happen, and happen...with seemingly no end. (not that I am complaining...believe me, I'm just happy to have a job in these fragile economic times.)

The kids are getting closer to 4 years old with every passing day.

And now they are playing holiday music where ever I go.

Gyeeesh.  I know Q4 would fly but this is so ridiculous.

And.  I've been feeling guilty lately that I haven't been blogging.  After all, this is supposed to be my love letter to my kids, and my chronicle of our lives at this crazy, insane time in our lives. But I haven't been blogging.  And it's not that I don't have anything to blog about. 

I have plenty.

It's just that life is so....

Busy.  

Crazy.

Rushed.

That I don't have time to collect myself and my thoughts and write something semi-coherent and meaningful.

And when I do have that extra time these days, I choose to have a massage.  Or do some retail therapy (or window shopping, in this economy).  Or get my nails done. Or have a date with my husband.  Or grab drinks with the girls.   Since I barely have time for myself anymore - outside of parenting, working, wifing, etc.  And the last thing I want to do with any down time is sit in front of a computer when I've been sitting in front of one all damn day for work.

I keep thinking that things will slow down.

And maybe I should accept that they won't and that such is life and such is the pace where I am - WE ARE - in our lives right now.

For now, I will post a few of my favorite, recent photos of the kids that we recently took for our annual family beach photo shoot.  I'm also posting these because I've noticed lately that my last several posts have no photos (and this is why I started this whole thing to begin with - to chronicle our lives right now!)

These photos makes me smile.  And it reminds me that all of the craziness I feel at times (ok, probably most of the time) is ALL worth it.

Q4 is here

October 1 marks the beginning of what us calendar year fiscal year corporate folks call Q4.  So, no doubt, things are really, really busy.

For everyone else, it marks the beginning of the "holidays" which it seems starts earlier and earlier every year.   And with the holidays, comes the kids' birthday (along with the Star Wars-themed party I must plan along with it) - their 4th.

OMG.

Where did the year go?

And where did my babies go?

4 1/2 months old, April 2005

 

Almost 4 years old, September 2008

The Skills You Can Learn @ 3 years old!

This past weekend, my husband hooked up the kids' new computer in the playroom...complete with parental controls and favorite bookmarks of our carefully chosen online learning games, of course.

With my husband and I both working the in the tech industry and tapping on our computers in the evenings sometimes when we need to finish work at home, it's no surprise that they have been showing interest in computers for a while now.  And we decided it was time.

So as I watched them play their "fine motor skills" and "literacy-building and storytelling" games on the Sprout/PBS kids website, I sat there behind them proudly and was constantly bemused by the fact that our 3 year olds were clicking around on icons and learning how to work the mouse.   They can't read yet, but they knew exactly where to click once we gave them the short tutorial.   I knew this would come soon enough, but wow, at 3?!!

Part of the reason I think I was so amused was this: I don't think I knew how to work a computer and type until I was in high school (and in the late 80's/early 90's I  think they were still called "word processors"...how funny!)

And now, here is this new generation of our children for whom computers, the internet, etc. is a part of their everyday existence...

Unfortunately, this morning before preschool they woke me up to see if they could play on the computer again.

Uh-oh.

Thank goodness they haven't yet discovered games that you actually play for regular fun instead of learning fun.  Or worse yet, the Wii.

Ah, summer - 'twas good seein' ya

After the abyssmal Chargers-Broncos game yesterday where we disappointingly lost (subtext: were cheated), we decided to drive the 15 minute jaunt over to the beach to enjoy the last bits of the weekend and savor the last few nights before Summer officially turns into Fall.

The wind was a bit chillier, the water was a bit colder, and the sun was barely peeking out from the gray clouds as if to say, "Autumn's almost here... enjoy every last bit of this lovely late summer afternoon."

Of course, it was like, 60 degrees, but then again, I've become thin-skinned a total cold-weather wimp since I've moved to Southern California. I was sad to have been wearing a long-sleeved shirt in September...in San Diego of all places. But then again, it is almost Fall.

The surfers were out in full force, Luke was in regular form running circles in the sand (as only a 3 3/4 year old cooped up watching football in the house all day could be), and Dave and I were fully in the moment...enjoying the lovely stroll along the beach knowing that in another month we would be breaking out full-on sweatshirts, long pants and close-toed shoes.







There could be worse places to live, I guess.

(as I gloat :)

Birthday cake, yum, yum

We've been on the late summer birthday party circuit these days (think 5 birthday parties in a 4 week span...and we're not yet completely through it!). For some reason, late August - early September is B-U-S-Y with birthdays.

As a tribute to our friends' kids who have recently celebrated birthdays we've attended, I thought I'd post a few party photos of every kids' absolute favorite part of the party - CAKE!!!!

(The goody bag handout ranks high with our kiddos, too)

And of course, a piece of cake is often followed by sugar-induced exuberance.

Here's a chronicle of their sugar-high, cake loving (and eating) adventures at various friends' parties.

The wonderful world of Disney

After a lovely and relaxing 5-day vacation in the serene central coast, we spent an un-relaxing day at The Happiest Place On Earth on the way back home to San Diego.  

Main Street, U.S.A., with Sleeping Beauty's castle in the distance

The kids had a ball of a time.  

I, however, feel like I was bitchslapped.  Bitchslapped by the Southern California August heat, bitchslapped by the summer crowds, bitchslapped by the Disney marketing machine which resulted in the kids whining every time we were funnelled at the end of an ride right into the contextually relevant-themed Disneyland store beckoning us to spend more money (Even after the $69 per adult head and the $59 for each kid we had paid just to enter the park).

I can only imagine the Disney marketing people in a conference room when they were laying out the design of Disneyland...

Travelled to Endor on Star Tours?  Come to our Tomorrowland store and spend money on Star Wars action figures and light sabers!  

Just rode Pirates of the Caribbean?  Dole out some cash for a wig and be just like Captain Jack Sparrow!  OR, come buy plastic swords so you can pummel each other with it!

Drove a car on Autopia?  Buy your kids the *exclusive* Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater cars that you can only find here at the wonderful world of Disney!

Don't even get me started on the Princess Faire, where we could have visited Cinderella, Belle and Ariel within a 5 minute span  (after about a 45 minute wait in line).  As you walk out of the "visits" with the princesses, you enter the most lovely store complete with beautiful Disney Princess dresses and accoutrements.  (We didn't visit the princesses this time, but here's a photo of our last visit to Princess Faire back in February).

At least the ride-to-merchant layouts and upsells are contextually relevant -- I'll give them that. So much so that the kids were asking us to shop after every ride.  Oy.  Disney...the Marketing Machine.

Anyhooooo....

Despite all my bitching about the unsolicited attempts to spend money at every corner, the kids had a great time.  Which is what matters most, really.

(And OK, OK.   I admit, we had a great time, too.  How can you not when your kids are grinning from ear to ear?!)

Here are some photos chronicling our latest adventures at The Happiest Place On Earth.

Jedi Training Camp...waiting for Darth

Don't ever let your 3 year old drive the car at Autopia.  I still have whiplash.

Tarzan's Treehouse (formerly the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse back in the 70's when I was a kid visiting Disneyland.  Good move changing the name, Disney.  I can see today's kids now - Swiss Family...uh...who?)

Mad Tea Party - a 1955 original

King Arthur's Carousel

And nearing the end of the day, this:

Cafe Orleans for a nice sit-down dinner, right after riding Pirates of the Caribbean

And we all know this well...end-of-the-evening general crankiness.  Time to go home now!