LUCKY CHARMS PARTY

Due to the stormy weather, the soccer tournament was canceled.  However, the end of the season party was still on. The highlight of the party every year is when the girls receive their trophies. The coach lists off memorable events, plays and skills completed by the child that season and then hands over the beloved trophy.

Here's sierra with her prized possession.

EASTER EGGS

I announced that it was time to color Easter Eggs.  The white hard boiled eggs were sitting on the table next to the vinegar color baths.  All that was missing was a seven year old named Sierra and a four year old named Annie.  "Girls! It's time to color easter Eggs!" I yelled and assumed they would come racing to the kitchen.  Not this year.  Sierra yelled back, "Just a mintue I'm checking my email!".  Annie said, "Dinosaur Train is almost finished mom."  However, after they got started they colored each egg with care and finished them off with stickers and sequins. 

  

At the end, Annie started yelling at me and throwing a tantrum.  When I finally discovered what she wanted, I was shocked.  All that yelling and fussing for a cookie.  No, she did not get one.  But we did go for frozen yogurt shortly after.  I hope this does not mean she "won" and got her way.

SPRING BREAK 2012!

We just returned from a dreamy trip to Alabama.  I know, Alabama doesn't sound like a vacation destination.  But that is exactly why it is so great, there were not a lot of people.The beaches are soft carpets of white sand that meet the gentle, warm gulf of Mexico.  The kids loved jumping in the waves and I didn't have to worry about the ocean sucking them out to sea, like the Pacific has been known to do.

We vacationed for a week with my sister's family and my mom.  We stayed at Phoenix VII on the ninth floor.  My sisters famiy was on the tenth floor.  My mom stayed in the condo 1 block away.  We met up daily at the beach, or the pool or in each others condo.  The temperature was often in the 80's and the nights were cooler but didn't stop people walking the beach with flashlights.  Fred and I sat on the balcony each night after the kids crashed, listening to the ocean, pointing out falling stars, drinking icy cold beers while listening to rock "n" roll music that just isn't played on the west coast radio stations.  

I'll always have fond memories of this trip.

The crazies

Aunt Kim and cousins

The long boardwalk out to the white sand beach.

  

Us on the beach.

Sunrise with Lily.

Old Maid on the balcony.

The birthday girls all got messenger bags from Aunt Kim. 

Sierra with an Alligator.

Alligator Alley in Alabama

Freddy with baby Alligator

LILLIAN 9 MONTHS

Lillian, by now we call you Lily and you know your name.  You say "Hi" and wave.  You seem to eat all day long but never seem to gain weight.  You are an expert crawler and have mastered pulling up to standing with the help of a chair or couch as a balance bar.  The other day I saw you let go of the balance bar and stand for a few seconds before you dropped to your butt. You listen to me when I say "no".  You still don't sleep through the night but have an easier time falling asleep as long as you are in your crib.

LILLIAN 5 MONTHS

You sprouted your first 2 bottom teeth today!  You had a horrible time sleeping this past weekend since you had a cold, teething pain and the desire to practice your new skill, turning over from back to front. 
You are very tired now and so is mommy.

SCENES FROM THE PIRATE FESTIVAL

We were unsure of what to expect before we arrived the festival.  As soon as we arrived it started to rain. The first rain Sacramento had received in 3 months.  That's my luck. Despite the rain and loud cannon blasts, this little festival was worth it! The pirates were quite the characters and were fun to look at.  One pirate gave Sierra and her friend the despised "black spot" which would turn their right hand black by midnight.  To rid of the black spot, which was a black shiney stone, they had to search throughout the festival for a pirate named Caliber.  Every pirate the girls passed, they asked if their name was Caliber. Each pirate encounter pointed us toward the right direction.  This amazed me that all the pirates knew each other at the festival.  Do they travel around and attend all the pirate festivals together?  Reminds me of my phish tour days.... Anyways,we found Caliber near the cannons and he "cured" the girls of their black spot and all was dandy again.

Sierra dancing with the gypsies.

After a watching a bit, Annie had to get some wiggling in too!

On the Sacramento River.

At the pirate festival with friends.

ISN'T IT SUPPOSED TO BE EASIER THE 3RD TIME AROUND?

Something that I dreaded, I did.  It took will power and planning.  I thought about it a lot before it happened.  When it was over, it was sweet relief.  What was it, you ask? I finally left baby Lilly in the care of someone!  Yup, I couldn't leave the baby the past few months, because....well, I'm a crazy mom with oodles of hormones, that make me do crazy things.  It took me 10 months to make her and another 3 months of constant feeding and no sleep to keep her growing.  So, yes, I'm a little possessive of her. 

She was left in the care of a girl who looked about 16 at my gym's playcare.  I struggled in the gym's rocking chair to nurse Lilly and have her fall asleep.  Lilly fussed and cried.  I sweated and was unsure of what to do.  Just leave her when she was fussy?  The playcare girl, the one who looked about the age of 16, suggested that I hand Lilly over to her.  And as soon as I did, Lilly was happy.

Lilly is 3 months.

Annie playing with Lilly.

My clean girls after a hot evening of soccer practice.

Bedtime talking. 

A french bisou!

SCENES FROM LABOR DAY 2011

This post is a few weeks late but that's how life has been rolling lately. With a screaming newborn and 2 other children with activities, I'm surprised I have time to eat or pee. Actually sometimes I forget to eat but I haven't had a potty accident yet, thank goodness.

WHY I WORRY

Being a mother causes me to worry about everything.  Usually I worry about a dirty house, but I FINALLY hired cleaners to take care of that.  Sometimes I worry about food, but lately Freddy has been grocery shopping.  Other times I worry about the kids watching too much television, but since school started that worry has disappeared.  Now that I have an empty worry hole to fill, I decided to worry about going back to work and how Freddy will manage getting all the kids ready for school and fed in the morning.  Yes, I don't go back to work until the end of OCTOBER, but I decided August is a good time to start thinking about it.  This little worry was sparked after I saw this video created by my loving Freddy when Lilly was 1 month old:

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!

Soccer is here.  Life, as we know it, will be soccer till December.  Plus, this year Sierra AND Annie play AND on different teams.  Which means, soccer is no longer a family activity.  I can already tell this soccer year will be about mastering our juggling skills.  Both girls have practices at the same time, but different parks.  The games will be on the same day, but in separate cities.

Today I attended Annie's games.  Her team, Splash, had a seeding tournament.  I think they end up with 1 win, 2 losses.  Not sure since Annie decided she didn't want to play after her first encounter with the ball and bumping heads with another player on the field:

After some coaxing she played in the next game, probably since she got to wear a cute pink pinnie. Overall, I think she did great by not giving up.

Sounds like Freddy had a vaastly different experience at Sierra's games.  The players have positions now and they actually pass to each other.  It's rumored that the coolest position to be is goalie.

IN THIS ______ HELL

This statement runs through my brain on end,  "In this (blank) hell".  I try to fill in the blank with creative words, but my mommy brain can only stretch so far.  So far that the adjective I repeat the most is "complete".  "In this complete hell" is my daily matra. Especially in the evening, when I am pacing from the crib to the door in Lillian's room trying to coax her to sleep for the umpteenth time that day.  The ocean sounds from the white noise machine and the fan loudly blows to block any sounds her older sisters may make.  As soon as I get her to sleep and carefully place her in her crib, I realize if I leave her room I will be required to make dinner and cater to Lillian's 2 demanding sisters.  Maybe it is better is hide out in Lillian's room for a while and just watch her sleep.

LILLIAN IS HERE!

Her due date was 06/13, 06/14, 06/15 depending on who you asked: the doctor, nurse practioner or me.  But when July 15th came and went with no baby, I felt like she would never come out.  My other 2 girls came into this world before their due dates.  Naturally, I assumed, this baby would too.  Never before did I have time to fully stock the kitchen and house with supplies, complete all the laundry (Lillian's too), ready the crib, and pack my hospital bags before she came.

I had a doctor's appointment on the 16th. Baby was either 1, 2 or 3 days overdue.  The doctor checked my cervix. I was 4 cm dialated.   But I wasn't feeling any contractions.  She offered induction or to strip my membranes to speed it along.  Fred was eager to get this over, he even packed our bags in the car so we could just walk over to the Women and Children's Building to deliver.  Naturally, I was still not ready to deliver her. 

I gave in to "stripping my membranes".  What the heck is that anyways?  I don't really want to know, I guess.  It hurt, but it must of did the trick. 

We stopped by Trader Joe's to pick up a few cases of 2 buck chuck.  A strong pain stopped me in my tracks.  Was that a contraction?  I wasn't sure but felt the strong need to head home.

At home, small contractions were occurring but nothing regular.  At one point my mom tried to time them, but they were not consistent.  They were not strong and I wasn't even sure if they were real.  I think I was in denial.

I decided to put the girls to bed with bedtime stories.  My mom had done it all week for the girls and I was missing the one on one time with them.  Annie wanted a Christmas ballarina book read to her and Sierra wanted to read a book about snails and slugs.  I couldn't make it through Sierra's book.  A sharp pain made me gasp.  Sierra let met take her Hannah Montana clock to time the contractions.  But when I stood up, my water broke.  It was 9PM.  My shocked face sent Sierra off to find Daddy.

I called the hospital and Freddy packed the car, and in 15 mintues we were on our way.  On the way, the contractions were 4 minutes apart, 1-2 mintues long.  Freddy was driving 80-90/mph since the hospital was 25 minutes away.  Just like a movie scene, I was telling him to slow down, but also breathing heavily through the contractions indicating that the baby was coming soon and to hurry up!

When we arrived, I walked in to register at the same time another pregnant women walked in.  The nurse behind the desk took one look at me and kindly said, "I think we need to register her first" to the other woman.  I couldn't even carry my purse to the exam room, the nurse had to do it for me.  Once examined by the doctor, he announced that I was complete.  Meaning he couldn't feel any cervix, I was already 10 cm dialated.  They wheeled me off to the delivery room.  This is when I started begging for drugs, "Please anything, can't I have something?" and   "I don't want to do this again without something.  Please!"

A nurse tried to draw my blood but missed the vein probably because I was giving her the evil eye.  I wanted my drugs and I wanted them now!  Labs were not necessary! They kept asking me if I felt the urge to push. No, I didn't.  My lower back was killing me.  I felt the urge to have some drugs.  When one of the nurses realized I wasn't going to push until I got my drugs, she gave me a half dose of Fentinyl.  It did the trick.  I rolled on my side and magically felt the urge to push.

After 5 pushes Lillian Skyler Janson entered this world at 10:17PM at 7 lbs 5 oz and 18 inches long.  Only 1 hour and 17 minutes after my water broke and only 35 minutes after registering at the labor and delivery desk.  She is a gorgeous blondie, a strong nurser, and a good sleeper.  What more could I ask for?