Babyproofing Needed

Oh my goodness, well we are all moved in (sort of.) I can now sort of walk through the living room. If this move has taught me anything it is that we cannot buy a smallish house! Two little ones and all of their stuff creates a need for space! That, and I seriously need to edit what we own. It is easier said than done though. We have so much "junk" for each developmental stage, and I can't bring myself to part with most of it because we will need it if we have another baby. It is amazing the space baby stuff takes up, the swings,  the exersaucer, the jumperoo, etc. And, then on top of it, all the clothes they outgrow, and now we have all the girl clothes and all of the boy clothes and since there is no way to predict the sex of a possible future baby, I feel the need to hold onto almost all of it. If anyone has any tips of weeding down what they own, let me know! Or toy storage/organization for that matter:) The other obstacle I seem to face, is that every time I start to sort something (e.g. toys or clothes), Marissa gets all up in it and starts playing with everything, spreading it out, and especially throwing laundry! She knows the throwing of the clean laundry piles drives me cccraazy! Gee, I wonder why she does it?! Any sorting/organizing progress I manage to get done though, always seems to be in the fashion of one step (maybe one half) forward, half a step back. Basically, I get forward very, very slowly.
The main problem right now that I'm trying to focus fast and furiously on is baby proofing this house. Oliver is into everything! Today I was throwing some dishes in the dishwasher and I turned around and saw him with Ripper's huge dog food bowl in one hand (it was like a planet to his head), gnawing on it, like it was the best thing he ever tasted! Lovely! I wish I could have snapped a picture, but I was too eager to put some distance between him and the bowl! I also wish I could have snapped a picture of him in front of the entertainment cabinet today, looking back over his shoulder at mamma, his look was so mischievous and deliciously cute, it was seriously to die for. He is trying so hard to break into that thing, thank goodness, it's one of the only things secured from baby! He is a magnet to baby "danger zones" though! He has also clonked his head seemingly 20 times a day, he is like a reckless baby driver! He will pull at anything to get it, sometimes hard enough that he goes flying backwards onto his head. Ouch! In not so good news, I think either he is allergic to something in the carpets in our new house or, maybe there is something not so good in them, but his poor little legs are sooo rashy from crawling on them. And, it has been hot here, 80 degrees, but he is having to stay in long pants for the time being. He has his 9 month appt tomorrow though, so hopefully the pedi can suss out what's going on. My favorite thing about our new place is that it has a mature orange tree, grapefruit tree and avocado tree! Yummmm!
I am missing our old house though, pretty much like crazy. I took Marissa and Oliver out to lunch today after preschool, (something I don't normally brave on my own, but our new kitchen is mostly in boxes still) and the restaurant was near our old house. On the way back to our new house, I was taking the road that drove by our old neighborhood, and out of habit, I turned into the neighborhood (can you tell I have a lot on my mind lately) and Marissa got all excited asking if we were going to our house, and I couldn't help it, I was this close to crying, all that hope in her little voice, and the thing of it is, I miss our old house too. I just keep telling myself, our new house is temporary. The only thing is the way the real estate market is here, you would never think there was any sort of recession going on... In a word, competitive. The saddest part of the actual move was the day we moved the majority of things, and ourselves, we had Marissa's favorite butterfly wand in our old house, and she refused to pack it is the car, head down chin tucked under, visibly upset, not talking, and so I snuck it into the car, and when we got to the new house she was just so upset to see it in the trunk, and kept saying over and over, "I just want to keep it at our house. I just want to keep it at our house." It just seemed to sum up the entirety of her feelings about the whole move, and it just broke this mamma's heart. And, turning into the old neighborhood today just refreshed all of those feelings for me. On a positive note, she happily distributed "candy canes" to everyone in the family tonight at bedtime, mine was purple and white striped:) She is our official candy cane girl. And, outside her preschool right now the sour grass flowers are in bloom, and at the end of each preschool day, she has to stop and pick a flower for mommy, daddy and Oliver, each and every time. Really, it is just the sweetest thing ever. I love them so. And, a happy 9 months to what maybe the most kissable baby boy ever, Oliver,  today!

Moving

We are moving in two days and I can't stop my eyes from brimming over with tears every single time I think about leaving "our" house. We moved into this house when I was five months pregnant with Marissa. I can vividly remember being pregnant with her here, waiting through that hot southern California summer for her to come. I remember rocking in the rocking chair we had picked in her nursery, all of dreams I had of what it would like to be a mother, sitting on the back porch reading away my last days away before life would never be the same again. I can still recall with vivid detail going into labor with her here and even more, those first days of her life when we brought her home. I remember all of those late nights nursing in her room at 3 am, wondering who else in the big world was doing the exact same thing as me at that moment. I remember endless afternoons outside spent laying on the grass with her while she gazed up at the Chinese Elm which served as mother nature's best mobile. I remember her first roll and her first Christmas here, her first, second and third birthdays, her first steps that she took on her own and I could go on and on. And, then came finding out we were pregnant with our second child and that whole pregnancy. I remember laboring with Oliver here (not yet knowing that we were having a little boy) and leaving Marissa who was sound asleep with our trusted baby sitter, I remember bringing him home two days later and seeing his sister's amazement with him. I remember him doing all of his firsts here too. His recent burst in mobility this past month has him crawling all over the house and pulling up everywhere. He is into everything! I'm pretty sure that he is why they invented baby proofing. The kid is like a magnet to items that are inappropriate for babies. I can feel the comfort that both the kids feel when we pull into the driveway and enter the house after having a busy day, it is home, our home. I will miss it. So many memories, and I don't know how to hold onto them forever. Even tonight, I know Marissa said at least 3 things that when she said them I thought, I will never forget these, they were so funny, so Marissa, I couldn't wait to tell Leo. And, then I have had just had so much on my mind lately, poof, just like that, they are gone. Buried somewhere deep inside my brain I am sure, all I can remember is the feeling they left me with. I am determined to write down at least one brilliant Marissaism a day. I can feel the move, the endless packing, the house hunting affecting my little girl. Who wouldn't be confused when we are moving all our stuff into another house, but at the same time keep looking at new houses every weekend. I really, really dislike moving and am determined to move as little as possible with our kids. Which is part of the reason we have waited to buy a house, we wanted to make sure we felt totally committed to LA.
It is amazing how attached I can feel to a house that is not even ours. I guess it is not the house, just the memories, but they all seem so tightly bound together to me. We are moving nearby while we continue our house hunt for the "perfect house." I hope we can fill our new house with as many wonderful memories as we have in this one.
I have been absolutely terrible about taking photos this month. I think it is all strangely bound up in my anxiety about moving. My dad just shipped me an amazing camera though, so I'm hoping to start putting it to very good use. I can't believe how fast time has flown since having two kids. I remember the first year with Marissa being a stay at home mom, the days were long, but the year overall went fast. With two kids, everything goes fast, and I just want to slow it all down, savor every minute, remember every detail, note to self, take more photos, blog more. If I could figure out if I could upload videos from my Iphone to our PC, I could put some really cute crawling ones on here of Oliver.

Family Photoshoot

Here are the results from our family photo shoot taken by our amazing photographer Julie at Blueberrryskyphotography.com  These were my Christmas present from Leo, thanks honey! Anyone who knows me knows that I am slightly neurotic about photos and my good SLR broke down this fall and I'm waiting on a new one, not that I could ever come close to taking photos anything like these. I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I do:)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Phew! The holidays are done! We had a great holiday season despite being sick as dogs and having to delay Christmas by a day. The benefit of having a 3 year old and an 8 month old is I'm pretty sure they didn't suspect a thing! At least I really hope not. I always have sooo many things I want to do to capture that perfect Christmas and the time surrounding it, but I tried really hard to let go a little this year and just enjoy the time with my two little ones. I think I was kind of forced to as well since we were all so sick. As a side note, it would be really great if for the next time my husband has a day off work, we actually aren't all super sick, k, thanks. It started off with a wicked cold and sore throat for Oliver and I and then Marissa came down with the stomach flu and then I did and then Oliver did, and then Leo did. Since Marissa was born, we never have had the flu, and let me tell you, next year these kids will both be getting their flu shots as soon as they come out as will we. Projectile baby vomit is not my idea or my couches' idea of fun.
Onto the fun though, Marissa and I did make cookies for Santa on our "faux Christmas eve", thank you Trader Joe's for your excellent foolproof sugar cookie mix. She had been looking forward to this for weeks, and the look of awe on her little face when she saw Santa had eaten them (and by the way did you know reindeer don't eat carrots, thank you very much, they prefer cookies too:) was too priceless. Christmas Magic is truly a magical thing in the eyes of a three year old. I think this was the first year she totally "got it" and was anticipating Christmas for about a month, she woke up at 5 am on Christmas day! We did see Santa at the mall, Marissa told me, "Mom, I think Santa lives at the mall." I brushed that off with some explanation that he was in for a visit. I think this might get tougher as she gets older. Oliver was not a fan of Santa, Marissa was a huge fan of Santa. She had a great holiday celebration at preschool complete with a singing recital and holiday feast. I think the highlight for me was her excitement of giving her teacher's their presents. She really loves them. Grandpa and Grammy Martha also snuck down for a quick visit, along with their crazy dogs. Happy Birthday Grandpa!
We finished off the year with a relaxing take out dinner at home of Japanese food (Marissa's favorite, chicken teriyaki with lots of sauce!) Then we were off to see the Rose Parade today, which comes blocks from our house. This is our family's third annual Rose Parade viewing. It will be sad when we move from this house due to it's excellent location for Rose Parade viewing. Here are some pictures from our holiday time.

Lovable List

"Mommy get me out of here!"

She looked forward to this for weeks.

Ol got his new teeth for Christmas. He loved the paper too.



Let Me Help You With That






Holiday Sickness

Marissa in my old dress, she loves it! Thanks for saving it Mom.



Rose Parade 2011





Sheer Happiness



The Gang

Bubble Gun Fun




Beautiful Southern California Day

 



Cool Pacman Float