iPop in mono

it was time for mom to head out with work friends to celebrate david's big 4-0. that meant iPop hd to step it up and play some serious zone D.
mom tried to time it perfectly but nevertheless zozo woke up half-way between home and daycare which was the rendevouz point. traffice was a nightmare so i met them a block away and strolled zcreaming zozo over to pick up hannah. tried to feed her when we got there but she was having none of it. time was up when hannah made it up to the front with the rest of her class and we had to bail.
zozo cried all the way home. hannah was pretty damn well behaved considering.
tried to feed her again when we got home but she would just not take a bottle. she played in the gym for a while while i got dinner together for h and i, then managed to sit while we wolfed it down after some zantac, gripe water and finally a burp. she still would not eat though. i decided by 7 it was time to wrap her up and see what would happen. it could not get any louder. sure enough after 10 minutes more wailing she passed out.
hannah had a very fun bath which inclued dumping water over her head and 'swimming' in the baby tub. have to get her to a pool soon, she is so ready.
so the sound machines are blaring and they are both out.
hopefully zo will make it to 9 for a dream feed...
final score, ipop 1, girls 0.

iMom - holidaze

Retail therapy worked! Hannah looks fabulous in her new jeans, tops and dress, and I feel infinitely better. It also helps that Hannah has been sleeping through the night again and Zoe slept from 12:30 am to 7:30 am last night. Zoe also rolled over twice yesterday and we captured the second time on video (Josh 'opened' our family Christmas present). Josh surprised us with a beautiful Christmas tree yesterday and trimmed it today while Hannah and I played.

It has started to rain. In the good 'ol days, that made us think SNOW in Tahoe but now it's how can we entertain Hannah indoors? Fortunately, Melissa and Chris hosted their annual Soul Food Brunch today and Hannah ate some ungodly amount of grits, nibbled on a nice piece of delicious ham and grabbed a handful of candied pecans on our way out. Hannah fell asleep on the way home and Josh succesfully transported her to her crib for a 2+ hour nap. Zoe also went down for a nice nap when we got home. Then, the biggest challenge of all for Josh - tyring to put me down for a nap. Success! I complained when I woke up because I hate that groggy feeling. He later made me admit in front of Eric how much better I felt. Eric's visit tonight made us miss him, Jenna and Samantha even more :-( It's hard to find good friends and we're sad for us they've moved back to Boston.

I can't believe the holidays are upon us. Sandy asked us what we will teach the girls about Christmas and Hanukkah. Shopping can lift spirits, sure. But with so much turmoil in our world, i look at the tree tonight and it reminds me that this is the season to love and to give - I think we start there.

iMom - eyelashes and such

I stare at Zoe's eyelashes everyday. She was born with long but STRAIGHT lashes... like mine. I like to think that I'm sort of above body issues and the like, but having 2 girls is an interesting reminder of various physical attributes that have caused me grief. I cannot count the amount of money and time I have spent perming my lashes - yes, that's right, eyelash perms. It takes about an hour and it's not cheap. Of course, I've only had them done once since Hannah was born, but it used to be an every other month ritual. I have determined that Zoe's lashes in fact are starting to curl; I decided it's ok for me to hope for that. It's pretty apparent that the girls are stuck with mom's "strong" legs. It took me about 30 years to like my legs, and it is my hope that my girls will always love their own set of strong legs to go with their hopefully lasting strong personalities.

I bought some hip clothes for Hannah today. I've been surprisingly good about not buying too much clothing for the girls. But today I needed a little retail therapy. It's been many nights now of Hannah testing us at night, waking and repeating things like, "mommy, where ahhh yoo?" One night she asked for milk and against my better judgment, I gave in. The next night, she did it again and then started to throw a tantrum when I said she could not have milk. It dawned on me that she no longer is waking because she's hot or because she's had a nightmare. Gaining some confidence after reading a section of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, we've started to let her cry it out. It's been 3 nights and she's crying less and less each night before she falls back asleep on her own. Oddly enough, she is much happier and cooperative when she wakes up in the morning. Zoe is harder to sleep train, but I can't decide whether it's her disposition, or that we have less energy and we're scared to let her cry too long because we fear she will wake up Hannah. Zoe woke up at 3 am last night and cried for a long time before I decided she really is hungry (or more frickin stubborn than I was willing to bear). Unfortunately, it was after she woke up Hannah. Yeah, as Derrick warned, one plus one does not equal two.

All I can do is find delight in the little things, like the fancy date night we had last night at Coi to pre-celebrate Josh's birthday, the ultra cool grey Diesel jeans I can't wait to put on Hannah and my baby girl's eyelashes beginning to curl.

weekend blues

weekends sure ain't what they used to be. trying to keep zoe on a schedule is challenging with hannah and dad around. we attempted to go to the annual holiday progressive our block has every year last night. even with Roni visiting from nyc enabling us to play 3 on 2 it was a disaster. zoe could not deal wiht all the commotion in the small space. she would calm down in the bedroom but as soon as we would bring her back to the main room she would start wailing. she has definitely not been in as many large social situations as hannah had by her age. jackie likes to point out that hannah was also 2 months old when the warriors were in the playoffs and got used to a slighttly louder evening environment.
anyway, roni takes zoe back to the house while jackie and i attempt to socialize and entertain/keep hannah from breaking things. we're too tired to talk to other folks and there are no kids hannah's age. we bail and instead of even trying to make it to the main course house we decide to make some pasta and stay in. just easier that way.
a bit later i take roni to the airport. when i get home jackie is feeding zoe. we're both wiped and decide to go to bed. sure enought, z wakes up at 1 wailing. i can't really blame her - if i can't figure out the schedule how can we expect her to? we're both kicking ourselves after an hour of wailing finally wakes up hannah too. we decide to pick over the train wreck in the hopes that we will all at least get some sleep - damn the schedule. jackie goes to feed z and i calm h down. z makes it until 8 - i think - and hannah until 6:30. supermom let's me sleep in until 8.
the bread is moldy so we decide to rally and go out to eat. we made it pretty much through a great breakfast whan h loses it and i have to take her outside.
on to the park. h is just having an off day. none of the kids she knows are there, jackie has to feed the little one, it's chilly and grey. after an hour of blase park time we bail and i make the critical error of not wrapping z up in the miracle blanket prior to putting her in the bucket. both nuggets fall asleep after 7 minutes of scenic drive. i successfully transport h to her crib. we move the bucket up to z's room but after 10 min she is wailing since she is not wrapped up. roni has been soothing her to sleep over the past 2 days so off i go to schlep her around the house. i finally get her back down (15 min seems like an hour) and the 3 are asleep.
now z is starting to cry again and i don't think she will soothe herself back to sleep.
it's still grey, we're still tired, we have no tree.
weekends sure ain't what they used to be.

zoe's 100 days and thanksgiving

as you might remember, 100 days is an important korean milestone. zoe celebrated her 100 days on thanksgiving (ok, that was 102 days) with family, rice cakes, crab, korean bbq ribs & seafood pancakes. there was turkey, too, but everyone, including hannah, opted for the ribs instead.

because we did not have enough to eat for lunch, we then headed over to ken and ashley's for dinner. we brought korean seafood pancakes (latkes as i call them) for appetizer courtesy of jackie's mom. ken smoked a 20 pound pig - amazing. there were 2 kinds of stuffing, 4 kinds of potatoes, 2 kinds of cranberries, 5 pies and a bourbon cheesecake. there was turkey, too, but the bird again took a back seat. thad's girlfriend, jen, brought her wonderful parents. her dad brought some wonderful bourbon. it was a great way to start and finish the meal.

foraging

we had a great time with ken, ashley, casey and jay hunting for mushrooms up the coast at sea ranch. we rented the same house we had for the abalone picnic since it was so kid friendly, affordable and just the right size for the 8 (yes, i gasp every time a weekend with ken and ashley = a weekend away for 8).

it was jackie and my 'first time' hunting for 'shrooms and we were both able to find our first gorgeous porcinis. ken was a great guide and teacher. he also rassled up a mean mushroom sauerkraut soup. we followed that with porcini, ricotta ravilis before finishing up with a snack of osso bucco.

hannah and casey had a great time together as you can see and even enjoyed a bath together once hannah got over her shyness.