Almost Summer

Almost Summer        

      

This weekend is Memorial Day and as everyone knows that is the unofficial start to summer. I am going into my recent Instagram endeavors to do a quick “Right Now” post.

Right now ... Family is fun!

Photo courtesy of Tim Miller.

Right now ... we have been using our pool as we move into the first summer at the new house.

Right now ... My little baby is turning into a little girl.

Photo courtesy of Tim Miller.

Photo courtesy of Tim Miller.

Photo courtesy of Tim Miller.

Photo courtesy of Tim Miller.

Photo courtesy of Tim Miller.

Photo courtesy of Tim Miller.

I sincerely hope everyone enjoys their long weekend and the start to summer!

Jenn

I'm in trouble! Happy Mother's Day!

I’m in trouble! Happy Mother’s Day!

I think I am in trouble, I am going to have two children and already I think that I am going to be overwhelmed. My daughter has become VERY Mom-centric lately, although she still gets excited when we see little boys and I say, “Do you want a little brother?” I was asking her this in Target and she gave me the usual enthusiastic, “Yea!” and then started talking. Remember my daughter talks in her own language and sprinkles English words in there every now and then to let us mere mortals now what she is talking about. And as she was talking I heard “Emi”, “Gabriel”, “Xander” and “baby” so I actually thinks she is starting to get the idea about having a little brother. Whether she wants to keep him when we finally get to bring him home might be a different story but for now I think she likes the idea that there will be more people in our house just like her cousins.

My growing baby is already a “charmer” and decided to put on a show at the ultrasound that I had on 04/28/14. This is the 18-20 week ultrasound that everyone gets done, this is usually the time when parents get to find out the sex of the baby. Since we already know because of the blood test it was just another routine trip for me. I got to lie down on that table and take a nap while the low lights, warm gel and gentle hum of the machine lulled me into a puddle. At the end of the session the technician said, “Let’s take a look at your baby.” She turned the machine toward me, then placed the sensor on my stomach and a blurry image started to take shape. I expected a profile or some fingers instead I got his butt. The tech laughed and said, “Yup! It’s a boy.” He was throwing his legs over his head and grabbing himself. Yup! That’s right! My boy is a charmer. Sadly we could not get any good pictures of this because he was moving, they just came out blurry.  

Feet!

Wednesday night was rough, no let me rephrase that, going to bed Wednesday night was rough. Allison and I had a fun afternoon with April at the brand new Daiso Japan store that just opened up near our house. This place is a colorful wonderland of products from Japan that every house MUST HAVE. The store has shiny white tiles on the floor, huge front windows that span floor to ceiling and aisles full of candy colored products. The three of us strolled leisurely through the store looking at every single thing in the store. This was the first Mommy mistake because at the second to last aisle I noticed a puddle next to Allison and her large bottle of bubbles. I thought she had opened the bottle and said it a tight anxious whisper, “Allison! I told you not to open those bubbles.” She looked up with a confused look and said, “Poo Poo.” And I knew that yellow puddle was not yellow bubbles. Oops! I rushed my cart to April and frantically mimed, “Puddle of pee! Got to change her! Can you notify the staff?” I ran like a scared chicken out of the store and to the car to take care of the situation. I left my poor friend to deal with “Clean up in aisle two!” and then managed to get Allison cleaned up and smelling fresh. We went back in and tip toed back to April who was still blissfully shopping and the puddle was cleaned up. The employees at the Daiso are fast and efficient; they noticed the mess before she could even say anything. PHEW! Then we decided to get some dinner at Gomen a ramen noodle place just around the corner. She loved the “noonels” and had a great time pulling out all of the hashi and then she spilled her water all over me and the floor. So not a terrible time but kind of messy still, and next we went home. This is when things went south very quickly, because Terry and Dustin were installing the Microwave she thought it was still time to PARTY! She did not want to go to sleep and basically lost her mind. She screamed in frustration, she pleaded; she cried and made such a ruckus for about 30 minutes that one of our very concerned neighbors (fill in very tired neighbors that wanted to go to sleep) called the police to have them check on us. Apparently they got there right as she finally calmed down and let me read her a story. This whole time she cried she was in my lap hanging onto my neck for dear life as I stroked her back and cooed in her ear. Poor baby. Terry explained that she did not want to go to bed and that was pretty much it, I didn’t even know the police had come by until he told me the next morning. (Oh I hope they didn’t peek in and see me in my jammies! I am pretty sure my swelling belly and butt crack were showing for a good portion of the time. It is very hard to sit politely on a very low bed with a toddler who seems to be trying to merge our two bodies.) So Wednesday night was rough.

In conclusion, I need to say that I LOVE being a Mother. With Mother’s Day just around the corner I am very sentimental about the whole thing. I found out I was pregnant on Mother’s Day in 2011 and then in 2012 and 2013 I got to celebrate with my baby who made me a Mommy. This year it is even more exciting as I feel the kicks and see my growing belly (which looks like a beer belly by the way!) to celebrate with my Mom, Grandma, Sister and all of our babies. I just love the whole thing but I am in trouble! HAHAHA! Wish me luck as these two are going to take me on a wild ride this year, I can feel it.

Allison the photographer. 

Have a great weekend everybody!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

We went to Los Banos again this year for Easter and it was fun fun fun! We visited with Grandma Jean, Grandpa Bud, Aunt Rhonda, Uncle John, Barbara, Elias Sr., Elias Jr., Tori, Sally and Katie. There was egg decorating, tons of deviled eggs (Allison’s favorite) and an Easter Egg Hunt after church. The weekend was beautiful; sunny and bright. Thank you all, we enjoyed the time together. 

The Happiest Place on Earth!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

I am taking pictures again! Not a whole lot but a start is a start and I decided to debut my comeback with the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland! Allison is growing up so fast, I was surprised when we pulled into the parking structure and she yelled out, “Mimmie! Mimmie Mouse!” She was right; we were parking in the Minnie Mouse section.  She notices so much but just recently she has been able to articulate a few of her thoughts about all that she notices.  

We met up with Uncle Tim and participated in the first ever Easter Egg hunt at Disneyland and California Adventure. We got a map for each park with a location clue as to where 12 eggs hidden and stickers to correspond with the Disney characters decorated on each egg. The hunt was on and as we found one egg after another Allison noticed them too yelling “EGG!” whenever she found one.

She is not only getting more mature she is also growing up! Up, Up and Up! She is now 36 inches tall and she rode her very first roller coaster, the Gadget Go-Go Coaster with Terry.  This time she enjoyed the Teacups because she could see out of the cup and waved at us as she swirled by. The Egg hunt took us into Critter Country and she decided to ride with Uncle Tim only getting a little bit scared when it got very dark at one point, she just grabbed his hand and sat closer. And of course she rode her very favorite ride King Triton’s Carousel. We all had a great time and Allison can’t wait to got o Disneyland again.

Remember this vacant lot? Well it's not longer empty, someone has filled the entire space with a humongous house. They have left the broken bottom half of a gargoyle, I hope they keep it for memories. 

We are going to Los Banos this weekend to spend Easter with Aunt Rhonda and Uncle John. Last Monday I was texting Aunt Rhonda and reminded Allison that we were going to go and visit, this is the face she gave me. I just had to snap a picture. 

Enjoy your Easter weekend everybody! Jenn

Weekends are full!

Weekends are full!

I still have not been taking pictures. I have been running around like a crazy person, I work a lot more these days and in reaction to that I have been trying to live my weekends to the fullest. I do nothing but make dinner and then go to bed on the week nights, so from Friday night to Sunday night I am literally cramming as much of the REAL things in life as I can into that small space of time. So in my hectic race to love life I forget to pull out my camera and capture it.

So what have I been doing since the last time we spoke? Well I turned 36 on March 23^rd; I celebrated with lunch at Storytellers Café at the Grand Californian Hotel at the Disneyland Resort with my family and then Terry, Allison and I hurried over to celebrate her friend Zoe Caldwell’s 2^nd birthday at Seascape Kids fun.  A short little lament for my birthday lunch that I really wanted to be a birthday brunch, Knott’s Berry Farm Chicken Dinner Restaurant no longer has Sunday Brunch Buffet. They have it once a month on the first Sunday of the month starting; you guessed it, in March 2014. Oh the humanity! I was lost and a drift, I wanted a fountain of fried chicken, biscuits and broccoli salad for my birthday but it was not to be. So I called around to other brunch buffet options that I know of in Orange County and I could not get a reservation. Since I was trying to get a table for 11 the pickings’ were slim. Then I got a reservation at the Storytellers Café and was very excited, soon I would be able to saddle up to the carving station and get fresh roasted turkey, prime rib and ham. When the day finally arrived we got there early and waited patiently for our table and then I noticed it … the buffet was NOT set up! On No! Again my dreams of free flowing vegetables and meat were to be squashed because the buffet does not run through lunch. There is a breakfast buffet and a dinner buffet. ARGH. Now the Roasted Turkey Sandwich and Crab Cake appetizers that I ordered were outstanding but I was really looking forward to scooping treasures with silver tongs and deciding that a second bowl of corn chowder was a good idea.  Although this story sounds like it may have a bit of a melancholy ending it in fact has a glorious rainbow and a pot of gold at the end. The very next Sunday I went out to Sunday Brunch Buffet at Casa Gamino and all of my expectations were fulfilled. I had the best chicken floutas, ever. It was fun and loud and everyone got their fill. So next time I get a craving for brunch buffet I will make sure that I put a little more planning into it and make sure that I have a list of buffets that includes Casa Gamino on it.

Back to the happenings, it was Gabriel’s 10^th birthday on 03/29/14. He is now a double digit and an entire decade old. AMAZING! On the day of his birthday it was baseball bonanza at the West Garden Grove Little League we went and watched Gabriel play his game first and then ran over to see our cousin Jax play his game and then Xander’s game rounded out the afternoon. Afterwards we went to Blake’s BBQ for Gabriel’s favorite ribs and chicken wings.  Then the next day he took 3 of his friends to Knott’s Berry Farm, boys and roller-coasters. Emi came to play with Allison for the entire day. We went to brunch at Casa Gamino, went to Sephora to pick out birthday makeup and came home to cook Mac n’ Cheese while we watched Bubble Guppies. Those girls had the best time together.

To kick off the month of April I went to see “Kevin and Bean’s April Foolishness” which is a charity comedy show that the radio station KROQ has yearly around April Fool’s Day. So I went with my friend April because OF COURSE who else would I take to a show name APRIL FOOLISHNESS? Well I did take her brother Tom and my husband Terry but really it was imperative that April go. We had a really fun time; April’s chair was broken so we got to move to an area that was much less crowded. More leg room is always a good thing.

So that pretty much sums up the fun I have been cramming into the weekends. I’ll catch up later and HOPEFULLY I will have taken some pictures.

Oh and Happy Rex Manning Day!

To Reading!

To Reading!

Here is a list of books that I got from THE INTERNET, it told me these were the books best read aloud to children and the best books for children to have on their bookshelves. Currently there are no books on Allison’s bookshelf; all of the books are on the floor. Every day I stack the books back on the shelves, not in any sort of order and most of the time just in an untidy stack and every day she saunters on over to the book shelf and pulls every last one on the floor. She also “reads” the books so I am not too upset about picking them up every night. She pulls out a choice book looks at it talks in a sing-song voice that I am sure sounds just like me when I am reading aloud and the looks at me with raised eyebrows. She is waiting for me to give the appropriate response, which is an enthusiastic, “Really? That sounds like a good story.” Then she flips to a page and starts the sing-song narrative over again each time pausing for me to make a comment. I hope this continues as she truly learns how to read.

I have to admit as much as I love reading now; I devour books with frenzy. Terry gave me a Sony EReader for my birthday a few years ago and I used it so much that I ended up breaking it. I don’t break electronic equipment, it might get obsolete or the battery may give out but it doesn't die from usage except this thing did. OMG! Terry then got me a NOOK which I am currently putting miles on. But as a child I was not a prolific reader. I remember before I could read my hunger and desire to understand what all of those letters meant, there are literally thousands of signs everywhere all around with words plastered all over them. I was DYING to unlock the secret of those signs. I have a Cabbage Patch Kids Scrapbook from when I was a little girl, before I could read. This scrapbook has stories in it with pictures; I drew pictures and used stickers to tell the stories that were in my head. As I learned to read the world seemed to open up and I was thrilled to get at all the wonderful words that went with all of the story books I had, all the strange pictures that I could not quite comprehend were beginning to be explained. The Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes book for example had the story of Persephone, the picture of the beautiful girl getting dragged to Hades had always fascinated me but I just could not make up the story in my head to my own satisfaction and now I would be able to understand it all. Just as this was all unfolding for me we moved from Oregon to California, in the middle of first grade. In Mrs. King’s first grade class in Oregon I was at the same place as all of the other students we were learning our sight vocabulary and going along swimmingly. In Mrs. Waslowskis’s (I am guessing. It was long, European and started with a W, I had a really hard time remembering it.) in California I was behind the other students. Most of the children already knew how to read and with phonics, I did not understand phonics and I was really falling behind with everything in school. I would day dream and then my classmates would accuse me of cheating. “She’s copying from my paper!!” Well, I wasn't the teacher and the teacher’s aides could see that I wasn't cheating; I had nothing but my name on the paper most of the time. After that I felt dumb and I just fell behind in reading for fun. I was trying to read to get through 1^st grade. Reading became something UN-FUN. Looking back I feel a little bit sorry for that little girl that had her wonder stolen from her by some bratty kids and an overwhelmed teacher. Eventually my parents worked with me every night, before going to bed I would read a few pages of Little House on the Prairie, eventually I was able to get through the entire series of books. The box set that was given to me for my birthday, I finally finished it all. I felt so accomplished. As I got more and more confident in my school work and my ability to read I slowly came back to a place where I wanted to read and then I just couldn't stop.

So while I am just now finally showing you the list I hope you understand the pure joy I feel watching my daughter enjoy her very own library. I will watch to make sure that she keeps up the fascination. I will do my best to help her if she falters and I will read in front of her, I will read to her and I will get lost in the book store with her as much as I possibly can.

List of Children’s Books That Should be on Theirs Bookshelves

1.       Where the Wild Things Are

2.       D’Aularires’ Book of GreekMyths

3.       The Paper Bag Princess

4.       Corduroy

5.       Harold and the Purple Crayon

6.       Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears

7.       The Very Hungry Caterpillar

8.       Good Night Moon

9.       The Giving Tree

10.   Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

11.   The Snowy Day

12.   Caps for Sale

13.   Madeline

14.   The Story of Ferdinand

15.   Strega Nona

16.   Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters

17.   The Cat in the Hat

18.   The Tale of Peter Rabbit

19.   Make Way for Ducklings

20.   Stone Soup

21.   The Rough Face Girl

22.   The Happy Hockey Family

23.   The Original Velveteen Rabbit

24.   The Stinky Cheeseman and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

25.   Frog and Toad Are Friends

26.   Clifford the Big Red Dog

27.   The Story of Babar

28.   Lon Po Po

29.   This is Not My Hat

30.   The Invention of Hugo Cabret

31.   The Wind in the Willows

32.   The Little Prince

33.   The Hundred Dresses

34.   Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel

35.   The Wizard of Oz

36.   Winnie the Pooh

37.   Little Bear

38.   Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

39.   The Big Orange Splot

40.   The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses

41.   My Father’s Dragon

42.   The Sweetest Fig

43.   Charlotte's Web

44.   The BFG

45.   Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

46.   I Capture the Castle

47.   Oh, The Places You’ll Go

Enjoy your week and read a good book!

10 Day Countdown

10 Day Countdown

I can feel the baby moving. No I am not imagining it or mistaking gas for a swimming baby. I know this because I had a doctor’s appointment last week and as the ultrasound was being performed the doctor pointed out that the baby was moving and at the same time I felt the little fluttering bump, that bump that can totally be mistaken for gas but as the monitor was clearly showing was an active baby. It was a great gift to know that the sensation I had been feeling all week was a baby and not my imagination. Now when I feel it I pat my stomach or say, “HI” out loud just in case he can hear me. That’s right I now know that I am having a baby boy. Since having Allison a few years have passed, I have aged and technology has advanced. I will be 36 in just 10 short little days and that is the magic number for pregnant women. Once you pass that age numbers and stats change dramatically for complications. So today I am fine and have an even chance of something going wrong but in 10 days life spirals out of control and things look bleak, just because I will be 36 years old. I am already a high risk pregnancy because the gestational diabetes has returned, this was to be expected, and I had it last time. Now with the added advantage of being “over the hill” I have a double risk whammy! So because of my age the usual genetics tests, usually a simple blood test, are accompanied with a counseling session with a genetics counselor. She was very knowledgeable and explains the difference between a genetic screening and a genetic diagnosis, and then she went over my family history. This entire session was, to be honest, fairly intimidating. I thought I was going in for a blood test and then was told that I should not have taken Sudafed when I was sick because it can cause physical deformities specifically around the abdomen section and sometimes paralysis of the face. HOLY CRAP! Sudafed was on the list! I showed it to her. She politely stated that it had been taken off just that month and that the baby was probably just fine. Although she told me that after going through the list of possible effects my “drug use” could have had on the baby. Past tense because I had already taken it and stopping doesn't change the outcome if there was to be an abnormality. Good grief. So back to the genetic screenings, there is a new blood test. It basically pulls out genetic material, differentiates between my own and the baby's and then does a chromosome count. This is very effective for screening out Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18 and 13. Those last two are doozies and are fatal. The other added benefit is the XY or XX chromosome. They can see what the sex will be.  So instead of waiting for week 18 or so I get to know at three months. I don’t even look pregnant and I get to know that I will be having a baby boy. And from the results of the screening test I will be having a healthy baby boy. Terry and I discussed names and rather quickly decided on one, William Joseph Kyo Miller. I am so happy and excited to meet my son. Holy smokes a son and a daughter, I am pretty lucky. My life is pretty much following along with the plan I wanted.

Have fun this week and enjoy everything that is coming your way, even if it is hard. I may sound like everything is “peaches and cream” all of the time but really there are plenty of things and people (many annoying people!) that have been getting on my last nerve but really who wants to hear someone whine about that? I want to know all the good stuff that is coming your way and I want to share all the good stuff that comes mine.

Talk to you soon!