May Days

May has turned into a busy month for us after all. Miss P is definitely a handful! She is climbing all over everything and already testing her parents' patience and challenging the authoritative voice already! What??? If she doesn't get her way, she will throw herself on the floor and have a hissy fit. Is this normal for a 14 month-old? Yikes. I hope it doesn't morph into full blown tantrums as she gets older, otherwise I'll be asking for a little help from my friends.

Breakfast at Big Sky

Taking a tour of the Octagon Barn with Mak & Poppa

Poppa makes a great jungle gym!

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo at Tonita's pushing the chairs around.

Wee! This is fun!

Och! Pushing those chairs around is hard work...I'm exhausted!



Rockin' it with my new purse in my dipes!



Reading the Sunday paper.

 

Quenching my thirst, Ninja-style!



Goofing off with Mommy.

 

Check me out in my FuzziBunz.

Getting into my secret cupboard. Sshhh...

Hanging with my BFF on his new couch.

Back in the basket for some silent reading. (Yes, I know the book is upside down--I like a challenge!)

Mommy & me on our way to a party!

In action at Bode's 1st Birthday party.

Daddy & me having some fun on the slide.

Getting some air on the swings. My other BFF, Lily, to my left.

Look at all the awesome Dads!

Little Drummer Girl. A gift from our neighbor Miss Karen (a drummer and dance teacher).

P-Bunny is often on top of her head. Only one of the many positions throughout naptime!

Mother's Day Wish

Mission accomplished!

You're probably wondering what is up with the picture of the outlet? Well, if there was one thing that I truly desired for Mother's Day, it was that the bathroom outlet (right above the bathroom sink), which is the last thing I see when I go to bed, and the first thing I see when I wake up, finally be fixed! Since we moved here, about 3 years ago, RT and I switched out all the old, yellow-stained outlets, light switches, and switchplates.

Unfortunately, not all of them were changed. And while I have asked my husband to fix the one in our bathroom, it's been on the top ten list of many "honeydew" lists, for whatever reason it was never done.

So, I let my husband know that the one thing I would LOVE for Mom's Day, and it wouldn't even cost him anything, was to get that fixed! Now, how could he deny me that?

In all seriousness, my day started out great. He made me one of my favorite breakfast dishes from scratch, eggs benedict. Then, we took P and Jannu out for a long morning walk in the fresh ocean air. The best part was that I got to take a nice little nap while he worked on the bathroom outlet! Bonus!

But, of course, the best part was to awaken to the sound of my chatty daughter and realize how lucky I am to be able to call myself a mother. As I watched my daughter today and enjoyed the person she is becoming, I realized that everyday is Mother's Day! It is very nice to recognize moms on this day, though. At the very least, it gives us all a chance to say how much we appreciate our mothers--whether it is our actual mother, mother-in-law, sister, grandmother, niece, or friend. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there who have touched my life in so many ways, but especially to my own mother whom I love very much! Also, thank you to my husband for making this such an extra special day for me!



Morning walk



The one who makes my job worthwhile and the job I love the most!

Play Date

I'm really lucky to have such an easy-going, flexible, understanding, and very down-to-earth supervisor at work. We have become such good friends, and the nice thing is that we are able to separate work and friendship and can do so interchangeably without skipping a beat.

Since lately, between us, it's been all work and no play, we decided to get together for a play date and catch up on our personal lives.

It was interesting to watch P interact with a baby, (Jakob is 5 months) especially the one-on-one interaction. She was very curious and wanted to touch him, pet him, and get in his face. She was very sweet, but it still made me nervous when she was getting too close.

Overall, it was a very fun afternoon and I'm looking forward to our next one!

Wende and Jakob--all smiles!

P looks so big next to Jakob!

Uh-oh...what did I do?

School School That's the Word That Rhymes With Cool!

Daddy doing the drop off this morning.

Here we go...

P's BFF Bode on his first day looking sharp and ready to go!

Miss P started her first day at her new daycare! She is the youngest of 6 toddlers, with the next oldest being 18 months and the oldest tot at 3 years.

As soon as she walked in, she recognized Donna, gave her a big smile, and walked over to all the toys and play things. She soon forgot about us! Then, two toddlers came in, brother and sister James and Kate--she gravitated towards them in an instant. She was so engrossed with her new surroundings and the new kids that she didn't even care if we were there or not! So her Daddy and I were able to slip out, no problem!

I didn't worry about her throughout the day. I figured Donna would call me if anything came up. Plus, since I know Donna through Anne (previous daycare provider and Donna's mom), I was very comfortable with her being there.

That's not to say that RT and I weren't concerned. We were. We were anxious and a little worried with all these "big kids" and how she would handle all the new surroundings. Not to worry, though!

When I arrived to pick P up, she was sitting so nicely and quietly on Donna's lap eating her little O's. Donna said she did great! She went down easily for her naps, got along great with the other kids, and overall is a happy baby. That's what I like to hear! Our little Sweet Pea is growing up!

When we arrived home, P was so wired. It was crazy! We have never seen her so crazed like this. She was so active that she was walking super fast, tripping, and falling on her face. Things were getting too dangerous, and both RT and I had to get her out. It was too early to go to bed, so we went for a nice walk to her friend, Bode's house.

Bode also started a new daycare today, so it was nice to chat with Bode's folks to compare how our little babies did during their first day of "school". It seems like they are such "big kids" now since we have to pack their lunch and bring more things compared to the infant daycare.

Birthdays and More Birthdays

Out of all our baby friends, P is the oldest. We didn't have a birthday party for her here with her friends, and even if we did, the days we would've chosen both turned out to be really wet and rainy ones (we were going to do it at Del Mar Park by our house). It's just as well, because now the dominos have fallen...meaning that the one-year old birthday parties are a-coming! Looks like we'll be partying it up for a while now!

The Hill twins' birthday party--P and Albert (or is it Oscar?)

Cute little pea (his brother was a carrot!)

 

Cutie pie, Princess Lilyana, on her birthday throne!

Everyone wants a piece of the cupcake!

I still have a blast even though it's not my birthday party!

Farewell to Newborn & Infant Daycare

P with Annie looking out her picture window for the last time...

Today was our last day with our first daycare provider. We have been so lucky to have Anne & Ed be such a big part of P's life. They have loved her, nurtured her, and helped her grow and become the confident and sweet person that she is.

This day seemed to creep upon us fast. I was having a pretty stressful day at work and seemed close to tears for lots of reasons, so I tried not to think about the good-byes later when I picked her up. Even when I was writing on the card, I started getting choked up.

The next place we are going is actually through Anne's daughter. I know that we are going to a wonderful place with only six toddlers (which is rare for a licensed daycare), and I am very confident that we'll be happy there. It's just that it's a new stage, and it's another milestone meaning that our baby is already growing up too fast. So, I am going to make a very conscious effort to slow down and enjoy every moment with P.



P with her peeps, Lily and Bode.



The girls clamoring for Ed's attention.

Crib party!

Peek-a-boo Mommy. I'm over here!

Belated Birthday Wishes

It's like the birthday that never stops! How lucky Miss P is to have so many people love her. My parents visited the weekend before and brought her birthday presents, not just from them, but from my sis and her family. Then, this past weekend our neighbor across the street brought her some goodies, too. We are thankful for the books, clothes, and all the cute little girl things that we will get to experience.

Ooh, Grandpa, this is as big as me!

Oba-chan, help me please.

See, like this.

Grandpa is a barrel of laughs!

Antoinette always comes bearing gifts! She's so fun!

Look at me read.

P's really into this book!