Circus!

Thanks to Kristine McCarty, Mikayla and I got the priviledge of going to the biggest circus of all-Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey at the Pond (I still call it that even though it's the Honda Center now). I had never been to the circus before, even though Mikayla argued that I had, and I enjoyed all of the death-defying acts that happened over the span of 2 hours. Kristine warned me that it was pretty ADD (very active and busy) and it didn't disappoint. We got there a little late and we walked past all of the toys so Mikayla's mind was on which toy she wanted during the whole first half. At Intermission, I finally let her go pick out a toy. I couldn't believe how expensive they were. The gifts started at $15 but I figured since I hadn't bought the tickets, I could afford a little dinner and something from the gift shop. Mikayla chose a glow in the dark sword and I got out the credit card (since I needed just a little cash for dinner). I then went to the snack bar and got us some nachos. They were PILED with chicken and cheese and I thought we would both be able to finish it but Mikayla's appetite suddenly disappeared once she acquired the new weapon. I brought the enormous nachos to our seats and then, as soon as I sat down, the lights went out again. Had I known I wouldn't be able to see what I was eating, I would have eaten out in the lobby. It was like eating blindfolded. I would have taken a picture of the nachos except that I couldn't even tell if they were in my lap or not. Miraculously, I was able to spear at least half of them with my fork before my stomach felt like it was going to burst. The pitch blackness also made it difficult to take pictures so here are some of the better ones. All in all, it was a great trip and we had a wonderful mother-daughter time together.

The elephants were pretty amazing. How do they get the poor things to do this?

The tigers were fun to watch, mainly because they all hated the trainer so much. There was one tiger in the ring who batted the trainer's wand and roared every time he came near. Not surprisingly, he was never called on to do a trick and he sat on his little bench the entire time, having attitude.

The acrobats were trying a 5 person pyramid. They attempted it twice but the little guy on the top kept falling. He hadn't attempted it yet in this picture.

Welcome Home Grammie & Gramps!

Well, I'm already 21 weeks pregnant and I can say that it's flying by pretty fast. I think that's because I kind of forget I am until I start getting the all-familiar back pain and get exhausted and winded just walking to the back of the house. The kids are excited about having a brother or sister.

Here's my 21 week shot for the new baby's scrapbook. I feel like I'm showing a lot but a lot of people tell me I still don't look that big. For all you who have been pregnant, whenever you START showing, you start feeling huge. It's weird to grow that big that fast.

Tyler and daddy doing a "silly face" on our way to Ikea to pick up some stuff for daddy's work. We stopped by McDonalds for some cheeseburgers. Mommy ate almost all the fries!

Grammie and Gramps got back from their 2 week vacation to Yosemite. They had a great time and I'm so glad they could take time out from their busy routine to have some R&R. They brought back some great gifts and the kids loved opening them. Thanks mom and dad for dinner and for all of the fun goodies you brought back!

Mikayla's first cup of hot chocolate all to herself. Since Curious George had some on tv she kept wanting her own cup of cocoa so I made her one. It took a while to drink since it was pretty hot but we brought it outside while she played in the 90 degree weather so that she could drink it a little bit at a time. Unfortunately, the swarms of flies found it pretty delectable and one of them couldn't help but take a swim. That was the end of the cup of hot chocolate.

Family Fun

On Sunday night, my (follow me here) mom's cousin's daughter and her friend came from the San Jose area to go to Disneyland. They camped out at our place before they headed out this morning for the happiest place on earth. It was so much fun to see Caitlyn since I never have much time to see her apart from her family. Michelle, her friend, was a joy to meet and we had a great time over dinner, home-made pizookies (giant cookies with ice cream) and playing with the kids. Thanks, girls, for making our home your first stop!!

Caitlyn, mommy and Mikayla

Michelle and Caitlyn getting a lesson on how flashlights work from Tyler.

Date Change

It looks like the baby's due date has changed. Usually this doesn't matter with my kids since I'm always more than a week late but I changed the ticker to reflect the new due date. My date is now December 7th so I'm officially halfway through! Thank you for your prayers.

Don't forget to vote on the sex (top left) !!

A Good Cleaning Was Needed Anyway...

For those of you with children you come to realize that, within an instant of time, your cleaning time can go from 3 minutes to 30 minutes with hardly a whisper. On this particular day I had sat the kids down in front of their lunch and rushed to the back to check email and have a few minutes of "me" time while they ate. You moms know how precious those moments are. Anyway, within moments, I started hearing raucous laughter from Tyler in the dining room and it was occurring in regular intervals. Attributing it to the playing of siblings, I dismissed it as something I shouldn't worry about until a few minutes later when I heard this from my daughter. "Mommy, we need a little help out here!" And, of course, because I can't get there in one nanosecond, the phrase repeated, a little more desperately, "mommy, we really need a little help out here!!" I hurried down the hallway and came upon this scene below. Tyler had been cackling due to the fact that he had figured out how to stretch playtime to include lunchtime. Every single macaroni from his macaroni and cheese had been individually thrown to imitate a literal macaroni and cheese minefield. I could have been really mad but I only got a little mad and then realized that I hadn't scrubbed the floor in a while anyway. My son, the destroyer...

This picture really doesn't do it justice. Macaroni was EVERYWHERE, even on Mikayla's shirt. I think this is the reason it finally became imperative for her to call me. I seem to recall hearing her laughing earlier.Another one of Tyler's "fetishes" is wearing mommy and daddy's shoes. Daddy's shoes look great but his favorite shoes are mommy's silver heels. Don't ask me why he goes for the glitter but, if given the option, he'll pick glittery over plain any day.

On to Mikayla. She loves taking pictures with mommy's camera. She's actually a pretty good photographer and she's on a different level than me so she ends up getting the ground shots that I overlook. Here are 2 pictures she took, one of them being a self portrait. She gets pretty good at posing for herself.

Another thing we recently fortuitously acquired was a 65" big screen TV. I personally think it's a little too large but Will was excited about it so, since it's his thing, I agreed to welcome it into the family, even if it does take up one third of our living room. We thought we'd have to live with the black entertainment center that Will had expertly crafted for a while longer but we came across this great deal in a furniture store. They were trying to get rid of this pine entertainment center to make room for the "ones that will sell" and it was a great price. Here is the first picture of our new entertainment center. Now my job is organizing the toys around it. I'm pregnant, I have no energy to pick up toys every night, amen??

No Luck

Well, for all of you waiting anxiously to hear word on whether this baby is a girl or a boy, we'll all have to wait a little longer. No matter what the ultrasound tech did, she could not get this kid to be still enough to get a good picture. She did get a picture of the genitals but she said she could not be very certain what it was...it was either an enlarged labia or a penis. She tried for about 10 minutes but she said I should have eaten something because the baby was just too active...GREAT! I don't think I need another active one. Anyway, here are the photos she took of the baby. She got a great profile view but that's all I have for now. I think I'll beg one of my doctors in the coming visits to do a quick ultrasound in their office. Needless to say, it was kind of disappointing.

is that what I think it is??

The profile of baby Lee #3

Ultrasound...

Well, it's finally here! The appointment for the last ultrasound I will be having with any children in my belly...at least I think it is. Thursday at 4:30, I go in to see which sex of child God has decided will cause me the least bit of anxiety.

Everyone has been asking me which one I would prefer and, honestly, I think there are pros to each one. It would be easier to have a boy so that the rooms wouldn't have to be switched and I would know where all the boy clothes disappeared to in the garage. It would also be great to have a girl to give Mikayla a sister (since the sister bond is so awesome) and to bring another girl into the family. We've got a lot of up-and-coming testosterone in the family and I think it might be nice to mellow it out a little.

My symptoms and cravings tell me I'll be having a boy and I'll be amazed if God played a trick on me. Wasabi, spicy and no sweets are the "boy" symptoms. Mikayla has insisted that God told her I'm having a girl and that a boy is just not an option. She made it clear that Tyler is all the boy she needs in her family. We keep telling her that boy babies are just as cute as girl babies but, so far, she hasn't been convinced. When the day comes, I know she'll be a perfect big sister to either one.

Stay tuned on Friday for the results of the BIG DAY!

Noodles

They were 3 for $3 at Toys 'R' Us and I couldn't resist. Those noodles are the envied toys when we walk through Wal-Mart and it was only a matter of time before I succumbed. The kids have so much fun batting at each other and daddy got in on the fun as well. I know, it's a little cruel but they're foam-they don't hurt that much. Most of the time, Mikayla was just running away.



One night, Mikayla got out some paper and Will had a great idea. Instead of Mikayla coloring on them, why don't we make it a competition between mommy and daddy. Who can make the coolest flower? Both of us worked feverishly on our artwork with Mikayla supervising. We cut, folded, taped and rolled and, eventually, displayed our masterpieces. Here they are, before they were colored. Mikayla couldn't decide which one was prettier which was probably for the best since we put our hearts into the project...

mommy's on the left, daddy's on the right (mommy was impressed)

Pottery Barn was a welcome rest stop when we took a spontaneous trip to The Grove in LA. We walked around and eventually took a trolley ride from the bottom of the street to the top. Mikayla really wanted to sit on the top of the double decker so the whole family went up to enjoy the scenery. Tyler, however, decided the top was not the best place for him. After being a little distraught for a while, he finally calmed down when he saw the apple on the wall of the Macintosh store. Distraction is key!

Mikayla enjoying the heights. It was a little hot up there!

Without the Man...

This week has been somewhat challenging with Will gone in Chicago from Monday until Thursday. It wouldn't have been too bad except for the fact we had no TV. Now I know there are those of you whose children only watch 10 minutes a day but I look forward to the hour in the morning so I can at least get myself ready and have some time to wake up when Tyler wakes up at 6 in the morning. It's nice to have a little break from the, "mommy, mommy" once in a while. Also, when Will's gone, I tend to have a little anxiety about outside noises and end up staying awake until midnight. Because of this constant panic, it's nice to have some background noise when I'm by my lonesome in the bedroom so I don't have to hear the potential burglers. Will graciously plugged in the little tv in our bedroom so I can get the normal channels but, unfortunately, channel 28 (sesame street) isn't one of them. One day I got so desperate for some time to myself that I sat them on the bed and let them watch I Love Lucy. Mikayla tolerated it for a few minutes and then they started wrestling on the freshly made bed.

It has been fun being with the kids all by myself. The only difficult time is around 6:15 or so when Will is supposed to come home and doesn't. Dinners lately haven't been that interesting or complicated either. Quesadilla, anyone? I haven't taken too many pictures since we haven't ventured out much this week during the day but I did get one of them painting. I think we did every craft known to toddlers to make the days interesting and entertaining. Tyler just wanted to put the brush in the water but he did get a few strokes on his Winnie The Pooh picture.

Where did my paintbrush go?

What color should I paint Mulan?

Will comes back tonight! I can hardly wait! Well, I have to go stop a balloon fight-there seems to be a lot of yelling and squealing...

Fireworks and Family

On the 3rd of July, we decided to join about 15,000 other people at La Mirada Regional Park for a fourth of July celebration, complete with fireworks. We got there after dinner, about 7, walked around the park and lake for a little while and then settled down to watch the fireworks. The ducks were the favorite of the kids and some people even gave them some food to feed the ducks with. I just had to keep pulling Tyler back from seeing his reflection in the lake. I could just see the clumsy habit causing him to be "pulled in" by the lure of the water.
While daddy and Mikayla checked out the bounce houses, I stayed back with Tyler, listening to the band play. Here's my lounger in his own park chair.

Here's a shot, not only of me and the kids, but of the thousands of others that chose to partake in the festivities.

Will and Mikayla right before we saw the Dayneko clan. Of all the people at the park, it was a miracle that we would run into anyone we knew but, right after we found a place on the grass, Robin, Jacob, his parents and sister and her husband almost walked right into us. It was so fun to be able to share the fireworks with them and be with friends.

While we were all enjoying the fireworks, my son decided they were not for him. He screamed "no, no" for a few seconds and then settled to a place behind my jacket where he couldn't see the explosions in the air. The sound was fine for him but he couldn't understand why the sky was bright and colorful. Yes, he sat exactly like this for about 10 minutes straight.

For the real fourth of July, we went to my parent's house to see my Uncle Rich and Aunt Elise. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them because my batteries died in the middle of the festivities but I did get a shot of the kid's table. This is the beginning of many years of kid's tables to come.

My dad and Mikayla. We went and bought some sparklers and some cheap fireworks to do in front of their driveway. Tyler actually liked these and kept jumping and yelling, "yay" whenever one would finish. I think it was because there were only a few sparks and they were on the ground. The sparklers were the favorite part of the evening.

Weekend Away

This weekend, Will and I took a much-needed weekend away from life as we know it. Since Mikayla was born, over 4 years ago, we haven't taken a trip alone-just the 2 of us-and my parents graciously offered to watch the kids so we could go to San Diego. We Pricelined our hotel and got this 4 star hotel called Hotel Solamar. It was very upscale and we even had to pay for valet parking every day! Let's just say, I think the tipping and the extra expenses added up to the price of the hotel. Being rich would be expensive, I think. =) Anyway, we had so much fun just walking around San Diego without worrying about who was walking directly into traffic, which one wanted chicken nuggets and which one wanted a sandwich and, best of all, not having to wake up at 4 in the morning to Tyler's crying. It was a luxury being away but it was also good to come back and hug and squish the kids. Thanks, mom and dad, for watching them for us.

Hotel Solamar

Lounging on the bed before dinner. We had to act cool to stay here.

One morning we headed out to Coronado Beach. The sand felt so good and there weren't too many people there. It was great not worrying about the kids and which riptide was taking them under.

THE BEST squid sandwich on the planet. Thanks to Cara and Bryan, I am now addicted to going to Point Loma Seafood for squid sandwiches when I'm in San Diego. This time, we even had to park 3 blocks away in the residential area and walk there to indulge. We parked next to a house for sale and tried to guess how much it was selling for. For 880 square feet it was $640,000!!! And I thought our neighborhood was pricey. I guess we won't be moving to San Diego anytime soon. Squid sandwiches will have to be a vacation thing.

Imagination

My kids have tons of imagination. Sometimes I can actually remember having a shred of imagination when I was a child but it's only in fleeting memories. Now I feel like I have to REALLY think about "changing it up a little." Whenever I'm cooking, the kids like to have their own wooden spoon and pot. Their usual routine is to bang as hard as possible on the pot but this particular afternoon, they decided they needed to "cook" Cheerios so I gave them each a potful of Cheerios and then they cooked them to perfection. Who says that watching TV takes away their imagination. I beg to differ...

The pool was brought out last week and boy, did the kids go crazy. It took a while to convince Tyler that this wasn't bathtime and going nude was not an option but it finally came across to his senses. Unfortunately, I don't possess any X-large swim diapers so I had to resort to the one he was already wearing. Honestly, I don't think I've seen a diaper as large as his at the end of pool play. Our pool has a "spitting" giraffe on one side and he seemed to enjoy the giraffe kissing his rear end. This caused the diaper to almost split down the center as children usually don't fill the diaper to the maximum. When I took it off, it was almost like lifting weights to throw it in the trash. At least they had fun.

Tyler loves doing what Mikayla wants him to do, for the most part. One of these days, it will start coming back to haunt Mikayla but, for now, he decided to give in to her wish for him to pretend to be asleep on mommy and daddy's bedroom floor. Complete with stuffed bear and snoring, he did a pretty good job.

Mikayla is definitely a girl. Here, we have not only painted fingernails and toenails but tattoos on both hands as well. She loves being sparkly. Of course, Tyler kept wanting to touch the sparkly stuff.