Irina Anne

Welcome to the world Irina Anne!

After having my induction canceled and rescheduling it for the next afternoon, Irina decided to come on her own and contractions started that night after dinner.  It was an all night labor, and she came out at 7:21am, on 7/21!  (Also, 21 1/2 inches long… she likes the number 21 I guess).  You all know by know how chubby she is, weighing in at 9 pounds 13 ounces.  Oh, also, the nurse was so kind to tell me “Usually we say 35cm for the head is large, your baby measures at 37 1/2cm”.  Yeah, thanks for letting me know… I could definitely feel the difference there.

She is (of course) lovely and absolutely adorable.  We are all in love.  Elijah and Elena couldn’t be happier, and want to see her all the time.  So much so, that Elena woke up in the middle of the night last night asking to snuggle with Mommy and Baby.  She has yet to try and say Irina, but Elijah loves the name and actually likes to call her Irina Anne.  He is so proud of her!

We are settling in back at home nicely, hopefully tonight everyone sleeps well and we wake feeling more back to normal.

Maybe at some point I will write out my “Birth Story”, because of course this birth was completely different than the other 2.  We are so thankful everything went well, and that Irina came out so very healthy and happy!  Thank you all for your prayers!

Parenting Tag Team

You know what I am very thankful for?  My wonderful husband who has been taking care of things while I had the stomach flu.  I can’t imagine being sick, with two toddlers, 10 days away from my due date, and having him gone at work even.  Funny how you can be thankful for things like unemployment!

I am also thankful that there are 2 of us around here.  We can take turns with things when need be.  Since I was able to sleep most of the day (yesterday AND today- spoiled!) and recuperate, I am now feeling pretty good.  JUST in time for Nick to go and get sick.  And while I am sad he got what I had, I am very thankful we didn’t have it at the same time.  Because now I am well enough to take care of him!

Now I just hope that all of this sickness passes before the baby decides to come.  I doubt she will be this early, if she is early at all.  So now we will just concentrate on getting healthy so once she does decide to come everyone is feeling great!

P.S. Contractions + Stomach Flu is a weird feeling… so confusing to the body! Sit through the contraction? Or head to the bathroom? Uhhh…?

Beach

Nick is not much of a beach person, but since he loves his wife and children so very much he went with us to the beach yesterday.

It was gorgeous out!

Elijah is obsessed with footprints:

Elena would like to live at the beach:

This is how much Nick likes the beach:

Watching the waves:

Rescuing someone from the waves who turns out didn’t WANT to be rescued:

San Francisco Zoo

A couple months ago I won some tickets to the SF Zoo through their Twitter account.  Yes, laugh all you want that I tweet my thoughts to the world, but I have already won a couple of contests by using it.  And I never win ANYTHING.

Anyhow, back to the Zoo.  We have been telling Elijah for about a month now that we will go, but had to wait until Daddy was done with the school quarter.  Nick finished finals up last week, so yesterday we headed up to SF.  Elijah couldn’t have been more excited.  Elena knew we were going to see animals, but didn’t get the whole concept of the Zoo until we were there.  Once there, the both of them were unstoppable.  All focus was gone, Mom and Dad’s words were inaudible.  There were animals to be found!

Unbeknownst to me, Giraffes are Elena’s favorite animal.  I had no idea she even knew what they were.  But once we saw them, she said “hih-raff!” and didn’t want to move on.

The Gorillas were awesome, Hasani (the baby) was being quite the show off. Doing somersaults and all sorts of tricks for everyone.

(Side note: Ask Elena to say Gorilla. She gets a little stuck and it comes out “gor-ill-ill-ill-ill-a”. Super cute.)

Their Grizzly exhibit has to be one of their best. Or maybe it is just because the Grizzlies are so friendly. But every time I have gone, they will swim right up to the window to visit with you.

Elena WAS standing right up against the glass until the bear surprised her but popping up RIGHT THERE. Taking a step back made her all comfortable again.

This is me pouting because my children were refusing to take a picture with me. (Re: lack of focus)

This was the closest it came, and it only came after me grabbing them and begging them to stay with me.

Elena decided this was a better spot than her stroller:

(Side note: Notice the sagging pants? Yeah, I noticed that too. Once we got there. Now that she is in underwear her clothes don’t quite fit the same…oh well!)

My FAVORITE picture of the day. It perfectly speaks to the excitement the kids had.

My other favorite. Just look at that happiness!

They loved the petting zoo, that’s where ALL focus was completely lost. Such that Mommy and Daddy got very frustrated and that was the end of the Zoo trip.

But, the compromise was we would go look at the Giraffes just ONE MORE TIME before completely leaving:

How Elijah Sees Daddy

This is Elijah’s first drawing that is actually recognizable as the thing he intended to draw.  There have been a few other ones, which, once he explained them to me I could see it.  But this one, it’s obvious.

It’s Nick!

Maybe it’s just because I’m his Mom, but I think this is one of the cutest, funniest drawings I have ever seen. I love it. So much.

Oak Meadow

Who of my readers remembers this park? It’s the one right next to Vasona, and I remember this being one of my favorite parks ever. We took the kids there the other week (on a weekend- oh man was it ever crazy!) and it still is quite the awesome park.

I remember trying to climb the outside of the plane too:

The Merry-Go-Round is still there (and I am very pregnant!):

Elijah lasted the whole ride this time, on previous occasions he has wanted off within seconds:

Where’s Elena?

There she is!

I don’t know what Elijah is saying, but his face cracks me up (oh yeah, and I’m PREGNANT!)

Wait Daddy, don’t look at the camera:

Nursery Rhymes

I read a post over at Metropolitan Mama recently about Nursery Rhymes.  She doesn’t like them, and decided to throw their book out.  This got me thinking about Nursery Rhymes in general, and whether I am okay with them or not.  (This is not a blanket endorsement of all nursery rhymes, maybe Metropolitan Mama had a book filled with particularly horrid ones that had no point or moral).

The short answer?  Yes, I am okay with them.

The longer answer?  Most Nursery Rhymes have very physical consequences to the choices people make.  This seems to really scare people.  Really, he got beaten?  He got eaten?  He DIED?!?!  I don’t want my child thinking that could happen to them!!!

My question is, why is it so bad if they think it might happen to them?  Is a little bit of fear of physical consequences really that bad?  I mean, it’s hard to “reason” with small children.  Maybe fear of getting hurt is what keeps them making good choices until they are old enough to understand the deeper reasons.

My husband grew up reading this awesome Nursery Rhyme book from Germany, and I thought I would share some of it with you all.

(Not that I am trying to boss you around, but you really should click on the pictures to see exactly what is going on.  This book is amazing).

Rough Translation: This little girl decides to play with matches. Oh how much fun she is having!  Until she catches on fire.  Her whole dress catches on fire.  She burns completely to the ground until all that is left of her are her red slippers.  The end

Rough Translation: Mama says don’t suck your thumb.  Little boy decides to do it anyway.  Out of nowhere, the Tailor comes and cuts off his thumbs!  Now the little boy has no thumbs.  The end.

Rough Translation:  Silly Kaspar is refusing to eat his soup.  Mama says you need to eat your soup!  NEIN NEIN! I won’t do it, shouts Kaspar, as he gets thinner and thinner.  He soon wastes away into nothing and dies.  The end.

Cartoon Characters and Marriage

If any cartoon characters out there represent Nick and my interactions with each other, it would be these two:

Every time I hear this conversation, I chuckle.  I think Nick and I have had some variation of this conversation about 17 times.  Make that 117.

Mr. Incredible: The robot’s in the Financial District. Which exit do I take?
Elastigirl: Traction Avenue.
Mr. Incredible: That’ll take me downtown. I take 7th, don’t I?
Elastigirl: Don’t take 7th!
Mr. Incredible: Great, we missed it!
Elastigirl: You asked me how to get there, and I told you. Exit at Traction!
Mr. Incredible: That’ll take me downtown!
Elastigirl: It’s coming up, get in the right lane. Signal!
Mr. Incredible: We don’t exit at Traction!
Elastigirl: YOU’RE GONNA MISS IT!

Can any of my readers relate to this next conversation? Oh please, please, someone say this is them! I think this is one of the funniest marital conversations on film.

Lucius: Honey?
Honey: What?
Lucius: Where’s my super suit?
Honey: What?
Lucius: Where - is - my - super - suit??
Honey: I, uh, put it away.
Lucius: WHERE?
Honey: WHY do you need to know?
Lucius: I need it!
Honey: Uh-uh. Don’t you think about running off doing no darin’-do. We’ve been planning this dinner for 2 months!
Lucius: The public is in danger!
Honey: My evening’s in danger!
Lucius: You tell me where my suit is woman! We are talking about the greater good!
Honey: “Greater good”? I am your WIFE. I am the GREATEST good you are ever gonna get!

Cooler Cooking

Last night, Nick cooked our steak in a cooler.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Our steak was cooked in a cooler.

As in this thing right here:

Why in the world would he do this, you might ask. Nick has recently become something of a foodie, and a terrific at-home chef. I don’t exactly know where the hobby comes from, but you all have seen some of the wonderful meals he has made for me in the past. Those of you who watch the Food Network, Top Chef, or are just smarty pants will have seen them cooking their proteins using a method called: Sous-Vide. (This is essentially where you put your meat in a vacuum packed bag and cook it in water for a long period of time).

Nice, beautiful Sous-Vide machines can run anywhere from $450-$2000. My husband- being slightly obsessive- decided there HAD to be a cheaper way to do it.  Along comes this wonderful article. Of course, we HAD to try it out.

He seasoned the steaks, put them in ziploc bags, heated the water, used the hot water to vacuum pack the bags, and we threw everything in the cooler for about an hour and ignored it. Not knowing what to expect, we were plesantly surprised when we opened the cooler and the meat was in fact cooked! A quick (very quick) pan sear and dinner was served.

The best steak we have ever had:

So tender it melted in your mouth:

A couple thoughts on how awesome this method of cooking is:

• It breaks down the proteins so well that the meat melts in your mouth
• You can safely leave the house while dinner is cooking
• You can even take dinner on the road with you to a friends house!
• While not perfect Sous-Vide, it definitely beats spending so much money on the fancy machine!

Flashback Friday- Canons Ashby

After we left Peasenhall, we traveled to a little town called Canons Ashby (and yes, it was very little- smaller than Peasenhall even!).  We knew we were going to stay at an Estate out in the country, but were still completely taken by surprise at how wonderful it all was.

I am sorry in advance for how long this post is, I could NOT narrow down the pictures. I just have to show you all how wonderful this place is, and how incredible it is that we got to stay here for 5 days!

Here is the drive to our Estate, the Towers of Canons Ashby (Where the Dryden family once lived- John Dryden was the first Poet Laureate of England).  You can see how tiny the country roads are, and also our Estate coming into view!

Of course, we did not have access to the whole house- most of it is now a museum. We stayed in the Towers, which is tan colored part of the house (3 story part):

We were given a key to the whole house, through the door you see in the picture above. Once inside we had specific instructions on how to get to our apartment, otherwise we would set off the alarms. (Remember the rest of the house is a museum). Here is the first landing we went up:

We had a door at the top of this landing that we had a key to as well (We had particular fun when the museum was open going into our apartment and seeing how many other museum-goers tried to follow us through this forbidden door!). Once past this door, we were in the apartment which has stairs like this:

The first level was our bedroom, then up another flight of stairs to the living room, kitchen, and bathroom area:

Look at those windows! Look at that light! This may sound weird, but the bathroom was probably my favorite part of the house mainly because of the light and the windows.After that, there is the staircase up to the roof where you can view all of your estate! Here is my best recreation of the panoramic view we had (all of which was part of our land!)

All in all, there were 40 acres attached to the estate that we had unlimited access to! The museum portion of the house was only open from 1-5pm each day- so we just planned our sightseeing around that. We ended up not going out and about very much while staying here because it was just so peaceful and wonderful. We enjoyed exploring our grounds:

Taking walks:

And visiting the Church that was also on our property:

What an incredible place to honeymoon! I think we will always desire to go back here, I cannot express strongly enough the serenity and happiness that came with staying here. We didn’t even mind that we had to drive 10 minutes to get to any sort of place where you could purchase food! (Although the first night I did break down and cry because it was dark, we were lugging all our luggage up these flights of stairs, only to not be able to unlock one of the doors… after which point we left our luggage on the staircase, with me crying, and tried to find food. By 9pm all the pubs weren’t serving food anymore, so after 3/4 an hour of searching little town after little town, we found a place that had 24 hour take out Chinese in their pub. Once I had food in my stomach, I calmed down, and we prayed, we went back and tried again, and viola! The door opened just like that. After a rocky start, we had zero problems here).

Oh enough chatter! I think you all get the picture. I could swoon and go on about this place forever. What a memory we have to cherish!