Mavi @ 9 months

Dear Mavi,

The days of you approaching the one year mark are flying by.  Day by day, you are growing by leaps and bounds, and these passing months can still concretely be measured in inches and pounds.  It's important to me to document this stage of your life with pictures and measurements, because soon enough your growth will be much less evident.  This time only happens once, and I cherish the documentation I now have with your sister at this age, and I undoubtedly will cherish yours in a year's time.

It seems like every month, I recall in my mind as I prioritize what I will write and the same initial thought always pop into my head "so many things happen this month."  That is the nature of raising an infant, the ability to see growth in such a concrete way.

Right after you turn 8 months, we had a little play date with a family who have a son born a little over than a month after you.  I suppose that in these meetings, it's hard not to compare two boys who are so similar in age.  He was crawling, you are not. You both were the same in weight.  You both had two teeth.  The list goes on and on and it's evident that he didn't let his later arrival stop him from catching up to you.  I hope that the comparison spawned off more from curiosity than competition, and I know on my part it was, because I know for a fact that I can claim very little credit for what you are capable of and what you are not capable of at this stage of life.

Despite the fact that you didn't do even so much as inching yourself at the beginning of the month, you ended up crawling at top speed by the end of the month.  I love that as soon as you see my face walking through the door after a day's work, you immediately inching your way to me.  I always joked about how hard those moment can be when both kids demand my attention at once, but it is also one of the greatest source of joy in my day, every day. 

I left you for the first time since you were born for a girl weekend get away.  You were left in your father's care.  You survived.  I missed you.  It's healthy to do these sort of things.  That is all.

Some time while I was away, you decided that you wanted to stand, and so you did.  I didn't see it until the day I returned, so that became the first time you stood to me.  I got it on video.  I forgotten how these abilities develop so fast.  Within a week, you went from standing for about 3 seconds to a good 15 seconds by yourself.  You want to take a step so bad, I can see it, but right now your legs are feeling like lead and you just can't quite make that leap yet.  No worries, soon enough baby.

You are drooling by the bucket.  Everywhere you go, there's a trail behind you.  Your four upper teeth are coming through, for a total of 6 altogether.  You don't even so much as make a bit of a fuss about it.  This is something I'm quite grateful for as both my kids do so well with teething, I hardly notice it.

This month really is a happening for you development wise.  Last night I decided to go through all 9 months pictures at once, and boy what progress you made.  Slow down baby boy, let Mama catch up with you, physically and mentally.

I love you so much.
Mama

Mavi went to the beach

Our spring days over the weekend resembled those of summer.  And it a glimpse into how miserable it can get in the near future, but for now we enjoy it while it lasts and the cool spring days return.

We headed to the beach and introduced Mavi to it for the first time.  Both of my kids just love water so much although Mavi was unsure of the cold water that is typical of Santa Cruz, CA.  Northern California waters suck, though the weather and the beaches don't.  And though we stayed for no more than two hours, and lugging too many things to worth the trouble, we did it anyways because it really does make memories that last a lifetime.

This was where Mavi touched his feet to the ocean waters for the first time.

This is where my girl feels the excitement of chasing, and being chased, by waves.

This is where our family of four laughed our hearts out.

And good time begets good times.  We brought the laughter home by keeping the party continue in our driveway, where we turned on the water hose and have a blast of a time.

Truly this is what weekends are made for.

We have a garden

I don't think I will ever have sufficient words, nor the ability to string together eloquent sentences that would capture the spirits of my kids when they are 1, when they are 2, when they are 3.  But I certainly try because for some unknown reason I have this desire to write and write until the emotions contained in this mother's heart are partially transferred into concrete words. 

My little girl is often outwardly shy and sometimes timid, to a point that some friends and family questioned why she behaved this way.  I always brush it off because there is another side of her that they don't get to witness, and I want to believe that it is a special gift that is preserved only for her father and I, and those who are close enough to her.

She is funky and spunky and un-apologetically 100% girl.  She loves babies, she loves pink, she loves dresses and she loves to play princess.  I don't encourage a specific path for my girl, and I don't discourage any interest either.  One of the greatest lessons I learned as a parent is that it is best to follow their leads.

So when my girl began to express interest in the earth and growth, I decided that this was the year we were going to start a garden.  I have never been one to take much interest in this department and I have learn through the years of attempting to raise some household plants that my residence is probably where plants go to die.  But despite all of my past history, I am going to keep at it and give it another try.

So, I ordered a vegetable garden container from Amazon.  While waiting for it to arrive within a week's time, we picked up soil at Home Depot, seeds from various sources and gardening tools from a recent Target trip.  Last Saturday, while Mavi took his morning nap, I took the opportunity to take my girl out and plant something, thanks to Dad who had gotten the hardest part of creating the garden bed done the previous night.

She loved the process of poking holes into the soil, putting little seeds in the holes and closing them up like they were little treasures in pirate shows.  In fact, she referred to them as if they were treasures several times.  Since then, she diligently water the garden a couple times a day while I work.  We are patiently checking on them every day waiting and willing for the first sprout to shoot through the earth.  I am hopeful that out of the hundreds of seeds that we put into the ground that a few would be successful.  We are hopeful.

 

Now that the weather had warmed up significantly, we are spending a lot more time outdoor.  In the process are we welcoming visitors to come into our yard, including this little guy that we decided need a name and agreed on Hummer.  I'm still uncertain if it's the same one that keep coming back or different hummingbirds who like our yard.  It makes no difference.  I chased him around one night to get a couple of shots of him.

I really do love this part of parenting, getting to discover the world around me through a completely different set of lens and perspective and in the process realigning my life for the better.  A few years ago, I could never imagine myself growing anything.  But now we have a garden.

Cruel world and thirty on my thirtieth

Today I share my thirtieth birthday with a world in mourning for the tragedy at the Boston marathon yesterday.  My heart is hurting for the people personally affected and it is hurting for the world left more tired, more sad, more angry today than yesterday.

Last night, I hugged my children a little longer and a little tighter, because I am unsure of what is going to happen them to outside of my embrace tomorrow, next year and years from now.  I look deeper into their eyes and pleaded silently that they would be the light to this dark world.

In honor of my thirtieth, here are thirty things I love right now.
1) My family. Always my family.

 

2) Exploring our humble little backyard and in the process created a little vegetable garden with my little girl who has became so curious about the earth and growth lately. 

 

3) The feeling of being lucky and in love.

4) Second day of washed curled hair.  Getting so many compliments about it without even having to brush after rolling out of bed is worth the 30 minutes the previous day of drying and curling.

5) Mastering the art of applying make up in 10 minutes flat that leaves me feeling like a million bucks.

6) Being confident to leave the house to enjoy brunch on a Sunday morning without make-up and with two day old hair that also leaves me feeling like a million bucks.

 

7) Running errands during the weekend with my two year old while Dad stays back to hold my boy while he naps (to make up for all the times he was not held while we work during the week).

 

8) Mother-daughter dates with my daughter.

9) Looking forward to mother-son date with my son.

10) The concept of having a daughter and a son make my heart explode with joy.  How did I get so lucky?

11) My daughter's unapologetic girliness.  When did that become such a taboo in today's culture?

12) Being capable of being completely honest about how I feel and what I want, both to myself and with others.  Why did it take such a long time to learn this?

13) Maddy says every day, many times, "I love you so much."

14) Skinny jeans and white tees.  I hope it stays around for a long time.

15) Coffee.

16) The Gap sales and the ability to spend $800 net on a family's summer wardrobe.

17) Vacationing in Hawaii and getting to spend a whole week with my husband without kids in paradise, in honor of our golden birthdays.

18) This quote. "Earth laughs in flowers." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

19) Instagram.  I really love this photo app and have over 1,100 photos from the past 1.5 years.  I'm also going strong on my "365 days of Maddy" project where I take a picture a day of my daughter in the year 2013.  I plan on doing the same for my son in 2014.

20) Not being busy every weekend day, which allows us to say yes to many impromptu invitations that turns into some of the best times of my life.

21) Making food for my family.  I don't do this often enough and still spend way too much on eating out, but I am really enjoying making simple meals for my family.

22) Farmer market on Sunday morning.

23) My son's steel grey eyes and my daughter's amber ones.

24) Looking at my children and seeing a lot of their father in them.  Then they'd do something and seeing a lot of me.  It is our sweet secret that they take a lot after me, but only their father and I have the privilege of witnessing it all.

25) Our bedtime routine that always end in the following conversation.
Me: Hey Maddy, what is today?
Maddy: Today's my favorite day.
Me: Why?
Maddy: Because we have it to make it together.

26) My daughter's request. "Mama, sit on my bed and talk to me."

27) My husband's big laugh, big heart and big willingness to oblige to my ever changing minds about our home decor.

28) Crawling into our clean, white, 500-thread count sheets. Splurging on luxurious sheets is a luxury of being an adult.

29) Brussel sprouts.

 

30) Sleeping in, courtesy of a husband who willingly take the kids on a weekend morning so I can get an extra hour of sleep and then being awaken by their loud decibels that managed to creep upstairs.