happy 30th birthday!

it's my sweetie's big day today.

happy birthday to my sweet sweet (unphotogenic) husband!

i'm sorry i couldn't get up this morning to watch the kids so you could sleep!

put out that fire!

ian's class went on a field trip yesterday because they are studying community workers. first, they got to see the inside of a restaurant kitchen and help make a pizza, which they then ate (at 9:30 in the morning). then we headed to the fire station where they were allowed to use a small fire hose, which i thought was pretty neat. but i think ian's favorite was the pizza ...

week 16.

maya @ 16 weeks :: february 24, 2006

• newteach, hobokener & JSC came to visit us for the holiday weekend.
• it seems having a cold has thrown off her sleep schedule ... either that or she's going through a growth spurt: she keeps waking up every 1.5 ~ 2 hours at night to eat. therefore, i am tired!
• she's grabbing and pinching with more accuracy.
• big brother is finally starting to pay more attention to her. for example, he finally said, "bye maya!" when we dropped him off at school.
• more babbling away, but it's more fun talking than complaining talking, which is great!
• started her RIE (resources for infant educarers) class. since the babies can't move around or play yet, it's more of a support group for the parents. i'm probably the youngest one there but the most "veteran" parent seeing as i have another kid. the other parents kept asking me for advice! it kinda made me feel weird ...
• plays with her hair a lot (typical girl!), grabbing at it and almost twirling it around her fingers. i almost think she's emulating me since i have a habit of playing with my hair and she always watches me intently when i do it.
• laughs hysterically when i twirl her around or dip her.
• took a bottle of milk for the first time on thursday night to practice for ...
• spending the entire morning with baba while i went on a field trip with ian's class. even though it took me forever to pump four ounces of milk, she would only drink two ounces of it. the ungrateful kid! but she had a pretty good morning with her grandma, although she did cry a bit ... as always!
• this is nothing new, but she is clawing at everything. because of my dry winter skin i'm all scratched up. owie.

bonus pic: oy vey!

week 15.

maya @ 15 weeks :: february 17, 2006

• visit from JR's cousins S, S, and J
• first trip to disneyland/california adventure (02.12.06)
• she took her first bottle of water at disneyland
• first cold: runny nose, some sneezing and coughing
• holding up her head pretty high during tummy time, but only when she feels like it
• this is really horrible, but she loves television. what are we doing letting her watch tv?! well, we're a tv house so it's on a lot during the day. i try to keep her away from it, but if it's in close proximity her eyes and ears turn that way. we feel terrible about it, but does that change our tv-viewing habits? of course not. and this is how a second child's young life is corrupted and destined for "not-so-great"ness compared to the first child.

life getting in the way

things are getting busy around here -- maya is sick (and ian threw up at school yesterday, but it doesn't look like he has a stomach bug, thank goodness); i've got a wedding order to fill asap; a project i took on for ian's class a month ago is still incomplete; and we're having company staying over this weekend and the house remains a complete disaster area.

so it looks like i'm going to have to take a break from my favorite activities (bloggin' and internet surfin') for a little while. maybe a week or so.

but once all is done and over with i will be back with a vengeance! 'til then, peace in your lives, peace in your homes.

oy!

well, we finally did it ... we took ian to disneyland for the first time. JR and i weren't too enthusiastic about taking him because he's known to chicken out on stuff like that. but a family we know from montana is visiting with their five year old daughter E, so my in-laws offered to take us. at first, just as expected, ian didn't want to go. but after much persuasion and hype from everyone else he finally agreed.

we made it a family affair because i missed ian's trip to legoland and it was also JR's and my 12-year dating anniversary. in hindsight it probably wasn't a good idea to go, but at the time i was really rather excited about going back to disneyland (the last time i went was back in college, more than 10 years ago).

being a semi-large group it took us a long time to do anything and, even then, it was after much deliberation. add to that the fact that we really didn't want to wait very long in lines resulted in us not doing very much. we just ended up walking around california adventure and disneyland a lot but not having very much to show for it except sweating a lot. i feel bad because my in-laws footed the bill to get us in and all i did was go on two kiddy rides at c.a., watch the aladdin show, and ride the jungle cruise at disneyland. seriously, that's all i did besides breastfeed maya and carry her around.

on the bright side it was a lovely day (maybe a little too lovely; it was close to 90 degrees) and ian and E had a good time together. maya was a real trooper and didn't complain much (except during the really loud parts of the aladdin show). JR and i were exhausted at the end of the day (i'm still tired) but i think ian had a good time, which is what's important. our passes are good for one more trip in the next month, so my mother-in-law might take ian again. heck, i could take ian if i really wanted to ... but do i?

future boyfriend?

today, my friend A came to visit with her baby D. he's six months old and gigantic compared to maya. it's baffling that someday she's going to be that big. D is so cute and drooly with two little bottom teeth!

D reached out to maya and patted her when he saw her. and he held on to her finger for just a moment. so darling!

he, of course, is capable of playing by himself and holding himself up during tummy-time. but maya just threw a fit when i put her down by him, as you can see by the photo.

D, are you sure you want this temperamental princess as your girlfriend?

week 14.

maya @ week 14 :: february 10, 2006

• she's "talking"- it sounds like "uh, uh" most of the time, but it's clear to me that she wants to tell me something. she "talks" when she's unhappy, oddly enough. instead of crying (or before she starts crying) she'll start complaining. it's so cute, even though i know there are tears coming soon.
• i'm leaving her in the crib to try to fall asleep without the aid of breastmilk or walking around. she usually ends up crying herself to sleep, but at least she's doing it on her own!
• she can keep herself occupied for at least 30 minutes in her swing, under her "thunder-dome," or just hanging out in her chair (continuation from two weeks ago).
• slobbery.
• i finally folded up the futon in her room so i can't lie down with her. it's the only way to wean myself away from the co-sleeping. i'm more tired because of it, but it's about darn time!

getto! [translation: score!]

today has been a good day so far. my mom came back from a three-week trip to japan. i don't function very well without my mommy; she takes good care of me.

she was so generous, getting lots of gifts for the kids. for me, she picked up some japanese hiragana rubber stamps. i'm really looking forward to using them for journaling and titles on some scrapbook layouts. she also brought back a new cookbook i ordered online, so that should motivate me to make some new dishes.

i also managed to get to the japanese shopping center after dropping my mom off at home. and i found some great japanese sewing books ... for cheap! the definite drawback of getting japanese books is the price, so i was happy to see the selection at the japanese used bookstore was pretty good. the book that's second from the left was $1; it has patterns for baby clothes. who knows when i'll actually get to make anything from the books, but i love just perusing them for ideas and inspiration.

the market i was at also has a beard papa's, so i couldn't leave without getting some cream puffs for tonight's dessert. they are de-lish! i don't know if cream puffs are very popular in the u.s., but every pâtisserie in japan has them. usually, the puff is already filled with the vanilla custard cream. but at beard papa's, they fill them to order so the pastry stays crisp and doesn't get so soggy. yummy, yummy.

but the happiest thing for me is definitely my mom coming home. :)

wicked maya tired mama

patterned paper: ki memories, hot off the press
letter stickers: american crafts, sonnets (creative imaginations)
letter "m" monogram: scrapworks
brads: making memories
ornamental foam stamp: making memories
photo holder: joann scrap essentials

[sorry, this scanned a little crooked. also, i don't think i'm done just yet. i have to put the date in somewhere and i feel like i can still do something with the empty space at the top. any suggestions?]

new toy

since our desktop was acting totally whack for the last few weeks we finally got a new computer. it's kinda annoying that computers don't last longer than a few years. at least they're not as expensive as they used to be (not that they're actually cheap, but you know what i mean). JR bought it on saturday while i was out visiting my baa-chan who's not doing very well. i thought we were going to buy the computer together, but when i got home, there it was. and it wasn't the computer we had talked about getting. not that i care too much, but it's really unlike JR to make a large purchase that quickly. usually it takes hours and hours for him to decide. so that was kinda weird; totally out of character.

i was still lobbying heavily for a mac, but JR would have none of that. he kept dangling other purchases in front of me: "instead of buying a mac we could use the money to buy a d-slr camera or a projector (to watch movies)." yikes, i can't decide between those things!

but i still dream about going back to using a mac. there's an apple store near my house, and i broke down and went in the other day. the first time i walked by it a few days prior i willed myself not to go in, or else i'd want one even more than i already did. but the second time i just couldn't help it. i don't have much will power or self control, i guess. one of these days i'll get one ... you just watch, JR! and i'll get a d-slr!

anyway, we set it up yesterday during the super bowl and it's working like a charm. i'm so grateful because i have work to do and i need a reliable computer. and thank goodness i was able to get my 1,500+ fonts on it to work. ah, my lovely lovely fonts, how i love them. (if anyone else is a font addict like me, i recommend getting the font thing to organize your fonts. it's made a world of difference for me.)

[speaking of the super bowl, was anyone else disappointed by the commercials? i really could care less about the actual game so i was only paying attention during the commercial breaks. i wasn't particularly impressed. there were some funny ones, like the hummer3 ad about the robot and monster having a baby. a little disturbing but i watched the whole thing, wondering what it was for. and isn't that what advertising is all about? the fedex ad with the cavemen made me laugh because i always laugh when bigger creatures eat/squash littler creatures (i know, i'm cruel). but you know what made me sad? kermit the frog in the ford hybrid commercial. i don't know why, but i don't want kermit used in this way, even though i'm all for hybrid vehicles. and there were ads that didn't make sense: harrison ford reciting (rather horribly, i might add) dr. seuss-esque rhymes about the super bowl and the united airlines commercial. i didn't get it. i mean, the artwork was actually really beautiful but i didn't see the connection. perhaps i'm a bit clueless? okay, sorry for the tangent.]

the one thing i'm looking forward to on this new computer is burning a cd/dvd. it says it has this special thing on the burner that it can print a title directly onto the disc. you have to use a special cd but that's pretty neat that it can use this thing called lightscribe to burn the data and the label. pretty neat, huh? i don't know if it actually works, but i'll let you know.

week 13.

maya @ week 13 :: february 3, 2006

really playing -- she pretty accurately hits and grabs at the dangly bird on her mirror toy in her crib. she also likes to kick the bird on her "thunder-dome." it appears she likes the toys with little jingle bells inside (both bird toys mentioned above have bells).

she is holding up her neck just a bit higher when she's on her stomach.

i'm trying to keep her in her crib at night to sleep (instead of co-sleeping with me).

it appears like she is trying to keep herself upright when she's in a sitting position. instead of leaning back on the couch, she'll curl her back as if she's using her abs to hold herself up.

last night she had some icky spit-up that seemed to upset her. JR was holding her, but when she saw me she actually leaned away from him and reached her arms out to me! love!

lil doodler

i've noticed recently that ian doodles pretty often. he's not really what you would call an artist, so his doodles aren't drawings, but lines and squiggles mostly. it's all over his homework book and random papers. this morning, i stepped out of the living room to get dressed, leaving my half-finished sudoku open on the table. when i came back, he'd doodled all over it. random lines and lots of colored-in circles.

now, i don't mind that, unlike me, he's a doodler. i'm a pretty slobby person in general, but for certain things i'm totally ocd. i can't stomach errant lines and half-erased markings on paper; my hand automatically reaches for an eraser. i couldn't try to doodle haphazardly if i wanted to; all of my drawings would have to be lined up perfectly and i would have to use an eraser. that's not doodling. because of this "disorder," i'm not able to create collages or shabby-chic scrapbook layouts, even if i deliberately try to copy someone else's design. it's physically impossible.

and i am totally appalled when people (adults or kids) write or draw in books (ahem, ahem JR). my one rule has always been that ian not mark up books. but i guess i better add to that -- no more doodling on mama's sudoku!

should i?

as most pregnant women know, they get a lot of coupons and product samples for the baby. the formula industry is pretty aggressive about sending coupons and samples. i breastfeed so most of this stuff is wasted on me.

similac mails coupons every once in awhile for $5 off. i usually toss them in the trash, but today i remembered that you can put them up on ebay. so i went over today to check out how much they were going for. for one $5 coupon, most people had a minimum bid of $0.99 to $1.25. with ebay's charges what they are these days, it doesn't seem worth it to post it for any price less than $1.25. even then, if the coupon only goes for $1.25 you wouldn't even make one dollar.

is it even worth my time and effort to post this coupon?

my not-so-secret love

i have this knack for finding the new picture books at our neighborhood library. i can zoom in on new acquisitions just by looking at a spine. today, i found a book that was pretty darn good: new york is english, chattanooga is creek. by chris raschka. it's about the origins of city names in the united states. the illustrations are wonderful and whimsical, and the flow of the text is a little unusual, i thought. i recommend it.

anyone who glances over at recent reads on my sidebar will know that i read a lot more juvenile literature than adult books. but my real love is for picture books. and, as much as i appreciate a good story, i have to admit i judge a book by its cover. basically i'm really attracted to the illustrations and almost don't care if the story is bad. because even if it's not an enjoyable read, i can at least enjoy the pictures!

i have a pretty large collection of picture books that i purportedly purchased for ian, but are really more for me. some of my favorite illustrators include (* denotes official site):

• holly hobbie
• lauren child
• anne gutman
• amy walrod
• j. otto seibold*
• gris grimly*
• jon scieszka & lane smith
• jarrett j. krosoczka*
• peter sis*
• dick bruna*
• kevin henkes*

of course, there are many others i enjoy but these are a few off the top of my head. i would love to hear what other illustrators parents and kids enjoy.