Mama and her little Sweetpeas

Valentine's Part II

2012-02-16T20:54:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a fun day full of love on Valentine's Day! We had a great day at our house... lots of heart shaped foods, decorating and art activities! The only bummer of the day... our couch date had to cancel due to a late surgery Joff was at... ah- the joys of being married to a trauma ortho rep! :) But we made up for it by having date lunch and coffee yesterday!

love.

Special valentine from Daddy

happy feet penguin!

Mama's card from Mia!

heart art project... heart made from a cardboard tube

lunch time!

Daddy's special message...

mr. happy pants!

nico's 1st Valentine's Day!

mwah! mucho besos to my sweet valentine! xo

Valentine... you color my world!

2012-02-13T22:12:00.000-08:00

Happy heart day tomorrow! I've always been a lover of Valentine's Day... a fun day to spread love to everyone! How can you not love pink and hearts?! :)

This year, Mia and I created heart shaped crayons for some of her buddies. We think they turned out pretty cute and I'm pretty sure Mia is going to keep a few for herself (she's already declared dibs for the green and orange ones!)

Here's my little helper! :) She started by matching the like colors together but then wanted to keep her "favorite colors- orange, green, purple, yellow and white"in her own separate pile.

My little helper with the "Happy Valentine's Day" banner

You can download a free template for the "love" banner via The TomKat Studios

More to come tomorrow! :)

Where to start?

2012-02-08T22:32:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I didn't blog one single post during the month of January! It's not because I haven't wanted to, but I've been so busy with our business, the kids, working on my best friend's upcoming baby shower, etc. that it just always gets pushed to the side. I've had several different things I've wanted to write about, but just haven't gotten around to it. And now it's similar to when you don't talk to someone for a long time...it's hard to know where to pick up. I haven't even posted any holiday photos or Nico's 10 month (let alone 9 month!) pictures!

Today we had a very fun day going up to San Francisco to meet Daddy for lunch at Luce. Miakins is missing him- he is staying up there for the AAOS conference so we went up to spend some time with him. Yesterday morning was the first time she broke out in big tears and cried because he was leaving to go to work. Poor peanut... she sure loves her daddy!!

Anyway, here's a quick post playing catch up of the holidays, our visit with Emile/Papy, kid pics and whatever randomness has happened over the past several months! :)

Only one missing is Bella! :) Christmas Eve with Grandma Mimi and Papy

Mia's gift from Uncle Mike (eraser buddies... but she liked the packaging!)

Mama and her baby!

Mia thinks she hears Santa Claus!

There's nothing like pure joy on a child's face!

Soaking it all in!

Artists at work!

Our future Dr. Sarphati!

You're never too early to start!

New Year's Eve with the Olmes Girls!

NY Day with Mr. Drooly Pants!

3 Generations of Sarphatis!

9 months!

Palo Alto outing... Mia and Nico's first train ride!

Bella has found the weakest link! :)

Saturday relaxing!

Whoa.... Nico and Ady in her new ride! L

Art project at the Children's Museum

Future hairstylist

ice cream with Papy

Starting to eat real food... chicken, rice, peas and corn!

Starting to stand all by himself!

Lunch at Luce with Daddy today!

I adore this little girl!

And this little man!

A beautiful ending to the day!

Growing up so fast...

2011-12-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Eve to all dear friends and family! Surprisingly, I'm sitting in a very quiet, clean and peaceful house right now. Food shopping for tonight's dinner... check! Gifts wrapped... check! Wine and champagne bought... check! House cleaned... check!

Christmas music is playing in the background, both kids are sleeping and I'm finally enjoying a few minutes to spare before the bustle begins. I'm sitting here just thinking about the past year and how amazingly fast it has gone! We are unbelievably blessed- so much to be thankful for!

And of course, thoughts go to my beautiful kids and how much they have changed over the past year! Nico is nearly 9 months old now! He has gotten 4 teeth just in the last few weeks! Here's a pic of the big eyed cutie with his little teeth stubs! His 2 front bottom teeth and his 2 front top teeth have finally broken through after weeks of biting and drooling like a maniac!

He is starting to learn the basics of crawling... he's mostly going in circles and backwards at this point! He can lift his whole body off the floor and wiggle around but no forward motion. This little big guy is going to be a hefty lineman if he keeps continuing to grow the way he has been! He's wearing 12-18 month clothes already! He can coordinate his fingers to get food in his mouth and sometimes feeding time is quite the battle over control of the spoon. :) This little guy is so happy and content! He loves his big sister and thinks she is the funniest thing on the planet. She can always get a huge belly laugh out of him- it's so cute! I am finally getting some pictures of the two of them together!

My little Miakins has grown into a little girl right before my eyes! She is no longer a little baby!! Where did the time go?! She is so smart and funny- we can now have entire conversations. It amazes me to hear her talking so much and what she understands. Sometimes I still have to remind myself she is only 2 and a half!! Of course, there's still the cute little linguistic mistakes she makes that remind me she's still learning. "Nogurt" instead of yogurt, the "l"s are hard for her so it's a cute "Mama... I WUV you!" or "Dewaney and Shawee" instead of Delaney and Sharlee. Or her cute "No Ganks" for no thanks.

She loves Winnie the Pooh, still likes (but not as fanatical) about Dora and Diego, and still loves to read books. She also loves to carry her "buddies" in her bumblebee backpack. She now has new big girl furniture- a full size bed and new dresser! (So we could get her old dresser moved into Nico's room) Is basically fully potty trained (she still wears pull ups at night and during naps but has been waking up with dry pull ups for several weeks in a row) and is becoming very independent! I hear lots of "Mia do it!" "I do it MYSELF!" :)

She is also at the stage where constant testing of boundaries and "pushing the envelope" are consistently tried. It can be exhausting but I try to remain consistent and follow through on what I say. Overall, the joys far outweigh the trying times! Here are several photos of my cutie pie!

Amazing changes in both kids with so many more to come!!

And... there goes my quiet time! Joffrey and his parents are home (they went to a movie) and both kiddos are awake. Time for the bustle of the evening to begin! :)

Wishing everyone an evening of joy, love and peace. Merry Christmas!

Play dough!

2011-12-14T16:44:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how bad a blogger I've been! I feel like I'm going full speed from the minute I'm awake in the morning until I crash at night but there's still not enough hours in a day to get all the to-do's done as well as the fun things! My motto at this point is to do what I can and prioritize. And some days it just means throwing everything out the window and playing play dough with Mia! :)

Mia is in love with play dough right now! She can spend hours rolling, cutting, squishing, making "shelley the snails", etc. I love it because it allows all of us to play (well, minus Nico at this point) and be creative. We had our friends Sloane and Mike over the other day and had a snowman/snowwoman making contest. How amazing are these little sweet things?! We declared bikini clad surfing snow woman the winner!

We even decided to make our own play dough- it smells so yummy! The only change I would make to the recipe is smaller glitter pieces. The glitter we used was too big and kept flaking off. I found this recipe over on the creative mama blog.

Here's what you need to make your own:

1 C Flour
1 C Water
1/4 C Salt
1 TBSP Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Cream of Tartar
Variety of kool-aid for color and yummy smell!
Glitter
pot/pan & spatula

The thing with the homemade play dough is that it lasts for a long time if you keep it in a sealed container. We have had countless hours of fun with play dough on these chilly mornings!

Friends Forever...

2011-11-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

image by inspiredjoyfulchaos

Barjie. Marbi. That's what they used to call us in college and for many years after. That's how close we were and how much we were together. It just flowed naturally off people's tongues. And the funny thing is... most people wouldn't even realize they were saying it and we never corrected them because we knew exactly who they were talking to.

I remember the first time I met Barbi. It was the very first day of moving into the dorms at St. Olaf College. We were in the same dorm- Kittlesby. She had long blonde curled hair and was wearing a hunter green shirt and white shorts. We just clicked and we have been best friends ever since. I had been waiting my whole life for a friend like her. I had a really tough time my 8th grade year with friends and I had many friends in high school, but it wasn't until I met Barbi that I truly felt a kindred spirit.

There are so many things I love about Barbi... here are just a few:

1) We not only are nearly the same height, but we wear almost the same size clothing too! Even shoes! :) I loved that when we used to live close and meet for a walk around the lake, I could go straight from work and wear all her clothes!

2) Barbi has a way of making everyone feel special. She has a simple and sweet way of doing it. Something as simple as a cute heart shaped balloon on my 3rd wedding anniversary touched my heart. (My husband was still in CA and I had dinner with the girls while visiting in MN and she had remembered and tied a heart balloon to my chair.)

3) She is the most loyal and supportive person to have on your side. She has been there by my side with all the happy highs and hugged me and been there for me with the lows.

4) Barbi is one of the sweetest, most thoughtful people I know. Everyone who knows her knows this is true. ♥

5) Even though we are far apart, we have the type of friendship that when we get together again it's like no time has passed! I wish so, so much that we lived close to each other again but am so thankful to have a friend who will always be there regardless of where we live and how much change we go through.

Barjie... I love you and miss you already! ♥

Thanks for your visit - we loved having you and can't wait to see you again soon! xoxo

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

I think Halloween is such a "sweet" ;) event when babes are little... all dressed up in their cute costumes with that giddiness of getting a "treat" and staying up late. We had a sweet chubby little monkey and a cute little ladybug this year. Our friends came over for trick or treating and dinner and we all had so much fun! Mia got to stay up way past her normal bedtime to play with her buddies.

Miakins is in that stage if she doesn't like something, she is stubborn and won't do it or wear it. I started her early yesterday trying to warm her up to the idea of her ladybug costume and that if we went to Daniel's house (our neighbor who she LOVES!) for trick or treating, we would need to be in a costume. Apparently I sold her on it... when it was time to put costumes on, she didn't complain at all. And even when her ladybug hat wasn't working and was too big and falling in her eyes, she still didn't throw a fit and want to take it all off! Whew!

Here are my cutie pies:

Here are all the cute kids!

Uncle Mike stayed at the house to pass out the candy while we went to our neighbors houses to trick or treat with Mia and Nico. Nico was such a good little sport... just chillin' in the wagon while Mia went to the doors. It only took her a few houses to get the hang of it and she was soon saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" like a pro! :)

It was fun making cute finger foods for the kids... we had mummy pizzas, bat tortilla chips, mummy hot dogs and milk from cups that looked like ghosts! (Sorry... photos taken with my phone!)

And a successful night of fun trick or treating ended with Mia hanging out with 2 of her favorites and a Pooh's Heffalump Halloween movie!

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!!

7 months!

2011-10-29T23:59:00.000-07:00

just chillin' with my chewed up "7"

love these cute hands and feet!

Pictures in October...

2011-10-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

Hi family and friends! I feel like a broken record, but time is whizzing by! How is it that we only have 1 week left in the month of October already?! The past month has been a busy and fun one!

Nico at almost 7 months is a happy and healthy 21 lbs! (Who needs a gym with carrying him around?!) He has learned to roll over from his back to his tummy and has now started on solids! We also have nicknamed him teradactyl because of his recent fine tuning of his lung capacity and the ability to scream at the top of his lungs that it makes us all cringe! (Mia will sometimes even cover her ears and say "Mama... Nico too loud! He's hurting my ears!"

Mia is chattering up a storm! We are amazed at her vocabulary and her ability to understand us! We can have a conversation with her now... she even understands past tense! "Mama... I SAW that!" She's now into "Look it Mama! Did you see that?!" She loves watching Winnie the Pooh's Heffalump movie and home videos of her cousins Leif and Eva, her turtles, Dog (still) and New Dog and carrying everything around with her in her backpacks! She still loves reading, going on nature walks collecting rocks, leaves, acorns and anything she finds interesting and I think Nico is growing on her too! ;) She's getting more and more interactive with him... talking to him, showing him things, sharing, patting him on the head and telling him "good boy." :)

This month, we've had lots of fun going to the pumpkin patch with our friends Sloane and Ady, spending time at Laguna Seca at the Porsche event, driving up with daddy to Santa Rosa (and exploring the weeds while we waited for him at the hospital), celebrating our friend Danny's 30th birthday, spending time up in San Francisco, and cleaning up our garden.

And with only a week left to go, we still have a jam packed week full of fun! Tomorrow is Bella's 6th birthday, my mom's birthday is Thursday, my best friend is visiting for a long weekend on Friday and then Halloween!! :)

Mia's Lunch!

Someday... I want this for a backyard!

Nico and Mama at the Restoration Hardware store in SF

Mama and Mia making a wish!

Dinner out at Santana Row

Helping Uncle Mike with our fall flowers

so sweet. morning cuddles

bisoux

look at all this chunkaliciousness!

my sweet angel

Nanoo... Nanoo! :)

Mia makes heads roll! San Fran

Family shot watching the annual Rock N Roll Half Marathon

Mia watching the runners

Nico, you push it like this!

helping daddy with the garden greens

yo! what chou lookin' at?!

no daddy! pull it like this!

our little gardener!

Uesugi Pumpkin patch with Ady!

Mama! THIS one!

Good morning sunshine!

brother sister morning time! :)

Good health is a gift!

2011-10-10T23:32:00.000-07:00

iSource: http://jmak.tumblr.com/post/9377189056
(Steve Jobs tribute logo by Jonathan Mak, a 19-year old in HK)

This past week has been a strong reminder of the importance of good health and what a precious gift it truly is! Everyone around the world mourned the loss of Steve Jobs. Not only was he an innovator, creative genius, and an incredible visionary but he was also a son, a father and a husband.

Our house is filled with many Mac products and as Joffrey and I discussed the impact he and apple products have on our lives, we also discussed the blessings of good health. It's something people often take for granted...

Last Friday was our too-close-to-home reminder of how precious life and good health is! Joffrey came home from work early in the afternoon and as he came in to the house, he leaned on our kitchen island and said "honey... I don't feel right. Something's not right at all. I have a migraine and I can't feel my left side" I got him to the couch and asked him if we should take him in. (All I could think about was stroke or heart attack due to the left side numbness). He couldn't think and just kept saying "I don't know... I don't know." I called his primary doctor, told him what was happening and he immediately said take him to the emergency room.

As I was sitting by myself in his room holding his hand or stroking his hair while he slept or eating dinner in the cafeteria while he was getting his MRI done, I had a lot of time to think. I'm not a worrier by nature and I definitely lean towards thinking positive thoughts until I need to worry, but this really made me realize how differently I view everything now that we have a family. I love Joffrey so much and would be devastated if anything happened to my sweetie, but it would be even more heart breaking to not have my little girl have her daddy whom she ADORES! Thankfully, pondering about it was the extent of it.

After being admitted into the hospital, given a cat scan, an MRI and a powerful cocktail of drugs to help with his awful migraine, all tests came back negative and 6+ hours later, he was finally discharged. The doctors were convinced it was all due to the intense migraine. He's never had the left side numbness with his migraines before so that threw us and his doctor for a loop.

One cute part of the evening... Joffrey's nurse Claire was very sweet. As her shift ended and she was leaving for the evening, she saw me and wished Joffrey well and told me what a sweet and adorable couple we were. awww. ♥

Although he's doing much better, he's still recovering and not his 100% happy, perky self. :( Poor baby. He was still dealing with the migraine pain this weekend and trying to flush all the drugs out of his system. It's slowly working its way out...

Thank you for the well wishes and thoughts from family and friends who found out about Joff's situation! Please hug someone today and let them know how much you love them! Life is precious and every day is a gift! ♥

I'm 6 months old today!

2011-09-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

How did my little Boy Wonder get to be 6 months already? :) All this chubby lusciousness just melts my heart! He's such a sweet, sweet baby. And to think, he was 2 months preemie! We love you Nico! ♥

Where did September go?!

2011-09-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

Holy cow! It's true! I remember when I was little hearing older people say "the older I get, the faster time flies" and as a kid, I felt like time was as slow as a turtle! But now, I fully understand! How did we get to the last few days of September?! I haven't been a good blogger or even doing something as simple as loading up some pictures of the babes. :) It's been a busy month in our house with lots of projects and fun, growing adorable kids! In fact, Mr. Nico turns 6 months tomorrow!! Wow! Here's my sweet little man enjoying the outdoors and mesmerized by the flag waving in the wind!

Those cheeks! They are to die for!! :)

Here are some random pics over the past several weeks:

Mia helping feed Nico... she did it all by herself!

Glamour girl!

At our picnic lunch!

Happy little man!

All intently watching the F1 race cars!

My cute little artist

busy, busy, busy!

We finally got our office in order and organizing it as well as (FINALLY!) getting Nico's room set up. He's been sleeping in his own room in his crib for nearly a month now with no issues. Yay! We still need a dresser for his room and to work on some of the decorating touches but at least he has a room to claim as his own finally!

And even with the crazy wake up and RUN schedule that goes along with having two kids, I'm still managing to get a few crafty things done like flower clips for Mia, some tie/bow tie onesies for Nico and some cute crowns I'm working on! Pics and tutorials on those coming soon! Until then, hope everyone has a great week! :)

Big Milestones!

2011-09-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

Our little Miakins has hit some major milestones over the past few weeks! Two went great and one will need a re-try. :)

1) Mia as of last night has moved into a big girl bed!! I can't believe it... how did she get this big already!? Excuse the eclectic bedding... we are still in search of the bedding and decor we want to go with so this is temporary for now. She absolutely loves her big girl bed! In fact, last night she went up the stairs and exclaimed she was going to bed... all by herself. The she went to bed without a peep! Joff asked... "so that's it?! just like that?!"

fast asleep...

And this morning, she went into her room and said "Mama, shut the door please!" and she played in her bed with her buddies (her stuffed animals), sang and read books for over an hour all by herself!

2) She is potty trained during her waking hours! I've written about potty times here and here. She has rarely had a poo accident since before she turned 1 but would still pee in her diapers during the day. We finally decided to start tackling it last month. We didn't push her but slowly started having her wear big girl underwear. Here she is being silly back in mid-July... the first day of wearing girl girl underwear! (Dora, of course!) She is now wearing these every day all during her waking hours. We only put on pull ups for night time and nap time and even then she wakes up more and more with dry pull ups!

When we first started working on this, I only had peanut butter chips as her "treat" for going pee on the potty and now have added some colorful m&m's to the mix. She makes me laugh when she smiles and giggles when she's successful! I recently got "Mama! Pee on the potty!! butter chips and m&m's... LOTS of them!!" :) Or the times when we are out at a restaurant and she'll run back to daddy yelling loudly "Dada!! Pee on the Potty!!!!" You go little girl!

3) Her first dentist appointment. This is the milestone that needs a re-do. Today was her first time at the dentist and it was AWFUL!! (Yes, it needs TWO exclamation points!) I seriously think I will need to take her to a new dentist the next time because she has the memory of an elephant and I know she will remember this awful experience. The minute we hit the dentist chair, she instantly had a melt down and it didn't stop for well over 45 minutes even after we told her we weren't going to do anything. (He was only going to count how many teeth she had!) She absolutely refused to open her mouth and then was so upset that I wouldn't carry her to the car (because I had to carry 20 lb. Nico in his carseat!) so she threw many more tantrums on the reception floor. The receptionist finally had to help me carry Nico so we could get out of there! I don't know what got into her today but wow... it will have to be quite a while before we try this again! Per Mia when she woke up from her nap... "Mia crying! Count teeth... Mia go home!" :( poor peanut. This picture was taken in the reception area before the tantrums started!

And Nico's big milestone was turning 5 months!!

Super (Chunky) Monkey!

August!

2011-08-23T15:26:00.000-07:00

The "truck" Mia watched every day!

Wow! I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've put a post up! August has flown by so quickly! We have had a very fun month spent in Minnesota with family and friends. I swear, Mia thinks cake and ice cream are a norm there! We were able to celebrate many special occasions during our visit!

Per the last post, we celebrated Nana Betty's 98 birthday and Aunt Mari's 70th birthday.

Mama celebrated sister Amanda's 30th birthday with dinner at Sea Salt

We went down to Tracy, MN to celebrate Nana Marj's 85th birthday and had fun spending time with family on the lake. Cousin Heidi taught her "Knucks" which continues to be her favorite form of contact if she doesn't know someone or she's feeling shy. (Both people form a fist and punch their "knuckles"). She even got a ride on the jet ski aka "the big yellow boat"!

Grandma and Mia...

Picnic time with auntie amanda!

Nana Marj with both great grand-kids!

Mia driving the big yellow boat!

Nap time by the lake!

Mia driving with her dog named "dog" :)

Laughing with cousin Heidi

Helping Nana Marj blow her candles out

Papa Pete and Nana Marj with Nico

We also were there to celebrate Uncle Chris' brewery tour benefit and getting his halo off!

Cheese monger picks to compliment the beer tasting!

Chris and Lisbet... he got his halo off the day before!

Owner Dan Schwartz and the Growler...

Nico and Auntie Amanda hanging out

Tapping the keg! :)

*burp*

We had lots of fun times with friends:

Play date with Heidi and Griffin... sharing Elmo

Dinner with Pastor Kevin and his family

Old roomie Catherine stopped by and met Nico

Play date with Hortons, Mittelsteadts, Barbi and Stacy

Barbi and Nico

Tessa, Ali and Joyce

Barbi, Erik and Nico hanging out on our last day

Mia and Barbi reading

Nico turned 4 months and he slept 9 hours straight!! :)

Lots of fun family times!!

Visiting Nana Betty and watching the birds in the lobby

swimming with grandpa!

napping side by side

Cousins sharing ice cream!

the boys!

Lego city!

Joffrey and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary... apart. (J was still in CA) but still had a great day! Grandma took us to the Minnesota Zoo! They had penguins... which Mia loved!! :) And friends celebrated with me at Pepitos!

Nico enjoyed the zoo too! :)

And to top it all off... we even had the kids baptized!

Whew! What a fun, jam packed beginning to August! Another very memorable time spent with family and friends! Thank you everyone for making time for us while we were there!! xoxo

Birthdays!

2011-07-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

What a fun and busy few weeks we have had! Our wonderful friends Jen and Aman came to visit us from Florida. They were out here to celebrate not only their recent engagement but also Aman's birthday! We are so fortunate and blessed to call these two awesome people our friends!

We met Jen and Aman when we were in Florida for the family DisneyWorld trip which also included Nico's birth. Jen was my nurse at the hospital and we instantly hit it off. She and Aman took me under their wings and were so sweet to me while I was there. I was there all by myself and didn't know anyone... it was so nice to have happy, friendly people who were there for me for the month Nico was in NICU. I am forever grateful for their friendship and kindness. It just so happened that they had been planning a trip to Napa before we even met! When they got closer to planning their trip, they added visiting us into their schedule! We had so much fun... we miss them already! But we are so excited for their wedding and they even asked Mia to be their flower girl! Here are a few pictures of our time with them:

Congratulations! Happy Engagement!

The whole crew! :)

Birthday dessert after yummy sushi!

Breakfast on the veranda... the little sneaky hand!

Happy Birthday Aman!

Birthday boy!

Then to put icing on the cake, (haha!) :) grandma flew out and spent several days with us! Her days were filled with playing with Mia, giving Nico bottles and hugs and kisses and being a super helper to me! The plan was to have her come out, spend a little bit of time with us there and then help me bring the kids to Minnesota. I'm so, so thankful I had her!!

The kids did awesome on the flight! Nico just slept and hung out in grandma's arms the whole time and barely made a peep. Mia did great- just one teeny melt down when I made her put on her seatbelt for take off. The little stinker, even though she was tired and it was her nap time, refused to sleep on the plane the whole way. But the minute we hit the ground in MN taxiing to our gate, she clunked out!

At the airport right before boarding!

iPad time while hugging doggie!

"Mama... doggie SO HAPPY! Mia SO HAPPY!" :)

Grandma and Nico

Taxiing to our gate... asleep!

Being at Grandma and Grandpa's house is like being in a candy store for Miakins! They have way more toys at their house than we do at ours! Plus they have a swimming pool! She was so excited to play and swim, I barely got any breakfast in her!

Mia gussied up and rarin' to go!

In her "zucchini" ready to "kick kick"...

How lucky for us to be out here to celebrate great-grandma's 98th birthday!! The whole family came over to celebrate!

These two are 97 years and 8 months apart!!

Uncle Andy doing some last minute work before the party started!

Auntie Lisbet with Nico

Auntie Amanda with Nico

Smile... ANDY!!!

Take 2! Much better... ;)

Mia with her cousin Eva!

Nico loves his uncle Andy! Here they are chatting away...
Happy 4 months Nico!

Very busy and fun first day in Minnesota!! :) As Mia would say... "YAY YAY YAY!" :)

Breakfast Ice Cream!

2011-07-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

I know, right?! Ice cream for BREAKFAST?! Yep! :)

Mia thought she was in heaven when I told her she was getting ice cream for breakfast. She enthusiastically cheered, clapped and yelled out "YAY YAY YAY!" with her little pig tails bobbing up and down. My friend Danielle recently gave me a book called "The Sneaky Chef" by Missy Chase Lapine. It's a book with simple strategies for hiding healthy foods in kids' meals. ie: cauliflower in mac & cheese, blueberries in cupcakes, peanut butter and jelly muffins, etc.

I'm not sure where this little thing got such a penchant for sweet things... ;) Ok... I'll admit it. I do love my sweets from time to time. The breakfast ice creams recipes caught my eye so I decided to give them a try. She liked it, but I think she probably would've liked it more had I tried just straight strawberries instead of the mixed berry mix that I had on hand. She thought it was "too bumpy" with the seeds from the blackberries and raspberries!

This recipe was super easy and quick. Rich in vitamins C & K, potassium, folate, calcium, fiber and protein. I even added some flax as well.

Extra Sneaky Strawberry Breakfast Ice Cream
1/4 ripe avocado
1/2 cup frozen strawberries, without syrup or sweeteners
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
(I added 2 tablespoons of flax)

Whip it all together and there you have it!

I love CafePress!

2011-07-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

There aren't many businesses with excellent customer service these days so when I find one that does have it, I want to shout it from the rooftops and tell everyone I know! Here's my story about the wonderful company called CafePress.

As many of you read previously in my blog, my parents treated the whole family to a trip to DisneyWorld! It was such a fun trip and they did so much for all of us that we wanted to give them a small token of thanks back. My brother Andy and I thought it would be nice to get this picture blown up so we could each write a small note of thanks and then give to my parents as a surprise.

I happened to have a Groupon offer for a 16x20 canvas and free shipping for $39 from CafePress! Sweet! So off I went and ordered the picture and the plan was to have it shipped to my home first so we could add our notes and then ship it to Andy so they could add theirs in MN.

The first awesome thing CafePress did was send me an email stating due to the picture size, it would look much better on a 16x24 canvas size so they would increase the size at no additional cost! When it arrived, it was beautiful and came very well packaged- 2 layers of thick cardboard plus protective bubble wrap. I carefully unwrapped it and had both Joffrey and myself sign our note of thanks and then put Mia's handprints and Nico's footprint on it. Once the paint from the kids handprints and footprint were dry, I re-packaged everything back up exactly as it had come and skipped over to the post office (ok... not literally) to ship it to Andy. Initially they stated it would be about $17 but then after re-measuring stated it would be $30.20!!!!!! (Um... that's about how much it cost for the actual picture!!) But what else could I do, so I paid and they said it would arrive in MN the next Monday.

This is how it arrived:

Uh... notice where the hole went through!

Of course the hole had to be the size of a crater, but on top of that... right on the one thing that is Disney!!

I was sooo bummed! So here's where CafePress comes to the rescue and why I love this company so much! I wasn't hoping for much when I shot them an email to their customer service explaining what happened and asking if I could re-do the order at the $39 Groupon discount. Even though it was absolutely no fault of theirs whatsoever that the first one got ruined, they happily re-placed the order and even sent this nice response back!

Hi Marjie!

Thanks for your email! We are sorry to hear that your canvas was damaged. We can absolutely reprint the canvas at no expense to you. Please provide us with the new shipping address and we can get started right away.

Also, when signing the canvas, we recommend using a fine tip Sharpie marker.
If there's anything else we can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact us. Feel free to give us a call anytime at 1-877-644-2533.

-The Canvas Crew at Cafe Press

Seriously. Isn't that awesome?! I LOVE this company. That simple little act has made me a customer for life!! :)

So here's their package... much better, eh?

As brother Andy stated: "FedEx vs USPS... wonder why one is going bankrupt? I don't."

Well stated brother. Well stated!

Pictures...

2011-07-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

Wow! The weeks just fly by with two kids! I now wonder why I thought I was soooo busy and had no time when I just had little Mia! :) I haven't updated our weeks of pictures so here's a round up several weeks!

We had a streak of warm weather for awhile so every day after her nap, we would spend the afternoon swimming in her little pools or the slip n slide...

Here's Nico hanging out with us on the patio while big sister swam...

Our 4th of July... an impromptu BBQ with friends. Uncle Mike lit a few small fireworks before Mia's bedtime!

(yes... pink! Another Mia hand me down chair...) ;)

We had a great weekend together last weekend! After working several weekends in a row, Daddy took Friday off and we all trekked down to Monterey to the Laguna Seca racetrack to watch the Grand-Am Rolex Car Series. Mia loved it (Daddy loved that she loved it!). I think we may have a racer on our hands! Nico and mama spent most of the time in the car or far away from the track... :)

(even toddlers have crack-flashes!) :)

And then just a few randoms...

Discovery Museum (Membership gift from grandma and grandpa for her birthday!)

Breakfast at Village Cafe

fresh laundry! :)

Hanging out with Daddy

Hanging out with the Olmes clan

Butterflies!

2011-07-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

One of Mia's cool birthday presents she received from her cousins in Minnesota was a butterfly kit! I have been eyeing this for awhile since Mia likes butterflies and we like doing little science projects, but I hadn't gotten around to actually purchasing it yet. It was a fun surprise to open the box and see it! We immediately filled out the form to order our caterpillars and put it in the mail.

They arrived quickly and we watched the changes each day. The pictures don't do it justice, but it was amazing to see their growth every day! Mia loved it and now she loves watching the butterflies flying around. Every caterpillar turned into a butterfly. Mia helps me pick fresh flowers and sprinkle the sugar water on them and place them in the butterfly cage. In a few days we'll release them into the great outdoors.

Here are some fun facts about Painted Lady butterflies:

She breathes through her abdomen
She tastes with her feet
She has 10,000 eyes
She is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world
She may travel 1,000 miles in her lifetime

Mia Mia... how does your garden grow?

2011-07-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite things about spring/summer is working on and planting our garden! It's so fun to plan, plant and watch them grow! This year, we decided to switch it up a little bit and added corn to the mix. It is ridiculously amazing how tall they are already!! My little Miakins modeled next to them to show the growth over the past month...

June 10

June 28

July 3

July 9

July 13

Mia with the "bikinis" (aka zucchini!) :)

We also have tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, lettuce, a variety of herbs and brussel sprouts growing!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

Life without liberty is like a body without spirit. ~Kahlil Gibran

Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing day today!

Thank you to those who allow us to have freedom and liberty!

Big Sister, Little Brother

2011-06-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

Big Sister, Little Brother photo shoot... Take 2! This time it went much better. No screaming "No Way, No Way!" or crying by Big Sister Mia. And Little Brother Buddha was just chillin'! :)

Pictures...

2011-06-26T22:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a "This week in pictures" for quite a while so here are photos from the past several weeks. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

cute feet. :)

Peek-a-boo!

Mia loves wearing mama's flip flops!

Reading with her cousins Izzy and Chiara

I ♥ popsicles.

Corn's height June 10th!

Nico sleeping

We ♥ summertime fun! Drawing with chalk!

Fun with paint!

Buddies...

Cute lips!

Morning sweetness...

Mia driving uncle Mike's truck!

Nico hanging out

At the park... relaxing with daddy

Fun at the park... ice cream!

Pinkberry date night!

Big sister like.

2011-06-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Mia,

I hope someday you will love your little brother and be good buddies. But for now, I'm happy that you like him, give him hugs and kisses (when I ask you to) and you ask about him when you don't see him. (Where'd Nico go?!) You are generally a good helper and you let me know when he's crying, when he's tooted and when he needs his poopy diaper changed.

Maybe someday you will be ok sitting next to him or want to hold him instead of running away yelling "no way! no way!" But for now, here's the best I could get from you. :)

Love, Mama

Party Time!

2011-06-23T23:32:00.000-07:00

After her fun birthday day, we moved on to her birthday party this past weekend! We had a great time with wonderful friends and a beautiful day! Plus the birthday girl was so fun... fresh from her nap, happy and excited!

I had a tough time this year trying to decide on a theme. I know that the upcoming years will most likely be chosen by the birthday girl herself so I feel these first few years are my choice. She loves Dora the Explorer and Diego, but I decided to go with a penguin theme since she loves "waddle waddles" and I thought it would be cute. This was her invitation I ordered from Carli at DimplePrints on Etsy. I immediately fell in love with the cuteness of this little penguin. Carli was so easy to work with and very fast. I ordered cupcake toppers and tags from her as well and it all tied in so well together!

Who knew penguin themed parties were so popular?! I started googling penguin parties and came up with a bunch of ideas! But because of part procrastination and part craziness with 2 kids, I didn't start working on details of the party until Friday night at 8 pm!! It was a crazy week and I just couldn't get to the stores I needed to in order to start working on the party details. I thought I could finally go on Thursday evening after we put Mia to bed, but Joffrey was on call so we didn't feel comfortable with me leaving. Then Friday night he had a business meeting so I finally got it together and put both kids in the car after nap time and went to Michaels and Target to get the final things I needed.

I was really counting on Saturday morning to have Joffrey help me with party details, but alas... he was called to work and had to get ready for a trauma case right after we woke up. I was really starting to sweat because we had sooo much to do. Thank God for uncle Mike and the girls!! They were my lifesavers! They came over and immediately went to work! I nixed some ideas due to time but was able to do much more than I initially thought due to their help!

Chiara and Isabel working on paper details!

Alicia working away on frosting cupcakes!

Isabel helped me create "penguin" balloons...

blue jello jigglers= ice cubes!

Penguin bowling...

Penguin cupcake toppers from DimplePrints

Taking a little snooze before the party starts!

cupcakes and little igloo cake with gummy penguins

birthday girl snacking while waiting for the party to start

Gift bags for the kids... included stuffed penguin, penguin markers,

goldfish crackers, and penguin cup

sweet Sloane and stylish Ady

Bubble time for Thomas family

Nana Edith

Chillin' with Daddy

Hanging out on the porch... Olmes girls, Sheila and James and Edith

Gift bags for adults: ice cube chocolates and gummy penguins!

Make a wish...

Yay! Cupcake time!

Time to play!

Time to open a present!

Hi mama! :)

mama, daddy and nico

Michi and Kai

Happy birthday, birthday girl! I can't believe you're already 2!!

Thanks friends for celebrating Mia with us... we had a great time!

Mia Coco turns 2!

2011-06-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe we've already finished another year in little Miakins life! Today she turned 2 (or dos per her spanish that she's learned via Dora the Explorer!) It's gone so fast... a year ago today was my very first blog entry. Re-reading that entry from just a year ago and seeing the pictures, I see so much change in you today!

We had such a fun day! She was so excited... bouncing around and running all over and happy all day! :) Joffrey and I went birthday shopping for her last night while uncle Mike watched her and put her to bed. It was so fun to walk around the toy store and look at all the possible fun things for her! Joffrey initially wanted to buy her a $600 inflatable water slide but I put the kabosh on that! Instead we opted for a lot of Dora, Elmo and Diego- her favorite characters! Joff and I are pretty much Dora'd out but she LOVES it! And that's all that matters. :)

Joffrey and I sang her Happy Birthday as we walked into her room this morning. Daddy stayed home and ate monkey pancakes for breakfast with us before leaving for work, we played all day, watched some Dora and Diego episodes, had a long nap and finished the day with a picnic dinner (just like last year) and a walk around the rose garden.

Mia, here are just a few things about you at age 2:

You love Dora and Diego :)
You love penguins (waddle waddle as you call them)
Peanut Butter and Cheese (not together) are some of your favorites. (PB from mama, Cheese from daddy)
You are a chatterbox... talking up a storm! Crunchy cereal, Apple computer, mama and dada's coffee, Nico crying, muddy pigs... ew gross!, Enzo come here!, I'm gonna get you!, dada please... just to name a tiny bit of your vocabulary!
You are so curious, happy, smart and strong willed!
You love reading books
You know your colors, animals and some numbers (both in english and spanish)
Holding hands, hugs and kisses are given often
You love your family, uncle mike and the girls, grandma and grandpa and all your aunts, uncles and cousins in MN, papa and mimi
Elephant= Mia... your memory is amazing!!
Every day we WATCH dada= sit outside on the couch/steps and wait/watch for daddy to get home :)
You LOVE water- swimming in it, washing dishes, watering plants, ANYTHING related to water!
Apple computer and our phones are already ridiculously navigated by your little fingers
Your daddy and I love you more and more every day!!!!! xoxo

Here are pictures from today's special day with our very special little Miakins!

The birthday girl!

Her birthday door! The balloons!

Birthday flowers...

Her new Dora big wheels!

Monkey pancakes, strawberries and blueberries and roses!

Happy Birthday!

The family!

Pretty girl...

I'm 2 today!

The birthday princess

Only one missing is Bella!

Mac n Cheese and fruit!

Daddy's girl!

Kisses from Mama!

More presents!

She loves this magnifying glass!

Mama

The wheels on the bus... a gift from uncle andy!

Upcoming birthday party theme... penguins! Cupcakes from Kara's Cupcakes- YUM!

Make a wish...

2...

Cupcake time!

Nico enjoying the party... ;)

Happy, happy birthday to our amazing, sweet and funny little girl!

We love you sooooooo, so much!! ♥

This week in pictures... May 21

2011-05-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

Happy End of the World Day today!! I don't know about you... but so far, my day has been awesome. :) We all had cuddle time in bed this morning, relaxed at the coffee shop, went to Lowes to buy some flowers for our garden and came home and planted in the beautiful sunshine. Last night, my poor Joffrey had an ocular migraine attack... so rare but when they come, he's down for the count! Last night he was laying on the couch with an ice pack wrapped around his head and had all of us cuddling him. His quote which melted my heart was "If tomorrow is the last day... then this is heaven." Awww.... ♥

Hope everyone else is enjoying the day today... whether you are in rainy Minnesota or beautiful sunny California. I hope today is NOT the last day, but if it is... I've been one lucky gal with friends and family who I love with all my heart and I've lived a rich life. ♥

mia and dada

naptime cuddle buddies

grandpa and nico sporting their Disney shirts!

snoozing...

Joff last night with his ocular migraine and after Mia

accidentally kicked him in the face

eating "flied lice" on her stool with one of her rocks

from her rock collection:)

cuddling in bed

Her first, but probably not last shiner! She was jumping around on the

bed and lost her balance and wonked her cheekbone on the windowsill!

Nico on his true birth date- May 18th. Over 8 lbs.

All tuckered out... resting on dada's leg

This week in pictures... May 13

2011-05-14T00:50:00.000-07:00

What a fun and busy week we have had! Grandpa arrived for a visit last Saturday and is here for a few more days. He has been such a great help with the kids! He and Nico have become quite the buddies and Mia comes down every day with a big "Hi Gapa!"with a huge smile! We've had several fun outings- Happy Hollow, Children's Museum, Rose Garden, toy store shopping spree, etc. Bubble time, reading books, bath time fun, walks, even birthday celebrations back to back... all good times with grandpa! Here are the pictures from the past week:

Grandpa and Nico

Reading time!

Fun with bubbles!

Blowing bubbles...

More birthday cupcakes!

Joint birthday dinner and cupcakes... make a wish!

Mia and daddy... so cute together!

May 12th... Grandpa's birthday

Rose garden... smelling the roses

Peek-a-boo!

Mia's "doggy" and a purple flower from our garden

(she's obsessed with picking flowers right now...)

Playing in the water at Children's Museum

Mia

Kiss me! (She discovered mama's lipstick...)

Mia and mama

Holding hands coming back from Carmel for Mom's Day

Father/Son holding hands

decorated by big sister... :)

Rocket balloons with Gapa!

Riding "horses" at Happy Hollow Ranch

Age is just a number, not a definition.

2011-05-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. I've turned 36. Luckily for me, I've always felt age is just a number, not a definition. Oh, there are certainly things about me that clearly indicate I've tipped the scale closer to 40 than to 30. Like the darn gray hairs that are all of a sudden popping up EVERYWHERE... in clumps even! Or the facial skin that's not so smooth and creamy as it once was but instead has more sun spots visible.

But beyond that, I'm at a wonderful point in my life. I feel happy with my life as I've lived it so far. I've gone to college and have long lasting friends, I've traveled for fun and for work, I've had a career where I worked my buns off, I've even made a few bad decisions that have made me grow and influenced who I am today. I'm married to a man that loves me to death, have two beautiful children, have a job I absolutely love and am in a place where I truly feel happy, content and loved.

These things are more important to me than any wrinkles or gray hairs telling me I'm older. Instead, they are indicators of experience and a life well lived so far. :)

(This was supposed to have been published May 11, but Blogger had issues... so no, I didn't change my birth date!) ;)

Thoughts and Prayers...

2011-05-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

Today is a big day. Today was the day Nico was supposed to make his grand entrance into the world. He was scheduled to be induced tomorrow, May 11 which just so happens to be my birthday but I was able to convince the doctor's to bump it up one more day so he could have his own special day. As everyone now knows... he not only wanted his own special day, but went one step further and declared his own special month!

But that's not why today is a big day. Today is a big day because my older brother Chris is having serious cervical spine surgery to fuse his C1 to his C2 vertebrae. He initially hurt it when playing with his kids on their trampoline the day before Easter Sunday. They originally had a neck brace on him 24/7 but after he felt some tingling in his feet, they decided to be cautious and go back to the hospital. It turned out it was much more serious than originally thought and they immediately admitted him to the hospital and put a halo on him. And today is finally the surgery day and then many months of recovery.

For those of you who know my brother, he is THE most active person on the planet! He loves being active, being outdoors and playing with his kids. This is tremendously hard for him on so many levels. The pain and having to lay still in bed is difficult. I wish I was there in MN to be with him but he is in good hands with the rest of the family- both ours and Lisbet's (his wife). Our whole family sure could use some extra prayers and thoughts today for him!

If anyone wants to send him well wishes, his email address my younger brother set up for him is getwell.chriskaiser@gmail.com.

This is what Mia sent to her uncle:

And one from Nico:

Happy Mother's Day! ♥

2011-05-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing moms out there! I'm so lucky to be surrounded by strong, wonderful women who are truly wonderful and amazing! Until I became a mom, I didn't thoroughly appreciate and understand my mom ... she is my role model of love, generosity and kindness.

And even though days like today where my nearly 2 year old Miakins challenged me and my patience, I still think I have the best job in the whole world! :)

Wishing every mom much love today for all their love they bestow on us every day! ♥

(this is the best we could get from mia today...) :)

mia amongst all the flowers, cards and balloons!

This week in pictures... May 7

2011-05-08T00:24:00.000-07:00

After Nico's first bath

Mia's big girl ride!

Daddy and Nico cuddle time

Mia holding Nico... it lasted about 2 seconds!

Mia decided she didn't want to put her pants back on after her nap.

"Helping" mama clean the dishes...

Lunch at Starbucks with mama

Getting ready for the day... she loves this necklace!

Olmes girls with Nico

Wild about Mommy! :)

This picture is actually Nico's very first night at home in CA on 4/18

Week 1 as a whole Sarphati family complete!

2011-05-01T23:01:00.000-07:00

Wow- where is the time going? I've been meaning to write all week and now it's already Sunday! It's already been a whole week that our family has been back together! What an exciting, emotional, busy week it has been! Last Saturday was the BIG DAY! Grandma brought our little Mia home after 3 weeks in Minnesota!

Joffrey and I wanted to meet them at the gate so we could see her the minute we possibly could! We were eagerly awaiting her arrival watching all the people filing out. I asked several people "were you on the Minneapolis flight?" to which they all said no. Until finally we saw them walking... Mia holding grandma's hands and looking all over laughing and talking. When she got to the area where we were, she broke into a big smile and ran to us and gave us a big hug and kiss! I instantly busted into tears... I'd been waiting 3 weeks for that moment plus I was so overwhelmed with thanks and love for my mom for doing whatever it took to get her home to us! Mia also finally got to meet her little brother for the very first time!

I have to be honest... I had a hard time with the initial few days. It took Mia a little while to warm up to me again. Ok... I'll be completely honest. I was heartbroken. I desperately wanted my little girl to love me as much as she had before all this happened and now she didn't want to hold my hand or give me hugs and kisses like she had before. I also felt like *I* didn't really know my child as much either. I had to rely on grandma to decipher what she was saying. There were new words and new things she liked and I felt sad that I didn't know what they were.

The first several days Mia was all about grandma and dada. I had to accept that and be patient but it was so hard for me. Here was my little Miakins that I missed so dearly and loved so much with all my heart who was keeping me at arms length. I cried, my heart hurt. Joffrey and grandma comforted me and assured me this would pass quickly. And they were right... I have an amazing little daughter who is the most adaptable little creature on the planet. Even though if she HAS the choice between mama and dada, she will always pick dada... she very quickly gave me full on love again in a matter of days.

Joffrey's birthday was April 19... the day after Nico and I arrived home from Florida. I forgot how hard the nights are... with the constant feedings every 2 hours, I was exhausted in the morning. Even though I absolutely love being home, there is definitely something to be said for shared help by the nurses at the hospital for the night time feedings! Joffrey was so sweet to me... on HIS birthday, he went and got me coffee. He made me breakfast and brought breakfast and coffee to me in bed. I felt bad that I hadn't gotten a single decoration up, made any treats, bought any presents or even gotten a card with all the craziness of rushing out of Florida and back to California the day before. So we also celebrated Joffrey's birthday the night Mia got home.

confetti cupcakes

decorations...

dada, mia and mama

practicing for HER upcoming birthday! ;)

holding hands with grandma

Our first full week of being a family together has been going great! Mia has been helping with diaper time, hangs out close by during nursing times and happily entertains herself. She is slowly warming up to Nico and is giving more and more kisses to his head. She is such an amazing kid! Not to say there haven't been any hiccups, but they have been so minor and I just remind myself that Mia's been through a lot too and is coming home to lots of changes! We are already starting to find our new little rhythm and so far the road has been fairly smooth.

Joffrey has stepped it up too! He has been an amazing husband, partner and daddy! He and I have always made a great team and now even more so! Last night as we were wrapping up cleaning from the day I told him I was proud of us and how well we were doing this week! I was grinning from ear to ear from happiness. He said he didn't want to jinx anything but he was thinking the exact same thing! :) It's exhausting and I don't know how people with more than 2 kids do it, but it's so fun at the same time!

We had have such a fun time this weekend! The weather has been beautiful and we have spent nearly all day both days outside playing and working on our garden. We've spent lots of quality Mia/family time... I'm sad tomorrow is Monday and dada has to go back to work.

Mia with her "I just woke up hairstyle"

kisses...

more kisses...

chill-axin' with dada

Nico at 1 month old (already!)

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.

~Joyce Brothers

Family Reunion

2011-04-23T00:40:00.000-07:00

I am so excited! I can barely wait for 1:48 p.m. tomorrow!! Our little family will finally be all back together under one roof! Grandma is flying Mia home from MN to CA tomorrow... I still can't believe its been 3 weeks since I last saw, kissed and hugged my little Miakins!

Mia had an amazing time at grandma and grandpa's house! I don't think she missed mama and dada one bit... which to me, I would much prefer than having her crying, upset and missing us. It's been the hardest thing to do, but I haven't talked to Mia once since she left. I didn't want to rock the boat and do anything to change her happiness. Grandma has done an amazing job of sending us pictures, videos and calling to give us daily updates. Mia did an amazing job of adjusting to her new environment. I received so many compliments on her, on my mothering and our parenting... those compliments are truly my paycheck for being a stay at home mother. I'm so proud of my little girl!

Tonight the whole family was over at grandma and grandpa's house for the Easter celebration. They had an easter egg hunt with 245 eggs! (Um... I only bought a dozen eggs!) :)

Everyone was over to hang out with her one last time before she left. Joffrey and I said we feel bad making her leave such a happy place... it was exactly what we wanted- lots of quality bonding time with family and friends! She went to her cousin's basketball games, pre-school with grandma, a sleepover at auntie Amanda's, time spent with great grandma Kaiser, great grandma Marj and great grandpa Pete, and lots of various fun play dates with family and friends!

I cannot thank my parents enough for doing this for us! To completely take Mia in for 3 weeks, willing to fly her wherever and whenever, and rearranging their lives for us... no words will ever express our love and thanks!

Only 1 more sleep until our little family reunion!! YAY! :)

We're going HOME!!! :)

2011-04-17T10:10:00.000-07:00

I am jumping for joy!! First, daddy came to Florida on Friday evening for the weekend and that alone made me so extremely happy! But then, answering all my prayers and hopes, Dr. Byun came by yesterday and told us Nico could go home on Monday!!! The three of us are flying home together!!

I am so proud of my little boy! He did exactly what he was supposed to do and passed everything with flying colors! He's now 5 lbs. 6 oz. and chugging down every bottle and breast feeding great! They took his feeding tube out yesterday on the spot after Dr. Byun said he could go home.

Nico turns 3 weeks tomorrow and will be on his first flight! And our sweet little Miakins will be flying in with Grandma on Saturday! Can't wait for our family to be together again in a week! ♥

Nico right after his feeding tube was removed... sweet little face ♥

Adorable video of My Mia!

2011-04-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

My brother Andy put together this video of Mia of our last day together at DisneyWorld and sent it to me. I watch it every day, several times a day! I miss this little munchkin so much!!! Watching it brings tears of love and happiness and a little bit of sadness from missing her so much... but my heart is happy knowing that she is having a GREAT time in MN!

Mia- I love you baby girl... can't wait to see you again soon! xoxo ♥

Love, Mama

DisneyWorld 2011!

2011-04-08T19:03:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to the fun post! What an amazing, wonderful, adventurous week to remember! One we will never forget! It started with a bang with the birth of Nico and then it just kept getting better with all the fun times at DisneyWorld with the family on top of it! We are so blessed to have such a great family! Everyone pitched in with helping to take care of Mia while Joffrey and I shuttled back and forth between DisneyWorld and the hospital. Mia was such a happy camper the whole week! The only park Joffrey and I missed was Animal Kingdom. Otherwise we hit Epcot, Hollywood Disney, Magic Kingdom and Blizzard Beach! Not bad for giving birth on Monday and only missing Monday and Tuesday events at Disney! :)

THANK YOU mom and dad for a GREAT trip!! ♥

Here's a picture recap of all our fun we had as a family at DisneyWorld!

The whole family minus newborn Nico!

Cousins sharing ice cream!

Chris, Lisbet, Leif and Eva at Magic Kingdom

Our family... minus Nico :)

Cute pic of grandma and grandpa!

Daddy is hoping Nico will be as fast as Lightning McQueen!

Mama and Mia watching the parade...

Mia loves her grandma! Dancing and laughing away...

Blizzard Beach!

Floating along with grandpa!

Uncle Andy chill-axin' at Patio 8

Mucho besos... xo

The original 6

Giggles at Blizzard Beach slide!

Playing in the water with Auntie Amanda at Epcot

Mia and Eva playing in the waterfall

Little miss water baby!

All tuckered out...

Leif and Chris

Eating her breakfast...

3 generations

Mothers, sisters, daughters...

Funny... :)

Mia and her auntie amanda... best buds!

Well... hi!!

Back scratchin' with daddy at Epcot!

Hanging with the ducks...

Leif and mama Lisbet

Life is about choices...

2011-04-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

"You can choose to be miserable or make the best of it..."

- Grandma Peterson

Have I told you I come from a long line of strong, positive-minded, wise women? I was speaking to my grandparents on the phone last night and these were the words my grandma said to me. So true! Our situation is certainly not ideal... of course I would much rather have my family all back together under one roof, but since that's not an option right now, we do have to make the best of it. And that's what I'm trying to do...

I've now completed my first full day alone here in Orlando, FL and halfway through my second day. My sweet little Miakins made it safely to MN and sounds like she is having a GREAT time (which makes me so happy!) and Joff made it safely home to CA to our two fur-babies. Monday was definitely an emotional day for me sending all my loved ones off to different final destinations.

I was able to get into the Ronald McDonald house which is right across the street from Winnie Palmer Hospital. The Ronald McDonald house's motto is "A Home Away From Home!"I'm so thankful I was able to get in... for those that luckily have never had to stay in one, it's nice to have a place to stay without worrying about transportation and accomodations while we nurture our little ones... especially for out-of-towners like me! We each have our own private bedroom/bathroom, shared laundry, computer room, kitchen and dining room, tv rooms, etc. Each night there is a different volunteer organization that provides dinner as well as a ton of community food or you can buy your own. The cafe at the hospital has great food too, as well as a Starbucks and a frozen yogurt/smoothie place.

I feel like I'm back at the first day of high school or college with lots of new people and everyone in a similar situation... but it's still a little overwhelming. The people I have met have been very nice and there are people who are exactly in the same situation as I am... missing their older child, missing their husband, have a baby in NICU, etc. I'm so thankful my little boy is healthy and doing great other than needing to mature and pass his feeding portion. Some families are going through so much more!

My little peanut is making progress every day! It's been great to be able to spend so much time with him! Yesterday I spent almost all day with him but finally took a break to get some fresh air and get a few things at the SuperTarget close by. (Have I told you how much I love Target?!) ;) I've spent most of the morning with Nico and he took a full bottle again this morning with STRONG encouragement from mama! I told him in the future he doesn't have to finish his plate of food, but for now he has to work really hard and finish his whole bottle since that's the only way we can leave! It's all up to the little man! His doctor came to visit just as I was leaving to come back to the house and he approved Nico to move into a crib instead of the isolette which means he is able to regulate his temperature on his own... Yay! More big steps towards being able to go home!

My sweet husband sternly talked to me right before he left. "Marjie... I want you to take time to enjoy being here! Spoil yourself... get a mani/pedi, get a massage, get your hair done (I had said I was bummed I was going to miss my hair appointment I had made for next weekend at home), go to the beach... enjoy the sunshine and relax and hang out with Nico." I have to say, so far I haven't done any of those things other than hanging out with Nico, but I plan to try to do some... it feels so out of the norm to not have to take care of anyone but myself! I spoiled myself with a (huge!) cup of frozen yogurt and rocked in the rocking chair out on the porch this afternoon thinking about my babies (all of them... daddy, Mia, Nico and the fur-babies) and thanking God that we are all healthy and knowing that this time apart will seem like a drop in the bucket when it's all said and done.

Grandma- I'm choosing to make the best of it. :) Love you!

My flowers and Nico's Mr. Bear in my room at the Ronald McDonald House...

Holding hands... my two angels

2011-04-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

As Mia says... "sha" for holding hands! :)

Little Nico and Mama holding hands under his sunshine (UV light)...

I can't believe today was the final day of our family vacation to DisneyWorld! We've had such a great time!! It's been such a surreal several days... on one hand, with all the events happening it feels like it's been a long time since we got here last Sunday evening and on the other hand, I can't believe we're already at the end of our trip. I feel like I've been living a double life. Two completely different environment and situation, but both spending time and holding hands with my two little angels. Playing and having fun with Mia during the day at DisneyWorld and having quiet time with Nico in the hospital in the evenings.

Over the course of the last several days, Joffrey and I have been figuring out logistics and making lists of all our to-do's. One of the hardest decisions was to send our little Miakins home with grandma and grandpa to Minnesota. My little sweetpea LOVES her grandparents and vice versa! So in my head, I know it's the best for her right now and she'll have a great time continuing to spend time with her grandparents, her aunts and uncles and cousins but my heart still tugs so hard! She is my little constant companion and I'm going to miss her kisses and hugs terribly! My parents have been amazing... ARE amazing! They are the most generous, thoughtful and willing to do "whatever I need" parents my whole life and as always, the same with this situation. If anyone ever wonders where I get my positive attitude and characteristics from... I have THE BEST role models!

Just less than a week before this trip, I caught up with a good friend of mine from college that I hadn't talked to in a long time and we confided to each other about how we were more concerned about our first child and their well-being over the newly born child. And this sentiment has kicked in full force with this situation. Although I completely love my newborn little Nico and am obviously concerned about his well-being, I'm even more concerned about Mia's well-being and making sure she is ok. She's been my baby, my child, my little angel in my life for almost 2 years. I know this child... I just met Nico.

But again, I should know better than to worry about the small things... Mia will be in excellent hands and will have a great time! I'm so overwhelmed with the thoughtfulness and generosity people have already provided me and my family! My parents have offered to fly Mia wherever and whenever we need, my grandma (Nico and Mia's great-grandma) offered to fly down to be with me so I wouldn't be alone, my mom's best friend Joyce is grocery shopping for food for Mia so it'll be there when she arrives tomorrow, Joyce's sister who is in FL has given us a bag full of little teeny onesies and newborn diapers, our friends Danielle and Adam have offered to help Joffrey get the nursery set up and put together and have "gone shopping" as Danielle put it for boy clothes, and people my mom work with have provided clothes and jackets for Mia since we weren't expecting her to be in cold weather. It's amazing and so heart warming to know so many people are pulling together and helping us!

The other night, Joffrey and I made a run to Target to get a few things for my now unexpected extended stay here in Orlando. We picked out a few things for Mia and ended up picking out a few cute little outfits for Nico too. We hadn't even thought about buying clothes and supplies yet... we were proud of ourselves for just getting his room empty to get set up and decorated 2 months early! He literally had 2 outfits that I just randomly bought on a whim several months ago, but that was about it! Before we had left the hotel, I felt Joff was a little edgy with me so I asked him about it in the car and he confessed he was a little tense and apologized. "I feel unsettled and I don't like it... I love my family and I feel we're all going separate ways" which is how I was feeling too. We talked about it and by the end of our Target run, we both felt better AND we got cute things for Nico and Mia as well as some pretty new pj's for mama! :)

I've had my weepy moments but am trying to be strong. My sleep patterns haven't been great- waking up at 2:30 am and not being able to fall back to sleep thinking through all the logistics and how much I'm going to miss my baby girl and hubby. I just have to get through tomorrow a.m. when I have to give my Mia a hug and a kiss goodbye and the rest of my family and then early evening when I have to do the same with Joffrey. The lack of sleep is starting to catch up and the adrenaline is starting to slow down... must.try.to.get.sleep.

So for this week, we have the big things figured out... I'll hopefully be staying at the Ronald McDonald house which is affiliated with Winnie Palmer hospital and just a stone's throw away and will be hanging out with my little man much more readily and easily, Joffrey will be flying back to San Jose and Mia will be flying to MN. Then it's just taking it day by day, week by week.

I'm looking forward to spending much more time with Nico but am so looking forward to holding my little Miakins "sha" very soon... ♥

Our DisneyWorld Souvenir: Nico James Sarphati!

2011-03-29T03:04:00.000-07:00

Nico James Sarphati

March 28, 2011 at 3:22 a.m. in Orlando, FL

5 lbs. 0 oz., 18 in.

Wow! Our family DisneyWorld trip has started out with an amazing little souvenir!! Our son, Nico James was born yesterday!! He was nearly 2 months premature but is doing extremely well! This is the story of our journey... :)

On Sunday, March 27 Joffrey and I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to get showered and ready for our drive up to San Francisco airport for our flight to DisneyWorld to meet the rest of my entire family! Little Miakins knew the day before that we were all going on an airplane and when I went in at 6:45 to wake her up to get her ready, she popped out of ready bed raring to go!

On the flight, little man was moving all over in my belly! Mia did amazing on the flight this time. Our last flights to and from Hawaii were less than to be desired!! But this flight, she was busy, quiet and didn't scream or cry which was a 1000% improvement from our Hawaii trip! When we got to Orlando, we met up with my family and took the shuttle to our resort. We checked in, got everyone into their rooms, Joff and I unpacked our bags and got Mia bathed for bed. We put her to bed, said her night night prayers and as I leaned over to give her a kiss goodnight, all of a sudden my water broke! I went to the bathroom and once I realized it was really happening, I called out to Joffrey "Uh... honey- my water just broke!" I heard a "WHAT?!?!?!?!?!" (He had just said the night before when we were packing- what if the baby is born in FL?! To which I assured him- no way! We still have 2 more months!) My water broke at 10:30 pm.

Joffrey called my OB GYN at home and after scolding us about traveling this late in the pregnancy (I have to admit I purposely didn't tell her about it because I knew what her answer would be and decided if I didn't tell her then she couldn't say no, right?... um, can I say BUSTED?!?!?!), told us what type of hospital to go since we were so early. We called 911 and within less than 10 minutes an ambulance and fire truck were on the scene and in our room asking me questions. In the middle of all this, my sister had just arrived at the resort since she was on a different flight than the rest of the MN crew. I gave her a quick hug and kiss and she offered to stay with Mia in our room that night. I busted into tears because in the midst of all this chaos, Mia was sleeping like an angel in our room unaware of anything going on. My mommy-ness kicked in and all I was worried about was that I didn't want her to wake up and not have her mommy or daddy there! But seriously- how silly! She has the best grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins surrounding her with so much love!

After about 10 minutes of questions from the ambulance staff, I was propped up on a stretcher and whisked away to Winnie Palmer Hospital which was about 30 minutes away. EVERYONE we have talked to have said amazing things about this hospital and now I know why!! The staff is amazing here! It's the #2 baby delivery hospital in the nation and per the ambulance staff and all the doctors and nurses in here, if there's any place you want to deliver a baby- high risk or not, this would be it! I started having mild contractions in the ambulance on the ride over, but nothing too terrible, pretty far apart and short.

In Triage, they gave me a bunch of drugs to try to slow my contractions down hoping to keep Nico inside for at least another week. But pretty quickly, I was whisked away into another room to wait and see if that would be the case. Another doctor came in and talked about our options for delivery and risks, etc. With the birth of Mia, I was in labor for over 12 hours and had tried to deliver naturally but ended up going to emergency C-Section because it was determined my pelvic bones were too narrow. I was told I would never be able to deliver naturally due to this. But Dr. Schwartzlander came in and asked if it was possible to deliver naturally, would I want to attempt this? The baby and I would be monitored the whole time and if there was any risk at all, we could immediately go to c-section. (A H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS YEAH I would want to try!) He left after this discussion and the contractions quickly came on harder and stronger. The nurse took one look at me and said, I give you 20 minutes but the doctor is saying 40. Guess who won? Yep, the nurse! :)

We were whisked off to the delivery room and I had dilated from a 7 to 10 in less than 20 minutes! They gave me an epidural but the effects hadn't kicked in before I had to start pushing! I pushed 4 times and Mr. Nico was born naturally!! Amazing since I thought I would never be able to experience it! He has been in NICU to make sure his lungs are ok and maturing but if his cries immediately after he was born is any indication, I think the little man will be JUST FINE! :)

Insert AMAZING husband Joffrey!! My goodness... I love this man more and more each and every day! We were reflecting on our journey together over the past several years and all that we have gone through together! He was simply amazing... when I was going through major contractions and could barely breathe, (let alone talk and think) when the doctors and nurses were asking me personal and vital questions, he whipped those answers out without a single hesitation and answered every single one right! This is a guy who knows his wife! ♥ He was so calm, supportive, loving and let me squeeze the living daylights out of his hands!! I love you so much honey! xoxo

And my family! What an amazing gift this whole experience has been! How blessed we are! Mia is having a blast hanging out with her wonderful grandparents, aunts and uncles and her cousins. What a lucky little girl she is! And waking up without mommy and daddy there in the morning- she didn't even blink an eye. Laughing and giggling away with grandma! :) Even though it was NOTHING like we were expecting, blessings sometimes come in unexpected ways. This couldn't have happened at a better time in soooo many ways. Here we have loving family to help take care of Mia while Joffrey and I are in the hospital. At home, if this had happened, it would've been tougher to find people to help since everyone works and is busy!

To our friends... thank you so much for all your love and support and well wishes via calls, emails, texts, and FB. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives!

Yesterday was a very looooong day! Joffrey and I got about 3 hours of sleep from Sunday through yesterday so we just took some time to recover and visit baby Nico in NICU several times, Grandma brought Mia over to hang out for a little while and Joff and I tried to catch a teeny snooze here and there. It was soooo good to see my little munchkin! She was laughing and giggling and running all over the place! Grandma got to meet Nico and touch him but unfortunately Mia is too little by 2 months to go see her baby brother, but we showed her pictures of him.

Checking out dada's bed!

Over the next several days will be lots of figuring out the logistics. At this time, they are saying the length of stay for Nico will be up to him. They say it could potentially be anywhere from 2 weeks before or 2 weeks after his original birth date which is MAY 18!! Yikes! We are exploring housing options for our stay, trying to figure out Joff's schedule, home life stuff, Mia etc. Lots to think about and figure out!

I will be released today from the hospital so it will be nice for us to spend time with Mia and the rest of the family and actually get to see some of DisneyWorld! My amazing mom has already rented a car so we can go back and forth to visit Nico. Even our resort has provided a free round trip taxi cab ride every day to and from the hospital! Isn't that amazing?

Ah- the magic of DisneyWorld! And what an AMAZING little souvenir our family has been given to take home!! :)

photo: mouseplanet.com

Too Excited To Sleep

2011-03-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

This commercial says it all! :) One more sleep and we are hopping on a plane to meet the rest of the family in DisneyWorld! Hope I can get a little sleep tonight... but I'm too excited to sleep! :)

We did it! We did it! We did it! Hooray!

2011-03-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

If anyone has a child that loves Dora the Explorer, you know that song in the title! And that's exactly what I felt like singing and dancing when we finally got the big project of moving the office downstairs to empty the baby's room done! It's been on our to-do list for awhile now but it's such a daunting task emptying out 2 complete rooms. One room cleaned and emptied for the other room to take over!

We finally buckled down and started organizing, cleaning and bringing down everything but the furniture this weekend. Then on Monday, my hubby and I (being nearly 32 weeks pregnant) moved ALL the furniture down to the new office room! I hate to admit it, but it wiped me out and Joff found me passed out on the couch right after we put Mia to bed that night! Going up and down the flight of stairs, bending over and over to pick up stuff and hauling it down TIRED ME OUT with this big belly o' mine!

I started moving more non-furniture stuff on Monday while Mia napped and once Joffrey got home, we decided we were ready to move the furniture. Unfortunately as soon as we had gotten one shelving unit down the stairs, I heard "MAMA!" coming from little munchkins room. Being that we were on a roll and wanted to keep the momentum going, we let Mia watch some Dora while we kept moving furniture. (With her new headphones, she looks like DJ Miakins!) :)

And here is the empty room with my furry little model Enzo ready to be turned into a baby room! :

Now the second half of the project is getting little boy's room furniture and decor in... but we'll leave that for after Disneyworld!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

For each petal on the shamrock

This brings a wish your way -

Good health, good luck, and happiness

For today and every day.

~Author Unknown

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Hope there's lots of kisses and green going around today. :) Here are a few pictures of our day so far:

Mia in full St. Patty's garb with her waddle waddle

Mia and daddy coming down the stairs

Mia's special breakfast

Daddy's special breakfast

Eating together...

Munch... munch... yummy special treat!

Even pretty Miss B. had a little hairclip I made :)

Lucky banner

And of course, a shamrock garland above Miakins door...

The sparkly shamrock t-shirt I made using this tutorial from iCandy Handmade. The "LUCKY" banner is a free download from TomKat Studios found here. Lucky breakfast rainbow love notes I downloaded from Thoughtfully Simple.

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
-Irish Blessing

Signs of Spring!

2011-03-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

We've had some interesting weather here lately... when we got back from Hawaii in January, it was so warm- 70's and sunny! Since then, we've had some colder and rainy days with a few sunny days sprinkled in between. Those few sunny days are making me itch for the consistent warmer weather!

Last week, Miakins and I decided to roam around Michaels Crafts store. We found these adorable little grass growing kits for only $2.50 each...

I thought it would be fun to do a little spring science project with Mia and since she loves ladybugs, bees and butterflys, she instantly loved them! Our initial purchase was just the bee and after just a few days we saw the grass starting to grow but in Mia's excitement to hold it, it was knocked off the table and broke on the floor.

Daddy thought the bee was so cute, he made it a point to make time to head back to Michaels this weekend to get her another bee and they were so cute that this time we got all three of them. When we got home, Mia helped me plant each one. Now each day, she says "Mama... see bee!" I lift her up and show the bee to see if there's any grass growing, then it's on to "bug" and finally on to "fly."

We also found this adorable little basket for only $12.99! Mia loves carrying all her little toys in the "BOO" basket from last Halloween so I figured it was probably time to switch it up (FINALLY!)

The basket goes well with her favorite flower necklace!

I'll post some more photos once our grass starts growing! :)

Pictures...

2011-03-05T13:01:00.000-08:00

Hanging out at the Rose Garden watching the water fountain

Climbing the big hill!

Mia in mama's heels

No longer in highchairs! (a very full mouth!)

"Myself!" Hence the mess...

Buddies

She insisted on wearing her sunglasses to go grocery shopping...

Happy Saturday all! Hope your weekend is going great! :)

Let the countdown begin!!

2011-03-03T22:50:00.000-08:00

Several months ago, my parents announced they were taking the whole family to DisneyWorld!! We are all very excited to spend a week together in such a wonderful, fun place in less than a month!

We have been introducing Mia to all the Disney characters ever since they told us about the trip! Joffrey and I are super excited and know Mia will love it even if she is still a little bit too young to remember much about the trip in the future. She was given Mickey Mouse Clubhouse books from her honorary aunt Barbi and uncle Erik for Christmas and we let her watch the show on the weekends here and there. She has several Disney princess books that she loves to read. We think she will be educated enough on the characters to be really excited to see them in person! :)

Because Mia's cousins are older (5 and 7), they weren't told about the trip until more recently to avoid the "are we going on the trip yet?" questions. I thought it would be fun to send them a countdown chain link from Mia to her cousins Leif and Eva to help them visually see the number of days until they get to see each other! Who knew you could download a free Walt Disney font? Then we made the chain link of red, white, black and red with white polka dot paper. If Mia were older I would make one for her, but for now, the cousins can enjoy.

Let the countdown begin!! :) We're going to DisneyWorld! :)

TarZhay Boutique

2011-02-25T21:38:00.000-08:00

It's been rainy and cold. Mia's still sick... a lingering cough that's juuuuuuust about gone, but still there. One of our favorite activities to do when the weather is cold and rainy is taking a little trip to Target aka TarZhay Boutique. That darn bullseye gets me every time! How can I go in for Vicks plug in refills and walk out of there over $100 later with absolutely nothing that I thought I needed when I went in?!

We went to Target about an hour and a half before her regular nap time. After checking out, I thought why not just have lunch there? It would be quick and easy, no cooking and we could just head home after and go straight to nap time. OH MY! Was I wrong! I got little Miakins mac n cheese, apples and a Nesquik milk. The milk came with a fun curly straw. We sat down at the table together and since she's still so little to sit in a regular chair, she was sitting way lower than the table. Lunch ended up just being a complete mess! The mac n cheese was the runniest m-n-c I've ever seen and went all over her clothes, fingers, and floor. Next came the milk. It was in a Nesquik bottle with a wide circular opening. Mia is all about being little miss independent these days so when I try to help her, she pushes my hand away. She decided she was going to drink the milk ALL BY HERSELF. Ugh. She grabbed the container, it tipped over and spilled all over her, the chair and the floor. Then little miss muscles learned that she could push the table and it would almost tip over. The next push tipped her milk completely off the table and the rest of the milk went all over the floor, my water flew to the ground and almost everything on the table! So much for an easy and quick lunch! :)

On a more positive note, I found these adorable clothes for Miakins. I'm loving the spring colors- especially this sweater in violet color! And this cute yellow t-shirt. So cute! Can't wait for the spring weather to come back to California soon!

Here's little Miakins in her cute (what I call) Inspector Gadget jacket. :)

Missing my mom...

2011-02-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

When it comes to love, Mom's the word.

- Unknown

It's been a quiet day today. My mom left early this morning to go back home to cold Minnesota. I already miss her. A lot. I dropped her off at the airport this morning while Joffrey stayed home with Mia and fed her breakfast. Mom and I got out of the car at the airport and she said "Well saying goodbye isn't so hard this time since we get to see each other in a month"and the very next second as we hugged, we both busted into tears.

It IS nice knowing that I get to see her almost every month for the next several months but it still was hard to say goodbye to her this morning. In about a month we get to meet in Orlando for a week of family fun in DisneyWorld! And then she and dad will be out again to help with Mia and the baby in May.

Mia loved playing with Grandma... several times we left Mia with grandma and after a few kisses, waves and "byes", she would run off and play. No tears, no sadness. Love it! Even the dogs loved grandma! Almost every night she had both of them snuggled up in bed with her.

Here are some pictures from yesterday...

Grandma with the shaggy pups :)

Enzo loves grandma

Mia playing with the truck Baby S received

Mia opening presents

Cute outfit for her...

And one for baby brother!

Spinning her drum lid in the sunshine creates circular reflections

on the ceiling!

Seafood pasta for dinner... Monterey Prawns!

Big girl Mia... love her ponytail! :)

3 generations

As Mia would say "mwah"

Mia the expert Spaghetti eater!

A belly shot... 27 weeks

I love my mom! ♥

Children and mothers never truly part -Bound in the beating of each other's heart.

-- Charlotte Gray

Yay! It's Friday! :)

2011-02-18T21:27:00.000-08:00

It's finally Friday! Yay! And even though it is cold and very rainy and wet outside, I am so happy! My mom is visiting for a long weekend and Joffrey comes home tomorrow! No matter how old you get, it's always so nice to have your mom close by! I put her on Mia duty this morning while I took the 2 hour glucose test. They were already giggling and playing within 10 minutes of seeing each other while I slipped out the door for my appointment.

This has been a long week... all three of us have been sick this week. :( Being sick plus pregnant is no fun plus adding a toddler who is sick AND a hubby who is sick is just plain a "Calgon- take me away" week. At least Mia is still her happy, busy little self. We can't figure out if I have major allergies or a really bad cold that won't go away. I have really bad coughing fits all night that are preventing me from getting a good nights sleep. Plus it doesn't help that I can't really take much medication. On the positive side, I guess you could say this is getting me ready for being up all night with the new baby. But really? I have several more months to do that... I need SLEEP now! :) All this coughing is making baby upset so he is kicking and moving all over too. Poor baby. Hopefully this passes soon. Mia is on the mend and it sounds like daddy is feeling better too.

Daddy is in San Diego at a work conference. Mia and I were going to go with him but cancelled the day of our flight since we were both still sick. He is staying at the Loews Hotel which is very kid friendly -they even have boy or girl cribs for the room and little welcome gifts for the kids. We were so excited to go with him and then so bummed when we couldn't. But it was the best decision since the weather was going to be just as rainy as home and daddy didn't have two sick-o's staying in his room so he could get some sleep.

I'm excited to just have some quality catch up time with my mom. I haven't seen her since Mia's first birthday party in MN in June of last year! That's way too long! We don't have much planned other than hanging out and relaxing. Both dogs ditched me last night and opted for sleeping with Grandma. Enzo ALWAYS sleeps with me and he didn't come up to bed once. Apparently everyone is excited to have grandma visiting! :)