music toes, chicken fingers, bubble gum, monkey lover

i have some funny nicknames for my girls - stella is finally picking up on this. i blame charlie - he used to (affectionately) call me "computer fingers", "cute ass", etc. good stuff... and I think I picked up on it, can't help it, i just call them all these funny nicknames. and stella used to ignore it, then she had a 3 day period where she said, "no, mommy, call me STELLA!"... to which i obliged... then she got over it and i'm back to my wicked ways - calling her things like "music toes", "chicken fingers", "bubblegum", "stookie", "peanut butter", "bubble gum", "monkey lover", "cute cakes", etc... and her latest schtick is to say "oh mommy, I like it when you call me cute cakes!".. and then we giggle and i'm incented to get even more creative!

lunch at the gapateria

today christine & i picked up aidan and stella from school and walked over to our office and took the elevator up, up, up to the 7th floor where we enjoyed lunch with those cuties in our fabulous gapateria - a lovely little chaperoned date!
they were adorable, had a blast, were greeted by many of our friends and colleagues - at one point, aidan said "all your friends are coming!" and the nice verizon wireless guys who were on site to talk about gap discounts with verizon gave those little monkeys display versions of blackberries! too cool. it was great - we only felt a little bad that after we dropped them back off just in time for nap (so we could get back to work) that they were all hopped up and wired and a nap was NOT likely. But alas, I guess that's why we pay that preschool the big bucks! good luck with that...
i think stella really enjoyed it, cuz on the way home she reminded me that I was her "best friend"! love it.

sentiment, right. timing, notsomuch.

this morning on the ride to work/school sammy and stella and I were singing our songs as usual (favorite ones right now are "mr. sun", "rainbow rainbow", "circus tricks", "make new friends/but keep the old") - and sammy did a huge yawn in the middle and really threw us off. stella and i giggled and stella told sammy "bless you".. it reminded me of how when she was younger, she tried so hard to master the proper etiquette and mimic us by saying "bless you", but she's do it not only when we sneezed, but also when we yawned, or coughed, or made any other noise really! charlie and I used to crack up - she seems to be better about using it properly, but had a minor relapse with sammy's yawn this morning! oh well - she had the right idea!
then when she was showing me her cell phone, she said hers is silver like mommy's and was quite delighted that they matched, so she said "let's cheers!" - so we proceeded to clink our cell phones together and say "cheers!"... again, I like where her head is at, but we need to work on the appropriate timing for using these little things.

go cowboys!

i love jason witten - and charlie can vouch for me, i was a jason witten fan WAY before everyone else figured out he's the best tight end in the NFL. and i love my little tony romo - sweet little wisconsin boy who is so humble and happy and grateful and GOOD, with mad quarterback skills. oh and T.O. -- he's a good guy, cracks me up - seems to have fun, even though he's a bit arrogant, it works for him, he can back it up. and how about our coach? really, he's so cute everytime he gets excited about a play! and out kicker is money. and dave campo is back, coaching and having fun! and i'm not embarassed of jerry jones anymore - his accent and redneck ways have won me over - he loves dallas and the cowboys and works to give them every advantage. how about our little rookie felix jones? big plans for him, we have. and the workhorse, good ol' trusty marion barber - he delivers. my little aggie rookie martellus bennett - he's learning from the best in jason witten, and I like what I see so far!

it was a good win tonight - beating the packers (sorry uncle mark, luke!).. and so were the other 2 wins! we are 3-0.. i hope we can keep it together and keep it up! it's fun to be a cowboy fan right now, which is nice since aggies are not quite as impressive right now...

stella is growing up right - she yells "go cowboys!" with us.. and sam chimes in with "ahhhhhh!!" - we know she's with us.

aping me

oh my how children do copy their parents- fortunately i don't drop a bunch of f-bombs or other swear words around stella, cuz it would not be pretty ... she'd probably be kicked out of her rockin preschool cuz her little mind is like a sponge and she tries to repeat everything I say and do! my how she apes me... i am usually flattered, sometimes a bit afraid, but usually just completely cracking up!
the other day, she said "i like where your head's at, mommy!' when i suggested she might want pancakes for breakfast... anyone who spends much time with me will know that i'm a big fan of that phrase and use it quite liberally, especially at work.. my whole team makes jokes about it.

she also exhibited a bit 'o road rage the other day, saying "pick up the pace sister!" to a pedestrian who was walking slowly and clearly annoying an already running late mommy.. and then followed it with a "pick up the pace, dude!" to a van who was moving negative 10 miles per hour in the hov lane (and again, clearly annoying mommy).

rock star

sammy is going to be a rock star, mark my words. from the get go, that girl has loved her some music. she be bops her little head when she hears a commercial with a tune, or a song on the radio, and dances around at the table, on the street, in her room, wherever, when she hears music. she is hard core about it too- really into the music and just singing "AHHHHHH!!!" at the top of her lungs and groovin her little head and legs bouncing up and down. i love it.

they are but words

i know you aren't supposed to compare your children's development - every human is different, there is no target time table for when they should do x or y, etc.. BUT really, of course I do, it's only natural. but not in a mean way that would scar sammy for life like "why did she walk 2 months later than stella, is something wrong with her!?".. more in the 'all i know is what i learned from my first gig as a parent and how does this compare' kind of way. like... stella is verbally advanced, i know that, and she was talking up a storm very early on... sammy on the other hand just says "mah, mah, mah, mah" for EVERYTHING! seriously. she wants some milk? she says "mah, mah".. she wants to hold the little doll? she says "mah, mah". she wants you to pick her up? she says "mah, mah", you get the picture.

i know shes clever and developing normally, but i really can't wait to hear her little voice and have her join into the ridiculous conversations (and songs) that stella and i have each day to/from school. of course, you'll read this blog a year from now (i hope!) and i'll be whining about how she's growing too fast and I want her to be little again!

anyway - i feel a bit less guilty about this cuz stella has now started saying, "mommy, we sure are ready for sammy to say words with us, aren't we!?".. so i must be onto something if my little 2.8 year old has come to the same conclusion!

welcome baby ruby!

well, kathleen and andrew finally had their baby! miss ruby harper fitzpatrick-jervis decided to join us at about 1am on sunday the 14th. she is a freakin' huge baby - 9 lbs 6 ounces and 23 inches.. no typo - that's HUGE! and she is truly adorable (pics to follow soon, as i can find my camera).

we met her and are so excited for those guys - it's especially nice that they had a girl, so stella and sammy can relate - i can't wait to watch these girls grow together! good times.

stella's language

for the most part, stella is pretty verbally advanced, relative to other little humans her age - this is the girl who was saying "calculator" at about 1 year old!

BUT, she's still a little girl with interesting speech development. she really has some hilarious ways of pronouncing words and i thought i'd share...

for example:

"mAkey mouse" = mickey mouse

"LIKE is but a dream..." = life is but a dream (from row, row, row your boat)

"trinkle, trinkle little star..." = twinkle twinkle little star

"compeeter" = computer

"BOF a dus" = both of us

"camping"

this weekend we had plans to go camping with kim, karl, blake, and maddie... at sunset beach (monterrey bay, near santa cruz).. but alas, it was booked up, which is unusual for this time of year - I guess everyone had the same idea we had! SO - we decided to camp out at karl & kim's house and had a great time doing so! the cousins got to play and relax (see stella sandwich pic above, maxin' & relaxin', watching batman between blake & maddie!). she told me she didn't like the "mean guy, with the weird mouth" - i'm assuming she means the joker?

we spent the afternoon at the beach and really had a lovely time just enjoying each other. not bad for a last minute "plan b"!

sandstorm

sammy freakin' loves her some sand (and dirt, actually)...i'm telling you - stella tasted it once and spit it out and then never really tried it again. her little sister, on the other hand, can NOT get enough of it! she just eats it and eats it and rolls in it, and creates a sand storm around her by flicking it up and around! (see pic #1 above). then I wipe her mouth and nose and you see she's quite pleased with the chaos she's created around her (see pic #2 above).. then she decided that she should just roll around in the sand, to make sure that she has gotten it in EVERY possible nick & cranny of her little wee body (see pic #3 above).

and then we leave the beach and have a monster bath - and continue to find sand for days to come (including in her diaper, cuz apparently she really did eat a LOT of sand and it had to make it's way out eventually!). we woke up that night to hear making a coughing sound not unlike the noise when our cat has a hairball stuck in her throat, and then she proceeded to let some of it out (nasty!) and daddy got to sleep right next to it (since we were all together in bed while camping out at aunt kim and uncle karl's!)... word.

welcome baby taggart!!!

well, elise is finally a big sister, as kim and nate welcomed sweet little taggart!

what a little cutie! we (especially stella) can't wait to meet him on our next trip back to Dallas... congratulations to the Bostian family on such an adorable and healthy little edition!

so lovely

seriously, look how beautiful she is. just perfect - the huge eyes, gorgeous lips, beautiful skin. She's just lovely.

ballerinas & firemen (and some pizza too)

tonight we went to cheeseboard for dinner - after work, we drove home from the city back to berkeley and charlie met janel and the girls and we sat outside in the great weather down on shattuck avenue, listened to the live 3 piece band (bass, piano and bluesy singer)... and ate awesome pizza had some nice rose wine. it was good fun for janel and the girls and charlie merely tolerated it (he hates waiting in line, which there is ALWAYS a line at that place! and hates not having "service" when dining out, this is a bus your own table and order at the counter kind of establishment; PLUS there's no meat on this pizza and he's a meat kind of guy) - but he couldn't deny that it was tasty and fun!

anway - when we got home, stella informed me that "sometimes I want to be a ballerina, and sometimes I want to be a fireman"..... "really I want both, mommy"... i said that was just fine and I thought she'd make a fine ballerina/fireman!

our "lazy" labor day weekend

well, we originally thought we'd be going out of town with team landers for labor day, but the plans ended up falling through, so we thought we'd take advantage of being at home for 3 days and having a "lazy" labor day weekend at home.
right.

SATURDAY we hung around the house while daddy worked on the bathroom remodel and the girls and I hung around the neighborhood and went for a walk and to the park and grilled out for dinner and franny came over for a surprise visit, and that was great fun for miss stella (and sammy too!)... (and mommy too, since I got to chat with sarah).

SUNDAY stella woke bright and early asking if it was "11:00 yet", since she knew that was the time scheduled to begin her playdate with elsa & julia - apparently they had the same idea, cuz they started calling to her about 8am, from their backyard! but alas, we wicked parents made them wait til 11am and then charlie "threw stella over the fence" and their dad (mike) caught her and she had a blast playing and having lunch with those girls for a few hours. meanwhile, sammy and I headed to the farmer's market and did our every weekend ritual - tasting the amazingly sweet peaches/nectarines/plums samples from kashiwashee farms (we drop a nice amount of $ there each week!) and having some corn tikki and ginger limeade for lunch... buying blueberries and tomatoes and watermelon, and all the other fresh products we need, while talking with the farmers and local vendors.
after that, i decided today would be a "no nap day", as she was too hopped up on her time with the girls and so we went over to sarah & elias & franny's house for dinner - truly delicious paella (so ambitious with the new pan, elias!) and the girls all did some "swimming" and enjoying each other for the whole night - they are too freakin cute together those girls (see pics above).

MONDAY morning after our family breakfast, stella & I headed to target and the grocery store for some errands and had a blast looking at all the toys in the toy aisle at target - stella selected a thomas the train station, and is quite psyched to bust it out. sammy was home taking a nap while dad was (yet again) working on the bathroom remodel.
then mom and the girls went to a nice park in oakland to meet our friends carrie & kelly who were hosting a big picnic - stella (and sam) had a great time playing with jack and ally (carrie & kelly's cutie kids) and also franny and other friends from school - i am pretty confident that at last count stella and jack had about 54 rides in the radio flyer red wagon - they kept finding sucker after sucker to pull them and give them rides! I also enjoyed seeing friends from soccer and other moms from the girls' school and just being outside on such a pretty day, in the park!
then we headed home to meet daddy and kathleen and andrew at the pool (on UC berkeley campus, by our house) for a nice early evening swim - it was a nice, refreshing time and the girls had a blast playing in the water!
after that, we headed home and cooked some awesome skirt steak with chimichurra sauce out on our porch and played puzzles, then it was bedtime for the girls and mom and dad has some peace before getting ready for the next day...

who's sammy?

it must be really frustrating being a little human -- understanding oh so much, but being able to communicate oh so little. sammy hears us and knows what we're talking about -she can follow instructions (e.g. "put the baby on the couch", "take off your shoes") and knows what to do when (e.g. wash hands after snack time)... but she can't really tell us much other than the sign for "more" and a lot of "uh?" and "uh!"'s.... stella tries to translate for her, and charlie and I do our best too, but alas, the poor little cutie just has a rough time making her point. EXCEPT when she tells us that SHE, sammy, wants something - she's got that down.. pointing to herself to let us know she knows who she is!