Epiphanies

Took the Metrolink with Lisa and Pamela and all the kids to San Juan Capistrano. It cost me about $20 for the train tickets – for me, and B. C was free. Zoomars was fun for the kids because they liked chasing the guinea pigs and putting them in baskets. Buying carrots for the kids to feed the animals was great for the kids. They loved feeding the rabbits, llamas, mini donkeys and emus. Those emus were like velociraptors. They really snapped their necks towards us – was a bit scary. The kids didn’t want to do the pony ride nor the train ride. Oh well. Metrolink was a pretty nice train, multiple levels. I had trouble finding parking though at the station. I had to follow someone around finally in order to get a spot. That was highly stressful when you have a timetable to follow. We ate at Ruby’s later and the kids all had milkshakes and fries. Healthy I know.

I jumped the gun and fed J organic whole grain rice cereal by earth’s best. Pediatricians say not to feed babies solids before 6 months but I don’t really know if I believe in that. I held off until 5 1/2 but that’s ok.

B had his munchkin performance in the The Land of Oz at school on friday the 15th. I couldn’t go because they don’t allow kids under 4. My in-laws took C to see B in it. It was chaos the night before though. B was all upset that he didn’t have the required jazz shoes so he and I ran all over Spectrum looking for jazz shoes. Miss L threatened the kids by telling them they wouldn’t be in the play if they didn’t have all the elements of their costume. She’s a real piece of work. Anyway, no one knew what jazz shoes were (including me). I figured they were really just ballet shoes for men but I wasn’t sure. Anyway, B thought they looked most like these Kenneth Cole dress shoes. I knew he was probably wrong but he was so insistent so I bought them ($54 – ouch). Needless to say, he didn’t use them in the performance. She allowed him to use black socks. I returned them to Nordstrom’s and they took it back soooo easily. I love these higher end stores.

Dh returned from his London business trip on the evening of the 16th. I was so happy to see him back. It’s pretty lonely without him. The in laws were great while he was away. They came over every day to cook dinner for us. That’s really key when you have an infant that won’t let you put him down for long. Anything I cook has to be prepped within 5 minutes or less. I think that’s the most difficult part of this third kid. I don’t remember having this problem with the other two.

We had an uneventful Father’s day. B made Dh a framed clay portrait. C made Dh a personalized cup and a painted tool belt (we did this at the park with my mom’s club friends). Then we took everyone, including my in laws, to IHOP (their suggestion). Guess they’re sick of the long lines for yum cha. Afterwards we headed to Spectrum and hung out there. We played Great States for family fun night. Was kind of too simple. I think we have to modify how we play this game. For Dh and I we didn’t look but it still was too simple. I think B needs more challenge. For C we just made him do the ‘Find’ cards. I will have to think on how to make this game more fun. It’s definitely more educational but I think it won’t be useful unless we make it more fun. Anyway, my MIL left for a wedding in NY on monday and monday night I went to hang out with my girlfriends.

We went to Roman Cucina. It was pretty good and the host was really charming and cute. It was just 4 of us that night. I split a fettucini primavera with Bh. Delish. It also happened to be martini night. Can’t get better than that. $5 martinis with an entree. I got a white chocolate martini, K got blue ice, and M and Bh both got key lime. We went into ConRev later (sex shop). Didn’t know they existed in OC.

Today, we went to see B perform in his 3rd grade play “Alien Geography”. His line was “Salem Oregon”. It was a cute production. Much more enjoyable than his ACE productions although my in laws said this year it was much better. I guess part of why I felt better was that you felt that all the parts were evenly spread out and to qualified people and NOT nepotism.

We ended tonight at Maizuru. It was pretty good and filling. I didn’t like the sashimi though. It was too cold, like it was just thawed out. That part wasn’t that enjoyable. I also had the fried oysters. I could only eat two and gave the rest away. Dh said it was the nature of the beast. After a few oysters, you just kind of don’t want to eat anymore. We reminisced a lot with the kids today. We realized B has been through a lot of strange things. Some of them:

1. Fell when he was 10 days old (ER)
2. Jaundice (ER)
3. Tylenol scare (ER)
4. Tick latched onto his scalp (via petting a wild dog in Italy).
5. Injured his toe playing baseball with his auntie
6. Ran into a fence and injured a corner of his eye at the Spectrum (ER)
7. Bitten in the back by a neighbor’s dog

C has only been through one trauma: he broke his leg jumping off a box when he was less than 2.

On another note, think I’m losing my milk so it’s just as well that I quit around now.  J is biting and he now has two teeth on his lower front.  Hurts like hell.

Went to Springacre to make a tool belt for father’s day. On the way there, we heard the song “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne. C was actually trying to sing along with it. Lots of words I really don’t want him to learn. I wonder if I have to give up my radio for the kids too. :sigh: Anyway, I tried to catch up on “So you think you can dance” and one pair of dancers danced to – you guessed it – “Girlfriend”. C exclaims, “Mommy, this is the song I like!” and proceeds to try to sing and dance to it. Oi vey. Good thing it’s a fast song because I don’t think he hears the cuss words yet. :Makes note to screen her radio station: C really loves to dance and sing. I think this may be his calling but I’m not sure at which point I’m suppose to encourage it. Seems like the men in dance get into it much later (late teens) so maybe I’ll wait until then and see if it really his destiny.

J, you now roll over easily. You giggle spontaneously and without any prompting. You love laughing with C. He does all sorts of things to make you laugh like popping up out of nowhere. You have two front bottom teeth peeking out so you’re drooling quite a lot now. You like your formula warm but you prefer nursing over everything else. You play with your exersaucer spinning toy quite aggressively. You really like it. You love playing with the keyboard. You love me singing to you. I think you’re musically inclined. You still don’t have much hair. You love paper products, always reaching for them. You love the tv remote. You’re intently interested in the world around you. You take it all in and get bored if your scenery remains the same. You love watching your brothers play around. You love the outdoors. You don’t mind being held by everyone. You like putting everything in your mouth. You are just adorable and I love you.

The kids went camping to Catalina with Dh this past weekend.  Dh was passing on the torch as the chief of their little Indian guide arapaho tribe.  Think they do kayaking, bow and arrow, and other “manly” things.  I like that the kids have these opportunities to be boys.  I bought the boys “The Dangerous Book for Boys” which brings  back all the cool stuff kids used to do before technology destroyed all that.  I regret that lost time where kids could just be kids.  I had a great childhood and I know my kids would miss out if we aren’t proactive about it.

I stayed home with J.  It wasn’t too bad.  I called Mary and we had a long talk to catch up.  I feel like I haven’t talked to her in ages.  It’s hard connecting with friends.  So much is going on in our lives.  You think of your friends but you don’t necessarily have time to call them all the time.  She reminded me though of the value of good friendship.  Our connection is still there and that was really cool.  I asked about her dad’s lawsuit.  Seems like they’re still in discovery.  Her deposition is coming up.  She said Jimmy had his recently and he was crying a lot of the time through it.  She said she might have a hard time because she never had any closure with her dad.  She wasn’t able to attend his funeral because she had just given birth.  It’s a chinese supersition type thing.  After I spoke to her, I tried calling my parents but I haven’t been able to get in touch with them.  They’re in Taiwan for my grandmother’s funeral but I don’t have any idea of when they will be back.  It made me afraid but I try not to think about it too much.  The parents of many of my friends seem to be passing away and it just makes me very sad for them and scared for myself.