Several months ago, I sent away for a DNA test kit for Oliver. Since he’s a rescue pup, we have no idea what he is. We’ve been curious what his mix is and people ask all the time about him. He’s a great dog, although he does like to lick a little too much. He’s extremely friendly and loves to play with other dogs. Size or appearance doesn’t matter to him, he’s an equal opportunity canine lover. He’ll go right up to a Pit Bull or Great Dane and play with them as much as a Dachshund or Corgi. Therefore, I couldn’t resist when I came across the opportunity to find out what he is. DNA testing says he’s Chihuahua, Daschund and Irish Terrier. There may be other breeds in there as well, because they don’t test all of them. I’m satisfied with the results and confirmed our suspicions of what we thought all along. We think there might be some Pug in him too because his face is a little scrunched up and wrinkly like one.
Before we found out, we thought he might be part wiener and when Gymboree had an autumn wiener dog line, I had to get the outfits for L&B. It was my intention to have a photo shoot of the kids in their outfits with Oliver. Like other the best-laid plans gone awry, it never happened. The kids are almost too big for the clothes and summer is approaching, so we did an impromptu shoot this past weekend.
I envisioned the kids sitting or standing nicely with Oliver in between them. That so DID NOT happen. It was an ordeal to try to get all 3 of them in the same frame. Finally we had to resort to dog treats. We never had the kids give the treats before because 1) we were afraid they’d eat them (which they tried) or 2) Oliver might get too excited and nip their hands for the treats (which he did not - Good Puppy!). I didn’t get any great still shots, but I did get this cute video.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Happy Birthday to Me
Yes, it’s my birthday and a good one at that. No need to remind anyone how old I am, just know that it was a big one. Oh my!
The day started great, Mike got my car washed and picked up bagels for breakfast. The doorbell rang and I got a delivery from Snookies Cookies. OMG, if you’ve never had Snookies Cookies, you are seriously missing out. They deliver freshly baked cookies to your door. My wonderful friend, Dana, ordered me every single flavor as well as a carton of milk in a bucket of ice. Not only does this satisfy my sweet tooth, but makes me feel young again. Seriously, how can you beat milk & cookies?
Over breakfast Mike filled me in on what he planned. We were going to Palm Springs taking the tram.
Parking lot of the tram station.
Boarding the tram that holds 80 ppl. It also revolves 360 degrees the entire way up and down.
Pointing out the view to the kids.
Luke didn't like being in the tram, it freaked him out.
We had lunch at the top, Peaks restaurant with its amazing views. The next table over, there was another family celebrating a birthday. The mom’s was May 19th (my Dad’s birthday too) and the dad’s was May 22nd (same as me). Not only that, but they had a 6 mos old baby named Lucas! After lunch, we met another family who had a 1 year old. Guess what his name is? Yup, another Lucas! 'Luke/Lucas' isn’t even on the Social Security Popular Baby Names for 2007!
Bree, my animal lover, freaking out over the 'pet' squirrel they have at the restaurant. She doesn't like rodents.
Look at the sky's reflection on the windows.
Me trying to coax a smile out of Luke.
Mike hamming it up for the camera.
Twins in sync.
The second part he planned was a shopping trip at an outlet mall. Desert Hills Premium Outlet is one of the nicest ones. I was most excited they had a Gymboree store! Of course, I’m human and was also happy to see D&G, Gucci, Burberry, Crate & Barrel, Le Creuset and others. Unbelievably, though, it started raining HARD. So much so, it was impossible to do any shopping. Can you believe I walked away with socks, bib and a hat from Gymboree and nothing else?!?!? Yes, that was a bit of a let down.
Even though there was snow on the freeway (really really bizarre weather, esp for CA at the end of May!), we made it home fine. Here I got to open my presents and cards and eat thai take out. I got my choice of an extravagant gift, a practical gift and a sentimental gift. I’m not sure about the extravagant one, it’s too hard to justify although I did get a mini van last birthday! My practical one is a Blue Tooth Head Set for the car since it’ll be mandatory to have hands free in CA beginning next month. And the sentimental one is a framed picture of me and the kids.
The fun doesn’t end there. Saturday, we’re going to a place I’ve been dying to check out – Sprinkles Cupcakes. I guess we’re taking the goods to our friends for dinner. Authentic home made Italian food and cupcakes. Yummo!
Sunday, he arranged a shopping day with my sisters at Americana. It’s a new shopping center, like The Grove in LA. Very cool, very hip – I’m just looking forward to hanging out with mi hermanas.
Lastly, he called my junior high best friend, Gloria, and scheduled a haircut for me on Monday. Gloria is the only person that’s cut my hair for the past 20+ years. Even when I lived abroad, I always waited to have my hair cut by her. We’re all going to lunch afterwards.
What about Friday you ask? Well he had planned to take me to sushi at our favorite place but our sitter (his mom) isn’t available. I haven’t been there since before we got married, Mike went the night before our wedding with our out of town guests. Yes, it’s been a long time but I hear it’s still really good and he’s still known as the sushi nazi. This is the second time we’ve struck out. I’m beginning to wonder if Mike and I will ever go on a date sans kids. So much for me boasting we were going to have a date every month. I think we’ve been on 3 total and the kids will be 16 months next week.
So yes, I know my husband rocks and now so do you. Thanks Mike, Luke & Bree for a wonderful birthday.
The day started great, Mike got my car washed and picked up bagels for breakfast. The doorbell rang and I got a delivery from Snookies Cookies. OMG, if you’ve never had Snookies Cookies, you are seriously missing out. They deliver freshly baked cookies to your door. My wonderful friend, Dana, ordered me every single flavor as well as a carton of milk in a bucket of ice. Not only does this satisfy my sweet tooth, but makes me feel young again. Seriously, how can you beat milk & cookies?
Over breakfast Mike filled me in on what he planned. We were going to Palm Springs taking the tram.
Parking lot of the tram station.
Boarding the tram that holds 80 ppl. It also revolves 360 degrees the entire way up and down.
Pointing out the view to the kids.
Luke didn't like being in the tram, it freaked him out.
We had lunch at the top, Peaks restaurant with its amazing views. The next table over, there was another family celebrating a birthday. The mom’s was May 19th (my Dad’s birthday too) and the dad’s was May 22nd (same as me). Not only that, but they had a 6 mos old baby named Lucas! After lunch, we met another family who had a 1 year old. Guess what his name is? Yup, another Lucas! 'Luke/Lucas' isn’t even on the Social Security Popular Baby Names for 2007!
Bree, my animal lover, freaking out over the 'pet' squirrel they have at the restaurant. She doesn't like rodents.
Look at the sky's reflection on the windows.
Me trying to coax a smile out of Luke.
Mike hamming it up for the camera.
Twins in sync.
The second part he planned was a shopping trip at an outlet mall. Desert Hills Premium Outlet is one of the nicest ones. I was most excited they had a Gymboree store! Of course, I’m human and was also happy to see D&G, Gucci, Burberry, Crate & Barrel, Le Creuset and others. Unbelievably, though, it started raining HARD. So much so, it was impossible to do any shopping. Can you believe I walked away with socks, bib and a hat from Gymboree and nothing else?!?!? Yes, that was a bit of a let down.
Even though there was snow on the freeway (really really bizarre weather, esp for CA at the end of May!), we made it home fine. Here I got to open my presents and cards and eat thai take out. I got my choice of an extravagant gift, a practical gift and a sentimental gift. I’m not sure about the extravagant one, it’s too hard to justify although I did get a mini van last birthday! My practical one is a Blue Tooth Head Set for the car since it’ll be mandatory to have hands free in CA beginning next month. And the sentimental one is a framed picture of me and the kids.
The fun doesn’t end there. Saturday, we’re going to a place I’ve been dying to check out – Sprinkles Cupcakes. I guess we’re taking the goods to our friends for dinner. Authentic home made Italian food and cupcakes. Yummo!
Sunday, he arranged a shopping day with my sisters at Americana. It’s a new shopping center, like The Grove in LA. Very cool, very hip – I’m just looking forward to hanging out with mi hermanas.
Lastly, he called my junior high best friend, Gloria, and scheduled a haircut for me on Monday. Gloria is the only person that’s cut my hair for the past 20+ years. Even when I lived abroad, I always waited to have my hair cut by her. We’re all going to lunch afterwards.
What about Friday you ask? Well he had planned to take me to sushi at our favorite place but our sitter (his mom) isn’t available. I haven’t been there since before we got married, Mike went the night before our wedding with our out of town guests. Yes, it’s been a long time but I hear it’s still really good and he’s still known as the sushi nazi. This is the second time we’ve struck out. I’m beginning to wonder if Mike and I will ever go on a date sans kids. So much for me boasting we were going to have a date every month. I think we’ve been on 3 total and the kids will be 16 months next week.
So yes, I know my husband rocks and now so do you. Thanks Mike, Luke & Bree for a wonderful birthday.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Something different
I haven’t been able to update my blog lately. Partly because the kids are so active now and want my attention all the time. They can get into mischievous situations but are so proud of themselves, you can’t but help laugh. Mostly I haven’t been able to update because our computer is running so slow because of all the darn pictures I have stored on the hard drive. Either the computer crashes or freezes up all the time, so it’s been frustrating to get on here. Mike is convincing me to move all our photos onto the external hard drive he bought, but I’m so scared of losing all the precious pics. We’re doing it little by little and I’m archiving pre-baby pics first. Once I feel more comfortable, I may move the baby pics over too. I know chances are just as likely to lose the pics while they’re on the computer but didn’t you also know I’m stubborn and set in my ways?
In the meantime, I thought I’d take the time and write something instead. One of the twin moms from my multiples group forwarded this blog. It’s so tragic, I think about them often.
It’s written by a guy who just had a baby girl. His wife had just given birth and 27 hours later was on her way to see and hold her baby for the very first time. On the way, she passed out and never regained consciousness. She died of a pulmonary embolism. They were both so excited about their baby and she never even got to hold her. It is so moving and the father/husband writes about it with such grace and eloquence.
There are so many tragedies in the world. Unfortunately, we’ve had our own share and so have my parents. My parents and I didn’t get along when I was younger because we couldn’t relate to each other. Now that I’m an adult, I can fully appreciate they did the best they could and more. If I tried to go to my mom during my teen angst years, she wasn’t sympathetic and would say I had the problems of a ‘rich person’. Of course I resented it at the time, but can you blame her? She was born in North Korea grew up during the Korean War. Her father and older brother were kidnapped and most likely executed for defying the communistic government. Her mother packed up 4 children, an infant and some of their belongings and made the trek from North Korea to South Korea on foot. Along the way they witnessed the horrors of war, my mom was just a child but the visuals are still with her. Even after settling in South Korea, my mom’s mom passed away. My mom was an orphan at 12 years old.
So when she said I had the problems of a rich person because I couldn’t get a boy to notice me or I wanted a pair of Jordache jeans badly, she was right. She fought to stay alive, find food for herself and her siblings and was without parents at a young age. She’s also said outliving your child is the worst thing for a person to go through.
There’s a lot of tragedy in the world and I’m sorry we have to go through the pain. Still we persevere and eventually find beauty and happiness. It brings me such joy to see what my kids and my sister’s kids do for my parents. My own kids have also saved me. I can’t imagine what Matt Logelin is going through, but he seems to have his act together as best as could be expected. His daughter is beautiful and it sounds like he’s surrounded by lots of friends and family. His blog has touched so many people, including me. It’s brought so much compassion, empathy and warmth, it really is beautiful.
In the meantime, I thought I’d take the time and write something instead. One of the twin moms from my multiples group forwarded this blog. It’s so tragic, I think about them often.
It’s written by a guy who just had a baby girl. His wife had just given birth and 27 hours later was on her way to see and hold her baby for the very first time. On the way, she passed out and never regained consciousness. She died of a pulmonary embolism. They were both so excited about their baby and she never even got to hold her. It is so moving and the father/husband writes about it with such grace and eloquence.
There are so many tragedies in the world. Unfortunately, we’ve had our own share and so have my parents. My parents and I didn’t get along when I was younger because we couldn’t relate to each other. Now that I’m an adult, I can fully appreciate they did the best they could and more. If I tried to go to my mom during my teen angst years, she wasn’t sympathetic and would say I had the problems of a ‘rich person’. Of course I resented it at the time, but can you blame her? She was born in North Korea grew up during the Korean War. Her father and older brother were kidnapped and most likely executed for defying the communistic government. Her mother packed up 4 children, an infant and some of their belongings and made the trek from North Korea to South Korea on foot. Along the way they witnessed the horrors of war, my mom was just a child but the visuals are still with her. Even after settling in South Korea, my mom’s mom passed away. My mom was an orphan at 12 years old.
So when she said I had the problems of a rich person because I couldn’t get a boy to notice me or I wanted a pair of Jordache jeans badly, she was right. She fought to stay alive, find food for herself and her siblings and was without parents at a young age. She’s also said outliving your child is the worst thing for a person to go through.
There’s a lot of tragedy in the world and I’m sorry we have to go through the pain. Still we persevere and eventually find beauty and happiness. It brings me such joy to see what my kids and my sister’s kids do for my parents. My own kids have also saved me. I can’t imagine what Matt Logelin is going through, but he seems to have his act together as best as could be expected. His daughter is beautiful and it sounds like he’s surrounded by lots of friends and family. His blog has touched so many people, including me. It’s brought so much compassion, empathy and warmth, it really is beautiful.
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