My Funny Valentine

I learned to laugh and squeal,
then to sit and stand
and now I can walk if you hold my hand.
But the fun has only just begun.....
Look out world, I just turned ONE!

Kiki ~

A year ago you entered this world, two days overdue, already showing me who was boss. You completed our family in a way I didn't know possible and have continued to fill my heart with so much joy. I am so honored and proud to be your mom and I can't wait to see all the things you will teach me. I love you, my little Valentine.

~Mommy

I'm Still Here

I realize I said I would update after my last post & I never did. But no worries, we're all still here. I can't say for sure why I haven't been blogging - but I think it's a mix of being busy, not having much to say and my sincere effort to live more in the moment.

We did survive that week of rain, but it was miserable. We made up for it by spending the last 10 days of June in Hawaii. It was a wonderful trip, complete with 4 generations! How blessed am I that my children will have the memories of traveling with their great-grandparents? Nacho also surprised us with a trip to Disneyland in July, for our 12th anniversary. There is no such thing as too much Disney ;) And then, before I knew it, it was time for school to start. Samantha started 2nd grade & Lexi started 1st. Both are loving school & doing great. I can't believe we're already half way through this school year.

The holidays have been plentiful - Halloween was fun & I loved seeing all my kids dressed up. We hosted Thanksgiving here for 30 people - and it was the first time in years we have had all of the Luas together! Christmas was wonderful as always; filled with family, parties, presents & lots of food. We rang in the new year together (even Kate made it until midnight) and in the company of our wonderful neighbors. I love our annual NYE party! And in between we celebrated Lexi's 6th birthday, Jack's 3rd & survived another year of the Nutcracker (Samantha was the naughty gingerbread and loved every minute of it).

So here we are, half way through the first month of 2012. And in the final countdown to Kate's 1st birthday. How has a whole year gone by already? Wasn't she just born? I have loved watching her develop, but I feel like it happened overnight. She is now cruising furniture, "talking" up a storm, making messes & has become Jack's constant shadow. She loves that last one much more than he does. It is hard to believe that in less than one month, my baby days will officially be over. I know it had to come sometime, but it's something that I've been doing so long, it's hard to let go.

We don't have any major plans this year - and I like it that way. We may or may not go to Whistler this summer (passport renewals/purchases for 5 of us is costly) and if we don't, I'm sure we'll take another vacation. But for this moment, our only planned one is to Disneyland soon. We are ALL looking forward to that. Right now though, we are focused on football! The 49ers are in the playoffs! It's been a long time since I've been able to say that.

That's where we are in a nutshell. I'd like to say I'll blog more often, but right now, I don't know.

Testing My Abilities

I think somebody has decided to test my abilities as a mother.

It's the first week of summer break.

That means I have all 4 children home.

It is raining. And not just a little rain, but full on downpour. It rained yesterday too.

And it is supposed to rain ALL WEEK.

A week of rain in June?

With 4 kids in the house.

I'll try to check back in next week to assure you we all survived.

The Perfect Mother's Day

I try to not get wrapped up in what is essentially a Hallmark holiday, but truthfully I do. There shouldn't be just one day where my family shows their love & appreciation for me, they should do it every day, right? But the thing is, life gets busy. We take each other for granted, our schedules & routines become just those and things we should be thankful for turn into expectations. So it's nice, that one day a year that my family slows down to recognize and be thankful for everything I do for them. And it gives me a chance to take a moment from our crazy life to thank my own mother for everything she's done & still does for me (and to apologize because now that I'm a mother, OMG, I GET IT!)

This is my 8th Mother's Day. Wow! Some have been better than others. This year, I told Nacho the only requests I had were that 1) I was not planning the day (why is it that the planning of Mother's Day gets put on the MOTHERS?), 2) I was not cooking, 3) I was not doing dishes and 4) I would like to see my own mom at some point. Luckily, the big girls are old enough to enjoy the planning, so I knew they would lead their dad in the right direction. But I am glad they didn't see the email I received from Chuck E. Cheese, inviting me to celebrate Mother's Day with them. Because on what planet would that EVER happen? There isn't enough wine in the world for that!

My weekend celebration actually started Saturday. I had been complaining to Nacho that Kate is almost 3 months old (side note, WHEN did that happen?) and we only have 2 pictures of all of 6 us. I really wanted a professional one, so we went and had them done. The big kids complained they were bored within five minutes of being there & I had to bribe Jack with goldfish, but we got that picture. And it's perfect. They all turned out perfect. After that, we took my mother-in-law out for dinner in our old stomping grounds. The food was wonderful & the company even better.

Yesterday, the big girls were in our room as soon as the sun came up because "Daddy we have to get breakfast made!" As I dosed off, they were busy bees & I was surprised with breakfast in bed. I had pancakes that spelled "MOM", an omelet, coffee (!) and most importantly, all 4 kids piled in bed with me. The girls had made cards & crafty presents at school, which we all know are the best. But then I was presented with a red box and inside it was a beautiful silver necklace with 4 pearls - one for each of my children. Apparently, Nacho & the girls looked & looked until they found one they were all happy with it and for me knowing he included them in the process makes it mean so much more to me. I was so giddy, I didn't even care the big kids ate most of my breakfast.

As the kids were all downstairs playing, I took the opportunity to jump in the shower. And I got to take a HOT shower all by myself. I even had time to shave my legs! Anybody with kids, especially 4, knows this is a gift all in itself. I didn't have anybody trying to climb in with me, or asking me to draw hearts on the glass doors, or asking if the baby needed to eat again. I had 20 minutes all to myself.

In the early afternoon, I went to lunch & the movies with my mom and Nana. It felt weird to leave my own children on Mother's Day, but I also wanted to celebrate my own mother. And honestly, it was great! All moms deserve a break and chance to celebrate themselves, where it isn't countless diaper changes, potty trips, spilled drinks and bickering. We saw Water for Elephants and I LOVED IT. And now, I also want an elephant.

The girls had been most excited about taking me out to dinner and it was such a perfect day that even the hour long wait to be seated didn't bother me. Actually it worked out well - Nacho took the big kids outside to burn off some energy and I took the opportunity to feed Kate and she was pretty much asleep by the time we were seated, so I actually got to my entire meal. When it was served. And hot! It really is the little things, isn't it?

Our night was rounded out by putting the kids to bed, opening a bottle of wine and watching The Amazing Race finale.

Of course, this morning it was back to normal with rushing kids out the door to school, laundry, dishes, life. And I love this life. But it was nice, for one day, to take a break and be celebrated. Celebrated by these little ones. These little ones who made me a mother.

That Sickness

In following Murphy's Law, Spring Break around here was miserable, weather-wise. It rained every single day, and while we did manage to get out of the house every day, it wasn't the sunny, fun-filled week we all had envisioned. By the end of the week the kids were going stir crazy. One evening, my mom stopped by for a few minutes and noted that she thought Sam & Lexi had a severe case of cabin fever. After explaining to them what it meant, Samantha whole heartedly agreed.

As Spring Break was coming to an end, my mom and I decided it would be a nice treat to take the big girls to the movie. Unfortunately the movie (Rango) ended up being a huge dissapointment - seriously a whole post all on it's own - but it at least broke up the monotony of our week. As we were leaving Samantha looks at me and says "Mom, I think I'm over that sickness." A panicked me replied "Sickness? You've been sick? How did I not know?" (Yes, I was preparing my mother of the year award acceptance speech in my head at this point). To which she replies "you know, that fever you guys were talking about." Ah yes, that sickness.

And wouldn't you know it, the following week our weather was in the high 80s!

How I Do It

If I got a penny for everytime I hear "I don't know how you do it" ....well you know how that saying goes.

The truth is some days are easier than others. Some days I love it all and other days I want to pull my hair out. But I wanted to be a mom. I love being a mom and so I take the bad with the good. Now, this isn't supposed to make it sound like I'm some supermom because I am far from it. My kids help a lot too. For example, in the last week:

Samantha has decided it's relaxing for her to give my daily back massages.

Lexi has decided that she loves the way the diaper genie works and waits for the chance to throw away a poopy diaper

Jack has decided that his favorite person is Kate, so not only haven't we had to deal with jealousy, he is the first to lay next to her, give her a pacifier and talk to her so I can get a picture of her smile!

And Kate has decided that (at the risk of jinxing it) sleeping through the night is pretty cool! She sleeps 8-9 hours on average (thankfully the same hours we sleep), but last night slept a whopping 10 hours straight! At just over 6 weeks old.

And speaking of that beautiful smile of Kate's...

Who Are You?

This is mostly for my record keeping, but there is nothing funnier than having a conversation with a toddler. Case in point, my conversation with Jack this morning.

Me: Jack, are you my big boy?
Jack: NO!
Me: Well, are you my baby boy?
Jack" NO!
Me: What are you then?
Jack: I am a Wuwa! (Lua)

And on that same note, he can't say Kate, so he calls her Kake or Baby Kake. So Jack would like you to meet his little sister Baby Kake Wuwa!