Week 5

Last week I caught my reflection in the sliding glass door and noticed a very new little bulge in my belly. Where the heck did that come from!?!? So suddenly and so obvious (to probably only me) and I was very self-conscious about it.  Then I had a couple days where I was incredibly sleepy, much more tired than normal. And THEN, I started feeling more hungry and having to pee more often.

Umm.

Lane and I were talking one night about what the heck was going on.  He asked me if I thought I was pregnant. I don't know, I mean, it IS possible.  I decided to pull out a pregnancy test right then and there.

Yeah, it was probably like four years old.  But I never saw a positive line show up so quickly, except for the last time I was pregnant!

It's official.  We are expecting Baby Grover #2.  This darling little munchkin will arrive sometime mid November.

Saturday in San Francisco

Last Saturday we checked out the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. I bought an individual membership there, since you can always bring a guest for free and children 3 and under get in free.  It was perfect, especially since I found a code online for 20% off.  If we just go twice it more than pays for the membership price! 

We visited the rainforest and saw all sorts of lush trees and greenery, little frogs, butterflies, and birds.

Gabriela and her baby doll really enjoyed it.  As soon as she saw the aquarium down below the rainforest all she wanted to do was go find the fish.

Gabriela turned her baby's head around so she could see all the exhibits too.

Gabriela was really excited to actually touch the star fish, but that was nothing compared to the high tech super power jet dryers to dry off your hands.  Those might have been her favorite part about the whole museum. I wish I had snapped a photo. It's the little things.

As we sat back on a bench admiring this exhibit, Gabriela was eating her peanut butter sandwich. She stopped, looked up and said, "Mommy, I really like this museum!" Thank goodness because I plan to return lots of times this year.

We played for a little while in the toddler room. Gabriela loved that it had a pirate ship. We also visited Clyde the albino alligator and saw the alligator snapping turtles, and penguins. It was nice that we didn't feel rushed or that we had to see everything. Going to the museum with Gabriela at this age was so much more fun, because she would notice things and show interest and excitement all on her own.

It was such a beautiful day in San Francisco that we walked over to the playground at Golden Gate Park for some more afternoon fun.

Daddy was chasing Gabriela down the slide. Notice his foot here :)

Very carefully transporting the sand.

 

And of course, a ride on the merry go round!

We had such a fun family day together. I can't wait to do it all over again.

Santa Barbara

Gabriela has been asking to visit her cousins Claire and Natalie since about the moment we left their house from our after-Christmas visit.  Every day she'd ask me to tell her a story about Claire and Natalie and draw pictures of Claire and Natalie and ask to go to their house. Every time she broke down and cried about something, she'd also cry that she can't see Claire and Natalie.  Finally we arranged to visit in March.  After that Gabriela started asking if it was March yet every day.  

Here's a little clip when she asked (on our drive down) if it was March yet.  

Gabriela couldn't contain her excitement all day about the trip.  Gabriela was such a great little traveler. The drive was nearly six hours, and she was awake the whole time.  We sang songs, read books, she played with her dollies, ate snacks, pointed out all the tractors and cows and horses along the way.  We stopped for potty breaks when she'd announce that she had to go pee pee.  Daddy stopped to get her a chocolate milkshake along the way, and we stopped to run around and get out the crazies. 

. 

The weather on Friday was amazing.  I still can't believe it was the first week of March and we were playing on the beach without sweaters. Lane even got a tiny sunburn.  Gabriela had special time with Natalie at the beach while Claire sold Girl Scout Cookies.  They built sand castles, played in the water, and found a giant pile of seashells.

 

As you can see in the next video, Gabriela was very concerned about Natalie getting wet in the ocean.

Claire and Gabriela had special time together later that afternoon while Natalie sold Girl Scout Cookies.  They played with baby dolls, on Claire's iTouch, and also played Go Fish.  

I love her Go Fish game. Since then, Gabriela has been pointing out everything that is the color chartreuse, eggplant, or apricot.  She had a yellow m&m the other day and announced that it was the color buttercup.

On Sunday we went out for a boat ride with some friends of the SB Grovers. It was opening day of the yacht club season so we were in a boat parade.  A fun adventure for the girls!  As usual, we ate good food, had lots of laughs, and the boys ensured there was delicious dessert every night. mmm. 

I didn't take any photos since our camera display still isn't working. So bummed we don't have pics of our boat ride on the ocean. boo.

Family Portrait

Gabriela started drawing much more detailed people just very recently. I've been dying for her to make a picture of her family.  She has never been interested whenever I've asked her to make a pic of us.  But yesterday I got out drawing supplies for a totally different project, and before I knew it, she was drawing us.  She drew a circle and said, "This is my Mommy. These are her eyes, here is her mouth, and her nose, and these are her eyebrows." And, this is the first drawing ever where she's actually drawn bodies on the faces!

Gabriela with the cutest smile ever on the left, Mommy, and Daddy

I have to get a frame for this as soon as possible. Can you tell I'm a proud mama? I've been thinking it would be a fun project to save drawing she does of her family over time and then we'd see how her drawings change throughout the years.

Craft Time

After a few hours of craft time and chatting with my friend Morgan, I actually finished a project from start to finish! Gabriela has been waiting for me to turn this fabric into a baby carrier for her.  So as soon as I pulled it out, she knew what it was and requested to wear it immediately!  She asked to see herself in the mirror and giggled excitedly!  

Keady Visit: Day 6

Friday after Gabriela's class was over, we all went bowling! It was fun to hang out with Rhonda too, since she'd been working all week. 

 

Keady seemed to enjoy her first trip bowling!  For a while, both girls had better scores than me, I'm ashamed to say.  Us adults had fun bowling too. 

 

Daddy showing Gabriela some fancy bowling moves.  Backwards bowling, baby.

 

Our bowling princess.

 Keady and her daddy bowling

 

Poor Gabriela was pooped after school and an afternoon of bowling

 

Keady was in charge of all the bowling balls.  Here she is, deciding which ones are okay for us to use. Just look at that face!

After bowling, we took a trip to the bookstore. The girls had so much fun playing with all the toys there and reading books.  Then, we went to the Public Market in Emeryville to grab a bite to eat before calling it quits for the day. 

Keady Visit: Day 5

Thursday was an easy going lazy dazy kind of day.  Two year olds need these days sometimes, especially when they are enjoying a week-long reunion of fun...in the rain. 

So how did the girls stay busy?

 

There was a lot of art work going on

 

The girls climbed up on the couch to watch the garbage trucks come by. Gabriela is always mesmerized by this.   They also watched a movie while eating popcorn and drinking hot cocoa.  A perfect rainy day activity!

Keady went home early on Thursday since Gabriela needed to get up early on Friday to go to her school.

Keady Visit: Day 4

Wednesday we awoke to some sunshine - finally!  I quickly started making plans for a zoo visit.  As soon as we got things straightened out, the sun disappeared and it started hailing. For real.  Luckily, it stopped after a few minutes and the sun came back out.  Unfortunately, our camera started malfunctioning and the battery died on Eric's camera about 10 minutes after we arrived.  The camera gods were against us!

 

We rarely get to see the lions, but this day we saw two, and up close even!

The girls enjoyed brushing and petting the goats.

Keady Visit: Day 3

Tuesday we drove up to San Francisco to spend the day with Keady and family.  We checked out See Saw Cafe, which was similar in concept to Play Cafe in Oakland. Except, See Saw didn't prohibit you from bringing your own snacks, it was much more aesthetically pleasing, and green.  Plus we were the only ones there for a while, which made it even better.   

The girls enjoyed the rocking sheep.  And there was a whole wall full of bins with toy cars, train sets, legos, dress up clothes and accessories, puppets, and more.  They also had a big giant yoga bouncy ball. And who doesn't like those?!

 

They had good snacks too.  The girls enjoyed a plate of salami, cheese, fresh fruit, baked snap peas, and cheese.  The dude cut the cheese into sweet little cloud and star shapes. 

Ellie stayed comfortable the entire time we were there, just resting on a sheep skin.

She's so easy going!

 

Gabriela rocked the dress up accessories

 

We stopped at a park on the way home. One of the benefits of the day being mostly rainy was that the girls had the entire park to themselves!

Keady and Gabriela shared the double stroller on the walk back, wearing shades and checking out videos on Keady's iTouch. Kids are so advanced these days.

After we got back, we played at their hotel suite, ate a delicious Thai dinner with them, and watched Gabriela take care of Ellie.  I mean, seriously.  Look at how gentle she is.  I personally think she's super excited about having a real live Pirate Baby sit on her lap.

Keady Visit: Day 2

Monday it rained all day...you know, just like Tuesday, most of Wednesday, and pretty much the rest of the week.  We had to get creative about where to have indoor fun.  Can you believe it? We've been back since May, and didn't have to worry about how to keep Gabriela busy indoors until February - when her friend was in town visiting. 

So we checked out Play Cafe in Oakland. It's an indoor place with lots of play areas for kids.  The girls had a blast. 

   

There was a playhouse the girls could go inside, several doll houses to play with. 

 Dress up attire.  The fire fighter outfits were the girls' favorite, especially Gabriela's.

 They went for a drive, still clad as firefighters. 

 Checking themselves out in the mirror

Oh, the ball pit. Another favorite for the girls.

That's right, Gabriela's still sporting the fire fighter jacket.

They did some puzzles

 

And went back to the ball pit.

The girls decided to do a little cooking in the kitchen.

What's on the menu?  It looks like sushi, noodles, some giant blocks of cheese, potatoes, pizza, and ketchup and mustard.

"sharing" their snack at the cafe outside the kitchen.

clearing the table.

And then, back to the ball pit to bury Gabriela.  

(by this time, she had removed the fire fighter costume.)