tp gal: March 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Lucy,

I love you with my whole body, but you are TIRED. You need to sleep.

Daddy just went up to your room and you shared the whisper goodnight. That's a good sign. When you're able to whisper "good night daddy". It means you're ready to sleep.

Sleep well. It makes for a happier tomorrow.

We love you!!

Mommy

Pizza face

Yard work

Water sports

Spring Games

Lucy wanted to play with bubbles. It took me 1 1/2 refills of soap to understand that water was just as good. Now she's simply playing with a tub if water.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Middle School Perfect Storm

Ok... so it is not a middle school picture of mark wahlberg, but it is as young as I could find him on the interwebs.

Context: this is for my friend the Middle School teacher. And, a lesson for all young, awkward duded - it can get better.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Spring Sprong Sprung

It is starting to feel like spring again.

The yard is now a bright green and we've had to mow it twice already. We use a lawn service for fertilizing and moss abatement and are probably shooting ourselves in the foot by having one of the healthiest lawns in the neighborhood. Our next door neighbors have done nothing with their yard and they only mow every few weeks in the summer. By "they" I mean, Albert's father in law pulls out the push mower and deals with the yard when the kids want to play. They should invest in an electric or gas mower to make life easier, but it's not my place to mention how hot Grandpa looks as he mows the yard of his 30 year old son-in-law.

At least Albert's father-in-law doesn't let the yard get so long that he can't just run a mower over it. This is is a picture of our other neighbor and his super safe "once a year" mowing technique. I'm not sure what they are thinking - I saw the Scott's Lawn Service people servicing their yard last week. Don't they know a fertilized yard grows FASTER than one you ignore?

Oh well, the onset of spring brings up some anxiety. We have to stain the fence this year. Staining can only come after a good power wash. Thankfully, we picked up a pressure washer from (where else) Costco. We know we couldn't rent a washer for the price we paid and we will use it for a few things (the fence and moss removal on our driveway.)

The other stresser is the flower beds. Oh how I wish they would magically dig themselves up, lay down fabric, cover themselves in a non-rocky soil and plant themselves with easy but pretty blooms. My dad always said - wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which one gets full first. Perhaps now that Lucy can play outside while we work in the yard we won't be limited to 2 hour working sessions on the weekends. Now all I have to do is muster the desire to get it done.

We're expecting a storm tonight and tomorrow, but 50's this weekend. We have no weekend plans (other than seeing Rico in Jesus Christ Super Star this Friday) so perhaps we'll get moving on doing something with the yard. Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Beautiful girl an

Monday, March 11, 2013

Dinner date

Monster Shoes & a name change

I thought that the rate at which Lucy blew through clothes that first year was shocking but at the same time with each change of size 0-3 mos to 3-6 mos came with amazing developments in her personality.

The growth has seemed to calm down, we aren't completely changing wardrobes every three months, but her feet... oh man, I think her feet are growing at a stunning rate. Maybe it isn't the case, but now shoes are setting us back about $35-$50 a pair. This weekend we had her feet sized and ended up leaving the store with:

Dress Shoes - white sandals
Tennis Shoes - a girl must be able to run freely
Play Shoes for summer - ok, so maybe she doesn't 'need' keens but they were so great last summer because they work in the water, they work on rocky beaches, they also have toe coverage for the school playground that is covered in wood chips.

and, because we love options a pair of Red and Purple casual shoes.

Of course, her whole wardrobe is PINK and none of these shoes except for the fancy sandals really go all that well with a pink puffy girl, but she seems to prefer fun shoes. In fact, we are all very sad to retire the Yo Gabba Gabba vans. She growled at them every time she put them on. "Monster Shoes" - very cool.

I'm sure we'll end up buying more shoes before we hit the heat of summer, and I guess that is fine.

We had been going to the stride rite store for shoes, but Jason suggested we stop at Nordstrom and while I loved the idea I must complain that the options were so good that we probably purchased at least one pair of shoes that we didn't 'need'. Stupid excellent service.

Lucy was great during our shopping adventure. She was delighted to get a balloon and when we were finished we stopped at the cafe for a cookie. She loved the idea of a cookie, but mostly sucked the green sugar off the top of her portion of the shamrock leaf. Oh, and she drank 90% of my sparkling lemon aid. "Screw that vanilla milk crap, mommy's juice is 10 hundred times better." Thankfully she's mastered the straw and no backwash happens. (backwash and snot bubbles gross me out. gag)

She was a bad napper this weekend, but slept well at night. I'm thinking the three hour naps might be gone until the next growth spurt. And there's the trade off, good sleep equates to big feet.

Oh, and here's a new development, she has been waking up really upset after these short naps. She's in a tantrum like state for about 10 minutes when she wakes up. I feel badly for her, because she's simply upset and there isn't much to do. We cuddle, comfort and keep her safe, but she's wailing and producing tears. Poor little bug.

Last bit of news. She corrected me this weekend when I called her Lucy. "No mama, Lucia!" So, I told the day care today that they have to stop calling her Lucia and call her Lucy. I love them a lot, but she is Lucy. It would be so wrong for me to call a kid named Juan John unless asked to by the parents or little Juan himself. At 2 - it's too early for Lucy to decide to change her name. I'm the mommy and I say so!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Capt. Underpants

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Sleep Study

Hi, my name is TP and I am a snorer.

This snoring is chronically worse when I have a cold or I have too much wine. When both are happening at the same time, I worry that I'll be asked to sleep in the back yard.

Today I met with Dr. Lee, Sleep Specialist. While he's not making a diagnosis he is pretty sure I don't have the most severe case of apnea (where you don't snore, but you don't breathe either.)

Two Sundays from now I will pick up my at home apnea test device and that night I'll plug myself in and see where we go.

He did give me some good information about how to monitor our young person for potential issues. So far, she's not presenting with anything that indicates she has breathing issues, but he did say that it can show up later (like 3 or 4). We'll be watching for mouth breathing while she sleeps and the inability to drink and breathe at the same time.

More to come.