2 and 5

It is official. I am now the mother of a 2 year old and a 5 year old. They seem impossibly old. Geriatric, even, in comparison to the teeny tiny newborns we brought home not too long ago. (BTW, they were never all that tiny, Aidan was 9 pounds, and Zoe was 8 pounds.)

Aidan is love being five. He is very proud of his allowance and the current sum is about $180! Just because he is so sweet, he even asked Hubby to take him to the store to get Zoe a birthday present. A while ago, while we were Toys R Us, he was dead set on buying Zoe this Lego set, which she had no interest in whatsoever. In the end, we took it back and taught him a lesson of 'you need to buy what you think the other person wants, not what you want.' Then he thought perhaps Zoe would like some Playmobile stuff, and he opted for this water toy set for her. Very sweet.

While we were having dinner with my FIL, Aidan's eyes were glued to the big TV at the restaurant- what is the deal about restaurants needing a TV?! Anyway, they were selling some random CDs and Aidan said he wanted to spend $16.99 to buy it. The CD was titled "Forever Love." It was absolutely hilarious! As for his schooling issues, we are still not sure where he will end up going to kindergarten- we will find out in about 2 weeks.

Zoe is a delightful two year old. Her latest thing is the absolute need to wear Aidan's underwear over her diaper, preferably the red ones with motorcycles on them. Very weird. She is speaking more, pointing out boats, buses, dogs, and all sorts of unusual things to us. She is also VERY stubborn and apparently, will stare down her teachers until they fix whatever it is that displeases her.

She has noticed that I often would forget my car key and have to return to the house to fetch them while she enjoys breakfast with Daddy and Aidan on Wednesdays- I sometimes need to get to my office by 8. So much so that last Friday, as I was picking up my purse and blowing kisses, she pointed to the counter and yelled, "EEEEE!" It was very cute. As for her schooling for next year, we are also uncertain. We have requested a transfer to a facility closer to home, and will probably not know one way or another until summer time.

Big changes will be coming our way!

Day Dreaming

There is little time for day dreaming these days. What can I say, I am a woman prone to guilt (thus I choose a career to talk to people about their excessive feelings of guilt...) and have agreed to stay on through the end of next week so that the clinic would be appropriately staffed on a Friday. Theoretically, I have 4 more working days in clinic before the big adios. However, I am thinking that I will be sick of these days and will only be back for 3 more days.

My new office has this huge window, and a great view of the parking lot... I have opted to open the shades to get natural light in, just to be green. While the parking lot, full of various late model cars, isn't all that picturesque, I love the sky. Occasionally, I catch patients looking out the window as they are talking to me, and I kind of want to gaze out as well, but alas, someone (probably the one being paid) needs to stay focused.

Ever so rarely, someone will show up late and I get to look out the window and think about random stuff.


Like the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is also the tune for ABC song, and Baa Baa Black Sheep, and long ago in France, Ah! vous dirai-je maman. Wolfie (of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) took this tune and wrote a set of lovely variations for the piano when he was 17. From these simple notes, he crafted 12 variations! I find that simply absolutely brilliant. I am very excited about this, because I think, somewhere in the 6 boxes that my parents recently mailed us (where the two bears- see below, came from,) is my book of Mozart Piano Variations. I am going to master this (again- this was once flowing out of my fingers about 20 years ago), and play for my little Baa Baa Black Sheep addict, aka Zoe.

BTW, the recording by Yukiko Tanaka on iTune of this piece is lovely.

My Cuties

The aforementioned babies.

My parents sent these lovely bears recently. The kids are in heaven. =)

Happy Anniversary to Us!

It is hard to believe that Hubby and I got married nine years ago. We have got a lot 'accomplished' in those nine years, much more than our wildest dreams as newly weds.

Back in 2000, as we were counting the days until our wedding, we were excited to not have to good-bye after hanging out, and well, you know, get in the sack.

While we had to say various good-byes for Hubby's business trips, or my overnight on-call duties, it has been awesome to have this nine year long date. As for getting in the sack, well, we have made two beautiful babies.

As Hubby was planning this surprise trip, he had to secure a sitter for these adorable babies. All through the 27 hours we were away, it was hard to not talk about these babies. When we got home, figuring out what happened during those 27 hours was a little frustrating and scary. Just how much TV did the sitter let them watch? Why do we own a whole box of Spiderman fruit snacks? And why is there a blueberry stain on the couch!?

Since I am clearly a type A person, I would NEVER, NEVER, let my children have a picnic on the living room floor. However, since Hubby and I were on 'vacation', shouldn't the kids get to have a little picnic on the living room floor? And what is a little blueberry stain on the couch, since there is already a huge green line from Zoe's foray into markers?

While none of these things are all that concerning, it is clear, that we are set on raising our kids a certain way, and we gotta be more descriptive next time.

As for what we actually did, go read about it at the Phat Photographer's blog. I gotta go clean the couch cushions.

No Words Left

It has been hard to blog these past few weeks, and as I watch the month flying by, I am keenly aware of how little I am writing, and in some ways, I just have no words left. But don't worry, I will find some.

These are the updates.

We came home on Monday to a dripping ceiling. Because it was after 5 pm already, it involved some frantic phone calls to contact our home owner association's management folks. However, they sent out a plumber by 6:30, and a leak was found (a nail in the pipe...) and by 7:30, the restoration people showed up with their fans. By 8:30, the workers were gone, leaving behind seven industrial strength/sized airmovers/dehumidifiers, and since then, we had been living in a wind tunnel. The playroom and living room had been in shambles, unable to be used...


Since these pictures were taken, the 'restoration' people have made bigger holes, let it dry, and just today, decided things are dry enough. The bigger holes are now covered in plastic, and we will await the arrival of contractors to put the house back together.

Perhaps it is a very good thing that we haven't painted.

BTW, when I think about these 'restoration' people, I can't help but think of Christ. How he restores us, but first, he has to make some big holes, he has to break us down in order to correct our lives and build us back up.

Hubby is still working like a mad man.

I am working like a mad woman. In the midst of terminating with patients, furnishing my new office (hopefully, it will be done by this Friday and I will then post a picture), trying to find hours in my day that simply don't exist, I have not had much time to think about much of anything other than 'do the next thing.' Elisabeth Elliott would be so proud.

Aidan and Zoe are fine, although disturbed in various ways that they no longer 'play' at home. But hopefully, we will be moving beyond this very soon.

To sum up: We are totally overwhelmed.

Growing Up So Fast

It is astounding that Aidan is five. FIVE. I cannot believe that it was FIVE years ago that I was trying to get him out of me as soon as possible. It was quite a warm week before he was born, and I remember wearing shorts at 39 weeks- with all that water retention, it was not a pretty sight.

As he is growing up so fast, learning so many new things, embracing new experiences, I appreciate the fact that I am married to a photographer. Whenever the kids are doing something cute and sweet, he runs for the camera and shoots away. Whether it is Zoe vacuuming, Aidan laughing, or the two of them being silly right after bath time, Hubby diligently documents their changes.

In his blog this week, he writes about this picture, and the technical stuff associated with it. I will write about my perspective.




In essence, I see the kids are so cute and sweet, and I am trying to help (by staying out of the way... so that I wouldn't be blocking the last few rays of sunlight.) After two minutes of this, I start to get bored. "Alright, people. Time for bed. Let's go!" That would be my thought. However, knowing that they won't always want to run around in their birthday suits and making each other laugh, I try to bear with it a little longer... then a little longer... and a little longer.

Eventually, though, I find myself saying, "Alright. Are we almost done here? Hubby, are we done yet?"

I am on task to make sure the kids grow- the pulse release of growth hormone is greatest while they sleep. Hubby is on task to make sure the kids have fun growing, and to be sure that when they are grown, we will have more than blurry and foggy memories.

So I shall hang on to the thought of how much I will love these pictures and videos, because, tomorrow, apparently, we are filming the annual video, something about Agents Aidan and Zoe. Pray for me, if you can.

Going No Where

These days, life can feel like this:

That would be Hubby and me, running no where, getting to no place fast.

While I am, once again, on educational leave this week from my salaried job, I am still on the wheel- returning phone calls, buying furniture, planning Aidan's little birthday thing at school, thinking about the economy... Never mind that I should be thinking about oral boards...

Meanwhile, I did hear this amazing sermon by Dr. Tim Keller, about songs and music. He speaks of it much more clearly, and the sermon is available for purchase via Redeemer Presbyterian Church, so here is just the quick take away that I am going to apply to my life and the raising of the children. Basically, through music, God's creation is revealed, and through music, His grace is made known to many. Therefore, as much as I rather not start music lessons for these children of mine, based on my own experiences, just for the sake of the Gospel, A&Z are at least going to be able to read music and share God's love in that way with others.

Lucky me, there is a piano teacher just a block away. A Chinese one, no less, and maybe these kids can learn piano in Chinese! How is that for multi-tasking?

Friday!

Thankfully, it is Friday. (Actually, on Tuesday morning, when I opened my eyes, I thought, alright! It is Saturday! Then I came to my senses.)

The weeks are going by so fast, yet not fast enough in some ways. Our wedding anniversary is coming up at the end of the month, and for the last few weeks, ever so often, I would ask Hubby, "What would you like to do about our anniversary?" Yet I could not get him to commit to an evening so that I can work on getting a sitter. When we went out to lunch last Friday, I picked up his jacket from the backseat, and a little business card fell out. A business card from Nordstrom. With lots of writing on it. (I know these kinds of business cards: the kind that they use to write down the specifications of jewelry!) Hubby was very sheepish.

Finally, I got it out of him this week. We are going away for an overnight trip! A sitter is already lined up, and other than these snippits of information, I have no clue where we are going. I am determined to not speculate, since that will often ruin my own surprise. But boy, I am really looking forward to some time by ourselves!

Aidan has been ultra sweet this week, except when he almost ran his sister over on his bike... For the sweet part, he drew another valentine for me, and without assistance, wrote MOM DAD, YO-OY. (Y0-YO: He is super excited to be able to sort of spell this...) Really cute. Really sweet. He is also into making cards for his friends. Fortunately for his friends and unfortunately for us, he likes to use Crane papers.

Zoe is in love with her new tights. I am discovering that little girls are very cute in tights, and she is picky about her tights. She prefers the ones that actually have a seat sown in, that she requires two seams on her tush, and one seam in the front. I can see how that would be so much more comfortable in accommodating her diaper.

These two have developed a new routine. We get home, they hop on their bike/trike, and I get some bread. We find ducks, we feed them, we watch the male ducks fight each other, Aidan waves sticks at these ducks, Zoe quakes like ducks, and then we race home to dinner.

Work is busy, in the midst of terminating with patients, someone said, "Are you sure you want to go do private practice, isn't this a really bad time for that, since unemployment is at 10%?" I thought, "Thanks dude..." I then rushed to see my boss, as it turned out, I haven't officially resigned and therefore, I don't actually have to leave! However, after discussing it with Hubby, I would be dead soon if I keep this pace. So, a resignation letter needs to be drafted.

As for the thermal pot, lots of stews, soups, and stoups are coming out of it.

To end this post on something concerning, I am concerned about the housing bailout. Apparently, if people take advantage of these renegotiated interest rates, the lower payments would still only last for five years. Therefore, in 2014, 2015, we will again, revisit this problem. PEOPLE!!! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!!!!!!

An Obsession

If one must obsess about something, perhaps making meals is a 'good' obsession. Somehow, I keep thinking, if I can perfect my culinary routine, life would be more manageable.

Since work has picked up, my dreams of going home around 3 pm to start dinner then getting the children around 4 pm have gone out the window. These days, I rather have something ready to go for consumption at 6 pm, preferably without involving me. Since that is humanly impossible, I have been obsessed in figuring out a solution.

I have tried meal planning- I planned a month worth of meals and have yet to actually make any meals according to the schedule.

I use my crock pot more, of course, but am always somewhat disappointed with very dry, yet dripping wet meat, you know what I mean?


A sweet colleague from my day job, A, whom I am going to miss A LOT when I leave, keeps telling me about this thermal pot. She is right. This pot is AMAZING. I have made soups and stews. Absolutely amazing. In the morning, you brown whatever you want to brown, add liquids to cover, bring it to a boil, put it in the super well insulated thermal pot, seal it, and do whatever else you need to do for the day. At 6 pm, you are ready to eat, and the soup is also ready, at the perfect temperature, not boiling hot, but not lukewarm either. The meat is consistently tender and awesome. Highly recommend it.


Another cooking method that I am going to try is the one pot method according to Glorious One Pot Meals. Apparently, you heat the oven to 450 degrees, layer the ingredients in a Dutch oven, cover it, and bake it. Theoretically, you have crisp vegetables, tender meat, and flavor. I will keep you posted on this method.

This week, I plan on making chicken soup and ox tail stew. Yummers!