Dylann's a...

Today, I salute those of you mothers who have three kids. I do not know how you do it.

I have Dylann, Maddie and Katie today.

As you can see, I managed to get two but not all three out of PJs by mid-morning.

Dylann wanted to hold Maddie, so of course Katie wanted to as well. Oh, the love.

Dylann and Katie in each other's space -- again. Actually, they are having a picnic on the world's smallest picnic blanket.

Making cards to welcome Logan.

I try -- the operating word being "try" -- really hard to keep my house fairly neat and organized. Apparently three kids is my "tipping point," in terms of being able to keep a house that doesn't look like a bomb went off in it.

It's only 10:30 a.m. and this is what my living room looks like.

Pictures of new baby Logan to come later!

Aloha! The Last Party of the Season

Parker's birthday was the final birthday party of the season -- or at least for a little while.

The weather was fantastic that day which made the "hula" theme all that much better.

Katie has been wearing the cute little hula skirt Laura made for the kids around the house, though it is now sans quite a few pieces of "grass."

While I may have exhaled a small sigh of relief about it being the last birthday party, I do have to admit Katie has had an absolute blast with her friends at all of these parties.

Also, the imagination and creativity of the moms and dads we know are just astounding.

Every one's party has been so fun and unique -- and no one spent gobs of money, they just took some time to make it special for their kids.

Sorry, just feeling warm and fuzzy today...

Spit-Up Happens

Big Things Happening in Maddieville

Maddie is almost six months old. It sounds so cliche but where has the time gone? What happened to my little grumpy-old-man-faced infant Maddie? (Come on you have to admit virtually all infants have grumpy old men faces).

Madeleine had her first meal -- if you call soupy rice cereal a meal -- this weekend. She didn't love it, but didn't completely spit it out.

She is also already up on all fours and rearing to go. Check out the video with her rocking back and forth. She can pretty much get to anything she wants these days on the floor with a clever combination of rolling, spinning on her belly (to the right only), and scooting backwards on her hands and knees. There is no foward movement yet, but I'm afraid it is going to happen pretty quickly at this point.

I went back and checked my old pictures and videos of Katie and she wasn't getting up on her knees until she was almost nine months! I know this was pretty on-par with her friends because we hung out with a bunch of other babies exactly Katie's age and were comparing them constantly.

Here is Katie right before she crawled in Aug. 06 when she was 8 months old.

My Ella Sarah

We have this book called Ella Sara Gets Dressed. In it the little girl wants to wear what everyone else thinks is an outrageous outfit (pink polka-dot pants, a dress with orange and green flowers, yellow socks and a red hat.) Her mom, dad and big sister all try to get her to wear something more "practical," or "sensible."

Katie loves this book, because well, she is Ella Sarah, or rather Ella Sarah is her.

Chia Panda to the Rescue!

For Christmas this year my family did a White Elephant Gift Exchange.

Everyone roared with laughter when I stole the Chia Panda Pet from someone -- we're one of the few people with small children and I think they forgot how much fun a Chia can be for a kid.

I just knew Katie would love it. We water it every day.

I told Katie that the Panda would grow hair. When it started sprouting she asked, "Why isn't the hair black and white?"

Maddie's First Beach Day

People may make fun of us Californians for a variety of reasons, but there is one thing they all pretty much envy, especially in the winter -- our incredible weather.

I was looking back at pictures from 07 and 08 and until Maddie was born (we even went to the beach the Sunday before she was born -- see picture of very large Becky & Katie below) there was not one month we didn't spend at least one day at the beach. And I'm not talking a "walk with a stroller on the boardwalk" outing, but an honest-to-goodness get-in-the-water beach day.

So, after a close to six-month hiatus, the Little Wickies -- now two of them -- returned to the beach for Maddie's first ocean experience!


Maddie checked out the sand. She loved the wind in her face.

We put her feet in the water and she screamed -- and not with delight. While the temperature was in the 70s, the water was very, very cold -- it is January after all.

Katie on the other hand did not seem to mind the water which felt like needles on your feet.

A day at the beach is not complete without digging a hole.

And, filling it with water -- with Katie in it of course.

Butterflies!

This week the Little Wickies ventured out to see where the Monarch butterflies come to roost for the winter.

We hiked into the barranca to search for them.
Then we sat patiently and saw what must have been thousands of butterflies, clustered high above and fluttering about.

My pictures do not do our experience justice, so I didn't even bother to post most of them. I need to get myself a real camera some day. But trust me, it was a very pretty site.

The kids are so fun to watch together. I know Katie has fun when it's just mom and dad too, but when we go places with other kids -- the zoo, the park, adventures like this -- I'm convinced the whole experience is different for her. Katie will find the energy to walk and run a lot further -- I don't even bring a stroller for her when we go to the zoo with friends. They play games, they sing. The girls were singing their ABCs together completely convinced this would bring out more butterflies.

They find interest in things only they would find interest in. For example:

Lia yelled, "Crack!"

And, the girls immediately stopped and squatted down to investigate.

The kids prancing out toward the cliffs.

Here is Lia being a statue (don't ask...that's what she said she was being.)

A Day Without Chocolate

A while back Song asked me "can you remember a day you didn't eat chocolate?"

I pondered the question.

"No."

It's so stereotypical that I'm a chick and I love chocolate. I hate stereotypes, I mean I really hate them -- but for the life of me I can not stop eating chocolate.

I don't know how people keep chocolate in their house and refrain from eating it. You know what I mean, like those pretty little glass bowls with Hershey's kisses in them. I asked a girlfriend who always has holiday-themed candy on display how she stays away from them, "oh I don't know, I guess I just think of them as decoration."

Really? I think of them as CHOCOLATE. Meanwhile, I don't care if it's August and they are little pink and red foil covered hearts from Valentine's Day --when no one is looking I will steal those chocolates and shove them in my mouth.

I crave chocolate. When I'm dieting I dream about it. Don't get me wrong, I still eat chocolate when I'm dieting. I eat that Skinny Cow stuff, and the fat-free brownie mix that Trader Joe's sells. I know, I know it's not really chocolate but, it does the job -- most of the time.

Today after lunch I was seriously craving chocolate. When this happens I'm pretty much unstoppable. I've been known to try to make chocolate pancakes at 10 p.m. because the only thing I had in my pantry was coco powder.

Today I ravished Katie's chocolate coins from Finn's pirate birthday party.

Then, I moved onto the only other chocolate I could find in the house -- chocolate chips which I ate with peanut butter.

I know I'm sad. But, I'm only a girl.

The Girl in the Box

We used to have a cat named Ike. He loved to sit in boxes. I mean, he would sit in a shoebox lid.

Now, I have a child who also likes to sit in boxes. I'm not sure if there is any correlation, just stating some facts here.

She will try to shove herself into just about any -- and I mean any -- size box.

This large specimen was in our living room for almost two months. Katie would demand to be put in it to watch her television show. She would stand in the corner of the box with her elbows hanging out on either side as if she were lounging in a pool or hot tub.

Got an odd shaped cardboard box? Bring it says this Little Wickie...

Birthdays Galore

When Katie was a newborn I had just moved to a new town and had recently stopped working a 65+hr a week corporate job in San Francisco. My new life was completely different and I honestly didn't know how to live it, nor did I have any friends to figure out how to do this.

Mommy & Me classes were my savior. I met some of my now best friends in those classes. The great thing was all of the babies were born within the 3 months. We were all going through the same things and could really support each other.

Now, three years later because of this November through January is officially "Birthday Season."

You may have already figured this out since I have been posting a lot of birthday stuff lately. I do love that they are an ideal place to take some fun pictures.

Here are some highlights from recent parties.

Hayley's birthday party was a big hit with Katie. It was at a jump house. For those of you who don't have children, this is essentially a warehouse-type place with multiple generator-blown up jump-houses inside. They have places to slide, climb and of course jump on and inside of. Great energy-burner, I highly recommend taking your kid there.

Apparently Hayley asked for a green fish cake. I loved what Amy ended up doing to appease her, putting green and yellow chocolate fish on top of the cupcakes -- just perfect.

I had Maddie in the sling that day and so -- darn -- couldn't go down any of the slides with Katie. So Katie glommed onto her friend Ryder and his mom Stasia for some group sliding.

With her bud Kai on the thrown.

Amelia's birthday party ended up being the princess party though not planned by her mom. All of the girls donned Amelia's dress up dresses, tu-tus and more.

Note there is plenty of room on the couch Dylann and Katie are just always up in each other's space.

The weather was absolutely beautiful at Lara'a birthday party where the kids noshed on pizza.

Giving the birthday girl a big hug.