Maya goes to St Vincent's

Keira's preschool, St. Vincent's, asked families to come in and talk to the class about their cultural traditions.  I asked Maya to come in to speak about India while she was on break from Berkeley.  Luckily she said yes, and she did an amazing job!  She talked about elephants and holidays, and had them dot paint an elephant picture and she wrote their name in Hindi.  It was adorable!  The teachers said that she should be a preschool teacher  -- I told them she was going to be a doctor!  Keira was beyond excited to have her auntie come to her school.  When we arrived, they said she had been talking about it all morning!

My contribution was mango lassi, which I made at home and intended for the kids to try at lunch time.  When I went into school the next day, all the kids informed me that the mango lassi was "too yucky"!! Hahaha!  I love how honest kids are.  I guess I didn't add enough sugar for their tiny tastebuds.

Mothers's Day 2014

For Mother's Day this year, we went out to brunch with our friends at Croce's Park West.  It was fun to see everyone, and Keira loved hanging with her best buddy Lily.  She wore her "fancy" head band and pink sparkle Topsiders.  The brunch was a buffet, which made things difficult with a table full of toddlers and infants!  Eden pretty much slept the whole time.  Embarrassingly, my shoes fell apart!  The top came detached from the sole.  I guess I shouldn't have been surprised because I keep my shoes forever -- these particular ones I had owned 15+ years (since high school!).  It's funny because Matt is a shoe horse and always says he "needs" shoes, and I always tell him that shoes should last forever -- I guess I'm wrong!

Matt left a few hours later to go on a business trip to Germany, and I took the girls up to my mom's house to eat dinner with them.  Such a blessing to have family in town.  My life would definitely be more difficult without them around!

Eden at 2 months

At two months, Eden weighs 11 pounds 6 ounces (52nd percentile) and is 23 1/2 inches long (90th percentile).  Her head circumference is 15 inches (45th percentile).  She is a little bit smaller than Keira was at this age.  Eden continues to be a joy for me.  She is an absolute angel and I am head over heels for her!  I know I am gushing, but this is honestly how I feel!  She is very sweet -- barely ever cries and when she does she is easily soothed.  She sleeps with me in my bed, and will even sleep in with me until 8:30 or 9 if Matt lets us.  She will pretty much sleep whenever I am sleeping.  She has never slept by herself at night, but Keira used to start the night out in her bassinet and then move to the bed if she woke up at night.  It will be interesting to see how they are different.  Maybe I will start doing that method with Eden after she has moved to the bottle.  At this age, she is still exclusively breastfed but she doesn't really eat at night anymore and we don't have to change her diaper at night.  

Eden is a super smiley baby.  In my notes about her at one month, I said that she wasn't as expressive as Keira at that age and then the next week she started smiling and laughing!  She has the most delightful smile; it melts my heart!  She makes a lot of cooing noises and likes to babble.  She seems to like to talk to Malini and Matt especially.  She has even "talked" to Matt over the phone in response to hearing his voice.

When Keira was a baby, I seemed to dress her in lots of blues and greens and eschewed pink, but for Eden, I just love to put her in pink!  I think it looks good with her skin tone.  Or maybe I am just "into" pink right now.

I can't wait to see what her personality is going to be like.  Matt and I keep saying that she is going to be more calm than Keira and less "crazy adventurous" and outgoing, but obviously she is only two months old so who knows how she will turn out.  Maybe I have two crazy kids. 

I was looking back at photos from when Keira was this age, and most of the rooms of our house were still empty and/or had boxes stacked up in them.  That was really a stressful time.  No wonder my MS flared up!  Our situation is much more comfortable and stable this time, so maybe I will get lucky and stay healthy.  I'm feeling good so far -- crossing fingers!

I feel like a switch has been flipped inside of me -- ever since Eden was born, I feel extremely happy and grateful.  So grateful for my life, for my family, for my husband, for my two beautiful, healthy daughters.  A nice house.  Matt and I both have good jobs.  We have choices in life.  I don't think I fully appreciated how lucky I am before.  I'm not sure if it's a hormonal thing, or just that I'm getting older, but I hope it lasts!  Matt has always felt like this, and it's one of the reasons that i'm glad I married him.  And the funny thing is that now that I am so happy, I don't care at all about our house or money or anything like that.  I just want to make our lives less stressful in any way possible, and try to make more time and memories for us as a family (i.e. less time working and commuting).  We are considering moving closer to Matt's work so that he doesn't have to deal with the long free way commute and wasting his life away in the car.  Maybe in a few months I will have an update about that!  We are listing our house as soon as I am back on the MS meds.

Easter 2014 -- Eden's First!

This year Easter snuck up on us.  I guess it's understandable, considering that we had a newborn and a preschooler in our house.  Plus, Easter has never been one of my favorite holidays -- I've been sort of ambivalent about it -- I guess all the pastels and cutesie chicks and bunnies just don't do it for me! My mom always made cute Easter baskets for me when I was a kid and I am probably falling short of that mark for Keira and Eden.  Actually, I didn't even bother getting Eden a basket!  

To make it a little more interesting for Keira, we made a "toilet paper trail" that she had to follow to find her Easter basket.  It was definitely not the most classy Easter morning ever!  It was still fun, though, and Keira liked it well enough.  She got a bunch of little toys in her basket and a chocolate bunny.

Me and my girl!  The picture was dark so I had to add light and unfortunately it made it look grainy.  I'm trying to get more pictures of myself with the girls.  I am usually the one taking the photos and so there aren't very many pictures of me.  I want them to have some pictures in case I die!

I just love these girls!  Keira insisted on adding the blue flower to her hair, and I think it looks great!

Matt and Keira died Easter eggs with a kit that his mom sent.  Thank goodness she sent one, because we had forgotten about dying Easter eggs until Easter morning!

We had Easter lunch at my mom's house, to Keira's delight.  Rohit made an Italian feast for us -- delicious!  Rohit's friend Puja joined us for lunch.

Eden smiles at Grandma

My mom and Rohit had prepared an Easter egg hunt for the girls, like they usually do.  Keira is so lucky! 

Keira's just one of the gang!

Our little Easter cutie, in an outfit given to her by my old friend Megan!

La Jolla Play Day

Matt and I took the Eden to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Yeckel for the first time.  It took a while for us to get over to their house, but what can I say?  Life is hectic with a newborn and toddler.  It was nice to talk with them about what is going on in the family and to get their perspective on things.  Every time I go their house, which is the house I grew up in, I have the strange sensation of everything being very familiar and yet it feels odd because don't go there very often.  Maybe everyone feels this way about their childhood home.  I usually go there when the entire family is there for holiday parties so there it's too busy to notice this type of thing -- anyway, it was nice and would like to go there more often.  Eden was a little sweetie while we were there (as usual), and Keira was too but I could tell that Keira wanted a buddy to play with.  So, I am extremely happy that in a few years she will have her sister Eden to play with!

After visiting the Yeckel house, I decided that I wanted to show Keira the shell shop that my dad used to take me to.  I have great memories of going there with him and being astounded by all of the sea shells.  The entire place was filled with shells on every surface, from floor to ceiling.  It really was a spectacular sight!  To my dismay, the shop had been bought and the new owners removed the shells and were selling touristy knick knacks.  Boo!! I am so sad about that.  They only had one small shelf with shells on it.  I had promised Keira a shell, so of course we had to buy one.  It's sad when you realize that your child hood memories are just that -- memories.  Matt likes to say that my knowledge of San Diego is about 20 years out of date.  I guess he is right!

After we looked at the lack of shells, we went down into the cave which they (gasp!) now charge for.  We decided to go down anyway, and it was a fun adventure for Keira.  La Jolla is so beautiful!  I am so lucky to have grown up there. 

Climbing the steps!

After the "lack of shell" shop, we went down tot he cove to check out the seals.  Keira, OF COURSE, had to run into the ocean and play, so she got her dress all wet and we ended up letting her run around in her underwear chasing seagulls while Matt went to get the car.  Yes, we were those parents.  

Can you find Keira and Matt?  One is in the water and the other is watching.

Chasing sea gulls in her undies

She is SOO beautiful to me! 

And finally, all this beach time made us hungry so we ate dinner at my favorite Rubio's, and had our traditional Froglander's frozen yogurt for dessert.  Yum!  What a perfect San Diego day.  I'm so happy with my little family.

Life with 3-year-old Keira

Keira has been a great little buddy for the past few months.  When baby Eden first arrived, Keira acted pretty hyper and loud but she has mellowed out since then.  She has picked up the art of the compliment, saying things like, "Mama, your hair so beautiful" or "Mama, your shirt is so beautiful."  She also says to me, "Mama, I'm going to miss you" before we leave each other (for school, or whatever). It melts my heart!  I like to think that she picked it up from me, but she probably picked it up from school or from the "aunties."

She has an exhausting schedule right now and I feel sort of bad about it.  Her main preschool, St. Vincent's, had promised us a full time spot but when I asked to start that schedule after the baby was born, they had already given her spot away!  So she continues her original 2 day/week schedule at St. Vincents.  I enrolled her 3 afternoons/week at the montessori school near my mom so that I would have extra time with the baby.  The truth is that Keira is very energetic and loves to be around her friends -- Although she says that she hates school, if she stays home with me she constantly asks me to arrange play dates.  So, I think she is better off in school, especially while I have a newborn.  I also enrolled her in swim lessons at the club in Scripps Ranch, since I will be driving up there anyway.  So, 3 days per week she does a swim lesson AND school, and then heads to my mom's house; On the other 2 days she is at St. Vincent's from 9-3.  It is exhausting for both of us!  A big part of it is the driving back and forth to Scripps Ranch --  It makes everything extra tiring. Luckily for me baby Eden is super mellow and doesn't complain about the schedule.  I do feel guilty about carting Keira around so much, and I know this schedule isn't sustainable!  I will need her to be occupied though, because in a few weeks I will start working again.


Keira loves ninja turtles right now (to my dismay) and the movie "Frozen." Our whole family has the Frozen sound track pretty much memorized!  "Let it Go, Let it GOOO!"  We love it!  It's funny to me that Keira is so into it, because she has never experienced snow or ice!

Keira eating her after school snack.  What an expressive girl -- we have so much fun!

Eden at one month

At one month, Eden weighs 9 pounds, 10 ounces (60th percentile) and is 21 1/4 inches long (55th percentile).  Some how she lost a half inch since birth -- not sure how that happened!  I guess the nurses aren't so accurate in their measurements.  Her head circumference was 15 inches (90th percentile).  Matt and I both have big heads, so I guess she inherited it from us!  Hopefully it translates to superior intelligence.  :)

The first month with baby Eden has been a dream!  She is a very sweet and easy baby -- she sleeps a lot and is very cuddly and quiet.  So far, she is a mama's girl.  I won't deny that I love it! She has slept in our bed from day 1 and I think that helps her stay mellow.  She hardly wakes in the night, and if she does it's just to eat and go back to sleep.  I am a little bit tired during the day, but nothing like the extreme exhaustion that I remember with Keira.  Having a second baby is totally different than the first baby.  With Keira, everything was unfamiliar, we didn't know what to do and we were much more anxious.  I remember Matt and I both being up a lot at night with her.  I remember wanting to keep Keira in bed with us but following the doctor's recommendation to keep her in a bassinet to prevent sids. Of course, the babies don't sleep as well when they aren't next to mom!  Matt is changing Eden's diapers at night, but I think he is only up once per night and usually in the morning around 4 am.  He says his sleep schedule has barely changed at all since Eden was born!  I have to say that I feel extremely blessed to have two easy babies (crossing fingers that Eden stays mellow!).

We haven't had many visitors for Eden, unlike Keira whom everyone visited because she was the first.  Grandma Janet came in the first few days, and that was nice.  Even the aunties and my mom barely saw the new baby for the first month!  The truth is, I am sort of happy about that -- this might be my last baby and I already feel like the time is slipping away! I am already thinking that I might want a third baby if my MS symptoms aren't too bad in the next few months.  I am lucky this time that I haven't had any postpartum depression or "baby blues" -- I have been on cloud 9, totally happy!! I guess that makes up for the very difficult and emotional pregnancy I just went through.  It was a tough one, emotionally.

So far Eden seems less expressive than Keira was at this age.  During her one month photo shoot, I could barely get her to crack a smile!  I know she is happy but I think she is still in the sleepy stage and hasn't started her socializing yet.  She is a true sweetie, though!  I am in love!

A little smile

It looks like she's pretending to sleep, ha!

My beautiful girl!

Keira at One month