The Craziest January Ever

Well. January has certainly been memorable. The week of the 6th Pete went to see his friend/colleague about starting to work for him, and surprise, he wanted him to start that very day!!!! Only trouble is we had no after care for Lucia, and didn't have full time care for Espen. So I scrambled to get Lucia into an amazing program that she really loves. They pick her up from school in a van (with other kids) and take her down to their center. She takes classes two days a week, [her current curricula include jewelry making and art history] but goes to the park the other days.  Espen is at his daycare provider five days a week and is finally loving her. He doesn't cry anymore when I drop him off (man, that was tough). He plays outside every day and she said his demeanor has completely changed now that he knows how to crawl and get to other kids and toys, etc.

But more importantly, Pete has a new job. I'll let him post about it, but suffice it to say, he's having a great time learning how a design firm operates on the business end and most of all, designing cool stuff and collaborating with a team. His office is in Berkeley so it's not too far away.

I, on the other hand, came home from our Christmas trip hellbent on getting a new job. The CEO of a startup company found me through LinkedIn just before Christmas, and asked if I was interested in heading up their communications. We had a conversation that went well. I emailed him the next day to let him know I couldn't stop thinking about the company. I went in for my first interview on Jan. 7, accepted the job on Jan. 17 and started unofficially the following Monday, but officially last Wednesday. It is tremendously exciting and for the first time in 5 years, I feel like my career is finally back on track. I am beyond thrilled and while I hustled and gave it everything I had to get this job, I know it was also God and luck coming together to give me this opportunity. The startup only has 20 people and I'm the Head of Communications. I got a very sizeable raise. I am fully in charge of directing the company's communications and they want me to be pushy and objective and not acquiesce  if they push back (OMG AM I DREAMING????) I sat in a meeting today and thought, I cannot believe I am getting paid to do this. THIS IS SO FUN.

Because we both needed to go separate directions for work, we finally decided to get another car with car seats. Pete will post about that, but suffice it to say it wasn't a quick process. We researched and researched and finally decided to just pull the trigger on the one we wanted all along. We are taking turns driving it, and truth be told, while it's SO NICE and fancy, I'm more comfortable driving the Prius since I tend to be clumsy and I'm nervous I'll mess up the new car. :) We're considering getting the Prius detailed; it's 7 years old and has 130K miles. It's time for a detailing.

I can't believe this, but this month we also sleep trained Espen. Man, when I read this post I suddenly realize why I'm so tired! It's been crazy. So many big changes and milestones. We came back from Delaware and his sleep schedule was insane and he only wanted to be held and/or fall asleep on me. No bueno. We read a great book and implemented it, and 6 (very very very long) days later, he was sleeping through the night. I think I'm supposed to cut out his dream feed soon, but I really love nursing him too much to give it up. I'm that crazy breastfeeding lady! Yes I am. With the work schedules, I am clinging onto our snuggle time as much as possible.

Other than that, not much is new. :)

The Progression

9 month checkup, a few weeks late

Here he is. Pulling up and crawling like a maniac and completely taking apart the doctors paper cover thingy. He's getting harder to contain, ie crazypants. He's started to try to launch himself off the changing table and really anything, including my arms. 

But he's doing great. Sleeping 7-6:30 with a dream feed at 10. Nursing and eating anything that isn't nailed down, which ahem has been particularly wonderful for my postpartum weight loss.  :) 

Here's his stats:

• Weight: 8.513 kg (18 lb 12.3 oz) (28.32%*)
• Height: 0.724 m (2' 4.5") (40.40%*)
• Head size: (hahahah) 48.3 cm (19.02") (100.00%*) (however, they remeasured and it was 18.5 inches instead, still in the 90%)

Where to start??

Two new jobs, a new car, new after care program, new sleep schedules. Aside from all that, we're trying to keep our heads above water with the mundane tasks like laundry and grocery shopping. It's not easy. We will post more as soon as we can! 

Our little light

Sometimes I can't get over how gorgeous she is. 

Progressing

Espen is moving up to finger foods! He had teeny pieces of a berry pancake yesterday and today turkey meatballs. So cute. 

9 months old, AKA where'd our baby go?

Espen has skyrocketed in terms of filling out and well, looking more like a toddler and less like a baby this month. He now has 4.5 teeth and is a fan of using them to bite. Yeowch. His teeth have changed the shape of his face and now he looks like he's ready for preschool. :(((( 

He's not crawling yet, which we find hilariously fascinating because Lucia was standing in her own at this age and getting ready to walk. So crazy how different they are. He says bye bye and waves and says mama a lot, which he might just be saying milk. :) 

We have majorly regressed in the sleep department and are now having to re-teach him how to fall asleep on his own in his crib. No fun for anyone. 

Here are a few pictures of him this month. 

San Diego

Pete and I decided back in June I think, that we'd take Lucia to Legoland for her big Christmas present, instead of load her up with toys [as we are stuffed to the gills at home]. I watched for airfare sales, and boom, Virgin had tickets from SFO to SAN for $100 each (minus fees). BOOM, I say. So we booked those. THEN, we realized we had enough credit card points to cover two nights in this awesome hotel, and a coupon for the other two nights. BOOM. THEN, we got the car rental for a massive discount.

All of this was to say we were pretty psyched to go on our first family vacation as a foursome for FOUR days and nights for less than $1000.

And it was pretty great! The hotel was really nice, but we've concluded that we'd rather stay in a less expensive, non-resort place (like the Springhill Suites or something comparable) and get two rooms instead of one, so we can hang out when the kids go to sleep. We ended up sitting and whispering on the bathroom floor, propped up with towels and bed pillows and eating chocolate and popcorn.

Saturday we met Mary and David and the kids at Legoland! It was our first time there, and despite the scathing Trip Advisor reviews, I actually loved it and can't wait to go back. It's no Disney, but that's what makes Disney so special. It was amazing to see the things they made from legos. Lucia had a great time with the boys, and Espen thoroughly enjoyed his new stroller.

Here are a few pics from the trip. Pete has many more.

Where's that confounded Sophie?

We are very long overdue on posting. To tide you over, kindly observe Mr. Sharkteeth McBiters go through his toys intent on finding a chewy one. 

Miata repair and paint job

My car was hit twice while parked outside and no amount of wax would buff this dent out. Luck would have it so it was the same front fender being hit each time but I think the attachment points underneath was moved a millimeter or two.. 

The worst part was how the fender made cuts into my tire as I drove, and it was a terrible sound! Also since the paint on this car is so bad after many years in the hyper bright California sun and parking on San Francisco streets I decided to give it new paint also. 

Here is the new front fender, in black primer which is very thin so I decided to give it an extra layer of primer before mounting it.

Front lamps was damaged by flying debris or a rock at some point and was full of water and dust.

Front bumper assembly had to be loosened in order to access the last bolt holding the front fender in place.

Front fender is off!

New fender is on!

Mattias came out to help me with the doors. He helped me remove the mirrors and the door handles, but first he had to remove the inside door panels. Not pain free! He also helped me remove lights and was kind to collect all parts in labeled plastic bags. He is pretty awesome!

You may also notice in this picture that the lower part of the car is white-ish. Thats because while the replacement fender is completely smooth, the car's original paint has a very bumpy orange peel looking paint on the lower part. I always hated the look of this so I decided to remove it by sanding it down. Now the whole car will be smooth when it is finished.
While initially expected to be a one weekend job, this job is has blown into a big one, it has now ballooned into its 4th or 5th week, and Im still looking at another 4-5 full days of work. Which in reality means another 3-4 weeks before it is done.
The reasons for taking so long are many. More than a few problems came up during the fender repair due to the damage to the car, so instead of taking 30-40 minutes to do the swap it took something like 6-7 hours over several days.
Going over the car more closely also revealed more problems with small dents that had to be filled and sanded as well as problems with the front bumper cover which had rotten paint that had to be completely removed. Im not sure if I was misinformed or missed an important part of the information I was given but you cant just use any type of paint remover on painted plastic parts and my result was swelling plastic..
I solved these problems but it all adds up and slows me down. This last week has also been incredibly cold (for California) and has further slowed down the process because the body filler takes much longer to cure, paint takes longer to dry, and it is just plain uncomfortable, but you can work really hard without breaking a sweat!