That Part Where I Update You About Our Trip

Right. You may be waiting for an update on how our trip is going. Unfortunately, I have been -- well at least Lucia and I have been -- so incredibly jet lagged there’s not much to report. Christmas was amazing, and Pete and I channelled our twentysomething selves to hang out with his cousins until the weeeeee hours of the morning (protip: do not under any circumstances do the math to figure out how much you’re spending at a Norwegian bar. You will be horrified. Best to just realize that when you’re back in the States). So there was some recovering of that, then there was yesterday where I was awake from 2 a.m. to 11 a.m., then slept darn near the whole day. Seriously. Pete tried to wake me up from 12:30 until FOUR p.m. Good god. There went the day. Last night I had some over-the-counter dramamine to knock me out for the night. It worked - I slept until 5:30 a.m. today. Hooray!  

Lucia on the other hand has been almost as challenging to get on a schedule. She’s impossible to rouse after a nap, and cried almost entirely through dinner last night and was so grateful to get back in bed at 7:30, depsite yelling at the top of her lungs: I NOT TIRED MOMMY. Sure, kid. Sure. 

So. Today we have big plans to head to the local mall (the fancy one) and wait for it -- eat Norwegian ice cream. If you haven’t had European ice cream, lemme tell ya, it’s worth the airfare alone, seriously. So creamy and rich. I’m slightly (and less so lately, which is odd) lactose intolerant and am throwing caution to the wind today for some Hennig Olsen Cookies N’ Cream. Oh yes I am. 

I am planning on having approximately 67 cups of coffee to keep myself awake today, then am hitting the dramamine again tonight. Pete’s brother’s girlfriend might stop by later to see Lucia (and us), so that’s fun. My favorite little cafe is not open until Jan. 2, so we’ll have to do that next week. We plan on going to Fløibanen Funicular at some point, which takes you up the hill then you walk back down on this nice walkway. The weather has been super windy and stormy, so despite having our cold weather gear, wind and rain are no fun to brave the elements (in my opinion anyway), which means yet another reason to stay inside. We’re also planning on going back to Ulriken (sans Lucia) which was probably my favorite thing we did last time we were here, but we’re waiting for the weather to improve. 

We’re also heading to the Gingerbread Village at some point, which hey, Wikipedia wrote about! Check it out:

Since 1991, the people of Bergen, Norway, have built a city of gingerbread houses each year before Christmas. Named Pepperkakebyen (Norwegian for “gingerbread city”), it is claimed to be the world’s largest such city.[6] It’s free for every child under the age of 12 to make their own house with the help of their parents. In 2009, the people of Bergen were shocked when the gingerbread city was destroyed in an act of vandalism.[7]

We were there in 2009! It was indeed shocking, but it was cute anyway. A lot of the houses had been rebuilt. 

I hope to have more of an update and photos soon.

Well That Was Awkward

Despite our love of our current daycare, we've been a bit dismayed lately with how aggressive one of the other kids has been with her; i.e. pummeling her on a regular basis. While the one parent (our daycare is run by a couple) intervenes often, we've watched the other Not intervene more than often, and well, that's not good. We rehearsed and rehearsed with her one weekend to tell her the things she could say when the pummeling/aggressive behavior began, i.e. "I don't like that" or "Please stop." This way she could feel empowered rather than us intervening on her behalf. Monday arrived, and when we went to drop her off that morning, the pummeling started almost immediately in front of Pete and I. We pulled her aside and said, remember what we talked about? Remember the things you can say? And our daycare provider had a good chuckle and said, Uh, you know Lucia beats the crap out of (said kid) every day, right?

Um. Awkward. So uh, we changed our tune with Lucia to ehm, also remind her that maybe beating up said kid is uh, not the best thing to do either.

ZZantaclause

In Norway, Christmas, or God Jul (which translates to Good Jule) is celebrated on Christmas Eve. In the past when we were here, Lucia was too young to understand the concept of Santa and what-not. But this year, we knew we had to set the stage so she would 1. know what to expect and 2. be totally convinced Santa brought her gifts to Norway.

Sounds easy, but the past few weeks she's been constantly talking about Santa and how she wanted him to bring her presents to California, not Norway. I explained that because we were going to be in Norway for Christmas, Santa would be coming. And because Norway is closer to the North Pole, he'd be coming on Dec. 24 instead of the 25th.

So the 24th arrived and amidst the fog of jet lag, we managed to only have to threaten her 5-7 times earlier in the day that Santa only brings gifts to good girls who ahem, listen to their mommies and daddies. Shortly before we danced around the Christmas tree, and said goodbye to Uncle Ole Morten, who unfortunately had to "go to work." We told him we'd see him in the morning. Then we danced around the tree, ring around the rosie style, until we heard the doorbell.

IT WAS SANTA!

He arrived decked out with a very long white beard (Funniest comment of the night came from Pete, saying "Looks like a ZZ Top Christmas!") and white shaving cream all over his face to better disguise himself. Lucia immediately was curious: "What's that white stuff on his face?" I told her it was frost, since he came from the North Pole. She replied, "I don't like that." So hilarious.

Santa handed out presents to Lucia and Pete's cousins Thomas (age 5) and Ylva (age 2). They basically freaked out and then it morphed into Opening Presents Frenzy 2011, where all 13 of us lost our minds and opened our presents at once. For some gifts, I have no idea who gave us what but man it was so fun. The living room was a disaster area strewn with paper and we were all exhausted afterwards. The best part of the night, aside from ZZ Top sighting, was when Pete's grandmother, who celebrated her 90th Birthday that night, opened her new iPad and let out a huge gasp of surprise. We hope to be able to teach her to call us on Skype so she can see Lucia a bit more. After we said goodbye to Santa, Uncle Ole Morten luckily returned "from work" and was able to participate in the gift-opening frenzy. Fun!

Hope your Christmas was very Merry!

Of Course They Are

Lucia: Come see my people!
I
Me: what are they doing?

Lucia: having lunch and watching a movie!

Preschool

I was, well I guess I could speak for Pete here and say that we were, not the type of parents to get super amped up about preschool. I've heard horror stories of the application process and having to have your kid be evaluated to make sure they have the right temperament,and having to go through multiple screenings and to me anyway, it just reeked of some sorority pledging process (and I say that as a former sorority girl) with snotty teachers and even snottier parents.

Meaning: we were just not interested. Lucia was blissfully happy at her daycare, which is run by a former preschool teacher. 

But as her little mind has developed in the past few months, we've watched her be able to -- and really enjoy -- recollecting the details of her day, the previous day/night, going over the sequence of her day, and bringing more and more art projects home. It's been awesome. We also found out that the oldest kid at her daycare (who is only older by 3 weeks) was going to preschool 2 mornings a week, which meant Lucia only had little babies and a 2-year-old to hang with. Which isn't devastating, I know, but maybe not ideal for her little mind. I also have to fully disclose that I was painfully jealous of the feedback that Mary and David got about Danny, and most importantly, the feedback about things they could do at home to encourage his development. Man. I wish we had that with our daycare. It just seemed like she needed more of a push, and was maybe outgrowing her existing daycare.

So we started thinking about it. My obsessive research skills came in super handy, as I was able to narrow our search down to preschools that were 1. highly rated by other parents, 2. close by and 3. offered all-day care. With Pete's schedule being insane and me tied to my desk, a half-day/morning shuffle 2-3 days a week wouldn't work for us. The shortlist was made, and emails were sent. To our surprise, a Reggio-Emilia/Waldorf/Montessori-inspired (which makes me want to roll my eyes just writing it, I know) school was offering a tour yesterday. We brought Lucia along, and hilariously, on the drive over she declared that she loved the school (before she had seen it). Classic Lucia. 

We arrived, and were basically blown away. The place is so freaking cute; we sat on teeny chairs and watched the "acorns" which is Lucia's age group, do a sing along and learn how to sit in a circle. Apparently, impulse control is a huge deal for a three-year-old (we both nearly slapped our foreheads: so that's why we have to tell her to please be patient so often), so sitting in a circle and waiting your turn is uh, a skill they have to learn (Look, we never said we were early childhood education specialists!). We watched that for a while, then went to continue the tour but Lucia didn't want to go. She wanted to stay and watch the kids. So cute. We looked at the nap area and learned about the snack time (which is served family style with the teachers sitting at the table) and toured the "pinecones" room, which is where the 4-year-olds are. 

Then we went outside, and nearly fainted from the awesomeness. First? They have two goats and chickens that the kids get to "care" for. They have an outdoor play kitchen made of stone and wood (!), huge garden, and composting and gardening is one of the activities they do. There's a slide and an old wooden boat for the kids to play in, and other types of activities for them to get into. Lucia immediately asked, can I go play? Of course, kid. Apparently the place was designed by the owner/founder to maximize learning through movement and activity. Um. Yes. Each month they learn about a different artist or classical musician, dance, yoga, creative problem solving and making dream boxes. 

We walked back to the car grinning ear to ear. We found a preschool for her! She'll start in March and will go three days a week, and remain the other two days at her current daycare.We're thrilled, and I guess we're now those parents who care about preschool. Funny how things look different from the other side. 

Little Perfect Tree

We debated getting a tree since we won't be in town for the actual day Santa Claus arrives (which also varies by country; in Norway, since it's closer to the North Pole, they celebrate on the 24th). But people started putting trees up and I could see them in windows and was sad that we weren't. $20 later, we had our little mini tree. It's just a hair taller than Lucia, which meant she was super psyched about decorating it. The only lights we had were those horridly cool-light LEDs, so Pete ran to the store to get the warm light  LEDs, and voila. Another benefit of having a mini tree is that it was decorated in about 15 minutes. We put the huge skirt around it and the three of us put the star on together. We're getting excited for the holidays. 

Hi Daddy!

Poor Daddy has been working craaazy hours to launch his company's products, so that means Lucia and I spent a lot of time on the weekends together. This particular day, we had a mere six errands to run (!) and stopped by Starbucks to refuel. Lucia tried their oatmeal for the first time, and declared it delicious (meaning, she at the whole thing).

Thankful

Our trip to Delaware for Thanksgiving, or "back East" as they call it out here, was uh, eventful on the way. Lucia developed pinkeye literally as we flew across the country and had an allergic reaction to something she ate so her lips were gigantic and red, almost like candy lips, when we arrived. Good times. 

Still, we had such a lovely trip. Mimi, my mom, was recovering from a scary bout of pnuemonia, so we took it super easy and carefree. Pete unfortunately had to work a lot, so Lucia, Mimi and I spent a lot of time together hanging out and well, just enjoying each other. Lucia got a new doll with tons of outfits (how apropos) from Mimi and Big Papa. She named her new doll The Lucia, so she would constantly ask, where's The Lucia. One day she panicked when I put her down for a nap because she needed The Lucia to keep her safe while she slept. Ok then. 

I think one of the things she enjoyed the most was hanging out with her cousins. Aunt Kate was incredibly accomodating, providing a carseat for us to use and well, playdates with my nephews. Don't tell anyone, but I also think she really enjoyed french braiding Lucia's hair. :) 

I was able to unplug from Facebook, Twitter and incessant chatter they create and found myself blissfully unaware of what so-and-so posted about outrage/heartwarming story of the day. It was wonderful, and a lesson for me in stress management. I talked with my parents about my career plans, and Pete and I got to go out for an amazing dinner date and talked about our future plans.

All in all, it was a super relaxing, awesome vacation. Big thanks to my parents and Aunt Kate for making it so special. 

Hei/hi

Some pictures to tide you over while we unpack...

Braids

This morning when I dropped Lucia off at daycare, she clung to my leg and burst into tears. Don't go Mommy, don't go, she cried. It's been like this sometimes lately; this week with my surgery and heightened stress levels around the house, I think she's picking up on them. Anyway, Charlotte, our daycare provider's youngest daughter (who is about 10) was home from school today and offered to braid Lucia's hair. Lucia lit up like a Christmas tree at the prospect. When I picked her up tonight, she proudly showed off her braids. We took them out to leave the ponytail holders at daycare, but I redid them tonight. She loves them, as you can see and already told me 1. please don't take them out again and 2. she wanted to wear them tomorrow for her swimming lesson. Who knew braids could be so fun?

All done

Things got off to an very early start this morning and all I can say is that it went very smoothly and we are very relieved to have this surgery over and done with. We are not quite out of the woods yet, we are going back for a followup consultation next Monday afternoon to make sure things went well and are healing as it should. Thank you to all who thought of us today!

Say A Prayer?

In our never-ending and fairly heartbreaking ongoing journey to provide Little Miss with a sibling, I am having outpatient procedure tomorrow to correct Asherman's Syndrome. Please say a prayer that all goes well, and the surgery is successful.

Train Ride

We decided to take Lucia on a train ride today from Oakland to Berkeley; it's about 19 minutes and it cost $20 for all three of us. She's been so excited about trains for a while. Today didn't disappoint, though I almost missed the train after the ticket printing machine was so slow. 


Once we got on board, Lucia wouldn't stop talking about ice cream. She asked the ticket man for ice cream, and decided she was definitely having ice cream when we got to Berkeley. Mind you, she's allergic to dairy so she's never had ice cream, she's had gelato and sorbet, but whatever kid. Let's find you some "ice cream." We arrived in Berkeley and it started raining, which was a bummer for sure. We struck finding a non-dairy ice cream somethingorother, but we got her some dark chocolate covered dried strawberries and then she wanted a cookie and then 2 seconds later (and after she took 2 bites) didn't want it anymore. Sigh. 

We walked up and down the shopping district, then decided to have dinner there. We found a great Italian place and Lucia acted like a typical 3 year old, which was kinda stressful, but the food was great. After dinner we spent some time in the bookstore and this gigantic Richard Scarry book captivated her for a while. We didn't buy it for her because of the rain but I have a feeling Santa might know about it. 

That Post

We were gonna write a post that said hey, about that whole giving up the pacifier thing? Totally rocky for a few days, but now it's smooth sailing! 

Except uh, it's been anything but. Bedtime is an epic battle, ranging from 45 minutes to 2 hours to get her from rah-rock to sleeping peacefully. Despite her totally rad ladybug. She gets up between 5 and 6:30 everysinglemorning and basically refuses to go back to sleep. If she's up at 6:30 then I just let her, since I'm not going to spend 20-30 minutes wrestling her to sleep for another 20-30 minutes. She refused to nap Saturday and everyday since then, until yesterday, when she finally conked out for 2 hours. I got her to sleep by 7:40 p.m., only because I started dinner at 5:30. Seriously. 

We are hoping she continues to uh, adjust to not having her friend the pacifier and we can all get some sleep soon. Like her mama, she's a different person when she gets some sleep.  

This Morning's Events, Amended

Pete was behind me and staying back with Lucia, so I had an eye on the action. What actually happened: as I step out the front door to get our CSA box, which the people can't seem to deliver properly, we hear all this ruckus, and I wasn't sure if someone was just joking around in the echo-ey parking garage or what. But we listened closer: this woman was screaming my car my car my car! He stole my car! I ran down the hill and she said, can I use your phone to call my husband? Of course, I said. Then she tells her husband: "I've just been robbed at gunpoint. They took the car." She was badly shaken up. Several of our neighbors were on their balconies dialing 9-1-1 for her; other nearby neighbors came to help her file the police report and provide details including the license plate number of the driver who accompanied this thug. I'm so thankful this woman cried out as loud as she did to get our attention. It was terrifying, especially since we live in a very safe part of town. Not the best way to start Friday.

No shots fired atleast

It makes you a little jittery as you hear it happen, but later you are thankful that you didn't see it, that you were a little late, didn't get involved. As we came downstairs this morning we hear this woman outside scream at the top of her lungs, can't make out all the words, but I do hear "dont take my purse!" 

I stand behind holding the door and Lucia as Heather brings in a carton from outside the front door and she goes out to the sidewalk to see whats going on. A lady who lives on our street was being robbed at gunpoint. More neighbors soon came out to check and we are all very worried now. 

Apparently a young man that looked mexican, stepped out of waiting car to snatch her purse, however she put up a fight and the young man pulled out his gun. He got the purse, got back in the car where his girlfriend was driving and they were off in the direction of the freeway or Oakland downtown. Fortunately, one of the neighbors got the license plate number of the car and I'm hopeful that the police is able to find these criminals soon.
It boggles my mind how it is possible to wake up in the morning and decide that you have to go out and rob people going to work.

Faci Pairy

Welp. 

Tonight's the night. The Pacifier Fairy, who Lucia billed as the Faci Pairy yesterday, is coming tonight. As a general principle, we tend to explain sequence(s) of events for Lucia constantly; we find it really helps her know what to expect and to help alleviate potential anxiety (which she doesn't exhibit necessarily, we're just being cautious). So. We had the basic principle of the Paci Fairy Faci Pairy: she leaves her pacifiers in a package on the front doorstep, the next morning there's a present. But in order to make it even more of a super big deal for her, we created some extra steps so she can really get into it. Truth be told, these are mostly for me too, since I'm scared to give up the pacifier given how disastrous it was back in January. Without further ado, here are the steps. 

1. Identify all pacifier hiding places and gather them into one location. 
2. Have Lucia participate in washing the pacifiers for the babies they're going to. 
3. Kiss each pacifier goodbye. Lucia told me this morning it was probably important to also make sure "they" had enough milk. Not sure I follow, but I like that she's on board with making the pacifiers comfortable for their journey to the babies who really need them under our bed, then eventually the trash. 
4. Dry the pacis. 
5. Place them in a ziploc bag. 
6. Put the bag in the box. 
7. Wrap the box with paper. 
8. Put ribbons all over the box. 
9. Write the Paci Fairy Faci Pairy a note telling her these are just for the babies and that Lucia is a big girl and doesn't need them anymore. 
10. Put the package on the doorstep and say goodbye to the package. 

When she wakes up tomorrow, we'll have this for her and a note from the Faci Pairy telling her thank you so much for the pacis for the babies! We'll celebrate her being a big girl and having a new way to go to sleep. I also rearranged her bedroom slightly last night so that it won't feel so strange without it; it's like we're weaning a smoker, you know? If they constantly smoked while sitting in a certain place, change that place so it's not available. 

I'm nervous. Not just because of how this went in the past, but also because of the uncertainty of the ability to have another baby (a subject for another post). Also, because welp, she's growing up. This is pretty much the last thing we'll say goodbye to about having a baby. She's our big girl. 

Wish us luck! 

iPhone case milestone achieved!

Today we finally achieved a major manufacturing milestone, the first prototype cases are now being machined but it has been a long road with many obstacles and delays making todays events very gratifying. The machining is done in a milling machine that is controlled by a computer that receives data from the computer model I have developed, and we are now engaged in the process of fine tuning the tool's cut paths to make sure the aluminum and the plastic band go together precisely fits snuggly around the phone.

Art Center Car Classics 2011

Finally a weekend all to myself. I can't remember exactly last time I had a weekend without company of any sort and it was a nice break. I stayed with David out in Venice and I am super grateful for his hospitality. He lent me the sofa and the keys to the Jetta. I was also struck by how nice that part of LA is, just a great neighborhood.
I came down to LA to go to the annual car show at Art Center where I went to school a few years ago. This car show is not like any other, its quite unique. Most car shows are either centered around new and coming cars, or vintage classics, or race cars, or hot rods, which are all exciting on their own, but the show at Art Center tends to bring the best and most significant and unique cars from all these genres together in one show. Usually there are other vehicles as well such as aircrafts and motor cycles, but I have also seen u-boats and spacecrafts there. This year was no exception with a very cool amphibious plane on display and although Jay Leno and Chip Foose was not there I met up with old friends and caught up on the latest.
I now have several hundred photos and videos to go through but in the mean time here are a few pictures from the show:

The impressive new concept car from Cadillac: "Ciel"

Very rare Ferrari #1 

Very rare Ferrari #2

Two

Two Earthquakes in one day. DISLIKE. Both were around the same size, I was at work for the first one and at home for the second. The second was exponentially scarier due to being at home with Lucia. I yelled to Pete GET LUCIA! GET LUCIA! Terrifying. California is so wonderful in so many ways -- this is not one of them. 

It's in the Eyes

Tonight Lucia looked up at me as we rah-rocked and asked, are your eyes brown? I said yes, and yours are blue, just like Daddy's. And Daddy got his from Ninny. So it went from Ninny to Daddy to you. She thought about that for a minute, and then said, so Big Poppa's eyes are brown? 

Smart girl. I told her Big Poppa's eyes were blue. I have my mom's eye color and my dad's eye shape, I think. Sometime I'll tell her about my dad. 

The Sweet Phase

Last night as I burst through the door, annoyed with myself for not using the restroom before I left the office, missed my bus and had to walk the 7 blocks from the other bus stop, I ran into the bathroom as fast as I could and skipped hellos and kisses. Lucia followed me, looked at me and said slowly, Mommy, I was missin you today. I told her I miss her every day. She asked if sometime could I stay home with her? I said maybe sometime.

This morning I sat across from her instead of next to her, and she asked nicely if I could please come and sit with her so we could hold hands while she ate her breakfast. 

This kid, I tell you. Makes my heart grow three sizes every day. 

Fimming

Now. You should probably know this about me: I am unable to take group classes, of any kind. Some psychotic switch flips in my head and I MUST. BEAT. EVERYONE. Even though it's not necessarily a competition (say, in yoga). And the most hilarious part is, I envision myself as the total badass of the group, and in reality, most times? I'm anything but. I've tested this countless times. Hip hop class most recently: in my head: I AM AN ACCOMPLISHED HIP HOP DANCER WITH SERIOUS MOVES. Reality: so very, very uncoordinated and unable to keep up with most of the moves.

You need to know this to understand how I approached swimming lessons, or as Lucia calls them, FIMMING lessons. Poor thing: in Norwegian it's pronounced SVIMMING so she's just incorporated both to make it FIMMING.

Kicking and Me Acting Like She's Won a Gold Medal. Which? Maybe still possible?

After watching her sink like a stone (and I mean, stone) this summer in our friend's (unheated) hot tub, we decided swim lessons were a MUST. We picked a hardcore swim school because we wanted her to learn to swim, not kick the crap out of another kid or squirt water in eyes and stuff. Those things can be learned for free, yo.

So along comes one of those coupon sites with -- get this! -- half off for one month of lessons at the very place we had selected. Freaking yes. PURCHASED. We go to a family swim one Sunday to make sure we like the place and before we went swimming that day, we headed over to the front desk to register her for classes. Naturally, Insane Overachieving Heather takes over and when asked what level I think she's at, "Perhaps the Tadpoles to start?" I guffawed. "Tadpoles. No, I think she's more like an advanced beginner." We finished signing up and then proceeded to the family swim area.

Only problem is, as soon as we walked into the pool area, Lucia burst into tears and proceeded to give me the death grip on the shoulders. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO she screamed! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I DON WANNA GO FIMMING!

Ok then. So maybe the Tadpoles class will be just fine?

Since then, we've taken about 8 lessons with the Tadpoles class. Our first class went really well, and the teacher told us she was doing great and should be able to proceed up to the next level really quickly. Unfortunately, that teacher wasn't our teacher the next week. Or the week after that. When my parents were visiting, the teacher that week was training another teacher, who apparently Lucia hated. As luck would have it, he became the permanent teacher for our timeslot. Being a new teacher, he doesn't possess the confidence that other teachers do, and Lucia has basically no tolerance for that. It's like she's saying there's no way I'm swimming fimming to that guy; he has no idea what's he's doing. Which may be a fair point, kid.

Back before the other teacher took over

Learning how to get out of the water

Learning that it's OK to get your ears wet

Since then, Lucia's "skills" have stagnated, and I want to say even regressed. This is hard for Insane Overachieving Heather to admit. But it's true. She doesn't want to do "balloon cheeks" and she will barely kick with me. When we went up to Tahoe for the wedding I took her swimming fimming and she let go from the side of the pool and again, sank like a stone. THAT, friends, is the stuff nightmares are made of. (Sidenote: we got her a lifejacket for her birthday).

So we needed to take action. We told the front desk peeps that she didn't like her teacher, and wondered if there was a teacher that all the kids loved. The answer was Selma, and she's French. Having known some French women, I know they are no nonsense. PERFECT. We switched timeslots and had our first lesson Saturday. She was firm and much more confident and well, no nonsense than the other teacher. We're here to learn how to swim, not play in the water. Lucia did much better on Saturday and we praised the heck out of her repeatedly all day. I reminded her throughout the day how proud I was of her. I mean, we went all out. Lucia had a makeup lesson today with Selma (just a one-on-one) and apparently Selma is using some creative tricks to get Lucia to go under the water, since I'm pretty sure I ruined 1-2-3 balloon cheeks when trying to get her to do in Tahoe. We're thankfully back on tracking with swimming fimming lessons and hope she continues to make progress. We have just 6 months to go until summer!

Suggestions please?

We need suggestions for a special present that um, the Pacifier Fairy can bring Lucia. We've thought about a tricycle, but honestly we don't have the space and we live in a very hilly neighborhood. She has a dollhouse. She has movies. We're trying to think of something special and NEW that she will use for a while and really love. HALP! 

Out of gas - electric only

I managed to run the Prius out of fuel on my way to pick up Lucia from daycare. I had about 1 mile left and had been going up a pretty long hill when it happened just about 300ft from the top. I made it there and coasted down the other side, regenerating as much as I could but as I merged with the freeway it was jammed so I had to slow down to a crawl. Ironically the Prius looses energy standing still so that was less than ideal, but it was downhill. I knew there was a gas station past the Daycare and decided to give it a try. This gas station is located at the bottom of a long steep hill so I knew if I could make it to the crest of this hill I would be saved. As the exit neared, traffic sped up and I gained momentum and confidence. Unfortunately there was an intersection with a stop sign I had to go through, I had to break but there was no cars so I decided to sail through and started the last 500m/1500ft slightly uphill section before the big downhill with only one (1) bar left on the battery indicator. It wasnt enough. With only 200m(600ft) left the electric motor gave out and I came to a stop. I called the daycare and Nick showed up minutes later with a can of gas. I am so thankful for his assistance and with a few drops in the tank I made it:

It was a great learning experience though. The Prius actually has a lot less electric energy available than I imagined. It functions a lot like the KERS system known in Formula 1 and is designed to give you a boost, but not run the car over longer distances. I believe there was a lot more energy in the batteries but perhaps the electronic systems kept me from accessing these. That said I'm super happy I was able to go as far as I did, with a regular car I would have had no few options than to stop the car where it ran out, with the Prius the extra battery presented a lot of options as where to eventually stop the car. 

Sketching

I have been using a program on the Mac called Sketch Book Pro for years. It is a pretty awesome sketching program when used with Wacom tablet. I downloaded the free version for the iPad to check it out but was disappointed to see that the iPad screen is way too coarse and doesn't register pressure or pen angle like the Wacom does. Lucia loves it though and has figured out how to change the colors, and she handles the little pen with a lot of enthusiasm without any risk of putting additional color on furniture, clothes etc.

Not Sure Where She Gets This Stuff

Actual conversation in the bathroom this morning, shortly before Lucia told me in detail about her morning poo. 

Lucia: Mommy I'm going on a bicy-cycle today to Sacramento. I'm going by myself. You can come wif me if you want; you can ride on da back.

Me: Ok. Are you going to be home for dinner?

Lucia: No. You're coming with me to Sacramento. 

Me: Ok?

Cold Weather Gear

We're gearing up for our trip to Delaware next month and Norway for Christmas. Behold Lucia's new snowsuit (my mom is totally drooling over the leopard print)

And accompanying boots! I've been obsessively paying attention to the sales for this stuff. Next up, mittens and a hat. Lucia's head is gigantic so she's outgrown almost all of her hats.

Team Hansen Goes Camping

Believe it or not! We were asked to go camping with three other families, and we thought, hmm, that sounds interesting. Eddie's mom, Lauren, spearheaded the efforts to get us organized, divvy up gear and meal assignments and select a campsite. As the weekend drew closer, we thought about backing out because well, we didn't have the best week and thought about just snuggling on the couch. But we decided to go anyway, and boy are we glad we did.

We arrived much later Friday night than anticipated due to the very unfortunate coincidence of renting camping gear from the store that is directly across from our beloved Crissy Field in SF, which happened to be hosting the Blue Angels. Poor Pete got stuck in horrendous traffic. We got there at 9 at night, and Lucia was pretty disoriented and more than a little terrified of our surroundings. Also? Running a fever. All around awesomeness. We got to bed, and froze our butts off but snuggled Lucia in between us so she'd get warm. I forgot pillows so um, we kinda slept terribly. And Lucia would periodically cry out in the middle of the night. Couple that with three other families basically experiencing the same thing, and you have four sets of very tired parents on the start of Day 1. Gah. We sat around the fire (it was chilly up there!) and grilled hot dogs for lunch, took the kids on walks, and just hung out talking a lot. It was awesome. 

Our friend (and amazing photographer!) Annie had to leave the end of Day 1, so she loaned us her sleeping bags and pillows. Night 2 = so much more restful. This morning Pete and I made breakfast (sausages with potatoes, peppers and onions - yum!). Lauren took Lucia and Eddie on a walk afterwards, where she asked Lucia if she wanted to sit on the bench and rest, and Lucia answered that "benches are for old people." So hilarious. I have no idea where she got that. Kids are funny. Pete and I took them out again and saw a real live baby snake sunning itself on the road. The kids were intrigued. 

Lucia didn't try a s'more but she managed to eat tons of dark chocolate from a sampler we brought. She did learn how to pee in the dirt - important life lesson! 

We are so grateful for amazing friends that we can just bliss out with. It was a much needed weekend of soaking in lots of love and easygoing times. Like I said, we're grateful. And we cannot wait to go camping again. So. Fun.


Here are just a few pictures. We'll have more up on Frogstar soon.

Lucia, Eddie and Delilah

Justin teaching Eddie to start a fire

Me lovin on Charli with Lucia and Eddie

Me looking unusually serious with the Perkins Fam in the background

Lucia and Allie getting snacks from Justin AKA Snack Santa Claus

Annie helping Lucia with her pancake

Me trying to get us warmed up

Soon

Soon! So soon! It's happening very very soon! The Paci Fairy will come to collect all of Lucia's pacifiers to take them to babies because babies really need them and in fact, Lucia is now three so she doesn't need them anymore. And then the fairy will leave her a special present to thank her for being such a big girl and giving away her pacifiers. Or so we tell her, often. We're thinking of sometime in November, so Thanksgiving we're not having to frantically FIND THE PACI I NEED MY PACI when we travel. Everytime we talk about our trip to Norway (at Christmas), she pipes up about the Paci Fairy, so I think she might be ready. The question of course, is are we? ;)

Checking out South Lake Tahoe

We went for a little walk after breakfast this morning and found a new pair of sunglasses in a shop near "The Village". This is a small downtown area of South Lake Tahoe thats a little touristy and sits between the big hotels and the ski lift. Her old sunglasses are scratched pretty badly and she didn't like wearing them any longer. These also look a bit more classy I think.

Tahoe!

We are on our way home from a short but very fun trip to South Lake Tahoe for our friends Charles and Laura's wedding. Little miss could not have looked cuter. More pictures and details to come!

A taste of what's to come

Last night I rocked Lucia before bedtime: she cradled her head against
my chest and snuggled up against me, chest to chest. All of the
sudden, she sprang up, got on her knees facing me and hooked one

finger in each cheek and made this face.

We both giggled a lot. It was so awesome. That kid. I think age 3 will
be entertaining.

Bootsy

The cuteness!

Lucias is 3!

We celebrated her birthday yesterday, in the rain. Yes. We were completely surprised and unprepared for such an extreme anomaly. We are so thankful for all our friends who showed up anyway despite the weather and hard to find location.