The Kremer Family

Downtown Living

2010-08-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

So we've moved to Downtown LA...temporarily. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on how you look at it) we had to abandon our house. For months we noticed the floors in our kitchen starting to warp. Nothing major. It just looked like water had spilled on it. Nothing a little drying out wouldn't fix. Then we came home from our vacation in Hawaii (will upload pics in another post) to the floor buckling. Now it was time to worry. A few more weeks pass and the floors were progressively getting worse.

After the leak was detected and fixed, our general contractor had to rip out the floors to dry the sub-flooring. It took a whole week with dryers and dehumidifiers.

My poor kitchen was sick and contained from the rest of the house. Too bad we didn't have advance warning that we wouldn't be able to access the kitchen when we came home. All our food was zoned off. Then the kitchen was entirely deconstructed. The countertops were lifted and cabinets removed.

Onward and upward. We decided we couldn't keep eating frozen meals in the game room kitchenette. Glad to have one, but I miss the convenience small things like an oven or even a toaster oven. I miss being able to make food on the stove top. We were able to make do with my little George Forman grill and microwave. We looked into temporary housing and narrowed our choices down. We found a cool place centrally located in the heart of Hollywood right at Hollywood and Highland. The place was new, clean and nice. The area...well it's Hollywood. It's crowded and at times can be a little sketchy. The other place we found was in Downtown LA. The thought of living downtown was very attractive so we decided to make a go of it.

We signed a one month lease at 1010 Wilshire. It's cool, chic and has the most incredible views. I walk three blocks to the subway and then three stops to Union Station where I aboard my train. It's kind of fun. We haven't gotten out just yet, but we're working on it. We have been able to swim at the rooftop pool. Nighttime at the pool is even more spectacular. One of these nights, we'll have to make it up there.

Muah to the Rice Family

2010-06-06T01:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had this conversation with Izzy.

Isabella: Mommy, I want to swim in Asher's pool. Can we go to Asher's house to swim?
Me: Asher lives far away. We'd have to take a plane to get there. But maybe we can go to Chris' house in Palm Springs.

Then today she says this:

Isabella: Mommy, I miss Asher. Can we go to see him?
Me: I miss him too.

Isabella: We would have to ride a plane, right?
Me: Yes

Isabella: They live far away, right mommy?
Me: Yes

Isabella: Where do they live?
Me: [hmm...] Massachusetts

Isabella: [confused look on her face]

Izzy and Ethan. Ethan and Eli. Izzy, Ethan and Eli.

2010-06-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

We are so lucky to have three great kids. I fall in love with them when I see them play together and genuinely love each other. It's so special and I hope they continue it through adulthood (a mother can only wish).

I was driving Izzy and Eli around on one of my many errands around town and she says to me, "Mommy, I miss Ethan. I love Ethan. I love it when I chase Ethan. And I love it when Ethan chases me." Seriously? How sweet is that?

Yes, there are days when I want to leave them in a store, park or restaurant, but for the most part they are the best things ever to come into our lives. We are fortunate.

One weekend Ed was out of town and I popped in a movie to give me some down time. I look over at the kids and they are in the zone.

Twenty minutes later they are laughing hysterically. I look over and Ethan is trying to kiss Izzy and she plays keep away.

But he finally lands one.

These are pictures from today.

It takes some coaxing to get a group picture, especially from Izzy

They got serious

But it only lasted a moment. Notice how terrified Eli looks.
This is only the beginning.

All About Eli

2010-06-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

Eli is now 11 weeks old. He's a sweet baby. He's definitely a cross between Izzy and Ethan. He's lanky like Isabella with a sweetness like Ethan. On the Kremer baby easiness-scale I'd rank him #2 after Ethan. Izzy was the most difficult because she was our first and she was a bit fussy.

At his two month appointment (on May 19, 2010) his stats were:

Weight: 10 lbs and 14 oz (31st percentile for boys his age)
Height: 22" (18th percentile)

So he's a little more like Ethan with his stats relative to other babies. The only concerns we've had to date is his constant spitting up. He's a spitter. We believe he has reflux, but so far it isn't detrimental to his health. You definitely have to protect yourself around him.

Eli has the cutest dimples; one is more pronounced then the other. He is a spitting image of Ed - it's really unbelievable. I feel like I'm looking at Ed. See for yourself.

Eli at a whopping two hours old...

These pictures were taken when he was only about four to five days old...

At 2 weeks old...

At 3 weeks old...

His first bath

At 5 weeks old...

At 7 weeks old...

At 8 weeks old...

(He is a spitter as you can see in these pictures)

At 9 weeks old...

And today at 11 weeks old...

All About Isabella

2010-06-05T00:40:00.000-07:00

While on my maternity leave I keep the baby and one of the kids home with me while the other attends daycare. Izzy usually goes three days a week and Ethan goes the other two days. This way I get some time with each and they also have time with other kids. It's been great. Isabella has grown so much. She still has her moments, but overall she's been such a great help to me. I can't imagine having three small kids without her helping hand.

Every Thursday the Grove does event for kids. I've taken Isabella several times. We brought a picnic and set up. It was a nice day. We finished off the day with a Pink Berry (that's my bribe to do a little shopping).

We went to go visit my mom and dads. My dad is quite the gardener. They grow everything from kale, peaches, figs, bell peppers, grapes, plums....to blueberries and raspberries (these are new). Izzy saw them and got really excited.

I took the Izzy and Eli to Santa Monica. The weather was perfect. We did some window shopping and picked up a sandwich, salad and some edamame and setup a picnic on a park bench in front of the ocean. It was nice.

And of course, Izzy had to have an ice cream cone.
This is after she already ate half of it. I refrained to "try" to get back into shape.

One day I was preparing my dinner and I look up and see Isabella feeding Ethan.

All About Ethan

2010-06-05T00:15:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Ethan, he's such a delight. His daycare always tells us how much they love Ethan and wish they had 10 more of him. He is such an easy-going kid. He has an adorable laugh and smile. It just lights up your day. I don't have nearly as many pictures of Ethan because he's going through this phase of not sitting still long enough to take pictures. But on the flip side he takes pretty good pictures.

The other day I caught Ethan playing with Isabella's doll. He was giving it hugs and gives it kisses. It was so sweet. I captured it on camera!! Enjoy.

Other random pictures:

And more videos:

Ethan and Eli

2010-06-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have asked how Ethan has been around Eli. Ethan is a little lover. Most of the time he's a great big brother. He tries to put the pacifier in Eli's mouth when he's crying. He'll cover him up with a blanket. Occasionally he'll have a meltdown but it's more about needing attention than being jealous of Eli. The only little thing is Ethan likes to poke right now. So he tries to poke Eli's face, eye or other body part with his finger and say "baby." He loves giving head kisses as you'll see in the pics below.

Welcome Baby Elijah

2010-05-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

Elijah Jakob
March 19, 2010 at 7:47 pm
7 lbs 5 oz and 18.5 inches

Yes, this is well overdue, but what can you say I'm a mother to three! My last post was written on the morning Elijah was born. We scheduled an induction, as we did with Ethan, to avoid going into labor in LA traffic (as our hospital is in Orange County, a good 70 miles away). Ethan was delivered three hours after the pitocin entered my body so we knew I experience quick deliveries.

Feeling guilty about the induction and forcibly rushing the baby out before he's good and ready I told Ed that I wanted to feel some of the contractions to not completely rob myself of the whole birthing experience. After the nurses hooked up my IV and started me on pitocin I began to have contractions. At first they were a good 5 minutes apart. The pain threshold was a 3, but grew within the hour. By two hours I was feeling discomfort. The nurse was entering in my paperwork. It seemed to take hours. In that time, the pain went from 5 to 10!!! I told the nurse to please get the anesthesiologist. Apparently you can have an epidural at anytime as long as you can sit still. Great, get me the doctor. The pain was so unbearable. I was surprised how quickly it was came on. I hadn't taken a labor class since Izzy almost four years ago so I had forgotten about all the breathing techniques to get you through the pain. I started to think about all those mothers that chose to deliver naturally and thought...why!!! Give me the f'in drugs already. Where's that anesthesiologist?

After about twenty more minutes he finally arrived. I almost couldn't sit through it. My body was so stiff trying to keep myself still. The drugs couldn't seem to enter my body fast enough. I had to take additional hits of the stuff. Twenty minutes later the nurses finally decide to check my cervix and wouldn't you know I was dilated to 10 centimeters and the baby's head was down in position. I was going to have the baby. Good god, I almost had this baby without drugs! Three and a half pushes later and Elijah (Eli) was born.

Video: Ethan's Walking!

2010-03-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

Yeah, finally the day has come. He's been slow to walk, but he's finally doing it. It seems like he's catching up in all areas. Suddenly, he's also much more talkative.

Other pics from a play date with a friend from work.

This is her and her son. She just had a baby girl six weeks ago. Doesn't she look amazing???

Video: Ethan Loves Bananas

2010-03-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

Ethan loves eating bananas. He's such a little piggy.

Protective Big Sis

2010-03-19T10:23:00.001-07:00

It's March and 80 degrees outside so we took the kids to Griffith Park last weekend. The kids were playing in the sand with some other kids sand toys.

A little boy was coming over to take back his sand toys and look at Isabella's reaction. It was the cutest thing. I'm not sure what she was thinking he was going to do, but her natural instinct was to protect her little brother. It was so sweet.

President's Day Play Date

2010-03-19T10:01:00.001-07:00

I took the day off of work to take care of the kids on President's Day. A friends from my mom's group invited us to a play date at the Little Barn in Downtown LA. Cute little place, emphasis on little (I didn't take any pics of the main room). But it's enough for my kids. Izzy loved the ball room and slowly built up enough courage to jump in.

PS. Occasionally the Little Barn sends out emails about openings on the weekends. Most indoor playgrounds are closed over the weekends to accommodate for private parties. This is such an annoyance to us working parents that want to take kids out on a rainy day or if you have a little one that's just learning to walk. We need more indoor play spaces open on the weekends!

Note to self: when you have two little kids eating ice cream it works out a lot better if they get the same thing. Izzy got Dreyer's Dibs and Nate got an ice cream cone. As you can see in the picture they ended up switching and wanting to switch several times.

Valentine's Day

2010-03-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

Izzy helped me make some sugar cookies. Note to self: put dough in the refrigerator overnight to harden. I put it in for only an hour and kept having to add flour so they became more like shortbread. Good thing I made a huge batch and only botched one small section.

Don't know what's up with Izzy's smile. She was like that in several pictures.

PS. Don't you love our matching aprons. I found them at Anthropologie. I love that store.

It was such a beautiful day we took the kids to Malibu to enjoy a little outdoor play.

Ethan's Big Boy Room

2010-03-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

In preparation for the new baby, we purchased Ethan's new big boy furniture a little early. He still sleeps in the crib and I anticipate it will be a while before he makes the switch to his big boy bed. Ed couldn't help himself with the furniture. He's had his eye on this set for years before even having a boy. So when we found the set through Craigslist we had to jump on it.

Birthday Parties

2010-03-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

We went to celebrate a few friends birthdays. First was Rebecca...er...I mean Sleeping Beauty. Isabella still refers to her as Sleeping Beauty.

Then we celebrated Nathan's birthday at the Westwood Park. Even though it's across town, I love that park.

Isabella and Rebecca (at Nate's birthday she was Tinker Bell, but Izzy kept calling her Sleeping Beauty, lol.)

Ringing in the New Year - Hello 2010

2010-03-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

Ed and I went to a neighbors house for New Years. That's the best kind of set up. Two houses over. No driving. Love it.

For New Year's weekend we spent it with Merah and Chris in Chris' fabulous Palm Springs pad. The weather was perfect. We even got in the pool.

We took the kids to the Living Desert in Palm Desert. It was awesome and the weather was just perfect for it. Isabella saw the giraffes and said, "Mommy, look it's Melman. But he doesn't talk."

Talk about wild life, Ed and I were watching the ostrich and noticed some weird behavior. One of the ostrich was fan his wings side to side. I thought he was dancing. He did it for a few minutes and then jumped on another ostrich! We saw them fornicate!!! Ewwww....Wasn't quite fast enough to capture it with the camera. It probably would have been too graphic anyhow. If you look closely, you'll see a cig in the ostrich's mouth...just kidding.

We were surprised at how brave Isabella was to pet the goats considering how she freaked out with Susan and Michael's dog (we still feel pretty bad about that. Sorry Susan and Michael for putting your dog outside).

Christmas 2009

2010-03-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

Better late than never right? Yes, it is March and I'm only now posting pics from Christmas at the Kremer resident.

We hosted another Christmas...blah blah blah...enjoy the pics.

It was hysterical when Merah, Jack and Chris drove up. They had to drive across LA with the top down and the heater blowing full blast to fit all the presents in the car.

I think everyone scored this year. You would never have guessed the economy has fallen by the looks of all the nice gifts.

And now the presents...Isabella really enjoyed Christmas this year. She loved opening up the gifts and immediately played with every single gift. There was not one gift she didn't enjoy.

For the past few years, we have been exchanging wish lists for Christmas to make shopping a little easier. Jack had several games on his list. Oddly enough he got two games that weren't on his list. But the best present had to be the Snuggie.

Izzy got a ton of dress-up and pretend play food. She loves, loves, loves them all.

We didn't go big the last few years for Isabella because she was so little what could she possibly need. So this year we splurged and bought her a cute, pink kitchen. The boys did a fine job assembling it while maintaining their sanity.

Christmas at Daycare

2010-01-15T01:02:00.000-08:00

I had to miss out on the Christmas party at the kids daycare, but I sent Ed with the camera. It sounded like a fun time with the Russian elf? Ed said he could hardly understand what he was saying. If only Ed knew how to take video's I could hear for myself. Isabella had a great time being the Russian Elf's assistant in all the tricks.

Isabella's Dance Class

2010-01-14T21:48:00.000-08:00

We've been taking Isabella to Creation Station in Studio City for a few months now. We absolutely love it, despite the early Saturday morning wake up call. It took us nearly a year to get in to this place. I tested another place before getting into Creation Station and this one rocks! The parents are not allowed in the dance rooms, but we have small one-way windows to watch our kids. It is perfect. At the other dance place, they had the parents in the room and and kids couldn't detach themselves from the parents. It was such a nightmare.

Right before Halloween and Christmas the kids do a mini recital. Here's pics from the recent recital.

Dance Recital Part 1

Part 2

After each session the girls all get a stamp or sticker on the hands.

After dance class we took the kids out to breakfast.

(And yes, Isabella is still a mama's girl)

It still amazes me how the kids look so much alike. They are so yummy. I'm such a proud mama.

Thanksgiving Week

2010-01-14T21:32:00.000-08:00

Ed's parents came over for Thanksgiving week. And boy are we thankful. During our days off we got so much accomplished. After moving out to LA almost two years ago and living through a remodel, we've finally unpacked the garage. I finally found my long lost boxes of shoes and purses. And guess what? I ended up donated 3/4 of them to Goodwill. It was good to clean out the garage and purge of stuff we didn't need anymore. We now can fit one car in the garage. We still have a few boxes to unpack, but we're getting there.

We took the kids out and of course Isabella insisted we do the "train, pony ride and then park." So we did.

Caught red handed! I was wondering why the sudden change in Isabella's attitude!

This winter really marked a turning point with Isabella. There used to be some tension with Isabella and both sets of grandparents. By the end of this trip, Isabella learned to have fun with her grandparents. It was really sweet to watch her play with them.

Ethan's a bruiser

2010-01-14T21:16:00.000-08:00

Last December was Ethan's 15 month appointment. I couldn't go so Ed took him on his own (a first for either kids).

15th month stats:
Height: 30 inches, 15th percentile
Weight: 23.1 lbs, 27th percentile

Doctor: So, is Ethan walking yet?
Ed: Nope

Doctor: Is he saying five or more words?
Ed: Um...he says "mama", "dada" and "hi"...so uh nope

Doctor: Is he drinking from a sippy cup?
Ed: Nope

Doctor: Has he been introduced to utensils, like fork and spoon yet?
Ed: Nope

Doctor: Well...don't worry. He'll pick it up soon.

The good news is he's healthy, happy and he's proportionate. Though he still looks like a bruiser, he's actually pretty small for his age. Speaking of bruiser, Ed picked up Ethan from school one day and was livid when he saw Ethan.

Apparently Ethan was playing with something and it fell on his face? Not sure all the details, but Ed was pissed off and let them know. But look at what a trooper he is! If he's in pain, he hardly ever lets you know it.

Train, pony and then park

2010-01-14T21:06:00.000-08:00

Ed took Isabella out on a little father-daughter excursion. We both decided we wanted to see how she'd take to a pony ride. In the car Isabella says, "okay daddy, we go on the train first, then pony ride and then the park. Okay?"

She loved the pony ride. Now she asks if we can do the "train, pony and then park."

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T23:29:00.001-08:00

After the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival Izzy was all about painting pumpkins. So we bought a few small ones for her to paint with Grandma Sunny. And then I carved a few for Ed and I (mainly to roast - for recipes see below).

The kids daycare throws a Halloween part for the kids and parents. Ed went on our behalf as I was stuck in commuter's h_ll. Izzy dressed up as a fairy. Her costume was still a little too big. Ethan was a monkey. It was too hot at daycare to wear the costume for more than five minutes.

Ed recaps the day and describes the funniest thing and I'm so happy he captured it on film. Apparently, Izzy was asking other kids for their lollipops. One of the boys, Keanan, let her suck on his lollipop. Uh...maybe this is how our kids come home with colds.

Halloween night we went trick-or-treating down the street off of Beachwood Drive. It was great. It is the place to trick-or-treat. The houses were decked out. There were three haunted houses on the street and several wine stations for the parents. One of the neighbors setup a caricature station. It was pretty cool. The rumor is Bill Pullman lives at the end of the street and throws a mean haunted house. At the end of the street we did go through a well-done haunted house, but I can't confirm it was Bill Pullman's. I did find a LA Times article with him that does link him to our neighborhood.

I found a few recipes for pumpkin seeds. What I've read is to get crunchy seeds it's all about drying the seeds. First I started by boiling the seeds in salt water to infuse the seeds for a consistent salty taste. Then I followed Martha Stewart's directions for slow roasting to dry out the seeds before seasoning. I roasted at 250 degrees for a little more than an hour. After turning off the oven, I left them in their overnight. The next day I followed Martha's Sweet and Spicy recipe (but added about 1/4 tsp of cayenne for a little more kick). There are so many different variations to make, but I love the sweet and spicy. They came up very crunchy, but I didn't have anything to compare it to. So next year I'll experiment to see if boiling or not makes a difference and if drying the seeds slowly at a low temperature makes for a crunchier seed.

Ethan's Mop

2009-11-02T23:28:00.001-08:00

Ed is insistent that we don't cut Ethan's hair. It's getting long, curly and out of control. When he gets hot, the hair gets even curlier! The curls are adorable, but the long mop on his head is not so cute. I will cut it this weekend with or without Ed's consent because I just can't stand it any longer. And I believe Ethan will thank me one day.

Even Ethan looks pissed off about his hair.

Like father like son.

Calabasas Pumpkin Festival

2009-11-02T23:27:00.001-08:00

We took the kids to the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival. It was awesome. Definitely worth traveling out the 30 miles for this free event! They had bouncy houses and slides that were free for the kids. The only downside to the entire trip was the 100 degree weather!!! It was blistering hot, but thankfully we had a nice breeze.

My favorite part was the corn on the cob. We each had one. And they even gave Isabella one for free since she was enjoying ours so much. As we were eating our corn on the cob, Rainn Wilson stood in line for the infamous corn. No pictures of us eating the corn. Too good to break the mood with pics.

Franklin Canyon Park

2009-11-02T23:26:00.001-08:00

I grew up in Orange County near the Ralph B Clark Park, formerly Los Coyotes Park. It's a huge park with several playgrounds, grassy areas and ponds with ducks. I fond memories of feeding the ducks and wanted my kids to experience the same thing. I looked up nearby parks with lakes/ponds and found one not too far away.

Franklin Canyon Park is at the north end of Beverly Hills. What a surprising spot. It's nothing like the other parks in LA. It promotes the back-to-nature feel. There's plenty of parking. There aren't any playgrounds. It's more of grassy areas, hiking trails and ponds. The entire area surrounds a beautiful reservoir. And I found my ducks. We brought some stale bread with us not knowing we were not allowed to feed the ducks. Oops. They seemed used to the feeding so I assume others must have done the same, even with the signs everywhere.

Ethan starting "roaring" a while ago, but hanging out the ducks I noticed he sounds more like them than a lion.

Isabella's Birthday - Part 2

2009-11-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

Isabella is very much into tea parties and playing pretend so it only made sense to throw her a dress up tea party. I found a company online that hosts tea parties in your own home. They take care of everything: invitations, catering, decorations, setup, hosting and clean up. It was perfect. Chic Partea serves the Orange County/Los Angeles area. Check them out. They are reasonably priced for all that they provide. I highly recommend it. It was hassle-free for me.

The Invitation

The Setup

We decided to use the game room which is on the bottom floor of the house, which is down three flights of stairs. With all the up and down to let in the guest, I was getting tired and winded. I had purchased a box of rose pedals so I wrote a note on the door and created a path of rose pedals down to the game room. It worked out perfect and I was in good shape to greet our guests.

Dressing Up

Tea Time

The funniest thing happened during the Happy Birthday song. Isabella's BFF, Sacha, sat next to Isabella during tea time. When the cake was brought out we all sang happy birthday. Just before the birthday girl can blow out her candles, Sacha blows them out. We all kind of laughed. Isabella turns to Sacha and says, "Sacha! It's not your cake!" Then all the kids started telling Sacha it wasn't his cake to blow out the candles. It was hilarious. I captured the entire birthday song, but turned it off for the reaction. Too bad.

Funny, I didn't really notice the game playing in the background since the sound was off until half way through the party. I guess the dad's were happy about that (and the beer).

The Guests

Wand Making

Gifts for Guests
Guests received little goodie bags of bubbles, play doh, stickers. The girls also go a heart-shaped makeup palette. And all guests received framed pictures of the dressed up guests.

It was a fun birthday. I don't think we'll go all the way out as we did this year, but I'm so glad we did it once.

Pictures courtesy of Marlene, Rebecca's mom.

Izzy's Birthday - Part 1

2009-10-04T23:35:00.000-07:00

We had a combo family birthday celebration for all the kids at Merah's house. Merah made yummy BBQ and we had way too much food on the table. Isabella got to open her presents and help with Ethan's presents. She immediately claimed all presents as her own, in fact, Ethan's presents are still in her room. Thankfully Ethan is such a gentle and easy-going fella that he doesn't seem to mind it yet.

Thanks for all the goodies family.

Ann, what are you doing to my child? He looks freaked out, but was had so much fun.

The following week we threw Isabella a royal tea dress up party. It was so much fun. I'm waiting for some pictures from the other moms, but I'll post it soon.

Three and One Year Stats

2009-10-04T23:28:00.000-07:00

Izzy has turned another year older and Ethan turned one. I combined their doctor's visit and made Ed come with me this time. They both had shots and were troopers. Izzy actually likes going to the doctor's and playing with the playhouse in the waiting room. So here are their latest stats:

Isabella at 3 years
Weight: 30 lbs, 44th percentile
Height: 38 inches, 74th percentile
The percentiles have been pretty much consistent since birth.

Ethan at 13 months
Weight: 22 lbs, 38th percentile
Height: 29 inches, 20th percentile
Believe it or now his weight and height have been slowing down. I've noticed him slimming down a bit with all the crawling around. Hmm...wonder when he'll start walking? No rush.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

2009-09-03T21:29:00.000-07:00

So, I'm a little behind on my posts. Let's go back to the end of August. We took a trip back east and took the kids on a plane for the first time. On the way out we took a red-eye and took a morning flight on the way back. OMG, I will only take red-eyes with the kids from now on. They didn't sleep long on the flight at night; however, they were quiet and tame. On the morning flight back...we were "that" family. The Virgin America flight attendants were so nice to come over to entertain and distract Isabella. BTW, boarding Virgin America was like entering a club. It's such a different flight experience with the dark vibe and purple lights. All the seats were white leather, though they only reclined one inch, we each had private TVs with free satellite feed, another saving grace with small kids.

The trip started out in Stamford, Connecticut where we stayed with Ed's parents, Leo and Eva (and we can't forget the little hot dog eating Dachshund, Charlie). It was hot and HUMID in CT. Yuck. But the green trees were breathtaking. You don't see a lot of those in LA.

Then we headed for what was supposed to be a two-hour trip to Northborough, MA. After a little fussiness between the two kids, they finally fell fast asleep. It ended up taking five hours to get to Susan and Michael's house.

The first thing we had to do was jump in the pool...that is everyone but the moms.

Asher's a great swimmer.

A little Michael and Izzy love.

It looks like Isabella's a giant, but she's actually sitting on Asher a little (though I think she stands about four inches taller than Asher).

After swimming the kids got dry. There were two red chairs that were about 5 feet apart. The kids gradually brought them closer and closer together so they were right next to each other. The kids were so stinkin' cute together.

Isabella and Asher had a great time together. Asher is three weeks older than Isabella. So, it was perfect seeing the two cousins play together. They got along well for the most part with a few sharing battles here and there.

The main reason for the trip was to see the newest member of the family, Eviana (Evie). She's a little cutie. Some how my sister Susan must have stronger genes as both kids actually look Asian. Though Evie looks more like Michael's side of the family. She's so sweet and chubby. She's a lot more like Ethan...watch out Susan.

Ethan was a good little boy just crawling around the house and getting close to the dog. The poor dog, Raven. Isabella is suddenly scared of all dogs and poor old Raven got kicked out of her own home to the hot, humid outdoors.

We made it out to the park to let out a little energy, but mostly we stayed at the house. It's a bit much to get out of the house with two preschoolers, a crawler and an infant. We had to take two cars just to get out of the house for the park!

We did manage to get out for an afternoon at Davis' Farmland. It was great fun for us all. We fed all goats, lamas, bulls and sheep. At lunch we found a perfect spot near the water park. Isabella had to get in right away before eating. We wish we had a place like this back home.

And then they had lunch. I love this picture of Asher and Izzy. I look at Izzy and think how grown up she looks and then I look at the expression on Asher's face and it cracks me up. Asher is the little man of many expressions. He may just grow up to be an actor or something...

We headed back to Connecticut and then back to California. The trip back was just awful. We left on a morning flight. Neither of the kids slept. Izzy had a meltdown. And when we finally arrived in LA, it was only noon. We still had a full day of the kids! We were exhausted and needed a vacation from our "vacation."

Message to Christine

2009-09-01T22:04:00.001-07:00

It cooled down for about two days so I put Isabella in a cute outfit auntie Christine bought. And as I was dressing her I told her who gave her the nice outfit and asked her what she would say to Christine. So she said, "tank you, Christine". It was so cute. So I made her say it again in front of the camera. Unfortunately anytime I take out the camera she instantly wants to watch what is on the camera. So it took a few tries, but here it is.

Rewind

2009-09-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Where did August go? We've been keeping busy this month. August kicks off the family birthday chain. It goes something like this:

August 2 - Ed
August 17 - Ethan
August 28 - Asher
August 31 - Susan
September 2 - Jack
September 12 - Isabella
October 1 - Ann
October 8 - Michael

And somewhere in there are our and Ed's parent's wedding anniversaries. But, I suppose now the birthday chain will start in July with the newest member of the family, Eviana. Hmm...I guess January-March are popular months to conceive.

Ed's Birthday at Disneyland
We celebrated Ed's birthday by taking the kids to Disneyland for the first time. The good news, Ed was free. The bad news, his birthday was the first day of the new pricing increase. It costs $72!!! How insane! It was a bit crowded and hotter than we'd like, but all-in-all it was a good day. Some of the rides were a bit too scary for Isabella. She's going through a phase of being scared of the dark. Her favorite were Dumbo, It's a Small World and seeing all the characters dance and sing at the parade.

I had to take a picture of my people from Korea. I didn't have my camera out to take a photo of Ed's people.

Isabella patiently waiting for the parade to start. It was so hot her hair rubber band melted!

Hollywood Children's Festival of Arts
We went to the Hollywood Children's Festival of Arts on the lot of Paramount Studios. We barely made it to the end of the festival. I guess that's what happens when you have a little one who still is on a nap schedule. It was a lot of fun. We missed some of the cultural performances, but we did make it to the Russian performance. They had a few Jewish songs and dances and asked the kids to come up. Isabella was shy at first, but then asked to join the kids in the Hava Nagila dance. Since then, she breaks out into song.

Isabella stood in line to take a picture with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

But when we got up there, she freaked out! I guess she's still not into larger-than-life characters.

Ethan's 1st Birthday
Happy birthday to my baby boy! We meant to host a low-key family lunch for Ethan's birthday, but August turns out to be a busy month for everyone. With so many birthdays, we'll be doing a joint birthday luncheon. Instead we celebrated Ethan's 1st birthday at daycare. I made some vanilla cupcakes from my Magnolia bakery recipe. It was fantastic! So moist and delicious. Although I used cake flour for the whole thing so my measurements came out something like this:

3 1/4 cups cake flour
3 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar (I like to use baker's sugar; it's super fine and great for baking)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

I also tried making Italian meringue buttercream for the first time and it was devine! I found the buttercream recipe accidentally on YouTube, watch it here or get the recipe here, from Sue McMahon of Women's Weekly magazine. I didn't attempt doing the beautiful decorating like she does mainly because I wanted something simple for Ethan, but of course, it was also because it looked darn difficult and tedious. Maybe for another special occasion. The cupcakes came out pretty cute. Though I have to admit, I did run out of steam. And in case you were wondering, I put lions on the cupcake for Ethan's astrological sign. He and daddy are both leos.

After school we took the kids to the park for a little swing time.

Izzy's First Boy-Friend

2009-07-31T18:24:00.000-07:00

Isabella's been at the same Russian family daycare for a little more than a year now. Being that she is half Russian, we really liked the idea of her picking up on Russian at a early age. But we wonder how much good this environment is for her. She speaks less Russian than she speaks as a Russian FOB! But I digress.

From the very first day she made friends with a Russian boy named Sacha. They are the same age, but developmentally quite a but apart. He's still not speaking coherently in either English or Russian. Everyday I ask Isabella about her day and who she played with. Our conversation goes something like this:

Me: How was your day?
Isabella: Good

Me: What did you do today?
Isabella: I play with Sachik, Wiolet (Violet), Ben...who else? Uh...teacher, Noya, and Ethan. Ethan is brown skin.
(Ethan is a cute African-American boy in her class. She has never before remarked about the color of his skin until recently. Sacha's Russian nickname is Sachik, like Ed's is Edik. Isabella's is Isabelka or Isabelitchka. And I think mine would be Lyditchka.)

Me: What else did you do?
Isabella: Noya cry. She get time-out.

Me: Why did she get a time-out?
Isabella: Because she hit me she get time-out.

And so goes our daily conversation. On Wednesday when I dropped off the kids, Sacha and his mom pulled up behind me. Isabella gets out of the car and screams, "Sachik, I like Sachik!" She runs out and they run to each other an both ye out each other's name. When they meet they hug and kiss. It was the most adorable thing ever! His mom and I laughed as they embraced.

She's too young to understand the concept of boyfriend/girlfriend. So Sacha is just a boy-friend.

Video: Ethan Crawls?

2009-07-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

It finally happened. Ethan has decided it was time to crawl. He sort of scoots and drags.

PS. Don't you just love his army fatigues, especially with the fist. It's like he's a poster child for some army recruitment ad.

Trip to the Beach

2009-07-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we took the kids to Washington Beach, near Marina del Ray. It was crowded, but the weather was perfect. At home it was around 100 degrees, but the beach was a nice 77 degrees with a great breeze. It was an absolute perfect beach day.

I can already tell that Ethan will be much more of a water-loving kid than Isabella. Not to make comparisons, but Ethan loved sticking his feet in the cold ocean. He was laughing and screaming for more. Isabella stayed on the sand as if she were chained to go only so far. We all had a great time.

4th of July

2009-07-21T14:42:00.001-07:00

Unlike most people, we went to the desert to spend our 4th of July. It was a sweltering 108 degrees of extreme dry heat, but we were happy as can be. We rented a great house in the Twin Palms area of Palm Springs. It had the best amenities to make us happy all day long. We found them through Craigslist, but they also list through VRBO and all the other vacation rental sites. I would recommend this house to anyone.

pool - check
misters - check
air conditioning - check
sound system - check
privacy - check

We had so much fun all day in the pool. And believe it or not, we even used the jacuzzi with the heat set at 98 degrees. It was a nice vacay.

We kept Isabella up for the fireworks, which we were able to see from the deck of the house. Isabella was too scared to come outside to watch, but she cheered on.

We just started feeding Ethan Cheerios and Isabella loves being the helpful big sis by feeding Ethan. Of course, Ethan never rejects her many, many offerings.

Kitchen Before and After

2009-06-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

Well the kitchen is finally clean enough for pictures. The kitchen was sort of completed before the holidays '08. I say sort of because the kitchen folks have recently come by to replace a door and reinforce the drawers with better hinges. When we thought we were rid of them they yet again made a mistake on the measurements...so we're still waiting for fix a few doors. Geesh.

Anyway, here are the before, during and after pictures of our kitchen remodel. We are so very happy with the way it turned out. It all came together. I saw the marble slab in a showroom and instantly knew it was the one. I would never have thought of selecting green marble, but I fell in love with it at first sight.

I forgot how awful the kitchen was before. The cabinets were the worst kind of wood (style and treatment) ever!!! The floors were impossible to keep clean. The kitchen had a drop ceiling for no reason at all. And everything was dark, depressing and small.

We blew open every wall in the kitchen and dining room. It now is an open floor plan. We added tons of windows and made the existing ones larger. We opened up the ceiling to reveal the vaulted ceiling. We added beams. We ripped up the floor in both the kitchen and dining room to match the hardwood everywhere else. All plumbing and gas lines were moved to new locations. Nothing in the entire kitchen is original. I found this beautiful limestone range hood made by Francois and Co. The store didn't have the exact model I was looking for but they were remodeling their showroom and needed to get rid of their floor models. We purchased this one from them at a much lower cost. I love it. While in Vegas looking at prospective commercial real estate locations, Ed found the pendants at a Baccarat store. He did good. He was also in charge of pretty much the entire remodel...from construction to picking out appliances and fixtures. We both worked on the design and layout. I love my kitchen. It inspires me to cook it in almost everyday. If only I could keep it clean. Surprisingly, the kitchen storage is not as big as I'd like. I'm still missing a box of kitchen tools and I've already run out of space. Not a lot of cabinet storage with the open design and all the darn appliances.

Granted, I love it today, but I don't recommend trying to design a kitchen and then live in a remodel while pregnant. There were many times I wanted to check into a hotel...without Ed.

Ethan's Stats

2009-06-24T23:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Ethan's nine month appointment (even though he's 10 months old now). Here are his stats:

Weight: 20 lbs (30th percentile)
Height: 27.8 inches (20th percentile)

He's short and round. Poor guy. Thank god he's got a great personality already budding.

Other developments:

Claps his hands
Picks up objects
Pinches really, really hard
Grabs everything in reach
Eats really well (we've moved on to homemade pureed chicken; doc says he's ready for small finger foods)
Says "da-da", but mostly speaks jibberish
Loves, loves, loves to talk to Isabella. She can get him going. It's the best!

He's not quite crawling yet. Mostly scoots backwards or does the swimming in the air thing. His teeth haven't come in yet either. He's taking his time. In the meantime, he's just playing it up with his open mouth smiles.

Drinks at the Roosevelt

2009-06-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

I took some random pictures at the Roosevelt from our date night two weeks ago.

We literally just met this woman minutes before the picture was taken.

This picture reminds me of Ethan.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I got Izzy up and immediately she asked to see daddy. (With a little coaching) she went downstairs and said "Happy Daddy's Day!"

We all got ready and went out for brunch at the Little Next Door on 3rd Street in West Hollywood. I had a very yummy and sinful Croque Madame. It was so good.

We took a drive and wound up at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. Ed's been telling me about the beautiful gardens. There's quite an interesting story behind it. What I found interesting was the cost to build this estate. Would you believe it cost $3 million back in the 20s! Yes, it is about 46,000 square feet on 12 acres of land. Ha!

When we got home Ed had to go on a scavenger hunt to find his father's day gift. I left little notes with "cryptic" messages to find the present...okay, so they were pretty easy to figure out, but it was fun for us all. "We" surprised Ed with a new computer bag. A nice, stylish leather computer bag. Ed decided to exchange it for another style...which is great as long as he's happy...but does the bag have to look like it came out of the Indiana Jones set?

Again, as long as he's happy that's all that matters.
Happy Father's Day!

Date Night

2009-06-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

Ed and I went out to dinner on a Friday night without the kids...the first in a very long time. It would have been a perfect date night if Ed's boss weren't also with us. Although, it wouldn't have been as good without his boss picking up the bill! Nice! We had a delicious dinner at Il Ristorante di Giorgio Baldi - a real Italian restaurant with real Italian waiters. The food was mouthwatering, the wine was smooth (and a nice pretty penny) and the sightseeing pretty spectacular. I can still taste the butternut squash ravioli. Hmm...and I ordered the lemon butter Dover sole. It was so good I had to make it this week! The restaurant is quaint and a small space so the tables are nestled close together. We sat next to some random celebrities...Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Larry David and Chris Robinson (from the Black Crowes). After dinner we did the Hollywood thing and had drinks at the Roosevelt. It was a fun, fun night.

So who looked after the kids? Auntie Ann to the rescue. My sister Ann has been a 3rd grade teacher for about 10 years. So she's got energy to make it through the day...after day...after day. When I came to pick up the kids, she looked relieved. I forget how much work it is when you don't have them with you everyday.

This is one of their conversations:

Ann: Izzy
Isabella: My name not Izzy, it Bella
Ann: Bella, what do you want for lunch?
Isabella: Cupcakes

~ ~ ~ ~

Ann: Bella, what do you want for dinner?
Isabella: Cupcakes

Too funny. No, I don't feed her cupcakes for breakfast, lunch or dinner. She does refer to herself as "Bella" or "Isbella", but she's never corrected us when we call her other nicknames (Izzy, Bella, Isbobella, Isbolicious).

Thanks Ann for babysitting!

"What is your specialty in life?"

2009-06-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

Since moving to LA we've been moving a mile a minute. I've been more and more disconnected from the things that make me feel good (other than my hubby and kids). We've been working on a project at work and have been designing questions to profile people. One question read, "What's your specialty in life?" Odd question, I thought. I interpreted it to mean "what am I good at?" I immediately thought of crafty things and things that require working with my hands. It had been a long time since I've carved out time to do these things. And this is when I began to question what makes me happy.

I love building things. I get great satisfaction and serenity with transforming things into something new. Be it cooking, baking, e-scrapbooking (which I hardly do), working on puzzles, decorating, or trying to design and redesign my blog. This is not to say that I'm great at anyone of these things, but that I enjoy doing it.

As I was redesigning my blog, I stumbled onto a few sites that have brought me inspiration and have become my muse to get me back on track.

Some sites to visit:

And my secret pleasure is reading NieNie Dialogues. Stories from the uplifting and crafty mother of four.

Fresh Face

2009-06-09T23:12:00.000-07:00

I got inspired to change the face of our blog and I'm loving it! I found the background from Aqua Poppy Designs. You can check out her site for free or affordable custom designs. I made the banner myself through Scrapblog.

Cabo Over Memorial Weekend

2009-06-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

Ed and I went to San Jose del Cabo for Memorial Weekend while his parents watched the kids. I hadn't been to Mexico in a while now so I was surprised at how clean the city was. There was hardly any trash along side the road and it smelled nice. We weren't surprised to find both San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas empty. There weren't any guests. But we did feel safe with all the federales with their M16s. I should have taken picture of that. On our way in we stopped at Mega, which the name appropriate describes the type of grocery store. It had everything. We purchased some snacks and lots of good beer. It was perfect.

We stayed at the Westin Los Cabos and upgraded ourselves to the mack daddy suite with a private hot tub on the balcony. The hotel said they were at 40% capacity, but it looked more like 20% if that. But it was all kind of nice to have the place to yourself. As you can imagine, you can stay pretty much anywhere and get a good rate. We mostly stayed in the pool the entire time. We went into town occassionally for dinner and jet skiing. We played minature golf at the resort to which I beat Ed big time! The only thing I don't like about Cabo is the course sand...ouch.

It was a nice getaway for us and we're definitely going to come back San Jose and bring the kids. The pools were awesome and perfect for Isabella when it's not overcrowded. We checked out Club Regina, the condos at the Westin, and they looked good for the family.

We stayed on the first floor, right in the middle of the bridge section. The view was insane.

Play Time

2009-06-06T23:36:00.000-07:00

While I'm cooking dinner I hear Izzy playing with Ethan. It was so cute to see her playing with him when we're not initiating it.

We recorded a new milestone of Ethan clapping his hands and on command. No crawling or first word yet. **I apologize for my shrill voice. I was so excited and didn't realize how annoying I sound!

I've posted Izzy singing her bumble bee song, but this time it was funny. As she sings she randomly comments on different things.

Lemon Cupcakes

2009-06-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

I had to get this cupcake thing out of my system. I found a lemon cupcake recipe, but made a lemon cream cheese frosting instead. I halved the recipe so it's always difficult to know what to do when the whole recipe calls for three eggs. It was yummy, but little drier than I like. Half the recipe still made 48 mini cupcakes! I wanted to try this recipe from Indira Weigand who won the 2008 Brooklyn Cupcake Cookoff, but I didn't have all the ingredients on hand (who keeps almond flour in their pantry?) and I was intrigued by the use of sour cream in the first recipe.

I've never decorated with fondant, but there's no time like the present. So I made some simple design. Mainly because I usually bake mini cupcakes (regular and extra large - my other fav - are too big to eat without feeling like you've over indulged) and I don't have any cookie cutter designs small enough to fit on the mini size. I'm on the hunt though...

Fondant is surprisingly easy to work with. I colored and flavored it and am happy with my first attempt. I can't wait until the next time I make some.

Saltado de Pollo Recipe

2009-06-06T21:54:00.000-07:00

I have been craving Saltado de Pollo from Inka Mama's recently so I made it at home several times now and love the recipes I've found. If you've never had Peruvian food this is one of my favorite dishes. Saltado is a Peruvian stir fry with a spicy kick to it. It's so good, but it's all in the Aji sauce (the green sauce usually found in the sqeeze bottles).

I've pieced several together to make it work. One of my biggest frustrations with stir frying chicken is my chicken tends to turn out dry so it finally dawned on me to brine the chicken breast. I've brined turkeys and chicken (with bones), but never breast meat. Duh! OMG, I will never make chicken again without brining it. The chicken came out so tender and moist and was a beautiful color (bizarre, I know, but apparently the sugars help to carmelize the surface giving it a nice golden brown color).

Brining Chicken Breast
Enough for four chicken breasts

1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
8 cups water

Directions:

Pound the chicken breast to even it out (I put the chicken between layers of wax paper to eliminate a mess and use a large rolling pin)
Dissolve the sugar and salt in hot water (I usually boil a few cups of water to dissolve. Once dissolved I put the salt/sugar water in a new bowl and add tons of ice to cool it down. The water must be cool before adding the chicken)
Cover the bowl or transfer to a large ziplock bag and brine for 30 minutes (Time it well so you're ready to cook the chicken after the 30 minutes. You don't want to over brine the chicken)

Saltado de Pollo

1 lb of chicken breasts, sliced into strips about 1 1/2 inches long
1 large red onion, peeled and cut into eighths or wedges (separate the layers)
1 lb potatoes, peeled and cut for French fries or 1 package of frozen Yukon gold French fries (Regular size fries, not shoestring)
2 tsp Aji sauce (see recipe below)
3-4 firm tomatoes, cut into eighths (I've tried both Roma and beefsteak and I prefer the way beefsteak holds up)
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp balsalmic vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
juice of half a lemon
salt to taste (I don't add any because the aji sauce and soy sauce have plenty, not to mention I use brined chicken)
pepper to taste
vegetable oil for stir-frying
4 servings rice

Directions:

The key with stir-fry is to start with all ingredients ready - cut and measured out - before you start cooking.
Start the rice when you starting cutting up the chicken and let it stand covered until everything is ready. Cook the fries first and then do the stir-fry. I usually pop frozen fries in the oven while I'm stir-frying the chicken.
Cook the rice
Cook the french fries and set aside
Heal the oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. Add chicken and stir-fry until chicken is cooked on all sides. Remove chicken and set aside. (The chicken cooks better when I stir-fry in small batches at a time. My pan turns into a black mess so I'll clean up or use another pan before I move on to the veggies)
Lower heat to medium-high setting and add some oil to the pan. Add onions and saute until they begin to soften, about 2 minutes
Add the aji, tomatoes, some of the parsley, soy sauce, balsalmic vinegar, salt and pepper. Cook until tomatoes have softened, about 2 minutes. Then add the lemon juice.
Add chicken and toss gently. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Add french fries and toss gently.
Serve over rice and sprinkle with parlsey. I put the aji sauce in to a squeeze bottle and add more to my liking.

Variations: I add steamed cut green beans after I add the tomatoes. Hmm hmm.

Aji Sauce
This stuff is delicious with bread or pretty much anything. It's so yummy

1/4 head of lettuce, torn into pieces (I've only used iceberg, but romaine is another choice. Iceberg will mellow out the spice)

3 jalapeno chiles, seeds and veins removed

1/4 cup mayonnaise

5 green onions

1/2 bunch of cilantro leaves

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

5 garlic cloves or 1 tsp garlic (I prefer fresh garlic, but I love garlic so adjust to your taste)

Directions:

Put all ingredients into a blender and process until smooth. Add a little chicken broth (about 1/4 cup to get the ingredients to blend well).

I hope you make it because it is absolutely delicious and really easy to make.

Long Walk

2009-06-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

We needed to get out of the house today so we went for a walk. The weather was perfect for our walk - a little cloudy with a cool breeze. It had drizzle yesterday which must have cleared up the sky because it was so clear. At the highest point of our walk we could see complete ocean view, Century City and Downtown LA.

There's this house on Mulholland Drive that has a unique garage door that I had to capture.

We ended up pushing the stroller around a little over 3 miles in our windy neighborhood. If I did this walk every day I would be in great shape. Most of the walk is uphill and some are pretty steep. Pushing the stroller uphill is a total workout. Ed and I had to take turns after feeling the burn.

Cupcake Obsessions

2009-06-05T11:47:00.001-07:00

I have a secret obsession with cupcakes. It's not so much to eating of the cupcakes, but the appreciation of beautiful pieces of art of tiny, delicate delights. A old high school classmate posted pictures of her recent works of art and it fed right into my obsession.

Aren't they delightful?

Now, I feel inspired to start decorating cupcakes. I'm sure once I get into it I will lose my passion for decorating as I do most "hobbies", but I'll always appreciate looking (and eating) them!

I found some more awesome cupcake designs that have given more inspiration. Check out Hello Naomi. Here are my favorites of her work. You can find more of her work through Flickr.

And yet more cupcakes from Pink Cake Box.

Mmm...yummy.

Video: Ring-Around-the-Rosies

2009-06-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

Noah's Ark

2009-06-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

Last month Ed had to go away on a trip so I took the kids to the Noah's Ark exhibit. If you're in the area and you have kids it's definitely worth going. It's better for kids three and up. There's this section the kids have to climb a rope bridge to get to the second level. The bridge is extremely steep. Isabella really wanted to go up it. I had Ethan in my arms and I waited behind her. Other kids with their parents came behind me and asked if I was going up so I kind of got prodded along. Midway Izzy got scared and said she couldn't go up it anymore. I had to pull her up with Ethan in my arms. Not a good decision. Bad mommy. I could have easily slipped and dropped Ethan. I was sweating the whole way up. We finally go up there and it was fun. Only I didn't have my camera to take pictures of us.

Cheers to Sleep Again

2009-04-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

Since Isabella was four months old she's been sleeping through the night. That is until four months ago when she began experiencing fear for the first time. It's hard to imagine what a kid goes through with their new wild imaginations and vivid view of the world. Since this turn of events our sleep has been disrupted. Isabella would wake up in the middle of the night and walk down to our room. We're on a different floor and she still would wind up in our bed. Then she became difficult to say goodnight as she was anticipating our departure she would start to cry. The crying became more theatrical as the weeks went on. She was so worked up it would take an hour to calm her down.

Ed and I caved little by little. At first we'd let her hang out with us after we said goodnight and after she fell asleep we'd take her to her room. When that stopped working, we'd lay in bed with her until she fell asleep (annoying when it's 8:30-9pm and you haven't eaten dinner yet, let alone cooked anything). I got fed up and we finally found a solution. My doctor told me another parent held the door closed until the kid fell asleep on the floor. And he continued for the next few days. I tried this and it didn't work to hold the door. As soon as she woke up because it was uncomfortable she'd try to open the door again and if I weren't holding it she'd get out. It was more tortous on us.

Side note: we have lever handles with an unusual decorative plate and no door safety lock has worked and I tried them all.

So I finally got Ed to reverse the lock on the door so we could lock her in. Wow, why didn't I think of this months ago??? I did, but eh-hm...I couldn't get a certain someone to help me out.

Anyways, she cried for an hour the first day and slept on the floor all night. The next morning she said, "High five mommy. I slept all night."

The second day she cried for 45 minutes and took herself to her bed and fell asleep. On the third night she cried for 2 minutes and got up to check the door once. And ever since she hasn't cried or even gotten out of bed to check the door. It has now been a little over a week and we have our bed again! And we don't need to lock her in anymore now that she stays in bed.

Free Car Wash

2009-04-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

Seriously, at least 20 cars kept circling around and under the water. One RV went through three times.

In the Sink

2009-04-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

While I was feeding Ethan (seems to be a pattern here) Isabella brought the stool over to the sink to get to her bubbles.

Oh Wait...Vail

2009-04-26T21:38:00.001-07:00

How can I forget about my trip to Vail last month? I had so much fun hanging out with Chris and her new fiance Chris. What a fun group to hang with. I went snowboarding for the second time and was up and having a blast. Only came home with a few minor bruises.

Yep, that's me on the left!!! Woowoo!

Playdate at Roxbury Park

2009-04-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

I joined a playdate group to meet other moms with kids of similar ages. So far the meetups have been great. Isabella already has made some friends. Izzy hangs out with Nathan the most.

BTW, we're waiting for her hair to grow out of this funky stage. We keep putting it in ponytails, but she'll pull them out and her hairs looks even worse.

Chuck E Cheese

2009-04-26T20:54:00.001-07:00

Ed's been in New York and Jersey for work and then to visit family. While he's out I didn't want the kids to be cooped up in the house so I decided to take them out to Chuck E Cheese...cause it's where a kid can be a kid! Though, you'd think by now they'd have a few healthy choices on the menu besides a side salad.

Catching Up in March

2009-04-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

I'm more than a month behind on some pictures so enjoy.

We took the kids to Sesame Street presents The Body at Hollywood and Highland. It was a small venue, but it was fun and educational. I'm not sure Isabella understood anything yet, but it was entertaining. Izzy is really into Elmo so we thought taking a picture with him would be fun...maybe not.

Grandma came over to watch the kids while Ed and I went out for an adult dinner for my birthday.

Ed and I went out to eat at Osteria Mozza. Despite our late reservations and eating at 11pm, the food was good. The best part was the mozzarella bar. Mine was delicioso.

I decided to surprise Ed and dress Ethan up for the first Red Sox v. Angels game. If Isabella had an Angels outfit I would have dressed her up too. I'm trying to keep the rivalry between the boys and girls in our household.

I let Ed sleep in so as I was feeding Ethan I noticed how quiet the house was only to see Isabella walk in looking like this...yikes!

Since neither of us are religious, we took the kids to our local village for an Easter egg hunt. It's nearly impossible to take pictures of Isabella smiling. But look at her face as she's about to devour her first Peeps. Yummy...

What you're not seeing in these pics was the scare we had on this day. Isabella, the rambunctious and listening-challenged, decided to try to play chase and run out and into the street. I had Ethan in my arms thankfully Ed ran caught up and caught her right as a car stomped on the brakes. Our hearts stopped. Will she learn...doubtful.

It seems no kids like adults dressed up like animals. Funny, this bunny had bright pink lipstick and decided to belch as we sat down next to her. Thank god she didn't smell of alcohol.

When we got home Ethan was tired and conked out in the middle of our laundry (yes, it is clean).

Ethan went on the swings for the first time and loved it!

Not My Friend

2009-04-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

So it has been a long time since I've posted anything. This morning I told Isabella to eat her yogurt in the kitchen. I had to take it away because she kept trying to take it to the living room. Anyhow, she says "mommy, a not my friend."

And so it already begins.

Celebrating Ethan

2009-03-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

Ethan is now 6 1/2 months old and has already spoken his first word. Ok, so he doesn't know what he's saying, but he did utter his first word and of course it was "da da" just like Isabella's first words.

When you have your first child you marvel at every little thing they do. You are amazed that a creature so small is learning and doing things for the first time that you do everyday. When you have a second child, you unintentionally "forget" to celebrate these significant details. So here are some things I'd like to celebrate.

His first word: da-da

He can roll over from his tummy to his back. He's very close to rolling over from his back to his tummy

He laughs when he sees someone he likes

He likes to stick out his tongue

He's very expressive with his face and eyes

He's extremely ticklish

He's got the best temperament. As much as one can tell from a baby, he's sweet, gentle, good natured and even patient. He hardly cries except if you hold out on food. (I think he takes after me)

He can sit up like a tripod and has great balance

He reaches for objects and likes to pull things close to examine them

He knows how to get the music playing from his saucer

He's learning to eat rice cereal and isn't a messy eater...yet

He loves his sister. She can get a big open-mouthed smile out of him. And Isabella loves Ethan. It's all so sweet.

I love my little boy. I am lucky.

Everyone's Sleeping

2009-03-04T22:24:00.000-08:00

Thank the stars above that all is back to "normal" in the Kremer household. Finally, all kids are sleeping through the night. Isabella still struggles with bedtime. She'd much rather hang out with mommy all night. Mommy is her new flavor of the month. It's all mommy all the time. What about daddy you ask...poor daddy gets the shaft.

Madagascar - aka LA Zoo

2009-03-04T22:09:00.000-08:00

We've been cooped up in the house for too long between all the colds. We took the kids to the LA Zoo over the weekend to get some fresh air. Unfortunately, it was a blistering hot day and the zoo was....a zoo. When we got there Isabella kept saying "Madagascar".

We came in and got around to three exhibits and spent most of the time on the playground and headed back home.

Made Progress

2009-02-02T21:46:00.000-08:00

Ed and I have been taking turns with the night shifts. Last night was Ed's turn and as luck would have it both kids slept through the night. Isabella didn't wake up until 6:30am!!! Yeah! During our nighttime routine, Ed would tell Isabella, "Promise me that you won't go downstairs until the morning when the sun is out." I would laugh. As if Isabella understands what a promise is. This morning as Ed was getting her ready for school she says, "Daddy, I didn't go downstairs. I a good girl." It almost made Ed cry!

Tonight is my turn. Let's hope they all sleep through the night!!!!

Random Pictures

2009-01-31T15:48:00.001-08:00

Look at how big Ethan is in Isabella's lap. It's just not right.

This is Isabella's "cheese" face, though she says "eeee".

"Look at me"

2009-01-31T15:28:00.001-08:00

Isabella loves attention from us. Her favorite phrase is "Look at me".

"Mommy, take a picture"

2009-01-31T15:22:00.000-08:00

One morning while Isabella was eating her breakfast I was thumbing through some old pictures. Meanwhile, Isabella starts posing and demands, "Mommy ,take a picture." So I did.

This morning while Ed was still in bed, it was just Isabella and I eating breakfast. She turns to me, puckers her lips and says, "Mommy kiss me." Aww...how sweet is she? I wish I had filmed this to remember on those days when I wonder who is this child.

Los Feliz Train

2009-01-31T15:09:00.001-08:00

Several weeks ago we took the kids to the Los Feliz Train. Susan and Michael took Asher and Isabella when they were here in October. They said Isabella was nervous but then loved it.

When we got there she was excited to get on train. When we got seated and the engine turned on she got scared and said "I no like it". After we got moving she sat silently and didn't really show that she enjoyed it until we got off.

Afterward we went to Shane's Inspiration in Griffith Park, which is the only universally accessible playgrounds. It's huge and offers lots for several age groups.

Ethan's Cute Outfits

2009-01-28T23:54:00.000-08:00

We received many bags and boxes of new and previously owned clothes for Ethan. All are just adorable. Here's a little fashion show to say thanks.

Sleepless in Los Angeles

2009-01-28T23:26:00.000-08:00

It has been almost three weeks since Isabella has slept through the night. It is the strangest thing to see your child experience fear for the first time. Now, she gets up 2-3 times during the night. The first 1-2 times she'll go back to her bed. It seems the last time she wakes up she's a little more emotional and it's usually around 4-5am. She will only calm down if I let her sleep in our bed. So, as a working mom who appreciates, no, requires sleep, I let her sleep with us. I've been trying to read about nighttime fears and night terrors. So this is what I learned:

Develop a consistent bedtime routine (done)
Use a nightlight, but look out for shadows (need to check that one)
No TV before bedtime (need to adopt new rule)
Use soothing music (done)
Watch out for TV/movie content - it seems most animated films have a scary villain (uh...need to adopt new rule)

I have to admit, we've let her watch TV before bedtime. There are three movies she absolutely loves to watch and asks for them all the time: 1) Finding Nemo, 2) Madagascar and 3) Happy Feet. Seemed harmless at first and was fine until my two-year now sees the world through new eyes. Now anything seems to scare her.

One morning, we're laying in bed while Ed's in the shower. And at the foot of the bed is a a small grey cloth to which she was curious about.

Isabella: Mommy what's that?
Me: It's a cloth to clean sunglasses.

Isabella looks puzzled and hesitant

Me: Go get it.
Isabella: No, I scared. Mommy go get it.

The last few nights were especially horrible. After Isabella crawls in bed with us I try to fall asleep. I open my eyes and see her staring at the ceiling. I think her imagination is taking over her mind. Then hours later, Ed and I both are startled awake to her feet kicking us in the head. We look at her and she managed to turn herself completely upside down over the covers. An hour later Ed gets up to feed Ethan and comes back to Isabella turned sideways taking up his side of the bed.

Last night she screamed at 2 in the morning. She had a nightmare in bed with us. She kept screaming and wouldn't let us soothe her. I remembered reading to not wake a child if she's having a night terror, but to put soothing music or her favorite movie on. But since we put a rule of no animated films (for the dark scary parts), I turned on the TV and was happy to see Little Einsteins. She was instantly calm and reverted back to the same sweet child I once new. She watched an entire episode and I turned off the TV and off to sleep to sleep she went.

We are very tired. I hope this is short lived.

Izzy's Room

2009-01-16T16:45:00.000-08:00

The house is finally done. If only we can keep it clean enough to take pictures. Surprisingly, Isabella's room is the cleanest...maybe because all her toys make its way to the living room, dining room and kitchen.

Four Month Comparison

2009-01-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

I took Ethan to his four month doctor visit. Because of the holidays I brought him in three weeks after he turned four months old. I was shocked to hear his stats. I've been carrying this baby around and new he was heavy. And one can't help but notice his chubby thighs during a diaper change, but I didn't think he weighed as much as he did.

At 4 months, 3 weeks:
Weight: 17 lbs 12 oz (90th percentile)
Height: 25" (50th percentile)

Isabella at 4 months
Weight: 13 lbs 13 oz. (50th percentile)
Height: 25 1/4" (90th percentile)

Hollywood Sign - Up Close and Personal

2008-12-31T14:33:00.000-08:00

Both Ed's and my offices are closed the week between Christmas and New Year's. It's been nice to have the entire week off and just relax at home. On our first day off we dropped the kids off at daycare and decided to hike up to the Hollywood sign. We started the hike around 3:30pm, which was just perfect to see the city at the top of the mountain in daylight and walk down during the sunset.

Views of downtown LA and Griffith Park Observatory from the base of the Hollywood sign.

It was hazy out, but you could still see the ocean and Catalina.

On the other side of the hill is the skyline view of Burbank and Glendale.

Looking over LA just above the Hollywood sign was amazing. I inadvertently took shots of the city not aware that my house was visible in the shot. Enlarge the picture below and look for the arrow.

When I realized this, I took a close-up of (the backside of) our house.

The sun was setting and the sky was like an orange and yellow Big Stick (speaking of which, do they not exist anymore???).

Merry Christmukkah

2008-12-31T14:00:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas and Hanukkah (we lit the menorah - next year we'll go big) at our house. Our house is finally done, but sadly I still have some things packed away in boxes. But I did manage to find most of my Christmas stuff.

I didn't realize how our couch makes people slouch so much. (This is not an exaggeration).

At 31, I still think farts are funny. We had fun with Jack's new book.

Everyone received some pretty great gifts. Isabella got a Dora tent from Auntie Ann.

Ethan got another great outfit and beanie from Auntie Merah.

Ed bought me a new camera!!! I love it. My old had seen better days. Here's a few pics and movies with my new camera.

On Christmas Eve, we hooked up Merah's karaoke machine and sang into the wee hours of the morning. I also busted out a few costumes to give it a more authentic flair. Those pictures of are Merah's camera. We should always have a full set of costumes on hand whenever we bust out the karaoke machine.

Halloween

2008-12-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

This is super late, but I wanted to post the pictures of Isabella dressed up as a ladybug.

We went to a nearby neighborhood's annual Halloween Walk where they close the streets for the neighborhood kids to trick or treat. The streets are still pretty hilly and a little spread out so we got to about 10 houses before we called it quits. Isabella had fun and finally got to enjoy a piece of chocolate, which ended up more in her hands then in her mouth.

Family Reunion

2008-12-14T00:32:00.000-08:00

The last few months have been all about the family. In October, my sister and her family flew in from MA for a family visit. It was great to get the two toddlers together again.

And sometimes the toddlers got along and sometimes they didn't.

Jack was really good about spending time with both cousins so neither felt left out.

We went to the LA Zoo and visited the Gorillas.

Then we went out to eat without the kids.

And we went to Jack's soccer game.

It was a fun week.

Super Susan

2008-10-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my sister sent me the funniest video so now I have to embarrass her. Just click on the image below to see Super Susan.

Dress Up

2008-10-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

Isabella received a princess dress-up kit from Susan, Michael and Asher. She loves to put on our shoes and walk around the house. She has perfected walking in my high heels. So I think she is going to love playing princess. At first we took out the necklace and bracelet, which she loved to put on and take off. The princess heels were an instant hit. Then we took out the fairy wings and skirt. She asked for help to put on the wings so I did. Apparently she doesn't like to dress up with clothes on just yet.

I ordered Isabella's Halloween costume early so they didn't run out. When I received it I immediately had to put it on Isabella to make sure it fit. It is so stinkin cute, but she didn't like being in it. I hope she'll wear it on Halloween. (And no, she will not wear the costume with these brown shorts. I got her her first pair of black tights!)

This all reminded me of her first dress-up experience when she was about six weeks old...and it didn't go over well either.

Video: "See you soon"

2008-10-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was supposed to be the first day of our family reunion, but it seems Asher is sick so the trip has been postponed. We hope you feel better Asher.

On some evenings Isabella and I will sit in front of the computer looking at pictures. When she sees someone she knows she'll scream out their names. She can easily identify Jack and grandma (mostly because she's seen them more recently). She'll usually call out "Mewa", sometimes referred to as "Mema", when she sees Merah or Ann's pictures. And know she's learning to identify other family members like Baba, Deda, Susan, Michael and Asher.

"What's this?"

2008-10-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

Isabella is always asking "what's this?". After a gazillion "what's this" it was getting pretty old, but then I realized this was how Isabella is learning new words and identifying objects.

Bath night

2008-10-08T18:37:00.001-07:00

I forgot to post pictures of Ethan's first bath night after he lost his umbilical cord. I've been bathing Isabella and Ethan at the same time. I start with Isabella in the big tub. After she's all clean I let her play in the tub while I bath Ethan in the small tub.

Other random pictures:

Do you see the resemblance?

"Hello winkle in"

2008-10-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight Isabella mutters "hello winkle in". At first I think, does she mean "hello welcome in?" so I ask her to repeat it. Then I realized she's saying "halloween coming". Lol, she learns so much at school.

One step forward and two steps back

2008-09-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

So the regression has started. Isabella has shown some signs of jealousy and regression. At first it started out with the sad, puzzled look she'd give me when I had Ethan in my arms.

Then she cried when I would feed Ethan. When I brought Ethan into her daycare for her birthday she became sad and cried. Two weeks ago she started asking to sit on our laps. And last week she asked to drink her milk in our laps. When she got up on our laps she wanted to be cradled like a baby. And tonight, I found her hiding behind the microwave sucking on Ethan's pacifier.

I know this is only the beginning. Wait until Ethan becomes more demanding and needs more attention. Oh boy.

Gan-ma home

2008-09-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

Isabella yells "Gan-ma home". And before I was about to say "yes, grandma is at home" I turn around and see that Isabella has a shopping bag that grandma brought over on one of her visits.

Right now, she's yelling at me saying "hey mommy. hey mommy. hey mommy! what doing mommy?

Her daycare says she's the smartest toddler at her daycare. I think she's pretty bright myself.

As I type, I have my iPhoto open and Isabella is asking to see "more pictures." She sees the pics from this weekend and says "Look it, ganma. Etan sleeping. Bella cup."

She cracks me up.

Birthday Exchange

2008-09-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we went to auntie Merah and cousin Jack's house for Jack and Isabella's belated birthday exchange. Isabella received an baby stroller that she loved in an instant.

This picture just cracks me up. We ran out of regular diapers so we put Isabella in training diapers. The back must not be as high as regular diapers so we got a little show.

We meant to go there for dinner but it turned into an overnight trip. I locked my only set of car keys in the back of my car - which I didn't realize until we were leaving at 9:30pm, well past Isabella's bedtime. We called Range Rover road-side assistance and AAA to come unlock it but to no avail. One of the tow truck drivers called for underground backup and he couldn't break into our car. How hard can it be? I'm thinking Gone in Sixty Seconds, but apparently these cars are impossible to break into. After all that trouble, the car had to be towed the next day to a dealer so they could take apart the trunk to get the keys. We were stuck stranded at Merah's all day Monday. Poor Isabella went to bed very late and had a hard time sleeping.

To my honey

2008-09-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was our eight year wedding anniversary. It has been a busy year for us. It made me think about the early years when our life was simple - pre-babies, double mortgages and etc. And then I realized our life has never been simple. In our eight years we have accomplished so much. Life has never been and never will be dull.

So here are a few moments that we captured.

I only wish we had captured more of it. So for the rest of our journey together, I will make more of an effort to catch them with the camera.

Love you lots.

'Hello Mommy'

2008-09-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

Lately, Isabella loves to say "hello mommy" and "hello daddy."

Her daycare says she's very talkative at school. Here she is being herself. It cracks me up every time I watch this video. Can you tell she learned a few things at school? "Gooood morning."

Happy Birthday Isabella

2008-09-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Isabella turned 2 on Friday, September 12. We decided not to have a party for Isabella this year. We kind of had no choice. No house to throw a party in and she's still young enough to not really understand. Instead I brought cupcakes to Isabella's daycare and we took her out to lunch. Ethan and I showed up and Isabella was cranky in a sad way. I think she was upset that Ethan and I were there encroaching on her private space. The time we arrived the kids were just put down for their nap. I had no idea that on Fridays they go down an hour earlier! So Ethan and I had cupcakes, hats, plates and napkins and no guest to share them with. It was all so sad.

This is Isabella's daycare buddy, Sacha. She talks about him from time to time.

At home, Isabella arranged her babies around Ethan.

Here she is feeding both babies.

She wasn't in the mood to eat her cupcake at daycare, but when we got home she thoroughly enjoyed it.

On Saturday, we took Isabella to the LA Zoo. It was so crowded and hot! It was just starting to cool down too. We'll have to make it up to her next year!

Ethan's three weeks old

2008-09-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

I took Ethan for his three-week doctor's appointment yesterday. I was so surprised by the transformation in the three short weeks since his birth. Here is his progress:

His first doctors appointment was when he was four days old. He had lost a lot a weight. He went down to 6 lbs 12 oz. So in the two weeks he gained two pounds! Isn't that insane? He's also much taller...which the nurse says the birth height is often incorrect because babies squirm around so much it's hard to get an accurate measurement.

He's getting pretty chubby in the face. He's got the biggest cheeks ever; which makes them so stinkin' kissable.

Here are some photos from this weekend.

Isabella loves giving kisses to Ethan. For now, she enjoys taking care of him. She'll give him a pacifier to try to soothe him even though he doesn't like pacifiers...yet. She'll cover him with a blanket...literally cover him entirely with the blanket head and all. It's all very sweet.

Since our kitchen is still not complete we went our for breakfast at our local favorite, Cafe 101. We always see an actor or two there. Several weeks ago we saw Lisa Edelstein who plays Dr. Cuddy on House - one of my new favorite shows. This time we saw two actors, but I don't know there names and can't recall what show they are from.

Isabella became fascinated with the wall at the cafe. You can see she had a bit too much juice.

Later we took Isabella to a park near our house. It was fun. We met several other toddlers and their parents at the playground. I always thought Isabella was pretty tall. She's been in the 80-90th percentile for height most of her life. At the park there were four two-year olds that were much taller than Isabella they all claim to be in the 100th percentile. Crazy.

The Kremer Family

Downtown Living

*Muah* to the Rice Family

Izzy and Ethan. Ethan and Eli. Izzy, Ethan and Eli.

All About Eli

All About Isabella

All About Ethan

Ethan and Eli

Welcome Baby Elijah

Video: Ethan's Walking!

Video: Ethan Loves Bananas

Protective Big Sis

President's Day Play Date

Valentine's Day

Ethan's Big Boy Room

Birthday Parties

Ringing in the New Year - Hello 2010

Christmas 2009

Christmas at Daycare

Isabella's Dance Class

Thanksgiving Week

Ethan's a bruiser

Train, pony and then park

Happy Halloween

Ethan's Mop

Calabasas Pumpkin Festival

Franklin Canyon Park

Isabella's Birthday - Part 2

Izzy's Birthday - Part 1

Three and One Year Stats

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Message to Christine

Rewind

Izzy's First Boy-Friend

Video: Ethan Crawls?

Trip to the Beach

4th of July

Kitchen Before and After

Ethan's Stats

Drinks at the Roosevelt

Happy Father's Day

Date Night

"What is your specialty in life?"

Fresh Face

Cabo Over Memorial Weekend

Play Time

Lemon Cupcakes

Saltado de Pollo Recipe

Long Walk

Cupcake Obsessions

Video: Ring-Around-the-Rosies

Noah's Ark

Cheers to Sleep Again

Free Car Wash

In the Sink

Oh Wait...Vail

Playdate at Roxbury Park

Chuck E Cheese

Catching Up in March

Not My Friend

Celebrating Ethan

Everyone's Sleeping

Madagascar - aka LA Zoo

Made Progress

Random Pictures

"Look at me"

"Mommy, take a picture"

Los Feliz Train

Ethan's Cute Outfits

Sleepless in Los Angeles

Izzy's Room

Four Month Comparison

Hollywood Sign - Up Close and Personal

Merry Christmukkah

Halloween

Family Reunion

Super Susan

Dress Up

Video: "See you soon"

"What's this?"

Muah to the Rice Family