4/30/2011 - Snuggles

From Drop Box

Finny asked to hold Mr. Liam again. They both are so active, that this is only pic that I got of them which is not super blurry and it still is pretty blurry. A sign of times to come!!

4/29/2011 - Visit from the Washburnes

From Drop Box

Jesse's cousin Ginny and her husband Brian stopped by our place after their Napa trip. Liam was on his best behavior for them.

4/28/2011 - Chalking it up

We made good use of the Easter Bunny present of chalk and decorated the cement in the carport. Please enjoy Finn and my beautiful artwork!!

4/27/2011 - Strolling Along

After some discussion with our neighbor's super nanny, I decided that it was time for Liam to get used to the stroller. She told me that when you carry the baby in the carrier all the time, they come to always expect to be carried. So Liam got to spend some time hanging out in the stroller and for the most part, doesn't mind it too much. A relief on my arms!!

4/26/2011 - Space Exploration

I took the boys down to the local park this morning and ran into our neighbor boy. Finn ran excitedly around the park and play structure. Today the boys were taking a trip on the space ship to the moon. I was in charge of the imaginary food. My imaginary chicken soup is to die for!!

4/25/2011 - Bumboriffic

We tried out the Bumbo seat on our little Liam. He seemed to like it for a bit, but as with most things, he grew bored. It's amazing to see him growing and changing before our eyes. He has great neck control and has been so smiley and responsive lately. 3 months old tomorrow!!

4/24/2011 - Sunday Bubble Blower

Finn spent a drizzly Sunday running around outside blowing bubbles with his papa. Could that boy look any happier? The simple things in life that keep my boy so joyful. I love it. Also please note that Finn chose his fun little outfit for the day. Board shorts, cozy fleece sweatshirt and rainboots! The perfect combo for a chilly day.

4/23/2011 - Future's so bright, I gotta wear shades

From Drop Box

It was our first annual HOA Easter Egg Hunt organized by yours truly. Finn did really well. At first he wanted to open each egg as he found them, but eventually was running around the property grabbing eggs. Relatively successful if I may say so myself. I am giving myself a pat on the back! Oh and check out his new hipster 80's glasses care of his Baachan and Jiichan, paired with his red plaid shirt. He could be a regular indie rocker!

4/22/2011 - Veggie Delight

Our first Community Supported Agriculture Delivery today! It was so beautiful that I had to take a pic and text it to Jesse! Yummy organic meals in store for us this week! Yippeee!

4/21/2011 - HIpstamatic Smiles

From Drop Box

My trusty cell phone finally died at the hands of a tipped over Snoopy glass of water. I decided that all my hard work as a mama these past couple weeks warranted me getting a new Iphone. One of my first app downloads was Hipstamatic. Check out Liam's Hipstamatic smile.

4/20/2011 - Cool Kid

From Drop Box

Finn got to open his Easter Basket from his Baachan and Jiichan today. Check out his latest fashion accessory. Check out his cool Red Shades!

4/19/2011 - Easter's Almost Here

From Drop Box

Finn can't wait for Easter!

4/18/2011 - The first cold

From Drop Box

Our poor Liam has caught his first cold ever. Neither of us got any sleep last night because poor little man can't breathe. Just keep reminding myself that he is going to have the best immune system when he goes to school.

4/17/2011 - Brothers

From Drop Box

We are so lucky that Finn is such a doting big brother. It makes me proud each day.

4/16/2011 - Pre-Easter Fun

From Drop Box

We celebrated Easter a week early with my side of the family. Each year the whole lot of us head to the Richmond Rod and Gun Club to eat, socialize and search for eggs in the fabulously large playground. Finn had trained with his baachan for the Easter Egg Hunt and was ready and willing to participate. With his rigorous preschool playground training, he also was ready and willing to test out all of the cool playground equipment. This is our happy boy after he rode the twisty slide.

4/15/2011 - Stinky Cheese

From Drop Box

Liam has the most delightfully stinky feet ever! The kid gets so much toe jam between his toes. I have no idea how because he is held 95% of the day. It is so stinky is smells delicious to me. Oh the weird things that parents think about their children. By the way, I adore massive poopy diapers too. They don't smell good to me, but they bring me such joy each time he has one!!

4/14/2011 - Sausal Creek

From Drop Box

Since I have been on maternity leave, I have taken Finn and Liam down to the local park numerous times. Each time I walk past this pretty setting I have wanted to have the camera to take a picture, but I haven't been brave enough to juggle the two kids and our nice camera. Today I felt brave and bold enough to do it. I guess I getting better at this mama of two toddlers thing! Feels pretty good and somewhat more manageable. Yeah!!

4/13/2011 - Express Yourself

From Drop Box

Liam is maturing each day. Little to no crying when we bathe him!! And he is starting to recognize himself in the mirror, or at least react to our silly facial expressions when we look in the mirror. It's awesome and gratifying. We are almost in the clear! 11 weeks today!! Yeah non blobby baby stage!

4/12/2011 - Swinger

From Drop Box

Lucky Liam has spent the first 10 1/2 weeks of his life being carried around like a king. But the closer I get to sending him off to daycare, the more worried I am about how needy of a baby he will be. So gradually, I am trying to get him used to chilling on his own without being held. Here is where our handy dandy swing comes in. Sometimes, he is fine with it, other times he gets really agitated. Gotta do it some time. And for us that time is now. Poor guy poor parents.

4/11/2011 - Getting down to his level

From Drop Box

Our baby boy is getting so big so fast. I often wonder what he thinks of us. His vision is getting better each day and we are starting to get the smiles. Sometimes I think he looks at us with such confusion. How did I end up with these two yahoos as caretakers?

4/10/2011 - The light of my life

From Drop Box

Here is yet another experimental photograph making use of my new photo knowledge. Slow shutter speed and large aperture makes of a angelic glow to my beautiful little boy as he enjoys tummy time in our unlit living room. Geeking out here!

4/9/2011 - Bright Eyes

From Drop Box

For Christmas this past year, Jesse purchased me a beginning photography class. I finally got the chance to attend it today and came back with all sorts of new and interesting photography knowledge. Now, if I can actually put it to good use will remain to be seen. Here is my first jaunt into using the manual mode of the camera and adjusting both shutter speed and aperture. Look at my fancy new lingo!! I took this picture of Liam in a dimly lit room and it still came out pretty decent. Still a work in progress, but it is progress nonetheless.

4/8/2011 - Finn's First Preschool Masterpiece

From Drop Box

On day three of Finn's preschool experience, I came into possession of Finn's first work of art created at school. For the month of April, the kids are focusing on Recycling. Behold the beautiful flower vase (at least I think that is what it is) made with love with all recycled materials at Chatham School by my aspiring artist. So proud of his hard work!!

4/7/2011 - Urban Baby

From Drop Box

I love and hate that we are bringing up our children in Oakland. I love the diversity and business of living in a city. With our biracial children, I want them to be exposed to all sorts of cultures. In suburbia you won't see that as much.
On the flipside, the kids are constantly seeing gritty graffiti everywhere, from grocery store walls to the play structure at their playground. I sometimes crave the boring cleanliness of suburbia simply for the fact that you rarely see tagging on the playground. I just hope that one day, our boys will be the nerdy kids that shun the graffiti spraying kids in school, but who really knows?

4/6/2011 - Sucking it up

From Drop Box

Finny has his first "preschool fever". After two lovely, fun and successful days at preschool, our little boy came down with the 24 hour fever. Poor thing got up to 100 last night and was not himself as all. Though the temp is gone and he is his chipper self today, I opted to keep him out of school today. I had been looking forward to my 2nd day of taking care of just Liam, but alas, I got both of them today. Liam has been especially needy today, so while I made Finn Chicken Noodle Soup, I put Liam in the front pack to calm him down. Now attempting to eat hot chicken noodle soup while wearing your newborn is pretty scary. So, innovative little me ate my soup through the straw. The lengths we go to as parents to keep our children happy! Geesh!!

4/5/2011 - Baby Wearing Out

From Drop Box

Parenting a newborn is exhausting to say the least. Mr. Liam, though he is relatively easy on me, tends to on track to be considered a high needs baby at times. Maybe I am just not the baby whisperer that I once though that I was. After 2 early morning hours or attempting to coax him back to sleep, I woke up Jesse, forced him to forgo his morning run and made him take over the parenting so I could get an extra 45 minutes of sleep. Thank you Ergo carrier for lulling little man to sleep. I am currently "baby wearing" right now in order to update my blog! Yippee!!

4/4/2011 - Red Red Wine

From Drop Box

I am back on the wine again. I spent the last 49 weeks without alcohol and I am back on the bandwagon. Don't worry guys, I only drink right after I feed Mr. Liam so he is not partaking in my vice.It's telling by the dusty state of our wine bottles that they remain untouched.

4/3/2011 - The Birthday Cake

From Drop Box

Regardless of the fact that my birthday is 4 months away, Finny made me the most colorful and beautiful Playdoh Birthday Cake. He's such a love.

4/2/2011 - Never too old . . .

From Drop Box

While hanging out in the back carport area enjoying the last few hours of sun, we decided that it would be a good idea to show of our cool talents. Ryan demonstrated how he can fit himself inside the boy's toy car. I managed to get myself in there as well, but luckily had no one who dared to take a picture. Thanks for the amusement Ryan.

4/1/2011 - Hitting the ground running

From Drop Box

Today was Finn's first day of school at Chatham School. The much feared drop off was seamless. He hardly turned around to say goodbye. He had a busy day of playing, napping and eating Goldfish crackers for snack. Jesse and I couldn't be prouder of our big boy.

3/31/2011 - Behind Bars

From Drop Box

On this beautiful sunny spring day, I ventured out with the boys to a local park. When we had previously visited there was a huge sand pit for Finn to play with and lots of safe play structures, but it is currently under construction, so Finn was forced to play with the cool, but not as modern jail structure and horse and buggy. I am lucky that it doesn't take much to amuse this kid.

3/30/3011 - Bad Reviews from the boss

From Drop Box

My current supervisor, Liam was not happy with me today. Not getting good reviews on my quarterly review. This is his current reaction to my parenting skills.