Claire's hair

This is Claire's hair on a good day:




This is Claire's hair in the morning:




This is Claire's hair when it rains:




This is Claire's hair after nap:




This is Claire's hair if you brush it:




This is Claire's hair on the trampoline:

January, brrrr

Just kidding, it hasn't been cold here. We went to the beach yesterday and it was about 80 degrees, dolphins swimming, seagulls attacking, children eating sand... all very lovely.

It is hard to believe January is over. It is even harder to believe I have been sick the entire month. Regular cold turned to can't swallow-sore-throat-with-fever-and-chills, then back to just regular cold, then stomach flu including fever and all the fixings (we went down like dominoes: first Claire then Audrey then me then Mark - who thought he was safe and was taking care of us so heroically), then back to regular head cold and now bronchitis with my glands so swollen it hurts to turn my head. What a sob story!

I've got an antibiotic and am getting back on track. Thank heavens because we are still reeling from the great toilet paper debacle that befell us during my first terrible cold when I was so sick I had to send Mark to the grocery store. The orange juice and People magazine were totally perfect, but the one-ply toilet paper is not cutting the mustard (gross!) and there is still a 12-pack in the garage. I'm thinking of donating it to the Salvation Army or just the regular Army so they can use it to torture suspected terrorists.

The stomach flu was actually pretty scary and now part of my experience as a mother includes how to not let your child get dehydrated and avoid dirty looks from your doctor and terrifying hours of spoon-feeding her Pedialyte (Audrey, not the doctor). I myself am a professional thrower-upper from my months of "morning sickness" with Claire, but this stomach flu was a whole other deal. I hope to avoid it in the future.

Otherwise, everything is going great. We had a fun Sunday when we were all too sick to go to church, so we just sat around the house, as a family, watching TV, eating plain toast, and laughing at the kids - who seemed to perk up much faster than the
parents.





And we also went to Las Vegas to see my nephew, Josh, and my sister. Good times at the Bellagio fountains and a breakfast buffet - yum. And I guess that's all for now unless you want me to ramble on and on about toilet paper and vomiting - because I could do that, you know.

Merry Christmas!

Dear friends and family, while we love sending Christmas cards, we didn't get around to it this year. We took the picture and wrote the letter, but the labeling, stuffing, and stamping didn't happen. Still, it's a fabulous picture, and a riveting Christmas letter, so we are sure you won't mind the change in format (and it will save you a trip to the trash can.)

We have not taken a breath since last Christmas. If I stop to breathe now you’ll never get this Christmas letter, so I’ll just keep going. We have had another eventful year with an accomplishment almost huge enough to compare with bringing two children into the world, but not quite. We bought a house in July. We’ve been talking about doing it since we moved to California 7 years ago and the timing, although questionable to many outsiders, was finally right for our family. The economy might prove us absolute fools, but so far we are secure in our decision and it is an exciting and overwhelming feeling to be homeowners, finally.



At the end of May a good friend told me a house on her street was for sale. I drove by and the agent happened to be inside, so I looked around. Mark looked at it the next day. I called my parents and they came to see it the day after that – my dad gave his stamp of approval and pronounced all its defects to be purely cosmetic. By then we were pre-approved and had a realtor. After a month of confusing negotiations and secret hopes that the whole deal would collapse and we would be spared the reality of a major mortgage, our offer was accepted, our contingencies met, and the house was ours.

We spent every weekend in July fixing up and when we moved in it was almost habitable, but not quite. After two weeks we had doors, a fridge, oven and microwave, and a clear path (outlined by boxes) from room to room. We are so grateful to our parents – Mark’s and mine – for all the ways they helped us get into our house. We also owe a lot of favors to the generous friends in our ward at church who helped us paint and move.



The house is much more habitable now, although still in need of towel racks, several key light fixtures, and a lawn in the backyard, and we recently hosted my parents and brother Adam, with his wife, Joli, for Thanksgiving. It was a fantastic holiday with beloved family members and weather so warm we were able to eat our turkey and trimmings on the patio.



As for the rest of the year we spent January and February nursing colds - somebody was always sick. The kids were regular booger fountains, and I had a sinus infection that took three rounds of antibiotics to cure. Mark got so sick he actually missed work. He slept for three days and took another week to get back to normal.

In March we celebrated Miss Claire’s first birthday with a family party at one of our favorite Italian restaurants. She thoroughly enjoyed the attention and smashed her cake to bits. Audrey commandeered all Claire’s presents. Spring and summer were utterly consumed by our new house (new to us!). Early fall saw us settling in, attempting to spend weekends doing enjoyable things as a family.



We have been to Disneyland and the beach quite a bit. I took the girls to Hemet for a long visit and hours of swimming at Audrey’s favorite place to stay – the Hampton Inn.



In October we went “camping” at a county park in San Diego that offers heated cabins. We cooked outside and trekked to the bathroom so that counts as camping for me.



Mark was quite the pyromaniac and master campfire chef (bacon, eggs, onions, hash browns, wow) and the kids had an outstanding time despite their matted hair, sticky faces and filthy clothes.



As for the individual members of our family, Audrey is in preschool. Her December birthday means she doesn’t start Kindergarten until next year.



I am happy to have this extra time with her and am trying to make the most of it taking her to dance classes, teaching her to write her letters, and forcing her to entertain her sister. Audrey is very loving, has a talent for pouting, and is always full of energy, but often uncoordinated (not the safest combination).



Claire is still a wild card.



She seems to have a strong will, but moderate requirements for happiness. She is learning to talk, loves the word ‘NO’ and says many words in Spanish thanks to our El Salvadorian baby sitter, Noemi.



Audrey and her toys and activities are very interesting to Claire. I am frequently called upon to negotiate peace when they want the same toy at the same time. Claire screams bloody murder and that, understandably, scares the stuffing out of Audrey, who starts to cry even if she has the prior claim. They usually get along well and my heart just about bursts when I hear them laughing together at some antic they have put together all by themselves – like sweeping each other’s hair with the broom or putting Claire in the laundry basket and pushing her down the two steps to the living room.

Mark works very hard for Samsung and spends all his spare time keeping three females happy. He’s also a young men’s advisor at church.



I tripled my freelance clientele this year and find I am always occupied feeding the kids, doing laundry, running errands and squeezing in time to work whenever possible.



There was a tiny earthquake as I sat trying to write this letter. The house is still standing. We are still standing. Even though I like the metaphor, I have to say we are doing more than just standing. We are running at full speed. We have so much to do and so much to enjoy. Our kids are growing and changing every day.



Sometimes it feels like our responsibilities are unmanageable. But I know at the end of our lives we will bless these years of intensity and thank God we were allowed to experience the joy and aggravation of being parents and the privilege of having formed our own family. We might stop to breathe sometime next year.

Love, Mark, Melissa, Audrey, Claire
Christmas 2008

our new address: 4706 Laurette St. Torrance CA 90503 / our website: www.beansandtaters.blogspot.com

Audrey is 5!

Our baby is 5 and we can't believe it! Audrey had a weeklong birthday celebration with cupcakes at school on Tuesday, Grandma on Wednesday, Disneyland on Thursday, Nanie and Papa on Friday, and a small birthday party on Saturday. Her actual birthday was Thursday. She opened one gift (a new sweatshirt and Cinderella toothpaste) and named her breakfast: Spaghetti. Then we were off to the Big D where we hit Small World, the Tea Cups, Jungle Cruise, cotton candy stand, Autopia, Starship Pizza, etc, etc. We had so much fun Claire actually threw up, and Audrey, in the bathroom on our way out, said: "Mom, I'm just......... so......... tired." It was a great day at the Magic Kingdom. Audrey opened the rest of her gifts sometime Friday (here she is very generously allowing Claire to tear into one of them).



We are so proud of Audrey. She is a smart, funny, energetic, and loving child. It is her lot in life to be the first - the one who benefits from and bears the brunt of our mistakes as we learn to be parents. Every new stage for her is a new stage for us. One of her first words was "cooperate." I fed her baby food until she was 2 - oops - she still doesn't like crunchy food. And while I was pregnant with Claire she lived on cheese sticks and juice boxes. These last 5 years have not gone by fast. We spent her first 6 weeks visiting her in the hospital waiting for her to get big enough and strong enough to come home. She actually spent her first Christmas in the NICU. Her first year was a long adjustment as we became accustomed to the sacrifices and delights of parenthood. Since then she's been a wonderful and challenging part of our daily efforts to make a living, fulfill our resposibilities to each other and the world around us, and provide her with a younger sister, who we hope will enrich her life in many beautiful ways. Despite our blunders, she's developing normally, has good manners, does well in preschool, and seems to love us. We love her more than we can say.

Our new address

We want those Christmas cards! Here's our new address:
4706 Laurette St. Torrance CA 90503
same phone, same email

It was a happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween - it was so much fun to have two kids to dress up and a house to fill with candy and friends and pumpkins and grandparents. Audrey had a pinata at school, we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies to decorate, we carved pumpkins and ate hot dogs with the Guillens and the Goldsteins, we went trick or treating and gorged ourselves on chocolate - it was a blast. This year Audrey was a butterfly, Claire was a dragon, mommy dressed up in '80s attire (complete with bushy eyebrows and more hairspray than I've ever worn in my life not even excepting my wedding day) and daddy came as himself.

Claire's latest adventures

Our baby has been saying "mama" since she was 9 months old and for a long time it was the word she used to convey any and all of her needs. Then came Dah-deee, buy (bike), uh (up), sue (shoe), bay-bay (baby) and the usual uh-oh, yee-haw, and ohhhhh.

Her latest words include: no, duh (done), dow (dowm), pi-teee (pretty), din (again), moe (more), moo (move - directed exclusively at Audrey, the person who taught her that word!), hhhiiiii, and by-eeeee (two words she says loudly to no one in particular whenever she finds herself in the doorway) and tonight Mark says she said meh (amen) after their bedtime prayer.

Claire has always been very expressive, so it's easy to guess what she wants. She also knows the sign language for sleep, bath and poopy diaper and will reliably agree with you whenever one of those signs corresponds with her particular need or desire.

And she knows the sign for "I want yogurt!" I'll describe: she stands in the door of the refrigerator and will not budge until she has found a container of yogurt and then she points to her high chair with her free hand. Then she pulls at the lid determinedly until we open it for her. If you try to feed it to her she cries huge bitter tears because smearing it all over her face, clothes and tray are part of the attraction, never mind the sweet creamy taste and fun of eating what big sister eats.

She wanted yogurt tonight, but we put her to bed instead, where she protested our neglect by throwing all her blankets and her stuffed dog on the floor and yelping for 40 minutes after which we decided she might really be hungry after all and - just this once - got her out of bed and gave her the yogurt. I know, we probably aren't sending the right message, but this is our second child and our need to assert our authority has been somewhat blunted by her older sister. Still, I fed it to her and she was extremely angry about that - but I already changed her clothes three times today and I was not going to do it again.

That said, she really is a sweet, sweet baby, very loving and happy, laughs a lot. Gives slobbery kisses. She still puts everything she finds in her mouth - that means spare change, yesterday's toast crust, seaweed, and the strange seedpods on the neighbor's shrubs, so we have to watch her and the floor closely. The good news is she will eat anything - that means radishes, pickles, beef stew, teriyaki chicken, Brie and she once stole a small tomato from a vendor at the farmer's market (just reached up from the stroller and grabbed) and ate it in its entirety (I tried to pay, but he thought it was so funny he gave us three more). She's only met one fruit she didn't absolutely love - papaya. Today she discovered the joy of being dragged across our wood floors (din?). She appreciates a good belch - from anyone - and likes the TV. She desperately wants to use Audrey's markers. Claire knows where her shoes are and when she is not trying on my shoes, abandoning them all over the house, she is picking out her own and actually putting them on herself.



She also has a thing for wearing Audrey's underwear on top of her clothes. Sometimes two pairs. Since she was very tiny she has shown her happiness by growling - weird, I know - and not just growling like a small dog - we're talking prehistoric saber-tooth tiger growl. So Claire is going to be a dragon for Halloween.

Claire had her 18-month well-check last week and is in the 97th percentile for height, weight and head circumference - not bad at all for a preemie. She had two shots - took them with a pout and a tear - and the nurse said Claire was the bravest 18 month old she'd had for as long as she could remember. I'd like to credit myself and my excellent parenting, but it was probably the lollipop.

Lastly, the day before her doctor's appointment Claire fell face first into the gigantic rosebush that came with the house. She screamed and cried, I cried and cried, Audrey asked what was the matter and I sent her to her room. It was highly traumatic. Our wonderful pediatrician asked what kind of vicious cat had been attacking our family. When I told her the story she said Claire needed a T-shirt that said "I fought the rosebush and the rosebush won." My answer to that was, no the rosebush LOST, because MOMMY cut that rosebush to a stump and then dug it out of the ground! Don't mess with mommy! Claire looks to be healing well and my fears of permanent disfigurement are subsiding, but I'm still glad I demolished that rosebush, it was very cathartic.

I just can't get enough of Claire - she is truly adored and adorable. I am sure she is going to offer us a lot of fun, love and opportunities for growth (meaning challenges). I look forward to it. MBS

P.S. This is what Claire will do if you aren't looking.

Quote of the day

Audrey attends Good Shephered Lutheran preschool where she does crafts, gets dirty, has a snack and attends chapel every week. She learns lots of songs and stories about Jesus and they have inspired her to include Jesus in her make-believe play. We came home after school today and while I was making lunch I heard shrieking and grunting coming from Audrey's room. The commotion escalated to a fit of screaming and tears and I finally intervened:
"Audrey! What is the problem?"
Her aggravated reply:
"I'M LOOKING FOR JESUS!"


Editor's note: For those who wonder how I replied, I could only mutter, under my breath, "Aren't we all, Audrey? Aren't we all?" Then I laughed hysterically. Then I told her to quit the screaming or she was going to get a time out. MBS

Ready for church

It's never easy to get to church. We want to sleep in, the kids want to play, and we just don't get dressed fast enough. But here they are on a day we actually made it. Cute cute. (note: Everything Claire is wearing - except her diaper - was once Audrey's)

More conversations...

Audrey: (from the backseat of the car) OOOOUUUUUCH!!!
Melissa: Claire! Let go of Audrey's hair!
Audrey: It's OK, it didn't hurt that much, only a little. Why does she have to pull my hair?
Melissa: I don't know. You used to pull my hair when you were a baby. One time you pulled it out of my head.
Audrey: Did you look bald?
Melissa: No, Audrey, you didn't pull out ALL of my hair, just a little.
Audrey: Oh.