Time flies

Maybe it's my age, or maybe it's the baby, or maybe it's everything all at once. I can't believe the baby is 1 year old already. And that it's already been over two weeks since my last post. I bet you all are really curious about what's happened to keep us so busy. Right?

First off, Juliana had her first birthday party. It was just immediate family for some afternoon snacks and some cake. And, no, we did not slap down a slice of cake in front of her and let her make a mess of it. Two reasons for this: 1) we were at her Sahm-Yi's place and that would not have gone over well at all. 2) Neither Daddy nor I are big on cleaning up after the sugary mess and the inevitable discoveries of where icing can hide in the nooks and crevices of a baby. (not to mention having to handle the ensuing sugar high). I have some pictures on my camera that still need to be uploaded/downloaded (I always forget which direction is which). My cousin Wes has some pictures on his camera of us with the baby and her cake. I ended up making something more along the lines of a torte than a cake. Maybe more like a cake interpretation of a strawberry shortcake? You'll see what I mean ... I promise I'll post some pictures as soon as I can.

If you recall, Pau-Pau is in town and we did some running around with her to gather things for some flower arranging. She was asked to help out with making some arrangements for a friend's reunion last week, so we had to get flowers, containers and other supplies. I just realized I forgot to take some pictures of the arrangements...dangit!

Also, in the last couple of weeks, I finally had my eyes rechecked (last time I did that was a year before the pregnancy started). Amazingly, my eyesight has improved since the last time. I'm not sure how much of it is due to the pregnancy and how much is from not staring at a computer all day at work. (Now I only stare at the computer for 1/3 of the day, if that). I even got some new frames. Yes, I'll post a picture after I take one... and transfer it to the computer.

I've also been working on sewing a Halloween costume for Juliana. She's going to be a ladybug for Halloween. The body of the costume is done, but I still need to make the wings and the headpiece/antennae. I'm skipping the footed jumpsuit that the pattern calls for. Since she's not actually going trick-or-treating outside, I think it'll be too warm (the body of the costume is lined with fleece). So I got a lightweight long-sleeved onesie to go under it and have some black stockings for her as well.

After the root canal at the beginning of this month, Derek got fitted for a crown in the middle of the month and is getting the permanent one set this morning. Hopefully this is the last visit to the dentist for him until his next checkup. I think he said it's going to be a gold crown.... he wanted the blinged out smile (it's the second to the back molar on his upper left).

Speaking of molars, Juliana's first molar came in and the other three are poking through already. It was about half way in when she had her 12 month checkup two weeks ago. Her overall growth has slowed down a little. Where she was in in the 75th+ percentiles for most of her first year, she is back down to the 50th percentile for height and weight (similar to her percentiles at birth). The only difference is that her head circumference is now in the 93rd percentile. (!!!) Between my father's larger than average head and what my husband refers to as his family's "legacy", I guess she was bound to have a larger than average head, too. I suppose it has to be to contain such a large intellect. Yes, I know you think it's maternal pride, but I really believe that she's super smart and others have commented on it, too. Yes, Juliana... We want you to be a rich, successful (and happy) business woman/entrepeneur/whatever-you-want-to-be so that you can support your Daddy and Mommy in their old age. But that's coming up very quickly, so get cracking!

Speaking of smart, Jessica has started another term of school and so far is getting 95% A's on her assignments. I think she still wants to do the online school eventually, but wants to wait until the end of this term so that she can build up a good base of (boy)friends first.

Okay... that's all I have time for right now. I promise it won't be two weeks before my next post and there will be pictures.

Birthdays and Mother's Day #2?

I was in line at the grocery store the other day talking about kids and the start of a new school year with the cashier and another woman chimed in: "I think the first day of the school year should be Mother's Day." While I don't feel that way (yet, if ever), I remember growing up and saying to my Mom "Happy Birthday, Mom! We're off to school, just for you!" (Her birthday is in early September, so we often started school around, if not on, her birthday.)

Funny how things like that stick out in your head.

Anyhow, Jessica started a new school year last week and it seems to have its ups and downs. She likes her aquatics class (a swimming only Phys Ed class) and doesn't care much for any of the others. She laments that she doesn't have a boyfriend and none of the ones she thinks are cute seem to have any interest in her. Her Dad and I think the boys here are intimidated by her self-confidence. Derek's been trying to tell her that not having a boyfriend can be a good thing, but she's not convinced.

For me, it has had its ups and downs as well. Having some quiet in the place is nice during the day, but I've started to become accustomed to having help watching Juliana. With just me and her, I've had to start readjusting and get a little less housework done until after Jessica gets home from school.

Jessica also celebrated her 17th birthday this past week and she's so excited for her presents. Among them was a Barnes & Noble gift card (she LOVES books), a new purse, a charm for her cell phone, money (always good), a homemade cheesecake instead of a traditional cake (her request), and a new iPod (the brand new one that came out this week). She also had picture day at school, which was a special sort of torture. Have I mentioned how much she dislikes having her photo taken? No? In the end, we made the best of it, and she went in with a smile and didn't complain too much. We'll see how they turned out in a couple of weeks.

Juliana is walking/running through the place, usually dragging Tigress around with her, or trying to get to the cats' water dish, or getting at the cables coming out of the back of the computers, or... well, we'll just say she's very curious about everything and doesn't like to sit still for very long. When she decides to focus on something, however, she will not usually be deterred from it.

She turns one year old next week, and we are going to have a small family celebration at my sister's place on Saturday. My mom says that for the 1st birthday, the Chinese lay out a bunch of different objects on a table, and whichever object the baby reaches for first is an indicator of what career they will have when they grow up. I'm not sure my Mom really believes this, but she thinks it might be fun.

We'll see what objects we having lying around that we can use, but right now I need to figure out what kind of cake to make for Juliana's birthday.

The Zoo, one month later

Wow, it's amazing how quickly you can fall behind in uploading pictures from the digital camera.
Between sending the boys back to Utah, Jessica returning from Utah, getting Jessica ready for the start of a new school year and all around Juliana wrangling, I've just plain forgotten about the photos.

But they're uploaded now and now we can tell you all about our day at the zoo.

It's been years since I've been to the zoo (at least 7 years, if not more) and much longer since Derek and the older kids have been there. We loaded up the car and brought Mitch, Jonah and Juliana. We left Jessica at home, brooding in her own sorrow at being left behind. (Not really. She was still in Utah at this time) Derek invited his friend Matt (and his wife Tara and their daughter Nissa (NEE'-sah). They live down in Seattle, so they met us at the zoo. Nissa was born about 4 months before Juliana.

We arrived a little earlier than they did, so took a spin on the carousel while we waited. Juliana enjoyed her first ride on a carousel.

Hi, Daddy! Bye, Daddy! (x10)

Mitch, could you have picked a horse further from the camera that is behind even more bouncing horses?

Thank you, Jonah! A much better choice in horse placement. Although the horse itself looks a little spooked.

When we had finished with the carousel, Matt and his family had arrived, but they were parked outside the entrance on the far side of the zoo. Eventually, we connected and Juliana and Nissa were formally introduced.
Yes, our baby looks like a large-headed giant in this picture (Rarrr!), but it's the foreshortening. I promise.

See? Here they are side by side. Okay, Juliana still looks a little bigger compared to Nissa, but she's always been on the larger side of average for her age. I blame it on her Dad's genes. But next to her Dad, she looks positively tiny:

" Whoo! So tall! Hey, Daddy, I can see the Eiffel Tower from up here!"

While there, we saw a wide range of inhabitants. From the primates:

"I want to see the Eiffel Tower, too... Dangit!"

"Hmmph! No one wants to show me the Eiffel Tower!"

To rare breeds of butterflies:

I suspect this is what would happen if the kids went through the transporting machine from The Fly. Only with a butterfly instead of a fly.

We stopped by the reptile house and saw things like this Emerald Tree Boa:

It's amazing how they can curl up on a branch like this and just rest.

The bears were very active that day, so most of my pictures of them came out rather blurry, except this one. It's just a little smudged looking, because the glass between us was covered in little handprints and faceprints (ewww!).

There were a few creatures from Down Under, like this kookaburra: After seeing him (her?), I had that kookaburra sits in the old gum tree song going through my head for the next half hour. Ack! Now I'm going to have it in my head again...

Or these wild dingos:

Ok, so they aren't dingos, and they aren't from Australia as far as I know. They're wolf cub sculptures... but they've kidnapped Jonah and are going to raise him as one of their own. It didn't last very long. Jonah was hungry and most sculptures don't eat. These like to act like they do, though.

This pair of eagles watched intently the two-legged animals carrying the little metal boxes by their faces. Oh wait...
And somewhere in the midst of all this, a wild animal was roaming the zoo outside the confines of the animal enclosures. This squirrel was seen foraging among the contents of this baby stroller while the owners were walking through one of the enclosed exhibits.I don't know about you, but I'm on the fence as to whether squirrels are cute or evil. They're cute if you watch them scampering about with their cheeks stuffed with food, but I've also heard more than one story of people being attacked by squirrels. I wonder if there is a zoo somewhere where these squirrels are housed (not just the flying squirrels - i think i've actually seen those in some zoo somewhere).

It was a long day, and we didn't even get to see half of the zoo's exhibits. This snow leopard is demonstrating how we looked when we got home that evening:


We'll have to make a trek to see the other half, but this time we'll bring Jessica.

And she'll probably complain about having her picture taken.