Hanging Out At Home

We had a restful day at home today. The past week, especially moving Paprika's schedule from night to day, has been exhausting for her and for me! After our Disneyland Wednesday and Children's Museum Thursday, we needed a little day of R&R. We spent the day curled up at home, surrounded by good books and art supplies.



Paprika has her Snow White dress permanently glued to her body. I don't know why we buy clothes, really. She has to wear the Snow White dress at all times (including sleep). I am surprised she hasn't asked to take a bath with it on! She also has a pink Sleeping Beauty dress, but she doesn't want to wear that. She has to wear the Snow White dress with her pink sequin shoes!



I read in a magazine that you're not supposed to let your child go out of the house dressed up in costumes. I disagree! Paprika has been all over Los Angeles in all sorts of get-ups, and if it makes her happy, then why should I stop her? I remember my grandma used to take me to the grocery store with all my fancy costume jewlery on, and it made me feel so special. I hope Paprika feels warm and special, too!



Mr. Mustard has the next few days off work, and I am so grateful and excited he'll be home. Hopefully the weather is good and we can spend a few days just hanging out, relaxing, and enjoying time together. Sometimes the best memories are made when we're just doing nothing- just "being" together.

Children's Museum Thursday!

We spent a gorgeous day at the Children's Museum on Thursday.

First, I had to wake Paprika up from her peaceful slumber. She is not easy to wake up. She really enjoys being snuggled up in her bed. I waited until 10:30 am to wake her up, and it was hard to do. I think if I'd let her, she would have slept all day.




First stop at the Children's Museum was the paleontology exhibit. Paprika loves to uncover the dinosaur bones and pretend to drive the truck. She drove me all sorts of places: Egypt, Santa Barbara, and "to the market!"



Then we spent a long time checking out the insect displays. Paprika is especially interested in insects now, so we spent a long time comparing the different kinds of beetles, grasshoppers, bees, spiders, and other insects.



Then we had a snack outside in the warm sunshine. It was nice to take a rest and talk about lots of deep stuff, like how bumblebees make honey, all about the planets, and how not every skeleton is a dinosaur skeleton.



She thought some topics of conversation were pretty funny.



Then, we played with the water. That was pretty exciting, especially when Paprika poured an entire bucket of water down the front of her dress. She didn't seem to mind and kept right on playing.



She made me lots of "water soup" - one of her specialties...



Then, of course, we painted. We painted for a long time. I think we went through four cycles of kids. They would run over and do a quick painting and run off to the next thing, but not Paprika. She sat there for a good hour and painted a "lake with red birds, flowers, butterflies, and bumblebees." When she's really working, she holds the paint brush with one hand while she refreshes another paint brush with the other hand. I think it's becoming her signature style. ;-)




After that, she constructed this "bumble bee" from some of the insect building blocks they had available. When she was done making him, she took him around to all the exhibits and explained each exhibit to him in great detail. She had a very hard time saying goodbye to the "bumble bee"- so much so that I considered stuffing him in my purse. I didn't, though, and Paprika cried for at least an hour about the friend she left behind. But, of course, I didn't get any pictures of that!

Mr. Mustard Is Published!

I am SO proud of Mr. Mustard! He was asked to write an article for Editor's Guild Magazine on which film has influenced him the most as an editor. It was published in the March-April issue, and we just got it in the mail! This is one of our favorite magazines that we read at our house, so we are especially excited!

I'm guessing this brings Mr. Mustard's total number of people who've read his published works higher than the readership of my two books combined. ;-) Whatever I do, he's always got to do it just a little bit better. That's one of the things I love about Mr. Mustard. He's pretty awesome- looks like everyone else knows that, too!

Oh Happy Day!

Paprika and I spent the day at Disneyland and California Adventure together! It was a lot of fun. I don't think it was exactly wise to take a toddler to Disneyland by myself, almost six months pregnant, but I did it. By the end of the day, I was in pain, and wanted to lay down on the pavement for about fifteen hours.

From now on, I'll probably wait until Mr. Mustard has a day off for us to go together, or better yet, maybe I'll stay home and let them have a father/daughter trip! The good news is that on Dancing With The Stars (starting next week), Mr. Mustard has off Wednesdays and Thursdays instead of the weekends, so we'll be able to do our Disneyland trips mid-week together.

Getting Ready For The Ride To Start:



We rode lots of rides, and Paprika is familiar enough with the park now that she doesn't mind walking herself or letting me push her in the stroller. When we first started going, she wanted to be carried everywhere- and that's not happening now!

She Likes To Spin The Wheel Herself:



She also knows exactly which ride she wants to ride next! We rode all of our usual rides, and some of them more than once! We had a nice dinner together just the two of us at Pinnochio's house. It was a great day, and we even managed to get a few pics on the Teacups (last ride of the night) before we snuck out of the park at closing time!

The Teacups At Night:



So Happy!

Having Fun In "Our Backyard"

Today was Mr. Mustard's first day back on a full "day" schedule at work. Paprika and I went to the park for the whole day and had lots of fun. We missed Mr. Mustard, though!

Thinking About Life, The Universe, and Everything:



Just Feelin' Pensive:



Climbing Trees:



Picking Flowers:



Smelling The Roses:



Dancing In The Grass:



Twirling to Her Own Rhythm:



Running:



Smiling:



Gotcha!




On the way home, we stopped at the store and bought fixin's for a yummy special dinner. Paprika and I made lobster ravioli (Mr. Mustard's favorite) with a delicious spinach side salad. It was a hit!

Last night I put Paprika to bed at midnight (early for her) and she sang to herself for two and a half hours...at least. I still woke her up early, and the lack of sleep didn't seem to phase her. I don't know where she gets her energy!!!

A Few Park Pics

Last night we tried again to get Paprika to bed early. She is really resisting us! We got her to bed at midnight, but when I went in at 3am to check on her, she was sitting up in bed reading a book to her stuffed animals. Her favorite book of the moment is called "Daddy and Me" and is about a little boy who helps his father build a dog house. The only word she mispronounces when she reads the book is "screwdriver"- which she pronounces "screw-ver-driver." And if you try to correct her, she'll explain very patiently to you, "No, it's screw-ver-driver."

Even though she's up all night reading, we are still waking her up earlier and earlier. At some point, she's got to cave, right?

We've been having some fun times outdoors, now that the weather is better. It's still drizzling from time to time, but nothing like the rain we had a week or so ago.

Here are a few pics from our afternoon at the park. It was a lovely day!



Our trips to the park always include a visit with the Tin Man. Lately, Paprika has been concerned with whether or not he has enough water to drink, enough to eat, and whether or not he has a poo-poo diaper. She's always saying to him, "Tin Man, do you have a stinky diaper?"



Paprika, making one of her funny faces:



With Mr. Mustard on the playground:



Last shot of the day!:

Doc Appointment Today

I had my doctor's appointment today: 22 1/2 weeks officially (although baby is measuring by ultrasound about two weeks larger). Nothing much new to report, thankfully!

This was the first appointment I did not have an ultrasound- and I probably won't have another ultrasound until 30 or 32 weeks. That seems like a long way away to me, considering I have had six ultrasounds already this pregnancy!

I am feeling a lot of movement lately. My placenta is anterior (in the front), which cushions a lot of movement, but I still get some kicks every now and then. I also had an anterior placenta with Paprika and with Vivian and Annemarie, so I am quite used to it!

The nurse did comment on my weight gain, which is to be expected, I guess. I was at a very good, normal, healthy weight when I got pregnant with Vivian and Annemarie, then gained about 35-40 pounds with them. There were only 8 weeks in between when I delivered them and this pregnancy, which didn't give me a whole lot of time to lose any of that weight- and I've been gaining ever since! Gaaah!

I reminded the nurse that I have been pregnant FOREVER (13 out of the past 15 months), and so that might explain why I'm not exactly a skinny-minnie. Ahhh, the joys of living in Los Angeles! ;-) Thankfully, the doctor did not bring up my weight- and I choose to listen to him and not the nurse!

We took Paprika to the appointment with us (Mr. Mustard entertained her in the downstairs cafe while I met with the doc). When we got to the office, Paprika started crying. I said, "Baby, what's wrong?" And she said, "I thought we were going to Disneyland!" I thought that was pretty funny...

Our Sunday!

Our first attempt to get Paprika back to a more normal "day schedule" was essentially unsuccessful. We put her to bed at 11:30pm last night, but she woke up at 12:30am and would not go back to sleep. We eventually got her back to sleep around 3am, and then woke her up a little after noon today.

We had a nice afternoon at the park near out house. She rode her bike there (with our supervision, of course)- and it was the first time she really peddled the bike herself without us using the push bar! So, I guess I could say that today was Paprika's first day ever riding her tricycle solo! Sniff sniff.

Here are a few pics from our day at our local park!