Lucky Shirt

I am now 18 weeks pregnant with Pavenzia. I took this picture on Wednesday, Paprika's last day at her preschool (in the bathroom mirror- so pardon the decor!) Pavenzia is getting bigger and overall is being pretty sweet to her mama. I can't wait to see her at my next ultrasound (in a week).



This picture was taken on June 10, 2006 - so five years ago today. In this picture, I am 7 months pregnant with Paprika!



And here I am, pregnant with Ginger. This picture was taken in March 2009, so I was about 6 1/2 months pregnant here!



I never wore this shirt when I was pregnant with V&A (I think it was tucked away in a box somewhere). It's not my favorite shirt, but it's tradition and I hope it carries with it a bit of luck! It may be a bit out of style, but what can I say...it's grown on me over the years! :-)

Puppies and Airplanes!

Isn't it funny how you can have all the best toys in the world, and all your kids really want to play with is a cardboard box? Well, that's how it is here. This box was their airplane, and they played with it for hours...well, until it broke on them!

I am thinking more cardboard boxes could be in our future. The possibilities are endless.



Meet Ginger's new doggie...named Puppy.



Wherever she goes, he goes, and vice versa. Even when he's soaking wet, she can't let go of him. He's a stuffed animal Mr. M got for me back when we were newly dating! But it's okay, I will let Ginger have him. I don't think I could pry him out of her hands if I tried! Ha!

Welcome Summer!

Today was the perfect day for a little jaunt over to the beach. Ginger's favorite thing to say is: Go Beach! Well, that and: One More Time!



Can I just say how much easier it is going to the beach now that Mr. Mustard is around? Wow! Ginger goes one way, and Paprika goes the other...and it is half as much work (maybe less) only having to keep my eye on one child at a time. What will I do when he goes back to work in July?! (I am trying not to think about that!) Haha.



I took Paprika's camera with me to the beach today and used it to take all these photos. Yup, you heard that right. Paprika (age 4) has her own camera now. She used to have a little VTech kid's camera (which was a piece of junk)...and basically it caused her more frustration than joy.

So, instead I gave her my old Canon Powershot SD550...which was my only camera until about three years ago! It's an awesome camera (still)- and I was planning on selling it on Ebay, actually, because it hadn't seen much use in the past few years.



Well, then I looked up how much these sweet little cameras were going for on Ebay, and based on the condition of mine, I would have only gotten about $20 or $30 bucks for it! Which is less than a bad kid's camera costs!

So, I gave it to her, and she's been a little shutterbug ever since. I will have to post some of her photos because some of them are downright awesome...and some are just so comically not awesome! ;-) We always get a good laugh when we look back at them!

Plus, I love that she has her camera now because whenever I forget mine, I know that she's always got a backup!



So that was our day at the beach. We came home and grilled hot dogs, had some watermelon, raspberries, chips & freshly made guacamole, and Mr. M had Coronas with lime. Then it really felt like summer! :-)

This And That!

I am having a hard time believing that two weeks from today, this little girl will be two years old! I would like to say that I've planned her party...but that couldn't be further from the truth! That is definitely the next thing on my to-do list!



Since Mr. Mustard is home now on hiatus, we have been busier than ever. I am so exhausted most days, I just want to stay home with the girls and let them play in the backyard. Mr. Mustard wants to go-go-go hither and yon. So, it's a little bit of a push/pull between us, and I think that's good. He gets us out doing stuff, and I let us stay home and rest sometimes, too! ;-)



We've been out to dinner a few times with the girls and to the park almost every day to feed the ducks and play on the playground. We've had lots of playdates with Paprika's friends, and lots of end-of-the year activities with Paprika's preschool. Not to mention, trips to the library, to the pet store (remind me to tell you about our goldfish saga)...oh yes, and Disneyland! On top of that, Paprika has piano lessons (we switched her to a less rowdy piano class and that's going well), as well as her weekly Occupational Therapy.

So, if we don't make the time to decompress, it just doesn't happen! Some days I am so busy, I almost forget I'm pregnant. ;-)



Speaking of that, I got the results back from my AFP test on Friday. Everything looks great. Yay!

I scheduled my ultrasound with the perinatologist for two weeks from now. I'll be 19 weeks, so it's a good time for them to really take a look at everything and see if the baby is growing normally (hopefully so).

We are having a bit of a hard time finding childcare for Paprika and Ginger that day- the appointment is at 1:30 on a Thursday- a time nearly impossible for us to find a sitter. So, I think I might be going to that appointment by myself. Our perinatologist's office specifically does not allow children under the age of 12, so even if we wanted Paprika and Ginger to come, we couldn't have them there.

Mr. Mustard hasn't been able to come to any of my doctor's appointments thus far this pregnancy (he's been home watching the girls)- and this appointment is probably the most important. So...I am just a little sad he won't be there. Hopefully everything will be fine at the appointment because it would really be awful to get bad news without him by my side. Usually if you're going to get bad news, it's at this appointment with the perinatologist.

I will get over him not being there. I just need to put on my big girl panties about it!



On Friday, I visited the elementary school Paprika will go to next year and sat in on a class. I had specifically asked to see the Developmental Kindergarten (DK) and the regular Kindergarten classes, but when I showed up they said I was only allowed to see the DK. I was particularly annoyed because it had taken four phonecalls to the principal to even get the appointment to come in for the observation, and the school admin staff was pretty darn rude to me when I showed up to the school.

Anyhoo- I was just a little bit disappointed in the whole school visit. Besides being near the beach, the biggest reason we moved to this area was because our school district is known for being phenomenal. Our district was ranked #6 in the nation last year, and so we felt like the astronomical housing prices were worth it because we wouldn't have to worry about private school.

Well, now I am just not sold on the school system. Paprika will probably be fine... it's just that when a child has some special needs, you want to know that the school will be able to handle them. And right now, I am not feeling very confident about that!



So, that's what's happening here. Busy, busy, busy. I am going to enjoy these last two weeks of my baby being ONE year old! Do you think I could freeze time if I tried?

Think Of A Happy Thought...

Yesterday, after Paprika got out of school at 4 o'clock, we loaded up the car and took the girls to Disneyland and California Adventure for the night. Disneyland is open until midnight right now, and the other park is open until 10pm, so we knew we'd get a lot of fun in...especially if we stayed until they closed. Which we did!



We have Annual Passes, so we can go and it's low-pressure. I thought if it was crowded, we'd stick around for an hour or two, have dinner, and head home. But much to our surprise, the summer crowds haven't hit yet, so we had the whole place to ourselves practically!



We rode lots of rides (some of them many times in a row), had popcorn, and enjoyed a laid-back evening.

Ginger's favorite ride is It's A Small World.



Can you tell? She was so tickled, we had to ride it twice (and it's a 15 minute boat ride). Needless to say, I've got that song stuck in my head today on repeat! Ha!



We made sure to get a front row seat for the Fireworks display. It was incredible! We've probably been to Disneyland 70 times in the past three years...and yet we have never watched the fireworks. We're usually off riding rides when they happen...but for some reason, last night I really wanted to see them, so we planned ahead. They did not disappoint! Spectacular!