Friday, May 29, 2009

Daddy's Girl

The other night (I want to say Tuesday night, but don't quote me on that) Molly woke up around 2:30 am. She wasn't screaming in pain so it wasn't teething related, but she was definitely awake. After listening to her babble for a good 15 minutes and then hearing her start to get a lot louder I finally got up to check on her as she wasn't about to go back to sleep on her own. I go into her room and I'm greeted with a, "Mommy? No. Bye-bye. Daddy. Dah-dee!" Ha! You got *me* up m'dear. Daddy sleeps with ear plugs.

I change her diaper (even though it wasn't that full) and then go through the list of potential reasons she's up. Are you thirsty? No. Are you hungry? No. Do you want to rock? No. I was attempting to hold her in the rocking chair we have in her room and at this point she wiggles free and is standing in front of me. I then ask her what does she want and she gets her determined walk on and takes off. Hands are pumping at her sides and her booty is wiggling back and forth. She marches through the house as quickly as she can with all the lights off and only night lights to guide her. She slows down in front of the office and puts her hands out to make her way through the hallway doorframe (it bit back last week and she has the goose egg to prove it). She then puts her hand up as she corners the dining room table so she doesn't bonk her head. She's headed straight for our room and dah-dee. She slows down a bit once she enters as our room is pitch dark and slowly makes her way over to our bed where she simply says, "Up!"

Alright. Sold.

I lift Molly up on to the bed and put her between us. I then spend a good minute nudging N until he finally lifts his head off the pillow and removes an ear plug. I tell him Molly wants her daddy and to kindly get his ass up. Molly was very calm about all this and wasn't throwing a fit so I saw no need to have her cry it out. N got up, still half asleep, and headed back to Molly's room. She didn't want to go down immediately, but was content after a few minutes of snuggle time with daddy and told him night-night when she was ready to go back to bed.

Hey, if she wants her daddy in the middle of the night, who am I to argue?

Thursday, May 28, 2009

teething (#13, 14, and possibly 15)

Tooth #13, that pesky bottom left canine, has reared it's ugly head again. It broke through a few weeks back and then it all but disappeared on us. The gums were probably so swollen they closed back over and it had to break through again. This all started late last week and lasted through most of the long weekend. It also looks like her top right canine (#14) has broken through and her bottom right one (#15) is also starting to break the surface. There were many long nights where Molly was waking up screaming for more drugs or to just be held. You know it's bad when she's too tired to open her eyes, but is still screaming so hard her face is beat red. Still, after another dose or some love she was usually back in bed within 10 minutes sound asleep. The interruption every few hours was a little exhausting, but Molly was handling it as well as can be expected. Here's to hoping these three come all the way in and that's the last of the torment for at least a little while.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

new pics!

Nathan uploaded some new pictures to his October, November, December - 2008 gallery and his April, May, June - 2009 gallery. I also added some to my K - April, May, June 2009 gallery. All of the galleries post in reverse chronological order with the newest picture being first going back to the oldest for that gallery. So make sure you go back until you see something familiar. Some of my favorites are:















All pictures can be found here.

Operation Yogurt - Molly style.


Also available in HD here.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Heat wave

We had quite the heat wave this past weekend. Temps were nearing 100 out on both Saturday and Sunday. We had a play dates both days in the morning (aka pre-nap) before it got too hot. On Saturday we met up with Molly's friend Maya and her mom Stacey. Then Mo joined us for lunch after his bike ride. On Sunday we met up with Robert and Jenn in downtown Campbell for their annual Boogie on the Bayou event. It was already 80 out at 9:00 am so I knew we weren't going to last long. After a quick lap and some purchases at the Farmer's Market we all headed back here so the kids could play with Molly's new water table (yes, it can also hold sand, but don't tell Molly that). Jenn took some great pics and video. Thanks Jenn!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

First bloody nose.

She tripped on a step and face-planted on pavement. After a napkin, and some tears on daddies shoulder, all is well.

Water baby

Enjoying some refreshing water time at the Campbell Park. We also ran into Katrine and Emily which was a lovely surprise.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Daddy taxi

N's workout for the day. Doing the crab walk and Molly's along for the ride. Warm night at Santana Row. Hanging out on the lawn by the fountain waiting on some burgers. Too hot to cook. That was the excuse for today.

Grandpa Hickson is home.

Yesterday was the day Grandpa Hickson was released from acute rehab. He accumulated a fair sized mountain of crap (wheelchair, walker, toilet commode, mechanical gripper, bandages, etc)... so we practically filled the car to get him home. I spent the night to ensure the house was fully prepared for someone with his capabilities, and to be sure he could do everything he needed to do, alone. The neighbors are all excited to have him back, and will be looking in on him daily. After 31 days in the hospital, we're all glad to see him back home.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Fire Trucks Rock!

Parenthood

Have you ever seen that movie Parenthood? Remember the kid that ran around with a bucket on his head? Yeah... that's my girl.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Helping mommy shop

I have a better pic of her with a credit card in her mouth, but I'm afraid you can see the number. Molly's already credit card savvy. We're in trouble.

Friday, May 8, 2009

tooth #13

Molly's first canine is coming in. It's her bottom left and just the tip of it has broken the surface. We thought something might be up when last night she stuck her fingers in her mouth and did not want to go down. She chilled after N gave her some drugs as we thought she might be teething. We were right. Tonight she simply hooked her index finger into her mouth right over the new tooth and pulled down signaling she would like some drugs please. Hey, if that's all it takes for a teething kid to go down easy I'll happily oblige.

Hickson Day Care

Robert and Molly had a day long play date yesterday when Robert's Nana fell ill. The kids played and played and played some more. I was wondering how nap time was going to go over, but both kids went down for about two hours. First I took them both back to Molly's room so I could change them one last time before putting them down. Molly had some of her bottle while I changed Robert and then I put her down in her crib and said, "Night night" as Robert and I walked out. Well, that just pissed her off. Still, I figured I had better chances of her falling asleep on her own since she was in her own bed and just let her cry it out while I put Robert down in our room. Five minutes later Robert was sound asleep and Molly had stopped her bellowing.

The kids had a great time playing hide n' seek:



"Sharing" toys:



Chasing the furry kids around was another fun game:



(click on any of the above for more)

Adults only

Wednesday night Nathan and I went to a lovely dinner in the Saratoga hills. A colleague of N's extended the invitation. It was at a gorgeous house and the food was gourmet. Every now and then you need to leave the kid with the grandparents and hang out with some adults. Sure, there was plenty of shop talk going around, but I remembered enough from my "working" days to be able to follow the conversations. The hosts were a group of people that had put on several legendary boondoggles in their time... many of which I had attended so I knew we were in good company.

Still, a major case of house envy was had. Nice view, huh:



I was especially jealous of all the bamboo on the property:



(click on either pic for more)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Sesame Street

Watching Robert for the day and they both crawled up on the couch with their blankets so I turned on Sesame Street. I wonder how long this will last.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

William Elliott Whitmore

Yesterday my friend Angela sent me the You Tube link to William Elliott Whitmore's "Hell or High Water" performance at a Seattle based radio station. I've had that song stuck in my head ever since. I hold her solely responsible for any damage I might do at Streetlight Records as I never get out of there with just one purchase. Thank goodness Amoeba is up in SF. That place has twice the selection!

For your viewing pleasure I proudly present William Elliott Whitmore's "Hell or High Water":

reason #867 I'm a dog person...

A few weeks back Charlie got herself STUCK trying to go through the kid gate we have in front of the office. It has metal bars and she was pretty wedged in there so I had to come to her rescue.

Well, this morning I get up and give the cats their morning scoop of food (all cat stuff is in the office). I then shut the gate behind me and leave the cats in there. Michael can hop over the gate no problem, but Charlie usually just hangs out in the office during the day. Well, I hear some rattling and sure enough Charlie went through the gate again. She got herself a little stuck, but pulled free before I got to her.

Then Molly and I come out to the living room after playing in her room for a bit and it smells like shit... FUCKIN' CHARLIE SHIT BEHIND THE COUCH!!!!

*sigh*

It was right NEXT to the amp, but not ON the amp. Thank goodness for small favors.

Still.

Gross.

Fuckin' cat.

Monday, May 4, 2009

spring cleaning

Molly has spent the last 10 minutes using leaves to wipe up all the little tree droppings into those holes and then stuffs the big leaf through too. It never ceases to amaze me what can hold her attention.

Friday, May 1, 2009

S is for share

Molly's latest thing has been sharing. Sure, she has her moments when she gets upset that some kid just grabbed whatever it was she was playing with straight from her hands, but for the most part she's been initiating the sharing. If a kid walks up to her she'll just hand over whatever it is she has in her hands or whatever is closest. A greeting present if you will. She's been doing this for a while, but this week it's been kicked into overdrive. Other parents are commenting on how good she shares and that their kid should take note.

Makes a mother proud.