Big Apple

I had the fabulous opportunity to go to New York City with Eric and no kids. I tagged along with Eric on his business trip. Poor guy really was on business, he worked his tail off while I played. I was able to spend wonderful quality time with Cathi and her little girl Annabelle. We had 2 full days together. We hit up a great yoga class at Laughing Lotus with founder Dana Flynn .
Ate great food in small restaurants around the village, went to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden to view the cherry blossoms. I believe we were about 2 weeks early for the full show but we did see a few trees in great display. The Magnolia trees were actually in full effect. We then had a double date dinner night with the Ellis's, that was fun to hang out with the boys. We also had a great bike ride along the Hudson river. The last full day was spent in my own company, no kids to feed or clean, no whining to address, nobody to answer to but me. So what did I do????? I did some yoga, ate some lunch, walked all around the West Village, Soho, and Nolita. I had a wonderful time in the city. If I could have changed anything I would have had Eric by my side but he was doing what he went there to do.

We have Jan and Reggie to thank for making this trip possible. It has been over 3 years since Eric and I both went away together without the kids. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you watching the kids while we went away. I hope you aren't too burned out. The kids certainly miss you both and so does Bodhi.

Happy Birthday BODHI!!!!! 7 yrs old

You were a fabulous puppy and now you are a loving grown dog and we all love you very much. Happy Birthday Bodhi.

Love the Cuz's

We couldn't wait for their arrival.

Constant adventure, constant fun, constent LOVE





We LOVE & MISS you, come back soon. It's quiet around here without you!!!!!!!!!!

Don't stop believe in........

Just because you have young kids doesn't mean you can't do the things you still enjoy doing. Believe me I had a great amount of fear surrounding camping with friends with Milo and his unfortunate sleep habits. Most of you know that Milo has had sleeping difficulties since he was a little baby. He is now a little over 3 years old and yes he still has his moments. He passionately refuses to go to bed, he passionately wakes up through the night and he happily looks at you in the morning as if nothing ever took place. And then.........it happens all over again.

With that said doing things in group settings has always been a challenge for me, as a mom it's hard to let go and just accept his night time behaviors. It took me almost 2 years to get comfortable with camping with other people. Fortunately I can say that I am over it. We have camped plenty of times with ourselves and larger groups including other kids and I have learned that most kids wake up, cry and then settle back down. When it's not yours you simply roll over and get back to sleep.

This is the perfect time of year to go backpacking in Santa Barbara, the creeks are raging, the wildflowers are starting their show and the bugs are still pretty calm. We decided to take the kids on their first backpacking trip last weekend. It was an overnight trip. Short and sweet. 1 mile hike in, 5 creek crossings, some as deep as our waist. Both kids wanted to collect and throw rocks the whole time. The did great, Eric and I had a blast and I do believe that Milo & Ruby will totally enjoy their next backpacking trip. If we can get a warmer sleeping bag and better equip ourselves for cold (freezing nights) then we would have all slept a little better.

Enjoy the photos. Lesson here is to continue doing the things you always enjoyed doing before the kids, they adapt much more easily than you would think. What's one night of "rocky" sleep.

Creek, Stones, Work & Happy Faces!

Ragging Mission Creek and it's stone throwing enthusiasts.





Petite Room at White Lotus, my weekend working as an assistant for Thai Massage.

View from my room window!

Self Portrait @ White Lotus

Today's adventure. Wyatt's buzz, Jess's Belly & Kids at Ship Wreck Park.




Jess & Elijah (6.5 months preggers)

Too Cute for words

Beanies anyone?
A very late christmas gift finally arrived in the mailbox yesterday. I had them wear them for the rest of the day. I think they love them.

Croupy Ruby

This morning was far from our normal mornings. I spent 3 hours at the emergency room with Ruby. She was diagnosed with Croup. She woke last night at 10pm with a high fever, horrible wheezing like she couldn't draw in enough oxygen and a barking cough. Eric and I have been so fortunate that our kids have only been down with the most common cold and for that matter only a couple of times for each of them. So with that said our experience with something major like this is zero. I'm not sure about Eric, but I was scared and didn't really no what to do. We gave her fever reducing medication last night and she drifted back to sleep no problem. Upon waking this morning she still had a high fever, she could barely breath at least that's how it sounded. I quickly dropped Milo off with Jess & Wyatt and I rushed Ruby to the Med-Center, they said it sounds like croup and that they don't have the means to treat her, get her to ER.

That is when my heart dropped. ER? We have never gone there before. Fortunately they got her in pretty quick, gave her a breathing treatment and then got us a room where she sweetly slept on me. I relish in these sweet cuddly moments, they are far and few between. Ruby was a trooper with 2 sets of chest x-rays (not easy with a 1 year old, 2 breathing treatments and a steroid shot. She did pretty well through her visit at the ER.

Ruby is home and seems to be doing better. Hopefully she will be back to her happy spunky self in a couple of days.