Vivienne and Jess

Vivienne could not get enough of Jess this weekend. It was very adorable. Whenever she saw Jess, she just wanted to hang out and be with her. So cute. I mean, what's not to love about Jess!

Hamin' it up

I'm not sure who is encouraging who here, but they were OUT OF CONTROL!

Timber Cove, Part 2

Asher and Jess (I love this picture, what a sweet momma and baby boy).

Asher and Jess

Little Canyon (about 9 weeks?)

Daddy and Viv (her favorite spot)

Weekend in Timber Cove, Part 1

Jeremiah and Asher, Mitch and Vivienne

Me and Chia-Hui

Jeremiah and "Ash Man"

Here are a few pictures from our weekend on the Northern California coast about a week ago. It was a great time. Good food, good conversations, great friends, LOTS of babies. There is nothing more relaxing to me than the Northern California coast. One of the days there we took a long walk/hike with all the babies and it was was so breathtaking I am still thinking about it whenever life gets stressful. I felt so lucky to have Vivienne in such a beautiful setting for 3 days. Oh, did I mention HOT TUB? HOT TUB! Thanks to Scott and Chia-Hui for hosting our little getaway. This house had enough rooms for three families to stay and NOT ever see or hear each other in the middle of the night! A good time was had by all, and hopefully this will become something we do often. Vivienne had a particular affinity for our friend Jess. I am not exaggerating, EVERY time she saw Jess she would just become silly and giddy and lunge out of my arms for her. I will post their love affair in one of these entries. I may have to break up the posts, as there are just too many pictures to share in one entry.

Enjoy!

She sips!

Returning to "the force"

The last six months have been the most exhilarating, tiring, amazing, terrifying, life-changing moments of my entire life. Not a day has gone by where one of those feelings have not been present, among many others I'm not gonna waste time listing here. I could probably go on and on forever as they are ALWAYS changing.

And so it is, I am going back to work on March 2nd, next Tuesday, and that is the end of my life as I know it. I AM NOT GOING TO SURVIVE. I have spent the last week doing the following: crying, crying some more, sobbing, looking at Vivienne with sadness and trepidation, feeling anxious, dealing with feelings of abandonment, talking and talking until my face is a deep dark blue and Mitch has this glazed over look, justifying myself to everyone I encounter, saying I love you to Vivienne every time I see her, preparing the house, preparing Vivienne (as well as I can), crying some more, drinking wine and more wine.

Why in the hell, you ask, am I going back to work then? I ask myself this question a lot. Besides the obvious financial reasons, I'm not really sure why I'm going back. I mean, don't get me wrong, there is a part of me that can't wait to jump on the train with a cup of coffee and the New Yorker, and sit down at my desk and get organized for the day. Maybe I'll even go all out and have some adult conversations? THAT WOULD REALLY BE THE KICKER! I just have to be VERY careful not to go near my iphone because as soon as I do this is what comes up and I AM TOAST. The faucets get turned on for an undetermined amount of time...

Nothing I write here, or tell myself in my head, will make everything okay for me. The fact is, I am choosing to return to work (albeit part time), and leave Vivienne in the very capable hands of her Uma and her Auntie. I am popping the big, fat, juicy, boiling over with love and coziness BUBBLE that we have had, Toots and I, this last six months. It has been wonderful. It has been challenging and tiring. I am under NO preconceptions that life will be ANY easier starting next week. While I will still have a few week days with my Pookie all to myself, I will have even less time for myself. My house, my daughter, my husband, our cats, will all need me and the demands of our household will only get greater. All of this I AM CHOOSING to inflict upon us.

Here's the thing. I love my job. It provides for me something that no one or nothing else can. And even though I am heartbroken (I truly truly am), I think it is the best decision for my family right now. I have a lovely, stimulating job, with great supportive people. Someday in the not so distant future, Vivienne will grow up a little and her circumference of experience will get wider. She will make friends, go to preschool, have ideas and thoughts beyond Daddy and I. If you will let me be even MORE melodramatic than this post already is: SHE WILL LEAVE ME BEHIND!! And that is a good thing. I want her to do all of those things and more. Which is why I am choosing to keep those things in my life as well, even if they are modified to keep Viv as my priority. I know something will be a little lost when I return to work, and trust me, I am mourning that. But letting go, and I think even loss, are all part of this journey/rollercoaster called Motherhood. Most of all, I just feel thankful for the people in Vivienne's life that are willing to be with her when I am not. She will benefit greatly from their love and attention. My girl LOVES the attention, social one that she is! I will sign off now, before this post becomes a novel.

Workforce, ready or not, here I come.

Swinging with Auntie Andilene

We have been spending a lot of time with Auntie Andilene this week and Vivienne has this little love affair going on with her. Whenever I say LOOK THERE'S YOUR AUNTIE!!, she looks over with this big open mouth grin and lets out this raspy, deep chuckle. She likes everything about her Auntie. Pulling her hair, giving her hickey kisses, reaching for her while making razzing sounds. It's pretty adorable.

Waiting patiently for the new Oh-Schrobsdorff!

She's in there, and she can come out anytime! We are waiting patiently for our little buddy and I KNOW Ellen is beyond ready to meet her little peanut. Viv LOVES E and C, and I am just over the moon about their little baby girl, who will be born in a couple of weeks. Or anytime! Come out come out whoever you are! We are all waiting to welcome you into the world, little one.

The applesauce won

New fave

This morning as I happened to look down at the floor in Vivienne's nursery I noticed a large cellophane bag with baby gifts inside of it. I opened it and discovered it was a Valentines Day gift for Vivienne (and some chocolate for us) from Uma (my mom). Inside was the BEST book ever, and Vivienne's favorite toy for the day. She has been all over this book, and I would highly recommend it to anyone reading this. It's called Baby Love by Sandra Magsamen, and it is simply adorable. Vivienne has used it every which way today (she particularly loved the tag as a teething toy), as the pictures show, and we have read it a dozen times. It was also SO FUN to receive a Valentines Day gift. I have to admit, I thought I was over it, but my mom always gets little gifts for these "holidays" and this one proved to be no exception. Thanks Uma!

Just because it's too cute for words

Vivienne, modeling her early Spring bathing suit. Number one of, oh I don't know how many, I will inevitably order her this coming season. The daddy in it is pretty cute too.

Trucker in the making

Sampling the vino on a Saturday afternoon

Winery #1 (so composed)

Winery #2 (getting happy)

Winery #3 (trying to be composed)

Over the long holiday weekend we went to Galt to spend it with Grandma and Grandpa Weathers. It's funny how I call them that now. Grandma and Grandpa, as if they don't have names anymore. Let's see, there's Grandma, Grandpa, Uma, Choo-Choo, Nonno, Nonna -- I do this to ALL of them. I would HATE it if they started calling me "Mommy" or something similar. If they ever did I would probably say something like, HEY PLEASE DON'T CALL ME THAT!! Maybe after this post I will get several emails or calls explaining that YES, it does drive them UP THE WALL when I do that! I digress.

We had a great time with family, and on Saturday Mitch and I went on an early Valentines Day excursion. Mitch set it up with his parents to watch Vivienne while we went wine tasting in Amador County, just about an hour from their house. We have not gone on a long/day trip date since Viv was born. Long before that if we're being honest. Being gigantic and pregnant just doesn't go well with day trips. It does go well with laying on the couch and eating and watching movies that make me cry though! Okay, back to wine tasting! It was so unbelievably fun I can't even find the words to describe it. Just so romantic and we had a blast. We used to do that stuff ALL the time, he and I, and it's one of our favorite things to do. Wine taste or anything involving a nice drive, good food, and lots of uninterrupted conversation about nothing in particular. It was nice to connect again. We did purchase WAY too much wine though, for all of our nights at home after we put Vivienne down!

I have tried to put the pictures in order of the wineries we visited. You can tell by our expressions which winery was last! We had to cut ourselves off after three of them. We started getting looks from people and I was afraid we were going to get asked politely to have some bread or step outside. Nothing like acting like giddy teenagers!

Happy Valentines Day

There's just nothing sweeter to me, than these two lovebirds.

Cleaning up the dishes from last night

Grandpa and Vivienne cleaning up from last nights dinner. She found a new teething toy.

Month: 5

Note to Vivienne (if you read this someday):
You are the cutest, most lovable, and friendliest baby ever. You never cease to amaze me or your dad. I'm not kidding, we OFTEN find ourselves sitting around after we've put you to bed (at 6pm - good girl) with our BOTTLE of wine, talking about you and how much we absolutely adore you, and how much you've changed our lives. We think you are an old soul. The way you look at us sometimes radiates this, and you seem to always be taking things in around here, watching the way things work. All we want is for you to keep being happy. Thanks for being our baby girl.
xo

The kissing game

Vivienne has just learned to kiss. By kissing I mean grabbing your face with both hands, looking straight into your eyes, and laying a big fat wet juicy open mouth on your chin or cheek. She also pinches your neck with her little hands while doing it. It's to die for, except the wet part. And, as evidenced in one of the pictures above, if you get grossed out by her affections she gets a very offended look. She's looking at me like WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!

(These were taken a few weeks ago outside of Houston's, for a brunch with Auntie Kirsten and her family in from Australia.)