Zadie and Jake Forever

A few weekends ago we went to San Diego with some very good friends from L.A.  We had a great time and one of the best parts was how well Zadie played with Jake.  This was really fun during the day, but kind of an issue at night since they were sleeping in the same room and they would keep each other up late chatting the night away.  But this was a really cute photo we snapped of the two of them sleeping while holding hands, probably after chatting for like three hours.

On this particular night, my nephew Nick was babysitting and he couldn't get the kids to go to sleep.  He said that Jake kept talking and talking and that Zadie told Jake that she was really tired and that if he didn't stop talking then she wouldn't be his best friend anymore.  This made Jake really sad and he came out of the room crying to talk with Nick, who was sort of at a loss for what to say.  I wish she wouldn't have said that to him (telling people she's not their best friend anymore is her new favorite insult), but it's also kind of amusing to me!

Skip's Cool New Shirt

A friend of ours gave us some really great boys' hand-me-downs and our kids have been really stylin' since then.  All of the clothes are really great collared shirts and most are actually more formal than this, but this is one of our very favorites.  That Skipper is a handsome little devil.

I think most people would be surprised to know that Tori is quite strict about the clothes our children wear.  She's really into them being sharp dressers and the boys almost always wear a collared shirt everyday.  I think most people (including myself) would assume that Tori would not really give a hoot about what kids wear, but it turns out she's quite discriminating.

Charlie Adoption Update

Two weeks ago, Charlie had an important court date that Tori and I attended. It was our first time to actually go inside the courtroom because for some reason in the past we've been relegated to the waiting room. Anyway, there was quite a bit of drama and anticipation as we listened to the back and forth between lawyers appointed to represent Charlie, his birth dad, his birth mom, and the county. We didn't understand all that was going on, especially because the judge was a major mumbler (seems like judges shouldn't be allowed to mumble), but ultimately we got the outcome that we were hoping for: the parental rights of Charlie's birth parents were terminated.

This is a major step in the adoption process, so we were excited when Charlie's appointed lawyer told us that the adoption should be complete hopefully before the next status hearing in January. Knowing that things often take longer than expected, we were thinking we'd for sure have this all completed in the next three to six months.

Then last week the county social worker came out and told us that they can't find his birth certificate, which is a huge issue and could be a major source of delay. I could tell she was nervous to tell us this, but it's definitely not her fault (she was just assigned to the case), so there wasn't much to say. We're disappointed about the delay, but since the parental rights have been terminated we're still very confident that it's just a matter of time until we can legally adopt Charlie.

Zadie Wants Two Sisters

Zadie was only 17 months when Skip arrived, so she didn't really think much of it. When Charlie arrived she was initially very excited about being a big sister and helping to take care of such a tiny baby, but that gave way to indifference and then, I think, minor resentment because Charlie was such a high-maintenance baby who demanded so much of her time. She quickly realized that it was due to his arrival that we had less time available for reading books and playing puzzles with her.

For a long time now, whenever I ask Zadie if she wants another sibling, she always says no. She won't really elaborate, but she's always very firm in her answer. But tonight when Tori made some comment about saving baby clothes for the possibility of a future child, I asked Zadie to weigh in.

Me: Zadie, do you want us to have another baby?

Zadie: Yeah!

Me: You do? Really?

Zadie: Yeah!

Me: Would you rather have a brother or a sister?

Zadie: A sister.

Me: But what would you think if you had another brother?

Zadie: That would be okay...but I want two sisters and another mommy.

Tori: Why do you want another Mommy?

Zadie: So that one could take care of Charlie and one could take care of Skip and one could take care of me and one could take care of the sisters [We didn't point out this more than three mommies].

Kate: So you want another sister even though that would mean we might have less time for playing games and puzzles with you?

Zadie: Yes.

So I guess Zadie is on board for another child, but I'm not making any promises. At the moment, the answer is no way, Jose.

It does make me happy to know that she's in the mood for another and isn't feeling so deficient in attention from her parents. She's a great big sister...most of the time!

Time Alone

Whenever I have time alone or, more accurately, time away from our children, I feel a big countdown clock looming above me. As in, you have four hours of adult time that you must take full advantage of. There's a certain amount of stress involved because there is so much urgency and (self-imposed) pressure to make the absolute most of the time.

Yesterday Tori took the three kids to a party at her aunt's house and I had from 1:30pm to 7pm all to myself. That is an extraordinary gift and I was a little unsure how to use it. Here were some of my thoughts on how best to use the time:

--Do absolutely nothing so that I became so bored that I was actually excited to see my family when they came home and wishing they would hurry up and arrive. I quickly dismissed this option as unrealistic.

--Catch up on sleep. This was very appealing, but I didn't feel tired in that particular moment and it also seemed like a bit of a waste.

--Go to a coffee shop and read. This was very appealing, but I only had my bike and the tea house I wanted to go to made for a very traffic-filled and unattractive ride.

--Spend the whole time doing a major cleaning involving toilet scrubbing and bathtub scrubbing. I dismissed this because it seemed against the whole point of my time alone.

--Go to a movie. This is the option I ultimately chose because it just so happened that I had two good friends ready and willing to go to a 2pm showing of Stupid, Crazy Love, a film I had really been wanting to see.

After the movie I still had even MORE time to maximize and, as the time comes to an end, I feel an even more intense sense of urgency. So I also read the whole Sunday paper and an issue of LA Weekly, washed the dishes and picked up the house, and started my new Spotify music account.

All in all, it was time well-spent and I owe Tori big-time for this special treat. It's way less stressful when it's a big chunk of time and you can do a couple of different things.

Big Month for Charlie

Untitled from Kate K. on Vimeo.

In the last month, and really more like the last week, Charlie has learned to crawl (not in perfect form, but he gets the job done) AND finally gotten two teeth. So there have been a lot of new developments.

It's cool to see him scooting all over the place, but it's also a little stressful that he can get into places that are unsafe and he's constantly scouring the floor looking for the most disgusting and dangerous items to put in his mouth. It was kind of cool when he just sat there and smiled. Now he's kind of possessed with an inexhaustible need to explore and see things. He's also really into standing, so he's not quite as chill as usual. But hopefully this will get old quickly and he'll start being a lazy blob again. Haha. Just kidding...but part of me does feel that way.

The other upside of him crawling is that maybe he'll start to lose some weight!! It's cute that he's so plump, but it can also be hard to lug him around. Gosh, pretty soon he'll start walking and we won't have to worry about that!

Skip Turns Two Years Old

I'm really far behind on my blogging -- it's been a very eventful month, not the least of which because Skip just celebrated his second birthday. Many thanks to Aunt Katie for taking these photos.

As part of our annual 4th of July tradition, we went to Tori's dad's house in a small town in the Central Valley and we had a really great long weekend of rafting on the river, jumping on the trampoline, and doing the slip 'n slide down into the river. It was a physically exhausting and joyful vacation and we enjoyed every minute of it. We thought we had a long drive at 3.5 hours, but Tori's brothers drove from 17 to 22 hours, so we should be counting our blessings.

We got back home on the actual 4th of July and had previously arranged to have a big party at our house. I was thinking that was pretty poor planning to return from a long vacation at 1pm and have a bunch of guests arrive at 4pm. Oh well. We had a really nice group of people come over for the fireworks show and some gourmet burgers.

Skip got a cool scooter from my parents (see photo below) and a big donation towards a new kid bike seat from his Grandma Linda and a little bathrobe from me and Tori.

Skip is doing really great with regards to his talking. He speaks in pretty whole sentences and is way far ahead of where Tori was at the same age. He's not big for his age, but he's extremely athletic and coordinated. Tori hopes he'll be an Olympic gymnast. I can see him starring on the high school wrestling group in one of the lower weight groups, though Tori says wrestling is weird and she doesn't want to watch it!