Parenting Donut...

Fun times in parenting...explaining concepts like breastfeeding to your 3 year old.

Donut:  Mommy, Nacho is crying I think he's hungry
Me:  I know I am going to feed him
Donut: Mommy, he wants milk
Me:  I know.  Sometimes mommies make special milk for babies
Donut: From your boobies?  (looks at me skeptically)
Me: Uh... yes.

Now she points and yells "MILK FROM YOUR BOOBIES!" almost every other time Nacho cries = awesome.

Countdown to baby is NOW

In this photo I am starting my maternity leave...38 weeks and waiting for Nacho!

Reasons Why I Love Germany

They mostly revolve around things that are edible and just don't quite taste the same once you leave Germany..

1. Pretzels - OMG I had no idea what I was missing until I had a pretzel in Germany a few years ago... the poor american copy "super pretzel" is like playdogh compared to the real stuff
2. Schnitzel - buttery, crisp and light in ways a lot of things fried in America aren't

Above:  Jelly donut / pancake thing...totally rad and I think I ate two :)
Below:  THAT is the egg they were serving in the breakfast buffet!  I would KILL to get eggs with yoks that rich in the states...but you can only get them at farmers markets for practically $1 / egg

It's a done deal

Things are changing and changing quickly...holy moly we are officially homeowners.  After many starts and stops over the years in searching we found a place we both love and closed escrow at the end of May.  This project will be a major labor of love because it's a fixer upper.  We are buying from the ORIGINAL owner...they bought it direct from the developer in 1962 - wow.  AND they hadn't done a thing to it since they bought it.  Killer pink and blue tile as was all the rage in the 60's...parquet floors and a furnace that looks like a classic car.

I feel like a grown up now with a flippin mortgage.  Forget the part where I got married and had kids (any idiot can get pregnant as evidenced by MTV) but taking on this massive financial responsibility makes me feel "mature" or you know, old :)  So onwards and upwards, up the hill to the new house.  Fingers crossed that "Work Betty" can keep this project on track and on budget so we aren't bankrupt by the experience.... check out the pics!

A Tale of Two Bellies

Molly and my due dates are about a week apart..but with Donut having been early and the women in Molly's family delivering late...Nacho and Banksy may actually end up more like a month apart in actual birthdays.  I gotta say compared to the first time around when I literally knew no one who was "with child" it's really nice to go through this experience with one of my closest pals. 

Funny Moments in Parenting Donut

Over the weekend Donut was saying the following

"my grandma's name is Pat" and "my halmoni's name is Ruth"  and constantly addressing me by my first name and not Mommy (super annoying)
Forrest started to teach her the names of her grandparents because she was saying things like "my grandma's name is hamoni" which basically means my grandma's name is grandma.

But I asked her what daddy's name was and she replies "Forrest"
I then ask her what grandpa's name is and she replies "Pat"

I correct her and say "Grandpa's name is Forrest"

She pauses..then says "Oh!  There's two of them."

I think that must have blown her little Donut mind.

Blue frosting mayhem

I still really think flying is cool...

There is something just really amazing about it...even with all the flying i do, it doesn't ever seem ordinary and at JFK airport this week I caught a glimpse of all the planes lined up outside and I really just felt like a little kid again - amazed to go on the airplane. There is just something about it.

What?

The question is...what the hell is happening in the bathroom that we even NEED a sign like this? Never mind that this is posted in a corporate bathroom!!! Not a random bathroom in a park or something. Our corporate bathroom in our New York office...in a secure building!
Gross - just gross! Aren't we all adults here?

Found this on my desk...

After being in meetings all day. At first I was appalled then I realized what it was and found it hilarious.

As the belly grows...

22 weeks and Nacho is really starting to make his presence known :)

She is on to my game...

It's funny to watch your kid grow up and become more aware of their surroundings and situations.  You think as the adult and parent that you can shield them from things and expose them to the world on your timeline.  But a recent event gave me good laugh and reset my expectations that this kid already knows what's going on and far be it from me to pull the wool over her eyes.

I was serving Donut some cake butt* but without any frosting because I had used it all to actually frost the cake

Me:        Donut do you want some cake?
Donut:   Yes please cake!
Me:        Here you go.
Donut:   What's this?  I want some frosting please.
Me:       That's vanilla cake.  I'm sorry honey but I don't have any more frosting.

Donut gives me a perplexed look and throws the cake that she has in her hand onto the plate and says "That's not cake mommy, that's just bread."

LOL people...LOL

* Cake butt:  The dome shaped top of the cake tha tyou cut off when leveling the cake layers so you can stack multiple layers of a cake together.

Dinner with my gal :)

Now that we got extra chairs for Donut's table...sometimes we sit down together for a little meal. I am proud of Donut's overall eating habits as she has a pretty wide range of tastes. Below we are both enjoying some polenta and beef lentil soup :) man she is growing up so fast

Our new toy

Our long awaited Lytro is here!!! I ordered it for Forrest's birthday and it just arrived :)

You know you're getting old when....

You can't remember where you parked. Thank goodness for camera phones. Pretty soon I'll need to take pictures of my front door, family, friends just to keep everything all straight

Family green smoothie

I've been on the green smoothie bandwagon since about January...mainly because I was so nauseous I couldn't eat anything. I finally was able to convince Forrest that he needed to have some on a daily basis...he has decided that about 6 oz is enough for him. So after I pour myself roughly 16 ounces, I pour his into a rocks glass. Over the weekend, he was still sleeping when I was about to leave the house so I needed to cover and refridgerate his serving. Viola!! Mini shower caps aka plastic wrap covers for bowls :).

This just looks ridiculous and I like it

Does this mean I made it?

Just did a google search for lemon curd recipes...so I can make a lime curd and holy crap...pictures of my stuff came up second!

Aloha bitches

Time for a little R&R in Hawaii! I freaking love Hawaii...it forces me to relax because there is nothing to do and things move at a more leisurely pace. It's perfect for the kiddos because all we need to do us get our collective butts out to the pool or breach an Donut is happy. Usually by the end of a week here I am rested, rejuvenated and thoroughly bored that I am sprinting back to silicon valley craziness until he next vacation.

More things should be served on a stick

While in Vegas...I "splurged" by sneaking off to the mall across the street from my hotel to get myself a corndog and lemonade. I freaking LOVE hot dog on a stick...and their modern addition...cheese on a stick - especially the jalepeno cheese variety. My favorite part is the fried batter at the base of the dog that's stuck to the stick...crispy goodness. Mustard for the crispy bits and ketchup for the hot dog part...

Happy year of the dragon!

My family are Christian Koreans so they don't really follow a lot of the lunar calendar traditions. That said, I am aware that Nacho will be a dragon baby! Apparently Asians around the world are going nuts trying to conceive children within this lunar year. Fertility treatments are up 50% and some people even pre-froze embryos years ago in preparation for this year...craziness! Just like how we go married on 7-7-7...the busiest wedding day in recent years by chance, we need to have a baby during the busiest birthing year = awesome. Onward to many years of overcrowded school admissions!

Regional "cuisine"

Traveling for work has it's pros and cons... Cons include all that time away from family and friends, missing shared life experiences. Pros include airline status that bleeds over into personal travel and well getting to eat things that we don't have in California. I freaking love Dunkin Donuts and Chicago style hot dogs - and I really like that I can't get it at home...it keeps it special

Dinner at Oenotri

Service was deplorable but the food was heavenly. That is the chocolate budino with olive oil ice cream...I had no idea olive oil could be so amazing as ice cream!!!! Wow eyes fully opened now.

Onto service - I have never been more insulted at a restaurant before in my entire life! A large party was waiting for a table and we three of us were sitting for about an hour and a half enjoying our dinner... And while we were still waiting for a dessert to be delivered, the hostess comes up, offers to comp our desserts and give us a gift certificate if we'd move.

I could see the group waiting and I felt bad for them so I was happy to accommodate....BUT they didn't have another place set up for us - and she aggressively pushed comps/gift cert as if I am purely motivated by a discount. I responded "I don't need your money, I want the dessert I ordered..." the rest of the experience was a train wreck leaving us standing around in the bar area finishing our meal standing up - appalling. I wanted to write the GM to complain but getting that idiot fired means she will show up at another place I want to eat at...so instead I'll just vent here and be done with it. In he end she tried to buy us off for $20 - I don't need your discount. What I want is the enjoyable experience I paid for with my hard earned money you idiot.

Forrest's birthday wine weekend

Two guys, a designated driver and a lotta glassware = good times. I can't wait for my turn!

Fun family news!!!

Donut will be joined by "Nacho" in early August :)

The power of green?

Well, that remains to be seen.
This week I joined the green smoothie train...blending up mixed greens, veggies and fruit in the mornings and drinking it all day. I don't really feel different yet and am afraid all this fiber will make me poop my pants...but...it's worth a try.

What's the worst that could happen? I get some extra vitamins?

As of late, my vegetation intake was paltry and I needed a way to ensure I was eating them as opposed to letting them rot in my fridge. So far so good...no change for the better felt but nothing for the worse either...we'll keep this up for another couple weeks and see where it gets me.

O-M-G

It's official Chammy is engaged! I almost don't believe it...it's my baby brother...sometimes I still he him as a 5 year old with a bowl cut jumping off the furniture all over the house. And now, he's engaged to be married...holy crap...he's getting old :)

But really, I am esctatic and we all love Chelsea. And already the wedding planning madness has begun. I am trying my best to be helpful without being pushy because it's their day, the beginning of their new chapter together.

Above is the ring...or as I like to call "The Damage" It took me a whole year to convince Sam that rings are not as expensive as he thinks they are...I mean they are not as cheap as a gumball ring...but it's not as though you have to sell a kidney either...but I realize that I've just laid out the largest possible range so um, whatever.

It was really a wonderful thing to get to be a part of the process...of watching Sam grow up, fall in love and come to terms with his adulthood to realize that Yes Chelsea is the partner he wanted and Yes he was ready for the next step. Watching him buy the ring and tell me about how there's no other person he'd rather go through all of life's stuff with but her brought tears to my eyes.

Family is really a blessing...and my brother and I have always been pretty close, and I've always wondered if we'd drift apart as adults because people get married and start having babies and then you just start having less time for things outside your new nuclear family. But I am happy to report that we have instead just folded in all the new family members, friends and all into just a bigger, happier and closer family. This is only the beginning of more beautiful things.

hugs - sis

Dinner @ Keiko

Mike and Molly made reservations at a new restaurant in Nob Hill back in December called Keiko. The chef used to be at El Paseo in Mill Valley and was well known and this is their new place in the city... Imagine Japanese and French in one plate - I know...makes you wonder...but you should definitely try it.

Like a fool, I did not write down what the courses were...I just ate it.

Family Dinner at The Kitchen

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Sacramento with Forrest's family hosting. My mom and brother joined in on the fun as well with everyone staying over at my in law's place - it was quite the full house :) As if the Turkey day feasting wasn't enough, we headed out to The Kitchen on Friday evening. Half show half meal - it was fun to see the chefs cook live in front of you while describing what they are doing.


View Full Album Here