leenaok

The birthday weekend is OVER and the house is quiet at last. Dirty, but quiet. Alisha & Jacob enjoyed the company of both sets of grandparents this weekend (yes, my dad surprised us on Friday).

Alisha’s party was Saturday afternoon and I wasn’t sure how many kids would show up, being summer vacation and all. However, seven friends from school came (plus 2 siblings) so Alisha was thrilled! The weather was hot and sunny, perfect for playing outdoors, so we inflated the pool and slip ‘n slide and had parents in charge of filling up the water balloons. I turned on Alisha’s bubble machine and handed out water guns while the kids ran around and had a grand ol’ time.
Even Jacob joined in the outdoor fun for about 15 minutes!
Sanjay manned the grill and cooked up hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken. For her birthday cake, Alisha picked Barbie Ballerina.
 I thought was perfect because of all the dancing she did this year. Alisha got tons of presents, everything she could have hoped for and MORE: Barbie dolls, Littlest Pet Shop toys, books, costume jewelry and arts and craft projects. However, we waited until all of her friends left before she opened our present, a Wii! Alisha had been asking for one for months (you know, since “everyone else has one”), but we kept ignoring her requests. Finally we figured, why not? At least it’s something we all can enjoy. It took Alisha all of 10 seconds to set up her Mii and start bowling! She’s an expert Wii-er from all the times she’s played on Jim & Tami’s Wii. Speaking of Jim & Tami, they started her game collection with “Boogie, Superstar”, a dancing and singing game, and “Cranium Kabooki”, a brain teaser game.

Here's Alisha & Josefina (her American Girl doll):
Unfortunately for Alisha, she left all of her fabulous presents on Sunday to go to Tampa with her grandparents. It’s just for a week though, we’ll be picking her up next weekend. And I suppose absence makes the heart grow fonder :) As for Jacob, he’s too much work for his grandparents so I get to spend even more quality time with him while Alisha is gone. Yay, I tell you. YAY. *me pulling out my hair*

Wish someone would leave the easy kid with me and take the other one for once!!! I can’t even watch TV in peace! Jacob is either stepping on the DVD player (which changes the input to DVD), turning the TV power switch off and on, playing with the remotes, or (this is the best) flipping off the power on the surge protector so I have to flip it back on and watch the cable box boot up all over again. Joy, I tell you. I suppose one way to solve this would be to get a TV console with glass doors, so all the equipment and wires would be out of our face. However, we’ve got a long list of things to buy, and right now a console doesn’t fall under the category of immediate need (of course, this could change depending on Jacob!).

In the meantime, I’ll continue to bang my head against this chair.

Speaking of Jacob, we celebrated his first birthday on Saturday evening with a mini cake that Sanjay bought for him.  Granted, his first birthday is 2 weeks away, but what the heck, might as well do it while all the grandparents are in the same place! Alisha was adamant that she didn't want to share her birthday with him this year, but I think starting next year we'll be celebrating the June birthdays together.  

And in BIG news, as of today Jacob is officially walking! I mean, he’s been taking steps here and there since he turned 11 months, but these past few days he’s been walking more and more. Today he went from the back couches to practically the TV! Unfortunately, every time I go to grab the camera he’s back on the floor.

Here’s a picture from Alisha’s final swimming lesson, which was on Saturday morning.

She’s still got a lot to learn, in terms of refining her stroke, but at least she’s not afraid of the water, and she can do some of the basic moves. I am so proud of her. I am hoping to register her for summer group lessons, but if that doesn’t pan out (due to our out of town schedule) then I’ll re-enroll her for private lessons in August/September.

Alisha can swim! She still needs to work on her kick and her stroke (getting her arms out of the water) but the girl is swimming at last!
Alisha is making lots of progress! I am really happy about that because learning to swim is so important, especially here in Florida. Alisha has friends with pools and now I won’t have to worry as much when she splashes around with them in the water.

Today was Alisha’s appointment for sealant. Gone are the days when she could chew on ice and hard candy; that type of behavior can crack the sealant. Of course, it’s not as if Alisha eats candy on a regular basis, maybe once every few weeks. I still can’t believe she has a cavity! I have lost count of how many fillings I have (at least 5 though, plus a root canal w/ crown) but I’m guessing Alisha has inherited my “bad teeth” gene. I wonder if the laughing gas will help. Maybe it’s to keep their mind off of the long novacaine needle!

I haven’t been to the dentist in 2 years and am in no rush to go. Every time I go for a cleaning they tell me I am close to having gingivitis. Why can’t I ever get good news from a dentist? The only person who gets good news from the dentist in this family is Sanjay. The guy went 15 years without seeing a dentist and his teeth are in perfect health. Some people are so lucky.

So guess who came to visit, my mom! She totally surprised Alisha this afternoon. She’s here until Sunday to spend quality time with her grandkids, and to bug me about how I don’t water the plants often enough. Some things never change...

We went to the dentist today and Alisha was told she has a cavity! Like the glasses, I knew this was going to happen eventually, but not at the age of 7. Unbelievable yet believable. I guess it could have something to do with the fact that she spends like 30 seconds brushing her teeth. Alisha actually gets more toothpaste in and around her sink than into her mouth, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. The hygienist said I should be brushing Alisha’s teeth until she is 10 years old!!!!! That’s a L-O-N-G time. I know for sure I don’t floss her teeth enough, maybe once every month, but it’s a pain flossing someone else’s teeth, especially when that someone is constantly complaining that it hurts, etc.

The dentist also recommended that Alisha have 4 of her molars sealed. First of all, I didn’t even realize she’d gotten her 6-year molars (also known as the first permanent molars). Secondly, I’ve never really heard of sealing teeth. Dental technology has come a long way since I was a kid. From what I learned today, sealing is basically coating your tooth with a melted plastic in order to prevent food from getting trapped in the crevices of the tooth and causing cavities. It goes where no toothbrush bristle can go. I look at it this way: either cough up 200 bucks for a filling later on or 62 dollars for a sealant right now (that should ideally last for years). No, we don’t have dental insurance but that’s because paying for all of this out of pocket is cheaper than the cost of dental insurance premiums (which don’t even cover everything).

So, tomorrow is our sealing appointment and our filling appointment is in 3 weeks. The dentist recommended N2O (laughing gas) for the filling appointment. I don’t recall ever needing N2O for my fillings but then again, my first filling wasn’t at age 7!! I would have LOVED to get everything over with tomorrow (since my mom can watch Jacob while I drive around town) but it’s a pediatric dental practice and all these parents are cramming in appointments before they go on vacation.

Has it really been 7 years since my baby girl was born?! Every year I think about how we’re all getting older. At one point I thought 20 was old, then it was 30, and now I’m thinking 80! Will I ever consider myself old? I don’t think so!

Alisha = the luckiest 7 year old ever (at least for today)!

Alisha enjoyed her ice cream cake and we even let her open up some of her presents. I’d gone to Justice (which is a cheaper version of Limited Too) over the weekend and secretly bought her a few things with my 40% off coupon: earrings, necklace and shirts. I wouldn’t have bought anything at all had I not had the coupon; those tweeny-bopper stores are expensive! For Alisha the best present of all was the American Girl doll my parents bought for her. She told me a long time ago that she would love to have a Josefina doll, and that’s what she got. My parents would have NEVER spent that kind of dinero on a doll for me! I never even had a Cabbage Patch Kid!

Look at the progress Alisha has made! She can float on her back now, and with every lesson she keeps getting better!

I can't believe it's already June.  Alisha’s birthday is just around the corner and Jacob’s is at the end of the month. Alisha is SO excited about turning 7.  I told her for her actual birthday I’d buy her an ice cream birthday cake (Carvel, of course). Like me, she LOVES ice cream cake. Sanjay calls our love for ice cream cake a New York thing, but I don’t think so.

Alisha’s last day of school was today; she had early dismissal at 11am. I told her we’d go someplace special to celebrate so we went to Steak ‘n Shake. Remember, it’s her favorite dining destination ;) I didn’t feel like dealing with Jacob so we did the drive-thru thing. I actually wanted to celebrate Alisha's birthday this weekend but Sanjay’s in Naples for work so we’re having her party next weekend instead.

Swimming update - Alisha's doing GREAT!  She is on a roll and since she doesn't have school next week, I've scheduled lessons Tuesday-Saturday with Saturday being her final lesson (#9).

In the midst of everything that went on this weekend, I totally forgot to mention Alisha’s first swimming lesson! It was on Saturday morning and it went as well as could be expected. I’ve said it before, Alisha is a cautious child, so she was hesitant to even immerse her face in the water even though it’s something she has done before, albeit 2 years ago. Why has it been so long?? For those who might have forgotten, last year Alisha didn’t take swimming lessons because it was all about Jacob, 24/7. Well, it’s still 24/7 Jacob but at least he’s a little bit older. And bribe-able, thanks to Cheerios!

Alisha’s still got a bunch of lessons ahead of her so her swimming ability can only improve! :)

So much to say! Our friends Sam & Sonya came over for the weekend with their now-almost-8-month-old girl, Jasmine. I was hoping Jacob would behave (and not try to crawl on top of Jasmine or attempt to grab her eyes), and he DID! Unfortunately there was nothing he could do to impress his “girlfriend”; every sound that came out of his mouth made baby Jasmine cry! We just couldn’t figure out what it was. By today she was 100% AOK around Jacob but (of course) they went back home this afternoon. Just look at them bonding over tupperware :) 


Alisha really WOWed us with her dance performances! She had 3 numbers: 2 ballet and 1 tap solo. I did not realize that her dances were to modern pop/R&B/hip-hop music (until I went to her dress rehearsal on Friday). I was most impressed by her first ballet performance and her tap solo. The girl can really move! The first ballet routine was to the song, “Welcome to Miami” (by Will Smith), her tap solo was to “A- You’re Adorable” (click here to listen) http://www.sillybooks.net/books/A_Adorable/adorable.html and her other ballet number was to “Independent Women” (Charlie’s Angels soundtrack by Destiny’s Child). You weren’t allowed to videotape the program but of course I brought my camcorder, sat waaay in the back of the auditorium, and recorded what I could, using the viewfinder. Trust me, it was not easy watching the dance and recording at the same time! I wasn’t in the audience for Alisha’s solo (I was on the side of the stage) and because she went on stage earlier than we’d expected (because another girl hadn’t shown up on time), Jim wasn’t ready with the camcorder until the middle of the solo. I was so happy that Alisha didn’t get stage fright; she really and truly exceeded my expectations. Anyway, we were debating whether or not to cough up the 45 bucks (a complete rip-off) to buy a copy of the recital on DVD but ultimately we did, just because of her tap solo!!

The dance recital felt like it took up our entire day; it went from 3pm-7pm...yes, 4 hours!! Alisha & I got there at 2:30 and everyone else got there by 4. Technically it ended at 6:30ish, but then the owner of the dance studio came out on stage, thanked everyone and announced the name of every single student/stage mom/helper; that took 20+ minutes. Needless to say, we were really tired by 7 o’clock. Why didn’t we leave early, you might wonder. Well, after the ballet girls performed their second act, they were kept on the stage until the very end. It’s actually a smart idea because it kept (the majority of) the audience in their seats until the very end.

To celebrate a job well done, we all went to dinner at Stir Crazy, Alisha’s second favorite place (the first being Steak ‘n Shake).



BTW 1. That’s not Alisha’s costume (dancers are only supposed to wear their costumes when they’re backstage) and 2. Alisha is wearing make-up. I was instructed to have Alisha wear the following: eyeliner (I used purple because black was too harsh), mascara, rust-colored lipstick and blush.

And I finally mastered the hair bun! I went to the dance store and (with the purchase of a bun kit) they provided me with a demonstration. If Alisha wasn’t such a wiggle-worm her hair would have only taken me 3 minutes, but because she is who she is, it took me more like 8-10 minutes. But I was really pleased with how everything turned out.

This weekend we (as in Alisha & I) went to my friend Sneha's baby shower. I think Alisha had a so-so time. I think she expected games since that's what she always heard about showers. Unfortunately, there were no games :( But they did have an activity, painting little dollhouse pieces to go into a dollhouse for the baby (girl, if you couldn't figure it out). Speaking of babies, this time last year I was pregnant with a certain baby boy who we didn't even have a name picked out for! Wow, pregnancy feels like such a very long time ago...but maybe that's a good thing ;)

So, the update - today was Alisha’s spring program at school, “Education Rocks”.
Man, it is so hard to take good pictures in low-lighting situations with a regular camera. When you use a flash, the picture comes out dark. To get this picture I turned off the flash and increased the ISO. The only problem with that is image noise (aka a grainy picture). Maybe one day I'll get my digital SLR. A Nikon D90 would be nice :)

So, back to the program. It was only a 20 minute show so it's a good thing that Jim & Tami got there before it ended. Alisha loves having her aunt and uncle close-by, woo-hoo, more family to attend her various functions! Afterwards, we all went to Mimi’s Café, which is where we always go to eat dinner after Alisha’s school functions. What a lucky girl, to go out on a school night!

Next event on the calendar, Alisha’s dance recital is this Saturday. She’ll be performing two ballet numbers and one tap dance SOLO. Yes, a solo. The tap dance was actually supposed to be a class performance but the kids came and went and only Alisha stayed. The owner of the dance school actually kept the class open just for Alisha! She said she felt it was important for Alisha’s empowerment, or something like that.

Of all the classes that Alisha’s taken, I have to say that dance lessons are the most expensive! First the class itself (60 bucks/month/class), then the costumes (which average around 80-95 bucks EACH), and the recital fee (between 50-100 bucks which might include 2-10 tickets). When I was talking to another parent about the cost of costumes, she said her daughter used to wear hers for Halloween. Why not, right? I don’t know if we will be continuing with both tap and ballet this fall/September. Alisha said she’d prefer to stick with just tap, but if she’s the only student in the class, I am sure it won’t be kept open like it was this spring. I guess we’ll play it by ear.

Speaking of lessons, we’re adding another one to the mix – swimming! This Saturday is also Alisha’s first private swimming lesson. Since we’re going through the county it costs 10 dollars for 30 minutes. I consider that a good deal considering the average price for lessons are 30/40 dollars for 30 minutes. They only offer private lessons when they are NOT offering group lessons, which means I have to cram in as much as I can before the summer. Once summer arrives, they’ll only offer group lessons, which is fine, except with our going out of town here and there, Alisha will probably not be able to attend all the lessons in a session. Alisha is a very cautious child, so it might take her a while to get truly comfortable in the water.

But, who knows, maybe she’ll surprise me?

We celebrated Mothers’ Day on Saturday (while in Tampa) with dinner at Columbia. The first (and last) time I went to Columbia was during our trip to St. Augustine back in July 2007. The food is good and portions are generous. We ate, drank and were merry. When you only have a day or two per year to call your own, you’ve gotta live it up! :D

It feels great to be back in the land of sunshine! Yesterday’s flight was rough because it didn’t take off until 5:30 or so (in other words, a 2 hour delay)! It wasn’t JetBlue’s fault; the runway was backed up due to the weather, so I blame New York! When we finally did take off, there were 60 planes on the runway waiting for their turn. If I’d been by myself I wouldn’t have minded the delay AS much, however with Jacob, who only slept until 6:30 (aka the time we were to have landed @ RSW), it was a pain. I even gave Jacob a higher dose of Benadryl but he still slept for only an hour! Jacob was challenging at times, but somehow we made it back AOK. After this trip, I definitely do not want to fly with Jacob all by myself any time in the near future.

BTW going through security was a surprisingly pleasant experience both in Fort Myers & New York. JetBlue has a family lane @ JFK, so I went through that and declared Jacob’s baby bottle of water (which I thought they would make me throw out but I didn’t have to). Thanks to my experienced mommy skills, I held Jacob and single-handedly put the car seat and stroller frame on the belt. Sometimes I impress myself :D

The funeral was yesterday, so sad and still unbelievable. Sandy & her family are holding their own. Jacob & I spent last night at their house. It was fun watching Ethan and Jacob together. They are such BOYS!

They’re already getting each other into trouble. For example, Sandy’s mom caught them sticking their hands in the VCR. I blame Ethan because he’s older (even if it’s only by 5 months). I didn’t know how Jacob was going to behave during the (4 hour) viewing. Fortunately the basement of the funeral home was pretty spacious so Jacob had lots of room to roam around and plenty of kids to keep him company. He wasn’t as well behaved during the funeral (although more squirmy than anything else). Fortunately Cheerios work wonders to keep tots quiet and occupied!

BTW Sanjay called and told me he pulled out Alisha’s tooth. This will make it number 6 (the lower left lateral incisor). Father & daughter have been enjoying themselves without me. So far they’ve gone shopping, golfing and out for ice cream; I wouldn’t be surprised if Alisha wanted me to stay in New York (although she claims she misses me). In any case, I’m ready to go home. It’s been an exhausting weekend. I’m just thankful that Jacob is in good health, unlike the last time when we were in New York (Christmas time) and he caught a cold.

Well, I’m pretty much packed. I really hope Jacob behaves on the airplane. It’s a full flight and since I’m sitting in a window seat, there’s no escape! *sigh* At least it’s better than sitting in the middle. I'm definitely a little anxious about traveling with Jacob. First of all, I haven't traveled by myself with an infant in 6 years.  Secondly, aside from his cheerful disposition, he's nothing like his big sister!  Anyway,  I’m taking Benadryl for Jacob. I’ve heard it helps little ones fall asleep. It’s strange because I actually asked the pediatrician for Benadryl dosing information at Jacob’s 9 month check-up, even though I knew we wouldn’t be flying with him again until the summer. I guess that worked out. Anyway, we’ll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

Jacob was crawling around at break-neck speeds (like usual) and Alisha said, “Soon Jacob will be a part of the human race. Ya know, because he’s such a fast crawler.”

One thing about kids at this age is that even when you're not at 100%, they always know how to put a smile on your face!

Sad news to report today. Sandy’s dad died suddenly from a heart attack around 2 this morning. When my dad called me this morning to relay the info, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Even when I talked to Sandy I couldn’t believe it. I just feel like part of me is in a daze. It’s just awful and my heart aches for them. I don’t know what to do or what to say but I definitely feel like I should be there. So, I booked a flight to NY. I leave on Friday. I was debating whether or not I should take Jacob but ultimately decided he should come with me. I mean, how can I fly to New York and not take Jacob when his ticket doesn’t cost me anything and my parents would love to see him? Well, it could cost me a headache, but we’ll see about that.

In any case, I gotta start packing. Yesterday I was like, “Wow, an open weekend.” Today, I feel rushed!

You just never know what God has in store for us. How precious is life!

Sanjay was out of town today so Tami came over and we shopped the day away! The two of us, along with JTK & AMK, went to the Tanger Outlet Mall. It’s not huge like Miromar outlet, but it’s only 5 minutes away and not crowded, so it’s easy to park in front of the store and get in and out. Since Jacob cooperated (for the most part) we actually spent a few hours going from store to store. We spent the most time at Claires, Gap, Coach and Crocs.

Why Crocs? Well, here’s the back story: I went to the podiatrist yesterday because my feet have been bothering me. He pointed out that I have flat feet (big surprise) and suggested wearing Crocs in the house and sneakers with good motion control when I’m out and about. I was kind of disbelieving at his Crocs suggestion, but after doing some research online it seems pretty common. The Crocs outlet store is pretty nice with every different color and style of Croc imaginable (including high heeled and flip-flop Crocs) and their prices are even decent (a true outlet indeed). I find Crocs kind of tacky but I must be in the minority because at the outlet there were plenty of people stocking up on Crocs. I bought myself a pair of dark blue Crocs RX (who knew) and a lavender-ish Disney croc for Alisha. I’ll wait a while before getting a pair for Jacob :)

I also bought myself a pair New Balance running sneakers. Aren't they pretty? We'll see how long they stay that way. According to the sales guy, the best walking shoes are running shoes. I don’t know if that’s true or not but  these have maximum motion control so that's gotta mean something, right?  Although they were pricey, I bought them because they fit well, provide good support and are much better looking than the (ugly) walking shoes!

Afterwards we drove to the Coconut Point mall where we had dinner at Stir Crazy and dessert at Paciugo’s. Paciugo's serves gelato, (aka Italian ice cream) which is made with milk, not cream (like ice cream), so it’s healthier (or so they claim). Whatever the case may be, it was yummy! 

We said goodbye to another one of Alisha's teeth, the lower right lateral incisor. It was her first tooth to come out since August (before she started 1st grade). It was a close call, because I completely forgot to play "tooth fairy" so the next morning Alisha comes to my room and says that the tooth fairy didn't come last night.  "Crap!" was my first thought. I started working on a plan to make the exchange without getting caught. Outwardly, I kept my cool and told Alisha that, since it was still dark outside, the tooth fairy probably had not gotten to her tooth yet.  Perhaps it was a busy weekend for her? The tooth fairy has until sunrise to collect your tooth, ya know.  Well, that's the way it works in our house! Anyway, Sanjay called Alisha into our room to show her a planet in the sky or something, and I quickly put 3 bucks under her pillow and threw in a dose of "fairy dust" (aka gold glitter) to show her visit was extra special. Alisha, our sweet, innocent child, totally bought it and even took a pinch of glitter to school to show her friends :) 

When do they grow out of this stage, I wonder. 3rd or 4th grade is my guess.   Oh no, only 2 more years to go?? I don't want my baby girl to grow up..... 

BTW I found a couple of links about teeth and the order in which they typically fall out/come in. The first one is aimed at children but good for everyone, “When Will My Teeth Fall Out?” and here’s a 3-D link “The Lifetime of Teeth”.

Jacob stood for the first time today! He actually stood, still and upright, for like 5 full seconds. Alisha and I were there to witness it but Sanjay wasn’t around. Sanjay claims that Jacob has stood on his own before, but not that I’ve seen. We’re all thinking that he could be an early walker, however I remember feeling the same way about Alisha and she walked at the average age of 13 months.

Took the kids for their sibling pictures today. I picked today because Alisha didn’t have school and I thought a weekday would be pretty slow. Boy, was I wrong! The studio was PACKED; someone mentioned appointments every 10 minutes!? I’d brought a change of clothes for the kids but we never even got to them, not that I minded because the more fantastic pictures I see, the more I will want to buy. Anyway, I picked 5 poses: 2 of Alisha & Jacob together and 3 of Alisha by herself. I figured my big girl was overdue for some nice professional individual pictures. The last individual pictures I have of Alisha (not counting school pics) was so long ago I can’t even remember...I think Christmas 2006? We had them taken at JC Penney’s and now that I have found my new favorite studio I haven’t looked back! There’s nothing like selecting your pictures on a crystal clear 42” plasma screen (versus a small computer monitor) and getting them the same day (versus 2-3 weeks). I am really happy and can’t wait to go back over the summer for Jacob’s 1 year/Alisha’s 7 year pics!

Alisha's spring break is OVER and we are back from our weekend in Tampa. This year’s Good Friday service went from 9am until about 4pm. We got there at 2pm which I thought wasn’t bad (as in too late). Afterwards Veg came over to the house and hung out with us for a few hours. After a 7 hour Good Friday service, no one’s really in a mood to do much of anything; we just sat around and let Jacob do most of the entertaining. I think spending an afternoon with Jacob would tire out anyone; he’s sweet but exhausting!

Saturday was more church, and in the evening we went to Raymond James Stadium to watch USF play their spring practice game. Sanjay realized that Alisha and Jacob probably wouldn’t make it until the game was over (10pm) so we left at half-time (8:15). Jacob did, however, manage to take a 30 minute nap during the game. It never ceases to amaze me how kids can sleep through anything!

Easter Sunday was a slightly longer than usual service. Jacob wore a shirt and tie, which everyone thought was adorable. Maybe if we lived in New York he could have sported a suit, but it’s way too hot in Florida to do that. As it is, there are only a handful of men who even wear suits to church. It’s just a lot more casual here in Florida than it is up north.
Un-surprisingly, there was no beef curry at church. Fortunately I knew not to expect it. But one could always hope, right??

In other news, Alisha got her glasses! She wants to wear them around everywhere, even though I keep reminding her that she only needs them for distance. It’s great that she’s so excited because I’m sure it won’t take long before she hates wearing them and starts asking for contacts!