goodness me...

It's been six months since the last posting. A lot has happened. In October Lynn (TX) and I (MN & CA) traveled quite a bit. (Un)fortunately they were on separate trips. So we had some tag team parenting to do, with the help of our beloved Luzma, or "bela" as the girls call her, which is short for abuela. On my trip out to California, we found out that Luzma was resigning as our nanny, because she wanted to look after younger kids, babies. We were distraught, and still are to a lesser degree. She is family to us. More on this in a bit.

So when I got home, grammy and grampy were there visiting us on their annual migration southward to Florida. The girls sure enjoyed spending time with them. Their visit coincided with Claire being the star student of the week. This meant we had to provide healthy snacks for her entire class for the week. I think we got duped.

This Halloween marked the 3rd straight month that Claire got all green dots for behavior at school. And off we went to Dairy Queen for ice cream. To the right is a photo of Laura and her lady bug costume. The girls went to 20 houses or so and then we went on a hay ride. When we got home, Lynn quickly hid their candy. We still have about 75% of it.

Laura also started gymnastic class. I took her one week and participated in the class activities and my knee hasn't been the same since. She has really blossomed. She listens to the teacher and tries to do everything the teacher tells her. Why doesn't she listen to us?

And finally for the big new for November, Laura has started school. Yes, with Luzma leaving at the end of the year, we decided to put Laura in school - the same one as Claire's. We hired a new nanny who will shadow Luzma for a couple of days to learn the ropes. And she will have the girls in the afternoons. We were a little worried about how Laura would do in school and whether she would get any green dots. Well at the risk of putting the cart before the horse, she's been at school for 3 days now and has 3 green dots!!! To the left is a picture of Laura on her first day of school. On the first day, Claire's teacher took Claire and let her peek in on Laura's class to make sure Laura was doing OK. The teachers say she is fitting in just fine.

Finally, last Saturday Santa came to our neighborhood to visit the kids and we all went. Here are some photos of the girls and Mr and Mrs. Claus. The girls want this for Christmas.

Another month gone by...

I remember when we first had Claire, everyone told us to enjoy her while she is little because they grow up so fast. Part of me couldn't wait til she was done with breastfeeding and diapers. Now she's in school, excelling in everything. And Laura (not that we should compare them) is probably ahead of where Claire was  when Claire was her age. They bring us such joy.

Lynn is in Texas for 5 days, leaving me to run the household with help from my trusty assistants, Luzma and Magen. Unfortunately Marlene, the house cleaner, is coming on Monday, so I need to tidy up the house on Sunday. If there is one area the girls do not excel in, it is in picking up after themselves. This was inherited from both Lynn and me.

So with another month done, Claire earned all green dots (for good behavior) at school and we took her to Dairy Queen again. Claire's teacher called us at home last week to tell us that Claire is an absolute angel and all of the teachers just adore her. We will buy Laura a 100 acre equestrian farm replete with horses when she gets all green dots for the month. How can someone so cute and adorable spend so much time in time-out?

A couple of weekends ago, we spent two days in the North Georgia mountains (hills) with the Docka's. We went apple picking, fishing, had a camp fire, made smores, went to a pumpkin patch and took a hay ride. We were exhausted on Sunday afternoon. You can see some photos of our adventures here.

in the meantime, here is a video of Claire singing tonight. You may need to turn up the volume a little.  

Always with us

On Friday, Lynn and I flew to Seattle to attend Keely's memorial service. Sure there were tears, but there was more laughter. There were about 100 people in attendance, including some people we hadn't seen in years. For those in attendance, Keely was our collective conscious. Several people mentioned WWKS/D bracelets were needed. Keely only met our girls 3-4 times, but she loved them dearly. So when she is not busy tapping us on the shoulder questioning our decisions, she will be looking out for the girls. We love you Keely (and you too Andy).

Farewell Rooster

Tomorrow (Sept. 10) we are sending Rooster to join Caesar in the big playground in the sky. He is 16 years old and is suffering from kidney failure. He has lost a lot of weight and his back legs are starting to fail. It seems just like yesterday when Lynn (unannounced) brought him home to our apartment in Tucson, as a friend for Caesar to play with and he promptly ran under the couch and hid. Lynn called him a chicken and I immediately responded "I'm not a chicken, I'm a rooster". The rest is history. With Caesar out of the picture for the last 3 years, Rooster had really blossomed. The girls loved to pet him, and he let them, even if they were a little rough. Laura doesn't understand what's happening, but Claire does. She knows that Rooster will be with Caesar and Auntie Kiki (Keely), who was allergic to cats. So, I'll take the kids to school and to Luzma's and Lynn will take Rooster to the vets. We will have him cremated and he will join Caesar's ashes on the mantle. I do want that $1000 titanium pin in his leg from the time he broke his leg though. Of course, Claire wants to get another cat. But the notion was quickly trumped by our desire to get our carpets professionally steam cleaned. We love you Rooster.

Our Angel

Our angel is back. Yes, Luzma returned this past Tuesday and the girls were sooooo excited to see her. It had been nearly 6 weeks - though at times it felt a lot longer - since we had seen Luzma. She was in the UK visiting her daughter and son-in-law. Claire finished week 3 of school and thus far has a perfect behavior record. Each day the students get evaluated on their behaviour and if they are good, they get a green dot in their calendar. Claire has received only green dots. Lynn said if she get a whole month of green dots, she will take Claire to Dairy Queen. I told Claire to hold out for more. Frankly, I am not sure who will be more disappointed if Claire does not get a green dot, Claire or Lynn. Here is a photo of Claire dressed up as an angel for angel day at school. Again, this is the handiwork of Lynn.

The past 3 weeks have been an adjustment for all of us. This getting up at 7am to get the girls ready and then take them to school and Luzma's is for the birds. And to think we have 15 more years of this. Thank goodness for weekends, when it's family time. Today we went to my hockey team's party. The girls went swimming with the kids of my teammates and we had hamburgers and beer. The girls came home and crashed.

Last weekend we did face/head/arm painting. Lynn is pretty creative, as you can see from the photo. Anyway, here are some new photos of the girls to tide you over until the next posting.

First day at school!

Yes, Monday was Claire's first official day at school at St. Michael the Archangel. She is in the bunny class. We got up early, ate a good breakfast, made her a healthy lunch and the four of us drove to school to drop her off. Admittedly, it was more emotional than I thought it would be. Our little girl who was barely the size of my shoe, who used to sleep on my chest, is now in school. Well, she had a great day at school and when I asked her what she did at school, she said "stuff". Yup, she's my girl!

Day 2 was not quite as smooth as day 1. I woke up and from a horizontal position, peered outside the window, believing I possessed the ability to deduce the time by the amount of ambient light outside. I figured it was about 6:30am. Plenty of time before we had to leave for school at 8:20am. But, I thought it better check the clock just in case. So much for that supposed ability. It was 8am and we had to get the kids dressed, fed and lunch made in 20 minutes. We made it out the door by 8:27am. After hitting every traffic light which turned red as we approached, I dropped Claire off at 8:55am with time to spare. I could have slept another 5 minutes.

Back from Maine

We just had two great trips this summer. As noted in the previous posting we traveled to British Columbia to visit my family. The trip to Kamloops was a long day for the girls - 16 hours in total which include 2 plane ride (5.5 hours) and a 5 hour drive to Kamloops from Vancouver. When we arrived we went to my friends Mike and Sue's place for dinner at 6pm, which was 9pm for the girls. they were such good little troopers. We spent the next 5 days visiting with Lola, Uncle Paul, Auntie Taya and Theo. The three cousins had a great time together whether it was at the water park or at the playground. Claire even went to 2 of Auntie Taya's soccer games and one of Uncle Paul's hockey games, where she got a puck. We also spent time with 2nd cousins Sam and Alex, and their parents Pam (my cousin) and Andrew.

Andrew and I even went on treasure hunt one evening. Here is Andrew at ground zero, the mother load. Spending all of this quality time with family, made us realize how lucky we are, especially the girls.

Lynn had to leave a couple of days early to go to Vancouver for work, which meant I was in charge (ok, it was really Auntie Taya and Lola) of the girls. Nobody broke any bones or furniture so I guess I did alright.

On Thursday, we caravan-ed down to Vancouver to spend a couple of days with my dad. It was his first time to see Laura in the flesh. We had a great time walking along the sea wall, going to the Science Center and just hanging out at the hotel because it rained a lot. It was too bad our time was so short because we had such a great time before you knew it we were on a plane heading back to Atlanta. Anyway, here are some photos from this trip.

We had enough time to do the laundry and repack before we were on a plane heading to Maine to spend time with Lynn's family. Grammy, Grampy and Uncle Larry were already there. The four of us shared a large bedroom and the girls had their own beds, but Laura would not fall asleep - she was such a stinker. Every night was a 2-3 hour battle to get her to go to sleep, or at least keep quiet.

We spent time at the beach with 2nd cousin Brennan and parents Mark (Lynn's cousin) and Erin. Lynn got sun burned pretty good. We had lobster 3 times and fortunately for us, neither girl liked it. We also took the girls to the fair to go on carnival rides. Laura was finally tall enough to go on several rides this year - she had a blast. The girls also met 2nd cousin Genevieve who was visiting from China with Uncle Jon and Aunt Xia Li. I know they won't remember any of this, but hopefully this blog will serve as a document recording their lives from day 1 onward. Anyway, we spent 8 days in Maine and we are now back in Atlanta. Here are some Maine photos.

Back from Canada

We will blog about our recent trip to Canada later today, but for now, here are some photos. Thanks Lola, Uncle Paul, Auntie Taya, Theo, and Grandad!

Happy Father's Day 2012

Last weekend the four of us went to Savannah. Lynn had a conference to attend, so most of our trip was paid for. On Saturday morning I took the girls to the beach. The water was much warmer than the beach at Maine, so the girls went right in.


 The trip was also interesting as the girls end up sharing a bed. Claire with me and Laura with Lynn. Claire and I were out like a light, but Laura kept getting in Lynn's face to see if Lynn was sleeping. Lynn said it was all she could do to stop laughing. Needless to say, Lynn and Laura didn't get much sleep. Here are some photos from the weekend.

On Monday morning, Lynn flew to Ottawa for work and then later in the week to Toronto, returning home on Friday. So it was me, the girls and Luzma. Ok, mainly Luzma. We all missed mom.

On Saturday morning, we washed Kayla in the driveway. Kayla didn't care for it, but the girls had fun. We think Kayla is deaf or close to it, as she doesn't not respond when Lynn calls her - maybe I am deaf too. Our original girl is 13 years old and showing her age. Rooster is not faring much better at 16 years. We already had a talk with Claire about the health of the animals. Anyway, I digress.

Father's day was a lazy day. Claire was interested in my tripod, which she calls a telescope. She asked me how it works. The result is below.


After a photo shoot, we went for a walk in the morning and then rode our bicycles in the cul-de-sac.  The girls enjoyed it, especially Lightning McClaire.

 

After the girls (and dad) had a nap, the girls wanted to put on a play for us called the Pirate and Tinkerbell. Yes, it was definitely an off, off, off, off broadway production, but the play was capped by Laura (who missed mom this past week) when she asked Lynn, "So, are you just visiting?" You can see the start of the play below.



Unfortunately for all of us, Lynn is off to Montreal and Halifax this week, and then Calgary next week. I did also mention that Lynn was awarded a prestigious Holder Award at work? She's going places, literally and figuratively. Anyway, enjoy some photos from this weekend.

Burning off energy

The other day Lynn needed to get some shoes, so we decided to take the girls on a shopping trip. We went to the local shoe store that has about an acre of floor space and shelves just high enough so we can't see the girls. Naturally, they ran all over the place, which was fine because they were burning off energy before bedtime. We used a technique called human echolocation to find them, since we couldn't see them. Suddenly we realized we had become "those parents", the kind who lets their kids run around and make noise in a public place.

Anyway, this weekend the four of us are traveling to Savannah. Lynn is going to a conference and I am going to take the girls to Tybee Island for the day. We are all looking forward to the trip. I will post photos of our weekend when we return.

Instant Karma

Poor Claire woke up sick this morning, running a fever (101F) and vomiting. We gave her some Tylenol and spent a low key day at home. Around 4:30pm her fever was up again (104F) and she was sitting with Lynn downstairs in the living room. We gave her more Tylenol. Laura walks over and asks "what's wrong with Claire?" Laura was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Claire sits ups and projectile vomits all over Laura. It's in/on Laura's hair, shirt, arms, shorts, and legs. Laura has a look of utter shock on her face as she cries, "What is this?" repeatedly. Being very concerned parents we immediately start laughing. Lynn tells Claire not to worry, but to think of it as pay back for all the times Laura has hit Claire. As soon as Lynn tells Claire this, Claire projectile vomits again on Laura (Laura needs quicker reflexes) and this time on Lynn's dress. Lynn was getting ready to go to the Canadian Consulate tonight for a function. Instant karma.

Birthday Weekend

Lordy, Lordy, look who's forty (plus one). My beautiful wife turned 41 this weekend. We started the festivities early on Friday evening with the cutting of her birthday cake. I got her a boston creme cake, since those are her favorite donuts, which by the way is the official state donut of Massachusetts. The girls know the routine - well almost. You can see in the video, who didn't follow protocol and who demanded that we follow it to the letter.

On Saturday, Lynn got up at 6am and ran in the Rivergreen 5K run. Here she is showing her form. About half way through the run, she started getting a migraine, but she pushed on and endured, taking 1st place for her age category!!!! But more importantly, she got a medal. She is training for the Peachtree run in July, which is 10K. Oh yeah, she also won a complimentary hair cut too.



On Saturday afternoon we ventured into Atlanta to the Docka's house. Laura and Claire went swimming with Taylor and Will, while I helped PJ set up his new productivity enhancer. After setting it up, we both agreed it was too small. After the kids had dinner, the babysitter came over and the adults went out for dinner. The food was amazing. After 4 hours of food and laughter, it was back to reality to wake up two sleeping kids for the hour drive back home. Of course, they didn't sleep at all on the ride home. I think Lynn had a great birthday weekend. Here are a couple of photos from the weekend.

From a kid's perspective

Claire passed her swimming class today! She is moving from the Pike class to the Eel class. She also got a ribbon for her achievement. She still has a long way to go the catch up to her mom's ribbon/medal collection.

Here is a conversation with the Bear. FYI mom, Laura is 26 months old.

For Lola

Happy Birthday Lola, Love Claire and Laura

Updates

Has it been a month since the last posting? With the girls growing so quickly, you blink and you miss so much. Since the last post, Claire has grown an inch easily, and is needing some 5T clothes. Hopefully we can make it through the summer with what she's got. Laura on the other hand still weighs less than 25 lbs and always seems to be hungry and thirsty, as evident in the photo to the right. I attribute her feistiness to her drinking problem. She is nearly toilet trained (not bad for a 26 month old) and hopefully diapers will be a thing of the past.

Claire's soccer and swimming lessons are coming to an end. She really enjoys them. She even scored a goal this year in soccer. I feel bad for Laura who gets to watch Claire swim and play soccer. I know she wants so badly to play and swim. We keep telling her when she is 3 she can do both. About a month ago she figured out how to climb out of the her crib. Lynn heard a thump upstairs and ran up to find Laura standing in her room saying "I fell out". I guess a new bed for her will be in short order.

Last week was a big week for us. Lola turned 75!!! And while we couldn't be there to celebrate with her, we made a video for her and baked cupcakes as well. Here are the girls helping with the cupcakes. Grammy and Grampy also visited us for a few days on their annual migration northward. While they enjoyed seeing the girls, I think they were pretty tired when they left.

I know I am missing a bunch of stories to tell, but I don't want to tell you everything in a single posting. So until the next posting, keep the paper towels handy and the mixer in the bowl.

High tech camping

Playing on iPad while camping with dad

Howdy Partner!

Avery, one of Claire and Laura's sweetest friends, had her birthdya party today. And, although the weather started out questionable (Claire's soccer game and pictures got rained out), it turned out to be a beautiful (and hot!) day. The girls had a blast as you can tell by the pictures. I must say that both of my girls LOVE to ride horses! (yes, that is Laura riding solo below!)

It's that time of year again...

Well, birthdays mean one thing, right? A visit to the Dr! Mark won the lottery and got to take the girls in for their 2 and 4 yr checkups today. I guess it went okay. Claire got 5 shots - ouch! and Laura only got one. Claire was very brave, I hear, and cried some. I think Mark and Magen were more traumatized by the whole thing. Anyway, here are the vitals everyone loves to hear about post-visit. Laura is, as Keely says, a Toddler Super Model. She weighs 23 lbs and is 35.5 in tall. As you can see from my groovy charts, her height remains steady, but her weight has been dropping percentile wise. The Dr doesn't seem fazed by this. Lucky genes, I guess.










Claire is still tall as ever. She weighed in at 34.5 lbs (42%) and 41 (81%) [though I think she really is 42" having measured her recently. In any case, she has remained fairly consistent over the years.









[Can you say I am an Excel nerd?! ;) ]

Claire had a great birthday, complete with a new headlamp from Auntie Nancy (Laura got one too, to go with the sleeping bags and tent Mark and I bought for them). The girls had a blast with Auntie Nancy all afternoon and then with Magen too in the evening. They stayed up far too late, but were having such a good time, I couldn't bear to put them to bed. Plus, we were trying to stay up to see Mark as he had been in DC for the past two days.

I will blog later about Claire's birthday party (some pics here), but need to get to bed. I think maybe we should all take a lesson from 4yr old birthdays and make wishes whenever blowing out candles and have multiple celebrations for at least a week to celebrate our existence on this earth. Until next time...

Tired but happy

Birthdays Galore

From the previous post you know that our little Laura is now 2. When you are with her one on one, she is so sweet and funny. It's hard to believe that she wanted nothing to do with me for the first 6 months of her life (that's 25% as of now). When she is not busy screaming, her vocabulary in both English and Spanish (Claire, what did Laura say?) is amazing. Given her strong personality and affinity for walking around the house in the nude, perhaps I should be worried in 20 years' time.

Last weekend, Grammy and Grampy drove up to spend the long weekend with the girls, as Lynn and I were heading to New York for a conference. The conference was quite productive for both of us as we made some good contacts. I was even asked to consider editing a book on the geography of beer. How cool is that? We did have some fun too, as we managed to see a musical on Broadway. (start watching at 2:08). Anyway, rent the video - it's a great movie.

Grandad also had a birthday this past week. The girls skyped with him and we are excited to see him in July when we will be in Vancouver for a few days. Did I mention that Lynn got a grant from the Government of Canada to do a comparison study of sustainability, looking at 5-6 cities in Canada? She will be spending the weekdays this summer, in various Canadian cities (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and Halifax) and flying home for the weekends. Tough job. But more importantly, Lynn received official news this week that she will be promoted to associate professor and get tenure in August! Woohoo!

When we returned, we celebrated both the girls' birthdays with Grammy and Grampy. The girls had a blast. This weekend (Saturday) we were going to host Claire's brithday party at the Atlanta Zoo. On Friday evening there were tornadoes in north Georgia and the forecast for Saturday called for rain. So, we decided to move the party to Sunday afternoon. Claire's soccer game on Saturday morning was canceled. Of course, Saturday turned out to have great weather. So the party is slated for tomorrow (I am sure Lynn will provide updates), but unfortunately, I have a flight to Washington, DC at the same time. So I will miss Claire's party.

So, to make up for missing the party, the girls and I had a great play day today. Lynn and I bought them sleeping bags and a tent for their birthdays, so we set up the tent in the living room and pretended we were camping. Claire would ask, what's that noise (Kayla panting)? I said that's a Kay wolf. What's that noise (Rooster meowing)? I said that's a Roo Lion. And then we heard a strange noise, one I couldn't quite place at first. "What's that?", Claire asked. Then it dawned on me. I said, that is the most endangered species of all, it's your mother vacuuming.

Thank you. I'll be here all week.

Anyway, here are some recent photos and a video of the girls playing in the driveway yesterday. Laura spilled some liquid bubbles, so I was cleaning the driveway when Claire and Laura decided they wanted to help.

Our Perfect Valentine

Wow. Laura turned 2 today (and if you ask her how old she is, she will tell you "2" - she also finishes the sentence, "I..." with an emphatic "LOVE YOU! - how sweet is she?!). Anyway, I digress. Watching her blossom over the past few weeks has been an amazing experience. You would think that watching the 2nd child achieve milestones (and minor achievements) wouldn't be nearly as interesting, but it really is. First, the VERY good news. After absolute dedication on Luzma's part, Laura is potty trained! She does #1 and #2 now on the potty. Hooray! We are not out of diapers completely (pull-ups are still very important for a while yet), but this is really terrific. Had it been left up to Mark and me, Laura would still be toddling around in diapers for a long while still. Have we mentioned Luzma rocks! Other Laura developments: she heard Kayla go down the wooden stairs tonight and said, "that's Kayla going downstairs." While that may not seem like rocket science, to her credit I was rocking her in her room with the door shut and lights off. The fact that she can put isolated sounds into context is pretty cool. She is also totally grooving on the pool and bathtub - going under with no fear (Claire has been taking swim lessons and I finally took Laura into the pool last weekend). She and Claire play in the tub, pretending to swim for 20 minutes or so. Speaking of which, the girls are getting along really well. They really do love to play with each other (when Laura is not hitting Claire - we're working on that) which is great. I hope they will be super close sisters for their lifetimes.
Laura is also doing great with her Spanish and English. I tease and say that Laura speaks Spanglish, "I want leche" or "I found azul (crayon)." But, if you ask her the meaning in English or Spanish she will translate words for you. Me: "Laura, how do you say apple in Spanish?" Laura: "manzana", etc. Have I mentioned how great Luzma is? :) Laura also really enjoys singing. I sing to her every night and she often sings along. I've been working on the railroad, ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle are currently in the rotation from her repertoire.
I feel so very blessed that Laura is our daughter. She is a strong, sweet, loving child who brings us sunshine everyday.
We love you, Laura - our best, never to be exceeded, valentine.

PS Pics from Laura's birthday celebration week can be found here.

What else do you do, Daddy?

Lynn is still out of town and I had a hockey game last night (we lost 3-2). So the girls had a sleepover at Luzma's. They were really excited. I sure missed them. Admittedly, I didn't miss being awaken at 6am by Claire asking how to spell "PBSKids.org"; nor did I miss changing Laura's diapers at 7am. I slept in this morning. Ok, Lynn woke me up at 7am via Skype. But by 7:10am I was back asleep. When I awoke, the first thing I saw was that it was light outside. I had no idea what time it was. I did have an 11am meeting at work, so I was sure I was safe time wise. It was 9:30am. A quick shower and I was at work by 10:30am.

Ok, back to the girls. So while I enjoy an evening to myself, I missed the girls. I made sure I got home today by 4:45pm so I could meet the girls as Luzma dropped them off. She said they were great and slept well last night. Now it was my turn to spend time with them. We played soccer in the driveway, they rode their bikes, and we all sat in one rocking chair on the front porch and talked. At 6:15 just before the girls got in their jammies, they played the bumbee dance (they run around naked in Laura's room and practice somersaults). Then into their matching jammies. Next came the Barnyard Dance, which we all did and Laura finished each sentence. At the end she wanted to "do one more promenade". Wow, promenade to me, was an adjective which described a deck on the Love Boat (my favorite scene is at 1:08 into the video).

Claire went down at 7:30pm. We read a Curious George story and then we talked for about 45 minutes about stuff. "Daddy, what else do you do besides make maps?" How long is the flight to Spain? Will I go there when I am older? Is Samantha (Nick and Kristi's daughter) my friend or Laura's? Will I always be 2 years older than Laura? If mommy is in Spain for work, why is Auntie Kim there too? (good question kid). On and on she went, asking many questions that were beyond her age. It reminded me of our friend PJ (we met in Italy, Taylor and Will's dad, weekend in the Blue Mountains, apple picking, etc.) who told me (with a beer in his hand), "I just had a debate with Claire and I think I lost."

Anyway, I had a most enjoyable evening with my angels. Mom comes home in 5 days.

Don't act surprised...

Yeah, it's been nearly 2 months since the last posting. I wonder if there are any readers out there anymore. Let's see if I can remember what's been going on since January 1, 2012. Man, I haven't even posted any new photos! I wonder if I have taken any this year? Nope, a quick check of picasa reveals I haven't. Ok, so what's new?

Well, I started going back to the gym. I am not as dedicated as Lynn is (5am 4-5 mornings at week). Nope, I like to ease into my mornings. I get Claire to play with Laura when Laura wakes up, which buys me about 20 more minutes of sleep. I found this great app called myfitnesspal. While it doesn't exercise for you, it does keep me honest regarding my eating. Do you really need a peanut butter sandwich just before bed? Lynn looks phenomenal and has lost weight and my brother has lost at 25 pounds, so I need to keep up.

Laura is Laura. Some days are good, some are ok. It's a good thing she is so dimplicious or I would have given her away. We thought we cured her of hitting Claire, but it has returned. I suspect because Lynn is away in Spain this week (Lynn (to Mark): you're not coming, I'm going with Kim) and she misses her mom. Thank god for Luzma and Magen.

Claire started swimming lessons at the Y and we go every Saturday. A parent has to watch his/her kid. So Laura watches the iPad with me and I watch Claire, and Lynn works out. We also found a pre-K program for Claire starting in August. It is conveniently located near Luzma's house. Claire is excited to start school. I hope she won't be too bored when the teacher is working on colors with Claire's classmates and Claire asks "How do you spell fuchsia?"

Anyway, it's getting late and I promise to continue this update before Lynn comes home next weekend.