Farewell, Dear Manny

My husband has joined the full-time work force once again! After looking for 7 months and suddenly receiving 4 offers within a week of each other, he took an IT security job at eBay in San Jose and started this past Monday (no, we're not planning to move even though it's a 1+ hour commute each way. There's a shuttle to/from the City that should make it doable).

So hooray for money and employment but boo for waking a napping baby for pre-school pickup, dishes that don't get done while I'm away, and having to get out of bed in the morning when the children do (thanks for being a super helpful, great husband, darling!). It was lovely while it lasted.

1st Brother Catch Up

He doesn't get posts with monthly updates, but 1st Brother has been doing stuff too. Here he is at the rec department swimming class he took in Jan/Feb. The major accomplishment was putting his face in the water, something he was very skittish about. We'll work on the actual swimming part another time when he doesn't feel so entitled to be sassy with a parent around.

He got goggles to encourage him to put his face in the water. But they've mostly been used to dress as a super hero around the house:

This is how he looked for crazy hair day at pre-school. At drop off, my husband said his classmates were telling him he looked like a girl, but he's a pretty confident kid and thought it was funny:

He got to sleep in our room in a tent for going 10 days without a time out (not consecutive days, but still pretty good):

He was pleased with his Easter stuff, including his first set of "mini" Legos. He can build some impressive flying ships with them; he still likes the bigger Duplos a lot too.

I let him do what he wanted with a whole thing of cotton candy at Hogle Zoo in Utah (what a bad/fun mom! I thought it was funny). He only ate some of it:

Proof reading hilarity

According to the SF Chronicle, a cookbook is being reprinted by an Australian publisher because one of its recipes for pasta calls for "salt and freshly ground black people." Hee hee!!

Green Smoothies

My mom recently got into making green smoothies, i.e, smoothies containing leafy greens whose taste is masked by blending them with fruit. She and my dad have lost weight by drinking these and report fewer cravings for soda and other junk food. They are pretty good, and it makes me feel like a good mom to see 1st Brother drink one. Here's a very basic recipe:

2 cups fresh spinach (the leaves freeze well if you want to)
1 banana
2 cups frozen strawberries
Water

-Combine in a blender until smooth. Add honey to sweeten it and/or crushed ice if you like.

I start by blending the spinach with a fair amount of water, then add the banana (essential to me or it tastes too leafy), then the frozen fruit and maybe more water if the blender is having a hard time. You can do about any combination of greens and fruit, frozen or fresh.

I'm hoping my muffin top will slim down and that I'll fit more comfortably in my new $12 jeans (from Marshalls!) if I drink these more often.

11 months

He'll usually throw balls now, so we can play a pseudo game of catch with him. Playing at the park on the small hill was fun:

He zonked out in the jumpster with his eye on a block when we were in Utah around Easter. I was dozing on the couch since he got up at 6:15 and was slightly alarmed when I came out of my stupor.

The Little Tikes swing in my parents' backyard was a hit:

It's always amusing to see a couple of baby cousins interact, especially when one falls on the other:

-He entered a new spunky phase just in time for my flight home alone from Utah, arching his back, throwing things, and generally having a mini melt down when bored or frustrated. I made it through by giving him apple juice a little at a time, holding him up to that jet-stream of air above the seat, and letting him rip up a Sky Mall magazine.

-He holds his arm out toward people or things he's interested in and will hand objects over sometimes. He's started to point with his index finger or do an upturned "popcorn popping"-type action too, which is almost too sweet for me to handle.