Coming up for air

Tender big brother and sister.  Please, please stay this way forever T3.

Our 3 in a nutshell.  Cora nurturing RM while admiring her other "charge", Allen, who is being his goofy self.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rosemary is five months old now and before too much time goes past I wanted to come up for air and give a quick update.  The dust seems to have settled a bit around here and we are enjoying the new normal.  We put off having a third for so long and then braced ourselves for mass chaos and so it has actually been easier than Colin and I thought.  Of course Cora and Allen can dress themselves, are potty trained, can communicate (this can also make things significantly harder though) and go to school a lot of the time which is what we thought would be the best for our family before having our savor baby.

The summer certainly had its challenging moments... the neverending stomach flu that plagued our home for 3 weeks but miraculously RM and I were the only two to avoid it.... learning to load the T3 in the car while keeping my patience... coming up with manageable activities to do with 3 kids... attending two weddings and we took a trip to CA with the girls which was also a lot easier than I thoughts... adjusting to being home alone with the T3 when Colin resumed working nights and weekends.

Rosemary is only five months old but it is already hard to imagine life before her.  She has been so quick to smile and laugh and has a wonderful bright demeanor.  She is alert but seems to take life in stride.  Loves to be massaged, held, snuggled and lights up whenever she sees her bigs.  She loves to take walks especially with Daddy in the bjorn, play with her little baby toys and she sings her baby cooing songs in her crib every morning... no better sound in the world.  She has been overall a great eater and sleeper. However she is amazingly loud- happily screeches and babbles and fake coughs for our attention when we don't respond to her noises.  Pretty soon it is going to be hard for the men in this family to get in a word edgewise!! She is in the 97th percentile for height and the 95th for weight- our fastest growing baby by far.

Some photos from the past few months...

 

Rosemary Wren

Last pregnancy shot, courtesy of Cora, at my dad's birthday dinner, several hours before I went into labor and didn't realize it until she was about to come! crazy!

Little beauty

!!!

Yesterday was Rosemary Wren's "official" due date.  We had scheduled her induction on 4/16 but sometimes life happens while you are making other plans.  In this case, literally, and we couldn't be happier!

Rosemary Wren was born at 1:05 p.m. on April 9 and was a healthy 7lbs, 3 ounces, our largest baby by far and was 19 inches long.  She was alert, snuggly and has only cried when she wants to be fed (now that we are seasoned parents we realize this could change at any time but are counting our lucky stars).


Rosemary is in honor of Colin's maternal grandmother, Mary, a sweet, adventurous, down to earth spirit who passed away several years ago and Rose, my Russian maternal great, great grandmother, a mother of ten children.

Wren honors of one of my dearest friends, Saskia Wren Loewy, who was my housemate senior year.  I hope that she will be a role model to Rosemary Wren because she is one of the most intelligent, fearless, gracious and cosmopolitan women I have ever met.  She is currently living in Tel Aviv (one of her many tours abroad) but I can't wait to introduce RW to her namesake.  Also Wren reminds me of the main building at William and Mary, the Wren Building where I fell in love with Colin right before I graduated.

Saskia Wren (on the left), Rosemary Wren, 14 weeks in my tummy, and Melanie, another best friend on the right at Saskia's bridemaid's lunch last fall.

So excited to meet her! 

Meeting Patsy and Cora for the first time.

Sweet Colin with his girls.

What a gentle big brother! Loves kissing RW.

Cora can't hold her enough.

The Thakkar 3!

Pops holding her for the first time.  The look on his face says it all.

Mom and dad counting the days until they can give her ice cream for breakfast.

zzzz

My grandmother, Gracie, meeting her for the first time.  So blessed!

So far the transition has been easy thanks to my amazing mom.

Never been more grateful for this Lady!

Tired when you are up all night!

Notice: The Lizard Princess has abdicated the throne

The high today is 83 and it is sunny and beautiful and since it is going to be yucky the rest of the week (and I will do just about anything to ensure Allen takes a nap), we headed to the Apple Way-wound, otherwise known as the playground on Oak and Cherry, our happy place where we play with Apples, long story.

After much swing-pushing, me and my colossal baby bump got tired of standing so I suggested that the Lizard Princess and her little guy in waiting head over to the lizard land (the gazebo) because I had a feeling that the lizards were finally out and about due to the unusually warm weather.  Cora had been crushed when they went into "hibernation" and it had been months since we had seen any around so it didn't surprise me at all when it took her less than one minute to catch a small brown one.

So something about Cora despite her love of mud and bugs and amphibians and dinosaurs is that she is incredibly maternal which is one of many reasons why I think she and Allen are so close and why all of us are so lucky to have her.  I can't even imagine how sweet and wonderful and helpful she will be with #3, especially if she is half as nurturing to her little sister as she is to her lizard subjects.  She she proceeded to pet the little lizard and then held it to her cheek, closing her eyes and savoring the long lost reunion between her and her amphibian subject. 

Suddenly she started to scream in a shrill manner and I saw that the lizard was dangling off of her bottom lip.  As in many situations in this adventure of motherhood, I didn't know whether to laugh, panic or throw up.  I followed by instinct and yanked the baby lizard off of her lip.  (btw I never in my wildest dreams thought I would write that phrase, I'll say it again- "yanked the baby lizard off of her lip.")

The poor Lizard Princess was in a pathetic state, relieved to be free of the lizard, which somehow had ended up in her hand.  She was crying softly and looked so shocked and confused about what happened so I did what I often do and tried my best to make her laugh.

"Cora, you know this really reminds me of that book we just read about Tiana and her frog prince.  I think that Lizard is a prince and since you kissed him you seem to be turning brown and I see a tail sprouting out of your bum.  Should I make you some bugs and leaves for dinner?"

She laughed and cried at the same time, as she often does and was quiet for a minute.

"Mama I think I am ready to be something else for a while." Cora placed the Lizard Prince on a shrub.

"How about I'll be the Lady Bug Queen, from now on? Okay mommy?"

"OK Queen Lady Bug".

My heart did sink a little as I wondered if that was the last time I would ever see the Lizard Princess in action.  

That is one of the toughest things about motherhood.  You never know the last time a child does something... calls her baby brother "Addy", sleeps in the closet, asks me to set a place for Jonathan, her imaginary husband at the table, or wants me to sing her Edelwiess before bed,  the song that my dad always sang to me when he tucked me in.  So I try to savor this sweet, funny, weird, chaotic season of life we find ourselves in. 

Though it won't be the same or quite as much fun without My Lizard Princess.

Stay tuned for the adventures of her Majesty the Lady Bug Queen Cora Therese Thakkar.

Cora holding court at Allen's birthday.  Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most regal of them all?  CORA!!

Four!!! Happy Birthday Addy-boom!

This morning we celebrated our little guy's 4th birthday by granting his wish for a bicycle-Tball-stomp rocket-cakey-contruction site party. So in a very un-pinteresty way, his little group of friends brought their bikes, wore capes with fire on them made by my mama and we brought all of the other aforementioned items to a park and let the boys have at it.  Mimosas were in order for the adults as it is the key to surviving mass chaos before noon.

Thank goodness it didn't rain and despite many bicycle collisions and wipeouts, there were no major booboos or trips to the E.R.

Ivy with baby Bishop, the beauty queen of Avondale Avenue. 

Jake, whose friendship is extra valuable to Allen due to the fact he has a real train in his house.  I am not kidding.

Cora let Allen lead the bike race, for once.  She was ok with this because she was the only girl and had lots of other little boys there to boss around.

Little riders with their bad-*** capes.

Fierce little fellow!

John and fierce Pierce

Another fierce Pierce.

Carl and Jack.  Jack gets credit for starting the whole cape trend.  Thank goodness he did because everything in life is better with a cape on, especially when you are a little guy.

Cora and her subjects.  I mean, Allen and his best buddies anticipating cakey.

Steve and Dane, our next door neighbor who has taught Allen about how much fun it is playing with their tool set.  So someday my future daughter-in-law can thank Dane and Steve for Allen being "handy" as he certainly doesn't get it from me or his daddy.

Husein and Penelope, whose hair is just as impressive as her brother Jake's!

Bicycle cupcakeys

Birthday candles! 4 of them now- wow!!

Making a wish... probably to survive life sandwiched in between two girls!

Allen and his best friend, Corapunzel.  My Loves!!!!!!!!!!

All decked out, part 2

I have recently been informed by her Highness that I am a very, very mean mommy indeed because I only let Cora wear "appropriate attire" when she goes to school and Church.  It is surprising how hard it is to explain to a five year old why she can't wear this to the aforementioned places:
 

She wore this to chickfila, goodwill and the hardware store with her Daddy last weekend.  Colin said she has never been more regal and her majesty enjoyed greeting various subjects around town.

However, on the weekends and holidays, we pretty much give her Majesty free reign (literally) on dressing as she pleases.  In the spirit of a little girl is only five years old once and sadly there will come a time when wearing a tiara is no longer considered fashionable, something else that is hard to explain and a little depressing when Cora keeps asking me to wear one with her when we go out and about together.  Although once in a blue moon I give in and wear one, like when we had a mommy daughter luncheon at Cozy Tea last week.  In the spirit of me trying to live a life of no regrets and all.

Anyway, it is no secret that her Highness Corabel really goes all out when it comes to putting together an ensemble.   I am pretty sure she takes little girl couture to a whole new level which is mostly thanks to my talented Mama who has made her around 20 amazingly, beautifully crafted dress up dresses.  Not to mention the exotic gowns her Papa has brought her back from India over the years.  All of which have made our little girl feel extra special and has taken imagination play with her girlfriends to a whole new level of glamour.  

Cora actually "won" this belly dancing skirt at one of the belly dancing performances at Hooshang Rugs in Avondale.  It was made by one of the belly dancers and given to Cora for her enthusiasm for their dancing!  She shakes her hips pretty well too and it really brings out her attitude, for better or worse.

Christmas morning- Cora insisted on dressing up for Brunch at her grandparents house.  Loves her new Nutcracker (#2 in her collection).  

On her way to dance today with our sweet neighbor Adrielle.  She is always meticulous about planning her dancewear and is wearing a few necklaces and brooches under her cardigan.  Allen is not so excited about tagging along to ballet class and kept mumbling under his breath about wanting to go to the park and play T ball.

Sometimes Allen doesn't want anything to do with all this nonsense, but every now and then Cora convinces him to dress up too.  Which is when things really get interesting.  For example, see the photos below:

Here she is in one of her Indian dresses, with her pet zebra prince, who she is embracing... while holding his (Styrofoam) pirate knife in her hand.  And his parrot, who is apparently sick and needs her magical Indian princess healing powers to get better.  And they are playing this in front of their baby Christmas tree.   Wow what a caption haha.

Dressed up and put on a dance for me tonight while Colin is working late.  They were so goofy I even delayed watching Downton Abbey.  It made it even better that they were dancing to the Chipmunks Christmas music.

Allen ran upstairs to change into a shark/ cowboy/ train conductor outfit before the second act began.

I bent the rules a little and let her go to bed in the outfit pictured above tonight.  Her last words to me were "Mommy please please please can I wear this boa to school tomorrow?! It is like the scarves you wear to keep warm and it is going to be very cold tomorrow so I really need it." 

I told her to ask her father.

Happy New Year

Today, Cora was asking me what made New Year's so special anyway since there weren't any gifts or anything.  I explained the calendar starting over, resolutions, and how it was the same day as the anniversary of her mama and dada's wedding.  Cora being Cora and never missing an opportunity to dress to the nines asked me what the appropriate New Year's Eve-wear was for the little neighborhood party we will be attending tomorrow night.

Me: "Well, most of the time when people go to New Year's parties they wear a lot of glitter and sparkles and colors like gold and silver."

Cora: "Oooh I got a lot of that in my dress up box.  What about tiaras?"

Me: "I actually bought New Year's tiaras today to help us celebrate!  You, me and our girlfriends can wear them and I got hats for the daddies and little boys to wear!"

Cora: "Mama, did you buy plastic tiaras?"

Me: "Well, I think they are made out of plastic? They are very pretty and gold and silver with lots of glitter."

Cora: (silent for a minute) "Real Princesses do not wear plastic tiaras."

Me: Silently agreeing but for once speechless, then wondering if I should add "stop buying Cora Princess related stuff this year" to my New Year's Resolutions. I can hardly imagine what it is going to be like with two little girls around here soon and am already having sympathy for my parents and them raising me and my sister.  At least Allen will be the "buffer zone" so to speak.

***

Speaking of New Year's resolutions and Allen, I am bound and determined to do everything in my power to make the transition from 2-3 kids as "smooth" (hah) as possible... preparing the nursery and baby gear, making meals to put in the freezer, sorting baby girl clothes, catching up with friends as much as possible, ect.

But the biggest challenge I anticipate with the transition will be Allen, who has until now, always been my baby in every sense of the word. I know you are probably gagging because until the past three years, I would have been too.  But, here is the truth of the matter: No one has ever adored me like my little guy.  I am incredibly grateful for this as there have been so many times that I am not sure I would have made it through the day without his smoldering hugs and the tenderness he brings to our home.

While the word "Mama's boy" used to make me shudder (as I dated one in college), most mothers of sons agree with me that there is just something intangibly special in the mom/son relationship.  For a long time, we weren't sure there was going to be another baby Thakkar so I confess that I may have indulged myself in spoiling Allen in more ways than I would like to publicly admit.

But the reality is that the world as we know it around here is about to change in ways that I can only imagine.  While our hope is that the more than four year age gap between Allen and #3 will make things a bit easier than our many friends who had three kids under three years old, I am bracing myself for unfathomable chaos.  In the spirit of hoping for the best and preparing for the worst and all of that.

Anyway, part of the preparations have been to gently steer Allen towards being reasonably more independent.  He finally has one pair of shoes he can put on himself- his rainboots, which thank goodness are also is very favorite and he pretty much wears them every day, rain or shine and is so stinking cute in them.  He is finally 100% potty trained, can finally put on most of his clothes with a small amount of help and has finally become accustomed to having regular quiet time in his playroom when Mama needs to get something done for real.

However, until today there was this one thing left on the list that was making me crazy.  Since the kids were born, one of my top five least favorite things about mamahood is car seats and the loading and unloading and buckling and unbuckling that is becoming increasingly more like manual labor now that I am approaching my third trimester.  Cora and I have been working on teaching Allen how to do this by himself for what seems like months with very little progress and much frustration all around.

The other day I got so desperate I told Allen if he buckled himself in I would even share the chocolate covered popcorn I was secretly hiding from the rest of the family.

Me:  "Allen.  Listen.  Please' please just use your That-Man (in Allenspeak= Batman) muscles and try to pull really hard to get the seatbelt in the buckle."

Allen: "Mama, I not a big boy yet.  I still got mine teeny-tiny muscles."

*awe!*

After that conversation, I decided to throw in the towel for a little while so imagine my surprise today when he jumped in his carseat and buckled himself in like he has been doing it all his life.

I cheered and we high fived and he beamed and said "I a BIG BOY now!!! Choc-corn now please!!"

I hugged him and told him how proud I was.  He proceeded to pull up his shirt sleeves and asked me to "feel his big boy muscles".  Which I gladly did.

Cheers to two kids getting themselves in and out of car seats!!

Now resolving to enjoy the "calm" before the storm...

 Happy New Year!!!

Elf on a Bar

Cora with Jingly Mistletoe's Elf Cottage.  Jingly is sitting on her finger in the photo.

Confession:  I am one of the only mothers in the world, or at least the world we happen to live in, who did not feel compelled to buy an Elf on the Shelf.

Sure, seeing the pictures of wayward elves on Facebook and in my friends' homes is always cute and I enjoy getting a daily report on the shenanigans of the Elf, "Jingle", who lives in Cora's classroom.

I can't even really put into words just why I don't want to do the whole Elf on the Shelf thing because it seems completely fun and harmless but something has just been holding me back.

I anticipated endless demands for the Elf's presence in our house and wasn't sure how to tell the kids that I simply didn't want to get one and couldn't even tell them why.  I figured I would end up throwing in the towel in the spirit of choosing your battles and all of that.

Imagine my surprise when I didn't hear even one complaint about the whole matter from either kid.  So I concluded they must not feel too deprived after all. 

A few days ago, Cora came flying into our bedroom to tell me that "her Elf (named Jingly Mistletoe) had made her bed for her!" (behold a real Christmas miracle- it was indeed made, for the first time ever) and was on the way downstairs to "get the muffins ready for breakfast so Mama wouldn't have to do it!!"(the muffins did somehow find themselves on Cora and Allen's plates).

My understanding is that the Elves sold on amazon.com have a reputation for getting into mischief, something we have more than enough of around here.  So, I suppose I should count my lucky stars that this imaginary Elf is quite industrious and even willing to do family chores.  Maybe I should start leaving Jingly a honey-do list and giving Colin a break.

Although, I was somewhat disappointed when Jingly did not make Cora's bed this morning.  When I asked Cora about it, she said that "Jingly got mommy's cough germs and was spending the day in bed in her cottage". 

So what does Jingly look like?  According to Cora she has long golden hair "like Rapunzel" and and is "smaller than a grain of sand like my sister was when she was first in your tummy Mama", which explains why none of us can see her.  And "Santa flew all of the elves down from the North Pole on a tiny plane that dropped her in our house but the plane was a very quiet plane so that is why it didn't wake us up".  Jingly Misteltoe was getting cold though so Cora built her a gingerbread house to live in yesterday which she carefully placed on our bar of all places, right above the Malbec and Grey Goose, so our wayward dog wouldn't eat it.

I doubted myself for a second today when I was at a friend's house and their family Elf had delivered a letter written in green ink from Santa last night with a special message in it- it was so sweet and the kids seemed so touched by it.  And those amazon elves are so stinking cute and they do have a heirloom gift kind of look about them.

But, if I had ordered one, then we wouldn't have Jingly's presence in our lives this Christmas.  And, one of my greatest treasures is Cora's imagination and the magic it brings to our home.

I can't imagine the past couple of years without Jonathan (Cora's imaginary husband) or their 13 daughter's or Parlay and Blake (Cora's imaginary ladybug friends), ect.

Now if only I get get Jingly to finish wrapping the presents...or doing the ironing...

Jingly's home by Cora the gingerbread architect.

Playing with Jingly and the elf cottage this morning.  Cora has been sleeping in her dress-up gowns lately (which is perfectly fine with me in the spirit of choosing your battles)

Cora tried to make Allen her Elf last month but it only lasted a couple of days.