my sweet girls...

just a thought as I was observing cate tonight....since the minute she was born everyone has said she is my clone. she may look a lot like me and I may be able to read her mind, but she isn't my clone...she is an infinitely BETTER version of me. it's more accurate to say I'm a lot like cate and I aspire to be her one day.

on a related note, anna looked her up and down tonight and exclaimed, "Cate! You are looking so grown up! I like it!"

on an unrelated note, anna couldn't fall asleep tonight and burst into tears at one point because there was a picture in her head that she kept getting rid of but that kept coming back. the picture? a MEAN and SCARY....BUTTERFLY!

on a related note to the unrelated note, in the car anna overheard a comment about gun companies wanting to sell lots of guns. she asked, "real guns?" I said, "yes." she said, "why would they want real guns?" such wise innocence.

I love these girls. I am soooo lucky I get to be their mother.

Big News!

We are excited to announce some big news!

After many years of hard work at UCSD and Stanford, Nate will be completing his post-doc in January and we will be heading to San Diego! Nate just signed with a very cutting-edge research institute, where he will work closely with an uber-famous scientist. I foresee them changing the world!

I am SO happy for Nate. It's a wonderful opportunity for him and a great evolution of his career. Good job, sweetie!

Nate starts early January and the rest of us will follow him to San Diego a few weeks after that.

We are super excited about this opportunity and can't wait to get back to San Diego. On the other hand, we have been so blessed here in the Bay Area. When I start to think of the myriads of people that have touched our lives here, I get overwhelmed with gratitude. In fact, typing that sentence made me cry. Between work, blogging, schools, church and our town Menlo Park, we have been blessed by an intricate and supportive network of people who have loved us and served us through tough times and happy times. We will be forever grateful for all of your friendships, Bay Area friends. Thank goodness for this high-tech time of the world we live in...we are never further than a video chat away!

Congratulations, Nate!!!

I love this kid.

Happy Halloween from the Peanuts Gang!

Schroeder, Sally, Woodstock, Lucy and Charlie Brown wish you a Happy Halloween!

Two more reasons Cate is Great

Last night I went to an event in the city, so I had some time alone in the car. As I was driving and thinking about the day we just had, I realized I had two moments with Cate that were so sweet and wonderful, but at the time I didn't quite savor how great they were.

I had to get dressed up for the thing I went to last night. Cate was in my room lying on my bed watching me get ready. When I was all set, I asked her how I looked. She said beautiful (which was sweet) then she popped out of the bed and exclaimed, "You need to wear high heels!" She ran to the door where my shoe organizer hangs and started looking at the shoes. I was in a rush and was nice and everything, but sort of just said, "Yes, exactly! Good idea! My high heel shoes are actually up here." I got down the basket with the shoes, knowing which ones I was going to wear. Cate, however, wanted to see what they all looked like and pick some out. Again, I was like, "Here are the ones I am going to wear, look good?" And she said yes and was totally happy.

BUT.

I wish I had slowed down for a moment. It was so cute how she jumped up to find shoes. How she wanted to help me pick them out. No matter how rushed I feel, I need to notice those moments and soak them up, really take part in what's happening. The way things did go down was fine and still a sweet memory, but I just wish I would have seen it more for what it was. Next time...

Anna was really grumpy yesterday for some reason. Quite the pill, actually. At one point in the car, for instance, when she had been quiet for some time, she suddenly made this loud, frustrated, angry-ish noise, just totally out of the blue. And that is just a small example of how she was all day. ANYWAY...I said something later about how Anna was being so grumpy and Cate said, "Maybe she had a bad day. Maybe something happened at school or something." I replied with, "She had a great day, she got to go to lunch, she got new shoes, everything seemed fine after school. I just don't get why she's so grumpy."

Well, like I said, later in the car I was pondering all these things. And, again, I wish I had listened to Cate more closely. All day long when Anna was acting out, I just kept telling Anna why it was such a great day and why she shouldn't be so mad about everything. Cate, however, was thinking about why Anna might be feeling that way, reflecting on what the cause might be, trying to be understanding. She didn't tell Anna why she should not feel that way, she instead just accepted the grumpiness and showed compassion. I wish that I could have stopped when Cate said that, realized that, no matter the reason, Anna WAS having a bad day, even if I didn't understand it or think she should be having a bad day. I should have listened to Cate and just stopped to give Anna a hug and simply recognize she wasn't feeling that happy.

Cate's pre-K teacher told us in a parent teacher conference once that Cate had an unusual level of empathy for a child her age. I think that is the perfect description of our little Cate and this experience with Anna is just another beautiful example.

I just love that Cate. She is great.

Owen 1 Year!

It's my last monthly post from Owen's first year! I have lots of pictures from his party and much to report (i.e. more blog posts to come!), but I wanted to do his monthly update real quick.

I cannot believe it's been one year since Owen arrived. One one hand it's been so fast, but it also seems like another lifetime ago when he was born. It was an eventful arrival, making it the hardest birthday of my life but also the very BEST. He is such a blessing and I am grateful for his presence each and every day. We are a lucky family to have Owen around!

Today Owen and I shared our birthday for the first time! It was cute and fun - we had lunch with friends and went about our usual Tuesday activities, but it sure was great to have a birthday buddy with me all day.

A few updates from the last month of Owen's first year!

• Owen said "bye bye" for the first time when we visited the little zoo at Happy Hollow. He was mesmerized by the giant tortoise and could have watched him all day. When I finally decided it was time to move on, I said, "Say bye bye to the tortoise!" and he did! He waved and said "bye bye!"  So cute. We happened to swing by the tortoise again a little later and Owen said bye bye AGAIN when we left. Dallin (a little friend of ours who was with us) said it was a magical tortoise, it could make Owen talk! Of course, Owen hardly ever says it now, but once in a while the words come out!
• He is picking up on sign language - it's so cool! He's been doing the sign for "all done" the whole month and has also picked up on "more," "sleep," and "milk." And EVERY time he sees a dog he points, so that's sort of like his own personal sign for dog. He also did the sign for airplane one morning and it was maybe the cutest thing I've seen.
• He loves when I do monkey noises and tries to do it back (the high pitched part). So cute.
• The top two front teeth FINALLY came in after 2 weeks of grumpy grump! At one year he has 6 teeth - top front four teeth and bottom two front teeth.
• Owen absolutely LOVES pushing around cars/trains/trucks...he literally does it all day long.
• Owen also loves playing ball. He's good at throwing and now he is really good at kicking, which is pretty funny since he can't even walk. And he can kick a ball far!
• He pulls himself up on the coffee table and entertainment center all the time now and in the last few days has also pushed up into a downward dog type position. He stays stationary when he pulls himself up to places, but he's getting better every day!
• He finally loves eating real food and can really put it down! His favorites are tomatoes and chicken, although he really loves pretty much anything we give him.
• We finally had to employ the cry it out method so that Mom could finally get some sleep. It's been a week. It's better. It only took a few nights and not much crying, although he still wakes up once or twice needing his binky, but at least I'm not feeding him in the middle of the night anymore (he has been SO SPOILED). I'm still exhausted, but I think a full night's sleep MIGHT be on the horizon. ;)
• Owen is a happy boy. He is scrumptious. He has squishy thighs. He is everything a 1-year-old should be.

Happy Birthday Owen!

One last shot on the green blanket. 

And this is what happens in just one year...

And, as you can see, he has bid farewell to the annoying monthly green blanket photo. He couldn't get out of there fast enough. ;)

Owen, 11 months

Owen turned 11 months on Saturday. It is unbelievable that his first year is almost over. And, while it feels like it's gone by quickly, it also feels like his birth was AGES ago. We just have a few more weeks to describe his birthday in terms of months instead of years...our baby is growing up!

I took a lot of notes this month on Owen and what he's up to!

• At the beginning of his 11th month, Owen was able to sit up from lying down and by the end of the month he is a professional at this task.
• He has perfected the Owen Scoot and is super duper fast. We don't think he'll ever actually crawl on all fours because he simply doesn't need to. 
• When Owen feels an urgency to get to his mommy, he throws things out of his way as he crawls over, even if the items aren't necessarily IN his way. It is really funny, cute and dramatic!
• A week or two ago Anna was throwing a major temper tantrum and could not calm down. She was lying on the floor at one point and Owen crawled over to her, touched her face and gave her two kisses on the forehead. The temper tantrum disappeared, it was just the medicine she needed, and we couldn't believe Owen did it - it was sooooo sweet.
• Owen is an excellent waver now. AND he waves when he just hears people saying hello or goodbye, he doesn't need to see waving first. What a genius! ;)
• On August 16 he was crawling around with a spoon. At one point we looked down at him to discover he was pretend eating. His first imaginary play!
• We've started using some basic sign language with him and it's official, Owen's first sign is "more," which is so stinking cute to see babies do.
• On August 14 two more teeth popped through - top teeth next to the center teeth. They came through the same night and, needless to say, he did not sleep well that night. I'll be honest, I always thought teething was a baby myth - we never even noticed when the girls grew teeth. I am here to attest it is NOT a myth. Owen is totally opposite of his sisters and is definitely letting us know that it hurts to grow teeth! His top two front teeth have been almost coming for like two weeks now...everyone cross fingers they come through soon!!
• When we were flying home from the east coast, we hit some pretty decent turbulence at a couple spots. Owen would just giggle whenever that happened. He likes to live on the edge! He also giggled his way through the landing. Must have been an adrenaline rush for his little body!
• This past month I was in New York City with Owen for work - I had a conference to go to and a big party to throw. The day before the party we were at the venue getting ready and one of the PR interns for one of our sponsors was there. He really liked Owen and kept playing and talking with him. At one point the intern said, "High five!" and held up his hand to Owen...and Owen gave him a high five! I had no idea he knew what that was or how to do it. Turns out Owen is an expert at high fives AND regular fives. 
• When we were at Grammy McCarthy's house in Massachusetts, she had a toy tractor out for the kids to play with. Owen started pushing it around and, since then, can be often found pushing around cars. I just love watching him learn and discover the world. It's amazing how FAST babies' brains develop!
• Owen LOVES the vacuum.
• Owen FINALLY likes real food and is a good little eater. Yay!
• One of our favorite things that Owen does right now is nose breathing. He purposely breathes through his nose really loudly, in and out in and out. Sometimes he also crunches up his face when he does it. He thinks it's really funny and, well, he's right!

Owen hates laying on his back...whether it's to get dressed, change his diaper, take a bath...or, apparently, when taking his monthly birthday photo. Little stinker...

We seriously could not get a good shot on the green blanket - he would not hold still, I couldn't get anything in focus, he was grumpy the whole time...this was the best I could get!

We love you, little 11 month old!

Maynard girls and food

It's no mystery the Maynard girls like food. These two quotes from Anna and Cate this past week just further prove that point.

Anna, in all seriousness, while helping me make cookies last Friday: Mommy, I'm helping you clean up the dishes by licking them. It's a lot of work for me.

Cate, in all earnestness, eating dinner the other night: I am so grateful I have a tongue!

New Jersey 2012

A few quick shots from our visit to Grandma and Grandpa Wallin's in New Jersey this summer.

Owen had to go into NYC with me for a few days while I threw my big blogging party...we decided he was the cutest swag around!

Cape Cod 2012

Just a few quick shots from our Cape Cod vacation...there's more where this came from, but want to get something up!