Back when we first started talking about having another baby, I got a little consumed by the thought that we’d become a family of five. At restaurants we’d have to be seated at tables built for six, not four! On amusement park rides, we’d have to split into twos and threes, or is somebody gonna have to ride alone? What about getting a room at a hotel? Would they let five people stay in a room with only 2 queen beds?

And finally, how are we going to squeeze 3 kids into our cars?

Turns out this last question was the first one we were able to answer satisfactorily…

…three little kids fit just fine across the back seats of both my Prius, Kevin’s Speed3, and of course our beat up old minivan. When they hit their tweens it’ll probably be a different story, but by then we should be ready to trade in the old minivan for a new hybrid plug-in minivan

Categories: kids and parenting
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We didn’t try to bottle feed Angelina this week. Kevin’s vacation ended, and without him I didn’t want to attempt it because my back was still hurting too much for me to do anything beyond the basics. But the clinginess we first saw last week stuck with us. Angie is taking a lot longer to fall asleep. By the time she’s down for the night it’s usually midnight.

Through the trauma she has, however, found a new way to comfort herself: sucking on her fingers. Usually she indulges in two at a time, sucking them with great gusto. Sometimes she gets a little too enthusiastic, sucking four at a time and ends up gagging on them. She likes sucking her fingers so much that she’s even sometimes interrupted her nursing with a few minutes of noisy finger sucking.

This week Angie became a lot more assertive about what she wants to do and where she wants to do it. She was never shy about showing her preference for which person should be holding her (Mommy), but now she is regularly asking for Daddy by leaning towards him. She also leans towards other things, like the baby swing, and when we put her in it she sits back and looks very contented.

Angie still doesn’t like tummy time but gets her exercise in other ways. She likes to kick her little legs against my stomach when I’m holding her. She can also be pulled to a sitting position from lying down and keep her head steady when we’re holding her. I think she’s ready for the ExerSaucer.

I think I have officially won the babbling contest. She has distinctly babbled both Da and Dee but still has not made the Ma sound. Kevin thinks it’s unfair that she spends all day with me making the D sounds at her. He also thinks it’s funny that both of our daughters said Da first, whereas our son said Ma first. It totally plays into the Daddy’s Girl and Mama’s Boy stereotypes. I can’t say I mind

Categories: angie
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I first heard sad stories like this one from the United Farm Workers. I’m glad these incidents are making their way into mainstream news because people really need to know what’s going on.

Categories: news
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My next car will be a plug-in hybrid.

Categories: environment
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Kevin has been taking the kids swimming just about every week. Mostly they go to Grandma’s house, but the picture above was taken in my cousin’s backyard. Thanks to Daddy’s tutelage, I’m proud to announce that as of 3 weeks ago Alex is a swimmer! He can tread water, doggy paddle, and swim underwater!

Here’s Ana carefully portioning American cheese into bite size pieces. Of our two older children, she’s the one who shares Daddy’s love of cheese. Other than American she also likes cheddar and Gorgonzola.

Ana went through a pirate phase, walking around the house growling, “Arrr! I’m a pirate!” then summoning us to her bedside telling us she couldn’t sleep for fear of pirates, despite Kevin’s assurances that pirate ships can’t sail into the Inland Empire. Finally I learned that Alex had been telling her scary pirate stories at bedtime. I asked him to quit it, and Ana’s worries about pirates disappeared overnight.

Two weeks ago I cooked up 8 lbs of pork that Kevin bought on sale. I made Chinese bbq pork, carnitas, and chile colorado. Ironically, the Chinese dish turned out extremely mediocre, but the two Mexican dishes turned out fantastic. Kevin said they take him back to a little village in Guadalajara. I said just call me Rosa Chen.

Categories: food, kids and parenting
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