Sophia's 1st Birthday!

I am devoted to celebrating my kid's birthdays on their birthday even if it is a little family celebration and I wasn't going to let the fatigue of the ending holiday season take that away from Sophia. I am hyper aware that she was born at a time where Christmas has just ended and New Years Eve is the next day and just as I worried people weren't excited about getting together to celebrate her 1st birthday. I jockied around the idea, via an email to family members, that we celebrate her birthday in February but got no response and saddened I stamped my mental foot and decided we Warren's were going to celebrate her birthday regardless if anyone else came, on her birthday! I had Groupon coupons from Jane and from a purchase that I had made for the Children's Museum in Seattle and it was the perfect venue for a 1st birthday. I sent the invite to join us to family and happily Leo, Jane, and Jason said they could come.

We dressed warmly and adorned with her birthday crown we made our way to the Seattle Center.


It was awesome! The coupons covered the cost for all of us to go into the museum and Padon was super excited to run amuck in a world designed for people his size. Sophia was a little hesitant but in the baby/toddler section she was still curious and to my surprise used her new found crawling skills to follow me from one section of the play area to the other.
I had decked her out with a wire rimmed red ribbon that was stink'n adorable with her polk-a-dot dress, onzie, and daisey covered tights. It made people ask about her ribbon and gave me the opportunity to brag about my beautiful little girl and to tell them how it was her birthday that day.

We played for about two hours and then made our way up to the food court in the Seattle Center for a delicious pizza lunch.

I had packed with me a special table cloth, cupcakes that came with snow globe ring favors, and a special chocolate cupcake and Pooh candle for Pia.

We lit the candle, sang her happy Birthday, she put the candle out by pinching the wick (no kidding) and we let her dig in.
A little slow to react to the gluttony that comes with the 1st birthday cake, especially on a full pizza belly, she soon was scarfing icing and cake, and some where in that little roly-poly body found room for the whole cupcake! She did pass out cold in the stroller as we made our way back to the car. I take that as the sign that it was a perfect party.

Even though it was so very important to me that we celebrate Sophia's 1st brithday on the day she was born, going forward we will celebrate Sophia's birthday as a little Warren party on her day but have a party on her 1/2 birthday on the 4th of July. Family gets together on that day anyway and who can turn down a middle of the summer birthday - pool parties here we come! I'm think'n Luau theme! Woot!

2011 Christmas and 2nd Christmas

Again this year we went down to my Parent's house for Christmas Eve. I think this may be the last time for a bit, however, because Sophia wasn't keen at all about sleeping in a place that was not her bed and I got barely any sleep. We did pull out the Christmas Pjs though and I was eager to get them on the kids, emphasising my Christmas socks and PJs too (aren't we having fun?!). We started with Sophia and found, even though I had measured her shirt properly, that the neck hole that had buttons was still too small for her head. These PJs had been a labor of love, however and I couldn't not have her wear her first pair of Christmas Pjs and so we cut the collar of her neckline. I still gasp at the thought. Over her head the PJ shirt went and the pants went on perfectly. So perfectly it was apparent that she probably was only going to be able to wear these Pjs just this once. *Sigh* And even larger sigh *SIGH* was when I tried to put Padon's PJs on him he flatly refused to wear them. Both my parents thought I should force him to wear them but then the PJ tradition would really only be only about be and what fun was that? I finally discovered that part of the problem was that Padon still wanted to wear his T-shirt which brought us to a compromise that he could wear his t-shirt under his PJ shirt. I still had to button the puppy pajamas as fast as I could and he still went and cried on the stairs leaving me wondering what kind of mommy role I really wanted to play tonight. My parents told Padon how wonderful he looked and the PJs really did fit him well. Playing with my Dad on the Hobby Horse seemed to tip the scales and Padon was happy again and complacent about wearing the PJs. We put Padon and Sophia down on the floor in front of my Mom's tree for a memorable picture and then I was satisfied. *Sigh*

The next day the rest of the family came over and I tried my best to snap pictures of Sophia's first Christmas.

Padon who had waited so patiently to open presents for the last three days was beside himself. He was finally old enough to understand Christmas tradition, the gift of giving and receiving, and he was loving it!

My Aunt Janet, Uncle Tim, cousins Andy and Megan, and Andy's wife Annamaria came to visit and it was nice to see them and introduce them to Padon, Greg and Sophia. Sophia who wasn't always inclined to relax with a stranger fell asleep on my Aunt Janet's lap which was so nice. I don't think that my Aunt Janet and I see eye to eye on most things and she had always made me feel a little like the black sheep in the family and so it was nice to have this nice and gentle bond between us; thanks to Sophia.

My friend Jen also got to join us for Christmas and that too was really nice. Jen's closest family lives in Colorado and it was a treat for her to spend Christmas with us. We had a great time, laughed a lot, and her little girl, Mia, had a great time playing with Greg and Billy.

Sophia's 1st Picture and Family Portraits!

When Padon was one we went to Picture People to get our family portrait taken and to get 1st year pictures of Padon. This year I thought it would be nice to get family portraits taken again but had been a little disappointed with Picture People over the last couple of sittings and so thought, having seen an ad and coupon for JCPenny that we would go there instead.

I had the most adorable Christmas dress or Sophia, a new suit for Padon and coupons to make the price of the sitting at JCPenny's reasonable. We made a mistake however in thinking that we could go to a friends house and party the night before, wake up with hang overs, get dressed in our best clothes, buy Walter a shirt, and get to JCPennys in time.

Well we did get up in time, did get dressed (Sophia, Padon, I, and mostly Walter), and to the studio just in time to get Walter a shirt but I had forgotten the coupon and had completely forgotten about how men's shirts are packaged. Between the slight hangover, and dealing with the pressed lines on Walter's chest and arms, I was slapped in the face with the $200 price tag for the sitting and picture package. Walter and I both stared at the register with this "oh my God!" feeling but still pulled the trigger. It was December 6th and we needed this weekend for the pictures to timely put together our annual photo calendar, that was also sent out as stocking stuffers for Leo and Mary Jane. WE NEEDED THESE PICTURES!!! I went into the bathroom to collect myself and wet down Padon's giant cowlick and felt better as Walter supported the decision and affirmed that everything would be okay. While it was more money then we had planned to spend we did have the cash in the bank.

I came back to the studio in time for our family to be called in and Sophia and Padon were wonderful. First off the holiday decorations they had us choose from were leaps and bounds better then Picture People. You get what you pay for. They had this little wood and antique looking chair with red velvet upholstery and Padon took to it like the narrator in Masterpiece Theater; leg crossed over his lap and everything. Sophia not strong enough to stand on her own could stand and hold onto the chair and placed her hands perfectly and smiled for the camera. We got shots of them together, alone, and finally all of us together on a backless couch as a family. In the end we had a lot of shots to look at, choose from, and we walked away with a CD of all the images. That rocked most of all. It was really hard to explain why we only needed one 8x10 of the family portrait and one 5x7 of each of Padon and Sophia (shhhhhh don't tell them I'm a graphic designer and I don't need them or their high prices and make prints at Bartell Drug for a fraction of the price), and that nope, don't need Christmas cards...

We left with two wonderful kids that were getting impatient because they were hungry. We awarded ourselves with a job well done; the pictures were wonderful and worth every penny, and went to the Claim Jumper. While in the Claim Jumper, Padon who was still discovering his skills at being potty trained, announced to me on the way back from the bathroom, with Walter, across the dinning area, that he had gone Pee and Daddy had too!!! Walter was so awesome to laugh while still being mortified as the very large table of roughly 12 gals burst our laughing at the situation and how cute this little boy was in his suit, vest, and tie.

We ended our morning by playing on the playground in Alderwood Mall. It turned out to be a good day and we got some really nice pictures. I think next year we will go back to the Picture People since family portraits aren't needed every year, and they are much cheaper; I just know now to bring my own props. I wonder how they would feel if I brought in a whole Christmas tree...just kidding.

A Little Bit of the Irish

Somewhere between October 2010 and December 2010 (can you tell I'm updating the blog months after this posting) my Dad said something along the lines of, would you like to get the mole removed from your forehead; I'll pay for it? We had a nice heart to heart where he admitted he had thought maybe in college I would have liked to have it removed but he didn't want to imply that he thought I was unattractive with it and so he didn't say anything. By the time he asked me, though, I had had enough conversations with small children about the "owie" on my forehead and how it wasn't one, just a mole. I had, had this conversation with Greg a few weeks before my Dad and I talked and even after an explanation of what it was Greg still gave me this weary "hummm, we'll see" expression. I was all for having the mole removed and so I scheduled an appointment Dec 21st. It was a simple procedure, I had to wear a very obvious bandage on my forehead for the first day and a bandaid for a week, and after about 7 months a lot of the pink of the scar tissue has gone away. I don't have a fine line like the doctor said he though I might have, but a pink pockmark like scar , but it is still better then the mole that protruded off my head about an eighth of an inch.

I think my Dad was using me a little as a Guinea Pig because he himself has a mole on his back that he would like to have removed. When he discussed it with his doctor his doctor replied that it was just a little of his Irish heritage shinning through. Both of us are pretty confident that this isn't a genetic trait we feel we need to flaunt. Maybe now after me having had my mole removed he will go in and have his removed. If he needs a little hand holding, I'll be there for him.

Fire Department, Santa and Candy Canes, Oh my!

On December 21st I was driving home from work and could hear in the far off distance what sounded like an Ambulance. I thought, oh, that's sad; some one is having a medical emergency in such a festive time of year. I walked in the door to our house and was doing the standard meet and greet, including the barage of happy Padon chatter, and I could hear a police car, but closer this time. I think I made a comment to Walter along the lines of, "What do you think is going on? Do you think they're going after the drug dealer (yeah, we have a drug dealer couple blocks away)?" And then I heard the whoop, whoop of the emergency vehicle again and it clicked! "I yelled "Oh my God! Padon come here, come here!" And as it clicked for me, Walter also clicked and he started to scramble. I grabbed a startled Padon in my arms (he was in his PJs) and I started to run to the front door. As I flew through the door Walter yelled watch out for the front steps, which were covered in ice and I slowed down just enough to safely stumble down them and out through our front gate to great Santa Claus walking along side an ambulance COVERED in Christmas lights followed closely by a fire truck. Every year Santa comes from the North County Fire Department and patrols Kayak Estates throwing candy and giving holiday well wishes. We had missed it the year before and Padon was in complete awe, waving to Santa and yelling, "Merry Christmas!" I felt someone next to me and turned to see that Walter had grabbed Sophia too, and I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that he had brought her out, because it was so cold, and because why had I not thought of it?

Santa wished us all Merry Christmas and gave Padon and Sophia each a candy cane and continued down the street with the sirens chirping as they went. We thanked the emergency crew, wished them a happy holiday, and paused a bit to laugh with our neighbors, that live across the street, who had also been listening to the sirens and wondering what was going on, to suddenly remember and run outside. Only their kids had been in the bathtub and they had, had the memorable scramble out of the tub and into PJs to run outside as fast as they could.

Inside we let the kids have their candy canes and while Padon relished unwrapping his own, Sophia was a riot as she took her very first taste of peppermint, thought about it for a second, and dived back in. Her candy cane crook had broken off and was a straight piece of candy. This she would pass back and forth from hand to hand as she put it in her mouth and pulled it back out. It was quickly a sticky mess and so we put her in her high chair to go hog wild on her candy treasure. I was so glad we could capture this moment and that Padon was able to see Santa. Some where he had picked up that Santa had a toy work shop and had been in awe of the Santa picture booth at the Bellevue Square Mall that was elaborately assembled to look like his actual house. We don't emphasis Santa at all as bringing presents or that he likes good kids over the bad, but still Padon has learned about him. It will be interesting to see how Santa becomes established in a house that doesn't really celebrate Christianity or imaginary characters that bring treats through out the year.

I'm Padon's Best Friend!

Padon told me on December 15th that I was his best friend! I came home to him and as I was walking into the dining room he said "Mommy, you're my best friend!" I totally gushed inside. It turns out Walter and Drake, the cat, are also Padon's best friends but it started off with me. I love it!

Thanksgiving 2011 and Christmas PJ's

*Drat for taking my pictures home*
Thanksgiving was, as usual, a good time this year. The food was fabulous, the decor beautiful, and the company great! Sophia ate a little of everything on the table and then promptly passed out in her high chair, head lolling to the side. Padon and Greg sat together, away from parental support and with my Mom happily seated between them and Billy. It was such a wonderful gesture for her to take on the kids so we parents could have a holiday meal without cutting up someone's meat or portioning out more of the sides. And Padon and Greg were so well behaved. Usually there is excited hitting and kicking, as they love each other madly, and instead they happily enjoyed each other's company chatting away.

For the Warren Household, Thanksgiving means that the next day Chloe has every intention of not shopping on Black Friday but that she probably will and that the Christmas tree gets to go up. I really didn't want to shop on Black Friday. Not that I don't like to wait in line but I was super tired that week and if you want to surround yourself with the largest number of unhappy holiday goers and crazy drivers, trying to fit in spots way to small for their enormous SUVs, that you will see in a year, you just don't shop on Black Friday. JoAnn Fabric was, however, having their stellar cheap novelty flannel sale and christmas pajama fabric needed to be bought. So with some added motivation I asked Padon if he wanted to go Christmas PJ fabric shopping and get up super early. He, as any wonderful 3 year old would be, was super excited to go out with me and we were on.

I woke Padon up at 5:30 in the morning, bleck! We dressed ourselves in warm clothes for the 21 degree weather outside and drove the 20 minutes down to Marysville where the JoAnn Fabric USED to be. That's right, used to! I had totally forgotten that they had moved locations and I had no idea where. That meant we had to drive to Lynnwood to go to the huge JoAnn Fabric and that we definitly would not be there when the store opened at 6am. We arrived at the Lynnwood store at 6:30 and to a store crowed with women and carts stacked, no kidding, 6 feet high with bolt upon bolt of novelty print fabric. While the section of fabric had still many bolts to choose from the cute, have to have, Christmas themed fabric was gone. And we were number 89 while the cutting table clicker was still at 51; there was a warm snowball's chance in hell that we were going to get our hands on better fabric than what was available to us.

Padon was awesome! We made the lap around the novelty print fabric probably 8 times and he enjoyed playing with the nic-nacks around the store. Disheartening, though, was when I asked Padon what fabric he wanted and he replied "all done with the fabric." I'm pretty positive my mouth fell open. I fully acknowledge that the pj's are a tradition for us that is far more important to me then to anyone else in the Warren house, but he was 3 and was supposed to have SOME opinion. I mean at 2 he picked out his fabric...Synapses fighting the urge not to over push the need for him to want to choose some fabric on his own, I picked out 5 bolts of fabric and asked him if he liked any of them. Sort of giving in he turned away from the bolts I had chosen and pointed out a bolt that was the pinkest of pink with stars and rainbows and said, "this is what I want!" I said "really?!" and he confirmed the choice. I'm not the kind of Mom that would not let my little boy dress like Rainbow Bright if he really wanted to, but I was the kind of Mom that was not about to take the time to make Pj's he might turn around and tell me on Christmas Eve "I'm not wearing that!" So holding onto the fabric I looked for some fabric for Pia (she had to have a different fabric then Padon; I'm so sick). I found a cute penguin fabric where the penguin's stomach looked like it was a snow globe and the rest of the fabric looked like it had snow flakes on it. I then went and found Padon again, who was happily playing in the wind-up toy section and confirmed with him for a third time (I think) "so this is the fabric of your Christmas Pajamas?" He disgustedly looked at me and said "No! That's GIRLs fabric!" Are you kidding me?! Realizing fully, now that the X-mas pj's were all about me, and that the fantasy of him picking out fabric with me was gone, I went and picked out some super soft white flannel fabric with puppies all over it got him to choose some puppy buttons, and then proceeded to the pattern section to buy a PJ pattern big enough to fit Padon.

Padon was so awesome and beyond well behaved. It took us 3 hours to go in the store, pick out fabric, pick out a PJ pattern, and to get our fabric cut. Padon's big insentive, other then getting to have quality time with me, was that afterward we would go across the street to Sherry's and have some pie and hot chocolate. After our 3 hour excursion (not counting drive time) Pie wasn't going to cut it so we had a giant slice of chocolate pie (Padon chose), hot chocolate, coffee for me, and a giant breakfast skillet, and proceeded to stuff ourselves. It was a really great time. I hope Padon is more into picking out fabric next year. And of course Pia will be old enough to pick her fabric too. I don't plan on giving up. My kids will be 30 and still receiving PJs from me. Teehee!

Dad-da-dee!!!

*Picture of Pia Coming Soon*
So Pia's first word was "Daddy" or more specifically "Da-da-deee!" Aw, sniff, for the long distance working Mom. It was soon followed by Mamma but everytime something gets a little stressful or I don't appear to be carrying my weight in the parenting responsibilites that make a Pia happy, she starts calling Da-da-dee, Da-da-dee, or more recently just Dada! More crushing when she is crying and clawing my shoulder as if to vault over it. This usually happens after I have put her to bed, she has cried past her 20 minute mark, and after seeing that I'm back, she starts looking around for him and won't stop crying until I show her that he's still there.

Props for Walter though in obviously being a stellar caretaker. Sophia loves him dearly, regardless of his whiskery kisses, and knows she can rely on him for her happiness. That does give me warm gushy love feelings. He is such a rock star Dad.

Blanket

*Picture Coming Soon! Don't Have It At Work*

So I think I mentioned in the 3rd Annual Warren Holiday that Blanket had become a member of the Warren Family more so then Walter and I ever anticipated. Padon would carry Blanket with a gentle newborn baby hold and direct the portion of the blanket with a tag so it could look in the direction of things worth seeing. Well darn me for not posting about Blanket sooner because I can't remember what month it was that Blanket got his (yes, I said his) voice. I want to say it was November and at least before Christmas. I think Walter and I were in the kitchen when after yelling at Padon (imagine fists clenched down at your sides yelling) to get out of the kitchen we heard Blanket ask a very tearful Padon "What's wrong Padon?" in a cookie monster-esk voice. Walter and I gapped at each other and listened, ears straining to get everything. Padon still crying answered "Daddy yelled at me." To which Blanket replied "Daddy yelled at you?" Padon continued on "Yeah Daddy yelled at me." Blanket concerned asked "Are you ok Padon?" and Padon answered back sorrowful "yeah...". The crazy thing was in this exchange Padon went back in forth in this monologe from crying to not crying to crying. And that's not to say that he wasn't genuinely crying, because he was, but the identy of Blanket was so his own that he could stop for that second to ask the question.

I loved it! I had an invisible friend for longer then I care to mention, and so wont, and I love Blanket! I have very clear memories of my father screaming at me "are you insane?!" when he over heard a similar exchange. Ok so I was older then Padon but it stung and affirmed to me that it was just one more thing about me that my Dad was never going to understand or love. Oh, my Id is showing; putting that away now...

From this initial conversation Padon has allowed Blanket to speak out more and more; enough that two weeks ago I had to pet Blanket and talk to him (in a full conversation) about how I was not going to give him a "bath" in hot water in the washing machine and that I would be sure to make it perfectly warm. Walter and I have also learned that Blanket is a boy blanket and that he is 6 years old. That totally made me want to ask what was so special about being 6 years old but I bit my tongue. I had to point out to Walter that maybe we were talking about Blanket and laughing about his new found personality to friends and strangers a little too much in front of Padon. I really don't want him to think that what he is doing is shameful. Especially not at 3! And this exceptance of Blanket has also spread to imaginary bad guys that fight Padon with guns and whom I have been saved from, by Padon, in the kitchen. Darn those bad guys for trying to kill me in my kitchen!

Real Job

Ok, so I had a "real" job before but it was extremely cyclical. So cyclical that it was easy to keep up with my blog; something that I really enjoy doing. But throughout 2010 I got the opportunity to illustrate a book cover for Paul Pantleo, am going to illustrate a second book cover, and by the end of 2011 will have also illustrated 1 if not 2 children's books. Weeeeeee for me! I also changed from being Executive Administrative Assistant to the President of PACCAR Financial in February 2010 to being Senior Marketing Specialist. It has been an awesome job with all kinds of graphic projects, opportunity to lead projects with our websites, and responsiblity galore but between it and Paul I have had little time to do much else.

I have definitely had to reprioritize what I wanted from my life and have made every effort I could to not have it affect my family and most definitely not effect Padon and Sophia. It dawned on me that of the maybe 96 years (following in my great grandfather's steps) I would live that I would only have 18 years to really be in my kids lives and to have an influence on what happened to them. What a handful of cherished moments. I would be a fool to let those years go by without a ton of hugs and kisses and support and self esteem boosting.

And so to my record of Warren family events and wonderful moments; I'm sorry, but entries are not going to match dates. Heck it is now 4 days from February 1st and I haven't made an entry since November(?) and I have a back log of posts to make. I'm trying hard to keep up though. I don't want to peter off. Catch-up time!