Our California Scouting Trip

We spent all last week in CA trying to find a house, as we are leaving the day after Thanksgiving to head out there. Here are a few pictures to document our time there.

First, can I just tell you about the amazing parks out there? Merrick was quite impressed:

Flood Park in Menlo Park:

Cuesta Park in Mountain View - little man LOVES to climb, so he was in heaven. Turns out that we found our home in Mountain View and it's less than 1 mile from this park. So between the playground and the jogging path for me, it will be perfect! More on the house later.

One of the things I really like about the Peninsula is that a lot of the towns have their own downtown area. We spent Saturday in Mountain View downtown on Castro St. Our objective was finding a place to have lunch. When in St. Augustine, we've got about 2-3 choices in terms of places we like, so it's really challenging to figure out which place we're least tired of. Well here, it is just the opposite problem. There are SOOOOO many to choose from that we essentially stood on the sidewalk dumbfounded, drooling over which Zagat-recommended restaurant to choose from. Did we feel like Thai? Indian? Italian? Vietnamese? Chinese? So many choices!!

Merrick quickly brought us out of la-la land and back to earth when he proclaimed "I want chicken nuggeys and ketchup!". So suckers that we are, we spent 45 minutes trying - unsuccessfully - to find a place that served such a delicacy. It was not happening...this city is WAY too cultured for us. Digging into my bag of tricks, the 'divert and conquer' method was used. We knew he would have spaghetti. So we completely diverted him by asking him whether he wanted Spaghetti or a bowl of Toam Kha Gai. Guess what he chose:

Oh dear, sweet child of mine. We MUST begin to work on the palate.

So on the last day of the week we were there, we FINALLY sealed the deal on a house in Mountain View. Forget about the fact that it's more than twice our current mortgage payment on our house in Florida, yet smaller! Actually, we're quite happy with it. We love homes that have a bit of character to them, and this one does. The neighborhood is beautiful and walking distance to a few parks. It's also a long walk or short drive to downtown. It has a very nice front and back yard with 2 tangarine trees and a lemon tree. Here's our new humble abode - if you knew what this place would sell for, you would fall to the floor in shock (well, except for those actually in CA):

Once we actually move in we'll have to post pictures of the back yard and inside.

On the way home, we were able to convince the pilots to let Merrick get a shot at hanging out in the cockpit. He flew it pretty well for not having any experience. No major complaints from the passengers. Then they let us take it even one step further and put our 2 year old son right in the engine:

I kid, I kid! A couple shots of Merrick at the aviation museum. :)

We will officially be California residents on December 1, 2009.

California Here We Come

Most, if not all, of you are aware by now that we have made the difficult decision to relocate to California, in the Bay Area between San Francisco and San Jose. For the last 10 years, each company I've worked for has tried to get me to relocate, and we finally felt it was the right move to take that plunge.

There are so many pros to this....I love the Bay Area -- it's so beautiful there, there's so much to do, incredible restaurants, culture and diversity that would enrich Merrick's life, and from a job security perspective it makes a lot of sense because I have a really good network of colleagues out there. Craig and I have always worked really well together in terms of our careers...he's more entrepreneurial by nature and has done really well. I'm VERY risk adverse in this area, so I've been the one working the 9-5 (I wish, more like 7am-8am, 9am-5pm, then 8pm-11pm -- Merrick gets the in between slots), and have the stable income we know we can count on (well, as much as anyone can count on right now) and the health benefits. Considering the current economic environment, and the fact that my network/industry is not in Florida, we decided it would be a good decision.

Though there is only one con in terms of leaving Florida, it is a HUGE one. One big enough to really tip the scale. It's the fact that half of our family is now out here. So our hearts are heavy, and it was a bittersweet decision.

Well, I guess the other con is the cost of living out there is atrocious. But it's that way because it is such a desirable place to live.

So California, here we come! With all the things it has to offer, maybe we can convince both sides of the family to move out there too. And while we're at it, our friends! *Hint Hint*

Halloween Heat Wave

October 31st in lovely St. Augustine, Florida. And what temperatures are we having these days? Well, let's just say that we went out for a night of trick or treating with Merrick, Willow and Wren and Merrick made it to ONE house before he had completely stripped off his costume. It had to have been about 85 degrees with insane humidity and bugs galore. Blecch!

It was pretty funny to watch the kids go trick-or-treating. Willow was dressed as a bride, and we got about 20 feet before one of her shoes broke. Wren and Merrick, who are just this year starting to get the concept of Halloween, would eat the candy as soon as they got it. In fact, Merrick refused to use the trick or treat bag because he didn't want to lose the candy. Wren would unwrap the candy and get halfway through it before he was on to the next.

We were probably out there with them for close to an hour, yet we made it to only 3 houses. And then THEY were the ones that were OVER IT.

Finally, a bit of a confession. I bought the cutest turtle costume for Merrick last year. It was a big too big, but we made it work:

Then this year, I bought him another really cute turtle costume. It was a just a teensy bit small, but we still made it work....hmmmmm....because I am NOT the type of mom that would have my son wear the same costume 2 years in a row. No way!!

Look, this is the LAST year I'm going to get away with him wearing such a cutesy costume. I had to take full advantage!

Here are just a couple more pics from our Halloween. I tried SO HARD to get a picture of all the kids while trick-or-treating, but after about 15-20 blurry shots because none of them could hold still, I finally gave up.

Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

For some completely miraculous reason, it was actually a bit chilly today in St. Augustine. For my fellow friends and family from the North and West, it's all relative -- chilly meant the upper 60s. But here, that's jacket weather!

Since it is close to Halloween, and in an effort to shake off my Halloween grinchy-ness (I've never been a big fan of Halloween, other than the fact that it's my sister's birthday, which is completely fitting for her...but that's another story Heidi), we thought it would be a good idea to head over to the pumpkin patch with Merrick. After, it'll be back in the upper 80s this week (sigh).

We had a great time! Here are a few pictures:

It Only Took Me 37 Years...

I've never really been the athletic type. I mean, I enjoy going hiking. I've got no problem with strapping on a snowboard provided the weather conditions are JUST RIGHT (hate to be cold). I've been mountain biking a time or two. Sports though? No way. I'm horrible. I have no coordination whatsoever. I was the one whose best friends were the athletes, but not me. I'd prefer to curl up with a good book, watch a movie, or a play. And of course, I LOVE LOVE LOVE to travel.

Well, after all this time I have finally found a 'sport' I can call my own. I suppose it works for me because the only person I'm competing against is myself, and at this point I have nowhere to go but up. It all started when I went to dinner with a girlfriend a little over 2 months ago. She is the athletic type, and was telling me about this marathon training program she is in. I thought she was insane, but for some crazy reason I committed to meeting her the following Saturday morning to see what the program was all about. "I'm telling you right now I'm not going to do the marathon", I said clearly. "I'll just see what the program is all about."

Well, that was a huge turning point for me. I have become completely addicted to running! Over the last 2.5 months I have watched myself go from someone who could barely run a mile, to just a couple weekends ago completing the Jacksonville Marine Corp Half Marathon. Crazy!

My first race ever was a 5K race for breast cancer, then I was training up to about 9 miles, then we had the half marathon. I was SO nervous about being able to do 13.1 miles. But I took it slow and steady, and finished strong. It was the best feeling in the world. I'm certainly not the fastest out there by any means (I finished in about 2 hrs, 28 mins which is an avg of 11.2min/mile). But the best thing is, I have found something active that I really love doing, and it really doesn't take a lot of coordination to run, just perserverance. As for doing the marathon? It's in February and I'm already registered for it!

Here are a couple pics from the half marathon. The first one is of us just before the race, and I was ridiculously nervous:

This one was after we finished...I'm not much of a beer person, but it just doesn't seem fitting to be walking around all sweaty with a nice glass of Savignon Blanc in your hand. And let me tell you, that beer was delicious after all that running!

5 Little Pumpkins

Blackmail

Dear Merrick:

You know that one photo every parent has of their child -- the one that's going to make you cringe when I pull it out to show your future friends/girlfriends/etc? Well, I have it....(insert evil laugh here). Your camouflage big boy undies (which style, by the way, was completely YOUR choice) along with my heels....FABULOUS!!

Merrick's New Crib Friends

So many kids develop an early attachment to a favorite stuffed animal, blanket, etc. Up until this point Merrick has never really done this. Part of this could be that we are the kind of parents that allow him to have a pacifier when he sleeps (the horror!!!), so maybe that is some type of an attachment of its own.


However, recently he's had a bit of favoritism toward 3 certain stuffed animals of his. He's named all 3 of them - I'll have you know he chose the names himself - and all 3 must now sleep in his crib with him. In fact, a couple of them have already accompanied him on shopping trips and a birthday party.


Here they are below - 'Nana' the elephant, 'Bear Bear' the bear, and 'Sheep the Turtle' the turtle. And I know Merrick would want me to be very clear that you can't call the turtle 'Sheep' for short. Just as you may not call some Jennifers 'Jen', or Davids 'Dave', sheep's name is 'Sheep the Turtle'. I'll leave it to you to figure out who's who.

Goals for our Troublemaker

With a sweet face like this:


Do you really, really think we'd need to put together something like this?

There's been a little trouble lately at Seaside School, caused by one Merrick D. Radley. I had my first 'parent/teacher' conference the other day at his school. Who knew they started this at age 2?? Apparently Merrick has been causing just a bit of mischief, such as straight-up telling his teacher "No!" simply because she asks him not to, making sure the teacher is looking before he specifically does things he's been asked not to do, making sure the teacher is looking before he proceeds to dump an entire yogurt down his shirt, not sitting at the table during mealtime, maybe a toy or 2 thrown, and oh does the list go on.

So, I ask, what do you think my first response was? Perhaps, 'Oh no, not my angelic child!', or even 'Wow, I'm so sorry, I feel like such a horrible parent.'. Nope, none of these. It was 'Phew! I am SO glad it's not just me he's testing like this!'

Apparently what we determined from this meeting is that he is a normal 2-year old boy (DUH!) who is making it his sole responsibility to test boundaries. And he has thoroughly tested the boundaries of his wonderful teachers. Ya, um, welcome to my world.

In all seriousness, we've been very happy with the school and really like their philosophies and teaching methods. He wants (and we would like for him) to move up to the next class (older 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds), as the things his current class is learning are colors, shapes, and identifying letters. He's known this stuff for quite a while now. But behaviorally he needs to work on some things, because he's not quite where these older kids are. At the end of the day, he's just 2 and it's not as though staying in the younger class (older 1-year-olds and younger 2-year-olds) is going to scar him. We want him primarily to have fun, but also to be challenged as much as he'd like to be, and we know that he is quite inquisitive and likes to learn new things. Plus, he tends to act out when he's bored, whereas if he's being challenged he can be as good as gold.

So, Craig came up with the brilliant idea of putting together a list of goals for him...sort of a combination of what he needs to do at school and a couple things he's got to master at home. We probably could have used several sheets of paper and covered our refrigerator with his goals...but we figured at his age 3 would be enough to master at a time. He's already on his way to being potty trained, but he very much makes it only on his terms and so we don't want to push that. Crossing our fingers, so far it's been getting through to him...he gets a little treat each time he meets his goals.

Just Because - Alligator Farm Then and Now

I took him to the Alligator Farm a couple weekends ago and snapped a picture of him sitting on the alligator they have in front of one of the show sites, which reminded me of the last time I got a picture of him there.

Merrick at 9 months old:

Merrick at 2 years old:

The Next Michael Phelps (well, minus a few indiscretions)

I'm telling you, this kid is swimming! I mean, I don't know what else to call it. Does he float? Yes. Does he go under water? You bet. Is he kicking and using his arms whilst floating and under water? Check! I guess the only ingredient we're missing is his ability to lift up his head while swimming!

Now, here's a little video of him showing off. I will admit, it took me a VERY long time to get comfortable with this. In fact I still am very tense while watching. Guess that's just the over protective Mommy in me:

Our July Trip to Oregon

In July we made the long trip to Coos Bay, Oregon to see Merrick's Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Worthman.

The trip took about 12 hours door to door, consisted of a layover (2 layovers on the way back), and Merrick was nothing short of amazing the entire time. He didn't fuss one bit. My little man is destined to be my lifelong travel buddy.

Oregon was beautiful, and the weather required pants, long sleeved shirts, and sometimes jackets. What did we leave behind? 95 degree temperatures, insane humidity, and a ton of annoying bugs!

Merrick got to meet his great grandparents for the first time, and it was so special to have that opportunity! Not only that, but we also met Grandma Patty and Papa Roy out there. He was thrilled to see them again.

After a lovely time with the family, we made the long trek back home. Once we got in our car and were headed home, Merrick asked where we were going. When I said, "we're going home honey", he started crying and said "I don't wanna go home, I want to stay in a hotel!" Ahhhh, another bit of proof (and there's not much) that he truly is my son...he's got that passion for travel just like his Mama!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The World's Longest Sentence

I know I am WAY behind on the updates, and I have a lot to add so I will try to get it done early next week. However, I just had to put in this update before I completely forget what Merrick said.

Let me set up the scene for you...we were sitting on the sofa and Merrick was picking out a couple books for our nightly story time before bed. He was looking for a particular book, 'The Ocean Book' (as Merrick called it), and it must be a book he's read at school because we don't have it. So I told him we'd have to go to the store to get it. His response is below...

"We have to go to the store and get a sprinkle cookie so I can get my beach book, and then we will get to see the vacuums and not rip the cards."

To give you some context, whenever we go grocery shopping I let him get a sprinkle cookie to occupy him for - oh about 2 minutes. And when we go to Target he ALWAYS has to see the vacuums. I have no idea, he's always been obsessed with vacuums. And then last weekend while we were at Target, I was looking for a birthday card and he decided to help himself to a handful. I was so busy finding the card I wanted that I didn't notice he was ripping them, until he had completely destroyed 3 of them. So of course we had to pay for them. :(

Happy Father's Day Craig!

I know, I'm a week late in my Happy Father's Day wish. Craig got to go on a day-long fishing excursion for Father's Day, so I hope I will get just a teensy bit of slack. :) And actually, by the time I finish and post it, more like a week and a half...bad, bad me!

It goes without saying that Craig possesses all the important ingredients that make a great Dad. He's loving, kind, patient, accountable, and always wants to teach Merrick. He respects Merrick for the person that he is and wants him to always feel comfortable in his own skin.

I absolutely love seeing Craig and Merrick interact, it is best thing in the world! And what makes Craig really stand out as the best Daddy ever are all the little things. While I could go on and on about the little things, below is my top 10 list of little things (in no particular order) that make Craig the best Daddy ever:

1) When Merrick has long been asleep, and right before we go to bed, Craig sneaks into Merrick's room to kiss him. Every single night, without fail.

2) Every night during bath time Craig takes out his guitar and gives Merrick a rock concert...all of Merrick's requested favorites like 'Wheels on the Bus', 'Old McDonald' and 'Down by the Bay'.

3) He takes every Wednesday off work to spend the day with Merrick. We call it 'Daddy Day'.

4) At Merrick's weekly gymnastics class, he is the only Daddy who is going right along with whatever Merrick is doing. Right there with the other kids, Craig is on the balance beam, on the trampoline, the bars, all of it!

5) Craig went to play guitar just for Merrick's class at school...the only kid in school with a rock star for a Daddy! He always wants to be involved in his school.

6) He always takes Merrick on the boogie board in the ocean for 'surfing' lessons.

7) He gets Merrick interested in all the little things too. Just tonight, for example, they spent about a half hour in Merrick's room with the light off while playing with a flashlight. I heard nothing but laughs and giggles coming out of there.

8) Since DAY 1, Craig has shared every single parenting responsibility. From getting up in the middle of the night when he was little, to taking care of him when he's sick, to discipline, to doctor appointments and blood draws.

9) He will stop at nothing to ensure Merrick's safety. Shortly after Merrick began to walk (a little over a year ago now), he was continuously taking spills on our tile floor in the kitchen. Craig, in all seriousness, was about to make ALL tile off limits to our son. For how long? I have no idea. And at the end of the day it wasn't a realistic view, but the fact that this was actually a serious consideration in his head speaks volumes!

10) He allows Merrick to practice his sky diving stunts by letting him jump high off the changing table and into his waiting arms below.

And although I said top 10, just one more for good measure:

11) He teaches him crazy words - at least for a 2 year old - like onomatopoeia, tempo, and a few other words I can't think of at the moment. He just doesn't let the fact that Merrick is 2 hold him back from teaching him anything. And while he may not fully understand all the words now, he will.

So Happy Father's Day Craig, we love you!!

'Nastics (aka Gymnastics)

We've wanted to put Merrick into some type of activity, and for the most part none of the classes take kids as young as 2. But we recently found a gymnastics place that takes 2 year olds as long as the parents participate. So we signed up! We figured this would be a good way to help his coordination --- hopefully the payoff is we have fewer falls and therefore less damage to the noggin!! The class lasted 45 minutes, and initially I wasn't sure he was ready for it because he spent the first 15 minutes of the class obsessing over the fans throughout the gym to keep it cooler. He's got this thing about fans...he's afraid of them for some reason. So he was going on and on about the fans and finally the instructor turned them all off! That's when he decided to get down to business. He had a BLAST. In fact, he started crying when we left, because he wanted "more 'nastics!"

He's Got Mad Skills!

I have to admit, selfishly, that one of the most exciting things for me about Merrick starting school was all the projects he would be bringing home. I had these visions of sticking all his artwork on the refrigerator to admire. That day has arrived my friends! Here are some of his latest masterpieces:

Favorite Blue Galoshes

Summertime = Popsicles and Ice Cream

Please Tell Me This Stops!

Merrick is insistent on inflicting damage to his face on a weekly basis. It seems every single week we bring him to school on Monday with a new bump, cut or scrape. And every week it's a different story. And every week I feel like the teachers are that much closer calling Child Protective Services!! Fortunately, one of his teachers - Ms. Lea - has 4 boys of her own (bless her). She's told me that each of her boys have been to the ER more than one time for stitches, broken bones, etc. AGGGHHHHHH NOOOOOOOO!! He will cause me to have a heart attack, I'm certain of it.

For your viewing 'pleasure', I give you his latest battle scar. He was running in the street in front of our house, tripped, FORTUNATELY caught himself a little with his hand, however it wasn't enough to prevent his head from grazing against the pavement. He cried for about 2 seconds, but when I scooped him up and ran into the house to assess the damage, then he REALLY cried....because he wanted to be back outside playing with his buddy Noah. I had to quickly clean up the abrasions, slap on some Neosporin and get him back outside!

Mickey Goes to Time Out

I shot this video right around his birthday - you can still see the nice bump in the middle of his forehead. I was giving him a bath, and just happened to catch him on video putting Mickey Mouse into time out. Oh, and he's also added a little Happy Birthday song for himself.

Merricks Happy 2nd Birthday Pt 2

Happiness is.....having your cake and eating it too! Only on your birthday would you get away with something like this:

Merrick's Happy 2nd Birthday Pt 1

Last weekend we had a birthday party at our community clubhouse for Merrick. He is SO into Mickey Mouse right now (he watches the Disney channel in the morning when they're showing Mickey, and I think the trip to Disneyworld we took a few weeks ago sealed the deal). We decided to have a Mickey Mouse theme.

In true Merrick fashion, he had to mark his 2nd birthday by taking 2 major spills and ending up with 2 big lumps on his head. It's all about the 2s!

We were no more than a half hour into the party when he somehow managed to go from standing on a picnic bench to falling head first onto the concrete below. Lump 1. But of course everything has to be done in pairs, so not more than an hour after that, he was running to the playground and tripped, falling face first onto the sidewalk. I could hear the 'thud' from where I was about 50 yards away. It is the WORST, most naseauting sound ever. I thought for sure the first one was ER material - after all it is his head!! But thankfully Grandma Rita - who is a nurse - took a look at him and said if he wasn't acting strange, lethargic, vomiting, etc that he would be okay. This child is seriously going to make me have a heart attack one of these days. Mark my words - I'm buying a big bubble for him.

So, I took pictures of his head, thinking that while it certainly wasn't funny that day, we'd look on it later and laugh....I'm still not quite at that point, but for your viewing pleasure here is the evidence. It actually doesn't look as bad in the pictures as it did in real life!!

The first lump:

And later that evening, showing both lump 1 and 2:

Happy Birthday Merrick!!

I absolutely, 100% CANNOT believe my little baby turned 2 on Thursday. On one hand, the time with him has gone by way too fast. On the other hand, I can't even believe it's possible that I was alive for 35 years before he was a part of my life...because it feels like he's always been a part of my life!

I've heard so many people say that each stage of your child's life is more fun than the prior, and it's so true. We are having so much fun with him! Every day he surprises me with how much he knows and is learning. Every single day he puts the biggest smiles on my face, gives me a reason to laugh, and finds new ways to push the limits of my patience! :)

Here are some pictures from his big day!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

How to Tell if You Have a 'Spirited' Child

1) If your child likes to flop around on the floor like a fish out of water and scream for about 5 minutes when you disrupt him from having his way, you might have a 'spirited' child (note of caution, if you then proceed to laugh because in some strange way you actually find this funny, child will only extend the flopping and screaming).

2) If your child, who is not yet 2, likes to say things like "No talking Mama!", "Quiet Mama!", "Stop it Mama!", "No touch my carseat Mama!", you might have a 'spirited' child.

3) If your child purposefully seeks to do the very things you told him not to do, and only because you told him not to, you might have a 'spirited' child.

4) If your child wants to see *just how far* he can go with what you're asking him not to do (ie...asking him not to put his feet on the table while eating, and he slowly inches his feet toward the edge of the table, getting that tiny corner of his toenail on the edge, but not going any further), you might have a spirited child.

In summary, our son has hit the ground running with this whole 'terrible twos' thing
is such a spirited child! :)

Merrick Goes to School

This coming Monday is Merrick's first day of preschool. We went to an orientation today to meet his teachers and see his new classroom. I'll tell you how that went in a minute --- but to get a full appreciation of how today went, let me give you some background leading up to today.

We (Craig and I) have been excited and nervous about this transition for Merrick. Right now we have him with a sitter who loves him to pieces, and he loves her and feels so comfortable with her. He pretty much gets her full attention as she only has him and her daughter (who is in preschool a good portion of the time). We thought now that he's older we would enlist him in this new preschool that actually takes 2 year olds, giving him the opportunity to learn to socialize with others, as well as learning from different teachers and with structured activities.

Here's how I envisioned we'd do it....we'd take him to his first day of school and hang out in the classroom with him for half the day. Then we'd take him to his current sitter the last half of the day, so he can slowly ease into this new setting. I figured we'd do this the first week (righhhht). When I explained my plan to the new teacher, she was agreeable, but I could tell it caught her off guard (apparently this is a unique request). She made the recommendation that I stay for a few minutes, and could call as much as I wanted to check in on him, etc, but said she respected whatever decision I made.

This morning we get to the classroom and for some reason I was expecting he'd cling to me. So imagine my surprise when the MINUTE we walked in he took right off. He was exploring the toys, climbing, talking to the other kids, talking to the teachers. I don't think he even remembered I was there! Then a few things dawned on me...first, I think I would be hindering him if I were to just tag along after him during the first couple days without letting him explore and meet new people. Second, I'm SERIOUSLY underestimating my son's ability to adapt to new environments/situations. Third, if I don't let loose on the 'leash' I'm in danger of raising a serious Mama's boy!!

I decided that I agreed completely with the teacher. Who am I kidding, he's going to love it there! I was talking to him about how we were going to visit his new school today, and when we pulled into the parking lot he said..."Mama, I so excited!". I just loved walking into the classroom and seeing his little name tag on his bin and right above a coat hanger for him to put his jacket. And I just can't wait for him to bring home that first art project that we can proudly display on our refrigerator. Oh, and you know what's really crazy? The teachers told me there are 2 kids named "Merrick" in the school. That's about as common as more than one Greta!!

In preparation for the big day, I bought him his very own backpack and lunch box:

Walk a Mile in Daddy's Shoes.....

Not as easy as one would think!