May 07

South of the Border

We have the great fortune of spending some time in paradise, more precisely Puerto Vallarta, even more exact the Grand Luxxe resort in Nuevo Vallarta. Andy and I have come to Puerto Vallarta at least ten times so we are not exactly novices, and Belén was here with us three years ago, but it is Eloise’s first time and it has been fun to see her reaction to so many new things all at once.

When we first arrived and were riding in a shuttle to the hotel, Eloise pointed out each bus she saw. “Bus,” five seconds later, “Bus,” three seconds later, “Bus.” She probably said the word “Bus” fifteen times in a ten mile stretch. Needless to say in Boise, she seldom gets the opportunity to use this word and her repetition reminded us how much more prevalent buses are in developing countries than in the US.

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May 06

The End of an Era

Friday was my last day in the office, working at one of the world’s largest technology companies. I started working at the company as a summer intern in 1997. My history with the company started even earlier than that as my mom worked there for 20+ years before retiring a few years ago. In a way you could say that the company is in my blood.

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May 01

Opinionated but Not Terrible, Eloise is Two!

Our baby turns two today. Here is where you expect me to say that I cannot believe how quickly she has grown up (which is true) but in many ways I am completely at peace that she is two. In fact, she has seemed a bit like two for some time now. She is doing all of the things I expect a two-year-old to be doing including talking and asserting herself quite strongly, throwing a fit when things are not going her way, eating like a bird but still sporting the happy Buddha belly, and did I mention, asserting herself strongly?

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Apr 28

Beautiful, Intelligent, Perfect…Four

I cannot believe four years ago today I was holding you in my arms for the first time, breastfeeding you for the first time and snuggling with you for the first time. In so many ways it seems like you have been with us forever and yet in other ways, the four years has passed in the blink of an eye.

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Apr 24

Piercing Ears

A friend had given me a recommendation to go to Merle Norman and that turned out to be really good advice. We walked into the store and within a minute Belén had picked out pink stars as her first earrings and the clerk was dotting her ear with a marker. B looked so excited and brave that she suddenly seemed more like 14 than four.

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Apr 18

Mommy Says

Andy typically gives our kids a bath, but last week, it was my turn. The Easter Bunny brought them a pack of letters that are supposed to stick to the tile when wet but it doesn’t really work with our small tiles. In an effort to encourage the girls to not pull out every toy and every letter (that I would have to clean up after bath time), I came up with the, “Mommy Says” game which works a little like “Simon says” but involves washing various body parts.

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Apr 13

Smart, Strong, Savvy

I had the great pleasure of meeting a colleague and very impressive woman named Susan when I was in Boulder a couple of months ago.  She is one of those super cool, smart, witty people you immediately wish you could share an office with for the rest of your career.  This week Susan sent me [...]

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Apr 10

Hi! Bye!

There is a lot going on this month and I don’t foresee having much time to tell you about it all for a bit. I miss writing as an outlet but for now I will have to make do with my circuit training class which I am loving, yoga and chasing the kids around the [...]

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Apr 03

A Perfect Easter

Our Easter in Photos

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Apr 01

Eloise Mae is 23 Months Old

Yesterday Eloise wanted to play “baby” so I swaddled her up and carried her around while she made fake crying noises. As she found it hilarious, I found it impossible that she, who was my little, tiny baby 23 months ago, has legs that hang down and touch my own legs when I carry her, and words to describe her opinions and desires. While she will always be “the” baby, she is obviously no longer, “a” baby. And I know this transformation has been going on for some time, but it takes awhile for it to really sink in, especially to moms.

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