The Boys visiting with Misha

This morning I noticed that Rowan is starting to crawl forward! He does a commando style crawl, where he is still on his tummy and pushes with his feet and scoots with his arms. When he sees something, he goes for it!

Today we just hung around the house, getting used to the weather - hot, humid, cloudy and downright pouring at times - and time zone. Shari and Misha (from WA) visited us and brought all kinds of goodies from Okinawa and Kauai. Poor Misha just came from getting her ears pierced, she only managed to get one done. After the first poke, she kind of freaked out. She was very, very shy and didn’t want to leave her mom’s arms when they first got here, and they were about to leave when I asked her if she wanted to see the babies. They were just getting up from their nap so it was perfect timing. She immediately came out of her shell and wanted to see the boys. Then it was like nothing happened at all, she was her usual bubbly self. It is so funny all the new things she learns - she totally cracked me up with her ABC song, the “LMNOP” part was super funny. She also had a hard time making shaka with her right hand she had to really concentrate. I’m going to miss them when we’re in Germany!

I spent the afternoon making food for the boys - pears, apples, green beans.

Patient babies eating their lunch

I was able to get a couple hours of sleep last night (thank goodness for that), and got up around 3am with Michael to finish up packing. We pretty much have everything together, and we’re having a “free for the taking” garage sale today after Michael drops me off. We got the boys up at about 5am and fed them, then went to the airport. Everything went very smoothly and on time. We got checked in and got a gate pass for Michael. The lady at the counter was kind of reluctant to give him one, but haha, much to her chagrin(sp?), we got one. We went to Qdoba to get a breakfast quesadilla, but it was WAY too hot and WAY to big. I guess last time we got the small order. After I ate about 1/4 of mine, I realized that it burnt the entire interior of my mouth. Why is it that you don’t realize that you’re burning your mouth until it’s too late? We then got to the gate and they were already pre-boarding. I was hoping to get my seats changed, but the lady said it was too late and that we would have to work it out with the other passengers. We were in the very last row and it really sucked to have to carry 2 carseats all the way through the plane, come back through all the people trying to board, and then go back in with babies. The stewardesses were very nice and helped me board. So, as far as seating, I had 2 seats together and 1 in the window seat in the row in front. I wanted to get a row of 3 seats. The lady sitting in the aisle seat next to me also had a lap child, and it wouldn’t be good for her to be in the window seat. The people in the row in front refused to move seats because the guy would be uncomfortable. So, luckily, the lady in the aisle seat in front of them moved to my window seat, and the aisle lady with the baby moved to her seat and I got all 3 seats to ourselves. It was a real pain to get the car seats in, mostly because I haven’t done it before. When I went back out, I decided to wait awhile because there was a long line of people waiting to board and it didn’t make sense to just stand there when I can spend more precious moments with Michael. Although I guess they weren’t so precious because I was still mad at the people in front of me and also the babies were getting fussy because they were tired. Finally the line died down and I started down the runway and Michael said “bye then”. And I realized that he wasn’t coming with me. I forgot!!! So I came back out and gave a proper goodbye, as we won’t see each other until Thanksgiving! Sniff. The boys were very fussy and I was worried about the rest of the flight. One of the stewardesses helped me carry the boys back and then I got them strapped in. We all fell asleep almost immediately and didn’t even feel the plane take off. When I woke up, it was already 1.5 hours into the flight. That’s how tired we were! The boys did really well the rest of the flight, not hardly complaining. The sucky part was that because the jerks in front of me (who didn’t want to move seats) put their seats back, there was about 4 inches of space between the babies feet and the backs of their chairs. I did my best to make them uncomfortable by constantly retrieving toys and having to push on their chairs as well as encouraging Rowan to scream excitedly about a toy. Anyways, by the time the flight was over, Elijah fell asleep but Rowan could not. We waited until everyone was off and I had 3 of the stewardesses help me unload. Man, I had a lot of stuff - 2 backpacks, 1 carry on luggage, 2 big car seats and 2 babies w/blanket paraphenelia. What was the first thing we had to do? Go to my mom’s office to show them the babies! Poor Rowan, he wsa so fussy and tired. Getting the car seats in the car was also a pain. I was totally sweating whenever I was done. By the way, it is very humid here! Rowan fell asleep almost immediately after my mom fed him some milk. Elijah stayed up to make my mom laugh with all his farting noises (see the video). We went to Kozo Sushi (of course) and I got my Ebi Cucumber rolls. Yummy! We spent the day at home, I was hoping to get a nap, but Rowan kept all of us up. He cried and cried and could not sleep. We took off all of their clothes because it was so hot for them. Then Rowan became overtired and couldn’t sleep even more. My mom couldn’t take it and tried to pick him up and get him to sleep by rocking him, but that didn’t work. So, we just put him down in the living room and he entertained himself while we ate dinner and I made some baby food for the next few days. Finally, I got them up one last time and fed them some pears and then put them back down and swaddled Rowan. He fell right asleep! Poor baby, at least it was a little cooler and hopefully the swaddle wasn’t too warm. They slept like logs! I fell asleep around 8, got up at 10 to watch Monk but then fell asleep before it even started!

Today was the last day that we spent at our house. The moving guys came and started packing up everything. We had to be ahead of them and take out whatever stuff we wanted to take with us and not load onto the truck. It was kind of stressful because you always felt like you’re forgetting somethihng. Although if we make a mistake, we won’t be able to see our stuff for 2 months! My office is always a hard thing to pack up because I won’t know what I will need. We got it done though, just barely! We had to go to the Escrow office to sign the papers, and also run some other errands. For our last meal (at least for me), we went to Shamiana and we stuffed ourselves. I got Velvet Butter chicken with no chicken, it was so yummy. Lorna came over in the evening and took a lot of our stuff. She felt really bad taking everything, but we were so happy that either she will use it or someone she knows will use it. At this point, we are in “please get rid of our stuff” mode. I stayed up almost all night trying to organize and pulling stuff that I will need for tomorrow. We had no time to enjoy our last night in our house! :(

Lynn getting the hang of knitting

This morning I heard Rob open the garage door at some god awful hour, but I wanted to be sure I said bye to him so I stumbled out of bed and ran out. He probably thought I was a crazy woman. After saying bye, I crawled back in bed for another couple of hours. We made breakfast burritos again, they are so good. I hope Lynn really liked them and not just eat them to humor me. :) She did a really funny thing during breakfast - she shook the orange juice container when it didn’t have the cap on and it spilled everywhere. She called it a “chemo brain” moment. Hmmm…I think I’ve done that several times, only with salad dressing. After breakfast, we went to a yarn store to pick up some cotton yarn since I was going to teach her how to make washcloths. It was one of my first projects and so many people like it that I still make a ton of them. They are really great quick and easy things to make. We also went to Party City and I picked up a bunch of stuff for goodie bags. I can’t believe how much cheap crap there is out there. Then we went to have lunch at a place called “Corner Bakery” and we split two sandwiches, I especially liked the panini one, I can’t remember what it was called, but it was GOOD! We went back home and I taught lynn how to cast on stitches and how to do a knit stitch. I told her to work on the scarf first, but the yarn that she had made it difficult to see the stitches, so it was much easier for her to work on the washcloth. I did a couple of rows and then had her do it. It was really awkward for her to do it, and it brought back a lot of memories for me. I remember it really vividly how hard it was at first. It took a couple of all nighters for me to get the hang of it. Lynn actually did very well and by the time I had to go, she totally got it down. According to her blog though, she forgot how after I left! I got to the rental car place in record time and they even gave me $20 for making me wait so long whenever I picked the car up. I love the Burbank airport, soooo much better than LAX. If you have the choice, I say totally go with Burbank. The flight was uneventful. At Sea-Tac, I rented a minivan to get home. Since we sold both of our cars, we needed one to hold us over until Michael left on Saturday. It was a very comfortable car, but too big for my tastes. The good thing was that it was super easy to get the car seats in there. It was nice to be home, but there is a billion things for us to do. Namely, go through all the junk in my office!

If you would like to read Lynn’s account of the day, click here.

Lynn needed to get a blood transfusion today so I went with her to the hospital. It was really interesting to learn (or I guess I should say re-learn) about how blood works. I am O-pos and Lynn is A-pos. So, O type can donate to all others. O neg blood type is the most versatile of all, as far as consumption. But if YOU need a transfusion, then you’re screwed. Neg types can only take neg types, pos types can take both positive or negative. O types can only take O. So, I can donate blood to Apos, Bpos, ABpos, Opos. I can receive blood only from Opos and Oneg. Lynn can donate to Apos and AB pos. She can receive blood from Opos, Oneg, Apos, Aneg, ABpos, ABneg. At least I think that’s right. It was also interesting that they put in two pints(?) of blood and I asked where does it all go? Her kidneys filter out the excess blood and turns it into pee, while keeping all the “good stuff” in that she needs. That’s pretty cool. Sure enough, she had to go to the bathroom several times. Anyways, the nurse was really nice and they have a cool setup. I could even check my email. It was a clunky “touch screen” monitor, but it did the job. I felt really bad for putting Lynn to work - what kind of monster am I to put my poor cousin who is getting a blood transfusion to work??? But it did make the time pass very quickly. We had quite the factory going and got it done in no time. We both sat on the hospital bed folding/stuffing envelopes and partially watched Sahara, Guess Who and Drumline. We used my laptop and so now she is spoiled with the big screen!

After we got home, I had to almost immediately go back out to meet some other friends for dinner in Westwood. Arwin and Joey, longtime friends from the Intel days, met up with me at Louise’s Trattoria. The food was really good and it was great to see them. Joey is a pediatric oncologist, so he “reviewed” Lynn’s case (just kidding). Well, I told him what was happening and he seemed to agree that what the doctors are doing sounds right. He is a really great guy and I wish my boys could have a doctor like him someday. Well, not an oncologist, but you know what I mean. Arwin is also doing well at her job with Herbalife and being kept super busy because some guy left and didn’t do any of the work that he said he did. Don’t you hate that? After dinner, I went over to their place and was amazed at the housing market in Westwood. For a dinky “fixer upper” 2 bedroom house, it starts at 800k!!!! For a 2 bedroom condo, it starts at like $500k! I was just floored. They had a condo and did lots of work to it and it looks really great. I especially liked the Ikea kitchen cabinets that they put in.

I got home at around 11pm and no one was awake. I was kind of bummed because I haven’t gotten to see much of Rob! :( I won’t get to visit with him tomorrow because he goes to work early and would come home after I leave. I wish I came over the weekend…

To read Lynn’s account of the day, click here.

Today we got up early to go to the airport, because I am taking a much needed 3 day vacation to visit my cousin and blogger-twin, Lynn. Lynn is going through chemotherapy for germ call cancer (Lynn, correct me if I’m wrong) and I insisted (or more like “brainwashed”) her to create a blog. It has been really interesting for me to read about all the tests, “markers”, scans, opinions, 2nd opinions, treatments, hair styles and blood related things that she has been through! I am a big fan of her blog and we nag each other when one of us hasn’t written an entry for awhile. She and her husband have a really great sense of humor and she is a brave woman and a true inspiration. Ok, so enough gushing about her! We had to get the boys up early and feed them, pack them up in the car and go. We were running a little late but because I wasn’t checking anything in and we didn’t have to park, it was ok. This was the first time I got to the airport and they were already fully boarded and paging me! I, in the meantime, was buying a pair of noise cancelling headphones while scarfing down a Burger King breakfast croissandwich. I think the cashier lady was weirded out as I pulled out my croissandwich and started wolfing it down as she was ringing up the order. Hey lady, I’m in a rush. Then I had to check in my carry on because there was no more room in the overhead bins. I had the breastpump in the bag, so I had to open everything up and move stuff into my backpack so that it wouldn’t go through baggage. The flight was non-eventful, and this was the first time I flew to Burbank. I usually fly to LAX. It was awesome! I love the small airports, especially when it’s closer to your destination. I went to the car rental place and had to wait a super long time because the car needed to be washed and filled with gas. I finally got out of there and headed up north. It was only about 18 miles to Lynn’s house which I was kind of surprised. I always picture her house really far out, but it’s not that bad. I got there and we spent the afternoon talking story and we went to Trader Joe’s to pick up some stuff for my mom. It was a really nice feeling to just go places without having to work around nap schedules and stuff like that. We went to a “grease pit” place for lunch and made a scene as we were paying for the bill. Hawaii people like to pay for the check, kind of like the scene in “So I Married an Axe Murderer”. Lynn won! I’ll get her at dinner!!!! We also had to go to the hospital because there was a mixup with her blood type (who knows what happened) and so they had to do another blood draw. We were surprised that the guy just let us walk into the blood bank, and left us standing there with all the samples and whatever. Kind of weird. But her type checked out as usual - Apos. I think they just mistakenly put the wrong label on or something, which is scary to think about. Anyways, after that, we came home and waited around for Rob. We then went to dinner at a BBQ place nearby. I have never heard of “tri tip” beef before, but when I tasted theirs, I wish I got that. It was super tender and yummy. After eating that, my steak tasted very dry and I couldn’t finish it. I was going to go to the bathroom, but I saw Rob break out his wallet so I had to hold my bladder as I tried to get mine out too. The guy came at the wrong time and Rob immediately handed him his credit card and I tried to tell the guy that I was going to pay for it. He told me whoever hands him the card first wins. I was so mad! These people!!!! So again, I was beaten by the Pagaragans. After dinner we just hung out and talked some more about the movies that we like then went to bed. We were all so tired!

To read Lynn’s account of the day, click here.

Another bedtime ritual, tickling and laughing before going to bed. CAUTION: Laughing is contagious!

Michael came home today! When I went to pick him up at the airport, I noticed there were signs to a “cell phone waiting area”. That is a great idea! Basically, it’s this small parking lot that people who are waiting to pick someone up can sit while they wait for their party to come in. That way, you don’t have to sit at baggage claim and/or you don’t have to circle around. He had a long flight from Amsterdam and hardly any sleep. The neat thing is that the international flights have an outlet you can plug your laptop in, so he wasn’t bored.

We came home and he immediately filled our once immaculate living room with all of his travel stuff. He had some gifts that he wanted to show me and also we watched the videos of our new place. Very exciting! He had to go into work almost right away, but not before he had a chance to visit with the boys. He said that they got cuter since he left. I won’t disagree.

I fed them broccoli again today and they gobbled it all down. I’m glad Rowan is used to it now. This evening we put them down to bed and I showed Michael this thing I do with Elijah that make him laugh so much. He has to be in the mood in order for it to work, and he usually is. He likes “suspense” things so as he’s lying down, I move my head slowly from his toes to his chest and say “uhhhhhhh” with an increase in the pitch, and then when I reach his chest, I say really loud “BAP!” and he cracks up! It’s really cute.

Didn’t do much today, just tried to get all my last minute crap on ebay, craigslist and Micronews. It’s a lot of work, hope they sell!

Before I put the boys to bed, Elijah started making these really funny faces
and sounds. I couldn’t resist picking up the camera, he cracked me up!

I actually got a lot done today despite being sick. Seems like my cough has gotten worse. The bummer is that I had a playdate with some friends that I really wanted to go to but I don’t want anyone to get sick so I had to stay away. I dropped off our computer that we sold, it turns out the buy who bought it is the owner or manager of Hunan Garden restaurant, which is right next to I Love Sushi, which we frequent. Nice guy, he was excited about the computer. Then I had to deposit the money, so I went to the bank and the guy that was before me left his card in the machine. I could’ve easily gotten money out. But no, I am an honest person. I handed the card in to the bank and the lady gave me a shocked look like this never happens. Then, I went to the store to pick up more supplies. I’m trying to feed the babies more and more solids.

I spent the rest of the day making baby food. Ok, well, it didn’t take all afternoon, but I made a bunch of broccoli and applesauce. I use my rice cooker to steam the fruit or vegetable, then I use the food processor to chop it up. FUN!

Michael signed the contracts today for our new place in Munich, we are set to go! He also wanted to open a bank account as well, but he needed more documentation, which he won’t get until he is actually there.

Can’t wait for him to return tomorrow!