krew crew

so, i realize that it has been over a year since my last post, but this is my comeback post!!!

what's happened since my last post?

1. got pregnant when zoe was 18ish months old.
2. zoe started school at the local montessori. GAH that was hard. one month of crying, some notes about scratching, and her first halloween parade later, she loves school. yass!
3. had another baby. one more life, just laying around the house. nbd. jk, she is a big deal. rue is the bee's knees. the sht. the cutest baby of all time. except that she is tied with zoe, obvi.
4. zoe has entered her...what do they call it, "terrible twos?" even though zoe is 2, she reminds me a lot of myself-- at 15. not listening, wanting to wear clothes that i don't particularly approve of, wanting a phone, getting notes home from teachers. she's also so dang smart and funny and WILD and sweet and so good to little sister. she's my little sour patch kid, first a little sour, but so so so sweet on the inside (and super cute to boot).
5. WE GOT A TRAMPOLINE. a childhood dream achieved.
6. this may not be a big deal to anyone else, but we did some home reno and we now have a master bathroom. we thought about putting a lock on our pocket door, but decided against it. note to self and all other parents out there: GET THE LOCK. ALWAYS GET THE LOCK. the bathroom is great tho, like stepping into a clean modern hotel. walk in shower, floor to ceiling tiles, lots of white and marble, black and brass fixtures, and the most luxurious of all, zoe's toys and used pull ups on the floor (yes, it is work to put the pull up in the trash can right away).
7. started sleep training rue today. sorry rue, no tears this time. with zoe, i cried, ended up in fetal position in front of the baby monitor. I LOVE YOU, RUE.
8. we got a new car. its not new anymore, bc i haven't written in a while, but its still newish. we got a subaru outback. we love it. it has all the bells and whistles (helloooo back up camera. i know, old tech, but new to me), but still feels practical and spacious enough to accommodate 2 growing kids.
9. after living 17 amazing years, our kitty, darra, died. she had kidney failure and wasn't living her best life anymore, so we let her go. we miss her, but we were lucky to have her. her photo is hung in zoe's room and time to time zoe still says, "that's darra!" she'll always be our kitty.
10. after a lot of life adjustments, including, but not limited to all that is written above, i'm still standing. i'm here!

im going back to work in about a month or so, but i do want to keep writing or whatever this is. its fun sharing life w ya'll, however rare these posts may be. heh heh. see you back here soon.

some photos of life from the past couple months:

zoe had so much fun w her cuzzies riley and oli

ham

day one w baby two

excuse my nasty armpit

life

zoe and cuzzie xander twinning at knott's

zoe's obsessed w princesses now.

still reenacts trick or treating

rue and zoe in the same beanie around the same age

(rue's a but younger than zoe was the photo below)

on my birthday

daddy's girls

already in the jumper!

rolled over for the first time at 3 months

sprinkle cake from zoe's dohl

ok. hi. so this post is super late, even by my standards. stranger things, the olympics, back to work, and a bazillion other things happened, but I'M HERE! please keep reading. <3 <3 <3

zoe's 14 months now! WHAT? my weekly posts became monthly posts, now whenever i have time posts. :)))))))))))))

ten things:

1. she walks. actually, runs. she's so amazing, i can't get over how agile she is.
2. she talks. like a lot. i started writing down all of the words she says, here are the weirdest, cutest things she says:
"hot dog" (from mickey mouse club house, not bc that's what i feed her...all the time.)
"ham-mi ha-bi" (baby versions of grandma and grandpa in krn.)
"mimi" "minnie" "mina mina mina" "mickey" (all used for either minnie or mickey)
"peeeeeesh" (fish)
"ubbuh!!!!" (when she yells at my mom to give her a piggyback ride)
"night night" (when she's ready to sleep. woohooooo!!!!!)
3. i went back to work last week and its a new kind of difficult from when i went back to work after maternity leave. loved watching her grow these past two months. but interacting with adults during the day is also refreshing. my mom, who's still watching her, called me today while i was in a meeting and asked when i was coming home in the same tone i called jake every day of the summer. exhausted, kinda crazy, and zoe yelling/crying/screaming in the background. she's a rockstar. zoezoe is so lucky.
4. the olympics!!! love the olympics, but after about 10 straight days, i didn't want to say it aloud bc i kind of felt like i was cheating on the olympics, but i was ready to watch something else (part time), so naturally, i started watching FNL again (insert jake's eyeroll). anywayyyyy in thinking about the olympics, zoe has big feet, big hands, long legs, and curly hair (i don't think this will help in any sport)...i wonder if she'll be an olympian one day...
5. so some people may know this, but i kinda, sorta shop (shopped) a lot. some may say excessively. but ever since i had zoe, actually, since i was pregnant, i haven't really shopped a lot (meaning clothes). so when i went to the mall and actually spent like a total of 200 bucks on clothes, my cc company freaked out and put a hold on my account!!! like i could spend 1000$ at target or costco and there wouldn't be an alert, but someone must have stole my cc because anything other than babyfood, mac n cheese, and tshirts w peppa pig on it seems suspicious. HAHAHAH myyyyyyyy how my life has changed.
6. i finally bought an essential oils diffuser. i wanted to get into oils when i was pregnant so i can do all the amazing hippydippy stuff for zoe, but i only got so far as buying one vile and used it once, incorrectly. anyway, so this diffuser!!! i don't know how effective it is on sleep or stress, but it makes the house smell like a spa and i ain't mad at that!
7. im THINKING about going gluten free again. but bagels are a regular part of my diet and i don't know if my body can stomach gluten substitute anything.....okkkk so i think i just decided its not going to work out. bagels. bagels. bagels.
8. so after years of having "brilliant ideas" or thinking of "inventions" if you will, my cousin and i are starting a small, like really small, business together!! more details to come soon!!!
9. a friend recently reminded me that i was so anti-hillary years ago. i forgot all about that. i actually called myself an "anti-feminist." i don't really know what i meant by that. i used to think that people needed to just stop complaining about life and just deal with things. like, i used to say "ummmmm i don't need everything to be equal....i dont wanna get drafted into the army if there is a war!!" and other shit like that. since then, life happened. i learned. teaching and having a baby girl has changed so much of my perspectives on equality, equity, feminism, social justice, and countless other things i never knew i didn't know. this is year 9 of teaching and year 1 of being a mom. excited to learn and unlearn more things.
10. the story about emily choi was a reminder that "everyday is a gift" or "tomorrow is not guaranteed to us" or "life is fragile" are not cliche, they're all so excruciatingly true. like so many other people, jake and i were so broken over the passing of this precious child (whom we did not know). to try to empathize with this family was lost on us, so we prayed for them and cried for them. thank you, choi family for sharing your story with us. we will not forget emily.

photos (for some reason, i can't get them to transfer in high resolution) of zoe's dohl and life from the past 2 months