Brunch and Bedlam

The Theta Xi girls celebrated the upcoming arrival of Baby Fitts -- due in two weeks! -- with a brunch at Pomelo in San Francisco on Sunday.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch -- our rancher, that is -- the guys were on baby and kid duty. While Susie enjoyed delicious food and conversation about all things baby, the guys were hazing Tom by subjecting him to eleven crazy kids under the age of five! Luckily, he proved himself to be a total pro at holding not one, but two babies AND a beer bottle!

We can't wait for baby Mika to join the crowd!

City Cousins, Country Bumpkins

After years of disinterest and intolerance, Bridget has finally acknowledged and embraced Clara. Here they are after a day of silliness at the Orinda Community Park on Friday; the look on Clara's face says it all: "She likes me! She really, really likes me!"

We lined up the whole group, and captured Mop's newest screensaver.

I can't believe that the last time we were all there, our combined group looked like this:

What a difference two years can make!

Higher Math

Joey is a born teacher, and loves to lecture Clara on a variety of topics, including dinosaur extinction theories, counting in Spanish, directions to preschool, and the solar system. Just the fundamentals for three year-old girls. Unfortunately, like most things in life right now, she's not always receptive to his lesson plans, and can be a maddening pupil who contradicts everything her instructor is saying.

The other night, though, he had a captive audience. They were both in the bathtub, where they can harmoniously splash away for up to 45 minutes, while I clean the kitchen, sweep, and eavesdrop.

"Clara, do you know what infinity is?"

(splash, splash, infuriating silence)

"CLARA, do you know what infinity is???"

"Yes, I do."

"Tell me, what is it?"

"I don't know."

Ah, the window. Joey immediately adopted a professorial tone.

"Okay, I'll tell you. Infinity is when you keep on counting and counting and counting until you're died."

"Died?? What's died??"

"Died is when you go to heaven and see all the adults that you never knew, but you loved a lot. And there's a lot of babies there, too."

Joey Times Two

For better or worse, Joey plays with a lot of girls -- his sisters, his cousins, and the daughters of all of our friends. He's forced into the role of prince, knows a little too much about Fancy Nancy, is a fan of Dora as well as Diego, and just instinctively knows how to make little girls giggle.

Luckily, he's "all boy" at preschool, and is diving in to some great friendships with boys in his class, some of whom will go on to the same kindergarten as him next year. We've had several playdates so far this year, but I finally orchestrated one with his best friend, Drew, today. Their interests dovetail in just about every way, from their mutual obsession over sports, to their boisterous taste for mischief. Some might call them both hyper, and they each sport a "grown-up size head" (Drew's words, not mine). They even both stop dead in their tracks to coo at baby girls.

If you're wondering how the playdate went, picture two Joeys climbing into our SUV at school pick-up, two Joeys cavorting around our house, two Joeys clamoring for man-size portions of pizza at lunch, and two Joeys speeding around the driveway on scooters and bikes.

The second Joey has a little bit of an edge, though. I may or may not have been nailed in the rear end by a dart from a Nerf gun today.

Yikes. Boys to the exponential power are not for the faint of heart.

Sisters

I dipped my toe into the world of matching clothing on brother and sister pairs a year ago, but regretfully announce that that habit pales in comparison to the fun of matching and coordinating two girls! Molly is barely into the 6-12 month size, and she's already shimmying into miniature versions of Clara's dresses.

But seriously, can you blame me?

Three-Ring Circus

Sometimes I feel like three kids is a breeze, especially after spending a day with the Stecher cousins.

And then I see pictures like these, and understand why I get so many comments and stares when I venture out in public with my three-ring circus.

Board Game Fun

Board games have been a family tradition for as long as I can remember. Our little Raley clan could often be found circled around the dining room table or family room coffee table, heads bowed over worn game pieces, Scrabble tiles, or dogeared piles of Monopoly money. While we noshed on snacks, bantered about strategies, and formed alliances, we grew closer and formed priceless memories -- for better or worse.

When I was about nine, "Hop" broke out his 60s-vintage Risk board for the first time, set us up around the dining room table in our house in Dublin, and laid out his only ground rule for this very "adult" game: No crying. Then he commandeered all the black pieces, and swiftly led his armies to victory around the globe -- a feat that would occur more often than not whenever we played as a family. I was the first player to succumb to his black masses, and still remember sitting at the head of the table, directly opposite my enemy, willing the tears not to spill out of my eyes.

Games were sometimes lethal, ending in hurt feelings or hurt pride, but we all soldiered on, and Shawna, Kyle, and I soon became board game aficionados, playing Monopoly tournaments that would stretch over a couple of summer vacation days, engaging in Risk warfare with whatever friends we could persuade to learn the game, and enjoying other favorites like Scrabble, Pictionary, Clue, and Boggle.

Tim's family wasn't quite as into board games, but I've won him over to the dark side, and as a couple, we've loved playing all of the old favorites, in addition to new ones like Settlers of Cataan.

So it was only fitting that we raise up our children with a love for board games. So far, their favorites include:

Pengoloo (called "the Penguin Game" in our house), a darling wooden matching game with penguins hiding sets of different colored eggs.

The Ladybug Game, a great game for non-readers that actually helps build math skills.

Chutes and Ladders (called "Shooting Ladders" here)

Candyland, an old standby!

We also just started playing Boggle -- by simply asking Joey (and his shaker assistant Clara) to make words from the letters in the grid. But we hear that Boggle Jr. is a fun game for little ones, too!

 What are your favorite games to play as a family? We'd love some new recommendations!

Hack

Joey is contantly turning everyday household objects into weapons or sports gear. Cardboard paper towel tubes, measuring sticks, brooms, rakes, belts, and scarves are all hot commodities here, and turned into swords, baseball bats, slingshots and lassos. But until a small rock went whizzing by my head yesterday, I didn't realize that he would try to use our "Chuck-It" (for fetch with the dogs) as a golf club. Here he is hacking on our nearby "green" -- the empty lot a few houses away.

Uncle Mike, he may need some pointers on his swing next time you're in town!

Baby Blue

Our pretty little Molly May turned eight months this week, and despite eating large quantities of everything you put in front of her, she seems to be directing most of her caloric intake to the growth of new hair.

While two months ago she was practically bald, she now has a bonafide 'do, a wispy, fluffy strawberry blonde cap that is a little less red than when she was born, but still noticeable enough that strangers take notice. I was fielding comments left and right during all three of my errands yesterday -- Starbucks, Safeway and CVS.

"Wow, is her dad a redhead?"

"Look at that Irish baby!"

"Now where did that red hair come from?"

I know what you're all thinking. Yes, Starbucks is definitely an official errand in my book. Yes, I did inform these people that her daddy is actually Italian. And yes, my hair colorist has definitely made my hair less red, and more blonde in the past few months! When she was a newborn, I never had to deal with this kind of inquisition.

Along with her red(dish) hair, she seems to be keeping her blue eyes! I have been burned before by making this prediction (and at exactly eight months, too!), but I would love to round out my little collection by adding Molly's blue eyes to Joey's hazel eyes and Clara's green eyes! Here's Molly showing off her baby blues at the park today, during her maiden voyage on the baby swing!

Could that smile be any sweeter? She aced her latest checkup at UCSF -- her surgeon was happy with her healing, and couldn't believe what a bouncing bundle she was. While he tried to take her picture for their records, she was hopping up and down on my lap like a little jack-in-the-box. He assured us that her lip will look even better after a few more months have passed. We hardly notice it, except when looking at pictures of her; the flash on the camera seems to make it look redder and more pronounced, while in natural light, it's much less visible.

In the meantime, she beams that smile at anyone and everyone, and is definitely our biggest flirt and most social baby. She loves to catch someone's eye across the room, and "speak" to them in the only language she has right now... lots of grunts and "huhs." She had the entire waiting room at UCSF laughing at her breathy repertoire last week.
 

She's mostly a go-with-the-flow third baby, but sometimes her temperment can match her red hair!

If only we could freeze time, and keep our baby this small for longer!

It's a Bird, it's a Plane...

It's a bird! It's a plane! No.... it's a delirious birthday boy, hopped up on apple juice, cake, superhero acrobatics, and the excitement of being around his closest friends, preschool buddies and cousins!

We celebrated Joey's birthday at our gym, Oakwood, where the kids did their obligatory workout (superhero style) before binging on Coldstone cake. With a January birthday, drizzly weather, and 20 amped-up kids under the age of 5, Oakwood definitely saved the day!