#ourlittledaisybaby

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

We are still pretty new to the competitive dance scene, and I’m so happy this weekend trip to @revive_dance_convention has been such a positive, inspiring, and memorable experience! Daisy took Platinum for her solo performance 💜. Some of my absolute favorite shots of her! #ourlittledaisybaby #elevateddanceproject (at Seattle, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZoEQMtLw5t/?utm_medium=tumblr

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

Girls weekend in Seattle with just my Daisy! #reviveseattle #elevateddance #ourlittledaisybaby https://www.instagram.com/p/CZiWIz_p7dh/?utm_medium=tumblr

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

2nd dance competition of the season! #edp #elevateddanceproject #ourlittledaisybaby https://www.instagram.com/p/CMpoXuLHQKK/?igshid=w9549mmvbrmo

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

Traditional pictures by the school rock! #ourlittledaisybaby #babysistereleanor https://www.instagram.com/p/CE5oBGcH6Xv/?igshid=1ek22796ae255

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

Taking a kid on a solo vacation has been the best!! #ourlittledaisybaby #sanfrancisco (at San Francisco, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0HGHrxHW5iUwzcaCMhJbPnI7bOmwtXIu4vafU0/?igshid=mti3ym1z390e

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

I’m a little late in posting (and taking the picture) but #ourlittledaisybaby wrapped up 3rd grade with Perfect Attendance, qualifies for the all-school spelling bee, and recited a 3-page speech from memory ❤️ (at Eagle, Idaho) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz6voNVnKNK6AxeaVpE-E40oA1kpyuk5brqtzg0/?igshid=4d07rhdaeib4

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

Dropped off this camper for her very first summer camp adventure!! Super excited to have her experience some amazing memories in the next 4 days! 🏕 #ourlittledaisybaby https://www.instagram.com/p/BzW65mIncSz7UtlBTF88M7FCmeHwKKFxc0VU4g0/?igshid=iovl5cnkf8dw

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

Hip hop ready! 🎶 #ourlittledaisybaby https://www.instagram.com/p/CV8fPRfPjzj/?utm_medium=tumblr

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

Travel back in time with me! 📚✏️ #ourlittledaisybaby (at Eagle, Idaho) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTGMFE-JCI4/?utm_medium=tumblr

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

My Daisy joined dance company (team) this year! We’ve been at her current studio for three years, and in that time she has really developed a love for dancing.  After taking a year hiatus, I let her decide what she wanted her extracurricular to be - after trying ballet/dance, soccer, girl scouts, swimming lessons, etc.  I’m so happy she has found her fit at this studio! COVID or not, we are looking forward to the fun adventures!

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

WFH has had its challenges, but the biggest silver living? Getting unprecedented time with my babies that wasn’t possible in our “normal” day to day. Love our lunch time dates ❤️ #ourlittledaisybaby https://www.instagram.com/p/CCWkk3Un__AcUItCt3_zGJZX4YdFcv7DEug9X80/?igshid=1nhfkohrjzcjn

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

Ten. TEN. 10!! 🖐🏼🖐🏼 Today #ourlittledaisybaby turns TEN marking our first decade as parents a wrap! #stayhome altered the normal shenanigans, but special nonetheless. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_v7IL1JZjA0pQcQ7m1kMQr261UjSqUtolrUzA0/?igshid=yp8z7dgjgyhe

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

San Francisco!

Backstory:  Several years ago, we noticed (actually my Dad did) that Daisy’s left-arm was growing quite a bit larger than her right.  We brought her to her pediatrician and he referred us to some specialists here in Boise.  After going through an MRI, ultrasound and other tests - they deemed it a vascular malformation and recommended no further treatment. He did refer us to a few centers nationwide that further specialized in cases like this.

Fast forward 3 years later: we decided to take additional action (nothing seemed worse, but we just wanted to be SURE).  We ended up contacting specialists at UC San Francisco to look at Daisy’s arm, and with a 3-4 month lead time, they were able to schedule us for an appointment in July.  That made for the PERFECT quick getaway to a new city as part of a summer vacation.

We decided to leave Eleanor at home (they said to anticipate several hours at the hospital) and my parents were able to come out to play babysitter (+ dog-sitter and house sitter).  It also helped cut down costs (we didn’t have to buy an additional airplane ticket).   It ended up working really well, as she got some pretty rare 1-1 time with her Papa and Mama.

Day 1: a minor flight delay had us land in San Francisco a little later than planned, but we hit the ground running.  After taking an Uber and dropping our bags at our hotel, we headed out to wander Fisherman's Wharf for the afternoon/evening.  It was SUPER cold and windy (I had looked at the weather forecast ahead of time, but coming from 100-degree dry heat to high 60's was quite the shocker) so walking around helped keep us warm. I bought a multi-attraction punch card ahead of time that we used on our first attraction - a ferryboat tour across the bay!  We had some time to kill beforehand so we walked around in search of some yummy food.  Eating good seafood was on my trip agenda, and it proved harder than we thought to find a good restaurant.  They were either way too fancy, or too greasy-looking. We pretty much just ended up plopping down at the closest place and the food wasn't spectacular, but it wasn't bad.  We killed enough time until it was time to board our ferry cruise.

It was COLD and windy but we all had a great time - especially Daisy.  She really seemed to enjoy the little excursion.  We all had headsets that narrated the tour as we cruised around the bay.  I wasn't able to get tickets to visit Alcatraz (I didn't realize how much in advance you had to make reservations) but the cruise took us around Alcatraz Island, underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, past Ghiradelli Square and I'm sure more landmarks I can't remember :) It was a super fun way to check off several items off our list in a short time!

We wandered around Fisherman's Wharf a bit more afterward, went through the gift shops and saw a few sea lions before calling it a day!  We splurged a bit on our hotel room, and the room was pretty nice.  A king-size bed and a full pullout sofa bed (that Daisy thought was pretty neat) was our home for the next few days :)  Darnell and I snuck across the street to Trader Joe's to grab us some snacks for the room and we settled in for the night!

Day 2:  we slept in a little bit, but still got up to seize the day (considering we had such a short time in San Francisco, I didn't want to waste precious time) and were up and out of the hotel around 10 AM.  We headed to the California Academy of Sciences and it was super cool! Another attraction that was included in my punch card that sounded super unique to the area! It was pretty neat - there was a "real" rain forest, aquarium, planetarium, and natural history museum all in one! So we were able to check a lot of our boxes with just one stop! The museum was huge, and we got tired before we wandered around the entire thing - but we enjoyed it.  Daisy loved the rain forest, the planetarium was a good place to sneak in a quick cat nap, and the aquarium was impressive.  Daisy's favorite part was getting to dissect an owl pellet - cool!

After several hours we were wiped, so we grabbed an Uber back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit before walking to China town to find dinner! We had fun looking at all the cool unique shops, and wandering the fun streets.  Darnell did some quick research and was able to find a good Chinese restaurant that definitely did not disappoint!  Dim sum was another item on our list and it was super yummy. Daisy is a lover of all things fried rice, so she was satisfied :)

Day 3: The big day (actually it wasn't really a big deal, but it was the reason for our trip!).  We headed out to the UCSF hospital campus - such a pretty area!  We got there early enough to grab coffee and a quick breakfast before checking in.  The entire process and appointment itself was pretty neat.  We met with one doctor who walked us through their process, and then an entire team of 12 doctors joined us in our exam room.  They did a couple exercises with Daisy, went over her results (they more accurately defined it as a venous malformation) and that the best course of action is just to monitor (not surgery).  It was the news we were hoping for/anticipating so that was a good thing!

We headed out to lunch at a super cool spot Darnell found on Yelp - the Old Clam House and it was SO GOOD. Like so, so good :) The restaurant has been around for over 100 years and had a really neat authentic vibe to it.  We got an order of mussels and crab and it did not disappoint.  Hands down it was the best meal of our trip!

Our last big stop of our trip was a visit to the San Francisco Zoo.  I tried to pick activities that Daisy would like, that were also unique to the area.  It was a bit of a jaunt out to the Zoo (it was along the coastline) but it was mostly freeway driving so it didn't take much extra time. It was chilly but sunny (and we were well dressed) - the perfect day for the Zoo!  We enjoyed seeing the huge variety of animals that we don't normally get to see (the gorilla was super neat!) and spent a good few hours wandering around.

Daisy and I both passed out in the back of the Uber on our way back to the hotel. We didn’t do much on our last night - Darnell and I snuck upstairs to the rooftop hotel bar called “The View” - and it was a pretty spectacular view! Daisy seemed content enough to hang out in the hotel room by herself watching TV. We were all pretty tired at this point, so a quiet night was nice.

We left for home the next morning and got to the airport with plenty of time (so we didn’t have to stress) and it was PACKED. I have never seen a security line SO long (there were actually 3 different lines, all leading up to the next line).  I was super glad we got there with plenty of time to spare, otherwise, that would’ve been super stressful.

Unfortunately, when we made it to our gate we were greeted with a delay (that always happens when you’re actually running on time).  We kept near the gate, and they kept pushing out the departure time.  It created a small domino effect (we would miss our connecting flight) and ended up waiting in SFO for close to 3 hours.  Coupled with our later flight out of the connecting airport (another 2 hours) it was a LONG day.

BUT we finally made it home and Eleanor and the dogs (and my parents) were happy to see us.  Despite the reason for the trip, we had such a great time!  It was so fun to have true one-on-one time with Daisy - I hope it’s a trip she’ll remember for a long time (I know I will!) :) 

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

Class spelling bee champ! Moved on to the school spelling bee tonight. She made it to Round 3! Super proud Mom moment ❤️🐝 #ourlittledaisybaby (at Eagle, Idaho) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtPrS8xgBN_qTeZ8iEZB-xBu9F7F7791u9R-2g0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1si37sgdigoln

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

Life Updates {Daisy -  6 1/2 years, Eleanor - 2 years}

It’s officially February! 

The month of January had an interesting start with all of the Snow Days that we had called. The school district ended up with a total of 6 Snow Days. Luckily my work is pretty flexible and I was able to work from home for several of those days (also preventing me from having to make the commute in that mess) and Chandi took Daisy a couple of days as well. Now that the major snowfall is [hopefully] behind us, we are falling back into a good rhythm.

Daisy Updates:

She is thriving in school, and is one of the top readers in her class. Her homework is getting harder, but when she sits and puts her mind to it, she excels at it too. Her handwriting has improved dramatically from Kindergarten and she’s an excellent speller. It is so exciting to see her doing so well at school.  Socially, she doesn’t seem to have the same core of “girlfriends” that she had last year, but she seems to be well-liked and adjusted. 

After doing three consecutive years of ballet, and soccer the previous 6 months, we are currently doing no extracurricular activities. It is weird to not have an activity for her to do, so we are trying to fill our weekends with other activities. It is challenging in the Winter, so we are looking forward to Spring and being able to spend more time outside.  She’s old enough to play actual board games, so it’s been fun teaching her how to play.  She also really enjoys watching me play Angry Birds on my phone, haha!

Daisy is an excellent big sister, and I think she really enjoys helping take care of Eleanor. I do try and do “big girl” activities with her one-on-one, and I love that we can do more as she gets older. She still is my #1 buddy!

Eleanor Updates:

Eleanor is at the brink of her “Terrible Two’s”...I say “brink” because I don’t think we’re fully there yet! She is loud, stubborn, and very particular about a lot of things. I don’t know if it’s because she’s our “baby” but it’s hard to take her seriously when she throws her little fits...we just find them so cute! I’m sure that’ll wear off eventually, but for now she’s still our little baby girl.

The picky eating phase is in full-force and highly frustrating. I was hoping we’d have more time with her eating anything and everything! I have discovered that offering ketchup (with every meal) can be key to getting her to eat. 

She still doesn’t have a ton of words in her vocal vocabulary, but we find other ways to communicate. We’ve started to learn what certain phrases mean (and sometimes they’re dual-meaning phrases keeping things interesting). She definitely can let us know what she wants (and doesn’t want)!

Favorite movies are alternating between Monsters Inc., Wreck it Ralph, and Frozen. She’s been on a definite Frozen kick lately. 

Her “stuff” consists of two small fleece blankets, her Curious George stuffed animal, and a Finding Dory stuffed animal. By “stuff” I mean we don’t go to daycare without all four items, and we don’t have naptime/bedtime without all four either. 

We still have her in her crib, and although she can hoist her leg up to the top rail, she’s still not close to climbing out. I have a feeling she won’t last as long as Daisy, but we’ll wait and see!  Bedtime routine has changed dramatically in the last few months - instead of having to rock her to sleep, we can now lay her down wide awake. She knows the drill and as long as we don’t deviate from it, she’s good to go.

[lovedaisyandeleanor]

Our Little Daisy baby turns 10!

In what seems like a blink of an eye, I’m now officially the parent of a 10-year old.  A ‘big’ kid.  Double digits.  Two whole hands.

In a departure from our normal shenanigans (the Stay at Home order just barely expired and entered Phase 1 in Idaho) we did not have a big, themed party with her friends.  Instead, I stayed up late the night before her birthday, re-used (gasp!) a prior year birthday banner, blew up a bunch of balloons and tried to make the day as special as possible.

Lucky for Daisy, her birthday fell on Sunday this year so we had the ENTIRE day to hangout and do whatever it is she wanted to do.  Darnell’s Mom and Stepdad stayed with us the night before and she made us all breakfast that morning.

I purposely didn’t plan anything that day (well, really I couldn’t with the majority of places still closed)...but it allowed us to relax and not be pressured to cram too many things in one day.

It ended up being a nice Spring day, so we went on a bike ride, picked up ice cream from Stella’s (they did takeout only) and (per her request) played Wii together.  For dinner, we ordered out Chinese food (her request) and then had some ice cream cake for dessert before opening a few presents.

So, it was a low-key day but definitely welcome in these (currently) crazy days.