Should've known....

Knowing her the way I do, I honestly shouldn't have been shocked when I came across of a pair of these in my grandmother's kitchen when I was helping her pack.



Because, come on, seriously.....who's grandmother hasn't been to the Play.boy Club?

Maybe We're Healing?

Last week marked 4 years since we almost lost Samantha. And I realized the anniversary had passed after a friend posted something on Facebook about working in the PICU. Hearing, or reading in this case, the word PICU always brings me back to Samantha's stay there. But the significance of all of this right now - the date passed by as any other day would. For the first time I didn't wake up with a pit in my stomach remembering each and every moment of that day four years ago. Don't get me wrong, I still remember that day on a daily basis, but the date itself didn't overwhelm me. There are some things we still haven't been able to bring ourselves to do, even though we realize how irrational they are - like going back to Burney Falls. It's where we were before that day took such a terrible turn. And it's beautiful. I want to show all my kids...but we're just not ready yet. Baby steps for now and hopefully some day.

But I did realize something over the weekend. How overprotective I am of her...actually of all my children. Yes, I said it - overprotective. And maybe I'd be this way even if we hadn't come so close to losing her....but I don't know how else to be. I do realize I have to start letting her be her own person and learn things for herself. Every once a while the song lyrics to Kelly Clarkson's song "Because of You" go through my head and while the song has a different meaning, I'm reminded that I don't want Samantha to carry the same fears I have for her.

"Because of you, I never stray too far from the sidewalk. Because of you, I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt."

I'm learning every day that she is stronger than I give her credit for, but no matter how old she gets, she will still be my baby fighting for her life on a hospital bed that looked 100x too big for her.

My Little Fishies

Well, the girl passed their levels at swim lessons today, so yay for that! Sam is officially a yellow otter now and Lu is a red frog! We orginally put them in the lessons for water safety -mostly for Lu who had no fear of the water. But something interesting happened during these lessons and it's like they switched places. Sam was our child who if her head went under water when she wasn't expecting it, would freak out and we'd have to get her out of the pool and calm her down, etc. Except one week of swim lessons and she doesn't care anymore. She goes underwater without a problem, jumps in from the side of the pool and resurfaces, and is actually learning to swim underwater. I'm amazed. And then we have Lu, who never cared if she went underwater and would just come up coughing and do it all over again, who suddenly has a fear of the water. I mean I guess that's what I wanted - some fear of the water so that she took it all seriously. But I was surprised by the change in her.

All in all though, they're both doing great! And I couldn't be more proud.

Home Sweet Home

Although, I have to admit I wish we were still on vacation. We just got back from a wonderful and much needed vacation to New Mexico. Now I know what you're saying - who goes to New Mexico for vacation? This trip was for our annual family summit (yes, our family is big enough to warrent the term summit, but I'll get to that later) and I don't get to pick the place. But I'm actually glad I don't because I get to see parts of the U.S. I'd probably never choose to go to on my own. And we've stayed at this resort before - it's beautiful, the staff is wonderful and they treat us like royalty - honestly!

We had a great time. We got to relax, swim, eat, drink & explore. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins, some of which we only get to see once a year. The kids even got Nacho to conquer his fear of heights and go up the Sandia Tramway, the World's Longest! I look forward to this trip every year and this year didn't disappoint.

Now a little about this summit thing - I belong to a family that ownes businesses. And each year we get together for the annual shareholders' meeting, which the company is nice enough to extend into a long weekend (almost a week at this point!) for all of us. They cover the costs and our only legal stipulation is that members age 14 & older go to two meetings - a business overview & the shareholder's meeting. They also have this wonderful camp for the kids where they have trained counselors come in (the same ones year to year) to watch our kids while we're at these meetings, etc. I can't say enough for Camp Three Tree! But truthfully they plan an awesome time complete with meals, activities & other meetings to get to know the company & eachother better. Now here is the amazing part. This family company, which was started by 2 brothers and their cousin, is in it's 154th year, something like 405 members strong (I think around 250 attented the meeting) and welcoming the newest members who are 7th generation! Talk about a legacy!

It's hard to put into words how amazing this experience and opportunity is. To be able to show my children the United States, while exploring it ourselves for the first time. To be a part of something so big and so inclusive. To have the business opportunities we do. To watch my children grow up with cousins they'd otherwise probably never know. This year there were 52 children ages 13 & under - they will grow up together, making memories together. I couldn't ask for anything more for my children. We've some amazing places with this family - Boston, Hawaii, Sedona, Williamsburg, San Diego, all over Washington & Oregon States - and those are only in my adult years. I can't wait for next year's summit and the planning wheels are already spinning in my head!

It's A Small World

It really is. And in the last week has become even smaller in my world. Monday night was the girls' ballet recital and after the show I went over to talk to another mom. A mom I have talked to every week for the last year. And then I saw her mom, who looked so familiar to me. I finally asked my friend her maiden name and when she told me, it all fell into place. I went to elementary school with her younger sister! My mom used to drive her siblings to gymnastics where her mom would teach me!

Then the following day somebody I knew since we were babies (although did fall out of contact with until good ol' Facebook, lol) commented on a picture I had posted from our weekend away. He wanted to know how I knew the woman in the picture with me. Umm, well she's been my best friend for almost 20 years. Turns out they used to work together.

Seriously crazy! On one hand I think it's pretty cool that everybody seems to know eachother. On the other hand, I'm not sure I like my world getting so small. But I am pretty confident now that Six Degrees of Seperation no longer only applies to Kevin Bacon.

You keep telling yourself that little one

Today we had lunch with my mom and on our way back home Lu asks me why we can't go over to my mom's (her Yaiyai's) house. So this is how our conversation goes:

Me: Because she had to go back to work. She was only meeting us on her lunch break.
Lu: So
Sam: Well Papou is working too. And Daddy. Everybody has to work Lexi
Lu: Mom, you don't work

Umm, yeah. Keep telling yourself that child.

Random Thoughts for this week

I've actually got a lot to say this week, but in the interest of time one of these is going to have to be bullet style - sorry!

• Lu has started calling the baby "Jackie". At first I didn't think I'd like the femininity to it, but it's really grown on me. It's her name for him. And I think it's so sweet she came up with it on her own. And she says it with such love every single time that it melts my heart.



• I'm trying to figure out what "please keep your voices down so the baby can nap" means in other people's houses. Because apparently, in Casa de Lua it means scream at the top of your lungs, start fighting, bang the piano keys & run up and down the stairs 100 times. Who knew? ;)



• Packing for a family of 5 is hard work. Doing it twice in two weeks is just crazy!



• I found a bunch of missing pacifiers today. They were behind Jack's crib. I had no idea he could throw them that far.



• We got complimented on our parenting & the girls' table manners again last night. It takes work, but it's in those moments it completely pays off. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing it.



• Jack, our BIG baby at birth, isn't so big anymore! He had his 6 month well check, where the doctor said he was doing great btw, and he's average for weight (17lbs 9oz, 50%) and just slightly above average for height (26.75 in, 70%). The doctor does predict he'll be tall and if I had to choose I'd rather him be tall and average weight than the other way around. Oh, but he still does have the large head. Sorry baby - that ain't going away.



• The girls had their first ever ballet recital on Monday. You'll remember from here that Sam couldn't do last years because we were out of town. But new ballet studio equals new opportunities. They did great! Here are pics of my two little flowers.