Sharing the Spotlight

I found this picture just now as I was looking through about a month's worth of unposted/unblogged/unused pictures. This picture symbolizes one of the major reasons Addie is in preschool two days a week - so that Jack can get some attention. There are other reasons that concern her own well being, but Jack needs some time.



What is this, you ask? Upon seeing me try to take a picture of Jack, Addie generally rushes in front of the camera. This time, I caught it. The result: Addie's head on Jack's body.

She comes by it naturally, of course. I mean, how does a child see themselves correctly when you spend the entire morning talking about and getting ready for a one hour ballet/tap class? Poor Jack was practically falling asleep as he walked circles around me packing things up to go. Naturally, all of this craziness had to include a photograph to document.

Me: Addie, let me take your picture.

Jack: Maaaaaaaah!

Me: Okay, you can strike a pose if you want, but you have to stop moving. Be still, but look like you're dancing (are these words REALLY coming out of my mouth??).

Jack is now stopping to squat, place his face in the carpet, and sob a little.

Me: Okay, just sit down so I can get a non-fuzzy picture for Daddy.

Addie: *whimper*

Jack is at my feet, tugging on my shirt, rubbing his face on my leg.

Me: SMILE like you're happy!!!!

Last but not least, our fearless leader (a.k.a. Berg) started his first job today. Yes folks, my husband entered the workforce today. He will officially be working for pay ABOVE the minimum legal hourly wage. AND - get this - he can see the building he works in as he gets out of his car. At the same time I mean. No bus. No long, long walk uphill both ways in -30 F temperatures wearing thermals, 2 pair of scrubs, and ski pants. Happy day!

Two Threes!!

Anthony is 33 today, or in Addiespeak he's "two threes."

Here he is at the ripe old age of 1. No resemblance to Jack whatsoever, huh?



We've already celebrated this most honored day with some delicious Sprinkles cupcakes. Later tonight we'll go enjoy some Korean food thanks to babysitters Grandpa and Sharon.

I should document here that for the great accomplishment of turning 33, Anthony will be receiving his very own recliner. Yes, that's what I said. Last year I became the proud owner of a minivan. This year Anthony is getting his very own recliner. Next year, maybe a muumuu and jumpsuit combo? Alas, one of the most hideous of all interior design accomplishments will soon be entering our home. That said, it is one of the nicest recliners I've ever seen (once the request was made Serena and I searched high and low!) and if Thomasville ever gets around to delivering it I will take a picture and post it. Soon this 33 year old can "take a nap and/or read while the children are playing around him in the living room." See the quotation marks? His words. Not mine.

Happy Birthday Berg!!! We love you. (Really, we do. You got a recliner!!!)

Healthy Choice

Addie: Daddy where is Mommy?

Anthony: She went running. Do you think you're ready to start running with Mommy?

Addie: Hmmm, I think I need to start eating my vegetables first.

Baby Girl

Three years ago today I had my baby girl in my arms for the first time. Adeline Park Berg. What a day! I feel so blessed to be a mother.


This little girl makes our life so fun!



Some of Addie's current favorites:
Strawberries
Pickles & Olives
Riding her bicycle
Dress-up
Jewelry
Curious George
Cousins
Baths without washing her hair (she asks EVERY night!)
Dates with Mom or Dad
Dresses (just this week she asked me if the guy working at the grocery store liked her dress)
Chapstick
Washing her hands "with her new pink soap in her new bathroom in her new house"

Proof!

She is really a quarter Asian. We have the video to prove it!

Untitled from Serena Gibson on Vimeo.

Go Astros!

We had a Berg family outing on Saturday to the Astros game. Serena and I didn't see much of the game, but we had fun entertaining our tired girls (who watches the Astros anyway?) We stopped at the free photo booth for this beauty. I thought it was a pretty cute picture, aside from me being mid-blink. Oh, and my wholly mammoth right sideburn acting out and making me look like I only have one ear. Jack is a year old...why is my hair still in post-baby regrowth mode??

Addie and Maggie thought the children's section was so cool. The baseball player silhouette on the left side of the picture runs along the wall. The children could race the baseball player from third base "home." Addie loved it and would have done it all night if I hadn't opposed standing in the line over and over again.

On the way back to our car Addie looked up at me and said, "This little girl is really tired mommy."

Entering The No-Fly Zone

The kids and I took what I hope will be our last cross country flight without Anthony for a very long time last Thursday. It's taken that long to recover. It's such a great feeling knowing that you and your kids are going to be the topic of other people's gripes for the day. I gambled with a 6:30 a.m. flight that went really well when Jack was 5 months old, but not so well this time. He pretty much screamed for the first hour and a half. Finally the flight attendant let me go in her little "kitchen" with the curtain down so he could scream it out until he crashed. Nobody was making eye contact with me upon exiting the plane. Such a great feeling.

On the upside, I'm sure someone got a chuckle out of hearing my laughter from the airplane restroom. Of course I took Addie to the potty just before boarding the plane, but she still insisted that she had to go after we were flying. Instead of taking yet another gamble that could prove disastrous, the three of us enjoyed a fun adventure in airplane restroom. As I struggled to pull Addie's undies up over and over again, I couldn't help but let out a loud, exasperated laugh when I realized that Jack's foot was caught in them. I wonder what the person just outside of the door was thinking!

It was definitely a bittersweet departure from Winston-Salem. It's been a tough year for me and I was actually starting to enjoy things there. I feel like I just got to the top of a long uphill journey and someone is now picking me up and putting me at the base of yet another hill. No downhill for a while I guess. Oh well. It's always hard to leave the friends we make, but since most of our friends are in school and training like we are I always remind myself it's a "leave or get left behind" world we're in. If we stayed in Winston-Salem, eventually all of the people we love there would move on.

Here are some of those people. Our neighbors across the street had 2 little girls, Maddie and Izzy, that Addie loved playing with. Addie and the oldest, Maddie, went to preschool together. They moved this week too, so it didn't feel so bad leaving. Addie didn't really understand how Maddie could be moving somewhere other than Texas. We will miss them for sure. Being fortunate enough to have neighbors you really enjoy is something we have experienced twice now and feel like our number is up on that blessing. Here's a group picture of the kids. We asked them to sit on the driveway, but one of them sat in the street and the others quickly followed suit so we just went with it. We don't usually play in the street...

Addie Loves Luke

She told me so this morning in the car. That was after she said that "Luke's going to like my pink dress today!" I didn't bother breaking the news that there was NO way Luke was going to notice her dress. I had to get a picture of these two today since we leave on Thursday. We've just barely started playing together and now we have to leave! Addie and Luke have a great time together with little to no trouble at all. So nice for the moms! I'm filing Luke and his family away in my file of "families I like who have sons Addie's age." It's not a physical file, but oh yes it does exist and some of you out there are in it! :) Anthony has already told me I'm insane, so nobody else needs to tell me.

Happy Independence Day!

We had a great time tonight with tons of friends in our backyard.

We grilled. We ate.

Kids played on the swings, in the sand, on the slide, and loved the bounce house.

My kids were even wearing appropriate colors, but I got NO pictures of the actual party.

Because I was chasing this crazy kid around the entire time. I did get to nibble on my salmon finally after strapping him into his car and feeding him goldfish.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend!

Memory Lane

This is not an ode. I can't do an ode to Michael Jackson due to his extreme weirdness. However, his music certainly defines a part of my life. In kindergarten, I distinctively recall making construction paper "gloves" - one white side, one black, with the finger tips cute off - for our performance of "ABC".

He was responsible for the popularity of such phenomenons as red leather, parachute pants, collar length Jerry curls (that's the most official name I could find! Anthony said "black mullet" was not allowed), and mirrored aviator glasses (almost as cool as yours, Dave). I had a crush on many a scrawny white boy in school who worked the Michael Jackson do. I also might have performed a few "concerts" of his music in front of my mirror. Maybe. It was a long time ago so I can't be sure.

Some of my favorite songs from the King of Pop:

The Way You Make Me Feel
Man In The Mirror
Heal The World

Good stuff - I may need to revisit my elementary school memories in the form of a new running playlist this week...

Love For a Dad

I'm blessed to have many great fathers in my life.
Today I'd like to focus on my own dad.

I'm blessed to have a dad who gave and still gives everything he has.
One of my favorite memories of him is when he would say his nighttime prayers beside my bed while I was asleep. I consider myself a lucky girl to have awoken to such an image. Praying beside my babies' beds is a footstep I feel privileged to follow in.

Dad taught me that most everything can be fixed, from cars, to hearts, to lives.
It's all about knowing who to ask for help.

Today I count him as my friend, but he'll always be my Dad.
He urges me to reach for the sky, to push myself and be better. He reminds me of my blessings, loves my children, and councils with me often.
Dad has faith in me, but reminds me who I should have faith in.
Today I share my love for a Dad who is responsible for so much richness in my life.

Happy Fathers' Day!

One Year Old!

Anthony was just reminding me that at about this time one year ago I had finally given up the idea of a VBAC and told the doctor to take me to surgery. His words were more like, "Wow a year ago you were just about to get cut into!!"

Really, though, this was a great day for celebrating. I felt pretty nostalgic today as we celebrated Jack turning one. It's hard to imagine that only a year ago I was in Iowa City surrounded by flood waters, 4 days past my due date, with a move to North Carolina only a week away. I still can't believe I left my house there to go to the hospital and never saw it again. Crazy.

On to this cute boy...wow. If someone told me to make up a little boy I would never have come up with Jack. He is so cool. I'm sure years from now, that statement will read something like "he's so groovy", but for some reason that is one of the words that always comes to mind when I'm thinking about Jack. He's such a happy kid. He'll play by himself with the most random things forever. He loves to play chase with Addie and has the most contagious laugh. I'm lucky to often hear him laughing at Addie as we're out running errands in the car. It's so cute.

He's been cruising along furniture and walls for months. Then today he just crawled up to me, stood up, and took his first 3 steps over to the couch. That's just so Jack. About the time I think he's never going to do something, he just does it and catches right up. He ate only stage 2 babyfood for what seemed like forever. Then one day he decided to move on to goldfish, crackers, and pretzels. Just like that. So Jack.

His favorite things to play with right now: remote controls and car keys. I've invested good money in kid-safe, non-toxic, drool friendly versions of both. He wants nothing to do with any of them. Much to my dismay, Jack has no interest in movies. On occasion I might catch him looking up at the DVD player in the car, but that's just because he's strapped in and can't go anywhere. He can say mama, dada, nana (usually as a protest, not the actual name!) and he signs milk, more, and all done.

When we found out Jack would be joining our family, it was the most pleasant surprise - and that's just what he is. This past year has taught me to roll with the punches more than I would like, but when I start feeling like I can't be flexible any more I just look at Jack. He's Mr. Flexible and no doubt that's why he's so happy. Thanks for joining us Jack!

Oh, and as you can see I did not produce the cute sailboat cupcakes. I decided instead to take a swing at NieNie's Mud Cake Magnifique from Conversations With a Cupcake. I figure if I'm stretching my culinary muscles, it might as well taste good. So, I had my first go at mud cake, mousse, and ganache all in one take. It went well. The only thing missing was about 10 other people to enjoy this insanely rich cake that we couldn't even put a dent in.

For My Birthday...

I got my very own ode! I've read them, written them, but never been the subject and I thought it was pretty fun. Thanks Em!

Thanks of course to other well wishers...and Holly and Brent for a fabulous stash of goodies. On to 32...

You Can Tell a Lot About a Person...

Do you ever wonder what your email says about you? I do. I've gotten emails from the following today (and it's only 2 p.m.):

coupons.com
Deseret Book
Pottery Barn
Kate's Paperie
Cole Haan
Athleta
See's Candies
Gilt Group
The Iowa Children's Museum
FairTax.org
L.L. Bean
Travelocity

Here's a swing at a translation: I am a religious, politically aware mom who thinks about saving money while shopping, traveling, working out, and eating candy - all of this from the convenience of my computer. Hmmmm.

A Reason to Party

How crazy cute are these? I want to make them for Jack's birthday. We aren't planning a party (yet), he still has no real "friends" of his own, I have no clue how to work with fondant...BUT I really wish I could make these. They just glow with the personal satisfaction of creating something original. By the time I get around to learning how to make something like this, Jack will probably be old enough to want something truly hideous like a Spongebob cake.

Of course I found this while surfing for ideas for cakes I CAN make...none of which I really liked. If I could figure out a way to make these, I might even step up and throw a party. :)

Now to save Addie from OSO warping her mind...

I Can Almost Taste It

Spring is finally wrapping up here and today it is hitting 90. I'm sad for the heat, but hopeful my allergies will get better! I'm always happy for swimming weather too. We're spending every minute we can stand outside, enjoying homemade strawberry ice cream (thanks to Anthony & the farmer's market), and thinking about packing. I may do a box today just for kicks. :)

I Want to Go to There

swimming. fishing. crabbing. sunbathing. sailing. dunes. sand castle building. bucket filling. stroller racing. sea shell collecting. sand eating (babies only). kite flying. wild horses we never found. off-roading on the beach. cute shops. morning jogs along the water. morning jogs on the beach. much soreness the next day. beautiful lighthouses. the Wright Brothers museum. naps. seafood. rain. wind. sun. seagulls. sandpipers. dolphins. crabs. bears. crazy attempt at family photos. ahhhh...

let's do it again!

Outer Banks from Julie Berg on Vimeo.

Duck

Duck is where I've been for the past week. It's been so great, but so busy. I got a nap today...glanced at pictures...Anthony is off tomorrow...maybe on Tuesday I'll post my "Outer Banks" post. You'll want to go there. In fact, you'll probably feel like you were there...aside from the ocean breeze and the warm sand in your toes. I think tonight I'd rather chill and see what you've all been up to...maybe leave a comment or two. No promises. :)

Swimming in Statesville

The weather was so nice this weekend and Anthony was working in Statesville, so we took off to join him at his hotel and "swim". This swimming does not require that Anthony and I get into our suits - thank goodness since the water is still freezing! It just means that Addie gets into her suit, runs around the hotel, and sits on the edge of the pool with her feet in the water.

Here she is in her new suit:



Jack entertaining himself, as usual:



I had to post this one because Jack's face was so cute. He wasn't sad, but it looks like it from this picture:

Happy Mother's Day!

No words of wisdom here...just husband-is-working-super-dooper-go-mode today. I was able to absorb some great wisdom from the tidbits I heard at church that made me love my role as mother so much more and, as always, love and admire my own mother so much more. Here's my attempt at a Mother's Day self portrait after church!







Happy Mother's Day!