Brisan and His Mami all on their own for the weekend.

What a treat! As much as we miss Besa and Ben, we are having a great time on our own. I have been wanting to spend time one on one with Brisan for a long time and it finally happened at 13 months old. Ben and Besa are in Omak for a little weekend visit with the grandparents while Brisan is starting to love the extra attention that is hard to give while with both kids. I made it my mission to do nothing else but be with him. We started off with sleeping in bed together, sleeping in actually until almost 10 am.

After an hour of playing in Besa's room and making a hot mess in there we decided to eat a nice breakfast to quickly follow by a nap. He must realized i was all for him because he fell a sleep for his nap in my arms and that never happens. I was happy to let him sleep there until my arms went numb and was forced to transfer him in his own bed. Three hours later, which is by far the longest nap taken since a little baby we went on a walk with a friend and he fell asleep again for another 2 hours in the baby carrier while been walked around.

The house is so quiet though and we do miss the rest of the family. We have facetimed each-other on our fancy iPhones but i want then noise, and giggles and laughters back.

Tuesday, October 19th

It's been a pretty smooth couple of days. Tomorrow is Wednesday and a day off from work for me. It will be the first Wednesday in probably 5 years that i truly don't have anything marked on the calendar to do. Yay! I still have a hard time letting free time be free and that would explain why there's been a lot of bread baking, cake making, chocolate chip cookies for at home and the office, inviting new neighbors for dinner, reconnecting with old friends and eating some more.

The eating is all guilt free as we do make it to the gym about 5 days a week now. Besa loves the activities provided there for her age while i get to burn the extra calories i've injected my body. It's not Ben's favorite place to go as public workout places just turn him off but when he decides to join us we get to hit the pool as well. Besa has improved her swimming so much more in just the last couple of weeks.

She swims comfortably on her own with the little life jacket on. Brisan does not like the water as much and will turn blue in less than half an hour in it. He'd rather be held which i'm happy to do at anytime. On a very unrelated note, i just realized Obama visited Seattle today encouraging voters to draw contrast. I am looking forward for November 2nd so that negative non stop TV attack adds can be over with. To you Republican friends and all: Hell to the NO. Your R truly stands for Reverse.

Just another perfect day

Surprisingly, at 11:00 at night after an evening of non stop work since the time i got home from work, i have energy to sit down and reminisce about the day. The day started pretty smoothly. Get up early, get kids ready for preschool/daycare, drop them off, start a good work day at work and so on. Brisan had a great day at daycare, always flirting with the ladies making him a favorite among all of his teachers. It's so comforting to see him reach for them when we go in the morning. Still he cries when i leave but i hear he recovers quick. The evening hours get a little tough. When we get home, both kids are tired, cranky and hungry.

Brisan can barely keep his eyes open while i scramble to cook his meal, feed and get him ready for bed. Besa on the other hand is on a different agenda. While eating is not on her list, she likes to be in the kitchen and play with her brother as i'm feeding him. I try hard to nicely explain how it makes my job very hard with her in our face, but i may as well be explaining it to the wall. Tonight especially she decided that since she is not eating, Brisan would be her toy and stuff toys on his high chair and tease him.

Let's just say that the action i took, which involves the threat of "the garage" made her understand the meaning of bad choices have bad consequences. I'm not exactly proud of my garage method but i feel it's better than some other methods. I was saddened a little when she asked Ben instead of me to read her in bed for the night. Obviously the parenting choices have consequences for me too : ) Ben really enjoys reading to her and i think she may notice a slight accent from me so it could be a technical preference anyways. Although, Ben just told me that he read to her in Albanian, so go figure. All and all, well taken care of kids, well fed, lots of play time, well fed adults, exhausted mami and babi, makes for a perfect perfect day for me.

Brisan's One Year Check up!

Just for fun, I am going to compare the stats of Brisan and Besa at one year old. We all know Brisan is an eater so no surprise there. Besa was only 17 pound at one year VS little brother at 23 pounds. Weight falls at 50th percentile whereas height at 60th percentile. Not as high as I expected. Besa’s was taller in proportion with her body weight.

What has given me a scare is the size of the head which now has jumped off the chart and is concerning his Doctor. I am researching myself to death finding out about possibilities ranging from nothing, just a big headed baby to massive brain issues. Not taking any chances even though Brisan is flourishing with every aspect of growing up. We’re going in as soon as our crappy insurance authorizes the referral to Swedish. Results to be posted soon.

Brsian's 1st Birthday

Today, September 20th marks a very special day. One year ago, Brisan arrived in our lives. Besa became a big sister, I fell in love with boys, Ben become a “man” by Albanian standards. Half of the grandparents felt complete and will no longer keep pestering us to have more children since we accomplished our duties by giving birth to a boy. The other half of the grandparents, AKA the cool ones, are just happy to have another healthy and good-looking grandchild.

On Sunday, we celebrated the big day with a Birthday Party filled family and friends. Our good friend Florika was gracious enough to let us reserve her condominium’s cabana which allowed lots of extra room for the kids. They did their thing and the adults enjoyed some good food and each-other’s company.

Brisan took all the attention in. His cousin Elaizia even proposed to him. “ Brisan! I would love to be married to you, will you marry me?” I somehow think this will be Brisan’s life pattern.
So girls, line up!

The weather could have been nicer but after many years in the NW, my expatiations for nice weather have dropped to the lowest levels. Any ray of sunlight is perceived as a gift now. The biggest gifts however, are not measured in anyway or form and they are our kids, Besa and Brisan. Happy BD our Baby! To a happy and fulfilling life.

2 Years later.....We are back. Here to more postings

I feel obligated to return to my blog even if it is almost 2 years later. Brisan is turning 1 year old in just a few days and i feel guilty for not posting anything about his amazing 1st year. What's left of my free time during the day from here on will be spent blogging about the day. How else am i to remember how crazy life feels unless i go back to read about it and than my new face wrinkles become rightfully justified. At a year old Brisan has grown to be an amazing child from every aspect.

Considering everything that has happened in the last year, Brisan has has helped us look ahead in life. Life seemed like it stopped about a year ago with my brother Krenar passing. I don't think i can ever believe he is no longer with us. He is a part of my life daily and is shaping very much how i value life, what i want from it and how to be a better person, wife, mother, sister, daughter and friend. Life is truly too short and i never want to regret a moment.

With my parents living with us most of the time, we have tried to do as many things together as we can. Summer this year was extremely short but it will be well remembered. Almost every weekend we went out of town. We started camping and started to like it a lot although learned that planning in advance makes it easier. Amazingly, the kids really like camping despite the destruction in the regular routine. Our last camping attempt was in lake Chelan only to learn that spots get reserved a year in advance. Instead, we stayed a Springhill hotel in Wenatchee which is just a half hour drive to the lake. Besa had her BFF Angelina with her so she was well entertained. My parents just loved the heat including me. On the way back we spent the day in Leavenworth which is packed with tourists as always. The day was beautiful. We enjoyed the many activities, people swimming in the river and talking long walks. A full day of playing paid off especially when we headed back. It took less than 5 minutes in the car for both kids to fall asleep and stay that way for the entire trip back to Burien. Probably the easiest drive we've had for as long as we can remember.

This weekend we spent at home to do some much needed work around the house and take some much needed long naps. Brisan has only cut 4 teeth thus far which means that he is having a hack of a time with the process. During the day he does really well and takes amazing long naps. At night is a different story. If he wakes up less than 3 times a night is a good night. Many nights we sleep with him to spare us of the picking up and putting him down 5-6 times a night. I know this phase shall pass but at the moment it means that i am very much sleep deprived. The espresso shots do help and i just can't complain. With my parents here, i get to sleep in a couple of days in the week, go on date nights with Ben more often than most couples can and have a piece of mind that we there is always someone home if needed. Life is good and we are enjoying every minute of it. I have the most amazing kids, husband, parents and family. I want nothing more but good health for everyone.