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May 27, 2004
Today (May 27) is Hana’s 2nd birthday. While I lay (I can NEVER figure out the correct usage of this word, so pardon me b/c I’m sure its wrong) in her bed this morning (I went to her bed to cuddle with her when I woke up) and while she slowly woke up next to me and nuzzled my neck with her warm little nose, I thought about what I was doing at this time, two years ago. I was sitting in a rocking chair, peacefully reading and timing contractions while my cookies baked and Mike slept, unaware that ‘Today Is The Day.’ And at 6:22pm that evening, I locked eyes with this beautiful girl (now wrapping her arms around my torso and reminding me scrape by scrape that her fingernails must be cut today) for the first time.
And now it is two years later and that time has truly gone by in the blink of an eye. Hana’s birth day still seems like just yesterday. Have two years really passed? Have we really already held TWO birthday parties in honor of this day? Is her whole childhood going to go by this fast?
We had a birthday party for her on Saturday. I had a vision of a small family gathering, but it ultimately turned out to be a BIG family gathering with some friends tossed in for good measure. It was a bit crazy and overwhelming (for both Hana & me), but fun nonetheless. There were a few toddler altercations (three toddlers were in attendance, plus two children under age 6, and two more children under age 13), and Hana was at fault for most of them – for hoarding her toys and not sharing. Less-than-stellar party behavior, but too be expected, I suppose. I felt a bit guilty for planning a party where she woke up from her nap and shortly thereafter was bombarded by 35 party guests, including several children who wanted to play with her toys…But alas, she survived and ended up having a good time when things calmed down.
Things calmed down quite a bit after the two big Party Events: Presents & Cake. Hana had absolutely NO interest in opening her presents, the ungrateful little birthday girl. The other children sweetly circled around me, helping open gifts and politely oohing and aahing at all the right times. Hana, however, ran in circles around the house, and dashed off to her room to play uninterrupted for awhile, paying no heed to the gift opening extravaganza. She got so many cool gifts, and (same as last year) I was blown away by everyone’s generosity and thoughtfulness. The Cake Event went very well – Hana absolutely adored being the center of attention, and once all the other kids put their party hats on, she did too (despite previous protest). When everyone sang Happy Birthday To Hana, her eyes lit up and she cracked up. I don’t exaggerate; she truly CRACKED UP - laughed like crazy and just loved it. And then blew out her candles like a total pro. Got both in one big, happy Ffffffssshhh! Following the cake, the party simmered down to pure socializing, and Hana was suddenly much more at ease under the new ‘no-pressure’ atmosphere. She seemed to adjust to the fact that ALL of her favorite people were here under one roof, and had a great time playing with her friends and all of her new toys.
Today is, for the most part, a regular day. I’m at work, Mike’s at work, Hana’s at school. Her class is having celebratory pumpkin muffins for Hana’s birthday at lunchtime. Tonight my parents & brother are coming for dinner to celebrate Hana’s birthday and my mom’s birthday, which falls on Saturday (but we will all be at a friends’ wedding and therefore we’re honoring her birthday 2 days early).
This (long, Memorial Day) weekend is rather uneventful. Friday night a friend is having a party but we’re only planning to make a brief appearance. I’ve been feeling under the weather for the last couple of days, and neither of us really feels up to a big drinking bash this weekend. Saturday we have a wedding at 2pm, which I’m looking forward to. It is primarily our neighborhood group, and is the wedding of a girl I grew up with. Sunday we’re having a Going Away BBQ for my brother at my parents’ house, and Monday, we really have no plans. The Beach Club opens this weekend, but given the truly crappy weather being predicted, we may not even bother until the sun decides to grace us.
My brother leaves for Romania for two and a half years, in one week from 12-noon yesterday. It is really starting to hit me that there is a distinct possibility that I will not see him again until Hana is 4 years old. That we could possibly have another child by then, a child he may not even ever meet until s/he is well into, or even, beyond his/her first year. I am really going to miss him. He will have email, although we won’t know the accessibility until he is given his posting. He trains at the Peace Corps training facility in Brasov (sp) for three months, and it is still unclear when he’ll actually get his official posting, so we won’t know for awhile at least where he’ll actually be spending the bulk of the next couple of years.
Our new house is still, as I last reported, wonderful. I am HOME. I never felt as if this feeling was missing from our old house…but now that I’m settled here, I realize how deeply rooted I feel; a very good feeling indeed. We still have many projects, but we’re both feeling a surprising lack of urgency. This is not so surprising for me but quite unexpected of Mike, given his manic approach to home improvement. This is good though. It is indicative of how happy & comfortable we both are in our new home. We’re here for good, its comfy and its livable and we have a beautiful view to enjoy. Someday we’ll get all the light switch covers back on. Someday we’ll get both bathrooms remodeled. Someday we’ll get the bed frame stained, someday we’ll have the storage room organized to perfection…someday. But for now we’re just settling in and enjoying our new digs, and it is really nice.
In the last few days Hana’s vocabulary has suddenly taken a huge leap. Out of nowhere she started speaking in phrases and saying words I had no idea she knew. It is make-me-weak-in-the-knees charming, and also incredibly practical that she can effectively communicate more now. The incessant whining has, although not ceased, decreased dramatically. Her whining had been driving me bonkers. I adopted the “I can’t hear your whiny voice – please use your nice voice” suggestion, and have been using it religiously, and it Really Does Work. Amazing, how simple some things are! I had been racking my brain for solutions, and this just seemed too simple to work. But it does!
Anyway, her newfound communication skills just plain make me happy, mainly b/c it allows her to communicate more clearly now, and that makes us ALL happier. Hana appears, however, to have decided that these skills are only to be used on a select few. When we get in the presence of anyone outside of REALLY CLOSE FAMILY & FRIENDS, she clams up. The girl walks around the house for four hours straight shouting “HANA TWO!” and “HUNTER BITE HANA! MEAN! NO!” (a boy in her class bit her – and Mike’s charming response was “I’m gonna kick his ass!”)…but a neighbor at the grocery store prompts her for how old she is, and the child is utterly mute. Hmmph.
At the moment, she adores playing in her hand-me-down kitchen that her friends Jack & Lauren gave her. She most especially likes heating things up in the microwave (pushing the buttons and muttering ‘beep beep beep’) and loading up the dishwasher. The kitchen also came with a tea set, and this has led me to wonder if Tea Parties are an inborn thing? Like, are children (girls maybe?) born knowing how to play Tea Party? Because I’m most certain that if we have ever played Tea Party with her, it has only been once or twice, and how could she possibly remember that? But when she got that tea set, she immediately became All About Tea Parties. And she’s quite convincing, with all the fake pouring and fake sipping and fake nibbling. And it’s a good thing Pooh (her teddy bear that bears absolutely no resemblance to his famous namesake, but thank God she’s smart enough to equate bear-with-bear, and hence the name) is so cooperative, because as cute as her Tea Parties are, I’m getting a bit worn out on the Tea Party scene.
I got my hair cut yesterday. I’ve been growing it out for months, with no real plan in mind, just longer hair. And then last Wednesday Hana & I went to get our church directory photos (Mike doesn’t attend with us, so its just the two of us when it comes to anything church-related), and we got to see previews of the photos they took, and all I could think of was how flat and boring and just LONG my hair looked. Not a good “long.” Just a boring, flat “long.” And so despite Mike’s protests that he really likes my hair longer, I got it chopped. Not chopped to the point of gasping and exclaiming how short my hair is…not at all, in fact. It is now collarbone length, and layered around the face. For a general idea (emphasizing GENERAL, given that although I would kill to look like her, I absolutely do not), see the May issue of Elle –cover & inside photo shoot of Rebecca Romjin-Stamos (or maybe no Stamos-? I haven’t read the latest US magazine…). I brought those photos in to my stylist to give her an idea of what I was aiming for. And she did a pretty good job, given that, again, I do not actually look like Rebecca Romjin-Stamos no matter how many prayers I say. The cut did bring back some of my curl, which has been quite absent since Hana’s birth two years ago (broken record: has it REALLY been THAT long?? Two years?!?). I hated my curly hair for 26 years, right up until it disappeared. Then I suddenly started missing it. So I’m glad its back, even kind-of-back, and I have to use a sprunching spray to coax it along. Mike says I look cute and much younger. I used to hate hearing that, but now I kind-of like it. Young is not bad. I asked how young, and he said “like, 14-young.” And I said, “is that a bad thing?” And he said “NOT AT ALL” and winked at me. And I said “you are totally disgusting.”
Postscript: Mike is a very stand-up, moral guy so please know he was kidding, and is truly not a pervert. It was a joke.
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