Days of our Laives

On our final day in California, we spent the morning packing up. It took a little while longer than expected. Then we had lunch at In and Out Burger. It was tasty and as a restauranteur, my dad was very impressed with the concept. After lunch, we took Kira and Trevor back to the hotel for a nap while my mom, sister, Renee and I went to World Market. I wish we had those stores here. Kira woke up just before our late-checkout deadline. We had a couple hours to kill before having early dinner, so we went to the Children's Museum. It was a cute little museum. If I lived there I would probably take Kira there once a week. Lots of little things to explore and pretend. And there is even an appropriate area for little babies like Renee. I should go check out the Children's Museum in Boston. I'm sure it's so much better than I remember. Our flight was at 9pm, so we had dinner at 530 and made it to the airport by 7. The airport was very quiet and everything went smoo...

Renee is approaching 8 months in age, time really flies. Some recent things she's been doing include: - Saying dada - When we ask her where mama, dada, and Kira/Dede are she turns her head to one of us. We're not sure if she actually knows who we are by name or if it just appears that way - She has always recognized me, Vickie, and Kira, but recently we can tell she recognizes her grandparents. As soon as they walk in the door she wriggles with excitement - Renee sometimes gives big wet kisses. When I'm standing her on my lap facing away from me, she'll sometimes turn to look at me, lean her mouth on to my cheek or neck, and attack me with her mouth and tongue. Thats how babies kiss. Wet and cold. - Renee is very stable when sitting up nowadays - She loves sitting in her walker, she jumps up and down in it, and she is even mobile in it - which can be problematic since there is a plant w/ mulch in our living room. On a couple occasions she has grabbed a handful, th...

Monday was another later than expected start to the day. Despite the late start, we saw a lot! Again, we didn't get to San Francisco until about 11. Our first stop would be lunch at Mama's on Washington Square. It's a very well-known breakfast place (they also serve lunch). Unfortunately it was closed! Now we have an excuse to go back to SF (besides friends and family of course). So, we walked around the neighborhood and found another place. We were right in the Chinatown/Little Italy area. It was nice to walk and take in the atmosphere. After lunch, our goal was to drive to Muir Woods. It's one of my favorite places in the whole world. It's a conservation park of redwood trees! They are amazing and I couldn't wait to take Trevor there. On the way to Muir Woods, the GPS took us toward Lombard Street, the crookedest road in the world. So we had to stop and take some pictures. The gardens are lovely on that street! Then, to get to Muir Woods, we dr...

Our original plan for Sunday was to get to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco at 9 am and then head to the Exploratorium (museum) when it opened at 10 am. There were two reasons for such an aggressive start to the day: 1) to beat the crowds at Fisherman's Wharf (which is a very popular tourist spot) and 2) to fit in as many sites in San Francisco before having dinner with my mother's uncle. Unfortunately, we did not make it to San Francisco until 11:30! We went straight to the Exploratorium and got out at about 1 pm. I already had a place picked out for lunch, so we drove straight there. It was only 4 blocks away! When we got there, it turned out that they were closed for lunch on Sundays! But there was a hostess there preparing for the night and she was so friendly. She recommended another place that was also family-friendly and was only 2 blocks away. We walked over and enjoyed a great lunch. Even my dad, who is very picky, liked the food! The only downside was...

By Day 3, I was full blown sick and Trevor was at his worst. Kira and Renee were also sick, but they had been sick the week before so they were actually on the mend. As a groomsman, Trevor had responsibilities that started at 7 am. Kira's responsibilities as flower girl did not start until 2 pm, so we slept in and took our time getting dressed. We could have done some site seeing in the morning, but I didn't want Kira to get too tired, and I especially didn't want to be late for the wedding. Kira did a glorious job walking down the aisle. The cute ceremony included a sand mixing (rather than a candle lighting). Then it came time to take family pictures. That was chaotic as expected. The reception was fun. The DJ was very good. The bride's mother sang a song as part of her toast. And the groom serenaded the bride. It was adorable. We were all very very tired by the time we got back to the hotel. I had plans to start the next day bright and early, but it wasn...

Day 2 was not as exciting as I was hoping it would be. I was hoping we would have some time to explore San Jose in the morning before the rehearsal at 2 pm. But, it didn't work out that way. Trevor had to get his tux, so he took the car. We had to explore on foot. The hotel we stayed at was beautiful and luxurious, but, it is located in the financial district where tourist spots are sparse. We ended up just strolling from hotel to hotel. We brought the single stroller that we've always had since Kira was born, the Inglesina Zippy. And, the new car seat I bought (Combi Coccoro) comes with a stroller attachment (Combi Flash). It's actually a very nifty car seat because it will accomodate both toddler and infant, and it becomes a stroller. So, while we were in CA, it was Kira's car seat whenever we were driving, and it was Renee's stroller whenever we were walking. It's very narrow, so once the trip is over, the car seat will have it's permanent home...

I was having a hard time deciding how I would document the California trip. I could write by category and talk about how we dealt with gear, kid/baby schedules, meals, wedding...but then I was afraid I would forget something. So, I'm going to write about each day and just point out the highlights. The uneventful days will have short write-ups. Day 1 was the day we flew out. Our flight was in the afternoon, which meant we would be missing dinner. So, my biggest concern was to make sure Kira ate a big lunch. At her usual dinner time I gave her snacks (e.g., yogurt, cheese, cranberries, sliced apples, strawberries). Kira did *excellent* on the plane, especially compared with previous experiences. It helped that she is older now and had her own seat. She sat in a new car seat that I purchased for the occasion, the Combi Coccoro (plus Flash stroller). Renee was okay on the plane, not great. The good thing was that she was willing to sit with my mom or sister as well as with m...

This video has been up for a while, but we forgot to post it here, so maybe people don't know it's been up on YouTube for a few days.

I was just about to start a post about our recent California trip, but now I'm too pooped to do it. Trevor went to the gym for a couple hours and I held down the fort. Here's what happened: - Logan took poopie baby wipes out of the garbage - Kira jumped out of bed claiming to have to pee - While Kira was going to the toilet, Renee woke up and started crying furiously - After putting Kira back to bed, took Renee downstairs to make some formula - Fed Renee 2 oz of formula and burped her - Still fussy, so I proceed to breast feed her which then leads to throwing up - Changed Renee's clothes, changed my clothes - Cautiously breast feed Renee and put her to sleep - Clean up the throw up - Let Logan out of his crate, try to sit down and blog, but can't because Logan keeps getting into trouble (e.g., sneaking into the office, ate Kira's hair rubber band) So...I'm tired. Stay tuned for stories and pictures.

It's surreal that I just had my first parent-teacher conference, and I was the parent! It wasn't as rigorous as I expected or would have liked, but still informative. Kira gets along with all her friends. She likes to interact with them by watching them and telling the teachers what others are doing. I asked Norah, Kira's teacher, if Kira showed any signs of teamwork, and she says that all the kids in Kira's class are a bit young for that. They all are more interested in doing their own thing. During the 2nd half of the school year, they will be working on writing letters and to prepare for this, Norah suggested that we improve Kira's hand strength. That means more drawing, cutting, and things like that. I told Norah that Kira is already pretending to make letters and write. She makes loops and lines separated by spaces. And these figures line up next to each other across the page. She will also continue on a new line if space runs out. Trevor calls them ...