A Walk in the Park

On September 11th we took Sophie to the doctor for her 6 month old checkup.  As many of you might recall, Sophie had a few issues with her size back in the early days.  Well now she weighs 14.5 pounds (25th percentile) and is 26.5 inches long (75th percentile!)  The doctor said everything looked great and she had no concerns.  Sophie even went to her and let her poke and prod her without crying or complaining.  So everything was good and everyone was happy – and then out came the needle!  Yes, four more shots, and four more looks of betrayal – “How could you let them do this to me!?!”  But after a few minutes Sophie calmed right down (it took Debbie a little longer) and was great the rest of the day.

To celebrate all our good news, we went for a walk down to the park.  Here’s Sophie in her cool pink velour track suit, hanging out in front of our house before our walk:

Of course we took the Bob stroller.  Here are Debbie and Sophie at the park entrance with Black Mountain in the background:

We put Sophie into the infant swing and gave her a few pushes.  She really liked it.

After that it was off to the bouncy frog (I think it was a frog?)

Then a quick trip down the slide,

followed by a climb across the monkey bars,

then a quick climb up the rock wall,

and finally another trip down the slide with Dad.

After all that working out Sophie was exhausted and went to sleep with her froggy friend, and then she slept the whole way home.

Click below for a link to the full album.

2008-09-11 A Walk in the Park

Happy Half-Birthday!

Our little half-pint turned half-a-year old on September 8th.  To celebrate we broke out the bouncy seat and let her jump around all day.

I still find it amazing that she is six months old.  It seems like just yesterday she weighed less than six pounds and we were feeding her through a little tube.  Next thing you know it’s off to college!

Sharon Comes to Visit (and Everything Else We Did This Week!)

On September 7th we met up with Debbie’s friend Sharon. (She and Debbie used to work together in Germany, and Sharon has just moved back to Colorado.) She was in town for a wedding on Saturday, but she had some free time on Sunday morning so we met her down in Point Loma for breakfast.

Here’s a picture of Sharon getting to meet Sophie for the first time:

And here’s a group photo of us at the restaurant:

After breakfast, Debbie, Sophie and Sharon went down to Cabrillo National Monument to play tourist until Sharon’s flight took off.

Going back in time one day, we had dinner at Niki and Rick’s on Saturday. We hadn’t planned anything but we both wound up with no plans, so we invited ourselves over for dinner. Not too many exciting pictures, but for those of you who haven’t been paying attention, here’s one showing how Courtney has suddenly turned into and adult! (Don’t worry, we won’t let that happen to Sophie)

Here are a few random pictures from this week’s swim class. None of Sophie because I can’t swim and take pictures at the same time, but here are some of our classmates:

And after we got home from class Sophie was still a little damp, so we threw her in the dryer to dry her out. (Don’t worry, we used the permanent press cycle!)

Here’s a nice picture of Sophie and Kona hanging out together:

And here I am teaching Sophie how to do the blog. Another couple of weeks and she’ll be doing all of the posts.

On Wednesday our friend Shannon and her daughter Julia came over to go swimming and have dinner. We let Julia use Sophie’s high chair and put Sophie in the Bumbo.

Julia is about 6 months older than Sophie, so it was a bit eye opening for us to have her running around the house. It showed us we have quite a bit of child-proofing to do before Sophie figures out how to walk.

Finally, here’s a picture of Kona, since she doesn’t get much attention these days. She has been great with Sophie so far, but I’m afraid once Sophie can walk she’s going to terrorize the poor kitty.

Click below for a link to the full album.

2008-09-07 Sharon Visits

Sophie Tries the See Food Diet

I’m sorry, but it had to be done!

Click on the link below if you can stand to see any more:

2008-09-01 Sophie See Food

Sing & Play and Sun & Fun

On Friday, September 5th, we started the day over at Elizabeth and Joe’s house for a Sing and Play session.

Maybe I should back up and explain how this came to be.  Debbie used to go to a breast feeding support group every Friday.  Well, as the kids have gotten older many people have felt less of a need to go to the support group, but still wanted to get together socially.  And since my beautiful wife has an unparalleled knowledge of kids songs and activities, they elected her to lead the group.  So Elizabeth volunteered her house and about 15 moms and their kids swarmed in to learn some new songs, a little sign language and some arts and crafts.  (Joe and I made our escape to Phil’s BBQ for lunch.  We didn’t want to be in the way.  Yeah, that’s it.)

So here’s a picture of the group (and that’s not even everyone who was there:

After the sing and play, some of us headed out to La Jolla to have a little bbq at the beach.  Here are some pictures of us hanging out:

Sophie can finally stay sitting up for extended periods, so I decided to have a little photo session:

Ok, so their topless.  It was an artistic choice.  (And I’m sure she’ll love it when I show them to her prom date in about 17 years!)  Nicholas wanted to get in on the action too:

And to top off the day Sophie got to go into the ocean for the first time.  She seemed to really enjoy the sand and the waves:

Finally the sun set and it was time to go home:

Click HERE for a link to the full album.

Sophie the Little Mermaid

Now that I’ve got some free time on my hands, we decided to sign Sophie up for swimming lessons.  (Although at this age it’s more like dunking lessons.  We go every Tuesday afternoon to the pool in the rehab center at a local hospital.  They keep the water at about 90+ degrees, so it’s not exactly refreshing.  But they teach the kids how to float on their backs, how to kick and swim, and how to crawl out of the pool if the fall in.  And of course sing lots of songs.

Here’s Sophie getting ready for class:

From 2008-09-02 Sophie Swim Lessons

From 2008-09-02 Sophie Swim Lessons

Here we are in the pool:

From 2008-09-02 Sophie Swim Lessons

Here is where we practice “falling” into the pool and getting back out:

From 2008-09-02 Sophie Swim Lessons

And here is a picture showing how we float.  She can actually float pretty good, I only have to support the back of her head:

From 2008-09-02 Sophie Swim Lessons

Of course, there is plenty of time to be social:

From 2008-09-02 Sophie Swim Lessons

After working up a big appetite, we went over to Fuddruckers for lunch:

From 2008-09-02 Sophie Swim Lessons

From 2008-09-02 Sophie Swim Lessons

I wanted to say thanks to Elizabeth for taking most of these pictures (since I was in the pool!)  Thanks, friend!

From 2008-09-02 Sophie Swim Lessons

Click HERE for a link to the full album.

Kicking Back on Labor Day

On Labor Day (ok, technically it was Sunday night) our friends Patty and Warren had a few folks over to celebrate. (You remember Patty and Warren, right? From the Fair? And the Zoo?) And yes, I appreciate the irony of celebrating Labor Day when one doesn’t have a job. (And don’t get me started on the definition of irony. Grrrrr!)

Anyways….we had fun chowing down on some bbq and just hanging out. I didn’t take a lot of photos, but did get some cute shots of the kids.

Thanks for having us over Patty and Warren!

Click HERE for a link to the full album.

Dawn and John Tie the Knot

On August 30th our friends Dawn and John got married. The ceremony was held out at Point Loma Nazarine University in San Diego. (For those of you unfamiliar with San Diego, the university is out on Point Loma just west of downtown, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.)

Here’s a picture of my own beautiful bride as we wait for the ceremony to begin:

The ceremony begins:

The bride enters:

The flower girls were cute. They did a reading from the Velveteen Rabbit:

The big kiss:

Some shots of the campus:

The reception was held at the Prado restaurant in Balboa Park:

Our friends Amber and Genny gave their speech tag-team style. When one would start to cry the other would jump in and continue. It was very sweet.

And then there was dancing, cake cutting, stuffing cash into the bride’s cleavage, and the garter toss.

Finally, even though we were having so much fun, it was time to leave and go pick up our little peanut. Debbie’s friend Nancy was kind enough to watch her so Mom and Dad could get away for a night. Thanks so much!

And congratulations to Dawn and John. We wish you a lifetime of happiness together!

Click HERE for a link to the full album.

Sophie finally gets to eat!

Another post-vacation item we did was to feed Sophie real food for the first time.  We had seen signs she was ready for it, like watching us when we ate, but we wanted to wait until we got back from Boston just in case she had any weird reactions.

So, we put her in the Bumbo chair, broke out a clean Red Sox bib, and mixed up some rice cereal.

From 2008-08-27 Sophie Eats Real Food

And we waited for the food to arrive….

From 2008-08-27 Sophie Eats Real Food

And we waited….

From 2008-08-27 Sophie Eats Real Food

And finally it was time to eat!

From 2008-08-27 Sophie Eats Real Food

Sophie wasn’t quite sure at first what to do, but she figured it out quickly.

From 2008-08-27 Sophie Eats Real Food

From 2008-08-27 Sophie Eats Real Food

And she loved it!

From 2008-08-27 Sophie Eats Real Food

And she barely messed up her clothes!

From 2008-08-27 Sophie Eats Real Food

Click HERE for a link to the full album.

Stay tuned as we experiment with different foods.  First up: Carrots and Bananas!

Invasion from the North

On the day after we got back from Boston, we were able to spend the day with our friends Amy and Jay and their kids Elliott and Holden.  The were in town to go to Amy’s 20th high school reunion here in beautiful Mira Mesa.  (They live up in Gilroy now, “The Garlic Capital of the World”)  The reunion events were over the weekend, but thankfully they were able to hang around long enough that we could spend some time together on Tuesday.

[For those of you who don't know, the short version of the story is:  Amy and I worked together.  Jay and I worked together.  Jay and Amy became "Jay and Amy".  Amy is friends with Denise and Niki.  Amy and group conspire to set up Kevin and Debbie.  Kevin and Debbie become "Kevin and Debbie."  Sophie happens   ]

Anyway, we started the day out with lunch at Islands.  As always I’m amazed at how much the kids have grown since the last time we saw them in January.  Holden was just a baby then, and now he’s a little man, running around like crazy.

From 2008-08-26 Aspiras Visit

And Elliott has grown into quite the young lady as well:

From 2008-08-26 Aspiras Visit

Although she still can manage to make a mess too:

From 2008-08-26 Aspiras Visit

After lunch we headed back to our place for a little dip in the pool:

From 2008-08-26 Aspiras Visit

From 2008-08-26 Aspiras Visit

And then Elliott taught Sophie how to read:

From 2008-08-26 Aspiras Visit

And Debbie taught everyone some sign language:

From 2008-08-26 Aspiras Visit

Finally, everyone was exhausted so we all took a little nap:

From 2008-08-26 Aspiras Visit

Click HERE for a link to the full album.

Thanks again to Jay and Amy for extending their stay so we could get together. Hopefully we can do it again soon!