Cabbage Patch Baby?

Some of these really need captions. She's an expressive baby. Enjoy, these are courtesy of the ever proud Auntie B.

Gnomes

As a child I mistook earring backs for Fairy crowns. One of my favorite childhood books was a compilation of stories called "Elves and Fairies." It seems that such fanciful creatures and stories have followed me into adulthood.

We live with gnomes. They turn the light on, unlock the door and the LOVE to put the toilet seat up. Monday they ventured into the realm of contact lense snatching. Now, I know what you're thinking - there is always a story when it comes to my contacts. I'm one of only a small, elite group of contact wearers that still sport gas permeable contacts.They jump out of my eyes if its too windy, pop out if I get elbowed in the face and fall out if someone hugs me a little too aggressively. Anyway, Monday was just an ordinary evening. I took my contacts out, put my glasses on and went to bed. Tuesday morning as I was getting ready for work I discovered only 1 contact in the case. Josh and I scoured the upstairs looking for it - no luck. Thankfully I have some extra contacts so I used one of them, not without some grumbling on my part - I HATE losing things. Flash forward to Wednesday evening. I'm taking my contacts out, getting ready for bed and there shining up at me from the bathroom counter is my "lost" contact.

The gnomes strike again.

Sleep & Noise

Josh and I thought I would share what we wake up to every morning. Despite my best efforts to position her differently, she always wakes up in the same spot. Apparently its heridtary, I'm told I did something similar as a baby.

Claire has discovered that she has a voice. Thursday evening she started in on this and now she loves to hear herself all the time.

Snow! Snow! Snow!

"Yeah, you know something… Vermont should be beautiful this time of year, with all that snow." - Danny Kaye as Phil Davis in White Christmas.

You'd think that visiting Lake Tahoe in January would present opportunities to enjoy the frigid temperatures and fresh powdery snow. In theory you would be right but in praticality you would be wrong. The snow resembled end of season, stale snow and the weather was much more springy - day time temperatures in the 50s. It hasn't snowed there in a month. Nevertheless on our first visit to the Lake in 2009 we sure did appreciate the clear roads and sunny skies.

The weekend was one of the most relaxing that Josh and I have had in a long time. We praticed our Wii bowling skills and our Happy Hour skills - I enjoy a good gin and tonic - that's my grandfather coming out in me. I sure am glad that the makers of the Wii have added wrist straps to the wii controllers and here's a tip. If you are ever playing tennis with a lefty, make sure you are on the right side of the lefty. If you are looking for a way to beat Josh in wii bowling - play him first thing in the morning. His skills improve as the day goes on.

I have two Claire stories from the weekend, well I have many more but for the sake of timing we'll go with two.

#1 Claire and the Casino

After an afternoon of meandering around the shops at Heavenly and enjoying the "balmy" weather visited Harrah's casino so I could feed Claire and everybody else could see if Lady Luck had paid them a visit. Harrah's bathroom has no baby changing table - not that it would be typical to have such child friendly features in a CASINO but it sure would have been nice. So there I am in a casino bathroom changing Claire on a chair only to discover that she's been hanging out for a while in a blown out diaper and poopy outfit. She blew through her diaper, onesie, jumper and fleece bunting. So now I'm completely changing a hungry and impatient baby who is screaming her head off. Sometimes I wish had four more hands. Claire is just in her diaper screaming her head off as cocktail waitresses in short short dresses and casino patrons visit the ladies room. LOVELY. Josh has packed the extra outfit in the diaper bag so what do I pull out? A pair of pants and a short sleeve onesie - nice. Its warm outside but not THAT warm.

#2 Make em laugh

Monday morning we are enjoying our morning cups of coffee except for Josh, he doesn't like coffee. He's entertaining Claire. Then we hear it...ha ha ha. Not from Josh but from Claire. She laughed. One of the sweetest sounds I have ever heard. He made her laugh. I hope to get it on video soon.

Getting into the Routine

Week two of being back at work has come and gone. Claire is now 14 weeks old and changing daily. Its 2009 and I can hardly believe it.

Our household is slipping into a routine after months of change. If you know Josh and I, this doesn't surprise you. We are incredibly predictable when it comes to our daily habits. This was actually became a joke when I was working at Tachometry. I arrived at 8:03 daily, it didn't matter if I left my house at 7:57 or 7:50 or 7:45. I grabbed a snack at 10, left for lunch at 12, returned from lunch at 1:03 and was out the door and headed home at 5. Josh and I function well in routine - we are more productive and relaxed with routine. So, I am thankful that we are falling into routine with Claire. We are learning to read her signs and cues and help her get her own schedule going.
Claire began sleeping in her own room two weeks ago. I am adjusting to life with the baby monitor and learning what sounds merit a visit to the room and what sounds I can "ignore" and return to sleep. Josh reads to her each night as I put Claire to bed. Its strange how our roles in her life evolve and I'm feeling more and more parentish every day. I remarked to Josh the first time we put her down and then returned to our evening together that today I really feel like a parent. I think going back to life together after Claire goes to sleep and getting household chores done makes me think of my family growing up and therefore, more like a parent.

Claire has many faces, I've capture just a few of them below.

Back to work...

Yesterday I returned to the work force. I am working part time at the Concord Chamber of Commerce. I worked there about a year and a half ago. Since the day after Christmas I've been grieving a little bit how quickly my leave has gone. The last three months have been filled with so many memories and new experiences the time has flown by. I am grateful that I was able to take three months off to spend with our little girl.

I made an effort to be emotional before Claire woke up so she wouldn't pick up on anything and be stressed for my grandma. It was not as difficult as I thought to go to work. I know its because I had so many praying for this transition - Thank you! I also know it has something to do with where I'm working. It was good to be in a familiar place with good friends. When I returned home I was greeted with coos and smiles from Claire.

Today was my first day working from home. I can foresee amusing stories in my future - I'm sure similar to other moms. I took the opportunities Claire's naps provided to get work done. As she slept in the other room I made phone calls. Lola found a new perch, my lap at the table. She would occasionally raise her head and lay it on the keyboard. She continued to make herself at home on the chair even when I got up to do grab water or a pen.

Now yesterday was the first day in Claire's little life that she did not poop so today I was bracing myself for a blow out. While making what turned out to be my last phone call of the morning I heard a minor explosion coming from Claire's swing. I finished the call and retrieved my now smiling and cooing little girl to survey the damage. Upon arriving at her changing table I discovered what I could categorize as a class four blow out (out of five). In addition to the diaper area her legs her back, both her onesies, her socks, her pants - everywhere. After assesing the situation I decided it was time for a Ken Taylor (my dad) diaper change - dunk in the bathtub to wash off all the poop. So Claire got an impromtu bath and clothing change. Back downstairs, Claire contented herself in the bouncer but shortly thereafter I could tell she was working on something - it turned out to be a class three blowout. So back upstairs for another diaper and clothing change. Needless to say she made up for lost time. As I got back to the afternoon phone calls Lola resume her perch on my lap...funny dog.

So here we are getting into a routine. More stories to come, I'm sure.

12 weeks

Claire was 12 weeks old on Monday. Enjoy some photos of her hanging out around the house.

Service

Saturday Claire and I met my sister in Walnut Creek for a little errand running and lunch. As Brieanne and I were walking to the pet store (Brieanne carrying Claire and me pushing her stroller) a man started calling out for help. We were on north main in front of Valet parking that is across the street from Pottery Barn and there were lots of people around. He's yelling out help somebody help (In a panicked and impolite tone) and lucky for Brieanne and I we were the closest people around. We turn around he says "yes! you! help, my baby is stuck in her seatbelt and its constricting her. Brieanne and I exchange looks like "uh...why us...not a good idea." But at this point we've made eye contact with the man and I feel obliged to check out this situation albeit cautiously. The guy was pulled out in a driveway almost into the street blocking traffic. I motion to Brieanne to stay well away from the man and the car (again lots of people around) and I walk over to the car to find a girl (probably 8) and her brother (probably 10). The boy is in the front seat and the girl is in the middle seat in the back. How she contorted herself to get the seatbelt twisted the way she did is beyond me. As soon as I poke my head into help the girl is not having it. She's been crying and seems incredibly embarassed in the way 8 year olds do that her dad has asked a stranger to help. So the dad begins to explain what he thinks happened and what he'd like me to do and the little girl is protesting and clenching the seatbelt so much so you can't even see it and the brother is going "she's just trying to help, just sit still." The dad starts bossing me around and asks me to go to the other side of the car. Now that the dad is no longer in between us the little girl starts kicking me away and tells her dad she sit still if he sends me away. Not talking to me, the dad explains to his daughter that he needs my help so the seatbelt won't constrict further. So he asks him to make me promise not to look and she comply. So the dad says to me "okay, you hold here and don't look. PROMISE YOU WON'T LOOK." Meanwhile I can hear MY BABY fussing in the background. I realize at this point I should have said, "tell your daugther to stop kicking if you'd like my help or don't talk to me like I'm 8" but I was so anxious to just get out of the situation I kept my mouth shut. So he somehow flips her upside down in the seat to get her untangled (I wasn't looking but you can't ignore when someone's feet are up by your head). The dad gets on the phone, I let go of the seat belt and he offers a quick thank you, almost as an after thought as I'm walking away.

I become more appalled as I reflect on this situation further. I can't believe that a stranger would have the nerve to ask for help from another stranger while being so impolite. I can't believe he wouldn't say something to his child about kicking the help. I can't believe it was more important for him to be on the phone than thank or release the help. I just can't believe it.

Happy New Year

Happy 2009!We welcomed in the New Year with a quiet dinner at home with friends. I think I was asleep by 10:30 p.m. and wished Josh a happy new year when I woke up at 2 am to grab an additional blanket. I tried a new recipe for dinner, pasta bolognese, a recipe I got off a new favorite cooking show, Secrets of a Restaurant Chef.

Josh took New Year's Eve off work, he had a floating holiday he needed to use by the end of the year. We decided to take a family trip to Clyde, CA (right next to the Concord Naval Weapons Station). Josh and I had seen a piece on Clyde on "Eye on the Bay" and planned to visit Clyde on Columbus day but were unable to due to Claire's arrival. So, with Claire in tow this time we ventured off to Clyde all bundled up and well supplied only to figure out that Eye on the Bay had to have been talking about another Clyde because the Clyde by us consisted of a few "Welcome to Clyde" signs, houses and a little bus stop depot. What was supposed to be a morning adventure turned out to be a five minute road trip - we got a good chuckle from that.

Last year was the first year Josh and I set some New Year resolutions as a couple. We found it really helpful in making our year a more purposeful year. We decided to do the same thing this year. After some thought and prayer here are a few of the resolutions we have set out for this year:
1. Give Jen some alone/journaling time weekly.
2. Take a family hike 1x each month.
3. Have dinner with friends every other month.
4. Take devotion time daily.
5. Establish a "travel/vacation" fund.
6. Give back through service.

We are very fortunate to be in fellowship with some other couples that are in the same stage of life. We spent New Year's morning together with our kids. Here are some pictures of the darling kiddos.
On New Year's day we took a family hike through Briones Regional Park. Lola especially loved the hike except for the cow sitings. Each time she saw a cow, it set her off barking.
May this year bring blessing and peace to all of you.