Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope that everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing holiday with friends and family. The note above is from Ellie to Aunt Susu (who did not make it to Santa Barbara for turkey with family and was missed).

And once again we didn't take any photos...and learning our lesson last year, and it being Cal's first Thanksgiving you would think we would have been all over it with the photo documentation. But, sadly we were not. And so we rely on the photos from others, mostly Cousin Jimmy.



Ellie helped set the table, including the writing of name cards for the place settings. Jim brought his talents as a mixologist to mix up the beverages for our dinner. We had store bought stuffing and a pumpkin pie (we missed Susie). But I did make rolls as usual! Grandma Pam rocked an awesome turkey and Nicks family recipe for green bean casserole. And we had the usual family recipe sides of mashed potatoes and Claire's cranberry sauce. It was an awesome meal.

Despite individuals dealing with pneumonia, ear infections, sleep deprivation, and acute levels of stress, it was a nice family get together.

And Cal really seemed to enjoy his Turkey vegetable dinner. Really, I promise he did.







Happy Thanksgiving!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Calvin is 8 months old!

How did that happen? How did Cal become 8 months old already?!? Time is definitely going by fast. In fact, when uploading photos today for this blog post I realized there was some awesome stuff that we did when he was 5 or 6 months old (like go to Disneyland!) that we haven't posted about on here. We will...eventually.

If you can't tell in the photo above, Cal isn't feeling too well. He had been sick for a while and so last Monday Nick took him to the doctor where he was diagnosed with two ear infections. After a couple days on the antibiotic all was better. But then he stopped sleeping and it was obvious he was uncomfortable. So back to the doctor we went today. Ear infections are still there, so we started a more heavy-duty antibiotic. Hopefully this helps, but I was told to call the pediatric ENT and get Cal in for an appointment. Fortunately, we know one and like him from when we first moved and Ellie still had her tubes.

Normally he is a really happy baby with lots of smiles. He is pretty laid back, but still hates to be alone. In fact, now that he is crawling, or crawl-scooting, his main objective is typically to chase down me or Ellie or Nick if we walk away from him. He can move pretty fast. While he is still dragging his belly...its only going to be a short time till he is actually crawling. And when he does, we are really in trouble because if he goes any faster he will be able to keep up with us! We decided it was time for the baby gate so Nick pulled that out of the garage today.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!

Our Halloween wasn't just one evening, or even one day. Oh no! Halloween lasted for about a week in our house. Everything started last weekend with Nick taking the kids to Ellie's school's Fall Festival, then trick or treating at KidSpace, then Ellie wore her costume to ballet, and then, on Monday, the kids were costume models on KTLA (see Nick's post below). Of course for all of these activities, except the KTLA morning show, Ellie wore her 50s girl costume and Cal went costume-less. Both Ellie and Cal got to keep the costumes they wore on the KTLA morning show, which meant that they each had multiple costumes for Halloween!!

On Halloween itself, Ellie took her 50s girl costume to school for a party in her after school program. Apparently she had a blast, but she was ready to continue the fun once she got home and was very excited to go trick-or-treating.

Cal's daycare also had a little Halloween party. There was a little costume parade and then a little get-together, which obviously was more meant for the parents of the Piglets class than for the kids. I was fortunate enough to be able to go. When I got there, just minutes before the parade was supposed to start, Cal was sound asleep in his crib. I, not wanting to miss out on the fun, woke him up and quickly got him into his Pooh Bear costume. We had fun and it was fun to see all the other kids all dressed up as well.

As soon as everyone was home we ate dinner and all did a costume change. Ellie got dressed in the Tinkerbell costume (with light-up wings!) and Cal got dressed in the pumpkin costume that I had made Ellie for her first Halloween, complete with hat by Grandma Pam. We did some photos by the fireplace before heading outside.

Ellie of course was awesome. Striking poses that she thought a fairy would do.

Cal on the other hand...he was not took keen on his hat, or looking at the camera. But eventually we got one of him.

And then we had to get one of both of them together.

We went trick-or-treating with some friends in our neighborhood, just a couple blocks away from our house. Ellie got quite the loot. She even got a full size Snickers bar! It was good fun and we were all home by about 8pm. Of course Ellie got to pick out her token one piece of candy. Cal wanted some too...but, we were able to keep his hands out of the pile.

It was a great and very successful Halloween. You will notice that we did not carve any pumpkins. Nick, last weekend, kept asking Ellie if she wanted to carve pumpkins but she decided that she didn't. Oh well. There is always next Halloween when Cal will enjoy carving pumpkins a little more than he would have this year.

Hope everyone else had a great Halloween!

Daddy's Flying Solo -- Long Weekend Edition

Ann had both kids several times when I was back in Chicago enjoying my Cubs season tickets -- and now it was my turn, as she spent the weekend at a work conference in Washington, DC.

It's tough simultaneously taking care of a little guy who doesn't like being alone, and an, at times, strong-willed little girl.. but we really did have a great weekend. For the most part there were happy moods all around.

Things began Saturday morning with a trip to Ellie's school for their Fall Festival fundraiser. Ellie met up with several friends for face painting, jumpy house time, lots of games, some people-watching, and lunch -- which included a candy apple dessert!










(Oh! Ellie also got run over by a mini Mars lander, courtesy of the folks at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is just up the road in La Cañada. Pretty cool!)







After an afternoon at the Fall Festival, we went off to a playground to burn off all that sugar energy. Cal enjoyed getting down on the grass.




The night was capped off with a trip to In-n-Out. Cal tried reaching for everything Ellie and I had. Kid's got good taste.


On Sunday morning we headed over KidSpace, a children's science museum right near the Rose Bowl here in Pasadena, for its special Halloween Hunt. Ellie trick-or- treated in the museum's garden area, while Cal trekked along with me in the backpack. What made this a little different was the fact that most of the people handing out the goodies were dressed as scientific historical figures. Not every day you get Smarties from Einstein.. or a glow-in-the-dark centipede (next stage of evolution?) from Charles Darwin. Ellie and Cal did well playing together on the road & train track construction mat.




















After that.. it was time for ballet. Ellie did a great job rehearsing her "pirate dance" for her upcoming performance. And Cal practiced crawling.
















Yogurtland was our destination of choice after all that. Cal was jealous that he only got to eat his Peas, Spinach, and Pears baby food.




And.. we're not done yet! The weekend fun spilled over into Monday morning at KTKA, where the kids played key roles in the annual KTLA Morning News Halloween costume segment. You can watch the video here.














It was a busy, but fun (long) weekend!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Seven Months Old!

Today our little man turned seven months old. And he has developed a personality and changed so much even over this past month.

He has been loving his solid foods, except avocado and broccoli. Peaches and pumpkin are his two favorites. But broccoli...I have to trick him to eat that.






He is still rocking the top of the charts. We don't have an official weight and length measurement but unofficially he is "a big one!". I think he's over 21lbs, maybe even 22 lbs now.

He gives the best kisses.



We have rolled over! He is rolling from tummy to back. Well, I haven't actually seen him roll over but Nick and Ellie and his daycare teachers have. I have left him on his tummy and walked away only to find him on his back. He is also moving from a sitting position to his tummy. After a few very ungraceful belly flops complete with bumps to the head, he has figured it out. He can get up on all fours, but doesn't move forward, he is pushing himself backwards though. Today at daycare his teachers told me he developed another method of locomotion, hopping on his bum while he is sitting. Apparently he gets SO excited he starts hopping and moves forward!





We took him to Disneyland last weekend and he was amazing.
He is very social and hates being alone, unless he is occupied by a ball. He is very chill and easily entertained. He loves playing with stacking cups and any kind and size of a ball. His teachers all day he is their favorite baby and teachers in the next class up have already asked to be his primary teacher when he moves up. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is his favorite song and it will calm him down no matter what. He makes me and everyone around him laugh. He laughs, he vocalizes when you ask him questions and he gives high fives. He is pretty awesome.












- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone