Me Too You

At Baby Playgroup

Ava and I go to baby playgroup every Thursday and hang out with all the moms with babies Ava's age. So far, we are a blanket baby group, but soon enough these kiddos will be crawling off the mat and then we're in trouble. For now, we lounge around at the park or at one of the mom's houses, eat cookies, talk "how to get your baby to sleep through the night/eat solid foods/stop crying and be happy all the time/etc" and brag about the newest milestones that have been reached. I didn't do this baby playgroup thing too regularly with Ben and Lily as babies, because it was just tougher to get everyone ready and out of the house. It sure is nice! Anyway, here we are at John D. Morgan park in Campbell, grabbing some shade.

Happy 2nd Birthday Lincoln! Our Weekend in Carson City

Our nephew, Lincoln, turned 2 and had a Thomas the Train birthday bash. We took our first road trip since Ava's birth to Carson City, NV for the event and we had a blast. The kids played trucks and trains together all weekend, while the adults drank coffee, ate great meals and just relaxed and caught up.

The day after the big party, we drove to a great beach on Lake Tahoe (only 20 minutes away from Melissa and Ryan's house) and had a picnic, jumped around in the water, and made sand castles. Definitely a successful first trip! Thanks for hosting us, Melissa and Ryan. We can't wait to see you guys again soon.

Cooking with Nana - Yummy!

Every  Thursday afternoon Nana Karin comes over to play. Here are Ben and Lily baking some cookies one day - we ate A LOT of cookie dough (yummy!) ... and also baked some cookies. Fun! Oh, and we made a big mess too :)

Meow

Lily got her face painted like a kitty-cat at the Santa Cruz County Fair this weekend. We rode a train a jeep rides, went fishing, ate strawberries, looked at big pumpkins and lots of chickens, and provided a captive and dancing audience for karaoke singers. We wished we would have had time for pony rides and pie eating contests, but it was not in the cards. Most importantly, we were reunited with our buddies, the Gouldrup family (recently back from a trip to the East Coast and to Europe) and the Keegan family. So fun.

Ava at 4 months old

 

Ava's toes

Ava has found her legs...and her knees...and her toes! Oh, what a big world there is out there. Who knew? We took Ava today to her 4 month follow up appointment with Stanford NICU - this is a program that she'll be in until she is 3 years old and will evaluate her every so often to see where she is developmentally and neurologically. They follow all premature babies and babies who were severly ill at birth. So far, she is right on target and is doing just great. She really enjoyed the occupational therapist who did all kinds of fun exercises with her. The doctors said that her toe discovery is a very good sign that Ava's sensory abilities are developing well, since this is something she is not using her eyes for. They also checked her hearing and she is definitely responding to sounds. We'll go back at 12 months and hopefully the good news will continue. As for stats, at 4 months old she is 25 1/4 inches long and weighs 13.4 pounds. Perfect!

Breakfast with Ben and Lily

Ben and Lily on a typical morning before school, doing a little breakfasting. Nana Karin and Grandpa Steve are on their way home today from their long RV trip and we are so excited to see them!

Sushi anyone?

Here are Ava and Mommy at a barbeque over at Laila and Amr's house this weekend. Ben and Lily had a great time running around with Yazan, Jad and Jenna - they played in the big sandbox back amongst the trees and rode "bigger, bigger bikes" (as Ben called Yazan and Jad's bikes), while the adults had a lovely time chatting, eating great food and drinking wine. We put Ava down to sleep in a pack-n-play early in the evening and she did great. By the way, the big news around here is that Ava has transitioned from sleeping in the bouncy seat to her crib, is sleeping unswaddled and is putting herself to sleep quite well. She has officially found that thumb, which makes that all possible - we may pay for it later with the orthodontist, but, for now, enjoy that thumb, baby!

Ava rolling

Here it is - Ava's first roll. She did it over and over today. Before we know it she'll really be on the move!