'Tis the Season!

Knute always brings me home a Grande Soy Latte in the new red "holiday" cup the very firs day it's available at Starbucks. It's the little things in life that make me happy. This is how I know the holidays are upon us. Yes, I realize that may sound sad, but it gets me in the spirit. Now I will have to look forward to KOSI 101 playing Christmas music 24/7. I think it starts the week of Thanksgiving. I refuse to listen to anything else and I never get sick of it.

Knute's Masterpiece

Last night I made Knute carve a pumpkin. It started off as a request, but his response was "I don't like art." I told him that this was one of his new responsibilities as a father. I guess he's going to have to learn to love 'art.' Because he is a smart husband, he did what I asked anyway. After all, what would all of the other four-month old babies think if Ellie's Dad didn't carve her a pumpkin? The above picture is a result of his efforts. After a few choice words and asking if he could start over on the other side (after he had already begun carving), I think he did a pretty descent job for a first timer. Even though the nose is a little questionable, it offers character. Knute may have some serious potential as an artist.

Chicken Noodle Soup Days

I know she's not exactly a vision of illness, but Ellie hasn't been feeling so hot these last few days. She had her four month shots on Friday and for whatever reason had some kind of adverse reaction to them. She has been vomiting for the last three days and has very little appetite. After talking to the after hours advice nurse from her Pediatrician's office we went to the ER last night for fear of dehydration. I know this sounds a bit extreme (and it probably was), but we were worried sick. Fortunately, we were there for less then two hours and after giving her a few ounces of Pedialyte were on our way. She hasn't thrown up since, but has no appetite and isn't her chipper self. I wish she could rest on the couch and watch movies while I serve her Chicken Noodle Soup and 7-up, but I fear this could make her feel worse at such a young age. Having a sick baby is the worst :(

Visit from Gram

We love visits from Gram! I try to see my parents at least every other month. We switch between visits to Denver and visits here. This time it was my mom's turn to come out (unfortunately, my dad had to work). She is an extremely easy house guest, if you can call her that. I don't stress about having the house perfectly cleaned before she comes, just washed towels and sheets. We typically don't make plans ahead of time, but once she gets her there never seems to be enough hours in the day. Sometimes I save all the little projects I don't want to do for when she visits, like paint a couple bedrooms (which we will never attempt again), sew missing buttons onto things (because I don't know how), rearrange the living room furniture, cook banana bread, make cookies for the neighbors, and the list goes on. Of course we know how to have fun too, although our idea of "fun" may be somewhat different then most people's. If it's a really good TJ Maxx, we can easily kill two hours there. Our latest visit also involved a walk on the Lafayette Reservoir, lunch at Sam's in Tiburon, and a stroll through Sausalito (where we found Ellie her pictured "Lamb" jacket).

The Pumpkin Patch

Ellie had been begging to go to the Pumpkin Patch all week. She could barely sleep the night before the anticipated event. It was everything she had hoped her first visit to a Pumpkin Patch would be.


It even included a petting zoo with a pig that looked like it was on it's last leg (on sale for $50) and a baby Billie Goat.

Her friend Luca was kind enough to wheel all her pumpkins back to the car.

She has yet to stop talking about all the fun she had (yes, her verbal skills are quite advanced for her age).

Back to the Gym!

I say the word "back" very loosely because I've never really been a huge gym person. It makes me sick to think of the months of gym membership fees that we have paid without me ever going, not even once. I think I may have taken two yoga classes while I was pregnant. To my credit, I walk the dog every single day for 2-3 miles, rain or shine. This is not necessarily done by choice, but to save my own sanity before he drives me nuts with his incessant whining. For those who know me, you may have heard me complain about this once or twice. Thanks for listening.

I think part of my problem with going to the gym is that I build it up too much in my head and sometimes set unrealistic goals for myself. I know that I will never have abs of steal or be able to get through an aerobics class without feeling completely foolish for my lack of coordination. So what if I can only lift ten pounds of weights? At least I don't make obnoxious noisy grunts while doing it.

So...I decided that it was time. It's been fifteen weeks since I had a baby and my ass isn't going to get any firmer on it's own. I threw on my very not-so-cute ratty gym clothes and dropped Ellie off at the Kid's Club for a short time. It wasn't such a big deal at all. I got a nice little workout in, feel good, and Ellie did just fine without me. I will really try hard to keep this up. If I set reasonable goals for myself then I think I can do it. Two to three days a week for 45 minutes is good enough for me. Maybe abs of steal are in my future??? One never knows.

Life of the Party

On Sunday we celebrated a very special three-year-old's birthday, Campbell. I love this little girl! She had a "Pink Party" (last year was blue) where everyone wore pink, the house was decorated in pink, and all the food was pink. Needless to say, there was a lot of PINK. She's my kind of girl. Also, I think the birthday girl changed into a minimum of four different dresses. Ellie celebrated in her typical fashion, by sleeping (during the day of course).

My New Best Friend

This is a beautiful face to wake up to (but I would prefer to wait until at least 7am to see it).

Scoot over Jen, you've been replaced by coffee. I'm not really sure how I used to get through the day before. I would make the occasional trip to Starbucks for a Grande Soy Latte, but now I can't make it to 9:00 am without at least two (usually three) cups of Folgers. This all stems from Ellie's new sleep schedule the past week. I guess we got a little spoiled when she would go down at 8:30 and make it until 3:00 am without so much as a peep. For some reason she reverted back to waking up every 2-3 hours. Last night she went down by 8:45, up at 12:00, 2:00, 3:45, and so on. At 6 am she is ready to greet the day, ready or not. Knute and I have gone through a laundry list of possibilities for why the sudden change. We have the same bedtime routine every night: bath, bottle, story, rocking. I thought most three-month old babies sleep through the night (a five hour stretch). No? If this post makes no sense it is because I am functioning like a Zombie.

Ellie Looks Like Me!

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Weekend in Aptos

As an extended celebration of Knute's 30th Birthday we headed to Aptos and stayed at the Seascape Resort. It was the perfect spot for a relaxing weekend and the weather was gorgeous. We enjoyed a nice lunch by the pool, a Clam Bake for dinner, and a campfire complete with s'mores by the ocean. I love little weekend getaways, even if it's only for one night. There are so many great places to visit when you live in California.


The lobsters we had with our clam bake came complete with eyes. Yum!


Ellie's first trip to the ocean. Unfortunately she was too busy napping to notice. Maybe next year..