Moving Forward

Calvin has been "crawling" for a long time now.  Only thing is, until yesterday he could only move backward.  When Brian appeared at his classroom door to pick him up yesterday afternoon, Calvin crawled right over to him!  

little scamp

Well, apparently he crawled halfway, then flopped down on his belly and army-crawled the rest of the way.  To his credit, the room is quite spacious, so there was quite a bit of ground for the little guy to cover. 

fueling up to go, go, go!

But the fact is, he did it!  He actually moved his beautiful baby body FORWARD, not backward or in circles, which feels like a huge step (or crawl, as the case may be).

this little stinker is plotting his next move

I tried to encourage him to replicate it once I got home, and only got the army-crawl, but it was still awesome to see.  Though I'm a little bummed I didn't get to see his very first crawl, I'm thrilled that Brian did, and I'm so proud of my little boy for accomplishing this impressive first!  :)

gotta savor these moments before he gets too busy for me!  :)

Anniversary 9.0

On July 24, 2013 we celebrated 9 years of marriage.  9 years, wow.  We've been together over 14 years.  Bigger wow.  We were in Pensacola on the actual day; we spent the day with Calvin, then he got in some grandpa time with Brian's dad in the evening while we went to a special dinner.  All in all it was lovely.

A tradition we have for our anniversary is to go back to the park where our ceremony was held, the Park of Roses, then have dinner at the restaurant where we had our reception, La Scala Italian Bistro.

Both of our weekends after getting back from vacation were busy, but finally, yesterday, we made it happen.  What a beautiful day!  Sunny blue skies, white puffy clouds, quite warm but not uncomfortably hot.  And I couldn't believe how beautiful the park was!  It was quite obvious all the rain we've been getting this summer has made the roses flourish, because they were bigger and more vibrant that perhaps I've ever seen them.  

Since it was a Saturday, we saw a few wedded (or soon-to-be) couples and smiled at the happy memories of our own wonderful day there.

Brian's goofy smile was courtesy of some nearby bees he was nervous about

A lot of what we talked about during our stroll is how unbelievable and awesome it is that our beautiful son was finally there with us.  It was a moment we'd long awaited, and we were so happy to share it with him.

Then and now

Afterward, we had a delicious dinner at La Scala.  Again, we'd talked about how much we looked forward to the day, and finally he was there to share it with us.

Hi!

I'm so grateful to have Calvin here to share these special moments with us. As with everything, he makes it infinitely more meaningful.

Our First Family Vacation

At this moment, I'm cruising in the dark, in the passenger seat of our version of the family truckster - Brian's 2012 Dodge Charger Blacktop edition.  Our beautiful 8-months-old-today baby is sleeping in the back.  We're on our way home from our big summer vacation in Pensacola, Florida.  Of course, this phase of the trip is quite bittersweet - it's hard to leave sun-drenched days at the pool, the beach, antiquing, exploring, eating amazing food, and relaxing.  Days that were all our own, leisurely, full of freedom and possibility.

  

"Sharknado" may have entered the mix, a surprise late contender for Most Regrettable Vacation Decision 2013.  But that's the beauty of vacation - anything's fair game, and 'guilt' is thrown off of our borrowed 10th floor condo balcony (thanks so much, FIL).  You see, carpe diem only goes so far on vacation - for sure, I want to fully enjoy every day, and fit in plenty of fun activities, but perhaps just as important is the down time.  The relaxation, the kicking back.  One might say, why did I drive 12 hours to lounge on the couch (sort of) watching Sharknado?  And the answer to that is, because I CAN.  Because obviously.  Because I don't want to be completely exhausted by my vacation.  So that being said, I think we struck a very good balance of filling our days with activity and rest.  Especially with Calvin in tow now, we did take breaks now and then to catch our breath, even if only to figure out what we'd do next.

And oh, what fun we had!  We took our water baby to the pool and the beach several times (Calvin enjoyed the beach quite a bit for being so young), and tried to drink the water at both places.  We did some shopping, ate delicious food we couldn't get back home, we took pictures... The quality family time was through the roof.  Brian and I also had the pleasure of celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary with a movie and very special dinner date (thanks to the FIL for watching Calvin!).  We drank a heroic amount of beer, and I found a new affinity with a blueberry-flavored brew (thanks again FIL for watching Cal).  Meals were memorable - they were events.  I love that about vacation.

  

Something that definitely ranked way up there for me during our trip was watching Cal interact with the many people we encountered during our various adventures.  He definitely continued to be a little ham, eating up all the attention lavished on him.  Though he's still working on crawling forward (he can scoot backward with the best of them), Calvin did accomplish a few developmental milestones while we were on vacation.  Now and then, he'll, adorably, wave, and occasionally he'll give out high fives like it's his job.  It's so awesome.  And during our trip, he cut his second bottom tooth.  Pensacola claims it as its own.

All in all, it was an amazing vacation.  I feel incredibly grateful that we have the ability, the means and the opportunity to to make it happen, and for the hand Brian's dad had in making it possible and privileged for us.  It was truly wonderful.

A Day In The Life Of My 7-Month-Old

2:30am - Hmm... I could eat.  Why wait? Better tell mama.

2:45am - *snore*

4:30am - *yawn*  It's still dark.  Wonder why I woke up?  Oh, it's that dream.  I was in my jumper and suddenly I jumped so high I could touch the top of the tree in my front yard.  Daddy was so amazed!  Anyway, I'm bored.  Let's eat!

5:30am - Why am I on my back??  Nooo!  I want to be on my side!  Aaaah!  Aaaah! Aaa- oh, thanks, mama.  That's better... I feel.. good... n... *snore*

6:30am - Mama, it's light out now, and guess what?  I could eat again.

7:00am - Oh, good morning mama and daddy!  Love you, have a good day at work, daddy!  I'm going back to sleep now.

7:30am - Mama, nooo, I'm still sleeping!  Don't change me!  Aaaah!  *whine*  Oh, ok, fine.  Go ahead.  Ooh, I like that song you're singing!  Haha!  That's great!

7:35am - Ok, ok, I'll smile for my requisite morning picture to send to daddy.  :)

7:40am - In my car seat I go.  Hello, blue block.  Mama, I like this song!

7:45am - Time for school!  Bye, mama!  I love you!  Hey, Cole, what's up, man?  Seriously, how do you do that crawling stuff?  I can only go backward.  You've GOT to teach me that.

8:00am - Ah, the classic stacking toy.  Vintage entertainment at its best.

8:30am - Miss Heather made me cereal to eat, yum!  *nom nom nom*  Ack, what a mess.  Hey, how about I wash that down with some milk?

9:00am - Ooh, what a cute baby I see in the mirror!  He looks so happy!  And he waves his arms just like I do!

9:30am - *grunt*  Oof, what did I eat?  Oh, right, avocados.  That's a doozy.  Miss Heather says I'm stinky!  Mama says that all the time.

10:00am - Bottle time, yesss!  *slurp*

10:30am - *snore*

12:00pm - Yay, time to eat again!  Bananas!  YUM!!  *kicky feet*

1:00pm - Miss Lindsay, where'd you come from?  Yes, hi, I see you there!  

1:30pm - YAAHHH A BOOK!  She's reading me a book!!  I love it!!!  Teddy the Elephant is such a scamp.  Will he ever win??

2:00pm - OMG I have a bottle in my mouth, I'm lounging on a pillow, and no one else is screaming at the moment.  Doesn't get much better than this.

2:30pm - *snore*

3:00pm - Hmm, what to do, what to do... Oh, I know!  Eat!  Miss Lindsay, I'm hungry.  

...

Miss Lindsay, a little service, here??  

4:30pm - Bouncy bouncy bouncy yayayayayay!

5:00pm - Whoa, hi daddy!  What's up??  Is it time to go home already??  Yeeeee!!  :D

Zoo Day!

On Saturday, June 22, we took Calvin for his first visit to the zoo!  It was a lovely, hot day, sunny and clear, and Cal wore a perfect little mini-Jack Hanna ensemble.

As always, the zoo was beautiful.  

We first headed over to good ol' North America to see the sights.

We spotted some animals, too - imagine that.  :P

We then headed over to check out the polar bears (or bear, as it were).

Afterward, we stopped by the petting zoo.  Cal got a kick out of the goats and horses.

Then, we moved on to what had to be Calvin's favorite place - the aquarium.  He was immediately enthralled by all the fish swimming by, and got very kicky.  :)  He seemed to know it was water they swam in, because he repeatedly tried to splash with his hand, just like while in the pool.  He was enraptured for a good 15 minutes or more.

We wound down the trip shortly after, particularly due to the fact that it was about 200 degrees out, but not before getting a few more pictures.

We have a family pass, though, so we'll be back often to explore.  We're so fortunate to have one of the best zoos in the country just a few miles from home!