Rollin'

All he needs now is some homies.

Rolling (for whatever reason, the screen shot of the video won't embed so you have to click the link that says "Rolling").

I was going to link to a clip from Clueless for the reference above (for those readers who did not see the movie a zillion times in the 90s).  However, YouTube revealed that I'm not actually the first person to cleverly connect that song with their rolling infant.  So now I'm just embarrassed, but only a little because, I mean, that's culture!

Henry at 3 months

Wow, three months.  And this post is already two weeks late.  It's not because we don't love him.  

If I had written this post a week ago, as intended, I would have just gushed about how Henry is completely delicious and sleeps 10 or 12 hour stretches and spends the rest of his time eating, spitting up (he's going for world champion), sleeping, cooing or grinning.  It would have been short and maybe even a bit smug.

Meanwhile, he learned to roll over.  But not roll back.  So he rolls, then contentedly looks around for a while, then screams bloody murder.  This is a bit challenging during the day in that I can't really set him down for long anymore because he almost immediately flips onto his stomach, screaming shortly to follow.  It's also proving an issue at night... I wake to hear him struggling, go in and find him on his belly.  I roll him back, he fusses and rolls back onto his tummy, but gets mad (not to mention that he's not supposed to sleep on his stomach).  We go back and forth for a while until I feed him to settle him down.  He settles and goes back to sleep, but if it's after 5AM, all this has likely awakened Grace so she's probably up for the day, which means I am.  And even if she's not, I go back to bed and, instead of sleeping, worry about whether I'm teaching him to eat when he's not actually hungry since it's the only way to calm him down after he plays the rolling game.  I guess we will see what happens.  There are many lovely things about not being a first time parent, and one is having a better perspective on the fact that - just as a week ago I thought I had a fabulous sleeper (read:  am an amazingly brilliant parent) - phases are short and babies change as soon as you figure them out.  I think he's too young to sleep-train so we will just muddle through for a while and see how things evolve.

Still, I'm writing this on Henry's 15 week day, and despite the above (all of which is normal and wonderful, don't get me wrong), his top favorite activities remain the same, just add rolling/yelling to the mix.  I particularly love babies this age.  Henry holds his head up and interacts, but is still so, so little.  He's changing rapidly.  I saw Aunt June today and a friend, both of whom hadn't seen him in a week or so, and both commented on how much he had changed in just that short time.  He's so smiley and such a flirt (he kills me in the middle of the night with his cute smiles).  He's not quite as mellow as he was, but remains a lovely dinner companion (friends, we have eaten in restaurants!  we did not know babies could do that at the dinner hour).  We marvel at how he just hangs out wherever we take him and except for the odd day or hour here and there, is generally calm.  He wants badly to suck his thumb.  Sometimes I try to sneak the binky in instead, but I'm kind of ambivalent about it.  He just seems far more interested in it than the binky, and it's always there.  But, it's always there.  

Oh my word, what a smile that boy has!  Every once and a while we get a giggle out of him.  Melt.

One of my favorite things ever is to watch Henry and Grace when he's riding in the stroller and she's riding on the standing platform facing him.  His face lights up like nothing else when he sees her.  They chat and entertain each other and I have to be careful not to steer the stroller into people or lampposts as I watch them.  I also have to be careful not to get caught absentmindedly yodeling as I watch them, which may or may not have happened recently thanks to Grace's Sound of Music binge (thank goodness it was a charming middle-aged couple, not some hipsters, although my yodel was, definitely, ironic so maybe it would have been ok).  

Anyway, rolling shenanigans aside, Henry is the most delicious little guy.  Ever.  Further proof:

Conversations

A few good ones recently...

Grace was mimicking everything I said.
Me:  Are you copying me?
Grace:  Are you copying me?
Me:  Gracie is a stinker.
Grace:  Gracie is a stinker.
Me:  Mama is the best, and I will always listen and do exactly what she says.
Grace:  I don't know that one.

Steve and I were looking through the DVDs at the library, and he picked up Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Me:  We've seen that.
Steve:  I haven't.
Me:  I don't know who else I could have watched it with.  I'm sure we watched it together.
Steve:  I definitely haven't seen it.
Me:  You're saying that now, but when you see the opening scene, you will say "haven't we seen this?"

A few days later, we sat down to watch it.  The opening scene rolled.
Steve:  I think we've seen this...

And that is 10 years of marriage in a nutshell.

The graduate

A few nights before leaving San Francisco, we attended Steve's graduation dinner.  A few weeks ago, I would have gushed about how great it was to celebrate the end of such an intense fellowship...  

We are learning a new definition of intense.  So far it seems like internship and the first year of core fellowship combined.  The other day Grace said something like "Daddy didn't have to work so much in San Francisco."  I explained that she was too young to remember how much he worked the first two years we lived there.  I think we all got used to him being around over the last year, spoiled even.  

Anyway, here's the gang.  For whatever reason, the five daughters of the fellows couldn't be found for the photo, but the three boys born during their three years are here.  I guess it fits since their class happened to be all men.

This is the only shot of us all together.  

Congratulations, Steve!  You worked like crazy and earned all the accolades.  We miss you, but your commitment to being the best possible clinician and researcher you can be inspires me.  Your patients are so very lucky.

And boy do I look forward to celebrating your graduation from this fellowship!

State hopping

As a native westerner, I still find it both delightful and bizarre that you can day trip to another state, even more than one.  Perhaps this is a little weird since I grew up day tripping to another country (one I could see from my childhood home).  Nevertheless, I think it's funny to decide to pop across state lines in search of adventure.

We did just that while my mom was visiting, taking her to Maine for her first visit.  We didn't have time to go far and wanted to be outside so we headed to Ogunquit.  We had heard it was pretty touristy, and I hope the Mainers reading this aren't disgusted - is Ogunquit the Fisherman's Wharf of Maine?  Whatever the local take on it is, we had a lovely day playing on the beach and walking along the Marginal Way, enjoying the views.  And of course, eating ice cream.

During Steve's last few days of vacation, we really wanted to get in at least one good hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Unfortunately, we realized this was nuts because weren't really going to drive six hours round trip with the kiddos.  We found a state park about ninety minutes away instead, still in NH, and figured we could do a shortish hike and then picnic by the lake.  This was in the middle of our heat wave and the bugs were out.  We spent a ton of time explaining to Grace that we had to at least make it to the trail head and she needed to stop whining.  We made it about a hundred yards past the trailhead and were getting eaten alive.  I got 11 bug bites on my legs alone in about 30 minutes.  It was wicked hawt.  We turned around and headed back to the lake.  Turned out to be a great spot - crowded with swimmers, but there were a handful of secluded picnic tables and some short trails in the woods right along the shore and a playground.  Grace had a great time playing and we really enjoyed being outside.  We would like to go back in the fall when it will be cooler, less buggy and hopefully have good color.  We may even hike!  We also need to find some families to hike with - Grace can miraculously hike so much farther when there's another kid her age!

A couple of minutes of actual hiking.

This is Grace's trying to keep the bugs away face.

Marshlands.

Picnic time.

Playtime.

Love.

SoCal

Just before we left California, we took one last road trip to Southern California so Nana could meet Henry and the kids could see Grandpa once more.  Although I had vowed never to drive there for fewer than two full days after our Thanksgiving trip, circumstances (read:  Steve's work commitments) conspired to mean that we had to make a last minute plan change to drive down Friday morning and back Sunday afternoon.  It was all complicated by the fact that Henry was still on a fairly frequent feeding schedule (even now, almost 6 weeks later, he still wants to eat about every two hours during the day).  We did have to make a stop in the middle of nowhere to feed him in a gravel pit by the freeway.  Steve and I pride ourselves on being able to do really long days with very few stops, but with a newborn it just isn't possible.  It's rather humbling to have the 5 or 6 hour run from SF to LA last 8 or 9 hours.  There was a huge forest fire near the grapevine and we also witnessed an accident right in front of us on the 210 (Steve narrowly but expertly avoided it, although it woke Grace up and then we hit traffic and then had to stop unexpectedly for gas, which woke Henry up, and it was so hot and we had two sobbing children and it all became a bit of a debacle, the kind where I'm white knuckling and trying not to scream at everyone in the car - my head explodes a little when I'm trapped in a car with a screaming, hungry infant).  

This, however, was a peaceful moment.  

Visiting Nana.

Saturday we wanted to do some fun stuff for Grace so we headed over to Travel Town in Griffith Park with Grandpa.  For years when we drove through the Valley, Steve would point it out to me and say "there's Travel Town.  They have trains.  I loved that place when I was little."  It was fun to finally see it.  It's full of old trains to play on and has a small train ride that circles the park.  It was outrageously hot, though, even by LA standards given that it was early June.  Grace had a great time.

After a trip to Rubios (when near San Diego...), we went over to the Griffith Park Observatory.  Grace has a recent interest in space, particularly in Neil Armstrong (which she pronounces with an emphasis on the second syllable of armstrong that is so cute), so we thought she would enjoy the exhibits there.  Still so hot, but the chaparral smelled so good as we took short hike up to the observatory (and then discovered tons of parking at the top - don't you love when that happens, especially after you've just had tense words with your spouse about whether to just take the parking spot you saw partway up?).

Here's Grace showing proper reverence for Einstein (just realized this is a tradition - here she is at 10 months at the Athenaeum at Cal Tech).

Henry, me and the Hollywood sign (note my Dodger Blue shorts!).

Future astrophysicist (tho I'm sure she will be wearing a princess dress while gazing at the stars and performing ballet in her time off).

With Grandpa.

We hit the pool after that long, hot day, and then had an easy morning Sunday before a final visit to Nana's.  

Zoned out kids.

Trip back was pretty uneventful, except for the unplanned nursing stops.  We took Pacheco Pass for a change, which is so beautiful.  We also discovered that Casa de Fruta is a fabulous rest stop for a four year old (peacocks, playground, trains!).  Maybe (hopefully) someday we will actually be able to use that info.  It was a long, hot trip for such a short time, but glad we did it.  It's possible Grace had more than one meal that consisted of french fries and a milkshake... but I guess that's what road trips and memories are made of?

Left my heart

As much fun as we've been having "back east", I left my heart in San Francisco.  It wasn't the cable cars, but the people.  I've written about my ambivalence about the city, but family, old friends, and many new ones made our three years there wonderful.  

Here are a few shots from our sad goodbyes.

Nat and Henry.  So sorry we missed meeting baby girl.

Gavin and Grace.  They developed such a sweet friendship.

Finally made it to the "boat park".  It was as fun as promised, should have gone sooner.

Ok, so Pop didn't live in San Francisco, but we got to see him a lot since we were just a "short" drive from the PNW.  And, giant thanks for your moving help, Dad!

Last playdate with Lizzie and Emily.  So great to have friends going through the same fellowship.  

Sad farewell to Finn and his family.  Fingers-crossed for a reunion out here sometime...

Mia (and Sarah's) first trip to In-n-Out.  A year too late!

Goodbye bbq at the spa.  Tears.

Steve's Giant's "birthday" cake.

Early morning reading and snuggles with Great Aunt Kristie.

Our last evening in San Francisco... final chance to hang out with Mia, Sarah and Julio (and another baby we will miss meeting).  

Ack, just looking at all these pictures makes me tear up.  I missed a few pictures, and notably absent here are sad goodbyes to Harmony, Amelia, Allison and the Johnsons.  Grace's last day of school was also really hard - they made her a fabulous book with pictures and messages from her whole class along with a giant banner they all decorated.  I sobbed when I read through it.

We are missing everyone.  Keep in touch, and come visit!