Happy 1st Birthday, Waverly!

She's a year old! Holy cow that was fast.  Waverly is so full of energy and demands attention.  She's going to be a tough little cookie in the coming years.

7/12/13 Updates: Stats from her 1 year appointment:

Length: 27 3/4"
Weight: 17lbs.

Perfectly 10th percentile in all aspects. 

She's been adding tons of skills and personality over the past few months.  She waves hi and bye. Dada is by far her favorite word and mama a close second - but we don't compare to her all time favorite person - Anderson.  Her eyes light up when she spots him first thing in the morning, she squeals (really!) when we get to the gate of his preschool because she knows that she gets to see him. She crawls and cruises after him, basically not leaving him alone.  Wave has two teeth and is really really close to two more, somedays I think they are out but then they are not, with two more following right behind. She can stand for very short intervals by herself, but is in no rush to walk - she prefers to have her man servant brother wait on her.  

Some of her favorite activities are swimming, crawling on the trampoline and the swings.  She's a good sleeper and hasn't met a food she doesn't like.  It's as if she's always been with us.  Love, love, love our family of four.  We're really blessed.

Right after she joined us 7/9/12

7/9/13

Family Portrait

First Cupcake!

She prefers cake over frosting

Catching Up

Time moves way to fast these days.  Nothing crazy - just life.  Wave is now 10 months old.  Her stats from her 9 month appointment (the last one before she's 1):

• 14 lbs 9oz
• 26.5 " (I think, I forget off the top of my head)

Anderson is 4 years old (holy moly that was fast).  Stats from his 4 yr appointment:

• 33lbs
• 39.5"

We celebrated A's bday by taking him to Disneyland for the weekend.  We did "cheat" a bit. All the cool rides (i.e. Lightning McQueen & Star Tours) requires height of 40".  So he may have wore his boots just to make it, which he did.  It was a great weekend.  Cindy flew in from NJ, Rick & Kathy caravanned down with us and Jamie & Erin met us in the park on Sunday.  Fun times by all. 

I started a new job in Mid-March.  It's great. I run the Real Estate & Facilities team globally for a start up. Global sounds funny, but they do in fact have 5 locations (US, EMEA & APAC) with more slated to open this year. It's a whirlwind and really fun. I've already closed my first transaction and have $40K+ sq ft under construction.  It's also in San Mateo, so outside of travel it's 2.5 miles from home. Not too shabby at all. 

Today was a big day, not because it's mother's day, but because Anderson learned to ride the big kid bike. We had training wheels on for about 10 minutes before taking them off (thank you balance bike!).  He was unsure at first, but I think he really likes it a lot and realizes it's pretty special to be riding a bike with pedals like mom and dad.  

Waverly crawls, sits and slightly pulls up. She's not totally there yet on that skill - which I'll take.  10 months and still no teeth; it's pretty cute.  There are 2 right there, just not cut through.  I expect that we'll get a few in a quick amount of time considering A had 5 or 6 at this point.  It really drives home that each kid is at their own pace.  

Spidey's (A & his BFF)

My fav - she hated characters

Dumbo

Cracking each other up

W/Nan in Carsland

No fear - Splash Mtn w/Uncle Jamie

...get by with a little help from my friends...

I can't help but have the Joe Crocker song in my head - you know, the one at the beginning of "Wonder Years". Sure sure, skip the part where he mentions getting high with a little help from his friends, we're not in college anymore.  But it makes me think of college...its one of those sacred times in life.  The fun and stress of transitioning from dependent to adult.  The memories flood back: D.C., 4th of July on the Mall, beer, class, amtrack, smokes, late nights, the love of my life...

Bri and I were RA's while at school.  Hey, free room & board, plus a paycheck. You can't beat it!  Bri had the smallest floor on campus in the basement terrace of McDowell Hall. His senior year is when we started dating - so I spent a lot of time on his floor.  Being the smallest and least desirable floor on the entire campus it was primarily made up of all freshman.  Freshman + Bri = one of the most fun places to be, coolest kids around. Chip was a freshman on Bri's awesome floor and pledged Phi Sig. Bri was his assistant (?) pledge master.  I always felt Bri thought of Chip as a little brother.  There was just something there.  Bri graduated and Chip transferred from AU. Through the years they kept in touch via email and facebook.  The fraternity had an anniversary/founders day event that both of them attended about a year or two ago and they caught up in person for the first time in ages.

We've lived somewhat parallel personal lives. Marriage, Jobs, Homeowners, Baby Boys in '09 and Baby Girls in '12.  In the fall Bri found out that Chip was diagnosed with cancer - Stage IV. The thoughts of what he and his family (his baby girl was not born yet), were and would be going through consumed us for some time.  I kept putting myself in his wife's shoes and couldn't begin to fathom.  We've talked about it a lot over the months, trying to figure out what we can do.  Mainly I just say a little prayer and send positive vibes their way.  Chip's wife maintains a blog, which cracks me up and proceeds to make me cry in a span of 10 seconds.  I think we'd be fast friends.  We'd drink and curse with the best of them. But while I have to worry about the kids and a job, she has that on her plate and much more.  I can't even imagine.  The two of them are the most amazing people. 

Even more amazing?   Today's blog post talked about an immediate need for the family to help cover some expenses.  The goal - raise $22K in the next two weeks to help cover expenses arising from a drug trial Chip will be participating in.  This was just posted - as of this evening (PDT) they have raised over $24K! Amazing and I think it speaks volumes about how much we all wanted to do something, anything to help out in any possible way from great distances - all for this amazing family whose strength knows no bounds.

To be cliche - Seize the Day, Hug and Kiss your loved ones and don't take tomorrow for granted.  AND if you have a spare buck or two - help support Team Kennett as they travel down the road no one chooses. 

What would you do if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends...

Back to work

I'm sitting on the company bus headed up 101 to work. Time flew. I realize I am extremely lucky for all the time I had off this time around; I'll never take it for granted especially knowing this time around how much is missed.

Wave and I were champs at drop off. I did have a weird moment. i packed everything last night except for her milk. Obviously it had to stay in the freezer/fridge. this morning I grab the frozen milk but totally forgot the bottle of fresh milk I pumped yesterday. Doh! Bri was able to swing home and drop it off. sheesh not stressful at all...She'll have 3 other babies in the 6-8 month range to keep her company. Anderson is excited to be able to stay for movie days on Friday at school. Win-win for all.

Post vacation blues & 7 months old

Vacation sure has a way of flying by way too fast.  I'm now in the countdown until I return to work - T-minus 14 days.  I'm not dwelling on it but will enjoy every last moment with Wave & Anderson.  Back to that vacation.  We went to Hawaii - the actual Island of Hawaii, aka the Big Island.  This was the second time Bri and I have been there and it solidified itself as my favorite of the islands. I haven't been to Lanai or Molokai, but I'm calling this the winner.  There is so much to do - great beaches, Volcano National Park, Whale Watching (in season), historic Hawaiian sites and it goes on.  

The flights were amazingly cheap and we rented a condo (rates for condos were better than Maui!).  With those savings we splurged on two things for Anderson (and us).  First, Dad and Anderson were able to the Dolphin Quest encounter for toddlers at the Hilton Waikoloa.  We didn't tell Anderson until about an hour before. He was pumped. Until he was in the water with the Dolphins.  At that point he wouldn't let go of Bri's hand and got pretty timid.  Right at the end he loosened up a bit and touched the  dolphin.  I was chatting with a trainer and telling her I was surprised he clammed up so much and she said it's not uncommon and that dolphins are much larger than kids expect.  Turns out he LOVED it and keeps talking about it.  The second splurge was a Whale Watching boat trip.  Whales hang out in the Hawaiian Islands from about Nov-April.  We saw quite a few mom/calf pods, and in the distance saw one lift it's head out of the water.  Very cool.  There are so many whales that once you know what to look for you can spot them from long distances - even driving along the coast.  

Anderson learned to boogie board and has asked when he can get his own board. We started in a super calm bay to learn the basics and then progressed to the ocean.  We asked Anderson what his favorite part of the trip was and he said the plane.  Go figure. :-)  Although, he is super polite and in the most random of moments will come up to us and say, thank you for taking me to Hawaii. No prompting at all. It's heartwarming. 

Wave hit 7 months old on our way home.  Lots of big things happening - she's extremely coordinated now, VERY vocal - lots of consonant sounds coming from her and wants to crawl very badly - she's getting close to getting on her knees.  

I love our family! We're feeling beyond blessed.

Wave on the Volcano Caldera

Same location, 5 yrs later of the "Us" photo at right

A was so excited to go into the Lava tube

BUNS!

Sums up my feeling on life...

Happy 1/2 birthday, Waverly!

A half a year. I just can not believe it. This past month has brought a lot of developmental milestones for Wave.  She can now sit unassisted, she enjoys oatmeal and a variety of vegetables, rolls (somewhat - she's lazy) and is very very vocal.  Like mother, like daughter - Bri is in trouble for sure.  

Sleep has been hit or miss. I just don't understand that part of this girls make up - she'll sleep like a rock and for long stretches for a few weeks and then in a blink of an eye, she's up every 2-3 hours for nights on end.  I would chalk it up to growth spurts but she's not that big.   The only connection I can find is that when the weather is cooler and we run the heat it interrupts her sleep because 1., her hands are freezing and 2. the heat coming on in random intervals wakes her up. I've given up the swaddle this week. I know that's part of our issue as she transitions to just the sleep sack, but I'm hoping it helps in the long run. I know there is a pretty serious 6 mo growth spurt - I'm hoping we're past that. Oh and we're teething. I still can't see any buds but I know what's going on.

We're looking forward to this month.  We're going to get back on schedule from the crazy holidays and then spend the first week of Feb relaxing as a family of four on the Big Island.  My last hurrah before returning to the working world.  Flickr has great new app and because of it I'm doing really well not missing a day of the 365 project.  ok ok - so we're only 9 days in, but still.  Even more awesome, I've got some companions on this year long journey.  My good friend Maura is joining in with her beautiful newborn, Margo and my cousin Dana is also doing the same for Gianna (2 months younger than Wave).  It will be so fun to see these girls change throughout 2013.

Stats update 1/14/2013:
Height: 25"
Weight: 13 lbs 4oz.
Waverly did well with her shots & she got her ears pierced!

6 months!

Holidays 2012 Recap

Greatest family portrait ever? Possibly.

Photo by Anderson
(with the DSLR, way to go!)

Busy Busy Busy! As usual the holidays were fun, exciting and just plain old busy.  We hosted Christmas Eve dinner as well as Christmas dinner - a different part of Bri's family each day.  We love to host and honestly it's much easier on the kids, they can stay somewhat on schedule and can go to bed if/when they need.

Two seats!

Making cookies

Anderson only asked Santa for 1 thing (since about June); he wanted a "motorcycle with two seats", sometimes referred to only as 'two seats".  Since we speak Anderson we understand this to be a power wheel (not a car though, more like a dune buggy).  A boy at our park has one and gives Anderson rides.  He loves it and wanted to own and drive one.  He asked Santa in the mall, he asked Santa in school on his letter, he asked mom to tell Santa.  Well, seems like Santa heard and delivered.  He also got some other (not as cool) things - Spiderman undies, art supplies and dinosaurs.  His grandparents spoiled him and his sister with many things.  Waverly got her first dolly care of Anderson. He told us what he wanted to get her and picked it out all by himself.  

On our way to the N.Bay

School was closed for winter break for two weeks and dad had the week between Christmas and New Years off from work.  We took advantage of it by hanging out at the park, seeing some friends in the North Bay, and heading to the snow.  For snow you can go North East to Tahoe or straight east towards Yosemite.  We chose the latter this time.  It was a long drive, compounded by the fact we had to stop and put the chains on (yeah mom was on the ground getting dirty too) and then got stuck behind a truck doing no more than 15 miles per hour. However, it was all worth it in the end.  Anderson had a blast (so did mom & dad), Waverly looked like she had fun sitting in the snow watching her brother.

So that's it. A busy but very exciting and rewarding family time together to wrap up an amazing year.  I've started the 365 photo project for Waverly, same as I did for Anderson in his first calendar year.  We eventually turned his photo project into a book and it's great. I can't wait to do the same for her. 

Family Snow Day!

As for me, I'm still home enjoying the kiddos.  California might be the best state for maternity leave, compound that with my employer offers a generous leave + I had accrued almost 7 weeks PTO prior to leave and now they offer a sabbatical. I've been there 7 years, so I get 7 weeks.  I return to work at the end of Feb (with what will surely be a very heavy heart & quite possible tears this time), but am so very very grateful for all of the time I have been allowed to spend with the kids.  It's not only the time I've been with Wave, but what I've been able to do with A, in his classroom, after school and on days off.