Fun in the Sun!

Driving, driving, driving. We did a lot of driving. Adessa was a trooper, but was happy to be anywhere but in her car seat by the end.


Kissing baby Alex at our stop in Santa Monica. (Who's mom, Amy, is in labor RIGHT NOW (9:00pm, 7/29/08). We are excited to meet him and are praying hard!


Floating on the "Lazy River", part of our hotels water-park-complex-concentrated-fun-for-all-ages-extravaganza-spectacular-area. This photo captures one of the brief moments that Adessa wore her glasses.


Back at home, hooray! She's a walker, hooray! (July 24th she was using it as her preferred method to get around.) And another hip hip hooray for Adessa's first pony tail. Are you as suprised as she is?


Palm Desert was great, but... we learned many valuable lessons about vacationing with a child. It is interesting to see, though we've adjusted so much since leaving our old lives and becoming parents, there are still more paradigm shifts in store for us.

Our epiphany: Having a child is not relaxing. We didn't relax very much. Gone are the days (that we both somehow still expected) where we could sit by the pool under an umbrella with a book, jump in when it's too hot, get out and read some more. That was the previous definition of relaxing vacation for me. No time limits, long hours just reading and swimming, maybe a little snooze, some slight sun burn.
Not so with a kid. She didn't last countless hours by the pool, she could be depended on for about one hour, and then we were taking our chances. And the naps! At home, naps are wonderful respite, because she sleeps and we get stuff done around the house. In our (lovely) hotel room, however, she slept and we waited for her to wake up so we could turn the light on, or took turns at the pool or workout room, but always with a time limit.

Interesting. It left us wondering about our next vacations. Probably won't be going to 108+ degree temperature places any time soon. We've ruled out camping for the forseable future. We don't particularly enjoy trying to eat in restaurants with Adessa. Hmmmm... We might be enjoying our time off from home for the next few years. And I look forward to reading, care-free, when our kids are...in middle school? teenagers? married?

Tahoe Family Vacation 2008

Before we left: (We hadn't downloaded pics for a while, these are catch-up.)

Her blueberries are so bright, she has to wear shades.


Is she posing? Looks like she's posing, in a tree, in San Luis Obispo. (We went the other weekend for a friends wedding.)


Tahoe
At Moon Dunes Beach, North Shore:
Bathing beauty, see how she basks.


We love Tahoe!


She did great on the car ride, too.


We had a terrific time in Tahoe. Adessa had a terrific time, especially. She loved the sand, the beach, the water, her cousins and aunts and uncles, all the stairs to crawl up and down in our condo, the pool,the rocks and sticks, and the boats. She has two new words: boat and Noah, thanks to the exposure in Tahoe to both.

This is a big post, really. Today Adessa is 13 months, 1 & 1/12 years old. And sometime this week, she got up and walked. She started standing up on her own, and then it was a few steps towards someone, and now she's taking steps here and there all over the place and falling down in between. Her greatest amount is probably around nine or ten steps, and sometimes she prefers to crawl or be walked. Its cute to watch, her walk is very wobbly, with lots of pausing and balancing and almost falling over. But it's walking!!

Terrible Ones?

I'm sure it's not really terrible, yet, or as terrible as it could be.  However, we're having some shrill shrieks, some head-thrown, back arched, body stiff, all around tantrums. Hmmmmm. Interesting. Adessa's realizing she's separate from me, wants to be and doesn't want to be at the same time. She also realizes there's a wide world of pretty, yummy things, and she wants them all Right Now. So far our parenting strategy has been to watch with eyebrows up, bemused and slightly irritated. Mostly, I miss the sweet thing she was, really thought I had parenting sewn up. Not so much.

She's also progressing like mad, much more steady on her feet but still not walking. She says: ball, oww, eye, hi, mama, dada, Li-Jah (for Elijah), and barks for dogs. She signs: more, bird, milk, and all done.We're going to Tahoe next week and are so excited to hang out by the lake and let her play in the sand. We'll have lots of pics and stories. 8)

Watching the neighborhood.


Our favorite gypsy.


Bathtub fun.

Here are the teeth!

Titles are hard for me. It's just more about Adessa

Adessa's up to walking about four steps by herself, as long as someone is there for her to aim towards. She's getting much more stable and confident, especially thanks to the little walker that she got for her birthday. She reads books to herself, but isn't very interested in having us read to her beyond the first few pages. (Which makes me worried she won't be a reader. She wants to turn the pages herself, in whatever order, but will put up with us pointing to dogs or fish with appropriate word labels and noises.) She sings to herself, sometimes at high volume. Her face has doubled in expressions and expressiveness, which is delightful to watch. Interacting is just fun. She's up to eight teeth, and they're getting bigger and bigger which makes her look very grown up and kid-like. Adessa has been previously spotted giving her pacifier to her stuffed animals and doll, and even to the crying baby in a book. Now, when putting her to bed, she consistently will lie on her back, hold her feet in front of her face, make the sucking noise and offer her pacifier to her toes. Its charming! With the hot weather, she's been wearing tank tops and shorts, and its a treat to have her soft skin available to kiss!
It hasn't felt like summer, yet, as I participated in a writing workshop after school got out, and then have been taking care of business. I look forward to unwinding better and having a few days with nothing to do except swim and frolic.

Go Dessa, It's your birthday!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl! She's one. One year of her. Her face looks older to me today, maybe just noticing today an incremental lessening of her cheeks, and a lengthening of her neck that make her look more kid-like, less baby-like. I cannot begin to touch with words how full of amazement and wonder this year has been. Thankful doesn't get close, though I try constantly to be aware of the miracle that Adessa is, to not take her heath, her spirit, her sweetness for granted. Because she is pure sweet baby goodness.

She gave me a bit of a run for my money, today. She didn't nap well, which leaves her fussy and demanding. I got impatient. She didn't want to be put down. I got frustrated. Now, though, she's sleeping, clean and soft, breathing deep through her puffed out lips. Yeah. Darling, adorable baby goodness. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Fun Stuff! Happy Hollow & Birthday Fun

The notorious Felton Mom's gang wrangled our kiddies to Happy Hollow mini-zoo-like-product-thingy in San Jose on Friday, June 6th. We saw monkeys, lemurs, barn-yard animals you could feed, and a jaguar! (Not the car.) It was fabulous to hang out with mommy and baby friends, and see the mini-sights. There were even rides, and the one we tried Adessa didn't want to get off of. More! More!

Feeding the goaties: a quarter buys you a handful of oats and then, goat slobber.


Merry on the merry-go-round! Adessa's first ride.


Adessa's second ride. Oh Yeah! In the police cruiser. She was in hot pursuit of her friend Ryan, but never managed to catch him.


Then, Saturday the 7th we celebrated Adessa's first birthday at Felton Covered Bridge Park. Auntie Laurel set up the show and reserved our spot, and it was beautiful and uber-festive. We had fun! She was kind of grouchy, even though I tried to time it perfectly between naps, but hey: it's her party and she can cry if she wants to! Crazy to think that on Thursday she'll be one year. ONE YEAR. I'm sure you'll have more reflection to wade through on Thursday, so I'll save it for then.

Let's party! With Auntie Lolo and the butterfly/bee combo cake.


Godmother Romina and favorite doggie, Beau, sporting balloons.


The babies! Please note that Gwennie proudly wore her sunglasses throughout the entire party, no small feat for a 17 month old!

Camping!

Helping Mommy make brownies for camping- Yum!

Moments out of the car, eating dirt, sporting a dirt mustache. Oh yeah.

Sitting by the campfire, giving her two-cents on which trail to take.

We made it! We're still smiling!

It was dirty, smoky, sticky (s'mores) fun. We took the short drive to Big Basin's beautiful redwoods to try out camping with a baby. We had a great time, except for the trying-to-sleep, pretending-to-sleep, and lying uncomfortably in bed wondering if-it's-early-enough-yet-to-get-out-of-the-tent-and-make-a-fire cycle we went through both nights. Needless to say, we were glad to sleep in our own bed last night!