Drake's new trick

Why are we always wearing sweatshirts at the Beach?

Not this past weekend but the one previous, I had wanted to stay home and continue our quest to baby proof our home and organize our storage area. BORING. The weather was nice and Sam decided that since we have few nice weekends before fall and winter hit we had better head to the beach for one last summer trip. We checked the weather and decided to head to a beach that we had never been to 1) because it appeared to be warmer and 2) it was closer to our house. We went to San Gregorio beach. Well, it wasn't that great of a beach, there wasn't a cute little town associated with it nor was it in any way warm. But, we had a good time anyway as a fam.
I do need to add a side note. The Bay area is full of beaches and coastline. I keep hoping to head to the beach at some point for the true beach experience and lay out in the warm sun in my bathing suit, get a tan, dip in the ocean, etc. This has yet to happen here. The beach is often times cold, foggy and rainy and the water is freezing! Guess I need to head down south for the "real" beach experience.

A tooth! Makes mama proud.

Preface: I normally only work three days a week but the last two weeks I have had to take some continuing education courses on one of my days off in order to keep my dental license. This past weekend was also quite busy as my mother-in-law and one of my best friends were in town. Then yesterday Drake had to go to a new babysitters house as our normal babysitter is out of town for the week.
So, yesterday at the babysitter Drake would not have anything to do with his bottle. He would suck on it for a few minutes and then push it away. He normally drinks anywhere from 12-16 ounces during the day while I'm gone but yesterday he drank 3-4! I breastfed him when I got home and of course was ravenous. I then also fed him some solid food and he ate a lot but seemed a bit fussy. He had been acting kinda weird all day. I didn't know if it was the busy weekend, the new surroundings, me being gone more or the new nipple on his bottle! I finally put my finger in his mouth to check his gums and sure enough I felt something hard. At eight months he was finally getting his first tooth! As a dentist mom you worry about these things but now I can relax as his dental development is proceeding forward. His sleep hasn't seemed to have been to interrupted by the whole thing so that is good. Oh wait, I think I hear him awake now...Ugh! (Sorry no pics yet. He won't even let me have a good look at it let alone hold still long enough to take a picture. Maybe later.)

Summer trip to Seattle

We took a week long trip to Seattle this summer to be with family at the end of July. It was a crazy time with record breaking heat in Seattle (110 degrees!) and lots of bouncing around between family but it was great to see everyone. We spent two days at Sam's aunt's house on Mason lake. We then spent two days at a cabin my family had rented on Lake Kushman. We spent two days at Sam's mom's house. Sam left to head back home and to work and I spent the remainder of the trip at my family's house and bouncing between friends. I also got to babysit my nephew Gideon which was a real treat! Here are some of the highlights that we got on camera...


Drake with Great Grandma Roberts

Drake with Gigi

Drake with Uncle Neb



Sam wake surfing (I wimped out on the whole water sports thing)

Drake's first boat ride (He didn't really dig the life jacket!)

Drake's first dip in the lake with Great Aunt Serena



Drake with Grammy

Drake with Great Grandpa Chadwick

Four generations!

(The newest generation had just woken up from naps if you can't tell.)

4th of July 2009

Ok, so I am posting this a little late but that is just the way it goes.

This year for the fourth we didn't really have anything in particular planned. We had tossed around ideas all week long but come Saturday we really hadn't made any plans. Early that morning we had to help with our church fourth of July breakfast, but following that we were undecided. It is at these times that I feel a little blue that we are not closer to my family to make plans so I had pretty well decided it was going to be a lame holiday. Sam insisted though that we do something fun. He researched all the fireworks shows in the area and decided that we should head to Half Moon Bay. We had already missed the parade that day but there was to be a fireworks show off the water that night. We did a little shopping, at some italian food, walked along the beach and snacked on some delicious fresh cherries while waiting for the fireworks. I was skeptical, but it turned out to be a great day as a family!

Funky antique store in Half Moon Bay

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Fuzzy pic but there was a group of dolphins swimming right off shore.

Me and my little guy on the beach

Sam. What else can I say?

Self taken family photo

Waiting for the fireworks

There they are!

Feed me!

Drake had his first solid food (rice cereal) on Friday his five month birthday. I think he enjoyed chewing on the spoon more than the food but as you can see we had a good time. He is growing up way too fast!

Best 30th Birthday Ever, a Total Surprise!

Turning 30 was not a pleasant thought for me. After having a baby I am still 10 pounds too heavy so that is not a good place to start at 30. My health insurance company informed me that my premiums were to go up $100 a month because of my advanced age. My husband also asked me, "What happened to my young bride?" I know we should grow old with grace and dignity but I just wasn't feeling it. Besides all that, I hadn't heard of any big plans for the big day and less than a week before my birthday Sam asks me if I want to have a few friends over from our ward (of which we have only attended for a few months and don't have a ton of friends). I politely declined. I was feeling a little blue being away from my family and thought my birthday would be a total flop.
Sam traditionally does a "birthday week" celebration and kicked it off on Sunday night (Thursday being my actually birthday) by giving me a pair of cool earrings. I was pleased and thought perhaps I would get a little gift every day leading up to my birthday.
The next evening I got a card from Sam and inside it said, "Wicked June 9". I was a little shocked as it was 10pm at night and I had to work the next day. He had made plans to see the show the next night and then told me we would spend the night in the city. He told me that my brother-in-law's girlfriend would be watching Drake overnight. This was all a bit overwelming to me. First of all, I was ready to go to bed and finally get some sleep and now I had to pack and get everything ready for the next day and night for not only myself but for Drake. I would also have to rush home after work, pick up Drake, drop him off with the sitter (of which I was not feeling fully comfortable with) and rush into San Francisco to see the show. I had a little break down but Sam reassured me that all would be well and if I did not feel comfortable then we could come home after the show.
The next day I started to feel better about the whole thing and decided to go with the flow. I picked up Drake that night and when I dropped him off at home my sister was in my house! She had flown in to hang out for the week and watch Drake for the night. I was so happy and surprised and rushed off to see Wicked with Sam. We ate sandwiches at the show as we did not have time to eat dinner but it was a great show. We stayed the night at this rock star hotel in the city. I got some sleep (finally), we swam in the pool and ate soul food in the Tenderloin. I then came back home to hang out with my sister.
Thursday was then my actual birthday. I worked that day and my sister watched Drake. She met me for lunch and had a great time with Drake all day. That night we went to sushi for dinner. When we arrived at the restaurant both my mom and my BFF Jessi were there waiting for us. I was in tears at this point! It was too much. We went to the movies that night after putting Drake to bed and saw The Ghost of Girlfriends Past which I had been wanting to see but did not have any "chicks" to go see it with.
Friday: Jessi and Gentry and I all went and got pedicures while my mom watched Drake. We ate lunch and headed into the city to meet up with Sam. He took Drake and the girls all headed up to Santa Rosa to go to The Harmony Festival to see the band Cake. The GPS routed us through wine country (which ended up being a fun detour!) and we arrived at festival. It was full of hippies, organic/vegan food and a thick haze of smoke and we had a great time! We spent the night up in Santa Rosa. We visited my great aunt and went to Golden Spoon (I loved that there is one that still exists!)
They all left on Sunday after a wonderful birthday week that was more than I could have imagined. I have to thank Sam for orchestrating the whole surprise and thank my mom, sister and Jessi for the time, money and love they shared with me on my special day (no,week!). Maybe growing old isn't so bad after all.

Mother's Day in the Park

I was quite excited this year to officially celebrate Mothers day. I say officially because I have made Sam buy me Mother's Day gifts every year since we have been married claiming that I was the future mother of his children and that deserved to be celebrated.
On Mother's day, Sam made me oatmeal for breakfast and let me take a nice long afternoon nap. We then ventured to a park Sam had seen on the map that looked cool. We drove through the Los Altos Hills to Foothill (?) park only to discover you have to be a resident of Palo Alto (they check your ID as you enter) to be able to enter the park. Lame. Talk about being exclusive.
Anyhoo, we just decided to go to the park a few blocks from our house. We relaxed, played with Drake and had snacks. We took Drake down the slide for the first time and it was faster down than I thought a little kiddie slide would be. Drake and I just about flew out of the slide. Sam thought the look of shock and fear on my face was hilarious.
Sam and Drake got me a massage for Mother's day which I thoroughly enjoyed the following weekend. We ended up having cereal for breakfast that night though, but you can't have everything, right?

Just Eat It!

Drake has started to enjoy playing with his toys. "Playing" is a relative term as his favorite thing to do is to shove them in his mouth and chew or suck on them. His favorite toys are his stuffed animals and he loves to find the nose, ear or other appedendage that he can easily fit in his mouth and go to it. All of these toys are now either wet or crusty looking from being wet. He cracks us up with the ferociousness in which he attacks these toys. When they say babies put everything in their mouths, they really weren't kidding!

Drake's duck

Drake's dog (his favorite-he loves the dog's nose!)

The hiatus is over, hopefully...

So, I am full out admitting that I am a horrible blogger. I have not written (except for last nights most recent post) since Drake was born (he is now almost four months old). There is so much to say about him really but not enough time and energy to write about it (he is not a great sleeper). I hope you can bear with me as I play a little catch up here. I am now committing to try and be a better blogger but I really can't make any promises. Those with newborn babies know what I am talking about.

La Dee Da!

When I was a kid we used to pull our shirts over our heads as we were taking them off and let them sit on our head. We would then shake our head back and forth and say "La dee da dee la dee da dee." We found this to be hilarious. This family amusement now continues with out my help as Sam finds Drake's clothing on his head to be quite funny. Almost every night as Sam is undressing Drake for his bath he yells, "Hey mom, look at me!" as Drake's shirt is draped over his head. Here you will see a sampling of these photos and the entertainment it provides us as new parents.

Drake at two months

Drake at three months

Diaper

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