San Jose

We made the trek down to San Jose today to visit with Kim, Nahshon, Finn, and my aunt and uncle. We all live in far flung places from each other, so it was nice to get together for a few hours. We took a stroll around a Japanese Garden and then had a delicious authentic lunch in a Mexican restaurant in San Jose. Ivy was a real trooper (as usual) during the nearly 12 hour day of car travel, stroller and lap time. She got a few minutes of play time with Finn towards the end of the visit- she always reaches out gently to other babies-- and she wanted to hold Finn's hand, which confirms my suspicions that she will be boy crazy! When we got home, there was a big surprise on my front porch! We got a new fun toy for Ivy as a gift from Doug and Iris in North Carolina! She actually doesn't have anything like this yet- and is just now getting to the point she can enjoy it I think! I put it together tonight and snapped a quick picture for the blog! Thanks!!!! She totally loves it!

The other pictures are of Ivy and my dad at lunch= clowning with the John Deere hat, and a cool old theater across the street from lunch.

Halloween!

Well, I'd say that Baby's first Halloween was a "screaming success!"

Ivy wore her costume a number of times over the week before Halloween-- various events around town. The mommie's group had a costume party... lots of babies in costume! Several pumpkins-- Ivy had her photo op with the critters group. It was fun!

We went trick or treating in our neighborhood- visiting the neighbors that we are close with. She was a good sport, as usual-- though she must have been tired by the end of it.

We had our 6 month visit with Dr. Wong this week and were thrilled to learn that Ivy is progressing in her development and skills as she should be! She moves around a lot on the floor- can roll from her tummy to her back both ways and from her back to her sides both ways. She can sit up unassisted for short periods of time sometimes-- and appears to have really good posture! She's eating rice cereal with prune juice 2 or 3 times a day-- boy is it messy! We got some of those plastic bibs. She got several shots that day... and had an unpleasant reaction to the flu shot (normal one- not H1N1). We had our first fever and vomit o rama. Enough said!

Thursday we also had our 2nd (of 4) post placement home visits with our social worker. Our next one is scheduled for Thanksgiving week. The visits are really nice- just checking in to see how she is doing- how she is progressing, etc.

Well, we are off to Kentucky next week to visit Brian's family- and then home to settle in for the holidays!

Ivy's 6 months old!

Well, we had a pretty busy week, with work, events and visits with friends. Our friend Greg visited from the Sonoma Coast- and we had a nice walk downtown and lunch together. He and Ivy admired her Tokyo photo album!

On saturday, my mom and I took Ivy to a tutu event at Nordstrom-- kind of geared towards older girls, but that was ok. She was the only baby there- but she had her tutu! This picture of her in the tutu is pretty accurate for how it is with her these days-- everything goes in the mouth! She's teething for sure. Lots of drool... knawing on things and some obvious discomfort at times :(.

Yesterday was her 6 month birthday! We went shopping and got a new toy and also a walking thing... that she isn't quite tall enough for yet. She also tried out a jumping thing this week that hangs from a door way. She approaches each new thing with interest and an open mind, which I'm grateful for! Brian and I celebrated her 1/2 birthday with a steak dinner and some chocolate cake!

It's pumpkin time

We went to Apple Hill last weekend to take the obligatory pumpkin pictures! It was a fun day! We had apple pie, did a lot of people watching and dresed Ivy up in her bee costume. We didn't have much time at the pumpkin patch- and a storm was rolling in, but we did get some cute pictures! More pictures to come. I'll be taking Ivy to some Halloween events here in town- and Aunt Vickie wants a photo op- since she loves bees so much!

New dress in the back yard

Not much to say, but I can't stand how cute this outfit is on her! She got some new shoes in the mail today- a gift from a friend of ours... and they perfectly matched her outfit- so I had to take about 40 pictures!

Alaska part 2.... Kodiak

I could have uploaded about 150 more pictures, easily... I just couldn't stop taking them! The Alaska scenery is inspiring, but these kids were endlessly entertaining too! Brian and I headed over to Kodiak Island for a 3 day visit with my cousin, Nahshon and his wife Kim and their son, Finn (Ivy's age!). It was an action packed visit, as usual! We always have new places to explore, delicous food to eat and lots of chatting to catch up on.

The pictures aren't in order... but we went on a beautiful fall hike at Ft. Abercrombie for about 5 miles with Ivy in a backpack for the first time- she was a good sport! Such a gorgeous set of trails!

We also had lunch with a local Kodiak artist, visited an aquarium, toured a wildlife museum, shopped for yarn, fabric and smoked salmon...

There was also a matching pajamas photo session with the cousins... Ivy looks so cute with her head on Finn's shoulder- like she's boy crazy already!

We all had a great time, and look forward to our next visit together in California next month!

Ivy and Finn played together on his play mat for a while each day- shared toys, even.

Ivy loves this bear so much- she has backups of same... just in case the unthinkable happens.

We had lunch in a Japanese restaurant in Anchorage before we left for Kodiak... they brought a high chair for her... and a bowl of soup! I guess she looked older than her 5 months...

Riding in the back of the borrowed Suburban with the carseats! It looks like Ivy's doing a singalong... perhaps 99 bottles of formula on the wall?

Alaska! Part One... Anchorage and vicinity

So we headed North on Ivy's first recreational plane ride... and she couldn't have been a better baby on the journey! We continue to count our lucky stars that she is such a good baby! She slept or was quietly content for all of both legs of the journey to Anchorage! Yay! We left 100 degree temperatures in Sacramento to enjoy 40 degree fall weather in Anchorage! The first night, we headed out for dinner at the Glacier Brewhouse, one of our favorite places. We both had some delicious cedar plank salmon and Ivy sat in her highchair and flirted with everyone within her sightline.

Monday morning it was off to work for Brian... Ivy and I went for a long walk around the hotel before Brian picked us up for lunch. He dropped us off downtown in the afternoon for some shopping and sightseeing. We enjoyed a cup of tea in my favorite cafe and wrote some postcards- Ivy took a nap.

When Brian picked us up at the end of the day, we went for a walk around the lake on the hotel property- about 2.5 miles. It was a gorgeous, crisp late afternoon and the fall colors in the foliage were amazing! We kept a wary eye out for moose, and enjoyed the hike. I did see a moose on the roadside earlier in the day, but no where to pull over and take a picture!

That night we went to Grant and Mikala's house for dinner to let Ivy and Johanna meet for the first time. I guess it was Ivy's first official playdate! The girls seemed to enjoy their time together, and the visit was very pleasant. Dinner was delicious- and it was just great to spend time with another family with a kid Ivy's age!

Tuesday morning Ivy and I met up with another friend, Katie and her two daughters Clara and Isobel. Clara is only 2 months older than Ivy. Katie miraculously squeezed 3 carseats into the back of her Subaru and drove us to a beautiful coastal trail near downtown Anchorage. We bundled the little ones up tight and enjoyed a long hike in the crisp fall weather.

At the end of the day, Brian drove us out to Girdwood where we walked around at the Alleyska resort for a bit. We have a cute picture of the 2 of us from there a few years ago- and we recreated it with all three of us today!

Tomorow afternoon we will take a short flight to Kodiak Island to visit my cousin Nahshon and his wife Kim and their baby Finnegan- 11 days younger than Ivy. I'll write about the second part of the adventure after Kodiak!