Yonder Bermuda Triange (or, "Why Did I Disappear for 3 Weeks?")

There was just too much fun going on the past couple of weeks since I've last written.  Let's do a quick catch-up and get down to kid cuteness, shall we?

A Southern lady-in-training, complete with smocked seersucker and halo.

1.  Vacay to my favorite port town: Charleston, SC.  I'm lucky enough to have folks that live in this awesome city part-time, so we get a free place to crash and free babysitting to boot!  Highlights of the trip were HD's trip to the South Carolina Aquarium (at present time, she deems any land mammal a "puppy" and any water-faring beasite is a "tuh-tuh" -- turtle), LOTS of beach frolicking at Sullivan's Island and Folly Beach (the warm water plants me firmly on Team Atlantic -- take that, majestic beauty of the freezing Pacific!), my father getting me slightly overserved, and HD got to meet her great grandfather and great Aunt Barbara :)

Pop, Mammy (Admiral Granmadre!), HD, and the Cap'n -- 4 generations of devious.

Our first all-looking-at-the-camera, all-smiling family portrait!  At happy hour, no less!

Sandpaper Pappy and HD in Waterfront Park, post-dip in the Pineapple Fountain.

Wind and hilarity at Folly Beach!

 2.  Last weekend we went to our first wedding of 2011 in a very cute winery...and it'll be a busy year on the wedding front.  I get 2 sisters-in-law this year, people.  Incidentally, we're not planning on taking HD to any of the weddings, unless the couple just really wants her there.  Any reader thoughts on this?  Hubs and I look at it as a date day for ourselves to be full dancing/drinking adults (in HD's lifetime, this has only occurred when we're at weddings!), not to mention that toddlers and Catholic ceremonies aren't very compatible.  Besides, HD will prolly have way more fun playing with her grandparents than being shushed in a church.    

3.  The institution of Workout Wednesdays.  Neither Hubs nor I are trying to lose any weight, but we do want increased energy to run after a toddler, plus the strength to man-handle her effectively.  So we've  begun working out together one day a week after she goes to bed -- a Jillean Michaels DVD here, some Netflix Watch Instantly pilates classes there (yup, I LOVE that Hubs is secure enough to give pilates a go...and he liked it!).  We're adding in a second weekday in August, and then committing to a weekend day by September.  Baby steps for couch potatoes, folks.

4.  Hubs started a new job!  He now works about 3 miles from our house, instead of 20.  This new lack of commute was especially awesome yesterday, when I was so enthralled in my book that I completely missed my normal train stop on the way home.  I have always vaguely assumed this would happen one day.  Which meant I ended up 2 entire towns south of where my car was parked.  Hubs busted a gut laughing on the phone, then lovingly came to retrieve my stranded ass 15 minutes later so we could pick up HD on time from daycare.  I'm a lucky lady.
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With our catch-up out of the way, here's all news HD.  Kid is running around all over the place now, usually with as much grace as a wino.  It's adorable.  Per her daycare provider, she is also now officially a flirt.  One little boy kissed her goodbye after I had strapped her into her car seat, but apparently she likes to sidle up to a different boy regularly to bat her eyes and whisper "hi."  Once she's able to speak in full sentences, I imagine she'll break all sorts of hearts.  In addition to HD's array of animal sounds (horses have been added to that list), she can now point out a bunch of her body parts as well.  She's particularly proud of showing off her round "nummy" after a meal.  HD now is ridin' dirty in a big kid car seat (rear facing of course!) and we retired the infant car seat she first came home in almost 14 months ago.  Finally, Hubs and I are in the super fun process of starting to wean away the bottle.  Our opinionated little miss, who gave up the boob and pacifiers with minimal issues or fuss, has made it clear that a "baba" of milk is her one true love.  She has zero problems with cups as long as they contain water or juice.  Recommendations for process as welcome!

Our daughter, a sucker for the bottle.

The First Mate Has Sea Legs! (or, "Walking")

This has been going on for about 2 weeks now.  The walking that is.  The jabberwocky?  More like a few months.  Enjoy!

Sailors Cry "FREEDOM!" (or, "The Independence Day Staycation")

It's definitely a little hard sometimes to plan your weekend around a baby.  The kid takes 2 naps a day, which isn't exactly conducive to fun outings.  Sometimes the weekend gets eaten up by errands, laundry, and Little Gym classes.  But Hubs and I have been talking about it, and we really want to be the parents who take their kids out on adventures.  They don't have to be extreme or expensive, just as long as we're together and experiencing something other than our three living room walls.

The awesome part about family fun days?  Everything is a new experience for HD, and her enthusiasm is so infectious.  She's past the age where I can just wrap her in Moby and she'll sleep through my adult conversations & lunch dates.  But I'm fully realizing that HD being a toddler is basically my free pass to relive my own childhood.  No one questions your craziness (singing Disney songs loudly, pointing out and counting everything, making animal sounds at random) when you've got a tiny kid on your arm.

This weekend we absolutely did not travel (saving that for a trip to Charleston next week to see my folks, YAY).  But we did go to some pretty awesome places...  The 3-day staycation began with a low-key day in our neighborhood.  Cleaned house, went to the local park and library, and beat the heat in our very own kiddie pool:

HD looks ever so "coolsville, jellybean" in her sunglasses.

Sunday, we risked the kid taking her nap in the car rather than the crib.  This is so we could spend the day hanging out at the San Francisco Zoo.  HD adored the petting zoo and getting face-to-face with the meerkats in the Children's section.  And, yes, all animals (from grizzlies to kangaroos to scarlet macaws) were deemed "puppy" by our butterbean.

It's a little tough to tell since the shot is grainy, but the goat is having a blast.

That same night, Hubs and I put the kid to bed and made ourselves a super romantic snack or strawberries, cheese & bread, and the last bottle of sparkling wine left over from our wedding a couple of years back.  It was only after all of that that we actually remembered that it was our original anniversary; 6 years from the time we started dating.  [Side note - I suppose marriage anniversaries trump all prior ones, but I feel it's a bit wrong not to recall that we've been together a good 4 years longer than we've been married!]

Then on the 4th, we headed out to Half Moon Bay.  For those of y'all that don't know, that's a beach near SF (a mere 8 miles from our house!) that is freezing, foggy, and windy 95% of the year.  This was the one day it wasn't.  We picnicked on the beach and played for hours.  While HD loves her some sand (but didn't try to eat it -- VICTORY), she was not so keen on the waves.  I'm hoping she reacts to the Atlantic Ocean a bit better next week.  Although truth be told, this Carolina girl can barely function more than 7 seconds in the frigid Pacific too, so can I really blame her?

We wrapped the whole weekend up with some pork ribs (Hubs is so grateful he married a Southerner), and bath time out on the front porch.

So this 4th of July, we celebrated HD's newfound independence along with that of our country.  Next up, the long awaited vid of the kid...walking.

An Extrarrrrrdinary Grog Fest ("First Birthday Run-Down")

We celebrated our little monster's Shipwrecked Birthday a couple of weeks ago.  Being a former sorority girl, I still love to plan parties and I always forget to take photos (we always had hired photographers; those were the days).  Lucky me, I have a very good friend [hi, Jen!] who takes glorious pics.


Hard to tell, but that is an awesome mermaid birthday hat by Stell & Livi (love Etsy!).



Who: My Mama (Admiral Granmadre?) flew across country for this, y'all.  That's love.  Also in attendance were almost all of Hubs's local extended family, my own local bro & future sis-in-law, and a handful of friends who don't have kids but are awesome enough to [pretend that they] like HD. 

Where: Our backyard, on a partially sunny mostly windy/cold day.  I shook my fists at the sky and thrust a sword into the wind while bellowing curses at Poseidon, like any proper pirate when weather is uncooperative.

Vittles: We went Caribbean-style on the food in light of our theme.  On board was a light grapefruit & jicama slaw, some slammin' Caribbean rice & beans, "salty sea dogs" (yeah, that would be hot dogs), mango salsa, homemade guac, and grilled jerk chicken.  By the way, I highly recommend wearing gloves if you chop habanero peppers.  Better yet, don't chop them at all (just de-stem and seed) if putting them in a marinade, in order to avoid fire-hands.  One better on that?  Don't touch your nose after chopping said peppers -- you will end up frantically Googling "habanero in nose" from your phone, then stuffing pats of butter up your schnoz while your husband screams with laughter and takes pictures.  Ahem.

Hubs in all his wisdom insisted that cooking standard food was enough, and I shouldn't bake dessert.  So we go some amazing mini cuppy cakes from Sibby's:

Random Fun: 

Pirate ship pinata!  Thing was indestructible, just like in Parenthood (movie, not tv).



HD chewed on beloved Pink Poochie!!



We used awesome props from LittleRetreats on Etsy for some piraty photo fun!!!

Thanks to all who came and played along with my piratey obsession.  I love folks who feed my inner crazy.  Until later...set sail, me matey!

Day of the Padre (or, "Not the Happiest Fathers' Day")

1.  I went to the East Bay yesterday for a birthday bbq.  For those of y'all not in the know...it means I travelled 40 miles from my home to a land filled with "golden hills," i.e. heaps and heaps of dead grasses.  There's a lot to like about that area (it's about 10-15 degrees warmer than my house so I love to visit), but there is a reason I rarely head that way.  The reason being that those damned grassy hills give me a monstrous allergy attack.  Long story short, Claritin didn't work, Benedryl/Neti pot/humidifier combo is not really helping, and apparently I brought some the evil grassy spores home with me...

2.  ...because today, Hubs totally woke up with similar allergy symptoms.  I still managed to pull together a homemade waffles breakfast in bed for his Father's Day (AND brownies -- just tooting my own horn), despite my drippy nose and puffy eyes (sexy, no?).  We also somehow managed to have a celebratory lunch at The Counter, do our grocery shopping, and blow bubbles with the kid outside.  But by 2pm we were both miserable.   Plus, Hubs magically contracted a fever, so I got kid duty the rest of the evening after quarantining him into the guest bedroom.

3.  HD felt great all day -- tons of energy.  So much in fact, that she decided she just flat out didn't need to go to sleep during her bedtime.  She stayed up in her room for close to an hour after her normal sleep time, NOT nodding off.  I used my best mama tricks to try to help her nod off, to no avail.  Because she just learned the word "nose," and had to keep pointing it out to me while I sang.  Although when your daughter touches your nose with the tip of her finger, says "nah" and laughs sleepily at her own awesomeness...?  You melt.

4.  I am currently blogging while running my online traffic school (barf) in another window online.  You know, so I can actually pass the minimum amount of time that I'm supposed to be learning about right-of-ways and divided road ways and whatnot.  Oh, and makers of Comedians Teach You Online?  You may want to live up to your hype and actually include some flipping JOKES to help make this a bit less painful.

A Jig and Some Grog for One Annum! (or, "Happy First Birthday, HD")

A year ago today was the hardest, most painful, utterly life-changing, core-shaking, and most beautiful days of my entire life.  Days since then have contained a fair share of frustration, exhaustion, self-doubt.  But every single one of those days have contained some measure of hilarity, awe, and wonder at the amazing human bean that Hubs and I created (seriously, on a weekly basis we look at her doing something funny/awesome and one of us will exclaim, "We made that!!").

Kid, you are independent to a fault (you can thank your mama for that lovely trait/curse).  You are funny, and such a ham.  You will perform for anyone, and you're such a social butterfly at this early age!  Your love is deep and strong, if your near demolition of stuffed animals while you "cuddle" with them is any indication (yeah, we may wait a couple more years on getting a dog!).  You get bored easily, mostly with your food.  At age 1, you already know that variety is the spice of life.  But contradictorily, you are super loyal to your most favorite toys and books, repeatedly seeking out Where the Wild Things Are or your pink puppy dog.  You are inquisitive and kind, already trying to share your food with your parents, caressing our faces when we sing to you, and bestowing kisses upon all and sundry.  I hope you always love as hard as you do now.

We've seen a lot over the past year, here are some highlights, in no particular order:

Day one, our little sumo chick.

Age 2 months, your first vacation to the beach!

3 months = practically a teenager (i.e. disgust with parental photography)

Happy, happy, happy at 5 months

Belly scooting at 7 months-ish.

Cruising on over to the Easter Bunny

Your highly inappropriate parents think pics of babies with beer is funny.

Teeny weenie (almost a month?).

6 month "birthday" avocado treat!  And the only time we ever made you wear a headband!

   HD, your daddy and mama think you're the most awesome person ever.  Can't wait to see all the things you'll learn, accomplish, and become.  You may not always love pirates, Lyle Lovett, blueberries, puppies, and your mama's hair, but we hope you remain as confident, loving, and fun as you are now.  Love you, suge.

Doppelganger Cap'n Madre (or, "Guess What Celebrity My Daughter Thinks Is Me?")

HD's favorite activity of the moment is pulling out one of our boxes of DVDs and strewing them about.  She rifles through them, showing an odd favoritism for Crunch Fitness Fat Blasting Dance Workout.  That is, until she discovered her new favorite...