Pumpkin Patches & Oceanside Bluffs

This weekend began on Friday when Chey and I took Cali to a pumpkin farm in Half Moon Bay -- the World pumpkin capital --as a field trip with Genentech's daycare center. As this is Cali's first Halloween, we thought it would be appropriate to submerge her immediately into the festivities that surround the holiday. The farm had a pumpkin patch, haunted house, petting zoo, train rides, pony rides, cider, pumpkin pie, and much, much more! Just wait until Thanksgiving, we already booked Cali's grandfather, Dallas, to take her out turkey hunting. I know what you are thinking, "John, Cali is waaaaaaay too young to own a gun." Yes, to that you are correct. We are borrowing one.

You may have already wondered, quietly to yourself, "what is there to do for a 5 month old at a pumpkin patch?", to be frank, NOTHING! It was more of a ploy to have her interact with a million strangers and possibly get the 'stranger danger' out of her. Really though, we used the trip as a photo opportunity; here are some examples:

The next day we were up early and hit the road, southbound, to Monterey. There, we set up camp at Celia and Sean's and suited up for hike. But first, we had lunch at a small, but great cafe. After filling our tummies, we heading out to Point Lobos where we enjoyed views from the bluffs that overlook the ocean. It was beautiful:

We rounded out the day by playing some games, entertaining Cali (who is cooing and giggling constantly), and watching a movie.

Oh, and if you aren't aware, I did the photography for Dylan and Brooke Strube's wedding in August. Here are a few of the better shots I posted on Facebook. And no, I am not promoting my potential photography career (geez, that would be tacky), but helping Brooke and Dylan boast about their amazing day!

Okay, one more bonus photo for those of you who like the little one:

5 months!

Tomorrow Cali will be 5 months old!

Here's an update on the baby girl: She is almost 16 lbs, wearing 6-9 month clothing, loves rolling from her back to her sides, plays with her feet, coos and giggles all the time, mimics us blowing "raspberries", sits for short amounts of time unsupported (but always spits up because she's balancing on her tummy), and even stands without our support for a short time if she's holding on to something. She still doesn't love tummy time and hasn't rolled over from that position in a couple months (since I posted the pictures about it awhile ago). So I think she may skip crawling and go straight to walking. She is looking more like a blonde with brown, or maybe green eyes lately.

Sleeping continues to be inconsistent. She goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up around 7:30am, getting up once to eat--but that's the end of the predictability. Some nights she only wakes up that once to eat, other nights we have to give her her pacifier back or even pick her up to soothe her back to sleep many times. We tried weaning her from her swaddle blanket, but after a week of NO sleep without any sign of improvement, we gave up on that. And we're afraid of trying the "cry-it-out" method to stop her night wakings until she has her arms free and thumb to soothe herself with.

The first week of daycare was rough on all of us, but we all survived. It's getting a little easier each day. We also survived Cali's first daycare illness--pink eye. We got "notices" from daycare this week that our child "may have been exposed to chicken pox and foot and mouth disease"--just great. I didn't even know what foot and mouth disease was!

Our pediatrician recommended waiting to start cereal or other baby food until 6 months, maybe due to Cali's GI/allergy issues, I don't know. We got sidetracked and forgot to ask. But she's gaining weight just fine on breastmilk only, so it's one less thing to worry about for the next month if you ask me.

Last weekend Celia and Sean joined us. John watched Cali while the rest of us went to see the musical production of "The Full Monty"--very funny. The boys also watched Cali while Celia and I got massages...ahhh...that was nice. The rest of our time was spent playing games and going out to eat.

This weekend, John and I took Cali on a walk on the Golden Gate Bridge to watch the air show over the Bay. The Blue Angels scared Cali a bit at first, but she calmed down after cuddling with mommy in the carrier--she finally fits in it upright instead of sideways!

Here's Cali rooting on the Packers when they played Minnesota--thanks for the outfit W-K's and great-grandma Kinsey!

And we had to get this 9 month outfit on her quick before it got too cold to wear it--thanks Grammie!

Talking, toys, and talents

Well, daddy's officially done with his paternity leave now. It was some great bonding time for the two of them, but he's decided being a stay-at-home dad is not in his future. He's looking forward to going back to work tomorrow! And that means Cali's off to daycare tomorrow--wish us all luck!- mommy may have an anxiety attack.

Smiling at mommy

If Cali balances on her chubby tummy, she can actually sit up unsupported for a short amount of time (not exactly shown here)

Learning to cook

New toy-the exersaucer, and the parrot stare down

Her new favorite pastime--watching the cars go by

Cali's inherited monkey toes

Enjoying kisses from the giraffe

The before mentioned refusal to sit reclined. Did I mention that before we realized she was doing this John came into my work one day and said, "Cali may have a head injury." I said, "WHAT?" John said, "yeah, i heard her crying and when i went to get her, she was face planted in the carpet... but she's been acting fine." Needless to say, we've been strapping her in since.

Thanks for the blanket great-grandma!

Cali's hands or toys are now constantly in her mouth

Picnic in San Fran

And here are a couple videos...the first is one of daddy's games (listen carefully to the end and you can hear Cali mimic him)...and the second is Cali babbling

Tahoe

First, here are a few of our favorite Cali photos from the last couple weeks...

Her new Bumbo seat--we bought this when Cali decided she's too much of a big girl to sit reclined. She developed a 6 pack from doing sit-ups from her bouncer and car seat :) Here she is helping daddy make muffins.

Aww--thanks for the cute outfit Michelle! And love the rolls--our 4 mo old is 15lbs!

Cali and her CA BFF--hanging out at a coworker's daughter's bday party in the park

For weeks, probably even months, we've been trying to catch Cali's pouty face on camera and this is the closest we've gotten. The real one is cuter than this. We've also been trying to catch her giggling on video, but she gets too distracted by the camera--we'll keep trying though, it's priceless

And here are some Lake Tahoe photos--we joined Sean's 30th bday party crowd (over 20 of us). The weekend had it's ups and downs--again, Cali had some anxiety issues with the new environment and new faces, but we managed to have some fun too.

Poor Sean--his bday wish was to spend the weekend on the boat we all rented, but on the first trip out, it broke down, and didn't get fixed until we were all packing up the last day.

Paddling and towing the boat back to shore :(

Hanging on the beach

The house we rented

Playing ladderball with Cali

One of the many stroller rides we took--beautiful scenery!

John gave me a couple gifts that weekend--watching Cali while I watched the fireworks over the lake for Labor Day, and while Celia and I went parasailing!

I'm slowly conquering my fear of heights--next on the bucket list--skydiving for my 30th!

The view from 800ft above the lake--gorgeous.

And a Tahoe sunset

Four Generations

This shot is a couple months old, but I just got it in the mail and couldn't resist posting it

Hot summer day

Airing out on a hot day

Ah Choo!

Oh, I crack myself up

Ok mom, you ready?

The roll

I did it!

I see you zooming in on me

My happy place--the swaddle