Us (pre-cyanne)

photobooth0826.JPG
Originally uploaded by jenredstar

A photo from the photobooth at Jenny & Ryan's wedding...
Definitely pre-blabey baby!

Tom & approaching fire

tom as we pack
Originally uploaded by jenredstar

Here's another shot from Jenny... as we were packing up. You can see the cars being filled up in the background.
Tom was out watering down all of the plants, yard, and house...

fire refugee cyanne

fire refuge cyanne
Originally uploaded by jenredstar

This photo was taken by Jenny on the night we evacuated... I ADORE this photo but even more so, I adore Jenny's title of the photo:

"Fire Refugee Cyanne"

She's such a happy little refugee, no?

Happy 10 Months, Cyanne!

And here we are.... 10 months later!

Here are a few shots of Cyanne enjoying her "10th month birthday."

Such a cutie... =)
(as an aside, I love this dress. It has nasturtiums on it or as I liked to say when I was little, "yuck-yucks." My Dad & I would pick them while sitting on the bluff, suck out the nectar, then bring my mom little bouquets of the flowers. Hopefully, Cyanne will like them too!)



Someone's excited...



A moment of seriousness...



After lunch at La Cumbre.





Practicing crawling...



What, me? Who?



Cyanne looking at a photo of me, sitting on the beach when I was about her age.






Rolling...



Crawling...
You watching me? I'm doing it...!



Cyanne discovered the joy of empty cardboard boxes...
She hung out, crawled around, and kicked back in the box.





Grandma got her some sunglasses... but, like all other glasses (including mine), glasses are most fun when pulled off the face rather than on. They were on her face for, oh, about 3 seconds.



Trying to give you all a kiss... =)



Happy 10 months... It'll be a year before we all even know it!

Visit with Dr. Brennan

Cyanne had her 9 month pediatrician appointment this afternoon.
(a wee late technically, as she turns 10 months on the 26th of July...)

Here are the stats:
Height: 28" (70%)
Weight: 20 lb, 4 oz (75%)
Head Circumference: 46 cm. (93%) - Our girl's got a big noggin'!

Dr. Brennan was very happy with how she looked and responded.
She's right on track - he supposed she'd walk/crawl/stand all at the same time - within the next month or so... we shall see!

She smiled and laughed right on cue - as he walked in the door...
Plus, this was a no-shots visit so that was a good thing (for all involved!)

We peppered him with our usual questions and learned much about eating... among other things.

Cyanne hits 10 months in just a few days -
We will post photos of the 'occasion' then.

Update

A brief update and a few comments:

• Our house, thankfully, did not burn down in the GAP Fire.
• We went on vacation to the Northeast as planned while the fire was in full swing, leaving our house in the hands of fate and firefighters.
• We visited Tom's family and a good group of our friends both at Thompson's Lake and Cooperstown, NY.
• It was an excellent time - Cyanne was thrilled to spend so much time with her family, namely her Nanna, Grandpa, and Aunts Mart & Anna.
• Cyanne did very well on all plane trips. There were a few segments of high-pitched crying and wailing but overall, she was a trooper. Even during the saga of our return trip...
• Which took a toll on all of us - let us just say that being awake for over 24 hours, changing airlines, canceled flights, traveling through 3 airports, waiting in Las Vegas for hours on end - until 3 AM - does not sit well with a 9 month old. But, given all of that, Cyanne did an excellent job. She napped as best as she could. Explored airport floors and chairs. Ate while watching a good sampling of humanity walk by. Our arms built additional muscle and endured fatigue due to holding her for hours on end both during flight and in airports.
• Las Vegas, it turns out, is not so bad for walking around and shushing an infant. While the buzz, whirl, and colors of the slot machines may be overstimulating, it turns out they can also provide good background noise to aid a baby in falling asleep. Though perhaps, anything would accomplish that at 2 AM (5 AM EST!)
• We were very glad to come home to an unburned house. We experienced such an intense range of emotions packing up and leaving our home. We were not sure if we would return to our house or to a pile of ashes. We are very happy that our task now is to move back into the house...

Thank you for all of your calls, texts, emails and notes expressing concern during the fire. It meant a lot to us.
It was a very scary, intense time. We remain very thankful for the outcome.

We will post photos soon - both of the fire, smoke and ash, and of our wonderful trip back East.

We are glad to be home but miss all of you who we were thrilled to see last week.

Evacuation

Late this afternoon, we evacuated our house due to the Gap Fire.

We were debating whether to stay or go.

The smoke became darker and darker and the winds started picking up a little so leaving seemed like the best thing to do.
I spent most of the afternoon packing up our documents, keepsakes, photographs etc., and then our wonderful friends, the Secords, arrived to help us pack up more belongings, load cars, and also, to take Cyanne out of the ash-filled air to their house.
We loaded up the cats and the dog.
Grabbed photo albums and photographs.
A few clothes. Some of Cyanne's possessions and food.
And left.

I did take some photos as we drove away but I'll have to post those on down the line.

The Gap Fire is being covered on all major news outlets. You can go to keyt.com or ksby.com for local versions of the story.

Will keep you updated.

Keep your fingers crossed that our house makes it through.