Balthazar & Guilhem Visit

We had a great visit with Guilhem and Balthazar!
They were in town for the weekend so we hung out at the Ranch and then had a nice dinner at the Beachside.



Cousin kisses!



Guilhem had his hands full at times with Balt and Maritt!



Balt was practicing his photography skills. He took some great, entertaining shots! =)

Roll Over!

Maritt rolled over today for the first time!

We had just changed her and were doing some quality tummy time on the rug on the floor in our bedroom and voila - she pushed off with her left hand and rolled to the right off of her tummy and onto her back.
She was quite surprised and after the shock wore off, proud of herself =)





I tried to get her to do it again - and for Daddy who had then just come up the stairs - but alas, it was a one-roll over evening.

We'll keep trying! She's bound to get the hang of it soon.

Rainy Days

We have had quite a few big storms this winter. Really big, not just Southern California big...
Inches and inches of rain, thunder, lightning, howling winds, snow in the mountains down to a couple thousand feet...
It's about as East Coast as we get here.

Also funny, though, was Cyanne reaction to her first exposure to thunder and lightning. Here I am thinking she might be scared, impressed, something. Nope.

We were sitting on the couch in the morning as we do every morning: drinking milk, snuggling with puppy, blanket, and Big Bird and watching Elmo on TV.
All of a sudden we hear this loud boom and see the flash of lightning. Tom and I look at each other and comment on how impressive that was, especially for SB. The cats run, petrified. They haven't experienced this since Cambridge in the summer of 2005.

I say to Cyanne: "Cyanne, look! It's pouring outside. The sky is all dark. Listen, there's thunder and watch - lightning!!!"
Cyanne's response: Nothing. She looked at me and back to the TV. She was mesmerized by Elmo and nothing, not even thunder and lightning which happens so rarely here - was going to divert her attention. She had eyes only for Elmo. She glanced out the window as if to appease us, said "wet, cold," did a little play shiver, and then turned her attention back to the TV. The girl likes her Elmo. =)

Here are some adorable photos of Cyanne and Daddy out in the rain. Cyanne is sporting her winter coat and some snazzy red rain boots (thanks John Paul!). At first, we had to convince her to wear them ("too big, too big!") but once she realized she could puddle jump and have dry feet, she was sold:



All wet but having lots of fun!





Photos of the two of them near the poinsettia trees:








Wet, wet Lucky:



Here are two photos taken by our friend Terri of the snow on the mountains in SB - pretty impressive!:

Sister Kisses

Cyanne is the sweetest big sister. She just loves Maritt. She gives her kisses and "big hug!" all of the time. Maritt relishes it...





Here are a few shots of them one morning before Cyanne left for 'school' - more kisses!
Cyanne looks so grown up to me in these photos: hair in a ponytail, a turtleneck sweater that I would wear if it came in my size... such a little girl!





Also, Maritt is quite enamored with the dog face that looks at her in this bouncy chair we have on loan from Jenny & Ryan (thanks guys, Maritt loves it which means we can get about 15 minutes out of it per sitting session...!) - works for us!

House Puzzle

Several years ago, I have Tom a puzzle of the location of our house. It was this great puzzle from National Geographic. It is a map and on it, they indicate where your house is -

When going through our belongings to move them around after the attic renovation, Tom discovered this and decided it was time to put it together.

Here's the final project (after Max did a majorly bad, though unintentional thing: He jumped up on the dining room table, slid a few inches, and knocked 9/10 of the entire ALMOST totally completed puzzle off the table where it then fell into little piles on the floor. Whoopsies... Tom actually took the news quite well.)
I think he enjoyed the task as it was a break from all of the baby stuff we have been doing!

Look Out Anna Wintour...

Here comes some hot fashion:



Our little fashionista with her stylish accessories. They say the accessories make the outfit, no?
Sporting the au courant sequined tiara and some over-sized shades. Not to mention a VERY sparkly butterfly t-shirt.
Tres a la mode, non?



=)

Happy 2 Months, Maritt!

Happy 2 Month birthday, Maritt!
It's amazing to think that 2 months have passed!!!...

With lots of smiles! Maritt smiled around 5-6 weeks, which was a big treat for us! =)





Here are a few shots of Maritt in the rocking chair:

Maritt in her Christmas PJ's

A few photos of Maritt sporting her red Christmas pj's.
All sorts of smiles and kicks on the changing table!
She's a very happy little girl!!

Maritt

All tuckered out post-New Years...

Maritt

All tuckered out post-New Years...

New Years Day

We had a wonderful new years day -

It was a cool, clear, sunny day here where the air was crisp and the sun felt like winter sun.
We stopped at Starbucks to get some warm beverages (cappuchino for Tom, Eggnog latte for me (must get them before they run out until next Christmas!), and a kid's vanilla steamer (sugar-free, of course) for Cyanne.

We went for a walk down by the ocean on Cabrillo Boulevard.
Cyanne and Daddy went on the carousel. It was Cyanne's first time riding the horse all by herself (i.e. without one of us standing next to her, semi-holding her)! She rode one and Tom rode another right next to her while I fed Maritt. We watched them go up and down, round and round...

We then walked to the park just down the street from the carousel. Cyanne had a blast running around in the sand, going down the slides, swinging on the swings, climbing up the planks and stairs...

We then cross the road and walked on the boardwalk next to the beach where we saw the most incredible sunset. I, sadly, forgot the camera... It was stunning - lots of clouds, bright orange and red and purple...

Maritt slept while Cyanne took in the view and the sunset. She drank up all of her steamer and asked for more... =)

All in all, a great day to start 2010.