Happy 6 Months Cyanne!

Here we are at 6 months.
A few things about Cyanne's life at 6 months:

• rolling from front to back
• smiling, laughing (a lot)
• "talking" - she's getting to be quite a talker!
• grabbing her feet
• sucking on all parts of her hands
• grabbing for most everything in front of her (bottles, blankets, toys, mommy's hair/necklace/glasses/wine glass...)
• looking when we say her name or following us as we move about a room
• fascination with the cats and dog (this appears not to be reciprocated by the cats (yet) but Lucky seems to like her... =))
  
• a love of the outdoors (the surefire way to calm her down is to take a stroll outside...)
• great curiosity looking at other babies
• moving around when we lay her down - she's almost always in a position 90-180 degrees different from where we put her down
• seems to really enjoys the music we play for her
• tries to eat board books when we read to her
• appears very interested in our food... eating cereal is looking like one our weekend activities!
• not yet a fan of orange juice on daddy's finger... =)
  

Here are some shots from this morning:



The size shot in the rocking chair for comparison



Daddy's so funny...





And then...
Cyanne decided that turning 6 months was hard work.
A nap sounded pretty good.
Quite the little angel we've got here...

A Cacophony of Cries

Ah... the sounds spreading throughout the car and spilling out the windows.
I had to laugh to myself as I drove to and from the vet this afternoon.

On the way there, the car was filled with the plaintive sounds of meowing. Sad, sorrowful cries by Max and Sonsie.
Saying - why, oh why, do you have us in these carriers? We haven't been in these since we moved here!
Cyanne hung out in her chair in the backseat on the way there...
And in the vet's office. (Nothing like holding a baby, trying to feed her the bottle, and carrying on a conversation with the vet about rabies vaccines or something possibly lodged in Sonsie's abdomen. But I digress from the noises.)

On the way home - oh my!

Max, Sonsie, and Cyanne all chimed in. It was a vocal orchestra.
There were high pitched cries, meows, and bursts of noise from Cyanne who is exploring her vocal range...

I had the radio on but frankly, you couldn't really hear it.

I laughed out loud as they all just sounded so funny - especially together.
I thought to myself as I drove down Cathedral Oaks towards our driveway - now, who do I take out first? Who gets to get out of the car and into the house before the rest?
(the cats won out on that...)

It was quite a cacophony of sounds.

Happy Anniversary

Four years ago today, Tom & I were married here in Santa Barbara.
It has been a wonderful four years.

We have traveled a lot, experienced a lot, learned a lot, and of course, loved a lot.
Each year has been unique and special in its own way.
However, the last was arguably the most amazing.
Amazing in that it is no longer just the two of us.
We are now three.

Here are a few recent photographs of our amazing, beautiful baby girl.
I feel so blessed to have such an incredible, loving, and caring husband and now added to that, a sweet, entertaining, and adorable daughter.

Each day is truly a gift.
I couldn't ask for anything more.

Cyanne meets her best friend Anna

Yesterday, we were very lucky to have a visit from Karen & Anna.
I had a great time hanging out with Karen but I think Cyanne had an even better time staring at Anna.
So fascinating.

Cyanne is intrigued by Anna...
Anna is quite the squirmer... mover... check out the rapid arm movements!

I love this shot -
They really were just staring at each other.
So interesting other babies are.
Their faces are very entertaining.



A few shots of Anna and Cyanne hangin' out on the couch.
They slowly slide down and start to tip over...
Neither has yet quite gotten the hang of the whole sitting up business.



They are holding hands!... =)
Anna was moving a tad faster than Cyanne...


Here we have the tipping over...


Buddies.
Cyanne can't wait until they're both a little bigger and can crawl and run around with each other.



We can't wait for a return visit!

Cyanne's sun hat

I think this hat is adorable.
Every time I see her in it... it's just too cute.
I love her expressions...
Our little California babe in the sunshine...

Sleeping, Round 2

Perhaps Cyanne is taunting us... giving us teasers of what is (hopefully) to come.
But...
Last night she slept from 9 PM - 6 AM!!
That's the longest stretch she's had yet.
My alarm went off at 6 and I realized I hadn't woken up in the middle of the night.
Fantastic.

Cyanne woke up shortly thereafter.

We're going to have to go get black-out shades or something similar for her room as it gets very bright and sunny in there just after 6 when the sun rises.

But... just wanted to share. Sad how focused our lives are on sleep these days but that's just the way it goes.

Yeah Cyanne!
Now, just make Mommy & Daddy super super happy and do it again!
(and again... and again!)...

Cyanne learns the hard truth...

about the prices of real estate in Santa Barbara.

Tom is sharing his favorite hobby with Cyanne... perusing the local house listings.
Each Sunday, Tom immerses himself in the real estate section of the paper, naively hoping that each week maybe, just maybe, the median home price will have dropped by $500K or so...

This was last Sunday... she's such a good student.
"Daddy, that one is only on an acre and I really prefer Spanish colonial architecture..."

Happy 5 Months Cyanne!

Cyanne is 5 months old today!!

And what an amazing 5 months it has been...
It seems like just yesterday that I was taking her photo on her 4 month marker and posting those photos.
As always.... time flies.


Thanks to Nanna Blabey for a very cute outfit! The duck feet rattle!
And Tom would I'm sure like me to put in a disclaimer that the reason her face looks greasy is because I had just put on pretty thick face cream - Cyanne is subjected to much lotion-ing by her Mommy... her skin looks dry! =)

Experiencing "Springtime"

Some of our fruit trees have decided that it's springtime and they are just bursting with blossoms.


The peach tree in particular is just beautiful.

Since Cyanne was suited up in a nice pink outfit,
we decided to see if we could capture her hanging out amidst the blossoms.
The next two are some entertaining faces. She makes the best faces.

Sleeping

So, I know this is just a tease for us and by writing this I'll likely jinx us - but last night Cyanne slept from 9:30 PM - 5:30AM!
Very very exciting!
(Tom did do a 'dreamfeed' at 10 PM ish)

That means that I didn't have to wake up at all during the night!

I took Cyanne to a PEP (mom & baby) meeting last night at a restaurant and she was thrilled looking at all of the other babies, tv, and lights and was a perfectly behaved baby while we were there. I was very proud =). So she was up past her usual bedtime as we got home a little after 8:30. I keep trying to figure out what we did differently yesterday in the hopes of repeating her sleeping success.
We also fed her more yesterday... hmmm...

It just felt so nice not having woken up during the night - and waking up 30-15 min. before my alarm is scheduled to go off is okay by me. =)

Good little girl...

Now we just hope it happens again!

Happy Valentine's Day!! (aka Dogs & Chcolate Don't Mix...)

Happy Valentine's Day!!
So... it's just noon here and it has been quite an interesting day thus far.
First off though, I'd just like to say that things have changed quite a bit from Valentine's past. Before, the big decision for the day would be what nice restaurant Tom & I would go to for dinner... Also, perhaps, what I would get him as a gift. Perhaps, what kind of flowers he'd hopefully get for me. Well, things have changed!
I doubt we'll even make it out for dinner at all! Though we might just try and take Cyanne out for her first Valentine's Day dinner. We shall see...

But - the interesting part of the day was this:
I always order Tom a box of chocolate for each holiday from Burdick's - our favorite store in Cambridge... (my Dad is also a beneficiary, these days) So, I ordered his usual lb. assortment as well as a 1/2 lb. order of lemon peel dipped in dark chocolate. As well as a little chocolate cake for 2. This morning, while I was feeding Cyanne, I hear the FedEx truck stop at our driveway then drive away so I think to myself - okay... I need to go get the box before Tom gets back from work.
But... as things always are these days - I'm feeding her, shushing... trying to get her to take a nap, looking at my work email... trying to get some stuff done for work - and then Cyanne wakes up from her brief nap. So, I think - let's take a fun little trip outside to get Daddy's chocolate.
Well... Lucky got to it first.
As we all know - chocolate and dogs are a bad bad combination.

So first I proceed to yell at him - I'm sure the neighbors could hear me saying 'bad dog' over and over... then I realized i'm still holding the baby - so I lay her down on one of the seats in the car - and inspected the damage.
Lucky ate the ENTIRE pound of chocolate... plus the ENTIRE box of chocolate dipped fruit.
(as an aside, this was a VERY expensive dog treat for those of you who know this store!!!?!!!)
At least he hadn't reached the cake which had a corner of the box gnawed off... It is currently, safely in our refrigerator.
After my annoyance/anger wore off, I then realized that it was likely a bad thing he ate the chocolate. So in Cyanne and I went to call the vet...
30 minutes later, we're at the vet and Lucky gets his stomach pumped!!...

Poor guy. So perhaps my yelling and nasty looks at him combined with having his stomach pumped & being given vomit inducing drugs will make him think twice before chewing on a package that arrives at our house. (he has done this before... I've lost a J Crew sweater to a few dog chewed holes in the past... ) The vet said he should be fine...

So... he's still there - Tom's on his way to get him now - but so far, has been a rather eventful Valentine's day so far...

On a better note:
Here are some photos of Cyanne in her Valentine's Day outfit - she not sure what she thinks of it all =)...
1) Hmmm... Wow, this is exciting, sort of... At least I get to wear a fun outfit!

Hm... Well, this doesn't seem too exciting to me. Rather ho-hum, I'd say... I'd say 'been there, done that' but I haven't!...


Well, maybe this could be fun. Hey, wait, you're still taking photos of me!?! I am not going to smile, so you can just quit trying to make me!
Cyanne wants to wish you all a very happy, festive, and fun Valentine's Day.
She's sending you all big, wet, slobbery, gummy kisses =)...

Tom was good! He opted for some of my favorites instead of the traditional roses... =) Though he did bring home a bunch of red tulips earlier in the week. Has been a good week for flowers around here!

One last shot of Cyanne playing on her activity mat - she's definitely starting to reach for all of the things dangling down...

Cyanne Turns 4 Months Old!

Here are a few shots we took on January 26th when Cyanne turned four months old.




To give you a little perspective on her size -
this is the rocking chair in our living room (from Tom's grandfather).
We'll try & take photos of her each month in this chair to see how she changes in size =).

Tom's TV set-up for Cyanne

So, this was back in January.
Tom noticed Cyanne's tendency to watch TV while we did... And yes, we know this makes us bad parents for letting her watch it - but hey, it's colorful... and she won't remember. This is what we tell ourselves - but I digress.
This was Tom's set-up for Cyanne... =)
She looks super thrilled, no?

Watching the local evening news... =)
You can see the top of her head/socks.

The profile shot - propped up on the Boppy in the rocking chair.
And don't worry - we've never done this again.
I just thought it was very entertaining and hence the photos to document it.

More photos & some of my favorite things =)...

Here are more shots from when Anna & Jay were here...
Some of my favorite things:
1) Lunch at the Beachside with Tom & Jay

2) My sleeping baby & a very tasty margarita

3) Tom feeding Cyanne (which means I am not! =))

4) Cyanne's fun expressions - this is her thinker expression staring off into the distance... Oh...

5) Anna having fun with her niece and coming to visit us! =)

6) Anna - still talking with Cyanne - and providing a little sun protection... =)

Aunt Anna & Jay M. Visit & meet Cyanne!

We were lucky enough to have a visit from both Tom's sister Anna and our friend Jay Morrison the same weekend! Anna flew from Texas to see her niece for the first time while Jay drove down from SF where he was having interviews (we secretly hope he gets the position at SF and not any of those much less fun E. Coast VA's... but then we are biased...).

It was wonderful having them here - wonderful that they got to meet Cyanne and wonderful for us not only to have their excellent company but also to have their hands to hold, help, and at times diaper and feed Cyanne!
As we have come to learn, help in any amount, at any time, is very very welcome and wonderful!
Here are a few photos from the weekend.
We went down to the harbor - it was a beautiful weekend. The USS Ronald Reagan was in town... there's a shot of it in the distance in one of the shots of Cyanne below.
Here ya go: