July 8, 2012: Tia Megan's Visit

We were so lucky this week to have Megan spend five days with us.  In addition to being great company for Grant and me, Ellie is just in heaven with her Tia Megan!  And I think Megan is pretty much in heaven snuggling with the Bean too!

Aside from just hanging out, taking walks, and exploring the Bay Area, Tia Megan accompanied us to Ellie's fun Music with Carl class at Day One.  We hadn't been to music class since Ellie learned to crawl, so I was excited to see how she would do.  She started out serious and shy, sitting close by Megan and me.  However, that quickly changed.  Ellie spent most of the class crawling from baby to baby around the circle, and dancing on Teacher Carl's drum.  What a ham!  I'm so glad that Megan had her iPhone ready to capture it all.

Imagine my heart's delight when Megan suggested that we try making cake pops in order to practice for Ellie's 1st birthday party!  I've been wanting to make cake pops FOREVER!  We kept them simple, and just tried to get the hang of the steps, but they turned out cute (there is definitely room for improvement!) and - importantly - they passed Ellie's taste test!  Check out the smile on this girl's face!

Thank you for the visit, Tia Megan!  We look forward to spending much more time with you soon!

July 4, 2012: Nine Months Old!

July 4 was more than Independence Day for our family -- it was also the day that Ellie turned a whopping 9 months old!  Can you believe it?!?!  We celebrated the day by running in the Redwood City Parade Run 5K.  It was a great little course that wrapped three times around the City's Fourth of July parade route -- full of spectators and fun.  We especially enjoyed having Tia Megan visiting and able to join us for the run!  It was awesome to see Megan complete her first 5K race -- she was a "stud" running the whole time with Grant. 

The next day, we had Ellie's 9 month doctor's appointment, where she weighed in a 18 lbs., 6 oz. and measured 27.25" long.  Ellie continues to measure somewhere between 45-55% for height and weight, and she is developing so well.  Ellie's latest milestones include:

• Crawling like a champion
• Pulling herself up to standing
• Clapping her hands together

Here are some photos of our cute-pie in action.

All we can say is, "Watch out, Harry!"  She is coming for you . . .

Finally, as you may have noticed in the picture of Ellie clapping above, other "new" news is that Ellie got her ears pierced.  I had my ears pierced as a baby, too, so we decided just to go ahead and get it done for Ellie.  Her pediatrician, Dr. Brown, did it at her 9 month appointment.  Ellie did great!  After a few sobs and wails, she was all better, and she doesn't seem to notice them now.  She sure looks pretty!

June 15-17: Father's Day Weekend!

Continuing with our summer of fun, we were thrilled to spend the weekend with Grandma, Grandpa, Tia Heather, Tio Jeremias and Cousin Betinho!  We started the weekend by participating in the San Jose Giant's race on Saturday morning.  Grant and I ran the 5K, and Heather ran the 5-Mile race.  We were amazed by Heather's speed, as she completed the race in sub-7:30 miles, and ended up with the 7th best women's time overall!

Since running the race meant that we got free tickets to the San Jose Giant's game that evening, we ventured out during the hottest evening of the year to sit in the bleachers for the minor league game against the Modesto Nuts.  Uncle Gene and Beth even joined us!  Then, we headed over to Rock Bottom Brewery in Campbell for a delicious dinner and belated birthday celebration for Grandma.  Betinho ate the vast majority of Grandma's birthday sundae, but Grandma didn't seem to mind.

On Sunday, we celebrated Father's Day with a yummy breakfast at the house, followed by baseball in the backyard.  Betinho is attending baseball camp one day a week this summer, and he's already proven to be all-star material!  I've never seen a three-year-old hit the ball like he can.  Grandma even took a turn at bat, and she hit a home run!  All the while, Ellie thought that swinging the bat was the most hilarious thing she had ever seen.  Every time we swung the bat, she would break into a belly-laugh!

  

Betinho next practiced his "superhero" powers by riding his tricycle around with awesome speed while wearing Ellie's Giant's cape.

And Grant's Father's Day would not have been complete without watching the U.S. Open with his little girl in his arms.  What a great weekend!

June 8-13, 2012: Summer is Here!

We are only mid-way into June, and we have been ENJOYING summer.  And since we have teachers in the family, summer off means that Ellie gets a lot of visitors!

First, Betsy and Mike spent five days with us for a fantastic long weekend full of sports in the City.  Thank you to Betsy for photographing all of our fun!  On Saturday, we attended a Giant's game at the fabulous AT&T Park.  It had to have been the most beautiful day of the year in San Francisco!

 

Then, on Tuesday, we attended the U.S. Open practice round at Olympic Club in San Francisco.  We were lucky to have our friend Lisa's law firm get us tickets to the event, along with passes to enter a great hospitality tent full of yummy food.  It was fun to see players up close working on their shots.  And, as you can tell, we were blessed with another gorgeous day in the City.

The long weekend flew by.  Ellie sure enjoyed time with her Grammy and Grandpa!

Ellie's 6 Month Photo Shoot!

When Ellie turned 6 months old, we decided to capture the moment by taking family photos, and photos of Ellie, at the great Foothills Park in Palo Alto.  We couldn't be more thrilled with how they turned out!  Enjoy.

June 5, 2012: We have a crawler!

June 5 was a big occasion:  our little girl became mobile!  This video was the very first bit of crawling that we saw from her.  Overnight, she improved tenfold, and she has been cruising around ever since!  Gone are the days of me getting ready for work with ease.

Grant was thrilled that the "carrot" that got her to start moving was an iPhone. We are sure to have two tech gurus living in the house!

June 4, 2012: Eight Months Old!

That's right!  Our little Ellie girl is a whopping eight months old!  Is it possible that every single day with little girl just gets more and more fun?!?!  She kills me with her cuteness.  This month, Ellie's biggest developmental leap has been the discovery of her booming voice.  This girl is loud!  She loves "telling stories" and chiming in on conversations.  She screams, squeals, grunts, and yells "dadadadada."  Needless to say, Grant is in heaven with the "dada" bit!  I am still working on getting her to nail down the "mmm" sound.

Since being back to work, it has been hard not to have as much time to get together with the group of incredible mamas and babies that I met during my maternity leave.  We were happy to change that this weekend by hosting a BBQ.  Is there anything cuter than all of these little buddies spending an afternoon together?  I don't think so!  Since 2011 appears to have been the year of boys, it's Ellie and Madi amongst six cute little heartthrobs.  We are going to have to watch out for this little girl come the teenage years!