Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas 2011 Recap




Testing the new camcorder.  Yup, now there will be movies.


Cornelia and Papa

Cornelia and Grandma Mary

Cornelia and Grandpa Roy

"These are all for me, right?" (yes, in fact they are.)

"Not much taste to this one."

"Not much taste here either"

Silver Bell from Grandma Connie and Grandpa  Roy

Family photo marking the last time I will be allowed to appear in sweats for Christmas morninng . . . .

Red Santa (long story)

Friday, December 23, 2011

"Yes, Cornelia, there is a Santa Claus."


So, you knew it was coming . . . . Cornelia's first trip to see Santa.  I think she asked for a pony.  And based on her expression in the picture I think Santa said she would get one.  Thanks, Santa.  Thanks a lot.

"Daddy!  He said I can have a pony!"

Sunday, November 27, 2011

The Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

For the past five years we have cut our Christmas tree from our place in the Anderson Valley.  Each year we traipse around the place looking for a tree that is big enough to sate Ken's hunger for a big holiday statement in the living room, but not so big that Mike sees its felling as an environmental tragedy.  This year Cornelia came along for the first time and enjoyed it very much.  Like Ken, she is a very good supervisor -- pointing, directing, etc.

The Supervisors

The Help

"Where's Daddy?"


"Finally!  We have a winner!"

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Fall weather and sleeping in the country

Fall has returned to the Anderson Valley.  My favorite time of year.  Leaves drop.  Temperatures drop.  And the sun goes down early.  A fire in the wood stove.  

Last weekend we returned to the country after a too-long absence to find fall fully arrived and settled in, bags unpacked.  We arrived late on Friday night to a dark and very chilly house - and a house without working heat.  A house without heat and a six-month old baby are not a great combination.  And our little space heater and our wood stove were not going to warm the house up quickly.  So, in order to keep Cornelia warm for the night, Ken and I took turns sleeping with her on the couch near the wood stove in the living room.  I took the 11 p.m. shift; Ken relieved me at 6:00 a.m.  While it might sound appealing and cute - snuggling with your baby in front of a cozy wood stove - it wasn't.  Sleeping with a baby is a tricky thing.  Bad things can happen with babies in beds (or on couches).  This old man and his old-man back didn't get a lot of sleep.

Fortunately, the house warmed up on Saturday so we could return to our bedroom and Coco could return to her cradle.  Or so we thought.  Coco was having none of it.  The cradle is now a bit too small for her, a baby who rolls around in her crib all night long.  After multiple attempts trying to get her to go to sleep in her cradle, we gave up and brought her into our bed.  But, as I said, bad things can happen with babies in beds.  And one of us is uber-paranoid about bad things that can happen to babies.  So, for safety, we stripped all the blankets and pillows from the bed - essentially creating a giant crib - and then settled in for another sleepless night.  Old man.  Old-man back.  Coco, however, slept quite well.

"I slept great.  You?"

Coco's make-shift play area in the country.  Almost crawling . . . .

"Crawling is hard.  Let's all take a nap."

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Thank you Grandma Mary!

Grandma Mary left today after spending three weeks with us looking after Coco while Ken and I travelled off and on for work.  It was a real treat for all of us.  Coco got new clothes, wore multiple outfits each day, and went for walks nearly every day.  She even got to sleep with Grandma in the guest room once or twice when she couldn't sleep.    (But don't tell Daddy!)

Cocobean and Grandma Mary (November 6, 2011)
   

Coco's Six-Month Check-up

Coco had her six-month check-up this week.  It involved shots, so Papa was not looking forward to it at all.  The appointment went well.  Coco is happy and healthy.  She is 15 lbs 8 ozs and 26 1/4 inches long now.  That puts her in the 40th percentile for weight and 55th percentile for length.  Hmmmm . . .  sounds like she's tall and slender . . . . sounds like a supermodel to me.  Papa held himself together enough to hold Coco while she got her shots.  Two of them in rapid succession.  Thankfully she cried for less than a minute.  Papa didn't cry at all.   

Tyra Banks always says, "Find your light, girl!"

"Working with animals . . . . . always difficult."

Coco's bag of toys.

Busy in the high chair.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Cocobean's first Halloween

Tonight was Cocobean's first Halloween.  Papa was home from work by 4:30 and together Papa and Daddy got Coco into her Baby Chicken costume.  At 5:00, Papa, Daddy, Grandma and Coco made a bee-line to Belvedere Street which is where all the cool kids go for the best Trick-or-Treating.  Coco wasn't quite ready to Trick-or-Treat herself this year, but she did want to check out the competition.  What are the coolest kids wearing this year?  What are the cutting edge costumes?  Are kids going classic (ghosts and vampires) or are they making social or political statements this year (protesters occupying Wall Street)?   So much to think about for next year.  And of course she wanted to "walk the course" as all the best athletes do before the big race.  Unfortunately we couldn't stay long since Daddy had to fly to Los Angeles.  After dropping Daddy at the airport we came home for dinner - still in our Baby Chicken outfit - and to enjoy the spoils of the evening.      

Getting ready with Daddy.

Posing with Papa.

"Looks at me!  I'm a Chicken!"



"Yep!  Still a Chicken!"


"Who's gonna open these for me?"

"Nevermind, I'll do it myself."


Sunday, October 23, 2011

Happy Six-Month Birthday, Cocobean!

Today is Coco's six-month birthday.  It may be cliché but, my, how the time has flown and she is growing up so fast!

Coco is a very sweet and easy baby, thankfully.  She started sleeping through the night at three months.  (Don't hate us for that, please.)  She fusses only when her daddies are a bit slow on the uptake.  If she has a point to make, she'll make it pretty clear: "change my diaper, please," "it's bottle time, big guy," "entertain me, I've got things to learn," or "okay, daddy, put me to bed 'cause I'm tired."  Her personality is starting to blossom.  She loves to sleep.  She gets that from Ken.  She is happy when she wakes up in the morning.  She gets that from Ken too.  She loves to talk and make noise (more and more all the time).  Uh, she gets that from Ken as well.  She also loves her social calendar.  Yep, that's Ken too.  And her social life has been active for a baby.  Lots of dinner parties in the country on the weekends.  However, she has now reached the "grabby" stage.  Reaching for things on dinner tables which makes dinner parties a bit more challenging.

She has been achieving some other milestones lately in addition to reaching and grabbing.  She has been enjoying solid foods for three weeks now.  Apples, pears, bananas, peas, sweet potatoes and carrots.  She started rolling over last week, although that's still pretty infrequent.  In the last couple days she has taken a keen interest in screeching, but maybe it's her early version of singing.

It's a good thing Coco's such an easy baby (knock on wood).  In the past three months our lives have been pretty logistically complicated.  In mid-August, Ken was invited to appear as a designer on Home Made Simple, a TV show on the Oprah Network.  Initially he was asked to appear in two episodes.  The show films in Los Angeles and each episode takes about a week to film.  So Ken went off to Los Angeles for two weeks.  Two weeks turned into three week, four weeks, five weeks . . . .  in total Ken will be in Los Angeles for nine weeks coming home only on the weekends.  He has two weeks left to go.  The entire experience has been terrific for him.  He loves the design work which is focused on simple, do-it-yourself home decorating projects which is his strong suit.  And the people are terrific as well.

We've managed the logistics pretty well.  For the first two weeks my parents came to San Francisco to look after Coco while I was at work.  Then for four four weeks we found a terrific babysitter.  She adores Coco and Coco adores her.  Although I admit I was just a bit sad when after three weeks with the babysitter Coco showed some signs of baby consternation at the end the day when the babysitter left.  Now my mom has returned to San Francisco for the final three weeks.  It's been an interesting experience.  I've had a taste of life as a single parent and Ken has had a taste of the life of a parent on the road. 

We're definitely looking forward to the holidays and some "normal" time at home.











Saturday, May 21, 2011

Our First Two Weeks at Home - The Pictures


Just arrived at San Francisco airport.

Our little carry-on luggage.



Cornelia's  arrival at 70 Potomac.


 
A bouquet from the office.  Gorgeous!

A drink for daddy and a drink for baby.

Cutie!


Lounging by the fireplace in the country.

Little toes

Saturday night dinner in the country.


Snow on Sunday morning, May 15!



Ken's vegetable garden, planted the day before, under the snow. 


"Please, enough with the pictures!"


"Really?  I come all the way from India to watch reality TV?"

A picnic in the park


"More pictures?  Really?"