Friday, September 25, 2009

Perfect East Bay Day







On Wednesday we were scheduled to meet up with some friends for a pizza-n-beer night at our favorite pizza-n-beer place in Oakland, the mighty Lanesplitter. But we decided to pack up and play hooky and make a whole day of it, and it worked out perfectly. One of those lucky days where the weather is gorgeous and the traffic isn't awful and the company is great. We packed a lot into the day: stopped by Joe's office to show off Miss Thang (sorry if we missed you! lots of people seemed to be at lunch...), lunch at La Note, Amoeba, swings at the park for Sody, Grove St. Kids to use a gift certificate that has been burning a hole in our pockets, bevvies up at Guerilla Cafe (if you are anywhere near North Berkeley - get over to that place now for the "Red Gold and Green Sparkler" - it involves lingonberry syrup and mint and deliciousness), and then finally over to Lanesplitter to see our homies. We totally screwed up Isota's schedule for the day but she hung in there with us. She calmly sat in my lap working on a pizza crust for a loooong time so I was able to eat my dinner as well. And eventually she tuckered out and slept in the Ergo carrier so then I had a beer too! (It's the little things in life) Funny to be sitting at this restaurant, with these same friends, eating and drinking our same things, doing all the old things we used to do...but with a baby strapped to the front of me while I do them now. Kind of strange but entirely welcome.

East Bay, we miss you. We will be back.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Baby's First Chicken Festival






Yes, you read that right. It was Mom and Dad's first chicken festival too, for that matter. This past weekend our little town had a "Chicken Festival" street fair in the small downtown village (basically a cute little area with some shops, a park, a hippie veggie food stand, and an outdoor theater)(where I saw my first Shakespearean play when I was a kid, btw) to honor all the chickens that roam around the streets. Yes, there are chickens in this town that just walk all over and kind of rule the streets. It's awesome. One of the nicest/fanciest restaurants in Sac is located here and I love sitting out on the fancy patio with the fancy harp player and the fancy food and lovely trees...and then a bunch of chickens start walking past making a bunch of racket. It is endearing. Anyway, the chickens are much loved around town and so that was the excuse for the street fair. We met my dad for breakfast there and Isota tried her first pancake. She also dropped her first pancake and waved bye bye to it on the floor. (Then even later she got down and almost ate the pancake off the floor too, but let's just gloss over that part, shall we?) Then we roamed the craft booths, posed with a cardboard Obama, and got shaved ice. Which the baby couldn't keep her fingers out of. Hopefully she doesn't grow up to have as much of a sweet tooth as her mother...

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Crawling!!





Folks, we officially have a CRAWLER! Isota has been scooting along for quite some time, inching forward on her tummy a lot as well as occasionally getting a couple real off-the-ground crawls in. But as of this week she has totally gotten the hang of it and can really cover some ground. So now the real fun starts: childproofing the cabinets and getting our vacuuming skills in shape, since no part of the apartment floor is out of her reach. These pictures are from one night where we had her going back and forth across the living room with my (forbidden and enticing) car keys as the incentive.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Ew Ew Ewwy Gross

If you are reading this and you know me fairly well, you probably know that the one food that I have always abhorred my entire life is fresh tomatoes. It is the single thing my mom wrote in my baby book that I did not like and to this day I still do not like them. It makes no sense, really, as I love just about every tomato product out there: canned tomatoes, tomato soup, fresh chunky salsa, spaghetti sauce, and on and on. Not to mention that Heinz ketchup practically flows through my veins - all the foods I put ketchup on could make up a whole other blog entry. But there is just something about a fresh tomato slice that just makes me shudder. I have tried in vain over the years to like them...I really want to, they look so pretty all plump and red and bursting with juice, sitting there glistening at the farmer's market...but every time I think "Ok, maybe today is the day it won't taste so gross" I am never able to actually swallow the thing.

So, I accept my tomato fate. Joe isn't crazy about them, either. But we have recently discovered someone in our family who can tolerate tomatoes. So if we ever forget to say "hold the tomato" we know who to give them to.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

8 Months





Isota is eight months old today! Here is the celebratory baked good for the occasion...vegan, wheat free chocolate chip bars. (with some totally random old leftover frosting from the fridge on top because the frosting I made from my Babycakes cookbook - where I got the bar recipe - is completely tasteless and no fun. I really want to love that cookbook but it is getting increasingly difficult to do so. I digress.) Sorry, Isota dear...Mommy can be a fun baker but mostly tries to stay health conscious. I swear I will loosen up and make you yummy things when you are old enough to appreciate it. I promise to use real butter and real sugar and not hide vegetables inside a cake. Joe is already worried I am going to be the soccer mom who shows up at the games with carrot muffins or something when it's my turn to bring snacks.

AnyWAY...Isota spent a great deal of her first day of being eight months old by biting me. A lot. On my legs when we were playing, on my neck and shoulders when I would pick her up, all over. She is getting two new teeth and they are really starting to hurt ME!