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.

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...

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.

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.

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!

At the Fair

After a lot of running around the past couple weeks - mostly with too many trips to the Bay Area, whether it be Joe's work or rock shows or socializing - it was really great to spend this past weekend at home doing all the things the weekend was made for: a little cooking, a little cleaning, some errands, and a yummy Sunday brunch with my folks. It was all quite restorative. And we kicked off the weekend with one of my favorite summer activities: going to the State Fair.

I have been going to the State Fair since I was a kid and have many fond memories of fried food, rickety-looking rides, animals, and exhibition halls with people in headsets hawking cookware. And once my grandpa won a HUGE stuffed bear for me from one of the midway games, which was just about the coolest thing that could have ever happened to me, of course. I was excited to take Joe and Isota to the Fair for their first times and I am happy to report not much has changed since I was a kid. We saw cows and goats up close and (stinky) personal, had kettle corn and sarsaparilla, and even managed to score Sody a sweet stuffed purple stingray with our stellar balloon dart skills. We named him Louis. He is French.

Sody is a Punk Rocker

A snarl and a mohawk, what more does she need?

Finally!

Big furniture news around here, guys. Not only is Sody finally sleeping in a real crib but she has her very own room now! It's quite exciting. Previously, our second bedroom had been half Sody's room and half Joe's office. It contained all Sody's stuff but she still actually slept in the Pack n Play in our room. But last week Joe moved his office into our bedroom, put together the crib, and voila - instant baby room! I am so used to the three of us happily squished together in one spot that it feels pretty luxurious for her to have her own room. It's lovely and I am getting to do all the nesting stuff again - arranging and cleaning out and making it her own little space. The only thing left is getting more stuff and art on the walls, but I am being conservative in that respect after our last move. I put so much up and so many nails in the walls of our old apartment that Joe the saint spent hours spackling and repainting when we moved out. Who says I can't learn a lesson?

And yes, the first night or two of her sleeping in her own room was slightly traumatic for me ("Joe, she feels SO far away!") but she had no problems whatsoever...save for the occasional dropping of the pacifier outside the crib, or getting the leg stuck between the rails.

What Happens When Mama Accidentally Leaves a Pen on the Ground

The Many Faces of Isota

Sody's goofy, happy, punchy little personality is really coming out these days. She is a total crack up...cracks us up and cracks herself up and is just pretty damn happy in general. Like, ALL the time. Every single day I look at this sweet little lady and think "How did I get this awesome kid?!" She is so busy making new faces and rolling all over and exploring so much (most of it right into her mouth, natch) and the result is a lot of silly, happy pictures.

First "Real" Photo Session

I took Sody to the local portrait studio the other day 'cause you know...seven months, it's time to get some real shots taken, right? Also, I had a coupon and I will do anything if I have a coupon. I am my father's daughter, what can I say? I dressed her in an outfit that used to be mine, which means it is very old and very polyester and probably not very comfortable in the middle of a Sacramento summer. But of course she was a trooper and did great and we got this amazing shot:


I know everybody thinks their own kid is the cutest, but seriously...this IS the cutest, right? RIGHT?!?

Family Portrait

Now We Are 7 Months

Sody Lou marked her 7 month "birthday" not with cake but with a trip to the Jelly Belly Factory in beautiful Fairfield, CA. If any of you happen to be on your way between Sacramento and SF as we seem to be every other weekend, I highly recommend you stop at Jelly Belly for the tour. And the free samples. And the huge gift shop. (pencil cases with the Jelly Belly logo, anyone? slippers shaped like giant jelly beans, maybe?) We tried some new bean flavors there, too: baby wipes (ok, tastes faintly sweet, the way baby powder smells), black pepper (intense! truly pepperlike!), and moldy cheese (FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY STAY AWAY FROM THIS FLAVOR. Truly, truly vile. It was ok until I smelled the thing and then almost vomited. Which is yet another flavor of Jelly Belly, oddly and disturbingly enough).

Speaking of vomit - and i apologize for this post being so disgusting - here is a fun fact: the powers-that-be at Jelly Belly were trying to create the flavor of pepperoni pizza but it wasn't quite working so that is how they got their vomit flavor. See, the tour is EDUCATIONAL!

At the Homestead

It's been a semi-quiet couple of weeks at the homestead but we've had a few adventures: my dad's surprise birthday party, trying out some new foods (avocado was most decidedly NOT a hit), and a solo trip to San Francisco with mom - we had to go check out a big ol' crafty craft fair where our friend Norah was peddling her wares. Speaking of which, if you need some adorably rad baby goods like onesies and bibs, you should check her stuff out at sheriffpeanut.com. It is adorable and rad, like I said.

Sody is starting to scoot backwards now. She has managed to get herself a little stuck under a couple pieces of furniture. And she has two bottom teeth coming in! Cute but sharp. I need to watch out, eh?

New Jersey, Part 3: The Messy

The last thing I want to tell you about our trip to NJ was that we gave Isota her first real vegetable while we were there: baby food carrots. Messy as predicted and she seemed to really like them. Since then, she has added to her repertoire: green beans (thumbs up), zucchini (she gave me "gag face"), sweet potatoes (she warmed up to it) and frozen grapes and frozen peaches in her mesh feeder (VERY popular). She is pretty good at the eating thing so far, except that she seems to enjoy chewing on the spoon more than anything. I am having a hard time waiting a few days between introducing a new food because I want to puree everything in sight now. Fun times!

I know some people get grossed out with messy baby food pics but I can't resist posting these. Welcome to the mess, folks.

New Jersey, Part 2: The Bad

Ok, so there was one bad thing that happened on our trip, and it was all my fault: I TRIPPED and FELL while carrying Sody. Waaaaah!!!! You can imagine my horror and tears at the situation. We were at the zoo, having fun, and I had Sody in the baby carrier strapped to my front so she could see the animals. Walked down a small set of stairs and missed the last one or something (I still can't figure out what happened) and all of the sudden - splat! We were on the ground. (Note to self: steps + Dansko clogs + 18 lbs of baby attached to you = bad combo) My knees thankfully took the brunt of it but she did bonk her head at some point of the mess because we found a pink mark on her head. She cried for a couple of minutes, got over it, was acting like her normal happy self...but since head bonking and six month olds and nervous mothers don't mix, we headed to the emergency room to get her checked out. She's fine! We all survived the first fall and first emergency room visit and I would be perfectly ecstatic if that was the last one too.

Feel free to send me any dropping-your-baby stories because it makes me feel better to hear I am not the only one!