First Fever

Our first fever last night. It had to happen eventually. I'm actually rather proud of us for having 'held it off' for so long. Don't know if had anything to do with us really. Diego is a pretty hearty kid. The fever broke sometime between 12 and 5am as he slept on my chest. Today, all's well besides a bit fussyness and extra cuddlyness. Here we are working on the computer.

Really on the Move

Today Diego discovered his tongue - that you can sing into a cup and it resonates - that the toys are in the basket by the TV - and that you can climb the stairs. (He only got up one, and with some balancing from Mom but it's not going to be long. Those baby gates from Sears really are going to arrive just in time.) It was a big day! We are working on a better sleep schedule and it's going well. I'm going to try night weaning from 12am to 5 - I don't expect that to do particularly well. Kendra has been posting pictures of her little girl - who is no longer a baby. I know everyone says it but they really do grow up very fast.

A Bunch of Stuff

Another Visit: my Uncle Dan and family came for a quick visit on their way from Arden to their home in Montreal. It was great to see them and introduce them to Diego...



who every day is more little boy and less baby. This weeks excitement is the discovery that he can grab on to things and pull himself up to standing. Our new favorite toy "the piano" is just the right height for this. I've ordered some baby gates. I think they are going to arrive just in time.



Also, now that Diego's naps are a little bit more regular I have started some new projects. Those of you who are following this blog from the beginning will remember that what I really wanted to do the week before Diego was born was empty my kitchen cabinets, clean and paint. I resisted. I did my first one this week. It's amazing what a coat of clean white paint can do for an old anything.

Lot's of Visits

August is the month of visits I've decided. Here are pics from just a few.



This is Suzy's new son Emmet. We had a great visit with the whole Scott family and, ironically, discovered when I looked at the pictures that the only member of the family I didn't get a picture of was Suzy.



We had a great visit from Melanie and Landen. I dragged them all over the city - as I put my new jogging stroller through it's paces.

Making Music

A future musician? Or just likes to make a lot of noise? Time will tell.

Seven Months

Dear Diego: You are going to be seven months in two days. Boy, am I out of date. So much has happened in our life together I’m not sure where to begin. Your smiles have become giggles, your rolls have become stands and it seems every day you are less baby and more little boy. This month you are on the move – you haven’t quite figured out crawling yet but we are seeing lots of “downward dog” – and you do seem to get to the things you want pretty efficiently. If I was asked to hazard a guess I would say that you are going to walk early. You were sitting up on your own at 4 months and have, in fact, met most of your physical milestones sooner than expected. Will you be a sports enthusiast like your dad or a bit clumsy like your mom? We have also started giving you ‘real’ food. You have tried oatmeal, several kinds of fruits and avocado. So far we haven’t found anything you don’t like – except milk and formula from a bottle. Don’t you think you could try to learn to like a bottle? I love you very much but I’d also love an afternoon off. Well – as I said in my last letter, no one is perfect and you are awfully close, my wonderful, fun and smart little boy.
Your mom; Julia

Newer.. but not there yet.

OK - almost. Here is month four and five.

From the Archives II

Here is a video from Month Two... I'm slowly catching up.

Oh ya - and a Wedding

And amongst all the crazyness of the last two weeks we also went to a wedding. Congratulations to Tanya Parks (now Ligthart) on her beautiful wedding. We had a good time hanging out with Laura and Craig - and the baby did great till around 9:30 when he had had enough and we came home. The wedding pic is courtesy of facebook. Tanya already has her named changed on her profile. I think that is rather 'on the ball' of her.

Miami!

And now - our trip to Miami. We went to Kendra and Len's on Wednesday night and had a good visit. Arrived at the airport early in the morning on Thursday, parked the car in the extended parking lot and our adventure began. Arriving in Miami was a lot like arriving in Barranquilla, the humidity and disorder seemed very familiar. This was a great surprise for Rafa. We rented a car, which allowed us a lot of independence and turned out to be a very good decision. Trip highlights included:

LOTS AND LOTS of hanging out and visiting with family.

Thanks to Kendra's mom for this wonderful hat. Unfortunately (but fortunately for us) Adara never really got into it. We think it is superfly!
Three trips to the beach.
Another visit with some high school friends of Rafa.

And best of all. Lots of time with Diego's great grandmother - La Abuela Geca (pronounced 'Heca' short for Angelica). Deigo is her 15th great grand child.

Packing and Unpacking

Then back home - to unpack and repack. Traveling with an infant is different than traveling alone - for sure. I usually pack in about 10 minutes. This time it took 4 days. This is a great 'practice' trip however, as we are going to Barranquilla in January (Dec 29th to Jan 29th in the tropics!) so I tried to be as conciencius as possible. Good chance to find out what I wish I had on a short trip before our month long journey later this year.

Blue Skies Camp

We are very out of date and so here are a few updates - all stuck together. July 20-24. Diego and I went to camp! Every year, for the last three, I have been camp director for a summer day camp - associated with the summer music festival Blue Skies. It is an art and music camp - the children come during the day to the festival site, do some fun camp stuff and also take workshops from professional artists. I have lots of work to do to get camp ready but really the week of camp I don't have to do too much work besides be around, lead some songs and make sure everyone is having a good time. This usually isn't a problem. Good thing too because, as Diego still does not accept a bottle, he came with me. Truth be told he had a wonderful time and I had an assistant this year who took care of the afternoons so we were only at camp from 8-1ish. Here are some shots from our afternoons in Arden. A fringe benefit of camp was staying with my mom, brother and Sue for a week.
Organic, home grown peas!