Summer Sandbox

My little sand eaters! I couldn't manage a picture of it but when I'm in there with the two of them it gets pretty crowded.

Camping in Morro

We spent one day in SLO with my Cal Poly roommate Lianne and now we are camping in Morro Bay with the whole Gieseke clan (17 people, 2 tiny sites, you can imagine the chaos).

Pictures so far from camp.

5 Years Ago

We cannot believe that June 30th marked our 5 year anniversary. We look very young, fit, and tan at 23 and so very excited to start out together in life. I remember the joys (coming down the aisle to Ave Maria played beautifully on the violin and piano, feeling so sure of our love and commitment, dancing up a storm with everyone I love, emotional father-daughter dance, food tasting so great, driving away together giggling) and stresses (first dance, dress almost not fitting, the dog-show that ruined our picture location, Dan taking the only church key paintballing and preventing us from setting up, me and my mom at each others' throats) of our wedding day vividly and think of them from time to time, though less often than I used to.

Dan and I got away from home to celebrate and had several conversations about the last 5 years and how much is different than we pictured or exactly what we had hoped for. Some of the surprises for us were that we still live in the Bay Area when we thought we'd live in Santa Rosa by now, we don't own a house yet, we already have 2 small children when we didn't think our family would have grown so much already, and that we fight a lot less and work much better as a team than we did while dating.

Some things that aren't a surprise are that I stopped working after we had our first baby, that we have found a good church and gotten very involved, and that we are still very close with our families.

On the evening of the 30th we went to dinner at Chantilli's in Redwood City which we had been saving for a special occasion and then lingered at a cafe for dessert and drinks. I wore the earrings from the wedding and my going-away dress, though it didn't fit quite as comfortably as it used to.

 We also had the privileged of going away for a night in July to San Francisco to see Les Miserables, sleep all night long without anyone yelling at us, and eat in tiny restaurants with no stroller space and long lines (Little Griddle and Dottie's were amazing) and just be together. It was hard to leave Cosette for the first time and Jackson, who had been feisty all week, was suddenly a little angel as we were leaving and made me want to stay. But it was worthwhile to be on our own for 24 hours and my favorite part is being spontaneous and going wherever seems fun in the moment.

In front of the Orpheum before the show. What an emotionally moving play! Seeing it all live and hearing the music makes the story so touching and powerful.  I teared up seeing the Fantine and Cosette parted by the mother's early death.

 

Fantine sings:

"Come to me, Cosette, the light is fading
Don't you see the evening star appearing?
Come to me, and rest against my shoulder
How fast the minutes fly away and every minute colder.

Hurry near, another day is dying
Don't you hear, the winter wind is crying?
There's a darkness which comes without a warning
But I will sing you lullabies and wake you in the morning.

For God's sake, please stay till I am sleeping
And tell Cosette I love her
And I'll see her when I wake..."

  Little orphan Cosette's protector, Valjean, is a figure from God and gives her a sweet little life. I just love the story and my girl Cosette also.

Waiting in the 40 minute line on Sunday morning to eat at Dottie's a very popular breakfast spot. We were in SOMA, so this trip was packed with people watching opportunities as the odd San Franciscians went about their business around us.

Inside The Drake Hotel in Union Square. No, we didn't stay here, but we did pop into some fancy hotel lobbies to peak around.

 And lastly, we decided to go traditional with gifts. For the 5 year anniversary the traditional gift is wood and the modern interpretation is silverware. So I gifted Dan the chance to pick out a new putter (golf "woods" are a bit of strech since a putter is not a wood and even the woods are made of metal, but it was the closest thing I could come up with). For the silverware, Dan bought me some silver serving pieces from a pattern that I had already started collecting at estate sales. So delicate and detailed. I hope we will be putting and serving meals together for many years to come.

Here's to 5 more wonderful years and the surprises yet to come. I wouldn't miss it for anything! Love you Danny!

French Dining

We have had a lot of recent success with French style eating patterns and I'm so relieved to see Jackson's diet expanding and him eating greater quantities. His low weight is always on my mind and I struggle to both get calories down his throat and try to make them nutritious. He's just not a person that enjoys food and it seems like he eats only to survive (I really can't relate to that mindset. He must have inherited that one from his too-thin Daddy).


Here's what's working for us from Bring Up Bebe: limiting snacks to mid-afternoon only (when that's realistic for our schedule), putting him at the table at meal time whether he says he wants to eat or not, limiting milk during the day, a requirement to try everything on his plate (sometime we compromise by letting him lick or smell something he really doesn't want to eat), serving the new or scary foods before the favorites, serving sweets at afternoon snack time to avoid a bedtime sugar rush, serving a wide variety of foods over and over again, even one's he's sure to resist.

He was quickly becoming way too specialized: freeze-dried fruit only, veggies only pureed in store-bought pouches, wanting cereal for every meal (I do understand that urge!), feasting on crackers (he got his hands on so many from others even though I never bought them), drinking milk non-stop, colby-jack cheese only, PB&J but he would only eat the jelly, almost no meat...he wouldn't even eat the junkie food on the kids menus at restaurants like chicken strips and mac-n-cheese because it was french fries only.

When I first cut off snacking in favor of meals (especially car-snacking) he fought back with tantrums, but now he's use to getting more hungry, waiting, and eating at the table. It's so much easier to thoughtfully prepare good foods at the table than the things I would grab for the car.


Here he is eating peaches (a new fruit for him so he only took one bite), chicken in spicy peanut sauce, and sharp cheddar cheese. These foods may not seem exceptional, but I regard them as a wonderful step forward into eating a more diverse array of adult style foods. If he's anything like his parents he'll continue to be picky throughout childhood, but my hope is that we can teach him to try new things, to control when and how he eats junky foods, and put some weight on the kid.

And lastly he's doing the double drinks, which we've given up telling him not to do. It's pretty gross to watch the backwash flow from the milk to the water cup, but that particular problem falls pretty low on our priority list these days.

What A Sweet Baby

We just adore this girl! She is now shrieking for attention all of the time. She desperately wants to be mobile and involved in everything around the house. She's a tough girl and handles her brother's rough tackles remarkably well.

Sonoma County Fair

This much anticipated outing didn't happen last summer because our schedule was packed, and almost didn't happen this year due to a bad case of strep throat, but at long last we made it to the fair. It was exactly as I remember it in the high school years: greasy food, people you sort-of recognize, heat, a lot of animal poo on your shoes...and so much more. But it was fun to do the animal barns with Jack and since we went mid-week, the big crowds were thankfully absent.

A lot of silliness. Sticking our heads in cut-outs was one of the primary occupations of the day

 

 Boogers the Cow was sinkin' adorable, but his 12-year-old girl owner informed us that he was headed to the butcher this week :( So sad for Boogers.

Checking out the piglets. Unfortunately Jack got really nervous about standing in the sawdust (he has a thing about his hands and feet being clean) and had to be carried around the barn. I hope that particular phobia passes quickly.

 Face to face with massive horses.

 Stopping amongst the bunny hutches and chicken coops for Cosette to suck down a quick banana-apple snack. I'm glad she's eating so many solids. It takes a little of the pressure off of me to always be the one to feed her.

 

We feasted at the fair.

Thanks for the ice cream Papa!

 Petting zoo time.

 These are the kind of animals that eat your shirt and steal your camera when you're not looking. I suck very close to the Little Man here.

 

  Pretty brave, but they can get a little scary. He was "all done with animals."

 Of course we can't leave without pony rides. This was actually the highlight for everyone. Jackson's first independent ride, due to clever saddle straps. He actually loved it and they let him go around forever (10 minutes or so instead of the typical 2 laps). The cowboys took adorable pictures of each kid on the horse with a hat and western backdrop, but I couldn't bring myself to spend another $12, so these shots of Jack and Bulls-eye will have to do.

 So proud of himself

 

 Uncle Dubb hangs with Baby Blue-Eyes. She can't wait to get up there.

 Poor Dan had to work since it was a Wednesday afternoon, but the rest of us had a mostly good time.

 One more ice cream cone and time to head home.

 We also got a chance for the ladies to celebrate my mom's birthday at an amazing restaurant, the Sea Thai Bistro. We had such fancy and delicious Thai food. If this restaurant was in Redwood City I'd make Dan take me all of the time.

 A pedicure and sun hat as gifts. Happy Birthday Mom! (Don't worry, I won't reveal your age)