Weekly Playdate with Friends

Violet enjoys her playdate with some other children on Wednesdays. My friend, Rebecca, hosts a get together time, more for the mommy's than littles, but they all play together well.

Today it was just Rebecca, Amy, me and our babies. We chat in the morning, enjoy a yummy lunch together and often just chat in the afternoon, but sometimes we fit a crafty project in the afternoons. (I like those days the most...chatting and crafting. Great combo!)

Here are some pics of our day today.

Andrew trying to squeeze into the Bumbo.

Amy and her new little one Grace.

Our hostess witht the mostest, Rebecca.

Cuddling with Ben.

Baby Counter.

Rebecca's youngest, Ben. He is a sweet, sweet boy.

We are missing two boys in the pics. It seemed like every picture of the big boys was blurry due to their constant play...go, go, go! Rebecca has Josh and Ben. Amy has Isaac, Andrew and Grace. One other mother joins us most weeks but she is out of town this week. She has two girls, so we even out with boys and girls.

It is always a sweet time of encouragement and general girl chat. :)

Check out my flickr page on the right of the blog for video of the Vi Pie jumping like its her job. She is an absolute joy!

Daily Life

Life here in California has been going smoothly. We are enjoying our days and kind of missing all the snow winter has brought all our family. It is spring weather here. All the trees and bushes are in bloom and my daffodils are beautiful.

Daniel is still riding his bike in to school and staying busy with homework. He is regularly meeting with professors and other NPS students further along within the computer science degree so he can find out more about his future classes. In a few quarters they will begin to focus on a thesis topic and Daniel will need to pick the general focus he plans on delving into. Classes are still challenging and his main response when people ask about school is he is still working on finding the balance with school work and family. He does study a lot, but Violet and I don't feel deprived. I think he has found that balance; maintaining it is the hard part.

Violet and I stay busy enough. We have lots of time at home but a good amount out and about. She is a fabulous baby. I feel like I can take her anywhere and she just grins, sleeps, or soaks it all in with wide eyes. So precious! I am kind of attached to her!

Her 4 month appointment was a little late due to a busy pediatricians office, but everything is looking great. She is just barely under 12 pounds. (I know, I know, she is tiny.) The doctor doesn't seem too concerned. She was born small and may always be small. She is 24 inches in length so she is definitely taking after mommy and the aunties in the height department. And get this, her head is in the 78th percentile for her age. Again, go big brains! We are in no rush to start her on solids. We are just continuing to make sure she gets all the food she wants and needs. That is getting harder because she gets so distracted now-a-days. Such a curious little one, always having to turn to see what the slightest noise was coming from.


Daniel loves to put warm, clean laundry on himself so he figured Violet would love it too.
(She is wearing a sleeper my Momma mailed out that me and my sisters wore when we were little ones.)

Some pictures while Mommy folds laundry...



She seems to agree that warm laundry makes for a warm and happy baby.

Bath time is finally bringing some smiles. For months now it has just been her straight face. She hasn't cried in ages, but just a serious face. She is cracking smiles more often as I sing to her in the tub.

We took a walk on Saturday on the bike path that travels along the ocean. It was gorgeous weather so I took plenty of pictures.

The park at the end of our walk before we turned around. This is in Pacific Grove.

The waves were crashing high that morning. I had to show y'all this one.

Daniel with Vi.

There she is! Enjoying her walk with Mommy and Daddy.

We are looking forward to visitors in the next few weeks. My Momma arrives in late February and then my Dad comes early March. They are staying for a nice visit and then a week after they leave we get to introduce Vi to her Auntie Sarah and Uncle Andrew. I know she is going to love them and all we have to worry about is Sarah trying to sneak Vi home in her carry-on luggage. Sarah is going to eat her up! We can't wait to see them!

I am excited to see everyone, but I also look forward to visitors because that means I get to see some new places. I like to try new things when people come visit. It makes for some good memories.

Y'all know there is always a place to stay here in Central California. Come on out!

Play Mat Time

Sleep time

and play time.

12 Things About Us!

My sister recently posted a "12 Things You Don't Know About Me" on her own lovely blog, and tagged her readers to do the same. I thought I would change it around a bit for our family. I will include things about all 3 of us.


12 Things You May Not Know About Us

12) I (Maryn) haven't been really excited about cooking new things lately, but I am hoping to change that soon. I think it has been a combination of baby activity and a smaller kitchen. Neither one are that good of reasons especially the second one. So I am pulling out all the cookbooks and magazine recipes I have ripped out and making a grocery list and possibly even a menu. I have been telling myself a menu would help kindle the flame to cook, so I will aim to try it this year!

11) Daniel and I still have a hard time doing different things in our free time. This weekend we made lists of things to do, we are major list people, and some of them were things we needed to do individually. It was difficult. We like each other's company a lot.

10) We have a little yard gnome in our front entry that greets people when they come in, if they look down to see him. It is an inside joke with my parents and Daniel. He was supposed to take pictures with it when he traveled, but I think the gnome is a little big and Daniel didn't get any photos in Japan, Korea, Thailand or the Philippines. He has traveled quite a bit outside of Iraq and Afghanistan.

9) Violet slept 9 hours straight two nights in a row! Woohoo!! Praise the Lord!

8) Daniel and I really like Costco. We got a membership in November and it is so good we have a well-planned budget because it is easy to go crazy in there!

7) We really like to have people over to our house. I mean really. Not only do we enjoy getting to know other people better and have fun, but we like seeing each other as host and hostess. We work together well when we have people over and it makes the time even more fun!

6) Vi loves to push up on her legs and stand straight up. She is getting stronger everyday and it is amazing to watch her grow and learn. She sits up in her Boppy when she feels like bending at the waist. Ha. You know what I mean if you've been around babies. They want to keep their body straight and just slide out of any chair you want them to sit in...

5) Daniel bikes to school and most of the time actually looks forward to it. I am so thankful for that; that it is enjoyable enough to do everyday and if he happens to not want to one day he gets the bus or uses the car. He bikes about 12 miles a day. We are planning for me to get a bike soon as well so we will be a biking family. We already have the trailer for Vi Pie. It is very bike friendly around here, lots of trails and bike lanes on the roads.

4) When Oscar and Meli, the kitty-cats, wrestle they tend to start with a slow spat where Oscar licks Meli's head for as long as she can tolerate it. Then they begin a full wrestle. It is very bizarre and funny to watch.

3) We may have a strawberry blonde on our hands. In the sunlight, Violet's hair looks to have a red tint to it. We are excited to see what it will look like...Grow hair grow!

2) My great uncle attended NPS, the same school Daniel is at, in the 70s and studied none other than, Computer Science. He is a retired Navy Captain...quite a career.

1) We are planning a trip to see everyone this next summer. So gear up for a Good visit!


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