Merry Christmas!

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 in San Francisco. 

The first one where Emma dressed up - look at my littlest monkey!  Last year, she was too young and small (only 2 1/2 months old) to fit into any costume.

In line for some candy!

We went to a neighorhood in San Francisco which is well known for its Halloween trick or treating.  We are lucky enough to live within walking distance. 

We got there early, and by the time we left, it was PACKED, and let me tell you, people in this neighborhood go all out.  Adults were dressed up, there were haunted houses in people's garages, there were tons of decorations, there was a live rock band, and even people dressed up as Shrek and Puss in Boots dancing in their bay windows to the soundtrack of Shrek the movie.  Crazy.

Halloween weekend was super busy - we had a baby shower, a birthday party, music class, and trick or treating.  We were all exhausted, including Emma!

Here she is at the birthday party which was held at a My Gym.  My Gym is like a little gymnastics playroom for toddlers and kids.  Emma is a little young for many of the things there, balance beam, high bars, big wedges and slides, and zip cord, but she liked this:

"Hey, do you want these?  I like to share."

"Why is my lot in life so sad?"

"See you guys, LATER!"

Fall Has Officially Arrived! (Well, for us, anyway)

Yes, I know that the official start of fall has long since passed, but it is hard to believe autumn is upon us when last week it was in the 80s and 90s here in San Francisco.   And although it isn't all that unusual to have a heat wave here in September and October, boy, are we glad that is over.  I love fall, and I still reminisce fondly about east coast autumns with changing leaves and crisp autumn air. 

But, just to prove that fall has officially arrived for us in San Francisco, here's some evidence:

Yup, Emma in her first Halloween costume at a pumpkin patch in San Francisco.  We didn't dress her up last year since she was only 2 1/2 months old at the time.  And by the way, I think it rather amazing that we are able to find a pumpkin patch in the middle of a city.  

Emma had a good time and we were able to meet up with friends.   Emma picked her own pumpkin - she is a strong little one, and actually picked up one of those little pumpkins in the picture by the stem. 

In other news, I finally finished an adult sweater for myself.  All this knitting and never one sweater for me.  I am pleased with it and will post some pictures of me wearing it soon.   It took me forever and a day to finish the sweater because work has once again been kicking my ass (hence the long break between posts).

On the Move!

Back Home

We're back home after an extended weekend trip to the east coast.  We attended my cousin's lovely wedding in Brooklyn, NY.  The venue was gorgeous, although it was a little tough to find and you had to drive through some pretty sketchy areas to find it.  It was right on the water, with a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty in the background. 

I was really worried about how Emma would handle the long flights there and back.  She has flown before, but that was when she was tiny and didn't move very much.  Lately, she has become super active, and is totally walking on her own and getting into all sorts of mischief.  She actually started to walk (without holding onto anything, without holding anyone's hand, and taking more than a few steps) right before, and I mean literally right before, we were packing our car to head to the airport.  She suddenly got up off her tushie and just toddled along like it was no big thing.  She cracks me up.  Anyway, she was so well behaved on the flights that we got compliments again about what a "good" baby she is.  I put "good" in quotes only because I don't really believe that babies are "bad" on planes on purpose.  And truly, to get annoyed with parents who are probably even more stressed than anyone else on the plane about keeping their baby in check is really not productive, or for that matter, very nice.  And I have to say that I really did feel that way even before I had a baby myself!

Incidentally, on the way back to San Francisco, two passengers in front of us were speaking French, and their neighbor kept bothering them with cooking questions and tales of all her allergies and her daily cooking habits.  I thought to myself that those two Frenchmen were incredibly nice and patient with the overly talkative neighbor.  Then, when it was time to exit the plane, those two Frenchmen stood up, and who could one of them be, but Jacques Pepin (!).  He and I exchanged smiles and he seemed like a very nice person, what with his patience, and even helping fellow passengers get baggage out of the overhead bins. 

Knuckleheads

So, what knucklehead decided that it would be a good idea to hold a mandatory training session on Saturday, starting at 9 AM, to last 4 hours, in a location that would require half of the attendants to drive an hour to the training site?  Oh, wait, that would be my knucklehead bosses.  It was the best Saturday morning ever.

Walking

So, yesterday, while husband and I were at work (boo), Emma took her first "real" steps.  She walked about 10 paces, then plopped herself back down on her tushie.  She has been "cruising" for months (where she holds onto things and walks around), and toddling along while we hold her hands, but she has been really reluctant to walk on her own.  She sometimes would take 2-3 tentative steps, look around, realize that she wasn't holding onto anything, then do a flying squirrel leap for the nearest solid object to hold onto.  Sometimes, she would miss the object and fall. 

My mom called me at work when Emma took her steps and I swear she sounded hysterical, laughing and jabbering at the same time.  I thought she was going to say something along the lines of "HAHAHAHA, I have had it, and I am leaving!" - that is how exuberantly crazy she sounded.  But, in the end, it was only proud grandma speak.

One Year Check Up

Here's Emma at her one year check up this past Wednesday:

Emma is healthy and fine, but this experience has got to go down in our records as THE most traumatic doctor's visit by far. At the doctor's office, she started to cry as soon as she was placed on the scale. Immediately prior to that, the nurse had been cooing and commenting on how cute Emma is, and then BAM! screaming ensues. Then our pediatrician came in and Emma screamed and cried during the entire check up - it's a wonder how our pediatrician could do the check up at all! It was only got worse when I had to hold Emma in my lap as she got three vaccinations, which drove her into further hysterics. But, come on, who among us likes shots?  No one.  Poor baby.  But, THEN, our pediatrician told us that Emma had to get blood drawn and that we had to go to a separate facility to do that.  So off we go to the lab for a blood draw.

At the lab, the phlebotomist couldn't find a vein in Emma's arm. She acted like this was a surprise, but really now, small arm, layers of baby chub, how is this outside the realm of possibility?? She kept tightening a rubber band around Emma's arms, switching from one arm to the other, while Emma just cried and cried. The phlebotomist had to call for back up, and another phlebotomist was requested.  It took forever for the second phlebotomist to show up, and Emma did not stop SCREAMING the entire time we waited.  At this point, I want to call the whole thing off, but realized that we would only have to do this again if I called it off...Finally, when phlebotomist # 2 showed up, she chose Emma's left arm, and pulled out a regular adult sized needle for the blood draw and stuck Emma.  GOOD LORD!  The screams that ensued.  Emma cried like I have never seen her cry before, and I had to hold her down while phlebotomist #2 JIGGLED the needle around in Emma's tiny arm because it didn't exactly hit a vien.  By this time, Emma is almost hyperventilating and struggling so hard that she is slipping out of my arms.  Both phlebotomists comment on how strong she is, and if she is going to be ok!  The blood finally started flowing, and the process was over. Emma was so bright red, so sweaty and so traumatized, that both phlebotomists were worried and tried to give her some juice.  I rushed out of the lab, went into the waiting room to hold Emma until she stopped shaking and hiccuping.  I am sure the people in the waiting room thought we were murdering my baby in the back!  In any case, so glad THAT is over!!!!

On a separate corporate peon note, work has been almost intolerable of late.  I realize I work in a tough profession, where people are generally not very sympathetic about personal lives and schedules.  I once had to go to New York for a work related meeting, and I was the youngest in the room, and the only woman. For god's sake, they had to get a receptionist to show me where the women's restroom was because none of the men in the room could tell me where it was in the building.  And I have previsouly posted how even when pregnant I had to work 30+ hours straight and how that type of schedule isn't that uncommon in general.  So yes, I know what I am dealing with.  However, I can't think, that even in this profession, and even knowing that I work with a bunch of assses, that yelling over the phone to someone "This isn't that hard! F**K!!!" is very productive or professional.  And this comes from someone I work with all the time.  And I had to endure this ridiculous call for over an hour on Thursday.  I know we are all under pressure, but honestly, this is a serious WTF moment. 

Additionally, I can't stand getting calls or emails all the time at home on my technical "day off" since I am supposedly part time.  People don't seem to understand that part time doesn't mean I just pick up my office and move it into my home. I need and want to spend quality time with Emma.  So today, while juggling Emma with one hand, and the phone in the other, several co-workers got an earful of Old MacDonald and Do Your Ears Hang Low playing loudly in the background.  I don't even care anymore whether THAT is professional or not.

A Phone Call For You

Happy Birthday, Baby Emma!

Dear Baby Emma,

You have been with us for one whole year!  You are the greatest blessing in your parents' lives.  You make us laugh everyday with your cute little smiley face.  Your Dol celebration was a great success! 

 You picked the stethoscope and the golf ball - we welcome our future golfing doctor!

We're so grateful that our friends and family could join us for your celebration today.  I know we all enjoyed ourselves and ate so much Korean food.  Thanks for being the best and sweetest guest of honor!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Hi, it's me, baby Emma.  

I just wanted to wish my daddy a happy birthday!  Thanks for being such a good daddy and for being so nice to mommy and grandma.  I'm just a little tiny, but I think you look great for being so old!

Pizza Party at Home

A couple of weekends ago, I made pizza.  From scratch.  Not too hard, actually.  Pizza dough is remarkably easy to make and pretty resilient.  You really can't mess it up too badly.  One thing to keep in mind, though, is that pizza dough will take time. You need to let the dough proof, which can take a couple of hours.  I just went and played with this little character while waiting.

I used the pizza dough recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  Very basic - flour, water, yeast, olive oil and salt!  I doubled the recipe and substituted about half of the white flour with whole wheat flour, so my crust was a bit more rustic, earthy and healthy.  I rolled out the dough into two pizzas.  I spread on my homemade tomato sauce (so very simple to make), and then I loaded the pizzas with chopped veggies - onions, mushrooms, broccolini and olives.   

I topped with some shredded mozzarella cheese (R, all of this was vegan until this point, sorry!).   

Then, I put the pizzas in the oven on a baking sheet sprinkled with a little cormmeal and let it bake for about 15 minutes.  

The pizzas came out bubbly and melty and cheesy, and yummy!

Happy 11 month birthday!

Happy 11 month birthday Emma!  You're almost a year old and I got home too late today to wish you a happy birthday.  Mommy had to work late, but had time to take a picture of you while you were sleeping. 

Home Craftiness

After years of watching HGTV and these do-it-yourself-on-a-dime-or-you-are-a-total-inept-loser types of programs, we decided to reupholster our dining room chairs ourselves. Why do we need to do this?  Because of these two culprits:

Claws, fur, and some hairballs later, our original cream colored seats were left looking sad and tired.  I will forego my embarassment and post here a picture of one of the seats (note that I am posting one of the better looking ones in an attempt to retain some semblance of dignity): 

We went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts and picked out some fabric on super sale.  When we bought the fabric, I  voiced some concern that it had stripes and that it might be hard to align them correctly on the seats.  Someone who shall remain nameless poo-pooed my concern, but I was only to be vindicated later. 

We cut the fabric:

Held it in place (again, as mentioned above, with some fussing and pulling to get the stupid stripes aligned):

 Stapled it in place with a big-ass staple gun:

And voila!

But, wait!  Stripes, breathe your last breath of fresh air because you are about to be...

Hermetically sealed.  With vinyl.

My concession to my husband's valid concern that our two furry culprits would only strike again with a vengence.  Freakin' kitties.  I live in a place with plastic. covered. furniture.

75

...is the number of bug bites I got over this weekend, give or take a few.  My body is burning with itchiness! 
Other than that, we had a relaxing family weekend in the Central Valley.  We went to a surprise birthday party for my sister-in-law, had family dinners, Emma swam in the pool, and we brought back some apricots and peaches from my father-in-law's fruit trees.  Will have to post some pictures later - we think that Emma is a water baby!  She loved being in the pool!

My Dancing Monkey

Emma loves dancing to music.  She loves her little music table, and has figured out how to start the tunes by rolling the rattle feature on it.  She knows when a tune is about to end, so will go over and roll the rattle again to keep the music going.  She is hilarious. 

Unfortunately, we could only get a video of the back of her head.  When she sees the video camera, she is so distracted by it that she stops whatever she is doing and comes over to the camera.  Which is why you get the extreme close up of her at the end of this video - you can tell exactly when she noticed the camera!

Black Cherry Boheme

In May, I finished knitting a sweet little vest for Emma.  The free pattern is called Boheme and it is well written and easy to follow.  It's perfect for the San Francisco summer weather, just something to keep the chill away.

Pay no attention to the crazy mismatched outfit underneath! And the fact that I could not get a good shot with her face because little monkey kept squiggling around! 

I made this using hand dyed sock yarn from Mary Jane's Attic which I purchased at Urban Fauna Studio.  It is a bamboo, merino wool, nylon blend.  The bamboo keeps the garment light enough for summer time (at least here in San Francisco) and helps with the color saturation.  I think the colors are gorgeous and subtle, girly, without being obnoxious. 

Because We Can

And because we are cruel parents:

Of course, this will all come to bite us in the ass later because when we are both old and grey, Emma surely will be dressing us up in homemade knitted items, wearing overly large and strange sunglasses, sporting faux hawks, looking ridiculous.

First Pool Party

We were invited to our first pool party last Saturday.  We rushed out to get a little swimsuit for Emma's poolside debut.  She did really well.  She clung tightly to husband at first, but then she wanted to splash and play with the water.

An Older Video Unearthed!

So here's an older video I am just getting around to posting.  This is from April 12, about two months ago, which in baby time is like a million years ago. We finally managed to capture on video Emma standing up. She had been pulling herself up to stand for a couple of weeks prior with varied success. Now, a million years later in baby time, she can pull herself up easily and walk if she is able to hold onto something while walking. Her favorite thing to do right now is to hold onto the bars of her playpen and patrol the border by grabbing the rails and walking around the pen.



In the video, you can also partially see the hideous haricut that husband gave her at the end of March. Her bangs were poking her eyes, so he cut those, which came out ok, but what you can't really see is how he went TOTALLY overboard on the sides. Her hairstyle came out with uneven sides, one side much, much shorter than the other, resembling a sort of lopsided Moe from the Three Stooges bowl cut.  Even he fully admitted the error of the cut immediately after he gave it to her. In fairness, it is pretty difficult to cut baby hair. Her hair has finally evened out now, but for a month or so she had a bad hair day, everyday. Poor thing.

Emma Kicks into Overdrive

Look at Emma, kicking into overdrive and trying to break out of her playpen/baby jail:



What was the trigger you might ask?  Do you hear the strange static noise in the background?  It was husband blowing his nose.  Emma does this almost any time she sees husband blow his nose.  Very strange.

Also, for the past month or so, Emma has developed her own sort of baby sign language.  We have not taught her any baby sign language (although I know that is a popular thing these days), but she seems to have created her own.  Whenever she wants to be picked up from her crib, she will start tapping her chest in short bursts.  When she wants to eat something you are eating, she starts to smack her lips and points or reaches to the food.  And recently, within the last two weeks, she has learned the art of :fake crying when she wants something..  She will sometimes even reach up and rub her eye, all drama style, while she tries to get your attention with her fake crying.  It is so amazing to see her learn something new and to witness her process all the surrounding information in her world each day.

Our Vacation in Mendocino

This past Memorial Day weekend we took a family vacation up the North Coast to Mendocino. 

We stayed in a vacation rental house with gorgeous ocean views, redwood decks and a hot tub (and perhaps the last place on earth with no internet or cell phone access)! 

We went hiking on the headlands, visited a lighthouse and beach, and yes, even a local yarn store.   We saw the local flora and fauna, all while keeping the mood lowkey and relaxed. 

Emma felt sand underneath her little bare toes for the first time:

She rode around in the Ergo:

We all had a great time, and I will put up some more pictures soon!

My Foray into Crochet

Here's Emma in my Cheri crocheted cap: 

It's got a little brim and a crocheted flower on the side: 

I wanted to make Emma a cotton sun hat for the summer months.  I really like the result (it's a little big on her) but I think I will also make something with a floppier brim. 

I learned how to crochet before I learned how to knit, and I find that crocheted items are a lot faster to create than knitted items, but I still like knitting more.  My mother, an excellent crocheter and knitter herself, helped me make this hat.  Having not crocheted in years and years, but skills were rusty!

I actually think this hat could be made for a boy, too, just remove the flower and use a different color, and it would look sort of like a newsboy cap.

Hey, You!

Hey! Yea, hey, you!  Come over here.

 Last night, grandma made delicious sukiyaki.   And last week, my doctor told me I could eat most of what mommy and daddy eat, so I got to try some, too. 

But, this morning, I felt a litle strange, and I thought, "What could this be?"

So, that's why I am calling you over here, to tell you, that "Oops, I did it again, I pooped my pants."

But, don't be mad at me, I'm just a baby!