Christmas with a tiny squee

We all flew to my grandmother's for Christmas. It was a lot of people (me, Mike, Sterling, my mom, my brother, his wife, their 2 year old all stayed there and my aunt and uncle came for Christmas day). There were a few stressful moments. But overall, it was good to be there with everyone and to celebrate Christmas with family.

Sterling was an excellent flyer. She was a little rambunctious on the way down, but slept the entire flight back, which was awesome. She enjoyed looking out the windows of the plane. Unfortunately it was cloudy the whole way, so she couldn't see anything really cool.

My grandmother loved seeing her. Granny's house is not what one would term baby-proofed, so we had to watch our TS closely, but she was able to rampage about in the living room without too much damage. Granny had a lot of good toys: a few old watches, some necklaces, tupperwares, and all sorts of stuffed bears and dolls. TS enjoyed determining the merits of each of these. Her favorites were the watches and a large silver necklace. She also liked the TV remote controls.

Mike and I had headed down several days before Christmas so that we could go into San Francisco and wander about for a bit. We took BART in and TS fell asleep partway there. Here she is sleeping in the sourdough bakery that we ate lunch at (very tasty). Then we checked out the Cartoon Art Museum, which was "tiny, but interesting" (according to the review). After that, we headed to the Children's Creativity Museum, but got sidetracked at another museum where someone we knew was having an exhibit. By the time we made it to the Creativity Museum, it was closing. Oh well, next time.

 My brother and his family showed up a couple days after us. Their daughter is just over 2. She and Sterling had a good time together. Their Christmas present to everyone was to cook Christmas dinner. My brother had told Granny to buy a 7 pound roast (for 9 of us, including the two babies). She got an 18 pound roast. She wanted leftovers. Despite the excess roast, they pulled dinner off astonishingly well. Everything was very tasty.

My aunt makes cookies every Christmas. I look forward to them all year.


My mother flew in last. I wish she had been there a little earlier. It's always easier when she's around.

Thanksgiving with a Tiny Squee

Nappin' with her Doodad

We drove down to Corvallis on Tuesday night see my parents for Thanksgiving. TS slept the whole drive, which was fabulous. However, it did mean that we couldn't stop - if the car stops, she often wakes up. We stayed Tuesday night with my dad and had a leisurely Wednesday hanging out with him. He scrambled eggs for breakfast, which TS always enjoys. She also had some banana. Nothing exciting to report regarding Wednesday's activities except that my dad and I took a small walk and TS napped in the carrier. It was very nice weather for Thanksgiving. Sterling wasn't impressed with dinner that night for some reason. She kept forcefully flinging bites of it on the floor. Salmon? Fah! Onto the floor with you! Carrot? Fah! Banana? Fah! It just wasn't a night for eating.

Wednesday night we headed up to stay with my mother. We built a nest out of couches padded with (many layers of) blankets and TS and I stayed there, while Mike bunked in the guest bedroom. The bed there is a little small to comfortably fit 2+TS. Mike got to sleep in, which was good because he drove back home Thursday night after dinner. Wednesday morning, we had more eggs. TS ate quite an impressive quantity and also enjoyed some banana and avocado.

Sweet potatoes taste best when eaten with
the entire face.

We cooked a turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (in the crock pot), steamed broccoli, and had rolls. Everything was excellent and TS enjoyed it a great deal. She was underwhelmed with broccoli (a former favorite), but really got into the turkey. The grownups had pie for dessert.

Turkey is AWESOME!

Friday, I took the baby down to my dad's and we had breakfast (a sort of dutch baby pancake thing). TS skipped breakfast because I thought there was too much butter and sugar in the pancake. She made up for it later that afternoon, consuming half a banana and a quarter of an avocado in her mesh bag. This was after she'd had some turkey and possibly other things as well. She's turning into quite a good eater.

We gave her a bath in the kitchen sink
 on Friday afternoon.

My mother and I watched Avatar in 3-D, with breaks to potty and relocate the baby. She was pretty happy (and safe) in the couch nest. She napped through the beginning of Avatar, which was handy. We took a couple of breaks to do things (laundry, make sandwiches), which was good because it's a ridiculously long movie. We also watched LA Confidential, which was quite good. TS napped through part of it as well.

Fig, it's what's for dinner.

My mother drove us home this morning. We timed it exactly to correspond with the morning nap and the baby slept for nearly all of the 2 hour drive. Good job! We sat down and shared a Harry and David pear after my mother left, which was excellently tasty. Later, TS stole a dried fig (she was standing on the back of the couch and reaching over onto the table where the dried fruit is stored) and enjoyed it quite a bit. I think she ate the whole thing, except for the pieces that were plastered onto her face.

I started a loaf of bread in the breadmaker and chopped up some veggies to go in the turkey carcass soup (we'd boiled the carcass down at my mothers). TS did some excellent jumping in her doorway jumper while I cooked. Now, she's napping in the carrier while we sit in the recliner and blog.

Visit to Granny's

We took Sterling on her first plane trip down to CA to visit her Great-Grandmother. She slept through the entire first flight, which was awesome. I was worried about her ears getting plugged up because she's been congested recently, but it didn't end up being a problem.

Granny was very excited to meet her great-granddaughter. Sterling was pretty excited too.

 

My mother was also down visiting, which was great. Sterling got to spend some time with her grandmother too.

Sterling slept in the bassinet that my brother and I slept in as babies. I'm not sure if my mother also slept there when she was little.

 It was pretty neat to have four generations of women in my family together in one place.

Text conversation with my mother.

Me: Getting pretty pregnant now.

My mother: You're looking like a recycling bag.

Street of Dreams

My mother and I went to the NW Natural Street of Dreams, courtesy of a 2-for-1 LivingSocial coupon. My mother, who is always on top of this sort of thing, determined that the ticket also gets you discounts at restaurants and things. We went to Agave Grill and had a most excellent mexican lunch, with $10 off.

I told her I was pregnant. Actually, I said I had something to tell her and she said "you're pregnant" and I said "I'm pregnant". She said she knew that we were going to have a baby from the time I told her we were getting married. I thought she knew - I've commented to M that she's been saying little things about families and kids and making comments that she's never made before. She said she knew me well enough to know that I was going to get pregnant and I said I knew her well enough to know that she knew I was trying. It was a nice finish to an excellent lunch.

She bought the tiny squee a tiny outfit with a duck on it. Green and yellow since we don't know what sex it will be yet.

I'm just a wee bit blorky due to over-consumption of Mexican food.