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October in San Diego is just lovely - be not fooled by dreams of hitting the beach in June. That is folly, my friends. October is where it's at. Also, probably late July and August, but who can find a parking spot at the beach then?
Anyway, Natalie and I hit the road for a very brief weekend jaunt to San Diego. Our main purpose was to visit with my grandmother, but we also had the added bonus of seeing extended family (and super-extended family from England!) and my high school friends.
We started things off with our traditional airport breakfast of pumpkin bread.
No, she doesn't want to share. At. All.
Since the weather was so lovely, we did a lot of sitting outside around the pool.
Natalie even went for a swim one night:
We played inside some, too.
Natalie got to visit with her favorite kitty:
(The caption for this is Natalie saying, "Munch your food, kitty! Munch your food!")
(This is Natalie showing Baby Rachel how to give the kitty gentle touches.)
Of, course, we also visited our various playgrounds. Natalie totally knows how to work her audience for playground assistance!
We also had a totally lovely beach picnic with my high school friends and their kids and significant others. I had so much fun talking and visiting that I totally neglected to take any pictures. Here, however, is a picture of me (taken by someone else, obviously) at said picnic.
The requisite four generations shot:
Indeed, we packed a lot into just a few days. This trip was extra-challenging since Natalie's sleep was way off. In fact, she really wouldn't sleep for more than three hours at a time. This was super-exhausting since I really wanted to use her nap times to visit with my grandmother and others, but I was sort of a zombie from being up all night, night after night, with her. Well, mystery solved - over the past few months we've been struggling with an ear infection that we couldn't kick.
As it turned out, it was so bad that she ended up needing tubes in her ears. So we did that about ten days after we returned. And, as stressful as the experience was, things are much, much better now. Here's a shot of the patient as she enjoyed her post-surgery popsicle. I will admit that the day was so emotional for me that I thought it was weird that Mike was taking this picture, but now I find it sort of sweet and I'm glad we have it.
Now that she's back to normal (whatever that means at three), Natalie has her eye on you!
I suspect that this isn't surprising news for most of you at this point, but, well: Natalie is going to be a big sister in January! Surprise! Or not. Whatever.
(Just because I'm vain like that, the picture on the left was at about 22 weeks [check out my hand-made skirt, too!]; the picture on the right is at nearly 25 weeks. Angles and backdrop are everything, no?)
As for Natalie's understanding
of the new baby, well, things are mixed. She'll sometimes kiss or pat my belly. But other times she's busy instructing us to buy the baby its own toys or letting us know that she won't come to the hospital to visit because she wants to have her snack (?). I can't help feeling that
she's a little like those dinosaurs who had no idea that the asteroid
was heading for them - but I hope it won't be that traumatic! We probably aren't helping the situation by calling the baby
"the porpoise dolphin" - I hope she doesn't think a real porpoise /
dolphin is coming to live with us! I do think she has some sense that a human baby is coming, though. We've also signed her up for "big sister class" (a sibling class + tour) at the hospital in November. We'll see how that goes.
Our September has been good - a little less busy than August (although we're still dealing with more preschool closures than we'd like!).
Mike and I have been out twice this month. This might be a record.
The first event was the wedding of a family friend of the Good Goat; the second was a work event for the Good Goat. We had everyone in town for wedding!
And, now, more of what you really come here for:
She's still (mostly) super-sweet (most of the time). Here are some funny moments:
Me, rolling scratch paper into pretend ice cream cones: Here you go.
Natalie: Baby (her doll) wants one, too!
Me: Can you and baby share?
Natalie: No! She will freak out!
Me: Please put your shoes on.
Natalie: I can't. I'm dehydrated.
Scene: lunch, Natalie is making a giant mess of her pb&j sandwich - licking the jam and smearing the peanut butter everywhere.
Me: Do you do that at school? What do you teachers say?
Natalie: They don't say anything.
Me, to Mike: I guess they have other fish to fry.
Natalie: They don't eat fish.
Natalie, singing to herself: You get what you get, and you throw a fit. (Uhh, I think the real preschool saying might be "You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit." But, well, uh, there you go.)
In adorable-land, she's started calling raindrops "kisses from the rain". (Her umbrella is still a "rainbrella".)
I'm also working on her belated birthday party. It's going to be kitty cat-themed. I figure this is my one chance to sort of go a little theme crazy and do it all myself before life gets too complicated. Sadly, though, I've had to accept that even my ambition has limits, so in favor of cool party entertainment and neat favors, we'll be buying the cake. Pictures to come!
In knitting news (yes, I'm still at it - albeit very slowly!), I made this sweater for the new baby of a childhood friend of mine:
In parting, a shot of Natalie playing school:
Here's the promised Rosh Hashanah post.
First, let's cut right to the cute with some video:
(My favorite part? When she stops in the middle and announces "I have to breathe" - so cute!)
I also attended the Rosh Hashanah party at Natalie's school last Friday. It was awesome. And sticky. And sticky. On a related note, if you ask Natalie about the party, she'll tell you "I drank the honey. And I ate honey cake." I guess the apples and pomegranates had a hard time keeping up with other fare!
Here are some pics from the party:
Since the temps have cooled a little, we've also been doing a little baking in honor of the holiday. Here are some baked pumpkin donuts from the Goat Chef:
We had company over on Saturday night and I made a new apple cake recipe, Cook's Illustrated French Apple Cake.
A new recipe is always a bit of a high stakes gamble; this was fine, but I think I still prefer either the Cooking Light apple cake or the apple cake recipe from the New York Times Jewish Cookbook. You know, in case you were keeping score.
Last night I made Apple and Honey Challah. I did take a picture, but, uh, let's just pretend mine looked just like the pictures on the blog. The bread did taste good - and it made some excellent French Toast for our breakfast-for-dinner that we had tonight.
Wishing you a sweet and good year!
So much for my plan to blog more frequently, huh? I will say that we do have amazingly cute Rosh Hashanah video coming your way, so I am, at least, thinking about future blogging, even if my execution is lacking a little.
Anyway, life's been just peachy!
(Sorry! I couldn't resist. Also, the chair, table, and shirt are peachy, too!)
Actually, we've had a very, very busy August. First, it was our anniversary. Time capsule pic:
We celebrated at home, at Chez Chรจvre (the best pop-up restaurant in the city). Doughnuts were a featured item. Also, home-made doughnuts? Possibly the best food EVER. I do not exaggerate, alas.
And, because I have that kind of amazing goat, I got flowers, too!
Then, Natalie's school ended its summer session just as work got busy for both Mike and me. And no childcare in August just isn't an option for us! Luckily, the very generous and kind grandparents were able to pitch in.
Mike's parents were here first.
There was plenty of time to do yoga.
And play games.
(I believe baby-in-the-bucket is a variation on Jack-in-the-box. Or maybe pop-goes-the-weasel.)
My mom came for the middle two weeks of August. By then things were so busy that I really didn't take very many pictures. I'm sorry. But here's a picture of when Grandma Pat took Natalie out to play in the rain (Yes, it rained! For real! And, now it's September. Aaaaand 106. So there you go.)
We went to a train-themed birthday party for one of the kids in her class. We actually got to ride on the little kiddie train as part of the party.
The train was cool, but clearly the cake also made a big impression on Natalie. Here she is "playing birthday cake" the next day. A girl after my own heart!
We've also been going to a gymnastics class on Saturday mornings. Class is held in a real gymnastics gym (not a glorified toddler gym), so I think at first it might have been a bit noisy and overwhelming / overstimulating for her. But she seems to be liking it more and more (donkey kicks! forward rolls! balance beam!). Last Friday, we took her to open gym - this is basically just play time on all the equipment, no instruction is provided. For the big kids, it's drop-off, but for the little kids, the parents stay. Natalie loved it!
And then we came home and had a cuddle. Always time for cuddles.
Here's a random shot of Natalie hiding during a game of hide a seek.
School also (finally!) re-started for us. Natalie is in the Horned Frog class this year. Here she is trying out some potential back-to-school fashions. (What looks like a skirt is actually a shirt around her waist; the other shot is a little heavy on the winter wear for Texas in August.)
Here are her shoe options (or "playing shoe store").
We went for a different look on the big day.
Hope the end of August and start of September / school has been good to you!
