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And, as a reward for reading this far, a short Natalie story.  Kate is having a knitting party, and one of her knitting friends brought a little boy over.  As I was putting Natalie to bed, she happened to see the boy throwing her Texas Rangers batting helmet (I fear I might be losing in my struggle to make her into a Tigers fan) into the air.  I put her to bed, told her a story, sang her her goodnight songs, and then as I was leaving she said very sweetly "Daddy?  Can you please go tell [THE BOY'S NAME] not to throw my toys?  And can you please tell him in your angry voice?"

My parents' visit

A few weeks ago Bubbe and Gramps came to Texas.  We went swimming at the TCU pool, we did a lot of playing around the house, we got to go to our favorite Sunday brunch spot, and Bubbe and Gramps even watched the kids while Kate and I went out for dinner and a folk concert.  Overall, it was a great visit.  We wish that we could have been there with them on Monday to help celebrate their 40 year wedding anniversary, but we are excited to see them in less than two weeks!

Here are a few of the pictures that Bubbe took of their visit:

Happy Father's Day!

I meant to share this last week (the dad in question did see it on the proper day, mind you!).

It's amazing what a good subject and two minutes of editing can do . . . .

 

Weekend at Polly's

Last weekend, my youngest cousin graduated high school. I perpetually think that I graduated high school about five years ago, so being at someone else's high school graduation was a bit weird. It got weirder when I realized that I am twice the age of the graduates.

Anyway, here's my cousin, way back when she was a flower girl at our wedding. DUDE, I know!

 Awww, also something I never noticed until this moment was that my grandfather is in the mirror in this picture.

One more, because I can't resist:

Here's the graduate today (well, a few days ago!) modeling the scarf I knitted for her:

Jacob and I flew up to San Francisco to celebrate with her. Mike and Natalie stayed behind, having already had their San Francisco trip earlier. I was a little worried about flying alone with Jacob, but things actually went really smoothly. 

Well, we did have a high-altitude poopsplosion on the outbound leg (on take-off, of course). So we were those guests who arrive and immediately have to do laundry. Nothing like visiting family, right? At least I came bearing gifts. Here's a shot of the guilty party - note the strategic sweatshirt placement!

San Francisco was San Francisco-like for us. Beautiful on Friday:

(If you're a very determined squinter, you can just make out the Golden Gate Bridge in the top picture.)

And then cold, cloudy, and misty-rain for the garden party on Sunday. Of course, it was also about 30 degrees cooler there. But since we were so much further north, it was lighter longer. The colder / longer days combo totally threw me.

Jacob got to meet Pumpkin:

Actually, Jacob was pretty indifferent to Pumpkin, but Pumpkin was really into Jacob. Pumpkin would come over and lick and sniff Jacob; Jacob was totally unfazed. 

Jacob and I got some good hang-out time with Polly early on Saturday morning. Early is the time we keep - even more so when we fly west!

Jacob was a good sport, napping when and were the situation allowed:

Saturday, I left Jacob with my parents and went to Chinese food with my brother and his girlfriend. We ate well!

The graduation was at the Palace of Fine Arts at 6pm. Totally child-friendly, right? I tried to find a sitter - I called five different people whose names friends had been generous enough to share. No dice. So we made the best of it. Jacob fell asleep about midway through the ceremony. But you know what graduations have a lot of? Clapping. Yeah, so the sleeping didn't really last . . .Jacob was actually really, really, really good until the end. 

The cousins at the ceremony:

Everyone at the ceremony:

I just love this picture (photo credit to my aunt Pru):

The next morning, Jacob had a bath in the sink. Clearly, this wasn't his usual spa experience:

And then we were off to meet my good friend from college and her family. We hadn't seen each other for seven years! But we picked right back up!

Her kids are, of course, totally adorable:

The graduation party was in the afternoon. The food was great, the family happy, and the graduate herself was lovely!

Before I sign off, I just have to share some shots of the scarf I made. This is actually one of my quicker knits, taking me only a whopping three weeks (hah!):

All in all, it was a lovely weekend.I wish I'd been able to stay longer, so that things would have been a little less hectic, but so it goes.  After his exhausting weekend, Jacob slept almost the whole way back to Texas, just waking up when the plane landed.

May: Mother's Day, 4 months old, & Memorial Day

Mother's Day 2013, the view from here:

The Friday before Mother's Day, I went to Mother's Day Shabbat at Natalie's school. Actually, I arrived at Natalie's school that morning at 6am to help out with the school rummage sale. So by the mid-morning Shabbat assembly, I was pretty tired. But it was still fun.

And here's Natalie holding my Mother's Day present (skittles in the shape of a butterfly). As she reminded me, "Friends share, mommy. Friends share."

That week, her school had been studying community helpers (police, firefighters, etc.). As part of that, the kids were asked to think about what they did to help. Here's her response:

Saturday morning, I woke up to home-made baked pumpkin donuts. Decoration courtesy of Natalie, natch.

For Mother's Day itself, we hosted Mike's newly graduated thesis students and their parents for lunch. Mike made the pizzas, but I tried my hand at a chocolate cheesecake for dessert. Whenever we do these parties, my thing is to try and make the students' favorite dessert, so, well, um, I'm learning a lot! This was actually my first attempt since my cheesecake approximation that I made while we were living in Japan. This time, the cake was actually a little overdone, resulting in a firmer cheesecake - maybe something more like truffle pie. I also made some strawberry sauce to go with the cake - the sauce worked perfectly!

 Mother's Day also marked 4 months old for Jacob!

He's such a sweet, happy baby! He smiles and makes sounds and kicks his legs all around all the time. 

Lately, he's been making the motorboat sound, which is totally adorable. He's also been sucking on his hands a fair amount and drooling a lot, but no actual teeth have appeared just yet.

That's not to say he never cries. Check out this series:

And that, my friends, is four months old, all in a nutshell. If that doesn't simultaneously strike fear and love into your soul then, well, um, look again?

He still adores Natalie. She's like his rock star.

(Bit of an unorthodox outfit for the pediatrician there, but, well, you know healthcare these days. What can you do?)

He's also rolling over - not consistently, but definitely, absolutely:

And then he ends up on his stomach and he is So! Mad! because he hasn't yet figured how to roll back. So then we roll him back and then the game begins again.

He's much more aware of the world around him. He'll often beam at us with big smiles (and even throw in an occasional giggle). Here he is with Rachel.

And here he is trying to get a little snack from Mike.

At least he's a glass-full sort of optimist, right? What I love best is his crazed, determined look.

In all seriousness, Jacob is actually pretty interested in food. When we eat, he watches us and moves his mouth. I think we'll probably be starting a little infant cereal in the coming weeks.

 

Here is Jacob attending his first TCU baseball game and taking his first swim in the TCU pool:

He loved them both, clearly.

At his 4 month check-up, he was 13lbs, 4oz and 25 inches long. Big boy is growing!

 (I have clearly not mastered the art of the selfie)

We also had our good friend from Seattle, Meh, in town for Memorial Day (or Meh-morial Day?). We had fun together! Natalie, however, kept referring to her as "Auntie Claire" instead of "Auntie Meredith."

In other parts of the country, I'm told that Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer. Whatever. Natalie's got summer relaxation down.

A parting shot of the bathing beauty: