San Fran Fun!

On Thursday night, I boarded a plane with this cutie:

And left my other sweet baby behind, in the arms of Grandma.

(I'll make a quick note here that 5 hours before boarding the plane Ryan found out he had bronchitis....and the next morning Grandma took Aiden to the doctor and found out he had his first ear infections. Plural. Double ear infections. Signs of an ear infections? Zero. He didn't touch his ears, he slept through the night. So, while I felt terrible when I found out, I knew he was in good spirits (and good hands) despite the infections so I focused on that.)

So 1700 miles back in San Fran, we landed and who was waiting for us? These fabulous, wonderful faces. Best. Surprise. Ever.

(Being crooked, like the Crookedest Lombard Street, of course.)

We spent the next two days walking 15+ miles (no lie), visiting Alcatraz, marveling at Muir Woods, getting a flat on our rental car, drinking Irish coffees at Buena Vista Cafe, eating yummies at Ghirardelli Square, touring Napa Valley wineries, listening to sea lions, reminiscing about childhood while checking out the Painted Ladies (better known as the Full House backdrop), eating scrumptious breakfasts and dinners, and talking and laughing and talking and laughing. It was an amazing city, we had an amazing time, and amazingly, Aiden was just fine without us for a few days.

I told Ryan he gets an A double plus for the trip.....but I'd give him 10 of those. All of his planning made for a very relaxing, enjoyable time for everyone. I may, perhaps, be a bit of a stickler for itineraries when I plan trips. I went to all this trouble to make a beautiful spreadsheet - why would anyone not want to follow it? Ryan, however, was much more adaptable with his spreadsheet. Love him for that.

Here's a glimpse at the results of Ryan's awesome planning.

(ocean view on day one....what you can't see it through the fog? yeah, neither could we)





(view from Alcatraz with the fog starting to lift)



(STEEP San Fran streets....and there's a reason STEEP is in caps. it's been 5 days and my calves are still sore)

(Filbert Steps....Ryan accidentally took us on a bit of a detour....a 285-step detour....see previous mention of sore calves)

 (catching a breather halfway up)

(view from a Filbert Steps landing....pretty sure we weren't at the top yet)

(Muir Woods - trees so big four of us made it maybe two-thirds of the way around!)

(Cheers to Buena Vista Irish coffees!)

(and to the mustaches they leave!)

(V. Sattui Winery.....by far the best winery we toured. check out this amazingly delicious wine we found! pricey but the one time so far in life I've found an expensive wine that is worth every penny.)

(sea lions on Pier 39)

(use your night vision and you'll start singing: "What ever happened to predictability?/The milk man, the paper boy, evening T.V/You miss your old familiar friends, but waiting just around the bend.")

(trolley time!)

(trolley time!)

i don't care who you are, that's funny

(don't judge the maturity on display in this video)

 

 

Love

For Valentine's Day I dressed my guys in similar red and gray striped shirts.

Love. (Perhaps not a complete sentence, but since it pretty much sums up how I feel about these two I'll let it stand on it's own.)

I can't decide what I loved most about Aiden's outfit....This puppy with the heart collar:

Or, the hoodie (which Aiden was very excited to show off...he may, perhaps, have been done with the picture taking at this point):

Or, the fact that I found it on the Target clearance rack, a few days before. Who says procrastination doesn't pay off?

If I had to pick a winner, I'd refer back to picture #1 and say it was the matchy matchy. Some of us never grow out of our love for twin day - no middle school spirit week necessary.

Who IS This Kid?

Seriously.

I recognize the face, but I've never met the child I came home to. He put together all the skills he's picked up along the way and acted like a kid, not a baby. He stood up and sat down without any fear. Pulled up on everything he got near. He walked holding on to just one of my hands with solid, confident steps. He "chatted" the entire evening. And I really think he tried to mimic the word "kick" when I said it. (That would be Ryan's kid, saying something sports related for his first word.)

The last few days Aiden has been blowing his lips together like crazy. I tried (multiple times) to get it on video. I did capture it....but only for a few seconds (hence the 'finally' you'll hear). Doesn't do justice to the crazy noises he's been making, but it will give you an idea. Oh - and the drool - I sure hope I don't have to send the kid to kindergarten with a bib on. Ryan fixed a toy tonight and said he was pretty sure it broke because too much drool got in it. Yeah, ick. You can say it.

(Captured a sweet little bit of a smile)

The first of many 29th's....

As my friend Emily perfectly put it, I celebrated the first of many 29th birthdays today. Ask me how old I am next February, and I bet I'll somehow still be 29....amazing how that's going to happen.

The thing is, even though I'm entirely too close to my next decade and I have tons of 30+ year old friends (as well as a 30 year old husband), it's still the age of "old" to me. When I was growing up, 30 was officially old in my mind. So official, I guess, that it's still etched in my brain that way.

I told Ryan I wasn't really interested in celebrating big next year......so he gave me this, this year:

 

After not too much pushing, I was able to figure out that we are headed to San Fran in a few weeks....woo hoo! I'm not allowed to ask many questions....I know that Ryan's parents are coming to watch A and that we'll be gone for a few days. I'm pretty confident we'll have a wonderful time. And I am 100% confident that I am very, very excited. Props to my hubby for writing such a thoughtful poem to convey the good time ahead!

 



Aiden didn't get around to writing me a poem this year, but he did get me a card....such a sweet little boy.

Aiden, meet the Balloons

A few weeks ago we helped with a shower for our incredibly sweet friends Mandy and Christopher. They will welcome baby Elias into the world in a few weeks, and we are thrilled to meet that little cuddle bug when he arrives. Aiden was excited for the shower too, because it meant that he got to meet the Balloon family....and he loved every single one of them.

Count them digits

ALL of them digits!

Aiden turned a whopping 10 months last weekend. I chatted with my friend Lauren last week, whose sweet Lylah is eight days older than Aiden, and we can't believe that our itty bittys are so much closer to a year than to the newborns we brought home from the hospital. Oh time. I feel like I'll be fighting against it for.....the rest of my life. Days can't go slow enough. (In the future I may, perhaps, need someone to remind me that I just wrote that line....).

Little man weighed in at 17.4lbs on our scale at home, which translates to 17lbs 6oz. He's a happy fellow, unless he's hungry or tired. Or he's on the changing table. He hates that changing table and always has. We have lots of distraction techniques and are currently using the "Lion King" move - offering Aiden up to the ceiling god while singing "Circle of Life" before putting him down on the changing table. Generally seems to work long enough to get through a diaper change.

I completely digressed....Here's the wee man with Buddy (showing off his choppy new 'do).

We also attempted a height measurement using the awesome (AWESOME!) measuring board Aunt Brooke made Aiden. We shook out right around 28", which means we outgrow our car seat in another inch. However, we are still more than 2 1/2 pounds away from the weight requirement for the next seat. What are the odds Aiden will gain 2 1/2 pounds before he grows another inch? Slim to none? Ok, those were my calculations too.