tizimatt.info

Keegan is growing up in a Mac and PC household so he has a 50/50 chance of choosing either platform. He is however, an Apple fan at heart: he has been sleeping and relaxing at the sound of the IPod, and he even has a onsie to prove it, gift of one of mom’s coworkers, Brad. He looks stunning, doesn’t it?

dad tried the pause button with no luck

In other news, Keegan has been doing a lot better. His mood has improved, and he has not been quite as clingy. We are wondering if Tizi’s friend triggered more of his separation anxiety. He has been eating a little more, at least at dinner. In fact he has been enjoying scrambled eggs and really loves fruit, especially pears. He has been eating them quite a bit, showing off his “pincer grasp” skill. He still rather have us feed him, even if he is perfectly capable of feeding himself, and he still does not like chunky food much. He tried cow’s milk, and he didn’t seem to mind, but he does not drink more than a few sips. We mixed in also with his cereals, and that worked out well. To Tizi’s great disappointment and surprise he has refused to eat pasta and tortellini…what kind of Italian is he?????

I don’t know about this stuff

 Take this away from me

As for night sleeping, he has improved a little in that area as well. We did let him cry when Meggie left: he woke up at 4.30 and he cried for about an hour before he fell asleep. We checked on him, and comforted him very ten minutes or so. The next night, it was 5.30, and he cried a little less. And last night, he woke up around 5.3 and then went back to sleep almost right away and slept till 7am! We know that it is probably a fluke, and that we are not out of the woods, plus with another change in routine at the horizon we hve no illusions, but we are still enjoying it while we can.

Keegan has been growing at his own pace, and rarely doing things according to baby books and “standards”:  however, there is one thing our baby is doing by the book: he has hit, apparently,  separation anxiety. The description of the phenomenon and the pictures from the book they could have may as well used his name. Discovering this it made mom and dad feel a little bit better: at least we have a name for all the madness.

Keegan has started a couple of weeks ago being very clingy, and whiny, especially when Matt was leaving himat daycare in the morning. He has been also crying suddenly and without reason, especially after waking up from his naps. You may also know that we have been struggling, AGAIN, with his sleeping. For a good two plus months he has been waking up very early, breastfeeding extensively, and mainly for comfort.

In the past few days we reached the apex. After catching a bug last week, everything precipitated. Last night, he woke up at 2.30, crying, and did not want to get back to sleep. Matt stayed with him and got his to snooze off an on, so Tizi could get a couple of hours of sleep. We were surprised the doctor did not mention separation anxiety to us, since we told her about his sleeping issues, but I guess we are glad we found out on our won it is somewhat common. Of course not all babies experience it in the same way, or quite as dramatically, but I guess we still haven’t appease the sleep gods.The ironic part is that most book mention that is it a difficult (duh!) time for both parents and babies, but also and “exhilarating” one. Quoting directly from the American Academy of Pediatrics:

In some ways, this phase of your child’s emotional development will be especially tender for both of you, while in others, it will be painful. After all, his desire to be with you is a sign of his attachment to his first and greatest love – namely you. The intensity of his feeling as she hurtles into your arms is irresistible, especially when you realize that no one – including your child herself – will ever again think you are quite as perfect as he does at this age.

One other article encourages parents to:”enjoy the sweetness of knowing that to your child, you’re number one.” Those writers obviously do not have a child at home that wakes up crying in the middle of the night, and won’t go back to sleep, and that would cling to their legs a lot during the day…Tizi would probably settle for being number 2 or 3 on his favorite persons’ list if that meant getting a good night’s sleep. More realistically, though, they also add that parents may be feeling a variety of emotions, including tenderness, resentment, anger, and of course exhaustion. I can subscribe to that.

The good new is this phase will pass…by the second year. At least the acute phase, as separation anxiety can continue all along preschool and grade school. Something to look forward to, right?

Fortunately, Tizi had some help in the past few days: Tizi’s friend Meggie drove from San Francisco for a visit;  unfortunately for her, she had to bear the brunt of it; this was a great support for Tizi, though, as Matt was out of town for two days, so she was able to keep her sanity. Not to mention that Meggie was the first one to figure out that Keegan may be going through this phase, or excuse me, “emotional milestone”. THANK YOU MEGGIE!

The bad weather we have been having also is not helping, as he seems the happiest when he is playing outside. Tizi is seriously considering busting out the stroller  rain cover and go out anyway. Not sure it will work, as his moods seems to be somewhat affected by the weather, just like mom.

So, is there anything we can do? Apparently not much. Most articles recommends the “crying out” method for night waking, which we could not really do so far as he was sleeping in our room. So, tonight will be the night…we are also a little worried about the Christmas vacation, when Tizi’s sister and her family will be staying with us. While we are happy to see them, we really hope they are prepared  for a whole lot of crying and fussying. (-:

We took Keegan for his 1 year check up. We were hoping to get some wise answers and miracle solution for Keegan sleeping issues… but no luck there. Nothing too new, mind you, but he has been waking very early, and most importantly, he often wakes up quite upset, and it takes a while to calm in… No food or cuddling would do it. The doctor had no suggestions, beside what we have tried already. So we are just hoping that he has been having a LOOONG toothing period. he still only had 4, after all.

He also got most of his shots, including a flue shot (which really didn’t prevent him from getting the annoying vomiting and diarrhea bug  that was going around). He did all right: he actually cried and screamed louder when the doctor was trying to look at the inside of his hear or mouth. Funny little guy.

Other than that, he is in great health. He perfectly on track for each major milestone. He is not really talking yet, as he has been focusing on his motor skill but everything else looks great. And…he has grown “immensely”. He jumped from 5% to…

DRUMROLL…

25%. You have heard right. our little guy jumped 20 points on his growth curve. He gain 1lb 1oz in a month. He is still on his 50% for height and 25% for head size.

His measurements:

weight: 20lb 14oz
height: 30.25 in

Some of his milestones so far:

He walks quite well by now
He now how to turn around while walking
He can climb oh his stroller wheels
He can pick up objects from the floor while he is standing, without falling done
He uses his thumb and forefinger to pick up stuff
He is picking his nose (well, not exactly a milestone, is it?)
He puts objects inside each other
He is a lot more vocal, even if he has not used any real words yet
He is starting to do some gesturing, mainly waving bye-bye, even if not always at the right time
He can feed himself from a spoon, hitting his mouth at the first try: he does not like doing it though
He can drink little sips form a regular cup
He wants to eat whatever someone else is eating (and not his food)

Some of his favorite things are toys that make noise and books: he likes to turn the pages, but he is not too patient: he would not sit on your lap and listen to a story. He still loves baths, people and playing outdoor: good thing he lives in San Diego.

The big birthday party!

DISCLAIMER:  This post contains 15 pictures. We have officially gone over the edge. And this is just a selection of the best pictures. The party lasted only a few hours, and we have too many pictures to count. So sad…the mutation from normal human being to parents has occurred…

The big day arrived: Keegan’s first birthday party. Of course, the party was mainly for mom and dad, but Keegan loves company, and he especially likes other babies, so it was great for him too. This was our first party as parents, as well as our first party in almost two years. It was an afternoon affair, of course, and we were lucky that, despite the forecast, the sun was shining, so we could relax outside. Matt did a great job trying to tame our jungle (that it has not been touched since Keegan’s birth) and we got some yummy food…from Costco. Well, I guess we have a good excuse this year for not cooking and baking ourselves.  And did we mentioned we had adult beverages???? Luckily too, we have finished most of our babyproofing, so the house was clean and safe for everyone.

the guys,Eric, Torin, Steve, Matt and Keegan looking cool

We didn’t want a huge affair so we only invited few people that know Keegan, and don’t mind baby craziness: Krista and Eric, with little Torin, Jennifer and Dave with Hannah, Lena and Chuck with Mila and Sharon and Joon with Jada, and Steve. Daniele and Gaia arrived later in the afternoon. We had a nice blanket and bins of toys for the kids to play with and we brought out the exersaucer for Torin to play with.

Keegan and Torin, playing it cool in front of the hot babes

The Chicco bilingual book was a big hit, especially the Italian songs, despite the blown out speaker. Tizi’s favorite, the bat and wobble penguin was also a crowd pleaser.

 Keegan, Hannah and Mila and moms Jennifer and Lina

It was great to see the kids together; well, not really playing together, but side by side. The girls were getting along well, and Keegan was, of course, everywhere, showing off his new walking skill. He was a little cranky as he missed his afternoon nap and his tummy was hurting a little, but we were able to soothe him with Cheerio’s and lots of attention.

Keegan,  Jada and Hannah witn mom Sharon

Krista and Torin, having a good time 

Keegan got his first taste of sweets: we got some cupcakes at Costco: they were HUGE. Do you expect anything else from Costco?  We put the candle on one of them and sang Happy Birthday, a song that, by now Keegan knows very well: we have been singing it to him every months, both in Italian and English. He loves it! He gets all smiles when he hears it.

Proud mom and dad, with pensive birthday boy

One big candle for one big day

blowing the candle

COMING SOON

We blew off the candle and let him lick the frosting off…he was not impressed.

We gave it another try, and place a huge cupcake on the tray of his chair. He was suspicious at first: he dip his finger in the gooey stuff…not bad. So he dove right in…yes, not bad at all. He finally relaxed, and really went for it, covering his whole face and onesie in chocolate…He didn’t even  get to eat the actual cupcake. Despite our fears, however, he didn’t get more hyper than usual, and still slept fine (as fine as it can be expected from him) that night.

Humm, what is this gooey stuff?

it deserves a closer look

Ok, not too shabby

Ok, why am I not getting this sttuff every day? 

finger-licking delicious

With Jennifer after some major face clean-up

When it started getting dark, we moved inside for a little bit, til, one by one, the little ones “crashed”. Lucky for Keegan, Gaia, who is a little older, had more resistance, so he had someone to entertain him till his bed time.

He was too tired and excited to open gifts, but the next day he got to see all hiss wonderful new things: he received some very nice books, cool overalls and a fun stacking boxes game. he is more in demolishing right now, but he will learn. He also got some fun building blocks, and Matt is looking forward to create cool constructions with him, again once he is over his destroying phase.

 Thank you everyone for coming over and celebrate this special day: we had a great time!

So we made it to the very first birthday: they say the first year it is always the hardest, so we are looking forward to next months and years.

December 3 happened on a Wednesday, so we both had to go to work, but we planned a small party for the following Saturday (we will have a post just for that). Tizi was giddy, almost as it was her own birthday…well, in a way it is, after all. Tizi has been doing some shopping, and researching some cool toys,since Keegan is now a big boy: something educational, safe, and obviously cool. While the process is ongoing— Xmas is still a couple of weeks away, after all—she managed to get something ready for the big day. She bought a small banner, and wrapped a couple of presents since he likes paper and ripping it.

Keegan woke up bright and early, as he has been doing for the past two months. However, we were ale to get him back to sleep an other hour. So he woke up happy and refreshed, and blissfully unaware of being the birthday boy.it was a beautiful sunny day, not quite as warm as the day he was born, but still wonderful.
We dressed him up in some cute new clothes, and used the nice birthday bib, gift of aunt Dyah, and off to day care.

check out my birthday garb

It felt weird to be at work, and Tizi couldn’t help but think how happy she was that she was done with labor. At daycare, they made a nice card with glitter and placed it over his bin, and celebrated the big event.

playing around with his best buddy Erik: he is three months younger, but super precocious.

At home, we have found two nice birthday wish, from Tizi’s sitster and her kids and from Tizi’s friend Loredana. Of course, Grandma and Grandpa also called to wish him: Buon Compleanno! Tizi’s friend Krista sent the coolest e-card. Yes, off the wall, but very much Tizi’s style. Check out their other cards.

Matt was able to get home a little early, so we went to watch a beautiful sunset at Calumet park, where we got married in October 2002. Keegan had a blast: being that late, there were a lot of dogs running around and chasing each other, and Keegan wanted to be in the middle of it all. So he was “running’ and stumbling on the grass, squealing in joy.

nice sunset at Calumet park

After the sunset, we went back home, and took our usual pictures and video. This time, he got a Cheerio’s “cake”, and he even got to eat some.

He was not too interested in the presents, so we waited till the next day. And, as expected, he seemed more interested in ripping and eating the paper than looking at the presents themselves. He did appreciated the Busy Gears toy…mom and dad like it a little less, since we have been picking up little gears everywhere in the house.

cool!!! I got presents…

After such a busy day, he went to bed without fuss, leaving mom and dad to ponder about the miracle we have been witnessing over the past year. Especially looking at the announcement we put up for the picture we couldn’t believe how much he has changed. It has been incredible to watch Keegan grow and mature, and transform from this tiny, defenseless little creature to a tiny, active little guy. It is incredible to realize that kids, even this small, have their own personality and very defined likes (bread, walking, playing, and people and excitement) and dislikes (SLEEP). We have enjoyed the ever increasing interaction, and rough communication with our little guy. Watching him discover the world it is a great gift.

We are definitively looking forward to Keegan’s next year, and we will try to report as often as we can.

No real reason for this post: since we are quickly approaching Keegan’s first birthday, we just wanted to share some funny pictures of the little guy. We got a new car seat for Tizi’s car: after hours of researches, she was able to find a car seat that was: 1) safe 2) cool 3) and fit in her car. It is the same brand as the infant seat, the colors match the stroller (not that it matters) and the fabric feels very soft. The good news is that it can be use rear facing till 35 pounds, and it can recline while installed. It received many positive reviews from other parents (it is too new to be rated in the official books/magazines)It was not even that expensive…The bad news is that, since the seat stays in the car, daddy is getting a new car seat as well. He picked his: not quite as cool, but it gets great reviews, it is small, folds and it is supposed to fit in airplanes.

While Keegan seems excited about trying the new seat, mom and dad are not: lately, he mainly takes his naps in the car, and we easily move him in his car seat in and out of the car. With the convertible seat this is not possible: plus it doesn’t recline as much as the old one…so we will see. Notice how Keegan is sticking his tongue out as he is on his tippy-toes trying to reach the top: well, he learned from mom (who learned from Grandpa) that sticking your tongue out increases concentration and guarantees success. (-:

One of Keegan’s favorite things now is taking a bath. When we are walking to the bathroom is running over to the tub, and squeals in delight as soon as we turn the water on. he loves to splash with his fee, to play with his toys, especially the little squirters, and eat the foam and bubbles. He also enjoys standing up in the tub and reaching for stuff, so we need to be constantly on the lookout.  This particular day, he was having a crazy hair day, courtesy of dad.

Finally, since he is half Italian after all, he figured he should starting with some red wine: you are never to young to enjoy the health benefits of a glass of red wine, right? But, wait, what is he doing with Australian wine????

 What a difference a year makes! Check out our last year Thanksgiving post…crazy! We had a nice time. We didn’t do anything major, but after a brief storm, the sky cleared up, he sun came out and we enjoyed 70’s degree weather (this didn’t change from last year). Also, like last year we went for a nice walk at the beach, but this time the 18 extra pounds were on the stroller, and not inside Tizi’s tummy. Keegan slept through half of the walk, and played in the grass overlooking the ocean, while we kicked back…as much as we can kick back while chasing him around.

Once again, Matt cooked up a great dinner for us: turkey, mash potatoes, stuffing, green bean…yummy. Keegan watched out eating: he had his vegetable Turkey Barley dinner early. He has already learned learned the real spirit of thanksgiving: eat too much and then pass out! He was also grabbing the spoon to feed himself, which he usually doesn’t do…were we too slow in feeding him? He devoured the 4oz turkey dinner, 6oz of cinnamon apple oatmeal,4oz of pear, a yogurt and some bread. he did promptly threw up right after…but maybe he was learning for the ancient Romans????

stop teasing me…gimme some food

yummy…but you are too slow daddy

If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself

He did manage to join us quietly during our dinner as well, maybe he was already in ta food coma, and he was looking with great interest at all the goodies. So ehre you have it: our first Thanksgiving as a family, saved for posterity.

The rest of the weekend went well: we enjoyed the 4 days off, and got LOTS accomplished. We did quite a bit of virtual shopping…since someone has a birthday coming up. And we also took care of the yard, and babyproofed the house some more. Since Keegan has been walking, he is getting into EVERYTHING. We will see how long it will take him to get the babyproof devises off. It took Tizi quite a bit to figure out how to open drawers and cabinet, but as you know, babyproofing mechanism are usually more adult-proof than baby-proof.

Keegan is not yet up and running, but he is getting more and more confident every day. After his first steps, he didn’t really practiced his new skill much for the next few days, but he has started walking more everyday. He is now able to walk across the living room, and he does not need any prodding. He lets go, stand on his own two feet and walk. He still has the Young Frankenstain walk (and the noises to match), of course, but he is going places now. He seems to enjoy it immensely: check out his grin! We were able to capture it on camera: pretty amazing. Who is going to stop him now? By the way, notice the scratch on his nose and the falling off nail: he is also getting more accident prone now. We are getting quite a few “Ouch” reports from daycare (not to mention the ones from home). Is it just a phase, or did he inherit mommie’s clumsiness?

Check me out: I am standing on my own!

come to mama!

Heeeeere’s Keegan

I am coming to get you, Daddy!

Today, November 14, we had one more Santa Ana Winds event. This means that temperatures rose quite drastically again, and we are expecting temperatures in the mid 80’s for the weekend. This of course means that the fire risk is sky high: in fact a huge fire is raging in Montecito, near Santa Barbara right now. Fortunately it is not too close to where Matt’s brother Jim lives. So we are on the watch out but we are also ready to enjoy the balmy weather.I guess the fear factor is the price to pay for living here (this and the “sunshine tax”). Ask us again if we miss the seasons…

Last week, another very warm one, we went to Pacific Beach, Tizi’s old stomping ground and Keegan had a blast frolicking in the sun. We slathered sunscreen on him, especially because he does not tolerate anything on his head, so sun hats are out. And notice how the image in the Armani logo on Keegan’s t-shirt matches the scenery PERFECTLY.

fun in the sun

The long awaited (or feared?) moment has arrived: Keegan took his first steps today. He can only do two or three before collapsing, but still, it is pretty cool. Of course, he had to take his first steps at daycare (just to make us feel guilty), but I was able to have him do it again for mommy…daddy is not home yet, so he will have to wait to see.

We have noticed that he has been spending more time on his own two feet, without holding on to something: usually this was happening when he was not paying attention. As soon as he would realize he was on attached to anything, he would grab on the closest thing. He has also been happily walking with push his toy that we borrowed from Jennifer (check in later for some cool pictures) and we knew it was just a matter of days…of course we couldn’t record the event on video, but we will try soon. I am sure that once he master the walking part, there will really no stopping him. So once again he beat our expectations: we thought he would walk by his first birthday, and he did two weeks early.

Tizi is already worried: we can’t contain him right now!He has already managed to throw a small shelf on his head which brought him a pretty bruise on his forehead with a matching black and blue nail. We were worried that daycare would call CPS on us. He seems happy, and rightly proud of his new skill, and so are we.

loving the push toy

 Election Day 2008 is finally over. These campaign dragged on forever, and it is finally done. More importantly, though, Barack Obama is the next president. For once the candidate we both supported won. We are very excited about the chance and we are hoping it will really bring some good transformation. The excitement is   definitively this has been one of the most involved elections in years. Tizi and Keegan, of course, can’t vote, but we all walked to the polls together. It was set up in a garage a few minutes away from us, so a good excuse for a night stroll, before Keegan’s bedtime. It looks some un-official  and also so Clairemont: a rusty, 1950s pick-up truck on the lawn, a basketball hoop on the side of the house, plain, cardboard polling booths…but it was all legit.

voter in training…

We were not quite as happy about the results of the different propositions, especially Prop 8 (adding an amendment to California constitution to basically ban gay marriages) and Prop D (banning alcohol at the beach) but propositions can be challenged, a president will be with us for the next 4 years. Now, let’s get ready for a big blow out party on January 20!!!!

I can’t believe Keegan is almost a year old…especially looking at the past few nights: he has been waking up really early, around 5am. This aside, though our little guy is doing great. He has now 4 teeth (maybe they are the culprit of his crankiness). We just noticed the left bottom one peeking out last Saturday, when we were coming back from LA. And he has been using them too: not necessarily for eating and chewing, mind you. We are trying REALLY hard to teach him not to bite. For some weird reasons, though, he only bites certain people: mom, and Ms. Georgia at daycare, and rarely dad. We are not quite sure what that means, but Tizi like to think about it as a compliment. Fortunately, he usually doesn’t bite during breastfeeding. Talking of which, yes we are still breastfeeding, at least part of the time. Usually when he wakes up, and sometime in the afternoon, plus Tizi is still pumping twice a day to provide a couple of bottles for daycare. The breastfeeding part is finally good, but Tizi can’t wait to stop pumping! It is getting almost impossible to keep him still enough for the monthly picture, which explain why they are not very good. Fortunately we are almost done.

check out my new teeth

He has been standing on his own more and more, for a few seconds at a time, and he crawls a lot faster…especially when he is trying to go in a place he knows he shouldn’t be.He pulls himself up without effort on anything, and has learn to go up and down steps. It is one of his favorite activity at daycare: going up and down the carpeted steps. He enjoys daycare quite a bit, since he is now crawling around with the other babies and playing together. It is really fun to see him interact with the other babies.

He is also quite strong. He lifted the room’s blinds by himself with one hand and he was able to lift the baby soap bottle over the edge of the tub with one arm. The bottle was 1.7lb! It looks like he is right handed: while he still uses both hands, he often seems to prefer the right one. We will see. The jury is still out on his eyes. They have been constant for a few months now: gray with brown around his pupils and a dark gray ring on the outside. It basically impossible to take a picture, but we will try.

He talks a lot more, and uses quite a few consonants. He even said ma-ma a few times, but we don’t think he really means Mom. He has been eating more different food: he tired eggs and potatoes, and mozzarella cheese, and chunkier foods.His favorites are still bread and cheerios. He has also discovered his private parts can be quite fun to play with. (-:

He still likes to bang stuff, together and on any other surface and he started throwing things. He enjoys the noise, so he often throw objects on the tiles, and he is starting to put things back inside containers after he takes them out. He is now really enjoying books: they are often the first toys he goes for when we make it home. He likes to open and close them, and eat them, of course.

will he like to read when he grows up?

We could not weight him yet: we were all set to go on Sunday, when we realized Matt’s truck was missing. We looked around and sure enough, it is two doors down. Some jackass broke in, took it, and drove it, we think, and then abandon it in front our neighbors. They didn’t take too much: some change, the cell phone charger and my baby Dwell blanket )-: The worse part is that they broke the ignition block. So we spent the day dealing with this, waiting for the cops to show up to take the report, and on Monday we had to rent a car, and deal with insurance. All and all a huge pain…and an expensive one. This has not been a good car week, since Tizi just got a speeding ticket too. We will post the measurement as soon as we get it.

UPDATE: Tizi did get Keegan weighted. She is glad this was the last time too. It was impossible to keep him still on the scale, since he was constantly trying to flip over and reach for stuff, plus he decided to poop just as she was taking the diapers off, and of course, she didn’t have a change this time. So, after the weight in, she had to do with the infant diapers that are provided. It was quite a funny sight, his little tush overflowing: little plumber in training! She was able to close it somehow, and he must not have been too uncomfortable, since he fell asleep in the car, and the diaper didn’t even leaked.

And the measurements are in: 19.13lb. So he didn’t gain quite as much, but I guess it is normal. And he is back to a 7 percentile. Well, we were getting “nervous” about him getting too fat. (-: Just kidding.  We will see what the doctor will have to say next month. We will go for the 1 year check up on December 9, so he has an extra week to gain weight.

One more birthday party to attend. Jack and Allison’s son Case is about to turn 1 and he had a nice beach party in Manhattan Beach. They were quite optimistic, being November 1, but we had amazing, warm days all along…except of course the weekend in question. We did encountered a little bit of rain driving up there, but we also saw a beautiful, 180 degrees rainbow spanning the freeway. Another miraculous event: we made it up there in less than two hours! I guess we never drive north this early in the morning: we left at 9.30am.

Fortunately in Manhattan Beach didn’t rain at all, so we could enjoy a nice morning at the beach. Keegan slept the whole way up there and the whole way back,getting two 1.5 hours naps! Amazingly enough, this is only the second time Keegan is on the sand. I know, we live in San Diego, less than 10 miles from the beach, but life gets in the way. Once we got there, Keegan’s first order of business was of course, eating sand. He seemed to enjoy the new environment and the other kids.

this feels weird but it kind of fun

The kids were of different ages, but he had a good time playing with them, especially the all time favorite: “let’s take each other toy ” game. The big hit of the party was a pink rolling car that everyone loved, especially the birthday boy. Is he going to get one as gift?

the car is pretty cool, but it is more fun pulling Case’s hat

The birthday boy got some cupcakes and a cute hat, and Allison created a personalized label for the soda bottle: very cool idea.

it’s your birthday…eat the cupcakes

It was great to see Allison and Jack and Case: it has been a few months. It would be great if they lived closer, since Case and Keegan are only three weeks apart. Well, it will be a great excuse for travelling more often. Next up is our won little guy birthday party. Of course no plans yet, and definitively nothing extravagant, but we would like to celebrate the day somehow.

Keegan’s first Halloween! Tizi was very excited about it: she never got to do the whole Trick or Treating thing, so she can’t wait to take Keegan around. Matt put a veto on a real trick or threating this year, since Keegan can’t walk or talk, let alone eat candies. It makes sense: he needs to be able to at least ask for candies himself. However, we could not let this year pass without some celebration. So we bought the cutest outfit for him: a turtle. It felt appropriate, since he is still crawling, so he really looks like a turtle. He didn’t enjoy wearing his custom much, especially the head-cover part, but he tolerated long enough for me to take some pictures, while he was engaged in his favorite activity: crawling and climbing up and down the step.

WARNING: major picture overkill here!

down the step…

up the step…

all this exercise got me thirsty…let’s get mom’s water bottle

can I get this costume off, now???

turtle in the grass

In the evening, I stopped by my neighbor Sharon, and white her daughter Jada, we stopped by our neighbours’ houses, just to show those cuties off. Jada was a little skunk, an adorable one at that.  We visited 4 houses, and we were gone for about an hour! Keegan was pretty good, enjoying seeing new people and new houses, and being out at dark time.

 getting ready

what cuties!

It was a very mellow Halloween otherwise: very few kids stopped by: in fact we only had one group of kids: my other neighbors, returning our visit.  Maybe it was because this year Halloween happened on a friday, so most kids were probably out on some school parties. Our daycare organized a Halloween Carnival, but it was in the evening and we didn’t want to disrupt his sleeping schedule, which is already quite distrupted as it is lately. They did the cutest thing though: they created little ghosts by imprinting the kids footprint on a black board. Isn’t it adorable?

We must have a masochistic vein in us: barely two weeks after coming back from Italy, we boarded back on a plane to trek across country to Virginia. And this time we upped the ante: we took a red eye on Thursday night, and we got back late Sunday. So, did we finally loose it? No, no, don’t worry, we are still of sound mind, as least as much as we have been. However, Matt’s best friend Carter decided to get married, and we figured we should have shwon up to make sure this miraculous event really happened. Jokes aside, it was great to participate to the happy day.

We left on October 16 at 10pm. We chose a red eye flight not to waste the whole day flying, and to hopefully having Keegan sleep though the flight, being his bed time. Getting everything ready was a nightmare, as Matt had to work in the afternoon, so he only had a couple of hours to get everything ready. Tempers were flaring a little but we got everything done. It is amazing how much crap you need to bring when traveling with a baby. For an extended weekend we had: a large checked bag, two carry-ons, a overstuffed diaper bag, the car seat, the stroller and a bag with water. Oh, yeah, and the baby. Once again going through security was so much fun, especially because I had to take Keegan out of his car seat while he was fast asleep. I am still waiting to hear what incredible threat was stopped by having this procedure…

Anyway, the trip went well. We could not bring the car seat on board, but he slept on us the whole time. And we even got an hour or two of sleep. Direct flight, this time, so all we had to do, once landed was getting a car, and stop at the closest rest area, where we crashed for a couple of hours. Keegan slept a lot more than that, and we started our drive to Charlottesville. We were very early, of course, and since we couldn’t check in before the afternoon, we took the long, scenic route out, via the Shenandoah National Park. It was beautiful! We grabbed some sandwiches and had a pic nic overlooking the beautiful vistas. The trees were all shades of red, yellow and orange, and still quite a bit of green, and we got the chance to experience ” the change of season”. Yeah, very beautiful, but no I don’t miss it. In fact, thinking about the 80 degrees we left in San Diego, I almost felt homesick…and of course worried about the fire risk.

We took it all in, and we made it to the hotel just in time for check in. Friday night we had a BBQ/rehearsal dinner…outdoors. It has been really warm and beautiful all week, but, as fate wanted, the temperatures dropped 20 degrees on friday. It was Friday 17, after all (the Italians know what I mean). So, it was quite chilly, but we were prepared: we finally got the chance to use some of the cute outfits that Keegan received, never wore, and almost outgrown, because it is still so hot in San Diego.  We really enjoyed the company. It was also the first chance for Tizi to meet the bride to be. Keegan was great. We kept him on San Diego time, which means we could stay out till 10.30pm. he was his usual social self. In fact, Abby took him for a good 15 minutes, and took him around, and he didn’t even look to search for us. I almost forgot I had a child…J/K.

with Abby

The night went well: our little guy slept all night through. he did wake up a little early (San Diego time), but still a nice solid night. The next day was sunny, and we just hung around, did a little clothes shopping for Mattie (so he could look even more smashing at the wedding), and Tizi could finally got a present for his birthday: yeah saturday was Matt’s birthday. Quite an unusual way to celebrate it, but still. Tizi also bought a Rubick cube for him. Very old school, I know, but when we were in Italy, Matt got hold of the original one and spent many hours solving it:he was almost there when we left, so I figured he need his own to practice. Hey, it must be popular again since it is still sold…at Toys’r’Us (recommended age 8+).

The wedding was at 4pm in a winery…what? Never heard of the famous Virginia wine? Shame on you!. The weather was nice but a little chilly, but this didn’t stop Gwyn from wearing a beautiful sleeveless gown. The ceremony was brief but pretty…as far as I could tell anyway. I had to stop away since SOMEONE decided to be very vocal and refused to sit in his stroller. Carter and Gwyn looked radiant.

the happy couple

what a smashing pair: my two favorite men

After the ceremony a reception was arranged. We didn’t know too many people, but Abby and her hubby was there with little Nina. Keegan was happy to see her again, and  they played together…mainly taking toys from each other, and walk away.They were good troopers, though: no crying or fighting: they simply took turns. maybe days care is to credit for it.

Old  friends (and their additions) with the groom

the toy’s tug of war

Later, after the winery closed, the inside room was open up to the wedding guest,just in time for the chilly evening. A fun fire pit was also set up outside. Keegan was very good: he played in the grass, ate snacks and dinner, and even took a nap in his new travel stroller. After long considerations, we did buy a lightweight stroller, a Combi Helio.

Dueling stroller

It is not as cool as Tizi would have wanted, but at 11lb and with an easy compact folding and a carrying starp it did fit the bill. And we have found it gently used on Craigslist, so we saved some cash too. Plus it reclines, has a front bar and has removable top straps, which were high priority for us and our little traveler.

 the wedding cakes

Again, by staying on San Diego time we were able to hang out till past 10pm: Keegan was the last baby standing. He promptly passed out in the car, and we easily transitioned him to the crib once we arrived at the hotel. We had to take a couple of pics of his interesting sleeping positions: , face down, on his side, legs bent and butt up in the air. How can he sleep like this? it is a mystery. However, we learned the hard way not to wake him, regardless of the uncomfortable position he is in. In Italy Tizi had the brilliant idea to reposition him when he feel asleep sitting up, whith his head against the corner of the crib. He woke up, and promptly cried for a good 20 minutes.

 interesting sleeping position

Sunday was our travel day. Keegan, was a little cranky all day. He got wakend up when we stopped to have breakfast at IHOP (punishment fro trying to actually have a sit down breakfast???) and he was probably still tired, but couldn’t get back to sleep. So, while he had been sleeping peacefully for most of the car drives, he was awake for the whole two hours we were driving back to Washington. Awake, and super cranky, I must add. He finally fell asleep just as we arrived at Matt’s brother Michael’s house.  We had a quick, but pleasant visit with him, little Ella and Carol’s mother. Keegan woke up in time to play with his cousin and aeat some lunch, and then it was back to car again and to the airport. The return flight was challenging. The flight was, noce again packed, so we had to keep Keegan on our lap…well, that was the plan anyway, but mr. cranky pants was having a little cabin fever, and did not want to stay put. We took turns to take him on the back of the plane and make sure he would not do anything too dangerous. We tried to get him to sleep, but he protested, LOUDLY. He finally passed out on our lap, and we go about half the flight to nap a little.

Back home, he was awake and ready to play, but fortunately went back to bed easily. The house was still in one piece and no major fires broke out during the weekend. We had a good time but we were definitively ready to go home and rest. And NO MORE FLIGHTS for a long time, hopefully. We will limit ourselves to car drives. Talking of which…we have to start looking for car seat, as this little one (not so little anymore) is basically grown out of his infant one.

passed out after the wedding