Skip's First Birthday, Part 2

Skip with his birthday brownie made by our friend Sidney.

Here is Zadie, Skip, and Skip's half-sister Hannah, who came a long way to celebrate with Skip!

Not sure who brought this cake with strawberries in it, but Skip was a huge fan!

Here are some of the folks who celebrated Skip's big day with us. They think kids are really fun because they don't have any yet!

And more friends celebrating. Sidney is in the middle and is responsible for many cupcakes and other treats in our children's lives.

I like this one of Zadie and Skip wrestling around because it's quite the common sight!

Although we had already had a birthday party with family members over the 4th of July weekend, we also wanted to celebrate Skip's first birthday with friends in L.A., so we invited everyone out to one of the concerts in the park in Manhattan Beach. There were lots of big and small friends for all of us to hang out with! (Many thanks to Pear and Tim for taking all these photos!)

4th of July Extravaganza

The whole gang gathered on the back steps!

This family portrait is even nicer when you consider that we woke Skip up from bed to take it!

We haven't had a photo of the Zadie Zoo in a while on this blog. I like this smile...

Can I sell this photo to a croquet magazine or something?

Ladies Pro Croquet Tournament!

Every year Tori's dad sets up this massive slip and slide into the river behind their house. And, yes, this is Tori taking poor Skip on a ride!

As I was mentioning, we got together with most of Tori's family at her dad's house in the Central Valley. What I didn't mention was that it was tons of good old-fashioned fun, all very typical of Tori's family! Her Dad has a really beautiful place and we loved our time there. Zadie and Skip loved it too because it meant they basically ran around naked for the entire weekend, played in the water, and jumped on the huge trampoline. And Zadie got to stay up late and play with her twin cousins Bailey and Rihanna. Fun all around.

Skip's First Birthday, Part One

I love this photo of Skip and his Grandma Linda. Not sure if he's smiling so big about Grandma Linda or that blue balloon!

Thanks to Tori's sister Katie for this birthday portrait (and all these photos!). Note chocolate cake crumbs!

Gotta have a pinata for the party! This is Skip's cousin Rihanna taking a swing.

Skip with the birthday cake that Tori made him.

Here's the family assembled in the backyard for Skip's birthday picnic!

Although I've been remiss in blogging about it, we have very much been celebrating the birth of our little Skipper. He first came into the world on July 3rd and then on July 7th we received a phone call asking us if we were interested. We had five minutes to decide and I would say we called them back in under three minutes (and that's with me having to interrupt Tori from the interview she was conducting). We've never looked back and we're so happy to have Skip in our lives.

It is amazing how many people comment on what a happy guy he is. It's true -- he has a very happy temperament and is full of smiles. In recent weeks his personality is growing a bit and he's starting to decide he doesn't like to be pushed around by his big sister quite as much, so he's been protesting and fighting back a little bit more, which is obviously totally normal. I think he's trying to let us know that just because he's all smiles doesn't mean he'll put up with being pushed around!!

Most of Tori's family met up in the Central Valley at her dad's place to celebrate the 4th of July and so we had a family birthday party for Skip there. Here are some photos from his party, and more will come from the rest of the weekend and also another birthday party we had with friends in L.A.

Fun Friend Day in San Diego

Last weekend was super relaxing and fun because we went to my parents' house in San Diego (more photos to come about that) and we had a brunch on Sunday morning with high school friends. It's not very often these days that we all get together (minus Jen) and so it was lovely to sit by my parents' pool, have a great meal, and catch up a bit.

Plus, the kids loved playing in the wheel and it was nice to have others keeping them busy with fun times in the pool while I watched from a pool chair (thanks to Mari and Scott for putting in the pool time!)

Amy and Jenelle's son Nathan is only six weeks older than Zadie and Amy is due to have a baby any day now, so it's nice that our kids are all fairly close in age.

Fun times!

Skip's Half-Sibling

Another very momentous event that I neglected to blog about was that Skip met his half-sister, Hannah. About six months ago our social worker gave us the contact info for Hannah's father (he is not related to Skip because Hannah and Skip just share the same birth mom). Anyway, we decided not to reach out to them until Skip's adoption was official because we were worried that if someone became upset that two moms were raising Skip somebody in the family might start trying to get Skip back. Hence the delay in contacting them.

But obviously Skip's adoption is official now and we arranged a beach play date that was really fun. As you can see from the photos, Skip and Hannah look VERY much alike. Their coloring is exactly the same and so are their eyes and chin. It was very cool to meet Hannah (who is only two weeks older than Zadie) and also her dad, Danny. Danny is a very nice guy who has his work cut out for him as a single dad. Through Danny we hope to get some photos of Skip's birth mom so that he will have them for the future (we've never met her and unfortunately don't have any photos).

All in all, it was a great and significant day for us. We look forward to future get-togethers!

Two Toofs for Skip

This is the longest I've ever gone without posting a blog, so I'll try and do some quick updates. First of all, Skip got his first tooth/teeth like six weeks ago. Sorry for not better chronicling that milestone, Skip! His two bottom front teeth started to peek through right before he took his first step, but I just couldn't get a good photo of them so I never blogged about it.

But I just wanted the record to show that he got his first tooth/teeth at 10.5 months, almost exactly the same time as Zadie and just barely before he started his first steps.

Skip Takes His First Steps!

I'm way behind on my blogging, but I wanted to do a quick entry to announce that Skip has begun taking a few steps. I can't say he's really walking around just yet, but he's having a great time letting go and trying out his new skills. Very cute. I can't believe what an early walker he is!! Zadie better watch out because he's going to be running with her soon. Pretty good for 10.5 months!

Skip Takes a Few Steps! from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

Zadie Sings Hank Williams

Zadie Sings Hank Williams from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

My dad always sings "Hey, Good Lookin'" to Zadie (just like he did when I was a kid) and so now Zadie is pretty good at singing the lyrics herself. Hopefully you can hear her well enough here. She initally refuses, so you have to stick with the video for a minute, but I didn't want to edit that part out because in the very beginning of the video Zadie says her name and it is SO cute when she says her full name.

Oh, the background behind this video is that my mom was in Seattle last week as her dad was dying and she was feeling very sad, so we filmed this for her and then didn't actually get it uploaded in time to send it. This is why she sends it out especially to Mama Niece and Daddy Hal.

Sick Puppy Dog

Zadie is one sick little puppy dog. Thursday night we noticed she had a bit of a fever and the following morning she woke up and was clearly not feeling well. It was my Friday at home with the kids and I freaked out when I saw her temperature get to 104.1. I raced to the doctor's office and started worrying that her brains were cooking inside her skull, but the doctor assured me that they were not.

The doctor said her throat was a little reddish, but strep throat was going around and she'd give me a prescription just in case it happened over the weekend. She also said there's a virus of little sores in the mouth, too. I'm so glad she gave us that prescription because in the evening Zadie started drooling (another sign the doctor told me to look out for) and crying about her tongue and her throat. She kept asking me to put a Band-Aid on her tongue!!

Tori ran out and filled the prescription for antibiotics, but it didn't have time to really kick in and last night I would estimate Zadie slept only one or two hours. The rest of the time she was literally wailing and saying "Owie" over and over again. It was truly awful.

We've been really fortunate that, aside from the 24-hour flu more than a year ago, this is really the first time Zadie has been really sick. I wish it were the last because it's awful to see her in so much pain that she can't sleep and there's nothing you can do. I really hope Skip doesn't get it.

Today I had a work event most of the day, but Tori said that Zadie snapped out of it for a few periods and then would crash and burn again, but this time was able to sleep. I brought her popsicles and she was pretty darn excited about that.

On a side note, I was so impressed with Skip's ability to sleep through all of Zadie's crying. He finally woke up at about 5:30am, but he slept through the rest of it.

Here's hoping that tonight goes a lot better than last night! And that no one else in our family gets sick!

Goodbye, House

We've completely moved into our new place now and we gave the keys for the old place back today. I've been going over in the evenings to do the cleaning (trying to get that hefty deposit back in full!) and I've been feeling very sad and nostalgic about our old house. As most people know, I tend to get very attached to things and can be a bit on the sentimental side. Besides, Tori and I had both lived there longer than we've lived in any place since we were 18 years old and it was the home we lived in when both Zadie and Skip were born and all those first memories happened.

Anyway, I've been saying lots of goodbyes to all the things I'm going to miss about our old house.

Goodbye, coolest tree in El Segundo...

Goodbye, red door and red mailbox (yes, I'm pregnant in this photo)...

Goodbye, garden that Linda put so much love into...

Goodbye, big backyard and home of many barbecues and gatherings.

Goodbye, house.

It's Official!

Today we went out to Monterey Park for Skip's final adoption court hearing. Everything went great and he is now officially ours. The judge, the court reporter, and all the other miscellaneous people in the court room were overwhelmingly positive and kind and everyone raved about what a good and adorable baby Skip is (the seersucker suit was a hit!). They were so effusive in their praise that Tori and I both got teary-eyed (as you can see in my picture with the judge).

Our time in the court room was pretty brief. We swore under oath that we would love and care for Skip as our "natural" child and that we were aware of all the rights and responsibilities that came with that. And of course we have regarded Skip as our "natural" child since the day we brought him home from the hospital. We also had to agree to something about Skip being entitled to a future inheritance, but don't be counting on any big money, Skipper!

After our appointment we went out for some celebratory Sichuan food in San Gabriel and then tonight Aunt Susie, Jim, Hank and Steven came over for celebratory pizza. Although of course he has always been ours in our mind, it's a big relief to have the official paperwork completed.

We feel very lucky to have you, Skip!

Skip's Final Court Date!

We just found out today that Skip has his final court date scheduled for next Tuesday, April 20th. We're so excited to hear this because we weren't expecting it to happen so soon. Barring anything unforeseen, Skip will *officially* be ours next Tuesday. Of course he's been ours in our minds since we brought him home from the hospital, but this legalization of the adoption is a really important step.

We didn't do birth announcements when Skip was born because, well, we only found out on Day 4 and we wanted to wait until things were a bit more concrete. But we'll start working on sending out an adoption announcement and we want to make sure and take photos of the court hearing so that he can have those photos to look back on.

We're feeling very fortunate, all the way around. First of all, we somehow got Skip, who has an incredible personality and is a great baby. Second, we managed to avoid a lot of the emotional back-and-forth that is fairly typical of the foster-adopt process (and that we've seen many friends struggle with). Lastly, our adoption will have been completed in 9 and a half months, which has got to come close to a record for a county adoption!

Skip's 9-Month Checkup

Skip had his 9-month checkup on Monday. Unfortunately, for as long as we can recall he's had a runny nose, a cough, and congestion. People often ask us if he has a cold, but it doesn't feel like we can say yes because he's always been this way -- that's just Skip. So then recently people started suggesting maybe he has allergies and that's why he's always like this. But the doctor told us she doesn't think that's what it is since he was this way prior to starting solids (but couldn't he be allergic to the formula?). Poor Skip! Zadie never had to tell with any colds or sicknesses like this and it can't be fun, but he still continues to have an amazing personality. Hopefully the congestion will go away with the start of the warm weather.

Skip was 29 and 3/4 inches long in length (93rd percentile), which really surprised me. I don't think of him as taller/longer than other kids his age. He weighed 19 lbs and 13 oz (45th percentile). His head circumference was 17 and 1/4 whatevers (10th percentile). I'm a little concerned about the head circumference because of the whole flathead issue, but the doctor told Tori that his head is definitely growing and everything is fine.

Easter Egg Hunt

This past weekend was Easter and we had Grandma Linda, Tori's sister Katie, and her baby Gavin all staying with us. This was quite interesting since we only have a two-bedroom house, but the most interesting part of all was that every single night we had a different sleeping arrangement and every day we would spend forever plotting out where we'd put everyone. It was like a complex LSAT question or something.

Katie and Linda were kind enough to babysit for us on Saturday while we went to a baby shower and a birthday party (date time!). While we were away, they went to the store, secretly bought candy and plastic eggs, and then hid them in the front yard. I was really surprised how quickly Zadie spotted them through the window and of course she wanted to run out there right away.

Unfortunately Katie was still snoozing for the photos, but I did catch some photos of Zadie and Grandma Linda in their pajamas. Zadie was pretty cute -- she can really muster a lot of joy for candy!! Too bad for her we hardly let her eat any of it and soon thereafter she kind of forgot about it.

SophieIzzy

Zadie loves her some SophieIzzy. In her mind, they are one entity and she doesn't talk about them independent from each other. They are, simply, SophieIzzy. It used to be FofieIzzy, but her pronunciation has really improved.

Zadie giggles like a little maniac when she's around SophieIzzy and somehow I think they bring out her wild side. It's kind of like she's putting on a show for them. Unfortunately she only gets to see them three or four times a year, but she really does love them (correction: my sister has informed me they see each other six times a year!). And, we try to keep up via Skype, as well. It makes me SO happy to see them playing together and giggling.

It's hard to get a photo of the three girls together, but here's one where they're all kind of looking at the camera.

Giggling Skip

Giggling Skip from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

Last week Skip had a fever four days in a row (first time in his life) and this video was taken during that time. Skip is so good-natured that he gets a giggling fit even when he's sick and feeling awful. Either that or he was just delirious!

Reunited with the Beach

Zadie loves her some beach! The past few posts have been about the Skipper, so this post will be devoted to the Zadie Zoo. This past weekend Zadie was reunited with the beach -- her favorite place on earth!

When we first got to the beach Zadie was loving playing in the waves and was completely filled with joy. But then later in the day (or was it the next day?), she got knocked down by a wave and kept on tumbling and couldn't get up on her feet. She cried but then went right back out in the water. But then the exact same thing happened within 30 seconds and then she was done with it. Hopefully the trauma won't last too long, but she just contented herself with playing in the sand and demolishing sand castles.

Best. Photo. Ever.

I love this photo my sister took of Skip. Last weekend we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday and had an amazing weekend. We stayed at a great spot right on the beach and Skip got to have some solid beach time in. It's funny because he went to the beach twice in the first week of his life (he was born in July, right in the heart of beach season), but all last summer he was really too young to interact with the beach. Last weekend he loved playing in the sand, but he wasn't a big fan of the freezing cold water. Hopefully the water will grow on him.

More photos to follow!

Skip Crawls!

Skip Crawls from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

I can't believe I haven't blogged in a month. My readership has been in uproar about the lack of posts. Ha!! But seriously, the longer I wait between posts the harder it gets to blog because I feel like I have too much to say in one post. Also, I've really been wanting to post this video of Skip crawling, but I don't like uploading the videos. But here I am!

This video was shot on the first day Skip learned to crawl, February 28th, a few days shy of his 8 month birthday. So I think that makes him a pretty early crawler. And he's not just an early crawler -- he has excellent form to boot!

On that note, I'm reminded of this hilarious video we took of Zadie starting to crawl. It's hilarious now because she moved about a total of inch but we, blinded by our love, were so proud!!

Skip is really enjoying his newfound freedom and is one happy guy.

Is it true?

We've been working with Zadie for the past week or two on potty training and I think it might finally be happening! She wears a diaper for her nap and at night, but other than that she's been pretty on the money. Two days with no accidents! She gets dried cranberries for going pee and a teensy piece of organic dark chocolate for going poop (on the toilet, that is). When she gets the chocolate she jumps up and down for a few minutes because she's so excited. Hopefully she's not going to start straining to poop just so she can get more chocolate!

I'm still not sure it's really happening, but even thus far it's been really great to have one less kid in diapers. We use a cloth diaper called Bum Genius and they're really great, but with two kids in diapers we have to wash about every other day. Combined with all of our other laundry, sometimes it feels like all we do is laundry! So this will be a welcome relief...if only it's true!

A Boy and His Duck

This is a story about a boy and his duck. Skip loves his yellow duck. Actually, I think this stuffed animal might be a chicken because when Aunt Susie first gave it to us (or to Zadie) it would dance and sing the "The Chicken Dance" when you squeezed it's foot. But it really resembles a duck more and now that it no longer sings and dances, we just call it the duck.

Anyway, Skip can sit on the floor for hours (well, hours in infant time, which is kind of like how dog years are multiplied by seven) and play with this duck. He's typically sitting up with the duck and the duck's beak is level with his mouth. He chews on the beak and all the appendages and also likes to pull the tuft of hair on its head. It's so cute how he squeals with joy!

This video doesn't really do his love for the duck justice since he's not sitting up face-to-face, but you get the general idea. Plus, he has some great giggles in this video. And below is a photo of him and the duck. He's so cute!

So Long, House?

Lately we've been getting some pretty strong indications that our landlord is going to be selling our house (an appraiser came by yesterday, and a few months ago potential buyers visited). Although nothing has been officially communicated to us, we're starting to prepare for getting 30 days notice by browsing around the neighborhood.

All this is very sad since we love our neighborhood, our house, and the front and backyard we have here. The funny thing is that Tori was really the one who insisted on moving in here and I disagreed and wanted to move to a cheap apartment and save the money. She won that battle and, as occasionally happens, it turns out that she was right.

In addition to the money, I was also worried that we'd have a hard time downsizing once Tori eventually stops working and now it turns out that day is coming sooner than we had planned (the downsizing day, not the stop working day). We will likely need to move into an apartment with no yard, which is particularly sad now that Zadie is at the age where we can close the gate and let her play back there by herself.

But we're just going to cross that bridge when it happens since we'd like to delay moving as much as possible. This is also because we'd have to go through paperwork hell in order to get everything inspected if Skip is not technically ours by that point. We'd really like to avoid that!

But for the time being, we really enjoyed our yard today and soaked up the first sunshine in a few days with a game of Scrabble.

Two-Year Checkup -- She's a Big One!

Tori took Zadie to her two-year checkup this past week and she is rather large. She's 31 inches long (100th percentile), 28 lbs and 14 ounces (75th percentile), and her head is 20 whatevers (100th percentile). People always comment on Zadie's big belly, which is funny to us since we struggle every day to get her to eat. She can gorge on fruit and snacks, but it's challenging to get her to eat any kind of meat or protein. Sometimes we succeed with tofu if we put enough hummus or ketchup on it.

p.s. The above photo was actually taken 3-4 months ago, but I never had a chance to post it. It makes me happy to see how much fun Zadie has playing with a cardboard box!

By Popular Demand

People said they wanted to see the "after" shots of the haircuts, so here they are. Zadie's hair looks pretty similar except it looks healthier and less stringy. Like I said, Skip looks like a little Marine, but in a good way!

Birthday Presents!

Zadie hauled in some good loot this year for her birthday. In addition to pajamas, a bathing suit, sandals, a bubble machine, etc., she received two very special gifts from her grandparents. My parents gave her swimming lessons (I still need to sign her up), which of course she will love. And then Grandma Linda searched high and low for a trampoline (not just a trampoline but a DEAL on a trampoline!). Here is a clip of Zadie enjoying her new trampoline and thanking Grandma Linda. Thanks to everyone for their presents -- we didn't get her nothin'!

The day after her birthday, our friend Sidney stopped by the house for a special delivery of a cupcake and a birthday present. She got her a pretty dress and some cool bracelets (although of course Zadie probably liked the cupcake best of all!). This came out blurry, but I still wanted to capture Sidney, Zadie, and the cupcake...

Zadie Turns Two!

I am SO thankful for our Zadie Zoo and really enjoying the stage she's in. So far -- knock on wood -- we haven't experienced the terrible twos and Zadie is generally fun to be with. I love this latest stage because she is putting sentences together and turning into a little human. Haha.

This celebration was a little more low-key than last year's party when Grandma Linda was visiting, but we had a great time and Zadie was particularly excited about people singing her "Happy Birthday." And the cupcake, of course.

I'm going to do another post later with a short video clip, but here are some photos from today.

Here is Zadie enjoying her cupcake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. And two proud mommas.

I like this photo because it shows how attached Zadie is to her Uncle Hank and also because it shows off her cute birthday outfit. She had fun wearing her tutu all day and even took a nap in it. Thanks, Grandma Linda, for sending it!

And a big thank-you to Aunt Susie for throwing a little celebration for Zadie, cooking a nice meal, and baking a cake and cupcakes. You do so much for our family!

First Haircuts!

Zadie and Skip got their first official haircuts today, although Skip has had a few previous ones at home (which is part of why he needed an official one!). You can't tell much of a difference for Zadie except that it looks a lot healthier in the back. Skip looks like a little Marine.

We've been telling Zadie she was going to get a haircut for her second birthday for a while now, so she was pretty excited on the walk over, but once she got in the seat she was like a zombie (see above photo for evidence!). It was like someone had cast a spell on her. The good news is that she was a very good "patient," but I was starting to wonder if she was pooping and that's why she was so glazed over! She brightened up once it was over and she got a lollipop, though.

Skip was surprisingly okay with all the cutting and even the buzzing of the clippers. Hopefully this shorter haircut won't further accentuate the poor child's flat head!

A Nick Photo After All!

It turns out that we actually did take one photo during Nick's visit two weekends ago and I didn't even realize it. Here's Nick romping around with Zadie. Zadie was pretty darn sad when Nick boarded the Greyhound home, let me tell you!

Good News on the Adoption Front

I also wanted to share that Skip had a big court date this past Thursday and everything went well. The birth mother's parental rights were terminated, which is the most important step towards Skip becoming officially ours. We are really fortunate to have a case that is moving so quickly through the system (relatively speaking, of course). And, more importantly, we are very fortunate to have such a healthy, sweet, and good-natured baby!

Assuming everything goes well, we think we will be able to officially adopt Skip by May or June.

Catching Up...

I wish that I blogged more regularly and that this was a more accurate reflection of our children's lives, but I think one of my main obstacles is that I feel the need to post a photo for every post and that involves taking a relevant photo and downloading it to my computer. Somehow the idea of getting the cord out and hooking the camera to the computer stops me cold. So I'll try to be better about just posting random little posts here and there and not feel the need to have a photo.

Because I didn't take any photos while he was here, I never posted about my nephew Nick's visit. We love when Nick comes to visit because he's up for anything and he's like a sponge who wants to have new experiences. Plus, he's really helpful with the kids and we use him like a pack mule. :)

During his time here, we went for a bike ride along the beach, went to a modern dance performance downtown, had a picnic with a bunch of friends to celebrate Tori's birthday at the Getty Museum, watched some good movies, and went bowling at a chic downtown L.A. bowling alley. Also, Nick beat me and Tori for the first time ever in Scrabble, much to my irritation.

More recently, we spent the past weekend in San Diego. It was raining a lot, so we didn't do much outdoors, but we got in a few short walks to our favorite spots (Ono's and the Spare Room consignment store). And we had a great dinner with my parents at our very favorite restaurant, Kemo Sabe. That dinner was the very first time I can remember the four of us having dinner since Zadie was born, so thanks to Austin and Anabel for babysitting! We also got to see some friends and Zadie got to play with Nathan, who is only six weeks older. All in all a great weekend!

Siblings

I've been meaning for quite a while to write about the relationship between Skip and Zadie. People always ask us how Zadie feels about him and whether she's jealous. For the most part, Zadie is incredibly protective of him and thinks he's a lot of fun. One of her favorite first words was "SHIP SHIP SHIP," which she would say every time we left the house -- as if we were going to leave Skip behind.

Now that she's a little older, she's taking on some big sister duties and likes to help feed him his bottle and also change his diaper. The diaper changing habit is a bit of a problem since I often return to a room to find him completely naked and Zadie standing with a diaper in her hand. She's not so good at putting a new one on.

The best part about their relationship so far is how much Skip adores Zadie. He thinks everything she does is hilarious. I can be trying to get him to laugh with no luck and all Zadie has to do is walk up and say one word to him and he giggles. He really thinks she is the coolest person the planet.

The only real conflict in their relationship is Skip's major tendency to pull hair. Zadie likes to play pretty physically with Skip and logroll him over and over, but Skip always wins because he pulls her hair. Then Zadie screams, "Ship bull hair! Ship bull hair!"

Skip Turns 6 Months...and Eats Solids!

Skip turned six months old on January 3rd and he's hit some big milestones lately. He's been sitting up for about three weeks now and a few days ago he had his first try at solid foods.

We recorded Zadie's first meal way back in July of 2008 and it was pretty funny because Tori gave her zucchini and she definitely didn't like it. But I guess Tori is softening up because she gave Skip sweet potatoes for his first solid foods. He is FAR more interested in his first meal than Zadie was. He struggles to get the hang of the whole swallowing thing, but he's pretty enthusiastic about trying it. I'm hoping this means he is going to be a less picky eater than Zadie.

Skip had his six-month appointment a few days ago and things are mostly good. He's doing really well developmentally and with his height and weight, but he still has flathead. We're looking into helmets and have a consultation next week for it. The doctor says it isn't affecting his brain growth, but it's still not fun to have a misshapen head!

His exact specs were 27.25 inches long (76th percentile), 17lbs, 5 oz (50th percentile), and 16.75 something head circumference (24th percentile). I was surprised that when I compared this to Zadie's 6 month numbers Skip was actually slightly ahead of her in height and weight. I always think of Zadie as so much bigger.

$80 hat

You may recall from a previous post that Zadie had a $40 hat that she loved and wore everywhere. It was kind of her signature look at the playground and in her classes. I've never owned a $40 hat, but we were on a bike ride and I stopped to buy her a hat at a fancy boutique and I felt silly leaving without buying something (see my need to justify the purchase?).

Anyway, after our November visit to San Francisco, the hat was never seen again (here she is in one of the last photos with her hat). This was very sad because it really was the only hat Zadie would wear and it fit her personality so well. I hope some kid is really enjoying that hat.

Tori and I had already decided not to give our kids any presents for Christmas this year since (a)

they don't really get the concept and I'm in no rush for them to get on board, and (b) my mother gives enough presents for a village of children! But then one day I was near that overpriced children's boutique and I decided to check and see whether they had the hat. They did and I bought it for Zadie. She wrapped it up and Zadie opened it on Christmas. It was a really adorable moment because Zadie still doesn't really understand presents and we had to open most of her presents for her, but she opened this one and she was really excited to see her hat again!

So, as obnoxious as it may be that my daughter wears a $80 hat, it was still kind of worth it.

Thanksgiving Flashback

I didn't get the chance to post more photos from our Thanksgiving trip to Washington, so I want to make sure and do that now. I know I post and write more about my side of the family since they live closer, but I want to make sure Zadie and Skip see how much fun the other side of the family is!

Everyone gathered for a festive Thanksgiving dinner!

Here is Zach stretching it out to see if he can beat Phoebe's record ice-blocking ride. Phoebe triumphed. Yes, there is an ice block under that body!

Here is 3/4th of the Adams family. We miss having them in San Diego, but know they're happy in Oregon!

Zadie is blessed with two sets of female twin cousins within nine months of her. Bailey is to her left and Rihanna is to her right. These two are fearless and fun!