Skip Goes to Jamaica

Tori took all these kids to the beach one day and had a great time. Dillon has the food and to his left is Tori's host sister Poonkey, then Lasanya. The othe kid is Dillon's brother Tiger Shark (that's really his name).

Skip with Dillon, Tori's godson who she calls every Sunday. Note Skip's mosquito-bitten face!

Skip catching a ride on the donkey cart in Tori's host community.

Skip likes to practice his kung fu moves and make lots of whoosh whoosh sounds. On the veranda of Auntie P's house.

Skip the World Traveler went to Jamaica with Tori for a week and just returned this past Wednesday. Tori had a service project to do and also wanted to help take care of some things with Poonkey, her former host sister.

So this year Skip has spent three weeks in China and one week in Jamaica. He gets selected to travel since he is under two and travels free! But the funny thing is that Zadie thinks she's getting the better end of the deal because she gets to go to Mama Niece's house and she finds that way cooler than China or Jamaica. So, Zadie, don't be mad at us when you get older -- you had no interest in going!

Fun Adult Time!

Toasting a great meal with friends I wish I got to see more of...

Vegan mapo tofu. Nice presentation!

The great thing about friends without kids is that they really enjoy interacting with kids! Zadie has a special place in her heart for Tim and he was kind enough to read her this really silly book about Clifford the Big Red Dog.

In the early days of parenthood, Tori and I were determined not to let kids slow us down and we regularly took our kids out and about. We would go to a friend's house and put our kid(s) down in a bedroom and then load them in the car at the end of the night. Not so much lately. We're just in survival mode and it has certainly limited our social life.

But last night was a special treat because a bunch of good friends from grad school came over for a cooking party. It was so fun to have adults around and not just any adults, but adults that I really like. So thanks, my friends, for coming over!

And the food was good, too!

Starting Christmas Traditions

Zadie and Tori start unwrapping the ornaments.

Except for the really high ones, Zadie ended up doing all the decorating and I think she did a pretty good job.

Sidney came over with a gingerbread house kit and Zadie was quite a fan of this experience, especially because it involves gum drops!

This is the first year Zadie really gets Christmas and she's pretty excited about it. She's loved learning about all the traditions, like decorating the Christmas tree, building a gingerbread house, and of course the advent calendar. It's been fun for us to start creating our family's first Christmas traditions.

Skip isn't really interested in Christmas traditions, but he thinks it's really fun to pull all the ornaments off the tree. I tried to enforce a "no touching" rule and then Tori convinced me that I was being really controlling and I needed to let go. That's the Christmas spirit!

Beach in November

Minus the snotty nose, I think this is a really cute picture of Skip!

Zadie trying to bury herself in the sand.

Skip loves to hold hands with Zadie when they're in their car seats and sometimes he can get her to cooperate. He's about to fall asleep here after a nice workout running all around the sand.

I know that L.A. has its detractors, but you can't beat going to the beach in November. Our summer weather this year was definitely subpar, but we had some great beach days in the fall. According to my camera, this was November 13th that we were enjoying this fine weather -- not bad!

I would have more beach photos to post, but most of them involve nudity and my sister tells me to watch out for weirdos on the internet.

Earning Her Glass of Wine

Typically my mom likes to do her babysitting duties at her own house, which makes sense because she has a great house with a deck and a pool and, well, we live in a dump. And there are now five human beings squeezed into our little dump.

But this week I talked her into coming up here for a few days and I think she may never come back. We've had some freakish weather -- in the high 90s -- and our house doesn't have any air-conditioning or a good ventilation system. On top of all that, Skip knocked out one of the screens and so now we can't open one of our biggest windows or else one of the kids will drop out of it.

So my poor mother hasn't been literally sweating every single day and sleep-deprived and putting up with our very loud and chaotic household.

She has really and truly earned her glass of wine every evening. Thanks for all the help, Mom!

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 was noticeably more challenging than Halloween 2009. I considered staying home with Charlie and letting Tori take the older two kids out trick-or-treating, but I really didn't want to miss the fun (and the candy) and so we met up with friends in Manhattan Beach and made it happen. It was good thing, too, because I don't think we could have managed the three of them on our own.

Before heading out to trick-or-treating, we stopped by the local Halloween fair and Zadie won third-place in the costume contest. She has now been the Tin Man two years running, so it's kind of like how my parents always dressed me up as a black cat every year (black leotard, with black stuff on my nose and cat ears -- very easy). Hopefully we'll be able to think of something new next year, but Tori really wanted to go with the Tin Man again.

And at the last minute we kind of threw together a family theme -- I was the scarecrow, Skip was the lion, Charlie was Toto (by virtue of being a small creature in a basket and for no other reason), and Tori was Dorothy (by virtue of her red shoes!).

Thank you, Grandma Linda

I think Charlie looks very royal in this picture.

Linda with 3 of her 11 grandchildren!!

Wine and cheese and crackers with Linda and her brother Mike.

Linda and Zadie made cookies for our guests and Zadie very proudly served them.

Grandma Linda came down from Washington to provide two whole weeks of help. Before she arrived we were so overwhelmed (and Charlie was just getting out of the hospital) that I told Tori I hoped that Linda wasn't having visions of rollerskating on the strand -- we needed her undivided attention!

And we certainly got it. I would come home from work and Linda somehow had miraculously taken care of the kids all day (with Hank) and also done three loads of laundry, washed the dishes, picked up the house, etc. I was pretty amazed, but she reminded me that she's a mother of five, which makes our three look like small potatoes! She was also taking every third night of "Charlie duty" and so sleep-deprived on top of it all. I think she must have overdid it because then she got a little sick for a few days, but not before completing everything on her special projects list we created for her (re-pot a few plants, help Tori put up the new blinds, etc.).

And, as always, she did all of this with her characteristic pep and energy, so we are so thankful for her time here. And now she's in India at a retreat and hopefully sending some good energy our way. Thank you, Linda!

Cooking with Tori

I find cooking very stressful. I don't enjoy doing it by myself or with others. Tori, thank goodness, loves to cook and for some reason thinks it's really fun to let Skip and Zadie help out. I can't imagine why, but they love to help their momma in the kitchen and I think they look really cute in their aprons. Zadie has a funny look on her face in these photos and is wearing a funny shirt that I bought for Skip in China.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Skip really loves to take baths. Tori was running a bath and trying to get Zadie from the other room and when she came back into the bathroom she saw Skipper sitting in the water with his full outfit on, including his socks and leather shoes. Pretty funny!

Charlie's First Month

He's filling out in the cheeks!

Our rug matches Charlie's hair and his shirt.

Grandma Linda is here for two weeks to help us out -- much appreciated!

Zadie admiring her brand-new brother.

In the hospital to pick up Charlie, less than 24 hours after we got the surprise phone call!

Charlie turns five weeks old tomorrow (right?). Minus the big scare with the pyloric stenosis, Charlie is doing just great. He was so teensy tiny when we brought home and at first he had trouble gaining weight because he was vomiting, so now it's great to see him chug-a-lug. He weighed 6 lbs 6 oz at the time of his surgery and then exactly one week later he weighed 8 lbs 4 oz.

Although not nearly as beautiful as Kim's photos, here are some from Charlie's first month with the family. We love him and are so happy he's here -- even if he keeps us up at night!!

Charlie Gets Sick...and Then Better!

I haven't been very good about blogging lately, partly because our lives have been busier but even more so because the space bar on our keyboard at home came off and it's pretty frustrating to write more than one sentence. But Tori brought out our old laptop and I wanted to update about some crazy stuff that has happened in the last week.

Charlie started vomiting about 80% of his feedings and ultimately the doctors decided that he had a condition called pyloric stenosis. Basically a stomach muscle got too thick and wasn't allowing the milk to go down to his intestines (or at least that's what I understood). So I left the house at 8:30am one day to take him to the doctor, who then sent me to an x-ray place, and then the next thing I knew I was driving him to the hospital for emergency surgery.

Luckily the surgery is pretty straight-forward and this won't be something that will ever bother him again. He's not vomiting any of his meals now and he's doing great. As the doctor pointed out, three-week-olds don't really use their stomach muscles so the recovery is pretty easy.

Having said all that, seeing your little baby with a tube down his nose and an IV in his hand is AWFUL. And he couldn't eat for the whole day prior to the surgery and then for six hours afterwards. I felt so badly for him. But he did really well and Tori and I took turns staying the night with him in the hospital and holding him in our arms all night long.

So it was a very scary experience, but the good news is that Charlie has been back home for a few days now and is doing great. Hooray for that!

Introducing...Charlie!

After much discussion, we have settled upon a name. Charlie Wilson K. (I don't like to use my last name on the blog, but you all know it). Everyone in our family has the same middle and last name.

I like it. It's boyish and likeable, just like Skip. I think it will suit him nicely. Tori and Zadie still really love the name Ozzie, so that will continue as a nickname, too.

And although former Congressman Charlie Wilson is/was a little bit controversial, I think he's an intriguing character and I like that he's from East Texas! He also wrote my dad a letter when he got home from Vietnam.

And here are some more great photos of CHARLIE!!

A New Baby!

I haven't updated this blog about some very important news. A county social worker called to let us know that Skip's birth mom had another baby and of course we said YES, we'd love to bring him home. We had told the social workers not to call us about any kids UNLESS Skip's mom had another baby.

We weren't expecting the phone call this soon and were totally unprepared, but I want this sweet child to know that the occasion of his birth caused great excitement and hooting and hollering! Despite having less than 24 hours to comply with the county's requests for us to buy a bassinet, a new bed for Zadie and to outfit our house with locks on the cupboard, we were anxious and excited to bring our new baby home!!

So this sweet child was born on September 20th and we picked him up at California Hospital downtown around noon on September 22nd. His birth parents named him Ryan Michael, but we are still working on our own name for him (there are a few names in the running). The nurses told us that his birth parents were very upset that they couldn't take him home, but the county would not allow it because of their past histories (I just want to be clear that he is very much wanted and cared for!).

This situation is a little more complicated than Skip's but we sincerely hope that we will be able to keep him forever. He is a very good baby and has a sweet disposition. So far I would say that he is the best baby of the three! He doesn't look much like Skip, but ironically I think he looks a bit like Zadie at the same age. He only weighed 5 lbs, 12 oz at birth, so he is still pretty tiny.

Zadie is very excited to have another little brother and Skip is very interested but not clear on what is happening. As for the moms, we are sleep-deprived and a little befuddled about how to make three kids under three work, but we are also very much in love with our new baby.

More information to come...thank you to Kim for the beautiful photos!

Skip's First Words

Before I forget, I should announce that during a trip away Skip started saying his first two words. The first was "Mama" and then "ball." I'm working on him to learn "Mommy," but so far no luck and I remember it took Zadie a while to learn that.

I can't find any blog posts I wrote about Zadie's first words or when that happened. I think it must have been "mama," too.

Zadie Is Back in the Fold

I guess I never exactly announced it on here, but we're home from China! We had a great trip and of course there is so much to say about that, but I don't know where to even begin.

So I'll write instead about coming home to see Zadie. We got home on Tuesday and on Wednesday Zadie was delivered home around noon. We were at work but we met up for lunch and had lots of hugs and kisses. We were very excited to see her and, although we Skyped with her a fair amount while we were away, we really missed her.

I could tell that she was happy to see us and Skip, but it was also obvious how hard it was for her to leave my parents' house. She broke down in tears a few times crying for my mom. I can't really blame her for that since I know she had a great time and she was sort of living in paradise and as an only child all that time. I would have had hard time, too.

Now she's back with us and adjusting to having a little brother who rips her puzzle out of her hands and likes to wrestle. And also to authority figures who aren't quite as permissive in the food and drink department. But we're trying to take it easy on her and I was proud of Tori for letting her have PB and J at lunch and strawberry lemonade -- and letting her eat her fruit first.

We missed you Zadie and are so excited to be reunited!

Zadie The Storyteller?

When do kids start telling stories? I don't know what the typical age is for that, but I've never heard Zadie tell a story. That's why this story from my dad totally amused me. This is taken from a family email he wrote last week:

After dinner and after our night swim, we gathered around a big fire at the firepit. When it got dark Denise asked me to tell some stories. I thought of a good one and started "When I was a little boy at the ranch..." That's as far as I got before Zadie interrupted me and started to tell some doozies about when she and her brother and her Moms were at the ranch. She told stories about riding horses and a pig (yes, riding a pig). Before long Izzie interrupted Zadie and trumped her with even taller tales. The two of them got into a story telling competition. Half the time they were both talking at the same time. I felt like I was sitting by a campfire listening to Clay Wyatt talk [family member notorious for talking up a storm]. I couldn't have been prouder. Denise and I laughed till we cried. Sophie is a listener. After my opening sentence I was too. No one alive could compete with Izzie and Zadie's stories last night. When we put them to beg they were still talking a blue streak (just like Clay).

And here's one more story my mom sent me a few days ago:

Today we went shopping and she got a new pair of shoes, a "Hello Kitty" t-shirt that she couldn't live w/o (because it had sparkles on it), and butterfly wings that she "needed". When we got home, she put on the butterfly wings and asked if she could fly now. I said she would have to try. So she ran around the yard flapping her wings trying hard to fly. She didn't get off the ground, but it wasn't from a lack of trying. She thinks the wings are great and she is napping with them on as I type this. She also got 2 pairs of new shoes and wanted to sleep in them. She asked me, "Do you ever sleep with your shoes on?" Her bed is crowded right now with her wings, sea turtle, a dog that was a gift from Auntie Kim, and a new outfit for Skip. For some reason she wanted to sleep with all of this.

Zadie & Granddaddy Hal

This is Kim again, posting another entry during Kate's absence....my dad sent this family email out tonight and I thought Zadie would enjoy reading it many years down the road.

************************************************
Subject: Zadie Stuff that Tickles Me
1. I was carrying Zadie tonight and she said "I'm as tall as you." I said, "you're not as tall as me." She said "I'm almost as tall as you." I explained that she's only almost as tall as me when I'm carrying her. I then put her down on the ground and ask her if she still thought she was almost as tall as me. She said "yes" but she didn't say it with conviction.

2. I heard Zadie count to 12 today and I heard say all of her ABCs. At 2 years 7 months she's about 3.5 years ahead of where I was at that age.

3. When Kate was a kid she was obsessed with McDonalds. Every time we drove by one she begged then screamed for us to go in to Macs. It's pay back time. We've been taking Zadie to Macs every night for a hot fudge sundae. By the time Kate and Tori return Zadie will be a Mac addict. I'm wondering how Kate will deal with that.

4. When Tori's brother Hank met Denise is San Clemente to hand over Zadie at the beginning of this trip, Hank told Denise that Zadie doesn't take naps anymore. When Denise got home she called me to tell me that. We agreed "she still takes naps." And she does. She's been taking 2-3 hour naps each day. When she wakes up she finds 2 chocolate covered blueberries left by the Nap Fairy. She can't understand why the Night Time Fairy doesn't leave prizes like the Nap Fairy does. We just tell her that it's one of the great mysteries of life.

5. Zadie wanted to go swimming today but she stood by the pool refusing to go in until Izzie and Sophie came. Denise explained they won't be here for 5 more days. She is so excited about her cousins coming she can hardly stand it.

Hal

Zadie's San Diego Adventures

This is Kate's sister, Kim, hacking into Kate's blog to post an email that our mom sent about Zadie. My mom is currently watching Zadie while Tori, Kate and Skip are traveling in China. I wonder who is having the most fun?!


From Denise:
We are having a good time here in Bonita with Zadie. Her swim class went well yesterday. I think she did everything Ben wanted her to do. I did hear her bossing him around a wee bit. She also talked him out of him a water ball that he uses for classes ~ and two plastic "treat" bracelets. The only bad thing that happened was she did a face plant on the cement when she tripped on her towel. It bled a little and is just a little swollen today. Right now we are on the deck playing with play dough. Ben should be here in about 30 min. After swimming we will go to Kids Playhouse and take our picnic lunch there. Then we will come home for naps.

The naptime fairy worked great yesterday! She slept for 1 1/2 hours. Last night she was eager to go to bed and when she woke this morning, she asked if the fairy came. I explained the fairy only came for nap time, so she wanted to go back to bed and take a nap. I could not convince her differently, so I put her back to bed. She stayed in there for about 10 mins. then wanted up. She didn't say anything else about the fairy. Of course I had to answer all her questions about why did the fairy only come at naptime; where was she; why was she at work, etc.

I want to go to the Children's museum and the zoo but haven't done so yet. I think today we will try to go to the park after naptime, but it may be too hot (I think it's supposed to be 100 today), so we may just swim. In the afternoon the pool is a huge attraction for the bees. They swarmed us yesterday afternoon and I was starting to get worried that she was going to get stung. Zadie doesn't seem to mind them at all.

I told her this morning that Mommy called last night. She listened as I updated her on the traveling parents and Skipper-doodle. I am keeping a picture out of you, Tori and Skip that Kim took at my birthday celebration in Coronado. She also is enjoying looking at some photo books.

She's busy with the play dough and now has mixed all the colors together. Hmmm, I guess I'll just let her have fun with it all. Okay, now she's making a huge mess on the deck. Gotta jam!

Love you all,
Mom

Report from China

We've been in China a little over two weeks now and we're having a great trip. We're now in Xichang, which is the community where I lived for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer. I could go on and on about the changes here (good and sad), but I want to write about Skip's experience in China.

Skip is loved and adored by the Chinese people. When I think back on it, I don't recall ever seeing a foreign baby during all my time in China, so I guess I can understand why he creates such a stir (hopefully that doesn't mean we're the only parents stupid enough to bring their baby to China!).

Everywhere we go people stop us and want to play with him. We hear "hao guai!" all around us -- that means "how cute." People are also always commenting on what beautiful eyes he has. And people often come up to him and give him candy, fruit, and sometimes other food items that he can't really eat (like a duck bone someone wanted him to chew on).

The best part is going out to restaurants with him. Taking our kids to restaurants in the States is the worst because you can't really enjoy your meal since you're trying to manage the kids and of course you don't want to horrify the other customers with your children's behavior. But here in China we let Skip loose and soon there are two or three waitresses taking care of him. They tell us to enjoy our meal and they take him around, introduce him to other children, and love playing with him. I would pay top dollar to have this kind of service in America!! It also helps that most Chinese restaurants are terribly overstaffed and so the waitresses don't have more important things to do anyway. And we don't have to worry about his safety since they are completely overprotective of him and basically won't let him walk around without holding on to his arm.

The only time that I think the Chinese people didn't love Skip so much was on the overnight train to Xichang. Skip woke up every time the train stopped, which was pretty often and he cried pretty loudly. I'm the worst about worrying about bothering people (it causes me great stress, just like my sister), but since all the people around us we're snoring so loudly hopefully people weren't too upset. But the result of that experience is that I bought a plane ticket for Tori and Skip to fly back to Chengdu, which I've never done before. But the train trip was so exhausting with Skip that Tori actually got strep throat from lack of sleep.

That's the update from China!

Signing Off (for now)...

I'm signing off for now because my flight leaves in a few hours and I've heard that I won't be able to access Blogspot in China. I've been really excited about my China trip because I haven't been back in four years and going to China, seeing friends, eating Chinese food, and practicing my Chinese are some of my very favorite things in life. But all of the sudden I'm starting to have a little bit of anxiety about my trip and, as my friend Erin would say, I'm starting to do some "stinkin' thinkin'."

This is one of the many ways that I've really changed since having children -- and I don't think it's for the better! Whereas I used to be a footloose and fancy free person who didn't even comprehend the word "anxiety," now suddenly I'm second-guessing our decision to leave Zadie at home, feeling super sad about not seeing her for a month, and running through every possible worst-case scenario. Who am I?! I got totally weepy saying good night to Zadie tonight (not that she noticed). I know it's crazy because she'll have a great time with her two grandmas, but I think it's all compounded by the fact that leaving your child behind for a month is not a super mainstream, traditional thing to do. That doesn't help with the second-guessing!

Anyway, I think the best thing to do is to march forward and try to enjoy every moment of the trip and stop thinking about my plane crashing (which, by the way, I never thought about for one second prior to having children!!). All week long I've actually been giddy and excited about my 16-hour plane ride because that means 16 hours of free time to do whatever I want. Yeehaw!

Okay, really signing off now.

Preparing for Big Trip

I'm really excited about going to China in a few days, but also getting sad about saying goodbye to Zadie. I'll be in China for four weeks and Tori and Skip will come for three weeks. Zadie, on the other hand, will stay with Grandma Linda for a week and Grandma Denise for two weeks. I know that Zadie will have a great time with her grandmas and won't really miss us, but we'll definitely miss her!

Zadie, in case you're reading this many years later and want to know why we chose to take Skip and not you, it's for a number of reasons. We wish we could have taken the whole family, but I think that would have been really difficult to manage, especially because a lot happens in China from 7-10pm (outdoor barbecue!) and we didn't want to be stuck at home with our sleeping children. We figure we can put Skip to sleep on our chest and take him with us. Also, we thought Skip was going to be free since he's under two years old -- but it turns out that on international flights you have to pay a certain percentage for infants, so he's not entirely free. Lastly, you are used to going to the park everyday and having lots of wide open spaces to run in, which there just aren't a lot of in China. I think you'll have way more fun with your grandmas. Just wanted to put this all out there in case you wonder later on. We look forward to going on future trips with you, that's for sure.

We've really tried to raise Zadie so that she would be comfortable spending time with others when we're not there, and I think we've definitely succeeded in that respect! Sometimes I wish she would be a little bit more sad when she left us, but overall I'm glad that she's more independent than that. Skip is a little less independent at this point, but I think that's because we didn't remember to work as hard on getting him used to being with other people (sorry, second child!). He is particularly attached to Tori. Then again, when he's gone to my parents house for the weekend I don't think he misses us for one second.

So the point of this post was really to say that I'm getting sad about saying goodbye to Zadie. Maybe since I'm going to be saying goodbye, I suddenly think she's in a way cuter phase lately. She's OBSESSED with playing hide and go seek and she's really funny about it. Some of her favorite hiding spots include hiding under the couch with half of her body hanging out. And I typically have to cough in order to have her find me because she's not the best looker. But she plays with relish! I'm also really enjoying spending time with her because she speaks in full sentences and cracks me up. Lately she's been telling me, "That's not polite, Mommy" or "People don't like to be tickled, Mommy." Funny!

Texas Reunion

Several days ago we all returned from a long vacation/work trip. I was gone 12 days and Tori and the kids were gone 14 days. We started the trip by flying to Houston and seeing my aunt Kay and her daughter Amy's family. I especially wanted to fly into Houston so that I could get in a few visits with my grandma, which I did. The visits were emotional because it's the first time I've visited her when she didn't know who I was, but I still enjoyed our time together and was glad I got to see her.

Then we drove to the family reunion in Leakey, Texas. I think there were about 60 family members there and it was great to see family members that I don't get to see as much as I would like. Eric did his part to represent the California wing of the family by staying up until 5am one night and holding his own with the drinking. Better him than me.

Kim posted some great photos of the kids playing here and here and here.

After the reunion, we flew to Washington, D.C. for my week-long conference and Tori and the kids came to hang out. We stayed at the Embassy Suites downtown, which was great luck that our work happened to book a hotel that has two rooms! We also had a GREAT time extending our time in D.C. with Tori's very good friend Emily and her family. Thanks for being a great host in the incredible heat, Emily! As someone else described that muggy 100 degree weather, "I felt like I was in someone's mouth." Ha!

It's good to be home and even better because this weekend the kids are in San Diego with my parents. Woohoo! We have three date nights in a row and tonight we're going to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl with friends. Fun fun!

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.