Steady Growth for Leah

Leah has hit nine months and had her latest checkup. The doctor says she is having steady, healthy growth. Her new stats are:
Height: 27.25 inches (50%)
Weight: 18 lbs 3 oz (50%)

Her personality has become pronounced. She is a happy happy girl. I probably sound like a broken record saying that all the time, but the difference re the boys is pronounced. Or, Eli and I have really just lost our minds; melted away under the stress of parenting.

But back to Leah: she can be mischievous, but smiles wide when caught. She throws little tantrums when something is taken away, but they are short lived and she can be distracted out of them. Eli says he hopes that never stops or we will be in trouble when she's a teenager.

Leah can also speak. She pretty distinctly says maaamaaamaaamaaamaa when she wants me or sees me, and says daaadaaaadaaadaaaadaa when Eli gets home from work, or enters or leaves the room.

At the end of our trip to San Francisco we realized she had cut her fifth tooth. That makes four out of five that came when we were traveling or on vacation. Thanks girlie!

Seth and Rob Wedding Aftermath

After the wedding Dad took us to the Waterfront Restaurant. We sat right on the water with an amazing view of the bay and Treasure Island. The food was incredible, and we polished off several bottles of really good wine along with it.

We finished up with a leisurely stroll back along the waterfront towards Fisherman's Wharf, stopping at Pier 39 to check out the Sea Lion colony living there. The smell was... a stench, really. It was like being surrounded by a thousand cans of rancid sardines.

Seth and Rob Get Married (again)

I mentioned in an earlier entry that we went to San Francisco to visit Nora. Our desire to visit dovetailed nicely with Seth and Rob's desire to get legally married. (For future readers, same-sex marriage was and is still illegal in most states; we hope that will change some day soon. And while I'm at it, please let Barak Obama get elected in November!)

So on Monday morning we all trooped over to City Hall. Seth and Rob had an appointment to fill out the paperwork, and then we waited for about a half hour. They were married by the city commissioner who told us he liked to do a couple of weddings each month to be a part of the joy.

The strangest part of the whole experience was running into Richard and Joan Blumberg. Eli grew up seeing them in Maine every year at Hiram Blake Camp. And then we randomly bumped into them 3000 miles away. They were visiting City Hall because their daughter had recently been married there as well.

A Walking Tour of San Francisco

Nora told us at the outset that San Francisco was a walking town. She was not kidding. We started the morning with a walk to her place, just over a mile from our hotel. We went through Chinatown, which I enjoyed. Yes I know it's all tourist trash and gee-gaws, but I liked it.





After we had a chance to check out her apartment, we walked across town (uuuuuuup, then dowwwwwwwwn) to one of Nora's favorite brunch spots, Perry's. After eating we started back, ducking into boutiques, then decided to shift course and walk to Ghirardelli Square by Fisherman's Wharf. At the time we figured we might take the trolley car back, but when we saw the hour long line Eli convinced me we could walk back to our hotel.



Now technically, he was right. It was not THAT far; we had walked a route that would look like a figure eight from above, and the return to the hotel would connect it up perfectly. But after already walking something like 5 or 6 miles, neither of us was prepared. It was a long slow walk. Oh and did I mention we were pushing Leah in the stroller? :-)

There was a silver lining. We got to look down Lombardi street from the top, and we had some amazing views of Alcatraz and the city. And when we finally got back, the hotel hot tub opened its arms wide and gave us a warm wet hug (as did the beers we picked up at a licquor store about a block away).

Going to San Francisco?

On our way to San Francisco... or are we? Our initial flight was repeatedly delayed for a total of six hours. Yes, six hours in Dulles airport, when we could have been at home relaxing, or napping. And when we did finally take off, it was to spend 5 more hours on the plane. We were at our wits end from entertaining Leah in a filthy airport lounge with just a few toys from our carry-on.

The bright spot in the experience was that we flew in first class, thanks to some frequent flyer award tickets Eli managed to score. The tasty meal, desert, snacks, and free booze helped take the edge off once we got into the air.

Getting Ready to Fly

We are getting ready again for another trip, this time to San Francisco. Nora has been there for two years and will be returning to the East Coast soon. Like the Nashville trip we are leaving Avery and Zachary behind, for several reasons. It's expensive, we aren't planning any kid-friendly activities, and honestly we need some alone time. They will be staying with Martin and Barbara who have a full slate of activities planned to keep them busy.

Since Leah is coming along to San Francisco with us, and we will be on the plane for more than five hours, I spent some time creating a new baby toy for her. It is a buckyball shaped ball with ribbons pulled through the holes. The ribbons are all different colors, textures, and widths. I let her play with it for a few minutes to verify that it would hold her interest, and then put it away for the flight.

Meanwhile, she is in love with our books. She crawls over to the rotating bookshelf at full speed and pulls them off the shelf to look at and gum with her teeth. She still tears and crumples the pages sometimes, but not nearly as much as she was.

Reinstating Nap Time

Lately I am at my wits ends with Avery and Zach in the afternoon. All day long they get steadily more wound up, and by mid-afternoon they are bickering constantly, or pestering me, or chasing the cat, etc. I am officially re-instating nap time. Or at least quiet time. Avery stopped napping around three and half, and Zach stopped napping at two (yes, at the same time). It was a tough way to end my pregnancy, and it has been tougher since then.

Today, Zachary was insanely tired today at 4pm. We were doing a project with stickers and he was having a tantrum over literally 1000 stickers. So, I had it! I told them they had to stay in their beds for at least 30 minutes, being quiet. 15 minutes later, they were both asleep. I had 30 glorious minutes all to myself until Leah woke up!

Eli and I figure that once school starts the boys should be more tired in the afternoon, and thus more likely to take a nap. And if not, then they will just have quiet time to give me a short break.

Hiking and Peach Picking

This weekend Eli planned a day doing outdoorsy activities. We drove west to Skymeadow State Park and had a picnic lunch, and then went on a hike with the Nordfelts. It wasn't quite two miles, but it was hot and sunny and the climb was steeper than expected (for an "easy" trail), so the kids got worn out. Zachary needed carrying, and Avery wanted to be carried, almost half of the uphill climb. The downhill part was through shaded woods; everyone wished we had gone the reverse way around.

After hiking we went to an nearby peach orchard to pick our own peaches. We picked ourselves a peck, and ate something like 12 or 15 more while picking. They were SO good right off the tree. After peaches we picked a pint of blackberries and raspberries. Eli had Leah in the carrier and fed her blackberries as he picked. When we were done he joked that they might charge us for another pint after seeing her juice stained mouth.

A Burke Wedding in Nashville

This weekend we went to Nashville, TN for another Burke wedding. This one was for Eli's cousin Ellen and her fiance Brandon Schneider. We left Avery and Zachary with my parents, flew to Nashville on Friday morning, then drove north with Eli's parents to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.

At the park we took a two hour walking tour of Mammoth Cave. It was a fascinating experience. Eli wore Leah in her Baby Bjorn carrier for the whole tour. He had a little trouble when we went through some sections that required you to hunch down or bend over, but other than that it went spectacularly well. She was calm and alert for parts, slept for others, and I even nursed her, twice! Eli thought it was the funniest thing that I nursed her 700 feet below the ground.

Saturday morning we toured a full size replica of the Parthenon which was built during one of the World's Fairs. In the afternoon we drove to Murfreesboro for the ceremony, and then came back to our hotel, the Marriott at Vanderbilt University, for the reception. Leah was passed around among the family, and with no kids to keep an eye on, I danced until I could barely stand up.

On Sunday, everyone we knew went home, but we stayed for a last day to experience more of Nashville. We went to the Tennessee State Museum, the Frist Museum, Centennial Park, and the Belmont Mansion. It was relaxing, although we walked all over the place and wore our already tired feet out even more.