Surprise Arrival

Quick, before it's July!  ... Before it's July 4th?

SURPRISE!!!!!

M.D.G., 8 lb 2 oz, 20 in

We had a baby.  He is super cute and super sweet and was in a reeeeal hurry to get here (read all about the amazing delivery here -- spoiler alert: my wife is a champion).  We thought it would be fun to not say a thing about it on social media and then just have a big surprise announcement, and you know what?  It WAS fun.  Of course family knew and it became increasingly difficult to hide the impending events from some friends who we saw in person, but it was still preeeeetty satisfying to drop this post on the Insta:

>O<

So he came right on schedule and we were basically in and out of the hospital and back home with our other two hooligans who just love baby brother, especially Little Girl, who can't stop asking to hold him, though the holding never seems to last too long.  It's been interesting to see the difference in how the two of them have reacted, and I suppose it will continue to be just that.

For those who wonder, we had the perfect girl name picked out so of course when we knew who we were expecting we had to shift gears, and there's no real explanation to his name other than that we liked the sound of the first name and then in a random association game of things we love we thought of the second one and then they sounded so nice together and had such a solid meaning that we had to go with it, and it has matched him perfectly so far.  (Cryptic enough?)

Now and then we just say, "Um, we have three kids."

Highlights from his Day 1 photoshoot by Auntie.  She also made an awesome little video with some footage she took.

Striking a pose.

Such a wise little face, with a touch of sleepy.

We had Grandma visiting for a week or so after the birth day, which was lots of fun and so very helpful.  The day she left we looked at each other and the three kids around us and were suddenly like, oh...

But so far so good!  He had his two-week checkup today and he's gaining weight and is very tall and has nice coloring and is eating like a champ and sleeping in between and overall a good boy, for which we are very grateful and hope will continue.

The best kinds of Father's Day presents.  Our belated celebration was a home run by The Wife.

Already outgrowing his newborn clothes. *sigh*

And that's our (second) boy.  One more to carry on the name, and bring us so much joy along the way.

First official portrait.  That pointy li'l chin!

Add him to the roster.  This boy is loved.

Until next update.

Presenting The Poppy

Three weeks ago tomorrow, this happened:

A.C.G., 8 lbs. 1 oz., 20.5 in.

Poppy no more!  Our little girl arrived right on schedule, and as healthy as can be.  We're so grateful to have our little one here safe and sound and doing so well.

First portrait

*almost winks*

These three...

A few newborn photos my sister took on day 1

Everything went as well as we could have hoped (almost... epidural man...), and The Wife and The Girl are both doing really great.  You can read all about the birth story here.  (And we were excited to welcome a cousintwin on the exact same day in a neighboring state!)  She's sweet and snuggly and wWe really weren't expecting QUITE that head o' hair, but here's hoping it sticks around, ha ha

Heading home (and, with only three of us, an incomplete family photo!)

We're happy to be home (and watching plenty of Parks and Recreation) and big brother is adjusting to life with a little one just fine.  He's usually quite gentle with her, and even though he can sense something is different, and can be a little sensitive sometimes, he's quickly acclimatizing to our new family dynamic.

Adorable art by my sister to commemorate the occasion

We love our beautiful and bright-eyed and dark-haired little girl!  It's already hard to imagine our family without her.

Family of four

It's a Child, It's a Child, It's a Human Child

It has been a busy week for The Baby Formerly Known as The Speck.  A few days ago he turned two months old, he recently had a nice long road trip to spend a day at Bear Lake with plenty of aunts, uncles, cousins and of course Nana and Papa (that is a long trip to make twice in one day, but it seemed easier than camping overnight, and of course the destination was great fun), and a the other day he had his two-month checkup, where we learned he is doing great and is growing just like he should and that his head is nice and round (him getting a flat head is one of my greatest fears for some reason).  He also had his vaccinations, which he did NOT like...  He cried a little during them, and then he was fine throughout the afternoon, but around dinner time he was NOT HAPPY.  He has never had such sad faces and epic screamings.  It was quite something.  But then, once he fell asleep, he was ever so snuggly.  The Wife has recently blogged about these latest happenings here, so I won't go into too much detail about that, but I will finally post some of his newborn photos, which we received from photog sister Cami several weeks ago.  (You can see a few more at her photography blog here.)

I C U

 

*yawns*

DIMPLE.

 

 

 

And just for fun, and for the sake of staying current, here's one that was taken more recently, just a few days ago (because you can never get enough sleeping baby pictures!):

Look at his hand all delicately on the back of the couch.

He's so much bigger now!  Four pounds doesn't seem like a lot, but it really seems to make a big difference when you compare the before and after pictures.  And now I have joined the noble ranks of Those Parents who post on Facebook Adorable Things their child says (such as "Aaehh nnngeeeeeh, mmmbblblbblleuuurrr-pppfFPFFPFFFFFPT!!! Hee."), and also the noble ranks of Those Parents with puke on their shirt.  Those are some auspicious ranks to join.

Speck-tacular Speck-tacular

Three weeks ago yesterday, this happened:

C.A.G., 8 lbs. 15 oz., 20 in.

The Speck no more!  It was glorious!  Julie has already done such a great job of documenting the happenings (breech, water breakage false alarm, attempted/failed version, VERY efficient c-section, remarkable recovery by Wife and wonderful development by Son, etc.), which you can see here, so for me to post something similar in much depth would seem rather redundant, but I still wanted to document this most life-changing event just a little.

So, here he is!

Thanks for the pictures, Cami!*

He's a great little boy, and at three weeks (based on this morning's checkup) he's right on schedule with growing and gaining weight (by now up to 9 lbs. 1 oz., 21.5 in.).  He's fun and funny and always amusing us with his ever-changing expressions and his constant diaper changes (maybe amusing isn't quite the word for that bit).  He basically has four functions right now -- eat, sleep, cry and fill diapers -- and he does them all very well, but none of them excessively, or more than is expected or healthy.  He's even started sleeping pretty well at night, sometimes up to three or four hours at a time before waking up for a snack!  Sure, there has been the occasional loooong night when he might not have slept as long or as soundly as his parents might have wished, but he really is a pleasant baby and (so far) doesn't seem to cry forever long for no apparent reason (*knocks on wood*).  It was great to have an extra pair of hands and words of advice from Julie's mom when she visited for a week after we brought him home, and also from my mom when she visits, but we've also been doing pretty well all on our own.  We've even still been able to watch movies, get well into finally watching Alias, and even read on occasion!

Look at this girl!  She is such a rock star.

I might have cried when I saw him the first time.

Stretch, Boy!  Look at those runner's legs!

Check out that hair!!!

Meeting Mum.

Such a face he has.

Hanging with Dad.

First family portrait!  The nurse who took it for us was very nervous about her lack of photog skills.

And that's it so far!  Aaahhhh, I am becoming a parent bloggerrrrr!  I promise I won't be (too) annoying about it.  It's just amazing how much I can adore this child so much already.  I know new parents say that all the time, but I guess that's because it's true.  Our family dynamic and priorities have definitely changed, but it's been a pleasure to watch as things develop.  Keep being a good baby, Boy!

P.S.  I also posted my first Speck-inspired arts on our art blog, which you can see here.

*Cami took more really great newborn pictures, but maybe I'll save those for their own separate post. 

The Month of The Speck

(This one has lots of text, which is a change from the previous photo-heavy posts, but I think it's fairly interesting and worth documenting, so read on if you like!  I'm sure some will be interested.)

Now that the babymoon is all said and done and documented, the time has come to give a little update on the preparations for the imminent arrival of The Speck.  That's right, the month of May is well upon us, and that means that by the time the month is up, we will have a little one finally joining us on the outside.  As of this week (week 37 [almost last week by now, since that's how long this blogpost has been sitting waiting to be posted]) he's considered full-term, which means he could technically come any day!  We're not really expecting him for another week or two at least, but we're really hoping for before the 20th, right, Wife?  *fistpump*  Our big plan of going to Star Trek next week and its subsequent inducement of labor is still the hope, so we'll see how that goes.  In the meantime, I was thinking that maybe we haven't been documenting our preparations that thoroughly, and certainly not as thoroughly as many people do (though some perhaps document a little TOO thoroughly), so here's a little update of what's been going on.  The Wife has been posting some of her own great preparations and projects (here, here, here, here and here), but here are a few more general ones:

• We're up to weekly appointments at the lady doctor (who is usually a man), which is ever so conveniently located immediately across the street from us (honestly, we walk ten yards and we're at the building).  Our insurance covers this clinic, so that's where we've been going, which means they have several doctors, and we sometimes see a different one every week, and whichever one is on call when we go into labor is the one who will deliver The Speck.  Some people might prefer having the same doctor throughout the process, but we're the type that don't mind and in-and-out kind of visit with whatever doctor happens to be there, as long as they're all qualified and appropriate, of course, which they all have (mostly) been so far.  We're just not very high maintenance as long as people know what they're doing, and the insurance coverage is pretty darn good.  Also, they did a great job of removing The Wife's tennis ball, so we have plenty of confidence in them.

• Speaking of the tennis ball incident and previous struggles with fertility, there don't seem to have been any issues with that (*knocks on wood*), for which we are very grateful.  It's crazy how you try and try and there are issues and complications, and then when it finally happened, it really did just that and has been going along apparently without a hitch.

• A couple of months ago we signed up for and attended a series of classes offered at the local hospital, which were somewhat interesting and informative, and mostly just helped us feel better prepared in general (though that Miracle of Life video... oh my).  Julie was... glad to be a little more prepared for the whole nursing scene too.  It's funny to think that pretty much everyone in that class by now has a little baby on the outside, since most people were further along than we were when we went to it.

• We've been slowly accumulating baby things over the months, and we're just about finished checking things off our list!  We figured it would be easier to buy things piecemeal as we go along rather than buying everything at once at the very end, which would be just crazy and expensive to do all at the same time.  So we just picked up a thing or two whenever we did our weekly grocery shopping, also ordering the big things every week or two online (crib, carseat, play yard, stroller...), and then gradually putting them together as the time draws near.  (We didn't want to buy them all too early, since then they would just be sitting there in boxes for all that time anyway.)  The nesting instinct has kicked in, our house is getting cleaned and sorted out, and as of now the nursery is pretty much assembled (and appropriately separated from the office, though they share the same room), and it's looking great!  I can't wait to see a snuggly little swaddled bundle in that crib.

In there.

• We also have plenty of clothes from sisters and friends and shower gifts and various other places, so that we've hardly had to buy any baby clothes at all!  (Thanks so much, sisters and friends!!!)  It's so nice to have plenty of things for him to wear at various ages, and we're definitely not 2 kewl for hand-me-downs.  The closet and dresser are in place and organized, the diapers and wipey-dipes are on hand, and there's also a nice little children's library building up.  Speaking of all this, my sisters and mom threw a really nice shower, and many friends and family were so kind as to attend.

Invitation art courtesy of Elise.  Love iiiit.  It's hanging on the bulletin board above my desk.

• We've been keeping track of things we need to do, like find a pediatrician and pre-register for labor & delivery, and contact the insurance and work for the necessary paperwork for family leave and such.  Julie hopes every day that it will be The Day so that she won't have to go to work anymore (I tell her just to go as much as she feels like or feels able to do, we don't want her overdoing it!), and I look forward to my two weeks paid leave myself (I could technically take several weeks longer, but it's unpaid, and I do have plenty of vacation days, so we'll see what happens and how things are going).

•  Julie has big plans to make some freezer meals for the crock pot and such, so we'll have plenty of ready-made and delicious things to eat when we don't have a lot of time to make something fresh and new, though we're also really looking forward to her mom coming to visit and my mom visiting too, and both of them making us delicious foods and treats (right, moms?!?).

• We have plenty of movies stored up on our DVR and Netflix TV shows to catch up on, so if (when) we're up late nights and spending a lot of time at home we'll have plenty to occupy us while we're trying to keep a newborn occupied and happy and sleeping when he should be.

• As far as the pregnancy itself, I have come to the conclusion that my dear wife is a pretty great pregnant lady.  She's a good sport and she's been active and even when she's grumpy or upset she tries not to let it get to her too much.  She has NO trouble sleeping (for real, she could probably sleep ten hours straight every night if she didn't have things to do each morning, and which she definitely does NOT take for granted), and after the first trimester [correction:  the first 20 weeks] she hasn't felt that sick (there's this short period every morning around 10 or 11 where she feels a little gross, but it always passes pretty quickly).  We've heard so many horror stories, and also dream situations, and so far she seems to me at least a little better than average, which is a great blessing to her, me AND The Speck.  She's had some of the usual symptoms and side-effects (no crazy cravings in the middle of the night though... remember what I said about sleeping great?  Though she still does like a few things to eat especially, like cheeeeese, though that's nothing really new), though I myself have been breaking out, putting on a few extra pounds, being unusually emotionally sensitive, feeling especially awkward and clumsy, having disturbing dreams and feeling really tired.  Sympathy symptoms?  I'm a believer.   Julie has been checking out and reading and studying from many books about various methods of delivery and rearing young ones, and it's been good to take bits and pieces from here and there and thinking of how we can adapt them to our own parenting ideas and such (though of course we have NOTHING to learn about parenting, since we already know it all and we will be PERFECT parents!  Aren't all first-timers perfect parents??).

• A lot of people have been naturally wondering about his name.  All we can say right now is that we have a few ideas and have narrowed it down considerably, but we're not ready to reveal our idea(s) yet.  Don't worry, in just a few weeks it will all be clear, and don't worry, we're not going to name him something ridiculous like Zerrick or Tomaquino or Pilot Inspektor or Google or Holy Tnetennba or anything with an apostrophe (yes, these are all true names I have found in a brief scouring of the interwebs for unfortunate infant nomenclature [except for Tomaquino, I made that one up, and Tnettenba, which Moss made up]...  people... don't be ridiculous).  Apparently, occasionally some people don't decide on a name before leaving the hospital, so the nurses write "Male" or "Female" on the paperwork as the first name, and some go back and change, but I guess several thousands don't... Why.

• As for The Infamous Speck himself, he's reportedly doing great, moving around a lot and keeping his mum on her toes (more like, keeping his mum sitting back with her feet up) and his dad on his too (gladly running about to respond to mum's every whim and need).  He's about 6.5 pounds now, and his heartbeat always sounds nice and strong, and he doesn't seem to be causing many contractions, real or otherwise, so who knows what that could mean, if anything at all?  It's still WAY exciting to me to feel his little movements and jabs, and it's great to know he's moving about plenty.  Sometimes I sing to him and sometimes Julie pokes him back when he pokes her, but often we just watch as he stretches his boundaries and makes her tummy nice and lopsided.  It's still amazing to me that there's this child inside of there just finishing up his cooking so he can join us in the outside world in just a few weeks.

My wife is not prego (that's spaghetti sauce), and she's not preggers (that's just stupid), but she is a beautiful and radiant pregnant girl with active, squirmy offspring inside of her, and she's doing a great job of creating the physical body for this human that our Creator has seen fit to bestow upon us.  I can't wait to take a more active and personal role as this child's daddy-o.  Keep going by, May!  And come see us soon, Speck!  Just a couple more weeks and you can join us out here.  It's a scary place sometimes, but I promise we'll take care of you.

California (Not Disneyland) Babymoon, Part the Second: Open Your Golden Gate

(For those wondering, the title of this portion, though of course a lyric from a fairly well-known standard, was actually in reference to Martin Short's memorable performance of it in Clifford, which I sang many times leading up to this trip, and which can be seen here.  You're welcome.)

Then after we finished our work activities and such, we were on our way to San Francisco!  We had a great time (Julie's first visit, my first in over a decade), and it was a just right vacation for us and The Speck.  We were able to find a nice old hotel for a pretty good deal right in the heart of the city and spend the day walking around (Pier 39 was basically a ten-minute walk away), and then wear ourselves out just in time to come back to our room and spend the evening watching TV and ordering Thai delivery and planning for the next day.  We had asked for suggestions from San Fran-savvy friends and family in case there were any gems that we couldn't miss while we were here, so we had a nice little itinerary planned, with a few alternates in case anything fell through or we didn't feel up to things at the time.

Julie and the Great Glass Elevator

See how great it is?!?

Only the fanciest of hotels for us.

What the heck, it's a (fairly) comfy bed in a (fairly) safe place.

And not a bad view!

And now I shall outline our activities in bulleted and photographic fashion:

• The Jelly Belly Factory!  Of course our first stop was a family favorite (which I had never until now visited) right on the way from Sacramento to San Francisco.  We took the tour and had lots of samples and bought some Belly Flops and everyone loved Julie's shirt, which made its debut today.

The lobby!  They don't allow photos on the tour, so these would have to do.

Giant Jelly Bellies suspended in mid-air!  Wacky!

Just happy to be here!

Thanks, Poor Unsuspecting Soul/Volunteer!  It's always nice to be in pictures together.

I wasn't sure if I was in this shot or not.  Turns out I was!

Care Bear Stare!!!  And check out that stylish bathroom decor!

• Then we drove to the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio (we managed to have a Disney vacation after all!!!).  I've been hearing about this museum and its many merits for a long time, so when we were going to be so close, I would have been truly remiss not to go there.  Not as many people know about this museum, but it's really nice and thorough and a great tribute.  It's run by his family, NOT the company, so it has a lot of information and displays about his youth and upbringing, as well as a great deal, of course, about his career and films and parks.  I admit that it did make me pretty happy to finally see that giant scale model of Disneyland, since we weren't able to make it there this time.  How would it be to just grow up in some midwestern town and then move to LA with basically nothing and then become this humongous film and TV success?  Crazy.  What if there were a theme park one day named Grahamland?  That sounds so weird.  I wonder if Disneyland sounded weird to him or his family ever.

(As a side note, if you're using GPS to go here, take note that there's a Montgomery Street in the actual city that is NOT the same as Montgomery Street in the Presidio... Yes, the museum was not THERE, were Vicki first led us... No.)

After hearing about it on so many podcasts, I'm actually here!

:D

:x (More like :> )

What would I give to sit at this desk all the day long?

The view from the backside of the museum.  Pretty nice.

There was a bench... of... some significance.  Probably from Walt's hometown or summat.

Julie said to be napping for a picture like a hobo.  The sun was VERY bright on my eyes.

I don't know anyone who loves a diorama more than this girl, and this one is a DOOZIE.

The Skyway!!!  I miss it so.

This is us "at Disneyland" (hey, we do what we need to do).

It's almost like being there!

They had a stop-motion animation exhibit happening, and Wife found one of her favorite friends (though he's looking a bit underdressed).

This is the actual model they used in the movie!  But it's so itty!

•  The next morning we went to the Aquarium of the Bay on Fisherman's Wharf (after a minor detour involving confusion about local transportation).  It was pretty neat, but also pretty small and expensive for the size and amount of creatures it has.  You would think an aquarium ON THE BAY would have more to offer, like a window into the bay or something.  We still had a good time, and we liked petting the little baby rays, though the handler was pretty sassy to the lady who was there with her little girls.

Tiny Alcatraz.

We initially planned to only get this close to the Ghirardelli factory.

Eat WHAT now?!?

Oooewwwhhh i c.

!!!!!  (The sharks inside weren't this big, but STILL.)

I'm always kind of fascinated by jellyfish (as you may recall from our visit to the Vegas aquarium).

She loves a diorama, but she also REALLY loves an aquarium tunnel.

Peek-a-boo.

So big!  She knows her fish from her Animal Crossing fishing experience.

Peek-a-boo again.  I had to not take too much notice of the fishes swimming like two inches from my face so I wouldn't be like, eep.

TWO tunnels?!?  Deluxe!!!

GROSS.

How can she love them??

The noblest (and most still) turtle in San Francisco.

Touchy-touchy.

They were so cute, they kept coming up and bobbing around on the surface like puppies.

See??

Swimmy-swimmy.

So kewt.

Always on the lookout for a smart chapeau.

They did NOT have whales.  Harrumph.

• We had an appointment to go to the Rock a couple hours later, so we spent a while walking around the Wharf and Pier 39.  There's lots of shopping and touristy stuff, which was fun, and lots of food, which was AWESOME, and a school choir performing (like my choir tour days of yore, though these ones were much younger), which was, well, bless their hearts.  I'm sure they had a great trip and enjoyed being in a choir, ha ha.

How long had we been talking about getting chowder in a bread bowl before this trip?  A LONG time.  It met and exceeded our every expectation.  Well done, Boudin.

I can't believe these dudes are still hanging out here.  I wonder if they're the same ones I saw when I was in high school.

Yep.

This one was VERY territorial of its platform.

See?  It knocked off several audacious others just in the few minutes we were watching.

• Thence to Alcatraz!!!  When I mentioned this as a possibility for this trip, Julie was preeeetty excited, and it turned out to live up to her expectations (and my memories).  It's interesting that a prison where people were so miserable (not that they didn't deserve it) is such a major tourist attraction, but it's still a neat place to visit.

A very nice view of the city from the ferry.

They are very welcoming.

We decided this bird was fake, but we still haven't decided exactly why.

Gardens!

It felt weird being all smiley and posey for pictures in such a miserable location, but you know, tourists do as tourists should.

This was mostly making fun of people who were posing all cute and totally happy in solitary.  Julie was like, whaaa?  So she tried it out.

One must respect the library!

Recreation yard... yikes.

There were so many birds and they were not shy.

Seriously, what a view!  It's not tempting to desperate-to-escape inmates at all.

"Just like Julia Child's kitchen!" - Wife  "Yes, but for very different reasons." - Me

She likes these California poppies a lot from her days of youthness.

On the ferry back.  'Twas rather windy.

:D

• Then we caught some more foods and caught the cable car (after a long wait and listening to a pesky busker) back up to the top of Lombard Street, where we observed and acknowledged its famousness and uniqueness and then walked down the other side back to get some rest.

Seafooooood ysplz.

She likes her fish and chips.  Alas, no mushy peas this time.  *sigh*  Windermere.

Grumpy waiting (like 40 minutes) for the cable car.

Jay kay i happee.

We thought it best not to hang on to the outside.  After a minute someone offered Pregnant Wife a seat.

It's so windy.  (Like, it winds a lot, not that there's a lot of wind... Oh, you know what I mean.)

Some people were driving down soooo fast.

But most took it nice and slow, as one should.  The HouseHunters fans in us wondered how expensive it was to live on this street.

• The next morning we drove about until we found some Redwoods, which turned out to be at Muir Woods.  They were tall and big and Julie was so glad to finally see some like she always wanted to, and was completely satisfied with her experience visiting them.  It was nice to take a walk on the paved roads (though parking was a nightmare) for as long as The Speck would allow, and we talked about how nice it was to walk in nature and fresh air and sunshine and that we could both find enjoyment in things the other might mostly be interested in.

It's not really golden, it's not really a gate, but it IS really a bridge.

So big around!

Thanks again, Poor Unsuspecting Soul (Volunteer).

Wife has long wanted to see these big tall trees.

She liked them a lot.

I really wanted to climb over and take a picture INSIDE one of the bit hollow trunks.

Then we found this!

It went all the way through.

I was scared because some kids followed me trapped me in and I couldn't get back down.

And then we found THIS, which is even better.  The ranger lady passing by took the picture because she said "it's [her] job."

It's always a good time for a Senior Picture photo shoot.

I was getting creative with our Disney Princess fruit snacks.  After this a giant purple glass slipper was squooshed up against her chin.  Also, eurgh, I need to clip my fingernails in this.

• This visit to and from the woods facilitated nicely a crossing of the Golden Gate Bridge, which crossing we ended up doing four times in all, trying to find a place where we could park and look around and take pictures.  But at least we definitely had a chance to drive across!

Back across we go!  I don't remember which time this was.

Pretty neat view of the bridge and the city.

First this side...

... and now this side!

She's here too!

Who or what is photobombing who or what?

That guy in the back totally walked RIGHT into this picture as we were getting ready to take it.  Notice your surroundings, people!

Then we tried again without him.

She likes this town.

Stoic fellows we.

• Then, on a recommendation of a few people at work for a nearby beach, we drove just a few minutes down to Ocean Beach.  It was windy and a tiny bit cold, and the water was definitely freezing, as expected, but we looooooooved being there anyway.  I'm pretty sure it was our favorite part of the whole trip, even though we only spent an hour or two there and only waded in the water (that was quite enough, br).  I was surprised there was such a nice beach so close to the city!  It was the perfect way to spend our last afternoon there.

Yes, I'm one of those people who take these kinds of beach pictures.  It was just so nice.  And to think I used to even hate getting sand stuck on my feet and between my toes!

At the beach!

See??

A twist on a classic.

But not without a small instance of the classic itself.

...plus this.  (Note that he's in the photo twice.)

Come, waves.

Time for some jumping pictures!!!  I was determined to get a great one and I did!

This was an in-between pose for the next one, but I thought it was funny anyway.

Leapfrog!  Never play it with unicorns.

Up, up and away!

Wife avec Speck even did some!  She had some air too!

Jumping Bump.

Oh I like the beach.

Feets.

:D :D

Many a Poor Unsuspecting Soul was on hand, but for some reason it sometimes takes a while to find one anyway.

Sometimes I just do.

• We couldn't decide what to do for dinner that night so we ended up at a fancy restaurant at Ghirardelli Square that I can never remember the name of, but it was fun and delicious and Julie had her second chowder-in-a-bread-bowl for the trip.

A bit Prom-ish, but oh well.

It was just as good as we could have hoped or wished (again, never as good as at *sigh* Windermere).

And then, after just the right amount of days and style of vacation for my trouper of a pregnant wife (seriously, I'm pretty sure she never complained or fussed or anything and was as great a traveling companion as ever, even with The Speck in tow), we drove back up to Sacramento earlyish the next day, turned in the car and flew home by the afternoon, so we could recoup and be ready to go back to work the next morning.  It was a very fun work/play babymoon, and we're so glad it just happened to work out, and that it was just a few weeks before the recommended/required date not to travel pregnant.  We didn't get to do exactly EVERRRRYthing on our list (Pixar, Fentons, more of [actual] Chinatown, some kind of Hmong food, which I couldn't find anywhere), but we did check off a lot of things in just a few days, and then that will give us things to do on our next trip there!  Now, work, when are you going to send us to London??  Julie's work did!!!  Ha ha ha.

And now the final stretch until The Speck at last makes his big debut!