September-October

Catch-up blogs can be overwhelming, so I'll try to keep it simple. We've had a fun month since Siena turned one. At the end of September we got to travel to Cancun, Mexico and celebrate Dave and Alissa's 6-year anniversary with them at the Westin Lagunamar Resort. The Foresters had a tough time getting there, because little Sydney hadn't gotten a passport (a birth certificate and both parents used to suffice). They cruised from Fresno to LA at 95 mph, sweet talked both airline and passport-issuing agents, ran out of gas, and did it all on very little sleep. All this to say that Shiloh, Siena and I unexpectedly spent 24 hours in Cancun without our hosts, but, thankfully, they arrived Saturday afternoon fully prepared to RELAX. (Keeping it simple is going to be tricky, I can tell.)



Siena was a champ on the planes - slept almost all of every leg. Each way we had a 3+ hour layover in Atlanta (yes, Cancun is almost that far east!) and here are Shiloh and Siena, passing the time in an airport nook.



Aaah, finally made it! Here are two VERY happy travelers.



A view from one pool, looking back at the entrance to the hotel. Turn 180 degrees and you see...



... us, at the edge of the infinity pool. If you stand farther back from us you can't see any sand and the pool seems to extend forever into el oceano.



We spent a lot of time at the pool and beach, but one eventful outing was taking the local bus downtown to Super WalMart for some groceries. 7 pesos = almost 50 cents apiece



Our trip was successful! Once inside we spent almost two hours picking out fruit (large selection), meat, cheese (viva manchego!), milk (unrefrigerated and boxed), etc. When Alissa and I arrived at the front of our check-out line (the boys were entertaining the girls on a kermit car ride), we were given a dirty look by the attendant. I tried to explain, "estamos juntos" as she looked concerned by our two full carts. Then she said something that I understood as "express line." Oops. She took us anyway but was not amused when Shiloh came over later and said something about "oh, we thought you meant ten BAGS, not dies ITEMS!" (Or something like that in Spanish.) To our credit, the line was VERY poorly marked. ;)



The trip home was considerably more crowded and expensive, but a taxi was required to hold us and all of our bounty.



This shot is only slightly misleading. Though the boys had access to the TV 24 hours a day, they actually watched very little, and even indulged their ladies by watching Pride and Prejudice with them one night. Our men trump Mr. Darcy any day! (And don't get me wrong, I understand just how high of a praise that is. :) )



Inspired by her friend Sydney, Siena got very close to officially walking on our trip. She would often take 5-6 steps to bridge a span of ground - usually that separated her from whoever the closest person with food was.



Other highlights included petting a shark and a sting ray...



...visiting an aquarium...



...watching a VERY cool dolphin show...



...seeing some old Mayan ruins (from afar) on Isla Mujeres (because we'd rather put our pesos towards more helado (ice cream) - it was SO hot!)...



...exploring Isla Mujeres by golf cart...



...swimming while waiting for our food at El Tiburon restaurant...



...releasing baby turtles into the ocean at night (and having Dave take a flash picture to capture Alissa's excitement, even though it was prohibited)...



...eating out at Italiani's...



...watching Sydney eat, and much, much more. Thank you Foresters for such a wonderful vacation!


We arrived home on a Thursday night, Shiloh worked on Friday, and then we headed down to Atherton to see my parents and pick up Ruby. Saturday night around 11pm, Siena seemed to get a hang of the whole walking thing.



Then it was back to Davis to settle back into normal life. Normal life includes...



...going on walks with the cousins...



..."mowing" out back with mommy and avoiding Ruby's playful tackles...



...dancing, eating, dropping things, and proclaiming, "uh-oh"...



...working on my photography business...



...having friends over (Luke Steidlemayer stopped by when he was in town, which actually happened before we left, I think)...



...visiting Impossible Acres' pumpkin patch and petting zoo...



Luke petting goats



Shay holding a bunny



Siena sharing chips...



...with Zeke and Elena in the wagon

And that brings us up to last weekend when we went out to the Morgans' vineyard for a Western/Cowboy/Show/Music/Dinner/Fun event that they hosted there. It was a lot of fun!



Simple? Not so much. But who's life is simple?

ONE

Siena is officially ONE. That means she can wear a bike helmet. And face forward in her car seat. And eat/drink foods with cow proteins. And honey. And strawberries. And chocolate cake.

Siena weighs 22.3 lbs, has 8 teeth, and is moments (or possibly weeks) away from walking.

I've been REALLY bad at uploading videos, so instead of going back 5 months and picking the best ones, you can just come over and watch them. Be thankful for September. :)


Piano Book



One Step



Big Girl Laugh



Legit Steps



Birthday Cake



Happy Birthday Song



Siena's Birthday Party



Pushing Walker



Dance!


Laundry Pusher



Birthday pictures coming soon...

Ruby Red

The newest addition to our family: Ruby Red Sorbello. She's 9 weeks old, weighs about 15 pounds, and is the cutest little red bull mastiff you've ever seen. On Tuesday Shiloh called me to say that he found some fawn female pups available (not the fawn male he's always dreamed of since Trouble died...) in an Elk Grove litter. We went to check them out and accidentally fell in love with the only red puppy there. So we brought her home. Without having a crate. Or food. Or a leash. But we're all the happier for it!

I thought raising a baby was going to take a lot of work. I figured raising a baby AND a dog was going to take TOO MUCH work. Ruby is proving me wrong as she's already seemed to learn the important command to "do your business" and sleeps nearly 22 out of 24 hours each day. Around dusk she has moments of playfulness, but the rest of the day she is MELLOW, as a good bull mastiff should be. You know you're tired when you don't realize your ear is soaking in your water bowl.

You might wonder how Siena feels about Ruby. Well, do you remember her first word? That's right, "dog." She wakes up every morning and from every nap, repeating the word of her very favorite thing in the world (other than mommy, daddy and food, of course). Yesterday while Ruby was napping, Siena checked out the new toys.

Then Ruby woke up and took back what was rightfully hers. (See background.)

Later, Ruby was checking out Siena's toys and they had a back-and-forth several times with this toy cube until Ruby gave up. (But Siena continued to dangle it in front of her nose.)

Bull mastiffs need good socialization with other dogs (after 16 weeks) and people, so come over and pet her! Nat and Willa came over after "water day" at Redwood Day Camp (at FBC) on Thursday.

And a few cute ones to end on...

10 Months

Siena turned 10 months old on the 14th of July while we were on vacation in Aptos, CA, and MY, is she a big girl. I rode my bike down to Mother&Baby Source yesterday and found that she weighs 21lbs, 15oz which puts her in the 82nd percentile for weight and measures 30.25 inches, which is in the 96th percentile for height.

Notable accomplishments?

- She applied for her first passport because we're going to Cancun in September with the Foresters. (Yessss!)

- She can tear apart the game chest like nobodyI've ever seen (except maybe Hayden and Halle).

-She can definitely army crawl, go from belly to sitting, and sometimes pull herself up to standing. Still no official crawl.

- She's getting some more teeth on the bottom.

- She rode her first two roller coasters at the boardwalk. The Carousel (wow) and the Pepsi Trucks.

- She loves people food and now poops almost daily. Sad times for mom.

(No picture, for your sake and Siena's dignity.)

- She has lots more hair, and it's blond!

- She said her first "word." Sounds like DUH but comes out every time we see a DUHg. (Dog.)



- She has mastered riding on the shoulders, even while sleeping, and using dad's ears as handles.

Summatime and the Livin's...

BUSY!
Siena reached 9 months on the 14th of JUNE and I have yet to update on her progress because life has been just that - busy. I weighed the blonde babe at Mother and Baby Source a few days after her monthiversary and she was right at 21 lbs. She has cut two teeth and has added a few tricks to her repertoire. Shiloh pointed out that at this point, Trouble had more skills, but we hope that Siena will pass up the dear old family dog (RIP) soon. :)

She is following in her older cousin's footsteps with the addition of "crazy head."



And recently she added "stretch."



Pulling up on things.



Toe Sucking.



She still can't crawl, but is getting closer with a funny combo of wiggling, planking, and rolling.



We've also spend a lot of time at the pool lately, and Siena stuns all the crowd when she enters with her cute bikini a-la-Bethany.



We've been to the Farmer's Market in Central Park the last few Wednesday evenings with friends.





We celebrated my birthday on the 14th (26 - yikes!) and our anniversary on the 19th (5 years - yay!).



Celebrations included pedicures in Menlo Park, softball with the Brueckners, Starbucks, swimming, CPK and a Giants game with the Foresters (where we got to meet Will "the Thrill" Clark).











The Warnes have a beautiful apricot tree in the backyard of their new house, but don't really like apricots. I gleaned way too many fruits and made jam with Shiloh's dad.



Shiloh helped cut down monster oleander bushes from the future Armstrong yard on Seine Ave.





I am possibly* training for a half marathon in October. One night I came back from a run to a baby who had woken up and was missing me and instantly turned uber-cuddly.



Gracie and Matt came home briefly to drop off their cars before heading to Canada to start the Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail (CAN - MEX) on UNICYCLES. check out divideby1.com



And that's it for now. Bed time!

* assuming my knees hold up for 13.1 miles