Tag Archives: baby

Jul 16 2012
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Family, Nature

The Great Foley Adventure Pt. 1

Before we married, Devin and I made a promise to each other to take the time to go on one big vacation every year.  We have big dreams of far off countries, tropical beaches, exciting cities and new adventures.  However, with a toddler in tow plans can get a bit altered.  So this year we planned something a bit different from anything we’ve done before.  We chose to rent an RV and camp out across Northern California for a week.  First stop Yosemite.

Yosemite Valley is in a word, unreal.  These out of this world prefect rock formations nestled in sprawling fields of wild grass and a pristine white water river running right through the middle.  I’d love to go back again and discover more of Yosemite.  With only such a short time there I know we missed so much of it.  But onward ho… we still had Santa Cruz, Big Sur and Carmel ahead of us.

Cramming two adults, one toddler and bulldog into a compact RV was kind of a scary idea but it really worked great.  We were in tight quarters, no doubt.  But it felt comfy and cozy.  We slept all curled up on each other, laps were shared for eating meals and most baths were just dips into freezing cold rivers.  Pure perfection.

There really is nothing like a little outdoors and some fresh air to create a successful and memorable family trip.  I know that there is no way that Sadie will ever remember this trip she took with her parents in the summer of 2012, but we will remember it forever and we have more that enough footage to show Sadie how much fun it was.

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Jun 12 2012
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Family, Friends, Nature

weekend with nothing to do

Friday arrived quickly last week.  We were suddenly face to face with the weekend and had nothing to do.  First of all, I can’t even begin to tell you how nice it is to not have anything to do.  Secondly, we sure as hell did an awful lot for having nothing to do.

Friday evening we stumbled upon an outdoor concert on the beach by our house.  It was packed with kids, blankets, an over-crowded beer garden, an ice cream truck and a totally horrific Beach Boys cover band.  And… it was awesome.  Sadie loved running around getting crazy.  She loved dancing, eating food outdoors in the grass and most importantly – she loved being dragged around on a blanket like she was a dolphin caught in a fisherman’s net.

Seriously… she would’ve done this all night long if I kept going.

Saturday we met up with friends and spent an early afternoon at the beach.

The beach is the Holy Grail as far as Sadie is concerned.  There is no place on earth more amazing.  She flourishes in the sand and water.  It’s a good thing she was born with blonde hair and blue eyes, because this girl is destined to be a surfer girl.  I can totally see it.

The sun and the wind and the sand are much more preferred, but when put in a tight spot… any water will do.  Even the kitchen sink makes for a good time.

Sunday also turned into quite the adventure when we decided to be total tech tourists and go check out Facebook and Google Headquarters in Silicon Valley.

Google is nuts!  It goes on forever and ever… just block after block of buildings.  They even have their own park that is open to the public.  One of the coolest/ most bizarre things they had were these Google bikes, painted in all Google colors just parked all over the place.  Not locked up or anything.  Apparently they are just there to ride around and have fun or get from building to building.


We ended our radical weekend with a temper tantrum at Chili’s.  It was so cool.  Sorry folks, no pictures of that.  :)

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Jun 11 2012
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Family, Love, Nature

In our household naptime is King.  Sadie, being our first child, gets our full attention and gets to call the shots.  Since there are no other kids to balance our time with – we really let Sadie’s schedule run the show.  Which is wonderful because we can dedicate the time needed to let her get a full 2-3 hour nap every day, which makes her a very happy child and the rest of the day can go relatively stress free.  But this dedication to a routine nap schedule can be a double-edged sword.  Typically her nap time is 11 – 1:30.  Once she wakes, it’s time for lunch.  This brings us to about 2:30 or 3pm.  Then we start cooking dinner around 6.  Which as you can see leaves us not much time in the morning or after nap to do much.

Parents with multiple kids don’t have the luxury of spending hours a day tending to their little ones nap schedules, so their littles seem to just have to go with the flow.  They sleep when they can.  Maybe they’ll find a snooze in a quick car ride, or maybe in a baby carrier while grocery shopping.

Lately I’ve been trying to adopt that mentality with Sadie, without disrupting her ever-so-perfect schedule too much.

So last week, I ignored the stove top clock that was blinking 9:45 to me as I packed up some essential snacks and bottled water for an outing.  Usually, seeing it being only about an hour away from nap time would keep me close to home knowing that the peaceful naptime was looming ever so closely.  Instead, I packed up and left the house headed to SF’s Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park.

What a beautiful place to go.  It was a great place to go with a toddler.  Plenty of paved walkways through beautiful trees and flowers, and if you feel adventurous there are many smaller off-roading paths you can take that are a lot of fun for kids to explore.  Sadie loved running around freely.  I let her lead the way.  We ended up seeing the Redwoods, the California native plants, Central American and a lovely meadow complete with a turtle pond.

We stayed until way after nap time, but not long enough to go into complete breakdown mode.  All in all, it was successful.  We got to explore a bit more than we normally would and there was still enough time to get her beauty rest.  I’m hoping to try and get more out of the day on a regular basis.  We shall see how it goes.

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Jun 08 2012
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Family

happiness

I recently heard a joke that I found so funny and so true.  The joke goes something like this…

Scientists did a recent study that proves that people with children are happier than people without.…. Obviously this study was not done at an airport.

It really is true; some days are so blissful and overflowing with joy.  While other days (usually at airports, DMV, long car trips, etc) can be pure unadulterated hell.  You make the most out of any situation you’re in.  But, I have to say, I really love those easy days at home that you can make into whatever kind of adventure you’d like.  It might seem like a regular Saturday with nowhere to go and no one to see but add a floaty pool, some buckets of water, a tent full of pillows and a picnic blanket and you have yourself life-lasting memories.

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Jun 05 2012
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Uncategorized

hippest baby on the block

If coloring your baby’s hair is wrong, I don’t want to be right.  And you can relax, I didn’t put actual hair dye on my little.  I actually used sidewalk chalk!  You could actually do this on adults too if you wanted that very pretty pastel look that is so highly coveted right now, but don’t want to make a real commitment to it.

All you do is pick out your favorite color(s) in sidewalk chalk, get the hair wet (or the chalk) and rub the chalk up and down the hair shaft.  I use my hand as the easel and it can get a bit messy, but hey, it’s chalk and it comes right out with a little running water.

 

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May 27 2012
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Family

carnival

Yesterday we made a quick trip to a community carnival.  It was pretty small and underwhelming… but Sadie rode a pony.  Aaand that my friends, made all of our weeks.

I thought Sadie would be a little nervous about getting on a large animal.  But no.  She was actually eager to get as close as possible.  And once she was on the saddle she leaned back and settled into relax mode.  The cowgirl is strong in this one.

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May 03 2012
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Family, Love, Photos, Then & Now

18 months

Late! Like 3 weeks late, oops!  But, all the same, Sadie did turn 18 months last month.  She is steadily approaching her terrible twos.  She has been stretching those sea legs lately and giving those pesky tantrums a good college try.  And let me tell ya, she’s pretty darn good at em.  She’s conquered some of the great places, it’s like checking in on Foursquare for babies – instead of using a mobile device to do so, she checks in by screaming, kicking and rolling on the ground crying.  So far she’s become the Mayor of Ikea, Target, Trader Joe’s, the hardware store and the neighborhood beauty salon.

But in all sincerity, she is a joy.  She is the perfect little girl and more than I ever could have hoped for.

I often go back and think about life without her, and how much more she has filled my life with love and meaning since she arrived.  I think about how far we both have come, but really I think about her journey.  From a troubled pregnancy, to a 5 lb preemie, to this beautiful, energetic and courageous child.  You would never ever guess by looking at her all of the things the doctors told me she would be.  Because she isn’t anything less than perfect.

All of these beautiful photos were taken during a professional photo shoot by Bella Baby Photography, which was an amazing gift from my Mom & Dad.  Thanks Mom and Dad, we will always treasure these photos.

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Apr 23 2012
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Family, Love, Photos

i almost forgot how good it felt

I’ve been so spoiled.  Spending almost my entire life between San Diego and LA I rarely felt a cold day.  And on the occasional seasonal gloomy day you could always be rest assured that the warm sun would peek out and calm your goosebumps in a day or two.

It’s been gloomy, or raining or just plain chilly since November here.  As bad as some other Northern or Eastern states? No, obviously not.  The cool weather here has it’s charm and I like dressing in coats on occasion, but I’ve begun yearning for days of bare baby feet running in grass.  I wanted to feel warm sun on my shoulders, be able to wear sandals, or even just let my baby nap in a diaper.

I’ve almost forgotten how the hot sun feels on my skin – but my longing has been met.  San Francisco… meet Summer.  You two play nicely, I’d like you to become great friends and stick around with each other for a while… m’kay?

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Feb 06 2012
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Family

random acts of total cuteness

This is nothing more than a total shameless brag-fest I’m about to do.  I’m fully aware of what I’m doing and am going through with it anyways.  I can’t help it.  I’m so proud and so in love with my tiny little family that sometimes I just want to shout it off the rooftop.  So here I go.

We had a really cute weekend.

Saturday morning Sadie was hellbent on wearing 2 hats and her ducky robe for breakfast.  And of course I obliged. 

That evening we walked to the beach to watch the sunset.  When the sun crept out of sight we gave a round of applause to the day, and then brushed off the sand and walked home in the dark.  (And, yes, I cut my hair off.)

Sadie ended her day with a bubble bath from dad.

Sunday morning brought on a beautiful day, so we decided to hitch up the baby trailer and go for a family bike ride for THREE HOURS before having company over for Super Bowl.  Sadie clearly found this very relaxing.

And there you have it.  My magical mystical child and our wonderful weekend.  Brag session over.

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Feb 01 2012
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Love

blissfully unsick

Thank you Good Health Fairy!! Sadie is (finally) feeling happy and healthy.  She was absolutely miserable for sometime.  Her fever at one point spiked to 104 and she got an ear infection.  I’ll tell you, when you have a sick baby – life sucks.  But she (and we) made it out and she is now blissfully happy and we enjoying our days and sleeping during our nights.  (thanks especially for that, Good Health Fairy.)

I’m so happy to have a sweet baby girl back.  The sick grumpy one was still loveable, but nowhere near as fun.  She has shed the remnants of the grumpy baby and has emerged this whole new energetic and able-bodied toddler.  It’s as if I missed something.  One day she just woke up and was like, “Hey, I’m gonna run around the house all by myself aaand I don’t need your help getting on and off the couch anymore and while we are on the subject, I eat with a spoon and fork, and can say a shit ton of words that I never told you about before.”

“Oh yeah, and I definitely wear two hats at a time.  Duh.”

I really worry that I’ll forget all of these little things.  That is, in part, why I do this blog.  I want to remember everything.  I feel like memories of her as a newborn and infant are already fading from my grasp.  It’s hard to imagine what it was like having a newborn in the house.  And it was only a year ago.  But these very special moments of this baby-to-toddler transition stage are freaking magical.  She’s still a small baby, but she is gaining the abilities of a kid.  I love love love her being able to have some independence and I love watching her become, well… her.

The other day she decided she wanted to wake up well before the sun woke up, and that means mommy is up too.  Instead of cursing life and passively playing with her with half open eyes, I made an adventure out of it.  I made a pot of coffee for her and I, haha just kidding!  But, seriously, I did make coffee for myself and I set up a little fort by our floor length window in the kitchen complete with books and toys, and we watched the sunrise together.  At one point she climbed up my chest and wrapped her arms and legs around my body and gave me one of her heart-swelling bear hugs, and she just looked up at me and smiled with all of her new teeth, and she kissed me.  And. I. Die.  My heart has never felt so huge, I really feel as if sometimes I will just explode.

It is a feeling far more spectacular than these silly words can capture.  I would take care of 100 sick babies for 1000 years just to get one of those mornings, one of those hugs, from my daughter.

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