the remaking of a kitchen

when i was in omaha on monday, judy and i went visiting. i took these two pictures of beany and little gavin who slept through the whole visit and nate eating his lunch (and feeding the dog under his chair). i also got to see diana and judy's sister linda. erika was in school so sadly i missed her.
nate is a treat.....talking and being active and amusing. he took judy and i on a tour of his yard and showed us his pumpkin patch and the flowers on it. he rather ignored the humongous pumpkin in the middle of the patch. i think he found the flowers more appealing.
the next treat was seeing several members of my old pottery class for lunch. we had a great time catching up and laughing about our times together. i saw several other people i knew at surrounding tables....too funny!

Labels: babies, beany, judy, nate and gavin, pumpkin

i made this pasta earlier in the month with the garden's bounteous harvest of juliet tomatoes. i added some sauteed onions and garlic, basil and oregano also from the garden and it was pretty tasty.

Labels: basil, juliet tomatoes, oregano, pasta

this is fun.....another skype call this time with sarah, jewlee and siena. i could hear siena "talking" and later a bit of squawking, but it was all music to my ears! sarah and jewlee were having fun playing with siena and i almost felt part of it halfway across the country. i know i need to make a plan to return....soon. i am loving being a grandma and she is growing and changing far too many miles away! i even got to talk to her....of course being there is better, but i will take what i can get!!
she is a sweetie and sarah is a great mom and jewlee the best of aunties. :) just so you know, sarah is back and she is sarah again and she is on a roll. hurrah!

Labels: jewlee, sarah and siena, squawking, talking

on saturday morning as i was trying to get myself and my belongings together so i could fly home we took a couple of photos....well david took them. it was really hard to leave. i had been wanting to come visit again since we'd had such a short time with sarah and david after siena arrived. i loved being with them and seeing how they are together and how they work as a team with siena. it's quite lovely and i was honored to be a part of it for a short time.
siena has changed so much in the 2 weeks i was there, and sarah and david are learning more each day about parenting. the thing with parenting is that no matter how much you read, how many prep classes you attend, you are still such a newbie when the baby is actually here. i think every new family goes through this situation and survives it! i know don and i did, and i know sarah and david are doing the same. it's rather a trial by fire and the sleep deprivation is just an added hurdle and a tough one when everyone is already so vulnerable. the other thing is that just as soon as you think you have a handle on doing things, things change. BUT there is a lovely baby to hold and love and that makes the battle more worthwhile.
i am already looking forward to my next visit with the three of them!
honestly, we did not plan that we would all wear stripes, but there we are! striped!

Labels: parenting, sarah and david, siena

on friday, my special treat from david and sarah was going to the university of california berkeley botanical garden. it was a lovely day for strolling through the various plantings. it's an amazing place with so may little nooks and crannies. i probably need to return some time to inspect some of the places i missed!
i love these photos of sarah and david....walking along with siena in the stroller and eating lunch. they'd purchased some delicious sandwiches at a neighborhood italian deli and we sat by a pond of water lilies to eat our lunch. we found a sweet area surrounded by coastal live oaks where we finished eating our salad.
i was fascinated by some of the plants and took a few photos of them.

Labels: sarah and david, siena, uc berkeley botanical garden

siena seems to really enjoy smiling and cooing when she is on her changing table. i suspect she can more easily see the person who is working with her at that time. it's always a fun interaction, that's for sure!
i snapped the photo of her in her stroller when we were taking a walk.....she really seems to enjoy the movement of the walk. in fact she just likes to keep moving and lets you know if you stop the stroller or sit down holding her. she wants to be on the go!
i like the one of sarah holding her with her crazy leg warmers. she just suddenly fell asleep while sarah was rocking her. a nice thing to happen!!
the one of her in her spaceport is a fave too.....she had been fussing and then fell asleep and i was unable to put her on her back easily because of the way i'd been holding her. she was just deeply asleep and stayed that way.

Labels: leg warmers, sarah and siena, stroller

sarah and a friend took siena for a lengthy walk today and my friend louise and i enjoyed a lovely lunch at oliveto's. we declared that place was worthy of a lunch time visit each time i come to california. works for me! it was great to have a chance to visit with louise. we also did some shopping at whole foods for her daughter, and as louise was otherwise occupied at the time, i signed for the charge. i hope jail is not in my future!

these little videos happened at various times today. the two on the bed were in the morning, and the other one was this afternoon. she entertained herself for about 30 minutes. she is very advanced. :)

Labels: louise and michael, olivetos, shopping, siena

while we were taking the family photo and siena was contentedly sitting on sarah's lap i decided to try a couple of videos. i think they are pretty darn cute. how could they fail???

Labels: sarah, siena

i took the picture of siena smiling up at her mommy.....she gives the very best smiles to sarah. while we were taking fam photos i had david take a few of me holding siena too. i need to have these to look at when i need a siena fix back in minnesota! i am going to miss playing with her every day!

Labels: me, sarah, siena

yesterday while siena was being fed by sarah nene announced her need for a drink of water. she has some unique methods for getting her drinks. some examples here. savannah hasn't really accepted my presence, but since i've fed her several evenings she is at least being civil and i can pet her a couple of times before she dives into the food.

Labels: drinking in the tub, nene, savannah

siena slept longer between feedings last night and after the early morning one, david took her for a walk in the bjorn. they walked down college and got the father figure some coffee and a pastry for sustenance. he was able to accomplish some reading with siena secure and sleeping in front of him. when he came home she was still sleepy and content as he checked his email and did some work for class. pretty cool.

Labels: bjorn, david, email

i won't be here a lot longer so i am taking more pictures than usual. i think some of them are pretty good. siena likes the camera.....seems fascinated with the lens and stares into it, but doesn't always smile. occasionally we get lucky though!!

Labels: camera, sarah and david, siena

Lots of action today. david has been working in his garden....planting his fall crops which sounds absolutely foreign to this minnesota gardener. i got some images of his front garden plants....tomatoes and peppers and then caught the gardner at work! david drew out the plan for his back garden plot, purchased the appropriate plants and then put them in the ground in the proper order. if you look carefully you can see the first two ripe strawberries in the back garden plot.
the hydrangea isn't something david planted but i included the photo because it is so very gorgeous right now!

Labels: garden, hydrangea, red peppers, sarah and david, tomatoes