Fall Colors & Baking Treats

Liv got a surprise in the mail (and opened it at breakfast this morning). Grandma and Grandpa sent a bit of NE fall color to remind us of "home"!!

"Leaf!" "Leaves"

"Oooooh"

"Wampa! Leaf!"

We also baked some oatmeal cookies this afternoon. Yummy!!!

Update & Beach Pictures

An update.
And some pictures from another happy day in Alameda.

All is well here. We are progressing on the home buying front, looking forward to closing/moving at the end of the month. Jeff is currently traveling like a maniac. What's today? Friday? He's in Long Beach, CA... but headed back to Honolulu this evening. (Then back to Long Beach, & back to Honolulu. Vancouver is in there, too, somewhere... But, he'll be home for the closing - if all goes according to plan.)

Liv is doing very well! She's talking more and more. Someone (I think it was the pediatrician) asked "How many words does she know?" HA!!! First of all... she "knows" hundreds and hundreds, she understands nearly everything she hears, how many can she "say" that's different, but still, I can't keep up! She can repeat most things she hears, though there are some sounds that are still pretty difficult to make: words that start with an "ess" sound, especially. and ending sounds are hard too... and sometimes they get remembered a little jumbled: She often says "topa" for potato. But can repeat the word "potato." Stuff like that. She's taking a single afternoon nap, and wakes up (and wakes me up) in the middle of the night about half the time. It's not horrible. Currently her favorite toys are: Mr. Potato Head (which she refers to as either "topa" or "eyeball"), a shape sorting cube with colored blocks, crayons, a little bowl of pennies, flashcards, and a baby doll.

The pregnancy is going well. We're about 6 months now. The baby has started really kicking up a storm this past week. So FUN!!

We're a little nervous about flu this season. I was surprised by how often I caught little bugs when I was pregnant with Liv, and the current stats show that pregnant ladies are at least 6x more likely to get flu than other adults (why? I don't know) and complications from flu could be tragic. Liv and I will be getting vaccinated for seasonal & H1N1 as they become available to us. And we're staying away from some of the fun stuff we would normally do (e.g., sing-a-long). But between the flu/back-to-school germs and just my pregnancy nesting/cocooning instincts, and how much fun we have just playing at home or at the beach... it's no hardship, whatsoever. (and we haven't had a sniffle in WEEKS)

A trip to the beach is always a fun adventure.

Some shadow play.

A nice walk.

More shadow play. (omg!)

Mom & Liv

And Baby-to-be.

We miss you, Jeff.

A Happy Day

On Monday, Liv helped make cupcakes!

She's quite the little baker.

After nap, she helped decorate.

We called the sprinkles "colors" as in "put the colors on the cake, Livvy!"
She called them all "yellow!"

Some "yellow" made it on the cakes. :)

And to make the day even better... We got a copy of the contract for the house, signed by the seller! Hooray!

Sailing on the Bay

Our dear friends, Skip & Jody, invited us out for a sail on their new boat this weekend!

What a treat! Jody was practicing with another sailing team, while we were out on the water, but we all spent the later afternoon & evening together after sailing.

Liv had a great time charging around the dock looking at all the "big. boats." and the "kids. boats. water." (the junior sailing team was out in their dingies, too!)

After a lovely sail (sorry no pictures... I had my hands full), Liv was lulled into a nap.

(Angel Island, background)

In the lee of the island we motored for a bit and had some sandwich and juice.
(and a chance to take some video)

It was a great time! And I am so grateful to Skip's generocity and capability. He and Jeff handled the boat so very well, while Liv and I sat back and enjoyed the ride! We had such lovely weather! When was the last time we had such nice breeze and could wear shorts & tshirts on the bay?!?!

18 months

Liv is now 18 months old.

So far - so good!

We went in for a check-up earlier this week.

Her stats:

weight: 23 pounds

height: 32 inches

all her vaccines are up-to-date (except for the flu shots... not yet available for under-3 babies)

she's on track for physical & cognitive development (as far as we can tell)

and everyone's happy to see a healthy baby!

She's talking more and more... which is such fun.
Stringing words together, and just naming things!

Mommy is about 23 weeks along in the pregnancy.

And likewise... all is well.

(Tho' her arms aren't quite long enough to get the whole belly in the camera-phone shot. LOL)

Jeff is home for two weeks!

Except for the "emergencies" that pop up and call him out to the various facilities.

It remains a challenge for him to get productive work done (not to mention conference calls) with an active & talkative toddler underfoot.

Which makes us all the more excited to be progressing on our home purchase.

That's news for now... thanks for stopping by!

Mom & Apple Pie

Liv's first pie!

Yes... we do actually cook on the floor.
It's as clean as the counters, I promise. (for whatever that's worth... LOL)

In other news... On the home front...

We received some very exciting news this morning.

Our offer on the house we want has been accepted!!!

We've applied for the mortgage with 2 brokers and 2 banks... will hopefully be able to lock in the rate/ loan; and sign the sale contract by the end of the week, and get this show on the road!!!

YAY!

There's some (potentially expensive) stuff left to do before we can call it home... (landscaping, furnishing, moving in, etc.); but, we are so pleased!!




It's beyond perfect: master + 2 small bedrooms at the far end,
A home workstation and an Office,
plus a Guest Suite with your name on it!!

It's up in the hills, outside a small town (sound familiar?) in Central CA;
in a development of other custom homes, golf courses, and vinyards.
(the video is from one of our early visits last January.)