My First Thanksgiving

This weekend, we celebrated my first Thanksgiving.  Thursday was so special with just Mama, Daddy, and me...we slept in (at least I did my best!) and then Daddy made a yummy breakfast in bed for us.  We had a lazy day at the house, and then went out to dinner at Celadon in Napa.  You heard me right...we went OUT to eat on Thanksgiving!  Kind of crazy, though the restaurant was packed.  We were having people over on Friday, and Mama refused to cook two days in a row.  I absolutely love restaurants...the hustle and bustle just keeps me so entertained, and then at some point the white noise puts me to sleep.  This particluar restaurant also had awesome ceiling fans that I could stare at and put me in a trance.  Mama and Daddy enjoyed the food, and planned to come home and have dessert and watch a movie...but we all fell asleep as soon as we got home!  Mama and Daddy say they are turning into old people already...

Then on Friday, Bill & Cara came over for a fabulous weekend of wine and food.  Mama and Auntie Cara cooked for 9 hours from the French Laundry cookbook and produced amazing duck roulades, creamed corn, braised cabbage & leeks, morel mushroom with veal demiglace, and glazed carrots.  Auntie Cara also made a wonderful apple tarte tatin.  Oh...and we had two pounds of sushi fresh off the boat for appetizers!  I couldn't taste it all on Friday, but the aromas were wonderful, and I got a taste of it the next day in Mama's milk!   I was a good boy and was so happy that Uncle Bill wanted to hold me all day...I'm quite the cuddlebug.

Saturday we went wine tasting (again!) to Paraduxx winery, which  was a very fun experience.  They let you sit outside in comfy chairs and relax in the beautiful surroundings.  Saturday night we went out and bought my first Christmas tree.  It was so much fun!  I picked out a beautiful tree, but Mama and Daddy thought it might be a bit too big.  I protested and won the battle however, so our 9.5 foot tree is now scraping the ceiling in our living room!  I think it is magestic and it smells so wonderful.  My sisters, Flora and Fauna, like drinking the water from the tree stand...silly girls!  We don't have all the ornaments on it yet, but hopefully we will do that tonight...more pictures to come shortly.

Today, Granddad came up for a quick visit, and it was so nice to see him.  I still look just like him!

Finally, you will notice in the pictures that my feeding tube is back in place.  I have always had some problems eating because my tummy is upset a lot.  Since I'm incredibly smart and gifted, I started to realize that eating caused my upset stomachs.  So, I came up with a brilliant idea....STOP EATING!  So, I went on a hunger strike for 18 hours, which ultimately resulted in Mama replacing my tube.  Unfortunately, I didn't see that coming as a consequence of my actions.  So, for now I have the darn tube again, and it doesn't bother me too much.  I have a few appointments coming up for the doctors to try to figure out what is causing my tummy troubles, so I'm sure I'll get the tube out soon.  I will conquer the snake again!

                Uncle Bill & Aunt Cara held me all day long...suckers!!!

                                         Mama and Cara made an awesome duck dinner.

                                     Daddy & Bill assembled the sushi....I can't  wait to try my first sushi!

 Mama got us matching outfits...I find this to be ridiculous! But, I'm learning early on that sometimes you just have to go with the flow and that I get more love if I keep Mama happy!

                                            Our first holiday together as a whole family!

                                          Wine tasting at Paraduxx

                         Picking out my first Christmas tree...

                           Mama knit my cool hat (complete with ear flaps).  Also, notice my appropriate attire - I thought it looked a bit silly, but Mama insisted that I start wearing my reindeer outfit already.

         My tree "almost' fit in the house.  Notice me doing my tummy time on my boppy pillow.  If you zoom in, you can see the reindeer on my bottom...

                                                         I still look just like Granddad

                           End of the day...I have thoroughly exhausted my parents, but I'm not sleepy!

A mini vacation

This past weekend was so much fun!  Mama and Daddy took me to San Francisco for the first time.  We stayed at Bill & Cara's house for a few nights.  Mama and Daddy went to the symphony with Bill and Cara on Friday night, and I got to stay in with my nanny, Heather.  It was the first time that the grown ups have been able to go to the symphony since the Spring since Mama couldn't do much while she was pregnant with me.  But it is something they keep talking about, and really enjoy their season tickets.  They told me that I'm not old enough to go to the symphony yet, but I think I'll be ready soon.  I already love listening to classical music, so I'm ready to see it in person!  Maybe I'll play piano someday, at least that's what Mama would like.

On Saturday, we took a really fun hike at Land's End - with me in my favorite Moby wrap so I could stay cuddled up next to Mama.  It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time.  Mama's legs got a little sore from lugging me around though!    We watched some college football the rest of the afternoon, and then the grownups had takeout for dinner.  

I really enjoyed my time with our friends! 

                                                         Mama and Cara before the symphony

                                         Mama, Cara, Daddy and Bill before the symphony

                                             Out on our hike at Lands End

                                          Daddy and I sound asleep at the end of a long day!

The finer things in life...

Hi everyone -

Sorry it's been so long since my last blog post.  Things were a little busy at home, especially with Daddy gone for two weeks. But now, he's back and Mama has a little more time to help transcribe my blog for me.

I have done so many cool things in the past few weeks, and have lots of good photos to prove it.   I've now been to TWO Michelin starred restaurants!  Auberge du Soleil in Napa, which is where Mama & Daddy got engaged.  I went there with Mama & Miss Cara for an awesome lunch and I was on my best behavior.  Then this week, we went to Chez Panisse in Berkeley.  Mama and Daddy have told me all about Alice Waters and I can't wait until I'm allowed to help Mama cook from her cookbook someday.  We met our friends Libby & Mike there to celebrate their wedding.  Mama says that the food was amazing!  Fresh salad, seared black bass, pork tenderloin, cheese course, and buckwheat crepes with pears for dessert.  I actually agree...the food was amazing!  I tasted it the next day in my breast milk!  I was also on my best behavior that night too, and took my bottles without screaming.  Mama has now told Daddy that they need to go to dinner at fancy restaurants every night, just so that I eat my bottles without fussing! 

                                                   At Chez Panisse

 

 My best "little dude" outfit - like my sweater vest?

And this is Mama, Daddy & me, with our friends Mike & Libby at Chez Panisse

 Me with Bill & Cara at Pine Ridge Winery

This is me at dawn with the first rays coming thru the window

 Daddy feeding me by our fireplace on a rainy evening

Mama and Daddy have also taken me to the Oxbow Public Market several times, and we finally remembered the camera.  They love going there to get the freshest food for dinner, and I love being admired by everyone as I ride along in my "baby SUV"!  

                                              Mama & I at Oxbow

We continued to have even more fun yesterday.  It was the first Saturday that we've had as just our nuclear family in a long time, and we decided to make a day-trip to Sonoma for lunch and wine tasting.  I'm learning all about wine now so that by the time I'm older, my palate will already be quite refined!  So, we packed up George (Mama's car), and drove over the gorgeous hills with the vines in various stages of yellows, oranges, and reds, and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant in historic Sonoma.  Then we spent some time at a park while I ate my lunch, and I saw geese for the first time!  They are pretty cool birds, and I can't wait to feed them some bread crumbs soon.  Finally, we headed up to Imagery Winery - Mama and Daddy have been members there for 10 years, but this was their first time back since they joined.  We tasted a lot of wine, and brought a lot home too.  My favorite part was that we got to walk through the vineyards afterwards, and watch the sunset over the Myacamas Range.  

Overall, I'm a lucky little dude!  I'm having so much fun with Mama and Daddy and I can't wait to see what other adventures are in store for me.