The Northern California Circuit

Sorry it's taken me so long to get last weekend's blog post up...Mama was busy at work this week and my fingers aren't quite dexterous enough to type yet.  Just wait until I can write my own blog posts!

We had a very busy weekend indeed!  Though we were still all getting over our first colds of the (fake) Winter Season, we decided to stick to our long-scheduled plans to visit several friends.  On Friday, we packed into George (Mama's car) and headed to San Francisco for a night in the city with our friends Bill and Cara.  I love staying at their place...I think I've stayed there at least 3 times already.  It's super cozy and within walking distance of so many amazing restaurants and parks.  I'm still surprised by how steep the streets are since I initially thought all streets were flat!  The five of us went to dinner at Baker and Banker...kind of funny since the wife's last name is Baker and she is indeed the pastry baker at the restaurant.  My milk was yummy and I was, yet again, on my best restaurant behavior.  I know I have to behave myself for Mama and Daddy to keep taking me out to restaurants!   Listening to Mama, Daddy, and Bill & Cara made me laugh out loud.  You have no idea how ridiculous they sound when they are critiquing food.  While the general consensus was that the food was good, my foodie companions general deemed that the food wasn't quite good enough for them to go back!  Phrases like "I could cook that" and "I don't think the duck was free-range" or "The foie gras was good, but really, how can anyone mess up foie gras?" or "The fennel crusting on the ahi was an interesting idea, but they should have incorporated some braised fennel or leeks for moisture" really had me rolling my eyes. 

After listening to that for too long, I finally took a nap!  Then back to Bill and Cara's for slumberland, and for special cinnamon rolls the next day.  These are the same cinnamon rolls that Bill brought to Mama and Daddy in the hospital about 8 hours after I was born...yummy! 

 

Relaxing after a long evening listening to the boring grown-up conversation. 

 

Listen to me talk!

Then we packed up our "dog and pony show" as Mama likes to call it, and headed down to Half Moon Bay to meet our friends Jen & Austin.  I'm 16.5 pounds now, but Mama says that if you weighed all my paraphernalia, it would probably weigh 100 pounds! Anyway, Jen and Austin were great...Jen is a professor at Stanford and a member of Daddy's Science Advisory Board, and Austin was a Tall Ship Captain for many years and is now finishing his PhD at Stanford.   They choose to live in Half Moon Bay over Palo Alto despite the commute because...well, wouldn't you?  It was beautiful!  I saw the ocean for the first time, and was lulled into a bit of a trance by the rhythmic waves.  We didn't get to go into the water because it was really cold, but Mama tells me that the ocean is warmer in Hawaii and that I can swim there when we go in April. 

Mama with Austin & Jen getting the gin & tonics ready

Pretty picture of Mama

The whole family...check out my sunglasses!

Jen is super cool!

Finally a group shot courtesy of some nice passers-by...a little dark, but the sunset was beautiful!

Maxi-me and Mini-me with their matching stripes

After our walk on the beach, Austin & Jen served us an amazing dinner of locally caught fish and locally grown produce.  Mama and Daddy think it was better than the restaurant the night before!  I was on my best behavior all weekend, showing off all my cuteness to Jen and Austin.   I am babbling quite a bit now, and I have a killer toothless smile! 

Brunch the next morning was overlooking the water, and then Mama and I headed to Morago for our friend Rocio's baby shower for a few hours while Daddy watched the superbowl with Dave, Ernst and a few other friends in Berkeley.  I was a bit too young to play with the other kids at the shower, but I still had a good time.  I can't wait for Rocio to give me a new play buddy (she's having a boy!) in just a few short weeks!  

Finally, exhausted, we headed for home, getting takeout for dinner.  We fell into a deep slumber almost immediately, not quite ready for the week to begin. 

On the medical front...I started a new medication, Reglan, to try to help the milk get through my belly faster so I don't spit up quite as much.  We're not sure if it's working yet, but we sure hope it does soon.  I've been working every week with my Swallow Therapist, Teacher Anne, on new techniques to help me learn to suck and swallow again.  It's such a complicated task, but I'm slowly improving.  The bottle no longer scares me, and I'm learning to even put it in my own mouth.  I don't suck on it too well, but I do like to chew on it.  I still prefer sucking on my own fingers, but I'm trying to give the bottle a chance! I'm getting stronger every day, lifting my head off the ground to do frequent sit ups, and learning to put some pressure on my legs to stand up a bit. 

Me in my new giraffe "Twiga" hat that Gran sent from Tanzania