It's the great pumpkin Charlie Brown

Katie just loves Halloween. Not sure if it is the costumes or the candy she likes more but regardless it's one of her favorite days of the year. So when October rolls around we pull out the Halloween lights and decorations and get into the spirit. Living near Half Moon Bay, the pumpkin capital of the world, means you don't have to go far to find a good pumpkin. People flock from all over the bay area to buy their pumpkins at the local pumpkin patches and we are within walking distance to our favorite one, The Pumpkin Depot. To say the least we were both excited to take Sarah to pick out her first pumpkin. Being six months old of course she couldn't tell the difference between a pumpkin patch and a Christmas tree lot but regardless it was a memorable experience for both Katie and I. The patch is filled with old beat up tractors to play on, scary monsters and pumpkins of all shapes, sizes and colors. With pumpkins bought and Sarah's Halloween costume in the closet all there is left to do is carve the pumpkins and walk the streets Halloween night taking in the sites and sounds of all the kids trick or treating.

Rob

The Giants win the NL West

Yesterday afternoon I spent a few hours with dad watching the Giants beat the Padres and win the National League West title. I was really excited for the most part because the Giants are my favorite team and my future husband Buster Posey plays for them. I was also a little sad because Grandpa Craig loves the San Diego Padres and since the Giants won the game the Padres were eliminated from making the playoffs. I knew grandpa would be sad with the outcome of the game. My dad made me feel better when he told me that my grandpa was used to his San Diego teams choking at the end and never winning the big games. I felt a lot better once I heard that. Go Giants!

Sarah

I took a pee in the pool

So mom and dad enrolled me in swim classes and today was my first day. As soon as mom put on my stylish bikini bottoms I thought it would be funny to go pee. Mom was a little bummed since she happened to be holding onto me at the time but oh well. Being my first day in class I had a huge rooting section in attendance to cheer me on. Grandpa Craig is in town so he was there as was Grandma Debbie. My dad left work early to watch me and he never leaves work early so I knew it was a big day. The class is good fun, we sing songs, splash around a lot, jump up and down and go through tunnels and down slides. I was enjoying all of it until the mean lady who leads us through all the fun and games decided to dunk me under water. What was she thinking? Well I tell you I let her have it. I made sure I screamed loud and hard so she wouldn't think about doing that again.

Sarah

Katie and Sarah

This picture was taken a month after Sarah was born and is one of my favorites. You can see in the photo the bond and the love that Katie and Sarah share together. Katie has come so far in the past six months and watching the two together is one of the best parts of my day. I really feel the time and energy Katie has put into Sarah has helped her become the amazing child she is today. I have so much to look forward to in the future watching the both of them together. I can't wait.

Rob

Rolling, rolling, rolling

So one of the things I looked forward to doing as a new parent with my child was throwing her in the stroller and going for a jog. I have always enjoyed exercising and I thought taking the kid for a stroll while burning some calories at the same time would be killing two birds with one stone. So I was stoked beyond belief when my mom and sisters went in and purchased us the BOB stroller of my dreams. This stroller very well might be nicer than my 10 year old Subaru. The shock absorbers, three wheel design and amazing handling all make for a smooth ride for both child and parent. I had to wait for Sarah to reach a certain age before we could utilize the almighty BOB. I was counting the days like a young child anticipating Christmas. The day finally arrived and I was so excited but Sarah had other plans. She hated the BOB. I started by taking her on routine walks and she would scream bloody murder. People looked at me like an unfit parent. Didn't they know that I had been looking forward to using the BOB from the moment Sarah was conceived? Katie and I tried everything to get Sarah used to being in the BOB. Long walks, short walks, seat up, seat down, toys and so on but nothing would work. Sarah would just cry and thrash around like a crack addict on detox. Eventually we just gave up and sadly put the BOB in the garage where it sat for months like a discarded race horse that never made the grade. So this week I made it my mission to get Sarah and BOB together again for one more try. I dusted off the BOB and placed Sarah in the seat expecting the worse and to my surprise she didn't go mental. She wasn't exactly happy but she was tolerating the BOB. After a few days of experimenting I am happy with the results. Sarah is able to spend a half an hour or so in the BOB without much of a fuss. We aren't jogging yet but I'm sure in due time we will make it happen.

Rob

Road Trip

Katie and I have always enjoyed spending time in San Lois Obispo. It's a quick trip, the weather is nice and the town is a great mix of young and old. There is great shopping, surfing, food and amenities all in a small area. We always stay at the same place which has the apperance of being decorated by someone's grandmother. The food is Americana and the baked goods are awesome. Our trip happened to coincide with the heat wave of the year and one day the temperatures hit 104 degrees. The heat put a bit of a damper on some of our plans but we still managed to get some things done. Most of our time was spent at the hotel swimming, napping, taking walks, and mingling with the staff and other guests. Sarah was a hit with so many people and we couldn't go many places without someone wanting to see what she was up to. Road trips might not be as free and loose as they were before Sarah's arrival but she has proven that she is road worthy enough to hang with her mom and dad.

Rob

It's a dog's life

Before Sarah came around we had Bo and Sydney and although we didn't treat them like our children they sure have had a mighty fine life. Walks everyday, ocean swims on the hot days and beds more comfortable then the one we sleep on where some of the perks we provided our dogs. As most of you know Sydney is a bit nuts and we were concerned about how she was going to react around Sarah. Would she eat her like lions do in the wild when they come across cubs that are not their own? Mellow Bo we thought would shower Sarah with more dog kisses than anyone would care to have. So as we approach the six month mark we are happy to say that Sarah can tell the difference between the two dogs, her favorite thing to do is to pull Bo's hair, and Sydney treats her like her very own offspring. We are curious to see how the dogs are going to react to Sarah when she starts to crawl and then walk but we feel that the dogs have accepted Sarah into their pack.

Rob

Adventures in Baby Food Making

So for the 3.5 years it took to make our little monster I had fantasies of what motherhood was going to be like, waking up at 2am 4am and 5:15am every day was not one of them but oddly that's what happened. One of the ones I couldn't wait for was to make baby food! I love cooking for people and I knew I would love it for our little one. So I finally got to bust out the food processor and mix up some organic noshes for Sarah, it was so fun. Mushy moment alert...all I kept thinking about is how long I waited to do this and how from birth to toddler I would be making what my kiddo needs to grow...amazing! So far I've made squash and pear sauce, I know not much but I had to contain myself, I could have seriously gone crazy! Next up will be apple sauce and sweet potatos. She's also had rice cereal and banana and seems to like everything so far. I make big batches and freeze them in ice trays, when they're hard I take them out and store them in a zip lock freezer bag. I also have some containers that hold one serving and freeze those too. The girl still prefers boobie over everything but I think she'll be a good eater!!

Katie

Win a prize

The first person to find the hidden booger in this picture will win a very special prize.

Sarah

The week so far.....

So it's Thursday and you might be wondering what is going on with Sarah. Well Monday kicked off the official start of no sleep for mom and dad week otherwise known as sleep training week. As I posted before Sarah isn't much into sleeping and with the six month mark fast approaching Katie and I figured that at some point we are going to have to get that to change. So after many hours and months of research by Katie we agreed on a plan of attack that we felt worked best for our little girl. So four days later we are proud to announce our monster is free of the swaddle, puts herself to sleep and is starting to get comfortable with the new arrangement. On the flip side Sarah is waking more frequently, sometimes every hour or two, and screams way more trying to get herself down. We know it is a short term problem and the payoff will be there in the end but regardless it still makes for long sleepless nights and a bit of stress for all involved. So we hope to have more good news to report in the near future but as of right now that is what is going on in our life with Sarah.

Rob

Firsts

Firsts are very important in a child's life. Sarah has experienced some amazing firsts already. She has rolled from belly to back, sat up, went on an airplane and ate solids to name a few. Today she might have had her most exciting first to date. It was her first opening day of the NFL season. I think she tossed and turned all night with anticipation. We kicked mom out of the house so we could get comfortable and watch back to back games uninterrupted by mother/daughter things. The day started with the Raiders and Titans game and to my pleasant surprise Sarah hates the Raiders. We enjoyed two and a half hours of watching a very pathetic Raiders team get pounded all over the field. The 49ers game kicked off about 1:15 and I was curious to see if Sarah was going to root for the red and gold or not. Once again she didn't let me down but the 49ers play did and they lost bad. Sarah got some great practice throwing things at the television and screaming four letter words at Alex Smith, the Niners quarterback, and the teams secondary. She did awesome in her first day as a football fan.

Rob

Who is this guy and where is my boob?

So there is this guy in my life and I don't know much about him other then that he looks kinda funny with his big nose and bald head. Everyone else around me has hair, mom has hair, my aunts and uncles have hair, Bo and Sydney have lots and lots of hair, but he has none. Other than his odd looks he doesn't seem to stick around all that much. He usually takes me for a walk in the morning and is gone all day only to return at night when I am supposed to be getting ready for bed. When he is around he is sort of fun in a silly way always turning me upside down, shaking me back and forth and tickling the laughs out of me. I pretend I like it all since it seems to make him happy. So today mom drops me off in the middle of the day with this stranger and leaves. I figure she will be back soon so I hang with this guy for a few hours in a big room filled with surfboards. People are coming and going and I am getting passed around like a joint at a Grateful Dead concert but having fun nonetheless. Where is mom? Finally we jump in the car and I take a little nap and wake up at home and still no mom. I'm starting to stress out a little because I am getting a little hungry and I can use some boob juice. I think the weird looking guy sensed my need and proceeded to stick some nasty plastic nipple thing into my mouth. Are you kidding me, I thought, where the hell is my mom's boob? I don't want this fake plastic titty thing in my mouth no matter how much boob juice it shoots into me. I fought that guy for a good half hour until I got enough food into my belly to think about going to sleep. I spend the night dreaming about my mom's perfect boobs. They had better be here for me when I wake up.

Sarah

Sleep? Who needs it?

I never thought that sleep was a learned behavior. I always figured you get tired and fall asleep. Katie loves to sleep. Some of her fondest vacation memories are of naps she took while in Hawaii and Fiji. I remember the pain my parents would go through on a daily basis trying to get my sisters out of bed and off to school. I would have to say that most people love to sleep and can't get enough of it. Which of course brings us back to Sarah and her disdain of sleep. Experts say that infants need as much as 20 hours of sleep a day. Not our monster. Our little girl likes a few 40 minute naps a day, and when I say 40 I mean 40 to the nanosecond, and then maybe 10 hours at night broken up by a few wake up calls for some boob action. Putting her down to sleep requires every ritual under the sun short off sacrificing a goat to the gods above. Aren't babies supposed to fall asleep anywhere at anytime? I've seen the pictures myself of babies sleeping on top of rocks, under cars as dad changes the brakes, at Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Championships. Monster won't even sleep on her ergonomically correct Sealy pillowtop mattress. I'm sure my wife and I have committed some major parenting faux pas and created the sleep pattern that Sarah now claims as her very own but at some point isn't she going to have to just fall asleep on her own? Sadly the wife and I know that as soon as we win the fight and get Sarah to fall asleep we will be a few short years away from having to fight her to get out of bed and go to school.

Rob

The making of a monster

Don't let the sweet face fool you. Sarah is 100% monster. From the moment she arrived she has been a little ball of fire. The girl is a fighter. Maybe that is why she is the one that made it. If the girl doesn't want to do something she isn't going to do it and she will outlast even the strongest of wills. She has fought breastfeeding, the stroller, car rides and sleep, most of the things typical infants love. She packs a big punch in such a little package and has a ton of personality to spare if you are in search of any. She isn't really one to sit still and prefers to be tossed, rolled and bounced to being snuggled and coddled. The more violent the gesture the bigger the laugh. Go figure. I would say she is more rock and roll than easy listening. Her name is Sarah but we call her monster.

Rob

A crash course on fatherhood

After 8 years of grade school, 4 years of high school, 4 years of college and more years than I would want to admit in the "real world" nothing prepared me for being a dad. I watched my father be a dad to 4 kids, I have seen my nieces and nephews grow up and have witnessed good friends become awesome dads and none of it seemed all that difficult. I figured the kid pops out and you change a few diapers, toss the kid in the stroller for a walk or two around the block toss in some breast milk and then get on with life. WTF was I thinking? My days of surfing twice a day, playing basketball 4 times a week and going to 15 Shark games a season have been replaced by bjorn walks, tummy time and scheduled naps for a baby that doesn't like to sleep all that much. It's taken me 5 months to adjust to my new life but I'm starting to kind of like it. I have a ton of work to do to become the dad I want to be but every smile Sarah throws my way makes it all that much easier for me to strive to be the daddy she deserves. I hope you guys enjoy seeing our little girl grow up as much as we do.

Rob

Hungry

A little something for your viewing pleasure.

Welcome

Rob and I started this blog to keep everyone up to date on all things Sarah, we know how you all can't live with out your daily dose of cuteness. She's hit some serious milestones already, rolling from belly to back, reaching for people, solids..important stuff in baby world. This is a way to let you all enjoy whats to come too. You can subscribe to the blog and Blogger will notify you when we post something new. She's growing fast people...it's hard to keep up!
K

Sarah's monthly pictures!