Food

Now that Maggie's six months old (almost) and showing interest in food other than the boob we decided to take the plunge and feed her rice cereal. Yum, yum. For those of you who haven't had the luck of trying it before, it basically tastes like watery flavorless goo. And Maggie, not having much to compare it to, loves it! Her first taste of cereal was Saturday and she dove for it at each spoonful. We thought she'd push it out of her mouth, but this girl ate it and wanted more.

Fast forward to Tuesday. After Chad set up Maggie's high chair we plopped her in it for an evening snack. And without a hitch she was at it again.

Merry Christmas!

What a difference a year makes! Last December we announced to our family and friends that Chad and I were expecting a baby in July. Newly pregnant and excited about the year to come we had no idea how much our lives would soon change. Now we are here with a new baby girl, happy and healthy as a family of three. We couldn't be happier.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Another Milestone!

Last week Maggie stood on her own for the first time. Of course we put her there, but she was able to support herself and stay put for a little while without us holding her up. Now if she'll just learn to sit independently! We're working on it...

San Luis Obispo

This past weekend Chad, Maggie, my parents and I spent a long weekend in San Luis Obispo. We had a great time and really love visiting that area when we can. Chad and I met when we were both living there (11+ years ago) so there's an extra fondness for us because of that. This was Maggie's first trip there and I'm pretty sure she loved it too. We know she liked seeing Santa (smart girl). Most of our time was spent in San Luis Obispo but we also walked along the bluffs at Montana de Oro and hit Morro Bay for lunch. Another great weekend that went by way too fast.

Shaver Lake Thanksgiving

Our family had a great Thanksgiving at Shaver Lake. We played games, fed the ducks at the lake, walked around the shops in town, spent some time at the swing, and overall had a nice long weekend with the family. The weather was cool and wintery and it even snowed the second night of our stay. The one bummer: A nasty stomach flu bug made the rounds between the two cabins and 19 of the 21 of us there caught it at some point. Fortunately it was a quick illness and didn't put a damper on our weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year Chad, Maggie and I are going to Shaver Lake for Thanksgiving. Spending the holiday weekend with us will be Chad's parents, siblings, nieces and nephews. There will be 21 of us in all! I'm expecting to have a great time and hope to have some fun photos to share after we return. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

(PS Photo template provided by Pear Tree Greetings. Oh, and sorry for the blurry photo. It was the best the stranger at the park could take for us!)

First Night Out

Last night my parents were nice enough to come over and stay with Maggie for the evening. It was our first night without her in tow and we all survived. Chad and I were invited to our friends' wedding and we had a great time, even if I was checking my phone every 15 minutes to make sure I didn't miss a call from my folks. Chad was spot-on with his do-you-want-to-see-how-cute-my-baby-girl-is role and the people at the wedding were kind enough to look at the photo on his Blackberry. They agreed that Maggie really is cute.

Hard to believe she's going to be four months old tomorrow.

Even though we didn't take her with us, here's a photo of us looking all fancy and Maggie looking all cozy in her jammies.

Happy Halloween

This year we had an eventful Halloween. Maggie dressed up as a candy corn and we think she looked pretty cute in her costume. Besides going to the pumpkin patch, Maggie and I hit a trunk-or-treat at our church on Wednesday and had a photo session at a local boutique on Saturday with our friends Amy and Liam.










Friday night our friends Jim and Kellie had their annual pumpkin carving party so Chad, Maggie and I went to that, staying up too late and having a blast.








Last night, Halloween, we had family (Great Old Aunt Leslie, cousin Bailey, Uncle Gabe, cousin Chris and his girlfriend Michelle) come to town to go trick-or-treating. Maggie didn't trick-or-treat, but she did have fun in the stroller going from door to door with Bailey. Chad stayed home to give out candy and did a great job.

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday Mags and I went to a pumpkin patch with our friends Heather and Nate. Heather took the shots (among many others) of cutie Nate & Maggie and Maggie & me and I took the one of just Mags. We had a fun time with them and are glad we have photos to prove it!

Organic Farm

Today Chad had to work for a couple hours so Maggie and I went to Fresno State's Organic "U-Pick" farm. We cut some beautiful green peppers for dinner this week and enjoyed walking the rows and looking at the produce.

Happy Friday

Today my mom came for the day and got this great smiley shot of Mags. That's the reason for this post. Oh. My. Gosh. Can you say cute? I just needed to brag.

Four Years and the Fair

Friday Chad and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary. We went to a steakhouse and had a delicious dinner--thanks Mom and Dad! No photo of us this year--too much going on and taking a photo completely slipped my mind. Happy Anniversary, Chad!

Yesterday was Maggie's first trip to the fair. She loved it. Loved it so much she slept most of the day. After eating some yummy fair food, Chad worked at the CBS47 booth while Maggie and I hung out behind the scenes. The weather was wonderful so it was nice just watching the people and enjoying the day.

Shades

Today is Maggie's 3-month birthday. Hurray! To celebrate I bought her some new shades. Anyone who knows us knows Chad and I are never without our sunglasses. Now Maggie has her own fancy pink ones--welcome to the family!

Please excuse the poor quality of this photo. Darn camera phones...

Knobs

For almost two years now I've wanted to get knobs for the cabinets and drawers in our kitchen, laundry room and two bathrooms. Tired of waiting and ready to take action I went ahead and ordered 61 of them last week. They arrived on Monday. Wednesday Chad installed them and I love how they turned out!

Goodbye Summer

This week we took down our vegetable garden. Our tomato plants were overgrown but finished producing fruit a few weeks back.

On Saturday Chad noticed some pretty yellow and purple caterpillars eating our grape leaves. Maybe they were Greek caterpillars? (Bad joke.) Anyway, they're gone now and thanks to them, so is most of our grape vine. No grapes this year...maybe next year?

Giant Zucchini

Last night we harvested an amazingly big zucchini. And considering we didn't think we'd get any from the plant this year we're particularly impressed with the outcome. Of course we had to use Mags as a measure of how large it really is. Keep in mind, she has adorably chubby thighs, but this monster makes them look slim! Here are the stats:

Weight -

Mags: 12lbs, 13oz

Zucchini: 7lbs, 8oz

Length: -

Mags: 24 inches

Zucchini: 17 inches

Too bad the county fair is over a month away. I think we'd have an award winner!

Happy Birthday, Mags

Of course it's not really her birthday, but she is two months old today so I'm posting photos. These pics are from this weekend at the cabin. As Chad said at the time, Maggie is thinking in this second photo, "Oh Lordy, the vapas." Ha!

Because It's So Stinkin' Cute

A few days back Maggie & I were smiling at each other for quite a while. Usually when this happens I can't get a good photo but this day was different. Even though it's a little blurry I still love it. I think you can see why.

7 Weeks

Yesterday Maggie turned seven weeks old. To celebrate she requested time away from her mom, so Grandma and Grandpa O came to babysit while I went to the dentist. While I was gone they got this cute shot of her.

One Month Old

Our little Maggie is growing up. OK, maybe not by much, but she is a month old already. Time flies, that's for sure! Life is great with this sweet girl.

More Visitors

Maggie's Grandpa and Grandma M. are here visiting this week. She's having fun getting to know them and I know they are enjoying her even more. In the first photo you can see Mags with Grandma M. and the quilt she handmade for her. We all just love it!

2 1/2 Weeks Old

We had more visitors come meet Maggie this weekend: Loren and her mom, Judi! They stayed the night on Saturday and we had a great time catching up with them and introducing them to Maggie. Mags slept most of the time but at this point, what else is new? Here we are with Loren at breakfast on Sunday and below is Mags in her new onesie--an awesome gift made by Loren and Andy! I can't decide who loves it more, Maggie or Daddy...

Grandpa and Grandma O

Here are a few photos of Grandma and Grandpa O. with Maggie. They are our most frequent visitors and she already loves them very much. Mags is so comfy when they hold her, can you tell? We're lucky they visit so often and we can't wait for her to get to know them better.

9 Days Old

This weekend we had the pleasure of introducing Maggie to her great grandma and three of her first-cousins-once-removed. They stayed for a couple hours and we enjoyed seeing and spending time with them, even if the visit was short.

This first photo is really special: Maggie, Great Grandma F, Grandma O and me. Four generations having a huge laugh, thanks to Maggie! The next photos are Mags with Bailey, Katie and Keri.

Welcome Maggie!

Wednesday evening, just two days after my due date, our little Maggie arrived. After a night of contractions Chad and I went to the hospital Wednesday morning and they admitted me, saying we were ready to go. The doctor broke my water around noon, I got my epidural around 2:30, started pushing close to 6:30 and just before 8:30 Maggie was born. Whew!

She's a beautiful little girl and we're so excited to have her. More photos to follow but right now there is lots to do and not enough time to do it!

Happy Due Date

Well, my due date has arrived and I'm still carrying this baby. They say first babies typically arrive a little late--I wonder how late our baby will be? My belly can't get much bigger so hopefully he or she won't make us wait too much longer.

Hostas

A year ago last April we visited our friends who live in the DC area. They sent us home with some hostas from their front yard and we planted them in our backyard. They grew really well last year and then died off in the winter. Well, this spring they returned with a surprise! Not only did they grow beautiful green leaves like last year, but they also grew pretty purple blooms! It's as if the plants knew that in order to be in our backyard they had to be purple. The trumpet flowers are really pretty and we hope they last a long time. So neat!

Garden Update

We have tomatoes, grapes, basil, red bell peppers, cucumbers and zucchini growing in our garden right now. Everything has taken off and a couple of our tomatoes are almost ready. The roma grape tomatoes look like they'll be the first to ripen and I can't wait to try one!

We also have some Washington Navel oranges sprouting. They're not anywhere close to being ready, but at least they're starting to look like oranges.

37 Weeks!

Today my pregnancy officially hit full-term. About 3 weeks (give or take) to go! I should have taken the photo AFTER I got my hair done, but of course I didn't think about that until later.

34 Weeks

For those of you I haven't seen in awhile, here's my latest belly photo. It was taken during my 34th week of pregnancy, which I'm currently still in. Less than six weeks to go!