Hanging Out

One of our favorite things to do during our breaks up north are to take naps... something that the whirl of life in Southern California doesn't always allow us to do. Cairo is even taking better naps. As usual, I can't seem to resist snapping a picture of Erik and Cairo napping together...

Cairo is definitely in chill mode. She has spent a lot of time relaxing on her boppy. Notice her legs crossed at the ankles in the second picture.


While up here, Cairo has also got to spend quality time with her cousin Mei. At five weeks Cairo's senior, Mei has lots of things she can teach Cairo. It is too bad that we don't live close to one another all year. Yesterday, Uncle Nick, Aunt Kyoko, and Mei gave Cairo a crawling lesson up the hall at G & G Dedini's. Not too much progress yet, but she is getting better at spending time on her tummy.

No trip up here is complete without a Piano lesson with Grandma. Yesterday, Cairo enjoyed two lessons with Mei. Cairo is showing improvement on hitting the keys (whether it is with her head or her hands)rather than just feeling them. Mei is a pro and pounds out one jazzy tune after another...

Christmas Day

So, it is a few days after the fact, but I thought that I would get a few pictures up from Christmas before the year ended...

On Christmas morning, the family came over and had breakfast. Erik made a yummy meal traditional to my Christmas mornings- Eggs a la Golden Rod. Unfortunately, I only enjoyed a small portion of it. Little did I know at the time, but I was just starting a lovely bought of the stomach flu (which I then gave to Erik... thankfully Cairo missed getting it!)



After breakfast, we all sat around the tree and opened presents. Cairo, as the night before, wasn't all that interested in opening presents, rather she enjoyed playing with the stuff she found inside them... especially the books. With the worry of lead in plastic toys and the overall questioning of the safeness of the baby toys lately, Grandma Jill bought Cairo a special Montessori toy made of wood (definitely lead free). It is nice to know that she can play with it and we can be confident that she isn't ingesting harmful substances.




After opening presents and visiting a while, everyone left to get ready to head down to Ferndale for dinner (we didn't make it this year). A few hours later, my best friend Katie came over and spent the rest of Christmas Day with us. We watched movies; Erik, Katie, and Cairo enjoyed their Christmas dinner; we opened more presents; and we just hung out and enjoyed being where we were. While sitting on Katie's lap, Cairo got to eat a solid banana for the first time. We put the banana in a small mesh bag and Cairo was able to suck and chew on it without us worrying about her choking on a large chunk of it.

Cairo's new Cousin

Around July 9th, Cairo will become a big cousin when "Peanut" Hazen arrives. Heather is 12 weeks pregnant and plans to bring the fourth of July in very hot, pregnant, and uncomfortable. We can't wait! Cairo is excited to show her new cousin all the neat stuff she learned this year.

What a way to learn about it, though! My mom called me and yelled into the phone, "is your sister pregnant?" I said, "what! No!" Then my mom hung up on me, no explanation, nothing. I am just sitting there wondering what the hell just happened. Then, I try calling her back to get answers and she wouldn't answer the phone. It seems that Heather e-mailed my mom and dad this morning with an e-mail saying that her, Paul, and Peanut made it back to New York safety. Then, she attached an ultrasound from last Friday.

Here is our first look at Baby Hazen- almost 2 inches long.


P.S. I think "Peanut" is going to be a girl.

Family Picture

We don't have many pictures of the three of us... and it isn't hard to see why. Get us together and no matter how many times we tried, either someone was cranky, or not looking at the camera, or not smiling, or goofing around (who us!). Here is the product of a few attempts at a family Christmas picture. I think the last one is the best!

Christmas Eve

For Christmas this year, Erik, Cairo, and I spent it with his family. Every Christmas Eve, the family treks to Grandma Dedini's house in Ferndale for dinner and presents. It was nice seeing everyone, especially all those who we hadn't seen since last Christmas Eve (before the baby news was out).

Prior to dinner, Cairo got to spend some quality time with her cousin Mei. Boy can Mei move! Mei crawls all over the place, climbs over things, and loves to take things apart. Mei will wave goodbye, clap her hands, point, and, to say hi, she presses her forehead against yours. Cairo has some catching up to do! While they are the same size now (except for Cairo's head, which is large... for her big brains), one can definitely see the five week difference in their development. While I am impatient to see Cairo start crawling around (she is 100% not interested in crawling, scooting, or doing anything other than chewing on her books and talking), I have been reminded that when Cairo does start moving around I will not have a moments rest trying to keep up with her and keep things away from her. So, I am going to enjoy her non-mobility and know that in time it will come. Maybe over the remaining week and a half Mei can show Cairo a thing or two.




After a yummy dinner, Nick put on the Santa hat and delivered the presents. Overall, Cairo seemed to enjoy the sound of the wrapping paper and the taste of it even more, though she was nearing her limit of stimulation and new people (aka was getting cranky). In the end, Grandma Jill helped her unwrap a few presents. Cairo got a few presents that were bigger than she was. One was a really cool drum and percussion set that Cairo will enjoy making lots of noise with. Mei got a matching set. Now, the two of them can get together and rock out.




Her favorite present was a crinkly "newspaper" from Japan that Nick, Kyoko, and Mei gave her. It has a fabric outside and cellophane-like inside. Well, Cairo attacked it with a vengeance and still does everytime she gets her hands on it.

We have a Tooth!!!

All Cairo wanted for Christmas was her two front teeth... well, at least she got one! On Cairo's 6 month anniversary (December 20th) her first tooth poked through on the lower left side. Auntie Heather and Cairo were sitting together on the couch and Cairo took Auntie Heather's finger, inserted it into her (Cairo's) mouth, and chomped. Heather said, "Ouch, does Cairo have teeth?" I said, "No." Heather said, "'Cause I just felt something sharp." I put my finger into Cairo's mouth and, sure enough, her very first tooth had poked through. No fussing, no excessive drooling, no sleepless nights- we just had a tooth. Hopefully the rest of her teething goes as smoothly.

Early Christmas

This year Erik, Cairo, and I are spending Christmas up north in Bayside. Before we left, and before G and G Biggle went on a Mexican Riviera Cruise, we celebrated Christmas. Here are several pictures of Cairo opening presents.

Pictures

Erik turned 30 yesterday. For this big birthday, Erik met a few of his buddies in Santa Cruz for a weekend of surfing and a weekend away from his new responsibilities. Luckily, this trip coincided with big surf. So, while Erik was gone, Cairo and I decided to give him a birthday surprise. We decided he needed a nice picture of his girls to take with him when he goes on his travels. Also, Cairo hasn't had her pictures done since she was 2 months and a lot has changed. Erik won't see them until this evening... so if you talkto him before then, don't tell him!

(p.s. I scanned the pictures for everyone to see. I left the pictures in a large format so if you click on the pictures, the pictures may seem a little dusty from our scanner. I have a few wallets and I can always make larger copies of them if anyone wants them or you can print them out form here.)

December

It has been a while since we last updated this blog... time does fly. Since Thanksgiving, Erik, Cairo, and I have been counting down the days until we head up north to our house in Arcata. Less than two weeks and we will be there! Cairo can't wait to play with her cousin Mei.

Since Thanksgiving, Cairo has been eating solid food. Sometimes she eagerly opens her mouth to receive the food, other times she HAS TO DO IT HERSELF. Every night, though, after the first few minutes, she starts to fuss if we don't give her the food fast enough. Watching her emotions swing while eating is pretty funny. We have happy baby, then sad baby, then happy baby, the fussy baby. Not only that, but we get some pretty funny expressions. When she isn't fussy, she is humming away while eating her food... just like my cousin Trevor used to do when he was a baby.





Winter has started to arrive here in Southern California, meaning that we occasionally have a cold snap and a few sprinkles of rain here and there. Cairo just happened to outgrow basically everything that she had in her wardrobe. To battle the cold weather, she had a bunch of short-sleeved onesies, about 3 skirts, 2 skirt jumpers, and a few pair of thin pants. So, Grandma, Cairo, and I went out on a HUGE shopping spree and equipped Cairo with oodles of warm clothes. It was a lot of fun... and dangerous to the pocketbook! Luckily, Christmas is right around the corner. Cairo got some of her clothes as an early Christmas present to get than the cold snap, though, I am sure she would have loved to go around naked (it's easier to get to her feet). Here is a picture of Cairo trying on a few of the clothes we had in storage. Animal print- what a statement!




One of the things that I love best about my daughter (other than striking a close resemblance to her very cute father) is that huge round face, with cheeks for days, and that big wide open-mouthed smile. I have a very smiley baby who cracks up over the silliest things. Not an hour goes by that she doesn't have a big smile lighting up her face at least once... even in her sleep. She always has a smile to share with everyone, whether they are the checker at the store or a nice lady sitting in the next booth at a restaurant. What put this into perspective for me was about a two weeks ago when Cairo started this fuss bucket spell on the evenings. Once I got home, she wanted no one but me and would scream bloody murder until she was in my arms. Then, of course, she would smile up and me and say "hi mom!" I began to worry that this would be the norm, but she snapped out of it and, if nothing else, has become even more smiley than before.
Chillin' in the bathtub:

Wearing her daddy's t-shirt:

Leaving Cairo

Alas, Erik and I have finally left Cairo overnight! She stayed an extra night at her Nana and Papa's with G&G Biggle while Erik and I headed back to Monrovia. Of course, Erik and I began to miss her immediately. We especially missed hearing her go buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh as she spits and blows little bubbles. Erik and I tried to think of something to do with our free time and, for several reasons, came up with just going home. So, what do us Cairo-free-parents do? Well, we did laundry, cooked, did dishes, cleaned, organized papers, watched a movie, groomed the dogs, and played about 30 minutes of video games. Because we couldn't handle an easy cartrip where all we have to do is just walk out the door, get in the car, and drive away, we brought the dogs with us to pick up our Bacon Cheeseburgers. Sad, huh?

The Family

Visiting with family is exhausting!


This Thanksgiving weekend Erik, Cairo, and I traveled to my Nana and Papa's house in Santa Maria. We were joined by my parents, brother, sister, and brother-in-law. Cairo has only seen her Nana and Papa two times, so I was excited to spend a few days at their house. I really want her to get the chance to know all her great grandparents. When Cairo is older, I hope that she gets the same warm, happy, fuzzy feelings about her great grandparents that I get when I think of my Great Grandma Steis. She is pretty lucky to have five of them to get to know and love.

Cairo is beginning to know who she knows and who she doesn't. Two weeks ago, Cairo became very distraught when she went out to lunch with Grandma Biggle and Auntie Heather and two of Heather's colleagues. Cairo sat in the backseat of the car with Heather's friends, looked at them, realized they were strangers, and broke out into big crocodile tears until her Grandma rescued her. By the end of lunch, Cairo was smiling at them and happy. When we first got to my Nana and Papa's Cairo was not happy to see them. They were these strange people smiling at her. So, Cairo cried and gave a great boo-boo lip. As the weekend progressed, though, Cairo warmed up to them and really began to enjoy their company.

Here are a few pictures of Cairo spending quality time with her family during this past holiday weekend.

Enjoying cocktail hour on the patio with Grandma-

Grandma teaching Cairo how to run-

Nana and Cairo

Papa and Cairo

Grandpa helping Cairo chew on her Binky

Uncle Paul and Cairo