More old friends

Our good friends JT (or Jenny) and Jim came by to visit on Saturday.
They live in Martock, and Stace and I met through their introduction back in 2001. It's always great to see them.
We had lunch at Vasquez Rocks, where Stace and Jim climbed the rocks and ran around, and Jenny and I looked after Cora and took a walk.
Sadly, Cora missed a nap in the afternoon and wasn't in a great mood for much of the evening. Perhaps she wasn't feeling well, with tummy troubles. I wanted her to show off her normally sweet disposition, but oh well.
Because she slept too little in the day, she was up several times during the night as well.
On Sunday Stace played golf, and my mom and I (and Cora, in a much better mood) went to a local craft fair at the park right near our home.

Stace made a great dinner Sunday evening and we topped off the weekend watching the recent Queen Elizabeth movie with Cate Blanchett. It was our first rented video in months!

Nine-Month doctor visit

We had Cora's 9-month well-check doctor's appointment Thursday. It went very well, and we remain blessed with a super-healthy little girl. She weighs 18 pounds, 4 ounces, and is now 28 inches long. She is 37th percentile for her weight, meaning she weighs more than 37 percent of the baby girls her age and less than 63 percent of the girls her age. She is 63rd percentile for her length, and 93rd percentile for her head circumference.
She is pointing at a little speck in the second photo. She still loves using her index finger to point at things and poke things.
Just one shot today, and a little prick of her toe to check her iron level. She was fine there too.

Cora enjoyed playing with the paper on the table, as you can see in the video.

Old friends in town!

My dear friend from high school, Trahnel, and her family came over Sunday and spent the night. We all had a great time reconnecting, as they live in Kentucky, and we haven't seen each other since Stace and I went out to visit them in the summer of 2005. At that time, they had a 14-month-old boy - Noah is now 3 1/2, and he has a 19-month-old sister, Calla. It was great to be able to meet each other's daughters. We've come a long way since our days as high school biology lab partners.

The little girls meet and bang toys - Mike holding Cora, Trahnel holding Calla

Noah, the super ninja pirate

The men with their little ladies on our "hike"

We took a walk through Whitney Canyon, a very close hiking spot, and then went to my parents' house so they could meet Noah and Calla and catch up with Trahnel and Mike. It was also handy to be over there, as my parents get the Fox Soccer Channel and Yeovil Town football game was televised Sunday evening. Yeovil lost to Torquay, but I think Stace still enjoyed watching them play.

Stace had a followup appointment on Monday for his blood pressure, and the good news it came down pretty dramatically. The doctor told him to up his dosage of the medication to 1 1/2 pills per day, to see if it comes down even more before his January check. At that point he'll have his blood drawn to see how his cholesterol is doing. He has ridden his bike to work nearly every day for the past two weeks, and is really interested in nutrition labels now. He's already lost several pounds, even though the doctor never mentioned his weight as being too high. It's been strange to hear how many other men his age we know who have told us they also are taking either blood pressure or cholesterol medication. And a newspaper article the other day focused on that very topic, the drastic increase in young men on those very meds. It's a good thing, most of the doctors were saying, because it shows that more men are interested in good health at a younger age.

Pets galore

We have always loved our Somer, but lately that love has grown. You don't know how your pet will react to a new baby, especially as that tiny, loud child grows into a little person capable of hurting said pet. Well, Somer has been an angel. As she's never been a lap cat with us, I wouldn't say she's been affectionate in any way with Cora - she hasn't "adopted" Cora as I hear some pets do with babies. But, lately she has been coming near Cora more and more, and withstands a lot of abuse. We are working with Cora to gently stroke the cat, but too often Cora hits the cat, pulls her ears or just grabs a handful of fur/skin. Somer takes it in stride. She's never swatted at the baby or even hissed or growled. Once she meowed, but I have to assume that's because Cora was actually hurting her, poor kitty.
In these photos, Somer ended up sitting between me (sitting on the floor, too) and Cora, and stayed put for a while.
Cora, meanwhile, still adores the cat, and smiles when she hears or sees her.
In other pet news, the little video clip shows Cora reacting to Jake, my parents' Golden Retriever. She likes to get licked, and she also likes to watch the puppies play when we go to the mall's pet store. Two sets of neighbors have recently acquired little dogs, and Cora likes visiting with them, too.

mid-week update

Today, I was able to shower after coming home from Stroller Strides thanks to my friend Susan.
I met Susan through a cloth diapering Web site, and she lives in town and has been been very generous with toys and beautiful clothes no longer needed by her 2-year-old daughter. Today, after Stroller Strides I picked up a bag of goodies from her. Cora was asleep when we got home, but woke up when we came upstairs. Lately she hasn't enjoyed her time in the playpen while I shower if she is awake. So today, I found this new-to-Cora toy, a radio that plays music when you push the buttons. I showed Cora how to use it and escaped to the shower. She was still happily playing with it when I was finished. (phew!)



On Sunday, Stace jogged with Cora to the mall, to take in the Santa Clarita Marathon festivities.

Oh, and today is the five-year anniversary of my car crash. As I do each year, it's a day to reflect on God's goodness to me and my loved ones in keeping me protected, that I am still here and now in good health. Looking at Cora makes that reflection even more meaningful. Thank you, Jesus, for your many blessings!

Feeding time

Cora has been enjoying her food lately. She still is getting most of her nutrition from nursing, but we try to do solid food once or twice a day. That might mean a handful of cheerios and a few bites of cut-up fruit, or yogurt mixed with cereal. She can be quite impatient when I'm feeding her, especially if I'm trying to do something else ( like make dinner or wash dishes) at the same time. That means she often starts screaming. Part of the screaming is understandable, as she can't easily say, "Mom, I'd like more food please." She also likes to feed herself, which of course is very messy sometimes.

On top you see the result when Cora fed herself yogurt, and in the middle she is enjoying her banana. She still loves banana.Under this you see her eating wet cereal and cheerios.
Finally, Cora in the last couple of days has become quite adept at drinking from her sippy cup.

Fall Fest

The last couple of years, Halloween has pretty much been like any other night for Stace and me, because in our gated condo complex, no one really comes trick-or-treating.

But this year, since we had a little one with a Tigger costume to show off, we went to a harvest fest put on at Bridgeport Park by a local church we've been checking out the last few months. After all, it was free, there was live music and I didn't get a costume for Cora just for a few photos at Stroller Strides. Here you see Cora and her daddy in front of some of the game booths.

Cora also liked the bubble machine.

Here she is checking out the bounce house and ball pit, and a fellow Tigger, who was missing his Tigger head.

When it calmed down a little, our Tigger got to go inside the bounce house!

Happy Halloween!

Cora the Tiger - or Tigger -wants to wish all her friends a very happy and safe Candy Collecting Day!
She seems to like her costume, and likes looking at herself in the mirror while wearing it. It's a warm polyester, so living here we have to hope it's cool enough in the evening for her to be out in it.
On Monday our Stroller Strides class celebrated the holiday, and all the babies were in their finest. We had a bumblebee, kitty, monkey, Carmen Miranda, punk rocker and Charlie Brown, AKA Cora's friend Thomas.

Ventura

Today we went out to Ventura to a strange event Stace heard about from work - a "kinetic sculpture" race where people race things they've made through water, on land and through the mud.
It was a fun reason to go to the seaside.
You can see Stace and Cora here, with Cora doing a bit of practice standing up. As she isn't even crawling yet, she also is pretty far from walking, I'd say. She normally doesn't try to stand when you hold her over the ground. You also can see Stace wearing his new glasses. Poor guy, aging seems to be hitting him all at once - high blood pressure and cholesterol and glasses, all in the space of a few weeks. I think the glasses look good on him though. He only needs them for distance, so he's not wearing them very often.



































On the way home from Ventura, Cora did a bit of reading in the car.







The last photo is from Friday, when my friend Christy and her son William went with Cora and me to a big baby consignment sale. I did some stocking up for Cora for fall/winter clothes. Christy also has a Phil and Ted's stroller, with the attachable toddler seat. It fit into ours so we took advantage of that by using one stroller for both babies. Perfect.

In Santa Clarita, at least, things are getting back to normal after the fires. It's still bad in other parts of the state, but here most of the fires are contained or out. I believe more than 90,000 acres have burned in the fires near us.
This is from our trip to the mall Tuesday. The smell wasn't too bad, though you can see the smoke on the horizon. The strong winds have driven the smokey smell away for the most part. I took Cora to the mall because we needed to get out of the house. We did a little shopping, and then stopped at the indoor play area upstairs so she could watch the bigger kids playing. My little social butterfly enjoyed that. It seems like she wants to play with the bigger kids. She smiles and talks and is starting to wave at them.
On Wednesday, Stroller Strides classes resumed, and after class two of my friends and I met for lunch. Here I am with Thomas, the six-month-old son of my friend Sarah. Thomas is still big for his age - about 22 pounds! I weighed Cora tonight and she is about 17 pounds, 12 ounces (and 27 1/2 inches, for the record).
Elissa and her son Harvey also came to lunch. Harvey is a few weeks younger than Cora, but bigger of course, being a boy. He also is more active, crawling around everywhere and pulling himself up on things. Cora will stand briefly when you hold her up with her feet on the ground, but not for very long. She hasn't done any true crawling yet, and is happy getting around by rolling and scooting in circles.

Here's Cora with her other boy baby friend, William. I met William's mom Christy through our Gymboree classes. William is about six months too, and scooting everywhere. When I'm around more active babies I realize how good I have it with Cora - it's much easier with her not moving around so quickly! In this photo, she's making a scrunched-up smiley face she started making when Andy was at our home. He would make a similar smile at Cora and she would imitate him.

sad news

We have a running joke about the L.A. television media, about how they blow everything out of proportion - "STORM WATCH 2000 - OUR LIVE NONSTOP WALL-TO-WALL COVERAGE" of a little rain shower.
This time, though, the nonstop wall-to-wall coverage is needed, because the news is that big, that scary, that incredible to watch.
We've had the fire news on all day, and it's still fascinating. When a fire dies down in one area (Canyon Country or Saugus, for example - or Malibu), it flares up majorly somewhere else (Westridge/Stevenson Ranch on the west side of I-5, or Lake Arrowhead, or Orange County). It's fascinating but heartbreaking all at the same time. A dozen-plus homes have been destroyed in town, and 600 structures in San Diego County. Hard to fathom.
Here's another view from outside our home - this is from near the trash cans and the carport on the perimeter of our complex. This is the Westridge fire. Now on Sunday, we attended a church that meets at West Ranch High School, a new school in this new community of Westridge. When we were leaving, along with the high winds, we noticed some smoke on the horizon. We checked the news when we got to the car and learned about all the fires. Today, we saw the field behind the school's baseball field on fire.
In a separate fire, the one that moved from Agua Dulce to Canyon Country to Saugus Sunday and Monday, local landmark Lombardi Ranch was reportedly burned up. This makes me so sad, as I grew up going to Lombardi's this time of year, and we just went there a few days ago with Andy and Jen. In fact, I hadn't even posted these photos yet here. I'm so glad we made it there this year with Cora.
Surprisingly, the air quality hasn't been too bad Monday at our home. The strong winds were taking all the smoke away from us. We even took a walk in the evening (with the new stroller of course). We figure we'd better walk outside while we can, because when the winds die down the air quality is sure to plunge.

The Great Santa Clarita Smokeout

Here are photos from our balcony Sunday as the smoke came pouring in. It was very dramatic; I was working in the kitchen, watching the TV coverage of Malibu on fire, and then the house got dark pretty suddenly. Still not sure if the smoke (at that point) was from the big Castaic fire (now 29,000 acres) or from the Agua Dulce fire (now 25,000 acres). The Agua Dulce fire is the one that moved into Santa Clarita - Canyon Country last night and right now it is in the north Saugus/Valencia area, north of Copper Hill/Seco area for those of you familiar with the area.

Also from our balcony

This is from Golden Valley Road, just off Sierra Highway, Sunday evening. This is the Whites Canyon area of Canyon Country.

For now, the skies are clear blue from our condo. It smells smokey, but not too bad. The fires are a lot closer to my parents' house in Saugus than to here, but my mom said the air is clear there too because of the wind's direction.

SoCal aflame!

I'm guessing this is making the news all over the world - it seems like all of Southern California is on fire! Please, no one worry about us, we are fine. The air is very smokey and gross, but so far we haven't had ash in our area in Newhall. BUT yes, one of the big fires spread from Agua
Dulce, where we took Andy and Jen just last weekend, all the way south to Canyon Country and destroyed some homes. We saw the flames from a hillside off Sierra Highway on our way to the grocery store. I'll post photos tomorrow; it's gotten too late now and I should join my hubby in bed. Monday will be weird too - Stroller Strides has been canceled, and I'm sure we'll just stay in to avoid the smoke.
And to think that we had planned to take our new jogger out Sunday for one of our megawalks, to break it in!
Sadly, in Sunday's big fire in Malibu, a thriving church I attended while going to Pepperdine has burned to the ground. A number of other homes were damaged/destroyed too.

Cora's New Wheels

In the last four weeks I feel I have really aged.
I have gone from relatively fit to needing glasses and
having high blood pressure and cholesterol.

I need to get back in shape. I went from all that running
around at football to nothing; just the occasional game of
golf and walks around the block.

Time for a change.
I need to get back on the bike and ride to work, then follow
that up with running.
Lisa does her Stroller Strides class three times a week and said
she it would be better with one of those three wheeled buggies
to push Cora around in.
So with her needs and my desire to go running again we decided
to splash out on a Phil and Ted's baby buggy.

We found in Westwood after dropping Andy and Jenny
off at the airport.
Lisa paid for it with the money she made from writing a few stories.

What do you think? Nice and bright isn't it!

Cora seems to like it.

It's easy to run with too.

See them?

New tricks

At eight months, Cora has begun performing several new tricks for her adoring fans. She plays peekaboo - I tried to capture it on this video, and it's not the best example but it's the only one I've got so far. She also has kind of started waving hello. She is still a social butterfly, ever interested in the people around her, and she loves to entertain us. She coughs to get attention, and still makes her shrieky "bird"noises. Over the last couple of days she's been experimenting with new mouth noises, and sometimes sounds like she's smacking. She also likes using her index finger to point at things, and even to poke things (and us). Her two front lower teeth are coming through - still quite small but high enough that it now hurts when she gnaws on our fingers.

Change of plans

The Antelope Valley isn't a typical stop on the Howards Custom SoCal Tours itinerary for our foreign visitors.
But here we were, dressed and getting into the car with plans for a day out in Los Angeles on Saturday when we learned that all routes heading south from Santa Clarita were either jam-packed or closed because of a huge fiery crash in the Newhall Pass.
What to do? Stace thought of a good alternate (Placerita Canyon Road to Sand Canyon to Little Tujunga to the 210, for those of you familiar with the area) but then we heard the traffic reporter on the radio suggesting it as the best way for people to get out of town. "Town" also was choked with traffic as the 5 southbound was completely shut (and could be until Tuesday morning). So we instead went north, up in to Green Valley before heading to Blackbird Airpark with a Subway-supplied picnic lunch. The airpark features many military planes.
In the late afternoon we stopped for a nice walk around Vasquez Rocks, the site of many Western movies and commercials. Andy and Jen said they had a very nice time, despite the unplanned nature of our day. Thankfully, Stace came home early from work Friday and we went into Hollywood/Beverly Hills. That was meant to be obviously, as it's hard to say if/when it will be easy to get down there in the next few days with the closed freeway.