carmel, ca

we decided to take a road trip up to carmel, ca to visit zhara who was there nannying for a couple of weeks. we left a little before 9am on thursday morning and arrived at 4:30pm. thea was a little angel in the car both there and back. we stopped so that i could feed her once each way and then i gave her a bottle the other times.

it was so nice to take a trip, made us feel like our lives were at least somewhat recognizable to what they were before thea arrived. except that it took us more than a couple hours to pack all the crap one needs when traveling with a two month old: stroller, diapers, wipes, clothes, hundreds of bibs and burp cloths, moses basket, blankets, car seat, breast pump and supplies, etc etc etc.

we had beautiful weather and even took thea to the beach where she and i laid in the shade while zack surfed. she somehow managed to poop all over the towel in the short time we were there.

i didn't take as many photos as i should have but here a few....

roadside diaper change pit stop:



miller 15, our cottage:







zhara and thea:

two months old

iz'd

should we or shouldn't we?

the dreaded immunization debate. we ended up vaccinating thea according to the CDC recommeded schedule. i have mixed feelings on this issue but after a lot of reasearch and discussions with dr. upton as well as a lot of our friends, we went for it. little thea was a trooper. she cried for a few seconds afterward but zack was able to calm her quickly [as only he can do]. she was fine until later in the day when she woke up from a nap and her legs were in serious pain. she let us know it with screams and then a steady whimpering until we were able to get some tylenol into her.

below is documentation of her bandaged wounds, though by the time i took this photo she had already cheered up considerably:



in other news, thea weighed 10 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 22 1/4 inches long at her two month check-up. she moved up to the 50th percentile in height and weight from the 25th [at birth]. you grow girl.

new this week...

thea realized she has a tongue. she's constantly sticking it out, sucking on it, rolling it around in her mouth and chewing on it. pretty entertaining to watch. she looks like a lizard. her tongue is surprisingly long for such a little thing.

c h l a

zack, thea, carol and i went up to LA last week for our consultation at children's hospital. it was thea's first trip out of san diego and although zack told her we were entering the fourth circle of hell as we approached the city, i was happy to be back in LA.

the visit went really well though we were somewhat overwhelmed at the chaos of the craniofacial division. apparently it was the day of the month when every patient meets with the whole team of specialists so the waiting room was packed! we saw a number of kids who'd already had surgery which put our minds at ease...they all looked great.

we met with dr. william magee, who will be performing thea's surgery. he said that her lip formed in the best possible way for minimal [if any] long-term scarring. he said a lot of other things too and drew a number of diagrams which we could barely decipher. thea smiled for her "before" photo, we asked a lot of questions and then we were on our way home. the surgery is an outpatient procedure, takes about three hours and according to the doctor and nurse at CHLA, is pretty routine. i'm dreading it.

gooooooal!

i love this series of photos. her faces, expressions and constant chatter keep me so entertained!













thanks to lizzie crocker for the cute onesie!

thank you to our families!!

just a quick note to say the biggest THANK YOU to our parents and siblings for coming to san diego to help us! the transition into parenthood would not have been nearly so smooth were it not for all your love, support, guidance, cooking, shopping, babysitting and everything else.... we love you!!