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chris

Maile’s First Art Lesson

by Maile Girl on August 2, 2010

Mommy and I went to the store on Sunday and we picked up “crayons”. I actually had no idea what they were, but they looked all colorful and fun and Mommy said she’d show me how to use them. At first, Mommy and Daddy just let me play with the crayons to see what I would do (although apparently putting them in my mouth is bad because every time I tried, they grabbed my hand and said “NO!”). I didn’t really understand how they worked, so Mommy gave me an art lesson. She’s quite talented. Daddy drew a few things too. Between you and me, I REALLY hope I get my art genes from Mommy and not Daddy.

Mommy, what are these colored sticks? If I can't eat them, what can I do with them?

Oh pretty! Thanks for showing me how this works...

Maile: Like this Mommy? Mommy: Yep, Maile Girl, you're a natural!

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More Shots from the Three Amigas First Birthday Party

by Papa K on July 27, 2010

Oh, hi there.

Hannah’s dad, Josh, takes MUCH better pictures than I do. He sent over his shots from the Three Amigas birthday party and I thought I’d share. See the slideshow below. (And yes, I ordered a book from Amazon so I can learn to take better pictures!)

(Click here for all the pictures.)

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Maile’s Third (And Final!) 1st Birthday Party!

by Papa K on July 25, 2010

On Saturday we celebrated Maile’s birthday on her home turf with two of her closest girlfriends, Allison and Hannah. Allison turned 1 back in June and Hannah turns 1 in August, so we decided to combine everything into one big fiesta. Literally, we made it a fiesta – check out the invitation we sent out:

Invitation to the 3 Amigas First Birthday Fiesta

It was a lot of fun celebrating with all of our San Francisco friends and the girls had a blast. It was the first time in awhile we got everyone together with all the little ones in one place – definitely a bit of a madhouse with ~10 kids under the age of 4!

The birthday girls: Hannah, Allison and Maile

And with the mommies!

"Daddy when you said there was going to be a pony, I had something slightly different in mind..."

Each girl had their own birthday cake (Thanks Grandma Gail and Grandpa Cal for Maile's!)

Maile had her own Maile-sized cake!

Proud parents and Maile Girl - we survived a year!

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A Week Without Mommy

by Papa K on July 19, 2010

It wasn’t quite a whole week, but last week from Monday thru Thursday, Mommy was in New York for work. And Maile Girl was in Boston with Grandma Jill, Grandpa Mike and Daddy.

Needless to say my girls were VERY happy to see each other on Thursday afternoon when Maile and I went to the airport to pick up Mommy…

A site for sore eyes - Maile Girl greeting Mommy after 4(!) days apart...

Overall Maile did really well. She definitely had her fussy moments, but she mostly avoided full on melt downs. Since she’s still been breast feeding this also meant the first time she went over night without nursing. She wasn’t great on the bottle the first few days, but luckily she ate up a storm and Grandma Jill made sure she fed her lots of juicy fruits (like watermelon).

Maile definitely knew something was amiss and she was more clingy to me than normal. She also would search all over the house for Mommy (including a fun adventure at 2 AM one night where I had to carry her to every room in the house to prove to her that Mommy wasn’t hiding behind the couch).

I think it was tough on Mommy too. We originally planned on using our new iPhones to FaceTime chat, but unfortunately Maile went a little bonkers the first time we tried it. She couldn’t figure out why mommy was stuck in the phone and wouldn’t come out to feed her (she just cried and made her milk motion over and over in front of the camera). So after the first night, Mommy had to go a few days without even seeing Maile Girl (minus the pictures and videos I’d send over to her).

I have to say Grandma Jill was a rock star – I think she took the brunt of Maile missing her mommy, but she made sure Maile had lots of fun and made the days until Mommy came back go by really quickly. Unfortunately, since Maile would get clingy to me whenever I came into the room, I actually couldn’t get any great photos of Maile and Grandma. Here’s the best I got – as you can see she’s already on her way to her Daddy!

Grandma Jill did a great job keeping a smile on Maile Girl's face while Mommy was away in NYC...

And as previously covered, Maile Girl is very much in love with her Grandpa Mike – he gave Grandma a bit of relief when he came home from work and kept Maile laughing until bedtime.

All in all, things went well, but we’re all happier now that Maile and Mommy are back under the same roof…

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The Beach, Swampscott-Style

by Papa K on July 14, 2010

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more.”
– Dorothy

Last Friday, we hit the beach in Swampscott with our good friends Justin and Kerin, and their twin boys, Nolan and Quinn. Maile had met the boys once before back in November – with a few more months under their belts we were excited to get them all together again.

When we told Maile we were going to the beach, she mentally prepared herself for the beach she went to recently in Hawaii. Needless to say she was in for a bit of a surprise…

Whoa! This water is freezing! What is the deal, Daddy!?

Hey Mommy, can we talk? I have a few things I want to discuss re: this so-called "beach". First, this sand is like pavement! What's up with that?

... Five, did I mention how cold the water is? I can't feel my legs anymore. Six, speaking of the water, why can't I see through it like in Hawaii? Is it dirty? Are you letting me play in dirty water? Seven, ...

"Out of all the sand pits on the beach you ended up in mine..."

"I hear long distance is tough." "Yeah."

We took about 10 pictures trying to get everyone looking the same way - this is the best we did! Justin, Kerin, Nolan and Quinn - great seeing you guys can't wait to do it again soon!

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Family Picture – Year 1

by Papa K on July 13, 2010

Family Picture - Year 1

And for old time’s sake, here is our very first family picture:

Family Picture at One Week

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More from Maile’s Swampscott Birthday Party

by Maile Girl on July 13, 2010

As I mentioned previously, on Sunday I celebrated my birthday with a bunch of friends from the Boston area. Grandma Jill (especially), Grandpa Mike, mommy and daddy planned a really fun BBQ. I got to see some old friends I hadn’t seen since my last visit to Boston in November and I also made some new friends.

Below are some pictures from the festivities – I am definitely a very lucky girl and appreciate everyone who came over to help me celebrate!

Really? Must I wear the hat?

I'm glad I took the hat off, you guys look funny...

Playing at the party with my new friends, Jordy and Alex - they are 4 and 5 years old - basically the same age as mommy and daddy. I learned a lot from them!

This is how I see the world. Everyone is so tall.

Check out the AMAZING cake that Grandma Jill made! She made it completely from scratch and designed the dress to match the dress I was wearing at the party. At first, I was a little nervous that my guests might get confused and eat me instead, but everything worked out okay...

I asked mommy and daddy to help me blow out the candles, but my wish was all my own!

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The Two Sides of Grandpa Mike

by Maile Girl on July 12, 2010

I’m learning a lot about my Grandpa Mike on this trip.

For instance, he’s a really good story teller. I mean really good. Don’t tell Daddy, but Grandpa Mike is WAY better.

(Dad note: To put this in perspective a bit. I try to read a story to Maile almost every night before she goes to sleep. I usually can get in about 2-3 pages before she starts fussing around and rubbing her eyes. With Grandpa Mike? She’s riveted for the whole story. Apparently, I need to kick my game up a notch. Of course, just for showing me up in front of my daughter, I’m publishing this video for all to see – complete with Grandpa Mike’s ridiculous animal sounds. Payback, Gramps!)

Now, on the other hand – Grandpa Mike isn’t as great with feeding time. Tonight he helped out and fed me dinner. Or more accurately, he let me feed myself while he took pictures like it was the cover shoot for Vogue magazine. It was A LOT of fun, but things got a little messy…

Like this Grandpa Mike?

Just an FYI - this is a little different then how Mommy usually runs things...

All done! Does this count as "eating" my yogurt?

(Dad note: I’m convinced this was a ploy so that Grandma Jill doesn’t look for Grandpa Mike’s assistance again come feeding time. We’ll see … he’s a sly cat that Grandpa Mike.

(Click here for the video.)

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Countdown to 1: Best of July / August 2009

by Papa K on July 5, 2010

We’re t-minus 6 days until Maile’s first birthday and I thought it would be fun to collect some of my favorite posts from the past year. If all goes according to plan, we’ll bust these out 2 months per day over the next week. Enjoy!

July 2009