Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Weekend visit to Ventura

We three trucked on down to Ventura for St. Patrick's Day weekend. The dogs stayed home, were fed by a neighbor, and were locked in the house at 4am by another neighbor who couldn't take the barking anymore. Oops.

Grandma Chris was in the 805 for a needlepoint retreat and we visited with her at her brother Tasker and his family's home in Camarillo. We had a great time and enjoyed some delicious grilled meat! We did that the afternoon of St. Patrick's Day after the husband and I took Amelia to her first parade. In all the years I lived a mere block off the parade route, I don't think I ever watched the thing. It's possible that it's 10am start was a little early for me on such a celebratory weekend, but more likely I had to work.

On Friday, when we got to town, we visited our friend Elizabeth and her son, Alexander. He's nine months old and just about the smiliest kid ever. Brandon enjoyed playing with his toy that enunciates letters when pressed. "Pee oh oh pee. Jay ee ar kay. A ess ess." You get the idea. (Note to self: do not purchase spelling toy for Amelia.) After our visit and a quick check-in at the hotel, we headed to Oxnard to our fave sushi restaurant. It'd been almost exactly a year since our last visit. And our baby is three months old. Hmmm, I'm thinking their sushi is powerful stuff.

We got up early Sunday and got to Pete's (popular) Breakfast House early enough to not have to wait. Yum. Squeezed in a visit to the cloth-diapering store. Brandon weighed Amelia before and after a wet diaper change and noted a half-pound difference. Hee hee. There he also elicited Amelia's first laughs while looking at herself in the mirror. We then headed to Pablo & Joanna's for a visit. Jo's sister, Meesh, came by (with noodle salad - so good) and Kevanie (that's Stephanie and Kevin) also made it over to see the kid.

The weekend marked some firsts for Amelia. First time in a dress (cute), first laughter, first trip to Ventura, first parade, and, the best, first time I put her in her bouncy seat in front of the t.v. so I could get a few things done. What? It was Simpson's, it's wholesome. ;)

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Poor word choice

I listen to the news on the radio. I occasionally catch a bit on t.v. Once in a while I read a full story in the newspaper. In all of these media I have noticed the following: While being interviewed, police, victims, attorneys, and witnesses have referred to the alleged perpetrator as a "gentleman." Huh? The alleged attacker was a a gentleman? That's a little generous. I can think of a few other descriptors that are a bit more apropos. Maybe not polite, but is that really what we're going for here?

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Friday, March 16, 2007

It's my dad's birthday

So, to celeberate, here are some pictures of the baby! What? That doesn't make sense? Fine. Look at her anyway.

Ed. note: I noticed my typo "celeberate," and was going to correct it, but now think it's a pretty good word. Feel free to use it and to celeberate my dad on his special day. ;)

Monday, March 12, 2007

Mine eye has seen the gory of the oozing of the goop.


But thankfully it's mostly just really red now. I saw the doc and got drops for the eye and a shot of penicillin in the rump for suspected strep.

Two things - 1. Why is it called "Pinkeye" when it is so very red? 2. People won't look directly into the eye. They fear it's power.

More importantly, Brandon is umping Pony baseball. They best thing is the all-polyester outfit. And the posing.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

I thought this would come later

So you become a parent and you know that down the road this means you - through your loving offspring - will become exposed to contagious, creepy childhood maladies. What you don't expect is to wake up next to your fresh and unexposed to the petri dishes of daycare, playgrounds, and Chuck E. Cheese and find you have a raging case of Pinkeye. Gross. I'll spare you a photo. For now. No telling what I'll think tomorrow. I may post one then in a misguided quest for sympathy.

Friday, March 02, 2007

I've got a Major Pain


The leaf, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Cap'n Kitten is no longer. We now have a Major Pain living here. Brandon was promoted March 1. There was a five minute ceremony at the Marines' offices here. The second in command performed the ceremony as the number one guy was out of town. I think we got the better one of the two having heard the Colonel speak in public before. Awkward fellow. Anyway, there were about eight in attendance and I got to enjoy that uneasy feeling of being the only one in the room not standing at attention. Never sure how to handle that one. The senior Marine in Brandon's squadron, Flipper, and I had the honor of removing the captain's bars and replacing them with the golden oak leaves. I failed to understand the instruction to "place the stem parallel to the deck" but the promotion stuck anyhow. Afterwards Flipper commented that he missed a moment of the ceremony when Amelia, in her car carrier atop a desk, let one rip. That's our girl. She wanted to participate. Can you blame her? We had a family lunch out in town (fancy!). We then came home where I cermoniously chucked the pair of bars I had taken off earlier right into the trash. Brandon changed into his flight suit, switched to a new name badge bearing the proper title and headed off to work to try to remember to answer the phone with his new moniker. I tested him later - he passed. I think he'll do just fine.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Baptism


IMG_0695.jpg, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Amelia was baptized February 17 at Haku and Grams' house. Family friend, Philip, performed the ceremony as he did for our wedding. We had a fun day. Amelia excercised her lungs several times, slept some, and made the rounds. Click on this photo for an album of shots made by Grandpa Rob. Type http://lizedlund.com/Amelia/ for pics made by our friend (and photographer) Liz. I'm not able to make a hotlink for some reason - sorry.