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Amelia finally gave up the stump at a mere four weeks of age. It took a while but we are quite pleased with the result. Let the raspberries begin!

Brandon's photos

Brandon uploaded some pics to the Flickr account after only a lot of nagging.

Click here for some from Pablo & Joanna's Labor Day bbq.

And here for some he took in Coupeville on Whidbey Island while training there this summer.

Silent Scream

Silent Scream, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

While at the doctor's office the other day, her pediatrician remarked that Amelia would have to learn to control her temper. What ever could he have been talking about?

Cuatro Generaciones

4 generations, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Amelia is so popular. She had a visit from Brandon's mom, aunt Val, and grandpa LeRoy (Poppo) last week. After that she had her first trip out of town to Santa Clarita and her first trip to a restaurant to meet Great-Grand Gramps Otto and Great-Grandma Eve. They were in SoCal already so the timing was perfect. Amelia is just checking people off the list left and right!

The baby had a checkup at two weeks and two days and is growing well. The kid's head gained half an inch, her length had increased by an inch, and she gained 14 ounces in nine days. Clearly she's getting enough to eat. As she should the number of times a day she requires Mama's services in that department.

Sushi - finally

After foregoing raw fish for the better part of a year, the sushi-fast was broken. Thanks to Grandma Chris' offer to babysit, Brandon & I got our first post-natal date. Amazingly, there is a decent Japanese restaurant in beautiful downtown Ridgecrest and there was plenty of room at the sushi bar last night. We tried to take pictures but the feeding frenzy was such a flurry of chopsticks and wasabi, none turned out. I was a little overzealous when I instructed the chef to make the Red Dragon roll "all the way" hot, but otherwise it was a perfect meal and good practice for our next trip to our truly favorite place in Oxnard - Yokozuna. Babies like sushi, right?

Hospital Portrait

Amelia's hospital pic in the Christmas getup they gave her. Poor kid.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Classic overindulgence, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Amelia surprised us all this morning when we found her passed out on the sofa, suffering from a bad case of New Year's regret. Some kids just don't know when to say when.

Hope the New Year finds you all in good spirits and good health!

What are YOU looking at?

Always goes right for the eyes, the turkey, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Shane was tired of Quentin and Amelia getting all the attention. She was pleased to open a gift from her cousin Dudley and discover the perfect plan. She would take the stuffed shark toy to the backyard. The conehead dog would be no match for her and her bare-headed self. She'd wag and smile for the camera and as soon as the bipeds' backs were turned, off would come the eyes!!! Ha ha! "Now they'll have to look at me," she woofed softly. "Now it's my time to shine."

Shine on, Shaney, shine on.

Most Perfect Package

Christmas2006, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Introducing Tax-break 2006!

Close-up of the eyeballs
Originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

AKA: Amelia Charlotte

Amelia was born Tuesday, December 19 at 5:18pm. She was 8lbs 6.2ozs and 21.75ins. Her head was 14" in diameter.

Winners are:
Birthdate - tie between Kim and RoCoBeGo. Neither was right on but were closest at a day off.
Birthweight - Grandma Chris at 2 ounces off.
Length - Wendy, Grandma Chris and VenturaMom within a quarter inch.
Oh, and special recognition to V, who predicted "perfect." She was totally right on.

The boy/girl votes were pretty evenly split. There seems to be no science to the how-you-carry thing. Not that I thought there was a science to it, c'mon, I don't fall for that sort of thing. Usually.

Okay, winners, something special and CLASSY will be coming your way, but don't hold your breath.

If you need us, we'll be kissing the baby.

Bring me the head of Quentin the Canine on a platter!

Floating head
Originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

This is what happens when you bark one too many times over at our house. Too bad, too, because we found out the mass on his foot was benign so he could've lived so much more life.

Mix-tape, made easier with iTunes

Brandon is making me a special birthing mix. Here's the line-up so far:

• "Dreadlock Holiday" - 10cc (just 'cause I don't like it, I LOVE it)
• "Feels Like the First Time" - Foreigner
• "Hey (Been Tryin' to Meet Ya)" - The Pixies
• "Break on Through to the Other Side" - The Doors
• "Exodus" - Bob Marley and the Wailers
• "Dazed and Confused" - Led Zeppelin
• "Bring the Noise" - Anthrax with Public Enemy
• "Brown Eyed Girl" - Van Morrison (just 'cause that's what Brandon says we're having)
• "Daughters" - John Mayer (again with the girl theme)
• "Hey, Baby" - No Doubt
• "Feels Just Like it Should" - Jamiroquai
• "I Believe (When I Fall in Love it Will Be Forever)" - Stevie Wonder
• "I'm a Lonely Little Petunia (in an Onion Patch)" - Imogene Heap
• "At the Zoo" - Simon and Garfunkel
• "No Sleep 'til Brooklyn" - Beastie Boys

Anything we're missing?

Santa's Crap Shop

The weekend after Thanksgiving brought the annual Santa's Crap Shop to the fairgrounds. Okay, it's really called an "art" show. You guessed it, no good. Ventura has a twice yearly street festival billed as a craft fair. I've always called it the crap fair. Oh, I always went to it, don't get me wrong. But somehow my money managaed to stay in my pocket, try as I might to find something, anything, I could stand. Well, I did always manage to find room for a "maragrita" (that's really what the sign said, not just how I said it after having had one) down at the Catholic church. Somehow they were the only ones allowed to sell alcohol. Well, this deal here didn't let us down in the crap department. We even paid to get in to really sweeten the deal. Of course if we hadn't gone, I wouldn't have heard the woman say to her friends - in reference to me - "That one's about to pop!" Oh, stop charming me, you.

This food booth's sign also charmed me.
Yep.

This is a dog we know suffering great humiliation.

Not that we frown on that. 'Cause we don't.

Extra super stoned

Extra super stoned
Originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Quentin had surgery yesterday to have a mass removed from his right heel. Poor kid was at the hospital for nine hours. He had a general anesthetic so we got his teeth cleaned while he was out. The doc also found a small growth on his tongue. What a wreck this guy is!

Well, he was fairly stoned when we picked him up but despite that was able to communicate to us that he was pretty pissed off. He didn't have the strength to sneer for a few hours, but we could tell.

I called my dad to report on Quentin's condition and realized, as my dad waited for me to say why I was calling, that at this point in my pregnancy I can't call anyone unless it's show time. Sorry.

Click on the pic for some gory goodness!

As long as people are betting...

Got some weigh-in re: baby's premiere in comments on our Britney and K-Fed post. (P.S. We are totally broken up over their break-up. Hard to talk about it. Meep.) So, anyway, why don't we just open this thing up to speculation. I suppose I should offer some sort of prize to those of you who get the date right. Also some sort of prize for those who are closest on the weight and/or length. I don't think I'll offer anything but a hearty congratulations if you get the sex correct. Not enough variables on that one. What might these prizes be? Good question. Good question indeed. Yeah, I don't know. I will come up with something classy, though, to be sure.

Let the predictions begin...

What do you do with a drunken sailor?

I don't know, but after last night's squadron holiday party, I sure know what one looks like. Sorry, no photo evidence. Top secret base. You know how it is. Let me just say that there was lots-and-plenty unscheduled entertainment on the dance floor.

Hallow-truckin-ween 2006

I'm back

Alright, where did we leave off? Perhaps in Wyoming. Okay, Sunday we left Cheyenne after enjoying our free waffles (we stay at La Quinta and they do that) and trucked across Wyoming into Utah. I did not get a picture of the welcome sign because it was lame and I didn't realize it was the sign. It was a small billboard mentioning the Olympics. It didn't have the sense of commitment and permanence the other states' signs do.

Once into Utah, I-80 dropped to 65mph. Uncool. Luckily the speed increased again once past Salt Lake City. Luckily all we did in SLC was pass through it. The Great Salt Lake was pretty cool to drive past. It smelled like the ocean only stagnant. I suppose those out boating either had the benefit of air movement or were used to it. From there to the border we passed lots and lots of salt. We saw the Morton salt plant which was processing like crazy. I felt my blood pressure rise just looking at it. Beyond that the salt got even thicker and in the sun it glistened like so much Vegas showgirl jewelry. Sadly my drive-by method of photography didn't capture it well.

We ended our day in Elko, Nevada. Our hotel had a sign that said "Dog Walk" which directed you through a gate out the back of the property onto a dirt road leading to houses. I guess that's one way to deal with it. That one was not a La Quinta. Our original plan was to make that my last night on the road but we decided to make one more stop in Reno. Our days have been 550 to 650 miles and a good nine hours behind the wheel. My sitting parts are not my friends any more. So, now tomorrow I head to Monterey with the dogs and Brandon hopes to get to Eugene for his last night on the road. In the meantime, we'll be hitting the Sierra Trading Post Outlet store and the all-you-can-eat sushi place.

More later!

Moving on

Okay, so we last left you in Memphis while deciding what to do with our rainy day. The afternoon cleared up so we headed downtown for a walk around and barbeque at the Rendezvous. The walk around turned into people watching from a bar called the Flying Saucer. They boast loads of beer on tap and more in bottles. From there we watched two 12 or 13 year olds gettting busted outside the mall across the street. Two undercover cops had them and mall security was there and finally a uniformed cop. Apparently it was a big enough deal for the uniformed cop to drive the wrong way down the one-way street. Also it was not a big enough deal for the kids to actually get arrested. Okay then.

After that we had dinner, Brandon had a full rack of Memphis ribs. He was happy. We then walked around Beale Street which Brandon described as "Bourbon Street with a conscious." After that it was back to the house and the dogs and we rolled out of town Thursday morning on our way to Kansas City.

Memphis to KC was another 9-hour travel day. That seems to be our regular interval. We got to Scott, Connie, and Grace's house right as dinner was being served - thank you. Friday we hung out with Aunt Marge and worked in some Kansas City barbeque - another full rack for Brandon. He won't say which he's partial to, probably a good move. Friday night we were back at the cousins' place and joined by cousin Don. We kinda grazed through leftovers for dinner and Brandon had none as he was still working on that rack.

Saturday we were back on the road and made it to Cheyenne. We headed north out of Kansas City and were in Iowa for a couple of minutes, then a full day of Nebraska. I-80 through that state is about as straight as it can get, but the speed limit is 75 and for that we were grateful.

I'll pick it up again soon, but there's more road to cover. P.S. You may find some photos over at the Flikr photo icon on the side.

First two days

We packed up the cars and hit the road Monday at 10:30am. Much later we realized we'd left the milk in the fridge. Oops.

So, we made it to Asheville, NC, that day, miles for the day were 383. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express on the east side of town, adjacent to the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove. Just thought you'd like to know. The hotel had a surprisingly nice restaurant and Brandon enjoyed pecan crusted trout. Shane had her first elevator rides, that was interesting.

Tuesday we got an earlier start - 8:30 - and set to our 500 mile day. We got to Vonnie and Wendy's late afternoon and the dogs decided to get along well. That was a bonus. Well, mostly Shane played with Jack and Georgia and Quentin crashed around in the bushes by himself getting as wet as possible. Did I mention there was a helluva storm? Yes, it was headed east so it hit Memphis before we got here then passed through us. Really we passed through it but if felt like the other way around. Overnight we had a couple large thunderstorms and therefore shared our bed with Shane for half the night. Quentin barks at thunder and tells it where to go, but Shane can't fight that battle alone.

Today is still rainy so we're trying to find some sheltered activities. Eating ribs is on Brandon's list and that shouldn't be at all inhibited by weather, it's just the rest of the afternoon we have to worry about. We'll let you know how it works out!