Two months and one California adventure

Please pardon the delay for Autumn's two month update -- I'm reporting live from Shaver Lake, California, where we've been quite busy over the past few days. And by busy I mean lazy. Almost sloth-like, actually. In fact, yesterday's highlights included changing Autumn into a few different outfits for various photoshoots, happy hour  in the hot tub, a fabulous dinner prepared by my dad (followed fondly by a communal episode of meat sweats), and a viewing session of some classic Jones Family home videos (which could be a whole blog entry in itself - we won't go there now).

Brian, Autumn and I embarked on our first real trip as a family last Saturday. Everything went surprisingly smoothly. So much so that I actually obtained zero quality blog material from the trip. Well, unless you count the blind guy who's guide dog barfed a pile of grass on the floor of the gate area. Being blind, he obviously couldn't see it, and didn't realize was there for the hour he sat behind us. 

Four Generations

Once in Fresno we immediately headed to In-N-Out, where we indulged in our first meal of the week that resulted in meat sweats (gross huh?), and then on to visit my 94-year-old grandmother, who is recovering from a fractured pelvis in a rehab center. The pictures pretty much say it all, but in case you aren't that quick, she was beside herself with happiness. I can actually say that I have never seen my grandmother so happy and content. Our discomfort (from the Animal Style cheeseburgers that were wreaking havoc on our systems) was quickly forgotten as we all enjoyed Nana's moments with Autumn.

The following day, since my parents no longer have a house in Fresno, my mom's dear friend Karen hosted an open house so that we could visit with family and friends, and they could meet Autumn. It was a very busy afternoon, but such a fun opportunity to see everyone -- something that has become very hard to do when there's no longer a "home" in your hometown. We also, finally, had a chance to meet my grandmother's renowned friend Lloyd. Lloyd is 85, and he drives (God help us) over to my grandmother's every Sunday. They drink a bottle of wine and play Rumikub. According to Nana, Lloyd "has been married for about 25 years. His wife is fat, but she knows about me." There you have it ladies -- you can still be the "other woman" at 94. In all seriousness though, Lloyd has been wonderful company and great friend to my Nana over the past few years...and he wore a jacket with a map of the world to the party on Sunday. It doesn't get any better than that.

Gotta love Lloyd

Riley and Whitney

Autumn and "Auntie Karen" -- wonderful host and another of Autumn's personal shoppers

Us with both Ivanas. Friends for 23 or so years, and The Littles got to meet at two and eight months

But enough about us. Autumn turned two months on Sunday, the day of the open house. She has been quite busy being a baby since the one-month update. While things like eating, sleeping, and blowing through diapers (literally) still occupy most of her time, she has also made some legitimate gains. My favorite still has to be the smiles. She started smiling around six weeks, right on time as the books say. And since then she has become increasingly interactive. The smiles now are accompanied by lots of vocal expressions, like coos and happy yells). Her latest obsession is her play mat, which is basically just a mat that she lays on with a mobile and other toys that hang in her face. It doesn't change, ever, but every time she lays on it you'd think she was visitng Disneyland for the first time. If only Brian could be that easily amused.

Autumn also officially outgrew all over her newborn clothes, and is almost too long for her 0-3 month ones. Thankfully, I'm still able to squeeze her into the Michael Jackson pants that Brian loves so much. I am also very happy to report that she is starting to get the sleeping thing down. While we still don't have a set bedtime, it seems like we usually put her down between 7 and 9pm, and I can count on her to sleep until 2-4am. Up for the day between 6:30-8. Thank you, Autumn.

Quite possibly the most exciting update in Autumn's world is that she started rolling over, from front to back, the day before her two-month birthday. It was the afternoon that we got into California, and we were all convinced it was a mistake the first time she did it. So, we put her back on her stomach and she off she went. And then again. Then she decided that rolling over sucks, and started crying. Still not convinced that this was real and true new skill, we tried again the next evening. Same deal, except this time she was over it after the first try. I think she's done it once more this week, so I won't say she's totally got it down just yet, but we'll work on it. We're hoping she'll be skiing by February.

Well, the three of us are back to Denver tomorrow. We thought we were supposed to be here until Saturday, but for the second time this year, I booked our flight for the wrong day. At least some things stay the same.




And a final, parting shot...Happy Holidays everyone! Love the Boyds -- and one angry Christmas baby.