8 months

A few days late this month, since we were busy recovering from the Em Brown/Scott Morrison wedding in San Diego -- an event 11 years in the making, by the way -- on Sunday the 12th. Such a beautiful setting at the house Em grew up in in Del Mar; views of the ocean from most rooms of the house and the gorgeously landscaped backyard. They really couldn't have paid for a better venue. Brought back memories of heading down there for spring break during college. We'd have picnics under the palm trees in the backyard (Pacifico the beer of choice those days), attempt to order a fancy drink at the posh restaurants bars down the street from her house (we weren't 21 -- got denied every time, but still tried almost every day). It was so good to see Em and Scott and to finally celebrate their big day. It was also great staying with Amy and Jesse, and getting to spend some time with little Jack, who is almost two, and who I hadn't seen since he was three weeks old. What a cute little guy! And of course, so great to spend some time with Mary and Patrick as well. The day of recovery on Sunday was complete with a trip to the Stone Brewing Company. Nothing better than enjoying some craft beers in the sun with good friends.

On Monday we left San Diego and headed up to Long Beach for a few hours to visit Kelly and Marc and their new precious addition, Ava. What a beautiful little girl! I still maintain my strong opinion that Kelly and Marc should have never abandoned us in Denver, but they seem genuinely happy back in CA and things are going really well for them…so I'm trying to get over it.

The next stop on this particular California adventure was Santa Barbara. We got to spend a night with Chris and Cheryl, who also shouldn't have abandoned us in Denver -- but they've got a great thing going on down there as well.

So now we're up in Shaver Lake, enjoying some quiet time at the moment. With the rough part of the trip behind us (one plane ride and the six hour drive from Santa Barbara to here yesterday), we're looking forward to many fun events ahead. More on that to come.

Jumping at Jazz in the Park

Over the past month, Autumn's changes seem to have been somewhat more subtle than previous months, but we'll give it a shot anyway. These few pics are just from my iPhone. We'll get some good ones going once Grandpa Jones gets in on that action.

--She's crawling EVERYWHERE, and pulling herself up on EVERYTHING. In the past two days she has started to push herself away from whatever she's standing on. She thinks she is amazing when she stands by herself, and actually, we kind of do too. Yesterday she went on for around 20 seconds.

Diaper boxes/fireplace blockers/best entertainment in the house. Go figure.

--Babbling nonstop, especially when she's in a good mood. Until a couple days ago it was almost always "da da da da da da", and now it's a mix of all sorts of random sounds that crack us up. She sounds like a little drunk person.

Can anyone tell my why that red baby toy is shaped that way?

--Becoming hungrier for attention, mostly from strangers and new people. She loves being in new places, so when we were in the airport, car rental place, etc., she would look around to see if anyone was looking at her -- and if not she'd start blowing raspberries until she got some attention. Then she would start laughing, talking, smiling, etc. A guy on the plane commented that she's going to be trouble when she's older. We're hoping he's wrong.

More please!

--Working on getting her two bottom teeth. This has been going on for a while, and right before we left I had taken her to the pediatrician thinking she'd had another ear infection -- but her doctor said she had two teeth that were a "day or two" away from coming in. It's been a week now and still no chompers, but we'll see.
--Eating everything. Really. We haven't found a food she doesn't like this month. Spinach, broccoli, carrots, peas, potatoes, all fruits, baby cereal, puffs, baby Mum-Mums. Everything.
--Last week she weighed 18 1/2 pounds. She's still pretty chunky. We like it.
--Starting to wave at people, dogs and other random objects -- she has no idea what the purpose is, but she likes to see people smile, so she's all about this. Clapping is coming along, but for now she sort of just flaps her hands like the autistic kids I work with. Perfect.

--She had to say goodbye to her first love this month. Baby Axel, her daycare BFF, is moving to Arizona before we get back from California. I know they're just babies, but Axel and Autumn were like two peas in a pod. They got along so well, and would get so happy when they would see each other. We spent a little time with Axel's parents last month, much to the babies' delight. It was sad saying goodbye to the little guy. We're secretly hoping Arizona isn't all it's cracked up to be.

And now for what can probably be considered my favorite picture in our Autumn arsenal. Here's the scene: playdate (I hate that word, can't believe I just typed it) and BBQ with Autumn's favorite friends. They all have such distinct and awesome personalities. Axel is the handsome, dashing young lad who flashes his awesome dimply smile at the drop of a hat. He's a big boy - still immobile and less tough than he looks. Abigail is Autumn's role model of sorts. She cautiously explores new tricks and skills while Autumn eagerly watches, and then Autumn tries them out herself usually exactly a month after learning from Abigail (they're exactly a month apart). Where Abigail clearly differs from Autumn though, is in her genuine curiosity of the world around her. While every new item that Autumn comes along immediately goes in her mouth (including things like ear plugs and pine needles, unfortunately), Abigail will pick something up and fully examine it for minutes at a time -- turning it to view it at every possible angle...before eventually, maybe, tasting it. It's pretty fascinating. Then there's Sam. Poor guy has spent most of his 4 1/2 months of life in the company of older girls. He never seems to mind. If you were to ever mistakingly walk into one of our baby parties, you would be able to identify Sam as the cute, nicely dressed guy....chillin'. Pretty much anywhere. Sometimes he chills in his Boppy, sometimes on the couch or in his Bumbo seat. He's the most content little guy in the clan -- so happy to evaluate the scene and all of his potential dating options. So, you get the drift. Well, in the picture below, Axel's mom Megan was the photographer. She was attempting to get all of the kids to look at the camera, so she calls Autumn's name. Autumn turns around with Axel's ridiculous pacifier in her mouth (she's quite the paci stealer, which we'll do something about at some point), and Axel apparently was not ok with this. Also check out Sam and Abigail doing their things. Love it.