Eagerly awaiting Baby

Kyle is getting very excited to have Baby joining us soon, and keeps telling her (or him, although Kyle wants a sister) "out, out, out!" He was happy yet again to go to the OB visit with me yesterday (and this time we were joined by Daddy, who misses all of the visits he was able to make when I was pregnant with Kyle) and to hear Baby's heartbeat on the Doppler.

I had my last ultrasound today to check out the size, and this little one appears to be right on track according to dates, but I don't have the weight estimate yet. The tech showed me the hair waving around in the fluid, and we saw the eyes shifting around and eyelids blinking, as well as the little one drinking and swallowing fluid. Kyle was very excited to see the pictures of the face afterward, although they do take a little imagination to pick out the features at this point, when baby is getting so big!

I am now at full term now, so we are trying to prepare for baby's arrival any day now, although like Kyle, this one seems to be taking his or her own time. I have a C-section scheduled on May 2nd, in case the stork hasn't arrived by then!

Happy Hollow

Dave's birthday was on Thursday, so aside from having a date night for the two of us that night, we were looking forward to getting away for a fun activity for the weekend. With my due date so rapidly approaching, we were a little limited with what we could plan, but we decided to head down to Santa Cruz for the morning. However, by the time we got all three of us loaded up into the car (how long is it going to take for four?!) it was already 10am, and we decided it wasn't worth the drive since we'd be limited on time there before Kyle's nap. So instead we took our first trip to the Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose.

Kyle started off on the vintage 1940 carousel that they have, and then we moved into the zoo. We saw a sleeping jaguar, lots of lemurs, meerkats, and a long-standing favorite, feeding the goats. His new favorite was a large tortoise, who was walking along the perimeter of his enclosure, so Kyle kept running along with him, trying to reach through to touch him. We also saw a capybara, which has long fascinated Kyle in one of his magazine, but who, unfortunately, wouldn't go in the water for us.

Back in the park side of Happy Hollow, we promptly found the "choo choo train" (a motorized Dragon with cars) which was unfortunately taking a break at the time. There was a fire truck which Kyle was very excited to drive, from which Kyle quickly spotted another merry-go-round. Which he happily rode with Mommy and Baby-Bump, although we did have a difficult time deciding which character to ride on, turtle, snail, pelican... too many to decide from!


We also went on Kyle's first see-saw ride, which was a big hit. Just as we were about to leave, the train ride reopened, but we decided to give it a miss because the line was getting so long and our little guy was getting so tired!

The park and zoo are closing at the beginning of July for major renovations (reopening Fall 2009), so we were glad that we were able to make it down there when we did, but look forward to seeing the updated/upgraded park next year in the Fall. The 1940 carousel that Kyle rode with Daddy won't be making a return, so we're happy we had a chance to ride it when we did.

Happy Easter!

Here is Kyle's first photo with the Easter Bunny! After the rough time we had with Santa just a few months ago, I wasn't sure how well this attempt would go, but Kyle was VERY excited to see the Easter Bunny and could barely wait in line behind 3 other kids! By the time we got to the front of the line, Kyle was reaching up and waving to get the Easter Bunny's attention, and the occasional waves he got back in response brought grins of excitement and more waves. He was very good about sitting still for the photo, and we managed to get both a smile AND Kyle's eyes open (she timed it just perfectly after his cheesy grin when his eyes were closed!)

We had a very nice Easter weekend, with Kyle's first Easter Egg Hunt at Burgess Park in Menlo Park on Saturday (more of a scrabble for all of the eggs thrown on the baseball field than a hunt, but luckily we were in the first group for kids 2 and under) and then a ride on the old fire truck. We didn't manage to get a photo of that since we were all on board, but we did get one of Kyle sitting in the shiny Menlo Park Engine 1 afterward. As you can see, he has a little more growing to do before he responds to any emergency calls! (Click on the photo to see it larger)

On Easter Sunday, we discovered that the Easter Bunny had left a basket filled with a "paint with water" book, some paint brushes (of course!), a variety of stickers, sidewalk chalk (shaped like eggs) and a few chocolate bunnies. Kyle was very excited about the chocolate bunnies, and we had quite a few expressions of "O" go across his face as he discovered what they were! After breakfast and getting dressed, we peeked out the backdoor and saw that the Easter Bunny had been busy hiding eggs in the backyard. Kyle couldn't contain his excitement waiting for us to put on his shoes to go outside to see what was there.

After a nap to refresh, we managed to take a quick family photo of the FOUR of us before heading over to Papa and Noni's house (Dave's parents) for Easter dinner, also joined by Maemo and Granpa, Uncle Mike, and Great-Uncle Charlie and Great-Aunt Doni. We hope that everyone else had a very Happy Easter!

Mr Mischief

Following our long morning in the park on Sunday, Kyle recharged briefly on the drive home and with a short nap in his crib. After that, he was ready for playtime outside, helping Daddy with some gardening. So much so that is clothes were soaked and he required a costume change. Here Kyle is, showing off his new shirt from Auntie Laura (while also taking a moment for a cheese stick snack) What a big boy he looks with his t-shirt and jeans!

Picnic in the Park

On Sunday we met Kyle's friends Maddie ("Mama") and Julia ("Juju") along with their parents (our friends, Sarah and Michael!) at the Children's Playground in Golden Gate Park. We had surprisingly pleasant weather for being in San Francisco, and I ended up with a sunburnt shoulder and some rosy cheeks! Kyle had his first carousel ride, with mixed reviews - he wasn't thrilled, but didn't break down in tears insisting to get off either! I did manage to get a photo of Kyle smiling on the zebra before the ride started, but it is with his "smile-for-the-camera" big cheesy grin, which also involves eyes tightly shut!The dads and older kids had fun playing on the large play structure (Kyle even launched himself down a TALL slide solo and masterfully stopped at the bottom) while Sarah and I had a chance to catch up with Julia checking out the smaller (and quieter) play structure. We had a great (and sunny) picnic in Sharon Meadow before heading back to the carousel for one final ride before heading home. This time the carousel was greeted with much greater enthusiasm, perhaps because we found the right animal to ride on? (Kyle still talks about the gorillas and giraffes from our last visit to the zoo and can't wait to go back) With each pass in front of his daddy, Kyle was excited enough to let go of the pole, lean out and wave - and when the carousel started to slow, Kyle tried pushing on the giraffe to make it go faster again. Kyle was so exhausted that he fell asleep in the car before we even made it out of the park!

San Francisco Zoo

I paid for a Family Membership to the San Francisco Zoo for the year, and it has turned out to be a great investment, Kyle loves his trips to see all of the animals. We decided since both Dada and Mama had Monday off for President's Day, we would take a family trip to the zoo. I made the mistake of mentioning this a few days in advance, and Kyle kept "asking" about feeding the goats, and I had to tell him that it wasn't for a few more days that we were going.

(Please remember to click on any of the photos to see full size versions)

Our first stop was the gorillas, who were just waking up and having their breakfast. We went in the reverse direction, and managed to find an amazing viewing area all to ourselves. The silverback gorilla has now replaced Kyle's goats as his favorite memory of the park! I actually had this photo up on the computer after we got home, and as soon as Kyle woke up and came out of his room, he was so excited to see the gorilla back at home with him, and he patiently sat on my lap while we looked at ALL of the photos that we had taken. On the way to the gorillas, we also had a great view of the giraffe family.

Our next trip was to the grizzly bears, who aren't let out to roam for their breakfast until 10:30, so we had a quick jog to the other side of the zoo to see them "fishing" in their pond for oranges, pears, and (surprise) fish!

We spent some more time passing by other bears, hunting for the elusive koala, and laughing at the kangaroos before we made it to the long anticipated Children's Zoo. Despite Kyle's week-long excitement about feeding the goats, he was a little reluctant to do so this time. However, he did get brave enough to feed one of them, just as we were getting ready to find some lunch for ourselves.

After our lunch by the flamingos, we went to take a quick look to see if the lion and tiger grottos had reopened yet (they hadn't) Instead, we saw the penguins jumping up out of the water, and then diving back down to zoom around swimming. Kyle became fascinated by the rhino and it was very difficult to get him to leave, but unfortunately, it was time for a nap. On the way back to the exit, we had a quick photo stop atop a "baby" elephant, although Kyle was all wiggles, so it was difficult to get a photo - Mama had to hold him in place in order to get this one.

Once back at the car, Kyle happily babbled to Teddy for 10 minutes about everything that he had seen, but within one minute of reaching the freeway, and no more stop-and-go traffic lights, he was sound asleep, happily dreaming of his next trip to the zoo!

Big shoes to fill!

Kyle's been having fun lately trying on everyone else's shoes, or wearing his daddy's nice button-up shirts. With how quickly time is flying, I am sure that it won't be long before he truly is wearing these clothes! But in the meantime, they make for some awfully cute photos.