Liana!

Summer time

2011-09-25T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here is the first blog entry in a while that wasn't directly prompted by a "UPDATE YOUR BLOG" from my loving sister. Anyway, summer is over, but we've got lots of good memories. Liana had fun times at the beach:

Learning about nature:

Eating outside:

Watching some baseball:

Playing mini golf:

And playing in the garden:

She also started her first day of (pre)school and is now learning lots at a local Montessori school:

Fall is in the air, and Liana is already looking forward to Christmas (notice the pjs):

Here are links to the rest of the photos from August and September:

Liana (August 2011)

Liana (September 2011)

Oregon Vacation

2011-07-29T19:19:00.001-07:00

We had a great 2 week vacation in Oregon earlier this month. We spent a week with Grandma Nova in Eugene and a week with Grandma Denise and Grandpa Darwyn in Klamath Falls. We've posted a bunch of photos on google, but here is a selection of some of the best:

Playing with Grandma

Playing with Grandma's dog Holly (click for short video)

Trying out the farm equipment

Shell picking at the Oregon Coast

Driving Grandpa's plane

Playing in the wildflowers

Driving Grandpa's boat

Eating birthday cake

Here is the link to the rest of the photos:

Oregon Vacation (June/July 2011)

Quarterly update

2011-06-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

So I guess I have gotten a little behind on the blog updates, so here are some pictures from the last three months:

Spring Time! We love the fleeting green grass of the spring in northern California. Liana and I hit the peak at Sunol Regional Wilderness this year:

We also had our first outdoor easter egg hunt this year. Liana was a little sleepy but found all the eggs in the garden:

The garden loved the cool wet spring. Our sugar and snap peas went crazy!

And here is our first harvest:

Sometimes Liana doesn't share our same enthusiasm for the garden:

(She is actually playing her favorite game in which I, the "Mean Witch", traps her, the "Little Princess", in the tower. Somehow she always finds a way to escape.)

Here is Liana on her first bike- a Skuut!

Summer!
We had quite a hot spell, and I came home to find my little girl looking all grown up:

And here is a picture of father's day dinner at our local mexican restaurant:

Liana has also been helping out in our workshop:

Here are links to the rest of the photos from the last three months:

Liana (April 2011)

Liana (May 2011)

Liana (June 2011)

Birthday, cousins and more

2011-03-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

After a month and a half of sickness and misery, I am happy to announce we are all feeling well tonight at the same time. It is great! I also realized it has been a while since I posted anything, and lots has happened, so here is a quick update.

In January, Liana had a fun play date with a friend from daycare- her first playdate at our house. It was so nice to say "you kids go play in your room" and they actually did. Here is a picture of a snack of fresh chocolate chip cookies on the floor:

February brought lots of illnesses for everyone, but we still got to have some fun. Here is Liana picking some of our ripe meyer lemons to make lemonaid:

For my birthday we had some nice warm weather so we had a picnic at our local park with Nova who was down visiting:

Then my sister Gretchen and her two girls Meredith and Millie came to visit us in California for the first time. My mom came to visit too. It made for quite a full house, but it was worth it to see the cousins play together:

We went to the ferry building:

and the Exploratorium:

and had a fun birthday party at home:

Liana is now 3 years old and is doing great. She has a strong personality and a real knack for language. She is even starting to learn some spanish at daycare. Potty training is coming along well, and if we could only keep her from bringing home so many viruses, all would be perfect.

Here is her first "school" picture:

And here are the rest of the photos from January and February:

Liana (January 2011)

Liana (February 2011)

CHRISTMAS!

2011-01-03T19:40:00.001-08:00

Having a two year old brings a new joy of Christmas that our whole family enjoyed. Especially since Liana slept till 6:45am and was very happy with all her presents. We had been playing lots of Santa games in the days before Christmas, with Liana in her little elf hat she made at day care:

and I in my homemade Santa cap:

Darwin and Denise came to visit and we had a big Christmas Eve dinner:

And then Liana set out the cookies that she and Heather made for Santa:

Santa brought lots of loot,

Including the most requested item by Liana, a school bus! She also got a fuzzy blankie from Gramma Klausmeyer:

A cool cape,

and a custom painting of Santa and Liana from Auntie Gretchen:

A cool working tool set from Grandma Pearl:

An owl backpack from Grandma and Grandpa Pearl:

And a lovely red dress from Great Grandma Shelly:

Liana also got lots of clothes, some books, hat, mittens, dress up outfits, play food, and lots of playdo. She loves all her gifts, so thanks to everyone for sending/bringing them!

Here are the rest of the photos:

Liana (December 2010)

Potty time..

2010-12-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

Liana has worn big kid training underpants for the last three days and all is going well so far. For the several months we've been trying positive reinforcement and outright bribes, but she has been clinging to her pull ups. Now that Heather is around the house more during the holiday break, she put her foot down and Liana has given in. Who knows if it will last, but we sure hope it will.

After another gentle (all caps) reminder to update the blog from my sister, I noticed I haven't really put anything up since Halloween. We had a great trip to Oregon to see Grandma Pearl. Liana got some special earmuffs for the plane,

and was very excited to see her Grandma.

She got to see three of her great-grandparents, helped out with making the pies

and got to play in her first snowfall. It was only about a half inch, but she loved it and ate as much as she could find.
.

This month has been all about Santa and Christmas of course. We went to pick out and cut down our own tree

and then Liana helped to decorate it.

But she is most excited about Santa. Here she is in her Santa PJs:

Luckily, this time of year Santa is not hard to find. We've seen him in restaurant windows, in his car, and had two photo shoots with him already. She was pretty nervous in the first one:

But she was warming up to him a little more in the second:

And she is sure she know was she wants from Santa. A school bus. "A BIG one. A REAL one." I'm not sure how Santa is going to fit that down the chimney.

Here are a couple of cute videos of her talking to me - enjoy!

And here are the rest of the photos:

Liana (November 2010)

Liana (December 2010)

Halloween (a tad belated...)

2010-11-07T15:50:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween here. Liana is at an age where she is old enough not to refuse to put on a costume, but not old enough to go into a candy induced craze and want to hit every house in the entire zip code for trick or treating. We started off the festivities with some pumpkin carving:

But we did the carving too soon so by the time Halloween actually rolled around, they were mushy, full of mold, and actually too scary to get near.

Liana has been asking to dress up as a car for several months, so Heather got busy making a beautiful green cardboard car with taillights, headlights, and moving steering wheel. Here is Liana trying it out:

And here she is just before we went trick-or-treating:

Now that she knows how much candy you can get, I think she is going to want to hit a few more houses next year. Here is a cute video of her discovering her treats:

I updated the October photo album with a few more pictures:

Liana (October 2010)

Fall is in the air

2010-10-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

We just had our first real rain, and I've been scrambling around trying to make the house at least mostly watertight. Liana must be feeling the fall in the air, as she only wants to eat apples, pears, and the haunted gingerbread house that she and Heather made:

We also went to the pumpkin patch at nearby Rodeo Park to pick out pumpkins for everyone:

The highlight of the trip was Liana's first pony ride! She got to ride on Stewie, the white pony. She was feeling mopey most of the morning, but got a big smile when the pony started walking.

Liana's going to be a race car for Halloween, and we are excited to finally live on the first floor in a neighborhood where we might actually get some trick-or-treaters. We'll post some more photos from Halloween of course!

Here is a video of Liana being cute during breakfast-

Here are links to the photos from September and October:

Liana (October 2010)

Liana (September 2010)

July and August

2010-09-05T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well, since I just got an all caps message from my dear sister to update the blog, and since I have two months of unposted pictures, I figure it is about time for a new post. I've got some pictures of Liana at the the Alameda Country Fair:

And some experiments with big kid underpants:

Liana has had some nice success on the potty by going both number 1 and 2, but she is still reluctant to give up the diapers yet and wear the underpants (in the correct location anyway).

We also had our housewarming party in August with a great turnout and lots of food prepared on the grill.

Thanks to everyone who came and brought food and gifts. Liana liked the cookies the best.

Here is a short video of Liana on the train at the zoo, and as you can see, she is pretty excited about riding on the train...

And here is another video of Liana running around in the house when we first closed. I uploaded it a while ago, but forgot to post the link:

And here are the rest of the photos:

Liana (August 2010)

Liana (July 2010)

Trip to the East Coast

2010-07-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

We had a great trip to the East Coast and I am finally getting around to organizing the photos and videos. Thanks so much to Pete and Lauren for getting us from the airport and selflessly letting us sleep in their room with the AC. They also made a fantastic meal for the whole darn family (minus Grampy). And thanks to Gretchen and Brad for taking us to Parley Farm for fresh blueberry picking and to 5 Guys for a great greasy meal. But most important- they let us play the Wii! And finally thanks to Grampy and Gramma for letting us stay at the fantastic lake cottage, babysitting Liana while we ate and went to the movies, and for letting us use their car all week. Liana loved the trip and just today said "lets go to Maine".

Here is a video of Liana playing with Millie at Pete and Lauren's apartment before the big family meal:

And here is a video of Liana picking blueberries which is such hard work:

And here are the full set of 50+ photos- this is even the edited set...

East Coast Trip (July 2010)

Summer fun

2010-07-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

Liana has been enjoying the new home and finding ways to beat the summer heat. Since we have never had a lawn before, we made sure to take full advantage of it on a hot day:

We also took advantage of the new patio by setting up a splashing pool:

And you can always cool off by watering the plants (and your feet):

And the best way to cool off after a hot day is a messy fudgesicle...

We also got to show off the new home to Gramma Klausmeyer who came out for a short visit:

To see the rest of the June photos check out this album:

Liana (June 2010)

New home!

2010-05-31T19:50:00.000-07:00

We have finally moved into our new home in Castro Valley! I haven't mentioned it on the blog since I didn't want to jinx it, but we have the keys and have moved our stuff in, so it is a done deal. It is 1250 sq ft with 3 beds and 1 bathroom. It also has a nice big 2-car garage and a finished workshop that we are calling the "mildew mannor". Liana has approved of the new home because 2 days after we moved I asked her if she liked the new home or the old home better, and she thought about it for a few seconds and then said "new home!".

The house is well maintained and only needed a new furnace and a few minor repairs. Heather's mom drove down to help with the painting and she moved a bunch of boxes in her truck. Heather has been great about packing and unpacking quickly, and I have been having fun exploring the crawl space and attic. I also got to mow the lawn and clean the gutters so it hasn't all been fun. Darwyn and Denise came down for Memorial day and we had an all American BBQ. It already feels like home.

Here are some pictures:

We drive up for the first time with the keys

Liana checks out the view of the garden...

and jumps for joy!

The garden in bloom and the back cottage.

Our first dinner on the back steps. mmmm, quiznos.

And here we are with the SOLD sign at last!

Here are the rest of the photos with some after the movers arrived:

New Home (May 2010)

Liana in April

2010-05-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

Liana has been enjoying her terrible twos and making sure we know it. She loves to ignore you when you offer a choice, yell when you give her what she wants, and cry when you don't. You just can't win sometimes. But other times she is as sweet as can be. I was away last week at a workshop, and every night she told me she loved me on the phone. She is facinated with books and can "read" the titles from memory just a few days after we bring home a stack from the library. She loves playing outside and can run all the way around the block without being carried. She is even getting more brave at the playground and has gone down the big kid slide a few times on her own. Here is a video clip of her trying out her new pink shoes at a nearby park. Falling repeatedly doesn't seem to phase her...

And here are the photos from April, including a few from day care and some from Easter:

Liana (April 2010)

The Blues

2010-04-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hi all-

Here is a cute video of Liana painting and talking. Her color choice seems to reflect her mood:

More photos

2010-04-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

Hi all-

Two months of photos coming up. February and March were fun months with a new (to us) Liana sized table,

a visit from Gramma Klausmeyer,

a 2nd birthday,

several trips to the zoo,

St. Patties day,

a visit from Baby Nora, Erin, and Ross

and as always, lots of love:

Here are the links to the rest of the photos:

Liana (February 2010)

Liana (March 2010)

Late photos

2010-03-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

Well, now that it is march, it seems it is time to post the January photos! I guess I am a little behind, but things have been busy as usual. Liana just celebrated her 2nd birthday with Gramma Klausmeyer as the special guest. The day before, we went to my great auntie Ev's 90th birthday party. Liana enjoyed them both. She also dazzled everyone with her newly discovered sumersaulting ability. Here is a video:

Thats all for now. I promise to get the birthday photos up soon!

Liana (January 2010)

January Movies

2010-02-07T16:44:00.001-08:00

Here are several movies from the last month. No theme, just cute. She is also very aware of me taking the videos which usually end with her saying "I wanna see, I wanna see"

Liana cares for the dolly

Leaves and a Canadian Goose? It seems more like October than January, but that is the Bay Area for you...

Here is Liana showing off her artistic skills on a makeshift easel. She is quite the artist and brings home new crafts almost everyday from day care.

Not much going on here. We are all battling a tough cold but the rain let up this week and the sun finally came out today. Nova came for a quick visit in late January and Heather and I actually got out to see a movie in a theater: Up In the Air. I'll post the photos from January soon, but we have started house hunting so that takes up a lot of time, so I'm a little behind.

December photos

2010-01-11T19:44:00.001-08:00

Ok Gretchen- this one is for you! Thanks to her gentle reminder for more photos, here is the recap from the last month.

Picking out the Christmas tree at the you-cut-it farm:

Liana enjoying the fully decorated tree (she was fasinated by the ornaments, but didn't break any!):

Opening up stockings from Gramma Klausmeyer:

Christmas morning!

Even Leo loves Christmas:

Riding the steam trains with Grandpa Pearl and Grandma Denise:

And lots of excitement over green peppers:

Here is the link to these and rest of the photos from december:

Liana (December 2009)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T09:33:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas. Liana is old enough to get excited about presents and Santa, but not old enough to be too excited to sleep. A nice age! Liana started getting very excited about Chrismas when we vistied Santa at the zoo. Even though she was a little scared of Santa, she has been talking about Santa ever since. She even makes me hold the picture up to my head and talk like Santa (Ho ho ho!).

Grandpa Pearl and Grandma Denise are here visiting. They brought lots of presents when they came, and Liana loved helping putting them under the tree:

On Christmas Eve Liana left santa some cookies and milk, and was excited to see that he left her a little note saying that she has been a good girl all year. She got very excited opening presents. Here she is opening the gift from Grandpa Pearl and Grandma Denise:

Here she is playing with the cooking supplies from Grandma Pearl:

And here she is playing with her first baby doll from Gramma and Grandpa Klausmeyer and the stroller from Auntie Gretchen:

Thank you for the great gifts! I'll be putting the rest of the x-mas photos up soon....

Thanksgiving in Oregon

2009-12-13T13:07:00.000-08:00

We had a great trip to Oregon to see Grandma Pearl and her dog Holly. Holly was so happy to have someone right at tounge level- Liana was a little less happy about that. Liana did get to see her Great-Grandpa Pearl:

And her Great-Grandparents Shelley:

(Here is Liana giving her Great-Grandpa Shelley a kiss on the head)

Liana also had fun playing on the piano,

trying out her new boots and raincoat from Gramma Klausmeyer,

sampling Heather's tea,

smiling out with me,

and of course playing with Grandma Pearl:

Here are the rest of the photos from November:

Liana (November 2009)

Halloween

2009-11-01T18:53:00.000-08:00

We had a great month getting ready for Halloween this year and getting in the mood for fall. We went to Clayton Farms Pumpkin Patch:

After loading up on pumpkins, we brought them home and Liana got to empty her first pumkins:

And carve her first jack-o-lantern:

Then on the big night, we dressed her up in a homemade piggy outfit,

And went to our friends Kristen and Jerrold's house in Alameda,

Where Liana did her first trick-o-treating and got to eat lots of candy:

Here are the rest of the photos from October:

Liana (October 2009)

September

2009-10-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

Liana has been having a great time this past month, wearing daddy's clothes:

eating at the beach:

riding on the train at the zoo:

playing with animals:

making funny faces:

And finally, learning lots of new words:

Here are the rest of the pictures from September:

Liana (September 2009)

Fun with the laundry bin

2009-09-20T19:32:00.001-07:00

Everything is going well here. Liana continues to amaze us with her growing vocabulary, catch phrases, and sentences. My favorite is "watch out!" as she comes running into a room. She also likes to talk about the "loud train" that we rode on at the zoo, say "no cars" when we cross the street, and yell "garba bus" (garbage truck or "bus") whenever she hears a large truck outside.

Here are a couple of videos of Liana finding new uses for her collapsable laundry bin.

A week away

2009-09-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

I was gone all last week for a work conference, but it sounds like Liana, Heather, and Heather's mom Nova all had a great week. Before I left, we went to the farm where Nova got some great shots:

While I was gone, they did lots of playing at home with the stuffed animals,

a few walks around the neighborhood,

and lots of eating.

After all that activity, who wouldn't need a little time to just veg out?

Thanks Nova for the great pics!

Dizzy

2009-08-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a cute video of Liana spinning in her pajamas till she gets pretty dizzy...

More pictures next week...

Party time

2009-08-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

As parents of a toddler we are entering the birthday party circuit, which, like any other right of passage, is both fun and a little troubling. But Liana seems to have fun at the parties because it satisfies her balloon obsession. Speaking of balloons, here is a video from last month of Liana at Isabel's birthday party with lots of balloons:

Last weekend we went down to Monterey to see our friends Billy and Margaret and attend Loretta's birthday party. Unfortunately we didn't find out it was a pool party until we arrived! Luckily there was a spare diaper and towel, and so Liana jumped right it.

Once I told her the name of the water noodles, she remembered she was hungry:

This weekend we went to Children's Fairyland- Liana is still a little young to enjoy all it has to offer, but it was fun to check it out:

Thats all for this week. Here is the link to the August photo album:

Liana (August 2009)

Quote of the week:

2009-08-03T19:29:00.001-07:00

K: "Liana, who do you like better, mama, or dada?"

L: "Da-ma..... Ma-da-da"

H: "Good answer"

Liana discovers art and hats

2009-08-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

Liana's favorite activity has shifted from reading books with us to drawing, coloring and painting. The first thing she goes for in the morning is her box of crayons, and everyday she brings home a new masterpiece from daycare. Here she is with some paints at daycare:

And some stamps the Lee and Jordan gave us- (thanks guys!):

And here is a video of her drawing on the back of a draft map from work:

And here is the final creation (with a few additions from heather and myself...)

Her other new trick is to wear hats instead of instantly pull them off her head. Here are some of her favorite looks:

Finally, we added a few more July photos to this album:

Liana (July 2009)

First trip to the farm

2009-07-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

To enjoy this beautiful saturday, we took Liana up to the "little farm" in Tilden Park. She has learned the names and sounds for lots of animals, so we thought it would be good for her to see and hear the real thing. She loved feeding the rams, watching the goats, listening to the rooster, and kept saying "cow cow" on the ride home. Here are some pictures and video:

And of course, after touching the animals, the hands go right in the mouth...

Here is the link to all of the photos from July:

Liana (July 2009)

Liana discovers TV

2009-07-12T07:06:00.000-07:00

Liana has discovered the magic of television, or more importantly, Elmo. Throughout most of the day she chants her mantra of "elmo elmo Elmo". She will even grab the remote and point it at the tv, and if that doesn't work, she'll press play on the DVD player. We're trying to limit her tv time for now but we do let her watch on weekends.

She is doing great at daycare and starting to play with the other kids instead of just next to them. Getting her to eat is still a challenge, and we feel silly coaxing her to eat chocolate ice cream- "just one more bite". Her vocab is steadily increasing with new words like happy dirty and even her own name, pronounced "eyaya".

Liana is napping in the computer room now so I am blogging from my new favorite toy, my iPhone. I can take movies and upload them to YouTube but I haven't figured out how to embed them yet. So just text for now!

Liana speaks

2009-06-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

We are all enjoying Liana's new found language abilities. The number of words she understands has exploded, and she says new words everyday. Her favorite new word is Hominy, and she will say it over and over when she is eating hominy, and even when she isn't. She is also starting to string words together like "Iwanit" or "Iwandat" when she wants something and "dada no" when she doesn't. And the one that tugs at the heartstrings is "dada, home" when I am at work and she misses me.

Nova, her grandmother, is here visiting for the week, and as always we are enjoying the extra set of hands and having a baby sitter. Heather and I got to go out for drinks and then see the new Star Trek after Liana went to sleep, which was a great date night. Here are some fun videos from the past few weeks:

Maine trip and 2 weddings

2009-06-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a while since we last posted an entry, but we've been doing some traveling. The upside is that we got lots of great photos! For the last 2 weeks in May we flew all the way to Maine for my brother's wedding and to see lots of family. This was Liana's first big plane flight- here she is in the airport before we left:

We took the red eye there and luckily Liana slept for almost all of it, even if we didn't. A connecting flight from JFK and a 2 hour drive later, and we could finally relax. We staying in my mom's beautiful cabin on Swan Lake which is a wonderful place to relax, enjoy the view, and play outside.

My younger brother Pete got married to his beautiful wife Lauren on sunday right on the coast. Here is a picture from their photographer

The real drama from Pete's wedding was the pouring rain 1.5 hours before. I drove with Pete and his soon to be father-in-law (the two people who had probably invested the most in having an outdoor wedding on the ocean) to the location, and as the sky got darker and the rain hardened, the mood in the car was pretty sour. But that soon turned to elation as the sky cleared and the wedding went without a hitch. Liana was a big hit in her pokadot dress:

The rest of the week involved lots of big gatherings for barbeques and coctails;

(Rehearsal dinner)

(Eating with cousins Meredith and Millie at my parents house)

(The extended family including the new additions of the Philbrooks!)

Playing with cousins;

A little time to play on the beach and to stop and smell the flowers;

A bonus wedding of my good friends Dave and Kachina;

And of course, playing in mid puddles!

The flight home was long but Liana slept through half of it and played quietly (for the most part) for the rest, we were so proud of her.

Just a few updates on Liana, she is learning new words and signs very quickly now and is developing a cute sense of humor. She is trying to teach herself how to run and jump, but she isn't quite there yet. She loves attention and likes to ham it up in front of a crowd. She is also entering her "billy-goat" phase which involves climbing and standing on top of our coffee table (our house is baby-proof, but not toddler proof!). She is quite a handful, but we love her to pieces.

Cleaning and the moonwalk

2009-05-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some more videos- enjoy!

Baby tricks

2009-04-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of videos of Liana showing off her new "tricks". She is getting very good at understanding what we are saying, but still only says a few words like ball and uh-oh. She is getting much better at making signs for more food and her favorite new sign that she made up is to pant every time she sees a dog.

Liana's tricks:

(18 secs)

In this video, Liana shows off a new but rather slow method of drinking...

(53 secs)

Liana at home

2009-03-28T16:21:00.001-07:00

After a week of a sick household, we are all starting to feel a little better this weekend. Liana and I went out early to get fresh pastries this morning for breakfast from the La Farine bakery nearby. There is nothing like a crispy fresh croisant to start off the day. For lunch we all went out to our local Giant Burger joint and sat at the counter for burgers and fries. Liana really liked tasting Heather's chocolate shake. Maybe we'll just have a salad for dinner...

Here are some cute videos and pictures from this past month:

Liana and her first balloon (10 secs)

Liana shows off her walking skills(16 secs)

And here is a link to a few photos.

Liana (March 2009)

Liana turns 1

2009-03-03T19:58:00.000-08:00

We have all made it through the first year, and we are still going strong! Liana's first birthday was great. Her Gramma Klausmeyer came all the way from Maine and spent most of her time here cooking for us and playing with the baby. Thank you! That gave us a little extra time to prep for her b-day party on March 1st. We had several friends, young and old, come by for a pizza party with an early egg-hunt for the kids. Here are some pictures and links to the rest.

Here are the photos from February:

Liana (February 2009)

And the rest of the photos from the birthday party:

Liana's First Birthday

More walking

2009-02-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

Liana has transitioned from taking a few hesitant steps with a lot of prompting to standing up and walking away from us when we are not looking! It certainly makes things more interesting around here. Of course, her walking is pretty wobbly and usually ends with a clunk. I got some great moments on video, so enjoy:

Here is one of the first times Liana walked all on her own on Feb 8th (23 secs, link to youtube)

Here is Liana walking over to me (19 secs, link to youtube)

And here is how her short trips usually end... (8 secs, link to youtube)

January 2009 photos

2009-02-01T09:12:00.000-08:00

Just a few photos to share this week. Heather and Liana had a fun experiment with markers. Heather did most of the drawing on the box, and Liana did most of the drawing on herself:

Here is Liana in her snow-bear outfit from Uncle Pete and soon to be Aunt Lauren. I think she is having trouble putting her arms down...

And here is a picture of her just looking cute!

Here is the link to the rest of the January 2009 photos:

Liana (January, 2009)

Liana and Leo

2009-01-25T16:05:00.000-08:00

Liana continues to idolize her older brother Leo, but he feigns indifference most of the time. Except of course when she grabs his tail and won't let go! We caught a few of their interactions on tape, where Liana plays the grab the tail game, and where she "loves" Leo by setting her face on his back:

(28 secs, see on youtube)

(45 secs, see on youtube)

Liana is getting a little more confident with her baby steps, and will stand up on her own and take a few steps to your open arms. No big falls yet, but we know they are unavoidable. She is also playing by herself for longer periods, giving us a few minutes where we don't have to do all the entertaining. I'll post January's photos next week.

Kirk

Caught on tape

2009-01-18T10:42:00.000-08:00

We finally got Liana's first wobbly steps captured on video. She is very cute when she is able to get from point A to B all by herself! We'll post more pictures next week.

(12 secs, link to youtube)

Baby steps!

2009-01-11T08:50:00.000-08:00

Liana delighted us with her first very tentative baby steps last night and this morning. With something to pull up on she is able to stand on her own, and with sufficient motivation, she will take a few steps into our open arms. It is very cute. She did two steps on her own last night with Heather, and, not to be outdone, I coaxed her into a few more steps this morning. Nothing on video yet, so stay tuned for the next post. Instead, I have finally posted all the December 2008 photos on the Picasa site, including Christmas day. Here is the link:

Liana (December 2008)

We also caught a few of Liana's new tricks on tape, including "reading" a book by flipping the pages. Here she gets really excited when she sees Grover and talks to him.

(32 secs, link to youtube)

and turning off and on the lights:

(28 secs, link to youtube)

We're waiting till she flips on the lights and starts reading a book in the middle of the night!

Liana's first Christmas

2009-01-01T18:34:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas break, and since Grandma Nova was here with her new video camera, we got lots of great footage. Here are a few videos:

Liana smiles at the camera (18 secs, link to youtube)

Liana opening presents (28 secs, link to youtube)

Liana plays with her new toys. Notice how she gets "shy" when she notices we are looking at her (39 secs, link to youtube)

Post Chirstmas morning nap (8 secs, link to youtube)

Everyone is happy and healthy here, and Liana is keeping us entertained. She can stand on her own for about 2 seconds at a time, and just got two new teeth in the top, bringing the grand total to 6! We can't wait to see what 2009 will bring.

Merry Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T12:56:00.001-08:00

As an early x-mas present, here are the photos that didn't make it on the x-mas card this year. We'll post some videos of present opening in a few days...

And here is the link to the rest:

Liana (month 9)

Merry Christmas!

Liana waves

2008-12-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

We are both battling colds and flus, but luckily Liana is keeping us entertained. She has learned how to wave and now waves hello to us first thing in the morning and about 20 times during the day. She likes to wave at the kitty, even though he doesn't wave back. She also does a surrogate for clapping that involves slaping the back of one hand with the other. Its hard to explain, but you can see it and the waving in this video:

We also put up a tiny tree out of baby's reach to get us in the holiday spirit- here is a picture before we put ornaments on- merry christmas!

Thanksgiving in Oregon

2008-11-30T16:17:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a great trip north to celebrate Thanksgiving with Heather's father and stepmother, Darwyn and Denise:

Liana slept most of the 6.5 hour drive north, but she did get a little fussy in traffic on the way home. Thanksgiving dinner was great and I got to take two flights in Darwyn's plane. Liana enjoyed exploring the big new house and crawling up stairs for the first time. She also got to open some early Christmas presents from the grandparents:

We also caught a few funny moments on video. Here is Liana at home doing her maniacal giggles. We're not quite sure why she does it, and it gets some funny looks in public!

(27 secs, see on youtube)

And here is one more short one of Liana posing as a Christmas unicorn:

(4 secs, see on youtube)

Here is the link to this month's photos, with the thanksgiving photos at the end:

Liana (month 8)

Liana's 8th month

2008-11-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

I was given some friendly chiding about continuing to track Liana's pictures week by week, since no one really knows how old 37 weeks is. So I am moving to a monthly format, but I will still try to update the blog more than once a month. Nova, Heather's mom, came to help us as we got over the stomach bug, and we all went out to the zoo.

Liana seemed to like the pot bellied pig the best, but was more interested in eating cheerios than looking at animals.

We also got to visit 1 month old Torry Busby and Liana got to play with Aiko, before the Busby's all head off to San Diego next month. We will miss them!

Here are the rest of the photos for this month.

Liana (month 8)

Here is some comic relief- Liana trying yogurt for the first time:

(21 secs, see on you tube)

(the first bite isn't so bad, but the second is... 22 secs, see on youtube)

Baby's first Halloween

2008-11-02T19:52:00.000-08:00

Based on Liana's newfound mischeif and tendency to growl at things, we decided she should be a monster for Halloween, so Heather found this cute outfit

and she got to show it off at a party at her daycare

No trick-or-treating this year, but we did celebrate her 8 month birthday on the first, and she got to experience her first big rainstorm. We also caught her new dancing trick on video, so we had to share it with you:

Liana dancing (see on youtube, 30 secs)

And here is the link to the rest of the photos for this week:

Liana (Week 35)

Funny faces

2008-10-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

Liana has been keeping us laughing by making some funny faces. We think it might be from teething, as her top front tooth finally poked all the way through, but who knows.

And here is my favorite

We have been keeping her giggling with some feet and belly tickling:

Liana giggles as dad tickles her feet (see on youtube, 29 secs)

Liana laughs as dad tickles her belly (see on youtube, 20 secs)

Here is the link to the rest of the photos for this week:

Liana (Weeks 33 and 34)

Pulling up

2008-10-19T19:11:00.000-07:00

Watching Liana has now become a 100% attention required job since she has learned how to pull herself up on everything in the house, but has not yet learned how to sit herself back down gently. This new skill and her speedy crawling prompted me to finish the last of the childproofing this weekend and stuff all of my computer cords and gadgets into a locked cabinet. We've also been having fun taking more videos of Liana, so I have several to post today. The first two show off her new skills, and the last two are the blooper reel. Enjoy!

Some people have mentioned trouble with the videos only playing for a few seconds and then freezing. You can see the originals at http://www.youtube.com/kklausmeyer.

Liana crawls toward the camera and smiles (11 secs)

Liana pulls up to standing while mom spots (24 secs)

Bloopers!

"Talking" and a new Tooth

2008-10-13T17:18:00.000-07:00

Liana's second tooth has arrived, and she has added consonants to her vocab, including ga, ba, and her favorite, ma. She's been having lots of fun exploring the house and has even been able to pull her self up to standing if we are around to support her. Never a dull moment. Here are some great videos Heather shot of her recent exploits:

Leo is just too fast for Liana (19 secs)

Liana takes another shot at Leo (58 secs)

Liana explores the exersaucer (42 secs)

Baby, Vegas, Baby

2008-10-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

Just got back from our first trip across state borders, and all went well. Heather's good friend Liz got married in Las Vegas so we took a short <48 hour vacation to sin city. Liana helped us with the packing...

... and was a perfect angel on the plane and slept/nursed for the whole 1.5 hours. Once we got to Vegas, we weren't the only ones with a kid, but we still got some weird looks. My favorite Vegas rule is that Liana, because she is under 21, can't "loiter" in the casinos, so only one of us could play slots at a time while the other circled around aimlessly with the stroller. Needless to say we didn't spend much time gambling at all.

Instead we toured the strip...

... met some new friends...

... danced into the night....

... and watched the sun rise.

The flight home also went pretty well, and I was amazed at the noises, lights, bumps, and bonks Liana slept through during landing. Here are the rest of the photos from our trip:

Liana (Week 31)

We've also been getting requests for videos, so here is another short one of Liana crawling (a little more coordinated this time), and a cute one of her exploring Heather's feet.

Liana Crawling (12 secs)

Liana trying to remove Heather's tattoo (17 secs)

And finally, here is the link to the last batch of pictures, including playing with pumpkins and under a shady tree at the park.

Liana (Week 30)

Liana crawls!

2008-09-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

Liana decided to show off for her Grandma Pearl's visit by taking her first crawling steps. She is able to move her hands a few times on all fours before plunking back down to her tummy. Here is a video:

Liana Crawling

Grandma Pearl also babysat and let Heather and me go out for our first date since the baby was born. We saw "Burn After Reading" and ate enough popcorn and candy to make ourselves sick. Next time we'll try for dinner and a movie.

Here are some photos from the last week, including a few beach shots from Sylvia's goodbye from work party. We will miss her, Bruce, Aiko, and the new baby when they move to San Diego in December.

And finally, here is a bonus video of Liana's first hours that I was able to rescue from my cell phone. She's grown up so much over the past six months!

Liana two hours after she was born.

Photo updates

2008-09-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

Now that Liana has started day care, she gets a new cold every week, and somehow manages to only share it with me and not Heather. It's good to exercise her immunity, but it doesn't mean it is fun. But we have been having some good times over the past few weeks, with trips to wine country with Liana's Aunt Sara and Uncle Mike, going to the Oakland farmers market and just hanging around the house. Here are some of Liana's new tricks:

1. Reading

2. Watching TV with her Uncle

3. Crawling (well, more commando crawling) under the coffee table

4. Yoga??

Here are the rest of the photos for the past couple of weeks:

First tooth!

2008-09-06T18:42:00.000-07:00

Liana's first tooth has broken though (bottom left hand side) and although it made her a little more fussy, it seems to be better now that it is all the way through. She also has a pretty good cold and it has been quite hot here day after day, so everyone is a little more on edge. We had a fun visit with Heather's sister Sara and her husband Mike, including a trip to Muir Woods and our farmers market. I'll post the photos next week. For now, here are some cute videos of Liana playing and rolling:

Liana poses and then impersonates a turtle on its back

Liana dancing in her playpod

Grandparents visit

2008-08-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

Darwyn and Denise came to visit Liana this week, and despite having a sniffly nose, she was plenty entertainment for us all. We employed Grandpa Darwyn with the walking practice and Grandma Denise with the feeding.

Liana is almost six months and she had her check up this week. All is going well- she is just over 14 pounds and 25 inches tall. And this evening she ate her first full serving of applesauce. Her favorite food is oatmeal, and her least favorite is avocado. She isn't able to sit up by herself yet, but she can prop herself up on one elbow and look around. Very cute!

Here are the rest of the photos from the last two weeks:

Liana (Weeks 24 and 25)

More firsts this week

2008-08-10T18:27:00.000-07:00

Liana has been getting out and about but as a consequence got her first cold this week. She is a good sport about it, and only had trouble sleeping one night, but still doesn't like having a stuffy nose. She was kind enough to share it with me so I could commiserate properly. She also had her first full days at day care, and seems to like in there. It was a lot harder on Heather and me, but it gets better after the first day. Heather is working three days at week at Mills now, and they are so thankful to have her back.

We caught a few more firsts on film...

Going to the beach,

Reading (well, holding) a book,

Getting up on all fours,

and supported standing (just long enough to snap a photo)!

Here is a link to the rest of the photos for weeks 21 and 22:

Liana (Weeks 21 and 22)

5 months old

2008-08-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Just a few videos this week. They are from earlier this month, but they were too cute to pass up.

(In case you can't read the book title, it is called the Peace Book, but Liana wasn't feeling too peacefull)

Vacation

2008-07-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed there was a bit of a delay between my last post and this one, but that is because we were on vacation! We took three days to drive south along 101 through California's central coast and then met up with my parents, sister, neices, uncles, aunts, cousins, and lots of cousins once removed (or are they second cousins?) in Long Beach for a big family reunion. We also got to go to our good friend Drew and Elizabeth's wedding and reception, and then took two more days to drive back. Liana is a great traveler and slept most of the time in the car (except for the last hour of crying through LA traffic at 5pm...). She got to experience a bunch of new things, including:

Sleeping in a hotel for the first time,

Going wine tasting (twice!),

Meeting her Grampy for the first time (although she wasn't too sure about that beard),

Meeting her auntie Gretchen,

and playing with her cousins Meredith and Millie,

Going on a boat ride,

And getting all dressed up to go to a wedding.

It was a busy week and a half, and while traveling with a little one is exhausting, we feel much more empowered now that we did it. Here are the links for the rest of the photos:

Liana (Week 20 - Vacation!)

2008_0719_Drew_and_Elizabeths_Wedding_So_Cal

Tasting things

2008-07-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

This past week has been all about tasting the world around us:

a thumb...

...rice cereal....

.. and a beer bottle?!?

(Don't worry, she didn't drink any)

Click here for the rest of the photos from this week.

4 months old

2008-07-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

Liana just had her four month checkup at the doctor and everything looks good so far, although she is still in the peanut category for most of the percentiles. Her memory must also be improving because she really doesn't like the crinkly paper on the exam tables. She braved the shots and was feeling a little cranky today, but thankfully she slept just fine last night.

Her newest trick is eating rice cereal mush from a spoon. She has been working up an appetite with her rolling and kicking, so we thought it was time to try something a little more substantial. She seems to be keeping it down, which is always a good sign.

Here are some photos and videos from the past few weeks...

Liana (Weeks 16 and 17)

Liana trying for an oscar

2008-06-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

Liana stars in four movies this week, going for the best action film award (rolling both ways), best comedy (lots of giggles), and overall cutest movie (making eyes at the camera). Vote for your favorite!

Sneeze and a back-to-belly roll

Sneeze and a belly-to-back roll

Liana and the ticklish belly

Liana smiles at the camera

Dad's day

2008-06-15T10:14:00.001-07:00

Liana helping with the Laundry

It's my first father's day, and I haven't had to change a single diaper! We started the day with a latte from Pete's coffee and a crispy morning bun from my favorite bakery, La Farine. This afternoon we are going to the park to have a bar-be-que and grill up some meat. But of course the best part of father's day is being a father of such a cute little girl. This past week has been a busy one for Liana, and she is making big strides. The biggest news is that she can roll over from her back to belly without any trouble now. In fact, there is no way to stop her from rolling once you set her down! Heather's mom Nova has been here all week and has been a great rolling coach and an extra set of arms to put the baby to sleep in. Liana is also passing toys from one hand to the other and getting more vocal both when she is happy and when she is upset. I've posted a bunch of new photos from the last two weeks, so enjoy, and we'll get some video of Liana rolling up soon.

Liana (Week 14, 19 photos)

Liana (Week 15, 52 photos)

Liana giggles

2008-06-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

Liana continues to captivate our hearts with a developing personality, lots of smiles, and even a few giggles here and there. I caught one on tape this week so all can enjoy. She is still sleeping well at night, and is starting to nap a little more regularily through the day. The only problem- she is starting to lose that cute spiky hair! This is apparently pretty normal, but we're not looking forward to her first awkward looking stage with large bald spots...

tickling Liana

Head, shoulders, knees and toes

Updates

2008-06-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

Oak Trees Daycare

- We found a great daycare for Liana, 10 mins from our house and 5 from Heather's work. Its got a garden, a patio, a dog, a parakeet, and only 2.5 kids per teacher.

- Kristen, Jerrold, and Isabel brought us homemade mac and cheese, and even did the dishes afterwards. Thanks guys! Here is Isabel's blog, but she will soon have to share it with her baby brother...

- Two weeks of photos:

Liana (Week 12)

Liana (Week 13)

More firsts

2008-05-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

Liana has hit a few more milestones this week. With Heather's coaching, she was able to roll over from her belly to her back, and was almost as surprised about it as we were. She has started to giggle a little and she likes to chew on my fingers a lot, but it might be a little early for teething. Oh and she also drew her first picture which involved me putting a marker in her hand and letting her flail in the direction of the paper. It turned out pretty well, with only minimal marks on her outfit.

Here are a couple of videos- the first one is Liana exercising her lungs and talking/scolding the images on her mobile (be sure to listen with sound). The second is her playing with a stuffed puppy. She likes to grab the ears and pull.

Strong baby

2008-05-17T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hello all- things are going well here on the baby front. Liana is making big strides in her back and neck strength, and has really gotten the hang of tummy time. She is able to hold her head up and look around for almost a minute at a time. She also likes to sit and stand up when we hold her hands for support.

The best part of my day is when I come home and get to hold her. It takes a second, but once she figures out it is me she gets a big smile on her face. That usually only lasts until the next spit-up or diaper change comes, but it just melts my heart.

Here are two more weeks of photos (weeks 10 and 11). Enjoy!

Liana (Week 10)

Liana (Week 11)

Early rolling

2008-05-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a video that I uploaded a while ago, but forgot to post the link. It was taken in mid-April, and it shows Liana using her legs as leverage to roll (well, fall) off a pillow. Pretty cute stuff.

Heather enjoyed her first mother's day today by sticking all mothering duties on me! Liana and I had a great time and Heather didn't have to change a single diaper, although she still had to do most of the feeding. Heather had a spa-at-home day with a manicure and pedicure, and then we had Chinese take-out for dinner. All in all a great day.

Lots of smiles

2008-05-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Liana is over two months old now and is full of smiles. We've caught a few on film, although they don't last long so you have to be quick with the camera. We also took our first hike as a family last weekend and I went again this weekend. In other baby news, Liana had her 2 month check up and the doctor was very pleased with her progress. She is still pretty small, only 33 percentile in weight, but that is up from 22 percentile last visit, so she is moving in the right direction. And her length is over average at 61 percentile. She got her first shots which was a bit of a nasty surprise for her, but she survived and didn't complain much about it afterwards.

Here are links to two weeks of photos:

Liana (Week 8)

Liana (Week 9)

Play mat movies

2008-04-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

Here are two movies of Liana on the play mat. Although she doesn't quite have control of her arms, she still seems to notice when she hits the hanging toys.

I couldn't resist this short movie of Liana preening in the mirror, and even making some faces:

2 weeks of photos

2008-04-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

Liana has reached another milestone and melted our hearts with her first smiles. They are still pretty infrequent, but it is so nice for her to communicate with us in another way besides crying. She gave me her first big smile just before I had to leave for a two-day workshop in Oregon, making it almost impossible to leave. But she was very good for Heather on their first night alone. It was hard for me to be away, but I did enjoy the full night of sleep.

We've posted two weeks of photos online. Liana has also been having a lot of fun in her Gimini play mat (on loan from the Busbys- thanks!), so there are a bunch of shots of her exploring the sights and sounds. We'll be posting some more movies soon.

Liana (Week 6)

Liana (Week 7)

Oh, and my mom asked about Liana's growth, so here is a chart I put together that tracks her weight from birth. She is about 9.5 pounds now and has been gaining almost an ounce a day.

Heat wave

2008-04-12T00:47:00.000-07:00

Spring has really arrived here in Oakland as temperatures got over 80 degrees this afternoon, and over 90 degrees in our apartment. Heather took all of Liana's clothes off and spritzed her with water to keep her happy. An almost naked baby makes for some cute movies, so here are two- one of Liana looking at her mindshape block and another of her dancing (with a little help from Dad):

The party is over

2008-04-09T08:12:00.001-07:00

After 5 weeks of wonderful bonding with Liana, I have finally returned to work. My mom was here through tuesday morning, so Heather got some support and didn't have to spend monday alone. But mom flew home early morning on tuesday and Heather survived her first day alone with Liana. Liana was a little fussy, but they were both fine when I got home and we had pizza to celebrate. Liana continues to get more and more cute and is starting to smile a little, although we still think they are more mistakes than intentional. She is also sleeping for longer blocks at night, 3-4 hours at a time, which really makes a difference.

It was great to have my mom around last week. We went for some nice walks, did some more baby shopping, and she cooked some great meals and even vacuumed. We already miss her! I have to get going to work, but here are the photos from last week:

Liana (Week 5)

2am and wide awake

2008-04-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

Liana is having a little trouble distinguishing day from night these days. She has been sleeping all day to make up for the fact that she was wide awake with me much of last night. But luckily she is so cute so I can't get too upset with her. Here is a video I took around 2am last night. It is 30 seconds long, but hang on to the end for a surprise...

4 weeks old

2008-03-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

Liana is four weeks old now and starting to show more personality and spunk. She is not sleeping quite as well as during the first few weeks, but is still happy in her crib and able to put herself back to sleep if she wakes up too early. She weighed 8 pounds a few days ago, and she has already grown out of some of her "Newborn clothes" and fits nicely into her "0-3 month" clothes.

It was wonderful to have Nova, Heather's mom, stay with us this past week. Heather and I got caught up on sleep and errands with the extra hands around to hold and sooth Liana. We took several long walks around the neighborhood and ate lots of good food. My mom arrives on Tuesday, so we are looking forward to having a little more help from the east coast. Here are some more pictures from week 4-

Liana (Week 4)

Changing time is fun

2008-03-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

Since people seemed to like the first video we posted, I thought I would put another one online. In this one, Liana is awake and enjoying her time on the changing table. She even makes a little "coo" in the beginning:

We'll put some more photos up soon-

Photos for week 3

2008-03-22T15:40:00.001-07:00

Here are the latest photos, including visits from all the grandparents on the Pearl side, baby's first holiday, and lots of cute shots of Liana. Oh, Grandma Pearl noticed a problem when ordering prints through Snapfish from the Picasa Web Albums, so if you are waiting for prints, be sure to check that the order is there on the snapfish page and that you got a confirmation email. Some of her and our orders had to be redone because they didn't work the first time.

Enjoy!

Liana (Week 3)

Grateful for the company

2008-03-19T11:33:00.000-07:00

Liana is 2.5 weeks now, and is doing great. We are settling into a routine of feeding, playing/rocking/changing, and sleeping, with each phase lasting about an hour. We just had a fantastic visit from Liana's grandparents, Darwyn and Denise. Darwyn did a fine job putting Liana to sleep, and Denise cooked us several meals so we are well fed and stocked with leftovers. It was great to have a little company, and someone to pass the baby to when we needed to take a shower or eat or whatever. I also forgot to mention Sylvia, Bruce, and Aiko Busby stopped by last weekend and brought us deep dish pizza and salad and were great about holding Liana while we ate and cleaning up afterwards. Heather's mom Nova will be here on Friday, and we can't wait till she comes. At least Heather is using all the delicious extra calories for breastfeeding, but I'm just packing on the pounds!

Here is a picture of me when I was about Liana's age, and a picture of her for comparison. Pretty similar, but at least she is much cuter!

Doctor visit

2008-03-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

Liana had her first visit with our pediatrician today, and she did great. In fact, she was so relaxed about the situation, that she slept through the whole appointment. The doctor had to pull open her lids just to check her eyes! She and Heather did a fabulous job with breastfeeding over the past week because she gained 9 ounces over the last week and has already passed her estimated birth weight. She is up to 7 lbs, 5 oz, and she also gained a half inch in length and in head circumference. The doctor did a full check and does not have any concerns, so that was good news to hear.

Here are some more photos to enjoy. And I know at least one grandma was concerned about the cross-eyed picture in the last batch, but apparently that is normal because newborns can't quite coordinate the two eyes yet. Nothing to worry about.

Liana (Days 8-12)

Waking up

2008-03-10T14:05:00.000-07:00

So far Liana is a great sleeper, and we spend a lot of time trying to get her to wake up for feedings before she gets too hungry. I know baby's are often very sleepy during the first two weeks, but we sure hope it lasts! Here is a short video clip of Liana stretching and trying to wake up:

1 week and 1 day old

2008-03-08T12:03:00.000-08:00

Liana is one week and one day old and had really captivated our hearts. She doesn't leave us much extra time between nursing sessions that last over an hour, burping, changing, dressing, rocking to sleep, and then doing it all over again in 2.5 hours. But she is sleeping very well and allowing us to sleep at night, and get some cat naps during the day. Her weight two days ago was up to 6 pounds, 11 oz, and she looks more and more pudgy every day, so that is a good sign. Unfortunately, we don't know if she is actually up to her birth weight yet because we don't know her birth weight!? While I reported earlier that she was 6 pounds 4 ounces at birth, we are almost certain this was a mistake, because she weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces about 20 hours later. This amount of weight gain is unheard of during a newborn's first day because their stomach is only the size of a marble. So we are guessing she weighed somewhere between 7 pounds 2-4 ounces when she was born. I suppose if the hospital has to mess something up, that is not the worst thing.

I posted some more photos on the google web albums, so here is the link. You can see for yourself how big her tummy gets after breastfeeding...

Liana (Days 5-7)

Photos and more photos

2008-03-05T11:15:00.001-08:00

Finally got around to uploading a bunch of photos from the first four days online. I used Google Web Albums because you can upload and view the full resolution photos, and order prints. And for the grandmothers out there that like to use snapfish, you can still use order prints through snapfish. Just click on the "order prints" link on the top of the page and choose snapfish as your provider, then you will be redirected to the snapfish site. Easy!

Here are the links to the first three albums:

Liana (Day 1, at the hospital)

Liana (Day 2, Hospital and home)

Liana (Days 3 and 4, at Home)

Things are going well so far. Night three was a tough one because we were having breastfeeding "latch" issues, so she was hungry all night. But after seeing a lactation consultant yesterday, we have got some new techniques and Liana is finally getting her fill. Besides feedings every three hours, last night went quite well with very little crying. She is such a sweet baby!

We're home!

2008-03-03T05:29:00.000-08:00

Mom and Liana (3 hours old) finally together

Liana (one day old)

Liana is now officially 2 days old and is doing great. We are home from the hospital and survived our first night. I want to update the blog with a few more pictures and a summary of the labor and birth while Liana is resting with mom this morning.

The first contractions started after we took a long walk Thursday night, Feb 28. They were not painful and continued through the night but mercifully we were both able to sleep most of the night. The early phase of labor started around 11am on Friday, Feb 29th while we were on another walk around our neighborhood. The contractions were about 7-10 mins apart and started to get more painful. This lasted till about 4:30pm when the active phase of labor started and the contractions were more painful and 5 mins or less apart. We found that being in the baby room made things progress so we stayed in there until about 7:30pm. At that point, three very strong contractions came at once and we decided it was time to leave for the hospital.

All through the 30 min car ride to Walnut Creek they were 3 mins apart and they stayed that close as we got checked in and went through triage. This was tough for me because I couldn’t focus on Heather and she had to get through them on her own. Finally, around 9pm, we got into our labor and delivery room. We were so lucky that the one room with a tub was available, so Heather and I jumped in and this made the dialation progress rapidly, since Heather could really relax. We got out of the tub around 9.5 centimeters, but should have stayed in the tub because that last half centimeter took a long time. Throughout the whole time, the contractions were very strong, but Heather was able to quietly breath through each one and she managed the whole labor without any drugs. Not even an Advil! I am so proud of her. Around 1am the dilation was finally complete and we started the pushing phase. We were both excited to be in the last phase, but also quite physically and mentally tired. Our midwife, Kristin “you can do it” Cawley and our labor nurse Amy “keep pushing” Dougherty were so helpful during this phase that ended up lagging for 3.5 hours. They never said anything negative and kept coaching us through each push. Heather was so tired, but never broke down and pushed so hard as I counted to ten 3-4 times during each contraction. We finally settled into a supported squat position and little Liana took her time but finally emerged at 4:29am. All that pushing probably wore her out because she didn’t have much energy for those important first wails that help inflate the lungs. The nursing staff quickly took her to the warming table to give her oxygen. Her breathing was a little labored, so she and I went to the nursery for observation while Heather stayed behind to recover. It was hard to leave Heather, but I got to spend some quality time during Liana’s first two hours. She quickly began breathing normally and we were soon able to come back and see Heather. That was the point where I knew the whole amazing ordeal of birth was over, and everyone was healthy and happy.

We spent the next day and a half in the hospital where the nurses showed us how to breastfeed. Our primary nurse Jo really has a gift at teaching, because while most babies loose weight the first day, Liana gained 4 ounces! She is so expressive and cooperative, and we are having so much fun getting to know her. I’ll write more later, but thanks so much for all your supportive comments and well wishes.

Naked baby!

Dad styles her hair

Happy mom and sleepy baby

Finally home!

2008-03-01T10:31:00.001-08:00

Liana pearl klausmeyer. 6lbs 4oz. Born march 1 430am. 20 in. Everybody healthy and tired.

Multimedia message

2008-03-01T05:38:00.001-08:00

Walking and waiting

2008-02-24T21:05:00.000-08:00

No baby yet, but since her estimated due date is this week, we're finally ready (at least we think so!). We spent the weekend watching movies when it was raining and walking around the neighborhood when it wasn't, so we ended up doing a lot more watching than walking. Heather's last check up went well, and she is getting a litte more uncomfortable but certainly isn't miserable. We haven't resorted to spicy food and castor oil to kick start labor, but we might have to next weekend!

Practicing for baby

2008-02-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

Heather has been doing a great job organizing all our accumulated baby gear, so we thought we'd give some of it a trial run with our cute little stuffed monkey. We hope the little one is a little less hairy when she finally arrives, but the size is about right. We also went out to a nice dinner this evening at one of my favorite Italian places in Montclair. I'm stuffed, but it was fun to enjoy an evening with just the two of us. I've been testing the new digital camera I got for my birthday to make sure I can make the most of those first few shots. Heather's last appointment went well, and the doctor told her she has a "textbook" pregnancy so far. Let's hope it stays that way!

Final countdown...

2008-02-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

All of a sudden we are only two weeks away from the due date, so we have been doing lots of prepping the baby room and apartment. We picked up an infant car-seat and installed it yesterday, and got the baby monitor working next to the crib. Heather had her last day at work on Friday where the threw her a great pizza-party baby shower. She got lots of great gear, including 2-years of a cloth diaper service! That saves us one heck of a lot of daiper washing. I only wish the service included the actual changing...

Heather is doing great and the baby is still very active. Our last checkup went without a hitch and she will be going in every week now until the baby arrives. We are stocking up on sleep and frozen meals in preparation. Its kind of like preparing for Y2K, but for real this time. We'll keep you all posted...

picture

2008-01-31T17:37:00.001-08:00

We can even post a mobile picture!

2008-01-31T17:07:00.001-08:00

Mobile blog test. On the big day i'll post when the baby is born from my phone!

Baby shower

2008-01-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

Since it was showering all day, we couldn't have asked for better weather for our baby shower. Thanks so much to Michelle and JP for organizing the whole thing, making the invites, bringing the games and decorations. It went without a hitch. We picked up some more great loot including a Moby wrap from Kim and Hallie; a stuffed bug jug and a prophecy of a career in professional bowling for the little one from Jarrold, Kristen, and Isabel; and some cute clothes, baby music CD, stuffed animals and some more gear to borrow from Sylvia, Bruce, and Aiko. I got to taste lots of baby food in the guess-the-mush contest, and we all had to decipher the ingredients of the dirty (aka melted candy bars) daipers. It was nice to have everyone over, and the two little girls gave us a taste of what is to come.

Heather is holding up very well and the little one is still very active. We went to the doctors for a routine check-up on Friday, and the baby is exactly where she should be, upside down and facing to the right. The doctor says this is the most common position, and a good one to go into labor with, so we hope she says put. One month left to go...

1.5 months left

2008-01-13T21:29:00.000-08:00

Another few weeks have passed and we are all still doing well. The little alien is squirming and wiggling a lot, and is bigger than ever. Heather's check-ups are still uneventful, and we have a fun time watching "belly tv" when the little one is active. I was in Ensenada, Mexico last week for a few days for a work retreat, and I couldn't pass up this little red handmade dress. Oh, and the fish swimming above the changing table are my mom's addition to the baby's room. So cute!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-26T09:31:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update to let you know we are all doing well and enjoying the holidays. On Christmas day we were exactly 2 months from our due date. The little one seemed to enjoy her first Christmas by waking Heather up several times during the night and doing somersaults when we were opening presents. Just like any other kid! Heather's mother Nova took the train from Oregon to visit us and we saw the Nutcracker ballet on Christmas Eve. We got some great new gear for the little one including a safari-themed crib set, a homemade kitty stuffed animal and two wonderful knit fishes to hang from the ceiling, some burping cloths and sleepers, and a little pink and brown dress for her first dress-up outfit. After making a turkey dinner, I slept for 2 hours in front of football while Heather and Nova played Yahtzee. That's my kind of holiday.

A preview of what's to come...

2007-12-18T21:04:00.000-08:00

Heather and baby Lily

We had a great visit with our friends Billy and Margaret and their two little girls Loretta (3) and Lily (0.5) in Monterrey this weekend. They handed-down lots of gear including a swing, stroller, rocking bassinet, and tons of baby clothes. Combined with the gifts from my sister Gretchen and my co-worker Sylvia, we now have enough 0-3 month old clothes to fill the baby dresser. That includes 50+ onsies, a bunch of body suites, snugglies, swaddlers, booties, bonnets, dresses, skirts, baby bikinis, and some other things that I have no idea what to do with, but at least they are cute. I'm sure we'll figure it out. Thanks so much for all the gifts, and it isn't even Christmas yet!

2.5 months left

2007-12-09T16:08:00.000-08:00

Who needs ultrasound when you have photoshop!

We're prepping for the holidays, and all is going well so far with the little one. She is supposed to be 2.5 pounds by now (the size of a butternut squash...), but I was still having trouble picturing what she must look like in Heather's belly, so I did a little photoshopping with an image from Babycenter.com. Heather confirms that she is probably head down right now, because that's where the hiccoughs are coming from! She has been very active and seems to be growing right on schedule. We're getting ready for her first Christmas (although she probably won't remember much about this one) by setting up the tree and Heather is baking four batches of holiday cookies so the house smells fantastic. Happy holidays!

26 weeks

2007-11-18T15:22:00.000-08:00

All is going well so far. We finished our last birth class at Birthways and now have at least some idea of what to expect in 3 months. We also met several other couples who are all a little farther along, so it will be interesting to see how their births go. Since the holidays are approaching, Heather has put together a couple of baby registries at Amazon.com and BabyCenter.com, but of course we love hand-me-downs as well. The little one was doing some back-flips last night, so we think she is going to be pretty active. Babies at this stage are around 1.7 pounds and 14 inches from head to toe. Happy Thanksgiving!

6 months and counting

2007-11-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

Bbbbrrrrr....

As of today we are 24 weeks into the pregnancy and everything seems to be going well. According to babycenter.com, the little one is about 1.25 pounds and a foot long from head to toe. Heather has a good appetite, is feeling well, and is fitting nicely into her maternity clothes. She had a check up on Friday and the doctor said everything is progressing and is on schedule. We also went to our first of three birthing classes in Berkeley. The instructor didn't want to waste any time and had a video playing as we were arriving, so we were greeted with Russian women giving birth at home- at least it was a good ice breaker. Speaking of ice, she had us all take two big handfuls of ice cubes and hold them for 60 seconds. I never knew how long 60 seconds can be! If you ever want to get a sense of what a contraction feels like, give that a try. Then we did the same thing as she lead us through some breathing exercises, and it really helps to take your mind off the aching cold in your hands. Most of the other women in the class were further along than us, but it was good to hear about their concerns and birth plans. That's all for now-

Comments for all

2007-10-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

After the two grandmothers to be were halted in their attempts to leave comments on the blog, I checked the settings and removed the requirements to have a google account to make a comment. So now you can make a comment without all the fuss!

Christmas comes early...

2007-10-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

Heather's mother Nova came for a visit this weekend bearing gifts. I'm not sure how she managed it, but she loaded a 90-pound crib and her old 29-inch TV with stereo surround sound speakers in her car and drove down from Oregon. A dresser/changing table arrived the day before from Heather's Dad and step-mother Denise. So I spend the weekend assembling the loot and now we have the nursery/guest room/office almost all set up. Adding some decorations will be the next step. Then we got to watch the Red Sox win the American League Championship on their way to the World Series on our new big screen TV. The only way it would have been sweeter is if they could have beat the Yankees to do it, but the Yank's didn't quite make it far enough.

Heather and the Little One are doing great, and I think Heather's belly gets a little bigger each day. We've got quite an acrobat in there, and every once in a while Heather thinks she is doing a somersault or two. That's all for now.

Nova and her gifts of a crib and two beautiful quilts

The changing table/dresser from Darwyn and Denise

A new toy for the Dad-to-be

Liana!

Summer time

Oregon Vacation

Quarterly update

Birthday, cousins and more

CHRISTMAS!

Potty time..

Halloween (a tad belated...)

Fall is in the air

July and August

Trip to the East Coast

Summer fun

New home!

Liana in April

The Blues

More photos

Late photos

January Movies

December photos

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving in Oregon

More Liana Talking Videos

Halloween

September

Fun with the laundry bin

A week away

Dizzy

Party time

Quote of the week:

Liana discovers art and hats

First trip to the farm

Liana discovers TV

Liana speaks

Maine trip and 2 weddings

Cleaning and the moonwalk

Baby tricks

Liana at home

Liana turns 1

More walking

January 2009 photos

Liana and Leo

Caught on tape

Baby steps!

Liana's first Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve

Liana waves

Thanksgiving in Oregon

Liana's 8th month

Baby's first Halloween

Funny faces

Pulling up

"Talking" and a new Tooth

Baby, Vegas, Baby

Liana crawls!

Photo updates

First tooth!

Grandparents visit

More firsts this week

5 months old

Vacation

Tasting things

4 months old

Liana trying for an oscar

Dad's day

Liana giggles

Updates

More firsts

Strong baby

Early rolling

Lots of smiles

More videos

Play mat movies

2 weeks of photos

Heat wave

The party is over

2am and wide awake

4 weeks old

Changing time is fun

Photos for week 3

Grateful for the company