Attitude Adjustment

This morning Amelia and Miles woke me up at 5:30 a.m. I'd had a long night since Miles woke up at 1:30 and 4:30 to eat, and Amelia woke up crying at 3:00. So, as I was stumbling around trying to convince (unsuccessfully) Amelia that it was still nighttime and she should go back to sleep, we had a conversation I won't soon forget.

Mommy: "Amelia and Miles...you guys make me sooooo tired."
Amelia (without skipping a beat): "Mommy you make me sooooo happy."

I'm grateful for my two little "attitude adjustments." They make me immensely happy.

Note: Amelia did her own makeup for this photo shoot.

Bathtime

I don't usually like naked baby/kid pictures. But sometimes you can't help yourself. You can see that Miles isn't really enjoying this photo shoot all that much.

For a minute there, I lost myself

(By Chris)

Early June. We're sitting down to dinner and Emily says:
"Your birthday present is awesome. You're going to love it."

"It's not awesome."

"Yes, it is."

"Unless it's Radiohead tickets, it's not awesome."

"...."

We've been married for seven years, and I can read Emily pretty well. Her stunned silence told me all I needed to know - it was going to be awesome.

Radiohead is great. Phenomenal. Awesome. Look, just go here: http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/great
I tried to expose Graton to Radiohead once. He said: "It sounds a lot like Coldplay." That's a lot like saying of The Beatles: "They sound a lot like the Monkees." It's completely accurate but terribly convoluted. Anyway, I've linked to videos of some of my favorites in the text below.

We had GA tickets on the lawn of the Cricket Amphitheater. The music was great (the second song they played was one of my favorites), but I couldn't be sure who was up there singing because all I could see was some guy jumping around. Sure, he danced like Thom Yorke (see here, for example), but he was only about an inch tall. Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of fun. Emily was beautiful and the crowd around us was really having a good time (except the girl who passed out, of course).

Then, about half way through, an usher came up and invited us down to the pit (the area right next to the stage). It was a birthday miracle.

We were about 20 yards from the band, close enough to see Thom's lazy eye. Right after we got there, they played Just, Paranoid Android, and Street Spirit in quick succession.

Emily is not a huge Radiohead fan, but she really enjoyed You and Whose Army? (during which the jumbo screens displayed an "extreme close-up" of Thom's good eye) and House of Cards (who wouldn't?).

We had to leave before the encore to relieve Graton from tending an upset Miles. I don't think that kid will ever appreciate how much I have given up for him.

Concert in the Park

We really enjoyed going to the concerts in our local park. Amelia loved going "to the big park far far away." The music was great, the community spirit was awesome, and we had so much fun as a family. Amelia LOVED dancing and playing with all of the kids.

We took our new frisbee (thanks Uncle Evan) last time, and Amelia threw it once (literally) with Chris.It looks like Amelia inherited my amazing un-athletic abilities. Last week the friendly family sitting in front of us shared their watermelon and their fresh pears off their backyard tree.
It's going to be very hard for us to leave our beloved San Diego next year...

Courtney's Baby Shower

My brother Brian and his wife Courtney are due to have a baby in October (we're keeping our fingers crossed). Courtney's baby shower was this past weekend at my parents house. It was fun to see the whole family and celebrate baby Kate. We can't wait to meet her!

As you can see... Amelia's favorite part was opening the presents...I mean helping Courtney open the presents. Good thing Aunt Courtney's such a great sport...


Amelia really adores her Aunt "Totney."
And, we think Brian and Courtney are going to make great parents. They've definitely got the funny faces and weird sound effects down...Kate is going to love them!

Meeting Aunt Ashley

My sister, Ashley, came from Utah to meet Miles last week. I was terrible, and didn't take very many pictures of the momentous occasion (Ashley if you have more...please email them!). Here is the one photo I have of Ashley with both Amelia and Miles. I think they all look very pleased with each other.
And, BTW, if Ashley gets any more beautiful...she was absolutely stunning!

Can You Give Me A Hand?

If Miles isn't sleeping then he looks like this. He always has his hand in his mouth. Not just his thumb or a few fingers, but his entire hand.

The other night at dinner I looked at Miles sitting in Chris' lap and noticed that he was purple. Because he was choking. On his very own hand. He had stuck his entire hand up to his wrist in his mouth. And he couldn't get it out. I helped him dislodge his hand and after just a few seconds he was working on sticking the whole thing in again.

Now That's Entertainment

A few weeks ago I put Miles on the floor to entertain himself while I made dinner. About 10 minutes later I went to check on him and found this:
Amelia loves books and was sharing all of her favorites with Miles. I think Miles was oblivious to the "book fort" around him, but it was so darling that Amelia was entertaining her brother.
Maybe Amelia is just remembering her own days of lying on the floor surrounded by books:

SDNHM

We got tickets to the San Diego Natural History Museum, and spent a few hours there earlier this month. We had a lot of fun. They have a new water exhibit, which I was investigating for my San Diego Mama blog. while we were looking at the exhibit, Amelia decided to create her own little water exhibit on the floor of the museum. Have I told you how much I detest potty training?

Week with My Siblings

Amelia, Miles & I spent a week at my parents house earlier this month. My mom went to the choral workshop at BYU, so I "babysat" my siblings. Seriously, it was the best babysitting job ever. They played with Amelia all day long, and fought over who was going to hold Miles next. They have satellite TV, so I watched home decorating shows to my hearts content.

One day I helped all the kids start painting a piece of art for each of their rooms...I don't think they ever finished them. But it was fun to get our creative juices flowing, and see their personalities come out in their art.

family photos

We always look our best on Sunday right before we leave for church. I always think we should take pictures...but usually we are racing out the door. This Sunday we were all ready with a few moments to spare, so we took a few photos.

Professional Shots

Thanks to my job (sandiegomama.com) I had the pleasure of having a professional photographer take pictures of Amelia & Miles. Here are a few of the photos...

Don't you want to kiss their cute faces? Go ahead. Kiss the screen. I won't tell anyone.