Baby’s first bridal shower

Janou is getting married in three months! This weekend, we loaded up the car and drove down to Irvine to celebrate the bride-to-be.

Diego travels light:

JK.

The drive down the 5 is looooooong, but thankfully, we had some good podcasts and In-N-Out to look forward to.

Thanks for humoring us, Diego :)

On Friday, we ran errands for the shower and did a bit of shopping. This jacaranda tree was magnificent!

Saturday was kind of June Gloom-y, so basically, perfect beach weather for a three month old. I’m learning that a baby beach trip requires considerably more stuff-no more throwing a towel in the car and calling it a day.  Though, have to say, this umbrella/tent thing did make the afternoon way more comfortable.

It was pretty special spending the afternoon at my favorite place with three of my favorite people.

Diego loves Janou!!

Slightly sun-kissed and sandy, we all got cleaned up for dinner Saturday night. We enjoyed a spectacular dinner at Il Fornaio- and enjoyed the meal at the kitchen table. So fun!

Sunday morning, we prepped for the main event: Janou’s bridal shower. Trader Joe’s really came through with some beautiful flowers. The flower haul before:

And after-amateur arrangements:

With the beautiful bride :)

I loved seeing Janou with her wonderful friends and observing all of their excitement over Janou’s upcoming wedding. CAN’T WAIT.

Diego received so much love at the shower. He was passed around all the ladies all afternoon, watching everything, taking in all the conversation. I read something once that babies need to hear 1,000 (or maybe it was 10,000? 100,000?) words a day as part of their development. After an afternoon of buzzing conversation, watching wide-eyed Diego absorb it all, it made we wish babies could skip daycare and just go to bridal showers everyday. 

There’s something about a table post-party, overflowing with empty champagne glasses, thoroughly-relished dessert plates, the last few pieces of chocolate, that I love. The sign of a good party, full of love and laughter. And GF Pizza Dough mix :)

Very grateful we could all be together this weekend and SO excited for Max and Janou’s wedding in September!!

Pinecrest!

Last week, as the temperatures crept higher, David suggested we get out of town. “Pinecrest?” he said.

We quickly booked a room and were on the road the next day. Gians sandwiches in hand, we checked in and walked straight to the lake. 

It’s such a pretty spot-the tall shady trees, crisp water, and big blue sky.

We chilled in the shade and took turns hanging with Diego and dipping our toes in the water.

It’s also a great spot for first time parents. The rooms are walking distance from the lake, so we didn’t have to lug down the diaper bag or worry about feedings-it was a quick walk back to the room.

There’s BBQ grills all along the lake. In the evening, David grilled corn and brats for dinner. I poured myself a big glass of wine and took in that view!

There’s a pretty magnificent hike around the lake. We enjoyed it last year, but were not prepared to do it with Diego. Instead, we opted for a short morning walk-and Diego got to meet Smokey Bear!

On the way home, we stopped at Twain Hart for hearty sandwiches and salads at the Rock of Twain Hart.

Ha! The same expression! 

Taking turns at the lake, actually, taking the trip in general, I couldn’t help but think of a passage from Catherine Newman’s Catastrophic Happiness:

On the one hand, there is the slight abusurdity of trips with a baby-Diego wont remember them, and it’s much more for our enjoyment than his. But maybe that’s ok? We delight in trying these new things with Diego, even if it’s not memorable for him, and it requires more effort from us. I am so grateful that we can take him on (simple) adventures, and see the places we’ve seen before, but this time, with chubby little legs kicking out of the Bjorn. In those moments, like Newman says, I want only now, even if it isn’t totally necessary. 

And…once we got our AC fixed, we all returned home, a bit more refreshed from the quick trip away :)

HEAT WAVE

We’re in the middle of a (punishing) heat wave around here. We’re talking temperatures of 111°! Surprisingly, I’m not totally losing my mind, and trying to take advantage of the quiet days and soak up time with Diego. I’m back at work in two weeks, so I’m really really trying to enjoy these moments. Here’s what we’ve been up to recently:

Lots and lots of hanging out. It’s so much more fun now that Diego can smile and interact and he’s becoming more of his own little person.

First ball pit! Mira has an AWESOME first birthday party and and it was so special to see everyone together. The five of them in the ball pit together lasted all of 3.5 seconds. 

Zoo day :) The Sacramento Zoo is sort-of a central location for the three of us, and we took advantage of the cooler weather last week to check it out. I honestly didn’t expect much from the zoo, but it was pretty great! I was mostly looking forward to catching up with Christie and Molly, which was absolutely wonderful.

Despite his expression, I think Diego enjoyed it? I LOVED seeing the giraffes.

David’s colleague Erik is an incredible photographer and he kindly came over a few weeks ago to take some family photos – I love them.

David’s been barbecuing more, and last week he made an excellent carne asada. Looking forward to more grilling once the weather cools down a bit.

We planned an impromptu trip to Pinecrest last weekend. We were gone for just 24 hours, but it still felt so nice to get outside and relax. Hope to write more about the trip soon!

Father’s Day! David rang in Father’s Day with an early morning alarm to meet an HVAC specialist. We returned from Pinecrest refreshed and rejuvenated-to a house with a broken AC system. Oof. Thankfully, it was quickly fixed and we were able to enjoy the rest of the day with David’s family, cooling off in the pool.

Three months!

Monday marked three months of Diego Antonio!

Took a few photos Monday morning before heading out to meet up with Christie and Molly (+ babies) at the ZOO!

This month, the weather got warmer and Diego (and I) broke out of the sleepy newborn haze and he became more of a baby. Everything everyone says about baby smiles? True times a million. It’s just amazing. Diego also started making more noises, little drawn out coos and calls, and I love hearing his voice.

It’s been a treat to get out more and see more friends, now that we’re (slightly) more comfortable navigating this whole life with baby thing. A few of Diego’s firsts this month:

First act of civic engagement: Diego attended the State of the City address, and quietly listened to the Mayor’s excellent remarks.

First celebrity sighting: MC Hammer! Ha. At the State of the City :)

First National Park: Muir Woods for my dad’s birthday 

First BART trip: Rockridge to Embarcadero-and back!

First “wild” animal: The llamas at Redwood Regional on Mother’s Day

First art show: The Sycamore Social 

First museum: The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive…but we only checked out the gift shop. Museum looks AWESOME and I would love to return. 

First hotel: The Omni in SF (sorry kid, don’t get used to that!)

First Food Festival: The Jewish Food Festival at Temple Israel

First concert in the Park: The Wednesday night Victory Park summer concert

First hail storm: We had a crazy summer storm on Sunday. So rare in Califoenia, but it reminded me of DC-thunder, lightening, the whole thing.

While it’s AWESOME introducing Diego to all this, I’m most grateful for the hours and hours of quiet time baby time. The mornings and afternoons with Diego napping on me, or walking around the house, Diego cocooned in the Bjorn, just content and cozy together-it’s been incredibly special. Incredibly thankful for this time together and this sweet, three month old baby :)

Allora!

Happy Thursday! Clearing out photos on my phone and wanted to remember some moments from the last few weeks:

Diego and Andie! Jon and Melissa kindly came by for the day with tons of food, cake and snacks and brought sweet Andie. Andie is gentler than a quiet cat, and even though Diego looks terrified, I think the baby-dog meeting went well.

Diego’s first art show! The Sycamore held their summer social hour a few weeks ago, featuring impressive works by a local artist. 

Today was quite cool (and it even rained last night) but we’ve also started experiencing some brutal Central Valley summer days. The silver lining? Lots of naps in the air conditioning. AND time to watch Master of None. We just finished Season 2 last night. Can’t stop daydreaming about Italy. This announcement makes trip planning even more tempting…andiamo!

After the recent heat wave, we were able to enjoy a beautiful, cool evening at the Lodi farmer’s market.

One of several Bruin baby meetings :) Last week, on the way to Oakland, I stopped by Christie’s to meet sweet baby Colin. Colin is basically Diego’s twin: they were born less than 5 hours apart! Different birthdays, as Diego arrived late at night on the 12th and Colin early in the morning on the 13th, but still. And here they are holding hands!

Introducing Diego to my wonderful colleagues! It was pretty awesome to bring Diego to the office and see everyone after several months away. Feeling very grateful to work for such a supportive organization :)

While David attended a conference in Berkeley, Diego and I spent the day exploring. After a salad at Sweetgreen (will Chop’t ever move to California??) we checked out the new BAMPFA. Gorgeous architecture and excellent gift shop. That’s as far as we got, as the main objective for the day was…

Baby’s first BART ride. I wanted to try it out on a day where we didn’t have to be anywhere, in case it took a while or I got overwhelmed. Diego was great! We rode from Rockridge to Embarcadero, he took it all in, wide eyed and (fairly) calm.

The BEST part was meeting up with Janou for a walk. So immensely happy that she’s back in California-HOORAY!!!!!

At home happy hour Friday evening, feat. delicious Cowgirl Creamery’s delicious Mt Tam cheese and Chesterfield Cellars’ chardonnay.

Third Bruin baby meeting of the week! On Saturday, we drove to Rocklin to see Eric, Molly and darling Rose. 14 years ago, days after moving in to the dorms, Molly and I met on Bruin Walk and became fast friends. Pretty special/unreal to see the babies together.



On Sunday, Temple Israel hosted their 48th annual Jewish Food Festival. We brunched on lox and bagels and stocked up at the bake sale.

We’ve had some long days this week…

But he is pretty adorable…

And pretty laid back about checking out new things. Last night, we packed a picnic and walked to Victory Park for the first night of their summer concert series.

And that’s the last few weeks around here! Happy almost weekend :)