:girls' night:

jared was working tonight, so we took a photo...

:swimming...again:

chloe took another stab at swimming today. thanks to tio ryan and tia megan's slightly heated pool, it was a success. sort of. she didn't cry...oh no. she started to fall asleep! she missed her naps and was cranky and poopy. but she got very relaxed as i carried her around the pool. eventually, she fell asleep in her new, yet downgraded version of a stroller we bought for $11. it's the travel stroller.

anyway, just another nice day in san diego :)

ciao.



jared took these 2...i edited them



ps- my phone is working so thanks to all the lovely people who offered up their extra mobiles!

:phone:

one more thing. chloe kinda played with my phone too much, and it broke. so, if you need to get ahold of me, please email to: ableknife@hotmail.com.

i check it often throughout the day. you can also try calling jared's phone at night.

oops.

ps- if anyone has an old cell phone laying around that they can part with, let me know. thanks.

:lovely day:

i think today was one of the best in awhile...besides last thursday. our days off have been very rewarding.

today we met up with the vivona's, from our church, for a morning of picking strawberries and enjoying the PERFECT carlsbad weather at the u-pick farm. i'll let the photos speak for themselves. it was a very enriching and feel-good time.

before our day up north, we walked to have breakfast and see uncle ralphie at the mission. blueberry cornmeal pancakes...yum!

needless to say, chloe was a gem today, charming us all.

it was a great way to spend the first day of summer.

:talk talk:

this past week has been chloe's week of talking. although she doesn't really know what she's saying, or understand its relevance to anything else, she now has a vocabulary of "da-da-da", "ba-ba-ba", and the occasional "pa-pa". she reserves the "ma" sounds for her cries. go figure.

she has also perfected her wave. today, she finally did a real, distinguishable wave, copying us as we tried to say bye bye. it's more like "come here" motion with her fingers, but her version, and oh so cute.

forgot to post this photo the other day. she falls asleep after her midmorning feeding quite often. this time, she did it halfway off the boppy.

our first fathers' and mothers' days have come and gone. we are blessed.

i love to watch jared really enjoying his daughter. she's warmed up to him a lot, which makes us all feel good. she loves to climb on daddy in the morning when we're all in bed. he does these chloe presses that she loves. and he's started feeding her more.

being a parent is so much better (i'm assuming) when you have a willing, supportive partner. i am thankful for that.

father's day was very nice. went to church for the first time in weeks. had bj's for lunch. played catch at the park, thanks to the graciousness of the nice man who gave us a baseball for free from his shop (jared went and paid him back yesterday). had a bbq with jared n., rhian and jaelyn (see photo below). went to bed full and ready for another week. i suppose that's all you can ask for.

life is good.

below are some photos jared took with my nikon on our south park walk last week. if you couldn't tell, they're film. love the film...richer colors, sharper edges, no weird square pixels. so beautiful, i didn't have to edit a thing.





jared and baby jaelyn marie (8 weeks) on father's day.

:twins from another era:

i don't know.

:hats off & thumbs up!:

yeah! bbq!

happy FIRST father's day!

:9 months:

cannot believe our chloe is 9 months!

couldn't be prouder.

here's some photos to commemorate her day.





and one from the other day...standing tall!

:marathon photos:

hey all...

just in case you wanted to see what the marathon was like, go here for the professional photos. you can order them, if you feel so inclined, but mainly i just wanted to share a bit of the experience.

thanks for all the support, again!

:a week of firsts:

when our child was born, we'd sit there and marvel at how she'd ever crawl or walk or talk. she seems so fragile and helpless. and then she starts to do small things, and we begin to get anxious about when those things will begin. and then, all of a sudden, they happen.

this week, while jared's family was in town, she charged forth with her whole bag of tricks. on wednesday, she started crawling, and never turned back. about the same time, she began her new hand gesture, pictured below. we like to call it the, "what, me?"



this gesture is basically used around the clock, but almost always at the appropriate times. if someone asks a question, she puts her hand up. if someone walks in the room, she puts her hand up. it's very cute, and smart i might add.

she also is cutting a tooth. you can barely feel the top of it, but it's there. thankfully for us, and our neighbors, she doesn't seem to be horribly bothered yet. she's sleeping through the night fairly well and seems very happy.

she also took her first dip in a swimming pool. pretty cute stuff. unfortunately, the water was a bit cool and her time in the pool was quite short, but man is she cute.





and, to top off her week of firsts, she went to her first baseball game, appropriately played between the mariners (jared's team) and the padres. but not only was it a game, it was a game viewed from the posh suite that tio ryan so generously shared with us. he was able to secure seats there through his company. it was the best way to take a baby to the game...couches, soft chairs, food, private bathroom, blankets, prime view of the field and without all the fuss of trying to keep a kid seated for 3 hours straight! she was great, and everyone loved her. she cheered with everyone, took a walk with grandma around the park and saw her mariner's to a 6-5 victory. good times



tio travis and chloe



the whole family



it's been a really nice, relaxing week. we're thankful for all the family that has been here to help and to shower chloe with love. it truly makes a difference.

:ahhhh:

well, before anything else, i must say thank you for the prayers regarding the marathon. this past weekend i completed it, albeit a bit slow. i still squeezed it in before the 7 hour limit, though. and no, i never want to do one again. i did it, i feel satisfied and that's the end of that! all in all, though, an amazing, rewarding and enlightening experience for all.

sorry for the slow down in posts. just not a lot of time or content, i guess.

chloe has had some developments. obviously she is standing in her crib, crawling up on whatever we allow her to. she also says "uh-oh". i wouldn't really classify it as a first word, but she is clearly mimicing us. it's exciting. and just today, finally, her bottom gum cracked with the emergence of the very tip of a tooth.

she continues to be the sweetest thing in the world, simply by being "chloe".