Cal, I Love It When You Melt Down....

So I had this great idea to surprise Dave with a "family date night" tonight - a Holiday Trolley Tour throughout San Francisco! I thought we'd get to be tourists in our own town and enjoy a night out together ("night" in parent-talk = 5:00pm-6:30pm tour).

I packed roadies for us (spiced apple + Makers Mark for Dave and latte + Baileys for me), tons of food for Cal, jumped on the bus to meet Dave by his office and we were off. They gave us Santa hats when we got on board and started with the carols and truly HORRENDOUS singing by Santa-the-trolley-driver!





All was well when we began...Cal had a great time watching the sights, hearing the ridiculous loud (and did I mention horrendous?) singing and checking out all of the people on board. We cruised through downtown, along the Embarcadero, through the Marina and just when I was checking my watch to realize we were only 45 minutes into a 1 hr, 30 min tour, Cal started fussing.... No, not fussing...m-e-l-t-i-n-g! If Dave and I weren't looking at each other in ever-so-slight boredom (between passing Cal back and forth, we clearly couldn't get to our roadies enough) and then - for the first time - we thanked Cal for freaking out in public. We were just cruising up to Pacific Heights and the trolley dropped us a mere 4 bocks from our apartment!!

"A for Effort" in trying something new, but lesson learned that we aren't holiday trolley peeps (at least not with a squirmy 1-year-old)!

Ella Kirsten Rynearson is HERE!

Drumroll please.....my lovely, beautiful, sweet niece has arrived!!!

I flew down to San Diego on Thanksgiving evening to visit my adorable 2-day-old niece and WOW -she is sweet as can be. I am so glad I went down and I get to see her again at New Years when Dave, Cal, Dad & Carolyn are all in SD!

I did a full blog post on my "work" blog: http://blog.brookebryand.com and wanted to share a few more of the personal photos here:


Nana and me each taking our turn with Sweet Ella


Ella hanging out by Daddy's architecture/client plans...and Riggs taking a rest by his little sis




Riggs and Mommy Hanging Out


Riggs deciding on whether or not to kiss Ella (he didn't at this moment, but did earlier!)




Family photo of the brand new Rynearson Family (except for Jack & Reokie!)

I love you guys!! Thank you for giving me such an incredible, beautiful niece. May the spoiling begin!!!

Lots and lots more photos in the family gallery:

After His Daddy's Heart...First Pair of Shoes!

Cal turns 1 this Sunday (!) and all 5 of his grandparents are coming to town! Dave's parents arrived yesterday from CT and we took Cal to get his first pair of shoes. He's not quite walking yet, but is crawling all over the place and I realized recently at the playground that I'm not winning any mother-of-the-year points with a barefoot child on a public playground (duh).

Dave's first pair of shoes was from Stride Right, so we wanted to get Cal on the same path of shoe-obsession as his Daddy (and apparently his Mommy...more on that later). Check him out getting measured, etc:




Proud grandparents!



Dave's parents ("Grandma & Grandpa") accompanied me on the adventure and the shoes were a gift from his Great-Nana & Great-Grandpa (Dave's g-parents in CT)!

I should also mention that I got myself a present for Cal turning 1 (no need to judge me until you survive your first year of parenthood...this stuff is H-A-R-D!!!). Yep, mama got her first pair of "grown-up shoes"...Christian Louboutins. I got a "push present" when Cal was born (my new Canon 5D Mk II camera body), and then I decided I deserved a present for making it through Cal's first year...the most amazing, wonderful, emotional and certainly challenging year of my life to date. Our girlfriend, Monica, accompanied me to Barney's for my big purchase (thanks, M!) and I think Dave is still in shock that I (arguably the most frugal person east of the Mississippi) would throw down $ for shoes. Here they are, along with Cal's new shoes and a pair of Dave's favorite shoes that I see him "sunning" daily.

Pumpkin Patch!

Cal and I went to Half Moon Bay to see their famous pumpkin patches today. We met up with Shelley and her friend Heather and of course all of the kiddies. WOW. What an operation! We were there for about an hour, mostly coaxing Cal and Joey to hug a pumpkin or look at the camera, but there was a petting zoo, train ride, mini-tractor-things that the (older) kids could play on, and so much more. I barely escaped without buying a $1 slice of "the best" pumpkin pie ever made. Somehow, I resisted (but only after I succumbed to a Nathan's hot dog!).

Here are a few pics from the expedition!






The boys were much more into their bottles than the pumpkins!











Happy (almost) Halloween!

Brooke Bryand Photography on Daily Candy Kids SF!

I am so thrilled to share that I was included in Daily Candy Kids SF this week! Check out my blog post on my "work" blog:

http://brookebryand.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/brooke-bryand-photography-in-daily-candy-kids-sf/

Baby Food 101

So....most kids start eating "solids" (i.e. anything other than bm or formula) around 6 months. Cal started...then promptly stopped about a month later. Since then, we've been feeding him 3 meals a day and he may or may not eat a single bite of whatever it is we serve. To say it's exhausting is an understatement.

Then...tonight...I had a thought. Cal loves to drink water out of a real cup...he gets a total kick out of it and loves to blow bubbles and chug-a-lug...so why not throw some baby food into a cup and see if he'll drink it?? Like our very own Jamba Juice, I added a little water to Cal's baby food and he chugged away!

Granted, he also made a total mess while dunking his cracker in and flinging it over himself, but hey - I'll take it!


(and yes, that's my Dukes of Hazard cup that I grew up with!)

First Haircut!

Cal's days of modeling for "Hairclub for Men" are officially over...for now. He had his first real haircut (as in Mama paid $19 + tip (!!!!) I am clearly still shocked by it...and possibly his last haircut at that price...looks like I better get some safety-protected shears!)! He went with our friend Henry (JB and Alex's son, who is 4 months older than Cal) for both of their first chops.

Henry was a rock star throughout his haircut...smiling away and even posing for the camera!





Cal was....okay. I wish I timed the actual chair-time, but I would guess about 5 minutes total. He wasn't scared of the clippers, but he definitely was not into having someone up in his grill and messing with him! Here are a few pics from his experience:


Before and After...


It eventually took two women to "pin" Cal down as he was clawing at the poor lady!


Exhibit A of aforementioned discomfort


Exhibit B with both ladies in action




My favorite of the day...

Cal is now 10 1/2 months old...crawling, climbing and fake-walking everywhere (with assistance). He eats puffs and o's, but that's about all he'll accept for his culinary adventures for the moment! His favorite spot in the world is on his daddy's shoulders, getting a tall perspective of the world and playing "horsey" with daddy bouncing him around as mommy gasps in horror. :-)