David at 10 months

Now that David is almost 11 months, I remembered that we need an update on our little man. At his last appointment he weighed in at 20.5 pounds, he's a solid nugget (which happens to me his latest nickname "nugget"). David loves other kids! If we are shopping and he sees another one in a cart, he just about freaks out, jumping, dancing, laughing, anything to get the other child's attention. He is also quite the eater, some of his favorites are egg yolk, bananas, and boca burgers. I've noticed that he recognizes people pretty well. He responds differently to strangers vs. those he is familiar. As for moving around, he is not officially crawling, but he knows how to scootch and roll all over the floor. Lately we have been spending more time outside, the weather is finally warm enough, going for walks and exploring our neighborhood. His favorite time of day is when Daddy comes home. Nobody can make him smile like him.

out for an afternoon stroll

David partys!

On Saturday we (yes, Andrew actually took some time off) went to David's little friend's 1st birthday. It was really nice weather and lots of fun to meet our friends' family. Most of them made the trek from New York, it made me miss my family too. Dani was a perfect birthday girl, partying so hard until she fell asleep sitting on the couch. David had fun playing with all her toys, especially chicken suit Elmo.

Dani and David with a sit and spin

popular toys

Happy Birthday, Dani!

Lupe and Lauren visit

I was very proud of myself, a week ago I drove through the crazy, windy, rainy Nor'easter to pick up friends from the airport. I wouldn't do it for just anyone, but for Lupe and Lauren, it was a no brainer. We had pretty stormy weather during their stay, but still managed to go on a few adventures. They had just returned from two weeks in Europe, so Hanover was just the right speed for them. It was so nice to relax and catch up with each others' lives. It was really fun to hear all their travel stories and it was really nice to have other adults to talk to during the day. We spent most of our time chatting and eating here at home and around town. On Wednesday, Andrew took a little time off work and we all spent one night out in Boston. We visited Salem, cute little town, witch trials and all. We again spent most of the time relaxing in the hotel, eating and playing cards after David went to sleep. The next day we planned to hit a tour in Boston, but as always there was construction in the city and we never made the tour. Someday we'll figure out this city. Regardless our time with precious friends was wonderful and we miss them dearly. Baby David is awaiting his next set of visitors!

staying warm outside the "cheese place"

cuddling in hotel

all smiles on our only sunny day

we miss you!

Lisa and Tiana visit

We have been so lucky to have several visitors this spring. Unfortunately, they have not been as lucky with the weather. It seems live every time someone is flying in, another snowstorm heads our way. A week and a half ago Lisa, my friend and coworker from Ceres and her friend Tiana stayed with us during their tour of the area. David was excited to have more people at the house and was sad when they left. We braved the snow to go out for breakfast at Lou's before they headed to Vermont, Maine, and later Boston. Hearing about how much they can do in a week reminds me of our travels before David, we move much slower now!

Andrew's Bday and Easter

Being so far from home, birthdays and holidays have become very important family days. I took Andrew out for his birthday and we appreciated all the cards and calls. We partied all weekend and even planned more fun for Easter, unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. Due to the long winter, snow on Easter, after church we stayed indoors, but were thankful for family nonetheless.

David at 9 months

Yes, I know this is old, but I finally have some time, and my computer back. We have been busy with visitors, more posts to follow, and enduring the long. long winter. David is taking it all in stride. He is loving life, excited about familiar faces and really likes playing with his dad. Andrew is very busy, but always makes time for his little lumpkin. The first picture is on the day we were taking his 9 months old picture and the second he is playing with his rubber ducky. I will also include a video of him playing with his daddy and you can hear him giggling and screaming with delight.

More pictures of family fun

Baby David loved having his family in town, especially Marissa. She always knew how to make him smile. He misses his Grandma and Grandpa, Tios and Tias and Cousin Marissa.

The Valenzuelas do New Hampshire

We had such a wonderful visit with all of my family. As you read in the previous post, we had a lot of snow for Marissa and Andrew to play in at first, but by the middle of the week the thaw began and we saw much nicer weather. Marissa was still out there on whatever patch she could find to slide down. The rest of us stayed warm indoors just catching up and spending fun times together relaxing, celebrating birthdays and of course eating! I miss my mom's food and we got our fill along with all our favorite local food as well as a trip to the Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont. I miss everyone almost as much as the Baby David misses you.

The Valenzuelas and the St. Patrick's Nor'easter

Last Friday my whole family was supposed to arrive for a week long visit, when the Northeast's weather reared its ugly head. My brother Daniel arrived first, his plane made it just before the storm. We got out of Boston just in time, the storm was right behind us. As we pulled in to our driveway the snow slowly started. His girlfriend, Michelle was close behind him on the next flight, but it was sent into Portland, Maine because the weather in Boston was too snowy. As we watched the news and checked the status of the following two flights, my brother Anthony and his wife on a Jetblue flight and my parents (who have never been on a plane before), Marissa (also her first flight) and sisiter Mari on a Delta flight both due out Friday night arriving Saturday morning. Both of those flights were canceled eventually. The Delta flight was able to be rescheduled for Monday night but Anthony and Awnie couldn't get a flight until Tuesday (with many connections). They instead embarked on an adventure. There were open seats on a flight to DC, so they decided to rent a vehicle and drive to us in New Hampshire. It was quite an adventure, as they plowed through several states and also drove through parts of the storm. Meanwhile Michelle was stuck in Maine for the night, was flown back to Boston in the morning and then caught a bus for the rest of the trip, finally arriving Saturday afternoon. Anthony and Awnie arrived later that evening at about 8pm. Finally on Tuesday morning after a safe uneventful flight the last group arrived. On the upside, we have about a foot and a half of fresh snow for Marissa to play and sled in to her heart's content. I will write more soon and put up pictures of all our adventures.

Sleep

This past weekend we worked on getting David to sleep through the night. The first night was very hard for me, we had to let him cry for about an hour and then again another half an hour or so. Eventually I fell asleep and I guess he did too, but he was just as happy as ever the next day (I though he might be grumpy at me, but he loves me no matter what). Last night we did much better (it really is harder on me than on him :) He woke up a couple of times but maybe cried only 15 minutes or so. It was a big difference for me. I feel more rested than I have been since before he was born. I hope I didn't jinx us by talking about our early success.

by the way, my computer is down for the count so I will post some new pics and video as soon as I can, David is such a character at 9 months.

The Day After the Nor'Easter

On Thursaday the snow finally stopped. It really is beautiful to look at everything completely covered in fresh white snow, well as long as you don't have to go anywhere in a hurry. Andrew had to do a lot of shoveling before he could go to work, as did our whole neighborhood. The snow plow doesn't do a very good job in our area, so it's a good thing Andrew has four-wheel drive. Since David is still sick we just went out for a quick errand across the street, that was scary enough. The plowed snow is stacked so high it creates extra blind spots and since it is the first big snow in a while you have to be extra careful. I made a wrong turn becauseit was hard to recognize a street vs. a driveway. Here are a few more pics of our extra snowy world.

Our cars

You can see how much accumulated on our trash can

My hero, shoveling away

It's a lot of work

Even my car got covered as the snow was blowing sideways

"Crawling"video

Last week, Andrew was having some fun with David, "helping" him crawl:

Baby David at 8 months

David is growing and enjoying life. Last week we went for a well-child visit and he now weighs 19.4 pounds! He is enjoying sitting on the rug and playing with his toys. He attempts to move around by reaching over and letting himself fall towards the desired object. He also last longer on his tummy. Andrew tries to make him crawl, but I'm really not in a hurry for such activity. I still appreciate being able to get things done and he's mostly in the same area.

This week he got sick again. It started with a croupy cough so we paid a visit to his doctor. Now it has progressed to a pretty nasty cold. We had started dong some sleep training to get him to sleep through the night, but that's all on hold again. Some day I will get a full night's sleep :)

He sees the block

He reaches for the block

I got it

Now I must eat it

Nor'easter

Yesterday we experienced our first real snow storm. It snowed for over 24 hours straight, the news called a Nor'easter. From what I understand this means that the storm travels to the north-eastern Atlantic area where it picks up more percipitation and then comes and drops a bunch of snow, sleet, and rain, depending on where you are. As you can see we got lots of snow, almost 2 feet. Darmouth College actually closed down for the first time in 15 years, it was a real snow day for everyone. Andrew went out to shovel some of the snow yesterday so that there will be less to do today.
These pictures were taken yesterday about halfway through the storm, I used our video camera because our regular camera was "snowed in" at Andrew's work.

Andrew's car

Where's the road?

A couple of videos

There have been request for some more video footage of the Baby David. Here he is munching on Cheerios.



Here is try number 2, as you can see David really enjoys eating

Lakers, Lakers, Lakers!

Yesterday we made the trek out to Boston to watch Kobe and the rest of the Lakers beat the Celtics at their home court. It was the most fun we have had in a long time. David was such a star, everyone wanted to say hi to him, even though he was wearing a Lakers outfit. We were not aloud to take in cameras so we took a few pictures before we left. You can see that David is still working through his cold.