I've been tagged by Kerri.

What was I doing 10 yrs ago... Let's see. I think that was the summer that I stayed in Arcata between my Sophomore and Junior years of college. I worked for a month at Eureka Printing Co., took Beginning Photography at College of the Redwoods and drank a lot of Budweiser with the rugby crowd.

5 yrs ago... 2003. Hmmm. Andy and I were living in Oakland, so I was probably sweating either in our upstairs apartment or behind the espresso machine at Peet's Coffee.

1 yr ago... Working at the Journal, living in Arcata, trying to get pregnant. :)

Yesterday... Not much...Took care of the baby and did some crafting.

5 snacks I enjoy... chips, cookies, nuts, popcorn and ice cream. I know, I'm bad.

5 favorite books... (currently) The Cat in the Hat, The Little Engine That Could, Tikki Tikki Tembo, The Baby Book and Operating Instructions.

5 places to run... I haven't gone on a run in a LONG time.

5 pet peeves... the overuse of the word "unprecedented" since 9/11, dumb word contractions like "staycation", people that don't take responsibility for their actions, people that talk too much, not having enough time or money to do everything I would like to do.

5 things I enjoy... thoughtful movies, sweets, driving, animals, adhesive tape

5 favorite TV shows... LOST, America's Next Top Model, The Cosby Show reruns, Jeopardy! and 30 Rock

5 people to tag... Sorry, I'm not going to tag anyone.

more new pics

She's growing so fast! I thought it would be at least baseball playoffs before she fit in the cute little A's onesies we were given, but I decided to go through her bigger clothes again, just in case. I'm glad I did! The A's onesies are only a little too big lengthwise. Widthwise, she's got plenty of room. Check out our little baseball fan on our flickr site. (I think there may be some slightly older pics that I just uploaded before the A's outfit pics.)

Ava's latest thing is shoving fabric in her mouth. She especially likes a soft bear head that has a square of fabric instead of a body. The head also has a jingle bell in it, which she likes very much. She enjoys "talking" as she gnaws and drools all over the bear's head and edges of the square. I'll have to take and post some video of this soon.

baby BOOM!

Between May 29 and June 22, we've had 6 friends have their babies! Super congratulations to:

Charlotte Jane Baker
Kellen Jeffrey Dunning (the only boy in the bunch!)
Mia Campora Parodi
Mia Isela Villanueva
Jenna Elizabeth Oriol
Tatum Fei Dick

We look forward to meeting all of you!

video from today (2 of 2)

(Today is still June 19, 2008.)

video from today (1 of 2)

(Today is June 19, 2008.)

video!

Ava is so cute that we know most people would be willing to sit through a long loading time to watch video of her. This one's from June 5. Enjoy!

new family photo

More pics of Ava coming soon to our Flickr page. This one is available at a larger file size on our Flickr page. Friends and family should feel free to download and print the higher-quality image from Flickr by clicking on "all sizes" and then "download the large size."

:)

2-month well baby check up

Today is Ava's 2-month birthday, and we celebrated by visiting the pediatrician. Ava is a happy, healthy girl. Here are her stats, compared to her 2-week check up... click on the image to actually be able to read it:


This was also the appointment when most babies start their immunizations. Personally, I'd rather reveal how I vote than say if we vaccinated or not. It's that controversial. All I can say is that we are succeeding as parents so far and we make every choice in Ava's best interest.

turnout completed!

That's right! The turnout/driveway apron construction is finished. It's just one little step closer to having our own lot and approved building plans. The top photo is looking at the new curb and driveway apron. The driveway to the house will go between those two redwoods. Teh second picture is looking over the driveway apron toward Art & Ann's house. (Thanks, Art, for putting the fence back up!) The third photo shows the turnout, the lovely fence and the neighbor's house. Our driveway is between the neihbor's house and the end of the fence.

The short version of the latest news is this: The county survey department and the title company are having trouble talking to each other in order to reconcile the original deed for the property purchased around 1975. Apparently, there is no deed for Art & Ann's property, only a deed for the larger original parcel minus their parcel. Ugh. How can things be so convoluted?

That was the latest for the lot split. The latest for the building plans is that they were waiting on an erosion control plan, but now they have it. Had our project been submitted and approved in a timely manner based on when we started this whole fiasco, we wouldn't have had to have an erosion control plan nor a soils report. The county has since passed codes requiring just about everyone to have these expensive tests and reports done. We have to have erosion control (even though we are building on a flat lot) because we're next to a creek. The soils report had to be done because Humboldt County is so seimically active. I hate to think of all the extras for those located in a coastal zone--thank goodness we're inland.

more firsts

- We ran several errands this morning without a meltdown. It was awesome. We dropped Andy off at work, visited the insurance agency, chiropractor, storage unit and went shopping at Target. Then I mowed the lawn with Ava sleeping in the sling. (We have a push mower, not a noisy smelly gas mower.)

- I found my first grey hair. I figure it was about 7 weeks and 2 days long.