What a month it’s been! We met with his pediatrician today, for his check-up, and learned that Holmes has gained a little over a pound and a half this past month, despite getting sick and losing weight along the way! We’re asking EVERYONE about bottle feeding as this kiddo is trying all the delay tactics that he can:) Good thing he’s cute, as the journey continues with this little hedgehog.

The vaquita is a species of porpoise endemic to the northern part of the Gulf of California that is on the brink of extinction. The word, vaquita, is Spanish for "little cow.” (Thank you, Wikipedia!)

They’re just too cute together!

The sun was shining and I have been longing for a Discovery Park outing. Meryl was more than happy to run around scouting for sticks (large and small) with Lummi...until she found herself paralyzed after reaching down to pick up what she thought was a stick, but ended up being dog poop. Oops! Diaper bag with wipes and antiseptic to the rescue, then the stick scouting returned. In party shoes:)

 Welp, she did it again. Meryl caught another cold, likely from her germy pre-school friends who will hopefully show her the value of the potty at some point. Rather than give it to Maya, heading out to see her grandparents next week, we throttled our maternity/paternity leaves into gear (grateful!) and headed to the Pacific Science Center to expand our minds while swapping contagions with our other comrades.

Chocolate Chaud at Le Pichet for breakfast. (One of us calls it ‘chocolate soup.’)  Super thick hot chocolate with a plate of whipped cream; a perfect way to start the day.

For maybe three minutes. But a picture lasts forever!

In memory, Chinese food take-out from one of his favorite restaurants - chi-chi chicken and deep fried spare ribs.

Holmes is smiling! Holmes is also entering his second mental development leap (so says the Wonder Weeks book), where he starts to notice not just high contrast colors (such as the external contours of our faces), but the grays of the world (such as our inner facial features). So, he’s pretty much jumped into a bowl of soup with everything blending together around him, which can feel a bit chaotic...and we get the benefit of enjoying his fussiness. So we’ll take the smiles! Especially when Dad is being silly making hand butterflies.

“I’m just one stomach flu away from my goal weight.” - Emily, ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’

Update: Lummi brought the ruckus to our New Year’s Eve by swallowing a toy we’ve never seen and checking herself into the vet for 4 days this past week. Luckily no surgery, sadly no learning (on her part), but it’s good to have her back.

Lately, Meryl has been talking on the phone to Lisa and Sasha a lot:)