being tourists in san francisco

A few weeks back we took my aunt and uncle who were visiting from Ohio to San Francisco.  I must admit that growing up in northern California, I don't always enjoy my visits to the city.  I'm not a real big city gal, and because I've been so many times, I forget how beautiful this city by the bay really is. We decided to go "full tourist" mode for this day trip, and took a bay cruise that took us around both bridges, and we even saw the back side of Alcatraz [which was almost as exciting as the back side of water on the Jungle Cruise, excuse the Disneyland reference]. My biggest issue with visiting the city is you can never over plan, because let's face it, lunch and one outing is typically what you are going to accomplish when you still have over an hour drive to and from.  So, with that in mind, we tried not to be too crazy when planning this trip, and it was pretty perfect because of that.  Lunch at Barney's in the Marina and then our cruise with the Red & White Fleet made for the perfect day trip.

^three generations of macri women - model pose with grammie, unacceptably cute^

^first boat ride, she loved watching the water^

^selfies with a baby, the only way for me^

^it is amazing the difference in temperature between the two bridges^

^loved the new perspective^

^someone had the best ergo nap on the boat, after acting like a crazy baby for a bit^

 ^love this girl^

The day was really lovely, besides a few fleeting moments.  It was almost like San Francisco knew I wasn't their biggest fan, because within the first five minutes of me stepping out of the car I was bombed by a bird, like all over my diaper bag bad, and down into crevices, you get the picture. Thankfully, my bag is stocked full of everything you need to clean poop, but really?!?  Not the way I wanted to spend the first ten minutes at lunch! Our only other bump in the road came with parking by the pier in order to catch our boat.  We found free parking [what?!?] thanks to Meg's stealthy eyes [thank god she wears her glasses now] and then we had to haul it.  Many, many, many blocks.  Now the distance would not have been an issue, if I had more than a few minutes to make the trek, while holding Everly, and a diaper bag, and a baby carrier, because of course there wasn't even time for me to throw E into the ergo, oh, and I wasn't exactly wearing tennis shoes.  So besides being a tad sore and very winded, we made the boat trip, and were officially the last to board the boat. Oops, we really were acting like tourists.  We should have known that parking was going to be a pain.  Oh well, we made it, we saw, we took lots of pictures, memories made.

oh hey, I'm 38 weeks old

I'm officially 38 weeks old

and for me that means I've popped up the fourth tooth on top

and six in total

and I think all of these teeth are really making food a tad more enjoyable

and when I smile it is hard not to see all of my pearly whites

in other news

I started clapping today

sometimes just for fun

and other times when I'm super happy with something

or pleased with myself

I like crawling about just to stop

try to stand up, raise my hands in the air

and then clap

it seems to make everyone around me pretty happy

so I'll keep it up

this was me this past weekend at my mom's graduation party

the day was perfect

great weather

family and friends had traveled from all over to be there

and there some pretty yummy food too

and yes, for the record, this is the fanciest I've ever been

thank you to our friend colin for getting me this very pretty dress

it took some time, but it finally fits!

and that beautiful headband was also a gift from my baby shower

so I was pretty in pink for the day

maybe I'll try the whole girlie thing more often

-Everly Mae

the afternoon still

the light is gleaming through heavily angled blinds

the temperature in the house is comfortably cool in this unseasonable

july weather

and the house is still

no air conditioner needed

no humming fans distracting the moment

luna and daddy are napping

daddy after three very early shifts in a row

and luna, well, she's a cat, it comes with the territory

especially when being chased by a crazed baby most of the day

there is no t.v. in the background

no outside noises

the house is still

and after some very busy days lately

I am soaking up these few moments of silence

 everly and I are enjoying an afternoon snack together

we started with some watermelon chunks leftover from

yesterday's party

and a few chilled pasta noodles

then I decided to try a puree fruit and veggie pouch

the ones I've tried many times on the go

only to find my daughter not eating much

and wearing all of it

but today is different

we grab a rubber coated spoon

and give it all another whirl

everly just smiled

and opened that adorable little mouth of hers

and ate

bite after bite we giggled and smiled

the moment was perfect

and sweet

and no one was there to see it

and I think that made it even better

because it was just ours

and it really wasn't anything but the sweetest little moment

and I loved it

oh hey, I'm 37 weeks old

well, I'm closer to 38 weeks

but who's counting

[oh mom is, that's right]

lately I've been acting like quite the quirkster

I love making so many crazy faces

and I've been doing a little blinking "I'm so cute" face

I also like crawling all around the house

and then I turn around to see if anyone has noticed that I've left the room

and yes, they always find me

but it is a pretty fun game to play, so I'll keep it up for a bit
I love waving and talking to all the neighborhood doggies
[I think we are the only cat people around here]

this week I've also been eating my weight in blueberries and pasta

and mom is trying to teach me some signs

right now I just flail my arms when she does the sign for "more"

but, I think mom gets that this is my "yes"

and I get more blueberries

so everyone is happy

oh, and how could I forget?!?

I now wear size 2 diapers

yes folks, just shy of nine months old

and I'm finally moving on up in the world

they are huge still, and you cannot even see the design on the front

because they are so overlapped around my waist

but the size 1's were just not cutting it anymore

so yay, there's a mini milestone
as for clothes, mom thought I was growing out of size 6 months
because the new dress she bought me was seeming snug
but no, I'm not growing out of that size
because that silly mom of mine had accidentally picked up the 3 month size
oops, thankfully target has an amazing exchange policy
looks like I'll be hanging out in the 6 month range till fall

-Everly Mae

making childhood memories

Looking back on my childhood, my best memories came from the traveling we were able to do. Whether it was visiting family in Tennessee, sitting on the beaches of Kauai, or camping on the northern coast of California, these are the moments I cherish the most of growing up.  The Mr. and I have always made traveling a fairly big priority to us, even though the funds aren't always bountiful, we find ways to get out and about, without spending a fortune.  Now that we have Everly, these trips seem even more important, because I know that we are starting to build those "extra special" memories of her childhood.

Earlier this week we had the most beautiful day trip to Bodega Bay, California. It was sunny, not a breeze to be felt, and the beach was empty because we were there fairly early. Growing up we went camping here every year [and when I mean camping, I mean we backed in the biggest rented motor home we could into the beach front spot, we were those people].  But in our defense, Wright's Beach can be pretty brutal on tent campers, we saw our fair share of people chasing their tents around the campground in the middle of the night, so, there you go.  Everly was very serious at the beach.  She had what we refer to as her "ride face" on for most of the trip.  A super straight-faced stare where her enjoyment seems to be masked by her intense observing skills.  We enjoyed a walk the length of the beach, a very low tide, some tricky sand to walk barefoot in, and as the morning went on, the sun really came out, the sweaters came off, and a few doggies were there for Everly to talk to.  All in all, it was a great little side adventure while visiting the Santa Rosa area.  

we're back!

Yes, with the lack of posting regularity that occurs around here now that I'm a mama, you probably didn't notice I had "unplugged" myself for a few days, but I did, tricky, tricky me!  The husband and I enjoyed a little getaway with our Everly to celebrate our five year anniversary.  We found a great deal on a hotel in the Santa Rosa area, and between this being the home of my best friend, only about an hour and a half drive from our home, and close to the coast, we decided it was the perfect place for our trip.  Over the next few days I'll share more of our trip, which was really just what we needed, but for now, I'm exporting a ton of photos to an external hard drive [back up your pictures people, my sister works at apple and begs you, they can't work miracles every time], and my baby and mr. are waiting for me to watch a movie.

When traveling with a baby I now realize that things go a certain way on the last day to make you happy to be home.  For us, let's just say our daughter wore four outfits today in total, and I was very ok to be home.  But before all that, the days really couldn't have been better.  Check out that picture of us at the beach, not even a breeze in the air to ruin this family photo.  Typically, it looks like I'm hanging on for dear life on a roller coaster when at the coast of northern California, but not this trip.  Ah, dreamy.