Merry Christmas!! After the fact.

On the move

We have been busy with Christmas gatherings and travel so it's been a while since we've had new photos and videos.
In the time since our last post, Della has started sitting up on her own and is getting really really close to crawling. She will take a step with her knees and then later her hands but hasn't really matched them up yet. She can balance on her knees and one hand while reaching for an object and can now get to pretty much any where she needs to go within a 5-10 foot radius by rolling or launching herself from the crawling position.
We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!! I'm sure we'll post new pictures and video soon.

Sleepy baby and other stuff

So as it has been a little while since I have posted pictures or videos of Della, here is a hodge podge of the past month.

We spent a weekend in San Francisco and Della got to meet Laura Mitchel who was Derek's main mentor in becoming a State Farm Agent. She was visiting from Pensacola with her friend (and Derek's past co-worker) Gail. It was a great trip and we even go to see two baby sea lions on the docks at Pier 39. While we were there, we fed Della in the hotel and she was so tired that she kept falling asleep between bites but as soon as she woke up she remembered what she was doing and was ready for the next bite :)

Pake and Beppe, Louis, Shannon, Henry and Kaelan, and Julia all came to visit us for Thanksgiving and it was so good to see them. Henry and Kaelan got to spend some extra time with us and they even got to do a few craft projects. Thanks for coming to see us everyone - we had a great time.

All in all, November was a busy month and December doesn't look like slowing down! This Saturday we leave to go to Florida. We can't wait to see our friends there and spend time with Ducky and Pap-pap. I am hoping that Della does well on the plane as the flight is 4 hours one leg and 1.5 hours on the second leg. It will definitely be nice to have two of us to help hold her and play with her.

Love to all!
Sharon

Food, marvelous food

Now that Della is 5 months old, she has become quite experienced with solid food. So far she has had rice cereal, bananas, carrots and peas! Soon we will try applesauce, green beans, pumpkin and maybe even sweet potatoes - woohoo!! The video of her and the carrots was a couple weeks ago (Halloween to be exact) and she is much better at keeping the food in her mouth. I have been steaming the veggies and then putting them through the food processor with a little water and then freezing them in ice cube trays. She eats 4-6 of them per day but definately likes bananas the best so far.
Obviously she is getting bigger and bigger each day. Sometimes I can't believe how much she has grown and other times she still feels so tiny in my arms.
Last weekend we helped Louis and Shannon move into their new house and we got a couple pictures of the strong guys and the moving truck. We were so glad we could help them with the beginning of this new chapter in their lives.
This weekend we are headed back to the bay area to San Francisco as Derek won a trip for two nights in a hotel right in Union Square. It should be fun!
Happy Fall everyone!

A visit from Beppe

Beppe came to visit while Pake spent some time at a dairy convention in Reno on Wednesday and Thursday. Della got to spend lots of time with her and Beppe got to change a few diapers, give Della a bath and her nighttime bottle. (Della gets a bottle at night now that we are mixing in some rice cereal). Earlier this week we tried to give Della mashed bananas and I think she liked them (as you can see in the photo where she is leaning desperately towards the spoon :) Derek was the lucky one who got to change the diaper and he let me know that it smelled like bananas. That will be the biggest drawback of adding solids... the diapers. Things have been busy and there is not indication that things are slowing down anytime soon, especially with the holidays coming. Can anyone believe the year is only two months away from being over?

4 Months old

Della is now 4 months old and is getting to be quite a talker. She is blowing raspberries and lots of bubbles and squeals with delight anytime Mommy or Daddy does something especially funny. She is so much fun to be around. As she is getting bigger, we have started moving up her bedtime a little bit. Now we start her bedtime routines (bath time, books, etc) around 7:30 to have her in bed at about 8. Just today we started her mixing her bedtime bottle with a little rice cereal. The pediatrician said we can start adding solids (such as pureed carrots, bananas, etc) but as we are travelling this weekend, we will hold off until next week. She has started becoming interested in our food and will follow the utensil to our mouths with her eyes looking on very longingly :) I am excited for adding solids but not looking forward to the changing diapers.
This past weekend, we had a busy weekend. Johanna, Tyler, Bentley and Korbin stayed with us on Friday night as they were on their way to Newark for the San Jose State vs. Boise State football game on Saturday night. On Saturday morning, I flew to Seattle to stay two days with Julia. It was a feat to bring Della, the stroller, the car seat, diaper bag and luggage through the airport but it is doable. I now know that the stroller will not fit into a Chevy Malibu trunk but it will fit nicely in the Nissan Altima trunk. (Of course, I did not discover this until after I had installed the car seat and loaded everything else into the 1st rental car...) Della was great on the plane and had lots of doting flight attendants and seat neighbors who were just enamored by her. While in Seattle, we visited in the aquarium and on Sunday we went to the Fremont farmer's market. Julia made me a delicious chicken pot pie for dinner and stuffed french toast for breakfast. It was great to see her and meet her housemate Alyssa. On Monday, Johanna and Tyler stayed with us another night on their way home. I got to see both of my sisters in one weekend and Della got to see lots of family. Bentley and Korbin are both getting so big. Bentley just loved giving Della hugs and Korbin liked to look around with a "pleased as punch" expression on his face. So cute!

I didn't get a lot of pictures but here are some from the weekend.

Weekend with the Bokma's

Funny Girl

Super Della!

Roly Poly

Della just recently started to roll over and tonight I think she perfected it. She rolled over about 7 times in a 15 minute period so I thought I would catch this milestone on tape. It's kinda drooly and messy but thought you may want to see it :)
We are dog sitting for Sake this weekend which so far has gone well. We are however, still glad that he went to a new home as he is very curious about Della and follows her wherever he is so we are keeping a very close eye on him.

Movie Star Della!

I hope you all were aware that we had a movie star in the family :)

Della turned 3 months old today and just on Wednesday rolled over all by herself. It happened on the couch so there may have been a slight slant but it was a roll nonetheless (from back to tummy). She is getting to be such a fun baby and babbles and giggles and smiles a ton! Derek always says that his favorite time of day with her is when he goes to get her out of her crib after she wakes up and when he gets there she greets him with a huge open mouther smile :)

This evening, Della and I drove to Tahoe to meet Derek there as he won an overnight stay at the Resort at Squaw Creek for having quality business. He was presented the Legion of Honor award by one of the top executives (named Rand) in CA. We even got a picture of Rand holding Della while he is presenting the award to Derek. We then had dinner in the Olympic Village at this great pizza place that has wood fired pizza. Yummy!

Here is a picture of the now complete deck. I am so thankful it is done with. We can't wait to eat the remainder of our dinners out there. Hopefully there are a few more warm nights remaining in the summer.

The Tickler

Happy Baby

After 10 weeks of having Della as an official part of our family, we are beginning to see her personality come through and she sure is a happy baby :) The past couple of weeks, she has been sucking on her hands when her pacifier falls out of her mouth but just today, she started sucking on her thumb. This is kind of exciting as she is able to do a little self-soothing without us having to constantly put her pacifier in when she is trying to fall asleep.
Derek has been playing on two softball teams - a men's league and a co-ed league - so Della and I get to go to the games that fall before her bedtime. So far this season, Derek has hit 3 home-runs!! 2 on the men's league team and 1 on the co-ed team. I am pretty sure being a Dad has given him super powers.
Every morning when we are getting ready for the day, Della gets to spend time on her "Under the Sea" playmat. Above the play mat, there is an octopus shaped rattle that she loves to look at and right at her eye level there is a stuffed whale that she loves to babble on and on to. I am pretty sure he is one of her closest friends right now (other than Mom, Dad and Dutchie :)
On August 9, I went back to work for 4 days a week (Tuesday and Friday) and the first day was definately tough but each day gets better (although Friday afternoons are hard too). We have been liking our child-care facility so far. The main lady, Carolyn, truly loves kids and the other children seem to really like Della. When I get there to pick her up in the afternoon they always make sure I know where the baby is at and they want to know if the baby is going home :)
Needless to say, we have been loving having Della as our daughter and can't wait for more exciting developments to come.