POST # 100!!!

Wow, post 100. Good job us.

Okay, so this is a very exciting, while not visually stimulating post.

We leave in 4 hours for our big Canada wedding trip! We are very excited to see everyone and glad that we found Matthew's passport in the end.

FOR OUR VIC FRIENDS: despite what Matt said in his e-mail, we are having a picnic to see y'all on SUNDAY JUNE 24th at 5PM! Not 3, 5. We can not make it in by 3. We will be there at 5. At the park next to Fisherman's Wharf (near Barb's Fish & Chips) in James Bay. Hopefully we'll see people there.

In other news, we are preparing for further travelling this summer, word came in last night that Matthew's presence is required in Oxford England for 4 weeks and so, after a mere 7 days in California (4 at home, 3 at the telescope), the family will be jetting off across the pond. The big pond. Matthew maintains that Bronson's first steps will be in Heathrow airport.

We are however going to try not to think about the trip too much so that we can just enjoy this crazy Canada vacation which starts in... 3hrs and 36 minutes.

Well,

We're all still sick. Jenn had an appointment for her shoulder today. She'll need to keep the sling on for another couple of weeks and start some physical therapy. During that time, she can't lift Bronson.

Good times.

On the bright side, here's some pictures I took with my new computer (with built-in webcam):





Awwww.

Poor Us

Our family isn't too healthy these days. Bronson has been sneezing and coughing and choking on his phlegm. It turns out that he has an ear infection and bronchitis. Poor baby. Dr. Schlundt was suprised that I wasn't sick too. So far it seems that Matthew is the parent who's sick with baby this time. B has been coughing and sneezing in our faces for the past few days, so it's no wonder.

Still, he is really cute when he sneezes, he follows every sneeze by babble babble babble ["Ra Ra ra ra raaa"].

So he has multiple meds to deal with this and needs to be quarantined from other kids for the next 3 days, which means we're going to miss our first storytime this morning :(

The quarantine is especially hard for the little goofus as we had our first astronomy team softball game last night and Bronson's friend Jesse was there watching his dad! The kids kept looking longingly at each other and had to take turns playing with the wheels on the bat cart.

Matthew and I both play on the team, it's much easier switching on and off for softball than for soccer. It was a good game until the last bat when I swung hard, missed and heard a big RRrrrippp in my shoulder. Yeah. So my left shoulder isn't doing so well, I'll have to see the doc today. This means that I can't pick up Bronson boy and poor Matt has had to wake up with us twice already tonight to carry the kid to me for feeding (since B is sick he's waking himself up more often at night).

SO, poor Bronson, poor me, but especially poor Matthew. I guess he'll deserve an extra special father's day after this week.

These are some pics of Bronson playing with his favorite toy of late. It keeps him happy while mom and dad eat, it keeps him happy while crawling around on the ground, it keeps him happy when he's playing outside in the yard and it even keeps him happy when he's visiting the doctor! These things are everywhere - what are they called? I don't know, but he sure is good at moving the beads on the wire.

In other news: I watched 'The Wedding Planner' last night (prepping for our trip!) and am excited to report that alot of it is filmed at Huntington Gardens, right here in lovely Pasadena! The sculpture garden and the wedding at the end for sure, I'll have to watch again and look closer at some of the other outdoor scenes :)

This week in pictures...

Last night we went to a graduation party at Kip Thorne's house. Kip was Matthew's physics prof, and Matthew worked for him as TA one semester. Wow, magnificent abode. It's a huge house on the side of a hill with a long pool, jacuzzi, an outdoor gas bonfire, it's 4 stories high, the furniture is al wood custom made by his brother ["He builds for family and rich people"]. The house is full of art his wife has collected over the past 40 years, and he contributes a drawing by famed artist and physicist Richard Feynman who was a close friend of his. There were like 5 or 6 bathrooms in the place, the master one was as big as our friend's (Laura & Walter's) one bdrm apartment. :)

Anyhow, so this man is quite famous, he consults on Steven Spielberg movies (Steven called him up and asked him to) and has "dated in Hollywood" and has written several books and is also good friends with Stephen Hawking (he's the reason Dr. Hawking visits for a month every year). So, it was a neat party to go to. Amazing house, great catered dinner and very interesting physicists. I think physicists are more nerdy than astronomers. Astronomers have more accessible quirks than physicists.





B spent a couple of days quite grumpy, but now he seems to have gotten over it, I think he was growing as he was taking 4 naps a day and wanted constant cuddling. Today and yesterday he's been talking up a storm. He had lots to say to Laura and Walter on the drive to and from Kip's place, and today he's been telling Matthew and I the history of the world.

New toys

Today was Bronson's 9 month checkup at the doctors. HE now weighs 23lbs 10 oz and is still in the 90+ percentiles for everything - his head is quite above average in size.

Lately Bronson has gotten some new toys as he's growing into new capabilities and Matthew and I want to challenge him. Here's a short video of him playing - in Matthew's defense he didn't know I was filming, however this footage proves that Bronson is indeed from the Alan/Matthew Stevenson lineage.

It's been awhile...

Matthew is finally DONE! Thank goodness, I get almost as stressed during his exam time as he does. He is now done the necessary classes and never has to take any ever again (but he'll probably take one every now and then for interests sake, because that's the way he is). Now starts the meat of graduate studies Reeee-search. I am glad to have my husband back on evenings and weekends, though. ... however, in reality I haven't spoken to him in awhile as he got a new laptop from the department (a MAC book) and it's shiny and white and has awesome widgets [whatever those are] and he wasn't allowed to play with it until he finished exams...soooooo, if you get his attention, say hi for me :)

Oh yes, my life has gotten busy since Bronson learnt to crawl! Our days have been a chaos of bath's (and then more baths), "No, Bronson, cords are not toys!", outings to grassy areas where he can dirty himself crawling around, more baths, fighting the kid to get him to eat, etc, etc. We thought he might have started saying "Da Da" and associating it to dad, however recently the trilling "da da da da da daa da ddaaa da da daa" has been accompanied to pointing at pictures of men and my face too, so we're still mot quite there. No ma-mas but I think he's said moo moo a few times.

In addition to his 2 top teeth, Bronson has also gained some hair, the ability to reach things previously inaccessible to him and a strong personality. He's become much more social of late, as he has repeatedly demonstrated in outings to the park and visits with Keira from next door.

Keira & B chill in Keira's couch (she said "sit, sit!" and patted the space next to her)

On Saturday we went to a Caltech/JPL family potluck picnic at the CalTech park south of campus. There were quite a few families there and we met 4 new kids within Bronson's age range. He enjoyed crawling around to the new adults and kids, and especially checking out their rides [strollers], as he seems to have a real passion for wheels and things that turn in general. One kid, Julian, an 8 month old who's crawling like crazy took particular interest to B and followed him around the park a bit. They had a lovely time shaking the leaves on the bushes and headbutting each other. At one point B crawled right over and kissed him on the cheek! Seriously! They were pretty cute together and the parents were therefore forced to exchange contact info with us and we'll be setting up a playdate soon enough.

Here's Bronson crawling through his new toy - a giant starry tunnel!