Sunday, February 28, 2016

February

Dave says: It's been a fun and busy few weeks. I finally had a few minutes on a Sunday afternoon to sit down and describe what life is like these days.

Being a dad is great most of the time. Skye is nearly 4 months old and she is getting big. Right now her schedule is to fall asleep around 9 pm after being swaddled up and eating a bottle. For a while she had a sleeping area in the middle of the bed. Next, she was moved to her swing. Now, she has been recently been upgraded to a crib in her own room. She used to make it only until about midnight but recently she often goes until 2 or 2:30 before waking up. I usually do the first feeding (after Alisha gives me a kick to wake me up) except if I am busy with work or teaching the next day. Alisha handles all the remaining feedings and Skye is typically up around 5:30 or 6 am. Now that she is getting stronger she often turns herself around in her crib and breaks her arms and/or legs out of the swaddle. She doesn't really roll over yet except in the bed when she is tipped a little bit.

Like her mother, Skye's best time of day is the morning. She will sit still and smile at you for nearly an hour in the morning before she needs some more stimulation. Her worst time of day is in the late afternoon. We were going through an afternoon meltdown phase for a few weeks but recently it seems to have lessened. Other new developments include her getting better at jumping in her jumper and eating her hands a lot. She is really good on sunset walks in the infantino after work.

We've been doing an okay job of still getting out of the house to exercise. Alisha often goes first thing in the morning and I try to go after work right before it gets dark. Alisha is split 50/50 mountain bike and road bike these days whereas for me the split is 90/10. The mountain biking is just too good to pass up and I have a shaded evening trail on the back side of Pass Mountain that I love right now. About every other weekend my grandma comes over and watches Skye and we get out on a nice big mountain bike loop together.

This February we seem to have skipped the 70 degree weather and gone straight from the 50s and 60s to the 80s. It has been nice and warm recently and we've been trying to plan some weekend adventures. This last week was quite busy with work as I was finishing up an evening MBA ethics course and also participating in the department's annual MMM conference in addition to all my other work. I've got a huge number of research projects underway right now with my friend and colleague Mike B. and others. Here's a few pics of what we've been up to:



Christine's kids celebrating my grandma Venice's birthday.



Walking by the Salt River on a Sunday afternoon.


Doing our usual favorite 2 hour mtb loop. Alisha has developed some serious skills as a mountain biker. This is the Twisted Sister trail in Hawes.



We walked around Tempe Marketplace on a Saturday night and saw this beautiful sunset that my cell phone camera does a poor job of capturing. The ambiance and just walking were more fun than the shopping but this is a nice place for kids. Skye had a great time looking around at everything.



During our shopping trip we were in a silly mood and I convinced Alisha to try on some horrible looking cat sweaters at H & M. I can't imagine why they were on sale.

Monday, February 15, 2016

My Valentines

Alisha Says: Our life has been falling into a fairly regular routine (as routine as possible with a baby that is). Dave is doing a lot of work on his research and teaching a course this semester. We are loving the weather and enjoying it by taking turns getting out on bike rides and taking lots of hikes/walks with Skye. Skye is such a joy in our lives and it has been fun to watch her grow (literally, some days she just seems bigger than the day before and as evident by all of her rolls she is nice and "healthy" as someone kindly called her the other day :). She is getting much more interactive and responsive to us and will give us tons of cute smiles and coos, especially in the mornings. She is starting to give us a few longer stretches of sleep. Skye had her first play date my friend from our ward who had her first baby 7 weeks after Skye was born.



Monday, January 18, 2016

Blessing Day

Alisha says: Skye was blessed at home on Sunday, January 17th surrounded by lots of wonderful family. She looked so precious and adorable in her blessing dress that was made by my mom and I. I tatted all of the handmade lace around the bottom and bodice. If you know anything about tatting you know that it is basically a lost art and it takes forever. Luckily, I had been working on and off on the lace for a few years in the hope that one day I might have a little girl. Once we found out that we actually were having a girl my mom and I used the lace to make her heirloom dress. I absolutely love how it turned out!









 My wonderful mother helped me put together a luncheon for everyone that consisted of homemade soup and rolls.


In addition to all of the family that lives in the area we had the privileged of having my brother and his family from Salt Lake stay with us for the weekend.

Skye's 2 Month Pediatric Appointment:
Weight: 10.4 pounds - 40%
Height: 22 1/4 inches - 40%
Head Circumference: 14 3/4 inches - 25%




Friday, January 1, 2016

New Year

Dave Says: Today for New Years Day my grandparents came over to watch Skye and we went out for a big ride around Hawes and Usery together. Alisha has been riding since about two weeks after giving birth and is already in good form again. Today she was trying to drop me on the uphills. The mountain biking is awesome where we live and I am on the trails as much as possible. You get pretty spoiled riding in the middle of winter in short sleeves.

Other winter break activities included going out to eat with Skye yesterday for New Years Eve (fortunately she slept the whole time) and taking her around to see the Mesa Temple lights (she slept the whole time and then was wide awake at home). Earlier in the week we went down to Tucson and saw the Toussaints which was a lot of fun. I am trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to teach Skye some new tricks. Her best thus far is that she can push with her feet and move her arms in a semi-crawling motion on the bed that moves her forward if you put a hand behind her to push off of. Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to report in the future. We also now own a GoPro to capture all the action as she grows up.



Sunday, December 27, 2015

Rocky Point

Dave says: It's been a few weeks since I've blogged and a lot has happened. With Skye coming a month early near the end of the semester it was a busy time. Being a new dad is great but I definitely have less time than I used to. I tend to be awake at night and usually do the first feeding which means that I am up late and then sleep in later than usual in the morning. Skye has also decided that she likes to be held and to sleep on people. She is so adorable that this is hard to resist although it is easy to sit down as you hold her and she falls asleep only to have three hours disappear. She's a good baby almost all of the time with a pleasant disposition. When she is hungry though you have to be quick because she is not very good at being patient.

Fortunately we've had a couple weeks over the break to have a little fun and to start getting caught up on stuff. We headed down to Rocky Point for a few days with my family which was a lot of fun. Normally I wouldn't be too keen on taking a new baby to Mexico but we have done the trip many times before and caravaned down with my family to the Sonoran Sky Resort. Despite some issues with the hot water heater in the condo (which caught on fire at one point) it was a nice trip and Skye did really well. Highlights included walking on the beach, swimming in the pool, wandering around downtown, going on an atv ride, and buying some southwestern decor for our house.

We came back on Christmas eve and were ready for a little more low key Christmas. We had dinner with everyone over at Christine's which was nice. The best gift of the year was Rachel getting a giant stuffed cheetah from Santa. Another good gift was Alisha's brand new mountain bike (Specialized Stumpjumper) which she got a few weeks ago and has already been using to shred the trails.

At the condo on the 14th floor balcony

Skye checks out the beach, Maybe next year she'll be ready to play in the sand.

Napping by the pool

Just lounging

Allie first says she is scared of horses and then has a great time insisting that she should ride by herself.

Dinner music from the mariachis at La Curva

Alisha's new ride!



Sunday, December 6, 2015

The Perfect Christmas Present

 Alisha says: Having Skye join our family has been the best gift that I have ever received!

Look what I found under the Christmas tree!


She was done being stuffed in sock

That's better, now I can kick my little legs around.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

One Month Old