Or rather more things are needing to be picked up. Boy, that little kid can make a mess. One of the messes I’m dealing with right now is going through all of my pictures and taking an inventory. Here are a few from this past fall. As always, more to come.

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Looks like people are starting to get their CDs. So we need to get the playlist up!

2008

2009

more pictures and videos to come.

Looks like Leo is taking after his mother and getting a green thumb of his own. What we were worried might be a Honeydew Melon did actually turn out to be a Watermelon. Yay, can’t wait to eat that! If it makes it that long… (more…)

Rob and I were looking at pictures last night spanning the time from our November post (new job, staying at Dad & Gwen’s, selling the house in Oakland, not walking but crawling, sort of eating solids, definitely wearing baby clothes and that precious, round baby face – well, he still has that!) to now and having that immediate, simultaneous realization that our baby is now, definitely, inarguably, a toddler.  Leo is walking.  He took his first steps in Houston, at Paula’s house a couple of weeks ago.  We applauded for him when he did it and got in the habit of clapping (something else he does quite well, particularly to indicate that he wants something) when he took a few indpendant steps.  He now will make it from coffee table to fireplace and look back with a huge, very proud, grin as if to say, “Aren’t you going to clap?  Where is my applause?”  He demands an adult finger to walk wherever he pleases but can make it quite far, if he chooses, without assitance.  He eats just about anything that we’re eating and likes most everything.  We know he’s done when he starts, very casually, dropping food on the ground.  As of this evening, I became certain that he has mastered the nonchalant, “You didn’t see that, right?”, stretch-and-drop-fish-behind-my-back-while-making-full-eye-contact-with-mom maneuver.  Topping the list of favorites are probably watermelon, fish, peas, cheese, avocado and vanilla milkshake (based on a one time experience :), in no particular order. (more…)

Leo spent his first birthday on the Valley Isle with Grandpa, Gi Gi and Granddaddy.  We learned that we do, in fact, have a beach baby on our hands.  It took a few minutes to decide that sand was ok to stand on.  After that, it was off to the races.  Leo played for hours, many of them with Gi Gi, in the sand – digging, building, knocking down.  A few days into it, Grandpa got to fulfill his Grandpa dreams and play with Leo in the kiddie pool that he passes every day on his beach path walk.  (It’s not hard to tell which pics those are…  G’pa in his element and Leo in his.  As G’pa would say – It’s a beautiful thing!)  Leo loved the water.  He went down the slides with Daddy & G’pa and delighted in just floating around in his floatie.  He loved eating fish and papaya was a fun new discovery.  He loved to watch the koi in the pond and take stroller walks on the beach path.  Granddaddy made a long, long trek over from Houston to spend his first grandson’s first birthday with him in Maui.  We had a fun trip to Lahina – a dose of nostalgia for G’daddy.  It was a delight to have everyone together.  Leo spit out the super-granola, organic carrot cake that Mommy made but loved the big mylar fish balloon.  (Not just once, he spit it out several times for confirmation.  The adults would have done the same but instead, politely protested that it tasted like more of a spice cake than carrot cake.  Don’t worry – there was a do-over on the mainland.)  A great time was definitely had by all.

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So much has happened since our last post.  Not the least of which is a crawling, pulling to standing and sometimes cruising Leo!!  He’s all over the place and we can now say that we are just beginning to understand what everyone meant when they kept saying “watch out!”  We say “watch out” a lot now – be it to Leo or to each other.  We’ve had a couple of (thankfully) minor bumps and bruises but appear to be very resilient. We have tons of pictures of Leo but more and more are coming out blurry because he just will not sit still!  He’s also a very good eater.  Loves solids – is opting more for finger food; less for purees these days – and had his first taste of goat cheese tonight.  Not the least bit surprising that he liked it, after all he is his Granny’s (Lauren’s) grandson.

Another major change outside of Leo’s ongoing and amazing development is that the Sakowitz’ are moving back to Sacramento.  Alisa is managing the Auburn office, quite happily and Rob continues to be focused on Leo.  Grandpa and GiGi were kind enough to open their doors (and temporarily ratchet down neatness and cluter expectations!) and allow us to move in while we look for a place and wait anxiously for the house in Oakland to sell.  We’ve been focused on Granite Bay/Roseville as our next destination.  I must say that I don’t recognize the place from when I was a kid.  It was recently pointed out to me though that there have been hidden gems in Rosevill all along… Carson Gross being at the top of that list as far as the Sakowitz are concerned!

Anyhow, we have a lot to be thankful for.  Life is pretty darn good.  We hope the same is true for all of you.  We’ll cut it short here since we know most of you are in it for the pictures anyway!!

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Alisa truly surprised me for my birthday! People started coming out of the woodworks, or at least the wooden doorway at Missy’s. Then when you least expect it a bunch of people standing in the dining room. It really was a great time. This is Leo and Grandpa the next morning…

Well, it’s official…Leo is no longer an illegitimate nephew to his Uncle James. I couldn’t resist. In all seriousness, the wedding was gorgeous. The Lake reflected the sparkle of the stars and my sister’s smile as she married James Arthur Garvin, under the sugar pines at Heavenly. None of us could really get our bearings without the whitewashing but the lack of snow revealed a wonderful patio at Heavenly’s mid-mountain lodge. The ceremony was warm and wonderful, conducted by our Uncle Danny Weiss. James even seemed to get a little choked up during the vows. In preparing to write this I tried to think of what % was joyous and what % was sad because we missed Mom. I couldn’t pin point it. It was like a sliding scale all night. Missy’s poignant remembrance – the empty chair with a bouquet of iris and – what else? – ranunculas -brought me to tears walking down the aisle. We each placed a flower – a ranunc – on the chair. I can’t speak for Missy but it brought mom to me as much as anything could. All I could think of is how she would have sat in that very chair, Davey next to her, and tilted her head to her left and cried, brimming over with pride and love, at the sight of her beautiful daughter – resplendent in the Taj Mahal. (Yes, the dress had a name and anyone who saw it would likely understand why that moniker applies.) The JRollerz kicked **s, like always. A great time was had by all – a few had a little too much fun but shall remain nameless for the sake of family/friend unity. Let’s just say, if we had another sister – I’d start taking bets on the over-under for a certain cousin who shares a name with his paramour’s sister for a charming third time. There’s too much to say about the incredible event. Gwen was her usual self – an army of one in planning, hosting and looking fabulous. Dad was probably the only one who had to put on a little weight to get into his tux, looking ever-dapper. The Garvin clan was a ton of fun though I was sorry not to see the cannon with Jiggs. James looked smashing. Missy planned a grand event and looked every bit the part of the brilliant bride.

PS. Congrats, Dad – 2/2!

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Congratulations to Missy & James!

We are back home and between loads of laundry I am clearing out the cards of photos from this weekend. While I am getting those ready I will leave you with these…

oh, before I forget. James has set up an album over here for everyone to upload to.
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