Video of Kaitlyn Feeding Herself

Over the last few days, Kaitlyn has really shown an interest in feeding herself, so I've let her take a shot. It's been a bit messy, but it's a necessary skill to master - she still needs a bit of work as seen in the video:

I realize I haven't posted about this past weekend, so here's a brief synopsis:

Friday (Shawnna's birthday): We took the day off, went to Modesto to eat lunch (Carino's), bought Kaitlyn her first pair of real shoes (they were more expensive than my shoes!) and ate Round Table Pizza for dinner (I swear it's what Shawnna wanted).

Saturday: We went to the park (Kaitlyn got to wear her new shoes) and hung out at home most of the day. Shawnna did some scrapbooking at Char's house in the evening.

Sunday: Grandma and Grandpa Pride came over to watch Kaitlyn so Shawnna and I could go out to lunch (Famous Dave's BBQ) and watch a movie (High School Musical 3 - Shawnna's idea :-).

All in all, it was a relatively relaxing weekend, but most importantly, Shawnna said that she really enjoyed her birthday. Not sure if I'll get to post any pictures of this weekend before the next weekend is upon us...

Halloween Comes Early

On Friday, Tracy held their annual Downtown Halloween Parade. Naturally, we got suited up and made our way to the festivities. This year, Kaitlyn is a Tulip Fairy for Halloween. I'm not sure exactly what that is, but she looked very pretty. Prior to the parade, all the downtown businesses opened their doors for trick-or-treating, so Kaitlyn had her first experience taking candy from strangers. She did a great job holding her Halloween bucket and even managed to snag one of the suckers to suck on (with the wrapper still on).

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key. We just hung out at home, had a short visit with Grandpa Cutforth & Tisha and ran errands. This week, Kaitlyn's babysitter will be at Disneyland, so Shawnna and I are taking time off work to take care of Kaitlyn (I'm taking today & Tuesday, Shawnna is taking Wednesday & Thursday and we're both taking Friday off). Below is a picture from this morning - how many safety hazards and fashion faux pas can you identify?

10 Years Ago Today...

...Shawnna and I went on our first date. She drove from her parents house in Fremont to meet at my apartment in San Jose. We ate dinner at the Elephant Bar in Campbell and then headed to the main event - the San Jose Sharks home opener vs. the Boston Bruins. That's right, we went to a hockey game on our first date. Furthermore, we met up with my brother and his friend, Brian, for the game. We had a great time despite the Sharks losing 3-0 (a recap can be found here).

More importantly, Shawnna scored a couple of big goals in my mind:

1. She was able to enjoy herself at an ice hockey game (hockey is clearly the greatest sport on the planet and I knew there would be many more games to come)
2. She was able to put up with my brother (which isn't easy...believe me... ;-)

I must have done something right as well, because we had many more dates after that and we've been together ever since.

Acting with Batman and Robin (sort of)

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to be in a video with some friends at work. The premise - an executive gets frustrated with inefficient meetings and is saved by an administrative assistant with the help of The Dynamic Duo wielding Cisco technology. It was shown at an administrative assistant all-hands meeting at Cisco to rave reviews and immediately premiered on YouTube. It was a lot of fun to make (as seen in the bloopers at the end) and might be the start of a new career...or not. I play the Cisco Executive, Two-Face and the Joker. Check it out:

Family Fun Day & The Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday, we went to Flood Park in Menlo Park for "Family Fun Day" with my group at work. We had a nice BBQ lunch, there was a bounce house, games and face painting. It was good to hang out with folks from work outside of the office and Kaitlyn had a fun time playing in the bounce house, exploring the park and socializing with the other kids.

On Sunday, we spent the day hanging out with our friends Phil, Char, Brandon and Addison. We ate lunch at BJ's Restaurant & Brewery in Modesto, went to the pumpkin patch at Dell'Osso Farm in Lathrop, then Shawnna made everyone dinner at our house. For the kids, the highlight was definitely the pumpkin patch and it was a lot of fun to watch them explore the farm (it's much more than just a pumpkin patch) and get dirty - bath night, for sure.

While Mommy's Away...

On Thursday, Shawnna left town for a long weekend of scrapbooking with friends in Sonora. So, what did Kaitlyn and I do while she was gone? Well, Thursday and Friday were fairly typical as Kaitlyn went to daycare while I went to work. We did all the usual routines sans Mommy.

Saturday morning, I packed the car up and we headed to San Jose to celebrate Uncle Dan's birthday. Our first stop was to watch Cousin Andrew (6) play in a basketball game (view Kelley's perspective). Actually, we didn't do too much watching - mostly chasing after Kaitlyn making sure she didn't get hit by a basketball or trampled by a 6 year old. After the game, we headed to Uncle Dan & Aunt Kelley's house for the party (view Kelley's perspective).

Katilyn did some exploring and played with Alyssa (2 months) and her toys before it was nap time. Putting her down for a nap wasn't easy as she cried every time I left the room. I ended up having to kneel down next to the Pack N Play (portable crib), put my hand on the mesh side so she could touch me and recite her favorite books by memory - after about 15 minutes, she was out. While she slept, the rest of us ate lunch and played Rock Band which is a video game Dan received for his birthday (Dan on guitar, me on drums, Kelley & Andrew on vocals). When Kaitlyn woke up, we did a lot more playing, ate dinner and headed over to Grandma Cutforth's house for bedtime. After acclimating to Grandma's house, we went through the bedtime routine and I used the same "nap technique" to get her to fall asleep.

After a good night's sleep, we got up and I figured Grandma could feed Kaitlyn while I took a shower, but I was wrong. Kaitlyn didn't want me out of her sight, so after a few tries, I ended up bringing Kaitlyn in the bathroom with me and she stood staring at the frosted glass doors while I showered. We hung out for a little while with Grandma and Kaitlyn enjoyed playing with some vintage toys I played with when I was a kid (she particularly liked the metal jack in the box). Next, we headed to Grandma & Grandpa Pride's house.

Much like the other destinations, Kaitlyn spent a little time exploring the house and getting comfortable before it was nap time. During her nap, we ate lunch and watched football. When Kaitlyn woke up, she went back to playing, pulling the VCR tapes off the shelf, looking at herself in the bathroom mirror and reading Better Homes & Gardens - all within eyesight of me. When Shawnna called to say she was back in Tracy, it was time to pack up and head back home.

All in all, Kaitlyn did really well over the Mommy-less weekend. She was a bit clingy, but that was to be expected given the circumstances. It provided a great opportunity to further strengthen her bond with me and Hugs Bunny ;-) When we put her down to sleep in her crib Sunday night, I think she was out before we left her room - it's always better sleeping in your own bed.