Back in the stay-at-home game

I have been slow to post again after my return from my conference and have been just enjoying the time with Andrea and Emmett. Now I try to break the quiet streak.

The conference was so-so. My flight didn't arrive until 3 in the morning which got me into my hotel at 4 in the morning, which set the wrong tone for the start of the conference. I spent a lot of late nights polishing the talk, delivered it on the Thursday of the conference (had arrived on Monday) and left almost immediately after---to the point that I have no idea how it was received by the uppidy-ups. Oh well.

While I was gone, Andrea's mom came to the city to take care of Emmett while Andrea worked. It was incredibly nice of her and Emmett really enjoyed hanging out with her. It is such a relief to be away from your kid and have him with someone that you really trust. While I was gone Emmett's first tooth broke through the surface (bottom, left-front tooth) and when Jan told me I actually got teary-eyed. I had this feeling like he was up, walking about, and talking and I was stuck at a conference. I snapped a picture of this now teeth this afternoon and it is shown to the left. The arrival of teeth has made for a slightly grumpier Emmett (perhaps the real reason is after spending so much time with his grandma he realized how hanging out with an adult all day is really supposed to be).

Since coming back things have been good. Emmett and I are getting back into running, we have taken a few bus trips, and we are working on cleaning the house. He is getting a little harder to get to sleep (it used to be I just laid him down and walked away), mostly due to his fooling with his new teeth. He is also rotating all over the place in the crib as he sleeps. He has yet to roll over at night, but he is definitely doing the back-to-front roll now. He is sitting up pretty well, but needs a spotter to keep him from conking his head (spoken by someone who let him lean over and conk his head on the rug, which momentarily bothered him). All exciting stuff.

The three of us have been able to take some after-Andrea's-work walks, and tonight we went up to Alamo Square to take touristy pictures in front of those houses from the credits of "Full House" with a stuffed animal from Andrea's work. The picture at left is one of the A&E looking like they just hopped off of the tour bus.

Oh, I forgot the other news...we have been adding more and more food to Emmett's menu. So far he has had (drum roll) in order: banana, avocado, rice cereal, sweet potato, peach, carrots, peas, pear, yogurt, and banana squash. The last two happened this week (in fact the top picture, I realize now, shows evidence of the sweet potato he had had hours previous---great parenting, huh?). I am starting to add foods from the "Super Baby Food" book and am using her technique of mashing a bunch of a food and then freezing it in ice cube trays. I used the Champion juicer that my mom and grandma gave me in its masticating mode to make the pulp and then froze as recommended---works like a charm. Will be adding other foods shortly, and have yet to see any adverse reactions from Emmett---well, except that he makes a very unhappy, sour face with each bite of yogurt (whole, plain).

Finally one more picture from the weekend where the three of us were riding an actual Muni bus. I think this might be the first ever family portrait to grace this blog.