The City by the Bay

I just returned from a three night trip to San Francisco for work.  I returned to a house with no power from the strong winds and a grouchy family.  I feel like anything over two nights away ends rough.  Almost always, on the night I return, Samantha has a hysterical meltdown over something small and it is clear she needs some extra love and attention from mom.  I do love my job and being away is liberating in many ways but there is always the guilt after I see how it affects the girls. 

I was in San Francisco for an industry conference that I attended many times with my previous job.  Since the last time I attended, my colleague at Return Path and friend, JD Falk, passed away from cancer.  JD was a funky, brilliant, quiet, kind and generous man.  He was also a leader within the organization that runs the conference, working to make the internet safe and to fight spam.  They had a very nice memorial service/party to honor JD but I was struck throughout my time at the conference at the intensity of his absence.  I kept thinking I saw him or wondering where he was and expecting to run into him.  There is a fitting quote from Oscar Wilde that I read that says “It is an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen at San Francisco. It must be a delightful city, and possess all the attractions of the next world.” Perhaps it was the opposite of JD’s absence but rather he was everywhere I turned and on my mind all week. 

On a brighter note, I was able to visit a number of babies that I had not yet met in the San Francisco area.  I visited our college friend John and his son Rowan (Carina’s future boyfriend).  I saw our dear friend Carina and her new baby Quinn and two year old daughter Bailey and I got to catch up with my fun and sassy friend Jess who I worked with ages ago and met her sweet baby Caleb.  If you know me, you know how much I love babies and it was fun to get in my fill on the trip.  

Happy Feet

Carina has been walking for a few weeks but was defaulting to crawling because frankly, she can get around more quickly crawling.  Just in the past few days though she has been sticking to moving on her feet as you can see here.

Carina's Winter One-derland

We celebrated Carina's first birthday with her own winter one-derland.  Keeping with our theme, mother nature supplied about a foot of snow the day before the party and it was a chilly day.  My friend Ayeisha helped me create a bunch of pom pom ball decorations in various colors (snowballs of course) and I cut out snowflakes to go around a big collage of Carina's first year of life.

My very talented friend Deirdre, who is a pastry chef, created cupcakes to match the theme with snowflakes, hearts and the letter C and then the most amazing cake with a little snowman on top.

The birthday girl was all smiles as usual and she seemed quite pleased with herself after hearing the crowd sing Happy Birthday to her.  She has been pretty darn adorable showing people she is one and putting up her finger when people ask as you can see here with Grammy.  She usually has a sweet tooth and I was shocked she didn't eat the cake although, that was the start of her hunger strike!  You can see all the photos of the big event here.

Happy Birthday Carina!

This year has come and gone so quickly, it is hard to imagine our lives without our little, spunky, adventurous, sunshiny girl. Happy 1st birthday Carina Jean Brantz! 

If you remember, I was very skeptical that it would possible to love a second child as much as I loved Samantha. After one year with Carina Jean, the notion that I could not have more than enough love for both of them is just ridiculous.  They are so completely different and I love that too, it is almost as if Carina has taught me new and different ways to love. 

Carina is truly magical. Everywhere we go people ask if she is always so smiley and happy. She captures the attention of strangers and her cheerful disposition is contagious.  People walk away from her smiling too.  I know I do.

In preparation for her big day, Carina has officially started walking!  She went from taking a step here and there to just going for it and walking across the room.  Apparently she has also decided that as a one year old, she no longer can eat “baby” food and has been on a bit of a hunger strike - shaking her head no whenever she sees a spoonful coming her way. With only two teeth, I’m having a hard time coming up with what to feed her and dreading her weigh in and the one year checkup.

I’ll have more on her first birthday party we had last weekend and of course a video of her wobbly walking later in the week!    Happy birthday CJ Smiley!

The Laugh is Worth It!

Dave decided to make the most of the big snowstorm we had this past week and take Samantha sledding.  They both had a wonderful time, I'm not sure who had more fun but Samantha's laugh at the end of this video is so classic.