October 2005

Has it really been 15 years??

Steve and I took the kids last weekend to our 15 year reunion and Allison on her FIRST airplane flight. She was a total trooper! Not only did she not cry, but she slept all the way to San Jose. On the way back we had some difficulties with Alaska, as they reassigned Allison to a non-window seat (think about this for a little bit…) But, eventually they realized the error of their way and put her in a window seat – where car seats are only allowed. I could only begin to imagine propping Allison up in her middle seat all the way home. 🙂

Katherine had been looking forward to this trip for a long time. She would exclaim, “we’re going to Stanford!!” She was beside herself once we got to the San Jose airport. But, it was a trial of patience as we had to do numerous things before we even got to our hotel – 1) cleanup a blowout in the airport bathroom, 2) gathering together NINE pieces of luggage, 3) installing TWO car seats in a rental, 4) driving to the hotel, 5) waking up the kids, 6) realizing the room wasn’t what we expected and then 7) changing hotel rooms. We finally settled into a nice suite, had dinner and spent some time chatting with one of my business school classmates.

The next morning we strolled the kids over to the alumni center and picked up our materials for the reunion. We then spent a beautiful afternoon lunching with other classmates, visiting the bookstore and walking around White Plaza/Tressider. Katherine loved the fountain in the Plaza. After tossing in several pennies from Dad, she climbed and ran all around the fountain. We pitstopped at Braun where we changed diapers, fed Allison and Steve did email. 🙂 The highlight of the afternoon…smoothies at Tressider! That night Steve and I went to the faculty club for our class party and had a really nice time. The girls did well with the babysitter, which was a huge relief.

On Saturday we hung out with James, Lily and their happy baby. After a wonderful brunch, we met old friends at the tailgater and wandered around campus. We took tons of pictures, visited Hoover tower and collapsed upon getting back to the hotel. Our babysitter then relieved us so Steve and I could have dinner at a wine bar on University Ave and wander around Palo Alto.

Sunday was another long day – starting with our morning flight and getting home in the mid-afternoon. I am resolved to not travel again for a while…

Puzzles, Puzzles & More Puzzles

Katherine is taking after both Steve and I in that she loves puzzles! I’ve been asking the owner of a local toy store for advice on how to progress Katherine thru puzzles. We started with basic wood peg puzzles, moved to interlocking wooden puzzles and then to Lauri puzzles. She’s now working on 24 piece puzzles – large and small. She’s got 4 or 5 puzzles that she’s memorized and can assemble in a few minutes.

Soft Cartilage

We took Allison to Children’s Hospital clinic in Bellevue to check on her wheezing. Indeed, as her pediatrician said, she has what’s known as soft cartilage. Essentially the cartilage that directs food down the throat and air down the windpipe is soft. So what we hear is air traveling down past this cartilage. The specialist predicted that the sound would disappear by 1 year and may reoccur when she is exerting herself, ex. learning to walk.

Allison behaved wonderfully at the appointment. She was very stoic as my mom and I took her to the hospital clinic. The doctor warned us that he would have scope Allison, putting a small lit microscope down her nose and to her throat. Predictably she was annoyed and cried for a minute before calming down.

It sure is a relief to know that all will eventually be well.

Other Key Milestones

Allison is so excited to eat. She watches as food travels by and pulls any plates or bowls to her. She will also grab a water glass and stick her mouth over the edge as if to drink from it. 🙂

Katherine and I selected the starter rice cereal and oatmeal this week. We’re excited to start Allison on food perhaps as soon as next week. We’re pretty sure she’s going to love it!

Steve is very psyched. We tried giving Allison formula once this past week and she drank 3 oz. At first she took the bottle, then pushed it away as if to say “what is this??” Steve then tried giving it to her again and she gave it a try. The only bummer was that she woke at 11PM wanting to socialize and play. We spent another 90 minutes trying to let her put herself back to sleep before I gave up and fed her.