first vacation!

our little rebel came home from (appropriately unauthorized) "mohawk day" at daycare, ready for her first family vacation to santa barbara.

the weekend started off leisurely with saturday at home. we'd planned it that way so as not to spoil our theoretical relaxation with too much rush out the door. violet mugged at the park.



and brunched with her pal ali bell.



this whole restaurant highchair thing is a revelation in itself, but combined with puffs, it's miraculous. she just sits there! eating puffs! she could eat them all day! of course our little featherweight would choose a favorite food that's nearly calorie-free, but there you have it. she loves them. we'll hopefully graduate to cheerios soon. or the "sugarless wholesome o's" that the baby dictators tell you to buy. but probably just cheerios. in any case, we're enjoying the restaurant thing while it lasts because some moms at daycare were telling me that once their kids learned to walk, restaurants were on the outs for awhile. i've been calling this the year of the frozen pizza, but i guess it may end up being more than a year.

on sunday morning we packed up the house, exiled the poor mutts to the kennel, and drove up the gorgeous coast during violet's first nap. kevin and i haven't been to santa barbara together since our wedding, so this was an especially welcome trip since our four-year anniversary is next week.

since we couldn't check into the hotel right away (we stayed at the fess parker doubletree, where we had stayed for a couple of nights leading up to the wedding), we took violet for another first... the zoo! violet was wide-eyed in wonder, and it's a lot more fun to watch her than it is to watch depressed and displaced animals baking in the sun. it's certainly easier to understand the appeal of zoos when in the presence of elated kids. in fact, violet was more taken with the other kids than she was with the exhibits, with one notable exception... sophie le giraffe come to life!







violet was loopy by the time we checked into the hotel. so much crawl space!



we'd brought the pack n play, but upon seeing that the complimentary crib wasn't as medieval as we'd expected, we decided to put our mattress fears aside and let her nap in there while kevin and i enjoyed - what else? - a ryan reynolds movie. sure, we'd seen "just friends" before, but you can't deny the appeal of a fat-guy-loses-weight romantic comedy. violet communicated her opinion by banging her head against the bars yet staying asleep nonetheless.



after feeding violet, i rushed to - what else? - have a glass of champagne.



sure, the wine cask restaurant doesn't LOOK like it caters to babies, but apparently they'd hosted a baby shower there just that afternoon. also it was 5:30pm on a sunday, so it was us, the bartender, and one old guy. considering i can count the number of drinks i've had in the past 18 months on one hand - well, maybe two - that glass was heaven. well, half glass. i gave the rest to kevin. but still! that was letting loose for me. we also let violet loose, and the only thing she wanted more than the fire was my glass of bubbly.



it started with a glass and escalated to the bottle. or bottles.



and then, well.



we spent monday morning and early afternoon driving around the area where we had the actual wedding. we let violet crawl around the floor at zaca mesa winery, and i nursed her in the parking lot at firestone so that i could steal a couple of sips off kevin's tasting. we also stopped to pick up an anniversary cake from our baker, who replicated the chocolate butter cake with peanut butter buttercream filling and frosted in chocolate ganache. that's a lot of butter. we each ate a giant slab in bed that night.

after violet's afternoon nap, we readied for another first - the swimming pool!



unfortunately we forgot the camera, but she LOVED being in the water. we zoomed her around for a good bit until it seemed like her thick layer of sunscreen might be failing. she was so worn out that she actually took an extra catnap before we took her for an early dinner in the hotel bar, and then one last first, the beach.



it was almost the perfect trip, but when we stopped to grab coffee on the way out of town, minutes after violet had fallen peacefully asleep in her carseat, i slammed the door too loudly upon reentry, waking her up for 90 minutes of "the mommy show" in the backseat. let's just say i could live without "if you're happy and you know it" for the rest of my life. also it might have been a little more than the door slam that woke her. i might have been ranting about the incompetence of the coffee shop clerk, who screwed up my order and didn't give me a spoon for my cottage cheese. this after they were out of yogurt parfaits, not to mention the only muffin i like there, thus relegating an always starving breastfeeding mother to cottage cheese. when violet woke up, she totally shared my indignation. which she expressed by pulling my hair and shrieking loudly whenever "the mommy show" tried to take a commercial break.

but it was worth every minute.

first father's day

summer colds derailed our plans (sorry, amoeba shopping spree), but in truth, a low-key weekend at home was probably nicer than any "surprises" i'd attempted to schedule.



violet gave kevin a fantastic hat. kevin wore it proudly as he lamented the unfortunate fate of color me badd. i know i said i'd try to be discriminating when selecting which of violet's artwork to save, but this stuff is so priceless, how can we throw it out?

violet also had some cards for her dada, but she was finding it hard to part with one.





violet and i had taken our usual sunday morning trip to the farmer's market, and kevin woke up just as violet was getting up from her nap and i was taking brunch out of the oven. perfect timing, how i've missed you these nine months.



the boys showed their love for their dad in their usual way - desperate begging for affection. a gift arrived from grandma linden, and after showing the ups man who's boss, the mutts posed for their photo op (aka begged for some of the cheese spread).



the latest news in violet's world is more vehement separation anxiety than ever. if i'm in the room, it's just big fat tears if anyone else tries to hold her, sometimes even kevin. i know how hard this is on him - how badly he wants to relieve me when i'm at the end of my rope - and i'm humbled by how well he handles it. there's so much to say about how he's exceeded my every expectation as a father and how lucky we are to have him, and hopefully i'll be able to better articulate it in later, less tired years. the best thing so far is seeing how violet brings out his goofiness, one of the things i love most about him. underneath all the black shirts and morrissey is the best monkey impersonator you've ever seen in your life. i can't wait to watch as violet falls head over heels for her dada in the months and years to come.

snow day

daycare was closed on friday, and i was as happy as a kid on a snow day - at least this is what my southern california self imagines it feels like. violet and i took advantage of the opportunity and made her first visit to kevin at his office. even though she's obsessed with the simpsons magnets on our fridge, she ignored all the great artwork on kevin's walls and instead chomped my dirty keys the whole time. i imagine they tasted like nuts or honey or some other kid-killing allergen left on my fingers after a snack of snickers or baklava.



violet was in SERIOUS MODE, and although several of the writers tried to make her laugh, she was firm in her commitment not to crack a smile. i'd say they were demoralized, but i'm sure they're used to their jokes bombing. (not you, hubby.) then i made a few pig snorts in violet's ear, and she lit up. what can i say, the girl knows comedy gold. dangerously close to naptime, we stopped at the last office, and violet was greeted by the writer with "come to daddy!" her face wrenched up, and she melted down. like i said, comedy gold.

i'd reserved morning naptime for the drive to san diego. of course violet woke up smack in the middle of the camp pendleton stretch - the only leg of highway where i couldn't stop unless i wanted to breastfeed among war games - but i dropped a couple of toys into her lap and managed to avoid a fuss fit for almost the rest of the way.

i actually didn't bring too many toys because i knew nana would have plenty of household goods to keep violet occupied. i didn't know so many of these would hold such sentimental value for me, like my silver baby spoon with its bunny-shaped handle and my cookie monster bowl from back in the day when cookie monster ate cookies. violet's favorite was a goody from my baby shower - a baby bottle with the nipple cut off, in which alcoholic punch had been served. apparently my daughter can already sniff out the taste of champagne.



on weekends i like to "walk down" violet in the bjorn, where she's always content, so that we can avoid any pre-nap crankiness, and i usually time it just right so that she goes into the crib right after we walk in the door. not so in san diego. my mom and i were chatting away when suddenly violet became dead weight.



but masquerading as one of those easy babies i hear so much about, violet stayed asleep while i slid her out of the bjorn and into my lap, then continued sleeping while my mom and i watched two episodes of gilmore girls on dvd. is it wrong if this is the moment i choose to say that i've never loved my daughter more?

if you don't like that selection, i'll change it to this: i've never loved my daughter more than the first time she sat in a restaurant high chair, contentedly munching on apple puffs and watching the waitstaff buzz about, thus allowing me to eat AN ENTIRE MEAL with two hands, without a baby in my lap swiping at my knife. i'm slightly obsessed with making delicious food for violet, so it was also awesome to be able to feed her the buttery cinnamony squash from my plate. i'd been considering buying one of those seat things that fits into restaurant high chairs and grocery carts, but nana volunteered a couple of blankets, which worked just fine.



if you noticed the snot drip, you'll not be surprised to hear that violet brought home a fresh bout of daycare nastiness to share with me and kevin. she had two exciting play dates scheduled that i thought we might have to cancel, but the other mothers generously braved the germ storm (i'm so sorry if any of you guys get sick!).

first up, my good friend sarah brought over her two girls, thea and hellie.



i managed to get exactly one picture of the babies - adorable hellie is a couple months younger than violet - while two-year-old thea played showtunes on the piano with my sister. my mom made breakfast - we sat down at the table for about three minutes - and we squeezed a few snippets of conversation into the eye of Hurricane Baby. i'm amazed at how impossible it is to have any kind of linear conversation when babies are afoot. i constantly find myself asking someone a question and then saying "hold that thought" as i dash off to retrieve violet from the china cabinet. "that thought" rarely gets revisited because who can remember it two minutes later? nonetheless, it's always fantastic to see friends, and any adult conversation is like water in the desert these days.

violet and i were also lucky to attend a baby shower for another good friend, taryn, whose four-year-old son simon will soon be big brother to linus. five women, two toddlers, and three babies got together for brunch, which seems like a low-key affair until you realize that Hurricane Baby is in the forecast. but wow is it ever fun to hang out with my oldest and dearest friends as the next generation plays together... or at least hangs out in the vicinity of each other (i.e. violet on the fringe, entertaining herself with a choking hazard).







these friends - known from our more badass days as the pq posse (studying poetry and plotting the next art revolution from a booth at denny's) - are family to me, and although we're short a few members here, any time we can manage to gather in one place is precious, especially when we're celebrating the upcoming birth of the next member of the mini posse in all of its nerd destiny.

the return trip to los angeles wasn't quite as smooth thanks to traffic, but it wasn't disastrous either. it's nice to have built the confidence that i can solo parent a visit to the grandparents' house and give kevin a leisurely weekend of dog care, grocery shopping, babies r us running, crib mattress dropping, raccoon monitoring, and cooking a heavenly dinner of clams with crusty bread to greet me with upon my return. anytime you need a break, sweetie.

a cousin on the way

last week kevin's brother mike visited from DC with his wife erica, and we had an awesome week of just hanging out with the munchkin and catching up. we really only see these guys once a year, twice if we're lucky, so any time spent is always quality time. we're especially excited because they're expecting their first baby, another cousin for violet! for the readers who don't know, so far violet has two older cousins: reese, who is the five-year-old daughter of kevin's sister mary ann and her husband lonn, and declan, who is the three-year-old son of kevin's brother dan and his wife elizabeth. kevin and his family always summer-vacationed in ocean city/bethany beach/rehoboth beach, and we like to daydream about the day when all the newest generation lynn cousins can enjoy some lazy summer days together too... and their parents a few summer drinks.

violet was happy to share some of her favorites with her aunt and uncle: the grove/farmer's market, aroma cafe, universal citywalk, the park, and the backyard. kevin was happy to share some of his: the village idiot, fox & hounds, laurel tavern, yuca's tacos, and the red lion. i'm sure erica enjoyed all of that fresh beer on tap. oh wait. seriously though, she was nauseous and exhausted, but she rallied, and got a few cute maternity duds to boot.

the week flew by far too quickly, but at least it was well documented. here are a few of my favorites:











violet was done with the paparazzi, as you can see. can't a celebrity have some peace in this town?

a weekday in the life

6:50am


7:15am


7:50am


10:15am


12:45pm


1:15pm


2:00pm


4:15pm


5:15pm


5:30pm


6:15pm


7:00pm


7:30pm


7:40pm


7:50pm


7:51pm


7:52pm


8:00pm


8:15pm


9:00pm


9:30pm