Sunday with Paula and Wine

James' parents' neighbor Paula arrived today for a conference. It was such a beautiful day that we decided to take her up to something truly Californian - wine! We visited the Thomas Fogarty Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains. James and Paula enjoyed tasty wines while Peyton and I played and looked around. After the tasting, we walked around the grounds and got some great pictures.

It was a great day and we look forward to seeing Paula again!

Peyton can Roll Over!!

Early this morning, Peyton really surprised me by rolling over! I had propped him on his side (about 45 degrees off his back) and he flopped onto his tummy. He's been doing this for quite some time - cloth diapers make him pretty buoyant. But then he swiftly rolled once more onto his back - the full 180 degrees!

I thought it may have been a fluke, as it was 5:30 a.m. and he was still half asleep, so when he woke up for the day at 9, I put him on his tummy to see if he would do it again. He did!

We are so proud of him, and I managed to grab the camera in time to get roll #3. Enjoy!

Active Peyton

Peyton is becoming more and more active these days. He loves playing in his activity center! His hair is growing so we've had to start parting it.

In addition, he's discovering textures. He loves to run his fingers across the wall by his changing table (we have textured walls). We'll gradually introduce more textures to him. Right now, he likes the rough textures and hasn't shown much interest in soft or satiny textures. Go figure!



Here's a video taken last night. We attached a music bee from another play accessory and he just loves dancing to the music!



He also really likes to play with one of his rattles.

Peyton at Three Months

Peyton is three months old today!

We don't go back to see Dr. Glinder until next month (and get another round of shots), so I don't have official stats for you. I estimate his weight at about 13-14 pounds now and his length at about 24 inches. He's getting so big!

Here's a picture with Grandma Nelida kind of showing his length.

His body is finally catching up to his mind's desired activity level too. He lvoes to play in his activity center. He managed to inch his way up a little bit after much work. We think he'll start crawling in the next couple of weeks! And, he really likes to stretch his legs, so we think he'll be an early walker (like his Dad). We've already started researching security gates and new wall plugs. :-)

He also has great neck and back control, so I propped him up into a sitting position. He enjoyed the new perspective from this position.

Peyton waking up from his morning nap. He's such a happy baby!

Here's a short video from last night. James was playing with him in his activity center. As you can see, he's talking up a storm!

And here's a video of Peyton playing with his Baby Einstein star toy which he loves.

Friends

Last Thursday, Peyton and I met my friend Michelle and her 5-month old son Dominic in Los Altos for a play date. After grabbing sandwiches in downtown Los Altos, we walked to a local park where we spread a large blanket and let the boys play while we ate. It was a lot of fun.

Peyton loved being outside and he and Dominic had a fun time together. We look forward to future play dates with them!

The Nursery

It took just under three months, but we finally completed Peyton's nursery! We installed the final pieces of furniture last week and I finished decorating the walls. It took longer than expected, but we're really happy with the end result.

Although we rarely ever close the doors to our bedrooms, we went ahead and purchased a "P" to identify Peyton's room from the hallway.



A view of the room when you first enter. We selected a jungle theme, if it isn't obvious from the wall decor. The futon is in bed form as that's where my Mom and Peyton sleep every night. He still refuses to sleep in his bassinet. (The full crib will be assembled in the next few weeks). The room is a pale grey green which isn't coming through in the pictures. We had it painted right after Peyton was born while we were still in the hospital. What about the smell? We used an environmentally friendly no VOC paint which went on smoothly and without any odor! We used the same paint in the living room (different color) - I couldn't even tell they were painting, and I was upstairs!



In April, we had the mirrored sliding closet doors replaced with bi-fold doors in both the nursery and the guest room/office. We love them! The piece hanging above the nightstand was a very special shower gift from my friend Ayanna. She cross-stitched the alphabet and numbers herself and we were so touched. I know Peyton will love it as he learns to write his letters (as it has both capitalized and lower-case letters and numbers).



We also love our glider. It's extremely comfortable and we get a nice view of the trees outside the window.



Our changing station: The changing table will convert into a dresser when Peyton is potty trained. We'll just flip it over and flip the drawers (the unit was built with drawer tracks on the top and bottom of each drawer opening). We are using cloth diapers through a local diaper service, thus the lovely blue liner to our diaper "hamper".

My company gave us a beautiful personalized alphabet quilt which we've hung on the wall by the other dresser - we ended up buying this unit because we ran out of room for all the clothes, diapers, and blankets in the other dresser (and the closet drawers). Plus, we loved the hutch which already holds a ton of books and stuffed animals.

James' parents gave us a child-size rocking chair which we're holding for him until he's big enough to use it. And the clothes hamper is the best! It has a liner in it that we can pull out to take the clothes down to the washer. No need for a separate laundry basket.

And finally, a shot of the bassinet. We opted for the Stokke round (really, oval) Sleepi system. The bassinet converts into a full-size crib, and then can convert into a toddler bed, and finally, can be converted into two chairs. The Swedes certainly know how to make things last.

Let's go for a Walk

Now that Peyton has better neck control, we've started using our Baby Bjorn and sling when we take walks.

Peyton likes to wear his hat on his walks. Here's one of James' favorite "walking" outfits.





James prefers to use the Baby Bjorn to carry Peyton on a walk.

I prefer to use the sling. :-)

Pretty Girls!

Last week, Peyton was visited by three beautiful girls.

On Sunday, Tezza, Matt, and their 3-year old daughter, Luisa, stopped by for a visit. James is a terrible influence and got Luisa hooked on the Wii Fit. She had a blast!






And she enjoyed meeting Peyton.



Megan and Eric arrived on Monday with their 23-month old daughter, Delaney. It was a side trip on their way home to Chicago from a weekend in Los Angeles. We loved seeing them!



Peyton loved Uncle Eric and Aunt Megan!

On Tuesday evening, Nicole stopped by to introduce her 2-1/2 year old daughter, Rielly.

We loved seeing everyone and looking forward to more visits!

A Couple Videos

I apologize for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. James went back to work on July 20th, so I've had my hands full!

Here are a couple videos of Peyton hanging out.

Talking with Dad (with the hiccups).

Hanging out on the Boppy with Mom.