Thanksgiving Out West

This past week we celebrated Thanksgiving with Morgan's family in Dublin, California. Here is a photo of the thanksgiving table.

Our hosts, Jenny Lynn and Gabriel (Morgan's cousin and her husband).

Of course, getting to the festivities in a timely manner meant flying. This was Lena's first plane trip (and only her second time out of Illinois) and she did great on all accounts. Here are Morgan and Lena before take-off in Chicago.

Paul and Lena catching up on some sleep in the hotel room while Morgan and her mom play games.

Morgan's uncle Jack was one of many family members Lena got to meet on this trip. We especially got a kick out of hearing Jenny Lynn's silly songs that she made up for Lena ("Jenny Lynn is the best word, maybe it'll be my first word".

On Sunday night the three of us ventured into San Francisco and had a wonderful time visiting with Paul's extended family. Here are Morgan, Lena, and Sol (Paul's uncle) before dinner at aunt Jennifer's apartment.

Morgan and Lena at a park near our hotel this morning.

Paul and Lena in the same park sitting by the fountain.

Hats, Smiles & Rattles

A few of you have asked us to update the blog. Sorry we've been a bit delinquent of late; staying busy with this wonder along with our work. Here are some photos of Lena we took this morning along with a short movie. Morgan found the hat that Lena got at the hospital yesterday and was amazed how tiny it looked - that thing that looks like a tube sock next to Lena's head is actually the hat!

The last few weeks have been really fun. Lena is smiling up a storm and has been so fantastic.

Lena is also starting to work more with her hands and her mouth. Here she is shaking a rattle that was Paul's when he was little. The first time we tried this experiment it totally freaked her out. She was able to hold the rattle and shake it but couldn't figure out how to let go of this loud noise-making device (a mixture of wonder and horror). Now she's learned she can simply drop it when she's bored and we're all the better for that.

Lena is 2 months old

Today we celebrated Lena's two month birthday. She's still a rockstar at "tummy time" and her new favorite activity is practicing standing (albeit with spotters).

She especially likes it when Paul flies her through the air and gives her a kiss on the head.

Here are two videos from this morning of our smiley little standing girl. Unfortunately the second one is sideways, but hey, that just makes these physical feats all the more astounding!