Pictures from this Weekend

This weekend, Jamie, Drew, and Menalda came to visit Santa Cruz.  Because Menalda just moved to America from rural Mozambique, we had fun doing all of the "tourist" things with her:  taking her out to eat, visiting the lighthouse, walking on the wharf, and going to the Monterey Bay aquarium.  

It was Lua's first trip to the aquarium, too!

Highlights for Mena included looking at the sharks, watching the sea otter feeding, and seeing the penguins.  She was astounded by the size of the tanks.  Highlights for Lua included getting carried haphazardly by Mena and sleeping through nearly everything.

Jamie, Drew, and Menalda at Lighthouse Field

Jamie and Mena

Mena is enchanted by the sea lions.  "What are they?" She asked.  "Dolphins?  Dogs?"
Just minutes after this photo was taken, she used binoculars for the first time in her life.

Dan and Lua under the wharf

Lua in her big sun hat

Sea Lions under the wharf

A view of the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk

Dan and Lua staying out of the sun

Mena and Jamie at the end of the wharf

A family photo

Mena and Lua at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Lua likes being held

Lua and Dan at a seabird exhibit

Mena is awed by a wall of sardines.  "They sell these in Mozambique!" She said.  "I've bought them in the market."

Dan and Lua looking at jellyfish

"Tia Mena" is 18 weeks pregnant with her first child, so she just loves to hold Lua and play with her.  We can't wait until Mena has her baby in February, so that Lua will have a little friend to play with! 

The New Crib

Guess who  has a big girl crib!?

This girl!

Lua's crib mattress and sheets came in the mail this week, so she's finally sleeping on an actual mattress in an actual crib.  When I came to get her out of bed this morning, I found this joyful face staring up at me.  

While I struggle with the fact that she is now sleeping alone in the nursery,  she doesn't seem to mind at all.  In fact, she seems to like her baby jail!

Two Months

Lua is two months old, now!

She does all the things that a two-month old is supposed to do, including supporting and turning her head, tracking objects with her eyes, and smiling.  We're especially excited about the smiles.  They take up her whole face and make her eyes crinkle into little half-moons.  

She now consistently sleeps though the night, going down for bed at about 10PM and sleeping until around 5:30 or 6 o'clock in the morning.  She wakes up cheerfully without crying, lying in  her crib and babbling until I come to pick her up.  Her very best smiles are at this time and throughout the rest of the early morning. That's our best cuddle time.  She even likes her early morning diaper change. 

In the past couple of days, she has started to coo. It's a brand new thing, and we're loving it.  Once or twice a day, we'll have a little conversation that goes a bit like this:

"Hi Lua Claire!"

"ooooooh."

"Hiiii!"

"ooooooooooh."

"How are you?"

"oohh-oohh."

"I love you."

"ooh." 

She's growing fast, gaining another three pounds in this month alone.  She's now doubled her birth weight (which is incredible for a two-month old) and fits into her 6-month clothes.  She is currently in the 60th percentile for weight, which is quite a leap from her percentile (10th) at birth.  I'm not sure how I feel about her rapid growth.  I'm proud of her big belly, but I also mourn for my petite little newborn.

Here are some pictures of her two month photo shoot with Daddy and Cuddles the Bear.  She still needs a little help to sit up for her pictures!

Lua's Dog Bed

Because we're still waiting for Lua's crib mattress to arrive in the mail, she currently sleeps on the floor at the side of our bed.  She doesn't seem to mind at all that her "crib" is nothing more than a square of carpet covered in a sheet.  We call it her "Dog Bed."

Because she's only two months old, she doesn't crawl or roll over, yet.  She can scoot, however.  The other morning, I woke up to find her like this:

Dan and Lua at 6AM | Friday, September 19

She scooted right off the carpet!  

She looked very cheerful in that position.  It makes me wonder why we bothered to make a mat for her at all!  Apparently, she would be equally comfortable, anywhere.

West Cliff

One of the best things about living in Santa Cruz is the proximity to the ocean.  

Every night, Dan and I bundle Lua into her favorite carrier and take an hour-long walk along West Cliff Drive.  The cliff walk overlooks the ocean and has beaches, a lighthouse, and two state parks.  

Dan likes to watch the surfers at Steamer lane, and I bring binoculars to look for otters and whales.  Lua stays awake for about half of the walk on any given day, gazing ahead alertly and then drifting off to sleep.

Dan gets lots of smiles when he holds Lua in her carrier.  There's something very touching about a father and his daughter.  And while I look forward to every passing month, I'll miss the comments of the other walkers on the path:

"How tiny!"

"Look at the little baby!" and,

"Oh, how precious!"  

She's just so cute at this age.

Dan and Bob on West Cliff Drive (the day after move-in)

The arch at Natural Bridges State Park

Lisa and Lua above Its Beach (or Lighthouse Field State Beach)

Dan and Lua

Looking out over the ocean

Sunset on West Cliff Drive

Dogs and families on Its Beach (Lighthouse Field State Beach)

Past sunset at the lighthouse

Whale watchers, walkers, runners, bicyclists, families, artists, and surfers all use the West Cliff walking path

Our New Apartment

Here are pictures of Lua's first home-- our new apartment in Santa Cruz.  

The three of us are living in Family Student Housing on UC Santa Cruz property, which means that we are directly on campus and just minutes away from Dan's work at the school.  The apartment is a two-story unit with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, kitchen, study, and balcony.  The balcony is broad (the length of the apartment) and overlooks the Monterrey Bay.  

Our new apartment

If we were to take you on a tour of our apartment, it would be a very short one.  The entire floor plan includes about 1000 square feet of space.  

Once in the front door, you'll notice a set of stairs and a ground floor corridor.

Entering the apartment

The stairs lead to the living room, balcony, and kitchen.  The corridor to the right leads to the bedrooms (our room and Lua's room) and the bathroom.

The first bedroom is Lua's nursery.  It's not quite finished, yet.

Lua's green and white nursery

The second bedroom is ours.  The full-length window (our "headboard") is actually 10 feet off the ground, which gives us a lot of privacy.  The room has a full view of the bay.

Our bedroom

Directly opposite our room is a handy storage area, built into the space below the stairs.

Storage and laundry

And, to the right (at the end of the hall), you'll find the bathroom.  It is a fully-functional, run-of-the-mill, totally average facility.

Yup.  That's a bathroom.

If we want to see the upstairs, we have to backtrack to the front door.

Back to the beginning

This time, we'll go upstairs into the living room.  This is the best room in the house.

Cathedral ceiling, hardwood floors, and lots of light

From here, the balcony is to the left (towards the windows) and the kitchen is to the right.  Like the bathroom, the kitchen is totally functional and acceptable.  At least it has running water!

Yup, that's a kitchen

Finally, we can step out on the balcony to get a view of the bay.

Looking down the hill and over Monterrey Bay

And that's our whole apartment.  Honestly, it's a lovely home in such a lovely place.  I didn't expect to like it so much!

I feel thankful to be living here.  We don't know if we will stay here for the full four years, but, after all of this cleaning and unpacking, we are certainly disinclined to move again.

Dan and Bob's Cross-Country Journey

In order to make our big move from Pennsylvania to California, it was decided that Dan would pack up our car and make the 50-hour drive with all of our belongings.  We thought that it would be too hard to traverse the country with a six-week old, though, so Lua and I bought a plane ticket for the following week.

At first, it seemed like Dan would be making the cross-country journey all by himself.  Then his dad stepped in and offered to help out.  Thus, on September 3rd, the two of them crowded into our loaded Honda Civic to make the 3,000 mile drive in what Bob would call "the trip of a lifetime."

The two of them crossed the country in seven days, stopping at Rocky Mountain National Park, Arches National Park, Las Vegas, and Yosemite, before arriving at our new apartment in Santa Cruz.
Despite the cold (Rocky Mountain National Park), the heat (Arches), the rain (several times), and the smoke (Yosemite), both Dan and his dad had an "awesome" time.  They even managed to stop at Ikea and furnish our apartment before meeting us at the airport.

As a non-participant, my record of the trip lies in the cell-phone selfies and pictures that Dan took along the way:

Reading, PA to Santa Cruz, CA (3,139 miles)

Bob is on the road

Day 1:  Made it to the hotel in Iowa City, Iowa (14 hours)

Day 2:  Made it to Loveland, Colorado (12 hours)

Hiking Deer Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park

At Alpine Visitor Center in Rocky Mountain National Park

Day 3:  Rocky Mountain National Park

Landscape Arch in Arches National Park

Day 4:  Arches National Park

The iconic Delicate Arch in Arches National Park

Day 5:  The Hoover Dam

A top-down view of the Hoover Dam (700 feet)

The fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, NV

Cloudy skies over Mono Lake in Eastern California

Day 6:  At Tenaya Lake in Yosemite National Park

Standing at the entrance to Yosemite Valley

The view from Glacier Point.  Visibility is limited due to the raging wildfire nearby.
(Hikers were actually evacuated from the top of Half Dome the day before.)

Day 7:  Finally!  In Ikea, shopping for furniture for our new home in Santa Cruz, California