Papa Needs More Wine!

The final weekend of Nana/Papa's visit (of that trip) was great. Saturday was a bit rainy, so we all spent a lot of time around the house...even opting to have pizza at home that night. We'd put out the wine glasses for dinner, but we hadn't poured any yet. E looked over at Papa and said, "Papa needs more wine!" Papa swears he hadn't bribed E, but I'm still not 100% convinced.

Speaking of wine: That Sunday, Baby J experienced another Christensen/Ballou tradition: the winery visit. Though the weather was more touch'n'go than anticipated, we had a nice picnic and tasting at Fenestra in Livermore. Baby J slept in the carrier most of the time, so I got to look like dad-of-the-year with a glass of wine in one hand and a 3-week-old strapped to my chest (to complete this image: I had a soft pink blanket wrapped around me/her). Honestly, I think E had the most fun though. One of the other visitors had a bright blue '57 Chevy. It was love at first sight and he spent most the time running in and out of the winery, bringing each family member out to see the car one at a time. Several times. The highlight was when the Chevy's owner realized how excited E was and invited him to sit and "drive" the car. A week gone and he's still talking about that Chevy.

After a wonderful dinner over at Oma and Opa's, we sadly said buh-bye to the weekend and then an even sadder buh-bye to Nana and Papa (and Belle and Beau) on Monday morning as they headed back to New Mexico. The rest of the week, we started settling more into our new routine...and enjoying these moments as a four + two-dog family. Baby J is growing way too quickly. Her head-picking up skills are getting better. She's outgrowing some of her newborn outfits. And she's even rolled over a few times from tummy to back (though it might've been more of an accident). I can't believe she's 5 weeks old already!

The other night, E spoke up at dinner, saying, "Pet her," and pointing to Baby J. "Evan hold it, Baby Julia." We seated him on the couch with her on his lap and they both seemed to enjoy the encounter (though, I don't think either of their hearts warmed to mush quite like Lisa's and mine did). After that, he's been asking to hold her every day.

One other post-worthy thing. After an explanation on Tuesday, E now knows all of our "real names" vs. solely our titles...meaning if you ask him Nana's name, he'll chirp back, "Dee-Neese." Now, I'm sure this doesn't classify him as a genius (I think Mozart was composing symphonies at 23 months), but it still freaked me out a little bit seeing him starting to grasp these more complex concepts.

Last weekend started out with a delicious dinner in honor of Auntie Janis's birthday. We spent a lot of Saturday working in the yard, though the highlight was going to C's birthday over at the Balyon's house.

While Lisa and Baby J went bridesmaid dress shopping last Sunday with Oma and Opa, E and I spent the morning at GREAT AMERICA! It was a blast, even though E couldn't ride most of the things he wanted to. "Ride it," he'd say, pointing at a roller coaster that he'll be tall enough to go on in about 6 years. "Sorry, bud, you're too short," I'd explain. Then he'd pat me on the back and say, "Daddy, ride it." He even got to take home a stuffed Snoopy after falling in love with it in "Planet Snoopy". We made it through about 25% of the park before E zonked out from all the excitement. We rounded out the weekend with a family dinner at Red Robin with Uncle Mark, Aunt Dasha, and the girls.

This past weekend, we celebrated with E and his < 5 year old friends for his SECOND BIRTHDAY (though his actual b-day is the 17th). It was a blast, but I haven't had a chance to sort through the pictures, so the next post will have all the fun details of that!  Stay tuned...