New December Pictures

Check out the new pics from the month and from our trip to Midwest. Also, here's a video to enjoy:

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

It's My Party...

and I'll make a mess if I want to! Actually, that's what we were banking on. Today was Cecilia's birthday party, since we'll be in Chicago on her actual birthday, December 19th.

The day started with Ceci waking up at 6:45 a.m., which is much earlier than she's been waking up, but I was fine with that. I wanted her to take a nap so she'd be rarin' to go at noon.

The guests first arrived at noon. Nichole and Summer arrived first, followed next by Brad Townsend. Then the Brudvigs - Bob, Jeanette, and Catherine - came. Lastly, John and Cathy Sams made it as well. We enjoyed a lunch of salad, angel hair spaghetti, and garlic bread (thanks for the extra help, Summer and Nichole!) As is tradition, Cecilia had the honor of feeding herself:

After a quick sponge bath in the bathroom sink, it was time to open presents. Cecilia received some great things:
* a teddy bear bigger than her from Summer
*books from Nichole (who also gave her a Peek-a-blocks Alligator last week)
*Benny the Beaver from Brad
*Hide and Squeak Eggs from Catherine
*a teddy bear from John and Cathy
*a Cookie Monster and book from Tina Bull and Richard Poppino
*books and clothes from Mom and Dad
*a Discovery hammer and a balloon from Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Kent
She seemed to like everything, but of course, the balloon was a big hit:

Cake time! Cecilia had her own cake, topped with whipped cream, while the rest of us had what Bob called a Neopolitan cake - it was a chocolate and yellow layered cake with pink frosting. We took a few videos of this process. First, she's very careful and nice:

Then she gets thirsty, but has to expel some gas bubbles before she takes a drink (listen carefully):

The sugar buzz kicks in about here:

And finally, the crash:

The party ended around 2:30 p.m. Cecilia had a much-needed bath, then everyone took a nap. The rest of the evening was pretty quiet, except for bedtime. Lately, it's so hard to get her to go down. But I bet she sleeps well tonight - so far, so good.

Also, she doesn't seem to have had any adverse reactions to her birthday feast. I've heard tales of all night illness.

Lastly, all the pictures are over to the right ------------->. There are some really great ones. Here's my favorite (note two small front teeth, Aunt Lissa):

Good night all!

Up to New Tricks

Miss Cecilia is getting very crafty in her old age (she'll be one year old on Wednesday). She loves to play peekaboo with anything she can find - a towel, a blanket, the curtain for the sliding door. Also, she helps us with the laundry; we load up the basket and she pushes it to the bedroom to be folded. Below is a video of her helping with the trash, too.

On Wednesday, Ceci and I went Christmas and birthday shopping. I figure, she doesn't know, so might as well. She's getting a new car seat for her birthday, but it wouldn't fit in the trunk. Here's how I made it work (and yes, she pulled off one shoe and sock on the way home):



These are the pictures from her latest "peekaboo" escapades:



The "trash" video:

Tonight, we took our Christmas card picture. What an adventure! Between the dog, the girl, and the timer on the camera, I'm not sure how we got one to come out at all, but we did. We wanted to take an individual shot of Cecilia, but she wasn't cooperating until we gave her a present to play with. We got a good shot, then we got the following video. She actually does the spinning quite often:

I'll definitely post again Saturday night and give you all the details for Cecilia's birthday bash. See ya then!

It's All About the Hair

Today was a full day for the family. Cecilia woke up at 7:30 and had a bottle. She had a bowl of cereal and some fruit later on, but lost interest when Mickey Mouse walked on the screen. We are in trouble once she learns there's a Disneyland!

She went down for a nap at 9:30. Chris took that opportunity to take a bath, while I chose a nap instead. Ceci woke up at 10:45 and had some playtime with Daddy before coming in to wake me up from my way-too-long-but really-great nap. I got ready to go and then we headed out for lunch and a couple of errands.

We had lunch at Denny's, where Cecilia had banana, mac and cheese, and apple juice out of a rocket sippy cup. She went to town on the juice, so much so that she wasn't really hungry for anything else. After lunch, we went to Home Depot to get a ladder. We arrived home, and while Miss Ceci took another nap, Chris and I began hanging the Christmas lights outdoors. We must've made too much noise, because Ceci woke up way sooner than we expected. In order to finish, we opened the front door and put her in a jacket in her Exersaucer.

We had an eventful-ish dinner. Cecilia was not interested in eating, until we stopped paying attention. Then she ate her rice, green beans, and dices apples - or so we thought. It turned out that most of her food ended up in her high chair. She went down early tonight - 7:00 - but she was definitely ready for bed.

Now about her hair - today was the first time I tried doing anything with her hair. She had a little ponytail on the top of her head a la Pebbles Flintstone. After her nap, we took it out, but the hair stayed up. You'll see what I mean. We had to go out and get another string of lights, so we put a hat on her to cover up the post-ponytail hair. Enjoy the pictures!

Two Down, Two to Go

Finals, that is. I have one tomorrow at 2pm and one Thursday at 10am. Halfway done, yay!

I have uploaded two new albums to Facebook. One is Thanksgiving pics, while the other is random shots from November. Click on the links over there ---------->

By the way, Happy early Birthday, Melissa! I can't believe you're gonna be 23 tomorrow!

More blogging later...

Videos!

As promised in the previous post, here are a couple of videos.

This video was shot at my dad's house during Thanksgiving weekend:

Cecilia figured out how to climb up on something all by herself:

Finally, this was shot today during lunch. It started out as an attempt to use the spoon. I especially like the licking of the bowl:

Slacking No Longer

I apologize for the LONG break between blog entries. Luckily, no one seems too upset (except Grandma Noani. Sorry, Mom!)

In a nutshell:

Cecilia's two bottom front teeth are growing in nicely. They are almost visible from a distance. Once I can get a good picture, I'll post it.

Ceci also celebrated her first Thanksgiving. We spent the holiday with Grandpa Kent and Grandma Cathy in Washington. Cecilia also met her Aunt Shannon for the first time (my stepsister). It was a fun time.

She did NOT attend her first Civil War. Instead, she spent the day with Jeanette and Catherine Brudvig and had a great time! Meanwhile, Chris and I did go to Eugene for the Beaver win. The Beavers were invited to the Emerald Bowl on December 28th. If all goes well, Cecilia will see her first bowl game.

The Fall term is wrapping up this week with finals. I will be officially done this Thursday at noon. Yay!

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks, and a video or two. Enjoy!She crawled into Toby's bed to play.

And she wanted to play with a hanger as well.

Her first "fajita" (Chicken, cheese and tortilla)

Can I go out and play too?

Mommy and Cecilia

Checking out Aunt Shannon's artwork

Discovering the easiest way to get around and still take your toy.

Don't let go, Grandma!

Thanksgiving Dinner (Ceci loved the turkey!)

Cecilia's seat of honor

Sharing Daddy's licorice

Not the greatest picture of her, but if you enlarge it, you'll see two small teeth.

My Aunt Shannon is so cool!

Playing dress-up with Daddy's tie

Priceless!

Pictures!

Cutie! (Taken by Nichole on November 3rd)

A decided fascination with appliances

She was playing with this bag of clothes, then just collapsed on top of it.

I like Grandma Cathy's necklace!

Floating the duck in Toby's water bowl

First Tooth!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Ceci's first tooth broke through today. It's on the bottom, left front tooth. She wasn't overly fussy about it. In fact, she was a pretty happy girl until about 3 p.m. when I wanted her to take a nap, and she wanted to, but wouldn't.

It has been a CRAZY couple of weeks in the Chapman household. Chris and Cecilia had a great weekend together while I attended my conference in New Jersey on November 1-4. This past weekend was Dads' Weekend at Oregon State. My dad and mom drove down from Washington to attend the festivities, including a dance in the halftime show. Check out the OSUMB website for all the pictures and video highlights. The game didn't end until almost 11:30 p.m. - worst officiating ever, by the way.

Sunday, we had breakfast at a local restaurant, where Ceci had ham for the first time. She liked it, but enjoyed flirting with everyone in the restaurant even more. Then, we drove to Hazelnut Hill for some, what else, hazelnuts.

Here are a couple pictures from the past couple of weekends. Enjoy!

OK, pictures tomorrow. Blogger is not cooperating tonight. See you soon.

Orange and Black All the Way!

Saturday was Cecilia's first football game. Dad brought her to Reser Stadium around 11:30. Before that, the band marched in the Homecoming Parade. You can see all the photos on the OSUMB website ---------->. The day was much warmer than we anticipated, so I had to lube up the baby with sunscreen, including her head. Hence, the hairdo...
Ceci's regular sitter, Nichole, joined us at Beaver Walk around 1pm. We then had lunch together and played at tailgate parties around the stadium. Then Nichole and Ceci headed into Reser. Nichole got this great picture of Cecilia and her water bottle:
Ceci fell asleep at 3:00, just in time for pregame (typical band director baby, sleeps through the music!) Everyone had a great time and the Beavers beat Stanford 23-6!

Nichole and Cecilia

Uncle Brad at work

Daddy and daughter playing their favorite game.

Sunday was the long-awaited pumpkin carving. Cecilia was very interested in the big orange thing:

We let her dig in and get dirty. She wasn't too sure of the "pumpkin guts". Like father, like daughter!

Toby, however, loved the innards so much that he would eat any he could get his mouth around.

Today, of course, was Halloween. Cecilia dressed as a little monkey. Again, like father, like daughter.
She's hanging out under a chair in Brad Townsend's office. And yes, she has already pulled of a boot and sock.

After showing off her costume around Benton Hall, Ceci enjoyed a lunch of oatmeal and sweet potatoes with corn. We then headed off to get Toby's food and pick up Ceci's Halloween pictures. They are so cute!!

The band had rehearsal this afternoon. Many members showed up in costume. Ceci and I followed suit. I thought this would be a cute picture (Amanda Herbert - drum major, and her fiance brought a huge bucket of candy). Cecilia was not happy!

But she cheered up once she got her pumpkin:


After rehearsal, Cecilia gave members of the band Smarties. BTW, here's my "costume" - I kinda forgot so I just threw stuff together.

Once we got home, Ceci had dinner and helped hand out candy to the few trick-or-treaters we had. Then it was off to dreamland.

I will update the blog again next week, as I am off to New Jersey tomorrow for a conference. It's my first time away from Cecilia overnight - I hope I make it. I know she'll be just fine with her Daddy.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Vegas Vacation (sort of)

If I ever tell you that we're going to book a flight at night again, stop me! Ceci flies much better in the early morning!

We left for Vegas Friday night (delayed flight, of course). Ceci entertained herself with the beads you see below:
Saturday morning we headed to Palo Verde High School, where Chris and Brad Townsend were judging the "Summerlin Spectacular." We ran into many old friends there, such as:

Lorne and Eydie Reid, and Lori Haines

Sheri Manning (with Chris and Cecilia)

We (mostly Chris, I mean) also saw David Morris, Brian Howerton, Mike McGrath, and Sonny Hernandez.

Ceci and I left and headed to the Melissa Carpi/Larry Ransom wedding. Talk about a college reunion! Here's the happy couple at the reception:

Ceci did a great job the whole day. We did need some alone time, so after a diaper change, she met the baby in the mirror:

Tad tried to hold her throughout the day, but it wasn't until he offered her a spoon to play with that she warmed up to him: Ceci got to meet many of my college friends and their wives:
and even got a photo with the groom:
But she loved seeing Dan and Tracy Philippus again:
After the wedding, Ceci and I headed to Aunt Lissa and Uncle Roll's house, where she stayed while Chris and I went to sing karaoke in honor of Dani McCracken's birthday. Unfortunately, the wind had other plans - it knocked the power out at our favorite karaoke place. Plan B - head to Adam and Cindy Clough's house for karaoke games there. Lots of fun and Mad-Lib inappropriateness (if you've ever hung with this group, you know what I mean!)

Sunday was all about family. Ceci woke up, more bright-eyed than her mother:
We met Quinn for the first time. She is my brother's little girl:
Grandpa Steve met her for the first time as well:

Quinn Marie

Juli (Quinn's mom and Scott's girlfriend) bought the girls matching outfits. We also celebrated Juli's birthday today!

Proud Grandma and her girls

They didn't want to stay still for the pictures

I love her smiles!

Too soon, it was time to leave for the airport. We got home around 1:00 am (another flight delay.)

Here are 2 videos of the trip. The first is Ceci on the plane into Vegas. Sorry, I thought the orientation would switch with me. The second is Quinn and Cecilia having their own conversation. It's adorable.

Next time we post - Cecilia's first football game (Go Beavers!) and pumpkin carving. Until then, be good!

P.S. I joined Facebook (thanks Ruby and Stacy!) and I posted more pics from Vegas there. Check out the link over there ---------------->