Wedding Extravaganza - Sunday 6/24

The big day! We checked out and headed to the house to offer any assistance before the wedding. Ceci's contribution was, of course, being her adorable self:

There was lots to do - prep food, set up the bandstand, finish decorating. They even had a dress rehearsal, as Dave, the groomsmen, and pastor would be coming in while playing. They also played in the bridesmaids and bride. They weren't there for the practice, so Chris filled in as one of the "bridesmaids" for timing purposes. This picture shows all the preparations.

Another friend of ours, Larry Ransom, made it in for the wedding. He's sitting next to Dave about an hour before the ceremony. Dave is teaching an online class, and took the opportunity to check in on things.

The ceremony was beautiful. It took place in Nichola and David's backyard. Their dog, Runner, served as the ringbearer and they had two very cute "fairy" flowergirls. Afterwards, there was food, drink and a jam session. Chris even got up and played a couple of tunes. We headed out about 6pm so we could get back to Corvallis. Chris is teaching a conducting class the summer that was supposed to start Monday, but the Beavers won Game 2 of the College World Series on (National Champions, baby!) More on that tomorrow :)

It was a great weekend. We got the opportunity to reconnect with good friends, as well as be a part of an amazing couple's new chapter. I'll end tonight with pictures of our friends and the happy couple:

Chris, Cecilia, Larry and Dan

David and Nichola Blink

Wedding Extravaganza - Saturday 6/23

I'm splitting this up so I can post more pictures. Thanks for sticking with me:

Saturday was the big Yakima River float. We opted out, figuring that changing a diaper on a raft had a greater level of difficulty than we were wiling to attempt. We got up early to have breakfast with David and Nichola before they headed out. This is our room at the hotel. Chris thought the way Ceci and I were sitting was really cute.

Some of David's family and friends of Nichola came for breakfast too. Ceci is sitting on Meriko's lap (Dave's sister). She was staying back with her mom and Tracey to get some things ready for the big day on Sunday.
Dave definitely had the right idea for dressing for the river:
We left and headed into Yakima to do a little exploring. We spent some time at a really cool antique/thrift store. We had lunch at a local sub shop, then went to Target to get Ceci a sun hat and some more sweet potatoes. She also got her first sippy cup. She likes holding it, but hasn't quite figured out how high to tip it to drink. We were still tired from the drive the day before, so we headed back for a group nap.

We woke up to watch the Beavers in Game 1 of the College World Series (they won!) No high chair, so we fed Cecilia in her car seat. She's recently discovered her feet, as you can see below:

We planned to eat out, but Ceci began to melt after her dinner, so it was a bath and to bed for her.

Part III to follow!

Wedding Extravaganza - Friday 6/22

So this is a bit overdue, but here goes:

We left for Yakima, WA at 6 am. The trip went fairly smoothly, and we made it in time to load up the buses for the wineries tour in Zillah. Ceci was her charming self as always, chatting (in her own way) with whomever would listen. Below she is sitting with Dan and Tracey Philippus:

Each of the wineries had great outdoor areas where we could play in the grass. She even got in a short nap.

David and Nichola invited everyone to bring their instruments and started up jam sessions at each winery. It was well-receieved each time.

Like I said, Ceci was able to take a nap, no matter how many people were around:

I just like this picture of Dave. Worth a thousand words. When we returned to Yakima, we headed to the hotel. We we all ready for bed. Unfortunately, the next-door neighbors wanted to party instead. Ceci didn't seem bothered, but it did keep us up.

A Quick Update

Hi everyone,

We're heading to Yakima, Washington tomorrow for a wedding. A good friend of ours, David Blink, is getting married on Sunday. We're not taking the computer, so we'll write a nice summary on Monday.

Yesterday, Cecilia experienced her first fire drill at day care. Unfortunately, it came 20 minutes into her morning nap. Other than that, she had a good day.

I picked her up and we went to Brad Townsend's to watch the Beavers play the Anteaters of UC Irvine. Brad has two dogs, Stella and Jackson. Jack wasn't too interested in Ceci, but Stella sure was, especially after Ceci was done eating her sweet potatoes. We have a couple of pictures to share. And, of course, the Beavers won! They play North Carolina this weekend to defend their national title.

Today was errand day for Ceci and me. We took Toby to the kennel, did laundry and packed for our trip. Chris spent the day at work designing a band brochure and arranging "I Want To Be a Producer" for a musical revue we'll be involved with next month. I discovered that Ceci likes it when you click your tongue at her.

More to come next week, until then, enjoy the pics!

Playing in her Exersaucer yesterday. She loves to chew on this bar!

Either she's driving or really surprised!

Ceci and Stella getting to know each other.

What? The Beavers won?

Gimme the camera, Mom. It's my turn to take pictures.

Six Months Old Today

Today was a big day. Cecilia turned six months old! It's surreal to put a number to that.

She had another weird night last night, made even stranger by the fact that she woke up in our bed at 4:45 this morning. Not normally odd except that I don't remember bringing her into bed! Also, she did not want to go back to sleep. I tried for an hour to put her back down, but finally just set her back in her crib. Of course, she fussed for one minute then fell back to sleep for an hour.

I am officially: A. out of school; and B. admitted as a graduate student at Oregon State. Leaving Lacomb was tougher today than on Friday. I made friends there that I hope to keep in touch with.

Chris spent the day writing some of the music for next year's marching band season, and he is the most awesom-est dad in the world. (can you tell who just took over the blog?Go Beavs!)

Ceci had a great day at daycare again. Today was the first day she had cereal during the day, and according to her teachers, she loved it. I guess all the practice at dinner helped.Today was also the first day she ate a vegetable. She had sweet potatoes (strained) and wasn't too sure about them, as you'll see below. And no, we did not choose sweet potatoes because they're orange!

Tomorrow, Chris and I are checking out a townhouse about 10 minutes away from here to rent for next year. It's amazing how little space you have when you have a small child. The place also gives Toby plenty of running room in the fenced backyard. Wish us luck.

The Beavs play the Anteaters tomorrow in the college world series. The whole town is about to explode with all the orange and black one can muster in June!

Thanks for checking in!

I think she'd rather eat the seat belt at this point.

She survived her first veggie with a smile - coached by daddy of course!

School Year Wrap-up

Tomorrow's my last day of school. The year seems to have just sailed by. Here's what's been going on in the Chapman household and beyond. Friday was the last day of classes at OSU and the last day with students at Lacomb. Friday is Chris' "Mr. Mom" day as he calls it, so I headed into school early. It was Field Day which went well in spite of a few sprinkles. The kids went home at 11:15. It was a little emotional, for although I was there only a year, I did form some bonds and friendships. The picture below is the Silly String send-off from Bill, our Benchmark III Advanced teacher (8th grade-ish). We also waved to the buses as they pulled away, then shared a BBQ lunch.


Saturday was pretty laid back. Ceci woke up around 8 am, which is sleeping in for her. Chris and I took turns playing with her so we could each get a little more sleep. We drove around Corvallis, looking for possible houses to rent, then headed home to watch the Beavers in the World Series. We are all proud Beaver Believers! Cecilia had the great idea, according to her dad, that we have dinner at Pizza Hut. While we waited, she and Chris perused a local real estate ad. It's almost as if she understood what she was seeing.

This was also the night of our greatest bedtime triumph! After a telling of the stories "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "The Three Little Pigs", plus some gentle rocking and swaying, Miss Cecilia was put down in her crib for the night and DIDN'T CRY ONCE!!! YAY!!!! She stayed asleep until 2am, ate, and went back down until 7:30am. Again, YAY!!!

Sunday of course was our first Father's Day. Cecilia couldn't wait to give her daddy the card she picked out for him (I held up three choices and she put her favorite in her mouth). She also gave him two bookmarks she "made" at daycare (she has the best teachers!), and an OSU oxford shirt with a Beaver tie. We let Chris go back to sleep, then got ready to meet up with our friends Amanda and Dan Goertz. Ceci dressed in her green outfit that says "Little One" on the front, just for Daddy.

Ceci is beginning to have a little stranger anxiety, but as you can see, she gets over it pretty quickly.

We had dinner at home, but Cecilia surprised her dad by taking him to Cold Stone Creamery for dessert. We thought we were going to have another great sleep night - she went down very easily - but she proceeded to wake up pretty much every two hours.

Today Chris stayed home with Cecilia while I went to school for an inservice. I came home around 1pm. Dad and daughter had a great day, with Ceci playing on the floor and in her Exersaucer, and taking two very long naps. We spent the afternoon again looking for a larger place with a backyard, then we bought Ceci her first solids besides cereal. Over the next few weeks, she'll try sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, bananas, and pears (order TBD). Another good night going down, although she wasn't very interested in "Red Riding Hood" at first.

I've noticed these entries get long when I don't blog daily. I'll try to write more frequently and concisely this summer.

By the way, feel free to post any comments you would like. I didn't know this at first, but at the end of each entry, if you click on the word "comments" you can add one. We'd love to hear from you. Email is still good too! Take care everyone, and thanks for checking in!

Also, here is our new favorite picture that I promised Mom I would add:

Almost Summer

The school year ends Friday, but this has been a busy week.

Tuesday - Ceci had a good day at day care, but wasn't interested in napping much. We all took a walk after dinner. I wanted to carry her, while Chris kept a hold of Toby. Here are a couple pictures from the walk:

Chris can really get her to smile big these days.

I took this picture over my shoulder. I never know what she's doing until after the shot.

After the walk, I planned to give her a bath, but she fell asleep in my arms instead. We'll tuck this piece of info away for future use - walk around neighborhood=sleepy baby.

Wednesday - My last full day of school with students. It went well overall. Ceci had a great day herself. We even got a bath in tonight. Before I washed her hair, I had some fun with my styling gel and her big strip of hair that goes down the middle of her head

Unfortunately, this happy baby went away when I tried to put her to bed. She cried so hard that I was convinced she was seriously hurt. Chris took over for me and finally got her to rip a HUGE belch, then she fell asleep. She woke up only once at about 2:30 then slept on until 7 am. She was definitely back to her happy self, as you can see in the picture below:

She and I had a great day. Ceci was rolling all over the floor and grabbing any toy she could (including Toby's fish, which she promptly began to chew on. Oops!!) She likes the "Pat-a-cake" rhyme, especially the first two lines. She's also doing well with cereal. We're going to start feeding it to her in the morning once I'm out of school. This picture was from tonight's dinner. I think the bib says it all:

Chris stayed home with her again tonight so I could attend my school's Celebration for the students moving on to high school. He took Ceci and Toby for a walk, meaning smooth sailing putting her down to sleep.

That's probably enough for tonight. I'll let you know how the last day goes.

Lazy Monday

Ceci and I spent most of today together. We played in her Exersaucer, and practiced sitting unassisted. I went to my school's Honors Dessert, and Chris stayed home with Ceci. He fed her cereal and put her to bed at 7pm. 45 minutes later, she woke up, he put her back down, she woke up at 9:15 pm, and Chris put her down again. I guess she wasn't really ready to sleep. I hope she sleeps through the night tonight. She's been waking up in the middle of the night 1 or 2 times a night again.

That's all from Corvallis. And by the way, Go Beavers! The baseball team is headed to the College World Series.

Here's a pic of Ceci the first day we got her Exersaucer. She can actually touch the bottom now.

Weekend Update

Sorry it's been so long since the last posting. Let's just say it's be one heck of a week. I'll give you the Reader's Digest version:

Tuesday - I had a concert assembly at school. It went OK. Since I knew I had a longer day ahead the next day, I headed home, ran some errands and picked up Ceci at daycare. We had a good evening until bedtime. Not happy about going to sleep at all.

Wednesday - Concert night. Chris had his last jazz band rehearsal of the term tonight, so I ran home after school, changed, picked up Ceci and ran back to school to get ready for the performance. Chris had to step in and play bass drum, so one of my colleagues held Cecilia for us. She fell asleep in Chris' arms. He tried to put her in her stroller, which she didn't like. He tried to make her a bottle but I didn't label the containers, so he made a bottle of cereal. She's screaming and he's trying to clean out the bottle and start again. He finally succeeded in calming her down, but missed most of the concert. He took her home while I stayed and cleaned up.

Thursday - Chris' concert night. Ceci and I ran errands most of the day, then drove out to Lebanon for my last New Teacher meeting. We came back into Corvallis, stopped in at home to check on Toby, and headed to OSU. The concert went very well and she seemed to enjoy this one much more than mine, especially Rhapsody in Blue. She was chatting and singing along the whole time. I was afraid she'd be heard in the audience, but I guess only people onstage heard her. I apologized to the piano soloist from Rhapsody and she said it was OK because she would hear Ceci and it let her know that someone liked the performance.

Friday - We drove up to Kent, WA for a judging gig. She does very well driving, until she gets hungry. Once that happens, you'd better stop and FAST.

Saturday - We drove Chris to Kentridge HS for his Music in the Parks gig. Ceci and I took Toby over to Dad and Mom's in Auburn to spend the day. I forgot the house keys, so we left him in the backyard. Then Ceci and I headed back to the hotel to clean up. I experienced one of what will probably be many "bad mommy" moments. I wanted to make a waffle, but not hold her next to the iron, so I sat her on the floor where she reached for her foot and bonked her head. You can't tell now, but she has a huge welt. She did recover pretty quickly. We check out and headed to IKEA. I love that place! They have some very cool baby stuff at a great price. Then we drove up to Brad and Janie McDavid's house for a BBQ (but with the rainy weather, it became a taco bar). Most of the marching band staff was there to wish Alex Trevino well as he goes on to work at Old Dominion. We left around 6:30 to go get Toby and head back to Corvallis.
We stayed until 9pm talking and passing Cecilia around. She cried for the first 5 minutes after we left then slept the whole way home (4 hours). She went straight to her crib and except for one bloodcurdling cry, slept through the night.

Today was pretty uneventful as we were all tired. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

This is at a rest stop. I needed to get her diaper bag while Chris walked Toby. She can sit on her own sometimes.

While we were driving, she got the ring stuck on her leg, then got frustrated because every time she wanted to put the ring in her mouth, her leg came up as well.

Look very carefully above her right eye and you can see the bump she got.

She fell asleep while she and Dad were playing drums on her belly.

She loves Dad's hat!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Today was a long day for Miss Cecilia. She woke up around 7 ready to go, so much so that she didn't want to take her morning nap. I won out, but for only 45 minutes.

We headed out to Lacomb for a band rehearsal. I don't usually work on Mondays, but Chris and I came down with the flu last week, causing me to postpone my concert until this week. In spite of the 6-day layoff, the band did well. We're doing a dress rehearsal/assembly for the school tomorrow. Hopefully it goes well.

Ceci and I stayed at the school until 5pm, getting things ready for the concert Wednesday night and killing time until the retirement party for one of the school's Instructional Aides. It made for a long day for the little one, but she did very well, even finishing off a bowl of cereal at the party.

She was so cute falling asleep tonight. Our routine is: bath, book, rocking chair, crib. As I rocked her, she just moaned into my shoulder, almost as if she were trying to sing herself to sleep. She still cried after getting put down, but a lot less than last night.

No pictures tonight, there was just too much going on to pick up the camera. Good night everyone!

Sunny Sunday

It really was a beautiful day today, although we awoke to rain and sunshine combined. The day started off pretty slowly. Ceci and I got up at 7:30 and called Grandma Joani to wish her a Happy Birthday. Chris and I had pancakes for breakfast, which apparently did not agree with me so well. Chris and Ceci spent the early afternoon together, taking a walk around the neighborhood with Toby.

I started to feel better around 4:30, which was good since we were attending the Marching Band Banquet at 6pm. It was a casual affair with pizza and soda. Cecilia ate her entire bowl of cereal for the first time tonight, which equals about three tablespoons. Big step considering she ate only a couple of bites the first two times.

She's in bed now, but it was rough getting her down tonight. I think she was just overtired, plus she went down much later than usual. She smiled at me as I put her down, then just unleashed for about twenty minutes.

That's about all for tonight. I leave you with pictures from yesterday's park outing and a picture from tonight.

She's getting good at sitting unassisted.

Her first experience with grass.

Cereal - day 2

On the floor at the band banquet

Holding her bottle for herself

A New Adventure

Well, here is our first entry ever into a blog. I would never have thought of this had I not received a link from Ruby (thanks, sweetie!!) It's such a great idea, what with everyone spread all over the country.

Ceci is growing so much! In the past few weeks, she has learned to roll from her back to her tummy and back again, sit on her own (unless she grabs for something to the side), and is starting to eat some rice cereal.

We went to Central Park in Corvallis today for the town's 150th Birthday. It was Ceci's first time sitting in grass. She kept trying to grab it and was confused when it wouldn't come up off the ground. We sat and listened to a jazz band and then the Corvallis Community Band. The director invited Chris up to conduct a march he arranged for the band. It was unexpected, but very nice of them to do that. We had to leave early due to my allergies. Ceci fell asleep in the car, but when she woke up, she got her second try at cereal. She seems to get the idea of eating off the spoon, but doesn't really like it yet.

That's all for tonight. I hope to keep up with this - I'll do my best!

Some cereal did get in her mouth, I promise!

I love this outfit. She's at the birthing class reunion, but we're heading to the Beavers Spring Game next.

Don't they look great in formal wear!

At the Spring Game

She fell asleep in the car clutching her "Blue Guy". It was so cute that I pulled over to take this picture.