Baby's Day Out in San Francisco!

On Christmas Eve we all woke up, got ready, ate delicious breakfast at my Grandma Sugiyama's house, and then headed out to San Francisco for the day. We wanted to ride the Bart into San Francisco, but tickets were $10 each round trip and we decided it was not worth $70 for the eight of us to ride icky public transportation so we drove instead.

And got killer parking spots. They were right next to each other and about 100 feet from Pier 39. Someone remembered to say their prayers that morning.
Of course Sam had to get a picture of it because this kind of thing makes him so happy. The only thing that could have made this better for him was to see another car not get the spot right after he got it. Oh Sam.

Boopers fell asleep on the ride over. Nap time was very askew the entire trip.

And then conveniently woke up happy three seconds after we stepped on the Pier.
There were a million sea otters and nasty birds for her to watch. As well as strange people. Bailey couldn't have asked for anything better.
Dana wearing my shirt and sweater, and yes it does look like a dress on her. She is itty bitty. She is also the most unlucky person my Mom has ever met. Her suit case got packed in the wrong car so for the first 30 hours at Grandma Sugiyama's she had her cell phone, a bag of yarn to knit, and the clothes on her back. It was funny to the rest of us.

Please forgive Sam for that horrendous shirt and his crazy hair. We weren't married yet so I had no control over the wardrobe and hair decisions.
A little bit of Alcatraz over the years!
Then:
and Now:
Boy have we changed!

And Bailey with her second Mom that trip!
Aunt Dana

A little golden gate in the background.
A little bit more proof that Sam actually came on the trip.
And yes, we did think about Full House almost the whole time; and Sam did sing/whistle the theme song at least 7 times.


Watching the sea otters and boats.
And in the spirit of Christmas because it was Christmas Eve after all...
A huge Christmas tree with presents bigger than Bailey, and in a few cases, me.

Before we left for the day to get back to San Jose for our delicious family dinner we decided to get a little closer and more personal with the golden gate bridge.
This look out spot was so crowded. We had to wait our turn to grab a spot on the wall and we got about two feet to ourselves.
It was windy, cold and we almost saw an Indian guy kill some other dude over a parking spot.
Half hilarious, half scary.
While we were posing for this picture we also had three asian teenagers walk behind Dana, hold up their handy dandy I phones and start snapping away while looking at us and smiling. I was confused. At first I was thinking we were in their way while they were trying to get pictures of the city line and the bridge.
So we scooted over a little but there camera was still aimed at us while they laughed, smiled, pointed, and jabbered away in their language. We finish up and are about to leave when all three of them come running up to us. They begin to coo and poke at Bailey while she just stares at them.
All 3 Asians: (all talking at once) what a cute baby....blah blah blah
Asian Boy#1: Such a cute boy.
Me: smile so I don't punch him for calling my baby a boy.
Asian girl to Asian boy #1: (really fast chatter in foreign language)...girl (with a heavy accent).
All 3 Asians: (all turn to face me) girl or boy???
Me: girl
Asian Boy #1: Oh so sorry. Cute girl.
Me: thank you (smiling thinking what the heck is going on and how many pictures of us are in their phones?)
All 3 Asians: (once again all talking at one) cute baby...blah blah blah
Sam: (grinning from ear to ear hardly able to contain himself)
Dana: (half death scowl and ready stance to fight / half laughing)
Me: (slowly walking away and waving) Bye!
And then just as quickly as it all started we go our separate ways.

Another weird, yet highly typical encounter in the lives of Sam and Terri Braden.

And one more picture to make you double take...
And yes that is Bailey's tongue sticking out of her mouth.

And then we left San Francisco and headed back to Hayward to meet up with the rest of the family. We had the most delicious food at Aunt Judy and Uncle Kevin's. We stuffed ourselves to the brim and then half of us (including me) sat around playing games while the other half (not me) looked silly dancing to the x-box and burning off those calories...
I bet I burned just as many laughing at all of them though.

Baby Visits the Beach

Thursday involved packing up our little car once again in a trek towards northern California to visit the extended family.

Here is Bailey being entertained by a million people while her parents tried to fit an abnormal amount of junk into a Honda Accord.
We still haven't decided what she loves more, people or getting her picture taken.

We took the 101 freeway to get to Hayward and decided we should stop at the beach to show Bails the water, sand, and snap a few pictures. Besides getting nasty tar on our shirts, jeans and eventually the car seats it was quite fun.

My little 80's work out girl.
interested in the water
The water was freezing. I was pretty sure that my toes were going to fall off and I regretted walking out this far the moment the water touched my feet.
Sam was smart. He left his shoes on. At least Bailey has one parent that understands the Pacific Ocean in the middle of winter is not fun to play or walk in.
At least I didn't get caught in a funny pose on camera. Or maybe its that I pick the pictures and quickly weed out the ones that make me look exceptionally silly, odd, or weird.
Sam has no such luck.

Impromptu photo shoots when you planned on being in a car all day usually means horrible outfits and overall appearances...
at least the background makes up for it.
One day we will live by the beach, where it is 65 degrees two days before Christmas.

Baby Meets Santa!

We all woke up exhausted. And yes I will admit; I was sore from walking around Disneyland all day. I know embarrassing. That is how out of shape I am. I smell a new years resolution that I won't keep.

Bails loved all the attention. I don't think she was by herself for a single second the entire trip. Uncle Robby was teaching her some racing tips.

and then before she knew what hit her she was out of her pj's, bathed, dressed, and on her way to meet Santa Claus himself.
We attempted a visit earlier in the week, but in Thousand Oaks all the Santa Claus' make you pay for pictures in order to sit on his lap. Sam thought of every way possible to avoid the purchase, but in the end I won out and Bailey got to meet Mr. Claus.

Here we are in line at the Oaks Mall.
A little nervous.
Then getting excited.
Thinking about what she is going to ask Santa for Christmas.
With Aunt Dana.
And finally the wait was over. I am pretty sure we waited longer to meet Santa then in any line the previous day at Disneyland.

We only had one tragic emergency. A blowout resulting in a slight wardrobe malfunction. Hopefully her poop tights didn't soak into Santa's pants.

Checking out the weird guy holding her. She lasted for about a minute, looking around at what the heck was going on before she had had enough and started crying.
We weren't supposed to use personal cameras at all, but since my Mom and Dad bought a nice camera a month earlier with a super giant lens we decided to have Sam stand in the way back and try to sneak some pictures of Bails and Santa. Sam got a few creepy stares, but I would say it was worth it.
And while Sam was off being sneaky taking all the pictures...
I may or may not have purchased one of their ridiculously overpriced packages.
Does it make it any better that it was the cheapest one? Sam doesn't think so.

To Grandma's (and Grandpa's) house we go...

It seems like an eternity ago, mostly because it was, that the three of us packed ourselves and our house up and left to spend a glorious Christmas in California. We spent almost a week in Thousand Oaks getting rained on. But that is okay because it was warm rain, compared to Utah, and we had plenty of fun.

We ate way too much...
hung around and relaxed...
Bailey was of course the center of attention the entire time...
and I am pretty sure Sam was not even exaggerating when he said that he didn't change a diaper, or hold Bailey for almost the whole two weeks we were away from home.
We were all spoiled and had plenty of firsts. And they will each get their own lime light so that in a few years when Bailey can complain and she tells me that she never gets to do anything fun I can prove her wrong by showing her pictures of this trip.

Muffin Top

Bailey loves her gray onesie and doesn't mind squeezing it on even though the "6 month" size waved good-bye to her long ago. Each week it gets a little more snug but whenever I say anything to Bailey,

she just reminds me that the muffin top is the best part!

At least she agreed not to wipe her mouth on her sleeve...my shirt however appears to be fair game.

Hooded Sweater

During the cold winter months everybody needs that warm and comfy hoodie that they basically wear daily and wash maybe monthly.

And if it so happens that aside from keeping you cozy that you also look wicked cute in it, then I guess that is just a bonus!

Although if I say she looks like the elvish princess from Lord of the Rings one more time Terri will probably punch me in the nose.

Crawiling lesson #1

Aunt Connie came over to teach Baby Bailey how to crawl.

It was basically a failed attempt, but it was quite entertaining to watch, and Bailey loved it.
After it became clear that Bailey still prefers being carried wherever she want to go Connie taught her a different trick.
She taught her to stand up and lean against the couch .
It is pretty cute. She gets all excited and can usually last around 30 seconds before she looks for the source of what is holding her up (aka her own legs) at which point her large head and gravity take over. That is usually when the crying starts and then we are back to square one...carrying her everywhere.