Another month has passed and I'm due for an update. I've meant to write sooner but life just seems to get busier and more complicated every day. Most recently, I've thrown my back out and had to take a mandated few days of rest which is a nice byproduct of injury. The less fortunate byproduct is that I haven't been able to lift Dahlia so Peter and our nanny, Noeleen, have been taking over most of the heavy (she's 20 pounds now!) lifting.The good news is that rest, stretching, and acupuncture seem to be working and I'm feeling much better. I hope to resume some significant yoga practice asap as I think that strengthening will help immensely.
Other than our family's injuries, life is good so far this summer. I enjoy taking Dahlia on walks on the Embarcadero or through North Beach, and we've picnicked in the nearby park twice already. Nana (my mom) was here for two weeks through the Fourth of July, including a weekend at a rustic B&B in Healdsburg, and Uncle Brennan visited with his girlfriend, Linnea, for the holiday weekend. Unfortunately, Aunt Molly is in Chicago for the summer working at her law firm's office there, and has missed out on the fun, but her boyfriend, Adam, joined us in the park on the Fourth.
Here's a recap in pictures:
One weekend I took Dahlia on a walk to the Chinatown branch of the SF Public Library. We were delighted to find that the children's room is on the first floor with a wheelchair- and stroller-friendly entrance. After that, we walked to Washington Square Park in North Beach and I FINALLY got to put Dahlia in a swing! I've been thinking about this day since before she was born and just hadn't gotten a chance to do it since moving downtown (there are no playgrounds near our apartment, only this one and one at Pier 39). I think she really liked it!Another "first" that day was placing Dahlia down in the grass. Having never encountered this strange surface, she studied it intently, watching it move in the wind and gently feeling the blades in their different forms. She also enjoyed watching other little kids and dogs running in the park.
On Father's Day we ventured to the park near our apartment (on Jackson across from the Safeway) for a small family picnic. This was Dahlia's second time sitting in the grass and she enjoyed playing with the tiny grass flowers and watching the birds that approached bravely in hopes of eating some of our food.
We've found that whenever we eat in front of Dahlia, she stares at us with a quizzical look that says, "where's mine?" so we've started making sure that we carry half an avocado and a sippy cup of water whenever we go out to eat. She loves her avo but she is crazy for her sippy cup. We started giving her a little water just to wash down her meals but she goes crazy at the sight of her cup and gets all excited and grabs it from you and chews and drinks from it all herself. It's a good way to help her entertain herself for a good 15-20 minutes while we eat.
In the picture with Peter, you can see our building behind him (the tall white one with all the balconies).
The first weekend that Nana was here, we packed up a rented Subaru with our various equipment: wheelchair, walker, stroller, carseat, and Pack-n-Play, and drove up to Healdsburg for two nights at Gipson B&B, or what we have dubbed "Dan's place."
It was planned for a couple months and the only bummer was that Molly and Adam couldn't come, but we had a lovely time anyway.
It was HOT -- upwards of 100 degrees -- but we spent the weekend sitting by a pool and finding a couple of local, air conditioned places to eat. Dahlia experienced another first -- getting dipped in a pool -- which I think she enjoyed but still felt the water was a bit too cold (it cooled down significantly at night so the pool was pretty cold). We all appreciated the chance to get out of town and out of the apartment for a few days.
Then, for the Fourth of July, Brennan and Linnea arrived to spend the weekend in SF. We had another fun weekend picnicking in the park and going on a walk in North Beach. Here are my final few pictures from that weekend.
Dahlia playing with her new phone rattle (thanks to Uncle Chris who was in SF for two days that week as well and brought us toys from the cousins!) and her favorite baby doll from Grammy.
Brennan and Dahlia enjoyed the swings.
Yay for family visits!Peter's update: Saw the doctor on July 7th, who looked at X-rays and declared Peter ready to start walking again. Yay! Now it's a matter of starting physical therapy and moving on to crutches instead of the wheelchair and walker. Once that transition is complete, we should be cleared to return to our Mission apartment after 3+ long months of recovery. We are hoping for the end of July but don't want to put any additional undue pressure on Peter. He'll recover quickly once exercise begins, I'm sure!
Later....
