Cousins Mary Jane and Vivian Visit

I have to apologize because I monkeyed with the timeline more than a bit last week to fit the pictures together for Carson's fictional personal ad. That meant skipping over a fine visit from Peter, Jill & Miles Allen, who came over last Saturday bearing bagels (which made the visit even more fine).

Most people claim they don't like to be one to point fingers, but here Miles has no problems doing it.



Last weekend also included Carson's very first trip to the tennis courts. He didn't actually leave his stroller, but it was a good start nonetheless. If I was Michael Chang, I'd start getting nervous about that youngest Grand Slam champion record about now.



There were plenty of events that actually happened last week as well. Laura and Carson spent some quality time in the Bjorn:



Sticking with the Sweedish theme, Laura also dragged Carson to the mommy movie in El Segundo this week, which was playing Mamma Mia. As you can see, the dark of the matinee proved an excellent place to take a nap.



They also spent time with Deloitte friends Regina and Stephanie.




Of course if Laura was hanging with friends you know a trip to Pinkberry can't be far off:



As if that weren't enough excitement for one week, this past weekend the Bailey cousins made the trip down from Santa Barbara for their second visit with Carson.



This led to many more exciting firsts, like a trip out to Penny Lane Sushi...



A stroll down the Manhattan Beach Pier...



And another chance to see just how tall Uncle Jeff is:



As you can see, Carson and Mary Jane both enjoyed each others company:



Which meant that despite the fact that everybody woke up at 5am, it was still a weekend worth celebrating:

Aunt Caroline Visits

Another "yawn picture" kicks off another recap of a fun week with Carson. This week Aunt Caroline came all the way from the 'nati to see her nephew. As the first of my siblings to make the trip out, she probably deserves some kind of prize. Instead we just made her watch Carson. However her week wasn't all work. We started things off with a 10k on Sunday. Both Caroline and I must have been pretty fast, because Laura had a hard time capturing us on film:




Caroline adjusted quickly to being in LA -- picking up on the subtle use of product placement:



Although she needs a little more practice if she wants to get work as a director of photography:



In addition to assisting with the child care, Caroline was also out here for Baking Boot Camp, and she did not disappoint. Under the tutelage of drill sergeant Laura she whipped up some great desserts, all made from scratch, like this one:



Caroline and Carson got along great. Perhaps it was his intriguing personal ad that brought her out in the first place. It claimed he was looking for someone to share romantic meals:



Take long walks on the beach:



And go out to the bars:



He enjoys being held:



And of course was looking for somebody that would play with his monkey:

Oh what a week

Such a let down this past week as Carson spent this whole week with only Laura (aka Mommy). We still managed to do a few fun things!

First, we need to start off the post with the fun shot of Carson


Carson explored the activity gym and liked looking at all of the toys dangling a few inches from his head.




Carson also had his first (and second) bottles this week.


Speaking of food, we went out to lunch with Briana so she could work some of her famous baby magic on Carson


Later in the week, Carson had a fun photo shoot with his new friend from Aunt Marianne and Uncle Rick, a monkey we've named Bonzo...Here are some of our favorite snaps:



And he spent some more quality time with his Dad where at least one of them took a nap


Finally, we had a lot more smiles, including one even captured on camera


See you next week with lots of pictures from Aunt Caroline's visit

Happy One Month

Hard for us to believe, but Carson is already one month old. He went for his checkup on July 3rd and weighed in at 11 lbs 1 oz, though you can add a few more ounces to this because he was quite hungry at the doctor's office.

Here are the highlights from last week. Bill took his parental leave, so he was home the whole week and it was fantastic to have his company (Carson thinks so, too).

Bill got in some early morning dancing and singing with Carson, giving me another two hours of sleep


We went on long walks every day with Carson. These pictures are from a short walk just to the beach where we tried out the Bjorn.




A few friends came to visit, so Carson got dressed up in his fancy outfit from Rachel


David and Carson


Stephanie and Carson (both of them look a little scared, right????)


Carson got dressed up in his red white and blue for the Fourth


We watched the Marina del Rey fireworks from our balcony on the 4th of July. Carson liked the beginning but fell asleep for the finale. Here it looks like Laura's got a brilliant idea


Laura did a better job capturing the fireworks


Finally, for those that are still paying attention, Carson has started to smile. The newborn smile proves a bit elusive, so this is the best shot we could get. Still pretty fun if you ask us!

Who Does Carson Look Like Quiz?

Upon birth word came directly from my parents in Ohio that Carson looked exactly me as a baby. Not to be outdone, Laura's parents countered that Carson looked a lot like her as a baby. Now we put it on to you, the loyal readers of the blog. Which parent does Carson look more like.

Carson

Parent A

Parent B