Goodbye Portland... Hello SoCal...

Hi everyone. Well, me and Mommy and Daddy are home after a fabulous trip to Portland. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see my cousin Hailey again. She's 3 days older than me and very wise for her age. We enjoyed playing together and had minimal battles over toys. We even played "beauty shop" as you can see in this video where Hailey is styling my hair for me. At the end of the video you can see where she got a little frustrated because my hair wasn't doing exactly what she wanted.



While we were there we got to celebrate Uncle Scott's 30th birthday. That's old! Aunt Christie thought we should celebrate with a theme near and dear to his heart... Star Wars. Unfortunately I was scared silly by the Darth Vader masks.


Mommy and Aunt Christie tried to get some pictures of Hailey and I together before we left, but Hailey and I joined forces to frustrate them in their efforts. Here's an example of the kind of photos they got.


While we were in Portland, I slept well at night and for my naps. But I have to say that I'm mildly offended about my sleeping arrangements at the hotel. They put my pack-n-play (or "playpen" for all you Canadians) in the hotel room BATHROOM! I guess Mommy and Daddy wanted to be able to talk and watch TV after I went to bed. At least the bathroom was nice and dark and quiet and I actually slept really well. And Mommy and Daddy paid the price of putting me in there, by not being able to use the potty until I woke up in the morning. I've decided to give in on the sleep drama, because my new strategy to assert control over my parents is to not eat. Daddy keeps telling Mommy not to worry because I don't need all the extra calories anyways (thanks alot Dad), but it stresses Mommy out just enough. I think she's starting to learn who's boss around here! tee hee hee! If she'd just let me eat Cheerios all day, then she wouldn't have to worry. I would do anything she wants, if she would just do it MY WAY!

Anyways, tomorrow we board another plane and head down to Southern California until Sunday. We'll be in Long Beach for a couple of days where I'll be going to the aquarium with my Grandma and Grandpa van Riessen! Yay! And then I get to go to Temecula to see Grandma and Grandpa Belknap! AND Uncle Scott, Aunt Christie and Hailey are going to be there for a day as well! Maybe Hailey can do my hair for me again! Boy... I really dig all these summer adventures.

I didn't know my birthday was June 19th!

Well, it appears that my birthday has come early! Yesterday a rather large box arrived with MY name on it. Mommy and Daddy spent about 20 minutes sorting through the parts and pieces in the box and the next thing I knew they had built me my very own kitchen. I love it! Thank you to Nani & Papa and Grandma & Grandpa Belknap who contributed to this amazing gift. I can't wait to whip up some culinary masterpieces in this baby. Unfortunately, I think the oven may be broken on it because it doesn't get very hot at all. I just don't have the heart to tell Mommy and Daddy though because they worked so hard on it.

All in all, this has been a wonderful week. So far Mommy has only cornered me into one photo shoot, which wasn't too horrible considering she took me to the mall to shoot pictures in front of some cool tile. I love going to the mall and watching all the crazy people run around. People in California seem much more "frantic" then the people I saw up in Canada. Too much Starbucks I guess. Anyway... that's it from me! Love ya!

Happy (day after) Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all those amazing dads out there. I want to send a special shout out to my Daddy, Grandpa van Riessen, Grandpa Belknap and Papa! I love you guys! For this post, I would like to list my top five reasons why I love my Dad (drum roll please...):

#5 - He comes home from work & plays with me for hours, even though he's tired.
#4 - He gives me my bath every night and let's me splash him.
#3 - He shares his french fries with me at In-N-Out!
#2 - I got my fabulous long eyelashes from his end of the gene pool!
AND #1 - He wrestles with me and doesn't hold back just because I'm a girl!

And here's why Mommy thinks Daddy is such a great father:

#5 - He comes home from work and plays with me, giving Mommy a break.
#4 - He gives me my bath every night, giving Mommy a break.
#3 - He feeds me sometimes when we go out to eat, giving Mommy a break.
#2 - I got my fabulous long eyelashes from his end of the gene pool!
AND #1 - He wrestles with me, giving Mommy a break!

Hmmm... I wonder what Mommy was trying to say there? Anyway, here's some pictures from our Father's Day. Daddy spent some time with me blowing bubbles outside. I found it a little frustrating because every time I tried to grab the bubbles they disappeared. I still can't figure out how Daddy does that! He's the best daddy in the whole world and I love him!

Old Faithful of Sacramento...

Have I ever had a wonderful couple of days! Yesterday Mommy introduced me to a great style of music from her Canadian homeland. The band is called Great Big Sea and it's a mix of celtic and folk and pop. Anyway, I loved this CD so much that I couldn't stop dancing. I just had to shake my booty! Check out my dance video below! (Mommy apologizes for her shaky camera work)

And then this morning, Mommy and I went to a water spray park where water comes shooting out of the ground just like Old Faithful! Can you believe it? What a wonderful invention and a perfect way to beat the 100-degree heat we have today! I had a blast running around with the big kids and Mommy enjoyed visiting with the other ladies from her mommy group. AND this park is only a 2-minute drive from our house so Mommy promised me we could come fairly regularly to play! Yay! Hope you're all beating the summer heat!

A fun week with my grandparents!

Hi there everyone and greetings from Sacramento! I have had a wonderful week with my Grandma and Grandpa Belknap. They were so much fun and we had a wonderful time playing together. I miss them already and really enjoyed showing off my new walking skills. Here's a picture of us just before they left this morning...


While they were here, we spent some time with my great aunt & uncle and my cousins. I got to play in the hot tub and try out a new flotation device. This thing was great! Nothing like kicking back and enjoying the water on a hot day. But the best part was getting to play with my cousins Logan and Brandon (seen below). They made me laugh and laugh and laugh. Especially that Logan character. He was like my own one-man show! He told Mommy last night that when he and I were both big that we were going to get married. Daddy pointed out that this was illegal in most states, being that we're cousins. Too bad because he's a lot of fun!

And today is my 11-month birthday! And to celebrate the anniversary of my birth, I finally cut my 3rd tooth (after several weeks of agony). Number 4 is right behind and will probably make its appearance in the next few days. Phew... am I glad to see an end to that suffering. Too bad Mommy can already see tooth number 5 and 6 coming around the corner! Finally, I just wanted to apologize to my Auntie Tricia, Uncle Dave, Alex and Maya. I'm sorry that our Anaheim Mighty Ducks trounced your Ottawa Senators to win the Stanley Cup finals. Mommy mourned the Senators' loss, but not me! I'm Californian!

Mommy's starvation campaign

Hi everyone. Hope you're all doing wonderfully. Life here has been traumatic since Mommy has started starving me at night. She decided that I was big enough and that I no longer needed to nurse in the wee hours of the morning! This was after the doctor pretty much told Mommy that I was "hearty enough" and definitely didn't need more food at night. Can't she tell that I'm a growing girl who needs sustenance? I was only getting up once! The first night she implemented this torture, she thought she could pacify me with my Binky. I promptly threw it across the room and screamed my angry displeasure for an hour and a half. The second night I got even more mad when I realized that she was serious about this nonsense. And the third night I tried desperately to change her mind so I got up almost every hour to yell at her and Daddy (by this point he had to get involved too). But after night 4 and 5, I think I'm giving up. In fact, last night I woke up once and gave one or two little cries before figuring she wasn't coming in so I went back to sleep. It wasn't worth the energy. We'll see if I'll let her off this easy. Grandma and Grandpa Belknap are coming tonight for a visit, so maybe I'll kick things up a notch so that Mommy feels REALLY guilty.

Well, that's the latest from here in Sacramento. If you think Mommy is being unfair with her cruel and unusual punishment at night, please call your local political representative. I need all the advocacy that I can get! Bye for now!

June already?

Where has the month gone? I can't believe it's June already! This week has been busy, which makes it easier for me to take my mind off of my impending teeth. I've been able to get out of the house a little more with Mommy. We even went out with Isabelle and her mommy on Wednesday for yet another photo shoot. I didn't really mind Mommy and Auntie DeAnna snapping pictures all over the place because I was just happy to see Isabelle. And I think Isabelle was happy to see me too!