It’s been a busy couple of weeks in PhamsterWorld. I think the girls would sum them up as funfunfun, and Dave and I would sum them up as simply exhausting. Before getting into our recap, let’s pause for a moment to celebrate Hayden’s latest milestone. Yes, the little bubba is now a movin’ and groovin’ 8-month-old who says “dadada,” but not much else yet.

With all her locomoting, she hasn’t been gaining as much weight as we’d like – she’s now at just over 15 lbs, which keeps her in the 5th percentile for her age. She’s crawling/ trying to climb all over the place and gets very antsy if we leave her in the exersaucer or high chair for too long. Her favorite places to crawl to are under our coffee table and behind the recliner.

In other news, Maddy had her first real experience in the snow 2 weeks ago when we met up with my old college roommates (Amy and Joanne) and their families at Lake Tahoe. Pictures here. She loved building a snowman with Dave, and gave sledding a try but got tired of that after 2 runs down the hill in our backyard. Most of all, she loved making friends with Amy’s boys Nathan and Chase.

After that, my dad came for a brief visit and Maddy and Hayden got some good grandpa time in. Last weekend, we also had one of our super-fun playdates with Syd and Sierra and Lily at Burton Park in San Carlos.

This weekend Maddy and I have already had some fun playing around the house with Hayden and at our little neighborhood park.

Sorry we Phamsters have been so quiet on the blogging front lately, we’ve been busy busy. I can’t possibly remember everything I’ve been wanting to post about, but I’ll try.

Two weeks ago, the Noonans came all the way out from Rhode Island to visit us and it was so great to see them. I just love my Auntie Leigh, Uncle Jim and my boyfriend Blakey. I miss them so much now that they’re gone and ask mommy about them all the time.

While they were here, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Pastorino’s and Lemos farms in Half Moon Bay. We had close encounters with all kinds of fish and farm animals. I especially liked meeting the penquins and going on hay rides.

Everything was so much fun until poor Blake had a too-close-for-comfort encounter with the H1N1 virus. After that, he spent the next 5 days cooped up and miserable in our house.

That was no fun because mommy and daddy wouldn’t let me play with him hardly at all and kept telling me to give him space and not wipe my runny nose all over him to make things worse. I think we heard “Catch your cough/sneeze!” about a gazillion times from the grownups. I guess it was all for the best, because so far Hayden and I seem to have steered clear of that nasty nasty flu and now Blakey is all better.

In other news, I’ve enjoyed cheering for the Yankees in the playoffs and wear my Yankees hat for every game.

I also squeezed in a visit to Ardenwood farm with all the cool Yahoo! kids – Gavin, Sydney, Sierra, Lilly, and Sienna. I wasn’t too fond of the peacocks I saw there, but I was so excited about these little pine cone-like things I found on the ground. Mommy let me bring them home and I’ve been carrying them around in a disposable diaper wipes container ever since.

Oh, and I did a great job of singing Happy Birthday to my mommy on Sunday. Daddy helped me make her a really neat card with a drawing of our family – we even put Hayden’s mohawk and everything on there!

I’ve also been Skyping a lot with my Ba Ngoai (Gramma Anne), who’s working in Afganistan right now. We keep reminding her to stay safe.

- Maddy

After a great week with my brother Gavin and his girlfriend Jaime visiting us in San Jose, we took off and had an exhausting fun trip up visiting my sisters in Portland last week. Here’s the recap, along with some favorite images…

Day 1, Monday 9/21 – Chaotic morning trying to get showered and the girls dressed and fed (you wouldn’t think that would be so difficult, but I’m here to tell you otherwise…). Head to my sister Maren’s apt in the afternoon for a family party with birthday girls Eva and Maddy. Maddy and Eva display their swimming skills for each other in the pool, and then watch in amazement as the place is suddenly filled by their Great-grandparents, Great-aunt Sydney and [large] family, and Aunt Lorna and family.

Day 2 – More hanging at the hotel in the morning, where Maddy loves playing with the phone. At one point, she picks it up and says “Hello? Pizza? Chicken Nuggets?” Not sure how she learned the concept of room service already. That afternoon, we go with Maren and Eva to the beach at Sandy river in Oxbow Park, where Maddy and Eva compete over who can throw the most rocks into the water. On the way home, they also compete over who gets to tell Hayden “It’s okay!” when she cries (Eva wins).

Day 3 – Drive up to St. Helens with Maren to hang out with Maddy’s cousins Sage and Jude while my sister Lorna goes to a doctors appointment. We amazingly get Jude and Maddy to nap at the same time, but Hayden decides to keep us from enjoying it by entering fussy mode. Kids wake up and play in the backyard. Then have a yummy dinner with the family and crash.

Day 4 – More fun with the boy cousins in the morning, then take naps and leave to pick up Sage from kindergarten. Head straight out to meet Maren, Jared and Eva at the super-fun Portland Children’s Museum. Especially enjoy the Dig Pit and Vroom Room. Unfortunately get kicked out at closing time before we finish exploring. Head out for some yummy pizza with everyone. Maddy eats a large, very loaded veggie slice all by herself (no cutting up pieces or urging her on, she just picks it up and goes to town), and then asks for more.

Day 5 – Pack up and head to Maren’s for more fun with Eva until we had to head to the airport. Maddy was very sad to leave and has been asking about Eva, Jude and Sage ever since.