California!

My apologies for the serious lack of posting for the last several months. When November rolled around, craziness ensued. Good crazy, though!! My 9 1/2 month preggo bestie Brooke called and told me that her doc wanted to schedule a c-section for mid-November and she didn't know what she was going to do with her first daughter, Clara (my Goddaughter), while she was in the hospital.

Sooooo, Godmomma to the rescue!!! I had not seen Brooke (or sweet Clara) since May 2010, when this happened:



Clara was just a month old, and I wasn't even pregnant with Brewer yet. Little did we know how life would change so drastically while we were apart...

In early July 2010, we found out I was pregnant. In August 2010, Clara was diagnosed with cancer. In January 2011, Clara's life was saved by an 18-yr-old boy's bone marrow with a bone marrow transplant. In March 2011, I had Brewer. And in November 2011, we finally got to see each other again, with Brooke meeting Brewer for the first time.

There are no words for how I felt when Clara and Brewer met. Clara has been immuno-suppressed for so long, and has NEVER been allowed to be in close contact with another child. After not seeing her for so long, and then getting to see how vibrant and big she's getting- it was incredible. She was delighted with Brewer. I love her so much!





Brewer got to go on his first plane ride. (This included a hysterical flat-out run through the airport with me screaming "EXCUSE ME!" and "WATCH OUT!" at the top of my lungs. And my pants were falling down because I didn't have time to pull them up.) Brewer enjoyed the sprint, and was pretty great on the plane, too. ;-)

We went to the Computer History Museum, my husband's nerdy mecca.



And we went on a day trip to Half Moon Bay, where I finally got some pumpkin pictures of Brewer,



saw my first banana slug (eww.),



had an unbelievable crab sandwich, stalked a saltwater taffy shop and visited a winery.

And then I got to take care of sweet Clara (stop it! I can't handle the cuteness!)



while Brooke and Alan met Rosalyn for the first time!! Rosalyn Elise Boyle has the most precious cheeks you've ever seen and the funniest little cry.



And Alan ate sushi with me! (Neither Brian or Brooke like sushi so Alan and I gorged on it one night while Brooke was in the hospital.)

I even managed to fly back with Brewer on my own, since Brian had to return earlier than us for work. I sort of felt like super woman! I know other moms do this all the time, but it was a serious struggle with all of his gear. Again, he did great on the flight!



We miss you, California! We'll be back soon!