Damien Hams it Up

Damien is a very happy baby most of the time. He just loves to smile in response to smiles. And when he smiles, boy is it a big grin. Pretty much a heart melting moment every time. Momma and Papa finally learned the trick to get him to smile for the camera - usually stops smiling and stares at the camera - which is to set up the camera and then move your face to the side of it so he can still see you smiling at him. Thanks for the beautiful photos sweet D.

Damien Goes to the Oakland Zoo

Damien had a play date with fellow bear cubs Andrew (3), Isabella (1), and Kellen (5 mo) at the Oakland Zoo. Unfortunately, Damien arrived at the zoo pretty cranky and in need of a nap. And, since he rarely falls asleep in his stroller anymore, Momma ended up having to wear him most of the afternoon. Damien does not like the stroller anymore since we returned from France, where he was not in one for 3 weeks, and so Momma usually has to end up wearing Damien in the carrier when out for walks (which is not great for Momma's back). After a decent hissy fit, little D fell alseep in the carrier, which allowed Mommy to enjoy the zoo. And, no, Mommy didn't have any crazy notions that D would be all that interested in the zoo at this age, but just likes to get out of the house and enjoy this crazy good winter weather (highs in the 60's-70's). Momma forgot D's reflux medication, so he missed his mid-day dose, and when he woke up from his brief nap, he was none too happy, prompting mommy to high tail it home. So, not exactly the most enjoyable/sucessful outing!

Damien's spectacular view of the Zoo.

Baby Bella (who's just about to walk) enjoying the tree frog.

Adorable Andrew demonstrating the benefits of full mobility.

Jeff with his little Giant's fan.

A moment of calm and alertness - quick, someone take a picture!

Damien Hosts a Baby Party

Damien is taking after his Momma and being quite the social bug. Damien decided to welcome some of his baby friends into his home for some playtime on his new playmat with some of his new toys. Momma baked cupcakes for the first time since Damien was born and some Banana Chocolate-Chip bread and made mimosas for the Mommies. Apart from Jack (who is 5 months and good sized himself) Damien was the biggest baby but also the youngest!!! It was a fun and successful party, Damien said he would love to host another one real soon. =)

Damien plays with Elyse (the older woman - by a few days!).

Damien shows off his tummy time skills while Elyse and Jack play with their mommies.

Jack (with Mommy Emily) shares with Elyse.

Lauri with her son Lucas (born a week before Damien).

Lucas and Damien meet again - the boys had a lot to say to each other this time.

Odessa and the other older woman Maya (a month older than Damien) - love how Maya is eying the mimosa!

Kristin and sweet little Elyse

Damien Ventures to the City

Damien ventured to the city for the second time in his life to visit family on a gorgeous Saturday morning. Papa headed over to the city to play squash with Uncle Sam. Momma and Damien headed over to Uncle Sam and Aunt Jane's house at lunchtime and enjoyed delicious Indian pizza. Thanks for the lunch!

Damien with his trademark skeptical look, although he was quite happy in Jane's arms.

Damien and Aunt Jane enjoying the AMAZING view from their house. Damien got to see Aunt Jane's goats, chickens and ducks in the other side of the yard.

After lunch Damien headed over to cousin Mariano's house for a little playtime with his cousin. Damien slept through most of the visit (in the carrier on mommy) but woke up in time to check out Mariano put on quite a show in his super cool jumperoo.

Mariano is quite the jumper!

Mommy got to snuggle the adorable and super happy Mariano.

Damien Gets a New Ride

Damien has been enjoying his Snap-N-Go stroller (basically a frame for his car seat) since day one. Now that he is older, however, he's big enough to move on to a smoother ride. After LOTS of internet research, Momma chose the popular City Mini stoller by Baby Jogger. It folds in a snap with just one hand and folds down pretty small, plus it is one of the most lightweight of its kind and has a nice smooth ride. Momma loves it (and Papa appreciates the handle bar being higher). The real critic Damien likes it too (for the most part). The seat reclines fully so that when little D falls asleep he can sleep lying down. The only draw back to the stroller is that it faces out - which D likes most of the time - but he's rejected the stroller a few times because he can't see Momma (causing Momma to wear Damien and push an empty stroller). Hopefully this will be less of an issue when he gets older.

First time in the green ride to adjust the straps a sucess!

Going out for a walk to Berkeley Bowl for lunch with the folks - all smiles this time.

Enjoying the reclining feature while taking a snooze (and safeguarding his toys)

Damien Kicks It With Kellen

Now that Damien is finally done travelling for the time being, he had time to meet his homie and fellow bear cub Kellen. Kellen's Papa Jeff is a stay-at-home dad for the time being and he was nice enough to make the drive from San Jose to visit with Damien and folks. After some bottles for the babies and burritos for the parents, the motley crew went to the Berkeley marina to enjoy the gorgeous sunny weather and views of the bay. Damien, the notoriously bad napper (30 minutes only 99% of the time and not without a put down fight) slept during the whole hour and half walk! A super fun visit for all.

Looks like Damien didn't get the memo about the Cal gear - he still prefers his french clothing.

So this is what twins would be like, no problem for super dad!

Damien at 3 months has Kellen at 5 months in size (Craigs come in large and extra large only), but Kellen's got Damien in bodily movement and turned toward Damien and tried to touch him, Damien on the other hand just looked freaked out.

Totally enjoying each other's company.

The Dads and their boys strollin in the Berkeley Marina.

Kellen eating his blanket, he much preferred that to nap time.

Damien Hits Some Milestones

Damien has hit two big milestones. First, he rolled over for the first time while doing some "tummy time" on the living room floor. He was quite surprised with himself, as was Momma. Papa was just in the other room and just missed it. Unfortunately, Damien wasn't interested in giving a repeat performance at that time. A few days later Damien impressed again by rolling over twice in a row. Since then, however, he's been keeping his new skill to himself.

Our little active monkey.

Second, Damien has been sleeping in his crib - we are actually using the nursery as a nursery and not a storage room anymore! After we got back from France, Momma decided that since little D was adjusting to his home and a new time zone, we'd make the transition to his crib in his own room while he had to deal with change (plus he probably didn't remember his bassinet anyway). Well, the first couple of nights dealing with jet lag were ROUGH. But we kept at it by giving him lots of daylight, taking him outside during the day, waking him up from his late afternoon naps after 2 hours and trying to push the bedtime back a little each day (the first day back it was at 3:45pm - so up at 8pm, then 11pm, then 2am ready to go!).

Photo taken during an extra long jet lag induced nap - hence the bright lights to make him think it was daytime.

Since moving to his crib, Damien has logged two record sleeps. First, a 7 1/2 stretch - which was AMAZING. On this night Papa had agreed to take the first night feeding so stayed up working and then rested on the couch since he though little D's cries would be imminent. Well weren't momma and papa surprised when momma woke up for a bathroom break at 3am to find a confused papa on the couch. Could it really be 3am? Momma of course rushed in to make sure little D was alive and well - he was - and woke up shortly after that for his nighttime feed. Then a few days later, Damien slept from 7:45pm to 6:30am - NO JOKE! Momma and Papa could not believe it. Momma woke up at 4am (shocked Damien hadn't demanded to be fed already) and then had a hard time going back to sleep because she was sure Damien would be up any minute. Nope, little D SLEPT THE WHOLE NIGHT!! A new happy trend? Nah - probably a growth spurt a friend told us. And, no repeat performance yet. Still hoping though.

Damien in his "sleep suit" - our house gets cold at night and no blankets in cribs and this keeps him warm and snug since we don't swaddle him at night anymore (it agitated him too much and he broke free every time). Momma got the idea from the infamous Magic Sleep Suit which looked just like the snow suit Damien already had. He logged his two record sleeps in this thing - so we're going with it!

Our serious boy - not to sure about this wake-up thing.

A sleepy smile =)

Damien is 3 Months Old

Well, this post is a little late, but since the intention is to get this blog made into a book at one year, I'm posting about Damien reaching 3 months even though as of today he is almost 4 months!


Damien turned 3 months the day after we returned home from France. Thus, the majority of his 3rd month was spent traveling in France. Since there was no 3 month doctor's appointment, we are not sure of his stats, but he is growing like a weed. At 3 months he can just squeeze into his 3 month onsies, and is wearing 6 month size clothing for the most part. His biggest changes in this month were giggling for the first time, being able to gnaw on his hands, more imitative cooing, and longer stretches of awake time followed by some difficulty getting him down for naps, and longer stretches of sleep at night. No longer is little D a sleepy newborn who can fall asleep easily. Now, he must be shushed and rocked to sleep in his little green burrito - and he doesn't go down without a fight most times. Here are some fun photos of little D shortly after his 3 month mark.

Such big beautiful eyes, they are very alert these days!

Damien and his monkey, who makes a great chew toy.

Showing off his fancy French clothes, thank you Grandma Colette

Killing you softly with these eyes ...

Cool as a cucumber in his new hat from our wonderful neighbors.

A rare smile during tummy time.

Damien's First Encounter With Wildlife

While in Lyon, the weather turned freakishly warm one Saturday afternoon. So, with the temperature high enough for Momma to agree to take little D out, the Craigs went out for a stroll to the amazing park in Lyon. This park has a lake and a little zoo. So we took our little critter for his first encounter with wildlife. Little D got to see Giraffes, flamingos, Lemers, a pelican, and ducks. It was a fun family outing.

The beautiful entrance to the park.

Little D fell asleep on the walk over as he usually does.

D seems more interested in the wild papa than the giraffes.

Getting a little vitamin D (and a lot heavier)

Look it's papa's friends the pink flamingos (papa has been known to impersonate pink flamingos on occassion).

Damien Does Lyon, France

After about 5 days in Brezin, we headed back to Lyon for our final week in France. Unfortunately, Papa, Momma and Uncle G cought a stomach bug of sorts. Luckilly, little D didn't get this wave of illness. So, more recovery and more lounging. Towards the end of the trip, however, Momma and Papa took advantage of having an eager Grandma around more than happy to watch little D to have a couple of date nights and other free moments to enjoy the great city of Lyon. Momma and Papa went for nice long walks along the river, shopped at the amazing outdoor farmers market, enjoyed some drinks at some fun bars, went out for delicious dinners twice and took a ride on the farris wheel! Little D stayed in the warm comfort of Colette's adorable apartment for the most part cause Momma was paranoid about him getting sick again, but he did manage to get one night out on the town for a little stroll and a big adventure at an amazing local park (see next post!). Thank you so much Grandma Colette for everything!!!!

Getting a bottle in the FREEZING train station in Paris awaiting the train to Lyon

Back in Lyon, more snuggle time in bed.

In the green burrito wrap.

Baby power! Damien's notorious victory stance after being released from his burrito wrap (i.e. swaddle blanket).

Playing with his toys on Grandma's comfy couch.


Another hard day at the office.

Special smiles for Grandma.

Hanging out with Grandma and jungle friends.

Watching the Oregon Duck game with Momma and Papa, such a sad outcome =(

Snuggle time with Grandma.

Just one of the boys - hanging with papa and uncle G


More snuggle time with Grandma.

Showing off one of his new French outfits (thank you Gael).

Damien out on the town, sporting his little rain poncho that he received as a gift from his French aunt Frederique (thanks!).

So sad to say goodbye to cousin Benu.