Damien Goes Hiking on Mt. Tam

In a rare moment of spontaneity, Momma and Papa Craig spearheaded organizing a last minute hiking trip to Mt. Tam and dinner party at Chez Craig. This was little D's first hiking trip. It was pretty chilly - in fact it actually snowed a bit at the peak! D was well bundled up though and strapped on to a magnificent heat source, aka Papa. D loved it, not a peep once in the many hour adventure. You would have thought D did the hike on his own two feet since he passed out on the ride home and slept in his carseat in his room with a 10 person LOUD dinner party going on in the dining room. We ended up waking him up after midnight when we wanted to go to bed!! Thanks BG, Gabrielle, OE, Mel, Evil, Jenny, David, Katie & SM for making it happen.

Getting suited up - looking cool D.

Taking a lunch break in the great outdoors.

The boys with the new addition.

Amazing view of the city, it was a terrific day.

Damien Visits with the Kleins

On President's Day weekend, the Klein's happily came to visit little Damien. While Grandma Linda was able to come and visit a few times since Thanksgiving, the rest of the crew had not seen the little man since then. They all squealed with delight when the saw the man of the hour. Everyone had such a blast with him, and he was the hottest ticket in town so there was lots of good natured bickering over Damien rights and baby napping. Damien was a good sport and loved all the smiles and cuddles, although he did get a tad bit overwhelmed with all the Klein activity here and there. He was sad to see them go.

Grandma and Grandpa Klein ecstatic to see their first grandson.

Grandpa Richard and Damien Richard - finally another dude for Grandpa to hang with.

Auntie Pamela helped with bath time and bedtime.

Damien cautiously tries out his new jumping toy.

The Klein gals and the Ladies Man Damien.

Little D LOVES Grandma's fingers (we think she dips them in sugar!)

The men bond over some grub.

Damien loves to have ladies groom him and wait on him.

Male bonding.

Damien Kicks it with his Girlfriend Maya

Damien has a girlfriend named Maya, and boy does he love to hang out with her. This time he met up with Maya at his parents' alma mater Cal, for a little food in the shade and some quality staring time. Those two sure get riled up when the see each other. Maya's papa is a professor at Cal and he's gonna stay at Cal for at least another year. Yippeeee. Maya is here to stay for a while.

The rascals and Odessa.

Odessa and Maya

Mommy and Damien

The Beautiful Maya.

The happy couple.

Damien is Four Months Old

Damien is four months old. Man where did the time go! What an awesome, yet tiring, fun filled adventure those four months have been. Damien's fourth month was spent at home letting Damien get used to his house, his toys, and sort of a routine. No traveling this month except for a few trip to great Grandma Nelda's. Damien's biggest change during this month was his ability to use his hands. He is now quite good at grasping and grabbing toys and bringing them to his mouth. He loves his Sophie the Giraffe and Mr. Mushroom toys and loves to bite on them (he's got quite a hard bite now). He is really into his toys now and his days are usually filled with what Mommy calls the toy olympics - couch, bed, jungle, swing, exersaucer, bouncy seat, stroller, etc. As expected, D doesn't have a long attention span so he likes to be moved around. Damien still is not too thrilled about stroller walks (although he seems to really like to hang out in his stroller in the kitchen when Mommy tries to cook/bake or clean). Mommy has had to carry him in the carrier on a number of walks, resulting in mommy keeping the walks close to home. He also started drooling like a fool. No teeth yet, but probably not too far off.

All smiles after his 4 month shots (after crying briefly and then having his bottle)

Damien's concentration with his toys is really neat to watch.

Damien loves his exersaucer (thanks Rollin) - for about 15 minutes!

A Damien favorite - chillin in the stroller inside while sucking on a toy.

Mmm, Eeyore tastes so good mommy.

Damien Visits with Fellow Bear Cub Lauren

Damien got the pleasure of meeting fellow bear cub Lauren, who is a year and a half. Thank you Karen for stopping by to visit. Lauren showed off her walking and eating skills. She also had fun reliving her baby days by playing in Damien's bumpo and with other toys. The fact that she is a much older woman didn't seem to deter Damien who was very interested in Lauren. Fearless, that's our guy!

Craig family photo.

Lauren skeptically scopes out Damien.

Hey hot stuff, it's ok I won't bite, I don't have any teeth yet!

OK dude, you seem cool enough, wanna hold my hand?

My dates are still chaperoned at his point, but I still think we can make a connection.

Damien Welcomes Papa Home

Papa went to Senegal for an important wind power conference and was gone for a week. While Damien enjoyed his time with Grandma, he certainly recognized and was happy to see papa when he got home.

The Craig boys reunited. Can you say adorable?

Daddy kisses.

Oh boy daddy, I missed you too, but enough kisses!

Dad, now this is a cool new toy, thanks!

This is so fun!

Damien Sends a Panda Gram

To all you Cal friends out there - especially Phil Stupak - "Panda Gram from Damien Craig."

Momma, why do you have this thing for panda bears?

More importantly, why are you taking it out on helpless ole me?

Phil Stupak did what? That's hilarious.

I'm gonna pray for him.

Damien Plays at Cal with His Pals

Damien met up with his very first friends (dating back to when they were all in utero) on the Cal campus for a little afternoon fun in the gorgeous Berkeley weather. Since he usually just gets together with Maya and Lucas for stroller walks, this was the first time that we got a photo of the three of them together. Since Damien and Lucas both consider Maya their girlfriend (none of them apparently had the exclusivity talk with her) they were a little wary about sharing her! So, the boys both tried to impress her with tummy time prowess.

Damien: "Lucas, get your hand off my girlfriend."
Lucas: "She's mine dude, she was mine first!"
Maya: "Oh boy, here they go again."

Damien: "That's better. Although I don't know if this threesome is going to work."
Lucas: "I'm gonna play hard to get, I hear the ladies love that."
Maya: "Oh this is going to get so old."

Look how high I can hold my head up!

Oh yeah, I can do it to. And look at this cool panda hat I am sporting.

The lovely Maya and her mom Odessa

The handsome Lucas and his mom Lauri

Damien and Kellen Are Two Peas in a Pod

Damien's buddy Kellen came over for another play date. While down at Kellen's house for the last play date, Mommy noticed that Kellen had the same outfit as Damien (a nice gift from Auburn - thank you). So she asked Jeff to dress Kellen in the froggy outfit so we could take photos of the "twins." It was ADORABLE. See for yourself. Note how Damien is filling out his outfit quite nicely, while Kellen's on the loose side (both size 6mo)!

Just two peas in a pod.

Got the secret handshake down.

Does this outfit make my butt look big?

We can't do anything about these matching outfits now, but just wait till we can run around and talk, well show them!

Damien Spends the Week with Nana

Papa had an important wind power conference in Senegal, so Nana came up to spend the week with Damien and mommy. Nana brought tons of toys and clothes of course (thank you Nana). Nana was a big help with taking care of little D and cleaning the house. Little D loved playing with Nana, except when she would make him do lots of tummy time. It is working though, he's tolerating it more and more and has great head control now.

Puppet time, Damien is fascinated by these but loves to chew on them most of all.

Rockin his new sunglasses for a sunny but cool afternoon walk.

Bottle time, Nana sure loves to feed the little guy - that's a grandmother's job!


Nana is soooo much fun!

Pure joy - priceless!