Mr. 3 Months

Sage turned 3 months old on Friday! Here are some photos.

(This one HAS to be seen full-sized...click on it!)

Chilling out at a cafe in San Francisco

And because it's my blog, an Air New Zealand 777!

2 Months of Sage

Hey everyone,

Here are some new photos of Sage that I took this weekend after fierce and persistent prodding from 3 out of 7 of Sage's grandparents.

Enjoy!

Here he is looking like a real couch potato. He's even got a remote handy.

Check out this cute shirt we got him!

Here is Sage and Chris having a freaky face contest.

Here we are practicing elimination communication which is used as an alternative to diapers in many cultures. For more information, go here.

Duhhhhh...

Amy thinks he looks like Olive Oil saying 'Oh Popeye!'

Where did that remote go?

How cute!

No more pictures!!!!!

Scenes from Californee

I wanted to post some photographs from the various places we've been since we've been here, and just some nice shots.

First is a shot of Highway 41, the "Southern Yosemite Highway" as it winds through the town center of Coarsegold.


Here is a shot of a foggy morning in our backyard. Yes, this is our backyard...beats a manicured lawn anyday!!!
In this shot the sun sets in the Ponderosa Basin where Amy's parents live. The clouds as you can see hover at a slightly higher elevation than we are.

The moon rises through a gnarled tree one cool winter's night.
We drove up to Millerton Lake Recreation Area which, although pretty much abandoned during the winter months, was still quite scenic.One weekend we all drove north to Sacramento for a party at Amy's sister's place. The riverfront is lined with historic buildings and ships, one of which is this riverboat.

On our way down to San Diego for Amy's aunt's wedding, I of course stopped in my favorite place to watch planes...Imperial Hill overlooking the main runway at Los Angeles International Airport.
San Diego's waterfront is currently sporting a patriotic Model T.
A sailing ship cruising the San Diego Harbor.
The massive bulk of the aircraft carrier USS Midway towers above the water. This ship is now a naval museum.
The sun sets over the Pacific on the beach at Del Mar, just north of San Diego.
Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Sage Chunkmeister

So our dear boy is now well over 12 pounds. He's been gaining something like an ounce and a half every day he's been alive...isn't that amazing? He's really rounding out well. It's rather funny to see his chubby cheeks and double chin (sometimes triple, depending on how his head is)

Here he is!And finally, here he is leading us in a roaring chorus of Row row row your boat.

In other news, After 2 months of being here, I've finally received my employment authorization, and have now taken up a position as a graphic designer at a small publishing company nearby.

Also, we have a new car...after borrowing an old 1992 Ford Explorer with a manual transmission, we bought a 1998 Saturn for a mere 2,500 dollars. It works great, and here's a photo of both before we returned the Explorer this afternoon.

In order to get a California driver's licence, I have to retake the written and driving tests again. I passed the written test (one answer wrong out of 36 though,) and I have the driving test this Friday. That should be fun. One interesting thing is that there are online help tutorials in studying for the written exam, with pictures and multiple choice questions. This one was pretty funny...police assistance my heiney...there might be terrorists on the other side of the hill!

So that's it for now, time to face the barrage of phone calls saying 'more pictures of Sage...'
Sorry for not writing more, it's been a busy weekend...I will put more pictures up soon though.

Precious Monuments

Just something goofy I threw together with Photoshop. Enjoy!

The Many Faces of Sage

A few days ago I let my camera go nuts as my son was doing the same. Here are our favorites!









He's doing great, he looks like he's growing! He's making his first non-cry or fuss noises, he's holding eye contact for longer periods of time, and has really strong arms and legs.

Oh and already he has more clothes than Amy and me combined.

Later!

"The New Kid"

After 8 1/2 months of waiting, the new kid has made his appearance!

Presenting...Sage Patrick Wilde-McDowell, a young Sagitarius born on Thursday, November 24th, 2005 at 3:21pm PT. Now we'll look at the meaning of the day he was born. It was American Thanksgiving day in the California foothills...but more importantly, Burrito Night (every Thursday at our house). We didn't end up having burritos that night, but we did roll Sage into a tight swaddling cloth to kind of resemble a burrito. He shares a birthday with the actor who played 'Howling Mad' Murdoch on the A-Team, Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, 12th president of the United States Zachary Taylor, & serial killer Ted Bundy!

An excerpt from our e-mailed birth announcement:

I can honestly say that this was the most amazing day of our lives. Amy woke up with several strong contractions in a row at about 1:30am. By 2:30 the contractions were having a sharp edge to them and the mucous plug which holds the baby in came out into the toilet...labour had begun. Her water then broke at 3:45.

It was a long morning as the baby was unfortunately positioned posterior in the womb (head down, but facing the wrong way for an easy birth). The result was a longer labour with much back pain. Finally, at 2:35pm, Amy felt the first urge to push and we got into bed, her on her hands and knees, pushing with every contraction. At 3:15 we could see the head with a little hand waving hello along side it, and at 3:21, the baby popped out into his father's hands. What an unbelievable moment that was. He immediately began coughing and within 20 seconds of being born let out a peircing cry to announce his arrival. For the longest time we both lay there in bed crying and laughing and looking at him.

He was born one and a half weeks earlier than his due date, and weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and measured 19.5 inches from head to foot.

He's healthy, active, nursing well, has 10 fingers and 10 toes, is unfortunately still working out mucous from his stomach, and loves attention, sleep, head rubs, and wearing clothes (you should hear how he cries when we change his diaper!)

His first name is one we really like, the meaning being 'a very wise man.' We had the hardest time coming up with his middle name, but finally decided on Patrick as it's a name we really like and is all Irish-like (you know us and our Irish thing).

So now without further ado are some pictures. A note to all you scrapbookers out there, we have the full-resolution digital photos to all these (and all photos posted on my blog as well) if you'd like to get copies made. You don't have to though. Only if you want to.

We'll have much more on our little Sage as time goes on, so until then, do as Sage does...sleep, drool, eat & poop and you'll be just as healthy and happy as he is.

3 hours after Sage's birth. Note the tired mommy!

Sage posing (20 hours old)

Here's lookin' at you kid! (20 hours old)

Sage & Taz (2 days old)

Sage in a sling on his first outside adventure (3 days old)

Amy's sister Kristin stayed overnight the day after Sage was born

The amazing elf-boy (3 days old)

Chris with Sage (4 days old)

A close-up