Hmm, time seems to be going by awfully quickly. I have three more weeks' worth of orange chair pictures to post--here is Felix at 5, 6, and 7 weeks:

Poor little brother!

In the past few days, Felix has started taking daytime naps in the bassinet more frequently (instead of needing to be held all the time), which is great. His sleep patterns are still all over the place, but he seems to be consolidating his daytime sleep a little. We're still getting 4-hour blocks of sleep most nights, which isn't bad. And he has started smiling--yay! What a sweet boy :)

This reminds me of a very similar picture of Arlo, taken at exactly the same age (one day shy of 7 weeks old):

I think they look a lot alike, but to me, Arlo at 7 weeks doesn't look much like Arlo at 25 months (such a big kid!). I'm curious to see if Felix will continue to look like Arlo as he gets older.

During Patrick's last week off of work, we took a road trip down to California to visit Patrick's family and to see our friend Andrew get married! We rented a minivan, which made the drive a lot more pleasant--I was able to sit next to Felix in the back and keep him happy, and the minivan had big, low windows, so Arlo had an excellent view of all the interesting vehicles on the freeway (this was actually kind of a problem, since he had trouble napping while we were driving--too much to see!). Of course, as Patrick pointed out, adding up the cost of the minivan rental and one-night motel stays in each direction, it ended up costing almost as much as flying. Hmm. Once Felix is over two, driving will definitely be more cost effective, but until then, flying might be a better choice.

Before we got there, Patrick's dad went through his garage and took out a bunch of toys that he'd saved from when Patrick and his siblings were kids. The biggest hit with Arlo was a box full of matchbox cars. He spent pretty much of all of his waking hours lining up all of the vehicles, and he was very sad to say goodbye to them when it was time to go. When we were packing to go home, he kept tucking his favorites into our bags, hoping that they could come with us. In the end, he got to take two home with him, with the promise that every time he visits, he'll get two more (one for Arlo, one for Felix). Very clever, Grandpa Rick!

We only spent a few days in the Bay Area, but we were able to meet up with my ex-boss for lunch and visit a few of our favorite food places (sushi at Akasaka in Menlo Park and ice cream at Rick's Rather Rich).

On Friday evening, we went to Andrew and Courtney's wedding, which was beautiful. I love weddings, and it was so good seeing college friends, especially since we missed our 10-year reunion earlier this year due to extreme pregnancy. We kept Arlo up a few hours past his bedtime (we couldn't miss cake and dancing!), and I was worried he might have a meltdown, since he had skipped a few naps and had some late bedtimes in the days leading up to the wedding. But he held it together beautifully and saved his overtired toddler meltdown for the following morning, when it was just the four of us in our motel room. Phew!

(That third photo is by our friend Kim. Thanks, Kim!)

I was really happy with Arlo's wedding outfit (and the fact that he was willing to wear it). We bought his shirt, tie, and jacket at Piccolina, and I sewed the shorts, vest, and cap using a cotton/polyester blend from the Mill End Store. The shorts and cap were larger versions of the ones I made last year for Jon and Katie's wedding, and the vest pattern is here.

We got home last Sunday, and Patrick went back to work on Monday. I was a little nervous about taking care of both kids on my own, but it has been fine so far (it helped that Patrick worked from home last week, so he was able to give me a break at lunchtime). Arlo isn't getting as much attention as he used to, and sometimes Felix has to cry in his bassinet for a few minutes while I take care of Arlo, but I don't think either of them is suffering too much. Every day has its ups and downs, but I think we've got it pretty good.

I'm all the way recovered from my C-section (yay!), so I'm able to lift Arlo again, and I'm getting back to my pre-pregnancy energy levels. I was able to cook dinner (while wearing Felix in the sling) a couple times last week. I've also done a little baking (date-nut bread and zucchini and carrot muffins, which turned out well). Last night, with some baby-watching help from Patrick, I did a little sewing, and today I made a batch of strawberry-vanilla bean jam (so many beautiful berries at the farmers' markets all of a sudden!). I'm super tired now, but it was worth it!

A few months ago, we decided to make good use of our new chest freezer and buy an 1/8th share of a cow from Kookoolan Farms. We picked up our beef from them today, and it looks great! We haven't been big beef-eaters in the past, but now that we have a freezer full of humanely-raised, grass-fed beef, it's time to broaden our horizons! I used some of our ground beef tonight, to make salisbury steaks (served with mashed potatoes and peas). I'd make this recipe again--it's tasty and pretty easy to put together. We still have 23lb of ground beef in reserve (as well as many other cuts of meat). Patrick has suggested that we start doing Taco Tuesdays. Tacos aren't the easiest thing to eat while holding an infant, but they are tasty!