Darcy and Berkley are Best Friends

Darcy has a best friend named Berkley. I guess you could say that Darcy's parents are good friends with Berkley's parents, which makes Darcy and Berkley best friends. At Thanksgiving we went out to Avila Barn to take some fun photos together with the two girls. Darcy and Berkley are so much fun. They love playing together at church and anywhere else they are together. Berkley's Dad John and I are planning our "mancation" which is a "man vacation", to hike up Mount Whitney and back in one day. It sounds crazy, 22 miles in one day, up to a peak of 14,500ft above sea level. But, we hear that if you can do the miles, the altitude is actually better to do in one day instead of trying to spread it out over 2 days. Unless you are up that high for a few days, one day up and back is the best way to avoid altitude sickness. I keep telling myself, Seth you are crazy. Ya, I know. But hey, it's worth a shot. Berkley and Darcy are so cute together. I love these shots of them on the hay bail and in the wooden boxes.

Our First Bloody Experience

We had our first major blood incident on Friday. We were house-sitting at my parents house enjoying the additional square feet of space for everyone to roam. I was at work when it all happened. There is a round table in the tile floored entryway that has a few framed pictures. Darcy proceeded to climb into her stroller that was parked right next to the table. Upon climbing in, she even stood up and leaned over the grab at some of the pictures. The stroller rolled backwards away from the table causing Darcy to fall head first into the tile floor. She took a big chunk of skin from her upper lip that just kept bleeding. Being a baby, she refused to let anyone touch it with anything, even to simply soak up the massive blood. I got the call and came rushing home. Luckily the office is only 2 miles from the house. At this time Tara and my sister Kelly had laid Darcy on her back on some towels on the bathroom floor. I had Tara change her clothes and cover her shoulder with a towel and then pick Darcy up to help calm her down as she was screaming so loud. Within a minute Darcy had calmed down almost completely, but the bleeding hadn't stopped. We decided to take her down to Urgent Care to get examined. The doctors said she isn't showing any signs of concussion, fractures, or anything like that. He told us just to keep her calm and watch the bleeding. Darcy fell asleep by the time we got home and took a good long nap. It stopped bleeding by the time she woke, only breaking open a couple of times after that while she was eating. Today she is going great. A nice big scab on her upper lip and that's almost the only sign of the fall. I am so grateful that she is such a trooper and that nothing serious happened. I'm sure it isn't the last time we will experience blood with kids, but I feel a little better prepared now having dealt with the first one.

We love being parents!

There are so many moments, often many a day, that causes you to think, "Man I love being a parent." When your child does something that you notice for the first time it makes you all tingly and excited to have been able to see it. We bought Darcy a little pink camoflauge backpack. We helped her put a sippy cup, book, and baby inside and put the straps over her shoulders. Today at lunch I helped her put her backpack on and she took off walking and even grabbed the shoulder straps with her hands like adults do. It was just so cute. Since I'm at work all day, Tara has the chance to see so many new and cute things. I love technology because it allows me to get video messages and picture messages of some of the new and exciting things happening in Darcy's daytime life. I am basically done with this chapter of the blog, but I never quite know how to end these things. Goodnight?!?!