Playtime

Sophie received this activity mat from her Grandpa Dan and Jennifer just after she was born. Playing on the mat has become one of her most favorite things to do. She plays on it everyday, usually in the morning, but on some days she plays on it two or three times! There is a mirror for her to look in, and different animals hang from the arches. She's really good at kicking the dangling creatures, and she is just starting to reach for them too! As you can tell from the pictures, Sophie is quite happy when she's on her baby jungle gym!

Happy 36th Anniversary Ann and Clark

Yesterday was Ann and Clark's 36th wedding anniversary, and what better way to celebrate than heading downtown to El Charro for the most delicious and authentic Mexican cuisine the Old Pueblo has to offer. The happy couple shared a carne seca chimichanga, which was voted the best chimichanga in the country by USA Today.
Even Andy enjoyed his meal (a cheese quesadilla and chicken tacos), although he did drink about 4 glasses of water and at least as many Cokes after tasting their homemade salsa. We agreed that El Charro is a winner when it comes to food and ambience, and next time we will ask to sit in their lovely decorated patio - just one of the benefits of living in a city that has year round outdoor friendly weather. Congratulations Ann and Clark!

Happy Father's Day

This was Andy's first Father's Day, and to celebrate we all went out to breakfast at Jerry Bobs, a favorite local joint. Later in the day we headed over to the Siegfried/Waterman residence for swimming and dinner. Sophie was wide awake and enjoyed being passed around the table so that her mommy and daddy could eat. All in all it was a fun day, and Sophie is just delighted to have such a fun dad and such loving granddads too.

One Month Old

It's hard to believe that it was a month ago that Sophie made her appearance in the world. In some ways it seems like just yesterday, and in other ways I feel like I've known her forever. It's also amazing to see how much she has changed in the past month. One of the biggest changes is how alert she is and how much more she is able to interact. Her big smiles are more common now and totally unrelated to gas! Today on her activity mat, while lying on her tummy, she kicked her leg back in an attempt to turn over, and she's getting better at lifting her head and holding it steady. But the biggest change of all has been the amazing effect she has had on our family. Never have I fallen in love so quickly, and I have never felt more complete than I do while lying in bed, next to my husband, with our daughter between us staring up into our eyes. We are truly blessed:)

4 Weeks Old

Sophie is 4weeks old today! I've been a little confused about the 4 weeks vs. 1 month age. Technically she won't be 1 month old until Saturday, but she's young enough that we still report her age in weeks. I guess it will be easier to figure out her age when she's in school and we can just say, "Sophie is 6 years old." Of course, then she will be sure to remind us that she actually is 6 and a half years old. Anyway, she seems to be getting cuter with age, and her dad isn't too bad either!

Grandma Ann and Grandpa Clark

Yesterday was an exciting day for the Giesekes. We got up extra early in the morning to take Grammy Harriet to the airport and say our sad goodbyes. Then Mara and Andy had about 12 hours with no grandparent assistance. Yes, Sophie survived, and so did Mara. Daddy fell asleep on the couch. The day ended with Grandma Ann and Grandpa Clark (Andy's parents) arriving after spending the last 3 days at the Grand Canyon. One of the biggest surprises was their van, which was decorated with flags and stickers that said, "It's a Girl!" Sophie immediately settled into Grandma Ann's arms, and Mara and Andy got to sleep until 9:30 this morning!

Just for Jace

These pictures were added especially for our brother-in-law Jace. In a previous post he commented that there was no picture of Andy's new grill. Well here it is in all its glory. In case you're wondering what he's cooking, on the left are a couple ears of corn, and on the right are a few chicken breasts. It has been taking Andy some getting used to cooking on his new fancy grill, but we plan on giving him plenty of opportunities to practice, and I'm sure in no time he and the grill will work together fabulously.

Like Father Like Daughter

While Andy was at work one day, Mara and Grammy Harriet took Sophie to the tattoo parlor! Not really...what you see on Sophie's leg is a fake baby tattoo, which was a present from her cousins Shauta, Jim, Vivien, and Max. We did apply it while Andy was out, and when he came home it was difficult to contain the giggles while we waited for him to notice. Of course, being the wonderful father that he is, it took him about 3 seconds to say, "Is that a tattoo on her leg??" He did not object however, and he has been having fun showing off her temporary body art ever since.

"Bubble" Bath

Sophie loves to take baths, but she thought that this one might be more fun if it had bubbles. She made these bubbles all by herself:) Mommy and daddy snapped this photo for future use, perhaps to be viewed by her future husband??

3 Weeks Old

Here is Sophie at exactly 3 weeks old. You can see that she is starting to stretch out her legs more. After months of being confined to the womb, it's taken her awhile to realize that the world is a much bigger place!

More pics of Sophie

This is a pic of Sophie enjoying herself on her new activity mat from Grandpa Dan and Jennifer. Mom is trying to give her tummy time on it everyday. Apparently Pumpkin, our kitten, is very fond of it too!








Here is Sophie with Daddy. He tries to help out as much as possible, but probably not as much as mommy would like. He works a lot and needs his sleep at night!!






Sophie is modeling here for one of mommy's many photo shoots that she likes to do with her. She is not offically under contract yet, but I think Mommy should be paying her for all the work she is doing!!

BBQ at Casa de Gieseke

Yesterday we had a BBQ at our house. There were 11 of us (12 if you count Sophie), and it was the first gathering we've had since Sophie's arrival. Our guests included Andrea Russo (pictured at left), who is Mara's friend since grade school, as well as her parents. All three Russos live in Phoenix, and they made the trip with excited anticipation of meeting Sophie for the first time. Chuck's nephew, Eric, came down from Scottsdale. His wife, Lynn, who is pregnant, was too tired to make the trip this time, but Eric held Sophie a little bit to practice for his little bundle of joy, who is expected to arrive in the middle of September.
Andy cooked for everyone on his new commercial grade stainless steel grill. The steaks and chicken were a hit, and we're hoping that this is just the first of many BBQs at Casa de Gieseke!





Here are our guests, clockwise from the bottom left: Arlene, John, Eric, Jake, Rob, Harriet, Andrea (holding Sophie) and Laura. Not pictured: Chuck, Andy, and Mara

Christmas Vacation/Honeymoon

So it looks like we have a bunch of catching up to do with posting some photos and what we have been up to. Here are some pictures of our trip to Florida over Christmas, which was followed by our honeymoon in CA.

This photo was taken on a dinner cruise with Ann & Clark, Andy's folks, and Liz and Jace, Andy's sister and brother-in-law, while in Siesta Key, Florida. We cruised out from Sarasota Bay and around Siesta Key and then out into the Gulf of Mexico to see the sunset. We had a great dinner and got to spend a great evening with family!






This picture was taken at Montano De Oro in Los Osos, CA. We were staying at a lovely little Bed & Breakfast in San Luis Obispo (which is where Andy used to live).


This picture was taken while we were touring the Hearst Castle. There had been several large storms up the coast the previous couple of days, and power had been knocked out to the visitors center. They had to hand write our tickets. While we were waiting for our tour to start, we drove up the coast further and got to see the elephant seals sunning themselves.