Charlie Update: 12 Days Old

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Abby

Today is a big day. Charlie is 12 days old — and it is our first wedding anniversary with a baby in the world. We’re hoping that Charlie’s gift to us will be a couple of solid stretches of sleep tonight, which he has been getting a bit better at providing lately. He’s eating and growing really well, which makes his parents very happy, even though we may be a bit tired from the short stretches of space between feedings.

Charlie’s Auntie Emily came to visit from Seattle last week, which he fully enjoyed. She cooked us tons of food, including TWO different types of muffins. Delicious.

Other than that, our main excitement has been making trips to the pediatrician’s office, doing lots of baby laundry, and sleeping whenever we’re able to fit it in. Charlie is a joy and here are some photos to show how he’s grown and what he’s been up to lately (hint: lots of napping).

Charlie in the hospital on his first day in the world:

Three red-headed conures showed up (for the first time) on the roof of the building next door to us on Charlie’s first day home in the apartment:

Straight-leg Charlie looking very peaceful:

Sitting with Auntie Emily:

Charlie and Daddy:

Flexing while sleeping:

More sleeping:

Introducing Charles Emmett Zink

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Dan

On Friday July 6th, we welcomed our son Charlie into the world.

Charlie came in at 7 lbs 2 oz and 20.5″ tall. He’s doing great — eating and sleeping like a champ. Mom and Dad are both doing well too.

We’ve got some more photos of him on Flickr.

Life in the city by the bay

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Abby

Our California-grown baby has still not yet arrived (although we think he will be here very soon), so I’ve been spending my time doing very important tasks like creating photo slideshows of our life in California over the past 1.5 years. Here is a montage of photos that captures visits from friends and family, road trips in CA, and other adventures from our time down here. All photos are in chronological order. Stay tuned for another slideshow once Baby Z is in the world with us!

Baby Z is due today! Where is he?

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Abby

Today is the Littlest Zink’s due date, but he is still hanging out in my belly. Must be comfy in there. We’re glad he is fully baked, but we’re also getting anxious to meet him and mama is getting anxious to be able to reach her feet comfortably again. As our nephew Spencer would say, “Baby, c’MON.”

In the meantime, here are a few recent belly shots from the last two weeks.

Baby bump at 40 weeks:

Baby bump at 39 weeks:

Deep Breaths in Big Sur

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Abby

Yesterday was my last full day in the office prior to the Littlest Zink’s arrival, so now I have some time to focus on things like baby-prep errands, naps, nesting, and catching up on our blog! So here we go …

This post will focus on a road-trip adventure Dan and I took in early April, when we drove down the coast for two nights in Big Sur. Big Sur is about three hours south of San Francisco and the coastline surrounding the whole area is completely breathtaking. The photo below is one of my favorites and features what Dan and I dubbed the definition of “happy cows.”

Abby and Dan with happy cows in the background:

We stayed at a gorgeous place called Ventana Inn & Spa. It was completely relaxing, with beautiful grounds that featured chairs and hammocks for lounging, along with hot baths, walking trails, and even a few wild turkeys. It was totally quiet there and we spent a lot of time kicking back with good books and admiring the views. Just what we needed.

On our last morning in Big Sur, we sought out a hiking trail in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park that leads to a beach featuring a waterfall that falls into the sea. It was pretty cool, although it made me question my readiness to actually become a parent because there were so many kids on this particular hiking trail that I was a bit overwhelmed by all of the jumping-off-rockwalls-lining-the-trail and shouting, etc. I am sure these are the things you become acclimated to as a parent, but after our short hike, I was ready to return to the car for more scenic (and quiet) driving home.

More scenic shots from the drive home, including one of my (very-small-looking) baby bump from a couple of months ago.

Something NEW to declare

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Abby

Hello, friends. After over a year of neglect, we are resurrecting this blog and giving it a new focus. Instead of travel stories, we will be sharing news of our baby-to-be and stories about him once he joins us this summer. That’s right. We are expecting a baby boy the first week of July. We are very excited — and now that we have little onesies, a carseat, swaddle blankets, and a bouncy chair in our apartment, it is all feeling very real. All of that, plus my very real and growing belly (as shown below):

The above photo was taken this afternoon in the park across the street from our apartment in Pacific Heights. We’re approaching our one-year mark in this apartment, and recently passed our one-year mark in San Francisco in late February. The time has flown by and we are having a blast living here. It’s a great city with tons of great food to sample, interesting neighborhoods to explore, and beautiful nature to discover. We will also try to update this blog with some of our California adventures and experiences from the past year.

For now, I’ll just say hello to anyone who is still reading this blog and please look forward to more regular updates about life in California and life as parents-to-be. Soon enough, you can look forward to photos of our little dude.

The first six weeks in SF

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Abby

Somehow we have already been in San Francisco for six weeks! It’s hard for us to believe that we arrived here that long ago – but in other ways we feel like we’ve been here forever. Even though I (Abby) have all the time in the world right now, I have not been good about firing up this blog again, so I am going to start with some observations from the past six weeks and we’ll take it from there.

Ohmygod it’s sunny! This was our first thought on our first day here after leaving a grey-skyed Seattle and driving through a couple of snowstorms on our way down. It was cold, but sunny, which was a welcome change for a couple of Seattleites who had just escaped winter. (Since then, we’ve had our fair share of days of rain, but no matter.)
We must remember how to jaywalk – or at least cross the street when there’s a red hand but no cars coming. I find myself standing at intersections all the time while people flow past me.
There are a lot of dogs in this city – and many people walk their dogs without a leash. The owner is always close by, but this is something you don’t see a lot of in Seattle.
The food is amazing! We have been eating a TON and enjoying almost all of it. Very fresh produce and a culture that takes its food very seriously.
People are quite nice here. We feel very fortunate to have been welcomed warmly by a group of people who are connected to an old friend of Dan’s. They have brought us rock-climbing, wine tasting, and more! I’ve also loved reconnecting with old high-school friends Shannon and Wendy.
Wine country is so close! We’ve been out to Sonoma twice already (once with my aunt Meg and once with Casey) and it’s so easy to get there. Another bonus is that it’s supposed to be warm and sunny there during the summer, when we hear it will likely be cold and foggy in SF.
There are many places to get good coffee. Blue Bottle is probably my favorite so far, but we also discovered this North Beach café that roasts its own beans.

In other news, we have found a place to live (still in temporary housing now) and will move in with all of our stuff on April 13. Woohoo! Dan has been working a lot, but the commute itself is not as bad as we feared it might be. He has a comfortable bus to ride that takes pretty reliably one hour each way.

Beach w/ graffiti: