Red Sox Lead AL East by 1 Game

Other than a reminder to all the Yankees fans reading this that their dark era of dominance is over, the title to this entry is a non sequitur.

Like Ringo, we had a little help from our friends (and family) this month. We always like it when folks come to see us in Berkeley so keep 'em coming.

The picture below shows a great team effort to change Daphne's diaper. In addition to being zany, this picture foreshadows some great events. You see, the two guys helping Ben (brother Peter and friend Markus) are both going to be cleaning lots of poop come winter when they have babies of their own! Good luck to them and to Jill and Sabrina. You all will do great.

[Non sequitur #2: this is a great example of how the digital age changes everything. The old "hey guys, let's do a three men and a baby pose" is super funny, to be sure, but I doubt it would have justified 1 of 24. Of course, this just makes it that much more interesting that, of the 50+ pictures taken last month by the NorCalAllens, this one made the cut for the blog.]

Daphne and mommy have gotten into a good routine in the mornings. Daphne loves to look at the mobile that Emma let her borrow. She also likes to look at "the cute baby" in the mirror on the left.


As I said, this month we got by with a little help from our friends. We had some Sacramento-Bay Area people over recently for dinner. Daphne wore a sharp red onesie with a floral print (also on loan from Emma) to the party. She was so cool at the party and mingled easily. She's not one of those people you have to "babysit" when you bring them into a new social setting, which is nice. That's Anne holding Daphne in the picture below.


Next up was Vicki.

This month Daphne met some very special people for the first time, her grandparents from Boston! Here's Daphne chatting with her grandmother, Susan. Daphne liked her grandmother's pearls, which was really cute. I think her smile is great in this one!

Here's Susan and Daphne pictured with Daphne's grandfather, Ben's Dad Lee. We all walked to the farmer's market in downtown Berkeley and picked up some ingredients to make risotto.

This past week, Kathie took her daughters and grand-daughters to the Santa Cruz beach for Mother's Day. Daphne and Emma rode in the back together and talked about "baby stuff."

Daphne was excited when her Dad joined her at the beach. She asked him about his business trip to Baltimore, where he watched the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox. As you can see from her shirt, Daphne loves baseball (or is that a softball?).

Rob got to the beach at the same time as Ben. When he got there, Emma just got done surfing and was enjoying a cold beer. You can see her still wearing her wetsuit and sporting a hip surfer chick hairdo.

It was a fun month for the NorCalAllens, capped off by Daphne's first trip to the beach. She loved the sound of the surf and the salty air. Although she agreed with her Dad that it's a little weird that the sun sets over the water. She also loved hanging out with her grandmother, as you can see below.

Daphne also enjoyed her aunt Kelly, cousin Emma and uncle Rob. As for new moms Cortney and Kelly, they enjoyed their first Mother's Day.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to visit the NorCalAllens again next month, when Daphne will celebrate her first Midsummer and 3 monthiversary.