Sahii Spot

xmas cheer

2011-12-23T21:45:00.000-05:00

Sara and Santa

Abby, after warming up to the guy in the red suit

Girls in more natural poses

On our way to a concert at Severance Hall

Note, see here for an interesting comparison

Heading on a trip with Dad.

2011-10-09T12:29:00.003-04:00

Abby is headed to a conference, bringing her Dad to assist with the science. Get to hang with Grandma and Grandpa and even see her godmother. Well, we're about to takeoff....

Okay, this didn't post Saturday like it should have... so I will add. Abby did great on the plane and ran full tilt into grandma's arms at baggage claim. We even got to spend time with Aunt Laura, Logan, Jeanne and Roger. Had a lot of fun playing with cars and in the leaves. Today she's at the science museum.

First day of Kindergarten!

2011-08-25T11:40:00.000-04:00

Well, today was the day. Over the past couple of weeks we have visited the school for various kick-off programs. Tuesday afternoon was Kindergarten orientation. But TODAY IS THE DAY. Sara started school. She couldn't wait to go. Almost no trepidation other than a little "I'm nervous Daddy." at breakfast. She had already met some of the kids, and skipped off to the bathroom hand-in-hand with one of her new friends before being led from the auditorium by her teacher. This girl is so ready it is unbelievable (Mom and Dad might be another story).

A couple of pics of the girls from today(!).

Soon it will be off to pick her up from a half-day (and one tomorrow). Next week it is full day all the way.

A few endings and new beginnings..

2011-06-11T21:57:00.000-04:00

A busy week (honestly, what week isn't busy for anyone, but it is true nonetheless) here as there were several notable events this week.

First, of course was Sara's delivery to Ronald McDonald House on Tuesday.

Grandma and Grandpa D. arrived Thursday afternoon, and any grandparent related activity is notable in its own right around here.

Abby and Grandpa D. Picnic'ing

Fortunately, their arrival coincided with.... preschool graduation. Admittedly, an event I don't quite recall being common in my youth, but hey graduation is fun. Sara did the cap and gown thing, lead her buddies (er, fellow graduates) in, and they all proudly represented their school. Each kid received an award that exemplified some memorable attribute of that child in school. Sara received the Isaac Newton Award for "her great love of and skill in science." Each kid also, with the help of their teachers had a picture taken in front of their favorite thing at the preschool... for Sara it was in front of the display of model dinosaurs (dinosaurs were a relatively recent subject in Tuesday Science class). There was of course the diploma, and the ritual snacks. They all did a great job, a really great group of kids. Fortunately, for Sara she will have two of them going to the same school as her next year... relatively unheard of given the diverse communities that feed this preschool. Friday was her last day of preschool. On Monday she moves to the Summer Camp Program room until school starts in August...

In fact, Abby moves up to the pre-preschool room (Leap Frogs) the following week.

Sara and her Isaac Newton award

Today was also the end of gymnastics for Abby (for the summer at least) and soccer for Sara (possibly for more than just the summer). They both played hard today, and were very excited to receive their medal for a season well-done.

Abby has made amazing progress in the last 6 months. She is as fearless as ever (last week she did the high balance beam by herself for the first time!), but she is doing somersaults all over the place, monkey jumps (pre-roundoffs), jumping in general and as since day one, she is all about the uneven bars, especially the high one. She is also far more independent (always was, but more so), doing the group activities without my help as much and paying following the teacher's lead rather than looking to me first.

Sara had a good season of soccer, even got some excellent shots on goal earlier in the season. She did a good job of showing some aggressiveness (in a good way at times). This was all balanced by chasing butterflies while the game raged around her at others. She loves being with the other kids (and the snacks), but the action seems a little outside her at times. All perfectly appropriate for her age... we give a lot of credit to her Coach (the father of one of her preschool buddies) who has made the last two season a lot of fun for them.

We are taking a summer off of scheduled Saturday morning activities... we are hoping to travel a little, and maybe just saunter through the Farmer's market sometimes.

The all important reminder of the rules #1 Have Fun, #2 No Hands

Taking a break from the tall uneven bars, to just monkey out for a minute or five

One of those moments

2011-06-06T20:34:00.005-04:00

So, Sara turned 5 a week ago. Had the big party, dinosaur cake carved and decorated by Mom, the she-bang. There are lots of those pictures, and I should probably post some soon. But these are my favorites, not because I didn't look at my settings and completely over-exposed them, but for what they represent.

Before we planned Sara's party we asked her if she would like to help other people (or animals) rather than receive gifts for herself. Sara's birthday is at the end of a very long and dense cycle of birthdays in her group of classmates, and a couple of other friends and their families decided to pay-it-forward. To Sara's credit, we barely had raised the question, and she said yes. A few hours later, as I was putting her to bed, Sara looked up at me and asked "Could we donate my presents to the Ronald McDonald House?" We had not even discussed and detailed possibilities yet, we were just proud she entertained the idea so easily, not that we were surprised, just proud. So, Sara came up with Ronald McDonald House on her own. She had asked questions about the place after leaving some money in the donation boxes at McDonald's and it clearly stuck with her.

For her birthday, rather than accept gifts from her friends, we merely let it be known that Sara would be making donations of books, toys, snacks to RMCD. And her friends and their families helped her out on her birthday. (lest you worry about the joy of being a 5-yr old, her type A parents, grandparents, and godparents took very good care of her, as usual) So, this afternoon, we picked Sara up from preschool early and went down to the local RMCD to make her donation. Two large boxes and a little extra to boot. While we were there they asked if she would like a tour (Yes), and the short or long one (Long). She (and her parents tag along parents) got to see the various rooms for activities, outdoor gardens (apparently among all the RMCD's the local one is referred to as the Garden House, and with very good reason), the double kitchens, a guest room, and even a handicap accessible treehouse. She was very curious and excited to see everything.

We aren't quite ready for her to be growing up so fast like this, but watching her be herself and trying to take care of others (and have fun at the same time) makes it easier to handle. As an aside: at her birthday party, a couple of her buddies had post-nap shyness/grumpiness and didn't feel up to participating that much, but Sara did her best (unprompted) to try to make them comfortable and to get them involved...

Anyway, here are a couple of pics from today.

Some spring pics...

2011-05-29T10:57:00.000-04:00

Doing the Macarena at the pre-school spring concert... yes, the Macarena

Spring Soccer!

Abby's Approach to her sister's Spring Soccer

Dynamic Duo

2011-05-29T10:52:00.000-04:00

A couple of pics...

A rare sunny day the end of April.

Hanging out on the train.. as in Thomas! last weekend

More..

2011-02-22T21:18:00.000-05:00

Miss Abby had a wonderful birthday. She really enjoys opening presents now... it may not matter what they are, but she really likes opening them. We had a little party for her with another family and Grandma and Grandpa D. who were here for about 10 days helping out and having fun. The party was good. Sara made party hats for all the kids, with Abby's help. The kids made a big fort in Sara's room and even played outside some (the couple minutes of relative calm was nice).

Keeping up with zany weather around here. It was frigid all of January, then it warmed up last week, so much so that all of our snow melted (the sandbox below had been buried at the beginning of the previous week). On Saturday the girls played outside for a while. Sunday we did all sort of stuff for Abby's birthday, and then Sunday evening the snow and rain started...

Saturday fun!

Two days after the ice and snow storm... still icy.

Abby Turns Two

2011-02-20T00:01:00.053-05:00

Hard as it is to believe, the time has come for Miss Abby to turn two. She knows she is turning two. She smiles when we talk about her birthday, and then she says that Sara is going to be one. Abby is a funny girl, she just might know she is telling a joke, just maybe.

So, life has caught us full in the diaphragm the past year and posting has plummeted the value of so many homes... so what is Abby like.

(1) Abby is full of love: She always has a hug for you, and maybe even a kiss, and unless it is too early in the morning or she's hungry, Abby has a smile for you too.

(2) Abby lives life loud: Abigail came into this world a screamin' (2 hours straight!), and she hasn't quite calmed down. She likes things her way, or no way. Unfortunately for Abby, her parents have that latter tendency a big too, and so does her big sister. So whether it is in excitement, or rather to educate her surroundings of her desires, she is not shy in letting the world know what she is feeling. Of course, she is turning two, and all of this is as it should be.

(3) Abby adores her big sister: Often her first question of the morning, after getting out of bed, is "Where's duuuduu?" Not sure how Sara got that nickname, best I can figure is that it is a 1-yr old interpretation of "sister", but who knows. Anything Sara does, Abby wants to do too. Well, except learn how to say Sara.

(4) Abby loves cheese: We thought Sara's love affair with parmesan cheese was something, but Abby would eat cheese, and nothing but if we let her, with one exception:

(5) Abby loves sauces: This could be applesauce, or it could be pasta sauce, but it is also gravy, and ketchup. Just a spoon please, don't bother with the other stuff....

(6) Abby likes books: Not a surprise in this house.... but she warmed to them pretty slowly, only the last 4-5 months has she really started to take much of an interest. So much so that she prefers to take one to bed with her, where it occupies a place that is often held by a stuffed animal.

(7) Abby is turning two: We have potty training, and trantrums. We are learning to talk clearly, and keep our hands to our self. We love gymnastics, and legos, and drawing, and games with our family.

(8) Abby is a snuggler: We really, really like this trait, though would prefer it not at 1 am anymore.

Abby is growing up so very fast. Yesterday we went out and bought her a big girl bed, big girl sheets, and a big girl pillow.... Today she will open big girl presents and have a little party. Our little girl is growing up.

Making mom a card

2011-02-12T11:24:00.002-05:00

Pony too

2011-02-12T11:22:00.002-05:00

Sara enjoyed all four of her rides.

Pony

2011-02-12T10:43:00.002-05:00

First pony ride, at a friend's birthday party no less. Abby had a blast.

Abby's baptism

2010-11-23T16:07:00.001-05:00

Another aging picture that I meant to post ages ago, then meant to post as part of en masse posting. Regardless, this is from Abby's baptism in Duluth this past summer. Sara and Abby with their godfamily.

girls

2010-11-23T16:02:00.001-05:00

Way, way behind... but here is a picture that I meant to post earlier (okay, months earlier)... regardless, they are still cute.

Swimming

2010-07-20T18:11:00.001-04:00

Here are the girls having a swim in the pool at the campground. They were a couple of fish today.

At the lake 2

2010-07-20T18:06:00.001-04:00

Abby getting her feet wet in the lake.

At the lake 1

2010-07-20T18:04:00.001-04:00

Sara getting her toes in Potato Lake.

Treats for the 4th

2010-07-04T17:41:00.002-04:00

Hot weekend here for the 4th. Today we went to the kids garden at the Botanical gardens so that girls could water flowers, play with the water pumps and fountains. Still it was a bit hot at 90+, so we decide desert first was in order on the way home.

Bicycle ride

2010-06-16T19:29:00.001-04:00

Sara is having fun learning to ride her bicycle. She did super awesome the first three times with basically no fear. Then she had two minor falls on the same ride and has needed some coaxing to try again. Riding a bit more cautiously but definitely enjoying it.

Coming up all 4's

2010-06-03T21:05:00.000-04:00

So today was regular check-up day. Sara's 4-yr appointment and Abby's 15 month appointment.

Both are happy and healthy according to the Doc.

Sara is still topping the charts in the 97th-99th percentile on weight and height... and she is rather square too. 44" and 44lbs! This appt was interesting because they started a bunch of new things for us: Vision test (20/20), hearing screening (no problemo), and even blood pressure.

Abby is healthy too, her stats are typically a bit different. 25 lbs 12 oz and 30+ inches she is 85th percentile in weight, 50th percentile in height, and 90the percentile in head circumference... we're thinking we are due for a growth spurt... though she seems focused on growing teeth at the moment. The Doc also found out that Abby is quite strong too during immunizations today... that's my girl, strong of will and body and not afraid to show it.

She's 4!

2010-05-31T21:47:00.000-04:00

Well, I think that picture pretty sums up the day. Our girl has turned 4 of all things. She had a birthday party with her buddies last weekend. This weekend, Grandma (newly retired, that is) and Grandpa D arrived for a visit and we had some festivities on her actual birthday... Among those festivities were a trip to the Memorial Day Parade near our house, this time we saw it from the driveway of one of Sara's friends who's family happens to live on the route.

Four, it turns out seems to be the age for bikes, and dolls, and bracelets... though I think the biggest hit is, of course, the 3-buck "microphone" toy. Gotta love the joy kids find in the simplest things.

Both kids are doing well. Growing like... well, like they usually do - a lot. Sara has a lot going on in the "pre-reading" and beginning reading area. Abby has more and more words, some are even recognizable. Magnetic boots to keep her on the floor might be a good thing... but alas, none of those here. Sara is continuing in swimming lessons and Abby had her first one on Saturday. Abby is not too sure about water in her ears, but otherwise it was good. Sara is getting awesome at going under water and is starting to move arms in legs in the generally correct direction.

Candles

Seeing the start of my first parade!

The future is so bright...

Why yes, this parade-watching party was so hip it had a bubble machine.

I guess this will do...

Nursery Rhyme Idol

P.S. The links to the side have been updated...

Abby plays soccer

2010-05-01T14:42:00.001-04:00

Abby had fun kicking (and licking) the ball in the backyard.

pictures of the girls

2010-03-27T13:39:00.000-04:00

So, last week we had some pictures taken of the girls... the primary occasion was for Abby's 1st birthday, but since we were going to take Sara we got them both. We tried out a new place that even gave us (small) versions of all the pictures electronically... so might as well post some. I also captured some pictures of Danette with the girls too. We had a nice bit of weather there last weekend, though it cooled off this week... even had some snow ice to wake up to yesterday morning.

The girls are basically doing well. Abby is all over the place now, she is really living up to her sometime's nickname of Tornado Abby. Sara is doing well, though she got an odd sore in her mouth this week that made her cheek swell and affected how she was talking a bit. Went to see the doctor just to make sure it wasn't too nefarious, turned out to just be a virus. So, we have been teaching a 3 yr old to swish salt water, which has been interesting. She is getting much better now and it is almost gone.

It is almost looking like spring here, so we are hopeful for a warm and pleasant season so the girls can play outside more, which they are certainly ready for...

Spring park time

2010-03-19T19:58:00.001-04:00

So the weather has been pretty nice this week..over 60 today even. Nice enough to take a detour on the way home to a park we hadn't visited before. Here is some evidence below. Abby enjoyed the swing and slide and Sara sampled it all. We even got some backyard time after dinner and noticed an over winter leap in Sara's coordination as she could kick the soccer ball while running without stopping, something she wasn't doing at the end of the soccer season... anyway here is a video

Preschool Rocks

2010-03-13T14:26:00.002-05:00

Can you say preschool science can be awesome? Now, if only this was taught in high school too.... but I digress.

Abby video

2010-03-12T19:21:00.001-05:00

So I got a new phone a few weeks ago and it seems to take decent video... so i want to see if this video of Abby from Houston will upload from the phone and post to the blog.

Pics, travel, etc etc

2010-03-12T15:26:00.000-05:00

Hey, a little shorter interval between posts...

So, in the time since Abby's birthday we've seen a lot of snow come... and as of today most of it is gone. We also made a trip to Houston for my annual science pilgrimage there and the whole family came along... including Grandma D. to boot! It was definitely a different way to enjoy a conference and it was nice because so many other friends and their small children came along as well. Sara was very enthusiastic and was handing out hugs left and right whether she (or even we!) knew the people well. We did get to see DRC/Rew/Riley, Cari/Ben/Timmy/Evie, and Jesse/Kristin/Zailey/Gryffen among many others. Tables for 12+ with multiple high-chairs and kids menus made for exciting dinners... but generally all the kids were great about it, which was fun. The girls all had fun, swimming, shopping, playing, etc while I was off having fun seeing, hearing, and talking science.

The only downside to the trip was that we took one of our kids to the ER for the first time... Abby woke up from a nap about 1/3-1/2 covered in hives. No clue why still, and no re-occurrence so far though virtually all foods have been still eaten... Abby had her 1 yr trip to the pediatrician when we came back, and her explanation was: Texas. Have to admit, I have had more than my fair share of allergic reactions to Texas over the past 13 years... so there is some logic too it :). Otherwise she is doing well. Still tracking the same in size, slightly increasing her percentile each check. She is up to about 22.75 lbs and 29.75 inches long.

Sara is doing well too. She enjoyed Texas and all the family time... well, she seemed mildly miffed with me most of the time, but since I was gone to the meeting a lot and she is reaching a phase with a lot of attitude, so not much of a surprise. She is really enjoying her weekend swimming lessons and we've signed her up for another session as well.

Sara on the boat around the conference center

Abby on the same boat

Sara the Prairie Dog - if you zoom into the plaque on the door, you can see a rather infamous philanthropist

Sara and Grandma D. as we left the zoo on a glorious afternoon

Nurse Sara at our hometown Children's Museum

Abby, Sand, and Dinosaurs!

Abby's 1

2010-02-21T14:30:00.003-05:00

So, Abby turned 1 yesterday. Where did the year go? How did she grow so much? When did she start sleeping through the night? Well, maybe not that last one...

Been the usual "busy" around here the last few months... So way behind on news and pics. This post isn't going to fix all that, but at least it will be a start.

So, things you may have missed because you weren't told.

(1) Abby can walk... since the first of the year actually, but she took several weeks to repeat the act and now is always on the move.

(2) Abby got tubes in her ears last month. Way too many ear infections and antibiotics - heck the doctor called what he pulled out of her ears as "thick snot."

(3) Abby is probably hearing better now because she will not take naps at day care anymore.

(4) Abby has many teeth.

(5) Abby has another ear infection... she really knows how to get the nice bugs. Fortunately treating it is easier when the tubes are there.

(6) Abby babbles more now... only a good 4-5 sounds typically, but they have some meaning (book, puff {any cheerio like thing counts}, mama {which, of course, means more}, dada {doesn't mean me, but we don't know what it means either})

(7) Cheerios rock.

(8) Instead of writing this post, I should probably be turning around her car seats in the hope that she will not cry as much in the car.

We had a party for her yesterday, which was quite fun. Here are a couple more pics from yesterday.

Cupcakes made by our friend and party participant, the proprietor of Cupid Cupcakery and yes, they tasted as least as good as they look.

For a girl that already loves all things bread and cake, she was not happy about this... probably because we put her back in the high-chair and she really hates being confined, I mean really.

Missing in action...

2010-02-21T13:07:00.004-05:00

That title could describe a lot of things over the last few months... But mostly it is related to Nathan E. Hellman, MD, Ph.D., who passed away on February 13, 2010 after a massive stroke earlier that week. Nathan was a long-time, close friend of mine and we attended both High School and Wash U. together after college. Regular readers of my blog may have visited Nate's blog over the years as I have always had a link to it. Nate was a prolific writer, hosting three blogs - one of which has become a highly read professional blog in his medical specialty of Nephrology. Nate's passing left behind his wife Claire and two children Sophie and Max as well as his parents and his two sisters and their families.

It's hard to know what, if anything, to actually write about this event. To say it sucks is an understatement of grand proportions. The same about he will be missed, was a great guy, etc. Nate was truly a great person... kind, patient, dedicated, brilliant, and funny.

I went to his memorial service in Boston this past week, which was held at the hospital where he worked. This was no small service, and really a testament to how good a person and friend Nathan was... I was asked to be one of the people to talk about Nate at the service. It was really humbling to try to talk about my friend.... to try to capture even a small part of who he was. But, then to be there and hear nine other stories during the service (and many more before and after) that were all different, yet had similar themes was.... incredible. He had quite an impact on people, just by his example.

I could never do justice to the way Nate wrote... fortunately we have his blog for that. But, some friends that could not make it to Boston have asked to see what I said. I have hemmed and hawed about this for a few days... not sure why, but I have. I tend to filter the negative before writing for the world... not quite my style to do otherwise. However, here is what I wrote and approximately what I said this past Wednesday.

Nathan was my teammate, classmate, my high school locker mate, my roommate, but most of all – he was my friend.

"My Friend" is something Nate often said in conversation. He always had stories about his friends and family, what they had done together, and the accomplishments of others. Friendship was important to Nathan and he was particularly adept at building and nurturing true, life-long friendships with diverse people. His secret, I think, was that among all his incredible gifts, he had this effortless capacity to make people feel like they were a very important part of his life. He drew people together with his kindness, patience, with his humility, and especially his infectious spirit. And in doing so Nate built a community of people connected both to him and to each other.

Nathan lived life to the hilt, and with an endless passion for everything he did, and I mean everything. Be it playing basketball, or exploring the world – near and far, being a scientist and physician, writing, or enjoying time with the people around him, he was always "All In". Nate wasn't a one-thing-at-time kind of guy either. During our first year at Wash U, not content with just learning medicine he decided to tackle a new language too. I vividly remember him picking up the mail and finding his Learn-Esperanto-by-mail packages and being immediately and audibly excited. Indeed, Nate's passions could even supplant common objects. I for one cannot recall a time when the sight of Captain Crunch did not remind me of Nathan.

Nathan was brilliant, creative and original. He was always had new ideas. When we were younger, it was things like founding (and winning) a Fantasy Baseball League in the pre-internet era as well as a Monty Python-inspired troupe known as the Lumberjacks. Nate shared his sense of humor and his thoughts with us in the "Saga of the Verbal Spoon", his legendary Christmas cards, and his voluminous and widely read blogs. He invited the world into his life and in turn he opened our eyes, made us think, and made us laugh.

I will remember Nathan's mix of enthusiasm and patience, his sense of humor and his passion for life, his friendship and his unbridled and indelible love for his family. I distinctly remember phone calls, as if he were going to burst with excitement, sharing his engagement to Claire and the births of Sophie and Max. The last time I saw Nate was on their wedding day. He was at once joyous and peaceful, for he was clearly with the love of his life. I will miss those phone calls sharing his joy and pride in his children, Claire, in his parents and sisters and their families.

So, in closing Nathan, it was an honor and privilege, and I thank you.

Some pre-xmas pics

2009-12-23T22:34:00.003-05:00

I'll dispense with excuses and just post some pics from the last month. Enjoy.

Decorating is Exciting!

Abby's first concert

miles and miles, months and months....

2009-11-08T21:19:00.004-05:00

Is it still 2009? Yeah, it has been that kind of couple of months.

Last post was the first week of soccer; soccer ended over a week ago. It rained almost every Saturday morning, several canceled games, but still Sara had a lot of fun... played lots of "goalie" with several teammates and other times ran around the field hold her coach's hand (the coach's other hand was usually holding her daughter's hand). She even got to kick-off one game and enjoyed that.

Abby crawls, pulls-up, tries to climb, wants to be walking (and has since she first started crawling). She is also feeding herself as much as she can (does not like Mom, Dad, or daycare caregivers to do it most of the time). Abby also broke through two teeth in the last week. We have also been fighting ear infections one on top of the other... as fast as they have been coming we may be on target for tubes for her too, but only time will tell.

Both girls have had their flu shots, and probably the flu as well.... We get lots of smiles and lots of outright defiance... from both of them. We (half) joke that Sara is 3 going on 13.... Sara still loves being a big sister and gives Abby lots of hugs and kisses and is excited to see and help her as much as she can... but she is also still adjusting, always wants to try Abby's baby cereal (every time), lots of wanting to be picked up or carried right after Abby, etc. Also, she still isn't much of a fan of Daddy traveling, at least as measured in behavioral terms, but then again he'd rather be with her too. Grandma H. at least came for a visit for one of my recent trips, which was a big help... Dad on two coasts in two weeks is not the norm in this family, but sometimes it has to be done.

Oh... and trick-or-treating was a big hit this year.

All right, I have probably missed a 1000 interesting tidbits here and there, but here a few pics that actually came out when they weren't running around (too fast).

Riding a Pony!!!

Penguin ready to go to Boo at the Zoo

Dancing ladybug at the Zoo

Soccer!

2009-09-12T15:48:00.003-04:00

Today was the first day of toddler soccer. Sara was a bit... tentative... but she rallied enough to spend most of the second half actually on the field (the play all on all at this age, coaching is on-field and they serve as refs too). She isn't quite used to all the bumping and running, but she wasn't the only one feeling that way on a team filled with 3-4 year olds. Some of the other parents and grandparents said that most kids get past that within a few weeks. Sara does really like her new jersey, she is #7.

Abby is really moving and grooving too! She has in just a few days after the last post learned to get herself into a sitting position on her own. It is basically a by-product of trying to get back on her knees and just keeps going and until her bottom is on the floor. She has also been experimenting lately with not bothering to bend her knees to try to crawl, which means she is really just trying to move straight into a standing position. Abby is also trying to pull up as much as she can... with a little bit of help she is more successful, but she prefers to be up.... all of this is to say we are going to be dealing with a very mobile baby much sooner and faster than we had planned on.

Labor Day!?!? - I want my summer back!

2009-09-05T13:44:00.005-04:00

Okay, that's all true, but not what this post is about, nor is it about the implications for the future of our country that there are people that apparently do not(!) want the President of the United States speaking to school children about the importance of an education....

Rather, it is about what the girls (and their parents) have been up to the past few weeks.

Abby had her 6 mo checkup and was all fine. She weighed and measured in at about the 60-75 percentile... I don't have the sheet on me at the moment, so no stats but, she is almost exactly where Sara was at 4 months size wise. Abby is turning out to be a pretty good eater of solid foods. She has done well with cereals and has just finished her several day stints of trying out the yellow/orange veggies (sweet potatoes are a winner here). Green veggies will probably start tonight with some peas. Abby is doing a great job of sitting, and when she tries standing, she is always on her toes - maybe this means that she will be a great basketball defender or ballet dancer. She is also becoming (is) mobile. Abby has pretty much mastered the "rifleman's crawl" where her whole body stays on the ground. She has been up on her knees now and then, but hasn't given that a go yet. The mobility has really exploded in the last week. Last weekend she was creeping short distances to reach toys, etc.... Those distances and the speed she crosses them have dramatically increased.

What else has happened you ask? Well, Danette had a multi-day work trip within the state three weeks ago, so since I finished another stint on jury duty we were all able to go with her and I had the girls to myself during the day for two days. We had a good time in Dayton. (heck there may be visual proof someday since the Google streetview car drove past us once) We hit the arboretum with its butterfly house and the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery (basically a mashup of a science/natural history/children's museum).. lots of cool stuff, though Sara clearly liked the massive bins of Legos the best... and of course a park. (google maps is really nice it turns out for checking to see that a potential "park" actually has playground equipment). We even got in some hotel pool swimming with Mom in the evening.

The following week, school started and then I left town for 3 days to go to DC for some meetings. Danette had the girls to herself Wednesday, but Thursday afternoon Grandpa D. flew in for a quick visit. Then Friday, they all packed up and flew to St. Louis for Marshall and Kym's wedding where Sara was the flower girl. I met them there later in the day. Sara did a good job walking up the aisle during the wedding, smiling the whole way (pictures of Sara all dressed up are below). The wedding started during and extended past usual nap time, so cooperation.... dropped off a bit. The reception was in the evening so we had time for a nap and rest later. Unfortunately, we did not make see much of the reception as Sara got sick about 10 minutes after we got there... fortunately kids bounce back quickly and she was starting to recover nicely by the time she went to sleep that night.

This week was just sort of a get back in the groove kind of week. The weather has been glorious most of the week and looks to to stay that way for most of the weekend which is nice too. After a few week hiatus because of travel, etc, we made it back to the farmer's market and got some good eats. Then we stopped by a sporting goods store to pick up some shin-guards for Sara. We signed her up for toddler soccer - practice and game back-to-back on Saturdays this fall... we were a little late with the sign-up, but hopefully she'll be placed. Other than that we might head to a county fair and a backyard picnic this weekend.

All right, here are the pictures....

Sara at the arboretum

Sara's self-professed favorite part of the arboretum

Abby at the arboretum

What is a nice afternoon without a park?

father-daughter self-portrait

I went to the park too...

driving the recycling truck at the Boonshoft

Rehearsal

I got my hair done, my fancy dress and shoes on, and Dad wants to take some pictures.... must be time to pick dandelions!

Chillin. I still have my dandelion.

Smiling girls before heading to the church

Showtime!

Abby in July and August

2009-08-16T13:44:00.004-04:00

Only pics of Abby this time, all that got uploaded, but at least there are a few of them.

The last month has been well, you know, busy. Grandma and Grandpa H. have been here and left, Rew was back for another visit for work, I completed another jury duty run. A week ago Danette made her first overnight trip away from since Abby was born. It went reasonably well.

Abby is doing well, growing like a weed, smiling and happy most of the time. She is able to sit up on her own for short periods now, and often prefers that as it is easier to chew on whatever toy is within reach, she really likes the assortment of blocks that we have lately. Abby is also doing a good job with cereal too. She wasn't too fond of the rice cereal, but oatmeal is another story. In a telling example of how every kid is different, we just recently realized that when she starts getting fussy while eating cereal, it isn't necessarily that she is full, but just thirsty. Sara never was like that. So Abby has been taking a little milk from a sippy-cup and that has smoothed things a bit. As we are coming up to her 6 month birthday this week we introduced squash at lunch today and she seemed fine with it, so we are moving along there.

Pre-school, rolling, and other good stuff

2009-07-12T10:29:00.003-04:00

So, it looks like it has been about three weeks since the last update. What have we been up to? A lot actually, especially the girls. Sara started full-time as a pre-schooler two weeks ago now. She is doing quite well in the new room and adjusting to there being more kids and more structured things to do. I think the class size will go back down a little in the fall when the older kids head of to kindergarten, but this is a good way to get in the groove this summer. Pre-schoolers get to use BigWheels at school and other fun stuff, so it has been a good time so far. The naps have gotten a bit shorter, which works against us at night, but we are managing. The last two weekends Sara has been taking really long naps on the weekend because she is so tired, and that seems to help too.

Abby is moving and grooving, literally. She has been rolling over non-stop for a few weeks now, and a bit before that too. She is not too adept at rolling from her stomach to her back (unless she is swaddled and asleep), but she flips over all the time now. We never know where we are going to find her in her crib now, even if we are in there only minutes a part. Abby is doing well at day care too, takes good long naps there... the sleeping at night though is so hit and miss it is crazy. About one night every two weeks we get a decent, maybe 6 hour stretch, other than that, we are up at least every 2-3 hours. Granted, often that is just to replace a pacifier, but not always. She has also been expressing a preference for stomach sleeping... she loves to roll so much that she would rather sleep on her stomach a fair portion of the time. This isn't a real surprise to us as even as a much smaller baby she would do her best to at least sleep on her side if she could manage it.

We had a good weekend over the 4th. We went on a nice walk through one of the nearby parks one morning and saw all sorts of animals, birds, and plant life. We also got in some playground time, and even a trip to the pool which was a big hit. Heck, we even hit the zoo the weekend before. Yesterday we did our usual morning at the Farmer's market, and followed that up with a quick visit to the Art Fair, cut short by (much needed) thunderstorms. And last night we went back to the Square and listened to a Brazilian music band and had some ice cream. This morning, Abby was up a bit early, so I decided to take her out for a long stroller walk. She hasn't had many of those around the neighborhood as Sara is limited in interest and probably endurance to shorter walks at the moment as she does not ride in a stroller much anymore. A very nice morning, but unfortunately a little too early to pick up coffee and the corner shop on the way back to the house...

Anyway, how about some pictures....

4 months...

2009-06-21T19:58:00.004-04:00

Yeah, I'm behind, but things are even more of a whirlwind now it seems. So, for the highlights.

Abby had her 4 month appt on Friday afternoon, she is happy and healthy. 24" tall and 14 lbs 11 oz. 40-70th percentile on everything. Abby also took to rolling over last week, just back to front and only one direction, but great none the less. Even had to get up in the middle of the night to flip her back over at least once. The doc also said we could start trying some solid food. We tried a couple of bowls of fabulous rice cereal... no major complaints, but she isn't beggin for more yet. Still, pretty early so I am sure she'll pick it up fine. She likes her food fine even if she doesn't share the full on passion for it that her big sister has. Abby is good and smiley too and we have been getting lots of squawking. She is as irregular as ever on the sleeping, last week was bad on mom and dad, sometimes up every hour (thinking growth spurt). Got a bit more sleep last night, thankfully. Abby also had a whole host of shots on Friday, not a big fan and a little mellow afterwards, pretty typical it seems.

Sara is doing well too, growing up a storm. This week she will start transitioning to the preschool room. Hard to believe we have a preschooler on our hands. She is still full of why, exuberance, and a good dose of defiance, but it is a lot better than two months ago, a whole lot better. She is having fun being active. We have taken some tricycle rides and just got a T-ball set for her. That has been fun in the backyard.... and of course, working in the gardens. She continues to show her sister a lot of love and is clearly enjoying that Abby is becoming more interactive. A big highlight this last week was when I picked the girls up just a bit early and we got home in time to watch the LRO launch on the computer. Sara has been all about watching the replay and Space Shuttle, and even a Soyuz video ever since. It is nice to know that she can appreciate a nice rocket launch too :)

Last weekend we had the pleasure of a visit from the Swiss Family Dombard. It was our first time to see little Riley, who ain't so little anymore. We had a good time hanging out (literally in Rew's case - see below) and visiting the park.

Other than that, it has been pretty typical summer stuff - farmer's market on Saturdays, maybe a trip to the park, and too much work during the week. We did sneak in a trip to the ball game this last week with a some friends. Alas, the home team did not win, and given the interleague play, that didn't help our beloved Cards either. Tomorrow our next out-of-town visit begins with the arrival of Grandma D. for a week.

Happy father's day everyone!

Smile

Nice Hat

punk rocker, even in the tub

Abby's first solid food

me and my mom

I know my mom loves me

Sara wearing the highly sought after birthday hat at school

That slide.

This is how I fly like an airplane

Rew hanging out

Backyard fun

ooohh, swing!

vacation

2009-06-04T21:29:00.003-04:00

So, we took our first vacation as a foursome a week ago and headed up to Minnesota for a week.

On the shore of Lake Superior along the Lakewalk

The initial impetus was for Danette's friend Ellen's wedding the day before Memorial Day. We flew up the day before that and met Grandma and Grandpa D. in the Twin Cities. The girls had a good time seeing their grandparents, and even having them to themselves while we went to the wedding. That was actually a highlight for Sara because she got to make a return trip to the Mall of America and see all the rides in the amusement park. She is still talking about the rides and making pictures of them at school almost two weeks later. We also had the good fortune to be able to see Sara's godmother Laura, and most of the Lukkarila/Krajewski clan for a couple of hours - too short, but great time to catch up regardless. Somehow we made the boneheaded move of forgetting to get a picture of Sara with Laura or anyone else for that matter...

On Memorial Day, rather than our usual local parade, we headed up to Duluth and saw Grandma and Grandpa H. This was Grandpa's first chance to meet Abby too. We stayed until Friday, basically just chilling out, and helping out where we could. The weather was cool and rainy most of the week except for Thursday. While not great for getting out, we did sample a new restaurant for breakfast, Sara got to frost cupcakes with Grandma, and Danette and I even made it out for a movie, Star Trek. Sara and Abby basically just basked in the glow of grandparental love all week. Excited? Yes. Spoiled? A bit..., Exhausted at the end? Oh yeah.

While in Duluth we also got to see my friend Jason from high school and college and his wife Jane (also a friend from college) and their two kids. In was nice to be able to catch up, and it turns out they are moving a bit closer to us, so we will hopefully be able to catch up again soon.

Total exhaustion, and colds, etc ensued by the end of the trip, but we made back mostly uneventfully (minus the present Abby left for me on my lap in the plane...)

Now for some more pictures...

trying out some goggles for the hotel pool

cupcakes with grandma for Sara's birthday

making a castle out of Lake Superior pebbles

Abby yakking grandma's ear off :)

Big smile

Sara's 3!

2009-05-31T13:08:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday Sara!

Yup, she is the big T-H-R-E-E now! Needless to say she is pretty darn excited about it. Sara has had a fun day today. She wanted and helped make biscuits for breakfast, saw that we have two very young baby deer in our backyard, and opened some presents already. She is looking forward to more play time and cake, of course, later after her nap.

She has definitely grown a lot since last year.

Smiles..

2009-05-16T20:29:00.002-04:00

Yes, a certain little one is becoming all smiles, which is a lot of fun. Hard to believe that she will be turning 3 months old this week, and her big sister will turn 3 years old a week later!

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic with the end of the semester, Danette starting back to work, and Abby starting day care. Just to top it all off, I took my first trip since Abby was born, leaving Mom with the two girls. Fortunately, it went reasonably well... Sara was even a decent helper with Abby in the evenings.

The girls are starting to interact more, which is fun to watch. Sara clearly enjoys having a little sister even as she struggles with the level of attention she is getting relative to before. Fortunately, even that is settling down a little.

Abby seems to really be growing, getting bigger and longer all the time. The smiles are fun, but she is still a pretty serious girl, undoubtedly a function of her belly... but even that is better than a month ago. There are many times when she is clearly fascinated watching Sara and we expect that will definitely continue.

And in other news: Happy Birthday Grandpa H.!

Abby goes to school!

2009-05-04T20:00:00.003-04:00

So, Abby hit the 10 weeks mark last Friday, and today she went to school for the first time. She is in the same room that Sara was in as a little baby, which is nice for us. There was more than a bit of trepidation around here about how today would go. Little Abby had decided recently that she was going to refuse (at length, and at the top of her lungs) bottles from her father the last week to ten days. This was quite a switch from her big sister who has always had rather strong fond feelings for food, regardless of source. However, Abby did fine today... she ate enough, though no marathon sessions of feeding. Regardless, she ate and is a good sign, we hope. She was all smiles and had a good time today. Her big sister even walked over with one of her teachers and some of the other kids with younger siblings to check them all out.

Abby has definitely been more smiley and interactive lately. It has been fun for all of us... she is also getting more into watching her big sister, which is fun to watch too. The last couple of weeks she has been pushing the envelope of sleeping, and we even reached a nominal 'all through the night' last night, which was good timing! Abby is not horribly consistent on these things so far, but we are definitely going in the right direction.

Things have been a little hectic around here since the last post. This includes some increasing rebellion from our eldest, and basic grumpiness to boot. Not quite as easy-going and carefree as we are used to, but we are doing our best to cope and redirect in a positive way... though our creativity is often challenged. And of course, it is the end of the semester for me and Danette headed back to work today.

We have had some good weather lately, and tried to get outside. I am looking forward to the trees being done with their acts of procreation so they can leave me alone, but otherwise it has been nice. Heck, we have had several visits to the park, and even our first visit to the outside portion of the Zoo yesterday.

Ah well, here are those pictures you wanted to see....

in the back yard

big red chair

Abby at the zoo

animal watching

Abby at 2 months...

2009-04-20T21:41:00.003-04:00

Well, Abby had her 2 month weigh-in... er checkup... today. All is pretty well with her, except maybe a little reflux. She has made great progress in weight, jumping 25-50 percentile points, now at 11 lbs 5 oz and 22.125 inches long. She is doing well in that department, and seems to have been on a growth spurt of late too. She also had a whole rash of shots today, so she is not exactly happy with her parents at the moment. Though it was pretty cool that one of the immunizations was oral this time rather than a shot, which is different from when Sara was this age.

We are starting to see even more smiles and cooing. She has been a big fan of mobiles the last week or two, and shiny objects and mirrors are catching her attention too. She is definitely getting bigger and stronger all the time. Hard to believe that two weeks from now she'll be in day care like her big sister.

This past weekend was pretty good. The weather on Saturday was fabulous. We started out with some father/daughter haircut time at the barber shop for Sara's second haircut which looks quite cute. We also had a whole bunch of other activities like the first trip to the outdoor farmer's market, getting to see Aunt Jo and Joyce, time at the park, and dinner with friends. We even got in some playing as well. One of the highlights of Aunt Jo's visit was a present to Sara of some "Solar Slime" (which she calls the gooey stuff). Basically it is gooey stuff that changes color in the sunlight. She wasn't too sure at first about playing with goo, but now she asks to go outside and play with it a lot, especially when it is cloudy and raining!

Anyway, the girls are doing relatively well... pics below.

The growing girl...

Big Smile

Happy arm full

New Haircut

Girls

Mini-slide

Easter Vacation

2009-04-17T20:52:00.002-04:00

Okay, so a lot has been going on, nothing new with that... there are a whole bunch of pictures below....

Things are all right here. Abby teased us for a few nights a couple of weeks ago by sleeping 5-5.5 hours in a couple of nights in a row... emphasis on teased. She is growing and developing. Unfortunately, she is a bit uncomfortable more regularly than we would like... probably typical baby belly stuff, but definitely a bummer for all around. However, we (usually Mom) are seeing more smiles and proto-giggles. It is hard to believe that it is only about 2 more weeks until she starts at day care. Time certainly flies.

Sara is doing her bit too. She was ill a couple of weeks ago, possibly her first ear infection since right after she got her tubes more than two years ago. Went away pretty fast too. Recently found out that one of the tubes is gone too, so that's good. She has also been pushing boundaries more lately... hard to know what the exact cause is, probably a multitude of things internal and external, but it has leaked over to school for the first time. We are working through it and starting to see some progress, but only time will tell.

On the fun side of things, we headed East last weekend to see some friends and hang out. The girls did pretty well on the car trip... Sara was seriously excited the whole way. Sara and Timmy who are only a week apart in age had a grand ole time (as did everyone else). Abby did pretty well too, but at her age she doesn't really care where she is as long as she can eat, sleep, and be held :) We even went to the National Zoo on Saturday and Sara (Abby was sleeping) got to see the panda's for the first time, and some elephants, hippos, and gorillas. Sunday morning Sara and Timmy had an easter egg hunt together, while Abby and Evie watched, before we headed for home. Sara was a bit disappointed, as all we heard on the way home was "but I didn't want to leave Timmy's house."

And just as important as all of that, Today is Danette's birthday!!!!! Happy birthday!

playing in the yard before a trip to the playground

momentary(!) quiet while watching Bob build something.

Running, a common refrain from the weekend.

Easter Egg Hunt.

pre-trip smile!

Maryland smile! (for Mom!)

The youngest ladies, Evie is 3 months older.

Girls...

2009-04-09T09:27:00.000-04:00

A little behind, but a recent pic nonetheless.

More later... okay... more sometime. :)

Dazed and... something

2009-03-28T21:14:00.002-04:00

All right, well Abby has surpassed that landmark age of 5 weeks now. She is definitely growing, the newborn size clothes that we had to buy when she was born (that we didn't have much of because Sara was bigger) are starting to get snug. She is becoming a bit more interactive and we get occasional grins and odd happy noises. Generally Abby is a pretty good baby, though she is keeping us up and at it a bit more as she has a fussy streak in her - no doubt gas. Otherwise she is well, likes going out, staying in, and is even taking to her "spa" time. She is doing pretty well with taking a bottle from me as well. We haven't been able to try it as often as we probably should, but she hasn't fussed about it one bit any of the times we have tried - which is a good omen I think.

Sara is doing well too. She has been ill the last week, with something. Started as a random fever that came and went and came and went.... that turned into a head cold, and then her first ear infection in two years since she had tubes put in... figures. She even stayed home this last Tuesday to try to catch up on rest. We also skipped swimming lessons today just to make sure she kicks this thing. Though, to be fair to Sara, she did fabulous last week swimming, even starting to swim on her own (with a flotation device and Dad within arm's reach). She motored all over the pool once she figured that feat out.

The weather here has been pretty mild as of late, even got out for a bit in the yard today. Though "they" are calling for snow on Monday.... 'tis Cleveland.

Work has me busy again, though I was distracted trying to follow random threads of info coming out of that March meeting in Houston.

Anyway.... here are those pictures.

19th

23rd

27th

Sara swimming

football

Sandbox

Erin go braugh...

2009-03-17T13:58:00.002-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well, spring break is over and I am back to my teaching gig. Abby and Danette are doing well and I am still spending some time at home when I can.

The last week has gone pretty well for the most part. Abby seems to be growing and is awake a bit more most days. She definitely has some long fussy times on occasion, but we are working through those as well. The weather has been a bit more mild lately, which has been a nice change from 3+ weeks ago when Abby was born. We've even gotten out for some walks, brisk and bracing walks at times, but outside nonetheless.

Sara had last Friday off of school for a staff development day, so after dropping my car off at the shop (it is still there, may my its clutch rest in peace) we headed to the Rain Forest at the zoo for the morning. The orangutans were quite active, as were a bunch of other animals. Sara had a great time and Abby slept the whole time.

Saturday we were shut out of the usual swimming lessons... for some reason the teacher didn't show up. So, there was a locker room (two really) filled with multiple, not-so-happy kids from the 3 and younger set. yeah.

Other than that, not a lot of excitement around here. That both UNC and Minnesota made it into the big dance is nice (okay, UNC not really a surprise). The oddity this coming week is that I won't be making my annual pilgrimage to Houston, for what I think will be the first time since the mid 1990's. Odd, but kind of relaxing too.

Home alone...

2009-03-09T14:49:00.003-04:00

Well, sort of.... Grandma and Grandpa D. left yesterday morning - early. So we have been in post grandparent mode for about a day and half now. All is good, calm even as Sara decompresses from that unique grandparent-induced high. Yes, it is true.

Before that though we had a good weekend. Saturday we had a good day of meals, swimming lessons, and rest. Even had some good birthday cake, which Sara may have enjoyed more than anyone else, if that were possible... Whole Foods can make quite the decadent cake. The weather was cloudy, though warm on Saturday still, so while everyone else was still napping, Sara, Grandpa and I took a bike ride/walk around the block (see below).

Yesterday, we pretty much just chilled out for most of the day. We were all pretty tired in general, and the switch from daylight savings didn't help, and Abby had been up a bit more too.

Today, we are getting ready to start transitioning into what will become a more normal routine for the next couple of months before Danette heads back to work. Got Sara into school, did some other stuff and tried to let Danette get a little more sleep... This time next week I'll be back to teaching, so now is the time.

Abby is doing well. She is clearly eating fine, we are starting to see her face fill out a little more we think. Still sleeping like a champ (all the time), except when we want to go to bed. I stayed up with her until she fell asleep last night... a by product is that I am beginning to understand why the show House is popular.

All right, enough chat...

Bike ride time

Guess who has their grump on?

A couple minutes later...

Post-feeding bliss

Sleeping grin

growing

2009-03-05T16:25:00.002-05:00

Abby is doing well. She had her two week checkup this afternoon and surpassed her birth weight up to 7lbs 7oz now. She is healthy as can be at this point. Everyone else is doing well too.

A couple more pics.

Abby and Grandpa D.

This is my hair after a nice bath.

Day 12...

2009-03-04T09:29:00.003-05:00

Apologies for the uninteresting titles lately... brain is elsewhere, not sure where, but elsewhere nonetheless....

Anyway, we have been fine here. On Sunday Sara and I took Grandma H. to the airport and then the two of us went out for a late breakfast at a small diner. That was pretty fun and she enjoyed watching everything that was going on.

Sara is enjoying school, as usual. She has so much fun and is used to being so active there. Yesterday she was pretty excited when Grandpa D. came to pick her up since he flew in early yesterday afternoon.

Otherwise, things have sort of been as one would expect for the second week home with a new baby - quiet and sleepy. Abby kept up her string of outings until yesterday, her first day as a true homebody. She seems to be doing well and every once in a while she will wake up for an extended period of time and also show us her eyes. Sleeping is about the same, though she did give us a few longer periods of sleep last night, which was nice. I however, kept waking up expecting her to wake up and need a change and feed. Ah well. Tomorrow she goes back for her 2 week checkup so we'll see how much she has gained/grown and how she is doing overall. Friday, I'll have to go back to work for a while... bunch of meetings and paperwork that must be done - fortunately next week is spring break!

And now for what you are really looking for...

A non-grumpy face, rare and cute.

Gimme a chance, I'll sleep anywhere

Curled up on Mom

Mmmm, tasty shoulder...

Big Sister

My new engineer's cap from Grandpa

Sleepy Saturday... for some.

2009-02-28T21:03:00.004-05:00

So, Abby turned one week old yesterday... amazing how that happens 7 days after babies are born! Abby is doing well, sleeping a lot today... pretty much sleeping or eating... I mention it only because yesterday was different, the first day that we got a lot of awake time (relatively speaking). She seems to be doing well. Her first doctor's visit was fine, not up to birth weight, but she did drop 9.5% in the hospital, so she had a little ways to go. She is doing fine except for a fussy time in the late evening to early morning hours; not unexpected though. She is continuing her trend of outings everyday... and sleeping through most of them.

Yesterday was a big day because Sara and Abby's other Grandma arrived, so there are now two grandmother's in the house. Lots of excitement around the house for that you can be sure. Grandma H. is going home Sunday morning... we're not sure what we would have done without her taking care of the three and then four of us the last 10 days. We will certainly miss her.

Sara is doing well, active and excited, spending lots of time with her Grandmas. Just this afternoon they had a group cookie making activity and played several games of Uno while the cookies were baking. That clearly was a fun time for everyone. Sara also had another swimming lesson this morning which went well except for us again having to get her out about 10 minutes early due to excessively blue lips. She really doesn't like cold water, but she loves to go swimming. Today we focused a lot on jumping into the pool which she did fabulously at, much more independently deciding when to jump, and with gusto.

Well, there are some pics below....

Makin' cookies with both Grandmas

Kicking back

The pose du jour for Abby

Abby is 6 (days old)

2009-02-26T11:44:00.002-05:00

Yup, she's been home for a few days now and is doing well. She is eating a ton and sleeping pretty well too (as evidenced by the photos below). Abby often falls off to sleep pretty easily, though not always when Mom and Dad would like her too (read: night). Still, she's being pretty adorable. We still don't see a lot of her eyes, but a bit more here and there.

Sara has been very good with her little sister. She wants to give Abby hugs and kisses, hold her hand (though she doesn't always understand why Abby doesn't always help out on that one), and hold her. Sara has also been helping with getting the diapers. She is being quite the big sister.

Abby has had several outing so far. She went to a grocery store on Tuesday, Target yesterday, and her first walk around the block today because it is in the 40's and supposed to reach 50 this afternoon. Little Miss Abigail also has her first visit to the doctor's office this afternoon, so that will be another outing as well. All these outing have been good walking for Danette and she is feeling better and stronger all the time.

Let's see, other first for Abby have been her first (sponge) bath at home and her first Skype video calls. She got to see how big Riley has gotten and she did some on-screen wiggling for Grandpa H.

Well, that's about it, there are a bunch of pics below.

A favorite pose...

... in a favorite place.

Mom and Abby

oh yeah...

Warming up after my first bath

Out for my first walk around the block

We're all home...

2009-02-24T09:56:00.002-05:00

Everyone got checked out yesterday and we even had lunch at home. Abby and Danette are doing well, to say the least. Abby is quite the sleeper. In fact she slept through the whole checkout, discharge, ride home, and lunch.

Ready to go home!

Sleeping after a little lunch

Abby is quite a strong girl already. She is constantly pulling up and often holding her head up for a bit. Her legs are pretty darn strong too, something we have learned during copious diaper changes.

Head up, but no burp - as usual.

Just because...

"No, those are her hands!" - Sara

Abby has quite the toes, so much so that her big sister pronounced them hands the first time that she saw them. Sara has been a good big sister so far, helping a bit, and wanting to hold her sister and asking Abby to hold her hand. Can tell that she's also trying to understand what this whole new baby thing means, and she's doing pretty well so far. With Grandma here she's getting good time from everyone. Other than that she is just being herself.

One day old now..

2009-02-21T23:24:00.003-05:00

Okay, what you are really here for first:

Sleeping, one of many activities she excels at...

Yawning in Grandma's arms

Sisters

So, Abby and Danette are well. The little one slept really well the first night - on a full stomach no less. She is excelling in many departments, as is her mother. She's quite the sleepy one, but very sweet. She is eating like a champ and so far fusses very little (heck, she didn't even cry during the PKU test from what the nurse said). We still aren't sure what the eye color is, as little miss Abigail doesn't grace us with a view that often. They are definitely dark, and presumably will turn brown like her big sister's. The dark hair is pretty killer, very soft and does its own thing - just amazing how dark it is. Danette is doing well and moving around a lot and generally feeling pretty well. She also got lucky and was moved to a (huge) private room this afternoon. That has been so much more quiet (more because of the location) and easier to move around and have Sara visit in. Hopefully there will be a lot more rest in this room too!

Today was a whirlwind with a lot of tag-team action going on. I was with them early in the morning, came home to take Sara to her first swimming lesson of the year and Grandma headed into the hospital. After lunch, Grandma came home and I went back, then after naptime, Sara and Grandma came for a visit and dinner with the whole family.

Sara has been looking forward to swimming lessons for a while, so we made sure to make it to this one and she did great. She was kicking and moving and playing up a storm in the water. She didn't want to get out, but she was so cold and shivering that I had to cut her off a little early. Didn't like that, but she did enjoy the warm shower.

We have had lots of well wishes - thank you so much! We are certainly enjoying our time and looking forward to all being home (Monday sometime). We have also been very luck to have Grandma H. here to help out, and Sara has been so excited to have a Grandma to play with, especially Uno.

Abigail is here!

2009-02-20T23:19:00.003-05:00

Abby is a champ. She is doing well, eating well, etc. Born at 7:53 am today she weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20.25 inches long. She has very dark brown hair, darker than the rest of us; she also has long fingers and toes. Abby is doing really quite well. Mom is also doing well, especially now that the anesthesia has worn off.

Sara came to visit her new baby sister today and was really quite excited and did very well. She even held here sister for a little bit (probably measured in seconds, but a picture captures it forever). And after taking a break to play with grandma in the waiting room for a few minutes she came in gave Mom a hug, and then said I want to go see "my baby" who was back in the nursery for the usual look-see by the nurses.

Anyway, all is well and I am sure there will be more news and pics in the days, weeks, months, years to come.

Thanks to all for the well wishes!

Abby

Abby, Sara, and Mom

2009-02-20T13:16:00.001-05:00

Abigail (Abby) 7 lbs 4 oz 20.25 in. 7:53 am . All are doing well. Pics tonight or tomorow.

one more day....

2009-02-19T14:30:00.002-05:00

Well, tomorrow is the day it seems. The baby-to-be-named-later is not showing any signs of wanting to arrive earlier than planned so far. That's okay, we're tying things up at work, at home, etc. It is a little odd knowing, and having known, that tomorrow is likely to be the baby's birthday. On the other hand, we're probably about as ready as we are going to be.

Grandma H. arrived last night with no problems at all. Sara and I met Danette and Grandma at Maggiano's for a nice dinner out, and Sara could get her favorite - pasta. Heck, she even got the waiter to bring her two desserts not just one :)

A bit snowy this morning, supposed to be more today and tonight, but the forecast amount of snow for tonight has been reduced, so hopefully I will not be pulling out the snowblower at 3:30 am. Danette is, we believe, first on the schedule for tomorrow so by early/mid morning we should have a new little one.

So, how will you know? Well, eventually I will try to post a quick cell phone picture or at least a quick blurb before the end of the day. Eventually some nice pics will hopefully show up once I get home and can upload them, just like last time.

The blog doesn't seem to take pics from the cell phone directly. So, you may be able to find them at the following link, once there are some:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sahiispot/baby

Anyways, that's all I know. Have a good day!

2 days...

2009-02-18T12:29:00.002-05:00

No new pics and no more news on the baby-watch front. Danette and the baby are doing well it seems. Since Sara didn't want to venture into the outside world without some help, maybe it isn't a surprise that this one isn't itching to go early either.

We have been having a pretty good week here. We had a great day with Sara on Monday, in fact it was probably one of the most fun days we can remember. Sara even said, to no one in particular, while she was playing before dinner on Monday "I had an awesome day." Which was a fair statement I would say. Then yesterday, it seems she had a repeat performance at day care, because one of her teachers said it was her "best day ever." Pretty good for a two-and-a-half year old. We were happy with one day, but two days in a row was outstanding.

Otherwise, all is quiet here. I finished teaching for a little while, since I have my class covered for the next two weeks while we are first settling in at home. And... Grandma H. will be here this afternoon, so that will be exciting too.

What does a lion look like? "Roar!"

2009-02-16T16:53:00.003-05:00

A semi-day-off on Monday isn't such a bad thing I must say. Danette stayed home this morning while I had to teach. She and Sara went to a local PB Kids store where there was a Cat in the Hat event at story time that was quite enjoyable, if busy. This afternoon I stayed home, did a little grading while the little girl was napping, and then we went off to the local library to read some books and do some puzzles.

Otherwise, everything is going fine here. We certainly appreciate all the well wishes and thoughts and are definitely looking forward to meeting our new little one.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the last couple of days.

Playing with playdoh, and looking over at the plant Dad rustled while trying to take yet another picture

What does a lion look like? "Roar!" (of course)

A three-day weekend for three

2009-02-15T13:43:00.002-05:00

We hope that everyone had a great Valentine's day yesterday... we had some good family fun here. We woke up and opened some nice cards yesterday and then went to the (indoor version) of our favorite farmer's market for the first time in 2009. Definitely not the same as when it is in full swing, but there is definitely something nice about seeing many of the faces and foodstuffs we are used to on Saturday mornings.

Yesterday afternoon we went out for a little shopping and walking after Sara's nap. We stopped at the bookstore where Sara likes to play with the train sets, and we even found a gift for her to give her little sister. Though, in a sign that we still have to readjust to thinking about infants again, the stuffed animal in question has plastic eyes and will have to sit on a shelf in the baby's room to look at instead of for playing with for a while... ah well, it isn't like the kid will be lacking for toys in our house. And then last night we played several hands of Uno with Sara. There is a nice simplified card set for little kids, and she knows her numbers and colors well enough that she can mostly go through the game with just a bit of help... something she really likes.

Otherwise, we are just sort of tying up loose ends around the house, enjoying the relative quiet, etc this weekend. Sara has President's day off, but Danette and I do not. I have a morning class, so we will be trading off around noon tomorrow. Grandma H. will be here Wednesday afternoon and then if we haven't gone in already, we will head to the hospital on Friday morning.

Well, here are some pictures from the last week of Sara, Danette, and the hiding baby-to-be-named later.

One week..... eek.

2009-02-13T09:05:00.003-05:00

Well, one week from now we should have a new bundle of joy in our arms. Talk about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Danette is doing well, getting a bit more tired and uncomfortable but otherwise on track. Nothing really new to report on the baby front at this point.

We went out with our friends Leah and Paul last night and they brought a Valentine's gift for Sara, including a new hat that Leah had made. Sara is showing it off in the restaurant in great style. She was very excited to take it to school and show her teachers this morning.

Anyway, that is all...

Say Cheese!

9 days (or less)

2009-02-11T08:29:00.004-05:00

For those keeping score at home, only 9 days (or less) until the baby-to-be-named later is born. Danette is doing well and still on track - no signs yet of anything imminent. We did ask the doc yesterday if he had a guess of how big the little one will be and he thought something in the 7 lb range. That would be about right if this kid is following the same trajectory as Sara, just a couple of weeks earlier.

Otherwise, things are okay. Sara had a rough day at school yesterday, rather defiant about wanting to quietly take her nap... apparently reinforcements were required. Of course, she woke up way too early upon hearing rain in the middle of the night, so that probably had something to do with it.

Anyway, we are just going about our business as usual.....

T-13 days

2009-02-07T13:25:00.003-05:00

Yup, we are under the 2 week mark until the baby is here. Danette is doing well and apparently so is the little one. We are calmly and slowly getting a few last things together, but the calmness may be disbelief that we will have another baby around two weeks from now...

We had another week of crazy snow, and now it is melting away and near 50F outside. I have spend more time using my roof rake than I would like too, but it does seem to help keep the amount of ice buildup around the gutters down a bit.

Sara is doing well, of course. This week has been interesting because the young lady who usually falls off to sleep very quickly has been doing quite the opposite the last week to ten days. She has been routinely yapping to herself for at least 45 minutes to as long as 1 1/2 hours after we put her to bed; it doesn't matter if it is a nap (just shy of an hour of talking/singing today) or bedtime. Needless to say, something is going on. I suspect it is related to a noticeable jump in her imagination lately. Even her teachers have commented on it, in fact we got a note home from day care/school saying how busy she was that day with her buddies including getting in the car and driving to Minnesota for ice cream. The girl has never had ice cream in Minnesota, she was far too young the last time she was there, so she came up with it all on her own. Anyway, it is an interesting and often fun development.

Below are just some pics of Sara that I snapped while trying to get used to my new camera lens. These are nice because it his her face rather than her hair or neck that is in focus... I am getting better at it though.

phoning it in

2009-02-03T19:14:00.001-05:00

Things are well here. 17 days to go; nothing imminent. Just thought I would stretch my skills to see if I could post from my

Less than 3 weeks to go!

2009-01-31T08:22:00.003-05:00

That about tells the tale of the tape. We are getting closer and closer to the due date for the baby-to-be-named later. In fact, we are headed to the hospital for a tour aimed at siblings-to-be today. Sara is looking forward to that. Danette is doing well and everything seems "normal" and on-track.

This week was another snowy one, in fact I think we are going to come up just an inch or so short of the snowiest January on record in Cleveland. We had a little melt back that resulted in close to half our snow disappearing, but all of that and then some has returned, all pretty much in one day this week. I now have some snow banks at the house that are getting difficult to see over.... reminds me of growing up in MN.

Sara is doing well, full of energy, etc. The last couple of weeks have been fun because she started spontaneously giving hugs and saying "I love you" at least in response to the same, which hadn't been her style before. She is also excited to help get the room ready for the baby whenever she can.

This week also so the delivery of my new fixed focal-length f/1.8 lens for my camera, so I have been playing with that. The plan is for it to be very useful for taking pictures of the the kids in natural light/low light in the house, etc. So far it seems like a good idea, but I do have to be far more careful with the focus.

Anyway, here are some pictures for the week.

Painting at her easel

Big smile before school

getting good at ignoring the man behind the camera - in a good way

Oy! down to 4 weeks.

2009-01-24T13:21:00.003-05:00

Guess it has been a while since I posted anything... oh well.

2009 has been going well so far. Sara is being Sara, growing, learning more, and pushing boundaries everyday like a good 2.5 year old. The only downside of the month thus far has really been the weather - shoveling or snowblowing 2-3 times a day gets a little old. It also turns out that there must be a gap in the insulation(?) near where our computer sits, so when the temps approach zero, as they had been... the computer is avoided.

A morning pic (1/10) during the cold and snowy month

Snow at probably its deepest on 1/20

Even had to go out and "rake" the snow off the roof twice so far this month to try to deal with all the icicles that were building up.

We have been doing a few other things as well. As we are obviously getting closer to the new baby (27 days or less, one way or another), we have been trying to get a few more things prepared. Everything seems on track and everyone healthy it appears. We even made it out to pre-register Danette this morning and we will have a tour aimed at young siblings to-be next weekend.

However, much to our chagrin, we realized that we just were not going to get the baby's room stripped of its wallpaper and painted in time.... just not enough hours on the weekends that are left with all the other usual things to do. The wallpaper was the real nemesis, of course. So for the first time, we broke down and hired someone to come in and take care of the wallpaper and painting inside our house. Felt a little odd to not do it ourselves, but it is done now. Given that it took two pros a whole solid weekend, we are glad we don't have it hanging over our heads anymore.

Before

During, yup the walls were never painted/primed before the wallpaper went up - Nice!

After

Now we are just working to get the room set up.... but we have some time to work there...

Anyway, needless to say, at least someone enjoyed the snow when it was warm enough to be out for a while...

playing

snow angels

Even a pic with Dad

getting into games more and more, though a little difficult to find good age appropriate ones still, but she loves them regardless

Trip to the Children's Museum on MLK day.

Being Sara, getting up early and having breakfast w/Dad even though she could be sleeping.

Sara has also become even more aware of what's going on around her... or at least she is narrating it more. This week she saw a particular man on the TV, and said "That's Barack Obama!" yup, it was. She was also quite excited when she recognized someone talking about him on the radio on our way to school. Sara also apparently announced at school that she wants to be a doctor and drive the ambulance, but she has to wait until she is older and can go to college and be old enough to drive. Moments like these are pretty neat, especially when balanced with the other half of the typical two-year old equation....

Happy 2009!

2009-01-02T17:22:00.002-05:00

Does this say I like to celebrate the new year with cupcakes or what?!?

Happy new year everyone! We hope that you have had a joyous holiday season. It has certainly been a fun and busy time here.

Grandma D. left on the 26th and Grandma and Grandpa H. showed up on the 28th (their anniversary, as usual) - and left this morning.... On the 27th we had unseasonably warm weather and Sara and I went to the park, yes, the park in December - 65 and breezy! We had a little more xmas on the 28th (see pics below). Sara had great fun helping everyone open their gifts, and in some cases trying them on!

Lots of game and book and toy time around the house the last couple of weeks, and sleeping-in, which is very odd for the little girl.... maybe she is growing - again.

The baby-to-be is doing well too, growing a lot. We are now zoning in on an auspicious end to the third week of February. Though, we do still need to get the room ready for the kiddo.....

December at the park

On the slide for the holidays!

Now I am really ready to cook.

I am helping Mom see how this looks!

Waiting for her last gift from Grandma and Grandpa

xmas 2008

2008-12-25T11:01:00.002-05:00

Opening gifts xmas eve before Grandpa had to fly home for work

"Mr. Sweet Potato"

Anything left?

Christmas has been a lot of fun here. Unfortunately Grandpa D. had to head home early to work, but we had a good time while he was here. Opened some gifts xmas eve before he left. Had dinner out after dropping him at the airport and then left some cookies for Santa.

Sara actually slept in (YAY!), and Santa had been here with some nice gifts. We opened a few more gifts this morning to spread it out for her, which was good. The highlight of the morning was our christmas moment when Sara started passing out one of her Santa gifts for everyone to share. Very sweet.

Merry christmas everyone.

Xmas cookies

2008-12-23T18:23:00.002-05:00

Sara helping to make a batch of Christmas cookies this afternoon

'Nuff Said

Let the holidays begin...

2008-12-20T20:41:00.003-05:00

So, I am back from a week-long meeting in San Fran and ready for the holiday "break" (yeah, I am still going to work this next week, at least a couple of days...). I followed up my landing after a redeye flight with some xmas shopping and a little catnap.

Anyway, Sara did reasonably well while I was gone, though it appears that we have reached the age where she truly does "miss" a parent being gone now... just to make it even easier to travel...

Danette is doing well, and so is the baby, it seems it grew even in the four days that I was gone somehow. Grandma and Grandpa D flew in last night for the holiday, so the holiday has truly begun.

Today we took Sara to a holiday concert for young kids (3-6) at Severance Hall. A very fun brass quintet from the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra did a wonderful job of playing great music and teach about their instruments... Sara was full with an amazed and exhilarated smile the whole time. She had been looking forward to this day all week and it clearly did not disappoint.

Given that the holidays are upon us there will undoubtedly be more pictures to come, but here are a few taken in the last couple of weeks.

Sara in a new coat that she wore to the concert

At the concert

Laughing

Sara and Danette

Self-portrait for two

New camera

2008-12-14T13:17:00.002-05:00

Sara consenting to sit still (and eat a snack)

Finally followed through on my "one camera per child" plan for ensuring that each kid has ample photos taken of them.... good to be a consumeristic American, I guess. Anyway, the camera arrived this week (a new Canon XSi) and I have been clicking away ever since... and definitely glad we made the plunge on a new camera. There are more pics to come, and certainly more when the baby is here, but I like the one above, so there she is.

December cheer...

2008-12-07T13:02:00.004-05:00

Looking at the archive of the blog it appears that I started this thing just over 4 years ago now... that's a pretty amazing to me that something I started on a whim just to see what a "blog" was is still active.... anyway, it is and now about what you are really here to see....

So we are starting off this month well. Sara is now sleeping exclusively in a "big girl" bed, which is great, except that we now have 3:30 am visits to our room that we didn't before... we are hoping that the up in the middle of the night and up early bit will wear off after she gets more comfortable sleeping in the new bed... getting her to go to sleep is a bit more of a challenge too, but that is probably quite normal.

We had her 2.5 year appt with the doc, which went well, not even a peep during her flu shot - a first - and she is back into the 95th percentile on both height and weight... she has grown over 2.25 inches in the last 6 months alone to 38". And our arms are definitely feeling the extra weight that goes with that growth.

We've started getting into the holiday spirit here too. The tree is up and decorated and the other decorations are up too... we actually have Danette's Santa Bears out for the first time since Sara was born, so that has added a little excitement to the living room :) Sara is also all about Frosty the Snowman lately too, having watched it on DVD, and singing along with the music at school.

Yesterday was pretty crazy, the little girl was up a bit too early shall we say... we actually went out for a little breakfast and Home Depot time and back home by 9am or something like that. Then in the late afternoon, Sara had her first serious birthday party to go to. It was at a local place that has a bunch of those inflatable bouncers for kids and the whole place can be rented for a party. Man, did she have a good time, and got a serious workout (as did I helping her and a few of her friends up the largest inflatable slide, hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have canceled that gym membership....). After the party (complete with ice cream birthday cake) we went straight to another party, my department's annual holiday party (read, more chocolate and cookies within Sara's reach). We stayed just a little while, but needless to say it was a long day, but she did great.

Danette and the baby-to-be-named-later are doing well too. The little one is doing more stretching and swimming around and trying to keep up with her big sister's growth spurts as well. 28 weeks down now, less than 3 months to go! We are making a little progress on physical preparations at least, the new dresser for Sara arrives this week so that we can move the one with the changing station into the baby's room. Also, keeping up with my plan for making sure that all kids have sufficient pictures taken of them, a new digital camera is arriving this week, basically I will only have myself to blame for poor pictures now :)

And speaking of pictures...

here is a pic of Sara reading to herself yesterday

Sara in her xmas dress for some pics for holiday cards, etc.

Another pic of the happy girl all dressed up.

A day of thanks...

2008-11-28T12:16:00.002-05:00

Thankful for family and friends, safe home or abroad.
Thankful for food and health.
Thankful for the opportunity to be paid to do what I enjoy.
Thankful for little girls that can still fall asleep in our arms.
Thankful for so much to be thankful for.

On the lighter side....

Thankful for cute goofy smiles...

Thankful for the ability to pick up pie with our own hands and eat it.

And for the frequent visitors to our backyard...

200!

2008-11-22T12:06:00.002-05:00

Wow, blogger tells me that this is the 200th post. Who knew?

Things are well here, a bit more snowy and cold than I'd like, but at least it isn't Duluth weather. Last weekend I spent half a day blowing/raking/hauling leaves in the rain because a week of snow was in the forecast.... and indeed we have had the snow, but fortunately not as much as it could have been. That's especially fortunate since my snowblower is in the shop and not scheduled for a return until sometime around the first of December....

Sara continues to grow, be tired, and therefore more cranky than we would like. Needless to say we have reached the battle of the wills that is supposed to happen around 2 and half... though it is a little better if she actually sleeps. She has had a bit of a cough and sniffles this week, so her naps at day care have been, well, micro-naps. She finally slept in yesterday and I took her into school a little late and she slept in this morning too, but still a lot of sleep to make up. Sara had school pictures this past week, so we are looking forward to those coming back to see how they turned out.

Danette and the baby be to be are doing well too. The little one is making its presence known a bit more all the time. Kicking, etc is more common and even Sara and I have felt it now. Danette's sleep is getting more fitful now too... but hey, only 97 days +/- 8-10 days to go.

We are getting ready for Thanksgiving too. A couple of friends will be over for a little while, but otherwise, a quite year. Starting to think about the whole holiday season... we are even considering a fake tree now, D's allergies really picked up last year with a real one, and that certainly wouldn't be fun while pregnant if it happened again. Still haven't actually looked much at them though, so we'll have to see what finally happens.

Well, how about some pictures:

Hanging out after cruising the farmer's market earlier this month.

Probably a last hurrah at the park for the season.

Reading the paper last weekend.

A happy post-bath Sara-burrito

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T21:19:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween! The pic above was taken about a week ago at Boo at the Zoo. Sara had a good time on a Thursday night going to the zoo in her costume. Grandma D. was here for a visit, so it was a bit extra fun.

Here they are having some fun.

Sara on the Drum.

Out for trick-or-treating for the evening (we expanded from the 1 house the last 2 years, to 4 houses this year).

In other news, things are going generally well here. Grandma D was here for a visit a week ago. I have been traveling a bit to DC and soon to Boulder for meetings. The baby is making its presence known more all the time, the kicking and moving around has begun in earnest... another usual checkup next week. Danette is doing generally well other than a cold that seems to have gripped our house this week. Sara is doing pretty well this week, and next week she has some changes coming. She and some of her friends are moving into their own new room at day care... they are splitting off the older two-year olds, which includes Sara. The new room is in next door to the preschool rooms, so that is pretty exciting and a good next step to prepare for that next year. She has been over to the new room a few time with her buds and they all seem excited from what we hear.

Have a good November.

21

2008-10-18T21:20:00.004-04:00

Twenty one in one of those interesting numbers in life... 21 often reminds me of the game of basketball which is getting into swing now. My friend Nate and I have revived our fantasy basketball partnership for the upcoming NBA season... and I am a bit out of shape, shall we say and have been cramming for the test next week known as draft day. 21 can also refer to the umpteenth attempt to legalize gambling here in our fair state through a proposed amendment that would grant a monopoly to one company in the constitution. Or roughly speaking, 21 is about the number of days until little Riley turns one month old.

Twenty one is also the number of weeks along that Danette happens to be.... *insert dramatic pause here* Yes, we are expecting to make this family of three into four around the end of February. Admittedly, many readers are already aware of this fact, but it hasn't appeared here until now. Danette is doing well. The first trimester was generally fine, but the second is certainly better. Sara is excited to be a big sister, even if she doesn't fully understand what is on the horizon for us all. There have already been a couple of ultrasounds and other typical tests all appears to be well with the baby-to-be-named-later, II. We are starting get plans for preparations going (yes, just plans mostly). We are going to turn our office into the nursery so that Sara will hopefully still sleep through the night when the baby does not. Unfortunately, that is going to be a bit of an undertaking to get set up, but we will get there. We have even ordered a new dresser for Sara so that we can move the one with that has also served as the changing table into the baby's room. Regardless, we are all looking forward to the end of February.

No ultrasound pics or the like, the scanner is not connected to our newish computer, nor do I know if it would work anyway at this point. So, today's pics will be of our trip out to the Arboretum this afternoon and the little miss. This morning we picked up some new shoes for her (and learned that the new ones are a half-size larger than 3-year-olds typically wear). Then this afternoon after her nap we drove out and took in the colors and had a nice little hike. A little nippy today, around 50 for the high, but it was all good. Sara had a good time, though she was mostly interested in the crushed pebbles and rocks that made up the walking paths than the vibrant colors of the leaves.

Sitting by the pond for a minute.

The other side of that pond.

Another pic of the colors and walking path.

Summer in October

2008-10-12T19:51:00.003-04:00

Well, we are fortunate that it has been downright beautiful here lately. I think it was something like 81 here today. Definitely taking advantage of a lot of time outside when we can. This semester has been pretty crazy with work. I have even been teaching on a bunch of Saturdays so far, so even the weekends have not been all that relaxing our home-bound.

Sara is doing well, though we think she must be going through one heckuva growth-spurt for the last month or so. Not sure if all that growth is upward (or just general physical and mental growth), but she is always in need of sleep, and lately, food (more so than usual). After the last post where I had Sara to myself for the weekend we decided to move her bedtime 30 minutes earlier to see if that would help a little (and really hoped that she wouldn't just get up 30 min earlier). Well, it seems to have helped. Bedtime used to be a full-out major battle because she was so tired, but now it is a lot easier (not easy, just easier). Overall it is a little better too, as long as she has a decent nap.... but other than that she is doing very well, apparently very helpful at daycare, loves to play with her Duplo blocks, read her magazine and books, etc, etc. Oh, and run and run and run. So. Much. Energy.

In other news, D'Arcy and Rew had their baby, a son named Riley was born this past Friday evening.... wooo hooo hooo. Poor kid is gonna have to start working real hard to beat his ol' man on the PS3.

Well, for the real reason you are here... pictures:

Last weekend we went to a local fundraiser for the city's family center. Sara got to ride pony for the first time.

Play under a parachute...

And of course standard playground equipment.

Quite a bit warmer today... so off to the park for the Sand

Big slides.

And general fun.

Ike, and other stuff

2008-09-15T20:15:00.002-04:00

Yeah, I didn't think that I'd be using a title like that on this blog... but given that it blew out our power way up north here (and still helped generate hurricane force winds elsewhere in the state), I guess it is appropriate.... We lost our power last night about 7:15 and it came back today around noon we think. Sara had a much needed bath by flashlight light... which she kind of liked. We also had one of those glow sticks so she had fun playing with that. She even came with me to check on some of our neighbors that are of rather advanced maturity, shall we say. Of course, the pharmacy at the end of the block had power the whole time. In someways, very similar to "the blackout" but not as long thankfully. Lots of big branches and trees down between here and work, but otherwise the lack of power was the only thing we really had.

Of course, Danette spent the weekend in Chicago at a shower for D'Arcy. Which was well-attended including Cari and Kristin. I guess it was a lot of fun, but more than a little wet in Chi-town. Danette had a wee-bit of a bumpy landing on her way back - not to mention several hours of delays on the way out. All in one piece though. :)

Sara and I stayed behind, cleaned the floors, washed the windows, worked in the coal mines... okay, maybe not. But we did play with her Duplo blocks. Pretty average weekend here with a two-year old... some fun, a little battle, some fun, a bit more battle, some hugs, maybe a nap, and some "little snacks" :) We did some food shopping and even hit the bookstore. On Saturday we also made a trek to my office... good halls for running off steam and staying dry... plus I got to remove at least 6-inches of books and junk of a couple of desks, so minor progress in cleaning up my office. I am sure there are other good tales to tell.... but that's all for now.

The end of summer

2008-09-07T20:04:00.002-04:00

Well, it is clearly the end of summer already. School has started, and even though all the grass in town brown, we are beginning to see some rain this weekend. I won't use that four-letter b--- word, but the past few weeks have been full. So much so, that I will probably not scratch the surface in this post, but oh well....

So, we think Sara may be priming for another growth spurt. After finally kicking all the stomach bugs of the summer her appetite picked up with abandon again. She has also been needing more sleep than she has been getting (nap times at school have been erratic lately, which is at least part of it). She is definitely getting stronger and more coordinated. Sara is now almost a full-on pro on her tricycle, clearly a highlight of the day when there is time to go "pedal" after dinner. She is also into running and hopping all over the place now. After dinner tonight she rode her tricycle and then ran sprints up and down the sidewalk, laughing the whole way, all of her own accord for a good 10 minutes. Some of that was probably overtiredness hyper syndrome (or "the sillies" as we call it), but still there was a bit of strength and stamina shown there. Sara's imagination is growing all the time too, talking about things she would like to do with her friends, things she is making in the kitchen, and even started talking to some of her stuffed animals. Daycare (school) is going pretty well too. She has had some transitions there with some of her best buds either moving up to the preschool or out to another preschool... though it seems that some of them miss her too.

We have also begun to see the end of diapers. Still has some to wear at night for a while, but things are going well there. A nice step, but now we are beginning the grand tour of restrooms around town... to be expected, but that's where we are at. Once we feel like we have this one down for a while, we may make another push at the 'big girl bed.'

What else... I was out of town for a week on business, the week before school started. That was a bit of a trial all around for various reasons but it ended reasonably well. This semester is a full one. It is has been a while since I have taught multiple classes with labs and field trips in the same semester, not to mention it has been a while since I taught one of my classes. Plus, there is another big flyby of Mercury coming up and that will be looming large in the window over the next month.

Okay, enough jibberish, how about some pics... these are all from Labor Day weekend actually.

On Sunday we went to a local County Fair so that the little girl could see some farm animals (as we drove to and from school we kept hearing tales of people walking their cows, and she couldn't be persuaded that these smaller animals were dogs). We all had a lot of fun. We got there before the crowds picked up and the weather was decent in the morning.

Requisite John Deere photo

This time on a Kubota digger

Asserting some independence by finding her own bench to eat her french fries at the fair.

Enjoying her first mixer beater with homemade frosting on it...

Our summer vacation...

2008-08-11T17:40:00.003-04:00

was today... we couldn't get anything else scheduled easily this summer for a longer vacation... but we took a few days off here and there, usually not together. But today we both took the day off and took Sara to the zoo again. It was a surprise for her and she was very excited to say the least... she even did a little happy dance when we told her!

The pic above is from probably her favorite exhibit at the zoo, the gorillas. It was even a favorite over a year ago the first time we took her. It was a pretty good day, temps in the low 70's, just a few clouds, and it was free (always is on Mondays I guess, for locals). The only part we didn't really explore is the same part we usually miss... the Australian Adventure... next time.

Other than that we have been busy with odds and ends around here. I spent a lot of the time about one to two weeks ago working at home while we were (finally) getting our house painted. Yes, the house that we have now officially owned and lived in for five years (the longest we have lived anywhere since leaving home for college!) has finally gotten the paint job we knew it needed when we bought it. The pic below shows it off.... of course, we chose the same colors because we thought it suited the house well. The colors are a little lighter than before, though, because Sherwin-Williams changed their base, white exterior paint since the last time it was painted. At least all the peeling is gone and it should be in good shape for a few years now.

Other than that just the usual stuff....

Duck Watching

2008-07-30T20:38:00.002-04:00

So, after the last post and Sara woke up from her nap we went for a trip to the park and then decided to tack on a ride out to the outlet mall where they have a duck pond. I happened to have the camera along and was able to snap this photo. She had a lot of fun feeding the ducks and watching everything.... Dinner afterward didn't go as well, and foreshadowed yet another Sunday of little girl illness.... she got the grocery store this time. It is looking like she has had some major viruses that just won't go away. She seems to getting more life into her this week, so we are very hopeful that she's over it now.

In other odds and ends, I was wearing a new U of MN hat this week to protect my ever more visible scalp from the sun and ended up meeting not 1, not 2, but 3 (yes 3!) people that had gone to the U! One outside some shops earlier in the day, and 2 guys at the park with their kids.... I don't think I have met another alum from the U that way before, and then 3 in one day.

I don't have any pics downloaded, but the house painting is progressing nicely. It is really starting to look good. They had to knock off early today because of a big downpour this morning that soaked everything about 2 hours after they got started, but the rest of the week looks good and it might even be done by the weekend. Will be nice to have that big 'to do' (or really, 'to have someone else do') crossed of the list.

Girl's First Haircut!

2008-07-26T13:36:00.004-04:00

It been a pretty typical couple weeks since the last post. lots of work, a bit of play, and Sara was sick last weekend... seems to be catching a bunch of stomach viruses this summer (yay for us :( ).

Anyway, D. and I saw Dark Knight about a week ago... Dark is the operative word, but a very good movie. This week I turned in my tenure package and got in my annual 9 holes of golf... actually was somewhat decent, and got off the course before too many bad habits could sink in!

Otherwise, reasonably uneventful here. Work and play.... the house is being painted (exterior) next week which will be great to finally have done.... Tomorrow D. and I are headed to see a baseball game... vs. the Twins no less.

So, other than for the exciting title of this post that's about it...

Sara has increasingly been talking about going to the barber shop and getting a haircut this week. She came along the last time I got one and she had soaked it all in. So, when we got up and moving this morning we headed down to the corner and got her hair cut for the first time. We figured a barber shop would be great for the first time as fast as they can be... and it turned out great. Sara was a big girl about it, we had prepped her all week that she would have to sit still, and she did well, and listened as well as she ever does too. Just got it a little bit trimmed and got it out of her face. Regardless, it was a fun experience, went well, and looks good too. They even made out a first haircut certificate for us, which was very nice.

Getting started!

finished product, I pulled this plum out of the bag at the farmer's market and just started eating while listening to the Steel Drums

Me and Mom listening to the music

more July stuff

2008-07-13T20:41:00.005-04:00

had a witty comment by Sara I was planning to relate, but alas, it has escaped me... probably the five or six switches between the bed and the crib tonight... ah well.

We have had a pretty decent weekend here... yesterday was pretty wet as was early this morning, but we got in some decent whether otherwise. I was even able to trim up the irises and a yew while Sara was napping.

Oh, here is a different little aside from Sara. So I have been trying to expand her interests when we go in the back yard to play, and have focused on throwing, kicking, catching, chasing, whatever a ball. We bring out several for variety, but often, we forget the footballs - not good, she has to have those footballs (one metallic blue and the other a small Nerf). Clearly a sign she was born in football country, hopefully we can focus her sport interests away from OSU though - we'll see.

Anyway, here are some pics:

Our re-worked flower bed

Full contact watercolor painting!

At the "other" park that Sara specifically asked for when she woke up from her nap.

How'd we get to July?

2008-07-10T20:40:00.003-04:00

Okay, age old question, and an answer no one really likes....

So, things have been active here. After the ND grandparents left we had a bit over a week here, our anniversary, then more guests. Becky and Scott and their youngest were driving through to see grandma (and their eldest) and the stayed the night here. Fun to see all of them, though Sara has accidentally picked up a new trait, getting sick while people are having dinner with us. Nasty one this time, about 2 days of unpleasantness, but at least a week or more to get back to normal.

The MN grandparents arrived the next day and stayed for over a week through the 4th. That was fun to have them here, and Sara ate up all the extra attention she has gotten this summer. :) Took a day off from school with her grandparents and went to the children's garden at the Botanical Gardens, hit the park, and then we went to the swimming pool after Danette and I got home. The pool was fun, but man was she exhausted(!) after that day.

Grandpa and grandma helped us with another flower bed this year... needless to say, my Dad likes to play in the dirt (no surprise to those that know him :) ). I finally got it finished off with the mulch today after work. Will post some pics another day.

Other things, we had some ~2 year photos taken of Sara, and she has slept in her 'big girl' bed once all night in the last week or so (actually sleeping there now, but we'll see if it lasts all night). She is making that transition pretty much on her own terms.... we let her pick and she is testing out the bed now and then, which is probably a good sign. Basically she is doing pretty well, though she does quite often remind us that she is a two year old, with all that entails.

Anyway, here are a few pics:

A big fan of Mom's new boots for next winter... yes they are backwards... a neat trick.

When did she get old enough to pull this off?

Smiling at Grandma

Weekly ritual of sitting on the big rocks on the side of the road at the Farmer's Market

11 years

2008-06-28T17:13:00.002-04:00

Yup we made it to the steel anniversary. Pretty darn cool. Happy Anniversary Danette!

We celebrated by buying a new stove.... steel indeed.

A perfect day for the zoo

2008-06-20T15:08:00.002-04:00

Sara had the day off of school today, so I got to stay home and do something fun with her.... the weather cooperated to give an incredibly beautiful day... perfect for the Zoo! We got there right at was starting to open, got a good parking spot and went right in. Sara knew right away she wanted to see the elephants and flamingos... after that we had to work our way to the giraffes... every stop on the way, she was ready for the giraffes. so here is a picture for her.

We actually saw most of the zoo, if not all the indoor shelters. Just like last year she was particularly enamored of the gorillas. We also had a bit of a treat in that a new polar bear had literally just arrived and was being examined by the vets. A BIG polar bear. we even got to watch them paint his paw purple and take paw prints... he was definitely out for the count.

This one is actually a picture of our second stop to see the giraffes... for once the P&S camera was quick and got her expression. This is now one of my favorite pics.

We of course saw some camels too.

And played at the "park" at the top of the hill near the gorilla area... we were getting tired at this point and I actually went up and led her back down. Fortunately we had just had lunch... though she continued to snack all the way to the car (and a second stop at the flamingos)

Just another cute picture... Sara was very talkative to this little boy and his family as we were all looking at some deer from Asia.

And of course, being the good inquisitive kid that she is, she found lots of gravel outside the grizzly bear area that she was all too happy to share.

It was a pretty great trip to the zoo, somehow we even avoided any "two" moments, especially cool given that we had the stroller which she seems to rebel against more and more. Definitely a great day.

Some June pics

2008-06-18T20:43:00.003-04:00

Here are just a few pics.... Sara is doing well and adjusting well to undergoing attention withdrawl now that her grandparents have gone home... though in about 10 days her other grandparents will be here :)

Sara has become fond of dresses lately and wore several last week when it was so hot out.

Enjoying a nice fruit smoothie!

How often is it that the 2-year old is the one ready for the camera? Say cheese grandma and grandpa

Walking back to the car after getting off her first round-trip train ride down to the farmer's market. Kind of the "scenic route" but a new experience for the little girl.

Things are well around here. The weather has cooled off this week, which is nice since my work A/C unit melted down (literally) and hasn't been replaced yet. Other than that we are just thinking happy thoughts for Sara's godmother who is getting her knee fixed tomorrow morning.

kitchen redux

2008-06-14T16:18:00.002-04:00

So here are some pics of what we have been working on and the progression of the kitchen. This was a lot of walls and corners and edging, but it is done. The room is brighter like we hoped, though we are definitely appreciating the upsides of the previous reddish color now. There are some serious second thoughts on the shade of yellow here (Vanilla Custard for you Behr fans). This pics are actually a little better than we think it looks in person. It isn't bad, and as we add some accents around the windows and art on the walls it is looking better. The major issue we have is probably that it didn't solve the major issue of our kitchen, which is that it needs a serious lighting redo... we took the more inexpensive try at getting some more ambient light.... anyway, two days x four people (D's parents are here) x 6 coats of paint (2 primer + 2 topcoat on the walls, and 2 on the ceiling) = glad to be done (for now).

Kitchen at time of house inspection (and since)

Kitchen at time of house inspection (and since) #2

Primered #1

Primered #2

Final coat #1

Final coat #2

More birthday pics, etc.

2008-06-04T21:03:00.002-04:00

Okay, so here are some more pics from Sara's second birthday and this past Monday.

Turns out that Sara's birthday kind of went down hill after I posted the last pic.... seems she was getting sick. The best signs *should* have been that after being so excited for Isaac and Julia to come over and play, that she didn't play with them but stayed with mom or dad, and not really eating much of her pasta dinner. There was a reason why she didn't eat much pasta, shall we say, and the pic below of her blowing out the candle was the last fun moment for a day or so.... mainly she just had a fever and was unhappy and not sleeping well. Sunday night/Monday morning the fever broke, but we kept her home so that she could rest up a bit more and she had her long-scheduled dr. checkup anyway. That last bit resulted in the knowledge of 31 lbs and 35 3/4" tall... all 90-95 percentile still... quite the growing girl.

Getting ready for some presents on my b-day!

How do you like my new hat?

A little out of focus, but two cute ones nevertheless.

That's right, I am two!

Yay, now I have my own sandbox at home...

Happy 2nd Birthday Sara!!!!!

2008-05-31T17:24:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Sara.... more pics later.

Memorial day weekend 2008

2008-05-26T16:10:00.003-04:00

Hey there Sara-fans... a little behind in the posts for the usual reasons, especially a lack of new pictures... but we took some new ones this weekend.

The last few weeks have been good, but busy (is there any other way). School is done for me so I can focus on research and other such things. The warm part of spring finally reached us this weekend... shorts weather, finally. Lots of time outside this weekend. Unfortunately, the pollen is still around for some reason, and we are looking forward to the end of that, soon hopefully.

The last two weekends have been pretty active socially for us and Sara, a change, and a fun one at that. Last weekend we had dinner at some friends house one night, and Sara had a close space introduction to dogs. The were of the smaller and shall we say more excitable variety. She was a bit afraid, but warmed a little as the she became less of a novelty to the dogs. We also had one of Danette's co-workers and her kids that are school-aged over... Sara had a great time leading the older girl around and playing.

This weekend Sara got to play with Isaac and Julia on Friday night after school which was big fun. Yesterday we had her friend Jacob (same birthday, in the same hospital even) over and had some fun and we went to the park yesterday afternoon... and today, after checking out the new pictures from the Phoenix lander on Mars was the big Memorial Day Parade near our house. Sara was excited for all the events all weekend. Friday morning she woke up ready to see Isaac and Julia, yesterday she was ready to play with Jacob... and today the parade. She had fun at the parade, but the sirens got to be a little much for her this year, a little skittish around the really loud and sudden noises, which was not entirely surprising. It was fun though, and she fell asleep on the way home.

Alright, enough blather, there will probably be more in the next week or so with Sara's big 2nd birthday coming up on Saturday. So here are some pictures.

Sara dressed of her own choosing to enjoy the backyard doing one of her newest favorite activities... sidewalk chalk.

Clapping for the parade.

Sara and Daddy watching the parade from the sidewalk (farther from the bagpipers).

Self-explanatory.

May is here...

2008-05-03T12:32:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I missed an update last week, but we got outside enough that there are pictures to share regardless...

Last weekend was pretty busy... the weather was nice, so we spent a bunch of time outside, but we also put together Sara's first real bed. She was "helpful" of course too. However, she has not slept in it yet, even though for every nap and night we start out in the bed, and then she changes her mind and wants to get back into the crib. The first night she surprised (not pleasantly) by climbing out of her crib. We were a bit surprised to hear her not from the monitor, but her voice coming down the stairs from behind the gate.... she wanted in the bed, and then back into the crib. At least we know it was time to get a bed ready for her. Sara is also showing renewed interest and use of the potty... but is clearly not ready for actual "training" to begin... hopefully this summer.

Sara is doing well otherwise, we have a few "two" moments everyday, but we are getting used to them now, and they are usually not full on fits, which we are thankful for.... and Sara is now 23 Months old... a big birthday coming up the end of the month... hard to believe it has been 2 years.

This weekend she has ol' Dad to herself as Mom is off at a workshop in Atlanta for the weekend. So far so good, though she clearly misses Mommy. Next week I'll be gone for two days (one night), so the trips will be on top of each other, but she'll do fine.

And now for some pics...

Last weekend we went to Preston's Hope Park, which is a fully accessible park over by the JCC. It is a pretty cool park that my brother and I would have enjoyed when we were younger.

Sara did some mountain climbing... (watch out Chad, she's coming for ya...)

Of course, they have swings (a favorite)

And little car bouncers...

spring is really here

2008-04-19T15:49:00.002-04:00

So, Sara had a day off school yesterday that just happened to coincide with nice weather! Mom stayed home because I had some recruitment activities to handle... but both of them came to visit me at school. Sara hadn't been there since she was about a month old, so that was pretty cool. It hit 80 degrees and I knocked off early and came home so that we could all go to the park (see picture above). Sara had a good day all around.

Today one of Danette's friends from high school was in town because his wife grew up here. They have a son just about the same age as Sara, so they had BIG fun making each other laugh, etc. Another nice day around here again. Pretty lucky this week.

Until next time...

wet weekend

2008-04-13T13:45:00.002-04:00

The week started off great here and then got colder and more wet. Sara is having a somewhat rougher time now it seems... maybe it just that we are approaching the 'twos', but she is also noticeably more tired as well. In fact, in the morning, even if she is awake when we go into her room, she will invariably say 'turn the light off, I sleeping!' Amusing for us at least. All the extra fresh air and exercise may be tiring her out too, as may a growth spurt. Regardless, the whining, even about stuff that she is excited about is getting a little old, but ah well, that's life with a toddler, we'll see what next week brings.

It has been a little wet this weekend for a trip to the park... they actually called for snow/rain mix today (thankfully no snow yet!). Yesterday we took our first trip to the outdoor Farmer's Market, but it was quick and damp. Today, while Mom was meeting some of her friends for coffee, Sara and I went to the Children's Museum. There they have a really big water table - Sara's favorite. Below is a picture of her having fun, and having the table to herself as we got there early enough that she didn't have to elbow her way in this time!

a walk in the park

2008-04-06T21:14:00.003-04:00

basically t-shirt weather here today after Sara's nap... so we went to the park again... it was quite busy today, compared with empty last week. Sara had a lot of fun again, and chose to wear her new hat and sunglasses. After that she accompanied her parents to that most import rite of spring, the first trip to the home/garden store. Another dinner on the bbq, and a walk around the block. Oh, and during the nap Dad installed a FireWire card and can now download video... maybe some video clips at some point in the future.

Time to dig in the sand.

Top of a big slide...

Weeeee... swing time

after dinner walk in one of my other hats...

In case you were wondering, Dad finally got most of the camera stuff installed on the computer at home and transfered over... so on weekends he can catch up. He really likes the built-in card-reader and now the firewire card.... it also gives him something to do since UNC lost so badly last night in the Final Four....

"I HELP!"

2008-04-06T12:46:00.003-04:00

Yes, Sara likes to help... yesterday we picked up a rake for her so that she could starting "helping" with chores around the yard. In the picture below, she is emphatically stating "I help!" with regard to raking some errant leaves in the backyard yesterday. She also helped us pick up a bunch of twigs and sticks around the backyard that had fallen with all the windstorms (and squirrel nesting) going on this past winter. Sara had a pretty good week, especially as she is getting to spend more time outside at school... she is also coming home dirtier and more tired, all of which is pretty good - fresh air and exercise. She also amazed her father by spontaneously walking up the stairs backwards. We've also moved from amazing her parents with how fast she learns words, to just using words and sentences on her own, not parroting them all. And last night she decided to start detailing to her father a story of everything she did the last time she had a babysitter here... which was in January. Kids are sponges indeed.

I HELP!

We're off for a stroller ride around the neighborhood... check out the new had - reversible even.

A cute pic from a few weeks ago, enjoying Easter all around.

First trip to the park of 2008

2008-03-30T16:55:00.002-04:00

thermometer says 53 degrees... maybe a little windy for that, but we had a fun trip to the park today... did a few slides, tried the swings. Swings are not that comfortable all bundled up... teeter-totter and of course digging in the sand. Spring, ready or now, here we come!

yuck

2008-03-29T17:25:00.002-04:00

"Yuuucky," said Sara as her parents showed her some dresses in Target... I guess she wasn't in a dressy mood today. Both Danette and I thought it was very funny since she has not reacted like that to clothes before... we often get NO! to our suggestions in the morning, but not yucky.... ah well.

Sara has had a busy day today... the last of her swimming lessons was today and we took a walk around the block... an actual walk, no stroller with us... plus various domestic retail trips for the day.

Other than that Sara is generally well, though a little more cranky the last week or so, even at school... it may just be that those "2's" are coming. But she has also been getting those last teeth in we think, and that tends to go slow for her.

The snow is almost all melted here... not sure if it will be for good or not, but hopefully the last of the major storms are over. The crocuses are starting to poke up in our front yard, which is an achievement since usually the bunnies chow them before we even get to see them! Needed yard work is becoming quite apparent as well, heck I even thought about fertilizing...

first quarter of 2008

2008-03-23T15:21:00.002-04:00

Sara had been doing great here in 2008, (knock-on-wood) no real bad illnesses this year, though the tubes are still in her ears from over a year ago, which seems to be working well.

Lately Sara has started taking swimming "lessons" on Saturday mornings. She likes it a lot, but since it is the same pool the swim team uses, it is pretty cold and 20-30 minutes is enough for her. But she has big fun and talks about swimming all week long.

Sara is getting bigger, but the biggest change is really in her talking, she communicates very well we think.. and she is picking up new words all the time. Of course, her favorite words still usually have something to do with food, like "pasta", "rice", or "fruit."

The last 6 weeks have also been pretty busy around here with mom gone one and dad 3 times on "airplanes" but she has done very well, but is very happy when mom and dad are both home. We have also had a bunch of big snow dumps in that time period, so Sara has spent a lot of time watching Dad snowblowing through the front window. We have also been pleasantly surprised with growing interest and learning about potty-use... we'll see if it sticks, but other kids are learning at school, and she is not one that likes to be left out, so maybe it will.

Grandma D. came for a visit this week/weekend and that has been big fun, another person for her to read books with, and color, and paint and generally have fun with.

Other than that, all is well.

Some early March pics

2008-03-23T15:14:00.003-04:00

my ponytail has gotten longer

though now I prefer "two ponies"

the future is looking bright, spring is coming since it is Easter.

they fit well on top of my head too

I'd rather use this shovel in the sandbox, but snow is pretty fun too.

Okay, Daddy caught up a bit, maybe he will be better next month... but you know my Daddy :)

Some February Pics

2008-03-23T15:10:00.002-04:00

Sara showing off her cool hat with ears.

Sara love's to go to the Children's Museum where she gets to play in their huge water table.

... and at the start of this year they had an exhibit on the Galapagos, which meant tons and tons of sand

Some January Pics

2008-03-23T15:03:00.002-04:00

On MLK day at the Botanical Garden with Dad again, just like last year.

Turns out that the garden also has a Thomas the Train set, a favorite of Sara's.

About to have some fun with Dad outside in the snow... imagine that, snow in Cleveland.

See Dad, I can help with the snowblowing!

January was big fun for all. Sara worked on talking more... and a funny part for us was that while Dad was giving a talk at NASA Glenn... Sara was running her mom around the place having fun saying "More NASA, more NASA!"