Preposthumous

Literary Trauma

2011-04-10T14:53:00.005-05:00

My fourth favorite thing about being a parent? Visiting the library. I feel almost criminal lugging a half ton of books out to my car twice a week. Alice and I have established a tradition wherein we immediately camp out on the large "reading rock" behind the library. We sun ourselves like lizards and peruse the latest adventures of Cowgirl Kate and her pony Coco.

However, as in all good things, the library is rife with potential disaster. Did you know that Babar, King of the Elephants had a run-in with cannibals on his honeymoon? Yes indeed, try explaining cannibals to a creature that doesn't understand the concept of death. We are still trying to ease her into the news that the "Chicken" she is eating and the bird she feeds at the petting zoo have a correlation.
P.S. the Cannibals in question appear to be in blackface.
P.P.S. The original Babar story includes a mother being shot to death, a favorite uncle set on fire, a beloved teacher bitten by a cobra, and the angel of death visiting Babar when he sleeps. Thank goodness Alice doesn't know how to read.

I am trying to broaden Alice's understanding of the world as responsibly and gently as I can. I am leaning heavily on the maxim, WWFRD: What would Fred Rogers do? So I have been actively looking for books that tackle weighty issues.

Last week I came upon a book called "My Two Uncles" by Judith Vigna. This seemed like a good starting place. There aren't a lot of LGBT friendly books at our local library so I snapped it up. Of course I read it first and I came to this conclusion, while Judith Vigna is willing to tackle difficult material, she is a stone cold bummer.

Here are some other titles:

I Wish Daddy Didn't Drink So Much
My Big Sister Takes Drugs
Nobody Wants a Nuclear War
Saying Goodbye to Daddy

I'm hardly the only parent to remark on these books. Here is a post from the popular blog:
sweet juniper

I can't count the number of times I have read truncated versions of kid's books, quickly editing out the terrifying bits. Unfortunately kids can remember the exact wording you used last time the story was read and will complain if it changes.
Any suggestions for new books to try would be very much appreciated.

I think I may have inadvertently betrayed my personal trainer.

2010-07-07T22:08:00.000-05:00

Her smile becomes brighter and scarier. “I thought we had an appointment on the 30th. I planned on calling you next week to confirm…”

I have disrupted The Plan.

Once officially in my thirties it occurred to me that I had moved up a weight class and wished to downgrade. In my mid-late 20’s I thought, “Well, I’ll just embrace arugula, maybe take up Krav Maga for kicks. The excess fat will take care of itself.”
Post-childbearing I know that this will never ever happen for me. A plan is required and specialists must be brought in at regular intervals.

So I joined a gym and signed up for the *free personal training sessions.

My trainer was a lady. Very nice. She asked me to do 4 days of cardio in the fat burning range and two days of weight training a week. “Oh,” she adds “If you really want to lose weight you should try this **Up-sell service we provide.”
I said, “No thank you. See you in a month”.

Two weeks in and I haven’t lost any weight but my clothes fit better and I look more action figure than sad lump. Happily I was given the chance to abandon my family for the gym very early this evening, when my husband gave the indication that he was up for parenting solo yet another night.

P.S. Tony, it’s been real nice being married to you for nine years.

Around 7:45 I am reaching the end of a long medium intensity session on an elliptical machine. I was trying to figure out how to make the machine engage my posterior to best effect, which sounds filthy but couldn’t be farther in the opposite direction. I suppose I must have been telegraphing my frustration because a man with a “trainer” tag on his t-shirt appeared at my side and asked me if I was angry about something.

What followed was an unsolicited lesson about the benefits of knowing your optimum heart rate range and some useful information about the importance of moving beyond a fat burning heart-rate so you can expend enough calories to lose weight. Mr. Trainer helped me figure out why I wasn’t getting the results I wanted, and he did it for free so I thanked him.

Then he suggested the **Up-sell service and I declined. So he went on to suggest it in greater detail and I declined. Then I got tired of talking and clumsily faux-cross country skiing so I tried to end this conversation. Mr. Trainer suggested to me a free service that he said all new gym folks are supposed to undergo, a fit-test or something. I said fine and he walked me back to the trainer desk…the scene of my betrayal.

Mr. Trainer gets on the computer and asks when I am free. I say, “Generally 8pm, possibly on Friday”. I have a toddler who needs my care during the day and a fledgling business that gets the remnants of my time at night. I am not thrilled about losing more valuable “me” time but the service is free and he says it will make my work more effective.

“Hey…you.” Says a lady voice. I look up and my female trainer is standing next to Mr. Trainer. She is smiling so pointedly that I feel I have been jabbed in the eyes.

What followed was an unfunny tedious version of “Who’s on first” with one trainer trying to schedule me for something and the other one trying to confirm that I was being confirmed for something that was had already been scheduled. It was like reading Saint Thomas Aquinas, but instead of searching for truth through reason he was trying to tone my butt and simultaneously snake another trainer’s commission.

Honestly I believe Mr. Trainer was embarrassed when he found out I already had a trainer and just didn’t know how to extricate himself from the mistake. I feel for him and I can intellectually understand the crazy eyes on my previous trainer, but the end result is this:

I lost about 40 minuets of rare exercise time being harassed about a service I don’t want and have repeatedly refused. Then I was addressed as if I had backed out on a commitment, when in reality I was just humoring a person that approached me with an unsolicited sales request masked as a helpful gesture.

Finally I had enough and told them I had to go get back to my kid.

Going to the gym at 8pm wreaks havoc with my sleep. On the plus side, all the trainers are off duty.

*See Membership contract under the subsection “Obvious Hidden Fees”

**This is a $150+ method of determining your perfect weight burning heart-rate. It requires; the purchase of an oxygen mask gadget, performed (and repurchased) every six months, AND is totally guaranteed to tell you everything you need to know about optimally reducing your own personal lard ass.

This was Christmas, it was awesome

2010-04-11T19:50:00.005-05:00

We were lucky enough to snag two aunts, an uncle, two Grandmothers, and a Grandpa at our house this Christmas.
The adults all got stockings because that's how I roll.

One of my favorite treats came from the amazing Lux Bakery

I don't want to say Alice is spoiled in anyway but she received not one but two ponys.

In addition to a babydoll that she can bathe and one she can have when she is old enough not to break it.

We also posed for our first family holiday portrait. It went...as well as could be expected.

Oh 2010, you have gotten crazy on me.

2010-04-11T12:51:00.004-05:00

We have had a nutball year thus far. Hence total silence on this blog. It all started a wee bit before the new year with a total kitchen renovation courtesy of my Mom. Back in the Fall of '09 when Mom found a 70% discount on a new dishwasher and in quick succession, a stove and set of cabinets (plus sink!) at considerable discounts.

Mom asked a friend who is a site superintendent to caravan with her to our house so we could gut the kitchen and rebuild it into it's current glory. This is the previous kitchen.

I will take a picture of the results as soon as we finish painting. It might take a while since we are going to be out of town for the next two weekends. 2010, continuing on the non-stop crazy train.

The kitchen required about a thousand visits to IKEA (thanks Mom!). There were two sessions of all night driving for Mom and Dennis. The cabinets refused to fit until a stud was exposed and shaved down. Tony learned to drywall and our neighbor Charles offered the use of his table saw to cut our new countertops (thanks again Mom!) to size. It was a pretty big project for just a few people all taking place the day before Christmas.

Now that it is all done I don't know how I lived without a fully functional kitchen. Especially nice are the new GFCI outlets that prevent me from electrocuting myself and burning down the house. One more time with feeling: Thanks Mom!

Bluebird Poster

2009-12-12T23:19:00.004-06:00

I was compiling some portfolio pieces today for an illustration bid and I came across this poster I made for a college dormitory.

The seed of this poster idea came from my time as a Camp Fire Girl, where I gained the rank of "Bluebird". I attained this distinction by being over six years old when I joined.

The manual we were given focused on the worth of home and social skills with the "Blue Bird of Happiness" used as a metaphor. The specific content of the manual and the program remains fuzzy in my memory.

Ruminating on this mythical bird, it occurred to me that there should be more than one incarnation of the bluebird. Though happiness is a laudable state, perhaps there should be a bird or two that could reflect the particular states of the freshman college student.

Repeat Performance

2009-11-09T11:40:00.003-06:00

Alice is asleep right now so I have a moment to note that yesterday's successful use of the potty was not a fluke! She requested use of the facilities again this morning and went through the whole process without a hitch. I have a book that is called "Potty Train your Child in One Day", but I confess that I never actually read the book.

Maybe Alice read it?

Banner Day

2009-11-09T01:14:00.003-06:00

We used the potty.

Not me, or Tony, or the cat (though that would have been notable). Alice told her dad during tonight's bath that she needed to use the facilities. She hopped out and was as good as her word. Much rejoicing, the end of diapers is nigh!

Following Leanne's example

2009-11-06T10:03:00.006-06:00

Our excellent buddy Leanne showed me how to cover unrecoverable stains on Alice's clothes with fabric paint in her great blog Kindred Design

Here is a previously blueberry stained onsie, modeled by the little lady:

Alice will point out the details:

I used a poppy pattern that I originally made for Alice's baptism announcement:

This method will salvage quite a few outfits, so my thanks go out to Leanne and her excellent crafty blog.

Ate a cheese sandwich at the Capital

2009-11-04T14:35:00.007-06:00

A five dollar "gourmet" cheese sandwich from a vendor at the Texas Book Fair (seen behind Alice)

Of course the lady needed a little drinky-drink to go with her sa-mich:

Then she needs to break it down to the smooth tunes of a high school kettle drum band:

Good Times

Trick or Treat Ya'll!

2009-10-31T20:35:00.005-05:00

We ventured forth and met our Texan neighbors for the first time after about a year of living as total hermits in this house. We were invited to a party on the fly and were graciously offered hotdogs and the chance to tag along with the neighborhood kids on the trick or treat parade. Alice met some of the neighborhood dogs and proudly told them that they were in fact "doggies" multiple times.

Here we are setting forth:

I finally got a candle in the jack-o-lantern and here it is in all it's Achewood-y glory.

Right now Alice is sleeping and Tony and I are pillaging her candy. I am eating a watermelon Jolly Rancher. In the late 80's, horror movies were all the rage, and every sleep-over I attended as a teen included a slasher flick and watermelon Jolly Ranchers as snacks. So I associate the two together; it's actually a little revolting. I think I will steal the chocolate Tony is currently enjoying.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween 09

2009-10-31T18:28:00.004-05:00

Initially Alice was not in a Halloween mood tonight.

But things perked up after some pumpkin carving. Mommy destroyed a few household tools to make a messy "Achewood" style pumpkin (better photos will be displayed after it gets dark).

Achewood is a comic about cats which was appropriate as Alice decided to go out on the town as a kitty cat.

Alice tried to get the actual cat to accept her as one of his own with pumpkin offerings:

Kitty was having none of it:

Until she brought out the big guns:

I don't know how much trick or treating we are going to do, as it is pretty obvious that Alice is too young to actually eat much candy. She is clearly our candy lure. That might not be a bad Halloween onsie "Candy Lure".

Anywho she is cute as all get out and is actually aware of what is happening, unlike last year when she was bedecked in all sorts of costume madness. Thanks to Grammy for getting the kitty cat duds!

P.S. This is our only concession to Halloween decoration. Perhaps the trick or treaters won't shun us this year.

New Shoes

2009-10-26T17:19:00.002-05:00

Grammy purchased some shiny shoes for a certain granddaughter who insists that Mr. Bear be fashionably attired at all times. The shoes are a little big for the kid, so this works out fine.

Alice's new favorite word: Pumpkin

2009-10-26T15:59:00.003-05:00

Sorry to all Grandparents that I have been so long in updating the blog. It has been a crazy month of work and I am just now coming up for air.

We finally started doing seasonal kid stuff with Alice, for instance here is our first visit to a Pumpkin Patch.

Side Story: Tony lifted Alice's bum up to my nose while we were looking at the pumpkins and asked if she needed a change. Right on cue Alice...broke wind. Tony found this more than a little hilarious:

Toddler Milestone

2009-10-26T15:22:00.004-05:00

Today was a monumental day. Alice will be 16 months old tomorrow and a whopping 2 feet 9 inches. I learned her height this afternoon, because 2'9" is how tall a toddler needs to be to reach the garage door handle, and lock Mommy out of the house.

Thank you to neighbor Charles for lending me a phone to call Tony and a pair of flip-flops as I was barefoot.

Thank you to my Father-in-law Mike for the UD windbreaker he gave me a few years ago. I was grateful to find it in the garage, as it was raining buckets.

Thank you to Alice for not pulling the laptop on her head, or setting fire to the cat, or any other disaster while I was trapped outside.

Thank you to Tony for running home to rescue us and unfortunately pulling a muscle along the way!

Houston

2009-09-08T11:14:00.004-05:00

We just returned from an excellent weekend in Houston visiting Aunt Karen, Uncle Toby, Cousin Andy, Cousin Marilyn, and as a special bonus Uncle Mike. The trip has left Alice reeling with delight. She literally played herself to exhaustion every night and was then wired for hours after a quick nap. It was such fun seeing all the kids playing together now that they are old enough to acknowledge each other's presence.

Andy was especially good at dolling out hugs to the younger two. Marilyn was pretty chill considering that Alice was ransacking the toybox. Marilyn, by the way, is fearless on the playground. We visited a huge kid gym/coffee house and watched Marilyn run a baby obstacle course maybe seventy-four times. Conservative estimate.

Alice was blasted by that time and just wanted to hug me and moan. Though Alice did at the end drag herself up the padded incline to the top of the slide and called down "Hi" to all of us on the ground. She seemed to be stuck, and Marilyn tried to climb up and save her cousin but fell asleep halfway to the top. Ultimately Alice did her first solo slide to much applause from the gathered relatives and tiny snores from Marilyn.

We also attended a BBQ hosted by our good friends Cathleen and Daniel who lived in Chicago with us for many years. Their house is a bit of a kid wonderland with everything from complete model train sets to fully stocked kid kitchens. Alice even got to taste her first lollypop courtesy of Cathleen. The pops were made from organic juice of all things! We also saw our friends Dave and Bethany with their lovely daughter Violet. I didn't have my camera but Cathleen sweetly took some great shots and sent me copies. You can see all the kids here except for Andy and Marilyn who needed to hit the road as they had a long drive home.

Alice decided to try out the Ergo

2009-09-08T11:07:00.001-05:00

Imagine my heart melting when I saw Alice walking this bear to sleep. Erik and Nicole might recognize the bear.

Reading is fundamental

2009-09-08T11:03:00.002-05:00

Ten erie minuets of silence had me worried. I hadn't been dragged into a game of trucks or climbed like a breathing jungle gym in ages. So I peek around the corner and see this

She just kept "reading" her magazine until I finished my work.

text message sent to Tony at 11am.

2009-09-08T11:00:00.001-05:00

Your daughter just shut herself in the office and barred the door by sliding the window screen box between the door and the cat tree. I came around the bathroom side and got her out but you should be proud that she can at least partially barricade a room from Zombies at 1 year of age.

Brave New Cell Phone

2009-08-16T20:11:00.003-05:00

After a decade of middling to minuscule customer service we have abandoned Sprint as our cell phone carrier and switched to Credo.

The service and price is the same but Credo gives a portion of it's profits to worthy causes and they offered us a month of free text messaging. The purpose of this post is to let our loved ones know that my cell phone number is back online (as Alice melted my old phone in a rampaging river of drool) and that we are now part of the texting world.

Anyone who knows us and likes to send messages on the fly have already been warned that we are cheap, technologically stunted, and thus have never been accepting of friendly missives via phone. I used to cringe when a lovely message such as, "Happy New Year dear friend!" would appear on my screen and grouse about the $2 Sprint just pulled out of my pocket.
I have never been a particularly tech savy individual (as seen: here)

But this is a new day! We are throwing ourselves into the "I can send an email while driving" world thumbs first...for a month.

Thank you Leanne and Brad!

2009-08-13T19:05:00.003-05:00

Alice and I came home from a very hot walk (102 outside today) as walking around the block is her new favorite thing, and were greeted by a "just because" package from Brad and Leanne!

The book has beautiful illustrations of foxes and frogs. We joke about Leanne wanting to go outside in nature like a weirdo but Alice seems to have the same strange compulsion. They are bonding over this outdoor fixation.

I love the ducky shirt. Just love it to bits. Leanne made that duck, which as Alice pointed out, says "Quack".

Baby Vampire

2009-08-12T23:53:00.001-05:00

Alice has grown fond of cherries. An excellent treat but bathtime is a more common occurrence these days.

Spider monkey learns new skills

2009-08-12T23:40:00.006-05:00

Guess what Alice can do...

Alice can also:
Open her bedroom door, at the top of our staircase.
Reach the front door handle
She figured out how to turn on the stove
She opened our childproof bathroom cabinets
Also the "childproof" cap on Tony's medication...needs to be re-named.

In a less nerve-wreaking update, Alice likes to pretend she is Daddy. This is her favorite game.

"Ry Ruff Eww"

2009-07-24T20:41:00.004-05:00

"Mhhm." Says I to the noise coming out of Alice's mouth as I cut up an apple for our snack.

"Ry Ruff Ew." She repeats and then says, "Tank" after receiving her slice of apple.

"You're welcome", I reply automatically.

My pantleg is tugged gently and I look down. "Ry Ruff...Ew." Alice says into my blank face, then she adds to clarify: "...Mama".
I am beset by a sudden thunderous realization and a buzzing thrill behind my cheekbones.

"I love you too baby!"

Color me gobsmacked.

8 years and still kicking (though not each other)

2009-07-22T17:27:00.002-05:00

Happy Anniversary Tony

As a gift I made you almond eggplant korma, sweet potato badi, and saag paneer because it was cheaper than ordering take-out Indian food.

You gave me the time to slowly make dinner by taking the baby out, and when you returned you brought wine and chocolate.

Best date-night yet.

Alice's Sunday Crown

2009-07-20T15:36:00.003-05:00

It is stupid crazy hot out. Thirty days over 100 degrees. So no-money family fun time outside the house is a trial, especially when your toddler has recently been running a fever.

First thing you need, is a fabulous hat:

Thank you Grammy for the new hat.

Any idea what this is?

2009-07-10T00:07:00.001-05:00

We saw it on I35 and I still have no idea what I'm looking at.

Cardboard Tube Samurai Princess

2009-07-09T23:57:00.004-05:00

This was a "2nd Halloween" costume suggestion for Alice from friend Joe. I wanted to post this picture to show how right on this idea is for our delicate little flower. Sorry not to have responded to the actual email, will reply soon.

This little boy in these photos is sweet Josef who is Alice's second cousin. The kids were playing in the toy room at Tony's Aunt and Uncle's 50th anniversary party. Alice brandished her swords at most of the attendees who were mostly liberal arts professors. She got a lot of Homer quoted in her general direction.

Snoozers

2009-07-09T23:05:00.006-05:00

And when the world is quiet
and the evening moon is bright
We put on our pajamas
and hug all our Mammas
and never fall asleep all night.

-Sandra Boynton ("Snoozers")

This is a bedtime story Alice hears every night but she really took it to heart this evening. It was our fault letting her fall asleep in the car after 5pm and then expecting her to be tired again at bedtime.

FYI: For most of her life we have been walking Alice to sleep in a carrier strapped to our chests and placing her in the crib when she drops off. Our pediatrician thinks that toddlers shouldn't be put to sleep this way. She wants us to put Alice in the crib and let her fall asleep on her own. So Alice has been put in the crib and stroked and sung to and loved on for hours. She has also been left to her own devices while Mommy counts to ten in the other room. We have used a million tools and tricks but never once has she fallen asleep on her own in the crib. Here is what I used tonight:

1) The transitional object:

The point of a transitional object is to give the kid a cuddly toy that can be snuggled in place of a parent when the kid is ready to learn how to fall asleep without constant attention.

Alice has chosen the stuffed lamb that I (and my sister) also loved as a toddler. Alice routinely snuggles Mr. Lamb while falling asleep...with her father. With me Alice just throws the lamb to the floor. Tonight I picked the discarded lamb up off the floor and put it in the crib.

Alice screamed like I had gently placed the lamb in an abattoir. She flung herself onto the lamb and clutched it to her chest. How could I have put this defenseless creature in the torture chamber?

To make sure this wasn't a fluke I walked Alice out of the bedroom and watched, as we passed out of sight of the crib Alice's grip on the lamb faded until he was hanging by a hoof. I inched closer to the crib and Mr. Lamb was pulled back into her desperate protective embrace. No lamb was ever going to suffer like she has suffered.

I have decided, at least for the near future to jettison the "fall asleep alone in the crib" training like an unwanted lamb.

2) Singing

An hour into the huge failure that was tonight's bedtime routine I started the first bars of "You are my Sunshine" which I have sung since Alice was a zygote. My daughter looked deep in my eyes and slowly shook her head, "No."
I burst out laughing at that unexpected critique. Alice squinted, wrinkled her nose, and gave me a wide grin. All this while still slowly shaking her head. "No Mommy."

3) Giving Up

At the two hour mark I just flopped down on our bed with a deeply overtired Alice. She proceeded to climb drunkenly all over me and fling herself into all sorts of contorted positions only to bounce up to standing again in a parody of a person covered in balloons trying to lie down for sleep. At one point she draped herself over my legs. From my perspective I could only see her chubby baby legs and rear end stuck up in the air. I thought, "This is good enough. Just fall asleep now and I promise not to move until morning."

4) Really Giving Up

At one point Alice went from a supine position to standing up and walking around crying in desperation. So I just caved and called for Tony to halt his cooking of our dinner (a lovely chicken pot pie) and to come tag me out. When Tony took Alice in his arms she started wailing and reaching for me. It broke my heart to see her so upset but Tony told me to go get a beer and take a knee.

3 minuets later. Guess what happened.

So Alice has been asleep for about three hours now and I have an early appointment. Tony suggested that since he is on vacation this week I should sleep downstairs just in case she is fussy again in the middle of the night.

It should be noted that I have not slept away from Alice since she came into being. Which is why I am up typing instead of trying to fall asleep.

Where is Mr. Lamb?

Moose and Squirrel

2009-07-07T12:20:00.007-05:00

We have named Alice's two front teeth "Moose and Squirrel" because Alice looks like Rocky minus the Aviator cap.
We have a runner up for potential 2nd Halloween Costume.

Check out the uncanny resemblance:

Thank you to Claire for the delightful princess pajamas!

Fatten her up like a Xmas Goose

2009-07-01T08:26:00.004-05:00

Alice is a bit of a string bean as I was at this age. So much so that at her one year check up she actually weighed less than at her nine month appointment. The pediatrician thinks that Alice's current predicament came from learning to walk early (burning calories) and developing teeth late so she was not able to eat with enough skill to pack on the pounds. Also she was exclusively breast fed and kids who have formula in their diets are fortified with slow burning calories whereas breastmilk burns up quickly. The additional Rice cereal with pureed fruits and veggies only go so far. In fact I might have some weight loss success if I switched to an all blender diet and spent my days learning to walk in circles shouting "kitty!".

Long story short the Dr. wants Alice to gain about three pounds in the next five months.

I am firmly and manically committed to this mission. I add carnation instant breakfast (plus a vitamin shot) and frozen blueberries to her morning milk. I keep a tiny box of raisins in her hand at all times. I hand feed her crackers with veggie puree on top. I slather her ricecakes (the favorite teething device) with full fat cream cheese.

Which is why I recently cleaned:

A pair of my pants covered in cream cheese handprints.
A cat covered in carnation instant breakfast, milk, and blueberries.
A diaper filled with about a half cup of undigested raisins.

Right now Alice is holding an asparagus spear (topped with a dollop of deviled egg filling) and looking at me quizzically.

The big 01

2009-06-29T16:32:00.005-05:00

We had a Monkey theme:

We had two adorable cousins in attendance:

There was cake:

And candles to blow out:

Boy howdy were there presents for all the kids:

And a general abundance of delightful chaos:

Thank you to the whole family for helping with this party and for everyone who traveled to come and visit us. A special thank you to Michelle for carrot cupcakes so delicious that they were eaten to the last miniscule crumb. Thanks to our family and friends, Alice had a wonderful day.

Picture Perfect

2009-06-29T16:03:00.007-05:00

This past Saturday marked Alice's first birthday. I have spent the last few weeks reflecting on the end of her babyhood and weeping copiously.

In an effort to derail my sad-sack nostalgia train I thought I would share some of my favorite Alice pictures taken during her first year:

IKEA

2009-06-23T10:19:00.008-05:00

My Mom is an architect and when she comes into town we tend to A) pick her brain for remodeling advice and B) use her big ole' work car to transport things that need transporting.

Which is why during these visits we tend to suggest family trips to troll the IKEA clearance section. This trip we found great deals on large doors for closet and kitchen pantry and Mom surprised us with a gift of a new kitchen island as an early anniversary present.

This would have been the perfect IKEA visit if this hadn't happened:

Did you see it? If not this video gives a better vantage point:

Even though all three of us were hovering over her, Alice still managed to slip and fall face-first into the wheel of our shopping cart. Tony and I were upset that Alice fell, but felt better once we ascertained that she wasn't seriously injured. Grammy however will never recover. My Mom's calls now start and end with worried questions about the status of Alice's sweet eye.

For all concerned parties please know that her eye is almost completely healed

Back to the IKEA-palloza. As we assembled the new kitchen island Mom was eyeballing our low kitchen ceiling (which Tony particularly doesn't enjoy) and she mused out loud that it might be possible to bump up the elevation slightly depending on what was hidden above the drywall.

Then she got that look in her eye that I remember from when I was a kid.
"You want to punch a hole through the ceiling, don't you?"
"Just enough to take a look! Do you think Tony would mind?"

When Tony came into the kitchen he heard about two seconds of Mom's proposal and to my surprise asked if we could take the whole ceiling down this weekend! With all parties consenting Mom sprung into action After cobbling a few cutting implements from the garage...
Viola!

As it turns out we do have quite a bit of space above our kitchen and large beams that can be exposed and painted if we so choose. The only sticking point is the gas pipe and electrical cord you see in the picture. Though Mom had a few solutions for that, the easiest of which was just encasing it in a false beam. Well, in truth the easiest thing would be to leave it exposed "warehouse loft style", but the point is we have options.

Another revelation was that when we opened the ceiling tons of cooled air poured down on us. It turns out we are losing a lot of energy cooling the guts of the house due to leaky ducts. This is a pretty easy fix, and since we are tearing out the drywall anyway we can hit two birds with one remodeling project and save on our energy bills. Hooray!

All (Green) Thumbs

2009-06-22T12:29:00.002-05:00

In a combined effort to tame the wilderness around our homestead Tony has taken to the trees and I have gone to ground.
The plot of crab grass in our front yard is beset by weeds almost year round and has been interfering with our neighbor's healthy grass. When my Mom came to visit she helped me get a jump on starting a front garden.

Since she left I have expanded the outline of the garden and removed the poison oak you see climbing the house. I added rosemary, flowering sage, whirling butterflies, and a smattering of other flowering plants. However the heat has been incredible the last few days and I am watering like a madwoman trying to keep these little plants moving in a non-dead direction.

I will post a picture of the thriving result when (if) it occurs.

Father's Day- Fountain Park

2009-06-22T00:40:00.002-05:00

After sleeping in a few minuets and enjoying his breakfast frittata/coffee/crossword Tony decided that he wanted to spend Father's Day outside. Barton Springs was our first choice of destination but it was so packed that the police were directing traffic in the parking lot. So we headed over to Fountain Park and gave Alice her first taste of running through the sprinklers via a city water feature! She had a magnificent time as Daddy was providing shade from the 100 degree heat.

Tony's cell phone started to die as the afternoon wore on and I was able to capture these murky shots of our picnic in the park. The effect almost looks intentional.

P.S. Alice was wearing a hat the whole day, but not in these shots. So no burned baby head to speak of.

Another tree bites the dust

2009-06-01T23:22:00.006-05:00

Tony went ahead and tore down the last remaining dead oak tree on our property. I know you want to check out his tree destruction skills in all their glory. First see the final inhabitant of the former tree, fittingly it was a buzzard:

Now, join Alice in reveling in the demolition!

Tony emerged from the backyard victorious but not entirely unscathed.

Happy 1st Birthday Marilyn!

2009-06-01T21:02:00.005-05:00

Last weekend we went to Dallas to celebrate the first birthday of our niece Marilyn.
Here is the sweetie-pie in her birthday dress:

The cake was made by Aunt Becky and the adults devoured the whole thing, though we did save a bit for the kids. This was the first taste of cake for both Marilyn and Alice. Marilyn seemed to generally enjoy her cake though she chewed it thoughtfully and quietly.

Alice however doesn't seem to be down with cake.

Alice did enjoy her cousin's toys.

I got a nice shot of the birthday girl making her entrance with some help from Grandpa.

Marilyn wasn't the only kid opening gifts. Alice enjoyed a wealth of new stuffed animals and Andy received this sweet superhero cape from Aunt Becky. I can't believe I caught him mid-leaping tall buildings in a single bound!

Link Fixage

2009-05-20T07:53:00.002-05:00

What with motherhood taking all my attention it has been a long time since I worked on my comics. Last year when I created a comic for my friend Chris (pictured above) I included a link in the comic to a wikipedia article on "Odalism".

At the time wikipedia defined Odalism as: a movement based on pride in one's own ancient cultural and religious traditions, rather than adopting those of outside cultures.

During a routine "Hey how are you doing, how's the baby" email Chris let me know that the wikipedia link now redirects to some organization that is has been accused of neo fascism! This is not really what he was looking for in an autobiographical comic.

So I have pulled myself out of semi-exile from the comic creating business to fix my boo boo. Click on the picture of Chris above to see his comic. Click on the first panel of his comic to see the link to the previously bad link that has now been changed to a much more appealing destination...it makes more sense if you just start clicking.

Sorry Chris.

Grandparents, Graduation, Good Times

2009-05-18T21:06:00.011-05:00

Tony and I went to DFW this weekend to visit Tony's folks and attend a friend's graduation ceremony at our Alma Mater, the University of Dallas.

Last time we visited Alice was a bit shy so Grandad Mike taught her to untie his shoes as an icebreaker. This was a big hit and Alice now checks Grandad's feet for laces at every opprotunity.
Shoes are their thing now.

We didn't have any recent pictures of Alice and Mike so we asked him to pose for these shots. Alice and Mike look so great and sweet together, and all I can think is "What is up with my hair?".

This weekend was also Tony's first real vacation (in a long time) with no other work activities going on in DFW.
So he took the chance to go hang out with his bf Erick. We met Erik and lovely Patty for lunch before the dudes went off to see "Star Wars" at the Inwood Theater with a whole bunch of friends. I hear tell that the Inwood has installed huge reclining chairs instead of stadium seats, and of course they have beer.
I took multiple shots of this little gathering where Alice, Patty, and Erick look just great, but Tony keeps pulling this crazy expression! I think he was nervous about relaxing with no work or baby duties pulling for his attention. I need to get him out on the town more often.

This is 8am at the Graduation pre-show donut and coffee roundup. Alice is looking upon a flock of adults in black robes.

This is what she was looking at:

Here is Alice in her official UD sweatshirt, bought for Alice at the university bookstore during the ceremony because her mother forgot to pack a coat and it was a bizarrely cold that morning.

Another great thing about this weekend was that our friends from Toronto Anna and Randy were in town to see her brother get his diploma. They have a three year old (Mira) and one year old (Olive) who Alice was delighted to see. The kids had a good time running around campus and trying out all of the swings donated to the school by the Alumni. We came upon Anna and Mira enjoying some alone time after the ceremony and promptly butted in to take pictures. Mira was very sleepy and kindly let Alice poke her in the face with inquisitive baby fingers.

We even got the chance to pop in and visit Tony's cousins Greg and Brenda whose youngest daughter Annie was celebrating her First Communion.

Anne looks so sweet here, and it seems that she is kneeling for some religious purpose, but in actuality she is using her cell phone to take a digital picture for a friend!

At the end of a long and lovely weekend Alice had the chance to play with Josef, her second cousin who is just a few months older.

As soon as Alice arrived Josef brought her his guitar and it did look like he was offering a place in his band. Knowing Alice, I think she would take percussion or perhaps vocals. She is particularly good at singing "DaDaDa". Most of their interactions involved trying to touch each other's heads.

We stayed a bit too late in Dallas and ended up back at the house around 9pm with a cranky baby. I went into the backyard to take care of watering our plants and Tony followed with Alice. We decided to improve Alice's mood by blowing bubbles for her, which worked like magic. I thought the bubbles looked interesting next to the huge pile of branches next to our porch.

As requested: The Blooper Reel

2009-05-11T23:19:00.002-05:00

Tony and I made Grandmother videos for Mother's Day. Each one had a different plot and Alice shenanigans specific to the recipient, but they had one element in common:

Alice is a baby, and does not as yet speak English or understand directives such as: "Don't eat the flower!"

Thus the blooper reel of our (Grand) Mother's Day project was born.

1st (official) Mother's Day

2009-05-11T22:58:00.004-05:00

We had a rough night and Alice woke at 7am so Mother's Day started out sleepy

My Hero Tony took the baby away from earshot for a good three hours and let me sleep blessedly uninterrupted.

Tony and the baby brought brunch and three dozen tulips home.

We did some chores together and ate chocolate cookies.

Dinner was out at a fine establishment that served organic local foodstuffs.

After a fine evening walk we had ice cream at a local family owned business that I'm sure Alice will love when she is older.

Thus ended a wonderful Mother's Day.

By the end of dinner both Tony and Alice were half asleep and I appreciate them toughing it out.

This video shows the lengths Daddy and Baby went to trying to keep their game faces on for Mommy.

Thanks guys, for a wonderful Mother's Day. Now we must start planning for Father's Day.

Tony vs Nature. Tony is the VICTOR!

2009-05-09T13:22:00.008-05:00

Technically nature had already won in the battle for this tree which turned out to be stone cold dead when we bought the place (unbeknownst to us because it was still wintertime during our closing). The other big tree on our property is also dead and is going to be disassembled some future weekend.

This is Tony's second week of tree cutting. Our neighbor Charles came over and committed four hours in the heat to helping with his chainsaw. Tony used my Mom's chainsaw which is featured in the second pic.

With the tree in front of our house and this one Tony has made quite a pile of firewood. Not that we ever use our fireplace, but it is nice to have.

This was Alice's reaction to the tree:

Spring Cleaning

2009-05-08T22:04:00.003-05:00

Tony and I are re-arranging the house and have moved ourselves (and Alice) upstairs. So now we are dividing up which clothes go on what floor, moving in dusty antiques from the garage for everyday use, and compiling all of our loose receipts. Things are messy but progressing towards better order.

That last task (the receipts) was one I did in front of Alice. I can't leave little pieces of paper hanging around for Alice to eat so I was simply tossing all those little slips of paper into a pink gift bag for later sorting.

I took this video the next day to capture her walking, and when I saw a piece of paper in the frame I readied myself to pry it out of her little paws before it was masticated into a sticky paste.

However, that is not what happened:

Goodreads

2009-05-07T22:30:00.001-05:00

My sister encouraged me to join "Goodreads" where you can list and rate the books you have read. As children we destroyed our retinas reading all night, long after our parents went to sleep. So this is a nice thing we can share.

These days I only imbibe audiobooks rather than the old fashioned paper version. Mostly because Audible.com gives away free books and audiobooks can be used in total darkness when a parent is trying to get a kid back in bed for the sixth time in a night.

I hate teething. But I loved this book:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Much of this book was familiar because I lived on "The Rez". Though even if this world was forign to me I would have thouroughly enjoyed the the bountiful grace and humor Mr. Alexie pulls out of his past.

View all my reviews.

Thanks for the tip Jesse!!

The lanyard

2009-04-28T21:38:00.002-05:00

My favorite poem, thus far, is "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins. Here is the line I love best:

"Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp."

Yeah. That's pretty much how it goes. I look forward to handprint turkeys and refrigerator worthy spelling tests as a testament to my daughter's great respect and affection for me.

On a side note, Alice now enjoys clenching objects in her teeth and roaming the house with her prize. Usually it is a ring shaped toy, giving her a passing resemblance to Ferdinand the Bull. Today however, as Tony washed his hands for dinner Alice slipped into the entryway, stood up to her full height (2ft+), took Tony's wallet from it's resting place next to his keys, and put it in her mouth.

Then the little bandit crawled away with her purloined treasure safely locked between her two thieving baby teeth and her accomplice gums.

Here is the poem above in it's entirety:

The Lanyard - Billy Collins

The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

chomp

2009-04-28T21:36:00.001-05:00

Alice bit me on the toe.

And the cheek.

I went in for a hug before bathtime and when I pulled away she had the neck of my shirt still clenched in her mouth.

She also bit the cat.

pointy bird

2009-04-28T11:53:00.003-05:00

While taking Tony to work this morning I saw a bird fly out of Payless Shoes with a shoestring clenched in it's beak. Not an everyday occurrence so I mentioned it to Tony.

So he says, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that yesterday when I got the mail a bird flew out of our mailbox!"

Trumped again.

UD day at the Capital

2009-04-24T14:47:00.008-05:00

Last night we went to our Alma Mater's day at the Texas State Capital, or rather Tony went to the Capital and Alice and I joined him for free drinks and empanadas at the mixer afterwards. No one from our class was there but we met friends of my Grandparents, classmates of Tony's peeps, and some local alumni that might be work contacts/friends/potential babysitters.

Alice clearly enjoys networking with her Daddy. I enjoy empanadas.

This would have been a very sweet picture but Tony was negotiating two diaper bags and the camera at the time

To our great surprise Alice had no problem being out slightly beyond bedtime. On the way home after the good times we decided to document Alice's good mood. 1st we gave our best impressions of "we are out way too late" Alice grumpface.

Here is her actual face:

Flying Monkeys

2009-04-23T23:41:00.001-05:00

Run!

2009-04-23T23:17:00.005-05:00

"I'm gonna get you!" is Alice's favorite game and Tony is her favorite playmate. Right now Tony is feeling down due to a cold so I instigated the game before he got home to tucker the little beast out.

This is the shirt Grammy bought Ally last week and but it also makes a handy dress/straightjacket for our madwoman.

Blessings

2009-04-15T20:55:00.002-05:00

Alice recieved a kiss on her head this morning from Grammy who said, "This is a kiss my Great-Great Grandmother gave to my Grandmother, who gave it to me, and now it belongs to you."

Aww.

When Tony gave Alice her bath tonight I thought about all the baths his parents must have given him and how he probably squeaked happily and splashed them in the face many times.

As I nursed Alice before bedtime I rubbed her little earlobes and thought about how my Mother must have done the same for me when I was Alice's size.

Obvious revelations I'm sure, but they have some depth of meaning when you realize how blessed you are to be gently cared for and to give that care again and again for generations.

Yoga

2009-04-14T16:47:00.002-05:00

On Saturday morning I asked my Mom to take in a yoga class with me. Instead of saying, "At 8am..after a thirteen hour road trip? Did I raise you to be a crazy person?" she said:

"Can I have a cup of coffee first?"

When the instructor asked "When was your last yoga class?" my Mom said, "Thirty years ago". I thought Mom would like the instructor because she doesn't play new age twaddle and uses anatomy terms to explain the purpose behind the stretches. As it turned out Mom rocked the class and held moves that I was dropping. I deduced that Mom enjoyed the experience as we enjoyed some post-class chai tea when Mom asked if we could go again later in the week.

Jump to Monday night as we geared up for a second 6pm yoga class. Alice had spent so much time climbing her Grammy and singing the "DaDa" song that she had skipped an afternoon nap and for an added bonus was teething like mad.
I worried about abandoning Tony to a scream-filled bedtime, trying to explain to Alice why Mommy wasn't in her appointed place for bedtime nursing. I made a unilateral decision to abandon yoga and apologized to Mom for causing her to miss her new favorite pastime. Mom looked crestfallen though she said it was fine and we decided to take a walk instead.

Rather than just orbiting the neighborhood I made for the Evangeline Cafe", which is a cajun place. When we walked in they had a real zydeco band playing full tilt and folks dancing all over the place. We ordered fried shrimp and dirty rice and had a Mother/Daughter beer at the bar while we waited. "Do you like this place?", I asked. Mom turned to me with a huge smile.

"This is WAY better than yoga!"

crazy lady

2009-04-14T16:18:00.006-05:00

Alice is becoming less of a baby and more of a person.
A deeply silly person.

Especially where her father is concerned. When Tony gets home from work Alice chases him down screeching like a deranged bird and smiling like this:

Happy Easter

2009-04-14T11:48:00.001-05:00

I've got a new way to walk

2009-04-08T16:47:00.004-05:00

Alice took a nap in her carrier this afternoon as Mommy tried to burn some calories by taking a walk at naptime. My back was killing me by the time Alice woke. Yoga usually cures what ails my spine so I let Alice play by the couch as I went through a few moves.

I was performing the downward dog yoga pose (rear in the air) when I looked through my legs to make some eye contact with Alice. She was standing by the couch laughing at my silly pose. Then to my utter surprise she took one steady and unwavering step towards me, then two, three...four!

I watched my daughter's *first steps upside down.

*Caveat: Alice's "First Step" (singular) was actually witnessed by both Tony and myself as Alice did a magnificent swivel move on her heal in order to switch from standing on Mommy's toes to standing on Daddy's feet.

New word

2009-04-05T00:56:00.003-05:00

Today a family member said a new word for the first time. This afternoon Alice was happily wailing on the floor (and the cat) with her foam bat.

Tony noticed her and said, "Check out Alice, she's going Ape-poop over there!"

Ape...poop.

Babysign

2009-04-01T23:02:00.003-05:00

Alice and I went to the store today on an endless quest to find foods she will ingest voluntarily. She doesn't have enough teeth to chew and most solid food makes her gag. Alice is very sweet about accepting offered morsels, but she mostly just holds them in her mouth and looks at you as if to say, "May I spit this out now?"

She is not swayed by sweets, or bright colors, or parental mimicry. So far I have the best luck distracting her with an interesting texture on her tray (birdseed, velcro, whatever) and spooning in the food while her mind is elsewhere. My Mom thinks she has a residual tongue thrust reflex. I am looking forward to her visit next week so we can all work on getting around that impasse.

Anywhodle, that was the reason we were at the store. While we were perusing the frozen veggie isle a lady in a wheelchair told Alice that she had pretty blue eyes in sign language! Alice tried gamely to wave some baby nonsense back at her. Aside from the obvious pleasure this lady's complement gave me it also made me realize that I need to get on the stick teaching Alice some baby signs.
Something else I can work on with Mom when she gets here.

Alice stole my phone

2009-04-01T22:59:00.002-05:00

To Tony's parents:

If you received an anonymous heavy breathing call this morning from a person saying "Da Da Da itty aaaa", that was Alice. I see you guys in my call history and my phone is damp.

Springtime @ Daddy's Office

2009-04-01T22:50:00.003-05:00

Alice and I went to visit Tony at St. Edwards today and she took full advantage of the University Groundskeeper's well manicured grass.

This was in fact Alice's first real introduction to grass as our yard is a nest of weeds and snakes. She seemed to have a grand time pulling up tufts of the green stuff.

I found it!!

2009-03-29T20:22:00.007-05:00

The camera cord has been located! Here are the previously imprisoned pictures as promised:

1. Alice vs. the saucepot:

(I felt a little guilty taking this picture before rescuing her)

2. My new hair:

The salon I tried out this time was a funky south congress place that opened in 2000, called "The Wet Salon". One of the owner's (jimmy) did my hair. We spent most of the haircut talking about our daughters as he has three girls of his own. He offered blue but I changed my mind and decided on a dark brown with a deep red base. I am so embarrassed to admit this but...back in high school I played a roleplaying game called "Vampire, the Masquerade" and my character had hair this color. As I am a responsible adult and no longer wearing plastic fangs to Social Studies (ohh...so shameful) I felt it was time to revisit my youth (and cover my post baby gray hairs) via my new deconstructed bob.

3. Baby teeth:
Here is the video that features Alice's first two teeth. The screaming in the background is from our neighbor's new trampoline. We can see happy kid faces cresting over our fence every 2.5 seconds.

Notice the completely clean spoon on Alice's tray:

4. Tony bopped in the kisser with an "l luv U daddy" balloon:

He was also pummeled by the foam bat Alice is holding in this picture.

This is a special part of their daddy/daughter bond that I accept without condoning the violence. Mommy does not get hit in the face as she is trying to show Alice good manners. Daddy is trying to show Alice how to beat down her foes.

Zzzzzz

2009-03-27T12:34:00.002-05:00

3am

Tony is awoken by giggles. He opens bleary eyes to see his daughter cracking up and bouncing and pointing at Mommy. "What's so funny sweetie?", he mumbles.

Then his wife lets out an extended drunken longshoreman snore.

Been a while

2009-03-27T12:30:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in a bit because I have completely lost the cord for my camera. Now I have a full set of digital pictures swimming uselessly around my camera's memory stick forlorn and adrift.
Photos that you can't see right now:

Alice with a saucepan stuck on her head

My newly shorn and dyed hair

Alice's first two shiny-new baby teeth

Alice smacking Daddy in the face with a heart shaped balloon that says, "I love you"

Taxes

2009-03-13T09:42:00.003-05:00

The house
The baby
My business
Sweet sweet mileage...oh!

So many new deductions are available to us this year. Hello moderate tax refund, may I introduce you to Mr. Car Payment? I think you two will get on swimmingly.

The big Sick

2009-03-10T23:43:00.007-05:00

As a family we have settled into a happy evening rhythm. We eat dinner out on the back porch. Alice is allowed to go nuts on several colorful piles of baby food while Tony and I enjoy some adult conversation. After that she goes straight into the bath for a de-sticky process. Alice Loooooves bathtime.

As a result, on most nights Alice falls right asleep and doesn't peep until her next feeding.

This all changed last weekend.
For Valentines Day Tony gave me the freedom to go to a movie all by my lonesome.
On Tony's birthday this week I paid him back in kind. A whole slew of friends (including all the Howe siblings) came to Austin to see "Watchmen" at the Alamo Drafthouse. So I took over baby duty while the group took Tony to a night of movie joy and drinking.

The revellers returned full of good cheer and they even brought me a cookie in the shape of the Watchmen logo (smiley face with a blood stain), it was delicious. Most of the folks were planing to sleep at our place after a long night of chat and board game fun.

The group kept the celebrations down to a whisper for Alice's sake. But at midnight she woke up screaming. Tony gamely went to take care of her for the first shift, and that is when everything fell apart.

Poor kid had the perfect storm of teething pain, a bad cold, and a diaper that had not seen poop in several days. We had to keep Alice upright so she could breathe and sleep a bit. Even so, she woke up every twenty minuets crying her little heart out. It was horrible. We tried to keep the chaos to a minimum for the sake of our upstairs guests but failed pretty miserably. I couldn't wait for the night to end. As a happy coincidence we lost an hour that night. Never been happier to "Spring Forward".

When the sun came up we tried to sneak out of the house (coffee for us and a sleep inducing drive for Alice). Before we made it out of the driveway some of our guests drove up. They had bought us breakfast. Thank you Chiara and Amber! We were assured that no one heard a peep out of Alice in the night. It was a very friendly lie.

Now several days later Alice is feeling much better and even sleeping comfortably flat on her back.

In an effort to re-boot my engines Tony kindly took the kid on a two hour drive in the car so she could sleep and I could nap. He even listened to classical music the whole time to soothe her. She must have been pretty relaxed because that several days missing poop...yeah she painted the whole backseat. Happy Birthday Tony!!

How could I forget?

2009-02-26T22:15:00.002-06:00

The same Saturday that we spent the day with Alice's cousins was the day Alice got her first tooth! I was carrying Alice on my hip through the parking lot after lunch while she chewed on my fingers. Suddenly I felt a sharp little ridge in her gumline. She pushed through her first tooth on my hand ya'll. It was magical. Also it made her stop screaming about jaw pain.

There's a star

2009-02-24T23:05:00.000-06:00

That's for you Brad.

Alice and Byron

2009-02-24T22:55:00.004-06:00

See if you can guess from this picture how the cat feels about the baby.

It is partially the cat's fault. He insists on cuddling up to Alice, not for affection, but so that she will pull on him and he will get my attention when I scream "Get away from the baby!"

It is partially my fault for being so angry at the cat all day for pulling this stunt. The most he gets from me most days is an angry glare or resentful game of "catch the string".

It is not really Alice's fault as she is a blameless infant, and has refrained from pulling his tail 7 times out of 10 (good track record for an 8 month old baby). However, there are times when his puffy tail is too much to ignore and she feels the need to grab him when Mommy is looking the other way.

So Byron spends much of his day enjoying the upstairs rooms of our house so that I don't murder him. In fact for Lent I have resolved to keep my temper around the cat. This sounds like a small promise but he makes me insane these days and I don't want Alice to pick up my bad habit of swearing at small animals. Also, I consider this good practice for her terrible twos.

To be fair I should relate that when I bring Alice home asleep in her carseat I am greeted by a silent cat who lets the baby nap in peace while I grab some lunch from the kitchen. A dog would never grant me this small favor. Good kitty...I guess.

Baby Destiny

2009-02-24T22:39:00.005-06:00

Tony's cousin David was joking recently about having a Korean style 1st birthday ceremony for his youngest son, where parents line objects up for the baby to chose and the one they grab has special significance. As in, if the baby picks rice he will never grow hungry, or if he picks up a pencil he will be a scholar. David was thinking of lining up things like the keys to a Zamboni or a pint of whiskey.

Alice has developed a version of this ceremony of her own accord. She did this by pulling herself up to standing on the bookcase.

Once there Alice pulled down these books in this order:
1. The Simpsons and Philosophy
2. The Portable Dante
3. Derek Walcott, Collected Poems
4. Faulkner: Go Down Moses (she put Faulkner back on the shelf three times before finally dropping it).
5. Merriam Webster's, Encyclopedia of Literature
6. Sam Shepard, Seven Plays
7. Life with the Navajos in Chaco Canyon

I attribute meaning to both the order and the selection. I haven't landed on the specifics but I know it was meaningful!

Tony and I have a new rule that when Alice pulls a book off the shelves we have to read her a passage from that book. This way we will slowly get through all the books we intended to read at some point in our lives.

good times

2009-02-24T21:34:00.009-06:00

We had visitors this weekend from Houston.
My Brother/Sister-in-law, our niece Marilyn, and nephew Andy all came to visit. We hit the Children's Museum after a breakfast of dinosaur pancakes. Then we headed to "Freddy's" which is a restaurant that encourages people to bring their dogs and kids to romp around in the sunshine. We got the coveted table on the playground so we could enjoy watching Andy and the other kids without getting up.

Tony had a run-in with a twelve year old who was a bit long in the tooth for the playground. This kid insisted on picking up a bigwheel truck and throwing it at the other children. One of the tosses landed uncomfortably close to Alice's highchair so Tony told the kid he had to be careful around the baby. The kid affected an insufferable mimicking whine and repeated, "Be careful around the Baaaaaby". Tony and I exchanged a glance wherein we came to a joint decision not to rip the kid a new one, as we were entertaining guests.

Don't worry, a few seconds later the little charmer actually tossed the truck into another boy his age and was mortified when a table full of parents and grandparents turned on him. Where his family was, I couldn't say.

Anywho, after lunch we headed back to the homestead for playtime:

Here is a picture of the girls gently getting to know each other:

This video shows more interaction. Notice that I tell Tony to stop Alice from accidentally choking her cousin via Marilyn's bib. Tony said he heard me but wanted to see what would happen. Notice also the wooden toy in Marilyn's hand. A few seconds after this video stops Alice takes the toy and uses it to smack Marilyn across the chops. Sigh.

Alice's Aunt Karen and Uncle Toby were very understanding and assured us that babies don't know what they are doing and nobody cried so all was well.

Still, you hate to have your kid pummeling other children. Least you think I am overreacting, Andy was punched with a metal toy car a few minuets later. That got a big laugh from everybody. Including Andy, who is a good sport and sweet little boy.

Andy was in fact the biggest hit of the day. Both Alice and Marilyn love to play with him because he engages with them and lets them play with his toys. He even let them claw at his face, though we all try to discourage that. While Alice was delighted by Andy, Marilyn is his biggest fan. In fact she is using the word "brother" pretty often when she sees him. Here is a video of what Marilyn did when she saw Andy playing in the backyard.

Hope you had a happy V-day

2009-02-18T01:51:00.004-06:00

For Valentines Day Tony gave me five hours to myself. It was so sweet. I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" at the Alamo where people brought me food and no one talked during the movie. Little kid torture in the film notwithstanding, it was bliss.

Then we ate pizza and cupcakes as a family. Movie, pizza, sugar, and some time to be alone. My tastes haven't changed in 23 years. Tony knows this, which makes him the best husband in creation!

Artsy Fartsy

2009-02-18T01:37:00.006-06:00

Sometimes I strive for fancy pants artistry with my cell phone camera. I strive to be the Annie Leibovitz of the Razor phone set. Alice is often roped into my low-pixel picture shenanigans. She is a sweet patient kid.

Jeff & Nathan (not pictured)

2009-02-18T01:29:00.004-06:00

I just recently figured out how to get JPEGs off my phone via bluetooth so I now have access to 2 years of pictures!

For instance, here is the photographic evidence of our first visit in Austin with our buddies Jeff and Nathan who were in town for business. Well, Nathan was doing business and Jeff was enjoying an excellent vacation! We were at "Freddies" which is a dog and kid friendly burger joint. Nathan was so sweet to treat us to lunch when we were the ones trying to show them Austin. Thanks guys!

Alice and her Grandma Nancy

2009-02-03T23:44:00.003-06:00

We were in Dallas this weekend because Tony had business and Alumni Board duties. We also got the chance to visit my Aunt, Grandparents, and cousin AND Tony's parents, brother, and sister.

The picture above is of Alice with Tony's Mom the very last second we were in Dallas before driving back to Austin. Now that she is seven months old Alice has a strong case of separation anxiety. It seems most acute when I am in the room and she has the option of going to Mom. All of our family members were given a dose of freaked out baby this weekend and were all very nice about it. The picture is evidence that if you are very patient (like Grandma Nancy) and also let Alice tug/drool on your hair, you will be rewarded with some Alice fun time.

My sweet grandfather was screamed at multiple times and still gave a donation to Alice's college fund. As soon as she knows what college is, I am sure Alice will be very grateful!

Update: Today at Postnatal Yoga Alice crawled right over to the instructor, who's name is Jessica, and sat underneath Jessica during a demonstration of downward dog. So much for separation anxiety.

Alice is picking Aunt Becky hair out of her teeth.

2009-02-03T23:35:00.004-06:00

Or would be if she had teeth...

Aunt Becky joined us for Mass and Brunch two weekends ago. Alice has gone full force into hair pulling. Aunt Becky has the most glorious red hair and Alice is smitten with the idea of tearing it all out at the roots. In fact, after brunch I found Alice pinning Becky to the ground by the hair. I tried to rescue Becky but she insisted that it was cool.
Becky and Alice are pretty chill with each other- see the evidence:

Wedded bliss

2009-01-27T23:15:00.012-06:00

Tony and I have been enjoying weekend dinners with my Uncle Philip and Cousin Ben lately. Philip is a video editor and director for ME TV and for decades has been chronicling family events. So at each dinner he brings some forgotten roll of film from back in the day.

Last time he looked through his undeveloped rolls he found these candid shots from my wedding (the wedding was also Tony's).

Me and my Granddad (Dr. Jack) who can cut a rug like you wouldn't believe.

Uncle Bobby (who just got back from the Inauguration madness), My Godmother Lisa, My Dad

The lovely girl holding my hands is my cousin India who everyone says looks just like me, which is crazy because she is much better looking than me. Though at the time she did say I looked like a princess (big dress=princess) which is a big compliment from a kid of her age at the time.

Notice the lovely saris that decorate the tables and the cake that is not melted into a puddle on the sari. The air-conditioning in the gallery where we had our reception was turned off (for some unknown reason) the day of our wedding and my Mom had to physically intimidate a service person into turning the thing on. It was July in Dallas and many of the guests were dying.

The decor was mostly Mom's doing. So were the flowers, the food, the booze, and all the horrible-last-second-disaster relief. I do have a picture of Mom in this bunch but she would be mad at me for posting it because she was in such a flurry trying to get things ready that she didn't feel like she had on her happy face in the pictures.
She is pleased beyond words with the son-in-law, but would prefer not to host another wedding (sorry Jesse).

This is one of those pictures that mean nothing to people who are not in the picture. But I see so many friends and family members that are dear to me. Some of them are no longer with us.

So many people helped us with this celebration. Tony's parents hosted a beautiful rehearsal dinner at their home, my father's mother provided cameras on all the tables, my mother's mother bought us the cake with champagne icing (it was so freaking good), my aunt got Tony a groom's cake with a monkey on it (Mojojojo from the Powerpuff girls- Topical!), my dad gave us a nice check.
Tony and I did not have a big wedding and we had lots of help, but we still ended up with plenty of debt and a profound urge never to plan another wedding.

I remember being so scared during the whole process and Tony looked like he was going to pass out at the altar. I was so worried that no one was going to have a good time and all the little details made me insane. After all that hullabaloo the actual marriage has been cake.

Baby Cage

2009-01-27T23:10:00.003-06:00

We finally got Alice to accept sleeping in her crib as a good thing. She has gone to sleep at bedtime with minimal fuss every night this week. Daddy has been on point for all of these bedtime sessions giving me a chance to get some work done. This is a great relief as she is too old to snooze on our bed with a fortress of luggage stacked around her and her parents nervously popping in to check on her status every few seconds. Blissful, sleeping, safe baby.

Tomorrow we are going on a 5 day road trip that is going to blow all this to hell.

Hair Update

2009-01-27T00:49:00.003-06:00

My Mom told me tonight that she thinks I should go ahead and get the pixie cut. She is also all for the blue coif, though she also suggested purple (it goes with my coloring). I am flumboozled. Mom once advised me against the wild notion of getting bangs!

Tony says he is also all for the change. Wow. I think I might have to do this.

hair

2009-01-22T00:21:00.003-06:00

Some Sundays ago I spoke to my friends (veteran parents) Erik and Nicole. The two friends asked me if Alice had progressed to the pinching and hair pulling stage of babyhood. I said "kinda".

Well, Alice has gained a herculean level of strength in the past few days (must be the smashed yams). Now if you look at my hair you will see a motherly mullet. Long in the back- Ripped to shreds in the front. Most of the hair around my temple is ragged and about an inch long. It also came to my attention recently that the top layers of my hair are hiding an ample crop of wiry gray strands at the bottom. For the first time in my life I am considering a pixie cut. Not for fashion, but for self-preservation.

Do I have the bone structure so necessary for optimal short hair success? No I do not. Maybe if I dye the whole mess bright blue as I have always wanted then no one will notice my bones (or lack thereof).

the beast

2009-01-22T00:13:00.002-06:00

Tony refused to let me post the video that I took of Alice last night. Granted much of the video featured Tony lounging in his boxers trying to have a civilized phone conversation with our buddy Leanne, but the focus of the short film was the raging ball of insanity that is our daughter.

Alice was on a wild swinging pendulum between beating me to death with her flying baby mitts and climbing Tony to snatch the shiny cell phone away from his face. She zoomed between her parents with a series of ninja rolls and flips. Occasionally she would crash onto her back and stare up at the camera in perfect stillness. Only to leap back into the fray with a hearty "Da DA!".

It was gloriously frightening.

DaDa BooHoo

2009-01-19T21:56:00.002-06:00

"DaDa" is Alice's favorite person and most expressive sound. She finds it especially useful when her Mama won't give up the shiny camera for her to chew on.

Close one

2009-01-17T01:14:00.005-06:00

After the 1am feeding, the baby had just settled back down for sleep.
As I moved away from Alice my hand brushed a musical motion-sensitive toy on the bookshelf. Specifically a butterfly that plays "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" very loudly when you move it.

The moment the music started I was on my feet and sprinting out of the bedroom. After he stopped laughing Tony said it was like I was holding a live grenade rather than a stuffed butterfly.

I made it all the way to the kitchen before "How I wonder what you are".

The butterfly is in the freezer.

This is the butterfly in the story, being chewed upon by a "1st thing in the morning" rumpled Alice

It's official: She's crawling

2009-01-12T16:18:00.002-06:00

fingerprints

2009-01-07T23:57:00.003-06:00

Since she hit six months Alice has been sleeping less deeply during her naps. This makes trimming her nails while she is sleeping (the only viable option) a trial. Today she refused to let me touch her hands and actually planted her face down on her fingers and refused to roll over. Since I was working on the computer next to her I just let Alice nap on her hands. When she woke I looked down and said "Hello Sweetie how are yu..."

Did you see the perfectly formed little baby finger impressions in her soft baby face? This is what happens when we are stubborn Alice.

Today was a banner day in the learning to crawl academy. When Tony came home Alice was rambling her way across the bed toward her daddy at warp (for a scooting baby) speed. She was pretty proud of herself for figuring it out.

Back online/ lunch with Brad

2009-01-07T23:04:00.011-06:00

Back before our computer died our buddies Brad and Leanne came to visit for my birthday:
I took this video during feeding time (on my birthday) of the rehabilitating wild birds at the Nature Center in Austin. Notice Brad feeling sad for the rat at the end of the movie.

Alice however sided with the bird.

While our buddies were in town we took them to "Mother's" vegetarian restaurant multiple times and after the holidays my sister came into town and was also dragged to Mother's.

I am slightly addicted to the cashew tahini salad dressing found at that particular establishment, plus the changing tables are ample and in both unisex bathrooms. This is a serious consideration these days. Not only that, the staff consistently provide us with a cup of hot water for disinfecting pacifiers and toys that have hit the floor.

It was great having Jesse in town even though we mostly stayed indoors and played with the baby. New Years Eve we saluted the fireworks via our upstairs guest bedroom window with crystal glasses full of lemon slices and...water. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Before Jesse's visit Alice and I flew to NM where Alice collected snuggles from her Grammy and toe licks from Grammy's dogs.

Before that Alice visited her cousins in Houston and collected pacifiers from Santa in the stocking provided by her Auntie Karen and Uncle Toby.

Tony and I enjoyed Alice and our niece Marilyn's first Christmas morning.

Tony and Marilyn

Alice ended her vacation in Dallas playing with her Granddad Mike, Grandma Nancy, and Uncle Mike. She had fun eating at the dinner table with the grownups and adding babybabble to the conversation, instead of sitting in front of "Hulu" with her parents. Alice also spent the night at her Great Granddad's house. While her parents were enjoying coffee Alice stole a kerchief of her Great Grandmother's head and put it on her own little noggin. Of course my camera batteries would die before I could capture that precious moment.

After all that travel we made it home to a repaired laptop (note to self: always get the extended warranty on mac laptops) and peaceful days playing with all her Christmas booty. Baby bliss:

Technical Difficulties Redux

2008-12-19T11:21:00.004-06:00

Hi folks.

Yesterday afternoon, the Mac croaked. Apparently the logic board got fried.

I know how it feels.

Fortunately, it's not the hard drive, and we have the apple care plan.

So we are without computer at home for a bit, though Tony (who's actualy posting this) has his work laptop. So we can still get e-mail, just not as easily.

If you have need, just call us.

Two Firsts

2008-12-17T16:08:00.003-06:00

Last night Tony and I fed Alice her first meal of Brown Rice Cereal. She took to it much faster than we had anticipated. I had assumed that she would push the first spoonful out of her mouth and play with the contents. Instead she took the first offered bite and quietly pondered the taste. Then she devoured the whole bowl.

After such a hearty meal we thought she could use a drink so we gave her a baby-sized cup (thanks Betty) and a little bit of water. At first she wanted me to tip the cup for her while she took some tentative sips. Ultimately Alice took the cup in both hands and doused herself while draining her first drink.

2008-12-16T01:05:00.004-06:00

As a birthday surprise Tony snuck our two great friends Leanne and Brad into town! He came home early on Friday, told me to cover my eyes, and viola! There were our Chicago buddies ready for a weekend of fun times!

We spent lots of time exploring the city via Letterboxing. We checked out the Nature Center and behind the bird sanctuary we took a break for a photo opp. Notice how Brad is the tallest one in the photo. Notice also that Leanne and I don't know what to do with our hands.

Twice we went to Mother's vegetarian restaurant and ate soup. This was more fun than it sounds. Alice enjoyed bouncing from lap to lap with constant tummy rubbing and binky retrieving.

I'm 30 years old!

2008-12-16T01:02:00.000-06:00

Thank you

2008-12-11T02:02:00.006-06:00

I owe an extra thank you to Cathleen for giving us her kids' activity center. Cathleen told me though this thing is not aesthetically pleasing, it is incredibly useful to have five minuets to yourself in a given day. Alice LOVES this baby gym and reacted to it like I had given her baby crack.

There was lots of screaming and joyous wiggling followed by an equal and proportionate amount of crying when her senses overloaded. I actually removed most of the toys as she was getting the shakes from too much input.

Now I have a working method where I move the kid in a rotation from this thing, to my lap, to the floor, to the playpen, back to my lap, and so on until it is naptime or I have (miracle of miracles) completed a task.

Thank you Cathleen!

Embroideries

2008-12-11T01:50:00.005-06:00

Tonight I attempted to embroider Alice's X-mas stocking with marginal to poor results.

This enrages me as I assumed I would be a magnificent stitcher. This assumption was based on no actual evidence or prior experience. Damn it all to poop.

Maybe felt is a bad medium for stitching. What is it they say, "It is a kick-ass craftsmen who blames his tools"? Something like that...

In other news Alice started barrel rolling today. She now uses rolling as her sole means of locomotion. If I let her, Alice would roll herself right off the bed and crash to the floor. Her enthusiasm is to be commended. I bow to Alice's superior efforts in mastering a new skill.

Damn you embroidered snowflake!! Why don't you look like the picture on the box?

My Aunt the actress

2008-12-09T21:52:00.006-06:00

I have a lot of freelance design projects going on right now which is wonderful, but I took a break from my regular work this weekend to help my Uncle. He asked me to assist him put together the media materials for a memorial retrospective that he is hosting tonight for his wife, my Aunt Ivett, who passed away this summer.

I knew that Ivett worked as a Broadway actress early in her career but I had never known the details. I spent the last few days reading all of her reviews and going through her photos. Ivett was not only in some big productions she was also lavished with praise from the critics. My Aunt was already done with Broadway when I knew her and had moved on to work as a soap opera actress, then a Casting Agent, and finally as an Agent. It was a nice surprise to find out that she was one of the few people to make a great success of her time in the theater.

Check out these promotional shots:

In case you were wondering, yes that is Rue Mcclanahan (Rose of the Golden Girls).

What's this? A new comic you say?

2008-12-08T21:35:00.005-06:00

Man it has been so long since I posted a "prepost" comic that one of the guys in the "Coming Soon" section has had a second kid and the other one is no longer becoming a priest! In my group of yet to be published contributers there have been divorces, new jobs, and even deaths. Life just kept whizzing by during the long sabbatical I took to better care for my wee one.

(Emphasis on Wee)

Achewood

2008-12-07T22:50:00.002-06:00

I took this picture after Tony got to meet his favorite comic author Chris Onstad who writes ""Achewood" which if you haven't seen it...what is wrong with you? We didn't get a picture with Onstad because Tony was brimming over with nerd-love. Also Alice was getting sleepy.
We took Alice home and I told Tony he should go back to the signing. Tony looked at me like I was the best wife ever and pranced out of the house giggling.

Here is how Tony is the best husband ever. He was last in line at the end of the signing (Last Man Standing: a la the Great Outdoor Fight- that's for the Achewood fans) and he gave Chris Onstad a book of my comics! Sweet sweet man. This is something I would have been too embarrassed to do myself. So in honor of his brave marketing initiative I am finally updating my comic site. The comic I am loading is a re-run but it is in honor of JOE who got a little something special signed by Onstad that is coming to Lubbock for X-mas!!

Tomorrow...new comic. I promise.

Shriek!

2008-12-02T23:48:00.004-06:00

We had a great time visiting with my Mom and sister in Albuquerque in early November. I always enjoy going home even though the unpopulated mesa I grew up on is rapidly becoming swamped with shopping malls and condos. The best part about going home is witnessing the ongoing love affair between Alice and my Mom. I leave the two of them alone while Tony and I go to see a movie ("Zack and Miri make a Porno"- delightful flick...don't go see it Mom) when I return my Baby has learned a whole passel of new tricks. Like clenching her gums and gritting out "DA!" at Tony. Or giving damp baby kisses directly to my glasses (joy!). Or biting Mommy on the shoulder to alleviate teething.

The kid is wild for Mom and I think the feeling is mutual. On our first night we were having a lovely dinner (Mom brought Chinese to the hotel room so we wouldn't have to put Alice to sleep late) Mom was holding the kid and made herself sad just thinking about Alice leaving in six days!

One of Alice's most notable tricks from her Grandmother visit is her new screaming yelp. Now when she is happy, sad, or pensive Alice expresses herself in a shriek that only dogs and Mommy can hear. The picture above is a demonstration of a happy yawlp. I would show pictures of our trip, but alas I downloaded all my photos to my Mom's computer and then accidentally deleted them from my camera.

It was great seeing my buddy Marcie over our visit and again, it would be great to show picture proof, but I've got nothing. We will just have to go see Marcie again soon or lure her here to Austin!

First babysitting

2008-12-02T23:28:00.006-06:00

Alice with Cousin Chris:

Alice with Cousin Ben:

Technically speaking Alice has been baby-sat before by My Mother and Tony's folks. However, Grandparents could arguably not be considered babysitters in the traditional sense. As they are not of the teenage- raid the fridge/ textmessaging- variety. Up until last week no one without a driver's license has ever watched Alice. That all changed when we arrived in Dallas for Thanksgiving.

We were invited to spend the holiday sleeping at my Grandparent's home. It was wonderfully comfortable and my Grandmother cooked an excellent meal. You can see her in the background of Ben's photo. This is probably the only time she will want me to post her picture on the internet as she is not fond of being photographed (she looked lovely though).
Upon arrival at my Grandparents house my cousin Chris (see above) immediately asked if we would like him to watch Alice. How's that for service? I used to babysit both Chris and Ben in their early days and it is nice to see some return on that investment! Ben also offered to watch the kid as he lives here in Austin. But since Ben is working and getting ready for college I think he can skip sitting on the baby.

I'm going to date myself now: What's with the long hippie hair on kids these days? You guys look nice but I don't get the new "cool" fashions. I'm not hip. Ben explained that his hair is long because his girlfriend prefers long hair. Ok, that I get.

P.S. I should add that my Grandfather (Jack Towne PHD) cooked the bird, and it was delicious!

First (extended) sit

2008-12-02T23:14:00.004-06:00

One of the people we visited over Thanksgiving was my sister-in-law Becky who makes the most delicious carrot soup. We had a little luncheon at her home and, among other things, watched Marilyn (my niece) practice sitting up. Alice had not really gotten the hang of sitting up yet without assistance. But it seems to me that Marilyn is a very good role model for her cousin because Alice chose that afternoon to emulate Marilyn and sit up on her own for a ridiculously long time.

Note: This video might be more interesting for Grandparent and Great-Grandparent types as it is very monotonous.
I think you can even hear Becky deadpanning the word, "fascinating" and Bro-in-law Mike saying, "Blog entry!"

First food

2008-12-02T22:54:00.005-06:00

Alice had her first official food yesterday. It was celery. Let me explain.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday we traveled to Dallas and spent time with our DFW clan. We went to a lovely leftover party the day after Thanksgiving at Tony's Aunt and Uncle's house. This is a place that is always jam-packed with babies and veteran parents. One of those is Tony's excellent cousin David who gave me some crackerjack parenting advice. The subject was teething remedies and David said that he and his lovely wife Kristy used cold celery on sore baby gums with their four boys. The strings in the celery prevent potential choking if a bit should be bitten off by exuberant chewing, with the proviso that you must monitor the baby during this process because you can't trust the little buggers.
Thus Alice had her first food which she mostly drooled on and gazed at adoringly.

The post-Thanksgiving party was great. I loved that other parents were doing sweet things for Alice like casually handing her something non-toxic to play with when she got bored or wipe her chin when it got damp. Alice seemed overjoyed by the company of other small folk. Especially her cousins Andy and Marilyn.

I think that little Marilyn showed a graciousness beyond her age by allowing Alice to dive on her toys. Marilyn's Mom Karen says that Marilyn probably didn't notice the toy thievery, but I think my niece is just an uncommonly sweet girl.

In any case it was nice to see the two baby mohawks together.

Long time no see

2008-12-02T22:31:00.005-06:00

Due to a flurry of travel I have been shamefully absent from this blog. Also the kid has begun waking up from her naps (and at night) whenever she hears my keyboard clacking. So there you go. As you can imagine baby sleep is sacred.

A lot has happened during my sabbatical:

Alice took her 1st flight:

The kid and I tagged along on a business trip with Tony to my hometown of Albuquerque.
Alice behaved beautifully on the plane. I was worried about the change in altitude so I gave Alice a pacifier to pop her ears. The take-off didn't seem to bother Alice at all. However, the landing obviously caused her some pain. Poor baby. She didn't cry but she looked up at me as if to ask "What's happening and why does it hurt?"
Nursing really worked better than the pacifier. It was tricky balancing the safety of having her strapped into the carseat (it wasn't a full flight so we didn't have to buy a ticket to use her seat) with wanting to prevent Alice's crying with nursing as we changed altitude.
The only real problem we had was a diaper explosion during our stop in Lubbock (shout out to the Howe family!). It was one of those deals where the entire back of the kid was painted in poop. Gross but all too common. We couldn't put Alice on her back in our seats (no room/ lots of poop) and the bathroom changing table was a joke. So we had to strip the kid while she was standing up and wipe her down. At that point Alice did start wailing. I'm sure that if I were standing naked on an airplane covered in poop I would also cry.
Once we were back in the air all was joy and light. Alice had a good time sleeping and playing with her toys.

First Concert

2008-11-10T00:08:00.002-06:00

My Dad and his girlfriend Jill are in town this week and they took us to a Loudon Wainwright III concert. This was Alice's first concert. It went pretty well. The venue was the Cactus Cafe in the UT student union building. It is a smoke-free small room and the music and crowd were pretty low-key. I had Alice in the baby carrier for the first half of the show and she just fell asleep. She would have made it through the whole show (which started at 6:30 pm to jive with her bedtime) but the opening act went way over...also it was horrible.
It was a lady who basically sung her diary. It was all about love being a gun, which she used to hunt her love, who rejected her love, like a dove, etc. Not a hint of self awareness in the whole set. It was pretty brutal. I skipped out into the lobby with the kid and saw another audience member on her cell phone telling a friend how bad the music was killing her. We caught eyes and she hung up to commiserate with me. The lady said that she ran a program for kids with behavioral problems and was constantly barraged with folks who wanted to "work with the kids" when in reality what they wanted was to "get lots of attention". She assured me that the songstress warbling inside the cafe was just the type.

Loudon was great. He is a very funny guy. Here is the best part of the evening. He finished his sixth or seventh song (it was about drinking with his Mom) and Alice let out a little cry. It was the first noise she made all evening and Tony hustled Alice outside right away. Louden said that he had seen her earlier in the evening, that she was a very good baby, and that he wanted to dedicate his next song to her! This is what he sang: Be Careful There's A Baby In The House
This track happens to be on his new album, so I'm sure he keeps an eye out for kids at most shows, but it was really sweet.

New Skill

2008-11-01T19:56:00.004-05:00

Now that she can self-pacify I can go on vacation.