Happy new year!
OK, so I still haven't posted the latest Christmas photos, so you'll have to make do with another smiley face to ring in 2007. Happy new year, everyone!
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smile
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Sunday, December 31, 2006
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Morning smile
Here's another I've been meaning to post for a while, partly because it shows off Fern's teeth (6 now!) and partly because it's such a nice smile. Sorry not to have gotten more Christmas photos posted yet (including from Greg & Linda's visit!)... I'm still playing ketchup!
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smile
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Thursday, December 28, 2006
It's in the bag
First of all, we're now about halfway through our extended Christmas celebration: thanks to everyone for all the generous gifts! Fern is enjoying everything, I swear, and you'll be seeing photos of all the new toys put to use soon. Predictably, though she's also fascinated by the packaging.
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Christmas
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Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Little lawbreaker
Fern is an unapologetic paper tearing machine. We've figured out that the airplane provides plenty of paper that can be torn (the Sky Mall catalog is the best) and some, as you can see, that probably shouldn't... and might even be a federal offense. This is from our flight home from Minnesota to the second stage of our Christmas celebrations, this time with Grandma Linda and Uncle Greg.
It's probably my fault for reading her the emergency card story. ("And then, mama passenger puts the oxygen mask on little baby passenger. Daddy passenger pulls the emergency door handle and POP! goes the escape slide!") For the past few flights, she's enjoyed playing with the card, and so we figured it was relatively indestructible. Alas, no; there might be nothing left in that category anymore.
File Under:
mischief,
travel
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Tuesday, December 26, 2006
The morning after
Just a quick Christmas morning post today; we're traveling back to San Francisco, so after a brief hiatus you'll be seeing more of our holiday adventures soon!
File Under:
Christmas,
smile
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Monday, December 25, 2006
Christmas Eve miss
Christmas Eve came with all its attendant fun. Fern and cousin Kamryn got to be angels in the St. Matthew's pageant (not pictured, unfortunately; it was too hard to get a good shot), opened some presents of their own and some of each others', played with wrapping paper, cardboard boxes, and even the toys inside, and generally were the center of attention.
Fern seems to have picked up a sniffle, unfortunately, which is making her sleep a little subpar. Nevertheless, as you can see from her picture with Grandma Joanie, Poppa Gary, and cousin Kamryn, her spirits this Christmas couldn't be better!
File Under:
Christmas,
Minnesota
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Sunday, December 24, 2006
Christmas ham
Christmas ham
Fern's had quite a few new experiences in the past few days: her first Christmas tree, the excitement of enjoying family and friends (and dogs!), feeling snow fall, and wearing pretty new dresses. All in all, she's taking it mostly in stride, and often, as you can see, hamming it up!
File Under:
Christmas,
expressions
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Saturday, December 23, 2006
A toast to toast
Fern's latest eating adventure has been into small items that can be manipulated by hand. She's been eating banana and avocado pieces for a good few weeks now, and also some special baby crackers that dissolve with just the barest hint of saliva.*
Within the past two weeks, though, Fern's been making forays into the world of chewed foods: more realistic crackers, hard boiled egg bits, and as pictured, toast, her hands-down favorite. It's gotten to the point where we have to feed her the usual baby goo first or else she'll just demand more toast and other chunk-food!
Note: There were actually several pictures from this set that came out nicely, so I posted them all. Click on "feeding" next to "Related Photos" below if you'd like to see the rest!
*Apologies if this is gross to you... I'll just say that, well, I could tell you some stories that are much, much grosser!
File Under:
feeding
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Friday, December 22, 2006
Not done babyproofing
Fern clearly knows that I haven't finished babyproofing, and she's trying to find all the cabinets and electrical outlets before I get them covered. The drawer in question, as a matter of fact, does have one of those drawer stops on it, but that didn't keep her from opening it a couple of inches and squeezing out a straw and a napkin. It's sometimes a pain having a baby who's smarter than we are.
File Under:
mischief
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Thursday, December 21, 2006
Jessica drops by
In a case of multiple fortuitous coincidences last week, Jessica just happened to be in the neighborhood, just happened to phone to drop by, and I just happened to pick up a little extra food at the market! She got to spend a little time with little Boobaby during bedtime preparations, too, which, as you can tell, didn't bother Fern one bit. (She's got good taste in friends, that baby.) Then Fern went to bed, and we all had dinner, wine, and conversation, just like we're all grownups or something! The it-takes-a-village god must have been watching over us. It's only too bad George had to work that night... we missed him!
File Under:
Jessica,
smile
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Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Getting ready to go
Fern took a much more active role in the packing process than usual, as you can see.
File Under:
smile,
travel
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Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Emma is One!
We went over to Ann & Bruce's fantastic ranch home last week to help celebrate Emma's first birthday! Fern was untroubled by the huge crowd that came out to see little Emma's party, and as you can see even got into the spirit by ripping open many of Emma's presents. Such a good friend...
Fern also discovered to her delight that when Emma's daddy Bruce gets his hands on a willing baby, he also loves to play airplane! A man after my own heart!
File Under:
Anne Bruce Emma,
celebrations
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Monday, December 18, 2006
iPod Daddy
While putting Fern to sleep, I listen to the iPod a lot. (Audiobooks and NPR podcasts mostly... no rockin' out for me!) So I thought it'd be fun to edit a picture of the process to make it look like that iPod ad campaign. (Here's how I did it, if you're interested.)
File Under:
sleeping
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Saturday, December 16, 2006
Saturday smiles
Here's another from the backlog; I took this a week or so ago, but thought it was just so cute that it deserved to be blogged! Have a great weekend, all.
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smile
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Friday, December 15, 2006
Flash Forward
Another post by Kristin!
Last week, friends Ann and Bruce came to visit with their daughter Emma. As we were hanging out with the girls, we realized that it was two days shy of the anniversary of one of my baby showers last year (hosted by friends Jessica and Sandra).
In honor of the occasion, we asked Graham to take our picture with Emma and Fern in a similar position to a photo from last year—also with Emma and Fern, but at that time in utero (Emma was about to make her appearance; her first birthday was just this past weekend, only five days after the shower!).
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Anne Bruce Emma
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Thursday, December 14, 2006
Fern's feet, finally!
For those of you wondering what ever happened to the saga of Fern's feet, here's the scoop. We went to see her podiatrist Dr. Chen yesterday, who pronounced Fern's feet just fine! There is still just the tiniest bit of curve in Fern's right foot, but it seems to be working itself out now that Fern's walking a little. If it worsens, we'll go back and perhaps get a special shoe, though Dr. Chen didn't think that too likely at this point.
So, all those sessions at the cast clinic turned out to be worth it!
Apologies for the low-quality cell phone photo...
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feet
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Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Lights, Camera ... Santa!
Another post by Kristin!
We recently visited friends Jane, Jon, Justin and Jason and found ourselves entering a winter wonderland as we turned onto their street—the entire block was ablaze with Christmas lights, and every lawn featured numerous holiday figures, many of which were animated.
Fern was beside herself with glee—clapping, laughing, waving, cooing, and nearly jumping out of my arms to get closer to the action (responding in much the same way she had with the sea lions and with a Macy’s holiday show featuring Mary Poppins).
People appeared to have driven from all over to see the lights, evidenced by the number of cars packed along the street, inching their way down the block. One neighbor reportedly pays $3,500 a month in electric bills. It was, to say the least, quite … um … stunning.
Perhaps the brightest light of all was Jason, who was celebrating his fifth birthday that day and wanted to be photographed in front of every display, grinning from ear to ear.
File Under:
Christmas,
Jane Jon
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Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Aloha Fern!
Fern loves to play our guitars. She's not particularly gentle with them, however, so we decided she should have a guitar of sorts for herself. (OK, it's a ukulele, but it's a start!) So far she's mastered plucking and beating it; strumming will come soon, we're sure!
Don Ho, eat your heart out!
File Under:
music
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Monday, December 11, 2006
Meeting the new member of the family
As an early Christmas present and with an eye to easing the housework load, Grandma Linda got us a "Roomba," the vacuuming robot. She's been an immediate success, tootling around and picking up crumbs from Fern's new favorite food (toast), cat hair, and all those bits of paper that Fern loves to shred.
So how have the family taken to it? Mostly, all of us (Fern and Carson included) just love to watch it make its merry and random way around the floors, going around (or over!) obstacles and poking under furniture. Sometimes, if it seems to be heading her direction, Fern will scurry to the high ground of our laps (and Carson finds a perch on a chair or sofa). Generally, though, she just watches, mesmerized by her new little friend!
There is one bone of contention: Kristin uses a male pronoun for Roomba, and I use a female one. I suppose, then, we need to pick a gender-neutral name for it! Any suggestions?
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Roomba
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Sunday, December 10, 2006
Posing with some locals
Catching up on the photo backlog, I came across these nice shots with local relatives Uncle Ken & Auntie Jewel from a brunch a couple of weeks ago. Nothing like having such photogenic people in the family! You may be noticing, too, that Fern is feeling more and more confident with her extended family and community, to the point where she's now seeking out people other than Kristin and me at playtime. She's already learned our tricks, after all!
File Under:
daily picture,
Ken Jewel
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Saturday, December 09, 2006
A sort-of smile
Fern's knowing smile. Have a great weekend!
File Under:
expressions
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Friday, December 08, 2006
Brush brush brush!
Part of the fun of eating solid food is getting to brush your teeth! No toothpaste, so far, although Dr. G says we can start. Oddly (for me, anyway), Fern really enjoys the process, and complains when we stop brushing!
File Under:
daily picture
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Thursday, December 07, 2006
Hippie chick
Just another picture of our two-fisted musician, showing one of our new strategies for hair restraint: the bandanna!
File Under:
daily picture,
music
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Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Music, together
Here's one I've been meaning to put up for a while; it's from a brunch about three weeks ago, shortly after Fern got some of her new musical instruments. She had a hard time picking which one to play (read: eat), so with a little help from Auntie Jewel, she's playing two at once!
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music
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Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Three-layer Fern
A pyramid of sorts: Fern and Mom, then Mom and Fern, then Daddy and his new camera.
Fern had her 10-month checkup today. She weighs 22 lbs. 11 oz., is 28 3/4" tall, and is in great health!
Monday, December 04, 2006
The eyes have it
Happy Monday! Today, a "creation"... Many apologies for my sloppy first attempts at Photoshop processing... I just kind of liked the way this one came out.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Ten Months Today!
Dear Fern,
Some 10-month faces
You're ten months old today, closing in on a whole year! The biggest development is how capable you are of really, thoroughly enjoying people and places. We went to Pier 39 a couple of days ago to see some old friends and the sea lions that crowd the docks there. You loved them. Didn't want to leave. You kept clapping at the animals, and waving, and chortling. Sea lions hold their flippers in the air to cool off (and warm up), so you waved back.
Then you started flirting with tourists. You would chortle, and smile, and wave, and chortle again, until most of the people around you were paying more attention to you than the smelly sea lions. One younger guy (from Japan, dyed blonde) wanted to take a picture next to you. Some Russians from Pennsylvania on their way to a Mexican cruise seemed to think that you'd be the highlight of their entire trip. An older guy (Greek?) said you looked just like his granddaughters except that you were a lot happier. Then you charmed a French couple even though they had their own cute 3-year old. You were like a little United Nations.
You had your first cold this month. It didn't last too long (I think it was worse for us when we caught it from you), and luckily it didn't seem to bother your sleep too much. Most days, you've started falling asleep on our laps in the rocking chair, instead of needing to be "bounced" every time. Most of the time you only need a bottle or to nurse right before you sleep, and the rest of the time you eat baby food or cereal. You are sleeping a little less — a little over 13 hours on average now — and we think it might be your teeth coming in, or just a growth spurt thing.
Everyone notices how solid you are. Your year-old friend Emma came over yesterday; she's a fair bit taller than you but I think you weigh the same. It seems to be all muscle... you are a strong little thing. And your hair is uncannily long and beautiful. And you have an incredible attention span, too. (I know, you're probably thinking that I'll always describe everything about you as perfect, but in this case it's been noticed by other people, too.)
A year ago, when we were thinking about what it would be like to have a near-toddler, we pictured all of the milestones as distinct. One day, we thought, you would say a clear word and we would know exactly what you were talking about. The next day, you would pull up to a standing position and from then on be able to do it anywhere. In reality, your learning is a lot fuzzier. Some days you seem to have a few words that we clearly understand, other days you seem to just be making sounds. One day, you'll stand really well; the next, you're still hesitant and prefer to crawl. There are days when we can play "catch" back and forth for ten minutes, and other days you'll go from toy to toy quickly.
Mostly, though, overwhelmingly, we're gratified to see how happy you are all the time. You are fascinated and pleased that the world is so well stocked with interesting things to climb over, grab, taste, squeeze, drum, and look at upside down through daddy's legs. Everything meets your approval unless you hit your head on it, and sometimes even then. It's an infectious attitude, and we can credit you with spreading a little of it to us!
So, thank you for that, and we love you very much, and we can't wait to see what the eleventh month brings!
Love,
Mommy & Daddy
File Under:
Dear Fern
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Saturday, December 02, 2006
Separated at birth? (and by 30 years...)
Still catching up on some older pictures... These are from a couple of weeks ago, when our friends Jo Anne and Alex came over for brunch and baby fun! You'll notice that Jo Anne and Fern called each other up the night before so they could dress alike and look like twins. There are a few more photos of them here.
Friday, December 01, 2006
The other T-day: tryptophan!
So finally here are some last photos from Thanksgiving weekend: the aftermath! Here's the link to the entire set.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Portrait with mom
Hey, all! Sorry it's taking me a while to get the rest of the Thanksgiving photos out, but here's a nice portrait with mom to keep you going in the meantime!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Thanksgiving!
I've posted a bunch of Fern's first Thanksgiving pictures, featuring Grandma Linda, Uncle Greg, Uncle Ken, and Aunt Jewel, here: click the link!
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Thanksgiving arrival
Uncle Greg and Grandma Linda arrived today to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with us. More photos likely soon as we feast with them and Fern's local aunt and uncle, too!
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Mommy and daddy toys are more fun
Despite loads of educational, parent-tested, 100%-safe toys, it seems like Fern's favorites are always the ones she sees us "playing" with: cell phones, cameras, guitars, and, of course, the remote control. And going somewhere new, she makes a beeline (of course) for the least safe thing in the room...
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