Lynn's first birthday party

Lynn's 1st birthday party was two weeks ago already--we have been very busy for the past several weeks. Between getting ready for the party, family from out of the area, my work load and trying to work on papers, and on and on goes the list. I am sorry I haven't written sooner. I have also recently gotten sucked into Facebook from our friends in Aussie land. So when I am on the computer and playing instead of working-I am sending people pretend flowers, fish, ghosts, and Harry Potter spells for happiness. Very silly really but somehow it feels like I am connecting with people in a meaningful way that won't happen as much due to time limits. The first pic is of Lynn on her swings that grandpa Norm and Shelly gave her. The second pic is of Lynn on her new Porsche that grandpa Geoff and Roberta gave her for her birthday. She loves them both and the many other items and clothes she received too. She is also the best dressed at daycare. Such fun.

I love this picture--my hair has already grown back a great deal. But this makes me want to cut if all off again. I look better without hair. Isn't that weird?

July video

This is Lynn during our July vacation.

Here's a look at the swing set coming for Lynn

This is the swing set we are getting-without the slide and monkey bars. Nice wood and very stable set. Picture from King of Swings in Duluth, GA website.

Sorry so long since last post...

I am having trouble posting today. I wrote one out and it disappeared--hate that. Anyways...Diana and I have been busy with work, house stuff, playing with Lynn, weekend plans with friends, etc. We went a couple of weekends looking for a nice wood swing set, as Grandpa Norm and Grandma Shelly want to give Lynn one for her first birthday. Actually I am pretty excited about this gift--she loves swinging and was laughing in the store just trying it out. She also seemed to get a little afraid but before I could slow the swing down, she would break out laughing--so I wonder if she is getting that lose your stomach feeling and isn't sure what to think of it. Very cute. So her birthday is only three weeks away now--crazy! Last year at this time, I went on bed rest due to the high blood pressure--sure doesn't feel like it was a whole year ago. I finished my summer group on Friday and now need to write their final evaluations. I had a great group and will miss working with them. Three will return for residency this fall and one of my past spring students will be back too. So I will get to see most of them daily for the next year. I think the other two will stay in touch and that will be fun. Diana and I will have them over to the house for a party in a few weeks. They will be the first group I have ever had over--so you know they were a good group! Lynn was absolutely adorable today. She was in a good mood most of the day, drank her milk better with her new sippy cups, walked with her toy (see pic), and giggled a bunch for Diana and I when we played with her on the bed in the afternoon. I love when she giggles like that--makes me laugh too. Today we barely had to touch her thighs and tummy to get her laughing--what fun! She continues to be one of the best things I ever have done, besides marrying Diana! :)

Lynn's friend from down the street, Anna.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGm8lbWIpbE (In case the video still won't post--you can check it out for yourself. very cute! Here's Lynn's friend Anna, crawling around quite quickly and talking too! What fun!

Craig's List a hit again!

So...last weekend when we came home from buying Diana's new car, I said let's put it on Craig's list. Diana was busy reading Harry Potter, of course, and it was hard to distract her for a few minutes to help me make a basic ad up for her old car. She helped and within a few minutes we listed her car and planned to add pics the next morning after she washed the car. After lunch, we checked email and found someone was interested--long story short--sold the car that afternoon quick and easy. So Diana run in the house that evening all excited to list something else to sell. We listed the dog kennel. Although we hope to get another dog when we are ready--we plan on getting one big enough to not be able to squeeze out of the fence. And with the weather so hot here, I am not as comfortable using the kennel as I had been up north. So we listed it. Finally posted pics today, but it was too late as the guy on his way bought it and took it home right away. So now Diana is excited and looking all around the house for what else we are not using and decluttering the house--which is great! Nothing big left to sell, just small things. Diana's students came over today for a cook out. Very fun as usual--love this end of the year parties. She has some great students. And one couple has a cutie boy, only six weeks old. What a munchkin! It was great when he fell asleep on my shoulder for a while. Lynn enjoyed the numerous people to play with as the students all enjoyed seeing her awake and very playful. All in all a good weekend. Especially with babies! I worked some more on my theology paper and Diana has spent some time proofing it for me. I am almost done with it and hope to move onto the next paper very soon. I think I will tackle the personality paper next. Tiem to get ready for the week ahead. Peace my friends.

The new car and a very happy Diana

Here's a picture of Diana and Ramael from Curry Honda--great salesman. He actually drove the car to our house so we won't disrupt Lynn's sleeping schedule or get a baby sitter on short notice. Love the color!

Busy car weekend...

...I planned on writing in here this weekend, as was as doing a lot of chores around the house--but the car stuff took more time than I had accounted for. It has been a good weekend in all. Diana bought a Honda Civic and we are waiting for the color we picked to come in on the truck--shoudl be any day now. And surprise, surprise--we sold the Tercel through Craig's List on Sunday. We had posted it late Saturday night and hadn't even gotten a picture up with it and this guy emailed that he was interested. Sure enough he bought it yesterday! Wow!! Amazing!! We thought we might have a hard time selling it--but not as all. And we got three times what the Honda dealer was going to give us! Yippie! Tiny drawback is now we are down to one car and it made things a little complicated, but we worked it out. How fun! Can't wait for the new car to arrive and be in our driveway. It will be so much easier to put Lynn in with a 4 door car. And she was a doll this weekend, even after spending hours and hours at the car dealers. She is/was a real trooper!

Additional cute photos.

Lynn is having so much fun on the swing and learning how to rock her rocking chair. I can't believe she figured out how to rock in it within seconds already. Smart girl!

Feeling like a bachelor.

I know I should feel like a bachelorette, but it doesn't. I guess I feel more like a bachelor when Diana isn't home because I don't eat as well and usually end up watching more TV or playing computer games than doing something productive--stereotypical single male behavior. And the fun part--I am going to go out with the girls a few times this week as well. Thought about trying a strip club, but they are all too cheesy and sketchy for me. Guess I am a woman after all! Ha! So tomorrow a friend and I will hit the pool hall and Friday night another friend and I will hit somewhere else. In the meantime, Diana and Lynn have been enjoying their vacation time with more swimming and swinging. Lynn seems to recognize my voice on the phone which is neat. And Diana is enjoying the lake and time with family which is great. I am okay with them being away and haven't been the basket case I expected I would be--but it is getting old and I look froward to having them home soon. I miss hugging them so much the stuffing comes out! In the meantime, I have been not so bachelor like and have done shopping and straightening out around the house. Next on my mental list is laundry, vacuuming, yard work, and more straightening. Today we have been married three years--I thought it was four, because I feel we have shared so much, it feels like it can't be so little time. Nevertheless, I love my wife and look forward to spending many more years together. Enough time that we barely remember being without each other. :) Note: the family picture is awesome isn't it?!

Lynn on the swing

Can't figure out why this pic is sideways--isn't in iphoto, but alas it is here. She loved it and looks so big compared to the previous time we took her to a swing.

Vacation--first days.

She is all tuckered out after her first swim in White-Lake.

Busy and fun weekend.

Well, yesterday we walked our little legs off walking through the booths at Gay Pride. Had lots of fun and Lynn enjoyed the ride through the crowd. Today we played at home and then went bathing suit shopping -which is always a struggle. Four stores later,we each have some suits to chose from to wear next week on vacation. Lynn never got a chance to sit in her pool this weekend. We were too busy. So I will leave it out and she can play in it tomorrow with the baby girl Anna from down the street. And somehow the weekend is over already and I didn't get done nearly as much as I needed to! Clothes need to be washed and put away. Need new sheets on the bed. And we need to start packing. Plus I haven't finished my own eval for this CPE unit due on Tuesday. Oye! What can I say!

Great weekend--swimming for Lynn!

This picture is of Lynn in her new tiny swimming pool in the backyard. She didn't like it at first but then got used to it and was splashing around and playing with some toys. Yesterday we took her to Diana's cousins house where they go swimming in their community pool. Lynn loved that water just fine, so it may be a temperature thing or that we were in the water with her in the big pool. Either way we are getting her used to water for our summer vacation which is already only weeks away! What fun we had watching her play with the water. And she slept great too after all that fun playing. We worked on those cabinet latches--what a pain in the butt! Got our bathroom cabinets done but got fed up with the drawers. Then Lynn was up from her nap and we had to move on to other things. I told Diana, we should start looking for a new house to buy that comes with these latches already installed. Oh well. We got more chores to catch up on. See ya soon.

Oh one more thing...

Lynn loves my shaved head!

Lynn had a bunch of firsts yesterday.

This weekend has been very eventful for Lynn. She had many firsts on Saturday--so you know she was a very busy girl! Let's see...where to start? Well, she has discovered that military style crawling is easier than to keep struggling to stay on her knees and she can get where she has been dying to go now. So...she has been moving around the floors quite well now and it doesn't matter if it is hardwood or rug and she is quite happy about her ability to move across rooms now on her own. She has figured out how to open the drawer in the kitchen that is at her level lying down. The one thing I haven't taken the time to install is those darn little cabinet and drawer thing-a-ma-jigs to keep her from being able to open them. Rats. I guess I have to work on them now. It seems like it will take forever to install them. Oh well. She has started pulling herself up at least to a kneeling position. She can't yet pull to full standing position but she sure wants to climb--now that is clear. She was able to move from lying on her stomach to a seated position with ease. And I think lastly, she was able to take some steps while I held her hands above her. In trying this before she has always fallen over and not been able to move her feet when prompted. So this is a big one! She enjoyed it for several steps a few times yesterday so we will continue to play with that. We have definitely crossed a new threshold and our lives will never be the same. She is mobile now and needs a new level of observation, especially in the kitchen. Oh how scary and wonderful at the same time. I took some photos of these firsts and will post them later when I get a chance to download them in between her activities and naps.

Important news to share...

well, Lynn is days short of turning nine months old. She has lived as long in the world as she did in the womb now! I got a major haircut to show my support and grief at the struggle a few of our friends are having with various types of cancer. It has been hard to hear their stories and not be able to do very much to help. So I did the walk-a-thon for breast cancer and vow to walk every year and then I shaved my head to support my supervisor in CPE as she loses her hair from the chemo. In case folks are worried I did this on a whim, know I thought about it and talked it over with several people including my supervisor to make sure she won't be offended before I had Mandi take it off for me. I don't regret it so far and Lynn seems to love playing with my head as an added bonus! Tomorrow I will see what my students and colleagues think in morning meeting. My sup will be in around noon and then she will have a chance to react too! I do hope to write in this blog more often, so don't completely give up on me--I shall return!

Feb is almost over already!

I can't believe it is the last little bit of the month already. Time is flying by! Lynn is shy of 6 months and we started her on rice cereal two days ago. She seems to like it--both eating it and wearing it. :) Lynn continues to be a very happy baby and I count us very lucky to have such an easy baby. She is doing well at "school". She sits up unsupported for long periods of time and uses both hands to play with her toys. We can see the outline of two teeth on her bottom gums--so we expect them to pop out anytime now. Lynn has been drooling and chewing on her teething rings for a while as well. She is big enough to sit up on the baby bath tub and I will try her soon in the blow-up duck one she got as a gift. Well, off to play with Lynn and Diana as one just woke up and the other came home from working today. Can you guess who is who?

The New Year...complete with major changes

Well, the New Year has started. Lynn is 4 months old and off to "school" or better known as day care. She actually adjusted quite well, although in the first week, she didn't eat much. That has changed and she eats just fine there now. Lynn is experiencing her first day care cold, but really her second cold in her life. This one is more of a icky cough. She decided to share it with Mama this time as I got the first one. So nice of her to share at a young age! Anyways...I returned to full time work and started supervising an intense January 1/2 CPE term with three students. 7 overnights this month is kicking their butts as they are halfway through it. It has been a great experience so far. Breastfeeding continues to go well for Lynn and me. I had trouble at first getting used to pumping at work 3x a day and finding the space to do so. Now I am more comfortable and have found the lactation room at the hospital that I can use as well. Lynn is able to sit up better and loves to try to stand with support as well. She is very alert and engaging with other people. Often she laughs and smiles, and occasionally we can get her to really giggle much to our delight. We moved Lynn to her own room and crib this past Sunday. She is sleeping better now and we are too but still waking up waiting to see when she is in need of a feeding, etc. I put her down for a much needed nap this afternoon--and she is still sleeping 2 hours later. Mind you she cried for the first twenty five minutes. Her day care lost power today, so I had to pick her up before lunch time. She enjoyed coming to my job for a little bit and then I left early (half day). Since I couldn't stay at work and really needed tires, I used the opportunity to get tires for my car. now I feel much safer having Lynn with me in the car, especially with rain and possible ice coming tonight into the morning. This is why her nap schedule was all off and she needed sleep badly. Oh well. Hopefully she will wake up soon so I can feed her and have some time to engage her before it is past her normal bedtime or worse she struggles to go to sleep again for hours. :(