3 months old

Man, how time flies... Sara has reached the three month mark today. She smiles, laughs, babbles and babbles and babbles, plays...errr gets frustrated with her toys (which don't easily fit in her mouth).  She tries to sit up, by trying to do a sit-up... if she keeps that up she is going to have some rock hard abs... everyonce in a while it looks like she might think about rolling over.... and then she won't even turn on her side for days.... Sara sleeps the night most of time, and eats like a champ.... and she loves to go outside and look at the sky and the trees...Basically a happy girl... with happy parents.

Another first day of school...

Yup, it is fall again (as defined by the education system, not the location of the Earth in its path around the Sun), which means school has started. The signs have been everywhere for the last week or so.... packs of 18-year olds wandering aimlessly, together... more people in the campus coffee shops, increased traffic... and well, students actually stopping by my office to say hello. Though teaching takes a bit more effort than I wish it would sometimes... it is usually fun when I am not grading paper or preparing lectures... and well, Day 1 went well and the students were reasonably engaged... hell, they were even awake!

Today represents another milestone too... the "new normal." Danette worked part time the last two weeks to help ease the family and herself into the process getting back into life in the fast lane... okay, maybe the center lane for us. Today, my classes started and Danette started full-time again... so starting today is the new normal, whatever that turns out to be.... so far it has gone fine, though we are a little extra sleepy because Sara was a little less than sleepy during the night... but that too is part of what is normal now... (hmm... where is that Diet Coke...)

All else is well, Sara seems to have really started to take notice of objects in the world and is taking to her toys now.. it is really entertaining to watch her try to stuff a stuffed, fabric cube slightly smaller than her head, using jerky newborn movements no less, into her mouth... it is a little less entertaining when she gets frustrated that it doesn work as well as she would like, but hey... she is learning. In fact, she keeps shown signs that she might roll over in the near future... which means baby proofing is commencing. I am starting with the peeling paint on the trim (in her eyesight) first (note to fellow homeowners: please do not paint over glossy paint without first sanding and priming... otherwise unsuspecting subsequent owners, or yourself for that matter, will be stuck with paint that will peel and flake if you look at it wrong, much less touch it... that ends this public service anouncement)... socket covers are mostly done already... and hopefully doors and stairs are few months off...

So, there you go....

Lastly,

Happy Birthday John - I remember this day as much for trips to the Twin Cities for events such as Lollapalooza and other things that just happened to coincide with his b-day.

And good wishes to Nate on taking his boards today!

Travelog - Summer '06 - Part II

And now for the rest of the story... (apologies to Paul Harvey)




Tuesday, August 1
Met up with my friends John and Jessica from home and their two kids Claire and Lars for a walk on the Lakewalk. After we stopped for some coffee and started walking back towards the rose garden we stopped for the kids to play on the beach. I was amazed at how many boats were going through bridge, and this one in the background stayed out in the lake for most of our visit... most of the ore boats must have been coming this direction to give the steel mills something to work on. Also went out to Grandpa H.'s office to say hey.









Wednesday, August 2
After meeting the priest to prepare for the the baptism to come, we took a shorter walk on the other end of the lakewalk to see Davis' memorial and took some pictures on the tiny peninsula where it sits. Sara got to try out the Gopher gear too. Later in the day, more friends stopped by including Rog, Jeanne, Laura and her son Logan. Sara was fascinated with Logan and was watching him most of the time.






Thursday, August 3
Took a drive up the North Shore, saw Two Harbors Light, Gooseberry Falls, stopped at Split Rock Lighthouse... but they have to be kidding with those admission rates, and then drove up to Shovel Point so that we could look back at Palisade Head. Turned around, stopped at Betty's Pies for a pickup and stopped at Culver's frozen custard for the first time (pretty good actually, though no Ted Drewes).


Friday, August 4
Chilled out a bit... I spent some time helping Grandpa work on building the new section of his garden next to the creek... while Danette and Grandma did some prep for the party on sunday after the baptism.





Saturday, August 5
More work on the garden and yard. I pulled out the pole for my old basketball hoop... Finished prep for the party. Grandma and Grandpa D. drove over from Grand Forks and family from Fargo and Moorhead were in town too, so we all had a little pizza together down at the hotel where this picture of Sara with Grandpa H. was taken.




Sunday, August 6
Party day... met Chad and Kris, Sara was baptised by Grandma H... Grandma H. even gave the sermon today. Afterwards we got some decent pics like this one with Sara in the gown that my grandma made for her kids, then we had it, and now Sara. Had some fun with ice cream after church and then back to the house for a little party to actually get to see people... and we finished off with a picture of Sara with her parents and all her grandparents.










Monday, August 7
Got moving early, had breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa D. at Perkins (mmmm, raspberry muffins....) before hitting the road and driving to Madison. We stayed with Michelle, Tom and their son Leo. We got in early enough that we were able to take a good walk and chill out a bit and catch up.


Tuesday, August 8
Final leg... Madison to home. something like 10.5 hours including a bit through Chicago... we actually drove through parts of the city to avoid construction delays... and that worked fabulously... thank goodness for http://www.avoidtheryan.com/ . Sara slept most, if not all the way. Nevertheless we made it home and I even had time to hit the grocery store to stock up a bit.

Sara goes global.... sort of...

Cute pics of Sara and Tim over here.

First phone call from Sara

So, Sara has been cooing/babbling/"Talking" up a storm lately.... so much so that I got my first phone call at work from her.  I picked up the phone and heard her distinctive ooohhhhhhooooooohhhhh ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhuuuuuuu, etc.  Pretty cool.  Probably won't be too long now until I can't get a word in edgewise.... ah welll :)

Travelog - Summer '06 - Part I

So here is the story (really pictures with bullet points) people are waiting for....

Saturday, July 22: Got up early and hit the road for Chicago to see Shantelle, Andy, and Campbell. First time we met Campbell who is about a year older than Sara. Two new states.


Sunday, July 23: Drove to the Twin Cities. Stopped by Meghan and Mark's for Ben's 3rd birthday and also saw Cindy, Brian, Ellen and little Nora who is just a little older than our little girl. Then we topped this fun filled day that started with muffins, bacon, and eggs in the Chicago 'burbs and ended it at John and Teri's new house in Albertville and meeting their girl Gracie (picking up on a theme here?). Big day, two new states and lots of new people for Sara - and Danette and I got to catch-up with lots of friends.

Monday, July 24: Twin Cities, part deux: Visited Peter and Pui in their Robbinsdale abode. First time Danette had met Pui and the first time I had seen her since their wedding. Good waffles! Then we headed over to the U to hit the bookstore and get Sara her first Gopher gear. While there we walked down memory lane... well, more like pen lane. The bookstore at the U of M always had this long wall of pens of different types and colors.... you could always find something that suited your needs... the new bookstore in Coffman is just as fine. After that stop we drove north to Grand Forks to see Grandma and Grandpa D.




Tuesday, July 25: caught up on sleep. Later in the day Danette's uncle Charles came up from Moorhead and several other people stopped by to see Sara.




Wednesday, July 26: Grandma D. had invited her school colleagues over to meet Sara, but didn't realize that her email invitation said 8:30 am not the 9:30 am we all thought... all was fine, lots of chatty school teachers catching up and wanting to get their baby-fix. Sara kind of shut down and slept through part of it.

Thursday, July 27: Chilled out.

Friday, July 28: Headed to Grandma and Grandpa's lake near Park Rapids, MN. Very hot day (like most of them on the trip)... but after we got settled... it was time for a swim in the pool (yes, the pool, not the lake - which was a good way for Sara to start). Sara did great in the pool and she is a great floater too! Met family friends from the lake that were in for the weekend.

Saturday, July 29: Spent the morning in town window shopping and such... Sara mainly napped in the stroller. Later that day we headed down and looked at Grandpa's boat and Sara stuck her feet in her first lake.

Sunday, July 30: Got up, had a leisurely morning, caught another swim, and then after lunch we headed for Duluth. Drive was pretty quick actually. Grandma H. had raspberry pie waiting... mmmmm.

Monday, July 31: Two month birthday!

More adventures in another post!

First day at day care

Well, today was Sara's first day at day care.  We both drove her there and figured out what goes where (milk, notes to care-givers), what to sign, where her crib is, etc.  That took about 20-30 minutes and then Danette left and went to work and I stayed for about two hours.  The daycare facility prefers a transition period with a parent or parents there for several hours the first few days.  Sara did great, played, sleeped, and ate while I was there.  Then I left.  A little harder than I thought it would be, but not a huge deal.  I have been leaving her at home these last few months, but I got to spend most of the last three weeks with her all day every day... and haven't left her with strangers before.  Sara did fine... perfect even.  Danette picked her up early and stayed there about an hour before she left with Sara to go home.  That was all good as well.  We kind of figured it would be because Sara likes people in general and so far doesn't mind meeting new people.  We'll do this routine for a few days and then it will be work like our new "normal."  Danette is only working part-time her first two-weeks back, so that will also let us transition and figure out our new morning and evening routines without too much stress before she is working full-time and classes start again for me.  So far so good!

and yes... yes... I am getting to new pictures and stories of our vacation and Sara.  There were a lot of pics to go through... and there are several more that will probably crop up over the time to come.

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We're back home.

Sara is 10 weeks old today and just returned from her first 2.5 week vacation... pretty rough spending a quarter of your life on vacation!  The rest of the trip went fine and we were all glad to sleep in our own beds.  I'll post pics and a little travelog at a later date... but much work awaits!

Sara's super big day

No new pictures today... but today was a big day for Sara as her Grandma H. got to baptize her today.  There were lots of people there, family from Fargo, all her grandparents, friends from Duluth, etc etc.  The timing worked great so that her godfather Chad was in town from Seattle and her godmother Laura from the Twin Cities were able to be in town too.  More pics and stories of Sara's first family vacation after we get back home... we leave Monday, have a stop in Madison Monday night and then head for home Tuesday....