2006 in review

Happy New Year! 2006 was a big year around here, most of it related to our new bundle of joy, Sara (if you are a newbie to this blog, just scroll down and see what I mean). There have been well over 100 different posts this year and over 4000 hits on this site (most of them in May and June). Though it is a cliche type of post, I thought that I would work through a list of ten interesting posts (or groups of posts)... well, interesting to me at least. Just clicking through the month-by-month archive on the right.

So, in near chronological order...

• Here's our first picture of our baby-to-be-named-later (now named Sara) at the time of Danette's ultrasound in January. This was a pretty exciting time, and as a surprise to me, Danette decided at the last minute that she wanted to wait to learn whether our baby was a boy or girl until she was born.

Then there are several months of pictures of Danette and her growing belly and of our preparations around the house.

• Then it was time for the big day to come... and the due date came and went (pic). We made it through Memorial Day weekend (lost our A/C!) and on Tuesday morning, May 30 - we saw the d doctor and went home and off to hospital at about 9 pm that night so that Danette could be induced.

• Then on Wednesday May 31st at 2:59pm Sara was born at 8lbs 7oz and 21.25 inches long.

• We even had our first family pic in the hospital.

• In non-Sara news: we had our 9th anniversary.

• Over the summer we had a lot of time to get know Sara, have fun, sleep a little here and there and change a lot (a lot!) of diapers. One of my favorite things (and Sara's too) was to take her outside to look at the trees and flowers, and clouds and the sky where Danette took one of my favorite pictures of me and Sara.

• One of the big things in the summer was a big trip up to see our families and for Sara to be baptised by her Grandma H.
  

• Clearly that trip (actually the longest Danette and I have taken together, ever) was a big deal and there are lots pictures and more pictures.

• In other baby-related news, Sara rolled over for the first time and we reached the stage of a mobile child. She is much more adept at this now and even sits up and is trying her darnedest to get up and crawl, but no luck on the latter yet (look for that in a 2007 in review maybe :P)

• And then there is our first holiday season with our little girl. She got a special X-mas dress seen here and here. And then had the joy of having both sets of grandparents come to visit during x-mas in new years. There are lots of pictures of x-mas events like Christmas eve here and more here.... and the all important x-mas morning.

It has been a fabulous year, lots of changes, several new adventures, and a new participant (Sara) in most important adventure of all... life. So here I will end this relatively self(family) centered retrospective and wish everyone a happy and joyous 2007 and we look forward to hearing from all of you (yes, you know who you are) one way or another... heck you could even leave a comment here and there :P

Have a Happy and Fabulous New Year!

- Steve, Danette and Sara

Woo hoo... 1st Christmas morning!

Merry Christmas! We hope everyone is having a happy holiday season like we are. Sara is enjoying her first Christmas and has even grasped the concept of presents (read: fun paper to rip and put in my mouth!). The week before Christmas was quite hectic and busy with work for both Danette and I and the weekend and holiday are a very welcome respite... very welcome indeed.

Baking this year wasn't as extensive as usual, but not a real surprise given it has to be balanced with so many things... Made a batch of chocolate chip cookies a week ago, then the all important (to me at least) Sachertorte cookies on Saturday, followed by a raspberry-rhubarb pie and the coffee cake for x-mas morning on Sunday.


Saturday morning saw the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa D. from ND. Sara woke up from a well needed nap to visitors in the house. This welcome surprise in-turn confirmed another suspicion about Sara, stranger anxiety is starting... but she still warmed up relatively quickly and is super happy with her grandparents now. We had seen hints of separation anxiety earlier this month but that's been manageable thus far.

Anywho... we all needed some lunch, so we went and tried First Watch, a new breakfast/lunch only cafe nearby. We haven't done a lot of eating out lately, so it was fun, and Sara can now sit in a restaurant high-chair for a while and chew. (yes, she is chewing like no tomorrow... teeth must be getting close). There were lots of people to look at for Sara too... and watching people come and go from the kitchen was fun too. Then the baking and some chilling out.

(Other Sara updates: she is getting increasingly mobile... lots of scooting backwards on her knees as she tries to push up onto them so she can crawl... she is getting much better at this, in addition to the spinning and rolling and other creeping around)

Sunday (Christmas Eve Day) was a big one, especially for little Sara. Danette decided an the usual Sunday morning service would work better than x-mas eve later, so we sat in a church for an hour, and she did pretty well, and even helped with some of the singing!... She was pretty tired during all of this, but would not sleep due to all the interesting things to check out. She also had the "children's sermon" literally all to herself...

After a refreshing, though too short nap... We headed out for what has become our little clan's X-mas Eve Day Lunch tradition... SUSHI! So we headed to our place of choice, Shuhei, but closed not for the impending holiday, but because it was Sunday... then we tried not one, but two more sushi places with the same result... and ended up going to a Diner near the last sushi place, instead.... not exactly the same, but lunch nonetheless. Sara was even more tired at this point. But luckily, this place was near one of the coolest local toy stores, so Dad and Sara took a stroll... After lunch it was home for a nap for all but the baker while football played in the background... yeah, those Browns. Not long after the nap, we introduced Sara to how the other half lives... opening presents Christmas Eve (see pics below). We got some dinner in there and some playing too... but it was a long day, and it was soon time to get her in bed before Santa Claus came.

Sara, was just like any other kid on Christmas morning... she must have known it was x-mas morning and Santa had been here because she was up early (despite being so tired from the day before!) at 5:30 am. She ate and then we headed downstairs to see what was in the stockings. Sara is a pro at tearing the tissue paper.... and yes, like everyone else, she got socks from Santa too! Being up so early, she had a nap and we ate breakfast, then later we all opened another gift so that Sara could have a Christmas morning experience too.

Rest of the day was pretty typical... hangin' out, reading the paper, eating, talking on the phone. Danette and I even got to go to a movie, the new James Bond: Casino Royale. Definite a good Bond movie, and possibly the best chase scene I can remember in a Bond movie, possibly any movie... the fact that it was on foot was particularly cool. This was also the first movie that Danette and I had seen since before Sara was born.

Tonight we went to see that uniquely Cleveland lighting display at Nela Park, the headquarters of GE Lighting which is literally (though I didn't know it until a couple months ago). Apparently they also do the lighting for the National Christmas Tree and do a miniature (not that small though) version of it at the facility.

So all in all, a merry x-mas and still more to come. Grandma and Grandpa D. leave tomorrow evening, but the next day we see more grandparents and grand-aunts and have even more x-mas....

Happy Holidays!!!!!

see... I know what to do with x-mas presents

 

more x-mas pictures

(1) Sara contemplating her favorite part of the presents... tissue paper! mmm, this looks like it could be tasty.
















(2) Sara and her presents. on x-mas eve.




(3) It really didn't take long to figure out what presents were meant for... tearing of paper!
















(4) Ooohhh... more gifts.

X-mas dress

Yup, it is christmas time on the southern shores of Lake Erie and our new little girl has a new dress to help spread festive cheer in... Our tree is up and decorated, and somehow there the little one already has presents under the tree (though not from her parents yet). Other decorations are up too... though in an interesting turn of fate, the fabled Santa Bears have not come out (yet?). Though now we need to clean all the storage boxes away so our x-mas visitors (grandparents!) have room to move, etc.

The usual holiday adornment of snow has disappeared. The last week the weather stuck pretty much in the upper 40's and 50's and melted it all away. The lack of winter weather is probably going to turn out good for the electrical company this year, paradoxically, because it seems like there are more houses with christmas lights this year around here... still, though, it would be okay if there is a little white stuff on the ground x-mas morning... though not too much since my parents have to drive through the U.P. then...

Well, Sara is starting to feel better... even let us sleep a little more this week. Her bugs were transferred to me, though... so that made for a long week, even had to take a day off... But fun is being had by all now.... Sara is back to being a little busybody with her toys stacked all around her while she is sitting. She can't sit up by herself yet, but she loves to be in a sitting position and play with (read: chew) her toys.

One more week of work/school/finding presents and getting into the holiday spirit. Danette's parents arrive Saturday. Before then I have a final to give, grade, and submit final grades. Danette has two day trips this next week including the first airplane trip for either of us since Sara was born. So, to that we need to finish wrapping and wrapping up our shopping.

So, given the current rate of new posts: have a Happy Holiday!

 

more x-mas dress pics

More pics of Sara in her x-mas dress taken last weekend.


 

sick... snow.... cute!

Yeah, so it has been a busy week or so since the last post. Busy as in a sick Sara last week. Two Mondays ago we took Sara into the doc again after she finished meds for the double ear infections on Thanksgiving... doc recommended a wait and see approach because Sara was going to be back in this past Monday for her 6 month checkup and shots and she could look at her ears again... etc.... well, by Thursday I had to stay home and take her to the doc again with a fever and wheezing... just some bronchiolitis typical for infants (not to be confused with bronchitis)... but one of the ear infections was back too, so they did a treatment for the chest in the office and then gave her a shot of antibiotics this time (boy did she love dad at this point!)... And she stayed home Friday as well, so a 4 day weekend for her with Danette and I doing tag-team sick child care....back monday for more shots at her 6 month appt (19 lbs 9 oz, 27.5 inches, though probably longer since she was unhappy and scrunching up)... and now we are going to a specialist for an evaluation for.... you guessed it, tubes... Sara's doc figured the answer would be to go cautious, but she encouraged the specialist opinion regardless....

and of course now Dad has the virus (can't remember the last time my ears were this plugged.. though I think my students had a little laugh at my popping my ears through all my lectures this week)


In happier news, the Saturday after Thanksgiving we say Stacey, Scott and Carter which was quite fun to catchup while they were in town to see family and go to a wedding.

We have also picked up our x-mas tree and got some lights on it (our decorating is going slowly this year) and Danette even got some ornaments on it tonight.

And in weather.... Cleveland finally decided to join the winter crowd and give us some real snow. Got the snowblower out for the first time in 2006 (yes 2006... just light snow after x-mas last year) on Monday morning, and then Tuesday morning again... snow had stopped by the time I got out Tuesday, or so I had thought. Ten minutes into cleaning out the snow it started coming down again... to the point where I started over again and got half done before running out of gas... and it kept snowing another couple inches after that anyway. So I did it all over again Tuesday night... Having a kid in the car certainly makes you more aware of the slick roads! Sheesh... Tonight and tomorrow morning is supposed to bring us even more snow that we got Tuesday... but it is hard to tell with lake effect snow... we could get none and have the town over buried..

Anyway... I love the picture on top of Sara showing her pride in the World Series Champs!... the second one is proof of her graduating to vegies in her "solid" foods... she is using squash for her blush and mascara in this picture. And finally just another pic of her moving around... this time while she is sick... yes, this kid is so naturally happy that she smiles a lot even when she is sick... gotta love her!

Well... off to sleep before another round with the snowblower.