Possession

First, I hope I haven't turned-off family and friends completely by not posting for so long a time.

We just returned from 6 days of x-mas vacation to Kent, CT and NYC, and we survived. Harper was amazing. She continues to be the best baby ever. She allowed at least 15 people to hold, pet, and play with her at the Christmas party. She stayed up past her bedtime for several nights without a fuss. She ate everything fed to her at many restaurants, and home-cooked meals. She even opened her Christmas present from Rick and I and immediately hugged and kissed the sock monkey. I cried.

Now, she was in a fabulous mood; however, I must mention the night she was possessed. We went to NYC and Rick and I requested Ethiopian food: something we can't find in Williamsburg, VA. Harper ate it, and I am convinced the "E", as I am calling it, caused her soul to be vulnerable to possession by a puppy. That night she woke-up at 11:30PM and was completely awake until 5:30AM. She wasn't fussy. She just wanted to play. First she rolled around in her travel tent. It looked like 3 wild bore were trapped inside. Then we brought her into our bed where she clicked her tongue against the top of her mouth for 20 minutes. THEN, she suddenly learned how to give kisses and leaned to-and-fro from mommy's face to papa's face OVER and OVER and OVER again. Really.

So our NYC plans the next day were scaled-down. We did ride the subway. Saw 30 Rock and the tree. Ate Ethiopian (never again), Hungawi (our fav. NYC restaurant), and bought an "Anarchy in the Pre-K" t-shirt at a flee market.

Lily Dog

Rick, Harper, I had a wonderful walk with Osa last night. Our last walk with her as the only dog in the house. My mom and Lily arrived late last and we will all be together until Monday. Lily and Osa are getting a long, and Harper and Lily are already good friends. Bittersweet.
Here is a video of Lily:

Where To Start

My first update is our very sad doggy tale (forgive pun). I babysat Harper's friend Nina on Saturday. The three of us went to the park that is just behind our house. Osa jumped the fence, ran over to the park, and attempted to bite Nina. It was horrifying. Nina was not hurt, didn't even have a mark, but was crying and crying until I picked her up and ran home after tying Osa to a tree with my baby-carrier. After this Rick and I knew we could not keep Osa. Rick and cried. My heart and stomach are still in knots. But, after a few days of brainstorming and trying to figure out how not to euthanize our dog (like our vet recommended), we came up with a great idea. My mother and I are going to trade dogs. My mother has a two-year-old yellow lab named Lily who is on her way today. My mom will spend some time here in Virginia and then take Osa home with her. I know Osa will have a wonderful new home with a nice fenced yard and no pesky children in her backyard.

Next update is that Harper is having severe separation anxiety which is all the more annoying traumatizing because I work from home. Her caregiver is in the house and every time I talk Harper starts crying. I did a conference call outside today. AND to top off the craziness of this development her regular nanny, Leslee, is on vacation this week so we have a fabulous babysitter filling-in, but Harper doesn't know her. Ugh!

VIDEO: Harper Walking, Osa Barking

VIDEO: Harper Playing

Video Warning: Baby Butt

One Year Checkup

I promise more photos, videos, and writing this week. But first the stats.
One year well-child check-up was this morning. Harper is perfect as usual.

Height: 30 inches (78%)
Weight: 21 pounds (49%)
Head Circumference: 18 inches (68%)

We have started a mix of toddler formula and whole milk that seems to be agreeing with her. She is crawling super-fast, standing-up with furniture, but not showing a strong inclination to walk. She now "dances" to music (sitting, rocks her hips back and forth). And the newest and funniest addition to her routine is shaking her head back and forth when she doesn't want something.

Oh, and her sense of humor seems to be geared towards Three Stooges comedy stylings, in other words she hits mommy on the head with blocks and laughs when I say "ouch."

VIDEO: Harper's Tripod Crawl

So, Harper is really moving and shaking. She has a ridiculous looking crawl which I have dubbed "The Tripod", all the kids will be doing it this summer. She also pulls-up on furniture, and is very very good and sneaking away to play with the stereo.

VIDEO: Ride of the Harper: our trip on "Peaches"

Here is a video of Harper riding in our new cargobike to the marina:

Empowering Head Scarf

So, I am totally loving the alternate Lady Gaga video of Let's Dance. And I can't decide what I love more: the head scarf, the driving gloves, or the sky high heels:

Video: Harper Helping With Laundry

Pop-Culture Phenomena

So, some of you may have read the two articles on the latest subject of pop-culture criticism: marriage.

Essay #1: "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," by writer Sandra Tsing-Loh in The Atlantic
Essay #2: "A Vindication of Love", by essayist Christina Nehring

Essay number one does a fair amount of whining about the realities of a marriage that I am glad I wasn't a part of, and seems to come to a conclusion that some generalized requirements of modern married life are incompatible with marital bliss.

Essay number two compares literary romance across the ages with the reality of modern married life.

Both essays have gotten a lot of press in the various news/opinion sources I read, and I haven't linked to the articles because I am annoyed by them.

Essay number two annoys me because it seems to belong to the same argument that violent television/video games cause real life teen violence. As if modern men and women cannot separate dreams and fantasies from reality. I loathe the usage of this argument against anything; especially relating to adult behavior.

Essay number one: well, it reminds me of my beef with the book 'Eat, Pray, Love' or 'Wallow, Brainwash, Gluttony' (this may be unfair as I never even finished the 'Eat' part). Marriages work. Marriages fail. People can be assholes. People can be selfless, caring, supportive. Marriages can be working and failing and bliss and annoying all within the same 5 minutes (all this applies to parenthood too as far as I can tell in 9 months).

I guess I am just grumpy as these essays seem lazy, and whiny to me. And they seem to want to convince me that marriage can't work. While I can't see the future, and I have seen several of my friends' marriages end in divorce I am still a believer that even a failed marriage was worth the time and energy if only for a good story. And these two essays just aren't good enough stories.

Video: Harper At Virginia Beach

Video: Harper Driving

9 Month Harper Well Child Checkup

We had our 9 month dr appt. this morning. Dr. Grahm's opening statement is "she's been out as long as she was in." And yes she has. Amazing that she was 2 cells about 9 months ago.

Height: 28.5 inches (75%)
Weight: 20 lbs 1 oz (66%)
Head Circum: 17.76 inches (77%)

She has two lower front teeth, the ability to pull herself up. Still no real crawling, just pushing herself around and around in a circle on her belly. But we all had to start somewhere.

Video: Harper holding on and 'walking'

In case I get in an accident...

Apparently it only takes 3 minutes for me to pump out a pint of blood, so if I get cut, get me to the hospital!
I learned this today while donating blood.
Also, according to the Mayo Clinic, it takes 650 calories to produce a pint of blood, so I don't feel do bad about the doughnut and turtle bar I ate afterward!

Well, I was going to post an image but...

So I went in today to get a small cyst removed from the back of my lower neck. I had the option to have a dermatologist/plastic surgeon remove the cyst, but since it was small and not on my face I decided to just have my internist do it. After 20 minutes of him tugging around unable to remove what proved not to be a cyst, but a fairly stubborn and deep lipoma, he finally removed the small lump which now needs to go to the pathologist (totally harmless and I am not worried at all). I have 3 stiches and am a bit sore. I did a quick google images search on lipoma to find something, and, well, I can only recommend that you NOT do a google image search on lipoma. Yeah, I would even recommend searching for 'pink eye' before lipoma.

10 Things We Have Learned About Harper: May 2009 Edition

1. She has a strawberry intolerance.
2. She has "breath holding spells."
3. She can charm the pants off a paramedic (see number 2).
4. Harper could care less about seeing movies at the theater.
5. She loves dumping movie-theater-size-large Sprite on her mommy.
6. Unless something changes she will probably walk before she ever crawls.
7. The nicknames "doodle" and "noodle" are the only ones that have stuck.
8. She loves the local baby pool.
9. She doesn't yet have the palate for quinoa.
10. She does better having a viral cold than mommy does.

Just Donated To Planned Parenthood

I just made a small donation to Planned Parenthood because of my anger over the murder of Dr. George Tiller.

If you feel moved please do the same:
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/

100 Days March 23 - 28

Somehow I missed a day, and it's this one from 3/18:
f3.5, 1/80, ISO 640, 18mm

March 24 - f5.6, 1/3200, ISO 640, 18mm - Harper checking the texture of the plants near Cathedral Rock in Sedona

March 25, 2009 - f4.0, 1/30, 50mm lens - Grandma Didi watches Harper learn about her bottle

March 26 - f3.2, 1/40, 50mm lens

March 27 - f13, 1/250, 18mm - Mom and Harper help me celebrate my b-day at the Grand Canyon

March 28 - f2.0, 1/25, 50mm lens

Should These Be Tweets?

* So, when the baby literature says don't feed your 8.5 month-old strawberries, don't do it!

* I got a laptop stand that just kicks ass and actually got me working at my desk instead of in bed today.

* Trying to get a babysitter so Rick and I can see the terminator movie on Friday night - fingers crossed (also that it doesn't suck).

* Neighborhood pool opens this weekend. You couldn't get me in that water with a full wet suit.

* Neighborhood pool cleaning resulted in many tadpoles added to our pond - did any survive the appetites of our fish?

* "Is it harder to hit a point with a plane or a plane with a point?": our science-y bathtime conversation inspired by watching Harper bang her bath toys against each other.

Unkie Michael Does All The Hard Work

Harper And Osa play

Total Kid Chaos At Lisa and Mike's BBQ

Featuring: Harper, Carlee, Nina, Annabell, and baby Nina:

100 Days March 18 - 22

March 18, f3.5, 1/60, ISO 640, 18mm - Harper discovers the short-lived joys of gravity and toys

March 19, f2.5, 1/15th, ISO 400, 50mm lens - Harper goobers up the comb to get the mohawk higher

March 20, f2.5, 1/60, ISO 400, 50mm lens - Harper and mom on the plane to AZ

March 21, f6.3, 1/20, 18mm lens - Didi looks on as Harper and Diana celebrate being in Sedona

March 22, f5.6, 1/10th, 18mm - Steve feeds Harper in the back of the (rental) family truckster

Nitro Powered Advancement

When Harper decides to do some advancement she goes all in. This morning Leslee and I could feel her first tooth. Which may explain the extreme snot-nosedness, drooliness, and lack of napping the last few days. AND then, Leslee cheered Harper along with the Raggedy Ann doll and Harper scooted a good 3 feet. Then she beat me at chess.

Video: Harper, Osa, And A Floor Banana

Scoochin'

Poor Daddy Rick. First Harper started clapping. She clapped for me, for Rick's boss, for Rick's boss's boss, but not for daddy for a full 24 hours.

Yesterday she scooched for the first time, and it was at our friends Abby and Arild's house. Arild got to see it, but Rick was at work. At least she put on a command performance this morning. Of course, video will be forth coming.

I don't know why I am excited about this. I can no longer leave her on the bed while I brush my teeth, or on the couch while I get ready to go out. Heck, I won't be able to leave her in the middle of the kitchen while I make dinner.

As a preparatory measure I went on the run this morning. I will try to get in shape before the real mobility gets going.

Ladder from a Leprechaun

I think I may have just committed to buying an extension ladder (for cleaning our always filled gutters) from a Leprechaun. First piece of evidence: when he replied to my email that I sent him through craig's list, he signed it "Tooraloo, t.j.". I immediately had a wave of nostalgia of my grandmother singing tooraloo raloora (an Irish lullaby) to my sister and I when we would go to sleep at their house. (I sing this to Harper now sometimes.). Second piece of evidence: when I called him to confirm the details, I thought it must have been his wife answering the phone. After a little bit of the conversation I realized that he just has a tiny, spritely voice, with a strong irish accent.
We'll find out tonight if it's true. He'll probably turn out to be 6'6" and 280 pounds, and the voice is nothing but ironic.

Yep, Another Video.

I know I have been super-blogger-lazy with just posting videos, but here is another. Harper is slowly learning to quinch her own thirst, well, actually she has barely learned this I am just being hopeful.

100 Days March 13 - 17

March 13 - f5.6, 1/60, 18mm - Camy plays with Harper in front of the fire

March 14 - f4.5, 1/30, 24mm - Camy seems to enjoy feeding Harper.

March 15 - f4.2, 1/60, 35mm

March 16 - f3.5, 1/60, 18mm, ISO 640 - What? Camy left and it's just you guys?!

March 17 - f3.5, 1/60, 18mm, ISO 640 - Diana teaches Harper to be gentle with the dog...as I use Osa as a footrest...

100 Days March 8 - 12

March 8th, 2009 - f6.3, 1/60, 18mm - breakfast with (from left to right) Nina, abbey, Meagan, Harper, and Diana

March 9th - f6.3, 1/60, 18mm


March 10th - f4.2, 1/20, 38mm - Diana plays one of the training violins for Harper

March 11 - f3.5, 1/20, 18mm, ISO 1600

March 12 - f5.6, 1/60, 18mm - Aunt Camy came to visit!

Harper And Silly Ducks In Sedona

We saw these ducks mating in the pool. That is why we stuck to the hottub.

Video: Bouncing in Sedona

Video: Trying to distract in the doctor's office

Chestertown, Maryland

We went to Chestertown, Maryland this Saturday and Sunday to visit friends (especially their new adorable baby: Madeline). This resulted in some great photos:
http://s9s.net/Chestertown09/

Harper's Bitter Beer Face

Sophie The Giraffe (from trip to Chestertown)

Lesson Re-Learned

This morning I re-learned a lesson from basic high-school chemistry class: do not stick your face directly over a container because you cannot know the effects of the contents. Especially, do not inhale directly over the container.

Well, Harper's diaper pail was almost full, but I thought it could hold a few more diapers so I grabbed the top of the garbage bag and shook it around a bit to remove some of the unused space. Well, the air in the unused space shot directly into my face. I gagged. My eyes watered. My nose still smells the odor.

Sedona Photos

Sedona photos are finally up. Yay! See here: http://s9s.net/Sedona/

Today was beautiful, sunny, and relaxing; especially after a horrible evening of trying to get Harper to go to sleep, which she finally did at 9 PM (2 hours past her bedtime - ugh!).

Thank goodness it is sunny as our clothes dryer is not producing heat so we rigged up a $120 clothes line with our ice-climbing dry-rope. At least it is being used for something in Virginia.

If I Were A Bee

Rick should be very glad he wasn't a bee.

Seriously, the Green Porno series is amazing. Isabella Rossellinni demonstrates the mating techniques of various animals. Here is one of my favorites. I recommend to watch them all:

Sedona We Cough All Over You

Sedona downtown is wayyyy built up in a very unattractive way. However, the house we are staying in is lovely, owned by Australians and full of aboriginal art. The views are amazing, and the drive we took through Oak Creek Canyon was lovely. Now, you might ask why we are driving in a place that is made for hiking. Well, Harper came down with a cold the day we arrived, then mommy came down with the same cold. There isn't anything much sadder (yet non-lethal) than a eye-watering, sneezing mother holding a snotty, coughing 6 month old. So here we are, still enjoying the vacation despite the Virginia virus that stowed away.

Sedona Here We Come

Rick, Harper and I head to Sedona tomorrow morning. We are actually staying at a home Jane Russel lived in, and of course we will watch 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' while we are there. Here's to travel with family and friends (and hoping that the 3 hour time change doesn't mean harper wakes up at 4 AM)!

Aunt Camy's Visit

So Harper has almost met all of her relatives (Unkie Kevin and Aunt Mira are still on the list).

Aunt Camy came into town last weekend and we had an excellent time: hanging out while it rained, going on brief walks, dinner at Abby and Nina's, and weird sales-pitch at Williams-Sonoma that was supposed to be a knife skills class.

For some super cute pictures, mostly of Camy feeding Harper, check out the new photo album:

http://www.s9s.net/CamysVisit/

6 month check-up

It has been awhile since a text blog post, mostly due to my weird love/hate relationship with my computer.  I love working on my computer, but I have a hard time spending my non-work time in front of the screen. My work hours have been cut a bit for the next few weeks, or maybe a couple of months. The silver lining is that I only have Leslee come 3 days a week and I get all day with Harper on Thursday and Friday. Last week we had friends over on Thursday, and went to the library, yoga, and took a walk on Friday. Followed by a date night to see the Watchmen for me and Rick.

I will probably make many an enemy by saying this but I really like the changes made in the Watchmen movie, I thought the story held together well, and I cared about the screwed-up world.  I missed the newstand scenes, but Rorschach made the film for me. I had tears in my eyes when he demanded not to compromise and made Dr Manhattan ...

We had Harper's 6 month check-up today. She is a fabulous healthy baby:

Height: 26.5 inches (60%)

Weight: 17 lbs 5 oz. (75%)

Head Circumference: 17 inches (75%)

100 Days of Harper - March 1-7 2009

1/13, f2.5, 50mm lens, ISO 640 - sorry to get mushy, but I love my wife and my baby so damn much.

1/13, f2.5, 50mm lens, ISO 400 - mmmm pears

1/100, f2.8, 50mm lens, ISO 400

1/30, f2.0, 50mm lens, ISO 640

1/30, f2.0, 50mm lens, ISO 640 - pears > peas

1/50, f2.8, 10.5mm fisheye - mommy and me yoga!

1/60, f2.8, 10.5mm fisheye, flash - happy fun massage time!

100 Days of Harper - February 26-28 2009

1/13, f1.8, 50mm lens, flash, self-timer. 

1/13, f2.2, 50mm lens

1/13, f1.8, 50mm lens

100 Days of Harper - February 20-25 2009

1/60, f5.6, 18mm - Grandpa Chuck looks on happily as daughter plays with Granddaughter

1/15, f3.5, 18mm, ISO360 - Diana contemplates the challenegs of raising a baby in the traditional housing of the Native Americans when the Europeans settled Jamestowne

1/50, f5.6, 18mm, flash - timer portrait of the family. From right, Chuck, Sharon, Harper, Diana, and Rick

1/50, f3.5, 18mm

1/50, f3.8, 27mm, flash - big air for Harper

1/60, f5.6, 18mm - Harpers first drink from any kind of cup. She's sure seems to like it.

100 Days of Harper - February 15-19 2009

1/20th, f5.6, 18mm - Grandma Didi in town. We're at brunch at the Virginia Diner

1/8, F4.0, 18mm, ISO 400 - Diana stretches with Harper at our friends Abby, Arild, and Nina's house

1/6, f4.0, 29mm, ISO 1600

1/15, f3.5, 10.5mm fisheye, ISO 1600 - this is part of my "Harper's eye view" series

1/50, f16, 10.5mm fisheye - 2nd in Harper's eye view. We're walking in the park. Harper is in the sling that Grandma Susu made for her/us.

100 Days - Sat, Feb 14th

30 sec at f 3.5, 18mm, ISO 320

Finally captured the super awesome light display from her mobile.  She and daddy watch the mobile lights every morning. And no no no do we ever leave her unattended on the changing table (oops).

100 Days - Friday, Feb 13th

1/2 sec at f 3.2, 50mm, ISO 320

The whole family (gotta love the camera timer). Harper giving the cute eyes to the camera. These days she is more into looking around than eating in the morning.

100 Days - Thursday Feb 12th

1/15 sec at f 3.5, 18mm, ISO 500

Playing in the bedroom before we really get a start on the day. Look at those super strong legs!

100 Days - Wednesday Feb 11th

1/50 sec at f 1.8, 50 mm, ISO 500

She is enjoying her car seat more and more (thank god).

100 Days - Tuesday Feb 10th

1/20 at f 1.8, 50mm, ISO 500

Harper completely bored with eating. Or she might be completely bored with my Steven Tyler look.

100 Days - Monday Feb 9th

1/8 sec at f 3.5, 50 mm, ISO 500

Dinner time with Harper in her big girl chair.

100 Days - Sunday Feb 8th

Feb 8th: f 5.6, 18mm, ISO 200 (Diana posting here and I have no idea what these numbers mean so I hope I am documenting them correctly).

Diana, Harper, Lisa and baby Nina at the First Colony Marina. Beautiful sunset. Beautiful babies. You can't see in the photo but Harper's outfit said "Let's Play" and had little space invaders on it.