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: