Wee Beastie Blog

I was there! Inauguration 2009

2009-01-22T17:09:00.006-05:00

Note: This post is put up for public viewing; however, our personal blog still remains private.

Forevermore, I will be able to say "I was there!" Monday afternoon, Sheil and I headed to Greenbelt, MD where we took the Metro to Union Station and hightailed to the Andretta's house (a mere six blocks away from the Capitol). We came prepared - thermal underwear, hand and toe warmers, winter clothes, and sleeping bags for the night. I couldn't stop singing "Its A New Day" by Will.I.Am (who did the excellent "Yes We Can" video) and smiling broadly. It took us 45 minutes just to get our Metro pass, and even though the crowd was unorganized, people were excited and super friendly. We met folks from LA, Texas, and Atlanta, plus several neighboring states. When we stepped out at Union Station it was like greeting a super-capitalistic society, which under almost any other circumstance would make me cringe. This time however, the multitude of vendors selling their Obama buttons, T-shirts, calendars, commemorative plates, mugs, and cardboard cutouts just seemed to add to the festivities.

We arrived at the Andrettas (childhood friends) at 6:30 and were told that almost everyone was taking in the festivities at the Capitol, so we headed back out for a saunter and reconnaissance mission to determine where they would be letting people in to the Mall the next morning. The Mall was fairly packed, laughter was plentiful, and so was the picture taking. We took photos of the Capitol (for the mere purpose of being able to say that "This is what it looked like the night before"), located the nearby Porta-Potties, and walked our way down to 4th street. Security was tight, armed guards visible from every crevice. After about an hour, we headed back to our "bunker," a mere six blocks away from the Capitol.

At the Andrettas we met up with David's folks and widow Mel and partook of some fantastic lasagna. We were entertained by a myriad of folks, in particular one of Mel's colleagues from Canada and a friend from London, both of whom had flown in to see the Inauguration. Politics was on everyone's mind and we speculated on what the next few months will hold as we munched on HOPE cookies while wearing our festive beads and hats. Sheil and I were the only ones who went to bed with the plan of waking up at 4 the next morning. I was nearly afraid that we would snooze the morning away.

But we didn't. At four in the morning we awoke, took nearly thirty minutes to get ready (a reflection of how long it takes to put on five layers of clothing and fit all necessary accessories and food into our jacket pockets!). We headed out the door at 4:35. The night before it had taken us about 20 minutes to reach the Capitol; with the blockades in place we expected to be on the Mall around 5:15. We arrived at the 3rd Street entrance and were told that it was closed and that we should try the 7th Street entrance. We walked briskly down the street, hand in hand, trying to weave ourselves through the thousands of people who were already lining up along the way and to avoid the buses that were driving up towards the Capitol. When we arrived at 7th street and were told that we had to go further to 12th street, we nearly panicked. We had expected that there would be some people there ahead of us, but definitely not so many. While many folks kept walking, we found the side gate next to the Smithsonian Castle opened, walked through their garden and spilled onto the Mall. The fairly empty (by comparison to what we were expecting) Mall was a wonderful relief. We jogged, walked, sung, shouted "Obama!" back to those who were doing the same, all the way to the first section available for folks without tickets. In the pitch blackness, we could see the Capitol and not much else. It turns out that we ended up in the first section for people without tickets. If you click on the image below, the red arrows show you the general area where we were.

The Capitol before sunrise

Flags waving in the dark

We were disappointed that we were nowhere near a Jumbotron (giant TV), but decided that proximity was better than actually seeing the event. While we were going through the introductions with the people around us whom we were planning on spending the next six hours with, piles upon piles of flags were passed overheard - enough for everyone present to have one. Singing broke out in random parts of the crowd, along with food sharing, and tons of laughter. It is rare to be buoyed by so much good spirit of people whom you don't know. Around 6:30, as the sun was starting to light the skies, we heard people shouting and as we turned around, we realized that we were aligned perfectly to see the first Jumbotron on the Mall. We high-fived and jumped up and down in excitement. We were as close as we could get to the Capitol! We would see the Inauguration! We weren't too cold!

Our view at daybreak

The next few hours were a blur. Though our toes were cold and my face got wind burned, overall we managed to brave the frigid (20 degree!) weather fairly well. We talked a lot with the folks around us, shared some hopes about the coming administration, and generally tried hard not to look at our watches. Around 10am the concert that was held at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday night was broadcast on the Jumbotrons and we had fun grooving to the music.

Our neighbors

The two of us

Security on the building rooftops

By 10:30 or so, we were privy to pretty much what everyone else saw at home - the arrival of the government officials and celebrities to the front of the Capitol. There was a collective gasp at the appearance of the elder Bush toddling towards his seat and of the VP who arrived in a wheelchair. Carter got a rousing round of applause (greater than Al Gore), and the crowd was pretty excited when the Clintons arrived. The current president Bush got boos from the crowd, though Sheil and I and a handful of other spectators tried to urge those around us to play nice. While there is no love lost between me and the current administration, I really didn't care for that particular display of emotion.

But what got the flags waving in the air more than anything? It was the approaching motorcade with the up and coming bigwigs. The Obama family got rousing cheers and people started to get very, very, (did I mention very?) excited. The emotions were palpable in the air and everyone was hugging their friends, waiting with baited breath for the arrival of our next president. When Barrack Obama walked down the hall everyone erupted with cheers, chants, and much flag waving, that didn't abate until the oath of office began.

The motorcade on the big screen

I felt many times throughout the day like crying, but figured that if I was going to freeze my face with tears, I would wait until Obama's speech. As it turned out, I was listening too intently to allow those emotions to reach the surface. Sheil and I were the only ones who whooped when he talked about the resurgence of science in the public light, but we were joined by a chorus of voices regarding renewable energy, better healthcare, better schools. The phrase that drew the biggest response was "know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy." I don't think that at the time I realized that that particular sentiment was directed towards Muslim leaders; I merely thought that it was true for leaders the world over. But perhaps my favorite part of his speech, the words that spoke the most to me and reminded me that what has made me support Obama has not been solely who he is, but rather what he reminds me that I should be, was the following: "What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task."

Our view of the Inauguration ceremony

As the crowds cleared out, Sheil and I held our ground and stayed for the entirety of the festivities, picking up trash on the Mall, saving extra flags to take home, and looking at what would have been our view had we been about two feet taller:

What we could have seen if we had been taller

When faced with the decision of trying to go back to the Andrettas or going to stand along the parade route, we decided for the former. It took us two hours to make our ways through the crowds leaving the Mall. Only after we had reached high ground, could we look back to see the masses from which we had emerged. Pretty impressive, no?

Exiting the Mall

We enjoyed seeing folks dressed up in their finest Obama garb, catching a glimpse of the motorcade that awaited Obama for the parade, and chatting it up with more fellow adventurers. On our way back to several bowls of chili that awaited us, we caught up with a young artist who was selling prints of a sketch he made of Obama. For 7 bucks, we got a signed and dated print (mine came with an inscription for Katrina) and we both felt that we got one of the more unique Obama souvenirs available. We waited out the traffic and masses by watching the beginning of the parade with Mel and her friends (for comparison's sake, they left the house at 8am, landed at the Washington monument two hours later as it was the only place left to watch the Inauguration, and were rerouted to Dupont Circle - for those of you unfamiliar with DC, that is A LOT of walking!), and then headed back home. We arrived in Baltimore at 9:30 and were in bed within an hour and a half.

Preparing for the motorcade

On the way home with our goods

At the end of the day, I am thrilled that I went. It was an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life - the turning of a page in history, the handing off of the baton - for those reasons I wish every American could witness an Inaugural event in person. To be there when the first president to inspire me got sworn in, when the first person of color took the oath? Pretty damn cool. The best way to make the euphoria last? Roll up our collective sleeves and get busy. There's a lot of fixing that needs to get done.

So long and thanks for all the diapers

2008-03-18T14:17:00.006-04:00

Eat your heart out, Gene Simmons!

Well, not really. It's been lots of fun chronicling the wee beast's first two years, and we are truly grateful to everyone who has provided support, love, and advice for the slightly harried, well-meaning parents and their wonderful little beastie. Catch you on the flip side!

First No. 1

2008-03-12T14:04:00.004-04:00

You know you are a parent when bodily functions take on magnified significance and importance. It was true when I religiously tracked Katrina's poop color as a function of time as a newborn and it's true now that Katrina has officially "used the potty" for the first time. We have a little green and white little potty seat with a removable tray that Katrina has shown interest in on and off for the past 3 months. For the past week or so, we've made it a routine to sit on the potty when we get up and before we go to bed, and we read a few books along the way. Today, Katrina actually peed in the potty!!

I was convinced she would be really surprised when it happened, based on her reaction to a few naked baby accidents on the floor we've had over the past year or so, but we didn't know until she stood up and there it was. I'm so proud. I can't wait until she does something that doesn't involve voluntary muscle control...

A number of firsts

2008-03-12T10:55:00.007-04:00

I keep thinking that I really need to record things that have been happening over the past two weeks, because it has been a plethora of amazing firsts around here. In the past fourteen days, we have finally heard Katrina sing Happy Birthday (and then demand a slice of cake as if the two were intricately linked). She has also been singing recognizable sections (instead of just words) of Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and parts of the ABC song. She has been very adamant about taking her pants on and off as well as her shirts (and has actually been able to do both). She has started to sign parts of the alphabet and has reverted to using some of the sign language that we used before she started talking. Katrina has also started to draw sort of recognizable things. After John drew a piece of cake on a plate, Katrina drew the same and you could see the round object (plate) with another object placed on top of it. Not quite Van Gogh, but definitely the beginning of pattern recognition coupled with fine motor skills. And two days ago she said her first word in Romanian: casa! The first few times it sounded more like Cosa, but eventually as we pulled up to our house and I pointed to our home, asking her in Romanian what is that?, she said "Casa!" And she was right. So cool!

There is one other big first for Katrina, but I will leave it up to John to post about it tonight.

ALERT: New blog coming soon!

2008-03-09T23:36:00.004-04:00

Well, after two plus years of documenting the adventures of Katrina for all the world to see, we have decided that are going to make a new blog that will be private. This means that for all of you loyal blog-followers (the couple that we have, that is), you will still be able to read about the many antics of the wee one, except that the new blog will be password protected. We plan to set up the new blog sometime over the next month.

Our final question - what should we call the new blog? We are happily taking suggestions!

More fish! Dolphins!

2008-03-09T22:53:00.008-04:00

This weekend was low-key (of sorts) after a hectic week and before another hectic week for me. Yesterday while John and I went to DC to pick up some furniture that some friends were getting rid of (we got a rocking chair from Romania and a buffet that fits well in our den), Grandma and Grandpa took care of the weebeastie. She seemed to have had a blast, though she was glad to see us and consented to much tickling. Today we headed back to the National Aquarium, where Katrina was very excited to see the dolphin show. Although the show wasn't until 11:30 and we got there at at 9:15, she was adamant about waking them up now (thanks to godfather John for teaching her the word "now"). Luckily we were able to distract her with bubbles, sting ray fish, and puffins. I think we will be getting our three trips in pretty soon (we got a membership that is only worth it if you visit the aquarium at least three times within the year).

Tomorrow I'll post an update on some of the neat things that Katrina is doing and saying these days.

A Seuss week

2008-03-07T21:21:00.012-05:00

This week has been really hectic (yes, I realize I say that a lot, and yes it is true every time I mention it). Between John writing proposals for time on the Hubble Space telescope (finished today), my first joint-lab meeting presentation (yesterday and went well), being out helping a friend who just had a baby, writing a paper to submit (from grad work), and starting out on fellowship applications, we have felt that we have spent very little time with the mooch. In addition to all that we've been doing, Katrina's had a busy week too at daycare. For the first time since she started daycare in Baltimore, they had a themed week and the theme was Dr. Seuss.

What's entailed in a Dr. Seuss week? I'm so glad you asked. Monday was clothing inside-out day (the Romanian in me was cringing at all the bad luck that this meant, but we obliged). Tuesday was silly hat day. We of course thought that it meant that we were to bring in a silly hat, so John made one using tissue paper, paper plates, and tuperware. Once I retrieve it, we will take a picture of it and post it. Despite it being a great hat, Katrina wanted nothing to do with it, which was ok, because actually they made hats at school. Wednesday was green eggs and ham day (breakfast for the parents with yes, green eggs), as well as pajama day. Thursday was dress up like a Dr. Seuss character day, so Katrina wore a red shirt and a sign that said Thing One. Again, she was the only kid in her class with a costume, but she wore her sign proudly. Today was silly socks day and the only day that we managed to take pictures this week. Katrina wore her silliest and neatest pair of stockings. The entire week culminated in a Seussical celebration that involved green slime, painting with shoes, snacks, and lots of coloring activities. Whew! What a week!

Twisted sister

2008-03-04T19:42:00.003-05:00

Yesterday Katrina saw a pregnant woman on the street and was inquisitive. I told her that babies are held in mommy's tummies until they are born. I told her that Katrina was in mommy's tummy (giggles ensued), and that mommy was in Buni's tummy and daddy in Grandma's tummy (more giggles). So today on the way home, we were talking again about babies (one of her best friend is expecting a baby brother in May). We talked about baby girls and baby boys.

And then I said "Do you want mommy and daddy to have another baby?"
"Yes."
"Do you want us to have a baby girl or a baby boy?"
"Baby girl."
"That would be fun Katrina," I replied. "You could play with your baby sister and show her all your toys."
"Yes. Cut in half."
"What?! You would cut your baby sister in half?"
"Yes."
"Ouch! That would hurt. That would give your sister boo-boos!"
"Yes. Cut in half. Paper, color. Cut in half. Scissors."
"Oh honey, mommy said sister, not scissors."
"Yes, sister. Cut in half."

Vlog Backlogue

2008-02-28T20:41:00.005-05:00

Well, remember when we all went to a Halloween festival? I've finally gotten around to uploading a video of Katrina and Alexandra riding the burlap sack slide. I thought Katrina would freak out, but not so. Also, Katrina being cute with tickling below...

Happy, happy weekend

2008-02-26T15:39:00.004-05:00

Have you ever had a couple of days where everything goes well and you are completely recharged for the coming weeks, months, etc? I got very lucky this past weekend, to have such an experience.

On Saturday Erica took me out for a facial and pedicure and then we had a lovely lunch at a sustainable, organic place called "The Dogwood Cafe." The best part of the morning and afternoon was hanging out just with Erica and catching up with her (though the spa treatment was pretty awesome too!). For the evening, Erica and Geoff and their puppy Frankie watched Katrina (and appropriately indoctrinated her with the Muppets), while John and I headed to an Ethiopian restaurant for an official date. It was really fantastic to have a chance to talk to John for several hours about things that didn't involve what needed to be done around the house or with Katrina. Total bliss!

On Sunday, the three of us headed to the Baltimore Aquarium where we raced through a bunch of exhibits in order to see the dolphin show at 11:30. Katrina sat through the half hour show eating raisins, looking serious, and not uttering a single word. The minute it was over and we got up, she looked at us very excitedly and said "Dolphins! Splash! Play ball! Jump, jump, jump! Swim under!" Obviously she had a blast and carried that energy through lunch and a couple of exhibits. We stopped by the touch tank where she refused to touch the horseshoe crab, but finally relented to picking up two mussel shells and transferring water between them.

After her nap, Katrina helped John decorate my birthday cake with sprinkles. She started out with one sprinkle at a time, which finally progressed to handfuls of sprinkles and finally the entire bowl in the middle of the cake. We videotaped the decorating, so hopefully John will be able to post it sometime during the week. We enjoyed the cake! cake! with our next-door neighbors who had dinner with us.

My birthday celebration continued on Monday when a co-worker brought in some fish dumplings and then today we all had apple pie and I got a really nice card from all my labmates. All this birthday celebration came on top of the lovely emails from a bunch of you and a couple of calls too.

Lucky me to have such great friends and coworkers and a great family! And now for the ham whom you have all come to see:

Muppets watching is serious business!

Hanging out with Uncle Geoff and Auntie Erica

Oooooh Caaaarla! And other contest winners!

2008-02-19T19:49:00.005-05:00

We're trudging through our backlog of posts, and wanted to announce that Katrina picked Carla's name first in our 200th post contest. Since we had just a smattering of people leave us a message though, we would like for ALL of you (Carla, Sarah, Julie, Pacificmod, and Carey) to send us your current address to muchieguchie at yahoo dot com. Carla will be getting the grand prize, and everyone else will get prizes too. We will be sending them out within the week.

And thank you all for leaving comments. It is really nice to feel like we aren't just creating a bank of memories for the mooch, but that actually our friends and family like to check in on us too. We love you all!

Catching up

2008-02-17T21:25:00.004-05:00

Roaring for Puff the Magic Dragon

With all the job stuff I've been going through lately, it's been really hard to keep up with blogging what's been going on. As many of you may have noticed, my name conspicuously has been missing from a lot of posts recently. Some of this has just been that Alexandra seems to keep beating me to the punch on downloading pictures (see job stuff, above). So in an effort to combat that, here I am...

And we've sort of just come out from under a horrible week of aches pains, coughing, and various volumes of mucus thanks to a nasty flu that hit Alexandra the hardest but has struck me and Katrina too. Having survived all that, plus some job interviews on my part (yes I'm on some short lists, no I haven't heard anything), we got some much deserved fun with Kiki this weekend. Saturday was spent doing not much of anything, though Alexandra took big K out for a spin around town and then we both took her on a little walk that involved taking her little pink stroller around. This is a recent fascination for Katrina, she basically loves taking some of her play food or stuffed animals around in her little stroller. There is even the chicken(kitchen)/livingroom/choo-choo! stroller game that involves me or Alexandra pulling a small toy puppy while Katrina chases it with her stroller full of fake food. It culminates in her shouting choo-choo(??) and attacking the puppy with the stroller when we get to the living room. We have to say something along the lines of "Oh, no!".

Today we got to go to Zenta's birthday party, a wonderful little girl from Katrina's daycare. Her parents are very nice and had us and a few other people for some great food, lots of balloon animals, and a pinata. The best part of the afternoon involved a huge balloon fight among the adults, with Katrina sitting _very_ still to avoid the crazy grownups. And Alexandra discovered a hidden talent at zoological balloon engineering, giving us great hope she has a backup job in case this whole science thing doesn't work out.

Pushing the Stroller, Hollywood Style!

2008-02-16T11:48:00.000-05:00

Lately, I haven't really given an update on what we have been doing with Katrina or what new things she has been doing. The weekend before Katrina's birthdays was really nice in that the three of us passed the time doing family activities. On Saturday we went to the Walter's Art Gallery. It was the first time that I had been (as an undergrad I couldn't afford the cost of a visit, but now that it is free, it has become quite affordable). We took Katrina to the children's activity center where we made Ethiopian fans. Afterwards we looked for the Ethiopian art as part of their collection. After touring the "Sue-seum" (as Kiki pronounces it), we headed out for a quiet evening at home. Sunday started off with John and Katrina making pancakes, though I tried my hand out on making pancakes in the shapes of a giraffe, pig, and dragon. And then, not much. So all in all, it was a perfect weekend.

Voting

2008-02-12T20:38:00.000-05:00

I almost didn't vote today. I hemmed and hawed and said that it probably wouldn't matter, because in MD, it was a given who would win. Now before you get all up and arms about it, I finally walked the one block to my polling station and voted. In the ice storm. Despite being bedridden (no joke) for five days with a wracking cough/head cold thing (which is really why all the hemming and hawing came about). What finally did it, was not just that it was a historic primary, but thinking about people around the world who would walk for miles to cast a vote, flu be damned. I don't ever want Katrina to ask me why I didn't vote in an election year, in a primary. I don't ever want her to try to get out of jury duty, or shrug her shoulders at a voting booth, or be complacent about the world around her. And if I don't want her to be those things, than I surely can't be those things either.

I'm crawling back to bed, hoping that all of you who can vote, have voted, or will soon. And we will return with contest winners and updates on the mooch once I can actually be up and about for more than an hour without being winded.

Actual birthday

2008-02-05T22:33:00.000-05:00

Tired of hearing about the Kikster's birthday? Promise that this is the last post. We spent a lot of the day laughing (ok, actually there might be another post with the video - can't upload it tonight):

Birthday bonanza, party-goers

2008-02-05T22:07:00.000-05:00

Katrina's birthday was our first celebration in our new house. I was interested to see how many people could comfortably fit. Originally we had planned on just three of Katrina's friends and their parents. With the addition of godparents and grandparents and one or two other folks, we quickly reached our limit, though there were several other people that we would have loved to see there too. Overall, almost everyone could fit, though it was a tight fit for a bit with the kids running around.

We were really lucky to have the following people come (I'm not posting pictures of some of our guests, due to privacy issues):

Godmother Erica and Uncle Fingers, er Uncle Geoff

Danielle

Kathy and Ryan

Godfather John

Farmer Dan

We posted all of the pictures (taken with a polaroid - you remember what those are, right?) on a tractor that I made. It complemented the tractor pulling pictures of Katrina throughout the year and I'm hoping to put them all together into a book for her as a keepsake of the party.

After folks left, Katrina had fun opening all of the generous presents that she got. Erica and Geoff got her a wonderful papyrus that she is having fun pointing to and that we plan to put up on our wall soon. She also got some wonderful books, tractors, trucks, planes, games, clothes, and even a great wheelbarrow that she has insisted be upstairs when she is, and downstairs when she is. Here is just a sampling of some of her present opening:

Birthday bonanza, part 2

2008-02-04T12:29:00.001-05:00

On Saturday we held Katrina's birthday party at our house, complete with animal plates, farm cake, and a round of Old McDonald. Despite owning a bandana dress and leggins, Katrina firmly against dressing up in theme. That didn't stop a couple of folks though from showing up in their farming garbs. Katrina was a bit overwhelmed when everyone showed up at once (especially since I think she was ready to take a nap - so much for planning things around her sleep schedule!), but warmed up about an hour in after the food had been served and she realized that her friends were here to play with her. She got bashful again when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her (although she's been practicing for weeks!), but once the cake was cut, everything was A-OK again.

It was absolutely wonderful to see so many wonderful faces at her party - friends, family, caregivers, and godparents were all able to come, and John and I actually got a chance to talk to almost everyone. Here is just a smattering of pictures. We'll post a couple more up tomorrow.

Birthday bonanza, part 1

2008-02-04T12:17:00.001-05:00

On Friday we brought in a cake (farm-themed) for Katrina's birthday celebration at daycare. We stopped by after her nap to participate in the festivities. Katrina was very excited at the prospect of having a birthday, and had spent most of the week saying "Trina! Too (two) old!" Freaking adorable. :)

When we arrived at daycare, Kathy and Katie had decorated the pink butcher paper with balloons and cow spots. We listened to the Happy Birthday song and then watched as all of the kids devoured the carrot cake. It was a lot of fun.

After her birthday party, we took Katrina up to the "big kids" room. Since she has turned two, she is transitioning this week to the 2-3 year old classroom, and we wanted her to meet her caregivers and get a chance to check out the room and kids. While I was ok during our transition meeting (we got loads of artwork and a developmental update - she's doing really well and we were told that her language skills and vocabulary are great), seeing all the bigger kids was a little rough on me. I hope that our petite girl can hold her own!

Naptime!

2008-02-01T13:08:00.000-05:00

Pacificmod asked in the comments what we found about naps transitioning around 14 months. This is kind of a hard question, because Katrina used to take two naps a day until she moved to the one year old room at her daycare in State College, where she had one nap a day. So in a sense, her daycare made the transition for us, though we tried to be consistent with what they were doing. What they did was over two weeks push her morning nap later and later until her nap came right after lunch. This is pretty much the schedule she follows now. We do notice that in the morning she usually hits a low around 10am, but these days we usually ride that out with some quiet play, or give her a nap if she asks for it.

The best thing to do is watch your child and see what they respond well to, and be as consistent as possible! If you are able to keep that nap in the morning for as long as possible, do it. As with everything we are bombarded with advice on what is "best" for a baby. I believe enough sleep for your little one, whatever that is (and we all know when a wee beast hasn't had enough sleep), is what's right.

Hope that helps!

Adding to the family

2008-01-31T15:29:00.001-05:00

When John and I were dating, many people asked when we were getting married (the fact that most of them asked me and not him is worthy of an entirely different blog post). As soon as we were married, the question became when are we going to have a baby. I was sure that as soon as we had Katrina, all the queries to see how we placed on the ladder of social normalcy would end. Not so. It wasn’t three weeks after Katrina was born, that we heard “When are you going to have another one?” Because you know, my hormone tornado-swept, just-pushed-out-a-watermelon body was ready to cope with that question! As an aside, the day Katrina was baptized, a member of the congregation came up to us and said “Since you make such beautiful children, I hope that you will be a good Catholic and have a large family soon.” As if the entry way to Heaven was guarded by a child-friendly, number-loving god. “Only one kid? Nope, can’t get in.”

John started out wanting one child and I started out wanting three. So we did what any newly wed couple would do – we compromised on two. But at three months into parenthood, when John, holding Katrina said “This isn’t so bad, I think I could see us having three,” it was pretty easy for me to make the leap again. So now that we want more kids, the obvious question is when, followed by the next question how?

The when is pretty easy to answer – not right now. As I get used to my new job and as John is in the middle of determining where he is going to be job-wise next year, we aren’t ready to add a new addition right this second. Which is giving us the space to contemplate the how. If we end up with three kids, we’ve discussed and agreed on adding a child through adoption. This stems from my zero population growth mentality (although it is clear that it isn’t how many kids you have as much as how many resources are used – again, worth another blog post). So our big decision is if we are going to try to have another biological kid or expand our family through adoption first. We are spending our time reading about domestic versus international adoption (leaning towards international), attachment parenting, and other adoption specific issues as we mull over the endless possibilities.

At the end of the day, the answer to “When are you going to have another child?” can be summarized as “Who knows?” We hope to be able to answer that question soon, but for now we are enjoying being parents together in the same zip code and we are having a blast at that.

Another first!

2008-01-30T11:41:00.001-05:00

Here is Katrina's first picture that she has taken with help from John to stabilize the camera. Artistic, no?

Barnyard theme

2008-01-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

I should totally be doing work right now, but after working 14 hours (with a couple of breaks - putting Kiki to bed, etc), I'm taking a fifteen minute internet break. Which of course means more blog updates.

Last year for Katrina's first birthday party, we threw a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" themed party. I wrote out the pages of the story and taped them up on the wall with pictures of Katrina at various stages throughout the year. For her second birthday however, we opted to go for a barnyard theme.

It all started with Katrina's love of tractors, which began last year when we went strawberry picking. Since then, whenever she sees tractors, she has been super excited. Since we don't want to go theme-crazy around here, we chose a couple of key ways to thematically go with the idea. So I thought I would post the first percolation of Kiki's bday theme - the invite.

Most of our friends got evites with a very cute pic of Katrina. However, we are inviting three of her daycare friends, who got homemade invites. Kind of on the folksy side, but barnyardy nonetheless. The inside reads "Cluck Baa Moo, Katrina's turning two! She's hoping at her hoedown that she will see you!" What are you doing for your kid's second birthday or what have you done? I love to see and hear ideas!

TP Fun

2008-01-29T10:08:00.000-05:00

I almost thought that she would grab the whole roll off and decorate the bathroom. At least the light in the bathroom made for some good shots!

Cutie pie

2008-01-29T10:05:00.000-05:00

First snow

2008-01-29T09:56:00.000-05:00

Life here has been hectic, and not in the best of ways. Last week my computer finally bit the dust - I can't even turn it on. This is oh so bad. Not only can I not access pictures, posts to the blog, etc., but also files that I need for work. The day my computer died, I also lost my wallet (found), keys (found), and had experiments that didn't work (they finally did). To top it all off, I am coming down with a cold. All this is a means to apologize for slacking off on the blog. John has been busy too. He is giving a talk on Thursday and next week he is giving a job talk.

So...lucky you! We are going to inundate the blog with lots of posts to catch up before Katrina's birthday on Sunday. Here are pictures from Katrina's first play in the snow (and by snow we mean the white fluffy stuff that doesn't stay on the ground for very long here in Bawlmer). She loved it and calls it scrunchy and snoooo.

Three words (or bragging about your child)

2008-01-20T11:01:00.000-05:00

This is a fun activity that some moms I know have been playing. The question is “If you were to describe your child in three words only, what would they be?” This is a question that in one form or another, has been percolating through my mind since the day Katrina was born. It is really hard to attribute characteristics to your child, especially your first, without knowing if what you are observing are normal developmental stages or truly their own personalities shining through. However, approaching two years of observations both of Katrina and other children in her age cohort, it has become a bit easier. The three top characteristics that I would assign to Katrina (in no particular order) are:

A sense of humor – sure, all kids like to giggle and laugh. But with Katrina, it is a mission. She not only likes to laugh when someone tries to amuse her, but she also asks us to make funny faces, to tickle her, and to chase her. Laughter is expected to be turned on and off at a moment’s notice. Katrina also loves to make us laugh. She tries very hard to be serious (with the lower lip jutting out) and then to catch your eye to see if you think she is funny (we often do). She likes to play the “Where is it?” game where she hides her hand, fingers, spoon, stuffed animal, or other object, then walks around with her shoulder shrugged and arms in the air, asking “Is it?” Only when you start to “look” too, does she pull her item, giggling “Ta-da!” that she has tricked you into being silly with her. We have often gotten reports from daycare of Katrina spending tens of minutes cornering some kid into a giggling showdown, so it seems as though she is also sharing her humor. It is true that Katrina is not all laughter when she first meets you or sees you after a long pause, (she often seems shy and observant), once she warms up to you, she is all about smiling and laughing. I hope that this is a trait that will remain and help her through the ups and downs that life will throw her way.

A sense of fairness – Although Katrina is definitely going through her “Mine! Mine!” stage typical of those approaching two, she has also exhibited an unusual sense of fairness. If she is playing with a toy that someone else wants to play with and we tell her that it is someone else’s turn, she hands over the toy. This doesn’t mean that she does it without reservations – she will often hang around and after 10 seconds or 10 minutes, proclaim “Trina’s turn!” In addition to understanding the idea of turns, Katrina also makes sure that she distributes things fairly. Whenever she is making coffee in her play kitchen, we all get a cup (along with instructions “Hot! Blow, blow!”). Whenever she is ripping up old mail, we all get pieces of the trash. Whenever Daddy tires of flying her around the room, she proclaims “Mommy’s turn.”

Curiosity and drive – Yes, all children are curious, and I held out on ascribing this trait to Katrina for a really long time for that very reason. But the truth is that we hear “That?” all day long and are often able to help her transition from one activity to another by the promise of something new. She always wants to be held to see what the other parent is cooking on the stove; she loves to point out different things on our walks. Katrina seems able to work on a problem to try to solve it (especially when we aren’t in the room to be asked for help) and I don’t often see her abandon a project until it is done (although it can be left temporarily). We are trying to encourage her hard work and the biggest reward is the sense of pride and achievement that she gets on her face when something finally goes her way. It is really heart warming to see.

While I know that this is a list of three things, other characteristics that I would ascribe to the Kikster are: an independence streak, a good mix of caution and socialness, and a love of reading.

Cowgirl

2008-01-16T09:46:00.000-05:00

I will post more tonight or tomorrow if I have time, but I just wanted to show off the hat I got Katrina in Austin. She finally wanted to wear it!!

Update on Katrina

2008-01-15T11:26:00.000-05:00

So as several of you know, Katrina has been out with a bad stomach bug. Ok, maybe it hasn't been that bad, but as the first full blown stomach flu that she has had, it has been rough for all of us, John included as he arrived safely home over the weekend (boy was I glad to see him!). That is primarily why there are no new pictures of the weebeastie and why my posts have sounded a bit discombobulated. After staying home for three days, after cleaning out the carseat of vomit twice (word to the wise - if your significant other put in the carseat, learn how to both put it in and take it out. It will save you a lot of time and frustration!), after doses of pedialyte and nothing much more than pasta, rice, and crackers for five days, Katrina is doing better. We think. Today is her first day back at daycare, after being in high spirits yesterday. We are hoping that she is almost all recovered and that we won't be exposed to the remaining 71 stomach bugs out there any time soon.

Year Two of Drowning in Kid Stuff

2008-01-15T10:58:00.000-05:00

Last year it was pretty easy to come up with a list of things that were really essential for us to have as parents (well at least things that made life truly easier). Since we have heard from a couple of new parents that the list was useful, we thought we would do a repeat. This year, it is a bit harder to come up with a similar list. It isn’t because we don’t use things – we do, everyday in fact. It is more because it is hard to deem that something is really essential. So after much thinking and pondering, here is our list for year two. Most of these things make life easier, but I feel positive that if we didn’t have the majority of them, we would have found something else to take their place.

Lotions – Katrina has really dry skin and we would have been lost without Eucerin, Vaseline (for her thumb), and a prescription of Eucerin-hydrocortisone. I know – not a glamorous way to start off the list, but probably one of the things that we have used the most.

Books, books, and books – again, another generic category, but without a doubt, this is Katrina’s favorite set of items to play with. She loves to read. The only way that we can get her to sit through diaper changing in the morning is if we give her a book to read. We read in the evening a minimum of three books, and on the weekends many, many more. She already has a bookshelf half filled with her own books and a basket downstairs and one in her room. When she wakes up in the morning, she has books in her crib to keep her busy until we can come pick her up. This love of reading has developed more recently in the last six months. Her current favorites are: Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever, My Big Tractor Book, The Monster at the End of This Book, and anything by Doctor Seuss. We just got library cards two weeks ago, so Katrina has been in love with all the tractor and race car books that we brought home, along with the Cookie Monster book (but only if read in a cookie monster voice).

Blocks – if books are her favorite things to do, blocks come in a close second. She has loved blocks for a long time, but in the past year has learned that she can make her own towers to knock down. This is very exciting and has resulted in our living room carpet sprayed with wooden blocks, plastic blocks, and fabric blocks.

Babylegs – a throwback to the days of eighties legwarmers, these were particularly useful for us in State College. Babylegs really do make diaper changing a lot easier than tights and were a good extra layer under pants and dresses. A bit pricey, but definitely worth having at least a couple of pairs. And how can you not get the biker chick ones?

Robeez shoes – Before Katrina was walking, we used Robeez to keep her socks on (the cheaper, pretty nice knockoffs at Target were much easier to pull off). Once she started walking, we still kept her in Robeez almost all the time because the thin rubber soles are recommended by pediatricians for being helpful in teaching infants how to balance on their feet. The nice thing about Robeez is that they also hold up really well. We have three pairs that we are saving for future kids.

Froggy – I don’t have a picture of this toy, nor can I tell you who makes it because I cut off the tag when I bought it, but Katrina has a small flat frog that is her constant companion at naptime and bedtime. Puppy and bear and baby and Iorek get a lot of love too, but it is froggy that is her favorite and who helps soothe her the best. Not all children have attachment objects, but when they do, I think that it makes life easier.

Big floppy hats – With Katrina’s fair skin and lack of hair until recently, it was very important for us to keep her head and face covered up during the summer months. The bigger, floppier hats seem to be the ones that she kept on her head the best. I think we got them at Target and one at Gymboree (a children’s clothing store).

Umbrella stroller and booster seat – These two pieces of equipment have definitely made life easier. We started using the booster seat when Katrina made it clear that she really preferred to sit with us at the table. The one that we got (from Fisher Price I think) has four adjustable settings and was really easy to take with us when visiting grandparents. Our lightweight umbrella stroller replaced our heavy-duty stroller sometime this year. As Katrina became more mobile and less willing to sit, the umbrella stroller was easy to just fold up and carry along and light enough for Katrina to push puppy in as well.

No cry discipline solution – This was the only book that we read this year. I didn’t think that if we had a healthy child that we would do much reading of parenting books. Then Katrina turned 16 months old and our mild mannered child began to throw fits. We weren’t sure that we were handling them in the best way and after reading reviews of toddler books, this one kept being brought up. I picked it up and was relieved to find that it reinforced a lot of the approaches that we were already taking with the mooch. Additionally, it made me realize that one of the primary reasons Katrina would have a meltdown (besides being tired), was because we weren’t giving her enough warning to know that things were going to change. So now, we tell her that in five minutes we will stop playing and go to take a nap, change diaper, etc. Then we tell her again in three minutes. This hasn’t gotten rid of all of her tantrums (if only!), but it definitely reduced them a lot. This book also has other useful suggestions that all pretty much boil down to being firm, treating your child with respect, and reminding yourself that your kid is her own person (which is easy to forget as you make the transition between baby to toddler).

Things that still got a lot of use this year – Maya pouch, pack and play, and breastpump

Missing Daddy

2008-01-11T12:42:00.000-05:00

John's been out this week at a conference in Austin, TX - it is going really well and he is having a lot of fun catching up with people and meeting new contacts. Katrina was pretty sad about Daddy leaving, so on Sunday I took her to the Air and Space museum in DC to see the planes like the one that Daddy went to work on. She had a lot of fun and now when I ask her "Where is Daddy?," she replies "Work. In airplane. Tsus (Texas)."

I miss John too, and nothing brought that home more than cleaning vomit from a carseat that I had never removed or installed. This after not feeling so great myself made for a couple of rather unhappy days, and while Katrina bounced back from the stomach bug/food poisoning thing pretty quickly, she seemed rather glum and clingy today. We can't wait for John to come home tomorrow. We miss you hon!

Feeding the brain

2008-01-09T22:02:00.000-05:00

John and I have always been told that we were the smart, brainy type. We loved school, did well at our studies, and were genuinely interested in excelling at our work. That being said, we are trying a different approach with Katrina. Even before the recent study came out detailing that it is better to tell your children that they are hard workers instead of just plain smart (NYT piece that I can’t seem to find right now), I was very leery of telling Katrina that she is smart or showering her with loads of praise. I didn’t want her to just assume that she was born with intelligence – I wanted her to work hard for what she learned and I wanted her to learn things because she was interested in them, not because it was something all the smart kids were supposed to know or love. We wanted the praise that we showered on her to have a value, instead of being empty praise that she can accumulate as easily as curls on her head. We hesitated to seek out and label anything that Katrina did or said as being a sign of above average intelligence (though the same cannot be said of the grandparents, but I think that that is a universal grandparent trait!). We aren’t doing the best job of it, as evidenced by the fact that Katrina has started to tell herself “good job!” when she does something right (but after all, how can we not tell her that she does a good job when she puts her shoes on for the first time). We try to tell her “good try,” or “thanks for listening to mommy,” or “thanks for helping,” instead of “good job.” We want Katrina to grow into an adult who works hard and doesn't feel a sense of entitlement beyond our Constitutional Rights. In addition to watching the language that we use, we also didn’t want to push her into traditional educational stuff early on (like reading), especially since all research suggests that most early bloomers have adjustment issues or fade later in their childhood/early adulthood.

With these thoughts in mind, we shied away from all of the early educational stuff – Baby Einstein, Leapfrog, classical music to play in utero, flashcards, early readers primers, etc. Turns out that some of that wasn’t a bad idea. Recent research suggests that toddlers who watch educational movies may have developmental language delays. That being said…a few months ago we went to a family baby shower. The host (Hi Aunt Pam!) ended up giving a really nice goody bag to Katrina, which included alphabet flash cards. Katrina loves them. They fit into our diaper bag and are great entertainment on the road. She may not know her letters, but she does know all the pictures and has started to recognize some of the letters.

In addition to the flashcards, our next-door neighbors gave Katrina a set of alphabet cards with magnetic letters. Not only have we been playing with them almost everyday, but we are using them to review colors, pronunciation, and letters. All this “educational” stuff is on top of the heavy reading that we do – I think Katrina’s book collection will eventually rival our own, which is pretty impressive!

So how does this jive with us trying not to push the school stuff on Katrina? I guess the biggest thing that we strive for, is that all of this is Katrina led. My inner geek was worried that Katrina didn’t even like books because she couldn’t sit still through a simple picture book for almost the first whole year of her life! Eventually she did, and now she can’t get enough of it. Our goal is to talk to Katrina about everything and to provide her with the opportunities to pursue what interests her, even if it leads her off the path that we ourselves have chosen. We fully believe that children who develop an interest in learning, have one because their parents are involved in their lives. Our walks in the neighborhood involve talking about the birds and wind and planets and stars – almost anything that John and I would talk about amongst ourselves. We try to always answer her questions, and in turn ask her to describe her drawings or her choices instead of simply praising them. We are doing what works for us. I'm sure that there will still be plenty of things that we messed up on that she will spend her adulthood "working through." :)

New baby in the house!

2008-01-09T21:13:00.000-05:00

All out congratulations are in order for the newest member of the family - Caleb was born on Saturday to John's cousin (and mine!) Valerie and her husband Jason. Pictures should be up and coming to their blog soon I hope! He is absolutely adorable! Congratulations Valerie, Jason, Aunt Pam, and Uncle Tim!

200th post!

2008-01-09T20:53:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it? Its our 200th post! Almost two years ago we launched this blog with our first post. Now, we have a baby who is about to be two, we are both finally working on our careers, and we are living together. We've come a long way baby!

So, in honor of our 200th post, we are having a contest. Come out of the woodworks and show us some love people. All you have to do is leave us a comment and on Katrina's birthday we will have her randomly select one of you for a special prize. Come on - you know you want to!

Playdate

2008-01-09T20:44:00.000-05:00

About ten days ago, we had a lovely visit from Jaleah and her mom Khrysten. Khrysten was Katrina's main daycare provider up in State College and we absolutely loved her. Her 2.5 year old and Katrina had a lot of fun together and we had a chance to do a couple of playdates before we left the area. Luckily for us, their extended family lives close to Baltimore, so they are up here every now and then. I was curious to see how the girls would interact with each other - did they remember each other at all? Turns out that I need not have worried. Before Jaleah showed up, Katrina was saying "Leah, Leah, hug, hug!" It took the girls all of about five minutes to find their stride and then they were off. Here are just a couple of pictures of the girls.

Future architect model demolision expert

2008-01-04T14:27:00.000-05:00

As I'm busy thinking of the more serious blog posts en route over the next couple of weeks, I wanted to share several pictures of what has been keeping munchin and all of us busy and having fun in weebeastie land.

Where is Katrina?

There she is!

Even Athena likes Elmo

Katrina's tower

Mommy's tower

Katrinazilla

Katrina in a box

Question and recap time

2008-01-03T14:48:00.000-05:00

Last January we wrote a collection of entries about things that we learned during the first year of parenthood - what items were useful for baby wrangling, breastfeeding, daycare, our worries as first time parents (mine and John's ). Since we are still highly opinionated people, we'll be going at it for round 2. This is your chance to ask us to cover a topic that might interest you. We will even loosen the "rules" and say that you can ask us about anything, even if it is not Katrina-centric. So fire away!

Santa! Cookies! Toys! Kitchen!

2008-01-02T11:53:00.000-05:00

We've had Christmas pictures ready to go for days, but our internet connection has been flaky, and I haven't brought my computer into work when I came in over the holiday "break." So now, a good week after the Christmas festivities have ended, is recap 1 (I hope that John will prepare a blog post with a cool video like he did last year).

The biggest change over Christmas 2006 was that Katrina opened every single present that was for her and really got into the swing of things by handing out presents from under the tree to everyone. Last year she spent 30 minutes opening one present and by the time she was finished playing with it, it was time for her morning nap! She got lots of great loot from Santa and his elves - blocks (both plastic and wooden), a doll cradle, a bus with a handle to pull (she loves sitting in it too!), a handmade apron from Grandpa for her kitchen, books, and a chair that is just her size. She has spent the last few days playing with each and everything. It was a lot of fun to see how much difference a year makes!

And as per request, her letter to Santa was as follows:
Dear Santa,
Cookies! More! Come here! Door! Knock-knock! Santa! Note! Cookies! Santa! Note! Here! Bye-bye!
Love, Katrina

Tune in for several posts coming in the next few days!

Waiting for Santa

2007-12-26T12:38:00.000-05:00

Katrina loves parties, and I think that this is in part due to the fact that at parties, she gets to eat treats, like cookies. It therefore should have come as no surprise that she was very excited to put out a plate of cookies for Santa. She understood that cookies get eaten, she understood that Santa was coming - apparently it wasn't too far a leap for her to understand that we had to put out cookies for the man in red. Katrina got to pick out what cookies she wanted to leave and she even dictated a note for us to put near the cookies and milk. When she came down the next morning, she didn't even glance at the tree with the presents - her first thought was if Santa came to eat the cookies. He had.

Christmas party

2007-12-26T12:11:00.000-05:00

On the Saturday before Christmas, we headed out to my mom for her annual Christmas party which has returned in recent years to the Christmas caroling party that it once was. Bob brought his keyboard, and Catriona, Terry, Bob, and Elaine brought music for all to share. We sung a beautiful array of carols, that mesmerized Katrina who stayed up almost two hours after her bedtime to listen. We loved the that we got a chance to see our family and friends.

The morning after the party, Katrina woke up to open presents that our friends had left for her. She loved each and every one, especially the dragon and lunchbag, both of which she dragged all over the house, going "shopping."

Chicken! Chicken!

2007-12-19T11:23:00.000-05:00

Katrina is super excited. Every morning for the past few days, she has been saying "Chicken! Chicken!"

"Kitchen?" we ask.

"Yesh! Chicken!"

We then pick her up and take her to her new play kitchen that she got over the weekend. When I told my boss that John and I were planning on getting Katrina a kitchen for her birthday, he said that his girls had one that we might be interested in. Well that just made my day, so on Sunday we swung by to pick up the kitchen, complete with food, dishes, silverware, a shopping cart, and a shopping basket. Katrina was overwhelmed by all the toys (she is also the proud owner now of an easel and accessories), so she grabbed the first available toy in the pile - a baby doll stroller. After we loaded up the car, we took a long walk with Katrina pushing the stroller for most of the way. When she started to get tired, she asked to be put in the stroller, although it was too small for her. When we asked if we could carry her, she made it very clear that she wasn't leaving the stroller behind. So John carried her sitting in the stroller, back to the car. It was really cute.

When we got home, we put up the kitchen in the corner of the dining room, and spent the rest of the day eating and cooking salad, chicken, pasta, cookies, and other goodies. We have been spending a lot of time washing and baking an orange and flipping a donut on the griddle. We have been walking around the house "shopping" for dinner. We have all been eating veggie burgers and drinking cherry juice. The one thing sure to make Katrina cry every evening is when we have to say goodnight to the kitchen. This is only alleviated by carrying a purple spatula to bed.

So to two very special girls who parted with some of their toys - thank you. You have made Katrina very, very happy.

Tree falls down!

2007-12-19T11:01:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we went outside of Baltimore to a farm to a cut down our Christmas tree. I chose the farm because they promised a "true Christmas experience," complete with reindeer, toy trains, a train ride, and a gift shop. Several things conspired to make it less than an ideal trip. First, it rained a lot the night before so everything was muddy. Second, it was cold - so cold that Katrina started to complain about her hands and when I put her in a train (at her loud insistence), she started to shiver. Third, Maryland has had a drought and that makes for some very unusual trees that reminded me of yo-yos - a big ball of green at the base, with a tall string or stalk coming out of the top. Boy did this trip make us miss our 6ft by 7ft trees that we used to get in State College.

That being said, we did find a tree, Katrina did watch it being cut down, and it looks perfect in our home. Katrina likes to go up to the tree and say "Pretty!" followed by "Tree! Cut! Falls down!" and a toddler that falls into a heap of giggles onto the floor.

The cute with the frustrating

2007-12-11T09:48:00.000-05:00

So Katrina is super-cute. John and I are convinced of this fact and can of course approach this scientifically without bias. But in the past month, besides being cute by trying on her mittens and my hat, being able to identify songs that she wants us to sing (Hock, hock = Hickory-Dickory Dock), and being able to have running conversations with us, she is sharing with us some difficult moments.

Things that have reduced Katrina to tears and screaming:
Windows in car rolled down after being asked down, down
Windows in car rolled up after being asked up, up!
Book about the pigs being read, despite repeatedly being told "pigs! pigs!"
Book about the pigs being put down to pick up another book
Putting lotion on
Putting lotion off
Giving kisses
Taking kisses off (this involves sucking her cheek and usually reduces her to giggles)
Putting hat on
Taking hat off
Putting hood on
Putting hood down
Being picked up
Being put down
Serving something that is too big to pick up with her toddler fork
Cutting said item into smaller pieces so that it could be picked up with toddler fork
Giving water after demands of water please!
Putting water in the red cup instead of the green cup
Putting water in the green cup instead of the yellow cup (yes, one right after the other)
Putting pj bottoms on
Putting new pj bottoms on that she has chosen (this is only resolved by putting the original pj bottoms on that were rejected)
Singing the wrong song

Overheard

2007-12-10T13:22:00.000-05:00

We were driving to a Christmas cookie party on Sunday. John was in the backseat with Katrina reading books. After he had gone through all of the books that we had brought, I suggested that he tell Katrina (who was getting antsy) a story.

"Once there was a hippo. This hippo lived in a two-story detached house in the Serengeti Desert. Every day, the hippo, whose name was Hippo Campus, would leave his two-story detached house in the Serengeti to meet up with his friends. These included Zippy the Zebra who has black stripes on his white skin, or white stripes on his black skin. Zippy would go by so fast that it was hard to have a conversation..."

The story went on for another ten minutes or so - apparently Hippo met up with the meanest lion in the Serengeti (Lucifer the Lion), whom he made cry by telling him that he had bad breath (apparently antelope are stringy and get caught in the teeth). Hippo Campus was able to solve Lucifer's problem by going back to his two-story detached house, getting his toothbrush (because hippo have BIG teeth), and giving it to Lucifer. Lucifer in turn, saves Hippo Campus from becoming a meal to a pack of hungry lions a few days later. Katrina spent the whole time saying "Yes" at every pause, totally entranced with the story.

I love storytime!

St. Nick's Day

2007-12-07T22:21:00.000-05:00

This year was the first time we really got a chance to celebrate St. Nick's day with Katrina. We put out our shoes on the 5th of December and lo and behold, the next day they were busting with stuff! Some of the items found their way first to Buni and Lena's house, but eventually made their way home and in good time too! That St Nick - so clever with his gifts! This year Katrina got a LEGO set, four books, some barrettes, a purse, a cookie cutter, a xylophone to play in the tub, some ginger cookies, and an awesome hand-made purple backpack to cart her goodies in. What fun!

Sharing the love

2007-12-06T14:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was John's birthday. It was really good to get a chance to celebrate the evening with him (my conference finished up in the afternoon). We may not say it as often as we should, but I think that Katrina and I are pretty darn lucky to have him in our lives. John is a supportive and loving husband and the best dad that I have ever seen. He helps with everything, loves us to pieces, and gives the best hugs in the world. We love you honey!

Tune in tomorrow for our St. Nick's pictures!

For Mommy

2007-12-04T20:41:00.001-05:00

Dear Mommy,

I miss you so much! When I think about you, my lower lip juts out and I get real sad...

Katrina

Soy un hombre sincero

2007-12-04T16:57:00.000-05:00

And that is about all the spanish I know, which makes my trips to Chile a fun exercise in pantomiming and gaffes. Why am I talking about Spanish? Somehow my blogger preferences are set such that everything is in Spanish. I will never post in Chile again...But seriously, later tonight I will post videos for Mommy who is at a conference when a) I had a lot of big things going on (e.g. talk at a nearby workshop) b) b) Katrina doesn't sleep through the night because of a cough that won't go away and c) I feel like I'm getting sick. Did I mention that Katrina really misses her Mommy. Really, really, really. *sigh*

Most of the pictures were taken from last weekend, where I visited my folks with Katrina. She got a kick out of rocking in the little rocking chair and seeing the horsies in the field next door. Plus, she got to meet cousin Andy (picture of that with the movies...)

Gobble, gobble, cough, cough

2007-11-30T10:04:00.000-05:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone! We hope that you had a delightful, family-filled, relaxing holiday. We spent the holiday up at John and Jo Anne's house in State College. I was able to take off the Friday after turkey day because I had some experiments left to finish up from my dissertation days. I worked Thursday morning, Friday, and parts of Saturday and Sunday. It was supposed to be a great weekend - get work done, spend Thanksgiving with friends and family, and see lots of friends up in State College. Sadly, things did not go as planned.

Around 1pm on Thursday I started to get really sick. Katrina was put on antibiotics before we left Baltimore for a cough that wouldn't go away, so I thought I was just getting the cold that she had. No such luck. I ended up with fever and chills for days and a fatigue that left me so tired that I actually had to take off from work on Monday. Being sick meant that we couldn't see friends for Thanksgiving, nor could we see Sheila and her four day old baby girl. In fact, outside of the lab, we weren't able to see many people at all. That was truly the biggest disappointment about this past weekend.

But despite feeling under the weather, there were a few things that we got a chance to enjoy - John's dad made his first tofurkey for me (a stuffing concoction with tofu in it that he molded to a wire chicken basket to look like a bird); Katrina was cute with her sunglasses and her grandparents; I was able to get to work in ten minutes versus the half an hour it takes now. Here is just a smattering of pictures of the weekend. I'm going to be on hiatus until the middle of next week since I'm going to a conference. Here's hoping that John will post some pictures for me to enjoy while I'm away!

Miss Curly Head

2007-11-15T08:56:00.000-05:00

Miss Katrina has gone from bald for the first year or so of her life, to flat out curly-head it seems in a matter of a few months. I think that she is going to be like I was - a miniature Shirley Temple, though her hair appears to be light brown instead of my insane blonde. She is also changing in many other ways besides just her locks.

Katrina's comprehension grows in leaps and bounds. She really does understand almost everything that we tell her. She is equally becoming adept at trying to get her way most of the time, with compromising, delay tactics, and sometimes flat out tantrums (which rarely work on us, but she seems to forget that!). Katrina is engaging in imaginative play (check out the pictures of her in my clothes and jewelery), she loves mixing (cooking) in the kitchen, and makes sure that puppy, moose, and bear all have some water or food, because stuffed animals get hungry and thirsty too. She is very much interested in cars, trucks, buses, and things that go vroom-vroom. She loves construction vehicles and watching people work. All of these interests have made daycare quite enjoyable - she doesn't cry anymore when I drop her off, loves all the toys and activities, gives her teacher hugs, and takes forever to say goodbye to everyone, including the babies in the next room over.

Katrina is also becoming a "big girl," in some ways - she can take off her shirts and jackets (not to mention shoes, socks, and hats, all very cumbersome things). She has learned to put her hat on and she tries really hard to put on her socks and pants. She has become more communicative with people that she doesn't see for a long time. When Uncle John visited, it only took her a few minutes to get over being shy. It probably also helped that Uncle John was willing to play blocks with her. It is really amazing to watch her grow!

And before we show off pictures, we just want to give a shout out to Aunt Ann and Aunt Pam who have had a really rough couple of weeks. We are thinking of you and hope that you both feel better soon!

Uncle John and his Tower of Doom

Trying on mommy's stuff

Coloring is messy but fun!

Taller in mommy's shoes

Elephant pancake!

Our first visitors!

2007-11-13T09:04:00.000-05:00

We were really excited to have Li and his family, including his in-laws, come down from State College for a visit some three weeks ago (I know, I know, we are still behind on our blog posts!). They stayed with us for one night en route to visiting Washington, DC, where they then spent the night at my mom's house. Li's visit sent us in a panic to clear out our moving boxes and make the house presentable, which is a very good thing because if it hadn't happened, we might still be living in total chaos. We stayed up late chatting and then we all took a morning stroll to the ponds. Li's son Bill liked the ducks, while Katrina had a blast hugging the statue. Katrina was enamored with Li's mother-in-law and insisted that she hold both her hand and my hand during our walk. It was really great having Li and his family hang out with us and I hope they come again very soon. This also goes for the rest of our friends - our house is always open to visitors and we would love to have you all stop by some time. Thanks to Li for all the pictures!

Tomorrow - Katrina and cuteness and a visit from Uncle John!

Walking around the lake

The two buddy system

Bill gets cozy with his mom

Playdate

Who, me?

I see you!

In the neighborhood

Father and son

At my mom's

My mom and Bill

I canth breathe eethily

2007-11-07T10:28:00.000-05:00

Katrina's first cold past this weekend, just in time for me to come down with a mildly vicious cold. It feels like there is a bear sitting on my head. Consequently, blog posts have been lacking, but I promise the appearance of photos in the next day or two once my head emerges from this fog. Hope all is well with the rest of you!

The neighborhood

2007-11-04T17:36:00.001-05:00

When people think of Baltimore, there are the standard images that come to mind - the Inner Harbor, high crime rate, blue crabs, Hopkins, unsafe med school. But we are finding that there are a lot more wonderful things about Baltimore than we had discovered from our undergrad days, starting with our neighborhood. We are lucky to be a short walk from some ponds in the center of our neighborhood. Ponds you say, in the middle of a city? Yup - ponds with koi and water lilies, ponds with statues and sitting benches nearby. Before Katrina started daycare, we would take daily walks to see the cacs, cacs (or ducks) that would saunter along the pond banks.

In addition to having a bit of peace in our neighborhood, we also are sooooo lucky to have great neighbors. We had a chance to meet a bunch of them on our Halloween walk a few days ago, in addition to a family across the street who gave us cupcakes the second day we moved in and the family that shares the duplex with us. We see our next door neighbors every day, if not several times a day. We have weekly dinners with them, harass them to borrow everything that we have yet to find in our unpacked boxes, and have multiple impromptu playdates with their four year old son. Katrina is so enamored with our neighbors, that she often points to their house, says their name, and does a happy dance when she sees them. The flip side to that is a meltdown when we don't drop everything that we are doing to go visit next door the minute that she wants. In addition to the kids having a blast with each other, we "adults" jive pretty well and its been like having an instant family next door. The guys have broken out into impromtu singing, while the girls have been told that we look like sisters while out on the town shopping. Now that's a nice side effect of moving to the "big city."

Cupcake love

Log in tomorrow to see pictures of our first out-of-town visitors!

First official day as a dicty labrat

2007-11-01T22:08:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to let you know that my first day at my new job kicked butt. So far, the folks are awesome and friendly, the work is pretty neat (I spent the day learning how to purify actin from chicken meat), and my boss is super nice. Not too bad? Guess karma has a way of maybe working things out. So far.

'Ween!

2007-10-31T21:40:00.000-04:00

I was convinced that Katrina would actually be terrified of Halloween. Whenever I've seen a little child first experience Halloween, they've always been scared out of their wits. And to be sure, it was rough going at the beginning. The first house we went to, Katrina protested quite vehemently at the placement of candy in her little pumpkin purse. But by the third or fourth house, she was saying a barely distinguishible trick or treak, and by the time we got across the street she was saying "More, More" and "Whee!". She then stayed up a bit past her bedtime to see all the little ghouls and goblins of the neighborhood. She even got a dollar bill from one guy who was so taken by the pretty little duck.

Pumpkin time

2007-10-28T23:35:00.000-04:00

Since Halloween is only three days away, we thought we would start out the week with some pictures from the Weber's Farm outside of Baltimore that we visited the morning before John left for his observing run in Chile. For a small fee, we were able to see the animals (goats, rabbits, cows, fowl of all kind including peacocks), feed the animals, ride down a HUGE slide (video coming hopefully in our next post), walk through the corn maze, trapse around the pumpkin land, visit a house of horrors, and check out the tractors. At the end of our exhausting, but amazingly fun day, we bought a frozen apple cider slushie and a caramel apple - heavenly.

How tall this fall?

DC Connection

2007-10-27T20:33:00.001-04:00

Katrina and I have been in DC three times in as many weeks - twice to join John at his office to fill out some forms regarding the sale of our State College house (which by the way, just sold!) and once last night to see Aunt Erica perform in The DC Different Drummers (which was awesome! It was so much fun to finally see her play clarinet with the band). Since we were already in DC two of those times, Katrina and I decided to take in some of DC's awesome free attractions. On our first trip, we headed out the National Zoo and met up with some new friends. Katrina had a blast with all of the animals, though I think her favorite was the hippo. It was great fun to see her get excited by some of the animals. Note to every other parent: Don't go to the zoo with a child that you may need to carry when it is over 95 degrees outside. While wearing jeans.

The second time, we went to the Smithsonian Mall and visited the Museum of Natural History. Although she was still a little too young to enjoy the dinosaurs or some of the other exhibits, Katrina did have fun with the Rocks and Gems, mainly because she got to get out of the stroller at the insistence of one of the guards and run around touching all of the rocks. The Japanese tourists got a kick out of her and kept pointing and smiling at her, all of which kept Katrina hamming it up.

While at the Smithsonian, we did one of the things that I always did on every trip to the Mall as a child - we rode the Merry-Go-Round, which I believe is the oldest one in the country. I was a little worried that Katrina would get sick (she had just up-chucked while on the swing in our backyard), but she loved it. Up and down, down and up - it was a blast. She really wanted to go on it again, but at five bucks a pop (I remember when it was one dollar!), it was a little rich for our wallets on that particular day. She seemed ok once I told her that we would come back later with daddy. That didn't stop her however from stopping every five feet, turning around, and saying "Bye, bye" to the carousel.

Half an arcsecond

2007-10-24T18:37:00.000-04:00

That is 1/7200th of a degree, and that's how small the stars looked on the sky last night. I'm observing in Chile, and bummed that I'm missing out on the first week of daycare for Katrina. I miss my family :(

But work here is going great. We had awesome weather last night and we are slated to have some good weather tonight too. I'm up here for four days, then it's back home again. Las Campanas, the observatory I'm at, is located right on the edge of the Atacama desert. We sit on a spine of mountains that run as far as the eye can see. It is immensely beautiful to walk up to the observatory from dinner and see the moon hanging over the mountains like some alien landscape. Amazing. I'm regretting not bringing our camera out, so I had to settle for a few iSight pics from my trusty Mac laptop.

The fuzzy white thing over the building is the moon

A look back at State College

2007-10-22T23:07:00.000-04:00

Since we are so behind on our posts, we even have one from before we left State College. General cuteness as Katrina visits her daycare for the last time, takes her last bath in the bathroom, and tries out her trike on the "huge" hill in front of our house (we have a video too that we will post soon in a video only post).

Thanks to everyone for words of kindness with regards to daycare. Today was...better. Her report said: "Katrina really enjoyed exploring bunny connectors (anyone know what those are?) and water in the sensory table this morning. On the playground she had fun shoveling mulch. Katrina had a good day. She was a little sad this morning, but she was comforted by some hugs from her teachers. By the time we went outside she was happy. She enjoyed playing "Peek-a-Boo" with Aileen." She was happy to see me, but didn't devolve into hysterics today. However, she was super tired and after a nice dinner with Julie, Phil, and Jake, she melted down at home and promptly fell down and split her lip. Much sobbing ensued. For about half an hour straight. I think this week will be tough on her, just to get her back into a routine. But by next week, I think things will be a little more settled down, sans self induced injuries. I hope.

High ho, high ho, its off to daycare she goes

2007-10-22T21:37:00.000-04:00

Well, daycare round two has started. We were really lucky to get a spot in a place close to where I'll be working (though cheap it is not!). According to her daily sheet "Katrina had a good first day today. She really seemed to enjoy circle time and reading stories. One song in particular that she liked was the "Jump up and down song." She clapped her hands and laughed when it was her turn to jump. She also made lots of new friends. Great job Katrina!"

The day according to me, was as follows:
"Katrina, you're going to daycare today! Are you excited?"
"Yesh!"
"We have to make sure that we have everything you need - diapers, wipes, Elmo toothbrush" (that she picked out herself).
"Yesh!"
Got to daycare and noticed that she had fun with the slide. Said goodbye, got a great hug and kiss, and went to the front desk to write out a check. Mamma started crying.
Went home. Cried the whole way home, convinced that she didn't understand that she wouldn't see me all day. Got home. Puttered around, not sure what to do since Katrina wasn't around for our morning walk, trip to the park, afternoon walk. Got some chores done, did some reading. Went to pick her up.
Saw that she was playing outside. Smiled and went to pick up her belongings. Came outside and found her being held by a daycare provider.
Said "Hi Katrina!"
She saw me, starting bawling, and saying "Mommy, mommy, mommy!"
I picked her up, held her (she had a death grip), and walked her to the car. Was asked if I was ok by the woman at the front desk. Guess sunglasses don't hide tears super well.
The first half of the drive home involved both of us crying. Then laughing at the bridges we were going under and at the traffic.
Got home. Katrina starts to cry that Jake, the boy next door isn't home. We even have to check his backyard to make sure that he is not hiding out there.
Go in, have dinner, start to take a bath, hearing knocking at the door.
See Julie and Jake with chocolate chip pumpkin bread. Katrina does her happy dance. I decide to eat the whole loaf in the next two days. We hang out with our awesome friends and then crash.

Why is daycare so hard now? Maybe because, unlike last time, I can't ignore how she is feeling - she can tell me. Maybe it is because I have grown addicted to the little girl who gives me hugs, hugs, hugs throughout the day. Whatever it is, this is HARD. Here's hoping that tomorrow brings drier faces and less heartache. Katrina will be fine. I'm not so sure that I will be.

Almost heaven, West Virginia

2007-10-21T20:04:00.000-04:00

Well, after about two years of not "smelling the mountain air" according to my mom, we decided on a whim to head out to West Virginia for about five days. I was really excited that John could make it with us girls, since he has been up to his elbows in getting proposals done and in preparing for his observing run to Chile (he is mid-flight as I write). We spent a few days in Martinsburg so that John could have reliable internet access, and then we headed to Berkeley Springs - the oldest spa in the US (George Washington even went there). If I didn't know it was so old, I would have guessed that it was colonized by hippies - there are art shops, homeopathy shops, and spas everywhere, with a smattering of liberal bumper stickers to boot. The town is fairly small, but we managed to be entertained there for three days. My mom and I had a nice massage and then got a manicure and pedicure respectively. We sampled local cuisine and even convinced a local farmer to let us pick pumpkins from his pumpkin patch (which led to a really interesting discussion about family farms and the state of farming in America). What did Katrina do during our break? She enjoyed fresh apples at the farmer's market, ate her first ice cream cone, enjoyed pushing her dog around in her stroller, and when we finally found a playground in the next town over, she had a blast on the swing set. Here are just a few shots from our journey west (and yes, we know that we are WAY behind on posting. To make up for this eggregious problem, I will try to post every day this week - we have a lot of ground to cover, so make sure you check back in with us!).

We're alive, part I

2007-10-10T22:00:00.000-04:00

Well folks, the title says it all. We've survived the move from State College to Charm City a few weeks ago, but have only just gotten access to wireless. We are still living out of boxes, but not so many that we can't find anything (although John's socks have all but disappeared into the abyss). Katrina seems perfectly content with the move - she has her crib, her books, her toys, and her parents, plus an awesome playmate next door. Compared to what its been like for the past couple of months, this must feel like heaven. Copernicus and Athena were fairly freaked out the first week or so, but have managed to accept the change with a few adaptations - Athena stalks the grasshoppers that have invaded the basement, while Copernicus spends an inordinate amount of time looking out the windows. We're not in Kansas anymore, that's for sure. What the heck are those things out there?

We, on the other hand, are exhausted. I don't know why I thought that the two months off before I start work in November would be relaxing - you all must have been secretly laughing, I am sure. John has spent much of his time eeeking out job and fellowship applications for a job for fall 2008 and I'm working on tying up loose ends at work while on Katrina watch during the day. The latter has definitely been living up to expectations however. I am having a lot of fun hanging out with the mooch. We've been exploring slowly the neighborhood and meeting folks on our street (all of whom so far have been fantastic), taking field trips, and shopping for odds and ends. Details will be forthcoming in future posts.

For now, we leave you with these pictures from the move. We could not have survived without our friends and family who all pitched in at both ends. Seriously, who knew we had so much stuff and who knew we had so many awesome people to help us move it? We would have taken pictures in Baltimore when we arrived, but the camera was MIA too (along with my phone charger, and changes of clothing, and address book - just a sampling at no matter how organized you think you are for a move, you're really not). Hugs to everyone in State College - despite our busy weeks, we miss each and every one of you!

Daddy work!

2007-10-05T10:41:00.001-04:00

Katrina's verbal skills are increasing rapidly. When we just moved into our new place, (yes we still have boxes, no we're never going to get done), Katrina knew a dozen words and could recognize a lot more things. Now, we're getting words strung together, and maybe a first sentence(?)

Now that I'm around full time again, dropping me off at the train station for work is something that both Katrina and I had to get used to. The first time she bawled all the way home. The second time I told her over and over that I was going to work. So Alexandra heard--"Daddy, daddy work!" all that day. It's getting better now after the first week. But Katrina is at the age where she actually seems happy to see us. This is a good thing. I hope it lasts more than a few more years.

Then just this morning, I asked Katrina if she wanted her eggs for breakfast. She pushed the plate to me and I swear she said, "Daddy want some eggs?". But she wouldn't repeat it and I can't tell if it just wasn't a clever repetition of what I just had said. But still...too cool.

We've been gone a bit, but moving just took it right out of us. Plus Verizon DSL can't seem to do anything right, for which they are about to lose a customer if they aren't careful. I do want to thank everyone both in State College and Charm City for the solid help given for moving. Everyone stuck in there and put their muscles into it so that a 24' truck could be loaded in 5 hours and unloaded in 3. You guys are the best!

Sadly, I haven't downloaded any images from the camera in a long time, so no pics just yet!

Pictures of the wee one

2007-09-17T21:30:00.000-04:00

Katrina is growing up so fast. In the past two weeks, she had her first dentist appointment and did really well saying "Ahhhh" and leaning back. She has started really engaging in imaginary play, something she has been working with the past couple of months. She now "talks" on the phone, "feeds" her stuffed animals, plays super Katrina, and helps out in the kitchen, among others. Her language is exploding - you only have to say a word once or twice and can usually retain it. Its a lot of fun being her mom right now, despite the short temper and changing eating patterns.

This week I'm home with Kiki while trying to finish packing (we move in five days!!!). I hope that we will get around to see some sights before we head out. So far, we have been to the local parks. Maybe tomorrow we'll get to the local safari at Penn's Cave and the local library. On Friday, we hope to have Jaleah and Krysten over again - there is a picture below of Kiki and Jaleah running around outside and having a blast.

James Gow

2007-09-13T10:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my father met up with some of my relatives to mourn the passing of my Aunt's father, James Gow. He lost the battle to prostate cancer last weekend, and we were very sorry to hear of his passing. Mr. Gow was a friendly guy, and I always had fun the few times that I met him. Uur thoughts go out to his wife and family.

Otherwise, things are quiet at the moment and we're starting to pack up for the move. We need to be getting some more pics of mooch up soon...

Up in the hills

2007-09-11T13:22:00.000-04:00

This was to be my one week off before I take care of Kiki for six weeks prior to starting my postdoc on November 1st. Lots of sleeping and lots of lazing. David's death has sent those thoughts of relaxation into a tailspin. I went to bed thinking about him and his family, I woke up thinking about him and his family. Everything that I have been doing - playing with Kiki, giving her a bath, taking her to daycare - has been colored by that news. So this morning, I did the only thing I could think of. I went out to the mountains.

It was a rainy, foggy morning. I drove and drove and drove and walked and stopped in lots of places along the way. Despite the weather, I spotted a deer, beautiful flowers, and pretty views. I still cried, but somehow being outside I could breathe and cry at the same time.

Two weekends ago John, Katrina, and I spent our days saying good-bye to some of our favorite haunts around State College. We went to see the ducks in Bellefonte and the train and we had some fun in the park. Here's what the mooch has been up to these past few weeks.

David Andretta, 1976-2007

2007-09-10T13:32:00.001-04:00

I just learned that one of my dearest childhood friends, David Andretta, passed away while rock climbing in South Africa (the news story can be found "here"). I am floored and completely devastated by the news.

I first met David in the second grade and we remained classmates until we went our separate ways for high school, six years later. In that time, we became good friends and fierce competitors in the classroom. So much of my memory at Holy Trinity Elementary School is wrapped up with David - being paired up in science class together to dissect a frog (David wouldn't touch it and I always found it funny that he went on to become a doctor), having discussions from the mundane (who liked whom and who kissed whom) to the scientific (solar energy versus nuclear energy) to the political (Romanian revolution, Gulf War round one) to the social (girls and athletics), hanging out at each other's homes, teasing each other often, seeing his mega-kilowatt smile. I was always in awe of David's soccer prowess and athletic abilities. But the one thing that impressed me the most while we were growing up, was his determination. He worked really hard for every single thing that he had and was committed to excellence - being second best was never an option in his mind. David always had a lot of energy and a lot of focus. Yet when we caught up with each other again just last year at his wedding, what struck me the most was how happy he was and how much he laughed. In the time that we had grown up apart, David had turned into a smart, successful, super adventurer and had taken that focus that he had always had and morphed it into a zest for life. It was infectious and fun to be around.

I want to say that the world is a sadder place without him in it. But the truth is, the world is a better place for the time that he was here. I miss him, I miss the opportunity to have him in my life and I miss the chance to have him be a part of my future memories. Melissa, Mr. and Mrs. Andretta, Jamie - your are in our thoughts and our prayers.

Katrina speak

2007-08-29T22:02:00.000-04:00

I thought long and hard about how to title this thread, but risked offending folks at first glance. Consider yourselves forewarned! Some recent conversations at our household:

Me: "Oh look! You've got the crayons. Shall we go get a sheet of paper?"
Kiki: "Shit! Shit! Shit!"
Me: "Sheet. Sheet. Sheet of paper."
Kiki (for the next five minutes): "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Me: "Katrina, what does a duck say?"
Kiki: "Coc-coc."
Me: "Yes, quack-quack."
Kiki: "Coc-coc."

Other words these days
Nee-na: Katrina
Uck: Truck
Pooo!: Poop
Ango: Mango
Keysh: Keys

And that's what's going down in this neck of the woods.

Its ours!

2007-08-26T19:55:00.000-04:00

A three bedroom, one and a half bathroom duplex in Charm City with a living room, dining room, kitchen, basement and finished attic. One of the best parts of it is that it has a fenced yard with a kiddie swing and is within walking distance of a church, a library, and a park. We closed on Friday and it is OURS!!! Wheeeee!

In the middle of a couple of super high stressed weeks, we have been able to take a few pics of Miss Cutie, who has been an utter pain (though always adorable). But we will save that for another post.

Graduation photos

2007-08-22T16:29:00.000-04:00

Future grad

The faculty on stage in all their colors

Still a graduate student (me, my advisor in gray, and fellow graduate Yujin)

The hooding

Receiving diploma

Yi, Julia, Hong, and family, shot one

Family, shot two

Lesley, Sebastian, and George

Congratulations, Doctor

2007-08-20T18:24:00.001-04:00

Alas, I'm not with the camera that has the pictures to prove it, but maybe my erstwhile colleague Dr. A will grace this blog with some pictures of her hooded finery this past Saturday. As many of you know, graduation was this weekend and there was a good turn out to see my wife walk. My folks, Anca, Lesley, Sebastian, and George all came out to watch. Katrina did marvelously well for a 2.5 hour event, mesmerized by the music and people for the first hour and passing out for a cat nap until the clapping for the grads woke her up.

Then the party! We had lots of food--sarmale, curries, pork, salads, crab legs. Lots of dessert too--including a cake decorated with a budding yeast and trifles made from the cake my dad accidentally destroyed while trying to get it out of the pan (luckily a yummy mistake!).

We saw lots of good friends and family, and Katrina hammed it up with Asta and Diddi. Katrina was just enthralled with the big kids and ecstatic to learn their ways. And my Aunt Ann and Sue conspired to get Katrina into a PSU cheerleader outfit, which was of course very cute.

So a special thanks to everyone who supported Alexandra in one way or another, and people who made the trip from out of town--we appreciate it!

Where is the video camera when you need it?

2007-08-15T20:53:00.000-04:00

Today, in all of her cuteness glory, Katrina did the following:

- When I picked her up at daycare, Katrina walked out of her room, down the hall to the front desk and asked for the day's snack which was a bunch of wheat thins distributed in little plastic cups. After saying please, I gave her a cup with about five crackers in it. She turned around and saw Jalaya, a little kid in her room that she has befriended (I liked her a lot too - she always comes running to give me a hug when I come to pick up Katrina in the afternoon). She sat down and pointed to Jalaya. Jalaya started to giggle. Katrina giggled back. For five minutes these two girls went on a giggling spree. And when that was over, they realized that they could place the cups that held their snacks over their mouths and affect the sound of their voice. Insert another ten minutes of laughter. I think they would still be there if the grownups didn't take them away!

- After drinking a lot of water from her sippy cup, Katrina followed Athena around the living room trying to offer the cat some water. She kept shaking the cup in her direction, spraying her with water. This lasted for about all of 20 seconds before Athena ran away. Still, it was awfully cute!

- By request of the little munchkin, we put on some music after dinner. She picked up her soft duck blanket and started dancing with her quack, quack. That lasted for quite some time. Then she decided it would be more fun to body-slam the poor blanket. Over and over again. Future tappy-toes or future WWF?

Happy birthday Buni!

2007-08-10T12:25:00.000-04:00

My mom is one of my heros. She is an amazingly strong woman, with an unsurpassed sense of family, loyalty, and support. My mom has always been one of my biggest cheerleaders, friends, and mentors. I look up to her more than she will ever know. I have really enjoyed watching her in her role as Katrina's grandmother or bunica in Romanian (hence the Buni for short). She loves Kiki a lot and has fun spoiling her and interacting with her.

Happy birthday mom! Here's to another sixty years of fun, laughter, and good times!

Astrobio babe

2007-08-09T10:31:00.000-04:00

I'm part of an online crafty baby clothing swap with some other moms (you know, something to do with all my free time that I foolishly thought I would magically have after I defended!). The premise is that we each sew, applique, or paint an article of clothing for the other babes in the swap and in return we get awesome crafty goodness. The first outfit for Katrina is the green outfit shown a couple posts back. The pink shirt was in package number two. I think it is a perfect integration of astronomy and biology. First of all, the central design TOTALLY looks like a budding yeast cell, the model organism I used for my thesis work to study how replicated chromosomes stay together through replication and part of cell division. Although I couldn't get a good shot of them, there are also several hand embroidered stars on the shirt as well. This proves it - Katrina is definitely an Astrobio babe.

More pictures

2007-08-07T19:25:00.000-04:00

Here is Katrina helping me in the garden and playing SUPER KATRINA!!!! with a dish towel (this involves running around the living room saying whoosh, or the closest thing to it!).

Cutie pie

2007-08-06T20:43:00.001-04:00

She keeps on getting bigger and bigger. Here she is playing around with a laundry basket and wearing an awesome green outfit that one of Mommy's internet friends made for her.

August weekend 1

2007-08-06T14:32:00.000-04:00

We're back from Julie and Micah's wedding in Philly this past weekend. It was wonderful, one of the best ceremonies that we've ever been too. The happy couple looked, well, happy, their vows were beautiful, the garden where they tied the knot was perfect and the food was delicious! Katrina made an appearance the next day at the going-away brunch (more delicious food) and fell asleep perfectly on the ride home. In other Kiki news, she has finally learned to say "No." I've been dreading it for some time, as I had imagined that it would be shouted at the top of her lungs. While we may yet experience the obnoxious negative in the future, for now it is the sweetest, most adorable no I have ever heard. We will try to video it so that you can all hear for yourselves.

Also, a happy, happy birthday to Mr. Rudy who turned a big TWO this weekend!

2 X in = 18 months

2007-08-02T21:29:00.000-04:00

Dear Katrina,

I can't believe that you are eighteen months old today! You have now been officially out twice as long as you were in. You are growing by leaps and bounds and every single day with you is more fun than the day before. There have been three major things that have marked the past few months as the transition from being a baby to being a full-fledged toddler.

First, you have started saying words. The video below just shows a handful of things that you have started to say. Most frequently heard around the house are uh-oh, doa (for dog), mine, e-bow (for elbow), dada, mama, yees, at (for cat), cuc (for truck), ooom (for the sound a car makes), hot!, mo (for more), and this morning, no! You try really hard to repeat new words and sometimes phrases. Your geeky parents have gotten you to say "Luke, I am your father" (it sounded like "Uke, I am ur dadda") and "mitotic cell" (which sounded like "My-to-cuc L!"). You love to sit down with a book and "read" through the whole book by babyspeaking as you turn the pages. We can't wait to start having real conversations with you.

Secondly, you have started to love giving hugs and kisses. You run towards me when I pick you up at daycare - this is much better than ignoring me which you did for a long time. When I ask you for a hug, you throw your arms around me. When I ask for kisses, you open your mouth and plant one on my cheek and even have the patience to kiss the other cheek. Your love isn't limited just to me and Daddy. You give hugs to Froggy and Iorek and today, you collapsed on top of the teddy bear at daycare and gave it a gigantic hug.

Finally, the wheels in your head are turning so loudly that we can hear it across the room. You are really putting two and two together. When you hear an airplane, you put your finger to your ear and look up expectedly. When you see steam coming from food, you say "hot!" and blow on it to make sure that it is cool enough to touch. When mommy is too busy preparing dinner to pay attention to you, you start to throw things in the cats' water fountain or attack the cats with shrieks until I turn around to play with you. When we deadhead flowers in the garden, you start pulling everything brown off the ground - even mulch, sticks, and dead leaves. While you can't necessarily respond verbally to all our questions or requests, you understand A LOT - you can pick up all your toys, put things back, take things out, point to lots of things that identify. When we ask, you know how to be gentle, how to stomp, how to brush your hair and your teeth, how to help mommy put clothes on or take them off.

Each letter that I have written to you has ended with something along the lines of I can't wait to see what the future will bring. The truth of the matter is that I can't. I am so excited by every fresh new thing that you learn and every new thing that you share. You are so enamored with the world around you that it makes me look more closely at the ants that run across our pavement, the dogs that are out in the evening for their nightly walks, the sound that dried leaves make when you stomp on them. I love jumping in puddles with you and wondering where the puddles go after a hot day. I love being your mom and having you as my daughter. Every day is amazing with you in it and every tomorrow is more thrilling and exciting than today. Watching you grow fills me with such happiness and hope. Happy 18 months little munchkin.

Love,
Mommy

Wee Beastie Speak

2007-07-30T21:29:00.000-04:00

Katrina has been really accelerating her interaction with the world--she likes to read books by herself. Sometimes she decides to read a book to one of us, in some sort of Katrina-speak. We have one book, by Eric Carle, that goes through different parts of the body, and she can repeat all the motions in the book. As you can see above, her vocabulary is growing. This is so much fun! I really can't wait to have a conversation with her.

Ahchoo! Bless me

Peek-a-boo!

Shameless Plug

2007-07-30T06:06:00.000-04:00

This is from my elementary school friend, who was one of two "better men" at my wedding. He's an awesome filmmaker and is competing in a Heinz commerical contest, so go rate the video, or leave a comment!

Even though we've been super busy, we have been able to take a few pics and vids of the wee beastie, and I'll get them up later today. This past weekend all the grandparents were in town and Alexandra's advisor threw her a really nice goodbye party. Graduation is in a few weeks, and we will have to start the move really soon now. Eep!

In our neck of the woods...

2007-07-20T13:44:00.000-04:00

...or rather, why we haven't been writing too much recently.

1. Working on writing two manuscripts for publication
2. Working on final draft of thesis (due Monday)
3. John and I both catching up on work
4. Getting the house ready to sell (just went on the market last week!)
5. Fixing the wallpaper and garbage disposal, both of which suddenly decided to be fussy.
6. Looking at houses in Baltimore; making an offer; getting it accepted (only whispering this piece of news since nothing is official until inspection is done next week)
7. Remembering to be a mom, go the playground, run around crazily, have fun with the wee one
8. Contemplating what to move and what to get rid of
9. Thinking about projects to do
10. Taking care of a stray, gorgeous cat that showed up at our townhome row
11. Getting ready for lab meeting presentation today

And a bunch of other things I'm sure that I can't think about right now. Anyways, this is my excuse for not taking any pictures for almost two weeks. We will rectify that situation this weekend! I hope.

Uh-oh

2007-07-15T21:17:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we headed to Baltimore for Grandpa's PSU annual reunion. Katrina was a trooper, staying up hours past her bedtime so that we could partake of great gobs of seafood during the evening receptions. To keep the mooch entertained, we walked her around a lot. She got a kick out of the boats in the Inner Harbor, especially the fire boat that sprayed water everywhere. On one of these walks, Alexandra was walking across the cocktail reception room while holding Katrina's hand. Katrina stopped and said "uh-oh." "Uh-oh?" Alexandra asked, rather confused. Katrina turned her head and when Alexandra looked behind them, she saw a diaper. A quick glance confirmed that it was indeed the weebeastie's. How it got off, no one knows. But if it weren't for Katrina who suddenly noticed that something was off, that her bottom was suddenly being caressed by a breeze, she might have spent much of the rest of the evening diaperless. And that is an outcome we wish not to dwell on...

Summer days

2007-07-09T11:52:00.000-04:00

It is finally getting hot and sticky around here. Yesterday, Katrina and I went to John and Jo Anne's house to play in the sprinklers. Have you every tried to hold a wailing child and a camera while trying to run away from a jet of water? Not so much fun. Katrina preferred watching the sprinklers from afar and picking flowers. Overall, not a bad thirty minutes, but when I turned to get back into the house, realizing that my keys, cell phone, car, garage opener, and diaper bag were locked inside of the house - I wished I was back dealing with the wailing weebeastie. Four hours later, a locksmith came and opened up the door for me. Let's just say it was a long day...

In other Katrina news, she is becoming quite the help in the kitchen. The joy of the week - playing with the oven mitts. Last weekend, we went to York to visit Aunt Flossie and to see the family. We spent a lot of time hanging out with cousin Courtney who taught us clapping games and played tag and charades with us. It was a lot of fun and as always, Katrina was a big flirt. For the Fourth of July we went and had a BBQ at Paul and Sheila's house. Katrina had a lot of fun repeating everything Rudy did and Rudy was very diligent about informing his parents when Katrina tried to eat coinage or do something she wasn't allowed to do. I'd say he is getting prepared for being an older brother this fall...

The end of an era

2007-07-02T11:45:00.000-04:00

Its finally official - we've stopped breastfeeding. On June 8th, right before my trip out to CA to visit with John, I held Katrina in my lap for her morning cuddle and nursing session. I definitely had a range of emotions, that now, almost a month out, have subsided.

Katrina was never an avid nurserer. She would get in, eat what she needed, and head off to do other things. She comfort nursed on occassion, but it was by no means a daily occurrence. I contemplated stopping bfd'ing when she turned one, but I was leary of doing anything that would upset the balance of comfort before I defended. So the next opportunity was about a week after my defense. And then, in the space of a couple of days, she specifically asked to nurse - something that she hadn't done in months. So I accepted the fact that nursing would continue either until she self-weaned or her second birthday, whichever one came first. And I was secretly glad.

I had been sold on the notion that breastfeeding was a wonderful, warm, cozy time to spend with your child, where you spend every waking moment gazing with love into each other's eyes. In reality, if your small baby is looking into your eyes, then your position may not be the best one and if your bigger baby is looking into your eyes, then it is rare occurrence, because they are much more interested in looking at the world around them. That is not to say that breastfeeding was a chore or horrible, by any stretch of the imagination. We had our moments - lots of giggles, milk spraying all over Katrina's face. But somehow I thought that finally we would have a chance to bond. Katrina's first year was so stressful for me, that I felt that I had missed out on the Hallmark moments of motherhood, that I had failed her in some way. Extended breastfeeding would be a way to reclaim those lost moments.

In reality, Katrina neither needed nor really wanted to nurse longer. Sixteen months was enough, and when we missed nursing while I was away, she didn't fall apart and she didn't want to return to it. Secondly, those bonding moments that I felt I had missed were Hallmark indeed. It has taken a month of my body reclaiming itself and about six weeks out from my defense to realize that Katrina and I share that mother and daughter bond. It is evident everyday and in every cuddle and hug and kiss. It has taken a month for me to realize that in fact I am proud and grateful that I could nurse for so long and that I need not feel guilty that I stopped pumping after a year. Instead of nursing at night, we have extra cuddles and books and lullabies. Instead of nursing in the morning, we have the "Snuggle Puppy" song and lots of giggles. Instead of comfort nursing, we are learning to interact in ways that are soothing. And happily for me, daddy can also comfort in ways that only righty and lefty could do before, so the distribution of comforting is more shared.

I am happy we nursed. And I am happy in a bittersweet way, that this era has come to an end. Now it is on to better and brighter days ahead!

My Little Helper

2007-06-30T13:44:00.000-04:00

One thing we've been trying to do in these pre-terrible two days is encourage Katrina to help us or do things by herself as much as possible. It keeps her occupied when we have something to do, it seems to make her happy (she wants to be like us after all, the rebellion starts later), and it ensures a positive reinforcement event in between all the "Nos" and redirection. Last night during her bath I asked her to wash her tummy, because she had done it a bit last night and it was also good practice for body parts. She washed her tummy a bit and then I asked her to wash her arm, then pointed to my arm for reinforcement. She leaned over and then washed my arm!

She also thought that dipping her hands in the water worked much better and proceeded to wash my arm and face with her hands. I'm glad I'm stuck up here in State College getting the house ready for selling :)

Rasp-b-berries!

Hanging out during Father's day

Katrina's top ten

2007-06-28T08:39:00.000-04:00

Inspired by MammaPie, I thought that we would write out the top ten things that Katrina really loves right now. Some have stayed the same for quite some time, while others are newly added. In no particular order:

Blueberries. While other berries are definitely good, blueberries are the best!

Cats and dogs. Still gets her very excited.

Trains, tractors, cars, and trucks. She now has sounds for each of these things.

Music, especially ones with hand gestures. Think "We are the Dinosaurs," "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider."

Books. Lots and lots of books. Katrina really has fun with ones where she can participate by doing hand gestures or making sounds. Some of the best right now are From Head to Toe and Old McDonald.

Cheese. And beans. And flavored food.

Waking mommy and daddy up early. Like at four o'clock today. Ugh.

Anything super soft, especially her blanket and little green frog.

Saying bye-bye. To everything, just in case she would be missed. We always make our way to the window at daycare so that she can wave to all the kids in the room that she just left. She's such a ham.

Being tossed back and forth between Mommy and Daddy. We came across this game last December and it is still going strong.

What things are your kids up to these days?

Berry Picking

2007-06-26T23:29:00.000-04:00

Last week we went berry picking with Katrina and Anca at a local farm. While Alexandra went off to pick up berries that we would freeze for later, I hung around with the mooch, trying hard to satisfy her berry appetite. I thought that I would be able to add to the family bounty, but as you can see in the video below, I couldn't pick the berries fast enough for the weebeastie to eat. By the end of the hour, Katrina had learned to point to all the red berries - you know, just in case I didn't see them.

Berry picking is VERY serious business...

Chipmunk cheeks!

Tractors are fun!

It was a long day

Moving, moving, moving

2007-06-24T11:17:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed we haven't posted for a few days. That is because our life is now consumed in getting our house ready for moving. We have accumulated quite a bit of stuff in the eight years we've been here, as well as a fair share of dings and small repairs that we are finding out about.

So to catch up, first some pics from our trip to little Half Moon Bay near San Fran:

Sharfenberger Chocolate Factory Tour

Cool Old Car

Dippin' our toes in the Pacific

Do I look Cold?

Happy Father's Day!

2007-06-18T12:06:00.000-04:00

To the BEST dad a little girl could ask for. Happy Father's day John - you are an amazing dad and we are so lucky to have you in our lives. I love watching you oogle and ahhh over Katrina. I love watching you hold her, comfort her, explore things with her, make silly faces together, and care for her. She is one lucky girl! We love you.

Four more things I love about Katrina

2007-06-15T13:54:00.000-04:00

I love the way she picks up my purse, my keys, says bye-bye and heads to the door after I put on her shoes in the morning.

I love how she tries really hard to play with Copernicus and Athena and chases them around with the feather on a stick. She gets very excited when they jump up to catch the feather, but then gets very frustrated that they won't let go.

I love the way she is babbling recently. It is very different than the cooing of her early months. Now there is intonation and a lot of syllables thrown in for good measure.

I love how she tries to cuddle with everything soft - her blanket, my travel pillow, the cats.

Vacation weekend

2007-06-13T16:07:00.000-04:00

Things have been kind of nice around here recently. On Friday I flew to San Francisco to meet up with John who was there for a conference. We were due to head out camping and white water rafting over the weekend with some friends, but plans changed after I arrived on the West Coast, seven hours later than I was supposed to get in. After we checked into the hotel and took an assessment of the situation - John's lower back was still out, my cold was still lingering, and we were both beat - we decided to just stay put. That was such a wonderful decision. John and I realized that we haven't had any alone vacation time in over two and a half years and even though we were recuperating, being able to do that in a hotel with a hot tub and swimming pool was fabulous. On Sunday we went driving along the coast and that was heavenly too. I will post pictures of those excursions soon.

Where was weebeastie? Katrina spent the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa here in State College and from what we can tell, she had a lot of fun and enjoyed being spoiled silly. She was pretty verbal every time we talked to her and the grandparents seemed to have a lot of fun as well. She seemed to do fine with the separation, although I must admit, it was really hard for me. I cried after I dropped her off at daycare on Friday and I was so excited to see her yesterday! She however promptly ignored me, but then spent the rest of the evening only in my arms. So I guess she missed me, but was too cool to show it! :) Here are some pictures from two weeks back. I'll have to get some new ones soon!

Stomach virus - round one

2007-06-06T20:10:00.000-04:00

Today I had to pick up Katrina from the daycare early because she puked all over herself. Then she puked all over the car, then her mom, and then the sidewalk. The only thing that she "ate" was an organic version of Pedialyte (by the way, have you ever tasted that stuff? The most disgusting thing I have ever had!). Poor baby. Here's hoping that she'll be better soon. And that I can get everything done before I head out of state on Friday. Panic anyone?

Blue eyed girl

2007-06-05T21:52:00.000-04:00

I love Katrina's eyes. They are an awesome shade of blue that changes depending on how the light is shining. Its been awhile since I've taken pictures that highlight my blue eyed girl.

In news here, Katrina is now using a booster seat. She is very excited about "eating" at the big table.

On our bookshelves

2007-06-03T19:02:00.001-04:00

There has been a lot of wonderful reading going on in the past couple of months in our house (you know, in all our free time!). John and I just finished "The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero - the biography of the most famous magician known world-over. Although I am not big on biographies, this was a pretty interesting read. By using the largest database of Houdini and spiritualist letters and flyers, the authors speculate not only that Houdini was a spy for the US government, but that he was murdered by members of the spiritualist movement. This book was used to spearhead the exhumation of his body, the results of which are still out. A good, good book. John and I also finished reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter". John found it depressing, but I thought it was wonderfully written.

Not only are we plowing through books before bedtime, but Katrina is enjoying her books too. We were super excited to get books from Sarah and Jack through a book-exchange that we were both a part of. She loves the train books (trains a super big thing around here now), but the absolute best was the touch and feel book that Sarah actually made for us! Katrina loves the chick, cat, and frog pages the best. I was so hoping that this was for us when Sarah posted it on her blog, but I didn't dare say anything until we opened the delightful package. What fun!

Lab picnic

2007-05-24T12:48:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures from the lab picnic that I just got. I think there might be some more floating around on other folks' cameras, so we might revisit the day.

Dandelion fun

Passing around the ball

Almost the whole gang and families

Four things I love about Katrina

2007-05-24T11:14:00.000-04:00

I love how she grabs her feet and starts tickling her toes. This is usually an invitation to tickle her.

I love that whenever she sees a dog, she stops whatever she does, points to the dog, bounces up and down, and says "Ooo, ooo."

I love that when she is finished with something or thinks that she has spent enough time with someone, she looks at them, waves, and says "Bye-bye!" as in "Its time for you to go now."

I love that whenever she sees a book or a magazine, she does the sign for book, says "Boooo" and rubs her tummy for a please.

I spy with my little pink eye...

2007-05-20T19:54:00.000-04:00

...owls, and birds; caterpillars and squirrels; dirt and sticks. And yes, Katrina had pink eye again. On Thursday I took her to the pediatrician's office as a check-up to the ER visit from last weekend. Her ears are fine and although she is congested still, her lungs sound good. But we got two pieces of information - one was that she had pink eye and had to stay home from daycare on Friday (though by Friday afternoon her eye was fine) and the second was that my baby is suffering from allergies. Who knew that a histamine response gives the inside of your nose a blueish-tinge? At any rate, I was really upset that she has allergies. I somehow thought that we would have a few good years until Katrina was hit with the congestion and runny noses and all the ugh that John and I have when pollen descends.

The upside to Katrina being home on Friday, was that she and I could spend some lovely quality time together. We went out grocery shopping in the morning to prepare for a baby shower we threw on Saturday morning. On the way, we stopped off at a couple of yard sales and Katrina is now the proud owner of a little tricycle (pictures for the next post). I also picked up some cool felt boards with space and firemen themes that I think Kiki will enjoy in a year or so.

After the baby shower, we headed out to a lab picnic, where Katrina learned that dirt doesn't taste good, and neither do pine needles or leaves. Today, after John and my mom headed back to DC, I took Katrina back to Shaver's Creek where we found a wild orchid and where she had fun looking at the owls ("ahwoo") and saying "Oot! Oot!" In addition, for the first time, she pointed at the diaper bag when she wanted to be changed.

Trying to catch up with Little Bit

Checking out the irises

Felt in space!

Tagged Part II

2007-05-16T17:14:00.000-04:00

7 Random Habits/Facts about myself:

1) I am 1.96m (6' 5")

2) I would like to go to New Zealand, solely from watching Lord of the Rings

3) I wish I could ski

4) I used to hold the 7th grade record for the sit and reach, a test of flexibility

5) I can stand absolute comfort, I can stand absolutely roughing it, but I can't stand something in between, like an outhouse.

6) I drive a total of 10.5 hours every week (1hr commuting, 3.5 hours up and back from my lovely ladies)

7) As a kid I would sometimes clench my teeth as our car passed a shaded spot on the road. The sad thing is I sometimes still do this.

Finally, we have a blue bird hanging around the townhome and I snagged a few cool shots. Plus the Cute One.

Note the Blueberry Tongue

Back to your regularly scheduled cuteness

2007-05-14T21:07:00.000-04:00

Enough about us. On to the cute! Katrina has been ubber ubber mobile recently and getting into everything, especially spring flowers. Dogs, squirrels, and birds are currently the favorite items. On Friday I visited Katrina's daycare for a wild jungle walk. The adults were to come with pigtails so my mom and I each braided our hair. Once at daycare, I suited up with bunny ears, while Ms. Flowerchild became a little piglet. The rest of her friends were zebras, tigers, and bears. It was a lot of fun hanging out with all the kids.

Then later that night Katrina had her first visit to the emergency room. Diagnosis: mild croup. Poor baby was feeling ok the next day and we felt lucky that it wasn't something more serious. Saturday we hung out with the moms in advance of Mother's Day and went out to buy flowers for our garden. I'll save the story of Katrina's first alcoholic encounter for another post!

Tagged, part I

2007-05-14T14:59:00.000-04:00

Carla tagged us last week. Her instructions were as follows: The rules start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself. People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog. Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment to tell them they have been tagged and to read your blog.

So here goes (I'll do my seven and hopefully John will do his seven later):

I recently became a pescatarian. That means that I only eat veggies and fish/seafood. It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be so far (though I do miss bacon!).

My favorite flavors are mango, lime, and dark, dark chocolate. Berries of any variety and cheese are close seconds.

I am working on writing a collection of short stories. Two down, five to go.

On my list of things to do - go on a hot air balloon ride, learn to play the guitar, learn to throw a pot, remember how to work my sewing machine, run a marathon, volunteer on a regular basis, learn to swing dance, learn Spanish. And that's just off the top of my head. Can't sit still? Who, me?

I dream of a hammock and a beautiful garden with blooming flowers and ripe vegetables.

My top five places where I wish to travel - India, Thailand, the Andes mountains, Alaska, and Zimbabwe. However, if you give me round-trip tickets to anywhere, I'll go.

I dislike repetitive noises, heavy perfumes, apathetic constituents, and close-mindedness.

I'll let John tag the next round!

Priceless for Having Defended

2007-05-08T20:07:00.000-04:00

Two bottles of advil, three bottles of pepcid AC, and two massages to relieve stress over the past seven years - $200

Nocodazole and other reagents for lab work - over $1000

Breakfast food and coffee to induce food coma in my thesis committee members - $100

Walking out of my defense with a PhD - priceless

Thanks for everyone's support! I couldn't have done it without you all. Now it is off to sleep, get over my cold, hang out with friends and family and then back to work. Hugs to you all!