I was off for a quick jaunt this weekend back to Minnesota, where I hooked up with some of my college homies at our old stomping grounds of St. Olaf College. Ward Sutton (the taller best man in our wedding) was doing the keynote speech at Olaf's innaugural Making It in the Arts conference, and David Anderson (aka, DGA; also the shorter best man in our wedding) was going to be in the neighborhood (St. Louis as opposed to Brussels, Belgium). So that spurred myself and Kevin Lapp (read a poem at our wedding) to fly in from the Left Coast. Friday night, we also got together with Pastor Dave Christensen and his family (four daughters!) before heading down to Northfield. It was great to see the campus and the old town, and Ward was a rock star at the conference (as usual).
All this to say, I meant to post some videos to the blog before I left, but didn't get a chance to then or while on the trip. And so, here they are:
And even though I was only gone for about 2 days, it was really good to come home and see the boy (and my lovely wife, to whom I'm very grateful).
Monday, October 29, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
On the Town
Despite a rather challenging day of Daddy Day Care yesterday, what with the night's sleeplessness combined with the day's naplessness, we ended on a great note by going out to dinner with the PEPS Gang. We went to Endolyne Joe's here in West Seattle, which is operated by the same folk who run The Coastal Kitchen up on Capitol Hill. Sofian was napped out before we headed out the door, and we feared the worst -- that one of us would be walking him out in the drizzly night while the other enjoyed a hot meal. But he perked up (he is a party boy, no doubt about it) and had a great time grabbing Beth's hair and jacket and, well, anything that he could grab onto. As we were leaving, we ran into another PEPS group of just Moms for a night out on their own. There's definitely a baby boomlet happening around West Seattle.
From left and going clockwise, there's me (Ags), Ayana (hidden by my hulking frame in her car seat), Rich and Angie, Ellis (hidden in the car seat), Amy and Matt, Sammy sitting in Lori's lap, Charlie, Pete holding Henry, Beth, Sofian, and Parie.
From left and going clockwise, there's me (Ags), Ayana (hidden by my hulking frame in her car seat), Rich and Angie, Ellis (hidden in the car seat), Amy and Matt, Sammy sitting in Lori's lap, Charlie, Pete holding Henry, Beth, Sofian, and Parie.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Sleep Delays My Life (Get Up! Get Up!)
Last night, Parie and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary. I'm not sure what the official gift for the third anniversary is, but we celebrated with fish at Duke's Chowder House (which actually is a lot nicer than the name sounds). Sofian was great at dinner, being nice and quiet and flashing his smile to the neighboring tables. And then on our return home, after a day of just having about an hour's total of napping, he went to sleep pretty quickly at around 7pm. We watched some telly (Heroes and CSI) and called it a night right around 10pm.
Sadly, a sound night's sleep in celebration of three years was not to be. The Boy woke a little after 2am. He'd done the same thing the night before, and we chalked it up to him feeling a little sick (he's got a slight cold). Parie fed him then and he went back to sleep, but we didn't want to make this a habit, so I got up with him. Boy, was he bang wide awake. I did some yoga ball bouncing. Nothing. We sat in the chair for close to an hour and he played with my beard, and as soon as he started yawning and rubbing his eyes we got back on the yoga ball. This time it seemed to take.
For about 10 minutes.
So Parie went in and fed him and that took... for about 5 minutes.
So back to the ball and back to the crib. But that lasted for less than 15 minutes.
And so, the final solution: driving around West Seattle at 4:30am. Got to listen to a bit of BBC news and learned that the middle class is being squeezed, having to deal with rising inflation and having to pay for more medical expenses out of pocket. Sounds familiar.
Got the boy carefully extricated from the car and into bed a little after 5am. Only to have him wake up about 20 minutes later. At which point it was Parie's turn, and she stayed up with him from there on.
As I was driving around, my thoughts turned to this R.E.M. song (from which the post title is derived).
Sadly, a sound night's sleep in celebration of three years was not to be. The Boy woke a little after 2am. He'd done the same thing the night before, and we chalked it up to him feeling a little sick (he's got a slight cold). Parie fed him then and he went back to sleep, but we didn't want to make this a habit, so I got up with him. Boy, was he bang wide awake. I did some yoga ball bouncing. Nothing. We sat in the chair for close to an hour and he played with my beard, and as soon as he started yawning and rubbing his eyes we got back on the yoga ball. This time it seemed to take.
For about 10 minutes.
So Parie went in and fed him and that took... for about 5 minutes.
So back to the ball and back to the crib. But that lasted for less than 15 minutes.
And so, the final solution: driving around West Seattle at 4:30am. Got to listen to a bit of BBC news and learned that the middle class is being squeezed, having to deal with rising inflation and having to pay for more medical expenses out of pocket. Sounds familiar.
Got the boy carefully extricated from the car and into bed a little after 5am. Only to have him wake up about 20 minutes later. At which point it was Parie's turn, and she stayed up with him from there on.
As I was driving around, my thoughts turned to this R.E.M. song (from which the post title is derived).
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
More Videos from Tutu
Sofian's grandmother Tutu (aka, my Mom) has been uploading some more videos that she's captured over at our Daily Motion account (you can see them all at this link). Here's one from our recent visit to Portland:
And one that she shot back in July at the tree-planting portion of our naming ceremony:
Which reminds me I need to carve out some time to get to editing the video that we shot that day.
And one that she shot back in July at the tree-planting portion of our naming ceremony:
Which reminds me I need to carve out some time to get to editing the video that we shot that day.
The Week That Was
Another busy week in the life of The LemonDrop kids. Sunday night brought about the annual Columbus Day Dinner, where we got to meet Charlie and Patty's new son Alex as well as introduce Sofian to the rest of the gang. On Tuesday night, we had our PEPS pals over for our weekly dinner get-together, and Parie repurposed some of the filling we had leftover from the ravioli we made for Sunday into a colorful and very tasty lasanga (with beet/goat cheese on the bottom, sweet potato/sage in the middle, and sweet pea/tarragon/ricotta on the top). Here's the gaggle of parents and babies packed into our tiny living room:
Ayana in her throne:
Sammy munching on Ayana's car seat (I mean throne):
Sammy wearing a very appropriate lemon hat:
And a very happy Ellis (who was widely smiling throughout the night, though it might not show here):
We also gathered the PEPS gang over at Ellis' pad on Saturday afternoon for a swinging party... to puree fruits and vegetables into baby food. Yeah, we can still rock! But seriously, it's always great to get together with our PEPS pals (we missed Henry and his minders Beth and Pete) -- good folks, lotsa laughs, and very supportive camaraderie. And we came away with a lot of food to freeze.
Sofian is starting to come down with a bit of a cold, and he didn't nap much at all yesterday (even with waking up at 5am). But luckily he slept pretty soundly through the night and didn't get up until about 5:45 (yay! it was my turn to wake up with him). Unfortunately, Sofian likes to try out his pterodactyl voice early in the morning, and I did everything I could to keep it down (even feeding him a large bowel of oat cereal and apples) so he wouldn't disturb Mama. Alas, she was awakened by 6:30. But now he's down for a morning nap, and we're wrapping up our reading of the NYTimes on a delightfully foggy Seattle morn.
Finally, here's a vid of the boy captured by Parie earlier in the week:
Ayana in her throne:
Sammy munching on Ayana's car seat (I mean throne):
Sammy wearing a very appropriate lemon hat:
And a very happy Ellis (who was widely smiling throughout the night, though it might not show here):
We also gathered the PEPS gang over at Ellis' pad on Saturday afternoon for a swinging party... to puree fruits and vegetables into baby food. Yeah, we can still rock! But seriously, it's always great to get together with our PEPS pals (we missed Henry and his minders Beth and Pete) -- good folks, lotsa laughs, and very supportive camaraderie. And we came away with a lot of food to freeze.
Sofian is starting to come down with a bit of a cold, and he didn't nap much at all yesterday (even with waking up at 5am). But luckily he slept pretty soundly through the night and didn't get up until about 5:45 (yay! it was my turn to wake up with him). Unfortunately, Sofian likes to try out his pterodactyl voice early in the morning, and I did everything I could to keep it down (even feeding him a large bowel of oat cereal and apples) so he wouldn't disturb Mama. Alas, she was awakened by 6:30. But now he's down for a morning nap, and we're wrapping up our reading of the NYTimes on a delightfully foggy Seattle morn.
Finally, here's a vid of the boy captured by Parie earlier in the week:
Monday, October 08, 2007
New Videos from Tutu
Sofian's grandmother in Portland, Tutu, just uploaded some video that she recorded when we visited her and TomTom a couple weekends ago. First one is a good example of Sofian's very excellent laugh these days:
And the next two with Sofian demonstrating his grabbing skills (as well as licking skills):
Thanks, Tutu!!!
And the next two with Sofian demonstrating his grabbing skills (as well as licking skills):
Thanks, Tutu!!!
Saturday, October 06, 2007
My Fellow Americans, Our Long National Nightmare Is Over
Well, I guess it hasn't really affected the national stage as much as it has the denizens of the LemonDrop. But a significant shift in policy has occurred at the LD: Parie is back on the dairy wagon!!!! It's been well over three months since Parie stopped drinking milk, eating cheese, and basically any baked good that was worth its weight in deliciousness. But a week ago, we tested out some dairy (with creamy curries at our local Indian restaurant, Maharaja) and then proceeded to add in some cheese here and there. The pinnacle was Thursday night, when we brought in a Corson Classic pizza from Stellar -- and no ill effects from the boy. So now we're feeling pretty safe in saying goodbye to oat and rice milks and reintroducing ourselves to the buttery deliciousness of Bakery Nouveau.
Well, we won't be going too overboard. Papa needs to lose 20 pounds (for starters, but that's a good initial goal), and today we joined the YMCA to help in that quest. Also, we'll be signing up for a baby swim class (called Waterbabies) and joining a couple of our other PEPS pals in the class. It should be fun, as Parie will be doing it on Monday mornings and I'll be doing it with Sofian on Wednesday mornings.
Our wild and wacky week has finally simmered down a bit. I'm still up to my neck in work that I'm behind in, but I'm chipping away at it. And Parie still is juggling various and sundry meetings. She had another one this morning, so Sofian and I went on a walk 'round the hood (with our usual stop at our new espresso shop, Bubbles -- looks like they need to update their site to reflect the new storefront). Here's a pic of the boy before we headed out:
And a video of him doing his bucking bronco routine at his mid-morning massive snack attack:
Well, we won't be going too overboard. Papa needs to lose 20 pounds (for starters, but that's a good initial goal), and today we joined the YMCA to help in that quest. Also, we'll be signing up for a baby swim class (called Waterbabies) and joining a couple of our other PEPS pals in the class. It should be fun, as Parie will be doing it on Monday mornings and I'll be doing it with Sofian on Wednesday mornings.
Our wild and wacky week has finally simmered down a bit. I'm still up to my neck in work that I'm behind in, but I'm chipping away at it. And Parie still is juggling various and sundry meetings. She had another one this morning, so Sofian and I went on a walk 'round the hood (with our usual stop at our new espresso shop, Bubbles -- looks like they need to update their site to reflect the new storefront). Here's a pic of the boy before we headed out:
And a video of him doing his bucking bronco routine at his mid-morning massive snack attack:
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Yes, that's something I do after I have too much coffee. Twitter is also a new faddish way of microblogging that I've started playing with. Tonya Engst (an old officemate from my Microsoft contracting days and one of the lead players in the Mac-centric TidBITS news site) has a good summary of it: you can publish short messages of a maximum of 140 characters which can inform the world what you're doing at any given moment. You can post tweets from your PC or from your mobile phone via a web browser, and I do a combination. I'm using it largely to give updates on what Sofian's doing on days that I'm taking care of him, but I also update it with random thoughts and pointers.
You can see my most recent Twitter postings over in the right navigation column, or you can check out my Twitter page. If you sign up with Twitter, we can also follow each other -- the more the merrier!
You can see my most recent Twitter postings over in the right navigation column, or you can check out my Twitter page. If you sign up with Twitter, we can also follow each other -- the more the merrier!
Midnight Run
Here's a tip for new parents: make a list of all the 24-hour stores you might need (such as grocery and drug stores).
Last night, as Parie and I were about to turn the lights off, we both realized that it was a little chilly and getting chillier. Yepp, our furnace decided to take a vacation. Seems that the huge, thundering downpour from yesterday overwhelmed our crawlspace with water, and thus overwhelmed our furnace as well. Parie made two forays into the crawlspace (bless her, she's my hero), but couldn't get the heating element to join the cool blowing air that was coming through our vents.
We checked the baby monitor, which also shows the room's temperature, and Sofian's room was indeed getting chillier. I stole in quietly and added a couple of small blankets on top of him, and then started researching stores in the area that might have space heaters. Unfortunately, it was right at the time that Home Depot, Fred Meyer, Lowes, and even Wal-Mart (in faraway Renton) was closing. But then I remembered from an experience that fellow Dad Glenn Fleishman had years ago (when he drove the city looking for an all-night drug store for reflux medicine) that Bartell Drugs had a 24-hour store over in Queen Anne (which, for out of towners, is where the Space Needle sits). I called and they had a radiator-style electric heater, so I was out the door. I felt a little strange standing in line with midnight revelers buying cigarettes, beef jerkey, and shampoo while I held a giant electric heater box. "Looks like it's gonna be a cold one," remarked one.
Best $50 I've spent in some time. It worked like a charm, even on its low 600-watt setting (heating Sofian's room up to 72 degrees at some point in the middle of the night when we checked).
The next step is to get the furnace back in operation, and Parie is heading back down to the crawlspace to try a new tactic. Fingers are crossed.
[UPDATE] After a couple of trips to the crawlspace, it looked like hope was lost and we called the people who installed our furnace to set an appointment for them to come out -- the earliest being next Tuesday. Then Parie headed out for a meeting and I was feeding the boy some apples and oat cereal when I noticed it getting warmer than expected. Somehow, the magical fixes that Parie tried finally kicked in and we've got the heat is on!
Last night, as Parie and I were about to turn the lights off, we both realized that it was a little chilly and getting chillier. Yepp, our furnace decided to take a vacation. Seems that the huge, thundering downpour from yesterday overwhelmed our crawlspace with water, and thus overwhelmed our furnace as well. Parie made two forays into the crawlspace (bless her, she's my hero), but couldn't get the heating element to join the cool blowing air that was coming through our vents.
We checked the baby monitor, which also shows the room's temperature, and Sofian's room was indeed getting chillier. I stole in quietly and added a couple of small blankets on top of him, and then started researching stores in the area that might have space heaters. Unfortunately, it was right at the time that Home Depot, Fred Meyer, Lowes, and even Wal-Mart (in faraway Renton) was closing. But then I remembered from an experience that fellow Dad Glenn Fleishman had years ago (when he drove the city looking for an all-night drug store for reflux medicine) that Bartell Drugs had a 24-hour store over in Queen Anne (which, for out of towners, is where the Space Needle sits). I called and they had a radiator-style electric heater, so I was out the door. I felt a little strange standing in line with midnight revelers buying cigarettes, beef jerkey, and shampoo while I held a giant electric heater box. "Looks like it's gonna be a cold one," remarked one.
Best $50 I've spent in some time. It worked like a charm, even on its low 600-watt setting (heating Sofian's room up to 72 degrees at some point in the middle of the night when we checked).
The next step is to get the furnace back in operation, and Parie is heading back down to the crawlspace to try a new tactic. Fingers are crossed.
[UPDATE] After a couple of trips to the crawlspace, it looked like hope was lost and we called the people who installed our furnace to set an appointment for them to come out -- the earliest being next Tuesday. Then Parie headed out for a meeting and I was feeding the boy some apples and oat cereal when I noticed it getting warmer than expected. Somehow, the magical fixes that Parie tried finally kicked in and we've got the heat is on!
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