Ah, the Signing Time videos. They are terrible. And amazing. Evi loves them, but the adults are all a bit scared of the host, Rachel, who is, well...scary. But Evi loves these videos which we let her watch a few times a week. She is getting really good at signing and has added about one sign a day for the last week! Here is her list (ooh, a list!) of current signs:
1. food (this is her favorite)
2. more (2nd favorite..she was signing "more food" in her sleep the other night)
3. cracker (we are seeing a trend)
4. banana
5. dog
6. bath
7. baby
8. fan
9. water
10. milk
11. Daddy
12. Grandma
13. book
14. tree
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Slap!
Every once in a while Evi has a bad night. She will usually go right back to sleep in the middle of the night with a little bit of milk and a soothing butt-pat. Not this night. She was fussy and wiggly and frustrating! Luckily we have a great baby carrier that serves to soothe the wild beasty. I wrestled it on in the dark, in my sleep-deprived state, then proceeded to wrestle Evi into it as well. Success! She calmed down immediately, snuggled her head onto my chest and fell asleep. The (very slow) time ticked away and I was thinking I might be able to take her out and put her in her crib. At almost this exact moment, Evi suddenly pushed herself away from me, looked me in the eye, swung her hand back and SLAPPED me across the face! WTF?! She immediately snuggled right back up to me and fell back to sleep.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
End of Trip, Beginning of New Chapter
So, we are sorely behind in our blogging. To recap:
1) We finished our trip by driving from Bloomington to Oak Ridge, TN to visit Dan's Uncle Mike and family. Many games were played, cliffs were jumped off of (into deep, refreshing lake waters--after which muscles were sore), great meals were eaten, three cousins were seen one of whom just graduated from high school and just went off to the US Air Force academy, more games were played, waters were skiied and wakeboarded, more games were played. Awesome.
2) Then we flew to Austin, TX to see Dan's sister Gayle. It was like an oven down there...over a hundred degrees every day we were there. I (Dan) played as a sub for Gayle's softball team as the DH (so I "warmed" the bench when the team was out on the field, but since it was so hot, I was probably more of a "bench cooler" than a "bench warmer") and went 2-2 and scored a run. Evi maintained a cool acquaintance with Gayle's cat Peaches, neither were really sure what to do with the other. Many games were played here too. Katie and I had never been to TX, outside the airports, so it was neat to explore downtown Austin (heard a free concert in the park one night) and drove down to San Antonio to see the Alamo and the River Walk. Very fun.
3) We flew back to Portland, OR and stayed with Dan's parents for awhile before we found a wonderful house to rent in north Vancouver, WA. It has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms (one for me, one for Bird, and, since Evi is so small, a 1/2 bath for her), a small but nice yard and...we are paying the SAME RENT as our dinky Brooklyn apartment! Love it. Although we hated the whole time-consuming process of unpacking of boxes and moving of incredibly heavy furniture bit. I am slowly mastering the manly art of outdoor grilling, which was sorely neglected in the concrete jungle of NYC. Yum. I am also loving all the readily available, super tasty microbrews from here in the PNW. I do miss me my Brooklyn Lager, though. Katie starts her new job at the clinic soon, and I will be working on my dissertation. It is great to have family (my parents, Katie's Dad and sister, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc.) close by. We are very happy.
4) Lastly, since we no longer live in Brooklyn, I restyled the look of the blog as you will plainly notice. Brooklyn Blogger is dead, Long live Dan and Bird's Pacific Northwest Journal!
We have already posted many pictures and videos of our trip at flickr, and will be catching up even more in the coming days, including pics of our new house, and videos of Evi, who is cutting 3 new teeth in her upper gum! Stay tuned, and, as things fall into normalcy and routine, look for more frequent updates (I hope).
1) We finished our trip by driving from Bloomington to Oak Ridge, TN to visit Dan's Uncle Mike and family. Many games were played, cliffs were jumped off of (into deep, refreshing lake waters--after which muscles were sore), great meals were eaten, three cousins were seen one of whom just graduated from high school and just went off to the US Air Force academy, more games were played, waters were skiied and wakeboarded, more games were played. Awesome.
2) Then we flew to Austin, TX to see Dan's sister Gayle. It was like an oven down there...over a hundred degrees every day we were there. I (Dan) played as a sub for Gayle's softball team as the DH (so I "warmed" the bench when the team was out on the field, but since it was so hot, I was probably more of a "bench cooler" than a "bench warmer") and went 2-2 and scored a run. Evi maintained a cool acquaintance with Gayle's cat Peaches, neither were really sure what to do with the other. Many games were played here too. Katie and I had never been to TX, outside the airports, so it was neat to explore downtown Austin (heard a free concert in the park one night) and drove down to San Antonio to see the Alamo and the River Walk. Very fun.
3) We flew back to Portland, OR and stayed with Dan's parents for awhile before we found a wonderful house to rent in north Vancouver, WA. It has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms (one for me, one for Bird, and, since Evi is so small, a 1/2 bath for her), a small but nice yard and...we are paying the SAME RENT as our dinky Brooklyn apartment! Love it. Although we hated the whole time-consuming process of unpacking of boxes and moving of incredibly heavy furniture bit. I am slowly mastering the manly art of outdoor grilling, which was sorely neglected in the concrete jungle of NYC. Yum. I am also loving all the readily available, super tasty microbrews from here in the PNW. I do miss me my Brooklyn Lager, though. Katie starts her new job at the clinic soon, and I will be working on my dissertation. It is great to have family (my parents, Katie's Dad and sister, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc.) close by. We are very happy.
4) Lastly, since we no longer live in Brooklyn, I restyled the look of the blog as you will plainly notice. Brooklyn Blogger is dead, Long live Dan and Bird's Pacific Northwest Journal!
We have already posted many pictures and videos of our trip at flickr, and will be catching up even more in the coming days, including pics of our new house, and videos of Evi, who is cutting 3 new teeth in her upper gum! Stay tuned, and, as things fall into normalcy and routine, look for more frequent updates (I hope).
Friday, June 12, 2009
Illinois and Indiana Fun
We're here in Indiana now, after spending some time in Chicago with our friends there. We saw all kinds of cool stuff, like the Institute of Art with all it's famous paintings and sculptures. Evi did great there, happily vocalizing as we meandered through the galleries. I'm not sure how much she enjoyed the art, but lots of the patrons enjoyed interacting with her. We also went to the Shedd Aquarium and Evi was really interested in the fish there. That was such a cool place...so many cool aquatic animals!! Really good food in the food court, too! We also walked all around and saw the Cloud Gate, which most locals call "The Bean" a giant, reflective, curvilinear form. Neat...see our flickr pictures if you want to actually see what I am writing about.
Then we went to Plainfield, IN, a suburb of Indianapolis, where we spend some time with a family of four, whom we knew as a family of three in Brooklyn. Evi was really interested in the doings of the two kids, 5 and 1. The one-year old was "Evi's boyfriend" according to his 5-year old sister. So cute...again, see the pictures at flickr. Now we are in Bloomington, having got a tour of the IU campus from our friend who teaches there. He and his wife have a super cute 2-year old girl, who, again, entertains Evi to no end. We are having a lot of fun just relaxing now and hanging out with friends.
Family next...Dan's uncle and aunt and family in Tennessee and his sister in Austin. Updates from those places. As much fun as this trip is, we are really excited to return to the Pacific Northwest!! Yay!
Then we went to Plainfield, IN, a suburb of Indianapolis, where we spend some time with a family of four, whom we knew as a family of three in Brooklyn. Evi was really interested in the doings of the two kids, 5 and 1. The one-year old was "Evi's boyfriend" according to his 5-year old sister. So cute...again, see the pictures at flickr. Now we are in Bloomington, having got a tour of the IU campus from our friend who teaches there. He and his wife have a super cute 2-year old girl, who, again, entertains Evi to no end. We are having a lot of fun just relaxing now and hanging out with friends.
Family next...Dan's uncle and aunt and family in Tennessee and his sister in Austin. Updates from those places. As much fun as this trip is, we are really excited to return to the Pacific Northwest!! Yay!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Sleep Like a Baby
There is a disconnect between the phrase “sleep like a baby” and our actual baby. Unless the original meaning is that babies sleep lightly; fitfully; sporadically. Although I shouldn’t complain, because last night Evi slept for four hours straight! This may be the longest period of consecutive sleep I have gotten in months, although I cannot accurately calculate this, as sleep deprivation makes my already questionable math skills even shakier. And I should mention that in order for me to have gotten this much (!) sleep I had to actually go to bed when Evi did: at 8:15pm. I know, I know! I am an adult! I should have stayed up to get things done, to conquer the growing tower of unfilled boxes and unpacked belongings, to organize like only I can, to eat dinner. None of this was as appealing to me as sleep, though, and so I slept the sweet sleep of exhaustion and I have no shame for the fact that most 80 year olds probably went to bed later than I did.
And what is the deal with this baby, anyway? Why must the conditions be perfect and the stars align in order for her to sleep? She can sleep through a siren on the street but if I brush my teeth her eyes pop open like I crashed cymbals. She is hyper-mobile at all times, going so far as to flip into the air and onto her back, panting like a trained dog when I come in with a bottle. But when she wants to turn onto her belly in order to sleep, she can’t make it over and wails like a banshee unless I give her an assist, pat her back and “shush-shush” like a wild woman. I would write more but I am so tired. So, so tired.
And what is the deal with this baby, anyway? Why must the conditions be perfect and the stars align in order for her to sleep? She can sleep through a siren on the street but if I brush my teeth her eyes pop open like I crashed cymbals. She is hyper-mobile at all times, going so far as to flip into the air and onto her back, panting like a trained dog when I come in with a bottle. But when she wants to turn onto her belly in order to sleep, she can’t make it over and wails like a banshee unless I give her an assist, pat her back and “shush-shush” like a wild woman. I would write more but I am so tired. So, so tired.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Evi Eats Everything!
Evi has peas in her hair, squash on her arm and applesauce up her nose. Hello, solid foods! The rate of her development is astounding us; she sits up on her own and flails her arms about as if to happily display her new talent. “Watch me, parents!” We are watching, baby…we can hardly take our eyes off of you! She scoots, and the threat of crawling looms dangerously near. She popped her first teeth this week, two of them, which adds a fun new twist to the aforementioned solid foods, as she chomps down on the spoon with each new spoonful…eating takes a while around here these days.
As for the adult-like figures, we are busily (and happily, gleefully, rambunctiously!) packing our apartment in preparation for the much anticipated flee across the country. Oh, didn’t I tell you? We are moving back to the NW! Why? Bird is employed! As a PA! In Vancouver! The job pays money! And benefits! Four weeks of vacation! So many exclamation points! ‘Tis true, though, all of it. We will be packing up our scant (after a purge on Craigslist) belongings on May 27th and making an incredibly zig-zagging return to the NW via Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee and Texas. (Apparently we only know people who live in states that begin with “I’s” and “T’s”)
We will be maintaining our respective e-mail addresses and phone numbers should any of you feel inclined to call for more information. Adios, New York City!
As for the adult-like figures, we are busily (and happily, gleefully, rambunctiously!) packing our apartment in preparation for the much anticipated flee across the country. Oh, didn’t I tell you? We are moving back to the NW! Why? Bird is employed! As a PA! In Vancouver! The job pays money! And benefits! Four weeks of vacation! So many exclamation points! ‘Tis true, though, all of it. We will be packing up our scant (after a purge on Craigslist) belongings on May 27th and making an incredibly zig-zagging return to the NW via Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee and Texas. (Apparently we only know people who live in states that begin with “I’s” and “T’s”)
We will be maintaining our respective e-mail addresses and phone numbers should any of you feel inclined to call for more information. Adios, New York City!
Monday, April 20, 2009
April Update
So it's been a while since we put up a blog post--we've just been so busy reveling in Katie's being a newly minted PA that we haven't had time to do anything else (riiiight). Dan's been playing a bunch of gigs lately, starting with his Easter services and then a run of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Sorcerer," a lesser-known operetta, and a gig up in Connecticut. He's also preparing for the last push of academic work: final exams coming up very soon (mid-May)! Katie has been busy getting herself a couple of job interviews in the upcoming weeks: you'll hear/read more about this later.
Although we haven't blogged much, we've continued the torrid pace at which we post pictures and short videos to flickr. Go there! View and enjoy!
Evi is getting so much more mobile and energetic in her explorations of her environment. Sometimes she hurts herself a little bit. :-( (Like today she was holding a highlighter pen and slammed her fist into the table, thereby pinching her knuckles between the highlighter and the table--hilarity ensued. No wait....by hilarity, I mean intense bursts of screaming.) We are really enjoying watching her develop from an immobile, relatively non-interactive eat/poop/sleep machine into a delightfully curious and affable little human. What a joy! She's almost ready to start crawling. She gets up on all fours, but isn't quite coordinated enough to move about this way. Also, all the new foods she is trying are keeping her (and us!) entertained. I'm not entirely sure how this works, but, somehow, babies covered in partially chewed food are both disgusting and adorable.
Although we haven't blogged much, we've continued the torrid pace at which we post pictures and short videos to flickr. Go there! View and enjoy!
Evi is getting so much more mobile and energetic in her explorations of her environment. Sometimes she hurts herself a little bit. :-( (Like today she was holding a highlighter pen and slammed her fist into the table, thereby pinching her knuckles between the highlighter and the table--hilarity ensued. No wait....by hilarity, I mean intense bursts of screaming.) We are really enjoying watching her develop from an immobile, relatively non-interactive eat/poop/sleep machine into a delightfully curious and affable little human. What a joy! She's almost ready to start crawling. She gets up on all fours, but isn't quite coordinated enough to move about this way. Also, all the new foods she is trying are keeping her (and us!) entertained. I'm not entirely sure how this works, but, somehow, babies covered in partially chewed food are both disgusting and adorable.
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