Ornaments and Teeth

Raph and I did not exchange Christmas gifts this year for a variety of reasons - we have no money, we don't need any more stuff, etc. Instead we decided to make eachother an ornament, something we hope will be a yearly tradition. These are the ornaments of 2007. Raph said he really had a hard time with his - getting the solder to stick, so he says he's going to stick this medium each year until he gets really good. In case you can't tell, this is a turtle, in the style of the Hawaiian petroglyphs. This was my first time that I had needle felted. The materials were mostly a gift from my Aunt who has the llama farm. It was pretty fun, though Raph asked why i had given myself a huge mustache. Oh well...

And look how big his teeth have gotten in a few short weeks!

Too short

Our trip to Pittsburgh was wonderful. Not enough bridge, but is there ever? Wonderful toasty fires, decent weather, delicious peppermint cookies and upside down pear gingerbread cakes, and most importantly - people we love and love us. It could have gone on forever as far as I was concerned.

The Puff clan coordinated a last-minute visit that was painfully short as there are few people who's company I enjoy as much as theirs.

Christmas shots...

Appropriate attire required of course.


Makili got some quality time with his aunt and uncle and grandparents. He loved playing peekaboo in the mirror with aunt Amanda and REALLY loved Koda. He was a generally happy kid, especially considering how little sleep he got. OR was that me who got no sleep?






I love decorating christmas cookies and was lucky enough to do so at Raph's mom's house and my mom's house.


Even Koda was feeling festive.


Makili didn't sleep more than three hours at a time for a single night during the vacation so he had to make up for it for with lots of Christmas naps.


Have you ever seen anything cute than this baby in his Christmas outfit? Thanks to Debbie!

Six Months Eve

On the eve of Christmas, my little elf hits six months - a strangely standout non-momentous hallmark of babyhood. It is impressive how far he has come indeed! Never having been around small babies before, these first six months have been amazing for me. Who knew that babies started so small, learned so fast, or engulfed your heart so completely?




He is so cute sometimes I think he needs a soundtrack to play in his presence.



Makili is a master of many things – standing while holding fingers, throwing spoons (his preferred toy), screeching in joy, nursing, rolling over and over and over, bathing, tearing up paper, stealing hearts with HUGE smiles. He has an impressive attention span – sometimes playing with random things, like the frayed strings on our upholstered chair, for 20 minutes or more. He is still working on crawling. Suddenly he goes backwards quite efficiently and can do circles on his belly. As soon as he figures out how to go forwards, we’ll really be in trouble. He’s also making headway learning to fall asleep on his own. We’ve made a lot of progress in the last week and a half towards having him get tired, laying him down with his wubbanub, watching his drift off to sleep peacefully without crying or screaming or being rocked. Big improvement. Unfortunately, this has not transferred into our nighttime routine. I think he’s now sleeping worse than ever before. But we have been traveling a lot and have disrupted his routine a lot.



His day is basically a steady rhythm, the basic beats – a smile, a stand, a snack, a grab, a nap, a snack, a shriek, a toy, a meal. Pretty lovely.



I can't seem to come up with much else to say. What else is there to say? He is irresistibly cute - so much so we get accosted on the street daily by admirers.



I'm looking forward to seeing the second half of his first year. His first steps, his first words, his laughter, all of it...I feel blessed to share my life with him and Raph. Merry Christmas to all of you and thank you for spreading your love our way.



Oh and he has a pretty killer babyhawk these days.

Big ear

red, white, and blue

A few more snow pics from NH. So muh snow! When Raph arrived here in Pittsburgh, my dad said "nice to see you." Raph responded, "nice to see the ground!" Please not icicles hanging from Larry's nose!

Stuff

storyofstuff.com

Check out this video before you buy the next gift.

First snow angel.

He didn't like it that much, but I wasn't too mean. I picked him up.

Poorly exposed, but interesting

Holidays at the Hubers

We spent the day with the Hubers', shopping for baby clothes for Winter's baby, playing video games (that'd be Raph, Abram, and Isaac), photo shoots (the spoils of that will be coming!). Lots of fun. As is Cindy's camera! I'm pretty exhausted because I couldn't sleep last night - I didn't get to bed until 4:00 for no apparent reason. I couldn't even blame the baby for a lot of it.

Christmas Decorating

Raph's Aunt cindy took these cute shots with the christmas lights. Let the season begin...

snoveling show

We got a load of snow last night - came down super-fast, like sleep after a long day, or waking up six times at night. I shoveled at 4:30, Raph at 9:00. And there was still more to shovel this morning. Raph and I went to work today, leaving in the dark, watching the clouds turn on, the snowy world come to life. There were already sled tracks in some places. That is something I like about winter, sled tracks on the most negligible of hills pop up as fast as crocus in the spring. Forget big thrilling sled spots - the kids will take the two-foot decline in the front yard, and over and over.

I leave Maine today until after Christmas. In case anyone is around/interested in touching base, Makili and I'll be in the Burgh the 17th-28th...hopefully with less show snoveling to do.

Oh Yeah

Oh yeah, now I remember winter. It involves lots of clothes, cold cheeks, wet socks when shoes fail. Snow, ice, snow days! Already Raph had a snow day which was pretty awesome! Makili isn't so excited about bundling up and he reminds us of Ralphy's little brother cause he can barely move! Was it just six months ago that we lived in Hawaii? We already are shoveling snow and hiding from the cold in front of our propane heater. Brrrrr...

Dr. E

Aside from discussing the difference between ambivalent and indifferent (they mean different things in case you didn’t know), attempting to solve various logic puzzles, nerding it up about Macs, and attending an exchange students party that included an epic yankee exchange, Dr. E (or Dr. Ethan Danahy) got lots of Makili love and did his best set Makili’s future compass towards engineering. We’ll see.




This is Ethan’s legobot, which is pretty damn cool (even Makili thought so). Ethan develops really cool engineering curriculum which utilizes the legobot. You can program the legobot to go different directions, turn, speed up or stop depending on light, sound, a program, or other things. It can even act as an Etch-A-Sketch. Really neat. I can’t think of a single kid who wouldn’t want to be an engineer if you get to play with that thing.

Waiting for Number Two (tooth that is)

We're still waiting on tooth number two. In the meantime, Makili has been putting anything he can think of in his mouth (Sometimes he doesn't think of it though). He getting very dexterious. I was holding my ring the other day and he reached for it, so I let him hold it (watching carefully to see that he didn't try to eat it.) It accidentally slipped onto his finger and so he wore it around for a little while. I thought it was funny. And isn't this the most beautiful Christmas cactus you've ever seen.

Razor sharp and rolling

After much anticipation and lots of drool, Makili cut his first tooth on Saturday. Now if you stick your finger in his mouth, he will promptly bite it, which is annoying because that little thing is razor sharp. He seems to have another coming in close behind. We’ll see.

Makili mastered rolling from his back to his belly this week. I watched him practice for over half an hour on Monday, almost making it, but getting an arm stuck underneath him. Then suddenly he did it and then did it again and again. Now he seems utterly mobile. We were laying in bed this morning playing (or me trying to convince him it wasn’t time to nurse yet. The phone rang and it was Raph needing some information that he hadn’t brought to school. So I went into the other room to answer it since that is where we get the best reception. When I came back MAkili had rolled clear to the other side of the bed and was dangerously close to falling off. I swear I wrote about learning this lesson months ago. Now I really mean it. The kid is dangerously mobile! We gotta get those socket covers in place NOW.

A little more thanks

A little more Thanks.

We had a really fabulous Thanksgiving – and squeezed a lot of family in and some friends too. My parents spent a fabulous five days with us, even though the weather was pretty crummy and so we spent more time shopping than we should have. I can’t wait for them to come back, especially when it is nice and sunny here. Today for example was in the mid 50’s with beautiful windy cloud-strewn skies. Makili and I took a four-mile walk which we both greatly enjoyed. Why couldn’t it have been that nice while my parents were here?

On Wed. afternoon we headed up to the Matty’ to participate in the creation of the greatest Thanksgiving in America, though having a baby and all, we didn’t participate too much in the creation, though we did partake in the destruction, consummation, and adoration. Yum.

On Friday morning, we left at 7am to head to Branford CT, where my Aunt and Uncle have the most charming house this side of the Rockies. Right on the ocean, sunny, open. The place has great vibes. Here again, we ate heaping portions of really great food. I think my aunt could conceivably be the best non-vegetarian cook of vegetarian food that I know. My cousins are fun and entertaining and full of stories and laughter. A lot of humor directed at one another, like holidays are meant to be. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, as we always do when we’re there.

On Saturday afternoon, I got word that my Rhode Island friends were in Rhode Island, which is a rare occasion. A spontaneous decision, we hopped in the Jeep and bogeyed up there to see everybody. It was great. The Dumonts, the Hymans, Evan, Camille, and the countless people I know there. I’m sort of the first one in our circle of friends to have a baby, so it was fun for him to meet them and vice-a-versa. He was pretty good despite being close to bedtime. For me, I love that when I see Evan and Camille, it is like not a day has passed. There is no guilt about not being more in touch, no weird awkwardness. Just pure thankfulness to see eachother and hear stories of our lives. I was so glad that I got the chance to see them.