Seapoint Sunrise Starts 2008

It may not surprise you that we were up to see the sunrise that brought in the new year. A fitting end I think to the "Year of Light!" Snowy, soft, and cold. I stood there and told Makili that in this year he would take his first steps, say his first words. And I reflected as I stood on the snowy beach that the ocean we watched lap on the shore connected us to Hawaii where Makili was born just six short months ago. The future and the past connected in one string of thoughts. it was a sunset worth being awake for.

A few pictures from 2007 - I added a few random picture from each month of the last year.


January


February



March



April



May



June





July






August




September




October




November


December

starts in 2007

Titles of the first blog for each month over the last year. (Thanks Becky for the idea.)

January: "You Know Your Belly Is Getting Bigger When..."
February: "Squares And Rectangles Add Up To Something"
March: "More Walk Pictures"
April: "Full Circle"
May: "Shocker"
June: "Little Sausages and Blow-Up Mattresses"
July: Notes on Week One"
August: "Abram and Wanita"
September: "Mount Cardigan"
October: "Some Cute Makili pics"
November: "Llama Luau"
December: "Dr. E"

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!