The Rainy Season

The Rainy Season

Of course Seattle is known for its rainy weather, but its usually not as true as the myth. This winter, however, we are living up to it. Rain, rain, rain. I picked a great month to start bike commuting to work.

Audrey turns 2 this week. Her brain has really kicked into high gear lately. She learns new words every day and surprises us all the time by saying the name of some object we didn't know she'd ever heard before. It's amazing to watch.

Charlotte passed 9 weeks yesterday. She's been smiling more and more and babbling at us. All she wants to do is eat, which is a little tiring for Mom. She was in the 90th percentile for weight at her last checkup! Brave Aunt Tricia babysat yesterday while Carol and I did an errand. Apparently Charlotte cried the whole time until a minute before we got home. Poor Tricia!

We signed up for a family membership at the local YMCA. The membership includes childcare for both kids while Carol uses the Y, so Carol is looking forward to getting some exercise again and a break from the kids 2-3 times a week.

I have a lot of respect for what Carol does. She has a much harder job than me, I think.

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2006 Begins

2006 Begins

The holidays sort of took a back seat to just getting settled into a routine with Charlotte. We can't believe she is almost seven weeks old already! Charlotte is quite the little eater. She weighed 11 lbs. at her 4 week checkup.

Audrey is adjusting very well. She's very sweet to Charlotte. When Charlotte cries Audrey will give her a pacifier or a blanket or even Vegas (Audrey's prize possession). Once in a while Audrey throws toys at Charlotte, but it doesn't seem aggressive. She just doesn't know better. She's learning.

I'm settled into the routine of going to work again, now. I've been commuting by bike (it's only 6 miles). Of course I chose a period to start cycling to work when Seattle is threatening to break a record for most consecutive days of rain (25 as of today, 33 is the record and there is rain in the forecast as far as we can see). But I have the gear for it and enjoy the challenge. Please remember when you pass cyclists on the road: they have the same right to the road that you do and they just might be somebody's father and husband. Please pass us safely.

Carol is enjoying being the mother of two. It's a challenge, but she's up to it. She's even dealing with the sleep deprivation amazingly well.

Holidays 2005

Holidays 2005

I've posted some new photos taken in the latter half of December. Audrey is 23 months old now. She is starting to understand the concept of unwrapping gifts if we help her. She let out a good "ahhhhh" when she saw through the hole in the wrapping paper and realized there were toys inside (a yellow dumptruck and bulldozer).

Audrey also got a toy train, which she loves, and some rubber boots that have ladybugs on them. She seemed to know instinctively what they were for. She put them on and we were stomping around in small puddles on the back patio. Suddenly Audrey pointed to the alley and said (in Audrey language), "Hey, I remember bigger puddles out there!" So off we went to the alley and she walked through puddles for half an hour. With Vegas in hand, of course.

Finally, we spent Christmas Day with my sister Tricia and her husband Frank and their friend Caroline from Antigua. Tricia made a fantastic meal, as usual. Tricia had also bought beautiful silk dresses for the girls so we dressed them up for a few photos. Charlotte didn't enjoy that at all, but Audrey pirouetted around the house (and jumped on the bed) for some time.

Charlotte at Home

Charlotte at Home

Charlotte is six weeks old today! Wow, how time flies. It's taken me that long to get another batch of photos on the site.

Of course, a big part of the delay is that I've been doing a major rework on the methot.net web site. You can now register for automatic notifications whenever I post new content to the site. That saves me having to figure out who wants to receive email and who doesn't.

All of these photos were taken when Charlotte was less than two weeks old. She's changed a lot since then. She's more relaxed now (she started easily when she was very young) and is threatening to smile. I promise I'll get some newer photos up soon now that there is only fine tuning left to do on the site.

Carol's parents stayed with us for two weeks after Charlotte was born. They were a big help. And my parents took Audrey a few days, which gave her activity and us time to get settled in with the new one. Thanks to all of them!

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