A Beautiful Weekend or, My First Bicycle Ride

So, Friday I got off work earlier than I've been getting off work, which is nice. My office has been incredibly swamped lately and have taken to staying later in order to keep up with business. It's a good problem to have, from the standpoint of keeping a business going and earning money and whatnot, but it does have the drawback that I get less time with Juliette. But then days like Friday come along and I get out a little early and get to spend a lot more time with my little girl. Always a plus.

I got home Friday and was greeted by two things; a smiling face and a magnificent odor.

Pictured: Smiling Face

Pictured: Magnificent Odor

See that smile? Awesome. And we've kept that smile all weekend because of what's in that pot. Remember those apples we picked from the last post? Kathy took the initiative and turned them into apple sauce. Jars upon jars of apple sauce. With cinnamon and a little nutmeg and no sugar, it's possibly the best apple sauce I've ever had. And Jules loves it.

Saturday, we went on a nearly fruitless quest to find a bicycle helmet that would fit Juliette. This epic quest took us to one big box retailer, a baby goods store, a sporting goods retailer and then a much more specialized sporting goods retailer. It took us four stops to find anything or anyone even remotely helpful. So, thank you, REI, for not only having a helmet for Jules but for also having an incredibly helpful staff who took the time to poke around in the stockroom to find some clearance small sized helmets. You rock, guy with awesome beard and sweet lip piercing (Kathy and I are trying unsuccessfully to remember his name right now). But, you might ask, why would we need a helmet for Juliette?

Extreme Water Drinking. Sponsored by Bell Bicycle Products

Because Kathy found a sweet child seat for her bicycle. For super cheap. New in box. So I hooked it up Saturday to Kathy's awesome Schwinn Breeze, and Sunday afternoon we went for a ride.

Oh, yeah, Kathy's bicycle. When we got married, Kathy had a Schwinn mountain bike that was about two sizes too small for her, and any time we'd go for a ride neither of us could enjoy it for multiple reasons. Mostly, since Kathy's bike was too small for her, she couldn't exactly get into a comfortable rhythm and, also, I used to road race and I have a bicycle built for that. The only way for us to ride together was for me to ride painfully slow or for her to ride painfully fast. But this past spring, Kathy scored a free Schwinn cruiser from her parents' garage. We put a little work into it and it is now road worthy.

Sweet ride

She can go faster on this bike than on her old and, as I am now in much worse shape than I was when I was actively racing bicycles, we can both ride at a pace comfortable for each of us. The only problem comes on upward slopes, when I have the clear advantage. Also, it's hard to climb with a child's seat on the back. Fortunately, not too far from us, there's a great trail which is almost perfectly flat! Just great for a brief ride with the little girl!

So today was Monday, which generally means back to the ol' grindstone. But as luck would have it, today was Columbus Day (which I generally celebrate by "discovering" my neighbor's house, sneezing on them and telling them that I live there now, but now that I'm a father, Kathy has put her foot down and I'm only allowed to do it on leap years), and as the courts are closed, my office was also ostensibly closed. I went in for about two and a half hours and did some catch-up work, after which I once again come home to a smiling face. More than that, though, when I was walking up the front walk I could see Jules standing at the picture window beaming and waving and laughing. I came inside and Kathy was crying! Tears of joy, I am assured. Apparently, when I pulled up, Jules saw my car and just screamed "Daddy!" and started giggling and waving and dancing and laughing. That's enough to make a guy feel the love.

Kathy went out with a friend of hers for dinner this evening, leaving Jules and I alone. After mulling it over I decided against beer and chips for dinner and planned an elaborate four course dinner. But when I saw we didn't have any Cornish game hens or shiitake mushrooms, I just heated up some frozen veggies and cooked a couple hot dogs. Jules picked out some dinner music (Radiohead's OK Computer) and, sort of swaying in our chairs, we ate. Jules wanted me to skip "Fitter, Happier" because it didn't have any music, but other than that dinner was a good time. Afterwards, we went for a quick stroll up our street, then turned around and headed back home.

At the top of the street, Juliette pointed to something down the street and said, "Bloon!" I didn't see any balloons, so I said, "Where?" She pointed again and said, "Oh shoes! Ball! Bloon!" (this whole "oh shoes" thing is a new one for us, and we find it adorable, though sometimes it doesn't sound like she's saying "shoes" if you can use your imagination and fill in a hard consonant sound at the end there...). I locked the wheels of the stroller and got down next to her. "Where?" I said. She pointed again and said "Bloon! Ball! Bloon!"

She was pointing at the moon.

She's kind of awesome.

Finally, I leave you with this: the very first photograph Juliette ever took. She was watching a video of herself on our point and shoot digital and, as kids do, started pressing buttons. This is the result.

Untitled - Juliette, 10/1/2011

Happy 4th!

We had a busy busy weekend, the four of us here at the house of StL HD.  Friday evening we hosted a game night. Friends came, bearing food for a pot luck, and it wasn't until Juliette went to bed that people began acknowledging the fact that there were other people besides a baby around. After dinner, Kathy and I (and nine other people) busted out The Game of Things which, if you've never played, you need to. It kept us entertained for hours and hours. Amethyst, meanwhile, hid in our room.

Saturday, we played all morning. After lunch and a nap, we picked up some flowers for our new backyard garden. After dinner, Amethyst slept on our bed, and we put Juliette to bed and planted the flowers, finishing just as the light faded completely. This is all a part of the basement project that happened in April; the workers took out the sidewalk which ran from our driveway to our backyard patio, regraded soil so it sloped away from the house and also installed a sump-pump in the basement to keep it from flooding, a problem we've had for a few years but which got much worse this year. The garden we're putting in will help keep the soil sloped the right direction and also provide a little help against water entering the basement.

Good thing, too, considering our Sunday. We went over to Granny and Poppy's house in the morning for waffles. Auntie Mo showed up with cousins Madeline and Lydia and we played for a little bit until Jules started getting sleepy. Our plan was to go home and put her down for a nap while one of us picked up some mulch for the garden, but since she fell asleep in the car, we decided to just take her with. She slept through about half of our trip to the store, and when we got home we ate lunch and went down for a nap. While she napped, Kathy and I considered planting the extra plants we had picked up with the mulch. I consulted the weather and together, we decided better to get them in the ground before a giant rain storm than after it; we finished just in time before a storm blew in.

The storm put a tiny kink in our plans, because we were supposed to have a cookout with some of the families from Kathy's MoBap Mom's group. Fortunately, Jet's mom (he is the baby who hosted the event) sent out an e-mail telling everyone she had a big finished basement and we could still all come over. So, we huddled under our giant umbrella and rushed to the car with a fruit pizza in tow and made the cross-town trek. So. Many. Babies. Jet took his first steps while everyone was watching! Not to be outdone, Nolan (recently turned one) took his first steps. Jules was watching and, I assure you, taking notes. When we got home, Amethyst was laying on the living room rug.

This morning, we woke up and checked the weather; it looked like it was going to hold, and stay somewhat cool, so we went to the Webster Groves parade. This parade is special for me because I participated in the parade at least five times. Once as a Cub Scout, riding my bicycle behind a truck (loaded with a giant super-soaker) and four times as a member of the WGHS Marching Statesmen Drumline. Yes, I was a band geek. Granted, it's been ten years (yikes) since I graduated from high school, but I still like to see the band. Also, some people I hadn't seen in years said they would be there, and some of them have kiddos just about Juliette's age, so I figured she might like to meet some new friends.

So there we were, waiting for the parade to start.

My First Parade!

Jules was excited and so well behaved! She kept looking around, watching all the people walking by. We kept telling her every time a police officer would ride by on a motorcycle "that's the parade! That's all!" She wasn't buying it.

Quit Joking, Mom and Dad!

We had to wait a while for the parade to start.

Let me smudge the lens!

So long, in fact, that it started raining. Hard. But only for a little bit. Lucky for us, Kathy remembered the big umbrella.

Sure, we're dry, but what about the people in the parade?

We had to wait a long time.

There is going to be a parade today, right? Because Daddy's going back to work tomorrow.

Finally, the parade started, and that's when Juliette really let her patriotic side show.

Watch me wave this flag: I'm so good at it!

There were marching bands, Girl Scouts on horses, Boy Scouts on bicycles, fire trucks, Corvettes, Mustangs, more Corvettes, gymnasts, Lions Clubs, County Executive Charlie Dooley, and three girls riding shovels while  a fourth walked behind them banging two halves of coconuts together.

After the parade, we took a short walk to find our friends. For some unfathomable reason, we didn't take any pictures of Juliette with baby Claire or baby Stella. However, Stella's mom Amy (whom I have known since I was thirteen), took a few pictures of the family, including this one.

Thanks Amy for the Photo!

That's Nicole, Claire's mom, with her back to us, and behind her is Claire and her dad Josh. In the middle is my old friend and my 2000 Senior Prom date Jackie. Jules is looking awful hot and tired at this point, and shortly after this was taken, she fell asleep in Kathy's arms. So, we headed back to the car and to home.

Once we got home, we put Juliette to bed and once again set to work in the garden, this time laying the mulch down in our front tree ring. A sweaty hour later, I took my fourth shower of the weekend and, all refreshed, got Jules up from her nap and played with her for the rest of the day! Until Granny and Poppy came over for dinner, then she was all about playing with them. Not that I'm complaining; it's awesome that Juliette gets to have this time with her grandparents. And my parents are very good at being grandparents, so Jules loves spending time with them.

After dinner (and a little bit more playing), it was bed time. Those of us still awake retired to the basement to watch Up, which my parents hadn't seen. And can you believe that neither of them shed a tear during that first eleven minutes? I know what's going to happen, and still, every time, waterworks. Even Amethyst, watching from the stairs, cried a little.

It was a busy weekend, and sadly devoid of fireworks. However, since our neighbors all seem to love shooting off their own fireworks, we get a kind of panoramic amateur display every year. I'm happy to report that Juliette has been sleeping through the fireworks all weekend, including tonight's escalations. Good thing, too, since Amethyst seems to be going crazy.

Happy 4th every body!

New Year, New Posts. No, Seriously.

It's been a while, as Jules informed me today.

Seriously.

A lot happened. I went out of town for the weekend of December 17th to go to a friend's wedding. When I got back, I found Kathy had thrown herself down the stairs in despair.

Not really, but she did fall down the stairs while I was eating way too much Indian Food, drinking White Russians with my high school buddies and dancing to a never ending avalanche of music. Trust me, it sounds more fun than it really was. But I was glad to get back home. I was worried that Jules would find someone or something else to replace me as her favorite non-mom thing.

Like a ceiling fan.

Or a seahorse glow worm, courtesy of Jake and Melinda

I was also worried that I may have missed too much, and that she would have grown a tremendous amount in my absence.

She either went to college or was practicing for solid foods. Thanks Aunt Kari for the U of M Onesie

But all was well. She smiled, she laughed, and then she got quiet and read some interesting tourism literature.

"I want to go to there. They have a giant cherry on a more giant spoon." Thanks Uncle Paul and Aunt Jen for the book!

And then came that magical night, which I will never forget.

Christmas Eve, 2010. Jules' first Christmas is a White Christmas

I don't think I could have asked for a better Christmas present for myself than to be snuggled in with my family on a snowy, wintry beautiful White Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, this will just make all future Green, Blue, Brown and slightly orange colored Christmases pale in comparison. Which, when you think of it, is kind of counter-intuitive if you're somebody who studies their colors.

Seriously Dad?

Christmas day we woke up and opened presents.

Kathy and I have matching PJs, for any who wondered why I own such lovely jammas.

Of course, it was slightly bittersweet. Even though this is our first Christmas with an adorable little girl, we very much missed Acrodyl (he was our cat to whom we had to say goodbye last April) as this was the first Christmas since 2004 without him. He was always so good at playing with his (unopened) presents and then falling asleep on the spent paper.

Acrodyl, 12/25/2007

But Amethyst got all confused and thought we were celebrating Amethystmas.

"You got me this tree with all these dangly bits and wires to chew on, and now presents? How awesome to have a whole season devoted to me!"

Oh, and remember earlier when Jules was sitting in the high chair? That was practice for this moment on Christmas Day.

Rice cereal. "Solid" food, after a fashion.

And since then, she's moved on to green beans, squash, and sweet peas. Videos to come later, trust me.

My best friend Zach stopped by with a bag. This seems inconsequential, so let me go back to the trip I took (during which, as I mentioned, Kathy also took a small trip).

Dad. Seriously.

Sorry.

So, I shared a hotel room with Zach and there was a shopping bag which he instructed me not to look at, under penalty of being left behind in New Jersey. This was a serious threat, mind, because he was the one who had reserved the rental car for our return trip, so though I had every intention of fronting some money for the trip, he was still the one metaphorically in the driver's seat. So I didn't look.

Some of you may remember, months ago I posted the story about Juliette's baptism. I posted a picture of her with my parents and said I would tell you about the bib later.

Nobody ever asked for bib follow-up.

The bib came from Zach as a "Welcome to the World" gift. His friend Annie made it. And,he said, there was more of the present to come but Annie had broken her arm, so it might be a while.

Well, it turns out that she got it finished in time for the holiday season. And that is what was in the forbidden bag of mystery from the hotel room, which was the same bag Zach brought with him when he came to visit our house! And in it, we found this:

Photo does not do the quilt justice. Will get better picture later. Thanks Josh and Ning for the outfit!

So, with Christmas behind us and now New Year's Eve (thanks Auntie Mo and Uncle Kevin for hosting, and thanks Cousin Lydia for letting Jules use your crib while you were at your grandparents' house), we've taken the tree down and are settling into a winter routine. Which involves lots of this:

Rice Cereal, Green Beans, Squash, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish bib to match my shirt.

Stay tuned, I'm going to get back into the habit of blogging. I've got videos of Christmas morning and videos of Jules eating solid foods which I find entertaining. Plus, as always, more pictures and more stories. I hope everyone had a safe, happy and warm (you know, spiritually and emotionally if not meteorologically) holiday season and have a prosperous 2011!

Post Blitz #2 - My First...

...night without Mom and Dad.

That's right, Kathy and I did the unthinkable with our daughter; we went somewhere without our little girl.

You did what, Mommy and Daddy?

You see, every year Kathy and I get invited to be models at the Mid-American Emmy Award ceremony downtown. This stems from Kathy's stint as the multimedia designer for the local public television station; the HQ for the Mid-American Emmy's is in the same building, and she was asked to volunteer once and I got involved the next year. It's actually a lot of fun; we get dressed up super fancy, get valet parking, a good meal, and we get to rub elbows with television personalities. Not that you would know any of them, since they're not national personalities, but if you live in the Missouri-Southern Illinois-Arkansas-Kansas area, you might know some of them. Also, the hostess this year was Ellie Kemper, a St. Louis native (friend of a friend, even) and known as Erin, the receptionist on The Office. Also, we get to hold more Emmy's on the stage than any of the winners, with the possible exception of Mike Bush who wins practically every third award.

That's not what you wanted to read about though. You wanted to read about Juliette.

So, before we set out on this evening of baby-free socializing, we decided that while we were going to be dressed up, we might as well dress Jules up and hand the camera to my mother before leaving Juliette in her care.

So Elegant...

I know that I look super snazzy in my brand new three piece suit, so you don't have to compliment me. And can you believe that Kathy just had a baby two months ago? She looks absolutely stunning and was getting compliments all night. But, again, we might as well be wearing sweat suits and bags over our heads. So here's another picture of Juliette without Kathy and I to distract you.

Distraction-free cuteness

Anyway, so while mom and dad were out, Granny and Poppy took good care of our little Jules. She even took a bottle, something which I have been having a lot of trouble getting her to do.

Poppy has the touch, though this picture was taken on a different day.

And when Kathy and I arrived back at my parents' house, exhausted and ready to take our little girl back home and get her into her own bed, she was asleep and, we were promised, had been no trouble at all. Which gave us a great idea.

Next week, Kathy and I will be taking an entire month off, leaving Juliette with my parents. Hope Granny and Poppy are ready!

For those who want proof that we met a celebrity, here are some pictures:

Not Pictured: Ellie's mother, who fixed my collar later

This was after it was discovered that Ellie's dress was somewhat...see-through with a camera flash

Family Camp

To begin with, my sister was a Girl Scout. This is important information for the rest of this post.

Also important is that, when I was growing up, there were three families that were inseparable when they were at the same function; my family, the Van Hooks* and the K's (*Names have been changed to protect the unsuspecting victims, er, um, subjects of the following photos). The children consisted of three boys and four girls, all together. John, Carolyn and Mike from the Van Hooks, myself and my older sister Maureen, and Rebecca and Rachel from the K's. And of course, all the girls were Girl Scouts together (well, Rebecca was older, but Maureen, Rachel and Carolyn were all in the same troop). And every year over Labor Day weekend, the Girl Scouts in St. Louis hosted a three day camp called Family Camp. The idea was that it was a Girl Scout event at a Girl Scout campground, but the whole family could come. You'd stay in permanent tents or even cabins, bring your bicycles, and have a great weekend of archery, crafts, swimming, square dancing, silly games, scavenger hunting, bicycling, fishing, and eating some fine cafeteria food.

Only, we didn't stay in the permanent tents or cabins. Our three families (minus John, who was quite a bit older) stayed at the one campsite (Whispering Winds) that did not have these structures. It was tucked back by the archery range and it had a pavilion with some picnic tables. It had lots of trees for stringing laundry lines (or, in our case, hammocks). And we always had the most fun, thank you very much.

Anyway, we haven't been able to actually go to family camp since the girls stopped being Girl Scouts, so a few years ago, we all decided we'd do a Family Camp Reunion, and my parents hosted it. We had crafts, games, food, and good times. So we did it the following year at the Ks' house. And the next year at the Van Hooks. It's been fun, because the families have been growing through marriages and having kids, so now the number of people attending is rather large and rambunctious. In fact, this year, when Rebecca hosted it (because it's time for the kids to start hosting), we were apparently so loud that when Michael showed up, he said he could hear us shouting and having fun halfway down the street.

Anyway, as it was Juliette's first (and, also, her cousin Lydia's first) Family Camp ever this weekend, I thought I'd share some of the highlights with you.

Granny Gets Ding-Dongs Stacked on her face

Cousin Lydia's shirt says "Future Girl Scout"

Michael Attempts to find a Penny

Becca gets ready for another game, while Kathy and Juliette Cuddle

Rachel and her husband John blow up balloons while Juliette cuddles with Rachel's mom Jamie

Cheryl Van Hook and Jamie watch as Granny blows it for the living room team.

Carolyn's boyfriend Nelson has to transfer these stacks; one is empty, one is full.

Mike concentrates on apple stacking while Carolyn laughs at his valiant effort.

Having once seen a youtube video of cup stacking, I show Greg K how it's done.

First

So, I was born in St. Louis, grew up in St. Louis, graduated from preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school and college in St. Louis, and now I live and work in St. Louis. But, thanks to a year long sojourn in Minneapolis, MN, I met a wonderful woman named Kathy whom I then married. And now, we have...a daughter.

Trust me, those last two things would never have happened without going to Minneapolis.

So we've got this daughter, and it turns out, being a father is a tremendously awesome experience so far. Everything that's happened is a first. First baby, first smile, first time getting pooped on, first late night diaper change, first time having to turn down going to a bar or a concert because I've got this kid thing happening instead. And sure, missing Janelle Monae with Of Montreal will be annoying, but when will my daughter Juliette ever be this young again? The answer is, of course, never.

Anyway, it's been over a month since she was born, and I thought about doing some fatherly blogging over at my other blog (which you should totally go read right now) but decided, nah, let's keep that one focused on the life of Elliot-the-writer. But what to do about Elliot-the-Father?

Well, here we find ourselves, at the answer. A new blog. Pretty swank, I know.

So, the week Juliette was born, The Arcade Fire released their third album The Suburbs and NPR Music had an exclusive first listen. So, I gave it a listen, and I loved it. I was a fan of their first two albums but something about this third one just sort of...spoke to me at this moment in my life. And it actually wasn't until my second listen that I caught the moment at which this album spoke directly to what I was feeling.



This is the album's titular and opening track, and the lyrics to the third verse are what did it. "Can you understand/Why I want a daughter while I'm still young?/I want to hold her hand, show her some beauty/before this damage is done/But if it's too much to ask if it's too much to ask/send me a son."

Listen to it again, and pay attention to the way the verse structure sort of falls apart a little. Win Butler (the lead singer) sings the first two verses, but when he gets here, he's almost talking through it, working it out for himself, coming to terms. It's beautiful to me.

Kathy and I did not do the whole "Let's find out what the sex is so we can decorate accordingly" thing because, we think we might want to have another kid, and since you can't force it one way or another, a room decorated in all pinks or all blues would be an annoying inconvenience if the next child arrived expecting the opposite of what it got. So, neutrals (greens, yellows, etc). I'll freely admit, I was hoping or a boy. Boys, you see, are stereotypically the ones who play catch with their dads and follow their interests. It would be much easier, I thought, to get a boy to listen to Led Zeppelin records and for us to connect over stuff like that because, I thought, I'm a guy and this stuff is important to me, so if I have a son this stuff will be important to him. So, yes, I had my heart set (not firmly, but still somewhat) on a boy.

So when I heard this lyric, really heard it, it shifted me a little. The way he sings it. I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of the Save-A-Lot grocery store near our house, and I had gotten lucky streaming the Arcade Fire station on Pandora over my iPhone, and at that moment just before I got out of the car I heard it. I got the milk, or the bread, or whatever, and came home and thought that I would be just fine with a daughter. Because there are definitely going to be ways for me to connect to a child, any child, whom I care about. Because ultimately, it's not about the stuff that's important to me. That stuff isn't going to be what I connect with my child over; what we're going to connect over is the fact that that child-my child-is important to me. That realization hit me August 3rd, 2010.

At 10:45 PM on August 4th, two weeks and one day earlier than expected, my wife and I were in the car heading for the maternity ward. And at 7:17 on the morning of August 5th, I cried the most incredibly joyful tears I've ever shed as my beautiful daughter Juliette entered the world. I still haven't bought the actual album yet, but it will always remind me of my daughter. In eighteen years, when I'm sending her off to college, I'll probably spend my first Juliette-free hour listening to that record. Probably the first few of those hours, actually.

Dad and Daughter 8/8/10