Maternity Photos Take Two

Lost Lake Maternity PhotosOur new baby gave us an opportunity to take a new round of maternity photos, this time in the great outdoors. We headed up toward Lost Lake, stopping at a cherry orchard along the way. My wife had a few ideas for  poses that she found on Pinterest that  made use of the older sibling in the photo shoot. While Siena did cooperate for most of the photos, we had to bribe her with candy at least once. After the cherry orchard, we made our way up to Lost Lake, past the “road closed” sign and encountered a “resident” about 100 feet from the parking area by the lake. We were politely asked to “leave the premises” due to the imminent dangers posed by the ongoing snowplowing efforts. I scratched my head looking for imposing snow drifts and hazardous black ice, only to find bare roads and parked plows. Still, we complied with the request and returned a few days later. Our return trip offered us a chance to stop at the orchard again, with a different outfit . Our trip to the Lost Lake was successful this time as we parked and made our way to the shore. It was a gorgeous day and the calm wind almost made for a perfect refection of Mount Hood in the lake.

Gabriel Has Arrived!

Gabriel BirthGabriel Connor was born Saturday April 27th at 1:35 PM. He weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 20″ long. He came 3 weeks before my daughter and two weeks before his due date, so its obvious he was quite impatient and wanted out!

Theresa started labor at 11PM Friday night. Surprisingly, less than a half hour after labor began, her contractions were happening periodically at 5 minutes, lasting 45 second each. This is the frequency/duration criteria for heading to the hospital. Her labor lasted a total of 14 hours which was roughly half the time of Siena, though the labor was more intense.

Since our last visit, the hospital has been remodeled with a new family birthing center. The new rooms are spacious with a built-in Jacuzzi tub for labor. The postpartum rooms are also roomier and have an amazing view of the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Adams. We’ll be bringing our son home tomorrow since he’s healthy and Mamma is recovering beautifully.

A Fun Fam’ly Day

“This is such a fun fam’ly day!” Siena

Free FunFree FunWe started our day with a Fishing Derby and visiting friends in Trout Lake, then came home to recharge before walking to a community event. It was advertised as a Family Carnival Style Pig Roast, but when Siena saw the flier she was appalled by my answer to her question about why the clip art pig was “upside down”. She says we shouldn’t cook pigs, that it’s not very nice. Hawk wondered if this means we have a little “vegan animal fanatic” on our hands, but I figure every child has a moment where they first learn what meat actually is, and it’s probably a universal reaction. I still remember thinking I was making a great joke at the family dinner table, giggling as I chose my chicken leg, saying “What if it really was a leg from a chicken?!?” and for a quick second I thought my parents were joking right back when they said that’s what it was. [Read more…]

Negotiating with a Very Intelligent Toddler

Siena was being stubborn this morning and resisting a change of clothes. LRH wasn’t making any progress, so I tried a bribe thinking it would make her comply immediately.

Me: “Siena, if you let me change your clothes, I’ll give you a piece of yummy beef jerky.”
Siena: “No daddy, I candy”

Needless to say, my bribe quickly turned into a negotiation. This kid never ceases to amaze me.

My Two Year Old Daughter Playing the Piano

My iPhone 3GS has video capture capability and I plan to use this frequently whenever my daughter does something cute.

Siena loves plaing the piano and I think she’s quite good at it already. In a few years, hopefully she’ll still be interested and actively taking piano lessons.

Siena Playing in Autumn Leaves

My wife snapped this photo with her cell phone. She was amazed that she had actually found dry fallen leaves in Oregon. Siena had a blast.

Playing in leaves

Halloween 2010: Ducks, Airplanes and Baseball

My parents have been visiting for the past week from California, planning to head home in a few days. After our flight to Madras and other plans were derailed by weather, we tried to make the most of this sunny Sunday. We began by taking Siena to a local lake and letting her feed ducks and play in the fallen leaves. She had so much fun here that when it was time to leave she tried every stalling tactic in her book.

It was here that I realized that I could still take my parents flying, so we headed to the airport and spent the next hour viewing the valley from the air. The fall colors were incredibly vibrant and the angled sunlight made them pop like a perfectly exposed postcard. I took my Dad up over Lost Lake at the base of Mt. Hood and later took my Mom around the valley for a quick 20-minute loop. They both had a great time while Siena was safe on the ground walking the flight line and pointing out air traffic. After I landed the second time, I stepped down out of the airplane and Siena came running toward me shouting “Daddy flies airplanes!”.

After dropping my parents off at a local restaurant and bar (so they could watch the World Series), LRH and I took Siena trick-or-treating. She was dressed up as a little dragon this year and she spent the 15-minute entrance wait perfecting her roar. Our little nugget made off with plenty of candy for her second run! Later, we returned to the restaurant and joined my parents just in time to watch the SF Giants completely dismantle the Rangers… again. My Dad is (and always was) a die hard Giants fan and that rubbed off on me. I still cheer for them, which brings to light an interesting contradiction. This is the only time I will cheer for San Francisco against George Bush and Texas! LOL.

Siena Loves Her Books

Siena took out all her books, placed them in a pile and spent over a half hour reading them. Apparently I did this all the time when I was a kid.

Happy Halloween

We hope you had a safe and happy Halloween. Here are a few pictures from our day. A year ago Siena was 3 days old! Baby’s First Halloween

You are Pwn3d >:-]

At least my little nugget thinks so!

Hack