Month Eleven

Dear Rachel,

Today you turn 11 months old. And you are sick today, so I stayed home from work to take you to the doctor.



We've been pretty fortunate in that you've been a pretty healthy baby during this first year of your life. The doctor said that you have a cold and are probably teething (again?!) which is why you're running a fever. As I'm typing this, you've been asleep for the better part of two hours. Hopefully, getting some rest will help you to feel better.



We have been really busy this past month, and you've had a couple more firsts.



You went to the zoo for the first time a couple of weeks ago. We saw all kinds of animals and birds, and you were intrigued by some, bored by others. You fell asleep about an hour into our visit, but I think you liked the animals you saw.



You also went to your first Fiesta event. Actually, you went to Oyster Bake and King William Fair last year when you were inside your mother, but this year, we went to Market Square, and you loved looking at all of the colorful things. Then it started raining. Pouring, actually, but you didn't seem to mind. Luckily we had brought the Cadillac stroller and you were covered the entire time it was raining.



You are still pulling yourself up on everything, and are trying to walk a little. I've been trying to get you to walk around holding on to the foot rest on my recliner. You've started doing what my friend Ed called "furniture surfing," but you're not surfing very much yet. You'll move between the footstool and the couch if they're right next to each other, but you won't move yourself down the couch to actually get to the footstool. You'd still rather plop down on your butt and crawl to whatever you want to get to.



One of the funniest thing you've started doing is giving things to us, and to the dog. It's so cool that you know that you're supposed to give the dog his toy and not anything else. It's really funny when you take your paci out of your mouth and try to put in in Mommy's mouth. You're very good at giving me the TV remote when you're playing with it, because you know it belongs to me, and not you (or Mommy). You'll hand us your bottle when you're done with it, and you had us your sippy cup when you're done with it...usually after you've turned it upside down so your milk spills out.



Speaking of which, girl, you love your milk! We started giving you whole milk a few weeks ago and you just can't get enough of it. You look so happy when we bring it to you, and I don't know if it's because you like the taste, or because it's so cold, or what. I hope you continue to like it because you need to drink lots of milk to grow up big and tall like your Daddy.



You've also started eating a lot more regular food. We give you parts of our dinner whenever we can, and you seem to like most of it. In fact, until this past week, there wasn't anything you didn't like. Mamma found out, though, that you don't like whole peas. You'd open your mouth for them, but as soon as they were in, you'd start crying. You didn't seem to mind when they were all mashed up as baby food, so maybe it's just a texture thing. I'm glad you eat like me, though, in that you'll pretty much try anything we give you. That's going to make life much easier for us in the long run.



Your mother and I are very excited for your birthday, and we've started planning your party already. We'll have plenty of alcohol for the adults, and I can't wait to see what you do with your birthday cake.



We love you very much.

Love,
Daddy

Another NEW CAR!

Monkey see, monkey do.

Actually, I had been thinking about a new ride for quite a while. As much as I loved that truck, my commute every day was killing me in gas, and I didn't use the truck as it was intended often enough to justify the $60 per week it was costing me to fill 'er up.

So I researched, and I worked the numbers, and I researched some more. And this is what I came up with:

A 2007 Nissan Altima 2.5 S. Sporty, yet a family car. Great power(175 HP), but awesome gas mileage. It gets 34 MPG highway, and will save me somewhere in the range of $1000 a year in gas.

It's the first brand new car I've ever owned. Yup, that's right, I'm 35 years old, and this is the first time I've ever purchased a new car. It's also the first car I've ever financed for less than 5 years. I'll have this one paid off by the time Rachel is 4 (that's 36 months, for the math-impaired).

I'm amazed at the leg room in this thing. I can actually stretch my legs out completely in the driver's seat.

I did have to change one thing right away, though. I got new wheels put on it. I hated the stock wheels, but wasn't going to pay the dealer $1200 for new ones. I went to Discount Tire today and got the ones you see here.

A NEW CAR!

I can picture Rod Roddy saying it now:

This 2007 4Runner comes with everything you need to go to the beach, take the kids to school, or go on that road trip to Montana.

Equipped with power windows and locks, automatic transmission, an AM/FM stereo with MP3 CD player, roof rack, climate control and California Emissions.

And it could be yours...if the Price is Right!

Monica has had it for just over a week now, and she loves it. It's a little dirty already because it's been raining a lot here in south Texas, and it feels a bit like south Florida lately with all the humidity.

Rachel is holding her set of keys in the picture.

Instant Yard

I took half a day off work today to finish a couple of projects around the house.

Monica and I bought a new stove over the weekend, and it was delivered today. I wanted to make sure that someone was home when they delivered it, which was my original reason for taking the half day.

Also over the weekend, I put fill dirt down in our side yard, with the intent of getting sod to cover it so our yard wouldn't keep washing away when it rained. This is phase two of the larger landscaping project (phase one was the gutters). Since I had a couple of hours before the stove would be delivered, I decided to go get sod to put down in the side yard.

I only thought briefly about how much a full pallet of sod might weigh, and figured it couldn't be much more than the dirt I had carried in. I couldn't have been more wrong.



I worked most of the afternoon and ended up dirty and sweaty. But it was the perfect day to do it because it wasn't too hot outside.

The HGTV before shot...



...and after.



From the other side, before...



...and after.



Not bad for a day's work.

Month Ten

Dear Rachel,

Today you turn 10 months old. Just two more months and you'll have been with us for a year!



Things are moving very quickly now. Actually, you're moving very quickly now. Once you started crawling, you picked up speed fast. NOw, we turn around and you're in another room, or in the dog's food bowl, or playing with the garbage can. You get into all kinds of stuff you aren't supposed to, and most of the time you listen when we tell you "not for Rachel," but sometimes, you try our last nerve.



Your new thing now is standing up. You stand up in your bed. You crawl to the window sill and stand up, you grab the open dishwasher door and stand up, you pull yourself up on the footstool, which promptly slides out from under you. I'm sure you're going to have lots of bumps and bruises in the coming months as you learn to stand and walk better. It has been so cool, though, to see you go from pulling yourself up on wobbly legs in your bed to standing with confidence (while holding onto something) in the past few weeks.



One of the other things you've started doing this month is "Sooo Big!" You love doing it and seeing if we'll respond appropriately. But I can't get you to sign "more" for more food. You are quite the independent one, I tell you.



There has been an awful lot of The Crying Game this past month, except with you, it's more like the Screaming Like Someone Is PUlling My Fingernails Out Game. We used to be able to tell your different cries, like when you were hungry, when you were hurt, when you were mad. They're all blending into the same cry now, which is an ear-piercing scream. I now know why parents lose their hearing.



The crying started in earnest when we got back from Illinois. You did an amazing job on the trip, considering how long you were in your car seat, but when we got home, you decided that you didn't like going to bed anymore. Your mother and I fussed and worried for a week, then decided that we were just going to let you cry. Over the course of a week, you gradually got back into your old pattern of going to bed when we put you down and not fussing. It was a hard week, but I'm glad we did it.



When we went to Illinois, Grandma and Grandpa introduced you to swings. You love it, and unfortunately, we haven't had a chance to take you to swing since we've been back. We need to go to the park soon!



You got to see your Great Grandma Jean for just the second time in your life, and you gave her to love she deserved for being such a wonderful Great Grandma. I wish you could Grandma Connie, Grandpa Rick, and Grandma Jean more often. I know they love you, and miss you so much.





You are becoming more gentle with the dog, petting instead of pulling his ears, and he appreciates it. What he doesn't appreciate is when you play with his food or water. He has growled at you a couple of times, and I'm worried that one day he will snap and you (rightfully so). We've disciplined him when he growls, but he is certainly trying to tell you what is off limits. We also try to make sure you know that you're not to play with his dishes, but you know how that goes. In one ear and out the other.



You are eating more and more solids, and we've enjoyed watching you try new foods. Especially when we were in Illinois and Grandpa Rick let you eat part of his cheeseburger. You dove right into it! There isn't really anything you don't like (yet), but chicken certainly seems to be a favorite. Since you've gotten two new teeth just in the past couple of days, I'm sure we'll be trying even more new things with you this month!



As always, you are growing up entirely too fast for us...but we're enjoying every second!

Love,
Daddy

And now, a published photographer...

When it rains, it pours.

I keep wondering when it's all going to end.

Here I am, 35 years old, and have very rarely gotten accolades for anything I do. Yet within one week short week early in 2007, I get all kinds of recognition.

I had my second photo in a week make the top 500 on Flickr, this one from the big thunderstorm that rolled in Friday night:



And not only did this one make the top 500 for Saturday, it cracked the top 200, which I'm very excited about.

Then tonight, Monica and I come home from dinner and I find an email waiting for me from the Virginia Quarterly Review letting me know that a picture I took on our honeymoon of the US-Mexico border is going to be used in this article, which also happens to be the top article their home page as of today (maybe not by the time you read this).

In case you're lazy and don't want to check out the article, here's the picture:



Because I publish my photos under a creative commons license, they don't have to pay me anything, they simply have to attribute the photo to me, which is fine by me.

I'm just excited that people are finding my photos interesting!

I would walk 500 miles

Since March is over, we're going back to basic black.

This month's banner is up and it reflects Fiesta which takes place this month, when people feel the need to dress stupid and go out in public.

Yesterday, our family did the Race for the Cure. We had to get up earlier than we normally do during the week, and walked over three miles, but it's all for a good cause.

There were over 25,000 people downtown walking and running to help find a cure for breast cancer. We were happy to be a part of it.

Interestingness

It's all just coming up roses around here.

Except for that part about Rachel screaming herself to sleep every night, but I'll get to that on the 9th when I berate her for causing us so much trouble write her monthly newsletter.

Anyway, the creative Scott is striking it big. First the documentary, and now this.

One of my photos made the "explore" set on Flickr.

In case you're not familiar, the "explore" set is the top 500 photos uploaded on any given day. It can change, but just to have one of my photos in there is really cool.

This one is currently on page 43 of 50, so it's definitely not the most interesting picture from Sunday, but just being in the top 500 is an honor!

And the winner is...

I make movies.

To me, this is no big deal. It's just something I do.

I like playing with audio and video, and I like making stuff for the family to watch. I teach teachers how to do it, and it's fun...a hobby, like photography.

Last summer, my Uncle Jeff approached me about helping him put together a video about some Minneapolis Moline tractors that our family once owned. The tractors were experimental, meaning that they were never in production, and the fact that our family owned them was a pretty big deal.

I told him I'd love to help out.

Over the past 9 months or so, he's provided me with photos of the tractors, and video interviews with my Great Aunts. I started picking up steam in February, putting together the story and script, and I worked a lot on it in the weeks before spring break. Over the break, I worked a bunch to finish it up because Jeff wanted to submit it for a big Minneapolis Moline collectors convention which was this weekend.

But it's really all about Jeff. Without his work over the past several years uncovering this story, this documentary never could have been made. He has done all of the legwork, all of the research...I just put it together in the 10 minute nugget you'll see below.

I found out last week that the video was going to receive an award. It got a preservation award from the Minneapolis Moline Collectors Club.

It's funny, because I've never really received an award for anything I've done for fun. I once submitted a photo to an art show, but didn't win anything for it. I just did this to preserve a part of our family's history, and here it wins an award.

So here it is...my award-winning documentary. I guess I'll have to put that on my resume.

Spitting Image

So, in case you don't check out my latest photos from Flickr over there on the right side, you really need to see this.

Last night, Monica pointed out this old picture of her with her mother. As soon as I looked at it, I started laughing. I couldn't believe how much the little girl in that picture looked like the little girl in the next room.

The photo she pointed out to me was the one on the lower left.

And we're back...

I think that driving to Illinois this last time was the cure for driving to Illinois ever again.

In other words, we're flying the next time.

Our trip back wasn't bad, but the trip up...my oh my.

We left on Friday night, which was planned, but what wasn't planned was that it would take us damn near 20 hours to get to mom and dad's.

This is usually a 17 hour drive. I've made it in 15 1/2 hours before.

Not 20.

We left around 6:30 and we expected to hit traffic in Austin. That was around 8 PM. Then at 10, we came to a standstill outside of Hillsboro (not even to Dallas yet) and traveled at anywhere between 10-30 mph for the next 10 miles because there was construction. But there wasn't any construction actually going on...just reconfigured lanes which evidently confused EVERYONE who was driving north.

Around midnight, we had finally made it through Dallas, and were traveling at a pretty good clip. Then, suddenly, everything stopped. I was trying to see what was going on, but it wasn't until we had sat for almost 45 minutes that we saw all 5 lanes of the expressway were being forced off onto the access road.

After we got past that (now 6+ hours into our trip) we headed up the road some more trying desperately to get out of Texas. Then at 1 AM, the road was closed again, this time in Sherman, Texas, just south of the Texas-Oklahoma border. This one was really big because they even had the access road closed...an air life helicopter was sitting on it. So we had to traverse through Sherman to get back on the expressway.

We finally made it out of Texas 7 hours into our trip. This portion of the drive usually only takes 6 hours max.

And so went the rest of our trip. Between having to stop in BF Misery (or Missouri) to sleep so I didn't run off the road, and having to rescue a runaway truck that some kid forgot to put in gear, WHILE keeping Sparky's leash in my hand, it was one hell of an adventure.

But we made it there, and we made it back. Grandma Connie and Grandpa Rick enjoyed having their granddaughter around, and Sparky enjoyed playing with Rhett.

We had a great week, and enjoyed visiting with the folks we saw and I'm sorry that we didn't get to see everyone, but when you're traveling with a 9 month old, everything is on a tight schedule. We had a limited amount of time at each of our destinations, and the only days we didn't travel somewhere were Monday and Thursday. Every other day we were on the road for at least 4 hours. I think our next trip is going to be just to Bloomington.

And have I mentioned that we're flying?

Month Nine

Dear Rachel,

Today you are 9 months old. You've now officially been in the world longer than you were inside mommy.



What a month. You started crawling. Except for us it has been more like: HOLY CRAP! YOU STARTED CRAWLING! You have no idea how much this has turned our lives upside down.



We think it's hysterical now that you can go after the dog, but we've had to completely rearrange the house because there was all kinds of stuff that wasn't kid frienly just lying around. For instance, we had to put our collection of razor sharp Ginsu Knives up high so you wouldn't be tempted to swallow one, or slice off Sparky's tail. Same thing for our stash of dynamite.



Of course, along with the crawling comes you pretending not to understand when we tell you no. And, OH the Humanity if we ever tell you no and pull you away from something we don't want you doing, like sticking your entire arm into the VCR. Being told no is something you don't like very much and we've gotten used to your little fits when we take you away from your mischief. We just sit there and laugh maniacally at you and wring our hands...bwah ha ha ha. You mom also makes fun of you when you throw fits and starts mocking your crying. Just remember, when we're 80 and in diapers, it was your mother who tortured you.



I guess we've been telling you no quite a bit because one of your 'things' this month was to start shaking your head back and forth violently. You don't know what it means yet because you do it all the time. "Hi Rachel" (shakes head no). "Do you want food?" (shakes head no, then opens mouth).



You are starting to make different noises with your mouth. Last night, when I got home, I swear I heard you say "Hi Daddy." It really sounded like it. And how cool would that be if you actually did say it? Of course, your mother is devestated because she carried you around for nine months, and This Is The Thanks She Gets? You'll never hear the end of it.



Your eating patterns are pretty well established, and you've started eating some different solids. One of your favorite things is Wagon Wheels, which are like little airy snacks that melt in your mouth. You hold onto them and suck on them until they melt, and usually, you end up with more than half in your mouth. Of course, the parts that don't end up in your mouth end up everywhere else, and if we don't catch them right away, they harden again into little crusty nuggets that the dog tries to lick off you.



Speaking of the dog, he's figured out that being under your high chair at dinner is a gold mine. You're not feeding yourself quite yet, so he hasn't discovered the full potential of dropped baby food that is sure to come along after we give you a weapon spoon and let you have at it on your own.



You went to Austin again this month, and got to meet your friend Annika for the first time. YOu also managed to pick up a cold, which lead to a sinus infection, which lead to your first time being on anitbiotics, which lead to us finding out you're allergic to them because you were pooping everywhere. That incident lead to us realizing that your doctor wasn't part of mommy's insurance anymore so we had to switch doctors. Now you're fine, and we just had your 9 month appointment this morning. YOu got a glowing review from your new doctor, and by the way, I love how quickly we're in and out of these appointments. Less than 30 minutes for this one.



This evening, we're leaving on our first real road trip with you. You'll be making your second visit to Illinois, but your first really long trip in the car. In order to pull this off, Mommy and I are going Old School and driving through the night, like I used to do when I was in college. Except I'm not in college anymore, and I haven't pulled an all-nighter in years. But you'll be asleep and I'd rather make the drive when you're asleep instead of making you sit in a car seat during the time you'd normally be awake and moving around.



If you're (not) lucky, you may actually get to see snow for the first time in your life. Grandma Connie and Grandpa Rick are looking forward to seeing you, and they've already bought you a bunch of stuff because that's what Grandparents do...they spoil the grandkids rotten, then give them back to their parents who have to deal with the aftermath.



Then they sit back and laugh maniacally and wring their hands...bwah ha ha ha.



We love you very much.

Love
Daddy

Goings on in the extended family

Congratulations to my cousin, Ben. He was recently promoted to Sergeant, and his mom, my Aunt Linda, got on a plane to go see him. This is a Big Deal, and judging from the photo of the two of them together, she made it out to Washington, DC just fine.


Congratulations, Sgt. Carter!