Thirteen Months

Dear Rachel,

Today you turn thirteen months old.

You've had quite a busy debut into your second year of life. It started with a bang when your birthday party turned out to be one huge incubator for illness. We still don't know for sure what caused it, but at least 9 people got sick that were at the party, including you. It broke my heart to see you throwing up so much. You had no idea what was happening to you, and in between puking, you were still your normal, happy self. You're quite the trooper.

After a week of being sick, we took you to the ER on the night the Spurs won the NBA Championship. You were in there for about 6 hours, and stayed awake the whole time. You were given an IV to get your fluids back up to par, but it took the nurses quite a while to find a good vein, and you screamed your head off the entire time they were trying to get the needle in you. I don't blame you, I would have too.

After you were done being sick, your appetite came back with a vengeance. It's incredible how much you've been eating. Every morning, you'll eat a whole banana, an entire slice of toast and at least one cup of milk. Lunch is whatever we happen to give you, but you eat almost as much as your mother at one sitting. Dinner is the same way, AND you have a snack in the afternoon, too! I don't know where you're putting all of it, but when your body is finished with it, it's most definitely coming out the other end.

You got to see your Grandpa Rick and Grandma Connie twice this month. They came down for your birthday, and we went to visit them at the end of the month. That means you got to go for your second trip in a plane this month. It was a lot different than when you rode in the plane last year. That time, you slept the entire trip. This time, we couldn't get you to go to sleep for anything. You were actually very good on the plane. You only let loose a couple of screams when we tried to keep you from doing things you so desperately wanted to do, like play with the laptop of the guy sitting next to Mommy, or sticking your hand in between the seats to touch the people behind us. You really enjoyed looking out the window as we were flying. In addition to your Grandparents, you also got to see your Great-Grandmas and a lot of your Great Aunts and Uncles who haven't seen you for a while.

Back to your Grandparents. They spoil you rotten. They bought you all kinds of fun toys that you played with the entire time we were up there. They gave you lots of love, and I'm sure they miss you. You loved crawling all over their house, and up and down the step to their sun room. Their dog, Rhett, was much more willing to be around you this year. Last year, he didn't even want to be in the same room as you. This year, he let you pet him. You got to go for your first boat ride on Grandpa Rick's boat, and you seemed to enjoy it, except for the big life jacket you had to wear.

You absolutely LOVE the water. I took you swimming for the first time at your friend Annika's house up in Austin, and you loved it. You started putting your face in the water the second we got in the pool. We've taken you to the local pool a couple of times now, and you just laugh and scream with delight every time we put you in the water. We might actually have to get a real pool. You have a kiddie pool and Grandma and Grandpa got one for you at their house too, and you got this huge smile every time we put you in it.

You dance every time you hear music now, and sometimes when you don't. Judy taught you how to dance a couple of months ago and you do it by swinging your arms and trying to snap your fingers. It's very cute. Now, Grandpa Rick has taught you how to stomp your foot while you're dancing too, except Grandpa Rick doesn't have any rhythm, so your stomps are completely out of sync with the music. That's OK, we've got plenty of time to fix that.

You're also walking all over the place now, with a little help. You will take a finger and stand up and do this drunken sailor walk, with a huge grin on your face because you know you're doing something special. You'll also hold onto objects and push them in front of you. You have a walker here at home that you like to do that with, and you had one in Illinois, too. But your favorite way to walk is pushing my recliner around by the foot rest with me in it. You look like a pony ride at the fair, just walking around in circles, but you love it. I have no doubt that you'll be walking on your own before too much longer.

You've also started communicating a lot more with us. You've started signing the word 'more' and you'll sign 'finished' when you're done eating. When you're thirsty, you'll say 'Ahhhh,' because evidently that's the sound daddy makes when he drinks a beer, and it clicked in your brain that that is the sound you make when you drink. You also still making barking sounds when you hear a dog, and meow sounds when you hear a cat, but you also have a new sound for the dog: you pant, like he does when we're on a walk. Your first real word, though, seems to be 'Hi' because you say it all the time. You'll babble all kinds of other stuff that we don't quite understand, but HI is the one things that comes through loud and clear.

Finally, you got your first haircut this month! The hair in the middle of your head has been there for a year and it was the longest on your head. It was also hanging in your eyes and getting food stuck in it all the time. We decided to cut your bangs so that you didn't have to keep pushing it back.

Your second year has stared off great...we can't wait to see what else you'll learn next. We love you very much.

Love,
Daddy

Too funny not to share

towel head
Originally uploaded by ScottRL.

Rachel and I went swimming after Monica has left for class today. On the way home, I gave Rachel a towel to hold onto since it was a bit chilly for her. She got really quiet as we got close to home, and at a stoplight, I turned around to see if she had fallen asleep, and was greeted with this sight. I laughed really hard for a minute, then decided that I had to take a picture.

We're all better now, but...

We missed the Spurs winning the Championship. Rachel continued to be sick after four days, so we decided to take her to the ER. We waited almost two hours to get in, then another four hours to get Rachel her IV and start feeling better. She stayed awake the entire time (I would too if people held me down to stick a needle in my arm...) and it threw off her sleep pattern for a couple of days, but she is doing much better now.

Oh yeah, and she picked up a cold while we were in the hospital.

I looked all over last week for the transfer cable for my phone, but didn't find it until I cleaned out the garage this week.


Rachel with her first IV


Playing Peek-A-Boo with the puke tray. Classic.

Ick

First of all, I want to apologize to anyone who became sick after attending Rachel's party on Saturday. Everyone in the Laleman clan was laid up for the remainder of the weekend too.

It appears, at this point, that it had something to do with the hamburgers we served. If you came to the party and became ill, could you please let me know. We're trying to narrow it down, and I've contacted the Texas Health Department. Hopefully we'll get some resolution to this and find out what it was that made so many people sick.

Even if you didn't eat a burger, but still got sick, please let me know.

Again, we're very sorry, and we hope it doesn't deter anyone from coming to any of Rachel's birthday parties in the future!

Month Twelve

Dear Rachel,

Today, you turn one year old.

This is a big milestone for you, albeit one that you won't remember. It's also a milestone for your mommy and me, because a year ago, we didn't know anything about being parents. We still don't know much, but we think we've done a pretty good job with you so far.



You're going to have a big party today, and your Grandpa Rick and Grandma Connie even flew down from Illinois to see you on your birthday. Lots of our family and friends are going to come over and help us celebrate.



This past month has been one of steady progression for you. You're furniture surfing all the time now, and have even started going between furniture that's close enough to each other. You pull yourself up and anything that doesn't move, including the kitchen cabinets (which you just love to open and bang shut), the windows in the living room, walls, your closet doors, and your parents if we happen to be standing still. It's just a matter of time before you start standing on your own, and from there, walking. Then we're in big trouble.



You've gotten completely off the bottle in the last month, and it wasn't a gradual thing. One day you took it, the next day you screamed like I'd poked your eye out when I tried to give it to you. From then on, it's been sippy cups the whole way. Now, instead of laying in my lap in the morning drinking your bottle, you sit in your high chair and eat.



Speaking of which, you're feeding yourself now. While that gives us more time to eat ourselves, it actually makes more work for us with the mess you produce. Pretty much everything has to go on your tray so you can pick it up, but occasionally you'll let us give you things on a spoon or fork. With this new found freedom, you've also become very picky about what you want to eat, and fruits and veggies are not part of what you like to eat.



You are starting to communicate with us more, and you talk all the time...it's just that we don't understand what you're saying. You make noises in response to certain words or phrases, like when you see your milk, you'll go "Ahhhhhh" the same sound you make when you drink it. You'll bark (AH! AH!) when you hear the dog or we say his name, and I swear I heard you say "I love you" when I said that it to you last week. Maria heard it too, so I know I wasn't hallucinating. You also do things in response to certain words, like giving kisses (which I just love getting from you) and doing "ojitos." Your newest thing is imitating what you hear. We went for a walk the other day and the dog was panting, and you started panting just like him!



We can't believe that you've been with us for a whole year, and we're really looking forward to the next year. You'll learn to walk and run, talk and be able to tell us what you're feeling, and start to take care of yourself more. We never knew our lives could be so full.

We love you so much. Happy birthday, mija!

Dinger

Monica's NEW CAR! has a BIG DENT in the side, thanks to our neighbor (who happens to work at the same school as Monica). Evidently, she was mowing her yard, and didn't bother to check for rocks before she started mowing. Her mower managed to throw a mighty chunk of south Texas Limestone right into the rear driver's side door.



Luckily, she told Monica about it right away, and her (our neighbor's) insurance is going to take care of the whole thing.

Because I need to keep up with my sister...

You know, I've been crazy busy this month. I can't believe it's almost the end of May and I've only made three posts. I'm sure ya'll are getting bored seeing the same old thing every time you visit Laleblog...and my sister has four posts for the month, so I need to step it up.

Speaking of my sister, she's about to become very famous. She's signed up to be a part of Bill Waldman's 365 portraits. She'll do her photo shoot tomorrow (her birthday...Happy Birthday sis), and her picture should be up Tuesday morning.

I also realized recently that it's been quite a while since I took Rachel's picture. Or posted video. I don't have any new video to post (I've shot some, but haven't had the time to pull in down yet) and we went to take pictures of the little one yesterday so we'd have a recent picture for her birthday invitations.

Rachel is learning to walk, and while she started off none too happy about going place on two feet - in fact, she cried every time we tried to get her to do it - she's getting a lot better at it...and she doesn't cry so much anymore.

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.