911 Operator...

I suppose it was only a matter of time. Claire loves to play with my Blackberry, which I lock the keyboard beforehand. Well, the other day, Claire was playing with it and managed to call 911. I hear someone talking on the phone, so i grab it from Claire and find out it's the 911 operator. I meekly apologise and tell the operator, that my kid accidently dialed and that everything is ok.

Anyway, tooth #3 is well on its way out, her mullet continues to grow, and walking is only days away. I am back in Las Vegas this weekend for a conference and boys weekend. Hopefully, I can add to Claire's college fund. Until next week (when I am not paying for the Internet), baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Guess who's starting to walk...

Yup, the bear took 4 steps (unaided) on 3 separate ocassions today. Of course, everytime I got the video camera she wouldn't walk or would sit down. And the slightest of breezes would suffice to knock her over. But she's trying. Suddenly her range is increasing and we'll have to be more diligent about baby proofing - ok, we'll have to start baby proofing the house. Here's a video of her kind of walking - more so in her mother's mind.

Big Girls Don't Cry

well, claire had her 1 yr doctor's appointment on friday. she weighed in at 19lb 13oz and measured 29 1/4 inches. all that means is that we have to wait another week or so to turn her car seat around. while that is true about the car seat, it also means that she is in the 25-50% percentile for weight and 50% percentile for height. we aren't sure that the height measurement was right as claire was pretty cranky at the doc's office and would stay still for the nurse to measure her.
we (okay, i - because mark is away at paul's stag party in vegas) finally got her back on her nap schedule today. claire was having such a great week with visitors (larry, charlene, kimmy, and jocelyn) that she didn't want to miss anything. hopefully the schedule will stick.
claire is still exhibiting some separation anxiety/stranger shyness when i am around. if i walk past her and don't pick her up, she cries. if someone else picks her up and i am there, she cries. while i am flattered, and of course, glad she is capable of forming bonds, i am hoping that this is a relatively short-lived phase.
otherwise, we are well and looking forward to mark's return. we hope he and uncle paul (and the rest of the boys) are having fun in vegas.
until the next posting, double down.
- lynn

Who needs a nap?

Guess who decided that morning naps are no longer required? Yes, since turning one, Claire has decided (unilaterally) that she no longer needs to sleep in the morning. Of course, mom and dad, don't quite see things her way. Her schedule is all out of wack. Yesterday we went for her 1 year photos and without that morning nap, the bear was not very cooperative. We should get the photos in a couple of days. I am not sure if there are any photos without her crying. Anyway, I am heading out of town this weekend, so mom gets to adjust to the bear's new schedule.

On another front, I am sure Claire is only days away from taking her first steps - walking! She is routinely standing on her own, without holding on to anything. I just hope her first steps don't happen this weekend.

Until the next posting, try to get a nap in.

Lordy, Lordy, Guess who turned 1 (and 40)

Guess who turned 1 yesterday. It's hard to believe the bear is one. Where did the year go? Uncle Larry and Auntie Charlene came to town to visit - driving all night from upstate NY's sunshine capital - Syracuse. We had a fun filled day, including a walk to the park, playing on the swing and slide. Around 4:30pm we Skyped Grammy and Grampy, and Lola and they were able to watch the real fun - Claire eating a cupcake. As you can see the cupcake came with sprinkles, which a couple of them made their way into her nose. After a quick clean up, we opened gifts - thank you to everyone for your cards, gifts and well wishes.

Yesterday was also our neighbor Sandy's birthday, albeit not her first birthday, nor her 39th either ;). Today we had lunch with the Tinsley's to celebrate both birthdays. Claire and Sandy were so well behaved. Anyway, below is the video of Claire destroying her cupcake and photos of her first birthday can be found here. Enjoy!

Goodbye Dear Friend

Yesterday we said good-bye to a dear friend. Four weeks short of his 16th birthday, we sent Caesar onward to the great kennel in the sky. His quality of life had been declining for several months with a heart murmur (4 years), back surgery (5 years ago), cancer (3 years ago), deafness (a year ago), going blind, tooth decay, thyroid problems (5 years ago), weakened back leg, falling down stairs, incontinence, and on and on. We knew this day would come, but at the same time never really expected it.

I remember the first time I met Caesar. He was 18 months old and wanted to play fetch. He got the fetch part down, but didn’t want to let go of the ball. I would grab the ball with his teeth gripping on and I would swing him around and around. No wonder he developed teeth problems later in life. He was always part of our lives. In fact he even led Lynn and her dad down the aisle at our wedding – unrehearsed! I remember another time when I took him up to the mountains in Arizona. He got into a creek and was all wet. I didn’t want to put him in my new truck, so I put him in the back. I started driving and glanced in the rear-view mirror to see him standing in the middle of the dirt road about 200 yards back. I often think if I didn’t look in the mirror, I would still be in the mountains looking for him.

Admittedly, we had not been paying much attention to him over the last year with Claire’s arrival. In one of life’s little ironies, most of the attention he did receive was from Claire trying to play with him. Of course, he wanted nothing to do with her. It's too bad Claire will never remember Caesar.

They say a dog’s tail never lies. With Caesar, his tail was his emotional barometer. It was up when he was happy and down when he was sad. I used to get a tennis ball and his tail would go round and round, excited to play. I can’t remember the last time when I saw his tail up.

Our decision was easy to make as it was clear Caesar was struggling. It was far more difficult and emotional to carry out our decision. The night before, we gave him a bath and spent time with him holding and petting him. The drive to the vet was 5 minutes, but I am not sure if it took 5 minutes or 50 minutes. The people at the vet were great. Lynn was able to hold him in her lap as he took his last breaths. After it was over, te vet kindly gave us a few final moments with Caesar…

So, Caesar is now playing with his friends Vinnie, Darwin, Lucky and Murphy – no doubt bossing them around. I know when my time comes, I will get to see him again. And this time I will finally teach him how to drop the ball when we play fetch.

Thank you everyone for your kind notes and words. Here are some pictures of our small brown dog.

Goodbye Caesar, we love you.

Lola's here!!!

Lynn left for Bogota last week and my mom came to visit. It has been wonderful having her here to help out. She just loves Claire and acts silly with her, as evident in the video.