Another "leaning on daddy's knees" shot. Hopefully I will be able to upload a video of her talking to me, taken at the same time.

A few pics of Buster with JoJo. He tends to avoid her when he's awake, but this was too cute to pass up.

I've been so busy catching up on work, posting pics, etc., I haven't really commented on JoJo all that much. She is as cute and as bald as ever! Besides that, she started laughing this week - she's done it mostly for Cedar and Sheryl. With me, she's too busy discussing 19th Century Russian literature, which many of you know isn't much to laugh about. Sheryl has also taught her to make a farting noise with her lips - a much needed skill in literary criticism.

Seriously though, we did read two of the Bill Martin, Jr. / Eric Carle board books that were given to her by Felida teachers. The first one she kept turning the pages backwards (probably the result of her Hebrew and Arabic training); the second one she'd yell at the pictures then lean forward as if to taste the page.

JoJo made quite a splash when she showed up at Felida today after school. Many of the teachers (and some parents) wanted turns holding her, and they all agreed that she's a precious and happy baby. They also comment that "she knows who her daddy is" because she responds quickly to my voice. It always makes me feel good to hear that!

Still catching up on pics from other people. Here are two from grandma's camera taken around Thanksgiving.


Four generations together (l to r, clockwise): Auntie Sue, Grandma Helene, Great-grandma aka Nana, Baby JoJo, and Auntie Tina.



On Daddy's side of the family, JoJo is the only girl - here she is with her 4 cousins, Chris, Nathan, Matthew, and Hudson.

I finally have the pics from the "Paternity Leave Survival Party" that Felida hosted for me. It's amazing to see how much Johanna has grown in the six weeks since the party. Thank you, Candi Talbott, for the pics.



Quite a stash of diapers! Each grade level gave a different gift, some for Johanna, some for daddy. This pile is 2 grades' worth of diapers!


Johanna posing with (left to right), Ms. Patton; Mrs. Ramberg, the associate principal; and Mrs. Herkert.


Johanna doing her favorite "folding my hands, ain't I cute" pose with Ms. Patton.


PE teacher Mr. Cast may need some of those in a year or two....


The next two pics are ones I took on the 4th. She loves looking into the mirror in the hall (something she must have inherited from dad), and she looked so cute, I decided to shoot a few.

Fluffy girl!

Sheryl, Cedar, and Johanna with Frea and Tonya Beaudet

Sheryl, Cedar, and Johanna

She loves to stare at the bright lights in the kitchen; she'll often sit in that swing and stare straight up while we cook dinner


Nothing, not even a shirt sleeve, can stop her from chewing on her knuckles

After two days back at work, I do miss hanging out with the baby. I miss our naps, the hour walks with Johanna in the baby bjorn, neighbors commenting how cute she is. Several people at work are disappointed she won't be hanging out with us at Chess Club, but she got to go to Grandma's house this week, which is much better.

I was informed tonight that I am a selfish person who doesn't care about my wife (with whom I am legally separated), my step-child, or anyone else on the planet because all I write about are my thoughts about the baby. "He only writes about himself and that baby, so either he only thinks about himself or he doesn't care about anyone else."

NEWS FLASH: The blog title says, "watch our baby grow, with commentary by dad." It's about the baby! And my thoughts on being a dad of that same baby! It's not about my thoughts about my wife, the war in Iraq, what I think of Californians (who are making most of these accusations), or anything else.

You don't say that Ernest Hemingway hates all fish except for the two species he mentions in The Old Man and the Sea, do you? You don't say that William Faulkner is rude towards people outside the south or that Charles Dickens thinks less of non-Englanders just because they choose to limit their topics, do you? Flannery O'Connor never wrote poetry, she must hate Robert Frost, right???? The topic is the topic. Don't read more into it.

If you really care to see my thoughts on things other than my baby and my wonderful adventure (so far) in fatherhood, which is entering a new phase as I return to work tomorrow, I will create a new blog, just for you. I'll call it, "Here's Ron's thoughts on everything not related to Johanna so that everyone can see everything he ever thinks about so that nothing and nobody feels offended by being left out of Ron's thought life." Catchy title, eh? But I'm sure I'll offend someone, so I won't bother: "You didn't mention how you feel about Pluto not being a planet? What - it's too small, so you won't write about it?" "You never mention Canadians - are you racist or something?"

If you have a problem with what I write, there's a few million blogs out there, enjoy. If you want to see pictures of my baby with some commentary by me, because, heck, it is BY ME, then continue to enjoy this site.

That having been said, I know a bunch more pics of Johanna exist, but they're on Candi Talbott's camera, and Phyllis Taylor's camera, and my mother's camera, so I'll post them when I get them.

Have a nice day.

ron

PS I love blogging. Thanks to all the whiners for the motivation.
PSS The whole Pluto thing ruined by Zodiac chart: Darn those scientists! And I love most of the Canadians I know. PRC rules!

Only two work days of my paternity leave left. I'll get to spend them both at home with Johanna. She has been rejecting the soy formula the last few days, which isn't fun, but the thing I love is that she loves to be held, so I hold her as much as I can, then I walk around the house with her in the Baby Bjorn when my arms get tired. She's about due for her 4 month appointment, so I'll give an update on her size / weight.

Aunt Tina and I took Johanna to get professional portraits done, and she was great. The studio wanted us to sign a release for them to use the photos for ads, etc. and I was flattered until my brother told me they do that just about every other time his wife takes their boys in (which is often).

These pics were taken by Troy Wayrynen, a professional freelance photographer. The one with Johanna on the cart is similar to one I posted a fews days ago. This one looks better!



This is my desk at work. For the record, I did NOT put the Seahawks poster up - it was there for the book fair.

When she finally gets to sleep, she's gone!


She doesn't always smile. This time she didn't want to be changed.


During book fair night at work. She is sitting on a book cart. If you notice on the left of the picture, Troy Wayrynen, a professional photographer and a parent at my school, snapped a bunch of pics of Johanna as well. If I get any, I'll post them.

Still waiting for the pics from the Paternity Leave Survival Party.

The post from the 29th finally was able to be published. I kept getting errors when I tried, then I just plain forgot for a week or so. Sorry.

Only two week left of my leave, and I am constantly asked if I'm ready to go back to work. I have so much other stuff on my mind that I hardly think about it. I'm also asked what we'll do for daycare once I'm back. For now, she'll be shuttled to Portland to my mom's for a few days a week. After Christmas, I might be tired of driving round trip to Portland twice each day, who knows. Either that, or I'll listen to a whole lot of books on tape!

The following pics are from my sister's 33rd birthday party.

We were sitting around the living room, and I decided to play with the self-timer on the camera. This is the only one that came out.

Johanna gets her first cooking lesson as she helps mom make corn bread.

So it's been 10 days. Sue me.

Since then, Johanna has done the following:

- Met Scotty, Amanda, and her son Christian at a taco feed hosted by Phyllis (Scotty and I tied at 10 tacos!). No pics!
- Entertained the teachers at Daddy's school durin Daddy's "Paternity Leave Survival Party" - with a Superman theme. We received many cool things - lots of diapers, board books, gift cards, etc., even some Pittsburg Steeler stuff for Dad. (waiting for pics!)
- Saw Grandma Helene twice!
- She has started to smile at everyone when she first hears their voice. It's a good feeling when she rssponds like that.

I've been enjoying the hot weather (70s all week!) by taking Johanna on walks through the neighborhood. I've met a lot of neighbors this way, mainly retirees who ask about the baby and want to talk about their own kids. I tried to take a picture of what we look like walking around, but it didn't work out too well. But still, there's me and there's Johanna in her Baby Bjorn.

It's been 5 days since I entered anything. We are doing some experimenting with nipple (for the bottle) sizes, to see which ones she likes best. Johanna has outgrown the #1 nipples, and we tried #3s. She seems to drink too quickly with that size and chokes, then cries, then not fun. I'll keep you posted, as I'm sure you're all waiting with baited breath to find out which nipple she prefers.

On another note, we took Johanna to Barnes and Noble tonight for the opening party for Lemony Snicket's last book, creatively entitled, The End. She won an "extra small" t-shirt, pictured below. Her first contest, first win. Tomorrow I'll take her with me to get a lottery ticket....

Grandpa Dale Geldreich came up with Grandma Kareen all the way from Sacramento to see Johanna.

Grandma Kareen Geldreich



Grandma Kareen

With grandpa Fred at his house in Portland.

Another tough day of paternity leave. Sheryl woke me up at 5:30, and I had to get out of bed to get Cedar ready for school. Once we dropped her off, Johanna had a small bottle and slept until noon. In a show of solidarity, I slept with her on the couch, she was sprawled out on my stomach. I needed the rest as my back had hurt so much, I hadn't slept until 1 am the night before. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading, walking around the neighbor, drinking bottles, that kind of thing. Johanna was great until we waited in line at Felida to pick up Cedar.

From then on until around 4, Johanna cried. I tried to burp her for the better part of an hour, alternating that with trying to sing to her, distract her, giving her some more bottle, etc. She FINALLY burped 3 times, then fell to sleep again on my chest like nothing had happened. We were still there on the couch when Sheryl came home.

I don't know how many more days of this I can take (actually I do - 7 1/2 weeks!), and I will be sure to enjoy each one.

A few pics Sheryl took trying to catch a smile.

Thursday.

Another wonderful day of paternity leave. After I dropped Cedar off at school, I sat on the bed with my laptop while Johanna slept. I fed her a bottle and we lay flat on our backs playing with the elephant mobile that Auntie Cari had purchased for her. It sits about 2 feet over the bed, just below the pillows, in the middle. (Johanna sleeps in the middle of our bed.) After that we drove over to Judy's house for lunch. We ended up going for a walk and staying until 2:30, when it was time to pick up Cedar from school.

I'm noticing some routines: She likes to sleep most of the morning. If she's cranky, it's sure to me in the late afternoon. Putting her in the Baby Bjorn may not make her happy at first, but it is sure to put her to sleep. She cries getting into the car seat, until she's carried out the door, then she is just fine. Daddy has about a 50/50 chance of getting her to burp when he thinks she needs to. If you say almost anything in the right voice, she'll smile. She loves being held on her back in my arms, staring at the bright kitchen lights; sometimes it's the only thing that will calm her down. Inversely, sitting down with her when she's being held like that will make her cry.

I have some video of her I'll try to put on here. It's some cute smiles, which are hard to get a still of because they are still rare and don't last too long - yet!

Another wonderful day of paternity leave. After I dropped Cedar off at school, I sat on the bed with my laptop while Johanna slept. I fed her a bottle and we lay flat on our backs playing with the elephant mobile that Auntie Cari had purchased for her. It sits about 2 feet over the bed, just below the pillows, in the middle. (Johanna sleeps in the middle of our bed.) After that we drove over to Judy's house for lunch. We ended up going for a walk and staying until 2:30, when it was time to pick up Cedar from school.

I'm noticing some routines: She likes to sleep most of the morning. If she's cranky, it's sure to me in the late afternoon. Putting her in the Baby Bjorn may not make her happy at first, but it is sure to put her to sleep. She cries getting into the car seat, until she's carried out the door, then she is just fine. Daddy has about a 50/50 chance of getting her to burp when he thinks she needs to. If you say almost anything in the right voice, she'll smile. She loves being held on her back in my arms, staring at the bright kitchen lights; sometimes it's the only thing that will calm her down. Inversely, sitting down with her when she's being held like that will make her cry.

I have some video of her I'll try to put on here. It's some cute smiles, which are hard to get a still of because they are still rare and don't last too long - yet!

One of the points of this blog was not just to show off my wonderful new baby, but to celebrate the community of people she was born into. The two pics above demonstrate that pretty well. My mother has not only babysat for us and given me plenty of advice, but she has purchased diapers, clothes, formula, toys, music, and anything else baby related. Osha Cronk has been a good friend, helping with little things like holding Johanna while I go to the bathroom during church and generally loving the little girl; her husband Shawn has been in my Bible study group and is a true brother. I also received a free massage from Eric Beggs (highly recommended!) today. People at work ask about the baby before they ask how I'm doing, and they are disappointed if I pick up Cedar without Johanna. (For the record, I don't leave Johanna at home. She's with Sheryl on those occasions!)

So once again, thank you to all who have been a part of her life!

As you can see it's four days since the last post and no new pics, but we did have a checkup! Johanna is now officially 57.5 cm (or 22.6 inches for us non-metric users). She weighs 11 lbs, 9 1/2 ozs. and is otherwise in perfect health.

Since Wednesday Johanna has been to grandma's house, saw Judy and Nancy for lunch, went walking twice in her Baby Bjorn, and spent a lot of time napping with mom and dad. She is starting to smile more, "talk" more, and is tracking objects with her eyes. I am amazed at how much she has changed in these two months, and as I think about the changes ahead, I'm already thinking that she's growing too fast!

Since so many people liked the last black and white, I decided to try to take the same shot with color, b/w, and sepia tone. For some strange reason Johanna didn't sit perfectly still between flashes, so they're not all EXACTLY the same shot, but close enough. E-mail me to vote on which one is best!

Week 2 of my leave, and we're settling into a pattern - Johanna cries, daddy scrambles to get a bottle. Not quite. The pattern is that Sheryl takes Johanna on Mondays and Wednesdays, Daddy keeps her at home for the rest.

Tonight Johanna was introduced to the Kennedy School Librarians, a group of school librarians that meet once a month for dinner at McMenamin's Kennedy School to catch up, gripe, and otherwise discuss library stuff that no one else in our lives would fully understand. Casey brought Tristan, and if I had had my camera, seeing him hold her would have been a great picture. Johanna was perfect, as usual: she cuddled against my chest, drank her bottle, and, best of all, fell asleep in her carrier while Daddy ate dinner, only to wake up and entertain everyone again afterwards. Casey gave Johanna a pink jumpsuit that will have to wait a few months.

Johanna spent most of the day in the Baby Bjorn, attached to my sister Sue.

Saturday was a busy day for Johanna, so Sunday we took it easy.

Saturday she went with Sue, Grandma, Nana (Great Grandma), and me to Hood River to buy pears. Later, she went to Chris' football game (they won, 26-0). Sue insisted on carrying Johanna in the Baby Bjorn (donated by Tonia B.) everywhere we went. Johanna seemed to like it; although we had tried her out in it at home, this was her first "all day" experience in one. I am curious to try it with her myself.

I am also realizing how much wishful thinking I employ in my trip preparation. "She eat 2 hours ago, and we'll only be gone for an hour" has back-fired on me quite a bit, and I'm still not used to having baby in one arm with diaper bag in the other. I've made several trips back to the car in the last few days.

Ain't she cute???

Johanna survived the first week of Daddy's leave. Mommy took her to Portland two days. She also had breakfast with Sean, visited Grandma twice, and spent a lot of time napping with daddy.