Daddy time

I'm finding that I'm looking for "daddy time" every minute I can. Saturday I had JoJo all day, so we napped, hung around the house, and went to Aunt Sue's house after taking Cedar to a birthday party. It was a good, quiet day.

Sunday I didn't see her until 9:15 at night, so I was happy to take her and sleep with her on the couch, even going past my usual bedtime because I didn't want to wake her up - I eventually went to bed at midnight.

Monday was another limited-time day, but I have a cute story to share. Grandma Helene has a "tuneless lullaby" she uses with the grandkids when they're sleepy. JoJo was wearing down today and started to get cranky in the car. Cousin Hudson got a puckered face, but instead of joining in, he started doing the lullaby. JoJo stopped crying, looked at him, and soon fell asleep! Also, she came back from Grandma's house doing her "bbbbbth" thing, which she did for about 2 hours straight (with occasional laughter and encouragement from us). She hadn't done it at home for a while. Sounds like a good day for baby!

Below are some pics Sheryl took over the weekend:






Auntie Cari came up for the weekend. She said it was to snowboard on Mt. Hood, but she really wanted to see Cedar and JoJo.
Things are slowly getting better between the two babies in the house; Buster lets JoJo "pet" him, and she has to be guided in her "petting" so she doesn't grab. Buster still gets jealous and has snapped at her if she pulls his hair; he barks at Sheryl when she pays attention to JoJo and not to him. I don't like the snapping and barking, and I will kill that animal if he ever bites her.

After a fun weekend at Grandma's house, a visit with Phyllis and Max, and a birthday party for Tom at Shawn's house, we've had a quiet two days. We did have to do a hematocrit Monday; it was ordered a few months ago, and although she is obviously not anemic, the doctor insisted. It was not fun seeing her get stuck (again), but she survived.

Most of the pics below were taken Tuesday during another snow day. It was her first experience in the snow, and she seemed to like it. We'll be home again tomorrow as well.



JoJo likes her Bumblebee toy. We haven't used the accompanying book, but she loves to chew the antennae and nose.

Getting ready to go out into the snow for the first time. She's wearing the snowsuit grandma Helene bought her.


Out in her first snow in Mommy's "hip hammock". She was all smiles and lasted about 1/2 hour.



Just a cute face...

JoJo had her 6 month appointment today. She is officially 16 lbs. 7 oz. and very healthy (75 percentile on both height and weight).

She has started moving around more as well. On her stomach, she almost scooted herself off the chaise the other day (bad daddy!) but I caught her before she fell (good daddy!). She also turned herself over from her back to her stomach.

The final new development is that she eats everything - she tried to devour one of her board books today. Here I was so proud my daughter chose a book over a toy, but it turns out it was just easier to get into her mouth.

This is my first attempt at embedding video in the blog. Sheryl took it a few days ago.

Here are the pics as promised from Sheryl. If I had any pride as a photographer, I'd stop posting pics of JoJo taken by other people. Every really good pic on this site was taken by Sheryl or given to us by someone else. It's a good thing I look good in the photos, though!


Outside grandma's house in CA.

I used this one for my Christmas thank you cards. So cute!

Notice the pink blanket made by Felida's Peggy Phemister. It's made it into a lot of shots!

This is another great shot.

After I survived 6 days without seeing Johanna, she returned from California Thursday night, and it warmed my heart to see her jump up and down in her car seat when she saw me. She likes her daddy!

While she was gone, she picked up a few new "skills": She no longer stands when she is held up, but prefers to jump; she also loves to grab her toes, something she had never done before. She has taken to eating real food; she loves bananas, sweet potatoes and the rest, but I wasn't surprised that the "turkey and turkey broth" was rejected. Meat that looks like gelatinous applesauce is just wrong. Reminds me of the Hormel "potted meat product" you see in the grocery store - who actually eats that stuff?

JoJo and I went to a New Year's Party where we saw our friend Brianna. Brianna is two months older than JoJo, but JoJo is about the same weight. Bri has the cutest head of hair! It was cute to see them reach out to each other.

Anyway, I have some new pics, and Sheryl has some from their CA trip that I'll post when I get them.


Showing off her new skill!

Although she jumps when held, she still hasn't done much in the Johnny Jump Up.

Call me vain - I like the self-portrait with baby pics!


Another there she is in her swing pic.

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.