March 1st, 2010
Veronica has gone through so many changes in the last few months. I know it’s a well-known aspect of infants, but I am amazed at how much our little girl has changed in such a short time. She went from sleeping only 2 hours at a time to almost 6 hours now (finally!). When she sees Ella enter a room her whole face brightens like a tiny sun. When I smile at her, she smiles back and tries to hide her face. She is grabbing items and has a real interest in figuring them out. She is almost to the point of rolling over. If you tickle her she moves to her side and almost makes it all the way. Recently Ella bought a fun play mat that has arches with hanging animals, textures, a mirror, and music. It looks like a modern art installation that engages all the senses while evoking a psychedelic dream born of eating too much garlic.
Veronica seems to love day care so far. She likes to tell me about her day at day-care in a series of spittle-speckled grunts and high-pitched squeals. If I answer back like I understand her, she then continues to excitedly elaborate on her day. Day care has really helped set a routine for her; she seems to get great joy from from the company of other babies and the stimulation from her caregivers. We fear that she finds us boring when she comes back home despite the fact that we are highly entertaining people.
Ella loves to dance with Veronica cheek-to-cheek while singing all the hits from the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, and today. Our baby is going to great a great popular music education before she learns how to talk.
Katya is also doing well, although she has had to suffer a reduction in walks. We recently got over a horrible family cold that started with poor Veronica, then took down Ella, and finally subjugated me. During this dark time Katya experienced a walkies moratorium and had to spend the days indoors with really sick people. She is a truly loyal and noble dog because despite all this she has remained loving and patient.
You can see some of the highlights of Veronica’s first months in the photos below.
October 9th, 2009
Ella and I spent Memorial weekend in Dallas. We decided it was high time to get to know one of our adopted states larger cities. We began our weekend by visiting the JFK Memorial museum. It’s an incredibly well laid out monument to JFK’s life, the assassination, and his presidential legacy. I have to say it is very arresting to stand in the same street in which the motorcade passed. The audio tour, films, and exhibitions filled me with a palpable sense of the national shock and mourning that followed the assassination.
We also visited the Nasher Sculpture Center. This is a modern art collection assembled by the Nashers, a couple that collected modern art worldwide. Part of the museum is dedicated to the couple and their legacy; a really great documentary that conveys their passion for modern art and artists. The outside courtyard houses some of the larger and more immersive exhibits. I especially loved Walking to the Sky and Skyspace. The former was interesting because the effect of the escalator reaching toward the sky is made possible by the practical need to bury the anchoring point deep into the ground. The latter exhibit had you walk through a dark walkway with white noise, only to emerge in a stone courtyard with a perfectly square and borderless skylight. Watching the clouds go by through the skylight was like looking at a museum frame on a wall with a moving image.
Of course, food was also a prominent part of our trip. We ate at a wonderful breakfast spot just north of downtown Dallas called Cafe Brazil. On another morning we went to a great South American bakery called Zaguan. I recommend the Alfajore; a cookie that demands that other cookies be renamed to something that better depicts their mundane natures.
At this point our news was becoming harder and harder to conceal…
October 9th, 2006
We have a new blog format featuring our time-consuming passion: Ultimate Frisbee. The new theme may come as a shock since Ella and I like to keep our disc events hidden from everyone. We felt it was time to bring our shared hobby to the forefront; no more denying our reverence for the game. We also added widgets; little applications that allow us to share such scintillating information like what we’re reading, and the current month. The widgets are the little sections of information you see on the right. Neat!
I know we’re behind in adding entries. We have stories and pictures to share from such crazy recent events like Eugene and Arin’s wedding, Ultimate Frisbee Regionals and Sectionals, and a dinner we attended that featured a pug. New posts will emerge soon.
As Mr. Orson Welles used to say, “We will sell no wine, before its time.”
February 18th, 2006
Ella and I had a great time in Honolulu and in Kauai during our honeymoon. We took in many great sights and really enjoyed surfing. On one of the nights we decided to attend the luau at our resort, this being my first time to Hawaii. The food was great and the entertainment was fun. However, we seemed to catch the fire juggler on a bad night. The clip below is from my tiny camera’s movie mode. It’s not the best quality but it seemed to catch every moment of the fire juggler’s struggles. Click the link below to view the video.
Fire Juggler
February 4th, 2006
This is the first post to our new family blog. We thought this would be a great way to share our events and photos with family and friends. We hope this makes those that are far from us feel closer. Send us some photos or anectdotes if you’d like us to add them.
We will be adding a link to our former wedding web site in case anyone wants to see it again. We plan on going back to it every now and then to remind ourselves of what a great time we had!
