Finally, A Solution.

Poor Azur has been suffering from Baby-pattern hair loss. Finally, a solution:

More pix from Sunday

Question:

Could someone tell me why none of my photos enlarge when they're clicked? Finn's do... What am I missing here?

OK, ok, ok..

I had plans to go into a long dissertation on the darkness in my soul/reason for not posting for 2 months, but I'm just going to pick up with a calm weekend that shows how great my life really is.

Here is the first 2 minutes of my Saturday morning :

Aria and I spent most of the week sleeping out in the tent on the deck. A great combo of stars, city lights and easy bathroom access. Saturday also included a trip to the Halloween store and the purchase of a hermit crab. His name is Doc.

Sunday brought pumpkin purchases/carving and house decorating. Kindra and I even made it to a movie, Vicky Kristina Barcelona. After seeing it, our marriage is still in tact  but I had to warn Kindra that if both  Scarlette Johanssen and Penelope Cruz try to simultaneously seduce me in a photography darkroom, we may have troubles. 

Barring that, we're cool! 

A man must know his limits. 

The evening brought an impromptu party with the arrivals of Kurt and Petrina Bestor, and Russ and Kindee Dixon. A booze fueled barf-fest that could only end in tragedy. 

Or shame. 

Tragically, neither. 

Everyone was gone by 8:30 with the kids in bed shortly thereafter. 

More later. Must sleep now.

Aria's First Dive Attempt

Not much more to say about this...

New Pictures

...of Aria and Azur.

Beaten To The Punch

OK, so I thought Kindra was going to write something. She thought I would. In the mean time, Kelli wrote about the awesome party she threw for Azur's "Coming Out" (of Kindra, that is). So consider this an addendum. 

One of the many things I've always been grateful for is my luck in finding and keeping great friends. Mike and I go back at least 23 years! He married well and now our wives are good friends. That really helps guy friends stay in touch. Never mind that he's a brilliant mix engineer and that my career depends on his skills so I'd have to see him even if I hated him. It's really about the ladies.  When isn't it?

Anywhooo, they threw a great party with amazing treats and fun. Props also to Bethany and Emily for their tasty contributions. We're very lucky have them as close friends, and we're looking forward to doing the same for their next child, due any year now! 

Now some pix:

Parental Shame+ Laughter=Guilty Post

Sometimes, Aria likes to sit with me and watch little YouTube clips. It's fun for me to find old 70's toy commercials (from Wham-O!), kids shows (Sleeeeestackssss) and the like. I usually just follow the links to something related. Last night, Aria and I stumbled upon something that said: "The Office Theme in Mario Paint." I clicked it without saying anything about it. It showed some Mario related game that lets you program in notes that play when he jumps on them and sure enough, The Office theme was a' playin'. Once the theme had fully established itself, Aria hung her head and said, "Oh, dammit. It's that show you love."

Hey, remember when Aria was afraid of going under water? Yeah, not so much now...

My Own Private Idaho

I think that most extended family sets have that one family that always has the fun toys. You know, jet skis, boats, motorcycles, etc.. In my family, it was/is the Masoners in Heyburn, Idaho (you know, the metropolis between Rupert and Burley, duh). Since I was a wee child, we would visit the Idaho cousins every summer and it was always, and I do mean always something I looked forward to. And it still is. We've started a new tradition of getting the now grown up cousins together  every summer on the weekend after the 4th of July. 

I've moved a lot in my life. And as a kid, we seemed to move every other year, sometimes only a few blocks away. But not the Masoners. They moved once when I was about 4 years old and that was across the street to the house with the boat dock on the Snake River. In a way, their house represents the only constant "home" of my past.

The three cousins that were once kids there are now parents themselves with a minimum of 3 children each. They still live in town, though some moved all the way to Burley. Rebels. My Aunt Joanne still lives in the 50's style brick rambler but my Uncle Gary, sadly, passed away last year. Fortunately, he passed on the love of "playing hard" to his kids and grandkids. And hopefully to me.  I miss him.

Now, our kids are getting to enjoy each other's company and the fun that I had for so many years. And it's still just as fun for me.  

Quick Story

We had a fun weekend but I want to write down a quick Aria story before I forget it...

Sunday night, Aria and I decided to go for a quick swim. She entered the water before me and quickly started her underwater show-off exercises. She came up laughing saying "Help! I'm drowning!!". I quickly put on my stern voice and said to her, "Don't ever say that jokingly. You ONLY say something like that when you are really in trouble. Did I ever tell you the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf?". "No.", she replied, "Get in and tell me the story". 

I sauntered over to the diving board, bounced twice and jumped high into the air. My perfect arc, swan-like pose and last second half twist garnered approving, jealous nods from our neighbors. After I surfaced, I swam to Aria's side and proceeded to tell her the full length story. I gave details of angry villagers, pitchforks and torches in the night. It ended with the young liar being torn asunder while the villagers ignored his pleas. Aria listened intently. When I had finished, I asked her, "What do you think that story is trying to teach you?" 

Her reply: "Don't drown.".

Celebrity Morph by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities

Celebrity Morph by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Geneology - Family name origins

Summertime

With temperatures making swimming seem absolutely necessary, it's been good to know that Aria is learning to swim, or at least float. A pool is not something that we would have ever thought to put in ourselves, mostly because of the inherent risks for kids. But, with a fence, a retractable pool cover and kids that can swim, we should be able to sleep at night. 

We've started lessons with professional instructors at our home this month, and it's been good on many levels. About a dozen other kids take 15 minute private lessons here every Monday. In exchange for the use of our pool, we get free lessons for Aria (2 in the same day) and a little extra coin for the hours spent. It should add up to literally dozens of dollars by the time the summer is over. It's also been a fun social gathering for parents as well as the kids, and it's forced me to keep the pool clean and warm. 

Aria's been quite brave even though she's frightened of going under the water. Fortunately, peer pressure might work for us in this scenario. A few of her friends have already been through this program and are on to the next level. 

 

In other news, Kindra had a successful showing last week at Pilar Pobil's "Art In The Garden", I'm making music and trying to tie up house-related loose ends (more on that soon), and Azur is perfect:

The Onion

Any friend of mine should also be a friend of The Onion.

Ok, it's not mandatory, but friends will bare witness to the tears of joy shed by myself whilst standing in out of state bookstores, reading The Onion books. 

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less


Army Holds Annual 'Bring Your Daughter To War' Day

Here's an excerpt I wrote for Kindra's Catalyst Magazine article, Babying The Buddah (PDF). Go to page 50.  She asked a few fathers she knew to write a little about being a father. This was my response.

Today, Aria graduated from her second year of Montessori pre-school. She really enjoys her four hour a day, four day a week time with friends. It's been good for her and we've been lucky enough to trade Kindra's teaching hours for tuition. We're quite certain she'll be returning in the fall for another pre-school year. It's also Azur's 1 week birthday and the first time we've taken him out of the house since we brought him home. 

Big Sister

"Did I get a sister?!?", asked Aria as Azur emerged from his Surround Sound Water Bed, his Aqua Crib, his Tank. "No, you have a brother!!", was the reply. "Oh, I always wanted a baby brother!!!". 

For all nine months, Aria had announced to everyone she met that she was soon going to have a baby sister. She was so sure that she even had a name picked out: Naya. No matter how many times we tried to prepare her for the possibility of a brother, she would always let us know how wrong we were. Kindra decided to at least look up the name in one of our many baby name books. Apparently, Naya means both "Fulfilled Wish" and "Sister". Interesting. But not our favorite. 

The moment Azur was born, Aria switched the proper gears in her head and has yet to ask about Naya. 

I've watched Aria carefully during the run-up to, and aftermath, of this baby's arrival, searching for any signs of jealousy. Though only a few days in, I'm happy to say that so far, she's lived up to my hopes for her and her promises to be a big help. 

She was so excited to tell all her friends and take to class the cookies shaped like baby feet. She worked on each one with her Grandma Fehr and Aunt Bethany. She checks on him regularly and is dying to change the diapers (a torch I hope to pass to her ASAP). 

After carrying Azur around the house for these past few days, picking up Aria has been a whiplash reminder of how fast she's grown. Just looking at her toes and fingers makes me feel older. 

And, yes, Aria was there for the birth. All of it. She knew what was happening and squealed with joy as Azur's head popped out. She thought nothing but good of the whole experience. Cool chick, that Aria.

Azur Pix

OK, New Azur photos here. 

Azur John Hancock

Azur John Hancock was born yesterday May 29th, 2008 at 3:04 pm. He was born weighing in at 8 lbs, 2.5 oz and was 21" long.  We're still here at University of Utah Medical Center and both Kindra and Azur are doing very well. Aria and her grandmothers joined us in the delivery and it was very exciting. Aria was thrilled and started laughing with glee as Azur rapidly emerged. I'm going to add photos as soon as I get the right cables here in the room to download the photos from the camera. I'll let Kindra give more details but I just wanted to get a post up asap. 

Nightmare on Northcrest

Last night, I had one of the scariest moments of my life. I experienced real dread for the first time in a long time. At about 3:30 in the morning, Kindra heard what she thought was a cat fight in our back yard. She decided to have a look. She saw our pet rabbit, Bunny lying on the ground while some sort of dog/coyote was gnawing on her head.

 At that moment, I was awakened by Kindra yelling "SOMETHING'S EATING BUNNY!". But it wasn't quite a yell. It was more like a primal, anguished, slow-motion roar. 

Rough musical transcription:  

I rose from the bed without bending my knees, Dracula style. I am told that I let out a yell similar to Kindra's: "BUUUUNNNNY, NOOOOOO......" in the slo-mo, Lethal Weapon-Dive in Front of the Bullet for your Buddy way. I ran top speed to the back door, turned on the porch lights and ran down the concrete steps to the yard below. I experienced true "Fight or Flight" and I'm proud to say it wasn't flight. I was prepared to grab some wolf-demon-dog with my bare hands, rip his jaws open past the point of dislocation, reach down it's throat and stop it's heart. All while in my boxers. 

I could see our white rabbit sprawled out on the lawn but she was alone. I  immediately looked for blood but gratefully found none. Her eyes were half shut and she was breathing slowly.It was a "Don't go to the light!" kind of moment for me. 

Kindra's glorious baby belly emerged from our bedroom, pulling Kindra behind while she wailed the Bunny Mantra: "Nooo Bunny, Nooo. Noooo Bunny, Noooo".  My next thought was that maybe Bunny's neck or spine had been broken. Either way, I wasn't going to let her lay and die on the cold, wet grass. I scooped her up in my arms, which she normally hates, but she didn't even flinch. I'm certain she was in shock. I got her into our room and set her down. She quickly tried to hide under our dresser and I was glad to see her move. Though still shaken (she won't leave her cage now) she seems ok.

 Once our adrenaline started to subside, we started laughing at ourselves and how dramatic we were. We can't stop laughing about it now. Oh, how I wish I had some kind of motion sensitive security camera on that night. With sound, of course. 

Episode IV, A New Hope...

Well, this used to be a site just for Aria, but since our family is about to grow with a fourth member, we thought it would be best to make about us all. Between Kindra and myself, this should be updated more often than it has been in the past. Of course, that shouldn't be too difficult when I see that it's been two YEARS since the past posting...