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...

Every Day. Oh, I Mean Every Year...

Oooooookaaaaaay....

It's been a year. We just finished another Easter Sunday. Quite similar to the one we had last year. Indeed, except for Aria's size, it was about the same: Breakfast buffet and Grandpa Fehr's golf club with the Easter Bunny and Pony rides. Hang time at the Fehr's with an egg hunt in the back yard. Nice. I'll post some pix soon....

Scared to the Point Of Random Naming!

Just have to tell this little ditty...

Last night, I carried Aria up to her room to change her diaper and get her ready for bed. We're in the habit of using a small blow-dryer on her before we put a new diaper on. I flipped the switch on the dryer but got nothing. After toggling it back and forth for a moment, I decided to check to see if it was plugged in. Sure enough, the socket was being used by the monitor. I unplugged that and popped the dryer back in. Immediately, the dryer kicked in on high speed. I quickly stood back up to find Aria throwing it down and jumping back from it. I quickly turned it off, grabbed her and hugged her. She was SCREAMING! For some reason, she looked at me and as fast as she could through her tears, she started naming parts of my face: ...eyeearmouthnosecheek...*sob*...hairchinteeth... then buried her head in myshoulder and continued to sob. I've NEVER seen her that scared. It was so sad yet so funny. I think she was trying to forget the dryer as fast as she could by thinking of other things. It must have worked. We've been back to the changing table/blow dryer a few times since and not a whimper. I'm going to try that next time I'm angry/scared/bored/annoyed...hairchinmouthteetheyenoseearcheek...

First Snowman

First Snowman
Originally uploaded by spooky cowboy.

March 30th...

Late snowfall gave us a chance to build Aria's first snowman. He was gone by the next day.

Aria: Easter '05

Aria Easter '05
Originally uploaded by spooky cowboy.

More pics added to "Photo Archives" (link to the left).

Aria had a great Easter weekend this year starting with a big egg hunt at our friend Ted Hinckley's house on Saturday. That night she colored her first eggs. On Sunday morning, we had brunch with the Fehrs and Aria got to ride a pony, meet the Easter Bunny (no freak out, gratefully) and do yet another egg hunt. Later that night, the Hancock family got together at our house for dinner and Aria got more Easter related products. I mean gifts.

Aria sleeping

Aria sleeping
Originally uploaded by spooky cowboy.

Sleeping Lum

Vital Stats

Aria is still a little small for her age. She weighs about 20 lbs. Her height and weight are still in the 10% of average group. However, her head size is in the 90% group! Her HUGE brain can barely fit. Her long hair makes her look older than she is.

She started walking right around her 1st birthday. Now, she can run. Fast.

Aria has a growing vocabulary:
Uh-Oh, Dada, Mama, Aria, Thank You, Up, Hi, Down, bottle (pronounced ladle ladle), water, banana, juice, grandpa, grandma, outside, step, Bee, hello, love you, Arlo (her fish), woof, quack, Raaargh!, ssssssss(snake), mooo, bubble, shoe, sock, sleep, cheese, cracker, buckle, swing, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, elbow, toes, hair, and again.

Aria has already traveled quite a bit. Too bad she won't remember these trips:
Hawaii, LA, Montana, Texas, Florida, San Francisco, and Seattle. We're trying to get to England/Ireland before she turns two and stops traveling for free...

Aria

Welcome!

So, Aria is now over 16 months old. I thought this would be a good way to keep track of her daily doings as well as have a chance t5o keep up with relatives and friends that do get to be with Aria very often. I won't be trying to backtrack her life story, just going forward from here.