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December 22, 2002

Two Hundred

Tonight, Estella took a bath to relieve the aches of her cold and let her breath the warm humid air.

Later we went on a walk through a neighborhood just west of us called Olympic Manor, where each year nearly all the houses put up fancy arrays of Christmas lights. We were all bundled for the cold and eventually the little one fell asleep.
Special Note:
Tomorrow, December 22nd, Estella, our sleepy little baby girl, is 200 days old!

Posted by clappstar at 12:28 AM

December 21, 2002

Weekend Sarah

My littlest sister visited for a couple days. She was a big help with the little baby, who is now not so tiny at nearly 7 months and 18 pounds!
Estella got us up pretty early both Friday and Saturday because she has a cold, so we made use of the extra morning hours and walked around Disovery Park's Loop Trail this morning. The trees didn't groan and talk like they do in the movie Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers which we all four went to on Thursday.
After we got back from the park, we finished decorating Christmas cookies.
Yesterday they gave me a ride to work and we stopped for some coffee and added a hot chocolate to the usual order for Sarah. After they dropped me off they watched Seattle wake up by walking through downtown and all through Pike Place Market. The Olympic mountains were visible across Elliott Bay, with a new dusting of fresh snow.

Posted by clappstar at 11:53 PM

December 15, 2002

Aristotle's Excellence

A random quote I find very instructive:
We are defined by what we do repeatedly, therefore excellence is a habit,
not an act.
-Aristotle
Question for the day - what do I do repeatedly?

Posted by clappstar at 01:30 PM

Saturday Outing

Saturday is a nice day to wake up early. When you wake up early on a Saturday, you have the whole day and the rest of the weekend ahead of you. In our case, we Robyn had rehearsal and I had time to spend reading or messing around on the weblog. Baby had two great naps and was ready to go.
We walked Ballard Ave shops in the rain and had a lot of fun. Estella wore a great little rain jacket over a beautiful hand-made sweater she received in the mail from her first friend, Linda (Linda helped Robyn during delivery of Estella). We looked in the pet store for toys to distract our cat Eliot from destroying the house and at the boutique that Robyn likes so much Olivine. Estella was the center of attention.
I almost feel like a celebrity when I am holding her, because since she is so interactive, her smiles and babbles elicit a smile and conversation from total strangers. It is fun and I love to share her energy, happiness and baby-ness with others. No doubt her smile and waving arms could brighten anyones day.

Posted by clappstar at 11:59 AM

December 14, 2002

Karaoke Holiday Party

Robyn and I attended the company holiday party. Always of late an incredibly well done affair, this year was exceptional. The only dissappointment was there was too much quality food, music, friends and conversation but too little time to take in everything. We did do the karaoke. Robyn does an incredible rendition of Carole King's "I feel the earth move" and I sang an REM song.
We had a blast and stayed out pretty late. As soon as we got in the car to head home we were even more excited because we were going to pick up our little sleepy head baby at Robyn's good friends home in Ballard. She had watched Estella, fed her and put her to bed. Great night.

Posted by clappstar at 12:44 PM

Naked Baby

The little 6 month old baby girl that hangs out at our house, also known as our little daughter, is quite a character. She likes, nay, loves smiling and giggling and singing. She has developed a 4" vertical leap in the jumper. One of her favorite distractions is to take off her socks and let her suck on her toes. Or in the bath, she sucks on the little bath ducks.

I couldn't resist taking some pictures of her while she was having some "air-out" time away from diaper and stuffy clothes. Here she is smiling and here she is so excited from just talking back and forth.
As I have said before, the car is somewhat of a relaxation chamber for baby these days. In the morning, if I am lucky enough to score a ride with my beautiful honey and precious little girl, I often sit next to the baby and just watch her quietness and relaxation. She usually falls asleep on Fremont Ave between the zoo and the bridge.

Posted by clappstar at 12:34 PM

December 12, 2002

Our Cottage

This book (The Not So Big House) looks like it would suit us just fine as we grow in to our little house and plan for future home improvement projects.
Also, I think this new paradigm for neighborhood development is really cool. The idea of a little cottage community sounds way better than a stuffy apartment, though apartments are more efficient as far as density goes. However, the cottage community is a great go-between for people who want the size of a condo but the a small yard imprint of a house.

Posted by clappstar at 10:30 AM

December 11, 2002

Complexity Of Coffee

I stumbled upon this short piece regarding someones musings about coffee. It lead me here to a short history of the bean, where there is an interesting description of the nuances of bean roasting.
I think I better start being a bit more conscious of the implications of each cup though. I agree, why not buy Fair Trade coffee? After all, if you lived in Africa and tended a hillside of coffee trees, wouldn't you want all those 1st world working class heroes doing the same for you? You bet!
I better ask the Sadman if he brews with Fair Trade. At the very least, I need to get a commuter mug and quit wasting paper and plastic each time I get a disposable cup to go.

Posted by clappstar at 12:57 PM

December 09, 2002

Dates To Remember

Here is a little script I wrote to keep track of the days and weeks past two big dates.

Posted by clappstar at 07:37 PM

December 08, 2002

Winter Weekend

The weekend was full of fun and adventure for baby, momma and dada. I started by hanging some Christmas lights for my grandpa. Then we watched The Singing Christmas Tree at Life Center Church in Tacoma. Robyn's dad has been a part of the event in the tree choir for over 30 years. The performance includes wonderful singing and a fantastic stage and light show all telling the Bible story of Christmas.

This morning in the fog of Discovery Park we set out for a bit of a hike with Estella in a new backpack. I was pretty impressed with the park, as always. It is practically deserted and quite peaceful. The trees have lots of moss growing on them and some are rather large.
After cleaning the house and eating lunch we went to church. Estella graduated to the second level of child care because she can sit up so well. Checking in on her half-way through, she saw me while happily playing, but then got all red, grimaced and burst into tears. She probably missed me, so I had to go give her a hug and she was fine. Jennifer and Melissa were there as well and later, Jennifer brought dinner home. Our favorite Indian food, Taste of India. Estella ate a quarter cup of rice cereal. I zoom the spoon full of food right up to her mouth and she opens big and just loves it. No problem.
Baby was entertained by her two aunts. Now she is fast asleep. I took her to bed after Robyn fed her last and had to walk around extra long with her sleeping on my shoulder just because I loved it so much.

Posted by clappstar at 11:11 PM

December 07, 2002

Baby At 6 Months

Our six month old baby girl Estella weighs 17lbs 11oz. She had fun at the doctor visit, she is getting over her ear infection, which puts off shots until Monday.
Here she is playing the piano with momma.

Posted by clappstar at 01:25 AM

December 06, 2002

Six Brothers

Over sixty years ago a bunch of brothers sat under a tree for a photograph. They were widely spread in age, with some were nearly young men and others still young boys. All six were brothers. The third from the left is my grandpa, Papa.

Posted by clappstar at 09:24 PM | Comments (1)

Caffe Americano

My favorite coffee drink. From here I found an interesting bit of information on it:
Caffe Americano - A more intense cup of brewed coffee made with equal parts espresso and hot water. There is speculation that the name came from American soldiers in occupied Italy during World War II who would ask for their coffees to be watered down to more closely resemble what they considered coffee.
source: rappahannockcoffee

Posted by clappstar at 04:02 PM

Audi Driving Machine

My sister sells Audi driving machines. You can visit her at Barrier Audi in Bellevue, Washington and test drive anything from an Audi A4 3.0L Turbo 6-speed manual quattro to an Audi allroad quattro. You can expect some expert driving because she just got back from her second multi-day driver training course. This time the driver training was at Road Atlanta, the race track in Georgia which hosts the Audi-sponsored racing series Petit Le Mans.
She was there driving Audi autos to the edge. The track is the North American site for Audi's driver training school, the Panoz Racing School. It sounds like more fun and excitement than the most thrilling rollercoaster ride. They were driven at top speed on the edge around the course by professional drivers and then drove the course themselves in many different Audi models. Awesome. She brought back a t-shirt for Estella.

Posted by clappstar at 10:27 AM

December 05, 2002

Medicine Birthday

Happy 6 month birthday to our little baby girl Estella. She had a doctor visit today and was just so very happy and quite silly. She weighs 17lbs 8oz or so...she was moving around a bit while on the electric scale. She was probably wiggling because they made her strip down baby naked. At 25+ inches she is a very proportional baby.
Getting over her ear infections has been a breeze. One of the most interesting moments is feeding her the syrupy medicine. After two days, she began to recognize the bottle and would let out a satisfied sigh, happy to get to taste something so different than the gallons of milk and 7-10 feedings of rice cereal. She sits back in momma's arms, relaxes and tastes intently. She savors the medicine. It almost brings a smile to her face to be so privileged as to vary her rigid diet and taste this silly chemical flavor. Silly baby.

Posted by clappstar at 10:08 PM

December 02, 2002

Big Eyelashes, Baby

The littlest Clappstar is sick.

She has a double ear infection. Rest assured her grandpa caught it early and started her with medicine and she is getting better. This picture is great, so precious with those long eyelashes. A little bit of slimy stuff in the nose though.

Posted by clappstar at 08:43 PM | Comments (2)

Christmas Decorations

Robyn suprised me with a nice little Christmas tree when I arrived back from Portland with an incredibly generous gift from a good friend - a piano!!

Posted by clappstar at 09:52 AM | Comments (2)