we were trying for festive

It was supposed to be reindeer antlers. I think. Does she look like the devil?

doctor's visit

We had our two-month doctor's visit today. We have a big girl. Our "little" Naiya weighs 12 lbs. 3 oz. and is now 24 inches long. That puts her in the 90% range for weight and the 100% range for height (whatever that means). The doctor said that everything is coming along fine. She has the social smile going on, she tracks well with her eyes, has good reflexes and strong muscle tone in her abdomen (keep an eye out for the six-pack.) We thought she had a bruise above her bottom but it turns out it’s some kind of birth mark (which is great because it's been there for a month and we were starting to worry.) It might go away the doctor said. Not a big deal if it doesn't. Her head is getting a little flat on one side so the doctor also said to work on having her turn more toward her left. This means laying her in her crib in the direction opposite that which we normally do and generally "forcing" her to favor the side she usually doesn't. Other than that all is well with all of us. Naiya has slept as long as six hours during the night but generally does more like four. Last night was an anomaly. She woke up every hour from about 5:30 to 8:30 this morning. I think she had some bad gas.

you've gotta put yourself in the picture

Every now and again I hold the camera out with one hand and snap a few shots. You know, so one day she’ll remember that I was there.

doggy hat

I was the last of the six of us cousins on my father’s side to have a child. The upshot of this placement is that I got a lot of hand-me-down things. Most of it is pretty nice. Every once in a while though, we’d pull a really odd or an especially sparkly bit of clothing out of a bag and just laugh. We’d never put that on our daughter I’d giggle to myself. The doggy hat was one such item...until we put it on her head. Damn, that’s cute.

most of the day

Most of the time, of course, she looks just like this.

is it the hat?

My aunt Grete makes the most beautiful handmade things. This is one of three lovely blankets she sent. Actually, as you can see, it came with matching hat. I think Naiya Sophia is not so sure about the hat.

what, you're not already married?

In addition to all the other excitement in our lives, we've also been discussing our wedding plans for next year! Yes indeed, we are getting married!  (For those of you who wondered).  We've got a location in Camp Sherman on the beautiful Metolius River picked out for the ceremony and are looking at reserving cabins at the currently renovating, but still quite delightful Lake Creek Lodge.   Our idea is to have a quiet two or three day gathering that, in addition to the wedding itself, includes hikes, river and woods exploration and evenings around various fireplaces for our families and friends to get to know each other.  Naiya will be just about a year old and it will be Ryan's favorite time of year on my favorite river in Oregon.  I can't imagine a lovelier event.  I also can't imagine exactly how I'll get these tremendous milk-filled breasts into a wedding dress.   A year from now though this may be an entirely different body.  Stay tuned...