Merry Christmas

First of all, I owe everyone an apology for not updating this blog in more than a month. Christmas was complicated this year. Darcey's classes, my week of H1N1, shopping, work, home repair, and caring for Leah all kind of slowed us down. Frankly, I felt pretty lucky that we could put up the few decorations that we did.

Of course the best of those decorations was our Christmas tree. We keep it in our den every year and walking into that room is like walking into the holiday season. Darcey and I have always enjoyed sitting in there together and catching up on each others day. But this year, somebody else seemed to enjoy it more. Leah would run in there, sit in her rocking chair and look at the tree. She didn't mess with the presents underneath too much, although we quickly learned that bows were out this year. She also didn't mess with the tree too much except to pull off some of the toddler-friendly ornaments we strategically placed at her level.

Darcey and I were amazed at how well Leah did when it finally came time to open presents. Sure it was slow as she tore one tiny piece of wrapping paper off at a time, but she was very into finding out what was inside each package. And boy did Leah hit the mother lode. She got toys of all shapes and sizes, she got books, she got giant Legos, she got clothes, and she got more Elmo stuff than she knows what to do with. But I think the present that Darcey and I were most excited to give her was the one that will make the most noise off all of them. See her play with it in the video below.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

-Sefton

Working with a spoon

Leah has always been a great eater. I can think of only a handful of times that I thought she might not take another bite at a meal. The problem with her eating times though is that Darcey and I can rarely be productive because we are usually active participants in the meal.

I know that it sounds odd that we would try to do other things while Leah eats dinner, but with my work schedule and Darcey's classes, we have very little time to do those normal family activities like catching up with each other, making dinner, eating, and whatever else "normal" families do in the evenings.

So at a recent dinner I gave Leah the spoon in an effort to reclaim some of those few precious moments at the end of the day. Now the problem with most of the food toddlers eat is that they are soupy, runny, drippy, messy, saucy…you name it. This of course led to hilarious results.

They were also surprisingly productive. Check it out.

-Sefton

Halloween

Leah's first Halloween outing was a blast. Darcey and I started thinking about what costume to get months ago and decided we wanted something that Leah could wear to stay warm in case the furnace went out again this year. When we found this dinosaur outfit we knew we had struck gold.

We put Leah in her wagon and started off through the neighborhood to show her off to our friends. We met up with a group of neighbors walking with six or seven other kids dressed in as princesses, a chicken, a farmer and even a spider. All of the adults had a great time watching our kids run up and down driveways and looking at the costumes of passing children. We crossed paths with other neighbors and stopped by a couple of Halloween parties before heading home for the night.

Despite the excitement of the night Leah went to bed fairly easily. It was well after her bedtime and she of course was not on a sugar rush from eating handfuls of candy. I guess next year will be a different story all together and unfortunately for me, it will be my turn to put her to bed.

-Sefton

Walking around

I knew that all the hard work in the foyer and hallway would pay off sooner rather than later. Leah has a wonderfully straight and mostly level area to walk up and down in. And she does walk.

Her balance is still not perfect but she has picked up the pace quite a bit recently. She enjoys mobility in such a way that make me realize that I take it for granted. Her world is always expanding and we have (mostly) enjoyed the challenge of keeping an eye on her as she explores it.

Enjoy the video.

-Sefton

Happy Autumn

Just a quick photo from a recent trip to our favorite orchard for ice cream. Leah still likes getting a taste from our cones and tried peach and pumpkin this time.

Happy Autumn everyone.

-Sefton

Reading

Darcey and I have tried to prioritize reading books to Leah since she was born and have had limited success until just recently. Leah was just too squirmy or fussy to sit in our laps and concentrate on a book. We actually started reading to her after she was in her crib for the night because it was the only way we could get a captive audience.

But something has happened over the last couple of weeks where Leah now wants to be read to. She brings books over and sits in down either in my lap or directly in front of me while I read. She seems to have two favorite books. One is about Elmo and one is about a duck. She doesn't really want to have anything to do with any of the 30 or so other books that are on her bookshelf which means I now have Elmo and the duck memorized.

Like just about every other development, a switch seems to have been turned on somewhere inside of her. She has a new focus and concentration which has also carried over to her understanding of words. Although she still isn't saying anything but "uh oh", she knows the words ball and duck as well as Daisy, Kitty, Mommy and Daddy. I see her learn new things whenever we have playtime together like how to make her favorite toys play music. She even laughs at a game she made up where she crawls to a corner of her bedroom and waits for us to ask her why she is over there. It's the funniest thing she knows and she does it almost everyday.

I never knew a child her age had so much mental depth and am always excited to see what she will learn next.

-Sefton

One small step for Leah...

It was a giant leap for the Ipocks. Leah finally took her first steps
over the weekend and it was beautiful. She had been kind of crab
walking around here last week with her palms and soles of her feet on
the ground which was a pretty funny sight. She has also figured out,
almost overnight, how to remain steady when she stands.

I can't describe how thrilled I am to be able to watch the evolution of her
development. The first post I made on this blog was when she rolled
over on her own. That seems like eons ago. Last night I had a flash
forward to Leah doing one of those ungraceful toddler runs down our
hallway and that seems like it is so far away.

I know I'm wrong about that.

-Sefton

Party Time

Leah's first birthday party was a huge success. All of her grandparents were in attendance, and several friends and neighbors came to the celebration as well. We had good food, good drinks and a great time.

I'd like to thank John for making the most delicious and beautiful cakes ever. Leah's cake was especially fantastic. It was truly the best cake a one-year-old ever had. Thanks also to Vicki and Lloyd who drove 34 hours roundtrip to spend 44 hours with their granddaughter. And thanks to everyone else who attended. You were all invited because you are part of our family and we wanted the party to be as much about you as it was about Leah.

And finally thanks to my wonderful wife Darcey who always knows how to take care of the people she loves. We are a family because of everything she does and all of the sacrifices that she makes.

I look forward to another wonderful year.

-Sefton

One Year

Today is Leah's birthday and as hard as it is for me to believe that it has been one full year since we were in the hospital with absolutely no idea of how drastically our lives were about to change, I can't help but realize how quickly the time has gone and how impossible it was to grab hold of the small moments as they slipped through my hands like water.

I don't think that 365 days have ever gone by quicker than they just did. I look through the pictures of our family from the last year and I still feel like it was yesterday that she was born. I remember lying next to Darcey in the hospital bed as she labored through the night. I remember how blue the sky was at dawn and how round wispy Autumn clouds hung so low to the ground that you wouldn't think they cleared the treeline outside of our window. I remember the first time I held her and tried to comfort her crying, and the only song I could think to sing her was the UNC alma mater. I hadn't sung it in years.

One year ago I became the proudest dad in the world and didn't give a thought to day care or formula or diapers. I could only focus on this little person who is half of me and half of the love of my life. This little pink squirmy thing with ten fingers and ten toes, who had no protection from the world, was just handed over to me.

It was the most empowering and humbling experience of my life.

Thanks to everyone who helped us through this first year. Whether it was a kind word or hand-me-down clothes or a few hours of babysitting thank you. None of you will ever know how lucky we consider ourselves to have this love and support around us. We truly could not have done this without you and we have no idea how to pay you back for everything. Leah is as much yours as she is ours.

-Sefton

Walking with help

Leah has been pulling up and walking along the edges of every piece of furniture in the house and with her new mobility, Darcey and I have had to make a few changes to the house. We've taken the surround-sound speakers off of their stands, we removed a small coffee table from the living room and we've attached two bookcases to the wall.

It's been hard keeping an eye on her as her reach has expanded but it's interesting to see which objects catch her fancy. She enjoys throwing pillows (and everything else for that matter) on the ground. She continually goes after a collection of green gardening books and pushes every button on the entertainment center that she sees.

Leah's new teacher at daycare says that she will be the next child in the class to walk and Darcey and I have both seen her take brave unassisted steps that ended with her falling on her face. But she never cries after failing and that is all we can ask for.

Well that and somewhere to put all of our nice fragile stuff for the next three years.

-Sefton

Dinner time

Sorry for the lack of updates recently but we've been busy around
here. Life has started to show signs of having some sort of routine
that is mainly centered on waking up and going to bed early.

But part of that routine also includes family dinner time. It doesn't
happen every night, but we like to sit down together and eat. We have
also started trying to let Leah eat what we are eating so she can get
used to the taste of our foods.

Well tonight was eggplant parmesan night and we cut a small serving
into bitesized pieces and let her go to town. Here are two quick things
I learned from the experience: Leah likes eggplant parmesan, and
sometimes it is OK to reschedule bath night.

It just seemed like the easiest way to clean up.

-Sefton

I Scream, You Scream, Leah Definitely Screams

We are blessed to have two wonderful places to get ice cream within a 20 minute drive from our home. One is at Clemson's student center where they sell ice cream created by students in the school's dairy department. It's fantastic. The other is the Callaham Orchard which has a petting zoo, fresh produce and delicious ice cream to be enjoyed on a rocking chair on the front porch.

Well Leah didn't get to sit in a rocking chair, but she did enjoy her first taste of ice cream over the weekend. In fact she enjoyed the taste so much, that she went berserk when she could no longer taste it.

Unfortunately for Darcey, Leah ate a lot of her scoops of peach and strawberry. In my defense for not sharing, I tried to argue against giving Leah any ice cream at all. I mean, knowing how much her parents love the stuff, I thought it would be best to keep her from having ice cream until she could get a job and buy her own.

I think my plan would have been a good way to go. Judge for yourselves.

-Sefton



See more at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3346&id=100000097592547

First Swim

We bought the swimsuit last month. We got the pool a little bit later.
We finally got to put all of the elements together today.

Awesome.

-Sefton

Wooing Leah

Have you ever seen two grown men battle over a baby's attention? It's pretty funny.

While in Wisconsin recently, Leah met her great-uncle Randy who she took to immediately. Grampa Dallmann was a little hurt by this because she is still a little unsure of him. So in an absolutely adult way, they both got on the ground and shook rattles in Leah's face in the hopes that they could win a smile or even a hug from Leah.

It was one of those golden moments that I will never forget.

Just like I will never forget Randy's promise to buy Leah a pony and pay her college tuition.

-Sefton

Look at those chompers

Leah's teeth have been coming in over the last few weeks. So far we're up to two and half. That's right. I count the one coming in as a half-tooth because it breaks through the gum and then disappears every couple of days.

The teeth-cutting symptoms are pretty minimal. She drools. She fusses. That's about it. I know that a lot of babies get ear infections and even need to chew on rubbery chewy things, but she has just gotten over whatever discomfort she has gone through.

What can I say? Leah's a tough girl. And like most of her good attributes, I credit her Mommy. She's rarely sick, and when she is, it just doesn't bother her. I know that she doesn't get that from me. When I'm sick, I'm bothered.

Very bothered.

-Sefton

Cousins

Leah made a few new friends over the weekend. She and I went to Charlotte for a visit at Dad and Barbara's and made the trip especially so she could meet her Aunt Emily and her three daughters Olivia, Abby and Lily who were in town from Arizona.

The girls got along so well and I've never seen Leah play so hard. Jason's daughter Addison joined us later and all of a sudden there were five girls between the ages of 9 months old and 9 years old. It was so good to see them all play together and I really enjoyed watching how differently Olivia (the oldest), Abby (the middle child) and Lily played with Leah. Lily mainly wanted to touch Leah, especially around the head and shoulders. Abby really enjoyed holding Leah and was good about using the toys to play with her. And Olivia did a great job caring for Leah. She held her sippy cup for her to drink.

It was also nice to catch up with Emily although I felt I needed to keep an eye on her so that she wouldn't take Leah back to Arizona with her. She has a lot of experience parenting because of her three girls and I enjoyed watching her with them. She is quite a referee, waitress, teacher and friend to them. I don't know if I would have the strength to do what she does.

Now, it is important to note that Leah also has two boy cousins named Auden and Logan who live in Bellingham, Washington. I look forward to the day when she gets to meet them and I hope that the day comes where Leah and all of her cousins can get together for a day. We could have used some boys there Saturday to even things out a bit.

-Sefton

ps-Happy belated Father's Day to all the dads out there. My first one was great. I got to take a nap and cook wings on the grill.

Who's That?

Leah's babbling has increased in the past couple of weeks and it has been fun to listen to her add sounds. A lot of what she says are things like "bah!" or "da!". The first time she said "da! da!" Darcey asked if that was her first word. As proud as I would be to be her first word, I told Darcey I didn't think it counted because there wasn't any intent. And once Leah even said "mah! mah!" which threw me. I've only heard her make the 'm' sound that one time.

We have been saying "Mommy, Daddy and Daisy" over and over to her and every now and then we throw in "Kitty" for good measure. I have also tried to say things to her to help her identify whatever she happens to be looking at so there have been long strings of disjointed words spoken while dinner is being made or while breakfast is being served. It would go something like "spoon red soft book kitty remote foot toes water…"

The picture posted here is of Darcey working with Leah on what I kind of think of as the Who's-That?-Daddy drill. I think Leah may be just starting to put me and "Daddy" together as the same thing which gives me hope that I could still be her first word.

-Sefton

Hungry Mungry

Leah likes eating. She likes it so much that she has begun to feed herself. We can put small pieces of French toast or a few Gerber banana-flavored puffy things in front of her and she knows what to do with them.

When she started feeding herself, she would grab the food with the left hand and use the right hand to guide the left to her mouth. I'd say she successfully put the food in her mouth about 30-percent of the time. Now she's starting to use her right hand to grab the food and put it in her mouth. She is also getting the food in her mouth much more often which makes Daisy a little confused since there is less food ending up on the floor.

Don't worry. She still gets her fill. For now.

-Sefton

The new hallway

After about a week of work, the new floor in the hallway and foyer are down. It was a bit harder than I had anticipated because there were so many tight spaces to work in. I also went very slow in the first few rows to make sure that the boards were straight. You can imagine that 1/4-inch mistake at one end of the hall would make the boards crooked by a couple of feet at the other end.

I am happy to report that the boards are straight. I never thought I would be able to do this by myself. I shouldn't say by myself because Darcey helped immensely by taking a morning off from work to help me along. What I mean is without the help of my mentor Carl. He has taught me everything I know about home repair, and, more importantly, has made me confident that I can get it done. He and I laid the first new floor in the house together. He helped me put the first few rows down in the nursery and then let me do the rest. This time he showed up halfway through to see if I needed help. I was happy to tell him no.

But this isn't a blog about me. It's about Leah and me. So here is where she comes in. This new stretch of flat space is exactly what she needs right now. She can crawl up and down the hallway all day if we let her. As you can see from the video below, she has quite a bit of room. You'll notice that the baseboards aren't in yet. I hope to get that done today. Also, note the point in the video where the camera is resting on the floor. That is about the area where the hole in the hallway used to be. You know, the one that every one of you has stepped in at some point. It's gone now.

Enjoy the show, and I can't wait for all of you to walk on the new floors.

-Sefton

There She Goes

Leah is now all over the place. She's been crawling for about a week and we're trying to keep her out of trouble since we haven't had time to babyproof anything.

I'm currently working on a project that I think will ease our chasing after her. I'm making her a runway, or I guess it would be a crawlway.

More to come.

-Sefton

Fun Photo

I haven't had much time to update the blog recently so I just wanted to put up a fun photo for you all to enjoy.

Hope everyone is well.

-Sefton

Ba-Ba-Ba-Babbling

Today, without any warning, Leah just started babbling. We had all just gotten home and Leah was on her changing table when she began making "ba ba ba" sounds. Darcey and I shared an alarmed look and then started laughing. We have been waiting for this for a while. She hasn't really progressed in her speech since she was in the hospital in January and we were starting to get a little concerned.

The talking lasted for a few minutes and Leah alternated between "ba ba ba" and "da da da" while throwing in a few motorboat sounds for good measure. She also cried a little bit from what I think is some discomfort from her first tooth breaking through her gum today.

More on that in another post.

The video below is a recording of her babbling set to a few recent pictures. I put a digital recording device over her changing table some time ago so Darcey could capture her singing, which is a sound we both love. It was hard for us to stay quiet while we recorded her today because we were laughing so hard and trying to encourage her to keep "ba ba ba-ing".

Enjoy.

-Sefton

Almost Crawling

Darcey and I have been expecting it to happen at any moment. We're afraid to leave the room when the other one is with Leah because we might miss it. We keep expecting the ladies at day care to let us know it happened when we pick her up. We keep looking around our house with the ugly carpet and exposed electrical outlets and worry about when it actually happens.

Yes, Leah is almost crawling. Almost.

It can get a little frustrating because we can see she is just a knee moving forward two inches from scooting forward on all fours. She can go backwards all day. She can even turn in circles. She just can't go forward.

I'm sure it will happen soon, it kind of has to. I just hope I'm not out of the room when it happens.

Enjoy the video.

-Sefton

Thoughts on Pajamas

Leah is getting big.

In fact she is so big that she must now wear two-piece pajamas to bed. For some reason, this seems like a big milestone to Darcey and me.

We went shopping for clothes this weekend and pajamas were at the top of our list. Most of you know about our house's "insulation problem" which is almost as bad in the summer as it is in winter. The house just gets hot. The new windows in our bedrooms are nice and the ceiling fans are great, but it's still a bit warm for sleeping so we wanted to get some light-weight sleepwear.

I guess they still make footie pajamas for children her size, but they are just hard to find. She's 8-months-old (yesterday) and is wearing clothes for 12-month-olds. So as we browsed the children's section of Target, we had to kind of guess where she is now and where she will be by the end of the summer. She weighs about 22-lbs which I assume will plateau a bit once she starts crawling, but it's just hard to gauge how big she we will be in three months.

I really can't believe how quickly Leah has grown and how quickly the last eight months have gone by. I mean she's almost crawling which means she's almost walking, talking, talking back, driving, graduating, getting married…

I guess I shouldn't put so much weight on pajamas, but being as how this family spends a lot of time lounging, it's kind of hard not to.

-Sefton

Home Alone

Leah and I spent the last three nights home alone because Darcey had class in Columbia on Saturday morning and then she went to Myrtle Beach for a work conference. It was the first time either of us were solely responsible for Leah.

I don't know how single parents do this.

I don't even know how Darcey does this with me helping.

Don't get me wrong, I never felt stressed or put out by the situation, I just couldn't seem to find any time for myself. After Leah would go down at night I would spend the next couple of hours cooking and cleaning. I folded laundry constantly. I pureed fruits and vegetables for baby food. I even planned out meals for the week, made a list of groceries, and went to the store.

And when I could finally put my feet up and relax, I'd fall asleep. And it was good sleep too.

But then I'd just wake up and start the whole day over again with the never-ending beat of reminders rattling through my head. It was like watching the crawl on the bottom of the screen on CNN.

change the diaper. don't forget the medication. where is her pacifier. warm the bottle but don't let her see it. did i pack her lunch. does she need to wear a sweater or is it warm enough outside. do i need to wear a sweater. when did she eat. when did she nap. when did she poop…

But we've made it through the weekend and Darcey will be home tonight. I know they'll be happy to see each other and that I'll be happy to take a shower without listening for shrieks from down the hall.

Easter

Leah's first Easter was a special day for all of us. She spent the whole weekend with Grandma and Grandpa who were visiting from Wisconsin. Well, she didn't get to spend ALL weekend with Grandpa because he and I went to The Masters on Saturday. You can tell by Lloyd's hat.

I think the Easter Bunny may have been a bit confused because she ended up with three Easter baskets on Sunday morning. She got a lot of toys and clothes, including the hat she is wearing in the picture, although one pair of northern Easter Bunnies decided to fill her basket with candy.

And on Sunday afternoon Leah attended her first Easter egg hunt in a neighbor's yard. Because she is not quite mobile yet, she was forced to sit this one out but took in all of the scenery including a wall of azaleas.

We all had a big time and Darcey and I are particularly thankful for the time Lloyd and Vicki got to spend with their granddaughter. By this time next week she will have seen all of her grandparents in a 14-day span.

You can't put that kind of present in a basket.

-Sefton

The Two Leahs

Last week we finally did something we have been trying to get done for a long while. Darcey, Leah and I packed up and headed for eastern North Carolina for a short vacation that we mainly took to introduce Leah to her namesake. My grandmother Anna Leah Ipock, or Oma, cooked lunch and invited several family members over for the afternoon. We had a great time and the two Leahs were happy to meet each other. Leah performed all of the tricks she has learned so far and couldn't have been happier as the center of attention. As we were leaving we passed Leah around to say goodbye and as Oma said bid farewell Leah grabbed her face and kissed her cheek. It was wonderful.

The trip also served as a battery recharge for Darcey and me. I think Darcey took as many naps as Leah did. Dad and Barbara were great hosts and actually overfed us. One night we gorged ourselves on oysters and shrimp. They also babysat Leah and Daisy one night so Darcey and I could go out for (gasp) a dinner out.

Although the weather was a bit chilly and the wind was gusty, we did sit outside a bit and looked out over Bogue Sound. This little spot of the world is very special to my family. Dad and Barbara bought a little place down there after retiring and have been very generous with it. I hope that as Leah grows older she will find the spot as beautiful and peaceful as all of the other Ipocks that I know.

Heavy Sleeper

Leah has turned into a pretty heavy sleeper. She sleeps through pretty much everything including Daisy barking, WallE (our roomba vacuum cleaner) roaming around the house, the opening and closing of her dresser drawers as we put away her clean clothes and even the sound of me cheering for the Tar Heels during the NCAA Tournament.

She has even started sleeping through the night pretty regularly although she's been waking up a bit too early lately. I've gotten better about getting up in the morning, but 6 a.m. is still practically the middle of the night.

-Sefton

Superwoman

So it's been a while since I updated this blog and I can only tell you that I was sick the last week and the illness kept me in bed for the better part of my two days off. There was a time in my life where 48 hours in bed with a television and an assortment of ice cream treats would have been about the best thing I could think of. But these days it's hard for me to be unproductive, especially when I see all that Darcey does on her "days off".

When I come home from work on the weekend the house is clean, the laundry fairy has come, the bed is made, the week's meals have been planned and the groceries have been bought. Leah is happy, fed, bathed and sometimes already put down for the night. Darcey usually finds time to do schoolwork too.

I've been amazed with everything that she gets done and often wondered how she does it all. Then I came home for lunch today and peeked behind the curtain.

Apparently Leah is not as much of a burden when it comes to all of the housework as I had thought. In fact, Darcey has apparently developed a system to include her in some of the chores. Lets just hope that Leah has as much fun cleaning when she is a teenager as she does now.

-Sefton

Six Months Old

Leah turned six months old at the end of February and Darcey and I decided we needed to mark the occasion by getting a good picture of her at this stage of her life. It took a while to find the time to turn the den into a studio, but we finally got the chance on Sunday morning. We had a great time and got some great photos as well. The image above is my favorite, but watch your mailboxes because we will be sending out prints of a different one later this week.

I put together a short video of the shoot for everyone to enjoy as well. This is obviously a two-person job and I think Darcey got the more difficult task: keeping Leah happy and upright.

Hope you all enjoy it.

-Sefton

Well Hello There

I walked in to Leah's room the other morning and was surprised to see her looking at me over the top of the crib.

I was sure that she had learned to sit up on her own and yelled for Darcey to come and see. It turns out my excitement was a little premature. It turns out that Leah has gotten strong enough to lift her upper body while lying on her belly.

While this means that she hasn't quite learned how to get from her back to her butt, she has come just a little bit closer to learning how to crawl.

That's good enough for me.

-Sefton

Snow Day

Last night we got several inches of snow from a storm that stretched from Alabama to Virginia. Not only is it rare to get snow in the South, it is rare to get snow in the South in March. The storm was also unique in that it included a thunderstorm.

You can imagine the chaos. Power was out all over the area. The newspaper lost power for a few hours, but we still got a paper out this morning. We also lost power at home and had a cold night in our drafty house.

After the lights went out, Darcey and I talked about finding a friend who still had power that wouldn't mind us crashing for the night. I was pretty confident that the power would be back on in a couple of hours. Needless to say, I was wrong.

Sometime around 3 a.m. the temperature inside was in the 50's. We put Leah in bed with us to keep her warm, but she was a little congested and her breathing kept us awake. We realized that she didn't have any problems breathing when she was sitting up so she and I slept in my chair in the living room so Darcey could get some sleep. At about 6 a.m. I was awakened by the television after our power was restored.

Leah and I later woke up together as the sun was rising outside of the living room window. All of the trees and branches were bent under the weight of the snow and the everything was just white. I looked down at Leah and as she smiled at me I told her that we were going to go have a little fun.

The picture above is from our early morning walk in the snow together. It was Leah's first snow, but surely not her last. We were out there in the clothes we had slept in to try to keep warm overnight. That's right, Leah slept in her bear outfit with the hood up.

Afterwords, Leah and I had a snow day together. There was no point in her going to school even if it was open because I had the day off. She napped almost all morning and I got to take a nap later in the afternoon. By the end of the day, most of the snow had melted and our house was warm again. Hopefully Leah and I will both be able to sleep through the night in our own beds tonight.

-Sefton

Interaction!

Leah has begun reaching for and playing with things. You can see that her highchair is covered with brightly-colored fuzzy things and shiny-spinny whatzits.

She has also started reaching for books as we read to her. Darcey says it's like she is trying to turn the page.

And for the first time in quite a while Darcey and I had the opportunity to visit Keefe and Ryan Harrison who live down the street. We have often gotten together for dinner or drinks since we moved in to our house, but haven't really had the chance since Leah was born. The Harrisons have two children; Etta is 3 and Miles is 1. Leah couldn't take her eyes off of Etta who, in typical 3-year-old fashion, was all over the place telling everyone about her toys and asking for people to come play games with her. And at one point, Leah and Miles sat on Keefe's lap and laughed at each other.

Darcey and I realized that we need to give Leah more stimulation, but I don't think we're sure quite how. I mean we have all of these brightly-colored fuzzy things and shiny-spinny whatzits, and Leah often plays with them while watching the History Channel (ask her about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln). How much more stimulation can you get?

Those are feet…

I've noticed more and more how aware of the world Leah is becoming. She responds to faces she recognizes and places she is familiar with. I got to drop her off at daycare today and she was excited to be put in her favorite little plaything and saw me from across the room as I was leaving and started laughing.

For so long she was just this squirmy pink thing that didn't do too much, but now she has become a little person who is soaking up information.

She has little jokes that she laughs at every time they happen. One example is when she is getting dressed or undressed. She always giggles as her clothes are pulled across her face. She has also become a bit ticklish and will belly-laugh if you get her going.

We're still waiting for her to recognize some things you would think she would already have noticed like her feet, but we're in no rush. This is an amazing time and why would we wish it away?

-Sefton

Playtime!

Saturday and Sunday mornings are just about the best part of my week. These are the days where I let Darcey sleep in and I wake up with Leah. Darcey deserves the sleep and I deserve the time with Leah.

Lately Leah's morning have started around 7 a.m. which, as most of you know, is not my best time. I've always been a late sleeper but have gotten to a point where I'm getting up earlier and earlier. Call it being an adult, I guess.

Anyway, Leah and I get to play together and I often find out that she has advanced beyond what she was capable of the week before. Mornings are also the time when she is the most smiley and absolutely irresistible.

I hope that you all enjoy this short video of her playing this past Saturday. I know I enjoyed making it.

-Sefton

A new friend

It finally happened. This weekend Leah and Daisy discovered each other. Daisy has been aware of Leah since we brought her home, but I think she was more of something to kind of sniff at every now and then.

On Saturday, Daisy came over to smell Leah while I was holding her and brought her muzzle right up to Leah's face. Leah just started laughing. At another point that day Daisy was sitting in the doorway and Leah stopped nursing and just watched her.

I think Daisy has started acting differently towards Leah as well. She's always been protective of Leah by making sure that she is not left alone with "a stranger". She usually sleeps through late-night crying fits, but on Saturday night she came into the nursery while I was rocking Leah back to sleep and curled up on the floor by the crib. She has come in before but usually looks at me with a face that says "I really need to go outside". This time she just went to sleep. I actually had to call her to come back to our bedroom.

The whole experience really makes me breathe a sigh of relief. Everyone who has ever met Daisy knows that she is full of energy and Darcey and I actually worried about her rough-housing with a baby. I think they will be good sisters together and it is just so cool to witness the birth of a new friendship.

Now we just need to get the cat on board.

-Sefton

There must be a black hole around here…

Where are all of Leah's pacifiers?

At some point we had a couple of dozen of those things laying around but I'd guess we have like three left. We lose them in the car. We lose them in the diaper bag. We even lose them when she's sitting right in front of us.

And tonight, we lost one on our walk. I swear she had it while crossing the street and then I looked down 100 feet later and it was gone. Darcey even went back to look for it but couldn't find it.

The way things are going, we're going to have to cash in Leah's college fund about 18 years early to buy enough pacifiers to get us through the first year.

So if you see any of our lost Nuks please send them back so she can go to college.

Thanks.

-Sefton

I had two quick thoughts today that I wanted to get posted.

The first is that today was the first day since Monday, Jan. 12, that I haven't taken care of Leah from morning to evening. We kept her out of daycare that day and I stayed home with her. We went to the hospital that night and I ended up working half-days the following week. It was strange to not have her with me this morning, but it was nice to actually have my hands free to do some light home repair. I miss doing the work around here and part of me looks forward to her being able to help with the work by handing me tools or whatever else will keep her occupied while I'm productive.

The other thought I had came today around noon. Regardless of what anyone thinks about his politics, abilities or character, the inauguration of Barack Obama will make it so that all the children of Leah's generation will never know a world where the highest office of this nation was always held by a wealthy, middle-to-late-aged white male. His confirmation to the office of president reaffirms my belief that in this country, if you work hard enough, you can accomplish any dream you have. I just hope that she will one day understand what this day meant and that I can accurately describe these feelings of hope and joy to help her learn that lesson.

-Sefton

Finally

So I've had the idea for this blog since sometime around the day Leah was born. I thought it would be a neat way to chronicle my experiences raising a daughter while at the same time providing friends and family a way to follow her growth and development.

I finally had an excuse to actually start the project today and you will see the reason in the post below. I hope to keep up with this and post at least once a week so you all will have to bookmark the page and check back regularly.

I hope you enjoy it.

-Sefton

Leah has a new trick

Leah has been working on this new move for a while now, but she finally figured it out today. I guess it's the first step towards taking her first step…so to speak.

I hope you enjoy watching!

-Sefton