Leaf Angels

This is a shot of my niece making a fine leaf angel (photo by her mom). It also represents how I felt after Thanksgiving dinner. Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend!

By the way, I posted a few new video clips of Baby Kate this weekend, but because I had originally uploaded the video a week ago, the post appears below on Saturday, November 17. Check out the entry "Kate in Action" to see, well . . . Kate in Action!

VICTORY!!!

BYU 17, Utah 10

Max Hall, Harvey Unga and Austin Collie lead the Cougs past the Utes and to the MWC championship once again!

I think Devoted Wife is taking it better than I would be had the Cougars lost.

Let's see how the BYU Men's bball team fares tonight against #1 North Carolina . . .

Thanksgiving Day

Happy Turkey Day to all of you who, like me, indulged in two full days of consuming mass amounts of calories (I had turkey sandwiches for all three meals yesterday). Props to Devoted Wife's mother Mary, who sets a mean table and who cooked an absolutely delicious turkey on Thanksgiving. Who would ever have known that her previous attempts have turned out either blackened or as dry as sand (as reported by Devoted Wife and her siblings)? The key this year was apparently the "brined" turkey. Based on the results, I'd say that those sea turkeys are far more delicious than their land-living brethren.

I could have taken a few pics of the delicious turkey (or even the delicious andouille-sausage- and-cornbread stuffing made by yours truly), but it turns out that once I got near the Thanksgiving spread my hands started shaking too much to hold the camera. You'll have to content yourselves with a few pics of Baby Kate from Thursday:

Apparently Grandpa Stan holds no grudges against Baby Kate for what she did to him last week (see below).

As for today, well, I have only one thing on my agenda, and its not Christmas shopping at Macy's:


This is one game where I put away all notions of sportsmanship. The best thing about this game is that when the Cougars win, I also get to see the Utes lose! And while Devoted Wife has learned to cheer for BYU when watching games with me during the rest of the year, when it comes to the BYU-Utah game her true allegiances come out (and I'm not talking about Southern Utah University). She has a master's degree from the "U" and will be occupying the seat on the couch next to me, proudly cheering loudly for those stinkin' Yewts! At least she doesn't know the "Utah Man" song . . .

COUGARS BY FIVE!!!

The Two Sides of Kate

Our little Kate has two different sides.

One side is the model of sugar and spice and everything nice. Here are a couple of recent photos of her demonstrating her angelic side.

But sometimes, another side of her takes control, and this other side is neither cute nor angelic. In fact, it can be so demonic that we go to great lengths to keep it hidden from view.

The other day, Grandma and Grandpa came by to see Baby Kate and offered to watch her for a while so Devoted Wife and I could run a few errands. Grandpa was particularly excited to spend some time with Baby Kate, as he hadn't had many opportunities to see and hold her yet.

We were just about to walk out the door when we heard a series of sounds that started with Kate grunting and ended with a splatter on the floor. There may have been an expletive or two from me and/or Devoted Wife mixed in there somewhere as well. This was Baby Kate's "other side" exerting itself once again.

Somehow she managed to get her mess all over Grandpa Stan without getting any on her own clothes -- she apparently waited until she was wearing an outfit that has a separate top and bottom.

That's why we usually keep this "other side" securely covered with a diaper. But sometimes Kate takes advantage of her advanced knowledge of geometry and angles and sneaks one past us.

For the record, I had to be told multiple times by Devoted Wife to get the camera when this happened. I admit it, I froze, not being sure that this was something I really wanted to memorialize. But I'm sure Kate will love these photos one day, right?

Welcome Taylor and Lucy's Baby Boy! Naming Contest Here!

Congratulations to Taylor and Lucy, who welcomed a new addition to the family on Saturday evening:

Lucy and Baby Boy B

Proud Big Brothers Logan and Preston

The little guy weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and was 20.5 in long. That's the same length as Baby Kate but 13 ounces heavier. Must be the good midwestern food in Indiana . . .

Taylor and Lucy are still discussing names for the new guy, but I thought I'd solicit suggestions for them. Their two other boys are named Logan and Preston. Post a comment if you can identify the trend they've already started in the naming of their children and if you have any suggestions for their new arrival's name that would continue the trend.

Kate in Action

Here are a couple of video clips of Baby Kate -- you'll notice that the only clips I post are about 30 seconds, which is the maximum length video clip that our digital camera will record. Maybe its time for a video camera, you say? Given the speed with which I make decisions when it comes to buying technology items, we should be getting our camcorder about the time Kate completes her doctorate. And that's only because I started reading online reviews before she was born.

You'd think from the first clip that she has no neck muscles:

Looks like we'll have to increase the intensity of her neck workouts. I also met a guy at the gym who says he can get me some stuff that will really help her increase her muscle mass. The only hard part will be getting the stuff into Devoted Wife's food unnoticed . . .

As I may have mentioned, Kate gets a case of the hiccups at least a couple of times a day. Devoted Wife says this pattern began before Kate was born, as she could feel her hiccuping while still in the womb (I hate the word "womb" but uterus sounds so clinical). Here's a clip of her while afflicted:

The clips aren't the greatest resolution, but I do what I can with the equipment I have. Maybe I'll have to accelerate the video camera purchase and try to get one before Kate's senior prom . . .

Jerusalem, City of Peace

I was looking through some old photos tonight, searching for a photo of a friend who was part of the same university group studying abroad in Jerusalem years ago, and I came upon what are probably my favorite two photos of children that I took while there.

The photo of the little boy was taken outside a synagogue in Me'a Shearim, the Haredi section of west Jerusalem, on the night of Simchat Torah. I took the photo of the little Palestinian girl near a small shop where our tour bus stopped somewhere north of Jerusalem. While the resolution of the photos isn't great (I shot them with film, and scanned them in on relatively low quality), I really like the looks on the children's faces.

Since I took these in 1994, I'm assuming that these children are in their late teens now. There's no way of knowing if they are still living in or near Jerusalem or how they would feel about one another if they happened to meet one day. But I like to hope that they would be friends.

Family Resemblance?

When looking through some of my old baby photos last night, I thought I saw for the first time some family resemblance between me and little Baby Kate. "Well," you might say, "you obviously looked for photos that most resembled one another." To that suggestion I say, "Of COURSE I did! Would it make sense to post photos that DIDN'T make us look like we're related?" Particularly after the title of this post? Sheesh!

See, we're both bald, we both have our eyes closed, we both sleep with our mouths slighty open . . . the similarities are endless!

Anyway, I thought there was more than a passing resemblance. But I'm interested in getting some impartial opinions. Let me know if you think the similarities are real, or really just because both are new babies.

Someone left a perfectly good baby on the beach!

Last week, I decided that Baby Kate needed to broaden her horizons and get out of the house and have an adventure. So I thought she might enjoy a trip to the beach!

Devoted Wife says she doesn't remember it quite like that; she thinks I asked her if she minded if I drove up north and went fly fishing in the surf near the little coast town of Carpinteria, leaving her alone with a four week old baby, and she suggested that she and Baby Kate come along and we make a weekend of it.

Either way, I'd say I had a great idea!

After a long week in which Baby Kate refused to adhere to any schedule whatsoever, we were looking forward to getting out of the house for a couple of days. DW and Kate picked me up from work on Friday evening, and we drove north on Highway 101, past Ventura, to Carpinteria. DW had booked us a room in the local Best Western, which looked positively charming on the website. After checking in to our room (and feeding a screaming Baby Kate), we ventured to the restaurant across from the hotel for our first restaurant dinner with Baby Kate. The restaurant had local-caught fish and big steaks on the menu, and is one of those hometown type of places that was converted from a house to a restaurant and seems to have every member of the family working there ("Hey Grandma, could you get table 5 cleared already? And Uncle Ed, if you're going to sing to the customers while they eat, could you try something more contemporary than "Mairzy Doats?") . The hostess (probably Aunt Edna) gave us a sympathetic, knowing look when we walked in toting Kate's baby carrier, and seated us in what was probably once the back porch all by ourselves, most likely so that we wouldn't disturb the other diners if Kate decided that she'd had enough. But she was quiet the entire time, and we topped off a great meal with pieces of homemade pie -- rhubarb for me, blackberry for DW.

However, this turned out to only be the calm before the storm. After her 3 a.m. feeding, Kate reminded us why we had moved her out of our room a week or so before: she is an incredibly noisy sleeper. I don't think Devoted Wife or I got so much as 5-10 minutes of sleep between the time she finished her 3 a.m. feeding and when my alarm rang at 7 a.m. To make matters worse, the room's AC was on high and the hotel bed was as hard as a rock. When I threw my pillow against the wall in frustration at about 4:30 a.m. and started rummaging in the closet to see if I could find another blanket, Devoted Wife was convinced I was looking to see if I could fit the Pack 'n Play in the closet so we could have some peace and quiet. It was, to say the least, an experience.

After a quick breakfast on the run, DW dropped me off at the beach near Carpinteria where I met up with some other members of my company's Flyfishing Club -- this was our first club fishing trip. We had several guides who taught us the basics of casting flies into the surf.

The Angler

I soon learned that although I'd been fly fishing for years, casting a weighted fly on a weighted shooting-head line with a heavy rod into the ocean surf was very different than casting a tiny dry fly on a floating line to a trout in a small mountain stream. But it was great fun just being out there.

As far as you can tell, my technique is great!

For the most part, conditions weren't great (it couldn't have been our technique) and we only caught a few small surf perch. I'll post the photo of the single perch I caught when I get the photo from our guide -- you'll see that it was because it was my first surf-caught fish, and not because of the size, that I even bothered with a photo. But the dolphins and seals were active offshore and the weather was absolutely beautiful. Its November days like this that make we start thinking that the traffic, earthquakes, wildfires and general hubbub of Southern California are somewhat worth it.

DW and Baby Kate checked out the local scenery for a few hours and then met me at the beach. We may need to get sand paddle wheels for the stroller next time. Kate by this time was remarkably quiet and calm -- much calmer than she had been earlier that morning.

Posing in the sun (she was in the shade the rest of the time)

On our way back, we stopped for lunch in Ventura. We tried to get Baby Kate calmed down enough to attempt to repeat the previous night's success in a restaurant, but after repeatedly driving around the block (the car ride sometimes relaxes her), we gave up on fine dining options and grabbed burgers at one of my new favorite places: The Habit.

Double-Double? No, Double Char!!!

This was absolutely fine with me. For any of you out there who have not heard of The Habit Burger Grill, allow me to educate you. In the mid '70s, two brothers who had worked as teenagers at a Santa Barbara hamburger stand bought the stand and began selling "the Charburger." Since then, they've added two more locations in Santa Barbara County, seven in Ventura County (including one in Thousand Oaks!), seven in Los Angeles County and a couple more planned in Sacramento and Torrance. Great chargrilled burgers, excellent fries and onion rings, and amazing shakes. Frankly, I think its better than In-N-Out. I know, such a statement is sacrilege in Southern Cal: let the stoning (led by Devoted Wife) begin!

Anyway, we limped back into Thousand Oaks later that night with an entirely new appreciation for the challenges of traveling with a new baby. And by "appreciation" I mean "comprehension," not "gratitude." But all in all, it was a great trip, and next time out I think Baby Kate will try her hand at fishing with Dad.

What child labor laws?

While we're still in negotiations, we hope to soon be able to bring you a complete line of baby exercise videos. Here's a sneak preview:

Baby Kate is playing hardball and is seeking a cut of the internet, iTunes and cell phone download royalties. We're deadlocked over whether the clip above constitutes the "spoken line" required before I have to pay her SAG scale. We hope to wrap up negotiations before the Christmas shopping season gets into full swing.

Tonight we took a break from negotiations and all watched Baby Kate's first college football game on t.v., as BYU outlasted the Horned Frogs of TCU. Baby Kate learned a lot about the spread offense, and I learned that while Baby Kate is dining and has her mouth wrapped around Devoted Wife's sensitive parts, its a bad idea to loudly scream "COME ON! CATCH THE FOOTBALL!!!"

Friday Night Lights

There's something just so right about a great high school football game.

I just got Baby Kate back to sleep after an early morning feeding session which, frankly, wore both of us out. After five ounces of Devoted Wife's thawed-out "frozen gold" dispensed from two different kinds of bottles (winner: Munchkin Healthflow over Avent), a lot of screaming (mostly from her) and 45 minutes of patting her back while she lay on my chest, I finally got her to relax and go back to sleep. And during this process I watched a new t.v. show that became an instant favorite: Greatest HS Football Rivalries on Versus.

This is a documentary-style show produced by the guys at NFL Films, and each hour-long episode gives you the background of the featured high school rivalry, interview footage with coaches and players, and highlights of the rivalry game. This particular contest between the Jenks Trojans and the Union Redskins (both of Tulsa, OK) featured the two teams that have won, between themselves, the last 11 Oklahoma Class 6A prep high school state championships. This is serious high school ball, folks. After watching underdog Union come from behind to beat Jenks in an overtime contest that couldn't have been scripted better for a movie, I set my DVR to record all of the other episodes. And I thought, "How cool would it be to have your greatest high school victory narrated by the NFL Films guy?" That's a highlight film your kids would get sick of seeing, for sure.

I've been a fan of high school football since before I was in high school. I grew up idolizing the older guys in our neighborhood who played for the local high school (although the only "heroics" from them I really remember include one swinging his helmet, weapon-like, by the face mask in a post-game brawl and another faking a knee injury to get a time-out in a close game). In junior high I remember reading in High School Sports magazine (yes, there is such a publication) about the Permian Panthers from Permian, Texas, and when the book Friday Night Lights was written about that town's infatuation with their local team I quickly got a copy and read it. I saw the movie version, too, when it came out (all I recall now is that Tim McGraw makes a very mean drunk dad), and readily admit to being a fan of the Friday Night Lights television adaptation, which Devoted Wife likes to call my "man-soap-opera." Yes, its sappy and overly dramatic, but it captures the passion of West Texas high school football and how entire communities rally around their local high school teams. And is it OK if I have a crush on Coach Taylor's wife?

I played linebacker on a high school team that hadn't posted a winning season in at least ten years. In my senior year, after a few rough starts, we found ourselves 3-0 in region play, which was surprising enough to prompt the Salt Lake Tribune prep beat writer to come out to our school to interview me and our quarterback. At the time, I had not seen as many cheeseburgers as I have today, and at 5'9" and 160 lbs. I must have seemed to the writer a bit undersized to play middle linebacker. My response to his question about my size (I probably should have limited it to a simple statement about "size", a "dog" and a "fight") was somehow translated by the writer as "I'd like to have longer arms." When the article came out it quickly appeared on our locker room bulletin board with this one line highlighted, and our head coach enjoyed showing me how he could make his arms seem to grow right out of his shirtsleeves by holding his shirt at the shoulder and pushing his arm forward (this was comedy gold, apparently). Ultimately, we lost our remaining region games, lost to our cross-town rival (again) and lost in the opening round of the state playoffs, never having made it to the holy turf where the later rounds of the state playoffs were held.

One of my favorite memories from these days was the motivational speech our high school coaches liked to give us to get us psyched up for our rivalry game with our cross-town rivals. In particular, those of our coaches that had grown up in our town liked to tell us of a day that would certainly come, years after we played this all-important rivalry game, where we would unexpectedly find ourselves face to face in the frozen foods section of Dick's Market (our local grocery store), with someone who had played for the rival high school. "Win this game," the coaches would say, "and you'll always be able to look that guy in the eye, and he'll have to look away." Seriously! While I didn't necessarily expect to be living in this town in twenty years, I was at least temporarily persuaded that this was not a contest where I wanted to be on the losing side. I later heard from my younger brothers, who ended up playing for our dreaded rivals after the district changed school boundaries, that their coach gave them the very same speech, even down to the references to the frozen foods section of Dick's Market. Like Dan Fogelberg, these coaches must have known of the cosmic power of the frozen foods section for creating awkward reunions. In any event, we came up short in the big rivalry game, and thus forever yielded our rights to buy frozen pizzas and burritos from Dick's.

And my coaches were right: I avoid Dick's Market when I'm back home. Of course, that's mostly because I don't want to see anyone from my own high school. In years past that may have been partially because of the dominant culture in which everyone gets married relatively young, and I wasn't interested in addressing the topic with high school acquaintances who were shepherding their four kids through the frozen food aisle ("What? I can't believe that YOU are still single! What's up with that?"). And while I'm married with a child now myself, I doubt I'd recognize anyone who played for the rival high school anyway.

But I still shop at the new Albertson's on the other side of town.

Hallowed Eve

If you never see your Halloween costume, did you really wear it?

By the time I got home from work on Halloween and we got Kate into her Halloween gear, she was fast asleep. She never even knew she had on her costume. Of course, it wasn't really a costume, she was dressed as a baby at her first Halloween, which in fact, she was. We'll wait until next year to put her in some costume we think is adorable but that she has zero desire to wear. And we'll probably force her to stay in it far longer than she wants to so we can get some photos of how much "fun" we've had. I'm all for this, by the way. This year, however, she basically just said "Knock yourselves out, I'm catching some shuteye. Tell the trick-or-treaters not to ring the bell."

Last weekend, Devoted Wife's sisters came to visit and play with Baby Kate. While Macall lives nearby and has been able to use her years of nannying to help teach us which end of the baby is which, Megan lives in Phoenix and this was her first time seeing our new one. So, being the giving people we are, we decided to keep Megan busy the entire time she was here cutting our hair (she's in cosmetology school) -- I estimate that she was only able to hold Kate for about 3 minutes total. But, hey, our hair looks great, and that's what counts!

Meg, Kate, DW and Mac


Mac, Kate & Meg

I described in a recent post one of Kate's favorite facial expressions, the One Eyed Willie. I've been trying to get a photo of it but am usually too slow when I see her doing it. Here's a somewhat "forced" version, but you get the idea. Just imagine this basic look, but less relaxed and much more skeptical and suspicious. It's pretty funny.

She continues to be unpredictable as to how much sleep she'll let us have each night. And her nighttime feedings vary night to night. Come to think of it, she's a lot more like me than I had originally realized.