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Naebody in Particular podcast cover: a collage of old family photographs, handwritten letters, a magnifying glass and a fountain pen

Naebody in Particular

You won't find them on a shortbread tin, but our ancestors live on so long as we keep telling their stories. Scots, Yanks, Canucks and the Auld Enemy. Newest posts are the ancestors, but scroll for the living.

  • “these are not the droids you’re looking for”

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    ECPA20091111_0671, originally uploaded by [ecpark].

  • oh, poo.

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    ECPA20091111_0658, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    someone just poo’ed in someone else’s hair. i’m not going to name names here, but it wasn’t me.

    here’s the story.

    our heroic protagonist, let’s call her aby-bay arklet-spay, was minding her own business … hanging out on the changing table, wondering what life would look like on the “other” side of yet another diaper.

    our incredibly omniscient narrator was assisting aby-bay with her diaper transition when he discovered that she (aby-bay) wasn’t quite done “negotiating” with the old diaper.

    the third character in our little drama is the (mostly) innocent bystander, let’s call her ady-lay arkler-spay, was wandering around the room, looking to be useful, trying to distract from the fact that the only time aby-bay poops is when the incredibly omniscient narrator is on diaper duty.

    before long, ady-lay arkler-spay bent down at the end of the changing table, rummaging through some bags of diapers on the floor, when … the incredibly omniscient narrator covered up aby-bay’s rear just in time to stop something really, very bad from happening.

    ady-lay arkler-spay then started chatting with the incredibly omniscient narrator, while he stood there, releaved that he had just save her noggin’ from an inexplicably grotesque catastrophe.

    after a few minutes of wanton distraction, the soon-to-be-no-longer-very-omniscient narrator decided aby-bay was finally done, and took his hand off her bum in order to bend over to get a new diaper.

    at this exact moment, two things happened in perfect unison.

    first, ady-lay arkler-spay decided she hadn’t fully rummaged through those bags of diapers on the floor and, second, aby-bay arklet-spay decided she wasn’t quite finished “negotiating” and decided to took advantage of the fact that her old diaper was no longer held in place by the now-not-really-omniscient-at-all narrator’s hand.

    suffice it to say that badness ensued or, more specifically, long distance badness ensued with startling accuracy.

    half an hour later, everyone was in great spirits. aby-bay arklet-spay was done negotiating so that she could happily start another two hour feeding, and ady-lay arkler-spay had just taken a nice, warm, satisfying, if unexpected, shower.

    and the incredibly-omniscient-though-obviously-not-omnipotent narrator? he’s just happy to have a story to tell aby-bay’s first serious boyfriend when the time comes.

  • headshots

    Explore the Photo Set:
    headshots

  • first trip to the zoo

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    photo of the week // week four
    we’re in a strange bit of indian summer that is reaching deep into november, but nobody in the sparkler family is arguing.

    we figured when baby sparklet arrived it would be waaay to cold to spend any serious amount of time outside, and frankly i didn’t think that baby mommy would be up for the hike down there and back.

    we didn’t spend much time in the zoo — baby sparklet is just starting to look and focus, mommy still isn’t 100% — but we did find a hidden little statue that we’re going to try and swing by for photos each visit.

    i’m really excited that we’re up and moving around. i feel like i’ve been waiting eight years to take my daughter to zoo …

    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: first trip to the zoo

  • guestbook: melissa!

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    ECPA20091108_0629, originally uploaded by [ecpark].

  • guestbook: tami!

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    ECPA20091107_0616, originally uploaded by [ecpark].

  • guestbook: jp & ben!

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    ECPA20091107_0613, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
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    ECPA20091107_0607, originally uploaded by [ecpark].

  • guestbook: mina!

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    ECPA20091106_0596, originally uploaded by [ecpark].

  • dejected sox fan in denial of series result

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    ECPA20091108_0625, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    tough week to be a red sox fan. baby sparklet slept through game 6, and then pooped in protest … somewhere, my godmother (and brother, and father) are proud.
    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: the rest of week four

  • birth weight

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    ECPA20091028_0505, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    i think we’ve totally become some of “those” people — the kind of people who do nothing but talk about their kids, and (worse yet) their kids bodily functions.

    i think this puts us right along side senior citizens who only talk about their latest surgeries (which is probably exactly what people like us become in 30 years) or New York Yankee’s fans who only talk about their 26 27 world serieses (decidedly not what we’ll become, unfortunately).

    with this realization, however, comes expectancy — and news about sparklet’s bodily functions.

    we had our fourth pediatrician appointment today, and sparklet has packed on nearly a whole pound (15 ounces) since the last visit two weeks ago. this is a huge relief because she had lost a ton of weight by the time we left the hospital (~8%) and she’s now back above her birth weight finally … albeit by only three ounces.

    the driving force (obviously) is that she is downing milk like it’s going out of style. she’s doing about six one-hour feedings a day (6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, 10pm, 2am) and is up to about four ounces at each. this is *ALOT* of milk, and we’re still having to supplement with some formula to cover the massive and sudden jump in sparklet’s intake.

    the (mostly) great side effect of all this is that her energy is through the roof, which means that she is regularly staying up for an hour or two after feedings … and is particularly active after the ones where we want her to go to bed straightaway (eg. the 10pm/2am feedings).

    soooo, the lady sparkler and i have rotated our schedules around a bit to manage. she goes to sleep now at 7pm, i cover the 10pm, we swap places midnight, she covers the 2 am, she grabs whatever sleep she can, we both handle the 6am, after which I go to work, and sparklet/mommy get a couple more hours of sleep before the 10am.

    before this weekend, we had been doing a lot of joint feedings (mommy is the starting pitcher, goes deep in the game, i’m the closer for those last essential outs) but the added “awake” time has forced us to rethink exactly how important it is for us to bond over babies, bottles, and … well, you know.

    i hear all this settles down at month three, or maybe four. of course, i’m pretty sure that’s in 2010 … so, thank god she’s so damn cute.