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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.

  • birthdays

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    ECPA20091018_0269, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    We got an email a couple of days ago, from Auntie Foster Mom Adventures. It went something like this:

    I know that new parents don’t have time to do research, so I did some important research for you.  Here is the scoop on your daughter’s birthday.  As if I didn’t already think she was cool, her stock went up even more now that I know she shares her birthday with Lady Margaret Thatcher!!!

     
    (Note the three exclamation points after old iron britches…)

    Oddly enough, we already know at least four friends who feature October 13th as a birthday, and it is just one day off what was my maternal grandfather’s birthday (October 14th).

    Anyway, friends not withstanding, here is the list of October 13th luminaries:

    • Ian Thorpe (Australian swimmer, 1982)
    • Summer Sanders (American swimmer, 1972)
    • Billy Bush (E!, 1971)
    • Nancy Kerrigan (American figure skater, 1969)
    • Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy, 1967)
    • Rob Schneider (Saturday Night Live, 1965)
    • Jerry Rice (NFL wide receiver, 1962)
    • Ari Fleischer (White House Press Secretary, 1960)
    • Marie Osmond (singer and actress, 1959)
    • Sammy Hagar (Van Halen, 1947)
    • Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys owner, 1942)
    • Paul Simon (singer, 1941)
    • Margaret Thatcher (British Prime Minister, 1925)
    • Molly Pitcher (American Patriot, 1754)

    Frankly, I’m jealous. Any list with Molly Pitcher and Sammy Hagar is company that i’d want to be a part of. The lady sparkler’s (May 25th) is almost as cool:

    • Anne Heche (actress, 1969)
    • Frank Oz (The Muppet Show, 1944)
    • Dixie Carter (Designing Women, 1939)
    • Ian McKellen (actor, 1939)
    • Miles Davis (jazz trumpeter, 1926)
    • Mr. Bojangles (actor, 1878)
    • Ralph Waldo Emerson (essayist, 1803)

    By comparison, my birthday (April 5th) is a little “cerebral”, which is another word for “lame”:

    • Colin Powell (Secretary of State, 1937)
    • Thomas Hobbes (philosopher, 1588)

    Why couldn’t *I* be like Marie Osmond?

  • found: mushmouth

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    ECPA20091018_0257, originally uploaded by [ecpark].

  • photos: the first weekend

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    photo of the week // week one
    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: the first weekend, washington, dc

  • guestbook: auntie melissa

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    ECPA20091018_0259, originally uploaded by [ecpark].

  • eyeballs

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    ECPA20091017_0235, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    it’s the little moments in child rearing that are so special … it’s realizing that your baby has all four limbs, and all in the right place. it’s the first time that you wipe someone else’s rear. it’s discovering that your baby has not just one eyeball, but two.

    the good news is that sparklet has been sleeping like a brick. she’s slept through feedings, slept through car rides, and even slept through being dropped on her head (kidding!). the bad news is that, up till now, we haven’t had independent confirmation that sparklet has eyeballs.

    but with this morning, sparklet’s eyeballs are out and a blazin’ … looking anywhere and everywhere. of course, that’s only until we try and feed her … which is when she goes back to sleep.

    not that we are complaining. the lady sparkler and i have gotten waaaaay more sleep in the last two days than any new parents would have the right to expect, which is okay by us.

    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: we’ve got eyeballs, washington, dc

  • guestbook: grandparents

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    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: grandparents, washington, dc

  • “hook ’em horns!”

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    ECPA20091015_0191, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    three possible scenarios for this picture:

    • first “hook ’em horns” sign, in support of the University of Texas at Austin
    • sparklet indicating she’s ready for her first cell phone
    • gang signs

    the lady sparkler is pretty certain it is the former, but i’m banking on the latter. i hope she picks out a good honduran street gang.

    UPDATE: Texas beat Oklahoma this afternoon, so we (and “Auntie Texas-in-Africa”) are now absolutely sure it was the former.

  • homecoming

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    ECPA20091015_0189, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    mercifully very little to report.

    sparklet’s already producing some top shelf imitations — she does a wicked good “goat” sound while she’s sleeping, a mean Gary Coleman face (“what’chu talkin’ ’bout Willis”) when woken up early, and a great “Nazgûl flying over Frodo’s head” sound when she’s hungry.

    (UPDATE: she’s added a great dolphin imitation to her repertoire, too.)

    other than that, we’re just settling into a routine. the family parker is up from virginia to provide cover until the family spindler can drive up from texas. sparklet is sleeping like a brick, and eating well considering the early date and her early birth.

    leaving the hospital, baby spindler (and the lady sparkler) both checked out great … mommy is still moving a little slowly, and because baby sparklet crashed the party earlier than planned we’ll to keep an eye out for jaundice.

    and with that, the lady sparkler and I are going to do a quick feeding, and take another of those 2 1/2 hour naps we’ve grown to love so well…

    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: homecoming, washington, dc

  • photos: day one

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    ECPA20091014_0163, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: day one, washington, dc

  • kate elisabeth parker

    [Kate Elisabeth Parker, Washington, DC.]

    photo of the week // week zero
    like the little overachiever that we all know she is going to turn out to be, baby sparklet was born this afternoon (4:19 pm) a solid four weeks earlier than the lady sparkler or i had been daring to expect.

    baby sparklet was only day after full term (37 weeks) but the doctors and nurses have been speechless with how big (and healthy) and healthy (and big) the baby was for being three weeks early — measuring in at 7 lbs., 6 oz. and 21 inches. our delivery nurse guestimated that sparklet would have been 9+ pounds if she hadn’t decided to come charging out of the gate early.

    anyway, mommy and sparklet are perfect, and we expect to be discharged tomorrow morning.

    i did “liveblog” the event into my iPhone as they happened, but never had the chance to set it up formally (that whole three weeks early thing) so i’ll post more of a running commentary a little bit later.

    in the meantime, thank you from both of us (or all three, actually) for being so spectacularly supportive and sending us all those thoughts, prayers and encouragements.

    i was actually reading the out at down times during the labor, and the lady sparkler (especially) was incredibly grateful.

    more later, promise 🙂

    Explore the Photo Set:
    kate elisabeth parker, washington, dc