theparkerfamily.org

Tag: Photo of the Week

  • out: walter pierce park

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    photo of the week // seventeen months
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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: walter pierce park

  • hank’s oyster bar

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    photo of the week // week fifty-one
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    it wasn’t ten minutes into our dinner tonight at hank’s oyster bar that i noticed — sparklet was tonight’s reminder to all the couples in the room to use birth control.

    we’re pretty sure she’s getting sick (head cold), she’s teething out of her skull (we’re up to 8 teeth now, at least that we can see), she’s not sleeping (see first two) and now that she’s walking regularly, she’s just not finding the sweet confines of a high chair quite as alluring.

    i did the first (of what i’m sure will be many) evacuation of a restaurant so others could eat in peace — which is more than fine, as i’m always the first one done eating.

    we decided to play in traffic (and with strange dogs) instead.

    see slideshow of photos on flickr:
    hank’s oyster bar, washington, dc

  • week fifty

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    photo of the week // week fifty

  • week forty-nine

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    photo of the week // week forty-nine

  • “now, where did i hide my copy of Altas Shrugged?”

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    photo of the week // eleven months

  • week forty-seven

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    photo of the week // week forty-seven

  • week forty-six

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    photo of the week // week forty-six

  • “i’m smiling because i’m cuter than you.”

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    photo of the week // week forty-five

  • week forty-four

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    photo of the week // week forty-four

  • firsts: sheet fort

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    photo of the week // week forty-three
    See All the Photos on Flickr:
    firsts: building a sheet fort

  • week forty-two

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    photo of the week // week forty-two

  • found: july

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    photo of the week // week forty-one
    See All the Photos on Flickr:
    Camera Dump: July

  • go speed racer, go!

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    photo of the week // week forty

  • nine months

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    photo of the week // week thirty-nine

  • week thirty-eight

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    photo of the week // week thirty-eight

  • babyproofing

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    photo of the week // week thirty-seven
    if friday morning wasn’t enough of a wake up call for babyproofing, sparklet decided to up the ante on sunday and pull herself up on the toy box, the couch (to reach the cat) and one of our arm chairs (again, for the cat).

    so, i spent the rest of the day at home depot.

    shortly after the first burst of pseudo-crawling back in may, i spent a weekend tidying up the electrical cables and generally trying to make some more space for toys and movement.

    with her doing pull-ups, however, we’ve had to start strapping down all the tippy furniture we have and trust me when i say, it’s all tippy.

    a by-product of living in a smaller space is that everything we own is a normal height, but only about half as deep (and we all know that height + depth/2 = tippy).

    to make matters worse, we have no overhead lights in our living room or either bed room, and have to rely on those tall “urn” floor lamps — which give us all the same tipsiness as the furniture, but with the added bonus of lots of shatter-upon-impact glass.

    so, we’ve bought a metric ton of straps designed to prevent furniture from falling over during earthquakes (“quakehold!“) and have been using them to secure pretty much everything to the wall — three lamps, a desk, a television cabinet, the hall table, and the ever important toy box.

    top that off an improvised latch (adjustable bungee cord fastened around the closet door handle) to keep sparklet out of the litter box, and we should be good to go …

    … except she just knocked the bejeezus out of her head on the toy box, so i’m off to the store to buy a swimming pool noodle to pad the box’s front edge.

    who says necessity is the mother of invention?

  • week thirty-six

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    photo of the week // week thirty-six

  • eight months

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    photo of the week // week thirty-five

  • week thirty-four

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    photo of the week // week thirty-four

  • firsts: swimming pool

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    photo of the week // week thirty-three
    See All the Photos on Flickr:
    First Swim, Houston, Texas

  • new tricks

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    photo of the week // week thirty-two
    she’s only seven months old, and i’m already becoming disoriented how quickly that baby sparklet is growing/developing/plotting-to-take-over-the-world.

    here’s a run-down from the new tricks department:

    • she just got her second tooth, and we’re pretty sure she’s working on two more.
    • we’re about ->||<- much away from calling her eye color -- blue! the lady sparkler and i swear that her eyes have changed ... but we're not sure because they look like they've just gotten deeper and bluer.
    • she’s sitting up, mostly without assistance, on a pretty regular basis.
    • while she’s been rolling-with-purpose for a bit now, she’s just now starting to master going forward (as opposed to side-to-side). she’s not yet doing an army crawl, but more like turn 10 degrees to the right, then 10 degrees to the left, then 10 degrees to the right, etc.
    • she’s gotten crazy good with the hand-eye-coordination thing, which is more than i can say for her mother or father.

    the funny thing, is i hate this sort of blog post … because it reeks of sorry-i-haven’t-posted-in-a-while-here-are-all-the-things-that-have-happened.

    the only problem is all this stuff has come in the last three of four days.

    for the record, i keep trying to sit on her head to make her slow down, but it doesn’t appear to be doing any good.

  • firsts: saturday market

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    photo of the week // week thirty-one

  • out: children’s garden @ u.s. botanic garden

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    photo of the week // week thirty

    took the day off from work to spend a little quality time with baby sparklet. we’ve been out straight between weddings and funerals — not to mention sick — and there was this little nagging voice in the back of my head saying that maybe it was about time for some father-daughter bonding.

    … so of course this is the day that sparklet wakes up early, and then refuses to nap more than 20 minutes at a time the rest of the day.

    she’s been teething since mid-April with one tooth well on it’s way in, and another two or three ready to pop through. of course, this has futzed up both her sleep schedule and her eating schedule, so cute beloved sparklet hasn’t been quite as cute this last little bit.

    dodging rain, not to mention repetitive expressions of “i-should-probably-have-slept-longer,” we went down to the National Mall for most of the day. a little napping in the garden behind the castle, a little tummy time on the grass in front of the Hirschorn, and a little plant destruction in the botanic gardens.

    we’re still working with baby on the basics of “gentle” — a term our cat emily would like her to pick up sooner rather than later — and sparklet just couldn’t seem to touch anything in the garden without destroying it.

    wonder where she gets that from.

    See All the Photos on Flickr:
    out: children’s garden @ u.s. botanic garden

  • week twenty-nine

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    photo of the week // week twenty-nine

  • “um, why and i still naked?”

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    photo of the week // week twenty-eight

  • found: the virgin sparklet

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    photo of the week // week twenty-seven

  • six months

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    photo of the week // week twenty-six

  • cherry blossoms, 2010

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    photo of the week // week twenty-five
    See All the Photos on Flickr:
    cherry blossoms, washington, dc

  • “it’s day three of my African expedition, and i’ve already had to trade my clothes for food …”

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    photo of the week // week twenty-four

  • the mayor of walter pierce park

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    photo of the week // week twenty-three
    baby sparklet and i have been playing around with foursquare, a gps-powered social media app that lets people “check-in” to locations, and become “mayor” if you check-in at a place more than anybody else.

    well, i’m pleased to announce that sparklet is now the mayor of walter pierce park.

    i wasn’t paying much attention to foursquare until i saw Wired co-founder John Battelle speak on the future of social media while i was in Salt Lake City. he said that once you became mayor of your grocery store (for instance), you’d be darned if you’d let anyone else be there more than you.

    he was right.

    and so, we’ll be back to the park early next week. sparklet’s a benevolent leader, but isn’t going to stand by and let the rest of the tots in the lot move in on her fiefdom.

    (p.s. i you are on foursquare, you can friend sparklet on her profile, here.)

    See All the Photos on Flickr:
    the mayor of walter pierce park, washington, dc

  • how i met your mother: the battle for evermore

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    photo of the week // week twenty-two
    dear sparklet,

    this is the eighth in a series of letters from daddy about how i met and married your mother.

    recently, the most important battle in your life-so-far has broken out … the battle for your taste in music.

    for the record, daddy is feeding you a steady diet from indie pop types (the kind who wear witty, ironic t-shirts) or girl rockers … such as Band of Horses, A Fine Frenzy, your partial-namesakes Kate Earl and Kate Nash, Regina Spektor, and The Killers.

    mommy, however, keeps slipping you music from country and christian artists — George Strait and Jars of Clay, to name a few — when she thinks daddy’s not paying attention. even the nanny has gotten involved, though her choices seem to be much more age appropriate (which unfortunately removes her from the pettiness of this conversation).

    but this battle for the scrobbler betrays two sad little facts … your daddy has horrid taste in music, and mommy isn’t much better.

    for my part, I don’t exactly know what happened … the first album I ever owned was Sychronicity by The Police. my second, however, was the early-80s equivalent of Now That’s What I Call Music.

    I suppose some of it is your uncle Popcollin’s fault — he went through a Debbie Gibson/Euro-pop phase during my most impressionable, formative music years — and I obviously never recovered from his influence.

    i have, though, learned how to cover up my horrid taste somewhat. for example, the title of this post, for instance, the is *not* the Led Zepplin allusion a music aficionado would expect … i would have never known “The Battle for Evermore” if it weren’t for the HeartLovemongers’ cover on the (shudder) Singles motion picture soundtrack.

    anyway, all this got me thinking about music from when your mother and i were younger:

    • my earliest memories of mommy is her belting out songs during road trips, without any sort of notion that she was horrifically off-key.
    • road trips only got better when mommy realized that kelly clarkson’s one-octave “range” was just as limited as her own, and was much more suitable for mommy’s irrepressible sing-a-longs.
    • right before we got engaged, mommy announced that her favorite song was “Foundations” by Kate Nash … a song about a woman holding on to an dysfunctional relationship.
    • right before we got *married*, mommy announced that her *new* favorite song was “Still Sweet” by Benjy Davis Project … a song about the joy that follows the end of an empty relationship.
    • and, of course, one of the very first things we did with you (before you were born) was take you to a U2 concert.

    so, even if i’m ultimately proven wrong about what you should be listening to as a toddler (and i am sure i will be) … i’m going to keep feeding you a steady diet of Ida Marie, if only so that i can film you running around when you are three, singing the chorus to “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked.”

    you won’t have an older sibling to corrupt your taste in music … so mommy and daddy will have to do the best we can.

    love,
    daddy

  • week twenty-one

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    photo of the week // week twenty-one

  • guestbook: gramma

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    photo of the week // week twenty
    See All the Photos on Flickr:
    guestbook: gramma

  • week nineteen

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    photo of the week // week nineteen

  • out: texas state capital

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    photo of the week // week eighteen
    See All the Photos on Flickr:
    out: texas state capital, austin, texas

  • portraits

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    photo of the week // week seventeen
    See All the Photos on Flickr:
    formal portraits

  • week sixteen

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    photo of the week // week sixteen

  • week fifteen

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    photo of the week // week fifteen

  • found: january

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    photo of the week // week fourteen
    See All the Photos on Flickr:
    camera dump: january

  • “are you sure we’re related…?”

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    photo of the week // week thirteen

  • zoolights

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    photo of the week // week twelve
    well, baby sparklet finally started caring/waking-up for something about christmas … and all it took was a trip to Zoolights.

    the big win for sparklet so far has been the lights on the christmas tree, and each night she stays completely enraptured with them for hours on end. in hindsight, i guess it makes sense that she’d be pretty happy with a place where every free shrub/tree/building is covered in them.

    i wonder if we can potty train her at 12 weeks if we wrap the bathroom with christmas lights?

    Explore the Photo Set:
    zoolights

  • auntie spindlers

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    photo of the week // week eleven
    Explore the Photo Set:
    guestbook

  • found: first snow angel

    [(repost)]

    photo of the week // week ten

  • found: december

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    photo of the week // week nine
    Explore the Photo Set:
    camera dump: december

  • week eight

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    photo of the week // week eight

  • week seven

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    photo of the week // week seven

  • firsts

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    photo of the week // week six
    another string of small celebrations over the weekend:

    • first “take your daughter to work day” — we stopped by the Conservancy on Friday afternoon (i had the day off) and made a quick round. i love the fact that i am the only boy in a department of 29 women for just this type of occasion.
    • first television — i caught little miss kate actually *watching* television this weekend. sunday night, i put her down in front of the tv to get her a new bottle, and when i came back here eyes were transfixed on the screen. of course, it was the tottenham match, and they went on to win 9-1 (which is kind of a lot for a soccer match) so she’s now allowed to watch tottenham whenever she wants.
    • first dress — baby momma has been just itching to get sparklet into a little dress she had picked out, and we had a couple good reasons (guests, work) to break out the nice stuff. monumental, because it’s the first time she’s broken out of the usual onesies/pants routine.

    in other news, we had out latest pediatrician’s appointment on Friday. sparklet clocked in a a whopping 9 pounds, 1 1/2 ounces, which brings her up to about the 25th percentile for weight. if you couple that with 22 inches long (75th percentile) and 14 inches around (25th) she’s either going to be a bean pole, or a supermodel, or both.

    and lastly … i’ve got to find a new time to blog. way back when, i used to blog on my two hour round-trip, public-transit commute, but with the baby i have started driving (i know, i know) which not only takes less time (18 minutes each way) but isn’t a very good environment for multitasking.

    more recently, i’ve been blogging during the downtime between the 6:00 pm feeding and the 10:00 pm feeding. the lady sparkler is asleep, and sparklet *used* to be either (a) asleep or (b) blessedly docile. however, since the onset of the six hour rolling dinner feedings last week, there has been precious little time (or free hands) to write anything down.

    maybe they make thought-to-screen, telepathy-based dictation software for the mac …

    Explore the Photo Set:
    sparklet’s first dress

  • week five

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    photo of the week // week five

  • 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

  • first halloween

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    photo of the week // week three
    well, a month ago, we certainly had a different image of halloween.

    we obviously didn’t think that we’d have a sparklet to costume … and we really thought that the lady sparkler could go dressed up as Juno, or maybe a pregnant Mary Magdalene to my Jesus.

    our beloved m.o.h. (maid of honor) actually went out and bought sparklet a pumpkin costume, but it unfortunately didn’t live up to its advertised sizing (it was “one size fits none” not “all”).

    so, yesterday when we were in dupont circle, we ran to the local children’s boutique, and bought the last decent costume off their shelves (giraffe) at 40% discount.

    if anybody from work asks, we picked out the costume as an ideological statement … and she’s dressed up as either (a) the Conservancy’s adopt an acre in africa project, or (b) the number one teething toy in Paris.

    halloween is quite a big deal in mount pleasant, and our neighborhood shuts down streets to make room for all the trick-or-treaters who come in from around the city.

    we wandered around a bit with the baby giraffe-let in her stroller, but it was way too early (5:00pm) and it was raining to boot. even so, we saw tons o’ princesses and vampires, and more than a few ninja outfits from a children’s television show that i couldn’t figure out.

    no candy was purloined (she’s too young for us to keep a straight face) or purchased (our building requires card key access, and has no other kids) but it was a lovely afternoon none-the less.

    oh, and a nice warm up for next year …

    Explore the Photo Set:
    photos: first halloween, washington, dc

  • “grrrrrrrrrr!”

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    photo of the week // week two

  • photos: the first weekend

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