Tag: Sparklet

guestbook: laura

February 27, 2010

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guestbook: laura
guestbook: gramma

February 25, 2010

photo of the week // week twenty

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guestbook: gramma
nanny, nanny

February 24, 2010

we have a nanny(-share)!

back before christmas, we found a great family about six blocks away (still in mount pleasant) and started interviewing candidates earlier this year.

we had a couple hickups along the way, including one candidate who said (as the wife of a diplomat) we weren’t required to pay taxes on her salary … which was great, until we check with hillary clinton’s state department and found out (less than four hours after we sent the email!) that it was sadly not true.

for the record, it’s amazing how the gaze a tax-and-spend progressive starts wandering at the notion of (legally!) not paying taxes.

so, we forged on and finally found our nanny. she’s got a decade of experience — including tons of early-childhood education study — and a real drive to get the kids out of the house. the crazy thing is that she’s also a DC-native-who-still-lives-here, which (baby sparklet excluded) i thought only existed at the hypothetical/mythological level.

anyway, she starts for us on March 1st … the other family joins in on April 1st (their baby is a bit younger) when the whole nanny-ing operation will switch over to run out of their (much larger) brownstone.

but the main thing is that we’ve got a nanny we love — which is a good thing, because it’s a little late to get baby sparklet on any daycare waiting lists.
“don’t make me go all ‘sic semper tyrannis’ on you, raggedy ann.”

February 21, 2010

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playtime, washington, dc
belated valentine’s, pt 2

February 21, 2010

we made it to ben’s for lunch, so we are up to five out of the last seven valentine’s days … though this is (obviously) the first for sparklet.

we actually tried to go yesterday — a saturday at ~5:00pm — but the place was packed out the door. turns out the trick is to go on sunday morning at 11am. apparently, ben’s is pre-hangover food, not post-hangover food … i guess it makes sense when you think it through.

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valentine’s at ben’s chili bowl, washington, dc
belated valentine’s, pt 1

February 20, 2010

for belated valentine’s day — delayed due to that whole Austin/snow thing — sparklet and i chipped in for a photo album that the lady sparkler can keep in her work bag, so that she can gaze longingly at baby whenever she feels the urge.

the photo album has one photo a week going back to sparklet’s birth … which seemed like such a good idea, that i’ve put the whole thing live as a ‘photo of the week’ tag on the blog.

next up, we need to make our annual valentine’s pilgrimage to ben’s chili bowl … and the lady sparkler and i are working on a separate album (one of all the guestbook photos we’ve taken so far) to give to sparklet.
dear kate

February 15, 2010

dear kate,

well, it’s the last full day of our paternity leave together.

we’ve spent the morning at the ice skating rink on the National Mall — where we saw an ice skating Nun, and the four foot tall snow drifts that kept you in Texas for so long — and the afternoon at the Natural History museum.

of course, after spending the last 10 nights sleeping in a flimsy pack-and-play, you’ve been asleep pretty much non-stop for the last 18 hours, so I’m not banking on you remembering much.

so, just in case you don’t remember our wonderful talk today, I want to thank you again for the last four weeks. i don’t toss out religious imagery much (I’m what your Mom would call a stuffy-bottomed Episcopalian) but our time together has really been a blessing.

due to your Daddy’s inability to sit still, we’ve done an exhausting metric ton to keep us busy: a week home sick; trips to American Indian and American Art museums; walks around the Georgetown Waterfront and the National Aquarium; not to mention that “bonus” week we had in Austin .

however, the parts that I have loved the most are the little things in between … like today sitting together at a cafe, making goofy faces on the Metro, watching your face light up at every kind of light source you can imagine.

part of what made today extra special was that, after carrying you around for much of the day, you started wailing each time I tried to put you down. i am sure that it was just gas, or maybe a diaper rash … but i’m going to pretend that you knew this time together was coming to an end, and wanted to be held just a little bit longer.

you are just a good-natured baby, and have been incrediably patient with Mommy and Daddy as we’ve been broken-in as parents.

people told us from the very beginning how babies put everything in perspective, and while Mommy and I smiled and nodded at the advice at the time, the last four months with you have shown this to us in ways words could never explain.

with that in mind, let me say that we love you in ways that you may never fully understand, at least not until you have a little sparklet of your very own. (and if that’s the case, that’s fine with us.)

we both know that things will change over the years — we’re guessing you’ll hate mommy at the onset of puberty, and daddy once you start dating — but our love for you will be as constant as the stars you seem to love so much.

all the love in the world,
mommy and daddy
out: ladybird johnson wildflower center

February 13, 2010

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out: ladybird johnson wildflower center
out: umlauf sculpture garden

February 12, 2010

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out: umlauf sculpture garden
out: laguna gloria

February 12, 2010

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out: laguna gloria