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flexday: dupont circle, washington, dc
flexday: dupont circle, washington, dc
Tag: Sparklet
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faces
week three, and sparklet is starting to wake up.we love the fact that we are starting to see more and more eyeballs during the day, and will (temporarily) put up with the fact that we are getting more and more eyeballs at night.
the big shift, though, is that sparklet is starting to expand her “face” repertoire beyond the standard “winston churchill” look. now we’re getting the “vogue-ing diva,” the “where the wild things are“, and even a preview of her very first smile (not caused by gas).
I for one welcome our new overlords.
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photos: faces, washington, dc. -
goodbye, grandparents!
well, the house has cleared out … both sets of grandparents are gone after weeks of dedicated service to the sparklet. the house seems a bit empty now, kind of like we have empty nest syndrome in reverse.even emily the cat seems lost for the extra attention.
but this is by no means the end: the virginia parkers are coming for thanksgiving, the spindler sisters at christmas, we’ll be in texas for a spindler-sister wedding in february, and we might even get the vermont parkers some time in between now and then.
go, team sparklet!
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photos: grandparents, part 2. -
photos: baby’s first bath
baby was getting a little stinky, so the lady sparkler and i broke down and gave her a first bath.now, i’ve heard legendary stories of babies first interaction with water, and i’m thankful there was no meltdown of epic proportion. truth be told, she just seemed a little confused, like “um, what’s this stuff?”
well, that was until mommy inadvertently dumped a whole quart of water over her head. that part didn’t go so well … but they both recovered after the initial shock, and in the end they reached a happy place.
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photos: baby’s first bath -
normalcy … sort of
neither the lady sparkler nor i really have an idea of normal is anymore, but today felt like we were creeping towards there none-the-less.mommy tested out her new guitar hero controller (she’s so happy!) in the morning, we walked over to auntie melissa’s in the afternoon, i cooked dinner and then we had a friend from the neighborhood drop by in the evening.
simple, every-day sorts of events … we just had a very small baby and a very happy set of grandparents along for the ride. so far, the “new” normal looks pretty good.
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milestone: baby’s first target run
few things are as important in one’s life than your first target run. come to think of it, if you are the first born daughter of the lady sparklet, i can’t think of *anything* more important than your first target run.as the texas grandparents stay has progressed, they’ve started getting out of the house more and more. they headed down around the White House today, so the lady spakler and I took the chance to pack up stroller and run a few errands.it’s fun walking around Mount Pleasant with a new baby. we saw some friends we hadn’t seen since the birth, a family walked by and pointed from a far (“wow, a newborn!”) … obviously, with said newborn we kept our distance (and kept sparklet out of any flu-laden enclosed spaces) but it was good to get mommy and baby a little fresh aire.
the good news is that sparklet has been packing away the liquids. at our pediatrician appointment on Friday, she had tacked on a quarter of a pound in just three days … and the early-birth jaundice is completely gone, too.
mommy and doctor were both elated.
and while the picture taking has slowed down a bit (which is a good thing, so sparklet won’t go blind from all the flash bulbs) we are still capturing a few here and there as she finds a new way to look so ridiculously cute.
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photos: week two, washington, dc -
sparklet’s greatest hits
with Sparklet’s early arrival, one of the preparation projects that fell by the way side was putting together some music for the hospital.much like our anniversary dinner, my eye doctor’s appointment, me getting a hair cut, and us packing a “go” bag … we just ran out of time
the lady sparkler was super excited about Sibley’s iPod plug-ins, and wanted to have something soothing/familiar to distract her through the days’ events.
so instead, we “threw” together a playlist, with songs that may (or may not) have contributed to the naming conversation to come:
- Melody, by Kate Earl
- Forever and Almost Always, by Kate Voegele
- Your Song, by Kate Walsh
- Set Free, by Kate Gray
- Sister Kate, by The Ditty Bops
- Nowhere Warm, by Kate Havnevik
- Mouthwash, by Kate Nash
- Hot N’ Cold, by Katy Perry
- Wind and the Mountain, by Liz Phair
- Forms of the Truth, by Beth Waters
in unrelated news, if her name (and her mom) is any indication, i’m thinking sparklet is going to be *really* good at Guitar Hero.
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i’ve been stockpiling vacation days in expectation of sparklet, but apparently did too good of a job. now i’m maxed out on how many vacation days i can save up and HR won’t let me accrue anymore unless i use a vacation day every two weeks.
don’t get me wrong, it’s a good problem to have … i just wish i figured out I had to take today off before i spent two hours sitting at my desk.
anyway, the lady sparkler and i are still negotiating with our work to nail down the details of how our maternity / paternity leave is going to look.
for now, it looks like mommy is going to be off from now through Martin Luther King Day (that mid-january, for anyone in arizona) and i’ll be off the four weeks following (through President’s Day).
once we figured that out (and shipped the notion off to our respective office places) we took a quick trip down to dupont circle to get some fresh air, and show sparklet her first neighborhood outside mount pleasant.
and, needless-to-say, mommy was tickled to have an extra set of hands for the day.