Baby Burrito

Genevieve really likes being swaddled. The past few nights we have bundled her up and she has slept peacefully through the night.

The last week was a blur. I feel a bit sorry for anyone trying to get anything useful out of me the last couple of weeks! But I am hopeful I've turned the corner now on (fatherhood)^2, even as I turned the corner on 31.

Genevieve has inherited her Daddy's eyes, but not in a good way. Her pediatric opthalmologist says she has a very faint cataract in each eye. If they do not grow they will have no impact on her normal visual development. And so far as me and my parents could conclude over dinner one night last week after the diagnosis, we have a family history of stable cataracts -- which is a (relatively) good sign. So for now we will be back to see the eye doc every month until he can tell if things are stable or getting cloudier. Worst case scenario is baby cataract surgery (replace the cloudy natural lens with an artificial plastic one). It's the same kind your typical 74 year-old gets, but with a lot more wiggling.

I have mixed feelings. I don't want her eyesight to be anything close to as bad as mine. But then again, without tooting my own horn too much, I still turned out pretty good. Time will tell. Maybe someday she can even learn to fly her Grandpa Gene's airplane.

Our little night owl

Genevieve has been staying up late the last several nights. This provides some terrific bonding time for baby and Daddy, but it's not so great when 7:30 am rolls around.




Genevieve has picked up the pacifier habit. The soft green Soothies are her brand. Alex was hooked before he left the hospital, but it took G a few weeks.

Her Social Security card arrived yesterday. We misspelled her name. Officially she is "Genievieve". Oops.
Hopefully it will not be too big of a hassle to have it corrected. Considering the sheer number of babies born in the wee hours of the morning, it's surprising there aren't more misspelled names out there, as exhausted new parents try to complete the fill-in forms after a couple hours of interrupted sleep.

We finished preparing and mailing birth announcements this week. If you don't receive one in the next 10 days it means we didn't have a recent address for you, or else we didn't know you were that interested. Please don't take it personally, but just send me email so I can send you one ASAP!




Our trip to Chicago last weekend for Ryanne and Lucas' wedding was wonderful! Genevieve is as good a traveler as her brother. The wedding was fantastic. Everyone there knew Alex - they all asked, "Oh you must be Alex's parents?"

We have been so lucky to have Ryanne with us for so long. And having spent an evening with her and Lucas' family and friends it is easy to see what tremendous influences they have been.

We also got to hang out with Christine, Alex's first Chinese teacher. We hadn't seen her in 8 months and she is doing very well. She and Alex reconnected almost immediately and spent much of the reception dancing, talking, and running around.

I'll post some pictures here shortly. It goes without saying, but Ryanne looked absolutely gorgeous.

Next week Dana and Alex both start up school. Dana begins her last year of law school. Alex is starting at his new preschool/daycare 3 days a week. We are all very excited!

This week grandma and grandpa Stangel have been doing an exemplary job filling in for Ryanne while she honeymoons in Ireland.

Alex had a weird 12-hour stomach bug today, but Grandpa helped him weather it OK, and it didn't seem to slow him down a bit.

We had a second bat visit us tonight. After some careful analysis, our working theory is that they can easily penetrate the dark, bug-friendly basement through huge gaps in the stone foundation walls. From there they must inadvertently find their way upstairs. I intend to put a stop to this nonsense at once.

Grandma and Grandpa

Genevieve was successful in casting her spell on Grandma and Grandpa Stangel. After just a few moments together they believe she is the cutest creature on Earth, and no amount of spit-up or poopy pants can change that.

Meanwhile Alex's spell is still holding well, over 2 years in to it.

The not totally unfriendly skies

Flying home from Ryanne and Lucas' wedding in Chicago. We lucked out and got "bumped" up into United's Economy Plus -- a "luxury" that used to always be free. Oh well. You can't say the food sucks anymore, 'cuz there isn't any.

Alex and Daddy and Genevieve

Over the last couple of months I've rebuilt a little utility trailer I found on Craigslist. It's really handy to have around for hauling big stuff, or stinky stuff, or anything else that you can't, or won't, put in the car.

Alex is in love with the trailer. One evening last month in the middle of the project, he came outside to give me a hand.


First, I had to show him how a socket wrench works. He liked the way it clicks when you turn it.


Next, I showed him what I was doing, bolting on new stake pockets to the side of the trailer.


Finally, Alex helped me wrench on the trailer.

In other news, while Dana and Alex and I were visiting Utah last month, we enjoyed dinner at Eric's parents' new "Green House" - a custom built super-efficient home just outside SLC. We were joined by Kirsten and Per. We had a wonderful evening catching up and getting the grand tour of the new house. Eric's Dad Mike is also a DU Law alum, which is always a plus!


left to right, Per, Kirsten, Mary Lou (hiding behind Kirsten), Alex, Mike, Eric, Ali, Dana, and Dan.

Alex had fun showing everybody his new cars, and he especially liked Mary Lou's ice cream sundaes!

We had no idea just how close Dana was to delivering Genevieve during this trip. We arrived home at about 8pm Sunday, and Dana's water broke at 2am Tuesday - only 30 hours later! If she had been just a tiny bit less patient, she might have come into this world in Evanston or Rawlins, Wyoming. Eek!

And here are some adorable, artsy photos of COLORADO-BORN Genevieve we took last week.

Going batty

Last night while Aunt Alison and Alex were watching a video in the playroom, they were startled to find there was a small bat flying around!



I used the cookpot from dinner to catch him mid-flight. After a brief photo shoot we released him out in the front yard to go take care of some more mosquitos.

We checked all around the room but could find no sign of how he got in. The window screen was in good condition. Our best guess is he came in through the open front door when we were coming home yesterday afternoon.