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.