Irish Jig 2008

This morning I ran the Irish Jig 5k for the second time. It was a good race, and Emily brought two Sarahs along to drink coffee and cheer me on, which added to the fun. While Emily fell asleep in her baby bjorn, I mostly ran a relaxed race, except for the last mile when I tried to pick up the pace. I especially noticed that stretching beforehand helped a lot in staying loose. Go figure. I finished in 24:24, which I'm happy with considering I did only a few training runs. I also wasn't much slower than my time from two years ago of 23:50. At this rate of slowing down a little every two years, I'll be running a 5k in 39:25 when I'm 80. Not too bad for an old guy. I smell a first in my age group ribbon.

Emily Learns to Bat Her Toys

After weeks of staring and intense concentration, Emily has learned that she can use her hand to bat at and hold her toys, which fascinates her. Previously the best she did was accidentally hit the toys as she excitedly flailed. Now she does so intentionally, and seems to prefer her right hand. In fact, she hasn't even realized yet that she can also use her left hand to bat the toys.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/1170512]

Happy Little Baby

Emily has been a model baby recently. Her biggest accomplishment has been sleeping through the night, with a current streak of more than ten days without waking up in the middle of the night! Of course Sarah and I are thrilled about this, and Emily seems to like it too. She sticks to her schedule quite well, and is happy the majority of the time she's awake. When she does cry, it's usually for predictable reasons like she's been awake too long and needs a nap, she's hungry, or needs her diaper changed. Thanks to this newfound happiness, she has enjoyed showing off her smile and funny faces much more often:

Keeping Busy

It has been two and a half weeks since our last post, a sure sign that we have been busy. While Sarah and I have been going to class and clinical, resuming work, getting a job (woohoo!), and of course taking care of the little peanut, Emily has not remained idle. Here are just a few of the things that have been keeping her busy recently:

Helping Momma in the kitchen:


Making funny faces:


Discovering (to her apparent surprise) that she has a fist:


And most exciting of all, smiling:


Emily is growing and changing fast, so stay tuned for more updates.

Bundle of Joy

Lately we have been swaddling Emily more frequently to help keep her happy, and as a result we have witnessed first-hand what is meant by "bundle of joy".

Adjusting to Domestic Life

Now that Emily is over a month old, and has gotten over her minor cold, she seems to be adapting well to life outside the womb, and as a result is happier more often. She contentedly sits in her swing or bouncy chair for longer periods of time now, and has learned to put herself to sleep on occasion. What's more, she has even made her first attempt at household chores, as she helped Sarah with the laundry the other day.

Shaq Goes Southwest

In case you haven't heard the latest NBA news already, the Miami Heat unexpectedly traded Shaquille O'Neal to the Phoenix Suns for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. I know, I was surprised too. Most folks see this move as crazy, thinking Shaq will slow down the run and gun Suns. I am not one of them. The Suns don't need a five man fast break, and Shaq has more vim and vigor left in him than he gets credit for. I believe we'll see that this trade helps the Suns delve further into the playoffs, either this season or next. You heard it here first.