I’ve finally installed a WordPress app on my phone in hopes of getting to more posts more often. Most of the media I capture of our lives is on my phone, and according to a mobile development insider, people don’t use desktops anymore for this sort of stuff.

Not that I agree, but my posting frequency can’t get any worse with more avenues for posting, right?

We went to Madrona Beach after work to enjoy the last of a sunny stretch of weather. It was just what was needed after a stressful week of life was finally behind us.

Our first glimpse of our expanding experience of parenthood.

Folks, we’ve been blessed with another opportunity to practice parenting. Cora will be getting a sibling later this year! We don’t know the gender (and we’re not sure we’ll find out) but we do know a Leo will be joining the family this August. We’re very excited to welcome a new baby and member to our family and really hope those of you who haven’t had the chance to meet Cora will be able to meet both of them this year. We’ll be jetsetting a little bit less after this one, I reckon ! We’re planning to deliver close to home again, even though our home is on the other side of the lake in Seattle. I’ve also decided to try the midwifery route and have been very pleased with the choice so far. Sean and Cora will be able to meet the entire Neighborcare practice in a few weeks and we’ll tour the hospital where I plan to deliver. Here’s a shout out to all my friends who’ve weathered a second child/pregnancy (and you all know what I mean). This human experience is such an amazing thing. It’s so different this time around in more ways than I could have imagined. Fatigue took on a new dimension I didn’t know possible and I apologize to anyone I gloated to about how easy the first one was! Cora has added a whole new dimension to pregnancy that I wouldn’t have expected. She has this eerie wisdom about what’s going on despite her limited spoken vocabulary. She’s also been a hugging, kiss-blowing, cuddling machine, and that just makes the fun abound. If you want more details, we’d love a phone call or skype any time.

Yes I know it is already 13 days into the year, and while some people have even said it’s too late to bid anyone happy new year anymore, I still feel like I should commemorate the turning of the year with a few notes on 2012.

Mostly notes about Cora, let’s be honest with ourselves.

Cora started 2012 at 4 months old, full of giggles, funny faces, and physical feats to astound even Dr. Sears*. She finished at nearly 16 months with lots of new skills. Capable of walking, running, tumbling (usually due to over-confident running), 14 teeth, a very strong sense of self, and a few words: Mama, DaDa, Yummy and Whoa! She could whistle a few notes while working hard at being cute. She could ride her rocking horse by herself; recognize a few colors and lots of other things in her favorite books. There are countless others I did list, but those are definitely a few of my favorites to end the year.

Some tidbits about the parents should be mentioned:

Daddy made it through a significant promotion in his career despite having an infant and nagging wife at home. Mama managed to work a full year, full time for the first time in about 4 years. We all decided it was good to keep the extra-curriculars down to a minimum otherwise, so ultimate and baseball took a bit of a back seat. We had to say goodbye to several important folks in our lives. Grandma Miller passed in June, and Cora’s sitter, Miss Marilyn passed in July. Those events, coupled with a lot of trips to see/meet family and friends took up plenty of time.

* these feats might be drummed up a little in my head, but some of the pictures/video from Christmas 2011 make me believe them 🙂

Now that we have a blog (I don’t know if 5 years counts as a recent addition), all I ever do is think about what a great post <insert pithy title of a life moment here> would make. Do I ever get to write that post and insert all the cool media? No. When I sit down to actually write a post I have completely forgotten what I wanted to share, what pictures best tell that story, and who to send the details out to. It’s a mess. I do so very much miss all my friends back in Texas, the family we used to be able to see more regularly, and the warmth of the Texas sun. Blogging almost makes that more painful to be away from, because what I really want to do is experience it with those loved ones.

Missing you all….

A couple months ago I dedcided that the reason that I never get as far on some of my personal projects because I just didn’t have a space to work on them. After talking with AJ, I bought a table saw, talked to my Dad and set out to build a workbench. I found the plans for what looked to be a simple workbench made from 2x4s and the plans even said it would take a weekend. Well a weekend turned in to a couple of months, because the author probably didn’t have a 1 year old at home, had a complete array of tools, and had a good idea of what he was doing. Unfortunately, I had to work within the constraints of all three, but I finally finished the bench, and it looks great. It has as many flaws as I do, which is more than I care to admit, but it will be a great area to work on family and personal projects. Below are some pictures of when the bench was finished and after it was put in to “service”.

Two weeks ago the computer that had driven my/our web sites, and served as my lab environmnet died after 9 years of service. The system has since been replaced and everything is back up and running. Today ‘kp-vm01’ will be taken to be recycled, so we say a tearless goodbye and thanks.  – If you look close you can see a 3.5″ floppy drive. Remember those?