I'll never leave you.

This afternoon I was lying in my bed with Ethan and Kira for naptime, feeling a lot of joy and love.

Kira whispered to me, "I'll never leave you." We tell her this at bedtime and naptime, because she seems frightened that we'll disappear.

My heart swelled even bigger. I whispered back, "I'll never leave you either."

Over the next few minutes, Kira shared, "I'll never leave Daddy... I'll never leave Ethan... I'll never leave Grandma Val... I'll never leave Grandma Wanda..."

And finally, "I'll never leave Garfield."

Pics from Ethan's first three weeks

Mom and the kids cuddled under a blankie per Kira's request on Day 1


The two men of the family


Day 2 of Ethan's life


Sam gak tok bap


Six days old








2.5 weeks old


3 weeks old

The day Ethan was born

Here are a few pics and videos from the day Ethan was born at our house.

Ethan on my chest in the first hour or so after being born.


Kira meeting Ethan for the first time when she woke up that morning. She was soooo happy and excited!




Kira's "big sister skirt" from Grandma Val. She loves it!




Kira eating "big sister cake", a piece of cake leftover from a cake I made and hid from her a few days before the birth. I can't recall ever seeing Kira eat something so ravenously.


I still haven't put up any really good face shots of Ethan on the interwebs. I have some on my camera and will try to get them transferred and uploaded soon.

A couple snippets

Me: Can I have a piece of corn?
Kira: Yes.
Me: [eats corn]
Kira: Spit it out.
Me: No, I'm not going to spit it out. That's dirty and yucky.
Kira: [spits to show me how to do it]
Me: No, I'm not going to spit it out. You gave it to me!
Kira: [cries]

Me: Do you want to eat noodles?
Kira: Yes, I do.
Me: Do you want cold noodles or warm noodles?
Kira: I farted. Excuse me. Warm noodles.

What I have done for the last hour

I lay on the floor next to Kira's bed and read or surf the Net while Kira falls asleep. Today was a typical bad time trying to fall asleep. I didn't start writing down what she was saying until the last 20 minutes. At that point I was bored and figured, "Hey, I might as well just write up a transcript."

Ready, go! Row row row row, merry merry merry merry. Ready, go! Row row row row, merry merry merry merry, merry merry, merry merry, merry merry, merry merry, merry merry, merry merry... Good job! Good job Kira! Baby, [unintelligible]....... A B C... I see you! I see you! I see you! I see you! I see you! I see you! I see you! I see you baby! Rain rain, rain rain, rain rain, rain rain, rain rain, rain rain, rain rain, rain rain, rain rain, rain rain...... where'd monkey go? kisses!...... blanket on! blanket on! blanket on! [I put on her blanket] Binky! [I locate binky and put it in her mouth]...... do dee do dee do dee do dee... hey. hey! hey hey hey. cry, cry... do dee do dee do dee do dee... Happy birthday! Happy Grandma! Happy Chad! Happy Chad Grandma! Happy birthday Chad! Happy Chad! Happy choo choo! [whispering] Dada sad. Mama sad. [sings] Dada sad. I sleep. Dada sleeping. I'm happy to see you. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!... Where's bear. I want bear. I want bear. [I go get bear] [giggles manically] Thank you. Thank you [drops binky] I drop it. [I put binky back in mouth]...... mm hmm. mm hmm. mm hmm. Hair. In mouth. Hair mouth. Hair mouth. Hair mouth. [I pull hair out of her mouth] I roll. I roll. Monkey there. Monkey right there [whiney]... [Me: Go to sleep!] Sleep. Sleep! Sleep, sleep. Sleep...... Waterfalls? No waterfalls? Okay. Waterfalls? No waterfalls. No applesauce. Mess, mess mess. Mess mess mess. mama mess. Mess mess mess mess. I miss. Grandma mess. I'm happy to see you! Happy birthday! Happy birthday! Chad. Swing, swing. No pizza. No pizza Grandma. [whispering]...... I pee pee. I pee pee. I bouncing! Dada... mama... [Me: Kira go to sleep!] [whispering] I sleep mama. I sleep....... One, two, three. Run, run. Running running running. Up down. Up down! Sleep, sleep. Baby day! Sleeping. Sleep. I sleeping pillow.... Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! I fall. Oh no! Lay down... [whispering] Right there. Night night. Night night. Sleep sleep... Oopsy oopsy. mmm mmm. mmmmmmm. Right there. Right there!... Binky! My binky! [I change her diaper, she says a bunch of stuff and laughs really hard. Me: Go to sleep!]... I bite. I bite!!! Wheeeeee. WWwwwhheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! No no no! No no no! No no no! No no no! No no no! No no no! No no no! No no no! No no no! No no no. No, no. No, no. No, no. No, no. No, no. No, no. No, no. No, no. Swing swing swing. Swing swing swing. Swing swing swing. Swing swing swing.........Good song. Good song! Good song! Good song! [whispering to animals] Sleep? sleep?... Merry merry............ [laughs]...[yawns]......[falls asleep]

Some recent vids

From about a month ago (we don't eat baby food like this anymore)


Tonight in the snow, grouchy after no nap

A few pictures

Dada and baby


A special bowl just for artichoke dip


Kira and Papa


Pretty hair


Playing with water


Mama and Kira and their dots