01-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Yet another travel day. Back when Northwest Airlines was around flying from Minneapolis to Portland was a quick direct flight. Since they disappeared it’s become a full day affair with a few hundred extra miles detour and stop in Denver. Again, back in our pre-kid days no big deal. But flying now has become a logistical challenge.

First, because we essentially move all of our belongings with us for a month or so every time we go anywhere, there is the sheer amount of luggage we’ve got. Car seat, crib, stroller, all the clothes we own, and a few toys. Then there is the packing of a full day’s worth of food, plus extra in case of a major delay or lost luggage, diapers, blankets, books, and more toys. And lastly, there is that pesky nearly one-year-old who needs to be active.

But Ouest, despite having cut two molars in just the past couple of days, came through with flying colors again. Ali and I received lots of welcome grandmotherly compliments on our parenting skills, and we arrived in Portland looking slightly less than completely disheveled.

02-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Settling in at Grammy’s house this time included meeting the new puppy Lulu.

03-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
My mom lives right across the street from a nice big park, so today when the sun came out, which is a rarity for Portland in December, we made a beeline for the sandbox. Of course sun doesn’t exactly mean warmth. Ouest’s hands and face were soon frozen, but she didn’t care and wasn’t going to go home. Not with other kids there.

Ouest absolutely loves kids. She literally screams out whenever she spots anyone between the ages of one and ten. In the sandbox she met a cute two-year-old girl and promptly planted herself six inches from her face. She then slowly lifted her finger while the girl stood frozen stiff. Her finger hovered in front of the girl’s face for about thirty seconds before she finally poked her gently on the cheek. The other girl immediately began crying and ran off. Ouest just stood there wondering what could possibly be the problem. This is not the first time this has happened.

04-Dec-2010 our life. daily.

05-Dec-2010 9:12 PM
When I was just about the same age as Ouest my uncle Ray showed up at my mom’s door one day with this beat up little chair he found at an antique store. My mom sanded it down, refinished it, and now all these years later her granddaughter is straddling it.

05-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Winter is right around the corner but it is definitely still fall in Portland.

06-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Ouest spent the better part of an hour today playing with our shoes. Very intensely playing with our shoes. She’d pick them up walk a few steps, put them down, go back for another pair, pile those on top of the others, and then reverse the process.

It seems every parent warned us about what it’s like once a baby is walking, and none too favorably. But we looked forward to it, and love the fact that she’s walking now. She is so much more independent. There is almost no more of this hovering over her trying to entertain her all day long because she can’t really do anything on her own. Now she gets up, walks off, and finds all sorts of interesting, or interesting to her anyway, things to do. We think this walking thing has been the most exciting development to come along yet.

07-Dec-2010 7:37 PM
This evening Ouest pulled a heavy glass cake dish off a counter, denting the floor, shattering everywhere, but somehow not touching herself. She did this despite both my mom and I standing within five feet of her. She also did this despite the fact that all three of us have been telling her not to touch this big dish ever since we got here. Apparently it never crossed any of our minds to simply pick it up and move it. Afterwards we all sort of stood there like, “Duh, couldn’t have seen that coming.” It’s hard to completely baby proof a room, but with this dish out of the way we are now one step closer.

07-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Around the yard. A close look around Portland and you discover that all that greenery is really just moss growing uninhibited thanks to the constant damp.

08-Dec-2010 bumfuzzle.
The sailing chat rooms never really stop with their anti-Bumfuzzle ranting. There is an especially angry group of people going on and on at the moment. Here is one of the quotes that I think really says a lot about the difference between us and the internet cruisers.

I’m all for the “gung ho we’ll figure it out as we go” attitude, but this is taking things too far. Sometimes s*** like this makes me wonder what the f*** is wrong with me that I have to plan out every little detail of a trip of just 40-50 miles, but then I remember that I have also yet to be in a situation where things are spiraling out of control due to lack of planning. Except for the time I delivered my new boat to a new marina I hadn’t been to before…

Ooooh, forty miles to a marina he’s never been in before. Wow, adventure. These guys like to say they’re all for the gung ho, figure it out as you go, attitude, but in reality they aren’t even remotely close to living that way. Ali and I are. We embrace that philosophy in everything we do in life and it has served us extremely well every step of the way.

And again, I can’t stress the point enough that these guys are talking about sailing a boat. It’s not as if we bought an airplane, climbed in it, started pushing buttons, and took off. It’s a BOAT! You are maybe moving five miles an hour on a good day. There are only about two things you need to understand to keep yourself alive. One, don’t fall off the boat. Two, don’t go sailing in a hurricane. Done. Can you do that? Then as far as I’m concerned you are ready to go sailing anywhere between about forty degrees north and forty degrees south latitude.

Might you run onto a reef? You might. Might you hit a dock a little hard once or twice? Probably. Might your boat sink, forcing you to climb into a life raft and survive on rainwater and turtles for a hundred days? No. It’s not going to happen. Stop trying to make sailing sound so epic and dangerous. It’s not. Cruisers only make these things sound possible in order to make themselves seem more like heroes of the sea and less like bums who like to drink rum in exotic ports.

Funny, this particular group of internet sailors call themselves sailing anarchists. Anarchists? Yeah.

08-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Taking advantage of any bit of nice weather we can get means going through a whole lot of laundry.

09-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
The whole family went out mattress shopping today. Exciting. Nice thing about Mattress World though is that a baby can have free reign. Nothing but softness everywhere.

10-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
My mom’s neighbors have two giant maple trees that drop approximately 300 tons of helicopters per year onto her roof. Therefore it is my duty as a son to risk life and limb every visit to clear the gutters. Today Ouest watched and even clapped as I descended the ladder for the last time. Nice to have somebody who cares.

11-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Making banana bread with Ouest’s great-grandmother’s recipe straight out of the small town Minnesota Lutheran church cookbook.

11-Dec-2010 8:44 PM
Ouest is becoming more and more lovey-dovey lately. She’s finally started giving kisses. Before bed at night she waves to Grammy, blows her a kiss, and then gives her the real deal. Pretty sweet.

12-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Ouest had a terrible night last night and woke up today in a pretty sad mood. The past week or two she’s been battling a couple of lower molars, but after last night’s screaming we figured something more was going on. And there was. We found two top molars jabbing through now as well. That means she has four four-pronged teeth poking through her gums at the moment. We cut her a little slack for the bad mood today and scrambled to do anything we could to pacify her. Pulling her around and around the room in her Little People wagon did the trick.

13-Dec-2010 ouest lill. twelve months.
Ouest-erly,

A year. Wow. We knew this day would come, but there were plenty of times that it didn’t feel like it. The first couple of months we often wondered if you’d ever turn three months, then we wondered if we’d all make it to six months, and then, and then things smoothed out. Either we became better parents or you decided to simply take it easy on us. Like you could see we needed you to cut us a little slack. And you did, so thank you for that.

We had an exceptionally busy year. Not our most exotic in terms of travel destinations, but we did cover some ground. Your year in travel looked like this. Mexico > Minnesota > Mexico > Minnesota > Oregon > Minnesota > Florida > Minnesota > California > Minnesota > California > Minnesota > Oregon. That included a whole lot of airplanes on which you seemed to have no problems whatsoever. Generally you flirted with a half dozen people around us and got everybody on your side just in case you decided at some point to let out a little “I’m bored” scream. You were so good at flying in fact that quite a few old ladies stopped to tell us what good parents we were. Again, thank you for that.

Your mama and I managed to accomplish a couple of our parental goals this year. One was that we were determined not to park you in front of a television. And at one year you still have no idea who Elmo or Nemo are. We’re not totally anti-television ourselves but we do feel that it is all just brainless drivel designed to turn a child into a mega-consumer, and that’s just not what we want. So sorry, no cartoons for you. Fortunately life on a boat lends itself to easily avoiding the lazy television trap. Instead we’ll continue to try and show you the world first hand.

At one year you still don’t have a clue what sweets are. For desert you eat fruit and have no idea that it’s good for you. No sugar, as little salt as we can manage, no fried food, no mystery meat hot dogs, and no chicken nuggets. Never mind that your mama and I eat what could be considered an exclusively junk food diet, we’ve still somehow managed to keep you eating completely healthy. Problem is, with you getting older you’ve begun to watch what we are eating a little more closely, and we’re not looking forward to the day we need to begin setting a good example. Though that day seems to be approaching quickly. We’re really hoping that in a few years you’ll take over kitchen duty for us all.

So today, your first birthday. First thing first, get those measurements. Twenty-three and a half pounds, and thirty-one inches long, lean, and mean. You’ve been bigger than the average bear since you were about eight weeks, at which point the doctor actually instructed us to stop feeding you so much. Apparently he wanted to keep you tiny. It didn’t work.

Next up, pick up the cake. Someday you’ll kill us for trying to do what we did today, but for now we figure you’re just too young to know any better. We got you a sugar-free birthday cake. It wasn’t bad either, though when the time came and we sang Happy Birthday and plopped the thing down in front of you, you were having none of it. Truth be told I think you just weren’t very hungry, having just had lunch a little earlier. But whatever the problem was you didn’t take one bite of cake and the only reason you touched it at all was to play with the twirly string running along its edge. So much for the obligatory messy first birthday cake eating pictures.

Back at Grammy’s for the birthday festivities we managed to keep it low key. I know it killed Grammy to do so, but your mama and I are like that. You’re one for goodness sake. We give you everything you could possibly need already, so just because it’s your birthday seems to us a silly reason to suddenly go consumer crazy. So years from now you’ll probably look back at this birthday and feel like you got ripped off, but I can assure you that at this moment, lying in bed, you don’t have the slightest clue what you received for gifts today. Mama got you a balloon and a couple of big flowers, Grammy got you a couple books and a toy pot of vegetables, yes vegetables, and Aunt Beth came through with some stacking blocks. You liked them all. You’re very welcome. Don’t mention it.

And that was your birthday. I admit I’m a little sad now that you’re so old. I think the rules state that until you are two years old I can continue to count your age in months instead of years, but I just know it’s not going to feel the same as it did those first eleven months. You’re not a baby now you’re a kid. A one-year-old kid. Your mama asked today whether or not there was a pill we could give you to stop you from aging another minute. You’re perfect right here as far as we’re concerned.

As an aside, Ouest received a lot of happy birthday wishes and even some gifts from you, our Bum friends, despite me not mentioning the looming big day beforehand. It’s extremely thoughtful of all of you and we’d just like to say thanks. It’s pretty great to know that so many, from so far and wide, were thinking of her today.

14-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
We met with some more new Bum friends today. We do this probably about once a week on average, which sounds kind of weird when I think about it. I mean, who goes to lunch with strangers once a week? The first question we’re always asked is, “Isn’t it strange meeting people that you don’t know when they know so much about you?” And I guess at one time it was, but not any more. It’s so easy. It’s like going on a blind date but not having to make small talk. The people meeting us already have questions for us based on what they’ve read, and it’s equally easy for us to ask questions because we usually don’t know anything about the person we’re meeting. All right, reading this over again I admit it does all seem a bit weird. But it’s been great. Thanks again everyone.

15-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Uncle JJ flew into town today, meaning my mom gets both her boys in the house for Christmas for the first time in many a year.

16-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Today was decorate the tree day. We’re going all out around here this year. Except for the presents thing, there are none of those. We were having a good time, reminiscing on Christmas’ past, and taking a few thousand pictures of Ouest during her Christmas present.

Then we heard a knock on the door and answered to find a guy, down on his luck, carrying a rake and shovel and asking if we had any work we needed done. We didn’t, but I told him to hang on anyway because we’d like to help him out a little bit. Almost immediately he started to cry. It was obvious things hadn’t been going his way for a while, and that today hadn’t been much different. I don’t know that we made much of a difference in his life, but he helped hit it home for me just how fortunate we all are, and reinforce in me what Christmas is all about.

McDonald’s gift certificates.

17-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
This afternoon the family loaded up and went out to the World Forestry Center to see an exhibition titled The Last Polar Bear. It was a cool photo exhibition documenting the troubles polar bears are facing with the shrinking ice pack in the Arctic. The forestry center itself was pretty fun for Ouest too with tons of hands-on displays for her to mess around with.

On the way home I was stopped by Portland’s finest. A late lane change over a solid white line in order to avoid ending up downtown had gotten us. Stupid thing is that I actually knew the cop was right behind me when I did it. I just have become so accustomed to common sense that I really didn’t think he’d stop me. Low speeds and light traffic didn’t matter to this guy. Either did the fact that I’m an out-of-towner. In fact I think that one worked against me. What could be better for him than giving me a $287 ticket while knowing full well that I couldn’t show up at court a month later to do anything about it? And really, $287? My last ticket was like fifteen years ago for driving about twenty-five over the speed limit. That ticket cost a hundred bucks. Now a simple lane change violation is three times that amount? Brutal. Merry Christmas officer.

18-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Christmas’ past. Ali and I started dating about three months prior to this first picture in 1990. Ali was smoking hot in her silky green ensemble, and yes, my pants were rolled and pinned at the bottom. Thank you very much. A couple of years later we somehow felt it necessary to “dress up.” God I love looking back at those days.

19-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Today my brother turned twenty-nine. He just started back at school to work on yet another Master’s degree. I joked that he’ll be the first one in the family to graduate from college in his thirties. To which he immediately cited an uncle of ours who had gotten a degree in his thirties. It was obvious he’d already given that fact considerable thought. I know the boomer generation tried to make us believe that fifty was the new forty, and another group set out to prove that forty was the new thirty, but is thirty really the new twenty?

20-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
We went over to a friend’s house today. A friend with a two-year-old girl for Ouest to play with. For hours these two played in total silence, taking each other in, but careful not to get too involved. Ouest has a thing around new friends in which she just really likes to touch them. If they’ll stand still long enough she’ll stare right through them while reaching out and gently prodding their faces with her fingertips. It’s as if she’s checking to see if they are real or not. Anyway, thank you Camille for your patience.

21-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
On our way to the mall we made bets on what Ouest’s reaction to Santa Claus would be. Would she cry, would she smile, or would, as I predicted, she freeze up and do absolutely nothing? To Ouest, Santa is just another stranger who wants to hold her. As long as we’re still nearby that’s fine with her, just don’t expect her to act happy about it. We received about a dozen photos and the look on her face never wavered, despite both Santa and the elves doing everything they could think to do to get her to smile. So anyway, we had fun doing the Santa thing again. Maybe next year Ouest will have a clue as to what all the fuss is about. But knowing her parents probably not.

22-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Ouest has been incredibly fun lately. She laughs easily, plays well, and gives up lots of kisses. While the kisses are great, the best part for me is really the genuine laughing. She really is starting to get a sense of humor, understands teasing, and even seems to pick up on our sarcasm, which if she is going to survive her childhood, will become an invaluable tool for her.

23-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Today was Ali’s birthday. We don’t really do anything for birthdays, but we did have plans today to go to West Marine and then grab a beer and a pizza. Of course making plans with a baby doesn’t work out so well. The night before we managed about three hours of sleep. Ouest was having a hard time cutting what we hope is her final molar for a while. Nothing much worked to ease her discomfort so that by the time we started to drift back to sleep after finally getting her down she would be crying again. She finally got to sleep soundly at about the time that she normally gets up for the day. This in turn pushed off her naptime and feedings and before we knew it the day was nearing a close and there was little hope left for that beer and pizza.

We did however make it out to buy boat supplies. We dropped a quick twenty-five hundred bucks on a GPS, a handheld VHF, wind and depth instruments, an inverter remote, and a battery monitor. I told Ali the GPS was her birthday present and then we went outside, changed a diaper on the backseat of the car, and went home. And this is why we don’t fuss over birthdays.

24-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Stanich’s. Possibly the greatest patty melt ever. And we all know that nothing says Christmas Eve like a patty melt at the pub. Oh come on, it was Christmas Eve afternoon. And the place was packed.

25-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Merry Christmas. Ali and I don’t actually do Christmas, but that didn’t stop Grammy and Uncle JJ. Though I must say they were very respectful of our Scrooge-ish-ness and kept the gift giving to a minimum. I hate to sound all sanctimonious about the holiday, but seeing as we’re not religious, and we’re trying to stray from consumerism, this holiday is about the worst offender for the two of us. We realize that as Ouest gets older we’ll have to adjust our feelings to accommodate her a little bit, but at the ripe old age of one this little girl doesn’t understand even a little bit about what December twenty-fifth is about. And that showed true as she immediately ignored the gifts and wandered about with the bags and tissue paper. Thirty minutes later she was once again engrossed in her game of “carry the shoes around the kitchen,” and completely oblivious to the fact that her mama and papa didn’t buy a single Christmas gift.

26-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
We had ourselves a bit of a family get together today, which was great because Ouest got to spend time with my two favorite cousins’ girls. Sweet little things who loved having a baby to play with. I can’t believe Ouest is going to be this big and have this much hair some day.

At one point this afternoon Ainsley, the little girl on the left, took a good long look at my brother and declared, “You look like a billionaire.” Then, after a few moments of contemplation, she looked me right in the eyes and said, “And you look like an ice-cream man.” She’s right, I do look like an ice-cream man. I’m glad she doesn’t have a hard time telling it like it is. A little later she was talking with my brother again, “Do you like Star Wars,” she asked. “I love Star Wars!” he replied excitedly. With a deadpan expression she said simply, “I hate it.” When she finally got down to the real business at hand and asked if he’d ever kissed a girl her mom swept in with the duct tape.

27-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
It seems to me that there is always at least one child per family who enjoys cooking. In our case it is my brother. Two hours to cook a bird? It was good, but I could have driven to Taco Bell and back six times by then.

28-Dec-2010 9:51 AM
Ouest isn’t talking yet, which you can sense is about to start leading to some frustration. I shouldn’t say she doesn’t talk, she talks all the time, she just isn’t saying anything identifiable. To be honest I was really looking forward to her walking but not so much with the talking. I’m a little worried about what might come out of that mouth of hers. There are times when she gets frustrated that she rattles off a string of what can only be described as obscenities. Arms flailing, foot stomping, and the f-bomb flying. I just know it.

28-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Ouest likes to sneeze, she does it and immediately looks up at us and laughs. She likes to be scared. We play games in which we pop out of nowhere and yell; she jumps, then laughs hysterically. She screams like a girl when she’s excited and happy about anything. She can kick a ball. Really kick it. We say, “Kick the ball,” and she walks right up and swings her leg into it. She eats equally well with her left or her right hand. We can’t say definitively that she is a righty. She won’t pet the dogs or cats but will instead poke them gently on the forehead with one finger. She kisses with her mouth wide open, but doesn’t hug, and will squeeze away from us if we try. She can play for a very long time with shoes. Longer than with any toy she’s ever been given. Ouest is a sweet, fun girl.

29-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
Ouest spends a lot of time in this chair these days. Thus the picture two days in a row. She always seems proud of herself when she’s in it. Such a big girl.

31-Dec-2010 our life. daily.
2010 was a very good year. I’ve got a great wife, a beautiful daughter, a boat that floats, a stock market that makes things easy, and a life lived on my own terms. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to 2011.