Visiting the Lims

One of the things that we miss most about being new parents is hanging out with our friends. We especially rockin' out with our friends Adam and Beth, and their kids Mia, Angelina and Ethan.

Ethan playing with Kelly's guitar

Otis and "girlfriends" - Angelina (front) and Mia (back)

Beth and Eirik

Mia getting her cute on

Angelina insisting that she sings better than Otis (which is true)

Adam focusing on Call of Duty with Mia giving us some of her inner diva

Beth and Eirik

Ethan dancing to Rock Band music

Ethan looking concerned over that usurper on Beth's lap

The many faces of sleeping Eirik

Most of Eirik's day right now is being taken up by sleeping. We're grateful for that because we know that sooner than we'd like, he's going to be up and running and being a complete go-go kid like his mom.

So here are some pictures of little man being fast asleep and really sweet.

Eirik asleep in his Boppy-nest

Eirik swaddled on Kelly's lap

Nothing's sweeter than a sleeping baby... Except a sleeping baby snuggling with you!

Otis and Eirik asleep after PT

Kelly and Eirik taking an afternoon siesta

Spring Time Flowers

One of the most wonderful things about coming out of winter is the look and smell of spring flowers. Nothing compares with the sweet smell of lilies, hyacinths, violets, tulips and many of the other spring flowers that bloom and chase away the last vestiges of winter with their colorful petals.

Eirik and I took a walk late last month to enjoy the area around Titlow Park and took some photos of one sleepy baby and some pretty flowers we picked along the way.

Eirik and Eddie

Before Eirik came along, we were the proud parents of three fur children:

Eddie (12 years old)

Lady (3 years old)

and, last, but not any way by a long shot, least -

Toby (2 years old).

We freely admit that we shamelessly spoiled them - their very own cat fountain, an IKEA cat bed, comfy blankets on the windows to look outside, outside birds that were fed for their amusement, tasty food, treats, toys, catnip and and open door to our bedroom. We were slightly concerned when Eirik came along that our original "children" would be quite upset.

So far, things have been OK, not perfect, but OK. Lady is indifferent, and Toby, Kelly's former "baby," has taken to sulking by sleeping in the kitchen in his cat bed by the back window and ignoring Kelly.

Eddie, however, has taken on his familiar role of "kitten raiser" and is hard at the task of minding Eirik. One of the more interesting things he does is wake up Kelly by tapping her on the head when Eirik is starting to stir before she knows it.

Hey, boss... I think your kitten is about to wake up.

As Eddie has gotten older, he's slowed down a little and one of his favorite things to do is nap in the sunshine. Not to mention that he loves to snuggle with little man.

Eirik: I'll fight you for the bed.
Eddie: I still outweigh you 2 to 1, wee man...

And as the head cat of the house and Kelly's longtime companion, it comes as no surprise that he's also added protector to his job role. Nothing quite like having a furry guardian to watch over you.

Yes, I know this is your bed, but there it's my job to watch out for monsters!

If Eddie were a dog - this would be him!

Eirik and Kelly at Sonic

When Kelly was pregnant with Eirik, one of the worst cravings she had was for the famous Cherry Lime-aid of Sonic Drive-In. When Kelly was living in South Carolina, Sonic was just down the road, and she often stopped there on her way to inspect pools on Hilton Head Island.

Flash forward a couple of years to Labor Day... In the icky-morning sickness days of being pregnant, one of those Cherry Lime-Aids sure sounded good. Needless to say, Sonic wasn't down the road, so on a trip to Idaho, Kelly stopped in Spokane, Washington for one of those famous drinks. (And to get one for the road, too!)

My pregnancy, sponsored by Sonic!

Almost a year later, we now have a Sonic in Puyallup and on our trip to Wisconsin, we just had to stop at the Sonic on Miller Parkway in Milwaukee for one of those famous Cherry Lime-aids, a coney dog, and of course, the tots!

Repeat after me: Hello, my name is Kelly, and I'm a Limeaidaholic.

But Kelly wasn't the only recipient of that luscious Labor Day Lime-aid... So here we have some shameless pictures of Eirik posing with some of the delights of Sonic!

Eirik with a coney dog that's as big as he is.

No, go find your own tots!

Long time, no post.

It's been a long time since we last posted on our blog - all of the experiences of new parenthood are settling in and, with them, figuring out our days and what to do with them.

Seeing as how it's been more than a month - here's what you've missed!

- Eirik visited his family in Idaho over Easter and met Grampa Don and Nana Janna, along with all of Nana Janna's family, including Great Gramma Dee and Great Grampa Roy.

- Eirik got his 2 month shots... and was not happy about it. And despite feeling like we've betrayed his tiny trust by having 3 needles jabbed into him, we feel that, as a public health preventative measure, vaccinations are important not only to him, but to also help stop the spread of childhood diseases everywhere.

- Eirik had his baby blessing ceremony at Circle Sanctuary in Wisconsin. Surrounded by family, friends, and a supportive community, we called on our gods, our ancestors and the elements to protect and guide him through his days.

- Eirik met his Wisconsin family and friends as well at a party in his honor. Great Gramma Jan came by, and we visited Great Gramma Leona at her room in the care center. Many of our family friends, close friends and family members visited us in Sheboygan, ate cake, and got to hold and cuddle him for the first time.

- Eirik had his baby portraits taken by Tiffany and is one handsome little guy. We can't wait for the photos!

- Eirik is now on the weight and height tables for his age - he's in the lower percentiles, but his growth has been amazing, he is really healthy and is doing incredibly well.

- Eirik can hold up his head for longer periods during the day, and can give us these great baby smiles.

We have a lot of great photos and we'll be sharing them with you in the days to come!

Yo homes!

Eirik wearing a too-big hoodie and trying out his gangster-cute look.

No escape for you!

Eirik holding on to his binkie to make sure it doesn't get away as he was nodding off to sleep

A walk on Ruston Way

Seeing as how it was sunny (gasp!) on Sunday, we decided to make the best of a nice day and go for a drive and then a walk down Ruston Way. Even though it looked warm, it was kind of chilly with the wind coming off the Sound. Despite that, it was still nice to get out.

The view on Ruston Way. You can see it snowing in the mountains in the distance.

Looking across the Sound to Dash Point. The pilings are from an old lumber mill.

Sweethearts finding a nice way to keep warm.

Eirik slid down into the sling just as the timer went off so all you see is his little head!

Kelly posing with Eirik in the sling

Eirik staying all snuggly-toasty and happy with his hat and binkie in the sling.

Happy family!

Otis in front of the pilings looking for interesting bits of stuff

Kelly and Eirik snuggling after his hat was blown off

"Happy Hour", Skype, and Visitors

Seeing as how Eirik and the cats have managed to coordinate their awake and rarin' to go times, mom is up, too. So Eirik will hopefully sack out in the sling, while Kelly beats the blog into shape and gets some pictures of things posted.

While we love reading email and getting calls on our cell phones, for those of you who have Skype and want to do the nifty video call thing to see what entertaining things little man can do, our Skype ID is otis.d.richardson. Give us a holler! We'd like to hear from you.

And speaking of getting in touch, one of the great/not-so-great things about living on an Army post is that you live in a gated community:


The positive thing is that it keeps out most of the door-to-door solicitors (nothing quite beats telling one of those enthusiastic young people that you've already purchased some Hinduism today) and other assorted odd folks that have a tendency to show up unannounced - like drunk neighbors, that one weird friend, or other fun characters.

The negative thing is that there still odd folks that show up unannounced because they live on post, and the solicitors are more likely to be people with large chunks of brass on their shoulders looking to do a health and welfare inspection (nothing quite beats telling one of those enthusiastic staff sergeants that you're in the middle of breastfeeding your son).

But quirks aside, it's not bad living here, and we would like you to know you're free to visit! Really!

So how do you manage to visit us here on beautiful Fort Lewis without getting the "We're here from the Government, and we're here to help" two-step?

Follow these easy and quick steps to visit us on Fort Lewis:

1. Gather the following documents:

• A driver's license if you are driving your own vehicle on post or a government issued photo ID if you are a passenger above 16
• The registration for your car
• Proof of insurance
• Current vaccination forms, credit report, and results of last physical (just kidding..)
  

A sample of the people we'd rather not see

2. Take all of that fun stuff and go to the Visitor's Center which is off of "Main Post" part of Exit 120 on I-5.

3. Once at the Visitor's Center, take a number, and if the line is long, make snarky mental comparisons of how this is better/worse than the DMV, or just people watch.

I've got number 215. What number are they on? 6? Oh fuuuuuuuuun.

4. Once the cheerful, polite and efficient workers at the Visitor's Center run your license to see if it's valid, as well as check your registration and insurance, you'll get this nifty piece of paper which is your all-access pass to get on post.

5. After receiving your pass, exit the Visitor's Center and get back on the I-5 North. DO NOT go through the Main Gate because our ability to give instructions to get to our house from the Main Gate is not great, and you might wind up lost and run over by Stryker.

I think we were supposed to take a left back therAHHHHHH!

6. Get off I-5 on Exit 122, Berekely Street and take a right into the Madigan Gate. Once you get up to the gate, present the magic piece of paper issued to you by the cheerful, polite and efficient workers at Visitor's Center to the cheerful, polite and efficient security guards at the gate, who will probably give you a random search of your vehicle. Don't be offended. They missed out on body cavity duty and generally try to take it out on your car.

Be gentle, it's my Volvo's first time...

7. Once through the gate, go to the first stop light and pull into the little mini-mart, which is the Shoppette, on the left. Give us a call, and we'll guide you in the rest of the way.

8. (Optional) While you're waiting, run inside the Shoppette, get yourself an adult beverage and curse the bureaucratic nonsense you've just endured.

A reward for a job well done!

That was easy, wasn't it?

We look forward to seeing you!

Building a library: Part 3, Your turn!

As soon as I hit "Publish Post" on the blog, I realized that it might be fun to read about what kid and baby books our loyal readers think are the cat's pajamas.


So loyal readers, we ask you:

What are your favorite books for children and why?

We're looking to build up Eirik's library, so we'd like your suggestions! Drop us a comment!

Building a library: Part 2, A start

Our parents read to us when we were little - Kelly's mom couldn't seem to get a moment's peace without Kelly bringing her a book to read or sliding one under the bathroom door. We believe that our parents' commitment to reading to us made us the readers we are today.

We're very big into reading at the house - Kelly practically devours books, and Otis loves his Horus Heresy, Dragonlance, and anything by Neil Gaimann. Our library is both our pride and pain (just when it comes to making it under our weight allotment for moving), and we have over 1000 books.

So when it comes to books for Eirik, we got our library started for him with a book from Auntie Erin:


You Were Loved Before You Were Born is a very cool story about all of the things a family and their friends do to get ready and welcome a new baby. It's a really sweet book.

We also would be amiss if we didn't pick up the perennial favorite of preschoolers and past-presidents alike, The Very Hungry Caterpillar:


Kelly snagged a copy of this book and a really nifty caterpillar rattle-y toy thing at Safeway on clearance one day. It's a good book for learning colors and numbers, and the pictures are pretty spiffy.

We also have a couple of books at home that are Kelly's favorites and will get read to Eirik a lot:

Cat, You Better Come Home is a really fun read by Garrison Keillor. Kelly's a big fan of Garrison Keillor and his Lake Wobegone Days series as well as the weekly radio program, A Prairie Home Companion. This book has got some great rhymes in it (can you think of something that rhymes with Chateaubriand? Garrison did!) and tells the story of a dissatisfied feline who leaves home for fun and adventure!

This is a Reading Rainbow book, and could quite possibly be the reason why Kelly loves to cartoon as much as she does. What happens when a boy leaves a drawing stranded on tablet of paper? You get Simon's Book!

We hope that Eirik loves these books as much as we do!