Day 1 SoCal Roadtrip - Hittin' The Road

Yeah, who doesn't love a roadtrip! This passerby is having almost as much fun as me, and our trip has only just begun... Only 236 miles to go til we hit SLO.

My Baby's Kiss

The Wonder of Skype

Hannah is pictured below (in San Francisco, CA) watching and listening to Memaw and Boppa as they talk to her live from Wilmette, IL via a simple software download which enables free VoIP technology. We would like to thank my good friend Brandon Blau for bringing this service to our attention, and we hope that this blog entry encourages our family members to get hooked up. It's free and it is very simple to set up. We'd be happy to help..!

Skype is software that allows users to make telephone calls over the Internet. Calls to other users of the service and to free-of-charge numbers are free, while calls to other landlines and mobile phones can be made for a fee. Additional features include instant messaging, file transfer and video conferencing. It was created by entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis, and a team of software developers based in Tallinn, Estonia. The Skype Group has its headquarters in Luxembourg, with offices in London, Tallinn, Tartu, Stockholm, Prague, and San Jose. Skype has experienced rapid growth in popular usage since the launch of its services. It was acquired by eBay in September 2005 for $2.6 billion. - Wikipedia.

A Salt With a Deadly Pepa

"Ow wait a minute, y'all this dance ain't for everybody only the sexy people so all you fly mothers, get on out there and dance Dance, I said! Salt and Pepa's hit and we're in effect want you to push it, babe! Coolin' by day then at night working up a sweat Yo, yo, yo, yo, baby-pop Yeah!" - Hannah & Reece Y'all. RESPECT to Cheyrl & Sandi.

Urban Safari

Hannah is crawling everywhere now, and as this photo illustrates, she is able to pull herself up to a standing position. She loves investigating her surroundings, and here she is inspecting the jungle grasses on the high plateaus of her crib plains. She likes to stare at an object after we have pointed to it or tapped on it and repeated its name, and she has recently (but only on occasion, not consistently) followed the direction of an extended arm or finger in seeming comprehension that they are pointing gestures signifying a purpose.

We fledgling parents have been reading up on our "baby signs" and learning about the benefits of using infant sign language. we are hopeful that in the next 12 months a few signs might make their way into Hannah's repertoire and help her communicate her thoughts with us. She is clearly soaking up her surroundings and is already showing a healthy sense of independence. For example, a month ago Hannah would have accepted her pacifier happily if we held it up to her mouth. Now she will wave her hands in front of her face and bat our hands away in protest if we try to place the pacifier in her mouth, but she will peacefully accept the pacifier if we place it in her hands so that she can put in her mouth by herself. Little developments like this are happening daily for Hannah, making this time so much fun for us.

Hands of a Surgeon

Hand Shadows

Hand Shadows
Mary Cornish

My father put his hands in the white light
of the lantern, and his palms became a horse
that flicked its ears and bucked; an alligator
feigning sleep along the canvas wall leapt up
and snapped its jaws in silhouette, or else
a swan would turn its perfect neck and drop
a fingered beak toward that shadowed head
to lightly preen my father's feathered hair.
Outside our tent, skunks shuffled in the woods
beneath a star that died a little every day,
and from a nebula of light diffused
inside Orion's sword, new stars were born.
My father's hands became two birds, linked
by a thumb, they flew one following the other.

Tales of a 1st Grade Cousin