Jen and I have really enjoyed letting Declan's hair pretty much determine it's own path. Even during the times where his hair seemed to be an imperfect combination of a mullet, a Donald Trump-esce comb-over, and the oh-so-flattering rat-tail, he still managed to be exceedingly cute.

We came to the realization that it might just be time to impose our structures upon nature's whim when folks, upon first meeting Declan, referred to him as a her. And while he brushed it off like it didn't even phase him, it was the final cue indicating that perhaps, the time had arrived.

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We had just gotten him to take a couple steps between Jen and me two Sundays ago and then, this Sunday, Declan just started walking all over the place. And now he's unstoppable. Course he still can't stand up by himself (unless sitting on a big step). But once he's standing he's quite good unless he catches a foot on something, guess we'll have a lot more scrapes and bruises in the coming weeks.

It's a lot more work to keep up with him now and he can get himself into trouble but at least if we put him on his back, he's stuck there... hasn't seemed to connect the fact that he can role from his back to his tummy and get up from there... but that goes back to hating being on his tummy.

  

So it's not that I've been working too much lately to write up a new entry on Declan's various exploits, he just hasn't been producing... he hasn't done one cute thing since December.

Well, okay maybe one or two things, ... I don't even think he was scooting properly last time I wrote and he's been doing that forever. He's quite a hit with his preferred choice of mobility... you see, Declan hates "tummy-time" where he's supposed to happily play on his stomach and in the process, develop key muscles and learn to crawl. When we put Declan on his stomach, he usually bursts out crying immediately. After several minutes of this, when he determines that were not going to "save him", he usually lies his head on the ground, fusses, and waits for it to be over, and pretty much refuses to try crawling, playing, rolling over, or anything else productive.

But Declan's very curious and loves to explore and so he figured out how to get around without all that ridiculous crawling stuff, instead he sticks his leg out, digs his heal in, and pulls with his leg, switches legs and repeats... (see a scooting video)

Lots of new pics up on my Picasa Web Album.

  

As most people know, Google makes some really cool stuff, and most of it is free. I've been using their free photo browsing/editing/organizing Picasa for quite awhile now as it's the best thing I've found for doing that type of thing. And now they've released Picasa Web Albums which integrates seemlessly, gives you quite a bit of storage for free, and a huge amount if you don't mind paying a bit... I haven't yet decided if I'm going to abandon my current photo gallery software and just use Picasa Web Albums instead, but I'm leaning that way.

For now, anyway, I'll be uploading new stuff to both until I decide. Which way should I go?   

and you work too much...
and you spend too much time in front of a computer...

...when the most exciting thing you've gotten in a long time, is a chair... but this isn't any chair, it's the "Life" chair by Knoll. Everyone knows about the Aeron chair by Hermain Miller, but Aeron is so 1990's... the new thing in chairs is the ability to move with you and still be supportive so you're no longer restricted to one proper position... As I'm incapable of maintaining one posture for 10 hours a day, this is what I needed.

Knoll has a showroom here in St. Louis and they let me take home each of the desk chairs for 3-4 day test drive which was great. One of their chairs, the Chadwick, was designed by the same guy who designed the Aeron, but like the Aeron, just didn't work for me.

And now that I've bored you to tears if you indeed got this far, we'll return to our main feature... (Declan of course)   

There are many great things about working at home, but my favorite is being able to take a break and spend time with Jen and Declan when the moment's right. The other day we took advantage of this by walking to the loop for lunch the day after the big ice storm. Ice was coating everything and made for some great shots.

We didn't yet have gloves for Declan so we put some ski mittens on him instead... he seem to enjoy having such oversize paws with which he continually "patted" me upside the head as he rode along on my back.   

Ya see... babies sleep on their backs now as it's believed to be effective in preventing SIDS. But in doing so, they can develop what's called a flat head. Think of taking a ball of playdoh and dropping it from a couple feet up, that's Declan's head. Flat in one spot on the back of his head, and a bit mis-shapen overall. That's what the helmet is for. It lets it grow to fill in the flattened spots and prevents growth where it's too big. He'll be wearing it for 4-6 months.

Luckily, he doesn't seem to mind it.   

One of my favorite things to do now is feeding Declan... I was amazed at how fast he was able to figure the whole thing out. I had my doubts for the first couple days as he didn't seem to get the "open your mouth" concept, his tongue served as more of an output device rather than a swallowing device, and bibs were an absolute necessity. But within a few days Declan had it down, he opens his mouth when ready for another bite (whether we're ready or not), 95% of the food actually seems to make its way down his throat, and he just generally seems to like it. The only issue really is distractions, people moving around, favorite toys, belly button lint, ... all can cause him to suddenly jerk his head so that what previously was just about in his mouth instead suddenly gets stuck into his ear.   

An old friend from New Orleans was on NPR a few days ago... she runs a SnoBall (aka sno-cone) stand her grandparents started in New Orleans.   Read More...

We just returned from a nine day trip to Seattle, Portland, and the surrounding areas. It's truly beautiful up there. I'd love to live there for a couple months at some point though St. Louis is definitely my home.

We had fabulous hosts in Dan and Kai (of Metropolis fame) in Seattle and Noel (one of my college roommates) and Stacia in Portland. It was particularly cool staying with Noel and Stacia as they have a son that's 4 weeks younger than Declan (and a fabulous 2 year old daughter too!).

We didn't get in as much outdoorsy stuff as usual due to the Declan factor but still managed to get in a bunch of day hikes and saw lots of beautiful scenery.

Declan did great overall. He had no problems on the plane rides (other than an inconvenient diaper blow out on the way home) and everyone commented on how good he was. He slept though chunks of the hikes but enjoyed them otherwise. The car rides were the most difficult (he's usually very content back there) and required several hundred rounds of 'Wheels on the Bus', lots of backseat riding, and several stops. But all in all, he was his usual cheerful self, though he's happy to be home.

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