In Good Company

As fortune would have it, within weeks of Joy's arrival many of our friends had new additions to their families, as well. Here are some pictures of Joy meeting potential playmates this past week:
Kimberly's former BYU roommate Cathy Schaller, pictured here with Gwynneth who was born in November.

Elizabeth Cullimore and Debbie Couts, our friends from church who stopped by while they and their babies were out for a walk. Elizabeth's daughter Sophie was born a few weeks before Joy, and Debbie's son Matthew arrived about a week after Joy did.

Joy is pictured here with Ian, the son of Michelle Lee, a member of Kimberly's spinning guild (Kimberly owns a spinning wheel). Though they arrived only a day apart, Ian is a lot bigger because he is techinically a month older - Joy was two weeks early, and Ian was two weeks late.

Isn't that precious?

Grandparents are almost as cute as their grandkids. . . .

Almost.

Action Shot

Joy looks forward to making snow angels in Arrowhead next winter.

Baby and Photo Op Were All Wet

It's funny how we let some things intimidate us. For example, I was scared of baking with yeast for the longest time. Don't know why I was so afraid of 'em - goodness knows I'm a lot bigger than they are. But I digress.

For several weeks, I've been illogically intimidated by our daughter's baby tub. That's right, a tub. I'd been giving Joy sponge baths just fine, and though technically we could have graduated to the tub weeks ago, it just seemed like there were too many things to do (decided where to put it, track down the baby soap, read up on baby bathing beforehand, etc.), and I didn't feel like dealing with it. However, since I'll need to transition from sponge baths sometime before she goes to college, I decided tonight might as well be the night.

I am happy to report that both bather and bathee came through the experience just fine. Joy seemed pretty content the entire time, and I didn't do too badly, either. Afterward, as I reflected on this major milestone in our lives, I decided we ought to take a commemorative photo of the event. Refilling the bathtub seemed a bit much, so we wrapped our cheerful little baby in her towel again for the picture. Unfortunately, . . .
Joy didn't think the idea was so hot. In fact, she told us that having a damp towel on her head was downright chilly.

Recognizing the futility of opposing the iron will of a one-month-old, we cut the photo session short and removed the towel (note the ruffly sleeve - Joy still had her sleeper on underneath) . . .

. . . whereupon Baby calmed right down. You'll notice the princess pictures all over her sleeper. Yeah, we know who's in charge here, and it ain't the big people. Maybe I was right to be scared of those little yeast.

Snide comments aside, you've got to admit that's a cute face. Is she getting big or what?

Happy baby

Joy smiles for us on a regular basis, but because her smiles are so short, it's difficult to get one on camera and have it look good. We got this picture today after taking a series of about 40 pictures (our camera has a burst mode which allows us to capture lots of photos quickly).

She is the cutest baby ever!!

(click the photo to download & print)

Happy Holiday

Joy wants to wish everyone a happy Martin Luther King Day!

We tried to explain that she was dressed for the wrong holiday . . .
. . . but really, how DOES one dress for Martin Luther King Day, anyway? Whatever.

Archery update

Here's the latest from the archery world for Phillip: since the last archery post, in which we posted pictures of me, Kimberly and Joy at the archery range, I've been back to the range a number of times, learned some things, and had a great deal of fun (I was there when the Rose Bowl game started not more than a mile or two north of the range).

For example, one thing thing that I've learned is that the range is much larger than I initially thought.

This picture is a satellite image of the range where we shoot (compliments of Google maps). Running down the center of the picture is the drainage canal that runs through the Arroyo Seco, and to the right of it is the parking area. On the left side of the image is a row of five or six blobs that are casting shadows behind them. Those are the hay bales where Kimberly and I had shot previously. However, on one of my trips there, another archer informed me that there were a whole bunch more targets farther down the arroyo, with varying shot lengths up to 80 yards.

I decided to find out what these other targets looked like, and boy, did I find that the range is large! In the following image (again, courtesy of Google maps), the original set of bales is near the top of the picture, and the network of lines all along the left of the drainage are the paths to the rest of the bales - some 25-30 targets total.


Since making that discovery, I've been back to the range once or twice. I've gotten my sights better adjusted, and started to get a nice grouping of arrows, at least from 20 yards. Something that's very satisfying is to shoot from 60 or 80 yards, watch the arrow arc through the air, and then hear the "thunk" as it hits the target. I'm going to have to keep doing this!

Developmental milestones for the first month

In the week preceding Joy's 1-month birthday (which was Friday, for anyone keeping track), she has achieved three important developmental abilities:

1. she has started to lift her head on her own. I would have posted pictures for this, but Kimberly beat me to the punch two posts down.
   
2. two nights this week, she slept for six hours straight! Each time, I woke up in the morning, and asked what time Joy had eaten in the night, and Kimberly said that she had slept most of the night. Hurray! (Now, we just need to get her to go to sleep earlier than 1-2 am.)
3. Joy has started to follow things with her eyes. I first noticed this when I was holding her, and as I moved my head, she would rotate her head so that she could look at me. At one point, she even turned a full 180 degrees as I moved from one side of her to the other. Since that time, she has become a bit less content to just sit in one place: she wants someone to walk around with her, so that she can see what there is to see!

Finally, just in case anyone was wondering whether Joy's dad is quirky or not, and for anyone who doesn't know how hard it is to resist imitating a baby who's making funny faces, see the following picture:

Joy's Wake-up Routine

When Joy gets up from a nap, she likes to spice up her stretching routine by doing impressions:

Football Ref - "Touchdown!"
Rosie the Riveter

Hulk Hogan

News Flash!! Baby Lifts Her Head!!

Lately we've read a lot about the importance of "tummy time." The theory is that since it is safest for babies to sleep on their backs, they should spend lots of awake time on their tummies so they can practise lifting their heads in preparation for crawling, etc. Determined to be good parents, we dutifully placed our infant tummy-down on her Boppy* pillow Wednesday night, expecting her to lift her head a hair's breadth every ten minutes or so. Lo and behold . . .
. . . Joy promptly raised herself several inches off the pillow and held that pose for a long time (two or three minutes, which is practically an eternity for a baby). From her parents' reaction, you'd have thought she was patting her head and rubbing her stomach at the same time. We were effusive in our praise, and excessive in our photography (if you want to see the other twenty shots we took, feel free to contact us).

Apparently the effort wore her out, though, because when Phillip put Joy on her tummy again the next evening . . .

. . . she immediately fell asleep. Probably gathering her strength for the next attempt.

*No Boppies were harmed in the making of these pictures.

Joy's blessing

Joy received her baby blessing* from her dad in church this past Sunday. We were touched that so many family members, friends, and even Kimberly's boss Crosby joined us for this special event.

*In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, children aren't baptized until they're old enough to make the choice for themselves. However, when they are newborns someone with priesthood authority offers a prayer over them in church, promising whatever blessings he feels inspired to state.

Lessons of Parenthood

As the days go by, Joy is constantly teaching us things about parenthood that you just don't find in those What to Expect books. For example:

Lesson #1: Don't try to use your baby as an alarm clock

Based on Joy's typical feeding schedule, Kimberly assumed our daughter would wake us up in plenty of time for everyone to eat, get dressed, and head off to church right on time last Sunday. Alas, little Joy was loath to leave baby dreamland . . .

. . . so she (and, consequentally, her exhausted parents) didn't wake up until fifteen minutes after the meeting started. Fortunately, a Spanish singles congregation meets in our building at 1:00pm. While we were there, another new dad we know came in and sat behind us. His young alarm clock was malfunctioning, too--it kept going off every hour the night before, so when the usual time for church rolled around, he and mom were just too worn out.

Lesson #2: Baby facial expressions are a hoot

Sure, the experts and all our relatives insist that every expression a newborn makes is "just gas," but that doesn't keep us from grinning and cooing every time the corners of Joy's mouth turn up. It is also hard to resist the temptation to add dialogue to her little expressions, like:

"Yikes! The poltegeist is back!"

or

''Man, these pacifier things are so overrated."

Lesson #3: Baby feet are really cute

OK, I already knew this fact before I became a parent, but my interaction with Joy continually reinforces it.