New Year's Eve

A year ago tonight, Carl and I celebrated New Year's Eve in Springfield, Illinois at Bobby Noll's house, and had the happy pleasure of ringing in the new year in front of a giant fireplace, surrounded by family and great friends. As midnight approached, we all began writing down our resolutions and Carl and I decided we would each write one resolution for the other person. When midnight struck, Carl smiled and handed me a tiny slip of paper that read, "Have a big baby boy Koschmann." Despite the fact that one of my own resolutions had been to correct Carl less often, I immediately made him cross out both "big" and "boy" (which he admitted he had added largely because history had shown that the Koschmann men generally produce babies fitting this description), but once those adjectives were taken out, we agreed that having a baby was a wonderful resolution. With a clink of our champagne glasses, we committed ourselves to the idea and tossed the slip of paper into the glowing fire. Little did we know that at that very moment, Alden was already on his way to us -- I was 3 weeks pregnant. Now here we are, one year later to the day, and our rapidly-growing, wondrous baby boy Koschmann is, as I type this, in the midst of one of his first long naps, surely getting ready to keep us up until midnight tonight to celebrate his arrival.

spit up

holy smokes -- this is a remarkable action shot by mom -- alden excels at this particular action.

big dog

Sorry for the delay in posts -- we have been with Jen and Kent in Eugene. Alden has been a good sport there -- quietly taking in the new surroundings, and providing some smiles to Jen and her support crew. Of note, big man rolled over -- twice! -- one morning, front to back, but so far hasnt repeated the feat. It was quite a show -- lots of cheers from mom and dad, who were both watching, miraculously. Here, he is pictured with one of his christmas presents on dad's lap.

Happy holidays during this quiet season, as Jen puts it. Family seems particularly important, this year . . .

3 shots of bear

Saturday afternoon report -- dad half-napping from an overnight. Mom reports she has been gift-wrapping "for an eternity." Alden cooing at all of us, pulling most things to his mouth. Grandma Lois is pretty sure we dont change his diaper enough, so she is going to do that now. . .

christmas tree

After inadvertently stealing this christmas tree (a noble fir) from a family tree farm -- don't worry, we paid later -- lois and I promptly decorated it with our 6 ornaments. Lois found our menorah, and Alden heard his first Hanukkah prayer, followed by a roasted chicken and potato pancakes from Lois. Something still didn't feel holiday-ee enough, until uncle Nate sent his Christmas mix, and the house was filled with christmas tunes - mostly great stuff, but Paul McCartney's "A Wonderful Christmas Time" made Bob Dickson want to throw up. Happy Holidays everyone.

winter walk on beach

Seattle is (tolerating) some cold weather, but along with it some rare winter sun. We bundled the dude up and took him to the beach -- somehow, when we all got in all of our multiple layers of rain jackets, the group of us looked fairly homeless - but no one else was out, so we didnt care. Alden enjoyed the fresh salty sea air, and some rare natural vitamin D. - mostly zonked out (below). Attempted the Bob Revolution (gratuitously nice stroller) -- did pad the shocks for Alden, but required mom and Grandma to carry the apparatus over 100 yards of driftwood. Good times all around . . .

staring contest

talking bear

The cooing is out of control . . .

new toy

Grandma Lois felt Alden needed a place to lounge (other than the changing table, where he would hang out always, if we would let him.) So, she found this brighlty colored apparatus - with a sleeping bag / pad for the bottom, and all sorts of hanging things. The Bear has taken to it -- a big leap for this family, allowing us to have some dinners at the same time as each other while he coos, drools, and bats at things. Not bad, Grandma Lois . . .

leisure suit

On sundays, Alden takes it down a notch -- in the afternoons, maybe a little glass of scotch and watching a little 60 minutes - you know winding down before the work week. But on Sunday mornings, the dude likes to relax on mom's lap in his leisure suit, hands in the pockets, and just max and relax.

sunbeam, part 2