Finally

Sorry it's been such a while since I've posted anything. It's been a pretty rough month; I had surgery to insert a bunch of screws to hold my foot together, and have mainly spent my time on the couch or at work. Niels has been happy and thriving, mind you, but Winter light around the couch isn't much for photographs and we haven't been going anywhere interesting. On the upside, we got a little pocket sized video camera and are playing around a little with that.

A sample video is available here. I haven't figured out yet how to embed it on this page without resorting to YouTube, but I'll figure more out once I find the time.


Happy boy


How did that other baby get in here?


Hey! I'm ticklish there


Mmm, tasty Valentine's card


Mmm, tasty cast


It's not nice to pinch the rolls of fat


Enough playing for now

First Solid Food

We've been meaning to start Niels on solid food for a few weeks now. He's been looking longingly at us as we eat and has been trying to reach at our plates. So now that the holidays are over we finally got to it last Sunday. A good time was had by all.

First bite


Gimme that spoon


The ambiance was lacking, but a satisfying meal nonetheless.

St. Nick in St. Louis

We spent a whole week out in St. Louis for Christmas with Tara's family. Getting there and back with neither baby nor father able to walk was an adventure; although using a wheelchair in the airport was oddly civilized. Once we got there, it was ridiculously cold, but that was fine because we mostly stayed packed indoors with all Tara's siblings, their spouses, and 1.5 year old Maile.

Niels was thrilled to have all sorts of new people to watch; boring old mom and dad are just no fun for him I suppose. Other than enjoying the general excitement, Christmas did rather escape him.

Niels may seem happy in the cold, but we hadn't even left the airport yet.


There were lots of new people to see.


A singing frog. Huh?


The traditional reading of "The Night Before Christmas"


Christmas morning, Maile was happily handing out presents. I don't think she's quite figured out that the spririt of giving doesn't apply to children.


Niels patiently waited, while having no idea what was going on.


Hey, this one must be for Niels!


Yeay, holidays


We will celebrate by pulling grandpa's beard.


Who let a younger baby in the room? That's not fair. It's 2nd cousin Ashton.

December at Home

For those of you whom we haven't talked to recently, we had a really rough month in December. At the beginning of the month, I broke my foot after being hit by a car while bicycling. Given the situation, I'm thankful that nothing worse happened. But I've been stuck on crutches ever since. Obviously it's been rough on Tara as well, since my ability to contribute around the house and take care of Niels has been limited. We've managed to get by, and did make it out to St. Louis for Christmas with Tara's whole clan. But the blogging has suffered to say the least.

Niels hasn't seemed to particularly notice the difference, mind you. But he is noticing a lot of other things. He has been looking longingly at our food as we eat lately to be sure; expect some action photos of his first attempts at eating in the near future. He's also been working hard at sitting and standing. The concept of balance eludes him yet, but we are nice enough to keep propping him back up.

I'll write another post about our trip to St. Louis shortly. Also, my brother Stewart just started a family blog as well if you want to look-see: http://stewartburns.blogspot.com/.

I might be couch-bound, but my throwin' bones still work.


Our buddy Chris helped out. Here he is providing a lap for sleeping.


He's figured out that fingers taste good.


As, apparently, do giant bees.


A new toy sheep for xmas from Pops. Soft and fuzzy and a bell inside!

Xmas Quickie

We're in lovely St Louis, and to make up for not posting for the past few hectic weeks, I'm throwing up some Niels + Cousin Maile pictures from the last few days. We'll have some more Christmasy pictures to post later.

Bigger than a Turkey

At some point I realized that Niels weighed more than the turkey I cooked for Thanksgiving. Not that this is really that amazing, but I was amused nonetheless.

We drove down to Santa Monica to spend the holiday with my brother and his kids, Carissa and Sophia. He's just moved into a sleek modern place near the beach, so it was pretty plush. Anywhere where we can roll a stroller out the front door to some place interesting is good with me.

We showed up there Wednesday. The girls were completely enamored with Niels. We cooked up a proper dinner on Thursday, and spent the rest of the long weekend relaxing.

Playing with the cousins


All the boys


Sophia was so excited to hold him


Meeting Great-Grandmother


Zipping along the beach


Yeay, beach!


Tasty!


Good night

Back to the Grind

Well, the news of the week is that I've started a new job in the analytics group of a software company. Despite having emerged victorious after weeks of pavement-pounding in these tough times, I'm pretty sorry to see these months of getting to stay home with Tara and Niels coming to a close.

Our schedule right now is for me to wake up with him, let Tara get more sleep (to make up for late night feedings), and get some quality time with the boy for an hour or two before I trundle off. Still, I'm already missing our daily stroller/lunch outings.

Seeing Dad off to work


Almost turning over


Trying to eat his new friend

When did November show up?

Being in California, I've only recently had to give up on thinking it was still summer. But the arrival of November and the rains have really sealed the deal. So our lazy summer of quiet family time is over.

Every time I post, the only thing I want to say is that Niels has gotten bigger and aware...so not much more to say about that. On to the pictures

Mom won't be able to breathe if you get any bigger


Fun times


Mmmm ... tasty thumb


Between the knees


Rainy day

3 Months In

We've made it through three months, and are doing great as a family. We're getting a routine down (we bathed him 3o minutes ago, and Tara is putting him to bed now) and I'm still home (by which I mean still unemployed) with Tara and Niels so it's downright bucolic. Well, usually.

He's getting to the point where, when he is in the right mood, he absolutely loves to play and be tossed around. See below. This lasts for about five minutes, until he gets overstimulated, melts down, and needs to chill out in his vibrating chair. But what's the point of being a father if you can't wind up a kid?

Woo hoo


Look at me!


Bath time


Bed time