Back Home... Happy New Year!

We're home! I'm happy to be back in my own time zone, in my own neighborhood, in my own house. Though I think I'll miss the many snowy walks around Denver, hanging out with my Van de Water/LaFontano relatives (who taught me fun things like flash-card-tummy-time), and all the overwhelming craziness.Thanks everyone for a fun trip!

My Cousins and Uncle in Denver

Aunt Julie came out to visit last month but I'm only just meeting my Uncle Chris and my cousins Courtie and Lily. Uncle Chris has a pretty comfy lap. We've been having fun in all this snow, taking walks and jumping in snowbanks (that's Lily in the foreground and Courtie buried up to her chin)
but mostly hunkering down inside, playing, and lounging on my cousin Courtie.

Snowstorm in Denver

Mom, Dad and I arrived in Denver yesterday afternoon in what is turning out to be a small window between holiday blizzards. You've probably heard about last week's 33" storm which shut down Denver International Airport for over two days and had ripple effects across the country (including our own Suzanna and Jack). Thankfully, our itinerary took us to Atlanta first, and THEN Denver. Enter storm #2 which started at lunchtime today and is expected to bring up to 20" more by Saturday. We took some fun pictures of walking around the neighborhood in the snow today but the storm seems to have shut down our ability to upload photos so you'll have to pretend that this white space:

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is what it looks like out the window right now. More to come...

Merry Christmas!!

It was an action-packed first Christmas, beginning with my first ever stocking (Dad forgot to travel with mine, but thankfully G'ma Debbie was prepared!), and continued through caroling, gingerbread-house decorating with the ever-fascinating Rosemary, and ended with me velcro-ed to the wall in my Christmas outfit

before a hearty roast beef Christmas dinner with the Stevens clan. Yes, the Jewish side of the family: a group reluctant to let mere religious details interfere with an opportunity for a holiday celebration. Notably it took my arrival to get the whole group together for the first family photo since... well, anyone can remember.

My Cousin Rosemary

I have been having lots of fun this week with my cousin Rosemary. While it has been nice to spend time with all of my relatives, Rosemary is the "funnest" so far. Although she's much bigger than me, I can tell she's a kid too, so I can relate to her better. She's spent hours rocking me, showing me cool toys, helping me decorate the Christmas tree, and even hanging my stocking since I conked out a little early on Christmas Eve.

3 Months Old!

I am three months old today - and I am learning lots of new things every day. Up until recently, I have mostly been interested in gazing into my mom and dad's eyes all the time, and have not paid too much attention to all these things around the house they keep trying to show me. But recently I discovered that I can grab these things and play with them! I especially like my tag toy because it is easy to hold and it is soft and cuddly.I am even learning to play...peek-a-boo!

Stevens Family Hanukkah

Tonight I learned all about the amazing story of Hanukkah from an expert - my Great Grandma Sue! I was already enjoying the holiday because I love to look at light, but now I know all about the victory of the Maccabees and the miracle of the oil. It was pretty special to get to light the Menorah with my great grandma, grandparents, uncle, great uncle and cousins!

Great Grandpa Bernie

Today I got to meet my great grandfather, Grandpa Bernie. I got to hear some tales about the chicken feed business and then we shared some stories about how it is tough to grow older, and how sometimes it is pretty tough to be so young too!

Musical Genes

I love to listen to music, especially when someone is singing to me. My mom and dad sing to me a lot and I thought they were pretty good. But tonight, in my first big adventure here in Atlanta, I went to go hear my Grandpa Mike's singing group Just Voices - wow, they were amazing! I then got my very own concert right in the living room. I was kicking up my heels to the music! Don't worry, I won't tell my mom and dad that I have figured out they can't carry a tune - I'll still play along like I enjoy their singing. I hope though, that I have inherited some musical genes from Grandpa Mike!

Mom & Me to Atlanta

Looking appropriately forlorn about leaving Dad behind for a full WEEK, Mom and I flew to Atlanta today. It was a long flight but, I'm happy to report, a direct one and I slept the ENTIRE way. Next post will be my first mobile one, all the way from the 404.

Reading w/ Jack

Suzanna and Jack brought over my first Christmas present tonight (as the product of Jewnitarians, I get to celebrate both Hanukkah AND Christmas): a colorful book on Do's and Dont's by Todd Parr. Books are cool,but I can't stay focused for very long yet.

Happy Hanukkah!

I got temporarily distracted by Frannie's sparkly ring, but I like this concept of a light that never burns out.

Mom's Group Babies

Mom and I have been meeting every Wednesday for the past several weeks with 12 other new moms and their babies . Our photo shoot today was quite an adventure. Some babies were crying, some sleeping...and I was cuddling with my new friend Sander.

Ho (cough) Ho (COUGH!) Ho

Dad has been really sick for a full week now and now I'm worried Mom is getting it, so I'm keeping my eyes open for germs...

Have a good trip Maisy!

Maisy and her mom are leaving for the holidays tomorrow so last night we discussed our Christmas plans extensively. We can't wait to get back and compare notes. In news unrelated to the photograph...my mom had a hair appointment today, and when she showed up, some of the snooty ladies in the salon didn't look too happy to see me tagging along. However, mom popped me in the magic sling, pulled the smock over me, and two hours later, mom had a new cut and color, I had a great snooze and everyone in the shop said I was the best baby ever!

"Potamus"

When I was still in utero last August my mom asked her cousin-once-removed Megan what she should name me. "Well...", Megan said, "my favorite animal IS the hippopotamus." Everyone agreed that naming me Hippopotamus Brown-Stevens Van de Water would have led to more than my fair share of ridicule in school, so we eliminated the potentially offensive half and came up with one of two in-utero nicknames: "Potamus". What a coincidence then when I inherited this comfy fleece outfit from my friend Dominic with a big blue hippo on it. I guess together that makes me hippo-Potamus again. So much for planning.

From Clark Hall 1991 to Babies 2006

Mom here - freshman year at Wesleyan my closest friends all lived on the same floor in my dorm - we had many adventures over the next few years, from our first apartment to bumming around the world together (below we are on our way to Mexico from Connecticut). We didn't imagine then that a mere 15 years later we would get to be new parents at the same time.
Congrats to Hardy and Banu and Rob and Claire!

Welcome to the world to Dylan and Cole up in Corvallis...

and to Arda, who lives all the way in Istanbul.

The Wheels on the Bus

The Wheels on the Bus is currently my favorite song, so today, I got to go on a real bus, all the way into San Francisco. It was awesome, we acted out all of the verses of the song. I played the part of the baby.

Picnic in the Cemetery

When I came home today, I found my activities had already been blogged by my playdate. So I figured I would give Violet's dad a guest spot here to share his well researched take on the afternoon...

Violet at the Necropolis

READER ADVISORY: This post has pictures of a baby in a graveyard and some jokes [abridged, ed.] about graves and babies.

Today, Violet and I visited Mountain View Cemetary here in Oakland, one of the absolutely coolest places around. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, right after he designed Central Park (if you've been to New York City, Central Park is the big green area behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art). It is absolutely beautiful in a decrepit/shabby chic type of way and is filled with tons of famous people, like a Stanford or two and the Ghirardelli family, of chocolate fame.My idea was that Violet could walk around on the grass and climb on people's mausoleums (mausoleumae?) and have a generally good time. However, the grounds of Mountain View have seen better days, and there is scarcely a smooth walkway or flat expanse of grass in the entire place. Instead, roads are crumbling, stairs are moss-covered and tilted and most graves are on steep slopes. The effect of the whole place is fantastic for memoralizing dead people, but it's not such a good play area. Put that one in Olmstead's (admittedly small) Failures column.

A little later, Violet was joined by Eliza B Van de Water, who brought her mom to come share a little playdate in the cemetery.

Since she's so young, one need not worry about her falling or tripping or anything, so anyplace is basically as good as any other. She appeared to enjoy herself in that "I'm not completely miserable" way very young children do.


Just a caveat to those who think this whole expedition is completely beyond the Pale: Mountain View has been around for decades and is considered by many to be akin to a public park here in Oakland. People regularly jog, ride their bikes, picnic and even walk their dogs through here. I mean, at least Violet and I had our legs covered! I did think a few times that it would be nice when I kick the bucket and am buried in the ground somewhere if some kids would come and play on my grave every now and then.

Happy Holidays!

We bought my first ever Christmas tree Sunday. I made sure to scrutinize each tree before we selected the perfect 5' Noble Fir.When we finished decorating it yesterday, it was a sight to behold.I dressed in my best Christmas snowman outfit and posed next to the famous snowman ornament...

but then, caught up in all the excitement, I drank too much breastnog. Let this be a lesson to ye merrymen and women.

Graduating to 3-6mo Fashion!

Now that I'm 2.5 months, I can wear some 3-6 month clothes which, I must say, increases my fashionable choices tremendously. No longer am I limited to just sleepers, nightgowns and onesies. I now have designer shoes from Spain (thank you Liz!) and matching orange cords (thank you Gwyn and Rachel!), not to mention my little turnip top. NOTE: While not possible with most of my pictures, the preceding picture is so cute you may have to click on it to see a bigger version...

Me, Dad... & the Waitstaff at the Korean Restaurant

Tonight was my night with Dad. Mom got the night off for a ladies night/baby shower so Dad and I met two other orphaned dads and their respective 2-year-olds at the Tumble and Tea to work up our appetite before dinner at a neighborhood Korean restaurant. So far so good, I slept while Bahia and Julia played. The problem came over kimchi and bi bim bop after Dad tried to give me this plastic pacifier-like thing with lukewarm milk in it and I started getting fussy. Where was the boob?! After an awkwardly long time fussing in any position other than the "hood ornament", Glynn took me for a little walk around the restaurant so Dad could eat. After a few minutes he returned to the table without me, leaving me in the arms of a friendly Korean waitress who bounced me and played with me near the entrance to the kitchen. Pretty soon I had most of the staff there working for me, including one woman who changed my diaper while another clinked spoons together to entertain me.

I'd go back there anyday, Korean restaurants are FUN!

My Appalachian Roots

Okay, I don't technically have Appalachian roots, but my mom did grow up in Georgia. My Grandma Debbie's book club sent me this beautiful quilt made in Appalachian country. Today I tested out lots of ways to enjoy it - lying on top...lying underneath...and doing pushups!