I am going to try this for thirty days. At the end of each day I will reflect on the day and note things worth writing about. This being the first day it will be easy. We will see by day 30. Yesterday was my company picnic. We went to Oaks Park and rode on the amusement rides. It was Claire’s first experience on a fair ride. She loved them. We thought she might be nervous but as soon as the ride was over she was saying “ride” to go on the next one. That is worth writing about.

Also, Claire has been saying “awesome” for a couple weeks now. She has got it so good that when I tell her to say “I’m” she goes straight to saying “awesome.”

Lastly, if you know me you know I love cars. Well this last weekend I took on a big (read irreversible) project. I tinted my tail lights with paint tint. This involved removing  the lights, taping off parts of the lens, 7 coats of paint, 5 coats of clear coat, a quick polish, and a couple layers of wax. They look awesome and I am glad I did such a good job. Go me!

Here are some pictures of Claire on the rides.

The purpose of this blog is tri fold. One is to try out the wordpress app on my BlackBerry storm. Two is to make sure I post at least once a month. And three is to actually talk about me and the family. Madeline is now 7 weeks old. She is waking up once a night to eat but is sleeping for 4-5 hours at a time. Claire is now more than 18 months old; wow how the time flies. Claire said awesome today for the first time. Tonya and I are pretty much settled in our new house. My commute is now 9 miles round trip. That rules. We are also hooked on whale wars right now. I am reading The Shadow of the Wind and it is one of the best books I have read. I will post some pictures another day because I don’t want to tackle that right now.

We are having our second child any day now and we are ready. Physically we have everything we need. The hospital bags are packed and the camera batteries are charged. The house has all the baby items in the right spots: a bassinet in our room, a pack and play downstairs, swings and boppy chairs in strategic locations. The house is clean, laundry and dishes are at a minimum. Mentally we are ready as well. Tonya has had several weeks off with Claire for some one on one bonding. Our hearts are full of anticipation; we are ready to meet Madeline. I am taking two or three weeks of vacation and am very excited. Claire has been very interested in other kids and especially babies. She plays with her dolls and puts them in swings, chairs, walkers, and strollers. She loves saying “baby” too. Keep an eye on facebook and twitter; we will post status reports as soon as we can. This new addition will change the whole dynamic of our family. We are changing our lives in many ways right now. We are simplifying our lives and getting rid of excess demands.

Ok, I thought I would do something random. I was browsing 1ooo awesome things and came across this blog from one of the pictures. In one post it describes how to come up with your band name, first album title, and album cover. I am going to try it.

Here it goes. I used the links, it was easier than navigating the sites.

Step 1: Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

Paavo Puurunen: an Olympic Finnish Biathlete

Step 2:  Click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

“no one is laughing at you”

Step 3: Click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Step 4: Use photoshop or similar to put it all together. (My photo by gonzalo_josealberto)

We had a very full and exciting weekend. Millie arrived Thursday evening and stayed through Sunday. Also, one of Josh’s best friends came down from Seattle for dinner Thursday night.

Thursday: Dinner with Millie and Stephen at Henry’s 12th Street Tavern. The food was awesome and the beer was tasty. The entire back side of the menu is reserved for their beer selection. It is funny to read the alluring descriptions of Oregon’s best microbrews next to the attempting-to-sound-good descriptions of Bud Light and Coors. We all enjoyed the onion ring apetizers and the cooked-when-ordered cookies and ice cream for dessert. After dinner we headed home for good conversation about college, photography, and vacations.

Friday: Ocho de Mayo party, complete with margarita jello shots and Claire in a sombrero. We made a big pot of homemade chili and enjoyed the decent weather and a couple rounds of Catch Phrase. It was nice to see all of our friends together again. We roasted marshmallows around the campfire too.

Saturday: Baby Shower for Madeline. Friends and family turned out to celebrate the coming of our new baby. We got alot of great gifts and now feel prepared to bring home baby in a month or so. Tonya’s sister and mom did a great job with planning and decorating. The snacks were good and I hear the games were fun. Millie said her mouth was sore after all the sucking. I am not sure what that means but I am leaving it alone. We went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner and watched Slumdog Millionaire before bed. It had a unique plot with a happy ending and was excellently told.

Sunday: Japanese Gardens, Multnomah Falls, McMenamins Edgefield. For Millie’s last day we wanted to do something fun and new. After doing a little web browsing we decided on the Japanese Gardens in Washington Park on the west side of Portland. We got there about 10:30 and took the shuttle up to the main gate. Tonya was given a fresh cut tulip for Mother’s Day and we were off. The gardens are filled with koi ponds, statues, flowers, and little paths through the trees. We took a ton of great pictures. There was a bonsai display that we really enjoyed. Some of the trees and flowers were amazing. After a couple peaceful hours of walking we were ready for lunch. We parked in Hoyt Arboretum to eat our packed lunch. We will have to remember this place; the walking trails look great and might even accomodate a stroller. After lunch we were still thirsty for adventure (or was it from the Jalapeno potato chips?) so we decided to drive to Multnomah Falls. Claire really liked the huge waterfall and Millie and I even took some pov pictures that are pretty funny. This also looks like a great hiking spot after the new baby arrives. On the way back to Portland we stopped for Blizzards and went to a city park. Claire was ready to run around and play on the jungle gym. She also liked the swings and merry go round. We lounged in the grass and relaxing outdoors felt great. We were again ready to eat and decided on McMenamins Edgefield. This was another new experience and we had a great time. We ate inside the Power Station Pub and walked the grounds after dinner. We could have spent much more time there but it was time to get Millie to the airport.

It was a busy and fun weekend for all of us. Claire did really well even though everything was so different and new. We even had here saying “Millie” by the end of the weekend. She also said her first phrase “it’s a bear” when she was playing with a stuffed animal. She is getting good at two syllable words like outside, thirsty, and doggy.

But not the beach you are thinking. We went to the Oregon beach last Saturday just to get away from the house for a bit. It was pouring rain when we left, it poured the whole time while we were there, and it poured on the way home. We spent just enough time on the beach for Claire’s first experience of walking on the sand. We went to Seaside and walked on the beach first. We then spent a little time enjoying the shops and looking at toys with Claire. After that we drove to Tillamook to tour the cheese factory and enjoyed some fish and chips and ice cream. Claire had a great time and wanted to walk everywhere. She really liked looking out the big windows down into the cheese making room. I had some yummy cheese samples too. Here are a couple pictures of Claire on the beach.

Yes, that is not a typo. We have another daughter on the way. Her due date is June 15th. In celebration I thought I would share some pictures of Claire and of the new baby, Madeline. Our girls will be 17 months apart, almost to the day. Tonya is already starting to feel the strain and we are preparing for round two as best as we can. Having gone through the first year recently we already have many of the supplies we will need. A quick inventory tells us we need more newborn clothes and a few ‘want’ items like a wipe warmer that we didn’t have with Claire. Being 17 months apart we will have a winter baby and a summer baby so coordinating clothes becomes a little difficult. Luckily we can dress them in layers. We have also painted our third bedroom to fit a baby girl and moved most of the baby items to that room. The biggest move was the crib from Claire’s room. That’s right, Claire is already in a single size bed. We just put the mattress on the frame to make it lower and have a large bedrail to protect Claire. We wanted to make the transition before the new baby came so Claire doesn’t feel the changes all at once. Claire will stay in her room as well to make the change more comfortable. We have been telling her that she will be a big sister and that mommy has a baby in her tummy. We have heard from the teachers at daycare that Claire will lift up her shirt and point at her belly and say ‘baby’. It is very cute. Here are some of our favorites of Claire and a the last one in the first groups of photos of Madeline. Enjoy!

I am now officially an uncle! My brother Matthew is the happy new father of baby Leon. He was born Sunday February 22nd. He is now a third generation 22nd baby after my mom and me. We have been savoring all the pictures on Matthew’s Facebook and can’t wait to see him in person. Here a couple of my favorite pictures.

For the last couple days I have been obsessing over books. I started a book club at work a couple months ago and I am currently taking recommendations for which book to read next. During my search on Amazon I have found alot of books that I now want to read. My current unreasonable obsession is The Geographer’s Library by Jon Fasman. I haven’t even started the book; just reading the review has me intriguing obsessively. It seems the Amazon recommendation engine is quite good because after looking through a few of the recommendations I now have an even longer list. Books I added just today include The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I am dying to look through used book stores until I find at least one of these to start reading next.

Claire is officially older than one! Her first birthday was Saturday, January 17th. We had a big celebration with friends and family. She got lots of great gifts and even some practical ones. She weighs 22.4 lbs and is starting to take her first steps. She can go four or five steps before falling down. It is very exciting. We are also teaching her some basic sign language to help her communicate. She knows how to sign “more” and “all done”. Some words she knows are momma, dada, bubba, nose, book, ball, and more.