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July Fourth Miscellaneous

Squirrels at 10,200′

Greetings from Leadville, CO! We arrived with Finn and Grandma Nack yesterday evening, after a fairly long day of air and car travel. Finn was a total hero: the takeoff and landing did not bother him one bit, and he only squawked a little bit in the car on the way up to Leadville as his ears adjusted to the high altitude. Leadville is at 10,200′ so we are taking it reeeeeally easy. The thin air makes for a low-energy, slightly headachey, and very dehydrated first couple of days, so Finn has been napping like a champion today in between meals :-).
We’re staying with Margot’s folks, who take up residence in the cool mountain air each summer. Margot’s sister Laura and her two boys are here, meeting their cousin Finn for the first time. The grandparents are thrilled to get some more quality time with Finn, especially now that he’s smiling and cooing a lot. They can’t get enough!

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Tummy Time with Dad

Given the (relatively) giant melon little kids have to cart around on top of their necks, they need plenty of exercise, and baby docs all seem to recommend plenty of “tummy time.” This weekend we got the squirrel going with some extra TT–all while perched on his dad’s tummy. Good time (and happily, no spit-ups!) ensued. 🙂 Here are some pix.

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Happy Father’s Day!

New Dad John is having a fine Father’s day weekend with our little man. I surprised him yesterday with a new, more rugged stroller, since he really enjoys taking Finn on long stroller rides through our neighborhood. With all the uneven sidewalks, curbs, and tree roots, our little green stroller was not able to manage too well. Now with our bright orange “BOB”, complete with real tires and shock absorbers, both Dad and Finn should have a smoother, more enjoyable time.
We also gave Dad a little brag book, with the help of Aunt Laura’s scrapbooking skills. So now Dad can carry little photos of Finn with him when he travels, and show all his colleagues how cute our boy is.
After a night with John and I alternating duty on Finn’s sporadic wake-up calls, Dad was a little groggy this morning, but happy to see our little guy when it was truly time to wake up. Here are a few shots (HTML).

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Jailbreaks, Harmonicas, Foot-Finding, & More

It’s been too long since I’ve posted pix of our young friend! He’s been a busy boy…
Upon learning of the passing of rock pioneer Bo Diddley, Finn started playing the harmonica (seen here, at left). He also wrote a little song for the occasion, using Bo’s signature riff:

“Bo Diddley’s dead,
    Bah DAH duh dah dunh…
Goin’ down in a hole.
    Bah DAH duh dah dunh…
Nobody ever gonna see him;
    Bah DAH duh dah dunh…
Might get eaten by a mole.
    Bah DAH duh dah dunh…”

From there Finnster donned his old-timey prison stripes, with mom set to match in hers, and had some good times on the bed. Naturally all the downward-facing excitement resulted in a huge… well, let’s just say you can see the aftermath in this set, but thankfully not the event itself. You can also see our little guy starting to become aware of these fleshy little “feet” things hanging out somewhere south of his tummy. Without further ado, here are the shots. (HTML)

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A visit from Reen

The three of us had a ball on Saturday visiting with our hilarious friend R. She brought a great little sampling of books (including some by Sandra Boynton, known for her greeting card illustrations) and confessed to having spent a couple of hours in the kids’ section at Borders, enjoying all the great stuff that’s out there. Regarding the ever-popular (and gnawing-resistant) “board books, ” she says, “I’m looking forward to being a major contributor to the Finn Library (hardcopy branch).” Here are some photos. (HTML)

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Dinner with Mira & Bruce

Two weeks ago now (man, time is flying!), Finn, Margot, and I were treated to an early Friday evening dinner with our friends Bruce, Mira, and their little daughter Anja. Looking for cute blog-fodder as always, I hovered around the proceedings with my camera. No word yet on whether Finn will be requesting a second serving of Mira’s bicep. 😉 Here are the pix. (HTML)

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Finn on Skin!

Our friend Peter Krogh and his wife Allison recently sent Finn a terrific sheepskin rug that our boy’s been enjoying. The Kroghs say their kids loved having such soft pads of their own, and it’s easy to see why. Peter is a pro photographer, so I tried not to stink up the picture-taking too much on this one. 😉 Here’s the gallery. (HTML)

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Weekend Adventures

Finn has been diligently practicing his “tummy time” in order to strengthen his neck muscles and improve his head control. Of course, we think he is the Incredible Hulk in this category and demonstrates superhuman strength–and we have the photographic evidence to prove it!
We also got a few cute shots of Finn and his Aunt Laura during her visit this weekend. She and Finn had some good times on the playmat, reading “Pat the Bunny” together, and chitchatting while mom and dad went to the movies one afternoon. Check it out! (HTML)

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Coning With Aunt Laura

Finn’s Aunt Laura is in town for a visit, and we took some time out from domestic administration to go out for frozen yogurt. In Liggett family tradition, this is known as “coning”, which stems from our frequent childhood visits with Mom and Dad to Braum’s, the local dairy in our hometown, where we’d get ice cream cones and sit in the car and people-watch as we licked our cones. Here in San Jose, we don’t have Braum’s, but we have what we fondly refer to as “The Yogurt Hut” just down the street in our neighborhood. It’s a tiny freestanding frozen yogurt shop with plenty of outdoor seating for good people-watching.
Here are some pics from our outing. It was a particularly good day for observation! Aside from Finn being happy and cute as he chatted with his Aunt, we saw dancing boys with their aunts and grandmas, little girls playing a plastic saxophone, and even a southern California plastic surgery victim. (We selected only the cutest subject matter, ourselves :-)).

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Calla Lily Freakout

  1. We try to keep this blog focused on the positive (for example, not telling you about Finn trying to pee on my sandwich the other day–a whole other story, obviously), and…
  2. What could be cuter than a beautiful boy with some beautiful flowers? (we thought)

Er, well, the small guy decided he wasn’t gonna play ball, at least when the camera was around, and now the flowers have departed. Even so, the resulting pair of images are kinda fun, I think. <:-P

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Battle… Domendite!

Margot and I watch way too much “Iron Chef America“–or rather, we did pre-Finn, when watching TV was actually an option. We get a particular kick out of the ridiculous character of “The Chairman’s Nephew,” played by a totally overwrought martial artist, screaming “Battle… {food item}!!” at the start of every show. It’s all accompanied by frenetic camera zooms, dry ice smoke, and him giving kind of a karate chop towards the ingredient du jour (“Battle… GOAT LIVER!!”).
For some reason (long-term sleep deprivation, or maybe the 100-degree heat here in San Jose), I’m reminded of all this when I look at some recent Finnpix. Therefore I present… “Battle… DOMENDITE!*” (HTML)
* Translation for everyone who isn’t a weirdo who grew up in Galena, IL: big toe. 😉

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Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mom’s Day to all the mothers out there, and most especially to newly minted mom Margot!
We’re having a pretty quiet day, with Finn alternately fussing, sleeping, eating, and staring at things (“regarding faces,” as the baby books say); in other words, I suppose it’s been like pretty much every day, ever. 😉
While Margot gives our friend a snack, I’ve uploaded a gallery of images from the day (also in HTML). You can see the little tree I bought for the occasion. Its little bushes of leaves remind me of Margot’s “mop,” and the whole thing makes me think of a Margot-and-Finn arboreal peanut. 🙂 See also Finn’s newfound love of exploring his tongue.

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Finndancing!


When you listen to as much jazz as we do throughout the day, well, a little soft-shoe will inevitably break out. 🙂 Here are the pix. (Also in HTML.)

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Root, Root, Root for the Cubbies

Hey Chicago, whaddya say?
The Finnster’s gonna win to-day…

Finn’s Grandma Liggett is a diehard Chicago Cubs fan, which is a fondness also shared by the Nack side of his family (all Illinois natives!). Just this week, Grandma L sent Finn a little Cubs jersey/onesie so he can start rooting for the family’s team. It is, of course, absolutely adorable on him, which you can see for yourself. He seems pretty excited to be wearing it, and we hope it still fits by the time he makes it to Chicago in August to visit his extended family!
Here’s a gallery of Finn sporting the new duds (also in HTML).

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Finnegrins!

On a lighter note (than vaccinations and squalling)…

😀
Our beamish boy was beaming indeed this Wednesday as his mom & I took him out for his first night away from home. We stayed at Le Meridien in San Francisco as I was working late at an Adobe event next door. M&D munched on room service (take that, expense account!) while the wee man partied on the “Big Boy Bed.” Amazingly, no one died in the night due to collisions with unfamiliar furniture. Finn’s sleep pattern was more whacked out than it’s been lately, but we figured this would be a good dry run for this summer’s planned trips to Colorado and Illinois.
To see more pix of our adventure, click the link above or click here (also available in smaller HTML form).
PS–Finn looks duly suspicious of his dad’s new Finn-enabled exercise regime.

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Sunday In The Park With Finn

Today we celebrated Finn’s 8-week B-day by taking him to the park in nearby Los Gatos. We spied what Margot dubbed “the tiny train filled with tiny people” and eagerly imagined taking him for a ride on it. A family we encountered had just rescued two abandoned kittens from the bushes, but somehow I failed to get a picture of los gatos in Los Gatos (d’oh!). In any case, here are a few snaps I did take along the way (also available in smaller HTML form).

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And now, a word from our Finnster…

Finn has a message for you; click the photo at left to see it. 🙂

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Meeting “eDub”

On Sunday our friend Eileen Whitson (hence “E-Dub”) dropped by for a first visit with the Finn-man. She’s a real pro when it comes to finding groovy, offbeat gifts (previously scoring a tiny Lucha Libre mask for Finn!), and on this trip she brought flowers and some great little baby sunglasses. Unfortunately our small friend was too fussy to wear the specs, but I’m sure they’ll pop up soon in pictures.
Here’s the gallery (also available in smaller, simpler HTML form in case you have problems viewing the Flash version).
PS–Extra credit if you can spot Finn tossing up a gang sign (“Wes’ siiiide!”). 😉

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Squirrel by the Sea

Yesterday and Friday we had the treat of having our friends Adolfo and Romina visiting from Buenos Aires. They taught us all kinds of fun Spanish words for Finn-related things (“chupete” for pacifier; “cachetes” for cheeks), and we showed them around the area, including a trip to Santa Cruz (nowhere better to inspect North American Paleo-Hippies in the patchouli-scented flesh). I’ve combined those photos with some Margot and I snapped of the young Captain around the house. Here’s the gallery (also in HTML).

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Pix around the house

Look!
It’s a bird in a bath!
In a sling!
On a mat!
How ’bout that?

Here’s the latest round of photos of our young amigo, including some where he’s “wearing his purple Speedo”–aka sitting in his new little rocking chair.