But my lack of blogging has also meant that I've not written anything about the amazing girl that has sprung forth from infant-hood. I really regret not seizing verbal snapshots and snippets of Lily's second year and putting them here in this blog for as much me to remember, as others to read.

Lily has certainly not lost her independent streak. No, far from waning, it's redoubled as she approaches two. The subject line is, or at least was until very recently, her very, very favorite thing to say.

NO NO NOWAY NOWAY

But she's oh so daring on her own. Fearless in the face of most things (except for the time I accidentally scared her and she went running from the room) and smart as a whip. She recognized (uppercase, of course), and could say, every letter in the alphabet by 19 months and numbers one through ten followed shortly thereafter. Lately she's been doing a little sing-song-y counting from one to fifteen.

Earlier in 2011 I was, as is typical of me, a little worried about her lack of interest in books. It was such a contrast from Nate at the same age. But that has completely changed and she is a voracious consumer of books. Every time we hang out in the front room she brings me book after book to read.

But in some ways, the past 10 months have not been a lot different than the first 12. She still goes to bed soon after I arrive home from work and as a result, I still get to see and interact with her, at most, an hour a day during the work week. And during that time I'm also trying to eat dinner, interact with Nate and Heather. There is no point in trying to keep her awake later, because she is clearly done for the day and that would be selfish of me. When she doesn't nap, she's in bed 30 minutes after I arrive home. And with work being the way it has been, there have been times when I have not seen her for more than 48 hours, despite living in the same house.

This is the real reason for my regret in not blogging: I know I have forgotten hosts of small special moments of the time I do have with her. My brain just will not retain them (and I do try to store, I really do). And while my New Years Resolution to blog more has not gotten off to a good start, I hope this is the first step to meeting it and thereby helping my own brain remember the times I do have with her.

What can I say about Nate at five years of age that he can't say about himself? Not much, really. He's so very articulate; so polite; so interested in science, in nature, and in learning in general. Hardly a day goes by that he doesn't bring up some amazing fact he's learned recently. Just tonight he started talking about gravity and how, without gravity we would just float around, and how he wishes he could turn off gravity and we could fly off into space.

I'm right there with you, Nate. Right there.

Nate, June 2011

He's turned into quite the wrestling mat for Lily. She loves to pounce and sit on him and he loves to have her do it. The two of them get along so well. You can see the admiration she already has for him. Sometimes he forgets that she's only nearly 15 months old, but then again, most of the time so does she.

I'm very grateful that he's not only kept, but grown his interest in books over the years. And it shows in his budding reading skills. And also, much to my chagrin, a marked increase in listening comprehension when it comes to intercepting and interpreting "mom & dad" code(s). He's a regular Enigma, I tell you.

Nate and Issac, June 2011

Five years old is going to be an amazing year, I can already tell. I'm so looking forward to it.

Nate, July 4, 2006

One of the nights we all went out together was to dine at Casa Bonita in Lakewood, CO which had recently been paid homage to? lampooned? featured? on South Park. It was everything we could have hoped for in a silly night out.

While there, we had one of the caricature artists draw our portrait. And this is what he did:

To this day we do not know if "Happy Anniversity #1" was just an extra bit of silliness or a serious attempt at the written word. But it doesn't matter, because it's a fond memory of a great week out with our friends.

Seven years later, here we are. Still happy. Still having anniversties. Still very much in love.

Anyway, the quick jump to 90 deg yesterday was nice. A bit hot when mowing the lawn but I'll take it over having to wear winter clothes at the end of May.

We all went to the Crystal Lake Memorial Day parade yesterday. That was a lot of fun. Pretty short but, for Nate and Lily, just the right length. We parked in the train station parking lot and literally walked 10 feet forward to put our chairs in the shade right along the parade route. We brought water and snacks but still, I walked down the street to get popcorn from Pop's Corn Crib (a CL staple). I bought flags for the kids to wave [which lasted for all of 2 minutes ]. Three marching bands, lots and lots of Cub and Boy Scouts, veterans, and police and fire. Lily was not sure what to make of it all and just stared and stared; Nate was pretty good but was a little intimidated by the loudness of the marching band so hung back a bit.

Looks like the warm weather should stick with us for this week. Hopefully that will translate into productive play (and some yard work) in the evenings.

And the lunch hour was no better. Cold and windy with threatening skies. I walked for all of 4 blocks before giving up.

Ok, so it's supposed to be in the 80's soon but I don't really want summer, I want spring. We've had a couple days of actual spring but mostly the weather been bouncing between a few unseasonably warm days to cold, rainy, cold, rainy, cold...

Anyway. It's May 26th and I'm wearing a winter hat. That is all.

But then later I noticed that our kitchen computer wasn't running. And when I tried to start it, it wouldn't boot.

So I pulled it out and found this on the video card:

Detail:

Yeah, that's not good. Interestingly enough (to me at least) in all the years of building my own machines and working with old hardware, this is the first time I've ever had a capacitor go bad (which is what caused this to burn out). I've been working with computer hardware for /years/ and never had this happen before today. Kind of amazing.

We flew out of Milwaukee (MKE) again and, like the previous time, it was a huge success. The airport is small but well staffed; the lines were very short; parking is a breeze; and given traffic conditions most of the time, it's about as long a drive to there as it is to ORD from Crystal Lake.

It was very nice to see all our friends gathered together again. I wish we all had more time together. We stayed the rest of the week and made a proper vacation out of it and I'm very glad we did. It was relaxing and felt very much like home thanks to our hosts. We did things in VA and DC but not lots of things. I wish I was still there.

Of course, a post from me would not be complete without some mention of photography. Some great opportunities all week and few prints will be made. I have an image of one of the kids in particular (from the weekend) that, even for all my own self-criticism, is pretty darn good. (Also, our Canon T1i counter rolled over 10,000 during the trip. I sure do love the freedom of digital!)

This past year has been a lot of work. I love my daughter, so very much, but I've spent so many days this past year arriving home within 20 to 30 minutes of her needing to go to sleep that I feel like I barely know her. There have been times when I've not seen her for 36 hours, despite being in the same home. And so the moment I get a bead on what she's doing, where I think she's going, she's off in another, unexpected, direction. She is head-strong & stubborn, adventurous & loving, opinionated & mischievous. She is our daughter and she is Nate's sister.

Happy Birthday, Lillian Claire. I know this next year will be as interesting as the first. My only wish is that you and I can connect and get to know each other a lot more.

As helloheather recently pointed out in her post, the drive went well, with a long stop on the way down and shorter stop on the way back. Both kids did really well in the car and the weather for the drive was excellent. We made it an extended weekend, which was helloheather's idea and what a great one it was. So much more relaxing. The photo above was taken at Fort Harrison State Park which we visited, briefly, on Sunday afternoon. It looked so beautiful out that we felt we had to visit, but it turned out to be quite chilly in the wind. Still, a good time was had and now we've got a really close-by spot to go to next time we're down in Indy.

For the first time in many years I've uploaded photos from the weekend, 33 in all. Captions to follow:

http://bernhard.us/photos/v/holidays/stpats/stpats2011

After photographing Nate in the morning at a "Saturday Morning Science" event at his preschool, I knew I had only a few frames remaining before hitting that 40K mark. So I asked Nate to sit with Lily on his bed and shot the next few. At 40,000 Nate had his eyes closed, so here is 40,001.

Nate and Lily in Nate's Room

As an aside, since buying our first digital camera we've taken ~91,400 digital photos. This doesn't include photos taken with others cameras nor does it include film photos that have been scanned. That's an average of 34 photos a day, every day, since Dec 1, 2003.

Part of my problem with taking that last step is the permanence of it. Or rather, the supposed permanence of it. A framed print is not inexpensive, especially a large one, even if you use Hobby Lobby's 50% sales. And what has always stymied me has been the thought of spending all that money and then, after a few years, realizing I don't like the photo as much as I had. Or that the photo is "dated" in some way.

But a frame (and glass) is not a single-use tool. A frame can be re-used over and over. Cutting a new mat is a trivial cost. We'll always have images that will match the frame style. Overcoming the hesitation to do this was the reason behind deciding 2011 will be the year of the print.

To that end, we've printed and had framed our first two large photos this year:

http://cetan.org/index.php?showimage=1231

and

http://cetan.org/index.php?showimage=1218

Hobby Lobby called last night and said they're ready for pickup. I'm very excited. No idea where we're going to hang them yet but we certainly have the wall-space. So, if you visit us this year, look for those spaces to fill.

It took a long time to get home last night (Tuesday) because the trains were all messed up. I left work a little early to make sure I got a seat on my regular train thinking it would be extra crowded. But as it turns out, most everyone in the city left hours before. I could have, but stayed 'till near the bitter end (as they say). So, the upshot of all of this is that, from the time I left work until the time I arrived home I was commuting for 3 hours. Not so much fun.

Arriving at my train station in Crystal Lake I found a completely wind-swept and snow-less car. Now, the drift /next/ to my car, on the other hand, was up to the hood. But details, details.

Because of the intense wind, the roads were not really a problem. Slow, to be sure, but the major routes were passable. However, when I turned into my neighborhood I began to worry I'd have to abandon my car 200 yards from my house. The plows were clearly busy elsewhere and I wasn't expect the roads to be clear, but the snow had accumulated far more than I had anticipated. But I made it home without too much trouble. After a quick (and delicious) dinner of a hearty potato soup, I was off to "clear" the driveway. And by "clear" I mean "wait, how could there be 2" of snow already? I just shoveled that!" I walked around the house a bit and cleared off the snow from the back door, which made me feel like I had run a half-marathon. The snow drifts were already very deep.

Around 10pm Heather spotted lightening and we both heard the rumble of thunder. An amazing sound, to be sure. The night was uneventful. No branches fell off the trees and crashed through the house, etc.

This morning I got up around 5:30 to confirm that indeed I would be working from home today. By 6:30 I was out with the snow blower trying to figure out how I could possibly clear snow away from areas that were deeper than the blower was tall. It took 2 hours to complete the driveway. Around 8 the plow came by and gave us a road again. I was amazed to see the truck push that much snow.

Around noon Nate and I headed out to play. Wading through waist-deep drifts is hard, hard, work. Nate kept getting lost in the snow but was full of wonderful exuberance and energy. I pulled him around on the sled for a bit but we both were tired after 45 minutes. I stayed out to clear the driveway again and to tackle the front sidewalk which I had previously left. The drift there was the highest yet and we now have a small canyon to walk through to get to our front door.

Tomorrow morning it's supposed to be -15 deg F when I get on the train. Honestly, I'd rather have more snow than cold like that. I'm sure I'm in the minority with that opinion.

Edit: snow fall totals for the region:
http://blog.chicagoweathercenter.com/2011/02/map-of-the-citys-historic-third-heaviest-snowfall-on-record.html

At least, I'm calling it walking. She's taking 2 or 3 steps from either our hands to supports (tables, chairs, walls, etc) or from object to object. She's able to stand on her own—when she thinks about it—for about 20 seconds or so. But usually she just slowly collapses as she forgets she's not leaning against anything.

So, she's very keen to be mobile. She's very keen to do a lot, actually. She wants any food item we have; wants to be constantly told about the art and object hanging on our walls, cabinets, and fridge; does not want to sit on your lap unless she's really tired or sad; wants to put anything she can pick up into her mouth, but in particular any of Nate's matchbox or similar cars; wants that stuffed toy on the shelf, now that one, now that other one, now that one too, and now the one that makes noise; etc.

She's inquisitive, eager, and generally (when not saddled with a cold like she is right now), a pretty happy baby.

She also really really loves Nate. And he really wants an older playmate...not there yet, but Lily is certainly on her way.

(and yet again, helloheather and I end up posting very similar topics on the same day by chance. Not planned, honest.)

(edit: ok, i just now...NOW...noticed that my post about Lily's birth listed her birth date as August 2nd... this post, over here. seriously. wtf?)

Lily made it through her first Christmas season fairly well. Despite being carted around and having dozens of people interact with her, she mostly maintained her chipper spirits and will-do attitude. She wasn't so much interested in opening presents and more interested in grabbing whatever Nate was opening, who in-turn was interested in opening both his and Lily's gifts, so it worked out in a circular-sort-of-way.

Nate seemed to enjoy himself as well. This is the first Christmas that he's been super excited about Santa. He became very shy (heartbreakingly so) when meeting Santa in downtown CL last week; you could just see the awe. After all our family events though, I could tell that he was ready to be done. This made yesterday's day off nice. He and I got out in the snow for some great play yesterday evening and hopefully we can do it again next Monday.

One of the gifts Heather and I gave each other were two large prints that we'll have professionally framed. I'm really looking forward to completing this and getting them up on the wall. The prints look great and I'm inspired to do more printing in 2011.

Usually I'd be on vacation for the rest of the year, but with the time I took off when Lily was born, I'm at work for 3 days this week. It's a little strange riding a fairly empty train and having so few people in the office. I feel like I missed a memo or a major news item or something.

I hope everyone else had a good Christmas and here's to the new year: 2011 should be interesting indeed.

I can't wait to go back.

*I say seemed because it's hard to tell if it was really just me that was more relaxed by the whole thing.