WW#32: Sleeping Beauty (The Sequel)

Wordless Wednesday: Sleeping Beauty (The Sequel)

If you're wondering about the sequel parenthetical, I already published a post entitled "Sleeping Beauty".  I take so many pictures of A. sleeping (several more examples here) that I might just have to make it its own regular series.  She always looks so peaceful and adorable that it warms me to the core!  It's those moments where you gain a special appreciation for being a daddy (or mommy).

#38: Easter Fun Facts and Photos

Christmas comes but once a year, but it's possible for Easter to not come at all.  Sort of.

Here's an interesting fact Steph and I realized over the weekend: because Easter was celebrated on April 4th in 2010 and April 24th in 2011 and our daughter A. was born on April 16, 2010, she didn't celebrate her first Easter until after her first birthday.  It's just one of those anomalies because of how the date is determined; according to this Geocities-looking web page, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal equinox (March 21st).

Anyway, our first Easter with A. was good--at least until the car ride home, but we'll chalk that up to teething and over-tiredness.  A. had a great time playing with her cousins and my sister-in-law's dog Rusty.  The weather was surprisingly warm and sunny.  The Italian Easter pies--a tradition in Steph's family--were delicious.  And the Celtics and Red Sox both brought out the broom and swept!

Here are a few Easter photos.

Happy Blogiversary... to Me!

Today is my first blogiversary!  When I started When You Have A Kid one year ago today, my daughter A. was just one-week old, so I was as new at blogging as I was at parenting. To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing in either area, but I learned along the way.  And despite the occasional bump or bruise, my experience as both a dad and a blogger has been tremendously fun and rewarding.

As Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, "To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive...".  Whether you've been there from the beginning or hopped on along the way, thank you for joining me on this journey.  I'm excited to see where it takes us over the next year and beyond.

p.s. As a blogiversary gift to myself, I am going to redesign the blog.  Stay tuned.

#37: Happy First Birthday to My Baby Girl

When you have a kid, the first year goes by fast.  Really freakin' fast.

One year.  12 months.  365 days.  8,760 hours.  525,600 minutes.  31,536,000 seconds.  No matter how big I try to make the unit of time, it still feels incredibly small because it went by in the blink of an eye.

A year ago today, Steph and I welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world.  A. was 11 days late, which was very un-Hadley like.  But once she burst onto the scene, there was no holding her back.  It seemed like every other week we were celebrating a major milestone.  Like rolling over.  Or eating solid foods.  Or crawling.  Or mastering the stacking rings toy.  Or saying "dada".  Now she's walking like a (semi) pro and even learning to feed herself with a spoon.  I'm constantly amazed by how much development is packed into the first year.

I'm so proud of each accomplishment and how far A. has come in such a short time.  I'm also excited for what the next year holds, and look forward to being able to interact, communicate, and play with her on a whole new level.  Yet, I can't help but be a little saddened that each day she becomes less like a baby and more like a kid.  I want her to grow up and do amazing things, but at the same time, I want her to always be my baby girl.  (As I wrote when A. turned four months, I want to have my cake and eat it too.)

Today, there will be plenty of cake--and plenty of celebration!  Happy First Birthday to my baby girl!  I love you so much.

-Daddy

#36: Baby's First Trip to the Zoo

When you have a kid, there's plenty of time for monkeying around on the weekends.

Saturday was a warm, sunny day, so we decided to take baby on her first trip to the zoo.  We went to the Franklin Park Zoo, which was perfect for two reasons: it's close (we got there in under 15 minutes) and it's a manageable size (we saw everything in three hours and weren't exhausted afterwords).  The only disappointment was that the giraffe wasn't out; apparently, it has to be warmer than 65 degrees outside.

A week from her first birthday, A. was just a tad young to fully appreciate the zoo, but she--and we--had fun anyway.  To be honest, she was more interested in the other babies than the animals.  However, considering how much she loves my sister-in-law's dog Rusty, I'm optimistic that the zoo will quickly become one of her favorite destinations.  We bought season passes, so it better!

Anyway, here's a collection of photos from our trip to the zoo.