Naked baby butt!

Ada visits Madera Canyon

Ada V

Growing like a weed...

Top: a few days old

Bottom: six weeks old

5 weeks today!

Father's Day, etc.

I experienced my first Father's Day last Sunday, and I was, surprisingly to myself, more excited for it than I thought I would be. It was a nice occassion to receive gifts (some much-needed barbecue utensils, and a collage frame of Ada pictures), but I also felt very proud in a way I had not before. It wasn't that I needed to be recognized--it was more that I felt proud to be Ada's father, and simply happy that I could call myself one. If fatherhood is any inconvenience, or difficult at times, those moments are very small prices to pay. I'm thankful that my schedule right now allows me to be with her most of the day.

I was going to post a picture of me and Ada with her "I Heart Daddy" onesie, but I look so lardy in all the pictures that my pride will not allow me to let others see just how much weight I've gained. Last summer I was down to a svelt 180, and now I'm back up to 195. Damn. Partly due to lounging around with Ada and not playing basketball and getting outside like I did last summer. It's also about 110 outside. So right now, my vanity is taking a prolonged break so that I can spend time with my daughter and sit in air-conditioning.

Anyway, so here's a photo of Ada w/o her fat-necked father (for the most part).

While our nice digital camera and its bright flash are ruthless on bloated faces, it is good for some things, like this bonus shot of a butterfly that died in our back yard (see tattered wing). He's sitting on a prematurely fallen grapfruit.

The desert brings forth life as well, though...a cactus bloom on our front porch.

All dressed up with nowhere to go

Sam picked out this dress at an Antique Store in Eugene when we were in Oregon for Christmas.

Too sweet

Up late w Conan and Ada

Isn't natural sunlight the best for shooting babies? I hate using the flash because it makes her look more pale than she really is. Latest changes: her hair is growing, her hands are getting a little bigger, and she has added a third mode of existence beyond eating and sleeping: she'll sometimes stay awake after feeding and look around, content for just awhile. She has a very expressive face; her eyes wander around as if she maintains an ingrained skepticism (see top) and doesn't want to betray her surprise at the world.

She won't remember any of this, of course, but I know that her subconscious is logging everything, and that she remembers what she sees, the voices she hears, and the touches she receives in ways that will become apparent in a couple years, when her deep familiarity with us will finally be revealed when she speaks and when she longs for us in all the ways that children yearn for their parents' love and protection. The foundation for those moments is being laid now.

--Sam