More Pictures

Kristen just gave me the other camera and I couldn't help posting two more pictures:

New Photos

We spent the evening in the backyard watching baby blue jays, grilling and playing in the sandbox.  I snapped a few photos of Davis with the 70-300 to both play around with the lens and get some new pictures of the little guy.  Here are a few:

Sand, birds, and dogs

Davis loves the sandbox Grandma and Grandpa got him when they were here last.  Now that the weather is nice, it's wonderful to relax outside after dinner and before bedtime.  During that time Davis plays with sidwalk chalk, plays in the sandbox, or helps Dad water the plants.  He's getting very self-sufficient and can climb in and out of the box all on his own. 

In the pine tree that shades our backyard, a pair of blue jays have a nest for their young ones.  In this picture John took last night, you can see one of the parents and maybe you can see some beaks of the babies (we think there are three babies, and possibly four). 

Davis is continuing to expand his vocabulary.  He's very good at making his wishes known!  One of the funnest things John and I enjoy is pointing at a dog and saying "What does a dog say Davis?"  He'll say "woof woof".  He also has a word for dog that sounds like "dog dog".  When we read our bedtime story, which involves a lot of different animals going to bed, he'll say "dog dog" and I have to skip to the page about the puppy whose time it is to go to bed.  Then he pets the page.  It's not often we pass a dog that he doesn't point at and the highlight of our walks, or time at the park, is often a friendly dog who comes over to lick him! 

Davis' daycare is on vacation this week and so Davis and I are having a mommy and Davis week with  a couple of whole family days (John is taking off today and Friday).  I'm really looking forward to spending some time with the little guy.  We haven't had whole days to ourselves since maternity leave.  Unfortunately, we've all had a cold recently, and so I'm not feeling as well as I hoped to, but I'm definitely on the mend.  If all goes well, we might be able to take a short camping trip at the end of the week.

By the way..I graduated

It's a bit anticlimactic that I finally get around to blog-announcing the fact that I successfully defended my Ph.D. dissertation more than two weeks ago...but here it is.. I graduated!  The day couldn't have gone more smoothly.  I headed into campus so that John and my Mom and Dad could get there a little closer to the defense time, which was 11:15am.  I had some great friends who helped my family setup the snacks and coffee while I prepped the talk and then all of a sudden the next thing I know, I'm defending!  I was really surprised at how nervous I was when it started, I believe my use of a laser pointer created some motion sickness for a few people.  Eventually, I settled down and was able to roughly enjoy giving the talk.  Another surprising thing about the defense talk, versus any other talk I've given, is the diversity of audience and material.  When preparing it I had to consider the full range of listeners, from my parents and husband to my advisor and committee.  It was really intimidating.  In addition, it's the first time I have talked about more than one of three major pieces of my Ph.D. work.  Fitting it all into a coherent picture was quite the challenge.   I have a hard time judging how it went, other than to tell you that I passed, and as a former advisor of mine likes to say "I passed with flying colors...black and blue". 


If you are like any of the other dozen people I have talked to recently, you are sitting there wondering, "What's next?"  Well, I have a somewhat elusive answer for you.. a postdoc, for a bit, maybe.  I had already planned to stay here for the summer to finish up some aspects of my work for publication.  During my post-defense discussion with my committee, this was actually formalized to be a postdoc with a committee member.  This is a fantastic development since it means I get to do some experiments, which I've always been eager to do.  However, it's really ideal since I can choose to leave at the end of the summer, regardless of the state of the experiments.  If, however, things are going great and I really decide I want to stay in academics, there's a lot of other work I can do with this advisor, should we both wish it.  Right now, I'm going to take it one step at a time before I try and project any long-term outcome of this arrangement.  Luckily, John is very supportive with the idea of going with the flow for the next few months as I sort out some very convoluted feelings I have about my future career path.  I'm lucky to have friends who continue to challenge me about some of those feelings so that I have to think deeply about every option. 


I still have a hard time adjusting to the idea that I am done.  Commencement next week might make it feel more real and I had an email tonight that helped!  My advisor emailed someone a request on behalf of Dr. Naegle and others.  It felt quite official!

New Photos

Last night, Dave came over to hang out while Kristen went to a going away / cycling re-union / end of year party.  We spent some time playing with his new toy with Davis in the back yard.  Dave got some great shots:

I didn't do nearly as well with the lens, but I still want one:

Today, we went to a third birthday party for one of the kids at daycare.  It was held at the Watertown indoor playground.  Davis had a great time with the ball pit and the many other toys:

Photos from Grandma and Grandpa

Here are a few photos from Grandma and Grandpa while they were here.  Kristen and I have a rule: "What happens at daycare, stays at daycare".  We need a similar rule for grandma and grandpa. :)

Helping organize books with Grandpa:

Domino probably hiding from Davis:

Domino not hiding very well from Davis:

Check it out grandpa, a camera:

At the stone zoo:

First non-birthday ice cream:

At a park with grandma:

Big shoes to fill:

Strapping in:

At the Acton children's museum:

Very large bear at Acton children's museum:

Yummmmmmmmm (I think):

So big:

13 Months!

Davis turns 13 months today which reminded me just how bad we have been at updating the blog.  The last few weeks seem like a whirlwind.  Some of the highlights include:

• Kristen putting in 70-80 (or more) hour weeks to finish her thesis, get her presentation done and prepare for a conference
• Kristen's conference being postponed just days before we leave due to the Eyjafjallajökull volcano.
• Kristen's parents coming to visit and take care of Davis
• Planning and taking last minute tip to Costa Rica Puerto Rico.
• Kristen's thesis defense and celebration

It has been a busy few weeks, but things have settled down a little for the time being.  It seems that Kristen and I are both back to working normal hours, Kristen's parents have gone home and we are back to our old routine: chaos. The next couple of weeks should be pretty sedate by our standards: Kristen is wrapping up revisions to her thesis (due date: May 21st), our daycare is closed for the last week of May and then Kristen will go through graduation ceremonies.

Davis has really grown in the last month. He:

• Has about 8-10 words, including: Up, Done (finished eating), Mama, Dada, Thank You (when given something), Hello (usually reserved for answering the phone) and Uh-Oh (dropping something).  His language has developed a lot over the last couple of weeks and besides these words has a lot of different vocalizations.  We think he uses "Ya-Ya" for grandma and has a word for the cats, but we aren't as sure about those.
• Spins around in a circle after watching mom or dad spin around in a circle.  This scares me a little bit as I nearly lost my eye spinning around in our kitchen and hitting my head on a sharp drawer handle when I was young, but it is really neat to watch.
• Can walk backwards
• Knows the song "clap your hands if you are happy and you know it" and does the clapping and stopping parts.  There really isn't much cuter than a stomping toddler.
• Is very opinionated.  If he doesn't get what he wants, he lets us know about it.
• Has a good understanding of basic language and commands.  For example, tonight, while skyping with Grammie, she said "do you want more" and he used the sign for "more".
• Gives fantastic raspberries when mom lies on the ground.
• Takes good and consistent naps at daycare (knock on wood).
• Has transitioned to milk instead of formula (woo hoo).
• Likes whipped cream, ice cream and popsicles 

Those are just a few things.  He is growing up so fast! I can't believe its already been 13 months.  Looking back at where he was a year ago, it seems like it must be longer than 13 months.

Puerto Rico

As I mentioned in my last post, we just returned from Puerto Rico today.  We were originally supposed to piggy back on a conference in Lisbon, but when that was moved to August only days before it started, we quickly planned a trip to Puerto Rico instead.  Fortunately for us, it was the low season so reservations were not a problem.


We had a great time.  Some highlights included:

• Wandering the streets and viewing the forts of old San Juan
• 4 hours of hiking in El Yunque rain forest
• Roadside Puerto Rican food in Luquillo
• A night time kayak trip through the mangroves into the bioluminous lagoon
• A fantastic ocean view and comfortable room at El Conquistador resort
• A guided tour of Las Cabezas de San Juan - a nature preserve
• Trying to find the best Mojito on the island (many samples were required)
• Touring a old coffee and coco plantation (Hacienda Buena Vista)
• Exploring the dry forest
• Body surfing on the beach in front of our hotel
• Coming home to our boy

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

At Fort San Cristóbal in old San Juan:

Lighthouse at Fort San Felipe del Morro in old San Juan:

Cemetery in old San Juan:

Closed bath in El Yunque rain forest:

Lizard who didn't get the message about the bath being closed:

Dead corral on the beach in  Las Cabezas de San Juan

Exploring the dry forest (500 year old tree pictured)

1000 year old tree:

Harvesting coco at Hacienda Buena Vista:

Back

We returned today from a 7 day trip to Puerto Rico.  It was a fantastic trip with a great blend of relaxing and doing nothing and being very active.  It was perhaps one or two days too long to be away from Davis -- for both him and us.  Kristen's parent's were fantastic and took care of the little guy while we were gone.

Davis acquired a new sandbox in our absence and we had a good time playing with it in the yard this evening as the temperatures threatened the 90s.

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