A Beautiful Day, A Beatiful Girl ... A Family Hike

Steve and Carolyn have been sick (colds, for both of them). On Saturday, the temperatures were warm and the ski blue, and they were feeling better, so we packed up and went on a hike. Carolyn loves hiking and she often takes a nap after some time in the backpack.... if only we could get her to nap like that at home in the crib!

Warning - fewer posts (unless Steve can figure out how to update the blog)

Earlier this week, someone mentioned to me that the blog had not been updated as regularly ... well, you may need to get used to that, faithful readers! Now that I am back to work, I do not sit around taking as many pictures as I used to. I told Steve that part of his job as stay-at-home dad would be to take lots of pictures and videos for the blog. He got a little stressed out, reminding me that he rarely finds time to take a shower on the days he is in charge of Carolyn. (He is definitely getting better at juggling the demands on his day, but continues to say how glad he is he took this opportunity to stay at home with his daughter)

Here are a few random pictures Steve took of our happy little girl the other day. This day, she was particularly excited to eat and got such a big smile when he told her she was having bananas.

7 Months Old

Today, the little girl is 7 months old. And, we realize that soon we will need to babyproof the house because she is mobile! She is not fast, nor is it a true crawl, but she can intentionally move herself around a room and she is getting progressively better each day. For a few weeks, she would push her butt really high up in the air, but not move her arms. Recently, she figured out that her arms are what can really move her, so she has been doing an army crawl dragging herself around the floor. The other night, I put her in the middle of the floor in her room and then walked away to run her bathwater. By the time I came back to get her, she was already out into the hallway, making her way to the bathroom by herself. She was so proud of herself.

This month has brought a lot of changes in our household. I went back to work after being off since June, while Steve started his job as stay-at-home dad. The transition was suprisingly not very stressful for any of us. I think it brought a welcome change for everyone. Steve is enjoying his break from a stressful job and his new role as primary caretaker, but did mention how hard it is to watch her and take care of the house, compared to how easy it is to get up and go to work everyday. I enjoyed my first week back at work, but like to think that I will be a lot more productive with the time I do spend at work. I want to get all of my work done, so I can leave early and go home to be with Steve and Carolyn.

Our little talker .... And our crawler .......

For those of you in the Midwest, mark your calendars!

The Altman clan is coming to the midwest this June .... We just booked our flights.

We will arrive in Cleveland on Thursday June 11. There will be a BIG birthday celebration at the Ottawa Pavilion in the Brecksville Reservation on Sunday June 14 (Carolyn will be 1 and a whole bunch of other Altmans have birthdays in June, too). Carolyn will likely be getting baptised that weekend, too.

After a few days in Cleveland, we will make our way to Ann Arbor for a day or two, and then spend the final weekend of our trip in Chicago. We come back home on Monday June 22.

We look forward to seeing our friends and family!

Thanks Grandma Utz ...

Carolyn is a well-dressed baby, partly because Grandma Lynn knits her some awfully cute things. Here is her latest creation - a purple and green pinafore.

Also, Carolyn would like to wish Grandma Lynn a speedy recovery; she said she wants to challenge you to a race the next time she sees you. And, to Grandpops Harry, she hopes you are breathing easier. We are thinking about both of you.

Happy New Year - 2009

2008 proved to be a pretty awesome year ... oh, how our lives have changed with the arrival of Carolyn Rebecca. She is such a joy; we can hardly remember what life was like without her. Becky is especially thankful to have been given the opportunity to stay at home with her for the first 7 months, while Steve is excited to try out his role as stay-at-home dad for a while.

The Berger family joined us this year for the New Year's holiday. Joerg, Ann, and Oliver arrived a few days after christmas and left on January 4. Carolyn enjoyed having a playmate; and Oli was so sweet to the 'baby'. My favorite part of their visit was the day we all decided to go cross-country skiing. The temperatures were warm and the ski was bluer than you can imagine. It was going to be the perfect day .... but we quickly discovered that it is a lot harder to control Nordic skis than it is to navigate the trails on Alpine skis. Next time, I bet we opt for snowshoes rather than skis, especially when we are toting Carolyn on our back. Or at the very least, I bet we will look at the trail map first and stick to routes that have fewer downhill sections. We all returned unscathed, but tempers were flaring and muscles were aching by the end of that day. Fortunately, we laughed pretty hard about our mis-adventure over some beers and dinner.

We did not do anything special to ring in the new year. In fact, Steve and Ann were in bed well before midnight because they both were feeling pretty lousy (some sort of stomach bug). Once everyone was asleep, I went to a get together at Nick/Kim's and Todd/Michelle's houses. We did nothing special other than eat red-velvet cake and some cocktails, but the laidback event really made me realize how grateful I am for the friends we have here. Such a caring and fun group of people!

Oh yeah, Steve and Joerg spent one afternoon making a snow-woman in the backyard.

Here's to a new year filled with health, happiness, discovery, and good fortune.