Category Archives: Personal

Ellen turns two

Ellen doesn’t actually turn two for another week (the 16th) but this last weekend was the only time Lisbeth’s family was free to get together to celebrate. So we took the train to Vejle and spent a quiet weekend with Lisbeth’s family.

Ellen, on the slobber express Rikke-Naja The birthday girl at work

It was November when I was last in Vejle, so I was really looking forward to going. It’s always relaxing and it’s a lot of fun to see Ellen with her cousins and her grandparents. (And Karen’s cooking is no small benefit.) Unfortunately I was still recovering from a bout with pneumonia, so although it was relaxing, I wasn’t very good company. Read More →

Christmas 2010

This year we spent Christmas in New Mexico. If we’d had some way to know in advance about the extreme weather, closed airports, and chronic delays, we certainly wouldn’t have made this trip. But it’s a good thing we didn’t know because our plans were only slightly modified by the chaos. We were very lucky. On the way over we saw many cancelled flights on the departure boards, but our flights were largely on time.

Flying out from Copenhagen De-icing before take-off Flying out from Copenhagen

We worried about Ellen before the trip, but it turned out to be fine. She slept during most of the flights, and was easy to entertain when she was awake. Plus we’ve learned to take longer lay-overs so we had ample time to run her around and wear her out before each flight.

Ben, Ellen, and Lisbeth in Albuquerque Ben and Heather Ben tries to demonstrate to Ellen how much fun snow can be (she was not impressed)

We spent the first full day in Albuquerque, resting up and visiting with my brother Ben and his wife Heather. As usual we’d postponed quite a bit of shopping knowing that we’d be in the US, so we did a lot of shopping. (We became iPad owners, and almost immediately found our laptop to be unbearably heavy and cumbersome.)

Mom (or Carly and Celina participate in a church skit Celina, trying to act serious about church Ellen and her uncle Diego Ellen works to unwrap another gift Ellen and Bon-bon DSC_2986.JPG Ellen on her Christmas gift from Bon-bon and Pampah Ellen on her Christmas gift from Bon-bon and Pampah

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Lowered expectations

Lisbeth’s family takes birthdays pretty seriously. My family does not. And so, Lisbeth’s first birthday with me was disappointing. I didn’t forget — I had gifts and plans in place. But to Lisbeth it’s important that the first thing out of my mouth is “Happy Birthday!” This is first thing in the morning — the instant I wake up. But the first thing out of my mouth that first morning was not “Happy Birthday!” It was something more like “I need to pee.”

Lisbeth in April August 2010 Lisbeth in August

My wife is a practical woman, and she’d rather be married to a man that treats her well all year and then forgets her birthday than a man that delivers magical birthdays but neglects her for the rest of the year. Nevertheless, it seems that she was a bit traumatized by that birthday because ever since then she very carefully reminds me that she has a birthday coming up, and what her minimal expectations are for that birthday.

Portugal (July 2010) August 2010 August 2010

This works fine for me. I don’t mind being reminded, even when I am aware that her birthday is coming up. This way she is assured she won’t be horribly disappointed, and I have a few warnings in advance.

July 2010 Portugal (July 2010) August 2010

And so the last two birthdays have gone pretty smoothly, but saying Happy Birthday as soon as I gain conscienceless seems to be harder than it sounds. This year I was fully prepared. I went to sleep repeating in my mind “Happy Birthday, happy birthday — first thing when you wake up, say happy birthday.” But I think Lisbeth has given up on me. In the morning she shook me awake and said, “It’s my birthday!” Apparently she figures that as long as one of us is surprised when we wake up, we’ll be okay.

August 2010 September 2010 October 2010

Happy birthday baby. One of these years I’ll wake up before you do, but until then, keep reminding me.

Before they hatch

DSC_7586.JPGThe first time we saw Ellen, she was still in the womb. What we saw was a grainy, black-n-white approximation of her, but it was good. It was good to have the pregnancy so succinctly confirmed. It was good to see her little features. It was fun to take a tour of her little body. Here are her hands, here are her kidneys, here is her nose… here is her heart, beating away.

But the best part was being told that she was healthy. More than that — that she was a fine specimen. Hearing this, from a trained professional that scans unborn babies every day, was deeply comforting. In retrospect this set the tone for our experience with Ellen. She was healthy before birth, and she was strong throughout the birth. She emerged in a perfect fashion, and has been developing perfectly ever since.

But we learned the hard way, the next time around, that not every ultrasound ends happily. Not every scan fills parents with pride and sends them out of the hospital floating on a cloud. Not every scan results in blurry images proudly posted on blogs and on Facebook.

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Forty one

Today was a regular day, just like any other day. A perfectly normal day. Except that Lisbeth gave me a present as soon as I woke up (a really sharp dress shirt). And except that the guys at work teased me all day (I held the title as the oldest guy in the office for quite some time.) And that Lisbeth gave me another gift when I got home (two books that I’ve been wanting.)

But other than that, it was a perfectly normal day. Except for the stream of emails and Facebook messages from friends and family, wishing me well. And except for the fact that I was born exactly forty one years ago, at exactly one minute before midnight. (And, as my mother sometimes reminds me, after twenty four hours of labor.)

Birthday number one

EllenI’m not sure how it happened, but somehow a year has passed since Ellen came along. It went by quickly, and it seems like she’s been with us all along.

She’s not walking yet. She’s pretty confident standing though, and this weekend Frits coaxed her into taking a step or two. It won’t be long, but so far she doesn’t really seem to think it’s an option anyway.

The way that she’s changed the most though, is her comprehension. She catches on to things that she wouldn’t have figured out before. She’s not solving equations or anything, but you can show her something and she’ll try it herself. Read More →

Maximum cuteness

There may be, somewhere in the world, a father that thinks his daughter is cuter than mine.

But he is clearly insane. Unlike me. Who is not.

DSC_2521.JPG DSC_2721.JPG DSC_2728.JPG

Ellen is ten and a half months old now, and ever since she was born I’ve been telling Lisbeth, “I think this is it — maximum cuteness” and “She just can’t get cuter. It’s just not possible” and “I don’t think I can take much more of this.”

But then she goes right on getting cuter. So much so that when I look at pictures of her from three or six months ago I think, “Well sure, she was sort of cute, I guess… but look at her now!”

But, like house prices, Ellen’s cuteness cannot go up and up indefinitely. No. It must peak at some point, and then go down. It just must. It defies the laws of the universe, this.

Not that I’m complaining, especially since she has a personality to match her cuteness. In fact, there may be, somewhere in the world, a father that thinks his daughter is more charming than mine… poor fool.

Danish Christmas

Glædelig jul! (Merry Christmas!)

Overall, Christmas in Denmark isn’t that different from Christmas in the US. There are differences, but they’re fairly subtle. Except for the tree. That’s not subtle. But in terms of Christmas being a special time, in which family gets together and eats entirely too much — that’s the same.

Naturally the food is different. I’ve gotten so used to the food that I don’t think about it very much anymore, but the Danes have a lot of of specific foods that they only enjoy on special occasions, so there were two dishes I hadn’t had before. The first was brunede kartofler, which translates to roasted potatoes, but are in fact caramelized potatoes. I’m of the opinion that you can’t improve on the potato, be it mashed or merely boiled, so I wasn’t particular impressed by the description, but they’re very good. Read More →

Snow more Christmas

Ellen, up to no good

Up until now, no matter where I’ve been living, I’ve managed to get home to New Mexico for Christmas. But on this, my fortieth Christmas, I’m not going home. We’ll spend next year in New Mexico, but this year we’re spending Christmas with Lisbeth’s family.

It’s quite strange not to go home. It’s nice not to have to worry about airports and jetlag, but I miss my family, I miss the food, and going to my grandparent’s ranch.

The garden -- where the wedding reception was held The house from the front DSC_2935.JPG

But it’s not all bad. Read More →

Crawling is for losers

Ellen’s preferences continue to emerge, and one thing that’s clear is that she has no interest in crawling. She takes real offense when I put her into the crawling position. She drops down to her stomach, starts whining, and looks to Lisbeth for sympathy.  ”Look mom! Look at what dad did to me!”

Ellen during clapping practice This is about as close as Ellen gets to crawling voluntarily I'm walking! I'm walking!

Walking, on the other hand — now that’s interesting. If you hold her hands and walk her around the room, she makes her happy noises and looks up at you as if to say, “Look! I’m walking!”

Apparently not all babies crawl before they walk. Lisbeth never did. Maybe Ellen won’t either, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop trying.