Category Archives: Personal

Storm

April 26, 2009 10:10 pm // 5 Comments

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It’s spring, and the weather is fantastic. I don’t know if spring in Denmark is just plain fantastic, or if it just seems that way because the winters are so long and dark, but either way, it’s a big relief when spring arrives. And yet a Storm arrived a week ago.

Lisbeth’s sister Hanne and her boyfriend Kaspar had their first child last Friday, and so we went to see the new addition. There seemed to be a little uncertainty, but it looks like they’re going to name him Storm.

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It was a big shock for us to see him, for several reasons. For one thing, he’s sure to steal Ellen’s thunder, and so we basically see him as a threat. And to make matters worse, he’s the first boy in Lisbeth’s family since her older brother Mogens was born, so that’s a pretty big event too. Read More →

Posted in: Personal, Pictures

Six long weeks

March 30, 2009 10:00 am // 1 Comment

Ellen is six weeks old today, and is a very different creature from the one we first brought home.

She stays awake longer than she used to during the day. She also sleeps more at night, which is great. She slept for nine hours a few nights ago.

But more importantly, she’s more alert.  She likes to be where the action is, and she shows interest in things around her. She can’t use her hands well enough to grab ahold of things yet, but you can tell she’d like to.

She’s more vocal too. When she gets excited about something, her little arms and legs start moving faster, and a few seconds later she makes a loud sort of squak. It isn’t much, but it’s her own voice, and she knows it.

Posted in: Ellen, Personal, Pictures

The Frog at four weeks

March 16, 2009 5:46 pm // 3 Comments

I swore I wouldn’t do this. I swore I wouldn’t post batch after batch of baby pictures. I’ve always been annoyed by people that send out more than one picture of their newborns.

Babies are just not interesting to look at. They are often not even pleasant to look at. So sending out one picture is understandable, but two is pushing it. I don’t even want to count how many I’ve posted.

changing time

But several things have happened that I didn’t expect: Read More →

Posted in: Ellen, Personal, Pictures

Four years to manhood

March 4, 2009 11:59 pm // 3 Comments

When I was a little boy… well, I hated it. I hated being a little boy.

I didn’t like being treated like a child, and I didn’t like being dependent on my parents for money, food, and transport. But I also hated the way I looked. I hated having boyish features, and I resented having a boy’s voice. I couldn’t wait for my voice change, to grow a beard, to have my own money, cars, and house. I couldn’t wait to be a man.

I speculated about what the ideal age for a man was, and I decided it was forty-four. When you’re forty-four, I reasoned, you’ve really arrived. Read More →

Posted in: Personal

The three states of infancy

February 27, 2009 9:56 pm // 10 Comments

1. Asleep

2. Awake


3. Very awake

Posted in: Ellen, Personal, Pictures

Ellen

February 18, 2009 11:01 pm // 12 Comments

Despite the weeks of waiting, and trying to expect the unexpected, the big day came in sort of an unsurprising way. We had a standing appointment on Monday for a checkup, in the event that the baby had not come before then.

And so, almost as if prompted by the deadline, Lisbeth started to have pains late Sunday night. The pain was strong enough to keep her up all night, but not strong enough for her to decide that we needed to head to the hospital. So we went the next morning for our 8:45 appointment.

Read More →

Posted in: Ellen, Personal, Pictures

Any day now

February 1, 2009 5:08 pm // 3 Comments

any day now

Posted in: Personal, Pictures

Sure enough

January 30, 2009 5:09 am // Leave a Comment

My friend Michelle has been laid off from Microsoft. She’ll mostly likely move her family back to the US in a few months. In fact now it seems that everyone in the group of friends that moved here around the time I did will be gone by this summer.

It’s sad, but I can certainly see how living here is not for everyone. Michelle probably would have moved back anyway — getting laid off merely speeds up the process.

I’m so glad I left Microsoft. I’m glad for many reasons, but now I have a new reason. If I’d stayed, I would probably have gotten laid off too. And getting laid off now — a week before the baby is due — would have really sucked.

Posted in: Personal

Week 33 of 40

December 13, 2008 10:51 am // 2 Comments

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Posted in: Personal, Pictures

The Wedding

November 24, 2008 9:30 am // 10 Comments

Mr and Mrs. TrujilloI’m no wedding expert, but I’ve been to enough to know that the couple getting married doesn’t always have a very good time. It’s easy to see why, with all the planning, the expectations, the logistics, and the fact that — hopefully — you only have one chance to get it right. So I was a little surprised that it was such a fantastic day, and we enjoyed ourselves so much. That’s not to say that it was perfect, but the imperfections were harmless and pretty funny.

The Preparation

White chocolate, marzipan, passion fruit... mmm...There were a lot of things about this wedding that weren’t like others I’ve been to. For example, Lisbeth made the wedding cake. It’s not unusual for the bride to make the cake in Denmark, but I’ve never heard of that in the US. (It was utterly fantastic cake!)

The party (or reception as it’s generally called in the states) was held in the back yard at Lisbeth’s parents’ house. If you’ve been following this blog then you know that they live in a really pretty setting, and so there was no debate where we wanted to have the party. Read More →

Posted in: Denmark, Personal, Pictures