The Pip
drorzel | March 1, 2012I'm driving down back roads through Niskayuna and Colonie, making a big pointless circle. Because we had a slightly rough morning, and I don't want to wake up The Pip, who fell asleep in his car seat on the way home from lunch:
And every time we come to a stop sign or red light, I reach into the back to make sure he's still breathing.
That's where I'm at these days. How's your Thursday?
drorzel | February 28, 2012The Pip says, "Hi, folks. My daddy's book is released today, and he's shameless enough to use me to promote it:"
"I can't read it yet, because I'm just a baby, but I can report that it was very satisfying to drool on. So you should definitely buy a copy, maybe two."
"Also, dig the awesome stuffed alligator toy I got from my Aunt Erin and Aunt 'Stasia. It crackles, and it has a mirror! It's so cool!"
drorzel | February 12, 2012We send SteelyKid to preschool at the Jewish Community Center in Schenectady, because when we looked at day care programs back in the day, they had the one we liked best. This is a mixed blessing in a number of ways-- they close for a lot of religious holidays when nothing else closes, creating some awkwardness with child care and our jobs. On the plus side, though, it's a chance to learn about another culture, and as an extra bonus, most of what we learn is filtered through SteelyKid, making it extra cute.
For example, on the way home Friday, she was chattering quietly to herself in the back…
drorzel | January 21, 2012I've been really bad about documenting The Pip's growth here. The annoying thing is, I've actually taken pictures of him over the last couple of weeks, but I've been too busy to edit and post them. If there's one thing transcontinental flights are good for, though, it's providing you with time to do stuff like this. So, here are some photos of The Pip from the last few weeks, starting with one of this first shots of him smiling:
This is a couple of weeks old, already, and he's much more expressive now. Here's an Appa-for-scale shot from the same day:
And here's an Appa-for-scale shot from…
drorzel | January 8, 2012Lots of people ask how SteelyKid is taking to having a younger sibling. Well, judge for yourself:
This is during the Giants-Falcons playoff game this afternoon, but it's pretty typical. When both SteelyKid and The Pip are home, she's always running over to give him kisses and hugs and chatter at him. She's super excited to be a big sister, and that hasn't changed.
Better yet, a few minutes after that first picture, she looked like this:
And, in fact, she's still snoring cutely. We'll wake her up soonish, but for now, we're enjoying the break from constant, exhausting motion.
Hope you and…
drorzel | December 27, 2011One of The Pip's Christmas presents simply demands to be shown off here:
This is a baby blanket knitted by his awesome Aunt Anastasia, with three physics equations on it. They're subtle, but if you look closely, you can read them: E=mc2, V=IR, and F=ma.
All the other babies will be jealous of his knowledge of physics (once he starts day care in March, anyway). For now, here's a show of appreciation from the little dude himself:
He's waving his little fist in the air, saying "Rock on, Aunt 'Stasia!"
(The actual rocking in this case was being done by big sister SteelyKid:
Check out the…
drorzel | December 15, 2011We got a good group photo this week, showing everybody, with Appa for scale, even:
Here, SteelyKid is opening a bag of small presents that Aunt Norma and Uncle Dan sent, while the Pip engages in the traditional five-week-old-infant pursuit of sleeping a whole lot.
When she's not opening early Christmas gifts, SteelyKid too engages in traditional three-and-a-third-year-old pursuits, such as bouncing balls:
And playing with great big cardboard boxes:
The photo quality of that last one isn't great, because I was sternly ordered to put down the camera and help her by closing the box. We then…
drorzel | December 8, 2011The Pip turned one month old yesterday, so to celebrate, here's a picture of the whole family:
OK, it's not a photograph, but look! SteelyKid drew that all by herself! (The labels on the drawing were done by one of her preschool teachers; the printed text was added by me when I obscured the given names of SteelyKid and The Pip.) This one's going to be on the fridge for a while.
For those who insist on photos, there are a couple below the fold:
First, a traditional Appa-for-scale shot:
(Picture by Kate, with my camera.)
And while it's hard to take pictures of SteelyKid these days, she really…
drorzel | November 21, 2011SteelyKid's away at Grandma and Grandpa's for a few days, to give us a little more time to acclimate to The Pip, which means you get a very traditional baby blogging picture:
It's not the greatest angle for comparing his size to Appa, but you get the idea.
The Pip is settling in nicely. His rate of growth met with medical approval last week, and he won't need to be checked again until his one-month birthday, which is nice. He's settling into a fairly reasonable routine of eating, sleeping, and excreting, with occasional periods of cute-and-awake. And he's much calmer about the small…
drorzel | November 17, 2011I haven't sorted out yet how I plan to handle Thursday Toddler Blogging given that the original reason for it being on Thursday was because SteelyKid was born on a Thursday. The Pip, on the other hand, was born on a Monday. Should I do two cute-kid photos a week? Move it to Friday Family Blogging and try to get pictures of both of them? It's all just so complicated...
... it just wears me out.
We're almost done with this term from Hell, though-- I gave the final exam for one of my two classes this morning, and the other will be on Monday, so I'll make a final decision next week. In the…
drorzel | November 12, 2011"Seriously, Daddy, I'm awake for like one hour a day, and you're going to spend it taking my picture?"
"You're going to post this on the Internet, aren't you?"
"Then again... If I play this right, I can use this technology to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"
(Those two shots are taken with my cell phone, while he was propped up on my knees after his afternoon feeding. For reference, here's a picture of SteelyKid propped up on my knees in more or less the same manner:
(Oh my God, she's huge!)
drorzel | November 11, 2011Actually, The Pip came home last night, but the whole process was too hectic to take any decent pictures, let alone blog about it. We got some quiet time this afternoon, though, when SteelyKid had been packed off to day care, which let me take some good shots of The Pip chillin' in his crib:
This is the same porta-crib, by the way, that big sister SteelyKid posed in last week, so you can fairly directly compare the two. And, of course, Appa is there as a reference.
It's probably an illusion, given that he doesn't exactly have complete control of his movements, but he certainly gave the…
drorzel | November 9, 2011How awesome is The Pip? So awesome he glows:
OK, that's really just a phototherapy light because he's a little jaundiced (SteelyKid had the same thing when she was just born, though I don't remember the light being brought to the room with her). It makes him look like he glows in the dark, though. Possibly because he acquired superpowers through unwise experiments with comic-book radiation.
All is basically well, here. Both SteelyKid and The Pip have thoroughly charmed all the nurses at the hospital-- her through cute chatter and general bounciness, him through eating like a champ and…
drorzel | November 7, 2011As of 4:35 this morning, Chateau Steelypips has a new member (though not yet resident, for a couple more days):
This photo, with the traditional sky-bison for scale is our new baby boy, David Nepveu Orzel, henceforth to be referred to on the blog as "The Pip." Because "SteelyKid and The Pip" sounds like a crime-fighting duo to be reckoned with, it fits with the old domain-name scheme, and it's obviously a nickname, unlike the two other contenders, both of which were based on real-ish names suggested by SteelyKid ("Porter," short for "Transporter," which was SteelyKid's first suggestion of a…