December 31, 2008 - Scott

Happy New Year's Eve. I thought I would write something since we're about to head to Missouri and won't have another chance to write for a bit. We all had a nice Christmas, and we are continually amazed at just how generous everyone is. For our part, I can admit with no shame that we bought a present for Odessa at a pet store. And it wasn't the first time.

Here are some photographs of Odessa from the week before Christmas. After taking a ridiculous 3700+ in her second year (more than 10 per day), I haven't really done much this year. So I took some, and you can look at them if you want.

Serena was the main photographer for Christmas itself, so we'll have to wait and see if she posts a larger update about the holiday herself.

December 18, 2008 - Scott

Serena's done with school. It will be nice for her to get a break. We set up our Christmas tree a while ago, using some ornaments we made when we took a glass blowing class in November. You can check them out by clicking here.

December 4, 2008 - Serena

It has been a long and busy semester. As of today, I have 6 more exams and 6 more days of class before we get a little reprieve. Last week we went back to La Crosse for Thanksgiving and were able to enjoy delicious meals with both the Sturms/Underdahls and the Von Rudens/Galstads. Odessa was in heaven with all the attention and playmates. She especially reveled in the copious praises she got from everyone when she used the potty. The entire room would break out in applause and my little Dessy girl would just beam with pride.

The weekend of Thanksgiving, we were fortunate enough to be able to attend the Packers vs. Panthers game as guests of my parents. This marked Odessa's first trip to Lambeau Field since we went during my 8th month of pregnancy. She enjoyed clapping when everyone else did and seemed to have as good of a time as Scott and I even though we didn't get to lick the cheese sauce off of my parents' nachos.

Recent interesting observations:

-Odessa really enjoys cranberries and cranberry sauce (the more tart, the better apparently). Scrambled eggs are another favorite food although she likes to call them "ows" (rhymes with "cows").
-Odessa has improved her skills of manipulation and has started to butter us up by exclaiming "Hugs!" and "Kiss!" and running over to snuggle before making a demand known.
-When I get home from school or work, I am inevitably met by the sight of a two year-old running to the couch, leaping aboard, and shrieking with glee at the top of her lungs before crying out, "Mama!"
-Odessa enjoys taking all her toys out of the toy box and climbing inside to sit and read quietly.
-When I ask her to identify an object, she invariably answers with what color it is. The color orange is spoken with particular reverence, although yellow and purple appear to be her favorites.
-Such a big girl, Odessa is now taller than the back of the couch.
-My family have been so helpful and supportive to me during this difficult semester and I am very thankful! I love them with my whole heart.

November 22, 2008 - Scott

Hello. I would have written something a little sooner, but we had some internet issues here at the apartment. There are some things to report, mostly about Odessa. So if you care about that stuff you are in luck, and if you don't care about that stuff, then why exactly are you here? Have you seen what this website has been doing for the last two years?

A little while ago I quite suddenly got sick of changing diapers. It was quite a moment. For nearly 25 months I really had no problem changing them. But then, all of a sudden, I realized that it wasn't something I enjoyed doing. So I decided that I'd potty train her. So, the Tuesday following that revelation we spent a couple hours and got that fairly well taken care of.

She's not perfect yet, but I'm pretty satisfied. She no longer has any accidents with #1 around the apartment. When she needs to go she announces it quite proudly, runs off to the bathroom, drops her pants, does her business, pulls her pants up, pours the business into the big toilet, and comes to me so I can help her clean her hands. It's a nice arrangement. She still needs work on #2, and sometimes away from the house she gets a bit distracted and requires reminders. I think she may have some accidents over Thanksgiving with all the people and attention focused on her.

Part of the potty training I gave her included trying to convince her that if she would keep her pants dry she was a "big girl" and that getting them wet was something that a "baby" would do. This proved to be a rather ineffective method however, as Odessa considers being called a baby to be the highest compliment. At the mere suggestion she was a baby she would squeal with delight and laughter.

Also, now when she is on a timeout, she starts to scream "Pee Pee!" over and over because she thinks that I will let her get up.

Her new favorite word is "salsa". Why? I have no idea. She has a frog toy which encourages her to dance by saying "Let's salsa!" when a button is pushed. She doesn't dance though, she just says "salsa!" really loud whenever she hears the word. Eventually this will break down into giggling. She will repeat the word endlessly as if she were palilalic. Except only cheerful and happy.

Sometimes, if you find yourself outside her bedroom, you can hear her quietly murmuring "salsa" to herself.

That's about all I have to say right now. Salsa.

November 4, 2008 - Scott

Happy election day! It is always a party at our house when there is an election. Big time celebrities and newsmakers show up, like me. And sometimes Serena. We both voted last week, so no polling station experience for us this year. I have a policy of not voting for unopposed incumbents regardless of party because I think it is bad for representative democracies, so I got to write in some cool people like Odessa and her dolls. Brunhilde also got a vote.

October 28, 2008 - Scott

Odessa understands that there are fish that swim in our fish tank. She also understands that there is a food you can eat called fish. Right now they are entirely different concepts with similar sounding words to her. One day though, she will make the connection.

I can see it going one of two ways. The first involves a look of horror and tears, while in the other she's pulling a chair near the tank and reaching in to pluck out some tasty treats.

October 20, 2008 - Scott

October 19th was Odessa's second birthday. It is very difficult to accept that two years have already gone by. We had a small party for her, and you can find pictures of it here.

The day before her birthday, we dressed Odessa up in her Halloween costume. She liked Brunhilde, so we got her a butterfly outfit. We bought her a couple sun flowers to go with it and took some pictures of her. I might be a little biased, but she was ridiculously cute. Click here to see the photos.

October 2, 2008 - Scott

So I'm a bit late in writing about this, but it was a joyous occasion in our family when the Brewers made it to the postseason. Now I know they've already lost a game, but there's something more important at play here. Namely, it's playoff beard time. I told Serena that I thought she should grow a playoff beard too, but then she said something about genes and I didn't hear the rest because I stopped paying attention.

September 22, 2008 - Scott

Happy Autumn, northern hemisphere dwellers. My dad hates fall, even though fall never did anything to him except for being beautiful and wonderful. Then again, my dad also likes seagulls, when they are nothing but noisy, pooping, and seemingly omnipresent dumpster chickens. Fall is easily my favorite of the seasons, and I welcome its arrival.

Brunhilde emerged from her chrysalis yesterday. It is very fascinating to watch the process from start to finish. She flew away before I got a chance to take some photographs of the colorful side of her wings. The underside of her wings are duller and she did not spread them out in a way that was convenient to me until she left. How selfish of her. Anyway, here are some pictures.

September 9, 2008 - Scott

Brunhilde or Bartleby has begun the chrysalis process. Let's hope it all goes smoothly. As the surrogate parent of this butterfly precursor, please understand that this is a very nervous and exciting time for me.

On an unrelated (though similarly geeky) subject, the rare earth magnets I ordered arrived today. I have already pinched myself a dozen times. Magnets are so cool.

September 7, 2008 - Scott

Serena is now back in school. We expect this to be her hardest year. And when I say that, keep in mind that she once gave birth on a Thursday and was back in school by Monday. Add in that she works 24 hours a week plus parental obligations (though I doubt she'd call them 'obligations'), and she's already had a couple of rough years. But like I said, we expect this to be worse. She'll get through it, though. If she doesn't, we're going to feed her to the lions.

I found another Monarch caterpillar today. We're going to watch it turn into a butterfly, like we did with Wilma two years ago. Its name is Bartleby if it is a male and Brunhilde if it is a female. I don't really know how to tell the difference until I see their wings, so we'll all be in suspense together for the next couple weeks or so.

What else is new? We went apple-picking. And I've become interested in pickles. We went to a Brewers game on Labor Day. Odessa and I watched every moment of the Democrat and Republican conventions. In years past I had to watch them alone, but now I have a buddy. Also, I am considering growing mutton chops. There will be more on that subject in the future. Let me just say that Chester Arthur was a handsome man. Regardless, you'll just have to wait to see how that develops.

Finally, I'll reveal something about myself that I've pretty much never told anyone other than Serena. Are you ready? I am completely fascinated by, and mildly obsessed with, palindromes. That is the truth.

August 26, 2008 - Scott

We recently returned from a little trip to Upper Michigan. This was originally designed to be a trip to see a bunch of waterfalls that we couldn't get around to seeing on our last trip up almost exactly a year ago. Serena wanted to see some lighthouses, so we saw a couple of those, too. It turned out that I started getting much more interested in lighthouses myself. I used to be indifferent, but thinking about the isolation and hard work, not to mention the enormous responsibility, involved has me seeing the whole concept in a new way. Now I find them fascinating and would like to make more attempts to visit and learn about them.

To visit the Au Sable Point Lighthouse, there is a trail that is 3 miles round trip near the town of Grand Marais on the shore of Lake Superior. Three miles isn't a problem, but we weren't sure how easy it would be with a little one. It turned out to be not so bad. And instead of following the trail, we decided to walk along the shore until we eventually reached it. The shore walk was a highlight of the trip. We were all well alone, felt like we were in the middle of nowhere (even though that is largely false), and it was both peaceful and beautiful. It felt like the shore was ours.

We also took a boat cruise to view the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which granted us spectacular views of the shore. The waves hitting the cliff bases cause iron, calcium, and copper to leach out, painting the rocks in red, white, and teal, while various slimy things would grow in places, adding green in as well.

Odessa had a pretty good time I think. She loved the hotel pool, of course and basically never stopped talking about it. She also loved all the melon, dried fruit, and crackers we let her eat on the long car rides.

Anyway, here are some pictures:
August 18th
August 19th
August 20th
August 21st

August 16, 2008 - Serena

The first weekend in August we drove up to northern Minnesota for my (Sturm-side) cousin’s wedding and a mini (Underdahl-side) family reunion. Both Odessa and Emily had lots of fun dancing at the wedding. Odessa especially enjoyed the colorful lights and meeting her newest second cousin. Scott and I lost about 5 years from our lives when Odessa was run over on the dance floor, causing her to fall and hit her head. She was OK after a little bit of comforting. It took substantially more for us, particularly Scott, to be OK. We had some nice conversations with family, including one about the fine sport of bear hunting, and got to see relatives who made the trip from Florida, Colorado, Georgia, and Missouri.

Uncle Jerry, Aunt Pam, and Colin were all able to fly back to celebrate my grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary. Jerry had rented a lakeside condo for the weekend about an hour away from where the wedding had been. During the drive, Emily and Odessa were snacking in the backseat. We had delicious food, including a red velvet birthday cake to celebrate Emily’s 23rd birthday. We played Catch Phrase and Rummy when it was rainy outside and went on a walleye charter-fishing trip. Colin caught a 24-inch walleye that was too big to keep for this lake. Scott and Pam caught two perch and Dad caught a walleye that we were able to keep and eat for breakfast the next morning.

The rest of our August has been busy, too. We went to the State Fair and I took a trip last weekend to the Twin Cities for a great shopping weekend with my best friend from high school. After I returned to Madison, Aunt Bonnie even came to visit as she was in town for a few days while home visiting her family! We don’t get to see her very often, but Odessa warmed up right away and kept smiling at her. By the end of the visit, when we would ask where Bonnie was, Odessa would walk right over to her and stick a finger in her eye (her universal symbol of identification).

We bought a hose and a connector for the sink and run the hose out the kitchen window to allow Dessy to play in the water. Although she was hesitant with the sprinkler, she enjoyed chasing after Scott and me with the hose and getting us wet. We plan on setting up an inflatable pool for her to splash around in when the weather gets less rainy. Here are some pictures of the things that I have written about in this update.

August 8, 2008 - Scott

We've been very busy lately, trying to cram as much stuff in to the remaining summer days as we can. I believe Serena intends to write an update next week covering some of that stuff, and she'll probably post some pictures.

Yesterday, Odessa discovered how to climb out of her crib. I believe she has been capable of doing it for a long time, but she seemed to be too afraid to really go through with it. How exactly can it be adaptive for a child to lose his or her rational fears (such as heights), yet violently retain irrational fears (like puppets)?

I have uploaded two small picture galleries, one of which will interest some people, the other will probably not. Odessa comprises the former, and Fourth of July fireworks makes up the latter. The fireworks photographs, other than being over a month late, aren't anything special, in fact it only holds my own interest mildly at best. I had never photographed them before, so I kind of sucked at it, but it is still fun to try and take pictures of new things.

You can find the two galleries here and here, but I'm not going to go out of my way to tell you which one is which. If you see one with weird colors splattered everywhere, it is probably fireworks. Or it could also be Odessa from her first birthday party, but if it is you probably did something wrong.

July 21, 2008 - Scott

We all saw this coming, but it is finally here: Odessa is a biter.

July 11, 2008 - Serena

Here is an update on our past week:

I worked hard at recovering from having my wisdom teeth out. My sister had the same procedure earlier this year and felt better by the day after. I had to miss work all weekend with a large chipmunk sized face and constant Vicodin schedule.

We took Dessy swimming at a local lake. She absolutely loved it and was giggling and laughing the whole time. She thought it was hilarious when we were trying so hard to prevent her from drinking Madison lake water. It was fun for her to splash around, walk in the shallow areas, and feel the sand between her toes.

We ate lunch at Bluephie's one day. Dessy was making such funny faces at the camera, I took a bunch of pictures while we were waiting for our food. In the first picture, she is copying me by putting her hands along both cheeks - a face I made often this past week with all my swelling and wisdom teeth pain!

Dessy has learned to open doors, including being able to unlock the front door! Scott said she ran over there, unlocked it, and ran right outside earlier this week. Needless to say, we went right out to purchase child-proof covers for the door handles.

Scott and Dessy are mostly over their colds and I have (so far) managed to remain illness-free, which is a good thing considering I missed 24 hours of work due to those darn wisdom teeth.

Today I am making brownies with pureed spinach and carrots in an attempt to get Dessy to eat more vegetables. We are going to a Madison Mallards' game tonight for the first time ever. Tomorrow we look forward to going to Art Fair on the Square then I am taking a class at a local stained glass shop in the afternoon.

Here are some pictures of Odessa swimming and making faces.

July 8, 2008 - Scott

Odessa acquired another cold this week, which means I've acquired another cold this week. I used to try and be careful about this sort of thing and attempt to not catch whatever had beset her. But it doesn't work that way. There's no avoiding the monstrous germ cannons on her face. And the little squirt has some impeccable timing and aim. For instance, she caught me with an open mouth yesterday and fired a sneeze, at what I can only assume was a meticulously calculated angle and speed, such that I was inundated with globs of her horrible nose juice. If only being a vector for infectious disease were a sport recognized by the IOC we may have had a future gold medalist in our family.

July 2, 2008 - Scott

Happenings are as follows: Serena's getting her wisdom teeth plucked out tomorrow. We recently drove to IKEA in Illinois to buy some new stuff for our apartment. Odessa can now open all the doors in our apartment, kick people in the crotch when she gets picked up, and steal chocolate chips from the pantry. Here are some pictures of the strawberry picking and igloo that I talked about last time. The igloo was in a hotel that had themed rooms.