Tag Archives: smile

day 2375: art of the knight life.



in addition to asking santa for some snow tires for christmas, odin also asked for a knight’s outfit. sword, sheath, shield, head garb. thankfully he didn’t ask for a full suit of armor, just the basics to add the right amount of authenticity to imagined Authurian Adventures with friends.

i suspect santa thought it was a pretty neat request because he came through in A Big Way.

odin was so pleased with the gifts he painted a picture of himself in the outfit that i could “take to work”.

so thoughtful – thank you odin.

day 2239: in search of treasure on The Dike.



for as long as i’ve known the levee on route 1 in machias which keeps the tidal flow from machias bay out of the middle river has has been called, simply, The Dike.

The Dike has always had space for parking, and when i was a kid it was a popular place for folks to sit and pass the time watching cars pass by and the tides come in and out ( and who knows what else after sunset ). in more recent times, it seems that The Dike has become a popular spot on the weekends for the local farmers market and a flea market where all manner of junk, er, treasure gets served from out of the back of parked vehicles ( as an aside, the dike has been in use for 150 years and is a recent source of controversy as the state would like to remove the “flappers” that prevent the tides from going into the middle river which has angered some local residents. )

i was a bit pesimistic that we’d find anything worth keeping, but odin was quite sure i was wrong and after strolling for a bit he found this sign made from “found” wood in harrington, maine that he thought would, rightly, be perfectly perfect for The Girls’ chicken coop!



if i’ve done my googling correctly, it appears the the nice man who made and signed the sign is, leon raikes, a professor of english at the university of maine.

thanks leon!

day 2197: odin and olivia and the chickens as pets conundrum.



around, ironically enough, dinner time i walked outside to find odin and a friend sitting on the picnic table happily chatting away about this and that while petting a couple of The Girls who have become increasingly adjusted to a life of constant love and affection from odin who adores All Things Great and Small.

while absolutely adorable, it does highlight the challenge that lies ahead to get him to understand that many of them will eventually become dinner.

the eric update – day 16: doing the ‘roo with pops

day 16: doing the 'roo with pops

finally! after a false start earlier in the week and kris hogging all the kangaroo care time recently ( obviously, i hold no malice – moms always get first dibs on kangaroo time ), i was beginning to wonder when i’d ever get a chance to get some skin-to-skin time.

day 16: man in the mirror I

he was quite content the entire time, save for every so often when he’d get squirmy and dig his tiny little fingers into my chest.

day 16: man in the mirror II

he stayed on my chest for two hours without throwing a single, solitary alarm. it’s amazing how much their breathing and heart rate stabilize when doing kangaroo care. he’d been having bouts of bradycardia all morning long that immediately disappeared as soon as he was put on my chest. and his heart rate really does do less “bouncing around”.

day 16:  a quick smile

it’s hard to believe that there are still some fairly prominent nicus that don’t encourage the practice. even if the physiological benefits to the baby weren’t fairly well proven, it obviously does the parents a world of good.

as you can see, he was a very happy boy after it was all done – all smiles and making cutesy eyes at kris.

day 16: all the better to smell you with?

unfortunately, the CPAP mask is doing funny things to his nostrils and making them look upturned and gigantic.

nurse jan promises that they won’t stick that way.