wet weekend

This was a good weekend to be a duck. After numerous sunny days spent in the office, we had much rain.

Did the rain stop our adventures? Nope, they were accentuated. We walked to the library to get some fiction and came out to a downpour. Somehow, we only have 1 umbrella that Jill used to keep the baby dry.
How is it that Jill looks wetter than I do? For the above photo, I had already taken off my rainjacket. Both of our pants and shoes were soaked through.
Rain makes me feel more philosophical. The following question came to me while on my ride to Block in the rain: (Sidenotes: a handful of fields already had corn plants poking out of the ground. I didn't take the camera for fear of destroying it. Finding a spot to hang wet bike clothes after wet walk clothes was tough.) how have we changed since becoming parents? Short answer: I'm less introspective [joking]. One minor change is that not only have we not watched a new movie in the last year, we haven't even been interested [that includes you, Avatar]. Maybe Clara brings us enough extra drama and laughter?

My boss told me that I would now _always_ have worries about my kid in the back my mind. Other than the usual stress of preparing her to become a visionary world leader, it's hard to think of specific worries. Maybe that's the rub -- they wouldn't seem so big if we could name them.

We bought this cool toy for Clara on Saturday even though officially she's too young. The animals and farmer can move all around the farmyard. She likes it nearly as much as an empty cereal box.

some unprecedentosity

Since we're such highly educated people, you might think that we always have our act together. To be frank, we have a ways to go. We haven't even started on boarding pre-school applications (I say she should learn locally in Chicago, but Jill has her heart set on Prague for extra focus on the classics.) What we did get done for the first time ever was give Clara a bath on consecutive days.

Jill did make some lemon cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese. I find that they must be eaten 2 at a time.

One reason for Clara's additional bathing was playing in the grass time yesterday. She liked sitting on it and pulling it up, but would not roll. Grass blades poking her face was no fun.
We took a ride out through the local tree farm yesterday. After riding past plowed corn and soy bean fields, seeing baby trees with flowering buds is a welcome sight. The farm is not small-- about 2 miles long by one mile wide.
For a touch of extra safety, Jill recently bought a flag for Clara's trailer.
Pulling the trailer at moderate speeds is much easier than trying the stick with the fast boys on the Wed night ride. Dave told us to get ready for his 35 mph pull minutes before it happened. Even if he had told me 3 weeks ago, I'm not sure I would have been ready. Dropped!

Finally, God knows if we're going to have any more children, but we have stumbled upon a fine name theme. Jill said something about 'older' names, but I heard 'oder' names. My favorite oder name to date is Modje (pronounced Mowed-HAY, accent mark over the e). Feel free to use that one and change spelling as needed.

now 7 months

The fine weather this week called for a picnic. Our Tuesday dinner with our adopt-a-students seemed like a good time to have one. We enjoyed curry chicken-salad sandwiches and Jill-baked shortbread cookies.

We loaded up the bikes with dinner and baby, and the boys walked over to Illini Grove. I rode the Ute cargo bike, which has been neglected for some time now. Jill puts groceries in the trailer with Clara, and I rarely transport lots of stuff. I had considered getting rid of it, but will hold onto it until after the revolution.

Our 3 'kids':

Clara is yet another month older at 7 months. No doctor appointment this month, so we don't have official stats other than that she is bigger and is in the 80th percentile for funniness. Still not too much hair and no teeth. She celebrated this achievement by getting her first runny nose. 2 days later she's fully recovered.

She wouldn't sit still with Raggedy Ann for the photo shoot.
A month after their initial plan, Grandpa and Grandma are in town to see the baby. We've hit Hickory River and the Courier Cafe. Maybe we'll visit Allerton Park tomorrow.

Happy Easter

Our first easter as a family of three was today. Christ is risen! 'I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.' Ezekiel 36:26

Our adopt-a-student Eric came over for a lunch of pork tenderloin (with mojo sauce), rice, green beans, lettuce, and strawberries. Yummy!

The family portrait was taken during the sunny part of the day.
Clara will be 7 months old this week. She's starting to eat solid foods. First was rice cereal mixed with formula. Now, Jill has put our new mill to use, making sweet potatoes, bananas, and carrots. SP were the best. Below, Clara enjoys some carrots.
Clara is developing a sense of MINE. She cries when we take toys away or when she drops them on the floor. Don't fear because Jill is already on the case. She and Clara play pass the ball (thanks, Grandma K) and celebrate each good pass.

Call me a wimp, but I skipped the morning team bike ride during a downpour so that I could ride in sunshine in the afternoon on Sat. I rode around Homer Lake, sailing there in about 30 min with a strong tailwind and grinding into the wind back for over an hour. I'm partly following friend Mark's program of 3 20 minute intervals. Mine were 12, 20, and 5 min. Not terrible by me.

Hills and Knobs

Wild Card Cycling held its annual spring get in shape weekend in Southern Illinois this weekend. Rather than rooming with another guy and his smelly cycling shoes, I brought the whole family along. We stayed in the honeymoon suite of the Valley View Cabins near Anna, IL, where the 'view' is mostly of the interstate, but is quite pretty nonetheless.

We drove the 3 1/2 hours down on Friday morning to meet up for our noon ride. The plan for Friday was a relatively 'easy' 40 mile ride to Bald Knob, an impressive hill with a giant truss cross on the top. Large signs warn that the cross could fall any moment due to structural instability. It was still standing when we left. We rode at a moderate pace most of the way to the big climb with many stops to regroup. On the big climb to the Knob I got dropped like a rock by strong men Jason, Jay, and Martin.

The big ride was Saturday to Golconda, a small town on the Ohio River, and back to Valley View. How small is Golconda? Small enough that there's no bridge to cross the river into Kentucky. We started off with a group of about 20 with blue skies, 45-50ish degrees, and a slight wind.

At mile 20, I was feeling sprightly enough for a self-portrait riding the warmup hill after our first stop. I wore a wool base layer, wool sweater, and my jersey. The other guys ragged on me the whole ride about how hot I should have been. Maybe I didn't notice because I was so worn out, or maybe I was slightly dehydrated. Neither of the stops at 20 and 40 miles had any water, so I had to beg a swig off Luke in Eddyville (mile 40). At Golconda, I drank about 2 bottles in the bathroom and left with 2 full bottles. I rejoiced greatly at mile 80 when Jay requested a stop to get more water.
Now you might know that winters tend to be cold in the midwest, so generally cyclists take it easy and gain some holiday weight. The 5 other guys I rode with the whole route did not follow this custom. On the flats and rollers, I hid in their draft without problems. The long, steep hills revealed the truth, though. I was clearly the slowest. The strong 5 graciously waited up for me at the tops.

My view for most of the ride.
While I was being ground into a woolly blob, Jill and Clara took a couple rides in the nearby valleys. When we ride together, we stop at nice places and take photos and eat good food at places like the cafe in Cobden. With the racers, the stops are at convenience stores. My lunch was banana nut muffins, fig newtons, and peanut M&Ms.

Clara, as per usual, was a big hit with the patrons of the cafe in Cobden. In fact, she was a hit with the team as well, as she and Jill won a Wild Card mug for 'most supportive family' on the team.
Lots of rain on Sunday, so only the hearty rode. I saw Scott, who had to work on Friday, take off wearing rain gear. The rest of us headed back home. We took a short detour to Ferne Clyffe state park, which in fact has a cliff and a lovely lake.
I should add that the roads were generally excellent, and the drivers were quite courteous, despite the lack of other cyclists in the area. Perhaps they were enjoying the wine trail enough to not be bothered by us.

More baby skills

Clara is getting skills quickly lately. Last week, she started to roll, now she rolls all over the place. This week, she can sit up by herself. Occasionally, she stops paying attention and topples over. Surprisingly, she rarely cries after thumping the back or side of her head.
Yesterday, Clara convinced us to let her eat big girl food again. For the third time, we mixed up pre-cooked rice cereal and her milk.
This time, she ate, loved it, and was happy.
Spring continues to be beautifully perfect. This may be the best time of the year as it's warm and the grass is not growing yet. I joined the Wild Card crew for part of the Sat ride (see Paul's recap). Jill and Clara are out riding with the chariot daily. A couple times they brought me bubble tea at work.

Speaking of work, I finished writing my first proposal this week (should I add finally? should I give some excuses?). It's small and somewhat simple, but I'm happy with it. Maybe the clean coal institute will be also.

new normal

My primary enjoyment from this blog is recording the fun and unusual happenings of our lives. Well, as the last 2 weeks have shown, sometimes very little unusual happens, or unusual that I care to write about. I choose to write no more about recent sewage troubles.

But what goes on during an ordinary day in this small family of ours? I'm glad you want to know.

Let's begin with morning, which starts between 7:10 and 7:30 am. Either the alarm or Clara wakes me up. I pick her up and change her diaper, then make my lunch, eat breakfast (sometimes alone, sometimes with Jill), do some personal hygiene, kiss the gals, and head for work.

I get home from work around 5:30. Now it's play time with baby while Jill cooks dinner. We're about to eat, and baby starts crying. We ignore crying, crying increases. Hold baby, feed baby, baby is now happy and sleeps for about 10 minutes. After we all eat, I read, write a blog, watch 'Chuck', work on bikes, or just collapse on the floor. Baby cycles through a rotation of jumpy chair, rolling on the floor, being held while yelling or smiling. Wow, is it 10:00 already? Dishes might not get done tonight. Feed baby for a top-off. Please go to sleep, baby. Jammie time, some crying, hold the baby, no crying. Finally asleep, or more crying. I sleep.
Jill will have to fill in the details of what I miss while working, but it seems that much fun happens. With the balmy weather this week, Clara got to play in the park. She loved swinging for the first time.
Jill's last Christmas gift came today, an electric piano. She hasn't played much since giving up lessons in her youth, but said that what she knew is coming back. Higher culture, here we come.