baby shoes

Our little man does not like socks.  Or shoes.  Barefoot is his style.  He's going to love being a beach-baby this summer!  But for those times when it's better for his feet to be covered, he's going to be rocking these soft shoes I made him.  He didn't seem to mind them being on his feet... or maybe he just hasn't figured out how to get them off...

Have you noticed that everything's cuter when it's little?

They're even cuter on his feet!  Who can resist baby feet?

I think they're adorable.  I may need to make him some more...

Made from this pattern

car rides

Moving out to Manchester-by-the-sea means that we are spending a lot more time in the car.  Traffic is a constant battle.  David leaves before 7 each morning to beat most of the city-bound traffic.  This also means a 45 minute drive to our church, though we don't mind it much because we love Park Street Church.  David and I drive in to work together on days when I teach, not only to save on gas, but as a way to spend some time together in the car.  It's nice, sipping our tea and coffee, baby occupied in his car seat, a chance to talk and start the morning together.  It also means that David is pretty famous at my school when he comes to pick up Elijah and me... "Oh, that's Mr. Voss!" (only to be corrected by my clever elementary students... "No, that's Dr. Voss!")

Elijah's not keen on the car, but like most things, he takes it in his stride.  His opinion of car rides has improved since we got a baby mirror.  He gets a kick out of laughing at "the baby in the mirror."  Plus, he always has his socks he can tug at.

our glazed mugs

We picked up our finished mugs from Glazed in Gloucester. The lady who worked there knew exactly who I was and said the staff had been admiring how well the little guy's footprints came out! Here are some cheesy staged pictures to show you our finished product!

this one's my favorite... looking off into the distance... ha ha!

Nothing like a nice cup of nothing...

David tried to use more subtle colors that wouldn't scream "I made this mug with my kid's hand and footprints!" when he went to his lab at the Air Force.  I guess that wouldn't quite have been manly.

Must have worked, because this travel mug has made it to and from work each day since we got it! And this man's gotta have his tea!

1st day of spring

We finally got to see a Singing Beach sunrise, thanks to warm weather and our little Early Riser, on the first day of spring.  It felt like spring, too, a 70 beautiful degrees.

just before sunrise... the ocean was so calm

the sun peaks over the horizon

half-way

sunrise

watching

Rise and Shine! Aren't you glad I got you up for this?

We went home for breakfast, coming back to enjoy some sunshine on the beach.  Elijah stuck his hands and feet in the sand, though wasn't too sure he wanted to venture off the blanket into it.  He roamed the blanket's perimeter instead.

Later we went on a stroller hike to Agassis Rock-- a glacier formation.

such a beautiful day... after this New England winter, we just felt ourselves come alive in the sun and warmth.

Elijah enjoyed propping up his bare feet (after accomplishing his quest of pulling off his socks) and relaxing.

Agassis Rock

hike to Ocean's Lawn

With the spring peaking through the winter weather, we found a great place to go hiking just up the coast at a place called Ocean's Lawn.  David strapped Elijah into the Beco, and we were able to explore the North Shore.

I made Elijah's elf hat... Cute, huh? It covers his ears, and ties so he can't get it off. He grumbles.

The storms we've been having took down quite a few branches.

Our little family self portrait... our technique needs a little modifying so we get all of Little Man's face in the shot.

Eli cashed out once we put up the "sleep hood."

Ocean's Lawn

don't you want to come visit us? :o)

first words

When does a word officially count as a "1st word"?  Is it the first time he repeats a sound?  When there's more or less of a connection between sounds and an object? When he knows the sound means the name?

After a gradual process, we're pretty certain that Elijah has 2 first words, which, sweetly enough, are "Daddy" and "Mama."  When David comes home and walks in the door, Elijah cheers "Dat-ty!"  When he sees me it's "Ma-ma-ma."  Most of the time.

waking up happy

We can tell when Elijah's slept well... he wakes up happy.  If he hasn't had a complete nap or night's sleep, he'll moan in his crib and either fall back to sleep, or we'll rock him back down.  If he's well-rested, we'll hear him babbling to himself.  "Ba-ba-ba... Bo-bo-bo... Da-da-da... Ma-ma-ma..."

This is how we usually find him-- babbling and playing with his monkey lovey.

Though lately he has taken to relaxing in his crib while waiting for us to get him, propping his legs up on the bumper.

10 months

Elijah at 10 months:

happy

will stare at strangers, smiling, until they look at him and smile back

getting closer to his first words... making noises like "Daddy" and "Mommy"

can pull himself up to stand (and gets a proud little grin)

jumping continues to be a passion

army-crawls with his left elbow leading, and body dragging

we've started baby sign language with him, but does not sign back yet

teething makes him feel miserable and unable to sleep or stay sleeping

loves his "truck" book

has started playing and splashing in his bath

enjoys shredding magazines and eating paper

talks to his reflection in the car mirror

blows raspberries at Daddy

is trying lots of new vegetables, and is learning to like his Super Baby Porridge

thinks drinking water from a cup is about the coolest thing ever

loves taking walks in the stroller

cheers when he sees me pull out the baby carrier (he likes "being worn")

hugs

glazed

It was a rainy Sunday, and we decided to do something different.  We headed to "Glazed" in Gloucester to paint some pottery.

David chose to paint his mug brown, so it wouldn't show when his tea cup was dirty. Clever man.

I painted with a very intrigued Elijah on my back.

Elijah kindly offered his footprint and handprint to decorate our mugs.  He got a kick out of being glazed.  Ha ha!

It came out a lot better than we expected!

Putting the name and date on the bottom:  Elijah: 10 months old.

We'll see how they turn out when we pick them up in a week.  Either way, it was a lot of fun, and a great way to spend a rainy day.

Shocking!

Engineering is one of those disciplines where if you don't properly take everything into account, something will come back and get you. It's both the joy and frustration of the field. Well, something came back to get me this week. For the past six years I have been building an instrument at BU called the Loss Cone Imager (looks at a particular region of a part of our atmosphere called the Magnetosphere). Once the instrument is built, it is put through a series of tests that simulate the expected launch environment. These tests include RF testing, vibration testing, particle beam testing, thermal vacuum testing, and shock.

So far our instrument was doing great, until we got to shock. The program office (the people from the Air Force we report to) decided to give us a shock profile that was similar to us being launched off of a missile, as oposed to the more friendly rocket we are planning on going up on.

So I watched as we strapped my 6 year labor of love (plus around a 2 million dollar investment) to the back of a 700lb slab of aluminum and dropped it 16 inches. Now I know what your thinking... 16 inches doesn't sound too bad to me. Well, when your instrument is only a couple of pounds and you're strapped to a mass of metal like the shock tower (a.k.a. the guillotine) the impulse to the instrument is over 2000 g's of acceleration. I'm sure you've figured out by now that the instrument broke. We sheared off 10 bolts. Thankfully the electronics are ok, and even better yet, thankfully, the thing didn't rip off of the tower and fall on the ground. That would have been embarrassing and I would never have heard the end of it in the lab. I guess I can feel partly vindicated that this was the second axis-- we made it one of the ways... So... now my instrument is probably going to look like one of those earthquake buildings with the buttresses on it. I am increasing the size of the bolts and adding brackets here and there at specific locations to help it pass the test.

I took a video of the shock testing, so we could watch with disbelief again and again as the instrument broke. You may have wondered if I half-expected it to break, seeing as how I recorded it... My instrument is the golden-looking thing attached to the tower fixture. See if you can notice what breaks.


p.s. If you look at the bottom head of the instrument, you can see it wobble some. The only way that would happen is if some of the bolts fail. It's pretty cool to watch the movie in slow motion.

Disaster: no longer in Hot Water

For those who know Jamie and me, you probably know how much we love our hot water dispenser.  Boiling hot water plays a key role in our lives. Our hot water dispenser, a gift from Jamie's parents as a pre-wedding present (did they know their future son-in-law, or what?!) is always on, receiving near constant use: tea, coffee, hot chocolate, baby food, oatmeal, dinner preperation, and who knows what else...  I estimate actually greater than 5 times a day the hot water pot is used. I guess Mom and Dad Otten knew the old addage "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," though in my case that means through his cups of tea.

Well after 7 and-a-half years of continuous use the unit has finally given up the ghost.

I took it apart in a desperate attempt to determine the problem (tears rolling down my face), and discovered that we had some intense deteriation of one of the few plastic portions of the pot. This resulted in a crumbling of the structure that captured a metal ball, that when in place, prevented air from slipping back out of the pump handle.

We had several options to consider.

1. Duct tape: no good with high temperature and small spaces.

2. Super glue: again no good due to the dozen or so small piences (not to mention the ones we already drank). Also, I didn't want to be drinking glue later on.

3. Machine a new piece: Although I seriously considered it, I decided that it probably wasn't worth the time to CAD a part and machine it, especially as I have recently lost my access to the student machine shop at BU. (I graduated.)

4. Buy a new plastic part: Of course you can't buy replacement parts for appliences, and if you do find it, it costs as much as the applience.

5. Buy a new one: As with all things critical to our survival, we purchased a new hot water pot within the hour. It's in the mail on the way here.

wagon rides

standing: part II

pulling up

feeling daring

back down... and repeat!

Note: he perseveres in his quest... one sock on, one sock off...

standing!

This morning I found Elijah holding on to the rails of his crib, standing.  He was grinning his three-toothed smile, and bouncing, "Look at me!"

There's the tooth that has been causing all the trouble... can you see it?  It's just below the surface... coming soon!

my Mary Poppins bag

All you really need is a blanket, a diaper and the baby … Words of experience spoken to us, and perfectly true, no doubt...

Agreed about that blanket… a true multi-tasker. Aside from keeping baby warm, its functions include: sleep aid, nursing cover, changing pad, sun or rain shade, towel, impromptu outfit for baby in dire circumstances, fashionable shawl for Mama to cover the spit-up…

But frankly, one diaper is simply not enough. And wipes are just about essential. Just ask David who changed not one, not two, but three massively poop-explosive diapers in an airplane bathroom with heavy turbulence and no changing table (We called them “diaper bombs.” Shhh!) Where would David have been without wipes? Probably still in there, like Charlie on the MBTA…

And using cloth diapers means a wet-bag… Rashes mean ointment…

Of course, that little list is assuming that the baby is nursing well. Otherwise, it could mean a nursing shield, bottle, pump and all its parts, milk storage…

And if the baby has reflux? Burp rags! At least one change of clothes, though probably two. More wipes. Gas drops and Zantac.

And winter in New England means a coat, a hat that covers his ears and ties so Little Houdini can’t get it off, BabyLegs leg warmers, socks…

Now he's eating some solids? Pureed veggies, cereal, a spoon, a bib…

He gave up his pacifier, that's one less thing, but he’s teething now, so infant Tylenol is his friend (and grown-up Tylenol is mine)… thermometer, Band-Aids, Purell, sunscreen...

And even baby boys get bored, so a toy or two…

cell phone, wallet, keys, baby carrier or stroller (I'll bet you're wondering how I get that in our bag!) :o)…

It's funny how the list grows!  But then there are days like yesterday, where I forgot most of the list (except the baby, of course!)  I wouldn't have called it pretty, but we did just fine! 

guest blogger: "Oma"

Elijah is a doll. He's very active, verbal and adorable! He can sit up at will and do the army crawl, so he is everywhere.

Elijah modeling his custom bib made for him by "Oma"

He was not at all strange with me until I babysat him Saturday night and he did NOT want me to put him to bed. After screaming for 45 minutes, I finally took him downstairs to watch the Olympics. He sat peacefully in my lap. Whenever he started to squirm to get down, I said, "No, if you're not going to bed you are going to lay in my lap." He would lay right back down, as if he knew what I said and figured he was getting away with something. The 45 minutes of cuddling until "Mom & Dad" got home was worth it to me!

It was also funny, one afternoon we were driving back to their house and I was in the back seat with Elijah and he was babbling away, so I decided to call Jim and let him hear it. I put Jim on speaker phone and Elijah grabbed the phone from my hand and actually put it to his ear as if he were talking on it.

I had sent Jamie my old sewing machine and had fun teaching her to sew. We made valances and two pillows for the living room, hemmed her curtains in the kitchen and made tie backs, then used the leftover material from them to drape as a valance in the bedroom. We also saw some cute pillows shaped like animals at a toy store and bought material and made some ourselves. The day I left, Elijah took a 2 hour nap so she made 3 more! It was fun doing Mother/Daughter things together.

I (Jamie) thought I'd put up some pictures of the things Mom and I made this week.  David commented, "You two worked so hard, I hope you had some fun this week!"  He didn't know how much we enjoyed ourselves making these projects! :o)

living room windows

kitchen windows

bedroom window (poor lighting, sorry!)

couch pillows-- we made 2

the funny little stuffed animals we made... I found the scrappy one (on the right) I squeezed out of the leftovers to be particularly endearing in a "runt of the litter" sort of way... a little lopsided, but looking so happy-go-lucky, I gave it dreadlocks and gave it to Elijah.