Adventures in Babysleeping

Lil' Genghis tried out her room yesterday, and slept until 3:17 a.m. Today, she made it to 6:24 a.m. before she wanted to curl up with mom in the big bed.

She's got her old favorites -- the cool turtle night sky light, the aquarium mounted on her bed that used to be on her crib. And she's got a picture of Cousin Aninha in there, of course, and falls asleep curled up with Cassie, her daughter and stuffed unicorn. And last night she also had to fall asleep with a toy Phillips-head screwdriver and a toy measuring tape, which she kept dropping.

And, yes, she cuddled the screwdriver, too.

So she's getting older, and moving surprisingly quickly with becoming more independent. This may mean, in time, mom and dad can actually touch each other for most of a night. Heck, at the present rate, she'll be sleeping until around 4 p.m. on Sunday, which'd let mom and dad catch lunch and a matinee of Avatar before she wakes up.

All hail progress!

Alternative future for Future World Leader

Grandpa John came up with the idea of dinner at the Saigon Noodle House, so away we went. Lil' Genghis was having a grand old time stealing rice and noodles from us, avoiding any hint of protein or vegetable.

And she was playing with the chopsticks, clenching 'em in her fist sometimes as she shoved a napkin or straw wrapper or whatever between, showing us how she can use them. Very cute.

Then she started banging a spoon on a porcelain plate, and we stopped that. Later, she picked up the chopsticks, one in each hand, and started hitting the edge of the table. She kept going.

Then ...

"I want to be a drummer."

Rut-roh.

Rut-roh.

RUT-ROH!

Stay tuned for the amazing adventures as she sorta kinda tries to sleep in her own bedroom for a change ...

Santa Claus was coming, to town (photos)

mom and Lil' Genghis worked awfully hard together to make the Christmas tree look stunning. Here's a picture of dad with the tree:

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And here's a picture of mom with the tree, sorta. He had this idea of trying to get the lights to show in the photo, so nothing else did:

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Of course, girldog was running security.

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It's a blur of activity as Lil' Genghis discovers Buzz Lightyear/Woody The Sheriff sheets.

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mom got the book of her dreams ... Jane Austen, revisited. A wee bit.

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Chuck. Taylor. Converse. All-Stars. Wow. Thanks, Aunt Piu!

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mom is excited about her daughter's new Star Wars T-shirt, but her daughter is more excited about a cheap light-up Christmas necklace.

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So grown up.

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Lil' Genghis likes this toy. Lots. And lots.

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The newest cousin

DSC03927, originally uploaded by rod_bv.

Elisa at 5 weeks.

Fun at the beach!

It's just barely above freezing right now (at night), but earlier today Lil' Genghis took a trip to the beach. Sure, she was clad in a hat and heavier jacket and all, but she still had fun throwing sand, going down playground slides and, er, getting her feet wet.


IMG_2906 from album 091220-The Hat for Sharon, Claystone Beach with Bebel

For a while, we had the beach to ourselves!


IMG_2910 from album 091220-The Hat for Sharon, Claystone Beach with Bebel

Do you remember the last time you had so much fun with a stick?


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mom and Lil' Genghis share a non-Praia-da-Costa beach moment.


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dad just loves this walk -- like she's going to tear down the Empire State Building or something.


IMG_2919 from album 091220-The Hat for Sharon, Claystone Beach with Bebel

This may be the last time she flings sand this year.



Bebel really, really, really, really misses Aninha.


IMG_2931 from album 091220-The Hat for Sharon, Claystone Beach with Bebel

(fe)male bonding.


IMG_2937 from album 091220-The Hat for Sharon, Claystone Beach with Bebel

Curvy tunnel, happy kid.

Back in time

Thanks to Uncle Nick, we have some priceless photos from the Stucka family scrapbook.


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Yes, that's Grandpa John, all right.


MaryFuchilaStucka from album 091219-Historic Stucka photos 1930s

Great-grandma Mary, Grandpa John's mother


JohnStuckaIfuneralprocession,PresofWeldingUnionNext2car from album 091219-Historic Stucka photos 1930s

The funeral procession of Great-Grandpa John


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And Great-Grandpa John again, said to be bottom row, 4th from right.

Thanks, Uncle Nick! There are more photos in the album.

Early introductions, continued

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Is Uncle Rodrigo a purse thief, or a mineira, or a morde-fronha? All good questions. No answers offered here.


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This is still one of the most beautiful sights dad has ever seen, almost up there with mom and Lil' Genghis.


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Everyone got closer!


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Aunt Selle, Aunt Piu and Aunt Rita make one of their first appearances on a Genghis family camera.


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We're cartoonish skunks. They knew us so well!


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Everyone reserves their emotions.


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What wonderful, wonderful ladies.


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Two goddaughters!


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Yep, everyone reserves their emotions. =)

Early introductions

As some of you may know, much of mom's family didn't meet dad until more than a year after they got married. Grandpa John came along on the trip in mid-2005 as well, and he and his son felt like they were adopted, or perhaps had always been part of the family.

Now that Lil' Genghis is with us, we can also explain one of the few nice things about meeting the wonderful relatives so late. Ordinarily, if you've been dating a while, you get the "So when are you getting married?" pressure. Then after you've been married a while, you get the "So when are you giving us grandkids?" pressure. The late introductions kinda bridged that gap.

We were already married, so that took a bunch of the pressure off. And because people were just meeting us as a couple, it also meant nobody was going to be asking about our sex life!

Instead, it was all just wonderful fun, with food, family, food, friends, food, naps, food, dog bites and food blending together.

Here are some of the first photos:



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The meeting of the fathers.


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Aunt Ligia starts teaching her dance moves.


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Is Aunt Bruna looking happier because she's looking away from Uncle Rodrigo? Only she could tell, and she's too nice. =)


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One of dad's first introductions to the magic of Praia da Costa. The name needs work, but it's a wonderful place.


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From the old family homestead.


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One of dad's first introductions to the magic of McDonald's banana pies.


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When you see the fish phone, you know you've arrived.

We're back-ish!

So you're probably thinking, "What the heck happened to this blog, and why are they still putting it on magnets?"

The correct answer, obviously, is 42.

But beyond that, you're wanting pictures of Lil' Genghis. We're cool with that. We just got hit with a double whammy:

• The technology that dad was using broke for no apparent reason, and efforts by a number of people to fix it or even understand it fell flat. Ultimately, dad realized we could just start a second, parallel system and not add anything to the original thing.
  
• The technology that mom was using drew kinda a creepy inquiry, so those photos went private

So now we're trying to get restarted and would love to share with you the latest photos of Lil' Genghis meeting her Brazilians-in-law ... only two different laptop chargers have broken so we can't get the photos off mom's computer.

That said, we're going to relaunch by going back to the beginning, in a sense -- mom and dad sharing their first Christmas, with Uncle Eddie, boydog and girldog.

Without further prolonging this:

IMG_4249 from album 031225 First family xmas

This may have been the first time boydog and girldog weren't actually trying to kill each other. Who knew man's best friend would be dog's best friend?


IMG_4260 from album 031225 First family xmas

Not really sure what's going on here, but it may not be legal in 32 states.


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Ho ho ho!


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This was our first and last Christmas in Georgia. There won't be a bow in his hair this time. =)



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Yes, Uncle Eddie is wearing shorts on Christmas in North America. And he's bonding so well with the dogs!


IMG_4348 from album 031225 First family xmas

There are so many deer up there ...