Dear friends and family,
Jan 6th, 2013, about 8pm |
On January 6th, at 7:52 p.m., Ryan was born, all 21.5 inches of him (he was a looong baby; his dad, who was present at the birth, called him "the baby train"). Over the past year, we've taken hundreds of photos and recorded way too many videos of basically asinine moments where Becca inevitably sounds like a total mommy stereotype (much to her professorial disdain).
Grandma and the glow-worm |
Ryan's early days, when he had to wear a "bili-blanket" that made him glow like a sci-fi character. His first smiles and crawls, getting attacked by a tickle monster or exploring the local children's museum for the first time. Ryan getting his first home improvement lesson or his first exposure to post-modern fiction (warning on this last one -- once the story ends, it doesn't stay a G-rated conversation for long -- we were more than a little sleep deprived at that point). Even Ryan interrogating a balloon, as his dad put it, for over 10 minutes.
Clark 2013 reunion |
In other words, we've plenty of Ryan stories to deluge our friends and family with -- but we'll let our excessive video-recording and photo-shooting habits do that for us :)
Ryan meets his grandpa |
Early team indoctrination is essential |
So is early nerd indoctrination ;) |
Early beach indoctrination hasn't gone so well yet though |
The force is strong in this one...or perhaps just oversized? |
Puma tolerating Ryan for a few seconds while he's quiet |
Becca was granted the state school equivalent of tenure this year at DSC, a production that took a great deal of effort and which guarantees no real level of job security higher than what she already had, regardless of what Fox News might claim to you about professors and their cushy jobs.
Mark has continued to slave away at the
Whizzer, our parrot, found a new home with a lovely semi-retired woman who could give him the level of attention he needed.
Allie Mae, our 14 year old cat, passed away--though first she had the chance to leave Ryan with some good kitty memories, which was particularly sweet of her since our one remaining cat, Puma, makes a beeline out the nearest door whenever Ryan makes a sound.
All in all, we've felt very fortunate this year and we're looking forward to 2014. If any of you get sick and tired of the cold weather, feel free to come down and visit us. There's an awesome playground right around the corner, conveniently across the street from a Mexican place with delicious guac -- and margaritas ;)