first cross-country trip!

we took bryn on her first plane trip this month. first, she went to dc with me to attend the - wait for it - 2008 World Congress on National Accounts and Economic Performance Measures for Nations. my mom was kind enough to join us in dc and keep bryn company while i participated in the conference (i really had to twist her arm). she and bryn had a great time chatting and playing, but grandma proved to be very faint-hearted when it comes to the cries of babes, or at least the cries of her grandbaby... just 10 minutes drove grandma chen to fervent recitation of the hail mary. bryn also got to meet her great grandmother yang (who promptly declared bryn to be prettier than her mother), as well as two great-uncles and a great-aunt who live in the dc area. we were only in town for a day and a half so, unfortunately, we didn't get to visit any of our other friends.

the next leg of our trip was to san diego for adam's cousin's wedding. it was beautiful - right on mission bay - and the guests were appropriately adoring of bryn (thanks to aunt teresa for the super cute dress!). bryn was quite well-behaved, although i did have to walk her around during the ceremony, and she even slept for the last hour or so of the reception, right through all the music and dancing. what a trooper. at the wedding, bryn also got to meet a second great grandmother, great grandma hartley, and a great uncle and some second cousins. oh, and we saw one of the flower girls go down the aisle in a wagon... this means that bryn should be available for weddings as soon as she can sit up (another couple months?). i can't think of anyone who might need a flower girl sooner than that, but i could probably be persuaded to carry her down the aisle if necessary.

on sunday, bryn got to see and touch the pacific for the first time in ocean beach, ca! she tolerated putting her feet in, but got angry when dad let her butt get splashed. it was great to be on a coast again, and we were happy that bryn's first ocean was the pacific rather than the atlantic. here are some pictures from our trip and some from the wedding, and here is a little preview because it just doesnt' feel like a post without a picture.

rockin' our world

we had an earthquake last thursday! it had a magnitude of 5.2 and was centered in southern illinois. it was also reported to have been felt over 120,00 square miles!

Scientists do know that because of the flat, dense terrain, tremors travel more quickly and over more territory in the central states than, say, on the West Coast, making smaller seismic events more widespread and possibly more dangerous. And because earthquakes happen less frequently in the country’s midsection, people are less aware of the risk. (From The NY Times)

we were woken up by the doors on our armoire rattling, and i felt the bed shaking as well. adam, not known for his lucidity when awoken in the middle of the night, jumped up to try to stop the armoire from shaking. i told him i thought it was an earthquake, but that just made him push on the armoire even harder. the quake ended soon after that with no damage done here. and we thought we moved out of earthquake territory!

meanwhile, bryn has been changing more and more each day. she's laughing more - we even got it on video! and her head control has gotten to where she can try out some new toys (although the physical therapist tells us that the bumbo and jumperoo are more for the parents' convenience than for the child's development). this is all bittersweet for me; i already miss the newborn days and don't even want the 4 a.m. feedings to end. still, people who told me that there is something awesome and special about every age were totally right. bryn is more fun than ever... i just feel like i didn't fully appreciate and enjoy all the days and stages that have already passed.

ah, the onion

for all our friends out there with small babies, those who will soon have small babies, and those who have forgotten what it's like to have a small baby:

I Can't Imagine Why Anybody Would Want To Stop Crying

for those of you who are thinking about having small babies, ignore this and focus on the adorable photos of bryn instead.

family update

well, it's been an eventful few weeks for us - but "eventful" for new parents means something totally different than it does for normal people.

we had a blizzard. i'm not exaggerating - it was an official blizzard which, i think, is as much about snow as it is about wind, because there wasn't THAT much snow (we saw more in boston, anyway). still, a good time was had by all.

bryn got her first cold just before easter. nothing too serious, just a little cough and runny/stuffy nose, but hard to endure. when i took her to the pediatrician, all the other mothers in the waiting room would turn and say "ohhh, poor thing" every time bryn coughed. she actually stayed her usual happy, laid-back self for most of the cold though - lucky us!

we thought the easter bunny was going to skip our house this year, but bryn had a surprise for us. she rolled over - tummy to back - on easter morning! necessity is the mother of invention - bryn really hates being on her tummy (but she's starting to like it more now and rolling over less). we missed the very small window in which to get a picture of bryn in her easter finery without any spit up, so we'll have to stage a re-creation at a later date. speaking of spit up, just when we thought bryn had exhausted the possible locations, truman helped her discover a new one.

and last sunday we went to a baseball game, our first in columbus and bryn's first ever! we saw the columbus clippers, a AAA team in the washington nationals system (formerly the ny yankees), play the charlotte knights, and got free cow bells. as a bonus, we also got to see an old mariner favorite - bret boone... and on his birthday! my new plan is to befriend him and work our way into the glamorous world of professional baseball. bret, if you see this, you're invited over for dinner!

finally, bryn is starting to bat at stuff and hold objects. she's also laughed twice in the last few days... we think. we're still working on her motor skills, mostly neck and upper body strength. bryn is much more interested in working on her social and emotional skills, kind of like mom.