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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

ELIZA: PINK ON PINK

So I've taken a LOT of complaints from people who are unhappy that I haven't posted any new photos of Eliza lately. I'm too tired to make snarky comment about that, so I'll just report that you're in luck. Julie was taking care of Eliza when she noticed her outfit matched her blanket...
So she started snapping pictures.
Since she was born, Eliza has added about 1 1/2 pounds of cuteness.



And maybe a few ounces of attitude as well.

Right now, we only ask two things of her: we want her to sleep and we want her to eat. Luckily for us, she's really good at doing both. She's also very talented at pooping while we're trying to change her diaper. But that's a whole other story.
So in short, we've decided to keep her. Papa, don't preach!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

PYTHON STAGE

Monty Python reunion filmed in NYC. Peeing my pants waiting for the 6 part documentary on IFC starting tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

TAKING ELIZA HOME

After four days in a hospital, it was time to take Eliza home. So we dusted off one of the old car seat what Will used ands strapped her in.
And we dusted off Julie, too... she cleaned up nice...

Once home, little Eliza got to relax on her new favorite cushion.
And I got to enjoy my new job description.
But what was all this like for Eliza? It's hard to know exactly, but I tried to get an Eliza-eye view of the arrival in our home. So when we got into the garage, I held Eliza's car seat in one hand, and our little hand-held camera in the other. So now you can see what she saw when she came home.

Actually, you can see more than she saw. I think she was asleep for the whole thing...

Saturday, October 10, 2009

MORE ELIZA

Still having issues getting a clear image of little Eliza in her "baby friendly" environment. So all I can offer you today are a trio of dark and out-of-focus images. Hopefully the sassy tongue photo above is enough to make up for the lack of quality.

More photos of similar "quality" have been added at the facebook photo album.
Today's video is of even more limited appeal. I features Eliza doing absolutely nothing for two minutes. She sneezes at 1:16, so that's something. And, like the photos, the video is dark and the focus is somewhat dubious. It's here only because neither set of grandparents are here yet, and grandparents love to stare at their grandkids doing nothing. This one's for you, Mom...

Friday, October 09, 2009

INTRODUCING ELIZA

So at 12:23 this afternoon, this arrives. This is Eliza Katherine Workman. She weighs 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and is just a little shy of 20 inches long. She's got a healthy head of dark hair.
And a healthy set of lungs...
She also presents a unique photography challenge. You see, Eliza has been born at a "baby friendly" hospital, which means, among other things, that it has really crappy lighting. So it's pretty hard to get good images of our new little girl.
All that napping in the dark doesn't help, either.
She's also been known to burrow herself inside a pile a blankets.

But despite these minor difficulties, we love our new daughter a lot.
Julie is fine after the surgery, and Nate and Will are excited to meet their new sister. That may be a few days off as the hospital currently isn't allowing anyone under 18 to visit (something about Swine Flu). But they've been happy to look at photos of Eliza and this short video.

The following video was an accident. I was trying to take a still photo and I had the camera on the wrong setting. It's only five seconds long and includes a scream from Eliza and then me trying to figure out how to turn the camera off. It's so stupid, that I wasn't going to post it here. However, Nate and Will love it. they've probably seen this little snip of video about 20 times already and would probably be watching it right now if I hadn't sent them to bed. So in honor of Nate and Will, here's a very short clip of Eliza.

We've put a few more photos online and you can see them here.

I've got to get back to the hospital now. The wifi there really doesn't work, so I'll only be able to check in every now and then. But thanks to you all for your thoughts and prayers. I'll post more stuff whenever I can.

LIVE, LOCAL, AND LATE-BREAKING

If all goes as planned, Julie will have a baby girl at noon on Friday, October 9th. We will post photos and other info here as soon as possible afterwards.

For those of you who want the information even more quickly, check out my Twitter feed: http://www.twitter.com/matthewworkman

I'll post whatever I can as soon as I'm allowed near a cell phone.

Stay tuned...

Thursday, October 08, 2009

NATE & WILL & THE BUS-CAR

While I was off in the Faroe Islands last July, Nate and Will were in Arizona. While there, their primary mode of transportation was in their grandmother's minivan, or bus-car. This three week brush with suburban America left a huge impression on both our little boys. Since returning from Arizona, they have offered up literally hundreds of prayers concerning the bus-car.

(The term "bus-car" was coined by Will last year. He knew about buses and he knew about cars. When he saw our rental minivan, he simply said "bus-car!" The name stuck)

I don't toss out the estimate of "hundreds" lightly. Every day, Nate and Will offer up 3-8 prayers thanking God for their grandma's bus-car, and looking forward to the day when they have a bus car of their own.

So last Saturday, Julie and I went through the humiliating and degrading process of buying a car. We really had no choice. This new daughter is scheduled to arrive on Friday, and we don't have a car that can fit three car seats. So a minivan was going to happen one way or another.

And as we suffered through long and thoroughly horrible car buying trudge, Julie and I comforted ourselves with this single thought: Nate and Will are going to freak out when they see this. After all, we were about to prove to our little boys that God actually exists... and delivers minivans.

So on Sunday morning, we told them we had a big surprise for them and let them out to the garage. Will just stared at the ground, then looked up and the car and declared, "bus-car."

That's it. We drop a serious pile of money on the car of his dreams and all Will can think to say is "bus-car?" Come on. To make matters worse, Will gets into the car and immediately notices our Subaru out in the driveway. The Subaru used to live in the garage, but it's been kicked out onto the drive way in favor of the new minivan.

"Will's car getting wet!" You've got to me kidding me. He's worried about the old car? Moments later he asks for his old car back. You can actually see some of the exchange below and hear me try to sell him on the concept of this new vehicle.



Needless to say, I've learned my lesson about trying to purchase happiness for my two children. In the future, I'll only try to purchase happiness for myself.

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Wednesday, October 07, 2009

FAROES GO LOCAL

Faroe Islands makes the news in Medford, Oregon...

Saturday, October 03, 2009

FAROE FRIDAY: FINAL PHOTO

So I was in the Faroes just one day and I posted about 85 photos. A few days later, another 60 or so hit the web. Then two months passed. I had promised more photos, but never delivered.

Well, your wait is over. Here's a collection of 134 pictures taken by me, Thomas, and even Tollak. Looking at them again after being home for two months, I miss the place even more. I sincerely hope I can find a way to return in the near future.

Click here to see the photos.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

NOT DEAD YET

I’ve heard it from my dad, and from many friends, and from former coworkers. “What happened to your blog,” they say.

Well… I got busy?

Since returning from the Faroes in August, it has been an extremely busy time and all sorts of activities have crowded out my usual blog writing routine. Some of that time has been spent putting out podcasts on a more accelerated schedule. (To listen to the most recent one, search for “Faroe Islands Podcast on iTunes or listen on the audio player here.) I’ve also been, to use an expression from politics, spending more time with my family.

But I’ve got a short break in the action, so I thought I’d check in with an update and a promise to be better in the future.

Most of you have been missing photos of the little guys, so let’s get some of those out of the way right now. First, here’s Nate using his pig toy (that he’s pulled all the stuffing out of) as a beret.
Now here’s Will just being silly.
And the both of them hanging out in the living room.
These photos were taken in August, before the new haircuts. Those haircuts make Nate and Will really look like big boys. It’s exciting and sad all at the same time.

But they need to start looking like big boys, as they’ll have a little sister in about a week. The new child-to-be-named-later arrives next Friday. Julie can’t wait to have it out of her. I think I could probably wait another few weeks. After all, once it comes out, it’s my problem, too.

We’ve been asked a lot about names and I regret to say we’ve been very bad about drawing up a short list. Perhaps it’s the fact that we’ve already been through this process before and naming something just doesn’t have the thrill of the new. Perhaps it’s denial.

Whatever the case, I think I’ve come up with a solution to our naming problems. We wanted something that would have some historical significance, so I went back through my genealogy. I discovered that, with the exception of my mother, every woman on my side of the family is named “Grandma.”

So I’ve unilaterally decided to name our new daughter “Grandma.” How cool is that? Imagine the fun of holding a newborn child and saying, “this is our new baby Grandma!” And Nate and Will will certainly love this. They love their Grandmas. It seems logical that they’d transfer that love to a new baby sister with the same name.

Nate and Will aren’t potty trained and I’m sick of handling their crap. But that’s another story.
And for those of you who missed the Faroe Friday posts, I'll have a little something tomorrow. Really.

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