Ready to do some kayaking ...

Today Sequoia received a gift in the mail from her Pop-Pop, Colleen's dad. It is an infant sized life jacket so that Sequoia can join her mommy and I out on the water as soon as possible. As with most things sized to fit a person from 10-30 pounds, it is not exactly a flattering fit. Think about it. That is the same as buying an outfit that would fit a person from 100 to 300 pounds. But it really does fit her surprisingly well.



Probably more surprising is that Sequoia did not mind one bit when we strapped her into it tonight. It sort of looked like we were rolling her up in a bright orange king sized mattress.
We are very excited about getting her out in our kayaks and various other boats so that she can join us while we explore the marshes and beaches around here. Colleen and I particularly enjoy taking our kayaks down to the outer banks during the off season for some astounding paddles along the marshes of the sound. Closer to home there are an almost unlimited number of creeks, rivers and marshes to explore.
Anyway, it may take a long time to do all of these adventures ... but we have a lifetime ahead of us with our little girl to try and fit it in.

Little miss perfect...????

Today Colleen and Sequoia went out to lunch with their friends Phoebe and Mandy, and Grant and Kim. Evidently Grant had sent both Phoebe and Sequoia e-mails inviting the young lady's out to lunch...I knew from the beginning that I would need to keep an eye on that little man. I had even instituted a "20 foot" rule while he was still in the womb, but Colleen and Kim wouldn't listen to me. Nothing too surprising there....
Anyway, I think that everyone had a good lunch and the kids even got to play in the flower garden. I was not there, but from what I understand, Sequoia got her first taste of what it means to lose her identity to stardom. Being as famous as she is from coast to coast - people tuning in nightly to see what she's been up to - it's not surprising that her fans think they "know" her. It is possible that some of her fans have come to believe that she is just a little happier and alert than is realistic to expect from someone who is only 5 weeks old. Although the stories are incredibly well written and factual in every detail, and the photographs are stunningly un-retouched or photo shopped ... they are definitely edited to only show her naturally happy and smiling side. Don't get me wrong...our little girl is still perfect in her daddy's eyes, but she does her share of fussing, fidgeting, staying up at night and general mayhem raising. It is all part of her tremendous personality and charm. Today some of her adoring public were surprised by the "everyman" human side of our little star. I can only hope that they realize that even little blog-stars have to go out in public without their makeup once in awhile, and yes...they may even need a little bit of a cry now and then.

There's nothing wrong with having idols ... but just remember; even idols are real people too, and sometimes, they just need a hug.

Spring training.....

Spring training has started around here, but not the type of Spring Training that you are probably thinking of. Sequoia has started her Elf in Training program. It is a surprisingly rigorous 8 month training regimen that starts by mastering some of the basic Elfin moves.
Here she is performing the Dance of the Sleeping Elf...a timeless classic.
And who could ever imagine graduating from Elf school with anything better than an F unless they master the essential Nah-Nah Boo-Boo tongue sticking out move. We are very proud of her progress.





Here daddy reads to her from The Complete Guide to All Things Elvish, not to be confused with the other popular book The Complete Guide To All Things Elvis. Although she definitely has the moves to dance with the King, in this house she's not the one who ain't nothing but a hound dog...that honor still belongs to our pups, Rogue and Yukon.

Sequoia's one month check-up...

Today was Sequoia's one month birthday and to celebrate she went to the doctor's office for her hepatitis B shot ... ugh. Colleen and I have been excited about this appointment because we've been curious about Sequoia's weight and development. It seems good to us, but a professionals opinion couldn't hurt.



By the time I got home, Sequoia was primed to tell me all about it. She sat up on the arm of the couch and displayed some of her phenomenal neck muscle and head control as she recounted the drama of the day.




First she hit me with the basic facts and figures
- Weight 9 pounds 13 ounces!! that's almost 1 1/2 pounds in two weeks.
- Height about 22 1/2 inches (there was some discrepancy between the nurse who measured 23 1/4 and the doctor who measured 22 1/4)
- Head circumference of 15 1/4 (an increase of 1 inch in 2 weeks ... making room for that genius sized brain)


Once the boring stuff was taken care of, the main event unfolded before me as Sequoia described the nasty trick that mommy and the doctor played on her. While Sequoia was stripped down on the exam table and doing very well with all of the attention and getting a bit over confident hearing phrases like " in the 90th percentile", "very advanced control of her head", "very alert" and other superlatives that would just sound like bragging if I listed them here, things took a surprising twist. While sequoia was being distracted by mommy's beautiful good looks, the doctor impaled her small thigh with a vicious shot. It must have stung - Colleen says that there was a delayed reaction as Sequoia slowly realized that something hurt. She evidently complained for a little bit then settled back down in the car. We have noticed that she is getting better at calming herself down sometimes ... and that is a very good thing. Another sign that our little girl is changing and growing everyday.

In the shadow of the majestic Beech Tree....

One thing we certainly have plenty of on our property are trees, including one magnificent Beech tree that towers over our front yard making warm spring days like today almost magical. It certainly inspires you to sit outside and enjoy the day. Well today Sequoia and mommy decided to spread out a blanket and take advantage of the weather.




As you can see, Sequoia takes her thank you notes very seriously. She thinks about the present, who gave it to her and exactly how it makes her feel.







Once she gets all of her thoughts organized she will then, and only then, set some appropriate prose to paper. She is really a very thoughtful little girl in that respect.





Of course there were a lot of thank you notes to write because apparently every one in the world wanted to send Sequoia a welcome present. She really made out like a bandit. Once she finished with her writing she decided it was time to kick back in her Boppy with her stylish sun bonnet - can you believe that daddy picked that hat out all by himself? He has some great taste, if I do say so myself.



Of course you only need the hat when it is sunny. sometimes all you need is your little denim jumper and a place to kick your feet up. Relaxing is an art that you can evidently learn at a very young age.



But no matter how comfortable the Boppy is, you had better believe that it will never replace mommy as the number one choice of places to just curl up for some quality snuggling and snoozing.

Life is a big adventure, but right now I'm napping...

Our little baby explorer (see her shirt) has been enjoying reading the tale of the 1973 American Expedition to Dhaulagiri - a trek taken by, and a book written by, one of my customers. The book was a gift from him (along with a great jacket for Sequoia) in honor of Sequoia's birth. I, not so secretly, am hoping that Sequoia grows up with a huge adventurer's spirit and spends her life celebrating the majestic and spiritual nature of this world in ways that most people can only dream of. In this picture both Sequoia and her daddy have fallen asleep to dream of the next big adventure. This is in no way a commentary on how well the book is written. It really is fascinating and compelling - but so is sleep these days.

Break out the blanket, it's picnic time....

For the past nine months or so, Colleen has had to make some pretty big sacrifices, not the least of which was forgoing some of her favorite foods. Well tonight the craving for sushi and smoked salmon were the driving force behind a fun and spontaneous picnic down at the waterfront in Yorktown.


It was a beautiful evening when I got home tonight and it just seemed like a great opportunity to enjoy a sunset down by the river. It is a really nice area to walk around with plenty of areas to set out a picnic blanket.





This of course was also sequoia's first picnic. I could fill a book of Sequoia's firsts since everything is pretty much a first for her, but I think a first picnic is worth remembering. It was also a first for me since tonight I discovered that I was ambidextrous when it comes to eating with chopsticks. We have discovered that having an infant causes you to develop some unique skills while operating with one hand.





It was just an astounding evening along the waterfront and we stayed until well after the sun went down. Sequoia even got to watch the local 3 masted schooner come into dock after it's evening excursion cruise. She and Daddy spend a lot of time talking about boats. We think they are pretty cool.




Once again our little girl stayed out until her eyes just wouldn't stay open any longer. Not to worry though - tomorrow will be another adventure ... eyes wide open and full speed ahead.

Sequoia's one month birthday ... or not?

Today was Sequoia's big one month birthday ... or so both Colleen and I were thinking this morning. During the pregnancy we got in the mindset of counting months in 4 week increments. That does not actually work at any other time, except February - and even February had 29 days this year. So anyway, we celebrated Sequoia's one month birthday today, and we will do it again on Friday when she actually does turn one month old.



There have been some big changes in Sequoia over the past 4 weeks. She smiles even more these days. She can obviously see better and follows us with her eyes from across the room now. She is bigger ... although we won't know exactly how much bigger until she goes to the doctors on Friday for her one month check up. (when she actually turns one month old...)


As I am writing this she is busy feeding from a bottle without any sign of fussing. She has just starting crying real tears ... sort of heart breaking, but neat to see at the same time. Colleen and I obviously see changes that nobody else could possibly detect. Once Sequoia arrived our world started to be measured in microscopic steps - ounces and inches. It amazes me that this focusing on something so small has somehow made the world seem so much larger and without limits.

Well today when I got home Colleen, Sequoia and I drove into Gloucester and took a wonderful stroll around town. The evening was beautiful and we all enjoyed the walk. We even stopped at the Wild Rabbit Cafe for frozen lattes outside on the porch while Sequoia opted for a bit of milk. It was one of those quiet and elusive evenings when everything just feels simple and easy. It seems like those moments are finding us a bit more often these days.

A message from Sequoia....

Today I got a surprise at work. While Sequoia was suppose to be asleep in her crib for her afternoon nap, she evidently climbed over the back and hacked into mommy's Yahoo account. I received an e-mail from Sequoia that detailed how her day had been going. It was a heart warming glimpse into how life at the house is going while I'm at work. Obviously I am not the only one working these days...Here is how their day was;

Daddy,

It's my 1 month birthday! It's
also Earth Day...so I hear from
mommy. We need to celebrate. Mommy
said something about beavers,
a dam, and a park. Do you know what
she's talking about? She said
it would be fun! If you're not too
tired when you get home do you want to go?

Oh yeah...mommy wants to know where
does all the yellow mustard
come from? She said something about
Calgon taking her away when
Rogue ran off, the tea kettle was
whistling very loud, and I had
yet another blow out (the second
within a half hour) in my diapers
while sitting in my bouncer. I've
been changed into clean clothes 3
times today already. I sure am keeping
mommy busy. Who's calgon?
Don't let this calgon take her away.
I like her lots...she feeds
me on command. No one else can do that!
She's amazing.

When will you be home? Let's take a hike.
Love from your beautiful baby girl,
Sequoia


Well, we didn't let Calgon take Mommy anywhere,
but we did take a nice walk when I got home. 

Cousin Ryley's Baby Sitting service....

Today Sequoia's cousins Ryley and Aidan stopped by the house for a visit. They were accompanied by their parents Sherri and Stephen Holdridge. Ryley was able to hold Sequoia several times and commented on how heavy our 9 pound girl was. It just goes to show how relative everything is. She really did well with her. We had a very nice visit with the family even though it was a typical rainy spring Sunday.

We are looking forward to allowing Ryley to babysit Sequoia in a few years once Ryley is old enough to pass her Baby Sitting exam. We have locked her in to some pretty good rates - rates that were developed by her, so I do not feel guilty about this. Her standard rate will be $3 an hour ... but then she has offered us a family discount of $4 an hour. She may have gotten her good looks from mommy, but it does not look like daddy's excellent business skills were passed along.


You can tell by Sequoia's look that even she realized something wasn't adding up. Luckily I do not believe that there are a lot of math questions on the Baby Sitting exam.

Daddy learns a new trick....

Up until now, feeding has been something that I have pretty well left up to Colleen for obvious reasons. She has the equipment after all. Well now that Sequoia is approaching the 4 week mark we are able to start introducing some supplemental bottle feeding. Last night was Sequoia's first attempt at feeding from a bottle and it went pretty well. She will still be eating almost exclusively at Chez Mommy, but it will be fun getting to help out once in awhile. Having her bottle trained will make traveling much easier as well.



Here is our snoozy snoozer doing what she does best. Isn't she cute?

Colleen says the answer is "YES!!!"

A beautiful day in Williamsburg.....

Today we had a very nice visit in Colonial Williamsburg With Colleen's oldest sister Sherri and her family; husband Stephen, daughter Ryley and son Aidan.
Ryley has been super excited about her new cousin from the moment she first heard that Colleen was pregnant. She wanted to immediately know if it was going to be a little boy cousin or a little girl cousin. When we told her that it was too early to know, she proceeded to tell us it was OK either way since she had an equal number of both boy and girl cousins. We were relieved by that since we did not need the added pressure of needing to have one over the other. Luckily Ryley is very happy with how Sequoia has turned out.
Something that I think is pretty cool is the very strong family resemblance that Colleen's baby pictures share with her mom's, Ryley's and now Sequoia's. If you want a preview of where Sequoia's looks are headed, take a peak at Ryley and Colleen in these pictures.
We had a nice lunch at one of our favorite places around here, Aroma's. It is a fun coffee house/ restaurant in Market Square just outside the historic center of Colonial Williamsburg. After lunch we walked around a little bit and had some ice cream before we headed back home and the Holdridge's headed back to the Great Wolf Lodge for some more fun at the water park and arcades there. They will be stopping by on their way home tomorrow as well for another short visit.


Sequoia was on the go for about 7 hours by the time she got home today and she did very well. I have to keep reminding myself that she is just 3 1/2 weeks old. We are hoping that her busy day will translate into a good night's sleep for her. She appears to be developing into a colicky baby, and has become quite fussy the past few nights from about 10pm - 12. Her cousin Ryley went through this as well and we anticipate a few months of drama before it runs it's course. Sleep deprivation appears to be ready to set in.... Of course we will attempt to work our way through it and minimize it as much as possible for all of our sakes. Here is one of our favorite faces she makes - it looks like she is blowing us a kiss. It cracks us up.

My life with bears....

Our little expedition leader has taken up a new wilderness passion - living among the wild bears of Gloucester. As you can see by this raw documentary footage, she has managed to gain the trust of the local pack of wild bears and has in fact been accepted as one of their own. We are fascinated by the bears reaction (or lack of reaction) to Sequoia's research.

I am, of course curious about how she plans to find the time to research both wild bears and sharks. My suspicion is that our little girl has a plan that is far more impressive than either Colleen or I can imagine. I can only hope that I have the energy to keep up with her adventures ... especially once she actually learns how to move.

Take your kid to work day...

Today was a fun day. Colleen drove out to work so that Sequoia could visit with me and some of her fans. It was a very pretty, sunny day and I enjoyed getting to introduce her to many of my friends and customers. A surprising number of people have been following her adventures on this blog. Colleen and I feel that this has been one of the most unexpected and wonderful developments to come out of the experience. So many people have reached out through the blog to share their stories with us; remembering their own children and in many cases, I think, getting to re-live the experiences that had been partially lost to the years. I know that this blog won't continue at the pace that it has started, but I love the fact that regardless of how fast these first days are flying by, Colleen, Sequoia and I will have a record of these first moments together.

Today Sequoia got to meet a few of my customers who had only been able to follow her on-line life until now. She met Tom Bowdle who, along with his wife Betty have been following along with the blog and sharing some insightful and fun stories with me regarding their own children. She also met Gates and Margy Richards who's early enthusiasm for this whole thing certainly helped me wrap my mind around the prospect of becoming a dad. They also introduced me to the "Happiest Baby on The Block" school of thought that was so successful when their grandson was born. That has been our secret weapon; the black magic of swaddling and sushing. We couldn't live without it. We helped to round out her cultural education by introducing her to some real life Canadians as well. Dennis and Mary are the kind of people who are full of practical and comfortable insights into the world. I have enjoyed getting their perspective on this parenthood gig and was glad that they got to meet Sequoia.
As with so many aspects of this adventure, it is the small and everyday events that really highlight the story.

Home alone .....

Today was Sequoia and Colleen's first day at home alone together. That is a pretty big step, but one that they have been more than prepared for. It has to be a little bit intimidating for Colleen knowing that she is on her own now while I am work. Colleen's days are a blur of feeding Sequoia and changing diapers and trying to entertain her little girl. It is certainly a demanding schedule that never lets up, and I really admire how well she is doing with it. I know that it felt different for me this morning as I left for work. Mornings have become a bit sweeter and leaving for work a bit harder now that there is usually a little sweetie pie curled up in bed with mommy getting her breakfast. That is one of the most heart melting images I know of. Luckily the feeling of coming home to the two loves of my life in the evening is a spectacular feeling that makes all of the changes and adjustments that Colleen and I have made this past year all worth while. I love the feeling of walking in to the living room to find Colleen and Sequoia curled up on the couch. We often go for a walk in the woods with our dogs as soon as I get home - the whole family together - and it is just about perfect.

The FAB FIVE rock Gloucester ....

Sunday was Colleen's 34th birthday and Sequoia's 19th day (Honestly, what are the odds of those two days coinciding?), so we had a monumental cookout at our house to celebrate. The highlight of the event was the first gathering of the FAB FIVE. Here is a picture of the amazingly good looking young gang being held by their moms. ( A gang to be reckoned with in their own right.) I apologize if I get some of the specifics wrong, but starting in the back row we have the men of the group who worked as bouncers for the party. (or more accurately worked IN bouncers) On the left is Connor James Woodruff, 13 weeks, being held by his escort Victoria. To his right is the robust Grant William Liddycoat, 6 weeks, held by his favorite lady Kim. In the front row are the brains and beauty of the operation. Starting on the left is Ava Page Sorensen, 12 weeks, being held by her personality coach Rebecca. On the right is the soon-to-be Oregonian Phoebe Hewitt, 4 weeks, in the arms of her proud mom Mandy. In the center is the ring leader (it is my story after all) Sequoia Alsea, 3 weeks old and the baby of the bunch. Holding her is her mom, my wife and the birthday girl of the hour, Colleen.

Sequoia made sure that everyone was fed, setting up tables, working the grill and entertaining everyone with funny stories.




Here she is keeping daddy and Grant's old man Scott entertained on the deck.




Here are the proud fathers who survived the grueling 12 week parenting class together. It has proven to be a great friendship that has come out of those classes. We are all roughly the same age (interpreted as too old to have kids?) and absolutely enthralled by our little miracles. We all think we are doing a pretty good job helping the mom's with this parenting thing .......



Don't let the mom's reaction to that comment fool you. Sure it looks like hysterical laughter ... but we know they'd be lost without us.





Here is Rebecca, Troy and Ava and ....








Victoria, Donnie and Connor. Donnie is directly responsible for me writing this blog - so please forward all complaints to him.






And this is the expected result after Sequoia spent the entire day rocking out the woods of Gloucester with her homies .... that's right, Sequoia is pretty street smart; Sesame Street smart that is.










Time to sleep this one off and dream of her next big adventure.