A Visit from Derek

Derek, a friend from our long-ago grad school days on the banks of the Wabash, came to town for the annual MELUS conference in early April. We had a great time with him, starting with dinner at our house on Friday evening, followed by some goofing around with Maeve before her bedtime:





On Saturday evening, we took advantage of a babysitting payback that a friend here owed us and went out for sushi with Derek and a couple of other people we knew from grad school, plus a few new acquaintances. Here's the whole gang, from both ends of the table:





On Sunday, Derek came over for breakfast, and Declan got to join the fun:





Getting ready for a walk in the park with Maeve:



Derek, by the way, is the maniacal genius behind the Gallery of the Absurd. His wife, Amanda, you may recall, visited us for a different conference back in fall 2007.

—posted by B

Declan Videos

Here are a few clips of Declan in action from the past couple of months. First, a two-part series of him achieving his laudable goal of playing in the cat water:





Next, getting talkative, and mobile, on the kitchen floor:



Finally, a brief close-up on Easter:

—posted by B

More Declan

It's been a week of madcap entertainment for Maeve, who has had a great time with Dad home every day since Declan arrived. The week has been somewhat less thrilling for Mom, cobbling together sleep in intermittent stretches of at most three or four hours while nursing Declan. Maeve is continuing to show interest in her little brother. Just today when he started crying, she pointed and said, "He's awake!" Tracey's sister will arrive next week and will stay for a week to help with the transition when Brian returns to work. Here are some of the latest shots of dear Declan doing one of the two things he loves most—sleeping. We're hoping that doesn't change:




Dad with both squeakers after returning from a run in the park with Maeve:



A couple of Dad and Declan out on the front porch swing from earlier today:

NipperGuess Results

We were glad to see so many participants in our online baby pool. A total of 47 people entered guesses, and many have probably already checked the results. For those who didn't, here's how it worked: the person with the lowest score won, and the score was determined by adding points according to how far off the guess was:

• Wrong sex = 400 points
• Wrong weight = five points per ounce
• Wrong length = 10 points per inch
• Wrong date = five points per hour

Thirty-one participants (66%) correctly guessed that the baby would be a boy, but only five guessed that he would weigh eight pounds or more. The date turned out to be a key factor, and entering a guess late worked to some people's advantage. (For anyone's future reference, an entry deadline would make the game more fair.) Thirty-five participants guessed that he would arrive on or before his due date, but he was a little over five days late.

Here are the top guessers:

• Overall winner: Rob Lecrone, Tracey's high school classmate, with 109.42 points
• Second overall: Michelle Donahue, Brian's sister-in-law, with 254.17 points
  
• Third overall: Bob Donahue, alias Carnac the Magnificent, Brian's brother, with 429.42 points
• Birth date and time winner: Rob Lecrone, around eight hours early
  
• Weight winner: Noreen Geary, Brian's cousin in Ireland, under by three ounces
• Length winner: a four-way tie among Rob Lecrone (again); two of Tracey's former students, Kris and Chelsea; and her massage therapist, David, all correctly guessing 22 inches

Since we're both very surprised by Declan's length—22 inches is, we're told, "large for gestational age"—we're pretty impressed that four people guessed his length accurately.

It's strangely appropriate that Tracey's high school classmate, class president, and organizer of her 20-year reunion won NipperGuess, since she won't be attending Bartlett High School's Class of 1988 Reunion in a few weeks because of Nipper, now known as Declan. So congrats to Rob, but Tracey is disappointed that she won't be seeing him anytime soon. Oh, and Rob wins an Amazon.com gift certificate. (Nod to Aaron.)