February

Dave says: It's been a fun and busy few weeks. I finally had a few minutes on a Sunday afternoon to sit down and describe what life is like these days.

Being a dad is great most of the time. Skye is nearly 4 months old and she is getting big. Right now her schedule is to fall asleep around 9 pm after being swaddled up and eating a bottle. For a while she had a sleeping area in the middle of the bed. Next, she was moved to her swing. Now, she has been recently been upgraded to a crib in her own room. She used to make it only until about midnight but recently she often goes until 2 or 2:30 before waking up. I usually do the first feeding (after Alisha gives me a kick to wake me up) except if I am busy with work or teaching the next day. Alisha handles all the remaining feedings and Skye is typically up around 5:30 or 6 am. Now that she is getting stronger she often turns herself around in her crib and breaks her arms and/or legs out of the swaddle. She doesn't really roll over yet except in the bed when she is tipped a little bit.

Like her mother, Skye's best time of day is the morning. She will sit still and smile at you for nearly an hour in the morning before she needs some more stimulation. Her worst time of day is in the late afternoon. We were going through an afternoon meltdown phase for a few weeks but recently it seems to have lessened. Other new developments include her getting better at jumping in her jumper and eating her hands a lot. She is really good on sunset walks in the infantino after work.

We've been doing an okay job of still getting out of the house to exercise. Alisha often goes first thing in the morning and I try to go after work right before it gets dark. Alisha is split 50/50 mountain bike and road bike these days whereas for me the split is 90/10. The mountain biking is just too good to pass up and I have a shaded evening trail on the back side of Pass Mountain that I love right now. About every other weekend my grandma comes over and watches Skye and we get out on a nice big mountain bike loop together.

This February we seem to have skipped the 70 degree weather and gone straight from the 50s and 60s to the 80s. It has been nice and warm recently and we've been trying to plan some weekend adventures. This last week was quite busy with work as I was finishing up an evening MBA ethics course and also participating in the department's annual MMM conference in addition to all my other work. I've got a huge number of research projects underway right now with my friend and colleague Mike B. and others. Here's a few pics of what we've been up to:

Christine's kids celebrating my grandma Venice's birthday.

Walking by the Salt River on a Sunday afternoon.

Doing our usual favorite 2 hour mtb loop. Alisha has developed some serious skills as a mountain biker. This is the Twisted Sister trail in Hawes.

We walked around Tempe Marketplace on a Saturday night and saw this beautiful sunset that my cell phone camera does a poor job of capturing. The ambiance and just walking were more fun than the shopping but this is a nice place for kids. Skye had a great time looking around at everything.

During our shopping trip we were in a silly mood and I convinced Alisha to try on some horrible looking cat sweaters at H & M. I can't imagine why they were on sale.