Monthly Archives: June 2006

Catherine is on the grow!

ppp|Catherine and Mom

Catherine and Mom at Lynch Park

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So, my first week back at work after two weeks off is almost over. It’s been hard to leave Catherine and Becky at home… I’d gotten used to being able to see them all the time. However, I know that getting back into a routine will be good for everybody.

Catherine had her one-month checkup on Wednesday, and the doctor reported that she is doing just great! She was up to 9 pounds 15 ounces, which is a 2 pound 1 ounce gain in 16 days… just over 2 ounces per day! She has also grown from 22 to 23 inches in length… an inch in a little over two weeks. That’s pretty spectacular! Becky is doing a great job of feeding Catherine, and it’s showing.

Tonight, we went to Lynch Park to take Catherine for a stroll… the weather was cool and breezy, and very nice for a walk. You can see photos from our trip [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/lynch_park_june_29/).

Becky has also taken a few pictures while she’s been at home with Catherine. These ones highlight some of her [sleeping](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/home_catherine/IMG_0145.JPG.html) [positions](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/d/2/36791/IMG_0146.JPG). 🙂

Better Living Through Email

A while back, I read an article in the Christian Science Monitor entitled, “[It’s all about me: Why e-mails are so easily misunderstood](http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0515/p13s01-stct.html)”. In this article, contributor Daniel Enemark writes, “In a world where businesses and friends often depend upon e-mail to communicate, scholars want to know if electronic communications convey ideas clearly.” The scholars in question conclude that email doesn’t adequately convey emotion, which leads to emails being misunderstood. While I do agree that an email doesn’t contain all of the same visual cues, vocal tones, and subtleties that face-to-face or telephone conversations possess, I don’t agree that this is the primary reason emails are so easily misunderstood.

Continue reading

A confluence of visitors

Catherine got to meet a bunch of new people today!

First, she met Ken and Terri, out visiting the northeastern states and provinces from Mount Vernon, Ohio.

ppp|Catherine and Terri

Catherine and Terri

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Ken and Terri took us out to [Acapulcos](http://www.acapulcos.net/) for lunch, took a brief walk with us down to the ocean, and then went to meet my parents and my aunt and uncle John and Joan, who were in the area to take their granddaughter to see Charlotte’s Web at Beverly’s own [North Shore Music Theatre](http://www.nsmt.org/). We met for ice cream at [Cherry Farm Creamery](http://www.cherryfarmcreamery.com/). I think I’ve had more ice cream in the past week than I have in the past year. 🙂 Which is not an entirely bad thing… 😉

ppp|The Woods

The Woods

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Thanks to the Farnhams for taking a photo of the Woods. 🙂

Tonight, we just hung out at home with mom and dad, ordered some pizza, and adored the lovely Catherine. After they left, Becky and I got to spend some quality time with our daughter. 🙂

ppp|Laptop and Stomachtop

Laptop and Stomachtop

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I love my daughter. Can you tell?

For pics of the good times, see [Farnhams and Woods](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/farnhams_woods/), [At Home With Catherine](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/home_catherine/), and [Grandma and Grandpa Wood](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/grandma_grandpa_wood/).

Grandma and Grandpa Wood

It’s been a busy week here in the Wood household!

My parents arrived here on Wednesday evening, so we have spent quite a bit of time with them, giving them plenty of opportunities to hold Catherine and get to know her. I’ve put up an album with [photos of Grandma and Grandpa Wood](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/grandma_grandpa_wood/), as well as an album with photos of a trip we took yesterday to [look at furniture](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/furniture_trip/) – rocking chairs in particular. They’re here through Sunday morning, and the three of us will miss having them around… but we will get to see them again in July for my cousin Johanna’s wedding.

On Tuesday, [Jenny](http://raingirl3179.livejournal.com/) came down to visit Catherine, and also brought dinner for us. We had pasta with a meat sauce recipe Jenny got from the Food Network… yum. 🙂 I also took a few [photos of her and Catherine](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/jenny_visit/).

On Monday, we drove out to Townsend to see Becky’s parents, and meet up with her aunt and uncle Kevin and Susie and their boys Hugo and Elliott. The boys did some frog hunting out at the pond… I think they ended up catching (and releasing) in the neighborhood of 3-5 frogs. Nice work, guys! They also got to meet their new cousin (first cousin once removed, that is). We took some [photos of the day](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/frog_hunting/), but that album requires a family login to view. If you need a family login, just register for an account in [our gallery](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/), and I will add you to the family group.

Today, we’re meeting up with [Amy](http://waltondammerung.prwdot.org/) and [Will](http://pulchersentio.prwdot.org/)’s parents for lunch. They had plans to be out in the northeast for a trip, and asked if they could stop by to visit Catherine. Of course! In the meantime, my parents are making the rounds, visiting my dad’s siblings in the area. We’ll be meeting up with them later this afternoon for ice cream.

Tomorrow is my last day before going back to work – alas! It has been a wonderful two weeks off. Some people might not consider it a vacation, but I definitely enjoyed getting to spend every minute of it with my family and friends. It will be hard to leave my girls at home and go back to work, but I think it will be good for everyone to get back into a routine.

Bon Voyage!

My sister Kirsten and Brother-in-law Mark are leaving today for a mission trip to Taiwan! They are traveling with a group from their church – nine adults and nine teenagers. Join with us in sending them prayers and well wishes for their trip! They are scheduled to return on July 4. We hope that all goes well and that they have a safe return!

ppp|Mark, Becky, Peter, Kirsten

Mark, Becky, Peter, and Kirsten

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On Catherine’s Behalf

Catherine would like to tell the world how great her dad is. She’s a bit frustrated that she can’t type yet, so she is allowing me to pass along her message.

She says that her dad is awesome. He changes her diapers without complaining and always has a little song to sing in the process. He loves her so much and never misses a chance to cuddle.

Catherine loves that her dad is such a quick study when it comes to ‘daddy-hood’. Three weeks into his new job and he’s already a pro! And he thinks that pink is cute, too.

ppp|Catherine and her Daddy|ppp

Happy Father’s day to the best new dad that we know! Keep up the good work!

Love, Catherine and her Momma

First Father’s Day

I write this as two of the lovely women in my life are fast asleep. Becky is on the couch, Catherine is in her car carrier on the floor in our apartment, both enjoying the darkened room and air conditioning. We just got back from a trip to the [Old North Bridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_North_Bridge%2C_Concord%2C_Massachusetts) for a father’s day picnic with Ken, Dianne, and Corey. We ate in the picnic area at the North Bridge parking lot and then went for a walk across the bridge. The weather was very nice, although it was a bit hotter than I would have liked. After our walk, we got back in our cars and headed over to the [Kimball Farm](http://www.kimballfarm.com/) in Westford for some ice cream. Yum. Now we’re at home getting in some R&R. You can see our father’s day pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/fathers_day/).

Yesterday, [Jenn](http://www.misspresident.net/) and Matt came up to visit. We went to the [Atomic Cafe](http://www.atomicafe.com/) for lunch, and then drove up to [Gordon](http://www.gordon.edu/) to show Matt around (it was his first visit to the North Shore). It just happened to be the day that they were having the groundbreaking, *finally*, for the new science center. At my commencement in 2001, all of the science majors presented President Judd with bricks symbolizing our desire for a new science building to be built. Since I started at Gordon in 1997, I’ve seen three new dorms, a new cafeteria addition, a new music building, new arts building, new parking lot… Finally, almost 10 years after I started at Gordon, they’re getting started on a new science building. Sheesh. Anyway, after we finished our tour of Gordon, we went to [Lynch Park](http://www.bevrec.com/lynchpark.html) and had some ice cream at Dick and June’s, and then Jenn and Matt were on their way. You can see our pics from the day [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/jenn_matt_visit/).

Beautiful day for a bridge walk

Yesterday we had some gorgeous weather here in our city by the sea. Becky and I took the opportunity to go out for a walk over to the Beverly-Salem Bridge with Catherine.

ppp|Becky and Catherine on the bridge|ppp

You can see all o’ the pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/bridge_walk/). Incidentally, you may notice that I have filed this album under ‘Events’ rather than ‘Baby’. I figure that most of the photos we take in the forseeable future are going to have something to do, at least tangentially, with Catherine, so I’m going to start placing them into the appropriate albums, either ‘Events’ or ‘Travels’, depending on the content and context.

Also, for those of you who have just started reading our blog since hearing the news of Catherine, you should know that we normally write posts about topics other than our baby. While Catherine’s birth has certainly been the main event of the past three weeks, and thus has had an overwhelming number of posts dedicated to it, don’t be surprised if you see a few posts here and there related to something other than Catherine. 😉 If, however, you are only interested in reading about Catherine, you can simply bookmark the ‘Baby’ blog archives. You can find this by looking at the left hand side of our site, clicking on ‘Blog Archives,’ and then clicking on ‘Baby’.

First Bath, First Concert!

ppp|Bathtime!|ppp

Yesterday, we gave Catherine her first bath at home! She seemed to like it pretty well. Since her umbilical stump hasn’t quite come off, we just gave her a sponge bath, but it was still fun to get her nice and clean.

ppp|Hey Grampa!|ppp

We also went out to Townsend for the Thursday night Military Band concert on the common. There were a ton of people there, many of them friends and fans of Catherine! We made the rounds with her and showed her off to all of the Townsend folks.

You can see all of yesterday’s pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_june_15/).