Monthly Archives: November 2006

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The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji

This epic story looked promising. I was excited to read about the racial conflicts in Africa in the 1950s and 60s; a part of history I don’t know much about. I hoped that the story would pull me into a world so completely different from my own.

Unfortunately, I just wasn’t able to connect with the story. The writing style was clear and the descriptive vignettes were beautiful, but I just couldn’t get into the ‘meat’ of the story.

I was very disappointed that I only made it halfway through this book. I enjoy historically based novels and the cultural knowledge that can be gleaned from them. Also, while written in the past tense, at the end of each chapter Vassanji jumps to a paragraph or two in the present tense. I would have really loved to see how the past and present lives of Vik came together, but I couldn’t keep my head in the book.

Maybe at some point in the future I’ll give this one another shot. I guess it just wasn’t the book for me at this moment in time.

Milestones

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Catherine has been keeping us busy lately. It seems like we can go weeks without any major change in behavior or attitude and then, “BAM!” the changes come on full force.

We’ve really been enjoying watching her grow and learn and change over the past few months. Although I have a vague idea of which milestones she should be hitting, I haven’t memorized exactly when she should be achieving them. Her pediatrician is happy with her development and progress, so I am too. There are so many things to be worried about in life; I don’t need to add to the stress by comparing Catherine to all the other babies out there!

For the record, though, here’s an update. Catherine is a very happy, content baby. Her smiles and babbling can melt the hardest of hearts and has an adorable laugh that is only made more exciting by its unexpected appearances. She will play pretty independently with her play gym; kicking and grabbing at the toys. She will pass the rattle back and forth between her hands and will shake it like a Polaroid picture! Anything she can get her hands on will go into her mouth. She especially likes her crinkly book with the rubbery teething toys on it.

The teething rings are very popular at the moment since she has cut her first two teeth (the bottom front- in case you were wondering). She has been a wee bit fussy thanks to the new- and forthcoming- teeth, but the fussiness is nothing compared to to the drooling. I swear she leaks a gallon of drool a day onto the front of her shirt. Thank goodness for the hundreds of bibs we received when she was born!

In the last few days Catherine has strengthened her back muscles enough to keep herself sitting up if we set her up. She can’t pull herself up to sitting, but if she leans forward she can straighten back up. She’ll sit and play or look in the mirror all while sitting up. These new muscles have made it easier to experience some other new activities; playing in her exersaucer, sitting in the baby seat of the shopping carriage and riding in our baby backpack.

Sitting up and seeing more of the world has only made her want to get to more of it. She has rolled over once (with an illegal push-off during the flip!) but hasn’t quite gotten the hang of it. Soon though, she’ll be rolling all over the place. Then we’re in trouble!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more exciting news from Wood Central!

Remastered

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Earlier this year, I started a project to go through all of the photos from our wedding and honeymoon, take out some not so good photos, do some cropping, retouching, rotating, and color editing, and then upload them to the site. I got a bit sidetracked after Catherine was born, but I finally finished up. Here, then are the results! I left the originals alone so that you can compare. If you have already seen the photos, why not go back and relive the fun? If you haven’t seen them, check them out for the first time! I had hoped to finish this up by our anniversary, but oh well! 🙂

* [Our Wedding](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2002/our_wedding/) (original)
* [Our Wedding – Digitally Remastered](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2002/our_wedding_dr/)
* [Our Honeymoon](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2002/honeymoon/) (original)
* [Our Honeymoon – Digitally Remastered](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2002/honeymoon_dr/)

Here are some examples:

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