Happy birthday to house...er, Zienna

As I began singing out loud a "birthday" wish to our house yesterday--because it marked three glorious months since we left the rental life behind--Kelly immediately jumped in as I finished and sang what I should have been singing, which was "Happy Birthday" to Zienna. Because yesterday, she turned six months old.

Six months. Yikes! As Zach and I were discussing last night, it's already getting a bit hard to remember what life was like before Zienna, given how involved we all are with her daily life (a BIG change from having a kid in full-time daycare, and a welcome one!). But still, six months is half a year, and I really find it hard to believe that much time has passed since Zienna's birth. Time may fly when you're having fun, but it really zips by when you're enjoying a new baby and super busy, as we have been since May.

Since it came as an afterthought that it was The Big 0.5 for Zienna, we really didn't do anything to mark the event. It was raining like crazy--and snowing in the foothills and mountains around us--but we ran a few errands anyway and, without even realizing it was a potential gift day, bought Zienna a "Taggie"--a blanket with numerous tags sewn to its border, intended to satisfy her compulsion to seek out the tag of any blanket, toy, or pillow she encounters. Other than that, it was a pretty routine day for our baby girl. A little attempted crawling, a bit of pulling herself up, and a yummy dinner of rice cereal and sweet potatoes (her current favorite, which is good, since they're what's currently up on the Wheel o' Food Introduction). Not much beyond that, aside from her first cold, courtesy of big sister, who brought it home from school.

Zienna's six-month checkup is later this week, so we'll have to see then how she's faring on the height/weight charts and development milestones. But as one who spends every day with her, I can already give you a preview (albeit one that's a bit biased): perfect.

Happy belated birthday, Zizi. You're already more a part of this family than you could ever understand!

I can't keep a secret

I never could, actually. And in this case, I definitely couldn't. Not after I saw what you're about to see.

Dede, aka Grandma Loop, aka Kelly's mom, requested one thing for her birthday, which was way back on Halloween: family portraits of the Hamilton nuclear unit. Not much to ask, you're likely thinking. But to say we're bad about family portraits is an understatement considering that, in really close to 20 years of marriage, Kelly and I have done portraits exactly three times--once at a PetSmart with our cats in the early 90s, once with Zach and Zoë in 1993, and...well, today. That's it.

It took us a couple weeks' worth of cancelled aappointments(too busy, cold feet, couldn't find anything to wear, etc.), but the planets finally aligned today and allowed us to muster the confidence to do the deed, the results of which are posted here.

Kelly and I went in figuring whatever happens, happens, particularly since our eldest daughter has a thing about being photographed, particularly by strangers. We'd left at least one portrait appointment in the past frustrated and photo-less. But fortunately, we got the same photographer who earlier did Zienna's first portraits, who was an absolute joy, and everything just fell into place, Zoe's apprehensions (or lack of them) included. And when we saw the results...well, we were just so pleased, we couldn't hold back from sharing. Not counting the pictures with the tired, old guy. But then, with kids as cute as this--personal biases aside, of course--who's counting?

We'd intended to use the photos for Christmas cards, and we still do. So when you get yours, do us a favor and just pretend you've never seen the included picture before, OK? And whatever you do, savor it, and thank Grandma Loop. Because at the rate we're going, it could be a looooooong time before you see an updated Hamilton family portrait!

Ooh, scary: Halloween photos are only two weeks late!

I'm through making excuses for my apparent photo-posting tardiness. In Jeff Goldblum, Big Chill fashion, I'm ready for a straight out rationalization or three. And you know what Mr. Goldblum's character, Michael, said about rationalizations, right? (If not, look it up!)

Anyway, from now on, don't think of my galleries as "late," think of them as...

...a public service. I recognize that we're all pretty busy around the first of the month, and I'm just trying to avoid adding one more thing to our collectively cluttered calendar.

...courteous. After all, my brother Steve is pretty darn consistent at posting his galleries during the first few days of the month. Why overwhelm everyone with too many photos and wrestle for attention? I politely let Steve have his glory first.

...a labor of love. Crafty captions like those found in the Hamilton Zone gallery don't just grow on trees. Nope. They take time and effort. And I usually remove red-eye, too! Just more value-added services for you, dear reader.

See? No tardiness here. Just delay by design. (Yeah, that's the ticket!) So without further bull...er, ado...I present to you October's gallery--Halloween included--viewable directly here, or as always, via the main gallery page here.








Oh, and by the way, my little experiment last month--removing the links to high-resolution, zipped files--proved what I thought it would, that no one was downloading the zips. At least no one did last month. Consequently, I've removed them, because their posting more than doubled the amount of time I was spending putting up the galleries each month.

Note to grandparents and others: If you want high-resolution files for printing, let me know. I can easily enough email you the files you're interested in. And if there's sufficient demand, I'll add the zips back in.

Oh, and if by some chance I happen to post November's photos early next month, don't think of it as hypocrisy, just think of it as an editorial decision intended to head off your last-minute demands on your hectic holiday schedule. Yeah, that's it...