Less than Twelve Parsecs

Dear Mara, Thank you for the wide eyed smiles you give us when you quietly tip-toe into our bedroom in the morning to announce: "Mara is awake!". For the eagerness of saying "Diaper change!" when Daddy asks you "What's the first thing we do every morning?" For helping prepare breakfast, and for eating it together on our morning drive to daycare. For making pancakes out of everything  for us to pretend-eat. For the special moments we share on Saturdays at Music Class, and at the Farm on Sundays! Looking at a duck had never been such fun before. For the cuddles you give us every night when you fall asleep in your bedroom. For reminding us to say "Good night!" to friends and family from far away and think about our day. Thank you for welcoming Gaius into the world and into our family. We'll always remember your look of curiosity and worry as you heard his very first cry when he was born, and saw the little bu

Another month has passed and if I have to summarize it in one sentence, I'll quote Mara: "Baby Gaius is Little!" He is little, although quite big for a little one - the last doctor checkup revealed a whopping 95th percentile in all measurements. That means he's growing quite nicely. In fact, he's doubled weight since birth, which means we can fully assume he will double his weight every two months from now on. He'll probably be about 512lbs when he turns one. Yet he's still a two month old baby, valiantly holding his head with shabby stability when he's on your shoulder. Recently, his tummy time turned into: Lifting my head is too hard. I shall instead lift my butt really high. But that's not really what this post is about. Of course Gaius is little. But all the cute ideas Mara shares with us about it are the topping on the cake. Episode 1: Airplane We flew, all four of us, to Indiana for a short family vacation. Gettin