Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa writes: James doing a little light reading.

Dear Friends of Bernadette, It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Bernadette the Hamster. She was a fine rodent, upstanding citizen, enthusiastic distance runner, loyal household member, adventurous night-time escapee, and equal-opportunity nipper of fingers. She passed away during the night of Friday, September 26, after a brief period of decline following a stroke. She is survived by "food bearers" Lisa and Tom and younger brother James Alejandro. A private viewing will be held next to her cage, to be followed by a public burial ceremony under the mostly-dead azalea bush in our backyard. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Buy Lisa and Tom a New Hamster Fund. Solemnly, Lisa and Tom My sister, Christi, wrote: Ode to Bernadette ... Her cheeks so soft and round Her hamster laughter when she could not be found The pitter patter of little feet Cheerios...her favorite treat Entire carrots in eac...

Lisa writes: I had a birthday. I said not to make a big deal about it, so my coworkers got me a teeny cake.

Lisa texted: Dear Tom, He peed through this morning's outfit so I went digging through the clothes drawer. We don't have much for cold weather. Say hello to farmer James. Love, Lisa     Tom texted back a link to the video of " Cotton-eyed Joe ."   Lisa texted: Dear Tom, Overalls are officially too silly looking, plus they ride up when you put him in the Bjorn. So leggings and a very stylish stocking cap it is. Love, Lisa     He kind of looks like he's going to rob a bank. We're on our way to Costco -- we could probably use the money.  

Lisa writes: Our neighbor's son returned from his mission in Reno, Nevada. Best line from his homecoming talk: "I want to conclude my talk by bearing my testimony in the language I was called to teach on my mission [pause]. English."

Lisa writes: We have big trees. This big: And that one right there was sick. Big and sick and scheming to fall down on our house in the middle of the night. (I know how trees think.) So, we got some dudes. Mejor dicho , we got some chavas .   Dude is maybe 5'2" and tosses that 50 lb. stump into the truck like it's a beach ball.       Section from about 1/3rd from the top   So, a couple of thousand dollars later, no more malevolent tree and we can all sleep soundly. Worth it? Necessary? Check this out -- totally rotten on the inside. (1-foot ruler for scale.) Right to left, from top to bottom (getting more rotten as we go down). Again, 1 foot ruler for scale on the far left piece. The stump. The ruler. Our new firepit. 

Lisa writes: She got out of the cage for minute and dove into the bag of sunflower seeds, stuffing her face. I put her back into her cage. She wants to climb up to the little satellite room where she sleeps. She can't fit up the tunnel because she has too many sunflower seeds in her cheeks. Frustration ensues.

Lisa writes: Our cute friends (and former coworker) Gesine and her husband Jason were briefly back in D.C. between State Department postings in Brazil and Ivory Coast. We talked them into making an hour-long Metro trek to the suburbs so we could take them to our favorite greasy taco joint.      

Lisa writes: James is 5 1/2 months old. We think he is teething because he is drooling non-stop and making hilarious facial expressions like a toothless little old man smacking his gums together. Most important -- MOST IMPORTANT -- he is sleeping through the night. Blessed, blessed 8-hour-long stretches of lovely, lovely sleep. In desperation, we tried the "let him cry it out for three nights" technique. It wasn't quite as perfect as in the books. The 4th night, he slept perfectly, but the 5th night he woke up and cried for two hours. The 6th night he slept perfect, but the 7th night he was up again and crying for about 90 minutes. But ever since then, he goes down at 10:30 p.m. or so with one last bottle and doesn't wake up until we wake him at 7 a.m.   My beautiful, well-rested boy.

Lisa writes: James is five months old. He is allergic to mosquito bites, or at least he has a significant skin reaction to being bitten. The bites start as big red welts, get smaller and more raised, then form a bump with a clear blister on top before eventually (like, several weeks later) disappearing. I sympathize, because I get the big, itchy welts and blisters too, but not as large as his. We try hard to keep the mosquitoes away, but obviously you can't douse a baby in DEET and he's just SO DARN DELICIOUS. Click on the picture to enlarge and see the blister on the top of his foot.

Lisa writes: We introduced James to rice cereal for the first time tonight. Did James like it?  I'll let him speak for himself.

This one has a very nice "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" quality to it.

Lisa writes: Caught on film! Like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster!

Lisa writes: James is perfecting the art of NOT rolling over.