September was marked by a proliferation of new faces for Laurana. Her continuing mission was to search out new muscles and connective tissue, to boldly go where no expression had gone before. We believe her mission was a smashing success, but we’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Album 1: Laurana’s Blue Dress and Connor’s Visit
Album 2: Laurana Discovers the Mirror
Album 3: Laurana at 3 Months and Auntie Sharon
Album 4: Uncle Trav Visits and Laurana Tries Headwear

Will October bring a maturation of expression and more refined control of her facial contortions, or will Laurana seek new heights of emotive sillyness? Stay tuned…

In which Laurana turns two months, among other goings-on.

Album 1: Hanging with Friends in August
Album 2: Rob and Christa’s Wedding
Album 3: Laurana at 2 Months
Album 4: First Pass at Birth Announcement Photo
Album 5: Sailing with Tom and Joel
Album 6: The Kailey-Kitty Photo Shoot
Album 7: Laurana’s Burgeoning Fashion Sense

Stay tuned for more late-breaking news!

This is kind of cool, being quite a few months behind on posting. It’s like we get to relive Laurana’s early days, which is good because we were kind of in a daze the first time around. Anyway, tonight we have a very special treat, in which many Swarms get to meet Laurana.

As a short exercise to help you appreciate this batch of pictures better, check this out briefly: Bibb lettuce

Album 1: Late July Grab Bag
Album 2: Jen’s Xth and Kailey’s 1st Birthday
Album 3: Amy’s New House and Kara’s Haircut
Album 4: Missy’s Birthday 2005
Album 5: Meeting the Swarms
Album 6: Laurana’s First Beach Trip
Album 7: End of Kara’s Trip

Seven. The perfect number.

(AP, Mountain View)
Sources report that Laurana Bozarth turned one month old! She celebrated by napping.

Ok, so it’s not exactly breaking news. Ok, so it was almost 6 months ago. But it is the first time this event and those leading up to it are documented photographically on the internet. And that calls for a celebration. Nap time!

Album 1: Last Hurrah With Grandma and Grandpa
Album 2: Laurana’s First Spa Trip
Album 3: Laurana at 1 Month

Murphy did more than populate downtown Sunnyvale with an eclectic yet delicious combination of Chinese, Mediterranean, Polish, and Thai restaurants. He also swore never to have a street named after him, preferring classic names like “Main Street.” And thus was Murphy’s law born. I should have paid more heed to this lesson before I hinted (okay, titled the whole post) that I was slacking in updating the site. Yes, Murphy could have told me that a huge, slackerly vacuum devoid of posts would follow that post.

So this time, I’m getting it right. Don’t expect another update until Laurana’s programming better than me. I only hope Murphy hadn’t heard of reverse psychology.

Here are some pictures from a fun day with the Hinzes. Hinz and fun go together like ketchup and mustard (i.e. they don’t have to go together, but often one implies the other). See you in a few years!

Beltons, Bozarths, Hinzes, and a Pool

Ok, ok, I’ve been a bit remiss in posting updates and pictures. Well, at least according to everyone who’s NOT responsible for taking, organizing, touching-up, and uploading scores of pictures. So here’s a big album, hopefully that’ll keep me outta hot water (other than bathwater) for a while:

Bed, Bath, and Beyond!

Laurana has been doing great. We are tired, but at the same time we are very lucky to have a baby that sleeps well. We have to set the alarm to wake her up for her 4:30 and 7:30 AM feedings! The other morning the alarm went off for an hour before I finally groggily poked Sarah awake, who then groggily poked Laurana awake, who then groggily nursed. Badabadum, they’re the Groggy Family! (to the tune of the Adam’s Family)

Grandma and Grandpa Bozarth are in town for a nice long visit, which has been great. They’ve been a big help, and have been only too happy to hold L.L.Bean for hours on end if needed. They leave soon, though, which is a bummer. Between work and Laurana, I’ve been very busy – I’m hoping to be able to take some paternity leave as soon as I code up an mbuf linux kernel module!

Laurana still doesn’t know many tricks. I cheer her on, coax and plead with her to get her to do one push-up or something – “A puppy would be running around playing fetch by now!” I tell her, trying to be encouraging. Alas, it’s to no avail – she merely flails her arms and legs randomly and crosses her eyes at me. Her only new trick is a sort of nose dive that she will do, plastering her face against your stomach. It’s kind of surprising. You’ll be holding her upright, admiring her cute little face, and she’ll suddenly lurch with all her might and plow her cute little face floorwards. Ah well, as the wise old Leprechaun says, “Trix are for kids! (Not babies).” (italics mine)

Update: I’ve been informed that the Lucky Charms Leprechaun actually has nothing to do with Trix. It’s a rabbit, and it’s the kids who say it anyway. I apologize for my sugary breakfast cereal ignorance! Thanks to the Hinz family for catching this egregious error.

Well, Laurana is showing her grit and determination – her bilirubin score is 14.8, down from 17.7 yesterday and 18.4 the day before. That means one more night on the raver blanket and she’s free! She gets one more bilirubin test tomorrow afternoon, but should that be lower (as is expected), her treatment is done.

Here are a few new pictures… enjoy! — Laurana Turns Six… Days

I’m hoping to create a nicer photo album for all our pictures, but for now, I’m using Picasa’s default export-to-web-page function. I want to do a custom layout, inspired by the simplicity of my friend Darick’s site, oceanful.com. And I want getting an album from Picasa to the web to be one click – I’m going to use the XML layout in Picasa. But I’m probably not going to do it as cleanly as Darick, because hey, I’m a parent too – gimme a break!

Here’s a fun album showing off Laurana’s new toy, which she hopefully won’t get to play with for long.

Jaundice Blues

Also, don’t miss the other album I just posted below (More Pictures). Finally, I added a box on the lower right of the page where you can sign up to get an email when there is a new post here, so you don’t have to keep checking for updates only to be disappointed because Brad is too busy holding and gazing at Laurana Love.

Ok, various promises have been made to add more photos, so without further ado: Laurana Matures, Strikes Out for Home! (Click me)

Laurana is doing pretty well. She has a little bit of jaundice, but we’re treating her with a fiber optic phototherapy blanket. I’m hoping it doesn’t predispose her to be a raver.

We’re praying her blood test comes out with a lower bilirubin score tomorrow morning. A big part of why she is soooo lethargic may be the jaundice. So we’re hoping the blanket works well and quickly! I’ll post some pictures of the blanket next.

Pictures here!

A Fetey of Derring-Do