Mother's instinct

Over the last (almost) 2 years, Sage and I (now of course accompanied by Andi), have taken many walks in the field by our house. Even though the field is in between neighborhoods, we often get treated to some beautiful wild life encounters: we've heard coyotes, smelled skunks (Ok, maybe not so beautiful to the nose), of course seen bunches of antelope, even the occasional deer and rabbits, and spotted eagles and hawks. Every now and then, we've also seen a pair of foxes. Though of course I am not certain they are in fact a male and female pair (I am not a biologist, and I don't know about long-term relationships in the fox world), they do look distinct, suggesting so.

Today another encounter also suggested so. As Sage and Andi and I came over this little hill in the field, Sage's tail started wiggling even faster, and at that point I spotted a Mom fox with two baby foxes! What a treat! Of course Mom fox had already spotted us, and immediately directed her babies back to their fox hole. As soon as they were in, mom moved to a spot about 15 yards away from the hole, and started making a hole bunch of noise towards us - very loud, as if to distract attention away from the place her babies were in. It was sort of a distressed hissing, low-pitched miauwing noise - Mom was definately on the defense: don't you dare to come closer! We continued to watch for a little while, hiding behind a bush (luckily Sage must have also figured this fox did not want to play, and stayed away from her). Though I would have loved to stay there longer to observe, I sympathized with this fox Mom and figured she had already had enough adrenaline for one day, and would much rather also have a quiet afternoon with her babies, so we left.

But what a treat! I beautiful prairie fox Mom protecting her babies :)

Camping!!

Andi went on her first true camping trip this weekend!
I know - what took us so long?! Like every summer, the weekends just seem to fill up way too fast. But, Ben came home from his Alaska fishing trip on Friday night, leaving us plenty weekend left to go outside! We camped in gorgeous Vedauwoo, and had a fun time soaking up eachother and some some sun, watching a huge thunderstorm roll in, taking walks, sitting by the fire, and visiting with Tom and Marilyn who came over for dinner saturday evening, grilling some burgers.

In true Wyoming fashion, we started the day in the sunshine, making sure Andi wouldn't get too hot, and keeping her out of those rays.

But then ... storm's coming in!

And we pretty much spent the rest of the trip making sure Andi was warm enough instead of too hot :)

Happy Hiking Buddies.

The traditional shot

Tom and Marilyn came over for dinner and a stroll.

Sitting at the campfire with Daddy.

The campsite

Andi in her snowsuit, staying warm with Daddy.

Bumbo Seat

Yesterday, Andi turned 10 weeks old. Since she has been doing really well at controlling her head when I hold her up straight, I thought we could give the bumbo seat a try....

At first, I thought it went pretty well - she sat up straight, and had good control of her head ...
but then she started to lean over ....


And unable to come back up, it eventually turned into ... "Help Mom, I can't do this yet. Pick me up?" ...


:)

And her 10 week shot with Slungel:

Spring time!

Spring has finally come to Laramie and I'm loving it :) Warm days for a nice walk, green buds on the trees, and my tulips are in full bloom! Time to start gardening! This weekend Marilyn and I went to the annual Laramie Garden Club plant sale, and we both bought a bunch of plants - I got a few flowers for in the flower bed in front of the house, and a couple of bushes for up front by the street. I keep saying front of the house, because this year I decided to just surrender the back yard to the dogs (both Sage and Kenai). Last year I spent all this time (and money) putting in a flower bed in the back, but by the end of fall it was completely destroyed :(


Tulips in bloom, and green buds on my rose bushes!


Last week on Sunday, Ben and I spent some time cutting off the lower branches of our two trees - not only does it look much fresher and cleaner, but it also brings some extra light into my living room, and I can now hang some birdfeeders from the lower branches to attract more litte birds! Next job is to revive the grass underneath the trees, or fill it in with something else.

Home sweet home.

Of course no post of mine is complete without a few pictures of Andi :)

(Supervised) sleeping on my tummy - look at those cheeks! And that bald head ;)

My first jeans!

Bundled up, ready for a walk in mom's front pack on a chilly windy spring day.

Andi - two months

Yesterday, May 10th, mothersday, Andi turned two months old!

She's growing so much! It is a little bit of a weird feeling that she is no longer the brand new newborn 'in town', as yesterday at church we met little Will (congratulations Lucas's!!) - I cannot believe Andi was that small - no, even smaller - only two months ago! I love all her developments - she has so many new facial expressions, she is starting to coo and laugh more, and every diaper change becomes a queste to get a giggle out of her :)

For mother's day, Ben bought me a new hard drive (hihi), and 'Andi got me' a fun a little camera! What a perfect gift! If you thought I already posted lots of pictures of her, just wait, because this camera I can take with me everywhere (even in the pool!), so I'll never have to miss out on a fun photo-op!

Waking up from her nap

Hey - someone is watching me with a camera ...

Ok - I'll laugh and play :)

On Friday we went to the pediatrician for her two month appointment:

Weight: 10 lbs 8 oz - 50th percentile! - up 2.5 lbs from last month
Length: 21 1/4 inches - 13th percentile - 1 1/4 inch more than last month
Head circumference: 38 cm - 30th percentile - 3 cm's more than last month
She's a short little stub! haha

She also got her two month shots - 3 shots, she cried her little eyes out, but thankfully she didn't get sick from it - just the whole rest of the day the only thing she did was sleep, and as soon as she woke up she would cry, until she got tired enough again to fall back asleep.

Dad and daughter snuggling on the couch together.

Our cute little baldie

Although some nights Andi sleeps a whopping 6 hrs at a time (considered "through the night", right?), most nights she sleeps around 4 hrs at a time. I think if she was allowed to sleep on her belly she would go much longer more often - she loves her belly. Some afternoons, if we have time, we take a nap together belly to belly in the big bed.

Some tummy time in the big bed.

Outstanding

Most of you remember the *fun* times I had writing my Master's Thesis last year. Eventually though, after many prayers, lots of encouragement from friends and family, and tons of hard work by me and my professor, Dr. Derek Montague, it did get finished, as you know.
Back in January of this year, Derek told me he wanted to try to put up my thesis for nomination of "Most Outstanding Thesis of 2008". These awards are given every year, in 5 catagories (science & engineering, arts, etc.), and best theses are picked based upon quality of the research and writing, but also on the contribution of the research outcome to the state of Wyoming, the country and the world. I would be in the science & engineering category. Derek also told me not to get our hopes up, because we didn't invent something, like likely competitors in engineering.
My application packet included the Thesis, three letters of recommendation (one each from my mentor and two other faculty) my own letter, my resume, and any publications and presentations.

But - haha! We did win! It was such a surprise, and encouragement to both me and my professor, for whom it's also the first time to win this award, and who definately deserves the award as mentor.

Yesterday, the Graduate School hosted a nice luncheon to hand out the awards (other awards included "Outstanding PhD dissertation" and "Outstanding graduate assistant teaching"), and both Ben and Andi came along :)
Presentation of the awards was by Dr. Don Roth, Graduate School Dean, and Dr. Myron Allen, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Dr. Myron Allen.

My mentor Derek and I.

The Outstanding Master's Thesis award winners (l.t.r): Me (Atmospheric Science), Jason Burge (Creative Writing), Maggie Renken (Psychology), Asher Albertson (Zoology & Physiology).

My plaque :) (now if only it read Wiesje Bryan - sigh)

Maybe even more fun - besides that plaque, I also won a nice little check, to spend however I please - yay!

I also admit that it is encouragement to me to keep going, and continue for a PhD. As of this week, my maternity leave is coming to an end, and I've been struggling trying to get back. Yes, I really do find aerosols, clouds and climate fascinating, but Andi has most definately become priority, and I find it hard to switch my mind back and forth from changing a diaper/burping/nursing, cuddling and playing back to doing research. I'm gonna give it an honest shot though!

8 weeks

Though I haven't posted them regularly, I am still taking Andi's weekly picture with Slungel. Here is her 8 week shot!

Exersizing in her pink jogging outfit :) ...


... and cooling down with her favorite plug :)

Andi is probably taller than him now - I don't know exactly how tall she is, or how much she weighs, but I think about 10+ lbs. Next Sunday she'll be two months old (!), so coming friday we're going in for her two month visit, and we'll find out. She'll also get her first shots then, which I'm not looking forward to :(

Another exciting thing - Grandpa Tom finished building the crib!! It is absolutely beautiful - again, built from scratch from a cherry tree. He hand picked some gorgeous pieces of wood with lots of detail in them. Andi is not sleeping in it yet, as she still fits very comfortably in the cradle that Grandpa Tom also built for her. But, because of the great extra storage space below and beside the crib, it did turn out quite huge, so I've to re-arranged the whole nursery :)