Happy New Year 2008

1999 had nothing on this party.


Or this one















Or this one

Or this one

This one got a little out of hand, but it's cool. I can stop eating yogurt whenever I want. But I'm not going to stop eating yogurt because it's New Year's Eve and you know there's a 19 month old on Prince Edward Island who is pounding all the eggnog he wants because he's just coming off his Boxing Day buzz. And he's all like "It's midnight in Amsterdam, Mom! Lay off! It's not like you have to worry where I am. What am I going to do? Steal your car? Go ahead and put me in my crib, 'cause the party is where I'm at!"







Time for bed. Happy New Year to one and all.



And keep your pets warm this winter. Love, Elizabeth

Merry Christmas 2007!

Some pictures for EXS fans around the globe. Since Andy is putting these up, there are more pictures of Nancy, who is very pretty.

This one is from Hanover, MA a few weeks ago at Nancy's folks' house. We wish we could be with the McSharrys, East coast West coast andOmaha (no school like the old school) Jensens and all far-flung members of our family this Xmas but we will settle for our overcast Seattle skies.







Aside from sports teams that don't live up to expectations, another Winter tradition is the Christmas ships. They drive around to various points on Lake Washington with lights and carollers. Despite the picture, EXS really liked it.

Our friend Martin also liked the Christmas ships and, as always, was a great help to us playing with Elizabeth.









Yesterday, we got a surprise visit from the Eastside Andersons and Bixbys from Missoula, MT & Factoria, WA, respectively.









Clockwise from left, Aunt linda, Uncle Larry, EXS, Tee Tee, Susan (Andy's mom), AJ, Nancy, Cousin Joshie (yes, he's 30 and a successful web animator but he will always be Joshie. Sucks to be you, dude), Maddie-Moo, (Jessi's daughter) Amber, Joshie's girlfriend*, and cousin Jessi. Not pictured are Parker, Jessi's husband and their son Duncan. There was screaming and a timeout in the car. That's all I know.

*They've been together for more than a few years and own a house together. So it's not like "What's her name again? Oh HER? Well, she can take the picture. Wait, that might be awkward... We'll just figure out how to use the timer."

If we got our Christmas cards out on time, we would've used this one.





















Not this one.... Or the one after that.

Dancing with Grandpa McSharry

Here's Elizabeth keeping her Grandpa on his toes

Visiting her grandparents in Hanover

Elizabeth is a well travelled child, and is currently on her third trip to the East Coast to visit her McSharry grandparents.

She is having a wonderful time here. Grandpa (whom she calls gege) has taught her the polka (video tk) and Grandma races around after her as Elizabeth pushes her doll Baobei in the little carriage. They all takes naps in the afternoon while Mama checks out the Christmas Tree Shops and enjoys Massachusetts ' lack of sales-tax on clothing and gifts.

It snowed here and it seems our daughter, while snow a
verse, digs the puddles.

Snow in Seattle

Seattle got its annual snowfall yesterday and we took the baobao outside in her snowsuit (courtesy of her friend Tessa.) We are pretty sure she's seen snow before - she told us "snow!" as soon as it started falling. She also responds in a similar fashion to Nancy's brother Peter (sorry shushu!)

The Timer

As many of you know, Andy and I have, uh, somewhat different time management techniques. I admit to using the timer to give myself some parameters when working on a task. I think I went too far here, though

A Baobao Thanksgiving

We went to our neighbors, the Jelaco's for the holiday. Elizabeth was in fine form. She is coloring a turkey here early in the day- she's working with a mono-colored palette currently.

She scarfed down the stuffing and turkey to the exclusion of everything else, and shouted Yum Yum at the end of the meal. She topped this all off by giving her mother a real kiss - the first one - right before bed. As you can imagine, even the most pragmatic and stolid New Englander would have cried, and so I did.

The next morning, after refueling on leftover pie, she ran around the kitchen saying "E Ar, E Ar, Nee How, Nee How Mama!" which is Mandarin for "One Two One Two Hello Mama." Andy and I were bent over laughing. This was two days after the destruction of my cell phone, which she pile-drived (piledrove?) into the floor of the local grocery store. So now, I have a beautiful new cell phone, my thanksgiving present from the baobao. Andy is seen here recovering from the turkey, his cold, and a week home with the family.

More Action Video for the Far-flung: Walking

We've been meaning to post her first walk for EXS fans who don't live in the vicinity. Finally! Please forgive the shaky video technique.

Action Video: Crawling

We've been meaning to post these especially for EXS fans who live far away. The crawling segment took place August 1 and features George the dog - a bonus!

The rocking segment took place sometime is August. I think - it's all a blur.

Santa Barbara and The Wall: a Short Story

So we decided to spend a week in Santa Barbara and hang out with Andy's dad, step mom, brother and sister. We rented a cottage and all went well for 24 hours until Elizabeth discovered a tiny hole in the drywall in Mama and Dada's bedroom.

"Hmm," she mused, "that hole is the perfect size to push through all the shiny items Mama has left around." Elizabeth staggered around the bedroom in a juice induced frenzy of activity. "Those hair clips - those will fit. So will those pennies." Her eyes lit up as she spied Mama's emerald ring. "Wow," she thought "that will be a tight fit but I bet I can do it."

Just at this point, Mama, who was reading the newspaper and wondering whether the sun would ever some out (it did, whenever Elizabeth was napping), paused and asked Dada "Have you seen the baby? It's awfully quiet." They stared for a moment, called out "Elizabeth" and raced to the bedroom, just in time to see her pushing something into the wall.

Elizabeth pai pai sho'd (clapped her hands) with glee. "Mama, wall!" she cried.

Dada fished out a hair clip and asked "Have you see your ring?"

No ring in sight. Mama asked the baby "Baobao, did you put the ring in the wall?"

Elizabeth replied "Ooo goo" and pointed to her mouth.

Mama persisted. "Elizabeth Xia Shuang" and now the baby listened for Mama only used her whole name when things were dire "did you swallow the ring?"

Elizabeth shook her head no.

Mama asked once more "Can you show Mama where the ring is?" and Elizabeth ran into the bed room and pointed. "My Wall, Mama. My wall!"

You can see the before and after pictures of My Wall here, as well as Mama and the ring.
After that, we went to the park after breakfast every day. The End.

Halloween Roller Derby Queen

We planned to go as the Axis of Evil, but given the current political climate and Saddam's demise, it seemed like bad taste, even for us. So instead, Elizabeth went out as a Rat City Rollergirl. She wasn't entirely sure why she was dressed this way, but liked going around with her little pumpkin. For a kid who went to a dozen houses and stores, she raked in quite a haul! (The bruise is makeup btw)

Red Sox Jensen Nation

Elizabeth and George the dog watched the Series with consternation and confidence. They knew who was going to win!

Fall Photos

She's walking now so we've been BUSY racing after Elizabeth, as she went straight from placidly sitting on the floor to running everywhere with absolutely no fear. She is 16 months old in these snaps. She's napping once a day, after lunch, and sometimes in the car if we get lucky. The middle picture is a good example of "baby stink-eye" which she gives us whenever we attempt to thwart her will.

New Pictures with No Irony

Just some groovy recent pics of EXS growing and growing and growing. Imagine these pictures walking. That's what she's doing. I suppose I should change the title to "15 month old daughter."

















I'm so fast, when I turn out the light, I'm in my crib before it's dark.

Update my Blog... NOW!

But sweetheart, when you started walking and crawling, mom and I had less time to spend uploading your pictures. If someone knows how to upload video, I'd be happy to show everyone your first standing attempts and sustained walking.

JUST KNOW WHEN I PUT YOU IN A HOME, I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU SIT IN WATER!

I understand you're angry honey, but it was so hot, we had to make sure you didn't overheat.

I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT OVERHEATED LOOKS LIKE!

I know your overheated face, honey, when it cools off, you can show me your chilly face.

CHILL THIS!

My Goodness, that's a loud voice. Let's see how loud you can be in your crib by yourself and then we'll compare notes tomorrow morning.

Eat, Crawl, Walk, Talk

Since we returned from my folks house 2.5 weeks ago, some major changes have occurred with the baobao.

• She wants soup for dinner. Every. Single. Day. Not too hot (we learned the hard way) but always with noodles and carrots. She likes Grandpa Paul's chicken soup the best.
  
• She decided that walking (and by walking I mean a Peter-Boyle-as-Frankenstein's-monster stagger) holding Mom and Dad's hands is a great way to get around.
• She is crawling - forward. Finally! The incentive to get her moving: one of George the dog's toys.
• She is talking up a storm (considering her parents, no surprise.) See the Word Count list on the right hand toolbar for the running tally.
  

Now that she's mobile, we've invested in a playpen. So far she hasn't started singing "Dad I'm In Jail. I like it here. It's nice" so I guess we're doing OK though I'm sure Was Not Was would love the residuals.

Where's she been?

Hey we've we been? Well, we had her Santa Barbara relatives up for visits. Then we had to prep for Elizabeth's first birthday, which went great. Finally, we all traveled to the East Coast to see her grandparents there. So we've neglected her blog, but not her!

She has been delighted with all the attention and now wonders why the world doesn't cheer whenever she sits, stands, crawls or simply does her baobao thing.

Her one year dr appointment went well. No early intervention needed, which is great! She now weights 27 lbs (see Nancy's biceps for proof of that) so both parents are hoping she'll be ambulatory soon.

Jensenfest: The Early Years

Aunt Lauren (see below) took this photo of us on the South Shore of Seattle's beautiful Discovery Park. We're not starting a band but if we were, this would be our album cover. George was here too (see Nancy's right hand).

This would be the cover of the ghost-written tell-all biography of EXS' book:


And this would be her comeback album cover after having a successful turn on that VH1 show where they have celebrities from 15 years ago in a house living together. What's that show again? Not that Flava Flav one, yeesh, I don't even want to think about that. The one where Christopher Knight hooked up with America's Next Hot Model from a few years ago... Jose Canseco and that crazy old model were on it too.



And then this is just a cute photo of her in the sink. Nancy came up with the brilliant idea of trying the sink. A little back story. EXS hates getting clean. She would scream and shoot daggers at us. If looks could kill, we'd be lying on the floor, we'd be begging please please baby don't hurt us no more: but only if looks could kill. Fortunately, they can just make you feel kind of bad inside. And then you can talk about it, and then it's okay.

I figured "she hates it no matter what. We might as well use a hose." But Nancy was right and baths are a pleasure to behold and she seems to dig being in the sink. And then she pees on me.

Party with Auntie Lauren

Who needs the paparazzi when you've got a cell phone? Thanks Cingular now AT & T Wireless!

While mom relaxed at home, Andy Lauren and Elizabeth went to Club Heaven and danced the afternoon away. The baby is crying so I must go, but here's a picture from the dancing.

I'm glad we were there at the time. EXS is looking at some two year olds who were giving her the stink eye.

Auntie Lauren in the house!

Andy's sister Lauren is visiting for a few days. She has been a huge help with Elizabeth, who immediately took to Lauren as soon as we met her at the airport. Perhaps it's the family resemblence between her and Andy?

At any rate, they all went to Baby Loves Disco while Nancy took a shower, a nap and a chill-out session watching "Ugly Betty" on the DVR. The Baby Loves Disco contingent reported that it was a great party, even though Elizabeth fell asleep in the middle of it (she was strapped to Andy's chest in the Baby Bjorn, always a guaranteed way to lull her to sleep.)

Elizabeth is cutting tooth #8 this morning, and is eating apple slices (with the peel off of course.) She is crawling (backwards) and rolling all over the place. So our days of the peaceful baby playing on the floor are numbered!

Easter and now Dad's back to work

Hey the bunny came and left us this baby! We had a wonderful friends and family Easter celebration. Our neighbors Courtney and Louisa, friend Jim and his son Martin and Andy's mom Susan and Aunt Kay were all here to initiate her into the rites of spring. (As usual, we pulled this all together at the last minute - sometimes that's the best way, as Andy's mom says!)

Elizabeth had a great time, got 4 eggs on her egg hunt with Grandma Susan and has added this accessory to her growing wardrobe.

Andy went back to work at SCT today, and so far, so good. Elizabeth and I dropped him off at work, checked out the Pro Club so I can potentially get in a couple of workouts in the coming weeks, and I got her down for a nap by myself (we have been relying on Andy's tried and true nap technique.) A good spring so far!

Our Halloween Costumes

It's never too early to plan. We've decided that we're going as the axis of evil, with Elizabeth dressing up as Kim Jong Il.