John Francis

Moving online

2005-03-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

Bitroy was here

2005-03-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

On the go!

2005-03-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

John's a busy baby. He now has five teeth. With five teeth, you can eat bananas all by yourself. I apparently saw too many episodes of Reno 911 while pregnant, because John can do this. With John's new self-feeding skills, large bibs come in very handy. As one passerby put it today, "That baby is maxin' and relaxin'!"

It's so great I had to post it twice

2005-03-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

Although it was for my knit blog, here' s more John! I finished up a cap for the Dulaan Project. I knit hats when I have nothing else brainless to knit, so I have a large collection of never worn hats that will be finding a new home. John does not like to wear hats, so here he is modeling the hats and explaining in his own way why they're much better off being sent to children who will actually wear them.

Knit Night

2005-03-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

John likes to go to knit night, since he gets to stay up late. Here he is with Stephanie (who knew Christian in college) who is making her very first sock.

Snow!

2005-03-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

What started off as scary hail and thunder has turned into peaceful, quiet snow. Here's John enjoying a day inside in the ExerSaucer.

Happy eight month birthday!

2005-03-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

John's eight months old today and he showed us what eight months old can do. Open drawers and pull out folded clothing!

Fun with cats

2005-02-27T06:55:00.000-07:00

Emma will let John pet her if she's gently persuaded. We decided that since he's crawling now, he needed some ID so he'd be returned to us if he got out.

John's growing up!

2005-02-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

Today Christian and John went for a run all by themselves for an hour. John chattered away for the first half and then fell asleep. He woke up when they got home to pose for a picture.

What passes for a fun night here

2005-02-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

Here are Christian and John having a great time in the bath. Note Christian's lovely two-liter of sparkling water. The Canada Dry was on sale with the Sooper Card.

At the races

2005-02-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Christian took these pictures of John and the bear last night. It reminds me of the little race track rabbit you'd see in cartoons.

John's cleaning the floor, his beat is correct

2005-02-21T17:26:00.000-07:00

John likes the new Beck video. He's so much hipper than those Boohbah babies. The only problem we can come up with is that we'll be playing a game when he's a toddler and this will happen: John, what does the kitty say? Meow! What does the cow say? Moo! What does the robot say? Biatch!

Vegas, baby!

2005-02-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

The loosest slots in Colorado are right here -- look at this winner!

Give Peas a Chance

2005-02-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

John has been going along with the feeding routine and doing great with solids. Tonight he decided to throw a wrench in the works and decorate his tiny head with peas.

Attack of the Giant Baby

2005-02-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

John is growing too fast. I can't even pretend that any 6-9 month sized clothing fits him any more. I also had to increase the height adjustment on his ExerSaucer and Jumperoo. So here's my tiny giant, crawling across the bed to me. And here he is trying to get the camera.

Heartbreaker

2005-02-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

John wishes everyone Happy Valentine's Day!

Stand up!

2005-02-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

John can pull himself to standing in his crib! Watch out, world! Stand (56 seconds)

Sew Up Bee

2005-02-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

John, Christian and I went to the Mason-Dixon Knitting Afghan sewing bee hosted by Stacey today. I sewed while Christian played with John. Here's John modeling one of another baby's toys as a hat. He's pretending to be a Cossack! John also got in on the afghan action.

Feeding Fun

2005-02-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here's the first time we ever tried to feed John. The First Supper (1 minute, 2 seconds)

Hot Fun in the Wintertime

2005-02-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here's John sitting on his hippo toy. Eventually it'll be a velocipede of sorts, with John pushing it along with his feet.

The latest and greatest

2005-02-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

It was so warm at the pool we couldn't get a steam-free picture. We fed John peas. They are stain-tastic. John was so sleepy the other night he slumped over and crashed.

Baby you can drive my car

2005-02-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

Good thing babies can't drive -- that getting sleepy in the car thing would be a real problem. John likes to chew on absolutely anything, especially now that his top gums are starting to swell. How much longer until John has four teeth?

Movie time

2005-02-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

John and Christian both have a cold so we're laying low this week. Here's some vintage footage from December 2004 I finally edited today. Bonus points to you, Mom, if you can name the band before the credits roll. Aubrey Francis & John Francis (1 minute, 25 seconds)

Diaper change

2005-02-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

Since John's become more of a roller it has been almost impossible to change his diaper without a fight.

Happy seven month birthday!

2005-02-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

John can hold himself up on a chair for quite a while now. Just look at the cuteness and ignore the mess. :) He still looks a little uncertain about it sometimes though.

Ken Burns

2005-02-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

There's a tool in iMovie called the Ken Burns effect for still photos. So I made another movie of sorts. Newborn (2 minutes, 49 seconds) Happy birthday, John -- seven months sure has made a huge difference!

Double Feature

2005-02-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve (2 minutes, 12 seconds) Christmas Day (1 minute, 56 seconds)

If you didn't know better...

2005-01-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

...you'd think we were stoners. Christian, in a very scientific manner, decided that if bath toys stick to the tub, they might well stick to John. They did. John didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, he did a Josephine Baker impression.

(New at John's blog -- all pictures are now cropped to 4x6, so what you see is what you'll get when you print!)

Sundance here we come!

2005-01-31T15:21:00.000-07:00

Click on the titles to see the latest from my little movie star! Shake Your Booty (50 seconds) John's Alphablankie (1 minute, 13 seconds) Backing Up (1 minute, 26 seconds) Flip Bit (25 seconds) Drum Set (2 minutes, 18 seconds)

Another day, another diaper

2005-01-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

John finally fell asleep yesterday when I put him under a quilt. Here's John modeling some new clothes from his Grandma Louise. Thanks!

Adventure baby

2005-01-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

John and I walked to a new coffee shop just to get out of the house the other day. Everyone there liked John. John is trying so hard to crawl. He can sometimes get up on his hands and knees and shake his butt back and forth, but no moving just yet.

This can't be January...

2005-01-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

...because I feel so warm. John went to the park the other day and had some assisted trips down the slide. He's also found incredible new toys. John will never be bored!

Bunny party!

2005-01-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

I knit John a bunny today during his nap. He likes it. John can flop himself around once he's on the ground, but he has trouble going from sitting to laying on his front. Sometimes he'll do it by falling over sideways, but when he forgets that technique, he'll just get stuck like this.

Semi-New Blankie

2005-01-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

I made this blanket for John when I was pregnant. I used it the first few months and then it was horribly stained after the dishwasher in the new apartment started leaking through the walls into the linen closet. I finally made up my mind to fix it and dyed it light blue. The stains are barely noticeable and the alphablankie is back in use!

Swim Baby

2005-01-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

John and Christian are taking a baby swim class on Saturday mornings. John can hold onto the edge of the pool and stay up all by himself. I like to assume that the chlorine kills all the germs on these toys. John tried to make a run for it (a swim for it?) and get away from Christian. Dads do things with babies that moms would never do.

Nothing can come between a boy and his lobster

2005-01-21T16:15:00.000-07:00

John is happy to nap in the back of the car as long as he has Mr. Pinchy.

More more more!

2005-01-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

John is in baby prison. For a while he was also trying to chew on the crib. I don't think that John agrees with the "back to sleep" public awareness campaign. During this nap I repeatedly flipped him to his back -- he promptly returned to this position.

Scooting Johnlet

2005-01-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

John can scoot backwards but not forwards. He trapped himself under the couch a few nights ago.

Blog vacation

2005-01-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

John's blog is going to be taking a vacation for a few weeks while my computer is in California for repairs. Christian's computer is being used to write a thesis, which sort of takes priority. Rest assured the moment the computer is back, the blog will resume.

It's been a busy day

2005-01-14T23:20:00.000-07:00

John has tried jarred bananas and they don't seem to have made a big hit. He apparently likes feet of stuffed bears much better. And with all of this excitement about bears and bananas, John cannot bring himself to sleep even though it's quite late.

A potential career?

2005-01-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

I think John has the makings of a professional wrestler. He's already got a costume of sorts (gray camo and the red boots) and just look at the way he's going to town on Love to Walk Baby Pooh!

New things!

2005-01-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

John is trying to crawl. He totally doesn't have it together yet and it's so fun to watch him. He also made the rounds at the knitting meetup last night. How fun!

Seafood extravaganza!

2005-01-09T10:28:00.001-07:00

Although he lives in the Rocky Mountains, John has developed a taste for seafood as opposed to more traditional infant fare. Here's John trying to catch crabs (in the food sense): Are you really supposed to eat crabs this way? Here he is trying to get the clam:

Pre-race

2005-01-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

I ran the Lafayette Oatmeal 5k today. Replacing the typical pre-race ritual was some pre-race nursing.

Huh?

2005-01-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Who are you and what are you doing taking a picture of me? John sometimes isn't quite with it after a nap...

Six month checkup

2005-01-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

John weighed in today at 21 lbs. 10.5 oz., 27.5" tall. Here he is in his crib that he thinks is for playing, not for sleeping.

Bears and bears and bears, oh my!

2005-01-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

John recently fell in love with his crib mobile. He'll squeal when he sees us winding it up.

Warm and cozy

2005-01-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

It's cold and snowy outside, but toasty inside!

Nothing but fun here!

2005-01-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

John's fitting into his 12 month pajamas. He looks so adorable in red. John loves the cats. The cats aren't quite sure about John.

One movie down, a billion to go

2005-01-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

Here's one movie we've edited down from Christmas. Hopefully we'll be done with more soon. Click to see it!

Six months and the best toy ever!

2005-01-02T19:59:00.000-07:00

Here's John on his six month birthday yesterday. We're suckers for baby toys. This is the Jumperoo, the modern doorway-free version of the Johnny Jump-Up. John LOVES this toy.

Happy half birthday!

2005-01-01T08:34:00.000-07:00

John is half a year old today! I can't believe it's been six months since he was born. He celebrated on New Year's Eve by playing with his Gobble 'N Go Hippo. We tried the whole solid food thing, but John didn't seem too happy about that. We'll try again later.

Last post of the year

2004-12-31T11:27:00.000-07:00

The last few pictures of John at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Here my Mom and I are giving John a free performance of "Across the Alley from the Alamo." How many babies get to hear that song? John, you're SO lucky. John also tried on some of Uncle Ross' baby clothes. Back at home, John is almost ready to eat solids. He seems to like his high chair, so that's a good start. Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of tiny baby teeth that just came in? Here they are up close. New here at John's blog is the click-for-larger-image feature. Now if you want to print the pictures, there are huge versions for most of the new images giving you less pixelation in the prints. We here at John's blog aim to please.

Christmas modeling

2004-12-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

John kindly agreed to model some of his Christmas presents.

More family!

2004-12-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

John met more of my cousins. Here he is with Ariel. And with Rachel. This proves that EVERYTHING is a teething toy in John's mind.

Christmas!

2004-12-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

John's first Christmas (and the week leading up to it) was quite eventful! John met his great-grandparents. Everyone loves to chew on John's fists. Christian got him a lobster which we named Mr. Pinchy. We got flowers from Grandma and Grandpa! John got the bear. John got to see the wonder that is Christmas dinner for eighteen people and one baby. John and Daddy on Christmas Eve. John and Mommy on Christmas Eve. John fell asleep during the festivities. He woke back up for presents though. If I wasn't in front of my brother's face, this would be the best family picture! Christmas morning John played with some of his new toys. And he got a stylin' new bib. After all the excitement, John settled down to watch some basketball with Uncle Ross. Movies will be coming soon after we do some editing. Christian got a TON of footage of John's first Christmas!

Fun and excitement!

2004-12-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

John is so excited that his Daddy is finally here! See, he's trying to push up so he'll be able to crawl. Here's our Christmas present to John, which we gave him early. He'll have so many presents to open on Christmas that this one didn't need to be wrapped.

Fuzzy Red Boots

2004-12-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

John has exciting new slippers -- these red boots. Although chosen for their warmth and cuteness, John loves to grab the fuzzy fabric and the suede soles.

Fleecy Goodness

2004-12-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

Here's John in a sleep bag with his brand new matching fleece bear!

Fun new things at Grandma and Grandpa's house

2004-12-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

Here's John learning how to hold onto a longneck bottle. Here's John showing off how he likes to wear hats in Illinois, but hates them in Colorado. Although I'm not the plunk him in front of the TV type mom (yet), I'm not above plunking him in front of the visualizer on iTunes. He's listening to the Ramones!

Pictures from Chicago

2004-12-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

Who says your life stops after a baby?

2004-12-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

Here's Christian and John, with Christian all suited up for his first long training run for some insane trail ultra run he's planning to do in April.

Reading

2004-12-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

John can hold a book for a few seconds now!

Skills, skills and more skills

2004-12-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

John has this whole sitting and playing at the same time thing down pat. He can also lean against things to stand up and try to help me with Christmas knitting even more than before!

Fun fun fun!

2004-12-06T09:33:00.000-07:00

We're having so much fun here that John just couldn't manage to keep his clothes on. And here's Christian with John -- don't worry, everyone's clothed.

Bonjour!

2004-12-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

John is showing off his French sailor look.

Happy birthday!

2004-12-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

John is five months old today. He's relaxing in his baby papasan while I make birthday cookies.

Bear butt!

2004-11-30T15:57:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite outfits right now -- see how it encourages me to give John more tummy time so I can see that little furry bear?

Pre-teething

2004-11-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

John's taking this pre-teething thing very seriously.

Ahh...

2004-11-28T18:32:00.000-07:00

John is completely passed out on my lap. Time for knitting.

Milk Drunk

2004-11-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

Oh happy long weekend of eating! John got in on the eating action and is trying to sit up while full of milk. And here's what we've been eating since Thursday.

Sitting

2004-11-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

As long as we prop him up leaning a bit forward, John's all about sitting.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2004-11-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

John has a lot to be thankful for, including a fun Daddy who carries him around on his shoulders and even agrees to stay still for a picture after John spit up on his head.

While John Was Sleeping

2004-11-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

This is was John would be wearing had he been a girl. He's kindly agreed to model it while napping. I got this super cheap on the Carter's clearance and I figure since my brother and I both want large families, I'll eventually have a daughter or a niece I can give this to.

Puppy Love

2004-11-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

John is madly in love with a toy puppy from his Uncle Ross. It's the only toy he'll try to grab after he's thrown it.

Oh you have no idea!

2004-11-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

I never knew how much fun it would be to put things on John's head and then take pictures.

Relaxing

2004-11-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

After a tough day of being a baby, John kicks back in his Boppy.

Cool baby inventions

2004-11-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

John has these awesome sleep sacks that take the place of a blanket. Here he's showing the double bagged baby look, with a bag sleeper underneath the sleep sack. He's so warm now when he wakes up in the morning with no more of this it's 2 a.m. and I'm chilly stuff.

What a helpful baby!

2004-11-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

John is helping me, umm, personalize some Christmas knitting.

Book!

2004-11-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

John is showing us how much he loves books by grabbing his fabric cat book and flailing. Okay, so he does the same thing with diapers and spitup towels, but it's a step in the right direction.

John has mad skills

2004-11-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

During a diaper change today John tried to eat this bird on his Gymini. He's also working on sitting, but he's not so sure about it yet.

Omnivore

2004-11-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

John is clearly indicating his non-vegetarian tendencies, first shown in utero by my otherwise inexplicable meat cravings, by chewing on a toy chicken.

Bag Baby

2004-11-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

Here's John in his little hooded bear bag-bunting.

First Zoo

2004-11-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

We went to the Denver Zoo, mostly to see penguins and polar bears, but the entire zoo was quite beautiful. As an added bonus, Christian carried John the entire time! Here's John in that most wonderful of inventions, the baby backpack.

Crazy fun

2004-11-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

John decided laying like this was fun last night. He also got to see what it was like to be the tallest one in the house.

Ain't what you say, it's the way that you say it

2004-11-01T13:23:00.000-07:00

This morning John and I expanded our horizons by considering modern American cultural diversity and we even learned some Spanish! Now doesn't that sound like I'm the perfect mom? Actually, we listened to "Jock Jams" while we danced around the living room. This fine college-era CD features lovely music by such artists as Coolio, Four Non-Blondes, Los Del Mar (there's the Spanish part -- the Macarena!) and even the Village People. Who can say that's not an educational experience? :)

Happy four month birthday!

2004-11-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

John is four months old today and he's also seeing his first snow! We tried to move his arms and legs to make a snow angel, with questionable results. John's thumbs are apparently so tasty that no one can resist them.

John's on the mend

2004-10-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

John has been sleeping a lot recently, getting over his cold. Every day brings less baby torture with the nasal aspirator. Really, our pediatrician called it "baby torture" when he recommended it to us.

Tiny Menagerie

2004-10-26T13:30:00.000-06:00

Here's John showing off yet another animal-themed hat. Can you tell it's so much fun having a baby who's too young to complain about how you dress him?

John & Grandpa

2004-10-24T13:10:00.000-06:00

Homecoming

2004-10-23T16:11:00.000-06:00

Today John slept through his first parade. We went to see the Mines homecoming parade in downtown Golden. The theme this year was super heroes. Some highlights: Here we are, watching the parade. The CSM marching band wears hard hats and flannel shirts. For some reason they're also dressed up as pirates. Go figure. You know it's a geeky engineering school when the villain on a float is an evil physics exam. This float required some on the fly re-engineering to fit under some street lights. Blaster is the school's mascot. The Newman Group, a Catholic student organization, had the Pope as their super hero. Although this theme could be interpreted as "Mines is such a tough school that the students are super heroes" I thought it might also be "We got too drunk last night to finish our float." After the parade we went up to Boulder. Here I am showing off my super power, the ability to nurse while walking. John is using his super power to be the first baby to climb the Flatirons. This is actually a map of Boulder County on the Pearl Street mall with miniature geographic features. What a wonderful day!

2004-10-22T16:20:00.000-06:00

Here is John pondering the more esoteric propositions of the Angelic Doctor's Summa: Here's John several hours later, basking in the light of knowledge (having finished the Summa):

Three Suttons

2004-10-21T10:07:00.000-06:00

John met his grandpa today. Three generations of Suttons!

Independent Baby

2004-10-20T07:11:00.000-06:00

John wants to go places! But John does not want to go to sleep.

Timer Photos

2004-10-18T19:18:00.000-06:00

Although the camera position is a little off, John and I had fun playing with the timer on the camera today.

Hiking Baby

2004-10-16T19:22:00.000-06:00

Today we went hiking at Lair O' The Bear. It was an easy, fun hike and John slept through the entire thing. Here he is being cute in his car seat before the hike. Here is Christian, carrying John to slow him down a little. And me, since I almost never have pictures of myself. This is Bear Creek with its miniature whitewater. And one lone aspen among the pines.

But I Want To Crawl!

2004-10-15T08:44:00.000-06:00

John is trying so hard to move when we put him on his stomach, but he can't quite coordinate everything together yet. It is so fun to watch him try.

Classic baby

2004-10-14T15:12:00.000-06:00

What could be cuter than a chubby little baby in a diaper?

Breaking a bad habit

2004-10-13T16:17:00.000-06:00

October just so happens to be movie musical month on TCM. So what's a stay at home mom to do? I get drawn in and just leave the TV on, catching bits of musicals here and there since there are very few where I don't know the plot. Well, today I was changing John in the TV room and look what he was doing. He's craning his little head to see the TV. Not that it's all that great of a musical, it's Look for the Silver Lining, for goodness sake, John! So to keep him with a happy long attention span, I'm giving up TV unless he's sleeping. No more movie nursing, movie changing, movie playing, movie gymini time, movie tummy time... Sigh.

A Star is Born

2004-10-10T13:37:00.000-06:00

John is all warm in his Maggie Simpson bunting. And doesn't he look like such a nice little adopted baby with these two?