The rains seem to have returned

Well, warm summer temperatures have somewhat subsided and we're getting a dose of what really feels a lot like fall. Along with the cooler temperatures comes increased clouds and more rain.

Claire had her first experience with rain a few days back, as we carried her from the car back to the house after a day out and about. She started squinting her little eyes as the huge drops of water came down and got us all a little wet on that short trip back to the back porch.

Every day that passes brings a new change to Claire. We've noticed she spends more time tracking our faces as we move around her. She now prefers to look outward as I carry her around sometimes craning her neck to take in something that we're walking past. Ceiling fans and Faces are still the highlights of the day, but she has shown some interest in her puppy as well.


The complete highlight of my day always comes whenever my Claire Bear smiles at me. This happens quite often now and is essentially my kryptonite. I'm helpless whenever she smiles at me and would likely sit there as long as she'd continue doing it. Fortunately for me, she has not determined that I don't get anything done when she's smiley and the smiley times only come in small doses rather than a sustained exposure.

I had intended to link to this prior but never got around to it. For those of you that have already seen it perhaps you'll want to watch it again.. for those of you that have not, I highly recommend it. This is a lecture by Randy Pausch, a faculty member at CMU in Computer Science. I'm not generally one to listen to this type of thing, but it really was remarkable.