Ready to Rock

Framing for the kitchen is complete. Sheet Rock started Monday, mudding/taping yesterday. Possibly new photos tomorrow.

Go Fish

Grace has graduated from the sink bath tub to the real bath tub, mostly because we got tired of taking all the sink cleaning utensils away from her over and over. Her new fish toys are some of her favorites.

Bataan Memorial

Every once in a while someone will ask me, "What's your heritage?" intending to find out my national heritage from centuries ago. I always respond the same way. "I'm American." The inquisitive individual will allude to the fact that unless you are Native America, which I clearly am not, then we are all immigrants. (I recently saw a statistic that said roughly 40% of Americans today can trace their heritage to the 12 million immigrants who processed through Ellis Island.) I again repeat, "I'm American." My stubbornness begins to irk the interrogator and the conversation inevitably turns to them asking, "Don't you want to know who you are? Where you came from?" This is when I know I have them in my trap. If there is one thing I am certain of, it's WHO I came from and who the people are that shaped me into the person I am today. One of the members of this very small and elite group was Fred G. Templin, my Grandfather.

Today is the 22nd annual Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon. This means little to most, but for myself it has special meaning for two reasons. 1) My grandfather was a survivor of the Battan Death March and 2) My oldest cousin Kevin is participating in the event. Fred will be in my mind, and the minds of the rest of the Templin family today more than most.

For those needing a 5 min history lesson, Wikipedia to the rescue HERE. What Wikipedia won't tell you is what happened after the march. The forced march was followed by weeks and weeks on crammed transport "Hell Ships" and then 3 1/2 years of detention in a POW camp. The harsh treatment of POW's by the Japanese is well documented.

To quantify how these events changed Fred's life and ultimately how that affected my life is difficult, if not impossible. He never spoke about his time as a POW until I was about 10 years old. When he did talk about it, I lacked the maturity and life experience to understand what he was telling me. I will say, however, that learning to value true friendship and the ability to understand what are the important things in life - is simply the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things I learned from him.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Billy D Templeton. Billy and Fred were friends in radio operator school before the US entered WWII and served together in the Philippines when fighting broke out. They would stay together until liberation in 1945 and remain friends for life. In the photo above, Fred is bottom row center with the walking stick, Billy is top, second from the right. The photo was taken at Mukden POW camp in Japan, shortly after liberation of the soldiers. Billy would eventually write a book about their experiences called Manila Bay Sunset: The Long Descent into Hell. Most of what I know about my Grandfather's time in WWII is from this book.

Because of his skill as a radio operator, Fred was not allowed to return home immediately, instead saying for a couple of months manning a radio and aiding in the first stages of the occupation after the end of WWII. He would later choose to spend over a year at Yale learning Japanese to return to Japan and serve a tour of duty there.

The photo below is less than two years later, June of 1947, shortly after my Grandpa and Grandma were wed. I loved hearing my Grandpa tell the story of how he courted Grace from his hospital bed (a whole different story), and then asked her to marry him on their first date. Talk about grabbing life by the horns...

Knowing what the Bataan marchers were forced to do gives complaining a whole new perspective. Kevin called me after he finished the marathon. Even with 50mph winds and a bit of a bum knee, he pushed through to finish the race.

Sharing Already

Scott and I are very lucky to have a great childcare arrangement. My good friend and I work opposite weeks and take care of each others kids. JJ is 3 months older than Grace and it has been fun watching these two grow over the past several months. Grace gets so excited when she sees JJ, squealing and climbing over whoever is holding her in order to get to him. Her latest obsession is his pacifier. She hasn't touched one since she was three months old but recently finds his intriguing. She repeatedly pulls it out of his mouth when he has it and puts it in hers. Surprisingly, they'll sit there calmly taking it from one another and sticking it in their mouth back and forth for several turns. It's hilarious. Now if she would just show interest in how he walks!

Giggles and Grandpa

Not sure what it is about my dad but he's always been able to elicit a smile from Grace. He came out on Tuesday and on this visit he's been able to elicit some giggling. Over the past couple of weeks we've started hearing her laugh instead of just grin from ear to ear and let me tell you, she truly giggles when my dad makes silly noises or plays peek-a-boo. It makes us all light up with laughter, as if we've never heard such a sound before. We've gotta get it on video.

Shower Time

This is a photo from a few weeks ago, but one of my favorites that I have to share with everyone. The light reflecting off my daughter's perfectly plump skin makes her look like such a cherub. Couple that with some daddy time in the shower and you get a priceless moment.

Just Beaming

As the renovation progresses, we are happy to deliver this photo of the joining of two rooms after the successful removal of the wall dividing the living room from the kitchen. It feels a lot like a reverse siamese twin operation; we have taken two perfectly good adjoining room and conjoined them. The open space, lighted with sun pouring in the west windows, is a true pleasure.

To detail just a bit of what you are seeing in the photo... The kitchen is on the right, living room on the left. In the upper left is the new support beam which now spans 23ft allowing for removal of the weight bearing wall that previously divided the two rooms. In the background, the black post is the support for the beam at one end, and will eventually be hidden by drywall. To the right of the man on the ladder is framing for a pocket door, which will allow privacy for the master bedroom, bath, and nursery. In the foreground is the rough framing for the island.

It's exciting seeing the new look taking shape.

Grace Crawling for REAL!

Simply magical.

Grace Crawling - Sort of...

Yesterday I learned: 1) How to use the video camera we bought almost 6 months ago and haven't used. 2) How to upload and edit the video on the computer. I'm no pro, but I've got the basics now. 3) How to upload an edited video to Youtube. 4) How to embed a YouTube video into the blog.

It was a big day. Here are the results.

Renovation, Phase II, Commencement.

Today marked the beginning of phase two of our renovation - the upstairs. Mainly, this portion of the remodel with be a new kitchen and refinishing of all the hardwood floors. There's lots to unfold in the coming weeks, but for today we will leave you with a photo where you can plainly see pure, unadulterated sunshine piercing though what will be the new kitchen. Clearly visible is the lack of the old kitchen, and the wall separating it from the living room. I can see myself now cooking, eating, and thoroughly enjoying many a meal while basking in the glow of a beautiful sunset over the Olympic Mountains. Not braggin', just sayin'.

CheeriQs and Puffs

You know why they are called Cheerios and not Cheeri-q-s? Because the little Q tails kept breaking during transport and everyone didn't understand why the box was full of "O's" when the name led them to believe it would be full of "Q's." The marketing department ultimately changed the name, but the process for making the "Q's" has remained the same. The tails still get broken in transportation.

One of Grace's new foods is Cheerios and yogurt puffs. The yogurt puffs are fruit flavored and quite obviously a different color than the Cheerios. This new meal has proven to me that without a doubt, Grace, and certainly all babies, can learn quickly. It has only been 4 days since she started eating this snack mix but Grace has learned that the yogurt puffs have a ton more flavor than the plane Cheerios. I know she knows this because she eats ALL the yogurt puffs before eating one Cheerio. I was able to catch a demonstration of this on camera during breakfast with only a solitary yogurt puff remaining.

Grace spies the lone puff (it's the star shaped one)... target acquired.

Going in for the kill...

"I got you now yogurt puff!"

Success!!

In case you are wondering where these photos have been taken - its on the window ledge of our hotel room in Seattle on the 22nd floor. Grace was checking out the Space Needle while chowing down. Photos of that later.

ROYGBIV Strikes Again!

Sarah is in Seattle for a medical conference. So, while Mom was listening to boring medical stuff Grace and I strolled the streets of the big city looking for much more interesting brainiac stuff. We stopped into the Seattle Art Museum and the connected shop. That's were I saw it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a ROYGBIV toy, and moved closer to inspect. As I suspected, another AWESOME toy. Jackpot! The toy is made by "The Original Toy Company" and is called a "What's It." Trust me on this one - it's worth 3 times the purchase price - proven by the look on Grace's face when she got to play with it.

An entire gallery at Picasa: Grace gets a What's It.

Link to Amazon where you can buy the toy HERE.

Fun With Letters

Our new favorite toy: Magnetic Letters. We are working on name recognition ;)

Armageddon on Her Head

We are giving Grace lots more finger foods despite the fact she still has NO teeth! Scott dumped several cooked pieces of sweet potato in front of her and got engrossed in the computer for an undetermined amount of time. This lack of supervision equaled orange mash everywhere. Someone should really watch this kid! Hee Hee

Hootin' and Scootin'

Grace still isn't crawling or pulling herself up to stand. She had her 9 month appointment on Monday and the Pediatrician seemed slightly concerned. Bottom line, her first time parents are not challenging her enough. Needless to say we are starting 'boot camp' at home :) She's able to spin completely around while in a sitting position or scoot all over the linoleum or hard wood floors with her arms. Just hasn't mastered the other modes of mobility yet. We are working on it. Grace weighed in at 19 pounds. She's 25th percentile for length, 50th for weight and 75th for head size. Same as her 6 month check up. In addition to scooting around, her loud shouts and grunts have turned into babble and honestly it sounds like she's making her own little sentences. Scott and I can't stop laughing!