But the point is, we want to share our family with you as much as we enjoy seeing and hearing about your family. The pictures of Todd are mostly organized chronologically, and you can already see him growing. When Claire was a newborn, she slept in that same jungle bouncy seat next to our bed. She graduated to a crib in the other room, as Todd will, when she began to sleep through most of the night.
During the week that Christine was here, she set up a clever little photo-shoot. With lighting from a window, a horseshoe-shaped pillow and a clean towel, she recreated a common setting from professional studios. The hungry little caterpillar outfit was a hand crafted gift from one of Lisa's friends. If I understand correctly, it was free-handed without any pattern to follow made by the same friend who is a professional piano teacher (the kind who rents out the big fancy pianos with big fancy names for her lessons).
We thoroughly enjoyed having Christine over for a week soon after Todd was born. She helped Lisa take it easy in her recovery, and I enjoyed having a fun chat with her each morning and evening as I chauffeured her back and forth to her hotel room. I think this photo was right before Lisa and I went out to enjoy dinner together while Christine watched the kids. KidSSSSS. It's still a novelty to say that we now have kids.
I've always liked the idea that Lisa and I would make a few children's books for our family to have. How's this for a first try?
See Todd.
See Todd with a cute bow-tie shirt.
See Todd with a cute bow-tie shirt and an inquisitivelu raised eyebrow.
He looks so good he makes daddy jealous!
See Todd.
See Todd grow.
See Todd stare blankly toward the camera.
See Todd stare directly at the camera while making kissy faces.
He knows all his lady admirers will see this picture so he wants to send the right message.
See Todd.
See Todd GROW.
See Todd not be impressed when daddy makes up a new story for him.
The End.
(I'm going to work on that story a bit more, so you'll have to wait until hits the shelves at bookstore near you.)
As for Claire, Lisa made some pretty pink playdough which Claire loves to play with. Lisa lamented to her friend that we only have a few cookie cutters and toy tools for Claire to use with the dough. Her genius friend responded that she has her son use his plastic animals and other toys to make footprints and impressions. Claire has been having fun merging the dough playing with her other toys. This is one of her creations.
Oftentimes, Claire loves to be the center of attention.
But sometimes she feels that she needs to avoid the paparazzi when she goes out. Here she is holding another stroke of toymaking genius. Our neighbor offered us a box of kitchen items as he moved out. We took a few things that we could use, but before we could distribute or donate the rest, Claire had laid claim on the set of measuring utensils and some bowls and oven mitts. She is constantly "cooking" something. As our spices run out we pass the bottles on to Claire's kitchen. This particular bottle is filled with little noodles that she can either use as a shaker or empty out into her bowl to cook dinner.
She is quite the little mother to her baby doll.
Lisa has recovered well and has recently started teaching piano! Since we got married, she has known that she would eventually start teaching, but we didn't know when or how it would happen. She started job shadowing and interviewing several of the other sisters in the ward who teach piano and reading books for at-home piano studio businesses. After a week or two of starting her research a friend asked if her daughter could take lessons from Lisa. It's been a fun adventure to see Lisa prepare so passionately. From all of her research, she is ready to have a full-fledged studio, and she has to remind herself that she is a one-student operation for now. Someday she will have a thriving business with a music library, a proper logo, a great reputation and a waiting list to top it off. For now, she enjoys teaching basics to her little student upon whom she can experiment.
I am continuing classes, research and tutoring. The research is slow, the classes are fascinating and my tutoring business is thriving. I have had a hard time denying my tutoring services to a customer who is willing to pay. For a while, that began to consume too much time. As a remedy, I began raising my advertised price any time that my schedule filled up. Since then, my hourly rate has nearly doubled and I am still the second or third busiest WyzAnt tutor within 50 miles of Norman (which includes OKC). The moral of the story is that I am not competing with other tutors, but with students' willingness to pay for the best help they can get. My Econ 101 professor would be proud of my supply and demand analysis to determine price elasticity! (Or something like that. I know he used those words a lot.)
Keep an eye out for more to come.
Love,
The Hebdons
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