Blast from the Past I: Early July

Returning from Europe has been tougher than we expected--jetlag seems to be harder everytime we experience it (though worse on the trip back now than on the trip over--we've been managing that pretty well for the last few trips). We've also been planning for trips (to Baltimore and Washington, DC and to North Carolina) and catching up on work.

At any rate, we've been slow to update the blog. So here's a brief video of Sophie from the beginning of July. She's hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Fine here, dancing and even walking a little!

You don't get a sense in the video, of course, of what has been going on with Sophie since we got back. We returned to find her walking much more, and she's now up to many steps at time (6-7 at least), though she still prefers to hold onto a hand while walking. Her active vocabulary is growing pretty fast now, too (just yesterday she said "hippo" and "elbow" for the first times, I think). Grandmas and Grandpas will be happy to know that she also mastered those words in early July. She's been adjusting to her new daycare situation slowly, but it gets a little easier every day. I think hanging out with a bunch of kids who walk has helped motivate her to walk more. And she's getting at least one molar now. It was pretty rough on the day it really broke through the gums, but she seems to be OK with it now. More updates and pictures soon, though it may not be until we get back from DC next Thursday.

P.S.: For anyone who hasn't heard, apologies, but we're officially spending the 2008-09 academic year in Strasbourg, France, where I'll be directing Centre's residential study abroad program and teaching a few courses. We're really excited about the experience and look forward to keeping the blog updated with Sophie's adventures in Europe! If you want to get an idea of where we'll be, visit Strasbourg's tourism site or the official site of the city. It really fits us well--it's in France, so Mindy and I can improve our French, but it's also on the Rhine river, right on the border with Germany, which is only a bicycle ride away. (If you visit the tourism site, click on the British flag to choose the English-language site, then click on "Discover." After being shown a map of where Strasbourg is located in Europe, you'll see a photo of the old city center [the Grande Ile] featuring the cathedral in the upper left. If you move toward the canal further to the left and then down a bit, you'll see a very long building right on the canal. Move back into the city one block, and you'll be looking at the street where we'll be living. The apartment is not in that first block but the one closer to the bottom of the photo.)

Right click here to save the video above.

Some Old Birthday Pics

We've returned safely from Europe, and so I'm going to try to post some more baptism and birthday pictures. We now have over 300 and are still waiting for some to come in, so I'm only choosing a handful!

We just realized that we may not have told everyone that Ian and I are spending the first two weeks in July in Prague and Vienna. Sophie is in Kentucky with Grandma and Grandpa Fine (having a grand old time, from what I hear!). We'll update the blog when we return!