Happy Halloween!

It says "Hair-Wolf" Nana K., all the way.

In outfit from Great Auntie Royce Ann.

New Data From the 4 mo. Check-In, Football and other Miscellany

(For those of you who only come for the pictures, I will include the written portion of our program at the end.)

At the Garfield football game--

a dismal loss against

some superior team

from across the water.

Grandad was in town

and decided that

high school football

sounded like good, clean fun.

Sam was really only happy

when we let him watch.

Grandad bought him the

hat a couple months ago.

I mean, c'mon-- it has earflaps!

Awesome.

Charlie, Grandad and Samuel

Marching band? Yes.
Bad loudspeakers? Yes.

Screaming, fanatical

parents? Yes.

And yet, he sleeps

for the second half.

Axel Krauter is somewhere

on that field. He is wearing purple

and a two digit number.

That's all I know.

Oh, and he's kinda tall.

Off West Seattle,

where we all had brunch

on Saturday,

while visiting David and Lora.

Charlie likes to grab the camera at unfunny times.

Yes, I am asleep.

Yes, it's around 7 am.

Yes, my hair does look

like that in the morning.

I post the entries here--

I include this so

I am not accused of some kind of censorship.

Also, to evoke pity.

For those playing the home game, Samuel was 16 lbs, 13 0z and 25 inches long at his 4 month exam. He's got a head circumference of 45 cm (metrics, meh). Dr. Del Boccaro is terrific and usually tells me to relax and that he's doing great. Hard to believe he was preemie.

For that matter, hard to believe we're parents. Charlie and I regularly comment to each other how weird it is. I mean, I'm someone's Mom? How freaky is that! As usual, I have renewed appreciation for my parents and all those before me. The joke is always, Wait-until-you-have-kids!, right? Well, it's true, but not in the way intended. It's not that I experience the same torture my parents did but that I am constantly brought up short with awe and gratitude.

This week is Halloween. It's only exciting to Charlie and I because it's an excuse to make ourselves ill on candy. I anticipate it will become a bigger deal in years to come. However, where there is Halloween, there is All Saint's Day. Or, Dia de los Muertos, if you are inclined. Barbara Kingsolver has a lovely chapter on this holiday in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Rather than frightening or depressing, it's a holiday that embraces our mortality-- something that seems all the more present with this fragile little person in my house. I bought some yellow mums today (should be marigolds, but what are you going to do at the end of October in the Pacific Northwest?) and I'll put them on the mantel this friday. Along with pictures of our dear ones. Charlie and I will drink some wine and partake of "dead" bread-- a sweet, anise scented egg bread-- and tell stories to Samuel about all the people he may never meet but will always know.

In that vein, people generally ask me about Samuel's name. We do call him Sam (Sammy Z.), but I always introduce him as Samuel. It's got a nice OT ring to it. People are interested in his first name, presuming it's a family name and assume the middle name(s) are our own personal freak out. The inverse is true. Samuel is just lovely. It reminds me of playwrights and diarists and my "big brother." But Zephyr is for my maternal great-Grandfather, Zephyr Houde. He died when my Grandmother was very young. Marsh is my surname, but I'm also the last one on this branch of the family to carry it. It reminds me of my Grandfather.

So I waited, and now I have a kid. I know things that I only sensed imperfectly before. And on the holiday of rememberance, I look at my child and see the shifting focus of past and future across his face and hear it in his name.

It's Tuesday October 21 and here are new photos

Someday, he will sleep.

Monk still outweighs Sam. Just barely.

Setting up the blog.

A short series where Sarah attempts to eat Sam.

Noodging him to grin

Okay, so I reached in the drawer to get some clothes this weekend and Sam ended up looking like he was going to hit the links with Walt and Fred. And, suffice it to say, he can't move his arms. This kid is rapidly outgrowing anything in the 3 month age/size range.

Middle Class Family Bonanza!

What followa is a rather disorganized collection of images from our trip to the Monroe pumpkin patch. A major event for Samuel, as well as the rest of his attendants. The nice thing about going out with him is that I rarely have to carry him. Especially with David and Tracy-- David just appears at my side with, "Can I take that baby from you?" as he practically yanks Sam away. Then Tracy steals Sam from him and the baby passing begins. As you can see from the pictures, Sam doesn't seem to mind.

The Marsh Krauters

River near the pumpkin patch. This state is absurdly beautiful.

Yes, there was a hayride. From left to right, this is Charlie, Axel, David w/ Sam, Simon, Miles, Devon and Dakota is in back.

Dakota cannot resist a camera-- but at least she grins for it! Sam really does look Buddha-like here.

Tracy and Sam

Obligatory child-on-pumpkin shot. With Dakota, too.

Miles on the move.

Ah, how the mighty 17 year old footballer has fallen.

Pumpkin loading. We saw a lot of Axel's underwear that day. Don't know why, exactly.

One of the reasons I adore Dakota is because of her love of sparkle. She just loves us for the baby.

Post Pumpkin Picinic Pile of People

Dakota feeding Sam-- a highlight of the day for her, I believe.

Unrelated to the pumpkin trip, but a good, close shot of the sweater Nana M. knit. It's still a little big on him-- good, considering how he grows. I picked the colors before we knew he was a Samuel, but my mother now hates the color navy blue even more than she did previously.

Well, we've arrived

Andrea was here this weekend and reminded me that having a child and NOT having a blog was something akin to keeping them in a box under the bed. (Well, she did bring delicious cake from Simply Desserts so maybe I was experiencing a choclately hallucination) Anyhow, if this makes disseminating information and photographs easier, I'm all for it. It does smack of group Christmas letters, but oh well. I figure this way you are all responsible for your own amusement.

Sam has been awake today. Just wants to sit and watch everything. Preferably on my lap, but he's a baby so what do you expect. He's been sporting the striped orange sleeper that Nana K. sent, with the fabulous sweater from Nana M.

Yesterday we had the mandatory middle class family experience of going to a pick-your-own pumpkin patch with the Seattle Krauters & Friends. Charlie and I climbed in the Jetta, wearing polar fleece and assorted Eddie Bauer gear and had the shocking revelation that we were Typical Seattle People. We've fought it for so long but it seems that with the arrival of Sam, we are helpless to resist. We may start driving like Seattlites-- gah.

The last visitors were Anne & Joanne. Here to have a grownup vacation and to squeeze Sam. Looks like the next visitor is Grandad. Anyone is welcome, as long as they don't expect a clean house or much amusement beyond, "Hey! Look! We have a baby!" We also have a Roku (the netflix gadget to use the play instantly feature on your tv) but somehow I don't see people shelling out money for a plane ticket just for that.