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Lily went for her one year pediatrician visit yesterday and is doing well! She’s still barely 18 pounds, so is sitting comfortably in the 3^rd percentile for weight – and is about 27 inches tall which places her in the 5^th percentile for height. So she’s tiny, but is otherwise very healthy. And despite a recent head cold she’s eating very well and sleeping great – no complaints from mommy and daddy!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for a fun 1^st birthday party for Lily! We all had a great time and were glad that she did so well throughout the day. I added a photo recently with a cute shot her of her eating her birthday “cake” (an egg/wheat/dairy-free brownie topped with a blueberry glaze). Credit to Stephanie for the creative, allergy-free eats!

Finally, we got the following two videos the day of Lily’s birthday – as you can see, she can’t walk completely on her own yet, but it’s certainly not stopping her from tearing around the house screeching with glee.

Unbelievably, Lily turns one year old today. It’s still ridiculous when I think about it, because it seems like just yesterday that I was holding her in my arms after welcoming her into the world only minutes earlier. But it also seems like it all happened ten years ago. What an incredible blur it’s all been.

Things have settled significantly over the past few weeks. After illnesses and the stress of confirming her many allergies, Lily has become accustomed to her limited diet. In fact, she spent the past two weeks having some kind of growth spurt – we couldn’t shovel food in there fast enough! While that’s tapered as of late, seeing her eat that much was still a very welcome sight for mommy and daddy.

Her personality is developing more than ever! She’s developed quite a little attitude about some things, and has already learned how to get into serious mischief. However, she thankfully spends way more of the day smiling and goofballing than being sassy.

Pictures and videos to come – especially following her celebration with family and friends this coming Saturday.

We love you more than anything, Lily – happy first birthday! Here’s to 365 days of pure magic. We can’t wait for many, many more.

As you’ve probably seen (or been a part of), the mid-Atlantic region was hit with monstrous amounts of snow over the past week. One of our official weather stations nearby at Mount Vernon measured 23 inches, and that doesn’t count “round two,” a little aftershock of a storm that brought a bit more (including some wind as well, which contributed to drifts up to a foot).

Well the sun has finally emerged, we’ve dug ourselves out, and are more than ready to get rid of some raging cabin fever. Photos here for posterity. And don’t think we didn’t get some more good shots of Lily in the snow – her album has some updates, too!

Things are finally getting back to normal here in Happy Town. Lily hit eleven months yesterday, but we’re all ready to put January behind us. It took a little while, but she started acting like herself two days ago and has been eating well. She did, however, spend two days with head-to-toe hives – the source of which several different pediatricians couldn’t pinpoint. The result: a four-day antihistamine regimen, no more formula at all (how could someone be allergic to hypoallergenic formula?!), and Stephanie being asked to restart nursing. That last point has posed some significant problems, as Lily was fully weaned as of two weeks ago.

Later this coming week, we have a follow-up appointment with an allergist and a nutritionist – we’re very worried that Lily just isn’t getting the nourishment she needs. Because of her allergies, finding a variety of good, filling foods is an enormous challenge. Oddly, though, nobody else seems that concerned since she’s technically gaining weight and filling diapers – but she’s practically off the charts (on the low end) for her age/size.

In happier news, she’s as fun and crazy as ever. She’s walking around (with her baby push-cart) all over the place, is always grinning like a fool, constantly babbles to anyone who will listen, and has some kind of hyper-awareness of surrounding sights and sounds. “Yes, Lily, that’s the lamp. Yes, that’s the cat. For the hundredth time.” But she’s certainly keeping us on our toes, and we’re loving every minute of it.

Plans are also in the works for her big first birthday extravaganza! We are utterly astonished it’s almost been a year already – what a crazy ride it’s been with our sweet little monkey!

I was lucky enough to get an Amazon Kindle e-book reader for Christmas, and have been enjoying it tremendously. Being a geek, though, I’ve been reading up on ways to get the most out of the experience.

First, where can I find stuff to read? Obviously, Amazon’s Kindle Store is the number one stop. There are books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs available, some costing little to nothing. However another great resource is archive.org’s Text Archive, home to countless works available for free.

Second, what if I have an existing PDF or MS Word document that I’d like on the Kindle? One option is to email the document to Amazon – they will then convert it to a Kindle-readable format and send it directly to your device. This service does cost money, though (more info on the support page). Another option (also described on the support page) is to use Amazon’s free conversion service. In this scenario, the document will be sent to you via email, and it’s up to you to get it to your device (via USB connection to your computer).

One drawback to these two options, however, is lack of control over document “meta” information, such as title, author, cover image, table of contents, etc. This isn’t a big deal when you buy directly from Amazon (who typically clean up their publications very well), or only have a few docs on your device. But if you have a lot of third-party, poorly converted documents, it soon becomes a problem when you’d like to sort by author, for example, for better organization. To solve this, Mobipocket has developed Mobipocket Creator. This software lets you convert PDF, Word, and other files, and gives you full control over meta data. Tip, the author field should almost always be [last name, first name] in order for the Kindle to sort it properly. Once converted, you transfer the file(s) to your device via USB as previously mentioned.

Finally, what if I have a Kindle-ready electronic document, but the meta information is incorrect? You’ll often run into this when downloading from third-party sites (like archive.org mentioned above). Mobipocket Creator won’t help here – for this, check out Calibre, e-book management software. This will do much of the same with regards to polishing up meta data, and will leave you a file suitable to transfer back to your device.

If you have any other good Kindle links, resources, or hints, please leave a comment below!

Let’s be clear – it’s been a tough week for Team A’Hearn.

Fresh off the heels of Lily’s allergy tests, Stephanie was stricken with a nasty stomach bug that’s been making the rounds around town. Hoping to steer clear of the nasty, Lily and I put mommy on quarantine and shared some quality daddy/daughter bonding time. Thankfully, Steph recovered alarmingly quickly and we kept our fingers crossed about getting sick ourselves. It also proved to be an opportune time to fully wean Lily. Steph had been slowly tackling this anyway, and the time was right. So many heartfelt accolades to mommy for going through so much for our little Peanut.

Anyway, you know the next part. Exactly 48 hours after Steph’s first symptoms, I, too, got sick. (Why does it always strike at night?) Apparently with the same bug, as well. So now I was in quarantine (read: laying in the basement watching Police Academy) while Lily and mommy got to play. I’ve taken a bit longer to recover, but am feeling better now. And of course…

Lily got hit with the bug yesterday. She’s done well, but has been understandably very grumpy/affectionate/giggly/wailing for the past day or two. Oh, she’s also popping about three more teeth right now – all at once. My poor sweet baby. So she went to the doctor today and I guess this bug is ravaging the young and old all over creation – we just need to pump her full of Pedialyte, and give her an occasional squirt of Mortrin to keep her [minor] fever down.

On the bright side, we won’t ever forget the beginning of 2010!