Monday

June 29

Daphne's little toes felt the sugary sand beaches and salty ocean water of Gulf Shores, Alabama today. We are vacationing here for a few more days and will then visit my Mom's house in Panama City. I am actually looking forward to the three hour drive through Pensacola, Ft. Walton, and Destin.

Here are some photos of Daphne playing in the kiddy pool at our condo:






Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

Friday

June 26

The opening round of the NHL Draft was a shocking disappointment to Predators fans. Seriously, why can we only draft defensemen year after year? I guess you have to stick with your bread and butter when you excel at something and select the safe pick... i.e., no flashy, high scoring forwards for us (again). Boo.

What's the deal with Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson? In the span of 24 hours, all three passed away. An unbelievable trilogy. Rest in peace.

Daphne's vocabulary has absolutely exploded in the last week to 10 days. Although half the time she has no clue what she's saying, we're still impressed with her ability to pick up new phrases quickly. She dashes around the house shouting, "baby", "hi", "bye", "uh oh", "dirty", "ball", "duck", "please", "fish", and other various animal & anatomical derivations and permutations. Sometimes she blends words for fun, like "mama-eyes-duck" or "fish-ball-woof-woof". And whenever you least expect it, she raises her arms outward in a shrug, furrows her brow, and rants in gibberish for well over a minute -- a labored, one-sided conversation that only she understands.

As you probably know, we have been house sitting the dog of my parents-in-law. Today, Daphne decided to play ball in the doggie water bowl. Here is the evidence:






Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

Wednesday

June 24

Jennie and I celebrated our 142nd wedding anniversary yesterday with a nice meal at Famous Dave's (hey, we are only two months shy of reaching the 12 year milestone).

Daphne began Tuesday morning with a play date, shopped around town with Mommy, and finally, spent several hours of splashing at a local swimming pool. She is doing really well socializing with other kiddos. After dinner, Daphne was so zonked out that she went right to sleep without a fuss.

The NHL entry draft is only a few days away! Words simply cannot express how excited I am to commence a new season filled with player trades, signings, defections, and arbitration hearings. Maybe this will be the magical year the Nashville Predators will win it all? Yeah, right. But, it never hurts to dream!

As promised, here are some more photos from the Gina Stansberry collection:







Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

Sunday

June 21

Happy Father's Day!!!

Jennie, Daphne, and I celebrated Daddy Day with several friends (and their children) at a festive cookout. As always, there was more than enough party food to feed everyone. Burgers, hot dogs, chips and dips, and basically every type of side dish you would expect to see at a summer cookout.

Daphne loves to say new words and phrases everyday. Today's word of the day was "dirty" pronounced "duh-TEE". Mommy taught Daphne the word while washing some sand or dirt off of her hand. Daphne said it repeatedly and giggled...

Last week, Jennie took Daphne to visit a friend and old co-worker. Her friend offered to snap some candid shots of Daphne with her nice digital SLR camera. I will be posting a few of our favorites over the coming days. Enjoy!

Photos by Gina Stansberry






Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

Thursday

June 18

Daphne's vocabulary now features such exciting words as "wow", "woof woof" for dog, "ugg" for hug, "uh oh", and "gross".

Each day, I ask Daphne to hop on the digital bathroom scale and weigh herself
while I get dressed. She anxiously wobbles aboard, peers down at the 21.6 pound read-out, and predictably proclaims, "wow!"

A couple of days ago, Daphne placed a dead fly in my hand. Giving me those innocent "look-Daddy-what-I-found" blue eyes, I thanked her for the generous gift. I pointed to the fly in my palm and said, "gross". Whenever Daphne spots an insect or spider, she shouts, "gross!"

We are doggie-sitting Jennie's parents' dog for a couple of weeks while they are away on business. Daphne enjoys yelling, "woof woof" towards Copper the dog at every opportunity. Feeding time around the Tilson house usually means picking up small bites of food from the carpet, but Copper's snout has been a great vacuum for baby food.

Here are some photos of Daphne after a day full of swimming and fun in the sun:






Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

Sunday

June 14

Happy Flag Day!

Daphne had a fun-filled weekend with lots of swimming and splashing. I truly had every intention of mowing the yard and spreading mulch, but I spent the entire weekend playing with Daphne instead. Oops! Why can't weekends be longer?

Daphne is becoming a regular little water bug. We took her to a local splash park Saturday afternoon and then played around in our inflatable pool Saturday and Sunday. The weather was slightly overcast and cloudy, but the temperature was perfect!

Daphne continues to teethe (her lower gum line near her molars looks bloody and sore) and cries out almost hourly at night. Poor little baby...

Here are some photos of Daphne from this weekend:








Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

Thursday

June 11

Daphne's recent fussy behavior can be explained by her two new teeth (bottom molars)! Yesterday, it seems she was trying to bite and chew on anything not nailed down. Our little jack-o-lantern now has six upper teeth and four bottom teeth. She loves when I brush her teeth before bed (as long as I sing a silly song).

Here are some photos of Daphne after waking up from a late afternoon nap:





Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

Monday

June 8

Nearly two years ago, Daphne and her stillborn sibling (blastocyst) were implanted inside of Jennie. Moments before the lengthy catheter precisely placed Daphne, I was invited to peep into a high power microscope to view our minuscule blastocysts. I never want to forget the details of our lengthy IVF procedure and all of the daily shots in Jennie's rump -- it seems like only yesterday I was fainting regularly. In a few more months, Jennie and I will consider another implantation. Maybe Daphne will have a little brother or sister from our remaining frozen embryos?

Here are some photos of Daphne taken over the past weekend:






Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

Wednesday

June 3

Happy Hump Day! A few days ago was "National Flip A Coin Day". I am sorry to have missed that one!

As Daphne begins her 16th month of life, she has finally landed a nasty cold in the sweltering month of June. She has never been this ill! Her persistent cough and runny nose has not slowed her down one bit. Daphne's daily routine still includes emptying out the occasional cabinet, strategically creating a toy minefield in every room of the house, running under Mommy's feet, and climbing our furniture like a little monkey.

We celebrated Jennie's father's birthday last night with a nice meal at the ultra yummy Macaroni Grill. Afterward, we all watched Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals in HD. Finally, the evil Red Wings were defeated by the good guys. The Penguins trail two games to one in the best of seven series. As you may guess, my hatred of the Red Wings stems from 11 years of listening to smack-talking, Detroit auto-worker transplants (i.e., Red Wing hockey fans living in Nashville). Oh well, enough blabbing about hockey...

My first cousin has published a book that is featured on Amazon. Check it out by CLICKING HERE. NOTE: I do not receive any royalties from my shameless plug.

Where does the time go? I have been working at my new job for eight weeks now! My first major project is drawing to a close and I am no longer "the new guy" anymore.


Here are some photos of Daphne wearing a chip bowl "hat" at a local Mexican restaurant:






Until tomorrow,
Dave T.