6th kid: Announcing Hanna Ruth McMillan

Hi everybody.  We are going to hear about this from my perspective.  A few words and a lot of pictures.

First nurse is an iron man triathlete

Anne Marie had her baby on the same day

 Grammy came out for several days

Taken by the babysitter:  The announcement that the baby was a girl.  Priceless.

Everyone always says, "Let me know what I can do to help."  It's a nice thing to say but hardly anyone ever speaks up.  Except me.  I texted Devin and said, "Hey Devin.  The baby's here.  Will you get me a homestyle chicken sandwich from Jack in the Box?"  And he did!  Nice.

7 lbs 10 oz.

Heidi is bouncing back pretty fast.  The boys, although they are smiling in these photos, are either neutral or lukewarm.  Parker generally likes the baby but doesn't know how to be gentle.  He likes to smother her.  Kira is the most excited at finally having a sister.  Her demeanor is okay.  She doesn't seem to be as fussy as Parker was at that age, but there's still a lot of maintenance that you forget about.  I haven't been able to stay awake for a single episode of our show since she arrived.  Fortunately, Heidi does most of the work.  There's not that much that I can do since she's nursing.  

We named her Hanna Ruth for several reasons.  Heidi's mom, Jacquie's, middle name is Hanna and Jacquie's mom was named Ruth Hanna; Hanna being her maiden name.   Jacquie and Walt's anniversary was 8/22, the day Hanna was born.  I wanted to do the palindromic spelling, Hannah, but Heidi wanted to retain the familial spelling.  

Six kids.  Wow.  Okay, bye.

My new lens!

Really I should be posting this on my blog but the photos are of the kids and Heidi's blog gets more viewership and everyone loves cute kids, so here.

The craigslist ad was for a 70-200L f2.8 version ii plus a 24-105L f4.  The asking price was reasonable and I was planning on low-balling him for both lenses.  We met in Vallejo on the way home from Vacaville and I checked out both.  The 70-200 was beaten up, the glass was not pristine, like a 7/10, and there was lint on both ends of the lens.  Even though it seemed to focus correctly and it worked at 2.8 and 32, I decided against it and felt good about it.  I did buy the 24-105 though.  I'd wanted one for several years but the opportunity was never compelling enough to justify a trip for just that lens.

I know their faces are dirty and some of their smiles are less than natural.  But I am happy about the lens.  The colors are richer, the bokeh is better, and the f4 is nice.  Now I can sell my old lens on craigslist and keep looking for a better 70-200.

Lots of people have been hounding me about whether the baby's here.  No.  I want to just take the pictures and put them on facebook, but everyone wants a personal text.  Last week Heidi was convinced the baby was gonna come.  I said, "Can't you wait until next Monday (which was yesterday)?"

She said, "There's no way I can make it that long."  Now she thinks the baby will come today because it's her parents' anniversary.  We'll see.  Okay, bye.

County qualifiers' dinner

Last night was the dinner for the swimmers that qualified for county.  I opted to not go, but instead stay back with Tyler and Mister.  We ate at Wendy's with a coupon and had a great time.  

Then Heidi called and asked me to pick up Blake because he wasn't feeling well.  

From Heidi's iphone

When I got there with my big SLR, Blake seemed fine.  So I took some pictures with the flash.  No one wants to carry the big camera with the big flash, but for indoors and daytime fill-flash, it takes the best pictures.  Here's coach Nikki.

Kira made friends with the older girls

Scott looking all dapper but wouldn't smile for the camera because he'd just eaten some salsa he thought was too hot.

with Chandani

Kiko and Christian

The Cejas

This was a shot that the SLR executed well.  The sun was behind the subjects and I forced the flash.  See?  Everyone's eyes are open and they are smiling.  You can still see the sunset.

Scott had a good season.

So now we just have the county meet this weekend and the season's over.  Okay, I gotta have a nap.  I was up late doing the wash, the dishes, and the trash.

City meet

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (even though we didn't go on sunday) was City meet at Cowell in Concord.  Mister and I went out on Friday for a little bit to watch but most of the action happened on Saturday.

Cool pic with the 75-300 lens.  I like that you can do these candid shots from far away.  

Parent's relay.  Neal and I were on the "C" relay.  I did butterfly.  We got fourth place.  I was just happy that my goggles stayed on and I didn't burn out.  Several ex-olympians were on the "A" relay.

The "B" relay beat us.  Marcus and Brook.

Relay consisting of Scott, Colton, Jacob, and Kyle, broke the pool record.  Nice.