Susan needed shots for our baby announcements, so I setup an impromptu photo session on the bed one Saturday morning.
Author: ryland22
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Frog Baby
Tonight I was flipping through my Skylar pics and couldn’t believe how much she has grown in only 3 months. I remember that first week of being home and thinking – it’s a miracle she survived us!
For the first month Skylar would curl up similar to how she had been in the womb. She would cross her legs and pull them up into her body – looking like a little frog baby. Susan kept pulling them down straight 🙂
Also, everybody in this family sports the hawk. Checkout Skylars awesome spike frontside and profile!
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Sharon and Josh Wedding
Susan and I traveled to Kiawah Island South Carolina for Josh and Sharons wedding. It’s this super wealthy area with very Southern touches tucked away from the rest of the world.
During the course of driving from the airport to the island we passed over 20 Churches in a 7 mile stretch – and this is not a city. We were in the middle of nowhere. There were more Churches than houses!
I think Josh wanted to have the wedding in S.C. because he had discovered something called FireFly – tea flavored vodka. Whew, the stuff is dangerous. Josh (not the groom), his wife Natalie, and myself drank more than our fair share as the pictures clearly illustrate 🙂
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Taco sports the hawk
Susan had the excellent idea of giving Taco a summer haircut for 2010. Here you can see some pics of her sporting the hawk as well as some older shots I had that hadn’t been posted.
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On becoming a leader
3.5 out of 5 stars. Written by Warren Bennis.
- You set the context. Refuse to be defined by others around you, current events / markets/ environments, or your own personal history. Define and understand what is truly important.
- Ingredients of leadership:
- Vision – a clear idea of what you want to do.
- Passion – love what you do.
- Integrity – understand yourself, be honest, be mature.
- Curiosity and daring – try new things and don’t be afraid to fail.
- Accept responsibility – blame no one.
- Reflect on your experiences.
- Understand your personal history so that you can be master of your life not its servant.
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How to win friends & influence people
5 out of 5 stars. The seminal book on understanding how to get along with people. Written in 1936 and still every bit as applicable today. Here are the key points:
- Don’t criticize or condemn other people. Try to understand the other person and have empathy, no matter the situation. Agree with them, recognize their feelings and statements, then move to what you want.
- Give honest and sincere appreciation. The desire to be great is as powerful as that for food, sex, and sleep. Give people that feeling.
- Arouse want in others. Got a brilliant idea – let other team members think it’s their own. Think about what other people want when trying to get them to do something.
- Be genuinely interested in other people. Let people talk about themselves and they’ll be interested in you. Ask questions.
- Talk in terms of other peoples interests. Makes them interested in the conversation when you do talk.
- Remember and say peoples names. The sweetest word in anyone’s language is their own name.
- Smile. Duh!
- Make other people feel important – admire something about them or that they have done sincerely.
- You can’t win an argument. Arguing only entrenches peoples existing beliefs.
- Never say “you’re wrong”. Understand the other sides position. Disarm them by agreeing with them. Listen to why they are upset. Ask questions.
- If you are wrong, admit it quickly. Self criticize and admit your mistake.
- Have a problem – begin in a friendly way. Tell the other side how great they are and what is pleasure it has been to do business. You’d hate for x to be tarnished and thought they should know…
- Get the other person saying yes immediately. Start small and work up to bigger issues.
- Handling complaints: let the other side do most of the talking.
- Get cooperation: Let other people think the idea is theirs.
- Collect past dues: People want to be honest. If they are paying it’s usually b/c they are upset about something. Listen to them, appeal to their nobleness, let them name their price, and collect what they will give.
- How to criticize:
- Begin with praise when criticism must be given.
- Call attention to peoples mistakes indirectly.
- Talk about your own mistakes first.
- Don’t give orders, ask questions.
- How to encourage:
- Praise the slightest improvement and every improvement.
- Give a dog a good name. Give the other person a good reputation to live up to.
- Use encouragement – make the fault seem easy to correct.
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Skylars first visitors
All the grandparents came by while we were in the hospital. The second day was very busy as lots of people were coming and going. Plus nurses and doctors come by every hour or two to check / probe / update you. I think half the reason why they do it is to encourage you to leave 🙂
Here are some shots of Skylar and her visitors. Apparently she thinks grandpa’s face is funny – so do we, nice pose dad!
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Skylar’s do
We are officially 48 hours into being parents and Susan is doing great. Breast feeding is not as natural an experience as one may think – there isn’t much that we as humans do instinctively, but Susan has got the flow – now we need Skylar to catch on.
After Skylar was born she didn’t get a bath until about 4:00am. Prior to her bath I twisted the muck in her hair in beautiful little spikes. This was my first attempt at doing her hair 🙂 I think I can handle this whole girl thing…
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Taco’s new sister
Susan birthed us a new 7 pound furry ball of joy. This time is wasn’t a chihuahua / Pomeranian but a new baby girl.
Skylar Sumi Harris was born at 8:06 weighing 7 lbs 11 ounces (7’11) and 20.5 inches long.
Funny thing was that Susan had been in the hospital earlier that day trying to convince a doctor (any doctor) to spin the baby in what’s called an external version because it was butt down instead of head down.
She left at 2:30 and three hours later at home her water broke. So at 5:30 in rush hour traffic on a Monday we went to the hospital. Less than 3 hours later and out came a baby!
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Denver Colorado trip
Shot from the clog wheel train going up Pike's Peak. This past weekend we visited Denver Colorado for an ABA conference that Susan was attending. For the first time I stayed in a Ritz Carllton hotel. The room was large, but not overly impressive and the decorum was nice but again nothing that shocked and awed me. However, the gym was 3 stories of the hotel, included a rock climbing wall, full court basketball court, whirlpool, and state of the art everything.
We visited Josh and Sharon, lawyer friends from D.C. who recently moved to Denver. Thursday night we met them for dinner along with some of their other friends who happened to be in town visiting. It drizzled Thursday, snowed and rained Friday, and was partially overcast on Saturday. So much for the second sunniest city in America.
Susan sharing an empty coffee on Pike's Peak Friday I worked while Susan attended meetings and then we went out for Sushi that night. Saturday we met up with Sharon (Josh was at his law firms weekend retreat in Sante Fe). We took a clog wheel train up Pike’s Peak. Unfortunately we couldn’t make it to the peak because snow had drifted onto the track, but we did make to about 12,000 feet above sea level.
The most interesting part of the trip was Saturday night when we visited Colorado’s oldest restaurant, the Buckhorn Exchange. Live animals, 1,700 of them to be exact, peer at you from the walls. Susan and Sharon were a little spooked out. Susan feared the hairs from the antelope above our table might fall into her food 🙂
Cowboys playing music and yodeling at Buckhorn Exchange While waiting to be seated we listened to cowboys sing songs about cats, the West, and heard some yodeling. At dinner we ate alligator tail, elk, buffalo, and home made ranch dressing. Yumm, yumm delicious. Definitely a man’s man’s restaurant and a must visit for any meat lover.
Susan sharing an empty coffee on Pike’s Peak 
Shelter next to the tracks for stranded hikers. 
Shot from the clog wheel train going up Pike’s Peak. 
Cowboys playing music and yodeling at Buckhorn Exchange
