The first half of 1996 we mostly stayed close to home, settling in with Allie and our new working routines.
January started with a blizzard (Jan. 6-8) with more than two feet of snow — higher in drifts like in front of our house. Once it was all over, we shoveled and shoveled, then brought Allie out for some fun.
By garage door. Cute as a bug. 
Snow turned our Webber grill into a gnome 
Keeping the birds fed in the back 
Bundled up for snow
Madonna with child, snowed in 
It was a formidable snow accumulation 
Drifts taller than Barb 
Our favorite shot
The blizzard extended the government shutdown by a few days, but soon both were resolved and Barb eventually started back to work. Allie headed off to work with her, spending each day at the HHS Day Care Center at her office. This was still at the main Social Security complex in Woodlawn; the new CMS headquarters building at Security Boulevard had just been completed in 1995 but I don’t think Barb’s office moved there until 1996. Or perhaps the day care didn’t open in the new building until later in 1996. In any case, for a few months, Allie was in the Woodlawn day care before she moved over to the new building. I remember racing there from Rockville on some evenings to get Allie before the 6pm closing time. There were hefty extra costs if we were late. Mostly it was Barb getting her in and out of day care and while Allie was rarely one of the first ones there in the mornings, she was always one of the last to leave.
In general, Allie took well to day care and she became one of the favorites of the staff. In the early months day care mostly amounted to feeding, napping, changing diapers, and making sure none of the kids hurt each other. I don’t think there was a whole lot of learning or development going on, other than watching the other kids to see what they were doing. A highlight of the week was getting the kids into a super-size stroller and making a circuit around the halls of the building. We were grateful there was a day care at Barb’s office and we didn’t have to shop around for alternatives.
Later in the month, once folks were dug out of the snow, Gerard and Chris came to visit Allie.
Barb took Allie over to the Harders for a little more time with Ashley and Maddie. This was at their house in Federal Hill. Maddie was also a day care buddy with Allie.
We still worked on getting Allie to sit in her rocking chair; she was getting better at sitting up and fitting in the chair. Not bad for three months old.
Not quite sure about this 
That’s a little better 
Happy girl!
We headed down to Florida in January for a break from the snow…and Allie’s first encounter with a beach. These shots were taken at Singer Island near the Hilton Hotel, I’m pretty sure. We stayed with Mom and Dad at their Powell Drive house, though, as I recall.
First toes in sand 
First wave 
Tidying up 
Sue and her girls came down from Gainesville to meet Allie.
Allie, Jill, Sue Dad, Mom 
Too cool 
Jill, Sue, Allie, Keri 
End of a long day 
It’s hard being the center of attention
Some additional pictures from that trip sent later by Mom, mostly taken by Sue, I think. We went for a nice lunch at a restaurant where Grandmom and Jill had corsages…but I have no idea what the occasion was or who the other people with us were.
With Jill 
Keri and Sue, we think at Helen’s club 
Sue and Jill 
Grandmom and Susanna…with Diana Blythe and a friend, but why were they there? 
With Grandmom and Keri by the pool
Back home, January moved into February and we hunkered down for the winter. In just four months Allie was growing into a recognizable human being, able to more or less stand up (with help), and with a surplus of happy smiles. We enjoyed being with her and learned that one could put her in a pod and go out to restaurants with few ill effects. We were no longer prisoners in the house.
Happy sitting up girl. Also teething time, I believe, which is why anything and everything went into her mouth.
Happy standing up girl.
Bath time again.
Nap time again.
Sleepy 
Sleepy 
Sleepy 
Not!
Toes are always fascinating things. Teething was also starting. Time for everything to go in the mouth.
In an all-too-frequent occurrence, I missed Valentine’s Day being somewhere out of town on business and sent a bouquet to my girls.
Just a few days later, though, I was back for Chinese New Year (Feb. 18, 1996). We ventured into DC’s Chinatown (one whole square blocks’ worth) for a dragon dance. We then headed over to Tony Cheng’s Mongolian Barbecue for lunch. This used to be one of our favorite party spots. Basically a grilled variant of hot pot, you filled a bowl with your own mix of meat and veggie selections along with an assortment of sauces, then a chef would grill the concoction on a giant circular flat top. The best part for me was stuffing the result into their very tasty sesame buns. Yum! Finish one bowl then go back and do it again as often as you wanted. Joe and I used to especially love it.
Allie progressed from bottles to baby food…and then back to bottles sometimes.
Still a happy girl!
Sitting up amid sensory overload.
Sara came by for a visit.
And so did Maddie.
Bath time again, filling up the blue tub a little bit better and having a fine time. But nothing’s better than drying off.
In March, I had another conference in Phoenix and Barb was able to fly out with Allie for a few days to get some sun. One way or another, we foisted Allie off on Aunt Leona and Uncle Larry for a couple of days so we could stay at the very nice Boulders Resort where I played golf and Barb worked on her tan. It seems to me we took a few hours to visit with Len who was living at the time in nearby Carefree, but there are no pictures and I’m afraid it’s just as possible we didn’t see her even though we were close.
After our mini-break at The Boulders, we headed up to Prescott to see Aunt Leona and Uncle Larry and retrieve Allie. Cousin Stewart took us on a tour of Sedona and the Red Rocks area, including a back country Jeep ride. It was my first time in that part of the world and a good first taste. I wanted to come back and see more.
We also spent a little time with Stewart’s wife Anne and daughter Kate — I think maybe they took on more of the babysitting duties than we realized. Leona later sent some photos of Allie and Kate which show what a difference a good photographer (Anne or Stewart both qualified) and a proper camera can make.
We came back via Dulles and recounted our journey with Betsy and Joe. So, for a while, there were three girls in the pen at Betsy’s.
We were getting the hang of traveling with Allie, so I started daydreaming of a trip to San Francisco with the Harders in October. I actually got pretty far with the plans, cooking up a pretty detailed itinerary, but the trip didn’t actually happen, probably because we ended up moving into our new Paddington house in September. Still, the itinerary contained ideas that we ended up using 10 years later when we went to San Francisco with Allie. Never let a good plan go to waste.
For Easter, the Embreys came up to our house on Saturday for an egg hunt and an attempted photo op in our back yard. We never did get quite the perfect photo we wanted, but it was fun trying.
We did get some good shots of Joe and me with our girls.
And we couldn’t help engaging in some bad dad behavior with a chicken fight.
Sara gave Allie a bath in our sink. Thanks Sara!
More shots from around the same time.
Allie was already a favorite at the Social Security daycare. Here she’s featured in a newsletter photo and participated in a fashion show. Her first modeling gig.
At about six months Allie was a good stander, and we had a bunch of gadgets to help her strengthen her legs to get ready for walking. I’m not sure what our rush was; we didn’t know what a good thing it was to put her into one place and be reasonably sure she would stay there.
Allie was definitely more mobile and getting to be a standing girl. We had a wheeled walking toy that I think Aunt Laurie gave us. It was a favorite and got her moving.
Waking up each morning was a new adventure. Let’s get going! What are you waiting for?
Springtime at our Davidge house featured tulips (when the deer didn’t eat them) and some nice flowering trees.
Springtime also attracted Mom and Dad to Maryland. Mom especially loved to see the flowers bloom — it was something she missed in Florida. I’m not sure of exactly what occasion brought them, but they came up to see Allie and Laurie came down from Philadelphia for a weekend, too.
It was always fun when Aunt Laurie showed up.
With Allie getting mobile and doing more interesting things, I figured it was time to get a movie camera to try to document her activities. I was not and am still not a huge fan of videos but I did give it a try off and on for several years. Herewith, the first of our videos.
Note: I tried putting longer videos into these posts but found they caused problems. This first video is just over a minute, so I’ve included the whole thing here. In subsequent videos, I will embed short excerpts of highlights. You can reach the full videos through a link like this:
May 18, 1996 (1:08): Bedroom
Allie in our bedroom at Davidge, practicing walking, slightly assisted.
Springtime also brought Fred and Fran for a visit, most likely for the various Embrey birthdays in May.
More shots of the girls together in the pen at Betsy’s…and Sara up for a spin.
We have videos from the same day.
May 19, 1996, Sara’s Bday – Start (2:49).
Allie and Kristen in the cage at Betsy’s, off to a quiet start for Sara’s birthday. Things were very peaceful…before Joe showed up.
Joe settled into the cage with girls and things got a little more active. Joe was made to be on camera.
Joe invites Kristen and Allie to play a song.
Joe plays peekaboo with Allie and Kristen in the cage.
May 19, 1996, Sara’s Bday – Joe in the Pen (5:21).
Joe joins Allie and Kristen in the cage.
I let Joe play with the camera for a bit, the first time he got his hands on it. The moment didn’t last very long.
Joe takes over the camera, zooms in on Barb.
I took the camera back. Barb suggested showing Joe the little LCD monitor screen so he could see himself while I filmed. A revelation.
We show Joe the screen so he can see himself.
Sara opens her birthday presents and gets a new swimsuit.
Sara’s excited to get her new two-piece swimsuit.
Sara models her new swimsuit.
May 19, 1996, Sara’s Bday – Joe’s Turn (5:36).
Joe takes over the camera. Sara gets a swimsuit.
Over the course of the spring and early summer, Barb and I decided that the time was right to look for a somewhat bigger, more modern house. We had both been getting promotions and more income from work, and Barb became concerned about the school district in which the Davidge house was located. Joan Ward, the wife of my tennis partner, Rich, and a good player in her own right, was a successful Long and Foster real estate agent in Howard County. I started talking with her about the prospect of selling our house and finding something nearby. She got right on the case.
Spring saw a Barb work party featuring Dan Aibel and his Cat in the Hat hat.
Lorie M. entertains the girl 
Dan 
???
There was also the traditional work picnic at Centennial Park. We brought our own pen along to corral the various work babies.
June brought a Man Yue for one of Kathy Ireland’s kids (we think…or maybe another Ireland).
Auntie Mary, two Irelands, Mrs. Ireland, Kathy 
Mr. Ireland, Antie Jessie, Antie Mary… 
Luke (and Ann) with Allie and Mom on couch 
Ann, Luke, Allie, Mom, John and Martha
The pen was more often a feature at home. As Allie became more mobile, so did the need to keep her in one relatively safe spot.
Time for a playdate outing to Washington DC to see law school friend Liz Fohrman and her new baby.
Aunt Laurie came back down for a visit. Few things were as fun as a visit from Aunt Laurie!
Somewhere along the way, Fred sent us these pictures of him and Fran in Montana, “suitable for framing,” he said. We didn’t frame them, but they’re included here. For good measure, my Mom and Dad sent along a nice picture of them at some event, but I have no idea where or when.
In June, our real estate agent, Joan, clued us in on a house at 10316 Paddington Court as it was just coming on the market. Located in the Burleigh Manor development, one of the nicer areas in the county, the Paddington house was in the much better Centennial school district, but was still near the stores, restaurants and people we knew, and our commutes remained just about the same. I don’t remember doing a whole lot of other house shopping; the Paddington house just seemed to fit our needs. Joan helped us close on it and get the Davidge house listed and sold in a jiffy (it was an active housing market in 1996). For once it felt like a treat to have a real estate agent actually working on our behalf (side note that her son, Elliot Ward, is also in the family business). Oddly, though, we don’t seem to have any photos of the move, either before or after.
The only caveat with the sale was that we couldn’t move into the Paddington house until the end of September (the previous owners, the Klusmanns, needed to stay until then). The Klusmanns were helpful, however, getting some minor repairs done and leaving us a number of items including a basement fridge, workbench and shelving. It gave us a lot of time to plan for an orderly move and think about where all our stuff would fit and what new things were needed. As an indication of our mutual obsessive compulsiveness, here is part of a (constantly evolving) document listing all our possessions and where they would transition into the new house.
We celebrated Kristen’s first birthday at Betsy and Joe’s on Sunday, June 16, a day after her actual birthday. Joe’s Mom and Dad were there to help enjoy the festivities.
Joe’s mom, Kristen and Sara
We wrap up June with a couple of videos from our home at Davidge.
Barb talks us through getting an outfit on Allie.
June 24, 1996, Changing Table (2:38).
Barb talks us through getting an outfit on Allie, extended version.
Barb and Bill playing with Allie in our bedroom. We have fun on the bed. Cameo by Walt who just wants to be noticed.
Barb and Bill playing with Allie in our bedroom. A little astronaut training (she was not decapitated by the fan).
June 24, 1996, Bedroom (10:31).
Barb and Bill playing with Allie in our bedroom. We have fun on the bed, some standing, assisted walking and a little astronaut training (she was not decapitated by the fan). Cameos by Walt who just wants to be noticed.
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