Kayla Time!

In addition to the whole “doctor” thing (see the post below this one), the true highlight of this last week for me was meeting my niece Kayla for the first time. I never had the chance to meet my nephews Braydan and Josh when they were teeny, and I always regret not being able to see them at that amazing stage. I was so excited to find out I would be an aunt again, and elated when I found out Randy and Jenni would be having a little girl. And when Randy started posting pictures of her online and I saw how much she looks like a Brace, well, my heart just melted.

Mom, Dad, and Jenni flew in on the 4^th of July and we had a cookout at our place, keeping it very low key for the little lady after such a big day of traveling from Chicago (her first flight!). I didn’t waste any time scooping her up and holding her!

Jenni decked her out in stars and stripes for the big day, although she seemed thoroughly unimpressed:

Back at the hotel on Sunday night, we enjoyed some tacos from our local taco truck (mmmmmm, taco trucks) and sat around enjoying the good company. As I was holding Kayla, she became fussy and I couldn’t figure out why … until she started trying to suckle on my arm. Yeah, leave it to a non-parent to obliviously observe their niece SUCKING on their arm and think “huh, that’s funny. I wonder why she’s wiggling ferociously, crying, and desperately trying to eat my arm?” Well, mom finally looks over and says “oh, she’s rooting!” Aaaand the lightbulb went off and I realized what Kayla was pursuing – it made me laugh very hard (as you can see!).

An aside: I have to share three pictures with you. They have absolutely nothing to do with anything, but they’re cute and they were taken at the same time as the rest of these shots:

First, Tasha on the back deck, hanging out with the rest of us (though the rest of us sat in chairs like civilized people, Natasha. Civilized. This is why we continue to be the dominant species. Until you learn to sit in chairs or have opposable thumbs, we rule.) I wanted to post this 'cause I spent some time in Photoshop working on it, and I liked it. And I miss my kitties, who are currently at Chez Sinnokrak in the Chicagoland area, acclimating to life in the Big House. I mean, A big house. As in, bigger than ours. gulp.

And then Mom scratching my chin like I’m her little kitty. Purrrr. I swear this wasn't posed. I laughed out loud when I saw it as I was sorting through pics from the week.

And finally, Naski going heels over head for his mouse toy. You can see his special airline carrier in this shot - we left it out so that he could treat it as his personal jungle gym for a few days before shoving him in there, so doped on Xanax that he probably was tripping out of his mind, and sending him through an 8-hour airport-flight-airport process so that now the poor guy probably thinks he's on Mars. A Mars on which there is a bed that still smells vaguely of home and the crazy loud transport mechanism. Did I reinforce that humans still rule the planet for a reason? When cats can sit like humans, have opposable thumbs, AND design and fly aircraft ... that's when we should be worried.

You know, on second thought, all of those posts are cat-related somehow, so they have something to do with something … just nothing to do with the rest of what this post was supposed to be about. Oh tangets, how I love thee ...

Okay, back to Kayla. As I had to previously experience the little girl only through the wonderful pictures posted online by my brother, I was itching to pull out the camera and get some beauty shots of her chubby wubby widdle face (don’t worry – I never spoke that way to her. I prom – wait, no, I don’t promise. A few oogie googies or “pwiddy girlies” may have slipped out ONCE. Or twice. NO MORE THAN FOUR TIMES, I SWEAR. Gosh. Don't be a jerk about it.)

She seems to like to sleep with one hand up near her face, or in this case, in a Scarlet O’Hara-esque dead-faint-like gesture. It’s probably not a good sign that she already has such dramatic flair … and, by the way, she is WAY too young for Rhett. Even by Southern standards.

Just before leaving for California, Randy bragged on facebook about how he managed to coax a smile out of the wee lady. And once while we were here, Mom thought she *almost* had one as well. But unfortunately, the only grins we got to see were in the midst of Kayla’s wild dreams that made her smile and cry, pant like she was running for her life, and flail her arms like she was ready for a round or two with Rocky Balboa (she could be a future Wii boxing champ). Here’s the progression of one of her sleepy grins:

While sitting out on the deck on afternoon, I fired off a series of shots of Kayla asleep in Mom’s arms. OH MY GOD, her chubby neck is the cutest thing in the ENTIRE WORLD. Is there such a thing as a vampire that just nuzzles fat baby necks? If so, I may need to be checked, ‘cause I’m pretty sure I was turned sometime last week. Anyway, the shots are very similar, but in the first one I think something (mom’s hand, maybe?) swept through the right-hand portion of the picture and caused a blur that, in retrospect, isn’t that undesirable. Anyway, if you have a favorite, let me know, ‘cause I get so emotionally invested in one picture I cease to become an objective observer.

When I was processing the pics in Lightroom, I tried out a couple of presets that seem to be commonly used with baby/family photographers. So here’s the original, followed by a desaturated “vintage” finish, and lastly a high-contrast, high-saturation “pop” that’s similar to the effect used by the author of the parenting/photography blog Dooce (check the links on the right). I used the same amout of vignette in each of them (a moderate amount, -25 with a midpoint of 50).

I got a few really great shots of Mom and Kayla, the first being from the back deck and the second and third from the rose garden in Balboa Park.

On one particularly peaceful afternoon, Kayla was wide awake post-nursing and was a very happy camper (for the very same reason). Full belly = happy baby. I was never awesome at remembering equations in math and chem classes during high school or college, but I'm pretty sure I will remember this one. Fully belly = happy baby. Full belly = happy baby. Lather, rinse, repeat - NO! Shit.

Nick got a couple of shots with his new camera that was purchased in preparation for the Alaska trip! I love looking through his pictures and remembering that, hey, I'm a member of the family, too!

Ahhhh, look how fast Aunt Erin rubs off on the little lady. Muaaa haa HAAAAA.

We sure managed to tire the little lady out with all of our trekking across San Diego. It’s a good thing she likes the car! Here are some out-and-about pictures from Balboa Park and the Chula Vista Nature Center.

From the lily ponds in Balboa Park:

Some horny lizards (yuck yuck yuck - as in the Three Stooges kind of Yuck Yuck Yuck 'cause they're both horned and probably horny, not the "oh, I'm so grossed out by cute little lizards" yuck. Maybe there's a better way of writing that phrase so it's less ambiguous. Suggestions? Not that I intend to use that phrase so much that I need a clear and unambiguous way to self-referrentially imply that I made a joke ... you know what? Nevermind.) and a Red Shouldered Hawk at the nature center:

And then some shots from the orchid house in Balboa. Lordy lordy it took me long enough, but I finally figured out the right combo of shutter speed and aperture to get a good shot of these darn orchids!!

(that one’s not an orchid, just a very interesting pattern on the drying/dying fronds of a palm)

I hope Kayla grows up to know how fast we all fell in love with her and how ridiculous we all looked cooing at her when she was so tiny! It’s weird to think that her week here was 17% of her whole life! She changed so much just in that one week: became more alert, started making eye contact, etc. I can’t even imagine how much she’ll have changed by the time we see her again in August. I guess I’ll have to go back to living through Randy’s pictures … if he ever posts any! Garsh! What, does he, like, have a job or something? And when he gets home, does he have to take care of an infant or something? Sure sure, whatever, bro. You go back to making Kayla smile. I’ll sit here trying to nuzzle her digital neck through my computer screen.

So many updates -

So little time!

I should start by telling you all that yes, I AM now a Doctor!! Well, my graduation won't post until the end of summer, so if you want to get all technical about it and be a negative Nelly, then I'm unofficially a Doctor! I realized when someone emailed me to ask "I haven't heard anything since your defense date ... is it bad news?" that I may have left some of you in suspense. Not to worry! The defense went great.

I was so touched that not only did my mom and dad come out for the defense, but my in-laws both came and so did my sister-in-law Jenni (older brother's wife) with their five-week-old baby! It was incredible to meet my niece for the first time and get to see her when she's so tiny. And it was so special to have Jenni (the second Dr. Brace in the family!) there for the defense as well. Riding the high of seeing everyone, I wasn't too nervous on the big day. Thankfully, Nick (using his camera) and his dad (using mine) captured the day for posterity.

I got my computer hooked up and loaded the presentation:


And took a few minutes to regroup while waiting for my committee to show up (relax, it's just jasmine tea in that cup!):

And then before I knew it I was done and taking questions from the audience! I had a very short private session with my committee in which we discussed my written thesis (they were very complimentary, which took me aback a bit - I think this is when I finally started getting nervous, oddly). And then they signed my forms and we headed back to my building for a small reception!




My lab put together a great spread, and Nick brought a cake and some champagne to cap off the celebration. We had found these funny bottle labels (sadly, not really meant for champagne bottles, which are slightly rounded - they ended up a bit lumpy on the bottles):

And then the cake. Nick found a Vietnamese bakery in our neighborhood that makes this special cake for some god-only-known reason. But it's hilarious. This is the second time he's gotten it for me, and THIS time, he asked them to make it a red velvet cake! Iew ... but so tasty!

A toast with my advisor:

We managed to get a picture of the whole lab before people started going their own ways for the afternoon:

And as the realization started to sink in, I finally relaxed and enjoyed my party!




It was great to have the Doctors Brace there to embrace their bastard step-child, Dr. Brace-Sinnokrak (gasp!). Clearly, Kayla was so disturbed she expressed herself all over her onesie.


And the extended family:


We went to a great dinner that night and then spent the rest of the week enjoying San Diego all together. Friday night, Nick surprised me with a fabulous party at SOARbar. Years ago, we took a sushi-making class with a chef who had just opened this place in the semi-seedy East Village. It's a sushi bar used exclusively for private events, and it came to mind around the time of the disestablishment of Nick's old squadron, VS-33. Unfortunately, nothing worked out at that time, but Nick's been keeping it in the back of his mind for a special occasion ... like my defense / our farewell! As soon as he exited the highway in the ghetto, the surprise was over - there was only one place he'd take me for a party in THAT neighborhood! YAY!

We set up a bar with wine and booze from home and the sushi started rolling out. The food was fantastic, and the drinks were even better. Let's just say ... I had a few. Ahem.




I had many more surprises that night - friends we hadn't seen in a long time, and my high school friend Amy (in the yellow) who drove down from LA with her fiance Ben (checkered shirt). I think I shrieked so loudly when they walked in I must have scared away every criminal within a four-block radius. grin.

Nick also did a fantastic job with the cakes, which he got from Tartine. Chocolate-raspberry, strawberry-kiwi-coconut, and my absolute favorite, the lemon tart. Don't worry, I wasn't truly inebriated until much later - the knife was safe in my hands! The sushi chef actually commented on what a nice and speedy job I did of cutting the cakes!!



So, yes. It was a great week, topped off by a wonderful party with some fabulous friends. We successfully cleared out most of our wine stock - good thing I was drunk when I selected wines for people to take home, otherwise I might have cried! These are wines that we've been cellaring for years! - but we sent them off in good hands with people who will appreciate them. I hope. sniff!

In addition to gearing up for my friend Amanda's wedding here in San Diego this weekend, we're also trying to start getting mentally prepared for our fabulous Alaska vacation! Being gone for a week when there's so much to do around the house to get it ready for rental (oh yeah - we got a renter!) will be stressful, but I'm too excited to care. I also still have to file that pesky paperwork so that I can actually recieve a degree (or some such nonsense). But I have to say ... being a doctor feels pretty awesome.

And nope, can't write prescriptions. That's the other kind of doctor. Sorry, chums. =) Just call me Ross Gellar.