Well, for those of you who left the family christmas party early, let’s just say that you may have missed something:
It is about 21MB, so I would recommend right-clicking on the link and choosing “Save Target As”. After you save it to your machine, you can just double-click on the file and the computer should know what to do from there.
For the third time last night, Susan and I lost another rocking chair. We have now officially broken two rockers and a glider since Andrew was born. Last night was our saddest loss. When I sat down to rock Andrew to bed the rocking chair that we got from Susan’s parents broke. This chair has been around for a while, and hopefully the $85 that I paid the chair-repair guy will do the trick.
In other fun news, I bought a new snow shovel this morning in preparation for the white death that will (hopefully) descend upon Cincinnati over the next few days. I don’t mind the white death, but the cold to follow won’t be much fun.
Susan, Andrew and I are gearing up for another fun holiday season. Last year was rough because Andrew wasn’t very happy, so hopefully this year will be better.
Let is snow!!!
So, life has been pretty normal lately. We are getting a lot of shopping done and hanging out. We had some cool plans pass us by as our trip to Cleveland was cancelled due to me getting the 24 hour flu and leaving me crippled on the couch instead of up North partying, but things like this are bound to happen.
Susan is wrapping up another amazing semester. She never fails to impress me with how she can breeze through her classes. I think that she was born to be a school counselor. Next semester she just has two classes, and then another chapter is over (just in time for another to begin!).
Andrew has been walking a lot more, but he is still not ready for the marathon. I would say that these days he is walking a little more than he is crawling, but when he really needs to get somewhere he crawls.
Nothing really new in my world. Good news on the Pearl Jam front as they have a new album planned and a tour also. Hopefully their plans will come to fruition.
Happy Solstice. Don’t be scared of the dark.
Well, after a hectic past few weeks, Susan, Andrew, Newbie, and I are starting to get back into the normal swing of things. Mid-November passed with a whimper, but late November more than made up for it. Here is a little run-down of the crazy past two weeks of our lives.
We were all set to leave for Des Moines on November 23rd for T-giving when I got a call on the previous Sunday (the 21st) from my sister who said that my dad was in the hospital because he was having some chest pains. Anyway, turns out his heart was trying to tell him something. By Wednesday (the 24th) he was doing much better, so Susan, Andrew and I got in the car at 4 in the afternoon on Weds to began the nine hour trip to Des Moines, or should I say La Salle, IL.
Our trip began very well. It was very warm in cincy and partly cloudy. I knew that we were in for some rough weather on the road ahead, but I don’t think that I really knew what we were in for. About an hour into our drive, and also into Indiana, we passed some cars and a semi that had all mysteriously left the highway about 50ft from a massive tree that was lying on the ground. Turns out we narrowly missed a tornado sweeping through the area, that was lucky.
Illinois was not lucky. Not long after we passed through Indy I said to Susan, “The rain looks like snow.” Turns out, it was snow. It wasn’t long before we were going 35 mph and by the time we reached the junction of 55 and 74 in central Illinois we were parked on the highway. We, along with everyone else on the road, were now in search of a hotel. Well, by 1 o’clock in the morning we managed to find one in LaSalle, IL. We had changed routes since 74 was a parking and headed North to find salvation in the form of a Super 8 (with some help from Erin and Nate).
On Thanksgiving morning we woke up to sunny skies and clear roads. By the time we were into Iowa the snow had disappeared from the scene and the rolling hills were blanketed by the sweet sight of old corn stalks.
Soooo, we eventually made it to Des Moines, where we had a great time hanging out with Susan’s family. Andrew got to know (and fear) his cousin Ian. He made tremendous strides in his effort to walk while we were there thanks to plenty of help from the family.
We came back to Cincy on Nov 30 in anticipation of Dec 1 when our new furniture was due to arrive. It came (minus one slip-cover) as scheduled, and it looks great in our living room.
That brings us up to this weekend. Many of my college friends were in town, which is always fun. Friday night we had a nice, relaxing dinner with our friends Simon and Rachel (who are always in town). Saturday night we went to a Christmas party at Holly’s and then after Andrew went to bed I went out and sang some karaoke with friends. It was amazing how people come out of the woodwork when just a few people are going to be in town.
We all went out for breakfast on Sunday and then Susan, Andrew, and I went out and got our christmas tree. It was pretty exciting to get our first tree as a married couple and put it up in our first house.
In the upcoming weeks we have all the normal holiday business, and I look forward to it! ! !
Susan and I have had many important dates in our lives lately, and June 1st is up next. June 1st is actually the target date for our next child. Even as I type, Susan is eleven weeks and three days pregnant. Here are the answers to some faq:
Do we do anything on purpose?
Probably not, but you never know.
Sitting down.
In other news, Gary and Kathie are visiting right now, which is always a pleasure. Kathie spent more time cleaning the first day than Susan and I have since we moved in.
We have purchased some new living room furniture.
I am about to put up some new pics on Andrew’s picture site. Do you think I need to create a whole new picture site for the newbie, or maybe just change the name?
Andrew’s first birthday has passed us by and he has now entered the beginning stages of walking. He will take a few steps, but then he sits down. He is really into books at this point and has already finished the next selection for Oprah’s bookclub (which may actually be defunct at this point, which also makes that joke defunct).
It has been a while, with nothing major to report, so i thought I would just give you a little update on what is going on. We have been pretty busy since Mary visited two weeks ago.
Last week we flirted with buying some new furniture, but that may have to wait a bit.
Andrew has been good, but he has an ear infection again and he has been a little whiney. Hopefully it will pass soon. Here is a link to some pics of him: Andrew Pics. I have added some new pics recently, so check them out.
We had a brief visit from our friends Nick (from St. Louis) and Jeff (from Alaska) last week, which was great. It was a great opportunity to hang out with some great friends.
After our last pumpkin was destoyed Susan carved another one at B.Y.O.P 2004. We left this one at Simon & Rachel’s so that it would be safe from harm. Also, it was nice to hear from Devon, who reported that their pumpkin met a similar fate to ours.
I think that is it for our lives. We have some fun weeks ahead, including halloween, a visit form Susan’s parents, and a trip to Des Moines at Thanksgiving. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you updated.
Mary and Luke came to visit this past weekend. It was a good time for all. On Saturday we went to Burger Farm for their fall festival. Sunday we just hung out and relaxed for Andrew’s birthday and Monday night we had his party. Below is a little video that we shot on Monday night.
Andrew’s First Birthday (34 MB)
(I would advise right-clicking on the link and choosing “Save target as . . ” to save it to your hard drive)
Our pumpkin has been attacked by a squirrel. If you have any information that might help solve the case, please email Rob right away! ! !
Pumpkin & Squirrel Stew (12 MB)
(I would advise right-clicking on the link and choosing “Save target as . . ” to save it to your hard drive)
It’s been a while, so I thought maybe I would just deliver a little update.
Andrew is getting smarter. He now knows what upstairs is (and how to get there). Today he made a very good attempt at the word “dog.”
Susan is doing well. School is coming along nicely, along with her internship at Kings.
I am the same as always. Big Pj concert this weekend in Toledo.
The house is pretty much put together. We now focusing on the basement, where we are setting up a mini-apartment. We set up our old bed down there, along with our old kitchen table. It is coming along nicely and pretty soon we hope to have all the empty boxes removed and the clutter more organized.
That is all for now. Stay tuned for further updates.
Ever wonder what it is like to eat lunch with Andrew? Well, now you can experience it for yourself.( Please ignore the Seal playing in the background. I promise that it was an accident and had I been paying attention I would have changed the radio station.) (Also, I am going to be putting out a higher quality version later if you want to check back.)
Lunch with Andrew (3.75 MB)
(I would advise right-clicking on the link and choosing “Save target as . . ” to save it to your hard drive)
Here is the promised video. It has some old footage and some new footage. It is 35MB, so if you want a smaller version let me know and I will produce one. So many people have broadband these days that I didn’t want to mess with the smaller file, unless necessary. Enjoy! ! !
(I would advise right-clicking on the link and choosing “Save target as . . ” to save it to your hard drive)
I also put up some new pictures of Andrew.
Well, I guess it has been a while, huh? I was planning on putting up some video of Andrew, but my computer at work doesn’t have the latest copy of movie maker on it.
Things are going well in the new house. We continue to get settled in and throw money into strange things, such as grass seed and shelves. Nothing major has gone wrong yet, but I am sure the entire thing is going up in flames even as I type. Actually, I just talked to Susan, who assured me that the house is not on fire.
In other news, our friends Mike & Laura just closed on a house that is in the same neighborhood as us. Their house is about 1 1/2 miles away, but that is still super close.
Andrew is getting older. The other day I handed him the brush that we use on his hair and he started to brush it himself. Then he threw it.
Susan is also developing well. She is able to walk up and down the stairs with ease and she is also feeding herself. If only we could get her to shower more often. . .