Catching Up

We've been delinquent in posting and so much has happened. Since time is of the essence right now I'm sticking primarily with pictures!

Grandmas are great! Thanks so much to my mother and MIL for the much appreciated help! It allowed me to get back on my feet much more quickly than I would have otherwise. It also preserved my sanity.

We've seen both sets of my grandparents but I only got pictures of one. I know I am grateful to have met and have memories of my great grandparents - I hope my children can say the same thing.
BabyA is one month old now. Yikes! He is so much more alert and smiling at us from time to time. I have yet to capture his smile on camera but I LOVE it. We all do!

She is such a good little mommy to her baby dolls.

Impromptu cat costume - just for fun.

Cinderella and Spiderman (UncleN) getting ready to go trick-or-treating.

I always loathed putting a coat over my own costume. But of course I made my daughter do the same - it was chilly!

Blessing day.

Brother and sister. (BabyA is actually very calm when MaryP is holding him and she sure loves her brother - it's a nice set-up).

Finished Product . . . I think

So I have talked to someone from each family and I think everything is right now. I put some green question marks on expected children. Please let me know of any mistakes, suggestions, or catchy phrases to add to the basic design.

Thanks.

Maybe at reunion we could have an activity where groups would have to fill in the tree with different things: eye color, blood type, hair color, favorite food, names, anything else that comes to mind.

Progress

I was talking with my wife (who is Biochemist by education) and we concluded that:

1. the person in charge of Family Reunion
2. the person in charge of Reunion Shirts
3. the wife of person #2

all like the DNA shirt the best. Therefore we will do idea number 3.





OK OK OK. . . fine.





We'll do the family tree. I think that would be the best one anyway. I just love #3 so much. I'll miss it. Here is what I got done today.I still need to hammer out Uncle Squash Eater's posterity - I'll call him tomorrow. Also, I will have to see if I can get a better spacing for the families. Please, Please, if you have any witty slogans or things to say and do, let me know. Also, if you catch an error, let me know.

I will include changes at a later date (ie. jr mint and boss's bun) when it is closer to reunion.

Question for Invisiblerabbits

You sunk my reunion shirt!




I know that the shirts are kind of a surprise each reunion. So would it be bad if I posted a few ideas to see what you thought of them? Please chime in so I don't ruin anybody's reunion experience months before it even happens. If no one lets me know, I will be posting a possible design for feedback in about 1 week.

Note: I promise to not make the Reunion Shirts sexist like the above picture.

What do you think?

I know that some people won't know what this is about, but for those who do: I would love some feedback. I give no promises that one of these will or will not be the design. But I do promise to read any feedback that I get. Especially awesome ideas. Obviously these are works in progress. If you don't understand what these are about, just ask, I'll explain more in comments.

----One Idea----

----Another Idea----

----A Third Idea----

Following a Trend

So I have a few siblings that their children exhibited a certain trend (Woodine's older brother's kids also fit the trend) --

First baby: Petite

Second baby: Less Petite

In some cases the second child is taller or is on track to pass the first on the growth chart. MaryP has done her part to fit the first baby profile, and I think Baby Atom is going to follow the second baby profile as well.


Observe this short timeline
Tues 29 Sept: 8 lbs 2 oz (Baby Atom Born)
Thurs 1 Oct: 7 lbs 14 oz (Discharged from Hospital)
Mon 5 Oct: 8 lbs 13 oz! (First Checkup)

It may be a little early but I know MaryP didn't gain weight nearly that fast. We'll see.

Home

It sure is nice to be home from the hospital and together as a family.


MaryP loves her baby brother and will often comment "he's so pretty". We can tell that she feels a difference - last night she was just having a bit of a hard time - but I don't think she quite pinpoints what the difference comes from. I know some days will be better then others depending on needs, situations, etc, but I hope I can learn to balance time spent with my children. She has been so sweet to her brother though - she's already a great big sister. Now we have 2 great kids!

Announcing

Baby Atom!

as his older sister calls him
Born September 29, 2009 at 2:12 am
Height 20 1/2 "
Weight 8 lbs 2 oz
Born less than an hour after arriving at the hospital
Both Mom and Baby are doing OK.

Two of my favorite people

Wood took MaryP to a wedding, reception, and then another reception this evening while I got ready for and attended the RS General Broadcast (and the yummy dinner they served us beforehand which I did not have to cook -always a treat!). Anyway, I thought these two look simply dashing as they got ready to go. How did I get so lucky/blessed to end up with these two*?!*Soon to be three - yes today was my due date. And yes I'm still pregnant.

Warm shoes

Coming home from playing basketball this morning with some friends, Wood sat down in the front entry way to remove his shoes. (He'd been playing for several hours and was notably sweaty - as well he should be.)

MaryP - who has a special place in her heart for shoes - ran over to him, picked one up, and promptly stuck her foot in.

"Ooooh, Hot." she commented with delight "Nice, nice and warm!"

We couldn't help but laugh - and be somewhat disgusted at the same time.

I think I prefer nice cold shoes.

Emerged from the Deep

I'm too lazy to write a long blog, so here is a spotty visual update on our lives.
So, I have returned from the deep.
- Bonus points to all that can identify the origin of this picture.

I earned my submarine warfare pin prior to the underway. This is a pretty big deal . . . at least to me.

But Woodine also won accolades prior to the underway:

Woodine enjoyed the Reunion we had at Reid Ranch so much last year that she organized one for her mother's side of the family this year. Yeah that's right, check out her muscles in the picture.
Going to the petting zoo with Grandma: cautious of chickens, adventurous with goats.Woodine has some sweet cake decorating skills.
Mary P sporting some birthday gifts.


Mary P having a lot of fun on the trampoline with her cute cousin.



I'm still excited about this. Awesome!

Literal

Tonight at dinner MaryP was eating everything but her vegetables - I chose veggies she likes. Recently she's been, uh, suffering from a lack of fiber. So I told her that the vegetables would make her tummy feel better.

She picked up a tomato, lifted up her dress, and put the tomato on her tummy.

Guess I should have been a little more specific!

Summer Olympics

Watch out 2024 Olympics - she's already training!

Sunny weekend

This last weekend was awesome. Sunshine on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, temperatures getting up to the low 70's - perfect weather. Saturday we went hiking with my grandparents and just enjoyed relaxing at their home. MaryP loved playing in their back yard. They also have a lot behind their yard with trees and little paths to walk on - as a kid I remember feeling like it was a mini-forest. She was in heaven being able to run around and explore and we had a fantastic time just relaxing and visiting.

That evening we met up at Alki beach with one of Wood's HS friends that he hadn't seen in 10 years. We even managed to get a good parking spot - parking was nighmareish, so it was nothing short of a miracle to find one! The friend and his wife have 2 little girls and we enjoyed socializing near the beach where the girls could play. The only bad part was that the restaurant we chose to eat dinner at was not kid friendly (at all) but we made up for it with ice cream cones afterward. Next time I think we'll stick with fish and chips. We didn't start heading home until 8:00 but I had no idea how late it was because it was still light out. I love summer.




This comic made me smile because it is cloudy and rainy again today and I am anxious for summer to really be here, but it sure made me appreciate this last weekend that much more!