Christmas in Texas

DIsneyland

Last night we took off early and drove down to Disneyland for the employee Christmas party they do every year. It's the one time of year they close down the park to cast members and family only. It's also the one time of year you realize how big The Walt Disney Company is. Because this is only one park in one city, you have to imagine the park still being full, and still standing in lines, but knowing that everyone in that park showed their ID and felt a small sense of entitlement to being there. A fun, big, crazy club we all belong to.

Parker is finally at the age where "It's A Small World" doesn't scare the living crap out of him. That's a relief. We have taken him on the ride four times, in which three of those times the whole thing came across as some demented acid trip of a baby nightmare. But, finally, at 16 months, It's A Small World is cool. Not sure if I think that is a good thing or not, but it gives you a good 20 minutes of sitting and singing :)

We are one week away from going to see family in Texas. It's cool to say that, seeing as both my family and Jaimie's will be there for the first time in about 6 years. I also love the fact that Parker will get to spend time with both sets of Grandparents, both sets of Aunts and Uncles and both sets of cousins. We are the little big family that my brother, sister and I didn't actually have. Should be fun to watch.

What a Weekend

There are many things about this year's holiday season that are hard to fathom. The DOW is below 9,000. LSU lost to Arkansas two years in a row. Texas got edged out for the Big 12 by OU, a team they beat. Black Friday brought $800 42" LCD TV's. And of course, the fact that Thanksgiving came and went and we are smack dab in the middle of Christmas Holiday Season.

In a few weeks we will be heading back to Texas to spend some Christmas family time with both families this year. We are excited to get back home for a few days and let Little Man soak up some big family love. I know his Aunt Jody is excited to get her hands on him. 

We took full advantage of it being a small family thanksgiving this year, just the three of us. Wednesday night we took Parker to Whole Foods and picked up a small turkey dinner while eating in the store. We learned that night, as Jaimie and I ate sushi, that Little Man likes Edamame. 

Our weekend included, a 6 mile run, a 3 mile run, some family biking, a hike, Black Friday shopping, BOLT and dinner with Lindsey and Sandro (hi L!) and LOTS of college football. Whew, I'm beat, but we had a great time.

As promised, here are a couple of photos of Parker's new bike seat on daddy's new bike. The dude loves it! Also, more photos have been added to the photo page, check em out.

Holiday's Begin

So, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it's a rainy day in Los Angeles. Jaimie, Parker and I took a little dinner trip tonight to Whole Foods to eat, play and pick up a Thanksgiving feast for three. Too fun, having Little Man eat real food. Too bad he is so picky, he will probably throw his turkey, stuffing and potatoes on the floor instead of eating it. What a waste, he'll learn.

Christmas is just around the corner and the weather in L.A. finally feels like holiday weather. Although not as cold as the rest of the country, it's nice to finally put long sleeves on for work or a sweatshirt on while playing in the yard.

Jaimie and I decided that our "family gift" this year would be new bikes. We both have road bikes for races and exercise, but we are getting mountain bikes for family riding. I also found a baby seat that mounts to the support bar between the handlebar and the bike seat. I have been wanting to get one for some time but I don't like the trailers (too bulky for one child) and most seats mount behind the rider, which means Parker would be staring at my butt the whole time.

The bike seat came in today, very cool. I'll upload photos when I can, but it's pretty cool. The bikes will be coming in on Friday, so we are hoping to take a little family ride this weekend. With the rain, we will see.

Daddy Time

October has brought on a series of trips for Mommy. Last week Jaimie went to Washington DC to a conference. It was difficult being away from Little Man for four days, being the first time she had ever even conceived of living him for that long. But, as we get him used to milk from a sippy, it became evident it was tougher on mommy than on the little guy. Parker and daddy had a good time going it alone, with lots of quality blocks, Toy Story and jog time.

Now, here we are at the next Sunday, and mommy has gone again. This time to Albuquerque for work training. This time for five days, not four. This time, much tougher. This time mommy knows what its going to be like.

October Begins

We have college football (GEAUX TIGERS), fall weather, long sleeve clothing, family travel and a full fledged one year old. Welcome to the autumn of 2008.

I admit I have been bad these past months at keeping this blog up to date and current on the goings on around the Little Man and all his glory. Please do not misunderstand my inactivity as a lack of material or disinterest. On the contrary, it's the exact opposite. 

There comes a point in which talking about what's happening and actually living it can sometimes create conflict in scheduling. therefore the reporting had to be abandoned, while life had to be lived. And there you go, thats why after Parker turned one it seems I ran out of things to say. We've just been living it.

The three of us arrived in Austin today and are staying at Gramma and Papa's house for the weekend. My good friend, Ryan, is getting married tomorrow so we are here for the wedding and to spend time with family. There will be photos to upload, I am sure, but believe me when I tell you that Parker is doing great. He is a walker, a babbler, an emptier, an opener, a wiper, a smearer, a taster, a chewer, but most of all a cuddler. When he succeeds at the last item, it's very easy to forget the others.

No News = Lazy Daddy

OK, you all know I'm not that lazy, it's just been a crazy month and updating a blog hasn't been top of mind. This is a shame considering how much has happened in the past 5  weeks.

At Parker's birthday party, which I mentioned below, Parker walked for the first time. OK, so fast forward to today, where Parker is in full on baby sprint mode. You know how babies start walking but don't know how to bend their knees so it's got a frankenstein quality about each step? Or when they finally get the knee bend, but now realize that all they have to do to move faster is to lean into it with their giant melon head? Or when they finally learn how to step up to go over uneven surfaces, only to exaggerate the step so much it knocks them off balance? Yeah, that should just about cover Parker's past 5  weeks.

Throw in a trip to Disneyland, Daddy going to London for work and Mexico for play, and the kick off to another college football season (LSU #7, Texas #8), I'd say you got a good snapshot of August for us.

More to come, just wanted to give you something to chew on.

Little Man's First Birthday Party

Parker's birthday (if you've kept up from the beginning) is actually August 6th, but as I have been reminded, kid birthday parties are for weekends, so yesterday was Parker's first birthday party.

With trains as the theme, we had plenty of local friends join us for a little backyard BBQ and booze fest in honor of the Little Man. It was a nice warm Pasadena day, which started out with babies and adults hanging out in the backyard then slowly migrating to the air conditioning.

Gramma and Papa Osburn were here to celebrate, with Gramma making an amazing Thomas the Train birthday cake. It's funny, because our family loves the idea of placing a baby in his high chair for birthday #1 and allowing him or her to go to town on their birthday cake. What we learned from our Lake Tahoe vacation the week before (check out the photos) and confirmed at his party, Little Man does not like icing. It's funny to watch, but when he reaches out to help himself to a healthy chunk of Gramma's chocolate love, he recoils in horror as a layer of icing covers his little hand. We expected it, as Tahoe with the Davis clan taught us much, but wow, he HATES icing.

We all enjoyed a good laugh, then moved on to an activity he does enjoy, which was opening presents. The idea of tearing paper and not being told no must be a pretty appealing ideal to a child.

The highlight of the afternoon was actually as everyone was leaving. Left in the house was Mommy, Gramma, Papa, adopted aunt and uncle Andrew and Abby, and Daddy. Little Many REALLY began to walk. Not a step or two then fall, I mean a good 5 to 6 steps to take new toys out of mommy's hands. It was amazing to see/take photos of/video tape. I'm sure it's just the beginning of a new level of crazy in our household, but it was wonderful to have so many great people with us as we witnessed his next major milestone in life. Now that's a birthday present.

Birthday photos here!

Not Nauert, I'm Busy

Uncle Chris, Aunt Lisa, Cousin Cole and Cousin Hannah all came out to visit us for a week. We had spent a prior week with Hannah, so we knew how she would be with Little Man and him with her. But, I was curious to see how Cole would be. It was amazing, he is the best big cousin you could ever hope for. Most boys stay away from babies, but Cole loved Parker, making him laugh and playing with him.

Knowing the age difference will always cause a bit of separation between the boys, it was nice to see that Parker has a great cousin in Cole to look up to. Parker will always be the youngest cousin (unless he has a little brother or sister), so he won't get to "play" with his cousins the way I'd like them too. But, if he is going to grow up idolizing his big cousin Cole, I'm thinking he could do a lot worse ;)

Check the pictures out to see the three cousins having fun in Disneyland.

Lights in the Sky

Yesterday was Little Man's first 4th of July, complete with fireworks, swimming pools, large crowds, and over-priced hot dogs.

We had a full day yesterday and it began around 9am when Jaimie, Parker and I went to Maranatha High School to meet up with our friends John and Amanda to swim. John is a high school teacher at a private christian high school in Pasadena. This school is located on a former private college campus, that went bankrupt in the 90's. What is so amazing about the campus, which I'm sure the High School kids have no idea how lucky they are, is they basically have un-used, mint condition College facilities. 

This includes a natatorium for the swim, dive and water polo teams. Jaimie and I were able to get a little swim training in with John, while Amanda and Parker explored the campus. We are out of shape, for sure.

Afterwards, the three of us went on a little run off Orange Grove, a very nice neighborhood in Pasadena. By the time we got home, we were spent.

After lunch and a little rest, we began a deep-cleaning of the house. Then, it was off to the Rose Bowl for the firework spectacular.

If you've never gone, I recommend braving the crowds and rude amazon women to give it a try. We picked up Aunt Maureen at her house, then drove down to the bowl, parking up the street so we didn't get caught in traffic or $15 parking.

After checking in our stroller we made our way to the endzone, threw down a blanket and watched as the Pasadena sky lit up. From the first boom to the last, Parker loved it! He had his eyes on the sky the entire 30 minutes, regardless of who's lap he was sitting in.

Officially "Da-Da"

So last night Mommy and I made the official declaration that Parker's first word is indeed, "Da-Da." We have suspected this for a few weeks now, but it was confirmed last night as Mommy tried unsuccessfully to feed him before bed. He kept looking up at me, reaching out and saying "da-da." Yes, heart-warming, butter-melting, sappy-sweet type stuff. But regardless, it's official. 

He is now talking/babbling, cruising, grabbing stuff off tables, throwing, and has had at least three instances (that we know of) where he has stood by himself with no support for at least 10 seconds. Amazingly, it takes 10 seconds to get a camera out, turn it on and focus before the little guy decides to sit down.

Back on the Air

After a fun-filled week on the island of Kuaui, we are back in town and back in business. Mommy, Daddy and Little Man joined Grandma, Papa, and cousin Banana for some fun in the sun (and rain) in Hawaii. Being our first time there (Mommy & Daddy included), we did a good job of alternating between days to bum around and days to site-see and shop. If you ask Papa, he will tell you it was one of his more relaxing vacations. To everyone else, we packed a lot of fun activities in and still had some time to just spend together.

Instead of writing up every little detail, I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Check them out by clicking here.

Also, I just added a new movie to the video section. Set to INXS "New Sensation," check out the happiest baby on the planet.

Mahalo!

Happy Father's Day to all those daddies out there! Will update when we get back in town, but until then, we are having a great time!

Air Born

Parker has been on an airplane more times in his first 10 months than I did up to the time I was about 20. Both mommy and daddy have had enough reasons to travel between work and family trips, that the kid has become an expert. It's a blessing, for sure, as traveling is something both Jaimie and I enjoy. 

Tomorrow, the three of us, Hannah-Banana, Chery and Rich head to Hawaii. I like the idea that my first trip there is also both Jaimie and Parker's as well. Although, I sure hope we continue to travel as Parker gets older. If not, the kid will kill us when he finds out that before he turned one years old we took him to Hawaii, Austin, Seattle, New Orleans, Denver and San Antonio.

Get to Get Going

There is just a lot going on right now. There is no other way to put it. You would think that managing two careers and the new Little Man's schedule would afford us a solid routine to work off of, but alas this is not the case. I learned very quickly this week how hard things are, although I admit the home life became much more fun.

Mommy went to Washington DC for a conference and the boys had three days alone together. Let me tell you know, as challenging as it is to keep a schedule that works for Parker, it was a blast. I found myself forcing an end to my "in-office" day, by leaving the building no later than 5:15 to be at daycare by 5:45. Since I normally don't leave the office until around 7:30, this posed problems in my normal routine. 

I have, however, become very skilled at managing calls in the car. Yesterday alone, I had three calls on my way to pick up Parker, two more with him in the car (I'm sure that's what made him fall asleep), and 3 more at home when mommy walked in the door from her DC trip.

Here is what I learned about being a single dad for three days:

1) There are no breaks. You stop when you pass out on the sofa watching recorded Deadliest Catch

2) Cleaning becomes a bigger priority than when it's just you. You couldn't tell by looking, but I cleaned the house twice before Jaimie got home, yet we were cleaning again this morning.

3) Guilt goes away. As bad as I feel leaving work so early each day, the minute I see him I lose all remorse.

4) Dad has two work days a day. I work until 5, spend time with Parker until he falls asleep around 9, then start my second day on the computer.

5) You can't get along without Mommy. OK, to be honest, you can. We had a lot of fun in the past three days. But, don't tell mommy that. Mommy has to feel that our world fell apart without her. So, shhh, don't say anything.

Happy Birthday Hannah Banana!!!

Little man hopes you have a great birthday! He misses you!

Spots

Spots can derail your entire week. And that's what the Little Man has, little tiny spots all over his little body. Is he upset? Heck no! He's had mommy or daddy t himself the past couple of days, with the likelihood of a few more.

So, he apparently has some sort of rash, possibly heat, according to Dr. Mommy. Regardless, the day care said "get him outa here!" so Jaimie and I are taking turns working from home. To be honest, he is happy and seems to have hit a bit of a sleeping, eating schedule, so I have gotten quite a bit of work done today! Plus, dialing in for every meeting I had scheduled instead of being there in person affords me time to multi-task.

Mommy is finishing up her final shoot with Family.com on her healthy nutrition segments that will fun on Family.com. I'm excited for her, as I know this is something she will be really good at. It sounds like the family team really likes her and say she is doing a great job. The producer for the segments produced Trading Spaces and has worked with a number of people in the industry. The complement she was paid by him was, "on camera, you look alot like Reese Witherspoon." Nice comment, I think.

Other than that, we are starting to really plan out our summer around a busy work schedule, Parker hours, and two different family vacations coming up! Look for more pictures coming soon, as we hit the beach and hiking!

The day before the day daddy was born

All things considered, today was a very good day. 

Work has been busy and daddy has been working late, but today he didn't look at his blackberry once. Our dear friend Katherine is still in the hospital, fighting to regain basic motor skills and cognitive functions, but the doctors decided to day to hold off on a brain shunt to give her body one more shot at draining fluid from her brain naturally. She is nothing short of a miracle right now. The temperature hit 100 today in Pasadena, but it was only 80 in Santa Monica at the beach where we spent our afternoon. And mommy decided to give daddy his birthday present early. And who doesn't love surprise presents?

Mommy, Daddy and Little Man started the day by heading up to UCLA Medical to spend some time visiting with Jay and his family, bring them some lunch, and let Parker have some quality fun time with his little buddy, James.  James and Parker spent the morning climbing all over each other in the waiting room lobby. They are both about the same size now, which means James can really hold his own with Little Man.

It was a nice morning just spending time together and talking with Jay, his sister and mom, and a few church friends. Katherine still continues to fight the long fight, with her family of angels carrying her along.

We left the hospital around 1pm and headed to Santa Monica for some beach time. The weather was amazing and even the water is beginning to warm up a bit. Little Man has no problem getting messy in the sand, even sampling a handful now and again. As much as Parker loves water, it's amazing how much waves freak him out. And after a few toes dipped in the cold Pacific he had had enough. We packed it in and headed home.

After getting home, mommy took daddy to pick out his birthday present. We hit REI and picked out a brand new baby hiking backpack for daddy. Parker even gave it a test drive in the store! Hopefully, tomorrow we will give it a real spin!

Tonight, I watched as mommy got Little Man ready for bed, fed him and put him to sleep. I would have to say the best birthday present of all is being able to celebrate it, for the first time, with a family of my own.

All things considered, today was a god day.

Her First Mother's Day

Mommy had a wonderful first Mother's Day yesterday. She started the morning out by sleeping in, while Daddy and Little Man made her breakfast in bed. After some fun play time we all got dressed for church and went to our Young Marrieds group at Bel Air Pres. Parker spent the hour flirting with the other girls in the class and chewing on daddy's watch.

We left church around 11 and went to visit Jay Wolf and friends/family at the hospital, getting an update on Katherine. We brought Katherine a mother's day card and some photos for her to see, with Parker and baby James together. After some good conversation and some floor play time for Parker, we left the hospital.

Hitting the 405, we headed west to the coast. With a short drive up the PCH, we stopped in at a local Santa Monica state park for an activity we haven't done since before mommy was pregnant. We took a family hike over Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean. It was a beautiful day, but a bit overcast, so the ocean view wasn't at it's peak. But that was just fine for mommy, getting in a good 2 hour hike.

Little Man enjoyed it as well, spending the hike in a backpack behind Daddy. He LOVES to hike. And by hike I mean sit with his legs dangling on daddy's back while he hikes.

A good day.

This is Amazing...

Our friend Katherine has made the news in Montgomery... God bless us all.

PLEASE WATCH THESE VIDEOS!!!

A Dad's First

What a week it has been. I remind myself I need to be more on top of updating this blog, but sometimes I am not sure if I am talking to anyone but myself, so I talk myself out of typing. However, as history has shown, the more you document, the better your stories can be :)

Jaimie, Parker and I travelled to Seattle this weekend, for work and for pleasure. We stayed with Aunt Christen and Uncle Jeremy over the weekend and had a fabulous time. We ate good seafood, went on a nice walk, did some responsible drinking and took turns as babysitter for the Little Man.

The trip was nice, Jaimie and I both got some work in while Aunt and Uncle did a day of babysitting, and we ate some amazing Halibut that Uncle Jer cooked up. But, it makes you realize how difficult it is to be away from family for very long. Conversations always moved towards "if we got a job in LA" or "if we ended up in Seattle." I like those conversations. It usually means no matter how different we are, we must still sorta like hangin out together :)

Jeremy took some great photos: Check 'em out!

The "first" of which I speak is the fact that Daddy and Little Man flew back from Seattle yesterday by ourselves. It also includes Parker's first full night away from mommy. Overall, I'd grade our performance a B+. Parker did great on the plane, flirted with the flight attendants, was quiet in First Class, and ate well. At home he pretty much slept through the night and woke up around 7:30 this morning like a champ. Obviously, it all could have been much worse. 

I dropped our grade from an "A" because Daddy lost a teething ring on the gangway of the airplane and last night around 11pm the Little Man had a 30 minute shriek-fest. But, other than that it was a strong performance.

New Photos on the Little Man

As you can see, I moved Katherine's links to the left nav column. It's pretty much impossible to write my own updates on the situation as there are so many other sources that are doing a much better job than I can. 

Today's update at around noon was pretty encouraging. It's wonderful to see her improving, even if they are just tiny milestones. Those are the ones that seem to make the most difference.

What I have not mentioned in these past few weeks is that Parker actually has 2 teeth :) He cut them about 2-3 weeks ago, both his bottom front teeth, and both completely hidden by his ever visible tongue. He seems much happier now that they are out, and after a short battle with the sniffles and a double ear infection, Jaimie and I are now "semi-successfully" sleep training the little guy. He's still a bit of a Werewolf, but it's gotten much better after Mommy and Daddy had a long discussion about the difference in our 3am experiences with him. Let's just say Daddy doesn't have what Little Man really wants at 3am.

Other than that, Jaimie, Parker and I are heading to Seattle this week to see Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Christen. Should be a bunch of fun, he's a blast right now.

New photos have been posted as well. Check out the 80's party, good stuff.

To Continue...

I'm going to get back to the original intent of this blog, as I know many of you want to know about Parker, who is changing so much everyday.

I will be moving the links for our dear friend Katherine, into a more permanent spot in the lefthand navigation, so please feel free to use this as a pathway into everything we know so far.

Before I make the change, I wanted to give you one more link in this area. Katherine spoke in our Young Marrieds group a month or so ago. One of the other members of Young Marrieds posted a Podcast of the talk and I wanted to share it with you so you could hear what kind of person we are talking about.

Enjoy: Katherine Wolf at Young Marrieds

Updates on Katherine

There is a lot of news about Katherine right now and it's coming fast. Instead of retyping the information, here are links directly to the main sources.

For those with a Facebook account:

Facebook Group Site

For those without:

Young Marrieds Blog

Pray For Katherine Update

Tuesday, April 22: 3:00pm

Katherine's condition is very grave, but the family is remaining hopeful and prayerful. She will be in a medically-induced coma for 48 hours. Jay and Mary Ruth have asked that while Katherine is resting in that 48 hours we pray that God will restore and raise her up. Please keep Jay and baby James, along with the Wolf and Arnold families in your prayers.

Pray for Katherine

Not a normal post, I know. But, yesterday around lunch time, one of our dear friends, Katherine Wolf collapsed when an aneurism (AVM) ruptured in her brain. Here is the email that our network of friends immediately sent out:

Surgery just concluded at 6:30am, after 13.5 hours. Chief surgeon was Dr. Neston Gonzalez. Katherine is currently getting a CT scan, results will be evaluated shortly and will determine if additional surgery is needed.

Dr. Gonzalez just communicated that the AVM rupture was in a very aggressive location (base of the cerebella) and that the bleeding that had occurred prior to surgery has possibly caused lingering damage that is to be determined.

Please pray for Katherine, Jay and baby James.

It's a really tough time right now. I really don't know what else to say about the situation except I'll add an update when I know it and please pray for Katherine's recovery.

more news here

The Long Night Watch

Our roughest night so far since his birth, Mommy and I traded off all night with Little Man as he tries to battle his sickness.

Park's temperature seems to be spiking around 100.2 and then dropping back down into the 99's, so we haven't had to worry there too much. But, his faucet of a nose keeps us in constant "wipe down" mode. Every time he sneezes, his face explodes into a giant mucus bubble. Oh, the joy.

I took the first shift last night, starting at 9pm bedtime and took him at 10pm and again around 1am. Mommy spent most of her time from 1:30am to 4:00am trying to get him to eat, sleep, repeat. Then, I took over again from 4am to 6am by relocating both of us to the sofa, and sort of made a daddy pin that he could cry, squiggle, crawl and kick in without falling out. The crib pretty much is not part of our sick routine, to my dismay.

Hopefully, tonight will be better. Wish us luck!

Second Sickness

Little Man isn't feeling well again. His second time to be sick. At 8 months old and about 20lbs, he is a bit like a sack of potatoes right now. Poor little guy doesn't know why he doesn't feel good, he just knows he wants to be held and he's not a fan of having his nose wiped.

He has spent most of the morning, sleeping on either my or mommy's chest. He doesn't want to be put down, he doesn't want to be in his crib. It's so pathetic. Poor guy.

We just woke himself up a little so Jaimie sat him down with his toys to see if he'd play. He is trying so hard to be his normal happy self, but after a few moments he gives up and slumps into his tired, sick little self. So, back in the arms he goes, eyes closing, a small whimpering sound.

New Photos From Denver!

Click here to check 'em out.

Denver Red

So, Parker and I are playing in our hotel room this morning in Denver, while mommy attends an all day conference. We flew in yesterday so Little Man could be near mommy for the weekend. I am here purely as the babysitter, but so far it's been fun. Just the boys hangin out.

One of the fun parts of travel is the ability to see old friends, which is what Parker and I are doing today. My good friend, Kirby, and her husband live in the area. The plan today is to do a little site seeing and hiking. Haven't tried out the hiking backpack yet, so this could be an experimental disaster. But we are going to try, regardless. I'm just excited to spend the day with my good friend and introduce her to the Little Man.

Pictures to come!

PLEASE SLEEP!!!

Holy cow, we have entered some weird dimension of crazy baby pretty much every night the past two weeks.

I believe Parker to be part Vampire, in that he is WIDE awake every night around 3-4am. It's insane. He is the most amazing baby all day long. But in the darkness of night, he's up, he's active and he's on the prowl.

The difficulty in the situation is the Little Man has been mobile now for three weeks. This means when he wakes up, he doesn't just cry and look around. When Parker wakes up, he rolls over, gets on all fours, sits up and says "alright world, I'm up and ready to play."

We'll see how it goes tonight. We just had a nice long day at the beach. Parkers first time to play in the sand. He had a great time. We had bought a little pop up tent (aka: a cabana) and set up shop just south of the Santa Monica peer, in what I will call the "family beach."

After a jog through Venice Beach, lunch in the sand, a nap, and dipping our toes in some cold water, Parker had his fill of the sunshine and we headed home.

Let's hope he sleeps through the night. 

Bonus, new videos uploaded, check it out!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

Our second full day at Snowbird and a fun one it was. Beautiful weather, empty lifts and a fun afternoon taking it easy with mommy and the Little Man.

Overall, the trip has started out wonderfully, except for one minor fracture... literally.

Yesterday afternoon, Chery (Grandma) was taking her very first run now Chickadee, the bunny slope. I slightly out of control kid almost collided with her near the bottom of the lift, so Chery tried to quickly get out of the way, but instead got her skis crossed and ended up falling against a hard-packed snow embankment, hitting her left shoulder "just perfectly." After a ski patrol visit, a trip to the infirmary and a ride down to the hospital in Salt Lake, Mrs. Osburn ended up with a fracture to her shoulder, rendering her left arm useless. One additional note, Chery, like me, is left handed, making this even more frustrating.

Luckily, she doesn't need surgery. Instead, she is keeping her arm wrapped tight for the next 8 weeks, making many simple things difficult (driving, working, and holding her grandson).

One a lighter note, today is Mommy's 29th +2 birthday. We spent the morning on the slopes, followed by an afternoon nap with Parker and a little shopping trip. Jaimie took Hannah, Cole and Ambrea down to the pool to swim, while daddy watched the little man. We had a wonderful birthday dinner of lasagna (thanks Lisa) followed by a cake Richard and Chery picked up on the way back from the hospital. Mmmm, mommy likes chocolate.

About to hit the sack, feel free to comment and wish mommy a happy birthday! As Jaimie just said, "what a perfect day."

Vacation: The Blog

Nothing sneaks up on you quite like a vacation. It's one of those things that you love to do, but you are never really ready or prepared to leave home for a few days, change your surroundings, make sure the house and pets will be ok, etc. Nothing holds more true when you have a seven month old.

It's no longer just annoying when you forget toothpaste (as we did) or not pack enough pairs of underwear (which we've been known to do), it's downright game changing. Forget something you need for a baby and you go into lock-down mode until the item can either be secured or located.

Luckily for us, we didn't forget much of anything for Parker. However, you also learn one more new little item when traveling with a baby. You either (a) bring more stuff or (b) replace the things you would normally put in your suitcase for his things. "I'm sorry, daddy. You can only bring two t-shirts this year because I need my stuffed elephant and Tigger.

So, just to keep everyone in the loop, we flew into Salt Lake City yesterday for our yearly ski trip with Jaimie's family up in Snowbird. Jaimie, Parker and I arrived at the airport yesterday morning and then had a little "camp out" while we waited for the rest to come in from Austin. With ten of us in the shuttle fan, plus luggage, skis and snowboards and a grocery stop on the way up the hill, you could barely see out the windows. But, after a short ride up the Little Cottonwood Canyon, we arrived at the Cliff Lodge in Snowbird.

I know I've said it before, but Parker is an amazing baby to travel with. Besides the flawless airplane trip, the van travel from airport to ski resort take us up to around 7,000ft. In the past, with nephew Cole and niece Hannah were babies, they suffered from altitude sickness as we travelled up the mountain. But, Parker did great and has been enjoying his first day being passed from Grandma to cousin to aunt to uncle then back to Pappa. 

I will be trying to do regular updates from the mountain, so keep a look out. And also, check out the newest photos just posted.

PARKER CAN CRAWL!!!

Yes folks, it's official. Parker is now an "on the move" kinda baby! 

While daddy was in San Diego speaking at a conference, mommy saw Poops crawl across the daycare floor. She cried, another mom cried... all was well.

Mommy called Daddy at lunch to let him know, who was very excited and bragged to a bunch of technology guys (who could care less) about how brilliant his son is. Lucky for daddy, this all happened the same day he was to fly home. EVEN luckier, daddy caught an earlier flight and was able to see Poops crawl across the floor (for the remote control) at home before he went to bed.

Daddy was so excited, that he continued to refer to himself in 3rd person throughout the entire blog. Poor, excited daddy.

OK, so check back and I'll have some photos to add very soon!

New Photos!

Good Weather, Good Friends!

Down for the Count

Good God, what a couple of weeks. I like to think I am pretty good at keeping this blog up to date and current with all that's happening with our Little Man, but the past few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind, and it all started with what we thought was a "first cold."

Turns out, Parker ended up with Bronchiolitis, which ends up being a scary little condition for little guys around Parker's age. Lucky for us, Day Care helps to introduce such joys as these, and we began what we thought was a few days of unhappy and sick little baby.

So, little baby ends up being fine, but in turn creates a big baby, as after day two of "cough watch 08", daddy develops some Bronchitis of his own, and ends up out of commission for about a week. Never having something like this before, I go into my normal sick routine of becoming absolutely worthless and quarantined myself to the west end of the sofa. 

Even as Parker continued to get better and flaunt his ability to shake off disease much quicker than his old man, I took stock on the situation and realized one amazing feat of nature... Mommy was unfazed. She didn't get sick, didn't stop moving, didn't slow down. She cleaned around us, cleaned us up, disinfected the house multiple times, administered medicine, took temperatures, and all while working her full time job and keeping up her normal routine... I lay on the sofa, in my pile of used Kleenex and empty water bottles, in utter awe of her.

Fast forward to today, and besides a lingering cough and an amazing ability to produce mucus (I know, gross), I am back on my feet trying to get back into my daddy support mode. It's been slow, but it's also been nice to sleep in my own bed again, play with Parker, hug my wife. 

My one source of comfort in the "baby is sick" department, Parker seems to have his mommy's resilience. This is a blessing that I pray holds up over time. Let's face it, when I'm sick, being the biggest baby in the house really is my job.

First Cold

Well, after six months in the world and 2 months at day care, Little Man has his first cold. It is heart breaking to hear the little guy trying to breath, but instead blowing little snot bubble out of his nose. It's worse when he is trying to sleep, considering how hard it is for him to learn how to breath through his mouth when his nose is stopped up. It has made sleeping at night difficult, as he wakes himself up throughout the night.

What made it tougher, especially on mommy, was that it all started saturday night. This wouldn't usually be a big deal, except daddy left town for business that same night, traveling to Boston on a red eye. Needless to say, after being gone for four nights, daddy owed mommy big time. 

Wednesday night was daddy's turn, and boy mommy was not exaggerating. Little Man and I were up from 1am off and on until 5am. Good times.

Today it's about 80 and sunny. Welcome to Southern California winters. We are going to spend most of the day outside, in the yard, on a blanket. If you are unable to do the same thing in your area, feel free to spend some time looking at the latest pictures from Christmas, New Years and our trip to Chicago to visit our best friends, the Osburns.

D Batteries

It's ridiculous. One of the newest "learnings" of fatherhood is the fact that it's difficult to find a baby toy that doesn't run on batteries. Does it not shock other people that the only way to find a toy made of wood or uses manual "play", you have to go to a specialty store. The notion alone of endless purchases of children's toys makes me consider purchasing stock in Energizer and Duracell.

Little Man has a swing that we have used religiously since birth. I have talked about it on this blog before, even commenting on it's amazing power to sooth the little guy. But, it runs on four D batteries and goes through them like a fat kid goes through french fries. So, i find my self at Target yesterday purchasing 2 12 packs of D batteries. At $12 a pack, this really starts to add up. I start to wonder why they don't build these things with (A) rechargeable batteries or (B) a power cable option. Personally, I think it's a deal the toy companies strike with the battery companies.

Today is the first time I have written since LSU beat Ohio State for the College Football National Championship in one of the weirdest college football seasons I can remember. It would be an understatement to explain how excited I was at the win. Inviting a few friends over to enjoy the game along with me, I spent most of the evenings glued to the TV. Even after my friends left, I went for round two and watched it again. Love the DVR features on TV now.

Also, a big ups to Mr. Kevin Brown, my 2003 National Champion buddy. We spent a good part of the evening on the phone with each other, wondering why we didn't just fork over a bunch of money and go to the game. But all in all, the only regrets of the season were at the tail end of TWO triple overtimes. Not bad at all.

GEAUX Tigers.

LSU-38 Ohio State-24

1st Day Jitters

Mommy had them, Mickey and Boo had them, Daddy was worried about Mommy, but Little Man came through like a champ. Yes, that's right, Parker went to his first day of school yesterday and apparently LOVED it.

In the weeks preceding Day One, Mommy constantly reminded Daddy how nervous she was to put him into an environment where the baby to adult ratio was 3 to 1, as apposed to the 1 baby to 3 adults situation he has been in since birth. She just doesn't want her kid lost in the shuffle, becoming just one of many, losing priority.

Not an issue, as Mr. Parker enjoyed his first day very much. He took several naps, ate a little bit, but most of the time he spent playing and watching the other kids. Jaimie's only real concern was the quantity of food he ate while at daycare, but I reminded her how much he has trouble eating when there is a lot going on around him (the airplane, Christmas morning, etc), so it was pretty normal.

Mommy called Daddy only twice yesterday, which is about 8 times short of how many times I thought she'd call, distraught at passing her one and only off to a stranger. The first call was after she dropped him off in the morning to say she was sad, but was quickly realizing how close she was (refer to a few blogs ago at the map). The second was around lunch when she called to tell me she and Parker were on a walk together, happy as can be. She sounded much more at peace, baby and mommy cruising around her work "neighborhood."

When I got home, Mommy spent 30 minutes bragging to Daddy about how good Little Man was in school and how much everyone loved him. As if Daddy didn't know it already.

So, all in all, Day One was great, Mommy survived, Parker had fun and Daddy didn't have to wipe any tears when he got home. Let's see how Day Two goes... :)