a pox upon us?

it appears that Caleb may have the chicken pox. yuck. supposedly it's not as bad at this age, but he's already been up a lot in the middle of the night lately. hopefully this will pass soon. I imagine it will spread through the church rather quickly, as he apparently got it from his girlfriend (well they're not an item yet, but we have something of an agreement with her parents).

so we'll see how it goes. if you're not vaccinated or antibodied, stay away from our house for a while. conversely, if you WANT yourself or your kids to be antibodied, feel free to come by and catch the fever.

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UPDATE: apparently it's not the pox, but a "summer virus." his high fever is supposed to go down in a few days, and an intial blood test came back normal. so now we weather the storm and do our best to comfort the bambino.

determined

this weekend was the annual st. elmo yard sale extravaganza. last year we scored some cool stuff for the baby's room, and this year we scored yet more nice stuff for the kids. the highlight is definitely the slide for the yard. mama also got some really nice prego shirts.

we didnt think Caleb would be ready for the slide until he started walking and toddling around. but I took him outside when mama was napping, and he of course was interested in it. so he crawled over and started going up the slide. he was instantly determined to reach the top, and with just a little help he made it up, quite proud of himself. he also negotiated the stairs without much problem. so after mama got up from her nap, we had him repeat the performance, and he was quite photogenic, hamming it up for the camera. more pictures here.

the other day michelle was talking with a friend who mentioned that she was reading what her mom wrote about her when she was a baby. apparently something about liking animals and staring off into the distance, both of which she still does and probably always will.

so it got me to thinking: will the traits that Caleb is now exhibiting be with him for the rest of his days? if so, I'd have to say that he is and will be quite determined. when he sees something he wants to get or do, he'll keep at it until it's done. not quite stubborn (yet), but definitely determined. if he's well fed and changed and whatnot, he has a surprising amount of resolve, without breaking down into whines and tears. climbing up the slide is just the latest example, as is reaching after a toy on the wrong side of the baby gate. since he's our first, I have no idea if this is routine baby behaviour?

there are surely good and bad things about having this trait as he grows. he'll probably figure out how to escape his crib all too soon. someday he'll probably spot a squirrel and climb to the very top of the magnolia without a second thought. hopefully he'll figure out how to get down too.

waving

Caleb has been learning how to wave, and his little efforts never cease to crack us up. and he often seems surprised at his new found abilities. so we caught some of it on video, with mama waving to him through the mirror, as he strains to see her and starts his little inward hand flap.

questions about star wars

I had star wars sheets when I was kid. ET pajamas. subscription to Odyssey. astronaut wallpaper. all my legos were of the space variety. I was into it.

but I have some questions about the latest star wars installation (most, if not all, of which have been asked elsewhere, I'm sure):

do wookies not really mind it if, for no apparent reason, you jump up and decapitate your own men? you'd think they'd at least take a step back and let out a quizzical yawp.

if you were about to deliver a dramatic retort to the bad guy, wouldnt something like "I'm for freedom" be a tad better than "I'm for democracy" ? or alternatively, go all the way and shout something like "I'm for bicameral legislation!"

did they not have ultrasound technology? and if you were pregnant with twins, wouldnt you look at least 6 months pregnant (with one)?

did the filmmakers not realize how terrible samuel jackson was? did they tell him to deliver each and every one of his lines in such a way as to make a college freshman who signed up for a bit part in south pacific just because the girls talked him into it look like a pro? ugh. he didnt die soon enough.

with a film and franchise so clearly intended for the senses and sensibilities of pre-teens, why include enough on-camera violence to score a PG-13 rating? or perhaps it was for those of us who were pre-teens in the 80s, and have been so captivated by our happy memories of zooming around the living room with our x-wings, that we stopped caring if the movies are terrible or not?

tv kids = fat kids?

it's all-too-tempting to use TV/videos as a digital babysitter. now that Caleb is crawling, sometimes we'd just like a break from all the craziness, although he usually does quite well with his toys in his room. now there is yet another reason that we shouldnt use the TV a lot, as watching too much (8 hours or more a week) has been cited as a factor for childhood obesity. check it out here. plus it'll melt his brain, and he'd much rather go outside and eat the grass anyway.

happy harvest

there's no happiness quite like a successful harvest. the snow and sugar-snap peas are at their peak, and they are quite yummy. peas have been the easiest and most successful crop we've grown. all I do is put them in the ground in February, rig the trellis system (electrical conduit held together with zip ties, with bird netting draped over), spread a little slug bait now and then, water a bit if it hasnt rained, and in the middle of May we get enough for a meal everyother day. so satisfying. here's a snow pea blossum. before I planted them, I had no idea how beautiful they were.

the tomato plants are perking up, as well as a couple cukes that I had given up on. I think the cool spring was holding them back. and once again, the peppers look terrible. we need to get more tomatos (michelle is dreaming of tomato soup, and many must be sacrificed for it) and we'll try our hand at squash again, although we anticipate the bugs to win again. hopefully they'll at least be distracted from the cukes.

skin color

we have some friends from college whose son is 2 days older than Caleb. it so happens that their son J is 1/4 African-American, so apparently that makes him "black." sadly, he and his family was the center of recent racist hatred on a racist's blog, which came to the attention of many of us here in blogland, which touched off quite a firestorm (I wont be providing links, since it will give the fools yet more attention).

anyway, the kids and moms got to hang out the other day, and of course they had a grand time and got some cute pictures. as I looked at them it became quite clear: Caleb's skin color is pretty much the same as J's, even though Caleb's heritage is 50% dutch and 50% mixed-anglo. yet Caleb will likely never be subject to all the crap that many will deal out to J and his family. in many fool's eyes, Caleb will have a "nice tan" and J will be "black."

I'm not sure what to do with these thoughts. it makes me angry and sad that they'll suffer hate and we wont. yet I know in my heart that I judge people based on appearances and prejudices too. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

my dog is cuter than your dog

and here's proof.

maybe cuteness isnt the most popular dog attribute around, but that's what Katie's got going for her, epecially when she was a pup.

dave and meadow

congratulations to Dave and Meadow, who were married yesterday in Charlotte. here are a few pictures of the adventures.

I took off work early on Friday and left mama and the baby behind for the day. I got there in time to hang out with the guys at a pretty cool bar near downtown Charlotte. the rooftop bar was just mellow enough, so we got to hang out and drink and smoke and talk about old times and new times and honeymoons and sex and whatnot.

many thanks to Meadow's parents, who let me crash at their house, along with a whole bunch of other folks, including blog friend Kristen (and Kate too). it was also good to see Ethan and Betsy (double congrats to them on a baby on the way and getting a professorship at UTK), as well as Jarod, Winship, the Crabbies, and of course Andy and Lynn. Meadow's family was really great, and it was good to see Dave's fam again too.

the service, while inordinately early, was beautiful. so much scripture (which I got to help read) and worship, and it was really cool to have Dave's dad leading. and to top it off, Jarod played the pipes for the recessional.

I really missed Michelle and Caleb a lot, and of course everyone was asking about them. it's amazing to me that I had seen Caleb every day of his life until yesterday. I left the reception a little early, hoping to make it home before his bedtime, but alas, I took an ill-advised route through the mountains. but the good part of that was it brought me through Frankin, where my old friends Scott and Satu live. as soon as I pulled up to the Whistle Stop (an antique mall and whatnot that his family runs), I ran into his sister, who was on the way to meet them for dinner, so a poor decision ended in sharing a meal with old friends.

now the race is on to our time with family this summer. we're so excited about our big road trip to be with Michelle's family at the shore, and my family at the lake. just over a month from now!

travel note

when traveling through western NC, be aware that route 64 has two distinct personalities. heading east from the TN border, the road is a little curvy in spots (especially along the Ocoee river), but it's mostly gentle climbs and descents, often with 4 lanes, making for scenic yet speedy travel. but once you hit Franklin, everything changes. suddenly you're doing violently sharp switchbacks and steep ascents and plunges, on roads that are little cared for. makes for scenic yet extremely slow travel. pouring rain doesnt help either. but once you get over the fact that you chose a poor route to get home quickly, there are some nice places to stop and enjoy the view.

another miracle

dear baby,

you're a little early, just like your big brother was. we didnt think you would show up for at least another year, but here you are, 12 weeks old in your mama's tummy, and your brother just turned 9 months old. people must think we're crazy for having another baby so soon, and I suppose that we are. while we're a little surprised, we're so excited that you're with us, and I cant wait to see you on the screen in 6 weeks, and to hold you in my arms in 6 months.

sorry it's taken a little while to write, but things are pretty busy these days. your brother is zooming around the house, getting into pretty much everything. while he's a little tiring to keep up with, he's such a joy to us, and I can hardly believe that now we have double joy!

I want you to know that even though you may be the 2nd kid, that doesnt mean you're 2nd priority. I already love you with my whole heart (just like I love your mama and brother), and you cant do anything to change that. I'm sure you'll soon see that there are good and not-quite-as-good things about being the 2nd kid, but whatever happens, we know that God has put you in our family at the exact right time.

while I know that people have babies all the time, I want you to know that you too are our little miracle. God just loves to surprise us and bless us richly, and you, my child, are indeed a blessing. I hope that you'll soon know God's blessings in Jesus, and that you'll be a blessing to everyone you meet.

now I have a request for you: will you please stop making your mama so sick? I suppose it hasnt been too bad, but throwing up in the middle of the night is never fun. also, it seems like you've got quite an appetite, and at times we wonder if there's more than one of you in there? if you are indeed plural, we'll be quite overwhelmed for a while. but maybe you're just more hungry than your brother, which wouldnt be a bad thing at all. soon we'll find our for sure if you're a yall or not.

I love you so much, and I cant wait to hold you in my arms.

love,
daddy

blogland, babies, prizes

so we got this thing in the mail. typical junk mail from a local car dealer, with a scratch-card prize winning thingy. so Michelle took it in to see if she could score a prize, and it showed up as a $1000 "on line shopping spree." woohoo!!! they told her to come back today to claim the prize, but they were rather short on details. we were hesitantly dreaming of a new digital camcorder, flat panel monitor, maybe even a new compy? well, it turns out it was a load of crap (surprise, surprise). the "spree" is only for www.selectyourgifts.com, which only sells cheap crap and charges more for shipping and handling than it's worth. but if you'd like to help yourself, feel free to log in with ID: KS97252 PW: 8665. if you'd like some magazines for $5 a year, or maybe a desktop waterfall for $7, go crazy.

oh and this is from the same car dealer that a friend of ours had quite an interesting experience with, involving police and lawyers and such. yuck. needless to say, we wont be shopping there for our transportation needs.

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congratulations to Katie and Joel on the birth of their new daughter Eden. such a cutie! the pictures make me hope for a little girl, but we'd love to have 2 boys to be able to grow up together. november seems far away, but I'm sure it'll come rather quickly. michelle's almost through the first trimester, and she's been feeling better lately. she even busted out the old sewing machine last nite.

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many thanks to Josiah and crew for the improvements to the chattablogs site. initially I wasnt too keen on some of the changes (being generally afraid of change). the new logo is cool, and I especially like the fact that on the list you can click on the entry or the blog main page. very nice. I'm still not sure about the pink, but I'll get over it. it's forced me to make the individual entry pages a little nicer too. hooray for coptix. best cheap hosting in town.

that's our boy

Caleb went for his 9 month weigh-in, and he remains in the 90th percentile in height (~30 inches) and 50th in weight (20lb, 10oz), which is about where I've been my whole life.

we've recently started him on bits of table food, as he's refusing baby mush these days. it seems like he wants to feed himself, but his will is more advanced than his skills. so we cut up bits of pears, apple, peas, sweet potato, etc and he has a good time with it. of course cherrios still remain as the favorite.

so it seems like he'll grow up looking a lot like me, and probably have more of his mama's personality. cool.

stumped

while we were at church, the furniture fairies showed up at our house. much to our bewilderment, we now have a very nice set of apparently home-made lawn seating, as well as a cool table with a clover design. we honestly have no idea where this came from and who may have left it. if some of our friends know, they at least arent telling yet. so we're stumped. any ideas? anyone?

maggie

Maggie is one of my sunday school kids, and like all of the kids in our class, she's awesome. and now she's a reporter for The Pulse. I'm just surprised she didnt mention unicorns. maybe it was edited out?

note to self

dear self,

we both know that you love your wife, but you need to remember that it's about HOW you love her. it's that whole love-languages thing. you may feel loved when she does something practical for you (like cleaning the kitchen or something), but that doesnt mean she gets all warm and fuzzy when you do the dishes for her. she appreciates it, sure, but she's gotta feel the love.

it's the big things as well as the little. pray and read with her. take some initiative. write her love notes. just remember, simply taking care of her needs doesnt equal showing her love. be a blessing to her.