Nick Pics 3: Dream Warriors

Does this shirt make me look fat?


Nicholas and cousin Hillary.


Nicholas and great Aunt Angie.


Hurry up and take it, he's going to cry at any moment!


Nicholas in dreamland.
(Just kidding.)

Indeed.

Nick Pics: Episode 2

OK, so it's been another two weeks since my last post. I've always been told that patience is its own reward. And I never really believed it either.

Moving on, Nicholas is growing and changing every day. He almost-smiles at us quite a bit now. We're still not sure if he's really happy about us playing with him or trying to fart, but we'll take anything we can get. He's generally a more pleasant creature to be around these days, despite some minor exceptions like our 40-minute scream-a-thon yesterday. For anyone with a "Maybe he's..." on the tip of their tongues, he had been given his Mylecon, he was dry, clean, fed, warm, and being held and bounced so after that I give up.

When Ian and Rachel were visiting a couple weekends ago, their son Lucian took a few opportunities to check out the scene.


This was Nick about two weeks after his birthday.


And here his is at eight weeks. This is one of my favorite images of him so far. I love his expression. So funny.


One day, Amy went to the grocery store and I stayed home to babysit. She came home to one jealous kitty.


Here he is all dressed up with nowhere to go, which is apprently quite upsetting for babies.

Happy Spring!

Who knew that the season's arrival would mean six inches of snow?





For those of you who moved to California recently (and you know who you are), consider yourselves lucky that you missed all of this. I've said previously that I like snow and I wasn't lying when I said it. But a man has limits. A man has limits.

Nicholas Alden

4:00pm, 7 pounds and 15 ounces, 19.5 inches long. I am a happy man.

Mission Oak Inn

We made it to our destination. It's a relatively new bed and breakfast called Mission Oaks Inn outside of Henry, Illinois. It is surrounded by nothing but farmland and it is connected to larger roadways by a dirt road. It was wonderful to only hear wind and birds when we got out of the car. The picture is the view from our room. The lake is man made with water diverted from a nearby creek. All of the land visible in the picture is owned by the proprietors so I expect that we'll be taking some walks, weather permitting.

Goodbye Grandma, 1918-2007

I've always looked up to her, one of my few constants in a world swirling with change. She taught me many things implicitly: how to laugh at everything, that nothing is worth taking too seriously, not to let anyone tell me what I couldn't do, the quiet power of a simple life.

Most importantly, she taught me one aspect of being a strong person. She endured. Knowing that she lived through the Great Depression, that she was a female mill worker during World War II, that she was a single mother when the title would still earn one a scarlet letter, sent me a clear message. Nothing can stop you if you don't let fear get in your way. She did not teach me that we should have no fear, but that the fear we possess can be contained if we see it for what it is.

I don't know what happens when we die, but if we get to see our whole lives stretched out before us to the horizon, I'm glad that she has seen her friends again. I'm glad that she has seen the family that she has long survived. I will miss her, but I have had her long enough.

The New (Old) Deck

It's the same as the last one, but the materials aren't rotting away. We went with the composite wood so there's very little maintainence to be done besides general cleaning. It went up so fast that we just have the pictures of the finished product! The grill is a commercial series CharBroil with a side burner. We had the natural gas conversion kit installed, too, so no propane.