A chip of the old block...

My oldest son shares so many characteristics with his dad (I will have to apologize to him about that at some point!) One of them is his tendency to sing at all times (and make up lyrics that fit his immediate situation or observations.) When this started, I initially told him to stop making so much noise; however, I realized how hypocritical it was of me to do so. I also realized what a gift it is to be able to sing and make up lyrics on the spot to fit the moment. More and more I am realizing that I have been (and still am, sadly) a controlling parent. Many of the things that I get after my boys about are simply my exerting control over them. It is a continual struggle for me to know when I need to "intervene" and when I am only doing so to satisfy my own controlling need. At least I am solidly on the first step: recognizing that I have a problem!

To end on a happy note, 2 things:

First, my 8 & 1/2 month-old daughter stood by herself for just over 10 seconds this past weekend! She will be walking really soon!

Second, in honor of making up new lyrics to catchy tunes:



With a song in my heart,
Brad

Back to work...

School hasn't officially started yet, but I am back on campus fairly regularly now. I have meetings of all kinds and I am trying to be a little better prepared for the start of this semester than I have been in semesters past (not looking promising!)

I do, however, have something to look forward to this semester - besides the genuine thrill I get from teaching (I am serious about that!) - we are going to Utah for Christmas and New Year's! Just got the tickets last night! We were initially going to get a flight that connected from Philadelphia through Houston to Salt Lake City; however, we waited until Wednesday to purchase the tickets because we had heard that airlines post new and good deals on Wednesdays. Our wait paid off. For just $2 more per ticket we found a non-stop from Philadelphia to Salt Lake City! We were also able to use our credit card rewards to purchase one of the tickets, so we only needed to pay for three (our daughter is still young enough to not require a seat.) I am so looking forward to being with family for Christmas. It will be the first time most of them have seen our daughter in person (she'll be 1 - and probably walking!) They will also be amazed at how tall the boys are (and how old and gray I look.)

Looking forward to December,
Brad

Murphy's Law...

My daughter has only fallen off of our bed twice. The first time was several weeks ago - that's when we realized we had to "barricade" her in during her naps. The second time was today - the day she is supposed to go to JCPenny's for pictures. She's fine, but I hope the bump on her forehead isn't too bad!

Plus it is pouring rain,
Brad

She's growing up too fast...

My 7-month old daughter can now crawl up the stairs! This morning she crawled over to the bottom of our staircase and pulled herself up to standing position. She's been doing this for about 2 weeks, but she has never attempted to climb up the stairs. Her first efforts came up about an inch or two short - she was trying to get her foot onto the step. This is how she crawls most of the time - on her hands and feet, not her knees. Once she figured out that she could put her knee on the step and pull the rest of her body up, she was on her way. The boys were totally excited and cheered her on all the way up. Mommy was playing the "safety" role while I recorded it with our video camera. It's both exciting and sad to see her achieve these developmental milestones.

I guess I had better put up some child safety gates!
Brad

A moment to brag...

Monday night, or rather, early Tuesday morning our daughter woke up and would not go back to sleep. Normally my wife can nurse her back to sleep. If that doesn't work I will rock her, either in the glider or walking around the house, until she falls back asleep. Well, after 30 minutes of walking/rocking she was not going back to sleep. Just as I was headed back to our room with her, she shuddered twice. This is one of her signals that she needs to go potty. So that's where we went and that's what she did.

Initially, I was somewhat annoyed that she had kept us awake at such an early hour just so she could go potty in the toilet. However, she kept us awake because she did not want to go potty in her diaper - she wanted to go in the toilet. That's amazing! I'd say I'm proud of her, but I overheard our primary president giving someone a lecture last Sunday on how there is no such thing as righteous pride - it is all evil. Even Heavenly Father says "in whom I am well pleased", not "in whom I am proud."

We just finished going through our boys' clothes and switching out the smaller sizes for the next sizes up. They are growing so freakin' fast! Fortunately, the need for more clothes was not too overwhelming. The need for shoes was, however. My older boy only has a pair of crocs that fit him. His brother has a pair of Sunday shoes, a pair of leather sandals, and a pair of crocs. Fortunately it is summer, and the younger one never wears running shoes if he has sandals.

Our organizing of the boys' clothes is part of our new Summer Schedule. Since I no longer have a class schedule around which to organize my day - and after spending a week haphazardly taking on the "to-do-list" with minimal success - we decided to schedule out our day on an hourly basis using our Google Calender. It has given us a new sense of purpose and given me a little extra boost of energy to get things done. I just need to work on getting up at 6am to exercise.

I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful.
I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful.
I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful.

-Brad

So much to catch up...

1. We closed on our house last Tuesday.
2. We found out we are having a girl on Thursday.
3. We finished packing everything up on Friday.
4. We moved everything into the new house and officially vacated the apartment on Saturday.
5. I taught the priesthood lesson on Sunday.
6. We all came to OCC today.

OK, some details...

Our ward members really came through on our move. Two people helped us pack up on Friday and about a dozen helped us move on Saturday. Because of all their help, it only took us 3 hours to move everything from the apartment to the house. Of course, now we have to organize everything!

The whole family was there for the ultra-sound on Thursday. It was really cool to see her little arms, hands and heart. When the tech said it looked like a girl, the greatest feeling came over me. My wife and I had suspected that it was a girl, and we were hoping for one. The boys are so excited to have a little sister, and I think they'll make great older brothers.

Well there it is for now. We've got a lot of work ahead of us as we settle into the new place, so you may not hear from me too often (so nothing new there!) I'll try to keep everyone informed as big events take place.

The happy homeowner,
Brad

2 houses and a baby...

Well, most of you know by now that in addition to buying a new house we are expecting our third child. The due date (for the baby) will give us another December baby. The two boys both came two weeks early, so there is a very slight possibility it will come as early as late-late-November. More likely it will come in the first half of December. We announced it to our boys last night and my older son spent all of choir rehearsal asking people "have you heard the news?" He even took the ultra-sound pictures so that people could see. Even this morning, both the boys are still chatting about how excited they are and how they wish the baby was already here (to which my wife added her whole-hearted agreement!)

As for the house, everything is on track for our July 11th closing date. I guess that means we should start packing. We really haven't yet. After the 24th of June our schedule will get even more busy! Hopefully this is the last move for several years (or decades.)

In other news, my wife and I have become fans of House. I absolutely love Hugh Laurie! Of course, I am much better than most fans of House in that I appreciated Hugh during his "artistic" phase before he became a star on Fox:



And the classic "Well.......and call me....." line:


Perhaps I need a YouTube Blackadder marathon,
Brad