2 Months in Normal Time = An Eternity With a Newborn

Wow, I can't believe it has already been 2 months since Owen joined our family. Time flies - especially with 2 kids. A lot has happened in the last couple of months. I'll get you caught up.

The day after Thanksgiving we took a trip up to Detroit to visit our friends, Andy and Rheanna, who were staying there while in the process of adopting their new little boy, and we were happy to learn that they are finally back home in Alabama. We stayed the night in the same hotel with them and shared stories and got caught up. We were envious about how quiet their little boy was compared to Owen, who apparently has just as healthy a pair of lungs as his older brother. Jake seemed to enjoy himself as well with Andy, Ranna, and "More Owen." Andy had the good fortune of sharing his name with a character in one of Jacob's favorite movies (Toy Story), so Jacob had no problems saying his name. Rheanna was trickier, but Jake did a pretty good job with it. However, when he saw Owen side by side with Brandt, his words were, "Hey, it's Owen, and more Owen."

At the beginning of December my mom came out to visit for the better part of a week to see her new grandson and his blessing. We had a good time. We paid a visit to her favorite Fudge Shop here in Columbus (Schmidt's Fudge Haus, located in the German Village, right next to Schmidt's Sausage Haus, a great German restaurant with great homemade Bratwurst and Knockwurst). We decided it might also be fun to drive up to Amish country, so we hopped into the van, but unfortunately picked the day a storm came through, so our 1 1/2 hour drive up to Berlin, Ohio, ended up taking 3 1/2 hours, and by the time we got there, we had only 30 minutes until everything closed. Then we drove 2 hours back (road conditions had improved). So we still haven't seen much of Amish country, but it was a pretty drive! On her last day, we went to the mall, because they have a nice play area that Jacob loves, and it gives him the opportunity to run around when it is too cold to go out to the park.

Leigh Ann starts back at work on the 29th, and she is worried that she has forgotten everything (which I seriously doubt). I am sure she is looking forward to getting out of the house a bit more.

With tithing settlement season in full swing, I spend a good part of my Sundays at church, as well as a couple of hours on Wednesday nights. I'll be glad to have it over and done with (and so will Leigh Ann). All in all, though, I am enjoying my calling as ward financial clerk. And as long as the audits go well, the bishopric is happy to keep me in my calling.

Next week we head down to Chattanooga to spend Christmas with Leigh Ann's family. The fact that gas prices are down to a comfortable level is particularly nice as we face the 8-hour car drive ahead of us. Things got pretty easy with Jacob on long trips - especially since we got the van with the DVD player. Now we are back to having a newborn, and they can make road trips take just a bit longer.

Next year we anticipate making a trip, sometime near the end of the year, to Utah for my brother Richard's upcoming wedding.

That is about all there is to update on.

I can't think of a new title

Here is a picture of my 3 favorite people in the world. Need I say more?
Leigh Ann thought this would be a good picture. Owen was sound asleep, but clutching onto her finger.
Already these two are spending time together . . . watching TV. If you notice, there is a red spot on the couch next to Jake's head. He snagged our "I voted" stickers from us on election day, and this is one of them.
Not my favorite picture of me, but I guess you have to take these as well. I was trying to get Jake to put down the sippy cup and smile for the camera - he is getting more difficult to get to pose for a picture.
And finally, Jake with chicken nuggets crammed in his mouth. Jacob has become quite the picky eater. He didn't end up eating this chicken. Lately, unless it has cheese as a major ingredient, he won't have much to do with it.

They change so much at this age!

They really do change so much when they are little! Just look how different Owen looks just 2 weeks old!

Okay, so obviously that isn't Owen. Jacob, it turns out, has some very strong nurturing instincts! In the last week, he has been carrying his Buzz Lightyear doll around like it is his baby, copying everything we do with Owen. He brought Buzz up to me the other day and told me Buzz had "tinky poopies" (stinky poopies). He went and got one of Owen's diapers and the baby wipes, and proceeded to wipe him, then had us help him put a diaper on him. Then he will lay him down on the stairs and put a blanket on him. Periodically, he'll tell us to hush, because Buzz is sleeping.

Mike: Jacob, where is Buzz?

Jacob: Buzz is seeping, right dere.

He also puts his favorite blanket (it has Tigger on it) on a stool in the bathroom, because it also gets tired.

Mike: Jacob, where's your Tigger blankie?

Jacob: Tigger bwankie is seeping in cwoset (the downstairs bathroom is the closet). He too tired.

For some reason, his Woody doll doesn't get a diaper, but he also takes a nap, underneath a little wicker waste basket we keep in the living room.

Owen just had his 2 week doctor's check-up, and is doing great. He has put on almost a complete pound since his birth - now up to 8 lb. 9 oz. He is progressing well. He sleeps better than Jacob, but spits up a little more than him.

Well, that is the latest update.

More video of our two favorite little boys

Alright, here is another video. We shot this at the same time as the other video - the day Owen was born. This was his first time meeting his big brother, Jacob. Jacob's grandparents (Leigh Ann's parents) brought him to visit. Jake did great!

Each one is unique

I know I am jinxing us by posting this, but already we have noticed some glaring differences between our two boys. Jacob would only sleep for 4 hours tops in the middle of the night when he was a newborn. It was probably 4 months before he first slept a good 8-hour stretch. With Owen, already he is sleeping for 5 or 6 hours at night. The other night, after feeding him at 11:30pm and expecting to be up again at 2:30am, we were both surprised when he first started crying at 4am. Then two nights ago, we fed him at midnight, and at 6am Leigh Ann was nudging me awake, asking whether it had been 3 hours yet since I had fed him. I answered that I had not fed him since the midnight feeding - he had gone 6 hours!

Of course now that I am bragging about this, we will be back to every 3 hours. But it has been nice.

In contrast, Jacob was still playing in his room over an hour after I put him to bed last night. I went to go put him back in bed, and asked him what was wrong. His response was classic Jacob!
Mike: Hey Jake, how come you're not sleeping?
Jacob: I too hungry, right here (pointing with his finger to his mouth).
Mike: You're too hungry?
Jacob: Yep. (Jacob is usually a man of few words).
Mike: How come you didn't want to finish your dinner earlier?
Jacob: No, too hungry. How 'bout fwoot nacks (fruit snacks)?
Mike: No, not tonight. You can wait until breakfast, okay?
Jacob: Okay.

On another humorous note, for some reason our eldest son has developed a fascination for the Disney movie "Sleeping Beauty." We have never shown it to him - Bevans, are you responsible for this? - and we don't know where it comes from. The other day, he saw a commercial on TV announcing that Disney has re-released it on DVD, and Jacob got excited and started talking about "Seepy Booty." I got so cracked up. His grandma Rice in California sent him an old book we had with various stories from Disney movies, and every night now Jacob wants me to read "Seepy Booty." We are almost to the part with the dragon, and he is getting excited.

The fun never ends.

Our Boys!

Here are some new pictures of our boys. You can see the contrast between 3-year old Jacob and newborn Owen. Both just as cute, though.





Alright, here is the first video of Owen. We shot it at the hospital, but I just got around to getting it on the computer and compressed for the web.

As Jacob talks more and more, we are being treated to more and more of those phrases you hear from kids that just make you laugh. This is our current favorite:

(Jacob, sitting on the floor, surrounded by books that he is looking through)

Mike: Hey Jacob, it's almost time for bed. Are you ready to go night night?

Jacob: No, I too reading.

Mike: You're too reading?

Jacob: Yeah.

Saying he is too anything is Jacob's current excuse to not have to do anything, and he will run through several options till he finds one that gets him out of whatever he should be doing.

Some of our favorites for not going to bed: too hungry, too tired, too wet, too light, too dark

And for not taking a bath: too wet, too dry, too bubbles, too scary

Never a dull moment with a 3-year old.

Meeting big brother Jake!

Well, it looks like we may very well be checking out by tomorrow afternoon. Because of that, Leigh Ann's parents went ahead and brought Jacob to the hospital this evening to meet his new baby brother. We were worried about how he would adjust to the new competition for Mama and Dada's attentions. To our immense relief, he came walking into the hospital room asking "Where baby Owen?" He showed quite a bit of interest in the baby - obviously he wasn't quite as excited as the rest of us, but that was partly due to the fact that he could see lots of trees and cars from our window, which overlooks the Columbus city skyline.

On his ride home, Leigh Ann's mom called to tell us that he was repeatedly singing "baby Owen" to the tune of the Jeopardy theme song (yes, my son is a nerd! He enjoys watching Jeopardy with me, and will "sing" along with the tune during final jeopardy). So far so good!

More pictures of Owen

More pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Announcing - Owen Thomas Fuller

So apparently this little guy, in addition to inheriting stubbornness from both his Cate and Fuller lineages, is also impatient. Saturday started out fine. We had some errands we wanted to run before the big day this coming Thursday. We got some grocery shopping done, we got some things at Walmart and Joann's, and then we got some take-out dinner from O'Charley's prior to our friends the Bevans dropping their daughter off for us to watch. Leigh Ann felt a little uncomfortable, but chalked it up to having done a bit too much walking. But then (I'll spare you the details, which I'm sure Leigh Ann appreciates) the situation was such that Leigh Ann decided to call her doctor. Next thing we know, the Bevans are picking up not only their daughter, but our son as well, and we are off to the hospital for observation.

Well, turns out that Leigh Ann's water has broken and she was having some minor contractions. So in we go. We got to the hospital around 10pm. Her initial contractions subsided, so they went ahead and induced her. Things were pretty slow from midnight until around 5am, when they picked up just a little, but not a lot. The nurse decided that maybe having Leigh Ann sit up would encourage the little guy to get a move on - and boy did it. In the space of about 15 minutes, she went from not even halfway there to not being able to not push. Before the doctor could even get there, the moment had arrived, and so, at 6:19am, Owen Thomas Fuller was delivered after only 2 strong pushes by a 2nd year resident. He weighed in at 7 pounds 10.3 ounces, with a healthy set of lungs.

Leigh Ann and I are dead tired. We'll keep you posted.

Friday Musings

So I have come to realize that a lot of others will post random musings on their blogs, not just the latest family happenings. I decided I would attempt it as well, to add some variety to this blog.

I thought I would take some space here to post some thoughts on something I am quite fond of . . . food. I am especially fond of it since my being diagnosed with diabetes and my diet that I have been on for several months now (absence does make the heart grow fonder).

These are some things I very much enjoy.

Barbecue. Alright all you non-Southerners, I'm not talking about anything that is cooked on a grill, I mean barbecue, which is pork - or pulled pork. I have my favorites, but I will try anything. Give me my choice, and I will ask for Dreamland (their ribs are fantastic as well). I got hooked on this stuff while living in Birmingham, AL, and swore that I would die with a rib lodged in an artery.

Ice cream. Thank heavens there have been major advances in the no sugar added variety lately, because I would die if I could no longer enjoy the stuff.

Chocolate. I've always liked chocolate, but my time in Switzerland on my mission brought me to new levels. The Lindt brand (especially the Pistachio) still is my favorite, but I also liked a Swiss brand called Frey. In a pinch, a good Rittersport or Milka bar was also good. Milka is a German brand, and the first place I served on my mission, Loerrach, was a small town in southwestern Germany that had a Milka factory. When the wind blew just right, the whole town smelled like brownies. This was absolute torture on Fast Sundays.

Cheese. While on my mission, one of my companions and I went on a quest to try the stinkiest cheeses we could find - anything with the word "mountain (Berg)" in the name was always a pretty good bet. I suppose I am partial to the Swiss varieties (Emmental, Appenzell, Gruyere), but I am also fond of some others, including Mozarella, Cheddar, Tilsiter, Edam, Gouda, and Parmesan.

Fondue. Another love I developed in Switzerland. While I have never actually had a dessert fondue (I made one disastrous attempt at some diabetic-friendly chocolate fondue once that looked and tasted like mud - just ask Leigh Ann, or our friends Andy and Rheanna Stevens), I have tried several others. I am particularly fond of cheese fondue - primarily a good Gruyere and Emmental blend, or an Appenzell fondue - but I also like meat fondues, especially Fondue Bourguignonne and Fondue Chinoise. Similarly, I also was introduced to, and love, Raclette, a dish where you melt slices of a special cheese (Raclette cheese) in a special oven, then scrape it over foods, particularly potatoes.

Seafood. My favorite freshwater fish is Rainbow Trout. I love it. But I also like most seafood. I prefer fresh, but I also like the fish and chips that I can get at our local Bag of Nails pub-style restaurant. Scoma's on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco remains a favorite.

German food. Luckily Columbus has a German village, which contains a nice restaurant called Schmidt's Sausage Haus. They make their own Bratwurst and Garlic Knockwurst, and they are excellent. I usually just take advantage of their all-you-can-eat buffet, which features all their sausages, a great sausage stew, as well as German potato salad, Sauerkraut, and Rotkohl (red cabbage). For some reason, though, my son hates the place, and become hysterical everytime he goes there. Needless to say, it has been some time since I have eaten there. One of these days maybe we'll figure out what his problem is there.

Those are the highlights.

Time is running out

Well, we are now in the final stretch. Leigh Ann's doctor has scheduled her to be admitted to the hospital a week from today to be induced. We are supposed to arrive at 8pm. Why so late? Who knows. My own personal theory is that it may take some time, and going in at 8pm means that it is less likely that this kid will be born in the middle of the night - which is nice for the doctor. We went into the hospital at 4pm for Jacob, and he wasn't born until 4am - the doctor showed up around 3:30am. So I'm guessing our doctor would rather not have to show up at such an early hour. I don't completely blame her - she is also pregnant, and due the week after, so what pregnant woman at the end of her third trimester would want to trudge out in the dead of night?

Of course, Leigh Ann will be up all night. She is really hoping that what they say is true, that the second birth goes quicker than the first, and that she won't have to go 12 hours again. We will also be sure and get her a big meal before we show up. We didn't think ahead last time, and she hadn't eaten since noon the day of, so she went almost 24 hours before getting anything decent to eat - ice chips don't really cut it, especially when your diabetic husband, who has to eat, is munching on something over in the corner (speaking hypothetically of course).

Leigh Ann has a different doctor this time around, so we don't get to go to the more convenient St. Ann's hospital that is closer, rather we have to drive downtown to OSU hospital. I've heard it is a nice facility, but the idea of having to go downtown doesn't appeal to me.

3 Years and Counting!

So we have reached another birthday with Jacob! Actually, this one came almost a week late. I was in San Antonio, Texas, for an international HCV conference from last Sunday until Thursday, so I wasn't actually in town for his birthday on Monday the 6th. We decided to wait until Saturday to celebrate. Leigh Ann's mom came into town to stay with Leigh Ann while I was gone, in case munchkin number 2 decided to make an early entrance into the world, and her dad took the opportunity to pay a visit to his company's office in northern Ohio. I got back on Thursday night, and Leigh Ann's father arrived Friday night, so we had the party Saturday morning.

Jacob was excited when he came downstairs. We had his presents set up on the table, along with some balloons. What did Jacob love? The balloons. His Grandma Rice sent him lots of tractors and a couple of tractor books, which he loves. His Grandma Cate and Daddy Cate (these are all his names for them) brought him a Backyardigan's DVD and music CD (Jake still loves Pablo) and some more Thomas trains. We bought him a little Thomas the Tank Engine tent to play in. He proceeded to pile all of his toys into the tent to play with. But at the end of the day, what did he love the most? That's right, the decorations - the balloons. Helium-filled balloons are just about the coolest things a little boy could get.




This last month has been a doozy in terms of sickness. The week before I had to leave, Jake came down with pink eye. Leigh Ann and I were frantic to not catch it - me because I had to go to a conference and present a talk, Leigh Ann because she had to work her last weekend before her maternity leave, and didn't want to expend any more PTO.

Neither of us got pink eye. However, on my flight down to San Antonio, I came down with a killer cold, and spent most of my time in San Antonio in my hotel room nursing a fever. When I returned, I found Leigh Ann also was starting to come down with it. We now both look very pathetic and have nagging coughs that we are trying to get rid of. We're hoping that everybody will be back in good health shortly, as we are less than 2 weeks from the due date for our second energetic little boy.

Jacob continues to increase his vocabulary. More and more he is sounding intelligible - although he still clings to certain false words, even though he can say the right thing. Specifically, the work that he uses to replace both look and work is "merk." Oh well, one step at a time.

A message to Amama Cate, Daddy Cate, and Amama Rice

We shot this video a while back on our video camera (my birthday gift the year Jacob was born), but I have only recently downloaded it onto my computer. I was compiling all the videos for the last year, and seeing this clip, we thought the grandparents might like to see it!

So our family took a trip at the end of last month to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. We spent half a week there with Leigh Ann's family, staying in a cabin in Pigeon Forge. We lucked out with beautiful weather, and had a great time. Being in the mountains was a great feeling - although it made the flatness of central Ohio all the more stark. One day we took a drive up to Clingman's Dome. This first picture is of the 3 of us sitting on the Tennessee/North Carolina state line at Newfound Gap, not far from the Dome.
We then drove further up to Clingman's Dome, where we had a picnic lunch.
Finally, this picture was taken off of our back balcony at the cabin - giving you a pretty good idea why they call them the Smoky Mountains - this was early one morning.
Jacob behaved perhaps the best he has ever done on a long trip. We enjoyed eating at Bubba Gump's in Gatlinburg on our first night - Leigh Ann has been craving their stuffed shrimp ever since she had it while visiting San Francisco during our honeymoon.

We also took a tram ride up to Ober Gatlinburg. Jacob enjoyed the long tram ride up and back. He was also excited to see that they had real bears up at the top. Ober Gatlinburg has a series of amusement park-style rides. Leigh Ann's brother Brian and I took the opportunity to ride the alpine slide they had there. We bought Jacob a stuffed black bear, which he loves, and after helping him realize it was not a cat (when he first got it, he kept making meowing sounds), he now affectionately calls it "Smokyabear."

We were all sad to leave, but Leigh Ann and I were grateful to not have to share a room any longer with a little boy that enjoys getting up earlier than we do. Unfortunately, several of us seem to have picked up something in the air up there, and we then spent much of the next week with intestinal flus (I'll spare you all the grisly details - suffice it to say it was no picnic).

First trip to a carnival

Every year we have a jazz and blues festival in downtown Gahanna, Ohio. Last year we only strolled around to see what all they had at it, and found that, in addition to the music and food, they also have a carnival set up. This year we decided to take Jake to his first carnival - it was a mixed bag.

We only had a couple of hours to spend before Leigh Ann and I were dropping him off with friends so we could have a night out. They had 4 rides specifically for kids, but the only one Jacob wanted anything to do with was a car ride (a bunch of cars that go round and round - kind of like a merry-go-round, just with cars). He had to sit in the red car that looked like Lightning McQueen (from the Disney/Pixar movie "Cars"). He had a blast. Then he insisted that we ride the ferris wheel. Leigh Ann couldn't ride it (pregnant), so I went with Jacob. Once we were locked in, I knew it was not going to be a fun ride. He really didn't like the starting and stopping as they loaded everybody on (especially not when we were stuck at the top). He quieted down once we started moving, but not for long. He was more than ready to get off once it finally stopped!

We thought that another trip on the car ride would calm him, but he was in full break-down mode, so Leigh Ann made the executive decision to also introduce him to one of the wonders of our modern culinary world - cotton candy!

As you can imagine, Jacob did love the cotton candy. Initially he would only lick it, but we finally convinced him he needed to take big "Cookie Monster" bites so he would be done by the time we had to drop him off with our friends and their daughter Abby. Jake loved this stuff! Leigh Ann repeatedly asked him if she could try some, but he would pull it away and cry, "No, my turn!" We have had marvelous success teaching him about sharing!

Jacob continues to grow up. His vocabulary is growing daily, and more and more of it is actually intelligible. Leigh Ann is progressing with pregnancy number two. Standing for long periods of time and picking Jacob up is getting harder, but she's still insisting on doing everything she did before.

Here are pics of Jacob with his cotton candy (if you look closely at the one in the van, you can see that his mouth is blue and pink).

A New Bed and a New Baby . . . .

So last week we finally switched Jacob over to a normal twin size bed, in order to free up the mattress on his toddler bed to go back in the crib that will be soon needed. Jacob transitioned very well from crib to toddler bed - he loved having the freedom of getting in and out whenever he wanted (especially to go grab toys!), and yet we never had a lot of problems with him getting out of bed, or coming out of his room before he was supposed to.

So just as with the toddler bed, Jacob loves his new bed. It is still a bit high for him, and we have had to put a little step stool next to it so he can climb in, but he thinks it is the greatest thing. The morning after his first night on it, after finishing breakfast, he headed back upstairs to repeatedly climb in and out of the bed. We bought bedding, but he still prefers to sleep on top of the covers with his old Cars blanket! We'll also go in to check on him before we go to bed, and he has usually moved off of the pillow.

Last Saturday, Jacob and I spent a couple of hours at a local antiques mall while Leigh Ann was able to get away for a few hours with her friend (some relaxing shopping time without the kids). I enjoy looking for vintage shaving equipment, and we were also hoping we might find a cheap headboard to go on Jacob's bed. What we did find was a Woody doll (from Toy Story) and Jacob is obsessed with him. So obsessed, in fact, that I had a little trouble getting him out! After finding Woody, it then became his obsession to find Buzz Lightyear. Over and over, he kept holding up Woody saying, "Hi Woody, where Buzz? I no see Buzz. Wherezee?" Every day, he checks with Woody at least once to see if there have been any Buzz sightings. Needless to say, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 have now moved near the top of his favorite movies to watch.

In other news, we went in for Leigh Ann's 20 week appointment and ultrasound on Thursday. The doctor said that everything looks just fine, and we are still on schedule for a due date of October 25. Her doctor said that we can be fairly confident of the due date, because she is due 5 days later, and she doesn't want to be delivering our kid in between her own contractions. So we will keep you all posted on the progress.







Oh, and by the way, we are having another boy!

At long last - new pictures

As promised, here are some recent pics of our little man. Jacob has become quite the talker as of late, and more and more of it is actually understandable (at least to us!). He now knows how to say his own name, although he has modified it (he says something like Adger). He is fascinated by phones right now, and has claimed Leigh Ann's and my last phones. He pretends to make calls, and always announces himself by saying, "Hi, a me, Adger." Translation: Hi, it's me, Jacob.

Jacob just tonight transitioned into a regular bed. So that we could have the mattress in his toddler bed back for the crib that we will soon need, we went about getting a bed. He was very excited tonight when he saw the new bed. It is a bit too high for him still, but we put a little step next to it, and he easily climbed up. He didn't want to sleep with regular sheets and a blanket, so he ended up sleeping on top of the covers with his faithful Cars blanket!

He keeps us busy, as always. We keep trying to get him used to the idea of a younger sibling, but he doesn't react favorably. We have finally brought him to the realization that there will be a new baby, and currently it is in Mommy's tummy. Frequently now, whenever tummys are discussed, Jacob will let anybody within earshot know that Mommy has a baby in her tummy. When Leigh Ann first told him this, he went over and lifted her shirt a little to see if he could see the baby!

He is quite the character. He will do anything if he thinks it will give him a laugh. I ask him, when he has obviously got a dirty diaper, if his diaper is poopy, and he promptly responds, "No, no puppies." I'll say, "But Jake, you smell stinky." He then replies, "No, no tinky puppies." I am torn. On the one hand, he is not telling the truth, and I want to teach him that is wrong, but at the same time, I can't keep a straight face as he tells me he doesn't have any stinky puppies in his pants, and it might confuse him if I tried to punish him while laughing.

Anyways, enjoy these new pics!

Gone for a while

Sorry, I have slacked off a bit in posting on here. It has been almost 2 months since my last post. I will try to get the newest info up before too long, and pictures of everybody's favorite Fuller kid.

Incidentally, we go in on the 12th to find out what baby #2 will be. Stay tuned . . .

Walking in Dada's Shoes!

At long last . . .

As promised, here are new pictures of everyone's favorite little Fuller boy! Jacob has had quite the last month. After discovering his absolute fear of the dark, we have gone from a night light to keeping his closet light on, and we are finding he is sleeping better! Why didn't we discover this sooner? Well, Jacob is an interesting little boy. If he is really sad or scared and will start crying, you won't hear him. Chances are, if you can hear him, he is faking to get his way on something. Needless to say, he was not being loud about this fear. Things are much better now.

Leigh Ann and I had the opportunity to make our annual trip to Scali's Restaurant for our anniversay on Saturday. This has got to be the best Italian cuisine I have ever had. My favorite (actually, the only thing I have ever gotten there) is the Brasciole. You have to love steak, ham, and mozarella, but if you do, this is heaven on a plate. The Chicken Marsalla gets two thumbs up from Leigh Ann. Afterwards we went out and saw the very romantic movie, "I Am Legend." I thought it was a great movie, Leigh Ann liked it as well, but said it was kind of freaky and made her nervous! I would recommend it.

And Then There Were . . . 4!

Alright, we have been keeping pretty tight-lipped about it until now, but I guess it is time that we can make the announcement. We are expecting our second child! Leigh Ann just had her first appointment today, and the baby is just a hair (literally) under 3 cm long, putting us just shy of 10 weeks. The estimated due date is October 25. We must have a thing for October babies - Jacob was born October 6.

We've known for about a month now, but wanted to put off a widespread announcement until the first official doctor's visit. Jacob, our ever amusing and crazy 2-year old, does not seem that excited about the prospect of sharing the house with another child. Whenever we ask him if he wants a baby brother or sister, he promptly says no! Oh well, you can't blame him. He's had the run of the place for over 2 years now. That's a lot of power to have to give up!

Leigh Ann, of course, is waiting for the fun of the first trimester to end! We are celebrating our 4th anniversary this Saturday (technically it was the 26th, yesterday, but we both worked, and since she I work days and she works nights, it meant we had a total of maybe an hour together) - and she is hoping that she will be able to enjoy our favorite Italian restaurant here in Columbus - Scali's.

I know I have been a slacker about posting in the last little while - I'll try to keep more up to date, especially as the pregnancy rolls along!

Jake and Dada

Sometimes for fun, I can entertain Jake with the built in camera on my Mac laptop computer. With the Photo Booth program, he can see on the screen what the camera sees, and he enjoys watching things on the screen. I can usually get him to smile this way, since he doesn't really think of it as a camera. So I snapped some pictures the other night of him and I. We had been having a good old time, playing some Backyardigans games on the Nick Jr. website. Actually, I played the game, and he sat there enthralled, thinking it was an actual episode, and wanted another when the game was over. Leigh Ann also found a Blue's Clues game and played it with him the next night. It still amazes me how utterly he loves those shows, Blue's Clues especially. He constantly walks around the living room with his official notebook, looking for clues, then goes and sits in his thinking chair.
We are all doing well. I was supposed to take a trip down to Galveston, Texas, over a week ago for a conference, and from there go to Lafayette, Louisiana, for an experiment. But the experiment got canceled at the last minute, and I came home unexpectedly. The experiment has been re-scheduled for this coming Tuesday, the 12th, so I am heading back down that Monday. I know, you are all wondering what there is to do in Lafayette. Keep wondering. As far as I know, there is nothing to do, other than go down for my experiment. It is close to Avery Island, though, where Tabasco sauce is made.
Leigh Ann's parents were able to come up and stay with her and Jacob while I was gone, which was a big help for Leigh Ann.

I thought I would also show you Jacob's Santa pictures from last year. If you go back and look at those from last year, you will see that Jacob was definitely less excited about seeing Santa this year than he was last year.

End of the year Wrap-up

Alright, so I know I haven't posted in a while, and I apologize. Everything always seems to get turned on its head around the holidays, and we seem to just now be getting back into the normal rhythm.
In November my family came out for Thanksgiving. David flew here from Korea, Richard from Utah, and Mom and Clyde from California. We had a great Thanksgiving meal in our little home. We were surprised that our first Thanksgiving turkey went so well. We took David to see the Kirtland temple, because he arrived a full day before everybody else, and the others had already seen it. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we all went to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, which was very impressive. Jacob did amazingly well!
This year for Christmas we decided Jacob was big enough to put the regular big tree up. The Sunday before Christmas, Leigh Ann snapped a picture of Jacob and I, already for church.
One of Jacob's new Christmas gifts was a new Crayola Color Wonder coloring book, with the "Cars" theme. Everybody who know Jacob that, at least at the time, he had two obsessions - Cars and Blue's Clues.
And to follow up, for Christmas, we found Jacob an inflatable Blue's Clues Thinking Chair. He had a lot of fun with it down in Chattanooga with Leigh Ann's parents (where we spent Christmas). Unfortunately, the chair could not withstand the requirements put upon it, and seems to have sprung a leak. I am trying to identify the leak and seal it up, because he loved the chair, as you can see in this picture and in the video below. All in all, it was a very busy holiday season, but we had a lot of fun visiting with family, and while we were down in Chattanooga, we took the opportunity to meet up with some of our Birmingham friends - Andy and Rheanna Stevens and Holly Woods - down in Gadsden at the Cracker Barrel. Jacob continues to amaze us with how well he handles the long drive to and from Tennessee.




With the new year comes new challenges. The latest, and biggest, is our quest to potty train Jacob. So far it is going slowly, as he is not that keen on the idea of having to go to the toilet to do his business, rather than just using a simple diaper. At the very least, he seems to be learning bladder control, as he will hold it in as long as he has underwear on, and then let it go the second we put him in his trainer pull-ups for nap time and at night for bed.
We hope you all have a great new year, and we'll continue to post the news and progress of our young family.

Love,
Mike, Leigh Ann, and Jacob