Happy Early May Day

In the tank.

I'm quite bummed to say that I will not be posting on May Day.  For all you enthusiasts out there, just know I'll have my May Pole up.  We're nearing the end of an exciting school year and my first one as a full-fledged father (I don't count the in utero stuff...or should I??) It's been a challenging one, learning to balance all of our lives, but what a stellar one indeed.  I ended this weekend playing in the pit for our high school's production of Oklahoma!  It was quite enjoyable.  Now, Daniel lays asleep (mostly) in his crib dreaming of his next bottle...and probably some toys too.  

Daniel is intent on learning to stand on his head before walking.

Katie was able to get Daniel weighed this week and we're puting him at 22lbs.  I'm not sure where that puts him on percentile scale..but ya now...

I want to take a quick break from your regularly-scheduled blog update and note that I think our dishwasher is haunted...it sounds like it is hissing at me.  It's a little terrifying sitting quietly in our living room minding our own business only to be provoked by my appliance...albeit a larger one.  I might go shut it off and see who's hissing now...yes folks, I'm actually thinking about hissing at my dishwasher....but it seems to have stopped..anways.

....we're thinking that's a pretty good weight.  We'll find out at his nine-month appointment.  Which, side-note, Daniel will be 8-months this upcoming Thursday!  Big dude!  He's so flippin' mobile now.  He's just all over the place.  He's also growing up with his appetite.  He's eating more solids and doing quite well.  Shout out to my wife for all the great food she makes.  

Insert Jaws Theme

Welp, I'm wrapping it up there this week. Enjoy!

Baby Pillow.  Don't worry, neither of us are really asleep.

Now Famous in Russia

Hiya!

Alright, but seriously, folks...we had 65 page visits from Russia this week....WHO DO I KNOW IN RUSSIA???  Step forward please.  I always felt like my humor was geared more for Eastern Europe/North Asia.  I'll have to utilize more Russian...stuff...in my humor.  So, this Blog Update will be my Russian update!  Also, this will be a short update as we had a busy week...I apologize.

How you doin?

So, I'll begin unstacking this tale like a Russian Stacking Doll.  I personally had a busy weekend because of band contest stuff, but was happy to have a full week with Daniel.  He's starting to balance himself without support, but for no longer than a few seconds at a time.  He could use some balance lessons from Alexandra Shevchenko (Russian Balance Beam expert), but I digress.  Katie has a feeding class next week, so we'll get to find out how heavy he is.  We're hoping he weighs close to a pood (an old Russian measurement equivalent to about 34 lbs).  


Not a whole lot else going on with our son.  Katie had a workshop yesterday and I had a fundraiser and musical rehearsal today.  We're finishing up a very busy year.  Enjoy some pictures and we'll provide some more info next week.  As the Russians say, Пока!

Alabama Food

That's right folks, while you were eating your corn in Nebraska, I was enjoying some southern comfort food in Alabama.  I'm just kidding.  I've had some pretty amazing food in the Cornhusker state, but there was an elderly woman down south who, after hearing me exclaim how much I was loving the food, stated, "Well, that's cause you don't get food like this up in Nebraska!".  I started to tell her about Runzas, but thought I better keep my mouth shut.  

Digital native right there.

Anyways, so I did spend a good portion of this week either on the road to/from or in Alabama.  As many of you read last week, my Poppy (excuse my spelling last week, I don't usually write it out) or my Grandfather on my mother's side, passed away on Easter and I went down with my family to honor his memory.  Everything from the memorial service to the honoring of his remains was quite beautiful.  I also got to see lots of relatives I had not seen for awhile and am ashamed that I did not take more...or any...pictures.  So, most of the pictures you will see below are from Katie.  Thank you all for the kind comments in regards to the loss of my Pop.  He truly was a great man and I'm proud to be his grandson.  

Daniel's Easter gift!

I don't have much to report in terms of Daniel except that he's standing up so quickly now and crawls like it is nobody's business.  Katie has a prediction as to when he'll be walking...what do YOU think?  My cousin has a 11-month old that is about the same size as Daniel and she's walking around like crazy.  It was so funny seeing her zoom around the room (nice rhyme).  Daniel, on the other hand, just...plops...around the room.  I'm beginning to think his rear-end has some natural type of cushion...I need to go easy on the ellipsis.

Playing with his buddy Duncan. 

Along with our time in Alabama, I spent a lot of time in the car.  We drove through Kansas, Mississippi (how many of you just spelt this either outloud or in your head?), Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Illinois, and Kentucky.  We took a different way there than we did back.  I should elaborate more on some food I had.  Because of our loss, many women brought over dishes for our family...oh...wow.   Chicken Casserole, Butter Beans, Macaroni and Cheese Casserole, Fried Chicken, Potato....Casserole, Rolls, TONS of Sweet Tea, Banana Pudding, Pie, Cake, Corn on the Cob, Ham...oh yum...It was so very tasty.  C'mon, Nebraska...ball's in your court.  On a side note (but not really) I also tried grits for the first time...the jury's still out, but I ate MOST of it!  I have a pretty wonderful Nana (grandmother) who made me breakfast every morning with bacon, egg, and sausage.  It was a joy spending so much time with her and the family (I think I was 32 more pounds though). 

Riding my head like a horsy. 

While I was gone, Katie unfortunately was single mom and had to take care of Daniel while preparing for a busy weekend with her sister's baby shower going on.  It sounds like it was a great success.  Boy, I bet Daniel's excited to have another cousin to hang with!  Welp, we launch into a busy week (for me at least) with District Music Contest and our annual Pancake Feed fundraiser on Sunday.  I might be a bit delayed with my update...but we'll see! 

Daniel's cousin right there..two actually =)

New House

We did it!  We're in our new house.  I apologize for the lack of updates last week, but we signed on Friday and started moving Saturday.  Thanks to all the help from my Dad, Kate's mom and siblings, my buddy Brad, and our friends Adam and Jess.  We had most everything moved over in a whopping 2 1/2 hours.  So nice to have the help we did.  Thanks again.  I wish I had more (or any) pictures of the moving extravaganza, but it was all business (and I forgot).  

Tough.

Also, we keep failing to get a picture of us in front of our house.  I meant to get one tonight, but my memory is failing with my old age...but alas, I update you from our new bedroom in our new house.  We are completely moved in save a box.  Big kudos to Kate for getting so much accomplished this past week.  It was busy and stressful, but it's so great.

Easter Grass.

We haven't had a chance to really meet-meet our neighbors.  I yelled at a guy two houses away (to say "hello") and Kate met one of our neighbors, but other than that, we've seen very little.  We do know that one neighbor has a pool so "Project Befriend Pool Neighbors" has begun..

Playing with Aunt Tina.

Daniel's made some pretty significant progress in the past couple weeks.  Aside from sitting up on his own, he now can crawl and pull himself up to moderately-high surfaces. He's a champ at it now.  Super strong legs. 

Beautiful Easter outfits.

Today we celebrated Easter and were able to attend 10:45am service at Calvary Christian, head to Kate's folks, and host my own family evening.  Unfortunately, we are without my mother because she is in Alabama with her family as my Pop (grandpa on my mother's side) just passed away.  It is hard to write something as seemingly trivial as a blog update when you know some of the struggles they've had down there.  I will miss my Popi so much and I can't wait to tell Daniel all the great things about this man.  I am convinced that some of my greatest attributes were passed down from him through my own mother to me.  I am proud of that.  I love you, Pop and I'll certainly miss you, but thank you for everything.  

Eye-gouging.

Watching Daniel play and grow brings so much joy to my heart because it just reminds me how we all started.  I think my grandparents would be proud of who I am now and I know I'll work to do the same for my own son because I (we) owe it to them for all the adversity they overcame and work they put into raising who would eventually be our parents, the ones who most directly made me who I am.  Thank you all for the prayers and support in this situation, we will certainly miss him. 

My Pop.

Out moving

Hey all. For you hardcore peeps that check this frequently, we've been moving so this week's update might be delayed or nonexistent. Til then, here's a cute picture of our son in a bag.