DC is Beautiful

Especially in the spring.

Owen and I spent time on the Mall today lounging in the sun and stretching out little baby legs after subjecting them to some vaccinations (ouch!)

It was amazing.

If you have never been to DC in the spring please try.  Come during the peak cherry blossoms.  There will be no parking and people everywhere but the puffy pink clouds resting on every tree in sight makes it totally worth it.

I love being in school and contributing to work that helps people but there is NOTHING, nothing, nothing, nothing like spending time with the people I love most and watching this little guy grow.  

Family Visit

The snow brought us some visitors! See...it's not all dreary!

Leslie, Taylor and DT all came for a too-short and we took advantage of the time with family to see some winter sights in DC. The icy, white background was perfect for some family shots (ummm...I'm starting to feel like a commercial but I PROMISE he doesn't pay me) and we managed to book a last minute session with GI.

Owen and Poobah

We lost Jon and DT for awhile in the museum and can not be held responsible for the results of our boredom.

My niece is so beautiful. And smart, funny, kind - just all around awesome. I'm always so glad to get to spend time with her.

The guys showing off their biceps. :)

It was a really fun trip. Thanks for flying all the way out here guys...let's do it again soon!

13 Happy Months!

We've crossed to the 'other side' - the end of infant years and beginning of toddlerhood.  But I love this small tradition, this little marking of the passing of time and celebration of growth. 

 So here is Owen at 13 months. 

With his best buddy (much to our chagrin) Zoe.  I'm pretty sure that kitty cat will be his first word other than dada.

  

Toddling is turning to speed walking

7 teeth almost to 8

Babbles and laughs take on more meaning

Baby mush giving way to a more developed and particular palate

Independence slowly growing...

And life is getting more fun.

Birthday Party!

We had a small birthday celebration for Owen with my family about a week before his actual birthday - just right for a little one-year old. Cupcakes and tacos made it feel warm and cozy on a cold January day.

Describe (who else!) was on hand to capture some sweet moments with all the kids. We're planning on doing a big photo shoot with the whole family (once the newest arrives) and wanted to use this as a dry run for handling the logistics for a big group. This is just a handful from the afternoon but they all came out wonderfully.

Life really is this much fun.

Happy Birthday Owen!

Flexuous

Gina and I go to yoga on Wednesday nights.  Jon plays hockey - I practice yoga.  He bashes people into walls going 20+ miles an hour - I center myself in quiet contemplation.  And we are soul mates, go figure.

During one particular pose we were all splayed out on the floor, legs and arms pointing in all directions, resembling something like a sad, rejected pretzel that didn't make it all the way through the machine.   Right after our instructor warned that we may experience leg cramps at this point she also said...

Some poses are not meant as much for the stretch as they are for you to practice your response to the discomfort.

Apparently true yoga starts the moment you want it to stop.

And oh boy - did I want it to stop.  Especially when later we were left squatting in an imaginary chair with our arms up over our heads and my legs burning and screaming to me that if I don't stop it RIGHT THIS MINUTE that they'll never walk for me again. Ever.

It's tough to argue with such a major part of your body.

Endurance is 99% mental, right?  At least every endurance experience I've had has been:  running a marathon, childbirth, sitting in chair pose for 15 breaths, high school.  If you can get yourself in the right frame of mind your body will follow suit.  

And you know - because I endured - those experiences make some of the best of my life.  Even high school.

Paul calls life a race and it is.  It's not a 10 second sprint either.  It's an ultra-marathon.  It's a yoga pose with your leg wrapped twice around your head while you balance on two fingers upside down.  True life requires serious endurance.  Serious faith and serious grounded-ness to keep pressing despite everything that happens.

So the response to discomfort isn't giving up.  It just can't be because I aim to finish with a 'well done'.  

So let's go, Utkatasana pose.  You're not winning this battle - regardless of how much my thighs complain...I'm going to 20 breaths next time.  

Panglossian

Gina has her own theme song around here.  Life of Brian - final song (I'll admit...it's the only part of the movie I know or have seen and that's just because Jon sings it ALL THE TIME).

Always look on the bright side of life.  Dodo...dodobedobedo. That's actually supposed to be a whistle - but how do you type a whistling sound?

We sing the song whenever Gina finds the silver lining to some extra ugly grey cloud.  She has a gift for that - for finding the positive in almost every situation - for rising above pettiness and grumpiness and those little irritating things that people do.  Like when people are too lazy to shovel their own parking space out right so that they have to park their giant SUV in half of OUR spot so that we have to do even more shoveling (of the now packed down ice-snow) to squeeze in.

It just doesn't sway her positive attitude.

She finds the positive in bad weather, sickness, traffic, broken computers, bad meals...the list just goes on.  Which is why it's so funny that she has a death wish for Chihuahuas.  I guess they are like her kryptonite.  But anyway.

It's extremely admirable - something I notice (the positivity - not the Chihuahua thing).  She can look at the exact same situation I am grumbling about and see it from a completely different angle.  It's almost like she picks it up and turns it over and around in her hand until she gets a better perspective on it.  

In the past, being that cynicism and sarcasm tend to skip around together holding hands, I've tended to only check out the yucky underbelly of problems and comment on the parts with no redeeming value.  But all of that is changing. 

Here's a thanks to all the optimists out there.  All those people who help the rest of us see beyond the immediate complaint to the point of thankfulness.  You are making a difference...

...but you probably already knew that.

Thoughts on Fatherhood: Year One

One year old.

Man, how time flies. This has been a momentous year of change for all of us.

The labor... the birth... watching him like a hawk as they gave him his first bath... holding him in my arms while we slept that first night in the hospital... taking him home - eager to get out of the hospital but not knowing what waited for us once we got there... family coming, family going... a tumult of emotions that we never expected... and always so much joy, over-flowing.

Those first days stretched into weeks and the difficult experience of having to return to work. Emails, deadlines and team meetings were met with a growing indifference... I just wanted to be home holding my son, and hugging my wife. Unfortunately life only pauses a however brief moment while you catch your breath, and the grind quickly returns with a new vengeance.

Time passed and so did the helpless feeling of new fatherhood. Those first few months when all you're good for is to change a diaper, make some food, and rock a crying baby to sleep. Thinking, when does fatherhood kick in? Then one magical day, he looks up and there's that glimmer of recognition... and you're hooked.

Then time sped up at an almost unfathomable rate. Soon we were feeding him more and more foods, next thing he was sitting up, blowing bubbles, making sounds, the suddenly walking... where did the time go. It seemed like more and more time was spent at work with less and less time to see his moments of development.

And yet, I was changing as well. I would look at my son late at night and see my only short-comings, my weaknesses. And I knew I had to fight my battles with renewed vigor... for him... for my family... for my wife. There's something about seeing your child that makes you ask yourself, "Who am I?" And sometimes that answer is not what you'd hope it would be.

So we've both changed... grown... matured.

There's no magical point where you wake up one day and suddenly you're a man... it happens over time, and is judged by each passing moment and your personal choices. All those things are the sum of who you are. So you get up each day and vow to become a better man, husband, father, knowing that the grace is there for you to do it. And you do it. Day after day, week after week, year after year.

There are wrinkles starting to form around my eyes now. I'm sure the grey hairs will follow. I look forward to them. It's all about growing up, maturing, and becoming the man I'm supposed to be... becoming so I have something to show him.

The joy of seeing his little face light up when I walk into the room is indescribable. And so is the responsibility of knowing he'll look to me to understand life, understand God, to understand how you deal with the difficulties in life... and constantly rise above them.

What an awesome journey we have ahead of us.

He's my son and I'm dang proud of him.

Happy 1 year, Owen