I feel like starting over.

Let's begin again shall we?

Writing and reading and 'rithmatic. It all gets to me.
Work and home. Art and music. Baby and wife.

All my loves 'a jumbled. Some float, others sink.
Writing's gone down the tubes this last month or so, and readin's won.
Wife and son are doing great. It seems like we've caught a rhythm in this life thing. Job's a bear. I've simply come to the enigmatic spot that is the end of a training program. Do I have a great job here around the corner? Do I not? Is this something I should be terribly concerned about? Probably.

I've been interviewing around, and very honest about this with my current employer. They seem concerned. They have made it clear that when this training is done, they plan on keeping me. It's just that they don't have a job ready for me now, and we both know it. They're accepting that as a reality of the situation, and I simply cannot remain comfortable in that reality. We both understand eachother's predicaments, but really can't do anything to make the other feel any better.

I need to have stability for my family. Do we sign another lease? Leave this apartment for a larger space that we need but don't know if we can afford, because we have no idea what I'll be making in a few months. We don't want to bite off more than we can chew. So I have to explore other options. And the Antlers has nowhere to put me at that moment, and is praying that something falls into their lap. Otherwise, they have to get real creative real fast. They're stalling me, we both know it, and hoping for the best.

I've had several interesting job opportunities in the past several months, but the most promising is currently in the works. Met via conference call with the upper management last week. They also have no positions available right now, but they are very interested. They've checked out my references, and we've exchanged a dozen emails or so. They might be willing to create something that would fit my talents, or work me in some other way. I'd love to work there, and the area is nice.

Sarah and Kiah have been enjoying life lately, but feel the constraints of the apartment in ways that I don't due to the fact that I'm gone to work part of the day. I know that Kiah would love to be outdoors more. But our neighborhood isn't condusive to that.

Sarah has been reading a ton! Alot more than me, even though I'm going through a spurt at the moment. We've been reading the Harry Potter series together. It's her first time through it, and the books move quick.

Kiah's teething molars. Nuff said.

Our small group is doing well. Taking a bit of a break for the summer. We really love the group of people that we've got. If we move away we'll sure miss them.

Well, I'm done for now. Love you all. Peace.

P.S. By the way, I've redone my MySpace page, and added photos.
Here's a preview.

Back by popular demand...

"Mommy and the baby, sittin in a tree...""Mami and baby, standin near a tree..."

Mami, Kiah and I at Garden of the Gods...

"Out of my face! Papparazzi!"

Gonna eat the camera!!!

Updaticus Maximus...

Well, I'd like to thank those of you who have put up with my music posts.
Lately, it's what I've been motivated to write about, but I'm feeling guilty telling people that if they want to know what's actually going on in our lives, they need to check Sarah's blog.

Blogs go through phases, because the writers do. And this blog is going on 3 years... so it's seen some very different incarnations. For a long time, it was the emaciated refugees of my little brain... then it was a place to buy salmon... and for a long time, it was almost a Tom Waits fan site.

We seen some horribly painful times... we've seen some amazing things happen, and along the way, I have been so blessed to have all of you comment on what was said. Often times, I've enjoyed the comments section much more than the actual post. Especially when Erina posts.

So here's a bit on our lives right now. Kiah's started army crawling. It's really fun to watch, and we've been enjoying watching him explore the apartment. He loves going under the computer desk, and is especially fond of the metal trash can that we have under there. We have to keep our eyes open, but thankfully, he's still really slow, and grunts alot while he crawls. So he can't really "sneak" into anything.

Our friends Daniel and Lara have volunteered to start babysitting on Wednesdays now. So we can have a "date night" to look forward to. Last Wednesday, we stayed home and watched an entire show on tv without having to jump up, or change a diaper, or bounce Kiah to keep him from crying... it was nice. And then we went out for dessert at Chilis. It was really enjoyable. This Wed. I have an idea of a nice date... It's so nice to look forward to a set time to be together. What a gift!

Sarah's feeling under the weather today. Something with her throat that's been bothering her lately. She is at the doctor's office right now getting it checked out, and Kiah is taking his nap. Lately, Sarah's created a schedule for him, and it's starting to work. Last night, he gave me some trouble. Woke up around 11:00 and wanted to play. Finally got him back to sleep, and went to bed myself. But usually, he's been conforming. So that's really nice.

Oh, it was my mom's birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday mom! She's finally 39.

In work news, I got a raise. But we added Sarah to our health insurance, so my check was $2 less than normal... lol. That's the way it goes, huh? But you could look at it as we added Sarah to our insurance for only $2 a paycheck right? Otherwise, things are going splendidly. I've been enjoying accounting quite a bit. Unfortunately for me, they hired an assistant controller who is going to take my beautiful office. :( I love my office. And my non-sucky computer... but all good things must come to an end. I just wish that they would've hired her after I left the department at the end of the month...

I'm up for employee of the year. Statistically, I have a 1 in 11 shot. (January's team champion isn't at the hotel anymore...) But in reality, I think my odds are better. We'll see. If I do win, it's $500 buckaroos, and a nice little addition to the resumé. I'm on the committee that makes these decisions, but I couldn't vote for myself. It just didn't feel right. In other competitions, I can see doing it, but employee of the year seems like something I should leave to the other folks. If I'm good enough, it won't matter how I voted.

Sarah and I booked our flight to Chicago yesterday. So we should be out there in February, go to a wedding, and spend a few days with the family. Then head out to Ohia, and spend a couple days with the family out there. I am looking forward to it, but I'm still sad that our Ohia family hasn't seen Colorado yet. We gotta find a way...

Well, Kiah's waking up, so I'm gonna go get 'im. Later 'yall.

Jim

Snow, lies and Japanese girls...

So last week we had the 7th worst blizzard in Colorado history. No exageration. And now, less than one week later, we're getting hit again. It's crazy snowy out there, and the highway to Denver is a suicide run...

Sarah and Kiah spent the night with me at the hotel, and when we woke up this morning we decided to make the trip home. Partially to get Kiah back in his normal surroundings, and partially because our cell phones were to be delivered today. Well, we missed the Fed Ex person by a few minutes, so we'll have to wait till tomorrow for the phones. :(

Erina Kamata's little sister Mami has been planning on visiting us for some time. She flies in today. Yeah. Today. In the middle of a blizzard. Strangely enough, Denver International, where she was scheduled to fly into, is still open. Her travel arrangements are non-refundable, so she flew into Dallas this morning and was getting ready to fly to Denver when she called us. I stressed just how bad the roads were, and said I'd do everything I could to get to Denver to pick her up, but I might not be able to, and she might be stuck there. She was worried, but I said that she should try getting a flight to Colorado Springs from Dallas. She tried and called back to say that they wouldn't let her. I told her I'd start out right away for Denver, and we bundled up and went home. When we arrived, I was ready to jump back in the car and head up to Denver when we got a call from Erina. She said that Mami had gotten a flight to Colorado Springs, and that we could pick her up there! That was awesome news, as suicide missions don't appeal to me. Erina told me to check my email where she would catch me up on the whole story.

It turns out, that after I emailed Erina this morning with the suggestion for Mami, she called Mami and found out that they had told her "no." Mami was in tears by that point, and Erina told her to tell the American Airlines people that her grandma was in a coma, and that she needed to get to CS right away! I can't believe this girl! Anyway, Mami was too embarrased, and said she couldn't, but Erina insisted, she did, and they put her on the next flight to Colorado Springs! What an unbelievable morning!

So thanks to Erina's coniving, I won't be spending the night in our civic, half way to Denver buried in a snow drift on the side of the road... Mami won't spend the night in Denver International Airport... and Mami's grandma just might come out of that coma.

Peace,
Jim

Merry Christmas!

Blizzards and babies.

I just got home from work this morning. My first overnight at the hotel. We've fallen victim to one of the worst blizzards in recent memory. The winds have been the worst part here in the springs, with the drifts they produce. Highway 25 (the highway) has been closed from Denver to New Mexico, and the governor has declared a state of emergency in several areas.

I worked until 11 last night, and then went to my room. I stayed in our most humble room, known as a shower queen. Our queen rooms only have a shower, and do not have the bathtub. While 2 people might be cramped in the room, I found it to be perfect for me. I had a city view, and with the snowstorm, it was beautiful. It was hard to be away from the family for the night, but Sarah and I both felt that it was safest. About 25 of us stayed over, and were able to be up and at 'em this morning. I sent myself home this morning, and after talking to my boss who is working tonight, I probably won't have to come in tonight. The rest is welcome.

This morning, Kiah opened his first gift of the holiday season.


He really enjoyed the paper. Here's a picture of him wearing it as a hat. The gift was a present from one of our good friends Evan Wolfe who gave him a crunchy, squishy ball. Kiah likes it very much, and especially likes the tag.

Well, that's it for now. Peace out.

Flu shots and shot glasses...

So I'm sick. Every muscle, and in actuality, every joint in my body aches. I did not want to call in sick today, but I did, and it was the right decision, but I'm still kind of ticked. Wednesdays have several important meetings, all of which I wanted to be present for. Not to mention that last week I got a new dress shirt. (violet) that goes with my latest tie. (purple) and I was going to look good for aforementioned meetings.

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but we've started Kiah in on solid foods, and he's loving it. He's eaten a bunch of different foods, and is drinking water and apple juice now. We've discovered that the perfect size drinking glass for him is a little shot glass souvenier of capitol hill (fitting...) that we got from a friend last year. Aww. He's just like uncle Ryan!

Well. Hopefully I'll feel up to snuff tomorrow. There's a ton of snow outside, but it's beautiful here as usual. Have a good one, and comment if you like!

Peace.

Hang on sloopy, sloopy hang on...

Well folks, it's been awhile. If you're still checking in, I admire your pluck.

Kiah's been growing like a weed. This last week he's been really cranky, but that probably means that he's teething. Sarah and I thought we saw one this morning... we're not sure yet. He's started in on solid food, rice cereal, so he's pretty proud of himself. We started him later than most people, but we've heard that if you wait till 6 months, it's better for their digestive system.

He'll be 6 months old on the 25th... it's gone by really fast, but it's hard to remember a time when he wasn't a part of our lives. We can count the dates we've had in the last 6 months on one hand, and at times, we feel alone. We've made some good friends out here, but everyone's so busy, and asking folks to babysit makes you feel guilty. Especially if they already have kids. One of those things that will be alot easier when we're near family again.

In other news, veteran member of my blog Jim V. has recently lost his wife. She was a beautiful woman, a wonderful person, and the fastest wit on the block. We will miss her... She only occasionally wrote here, and then only to mock my fake deejaying skills. Please keep Jim and her family in your prayers.

Sarah's week in Chicago went fairly uneventfully for me. I worked a great deal, and watched some old Japanese movies. I also watched the Magnificent Seven, which was a bit of a disappointment, but remakes generally are. King Kong was dreadful. So was Solaris. Ugh... but then again, some remakes are better than the original. The Italian Job leaps to mind. I haven't seen the first Gone in 60 seconds, but I'm betting that the new one was better. Anyway, Sarah came back last Monday, and I can't even express how happy I was to see her. In the 5 years we've been married, we haven't been apart a week. It was really quiet, and lonely, and by Sunday, I was cranky with everyone... Everybody at work is happy she's back too.

Saturday, we watched what will probably be the best Michigan/Ohio State matchup of my lifetime. The teams have never met before as Number one and two. Bo Shembeckler died the day before the game, so emotions were running high. The Bucks tore through Michigan's number one running defense and ran two touchdowns in that were over 50 yards each. It was incredible. The one player who I thought would really break the game open, Gonzales, went almost unused and only had one touchdown. The only thing that kept me from being completely satisfied with the game was that the guy snapping the ball for OSU had broken his hand earlier in the year, and had it in a cast. It healed several weeks ago, but for superstitious reasons, was told to keep it on. Well, it cost us two horrible snaps that resulted in fumbles, and two scores for Michigan. Other than that, I was pretty much happy with the game which was a true battle of excellent offensive crews. Despite the fact that Ohio State won, nearly every sportscaster I saw said that the two best teams in College ball are still OSU and Michigan. It's just a matter of whether the voters will make the National championship game a rematch, or have Michigan go to the Rose Bowl and pick another team to play Ohio State for the title. Needless to say, it felt really good to get the Big Ten title, and to be simply undisputed as the best team in college football. There aren't any thugs on the team, they have a great deal of class, and they won the game by just beating the living daylights out of the Michigan defense. The Bucks scored more points in the first half against Michigan than the Wolverines have allowed in any game this season. Not to mention the 500+ yards that the Buckeyes were able to put up against one of the toughest defenses in the nation. I'm not proud or anything. It was a great game, and I don't expect to see it's match anytime soon.


Well. I'm done for now.

Peacywease.

Time to throw some tea in the harbor.

Well, my mom, giving me the benefit of the doubt, assumed that there browser was broken in some way because it had no updates in the last month. I love her.

In reality, I have been meaning to write for the past few weeks. Like anything else in my life, writing is more a result of a phase than anything. I read like crazy, or play video games, or write, or draw. All of these things phase in or out. Lately, I just haven't felt like writing. Hopefully you haven't felt like reading.

Work has been good. I am still at the front desk. I started getting concerned about being forgotten in one area of the hotel, and having too much time pass, thus limiting the time spent in other areas, so I spoke to my GM who is getting promoted in January to Senior VP. He is the last of the folks who hired me for the position, and is leaving for Boston at the turn of the year. The rest of the people who approached me about the position have left for other opportunities, and I've been feeling a bit that their successors have felt like they were stuck with me. Because I've stuck in the one department, my ability to impress people as a hotel manager is hampered by the fact that they just see me as a good assistant front office manager.

The good news is that the GM got me back on track, and I will be moving to another department soon. I would prefer housekeeping, but restaurants is another good option. The other day something exciting happened, I was approached by the hotel manager to see if I'd fly to Chicago to cover our Doubletree in OakBrook. They're a union hotel, and the workers were threatening to strike. Our director of housekeeping and I were going to fly out to help the hotel in case of a strike, but the union and the hotel ended up working things out. Either way, I was told it was a positive mark for me just to be available, and that they'll think of me in the future if anything like that comes up again. I would've liked to go, as it would've been a great learning experience, and I would have gotten free meals and hotel stay, with some spending money. Not to mention seeing some of my friends and family in Chicago.

Things at home have been great. Kiah is growing so fast, and is holding things on his own. He can sit with his back to the couch and can even sit a little on his own. Not much, but it's a start. We're having so much fun teaching him things every day. He's laughing so much more. He's such a happy baby... I got this really fun video of him sitting on the couch laughing, being a parent is even more rewarding than I thought it would be.

Sarah is a bit bored, but has been handling parenthood wonderfully. She's such a great mom. She just turned 27, and some of our friends took her out for dinner. I had to work, which sucked, but we had a nice little dinner here the next night with the same friends and had a cake and everything. I blew it literally though. After we finished singing, I BLEW OUT HER CANDLE. I don't know what posessed me, I just saw something on fire, and blew it out. I'm retarded.

I saw the Departed a few weeks ago. Really good movie. Alot of people got shot in the head, but it was a good movie. Sarah and I watched Lucky Number Slevin last night. Similar. Good, but alot of people get shot. Netflix is really cool for parents who work and take care of a baby 24/7. It is so nice to just have a stream of movies coming in.

We're looking to get cell phones at the turn of the year. So I'll get the numbers to you when we do.

That's it for now. I'll write more later.

Nicknames and re-released albums...

A few weeks ago, Made in Mexico records announced the re-release of Damien Jurado's most sought after album "Gathered in Song." A live performance in a friend's living room in 1998, it is easily one of his most touching albums. The re-release includes the original 5 songs, and 5 demos for "Rehearsals for Departure", his 1999 album. The first several hundred copies were autographed, so that added to the appeal as well. "Simple hello" is my favorite song so far, but the entire deal is very very good.

On another note, Sarah and I were discussing the approximately 3 million nicknames that we have for Hezekiah. Kiah... Helmet... Monkey... Dookie... Zeke... Manny... Tax Deduction...

In fact, his name has sparked so many conversations in our friends and family that we thought we'd finally reveal the REAL reason that we named him (HE)zekiah im(MAN)uel. That's right. We named him after the Master of the Universe himself. He-man.

Here is a picture of Kiah in his appropriate outfit.

Kiah

Just an update.
After one day of taking his medicine, Kiah is all better.
I don't know what it was, any more than the doctors did, but we're happy he's ok.

Thanks for your prayers.

Ohio State

Tonight, the two highest ranked teams in college football faced off against each other in the regular season. (The last time that happened was 10 yrs. ago.) And I must say, the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes went down to Austin and messed with Texas.

Wow! What a great game. For those of you who know, when any team wins a championship, there are going to be people who question its legitimacy. Folks who say that there were too many close calls... the schedule was too easy... blah blah blah. My best friend would slap them and say a win is a win, but in college football, a win isn't necessarily a win. (See Cal's first game of the season) Needless to say, when OSU went 18-0 and won the national championship against the somewhat unstoppable Florida Gators who at that point had not lost a game in several seasons, people still griped. Well. OSU is back, and has one of the toughest teams I've seen in years. Tonight they blew away the defending champs with their weaker side. Their defense. It was alot of fun for us to watch, and if you find college football boring, I suggest watching the Buckeyes this year. They're going to be the NFL stars you watch a few years from now.

One last thing about the game. Now that Texas is Young-less, they've been forced to replace him with a young man with the most "Texas" name of all time. Colt McCoy. To be ANY MORE TEXAN he would have to be named "Wyatt Eastwood" or change his middle initial to "W." I will say this for him. He hopped right back up after getting knocked down all those times.

Oh, on to the home front. Kiah has contracted what Sarah and I are calling "The mange."
It's some sort of rash that the doctor told us is named Erythema Multiforme which means ugly rash that takes alot of forms and is caused by something we don't know. It's treated by using benedril or minor steroids. We opted for the roids as his penis is already as small as it's going to ever be, and the risk of negative side-effects is negligable. Just kidding, but we did go with the steroid because it won't make him sleepy, and it mainly will keep away a more dangerous rash that he might have but probably doesn't have because gosh! We're doctors and we really don't know, and I don't see any of this when I researched it on google in the back room, and please don't look upset! That hospital bill is mainly for malpractice suits.

Just kidding again. They actually don't know what it is, but he's happy and eating and sleeping and pooping. So we've identified that other than the hideous rash covering his body, he's in perfect health.

Here's a picture of what Mange, and Texas' season looks like.

10 hours of bliss.

Well, this has been an interesting week. I worked Monday thru Saturday last week. 60 hour weeks stink, and even more confusing, I had to work Monday of this week, so I had Sunday and Tuesday off. This has completely thrown me for a loop, as it has felt like Monday three days this week.

On the good side, my boss Peter has been in, so it's not all on my head all the time. Another bonus is that several of my favourite guests are in house, thus enabling me to use their names without working at it and making me seem more like the concierge/hotel manager guy from "Pretty Woman". (Who is my current hero. The dude is so smooth, it's not even funny.)

I've been working on my class lately. Trying more and more to be elegant. Refined. Upscale. I know that I work for a hotel that wants to be the same things and I want to be a good representation of that. Sarah an determining now whether it is possible, and whether we are willing to move into a rented house, as opposed to our apartment. We currently have a very nice deal where we are, but it is feeling awful small, especially when someone comes to visit, so we are looking.

Kiah has been really developing alot lately, and has started laughing.

Well, I need to get back to work. My break is over. Peace.

Toys.

Now most of you may not know this, but the average church nursery, or any nursery mind you (with the exception of plant nurseries...) is a life and death struggle between the babies inhabiting said nursery. A gladiator pit of sorts, the babies do what they can to kill eachother.

Watch a group of infants and toddlers in the pit (as we will be calling it) for any amount of time, and you will see attempts to shove others into sharp objects, the throwing of blocks, and most prominently, the gouging of eyes. This is especially popular in the toddler set. Place them near an infant, and watch their fingers go straight for the eyes.

In it's infinite wisdom, our generation has taken away the only true defense that children have had up until this point. That's right. Toys.

When I was little, I was given a set of weapons with which to defend myself. Hard plastic. Sharp edges. Pointy noses on dolls... All for my own safety. To protect me from the three year old with the metal jack in the box that at a whopping 9 ounces made a decent bludgeoning weapon.

But not today. Today, all the toys are soft and mushy. Rubber coated. Wimpy. They can't take an eye out! They can't gouge! The only legitimate violent use for most of these toys is suffocation, and that takes time! Before you know it the pit lord, er, nursery attendant is going to see you, and stop you. Because, no matter how dangerous your toy, you probably can't stop her.

Well. My parents, being the loving grandparents that they are, sent us a box with some of my old clothes and toys. Among which, was my weapon of choice... namely, the "Fisher Price Deathmonger Babybasher 5000."


Ha ha. My son is going to RULE!!!

Yes. This monster of a rattle sports hard plastic petals, and a terrifying google-y eyed face to strike fear in the heart of your oponent and a bright red throttling ball at the base which is just the right size to fit down a baby's throat or eye socket. Coincidence? I think not. Here is the Deathmonger Babybasher 5000 pictured below with Kiah, so that you can see its approximate size. This thing is the biggest rattle possible. A weaker baby wouldn't even be able to lift it. This is like those celtic broadswords of Ireland and Scotland that terrified enemy armies. This is epic. It even has a mirror mounted on the back with which to mock your enemies with their pitiful appearance after you've made them pee themselves. If they hadn't already... but that's beside the point.


So if you've seen a nursery lately, and wondered about Kiah's safety... fear not. The boy is well equipped, and prepared to be the terror of the pit! Hmmm. We'll need a gladiator name for him. Perhaps "Helmet."

Well then...

Ok, so the family was out here for the larger part of last week and into this week. Sarah's grandma Marge, her parents Jeff & Linda, and her sisters Kaitlin and Jessica. Here are some pictures from Glen Eyrie, the castle outside of town.







It's just been a very busy past few weeks. Thanks to everyone for your patience, and for even coming back to check the site. We'll get things going again, now that they've quieted down.

Kiah is smiling alot now, and mimicking our voices. He's 14 lbs. now... The nurse giving him his vacines the other day couldn't hold his little legs down without help. I'm so proud.

We had Kiah dedicated to the Lord at church last Sunday. Dedications are a vow to raise him in a way that's pleasing to God. I was dedicated in Sarasota, Florida at a little church called Grace Fellowship, and Sarah was dedicated at Moraine Valley Church in Palos Heights, IL. We've been waiting till Sarah's family was out before we had it done.

This next week, I am not at the front desk, but back in the Reservations department. It will be alot of fun, and hopefully a great learning experience. Yesterday, I was in there for 8 hours, and it was well spent.

Sarah's back to tutoring and Halie has been playing alot of catch up on work that's been missed due to the olympics.

My good friend Jim V. (the guy that always keeps me in check here on the blog) and his wife Paula have been going through some terrible medical struggles over the last few months. Please join Sarah and I in praying for a swift and complete recovery for Paula, and peace for Jim as he holds her hand through this season.

Kiah's gettin big.

13 pounds, 6 ounces... 7 weeks old. Kid's a monster.

Don Rickles

Ryan commented on my myspace that Kiah looked like Don Rickles, which inspired this comparrison.



And at nearly two months old, we have determined that Sigur Ròs is Kiah's favorite band, because he can sing along, and he knows all the words...

Garden of the Gods... and Kaitlin

Sarah's sister Kaitlin has been visiting us this past week or so. She'll be here for another couple weeks, which is cool... we're stoked to have family around.

Things have been good. Busy, but good. Work has been fun, and a good learning experience. I will be moving partially to reservations for the next few weeks, but I'll still keep my momentum at the front desk.

I'm staying home today because Kiah didn't sleep much last night and Sarah was beat this morninng. I didn't get July 4th off, but I got the PTO day, so I took it today. I took a few pics out of our buiding collection to share with you, so here we are...
Here's Kiah and me. We look like some goofy sort of gang.


Here's Sarah and Kaitlin at the Garden of the Gods. Kiah's in the stroller, and the mexican lady posing in the background has such a happy look on her face, I didn't want to crop her out...


Here's a pic of Kait, Kiah and I. We're so happy from a distance, but zoom in and...


Here's a pic of Kiah and I at the visitors center. I like the way it turned out.



And finally, here's a pic of Kait and Kiah. They're so cute!

My brain is hanging upside down...

Last week, Cheney and Rumsfeld go into the oval office to brief the president on the day's affairs. Upon entering, and after the normal niceties, Bush turns to Rumsfeld and asks "So what happened yesterday in Iraq?"

"Well Mr. President" Rumsfeld says while looking down at his feet "Three Brazilian officers were killed in heavy combat yesterday."

The president clutches his heart. Reels for a second and then plops into his chair, obviously shaken with the news and says "Oh my God Donald... Just how many is a Brazillion?"

So it's been awhile.

Even as I write this, I do so with one hand. I'm currently feeding the son his "brazillionth" bottle today. He's a pooping, eating, pooping machine. With a side of sleep.

I have been wanting to write more, and I keep trying, I just have so much on my plate right now. But I promise to find the time in this next week. It's amazing how fast time flies. Kiah is a month old today! How crazy is that? In his four short weeks of life, he has been to my hotel twice, church three times, a shower, the mall, a bunch of stores, and the highest suspension bridge in the world! He's gonna be so cool, we won't know what to do with him. He fell asleep during the Cubs beating today. Too bad they can only lose once today, otherwise, we'd appreciate the other nap.

Sarah's been sleeping for awhile. She's needed the rest so badly, and when I can be home, I want to make sure I relieve her of her baby duties. It's nice that he's partially bottle-fed, which means that I can wake up with him at night, and babysit for extended periods. I did two nights ago, and Sarah went for a haircut. It's adorable. Real short. I'll post some pics of her soon.

Oh! Kaitlin, Sarah's youngest sister, is coming out on Wednesday to stay for a couple weeks! We're real excited about it, and are looking forward to Kiah spending some quality time with his aunt. There's still no word on when anyone from my family will be able to come, but Sarah's parents and sister Jessica will be coming out to pick Kait up and drive back home. Its so nice to have family around.

In other family news, my sister Tammy had her baby, Eowyn Jeane. She's pretty cute, for a girl... just kidding, she's adorable. Kid has a ton of dark hair... My mom went out to be with her for a week or so, and my brothers are going to stay with her while my parents go to Africa for a few weeks. They are specing out the city in Tanzania they are going to, and will get to see Tammy, Josh and the baby before they head out. Wish we could go, but it's not to be. At least not now.

Well, I gotta go. Looks like he's going to sleep, and I don't want to wake him.

Peace

Olympic baby sitter

Here's a pic from today of Sarah's Olympic student, Halie Kim. It'll be neat for him to see that he was held by an Olympic speed skater when he was little... pretty cool.