Category Archives: Family

This picture was taken the night before Sean started throwing up and having explosive diarrhea. All told, he spent at least a week sick as a dog, and actually ended up spending one night in the hospital for dehydration. All of this started right before Grampy arrived for a two week visit. Sean was sick the first week, and then Grampy was sick for part of the second week. At the end of the two weeks, we had all had about 3 days where everyone was healthy.

One month ago today, the Lord family lost its patriarch. He was more than a grandfather to me, he was a close friend. I have a lot I want to say about him, but not yet - I'm just not ready.

Carter tried something new today - oatmeal! We decided that she was ready for some solid foods, and she took to them right away. She was smacking her lips and smiling, and most of it actually ended up in her belly instead of in her lap. Check out the size of those smiles!

Here a few additional pictures from the ice storm we had a couple of weeks ago. Sean and I played outside for a bit - this was Sean's first time seeing anything but sun or rain. I wish it had been snow, but ice will do. He marched all over the yard stomping on iced-over weeds to hear them crack and buckle under his feet. All of his outdoor toys fascinated him again, now that they were encased in ice an inch thick. It was all I could do to keep him from climbing into his toy car and freezing his toosh.

Texas winters are usually fairly boring - they are just the slightly chilly period between hot seasons. But this winter we got a fairly nasty ice storm. Some of the plants in our yard had up to inch-thick ice on them. I've been stuck working from home for the last two days, and am still not sure if things will melt enough for me to go in tomorrow. I took Sean outside to play on the ice this morning. From in the house, I don't think that he had even noticed that anything interesting has been going on for the last couple of days. But once I got him outside, he had a blast. He kept slipping and sliding as he walked, he checked out all of his outdoor toys, picked up big chunks of ice to look them over more carefully - I had a ton of fun just watching him. When he wasn't saying "wow!", he was giving a big, silly, exagerated "brrrrr!".

Sean just got a very special birthday present from the Pages. He is loving it. He spent about half an hour chanting the names of each of the colors he could see on it, and drew lots of squiggles, spirals, squares, and circles. He was so involved with his new easel that I could only get him to actually look at the camera for a single picture. The reason he is making such a funny face is because he was in the process of saying "cheese!".

Check out who is starting to like tummy time! She can hold her head up for minutes at a time before she needs a break. She still can't stand more that ten minutes or so of sustained time on her belly, but it's a start!

Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of this momentous event - but Carter rolled over for the first time this past Saturday. My mom was on the phone with me when she did it. She has done it several more times since then, just to prove it wasn't a fluke. We're so proud of her! I will try to get some pics or video soon.

Stage 1: Inspiration
The first step in the artistic process is the search for inspiration. He contemplates the nature of life, the universe and everything - all in the quest for the seed of an idea that will blossom into a masterpiece. He becomes pensive, and withdrawn.

Stage 2: Madness
After hours of fruitless searching, the artist slowly goes mad - riding alternating waves of rage and euphoria. It is in this stage that many artists break, succumbing to one vice or another. This artist resorts to drooling on his canvas, and eventually masters his inner demons.

Stage 3: Enlightenment
Eureka! The artist discovers a subject worthy of his craft, and proceeds to capture its raw essence on the canvas. For this work, the artist has chosen the classic beauty of Euclid's visions - namely, the square and the circle. The first of these two masterpieces the artist has entitled "Three Squares", while the second has been titled "Circle on Paper". Note the artist's unique interpretation of these well-known forms.*

Stage 4: Elation
Ah, sweet release! His artistic energy spent, the artist enjoys the resulting afterglow. But alas this joy will be short-lived, as he will momentarily be compelled to repeat the process - an artist's drive to create shows no mercy.

*In all seriousness, Sean really did draw squares and a circle on purpose. It was awesome. He picked up a colored pencil, repeated the name of the shape he was going to draw several times, and then proceeded to try and draw them. They aren't perfect, but for someone who only learned to identify shapes a couple of months ago, they are amazing. Way to go, Sean!