First Book

Tonight Ellie read to us, from start to finish and without help, "The Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss. It was completely out of the blue and completely wonderful. Now, in all fairness, we did help her with twenty... but c'mon... she's four and a half. Brilliant.

-ED

Nanny Daycare...

...is now open for business. Actually, it opened Tuesday but you know how lax we are with updates these days. Anyhow, EM is back at work and Colby is all hers (Ellie too, after preschool). Day one, as I understand it, went fairly well (perhaps thanks to Pa being able to help a bit?). Day two (today), on the other hand, not so much. Primarily, because Ellie decided to be difficult. End result? The dollhouse (you know, the one from Christmas) is ours (for the time being).

-ED

Recap and resolution

Anyone paying attention to this blog knows that we've done an awful job of updating this blog for some time now. Moreover, we've been especially bad about capturing and posting photos of Colby.

On that note, Colby is doing well for the most part. The smiles, in particular, are becoming more frequent. He could still stand to sleep better. In fact, what you'll see in these photos is that he has no problem sleeping on others. The problem is at night. In his crib. Alone. He's eating all the time, too. This kid is a chunker. By our best guess, he is weighing in at approximately 15lbs - and he's just two months! We'll get more specifics on that after a regular check up with Dr. Betsy next week.

Anyhow, this recap, with photos, captures our holiday season. But with this recap comes this New Year resolution: we will try to do better with photos of our baby boy.

Nanny, Ellie and Colby at my office prior to taking in the Christmas parade.

Colby with Aunt Brandi. We exchanged gifts with my side of the family at her house.

Grammy and Poppy got Ellie a really cute froggy hat.

Christmas at our house. Santa brought an awesome dollhouse.

Nanny and Pa got Ellie a cool scooter.

Ellie got to hang out with her favorite cousin, "Jakey-boy."

Aaaawww....

-ED

Merry... oops!

For the first time since Ellie's birth, there is no family Christmas card/photo to post. How sad (slack) is that? Oh well. Colby's first Christmas went well. Nothing much to report, really. Ellie's fifth, on the other hand, was a smashing success... topped off with a huge dollhouse. She loves it. The evidence being we've hardly seen her/heard from her since.

-ED

Lazy day

EM's exhausted. I'm dealing with lingering cold symptoms. Colby is sleeping. And Ellie is sick. As such, we've not done a darn thing today but lay around. Not much fun to report from the Addison home.

-ED

Sparse updates

The frequency of posts have been considerably less over the last two years or so, and I didn't expect Colby's birth to change that. That said, I do feel I owe an apology to our fans (and him) for not having more content (photos) posted. Obviously, a great deal of this has to do with second baby syndrome, but I believe there's more to it than that.

For example, when Ellie was born I had six weeks off from work - this time two. I also worked a different schedule that allowed me more free time. Another difference would be... Ellie. It's hard to do all that has to be done and care for a toddler and a baby and update this blog. Of course, Colby is different too.

I don't know how to say this without it coming across badly, and that certainly is not the intent. But, it strikes me that he is a needier/fussier baby than Ellie was and that comes with a whole other set of challenges/stresses.

Oh, and then there's fall yard work, Thanksgiving/Christmas and illnesses that have been passed around by the three of us (how he has remained healthy is beyond me).

Put it all together, and it makes sense. I don't feel any better about it... the sparse updates, that is... but, I wanted to note, for the record, why it is what it is.

Looking back at posts for her around this same time frame, I wrote about her being a blob (Colby is too, of course) and I shared this special moment (one of my personal favorites). So, it would seem that our little guy is right on track with his big sister. That means the fun should be right around the corner.

-ED

My kids: 5, Bad guys: 0

I was worried this time around. I figured with Colby in the fold, there'd be enough of a change in the air to jeopardize Ellie's perfect record versus the lowly tarholes. But my kids continue to work their good-luck-magic as the Wolfpack won today 13-0 (the first shutout in the series in about fifty years).

We're the red and white from State,
and we know we are the best.
Hands behind our back,
we can take on all the rest.
GO TO HELL Carolina!
Devils and Deacs stand in line.
The red and white from NC State.
Go State!

-ED