Recently, I've received some positive feedback on my writing associated with this blog. I definitely appreciate the complements, b/c I am by no means a writer. Unfortunately, however, the quality of writing in this post is destined to under-achieve as it is the end of my first full week back to work since Palmer was born and I'm feeling it. So, to anyone who has complemented my writing recently please give me a pass this one time before withdrawing your complements. :)
Life has definitely been busy since Palmer arrived exactly two weeks ago so I've lincluded just a few snapshots of what we've been up to. (Actually, each of the pics below were taken during the first week after his arrival. You know...when the excitement and adrenaline were still flowing. We've spent the entire second week just trying to survive.)
The day I returned to work a nasty little storm blew through Greenville. I actually watched the rain approach the downtown area from the really-freaking-big window in my office (I always like to throw the fact that I have an awesome window with a view of the mountains in whenever I can...of course, my "office" is technically a cube but it's really-freaking-big too and has a door that shuts so its basically an office.) It only lasted about 15 minutes from start to finish but it took its toll, especially on our neighborhood. Mel called and told me we had a tree down that was blocking one of the streets so I knew I was in for some work when I got home. We were also left without power for about three hours. I was surprised to find that most of our neighborhood was littered with downed trees. We actually just lost the top half of one of our many trees, but it was enough to create over an hour's worth of work dragging it out of the street. Luckily, it landed about two feet shy of hitting our neighbor's van. I like Mel's comment, though, about it taking nothing more than a scratch to total his van. Either way, I'm glad not to have to deal with it.
Meanwhile, Bailey was being her usual too-cute-for-her-own-good self and playing away in the house. She LOVES the Mardi Gras beads that Grammy brought her last weekend. She still screams with excitement everytime she comes home from school and sees them lying around.
I just like this picture of Bailey b/c it shows off her gorgeous eyes.
Rosemary and her daughter, Amelia, came over for dinner the same evening of the storm. I was actually still cleaning up the tree debris when they arrived. Luckily, Rosemary cooked dinner for us at her house prior to the storm so we were able to enjoy a nice hot dinner even though we had no power at the time.
Rosemary is the Director of Music at our church and has become pretty good friends with Mel. (I like her too, of course.) Her husband, Joe, is in the military and just recently left for officer training for either three or six months somewhere in the Midwest. So, we make sure we give Rosemary and baby Amelia some company from time to time.
We also bought a double stroller for the kids and decided to give it a test drive through the neighborhood. Actually, we just walked back and forth along the one flat street in our neighborhood b/c it was really hot and that darn stroller is really hard to push up hills with both kids in it.
Here's a pic of Palmer doing one of the things he does...eat, sleep, cry, and nothing.
Me, Bailey, and Gran watched the rain hit the skylights in the den one afternoon.
Everyone, including myself, took on at least one project for one or both of the kids during the week. My project was to build an old-fashioned rope swing in the backyard for Bailey. It kind of turned into a personal vendetta against the idiot employee at Home Depot who acted like I was inept at woodwork and told me my only choice was to spend $25 on the pre-fabricated pastic one that they had for sale. Forget that, I thought. It actually turned out better than I expected. It's attached to about a 20ft rope so it swings well. I made the seat from a 1"x8"x12' piece of wood, and covered it in some cool indoor/outdoor fabric (this was Mel's idea) so Bailey doesn't get splinters in her rear end. Bailey really enjoys the swing, which is very satisfying to me, but Mel will probably tell you that I enjoy it more than Bailey.
Bailey getting a push from Daddy on the new swing.
Finally, of course, I spent a little time just hanging out with Palmer. Here, we were watching a little of Game 5 of the NBA finals between the Lakers and the Magic. If he looks a little unenthusiastic its b/c he's sad its not yet football season.
Me and my boy.
