heabdogg.com

Ten years of blogging

2009-04-02T22:31:00.003-04:00

Wow. Although it wasn't called blogging in March of 1999, I was doing it. I just noticed tonight that I've managed to save all my posts since March 1 of '99. And here it is, April 2009.

Did you hear that? It's the sound of the Internet yawning.

Anyways, it's been a fun ten years, triple-dubya. Here's to ten more. I'll have nearly two teenage daughters then...

...

...

That's a scary enough thought to sign off with.

- Scott

Blog on hiatus

2009-03-23T23:02:00.003-04:00

As you can tell, updates to this blog have come to a standstill. I've basically turned to microblogging on twitter for technical musings, my tech blog for long-winded technology articles, and facebook. Oh, fb how I love thee. If you've added me there, you have a much better idea of what's going on in heabdogg-land (hint hint).

Perhaps I'll fit another post on here in '09...

- Scott

Publish Post

Is this thing on?

2008-10-29T22:09:00.002-04:00

Wow. Has it really been that long since I've blogged?

We're gearing up for birthday party number three this weekend. Going to try our hand at hosting a party full of toddlers and parents (now why did I get the carpet cleaned *before* the party??).

The girls continue to amaze me. Tonight, Cayleigh was crawling around on my back (makes for a pseudo massage, and a topsy-turvy jungle gym of sorts for her) and said "Daddy, I'm going to put my left hand down right here." The other week she told Becca that two sets of sippee cups sitting on the counter were in the same order as each other. A little knowledge sponge, I tell ya.

Lauren is no slacker either. She is trying her absolute hardest to speak in two or more word phrases. And attitude! Oh my. That one has a t-e-m-p-e-r. A foot stomping, teeth gritting, red faced temper. 90% of the time she's sweet as an angel... but watch out when you cross her! It's so over the top sometimes it's funny. For now, at least.

Over the summer, Dad and I built a privacy fence using most of my George Dubya tax refund. We took it slow, but it's pretty much done now and it looks fabulous. We even had a guy park his car in the road one day, hop out, and ask us if we'd have time to give him an estimate later that day. "No way!" I exclaimed. But that made us pretty proud, I think. It was a blast to work with Dad on a big project, to spend Saturdays with him.

Work is interesting these days. I'm working under a great new manager on one of the company's cutting edge web products. It's early, but there is a lot of potential to grow the system and add all sorts of bells and whistles. I'm still on the path to architect certification, but the past few months have been uber-busy, so I need to get going again.

My latest side project is software development for Apple's new iPhone. I have a product that I'm hoping to get placed on the App Store - before the end of the year, or perhaps early '09. So I'm fairly excited about that.

Mostly these days my online presence isn't on this blog, it's on Facebook.com. A terrific site that has gone from off my radar to my favorite website all in 2008. Add me if you're on there; I enjoy quick blurb statuses far more than I do blogging here (does it show?)

I'm planning on dressing up as a good 'ol boy for Halloween this year. Mullet wig and all. Check out Facebook for photos; you never know who'll snap one and tag me.

- Scott

Mobility, Toddlerness, and 3G

2008-07-29T23:22:00.004-04:00

So, Lauren is walking now. She's been doing so for a few weeks. It's obvious she's been able to for a while because she only walked for a day... and now she just runs everywhere. She's so proud of herself. Her big thing now is to climb; she's already racked up an impressive share of tumbles off the couch. Fear is not in her vocabulary yet in more ways than one.

Cayleigh is full-swing into expanding her autonomy. She amazes us every day with her extreme attention to detail and a memory of which we older folk are very jealous. She also experiences what I like to call rogue waves of attitude. Somewhere in that little angel is a Mr. Hyde who opens the shutters and roars from time to time, only to slink back into the depths and not be heard from for days.

On a non-kids note, Becca and I made the switch from Verizon to AT&T recently by picking up 3G iPhones. Both of us are enamored with the devices and wonder how on earth we ever survived without them.

Work for me is heating up as a few key deadlines loom near and a large scale rewrite of a system is lined up to begin in the Fall and last likely through 2009. I have a new manager, a new team, new technology framework, new deployment platform, and a new source control system. And all without a new employer... quite a feat.

- Scott

Another two month silence...

2008-06-05T23:42:00.002-04:00

Here's a quick update on things around here since my last post.

Lauren still isn't walking, but she'll stand up on her own - no assistance or pulling up on things, and she'll take about a step before a controlled crash-landing and high-gear crawl to her destination. She loves climbing the stairs though.
Work is busy but not too stressful. Lots of technology changing all at the same time. I'm a little disappointed in how the "new role" turned out. Without going into too much detail, I ended up opting for a different role than I originally thought; the one I had been going for evolved into something I don't think I would have enjoyed... nor did it come with any mention of higher pay. So I'm officially a "software designer," as the "architect" title was apparently reserved for... well... less than technical (don't ask) individuals. I am excited to be focusing on software design and oversight. I'm going to see if they're still interested in paying for JavaEE certification (since they have after all paid to train me for it).
Cayleigh and Lauren are both enrolled in gymnastics which is a riot to watch. Cayleigh's come so far, and she amazes me every day with something she says. No paid entertainment necessary at our house these days.
Just in time for the triple digit heat I'm going to be self-installing a wood fence in my yard in the next few weeks, with Dad's oversight. I just hope it comes out straight.
Next week we're traveling to Nashville to visit the Heaberlin crowd there. Looking forward to being there but not so much the 8 hours of driving with toddlers.
Oh, and I've saved up money for an iPhone, so I can't wait 'till the new version comes out. I guess I'm fully vested in Apple now.

- Scott

Headed to the Desert

2008-04-12T15:36:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow I fly out for another week-long training course on the road to the certification I'm gearing up for. This time I'll be in Phoenix, AZ. Wish me luck!

- Scott

March Update

2008-03-11T22:38:00.004-04:00

Quick highlights:

Lauren's first birthday is next week; her party is a week from this Saturday. Time flies.
My sister and her husband are coming into town for Lauren's birthday! Yay! I think Cayleigh is as excited as the rest of us to see her "Aunt Share-wull."
My second Sun certification training course originally scheduled this week was cancelled. Now I am going in April - this time not to Atlanta but to Phoenix. And I'll not be alone this time... a co-worker is taking the course with me.
I've started my own consulting company - a for-real LLC with three people working for me. I have a bona-fide client who is willing to have us work remotely and on nights and weekends. This is one of my dreams taking shape here, now, in 2008. Who knows where it will go.
My new role at my day job is slowly taking shape, key word being slowly. Not much doing here as we decide how the overall team is going to function. Along with the new role and title (still yet to be decided) I am now also on a new experimental team structure. We're supposed to be incubating stuff - but right now it's more like a food warmer until we can decide how the whole thing is supposed to work.

- Scott

Back in Cola Town

2008-01-27T14:27:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I returned from a week long training course from Sun Microsystems in Fort Lauderdale. Here are some Sportscenter-style highlights from the trip:

- My first ever "aborted takeoff." My 28 minute connection flight to Charlotte literally lasted about 20 seconds to full power and then it felt like we were landing... only we never took flight. Nearly 9 hours later I was at my destination.
- My first experience with lost luggage.
- My first time actually considering reporting an item stolen from my hotel room
- Dinner at Shula's on the Beach
- Dinner at Canyon Southwest Cafe (phenomenal, totally unique restaurant... I rate it higher than Shula's, personally).
- Dinner at Seasons 52 (light yet very flavorful cuisine in a dim-light atmosphere... though I must admit it I felt out of place, surrounded by hundreds of senior citizens)
- Bringing home a new friend. I sheepishly admit I was at the Apple Store in the Galleria Mall three or four times this week. Such an awesome place!
- Seeing Bentley, Maserati, and high-end Mercedes cars in office park parking lots and on the streets. Man, I'm in the wrong line of business...

The first part of the week was marked by gale-force winds. I drove down the ocean-front road (unlike MyrtleBeach, the road is between the actual beach and hotels so you can drive it and look out over the water) and it was like a sand blaster. Clouds of sand were pelting the car; I'm glad it was a rental. Then the wind gave way to rain. And lots of it. Enough to soak me into a change of clothes just going from the hotel parking lot to the building one night after class.

Needless to say I didn't come back with a tan. But, I did learn a lot so all in all I'd call the trip a success. I am glad to be back though... as good as mid-to-high-end restaurants are, they are no fun alone. I don't think I saw another "party of one" at any of the places I went, which was depressing.

My next training course is in Atlanta in March. I think this time I'll take the family.

- Scott

The Best Christmas Gift

2007-12-25T21:40:00.000-05:00

It wasn't the consumer electronics, the computer accessories, the clothes, the furniture, or the giftcards - although those were much appreciated. It wasn't the time off from work, or the bonus; it wasn't even the food.

The time spent with family was perhaps a close second.

No, the best Christmas gift of 2007 consisted of five little words, in a tiny yet persistent voice, repeated in what normally would be akin to an annoying scratched record but in this instance was a sweet sweet melody...

"Da da da da da"

Lauren's first distinguishable words.

Merry Christmas,

- Scott

Old and Tired

2007-10-22T22:46:00.001-04:00

Perhaps I'm just getting old, but last week really wore me out.

It wasn't so much the number of hours I worked - just above forty is probably one of if not the lowest number I've had in 2007. No, it was the feeling of being pulled in multiple directions I think that did me in. Two months ago I was pulling 50-60 hours a week for three straight months, perhaps more. But as stressful and as tiring as that was, it was all spent on a single project, with word spread around the company that I was inaccessible for input or questions on anything else. Last week however there were multiple projects all vying for my attention, all in the name of "this is critical." It was like I was living a software parable of Solomon, sliced across competing project-owning mother figures. Verily, I tell you, few hours in an IT pinball machine, bouncing from issue to issue, trying to appease both those with direct and indirect feedback towards promotion is far more draining than extensive hours dedicated to a single task or related set.

It took me an entire weekend of early bedtimes and sleeping in (as much as 8am is sleeping in, thanks to two human alarm clocklings) to recover.

Today, I'm back at it, crossing what will be my fifth year threshold with BlueCross of SC.

Just Another whack-a-mole work week.

My next post will be more upbeat, I promise!

- Scott

Class of 1997

2007-10-02T23:22:00.001-04:00

This past friday I had to come to grips with the fact that I've been out of high school for a decade. Yes, I made the painstaking hajj of a whole 20 miles to go to my alma mater's homecoming football game. I had a blast seeing everyone "all growed up."

Since then, I've revisited our class' little home on the Web, finding links to blogs and websites of several classmates who weren't able to attend.

And it hit me. Five years ago, I believe I showed up at homecoming only to hear of a few classmates being married, engaged, traveling abroad, etc. I was engaged at the time, so I dragged Becca along to show off what the dumb ol' offensive lineman managed to snag.

But whoa-ho we've all been busy since then! A great majority of us are married, many of us for several years now. And a very large number of us have at least one child either here to stay or on the way. A surprising amount of us have multiple kids. Most of our kids are (duh-huh, given how things were at the 5 year mark) around the same age - 4 and under. Sure there are a few early adopters - sort of the class of '97 parenthood beta test group - but for the most part we're all current or recovering slaves to the diaper companies.

I'm not a sociologist, or whatever ologist likes to study statistics like how many students of a given high school class wind up in varying professional fields (a boredomologist perhaps). But just off the top of my head, I can think of the following who I've read about or met up with over the weekend:

Doctors and healthcare professionals (John Kim, Jennifer (Chapman) Terry, and probably more but I'll stick to two examples)
Lawyers (Nathan Woody, Josh Maggard)
Preachers (Mike Rogers - who by the way as a man of the cloth (and a large cloth at that) is now unable to continue perpetuating the lie that I didn't whup his behind up and down the football field on a regular basis)
Teachers & faculty (Monika, Jeanie, Marie - yes that's three; rules are made to be broken)
Engineers (Seth King, Chris McFadden, Andy Rekers)
Salesmen (Jack P., John Weaver)
Sports Somethingmen (Pat Shine, who I can't help but wonder if whose USC Athletics affiliation includes groin massages)
Musician slash President, Hair Bands Are Back Foundation (Tim Hollohan)
Accountants (Ryan "CPA sounds sexier" Foster)

And last but not least a SLEW of full-time mothers and housewives.

As far as I can tell, I'm the only software developer geek guy. Or perhaps I'm the only one to admit it. Or perhaps the others had their jobs outsourced to India... but I digress.

I've been stewing on this idea lately that the addition of two children in my life has had the unfortunate side effect of creating a bubble of sorts (not to be confused with bubble sort) in that I'm envisioning a line chart of "contacts with close and extended friends" whose downward trend rivals the SCO group's stock price. After seeing all the Class of '97 broodlings, I can't help but wonder if I'm not alone in that feeling.

Oh, and I really need to update my blog more often... am I thinking out loud again?

- Scott

Growth

2007-07-29T14:39:00.000-04:00

I am surrounded by tremendous growth.

Cayleigh and Lauren continue to amaze me with their development. Lauren is becoming quite the flirt and comedian - she constantly smiles, laughs, and coos. She's almost ready to roll over and she's quite fond of a few choice toys. Cayleigh is speaking in small sentences now, can count to five on her own and ten with assistance. She sings what she calls "bee-sees" (ABCs) hundreds of times per day. The other morning I came downstairs dressed for work and she greeted me with "you look cute daddy." She's too smart for her own good, I think.

Needless to say, Becca has her hands full but she's enjoying it I think. We took a brief vacation trip down to Myrtle Beach; I'll try to post the photos and video clips soon.

My team at work is busier than I've ever seen a team in my almost five years at BCBS of SC. We have a mountain of critical projects with stair-step deadlines in what I have taken to calling "the perfect codestorm." I'm putting in lots of hours and am hoping for a much less eventful fall. It could be worse; as yet our bubble boom has yet to burst.

Still trying to keep up with a busy life,

- Scott

Hat Doo-ugs

2007-06-17T15:34:00.000-04:00

This past week I was in Chicago on a business trip. The BlueCross BlueShield Association held a two day quasi-training session on an I/T project they are mandating for all licensees. South Carolina sent two representatives of which I was one.

I believe I have been to Chicago once during middle school but I barely remember it. I think I recall a boat ride from the Navy Pier and dinner at Pizzeria Uno.

This trip we caught a Cubs game (they lost in extra innings), ate at Weber Grille, and walked around downtown, marveling at skyscrapers, high-rises, and expensive cars. The weather was beautiful (far from the summer storms of Carolina) with the exception of Tuesday night at Wrigley Field where I nearly froze in my short sleeves and shorts at a breezy 65 degree baseball game. My BlueCross associate and I had a good chuckle over the vending guys marching up and down the stands. Apparently "hat doo-ugs" (three syllables) is Chicagoan for "hot dogs." Another related funny moment was actually at our conference where a BlueCross Association employee told us over small talk that we had no southern accents. I have no idea what he was thinking.

Another highlight of the trip for me was the opportunity to meet up with Chris Cox (from ye olde Furman days) for pizza and a night on the town. He took us to a local deep dish joint (and I mean deep... me and my appetite could only handle one and a half pieces... and painfully at that!) and a tour of downtown sans-rail. Man I could never get used to riding those trains... so slow and uncomfortable - not to mention I had the urge to bathe in Purell every stop!

All in all it was a good trip, but I really missed the girls... never before have I noticed children on a trip so much. They were everywhere and I was not able to tuck my own in. Man... times have changed!

One interesting side story from the trip is that we managed to arrive in Chicago at the same time as the cicada swarm. Since they only show up once in seventeen years and for one month only, I guess that is all the more evidence to me that I'll never win the lottery - I've beaten the odds on all the piddly chances.

Glad to be back home,

- Scott

a twenty year reunion

2007-05-16T22:12:00.000-04:00

According to FedEx, on Saturday (May 19th) there will be a reunion of a long lost prodigal computer user and Apple Computer.

Yes, that's right, I've bought a Mac. For the first time in nearly twenty years, I'll be an Apple user. I've never owned a Macintosh; the last time I owned an Apple was back during the Apple II vs. Macintosh internal power struggle in which the Mac obviously came out on top.

I've been stuck in Windows land where:

- I've yet to find a video editing solution that is easy to use, inexpensive, and fast. As such my videos of the family (clips and full camcorder DV tapes) sit with only me as an audience.
- I'm constantly bombarded with security updates
- I'm constantly asked if I want to allow something to listen as a server (hello, I am a Java developer and Java *is* the language of the Net)
- I'm constantly searching for a tool that didn't come with my computer in order to meet a need. Not to mention three+ years after buying my last Windows computer I'm still removing stuff I never installed myself and never use
- I'm unwilling to fall for the latest "oh, this new version is totally rewritten and is much more stable / secure / user-friendly / productive" new-Windows scam. I believe I've heard that back when Windows 98, 200, and XP were all released...

I can't wait for it to get here. If you're a family member reading this... expect DVDs of the kids in the mail soon :)

- Scott

a cinco de mayo scare

2007-05-07T22:28:00.000-04:00

On Thursday night, Lauren started refusing the majority of each bottle. She's always been a sipper; the opposite of Cayleigh who was notorious for the vacuum she'd create after attacking a bottle at feeding time. This time however, she flatly refused to eat much more than the first few sips. No big deal, I thought... she probably just had a growth lull or stomach ache (though she sure didn't seem to show it).

Friday morning, Becca took her to the doctor. He sent her home with instructions to keep an eye on her. Again, no big deal I figured.

By the time I came home from work, Lauren had developed a low-grade fever. She acted normally - smiling occasionally, following motion as she has been, without lethargy. We decided again to keep an eye on her and grabbed a bite to eat at a local restaurant.

By the time Cayleigh was down for the night, Becca had alerted the doctor's office's on-call nurse that Lauren's fever had increased above 101. What seemed small to me turned into a very long weekend. We were instructed to take Lauren to the emergency room. Over a 101 degree fever?

At 3:00 AM on cinco de mayo after several hours in an E.R. triage, her tests had been taken and she was admitted to the hospital for a minimum of 48 hours as standard procedure. We were informed she could either have a simple "wait it out" virus or a deadly bacterial infection. I learned about the dangers of infection for infants under 2 months. At just over six weeks old, Lauren was just shy of the immune-system development hump so I learned.

After our weekend in the hospital watching our little one with an IV attached to a brick on her arm, she was released with many sighs of relief.

Now I don't really wonder why Becca takes Lauren's temperature throughout the day. In about two weeks I guess I'll get over some of my new-found paranoia.

- Scott

hi-ho, ho-hum

2007-04-11T16:33:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I go back to work after just over three weeks off. Yay. Part of me kinda looks forward to going back, because aside from the rest and the enjoyment of being with my family and its newest addition all day every day I've managed to accomplish nearly everything that had piled up on my "when I have some time " TODO list. So these last couple of days I've not had tons to do. Lauren, like her older sister, has been a dream. She only fusses when she needs changing or, and this is funny, exactly when it's clock-time for her to eat. She's like a human atomic clock or something :)

However, once I go back I'll be in fast-pace full speed mode again. That part of my job, though interesting, can get old. I was becoming fairly burned out when Lauren arrived; I think though this break has refreshed me enough to give it another go. I do after all want to eat :)

- Scott

my web server thanks you

2007-03-31T14:26:00.000-04:00

I have finally stopped hosting my own website. What you are viewing now is running on Google owned machines via their Blogger.com service. During my time off from work to be with the family I wrote a program to export all of my blog content from SnipSnap on my server into the Blogger system. If you are reading this post it worked! :)

You should see faster response times and less down-time on this system. But it's the same old me so the content ain't gettin' any better! :)

Well, I gotta run now... it's time for father-daughter Saturday lunch at one of our favorites... Wwwwwwwwelcome to Moes!

- Scott

Welcome, Lauren Mackenzie

2007-03-24T22:40:00.000-04:00

Our family has expanded! I am happy to announce the birth of our second child, Lauren Mackenzie Heaberlin on Tuesday, March 20, 2007. She came into this world weighing 8 lbs., 5 oz. and measuring 21 and a half inches in length.

She looks like Cayleigh but with dark hair!

Becca and Lauren are resting at home now. Cayleigh is excited and growing accustomed to seeing us both hold another baby. She enjoys helping with stuff like bottle feeding (she loves to hold the bottle) and is constantly leaning to give Lauren a kiss or to hold her hand. I'm now the proud father of two beautiful daughters!

I have to admit though I made my first of likely many mistakes as Lauren's dad just hours from her birth. Those of you on my e-mail distribution might notice I have spelled her name differently here than I did in my e-mail announcement. Yes, I misspelled my own child's name. I could of course claim we simply "changed" the spelling but that wouldn't be right. It was even my suggestion months ago when we chose her name to spell it "Mackenzie" instead of "McKenzie" but I e-mailed it as such anyways. Oh well…

Be sure to check the photos in the gallery!

-Scott

Hang on, La-La!

2007-02-16T23:25:00.000-05:00

Phew! We had a little scare this week: early contractions. No, these weren't the fake kind either. They were the "hey that's not supposed to happen yet" kind that so far seems to be fixed with a little help from modern medicine.

We've finished Lauren's nursery - pink and plum with oak furniture, complete with hand-stamped butterfly and flower border around her room. Props to Grampsy for the paint job, though I can at least claim the border.

I think we're looking at mid-March for an induction if she makes it that far. Becca's officially home from work now so she's resting but is extremely uncomfortable. And bored, I would imagine…

Cayleigh is getting smarter by the week. She can now tell you what "one" is, can clearly say things like "baby," "Jedi" (our dog), "night-night," "boom," and can pretty much understand most of what you ask or tell her to do. She seems to have a new tooth or three every week… and a constant wrinkle-nosed, snaggle-tooth grin to show them all off. She is both our joy and our entertainment these days.

My next update will likely be a baby announcement - woohoo!

-S

Testing, 1,2,3

2007-01-02T22:51:00.000-05:00

I'm debating between wordpress and blogger for the next generation of heabdogg.com. I like the google integration of blogger but I dig the fact that I can create & manage more content than simple blog content with wordpress. What I really want is something more like what I have now - a blog and wiki rolled into one with SnipSnap. The downside of snipsnap is that it appears to be leaning towards a dormant project - not to mention I'm having to host it myself to be able to manage it the way I want. And by hosting it myself I mean full server maintenence, etc. I'm hoping that google's acquisition of JotSpot will turn into a google-hosted wiki service that might even one day integrate with my picasa web gallery and / or blogger site.

What would really push me over the edge between wordpress and blogger would be if I could find someone who's already written an XSL transform (or a script or full program) to convert or import from a SnipSnap site export or database dump. Wishful thinking though, I'm afraid. I basically am looking at having to ditch 7 years of blog entries... something I'm not at all liking the thought of. I can't seem to find any good documentation on the wordpress XML import options... it seems like it can import from RSS feeds or at least a variation of RSS, but until I can find some good documentation I won't be able to really write my own converter program. Same goes for blogger (though I must admit I really haven't looked at its import capabilities because it seems to lack the ability to create non-blog content).

Oh well. I probably won't really make a decision until my server completely kicks the bucket.

-Scott

Missing in Action

2006-12-05T00:20:00.000-05:00

If you noticed the website down for a few days, it's because for the first time in nearly three years, my IP address suddenly changed at some point last week. And because I forgot to install a small but significant piece of software the last time I reimaged my webserver, the world was not made aware of my ISP's decision to give me another address. Oddly enough, I seemed to have received the new address around the time I plugged in my new Vonage digital phone hardware. Coincidence? Perhaps. But anyways, the site's back up now (you're reading it, aren't you?) which means so is the photo gallery.

What threw me off for a week was the evidence I found of some hacking attempts right around the time my server went AWOL from the rest of the world. Dang 'ol Internet, man…

-Scott

The envelope please...

2006-10-31T22:32:00.000-05:00

We found out yesterday that Becca's having another little girl! After collecting our jaws off the floor, we realized that we're super excited. It just goes to show you that just because the second pregnancy is drastically different from the first that it doesn't mean anything.

We got to see her little face and profile in the ultrasound. Not a ton of detail, mind you, but I can definitely tell you that she has none of the features that stood out to us during Cayleigh's ultrasound. Not that I expect the two to look exactly alike… but our initial belief is that she may look more like Becca. Lucky for her :)

One thing we realized is that we're just about back to square one with choosing a name. We had about a dozen candidate boy names but only one for a girl - and only a first name at that. I guess we had better get to choosing!

Another thing I realized is that come next March, there's going to be a severe imbalance in the hormonal Force at the Heaberlin house. I may need another Jedi to restore balance to the Force.

Relo

2006-10-31T22:19:00.000-05:00

In a while I'll be migrating my photo gallery over to Google's servers. The new location is here. Currently Picasaweb doesn't allow for videos so I'll have to think of some way to post my short videos of Cayleigh. You should notice that the Picasa gallery is much faster; Google has a much fatter pipe than my meager (and aging!) web server.

Don't worry though - I'll keep the old gallery up for a good while. It may take me some time to fully populate the one on Google.

-S

Part Deux

2006-09-04T09:30:00.000-04:00

Near the end of March 2007 we'll have two babies under the age of 16 months. That's right, we're having another one! We were admittedly suprised but are excited nonetheless. And no, if you're wondering about the "suprised" part, it's not like we had to visit Wikipedia to figure out how these things happen; you'd have to know the background of the situation before Cayleigh to understand.

I'm starting a diaper fund. Donations accepted via Visa, AmEx, PayPal, and U.S. Postal. :)

Anyways, we won't find out what we're having for a few more weeks. Not that I'm saying I think it's one or the other; I will say however that this pregnancy is already shaping up to be quite different from the first in terms of how Becca's feeling, etc. The hormones are still there though. And yes she'll kill me when she reads this… which she does in fact do because it was her that brought it to my attention that I had yet to blog about our wonderful news.

More immediate plans involve Cayleigh's first birthday party. It looks like it'll be a cookout at Lake Murray. I'm sure there will be no shortage of food, toys, and baby clothes if you're into that sort of thing. And little tykes.

But on that note, holy cow! Little tykes! Seriously, it seems nearly every married couple we know is pregnant! Six, count them, six friends of ours are pregnant and due between October and April. And that's of course not counting ourselves!

Perhaps I should put it in bold text… note to self… time to buy more stock in Babies R' Us!

-S

Mobile

2006-08-20T23:49:00.000-04:00

For about a month now, Cayleigh's been crawling. Big time. She's also fond of standing up and dragging everything off any surface she can reach. My parents came over yesterday and noted how everything on our coffee table was stacked in a tall pile in the very center… just out of Cayleigh's suprisingly long reach. She was 30.5 inches tall at her 9 month checkup… 97th percentile in height. So all you short boys out there (and according to some online growth percentile calculators, this includes nearly 95% of you who are her age), this means she's too tall for you so don't even think about it. She's out of your league anyways :)

-S