Coincidences

I regularly listen to this podcast, This American Life. Generally I listen while I do my long runs on the weekend, but sometimes I listen while the kids are napping and I am cleaning or attempting to do something domestic. So, mostly while running.

A couple of weeks ago they ran an episode based on coincidences people have experienced. Now, I do believe that coincidences happen, but I have never been one to ascribe some sort of meaning to chance happenings. That being said, I’ll tell you about a really neat coincidence that happened to my family.

My Dad worked for most of his adult life for Union Pacific Railroad, driving trains from one location to the other. He would be gone for a few days at a time, and when my brother and I were children he would bring us back candy after each trip. When my brother, who is 2 years older than me, started high school, Dad took a day job so that he would be home for football and basketball games during our high school years. Trains have always been a big thing in our family – we have train Christmas ornaments, train piggy banks, and train nicknacks of all sorts.

In October of 2004, Dad passed away from cancer. After the graveside portion of the funeral we were walking through the cemetery looking at the graves of our other relations when all of a sudden we heard a loud and distinct train whistle. All of us looked up and smiled, and someone, I can’t remember who, remarked on the train being a sign of some sort.

Like I said, I don’t really believe that it meant anything special, but it was a sort of nice highlight to an other wise depressing day. Most importantly, it lets me look back on that day and smile a little bit.

ETA: My Mom informed my that two train whistles blew during the day. The first was just before the preacher was to pray, and the second as I’ve told above. I don’t remember the first at all!

Originally blogged at Stillintheworks.wordpress.com

Thanksgiving 2012 Recap

When you host a whole bunch of family, Thanksgiving moves past a single day of celebration and becomes more of a week long event. The celebration started before anyone even arrived, because Monday was my birthday! (And also my mother-in-law's birthday, so I'm sure there was celebrating there as well). I am now officially in my 30's, but still act and feel somewhere around 22.

Once people arrived we spent most of our time playing with cute babies, eating, and laughing. Rhys is about 6 weeks older than his newest cousin Colin, and those 6 weeks were pretty obvious in weight! Colin is just as long as Rhys, but quite a few pounds lighter. They had fun laying around and getting tickled.

Babies! Rhys on the left, Colin on the right.

Turkey Poll

We are running a Thanksgiving 5k with the Nichols this year, and are in need of your help choosing a name for the race. Check out Gena's blog to vote!

http://stillintheworks.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/name-this-race/

Family photos

I think it was way overdo—much like this post—but we finally took the plunge and had family pictures taken! I'm not sure if this would have happened without Groupon, but nonetheless, it happened. We met the photographer at Jambalaya park only to find out there was a free concert in session, and hundreds of people were there, making a photo session out of the question. We did get a couple shots taken here though, which I think may actually the best of the three of us. Here is my favorite.

News and the Fort Worth Zoo

We're having a boy and moving back to North Carolina!

Whew, it feels really good to say both of those. In truth, we're moving, THEN having a boy. I accepted an offer from the University of North Carolina Cancer Hospital for a medical physics residency starting this July. We are both thrilled to move back to NC, but a little nervous about moving across the country and starting in a new place just a month or two before our child is born. Cora has learned that her Mama's belly is now called "baby", but other than that we don't think she really knows what's going on.

A few weeks ago, we drove to TX to visit the Jester family for a few days. I had just submitted a copy of my thesis to my advisor and John and Stephanie and the kids were all on spring break, so we thought this a perfect opportunity to get back to see everyone. Cora is finally old enough to take part in all of the kids' craziness, as was evident at dinner Saturday night.

(Left to Right) Weston, Cora, Ella and Libby 

The best part of booster seats is their portability!

Weston was absolutely wonderful with Cora; you could tell he's had lots of practice with younger sisters! Ella was really good too, but tended to smother if we didn't keep her in check. Libby and Cora were so cute together, it was so fun seeing them communicate in their own language, and work things out in their own little cave-baby way.

On Monday we loaded up the cars for a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo. This was Cora's first zoo trip, so she (and her parents) was very excited! There's really no better way to describe the trip than lots of pictures, so here you go.

After the Zoo we ate lunch at a Mellow Mushroom (fantastic pizza chain, I would highly recommend it!). It was here that we decided to announce our news about having a boy, followed by a video conference call with the Nichols. The video conference hit a few snags, but Cora was still able to annouce "boy" for us over the phone!

I am now incorporating edits suggested by my advisor into my thesis and plan to defend on April 17th. If all goes well, I will put an end to the combined 19 years of higher education between the two of us on May 18th, when I will enjoy a picnic in the park with my wife and daughter while my name is announced at LSU's graduation ceremony, that is sure last much longer than we care to witness.

Here are a few pics of us enjoying the beautiful weather, a great book, and each other's company. Thank you Jesters for a wonderful visit, it was great getting to see you all!

Past, present and future

This post is mostly informative, but I'll try to throw in some cute and a little pregnant to keep you reading.

First, the past. In case you've not heard, I did not get the residency position here in Baton Rouge. We were pretty bummed at first, but quickly realized this was our chance to leave Louisiana!

This brings us to the present. I spent the last two weeks traveling around the country interviewing for other positions. Dallas, Philadelphia and Chapel Hill were all very impressive, and I think any of the three would be an excellent opportunity for me. These cities are also good cities for Gena to find work, and she's currently contacting people in each for job opportunities.

Also in the present is #2, who is rapidly growing at 18 weeks. Both Gena and baby are doing very well. Gena seems to be over the worst of the nausea, which is much better than last time! Here she is at 17 weeks, looking lovely as usual (and pregnant).

Christmas with the Nichols

We spent this Christmas in Denver with my (Geoff) family this year. Flying with a 17 month old is interesting. She's still free to fly, but that means she still has to sit on our laps. Anticipating a long afternoon, we ran her around the New Orleans airport as much as we could, hoping she'd fall asleep in the plane. Rounding a corner in the terminal we came across someone I expect she will be very familiar with in future Christmases, but with whom she has no love for as of yet. You guessed it, Santa Claus! Southwest Airlines was doing free photo shoots for kids in the airport, and I decided to take advantage. Cora wasn't sure about Santa, but he did give her a candy cane, so he can't be that bad, right? Wrong. I'm not complaining; I think this picture is perfect!

Maybe she'll like him a little more next year.

Catching up

It's been a while!  This has been a whirlwind of a summer for the three of us, I'll try to fill you in on the high points.

First and foremost, our beautiful baby girl is now a one-year-old!  July 26 marked her first birthday...coincidentally, it also marked the day Gena and I realized time is moving a little bit faster than we ever thought possible.  This first year has been much more than an eye opening experience.  We've gone from a tiny, helpless (and let's be honest, mostly useless) baby, to a walking, "talking", hugging, kissing, playful, loving child.

Alright, the summer began with a weekend trip to Denver, which is now home to about half of my immediate family.  It was great having (almost) everybody in the same place, and even better seeing everyone dote on Coco.  We were there for my first Father's Day, so I was given a t-shirt for Coco to celebrate the occasion.  We also played a little tennis, which as soon as she can hold racket, Coco will be playing too!  She might need to work on her balance though...

Spring Break and milestones

Cora's Uncle Peter and Aunt Alison spent part of their spring break with us last weekend, and Cora had a blast!  It started out a little rough though.  After driving through the night (and a nice little nap), Pete and Alison picked up Cora from daycare, only to find that she had just taken an exceptionally long nap, and had a fever of about 101.  I was able to come home early, so we spent a lazy afternoon watching basketball and passing around the tired baby.  She's had a few random fevers before, so we weren't too concerned, but it turns out this one had a purpose...the next morning we found her first tooth!  We spent the morning seeing the sights in Baton Rouge, and Cora was back to her perky self, as seen in these photos.

Christmas Part II

As promised, I have the rest of the Christmas pictures!  Things are starting to get moving at work, and we had a nightmarish two weeks at our new daycare, but now I finally have time to share them with you! Don't worry about the daycare fiasco, we got it taken care of, and are starting in a new place Monday that we are very excited about.

As you know, my Mom is usually busy on Christmas day, seeing as she is both the choral director and the organist at her church, but she was able to come out to TX to help spoil her granddaughter for a few days after Christmas.  

Leading up to the visit, she mentioned that she was working on a surprise for Cora, but wouldn't give me any clues.  Finally, the day before she flew out she made me promise that I won't hate her for how the surprise turned out.  Now I'm not a hating person, but this made me worry!  I harassed her for a while trying to get some info from her, but to no avail.  Janna was a little more informative, but not enough for me to be ready for this.  

Christmas with Cora

This year we travelled to Texas for the Christmas holidays. Since we've never had a holiday just the two of us, we usually don't make much fuss about presents and whatnot. In fact, I don't think we even bothered to wrap them last year. But, as Christmas this year meant presents for Cora, we decided we should actually do something. 

So the Saturday before we left for TX we woke up, got donuts, and had Christmas. Cora enjoyed all her new toys and books. (And doesn't her stocking there on the right look nice? I managed to finish it on time!)

Thanksgiving

True to form, I am now writing about Thanksgiving.  Three weeks late.  Oh well.

This year for Thanksgiving, we flew to Indianapolis to be with my side of the family.  My brother and his wife, Peter and Alison, recently bought a house there, and decided it was the perfect place to host this year.  My mother, Paula, flew in from NM.  My sister and her husband, Janna and Ryan, flew in from CO, and the three of us came up from LA.  This trip marked a very important occasion, not only as it was Cora's first holiday, but it was the first time my siblings had a chance to meet her!  Cora loved being doted on all weekend, as evidenced by these photos.

Ok, that last one's not fair, she just wasn't in a picture taking mood.  I was sorry to find we had no pictures of Janna holding her, but I have two theories: One, Jan was behind the camera for much of the weekend; Two, Cora was usually passed to her from Peter, and it turned out that when Janna was holding her, she needed a diaper change.  I draw no solid conclusions, but it seems Peter has a strange effect on our daughter...

After all the travelling, Cora and I were pretty tired, so this is how we spent a large part of the weekend.

The trip was a blast until the final descent on our flight home.  Cora did great on the first three legs, but on the way down into New Orleans she realized how much her ears hurt.  It was a little ironic, as the 4 month old behind us had just finished crying about 10 minutes earlier.  I'm sure the other people on the plane were very ready to be home!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and thanks Pete and Alison for having us over!

Day at the Park

Today was the last full day that my family was here visiting. A very active 5 year old and 3 year old don't do so well cooped up in a small apartment all day, so we decided to hit up the local park while it was still cool outside (below 95 degrees). There are several nice parks in our town, and one not very far from our place. We had a fun couple of hours until the sun came out in full force.

We played.

We slid.

We sat in the shade.

We found a nice shady spot and decided to take some family pictures.  Mom was put on camera duty for the group photos.  Half of the pictures, Geoff and I look horrible because Mom was only focusing on cute Cora!  Still, several pictures turned out great; here are our favorite shots from the day.  

Finally, our favorite of the family portraits, which Geoff cropped for our new header:

We've had a great time having family in town to visit, whether they stayed or were just passing through. It's sad to see them go, since we don't get to see our family nearly often enough. But I suppose that's one of the reasons we were so keen to start this blog - so you could all see Cora progress from a sleepy newborn to a screaming or smiley baby, to whatever she becomes in the future.

introductions part 2

Here are some more pictures of Cora being introduced to her family.  This is Gena's cousin, Aimee...

and here she is with Aimee's daughter Ali, followed by her nephew, Damien, playing with her tiny feet.

introductions

A few family members were able to make it down to visit this week, and we are having a great time introducing them to our new addition.  First my mother, Paula, was here for an entire week.  She was more than excited to meet her first granddaughter, and was a huge help while she was here.  Gena and I got a little spoiled having her cook and clean for us all week long!  We did let her hold Cora a few times though, so she was happy.  We realized a little too late that we didn't get any pictures of just her and Cora, a mistake we'll have to remedy during her next visit, but here she is with one member of the next visiting crew.

As you probably guessed, the second crew included Gena's mother Leta, our niece and nephew Ella and Weston, and our sister-in-law, Stephanie.  Here are Weston and Ella posing with their first cousin, and Stephanie with her first niece.  

Here is Leta adoring her fourth (and favorite we're sure) grandchild.  

Tomorrow we're hitting up the park, so hopefully we'll get an actual picture of GG&Co that is worth posting, so stay tuned for our first family portrait!  I'll leave you with one of our current favorites, hope you enjoy!  Believe it or not, the bracelet she is wearing was handmade by her Grandad, Matt...it has her name, a heart and a cross, and Cora loves to chew on the strings!

PS - Congratulations Cindy and Jake on your latest family addition, we wish you the best of luck with your 3rd beautiful child!