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!

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...

Grandmom and Janna

Cora's Grandmom (my mother) and her Aunt Janna made it in last week to spend a few days with her, and they had a blast!  Janna hadn't seen Cora since Thanksgiving, so she had a lot of catching up to do.

Mardi Gras in Texas

This year, for Mardi Gras, we decided to head down to New Orleans...to catch a flight to Dallas. There was no way we'd take Cora to an actual Mardi Gras celebration!  We might try to catch a parade or two next year, but for now, visiting the Jesters was a great way to celebrate.  The airport was packed on our way out of town, but most of the travelers were on there way in. It did seem like a good number of locals had the same idea as us though! Southwest had lavishly decorated their gates and check-in counters, both in NOLA, and in Dallas.

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!