I love a parade

Last weekend, we kicked off a string of visitors coming to town to see the young whipper-snapper. First up, Nonnie & Grandpa.

The festivities started with Friday's convocation ceremony at George Mason University. I wrapped up the MBA program and was glad to have family there to commemorate the event. The final two semesters were taxing, especially when Jack wasn't sleeping through the night. Jen bore the brunt of my absence-- basically being a single-mom for two nights a week-- and I am very grateful to her for the effort. It's great to have school completely knocked out before Jack really became aware of my absence. Although on a few occassions, when I fetched him from his crib in the morning, he would give a "Who the heck are you? I want mommy!" type of cry, which is probably par for the course, but still was tough on dad.

Jack is at a magical age where he is curious about everything and everyone and now has the locomotion to check things out. His crawling has sped up dramatically and he pulls himself up well to a proud standing position. Naturally, he is a babbling brook, practicing all kinds of sounds. We're especially impressed at how well he rolls his R's and think we should get him started on Spanish before he loses that skill.

My parents worked double-time while they were here because we hosted a graduation party in the newly renovated backyard. Dad was stuck on the grill for what seemed like all of Saturday afternoon while Mom, Jen and Aunt Niki were up in the kitchen keeping everything moving. Neighbors, friends and fellow graduates turned out and the weather cooperated nicely. I wish we had more pictures from the party (and the weekend, in general,) but everybody was so busy that the camera didn't get pulled out enough.

Mayhem Begins

On Monday morning, Nonnie & Grandpa enjoyed a few quiet moments with their grandson before the taxi arrived to spirit them away.



This video is fun for a lot of reasons. First, my mom wasn't wearing her reading glasses, so you can hear some surprise in her voice as she works her way through Dr. Seuss. Second, my dad picked up on the "new fish" line--Jen and I always read that line to Jack and told him he was a "new fish." Finally, how fun is it that my mom admonished my dad not to the turn the page because Jack will do the page-turning, thank you very much!