Devon's Photo Shoot Becky

At one week old, Devon had lots of pictures taken by our neighbor, Roxann. He was awake for the whole photo shoot and took some very handsome pictures!!

Cammie... meet Devon Andy

I want to take a minute to say that in all the excitement about Devon's arrival that I am sooo madly in love with our daughter Cammie! She has been very excited about the baby and will just stare at him and say "beebee". She has spent some good face to face tie with him and loves to pet his head like she does with Luke. She gave him a kiss on the head last night before her bedtime. She has been sick, but that doesn't seem to stifle her love and excitement about Devon. We are sooo proud of her! Here's a pic of the whole family getting to know each other for the first time. I love you Cammie!

Home! Andy

Well, we've been home for almost 24 hours, and are trying to get into a routine. So far the routine is more like contained chaos, but it appears to be working. We might want to add some time for sleep in there at some point! Everyone is healthy, with the exception of Cammie (aside: Touchdown NCSU! 17-0) who has a little cold. Which complicates the routine because she is pretty clingy when she's sick. Even whipping up some mac and cheese was a pretty big ordeal!
It's gonna get better I know, and Cammie is being a great helper so far running little 'errands' around the house.


Thanks for your prayers, and you may want to call before you stop by.

Love yall

A Big Announcement Andy

Well, it happened! Wednesday November 7th. Becky gave birth to our son Devon Andrew just before 6pm. He was 7 pounds 9 ounces! And Becky appreciated the fact that he was a bit underweight of the earlier estimate. He's 21 inches tall, an has great big feet, beautiful light brown hair with that unkept look, just like mine.

Here's some pics...

Devon's status Becky

I had an appointment yesterday and am 1 centimeter dialated. I'll hopefully go into labor this week. They did another ultrasound to see how big he was and he measured 8 lbs. 2 oz.! I am very tired, uncomfortable and clumsy and ready to meet our baby boy! We're praying for a smooth delivery and a healthy baby (hopefully soon!)

Halloween Becky

So, here's our cute, sleepy little fairy. Halloween was a long, busy day! I rushed through work while Cammie was with Nana & Papa, so we could get to Tekelec at 3:00 for a family Halloween party. Andy enjoyed showing Cammie off at work, then we went over to the culdesac with some food and ate with the neighbors outside. Jackie, Nana & Papa came to see Cammie dressed up and Andy & I took her to a few houses to trick-or-treat. She got tired very quickly, so we sat on the front steps and handed out candy. Cammie enjoyed putting candy in the other kids baskets, which was sweet to watch. She had her first "tiff" that I've sen with another child when she pulled a teddy bear out of a girls hands and had a death grip on it. She did not want to give it back and I had a hard time getting it back to the other child. Both were screaming. It was her first time meeting Hannah who is 2 weeks younger than Cammie and I don't think Cammie made a good first impression!

NC State Fair Becky

Andy's mom & dad took me & Cammie to the Fair on a Tuesday afternoon. We actually spent four hours there which was way beyond what I thought I could do being 3 weeks from my due date, but they left it up to me and I was enjoying the beautiful outdoors. Cammie enjoyed seeing the pig with all its baby piglets, a big cow, a little pony and hearing all the roosters. She also walked through this cute exhibit for kids where they can pick up items from crops then turn them in at the end for play money and then turn in their money for a goody bag. Then we went through the UNC TV area and took pictures with the cartoon character cut-outs.

The first picture was when we first arrived and the last was when she conked out in the stroller 4 hours later.

The Pumpkin Patch Becky

We took Cammie to pick out a pumpkin yesterday. She found a gourd she liked. She had fun digging through a box of itty bitty little pumpkins, too. Made great pictures! Fall is our favorite time of year!

Nothings gonna happen yet Becky

Contractions stopped, so doesn't look like anything is going to happen yet. Thanks for looking at our blog and for your prayers! We'll keep you posted. I do still have 16 days til the actual due date and go to the doctor again this Friday.

Contractions Andy

FYI... Becky started having regular contractions today. Right now they are about ten minutes apart.

Curious Cammie Becky

Here she is...15 months old and learning how things work. The funniest part is me at 9 months pregnant trying to keep up with her in all her curious findings. I'm thankful for nap time! On Tuesdays we go to Pottery Barn Kids for story and play time. She loves it. They have chalk and crayons and she's just started enjoying coloring. They have these great chairs for her to climb up in with a book or puppet, and a kitchen area and doll house for her to play with. This outing was a great find for us! It gets us out of the house on Tuesday mornings when Andy works from home so he can actually get stuff done. Otherwise, Cammie knows how to open those french doors to our home office and goes in to visit him a lot!
I have to laugh at the things she does and gets in to. Some things gross me out beyond words, but I am hearing these seem to be typical behavior for lots of kids her age. Here's a few faves you might get a kick out of:
1. Putting Luke's dog food one piece at a time in his water dish so we have lots of nasty soggy dog food that he won't eat.
2. Cleaning other things with her toothbrush like the glass shower door, the laundry room floor and then it goes back in her mouth!
3. Throwing anything she can find into toilets, then sticks her hand in to get them out again.
4. Sharing her food with Luke, including letting him lick her hands and then puts them back in her mouth.
So, slow momma is trying her best to catch these things before they happen, but sometimes she just gets ahead of me! She has a great little sense of humor and is learning new things daily it seems. I am currently reading "Calm My Anxious Heart" by Linda Dillow with some of the other ladies in my neighborhood. We get together and have great discussions about what we are learning from our reading. Its been good for me because it speaks about being content with who and where you are right now and not wishing you were at another stage in life or circumstances. So through uncomfortable pregnancy aches and pains and sleep deprivation, I remember to enjoy the movement and miracle of the baby boy being formed in my womb and know that this will not last long. And as I freak out about germs and my 1 year old, I am thankful to be a mom and get to witness all of this and help her learn. God has given me a great task and I will not only be content in it, but enjoy it to the fullest.

Counting Down Becky

So, for our out of town friends and family, here's what I look like at 8 months pregnant. I'm counting down...29 days til my due date. Our little guy gets the hiccups every day which is pretty funny to watch. I've had a good pregnancy and am thankful for mine and his good health!

A great idea Andy

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Red Robin for lunch. Oh look, they have free balloons for the kiddies. But how do we keep this thing from floating off when we leave the restaurant. I had a great idea! I'll tie it to Cammie's pacifier, that will be fun for everyone. As we were leaving some strangers even said, "Awe, that's cute, what a good idea!" I am awesome! even strangers can respect that! The pacifier was even heavy enough that it would not let the balloon float off. Brilliant!

So we got to the car and climbed in. So far so good. It was one of the first really nice days after the sweltering summer, so Becky and I had our windows open. But I'm pretty smart, and I got to thinking as we reached highway speeds, "Hmmm, I bet the wind could probably suck the balloon out the window", so I reached down to roll up the windows. At that point the balloon bounced around and out the window, and in a second, the pacifier whipped out the window, and the whole contraption bobbed down the highway and got tangled up in the guard rail. I looked back at Cammie, who looked really confused at this point. No crying, not laughing, just a plain, blank stare.

I felt so bad. We didn't go back for it.

Devon's Baby Shower Becky

My wonderful friends from our small group, Jackie and Laura, hosted a shower for our baby boy, followed by a fun slumber party with the girls. These two spoil me and I hope to return the favor some day! They love Cammie and babysit so Andy & I can still have some date nights and they don't let me lift a finger when we get together. Laura made a yummy homemade cheesy potato soup and lattes for dessert! Jackie made mini calzones, pizza sticks and made the cake from scratch! It was delicious! It was an awesome evening and we got some great stuff for baby Devon. He's due in 6 more weeks. Cammie wore a cute little party dress and looked like such a big girl carrying her back-pack of toys on her back to Jackie's house. Much thanks to our friends for all the great gifts!!

Touchdown Andy

Well, it's starting to feel like fall out there, and now that football season has started, it's almost official! So I thought I would start training Cammie to apprecate the beauty that is football. Her training is going well, as you can see. She already knows the signal for "touchdown!" and will do it whenever someone says the magic word.

Choose your own punchline! Andy

Julie: "Mark, could you cut the cookie cake?"
Mark: "Should I cut it in triangles like a pizza, or in squares?"
Julie: "There is no wrong way to cut the cookie!"

So, let me set this up, and then it's up to you to fill in the punchline. When it happened, I had a million of them running through my head, and couldn't decide what say. We just looked at each other speechless.

It was Cassidy's birthday cookie cake. And as such, had "Happy Birthday CASSIDY!" written on a field of white icing. Mark, my brother in law, was given the task of cutting the cake. Let me repeat what Julie, my sister, said and give it the proper attention... "There is NO WRONG way to cut the cookie!" Did you catch it? Read it again, we'll wait... OK!

So Mark was going a great job of it, using a complex mental algorithm of slice-size to consumers-age ratio, while factoring in the extra icing that comes with the edge pieces, all the while being careful not to cut through any letters. So we all had our pieces loving prepared, and now for my Dad's piece. [ The following image contains middle-school-aged humor and has been rated PG.. Viewer discretion is advised! ]. Click on this image to see it in all it's splendor...

So there you have it... Of the million thoughts running through your head, which one would rise above all the others? Feel free to post your punchlines in the comments, but please... keep it PG! (You don't want me to drop the hammer on you do you?)

I should mention that the cut was completely unintentional, and that Mark is a Pastor.

Who makes these rules? Andy

As some of you know, I am slooooowly finishing our basement. I had a great idea awhile back that I pitched to Becky... and it got immediately pooh-poohed. I mentioned how cool it would be to have a urinal in the basement. I mean what better way to make a space guy-friendly than to toss in a shiny white urinal. But this is not acceptable for some reason. I heard someone bring this up on the radio during my drive to work, and it had great support from male callers, but almost all females had a similar response to Becky's. This probably won't get me any closer to my dream, but If we can get a grass roots movement going, the urinal could replace the garden tub as the most desirable bathroom fixture in the US home market. Go ahead, pick one out.

STOP Having Fun! Andy

Sad news for kids in Colorado . It seems that the game that we all remember fondly as a playground staple has been outlawed! That's right, 'tag' is illegal at this school. This heavy-handed response to kids being chased against their will is wrong in my opinion.

If you ask me, the teachers are responsible for, umm I don't know... teaching kids how to play nicely! Not just saying, "NO PLAYING!" And someone needs to tell these kids, that are "chased against their will", that they can just simply stop! If they don't run, they don't get chased... another opportunity to learn.

But they may be right. So, why stop there? I have a few suggestions for the schools:

1) No recess in schools. By age 5, kids don't need breaks in school. What they need is more math worksheets! This will prevent 98% of School injuries.
2) No pencils or pens. Lets face it, those things are sharp and could easily put an eye out! All writing should be done in dull crayon!
3) No desks or chairs in schools. Did you know that kids fall off chairs every day in this country. In a first world country like the USA, this sort of injustice should be a thing of the past. My solution is to rid schools of chairs completely. They would sit on the floor, to avoid the dangers of chairs.
4) No bag lunches. How sad is it that kids parents send them to school with unrefrigerated food? God forbid there was a room temperature ham sandwich. Parents recklessly endanger their children every day by poisoning them with botulism. All kids should have identical lunches, preferably in a purried form to reduce the risk of choking.
5) All grounds surrounding the schools shall be paved over to prevent dirt. The risk of children touching dirt is unacceptable. The children will be washed and sterilized prior to entering the complex, where they are issued padded jumpsuits, which will prevent injury from falls, bumping into things, and pointy doorknobs. And they will be issued facemasks to prevent seasonal germs from being transferred.
6) Isolated learning environment. By far the most dangerous thing facing kids these days is human interaction. Such interactions will leave lasting traces on a child. Children should not have to face conflict in any form while at school. They should be shielded from other children who way attempt to "play" or "joke" or "talk" or "rough-house" with them. The risks are too great. I propose a 3 foot by 2 foot "learning pod" for each child. Each "learning-pod" will be equipped with a video teaching screen, an air purifier, a feeding tube, and of course soft padding.
7) No grades. Aside from physical contact, nothing can harm children more then feedback about there efforts. No child should ever feel that 2+2 is not 5 if they really believe it enough. Telling a child such harsh criticism will break their spirit, and make them a danger to themselves and to society.
8) No art. Millions of children eat paste. need I say any more?
9) No Music. Music is a gateway stimulus. Music leads to toe-tapping. Toe-tapping leads to dancing. Dancing leads to falling down. Falling down leads to death. Q.E.D.

Kilwin's ... A standing invitation Andy

Don't know how many of you have ever been to Blowing Rock, NC, but there is an Ice Cream Parlor there that rocks my face off every time we go! I should mention that they sell handmade chocolate treats that will make you wish your head was one giant taste bud (actually, that's kinda gross, I'll retract that). Anyway, they opened one up locally. It's called Kilwin's. So far, we've been there twice (in the last week I'm ashamed to say) and we're loving it.

So here it is, a standing invitation. If you are in town, and want to go, we'll meet you there, we'll even let you buy if you are so inclined!

Top 10 Signs Summer has overstayed her welcome... Andy

Here's my top 10!

10) The grass looks to be a slightly more greenish shade of yellowish brown on the other side of the fence.

9) You can't tell the temperature, cause that red stuff keeps squirting out of the top of your thermometer.

8) The bugs retired to Canada. With universal healthcare, it's a better place to live out the last few weeks of your lifespan.

7) Brownouts. My neighbors should really turn off their ACs, Cause when their comfort prevents me from watching Eureka... we got issues!

6) When the pool is warmer than an average bath... that is bothersome... Lathering up in the kiddie pool is downright unacceptable!

5) Wasn't there a lake here last week?

4) It's not so much the heat... yeah, you know what... it IS the heat!

3) You clean out the fridge so there's enough room to play scrabble inside it!

2) You have developed a "pavlovian" response to sweat when you hear a door open!

And the number one ... ugh ... [thud] ...

1) Ooh sorry, I passed out there for a second... what where we talking about.

Shall I be Tamed? Andy

I am torn! For my entire life, I have laughed at these people...!

Now, I feel drawn, well, not actually drawn, more like pushed! Much like the north poles of two magnets, I find myself repulsed form the idea, but I am unable to resist the push of a greater force pushing us together in a great, big, ironic vice.

Could this actually happen to us? I, as a man, have tried to avoid being domesticated. As it turns out domestication has it's upside (see Cammie & Devon). So I'm left with an internal struggle to be "Domesticated", to be "Wild", or to be "domesticated" but still appear "wild". I don't want to be "wild", I love my family to much to return to life without them, so that option is off the table! So I'm left at my current crossroads.
Down one road, I remain "domesticated", but work hard to appear to be "wild." I would still have to do all the things that are required of me, all the while still looking like the "wildman who can't be tamed!" Here's the only metaphor I can think of to describe it, imagine: "Batman, grocery shopping with the Batkids in one of those racecar-looking shopping carts, comparing toilet paper prices!" I'd really like to be Batman (that's NOT me in the picture), but, not at the expense of family. I'm pretty sure that I don't have the energy to keep my family in bat costumes to protect them from some weird super villian.

Down the other road, I give myself over to "domestication." I put away the Bat-gear and go to Chuck E Cheese as Bruce Wayne (without the billions in the bank, of course), I would have to beat down my ego, and accept the facts that are my life. I would conform with those that I once laughed at, saying I will NEVER end up like him!

So here I am, standing at my personal crossroads... To the left, is "Coolness at a price". To the right, is a minivan! Growing up stinks!

This is only about a minivan. Don't read more into it then there is!

New Tricks Andy

Cammie has been busy learning new tricks. Some are fun, some are obnoxious, some are downright dangerous. But, ya know, even the obnoxious ones are pretty cute in moderation!

• Crawling up on her play table. This thing is on the dining room and is about 18" tall. She climbs up on the thing and seems to be trying to stand up. Did I mention that is is roughly the size of a place mat. Cuteness: 7, Danger: 6
• Climbing the outside of the steps. When we are downstairs playing, we have a gate up at the bottom of the steps. It's no fun to stair at steps, and since she can't climb them, she climbs the narrow part of the steps that stick out past the handrail! She did fall (almost gracefully) once, and hopefully that was a lesson learned. Did I mention that the floor there is wood?! Danger: 8
• Throwing herself backwards. While holding her, she will occasionally lunge backward, almost flipping herself out of your arms. She only does this when she is really tired, but It keeps you on your toes for sure. Cuteness: 0 Danger: 9
  
• Her "All Done!" She will do this while eating. When her plate is empty, or she is done, she will open her palms up to the sky and put her elbows almost together, and say "aw daaa!" Cuteness: 9
• Kisses. This one has me worried! She will lean in to your face, mouth to mouth. She hasn't really learned the modesty of a closed mouth kiss. I'm really hoping she grows out of this for strangers, and BOYS other than ME! I'm worried! Cuteness: 10
• "Uh-Oh!" This isn't really a new one, but she has really started to use it a lot lately. Actual she is misusing it! She will throw or drop something intentionally then look at it, and say "Uh-Oooh!" We're trying to teach her that it doesn't count when you do it on purpose. Cuteness: 5
• Walking FAST. She really loves walking. Sometimes she will get going so fast that she loses control and it's only a matter of time before she falls in a spectacular fashion! So far, she hasn't hurt herself yet. Cuteness: 8 Danger: 3
• Unloading the dish washer. This is awesome. She will help unload the dish washer, clean or not. She starts with the silverware basket. One by one, she grabs a piece and holds it up to you to put away. The bad thing is that she will grab a knife if it's down there, and you can't load the dishes while she's on the floor. Cuteness: 9 Danger: 4

I'll post some video evidence later!

Site Update Andy

Last night, I had some free time, and decided I would HACK at our blog.

Geek side note: "Hacking" is not "Cracking". Cracking is the malicious action to try to p0wn a system that they do not own. Hacking is a much broader term that means many different things to different demographics... as a software engineer, to me it means "Adjusting or tweaking code to get it to perform beyond it's original intent." And that's pretty much what I've done.

And we're back... Some things that you may notice...

• At the header, I moved in a picture (I will replace this with a cleaner pic, but it works for a proof of concept.)
• I added "label" links across the top. Is the growing text annoying? Let me know.
• In the blog post titles, I added some color (based on WHO posted it... Becky is blue, Andy is orange).

I rearranged some stuff, put fewer posts per page and removed some unused/unnecessary sections.

So, anyone with opinions, please comment. Thanks!

The Fighting Game Andy

Those of you who were there can attest to the sheer velocity to which the night went from friendly to cut-throat!

It started innocent enough... GAME NIGHT! We played Catch Phrase for a while, at first, we kept score and the teams were, for once, not split on gender lines. After a while, it was fun just to play, without any score-keeping, however, I'm pretty sure my team would have won if it matters.

Becky disappeared for a minute, and came back with "Battle of the Sexes" game, dropped it on the table and said something like, "Let's play this... it makes you fight." At that point, everyone was skeptical, how could a simple game like this turn the evening into bitter arguments? So we cracked open the box and it was on like Donkey Kong. It was pretty fair and cordial, until the ladies got sent back to start by one of the wild cards. That was when the elusive female ego emerged and the claws came out. At one point the ladies, feeling that the questions for the guys were way easier than the ones we were asking the girls, suggested that we switch decks. The girls would now be asked questions all girls should know, and the guys would be asked about guy things. Kind of goes counter to the game's original intent, but we decided it was better to preserve what little love was left in the room. Backfire! It went from bad to worse, as the guys ran away with it.

I think Todd summed it up better than anyone could when he sarcastically stated, "You ladies are right! That was an unfair game. It seemed that the guys were asked really easy girl questions, and when we switched the guys were asked really easy guy questions." Go figure.

Seriously, We had a great time, and all apologies to the Vaughns for making them wait! The gellato wasn't even that great, Let's face it, It's no DQ blizzard or Goodberry's concrete.

Walkin' Andy

Here she is...

A Great Mystery Andy

Call me crazy, but there is one section of I-40 that smells like butterscotch! I first noticed this anomaly when I was driving regularly to Charlotte when Becky and I were dating. In Greensboro, just east of the I85-Business split. It seemed that it was sporadic but more often then not you could smell it very strongly.

I have a few theories:

• There is a factory hidden somewhere back there.
• That section of 40 uses an experimental paving compound, based on recycled tennis balls and butterscotch sauce.
• The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce is scenting the city so that people don't realize that they hate traffic and want to shoot the driver next to them. This way, the commute feels more like a Willy Wonka Ride than a chore.
  
• There is a old lady living nearby that regularly restocks her candy dish. She unwraps the candy before putting it in the dish so that when the kiddies come by, all the candies are stuck together. This serves two purposes: It makes the kids happy, and it makes up for the fact that there is nothing fun for kids to do at her house except pry candy from the ever-growing glob.

Being of a more scientific nature, I would choose to apply Occam's Razor to figure out what the likely cause is... So I'm pretty sure it's the Old Lady thing.

But seriously, next time you are cruising through G-boro, roll down the window and breathe deep. It just might make you glad you are there... it could happen!

One Thousand-Eleventy-One Miles Andy

Well, we made it! It was all pretty fun. Despite lack of sleep and a moderate fever that Cammie had early on, we were able to do everything that we wanted to do, and see everyone we wanted to see.

Friday: A "late" start... we were trying to get on the road at 2AM but didn't actually leave til shortly after 3AM. That was still fine, I was able to sleep for a few hours before we left. We got in the DC area around 7:30 as the morning rush hour was starting to gain intensity. Good thing we had Cammie with us as we were able to use the HOV-3 lanes and blew right through without much of a delay at all. BTW, I really like HOV lanes! We got to the "Hotel A" (the Alsbrook's house) at around 9AM, after picking up some Panera Bagels to share. We arrived, had some breakfast and caught up with our friends and Cammie had a 102 degree fever! The cause, we think, was that she was teething and the weird schedule really threw her off. On the plus side, I got to have some really nice snuggle-time with her as she slept in my arms for an hour or so (fevers aren't ALL bad). After a few games of "two-ball-fossball" (Grant beat me in sudden-death-overtime, don't worry, I will have my revenge) we headed out to Annie's playground for some running around and climbing. It was a really nice playground dedicated to a little girl who was hit by a car and died. Kind of a downer really, but the playground was a lot of fun. After grabbing a "Snowball" on the way back to the house, we stopped by Gregg's Church, and got the tour. It's a really nice church with a really nice outdoor park/picnic area.

Back to the house for a rematch and probably the best spaghetti I've had to date. I was finally able to beat Grant, in good old "two-ball" and we watched a bit of Shark-boy and Lava-girl, which I'm sure was written, and produced under the influence of something! Totally Weird, and not necessarily in a good way! We crashed in the basement and slept REALLY Well.

Saturday: We awoke to Cammie talking and completely fever-free. She was feeling great and was having a lot of fun with the kid's before we left at 8:30AM ... late ... again! The drive to Uniontown PA was very beautiful. We finaly got to the "family-mountain" at around 12:30 and were treated to a great lunch... including a personal favorite of mine stuffed cabbage... no, seriously... It's great! Then it was naptime, and Cammie and I again took a nap on the couch, despite the noise! We where pretty tired. Had some "wedding" cake then got in the pool after waiting the compulsory 30 minutes! Who makes up these rules? and there I stayed playing the role of "pool toy" for 4 hours, maybe more.
Some other highlights:

• Two of the Uncles got married, and their wives didn't really seem to mind.
• Whirlpools.
  
• Butterscotch Dilly bars on the porch.
• 29th of July Fireworks.
• A really nice Super 8 Hotel... REALLY!

Sunday: We went to the family bruch at 10:00. We were NOT late! They have Golden Corrals up there! I had a really weird mix of Breakfast, Dessert, Lunch, and Dessert. I wouldn't recommend this without proper medical supervision. We'll it's off to West Virginia... In the car again! The drive went well, with the aid of Fergie, (my Dad's GPS) and after a short stop somewhere to stretch our legs and get couple of vanilla frosties (pregnancy-craving)...

Drive-thru-lady: Welcome to Wendy's can I help you?
Me: Yeah, can I get a small vanilla frosty, and a large vanilla frosty.
DTL: OK, drive around to the first window.
Me: OK.
DTL: That'll be $3.27. Looks like more rain huh?
Me: Yeah I guess, here you go.
DTL: And here's your change. Go ahead to the next window!
Me: OK
DTL2: Here you go, have a nice day!
Me: (pulling away like I stole something) Well, Becky it looks like they gave you a Large instead... sweeeeet
Becky: Did they charge you for it?
Me: (doing complicated head math, while merging onto highway... yikes) yeah I guess they did... Oh well. I guess we didn't quite do as well as we thought.
Becky: (opening the lid) And It's chocolate!
Me: Awwwe Man, they suck!

We arrive in Beckley after crossing the New River Gorge (nice view!) and settle in for a nice lazy sunday afternoon. Cammie and Cassidy get in kiddie pool and we sat on the porch and enjoyed the un-oppressive weather.

Monday: Had a great night sleep and awoke for a morning in which Cammie was walking like a champ! and she wasn't gonna stop there, she climbed the little slide and sat down on top ready to slide all by herself! She's awesome. We hung around till it was almost nap time, then took off for the last leg of our trip. Cammie and Becky slept most of the way home for almost 3 and a half hours. Got home around 8:15 and crumpled on the floor. It sure is nice to be home. We'll have pictures, soon. And as soon as I can figure out how to post a video of Cammie walking, I'll post it as well!

Road trip! Andy

Here's what we got to look forward to this weekend.... That's right it's a big fat road trip to Becky's family reunion. Except this year, we're going with Cammie, it could end with us turning around and making a bee-line home. `Cause when Cammie's not happy in the car, ain't nobody happy in the car! We've broken up most of it to were we aren't in the car for more than 4 hours a day (except for the trip up to Bel Air, but we'll be making this trip in the EARLY AM to allow Cammie to sleep, and to attempt to beat rush hour in DC, probably futile I know)

We're staying with family and friends pretty much every night, so it should make it a pretty cheap trip, with the exception of GAS!

So pray for us this weekend:

• That Cammie will travel happy.
• That Andy will stay awake when driving.
• That Becky will be comfy.
• That the roads will be oddly vacant of dangerous, sleepy, drunk, and dangerously-sleepy-drunk drivers!

A road by any other name... Andy

...smells just as expensive!

NC-540 or I-540 is about to open up near our house. A bit before schedule to take the lower west side of the Capital city by surprise. But that's not the only surprise. A few days ago, after the signs were all up, the legislators decided to rename the section south of I-40 "NC-540" and as a result, had to reinstall new signs. But why would they do something soooo silly, you ask?

Well in true NC legislative form, they decided to act against the will of the people and chase the almighty dollar. Like they did when they broke the lottery deadlock, by waiting until the session was over and one opponent was in surgery, and another on his already postponed honeymoon and calling a special session to vote in the lottery quite underhandedly.

If you have been following the whole toll road debate, then you probably know that the toll road was originally slated for the stretch south of 55. Even according to the turnpike authority, that was, and still is the plan "on record". But by this simple and seemingly innocent name change, the legislation has opened the way for the toll road to extend all the way to I-40.

What gets my goat is that the turnpike authority has had several community informational and feedback sessions where they "proposed" and their plan. And now POOF without even updating their website, there is a plan by the DOT to extend the toll section.

I can't say that I am surprised that our state government under the leadership of mike sleasley would do such a thing. But this is too omuch for me to understand how these clowns get elected. PLEASE VOTE. That is all!

Our 4th of July Andy

It was project central 'round these parts. Hardly a holiday if you ask me, but we did get a lot accomplished so that was cool. Here's a run down...

• Cammie's new room is under construction. We are gonna move here into a new room and leave the nursery for the one in the oven! We got the base coat painted. It's green, but a nice green. Not to dark, not too light. Thanks Mom! In the future there will be ladybugs all over the place in there. More on that later.
• Installed an under-the-sink water filter. Thanks Dad! Pretty cool, but it leaked. After getting the correct tool, I found a little piece of plastic laying across an O-ring causing the leak. Fixed now.
• We were hoping to put the icemaker on the same filter system, but couldn't find the line in the basement, so we had had to get an in-line filter for that.
• While in the basement I noticed our dehumidifier wasn't working, it had tripped the breaker. So I reset the breaker and returned to the basement to see very festive fireworks shooting out the bottom... UNPLUG! So we ended up replacing the dehumidifier, too.
  

Hope you enjoyed your fourth as much as we did!

Nerd Content! Andy

You may not notice, but the blog address has changed. http://abcjfamily.blogspot.com/ will continue to work, it will just redirect you to the new... easy to remember http://blog.bandjos.com/

Extra credit for anyone who can figure out what "bandjos" is all about...

In a word.. Unbelievable! Andy

This is a friend of mine... It's a funny story, and a valuable lesson in automotive anatomy.

Perception Without Deception: Unbelievable!

Turning One... Again Andy

We had Cammie's second birthday party in Charlotte this past weekend. Everyone was there! It was a really good time to catch up with Becky's family. Cammie got a couple of Dolls, some books, some clothes, a really soft stuffed horse, and plenty of attention from her cousins!

On the way home, we stopped by Heather and Jason's house and surprised them with the big news!!! That's right, I finally finished and delivered their wedding video. Which reminds me of one the the tenants I live by: "If a job is worth doing, it's worth taking three years to do it!" Oh, And we also told them the other news that Becky is preggers.

Finished of the weekend with the small group at the bowling alley. Not that it's important, but I won!

One Year!!! Andy

Well, Here it is... Cameron is One Year old, and we have had a wonderful year so far. It's hard to believe that a year has passed, It really flew by! Next thing I know, She'll be asking for car keys and I know I'm not gonna be ready for that!

I know you are all wondering... and YES! she loved the cake! We're all looking forward to the next party in Charlotte... mmmm... more cake!

It's a BOY!! Becky

Yesterday Andy & I went for an ultrasound and I talked him in to finding out. We are so excited and feel wonderfully blessed!

And the family story continues... Becky

We are happily surprised to announce that Cammie has a little baby brother or sister on the way! My due date is November 9th! Praise God for another little blessing! My first ultrasound is this Thursday. Pray for a healthy little one!

Myrtle Beach With Papap and Grammy Becky

March 25-29. Cammie & I were invited to the beach with mom & dad for a few days. Her fourth time in her short little life! The weather was great and we walked the beach and played in the sand a couple of days with Papap and shopped at the outlet mall with Grammy. Once Cammie discovered the sand, she just wanted to keep eating it! So, we tried to occupy her with some toys.

Disney World! Becky

February 2-9, we had an awesome vacation with Dave, Karen, Mark, Julie, Chandler, Colby and Cassidy! We went to Disney World and hit all the Disney Parks-Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom. We also hit Sea World one day. Julie made all the girls these great matching outfits! Cammie had a great time. Among her favorite rides were It's A Small World, Pirates of the Carribean and the Tommorowland Transit Authority (the people mover). The first character we had to introduce her to was of course my favorite, TIGGER! On that note, TTFN...Ta-Ta-For-Now!

Her first Sleep-over Andy

Cammie spent her first night away from Becky and I on Sunday night. She stayed with Nana and Papa. It was really quite at home! Luke seemed worried when we came home without her. He was pacing by the door and looking for the carrier. We slept really well, I'm trying to dropkick a cold and went to bed early. We certainly had to have our alarm set or we would have never gotten up. Yep, Cammie does make a good alarm clock, though her snooze button doesn't work!

Well, It's been a while Andy

We recently got back from the annual 'Polar bear retreat' to Myrtle Beach. We did take Cammie with us, but she wasn't any trouble. We had a lot of fun, we played some games with the Whitesides, Vaughns, and Furry's. I won so that was that much more fun. Though, I feel Gary would have beat me if he was there.

We had a breakfast on Saturday morning with the Vaughns and the Furry's. On Saturday afternoon we went Geocaching with Todd and Amanda. They were newbies and each of the them had a find (Todd had two!). We went 5 for 5!

Well, that was a good dry run for our next trip... Disney World! It's coming up really soon! But not soon enough, I'm pretty anxious.

TEETHING... ughhhhhhh! Andy

I had no idea it would be like this... Cammie is teething, or at least we think she is. Constant drooling, runny nose and blood-curdling cries, and through the magic of Baby Orajel (buy stock in them!), she's back to normal in a few seconds. At night, it's the worst. She wakes up often and through the process of drooling and having a running nose, and laying down she gets congested and coughs a lot.

Anyone know how long this goes on, cause after 3 days I'm ready for it to be over and to have Cammie back to her usual self.

I've promised Cammie that she can have a brownie when she gets eight teeth... That better be a really good brownie for this to be worth it!!!

Any advice would be appreciated here... add your comments!

The coolest photo tool I've seen! Andy

If you haven't tried it yet you gotta try Google's Picasa Photo tool. I can't imagine what I did with out it. It will organize your photos into a timeline that you can browse around in... It has a pretty cool screensaver function, and it will let you order prints from a long list of providers (I use Snapfish), and it will upload the photos for you. Oh and you get 250mb of free web space to share pictures.

Oh, and for all you bloggers out there, it will let you post pictures directly to your blog (if you use "blogspot" aka "Blogger"). There's a link over to the right... sign up from over there on the right (if you love Cammie) It's the "Google's Photo Software" Button.

Did I forget to mention that it was FREE?

Wee-little Gamer Andy

Cammie and I are playing her new video game system... Well, I'm playing it, i think she's looking at a pile of bibs! It's the vtech vsmile system. She can learn baby sign language from this thing. Maybe I should watch and learn with her, otherwise we won't know what she is saying.

Time to make the cookies Andy

Here's a picture from the archives... making cookies at `Grandma` Donna's house making cookies with the crew. Cammie wanted in on the action. Here she is working hard in the kitchen and she has the flour on her face to prove it. Oh yeah, the cookies were good, too.

My Little Omnivore Andy

Well, she did it. She ate meat for the first time last night. Mmmm, Lamb! No signs of allergies, so I think we're good to go! I'm so proud of her!

Cammie's big brother Andy

For those of you wondering how our dog and Cammie are getting along... maybe this will help to explain. When we got home with Cammie, a switch flipped in Luke, and he became an excellent guardian. He started notifying us of all the goings on outside the house. For the first few nights she was in her own room, he slept in the doorway of her room so no one could get in or out without him knowing. He loves to clean up after meals, and Cammie loves to watch Luke run around. There going to be great friends as far as we can tell.

Six Months and Counting Andy

Cammie is six months old now... and still keeping us on our toes. Here's a partial list of all her requirements...

• Sleeping through the night... for almost four months. This is one of the best milestones!
• Laughing... She started about two or three months ago, It's really contagious. It's my favorite sound in the world
• Eating fruits, veggies, and cereal... Her first meal was on Halloween, where she had squash. She's tried almost all of the varieties... and no allergies that we've noticed. Becky wants to start her on meat soon.
• Sitting up... Over the Christmas holiday, she really started to sit up on her own for extended periods of time. She really likes to sit up now, which makes feeding her a bottle increasingly difficult.
• Sippy-cup... We are in the process of getting her used to the whole sippy-cup concept. She seems to be catching on, but I think she still prefers the bottle. Baby steps
• Talking... Well not any specific words, but she did find her voice recently and has started being more vocal... good or bad?

So that get's you all caught up... with the basics... we'll try and keep you posted.