new pictures

news from the crib, literally

Jed slept from 8 o'clock last night until 5 this morning! Wooohooo! To celebrate this monumental accomplishment, here are a couple of pictures from his crib.

hanging out with daddy before work

a lefty among us?

For sometime now, we've noticed that Jed will lift his left hand and stare at it, sometimes just watching his fist, sometimes opening and closing his fingers. When he sucks his fist, he goes to the left. If he tries to help hold the bottle or push it away, he uses his left hand. And for the last couple of days, he's gotten a lot better at grabbing things, but only with his left hand. Bad for golf, good for tennis, great for his presidential aspirations.

The proof is in the video:

And some stills:

I love the seahorse Aunt Sue gave me

And thanks to Aunt Sue for my awesome socks-that-look-like-shoes!

an update from work

I just talked to Eric. His first day is going smoothly, and so far, he does not have any plans to go back to school.

Georgia on my mind

St. Simon's was a great trip! We enjoyed the hospitality of Eric's aunt and uncle (Gerry and Sue) at Sue's parents' vacation house, and had a good time catching up with them, Toby (their son), Brian, Dara (Brian's girlfriend), Marlene and Jim. Jed was his usual charming self most of the time and was a real trooper during the long drive. He ate up all the attention and had a ball laughing and making faces with everyone . . . I think he's pretty bored today! Anyway, pictures follow.

left to right: Marlene, Eric, Sarah, Toby (Eric's cousin), Sue (Eric's aunt), and Brian

Jed and Eric

Eating is hard work. It requires hands clinched in concentration.

Marme brought me a book about tigers that I found delightful. Aunt Sue gave me books, too, and I enjoyed reading Pat the Bunny this morning.

That's a whole lotta Lebanese!
Toby and Gerry (Eric's uncle) are in back with Brian, Eric, and Jed in front.

Marlene, Eric, Toby, Brian and Jed, and Sue

Marlene, Sarah, Toby, Brian and Jed, and Sue

Uncle Brian and Jed

Jim and Marlene

Eric, Sarah, and Jed

all dressed up

with some place to go (finally!)!


Despite the glum face, recognizable to those of you who have seen Jed's pre-meltdown phase and brought about in this case by Eric's reluctance to leave Jed for the day, Eric is gleefully off to his new job this morning, five years and two degrees after going back to school.

This marks the beginning of a whole new world for us. I've known Eric for six years and almost four months and we've been married for just over half that time. During most of those years, Eric's been in school, and while that's meant hard studying and tight budgets, it's yielded a very good, leisurely life for us. This new phase will require changes to our routine (yikes!) and patience with each other as we develop a new schedule that provides time with each other, time with Jed, room for our hobbies, friends, and exercise, and of course, ample time for posting on the blog! But we're ready for it (I think!). This is what we've spent the previous years working towards, and I'm so proud of Eric for soldiering on to find a path about which he's truly excited!

I'll update you on the first days of employment if he doesn't, and later today, I'll post some pictures from our Georgia trip.

what a ham!

Yesterday, the three of us spent the afternoon in Raleigh meeting with a realtor and checking out a few houses. While we didn't find any that were down-payment-worthy, we did come away with a better idea of what to expect in our price range and with the feeling that we'll be able to find something with which we're very happy. (And Teddie, we're looking for something where there's another house on the block available for you.)

Today, Jed will make his first foray south as we head to St. Simon's, Georgia. This trip promises all kinds of firsts for him: his first meeting with his extended David family, his first dip in the ocean, and, most importantly, his first look at South of the Border.

But here's what you've been waiting for: more pictures! Kent Corley, a Hillsborough-based photographer, made some outstanding photographs of Jed and us on Tuesday. As you can see, our little ham absolutely fell in love with Kent and his camera!

when the cats are away . . .

Jed will play. Or at least grin.

This weekend, Eric and Sarah headed in opposite directions (Eric to Wrightsville Beach and Sarah to DC) while Jed stayed put! Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa's babysitting services, a good time was had by all!

Despite some initial nerves about "abandoning" the kid, everything went smoothly. Jed was well-behaved for his grandparents, Eric and Sarah enjoyed toasting their friends who will be getting hitched in the coming months, and so far as we can tell, grandma didn't feed Jed any rice cereal and grandpa didn't give him any Cheez-Its.

Go Quakes!

Thanks to the Shoffners Jed can start hugging trees and saving whales in style!

Congratulations Chris and Sherry!

Baby Eli arrived this morning! Check their blog for more info!

some recent pictures

On Saturday, undaunted by tropical storm Hanna, we visited with Jason and Betsy and their kids, Clare and Jace. Thanks to them, Jed can finally claim some Guilford gear, which will make a blog debut soon!

Jed enjoying his bouncer seat

and catching a few winks in his basket, which won't hold him much longer!

looks like

the poll reflected what we generally think about Jed's looks: 58% of respondents think Jed looks like Eric while 41% think he looks like Sarah.

We attribute his cheeks, lips, and all that crazy hair to Eric, and his eye structure to Sarah. On a smaller scale, his hands and fingernails seem to be Sarah's while his feet and (so far) his eye color are more like Eric's. The drool, which recently started, comes straight from dad! But in any case, Jed looks like Jed, his own little independent self, and it will be fascinating and amazing to watch him grow and change in the months and years to come.

As Penne described it: "the glory and mystery that is DNA!"

Happy Birthday, Uncle Brian!

Brian's a man! He's forty!

Lil Baby is All Growed Up

some new pictures