Happy Vet's Day

Hopefully everyone is enjoying the holiday. I say this in jest because most of you don't get Veteran's Day off. Of course, being on a Tuesday this year it's sort of a waste...not that I'm complaining. Daycare is closed, so Bode had to stay home. Evidently Ashley didn't trust me with Bode alone...something about a recent bike crash...so she took the day off. We slept in until 0700, got up, fed the piglets (Auburn, Dudley, and Bode), and then went out to run some errands. We tried to do some Christmas shopping but didn't have much luck, although Bode was fascinated by some of the cool items in Toys R Us. We told him Santa might bring him what he wants IFF (if and only if for you math types) he behaves himself.

We came back around lunch time, ate, and now Bode is napping. Ashley headed back out to run some more errands while I'm in monitoring mode. In case we didn't tell you, we did some tile work this past weekend. We took out the carpet in our foyer and replaced it with ceramic tile. It turned out pretty nice. Due to Ashley's broken finger, she was unable to do a lot of the work...lucky me. We did have a friend over at the house that helped us with some of the finer points. Plus, having a third-party expert really eliminated any possible arguments between the two of us because when in doubt, we did what Clay said. Here is a picture of the finished product.We are also taking down the wall-paper to the right of the stairs. We hope to finish that this week and paint some time in the near future. Home improvement projects never end, do they?

We've been having lots of fun with the little man. Here's Bode jamming out on the keyboard.Bode likes to mash on the keys, and the beauty of the electronic keyboard is the volume control. Sometimes Bode is more interested in the control settings, probably due to the LED's that change whenever he presses a button. He's not really playing music yet, although he does seem to like it when Ashley and I play songs on the piano. His favorite: the Star Wars theme (of course). After all that keyboarding, Bode gets sleepy. Here he is curled up with Mommy on his little blanket.
Hug a Vet today.

Belated Halloween

Sorry this post is out of sequential order, but I had to wait until I had copies of the pictures. For Halloween, we did not take Bode trick-or-treating. Yes, we are bad, awful parents. However, please allow me to explain. First, let me say the state of Ohio is somewhat weird (but in a good way). You see, trick-or-treating doesn't necessarily occur on Halloween. They have something called Beggar's Night. I'm not sure of the origins, but some years, Beggar's Night and Halloween are on the same day; other years, they are not. For example, this year, Halloween was on Friday, 31 October, while Beggar's Night was on Thursday, 30 October. I'm not sure what days Beggar's Night and Halloween would fall on the same day, but I did read that if Halloween is on a Friday, Beggar's Night is on the Thursday before it because the state did not want to jeopardize attendance at high-school football games. Thus, in Ohio, football takes precedence over Halloween. Gotta love a state that has its priorities in order :-)

On Halloween, daycare asked that parents dress their kids in what they want to be when they grow up (as if they already know; I'm still trying to figure that out for myself). We remembered this the morning we were dressing Bode. Thus, we put him in a nice outfit with a cool jacket, slicked his hair, and said, "He's going to be a model." A bit of a stretch (especially if you think Bode looks like me), but at least it was something. Now here's the odd part. All the other kids in Bode's daycare room came dressed as animals (I didn't realize one had this career option). To make Bode fit in with the animals, they put a little farmer's outfit on Bode and had a farm theme going.Evidently Bode thought he was still dressed as a model and was showing off "Blue Steele" (if you haven't seen Zoolander you won't get this joke). Here's a close up of Farmer Bode with a hint of a smile.
We didn't take Bode trick-or-treating because we thought, since he's still pretty young, that we'd be just asking people for candy for us. Yes, a lame excuse. Rest assured, next year the Little Dude will be all decked out. Costume planning begins next week. Any idea where I can get a light-saber?

Pleasant Saturday.

The Walking Dude**

It had to happen sooner or later. Bode, that little seven pound bundle we brought home from the hospital less than a year ago, has started stumbling, err, walking. I say stumbling because his gait really isn't that fluid smooth movement one associates with the great running backs like Gale Sayers or Walter Payton. No, Bode's movement is like that of a man whose been sitting in a bar for many hours pounding beer after beer on an empty stomach who suddenly decides to stand up and walk. Perhaps a video would best explain what I mean.

In the video, he doesn't make it very far before falling. Thus, it wasn't his best effort. He's probably walked 20-30 feet continuously without falling, although he sometimes has to pause and reassess his balance. What terrifies me is when I watch a little boy in his day care class running. Good heavens those little guys can move fast! I can only hope Bode's girth will slow him down...

Here's a good shot of Bode walking to Mommy. The shot really isn't that good of a picture of Bode. What I like is the sheer joy on Ashley's face seeing her little man walk to her. She didn't even get that excited when I got her diamond earrings last Christmas :-)We had our first accident this past weekend. The result was a broken finger, a smashed knee, some road-rash on a shoulder, and a sore jaw. Before you panic, I'm fine (only kidding). Bode, the one you really care about, is also fine. The aforementioned injuries were inflicted on Miss Ashley...and it sort of was my fault. We went for a bike ride on Sunday. I was pulling Bode in his trailer while Ashley was riding behind us. I probably was going too fast (although too fast is relative because it really was quite slow, but evidently not slow enough). One of the driveways up onto the sidewalk was somewhat of a diagonal, so the trailer went over uneven ground, which resulted in it flipping onto its side. I didn't notice what was happening until Ashley started screaming. I look down and see the trailer overturning, so I hit the brake. Fortunately, I intentionally have my front-brake very loose in case such an occurrence happens, thereby preventing me from flying over the handle bars. Unfortunately, because I stopped so suddenly, Ashley had to stop suddenly. Alas, her front brake is rather tight, so I got to see her fly over her handle-bars and smack onto the ground. Being the good husband but bad father, I first went to Ashley, forgetting about the overturned trailer (yes, I"ll be paying for that one for awhile) when Ashley (in intense pain) screams, "Check him!" Bode was crying, but really not hurt because he was strapped in. I consoled him and in a few minutes, he was fine. Not so for Ashley, whose fingers were bent backwards rather severely, her knee and shoulder badly scraped, and a very sore chin. It could have been much worse. We managed to get home and her knee really swelled up, as did her fingers. We didn't go to the emergency room, but she did get X-rays the next day and was told her ring finger was broken. Fortunately she had the good sense to remove her rings right after the wreck and before the swelling set in...We've had a fun week. Bode's new mobility seems to make him a lot more tired at night. He's been going to bed around 7:30 every night. This may sound great, but it's sort of sad for us because we don't see him that much during the day and wish we had more time with him. I guess we'll just have to double the fun on weekends!Here are a few things worth your time. We've been watching True Blood on HBO--pretty good show so far. Also, if you have never watched The Last Lecture on youtube, it is definitely worth the time (just google "last lecture" and you'll find a link to the video). Finally, the episode of South Park on Wednesday was hilarious (well, the way they portrayed McCain and Obama supporters was funny; the Ocean's Eleven/Thirteen parody was so-so).

Pleasant Friday to all.

** For you Stephen King enthusiasts, I realize 'the Walking Dude' was one of the aliases of Randall Flagg from The Stand. For those that haven't read The Stand (shame on you), Randall Flagg is the instrument of evil, perhaps even the devil himself. In fact, in many of King's books, Flagg or some version of him is always "the bad guy." Using the name here to describe Bode is just a coincidence.