Ohhh, I'm old...

Some of you have heard this already, but for those that haven't...

Hope and I had been shopping at Goody's (local clothing store) with little Bubba. As we were checking out, the cashier was talking to Hope. "What a beautiful baby!" she said. "Is that your grandson?" I had to walk away to keep from falling on the floor laughing. I asked Hope later what her response had been. Hope said she just stared at the cashier and said "no". The cashier apologized as she turned red.

I'm too old for this.

Several "firsts"...

It's quiet in the house at the moment. Meg is off to school, after being off for a week for fall break. Mommy is at a work lunch (although not back to work yet, maybe part-time next week). And Matthew, drum roll please, is at daycare for the first time. God help 'em. Took him in this morning and they asked what his nap and eating schedule was...Hope and I just laughed. You mean some kids have a schedule?!? My two nights of Dad Duty, Saturday and Sunday, were similar to those past...Saturday night he slept from halftime of the football game to 4 am, some 6 or 7 hours. Sunday night, no more than 2 1/2 at a time.

He did have a good excuse for being a bit tuckered out Saturday night. He went tailgating before the Alabama, umm, "game"! We went down early for some wings at Buffalo Wild Wings on the Strip (he did that last week, too), back home for a while, then back to campus proper for his first real tailgate activity. Stopped in first with friends from church, the Chimleys, then a quick trip around Volunteer Village to wave at our friend Charles while he did his pregame radio show, then down to see Va and the gang. That was fun, but then a bunch of Alabama sorority girls showed up. I was ok with it, but Bubba said we had to go! No, we didn't go to the game. But, as Mr. Gump would say, that's all I have to say about that.


Heather, Meg, Sarolyn (spelling per Hope), Bubba, and Va. Great spot at the stadium, amid all the color and pageantry, overlooking the Tennessee River. And, as usual, Matt wasn't impressed.

At our spot for watching the Pride of the Southland on their march to the stadium. I'm watching Matt, he's watching the majorettes. That's my boy!

I was a bit concerned about the volume at this point, so I was sort of covering Bubba's ears. That's about a 300 person band blasting "Rocky Top" 4 feet away. He seemed more annoyed at my efforts than the sound.

Week 5

Another week down. Tennessee won a football game and nights with Matt might be getting a little bit better. Spent this Monday on another trip to Blount County, but this time Matt got to go all the way to the mountains, to the home of Jim and Barbara Leach in Laurel Valley. Meg is out of school for fall break, so she and Bebe are staying with the Leach's until they get thrown out, or 1 night, whichever is less.
Great-Aunt Barbara. Either the picture is a tad fuzzy or I am. No bets either way.

Matt and Great-Uncle Jim off the Leach's back deck. Jim showed us pictures of bears, raccoons, and other critters on this deck. Matt, as usual, wasn't impressed with any of it.

For fairness and in response to my photo of Hope in a similar pose, Miss Meg caught me asleep with the little stinker.

Great Aunt Molly Pratt checked in this past week, in town from Nashville. The first photo from Matt's room, I believe. He hasn't spent a night in there yet.

Somewhere in there we gave Matt his first official bath. Pretty ridiculous that the bathtub had to be assembled. The extra set of hands are Meg's, whose been a big help, when she wants to be.

My second video masterpiece, with Matt getting suctioned after his bath (I think). Click on the play button and turn on your speakers!

4 weeks and a day....

and it only seems like 4 weeks. Not much change to the daily routine. No new tricks from the little stinker. I've been back at work for a couple of weeks now (hence the dropoff in these postings!). Matt is still having some issues with wanting to sleep all day and party all night, and Hope is still bearing the brunt of that problem. We've taken him to see Hope's coworkers at the American Cancer Society, my coworkers at the airport, Bebe's at UT Hospital, to Grandma's, and he's all ready to give the tour of Walmart.



Today we had a Maryville (aka Murvul) day! We had lunch with Hope's aunt and uncle, Barbara and Jim Leach, then spent some time in downtown Maryville, where the Foothills Fall Festival was taking place. They have concerts and games for 3 days, but we went for the craft displays they do on the (closed) downtown streets. Beautiful day for it, too. Then made Matt's first trip to the family farmhouse, home of my brother Ed and his family.



Chief Mitchell is retiring in 9 days!


My nephew Josh, with his (as mentioned in a previous post) son, Mason. Wow, he'd grown since Hope and I last saw him! (Mason, that is)

Ed had taken Meg up to the barnlot on an ATV with him. After we spent some time checking out a baby calf, they headed to the other side of the barn. When next we saw them, she'd commandeered her own ride! She had a blast, but I promise, it was at low speed! We'll have her in a helmet next time.

If you can't tell, those dark things behind us are cows. Matt was unimpressed.

I believe we'll keep both of 'em.

Now, Matt hasn't learned new tricks, but I'm trying. My first attempt at posting a short video, so don't expect Citizen Kane or anything.

Wow, a whole week without a post

Not gonna be much to this one either, but I promise new pictures in the next day or so. It's been a rough couple of weeks. I went back to work last week, so Hope has been fighting through the nights on her own. It continues to amaze me that she is functional! No, the little stinker isn't doing much better on making it more than a couple of hours or so at a time at night. Hope and I went to the UT-Northern Illinois game Saturday, then I did a turn at staying up all night with the little one. That let Hope get as good as night sleep as she's had in three weeks, only having to get up to pump. She and three girlfriends had a night out Sunday night, so she's having a little fun, at least. Now I'm a little under the weather. I'm hoping it's just allergies, but I'm feeling wiped out, so now Hope has 2 whiny babies to deal with. Pray for her!