A Plea to All Fathers

To date, I (Mike) have been nothing more than a back seat blogger--enjoying the scenery, but never taking the wheel. This is my inaugural blog post. Here goes...

There are times as a father when you wonder if you are cutting it--you wonder if you are providing the love, support, encouragement, discipline, etc. to help your child grow to be the person you hope he or she becomes. In September, when Andrew was already 8 months, I found myself in a sudden panic as I realized that I may have already postponed Andrew's development due to a serious oversight on my behalf. As Andrew and I played, I suddenly realized that there were no balls of any kind in his preferred choice of toys--in fact, there were no Andrew-sized balls in the house at all! Terror! Panic! Embarrassment! What kind of father was I? I had faltered in my responsibility to maintain the proper ball to other toy ratio for nearly 8 months. I quickly repented and went to work. What I missed in the first 8 months, we have made up for since. Andrew and I took a special father-son trip to Walmart the very week of my realization and purchased a basketball and a football. Since then, Andrew has grown fond of any and every ball he lays is eyes on. The most repeated word in his vocabulary is "ball" and he rarely goes for more than a couple of minutes without a ball in his hand. Fathers, I speak to you. Learn from my mistake. Luckily, my story has a happy ending, but another couple of months and it may have been too late. Don't let it happen to you. "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6)

Below are a couple of pics of Andrew and me outside the Lincoln Saltdogs (local independent league baseball team) stadium. Andrew spotted these balls from 200 yards as we walked through the parking lot toward the ticket gates. He couldn't stop saying ball until we got up close enough to touch them.

Camping

We wanted to go camping this summer before it got too hot and before I got too big. So, we went out to Pawnee Lake Friday evening and set up camp. We camped right on the lake and Andrew had a great time running around exploring everything. We were very surprised and impressed at how well Andrew slept in the tent. We actually had a great night's sleep until the sun came up at 5:30 a.m. and Andrew was ready to go. Too bad tents don't come with blinds!
Here's Andrew getting his work done. It cracks me up how he'll pick something up and carry it with such determination as if it's his job.
Here are my two boys waiting for our dutch oven breakfast!

Big Mama!

Today I had a doctor's appointment and in the words of my doctor, I've "had a big growth spurt!" I am 19 weeks along and I'm measuring 26 weeks! I knew I had grown, but was surprised at how much I had grown.

I was just telling Mike the other night that I felt like I was getting big so fast. He then asked me where I got my green striped spandex, which were actually my pajama pants! It was actually quite funny and we both got a good kick out of his joke. However, I did warn him that most wives would not tollerate such joking about getting huge and there is a time and a place for such funny comments (translation: that was funny, but no more jokes!). In honor of my bigness, I cashed in on the gift certificate for a pedicure that Mike gave me for Mother's Day. Mike took Andrew for the evening and I had a wonderful visit to the nail salon and it felt sooooo good to be pampered!

Daddy's Helper

Andrew loves his daddy and loves doing what daddy is doing. Today we had a classic Saturday cleaning the garage, mowing the law, working in the garden, washing the car, etc. Andrew helped with all of these family chores, but had the most fun helping wash the car! He loved the sponge and the water spraying everywhere. Also, Andrew has been very into shoes for a while now. He will put on flip flops, high heels, and even boots! It's really cute to see him work so hard to get them on. Lastly, here's a picture of Andrew all tuckered out after an afternoon of grocery shopping. He was so tired he couldn't even finish his sucker!
p.s. Amy, this is Andrew in our new van! I know you want to see a pic, but I haven't gotten one yet. Soon, I promise!

Results are in...

We had our ultrasound this morning and both babies look great! The list is short for those who predicted correctly.

Cameron
Amy Simisky
Greta- not sure if this guess counts, Greta is Maria's dog!
Whit
Shauna
Ann Marie
Mike

The above list all guessed that we are having two boys...and we're having two boys! We're so excited! We love boys and are excited for Andrew and his brothers to pal around together playing ball, poking each other with sticks, and rough housing! It was fun to see our babes wiggling around and having a good time together already. It was also great to have Mike there and to have someone who was just as excited as I was about seeing our cute little guys. Bring on the boys!

Any guesses?

This Thursday we have another ultrasound and should be able to tell the sex of our babes! This will be Mike's first time seeing our babes on screen bouncing around. We are excited to find out what we're having and to see our little ones again. So, what are your guesses?! Two boys, two girls, or one of each? I let my primary class make their predictions on Sunday and one kid said, "I hope you're having four babies!" I think we'll stick with two!

Also, Mike's brother and wife, Eric and Katie, are also finding out what they're having on the same morning! Kind of exciting to get so much news within the same hour, literally!