One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap...

We're in trouble now. Courtney's starting to walk.

It's really funny to watch. She doesn't quite bend her knees yet, but her balance is good and she's travelling all over the house. She uses her Little Mermaid pusher/rider for balance, but since she started (just 3 days ago) she's shown a lot of improvement. She'll get stuck on furniture or a wall and she'll be able to move her cart, without falling down, and continue on her merry way. Just yesterday, she was able to turn a corner by herself.

And since she started walking around with Ariel, she's also gotten more confident with standing on her own and walking with assistance (namely, holding my hands). I'm sure she'll be completely mobile soon. Time to lock those cabinets!

On top of all of the walking about, on the same day that she she started walking, she also sprouted her first tooth. That sharp little nub finally broke through with not much fanfare. She never fussed too badly when it came to teething. Sure, she fussed, but not bad compared to some of the horror stories I've heard.

So now you're up to date. Walking and teeth...now all we need is some hair.

Happy Birthday, Dear Courtney. Happy Birthday to You!

Yup...she's one. How time flies!

The past year has been filled with sleepless nights, worries over bumps and bruises, crying (both her and me), and all sorts of issues I hadn't even thought of.

And it's been great.

She continues to grow stronger, older, and smarter every day. I am continually amazed at things she can do and how far she's come. To think back a year to a little girl who was only 3 and 1/2 pounds, hooked up to all sorts of monitors and ventilators, and only able to eat through a feeding tube. Now she's a thriving 1-year-old, eating regular foods (she loves waffles and graham crackers), and more mobile than I really care for. She already looks for trouble, I can only imagine the trouble when she starts walking.

So now that I've got one year under my belt, I guess I can be considered a veteran father even though I still have no idea what I'm doing. I guess the two of us will just have to figure it out as we go along.

Tempting the Weather Gods

Liz thinks it's a funny story...all it did was piss me off.

Within days of my post about the lack of snow, there was a snowstorm. A big one too. I think it was about 8 inches of wet, heavy snow. Boy, was I glad I had my snowblower! I happened to have the day off from work, so I took my time, waited for the snow to come to an end, geared up, and went out to clear the driveway.

The snowblower worked well. It kinda pushed the snow along at times instead of blowing it, but it sure beat the hell out of shoveling! With that job done, I went inside and waited for the plows to come by. At that point I'd go back out and clear the end of the driveway and the mailbox. I was so motivated with my new machine, I was even going to clear out the neighbor's as well (since he's done ours countless times).

So, I hear the plow go by and I spring into action. I gear up again, get the snowblower into position, pull the start cord and...

Snap.

Yup, during the first snowstorm with my snowblower, I pulled the cord right out of the machine. Now mind you, this is a used machine and this is a typical problem. A couple of days later I was able to take it apart, rethread the cord, and put it back together. No big deal, it was an easy fix. But on that day, I was not a happy guy.

And as for the snow at the end of the driveway, let's just say that I didn't forget how to shovel.

I Can Control the Weather!

My father has always claimed he can control the weather. He said he could make it rain by starting to paint the house. If he didn't want it to rain, all he needed to do was put fertilizer down on the lawn. Well, apparently these weather controlling gifts have been passed down to me. I figured this out because I, single-handedly, have stopped it from snowing any considerable amount for the past month. How did I do this?

I bought a snowblower.

That's right folks. By the simple act of getting a snowblower, I seem to have prevented any snowfall for the remainder of the 2007-2008 winter. My shovel broke during the last snowstorm which surely would have doomed us all if I had not taken action and gone out to get the snowblower. No need to thank me...the pleasure is all mine.

Don't get your hopes up too high though. I saw a guy today who claimed to have the same power...

He was washing his car.

Happy Halloween!

Yeah, I know that Halloween was almost two weeks ago, but I just figured you'd want to see Courtney in her costumes.

I'm Sick of "Blank-tober"

It's been a while since I've posted about anything non-baby related, so I thought I'd get back to my roots.

On my way into work today, I heard an ad for a local auto dealership. They were advertising truck specials calling this month "Truck-tober".

Major League Baseball has had commercials running all post season trying to get fans all excited about the sport through a website: www.actober.com

And there are probably thousands of radio stations across the country that have dubbed this month "rock-tober".

Leave October alone.

What did October ever do to anyone? Why was it decided that when it came to mutilating a month in the name of commercialism, it would be poor October? I think this has gone on long enough. Either we should leave October alone or we need to equally destroy other months. We could have Brrr-cember or Back to School-gust sales.

I'll let "Octoberfest" slide...that is a holiday after all.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Or more like 180 days or so. That's right...on Saturday, our little girl will be 6 months old. The time has absolutely flown by. It's been one hell of a ride. Not only have we been able to watch Courtney grow right before our eyes, but we have had the fun of learning how to be parents along the way! Did I say fun? What I meant to say was...we still have no idea what we're doing and we're just playing the whole thing by ear. But, she's still alive and kicking, so I guess we're doing OK so far.

Update on Cat... She's growing. Probably about 14 pounds, but we won't know for sure until her 6 month appointment next week. She's talking a ton, smiling all the time, and beginning to teethe. Or we think she's beginning to teethe. It's about that time and she's drooling all over the place. As soon as she bites me, I'll let you know.

Other than that, we've gotten into a good routine. Then that will all go to hell when Liz goes back to work on October 1. No one's looking forward to that. We did luck out in that Courtney will simply be traveling across the street to her daycare provider. Our neighbor had a baby on the Fourth of July and decided not to go back to work. So she'll be looking after our little one when Liz goes back to work. It won't be easy, but I suppose it could be worse.

Now, the moment you've been waiting for...new pics! The first picture is an early one from the hospital, just so you can see how much she's changed. It's amazing how far she's come, and it's only the beginning.