Monthly Archive

Oh, this poor, woeful, neglected blog. In an effort to make up for some lost time with family documentation, I’ve listed some general updates about each of us in lists of five bullet points.

KBJ

• Katie has been traveling some lately, and works no less than 55-60 hours every week.
• She continues to be an exceptional mother and wife.
• Despite her demanding work and home life, she completed a full year of breastfeeding with Jackie and 11 months with McLain.
• Her two primary college football teams (Georgia Tech and Clemson) are a combined 12-0, so she’s never a tad grumpy on Saturday evenings.
• Nothing pleases me more than those not-so-rare occassions when Jackie and Katie are talking to each other and each of them reminds me so much of the other one.

JBJ

• Jackie can read every letter in the alphabet, even when presented in random order. And, she’s playing semi-organized soccer.
• She chooses outfits for the day and dresses herself, often at an agonizingly slow pace.
• She’s prone to spontaneous acts of sweetness, on a daily basis.
• She is in a full-blown nurturing stage, although she would much rather look after her two baby dolls than the real 1-year-old who truly needs constant supervision.
• She’s learned to appreciate “sad songs” at the age of two, but she’s not afraid to request “jams” if the music gets too down-tempo.

MMJ

• McLain can throw just about anything that fits his tiny grip 10 feet or more, with either arm.
• He now stuffs food into his mouth as if he’s the underdog in a competitive eating event.
• If you ask him what sound a <insert any animal here> makes, he always replies promptly with, “Pthffffttt”.
• He’s goofy in the coolest way, and remains the smilingest kid I’ve seen. He’s serious with his drumming though.
• All that smiling reveals a lot of gums and only three teeth.

APJ

• When I stand from the sitting position, my right knee makes a noise that sounds like the action of a short zipper. It doesn’t hurt though.
• I used to think I knew what it was like to be “busy”. I didn’t, but I hope that now I do.
• Some of the things keeping me busy now will be either postponed or outright canceled during the Tar Heels five-month quest for 2011-12 basketball glory.
• I’ll remember this past summer as a time when I thought a lot about two important people who died at the end of May.
• Paradigm shift in our family’s music procurement and selection operation; iTunes and Amazon Cloud have been replaced with all Spotify all the time.

BBJ

• Baxter is still crazy after all these years.
• The earthquake this summer scared him more than thunderstorms do, but not as much as lawn mowers.
• When the high temperature started dipping below 80 degrees over the past month and a half, he started begging to be covered with a blanket.
• He’s still the best jogging partner I’ve ever known.
• I see some early signs of arthritis, but it’s no match for his high tolerance for pain. He was born to run.

RBJ

• Robah hangs in my home office when I’m there, and if he has indigestion he makes a “Ruhhh” sound that sounds just like Rick Ross.
• He seems to be eating less, but hasn’t lost much weight. Not that he’s fat — just a little big-boned.
• He now enjoys fetching about 75% as much as Bax, which is a whole lot.
• He’s like my shadow when I’m home, and I love him for it.
• McLain treats him like a bouncy castle. Robah tolerates it, and I love him for that too.