Big Breakfasts...

Before we get started, I'd like to mention that I've been having more and more trouble using the Blogger engine to post photos to our site. I don't know what the deal is, but it's frustrating me to the point of needing to go elsewhere for my blogging needs. More on that when I can get back to work and talk to people who know much more about that kind of thing than I do.

Rachel and I got up this morning and I made a big breakfast. Pancakes, fruit topping, hot tea, bacon, the whole deal. It was so wonderful...we used to have a big breakfast every Saturday morning that we were home (which wasn't that often, but still). When we had just gotten married, it was one of the things we could do together that was simple and fun. I know this won't sound flattering at first, but the smell of bacon cooking will probably always remind me of my Dad. Ever since we were kids, Saturday mornings were the same - eggs, toast, and hot tea (the tea being for Dad until I was about 16 - although Dad, my growth never got stunted from the caffeine because I'm 6"1'). Interesting how something as banal as eggs on toast can profoundly influence a person for the rest of their lives.

It makes me excited to think about all of the traditions and fun that we'll have with our kids...and not just the planned things like how the Christmas tree gets decorated (in my childhood, the lights in a mathematical grid pattern with perfectly spiraled garland), but the unintentional things that are so much a tradition that they are a part of who you are a person. I stir my tea like my dad: loudly. Like my mom, I raise my eyebrows when I'm listening to people (watch for it, you'll see it). My sisters and I have all inherited my Mom's gift of gab and my Dad's sarcastic humor (alas, a gift and a curse =) ). Christopher likewise will be a product of all of the shared experiences of his Mommy and Daddy. While this is quite scary, it's also very exciting, because I've calculated that Rachel and I have, at worst, only 23 characteristics that could be classified as "bad," 6 that would be considered "really bad," and 1 that has been labeled "excommunicative" (that one's mine).

Seriously though, eggs on toast made me realize that it is a good thing in life when you are as excited to be in the moment as you are about what's coming up next. I'm overjoyed when I see Christopher now, and I'm dreaming about what our home will be like with him in the future. What a blessing it will be to have him home for the holidays.

Sorry, for you math people, here are the facts =):

Weight: 3lbs 12.8oz
Apnea/Bradycardia spells: 0, last one 3 days ago
Bottle/Breast Feedings: 4/day
Disposition: Content, unless you're changing his diaper and he gets cold
Parents: Tired. Happy. Sad sometimes. Stressed out but hanging in there.

We love you all...thanks for reading and praying!

--Andy