Author: John

Posted on by John

I haven’t written as much about Grayson as I should have been. Christine and I just get so little down-time with two kids in the house, it’s hard to write…

So, as he turns three months old, I as reflect on his first three months of life, and this journey he’s making into the world…

I realize that Grayson really looks up to his big brother, and has started following him around the room when we have him in his little bouncy seat while Jack runs around and plays.

Grayson is super smart. I say that because just today he figured out how to scoot himself around the floor on his back. I’m not sure he knew where he was going, or why, but he scooted, and I realized I was really in for it when he’s up and running around with his brother.

Grayson is very attentive, and he is already starting to talk. Jack understands Grayson’s language and the two of them say “agoo” back and forth a lot. Grayson is also very helpful. He helps his brother climb into our laps whenever he’s already there and Jack wants to sit in our lap too.

Grayson is a ham. He’s always cheezin’ at us, or smiling and blowing bubbles.

Grayson’s lungs are very healthy. He doesn’t cry much (at least not now that we figured out he has acid reflux syndrome), but when he does, man can he belt it out.

Grayson’s lower lip can stick out pretty far. Whenever he’s mad, upset, or thinking about crying, he pouts really hard. His lip sticks out pretty far, and it’s adorable, even though we know when he does it that we better figure out what he wants and fast.

Grayson takes his medicine like a man. (See above for reference to Acid Reflux). Okay, maybe like an old man, but most of the time, Grayson takes all of this medicine, and when he does he feels much happier.

We love our little Grayson, and I can’t wait to see him grow up to make us proud.

See all of the photos from Grayson’s three month photo shoot with me here.

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Posted on by John

Well, let’s see. It’s been almost a month since I’ve written… seems like the days keep getting shorter the older the boys get.

This year, for Christmas, we decided to make two trips over two weekends: one to Houston, and the second to Dallas.

We made our annual trek to Houston for the Teaff family Christmas on Friday, December 22nd. Jack is definitely growing up. Last year, he couldn’t even walk this time of year. This year, he was a rip roaring two-year old, and was really looking forward to Santa and presents (he figured out how much fun it was to open presents at his second birthday party in November).

Debbie and Raymond got a new dog. He’s a cutie.

We really had fun in Houston, seeing all of the family, and opening presents. Jack got plenty of presents, and totally had a blast. He really got into the whole tearing open the presents thing, and helped Christine and I open our presents, and opened most of Grayson’s presents for him too.

Dinner with the family was amazing. I think my favorite dish was the macaroni and cheese. I think I remember that Shirley made it, and her trick was to put a little sugar in it. Mmmmm, good.

For Christmas Eve, we needed to stall the kids, and help them burn off some excitement (while Santa was heading up the front walkway) so my mom (Momo) had all of the kids (Paige, Patrick, Iliki, Matthew, and Ella) dress up in nativity scene outfits and act out a nativity scene. It was so cute to see them all dressed up as Mary, Joseph and the other players. And they did a great job too.

Jack was a little scared of Santa, and wouldn’t sit on his lap, but we got him up there with Christine and Grayson for a photo. Grayson joined me for my visit with Santa too.

Everyone seems to be doing really well, and this year’s Christmas went off without a hitch. More photos from the Teaff Family Christmas here.

Then on New Year’s weekend, we made the trek up to Dallas for Christmas with the Kamp’s. The weather was pretty bad on the way up, but we made it in 4 hours… and as soon as we arrived, it really started pouring. We got lucky to make it there before the storms really hit hard.

Jack was in full present mode at Christmas at the Kamp’s too… and had a blast helping everyone open their presents. He got some great toys in Dallas, and Grayson did too. Funny thing though, is that Jack enjoys Grayson’s toys as much as he enjoys his own…

Frank let me borrow a bunch of old camera’s he’s been holding on to for a while including an old Agfa Box camera that was his first camera, a Rolleicord IV, that was his Dad’s, and his Nikon F1 with a really nice 55mm macro lens and a bunch of assorted attachments. I’ve been playing with them since I got home, and have shot three rolls of film already. I’m gonna have to learn a lot to get good with any of them though.

We worked on the Scout a little, dropping the fuel tank and replacing part of the fuel line, and I used a couple of old rags and some soap and water to clean out the interior a little. Hopefully Jack will get to drive it someday, if we can keep it in good enough condition for 14 more years.

Christine and I actually stayed awake long enough on New Year’s Eve to see the ball drop (which I can’t believe). Then we watched a lot of football while in Dallas, and spent New Year’s day watching USC with Michael.

The drive home was better than the drive up, and we made it back to Austin in 3 hours instead of 4. Photos from the Kamp Family Christmas here.

We’re all enjoying 2007 so far, and look forward to a good year, and hope you do too.

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Posted on by John

On December 9th and 10th, Shadel and Ella came up to Austin to visit. On the evening of the 9th, Christine and Shadel went to Central Market to learn how to cook, while I stayed home with all three kids by myself. Woohoo! We had fun.

The next day, Ella and Jack put lights on the tree for us, and I snapped a few photos:

More photos of the kids putting the lights on the tree here.

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Posted on by John

Just a few shots from Jack taking a shower:

I guess now that he’s old enough to poop and pee in the potty, he’s grown out of the bath. He no longer wants to take a bath, but if you ask him if he wants to shower, he says “yeah, yeah” and runs to the bathroom and starts taking off his clothes… The joys of being a parent.

More photos here.

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Posted on by John

A few weeks ago, I took some photos of Grayson one morning. These are my favorite two:

There are a few more here. He’s getting big, isn’t he?

We went to his two month checkup this past week, and the doc said he’s doing great. He weighed 13.7 pounds, and was 80th percentile in weight. He got four shots, and took them like a man… well, a man that’s two months old and doesn’t like shots 😉

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Posted on by John

This post will sound a little cheezy, sorry.

I’m so proud of Jack.

Our normal evening routine with Jack is to let him eat dinner, then to take a bath and then to wear his bath robe while sitting on the couch with Christine or I while he drinks his cup of milk before bed.

However, that routine changed this past Monday night.

On Monday night, after drinking his milk, Jack asked to take his robe off, so we let him run around naked. While he ran around naked, we kept asking him “Jack, do you need to go potty?” primarily because he’s gone potty on the floor once before, and we’re hoping that he’s learning when he “needs” to go…

To our surprise, on Monday night, he said “yes, potty.” So I picked him up, and walked into the bathroom and sat him on the big toilet.

He sat there, and bent over, and looked at his pee-pee, and you could just tell he was just waiting for pee to start coming out. So I told him to “push a little, Jack.”

He did, and a few minutes later, he was peeing. “Woohoo!” I yelled, as I gave Christine the play by play…

She was pretty proud. I was super extremely proud.

He was done… after one little squirt and about 2 seconds. So, we got up to go wash hands.

And as soon as I’d turned on the water, he needed to go again, so, I sat him back up on the seat. And, this time, he really went.

Man, I was proud. My kid knows how to pee in the potty. Granted he was sitting down, peeing like a girl, but it’s better than peeing in a diaper. Wow. My boy knows how to pee, on command, and I was there to teach him how to do it.

Isn’t being a dad great!

Then, today, Christine called me at work to tell me that Jack told her he needed to potty again today, but this time, instead of going pee-pee on the big toilet, he went poo on the little boy’s potty that we borrowed from Cyndi and Marc…

So there you have it, the latest news from the Engler house. We now know that 3 out of four family members peeing and pooing in the potty. Most of the time at least.

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Posted on by John

So let’s see. I’m in trouble. I’m in trouble because I’ve been very delinquent in updating this website. For that I apologize.

That said, here’s what’s been going on since the last post:

On Thursday, Jack got up, and it happened to be his birthday. He turned two years old, officially.

We took him outside in the backyard and took some photos of him in his dad’s maroon t-shirt again:


Two Years Old


One Year Old

He had fun taking those photos… he didn’t need help standing up this time either 😉

We opened a few gifts from the family on Thursday, just so we didn’t have that many gifts to open at his birthday party we were having on Saturday… can you tell he liked the fire truck:

More photos from the gift opening on Thursday.

That afternoon, around 4:00 or 4:30, friends starting arriving. We were hosting Christine’s family, and Mike Elmquist and Bob Beuerlein for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Mike was in town for Aggie Yell Practice that night, and was a buddy of mine in the Aggie Band years ago. Bob got back in the U.S. after a year in Iraq on Monday, 11/20, and wasn’t very far away (at Ft. Hood.) so we asked him to come join us too.

Christine has prepared most of the side dishes, and Mary and Frank had cooked the turkeys. Mike and Steven brought the desserts.

As soon as we had the table set, I had every one get together so we could take a group photo:

Dinner was amazing. Everyone had a turkey hangover and was in bed by 9 p.m.

On Thursday night, Bob, Mike and I went to Yell Practice on the south lawn of the State Capitol. And cool enough, right before Yell, we were drinking a beer in the bar in my office building, and we ran into Rev, the A&M Mascot, and we got to take a picture of Bob with Rev. Pretty cool:

On Friday morning, 12/24, Greg and I took Patrick and Jack to the t.u. vs. Aggies football game.

Whoop, the Ags beat last year’s National Champs 12 to 7. Greg and Patrick weren’t real happy about the outcome, but we all had a good time going to the game together. Actually, Jack sort of wussed out before the game started (he’s two, what do you expect) and Bob got to go instead of Jack, but again, we all had fun.

Here are some photos from Yell Practice wth Bob and from the game with Greg and Patrick.

A few more random shots:

I have photos from Jack’s Birthday Party on Saturday that I’ll get posted soon, and some movies from the past week or two too… not enough time in the day folks!

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Posted on by John

Last night, I asked Jack to say names of family members, and here’s what we got: Jack-says-Names.mp3.

If you listen to the mp3 file, listen to these names in this order:

  • Uncle Mike
  • Papa
  • Uncle Steven
  • Uncle Evan
  • Uncle Raymond
  • Momo
  • Nana
  • Debbie
  • Aunt Peggy (sounds more like P-Aggie)
  • Uncle Mike (we were in the hallway where there’s a photo of Mike and Steven, hence the repetition of these two names)
  • Uncle Steven (ditto)
  • Aunt Shadel
  • Ella
  • Cousin Ella
  • Grayson

Cute, huh?

Then tonight, while I was editing those names, Grayson started cooing to his mommy. It was pretty adorable, especially because we think his first “coo” was so lound and unexpected that it actually scared him into making the second “coo” sound.

BTW, if you want an MP3 of Jack saying your name, just leave a comment and Paypal me $3, and you can use that MP3 as a custom ringtone on your polyphonic phone. I always knew I wanted to be in the ringtone business….

update: 11/21/2006: I just listended to the MP3 this morning, and it’s funny to me how hard it is to understand Jack still, if you don’t know his language… To clarify: He says “uncle” as if he’s saying “Buncle”. He says “Peggy” and “Shadel” all wrong, but he’s definitely saying those two names. He says Evan, Mike, Steven, Raymond, Debbie, Momo, Nana, and Papa pretty well. We’ll keep trying… He’ll be able to talk by age 5, that’s the only promise I’m making at this point. Up next, colors and numbers.

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Posted on by John

This past weekend marked the last home game of Jack’s first Aggie Football season. And it was a good season… not because of what happened on the field, but because of the joy I experienced taking my son to football games… the same football games I used to go to as a kid with my friends and family.

I really enjoyed the games this year, because I got to spend a good amount of time with two men in my life that mean a lot to me: Bussy and Jack.

We really had a good time, and I’m looking forward to doing it all again next year if we can.

This past weekend, we also got to see Will Ketchen, one of my buddies that recently got out of the Army and is now attending MBA school. Jack enjoyed hanging out with Will:

Jack also enjoyed hanging out with Bussy. There are a few more photos of them enjoying the day in this photo gallery from this past weekend.

Gig ‘Em Aggies! (Yes, Jack knows how to say that and much more)

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Posted on by John

Halloween came and went this year, and it was Jack’s second halloween, and Grayson and Maly’s first.

They were all so cute.

Jack was a race car driver and Maly was a Purple Dinosaur:

Grayson was a baby frankenstein:

Maly and Grayson were really just along for the ride, but I think Jack sort of got what we were doing by the second or third house. Here’s a photo of Jack getting his first piece of candy on his own during Halloween:

The funny thing is that after getting a piece of candy from the neighbors, he actually went inside their house almost like he thought we were just going over for a visit. And since they don’t have kids, I think he figured out we weren’t there to visit when he realized they didn’t have any toys out 😉

Like I said, Jack really seemed to have fun:

And Josh, Elise, Christine and I also had fun taking the kids out for Halloween.

Here’s the rest of the photos from the night.

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Posted on by John

I went to New York City for a trade show this past week. It was a good show, but lots of work.

On Tuesday night, I took a few clients out to dinner, so that we could get to know each other. We went to the Rockefeller Center Cafe, which is down on the same level as famous ice skating rink down there.

As soon as we got into the restaurant and sat down, someone said “Hey, Britney’s out skating on the ice!”

And sure enough, right there, outside our window was Britney Spears, skating with her body guards, some guy (not her husband K-Fed), and a bunch of normal people just enjoying the evening.

So, one of my colleagues at the table went and snapped a few photos. Heh, she was acting like a teenage girl, actually, and went nuts that Britney was there.

She got up, went outside and took more photos.

I looked around to order some water, or a bottle of wine, and I realized that no one in the restaurant was eating or drinking. All of the waiters were standing and pointing and looking. It was pretty comical.

Here are the photos that we got of Britney. Some are good, some are dark, but they’re my proof that Britney Spears was 10 feet from me, ice skating…

Heh. Now I feel like a teenage girl for posting this story.

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Posted on by John

I took my laptop into the shop this week, and forgot to get all the photos I took between when Grayson was born and Monday off of it, so I haven’t posted a lot of photos from the hospital and the ride home, and the first week at home, so here are some photos from this past week:

  • Christine and Jack playing outside – These came out pretty good… Jack was crying because I took something away from him he should haven’t, so Christine got down and started playing with him. That tear wouldn’t drop off his cheek, but I thought it was cute.
  • Jack’s Train – look through the series… Jack loves his train, but you can see that it only takes him about 5 minutes of playing with it to want to tear the track apart, only to rebuild it. This kid’s going to go into demolition, I think.
  • Heidi and Phyllis come to visit – Our good friends Heidi and Phyllis, who I’ve worked with in at least two different companies, came to visit us this week on Thursday. Grayson got along well with both of them 😉
  • Kids Playing – Heidi’s kids, Norah and Mason, and Jack were playing in the neighbor’s front Yard. They played chase, with each falling on their own, and then the next one falling and finally the third, just to get up and do it all again!
  • Grayson and Wesley on the couch. We have some of Jack like this when Jack was tiny.
  • Jack, my little Cub – I bought this hat for Jack last summer when I worked for 24/7 Real Media and my boss, Robert Hess, took us all out to a Cubs game as a team building thing. Great game, and great hat… Jack can just now get away with wearing it. I think I’ll buy Jack a St. Louis Cardinals hat next time I go visit them.
  • Jack taking photos of his little brother. Jack shared his truck with Grayson, and then started taking photos. It was the cutest thing. If you look closely, you’ll notice that when Jack takes a photo of someone, he’s actually taking a photo of his nose (he holds the camera so that it faces him, not his subject, but we’re not picky around here 😉 ).

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Posted on by John

This week has been really great for Christine, Jack, Grayson and I. Especially for me.

I’ve gotten to bond with Grayson and Jack and I’m really thankful that I work for a company that’s supportive of family and understands how important family is to me.

Ok, that out of the way.

I thought you might want to hear how Jack says “baby brother” so here it is:

Click to download the MP3 of Jack saying “Baby Brother”.

Heh, who do you think he sounds like?

And since I had a few minutes, here’s a video of Jack and Grayson on the dining room table:

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Posted on by John

Last week was heaven. Thanks in large part to Nana and Papa.

Christine and Grayson came home from the hospital on Monday, October 16th around 3:00. Michael, Christine brother that flew in from New Orleans on Saturday after Grayson was born, drove our car up to the hospital for us, came up to the room and helped us pack ourselves out, and then drove the other car home.

Grayson was soooo small in the car seat, but he was too cute too. Christine sat in the back seat with him and sang to him as we drove the 10 or 12 blocks from the hospital to the house.

When we got home, Frank and Mary were there to greet us with Wesley and Patton.

Once we were home, we quickly settled into a routine. The routine with Grayson is a little different than it was with Jack. Mainly because we now get to play with Jack where we used to take naps 😉

Actually, Mary was a huge help with the baby the first week. Christine remarked on Sunday how she realized as Mary and Frank were leaving that she didn’t even really change a diaper for that first week. Mary pretty much took over taking care of Grayson and Jack while Christine healed, and I went to work for that first week.

Frank was in charge of helping out around the house with little handywork projects, and cooking. He also was in charge of helping me smoke the cigars we got to celebrate Grayson’s arrival.

Jack was in charge of being cute, and helping take care of his “baby brother”. He’s doing pretty good at it too.

Grayson was responsible for telling us when he was hungry, wet, poopy or tired. He was also respondible for sleeping as long as possible between being hungry, wet, poopy or tired. We gave him his first bath, and had his first doctor’s appointment.

I got to sleep a full night of sleep every night that first week, and Christine got plenty of sleep too. All thanks to Mary.

Then, on Sunday Mary and Frank went home to Dallas.

On Sunday night, Christine and I had to finally start learning how to be real parents to two kids at the same time.

Sunday night and Monday weren’t too bad. Christine and I took turns sleeping through the night, though, I think I got plenty of sleep. Christine woke me up at 8 or so, saying she’d been up since 5 a.m. So, I took Jack outside around 9 a.m. to play while Christine and Grayson slept.

At 10:00, Heidi, our neighbor, brought her twins Mason and Norah over to play in the sandbox. I realized I’d locked myself out of the house, so we all went over to their house to play. Jack had a blast playing with the kids, and we let Christine get some good rest.

Around noon, Christine and Grayson joined us all for lunch at Heidi’s (Heidi cooked us all some mean grilled cheese sandwiches and apple slices).

Then Jack took a nap. I took a phone call for work, and then took the MacBookPro into the Apple Store for repairs. When I got home, Jack was waking up, and we headed back out in the front yard to play. Norah and Mason joined us again, and the kids played chase in another neighbor’s front yard, until it was dinner time.

Marc and Rowan came over for dinner on Monday night, because Marc had to pick Cyndi and their baby daughter up at the airport. I cooked a hearty pot of Macaroni and Cheese and some hotdogs and broccoli. Ummmm… so healthy!

Last night, Jack went down a little late at 8:45 p.m. (he was a little wound up after playing with Rowan) and then Grayson woke up around 10:30 to eat. Then the poor guy ate a little, pooped a little, burped a little, and then did it all again… until 1:30 in the morning. I finally got him to sleep around 2:30 a.m. after walking around the house with him for an hour on my shoulder. Once I had him asleep I was worried that he’d wake up again if I put him in the basinet, so we fell asleep on the couch, and the whole house slept until 6 a.m. this morning.

Christine got up and took over for me for a couple of hours, and then I helped her get Jack out to door to school.

I’m going to take another nap now.

It’s funny… we’ve done this before, but now we’re learning how to do it again, differently.

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Posted on by John

On Saturday morning, at 5:57 a.m. Christine gave birth to our newest son:


Grayson Garman Engler

Grayson weighed 9 pounds at birth and was 21 inches long. He has a full head of dark hair and dark dark blue eyes.

Christine was awesome during the labor and delivery. She really did a great job, and I’m very proud of her.

We spent Saturday resting and visiting with family and friends, and Saturday night resting. We got upgraded to the suite at St. David’s. If you ever have a baby there, and get the chance to get into the suite… totally take advantage of it.

I got to sleep on a full sized pull-out couch, and we have plenty of room for visiting friends and family.

On Sunday, we rested more, and visited more family and friends…

Grayson is adorable (no, I’m not biased) and we all think that at first he didn’t look anything like Jack when Jack was born, but I’m starting to see resemblances as Grayson turns a day old, and now a day and a half.

He’s also got a very healthy appetite and is a much better eater than Jack was right at birth. Within 30 minutes of being born, the kid was already on mom’s breast trying to eat something. I think it too Jack a few hours to get around to trying to eat.


Thanks everyone for the well wishes. We’re all doing great.

More photos here.

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