So, it’s been since mid-January since I’ve posted a real update. Sorry folks: Two kids and a travel schedule that’s been unreal are my excuses. With that said, here goes (and I hope I didn’t forget anything):

On January 21st, I headed out to Las Vegas for a tradeshow for work. I didn’t make any money on the slots, but we did have a great tradeshow. Met lots of people at this show, and started a few really good relationships for the company I work for.

That same week, Josh turned 31. He was now officially a “thirty-something”. We all went to dinner at a nice place over near his house, and it was great to hang out with all of our friends.

Then, I headed for San Francisco on January 30th for another tradeshow/conference. That was a lot of fun. I really love San Francisco. Again, started building a few strong relationships that I only hope get stronger.

On the third of February, after bath time, Christine and I were sitting on the couch, when Jack spotted my cowboy boots, and said “Jack wear boots.” He was in his towel still at the time, but he wanted in those boots right then and there, so, being the responsible parents we are, we said “why not.” I helped him get into the boots, and he proceeded to ‘walk’ along the couch, to the table to get his purse, to the front door, and tried to unlock the door to go outside. I know we live in a eclectic neighborhood and all, so he probably could have gotten away with it, but that’s all I need: a two-year old in my front yard strutting his stuff. Jack wear boots.

On February 4th, we hosted a small superbowl party at our house. Our friends were kind enough to bring food and drinks with them, and the kids all played Jack’s room, while the adults sat in the living room and watched the commercials. Interestingly enough though, this year, we actually talked to each other more than we watched the commercials or the game. Both were just “so-so” and our friends are definitely more fun than either the game or the commercials were this year. I don’t even remember who played at this point, much less who one, but I do remember Maly sitting on Josh’s lap laughing and Grayson hanging out with me drinking a beer:

The next night was a lot of fun: Jack decided he wanted to crawl into and out of the new “media center” we got over and over and over. Heh… he was hilarious climbing in and out of that thing.

I don’t remember what Christine did on February 6th, but I do remember that I was hope with both boys, on my own, for the evening. I had to figure out how to feed them both, bathe them, and get them in bed. While in the bathroom bathing Jack, I sat Grayson in his little sitting chair, and took a few photos of him watching us and looking around. Overall, the evening went off without a hitch, though I was really happy to see Christine when she got home that night and took over getting Grayson into bed (since I’m the one without the boobs and all, it’s really hard for me to feed him sometimes ;)).

That next week, Maly and Elise made a surprise visit to the office, literally 20 minutes after Jack, Grayson and Christine left after lunch. I was crazy busy that day, but I did get to spend some time with Elise and Maly just hanging out in my office. At the time, I thought Maly was growing by leaps and bounds… but she started walking in earnest this week, just a month later… crazy…

On the weekend of February 11th, Grayson was baptised at the church. This note on our life really deserves it’s own post, but since I haven’t done that yet, we’ll let this work for now. Grayson did a great job up in front of the congregation, and we know that he is loved, because so many of our friends and family made it to the church to show their love and support for him. After the church ceremony, we all headed out to Debbie and Raymond’s lakehouse for a great reception.

After a couple of weeks at home, I was on the road again for a few days: I flew to Pittsburgh on 2/16, then to New Jersey on 2/19 and Boston on 2/19. It was as cold as a witches titty up there. 4 degrees in Pittsburgh, like 10 in New Jersey, and 14 in Boston. I got home as fast as I could, but all of the visits I made on those trips were awesome. And seeing a lot of snow every once and a while, helps me remember how much I love living in Texas.

That next week, we got the sad news that Lenora Munk, Uncle Raymond’s mother, had passed away in her sleep over the weekend. We drove down to the funeral on February 21st. It was a somber event, but a touching one. The young preacher at her church spoke very lovingly of Lenora and all the work her and Raymond’s dad had done to support the church and the community within it. I know she’ll be missed by her family, and it was nice to hear how much she is obviously missed by her friends and church.

Since we had all of my mom’s grandkids together in nice clothes at the same time, we took a few photos of them all too:

On March 2nd, Elise picked Christine, Jack, Grayson and I up at our house, and we all drove up to Dallas, and then Oklahoma City for the weekend. It was Christine’s Grandmother’s 95th birthday that weekend, and we wanted to take the kids to see her and the rest of the family. On Saturday afternoon, we arrived in Oklahoma City, got settled in our hotel room, and spent some time with family. Then we headed over to IHOP for dinner with Grandmother. Jack wasn’t feeling well, so I played with him while the rest of the family ate, and we ended up getting our food (the two of us) as takeout and took it back to the room.

That night, all hell broke loose. Jack was sick. Really sick. And he just couldn’t sleep well in the hotel room, in his pack and play. And Grayson wasn’t feeling all that well either. Around 2 a.m., I remember Christine getting up to try and get Jack to take some cough medicine, and almost losing her marbles, she was so tired. But, she managed to get him to wake up enough to take the medicine, and that next morning she made the decision to drive her tired, sick, sad looking little boys back to Dallas and to forego seeing the family that day. It was the right decision. I learned that night how much love a mother has for her children, as Christine cried while holding Jack, not because she was mad and him or herself, but because she truly felt the pain he felt from his illness, and I could tell she would like nothing more than to make it all go away. Mom’s are truly special.

I flew out to Miami while Christine took care of two sick boys. I felt horrible about it, but what do you do? I was in Miami and Boca Raton for work for three days, and on the last day, I made sure I grabbed an early flight back home to get there in time to see the boys to bed. Turns out both of them have had ear infections, and I’m pretty sure I picked one up too… and Christine’s finally getting her sick on this weekend.

Last weekend (3/10) we drove down to Bellville for Ella’s third birthday. It was lots of fun, and I took lots of pictures, which I haven’t put online yet. I’ll do that soon.

Oh, and it’s 3:21 a.m. on a Sunday morning right now as I write this (started writing it at 2:04) … why am I up? Because we’re sleep training Grayson finally, and the poor guy is still crying. I’m up so Christine can get some much needed sleep. Too bad kids don’t come with on/off switches. He hasn’t stopped crying completely yet, but he’s close. I hope.

One last thing: I turned 31 a week ago too. Thirty-one is totally over-rated.