The Kale Family album

Pot sitter

2010-08-15T19:51:00.004-04:00

For those of you who might not know, we have decided to put our house on the market. We love our little house but we are quickly outgrowing it and are now working on whipping it into selling shape. The house is in shambles right now as we try to move out half of our belongings, clean up/fix up those things that need it, work, and chase after Gretchen. Now that she's walking like a pro, Gretchen has just been wandering around the chaos getting into whatever she pleases, as you can see in the picture below. I walked around the corner into the kitchen and saw this. Unfortunately I couldn't find the camera under the rumble so I had to use my cell phone to capture this moment.

She's a big girl now

2010-08-01T13:04:00.008-04:00

Since Gretchen's birthday, she has ceased to be a baby and is now a fully functioning toddler. She went from taking seven steps one day to being able to make more than one lap around the house unsupported. We had our first incident of melting toddler in Target, and if she doesn't get her way, she will let us know all about it. The doctor cleared her to drink cow's milk, and she likes it. And the doctor also cleared her to eat "just about anything you want to give her." It's amazing how fast she has grown up. Below are pictures from her birthday party and some of her playing with her presents or just being silly and getting into things.

Melissa made the welcome banner.

...And designed the cake. Strossners made it based on her design.

Gretchen looked around while everybody sang "Happy Birthday."

And then she was sad when Mommy took the cake away to be cut.

But it was worth the wait.

The fam's all here.

Gretchen opened some of her own presents.

The stuffed animals from Uncle Pat were met with an appreciative "ooooh."

Here, Gretchen is checking out her new ride. A 30th anniversary edition of the Cozy Coupe from Papaw, Kay Kay and Uncle Jesse.

She and Daddy are looking forward to going for a ride.

Hot wheels!

"Honey, have you seen Gretchen?"

There she is!

Sometimes, a box is the best toy.

Summer fun

2010-07-05T12:41:00.006-04:00

So much has happened since our last blog post. Gretchen had her first trip to the beach in June and absolutely loved it. We took her to the water's edge and she wanted to keep going. She loved bobbing around in the ocean, walking into the waves, and floating around the pool in her lily pad. Cousin Betty was there as well and we celebrated her first birthday. The girls had so much fun chasing each other around the condo. Since coming home, Gretchen has sprouted her 7th tooth, is working on her 8th, eats whatever Mommy and Daddy do at dinner time, and has taken her first steps. So far she's able to take two steps at a time before losing her balance.

We celebrated the 4th of July yesterday with Halmoni and Uncle John at lunch and some friends of Clayton's for a dinner cookout. Gretchen was absolutely pooped by the time we made it home last night after a fun-filled day. We're all home together today and enjoyed Gretchen's first visit to The Greenville Zoo. The elephants were a big hit, as well as the orangutans. The mother orangutan watched Gretchen the whole time. Gretchen also loved the lizards and frogs in the reptile house, much to Clayton's dismay.

Swimming with Daddy and Papa Joe.

At the aquarium, talking to the fish.

Riding around on the Boardwalk with her new seahorse buddy.

Walking the halls at the hotel.

Hanging out in her chair on the beach.

Silliness.
Talking to her horse.

She turned her music table into a walker.
Hanging out with Halmoni on the 4th of July.
Wearing out Uncle John walking laps around the house.
Looking cool in front of the elephant enclosure at the zoo.

Posing with Mommy.

Riding around with Daddy.
Iguanas are pretty cool.

Bobblehead

2010-06-03T22:42:00.003-04:00

Gretchen is really putting things together these days. She calls Hawkeye "dog" but recognizes that her name is Hawkeye and looks for her when we talk about her. She learned today that a doggie says, "woof, woof" and makes the cutest face when she says it. This past weekend we realized that she knows the song "If You're Happy and You Know It" because she'll start clapping whenever we sing it. Also, she is self-aware. Clay put a bow in her hair yesterday morning and she ignored it until she saw her reflection. She immediately reached up and yanked it out. Another thing Gretchen understands is the difference between nodding one's head "yes" and shaking it "no," though she prefers "no," as you can see in the video.

She's got Seoul

2010-05-31T20:21:00.008-04:00

We've been experimenting by letting Gretchen eat what we're eating for dinner with mixed results. Last night's (admittedly bland) turkey mac: Ick. Tonight's dinner, Bulgogi and steamed rice: YUM! Gretchen has had her first Korean dinner and absolutely loved it. In fact, when we tried to give her baby food veggies to augment her supper, it ticked her off. The only remedy? Cantaloupe and blueberries.

Turkey Mac: Fail.

Hmmm. This looks different.

Mommy feeds the first bite using chopsticks.

Omnomnom!

Fist bump! "Good dinner, Daddyman."

Note the hair sticking out (rice makes a good hair gel). Note the rice on the pants as well. You can't see it, but Hawkeye is down below hoovering up all the dropped bits. She's learned that when Gretchen is in the high chair, smart dogs hang out under the table. Also: When we were discussing Hawkeye having figured out the best seat in the house, Gretchen stopped what she was doing and started craning her neck to try to see the dog. She knows Hawkeye's name.

By popular demand...

2010-05-26T20:33:00.011-04:00

Sorry for the hiatus, Gretchen fans. Gretchen is doing well though, growing like a little weed and full of energy. Mommy and Daddy combined don't have the stamina of this child. As you'll see, she's into everything, and no object is an obstacle.

Here are a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks to make up for our absence.

Astonished by the deliciousness of black beans.

Triceratops Gretchen says, "I'm coming after YOU!"

"If you twist these two strings together over and over, you get a really great knot."

One sock, one toy. We have victory.

Homemade broccoli and cous cous baby food made with the Beaba from Auntie Verna

Almost enough hair for a ponytail. We called this her Samurai Topknot.

Bubbles!!

Hawkeye taught me everything she knows about playing with toys.

Hmmm... What to read? What to read?

Stick with me, dog. I'll drop all kinds of food on the floor.

Early morning bed head.

Trying on a bathing suit and swim shoes for the beach!!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T22:01:00.005-04:00

Today has been a wonderful first Mother's Day. We spent it just the three of us. I was treated to brunch made by Clayton (french toast with homemade strawberry-pineapple syrup, bacon and mimosas. Yum!). I received a wonderful gift too. Clayton took Gretchen to the Color Clay Cafe and had her little footprints placed on a ceramic tile with "Happy Mother's Day 2010" on it. Precious. I hardly had to lift a finger all day and just spent time with Gretchen and Clayton. It was a great way to spend any day, but especially my first Mother's Day.

Gretchen has another new word. Actually it's technically two words: thank you. It is the cutest sound imaginable and she can say it perfectly. At one point this afternoon she got tongue-tied trying to say it, paused to think it over and said it again properly. I'm constantly being blown away by how she is learning and doing. My little baby is growing so fast. Clayton and I went to a wedding last night and we both got choked up during the father-daughter dance. Having our own little girl and knowing that one day we will go through that experience and have to let her go...it's just too much. Soooo, we have decided that she will be homeschooled and is not allowed to date...ever. Okay, fine, she can date when she's 40...maybe.

Here are some pictures from our special day.

Helping open my Mother's Day present.

Going after the camera.

"Oh no! The blue ghost is on the loose again!"

Playing with tupperware.

Being silly under the table.

Sippy cup mishap.

It's hard work being a baby

2010-05-08T08:00:00.007-04:00

Things have been going well in the Kale household--busy as always, of course. This week was Teacher Appreciation week at daycare so Gretchen brought in a gift every day for each of her three teachers. Monday was stationary so she gave handmade sets of note cards and a Thank You card. Tuesday was "Pamper your teacher" day so she gave bath products and candles. Wednesday she picked out potted kalanchoes and Thursday her teachers received Target gift cards. Friday was the teacher luncheon to which Gretchen brought sandwiches. She's been very busy this week.

Gretchen now has 6 whole teeth with a 7th trying to push through. The 6th tooth was the missing front tooth (middle left) and the 7th is her bottom right canine. She's finally starting to show all of her teeth when she smiles, not just the bottom ones that have been on display for some time.

We're exploring all sorts of new food and textures now that the doctor has given us the go ahead, including wheat (cereal and bread bits), soy (tofu), pasta, egg yolks, and avocado. Most babies love avocado but Gretchen had a strong dislike for it. The favorite so far seems to be pasta, as long as it's given in teeny tiny bites. Her extremely sensitive gag reflex is still very present and we're having to learn all sorts of tricks to get her to eat textures without having a huge, nasty mess to clean up afterward. The patient ladies at the daycare have had to learn these tricks as well.

We had a sippy cup breakthrough this week. Gretchen will not drink from one if it has the leak-proof stopper in it so we have removed those and she's learned to tip it up and let it pour in her mouth, similar to how a regular cup works. She does well drinking from a regular cup (with adult assistance, of course) so we're hoping that using a sippy cup in this way will make transitioning to a regular cup easier.

Gretchen's vocabulary has been growing. She knows "no ma'am" and it is hilarious watching her little brain work when she wants to touch something but we tell her not to. She now can say "daddy" (versus "dada") and "mama" and knows who is who. As we've mentioned before, she says "uh-oh" and "ball" in context, called Hawkeye "dog" this week and is working on "dino," "bear," and "duck." She's so close to standing completely on her own and cruises like a champ. She's become a very speedy little crawler and likes to come find me in the mornings while I'm getting ready for work and Daddy's getting her ready for school. She has figured out the places that I usually am (the kitchen, the bathroom doing makeup and hair, or the bedroom getting dressed) and she'll go from one to the other very deliberately until she finds me. Of course, our house is only just so big so it's not that hard to find anyone in it...but still, it's cute and I think it's a pretty big deal.

And now some pictures:

"Ooooh."

Cruising around.

Looking cute before school one morning.

"Morning cuddle time is hilarious!" You can actually see all of her teeth for once.

Twirling with Mommy.

Cool new shades.

"Socks are yummy." Ew. This is what happens when Gretchen and Daddy are home together.

Drinking from a sippy cup.

Swing Kid

2010-05-01T13:02:00.005-04:00

Last weekend, we took Gretchen to the park. She'd never been on a swing before. She enjoyed the ride, though we didn't stay too long. There's only so much fun you can have going back-and-forth. After swinging and a trip down the slide, we went on our way.

In other news, Gretchen added the word "ball" to her vocabulary. And today, she has surprised both Mommy and Daddy by spontaneously standing without support for a few seconds. So far, no photographic evidence, but it won't be long before we capture it.

Wee! First time on a swing.

Higher, Mommy! Higher!

Here we go, Daddyman!

And bonus pictures, because they're cute.

Sleeping away.

Reorganizing the tupperware.

This is my dog.

Playing in her "fort" under the table.

We have a mouse problem.

Prick my finger, do I not bleed and give you the stare down of doom?

2010-04-29T22:40:00.011-04:00

Gretchen had her nine-month appointment yesterday. She got a clean bill of health. No shots this time, though they did prick her finger. The nurse said, "hold on to her tight, Daddy," as she pricked Gretchen's finger. Gretchen just stared at her. Didn't flinch. Didn't cry. Maybe a slight look of disdain. The only thing that seemed to interest Gretchen about getting her blood taken was the Band-Aid. It was off her finger and en route to her mouth before Daddy could blink. He took it away from her. She bled on him.

She did cry while being weighed, which is, as you know, painless. Go figure. Speaking of weighing. Gretchen's height and weight is always of interest, since she's, well, what you might call, um big.

She weighed in at 22 pounds, 10 ounces. She's 30.25 inches long, and her noggin is 18.75 inches in circumference. Statistically speaking, she's heavier than 95 % of babies her age, taller than 99% of babies her age, and her head circumference percentile is 100, which, if I remember my statistics right, means that she has the biggest head of every nine-month old baby in the world.

She still teething, but it's hard to get photographic evidence of her top teeth. She's laughing more and more, and, perhaps the most exciting news, we have had our first word used correctly in context. She's got Mama and Dada down (though she just says 'em to nobody or nothing in particular). But the other day, somebody dropped something and Melissa said "uh-oh." and immediately afterward, Gretchen said it with perfect enunciation in her sweet little voice. Since then, she has repeated it after us. Any time she drops a toy or a puff or something from her high chair, we'll say it, and she'll say it too. Tonight, she dropped the sock she was playing with and said, without any prompting, "uh-oh."

Chillin on my Boppy.

Walkin' with Nana.

After-work cuddles with Mommy.

Um... Little help here? I'm stuck. No... seriously....

Gretchen does not think a box on the head is as funny as daddy does.

Reading with Daddy.

Two-week catch-up

2010-04-11T18:50:00.008-04:00

It's taken us about two weeks to get used to Melissa's new work schedule, but we seem to have our feet under us again. Gretchen has tried lots of new foods over the past two weeks, including egg yolk, avocado, cheese, and green bean-flavored yogurt (yech!). The only one of those she really liked was the yogurt. She's also started eating puffs and other age appropriate finger foods. She handles them pretty well and Clayton caught her stuffing five puffs in her mouth at once. Soon she'll be feeding herself all the time. We're getting caught up on eating solids after our allergy scare the first time we fed her. We've given her foods that have rice as an ingredient, and she hasn't had a reaction. We haven't given her plain rice cereal, though. We're hoping she grew out of it.

Gretchen has adjusted to her new school nicely. And Melissa is enjoying the work. Clayton misses playing with Gretchen in the mornings, but he's gotten to spend a little more time with her in the evenings, so it balances.

Because we haven't been able to update the blog in the past two weeks, here is an assortment of photos ... not necessarily in chronological order.

Hanging out with Mommy at Main Street Friday.

Riding the train with Grandma. Daddy looks distracted.

Singing a be-you-tea-full song.

Taking steps.

Seeing double.

Hawkeye is such a good dog. Gretchen loves her. Hawkeye will return the love very soon since Gretchen is eating (and flinging around) more and more solid foods.

Speaking of solid food: Gretchen investigates the fridge.

Learning to use the sippy cup.

The new girl

2010-04-05T21:06:00.003-04:00

o today I started my new position as the new girl. It was a good first day on the job. Didn't really do much except listen to the orientation spiel and get to know people. Considering orientation will soon be my responsibility, I actually had to pay attention. Tomorrow I get to shadow people and start to learn the ropes. Looking forward to it.

When Gretchen and I got home, there was a package on the porch waiting for Gretchen. Papaw, KayKay and Uncle Jesse sent Gretchen an adorable pull-along centipede/caterpillar that says the alphabet, letter sounds and sings. She had a blast chasing after it.

Gretchen also had fun watching Daddy twirl around one of her teething rings on his finger and drop it. Hilarious. See video below.

Don't know which is better, the string or the finger.

Ring toss.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T22:07:00.005-04:00

It's been a big day. We had a wonderful Easter service at church, took a nice long walk downtown and got some ice cream from Marble Slab, took a nap, and worked on baby proofing the house some more. Gretchen enjoys getting out on these sunny days, even though we make her wear a hat. I love being able to get out with her and get some fresh air and exercise. I haven't made it to the gym once since she was born and the winter weather kept us indoors so the Spring weather has been a welcome change.

Over the past 72 hours, Gretchen has mastered pulling up into standing and is beginning to cruise all on her own. She looooves to hang onto us and walk all over the place. She got to walk barefoot in the clover and thought it was the best thing ever. Also, during this time, Gretchen has had three teeth break through. Three out of the four top front teeth have emerged, which explains some of the sleepless nights over the past week. I can't imagine what she'll look like when they start showing. I'm sure she'll be even cuter.

Getting started on our walk. Gretchen is not amused by her hat.

Family portrait. Gretchen is still not amused by her hat.

"Water please."

Naked time!

Picnic in the park

2010-04-03T10:31:00.004-04:00

Well things are about to change again in the Kale household. No, we're not pregnant and having a second child. Mommy got a new job. I turned in my two weeks notice at Furman and worked my last day in the Grants department Thursday. I've decided to go back into Human Resources and start Monday at another local company. I know a lot of people probably think I'm crazy for leaving Furman but I wasn't particularly happy working there, for a variety of reasons.

Because of this change, we had to make the decision to enroll Gretchen at a different daycare. While we loved the care she was receiving at Memorial CEP and have recommended it to friends, their schedule just didn't work for us. As I've mentioned previously, they follow the Greenville County School calendar so every time the schools are closed, the daycare is closed. Two weeks at Christmas, Spring break, random teacher workdays, etc. Also, they close at 4:30. And to make things more difficult, their summer program runs Monday through Thursday, 9-3, with three weeks of closings. All of this has required us to do a LOT of juggling with our work schedules, which will be impossible in my new job. We spent a week frantically searching for another daycare and have been blessed to find one that we think is a good choice. It's open 6:30 to 6:30, only closes for major holidays when Clay or I would be off anyway, is only a mile from where I'll be working, offers a discount to people who work there, and most importantly of all, Gretchen likes it. She went two days this past week and her teachers and the directors have all raved about what a happy, good baby she is. Of course, we all knew that.

While my schedule will be less flexible and I will technically have less time with Gretchen, the time that I will have will be better quality because I won't be spending hours every afternoon working from home while trying to take care of her. Also, Clay will be able to go in to work earlier and get out earlier since he won't have to wait until 9 to drop Gretchen off at daycare. And we should be more rested since we won't have to get up at 5:15 for me to get to work at 7. Now if only Gretchen will cooperate with the new sleep schedule.

To celebrate the new era, Gretchen and I had a wonderful day yesterday, playing at home and then meeting Daddy downtown for a picnic in the park. Our little family plans to spend a lot of quality time together this weekend and trying to clean up, rest up and prepare for our new schedule.

Enjoying the falls.

Ahhh. A nice shady spot

Picnic lunch!

Gimmegimmegimme!

Gretchen tries her new sun hat.

Catching up, yet again

2010-04-01T22:45:00.006-04:00

Lots going on lately that we'll explain tomorrow but for now, our apologies for the lack of blog entries over the past week. Gretchen is crawling like a pro these days and getting into everything. One of her favorite games is peek-a-boo-chase with Daddy. She follows him all over the house while they peek at each other around corners. Gretchen has figured out how to pull up to standing pretty much anytime she wants to and today she cruised a little completely on her own and even stood for a few seconds without holding onto anything. It's almost scary how quickly she's figuring all of this out. We're all looking forward to a three-day weekend (for Mommy and Gretchen at least) with beautiful weather and nowhere that we have to be. Meeting Daddy at work for a picnic in the park is on the to-do list for tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are a bunch of pictures from the past week.

"Mommy, pick me up!"

Early morning silliness.

"I'm gonna get you camera!"

Patient dog.

Climbing on Daddy.

Helping Mommy save money.

How we found her yesterday morning. By the time we had the camera in hand, she was no longer smiling.

Smoosh.

Belly flop.

Fist pump.

Playtime before bathtime.

Passed out after a night of heavy drinking.

Girls' night in, Boys' night out

2010-03-24T21:50:00.004-04:00

Today was a beautiful day but Gretchen and I didn't manage to get out in it anymore than the time it took to get in and out of the car. Instead, we played with tupperware and made a big pot of spaghetti sauce and had Aunt Jessica over while Daddy and Papa Joe went out for dinner. It had been awhile since Gretchen had seen Jess but Gretchen soon warmed to her and spent a fair amount of dinner waving at her. We tried beef tonight and it went over much better than the chicken. Gretchen had a much needed bath before bedtime to wash the pears and mangoes from her hair, had a nightcap and snuggled down in her bed without a peep.

Highlight of daycare: Gretchen pulled up into standing all on her own. We knew she had figured out how to do this when I found her standing in her crib a couple of days ago, but this was the first time with an audience. My Our little baby is growing and changing so fast.

Organizing the tupperware for Mommy.

Playing with Aunt Jessica.

Enjoying a little butterfly with her bath.

Hello, Goodbye

2010-03-23T23:40:00.002-04:00

Gretchen is learning how to wave. So far she has successfully waved hello to Hawkeye and goodbye to Nana and PopPop. I'm pretty sure she tried to say "bye-bye" to them as well.

Gretchen is learning so many new things these day that it's hard to keep up. I'm daily amazed to see how her skills have evolved in the short span of a day. This morning she was primarily commando crawling and by evening she was up on her hands and knees and moving smoothly across the living room. What will she do tomorrow?

And a sleepy, goodnight wave to our readers.

Big Ted

2010-03-21T23:00:00.002-04:00

Gretchen met an old friend of Daddy's today and loved him.

Jackpot!

2010-03-20T23:11:00.003-04:00

Gretchen literally made laps around the house today (indoors, not out). She is really making progress with her crawling skills and can really move (like a water bug, according to Clayton). With her new mobility comes new discoveries.

Books!

Tupperware!

This morning, Gretchen also discovered that she can push up onto her hands and knees to have better access to her toys, not just to crawl.

And just because it's funny, the stink eye.

Pants on the ground

2010-03-20T08:05:00.004-04:00

We learned yesterday morning that Gretchen has figured out how to take off her pants. As usual, Gretchen woke up when we did, took a bottle, and went back to bed. She didn't go back to sleep but she was perfectly content to talk to and play by herself in her crib. And this is what happened when we walked back in later to get her up for school.

Clayton: "Um, did you not put her pants back on before putting her back down?"

Melissa: "Of course I did."

Clayton: "Where are they?"

Melissa: "What?" (Melissa peeks into the crib) "Oh, there they are."

What's better than wearing pants? Wrestling with them!

Half-naked baby is happy.

You're doing it wrong.

2010-03-19T21:11:00.006-04:00

Once again it has been a hectic few days, the new norm for our lives it seems. We managed to take it easy tonight though and Gretchen and I met up with Daddy downtown after work and we took a walk in the amazing Spring evening. I know Spring doesn't actually start until tomorrow but it definitely gave us a peace offering this week for taking so long to get here.

I've mentioned before that Gretchen isn't the girliest girl and prefers to skip the ruffles and bows. Well, apparently this was in part due to Mommy error.

I thought Gretchen looked silly in bows.

In my defense, she didn't have that much hair to attach it to so I did the best I could. After this past weekend's visit from Aunt Verna, Uncle Steele, and cousin Betty, I realized that I just didn't do it right.

Gretchen in fact looks adorable with bows.

Even when Daddy gets a little overzealous.

Me and My Shadow

2010-03-16T20:31:00.003-04:00

Pretty girl.

We stopped using the baby gate in Gretchen's doorway a couple of months ago. Clayton and I both kept tripping over it so we decided to just train Hawkeye to not enter Gretchen's room. With the exception of a few occasions, Hawkeye has actually obeyed and will stop at the threshold and wait for us to come back out. This afternoon, I put Gretchen in her room to play while I was doing a little straightening (of course, checking in on her frequently) and she decided that she wanted to be with me so she followed me into the kitchen. I actually managed to get dishes washed and dinner prepared while she played on the floor near me rather than having to stick her in her exersaucer and rush through it all. With her increased mobility, Gretchen is perfectly happy playing independently...as long as Mommy and/or Daddy are nearby.

"I'm comin' after you, Mommy."

Rolling around the kitchen floor.

Unfortunately, when Gretchen woke up from her afternoon nap, her throat seemed to be hurting and she was starting to cough. Looks like another cold has settled in. She was pretty pitiful and wimpered throughout the remainder of the evening until bedtime. Hopefully she'll be feeling better tomorrow.

Looking pitiful.

Catching up

2010-03-15T16:32:00.007-04:00

It's been an incredibly busy weekend with no time to blog, little sleep, lots of running around, and lots of family. The lack of sleep and downtime was worth it. Aunt Verna, Uncle Steele and Cousin Betty were in town and the girls had a good time playing together. We celebrated Verna's birthday (a little early), Gretchen's baby dedication, and mine and my dad's birthdays (a little late). Through it all, Gretchen was an angel.

Gretchen is moving around pretty well these days with her cute commando crawling. She's starting to pull those knees up underneath her more and pushing with her feet. Before we know it, we're not going to be able to keep up. She's also saying "mama" and "daddy" very well and without prompting. It's amazing what those tiny syllables will do to a parent's heart.

The girls.

Aunt Verna holding Gretchen.

Uncle Steele with Cousin Betty.

Gretchen's baby dedication.

Playtime at home after church.

Family picture.

Tickling the ivories with Nana at Gretchen's great-grandmother, Mama King's house.

Crawling under the coffee table at Mama King's.

Sitting pretty with Daddy.

Other cause for celebration was the delivery of our new washer and dryer. We had a stacked unit that came with the house that we have had to repair twice in the past year. When the dryer quit and the washer once again started sounding sickly, we decided it was time to cash in our chips and get a new set. We got a super-quiet, front-loading, energy star set and Gretchen loves to watch the clothes wash as if it were a television.

"I love this channel."

"Daddy, where's the popcorn?"

Eat Mor Chikin

2010-03-12T22:15:00.005-05:00

We have finally decided that Gretchen is ready for a little protein in her diet. We introduced chicken on Thursday night and it was hilarious, replete with shivers, gags, and hacks. She would still open up for each bite but she wasn't enjoying it. To make things a little more palatable, I mixed in carrots last night and green beans tonight. She still doesn't like it but at least she's not shuddering after every bite.

Blech.

Messy baby. If you look closely you can see the carrots in her eyelashes.

Afterward we took a bath and had a little naked playtime before bed.

Darth Gretchen.

Pretty girl.

We have a crawler!

2010-03-10T20:17:00.004-05:00

It has officially happened. Gretchen found "Drive" and has become a crawler. She gave me absolutely no indication that she was about to do something monumental so I missed it with the camera. But, even better than capturing it on film, I was there to cheer her on and encourage her to crawl toward me. It was so neat to watch her little brain working as she figured out how to support her weight with one arm and move the other one forward. Then to make it even better, not only did she pull up onto her hands and knees from her tummy but she figured out how to go from a sitting position into crawling. My smart little baby. The only thing that could have made it better is if Clayton had been home to see it. Instead he is still at work and Gretchen is already asleep in her crib. There's always tomorrow I suppose.

Pulling forward from sitting into a crawling position

Being sweet earlier in the afternoon.

Mommy's little helper

2010-03-08T21:52:00.003-05:00

I had a lot to get done today at work and no afternoon babysitter so Gretchen joined me in the office after "school." She was very helpful as she tried to type on my keyboard and tear every piece of paper she could get her chubby little hands on. She actually was very good though and was willing to play on her blanket for most of the afternoon while I met some deadlines. She was extremely tired by the time we got home and after a little halfhearted play time and dinner, Gretchen went to bed shortly after 7. Tuesday is usually my late day at work but after today, I think I'll focus on some quality mommy-daughter time tomorrow afternoon. My modified work schedule is about to come to an end so I want to enjoy all of my extra time with Gretchen while I have it.

Happy Birthday, PopPop!

2010-03-07T21:58:00.003-05:00

Today we celebrated PopPop's birthday (my dad). He and Nana came over for lunch and we dined on some yummy burgers and grilled corn courtesy of Chef Clayton, potato salad by me, and carrot cake by Publix. Gretchen enjoyed seeing her grandparents (one set of many) and showing them her new teeth and cool toys.

"See, it works like this."

Gretchen has discovered a new talent for the Art of Tearing Paper. Not only is she very good at it but she also thinks that she should tear all paper. You've been warned.

Since we are boycotting Michael's, we didn't mind that she shredded this particular flyer into a million pieces.

"And I'm spent."

It's a beautiful day.

2010-03-06T21:37:00.005-05:00

Today was one of those gorgeous spring-like days that sneaks in near the end of winter and spoils you for any cold, icky days remaining in the season. Gretchen took a long nap this morning and I managed to get out and rake some of the leaves burying the flower beds. Clayton was nice enough to bag them for me. When she woke up, we all got dressed and headed for Falls Park in downtown Greenville. After strolling around a bit, we went to Overlook Grill for some lunch in the sunshine. Of course we only remembered to take one picture during our excursion. We swung by the library on our way home for some new reading material. Gretchen took another nap and then we all went to the grocery store. She is doing so well sitting in the cart and being patient while we shop. Then it was time to go back home, have some dinner (pureed green beans and pears, delicious), and then bathtime for baby. Gretchen's Aunt Verna and Uncle Steele sent us a bath chair for Gretchen to use so she can sit in the big tub instead of her baby tub, which she was quickly outgrowing. We got some cute shots of her sitting in it for the first time today, playing with her bath toys from her Aunt Jessica and Uncle Jadison, and then being silly during the aftermath. She's now snoozing away, snug in her crib, and Mommy and Daddy are about to finally eat dinner.

Lots of pictures today. G's so cute I have a hard time narrowing it down.

Looking cute while wearing her sunhat during our afternoon outing. She's not too thrilled with the hat.

Passed out on Daddy's shoulder after visiting the library.

Dirty face after dinner.

Sitting in her bath chair in the big tub for the first time.

Shampoo time!

Damp cuddles with Daddy.

Crazy hair after toweling off.

Drooly cuddles with Daddy.

Playing with the drawstring on Mommy's shirt. It's right up there with zippers.

Ready for bed.

And she's off!

2010-03-05T20:39:00.004-05:00

This week has been an exceptionally long, hectic week in our house. Last night I got home with Gretchen at 6, Clayton at 9, and I had some work to do after getting Gretchen to bed at 8. All of this resulted in dinner not getting cooked until Clayton got home and threw something together, washed bottles, mixed formula for today and we crashed at 11. Gretchen was in a terrible mood after her afternoon nap so even if there had been time to post a blog entry the pictures wouldn't have been good anyway.

Today's mood wasn't much better. I managed to photograph a couple of smiles but that third tooth is really doing a number on Gretchen. She had a bit of a temperature when I picked her up from daycare but I'm not yet sure whether to attribute it to the tooth or to an impending cold. We're hoping it's just the teething. She barely took any naps today and was very sleepy by the time Daddy got home after 7 but she managed to brighten up some when she saw him. We had a little playtime on our bed and when Hawkeye, Gretchen's best friend, came in the room, Gretchen lunged from her sitting position onto her hands and knees and managed to take a couple of "steps" towards the dog. We encouraged her to try again and she made some progress but fatigue kicked in and she lost interest. Perhaps tomorrow we can convince Hawkeye to be a prop and motivate Gretchen into motion.

Sitting in the desk chair.

The most effective method I've found to soothe G's sore gums - a cold, wet washcloth.

Not the best picture but if you click on it to enlarge it, you can see her new tooth, #2.

Taken as she crawled towards Hawkeye, almost right off the bed.

Worn Out Wednesday

2010-03-03T21:49:00.002-05:00

It's been a busy couple of days. We had a snowy afternoon yesterday that closed schools at 12 so I had to leave work early to pick up Gretchen and worked from home the remainder of the afternoon. There was a two-hour delay today, though there was no remaining snow or ice in our neck of the woods, that Clayton handled.

New things from yesterday and today: We introduced applesauce yesterday at dinner. It was not well received at first but this morning Gretchen decided that it was delicious. Yesterday afternoon Gretchen pulled up into standing on her own and held herself up while hanging onto her toy basket. Also, she said "mama" and "dada" last night for the first time, and in that order. It was very exciting and I'm sure she knew exactly what she was saying, especially when she said "mama". And last but not least, we woke up to a new tooth this morning, for a total of two teeth. All of these new events led to a tired baby this afternoon. Gretchen took a really long nap. So long in fact that I had to wake her up. Scroll down to the final picture of today's post to see how I found her.

Mmmm, applesauce.

Pulled up into standing on her own.

This is how I found her in her crib this afternoon.

Break on through to the other side

2010-03-01T18:03:00.004-05:00

After a rough night but good day, Gretchen's 2nd tooth is well on its way. The gum is starting to open up and the tooth is peeking through.

After a nice long afternoon nap and some crazy bedhead, Gretchen spent the afternoon playing with most of her toys at once while I got some work done and washed bottles. I even managed to get dinner underway by the time Clayton got home, the first time in longer than I would like to admit. Dinner before 8:30? A new record!

We've been told to expect snow tomorrow and it's my turn to stay home with the baby if daycare's closed. Not sure what's going on with this crazy weather. Almost makes you forget we live in SC.

Bedhead and her sweater pattern across her eye.

Happy baby.

Abusing Captain Lambkins when he doesn't have his helmet on.

Choices, choices.

"Who does #2 work for?"

2010-02-28T21:05:00.004-05:00

Well we finally managed to make it back to church after several weeks of busy schedules, illness and a teething baby keeping us occupied on Sunday mornings. Gretchen woke up super happy and was very well behaved throughout the church service. Sometimes I have to get up and walk around with her or hang out in the back because she can't sit still. Today though she was content to play with her toys and look at her new friend, Sarah (McAndrew). She took a couple of good naps, tried second foods successfully, and picked out a new toy and some Dr. Seuss books at Target. After our shopping trip, Gretchen worked on her crawling skills some more. She's getting so close to figuring it all out and she did manage to commando crawl a wee bit. As the afternoon wore on, Gretchen began to get very grumpy. Tooth #2 is well on its way. We're hoping the Tylenol will help her get some good sleep tonight (and Mommy and Daddy) and that #2 will make an appearance soon so she'll be Happy Baby again.

Playing with Daddy and Mr. Lambkins, the friend she picked out herself.

Pushing up onto her hands and knees.

**After being flung about, Mr. Lambkins was given a crash helmet by Clayton and promoted to Captain Lambkins.**

Trying to commando crawl toward her little friend.

She's not that kind of girl

2010-02-27T21:02:00.004-05:00

We had a good day today. Clayton went to aikido early this morning while Gretchen and I played at home. We all visited Grandma and Papa Joe for lunch where Gretchen had sweet potatoes for the first time, untied Papa Joe's shoe and generally entertained everyone for a couple of hours. Afterward, I went to the mall for a little Mommy time (Yay for gift cards) while Clayton and Gretchen went home. I picked out Gretchen's Easter dress while she learned how to knock down the block towers that Daddy built.

Gretchen is not a "girly girl." We've tried bows in her hair and frilly outfits and it just doesn't look right. Not even when she was itty bitty. Jeans and leggings, henleys and tunics. Those are much more her speed and Clayton and I are just fine with that (though dresses must always be worn on Easter). One day she may decide that she's a delicate flower but for now, we're enjoying our little tomboy.

Our little blondie after her bath.

Getting into trouble.

Hanging out with Grandma and Papa Joe.

Playing with the squeaky blocks and cups Papa Joe bought for the grandbabies.

Mmmm, sweet potatoes.

Told you so

2010-02-26T20:14:00.003-05:00

Like most people, I like to be right. This is one case though that I wish I hadn't been. As I predicted yesterday, Gretchen was quite the grumpypants today. It wasn't just the shots, though that didn't help. She was even grumpy at school before her doctor's appointment. This is very unusual because she loves her school, teachers and little friends, even the evil one that likes to pull hair, poke eyes and bite. I digress. Normally once Gretchen goes to sleep, she'll sleep pretty hard for the night. Not tonight. In about two and a half hours she has woken up and cried four times, though we've only needed to go in and comfort her once. This could be a long night.

Here's a picture of my little snugglebug burying her face in my neck. The color is a little off because we had to alter it so you could actually see more than a dark blur.

Hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.

Toothy grin

2010-02-25T21:52:00.003-05:00

At last we have captured a photograph of the elusive first tooth, proving without a doubt its existence. Don't let this happy grin fool you. We had a very grumpy baby on our hands this evening. Between not napping enough and getting over an upset tummy, Gretchen was quite unhappy and struggled to make it to bedtime. It took much coaxing and several attempts to acquire this shot. Speaking of shots, Gretchen is due for her flu booster shot at 2 so we will probably have a repeat of today's grumpiness. Shots are never fun.

And Clayton brought to my attention an error I made in the previous post. I had said that we had suspected her incisors are coming in for a total of 6 potential teeth. While her incisors are coming in, I should have said her canines.

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you should be able to see the tooth fairly well.

This photograph is a much more accurate depiction of tonight's mood.

With teeth

2010-02-23T17:04:00.003-05:00

It's finally happened. Gretchen's teeth are popping through. So far there's only one who's made its official debut but the others are soon to follow. We expect at least three more soon with suspicions of two others, her incisors, aren't too far behind. This would mean four to six bottom teeth across the front and zero top teeth. Won't that look interesting. It is virtually impossible to get a close look at her teeth and gums because she's pretty wily so here's a slightly blurry shot of her toothless grin because it's pretty much the last time we'll see it.

The Mad Hatter

2010-02-23T05:42:00.007-05:00

I learned from my mom how to crochet when I was a kid. Hopefully one day I will teach Gretchen how to as well. Unfortunately at this point I can only remember how to make things with right angles so hats are right out of the question. I asked my mom to make one for Gretchen and the results are adorable.

Playing blocks with Uncle John.

Do the rockaway

2010-02-22T15:08:00.003-05:00

Gretchen's finally taken an interest in crawling, deciding that rolling around just isn't going to cut it after all. Below is a video of her on her hands and knees doing the rocking thing that baby's do before taking that first "step" towards crawling. This video was taken two nights ago but I'm just now getting around to getting it loaded properly.

**Please ignore/forgive the way I sound in the video.

Tickling the ivories

2010-02-21T17:12:00.004-05:00

Big news: Gretchen's teeth are finally breaking through. Reached in there this morning and felt a sharp little nubbin where her bottom front right is poking through. Quickly following suit are the surrounding three. Yes, that's right. Four teeth are coming in at the same time. No wonder she's been so grumpy with this whole teething business.

Today we went to Halmoni's house today to celebrate my birthday. I'm still feeling pretty rough but much better than yesterday. My piano is at my mom's still and Gretchen wanted to take a turn at it. Perhaps she'll be a pianist one day.

Chewing on her bib tag while being held by Uncle John.

A belated Christmas-worth the wait

2010-02-20T18:10:00.005-05:00

Aunt Rebecca stopped by to bring Mommy her birthday present and Gretchen's Christmas gift-a handmade, crocheted giraffe.

Adorable.

"Cheese"

This is my happy face

2010-02-20T18:09:00.003-05:00

Gretchen has started making some funny "cheese" smiles lately.

I promise she's happy in this picture.

When the mood strikes

2010-02-20T15:48:00.006-05:00

It's been a busy few days. Highlights: I turned a year older, Gretchen's trying to crawl and her teeth are breaking through. Lowlight: I've come down with a nasty cold. Clayton gave me a cool HD/digital camcorder so we should now be able to take some better quality videos. Perfect timing considering Gretchen's imminent increased mobility. This morning I walked out of her room and she managed to follow me into the hallway just by rolling. Imagine what she can do once she's really crawling.

I've been feeling very crafty this week. This mood comes and goes with regularity. So far I have made Gretchen two new hats and a skirt. Later today I'm making her a pair of pants and some squishy balls out of leftover material. Verna, Steele and Baby Betty gave me a perfect birthday gift to complement these moods, The Creative Family, a book about nurturing your family's creativity. I'm now looking even more forward to when Gretchen's old enough to work on projects with me.

Hat #1

Hat #2

And hat #2, from her devilish side.

Flashback

2010-02-16T22:07:00.003-05:00

I took a cute picture today but not with my camera. Will have to post today's picture tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a picture from Gretchen's 3-month photo shoot. The photographer is Mykal McEldowney (http://mykalmphotography.com/). Mykal also took our maternity photos.

My dad and his brother sat in this rocking chair when they were babies, as did my brother and I.

It's only been 3 1/2 short months but wow, Gretchen has changed so much. We've been blessed with a sweet, happy baby and every day is a new experience. Looking forward to what tomorrow holds.

The Replacements

2010-02-15T19:37:00.004-05:00

So far we've been really happy with our choice in daycare and thankful for how well they look after Gretchen. There is one thing though that we wish were different. They follow the Greenville County School system calendar. Any time schools are closed (holiday, teacher work day, weather) the daycare is closed and we have to figure out who stays home with Gretchen (whether it's Clayton, me or a grandparent). Today, Halmoni came to the rescue for President's Day.

Posing with Halmoni.

"Socks are for chewing, right?"

Working on pulling her knees up underneath her.

From Gretchen with love

2010-02-14T19:49:00.007-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Looking at her Valentine's Day card from Daddy.

Today's holiday brought to you by the letter A.

Goodnight, everybody!

Date night and a slumber party

2010-02-14T12:02:00.003-05:00

Clayton and I had our first date night since before Gretchen was born. Clayton gave me tickets to last night's performance of Wicked for Christmas. It was a great show and we enjoyed an equally wonderful dinner at The Lazy Goat beforehand. A big thank you to Clayton's parents (Grandma and Papa Joe) for watching Gretchen for us. Since we were going to be returning so late and the potentially icy roads, Grandma and Papa Joe spent the night. Gretchen enjoyed her first slumber party.

Breakfast with Grandma.

Playtime with Papa Joe.

And just because it's cute - Wearing Mommy's hat.

Bathtime Baby

2010-02-13T07:42:00.004-05:00

Gretchen's baths often take place in the mornings after I've left for work. Honestly, Clayton bathes her 99% of the time. Well, he managed to get home early enough before her bedtime to squeeze a bath in and the paparazzi showed up.

"Oh my, there's a naked baby in there!"

"This is the way we brush our gums."

Little thumbsucker.

Rock star hairstyle.

Clean as a whistle and ready for bed.

Snow baby

2010-02-13T07:14:00.004-05:00

Well once again we got wintry weather last night. We hadn't really taken Gretchen out for any of the previous occasions because there was too much sleet and freezing rain mixed in with the snow. This time though it was a very pretty snowfall so I bundled the baby up and we met Daddy outside when he got home. Gretchen was fascinated and just watched very quietly as the snow fell on her face.

Looking out the window watching the snow start to fall.

"Wow. Do you see that stuff, Mommy?"

Sweet face.

Unfortunately this is the best one I got of Clay holding Gretchen. He was making weird faces in the others, trying to get G to smile.

2010-02-11T20:12:00.005-05:00

Gretchen got to spend a few minutes with her great grandmother this afternoon but of course Mommy forgot to bring the camera. Though she was very sleepy after only napping 30 minutes at daycare, Gretchen managed to hang in there and maintain a good mood despite the photo session Mama King subjected her to. And for all of those who have either experienced or heard about Mama King's photography skills, you'll understand why I applaud Gretchen's fortitude. After a long nap on the way home and continued in her crib, Gretchen was up for some play time with Mommy, during which I proceeded to subject her to yet another photo session.

"I love my pony."

Talking away.

Subduing the evil burp cloth.

Rolling around. It wasn't that long ago that
she hated being on her tummy.

Oooh, a treasure trove of fuzzy fellows.

And one more (from last night) just because
I love this face.

Playing the mouth harp

2010-02-10T22:13:00.006-05:00

Wednesday night, Daddy got home in time to give Gretchen her final bottle while Mommy washed dirty bottles and started fixing dinner. Clay called me into the living room to show her his and Gretchen's new game. At the point that I started filming, Gretchen was beginning to lose interest but you'll get the point.

Gretchen's first horse

2010-02-09T19:34:00.004-05:00

There are several people in Gretchen's life that have promised her a horse. Her Aunt Debbie, her Papaw and KK, etc. Never did we expect her first pony to come from her Halmoni, but that's exactly what happened.

Getting acquainted with her new pony.

Feeling pretty confident.

Quite happy with the little beastie.

And yes, as her lack of lips and rosy cheeks indicate, Gretchen is teething.

Food critic

2010-02-09T10:39:00.007-05:00

When Gretchen was four-months old, the pediatrician told us to introduce solid foods, beginning with rice cereal. Long story short, she had an allergic reaction and we were instructed to wait until after her six-month well check appointment. That appointment took place two weeks ago and we were once again given the green light to try solids. Once again Gretchen had an allergic reaction to rice cereal so we tried oatmeal. Success! Now we are eating oatmeal at breakfast and vegetables at dinner. So far we've tried squash and peas. Green beans tomorrow. See the pictures below for Gretchen's opinions.

Mmmm...oatmeal good.

Mmmm...squash great!

Blech...peas bad!!!

And we're back

2010-02-07T13:01:00.006-05:00

It's been quite a while since we've posted to the blog. Things have been pretty hectic for the past couple of months and while things haven't necessarily slowed down, we've gotten used to the pace. Gretchen is now 6 1/2-months old and boy has she changed a lot. She's a very long baby, wearing 12-18 month clothing already. She can roll like crazy and manages to get where she wants to go without the hassle of crawling. She wants to walk so badly and can go a little distance while hanging on. Her hair is really starting to come in, and staying light, and her eyes are still blue-gray. After a couple of mild allergic reactions, we have learned that she can't eat rice products but loves her oatmeal and squash. We'll be introducing peas tonight. Also, Gretchen and Hawkeye have become friends. Hawkeye is very gentle with her and let's Gretchen tug on her whiskers, poke her in the eye and generally wallow all over her. We're going to try to keep the blog updated a few times a week from now on. We'll see. :-)

Playing with Mr. Bear, her favorite friend.

Being cute during breakfast.

Petting Hawkeye.

Conversation with Mommy

2009-10-11T16:52:00.004-04:00

Stimulating conversation

2009-09-19T21:49:00.004-04:00

Gretchen had her two-month checkup and is a very healthy girl. And the doctor was surprised and impressed with how active she is. We like to recite alphabet sounds to her all the time, especially vowel sounds. Now she's starting to experiment with her tongue and sticks it out while making new sounds. She's going to be a talker, as you can see.

Picnic in the park

2009-09-11T17:21:00.003-04:00

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, so we went down to the park for a picnic. Gretchen really liked looking at the trees and hanging out with her 'rents.

Hitting the playgym

2009-09-07T14:21:00.006-04:00

Gretchen spends a great deal of time working out. She loves to lie on her play mat and kick her legs around while we read her poetry or stories. She also has this little dangly sun/flower/sunflower thing that plays catchy melodies if you yank on it. She hasn't quite figured out cause and effect yet, but she definitely enjoys the effect when Mommy or Daddy yank on it. She does not, however, love tummy time. She goes longer now before she starts screaming, but screams are inevitable. She is a strong little girl and lifts her head up without any problems. She can flip back onto her back, too, although she hasn't mastered this. Plenty of family members have been asking for a new slideshow. So here are some highlights from weeks 4-6.

Meeting more grandparents, going for a walk and adventures in napping

2009-08-03T15:22:00.001-04:00

Gretchen is one week old already

2009-07-31T13:04:00.003-04:00

It's hard to believe that Gretchen is already a week old. Being parents has been wonderful so far. Little G is doing well. She had a follow-up appointment at the doctor, and she is gaining weight like she's supposed to and is healthy overall. She sleeps well at night for the most part, and eats like a champ.

And while Gretchen is getting used to life on the outside, Melissa and Clayton are rapidly learning how to be parents. Clayton's first diaper-changing experience was comical, if not cliche, but now he can change a diaper in the dark without his glasses on. So things are going well. And through it all, we're taking lots of pictures.

Gretchen's first photos

2009-07-28T15:43:00.004-04:00

Here are some highlights from Gretchen's first couple days. It goes from her being minutes old to us getting home. We've taken plenty more since then and will keep updating the blog. Hover the mouse over the slideshow, and you can activate captions by clicking the little square on the left.

It's raining diapers and wipes

2009-07-11T14:02:00.002-04:00

Melissa's coworkers threw us a shower last week. But it wasn't a typical baby shower. Instead, it was a diapers and wipes shower. Melissa has been telling Clayton that they need more diapers. They finally have enough to last them -- a little while anyway. We know that we'll never actually have enough. But if we were to get any more, we wouldn't have anywhere to put BGK. Here's the breakdown by size:

213 - Newborn
531 - Size 1
718 - Size 2
110 - Size 3
54 - Size 5

And as far as baby wipes go, there are an astounding 3,084 babywipes sitting in our nursery closet right now.

In other news: Clayton took the infant and child CPR class today. Melissa couldn't take it because they wouldn't let ladies in their third trimester take the class. She'll probably take it after BGK arrives. And as far as the baby pool goes, Clay's the only one from the immediately family still in it. ... Any day now, little girl.

Hurry up! It's time to ... wait

2009-07-04T19:08:00.005-04:00

We've got a pool going on when BGK will arrive. Clayton's mom had picked July 4, but it's not likely. Instead of having a baby, we did our usual grocery/farmer's market trip this morning and decided to make ice cream in honor of Independence Day. We made Clayton's grandmother's homemade vanilla flavor. Only thing. Grammaw never used skim milk. It does make a difference texture wise, but it's still delicious.

While looking through Clayton's family cookbook, Melissa saw a recipe for peanut butter fudge. It's good, but the recipe was vague, so we don't think we did it right. It's not conjealing correctly. But, it's a yummy, sweet gelatinous ooze. It would be good on waffles or toast. Hmmm. Guess what we're having for breakfast.

Here are the official standings for the Baby Girl Kale pool of 2009:

June 30 - Steele
July 1 - Open
July 2 - Verna
July 3 - John
July 4 - Paula
July 5 - Rebecca
July 6 - Melissa
July 7 - Melissa (Clayton's coworker)
July 8 - Open
July 9 - Joe
July 10 - Sangeeta
July 11 - Yvonne
July 12 - Open
July 13 - Emily
July 14 - Anne
July 15 - Clayton
July 16 - Matt
July 17 - Lillia
July 18 - Kathy
July 19 - Megan
July 20 - Tyler
July 21 - Mykal
July 22 - Open
July 23 - Open
July 24 - Open
July 25 - Open
July 26 - Open
July 27 - Due date

Again, we're just hoping for a healthy baby. And if she's born on July 6, she'll be full term. Melissa is admittedly ready to get this show on the road as soon as BGK is. And said tonight,"Maybe we're too ready." Clayton offered to remove a car seat or something, but Melissa said that's not what she meant. "No... we're too ready for her to come, so that's why she's mocking us."

Keep an eye here for pictures as soon as we're able to post them after she's born (and of course, the name!)

28 days*: That's four weeks or one month or 672 hours

2009-06-29T12:51:00.010-04:00

This is actually Melissa at 35 weeks. Clayton hasn't taken a 36-week photo yet.

* Or... not.

Today, we had the last of our bi-weekly doctor's appointments. We're now into the weekly visits. But the update from the doctor was quite interesting and unexpected. As the doc was palpating Melissa, she said, "She's really low. Got your carseats yet?" Turns out, BGK has dropped and is knocking on the door. According to the doc, Melissa is already starting to dilate. Now, that doesn't mean we're going to have the baby tonight or even tomorrow night. But, the doc says, "You're not going to make it to your due date." As long as BGK is healthy and Melissa stays healthy, we're OK with that.

For fun, we're taking a pool on when BGK will arrive (and by the way, when we'll stop referring to her as BGK and start calling her by her name!). No money is involved; it's simply for bragging rights. If you want to pick a day, drop us a comment and pick your day.

How to make Fried Okra

2009-06-26T18:17:00.000-04:00

One of our favorite things about summer is going to the Farmer's Market. We love all the fresh vegetables and cheap prices. Plus, there's always okra. Lots an lots of okra. You can put okra in gumbo or pickle it. But okra's true mission on earth is to be fried. We have perfected a recipe for fried okra by trial-and-error. You are welcome to try it, too.

What you need:
Fresh okra
Whole wheat flour
Milk
Garlic salt
Cayenne pepper
Vegetable oil

Slice okra to your desired thickness. You don't want it too thin or it'll burn. You don't want it too thick or it won't cook all the way through.

Pour enough vegetable oil in the pan to cover sliced okra pieces, let it warm up on medium heat (4 on our stove). As the oil is warming, put the sliced okra in a bowl. Pour some milk over the okra. (Imagine if the okra in the bowl were cereal, and pour as much milk on it as you would if you were about to eat breakfast).

Pour some whole wheat flower into another bowl. I usually make sure it's deep enough to reach the first knuckle on my middle finger. Sprinkle some garlic salt and cayenne pepper on top of the flower, and mix together well.

Stir the okra in the milk so that each piece gets wet. Put the okra in the flour and roll around until it's covered. If you need to add more flour, go ahead.

You will end up with doughy finigers. But here's a tip. Roll the dough off your fingers into a little ball and drop it in the oil. If it starts to fry, the oil is hot enough to add the okra.

Keep the oil on medium heat while the okra cooks for about five minutes. Then turn it back to medium-low (3 on our stove) and let the okra cook for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure both sides get cooked well.

After it's finished cooking, it'll be a dark brown (but not burnt brown!). Place the fried okra on a plate between two paper towels to let it drain the excess oil. Let stand for about 3-5 minutes to firm up, and then it should be ready!

We're not nesting, why do you ask?

2009-06-20T21:03:00.007-04:00

We've been talking for a while now about making and freezing food for when Baby Girl Kale gets here. So we spent the entire day today preparing meals that'll be easy to heat up later on. And all of the veggies are either home-grown or locally grown. Here's what's in the freezer:

1 squash & zucchini casserole (from home-grown squash and zucchini)
1 cheesy beef stroganoff
5 small loaves zucchini bread
1 quart sliced zucchini (can you tell what's doing well in the garden?)
2 quarts sliced squash
2 quarts home-grown green beans
2 quarts corn
2 quarts sliced strawberries
2 quarts sliced peaches
2 quarts of marinated bulgogi
2 marinated bone-in pork chops
3 quarts spaghetti sauce
3 hamburger patties
1 meal worth of cauliflower soup
2 meals worth of "Taco Soup"
3 quarts of chicken broth
3 dozen chocolate chip cookies

There's more to come, but we've run out of time (and energy) for today. Coming soon: A mess of greens, lasagna, chicken & rice casserole and homemade ice cream!

Maternity photos

2009-05-29T21:24:00.008-04:00

We're lucky to be friends with a good photographer who helped us document Melissa's pregnancy. Melissa was at about 28 or 29 weeks when we had the photos taken. We spent the day with him and he captured some great moments in our nursery, in our yard and taking a walk around Furman. You can see one of the photos at the top right of the blog. You can see the rest of them (and some of his other portrait work, too) at MykalMPhotography.com

In other news, Baby Girl Kale is only eight weeks and some change away from her due date. We are going to an all day childbirth preparation crash course class of doom. Supposedly, all of our questions will be answered and we'll be 100 percent prepared for delivery by 5 p.m. tomorrow. Of course BGK has to cook for another month or so, so by the time she's on her way Daddy will have forgotten everything and will probably leave something behind in the mad dash to the hospital, like his overnight bag. Or Mommy.

Baby Girl Kale's first cousin, Betty Teresa, was due yesterday, but, she's still floating around and hasn't, as Verna put it, "gone into the launch position" yet. But that's actually fine. Preferable, in fact. Both of Verna's doctors are out of town all weekend, so if Betty decides to make her debut this weekend, Verna will be going to a different doctor that she's never visited. So, hang in there Betty. Enjoy your stay at the inn for another weekend.

a girl and her dinosaur

2009-05-18T21:47:00.005-04:00

When we were putting Baby Girl Kale's room together, we were discussing art. We wanted something that would fit with our theme, but we wanted it to be something unique -- something no other nursery in the world would have. A while back, Clayton wrote a story for Link about Cory Godbey, an amazing artist who creates whimsical scenes that look like they could have come directly out of a children's book. At the same time, though, there seems to be more to each of his pieces than a simple illustration, which makes his work appealing to adults as well. We asked Cory if he would do a piece for our nursery that fits our theme of dinosaurs. He agreed to do it. You can follow the progress of the piece at Light Night Rains, his blog.

And speaking of children's book art, Cory is also involved in Terrible Yellow Eyes, a project that salutes "Where the Wild Things Are" writer and author Maurice Sendak.

Baby FAQ

2009-04-12T07:18:00.000-04:00

As promised earlier, here's an update of FAQs about Baby Kale and her mama.

When are you due? We're due on July 27.

How's Melissa feeling? Pretty good, all things considered. The joys of the first trimester are way gone, and Melissa says she vaguely remembers feeling like crap, but she doesn't remember it all that well. She doesn't have as much energy as normal, but she's got tons more than she did in the first trimester.

It's a girl, right? Yep. Still a girl.

Got a name picked out? Yep. Still not telling.

Got any weird cravings? Not really. Nothing consistent. She wanted cherry soda recently, but that's a rare occasion.

Can you feel her moving? Yep. She's an active little thing. And Clayton has felt (and seen!) her moving around, too. It feels weird. Weird but awesome.

Kale family garden '09

2009-04-11T18:49:00.005-04:00

Today was beautiful, which is interesting considering the horrible thunderstorms we had last night. We actually ended up sitting in the hallway after we checked the news, and it was reporting tornado watches in our area. Melissa had Jax on her lap, and Clayton had Hawkeye on his. They played a couple of games of Uno (Melissa went 3-0) and Clayton showed Melissa how to play Five-Card Draw and Seven-Card Stud.

This morning, we woke up at about 8 a.m. and went to the Farmer's Market. We've missed it. It won't be long till the booths are filled with food. Right now, they were filled with plants to plant.

Here's what we got:

2 Roma tomato plants
1 Green bell pepper plant
1 Yellow bell pepper plant
2 Types of green bean plants
1 Crooked neck squash plant
1 Zuchini plant
1 Cucumber plant
2 Strawberry plants
1 canteloupe plant
1 Italian Basil
2 seed potatoes (with about a gazillion eyes)

We pulled weeds out of the planter boxes this morning and then planted most of the above. The potatoes won't get planted for another month or so. And Clayton has a goguma sitting on his desk at work, which he'll bring home to plant along with the regular potatoes.

Clayton also put out the rabbit (that is, Hawkeye & Jax) fence and almost lost an eye only once. That's good.

We'll be getting some marigolds to plant next weekend. They help keep bugs away from your veggies. And eventually we'll be getting some okra to plant this summer. We'll wait till it's warmer. Okra likes it hot and dry.

Check back later this summer to see how our veggies are growing. And if it goes like we expect it to, you're more than welcome to some tomatoes!

Feathering the nest

2009-04-10T16:37:00.006-04:00

We both had the day off today. Melissa got it because it's Good Friday, and her office was closed. Clayton had it off because of furloughs. We had big plans to work in the yard to prepare the vegetable garden, but thanks to a thunderstorm that didn't happen. Instead, Melissa finally took on a project that she's been wanting to do since we moved into the house: Take down the wallpaper in the kitchen.

So wallpaper, we finally meet in battle

It's not really that it's ugly wallpaper. In fact it's kind of nice in that mid-90s I'm-hanging-out-in-my-mother's-kitchen kind of way. But we're paint people, so we're taking it down.

The wallpaper would be fine in somebody else's house. But it's just not... us.

Clayton gave Melissa a steamer for Christmas (and no, she didn't smack him -- she wanted one). She's been using it to take the wallpaper down. Luckily, the people who lived here before us knew what they were doing when they put it up, because it's coming off in sheets. Clayton tried to talk Melissa out of taking the wallpaper down because he'd helped someone take it down before, and it ruined the drywall, took chunks out of the wall and came off in tiny little pieces. He's glad he was wrong on this one.

The wallpaper is coming off better than Clayton expected it would.

After letting the wall dry, they'll (that is to say, she'll) paint the kitchen (don't worry, it's baby-safe paint otherwise, Clayton wouldn't let her do it!).

Clayton's not being lazy though. He's been doing stuff all day too, just not stuff that one would normally blog about -- unless you want his recipe for spaghetti sauce or want to hear exciting tales about grocery shopping or laundry. Didn't think so.

Building the nursery

2009-04-07T07:01:00.004-04:00

It's every parent-to-be's nightmare. They get the crib and get ready to put it together and realize -- there are no directions. After saying some words that will soon be eliminated from our vocabulary, we went through all the pieces again to make sure the instructions weren't there. In the box that had "instructions and hardware" printed on it, there was nothing but hardware. Oh, but there's a box that says "steel springs inside." Sure enough, the instructions were in there. Makes sense. We got the crib together with relative ease after that. The biggest problem came because Clayton got hungry about halfway through. And you wouldn't like it when he's hungry.

So, even counting the dinner break, the crib was put together in about two hours. We decided that we wouldn't put together the changing table/dresser combo that night, but we wanted to get it out of the box. Clayton cut the box apart (per the instructions on the box) and lo, we found the dresser to be put together.

So the nursery is coming together. The major furniture is in there. Thanks to a shower hosted by Clayton's friends, we've got sheets and enough baby shampoo and body wash to last us through the next decade. The next step: Figuring out where to put all her clothes.

In the meantime, here's a picture of the new furniture.

The crib, bookshelf and dresser/changing table all go well together.

The changing table/dresser.

Is it a boy or is it a girl?

2009-03-13T08:59:00.006-04:00

One of the joys of pregnancy is imagining what it's going to be like to raise a son or daughter. There's no way of knowing early on which one it is, so all kinds of scenarios come to mind. And you start to get a "feeling" about what it is based on nighttime dreams, day dreams and just a hunch. Those feelings can be misleading, though. Both of us thought we'd be having a boy, but we're most definitely having a girl! By no means are we disappointed.

We'd made the decision early on that if we were to have a girl we probably wouldn't "douse her in pink." But in recent weeks, we've gotten good deals on baby clothes from classified ads. Most of those clothes, of course, are pink, but they're just so darn cute. It's hard to imagine the tiny person that we're going to have fitting into these clothes. They're small enough for our dog Jax to fit in.

As of this week, we are halfway through pregnancy. In some ways, it's hard to believe that we're only halfway through. And in others, it's unbelievable that we're at the top of the hill.

We are excited about meeting our little girl in late July. She's going to be something else. She'll be beautiful. She'll be adorable. And as she grows up, she'll be the baddest little girl at the prom. Daddy promises you that!

Hello, world!

Her profile.

We have an ultra sound soon

2009-02-21T20:48:00.006-05:00

Will it be Clayton Jr.? Or will it be Melissa II? We're still not sure. We went in for an appointment on Tuesday to have our ultrasound (the ultrasound) to find out whether it's developing normally (as well as to find out whether it's a boy or a girl!). But the doctor from our last appointment made a mistake and we were in about a week and a half too early. The ultrasound tech said we could go ahead and have it, but that we'd more than likely be in in a few weeks to have another one. No sense in that. So, we'll be going in on Friday to have an ultrasound and to find out whether it'll be a boy or a girl! We'll post a still from the ultrasound next week!

In the meantime: A picture of Melissa's baby bump!

There will soon be another Kale

2008-12-30T18:06:00.007-05:00

So the real purpose of this blog can now be revealed. We started it this past summer in order to lock in on thekales.blogspot.com. That's right about the time we decided we were ready to start a family. Some might call us crazy. We've not even been married for a year. But crazy or not, here we come. Or rather, here it comes.

We're going to have a baby. Here's a FAQ. More FAQs will be added to the blog as more Qs are F Aed.

When are you due? In July -- round about July 27.

How far along are you? As of the day of this post, 10 weeks, 1 day.

Was this planned? Yep. (See above).

Is it a boy or a girl? Not familiar with human fetal development, are we? While our child's gender has been determined on a genetic level, the wiener (or lack thereof) can't be detected by the ultrasound machine yet. So... we don't know.

Have you picked out names? Yes.

And... Not telling.

C'mon you can tell me. Nope.

Is it a family name...? Hey look, a bunny.

How many syllables is it? OK fine. We're naming it Cale. That's right Cale Kale.

So that's it for now. Soon, we'll have pictures of ultrasounds and questions about all the baby gear we're going to need. We just wanted you to know.

Jax, the therapy dog

2008-07-21T19:54:00.003-04:00

Sometimes, the entries write themselves.

This weekend is one of rest, but last weekend ...

2008-07-20T15:01:00.007-04:00

So they finally decided to take it easy this weekend. Melissa and Clay had a date night on Friday, with dinner and a movie (Wall-E. It's animated, but you might want to be careful taking a kid to see it. It's more of a movie for adults. There's nothing inappropriate about it, but it's a very mature-themed movie).

Anyway. Last weekend, they kept busy on the house renovations. They painted the guest room. This room didn't cause too much commotion in the house. Sure, there were plenty of things stacked up in the living room, but it didn't really put them out, as painting the bedroom or refinishing the hardwoods did.

They painted the ~~guest room~~ nursery a light blue color. Azure Snow, is its artistic title. The room already had a blue theme to it with a blue bedspread and a few blue knickknacks. Now the walls match.

You can see the contrast of the Azure Snow and the old, off-white walls.

The color really helped to lighten the room, and it's very bright and cheery in there now.

See, it's all nice and coordinated now.

The view from the other side.

They'll be taking an extended break from painting as the next few weekends are quite busy with other tasks. Next weekend, they're going up to visit Clay's family in North Carolina, and the following week, if everything works out like it is supposed to, they'll be going to the beach for a week.

After that, it's back to painting the neutral colored walls. The living room is next, and finally the kitchen. Then, every single room will have a new coat of paint (and a completely new look.)

Don't believe the hype: Squirrels are not cute

2008-07-07T17:52:00.008-04:00

Think squirrels are cute? Most people like how they sit back on their hind legs and hold nuts in their paws and go to town on them as if they were eating corn on the cob. But don't fall for it. It's an act. Squirrels are calculating and cruel creatures.

He's plotting your demise.

Five (totally true*) facts about squirrels.

1. Squirrels are hellspawn. Squirrels are not born -- they spring from the bowels of the earth. Proof: Have you ever seen a squirrel being born? Exactly.

2. Squirrels are the suicide bombers of the animal kingdom except that they don't have explosives. Instead, they run out in front of your car, hoping you'll swerve into a tree.

3. Squirrels spread rumors about you.

4. Squirrels are responsible for high gas prices.

5. A squirrel once pooped on Clay's head.

But Clay has a new reason to hate squirrels (And Melissa is slowly coming around to his point of view that they are vermin). A squirrel got into their house by climbing onto the roof, getting in the gutter and chewing through a piece of sheet metal that was blocking a hole that a squirrel had obviously made a nest in before.

Melissa called her dad to borrow a BB gun, but the smallest thing he had was a .22. That wasn't going to work. Well, it would work. But it wouldn't be safe.

Clay climbed up on the ladder and managed to get the sheet metal back in place, and Melissa jury rigged a hole-plug made out of steelwool but they're going to be on the lookout for the little squirrel to return.

*OK, maybe not totally true. But at least one of these is true.

Bedroom away from bedroom

2008-07-06T22:26:00.021-04:00

Is it possible to have a weekend from the weekend? Melissa and Clay kinda need one.

Thanks to the Independence Day holiday, they had a long weekend to work on their house projects. The objectives were to keep working on the bathroom (fixing where they took out that cabinet) and painting the master bedroom.

They spackled the bathroom wall where the cabinet used to be. The spackle looked like bubble gum. (Warning: it does not taste like bubble gum.) After letting it dry overnight, they sanded it down (ack! more sanding!) which again put a fine layer of dust in every room in the house.

Nooooo! It's not Hubba Bubba!

It took two coats of spackle to get the wall relatively smooth and even, so there was a lot of dust.

With fresh spackle on the wall, they didn't want to take showers and get moisture in the air in the bathroom till it was painted. But they were going to a July 4 dinner at Clay's parents house. They didn't really think about how they were going to clean up before the party. When they realized they couldn't go to dinner all smelly, Clay called his mom and asked if they could shower there. (Borrowed shower No. 1)

The next day, they went to buy paint for the master bedroom. You know the saying, it's not what you know but who you know? It turns out it has more applications than just getting a job. When Melissa and Clay went to their favorite home improvement store's paint counter, a representative from the paint company was running the paint desk. When it was their turn (the paint desk was a busy place on this long weekend), the clerk looked at Melissa and said, "I know you!" It turns out he used to be a manager at a CVS and gave Melissa her first job when she was 16. He even remembered her name. After some small talk, he took their paint order and they wandered around the store, looking for more project ideas.

When they came back to pick up their paint about 10 minutes later, it wasn't ready. The guy was embarrassed and not sure what happened to it. Clay said he figured somebody went home with a gallon of Lush Sage instead of whatever off-white paint they intended to buy. In any case, the guy cooked up another gallon of Lush Sage and handed it to them. "It's on the house," he said, "for having to wait." He'd written "No charge" on the can lid. Sweet. They got the first coat of paint for the bedroom for free. Can't beat that.

Melissa covers up the painting mishap from the first night they had the house. Goodbye "Mr. Yuck!"

Of course, they couldn't really paint with all that bedroom furniture in the way. They thought they'd be able to just push everything to the middle of the room, but the mattress they have is a made of dense foam and quite heavy. They couldn't just slide the bed. So they took the mattress set off and moved it and one of the bedside tables to the den in addition to all of the knickknacks and decorations. The mattress and box springs were leaned up against the couch, and the coffee table was pushed up against the entertainment center. There was barely even room to sit down on the floor and have lunch.

Most of the stuff from the bedroom ... in the den. Notice you can't see the couch at all.

That day they got a coat of paint on the spackle in the bathroom and one coat in the master bedroom. Earlier in the week, they'd made plans to go out for a few drinks with some friends late Saturday night. As they were finishing up the first coat of bedroom paint, they realized they were in the same quandary as the day before. They needed showers. This time, they called Melissa's dad and asked if they could shower there. (Borrowed shower No. 2)

Sunday morning they woke up in their substitute bedroom, the guest room, unrested and grumpy. They agreed that they couldn't handle a second night away from their amazingly comfortable bed. The den was cleared out enough to lay the box spring and mattress down, converting the den into the bedroom away from bedroom. It's a little tight, but actually quite cozy.

At least we can still sit on the couch. And best of all, we have our real bed to sleep on!

For the second coat of paint in the master bedroom, they invested in an edger. It makes painting the trim ten times easier and a lot faster. If you're painting, they highly recommend one. They quickly finished the master bedroom and rolled a second coat of paint on the spackled wall in the bathroom (and gave the whole bathroom a fresh coat). They're really happy with the results and are looking forward to getting the house back to normal after work on Monday.

Ahhh. Back to normal ... until next weekend.

Who uses nails? Really.

2008-06-30T22:05:00.008-04:00

In the process of fixing up the house, they decided that the cabinet in the bathroom needed to come out. Melissa says it'll "open up the room." It's a small bathroom, and it's the only one in the house, so they need all the space they can get.

They used to use the cabinet to hold the regular bathroom stuff -- deodorant, lotions, razors, the usual. Melissa took all the stuff out and reorganized the shelves underneath the sink. Amazingly, all the stuff fit.

So tonight after dinner, they decided it was time for the cabinet to go. There are many methods to make a cabinet stay on the wall. One might choose to use glue. Or maybe brackets. Or screws, even.

But the previous owners nailed the cabinet up to the wall. That's right. They nailed it with four-inch nails.

After about half an hour of gouging out the wood around the nail heads, with a screwdriver, hammer, bolt cutter, pliers and a power drill, they finally managed to dislodge the nails from the wall.

Clay then pulled the cabinet off the wall to reveal ugly wall paper, torn paint and a really unusual smell.

The smell dissipated pretty fast. Thankfully.

It really wasn't that heavy. It was just funnier that way.

So in the coming days, they're going to pull the horrid wall paper off the wall, scrape off the paint, sand the walls smooth and then repaint.

By finishing one project, they're led into three more.

Who uses nails? Really.

And you know what? Melissa was right. Right after they took the cabinet down, Clay said, "It really did open up the room.

After we get the wall fixed up, they're going to install some nice, open shelves.

So much for back to normal ...

2008-06-28T20:11:00.020-04:00

Melissa and Clay took a week off from working on the house. But this weekend, they were back at it. Pulling up the carpets and refinishing the hardwoods has been put on hold for the moment, but there are plenty of walls in the house. Walls that need painting.

Clay paints the trim.

Melissa finishes up with the roller.

The colors that are already there aren't ugly, necessarily. Nor are they in bad shape. It's apparent that the previous owners painted shortly before we bought the house (though it's also apparent that they kinda slapped it up in a few places). But the paint in all the rooms is just too ... neutral. They want to give the house some life. Melissa and Clay had painted the office before (see the previous posts about the hardwood floors, and you can see it. That room had the same neutral colors as the rest of the house.) Melissa loves bold colors and the house will soon be evidence of this.

So this weekend, they bought a quart of paint for the hallway. It's not a drastic change, but it's a little lighter. And has an awesome name. "Desert Fortress." Tell me you wouldn't want a wall in your house fortified with that color.

But that's not all they did this weekend. Clay has had some end tables since he was a kid. They used to be in his living room when he was growing up. They're in his living room now. Well, not right now. Right now, they're on the kitchen table with a fresh coat of stain. Not having enough sanding with the floor adventure, Melissa sanded the tables down over the week. On Friday night, she and Clay sanded down the legs (the hardest part) and on Saturday, they stained them. Sunday, they'll get a couple coats of polyurethane.

Years spent in Clay's college apartment, and later his bachelor's apartment weren't very kind to this little table.

Here's one of the tables sanded and ready for some stain.

Here are the tables, all stained.

The plan now is to paint the master bedroom and the guest room next. Then the living room. Then the kitchen. That'll be an adventure. They've got to pull down the hideous fruit and vine wallpaper and strip the cabinets. Also, Melissa intends to refinish a bedside table this week. A rocking chair and an antique loveseat will be her next victims.

Back to normal

2008-06-19T08:33:00.005-04:00

Ahhh. The house is back to normal now. Well, as normal as it gets around here, anyway. The dogs are happy to have their room back, and Clay and Melissa are happy that they're not tripping over stuff or running into the bookshelf in the hallway any more.

We thought about removing Jax's crate and letting him stay out all day like a big boy. We did a trial run of that while the house was still torn up and left him out in the kitchen with Hawkeye. But let's just say he's not quite ready yet.

As with any home improvement project, doing one thing requires you to do two other things. We still need to add shoe molding to the study. And, because the 3M blue painter's tape that won't peel paint off the wall peeled paint off the wall, we have to paint the baseboards. We'll probably do those projects at the same time.

And we're still planning to refinish the rest of the carpeted rooms, but this time with the help of this. Lowe's rents them by the day.

In the meantime, the whole family agrees: The study looks better.

Hawkeye and Jax are happy to have their room back.

Hardwood (Part 2)

2008-06-15T14:04:00.013-04:00

Last time you saw us, the carpet had been pulled up, and the hardwoods in the office had been exposed, glue and all. Here's the update:

After hours of sanding, we finally got it done. Notice all the dust in the air.

Clay decided that while he was at it, he could get some personal grooming out of the way.

Melissa gets started with the stain. Only three coats of polyurethane to go!

This is the floor with two coats of polyurethane on it. One more to go. We'll have furniture back in there on schedule.

So. That's our DIY project. For the next rooms (yep, we're going to do more), we're definitely going to rent the sander machine. It'll be worth every penny.

Hardwood

2008-06-12T14:50:00.011-04:00

Clay and Melissa have hardwood floors underneath their carpet. They both like the carpet, but have discussed pulling it up to reveal the hardwoods underneath.

The previous owners took such good care of the house, so they thought that surely, the hardwoods would need hardly a retouch.

Hawkeye, too wanted to restore the hardwood floors, so she did her part to move the plan from, “one day, let’s pull up this carpet” to “let’s pull this carpet up right away.” (For the record, it wasn’t so much “let’s” as in “let us pull this carpet up right away.” Instead, Melissa moved all the furniture and pulled the carpet up before Clay got home from Aikido. She’s hardcore. And he still feels guilty, so ... don’t bring it up.)

So how did Hawkeye do it? She got sick -- really, really sick -- on the carpet. So sick that it soaked through all the way to the padding. So sick that every room in the house smelled like ... you get the picture. (Hawkeye is feeling fine now -- Eds.)

So the carpet from the dogs’ room is out on the driveway, Jax is sleeping in his crate in the den, and Hawkeye is sleeping on a bed in the kitchen.

The bookcase and file cabinet are out in the hall. The desk is in the den. There’s a big pile of books and VHS tapes on the floor behind the recliner, and the kitchen table is overflowing with knickknacks and picture frames from the bookshelf and desk.

The bookshelf in the hallway makes it a tight fit.

And the floor, well. It needs more work than either Clay or Melissa predicted.

They started sanding it down on a Wednesday night after a trip to Melissa’s Dad’s house to pick up a second sander and a shop vac and then a trip to the hardware store to pick up sandpaper and masks. After about an hour’s work, they got an eighth of the room done (with a first-pass sanding) by bedtime.

Our "beautiful" hardwoods.
Covered in glue.

Hawkeye and Jax really, really want to get back into their room. But Hawkeye has lousy luck, and if there’s a nail or tack that didn’t get pulled up, she’ll step on it. And Jax will lick anything. Including a floor covered in dust from sanding carpet glue off hardwood. He’d probably enjoy licking that quite a bit, actually.

If everything goes according to plan, the floor will be sanded, stained and polyurethaned and ready for them to move back in by Monday, maybe Tuesday. But we shall see.

In the coming months, they plan to refinish hardwoods in the rest of the house.

Melissa vs. Hawkeye

2008-06-07T10:11:00.008-04:00

When Clay and Melissa met, Clay already had a female love in his life. Hawkeye. She is the first dog that was ever completely his.

Hawkeye came from the Humane Society. Clay had planned and read about dog training and how to pick out an intelligent puppy for months before he finally felt ready to pick one out. The day he went to the Humane Society, he'd told himself that he wasn't going to pick one out that day. He just wanted to see what the process was.

When he got into the puppy room, he walked up to the first crate. A spindly puppy bounded up to the door and barked at him. "Not you," Clay said, as he walked to the next crate. Inside of it was a little brown puffball, curled up asleep. The tag on the crate said "Summer." Clay poked the puppy through the gate. It lifted its head and wagged its tiny tail.

She was brown with a little black face and floppy ears, disproportionately small for her head. About 30 minutes later, she was adopted and rechristened Hawkeye.

She was an angel of a puppy. She was housebroken within a week (crate training works, people, and it's FAR from cruel). She could sit, shake, high five and lay down within a week and a half. Her vocabulary now includes: peanut butter, cheese, cookie, hungry, supper, want to go for a walk, where's your rope, "who's here?", potty outside, go outside, go inside, mommy, daddy, gramaw, among many other words. How do I know she knows what they mean? Because of what she does when I say them.

A few years later, right before Clay and Melissa started dating, Melissa heard stories about how much Clay loved his dog. If the dog didn't like you, the stories went, you were doomed. Actually, that's pretty much true.

When Melissa first came over to Clay's house, she wanted to make a good impression on the dog. So she was really sweet to her and put up with her shedding and desire to be up on the couch with her person. Hawkeye tolerated Melissa, as well. Whenever Clay was around, Hawkeye would be sweet and snuggle with Melissa. But if Clay were to leave the room for any reason, Hawkeye would literally squeeze herself underneath Melissa and attempt to push her off the couch.

About this time, Melissa donated her nice couch to Clay's apartment. Clay's couch was one that he, quite literally, dragged off a street corner when he graduated from college. It was the couch that his buddy Pat had (and who had gotten it for free by taking it off the hands of a graduating senior at the time). Basically, this couch was probably nice in 1982. It was so old and busted when Clay had it that he didn't mind all the dog hair on it. But when Melissa let Clay use her couch in his apartment (it's now their couch in their house), Hawkeye wasn't allowed on the couch any more. It was quite a rough transition.

But eventually, she got used to the idea, and only protests when company (read: "Auntie Verna") comes over and she thinks she can get away with it. And Hawkeye and Melissa get along great (in fact, when Melissa went on a business trip for the better part of the week, Hawkeye paced around the house looking for her, sighing when she was nowhere to be found).

Hawkeye and Melissa at the old condo.

The Jaxman cometh

2008-06-06T14:34:00.006-04:00

Jax is a sweet dog. Too sweet almost. All he wants to do is sit in your lap (or rather, loll around in your lap, over your shoulders, on your chest, wherever he can make contact) and be petted. He also likes to give kisses. Especially on his people's faces. But when faces aren't available he also likes to lick carpet, linoleum, the couch, the bathmat, Hawkeye, the kitchen chairs, the kitchen floor, the outside of the trashcan, his blankets ... If his tongue can make contact with it, he likes to lick it.

We'd like to tell you that J comes from a long line of beautiful champion terriers who have won dog beauty contests year after year. But J's story is one fraught with tears, and eventually, joy.

This is Jax on his first day home.

When Melissa and Clay bought little brick house, they talked for several months about getting another dog. They never consulted Hawkeye on this fact, and she would tell you that. Only you'd have to speak dog. Had they asked her about getting a puppy, she would have said something along the lines of "grrrrrraough." That roughly translates to, "what, are you crazy?" But they never asked her.

They decided that they wanted to adopt a small puppy and not an adult dog. There are as many reasons to adopt an adult dog as there are to adopt a puppy and we can debate the merits of each. But it's an important detail in this tale that Melissa and Clay wanted a puppy.

On their first trip to the Humane Society, they found a few puppies lying around in their cages. Not a single one got up to greet them. Every puppy, it turned out, was deathly ill. They went to another Humane Society in a neighboring city (the Humane Society where Hawkeye matriculated from) and found a much more energetic puppy room.

After spending close to an hour looking at puppies through cages, Clayton and Melissa met a little black cocker spaniel mix that they named Kaylee. She had an intelligent face, was affectionate and sweet. They jumped and tumbled through all the necessary hoops to adopt Kaylee and went home, and set up Kaylee's bed.

A few days later after Kaylee was spayed, Melissa was to pick up the puppy and bring her home. As she was walking out the door to go pick her up, however, she got a phone call from the Humane Society. Kaylee had come down with parvo and wasn't likely to live through the night. She had to be put to sleep.

Upset that their new friend died so quickly, they called the Humane Society and asked what could be done. That's when they told them that a Poodle mix had recently been brought in and had a litter of puppies in the Society. "There are three puppies," they told the couple. "But it will be a few weeks before you could take one home."

When they visited the momma dog and her puppies, only one puppy was left. He was pure white, with beady little black eyes (Melissa said they looked like little black pearls), a little black nose and lips. Clay watched Melissa's face when she saw him and knew that this little puppy was going to come home with them.

H is stressed by her new roommate.

He did come home with them several days later. The first couple of nights he was nervous in his new surroundings and quite timid. But by the third night, he was comfortable and wanted to make the house his. He nipped, he chased, he tormented, he ran around acting like, well, a puppy ... a terrier puppy

Melissa climbed up on the couch at one point to get away from him and considered letting Hawkeye climb up with her as Hell on wheels rolled through the house. Clay was gone for the first part of that evening, and when he called Melissa on his way home, she was quite firm. "Get home now. I can't take it much more." Of course, by the time Clay got home, Jax had just settled down for a nap but decided to get up and terrorize his new daddy as well.

But those puppy days are gone. Now he's a year-old, pees where he's supposed to and will calm down if you take him into the yard to play fetch for an hour.

There are many more chapters that involve the J-man. And many more chapters will be written.

Jaxman.

An engagement

2008-05-29T17:33:00.004-04:00

It was some time in mid to late December. Clay had thought about it a lot. Clay and Melissa had discussed it a lot. In fact, they’d even discussed basic wedding ideas. Clay wanted to marry Melissa, and Melissa wanted to marry Clay.

But he didn’t want her to know about when the proposal was coming. So Clay had to do something he’d never done before. He had to lie to her.

He was sitting at the jewelry store with two jewelers and his mother who was providing counsel that only a woman could provide. His phone rang.

“It’s M,” Clay said, looking at his mother. He could feel his eyes widen. “I’ve got to take this.” He stepped outside to field the call.

When he came back in, he sat down next to his mother.

“I just lied to her,” Clay said. “I told her I was at the mall.”

On places he’d like to go, the mall is somewhere on the list just above oral surgery and a Celine Dion concert.

(Melissa said later, after this story was related to her that she thought it was odd that Clay was hangin’ at the mall. But it worked at the time.)

After buying the ring and hiding it cleverly in a place that Melissa would never look (under his underpants in the dresser), Clay waited it out till the perfect day to pop the question.

That day was the one-year anniversary of their first date. Clay had made reservations at a nice Italian restaurant in their fair city and planned to take a walk in a nearby beautiful park before dinner to make his move. But despite it being early spring, it was hot. It was sand-still-and-sweat hot.

Instead of going for a walk, Melissa suggested they go get a drink at one of their favorite bars. And while Clay’s nerves appreciated the Bombay & Tonic, his plan was falling apart in front of his eyes.

Another thing that was going on in front of his eyes was a waterfall of tears. Sure, he was feeling pretty emotional, but it had more to do with the Rhinoviruses having a party in his sinuses. Clay had a cold.

It hit him full-force during dinner. He had to excuse himself several times to blow his nose. (But he admits that he was also going to the bathroom to pace around). Clay didn’t finish his dinner (something that never happens). He blamed it on his cold, but it had more to do with the Iron Butterfly concert playing in his stomach than the fact that his olfactory nerves weren’t working.

After dinner, it had cooled off enough that a comfortable walk was possible. They walked down to the park and the beautifully lit suspension bridge over a waterfall. They stood there for a while and talked. And finally, Clay couldn’t take the suspense any more.

He reached into his pocket, knelt on one knee and presented the ring.

“Will you marry me,” he asked.

Behind Melissa, a group of artsy looking students started tapping each other on the shoulder and pointing at them, “look, look, look. He’s proposing,” one of them said.

“Nothing would make me happier,” Melissa said. Clay stood up, and they hugged.

The students cheered and waved their thumbs in the air. Clay smiled back at them before he kissed his soon-to-be bride.

The story of a family

2008-05-26T17:02:00.004-04:00

This is the true story of a family. It's young as families go, but it's healthy and growing.

Here are the principle players:

Melissa: A young lady, wife and mother to two dogs.
Clay: A young man, husband and father to two dogs.
Hawkeye & Jax: Two said dogs. H is a 6-year-old shepherdish mutt of about 70 pounds and the demeanor of an old lady. J is a one-year-old terrier mix of about 16 pounds and the demeanor of a terrier mix of about 16 pounds.

I. How they met
Ah, it was a forbidden romance. Clay was working the daily grind in a cubicle farm. Melissa was working at the same cubicle farm, but instead of plowing the fields, she worked in the big house in Human Resources. She worked there for many months (a year even) before Clay got up the nerve to talk to her. He'd see her every day on his lunchbreak when she had to cover the front desk. Sometimes she'd say things to him. He thinks he replied back. But he's not sure. She flustered him with her beauty.

One day there was a brouhaha outside the cubicle farm's building. Workers were invited to bring their pets. Clay was thrown off from his normal routine (as these workers were showing off their pets in the very place where he liked to eat lunch). But as he stood there mulling over where to eat his sandwich, Melissa said to him, "Do you have any pets?"

"Yes, I do," Clay said. He loved to talk about his dog, Hawkeye. And so he told Melissa all about her, glad that he had something to talk about to her. Little did he know at the time, Melissa knew all about his dog from another cubicle farm worker. She just wanted to break the ice.

Not long after that, they struck up a conversation about hiking. And between plowing lines in the cubicle farm fields, Clay and Melissa traded e-mails. That was a Friday. Come that next Monday, they traded e-mails some more, and by the end of the day Clay had worked up the nerve to ask her to coffee that evening.

They spent five hours at that coffee shop that night. They only left because the waiter told them they were closing.

One year later, they were engaged.