Martha would be proud

When Mom called Dad on her way home this afternoon to tell him the vanpool was running a little late, she was thrilled and impressed when he said not only had he started making supper already, but he was making a dish from Martha Stewart: stuffed squash. The house smelled great when Mom walked in a little later and when she peaked in the oven to check it out she found a beautifuly prepared meal. Dad was quite happy with himself and Mom couldn't have been prouder of him.

Sibling affection goes both ways

Also

Nathan got his first real offer for an ad on his Web site. This is a very exciting development in the life of beyondthederby.com.

And Lincoln's social security card came in the mail today. A big day all the way around!

First day of school

All went well today, for all of us. Lev was excited and brave, Dad was efficient and brave and Mom was organized and brave, too. Our student learned classroom rules, played inside and outside and ate watermelon for snack with the six other kids in her class.

Lev says yes, she does want to go back tomorrow!

The Kissing Hand poem picture in the slideshow below has Lev's handprint. Mom also took pictures of the notes she left everyone this morning, the other miscellaneous reminders for Dad and the flowers that Grandaddy sent this afternoon.

The night before

This week we've been practicing for Levynn's first day of school. On Monday, it took Lev, Dad and Linc just one hour and 53 minutes to get ready and out the door for a practice drive there. Yesterday, they had it down to an hour and 20 minutes, but stopped at the doorway because it was pouring down rain.

Today, Mom took the morning off to go with them to the visitation day. She tried to stay out of the way and let Dad and Lev do their thing, but it was hard. The visit at the school, however, went very very well. Ms. Revati engaged Lev right away, showed her all the neat things in her classroom, took her picture, let her pick out a cubby and got out markers for a little project. It was all very exciting!

So tomorrow's the day. All of us will have to be big and brave as our sweet girl steps forward on her own.

The fair!

Our traditional day at the Kentucky State Fair continued this year. It was the first for Clark and Lincoln, and Levynn's fourth. We all had great fun, great food and sore feet and backs.

We found neat exhibits (and reinactors!) on the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Mom introduced our Lincoln to the actors and it was implied that Mom thought she was talking to the real president. Nevertheless, her conversation with Abraham and Mary Todd led them to say that when our Lincoln is in first grade and does his first book report we should call them and they will appear with him. How cool!

Levynn had the biggest ice cream cone that ever was. And blue cotton candy and a honey stick and country ham, sogruhm and biscuits, and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and a little funnel cake. Grandy, Byron and Christina spent the day trying to get "the shot" with their super-duper cameras while all three kids smiled when they had the patience to and slept when they didn't.

Dad had to skip out early to cover the field hockey tournament final for "our" up-and-coming Web site beyondthederby.com Anyone know any advertisers???

A new man

Dad has a middle-of-the-night routine for changing Lincoln's diaper as quietly as possible, so as not to disturb a sleeping Levynn in the next room (and a sleeping Mom a few feet away, ideally), before feeding him. As all of you can imagine, and likely have experienced, Lincoln always screams for food when he wakes up hungry at such hours.

Dad heard him start to make noises around 3:15 a.m. this morning, six hours since he last ate. Good reason for him to give the vocal chords a workout, right? So Dad got out of bed, turned on the bathroom light, and peeked into the bassinet.

Well, that boy might as well have come right out and said, "Good morning, Dad, I'm happy!" He looked up, smiled as big as in the pictures you've already seen here and made pleasant little noises. Then, even after Dad put him on the changing table, he kept smiling!

And he wasn't done yet. After feeding him on the couch, Dad snuggled with him there and let Mom sleep in peace for the little time she had left before the alarm went off. When we awoke at 8 a.m. - you do the math - Lincoln still didn't fuss for food. He smiled!

What a day it's been already.

He found his hand

Lincoln is now finding great, slobbery satisfaction in sucking on his hand. He makes some really crazy noises when he gets going on it. Better that it's his hand, I guess, than a pacifier. He still is hardly taking that at all.

Levynn had her last time at her regular library story hour. Next Wednesday will be the preschool visitation and then after that it's school three mornings a week. She's really ready, though it was a bit sad (mostly for Ms. Beth) at the library today.

Mom is going back to the office tomorrow. She's making a real point to use those words exactly when talking about it instead of saying back to "work." It's not like she's been on a vacation, just hanging out for a few weeks. Can you imagine the earful someone at the office will get tomorrow if he should try to imply such a thing?

But it has been really, really good for Mom to be with all Dad, Lev and Linc all this time. And she is a bit sad.

Happiness

Lincoln has been trying and trying to show us his smile, teasing us with a little one here and there. But then this morning he was so happy he couldn't help but just smile and smile at us.

Catching up

wouldn't this be a neat place to work? (it's Tribune Tower)

It's been a big week for us here. Mom's been on her adventure, Granddaddy visited again and Gram and Papa got their turn with the grandchildren.

Mom missed the kids lots, and came home to this one who looked all grown up.

Also Lincoln had his one-month checkup and everything looked fine, the doctor said. He weighed in at 11 lbs, 9 oz, and was almost 24 inches long.

He grasped a Lincoln Log!

This week Mom has her six-week checkup, which means it's time for her to return to the office at Fort Knox. That'll be on Thursday. Then on Friday the Paducah crew heads this way for the annual weekend at the Kentucky State Fair. It'll be the first for Clark and Lincoln, and we hope Roy will keep up the tradition of fair stuffed animals for Levynn's collection. It'd be nice if we could keep the temperatures under 100 degrees for the outing.

From last year's fair, when Uncle Dan was here with us.