PPS

We got an offer on the car! Yay!

Lisa brought the car up after work and I met with a nice guy and his friend for a test drive. He was impressed with how carefully Lisa had tended to the car. We plan on finalizing the sale on Friday -- which will be a huge relief to finally be able to move that off my plate and focus on something else (like childproofing the house)

Thanks for everyone's help, well-wishes, and prayers as we transitioned Lisa from jet-setting Jetta-owner to minivan mom.

PS

Did I mention that Clay is sleeping through the night?

Beginning right around the evening that Lisa went down to King George for the night, he started getting the idea that the night time was the right time for sleep. Now, he regularly goes down around 8PM and is asleep until around 7AM. If only Lisa and I would commit to keeping that same sleep schedule ourselves!

Where'd He Go?

It's official, Clay is now part of the self-propelled crowd.

He was showing off last week in small group and scooting around -- mainly backwards and in a circle. The next morning, I got a call from Lisa telling me that he was moving across the room. His motivation for taking the big "step"? He was going for the remotes. There is no doubt that this is a man in the making.

He's no track star (yet) but he's definitely getting increasingly mobile. To top it off, he's taken to standing himself up in the crib. This is great fun for him when he should be going to bed -- but it causes problems when he wants to go to sleep because he doesn't know how to get down.

Lisa, being the sympathetic and loving mother that she is, wants to let him down. I, on the other hand, figure that he'll learn -- or gravity will assist . . .

Boys' Night-In

Last Friday, I realized that Lisa hadn't really had a full night's sleep in seven months. So, I called her and sent her off to be pampered by my folks in King George for the evening. They made her a nice dessert, she slept well, and then they spoiled her with a big breakfast in the morning.

Clay and I had a pretty good night too. We had to do some serious wrestling over the peas (it took me 30+ minutes to feed him half a batch when a full batch of sweet potatoes can be gone in <5 minutes), but he did well sleeping, only really waking up once or twice and going right back down in a few minutes.

Lisa got back Saturday afternoon and the whole house seemed a little happier . . .

We're Selling the Jetta. Interested?

Since buying the minivan, I've managed to pry the keys for the Jetta from Lisa's hands (she loves that car) and am now selling it. If you're at all interested, please check out the listing: Online Listing

Checking in on Addy

Clay stopped in on his way back from the Outer Banks to see how Addy was doing. Everything went swimmingly until she began to scurry around -- making Clay feel terribly inadequate. Soon after, she squawked in his face and reduced him to tears. She's no Sandra Bernhard, but Clay's still getting accustomed to such an assertive young woman.

See more photos of them here.

See videos of them on the Ritners' Blog

Housewarming

Kelley and Matt recently had us all over to marvel at their beautiful new home. Clay got to meet Kelley's family for the first time.


See all the photos here

Congrats to Beej!

A college buddy of mine, Beej, had his first child on Wednesday. His name is Willem Emerson VanOver and he already has more hair than Clay. Mother (Deana), son and father all look great.

Congrats Beej!

Happy 60th Birthday Opa!

60 years old? Clay brings out the child in his Opa.

It's the Little Things . . .

. . . that make you feel old.

Lisa and I joined the ranks of minivan owners on Tuesday, purchasing a 2006 Honda Odyssey minivan. We had planned on buying a 2007 CR-V, but I was worried that we would outgrow that in a few years and it seemed like a good opportunity to get ahead of the curve. Fortunately, Lisa was willing to be a minivan mom (we're replacing her Jetta) and there were some great year-end clearance sales from Honda.

In the end, we were able to buy an '06 Odyssey for practically the same price we would have paid for a '07 CR-V. It's "Midnight Blue Pearl" so Lisa can continue her string of dark blue vehicles -- and it's got a lot of bells and whistles. She's got her leather seats, and Clay's got a lot of room -- he currently has 6 seats all to himself.

Anyone interested in a lightly used 2000 Jetta V6 with 54,700 miles?