This weekend is the ROT Rally in Austin. My office sits right on highway 183, a main passageway to the hill country. For the past two days, about every 60 seconds I can hear a Harley go by. It’s slowly eating at me. I turned in my ride a few years ago when my oldest daughter was born. I don’t think about it much anymore, but the last couple of days have been a bit painful. Anna and I were both huge Harley fans “back in the day.” Now we wouldn’t think of both riding together on one for fear of “the worst” happening and leaving our little girls behind. In the meantime, I’ll settle for crawling around on the ground with my little crumb-crunchers.

This morning, my wife sent me a link to a story entitled, “What kids really want for Christmas.” The story couldn’t be more true. It reminded me of what I personally look forward to each year. It isn’t the thought of what gifts I will receive. In fact, my wife and I rarely exchange gifts, especially since we’ve started having kids. What we really look forward to are reliving the memories of our youth. We love to tell and re-tell the memories that come rushing back this time of year. There are dozens of memories - sights, smells, sounds - that keep the Christmas spirit alive and strong. I look forward each Christmas to not only reliving the memories of the past, but ensuring that my children have memories of their own that will keep the Christmas flame burning bright in their hearts.

Whatever keeps the spirit alive in your heart, may all your holidays be bright.

We had an awesome day today. I was able to sleep in until the late, late time of about 8:00. Then, my wife whipped up an awesome breakfast of waffles, pigs-in-a-blanket, and watermelon. Then, Katie gave me the tie she made for me when she was in school (she was so proud) and mommy and the girls gave me my new t-shirt. After that, I got a special gift of some quiet time with me and the World Cup. Instead of watching Dora the Explorer and Arthur for hours on end, I actually managed to see 3 whole World Cup matches throughout the day. It was great!!

While the girls took a nap, I showered and caught up on some blog posts and general surfing/reading. That’s something I haven’t done in quite a while. Later in the day, my parents stopped by for a visit and then my in-laws came over as well. We all had dinner together and then started winding down for the evening.

Thank you all for a wonderful Father’s Day! And, to all of you fathers out there, I hope you had a great day as well!!

I have been feeling a bit guilty about providing proper assistance to my wife for the past week. After all, she gave birth to Jackie just a week ago. But, as my wife pointed out, part of my job is to keep Katie occupied and feeling special now that our attention is being split across two daughters and Jackie is receiving so much attention. So, what better way to do that than camping out with our brand new tent in the Princess Room.

To celebrate the event, we made smores in the microwave. This was Katie’s first camping and smore-building extravaganza. She had a great time. The expression on her face and her gibberish of excitement were absolutely priceless. I was impressed that smores were so easily made in the microwave. This could be a highly dangerous discovery.

Sleeping in the tent was a bit rough. The couch cushions didn’t quite work as I had hoped as they were a bit lumpy. Katie slept pretty well as we were able to use her matress from her toddler bed. And, she LOVED using the battery-powered lantern that I got for Christmas from Papaw. Who knew reading bedtime stories by lantern-light could be so much fun!

For anyone keeping up with the birth and development of our newest baby girl, we made a last-minute change of spelling on her name. The new spelling is:

Jacquelyn Leigh

Personally, I’m very happy about it. I was pushing for this spelling from the beginning, but Mommy wouldn’t have it. As she was filling out the various forms for our first doctor visit, something caught her eye and she realized that she actually preferred the new spelling.

Soooooooo, Jacquelyn it is.

Baby Update

Originally uploaded by 347.

The cameraphone isn’t the greatest, but it’s an update. Jackie is nursing

and sleeping well. Mommy is doing great. Big Sister was here this morning

and LOVED seeing her new baby sister. She was a little confused at first,

but it didn’t take long for her to figure it out. Hopefully we’ll be home

by noon’ish tomorrow.

Jacquelyn Leigh Meadows
8lbs 4oz
19in

Anna is dilated to a 5 and we’re about half-way along. I am still holding
to my 8p prediction.