Spoiled? Absolutely not-just perfect!!!!

Hey B,

What a great weekend!! Everything seemed to go by so fast but I really enjoyed being with you and your mommy and daddy. After I dropped you guys off at the airport, I thought about everything we did over the weekend. I sure wish we didn't have to try to cram so much into such a short period of time, but maybe in the next couple of years you'll become a Southern boy.

It was really good for so many people to meet you for the first time. Grandmother, Nana, Aunt Jann, Aunt Pat, Uncle Rick, Uncle Jay, Aunt Kay and Barbara. You certainly were the center of attention, but that really isn't new for you. I don't know if you enjoy being the center of attention but I enjoy it for you. Your Pops! is so proud of you.

I really enjoyed playing with you. I need to start working out if I'm going to keep up with you. You move so fast and are never still unless you are asleep. You have gotten the low crawl down to an art form. I bet you'll be up on all fours and crawling in the next couple of weeks. And let me warn you now. The more you start getting around the more your going to hear a word more often-NO!! And it is not your middle name, you'll only think it is.

After all the toys that you got this weekend, I think your two favorites were your dads old Mickey Mouse radio from 25-26 years ago and Jadda's cooking pot and wooden spoon. Boy, the wooden spoon and cooking pot make a great noise don't they. And the hide and seek game your mommy and daddy played on the stairs was funny. I loved watching you try to figure out where their heads were going to pop up on the stairs.

I guess I could go on and on, but I think you know how much I enjoy and love my little buddy. You are a blast. I tried to get mommy and daddy to let me keep you but your daddy said something about...well it has something to do with where you get your main meal and I can't quite fit the bill there.. Maybe one day, when you are older you can spend a few days with Jadda and Pops!. And in case mommy and daddy are worried, we won't corrupt you. Well, maybe a little bit but nothing that will cause any permanent damage. Will we spoil you? Well, if that is what you call it, yes. That is a pops! prerogative isn't it.

People ask me if you are spoiled and I say, "Absolutely not-just perfect."

I miss you already and look forward to seeing you again soon. After next weekend, I'll be the one who is spoiled.

Dancing eyes

Hey B,

Last night was really great. You have really changed in a short few weeks. Seeing you and your daddy walk across that hotel lobby was exciting. Seeing my D caring my little buddy was heartwarming and satisfying. To see your daddy caring a six month old baby doesn't make me feel old, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. In a sense, it makes me feel that me and Jadda did something good as parents. (Both my sons make me feel that way). And I know that your Opa and Oma feel the same way about your mommy. Your parents are really good parents. You know how I know that? Because I could see it in your eyes as you watch them. Yesterday, when I held you I watched you watch your mommy and daddy and I could see your eyes dance for them. After a while of me holding you, I could see you eyes long for them. With all the things we did together in two hours, seeing your reaction to mommy and daddy was the most gratifying. They are awesome, aren't they?

And you are soooo active. A constant ball of energy!! You remind me of your Uncle Wookie (Z for most folks) at that age. He was constantly moving. You remind me of your daddy with your look of determination when you see something you want and you do the intense low crawl to get it. There wasn't much your daddy couldn't do when he was determined. And you look so much like your beautiful mommy.

I also enjoyed you falling asleep on my shoulder as we walked to dinner. I got to eat all my salad and half my dinner with you asleep in my arms. Man, I loved that so much. And the minute you woke up, you wanted mommy.

I really enjoyed seeing you and daddy and mommy playing together. The little dance that they do together that makes you smile and cackle is so funny. One day when you are older and see that on DVD (or whatever it is by then) you'll roll your eyes and think how silly they look. And they do, BUT it is sooo funny. You have become the joy of their lives, and rightly so.

As much fun as I had yesterday, seeing the pure joy with you three was the best. Thanks for yesterday!!! And I'll see you Saturday. I'll see what kind of trouble I can get us into. Can't wait to see those dancing eyes.

pops!

Is it over?

Hey B,



Yesterday was Easter and Jadda and I were at church and we were sitting with our friends. Those friends include a really special friend named Gavin. Gavin is a couple of years older than you but when I am around him I think of you often. I have a few of these special friends at church, like Andrew, Gavin and Sam. I guess I've really never grown up-I really enjoy being around the kids. I have a blast!!! And some of the things they say are so funny. Yesterday in church, we did the communion thing different than normal. They had set tables up at the front of the sanctuary and you went up whenever you felt like it. When everyone started getting up to go to the front, Gavin said, "Is it over?" I thought I'd fall out of my chair laughing and I thought of you. Jadda and I talked on the way home that that would be like something you will do when you get older. Gavin is so full of life and I kind of ad fuel to the fire at church, because when church is over he and I always go play "bakitball". I think for both of us that is the highlight of the service-sorry Pastor Garry.



But really playing "bakitball" with Gavin is more important than anything else, in my opinion. For with Gavin, when it is over is really when it all begins. Church really isn't about what happens on Sunday but what happens when it is over.



See you soon. And pops! loves you.



pops!

Jadda's B'Day

One proud Jadda!!!!

Hey B,

Today isn't St. Patrick's Day, it's JADDA'S BIRTHDAY!!! What an amazing woman!!! She has put up with your pops! for over 31 years. That alone deserves some sort of award. I have been told by either your Dad or your uncle Z (I don't remember which one) that when I married Jadda that I "married up". I certainly don't disagree. As a partner in life, I couldn't have asked for a better one. As a mother, my sons had absolutely the best. And as a Jadda, you have the best.

Happy Birthday Jadda!!!!

pops!

Paying for your raisin'

I talked with D this morning and he was talking with me while he was changing B's diaper. The problem was that D was having to change B while he was on his(B's) stomach. Seems that B is really intrigued by mobility. D says that he can really move, constantly seeking out something new. I remember a "upwardly mobile" kid about 24 or 25 years ago. We were living in Orlando. We had taken our son Z to a soccer match. Z was just a young kid and we were watching what could be loosely termed as a soccer match. It was more like a swarm of kids all converging on a ball at the same time, but I digress. We looked around and there was D jogging around the track at the soccer field. He was kind of like Forrest Gump, "Run D, Run". This experience was a shadowing of things to come. D discovered track in high school and became a stellar high school athlete who went on to run track in college. Can you tell I'm proud? Hell, yeah!



Z, that budding soccer star, has become an accomplished researcher and academician. Proud again? Damn straight!



What does this have to do with B and his constant activity? I don't know or really care, but I did get to tell a story that makes pops! proud.



D, you're paying for your raisin',



pops!







I love you, D.

For B

Wow, me blogging!! What has the world come to? Hell, I don't even know what to do when I finish writing this. If it is like everything else I do on the computer, it'll probably end up for days lost in cyberspace. I'll try it anyway.

A few months ago my life changed dramatically when my little buddy made his grand entrance into the world. I can still here my son D saying, "You have a grandson." I had known this moment was coming but when it happened it was so strange. I didn't know I had anymore room in my heart to love like I love B. I really love my wife and two sons and didn't think that there was anymore room in my heart for that kind of love, but how wrong I was. My little buddy has stolen this old fart's heart. I thought that there could be nothing like the experience of fatherhood but how wrong I was. Being pops! is just awesome. I remember the first time we travelled to California to see B and how awesome it was. I remember having to leave after a few days knowing that it would be a few months before I would see him again, and it nearly killed me. I cryed like a baby ( no guilt trip intended D and A). It was really then that I knew that B had stolen my heart.

What does all this mean? I left my heart in San Francisco ( or at least right outside of it).

B, I'll see you soon.

pops!