manly-stanley

A Walk In The Park

It's so fun being a new family.  Our new baby boy is just over 3 weeks old, and we took him out on his first walk the other day.  We have a local park that is close by, and so it's very convenient to get to.  It's hilarious when you take a newborn out into public.  People will give you all kinds of reactions.  Everyone wants to line up and see the little guy.  If I were smarter, I'd sell raffle tickets and put this kid to good use!  We don't mind people coming and looking.  It makes us feel very proud.

There are all sorts of people in the park.  You have your runners.  You have your old folks.  You have your dog walkers.  You have your horny teenagers.  You have your moms.  It's fun to see the different kinds of fashion for each group.  The runners are in their Under Armour.  The old folks are in their jogging suites and Tilley hats.  The teenagers are in their skinny jeans with beaded belts.  The moms are just glad to be out of the house!

We had a nice little walk, but mom got tired pretty quick.  She mentioned that although being pregnant in the summer was awful, it sure is nice to have a baby in the fall.  I agree.  Our dog does too.  He loves the new little baby, and has somehow managed to sleep up in our room the past few nights.  I'm fine with it.  As long as I keep giving Legend his dog meds, he should be around for a while to be best buds with this new little baby.  If you are ever shopping a dog to have with kids, golden retrievers are amazing!

Birthday Month

October is always birthday month for my family.  I'm the fourth.  My parents are the 17th and 18th.  We are sandwiched by my brothers who are in September and October.  It's always fun in this time of life because, while we don't get as excited about the presents anymore, it's nice just to get together.  If we get together once a month as a family, we're doing good.  We don't live that far away, but it's just difficult to schedule it in.  I suppose with a higher family priority, we would be more consistent, but that takes a strong family vision.

I don't have a gift picked out for my mom yet this year, but I think I found something that my dad will really like.  I can get him a custom military ring from this site with his name on it, and his specific Air Force division.  That's pretty cool.  It also won't cost me an arm and a leg.  I think he will really like it.  For my mom, I'm going to have to keep brainstorming.  In about 10 weeks, she'll be helping baby sit our new little man once a week.  So, she might like to have some baby blankets on hand, like these.  We bought these swaddle wraps and so far they have worked wonders at getting Emil to sleep.  That's not nearly as cool as the ring, but if you can get a baby to nap well, she might appreciate it.

It feels so good now that cooler fall weather is here.  Those baby blankets are actually finally needed to keep our baby warm!  So glad football is here and some leaves changing.  The Bengals got an ugly win yesterday, but a win is a win in the NFL.  I just don't think that when we go against the tougher teams, our offense will be enough.  Carson looks hideous right now.