yummy feet

'look what i found!'  recently ledger has been exploring more and more.  not just the world around him, but he has also been exploring how he can use his body.  he is always grabbing his own hands and playing with them, well that exploration has moved down to his feet!  usually we keep socks on his feet.  we do this for a couple of reasons: 1. because its starting to get a little cold out and our house does a terrible job of heating the living room, and 2. his feet are gross!  he has, unfortunately, really sweaty feet!  they are always wet and, as a result, kinda stinky...  but when we take off those sockies, he sure does love to stick those sweaty toes in his mouth!  the funniest is when he realizes how gross they are and grimaces when he first puts them in his mouth!  come on buddy, thats how you know they dont belong in your mouth...

crackers!

our boy has recently taken an interest in what mom and dad eat.  'sure, milk is fine', he seems to think, 'but i want what you're having!'  as i was sitting with him i was having a few wheat thins.  he decided that he wanted to have one too, so he reached out and grabbed one for himself!  he wasnt entirely sure what to do with it next, so he did what he does with everything- he put it in his mouth!  diana and i are starting to think that maybe its time to incorporate more food into his eating- he sure seems ready for it!
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reunion after party

after everyone left the reunion, we decided to go to barbara's pad for a little while before we had to head home.  lissa came along, and so did miranda and levi.  we had a great time laughing and talking.  it had been the first time lissa got the chance to see barbara's place, so she got the whole tour and everything.  unfortunately we couldnt stay long, you know, work the next morning and all that.  but we had a bunch of fun with everyone- and jeffry lee even took a minute to clean out the viruses on my computer!  hurrah!
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the plunge

after lunch everyone wanted to do a little swimming out off the boat.  after waiting the recommended 30 minutes (we dont want any fatalities after all, right?), we took out the boat to enjoy the beautiful weather.  as the designated captain, i drove us out into the middle of the lake and everyone got a chance to play in the water.  never one to miss an opportunity to be ridiculous  jeffry lee decided to dive in by jumping off the back of the boat!

mini reunion

with grandma in town, the family planned a mini reunion to all gather up to see her together.  we headed over there sunday and got a chance to spend some more time with her- and she got a chance to spend more time with ledger!  everyone in the family was enamored with our little guy.  what is really nice is that ledger is so comfortable with anyone and everyone.  there are babies who cry when people they dont know hold them, well ledger is just the opposite- he grins from ear to ear when he gets to meet new people!  what a blessing!  during the reunion i hardly got the change to see him, he was passed around all afternoon, well, after he got his nap that is.  he was such a happy boy getting all that attention!
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great grandma visits

diana's grandma lives down in florida and recently made a trip up to see us.  the last time we saw here was back when we took her to disneyworld, so its been a few years.  she's not feeling her best due to severe arthritis, but wanted to make a trip up to see everyone.  one of the important people on her list to see was her newest great-grandson ledger!  she flew in to the gary airport where diana's mom and david picked her up.  they drove over to our house to show her around and get to spend some time with our little guy.  when i got home from work we had the opportunity to go out to eat and have a great time talking and catching up.  it was really fun to show her where we live, whenever we talk to her or send her letters we talk about our place and our son, but now she will be able to put a place and a face with our stories!

new cupboard

when mom and papa stopped by the weekend before, we picked up a new cupboard for the bathroom.  well, i finally got around to installing it!  we used to have one of those shelving units that go behind the toilet, but it was so big and bulky that we wanted something new.  the old one was just too big and made our already minute bathroom feel even smaller.  with a few tools and a lot of frustration, i finally got that thing up on the wall, even without the stud-finder working properly!  it looks great and opens up the bathroom a ton- now our five foot square bathroom feels like its five and a half feet square!  oh, the luxury!

froggy

our little guy just keeps growing bigger and bigger!  its been a ton of fun watching little ledger grow up a bit.  granted, he's still only six months old, but compared to the little guy we left the hospital with, hes old.  it has been so much fun watching him learn about the world around him and learn about himself too!  he's grabbing his feet, reaching for stuff, and really looking around and taking everything in.  often i will sit with him in my lap and play- which is a highlight for both of us!  well, the way he was sitting, and his green outfit, just made me think that he looks like a little froggy ready to bounce around!

bye bye couch

lissa came to visit for a few days recently- something diana has been eagerly counting down the days for since they first made the plans!  those two had a great time together, they got to catch up, relax, play with ledger, and diana's favorite: go thrift store shopping!  well, they happened to find a once in a life time deal: a beautiful, barely used love seat.  diana and i had been talking for months about getting rid of our couch (ok, years...), it was old and uncomfortable.  you know those couches that have the bottom that seems to have caved in and when you sit down it feels like it has just eaten you?  well, that was this couch.  also, with all the baby stuff that is going to be adding up soon, we knew we were going to need a bit more space in the living room.  when they found this love seat the snagged it up!  there was just one rather large problem: how do we get it home?  it was a bit of a rush job, we needed to find a vehicle that day or else the thrift store told us that they would put it back on the show floor if we didnt pick it up by 5:00pm!  yikes!  there is no way we could fit it in our car, so i asked around at work if i could borrow someone's vehicle.  i finally found someone who let me borrow their full size van, so i headed over the the thrift store to pick it up, hoping that it would fit.  fortunately it did- barely!  i crammed it in there and headed home.  i could only drop it off in the driveway and let it sit there because i needed to quickly return the van.  i have no idea what our neighbors thought as this couch sat in our drive way for a half hour...  when i got back we moved out the old couch and cleaned up all the strange items that had gotten lodged back there over the years.  after much work, including taking the door off its hinges, we got the old couch out and put it on the curb.  we wrestled with the new love seat and got it through the door and in its place.  when we put everything back it looked great- as if it had always been there!  now we were able to fit everything nicely in the living room and even had a bit of extra space for ledger's bouncy and all of his toys.  great find girls, way to go!
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bibs

he's finally big enough to fit into the one piece of clothing that diana has been so excited for: some bib overalls!  as you can tell, he is almost as excited as his mom about getting to wear them!

papa and ledge

it had been a couple weeks, so it was high time for papa and mom to come down to visit again!  we always love having them stop by for the day!  as you can see, ledger is always thrilled to have his mema an papa around.
we decided to do something a bit productive and take advantage of papa being around:  we went over to home depot and had papa help pick out a good cabinet for the bathroom.  after that we went out to eat and had a bunch of fun with our little guy!
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ledger's new toy

the other day diana took ledger out shopping.  they both just needed to get out of the house for a while- cant blame them there!  while they were out, diana checked out the baby isles to see if there was anything we needed.  ledger is just starting to get excited about toys and playing around with stuff, so diana took him down the baby toy isle.  she showed him a few different toys and one of them got him really excited!  i'm not entirely sure what it is, but ledger sure loves it!  this is the first toy that he got to pick out for himself.

gate con is a great con

by the end of the day we had seen and heard from a bunch of actors involved in one of my favorite shows, got to joke around and be goofy with brains, and even picked up some new stargate merch.  all in all, a pretty awesome time!  cant wait to do it again next year!
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shanks for the answer

the main draw of the stargate convention this year was michael shanks, the actor who played daniel jackson in stargate sg-1.  i had seen him there the first year i went to the con, but it was really great to see him again.  the first time he was there it was good, but obvious that it wasnt his best day.  either he was too tired or just not interested, last time he wasnt all that good.  this year though, was different.  it was apparent that he was having a great time, enjoying the chance to see fans and share some stories about what he has been up to.
as he was talking and answering questions, i thought of one that i wanted to ask him.  having been emboldened by my first trip up to the microphone, i got up the nerve to go up and ask him a question.  this time it was a serious one.  i could see out of the corner of my eye as i was in line at the microphone that the guys who run the convention were staring me down, wondering if i was going to try that shananigan a second time.  dont worry, i wasnt.  instead i asked michael shanks about the stargate audiobooks that he had narrated and what that process was like.  i've got a few of them that he did and was curious what it was like behind the scenes of making them.  he was very nice and shared some interesting facts about the process and what goes in to putting them together.  it was pretty neat to have him directly address me and respond to my question!

gate con '12

the con didnt start until about 11am, so brains and i took our time getting ready in the morning.  after getting in some good quality ledger time, we headed out around 9:30am over to rosemont to find the convention hotel.  we got there and this time it was nice and relaxed, both of us had done this before, so we were comfortable and able to really just hang out and enjoy the guests and merch!
as the speakers came up we had a lot of fun just listening to the stories and the question and answer time.  when david nykl, the actor who plays dr. zelenka on stargate atlantis was on stage, brains leans over to me and says 'i'll give you twenty bucks if you go up there and say 'doctor zelenka rules!  can i have a high five?'.'  never one to back down from free money, i take that challenge.  i went up there and asked just like brains dared me to, and david nykl laughingly agreed!  i walked up to the stage and he gave me a big high five!  i dont know what anyone else in the crowd thought about it, but i could see brains in the back just laughing hysterically!  twenty bucks, please!

brains and my boy

its that time again, that most exciting weekend at the end of the summer where i get to go all out nerdy and attend my favorite nerdy activity: the stargate convention!  i've been going for the past couple years and love it!  last year brains came down for the weekend and went along with me, and he was totally up for it again this year.  he got here in the afternoon the day before the con so we had a bunch of time to hang out as well- always a bonus!  there was one big change this year compared to when he came last year- this year we've got a baby!  brains knew what he was in for, and actually rather enjoyed spending a little bit of time with our little ledger!  i hope brains didn't teach him too many new bad things...

barbara and ledger

by morning barbara finally arrived home from work and got a chance to spend some quality time with her favorite nephew!  ledger always lights up whenever he sees auntie b!  the five of us got to hang out for a little while, but before we knew it it was time for us to head back to indiana again. boo.
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dishes are done, man

jeffry lee figured he should try to clean up a little while barbara was at work, so he and i got to work cleaning the dishes.  we noticed an apron hanging in the kitchen, so we took full advantage!  aw, doesnt our little gentle giant look so cute and domestic?
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b and jeffry lee

while visiting south bend, we had some time to go and visit barbara too.  it just so happened that good ol' jeffry lee was visiting as well, so we got to have some fun hang out time together!  the problem was though, that barbara had to work the night shift that night, so the three of us just hung out with ledger and the dogs.  we had a great night of just hanging out, chatting, messing around with jeffry lee's new tablet computer, and all kinds of other fun!  it was the first time i got to meet sal, barbara's new dog, so that was really neat.  in order for poco not to viciously attack sal, we tried to take them for a walk together as soon as we got there.  you know, let them both know that they are part of the same pack and not as rivals.  it worked pretty good, poco only snipped at sal if she was trying to take away diana's attention from him!  he's so possessive!

rest at grandmas

with the school year looming ahead, we took the opportunity to stop over in south bend one last time!  with my working all the time at meijer, diana's mom invited her over to stay with them for a couple days so diana could have a little rest and relaxation and her mom could have a little ledger time!  not one to miss an opportunity, diana headed off!  after work on saturday i was able to head out and join them for a day or so.  when i got there it was obvious how thankful diana was to have the extra help during the day and evening- she actually looked well rested!
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