Kinsley Marie

We've been in a consistent state of change for the past several months. We've taken ownership of the new house in January, Ali's been in the final stages of the pregnancy and I'm 7 months into a fresh career move.

Mid-January to mid-February was a race to get the new house painted. Somewhere between rolling Moonlit Snow on the walls and Stolen Kiss on the ceilings, I started getting next-level excited about becoming a family of four. Before long, the crib was assembled, a take-home outfit (and other clothing) started showing up and the newborn carseats were back for round 2.

As we crept closer and closer to the May 27th due date, we started to wonder if the new baby would steal Uncle Matthew's birthday lime light. It seems like it would have been fun for most everyone. Fun fact: I have Aunts and Grandparents who share (or are very close) to my b-day. Go Capricorns!

Ultimately, however, the doctor had a different plan and we found ourselves heading into the hospital early Monday morning, May 22nd. Finally, we were going to meet the new baby! Obviously, it's impossible to know anything about her personality today, but I will write that she refused to cooperate at every photo opportunity over the last 9+ months.

This being our second time, we're much more confident and comfortable heading in for delivery. It's great to be familiar with the facility, process and have a general understanding of what's happening.

Delivery went exactly as expected. Everyone was in a good mood when baby entered into the world at 10:09am. By 10:28, the doctors and I were posing for pictures with the new baby. I'm happy to see that I've figured out how to wear the mask in a more flattering way.

Baby was back in Ali's arms shortly after the photoshoot was complete. Shortly after that she had her first real-world meal and shortly after that I was making some phone calls like every proud papa would.

Baby weighed-in at 8lbs even and looks beautiful. We could not be happier.

The new baby, Ali and I are spending the days and nights together. I shuttle between home and the hospital in an effort to keep Alex's routine as consistent as possible. It's really nice to have Grammy and Pop-pop to help. And, I can't wait to introduce the new baby to Alex!

We don't have a name picked-out for the new baby yet but we've narrowed it down to three. We like to ask everyone who comes in the room for their opinion. I'm leaning in one direction (and am really happy about it).

The Gender Sender Delivers the News

Wifey and I have been keeping a secret for a bunch of weeks:

The news of baby's gender was available to us around Thanksgiving-ish. However, as of Christmas morning, only Wifey knew the gender. Turns out we have significantly different opinions about this little tidbit of knowledge the second time around. Who knew?

I lived through several weeks of loving torment (e.g. "Do you want to know now? ...how about now? ...um, now?"). We made plans to disclose the Mills side of our family at Christmas lunch AND force them, willingly or not, to participate as the gender was revealed to me/us. Here's how it went down:

Our calendars are marked for May 27th!

The Great Pacifier Backfire

Wifey & I didn't want to use a pacifier with Alex. Then he went to daycare and we found ourselves knee deep in those thangz. It made our lives a little easier at the time but Alex is so chill that neither of us think there was a material benefit. Quitting the habit brought the full range of withdrawal goblins though and that's what we're dealing with this week.

Naturally, I took the pacifier notion and mashed it with one of my favorite musicians (Walker Hayes). Here's where I landed.

Since I have very little music-ability, I needed to rip the instrumentals and most of the remaining creativity. Getting the lyrics and instrumentals didn't go quite as planned but you got the point! Here's the original song. I picked it because it's got a nice message behind it that is easily relatable. 

You be the judge though, which version do you like more? ;-) 

Fall is for Farms

This is a great time of year to be (as mature as?) a toddler. Who doesn't like to carve up a vegetable, cruise down a hillside slide on a potato sack, roll around in corn or over-indulge on cinnamon donuts? We've been doin' one fall festival per week for a while. It's great - each weekend a new farm!

Gaver Farm was our choice for pumpkins and farm animals this year. Alex especially likes the goats.
By the way, have you ever noticed human's predisposition towards enormous pumpkins? I can't explain it but it seems to be part of our nature. I direct your attention to Exhibit A (...as in Alex).

Despite the more reasonably sized pumpkins, Alex wanted the pumpkin that weighed as much as he does. Gotta admit, I love his ambition! Unfortunately for him, when I was growing up, the rule was; if you can carry it, you can get it. So...

The best part of Butler's Orchard Pumpkin Harvest was the squash shooting, jack-o-lantern launching, punkin' chunkin' CANNON. How could I resist? Pay close attention to Alex when I blow the horn.

Side-note: Butler's has the best cinnamon donuts.

Blizzard Wizard

I am so very happy that Jonas decided to plop more than 2' of snow on us. Now-a-days winter-tech is just a distant memory in my book. But it's just too hard not to have some fun when the opportunity presents itself. Plus, in my mind's eye, this is exactly how I'd look if I were cast in a Winter apocalypse movie.

Notice that my trusty sidekick has decided he's gone far enough. While I press forward clutching Jake's leash in my hand, he had decided that a pee-break wasn't worth the effort and retreated back into the warmth of our cave. I bet he'd change his mind if he was wearing SmartWool from head to toe...

I finally coaxed him out as the storm started to wind down. Hardly anything was cleared but those sidewalks that were created a fun maze for us to navigate.

And then there was this little fiasco. This is the bread isle at the grocery store. Kinda crazy, right? Would you be surprised to know that the ingredients used to make bread were virtually untouched?

The storm affected a lot of folks in a negative way. We're hoping that they stay warm and safe. But for me, it was a lot of fun to frolic in a winter wonder land.

We'll pass on the wine tonight

August 6^th occupies a nice little spot in my heart and mind these days. It was last August 6^th (a Wednesday) that Ali and I learned of our greatest adventure yet.

We were on vacation house-sitting in Eagles Mere the week prior. Heading back to work is never easy and by the time Wednesday the 6^th rolled around, we were both wishing we were back in PA enjoying the mountain air.

On this particular Wednesday, we both had pretty awful days at the office. When we got home, it was all we could do just to make dinner and find a few minutes to relax with one another. Ali went to the change out of her work clothes and I went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine. You know it’s been a really bad day in Davey World when wine becomes appealing. As I waited in front of the TV – quality programming I’m sure - I poured two glasses of wine. Then my wonderful wife appeared to my right.

“I think I’m going to pass on the wine tonight…”

You could probably guess what ensued. Our emotions rushed in two different directions. Ali, shock. David, gitty like schoolgirl. We were overwhelmed with emotions. And then, “Are you sure?” We looked at the test. “Looks like a ‘+’ to me. Right? Umm, do another one.” No more tests in the house – and this was not the time to leave things any less than 100% definitive. …quick, Ali, drink some water. I’m going to Safeway!

I return 20 minutes later with 3 new tests (from 3 different manufacturers, of course) to a wife bursting at the seams. 3 tests and 30 minutes later, we’re still not 100% convinced. It wasn’t until the following morning, in the doctor’s office, after a blood test that we accepted the news that we had been hoping for; Ali was pregnant.

Field of Dreams

I’ve got retirement on my brain.

Mostly because my mom retired this year and we just celebrated with her, family, and friends. But…also a little bit because I’ve been planning for retirement since 1996 and been obsessing over it ever since.

Take a trip down memory lane with me. My first ever retirement plan was to hit the Maryland Lotto and retire at (or before) age 30. One needs to reach the ripe age of 17 before purchasing a lottery ticket in Maryland. Oh, I counted those days all the way down to my 17^th b-day. When the day finally arrived, I drove straight to the 7-11 in Damascus and bought as many Lotto tickets as my birthday cash could afford. The money I won was “reinvested” immediately which led to compounding losses and eventually…no more cash. As it turns out, the lottery was not a good retirement plan for me. I haven’t given up on that dream entirely but I’ve augmented it with mitigation strategies including the Virginia Lottery and a career.

  

With Plan B well underway, I’m free to think about the more operational related pieces of retirement. I like to refer to this part of the dream as “FTB” or soccer (f)ield, (t)urnstile, and (b)arn.

1.     Soccer Field: Kinda like Groundskeeper Willy meets Ray Kinsella from Field of Dreams. I'll spend my mornings tending to the (full size) pitch. In my minds eye, it’s freshly mowed, painted and has the professional style goals where the nets are tied behind the goal forming a perfect ready-to-billow canopy.

2.     Turnstile: the Red Sox hold spring training from early February to early March each year (currently in Fort Myers, FL). I’ll spend those 4-5 weeks each year exploring a second career: as one of the ticket checkers at the turnstile gates.

3.     Barn: I want a barn to house a wood-shop real bad. Ha! I’ll build furniture in my spare time.

 
Even more important than FTB though, I hope to be surrounded by friends and family. That’s the real dream. Which is what we did with Mom this weekend. So enjoy the retired life, Ma. You’ve earned it.