In Memory Of...

My Granddad Jarvis passed away on Saturday. He was 93 and I think he had been ready for awhile to be with my Grandma. Today is his funeral and since traveling across the country with a two month old didn't seem like such a good idea, I'm not able to be there. So instead, here is a list of memories and things that I love about my Granddad.

• He was a real life cowboy and had the best cowboy stories.
• He taught me how to mow the lawn.
• When we came to visit him when we were kids he would always hug us (too tight) and pinch our cheeks.
• He was also pretty strict (i.e. we were not allowed to slide down the stairs in sleeping bags while he was home - we had to wait until he left and Grandma would let us).
• He always knew who I was. That doesn't seem like such a big deal but considering that he had something like 26 grandkids and who knows how many great grandkids I was always amazed that when I would go to visit after not seeing him for several years he would still recognize me and be able to talk about me and my family and what was going on with us
• He made the best egg gravy on toast.
• He was very witty and had a fun sense of humor. He liked to joke around with his grandkids.
• He always had room for cake (or any dessert for that matter).
• He loved his family (huge family) and did whatever he could to take care of them however he could.
  

Mischief

Finally, a baby post

Here is what Squeak has been up to for the last week or so....

Tummy time

Practicing sitting up (or really tolerating mom propping him on pillows)

Learning to hold his head up.

P.S. it is super hard to take a picture of a baby holding his head up while you ar holding him.
Sleeping lots
Kicking back

Going for walks

And just being cute in general.

He's also been working on making new sounds besides just cries and squeaks which he has known how to do since the beginning. My favorite is kind of a gremlin like growl sound. And on Tuesday he rolled over - from his tummy to his back - it was an accident but it still counts. He had pushed himself up with his arms, then one arm gave way a little bit and he ended up rolling onto his back.

Dogs, Dogs, everywhere

Last week Brad's parents came to visit us. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of that, but Marge did so I'm hoping to see some soon and maybe I'll have to revise this post then. We had such a good time eating good food, walking around downtown Greenville, and watching coverage of the Republican National Convention. They had to leave Saturday morning so to distract ourselves from the void we felt after they left we went to the Waterpark... But not for the people to swim, for the dogs to swim!!!! Every year after Discovery Park closes they open it to dog owners for a water doggie park day. The proceeds go towards development of dog parks in the area. Bonus. It was a challenge keeping track of two crazy dogs. Luckily Weezer likes people more than he likes dogs and kept coming back to "check in" with us. Blink ran everywhere and was hard to spot in a sea of black dogs. Both dogs seemed to like the land more than the water though. They had fun anyway and Aidan slept through all of the excitement.

A Disclaimer

I feel like I should explain the title of our blog "Nothing Clever Here". It does not imply that we are not clever. We are.

However, I came home one day and told Brad we needed a blog (because after all, baby = blog requirement). Brad was totally on board and got right to work setting up the framework. He called me into the office..."what should we call it". No ideas. Many of our friends have fun little combinations of their names, some clever pun, or a fun saying related to where they live or their life in general. We've got nothing. After throwing out some totally lame titles I said we should sleep on it. That was in January.

Now that the baby has actually been born we've got no excuse. After a rather slow day at GE (I'm guessing) Brad came home to show me the improvements he'd made the the blog and the new title. It's a perfect satirical statement on all that cutesy cleverness that we have chosen not to participate in (or couldn't think of). And now our blog is born. Enjoy.