day twoninetyseven

See the wheels turning. I'm deciding in which order I will take out these final six Cheerios. It is the wait that is hardest for them. "Will he eat me next?" each asks. "And if so, will I die by being chomped by his four teeth, or by the perilous fall from the high chair to the floor, where my fate is to be crushed by his father's shoe?" Each option is as likely as the other. 

day twoninetysix - customer service

I got croup again on Thursday night, so we had another low key weekend. So instead of going on long walks or to the park, we stayed inside. So mom and dad turned their hand to being good consumers. The following is the actual letter they sent to Breyers Ice Cream:

January 29, 2006

The other day my wife brought Breyers home from the grocery store, the third half gallon in a week. The flavor? Breyers Light Mint Chocolate Chip. At least that's the flavor we thought we were getting. We ended up just getting mint, and I know that isn't a flavor you regularly offer.

At first we thought that by some strange coincidence, none of the chips were at the very top of the box. Digging deeper, we found nothing but pure, white, mint ice cream.

"Maybe it melted in transit and all the chips settled on the bottom," we postulated. But now that we are nearing the bottom of the carton, we know that isn't true either.

The more we thought about it, the more interested we've become. Was our gallon the end of the batch, and there were no chips left? Is there some other family out there enjoying a carton of Breyers Light Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream with extra chips in it...our chips?

To show you this is no joke, we've attached some pictures. One of the anomalous carton of ice cream and another of our son, who is rapidly approaching prime ice cream enjoyment age. Don't make us spell it out for you...

We don't know how you will remedy this. At the least, we need free ice cream for the next three years. That will get us through law school.

Kindest regards,

Matt and Caroline

day twoeightynine - the hits just keep coming

last week there was a banner number of visitors to the site. i'm proud. really. but here's the rub. how many of you have pictures taken of you more than once a week? what I'm trying to say is that there are no new pictures of yours truly. and here are some reasons why:

i have a rash that my doctor attributes to drool. thus it is on my face, but also my hands, and somehow, the back of my legs. the one place my dad hasn't gone is medical school, so he has no insight. and mom used to work in health care, but she is more into the mental stuff. so we believe the doctor, I guess.

i have new teeth coming in, and it hurts like a bugger. so I'm kind of fussy from that.

mom decided that I didn't need milk at midnight and 4 am anymore. so now I have to fast from 7 pm, when I get my last milk, to 6 am, when I get my first milk. rediculous. I've heard Oprah doesn't eat after 7, and I presume she doesn't get up before 6, so she is probably on a similar eating schedule. but she has years of stored food to supplement those 11+ hour stretches. how did I start talking about Oprah? at any rate, this is just another reason I am not photogenic.

it rained both weekend days in the Classic City, so we didn't go out for any photo opps.

regardless, dad is in a contest at school this week in which he has to wear a suit twice. (let me be clear - that isn't the contest. there is more to it than just wearing suits.) But the point is that maybe dad and I can put on a matching suit and take some pics. And I'm going to Madeleine's (sp? Chris: a little help please) baby shower Saturday, with lots of friends, young and old. We just need to get the shutter going on the camera before the Mimosas start flowing too hard. So there may be lots of occasions for me to have pictures taken.

I'm out. It's 6:50. Time for my nightcap.

day twoeightytwo

We sat around the table, looking at proofs, and decided that this was definitely a good picture. But I also have the look of a model that is a little more adult than I currently want to portray. It's as if I'm the cover boy for Louis Vitton's new stripes and courdoroy overalls line. But I'm not this serious. It's just a picture.

And why am I being so tight lipped? Is it because tooth number three has pierced its gummy captor? Or is it because mom and dad have now watched the first five of six discs of the first season of 24, but only I know where disc 6 is hidden? 

day twoseventyfive - croup d'etat

I'm almost over it. My first bout with something that has a name, as opposed to say, 'a runny nose.' I got croup last Thursday. It was terrible. Horrified mom and dad, kept them up all night. The most inhuman noises imaginable were protruding from my swollen larynx. Imagine what R2D2 would sound like with asthma while at the same time barking like a seal. That was me. The doctor put me on 'roids, which agitated me further. I beat up three kids at the nursery at church. I called it 'cleansing the temple,' but the pastor and mom were unconvinced. Nonetheless, my throat swelling went down, and I started sleeping the next night with the help of Walgreen's largest and loudest humidifier. I think we are out of the woods now.

It's going to be 70 degrees in the Classic City today. Perfect baby jogger weather. Perfect road bike weather. Unfortunately, dad is starting back to skool today. Perfect weather for sitting in the library and relearning all the law he forgot in the last month.

day twoseventy - population explosion

In the past few days, there has been a lot of baby action. I don't even know where babies come from yet, but there seems to be no stopping them from doing so.

Lydia Kent Welch, born just before the new year.

Ellie Kate Huck is now officially Turner's little sister.

Mary "Haven" Gaylord comes in yesterday. I don't know if the quotation marks are part of her name or if that is just the way that her dad chose to announce it. Knowing her mom, the quotation marks might be a permanent part of the name.

Samuel Grey Birkey is rocking the North Shore. See new link to the right to see the friendly blog competition.

But just to let you know that I am still the cutest:

new year's eve

Blair (see arrow) had been married about two hours at the time this picture was taken. He was clearly unprepared for his wife to be so excited about an infant within the first few hundred minutes of marital bliss.