93 degrees yesterday? 96 degrees today?
Time to break out the kiddie pool and let Cash cool off in the backyard:
Not quite ready for the high-dive yet, but baby steps (or strokes, as it were)
May 182013
May 142013
Cash had a long day at his new day care today, where he was moved from the infants (6-12 months) class, into a class with 12-18 month old kids.
Part of our evening routine, before heading up for a bath and bedtime, is he sits in my leather recliner with me while I give him his final bottle of milk for the night. After a few minutes I glanced down, and this little tired man was already zonked out.
Cash passed out in daddy’s chair
That blue blanket, a baby shower gift from my oldest sister? It’s one of these Little Giraffe Chenille blanket
We had to order two more of them, so he could have one at school for nap time, and another at home (plus a spare in case his primary is in the wash).
Too tired to even suck his thumb properly.
May 062013
Wish we had a Publix here in the ATX, I’d drive right past my beloved H.E.B. to shop there.
Thank you Publix for your praise of mothers and for affirming the dignity of unborn babies (something all too rare in today’s pro-abortion culture):
What a moving and beautiful commercial.
May 022013
Who turned one years old today is sitting in a red swing? This guy…
Cannot believe it’s been a year already.
Most of my brothers and sisters — scratch that…ALL of my brothers and sisters — had children way too young. At least that was how I unfairly characterized their choice to have children when they were in there early twenties. Or late teens for a couple of ‘em.
And it’s not just my own brothers and sisters whom I judged. Having children so young is irresponsible and selfish. People should wait until they are more financially stable, better able to provide for those children; they should wait until they’re more mature and responsible.
If I were to make a list of the Pros and Cons of having children when you’re young vs. having them when you’re older — say 43 years old (which happens to be how old I was when Cash was born) — the list of Cons would require several sheets of paper. Meanwhile I would have been hard pressed to think of a single negative to waiting.
Then, one year ago today, my wife (38) and I were blessed with a son, our first baby.
And our how world changed in ways that everybody tries to warn you about, but you just don’t understand or get until it happens.
This last year — Cash’s first — has been a blessing that we could never have imagined. We are a family, and nothing is better or more important.
And I now have a single item to place in that Pros column — one single advantage to having a family as young as you possibly can that outweighs ever single negative I could have ever imagined: my brothers and sisters (my two older sisters and two younger brothers have 8 children between them between the ages of 11 — 24) will get to spend that many years watching their children grow up. And, in the case of my two sisters and one of my brothers, watch their grand children grow up.
All those negative to having children young? I’d take on every single one of ‘em in exchange for more time with my son.
But time isn’t something I can go back and get more of. So instead, I’m going to cherish every single moment that I do have with our son, and be thankful for all the joy and happiness he’s brought us in just a short time.
Happy birthday, Cash Jennings. Your momma loves you dear, son, and so do I.
Apr 132013
Beautiful spring day here in central Texas.
Didn’t plan on playing in the water when we headed out for brunch this morning, but life doesn’t always go as planned.
Spent the morning having some brunch at Iron Cactus in the Hill Country Galleria, then went and played in the fountains with Cash (who’ll be a year old in a few weeks, if you can believe it). Ended up soaking wet by the time we were done, but Cash had a blast trying to “catch” the water (which accounted for us both getting soaked):
Cash trying to catch the water…but he just can’t seem to get a hold of it…
Every time he got his hands “around” the water, the resulting splash surprised him and soaked us both.
Mar 082013
Just because:
Cash whispering secrets to his best friend, Bevo.
Just a boy and a dog. Hopefully we’re fostering a life-long love and respect for dogs.
Mar 072013
Of our three giant dogs, Bevo has bonded with Cash much more so than the other two. And little Cash loves his Bevo. The two are inseparable during the day…Bevo lays on the bed with Cash while he’s napping, lays on the floor beneath him while he’s in his bouncy chair.
Cash and his best friend, Bevo.
Though, I’m inclined to believe that much of Bevo’s fondness for Cash has to do with Cash’s propensity to drop yummy treats on the floor:
No wonder Bevo loves hanging out with Cash so much…
Mar 022013
Little Cash turned 10 months old today — and he’s already trying to pull the wool over daddy’s eyes.
Literally:
Love this little guy.
Feb 192013
I do believe that’s the long hiatus I’ve ever taken from posting something new on the front page of my blog (6 days) since I started this thing more than 9 years ago. But I’ve been swamped at work and at home. And I’m sick. And tired. Sick and tired.
So, I offer you as compensation: Cute Kid
These are both taken about 2 weeks ago in our backyard during a photo shoot with the wonderful Tali Wildhouse. He’s right at 9 months old in these pictures.
Can’t tell you how much joy and happiness this little man fills my heart with…
Feb 042013
Been wanting to get some new ink for a while, and had decided on a black and white portrait of baby Cash. Having seen too many baby-portrait-tattoos-gone-wrong pics (see below), I’ve been researching portrait tattoo artists for a while.
I hope this tattoo artist really just sucked, rather than this guy having really ugly kids.
At some point, early on in this tattoo, the person had to know that the artist was tattooing a picture of a zombie baby, rather than his baby…right?
I found an artist, Holly Ellis from Idle Hands Tattoo studio whose portfolio of work I really liked. Unfortunately, her studio is in San Fransico, CA.
My last tattoo was done by an artist in Northridge, CA (Mike DeVries), and required three trips out to California over the course of a year and a half to finally finish it, so I was hoping to find an artist much closer to home for my next tattoo.
Luckily for me, I found out that Holly was attending the Star of Texas Tattoo and Art Revival, which was held here in Austin last month. So I set up an appointment with her, brought her a picture of Cash, and she drew up the art work and was able to knock out this 5″ x 7″ tattoo on my right-upper pec in about 3 hours:
The picture on the right is the image I gave the artist to work with, and the resulting tattoo on the right.
And a bit bigger image showing the placement of the tattoo:
Needless to say, but I was quite relieved with how well this turned out.
Pretty happy with how well it turned out. I’m planning on a full sleeve, connecting to this chest piece, of black-and-white portrait work (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings will be next).