Christmas Shopping

So I went to the mall on Monday, looking around for some stuff for the people on our Christmas list. Anybody else use these? They are new to me and my family but Caryn's family has done it for awhile. Basically they just give everyone in their family one person to buy 1 gift for that person. This is used in her immediate extended family. (Does that even make sense?) Anyway for her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc... Then her immediate family still buys gifts for each other. Anyhow, I was looking for a gift for my nephew at the mall. I always go into the sports stores to see what Red Sox stuff they have. I went straight to the baseball apparell and was shocked to see that the Yankee had their own rack full of shirts, jerseys, etc.. while the Red Sox were stuck sharing a rack with both the Cardinals and Rangers. It upset me so much that when the sales associate came around I asked him about it. I had assumed that like most baseball "fans" people were still just buying the Yankees stuff because they are still a popular team despite their recent postseason woes. However the sales associate's answer was much more satisfying. He said that the reason they had their own rack was because they couldn't sell any of it. Sales of Yankee gear was so bad that they even had it marked down lower than all of the other gear.

Anyhow, so I found this cool video of a magic trick http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGCM6ogTZF8&eurl=http://www.magicgeek.com/animated-shoelaces-by-jeremy-moncrief-289.html

Check it out its pretty cool. I'm not sure how it works but since I ordered one I'll let you know.

Also check out this video. It is by far the best 300 spoof out there and well worth your time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wpa2Qplm8M

It's a girl!

Okay, so really its another girl. She came to us on Friday Nov. 16th, 2007 at 9:19pm. Weighing in at 8lbs 1 oz. and 20.5 inches long. She continues to get cuter and cuter everyday. Here is a short video of her practicing her hip hop dancing.
She's got all the moves, its really just a matter of time. Seriously its been great adding another piece to our family. Bailey, Noah, and Reagan have all been great to Taylor. They love their new baby sister.

Back from Boston!

Caryn and I just got back from Boston! Got to see the Red Sox and Daisuke throw a complete game. Fenway was amazing! I can't wait to go back. Maybe next time Caryn and I can actually sit together. We were pretty close though, she was only 3 rows back and a seat to the right. So thats really not that bad. The best part about going to a game at Fenway, is that everyone was watching the game. Sure sometimes people would be talking to each other about this or that, but it was never more important than the game. It would be like "so my mom's in the hospital again, hearth condit-- YEAH STRIKEOUT! WHOO! YOUR A BUM MAGLIO!, so she should be out in a couple of days" Anyhow, we went up to Maine for a little bit too. Drove down the coast and down to Cape Cod. It was a great trip. Now we are going to Padre next week, with the kids. We'll get some pictures up soon.

We are not very good at keeping our blog current.

But we have been busy, so maybe that is an excuse. Noah just turned 2. He has started potty training himself, which is good because boys don't usually start this early, and bad because he has a lot of accidents, or near misses, or really bad misses. Reagan will be 6 months old on Saturday. She is still very cute and quite possibly the best baby ever. Still very little, somewhere between 14 and 15 lbs but has plenty of fat just not much length. Bailey just keeps getting smarter. She has started writing letters and soon I'm sure she will be spelling her name.
Caryn Talked to a pre-school teacher the other day and was amazed at how little a preschooler had to know by the end of pre-school. The Teacher said that they had to recognize their own name (not write or even spell, recognize), they had to know their colors (primary, secondary, black, brown, and white) and be able to count to ten. Now I'm not sure that I want my kids to go to pre-school just to slow down how fast they are learning. I mean it sounds alright for Noah, but he's 2. Bailey has known all of those things since before she was 2.
Anyhow, Caryn has finished up her school work for the summer and so she gets a few weeks off from the grind before the fall session starts up. This is good for me too because my schedule has been pretty set having to work around her school schedule. We are taking advantage of the little break though. I am taking my first week of vacation since the birth of Reagan and Caryn and I are going to Kansas City to see the Red Sox beat the Royals. It will be a blast because I have never spent any time in Kansas City or Kauffman Stadium. I get to wear my new jersey and Caryn will get a new shirt. Well Since we are not very good at updating It might be awhile but I'll try to get some stuff on after vacation.

Has it really been two months?

As I decided that it was time to look at the blog, as it seemed like a while since I had updated, I noticed that it had been just over two months since my last post. Where does the time go? Caryn and I were discussing how little attention we paid to her pregnancy with Noah. With Bailey we documented every single thing that happened every single day. And even after she was born, we weren't as diligent with the record keeping but that was due mostly the fact that she was no longer as passive as she had been in the womb (I only used that word because Caryn hates it). Anyhow, with Noah we barely kept any notice of the pregnancy and it has flown by even faster with Reagan. We are due just over 2 months from now, so theoretically it could be my next post. The only reason why I even started thinking about this at all is because we have taken our 2005 Holiday season photograph and I couldn't believe how much things have changed in the last year. I know typically you wait until the new year to review everything that has happened in the past year but seeing is believing and we always take a picture this time of year. The kids are in the exact same spots in the picture, Caryn and I are sitting in the exact same spots but everything is different. A year ago Noah could barely hold his head up for the photo and Bailey wouldn't take the picture without Meow (the original Meow) and she was still sad faced. This year we left Meow (II) in the car and she was so excited she would keep one smile long enough for the photographer to get it, as evidenced by our family photo. Another thing is, this is the first year that we haven't had another body in the photo. By next year Bailey will have to have someone in her lap.

What else can go right and wrong?

Its been a busy couple of weeks. I have just got myself back in the swing of things at my new/old store. Its pretty much the same thing except when we count the money there are more comma's and I had gotten used to just seeing decimal places. Anyhow, the store is very busy. I don't think I have worked a day that was shorter than 12 hours and the 16 hour days aren't so seldom anymore. But it will not be long before everything is operating in order and my life will get easier and then they will come along and move me somewhere else to fix a different problem. Aside from the fact that I am tired and yet not counting sleep as important as I have in the past, work is great! I have a great team of managers that are very good communicators and as Josh can tell you from the 1 minute manager, that is the key.
Caryn is going back to school on Mon, Tues, and Weds nights. She is getting back into the routine of school again but of course it's a little different with two kids always wrapped around her feet. She did freak out one of her teachers because he is afraid of pregnant women.
The kids have been a little ill the last few weeks. It seems like our kids just randomly develop an allergy to milk. I am positive that it is allergy related but no one will join my side but at least everyones solution is the same. Dont give them milk. Noah is walking more and more each day. Which would be great to say if he was 11 months old but he is 14 months but still we are excited. Its pretty cute, we fix him twice as much food and bailey and caryn combined and he eats it all. he doesnt gain weight so either he is running it off in his crib at night or his metabolism is 30 times faster than the average etheopian. Side note, my mom said that when she was a child it was the starving children in china, when i was little it was the starving children in etheopia, and when my nephews were small it was the starving people in somalia. Thats who you ate your food for. Who is starving today? What do i tell my kids?
My car has a flat and needs new tires, I got a raise at work, the kids have been sick and we've been to the doctor twice in the last week and got perscriptions, my bonus is much larger, my bonus has been delayed a week, we find out what the baby is on friday. thats a good place to stop.

"its johnny"

I told JC that this wouldn't be just about baseball, but we watch a lot of baseball in our house (not caryn) so it will probably come up every now and then. Anyway last night we were watching the Rangers playing the Sox at Fenway. In the top of the eighth the Rangers scored a couple of runs and got within 2, then in the bottom of the eighth the Red Sox went on an onslaught and scored 9 runs. In the middle of this Johnny Damon came up to bat. I was walking into the living room and asked Caryn to change the channel, when she did I asked Bailey who it was. The camera had changed angles so at first she had this confused look on her face, then the camera shifted back to the batter. She got this goofy grin/smile on her face and whispered "johnny." She then insisted that we watch the game with Johnny (our lifesize cardboard cutout of Johnny Damon) in the living room so that she could keep a watch on both of them. It's just funny how much kids pick up from you and its not just because they are picking stuff up from everybody. She has a genuine interest in the Red Sox because she knows that I love them. She sits and watches games with me despite the fact that when she started watching games with me she had no clue what was going on. It won't be long before she knows more about baseball than most of my friends (she already knows more about baseball than jc). Anyway, as much as this seems like it is about baseball its really about how great it is to have kids. You will be blessed and cursed because your kids will be just like you. Right now I don't care, its great. I know that someday soon Noah will be driving us crazy and Bailey's fear of boys will disappear and she maybe, just maybe might start to like more guys than me and johnny.