No Opportunity Wasted

We just added a new picture for our profile. It uses a very sophisticated technique that Matt developed just today. For a small fee, we may divulge the secret.

Above is a picture of Gabriel helping Mommy at the computer. He likes to slap the keyboard, because we won't let him close enough to type.

We got a new book today from Mom K. It's called No Opportunity Wasted by Phil Keoghan, the host of our favorite show, The Amazing Race. He wrote in it, "To Patty, Matt, Gabe - Phil Keoghan THE PHILIMINATOR! Hope to see you soon" How cool is that?!! Mom told him that we want to be on the show and that we are huge fans, all of us including her and Laura. She got to talk with him for a long time and said that he's really nice. Apparently, NOW is a show on the Discovery HD Channel and it looks pretty good.

Laura takes her nursing boards tomorrow and we wish her good luck!

Cruisin'

Gabe-Luke has been cruising around a lot more. For the first time today, he followed us around the apartment. It's really nice, because he doesn't get bored sitting in the same spot all the time; he can explore a lot more. It also means that we have to watch him very closely. He is pulling things off the refrigerator, pulling towels off the stove handle, and getting curious about those cabinet doors. Thank goodness he isn't taller, or we'd be nervous about the stove. It won't be long... While we were looking for a chocolate chocolate chip recipe on the computer (which me made even though much of the cookie dough never made it to the oven), we thought he was playing in the living room, maybe even watching TV. We didn't realize he was coming to see us (he never had before!) until we saw him leaning way over just outside the barn door and laughing. He quickly corrected his course and came right in, stopping for a second to make sure that the door was open all the way. That's what he's doing in the picture. Earlier, while Patty was exercising in the living room, he had come over to help hold the exercise ball. A few times during the day, he ran right into our legs while following us around.

He had another first today: he ate his first "just like the grownups eat it" non-processed, non-frozen, non-jar food. We have some overripe organic bananas, and he ate half of one. He didn't need a bib or anything, although when he got curious, we let him stick his hand in and mash the banana himself. When he was through with it, it was mushed perfectly for spoon-feeding. He loved it.

He also loved his homemade dinner. We now have frozen five kinds of food, all organic and homemade:

• sweet potatoes (for our little southern-born baby)
• peas
• Braeburn apples
• Bosc pears, and
• bananas.

He's eating more and more, and the supplies are dwindling almost as fast as we can make them! He's up to two meals a day now in addition to three times nursing and is ready for teething biscuits or Cheerios and maybe some meat. It seems like there's a new "first" every day.

We are huge fans of The Amazing Race, and we make an event of the show every Tuesday night in our household. Because of that, we are starting an AR7 Watch. Here is our first installment:

• Ryan and Chuck: These guys, who got kicked off last week, might have become our favorites if they'd lasted, because they were funny, kind, and hillbillies - all good things. Our prejudices were challenged when one of them started speaking Portugese. They are actually our age, but we thought that they were quite a bit older. We were a little teary that they came in last.
• Megan and Heidi: We were so happy that they lost today. There are a lot of likeable teams this time, which is a relief after last season, but they weren't one of them.
• Rob and Amber: We are really surprised that we like them, because we were ready to hate them. We're not sure why - probably because they've already won a million, maybe because of his accent... who knows?
• Ron and Kelly: We were ready to root for our "neighbor" and Miss South Carolina, but they're not working too well together. Kelly seems like a pain in the butt. You'd think that a pageant queen would have a better personality. And skin. (Ouch!)
• Lynn and Alex: They won't win, but we hope they come close. They're more fun (and gayer) than a barrel of monkeys. We like them a lot.
• Ray and Deana: Who? They seem like they might be this season's Bolo and Lori, or maybe the token argumentative couple.
• Uchenna and Joyce: We haven't seen enough of them, and they don't seem like they're going to last long enough for us to get to know them.
• Debbie and Bianca: Two people we'd never be friends with in a million years, not that they'd stop fawning all over each other long enough to notice anyone else...
• Meredith and Gretchen: Token older couple. We predict that they last two more weeks.
• Brian and Greg: Their stupid frat-boy routine is surprisingly funny. They seem pretty interesting, but they probably won't last another week.
• Susan and Patrick: Patrick doesn't seem too interesting, but his mom seems really likeable. They seem to make a great team. They could last a while.

We really want to be on a future season, so we're studying the show. We're already testing out our "tag". Maybe we'll be "Married Parents", or maybe "Married Aerospace Engineers." Maybe "Married Best Friends," because we'd definitely be the best at teamwork. We've noticed that there are certain types of teams in every show: the elders, the sometime-daters, the strong guys, the athletes, the models/famous people, the married couple, the African-Americans - we guess we'd be the married couple. Our current rules for success: always choose physical tasks because they're never that hard and always quicker, never work with animals because they never cooperate, and don't stress out over starting in the back of the pack, because there's always a closed museum or grounded plane that puts everyone back on equal footing. Oh, and learn Spanish. The next season is going to be families of four, so we're going to have to wait to apply. We think we would win if we were able to compete. Easily, ha ha.

A Very Nice Day in Atlanta

Yesterday was a very nice day in Atlanta, even though it was a little rainy. Gabe-Luke went with his mommy on a little run to Georgia Tech. The baseball team was not playing, so we kept going until we got to the biomedical engineering department. Patty used to work with them at SciTrek, so we stopped in to say hello to Sally Gerrish, who used to head the educational outreach activities there. Gabriel enjoyed playing on the carpet, which he doesn't get to do much.

We forgot to post the other day that on Sunday, we had to install our first safety plugs for the electrical outlets. Our little wheeling dervish was looking at those holes with a glint in his eye. Luckily, he didn't get too close before we pulled him away. He's also discovered light switches. His fingers aren't strong enough to push the little lever, but he likes to practice.

The little guy's been vocalizing a lot. The most common thing he says is "Mamamamama." We're sure it's just a coincidence, but it sure sounds like he's saying his first word. He's also discovered peek-a-boo. The strange this is, we didn't teach him. He seems to have invented it himself. What a little genius, not that we're biased or anything.

Jack called last night - what a huge surprise! He was in Kuwait, and it was 0530 there. When they got there, there was a big package from the USO for them that included a phone card, so he was able to go to the phone center and call all of us. He said that he was at Camp Victory, an Army base, and that they had to travel halfway around the world to find a decent chow hall. He sounded tired and said that they hadn't gotten much sleep in the past couple of days. They were about to get on a C-130 to travel to Iraq, and they would helicopter in to Ar Rutbah.

Speaking of C-130s, the union at Lockheed in Marietta walked out after midnight this morning. Matt got a haircut today and so has been past the line three times, but he didn't have any problems with them. In fact, there aren't many of them out there, probably because it's so cold today.

Now for the big news: Steve Karson finally popped the question! He proposed to Kelly on Saturday night by making her follow a series of notes on a wild goose chase around the house. He designed the ring himself, and we can't wait to see it. Of course, Steve still hasn't told us any of this. If it weren't for Kelly, we'd never know anything!

Sprint Sucks

Well, Jack is officially on his way to the desert. His plane left after midnight this morning, and he'll travel to Ireland and Kuwait before arriving in Iraq. He tried to call us yesterday, but with our fantastic Sprint service, it didn't get through. Our phone was on, the ringer was on, and we were waiting right by it all day, but the phone didn't ring, it didn't say that we'd missed any calls, and we didn't have a voicemail. This is just the latest in a long, long line of disappointments and frustration with Sprint. When we called to complain that we want out of our contract, we were told that we were under contract until May 2006 and that we would have to pay $150 to get out sooner. We argued that given our history with Sprint and the present situation, we obviously had extenuating circumstances and clearly they could understand that. We went through three levels of "customer solution specialists" (yeah right - they change the name of the position but not the crappy service you get) and are awaiting a call from the boss of the last manager with whom we spoke. Patty went on quite a tirade with the last person, something to the effect of "My brother is willing to give his life for our country, and because of your shoddy service, he couldn't even say goodbye to his family. Does Sprint care about our men and women overseas? [yes] These people act with nobility and protect your right to sit in your posh office and suck us dry with your charges and fees and do nothing noble with your life, and this is your chance to do something noble..." We're thinking of starting a second blog titled, "Sprint is Evil." That's just a working title, of course - we're open to suggestions. The ruder, the better. The moral of the story is this: Stay far away from Sprint, and for the love of God, don't ever sign a contract!

So we didn't get to say goodbye to Jack on the phone, but at least we said goodbye in style last weekend. He knows we miss him, and he'll write or call when he can.

Gabriel Summits His First Mountain

Yesterday, Tony visited us with the Coopers. After a delicioso lunch at Moe's, we traveled to Stone Mountain Park. We'd never visited the plantation there before, and the Coopers wanted to see it, so we went there first. It was really interesting. The house was beautiful, but of course we know that it was a plantation house and we can't get too excited about it. Still, it would be nice to have a house like that - except with a real bathroom. There was a smokehouse that smelled really nice, even though it looked like something out of a horror movie.

It was going to get dark soon, so we went to the mountain hiking trail. On the way up the mountain, Tony found a geocache - it was the first for him, the Coopers, and Gabriel! Gabriel had slept in the car for the last one we did, so this was officially his first. We left a Michigan basketball schedule and a dollar and took two things. One was a thing that looked like a credit card, but there were plane parts that could be punched out and put together to make a 3-D plane. The other was practically the find of the century. It was a stamp of chikara, the symbol that Patty has tattooed over her belly button. It means strength of an inner kind, and the more pregnant she got, the more strength she needed, and the bigger that tattoo got. But we digress...

As we got to our second geocache, the sun was setting over the city of Atlanta in the distance, and a fellow hiker got this great photo of all of us:

Just beyond this point, we found a carving in the mountain left by someone from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Go Blue!

Finally, we made it to the top of the mountain. It was quite dark and extremely windy. In fact, the sky train had been closed all day due to high winds. After a quick couple of pictures, we hightailed it back down the mountain. Gabriel was such an adventurer. He didn't complain at all, even though it was quite cold and windy, and his little hands were frozen. In fact, he had lots of smiles for all of us and even relaxed so much that he fell asleep in the baby carrier on the way back down the mountain.

We went to dinner at Ray's-Cedars and had some fantastic Mediterranean food and pizza before the gang went back to 'Bama.

Here are some more links to things we mentioned here:

Stone Mountain Park

Gabe's first cache

Our second cache of the day