Griffin's First Video

Finally, here is Griffin's first video, covering his very first moments in the hospital through to coming home. It was so hard to condense all the footage down to a short video when it seems like every moment was so precious. The first 'screening' I did for the family was more than 45 minutes long and I dozed off during all those nice quiet calm shots, so I shortened it down a bit more. I hope you enjoy, and thanks to Google Video for not imposing the 10 minute maximum that other video sites do, although it wouldn't let me choose a frame to use for the thumbnail, and it randomly selected a frame that Baby Griffin wasn't even in, so rest assured this is Griffin's first video and not just of Sawyer opening presents.

Riding Bikes

On Sunday we got Sawyer going on Harrison's old bike with training wheels, pedaling on his own, and then within just an hour we got Harrison riding two wheels like a pro. Once he figures out how to get himself going without our help, and to ride over the curb, there'll be no stopping him.

I put together a short video of both the boys demonstrating their newfound cycling skills, enjoy.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!
(captured Mother's Day morning, around 10:30am,
while Dad was out picking up a Mother's Day breakfast and
after the boys were upstairs playing so 'quietly')

Polish Festival

A few weeks back when Grandma Margaret was in town she noticed the Houston Polish Festival listed in the church events in the paper and mentioned wanted to come into town for that. The first thing I remember thinking was that I would be sure and give her good directions to find her way down there ;)

Polish Festival

Well, it was this past weekend and she and Poppy both came down and the weather was beautiful so we loaded everyone in the car and all of us went down there and I'm glad we did, as they put on a pretty good festival. It was much bigger than I imagined, and it offered plenty of activities for the kids to do and some intriguing exposure to Polish culture for me.

First thing we did was trade some cash in for, not standard festival tickets, but shiny gold Pope John Paul tokens. I wasn't quite ready to commit to the Polish plate for lunch, opting instead for some pretty good BBQ, but I did try some off of Lindsay's plate and it was better than I thought. The dishes were very unique, but from similar culinary origins as German food that I'm pretty familiar and comfortable. The main item was golabki which was suprisingly tasty even though the aroma from the cooked cabbage was not all that appealing.

At the Jimmy Buffett Show

For Lindsay's Birthday, I got us tickets to the Jimmy Buffett show at our nearby Cynthia Mitchell Woods Pavilion. It was his official kick-off to the 2008 'Year of Still Here' tour and it was the first time ever for us. He put on a great show, probably the best concert I've ever been to and I'll definitely be buying tickets as long as he keeps coming around.

I took some mediocre pictures on my cell phone:

Griffin's First Week at Home

It has been quite a week, Griffin came home last Sunday, we celebrated Sawyer's 3rd Birthday on Monday, had a few days of downtime and then did an egg hunt on Friday followed by a weekend of Easter festivities. Lindsay and I took just Harrison and Sawyer to an easter festival and the grocery store on Saturday, and even after just a week it already seemed incomplete to be out and about with just the two of them and not little Griffin as well.

Baby Griffin is Here!

At 1:23pm, baby Griffin was born at a nice healthy 8 lbs 4 ounces and 19.75" long. Everyone's doing real well (now that it's all over).