Happy Holidays from The Hague's!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!! We are so excited to celebrate our first xmas with Grady...even though he won't remember a thing, we will!! I kept my shopping for gifts down to a limited 3 gifts for him, but I think he will love them...he is getting a car he can push for now, and eventually ride on, a Build-A-Bear stuffed cat, and a bouncy house! The bouncy house is a huge blow-up castle that is for the back yard, and you fill it with plastic balls (apparently it's a great gimmick for bday parties)...he won't use it for a while, but I got a steal on it, so I caved. Grady's stocking is stuffed with a Cookie Monster stuffed animal, a book, and some plastic toys to play with...I am always happy with every stage Grady goes through, but standing in line with the older kids with their lists to tell Santa about is something I am looking forward to...Nick says he already knows where he is going to hide the gifts in the house someday too...It makes me feel the excitement of the holiday just like a kid again...what a blessing! I tried to read Grady the Christmas story, but he just wants to rip the pages apart...so far now, we will just stick with singing Happy Birthday Jesus...

Sorry For the Delay!

It's been a bit since I've posted anything, but I thought the best way to wrap up summer is to post a picture of Grady at the beach! It has been a busy time in our household with work, family & friends to fill up the calendar fast...As much as I love summer, it's fun thinking about what the next season will bring to our family...I'm looking forward to Grady in a Halloween costume, and him crawling around on Christmas morning. It is mind-blowing how babies grow & develop right before your eyes...although Grady has not managed to develop any hair...

I'm looking forward to my oldest friend, Tami, having her baby (boy? girl?) in January, and cannot wait to see her as a mom & swap stories...I'm also rounding the corner & knocking on the door of entering into my 30's next month!! Holy Moly! Part of me feels like I just left high school, and part of me feels like I have lived many, many lives...I am mostly looking forward to all the things that God will lay in front of me that I'm not even aware of yet...The unknown is very scary for a creature of habit like me, but it also tends to challenge me in ways I could never expect...

Post-vacation * Nick entry *

So vacation went really well. We all had a nice time. Grady was an absolute trooper for the car ride there and back. It took us about 11-hours to get home and he only had about 15-minutes of fussy-ness the whole time. He's a good boy. We had nice weather (except one-day which we spent shopping at the local outlet mall), our house was nice and we were able to visit some of Mandy's family. Her Uncle Rob and Aunt Lori spent a few nights at a hotel a half mile from our house while Mandy's cousin Christine drove 2-1/2 hours from Charleston, spent about three hours visiting, and then turned around and drove home so she could be at work the next day. As Mandy said, she definitely earned the "Cousin-of-the-month" award! We also got to visit with Mandy's cousin Paul and his wife Jennifer as well as their 5-month old son Ethan Robert. Oddly enough, had Grady been born a few years earlier we likely would've named him Ethan Robert ourselves. They live in Fort Mill, SC so it was right on our way to Hilton Head.

Things are back to normal around the house. Dad took care of letting Frank in and out while we were gone while Mandy's dad watched Lola for us. Since he's retired he's gotten in the habit of walking 3-miles in the morning and 1-1/2 at night...so Lola came back to us nice and worn out. Still, she had a great time especially since Dave has a six-month old puppy that Lola got to boss around for a week.

Grady continues to grow every day. It's kind of heartbreaking but really exciting at the same time. Hearing him laugh is really, really funny. He's knows that a bottle is on sight and will reach for it and hold it up himself. It makes us really happy to see him developing so well so early. He's now sleeping 7 - 10 hours straight at night. We've started the letting-him-cry-it-out thing if he wakes up in the middle of the night. Honestly, it's harder on me than it is on Mandy. I know it's good for him and that we have to do it, bla bla bla...but I just want to go in there and pick him up. He didn't wake up for good until 8:02AM the past Sunday which scared the bejezzus out of me. Usually he's woke up at least once during the night and is up for good sometime between 6:30 and 7:00. It's amazing how fast I've gotten used to waking up early and sleeping weird hours. This kid is totally worth it. I'm really excited to see what our subsequent children will be like. Grady is a total homerun. Hopefully Mandy will post some pictures of him soon.

College football is almost upon us. All is right in the universe. Ohio State is going to be sick-good this year.

* Nick entry *



We got some sad news about a week-and-a-half ago that Grandma Winfield (Mandy's Dad's mom) died. She was born in 1910 and was a few months shy of her 98th birthday. Of course Mandy found out while I was sitting in the Cleveland airport waiting for my connecting flight to Orlando but fortunately the services aren't being held until August 4th. So all of the family is heading to Buffalo, NY this weekend. Me, Mandy, Grady, Scott (her brother) and Dave (her Dad) are all going to ride up in my Yukon since it has three rows.



We'll get back Monday night around 11PM or midnight...and then I turn around and leave Tuesday at noon for Florida for work. I get home in the early afternoon on Friday (the 8th) from Florida only to leave with Scott, Lauren (my sister), Jeff (her husband), Mandy and Grady for Hilton Head. We'll probably stay somewhere in southern West Virginia (either Beckley or Princeton), stop in Rock Hil, SC the next day for lunch to see Mandy's cousin Paul, his wife Jennifer and their new baby boy Ethan (who's just one month older than Grady. Oddly enough, they named their son Ethan Robert which probably would've been Grady's name had he been born a few years earlier.



We're all looking forward to Hilton Head. Mandy and I went there with some people we knew while living in Memphis and liked the area. We got a house on the second row from the beach so it should be pretty nice. It's got like five bedrooms, three floors, a pool, bla bla bla. Mandy's uncle Rob and aunt Lori are going to visit us for a few days since they too live in Rock Hill, SC while my uncle Charlie and his wife Cindy might stay a night or two as they'll visit from their home in Jackson, GA. Especially during the summer months I notice a greater percentage of parents who travel with a small child on an airplane. It always looks like such a massive hassle that I can't imagine choosing to go anywhere where I'd have to get on a plane with Grady and/or any children we may have in the future. The amount of stuff you have to take with you for such a small human is amazing. Even with a roof rack and a luggage carrier I slide into my trailer hitch we'll be fully loaded on our way to Hilton Head...his pack'n'play, a stroller, his bouncy chair, various toys...and I'm sure there's stuff I'm forgetting about. Eh, he's worth it.



Speaking of Grady, he continues to get taller. Mandy keeps making fun of him because he's starting to get some rolls on his legs but it's what he's supposed to do! I guess I take a kinder look at him gaining some weight since every picture of me at that age could just as easily have been a meatball with a face...I was seriously a tubbo of a baby. He smiles all the time, he laughs, he rolls over...he's awesome. He's getting better at sleeping for longer stretches through the night but we're still not getting 7-8 hours straight as is common for babies his age. Still, no complaints. His personality is starting to show which makes it a lot of fun to interact with him. I know every parents says this, but any rational person would look at Grady and recognize that he'll likely be quite attractive as he gets older. He does have good genes after all...



Frank (my cat) killed a squirrel a few weeks ago. Normally this wouldn't be noteworthy except for the manner in which he "killed" this particular squirrel. So it's about 9:00pm...the sun has almost set, Mandy's asleep, Grady's in his crib and I'm downstairs locking up the house and turning on outside lights. I look out the windows by the front door only to notice Frank laying the flower bed while this squirrel is kind of making these small two-foot leaps in the general area of Frank. The odd part was that Frank was just laying there watching this happen - not pouncing on the squirrel. I open the front door, Frank just sat there and looked at me and it was then that I could tell that Frank had somehow disabled this squirrel. So I went to bed thinking that surely Frank will grow tired of watching this thing flop around, kill it, and drag it off to wherever he takes the various animals (moles, birds, squirrels, field mice, etc) that he kills. Nope. I go downstairs the next morning around 7:00am, look out front (Frank spends the night out during the warmer months), let Frank back inside...and notice that the stupid squirrel is still flopping around. I go to the garage, get a shovel and a bunch of those plastic bags you get at Kroger...and hit the squirrel on the head a few times to put it out of its misery (Frank had put a hole in it near the back of its head). It was absolutely awful. And then the cat comes inside, he purrs, he's sweet....it's just when he's outside he's angry. That cat has murder on his heart. I don't mind the moles and field mice but I could do without him killing squirrels and birds.



A few houses have gone up for sale on or near our street. All have sold within a few months (even a FSBO sold in three months which kind of surprised me, I wouldn't think FSBO would work that well in this market) which makes me feel good about our area should we want to sell in the next few years. We've made some upgrades on our house (granite, new flooring, carpet, light fixtures, etc) so we should do really well on our investment. We have a pretty lot, we were lucky to buy when we did.



The new season of Mad Men just started on AMC this past Sunday. TIVO recorded all of last seasons episodes for me (13 total), I watched them all with Grady over a three day period, and absolutely love that show. Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck, Lost and Swingtown are all interesting shows as well. I watch a lot of Law & Order reruns on TNT when I travel. Sometimes it's the only thing on worth watching so I kind of got hooked by default. Family Guy and The Office are really good as well.



I was able to visit for a few hours with my Great Uncle Dick and Great Aunt Mary Lou in Englewood, FL during my last trip to the gulf coast. It's always good to see them. Last time I was there in May they were in the middle of their big Alaska driving trip.



I'll be in New Mexico and Colorado later in August and then out to Idaho and Utah in late September. I've got another trip to Florida and a trip to Michigan scattered in there as well. Florida gets old...everyone thinks Florida is so great but when you're just there to work and not go to the beach Florida is just hot and humid, especially in the summer time. I loathe the heat and humidity...it's one of the many things I don't miss about the South.



Speaking of which, college football is only a month or so away. Ohio State should be disgustingly good. I honestly hope they play an SEC team in the championship game and beat them like a readheaded step-child. SEC fans are beyond obnoxious. I've had to watch the last two national championship games in the state of Florida (I was working). I suppose I shouldn't judge the people too harshly as there isn't much going on in their lives down there...but it is just annoying. For example, in the last championship game (LSU vs. Ohio State) there were fans of Florida, LSU, Georgia and Auburn at the bar I was at to watch the game. They all kept chanting "SEC" before the game, during the game, after the game. It was one of the dumbest things I'd seen in a while. It would be like me going to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch a bowl game of Wisconsin vs. Alabama and chanting "Big 10" the entire time...what do I care about Wisconsin? Ugh, just gross. Not to mention that six of the bowl games that SEC teams participate in are basically home games for them anway...



Life in Gahanna is still going really well. We're lucky to live in such a nice part of Ohio. Gahanna was ranked the 97th best place to live in Money Magazine in the US. The Creekside area has been completely renovated...it's a really nice area to walk and eat. They even made these really expensive condos some going for almost $800K. Gahanna is trying to move up in the world. It's not what it was 25 years ago when we came to visit for the holidays...



Mandy and I just found out that some friends of ours in Memphis (William and Robin) had a baby boy a month or so again...William Griffin. It seems like everyone we know has either had a child recently or is pregnant. So congrats to William, Robin and Courtney.



That's about all I have. I know Mandy will make fun of me for writing so much...."you write the dumbest things"....eh, whatever.

Happy 65th!!

We celebrated Dad's 65th birthday at my house, and I would say he doesn't look a day over 64 ;)We had some appetizers & some delicious cake, and we got Dad a new GPS system for his kayak. He lost his original one when he dumped his kayak over in the Little Miami river a few weeks back...I can't believe I have a dad who's of retirement age & qualifies for a Golden Buckeye card and collects social security...where does the time go??

poison ivy...

This is another Nick entry.

Somehow I managed to get poison ivy on me. I think my cat Frank got it on his coat. And since Mandy never pets him I'm the only one who has it. Two fingers on my left hand have it bad and my right thumb and the part of my right hand near my thumb have it. It's totally gross. I put this stuff called tecnu on it and it seems to be helping but my hands look awful. I've been washing my hands with this stuff like eight times a day so I don't give my 9-week old son poison ivy. I'm fairly certain that would be frowned upon...

Speaking of Grady, I had to take him to the doctor yesterday morning to get his two-month old shots. Two in his right thigh, three in his left thigh. He did really well in the other parts of the examination...and then the shots started. To give our doctor credit, she did all five shots within the span of about 25 seconds. But that kid has never been so loud or angry in his whole life. Of course Mandy was at work so I had to take him all by myself. Fortunately he calmed down just a few minutes after the shots. I took him home, fed him, played with him for a while, and then he slept from noon - 2pm. I'm sure I'll have to take him by myself next time too....ugh, awful.

To update my music tastes, it extends beyond 80's pop and techno. For example, I just bought the new Coldplay CD last week. It's really solid. I'll probably take it with me when I'm in Utah and Idaho from June 24th - 27th. There's not a lot of radio station options out in the rural areas...unless you want to hear about farm reports.

We only have about six weeks until we go to Hilton Head. It looks like me, Mandy, Grady, Scott (Mandy's brother), Lauren (my sister), and Jeff (Lauren's husband) will all pile into my Yukon for the trip. My mom and her friend Dee are going to ride down in Mom's Eclipse convertable. It'll be nice to have a beach vacation and Hilton Head is a really nice place. Mandy and I are the only ones who have been there but it's been about four years since our last visit. It should be about a 10-hour drive. Mandy has family in the Rock Hill, SC area that might visit us for a few days and my uncle and his wife in Jackson, GA might visit as well. Should be a good time.

Grady and I have continued to do well when it's just the two of us (although he's taking a nap with his mom right now despite my best efforts to get him to take a nap all day). He now weighs 11 lbs, 13 ounces and has grown to 23-1/2" tall. He's in the 55th percentile for weight (he was only in the 20th percentile when he was born) and is in the 85th percentile for height (about where he's always been). This just furthers my belief that both my father and my son will both be taller than me. I'll be the 5'10" guy in the middle of pictures with a couple of 6'1" bookends on either side of me.

That's about it for now. It's a quiet Sunday afternoon around here.

Grady vs. his papa....

OK, so it's June 6th around 9:25PM and Mandy is upstairs in bed (Grady fell asleep for his four-hours-in-a-row a half hour ago) since she has to be back for her first day at work at 3:30am tomorrow. It's amazing how quickly seven weeks (April 21st - June 6th) can pass by. So tomorrow will mark the longest stretch of time that Grady and I have been left alone together - about 10-1/2 hours. I can't tell everyone how many times the primary thing Grady needs/wants in order to calm himself down is his momma. That boy loves him some Mandy. He's started to smile and react to us but does it at a far more frequent clip for Mandy than he does for me. Which brings us back to the subject line of this e-mail....

First of all, Grady is a fantastic child. Even in his bad moments they don't seem to last that long. I won't lie and say it's not frustrating when he's having a mini-meltdown for me, I hand him over to Mandy, and then the kid is right as rain. Then he looks at me while she's holding him and gives me the finger when she's not looking. That last sentence is a lie...but I know he's thinking it.

While we'd love for Mandy to be a stay-at-home mom we're still in a mindset of making and saving as much money as possible right now. We're quite lucky though in that we won't need to use childcare to watch Grady. Mandy's work (Ohio News Network) helped her out by allowing her to work 4, 10-hour shifts from 3:30am - 1:30PM Saturday - Tuesday. While it would be nice if she didn't have to work weekends it actually works to our benefit. I'm able to watch him during the weekend as well as Monday and Tuesday. My Dad said I would start work late on Mondays and Tuesdays. On the weeks when I visit stores in Ohio (day trips around the state) I'll just leave the house when Mandy gets home. On the weeks when I leave the state (I fly to Seattle on the 10th, Salt Lake City on the 24th) I only have to be gone from Tuesday (when Mandy gets home or I can leave a little sooner and have my sister Lauren watch Grady before she goes to work - she works 3:30pm - 11:30pm for Columbia Gas so it works out well) to Friday instead of Monday - Friday. The Mondays of my "out" weeks I'll just go visit some Ohio stores. Dad's been really helpful and understanding as has Mandy's work. It wouldn't be the end of the world if we'd had to use childcare but it is really nice knowing that we'll be raising our son (and subsequent children). Dad and I have talked about different positions that I could work in the company which would only make things easier on us while also moving me up at the company. It's a win-win for everybody.

There is going to be a battle for Grady's musical taste. First of all, the kid loves music. He loves the music at church and always calms down whenever the instruments are playing or the people are singing The problem lies in the fact that my primary music tastes are 80's pop and technno (I know, none of these are cool....as is pointed out to me all the time by my wife...like she's the authority on cool) and Mandy likes R&B, Justing Timberlake, bla bla bla. And since Grady has been spending more time with her than he has with me I'm worried that she's got more ground work laid than I do.

Our friends Keith and Lauren Henderson just sent us this really nice package of Hawaiian stuff. Keith is a helicopter pilot for the Navy and is now stationed in Hawaii. We met and hung out with them while we lived in Memphis. Oddly enough there is a naval station in Millington, Tennessee which is a suburb of Memphis. We went to church togeter. Mandy and I once watched their son Rhett (they've since had a daughter whom we haven't met yet) for four or five days while Lauren visited Keith in Rhode Island. They're good friends so it's good to hear that they're doing well out there. Rhett has already turned into this little man which kind of breaks my heart a bit...

It was 94 degrees here today. This is simply unacceptable. First of all, we live in Ohio. It shouldn't be 94 at any point in the year. Second of all, if it is going to be 94 it shouldn't happen until late July or early August. If it's this hot now I'm petrified of how hot this summer could be. It's like being in Memphis all over again. Just hot and sticky and gross.

Well, it's 9:45pm now. I should probably go upstairs and try to go to sleep. It's a pretty rockin' Friday night at the Hague household...Mandy in bed at 8:30pm, Grady asleep by 9:00pm and me trying to go to sleep at 10:00 simply to get some sleep while Grady is sleeping. I wouldn't trade it though. I feel like my life has gone in stages and that I've gotten to enjoy each stage to its fullest. I did the normal high school stuff, had a blast in college, enjoyed being married for over five years with it just being me and Mandy, and now on to having a young child/kids. It's a lot of work but it's an awesome time. The only question now is do we have two, three or four kids....