Neal News Now: 2007

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Christmas 2007

We had a very busy November-December. We traveled to Tulsa to see Gabe's family for Thanksgiving then traveled to Marshall early in December for a Curry family Christmas. There were several Christmas parties in between and Stacy's family came in for Christmas. Gabe was on-call for the week of Christmas. Whew! Are we glad to get back to a more leisurely pace of life.

Evelyn has grown a lot. She is smiling more, getting more interested in toys, and sitting-up almost unsupported. Her greatest joy remains nursing. Although Stacy and I are way too practical to be buying her presents, her grandparents on both sides made sure she had plenty under the Christmas tree.

We miss all our friends we haven't seen in a while: friends from China, Spokane, and Tulsa. We hope to travel more in the coming year(s). Be well and Happy New Year.

Love,
Stacy, Gabe, and Evelyn

Family Christmas Photo

At the Park

Mother-Daughter Moment

Sunny Days

Evelyn is so sad it's not Christmas yet.

First bites. "Mmm, love those carrots!"

Not really sure what she is doing here...

"I like Christmas tags. The things attached to them are OK too."

More tags?! Yeah!

Carolyn keeps pushing her happy button.

Evelyn likes large bugs. As long as they are made of brightly colored cloth and make noise when you shake them.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

8 Weeks

Evelyn is really growing. It's hard to tell sometimes when we see her everyday, all day, but as we look back at early photos it's obvious. Also our arms grow tired quicker. We took a trip out to the home of our friends, Tryon and Erin Wickersham, who live in the country. We took a bunch of family photos for our Christmas card. Soon well have to buy an extra hard drive to store all the pictures we have accumulated.

Parenthood tests the limits of your patience, and stretches them. Taking crying. I can stand about 20 seconds of Evelyn crying (and I mean crying) and I'm willing to beg, steal or even change a diaper to make her stop. Stacy on the other hand tolerates it much better. She's willing to wait until I crack, so I can do the above mentioned duties. Actually Stacy is pretty good about anticipating Evelyn needs before the crying starts, for which I, Mr. Clueless, am grateful.

We're looking forward to the Holidays for the opportunity to see family and friends in Tulsa and Marshall. We trust you all are well.

"You can tell the sun, in his jealous sky, that she lies in fields of gold..."

Here we are visiting our friends, the Wickershams, at their home in the country.

Also at the Wickersham's

Dang I've got a big noggin!

The Chubster

"I'm flying, I'm flying!"

Famous for my dance moves.

"Apparently you're not aware that I'm famous. Now I said my milk needed to be warm. You call this warm?"

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

In the Pumpkin Patch

5 weeks in. Evelyn has gained a bit of weight and is beginning to sleep through the night. We could not be happier. The initial fatigue of every 2 hour feeds is fading and Stacy and I are finding time to have dates. We are settling in to family life well. People ask me if my life has changed, and the answer is "yes", but frankly having a baby hasn't been "life-changing" the way you typically think of it. Having Evelyn seems really natural, really...right. She should be here now. So I feel more like myself, more like the Gabe who is a dad, and since I was ready, it seems, well, pretty normal. We trust all is well.

Oh look, we found a cute little pumpkin!

Show me angry, baby!

Show me crying, baby...yeah!

Be the pumpkin...be the pumpkin..nahnahnahnah....nahnahnah....

No pictures, no more posing, only milk and mommy's cozy.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Parenting Thoughts 3 Weeks In.

3 Weeks In

3 weeks into this parenting gig and we're a bit tired. In spite of all the amazing support we get from friends and family (we could not ask for more) we find our energy levels low. Evelyn however is becoming more and more energetic by the day and spending more time awake each day. She still sleeps a lot though. Nights are getting a little better. She is nursing every 4-6 hours now at night, instead of the usual every 2-3 hours.

We see lots of situations where we know what is good for Evelyn, like a clean diaper, bath, or food and yet she cries through it only to realize that at the end, what we wanted for her is nice and stops crying. Smacks of the way God must see us a lot. We ask God to help us, to make us more like Him and then He starts to make us holy, and we start crying.

Evelyn has two modes:
1. "Everything is the way I want it and life is good."
and
2. "Something is not quite the way I want it, and bam, I'm upset."
Describes my 2 modes of prayer almost perfectly.

So we find lots of analogies in Evelyn to our life and relationship to God, as our Father. Quite literally. Maybe some day we can be teenagers in God's eyes and not just babies. I'm sure He's looking forward to that.