Yes, it's true

We've moved. Again. We're back in Georgia. We snuck out of the state like the Baltimore Colts and the Washington Senators, under the cover of night without telling anyone. We'll get contact information out soon.

Yes, Jen has a JOB this time, which means it might actually last a bit longer.

The Marietta Roots blog is back up and running now too:

http://mariettaroots.blogspot.com/

Happy First Birthday, Alexander!

We are very far behind on putting out the news for the Root Fam. Stay tuned for cute beach pics from Labor Day at Buckroe Beach, VA (near Hampton). I think we even missed posting for Veronica's 4th birthday...lucky she's not old enough to guilt us on that. So... long story short, we have been busy with life, trying to find that elusive "balance" that we keep hearing about.

The first picture is from Daddy's attempt at balance when Jen went away for a weekend, managing a trade show in Chicago. This happened about 10 seconds after he "reset" the boy in the living room. (Daddy rule #1: when the boy makes a run for the cat food in the kitchen, reset the boy by lifting him up and planting him in the living room...furthest from the cat food within the defined safe zone.) He tumbled books from the bookshelf as he does not yet realize that he can climb the shelving, made a mad dash for the cart full of fake food and toys and such and trashed it against the bouncy, and proceeded to try to wear and then eat the collander.

The other pictures are from the birthday. Most of the event was caught on video as it required both Mommy and Daddy to manage the dinner ritual, especially as it was extended for the cake. Yes, he ate the traditional carrot cake (the carrot and cream cheese gave us some assurance that it may be at least partly good for him...). He did good - his eyes didn't dialate like his sister's do (and did when she ate the same cake), and he didn't go nuts like his sister does (and did when she ate the same cake...we think she's getting better though...she does more of the vibrating in place instead of practicing the "fly off the handle on a sugar high" routine...there's hope).

Take me to the River . . .

We had a PERFECT day at the James River on my sister's property. We couldn't get our little river rat (aka Veronica) out of the water, except to swing. Alex enjoyed discovering grass, bugs and just soaking up the sun. He even celebrated by taking his first unassisted steps. Thanks Joe and Dianne - we had a GREAT time!

Fourth of July

We had a nice fourth holiday . . . it all started with a parade in downtown Fairfax. The weather was perfect - not too hot - and we found a perfect viewing spot in the shade. Here are some cute shots of the kids. You can see their favorite activity for the day was "hop on pop."


After the parade we packed ourselves up and headed out to Ginger and Jason's for a little soiree. We never made it to the fireworks - the kids were worn out and Veronica hasn't quite accepted fireworks as not scary, so we just headed home ahead of a little rain. A very nice day.

A Happy Father's Day

Father's Day was great - I got to see my dad, visiting from Oklahoma, and spent a lot of time with the kids that made me a dad. Jennifer took a red-eye back from her conference in California to be back in Virginia bright and early on Father's Day. Of course, she wasn't in much shape to do a lot of minding, but she made the whole day. Afterall, I couldn't be a dad without her, either.

Veronica played very well with Natalia and all the other kids, and they all played well with Alexander. Even the adults played well with Alex!

Double Trouble

Greetings all - I wanted to toss up a quick pic to let you know we are all healthy and hale. We have misplaced our camera these past couple weeks, so our activity is a bit down with the blog. Alexander is doing well and recovering (still) from ear infections. It looks like it has been the same ear infection that has been lingering for weeks now, so he is heading for ear tubes in the next few weeks. We don't relish having him go under for the operation, but we know from experience with Veronica that it will be a dramatic improvement on downtime from being sick. One of the many drawbacks to daycare - we are definitely back in the viral soup that seems to make us all so human (miserey loves company, eh?). Veronica has been nothing but healthy and is really happy the water is warm enough to swim in. Mommy and Daddy are going through the normal throes of living - seems like a pretty constant and quick hamster wheel, moving from one appointment to the next. We know there's a future out there, we just need to take a break now and then to get it back into our sights before jumping back o that wheel. Slowly but surely.

Grandma to the Rescue

This is a tribute to my mom (a.k.a. Grandma) for helping us out when we hit a jam with bad travel schedules - Nathan going to New Jersey for bidder conferences at the last minute while Jen went to Kentucky to run a conference. Oof! All is well that ends well, though, eh?

The girls definitely had a great time. I realize belatedly that we didn't toss Alexander into the picture. He may have been sleeping at the time these pictures were snapped. We wouldn't have gotten these if Nathan didn't make an executive decision and tossed the girls onto Grandma for photos. Veronica is still recovering and is really looking forward to when Grandma and Grandpa come out in a month or so. However, she keeps saying Whiskers will be coming, too... Not sure what Grandma has been filling her head with.

In the time that Nathan and Jennifer flew off into separate directions, Grandma kept Alexander and Veronica happy and fed and entertained, and somehow managed to administer Alex's nebulizer, baby Xantac, and Amoxicillan. When mommy and daddy got back, they discovered that Alexander had added a couple upper teeth (to match the two lower front teeth), and Veronica was 2 inches taller!

Last but not least, I had to add the latest family portrait that I picked up this afternoon - it came with the girl. I had only just noticed the fifth figure in the picture. The only thing I could reason is that Grandma is one of the figures in the family portrait, and that the little guy is Alexander. I will have to interrogate the girl in the morning.

Positive Thinking!

Well, we hear snow is on its way YET AGAIN this weekend! Argh! We talked it over with Veronica, and we decided to say Nay! It's time for warm weather to come and stay for a while. To prepare for blue skies and hot sun, Veronica is practicing with her new goggles. It took some getting used to, but they came in pretty handy in the bath - she still gets a bit wiggy when we have to rinser her hair of the shampoo. The goggles make it a snap.

Not a bad week - Nathan is back from horse country (Kentucky was beautiful, but mighty windy). The local aristocracy introduced him to Woodford Reserve, though he regretted he didn't have time to visit Keeneland Racetrack across from the Lexington Airport - the times he drove past it, though, it looked pretty gorgeous. Next week will be West Virginia and then off to New Jersey the week after. Grandma will be shuttling out to help with the kids as Nathan and Jennifer will be off in opposite directions at the same time!

Baby boy officially cut his first tooth the day before Easter and has started happily munching on meat (mushy though it is) - seven months old this week! Nathan is still itching to introduce him to the holy grail (hot peppers). Time and a place for everything, eh?