Welcome to Parenthood!

As the clock nears midnight here in Lantana, TX, Lisa and I have nearly completed our 12th day of being parents! (Longer than most Hollywood marriages!) We are not counting the 4 days we had Nicholas to ourselves in Kiev since we were merely trying to survive at that point and get home as soon as possible.

Just as we were settling into a routine, I had to go back to work. Today was my first day back in 6 weeks! I got there early to find my computer had missed me so much, it decided to initiate a permanent shut down! Welcome back!

Nicholas continues to be a handful! He is still very interested in exploring every nook and cranny of his new home. He knows full well where he can and cannot go and what he can and cannot touch, but of course he goes where he shouldn't and trys to grab what he shouldn't...I guess we are being tested? I hope we pass!

We are trying to speak as much as possible when he is awake so he can soak up all the English he can. At night Lisa and I have a VCR set up in his room that shows a continuous loop of television shows featuring actors with superior speaking abilities, featuring: Fran Drescher, Erkel, Carol Channing, Yul Brenner, Merv Griffin, Gilbert Godfried, Lorraine Braco, Jerry Stiller, Emo Phillips, Steven Wright, Rosie Perez, and Jay Leno, to name a few....

Yesterday Lisa's father came over to help us install some more baby gates. At last count we have 19 baby gates, a moat filled with multi-colored plastic balls and 38 yards of bubble wrap to help us keep Nicholas safe

While I was upstairs helping with the final baby gate......(helping means I hand stuff to Lisa's father when he asks) I saw one of our dogs (Schnapps) at the bottom of the stairs and she was covered in dirt....I thought to myself, "This can't be good." When I called out to Lisa asking her what had happened to Schnapps, she replied, "Wait till you see the bathroom." Again, I thought "this can't be good."

While Lisa was trying to place a giant ivy plant into a new hanging basket, our dear sweet boy with the amazing arm strength got a hold of one of the vines and decided NOT to let go until the plant capsized. Schnapps was just collateral damage. The bathroom floor got the worst of it. I helped clean up once Grandpa Bruncke went home...


Always an adventure!


Schnapps before "the incident."