Photography Keepsakes – Page 5 – Brian, Julie, 4 girls, and one little dude Elcock

Autumn, Drapes, etc

Somewhere I missed the note that autumn had arrived. I still spend some of my afternoons watching Lucy and Gwenyth swimming, even now in late September. It’s currently 12:01, so it’s officially the last day of September. Wow!

Catherine, I’ll post some pictures soon. Not as fancy as the ones currently on your blog, though. Just to set expectations. Julie’s been going like a crazy woman. I’ve hung more drapes in the last few weeks than I care to admit. And unfortunately that means Julie has bought more curtains in the last few weeks than she cares to admit to me. But the bill doesn’t lie.

The doctor says that the action might come next week. Julie went to see him today and he hopes that we’ll be able to get things going, perhaps as early as next Monday. I think that the new little man is just so excited to come see his polka-dotted blankets that he wants to come quickly.

Financials: Targeted Advertising

The utter meltdown of financials in this country has been nothing short of staggering. I think that the last 4 weeks have added about 10 years to my working life.

I’m a regular at marketwatch.com. They have cool widgets and stuff that geeks like me enjoy. And some serious tinfoil hat-type commenters. The also apparently have pretty clever marketing and sales departments:

That’s some nice targeted advertising. “Jack Daniels: Please enjoy responsibly.” I think that many will be “enjoying” after today, some probably not responsibly.

Computer Nerds

There’s been a long-held notion that I’m a nerd. Especially when it comes to computers. Natural, I guess, seeing as that’s how I make my living. Julie often says that I’m “nerding out” when I’ve got one or more laptop lids open, doing my thing. Appropriate I guess.

Abigail and Grace have long lamented the fact that they don’t have their “own” laptops so that they can go out on the interwebs as they please. When reminded that they cost about $1000, Grace went off pouting, while Abby proudly exclaimed that she’s going to start saving. If that doesn’t perfectly demonstrate the 2 sisters, I don’t know what does.

Both girls like to play “Spawn of Satan,” . . . errr . . . I mean Webkinz whenever they can. It all starts innocently enough. You buy these cute, cuddly little animals that the new owner can adopt. But then you need to register them online. And then you need to give them clothes. And bathe them. And entertain them. And buy expensive jeans for them. And ground them. And so on. They just can’t understand why we don’t simply give them the password to the computer so that they can do as they please. Turning into a computer nerd is one reason. Another is . . . well . . . the interwebs.

We found this by the computer a couple of weeks ago:

You certainly can’t blame them for trying.

Potty Training is EXHAUSTING when you are very pregnant!

This is Julie again. I will admit up front that potty training is not my forte! Gwen seemed more ready to me than all the others but soon after we got going I started to reevaluate. Stubborn is not even the word. Although she loves fun fruits it was not a motivator! Stickers/treats whatever! I couldn’t quite find out what motivated the pipsqueak. I now think just being big is what motivates her!

Week one I literally sat upstairs with her every day–all day (I’m not joking). I would often fall asleep in the doorway of the bathroom while she’d read stacks of books. I found out real quick this kid’s a camel and has an unbelievable ability to store/hold peep (even forcing liquids). After a few successes and many mishaps I was thinking I was ready to throw the towel in last Sunday! When I went to put a diaper on her she was ecstatic and over the top! I couldn’t do it–I decided we had tried too hard and we were going to BRAVE THE STORM! While things are not perfect and we still have occasional accidents she has picked it up and we are entering week 3! I am too exhausted to write much more about this potty training experience but here are some pictures of the newest underwear-clad member of our family. Way to go Gwenyth!

The big sister that helped out with the training