Friday, March 28, 2008

Friday Confessions.....

1.Even though Paul thinks I sang the 35sie song to Sam like a sweet mother, I actually sang it in my head until I realized I was at 35sie and thought I might institutionalize myself.

2. Sometimes while Paul is at work I sing rap songs to Sam, sometimes I don't edit them for adult content. :)


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Most annoying baby song ever!

I am told I have successfuly penned the most annoying baby song ever!

"Onesie onesie then you get a twosie.
Twosie twosie then you get a three.
Threesie threesie then you get a foursie.
Foursie foursie then you get a five..."

So on and so forth ad infinitum...Elise told me last night she got up to a thirty-fivesie! That's a lot of articles of clothing for such a small little boy. (Actually not as small as one might think...somehow between myself at 5'8" and Elise at 5'4", we have spawned a 2'+ tall 3 month old. His new nickname is Manute Sam!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

11

Sam and Little Elise's pajama party.


Sam's new girlfriend. Finally he dates a girl from the West Coast!


Dave and Elise watching Shirley Temple....again! ;)

Love those cheeks!

We had a wonderful trip, wonderful food, great company and great adventures.
It is good to be home but, I always wish home wasn't so far from home.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I think I remember a time when travelling, the actual act of getting from Point A to Point B, was as much worth looking forward to as the vacation itself, when vacation began as you arrived at the airport (the excitement palpable as the whoosh of the jets taking on and off shuddered the car) and not when the vulcanized, industrial-strength rubber of the landing gear touched tarmac and your bags emerged from the cold, mysterious hinter-region beyond those weird plastic flaps, and the journey was an exciting voyage in and of itself: coloring books, plastic lapel wings, peeks into the cockpit, soda on a precarious, vibrating tray, BK chicken 'tenders' (I use the word 'tender' in its loosest, most malleable form) in the airport...I realize travel will never be what it was pre-9/11. It will also never be what it was pre-Sam as I never would have had many of the thoughts I had on our trip to Washington State had Sam not been with us.

For instance, when Elise and I took our seats on the connecting flight from Phoenix (where the local temperature is 75) to Spokane (where the local temperature is 29...brrrr!!), the stewardess moved us from the right side of the plane to the left side of the plane because "of the baby and that's where the air masks were". Huh?! What about the people on the right side of the plane? They don't get air masks? And in the pre-flight safety video only one mask dangles down per seat. So, God forbid, if this compartment pops open and I have to put a yellow plastic cone over my nose, will there be enough? Now in my head, I'm envisioning--after having secured the yellow plastic cone over Sam's nose...actually, it would probably cover his whole face--I'm going to have to rush through the plane to find an unused air mask before asphyxiating or being sucked into the ether in the ensuing sudden loss of cabin pressure.

On Elise and I's first trip to Seattle, we took a ferry ride from Seattle, across Puget Sound, to Bainbridge Island. We became suspicious when Coast Guard in Zodiacs appeared off our port bow, splashing in and out of the ferry's wake as it escorted us across the sound. Our fears were later corroborated when the local news reported recent terrorist threats against the maritime highway. I knew that if anything happened to the ferry, I could get Elise and I to shore (I was a lifeguard once. It wouldn't be pretty, but even in 50 degree water, I was confident--Not to say that Elise couldn't take care of herself--I could keep the two of us afloat for several miles or hours...whichever came first). Now, if our plane came down over the water, we were going to skid down inflatible slides into the Gulf of Mexico (assuming we could stumble over the bony knees of the German in the emergency row), and I would have to keep 3 people afloat and safe. These are the kinds of things I think about now on a plane.

Then there was the guy sitting next to us on our last leg home, a charred Boca-ite with yellow hair and a watch on each wrist who smelled like a Double Whopper with extra onions and extra special sauce who I feared, after his third Sutter Homes red in the screw-cap mini bottle, was going to spill either wine, Russian dressing from his $7 pastrami on marbled-rye or hair grease on my son. Thankfully, Sam slept through most of the flight while Elise and I lip-read the in-flight movie, "August Rush", and eavesdropped as the aforementioned seat neighbor tried to pick up the married woman in 14C and wondered aloud "what time dinner service was" as though he were on a cruise ship or at a Club Med.

Travel, though, is necessary. Not going to see the grandparents or the great-grandparents or not going to see something as simple as the subtle differences between the inside of a Starbucks in Cheney as opposed to the inside of a Starbucks in Jupiter is not an option. And one could not ask for a more tolerant and forgiving travel companion to join Elise and I on our meanderings as Sam.

Some of the firsts Sam experienced on his trip: first plane ride, first limo ride, first snow, first cross-country journey, first dinner at Wolf Lodge, first time seeing his cousin, Little E, and first time to Zips! Pictures at 11.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Who's your daddy?












So Paul really is the father. Whew. :)

Monday, March 17, 2008

Welcome to our ool, notice there's no "p" in it.

Testing out the water

Blowing Bubbles

Floating

We took Sam to the pool yesterday for the first time. He was a natural, undoubtedly because of his father's swimming talent. (The Turbeville family never did a ton of swimming in the frigid waters of the Pacific Northwest!) You will notice that I kept this fat, white body fully clothed on the sidelines. You're welcome.

We had a wonderful fun-filled family weekend as usual. It is always hard when Monday rolls around to have to see off our buddy Dad. We have already started our list of things to look forward to for next weekend.

Friday, March 14, 2008




A few creative things been playing around with on Photoshop.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Best of What's Around

So, Elise was recruited into attending a Cabi (sp?) party a few nights ago which left Sam and I alone to watch the results of the Mississippi primary trickle in, prior to which we went for a walk around the neighborhood and to check the mail.

The parenting gurus who recommend fathers sing to their children have never heard me attempt to carry a tune, else they would swear me off the practice for good for fear I'd permanently scar my son. But he didn't seem to mind as I crooned Do-Re-Mi from 'Sound of Music' about Somerset.

I was okay all the way up until, "Far...a long long way to run..." when I drew a blank. What comes after 'Far'? 'So'? A female pig? (Or is that sow?) I've been encountering this problem quite frequently. I don't know any children's songs. I don't want to speak for my wife, but I don't think Elise does either. I can start a lot of them, but, invariably, they disintegrate into a hackneyed, severly butchered version of the original. Most of the time--Elise is much better at this than I--we end up making up or own.

Like the song that followed Do-Re-Mi...to the tune of Shaggy's 'It Wasn't Me': "Sam made tooties in the bathtub...It wasn't me! Same made tooties in the bedroom...It wasn't me! Sam made tooties in the kitchen...It wasn't me! He made tooties all around me...It wasn't me!"

Finally, I reverted to the only music I do know all the lyrics to...The Dave Matthews Band. First 'Satellite' and then 'The Best of What's Around':

"Hey my friend It seems your eyes are troubled (though Sam's eyes are rarely, if ever, truly troubled)
Care to share your time with me (Dad :)
Would you say you're feeling low, if so, a good idea would be to get it off your mind
See you and me have a better time than most can dream of
We have it better than the best
Whatever tears at us
Whatever holds us down
And if nothing can be done we'll make the best of what's around"

(Then my favorite part of, perhaps, my favorite song)

"Turns out, not where, but who're you with is what really matters, yeah
And hurts not much when you (Elise and Sam) are around"

Ah, truer words were never warbled...Now, if I can just remember this when it's 90 degrees out and my Pegasi feel like the giant sponges they wash SUVs with....or when some golf pro with his polo buttoned up over his adam's apple lets his girlfriend's lhasa apso relieve itself on front 'yard'....

Monday, March 10, 2008

Look Dad no trans fats!

This is how we found Sam yesterday afternoon after his nap. We heard him say he was craving McDonalds fries but we didn't actually think he would go get them. We scolded him for eating junk food but, he did remind us that they no longer contain trans fats, so we let him finish.
I mean after all fries with no trans fats are practically broccoli.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Meet Emmit.....

Emmit is Sam's newest friend, a gift from his Great Aunt Denise and Uncle Larry. After this brief showdown they took quite a liking to each other.

"I don't see why we ever think of what others think of what we do -- no matter who they are. Isn't it enough just to express yourself?"

-Georgia O'Keeffe




Monday, March 3, 2008

Not sayin, just sayin.......

cute:



creepy:


Looks like a real dog nailed to a couple of rockers. Probably won't be purchasing this for my son anytime soon....or ever.

We made it safely home from our journey to South Carolina where Sam met his Great Grandaddy and Grandmama for the first time. He got a little taste of southern hospitality, ate some fried chicken, visited the booming metropolis of Turbeville and took a nap in the same basket that his Grandad traveled cross country in when he was a baby. He may just decide to go back and stay!