Once again, I have been lax in my duties as a Dad, so this is a big "catch-up" update to the site. We've got a lot to cover (from Jesse to June), but the overarching theme of this update is: friends & family...

 

S t o p   # 1 :    J e s

Speaking of friends and family, we had quite a host of visitors during January and February to see the latest addition to the Foss household. Jessica, of course, loved having everyone around to hold her, smile at her, protect her from her brothers.... you know, the usual. Seriously, we had a lot of visitors for the baptism, including Rita's folks, her brother Mike, and our friends Scott and Kelly.

Scott is Jessica's Godfather, and let me just officially note that it scares the hell out of me that an old college friend is supposed to serve as my daughter's moral compass should anything happen to Rita and me. Yikes. The good news is that Kelly can look over his shoulder and make sure he doesn't screw anything up!

Jesse's Godmother is our friend Monique. Unfortunately, Alaska is just a bit too far away, so we asked Kelly to stand in for Monique at the baptism.

Aside from getting baptised, Jesse has been hard at work learning to giggle, pull my glasses off my face, sit up on her own, and program in XML. We're still working on some of that, but overall, she is quite ahead of her peers... of course. Oh yeah, she also (thank God!) learned to sleep through the night pretty darned quick. Of course, as soon as she started doing so regularly, Connor decided to start falling out of bed at 2am. And once Connor got over that, Nate started having bad dreams at 3am. And after he got over that.... But now I think we are all on a great schedule and getting SLEEP!

One last note about Jes: In case you are blind, you have probably also noticed that she is the most beautiful baby girl in history.... and I'm not just saying that because I'm her Dad. Seriously, this is totally unbiased. Really.

Awwww..... Jes and Kelly	Aunt Mel, Jes, and.... the Future Uncle Jason!

Check out extra Jessica pics for this update

Connor is one cool cat. This kid is an absolute riot -- and definitely a second child. He knows all the right buttons to push on his older brother, but can give you this goofy grin that makes you forget any trouble that he might have caused. ... can't think of who it reminds me of....

Seriously, Connor is having a great time and FINALLY got out of his silent/grunting stage. Now we can't get him to stop talking! His vocab seems to double every couple of days, and it's great that we can communicate with him instead of guessing what he wants. Every now and then, we get a bit confused about what he's saying, but Nathan doesn't seem to mind translating for us. Nate, in fact, has been the one teaching Connor most of his words. I'll explain. Rita and I let them have books in bed with them at night, so Nate sits on the edge of his bed and "reads" his books to Connor, who is sitting on the edge of his bed across the room. We can literally sit at the door and hear Nate say "Ok, Connor, this is a chicken," and Connor dutifully responds: "Chicken". Of course, for a while there, he thought that chickens (and every other creature that God put on this earth) says "Quack", but he's got it under control now.

The Conster Monster also turned 2 since the last update! Yep, on March 19, he officially entered the oh-so-wonderful two's, and the theme was.... you guessed it... cars, trucks and trains. Rita, of couse, put her cake decorating skills to work and, as you can see below, concocted a beauty. The Con Man loved it all, and Nate was pretty good at letting Connor open his own presents... most of them anyway.

Connor and 'Da Godfader'	Attack of the Roland	Big hug from Pepere

Aside from bugging/learning from Nate, Connor's big thrill right now is (surprise, surprise): cars, trucks, and trains. I think we must hear: "Me play cars" at least 1,453 times a day. And he is very good at playing on his own. For example, Connor has decided to take after his mother and actually enjoy the morning hours. Unfortunately, this means that he wakes up each day around 6:00 am. That, my friends, simply will not work for yours truly. But luckily, Connor has learned to get out of bed, head into the living room, and play cars by himself until around 7. This is still an ungodly hour, but that extra hour of sleep is golden.

Connor is also heavily into smacking his head into things. Again, I'm not sure where he gets this, but I think you could put him in the middle of 10 acres of land with one metal poll standing in the middle... and somehow he would find a way to whack his head into it. We haven't had to take him to the hospital yet (knock on wood), but I'm starting to worry that strangers might start calling social services on us if the bruises on his forehead don't start disappearing!

One other thing: Connor LOVES hanging out with Aunt Mel's fiancee Jason. Oh, did I forget to mention that Mel is getting married? Yep, Jason Taliaferro will officially become Uncle Jason this September (which, if you are lucky, will be the next time I update the site). Anyway, Connor runs up to him and hugs his leg every time the guy walks into the room. It's hilarious.

The birthday boy	It's all about the trucks	Gee... why did Rita take this pic?

Check out extra Connor pics for this update

 

S t o p     # 3 :    N a t e

Nathan, being the elder of the siblings, is doing his best to keep everyone else in line. I'm telling you, the kid is busy all day. Typical day for the Nate-man:

6:30 am -- Tell Connor to keep it down. Still trying to catch some z's.
7:30 -- roll outta bed and grab some oatmeal. Teach Connor how to stuff at least 3 spoonfuls in your mouth without Mom seeing.
8:30 -- Start chasing Connor around in circles so Mom is convinced that they need to go somewhere or do something
10:00 -- Go swimming at Nana's pool and tell everyone that he can swim without water wings, but he just doesn't feel like it today, so we keep them on.
Noon -- have lunch with Dad at home, followed by teaching Jes how to sit up on her own... until it's story time, then let her fall on her head.
1:30 pm -- lay down for nap and complain that he isn't tired and can't fall asleep
1:31 -- fall asleep
3:00 -- Shark watch beeps, so it's time to get out of bed and run around again!
3:30 -- have a snack and go outside to teach Connor how to ride a bike (after making funny faces at Jessica for 15 minutes
5:30 -- come inside and help Mom make dinner while "accidently" bumping into Connor every 30 seconds.
6:30 -- Dinner time. Gotta teach Jessica how to eat solid food and not smear it all over her face.
7:30 -- head downstairs and instruct Connor and Dad on the proper technique when making a big mess
8:00 -- Drown Connor in bath...
8:30 -- Time for bed! Read some stories, brush teeth, try to convince Connor to use the big potty since Dad doesn't like changing diapers
9:00 -- Sit on edge of bed and teach Connor his colors/shapes/numbers/letters
10:00 -- call Dad in because "I thought of something bad" (even though I've been in here giggling with my brother who is now pretending to be asleep)
10:15 -- Finally fall asleep...zzzzz

Ah, the hectic schedule of a 4 and a 1/2 year old....

Bronx Easter and the Ghetto Bunny	Jurassic Park 4 - The Nate Stomp	Cooooool cats

Check out extra Nate pics for this update

 

S t o p     # 4 :    T h e     ' r e n t s

Rita and I are doing pretty darned good. It has been a bit of a turning point for Rita recently since she officially turned in her resignation letter just a few weeks ago. Granted, she hasn't been to work in quite some time, but nonetheless, the official resignation was a bit tough. I'm still trying to convince her to work part-time for Americaneagle.com, but no luck yet....

She is having a great time home with the kids though. Nate is on the verge of reading and swimming, Connor is learning to talk more and more each day, and Jessica will be crawling before too long. Rita is doing an amazing job keeping them all busy, challenged, and happy each day. ... Ok, there are some days that she practically throws them at me when I walk in the door, but by and large, she handles them great. I just have no idea how she comes up with something new each day. Pools, museums, parks, trails, stores, and on and on and on. Pretty darned impressive.

As for yours truly.... I couldn't be happier. Well, ok. If someone wants to drop a million bucks in my lap and turn back time so that IU won the NCAA championship, I'd be happier. Other than that, htough, I've got no complaints. Jobs going great. Wife rocks. Kids are the cutest in the world.

Life is good.

smooch	Alison and the fam

 

F i n a l e

Well, as you may have noticed, we've scattered quite a few "friends and family pics throughout this update, so I will leave you with just a few more...

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