I'm Getting Older but I'm Still the Same...

... I'm just not that vacant anymore.

~ ONE MONTH, 15 DAYS - 20.5" | 8.2 lbs ~

As you may or may not know, today is my 25th birthday - and maybe it's the quarter-century milestone, but I think I'm actually feeling older this time around, way more than I usually do. I guess fatherhood will do that to you... Looking back, it has been a great run so far and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I've experienced more in my lifetime than many ever will and have been blessed more over than one person should ever be with all the Lord has chosen to give me thus far in life - my health, my family, my loving wife Stacey, and of course, our beautiful daughter Grace. If I'm able to provide Grace with half the things my parents have provided for me, she'll be a very lucky girl. Thanks to everyone I know for making my life so special and here's to another three-quarters-of-a-century to go!

I suppose I should back-track a little in the week though... The weekend before last - Friday & Saturday - we had a couple birthday parties for my paternal Grandpa ("Papa") - with one being a big surprise party at the Brook House - for his 80th birthday. Almost all of our family made it in town from VA and the likes, and it was great to see everyone - especially since we weren't able to make it down to VA for my cousins wedding - even though there was some travel hiccups along the way, and Grace was able to meet so many new family members for the first time. It was a blessed time and a deserved celebration for a great man! He also had NO CLUE about the surprise party, which made it even better.



On Sunday, we took Grace down the road to a local farm and picked out some pumpkins. She was dressed in her full pumpkin wardrobe - hat, shirt, pants, booties - and we picked up three pumpkins for only $6. This was big to us as it cost us $30something for two in Vegas!! Here's a few pics from the event and the pumpkin carving that ensued the next day:



Friday night was Halloween and we weren't going to dress Grace up as she already had her pumpkin outfit and there really isn't many Halloween costumes for newborns, but Patty ended up picking one up a lion one for her and it was pretty adorable. As you can see, we dressed up the boys again as well - and Patty adorned the full witch costume (quite scary) to spook the little ones in the neighborhood - however, we didn't end up getting too many kids at all which was a bit of a bummer for her.



The next night, some of my Dad's family came over to celebrate my birthday, and my first with Grace. We had a great time as we got Nana (my paternal Grandma) and Papa to try out our Wii - bowling and baseball. They had a blast with it - Papa was good at the bowling, while Nana was better at baseball. Papa couldn't hit the ball to save his life and Nana kept trying to coach him and everyone else, shouting "NOW! NOW! SWING! NOW!", after she was feelin' good about hitting a home run. Here's a few pics from the event:



So that has been the past couple weeks --- Grace is doing well and trying to get the hang of sleeping a little longer at night. She's been going about 4 hours at a time during the night which has been much better than her usual 2 or so, and she still has some remnants of the thrush on her bum, but it seems to be doing a lot better. Her weight and length have been increasing as well as you may have noticed the stats from Saturday night at the top. That's about all I have to report... many more pictures have been posted to our gallery as well, so be sure to check them out!