Last night was a pretty typical Friday night. I arrived home from work around 5:45 and found Jen in "her" chair feeding Brady. We had the typical conversation on what we should have for dinner. We have a load of food in the fridge, but neither of us wanted to cook. (translation: Jen didn't want to cook, and I never want to cook) While she was getting ready to go out, I decided to return some phone calls that I missed earlier in the week. I was speaking to Adam about how lazy he had been since the season of triathlon was at an end and about what we were doing for dinner. I learned that Adam had never been to the Pizza Shop in Benson, our old neighborhood. I told him to put on his shoes and that we were on our way to pick him up.
We walked into the Pizza Shop through the back door, because that is were all the off-street parking is located. To my surprise, the Pizza Shop was wall-to-wall people. It's never this busy! We found a table up by the front door. It was the last open table in the restaurant. I noticed as we took the table, that it was adjacent to the table that Jim Esch and his wife were enjoying some local food. For those of you not in Omaha and haven't seen the millions of signs, Jim Esch is running for Nebraska's 2nd Congressional district seat against the incumbent, Lee Terry. (I am going to show significant restraint to not go on a rant about my opinion of Lee Terry...but by this disclaimer you already know how I feel)
Shortly after we ordered our food, three well dressed people came in looking for a table. We helped with some chairs and Jim Esch helped with an extra table to make room for this party. The ladies were in dresses with wrist corsages and the gentleman was wearing a suit. It appeared at first look and later confirmed by conversation that two of the party members were on a date and the third was the driver. The gentleman introduced himself to us as Charles and informed us that one of the ladies was his date. Charles who clearly has Down Syndrome came right up to the car seat and began asking questions about Brady. He shook Brady's hand and commented on his dashing good looks. (Which he obviously gets from his father) Charles went back to his table, enjoyed his dinner, drank some wine, paid the tab, said good evening and vanished into the night just as quickly as he appeared.
I have done a lot of thinking about Charles in the last 18 hours, and this is what I have concluded. Charles is a man doing the best he can, to work with what he's got. He probably doesn't complain or whine about how unfair life can be, he just gets up in the morning and makes the most of it. As a man and now a parent, I think we could all learn a lot from a guy like Charles.
Last night the family and some friends went to watch Creighton's men's soccer team take on the Denver Pioneers. Final score was 2-0. It was a beautiful evening to be downtown enjoying some inexpensive entertainment. Brady got to eat at the game, so he was pretty sleepy by the time we took this picture. Before that, he was running around with 1,000 other kids chasing each other and playing king of the mountain on the grassy sitting areas.
I can't take credit for this picture. It was taken by our friend Jim. We have a whole bunch, but I thought this one really capture mother and child.
"Your too close Dad!!"
Cool picture of Nicolas at the bridge lighting ceremony.
This is a picture of Brady and his Great Grandma from Oklahoma. She was nice enough to come up and visit us this last week. As you can see, Brady digs her as much as she digs him.
Well it has been a circus at our house! Grandma's, aunt, sister and nephew and Grandpa have all filled our little house with lots of activity. I think I will be finding little parts from little broken motorcycles and trucks left from fiery crashes off the steps and coffee table for the next year. We had pictures taken of the whole family by our good friend Jim, gone out for Mexican dinners in the rain, gone shopping and made a visit to the children's museum.
Cousin Kristopher from CA has come to Omaha to meet his new cousin Brady. So far we have looked at spider webs, gone to Hectors and played with trucks. We are looking forward to more fun times with the little "pine cone" the rest of the week.
This evening, Brady and I were discussing what we should post on the blog. We threw around the idea of posting another adorable picture of him sleeping or with his eyes fixed on a plant, but then decided that because Halloween was just around the corner that we would post some "SCARY" pictures. The picture of Brady with four eyes was his idea and he was certain that it would freak out the readers. I tried to tell him that a baby laying on the floor just isn't very scary, but he insisted that I was on the verge of infringing on his creative freedoms, so I obliged.
I think I mentioned that last weekend, we had our good friend Jim take some pictures of Brady and his proud parents. (If I didn't, I am telling you now) Jim sent me the proofs that I will hopefully get his permission to share with all of you very soon.
This is just a picture to remind everyone how quickly they grow up. He is crazy tiny in this picture. It is amazing that we are five weeks into being a family. Jen is an absolute pro at being a Mom, Brady sleeps like...well a baby (except he doesn't cry...just funny little chirps all through the night.) and I...well I don't know what I do except keep the blog updated.
