First Photos

Introducing John Tyler Bottorff






Emilee seems to be displaying a "get this thing off of me" vibe in this photo.

In non-nephew news, one of our good friends is moving to Washington State in July. I'm happy that she was able to find a residency but am sad to see her go. Jay and I will be staying in Connecticut for another year as he completes his Orthotics residency.

We've been repopulating our apartment with plants in the past few months. I brought three plants from Dallas and none of them have survived except for the one ivy that I left with Mom in Indiana. They didn't die merely from neglect but from a variety of causes, including the cave-like lighting of our Connecticut apartment. We've been treating the new plants to some artificial illumination in the evenings to help them out.

As far as knitting goes, well, it doesn't. I've been trying to work on my socks for my sockpal but I'm really disatisfied with my yarn choice and the quality of my knitting. I'm using size 1 needles which for non-knitters is similar to knitting with really long toothpicks. I think I'm going to start over with new yarn and slightly bigger needles.

We're having a "Parents' Day" this Friday in my classroom. So it's going to be a rather stressful Friday afternoon. I'm just hoping that it can be a tantrum-free experience. Cross your fingers for me.

Folks, We Have a Name!

In order to leave the hospital Baby Mysterio had to be officially titled. I'm not sure if it came down to an arm-wrestling match or if Jen played the "You chose last time we had this problem."-card but however it happened a name was decided upon.

John Tyler Bottorff

or as his sister calls him

Nathan

Baby Mysterio Makes an Appearance While Remaining Mysterious

Mom called yesterday evening to deliver the news of a healthy baby boy.

Like his sister before him, he has lived his first day without a name. Or perhaps he has a name and no one called and told me. He is said to look like his big sister so for the time being, here's an old picture of Emilee. I think if you squint and think "More Boy" it might be something like what he may look like.



I meant to call and check on the new guy but ended up passed-out on the futon around 7:30 p.m. This is apparently what happens when I don't drink any coffee during the day -- a day filled with eight crazy-headed 2-year-olds with boundless energy and a propensity to over-react and throw fits when asked to do simple tasks like washing hands or god-forbid sitting down while eating.

The birthday ice cream helped but only until the ice cream high kicked in for the little-ones. In case you are planning an event for the younger set, soft-serve ice cream creates a much more dramatic sugar rush than say your average cupcake with frosting.

Also, green milk = green poo.

Sidelined by Injury

So it turns out that many of the things that I enjoy in my spare time require a healthy wrist.

I've been having sharp pains in my wrist for the past few weeks. I went to the doctor last week and ended up with souped-up Aleve and a wrist brace. If it doesn't clear up before the medicine runs out then it's off to the "hand specialist" I go.

So this means that knitting, video gaming, changing the TV channel and even reading large books are all out for now. Since all seem to cause an unacceptable amount of shooting pain. Sadly, I haven't figured out how to brush my teeth left-handed with any kind of efficiency.

I have learned an interesting new phrase: anatomical snuffbox.

As in "The searing pain seems to start somewhere around my anatomical snuffbox."

So I wonder if it got the name because it looks like a snuffbox or because that's where you put the snuff before you huff it up your nose.