My latest favorite photo

So I am rebooting. I have a new theme for the website, do you like it? I think I do. I am also going to try and do better about updating. As much as I do this website for you all, I also do this for Desmond, this is my journal to him. I want to keep it going for as long as I can.  I just share it all with you too, so you can laugh along with me, as I figure this out.

So where are we? We are @ 18 months. It is true! 1yr, 6months, and 7 days. He is definitely now a little boy. He wants, he asks, he stomps, he cries, and he laughs. He is sweet, and thoughtful and very loving. He is Desmond. The boy I have been talking about for 1yr, 6mo, and 7 days. I have a hard time wrapping my head around that. What have I learned? I would not even know where to begin, but it is more then I have ever dreamed. I am learning to be a better son, a better husband, a good brother, and most of all I am learning to be a Dad. You put all of those things together, and I believe that makes you a Man, that is what I am starting to learn anyway.

His words are coming faster and faster, I can hardly keep up, and have given up counting. Yesterday it was “ahh dang” because Papa said it when there was nothing good to eat in the pantry, so Desmond agreed and said “ahh dang” too. His favorite words currently are “thank you” and “please” because he know these two words will usually get him what he is looking for and wants right away. Airplanes are a new fascination of his. He loves to see them in the sky and will chant “airplane!” over and over until we all point an acknowledge it too. He will also say ABC….D? Before he moves on to EFG he wants to make sure D is correct. He also loves to give kisses, but it has to be in pairs, if he kisses Jackie, he usually as to give me a kiss too, its only fair you see.

He had his check up done the other day, he was at about 34 inches and weighing in at about 25lbs. He was putting on quite the show for the Dr.  Doing a dance, talking, laughing interacting for the 1st time. It was pretty cool to watch. His shots went well, he cried for a minute, but got over it pretty quick. He started laughing when I started to put his shirt on over my head, he thought that was funny and silly.

Our days at home are good, there is lots of love between the three of us, we are kinda in limbo with homes and a daily structure somtimes, its difficult some days, and hard to find a balance of where we are going and whats next for us, but the one thing that never changes is love, we have love in a large supply around our home, we are being smart about our future and putting faith in that. Well that is all I have for today.

down, down, down I go.

So I have noticed a trend over the last few months, and its a hard reality really. My blog is taking a hit in stats, and the numbers are dropping more and more each week. I blame Oprah and Ashton. They single handedly sucked the coolness out of the internet last week. Actually just twitter. Sure I jumped on the wagon for a little bit and followed him. I wanted to see what the fuss was all about, that lasted about 4 days. A word of advice, Ashton is not funny on twitter, and Oprah is a total noob, so much so that her 1st tweet had to be edited by twitter.com themselves. Seriously? Yes.

I love twitter to keep me updated with my friends, and family. I love my friends and family, and I love that they can make me laugh 140 characters at a time. Who is my favorite twitters? @kellyrutledge and  @hogi82 and why? Because I have no idea what is come out of their mouths next, they keeps it real YO.

So lets get into facebook, yes facebook is like twitter, but so much more. Actually its too much more at times. They have got to fix some things. Like the stupid apps, I mean who the heck wants to know What Flavor Jolly Rancher Defines You as a Person? or What TV Show Character Looks Like Your Dog? or What City Are You Most Likely to Fart in Next? I do not care! delete, delete, delete. It drives me crazy! I DO want to know what you are doing, and make it witty, make me smile, show me a picture, share your family, your struggles, your laughs, let me get to know you better for who you really are, this is what facebook is about. Connection, laughs and a daily dose of something new each day.

I have had a number of friend requests from people I only knew for half a second 10 years ago. I am sorry “blast from the past” but there is a check list you must pass before I can add you as a friend, and if you do not meet those requirements you will sit in my pending page until I get around to ignoring you completely. Delete

I think some people are in it for the numbers, some people have like 700+ friends. Seriously 700? Ok Ashton wanna be Kutcher. If you really know 700+ people, more power too you, that is awesome, I would hate to see your Christmas Card and stamps bill. Please do not think I am bashing facebook, I LOVE it. I love seeing status updates, and pictures of everyone, this is what I love the most, and chatting back and forth on comments of status updates. I am just worried about it turning into another myspace which I abandoned long long ago. Facebook, please fix the filters so I can have it the way I want it, take Burger Kings idea and give it to me my way. Thanks.

Anyway there is my rant for the year, nagoh.com is loosing the war on visitors, people want there info all in one place, and I can understand that, its just a sad day when I know nagoh.com doesn’t get the buzz it use to get. Maybe I should blame Obama to0, nagoh needs a stimulas package.

I just wanted to wish all you nagohdotcomers out there a very Merry Christmas! I hope and pray you all have a safe and enjoyable night and day with family and friends. Thank you all for a wonderful year, it has been so much fun sharing this entire year with you all. The up and coming year I am sure will be full of lots more adventures and laughs as Jackie and I learn to be a parent to a little boy who is growing so fast! He has brought so much joy into our hearts. This Christmas is very special to us and it is all just going by so fast.

We love you all, God Bless.
Greg, Jackie & Desmond.

So the easycheese.net pointed me to nablopomo.com and it talks about making a blog post everyday for 30 days straight! That is just pure madness! But I am up for a challenge, plus I am curious to see if the cheese can really pull it off! So I am going to see who caves first. Whoever misses a post has to buy the other a starbucks coffee of their choice! Or a cheese pizza from little ceasers, or a “big” beer! (I like to keep my options open). So cheese, you have been challenged! I would like to point out I am already at a disadvantage because there are two posters over there, but that’s OK. Maybe Jackie will chime in and help me out! Who knows! Let the posting begin! Ohh and they have to be quality posts, none of this, one liner nonsense.

I bet you thought I was not going to make my full week of 5 day posts in a row. Well I almost did not make it, and here is why.

Yesterday was my last day with Desmond, we had big plans, like make one last movie for the summer, take some photos, go see mom at work, eat lunch, and just have a great time. However the powers that be had different plans. Wednesday our A/C went out, and what better time to break, but during a heatwave in Georgia. We tried to run it as best we could all night, but at 1am that night Jackie and I are awoken by the smell of plastic melting, or something similar. After running to Desmond’s room to check on him, and making sure the house was not burning down, we shut of all A/C power (not that it was doing anything) and found the source to be in the attic, the blower unit was over heating.

So all day Thursday Desmond and I sat in our birthday suits and sweated our nards off. Not wanting to do anything but sit and soak. Napping was out of the question, so he was not his usual charm. Today it is being fixed, it will break the bank, but I do not care, I want my air back.

My summer with Desmond has been incredible, I had the best time with him, I would not trade that time for anything in the world. Maybe we will do a post summer move and post it a little later. Until then, cya.

Six months ago today, life changed, over the last six months I have shared with you all this little boys journey, along with our journey as parents. In the 6 plus years that I have been doing a website, and the 3 plus years of blogging I think the last 6 months have been the most colorful and exciting. Thank you all for sharing with me my joy and coming each day for more. I hope I have been able to bring a smile and get a laugh.

As an added bonus, here is a little clip taken today of Desmond in his Jumperoo! Thank you Kelly and Joey for this GLORIOUS device, as you can see he LOVES it! Much like my poor little Honda, he is about to bust the shocks out and bottom out! Sometimes he is in it, and starts to fall asleep, and when we go get him out he wakes up and starts jumping immediately. It is very funny.

Friday Jenn (my sister) came over to bring me some Chicken Waaangs, they were delicious! She also got to spend some time with her little nephew Desmond She got him a cute little outfit, here he is sporting his new hat.

This weekend we ventured up to Atlanta to spend a weekend with the family of easycheese.net It was good times! We enjoyed a ‘TRES’ DE MAYO party, lots of fun! Even had the playlist to go along with it! Also joining us was the family of  doodlebaby.blogspot.com It was fun to have everyone together. It was great to see old friends, and to have the kids all together.  Not long ago we were all kids ourselves. Ohh how our lives have changed, and now we just blog about it on the internets. I love the internets.

In Desmond News, he has been upgraded to a jumperoo!! He loves it! He is still working out the kinks, Danny gave his little nephew some pointers on pwning n00bs. The torch has been passed.

This picture is for free, because I think its soo cute!

Back in August I wrote a post about personal goals I wanted to accomplish in my creative life. One of those goals was all about photography and taking a picture that grabbed some attention.  I have another website some of you know about, some may not www.mydigitaleye.com I am by no means a professional, its just something I love doing. So a friend from church told me about a competition that The Middle GA Art Association was having for all Middle Georgia photographers. The competition is called “In Celebration of Light” so I thought, what the heck lets give it a shot. Well I got a letter today saying I was selected as a finalist for both of my photos! They will be on display in their gallery for 1 month. I can sell them if I choose to. The grand prize is $250. If I win I can get that ipod touch I so desperately want! Anyway, I am very excited. The two photos you see are the ones that will be on display. Now I must get them printed and framed.

I love photos, all kinds. I want to give a shout out to my friend Marcus who has a website called www.invisiblegreen.com he takes incredible photos, and offers great advice. Also Kelly over at www.easycheese.net who takes wonderful photos of all the kids, and who I secretly try to out do but never can. Her skill pushes me to keep trying harder. Also…..Jackie thanks for encouraging me and telling me I have talent. I love you very much. Should I thank the Academy? Opps outta time, I hear the music.

Well after much digging trying to find a theme I like, I finally settled on this one. I have of course changed a few things to make it more personal. I am happy with the results. Because in the end, its all about the kids.

So with me being sick last week, a variation of it moved onto Jackie. She is much stronger then I am. Girls are tough when it comes to being ill, they suck it up. Us guys act pitiful. I can speak for myself, I know when I get sick I just want to crawl in a whole and die. Girls on the other hand suck it up, they maybe cranky, but they just suck it up and do what needs doing. Jackie did just that. Then poor scooter caught a cold over the weekend. She had all the symptoms of a cold, all I could do was put her in her cage and let her sleep it off. The next morning she was fine. Desmond is kicking it strong, he just likes to eat and poop. Night time sleeping is random, some nights are great, some nights are long. He is smiling more, its very sweet to see, it is still a bit random. I am still working to see what triggers it. We tried to watch the super bowl together, he was all but interested for about 30 seconds. I found the game very boring last night, so I turned it off at the end of the 3rd quarter to get some sleep. It seems the 4th quarter was when all the excitement happened. Go figure. I will take sleep over anything right now.