Home sweet home

As they say in real estate circles, the deed is done. We closed on our new home in South Orange this afternoon. No photos to share yet, sorry. Forgot to bring the camera cords to my sister's place.

Our initial assessment is that it needs more work than we thought. But we're being realistic and embracing the joys of home ownership. Given enough time (and money), we'll fix it up just the way we want it!

Anyone who takes the time to read this blog is welcome to visit whenever work or play takes you to NYC. It's 30 minutes direct to Manhattan on the train.

The kids took it all in stride. Last night Greta rolled over on her air mattress in the basement of our friend's house and said, "I want to go home." This afternoon, as she was standing in her new backyard, I asked her if she liked the new place and she said, "I want a swing." Lincoln already ate twice in the new digs, burped once and filled his diaper three times.

Goodbye to all this

The house is a mountain of boxes. Three guys spent seven hours today wrapping and packing and taping shut everything we own. Tomorrow it all goes on the truck. We head to New Jersey on Thursday, overnighting with our friends the Hitchcocks in Manalapan before making our way to South Orange to buy the new house on Friday.

All of which is a round-about way of saying I probably won't post again until the weekend. Haven't sorted out Internet access yet, but I should be able to share a story or two from my sister's in Rye, N.Y., where we're spending next weekend before the movers deliver all our boxes on Mon., Aug. 27.

Greta took the unsettling sight of her belongings condensed to six medium-sized boxes fairly well. Her first words as she ran into the playroom: "My books!" We softened the blow and bought two new books for this evening's entertainment: Just Me and My Mom and Just Me and My Dad. Featuring that weird looking monster family, the result of some crazed experiment breeding a Muppet with a Berenstain bear.

It seems fitting to have the final image of our second D.C. chapter be a photo of Greta and Jay, born together on May 5, 2005. Twenty-eight of our 39 months here were defined by their bond, and the friendship it strengthened with my Middlebury classmate Gardner and his wife Allison. When the Associated Press offered me a job, I really did weigh my career vs. Greta's early childhood. By pulling her away from her best friend, do we forever alter who she's going to become? Or, as Allison put it on Sunday, do we actually improve the odds of a lifelong friendship? I believe what she said was: "Now they can fall in love and get married, without the stigma attached to a childhood pal!" In any case, we'll miss you guys.

Superbad Superdad

Because I'm 35, married for almost eight years to my fourth grade sweetheart, and looking ahead to a new job and a new house with a 2-year-old and a newborn, Superbad is tonight's movie of choice. The last "guy pass" with my friend Gardner. Much more about the Humphreys family and how mightily we will miss them in a future post. For now, as Lincoln finishes his 4 a.m. feeding, just a photo of Superdad, smiling in spite of it all.

First smiles

Full disclosure: Carey says he's been smiling for a couple weeks, but this is the first time she caught it on camera.

"Please God, don't wake me up"

Once again, I didn't witness this story, but Carey did and I get to re-tell it.

Ever since Lincoln's birth, Greta has changed her sleep pattern. She's usually not down until 8:30 or so, and she sleeps later -- until 7 or so. Problem is, the Mirant Corp. coal train rolls through our Alexandria neighborhood between 8:30-9 p.m. and often wakes her up before she reaches a deep sleep. So for a few weeks she would always blame the train for her inability to sleep. Didn't matter if there was actually a train or not or if she was just napping or it was bedtime. "The train woke me up," became her refrain.

The second element of this story: I've adopted Carey's habit of saying prayers with Greta after tucking her in to bed. First I ask her who she wants to pray for. "Lincoln," she'll say. My prayers always start the same way: "Dear God, Hi, God, please keep Lincoln healthy and happy..." Greta echoes the "Hi, God" portion as she lies on her back and waves at the ceiling. Yes, it really is that cute.

Well, a few nights ago, Carey was saying prayers with Greta and after she had wished her grandmothers and little brother and a few other friends all the best, she stopped and said this post's headline: "Please God, don't wake me up."

It seemed brilliant to me then and it still does. Omnipotent God, spending His time keeping our 2-year-old from sleeping. Sending trains, thunder storms, and anything else that might disturb her slumber. And our darling daughter, who has a nightly conversation with Him, directly asking if He could just knock it off so she can sleep.

Why Carey didn't want to cut Greta's hair

She's also -- finally -- learning the typical child's response to "cheese!" -- barring her teeth and forcing a smile.

Simple pleasures

Anybody else remember the sense of wonder and discovery you felt the first time you read the back of the cereal box?

Video du jour

I stayed home today (my last vacation day before permanent msnbc.com vacation!), so was able to capture moments like this on video. I imagine Carey's daily routine is filled with dozens more. Sweet, ain't it?

And Vickie, if you can't watch it by clicking the play icon once (or sometimes you have to click it twice), see if you can watch via this direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4DM5W59sdY

Take me out to the ballgame

Lincoln enjoyed his first major league experience on Saturday, courtesy of the Ithaca College Washington, D.C., Alumni Association. Pretty good deal, actually. For $25, you got a ticket to the Sports Legends Museum next to Camden Yards and entry to the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum down the street, plus lunch and an upper deck, first base line seat. The evil Red Sox won 6-2, but we won't dwell on that. As you can see from the photos, the kids sat fairly contentedly through 6 innings. Thank God for the kind woman behind us, who Greta kept turning around to face. They kept each other amused. And when the kind stranger trick didn't work, we plied Greta with food -- ice cream, peanuts and M&Ms! If that's what it takes to have her love the game as much as Dad, I'm all for it.

"At the ballet"

Carey made up this song months ago and to our surprise Greta still likes it. She occasionally dons her tutu and her fairy wand and dances to it. It's not much, but I captured it on video last night. I'm pretty sure that graceful sit-down at the end has an actual name in the ballet world. Anybody know what it's called?

Strollin'

Just a nice photo from Sunday, as Greta took one of her babies for a walk. It's amazing how quickly she's grown up in our eyes since Lincoln's arrival. Now if we could just work on the whining and the obstinacy at bedtime.

Weekend through my Dad's lens

110+ images for the die-hard fans, like NBC News production assistant Christine Delargy. Link here. Best two shots below. (We think that's Lincoln's first recorded smile :-)

Weekend recap

My Mom & Dad left this morning, after spending a lovely couple days with their new grandson and Greta. Saturday we celebrated the birthday of the Friendship Firehouse in Alexandria. Greta didn't seem to enjoy sitting in the fire truck any more this year than she did last. But she really enjoyed having a butterfly painted on her arm and she ate a great lunch at Union Street Public House. (Kim, my mom agrees with you: The French Fries are extraordinary.) Saturday afternoon we filled up Greta's toddler pool and had an impromptu party in the median of our parking lot. Not sure why we didn't stroll to the community pool, except that when given the choice, Greta chose the "little" pool over the "big" one.

Sunday morning we gorged ourselves on Belgian waffles (Thanks, Aunt Kathy!), then fed the ducks on the Potomac. In the afternoon we went mall hopping, looking for some obscure footwear that my father can't find in upstate New York. SAS shoes, anyone?

Now they're a few hours up the road, I'm back at work, Greta's at school, and Carey's running errands. The clock is really ticking now, as we countdown just 16 more days of our life here in the nation's capital. For those who read this blog and DON'T know, I start a new job at the Associated Press in New York after Labor Day. We sell our house in Alexandria on Aug. 22 and buy a new one in South Orange, N.J., on Aug. 24. Lots more about the move and all the changes in future posts. For now, a handful of photos from the weekend, preceeding a longer slideshow later.

More Gr & Gr photos

The last one was taken with the cell phone, so here are a couple in better light. The kids are having a great time so far. Two new chests for Lincoln to sleep on and two new people for Greta to play with. Plus, Daddy got to see TWO movies on Friday & Saturday! (Thumbs up for "The Bourne Ultimatum, "thumbs down for "Rescue Dawn.") Could life get better?

Grandma's here!

And Lincoln fits just perfectly!

Cutting edge

It looks like the nays have it. No haircut for Greta. Unless my father, who is visiting this weekend, decides to take scissors in hand. I'm still missing part of my left ear from when he chose to do that to me when I was two!

To Educate Voters: The Rest of the Story

When Rob and I talked about taking a poll about whether Greta should get her bangs cut, I thought we agreed on posting "before the day starts" and "end of the day" pictures so you would be educated voters. The picture in Rob's post below is "end of the day." Here Little Miss G is in her off-to-daycare glory, hair combed back in a pony tail:

To cut or not to cut?

Take a look at the photo to the right, then take our poll above. This is a parenting Democracy, so we'll do whatever our blog readers demand!

Push!

We think it's well ahead of schedule, but what do we know? In any case, Mr. Lincoln enjoys his tummy time (unlike his older sister back in the day) and at 5 weeks (only 1 week, if you're counting from full-term!) is quite adept at grunting himself into a near push-up position. When bathing, he exercises his lower-body muscles as well, pushing off the ground with his feet as we support his tummy. Looks kind of like yoga's downward-facing dog.

Light show

We've dragged most of Greta's baby toys out of storage and Lincoln's favorite is the blanket that Greta spent hours on when she was a newborn. They lie together watching the colored lights flash. Greta periodically does a leg lift and says, "Look, Linc." No doubt he's watching -- and learning.