Surly

Owen, pounding blocks, surly. 

Mom

is purple my color? 

What's up there?

I'm sure he's not looking for what it looks like he's looking for. 

The precious?

After Owen found this, he got kind of emaciated and freaky talking. Also, he lost his hair and became immortal. 

Pensive

Owen, in the living room, pensive. 

Happy boy!

Owen, in the living room, happy. 

Take me to the Mardi Gras!!

Owen loves mardi gras beads! It was, of course, a sad mardi gras for us this year, thinking so much of New Orleans. But it was at least fun to have Owen play with the beads. And we didn't even make him lift his shirt. 

Happy Birthday!

As you may know, today is Andy's birthday!  Happy Birthday Andy!

 

In other news, B is out for a girls' night dinner tonight, so I should have plenty of time to work on the blog.

Annoying

There's nothing more annoying than having a big stack of Owen photos set to post and then running into technical trouble. I can't seem to make either Picassa or blogger load these photos. I'm going to give it another try, but if it doesn't work I'm going to bag it and try again tomorrow.

Very sorry for the technical problem.

Not Guilty

Are there two words in the English language more beautiful than "not guilty"? Happily, I got to hear them today from a jury foreman at the conclusion of my very first jury trial. I couldn't be more pleased.

Also, for you the blog viewing audience, this means I now have time to update this blog with pictures from its main attraction, Mr. Owen V. Kaiser.

A non-Owen post

I am now irrationally obsessed with Ultra-Mobile Personal Computers. You might think, and you'd be right, that with a trial next week, two violation of supervision hearings tomorrow, a motions hearing Friday, a sentencing Monday, another sentencing the following Monday, and yet another sentencing hearing the Wednesday after that, in addition to a new baby on the way, a day-long session retreat on Saturday and a busy schedule of stuff to do on our church's Pastor Nominating Committee, that I don't have time to be obsessed with Microsoft's new gadget. And you would be right. But obsessions aren't rational.

Also, I think this looks cool. And weird.

Clinton is out

Ok, I hear you. Clinton is out. I think the point Sue and Mom made is spot on; the only viable nickname is "Clint." It would inevitably be "Clint." I can't handle "Clint." I've known some nice Clints, or, well, one nice Clint. But I'm not sure he isn't an outlier. For what it's worth, the tacit assumption of Mom's post and Sue's post, that the associations with Bill Clinton are accidental, is kind of off. I like the name because of the association with 42.

And, I feel your pain Jess. If we bring the next Varner girl into the world with Baby Y, I'd be psyched too. Although I'd also be psyched if Baby Y is a boy. It's kind of nice how much Bridgette and I have kept our thoughts about which sex we'd prefer from creeping in. I really think we'd both be happy either way; which is nice for whatever Baby Y is. Unless, of course, Baby Y is Portugese; I can't abide that.

But, if you have a particular name that you think is particularly nice, feel free to post it here. We're coming up on the home stretch so things are kind of starting to lock in a little bit, but I'm always eager to hear a good suggestion. You may want to test drive any such name here first, it's a nice popularity meter for names. We're kind of trying to stay away from the very popular names (apparently like Owen, which was the 66th most popular name in 2004).

V-Dog and the O-ster

Uncle Andy has always been, and I hope always will be, a favorite of Owen's. Here, Andy puts his finger in Owen's mouth to keep him from crying. I don't recall whether his finger was clean. 

Lisa

Lisa again holds Owen and manages to avoid having her face displayed on camera.

This is about Owen's fourth week of life. 

Stepping out

This was our first meal out with Owen. I ate the entire meal with my finger in his mouth so he wouldn't cry.

And, Gran, if you're reading this, yes, I even washed it first. 

Seriously?

This photo captures the moment when Owen realizes there wasn't a mistake at the hospital; Bridgette and I are really going to be his parents. I'm sure if he knew how to fill out the paperwork he would have filed a motion for reconsideration. 

Second week visits

We were lucky that Greg and Lois were in town during Owen's second week of life. Lois's daughter had just had a baby down in Virginia, and they were on their way back home when they stopped by. 

First photo?

I think this is the first photo of any kind that we have of Owen. My dad may have an earlier one from his visit the day after Owen was born, but I don't think we do. Of course, when we left the house to go to the hospital, we didn't have a bag packed, so while we did have the remote control to the VCR, we did not have a digital camera. I can tell this one is earlier than the others posted tonight because of the IVs in B's arm. 

First picture with me

I think this is the first picture we have with both me and Owen. 

Pre-Owen

The freaky thing is that I think B is about that size now, with four weeks to go.

Oh boy, this is coming soon. 

Happy boy!

I don't think I've ever looked this happy. 

He's awake!

Here's an early one after we got home from the hospital. I remember so very clearly how much I couldn't wait for him to wake, and then how terrified I felt when he finally did. 

The early days

We've been thinking and planning a fair bit for the arrival of Baby Y lately (I just toured the hospital where Baby Y will likely be born; Bridgette tours the place on Thursday night), and figuring out who'll watch Owen while B is in labor and I'm "interacting" with the hospital staff (it'll be our good friend Lisa), and other, similar issues. I thought it would be fun to have a retrospective of the early days of Owen's life. Here, for example, is one of the earliest photos of Owen there is. I think that here he's about 3 days old, having just been released from NICU. Doesn't B look rested? 

Call for thoughts on a boy's name for Baby Y

As you know, Baby Y is coming soon. And, as you likely know, the procedure for deciding on a first name is that I get to select the names and B can only veto them (I, of course, get to decide on the middle name without such veto power, but with a strong desire that both Bridgette and Baby Y like me, particuarly later in life).

That said, there's a first name I'm thinking about that I've decided to open up for comments from you, the blog reader. I'm going to put a name at the bottom of this post, and I invite you to put your thoughts about this name in a comment to this post.

Let me say three things first, however.

First, even if every single person writes something bad about this name, if I still like it, the name is in play. Thus, I would ask you to please moderate your comments somewhat. It is probably not prudent to say something like "Only a complete idiot would select [the name]." unless you really, really mean it, and feel like sharing that thought with such an idiot. Also, who knows, Baby Y may find these comments interesting later, and will, doubtless, have strong thoughts about his name.

Second, I'm much more interested in reasoned reactions than just reactions. Merely writing something like "no" is a lot less persuasive than writing a reason for a "no" thought.

Third, this name is a boy's name. We still don't know if Baby Y is a boy or girl; please don't read anything into the fact that this is a boy's name.

Ok, that said, here's the name: Clinton.

Baby Y update

B had another appointment on Friday with the doctor for the Baby Y thing. After a sonogram, and with a margin of error that I don't know, Baby Y comes in with a current weight of 6 pounds. And there's 5 weeks yet until the due date. If Baby Y gains the average babies gain the their last month of gestation, Baby Y will weigh 8 and a half pounds when born.

Lack of update update

You'll notice that I've been remiss in updating this blog lately. I'm sorry about that, but things don't look likely to improve in the near future. I took today off work to hang out with Owen and B, but tomorrow is another day at the office after I spend the morning at my other office (i.e., the church).

I'm just really, incredibly busy at work these few weeks. B is really picking up a lot of slack at home, and I'm very grateful. It's going to be bad until at least March 29th, but the upside is that there should be a lull at work when Baby Y comes.

But, bottom line, more pics when I can, and I'm sorry there's a delay.

Jess reads

Jess has an excellent eye for good Owen books. Here she reads him "Noisy kisses."

For what it's worth, this book is training Owen to kiss (there's a set of lips on the back page that you're supposed to kiss at the end of the book). On Sunday, Owen tried to kiss a three year old boy, Adam, he was playing with as they were saying goodbye. It was a little awkward, but only because Adam has two dads, and I was really torn about whether to blame them for the kiss (e.g., "my kid is around a gay couple for two hours and you've already converted him."). Also, Adam seemed to think it was strange, which was, itself, strange. 

Owen and Jess are rapt

but Gran disapproves. 

Quality time with Mike

Owen and Mike here are surfing the internet. I think Owen is trying to figure out if this is a joke. He's about to go to the Amazon page to try to preorder. 

Four generations

My secretary, who today announced her retirement, is really into multiple generation pictures as a photographic type. Here's probably the worst four generation photo imaginable. 

Owen and Gran

Who's feeding who? 

Owen and John cuddle

Much like Sean is Irish for John, Ian is Scottish for John, and Juan is Spanish for John, Owen is Welsh for John. Perhaps that's why they got on so well.

Though I tend to think most guys named "Matt" are jerks, so maybe I'm reading too much into that. 

More from Nebraska

Here are more Nebraska photos. And, really, this is the last batch I'll be posting.

In this photo, Owen asks the camera operator to please have Gran stop inquiring whether his hands are clean. "I'm a toddler Gran, of course my hands aren't clean." 

Downloading Picture

I've gotten a number of requests for an explanation how to download the pictures of Owen from this blog to your computers. Here's how.

(1) Click on the picture. This should take you to a separate screen in your browser where the picture is really big (though your browser may resize it automatically).

(2) Right click on the picture. Select "Save Picture As"

(3) Name the picture and select the folder on your computer you want it in.

(4) Click "Save."

(5) Chill, 'cause you're done.

I've been very busy with work and our church's Shrove Tuesday Talent Show (I was the mc for the third year in a row and, wow, the pressure was high). There will be more pictures of Owen soon. Believe it or not, we still have photos to put up from our trip to Nebraska.

Congratulations to Jess (again)

Hey, big shout out to my cousin Jess, for getting into yet another graduate school. See the details here. I couldn't agree more about how fun it would be to live in New York City.