it's cold out there...

Lauren got a great surprise from MawMaw and G-daddy on Saturday. Her very own pony named Trixie. She really had a good time playing with her new friend.



We got our first taste of the winter to come today. The high was 50 degrees and that was set at 8:00am this morning and it's hovered just below there since then. It was kind of a wet and soggy day, but Lauren is feeling better. Last week, she had a cold that turned into an ear infection. You could just tell by looking at her that she was miserable. Today was almost the exact opposite of that...you could look at her and tell how much she just enjoys life. We had such a good time.



Lauren and Beth made Tortilla Soup today. She gave Beth some space and wasn't as much of a "hold me" baby since she was feeling better. After our wonderful dinner, we braved the "blizzard" and took a walk by the "lake." I think Lauren will be excited to play in the snow one day...soon. She definitely takes after her daddy and has the right gear to deal with adverse conditions. Check out her jumpsuit



goodnight!

We're home!

After a quick weekend trip to Austin for me, and a couple of extra days for Beth and Lauren, we're back to "normal" in B-ville. Lauren is having her first school photos at her class at church tomorrow. It's pretty exciting to have someone else do the photos for a change!

We had lots of fun in Austin (other than having to work). Lauren had an opportunity to visit with her old friend, Sam Brown, this weekend. They got to play in the Pumpkin Patch at Terrytown United Methodist Church. Trying to get 18 month olds to cooperate is a challenging endeavor. It's easier to herd cats, actually...

I'll post a couple soon.

goodnight!

Trip to Austin

Well, here we go. Our first family trip back to Austin. This is more of a work trip for me and hopefully, more of a family oriented trip for Beth and Lauren. We have a wedding this weekend and two more (weekend before Turkey day and Memorial Day weekend 08) before we're finished. After that, I will concentrate my photography efforts on flowers and buildings and other stuff that doesn't move unless it's named Lauren. Speaking of Lauren, she was primping for Austin tonight...

I cannot get over this girl's curls!!!

Someone actually asked Beth if they were natural!?!

We're just about packed, but I'm having difficulty figuring out what gear to leave behind. Honestly, I could probably shoot the whole wedding with 2 lenses, but you just never know what you're going to need or what you're going to leave on the front row of the church...

I got off early this afternoon because a water main burst downtown and we didn't have water at the pilot plant. No water = no bathrooms or AC = go home. I can't say that I complained too much. I had a migrain that didn't go away until I napped for about an hour. Beth had a biopsy on one of her moles today, so please say a prayer that it comes back negative. You always hold your breath until you have been cleared.

We're still trying to get used to how things work in a small town. It seems like we're always getting the run-around in some way. Yesterday, for instance, the lady that was scheduled for at least a month in advance because she was booked solid, called and canceled 30 minutes before Beth's appointment. Not exactly small-town hospitality. Of course we have no way of knowing if she had a family emergency or what, but still, it's just one example in a long chain of events. Our lawn guy is flaky. We practically had to beg to get an OB appointment and sonogram 6 weeks late (we should have found out a month ago that we're having a boy). Just stuff. So, on a whim, Beth called Patricia, her hairstylist from Austin and she's going to go in after hours on Sunday night to do Beth's hair. We miss people like that. I guess we're just not considered "locals" yet.

Alright, our little baby is demanding that Beth eat some icecream, so I'll sign off in a sec. Before I leave, Lauren wanted me to post a couple of photos of her new friend, Sam Gregory.

the day before hump day...

It's only Tuesday, but it already feels like Wednesday. I suppose that makes for a long week.

We had Bible study tonight. I met a lot of great guys and I'm hopeful that my experience will be somewhat akin to my first Bible study group in Austin. That study started a number a lifelong type friendships. Beth enjoyed her Bible study as well (the wives of all the guys in my study). It's good to feel a part of something--it makes the transition to Bartlesville that much easier.

Lauren enjoyed our Bible study, too. She stayed up WAAAAYYY past her bedtime. She normally goes to sleep around 7:00 but didn't finally conk out until about 9:00 tonight. Maybe she'll sleep in for Beth tomorrow or she'll have a good morning nap after her flu shot...poor kiddo. It's never fun to get stuck by a needle. Erin, our newly found babysitter, took great care of her tonight. To make matters even better, she knows the meaning of the phrase, "Wooo Pig Soieee!" as she is a recent Arkansas grad.

That's it for now...goodnight.

And it's a...

BOY!!! We went to the OB's office this morning and he told us that we were having a baby girl. Then he realized he'd made a mistake and missed something :)

We're really excited--of course this means that we now have to buy all new clothes and such, but we can't wait. Now all we need is to figure out what we're going to name him. I'm thinking Habbakuk. Beth doesn't like it though, so we'll see.

The Last Day of September

Today was the last day of the month...a day that saw my nine year membership at Hyde Park fall away and a new beginning at First Baptist Bartlesville. I really feel like we've found a church we can call home. Pastor Joe Fowler is an amazing person and speaker and you can tell he has a heart that chases God. As we went down front to join the church, you could just see the look of joy in his face. This place is not about numbers, it is about people. Beth, Lauren, and I look forward to growing in the Spirit and making lots of friends at this church.

Lauren enjoyed her moment in the spotlight. As we were standing at the front, she suddenly noticed that there was a large projection screen for the choir to see the sermon (so it faces the pulpit). She saw us standing up there and started pointing at the screen saying, "Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy!" Of course, this was picked up by the pastor's mic and she had the congregation--all 1,000-- rolling. The pastor lost his train of thought and the minister of education (a University of Arkansas grad) told everyone he'd never seen the pastor get so lost in the middle of an introduction. All in all, it was a great morning!

This afternoon, we took a few maternity shots of Beth. I'm including one here.



After the photo session, we decided to take a nap. Now that's how a Sunday afternoon should go. After we woke up, we ate dinner (roast) and watched a sudden downpour. The spiders all had to rebuild their webs. Lauren had a good time watching.

That's all for today, but maybe I'll have time to write a little more tomorrow--I'm taking the day off.

Fall is here...

We've gotten settled into our new house in Bartlesville. There is certainly an adjustment period that you go through when you move into a new place...you can never remember exactly where you put anything and that can be complicated by the fact that you now have two stories to deal with. It seems like anytime you want something, it's on the other floor. Oh well, I can't complain too much. The extra room is certainly nice.

Lauren is growing up so fast. Today, we went to a local nursery to buy some pumpkins. Lauren LOVES pumpkins. She sees one and will say pumpkin 17 times in a row...so we bought her 17 pumpkins.


We've been trying to get our house ready for fall because the weather has really had that crispness that comes right before the leaves change. I'm so excited for Beth to experience a fall season like the ones I grew up with--there's not much of a fall in Texas.

A couple of weeks ago, we had our first real break in the weather. It was about 55 degrees on Saturday morning. Beth, Lauren and I were downstairs in the den and Beth decided to let Meshach hang out on the patio below. She thought she should check in on him, but when she looked he was no where to be found. He decided that 55 degrees would be a perfect opportunity to chase the swan that mocks him while he's stuck on the deck. Beth looked out onto the pond and there was my dog (I say MY dog, because when he does something wrong he belongs to me) swimming in the pond not too terribly far from the swan. I have no idea what he planned to do with the swan if he caught it. I have a feeling that the swan would have torn him up, but I didn't tell him that. He thought he was big stuff until I yelled at him to get out of the water.

I hate to think of the thoughts running through all of our neighbors' heads...

This photo was taken pre-Meshach chase...

We've found a church home, I'm happy to say. First Baptist Bartlesville has just been absolutely wonderful. The pastor stopped by to visit us a couple of weeks after we'd been visiting and you can just tell that he has a heart for the Lord. We're really excited to get involved. The nursery is fantastic and we've met some people we believe will be great friends.

I guess that's all for now.

-c

Changes

This post finds me at work (8:10pm) knowing I will be here for at least another 10.5 hours. As I listen to an old band called the Jayhawks, I've been getting a bit nostalgic. Looks like I may have a little time to share what's been going on in my life the last few months.

First, an old friend, Jeff Niblack, introduced me to the Jayhawks while I was a co-op engineering student doing a stint at Protein Technologies. "Protein!" you say? That plant smelled so good the women complained that they gained weight just by working there. Oh, r-i-i-i-i-ght. Anyway, the plant was in Pryor, Oklahoma, and I suppose that it's a bit ironic that I would be listening to the Jayhawks while typing on the blog. I'll use that as a segue into the next paragraph.

I put my notice in last week with SRP--I'm trying to give them a couple of months though I fear that still won't be enough--and the reality of leaving is beginning to seep in. For over nine years, I have been in the same office, at the same desk, dealing primarily with the same people every day. I am leaving on really great terms, but it's really hard nonetheless. Because we're such a small research group, my absence will be magnified beyond typical departures. I've got a great relationship with my bosses--I work out with one--and you never know what you're going to get when you venture into the great unknown. Also, I've got a really unique, cool job. I'm trading all of it for financial gain and (hopefully) a better place to raise a family. A larger family...

We're about 2.5 months pregnant with our second child. I haven't even had time to process that yet. E has been uber sick (in the hospital for dehydration) and the photography business has been unrelenting. Between taking care of her, trying to take care of Lolo, and taking Meshach to Arkansas, I've been trying to prepare the house to sell. As I was walking to the control room this evening, I realized that if I didn't look like me, I wouldn't recognize myself. I have changed so much in the last 9 years...I feel like an old man. Not good.

In many ways, even though I believe it for the greater good, the change makes me melancholy. The music is fitting, though.

Easter

Beth is going to be helping me with the blog a little more as I seem to have trouble keeping up with the passing of time.

We went to HPBC yesterday for Easter services. WOW! We have some amazingly blessed vocalists at our church. Our friend, Cara, sang a solo that was just awe inspiring. I am so glad that we were able to take Lauren because she really loves the music. She REALLY loved the bagpipes--it probably has something to do with her Scottish heritage (haha). She was really good during church and we nearly made it through the entire service. We had to leave when she started distracting the good people behind us by waving and smiling at them. She doesn't mind the attention.

We had lunch in Driftwood--ham and green beans, salad, and most importantly, brownies. Somehow we made it home and didn't have any brownie leftovers in our goodie bag. I think John ate them all.

Here we are, it's Monday night and we're trying to get the site updated. Hopefully, this cold weather spell will soon be over (I think it's supposed to be 85 on Thursday, so we don't have to wait long). I hope you all have a blessed night.

Chris

Spring is here...

There is certainly something in the air...ummm...that would be pollen. Our allergies have nearly gotten the best of us. Lauren doesn't seem to mind too much yet. Work has been really crazy the last few weeks and photography has been picking up speed as we head into the wedding season.

Lauren is really beginning to pull up on things and is pretty coordinated. She can actually throw a ball to me if I ask her to. The downside of her learning to throw a ball is that she can also toss a sweet potato clear across the room at dinner time. She also knows that I am "dada." As I was looking at her tonight the realization of how much my parents love me moved me nearly to the point of misting up...I wish all kids could get as much love as Lauren does.

I tried to take a few bluebonnet photos today. They're really good this year but I just can't seem to find the time to get out and take some proper photos--with the tripod, shutter release, no wind, and a nice overcast day. Today was decent, but it was a little windy and there's not much of a backdrop out where I work.

Beth's allergies have been pretty bad the last few days so her mom came in today to help with Lauren. Thanks, Mary! I'm sorry you had to miss work...you probably weren't really "missing" it though, were you?

Lauren's first cousin (first cousin, once removed to be exact), Rylee Grace, was born at 9:46 this morning. She weighed in at 6lb 2oz and was 20in long. I'm glad that Lauren will have someone near her age in the family. All of this family stuff is going to have to happen on Beth's side because my side seems to be slow reproducers :)

On a sadder note, my Piggies can't seem to buy a basketball coach. I'm seriously concerned about what's going on at my alma mater. I guess that's all for tonight.

random ramblings

We recently visited Natalie Mae Wooten in Ft. Worth. It was a fun trip--a little hard to make the drive from Austin to Ft. Worth and back in a day, but well worth it. Clayton and I dreamed of ways to buy property in Canada, watched the Hogs lose to UK in basketball, and talked sports while the four girls took a walk on a cold, sun shiny day. Lauren is getting around pretty quickly these days. Her army crawl has turned into an honest to goodness real baby crawl. Meshach is now on-guard because she enjoys pulling on his ears. Her favorite books are Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear and a Pooh book that has stackable blocks. She loves to say "light," "hat," and "Hi, dadda." And her smile is still the sweetest thing in the whole world.

We just returned from Driftwood and a visit to Grandmommy and Granddaddy's and got to see Aunt Pam and Uncle John in the process. I would post some photos, but I left my camera out there!!! I think I would probably lose my head if it weren't attached to my body.

We got a lot of yard work done this weekend--raked all the leftover leaves, weed eated the yard, fertilized trees and the grass, moved a couple of shrubs, and installed a mailbox. Ahh...isn't adulthood fun?

Spring 2007

Lauren modeling at the park.

If you don't like the weather in Texas, all you have to do is wait a minute and it will change. Truer words have never been spoken. The high today was in the mid-sixties, a far cry from the ice we had last week. We tried to take advantage of the beautiful day by going to the park with our neighbors and we planted a Christmas tree in our backyard. Lauren supervised the planting of the tree. She also got to hang out with Granddaddy after her bath...

Blizzard 2007

For those of you keeping track, we found all but one of the puppets. The circus master may never return from his last tour of duty (may he rest in peace). Today found us in the midst of the great blizzard of 2007. I think we got a quarter of an inch of ice/sleet/snow and they shut down the entire city of Austin. It was mildly amusing. Wherever you are, stay warm and dry, and we hope to see you after we dig out...

Lolo loves the snow. She tries to eat it by sticking her tongue out and catching it. It's pretty dang cute.

Cold, rainy, and sick

Rain has been coming down all day. We've gotten 4.7 inches of rain today, which is a record. The temperature is about 37F and we've got a winter storm warning through Monday. I'm not used to having to deal with this here in Austin. In White Hall, it's a pretty common occurrence, but only the third time I've experienced it since I move to the great state of Texas.

It's always difficult to deal with the rain, but I'm certainly thankful for it anyway. We've been pretty dry the last few years, so the rain is welcome. Getting a 90lb German shepherd out for his walk in the rain is a chore. Actually, getting him out is no problem at all. It's getting him in--I suppose I should say getting him cleaned off enough to let him in the house--is the hard part. And, no matter how thorough you are in drying him, the house still smells like dog.

To top matters off, everytime we take Lolo to the nursery at church she develops a cold the following Wednesday. It never fails. Seriously. The last 3 or 4 times we have taken her, she wakes up on Wednesday with a little rattle which progressively gets worse until goo is coming out of her nose. I seem to catch it every time she brings it home. Bethie has gotten it too. It is somewhat discouraging because we are making the effort to go to church--and believe me, it's an EFFORT. Anyone that has ever had a child understands what I'm talking about. You need to plan to leave thirty minutes before you think you need to leave if you want to be anywhere close to on-time. I think I've had more colds this year than I've had in the last 5 combined.

Here's a couple of shots from today's adventure in the marshland formerly known as Austin...

And a couple of lolo too:

Caught up...briefly

Merry New Year to you all. I've been in the process of updating our personal site this past weekend. Part of that entailed moving my "blog" to something a little more convenient and easy to upload. I'm trying to make the menu functions a little more static on my homepage so that I don't have to update them everytime I make changes to the site. Another goal is to make site managment a little less difficult so that Beth can make changes in her spare time...if such a thing exists.

Please let us know what you think of the changes we've made to our site and also to let us know that you dropped by!

I'll be updating this soon.

December 2006

Merry Christmas to all. It has been a very exciting month in the Lewis household. I turned 32 last week--and I feel every bit of it. Planning for Christmas (Lauren's FIRST!!!) has kept us busy and business has been really crazy. With all of the hustle and bustle, it's hard to keep your eyes on the true meaning of Christmas, but we're trying!

Lauren is soooo smart. She's already saying, "Hi, Dada" when she sees me sometimes. Of course, she also says that to George (Granddaddy). She's also saying "Hight" which is "light" for the rest of us. She's also crawling and sitting up from a reclining position. We've re-arranged our house so that Lauren now has her own play room. It's baby-proofed and gives her lots of room to crawl around and play. Meshach is sad, though, because he doesn't get to come in her room--it's the "no-no" room for him. It's a no-no room for daddy sometimes, too, if he's wearing his work shoes.

We're excited about Christmas. Yesterday, we went to Grandma Ledbetter's house in Kingsland and Lauren got lots of great presents and I got lots of great food. We're going to Driftwood today for some festivities at Great Granny's house and we're hosting a Christmas breakfast tomorrow morning. Then, on Thursday, we're headed to the great land up north--Arkansas--to celebrate the holiday season with my parents. It's been an adventure packed month, and it's not over yet. The next time I write, it will probably be the new year.

October 2006

October 21 -- Another month has nearly come and gone. Lauren is seven months old now and learning something new every day. There is nothing like being a parent to make you understand God's love for us, his children. It's really quite humbling.

We took Lauren to the pumpkin patch today. Well, it wasn't a REAL pumpkin patch, just a local church pumpkin sale. But they had a LOT of pumpkins. Of course, I had to take my camera and here is a sampling. Lauren was joined by two of her buddies, Camden (left) and Sam (right).

I have tried to teach Lauren to always be kind and respect those around you and not do stuff like pull other people's ears. She has taken all of that knowledge to heart. As you can see in the photo below, Lauren gets along extremely well with everybody. Unfortunately, I can't post the next photo in the series. I'm sure we'll find the rest of that ear somewhere around here...

I have also tried to teach her to share and be a giving person. Just on a whim, she gave Sam and Camden cute little hats to match the one she picked out for herself.

She noticed Sam didn't have his on right, so she thought it would be neighborly of her to show him the proper manner to wear a hat--"It goes OVER the ears, Sam," she said. "I'll give this back to you when you learn proper hat etiquette and not until then." She is very demanding. I think she gets this from her mother.

In the end, everything worked out just fine. Sam, Camden, and Lauren had a really good time at the pumpkin patch. So did their parents.

September 2006

September 24 -- I'm finally back online. The unthinkable just about happened. Our business computer died a week and a half ago and tring to replace it was difficult. Fortunately, I had everything backed up, but it's still a pain to reload all of the software.

Lauren went in for her 6 month check up and shots on Friday. I am so glad that we made it through that. I think it's harder for the parents to see their child get shots than it is for the child to get them. Lauren cried for a minute, but she was okay after that. She weighed 16lb 14.5 oz and was in the 80th percentile on height and the 70th percentile on weight. Tall and thin. I hope she doesn't wind up as a model :)

We put her down on her blankets in the living room today and we saw her almost crawl. I think it is a matter of days and not weeks before she becomes mobile. I've got a LOT of work to do around the house to make it childproof. This is all so exciting for me because I've never been around babies--for those of you who don't know, I'm an only child. We haven't had any small children on our side of the family since I was about 10 and I really didn't pay any attention to babies back then.

September 30 -- This is the first weekend we've had in a while where we can say that we're not TOO busy. We've always got stuff to do, but this weekend's load is a little lighter than usual. Lauren is helping me update the site. Over the last couple of weeks, I've gradually gotten the new computer up to speed and I fixed our old computer. Now we've got wireless access here at the house. This gives us a lot more flexibility to process images faster and keeps us from being without a computer if one goes down. It's also a good policy to have everything completely backed up. Just like you need at least two cameras at a wedding, you need two computers at home with all of your images on both.

We took a nice walk to the park this morning. I got a couple of really nice photos of Beth and Lauren--neither of which are hard to photograph. I'm really going to try to be a little more agressive when it comes to keeping this site updated. It's nice to know that it helps me keep in touch with everyone, even at a distance. My goal is to start putting little video clips online sometime within the next week or two.

It's hard to believe October is almost here. I went in Lowes about a week ago and they already had their Christmas stuff out. I cannot understand having Christmas stuff out this early. Before the end of this decade, they will have the Christmas stuff on the shelves by Labor Day...mark my words. It really just makes me sick.

No football this weekend. Beth and I just got back from the mall. We got her some shoes and a couple of shirts and a pair of pants. We got me some new sunglasses. Lauren got a rattle.
It's been a good Saturday. I hope you all are doing well.

August 2006

August 13 -- Well...we sold the truck...and the car...So, we need to buy a vehicle for Beth. I think we're going to get an '01 Volvo. The one we're looking at is in great shape-immaculate inside and out. Hopefully, we'll get all of that taken care of this next week. It's hard to get around without a vehicle when you've got a small child.

It is so HOT. I don't even want to be outside. The yard is dead and I'm trying to keep the trees alive. There are so many things that I need to get accomplished on the house this fall. Painting the windows (or replacing them entirely), landscaping (sodding) the yard, adding a front porch, and re-roofing are the things I'm trying to pick between. Of course, cost is the major issue. It always boils down to money. Funny how that works.

Lauren weighs about 16lbs now. She is chunky--or as Beth just put it, rolley, because chunky sounds fat. She rolls over on her tummy and holds her head up really well. We've also got her sitting up by herself in the boppie. It's so amazing to see her interacting with her surroundings. She is developing so fast.

I'm so glad she has a gentle disposition. It's nice to be able to go places because she is so well-behaved. I hope she stays that way! She sleeps about 12 hours a night, which is good for mommy and daddy too.

July 2006

July 2nd -- What an absolutely ridiculous month June turned out to be. I just put in a 78-hour work week at SRP plus had three weddings in four weeks and a family photo shoot at the capitol on that one off week. I'm completely wiped out! Hopefully, I won't be repeating that anytime soon.

My newest interest is in the field of bio-diesel. I think that it is a potential renewable energy source that could eventually compete with regular petro-diesel. So, one way that you can make bio-diesel is from very simple diatomic algae. Working at UT is definitely a benefit because they have one of the largest algae departments in the world--and they are free to UT employees and students. I've got a couple of samples that I'm trying to grow right now. I'll try to keep a running record of how it's progressing.

Lauren is G-R-O-W-I-N-G! She weighs about 15 lbs now. She has over doubled in size. I'm planning on updating my photo section if you want to see a few photos of her there. If I help her balance in a standing position, she will support all of her own weight. It's really awesome to see how she is developing. She pushes up onto her forearms if you put her onto her stomach and she is sleeping from about 9pm until about 7am. What a wonderful baby! We are so blessed.
Beth looks fantastic. You'd never know by looking at her that she had a baby 3 months ago. I'm really proud of her for getting back to her pre-pregnancy weight so quickly. I actually weigh less than I did before pregnancy. At my heaviest, I was up to about 159lbs and my jeans were starting to get tight. So, about 2 months ago I started riding my bike to work. It's about 6 miles from the house and it's uphill on the way and down hill on the way back. It's a pretty tough ride, especially if I have my laptop, a change of clothes, and my lunch! Since I have been riding, my weight has dropped down to 151lbs and I feel a lot better. I spent about $150 dollars on new tires (more street oriented versus off-road mt bike oriented), a new seat that is supposed to be better for guys, and new shoes. My old ones wouldn't click in and out of my pedals very easily. Between the bus and my bike, I think we could manage with one vehicle. So...

My truck is for sale. I'm selling it for $9000 if you know anyone that is interested. It's a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4 3.5L with manual transmission and a sunroof. I just crossed 90,000 miles and I've never had any trouble with the engine. Beth doesn't drive a standard, so we're going to wind up replacing it eventually--my boss may sell us his truck (a 2002 Infiniti just like my Pathfinder, but it has an automatic transmission)--and selling Beth's car which is entirely too small to get Lauren's car seat in with ease. My goal is to do all this without incurring any car payments, but we'll see how that goes.