Craig and the Family

Aaron and his ring

2008-08-04T15:11:00.001+02:00

:-)

Aaron does the roll

2008-08-04T15:09:00.001+02:00

:-)

Growing up

2008-08-02T20:44:00.001+02:00

IMG_1841
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

Today I finally caught lots of Aaron on video as he's rolling over now and holding up his head and grabbing his ring (yes it's the same type Jason had but not the same one). He's a very happy baby always smiling, grinning and laughing and starting to make lots and lots of noises.

We've no jealousy issues so far and his big brother actually comes running over to caress his head/face or rub his belly if he starts to cry. In the car his big brother keeps an eye on him and tells us if something is not right so we can stop and check things out.

It's tough with two kids but we are holding up nicely and getting into a rhythm - my work travels coming up will hopefully not be too disruptive. Speaking of travels all 4 of us stayed the night in a hotel this past week in Frankfurt because we had an early appointment at the Consulate the next morning. So within the next couple of weeks will receive Aaron's US birth certificate, passport and the works and thus will have everything we need for our end of the year trip to Florida.

Happy young man...

2008-08-02T20:35:00.001+02:00

IMG_1849
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

Despite a small fall that resulted in yet another trip to the emergency and a high fever the last couple of days our man Jason here has been on top of the world, talking more and more (and more and more and more) and generally enjoying a great summer filled with water for the most part - quite funny to see him running around the garden with the hose. If we turn it off he immediately stops and yells "ohhh NO knotten" a knot in the hose - then quickly forgets it and jumps in the pool.

4 yrs later...

2008-08-02T20:31:00.001+02:00

4 yrs later...
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

I bought this flag and decided I wanted to put it up over the house about 4 years ago, I have 3 of the 4 I want. The two from Scotland, the US and I still need to find a German one (of equal size) so I went out and bought all the pieces, and put it all together painted it the whole deal.

Today it went up, and it was toasted with a shot of Scottish "Honey" Whiskey Liqueur :-)

I need to fix the line it's a bit long and so tomorrow I will probably redo that part but otherwise it's up and I'm a happy camper!

I found it Dad!

2008-06-23T22:35:00.001+02:00

IMG_1483
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

I actually thought I hid this one pretty good but apparently not, Jason found his "Mater" truck from Disney Cars the Film. It's big, heavy and makes a lot of noise when it falls on the floor which is why I hid it hoping that mater after awhile we could bring it back out and not worry about it sliding across the living room (having been through from the dining room).

Needless to say he found it and for 3 days I prepared myself for the noise, it didn't come Mater is sitting on his play table with an assortment of other little cars just chilling out :-) our little guy is getting older it seems.

Hanging ten...

2008-06-23T22:30:00.001+02:00

IMG_1481
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

I've never heard or seen anything like this before, quite interesting device.

Basically it hangs there and Aaron lays on it but it's also a seat (you can't see his back end sloped down and his feet are on the floor) and this helps build muscles and with the whole supporting of the neck and all that.

So far 2 minutes is max before he gets bored but he's holding his up quite well!

My house

2008-06-23T22:28:00.001+02:00

IMG_1474
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

We decided it was time for Jason it get a place of his own, OK no really it's summer and we are outside more than inside lately so we wanted to get one of those plastic house things for Jason to play in.

eBay of course and 10 minutes of cleaning it then 10 minutes to put it together then hours later he can't get enough, if only he would stop tumbling out the window and use the door instead LOL.

Our water rat...

2008-06-23T22:26:00.001+02:00

IMG_1460
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

It's happened, we kind of figured it would but I guess ignored it at the time. We've had a water rat, a 2 year old water rat that won't get out of the water, won't stop jumping in the puddles and will drag the garden hose around and complain their is a knotten (knot) in the hose if no water comes and will do so until someone turns it on.

He actually uses the excuse he wants to "blume wasser" (water the plants) which quickly turns into attacking anyone close enough with the water until they are soaked...

Poor Tic Tac Oma (great grandma) isn't as fast as she used to be and is often completely soaked in minutes while Jason is falling over laughing.

But I wanna...

2008-06-23T22:23:00.001+02:00

IMG_1416
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

We found this cool little table on eBay for the garden, and of course Jason decided the best way to "test" it was of course to immediately climb up on top and jump around.

The look that says "but what do you mean I shouldn't climb up here..."

Look Mom!

2008-06-23T22:21:00.001+02:00

IMG_1392
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

Well things are very much back to normal here at home and Aaron is progressing along like a champ, getting bigger and more active day ba day!

He's not laughing and smiling and starting to grab things so we are very excited! In his little chair he'll bat around the little toys attached to it or when we lay him on the couch with a mobile thingy over him.

Lately he's just constant smiling (even though I've yet to capture a picture of it).

10 Weeks in review

2008-06-01T21:13:00.001+02:00

This weekend was the first one where all 4 of us were here at home in the past couple of weeks! So I decided it might be a good time to take a look back at the last 10 or so weeks since around the time Aaron arrived.

Jason fell and busted his lip, resulting in Nicole and he being in the hospital for a few days, the following week Nicole went into the hospital to have Aaron.

Aaron and Nicole stayed n the hospital for a week or so.

My mom flew over from the US and the first week Aaron was home we had her here (thank goodness!!!!)

Then we began to slowly try to figure things out, luckily I was on vacation the whole time so that helped to sort things out.

Jason and I drove 360KM down to Walldorf, stayed in a hotel, visited my office then drove home.

I went off to Walldorf over night and all was well - a bit hectic and stressful but none to bad.

I went to Berlin for 3 days and Nicole had "stress" so that was kind of rough.

I got home and the following night around midnight, Nicole called down and said she needed me - Aaron was throwing up and could not get it out of his system resulting in not being able to breath. 110 (that's 911 in Germany for you US folks) and the ambulance came and off they went.

They spent several days in the hospital, came out and 24 hrs later the little guy was throwing up non stop. Back they went. It seems they picked up a virus while there.

A few days later (this is called Parenting right?) I got to hold Jason in my arms while he threw up down my back all night long. Needless to say we both got it too (I had issues the following night about 20 hrs after Jason).

So this weekend we enjoyed being home and having time together, most of it was spent outside on a beautiful day!

We are hoping that we can finally get into some type of a routine!

I did it again...

2008-05-07T09:18:00.001+02:00

IMG_1095
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

I seem to do those dumb things you shouldn't and yesterday was no exception, Jason loves when the balls hits and falls down through the tree therefore if you start down this path you have to keep going and round about the 4th time the ball got stuck - I of course climbed the tree to get it down. We are now of course worried that today once Jason hits the garden he's going to want to "climb the tree" as well...

Here's fingers crossed that he doesn't think about it!

The Gardner

2008-05-07T09:15:00.001+02:00

IMG_1053
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

Instead of just running around this weekend Jason decided it was time to earn his keep (about time I would say) and therefore he decided to help out his Opa by doing some watering...

Lazy Day

2008-05-07T09:14:00.002+02:00

IMG_1042
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

In a moment of peace and quiet we snapped this photo of the two guys just chilling out.

On another note, this morning Jason decided he wanted his little brother next to him in bed and so he dragged Aaron up the bed next to him (he pulled the foot or better said the pyjama foot) - kind of scared us!

Home all 4 of us...

2008-04-03T23:06:00.001+02:00

In a surprise move Nicole and little Aaron came home today instead of first thing in the morning. Nicole was ready to be home and Jason and I were ready for them to be home.

Now we've all been home for at least 4 hours now and everyone seems to be just fine,

I also seem to be the last one up as usual :-)

Jason is also very excited to have Mama home as well it's been rough on him this past week, when I told him tonight I had a surprise for him he screamed Mama and ran for the door - we drove to the hospital and brought everyone home. You can see from the photo even chatting with Mama on the phone was not enough but now that she is home he seems to be almost 100% back to himself.

Checking out the flowerpot...

2008-03-29T22:08:00.002+01:00

IMG_0022
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

I got a new Canon EOS 400D, it's a digital SLR camera and is just amazing so Jason was my guinea pig today while I tried it out. I managed to capture this one as he was sitting down on the patio checking out the flower pot, not 100% sure what had his attention so much but he was focused on it for a good 5 minutes or so...

The camera is amazing and is "more camera" than I've ever had, Nicole on the other hand I think will do great with it she's got a great eye!

Aaron Peter

2008-03-29T22:05:00.002+01:00

Aaron Peter
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

Well he has arrived, he was born on 28.03.2008 at 12:02pm. Coming in at 3270g and 50cm he's healthy and happy resting with his mother (also healthy and happy)!

It's been in the world now for some time and today he got to meet his older brother, it went quite well - Jason came in saw him and said "baby" and took a look and did the little head rub deal and all that then decided to run out and play. Aaron was eating so it wasn't like we could do much else other than stand there.

He came back in at this time I had Aaron in my arms and Mama was off in the bathroom (she's doing great, already up and walking) and Jason's first word when he saw the empty bed was "BABY!" and he looked everywhere then saw him in my arms then said "MAMA!" so looks like he has already acknowledged the new guy into the family and he takes first place (I'm of course last but he as long as everyone is happy right?).

Aaron had a bit of fever but once he started to eat then things went back to normal and today he was eating away so all is well and everyone is happy! I've not had much time there as I've been with Jason but the time has been cherished both with Jason as well as with Aaron!

Busted Lip

2008-03-24T12:00:00.002+01:00

Busted Lip
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

Jason: "I fell down and like many little kids I bit right into my bottom lip. It was so bad I had to have stitches and for that I needed to go to sleep (tube in my mouth and everything) then I spent two days in the hospital with Mama watching movies because I was not allowed to run around and play or anything."

Have to say it was probably the hardest time we've had so far, Nicole stayed with him in the hospital (no TV so I bought a portable DVD player) and they ended up just watching movies the whole time, ok just one movie - "Disney Cars".

Nerve racking to say the least considering how nervous I was about Nicole deciding it was "time" and having ot head up 3 floors to deliver.

Ein Ami comes to Lippstadt

2008-03-11T20:50:00.002+01:00

It's been an adventure being here in Germany, as well as trying to decide what to add to this book. It's my first non technical book and I've decided to go the self publishing route as I thought it would be easier than the "publishing company" way - OK it wasn't in fact a bit harder but also a bit more fun.

Surprisingly it was more stressful as well as less stressful at the same time. I've been playing around with it for about two years now taking a few minutes here and there where as my last book I was done in a matter of months. Working when I want is nice but taking two years, well I feel bad about that I should have worked a but harder I think and dedicated more time. The original at the end of last year was probably 3 times the size but I felt it was too much and quite a bit of it more or less fit into a category by itself, so what is now available I hope is the highlights where as the rest is being added to 3 additional book projects I'm playing around with.

Will I publish again, maybe lots of it depends on the response from this book and others simply depend on whether or not I have the time and motivation (again feedback the positive kind does help in that area).

So without further ado, here it is - I'd appreciate any feedback (good or bad)!

The prices in US Dollar (great for those of you in the EU) are $9.99 for the printed version and $6.25 for the eBook version.

As scary as it was when asked, yes I'll sign your copy if you and I are ever in the same space at the same time...

First views...

2008-03-03T21:55:00.002+01:00

doc_7.jpg
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

The little guy is getting much bigger, the time is getting closer and of course we are super excited!

This week is the next meeting so we'll have another chance to see him, the 3D technology is just amazing!

Jason and Snow!

2008-02-19T07:50:00.001+01:00

IMG_8498
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

Finally he got to see snow, we've had a very mild winter this year, I've not even had to shovel at all and only one time have I thrown down salt.

I was away so quite a bummer but seeing as how Opa had to pull him up hill maybe I missed out on the hard work ;-)

Nicole said Jason had a blast thanks to the cool wooden sled from Oma (2006 first time to use it now).

3D Ultrasound

2008-02-19T07:47:00.002+01:00

3D
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

Finally we managed to get the 3D Ultrasound done, this photo of course doesn't look like 3D we'll get those later on CD I think there is 8 already. I missed it because I was away at a team meeting 362 KM south of here so that was kind of depressing :-(

All is well and we are in end game now only a few more weeks to go! Jason seems to be "aware" that there is really a baby in mommy's tummy so we're pretty curious how he's going to react to everything!

Time is counting down...

2008-02-03T15:59:00.001+01:00

Jason's 2nd Birthday!

2008-01-29T22:04:00.001+01:00

We've just celebrated our 2nd birthday and it was a great day!

From the bike from Oma to the food!