The Baby Laughs

Our little water baby is getting so big! He is 16 weeks now and close to 17 pounds. He is wearing 6-9 month size clothes and getting bigger every day.
We are trying to teach him the value of being a life long Seahawks fan. He sat with Dad for the first part of the game against the Bears, then as things went south for the team, things went sour with the boy and what began with a smile...

ended in tears.

Porter recently discovered that he is funny. He thinks it is hilarious when he sticks out his tongue! He does this a lot these days and cracks himself up.

Brandon has had some success in finding work here in the Seattle area. He is currently out in Alaska trying out a new company. If he decides that it is a good fit for him then we could very well end up staying up here. I will keep you posted.

The Family Move...sort of

We had a fantastic time in Washington over the holidays. We enjoyed ourselves so much so that we thought it would be a good idea for Brandon to test the diver employment waters. He sent out resumes to 2 companies and they both got back to him for interviews. He interviewed with 1 company and he wasn't really what they were looking for, but gave him some good advise on how to be a better fit for their company in the future. The 2nd company was looking to hire Brandon immediately and it sounded like a really good job. Brandon would have taken the job if it would have offered us health benefits.

Over the course of our marriage we have learned that living without health insurance is not an option for us. We are both in good health, but are randomly struck with bizarre health situations that need attention. For example...had we known that drinking iced tea in large amounts caused kidney stones alternative beverage choices would have been made in the spring of 2009.

Back to our tale, a job with no health coverage wasn't worth the risk or the cost of personal coverage so we packed up and went back to Texas. Cue the dramatic music! The day after we arrived in Texas Brandon's company called to inform us that a massive lay off was taking place and Brandon was now without a job! Our hearts sunk. We didn't know what to do so we scrambled, calling several companies only to find that mass layoffs were taking place all across the Gulf. We were told that work would pick up in the Spring and there was a lot of work to do, but weather and budgets currently have everything hold. So we decided it was better to be unemployed in Washington than unemployed in Texas. We are moving back to Washington in a week!

Hopefully Brandon will be able to find a job diving in the Pacific North West, but if not, we can always come back to Texas as Brandon already has job offers for the spring. We are very excited to have this opportunity to spend time with our families and see where this new fork in our path leads us.

Photo Day

We had a photo day earlier in the week with Brigette from Penguin Pictures...she was also our wedding photographer and did our engagement photos. Brigette is excellent and a joy to work with. Here are a few of our favorite shots. If you would like to see all 85 images or would like to order prints call or email either of us and we can get you all set up.

To see more of Brigette's work go to www.penguin-pictures.com

Porter's First Vacation!

We recently traveled from Houston to Seattle to see the family and spend the holidays. Porter did really well on the plane which was unexpected as the day before he had to go into the doctor to get his 2 month old immunizations. He had one by mouth, one shot in his left leg and 2 shots in his right. His poor legs were bothering him all night and we didn't think he would cheer up by out 6 am flight. Thankfully we were wrong. Porter slept through the drive to the airport, through security and woke up only briefly throughout the 6.5 hour flight to eat. He was very happy and content to sleep in our arms all day long.

Over the weekend we drove from Seattle to Yakima to visit Brandon's Mom,

and Grandparents. We spent a few days in their warm house while it lightly snowed outside.

Porter put on his bear suit and ventured out. He attempted to make a snow angel but when his hand touched the snow he was not thrilled about the cold and asked to be taken inside again.

We are all having a wonderful time in Washington and are thrilled that Christmas is nearly here! Happy holidays everyone!

Pictures of the Boy

Thanksgiving & More

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your holiday was as fun as ours. We celebrated with our Texas friends and Morgan drove all the way from Phoenix to spend the weekend with us! We had a blast! We celebrated with true southern style...fried turkey. We couldn't fry just one bird, we had to go all out and fry 3 turkeys. 3 Turkeys! That is how much Brandon loves leftover turkey so much he may never wake up from this turkey over load!
Porter's hair is turning more and more red every day. He is growing so fast. I can't believe he is 6 weeks old already.

A few days after Porter was born we were at the Doctor's and Porter went through several outfits during our visit. I was afraid that he had no clothes to go home in, but at the bottom of the diaper bag I found these pants. They were huge on him! He was so little even the little newborn hat seemed to swallow up his head.

6 weeks later I put him in the same pants and hat to show how much he has grown!

Brandon went to the dentist the other day...guess which side of his face is still numb.

Porter is here!

Porter is here and we are very excited to spend every sleeping and waking minute with him. He is officially a month old now and nearly 10 pounds! He looks a lot like Brandon and starting to turn very blond around the edges. I will update this blog with pictures as often as possible. Living so far from our family is a constant pull on our heartstrings, but we will do our best to keep in touch.

Porter is growing and getting stronger everyday. He is an excellent sleeper and has a healthy appetite. He loves the sound of running water and to take a bath. He doesn't cry much, but he grunts and snorts to tell us what he is thinking about. He gets fussy in the evening and will sometimes cry if he is feeling especially uncomfortable.

Porter and the dog are getting along well. Duke doesn't really know what to think of the baby yet, but everything seems to be fine. KC our cat had to be re homed before Porter was born. KC became sick from the stress of the new baby. Thankfully a friend was looking for a new cat and was able to take KC. He is doing very well in his new home.