Alexander Phillip Graham

He's here!!! Alec was born Monday, November 5, 2007 at 1:24 AM. At birth he weighed 8 lbs, 4 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. We are now a family of four with the males outnumbering the females 3 to 1. Zachary was very happy to meet his baby brother. Knowing that Alec is so young, Zachary didn't want to hurt him, so he kissed Alec's picture.

Mo' Baby News!

Still no new news.

Baby News!

No news is good news?

Well today is supposed to be the due date for the new baby. The day is more than half over and so far there are no signs that this baby wants to meet us face-to-face. I don't really blame him/her. After going to the Bears game this past week, he/she is probably thoroughly disgusted with them and does not want to face the truth that the Bears stink. But more about the baby. Christie went to the doctor today. Nothing. Nothing happening. The baby is curled up comfortably in an inverted position and seems happy to stay there. So unless something happens between now and Monday night, labor will be induced Tuesday morning. Fortunately Sunday is free since this is the Bears' bye week, though I would really like to watch the Indy / New England game. Unfortunately, Tuesday I have a three-day training class I am scheduled to attend. Oh well, looks like I will miss that.

Baby name we are currently leaning toward: Vladimir (even if it's a girl.)

It's Been A While...

Yes it has been a while since my last post, and well I don't put too many posts out here as it is, but hey like I've said before, busy, busy, busy.

We closed on our new house on July 30th and the following weekend we moved in. So we've been there over a month. Here's a photo of the house. We're mostly settled in, though there are still a few stray boxes hanging out here or there. Zachary seems to like the place and even the first night we stayed there he showed no concerns about sleeping in a new house for the first time. I assume that since mommy puts him to bed that helps a lot.

We purchased a new plasma TV and, thanks to Rob, a friend of mine, we've mounted it above the fireplace. It looks really nice up there.

The sod seems to have taken nicely to all the watering we did during the first two weeks. And well the following two weeks of rain also helped.

The concrete patio we had the builders pour turned out to be a lot smaller than we expected so we have since had it expanded. It is about 20'x30' now and gives us more of what we were originally looking for from a patio. Though did you know that concrete is very hard? If the wind blows hard enough your glass top patio table can actually be lifted up into the air (even though the umbrella was closed). You know what they say about every action has an equal and opposite reaction? Well when the table came back down to earth it landed on that hard concrete patio and exploded. Fortunately we were not home at the time so no one was hurt. But it did take me an hour and a half or so to clean up that mess.

Next on the agenda is to have a fence installed. Gonzo could use some exercise off the leash. We're thinking of an aluminum fence. It looks like a wrought iron fence but is much less expensive. Hopefully we will have that in within the month.

OK, gotta run back to class, I'll provide more later.

Busy, busy, busy...

So much going on so little time. The house is finished! We close on Monday, July 30th. I have a busy week ahead of me. There will be counting and measuring, installing and moving, renting and buying. But first, of course, a lot of money that has been earning a lot of interest in the bank, will be changing hands. Out of my hands into someone else's. I really don't like thinking about it. Well, at least we'll have our new house.

The sod is supposed to be in on Monday or Tuesday, so I will have a lot of watering to do. Tuesday is time for me to move our stuff out of the small and medium sized storage units. Wednesday we'll get cable and internet hooked up, and the refrigerator, washer and dryer will be delivered and installed too. Then Saturday is the big move day. Want to help? In between Monday and Saturday I will be doing many other things. I'll have to pace myself. Wish me luck.

Zachary's First Birthday Photo-shoot

ZRG c 7-1-2007 bw
Originally uploaded by J. Philip Graham

Tomorrow (July 2, 2007) is Zachary's 1st Birthday!!! So today we had some pictures taken of him. What a cutie!!!

Ted's Choir

Choir
Originally uploaded by J. Philip Graham.

Yes, that's what it is called, Ted's Choir.

I drove down to Decatur, IL, on Tuesday evening to listen to them and to take some pictures. So I took some pictures and listened. they sounded very good. So did the church. I sat/stood in the balcony and their sound seemed to be coming from all around. I really enjoyed it. And it was nice to see Ted too, even though it was only for a short period of time.

I took a bunch of pictures, though all from the balcony. A few of them can give you an idea of how beautiful it is in the church. I also added a few abstract type photos just for fun. You can see them in Flickr.com when you click on this photo.

Moving Along!

May 12, 2007
Originally uploaded by J. Philip Graham.

Well, work on the new house is progressing nicely and much quicker than originally expected. We now have a roof and windows! Closing is beginning to look more and more like it will be in July instead of August. This is fine by me. Unfortunately we will not be moved in in time to hold Zachary's birthday party there, but I don't think he will mind.

Christie has been offered and accepted a part-time position with a company in Roselle. So this removes our worries about qualifying for the mortgage loan. Also, the location of the new job works quite well with Zachary for daycare. The daycare provider is in Roselle too!!!

Living Space

First Floor Panoramic
Originally uploaded by J. Philip Graham.

We had not been out to see the progress on the new house in over a week so we took a ride out to Geneva after Zachary's baby sign class Tuesday. The house now has a second floor, though no roof yet. The builder tells us that work on the house is ahead of schedule and, barring bad weather, the projected completion date has been moved up from mid-August to mid-July. Normally this would be a good thing but a July close would cost us $3-5k in savings! I guess it is a toss up between extra savings and getting out of Christie's parents' house. While Ray and Angie probably enjoy having Zachary around, I would have to assume they would like their quiet house back. Well, they'd still have their two dogs, so how quiet can that really be?

I took another handful of photos including a few of the kitchen/nook/family room area of the house. The picture you see here includes six pics that I stitched together for a panoramic view of those rooms. Of course since the walls are only studs you can also see (from left to right) the den, garage, dining room, foyer, and living room. I know, this means nothing to you. That's OK, it's not your house.

The First Floor!

April 21, 2007
Originally uploaded by J. Philip Graham.

Well the house is now starting to take shape. The first floor has been framed (no, not like, "I was framed!" more like it was given a frame). They tell us now that our projected close date is sometime in the middle of July. This would be a month earlier than what they had originally told us. Let's hope the weather holds up and we are able to move in sometime in July.

The Secret Project

Not to be a secret for too long, the cat has been let out of the bag (figuratively!). Kathe was right on track with wondering if the project involved Christie or not. Yep, it does. She's pregnant again!!!! Yea!!! Child number two is on the way. This week she'll be 11 weeks along. Due date is November 2nd. I think it's a girl. Just because. No reason.

The odd thing about this is that we're living with her parents while our house is being built. Talk about uncomfortable!!!!

The House: Week Two

Well not too much going on, but some progress. The garage has been filled in and they've built up the basement walls (where needed). Since I have never built a house before I can only assume that the first floor is next. Or maybe they first have to give the basement a floor. Hey I don't know. Take a look at the photos I stitched together below of the basement.

Where's My House???

OK, so we've been waiting for the folks at Mill Creek to tell us that the permit has arrived from the city and that they will begin building our house. It has been almost two months since we signed the contract and we were led to believe that the "ball" would be rolling by now. So on Thursday Christie called them and asked, "What's up?" Turns out there was a mix up and they forgot to call us. They received the permit on March 19th and broke ground on the 23rd. Cool!

So on Friday we decided to take a drive out there and see exactly how much progress they actually made. I figured that there might be a shovel stuck in the ground and that was there way of breaking ground. Well guess what? The foundation is there!!!



See that house in the background? The one on the left. That is the same model as ours.

The Secret Project and the Bad News

What do you want first the bad news or the secret project (yes, I said secret project, Eric... you aren't the only one who works on secret projects!!!) OK, the bad news first...

Christie is looking for a new job. Her previous employer, whom she had only been with for about six months, had a bad year ('o6 I assume) and let a bunch of people go. She was one of them. She's OK with it though, since she really didn't like the location, she really didn't like the company, and the people there were ridiculously stupid and rude. We're OK with too because we really had not planned for her to be working there after we moved into the new house. Will it cause a problem with finances for the new house? Nope. A slight dent, more like a door ding, but nothing we have to really worry about. Even if she doesn't find a new job somewhere soon, we're doing OK.

The Secret Project...

Yes, I am working on a secret project. What it is, is a... Whoa! I almost let the cat out of the bag. Well I really don't have my cat in a bag, that would be cruel. I've put him in a box before. He actually kind of enjoys that. He plays in there for a while, chasing his tail. It's kind of fun to watch. Though not as much fun a watching Pinot and Livvie when they used to play. But I digress... I'm sorry, I really can't talk about the secret project. I mean, it's secret!!! If I were to tell you all about it, it would not be secret anymore, right? I can say this though... No, actually I can't. Sorry.

The Stewart, El. III

We're building a new house in Geneva, Illinois. To be more specific, it will be in the Oakmont neighborhood of Mill Creek. The model we will be having built is the Stewart, elevation III, and after all of our additions (or bump-outs as they call them), it will tip the scales at roughly 3000 square feet. Nothing spectacular compared to everyone else we know, but hey, it will be plenty big for the five of us (Christie, Zachary, Gonzo, Pinot, and me). If you look at the website, elevation III of the Stewart model more closely resembles the Remington model that they have pictured, though it will have a front porch.

We signed the contract and selected all the structural upgrades at the beginning of February. The last few weeks we've been going back and forth trying to choose all the non-structural upgrades we'd like. We're still not done, but at least the plans were drawn up and they were sent to the city (county?) for permits. Hopefully they will break ground by the end of March, and if so, they say we'd be closing in the beginning of August (we'll see about that).

Chicago Bears

Well, well, well. Ron Rivera has essentially been fired! Good news for the defense. I think they will drastically improve next year on the defensive side of the ball. On the offensive side? Well Ron Turner is not going anywhere, but Wade Wilson is out. I mean really! Wade Wilson was the QB coach? What was he really going to teach Rex Grossman?

OUCH!!!

After an exciting start, the Chicago Bears stumble and lose to the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI. It was not pleasant. Oh well, we move on.

What's next? My opinion? Get rid of Ron Turner, Wade Wilson, and Ron Rivera. Turner and Rivera might get new jobs as head coaches somewhere. One can hope.

Bears are going to the SUPERBOWL!

NFC Champions!

Splish Splash I Was Takin' a Bath!