Group shots...

Ahoy, matey

Amber's girlhood buddies Hilary and Laura (and their moms, and kids) came over for lunch a couple of weekends ago. Beckett's room was evidently taken over by tiny pirates, but he seemed no worse for wear.

Plan B

Mema (Amber's mom, Judy) stayed and helped us juggle kids for a week. Thursday night we went to go watch the balloon festival in Columbia, but it was too windy for them to launch...so we wandered next door to my alma mater, Rock Bridge High School and ate Jimmy John's and watched a soccer game. Yes, Beckett has his "soccer shirt" on...he's worn it approximately 35% of the days since Amber and I returned from Italy with it in May.

Family story time

One of the big new activities in the Rowson household is "Family Story Time." Family Story Time is when we all crowd onto Beckett's bed and try to read a story without letting Ayla roll off onto the floor. This particular night we were reading "The Night Ones," which is the tale of several women and minorities cheerfully accepting their lowly, third-shift stations in life. (Look! "Cap" works at the docks! "Honey" is a baker! This guy's a janitor and the other guy, why he's a hotel doorman! Yeahhh!)

Hey, the real world's going to come at them fast...might as well get the kids acclimated to a life of service-sector wage slavery early on, no?

Fire Marshal Bill

Kyle brought Beckett a very cool fire engine. It drives around, the ladder extends and rotates and a special button on the back makes it panhandle dangerously in traffic for loose change. Who knows, maybe Beckett can follow in the footsteps of Fire Marshal Bill.

Ayla meets GG

Beckett and Ayla's "GG" (short for Great Grandma Allen) came up to visit along with Aunt Patti and Uncle Kyle for a bit. GG's an old hand at this kid-business, but Beckett kept an eye on things just in case.

Amber and Ayla

Amber has retaken to infant-motherhood very well. Ayla is eating well and doing all the things babies do, though there may not be a more off-the-mark cliche than "I slept like a baby." Next time someone says that to you, feel free to ask if they're planning on having kids someday.

A Note on Format

To head-off any potential sibling rivalry, Beckett and Ayla's Blog will now be authored by their Dad. He promises to stick to the first, second and third persons in his updates.

First visit to the doctor's office, restaurant, tornado shelter

Ayla: Today I've been on my second car ride, first visit to the doctor's office, first meal at a restaurant and first self-imposed evacuation to the basement during a severe thunderstorm scare. It's been a busy few hours for Mom and Dad, who still seem to be buying the whole "sleeping 18 hours a day" racket I've got going. I mean, I can't see anything more than twelve inches in front of my face, what am I going to contribute to the situation?

Beckett: For now, not much more than vomit, piercing cries and fetching slumber-poses. But it gets better, I promise.

Ayla: Zzzzzzzz.

Ayla Caye arrives on the scene

Ayla Caye made her big appearance at 10:28am on Tuesday, August 7th. She weighed in at 7lbs, 5 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. Click on the link below to view the slideshow of the main event. More posts to come.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17426319@N00/sets/72157601372316092

There's also a professional photographer that visits easy marks - I mean, new parents - in the hospital to take pics of their new babies. They're not very good, but here's the link. "Rowson" is the password.

If you’re wondering where “Ayla” and “Caye” came from, well here’s the scoop: "Ayla" comes from the name book (like Beckett). "Caye" was almost the name of my Mom, Amber. So, random and not so random. I did a little more digging and found “Ayla” is the name of the protagonist in Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear series and is a popular name in one of the Rowson family’s many motherlands, Sweden.

Goooooooooooooool!

This was not staged.

This is actually me reading Texas Monthly (one of Dad's dozen or so magazine subscriptions) and watching a SuperLiga match between an MLS soccer team and some whiny Mexican squad. Dad said it was hard to work the camera through the tears. What a tool.

Meet me in St. Louis

In late May we hit a Cardinals' game in St. Louis. As you can see from the video below, we had a good time in spite of the weather, which halted play in the ninth inning. I also got to ride the much-improved Metrolink to the ballpark from our hotel in Clayton.