Cardinal Ave Family

Well, the book is closing on a long, but very pleasant, chapter of life on Cardinal Ave. After six months of co-inhabitance, Brooke and Vijay will move into their new home this week (just 3.5 miles away). Lots of people wonder how we can share our home with two adults through pregnancy and a newborn's first months. I have to assume that they never had friends like these two.


Oddly enough, life with B and V felt quite conventional. Everyone chipped in and did their part to keep the ship running smoothly which allowed us more time to laugh, relax, and have fun. And to ensure there was always something to watch, Brooke DVRed every show on television (swa!).

As a new parent, you learn that you never have a free hand to do the most basic tasks. You find yourself thinking, "I wish I could turn the channel, the remote is right there, but it may as well be in the attic," or "Hmm, I'm sure a knife would cut this steak a lot easier than the side of my fork." In these cases and a thousand others, Brooke and Vijay would always lend a hand, or two, if need be.

Thanks for the great experience guys, 6 months have never so quickly passed.

I'm sure Sue, Drew, Ashe and I will be experiencing "empty nest syndrome" for awhile. But we're excited to get back into the nuclear family groove. Our neighbor has playfully teased us for "running a hotel over there" and he's not far off. Pretty soon he will see the glow of our "vacancy" light flicker back on.

Bath Time

Oddly enough, Drew prefers showers to baths. Maybe it's easier for him to shave, but he always ends up using all the hot water. Here's a rare series of him in the tub.

Gumming mom to death.

What looks like a giant, terry cloth serpant shallowing our son whole.

And doesn't look a bit guilty about it.

Later, after being regurgitated onto the changing table, Drew is thankful to see daylight again. He realizes bath time is far too dangerous and will stick to showers.

Random snippets of ADK

Pool side

Drew's first experience pool side a week or so back. He got his feet wet, but that's as far as it went. Needless to say, he freaked out.

Mom consoles, and puts him in his LL Cool J hat.

And wouldn't you know he was much more comfortable floating around.

Decked out!

Anyone who's been to our house knows our old deck was more like a quiant boat dock than a good space to chill. Moving around the table required the 7 other people to move as well and the gaps in the floor boards gobbled up pens, poker chips, loose change, etc.

So a deck expansion project was added to the summer schedule. And like all projects that go well at our house, things get started with the help of Sue's dad.


So we began dismantling the old deck uncovering layer after layer of shoddy construction. Pretty much all of the nails were not fastened to anything which was scary to discover, but also made things go pretty quickly. All you had to do was give a railing an intimidating look and it just fell over.

Seriously, all we needed was a little dingy floating of that skinny deck.

In come the new pressure treated planks and we fastened them nice and tight. Each one abutting its neighbor, comfy and conforming. The joists were all reinforced with an additional support beam running under the middle.

The foreman inspects our work and reminds us we have deadlines to meet.

A little eye candy for the ladies. Vijay, my right hand man and live-in baby whisperer, helps screw down the decking.

The last two pics are where work currently stands. Every floor board is in place except for the pesky last one which needs to be notched out to fit aroung the 4 back posts. I'll get to that tonight and will put up more pics as work continues.

All smiles

This was Drew's natural reaction when Sue asked him if he would consider sleeping through the night.

Go to sleep little Indian boy...The baby whisperer

How did Vijay go about transforming a screaming little tyrant into the tranquil, sleeping baby pictured here? It could be a technique long passed on for generations, or the fact that Vijay was watching a futbol friendly at the time. Since the English Premiership ended, Drew has lost interest in the world's game.