Moving along

Five and a half years ago, Amy and I had one of those "firsts"—we bought our first home. Today, we had another one as that first home went on the market for sale. The basic plan involves relocating back to North Carolina. We've not worked out the finer details yet, and are fortunately not under any sort of time constraint to do so, but, you know, it feels newsworthy.

Aidan just crossed the three-months-old milestone. Gavin is, of course, fully two years old and then some. And their parents? Tired, a little wacky, and phbbrt amblen jaconisygna. Fortunately Amy's best friend, Beth, is visiting this week, doing far too much to help us ready the home and bring calm to our pair of wee-n-wild ones.

Welcoming Aidan

At 12:58pm today, Amy gave birth to our second son, Aidan Joseph Pilato. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 6 oz., and stretched to 19 inches long. The birth itself was a complete success, with Amy rockin' the whole time. A mere 45 minutes of pushing was all it took (though we were hoping for 46 so she could match Gavin's 12:59 delivery time).

So, Aidan, welcome to "the outside world." And we completely understand if you find yourself wanting to go back in.

Our luck has just completely changed

Amy and I ordered some Chinese delivery tonight. Excellent food (we tried a new place), and a decent price. After the meal we were doing the fortune cookie thing. The place gave us four cookies, which was cool, because we have four family members. I opened my cookie first.

"Nothing is more beautiful than the smile of a loved one."

After smiling at me, Amy opened hers.

"It is more wise to listen to advice than to give it."

Next, Amy opened one for Gavin, letting him pull the paper out of the cookie.

"A wise person cares not for what he cannot have, but what he can achieve."

Finally, I opened the one for The Unnamed Child. We decided to let Gavin pull the paper out of this one, too, telling him to get the fortune for his brother. Well, unfortunately, the paper ripped, leaving half of the fortune still in the cookie. After breaking that half of the cookie, I tried to pull the rest of the fortune out, but it ripped into two more pieces. Finally, we were able to assemble the three pieces.

"Your luck has just completely changed."

Hrm. For the worse, it would seem….

Oops, we did it again!

It's apparently a boy. It's allegedly due April 27, 2005. And it's amazing news.

Where did summer go?

We spent as much of this weekend outside as possible. Gavin now walks around in his shoes with confidence, even on rough(-ish) terrain. Confidence, mind you, not so much gracefulness, but then we all take our share of tumbles in life. Actually, in the last week or so he's begun moving at rate that might just qualify as "running". We think this is a good thing, but will reserve judgment until the cold hits in a couple of months and we're all trapped indoors. In Chicagoland, Autumn doesn't last for long (it's the shortest of our three seasons). And so we'll be squeezing in as much outdoor time as possible, as our boy never grows tired of going out the "doh" to "guh" play "ah-hide" ("door", "play", "outside", for those requiring translation).

That was a fast year

This morning at 12:59 a.m., Gavin completed his first official calendar year of life outside the womb. As I reflect on the year, I'm amazed at how much less than a year it feels like. And I'm frightened that some measurable percentage of the time I have with my son is already expired—my computer-obsessed mind visualizing the progress meter crossing the 5% mark. God, let me waste no more moments worrying about how many moments I have left.

Amy and I spent hours this week watching video footage from when Gavin was between three and seven months old, chuckling about the differences (mostly in appearance) between the extremes. These days, though, his growth is mostly related to dexterity and language—precisely placing Fisher Price™ stacking rings; open and closing doors and drawers; saying "mama", "dada", correctly answering questions about the sounds that cars, dogs, cows, lambs, and donkeys make, uttering near-hits for "bye-bye" and "more", as well as not-so-near-hits for "down" and "bottle". Yesterday he even took his first few unassisted steps between Mommy and Daddy. He's smart enough to stay on the exact opposite side of the papasan when we chase him around it, recognizes the dull grinding noise of the garage door opener (which sends him searching and calling for Daddy, typically), and knows exactly where to crawl when Mommy says, "Let's go change your diaper."

Despite the number of times we heard how great it was to watch kids grow, we weren't prepared for it being this great. So happy birthday, son. Your mother and I love you very much.

Milestones

Last week was wonderful. I began last weekend with a move of the CollabNet office to the fabulous Monadnock Building. Then, our family spent the beginning of the week in the St. Louis area, where we were able to relax and enjoy the company of Amy's extended family. Amy's three paternal aunts even watched Gavin for us so we could have an evening to celebrate six years of marriage (dealing with runaway mushrooms and sleeping parking garage attendants, even). Gavin was wonderful on the trip, and when we returned home, he continued to impress us with newfound skills—starting to stand unsupported, giving kisses, and trying out new vocal terrain. And as if that wasn't exciting enough, Amy added another year to the count of her age!