We're back!

It has been an exciting and busy Sept & Oct, and there are so many things we would like to share...so I'll start off with highlights from our past week:

Camden is doing a great job sitting with some help! We had a great time capturing Camden sitting with his very first pumpkin. In addition to deep belly laughs, Camden's other new tricks include his ability to jam all his toes in his mouth, which he regularly does during diaper changes :) He is one squirmy guy. He loves other babies and putting everything in his mouth--we all got a laugh out of Camden giving Graham a big hug and attempt at a kiss at Nathan's birthday dinner last weekend.

Mark finished a two-week long application for an online teaching job with Ashford University. He hopes to add at least a few more classes to the online job he has in the Spring for UNC, and hopefully be able to dump the TA job and daily commute to campus. I would miss our time in the car together to/from campus and dropping Camden off at daycare, but would welcome the extra time that Mark would have at home. We'll see what happens!

This week has been busy for me, preparing to give a short talk about my research and actually getting a couple of experiments started in the lab. I feel like I accomplished something--infecting plants with a transgene of interest to us in the lab (too top secret to explain more, j/k sort of :) and preparing flowers for electron microscopy. We're using a new treatment that utilizes osmium tetraoxide, a highly toxic chemical that is reduced in aqueous solutions to black oxide and osmium metal, the most dense of all known elements. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous to be using the solution. If it works well, the pictures will make it into an upcoming paper.

The first from my class at UNC graduated this week, and I attended her defense on Friday. Congrats to Dr. Andrea O'Hara! Andrea is also 7 months pregnant and recently moved to Baltimore, so it was great to see her and JP down here for the defense. As a gift to little Miss O'Hara, Amanda and I pieced together a quilt from the squares sewn at Andrea's baby shower. I was quite impressed with our work (pictures soon!).

Also, as a nice surprise this weekend, our friends Lindsay and Ryan brought their newborn son Grayson up to Durham/CH for a visit today! We've already decided that Camden and Grayson are going to be best buds...without any planning, they were already wearing coordinating Polo jumpsuits today! Sofia (Travis & Joana's 5.5 month daughter) was decked out in the most adorable brown and pink dress--watch out boys!

The picture below was taken by Lauren this past week, and you can see even more pictures of Camden at daycare here. Looks like he was playing peek-a-boo with the silky scarf.

Camden, 4 months old!

We just got back from a weekend Genetics retreat at the beach, and will post pictures soon! For now, here's Camden's weekly slideshow. Camden had his 4 month birthday on Wednesday. In celebration, I forgot to bring bottles to work and had to pick him up early from daycare...woops. But I got extra time with my baby :) Here are some pictures that Lauren took of Camden hanging out with his buddies Peyton & Amelia. gotta love that drool

We'll get a funnel cake. It'll be the highlight of my week.

You may recognize the title as a quote from The Family Man with Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni...one of my favorite movies! The scene where Jack (Nicholas Cage) pouts because Annie gets the new mary janes and all he'll get is a funnel cake is not unlike our trip to the mall on Saturday...except Mark totes Camden around the mall while we shop for clothes for me, clothes for Camden, and again...clothes for me...without pouting or a single complaint. What a wonderful guy my hubby is! Rather than a funnel cake, we settled for a large Dr. Pepper, in between a bathing suit return and a trip to Gymboree. Gymboree was having a not-so-shabby sale on Fall clothes, so we sprung for the cutest sherpa hat and jean jacket for Camden. It will perfect for his first trips to St. Louis at Thanksgiving & Christmas.

Camden Laughing

Camden was so excited to see Sadie! He just laughed and laughed...we babysat Sadie for our friends, Melissa & Corey, so that they could go out on a date. On Sunday, Mark and I are going out on our first date without Camden. After we drop off Camden with our friends, our plan is to visit the Nasher Museum to see the El Greco exhibit and get some yummy eats at the Museum Cafe. We both have vague memories of learning about El Greco in high school and college Spanish classes. Perhaps we'll practice our spanish over some Tapas!

Last Sunday, we went to go visit Nathan, Amanda (5 days post ACL surgery) and Amanda's mom. Camden got a work-out playing in the Gymini with Nathan!

Birthday shout-out!

Happy Birthday...
Flynn, Aug 19th
Lauri, Aug 20th
Grandpa Mark and Jenne!, Aug 22nd
Heather, Aug 23rd
!!!!!

A new (school) year resolution

We vow to update our blog more than once or twice a year! Maybe even as often as every week with more pictures of Camden!

This has been a week of many firsts and new beginnings...Camden's first week at daycare, Mark's first week back at school, my first time teaching a college course, and Camden's first time rolling onto his tummy. And for our family in the great big state of TX, we are excited to announce the birth of our niece Flynn Marie! Flynn was born on Tuesday, August 19th in Dallas. Mom (Heather), Dad (Bryan) and big sister (McKenna) all sound like they're doing well...we are still waiting to hear how McKenna reacted to seeing her little sister for the first time :) How appropriate for Flynn to be born on the day that I began teaching a course on "Cheating Death". What could be in more opposition to death than new life!? And let me tell you...babies are lively!

a highlight from my week: I took Camden back to lab with me while we were waiting for Mark's committee meeting to finish this afternoon. He sat in his stroller for an entire hour watching me transplant seedlings and talking to me while he pulled and gummed his Taggies blanket. I can't get enough of his coos, laughs and gargles! It's just what I needed at the end of a long week of being away from by baby during the day. Even though I miss him constantly, I am so thankful that Camden has a fun & loving home daycare to go to. Thanks for all the pictures Lauren!

another highlight: Mark passed his proposal defense! His committee unanimously approved of his proposal to study North Carolina's Quaker community. Some of the family records are archived at Swarthmore College, 30 min SW of Philly. Perhaps we'll make a family trip of it next summer so that both Mark & Camden can visit nearby NYC for the first time!

Camden is Here

Well, Michelle went into labor at about 4 AM on May ninth and Camden took his sweet time. He didn't get here until 1:37 in the morning of May tenth. What a process, but it was all worth it.

Bun in the Oven

Michelle and I are expecting our first child this upcoming May. As this is our first child, we are both very excited about documenting every moment of the pregnancy. OK, so we haven't documented every moment but we have been doing our best to take pictures along the way. We started pretty quickly after we found out that Michelle was pregnant. On September 5th we got the big news from two lines on a stick.


Since then we've been taking pictures of Michelle and our growing baby.



...and here are some close-ups