Thursday, May 24, 2007
Welcome to our world, son...
Announcing Owen Nigel Douglas Seaver (05/21/07, 6lbs 12oz, Liverpool fan):
Friday, May 18, 2007
InfoMonger
So, I like to read. At the last count, the list of blogs I subscribe to in my reader numbers 60. Normally I like to share stuff with people, but I read so many stories every day that I never want to keep emailing people, though I do every now and then.
Well Google came up with this cool thing that combined Reader with Blogger into this little 'Currently Reading...' widget, so I can click on a 'share' button on every story I like, and it automatically comes up on our blog. So now, even if I'm not writing anything, you can check in any day and see what I'm reading.
Well Google came up with this cool thing that combined Reader with Blogger into this little 'Currently Reading...' widget, so I can click on a 'share' button on every story I like, and it automatically comes up on our blog. So now, even if I'm not writing anything, you can check in any day and see what I'm reading.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Process I: The Room
So, I hadn't noticed that Erika said at the end of her last post that she said I was going to do some posting that same night, when in fact, I was sitting there thinking, 'sweet, if she's posting, I can hold off posting for a few more days....'
Well, this post is about the baby room, the first of many developmental processes we will be going through as parents and humans. At first, when Erika mentioned painting the baby room, and I thought, "eeewww", imagining the hassle that comes with painting a room that already has a computer desk, a futon and a barely used ugly armchair all crammed in, no thank you! Erika stayed on my back, and we came to a compromise, which was to paste a border around the top of the room. I just looked through our 5 years of pictures, and though I enjoyed the nostalgia (you wouldn't believe all the places we've been) I didn't find one! No, I'm serious, not ONE picture of our second bedroom before its current glory...man, we must have hated the room. :-)
But seriously, I did dredge up this picture Erika took after we moved the crib in and threw out ugly. In case you're confused, we have mirrors for closet doors, so you're looking back into the room, and you can see me at the computer at the other end of the room:
But then, I guess God decided we were going to paint the room, and let us know this with a some snow melt and a hole in our roof. I'd rather He didn't do it at 2am, but there we were, bleary eyed, dragging every perishable thing we saw in reach out of there, including the futon mattress:
The bucket in the middle is 3 feet high and was half full at the end of the night. To compound things, the water traveled over our ceiling and starting spreading splotches:
So after the emergency calls at 4am, the nice Hispanic roofers and a return to a state of low humidity, I reconsidered, we should paint. We were going to have to cover up the stains at least. We decided, after a painful trip to Babys' R Us to register, that we'd do a jungle/safari theme for the baby room, and so we purchased a jungly border and chose a dark green colour for the top half of our room as well as a sky blue colour for the ceiling. Here's me priming away:
Janna, Megan and Emily all came round one Saturday afternoon to help me paint the room, we did the full two coats on the ceiling first and then the walls. Sadly, I've only got one picture of the fun we had, which doesn't show the rum and sprite either:
Erika wisely took some 'before' and 'after' pics:
Then, after letting the paint dry, we had a go with the border. We were idiots and attempted to wet and paste a border on the longest length of the room without stopping to think about it, we'd wrestled that floppy, slippery paper against the wall about half way down until we realized that we didn't get it wet enough for the rest of it! So instead of taking it off again, we simply sponged water on it, pressed and prayed. The end result looks good, we were pleased with it, but if you were to look closely, you'll see many an opportunity for little fingers to pull it away again, so I'm open to any suggestion bar duct tape:
Finally, before rearranging all of the furniture, I got a big sponge and dabbed some clouds on the ceiling. I just took this picture with a flash at night, so I may repost some nicer ones in the daylight:
What with the painting done, we put everything in its rightful place. The crib now has a cool mobile with safari animals, and also on the rug too. Next will be the myriad of nice pictures we got from people. So it's just about come together. You can see two of the quilts that had been made for the baby, and also one of the pictures (of a turtle) in the bottom right corner.
We're really pleased with the room, I never would have done any of this if it hasn't been for some water, I guess I got motivated....
ps: talking about turtles, there was one wandering about our street the other day(!) do they migrate?
Well, this post is about the baby room, the first of many developmental processes we will be going through as parents and humans. At first, when Erika mentioned painting the baby room, and I thought, "eeewww", imagining the hassle that comes with painting a room that already has a computer desk, a futon and a barely used ugly armchair all crammed in, no thank you! Erika stayed on my back, and we came to a compromise, which was to paste a border around the top of the room. I just looked through our 5 years of pictures, and though I enjoyed the nostalgia (you wouldn't believe all the places we've been) I didn't find one! No, I'm serious, not ONE picture of our second bedroom before its current glory...man, we must have hated the room. :-)
But seriously, I did dredge up this picture Erika took after we moved the crib in and threw out ugly. In case you're confused, we have mirrors for closet doors, so you're looking back into the room, and you can see me at the computer at the other end of the room:
But then, I guess God decided we were going to paint the room, and let us know this with a some snow melt and a hole in our roof. I'd rather He didn't do it at 2am, but there we were, bleary eyed, dragging every perishable thing we saw in reach out of there, including the futon mattress:
The bucket in the middle is 3 feet high and was half full at the end of the night. To compound things, the water traveled over our ceiling and starting spreading splotches:
So after the emergency calls at 4am, the nice Hispanic roofers and a return to a state of low humidity, I reconsidered, we should paint. We were going to have to cover up the stains at least. We decided, after a painful trip to Babys' R Us to register, that we'd do a jungle/safari theme for the baby room, and so we purchased a jungly border and chose a dark green colour for the top half of our room as well as a sky blue colour for the ceiling. Here's me priming away:
Janna, Megan and Emily all came round one Saturday afternoon to help me paint the room, we did the full two coats on the ceiling first and then the walls. Sadly, I've only got one picture of the fun we had, which doesn't show the rum and sprite either:
Erika wisely took some 'before' and 'after' pics:
Then, after letting the paint dry, we had a go with the border. We were idiots and attempted to wet and paste a border on the longest length of the room without stopping to think about it, we'd wrestled that floppy, slippery paper against the wall about half way down until we realized that we didn't get it wet enough for the rest of it! So instead of taking it off again, we simply sponged water on it, pressed and prayed. The end result looks good, we were pleased with it, but if you were to look closely, you'll see many an opportunity for little fingers to pull it away again, so I'm open to any suggestion bar duct tape:
Finally, before rearranging all of the furniture, I got a big sponge and dabbed some clouds on the ceiling. I just took this picture with a flash at night, so I may repost some nicer ones in the daylight:
What with the painting done, we put everything in its rightful place. The crib now has a cool mobile with safari animals, and also on the rug too. Next will be the myriad of nice pictures we got from people. So it's just about come together. You can see two of the quilts that had been made for the baby, and also one of the pictures (of a turtle) in the bottom right corner.
We're really pleased with the room, I never would have done any of this if it hasn't been for some water, I guess I got motivated....
ps: talking about turtles, there was one wandering about our street the other day(!) do they migrate?
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Thumper
Well it has been about 9 months since I have added anything to our blog. As you can see from the picture below, a lot of things have been changing in my life and body! I am currently 37 weeks pregnant and awaiting "Thumper". We named him/her Thumper because I have been amazed at how much a baby can kick you from the inside. There have been so many interesting things that have happened with this miracle. I have experienced another human being having hiccups and it shifting so fast that it almost makes you pee instantly.
We have the babies room almost finished thanks to all our housegroup friends who came over to paint and to all of Sam's hard work. We have a blue ceiling and sage walls with a jungle border. Sam is still finishing up the clouds on the ceiling. All our friends and family have bought us amazing gifts for Thumper so the room is the best room in the house.
I have five more days of work before I go on maternity leave. I am looking forward to the rest and time off. I will then just have to finish up my graduate class that starts the 14th of May! I wanted to finish this class before the baby comes so I have one less class after it arrives. Once/If I finish that class I will have 2 more classes before I am complete with a Masters in Reading. Well I think that Sam is going to be adding more to the blog today so I will leave it to the master but I wanted to get out a little hello before our WHOLE life changed!
Love Erika
Stay tuned for future pictures of the upcoming Baby Seaver
We have the babies room almost finished thanks to all our housegroup friends who came over to paint and to all of Sam's hard work. We have a blue ceiling and sage walls with a jungle border. Sam is still finishing up the clouds on the ceiling. All our friends and family have bought us amazing gifts for Thumper so the room is the best room in the house.
I have five more days of work before I go on maternity leave. I am looking forward to the rest and time off. I will then just have to finish up my graduate class that starts the 14th of May! I wanted to finish this class before the baby comes so I have one less class after it arrives. Once/If I finish that class I will have 2 more classes before I am complete with a Masters in Reading. Well I think that Sam is going to be adding more to the blog today so I will leave it to the master but I wanted to get out a little hello before our WHOLE life changed!
Love Erika
Stay tuned for future pictures of the upcoming Baby Seaver
Monday, April 09, 2007
Pearls in the New Year
So, last bit about our England trip, it goes without saying that the event was my parents 30th wedding anniversary. To make it an extra special occasion, they had a wedding reception and renewed their vows at the very same place that they did 30 years ago as hippies, only this time there were no joints being passed around. This was an extra special time for me, not just to be with my family, as much as I miss them, but also to honor my parents, and to see them honored for their relationship. In today's world, I have nothing but respect for them to have persisted through all the hardships they experienced, and to have raised us three kids to be the people we are. Mum and Dad, I salute you!
Some photos:
Dave and I are mucking about while getting ready to go:
Mum with her sons:
Dad with the inevitable hat:
Amber and I are getting ready to rumble:
Mum and Dad at the ceremony, exchanging the rings:
Amber and I giving our li'l speeches:
The signing of the registrar:
The children and spouses:
Dave giving the best man speech at the dinner:
Can you tell they're brothers?:
Finally, I shall admit that when giving my talk about Dad, I choked up at the end, and never got to finish. I was trying to give an impression of how much my father has forged my identity as an Englishman through being the man he is, and my closing and unspoken lines were:
When I miss my Dad, I miss England.
When I miss England, I miss my Dad.
Some photos:
Dave and I are mucking about while getting ready to go:
Mum with her sons:
Dad with the inevitable hat:
Amber and I are getting ready to rumble:
Mum and Dad at the ceremony, exchanging the rings:
Amber and I giving our li'l speeches:
The signing of the registrar:
The children and spouses:
Dave giving the best man speech at the dinner:
Can you tell they're brothers?:
Finally, I shall admit that when giving my talk about Dad, I choked up at the end, and never got to finish. I was trying to give an impression of how much my father has forged my identity as an Englishman through being the man he is, and my closing and unspoken lines were:
When I miss my Dad, I miss England.
When I miss England, I miss my Dad.
Pearls before Breakfast
I shamelessly stole the title of this post from an online article in the Washington Post. As a form of an apology for not having blogged in so long, I'd like to link this particular post to that article.
It's a long one, well written, and quite touching in the sense that a great violinist, playing some of the greatest classical music ever, could have this little an impact. Even if you've not got the time or energy to read, put the sound on and watch the videos.
"Pearls before Breakfast"
It's a long one, well written, and quite touching in the sense that a great violinist, playing some of the greatest classical music ever, could have this little an impact. Even if you've not got the time or energy to read, put the sound on and watch the videos.
"Pearls before Breakfast"
Saturday, March 03, 2007
I can't tell you how much I hate Manchester United
So Liverpool is having a good game at home, though it's still 0-0, I'm warm in the Globe hanging with Pat and Corey and enjoying my full breakfast (including white pudding as well as black). The one doubt that creeps into the back of my mind as the game enters the last five minutes, is the number of times Manchester United scores at the end of a game. Then two minutes later, they do just that. 1-0, game over....I hate them so much... The atmosphere in the Globe was good though, lots of scousers and a few mancs.
Anyway, I'm getting round to posting a few pictures. I don't do the whole chronological thing that Jamie does, but here's a couple from England this winter. In this picture we'd ventured out on a beautiful saturday to the nearest seaside town, Hastings, only to catch a storm. This is us, including Tim, hiding under a bus shelter and enjoying a few warm fresh donuts.
Here, we are enjoying a swift pint after a good walk. Next to me is my sister's nephew, Andrew, and my brother Dave is the furthest along the bench.
My nephew, Jude, is showing off his superman outfit that he got for Christmas:
More later, MSU is on TV, peace out.
Anyway, I'm getting round to posting a few pictures. I don't do the whole chronological thing that Jamie does, but here's a couple from England this winter. In this picture we'd ventured out on a beautiful saturday to the nearest seaside town, Hastings, only to catch a storm. This is us, including Tim, hiding under a bus shelter and enjoying a few warm fresh donuts.
Here, we are enjoying a swift pint after a good walk. Next to me is my sister's nephew, Andrew, and my brother Dave is the furthest along the bench.
My nephew, Jude, is showing off his superman outfit that he got for Christmas:
More later, MSU is on TV, peace out.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Settler's achievement
So Seth and Jennifer came over to play some settlers last weekend and to watch some B-ball. Annoyingly, the Parsons continued their winning streak, I believe the Seavers have only managed to extract 1 win out of dozens against the Parsons. But, all the more interesting, Seth achieved something which was a first for me in a game of Settlers, can you see what it is?
Hint: Seth's color was blue.
On another note, my father-in-law gave us some beautiful tulips:
Hint: Seth's color was blue.
On another note, my father-in-law gave us some beautiful tulips:
Monday, February 05, 2007
Nothing like cookies on a monday!
My lab is hosting the coffee break for the dept. this afternoon and decided to have a cookie contest. Mike, Dean and Roger are setting out the cookies and their labels. The selection here includes such delicacies as White choc. with pecan biscotti and lemon curd bars, mmmm. Results on the winner will be posted shortly.
Update:
Dean's choc-chip coconut macaroons seemingly won the day, but after some further analysis based on the range of values people assigned (each cookie was rated from 1-10) it turned out that Marta's biscotti won the day!
Update:
Dean's choc-chip coconut macaroons seemingly won the day, but after some further analysis based on the range of values people assigned (each cookie was rated from 1-10) it turned out that Marta's biscotti won the day!
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Da Bearz!
We're hanging out at Nevin's waiting for the big game to start. The news is that Nevin's have discontinued McEwan's but now have Newkie Brown on tap. Left to right its Andy, Emily, Janna, Erika, Jennifer and the back of Seth's head.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Fort Myers to Chicago
So, I would try and say more about the time we had with Brad and Kathleen, but when Kath has put together her own excellent description of the weekend, I'm almost tempted to just cut 'n' paste it and put my own comments in.
She is not joking about the room of wacko dreams, every morning I came out of there feeling a little shell-shocked, hair out in tufts, going 'what on earth was THAT?!?'. The annoying thing was that I kept getting woken up in the middle of these dreams and was completely forgetting them but for a few weird sensations of familiarity (they all must have had people I knew in them).
There was a really good dolphin moment for me, on the lack-of-sunset cruise. For the most part they'd been barely breaking the surface of the water, or jumping over the wakes of other peoples boats. The passengers were all pressing towards the bow trying to get a good shot and I was on the left (starboard?) side when all of a sudden a single dolphin came straight up out of the water right in front of me. Now that was cool.
We really had a lovely laid-back time, no rush to head off any place and we got the royal treatment, it was good to see Bradleen again!
Coming back though was quite the ordeal, the temperature dropped 60 degrees, literally. Its going to get worse this weekend I see. But who's going to worry about the weather when Liverpool will be thrashing Everton (Globe pub at 6:45am this Saturday, anyone?) and the Bears are going to intercept Manning so many times he'll throw up on his own center.
Speaking of which, I'm up late watching a typical ESPN show on the history of the Super Bowl. The one thing I've learned to respect about American football, I could drudgingly admit, is the ability for a quarterback (not all, mind you) to put the ball in a sprinting receivers' hands at 50+ yards. You can now get this amazing slow replay shot zoomed in on just the ball, hanging and spinning in the air for minutes before being caught. Its like watching Stephen Gerrard pass....man...
So, tonight I also finished 'ripping' the latest, greatest British comedy. Its surreal, not necessarily laugh-out loud but definitely keeps a smile on my face. My brother, Dave, had the DVDs and we had a laugh together this Christmas. I managed to get some episodes onto my mac with the help of a nifty application that I think Brad would like: 'Handbrake'. It actually made me a little homesick watching it tonight, its just inherently English.
This Friday, I'd volunteered to show some people around at Northwestern. Its the time of the year again when prospective PhD students come and interview faculty and get interviewed. I went through the process myself three years ago now and nothing serves a more acute reminder of my arrival in this country almost 5.5 years ago than conversing with these young bright-eyed bushy-tailed to-be-grads, most of whom I'll never meet again. It makes me wonder about what would not have happened in my life, if I never made the move. Happily, what will be is a new family member!
1am, time to go and snore in Erika's ear. I'll leave you with a post from one of the blogs I have in my Reader.
She is not joking about the room of wacko dreams, every morning I came out of there feeling a little shell-shocked, hair out in tufts, going 'what on earth was THAT?!?'. The annoying thing was that I kept getting woken up in the middle of these dreams and was completely forgetting them but for a few weird sensations of familiarity (they all must have had people I knew in them).
There was a really good dolphin moment for me, on the lack-of-sunset cruise. For the most part they'd been barely breaking the surface of the water, or jumping over the wakes of other peoples boats. The passengers were all pressing towards the bow trying to get a good shot and I was on the left (starboard?) side when all of a sudden a single dolphin came straight up out of the water right in front of me. Now that was cool.
We really had a lovely laid-back time, no rush to head off any place and we got the royal treatment, it was good to see Bradleen again!
Coming back though was quite the ordeal, the temperature dropped 60 degrees, literally. Its going to get worse this weekend I see. But who's going to worry about the weather when Liverpool will be thrashing Everton (Globe pub at 6:45am this Saturday, anyone?) and the Bears are going to intercept Manning so many times he'll throw up on his own center.
Speaking of which, I'm up late watching a typical ESPN show on the history of the Super Bowl. The one thing I've learned to respect about American football, I could drudgingly admit, is the ability for a quarterback (not all, mind you) to put the ball in a sprinting receivers' hands at 50+ yards. You can now get this amazing slow replay shot zoomed in on just the ball, hanging and spinning in the air for minutes before being caught. Its like watching Stephen Gerrard pass....man...
So, tonight I also finished 'ripping' the latest, greatest British comedy. Its surreal, not necessarily laugh-out loud but definitely keeps a smile on my face. My brother, Dave, had the DVDs and we had a laugh together this Christmas. I managed to get some episodes onto my mac with the help of a nifty application that I think Brad would like: 'Handbrake'. It actually made me a little homesick watching it tonight, its just inherently English.
This Friday, I'd volunteered to show some people around at Northwestern. Its the time of the year again when prospective PhD students come and interview faculty and get interviewed. I went through the process myself three years ago now and nothing serves a more acute reminder of my arrival in this country almost 5.5 years ago than conversing with these young bright-eyed bushy-tailed to-be-grads, most of whom I'll never meet again. It makes me wonder about what would not have happened in my life, if I never made the move. Happily, what will be is a new family member!
1am, time to go and snore in Erika's ear. I'll leave you with a post from one of the blogs I have in my Reader.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Sanibel Island
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside. Oh I do like to be beside the sea!
So after a morning of alligator, turtle and bird-watching at a nature preserve followed by Moe's Burritos. We're now chilling on the beach at Sanibel island. We've got a sunset cruise planned for later followed by a demolition of MSU by Ogden and OSU (which I secretly hope won't be the case) while playing the Game.
So after a morning of alligator, turtle and bird-watching at a nature preserve followed by Moe's Burritos. We're now chilling on the beach at Sanibel island. We've got a sunset cruise planned for later followed by a demolition of MSU by Ogden and OSU (which I secretly hope won't be the case) while playing the Game.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Erika and Brad
We've arrived in Florida hanging with Brad (pictured) and Kathleen. Just about to go get some icecream!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Settlers Night
So Janna's sick, (get better soon Janna!) and I'm content to take pictures of our games of settlers in the dim lighting of the Parsons condo. Brian and Emily (in her new sweater vest) are contemplating their next step to island domination.
Entering the MoBlogosphere
So, following Kath's hint (http://suncoastliving.blogspot.com) I checked out the new freedom you have with blogging. Not only can you email a blog, you can even send pictures from your phone directly into it. Be prepared for an inundation of two-bit knackered snaps of chicago.
For now, this is me in Daniel's office.
Tonight, the Parsons are hosting yet another Settlers night for our housegroup (& friends) and I intend to send so many pictures of Janna to my blog that some millionaire at Google will give her a call and pay her to stop being friends with me (as well as invite her on a date...)
For now, this is me in Daniel's office.
Tonight, the Parsons are hosting yet another Settlers night for our housegroup (& friends) and I intend to send so many pictures of Janna to my blog that some millionaire at Google will give her a call and pay her to stop being friends with me (as well as invite her on a date...)
Friday, January 12, 2007
Baby Seaver at 20 Weeks
If you were there, you could hear the baby faintly singing: '...alk on thr.....ind,.....on t....gh.....rai........on, w.....k on, wi...h...pe....yo....ear....'
We're back from dear old England, will blog all about the trip later on this weekend, right now we're trying to pack, fold and put away Chaos.
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