ROAR!!

Thanks for making Simon his Halloween outfit, Miriam!

Peek-A-Boo

Where's Mommy?

Going Mobile

The rest of the world is mobile. Now, so is Simon!

Stay at Home Dad

These past few weeks have been interesting to say the least. While Becca is working hard during the day, barely finding time to break for lunch, I'm wandering around our tiny apartment picking up toys and puree-ing food for Simon eating my lunch anytime in between 11:00 and 2:00. The role reversal was quite of abrupt even though we had months to prepare for the inevitable. One day, Becca was at home sewing curtains and feeding Simon whenever he was hungry, and then the next she was dressed in a pant suit and dashing out the door briefcase in hand. (Actually, it was a a discreetly packaged breastpump)
I don't really have a lot of free time. At least not a lot of time to myself. Simon takes naps two or three times a day, but I'm usually washing dishes or laundry, making the bed, or other domestic duties. When he's awake, we enjoy playing with blocks, stuffed bears, Maggie, etc. We go for walks in Wash Park or on campus occasionally too. It's great to be able to stay at home rather than have someone else watch him. Becca already feels like she's missing most of his life, but at least she has me to tell her what Simon did during the day.
My school will be starting very soon, less than a week and a half. I was able to sign up for 3 classes which I believe will be a big enough load. DU works on the quarter system which is 10 weeks of class, 1 week of exams. I went by the bookstore to pick up my textbooks and walked out the door with a stack of ten books. I don't know that I've ever read a book a week. Actually, there was one summer when I joined the book club at my library at the age of 13. I think I read every Hardy Boy book available during that summer. That must have been more than a book a week.
I am looking forward to having some academic motivation and mental work. I don't want to atrophy! It will be interesting to find out how much work I will have and when I'll find the time to do it.

9 months later

Simon is 9 months old! Remembering his very humble beginning, it's amazing to see how far he has come. He is now sitting up on his own and plays vigorously with his toys. He's eating solids three times a day and loves everything he's tried so far (except for the first time he had peas). We are expecting him to crawl any day and his limited mobility is beginning to annoy him. He sees something just out of reach and stretches out until it seems he might fall forward. Just before he does, he leans back into his sitting pose, observes the situation, and tries again. He loves paying attention to small details. Yesterday, I watched him pinch at a french knot on a baby blanket about the size of a lentil for about 10 minutes. That is the stay at home dad equivilant to watching paint dry, but I think he was entertained. Also, Simon woke up from a nap the other day with his second tooth. I don't know how he can be so productive during sleep!

It's About Time!

I know, I know. It's about time that we updated our blog. We have been so busy with moving and unpacking that we just haven't had the time. Besides, I think you wouldn't like to see pictures of us elbow deep in the cardboard liquor boxes we used for moving. I think our new neighbors suspect that we might have a drinking problem. Actually our neighbors are very nice. Two of them are nurses and one of them works for the archdiocese of Denver.
Our apartment is set off of the street and has a feeling of being completely separate from the rest of the neighborhood. We have a small backyard and great landscaping, although it looks a bit overgrown. We are very lucky not to have to mow the lawn or do any of the landscaping. It's all taken care of by the property management!
Becca has been busy with the job search while I gear up for school on Sept. 10th. She has had several good leads that have led to interviews and is anxiously waiting for this part of her summer to be finished. I received a letter from DU this week with information on orientation and registration. I had been planning on taking 3 classes a quarter and finishing the degree in 1.5 years. Now that I look at the classes offered and the money I'll be spending for school, it's tempting to take more classes since it'll be cheaper. It's really hard to fight the temptation to take a FULL load of six classes because in the end I would be able to save $16,000. But with Simon under my care, I feel that 4 classes may be a more attainable goal. This will allow me to continue directing the Mile High Community Band, which is a lot of fun and also pays decent.
The next several days, we'll put some pictures of our new apartment, our camping trip to Kenosha Pass, and OF COURSE new pictures of our adorable little Simon. Here's a recent one of that cute guy!

We're moving!

I found this blog entry from a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, I pushed save as draft instead of publish so it was stored on my google account instead of being on the blog. Ooops!

'Becca and I have decided that it will be in our family's best interest to move closer to my school, The University of Denver. It hasn't been an easy decision and it had been hanging over us for several months now. We initially didn't mention the possibility of our move to many people, but now that it's definite, it's out in the open.
The part that made the decision so difficult is that it came down to one thing. Would we rather have more time or more money. With our current home, which is a parsonage, we are in charge of the maintenance and facilities for the entire church property. It has been very nice being able to live in a large ranch home with a big back yard and near by park. It's also been nice to meander to church minutes before it starts rather than drive 30 minutes which was what we were doing while living in Brighton.
Conversely, living close to church means that you are on call to take care of any problems that might arise. From public disturbance issues to sprinkler malfunctions to kids making out in the parking lot, we've dealt with a lot. It also entails setting aside time to mow in the summer, shovel snow in the winter and cleaning year round. None of these things are really that stressful or annoying, but they do all take extra time from our schedules. Since having Simon, we have found our family time to be more precious.
We have signed a lease starting July 1st and will slowly move into our new extremely small apartment with a great location two blocks from DU. There will probably be one day of heavy lifting, a large yard sale, and a lot of boxes full of our junk that will need to find a neat and organized place in our new apartment. We will be without internet service for a little bit of time, but will post a picture of the move once we are moved.'

7th Anniversary Bash!

This past Sunday (6/24) was our 7th anniversary. So much time has passed since our nuptuals. We looked at our pictures from the wedding and couldn't believe how young we looked. How could we at age 23 know what we were getting into? God has been good and knew what he was doing when he brought us together.
This weekend we went to Tammy and Paul's cabin with Brad, Jessica, Marika and Nathan and had a little bit of time to reflect on our marriage. Marika asked what years were the best and which were the worst. We both agreed that this past year has been the best, despite Simon's early arrival into our lives and the stress that that caused. The worst year was 3 years ago with the culmination of the heartbreak of losing our dog Jackie to a hit and run, Becca going back to school, multiple minor car accidents and expenses, having to take on extra jobs (paper routes) to be able to pay our bills, and me trying to find a steady contract job with a school district in a new town with no connections. Whew! That stresses me out just thinking about it.
Even through these years of ups and downs, I can truly say that the best part of our relationship is that it grows stronger every year. Sure there are times when Becca wants to strangle me because I didn't pick up my socks, but the bond and closeness that we have has intensified every year since we said "I Do". Now with the addition of Simon to our family, we have someone to include in that bond. Our love is wonderful. Truly. Madly. Deeply.

My Band

Ok, so they're not really MY band. I just serve as their artistic director and conductor. They are the Mile High Community Band. I have been directing this crew for about three years now. Man time flies! We aren't into the huge concerts or really showy events. We are more about the educational part of learning to play an instrument. Most of the people have been playing their instrument for a couple of years. Some more, some less. One thing we all have in common is that we enjoy getting togehter to play. We have a Beginning band, Intermediate band, Jazz band and Concert band.
At the end of May, we played for the Colfax Marathon which was organized for it's second year to raise grant monies for Colorado childrens organizations. By Jazz band from school joined us for this hot sunny Sunday. We played some great music to run (or walk) by; I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Eye of The Tiger, Mission Impossible (I know. How cruel.) and an upbeat Lady Madonna.
I really enjoy directing this group. Right now we've been playing at Red Rocks Community College for the summer since our normal spot, Lincoln HS, is having some renovations completed.

Rock-A-Bye Simon

It's time for Becca and I to study best practices for getting a baby to sleep through the night. It's true, we like to spend time with our little guy and usually enjoy every second of it. Although, at 3:00am when my eyes feel glued shut, we both try to pretend that we don't hear his pathetic whimpering cry. That lasts about 5 minutes.
The baby manual that came with Simon says that when he is 6 months old it's time to try getting him on a schedule. The big question is, do we go with his birthdate or his corrected gestational age? He seems to still be a little too young but then again, we don't want to miss the brief window of opportunity between too young and strong willed.
We were lent the book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by our friends Rachel and Shawn who recently went through this stage with their son Owen. We would like to have Simon sleeping through the night a little more often with only a couple of long naps instead of sporadic 30 min. naps whenever. And it would really be nice to just put him into the crib and have him nod off. Right now, I cradle Simon wrapped in a blanket and bounce around until he is lulled to sleep. It looks like a combination of jogging in place and Riverdance.
We'll seee how this next stage goes. With Becca on the trail of several good job opportunities, I'm sure it won't be long before she is snatched up by an design firm and I'll be on my own for 8+ hours a day. Yikes, and to think I voluntarily signed up for this!

They look like ME!

I thought I'd have a little fun playing this game. I checked with Tom Cruises site and he has a picture of me floating around his head too. I think we might be related.

Four Generations

While we were in Virginia, the Shank family got together for a scrumptious meal at Red Lobster. A Sunday lunch outing was a tradition for my family at least once every month or so, and it would usually be Red Lobster because it was a favorite of my Grandfather Sam's. Since Grandaddy's passing last year, I had not been to Red Lobster with the family.It was nice to have the familiar setting for good food and company.
One of the pictures from my childhood that stands out the most doesn't even have me in it. It was a picture taken of Karin, my sister, when she was a baby with our great grandparents. I don't know if there was a picture of me too, but I imagine that there wasn't the opportunity before they passed away.
We were very fortunate that my grandmother, Katherine, joined us for lunch. She has been living in an assisted living home since last year and seems to be doing OK with the adjustment. It must be really hard to move from a house on a hilltop with trees, cows and geese to look at, to a small one bedroom apartment where your neighbors share a wall with you.
In her arms, Simon looked huge! We were able to snap a few pictures of four gennerations before our food came on Sunday. It's a picture of me, my dad, Great Grandmother Katherine, and Simon.

1000 page views!

I just wanted to remark that there have been 1000 page views! Of course we understand that about half of those are due to both sets of Simon's grandparents being technologically astute. Well, maybe not Grandpa Dave.
Becca and I have so much fun writing the entries and uploading pictures of our gorgeous boy and other things. We are glad you choose to read them and stay informed on what is going on in our lives. Right now we are about a week behind, since there is a lot to tell of our adventures in Virginia. Please continue to read and enjoy.

Recovered Lost Pics

When we arrived home from our trip to the east coast, we were eager to upload the pictures from the beach of Simon. When we linked our camera to our laptop, we found that half of our pictures were missing! Including pictures of Simon sitting in front of a ceramic sand crab. After a brief moment of panic, we remembered that we viewed the pictures at Shank's Bakery before we left and downloaded copies for G-ma and G-pa Shank. So we uploaded the best ones onto the Picasa photo album in the 6-7 month pictures. Take a look!

Wedding Bells

The trip to Virginia was not only a time to meet up with family and friends, it was also a time to celebrate the love between Becca's brother Brad and his Doctor/Lover/Wife Jessica.
We started off the celebration by participating in the first ever Yodler 5K. It was actually less of a race and more of a time to walk through the beautiful back country of Rockingham County and catch up with family. We introduced Simon for the first time to his cousins, aunts and uncles.
The morning of the wedding, the ladies had tea and wore funny Amish hats while the boys went golfing at the B-water chip and putt. The highlight for me was watching Brad try to use his 9-iron with his pants at his ankles. Not the kind of thing you would want to try at a posh club, which Bridgewater is not.
After a quick rehearsal that went smoothly, Brad and Jessica and their entourage drove out route 33 to a Universalist church for the rehearsal dinner. (sidenote: directions were given universalist style, feel free to find your own path and directions, everyone will eat at the same table in the end)
The actual wedding was a perfect blend of Brad and Jessica's personalities. Jessica walked down the isle to the sound of a Coldplay song by The String Quartet. It was a very eloquent and well put together ceremony. The reception that followed was at Melrose Caverns, a lodge in the rolling countryside about 10 minutes from the Presbyterian Church. It is usually used for college parties and other events where a keg is involved. Needless to say, it needed a thorough scrubbing the week before to get it up to wedding standards. It was beautiful! They transformed the dusty lodge into an enchanting escape.
The next morning, Brad and Jessica opened gifts in front of family, and drove off to their honeymoon in South Carolina.

Trip to VA

On Thursday of last week, our family packed up and jumped on a plane to Virginia for Becca's brother's wedding, a family vacation and viisiting with local family and friends. Becca and I were very anxious with Simon being a first time flyer. We researched what we could do to keep Simon from screaming for 3 1/2 hours and found that really besides drugging him there was no option but feeding him and keeping him content. Which is exactly what we (Becca) did. In between feedings and deep slumbers, Simon made friends of the people around us by exchanging big grins and a few giggles.

Simon is 6 months old!!!

I can't believe Simon is 6 months old already. Days, weeks and months are definitely flying by. On Mother's Day we went to a nearby photographer and decided to give professional pictures a try. He did great although he wasn't nearly as smiley with the photographers than he is with us. We were really smooth sailing though, until we decided to take a "nudey" picture on a bed of blue roses. As soon as we set him down, he cried, from the shock of the scratchy imitation roses on his tummy and we decided these pictures weren't going to work. The photographer picked him up and he thanked her by peeing on her. You'll have to check out his 6-7 month folder for the other 3 poses. He's quite the little man. It was a great way to celebrate Mother's Day. I'm so blessed to have such a sweet boy.

Solids...Sort of

Playing around with rice cereal mixed with Mom's milk was Simon's highlight of the day. As you can see in the picture, not a lot of real eating was done, although the bowl of cereal emptied somehow. With further examination, we noticed the bib seemed to absorb most of the sloppy mess, which I guess is it's intended purpose. We also had fun with some pureed peas. They smelled a little funny, but Simon kicked and smiled really big in between bites. After supper, Simon got a much deserved bath and retired to his crib with a big tummy.

May Playdate

Today was a special day! I stayed home from school so that I could get my yearly doctor check-up and get my teeth looked at by our dentist. Although, that wasn't what was so special. We were able to look after little man Owen while his parents were away with work stuff. At first it was CRAZY! Simon was crying because he was hungry, and Owen wanted to be held. And all the while, Maggie (our Jack Russel Terrier), was circling excitedly trying to sniff up all the new smells that came with Owen. Luckily, I was getting my 10 year old tartar scaped off my a woman that was mad at her husband for not doing the dishes last night. I still think I had the better of the two options. By the time I got back, Becca had magically put both boys to sleep and was working at cleaning the kitchen and making lunch. Incredible! When the boys woke up, of course I was there to play with them and keep them occupied so that Becca could sneak off to the dentist for the same routine.

Career Changes

OToday I handed in my resignation letter to the school district where I work. It has been a tough decision for Becca and I to make, but we have finally agreed that I will be staying at home with Simon. Soon she will be starting to look for a design job and I will be trying to teach Simon how to take a bottle again. We both look forward to this next chapter in our lives, although it will most likely be a tough transition. I have really grown to like my job and position at my school. The kids have been doing great and have invested a lot into learning to play their instruments. I know I can be replaced fairly easily, but the relationships I have with many of my students cannot be. These relationships are what will make it the hardest for me to move on.
In addition to all of this change, I have also been accepted into graduate studies at DU (University of Denver). When Becca and I started talking about the possibility of my staying home, I started looking at various schools in the area that would accommodate my academic needs as well as my stay-at-home-dad schedule. I'm pleased that DU has both an outstanding program as well as adaptable schedule of evening classes. I received my acceptance letter last week which also announced that I was awarded the Deans Scholarship! I will be studying Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in aesthetic education and technology. I'm very excited about the wide variety of classes that I can take. And will soon be swamped with reading materials and papers to write. I can't wait!
Becca has been busy readying her updated resume and preparing to get her name out in the design world. She is looking for a very specific type of job, so it'll be nice to have my summer teacher pay while she looks. Meanwhile, she'll teach me all of her little tricks to manage Simon and the house while keeping her sanity.

Last weekend was my school production of Oliver! Being one of my childhood favorite musicals, Oliver! was a delight to put on. The kids were great and demonstrated that even with a younger cast and crew, excellence could be acheived. I really enjoyed working with a pit orchestra, something I have always been wanting to do, and was amazed at how dedicated my kids were with rehearsals and the performances. But, although we had a great time, it is also a releif to have finished. My back and arms were sore with having to conduct students on a stage about two feet higher than me. And the long rehearsal and extended time at school wore me out. It's nice to have most of my afternoons back to spend with Becca and Simon."

New Simon Pics

Flickr Slideshow

Happy Engagement

Our friends Nathan and Marika announced their engagement last weekend. How exciting! We have known Marika for years (since college) and Nathan since...well, Marika started dating him. They are a great couple and we are very happy for them. Marika has a website with all of her wedding planning ideas and pictures. Here's the site http://www.marikanolt.blogspot.com/

Good Eatin'

From Web Album

When Miriam and Dave and Brad were out visiting last time, we went to one of our favorite places to eat downtown. It was introduced to us by my parents who gave us a gift certificate to eat there for our birthdays several years back. It's quite the experience! The place is called Rodizios and it's a brazillian meatfest. When you sit down at your table, 'Gauchos' with sashes tied around their waists bring you skewers of meat and vegetables until you give them the signal that you are full. Here are some pictures from our experience.

Sunny Sunday

One of our favorite pastimes nowadays includes a stroller, 65 degree days, our four legged walking companion and a scenic backdrop. This picture is from last Sunday (3/24) after we walked around our favorite Sloan Lake located near Edgewater, CO. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and our first 80 degree day!"