News for the New Year

I'm sitting down and I'm doing it. I'm writing this blog post.

I know it's been too long since our last post, and I apologize for that. With the fast pace of the holidays and then getting back into a new semester, I just haven't been able to carve out the time. But so much for my tiny violin and my very sad song. I'm carving out the time now, so here's the news.

Things have been fine as frog hair in the Neely home. Granted, there remain a number of logistics to figure out with our upcoming move, and Kendall and I are both staying busy.

I'm trying to tidy up this dissertation and get out of Dodge. I have a defense date set for early April, so at least I can start to see the finish line.

Kendall's work keeps her hopping with both managerial and technical responsibilities. Her latest project has been a complete inventory of all the chemicals in her department, which is no small task. (Imagine counting all the money in the U.S. Mint one dime at a time.) She was finally able to work on it after she finished revising all the constantly-changing policies and procedures.

But enough about the adults, right? I know why you guys really visit this blog. Our beautiful girl is doing just splendidly.

However, I received some rather alarming news a couple of weeks ago when I dropped her off at daycare. Apparently, Eden has a boyfriend. At first, the teacher said they were good friends and liked to hang out and eat their snacks together. Okay, no problem there. But then the teacher told me that on Eden's first day, she wouldn't stop kissing this little boy!

What's a dad to do?! I mean, only a year old and she's already chasing the boys and kissing them! I thought about having a little sit-down talk with her, but Eden can't even sit down long enough to finish her ABC book most of the time, so I thought it would really just be an exercise in futility.

The holidays went very well for us all. We went to Tampa to see family. Eden thoroughly enjoyed her first Christmas and her first birthday. She got the hang of the paper-tearing after a few tries. She also discovered that she loves boxes; that is, she loves getting in them.

She would tear the paper off a present, we would help her open the box, she would promptly pull the gift out of the box, throw it on the floor, and get inside the box. Next year, we're just going to wrap some empty boxes and save some money!

On Christmas Eve we went to church with Kendall's parents and then enjoyed the annual tradition of watching "Christmas Vacation." We stayed there and did Christmas morning at their house, then we traveled over to my parents' for the annual Christmas dinner. There were 20 people at my parents' house this year - the most they've ever had.

The next day, we woke up and went back over to Kendall's parents' for Eden's first birthday party. Almost everyone who was at Christmas dinner came over for the birthday party too. It's really nice to have an extended family that all gets along.

Eden had the ceremonial "smash cake" in her high-chair. However, much to everyone's surprise, it was the cleanest cake smash in baby history, we think. We actually had to encourage her to make a mess. All I can think is that she was trying to convince everyone that she's not really a messy eater. Yeah, right!

Nonetheless, everyone was very impressed with her decorum and how ladylike she was. Thank you to everyone who came to the party. We are so grateful that you all helped us make that time so special.

Eden continues to bless and impress us everyday. Some of her favorite activities include: taking spices from the pantry and arranging them on the floor, taking her hard plastic toys and banging them on the doors, hugging Henry, patting Henry, smacking Henry, bringing you a book to read to her, pulling Tupperware from the cabinet, pulling all the toys out of her toybox, and dancing to the animal train song.

I suppose I could write all day, but I guess that covers the highlights. That's the news for now. We'll keep you posted (sooner or later, I promise).

Hustle and Bustle

At Kendall's parents' house, Eden has a toy music table. If you press a button on that table, you'll hear a fun little ditty that goes, "Busy, busy, busy, busy; there's so much to do." I think that could be our theme song.

Eden is now into everything. If she can reach it, she grabs it. If she can open it, it's open. If she can pull it out, off, or down, then we just hope it isn't breakable or dangerous. She's even starting to become fairly adept at climbing - Lord help us.

I know it's been longer than normal since our last post, but we've been ... well, busy.

After Halloween, Kendall, Eden and I geared up for the next holiday adventure. This year for Thanksgiving, we were blessed to be able to go on an eight-day cruise with Kendall's mom, dad and grandpa. We all packed into our Tahoe and headed to Ft. Lauderdale, where we boarded the Carnival Freedom and set off for Cozumel, Mexico; Limon, Costa Rica; and Colon, Panama.

We had a wonderful time the entire trip. OK, almost the entire trip. If you ever have a choice between getting off a cruise ship at Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale and sticking a burning needle in your eye, suck it up and go for the needle. Leaving that port was the most chaotic, uncivil, blood-pressure-raising thing I think I have ever experienced. Just trust me, it's awful.

Thankfully, that was the only negative thing that happened on our cruise. We all had a lot of fun together, ate some great food, and laughed at how unfunny the comedians on the boat were. In Cozumel, we pretty much just hit the shops in port, tried on funny hats and ate at a good Mexican restaurant called Pancho's.

In Costa Rica we took a tour of a banana plantation and went on boat tour through the rainforest. However, I personally thought that our stop in Panama on Thanksgiving Day was the highlight of the trip. After a bus ride from the Atlantic side of the country over to Panama City on the Pacific, we took a boat tour through the Panama Canal. After going through the first set of locks, Tom, Grandpa and I marked the occasion with a commemorative Panama beer.

I was a little sad that we weren't able to be with my mom on her birthday this year or celebrate Thanksgiving with everyone on my side, but the trip was a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime experience. As my mom would say, "You have to grab those memories when you can."

After we got back from the cruise, we were barely unpacked before it was time to turn around and drive up to North Carolina with my mom and dad for my cousin Travis's wedding. Travis, who is eight months older than me, is stationed at Ft. Bragg. My cousin Cody is a chaplain in the Army, so he officiated the ceremony. The service was beautiful and we had a lot of fun at the reception. It was great to have a chance to catch up with aunts, uncles and cousins while we were there, and Travis and his bride, Shannon, looked like they couldn't be happier. Congratulations to you both!

Through all these travels, Eden did remarkably well. She hardly fussed at all during the four-hour drives to and from Ft. Lauderdale or the nine-hour drives up and back from Fayetteville. Of course, she had grandparents sitting back there to giggle with on both trips, so she made the most of her opportunities to ham it up. Henry also went with us on our trip to North Carolina, and he was a good boy too.

Speaking of going to North Carolina, I've also gotten a job since our last blog post. In August of next year, I will start as an assistant professor of journalism at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Kendall and I feel very blessed. Of the dozen or so schools that I applied to this year, UNCW was on the top of our list. I think the job will be a good fit, and we are really excited about living on the coast. Everyone I've spoken with who has been to Wilmington loves it, and many have commented that it is a great place to raise a family. God truly does know the plans he has for us.

Kendall continues to plug along at work despite equipment failures and personnel shortages. She also continues to be a stellar wife and mother. Don't ask me how, but somehow she manages to juggle it all.

From all of us at the Neely home, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

A 'Hoppy' Halloween

Eden's 1st Halloween!

Family photo

Getting ready to trick-or-treat!

Do you have any peanut butter cups?

Eden's 'Scary face!'

Pumpkin butt

A happy bunny!

Patience and pitter-patter

Not long ago, a friend and mentor shared a wonderfully witty modification of a common adage. She said, "Patience is a virtue. It's just not one of mine." I can relate.

I don't know where I fall on the spectrum, but I have to be improving. At least, I hope I'm improving and not just retrodding over the same well-worn ruts of worry and anxiousness. Some days are better than others, I suppose.

The last couple of months I have had a lot of "learning opportunities" as I wait on word from prospective employers. Kendall and I both continue to learn how to embrace uncertainty as I make my way through the job hunt. There's been some progress and some prospects, but still we wait.

Taken 10/28/10

Meanwhile, the thought of waiting seems to be the last thing on Eden's mind. She is walking all over the place and can't seem to get where she wants to go fast enough. Her technique is simple but effective - lead with her head and pitter-patter her feet as fast as possible to stay upright. Sometimes she flops forward and falls on her hands, other times she gets a little too much weight in the back end and plops on her bottom. But for the most part, she's staying on her feet and on the go, go, go!

This weekend we'll be heading back down to Tampa to visit family, and Eden will be dressing up as a bunny for her first Halloween. We will post pictures, I promise. Kendall and I did a little dress rehearsal the other day and couldn't stop smiling and chuckling at how cute she was!

Eden has also been doing a few other things that have been keeping us in stitches. One of them is when she makes flubberdub noises (is there a technical term here?) with her mouth while she's crying. Check out the video below to see what I mean. She did this after dinner the other night. Maybe this is the new signal for, "I'm full. Please get me the heck out of this chair."



Kendall continues to plug away at work. She gets to an all-expense-paid daytrip to Alabama next week, so I'll get to take care of the baby on my own that evening. I'm just hoping I can keep her distracted from the fact that Mommy isn't there because if she figures out what's going on, she will not be happy. She is a BIG fan of Mommy.

Anyway, that's the news for now. We'll keep you posted.

Little Travels

So, I just celebrated my 33rd birthday. Spring has long passed for this chicken. But life has definitely been good to me so far. I have a beautiful wife and daughter, loving parents and family to enjoy, I'm nearing that point when I can slap that bumper sticker on the car that says "Ph.inally D.one," and I know God has great plans in store for us. What those plans are, I have no idea. But I'm looking forward to see what He does.

In the midst of life's busyness, Kendall and I managed to be able to get out of town for a few days to Key West to celebrate our fourth anniversary. It was our first time down there and we had a great time. We did the Hemingway House, Truman's Little White House, sunset at Mallory Square, a trolley tour around the island, breakfast at Blue Heaven, a nice steak dinner at Michael's, key lime pie, saw mile marker zero for U.S. 1, and got our token photo at the southernmost point of the continental U.S.

It was also the first time that we left Eden with the grandparents for the weekend. It was a little odd being without her for those few days, but when we got back both Kendall's parents and mine said everything went fine. I think they enjoyed having her and it was nice for us to have a little time for just the two of us.

This past weekend we went down to Tampa for Eden's baby dedication at church. For anyone unfamiliar with this tradition, it is basically where parents stand in front of the church with their children and commit to raising them according to Christian principles, pray for them, and try to point them toward Christ. In turn, the congregation commits to support the parents and partner with them to help the children find God's plan for their own lives.

We dedicated Eden at The Crossing church in Tampa where Kendall and I met and where her parents still attend. So, it was a little unusual for us because we don't feel as connected there as we did when we lived down there. However, we also haven't been able to really get connected to a church here in Gainesville. We go regularly to First Assembly of Gainesville when we're in town, but I can't really say that it's our church home.

However, because we wanted to make a public declaration of our commitment to raise Eden according to God's will, we decided The Crossing was the best place to do it. They were very kind and accommodating to let us participate in the dedication service even though we're not regular attenders anymore. It was a nice service and I definitely felt like we were doing what we needed to do as we stood there before the members of the church.

We were also very blessed in that our family members were able to be there and support us in the event. My mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and niece, as well as Kendall's mom, dad, and grandpa all made it to the service. After the dedication, Kendall's parents hosted a nice brunch at their home, which everyone was able to attend. My parents also had everyone over the day before, so we were able to spend a lot of good time with family this weekend.

Eden continues to grow like a weed. She is crawling around faster than greased lightning. She's laughing a lot, playing peek-a-boo, giving high fives, waving, and clapping. And-- drumroll--this Sunday she took her first steps! Eden is still a ways from walking, but she's well on her way. Now, if we can just get some of this stuff on video.

That's the news for now. We'll keep you posted.

Seasons

Have you ever had that feeling when you walked outside one morning, or perhaps on your way to the office, that it was the first day you could smell the new season? Am I the only one? It's that slight change in the air that hits your olfactory receptors and says, "Fall is just around the corner."

I think I caught a whiff of it the other day. I know, I know, all my fellow Floridians are at this moment insisting that I have certifiably lost my mind. Let me clarify. It's not that we aren't still consumed in a stagnant, oppressive, tangible sauna of heat, but I think maybe, just maybe, I smelled that smell that tells you things are changing. A new season is on its way.

Then again, maybe it was all just in my mind because school started back this week for the fall semester and with that comes the whole back-to-school buzz about campus.

Whatever the case, in the more metaphorical sense, I think I've been able to sense that same pending change in the life of the Neely family most recently. There's a lot on the horizon that remains uncertain, and we've been managing that uncertainty for a while now, but something seems different.

Changes are happening fast for our family. Kendall and I talk daily about life plans, job prospects, relocation preferences, etc. Through it all, we know that God has a plan and He is control. And while it is a daily challenge to put that head knowledge into heart knowledge, there is something very exciting about knowing that a new season is around the corner.

Still, the place I can see beauty of a new season the most is in the life of our daughter. She has really started expressing her personality. It's as if she opened a door and found a new piece of who she is.

Even in the last few days, I have seen how much she is starting to enjoy life. A couple of days ago she started to clap her hands, she has discovered the glorious fun of rolling about on the floor, she's babbling and laughing a lot (especially when she gets excited to go after a toy, the dog, or the laptop), and she continues to let us know in no uncertain terms when she disapproves of the dinner menu.

When I drop Eden off at daycare, sometimes I linger as I leave to watch her through the window in the door. There is something very rewarding about seeing her crawling around, playing with her little baby friends and finding her toys of preference.

Jesus said to come to Him we must be as little children. I believe when we look at kids we see the reflection of Him, and as we love and care for our children we express love toward Him. There is something pure, something essential about a child.

And so, as I look at our daughter and the changes she is going through, I am reminded that just as we delight in her growing into each new stage, God delights in bringing us through each season in our life and the growth that comes with it.

That's the news for now. We'll keep you posted.