From Pregnancy to Parties

Hello Friends and Family,

I wrote this awhile ago and just didn't get to post it, so some things that you're reading is a little funny now. But here you go:

It’s been a while, again, and we have sooooo much to update you on.

The first piece of exciting news that you may or may not know is that we are expecting again! We are due around September 10, 2011! I am growing as each day passes. So far, things have been just fine with the pregnancy minus some minor aches and pains.

The beginning of March we went on a Cruise from Clearwater, FL to Cozumel, Mexico with my parents, brothers and Zack’s girlfriend, Sarah. We had a blast, and Anela did great! She is quite the little traveler for her age. Tyler and I had a chance to go out in the evening while my parents watched Anela…Thanks Mom and Dad! It was kinda fun to have a baby with us on the cruise, lots more guests and staff give you attention for a little of Anela’s. We had a great time, eating, tanning, lounging, being entertained and eating some more. We give cruising two thumbs up if you all ever get the chance.

On April Fools’ Day, aka Tyler’s Birthday around these parts we celebrated him with some co-workers at a local BBQ place. It was also an RD’s birthday, Anthony, a few days before. So, they were treated with two very large pieces of red velvet cake to honor their years of life. Anela tried cornbread for the first time at the restaurant. She not only loved it but I think she had a sugar high for the remainder of the evening.

Mid-April I took Anela home to Minnesota for about 10 days. She had tons of fun bonding with and being spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa Ninmann. She also got to play with dogs, Rocky and Charlie. We got her 1 year old pictures taken while there. She wore a couple outfits, including one that I wore in pictures when I was little and one with some Air Jordan shoes that Tyler purchased the week we found out we were pregnant with Anela. Lastly, we were so blessed to get to go to the Hope in Grace Fun Run/Walk Event that is held annually, to raise money for the Grace Doffin Pediatric Heart Research Fund, in honor of the daughter of a good friend from high school, who passed away. It was a mighty cold day but never the less an amazing event to be present for and a part of. Before leaving to head back to MA we celebrated Anela’s first birthday a little early with some banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. She LOVED them, as she does with most things sweet. We are still working on blowing the candles out but eating the cake, she has down.

We returned home just in time to celebrate Easter. A friend, Danny Lee, who used to work as an RA for Tyler at Whitworth, who is now working in Ohio, came to visit us for the holiday. We went to church and then treated ourselves to some untraditional Easter food at Bucca di Beppo. It was great, as I crave tomato sauce/Italian food when I’m pregnant, and I didn’t have to cook or clean up any dishes! After nap time Anela got her Easter Basket and went on an Egg Hunt around our apartment to find eggs with Animal Crackers hidden inside. Words cannot describe her joy when she discover the eggs' contents.

On May 3, 2011 we celebrated Anela’s 1^st birthday. It was a small family affair, since we knew we’d do a bigger celebration later in the month when visiting Hawaii. We purchased a DQ ice cream cake and Anela wore a tutu and birthday crown all day. She was a bit timid trying the cake but after about 15 minutes decided she liked it. All this was fine with me and my pregnant cravings for ice cream.; what she didn’t eat, I got to finish.

Shortly after Anela’s birthday we celebrated Mother’s Day. It was a pretty chill day with lunch out and some shopping. However, the next day Tyler treated me to a date with him (thanks for watching Anela, Natasha!) and tickets (fabulous tickets) to the Red Sox vs. Twins game at Fenway Park. It was a great night, in my opinion, for outdoor baseball. We even got to wear sweatshirts and cozy up, as it was a bit brisk in the air. It was a close game. Gardenhire, Twins manager, was thrown out of the game and it went into extra innings. So many extra innings we left and listened to the rest of the game on the drive home. Unfortunately the Twins lost, but it was great to see and cheer on the Twins so far from home. Tyler thanks for the great Mother’s Day gift, it was perfect!

Towards the end of May we headed off to Hawaii, but stopped in our old home Spokane, WA on the way both to and from. In Spokane to got to catch up with some good friends. We stayed with the McGonigal’s and Anela got to play with her friend Ella, who kept her on her toes, running circles around her. Tyler and I were also excited to be reunited with some favorite places to eat like Thai Bamboo and Le Petit Chat.

We finally headed off to Hawaii and we all were excited for family and friends to meet Anela for the first time. We had a blast spending time with Grandma and Papa. We also went to the beach a number of times with Tanner and Felicity and cousins Mathyus and Mackenzy. Anela LOVED the beach and ocean, and was pretty fearless facing the salt water and waves. We must send a big thank you to Dawn, Pono and Emma Kanoho who opened their house for us to crash. Anela has so much fun with Emma… Tyler got a tattoo while we were in Hawaii also. I think he's mentioned it on the blog before. It was a traditional tapped tattoo. Basically some teeth on the end of a stick that are dipped in ink and the guy hit it with another stick into Tyler's skin!!! Very cool and traditional. What made it even more meaningful is that Buck, a good friend, who has also done most of Tyler's other tattoos was in Hawaii as well and got a tapped tattoo with Tyler.

We also hosted Anela’s first birthday party while in Hawaii. Thanks so everyone who came out for it. It was so special to be able to celebrate our little one’s first year of life with great friends and family. The same woman who made our wedding cupcakes, made birthday cupcakes for Anela, and she LOVED them, as did her parents.

At the end of our trip, back in Spokane, we took Anela to her first home at Whitworth University and got some great pictures of her in front of Warren Hall. It’s crazy to believe a whole year has gone by since moving out of the hall.

We came back home from Hawaii and have been settling into a nice warm summer here in MA. We try and get out as much as possible. Anela has a cute little lawn mower that we often take to the football field. Anela also got this wonderful little chair with some birthday money. She loves it and uses it daily.

On June 26^th Tyler and I celebrated our 2^nd anniversary. We went out to lunch at a great little Italian restaurant, while a friend watched Anela and then

Well, this is the end of my very long awaited blog entry. Hope you enjoyed it.

Lookie here, lookie here....

Hello all,

We hope this update finds you well. Let’s recap the happenings since last blog, shall we?

1) Anela is growing so fast! People warn you that kids grow up quick almost incessantly but nothing really preps you for what it actually feels like. Take a look at these pictures…

Anela then…

Anela now…

It’s not even the same little girl!

Wearing sunglasses indoors. Having hair...and an attitude. Maybe I should say personality instead of attitude because she is so sweet. Sheesh...

Sometimes when I can’t sleep at night I will look at old pictures (a.k.a. pictures that are only a few months old…) of her and am constantly blown away by how much she’s grown. Ali should be emailing or posting Facebook a link to some recent pictures of our little Anela soon.

2) We celebrated Alison’s birthday. It was a fun and pretty low key celebration. Ali’s two requests were: a) potato skins for dinner and b) an ice cream cake from DQ. Done and done! The next day, I took the day off from work and we went to lunch at Feng Asian Bistro. The food was great and the service was even better. I felt like there were at least 5 different servers checking in on us and making sure the food was good.
Here is what Ali had.

One especially awesome thing about this lunch was that it was just Ali and I. Anela spent some time with her little friend Jude and his mommy Jill (thanks again, Jill!) and gave Ali and I a couple hours to hang out and be together. It was really refreshing, and great to have some quality time with the love of my life. After lunch, we scooped Anela up and all went down to Claytime, a place where you can paint unfinished ceramics (a la Color Me Mine, etc.). I thought it would be cool for us to make something that Anela could help us with. After searching through their inventory, we found a little bowl. Here is the work in progress.

Anela loved getting her foot painted. She did not, however, love me and one of the workers trying to evenly squash her foot onto the bowl. Screaming and then immediate foot washing occurred.

All in all, it was a fun two days celebrating my wife. I continue to question where the heck I would be without her and continue to appreciate the blessing that it is to have her as my partner, best friend, support, and the mother of my child. I love you, Alison. PS- You make a killer chai tea that always gets me through the day. Thank you.

3) Ali and Anela are keeping busy. Besides the day to day business of being a stay at home mom and baby combo, these two are always on the go! Ali is babysitting Ethan on Mondays (with the help of Anela, of course). They also go to 2 different baby/mom groups and that has been great for both of them. One is a little more focused on baby mobility and improving in that department and the other seems to be more mama focused providing support, connection, and a time out for moms. Anela continues to grow into a social butterfly at these groups and Ali gets to make new friends and meet others who might also be new to the area. Anela also has swim classes on Saturday mornings. It is really cool that the pool is just across the parking lot from our apartment. I don’t expect Anela to be a Dara Torres after these sessions but they are really helping her get comfy in the water. This seems really important given where her grandparents are (Hawaii…ocean, Minnesota…lakes). Here she is in action…sort of…

Ali, as usual, is always finding more projects to fill her plate. Whether it’s researching the best way to care for Anela (i.e. reading up on new foods for her, looking up at home remedies for the care of her cloth diapers, comparing the best baby gates for our stairs, etc.) or some design work, she stays active. I don’t know how she does it, but she does. I am always impressed but seldom surprised.

4) The weather out here has been nuts. If you have been watching the news you have seen that snow has been crushing the east coast. We haven’t had a big storm in a while but the ones we were having were causing school closures at least one day a week, for a while. Kind of awesome for school closures, kind of unawesome for how much snow there was out there. There are still HUGE mounds of snow in a lot of shopping center lots, the athletic fields here, and on the side of the roads. Some people from around here have said that this is the worst winter they have seen since ’95. Bummer for us but here’s to hoping for a real nice spring and summer (after the melt and potential flooding, of course…).

5) Dale came out to visit again. It was a quick trip but the Pau household was still so happy to have him here. Dale even watched Anela so Ali and I could have a night out. It came at a time we really needed it so that was such a blessing. We went out for some steak (always good, right?) and talked for forever. It was real nice.

Thanks again, Dale!

6) We are going on a cruise in the beginning of March with Ali’s folks and brothers. It is going to be amazing and we will have one of the most travelled babies by the time she can walk. Here are some things I will be looking forward to (in no particular order):

-Time with family

-Time with Ali while family watches Anela

-Getting some sun (this one is long overdue)

-Going to places I have never been (Florida and Cozumel)

-Visiting the casino and the vengeance I intend on taking for all the other times that casinos have robbed me (of both a good time and finances)

-Having people bring me drinks whilst I lay in the sun half asleep

-Reading something that’s not “academic” or for work (I bought a new book for $1 about James Brown and how he saved the soul of America)

-Attempting to take a family portrait with wife and Anela Boo

-Bringing back a unique liquor to add to my collection here (probably something from Cozumel?)

I want to pack already. I am so anxious!

7) In other travel news...we are headed to Hawaii the end of May. We are so pumped to introduce our Anela to Hawaii and have her meet her family there. My mom reminds me that Anela is the only grandbaby she has yet to hold. We are coming, Grandma! It will be a fun time and we are even planning a little birthday party for Anela. More on that in the near future…

8) I am just putting a deposit down for a new tattoo this summer in Hawaii. It will be done in the traditional Polynesian method. Here’s some info on it…

The guy in the video is actually the same guy who will be doing my tattoo. Crazy, right? Well, to cut the crazy in half, my friend Buck who has done all but one of my tattoos is coming to Hawaii and getting something “tapped” as well. It will be so fun to see him again (last time was June) and get these tattoos done. Super excited about this adventure and to have a good friend there is a huge bonus.

I think that is about it for now, folks. Thanks for sticking around and checking in on us.

PEACE,

Tyler

Hello, strangers!

Well, well, well…

The ladies and I are long overdue for an update. A thousand pardons….

It has been quite the past few months. Here’s a quick and random recap…

· We moved to Worcester, MA for my job at Assumption College. Here is the POD that we unpacked and squeezed into our apartment. It was no easy task but Alison made it happen. It’s a great campus! There’s a duck pond here that we are excited to take Anela to once she can throw bread to the ducks. People here have fallen in love with our little hapa girl…and rightfully so. Everybody wants to hold her despite her constant drool.

· We took Anela to the zoo…but she fell asleep once we got there and stayed asleep. Bummer. There were these little piglets that I thought she would have loved. We will have to do a redo on that one.

· I’ve taken Anela to a football game or two. Sometimes she’s been interested and at other times distracted by the kids running around or more concerned about grabbing/climbing the net that catches the balls after field goals.

· Grandma and Grandpa Ninmann have come out to visit us. It was great to have them here. Anela LOVED spending time with them and it even gave Ali and I a chance to go out to a movie. Grandpa Dale spoiled Anela with long daily walks around campus.

· Ali has converted Anela to cloth diapers. I really didn’t know much about the process but as usual Alison schooled me and taught me all about them. How they work, how much you could potentially save per child by using reusable diapers, and even what brands

· We went to Salem, MA to check it out especially because of all the history relative to the witch trials. The town felt really old which was cool other than the stroller barely fitting down the sidewalks with all the people. We thought that we would go in early October thinking that it wouldn’t be too crowded and we’d avoid all the Halloween crowds…we were wrong. There was a ton of people there. I don’t know if it was just me but there was a “creepy” vibe about the city. It could’ve been me playing the whole witch thing up but there were witch supply stores (not supply stores where one would purchase a witch when you run out, rather, where a witch would go to purchase witching supplies), haunted houses, and people in spooky garb (who were not working at the attractions) everywhere. It didn’t creep me out enough to not have some lunch there. We ate at Salem Beer Works. Awesome food and I had the Witch City Red. Pretty good beer that was similar to a Killians.

· We took Anela to a pumpkin patch to pick up a pumpkin and take a hayride. We did get a pumpkin but the weather had other plans about the hayride. Another redo?

· Wife is also going to a mommys group once a week and making some new friends there. She and her new mommy posse have gone into Boston for some adventuring, gone out to some of the best outlets (in Wrentham) for some shopping, and have gone on some long walks with the little ones for chilling purposes. Ali makes friends no matter where we go so it’s awesome to see her making some connections.

· Alison has made a purchase that she has long wanted…a camera! We are still figuring out how to use it best but Ali is now officially snap happy. Like father, like daughter huh? In any case, look for (hopefully) better pictures in the months to come.

I feel like Anela deserves her own set of bullet points. Here goes…

·This girl is GROWING like a weed! She was born at 6.5 pounds and 19.5 inches long and is now 16 pounds 3 ounces pounds and 27 inches long.

· She has two little teeth on her bottom jaw. She is so very willing to bite your finger if you aren’t paying attention.

· She loves to stand, assisted of course.

· Her favorite big toy is this jump-a-roo thing. She gets almost out-of-breath excited about standing and jumping like a big girl.

· Anela has started eating baby food (which super mom Ali makes for her). So far she has done rice cereal, oatmeal, acorn squash, carrots, bananas and mango. I think she was pretty done with boring rice cereal and oatmeal once she got to try veggies. I think she’s done some pears, peas, and apples more recently. Once I figure out how to post it, I will share a video of Anela doing a good job of feeding herself.

· Anela went on her first airplane ride to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ninmann in Minnesota. Ali says she did pretty well. She will need to be a good traveler considering we have family and friends all over the country to visit eventually.

We went to Wilmington, DE for Thanksgiving. Ali’s cousin Julie and her family are there and graciously hosted us. Ali will have an update on that…really soon. With the holidays in mind, we want to say thanks to our family and friends. We are so blessed to know you and we are the people we are because of you. Thanks so much for being there. Thanks for reading, too.

PEACE,

Tyler

Again, with the lateness...sheesh...

Well, it has again been many moons since the last update. A thousand pardons party people…here goes the big news.

In no particular order, here are the new big going ons in the life of the Pau family.
(SPECIAL NOTE: This post is going to be super long since each of these could be a post by itself. If any of them seem short, we will revisit them in future posts, honest.)

A. Anela Louise Pau has joined the party!

Here is what I can remember from that day. We were supposed to have a doctors appointment that morning at 10:30. Instead, Ali woke me up at 6:00 and says “It’s time.” Now, Ali is usually a pretty cool character, composed and chill, so I just thought she was waking me up for the doctors…4 HOURS EARLY! So I ask “Why would you wake me up so early before the doctors appointment?” She replies, “No, it’s time for the baby. I am having the baby.” “OH, let’s go!” Off we went…
We did some check in stuff with the nurses to make sure we weren’t having false labor. We weren’t. At all. This was the real deal. We were finally admitted at 8:56 am. It was a new and incredible experience. Screaming, crying, and a sore back…and that was me. Ali was a monster and brought this little angel into the world. On Monday, May 3, at 6:11pm, Anela arrived to the proudest of parents. Ali was a champ and we were so glad that Dr. Golhofer was there to deliver our little one. I got to cut the cord and was in such shock about the whole experience that I almost forgot to take a picture once Anela was born. The nurse kept asking “Does dad have a camera?” It took a while to figure out she was talking to me; it was weird to be called dad. Super weird. Anyway, it was a great delivery and Ali and baby were healthy. Ali was quite tired and extremely hungry. Sean was a G and brought Ali a tuna sandwich (which she was wanting for at least 8 months). Thanks Seanathan! I have a new found respect for mothers around the world. After witnessing the birth of my daughter, I am blown away by the strength of a focused woman. Good work, wife. Thank you for giving me a daughter.  Thanks to grandma and grandpa Ninmann for coming out and helping us bring the little one home and taking care of us.  We cant explain how much we appreciated it. 

B. NMB show in Spokane

So, the day after Ali, Anela, and I got home from the hospital, Pono, Wade, and Benji (a.k.a. the better part of nomasterbacks) came up for a show at Whitworth. Crazy timing but it was so much fun. I was pumped that the boys got to meet Anela and come through for a show. It was a crazy amount of work but I think we put on a heck of a show. It was easily one of the most fun shows we’ve been able to do. Students had fun, we got to do a couple off the hip ideas, Benji crushed per usual, and a good time was had by all. Thanks again, fellas, for coming out to rock it and thanks to the students who came to the show. Thanks to my wife for letting me do the show and not killing me in my sleep for leaving you with a screaming 4 day old baby.  

C. Ali and I are celebrating our one year anniversary!

For 370 days, I have been married to the Alison. It has been a good year with lots of growth. We’ve learned a lot and I hope to continue to learn how to be a better husband everyday. We celebrated by getting massages, going to dinner at Panera Bread, and wrapped it up by watching the A Team. My wife knows how to celebrate! Thanks to grandma and grandpa Ninmann for babysitting so we could go out. Thanks to all the friends and family that helped us make it through our first year of marriage to our paper anniversary.

D. I got a job!

After a long and arduous job search, I have landed a position at Assumption College. WOO HOO! I will be an Area Coordinator in the area of campus known as “The Valley.” It will be a great experience and I am really excited about the folks I get to work with. The position will be a cool transition and I have the opportunity to supervise Resident Directors and Resident Assistants. It’s a similar sized school to Whitworth, it’s faith-based, and it’s in beeeeeeeeautiful Worcester, MA. Yup..I said that. Which brings us to our next point…

E. We are MOVING!

It is bittersweet…but we are moving from Spokane, WA to Worcester, MA. Ali and I packed up a POD (an awesome way to move) and then loaded up the Jetta and are making our way across the country. We are in Minnesota right now, kind of the half way point, taking a break and taking time with the Ninmann clan. We stopped in Mitchell, SD on the way over to see the Mulcahys who had just moved there. It was good to see familiar faces on our travels. Spokane has been ULTRA kind to us over the years and there are a lot of people we will miss. The McGonigals, the Mulcahys, the Mulders, the Mandevilles, Buck, Felix and the whole Mr. Dons crew, Whitworth, Spokane Community College, the amazing students that we’ve worked with (Warren staff…you know who you are) and all the other people who have made our time there so pleasant. You have made it hard to leave but know that we are taking you with us. We cannot thank you enough for what you’ve done. If we ever make it back to town, it’s time for Thai Bamboo.

That’s the big stuff for now. With the move, and a new baby here we plan to make more frequent posts to keep y’all updated. If you have Alis contact information, email, call, text, skype or whatever and let’s get her to make a post huh? Rally with me and we can do this.

Anyway, we love y’all. Thanks for following us on this crazy ride of life. Keep up. It’s going to be more interesting with this little lady along for the ride.

PEACE,

Tyler

PS- In the next post, topics such as "Anelas 1st visit to MN/4th of July at the cabin/a visit from the Mulcahy clan," and "The Odyssey" will be covered.  Stay tuned...

PSS- Maybe the next post will be just pictures of Anela.  We have A LOT to share.  Again, stay tuned...

What the effleurage?!

Today Ali and I attended Pre-Birth Class. There was a lot of information, and a lot, a lot of visuals. Phew. We tried some massage techniques for "coaches" (as the fathers were referred to) to perform on the moms. I think that was Alis favorite part of the whole day. My favorite part was when we got to lay on the floor and practice breathing and helping the women to relax. It took every bit of effort not to doze off at this part of the class. Our instructor shut off all the lights and played these ocean wave sounds while we laid down. This also happened at the very end of a 7 or 8-hour class so...the tiredness was setting in something serious by then. It was the perfect storm. Don’t worry…I stayed awake and absorbed everything I need to know to be a good “coach” during the labor and delivery. All set, right? Well maybe not totally but I do feel a little more prepared than I was before.

It was interesting to be in a room full of expecting parents and see the excitement/fear on everyones face as our instructor (who seemed to love her job more than she knew how to contain) discussed epidurals, back labor, crowning, the babys’ first poop and its creosote like resemblance, and why the baby will look like a conehead/alien when it comes out. Lots to take in, you know? It was reassuring for me to know that I am not the only one freaking out a little bit.

Anyways, class is complete. Doctors appointment this past week was good, as usual. Ali and Kiki are good. I am good. Things are great.

PEACE

PS- My tattoo appointment got cancelled...bummer.

PSS- I will be working my hardest to get Ali to do the next update...I think.

Tying up loose ends...

Wow...yet again we went for a loooooong stint without an update. It's been a crazy time of life. Please accept our humblest of humble apologies. Now, let's catch up. Here we go!

FEBRUARY (post Alis birthday)

- Go Gonzaga...G-O-N-Z-A-G-A! Our Friend Tony (a.k.a. Tone Luv) came up from San Diego to visit and to take me to a Gonzaga basketball game. He had won some crazy raffle contest that gave him airfare, put him up in the sickest hotel in town, AND got him tickets to a Gonzaga game. These tickets are hard to come by...extremely hard. In the last 5 years I have lived in Spokane, I have not been to one. Tickets basically start at sold out and you have to wait outside the arena and hustle some tickets out there. Anyway, Tony was able to come up with some extra tickets so we took Sean and Danny with us.

GYEAH! Good times with good folks. Thanks Tone!

Baby shower in Minnesota: At the end of the month, Ali and I went to Minnesota. Some of the wonderful ladies in her life threw her a shower. I think the ladies just had

amazing advice and experience to share with Ali and we got some great gifts. Thank you all for your extreme generosity and for your care. It means so much to us. Anyway, the shower was an all female affair...so the boys went ice fishing. Here is Jonny and Dale drilling one of the holes.

This machine (called an auger) was burly! The ice was so thick that it took the whole bit to get through the ice. This was the view for the majority of the day.

No fish. I think I had 2 nibbles all day but other than that...nada. The silkies, the euros, the minnows, the glow in the dark lures...nothing was working. The fish were not buying it. That kettle corn next to my ice hole kept me nourished. Every now and again a quick pull of Pendleton kept us warm. It was freezing out there! The lake kept making this deep thud sound that the boys told me was the ice cracking. Not super comforting but...oh well. I'm still alive! It was sunny, and I got to hang out with my family from MN, right? The boys had a friend came with us who kept saying "That's why they call it fishing, not catching." True. Anyways, the trip was short and awesome...stellar baby shower, time with friends, Mama Nins cooking, shooting pool with Dale, meals and fishing with the boys, and of course time with Rocky and Charlie...

...just what we needed.

MARCH

-March has been crazy! We knew this was going to be crazy with me doing RA hiring and hopefully doing some job hunting...we decided to take a night off. Our good friends the McGonigals gave us a credit to a hotel they had won in a contest and were not going to use. (Thanks Keats and April!) Ali got back in town from a work day-trip to Seattle and then we spent the night downtown. Far from noisy residence hall life. The silence totally put us to sleep by like 9:30pm. But we woke up and had a MONSTER breakfast buffet that was so good.

It was sunny out. Beautiful morning. Wonderful wife. Life was yummy. I mean, good. The rest of March is kind of a blur to be totally honest. This is probably the most crazy month of the whole academic year for me. There was March 17...

The best St. Paddy's days greeting ever. Sent by none other than Sir Paddy Mulcahy. So good! We had an amazing dinner with the McGonigals and the Mulcahys that was so needed. Hiring was done (for the most part), we were a few days away from spring break (and closing the buildings), and we needed to toast to those things. Keatser gave a blessing before the meal that reminded me of what a special time and place we are in. It's going to be a crazy time of transition with Kiki coming, moving out of the place I have been living in for the last 5 years, and having to find a new job but we are going to make it. We are blessed to have amazing friends (who are more like our family) here. Thanks for everything!

On that note, thanks to everybody for taking such good care of us and for being a part of our lives. It's so important to have community. If I have learned nothing from travelling, from life, and from my work...it's that we need people. Thanks to all who have been blessings to Ali and myself (even to Kiki). We appreciate all of you...for real.

That's about it for now. Thanks for sticking with us and these slow updates. Ali will be getting into the rotation any second now...right, my dear?

IN THE NEXT EPISODE (a.k.a. things that haven't happened yet but are on the immediate horizon)...

-Ali and Tyler go to birthing class

-New tattoo for Tyler...really?

Stay tuned folks.

PEACE,

Tyler (pre-papa)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALISON!

Today is Ali's birthday! WOO HOO!

I love this woman with all my heart. My world is a better place because she is in it. She is indeed my better half. The best wife ever. Soon to be the mother of my child. I don't always get why she puts up with me but she does. And I am thankful for that.

Here's to a blessed day birthday girl...and to many more years learning to love you more than I do today.

Happy birthday Alison!

PEACE,
Tyler (a.k.a. Husband a.k.a. Pre-Papa)

PS- Red velvet cake, anyone?