Georgia Coast

We were down at Jekyll Island / St. Simon's Island on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Alicia had to take her students to a conference, so I decided to go as well. Why not - right?

I haven't been there since I was in 6th grade and went to 4H camp there. I actually saw some places that I recognized and remember. It is strange how things change and seem different, when the only real difference is the difference in time of your perspective.

Holden is growing so much. Those of you that haven't seen him lately will be surprised. He is on the verge of crawling any day. It is so hard to believe that he will be 8 months old in October. In these pictures, you can see how expressive he is.

Holden looks forward to seeing all of you (as do Alicia and I). Until then, we'll be practicing crawling with him....

holden laughs

I must apologize that it has been so long since I have posted. In the next few days, I will be posting some new blogs, photos and videos. For right now, you'll have to be content with our most recent video of Holden laughing at a duck....

inside joke

its been too long since i've updated the blog. sorry.

here's a recent picture of holden with a very interesting outfit.

(if you don't get the joke, look to the right. see our album of our trip to asia, look at the dates, add approximately 9 months and compare to holden's birthday.)

happy st. pats

happy st. pats

love micah, alicia and holden!!!

speed bumps

i hate speed bumps.

i remember once when jonas and i had a condo together in atlanta and they added a speed bump right before you got to our place. the first day i drove over it, i couldn't believe it. who would put a speed bump there?

the thing is though, speed bumps are good for us. regardless of how hard you try, it is impossible to avoid speed bumps - i've tried them all, go around them, put one wheel off of the road to minimize the effect, or maybe even ignore them all together.

we all have speed bumps in our lives, right? something happens in your life that slows you down, forces you to change your priorities, or maybe even forces you to stop and consider another direction. God puts speed bumps in our lives for a purpose.

what is the most important aspect of a speed bump? it is important to realize that its not the size, color or shape that is important. the most important thing about a speed bump is its location. the purpose of a speed bump is a function of its location. is it trying to slow you down? is it trying to protect others that are around you? the speed bumps that we find in our lives are there for a reason. just like the highway department, God puts His speed bumps right where he wants them.

the worst thing to do when you see a speed bump is ignore it. you, your car, or both may need new shocks.

i'll stop now. enough rambling....more important thoughts. a thought about my new baby which is why most of you are reading this post now anyway.

most times that I have Holden in my arms, he is asleep. sometimes though, he is so wide-eyed, alert and awake. i find us staring at each other and all of a sudden, it dawns on me that this baby in my arms.....my son, knows who i am.

at home

holden is a week old today. alicia and i look at him and we find it almost impossible to comprehend that he is our son. we look at him in our arms, in his bed, snuggled up in is blanket...it doesn't matter where he is, it still strikes us that he is actually ours.

we've actually caught him smiling, which i didn't realize was possible at a week old. there are other things i didn't realize, for example i had no idea just how many diapers something so small could consume. i've already had to go out for extras.

other things that have surprised me....1-that the words "poopy" and "diaper" would actually become frequent residents in my vocabulary that are usually used in conjunction with each other.2-that i would actually find myself happy when holden has a "poopy diaper" (because a poopy diaper is a great indication of health for those of you who are ignorant in the ways of the infant)

and finally.....that i have a son...i am a father and alicia is a mother...unbelievable. i must apologize to the few of you who are reading this, but alicia and i are convinced that holden is perfect....poopy diapers and all.

along he came

my wife is a trooper, she survived 33 hours of labor and still managed to deliver our beautiful son in amazing fashion. there was a point in time that we were both sure we were headed for a c-section, but prayers were answered and we were blessed and alicia was able to deliver the little guy sans surgery.

it is such a strange feeling to be there and actually witness the moment that you become a parent, a father....daddy. you see it coming, almost like you read it in a book and maybe even claim to know it, but you don't have a clue.

mother and child are happy and healthy. i lay here in the smallest room ever and wonder how i can ever thank God for the miracle of the life of my son.

if i continue to write here, i'll just ramble off in some pointless direction. i'm tired, we've been at the hospital for over 48 hours already and the adrenaline is wearing off.

maybe i'll slip out the door and down to the nursery to take a peek and silently give thanks for a most wonderful day.

Any day now...

Alicia came home from her baby shower this weekend. She got out of the car and the first thing she said to me was "I've been having contractions for the past 2 hours or so...." (My mind says "Whoa!!! You better get inside and get packed") The doctor told her he didn't think it was the actual beginning of labor, to get something to eat and see what happens. Sure enough, half way through dinner, Alicia looked at me and told me she was no longer having contractions. (Actually, I asked her about them about every 5 minutes until she looked at me in that way that she does and I stopped asking.)

So, today we traded some things in that we had gotten 2 of and ended up with a contraption called a "pack and play". I had no idea that something so big could be manipulated into fitting into a box so small. I told Alicia that was why there are packaging engineers. These baby contraptions are unbelievable, you pull a handle here or push a button there and the thing literally reduces to the size of a peanut and you put it in your pocket (Ok, so not literally, but you get the picture).

Anyway, so now we have a way to carry the litte guy around, a way to push him around, and a nice place for him to sleep (hopefully alot). We're almost as ready as we're gonna be I suppose. I've just spent the past 30 minutes working on a list of people to email once the little guy is here.

For those of you who don't know, he's not actually a little guy. At 34 weeks he measured between 38 & 39 and had an approximate weight of 7 1/2 pounds. I asked the doctor if we would make it to our due date and he looked at me and said "No way".

Any day now....

The Badger 9

I didn't know that I knew how to install a garbage disposal. My evening after work consisted of driving to Jonas's condo in Atlanta, making a list of things I needed at Home Depot and then actually going to Home Depot and getting what I needed. I met the new tenant who told me that he wasn't really comfortable having a keypad entry on the door, that a possible 390,625 (5 to the 8th power) combinations makes him uncomfortable, that maybe someone might guess his code. So, looks like I may be installing a new lock in the future.

One of the things that needed to be installed was a garbage disposal - the "Badger 9". I was replacing the "Badger 5" - I wonder when that was the latest/greatest in garbage disposal technology?

I am exhausted and am not sure why I sit here writing about it. I think it is just because I am excited about the blog and desperately needed something to write about.

Life as we know it...

...is about to end. Our son, Holden Clay McCracken will be here in seven weeks, more or less, and plans on completely changing our lives forever. We know our lives are going to change....but I don't think we have a clue.

This is a very, very meager beginning to our family website....almost an experiment. I've been wanting to set something up and I finally decided to just do a blog...whoever you are that is reading this, I hope you are entertained....

More to come...