How Our Cats Spent Their Tuesday Afternoon

Last Tuesday, Angie was substitute teaching, I was home, and Noah took a nap in the afternoon.  During his nap, I went downstairs to get some work done.  When I came back up, I found Striker on the La-Z-Boy...

...and Daphne on the couch (her head is near the bottom, in case you couldn't find it in her giant ball of hair).

I guess they were exhausted after a long day of sitting around and eating.  It's nice to know that I work full-time so that the cats can just lie down on the furniture all day long.

Why My Wife is Awesome

Let me tell you why. On Tuesday, I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed. Something that you may not know about me is that I can handle minor surgeries well, but anesthesia, and particularly painkillers, mess me up pretty badly.

We got home about around 12:30 on Tuesday, and I was still a little woozy. Angie got me my pills, a drink of water, and a vanilla milkshake from McDonald's, and brought out a blanket so that I could sit on the recliner. She also brought up some of my favorite DVDs for me to watch. I tried to watch "The Simpsons Movie," but I only remember seeing about 30 minutes of the entire movie, as I was dozing off for most of the afternoon.

I started to feel okay, but still had some mouth pain, so I took a painkiller. Big mistake! I fell back asleep, started to have stomach problems, and before you know it, I'm pale and really sick. This cycle continued throughout the night, where I eventually decided that I'd rather have a sore mouth than be sick.


Why does this make my wife awesome? Well, she did all of the grocery shopping, called home to check up on me, took care of some holiday shopping, took care of Noah, took care of me, cooked dinner, and did all of the housework, without doing a bit of complaining. Below is a picture taken from that evening, illustrating just how useless I was that night.




I joked with Angie that now she knows what it's like to have two kids. I promised her that the next time a simple, minor surgical procedure leaves her unable to do a single thing, I'll help her out too.

I'm happy to report that even though there is still some soreness, I have my appetite back and I'm able to pull my share of the work, hence why I will soon be ending this post and getting back to housework, as Angie is working a substitute teaching job right now and I need to return the favor.

Even if all of this didn't happen, Angie is still an awesome wife, and I thank God for her every day. In the midst of a busy life, sometimes it takes things like this to sit back and realize how good I have it.

Operation Christmas Child

You can make a difference for a child in need this Christmas. Operation Christmas Child brings gifts and hope to children in need throughout the world every Christmas season. All you have to do is fill a shoebox with gifts, and make a small donation of $7, and you can bring joy and hope to a child who needs it this Christmas.

Angie and I have participated in this for the last couple of years. It is not a big financial burden (a trip to Dollar Tree or Big Lots should take care of it), and it makes you feel good to help out. As Noah gets older, we want to include him in the process, so he can see the value of giving. If you have children, this is a good thing to do with them, as they can learn to have compassion for others.

Our country has been in a recession for a while, and yet we are still doing much better than most other nations. Even in our struggles, we can help out.

The gifts will be collected this coming week (November 16-23) all over the country. To find out more, you can visit their website by clicking here. There, you will find information of what you can buy, where to drop it off, and how you can give online and see where your package ends up this Christmas. Merry Christmas, and God Bless.

Noah's First Halloween and More

Noah just had his first Halloween, where he was dressed as a frog. We began the evening with Angie's family, followed by some trick-or-treating in the lovely Village of Warrensburg. Sherry made some amazing chili, and Noah got to spend time with his cousins, one of whom was dressed as a blind referee for Halloween.

We then made it over to my parents' house, where there was more Halloween fun. He got some nice goodies from both families. One of the underrated perks of having an eight-month-old is that he can't have candy yet, so his Halloween candy becomes your Halloween candy. We only get one year to do that, so I'm taking full advantage!

Thanks to both families for making this a fun holiday for all of us.

In other Noah news, he is now eight months old. Along with the Halloween fun, we made a trip to Arthur to check out the Central Illinois Bragging Rights BBQ Competition. That was followed by a stop at Beachy's Bulk Foods, where we purchased copious amounts of good foods (cookies, dip mix, cheese, syrup, cinnamon rolls, and other good foods that I may have forgotten). It was a bit chilly outside, but we all enjoyed a nice fall country day in Amish country.

Later on in the month, Angie and Noah went to Okaw Valley Orchard in Sullivan, along with a few other women and kids from the church. It was a beautiful fall day, and Noah especially enjoyed playing in the leaves and hay.

Near the end of the month, we had a family reunion, where Noah got to see several people for the first time, including Bea, David, Barry, Jim, and Chris.

On the child development front, Noah is developing much more of a personality. He is moving around more. He is not crawling yet, but we're not sure if he will crawl; he is much more interested in standing and walking. In fact, there are times when he is sitting down when he reaches out his arms and wants to pick himself off the ground and start going. When he is on his back, he wants to roll in every direction, as often as possible. When you pick up Noah, he starts to kick his feet in the air.

There are many more foods that he is trying. Most of Noah's meals now consist of "real" foods, and he enjoyed eating generous amounts of food. Honestly, there are times when he just can't stop. He also is becoming more independent at meals, even to the point of sometimes getting upset when he is being spoon-fed.

Noah's noises are funny. His favorites right now are "da-da-da-da-da-da..." and "muh-muh-muh-muh..." and often his noises go up an octave after a few sounds.

Yes, there is much going on, and we look forward to his nine-month birthday and his first Thanksgiving.

Noah's Seventh Month

Lucky Number 7 just passed us by a week ago. Noah's seventh month was full of growth and adventure. He is now sitting up much more than before. He wants to crawl, but doesn't quite know how to do it. He will scoot backwards and pull his knees up. We know that our days of having an immobile child will soon end, and we are about to get the house ready for it.

Noah's eating has really picked up. There are too many new foods this month to even list. We are now doing more jarred foods, and this was the month when he started eating meats. There are some interesting combinations of foods out there. He also is doing finger foods, including puffs, biter biscuits, and pieces of bananas.

Noah's selection of noises has picked up. He likes to say things like "Aye-nigh-nigh-nigh-nigh," and sometimes he will go into an awesome falsetto while he's talking. It's very Brian Jodice-like. When you put him on the changing table, he'll begin to talk and kick his feet. While in the tub, he now can sit up, and likes to splash. Bathtime has become more fun for him. Basically, he is a lot more active than before, always exploring and looking for things to grab and play with.

Most of our activities this month included parks. We went to Whitmore Park, South Shores Park (to see his cousins' soccer games), and we went to Arts in Central Park, a nice art exhibition downtown.

Noah and I have had fun watching Bears games together. The first game of the year was a night game, so Noah was asleep. I'm very thankful that the Bears' Week 1 stinkfest against Green Bay was not the first game Noah saw. Since then, we've watched a few afternoon games, and I'm sure to celebrate with him every time they score. I have to start him early!

Angie started some occasional substitute teaching in September, so Noah has had some days with me (on Wednesdays) and also with his grandmothers. He has handled it well, and we're glad that we don't both have to work every day.

Stay tuned later this month for the eight-month report. Even since turning seven months old, Noah has discovered some new things, and it's going to be a good month.

Halfway to the First Birthday

Noah turned six months old on August 22, and the sixth month was non-stop and full of firsts. First, we have to get through the bad news: Noah had thrush at the beginning of the month. It lasted long enough that he needed blood work. Thankfully, the thrush is gone and the blood work results were good. Holding him down for the blood work was no fun at all. It was pretty funny, however, to see him having a purple tongue when he got treated for the thrush.

We all went to Scovill Zoo in early August. Noah enjoyed listening to all of the animals, although he mostly enjoyed looking at the plant life in the zoo. It was a fun new experience for him. Angie used to work at Scovill, and it’s a nice place to visit. Later in the month, Noah took his first trip to the Decatur Public Library. Angie has been taking him there, and checking out CDs of kids’ songs every couple of weeks. Noah enjoys listening to the music.

August also included Noah’s first swim. We went out to his Grandpa and Grandma Austin’s pool. He was pretty unsure of himself when he first went in, but eventually got used to it. He liked to chew on the front of his flotation device. He looked pretty funny in his big swim trunks.

At Noah’s six-month checkup, he came in at 19 pounds and 28 3/4 inches. He’s a tall boy. That is already over the length limit for his 9-month pajamas, which we just started using. Most of his 9-month clothing still fits, but we’ve discovered that some of his 12-month clothing is now fitting him as well.

One more thing about his checkup – the doctor told us that most six-month-olds don’t push back when he’s examining them, but Noah sure did, so we could already be in for a fun adventure with this one.

I can’t begin to list all of the new sounds that he has discovered. Our favorite one right now is the sound that he makes when he rolls his tongue. He just learned to roll his tongue, and it makes a suction sound when he does it. He also is doing a lot more squealing, and he’s finding his voice.

New foods discovered since last month include peas, peaches, and carrots. He still likes all of his foods, even the green ones.

Noah also can sit up now. He can’t sit himself up yet, but if we sit him down, he’ll stay that way for a while. Eventually, he ends up rolling over. He is rolling over a lot more than he used to.
Another of Noah’s new hobbies is drumming. He especially likes to bang his hand on the Culligan dispenser. He’s not afraid to reach for anything. He likes playing with toys, and each toy has the same purpose – to be put in his mouth. No matter how big a toy is, he always ends up picking it up and putting it in his mouth.

As you can see, the sixth month was jam-packed. We expect more of the same in the next month.

Thank You, Sakrete!

You may remember my blog post last month about how I resurfaced my driveway. In the final paragraph, I thanked Sakrete for making the products that were used. As it turns out, somebody from the Sakrete company read the blog and sent me some items as a token of their appreciation. A Sakrete t-shirt, hat, can holder, and keychain/bottle opener ended up at my house today. I appreciate the gesture. I do have a little bit of concrete patching left to do at my house, and guess whose products I'll be using.

Noah's Belated Five-Month Blog

I'm nearly two weeks late, but here is a picture of Noah at five months. Noah's fifth month was pretty eventful. To start off, we dove into the world of solid foods. It began with rice cereal, and now has branched out to several foods, including sweet potatoes, green beans, apples, squash, bananas, avocado, and oatmeal. Angie has been making Noah's food, buying fresh produce and pureeing it. We recommend the Wholesome Baby Food website, which contains tips on when to feed each food and how to prepare them.



Over the 4th of July weekend, we went to Danny and Marianne's wedding in Chicago. Noah did a good job handling us being stuck in Chicago traffic, and he slept well. He slept through the ceremony, which made Angie happy. He also made it through a decent part of the reception. It was nice visiting all of our family, and it was a beautiful ceremony.

On Tuesdays, Angie and Noah have been attending Baby Talk. Baby Talk is an organization that provides resources to parents of babies. They do weekly meetings throughout the area, all free to the public. It's a great organization that got its start right here in Decatur, Illinois.

One of Noah's favorite things to do right now is sucking his big toe. Those of you reading this on Facebook have probably seen the video by now.

Noah is making a lot of noises. One of his noises sounds like he's saying "Hi." Right before he falls asleep at night, he will roll around in the crib and talk to himself.

Noah is doing some discovering. He likes to grab faces now. He also likes to scratch things, to see what they feel like. When we go on walks (which we've done quite a bit, thanks to the nice weather we've had this summer), he looks around at the trees. One thing that he's not a fan of, though, is the grass. We laid him down in the grass, and he voiced his displeasure.

The fifth month was fun, as you know. It was a real blessing to have reduced work hours this summer, so that I could spend more time with the family. I'm not looking forward to having bigger responsibilities again next week.

Well, the next update shouldn't be too far away, given that I was so late with this one. Stay tuned later this month for the big six-month update.

Our New Driveway (sort of)

Last week was a big week for the Hynds House. I spent last Thursday, Friday, and Monday resealing the driveway. It was long overdue. I didn't have the foresight to take a "Before" picture, but this is a big improvement.

It took five gallons of crack filler (tee hee!) to patch up the major cracks, and then just over two 5-gallon drums of sealant to patch it up. The whole thing was preceded by a long night of powerwashing. There were a lot of weeds that refused to give up, and had to be either pulled out or cut out.

Strangely enough, I had to wait a couple of days before finishing the project, as the materials are not supposed to be used when the temperature gets below 50 degrees. That didn't quite happen last weekend, but it came pretty close. I didn't expect that kind of barrier when I decided to do this in the middle of July.

Not to brag, but I'm pretty proud of myself. You see, I'm not what they call "handy," so this went way beyond what I thought I could pull off. Sure, nobody will look at it and say, "Hey, did you hire Dunn Company to do your driveway?", but it looks good enough, in my opinion. Plus, the whole project cost just above $100, and those are savings that you can take to the bank. The money bank!

I'd like to thank Angie for her support. She took care of Noah, since I couldn't come inside. She also prepared a couple of meals for me to eat outside, and provided a great deal of moral support. I also want to thank Don Reining and Bill Austin for letting me borrow some materials. Finally, I want to thank Sakrete for making the products that were used. (I'm hoping Sakrete will reimburse me for giving them the plug.)

Good night, and happy paving.

Noah is 1/3 of a Year Old (That's Four Months, People!)

Noah turned four months old on June 22. (Call me biased, but I think that is the best of his monthly Pooh pictures to date.)

The fourth month was quite an adventure. We had our first overnight trip, with the three of us going to Naperville for his Uncle Danny's wedding shower. We stayed at the Hampton, and I am happy to report that Noah slept very well. In fact, he slept so well that we were tempted to use the Pack 'n Play at home as well.

In mobility news, Noah can now roll over completely. He moves around much more these days; we have to watch him when he is in his bouncer seat, as he now can move himself out of it. He has a little more strength, although sitting up is still a short while away. Whenever we grab his hands, he will stand up if we gently bring him up, and he will stay standing when we hold him.

Noah makes a lot more sounds now. Some of them even sound like words. I'm pretty sure he said "Hi" the other day when I got him from his crib. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, we'll wake up to hear him talking to himself in the other room.

Speaking of sleep, it is getting better. He still wants to fight sleep, but he has slept all through the night on several occasions now.

I had my first Father's Day last week. Noah (with mom's help) made a nice poem with his footprints, and a mouse pad that's a photo collage. It looks great on my desk at work.

Noah starts having small solid foods (starting with rice cereal) this week, so stay tuned for an entertaining fifth-month report in July!

Noah at Three Months

Noah turned three months old on May 22. The third month has been a fun one.

Noah now is laughing, and he has some ticklish spots. He also is babbling a lot these days; most of you saw the video on Facebook. One of my favorite things to say to him is "Ah Gee!" He seems to respond to it, and it sounds like something that he says.

Angie got to have her first Mother's Day this year, and Noah made her a nice gift.

Noah got to spend his weekdays with his Grandma Tina, since Angie and I both were working. Those were fun times. As of yesterday, Angie is no longer employed with the school district, and is now a full-time mom! We're very excited, and thank God for providing for us.

Last weekend, Noah went to his first baseball game, as he saw his cousin Zach play. He also had his first trip to the Central Park water fountain. He was mesmerized by the fountain.

We also are happy to report that Noah slept from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. earlier this week. Of course, we are all very happy by that.

As you'd expect, we're having a lot of fun with Noah, and we can't wait for the summer.

(If you are reading this on The Hynds Quarters, I thank you very much. I also would encourage you to check out my Facebook page. I have more pictures and videos on that page.)

Noah is Two Months Old

Believe it or not, Noah turned two months old on April 22. Here's a picture montage of his first two months:

This is a picture of Noah taken about two hours after he was born, on February 22.

We took this picture on March 22, his one-month birthday. We plan on taking a picture of him next to this Winnie the Pooh doll at every month, to show how much he grows.

And here's his picture at two months. He has grown quite a bit.

Noah has done a lot of growing and developing. He can move to either side, he can lift up his head, and he occasionally can hold his head in the air. He also is very close to completely rolling over. In fact, he wakes up every morning in the corner or the edge of his crib, but it doesn't seem to bother him.

Noah is smiling a lot these days, and he does have some small laughs. He actually laughs the loudest when he's asleep.

He likes to lay down on the floor or the bed, but he really likes to sit in his bouncer seat and talk to the animals on the seat. One of his least favorite places to be is his carseat. And for the past couple of weeks, he hasn't been a big fan of baths.

Sometimes, when he's fussy, I like to call him either Fussypants McGee or Noah Von Fussypants.

He sure has been a lot of fun. There will be many more pictures, videos, and stories over the years.

Noah Lee Hynds is here!

We'd like to welcome Noah Lee Hynds to the world. Noah was born on Sunday, February 22 at 3:24 p.m., at 9 lbs. 5 oz. and 22 inches long. He has brought tremendous blessing and joy to Angie and I. Here's the first of many pictures of our little guy. Noah and his mom are both doing well.




There will be a lot more pictures and videos both on this blog and on Facebook. We can't wait to share his stories to all of you! A big thank you goes to all of our family and friends for their caring and generosity.

Baby Comic

My grandma sent this to me a few weeks ago. It's a comic from Parade Magazine, and she threw in her own captions:




Pretty funny, and sadly, I know it will be true very soon.

Our Baby Shower

Angie had her baby shower back on January 17. It turned out very well, and we'd like to thank everybody for all of the books, all of the gifts, and the great food. Special thanks to Sherry and Nicky for organizing the event, Dad for preparing the soup, and our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and friends for helping out. The pictures can be seen on Sherry's Facebook page.

If you see Angie, ask her what she thought of the fruit salad.

Thank you all for a great baby shower, and our little guy will be here before you know it!

Adventures in Plumbing

Angie and I had an unusual day yesterday. Let me set the scene for you: Yesterday, we both got off work at 2:00, both being done for the day. That almost never happens, so we were looking forward to an evening of relaxation. We both got home. Angie had to use the restroom right before we were to take off for Target.

A few minutes later, everything changed. Angie went to wash her hands, and the faucet bursted into the air. Water came flying into the air and out of the faucet. It did not stop. I ran downstairs to shut it off. In a moment of panic, I thought the shut-off valve was in the laundry room. It wasn't. Instead, I found out that the water had gone through the duct work and into the laundry room, where it was cascading down. I called Bill, my father-in-law. He told me that the shut-off is on the street side of the house, and of course, he's right, so I made it to the other side of the basement to shut it off.

The water is shut off, but there is still work to do. Bill called a plumbing service for us. Meanwhile, there is water in the basement, on the ceramic tile. So, while running to go upstairs and start cleaning up, I slipped and fell on the floor. I went upstairs, and water was all over the bathroom. We had to use every towel in the house to soak it all up on both floors.

About an hour later, the plumber arrived. It turns out that an O-ring corroded on the pipe, and a washer on the faucet fell apart. Those two little things caused all of this.

By now it's about 4:30. The plumber told me what to get, so I went to Lowe's to buy a new faucet, a P-trap, and two hoses. I got home and unhooked the water line from the old faucet, got everything unscrewed, and got the old faucet removed. At this point, Bill felt sorry for me and went over to help.

I should clarify that we have a small bathroom, and a small cabinet area. I should also mention that I'm about 6'3", and Bill isn't much smaller. I twisted myself more than ever before on this project. The pipes didn't quite fit, so Bill had to get a hacksaw to make the pipes fit. Bill spent most of the time working on it, and then I would occasionally tighten things up. Finally, a little after 7:00, the job was done, and the cleanup began.

Thankfully, everything is okay. The only two rooms that had water have ceramic tile, so it did not get on our laminate floors, or the carpeting. I also owe a lot to Bill for helping me out. Plus, I need to thank my father for bringing some fans over, so we could air out the floors and cabinets faster.

So if you ever needed help on installing a faucet, I can now say that I have some experience. Being a homeowner can make life interesting!

A Weird Dream, or an Ominous Prediction?

The other night, I dreamed that the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series. That would be very unlikely, since the Pirates' last winning season was in the early '90s. However, if that actually happens this year, you heard it here first.

Another Carbondale Trip

Guess what? We went back to Carbondale this past weekend. It wasn't as long of a trip as last time, and this was more for business than for pleasure (I went down to help wrap up our old church's files), but we still had a wonderful time with the Staleys. Angie and I ate at Booby's (you read that correctly) for lunch, and then went out with Noble and Lynnette for pizza at Quatro's for dinner. Later on, Angie and I did some shopping in Marion to buy some baby things that our stores in Decatur don't carry anymore.

On Sunday, we attended the worship service at Vine Community Church (a place I would recommend visiting), and it was awesome as always. The "random moment" of the weekend soon followed, when we had to detour on the way back to their house becuase a big moving truck got stuck in the ditch pulling out onto Pleasant Hill Road.

We have to thank the Staleys yet again for providing us a place to stay and for the good times that we had. With our little guy coming in less than a month, this was our last trip for a while.

The Inauguration

I consider myself pretty lucky that I was able to watch the Inauguration at work today. No matter how we all feel about politics, it was quite a sight to see, and an event that will go down in history. I never plan on giving away my political affilation on this blog, but no matter what, I hope that I always remember to pray for my president and the decisions that he makes.

I hope that the next four years go well for us, and that we remember that if we expect the president to fix all of our troubles by himself, we will be greatly disappointed.

One more thing: President Obama is a White Sox fan, and that's pretty sweet. Take that, North Siders!

My Goals for 2009

I know we're already in the 11th day of 2009, but I thought I'd share some of my personal goals for the year. I got the idea for doing this last fall, when I read the book 48 Days to the Work You Love, by Dan Miller. It's a great book that deals with how we approach our careers, and how our career should be more than just a paycheck. It's a book that I recommend, no matter what you think of your current job.

One of the chapters in this book mentioned that often we want our lives to improve, but we don't lay out a plan for making it happen. I have been guilty of that; sometimes, I want to change, but I'm too afraid to take a chance, or I'm simply too lazy to do anything about it. So, for 2009, I decided to set some personal goals. I made 11 goals total, although I'm going to keep some of them private. Here they are, by category:

Spiritual
1) Read the entire books of Psalms and Proverbs, as well as all four gospels.
-I want to deepen my relationship with God, and I can't expect to do so if I am not more diligent about reading his word. I often lack the motivation to read the Bible, and I hope that challenging myself to do so will help. I will need about two months for each book. I'm cheating a little here; I was already halfway through Psalms when the year began. But Psalms is a pretty big book anyway. Hopefully, I'll have a better understanding of these books at the end of the year.

2) Pray every day, and pray for Angie and our (future) son every day.
-If you never talk to your spouse, the relationship never goes anywhere. Thus, if you never talk to God, that relationship also goes nowhere. I learned this during a good sermon that I listened to a few weeks ago. As a result, I'm going to try very hard to pray every day, even if it's just a small prayer, and I always want to be praying for Angie and our boy.

Finances
1) Work 300 hours at the M.E. Barber Company and teach two summer courses at RCC.
-The summer courses are already in the schedule, and I made a month-by-month account of how I will get to 300 hours for the year, based on what I worked in 2008 and how my schedule will be this year.

2) Bring our emergency fund to have three months of expenses saved up.
-We were at that point near the end of the year, but car repairs set us back. However, it was nice to have the money to pay for those repairs. This is where the extra hours at the Shop and teaching summer courses comes into play.

Physical and Relational Health
1) Spend 30 minutes on the treadmill (or walking outside) at least once a week.

2) Have a "date night" with Angie at least once a month.
-This will especially be important after our boy is born, so that our marriage can stay strong.

Personal Development
1) Read six books (one for every two months).
-I can already see some of my relatives laughing at this one. Reading, at least reading books outside of work, has never been a passion of mine, but I know that I need to read if I want to get ahead in life. I read two books for pleasure in 2008, so I hope to increase it this year.

2) Cook a meal once a week.
-I'm lousy at cooking, and that needs to change. Angie shouldn't have to cook every meal, so I want to help out.


And those are some of my goals for 2009. Why have I posted these on my blog? It's easy; it's a good way to stay accountable. All of you who read this are allowed to e-mail me anytime this year and ask how I'm doing, and you can demand that I be honest. I hope that this has inspired you to think about what you want for this year, and how you can make it happen.

Here's to a fantastic 2009!

My Griswold Moment

I mentioned in a previous post that my dad bought me a shirt similar to the one that Clark Griswold is wearing when he is putting up the outdoor Christmas lights. Well, as I went to take down the lights last Thursday, I wore that shirt and had Angie take a picture of it.


I don't have the cheesy '80s Bears hat that Clark wore, but a current Bears hat will do. I also got out the staple gun, even though those lights are not stapled to the house. I can also happily report that there were no mishaps or injuries. Next Thanksgiving, I'll be sure to wear that same shirt when I put the lights back out.

The First Nursery Photos

Angie and I have worked hard over our holiday break to get the nursery put together. Here are a few photos. More will come as the nursery progresses.

Here's the crib and the dresser. The crib was pretty easy to put together; the dresser, not so much. They both look nice, though.

On the other side of the room are the changing table and the rocker. These were some lucky finds; the changing table came courtesy of my sister-in-law, Jill, and we bought the rocker when One Way had its church sale.

We also bought new curtains for each of the windows.

Here's the closet. The boy already has more toys than he needs. This is what happens when Angie's siblings couldn't wait to unload some unneeded toys. We are very thankful, however, to have so much. We don't plan on washing the clothes for a while, hence why the clothes are in a big pile.

Here's his bookcase. He also isn't hurting for books. The train on the top is a piggy bank train, where we can write in his name, height, weight, birthday, favorite food, etc. Next to it is a teddy bear from the Chicago Symphony. Both were wonderful gifts from my brother Danny and his fiance, Marianne. On the right is Woofers, a bear we made at Build-a-Bear when we were in St. Louis this past fall.

Finally, here's a closeup of the dresser. The ultrasound picture is on the left. That frame was a gift from Betty, a co-worker at my side job at the M.E. Barber Company. The picture book and piggy bank came from my parents, and my parents and grandparents combined to save over $120 in quarters to put in it. I gave Angie the elephant photo frame for Christmas, with a note saying "Insert baby picture here" in it.

It was hard work, but a lot of fun, to put it together. Now comes the waiting. We're pretty excited to see him come!

Want to Take Control of Your Finances?

At the beginning of 2008, we took a class called Financial Peace University. It's a 13-week class that was offered at our church. I can't recommend this course enough. One year later, we are still reaping the benefits of learning about our finances. Right now, we make less money that we did at this time last year, and yet we no longer have credit card debt, we increased our savings account significantly, and we were even able to put some money away in a Roth IRA. Plus, we still sit down before every month and make a budget. I never wanted to do a budget (I know, a math guy who didn't like to budget; who knew?), but now I see no other way.

The class was created by Dave Ramsey, a well-known author and radio show host. His videos are very entertaining. Picture a crazy, animated, middle-aged man from Tennessee, and there you have it. I read his book, The Total Money Makeover, earlier this year, and learned much from it.

This class especially helped us out, given the current market. The way I see it, when there's a recession, we have two options: we can panic, watch CNN and Fox News all day, and assume it's hopeless, or we can choose to take charge of our finances. We chose the latter, and couldn't be happier.

If you are in the Decatur area, this class is being offered again at First Christian Church. It's on Wednesday nights starting January 7. It only costs $99, and you can sign up here. They even serve dinner beforehand, for $5 per adult and $3 per child, but no more than $16 per family. This class is being led by Shane Woodrum, who led our class last year. Stand-up guy, and a great teacher. If you're not in the Decatur area, there are classes offered nationwide, or online. Check out the website for more information.

It's a new year; why not make it the year of financial improvement?


(Note: After typing this post, I saw the commercials for the "Rich Dad" seminar that is coming to Decatur on the same night. I wasn't referring to that event, although I'm not endorsing or condemning it.)