5 Weeks

Tommy is 5 weeks tomorrow morning.  I mentioned previously that he was kind of standing - I've since been taught that it's not called standing when I hold him up and his legs touch the table under him.  He is, however, much stronger and growing up as little boys tend to do.  Grandma & Grandpa Bakker came up from Phoenix to see him this weekend, as well as his Great-Uncle Pete.  I promptly put everyone to work.

Mom & Uncle Pete came up Friday and helped me with a bunch of yard work - THANK YOU!

Mom also enjoyed her grandson quite a bit this weekend.  She taught me some new moves that Tommy seems to like quite a bit.

Numero Uno - Mario Bakker waiting for Tommy to leave permanently.  Sorry buddy, he's here to stay.

I told Mom to spank harder because he didn't seem to mind.  Just kidding, she did not deliver his first ass-tanning.

We see flashes of so many family members in Tommy - here he reminds me of Grandpa Pat, and his incredible bat-like hearing. 

For comparison, my Mom brought up some old photos from when I was a baby.  My scanner isn't working, so forgive me for the crummy close-up camera shots.  That's my sister Sarah and me at 3 days.  I was surprised Tommy looks so much like I did as a baby.  This bodes well for him  - he'll likely turn out studular like his poppa.

One of his name-sakes, his Great-Great Granpa Thomas Gordon.

Yes, me, as a baby in a swing.

And again, me as a baby on some horse thing that my Grandmother crafted out of a single piece of maple that she cut down with her teeth, and carved with her stern look.  Oh wait, my mom just told me that my Grandmother just bought it at some store.

I also listed our old Volvo for sale online.  You'd better hurry to get in on this opportunity.  Jason and I corrected a few things when he was up.  We took it to Checker to borrow their code-reader, but couldn't find the dang computer port.  Turns out this Volvo actually has a fault code "reader" under the hood that uses morse-code of sorts that you reference in a code list.  We addressed what it indicated, I reset the engine light, and nothing has come back on...  Sometimes I wish babies had ODB code-scanner ports...

4 Weeks

Tommy is 4 weeks tomorrow!  He was 8lbs 6oz a few weeks ago, and he's getting stronger.  I was able to get him to stand tonight for a little while, and he's much better able to control his noggin.  He's also seen his first forest fire right above his house - some kids lit the mountain up with fireworks.  I didn't get any decent pictures, but it was cool to watch.  There were 2 helicopters and 2-3 medium planes that bombed the fire with water and retardant non-stop for a day.  A hot-shot crew worked all night, and then another 1/2 day of bombing to finish up.  It burned about 60 acres.  I only got a couple crummy pictures after the sun went down, but you can see a good news clip here - I'm sure glad the fire "burned uphill and not down" too or I'd start questioning the basic laws of physics.  Also, for the record, I've purposely tried to start a fire with lead bullets (and a little accelerant) and don't believe it's possible, but am glad we could conjecture like buffoons for several minutes about it.  I actually heard the fire was started by gun bearing conservatives that were trying to burn up all their money before B. Hussein Obama got his filthy hands on it...

The other night I sported the shirt that my buddy Jason bought me.

Tommy posed right on cue.

Tommy also helped his mom & dad select a new car.  We finally made the big-buy and puchased a 2007 Honda Accord EX-L.  It's super nice with black leather interior, low miles, and most important a 3.0 VTEC 6 cylinder - it really pulls.

Look close and you can see Tommy's whispy hair - funny.  Of course, you don't have to look close to see his dad's Tom Selleck hair style.

For the record, I actually put this guy to shame.

Until tonight my sister-in-law had this theme song as my personalized ring-tone when I called.  When your cool, you're cool I guess.

I'll have to give that boy a haircut soon - don't want someone mistaking him for a long-haired hippie - it's just not 'merican.  Besides, now that I'm not cutting the dogs hair I have a great set of clippers lying around.

Hippies smell.

To round out my posting tonight - enjoy the photo of the big dead scar left from the tree removal.  I'll have to wait for cooler weather and try to re-sod.

Uncle Jason and the 4th of July

My friend Jason came up from Phoenix to behold the spectacle of Fatherhood that I am.  I hope he was a little disappointed.  Jason drove 12 hours to get here, and on his first night helped me work on my wife's car until late into the night.  The volvo is either vapor-locking or I have a bad MAF sensor, or maybe fuel injectors, and certainly a host of other problems.  We looked into the engine cooling system and found some problems.  The volvo has a pre-heater system that draws hot air from the exhaust manifold so the car heats up quickly.  Once hot, a valve is supposed to switch over to cool outside air.  This valve was stuck on "hot" which is not good.

The intake plenum with hot/cold valve

The culprit - a thermally activated pushrod - nearly impossible to find and replace.

Nothin' a little chunk of wood won't fix.  We jammed it into the "cold" position so it works like any other car now.

We also replaced the thermostat for good-measure.  The car seems to be working better in some ways, but still managed to strand us for 20 minutes this weekend.  I may have an airflow sensor problem or something.

Jason & I headed to the mountains for a nice drive.

We ended the day by building a pneumatic cannon with home-made piston valve.  It shoots all sorts of stuff, but potato sections go at least twice as far as the original potato gun.

After some mods it shot a home-made nerf style rocket about 100 yards - cool!

The fam came over for BBQ and fireworks.  Big-brother Patrick with Henry.

A proud Daddy!

Grandpa with grandson #1 (chronologically).

Cousin Henry.

Big brother/cousin Patrick with Tommy and Henry.

Aunties, Doggies, and Monster Trees

My sister came up from Phoenix to see Tommy last weekend.  Of course, I neglected to capture any pictures, but we had a great time.  It was helpful to have Sarah's help with Tommy, and she helped us with chores around the house.  Mario really enjoyed having her too because she took him on lots of walks!

Grooming my pack

Our "Pram" - I use it like a mobile pack & play when I'm not holding my son

Tommy - 2" taller!

Chillin' in his recliner enjoying a nice bath

I've cut my dog's hair for the last 10 years, but he's gotten really naughty lately for me.  I threw in the towel and took him to a groomer - worth every penny!

I wish I had gotten home sooner for better photos, but the tree trimmers removed a gigantic cottonwood tree from my side-yard.  It was leaning over my neighbor's house and the roots were coming into his basement, so we decided to cut it down.

Katie wouldn't let me lay Tommy on the stump for scale, so Mario had to step in.  It's nearly 5' in diameter!