Author: The Nack Daddy

The gazebo has been getting a good workout, hosting my folks and their books plus various visits from Finn. Grandma Nack blew Finn’s mind with her “Surprise Lap” routine, humming a jaunty little Irish lullaby, then “dropping” him at the end (as he yells “Dump!!”). Now we hear him waking up in his crib, singing & saying “GrammaNACK!” Here’s a little gallery (HTML).
Off to grab a waking-up Finnster,
J.

We’re having a ball with my folks being in town–cruising in a wagon, swinging, riding the slide (“Kindasteep!”) backwards & forwards, reading Mother Goose (“GeogiePogie!”), and more–and of course the Papa-razzo is snapping away. I haven’t had much time to select photos to share, though, so in the meantime here’s just a fun little sequence of Finny hamming it up:

(Here’s a larger version.)

Tonight Margot and I gave Henry (aka Goonie, aka the G-Man) a bath, and while it wasn’t his first, this time I was able to grab my camera. Check out the photos (HTML) of our littlest guy doing the backstroke.
For a fun comparison, here’s Finny’s first bath (and, what the heck, a later one, too). Seeing those pics & realizing they were taken less than 18 months ago (!) really drives home the truth in all those cliches about “they grow up so fast.”

We’re having a great time introducing Henry to his Liggett grandparents (GP’s–hence “Jeeps”), so we’ve been a bit lighter on the blogging. Finn delights in showing grandpa around our usual haunts–e.g. dragging him to the “antenna truck,” jumping to him from our neighbor’s porch, and playing around in the pool. While I’ve got a moment before he gets up, here’s a gallery (HTML) of the proceedings.

Hoot! Tom! Milos!–not to mention Alex! Sarah! and Harper!–gathered at our house last Saturday for an impromptu homecoming celebration just after we arrived from the hospital. It was so nice to introduce Henry to our pals, and to have them help us raise a toast to the newest Nack. (Even Finn got in on that action via some sparkling apple juice. Note, however, that carbonated juice + sippy cup = Molotov kiddie cocktail. We learned the hard way!)
Here are some photos (HTML) from the little shindig. Thanks to Tom & Hughes for contributing some great camerawork.

Finno gets a real kick out of saying “BUCKet!” with regard to little-kid car seats. He’s often talking about our little neighbor Maddie and her seat (“Money! Bucket!”), and now he gets to see Henry occupy his old bucket.
We’re told that older kids sometimes regress developmentally when a new baby arrives. Finn has done nothing of the sort (in fact, just this week he decided to shift gears & move to one nap per day), but we got a kick out of him trying to stuff himself into Henry’s seat (“Goonie! BUCKet!”). As you can see (HTML), he likes to rock out. Maybe he’s pining for his lost youth… If this is the worst regression we have to deal with, we’ll count ourselves very luck. 🙂

I’m typing on the run while the lads nap, so I’ll be brief, but here’s a gallery (HTML) of the latest happenings at 983 Delmas. You can see…

• Henry, supine (as usual) and going for a first sling-ride with us
• Finny & Mom enjoying some popcorn while watching a Muppet clip on YouTube
• Finn regarding Henry with a touch of skepticism. 🙂

…And so the late-night blogging returns. 🙂
Here we are at H+110–a hundred and ten hours into the life of our new little guy (not that I’m counting!). I just had the honor of holding Henry on my lap for the past four hours as he slept, and now he’s enjoying a midnight snack courtesy of Mom-O. We’ve decided to try having me sleep downstairs, the better to get some rest & thus preserve energy for Finn-management.
We’re having a wonderful time so far with the H-man (or G-man, as we & especially Finn alternate with the “Goonie” nomenclature). I have to say, Margot is being a total rock star, holding up marvelously with the return to sleep deprivation. I feel somewhat guilty, not being able to do as much directly with the new guy. For my part I try to provide her with worry-free Squirrel-wrangling, and he and I plan to check out lots of little kid gatherings while I’m on leave.
Finny, meanwhile, regards Henry with passing interest, getting keyed up only when I spend time with the little guy. He’s perfectly content to regard mother & brother as one entity (“Mom-O-Goonie”).
I find I’m (predictably) running out of steam at the moment, so without further ado here are a few photos (HTML) of the family at home–including our first family dinner where Henry doubles as both guest & table setting. 😉 Lots more is in the queue, including images showing a visit from our pals Tom, Sarah, Bryan, Alex, and their tots.

Our boys are wasting no time in exploring their fashionable side. First Henry donned some big earphones for a hearing test (passed with flying colors!), after which the Finnster tried on our neighbor Suzanne’s big sunglasses. Here’s a larger version of the photos.

He’s here, he’s here!! 😀
We could have no sweeter fourth-anniversary news to share: announcing the arrival of the wonderful Mr. Henry Seamus Nack, born yesterday afternoon at 2:47pm! Dad-o is typing quickly as he’s on Finn-patrol, but we wanted to share a little gallery (HTML) showing our great little fella. What a marvel, what a blessing! 😀
More to come (like you doubted that ;-))…

Well, we’ve had no real news from our little amigo-to-be, but Margot went in for acupuncture today, hoping to get the show on the road. Apparently this approach worked for our friend Alex, and Margot reports getting a few good kicks during the goings on. Largely, though, the wait continues.
Meanwhile, Finny and I found some “baby fruit” during a walk through the neighbors’ yard. We took home one “little guy” plus one “little bitty guy,” both of which you can see us holding (HTML). We look forward to introducing our little guy to our little bitty guy soon enough!

Well, our nation’s birthday came and went without becoming El Segundo’s birthday, so we can’t report any fireworks on that front. We did have a lovely day with the Finnster, however, including:

• Banging away on our neighbor’s truck, dropping a severed antenna repeatedly into a hole (“BOOM!”)
• Learning the letter “W” (gleefully pronounced “DoubleYOOOuu!”) in the course of inspecting/washing mom’s VW
• Discovering hot dogs (“Meat!”) and kazoos during a neighborhood toy store’s little concert (featuring cascading bubbles)
• Dining with pals at our friend Julieanne’s house, where “Hoot” (Hughes) remained a person of great fascination. 🙂

Here’s our little gallery (HTML) from the day.

Man, those swim lessons may have deeply affected young Finny, turning him into a true water lover. This morning he started crowing about “Hose, hose!,” so I obligingly turned on the tap–with predictable results. I didn’t anticipate the sheer volume of water he ingested, but at play group a couple of hours later, it all came back to me, so to speak. 😉
In any case, here’s the aqua-man in action (HTML), including a few weekend sprinkler photos. As you can see, Dad-o wasn’t shy about getting in on the action, and Mom-o was a quick pro with the camera.

Lately the Squirrelmaster has gotten quite mobile in the tub (kind of a nervewracking development). His latest trick is to flop onto his belly & then to face-plant into the suds (“Bubbo!”). He pops up gasping and grinning like a madman. 🙂 Here are some shots I captured (HTML) of the proceedings.