Ian is Here!

Raising three girls hasn't really prepared me for a two year old boy. There was Mitchell, of course, but he was...well, he was not Ian. We've had a lot of fun though. A ride on Papa's four-wheeler. We also went to Lowe's and we went to the coffee shop and we swung by the funeral home. I had to show him off, you know.

Cartoons playing in the background once seemed a real distraction from my reading or internet surfing but I've discovered a new appreciation for them. Ian actually stood still for 2 or 3 minutes in a row.

He's a fine feller...

10-11-2008, Download, Nita's Camera

Catchy title, huh? Really though, every once in a while I'll see a bunch of good pictures on Nita's camera and decide that I need to pop 'em on my computer. The problem is, they are usually accumulated over several days (read, "events"), forcing a "stack of stuff" blog post. So, without further ado.....
My previous post on Rache's 4H baking didn't include anything in the way of preparation so here's a few pics of that.
Ready to take to the judging....

After the judging....

Ian judging....

Ian being Ian. Sweet, I mean....

About that. Kids are really something but a grandchild IS different. You hear that from people but until you have one it doesn't really mean so much. It's hard to explain. All I know is I like it!

Emma (daughter #4, sorry Mike & Sheila) and Ian. He had this tongue thing going while they were here. I think it had something to do with teething.

Brother Ty held revival at Clinchfield Baptist last weekend. Three men came forward and got baptised. Oh wait, Bro. Ty was one of them. That explains Pastor Paul up in the Baptistry.

Bro. Ty and Maid Bekah following the ceremony.

Can't seem to get away from that hamburger cake.

Tea party's are very popular here.

Mountain Glory. Rachel always helps me as I do my DBA duties. This year, Anna was here and was up early this morning so we drafted her to help too. We were there at 6:30 a.m. to help the vendors get set up, as usual. Rache and I have been doing this for many years. Freddie Killough says that she figures Rachel will take over for her some day.

Well, that clears the slate. We're leaving for St. Augustine on Monday morning so maybe I'll have something good to share from our trip.

Ian's Visit

Ian came to visit us recently.

Oh, Paul and Sarah came with him.

Don't want to leave them out!Too sweet!

Sarah seemed to always have plenty of help taking care of Little Feller.
Sarah, I know you're going back to work soon but that's a little too
gung-ho isn't it? With the nurse's cap and all?
He love him Mama!

And then they had to go.

We'll see them all again soon.

South of here.

Can't wait!

Me & Ian

Sweetness Here!

I got the call from Sarah on Thursday, February 21, 2008 at about lunchtime. In fact, I was eating lunch at the time with Tim McEntire at Countryside B-B-Q. "He's on the way", she said. I managed to get away around 5:00 or so. The girls would've gone with me except for a 4H Fashion Revue and 4H Entertains on Saturday that they had been preparing for for a long time. In the meantime Paul had booked me a reservation through Priceline at the Intercontinental in Buckhead ("Beam me up, Scotty") and I arrived there at about 10:00 p.m. Went to bed and got up early Friday morning and headed to Piedmont Hospital. Sarah is a L&D nurse there so you could say that she received very good treatment.



After what seemed like no time at all and an extremely "easy" delivery, Ian James Kotronis entered this world. The name was a secret until he came and I think was only nailed down that very day. No wonder they couldn't tell anyone! This precious little baby had to go to the intermediate care nursery because of some minor respiration problems followed by some equally minor jaundice problems. We got to hold him in the nursery but he wasn't able to go to his mama's room. But...he is home now and doing well and we are planning to go see him early in March.

Sweetness on the way!

Pappy? Papaw? Gramps? Grampaw? Papa...yeah, maybe that. And Nana? I think so! How can it be that I am going to be the proud Papa of a sweet little baby boy, who, I'm just guessing now, but who will come into this world as a fat little black-eyed black-haired bundle of Papa-lovin' joy! Just blessed I guess. Sarah and Paul seem to be taking all of this in such easy stride that I just know that "what's-his-name" is surely getting such peaceful vibes from them that his eventual emergence into our world will be absolutely serene. Well, I'll ask Sarah about that later. Anyway, I dearly look forward to the times that he and I will have together. How can I not wonder...what will he look like, what will he be like, what will he love, what will he want from life and what will he bring to this world? I don't know but I surely look forward to finding out!