Babymoon/Spring Break NW-style

Apparently there is a thing called a babymoon and apparently I just went on one. Jill added this new concept to my lexicon a few months ago. We were feeling ambitious at the time and envisioned a trip to Vancouver to explore the Canadian Wild West. As reality set in on how close our spring break was to the actually "guess-date," we weren't sure if we wanted to risk having to suffer through socialist Canadian healthcare or, really, we just wanted to be closer to our house: whatever. Nonetheless, a babymoon is the trip that one takes prior to altering your life forever with little incubating spawn. Jill, of course, is already much changed. Me on the other hand, I am more or less unchanged give or take 10 pounds because I am a sympathetic guy. So, I took the opportunity of this fine babymoon to hit up some bars and restaurants in  Seattle, Olympia (briefly) and Portland and Jill politely obliged. We also saw some sites which were great and some old friends who are awesome. On the final night, we went to our favorite West Coast "cajun" restaurant, Acadia in Portland and saw Quasi and Explode into Colors...a very NW Babymoon indeed!

(Jill on UW campus)

Building a nest

Once we got over the sticker shock of parenthood, Jill and I have had a good time nesting in preparation for the big day. Our old house has the perfect room for Tadpole and I know that he is going to be impressed with the stylish decor: I can't wait for him to see all our hard work!

(Doorway view with photo board so that he knows who is who!)

Last day of our first year official-like

Today is the last day of our first year of marriage. I cannot believe that a year has passed. Dissertation (check), graduation (check), move across the country (check), brew a baby (check...mostly Jill), wedding (check) in addition to a ton of other minor checks. We celebrated with a walk in Mt. Pisgah park and a drive in the country. I have my fair share of problems with this place, but on a beautiful warm day it is hard to complain. At lunch Jill asked me what was the most memorable part of the wedding for me: I stuck with the obvious and chose the second I saw her coming down the aisle with her dad. This really is the most vivid moment buttressed with a clear memory of trying to hold back tears and be a tough guy.

But also I remember a less specific sense of how perfect everything felt: It was the first big thing that we made together.   

This is what first anniversaries are made of...

I read on about.com that paper makes a prime first anniversary gift. I get most of my marriage advice from about.com, so I am taking their suggestions seriously. I could grab a picture frame or two, but we actually just bought some frames to make our house look more like a home for our first party in Oregon last weekend. I could get a board game or two, but that seems a far stretch from paper (counting cardboard, really?). I thought about stationary because Jill always talks about wanting to write more letters, but I couldn't imagine it seeing as we spend much of our time writing to friends and family on our whiz-bang computer machines.

So, I remembered a conversation that we had a few weeks ago: We both agreed that it could be fun to write some updates for ourselves and maybe our folks and take some photos because we miss everyone back East and want to be able to pretend they are right around the virtual corner.

So, I hereby declare this blog experience part of my first anniversary present (there are others too, jeez). I hereby name it "afamilysociology" until Jill thinks up a better name.

Like most blogs I realize this is likely to be abandoned in a few days (weeks at most), but I wish it all the best and hope that it can make it at least one year and that that year will be as perfect and triumphant as the one that I just experienced with the love of my life.