The Beast

Just when I got done updating the blog I was informed by Varitek, our dog, that I hadn't said anything about him. He and I haven't been on speaking terms too much lately. I love a nice backyard with green grass and nice looking stuff but he likes to chew up sprinklers, tear up bushes, and basically be a big pain in the butt. I hope he grows out of this puppy thing because while he is a cute dog, he ain't got nothing on Nellie so cleaning up after him just ain't no fun. Having said that he did do something the other day that was quite impressive and will hopefully instill fear into anyone who ever thought about crossing my property line that was uninvited and unwanted.

Just for the record that is a full size basketball he is "jawing". The only way this could be scarier is if his drool was somehow toxic. Anyways, I might have to start posting warning signs around the perimiter of my yard, never know when I might get sued by a burglar because my dog clamped onto his head while he was trying to steal my stuff.

The Beauty

Jen and I have discovered when you have a new youngster in the family that picutes of anything other than the youngster is like junk mail, discarded quickly by most everyone in attempt to get to the good stuff. So, we've tried to get some good Nellie pics on here but may have snuck in a few others as well.

The crew went down to Snowbird at the end of July for a bit of a Schaelling (my moms side of the family) reunion. We do it every year but this is the first year I got to stay at the "presidential" suite. I was the last of the boys to get married which meant I was banished to the floor of the living room in the time share for years, but now that I am married to Jen, and having little Nellie, I was finally upgraded to top notch quarters that included a king size bed. While we were there Nellie got to go swimming for the first time which is good because she had three swim suits. So without further adieu, some pics...

Nellie at the pool

Me and my 4 favorite girls

Dad & Nellie snoozing, lucky Jen that Nellie and I both snore!

Nellie also had a big day when she got blessed. She was a perfect angel through all of church and didn't cry once, even during the blessing. She definitely got her wiggles and emotions out after the blessing, and during the luncheon, so it's a good thing there were plenty of willing hands that wanted to hold her. Jen and her mom made some top notch BBQ turkey so while my hands were willing they were full of plenty of food. The cool thing about Nellie's blessing dress is it is the same one Jen was blessed in. Grandma Fortie added some beads to the dress and it looked awesome!

Nellie on her blessing day

Nellie had her two month checkup since our last blog and she has almost doubled in weight. She weighed in at 13 pounds 2 ounces and was as healthy as any parent could hope for. At 9 weeks she slept through the night for the first time! She is officially 13 weeks old today and has continued to sleep through the night with only a couple of rough nights. Jen is an awesome mom and read a lot of books and magazines that seems to have really paid off (thank you Babywise book!). Nellie has discovered a new favorite thing in addition to eating and pooping...sucking her hand/fingers. She also drools so much that most of the time Jen just keeps a bib on her so we don't have to keep putting her in new clothes throughout the day. Here are a few more recent pics of out little princess...

On the cop front life is going pretty good. I am back on day shift so the hours usually feel longer as the adrenaline calls are few and far between. I did have a cool experience just before I got off graves where I got to kick my first door in. A woman called and said she had been sleeping at her friend's place when the friend's husband came home in a drunken mess. The drunk husband didn't know the friend was there and straddled his wife and started punching her in the face as hard as he could. The friend yelled to him to stop at which time he promptly kicked the friend out of the house and then she called us. A couple of us got there at the same time and I knocked on the door. The husband came to answer the door and saw it was the cops and turned around to go back upstairs instead of letting us in. So then I managed to lift my size 13 Danners high enough and harnessed my inner karate kid. The other cop took him to the ground and cuffed him, and we got to stop a drunk dude from beating his wife. The wife ended up having a brain bleed because of the assault and as happens all too often, the wife bonded the husband out of jail a few days later and they're living together once again. Nevertheless one of the officers got a good pic of the door afterwards...

Well that is all for now. We hope everyone is doing awesome and I am still super thankful that the coolest, hottest, bestest wife/mom said yes to me!