3 Years Down, Forever Yet To Go

3 years go today...

In honor of our anniversary, I created a poem for Roo. Created not wrote as you'll quickly realize I borrowed the words but its never really been about the words between us anyway, its all in the heart.

Just a small town girl…just a city boy,

Here on Earth, its you and I.

Sweeter than candy, hotter than heat,

At long last love has arrived and I thank God I'm alive...

You're too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you.

I just want to look in your eyes and catch my breath cause I got a feeling...

This could be one of those memories we want to hold on to, cling to, one we can't forget.

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing, watch you smile while you are sleeping.

My darling, I can't get enough of your love babe,

Wouldn't you agree, baby you and me, got a groovy kind of love.

Baby, I'm amazed by you,

You're all I need to get by.

I have all I've waited for and I could not ask for more,

And its all part of a grander plan that is coming true.

Oh, I love you more today than yesterday but not as much as tomorrow,

Take my hand, take my whole life too.

The smile on your face let's me know that you need me,

Then you wouldn't have to say you love me cause I'd already know.

More than words.

Ending with comic relief to cut the cheese above...I did drop some of my own words on Roo at dinner, telling her I hope she feels as beautiful as she looks. Her response (now nearly 12 weeks with child): "I feel bloated and gassy."

we're having a....

BOY....well according to the Chinese Gender Chart we are....

29 more weeks until we know for sure! That's right folks, we aren't finding out the sex of Meatball. We've heard a wide range of reactions so far...most people act shocked and say "you sure are brave!" I think to myself "we're pretty darn brave to have a kid to begin with"....not sure how waiting to find out if it's a boy or a girl makes us any braver.....

EJ and Roo...plus someone new!!!

It’s taken us a few months to be able write this post. And now that we are, I'm not sure I'll ever have all of the words to describe what we are feeling. You see, sometime after I recapped the fall of 2010, Riley and I made a decision that not only has been an underlying theme of our last few months but one that will define the rest of our lives together: We decided it was time to add someone new. Not shortly after we had this talk, I coincidentally received an end-of-season sale code for cubs.com. I made a purchase for the future, waiting til next year as they say in Wrigleyville.

Well, next year is here. By our best estimates, the magic happened on March 11^th. Our first pass at pregnancy tests wouldn’t come until early in the week of the 21^st . Riley had to be in Atlanta that Monday but the signs were already there. Literally. At a rest stop, she accidentally parked here:

Upon her return to Rock Hill, we took the first early detection pregnancy test. Faint but not nothing:
Is that a positive result? Or an optical illusion. I compared these results to thousands of google images, read hundreds of message boards posts anxiously trying to decipher. I should have just waited until the next morning when she took another test:

Over the next few days, we contained our joy. The only people that knew were us and the lady at Bump (maternity store in Baxter Village); though the cashier at Target had to suspect something considering I had been in a few times for ovulation and pregnancy tests. Ironically or coincidentally, during Sunday school that weekend, Riley sat on “pregnant row” as it was dubbed by our unsuspecting teacher. A few days later, I wasn't driving Riley as crazy as I usually do this time of the month and a week later, a trip to the doctor confirmed the news!

We then felt it was time to share the news with only our immediate family members. While I "tested" the shot for a family photo, instead of asking them to say “CHEESE,” we broke the news by telling everyone to say “Riley’s pregnant” thus capturing the moment.

We insisted on picking up my brother from the airport as he was returning from his 30th birthday trip to London. He was greeted with a "Welcome Home Uncle Philip" sign and responded with an expletive cry of joy. Phone calls to Columbia, SC and Lakeland, Fl followed to share the news with my parents, everyone thrilled and excited, though both sides claimed to be suspicious. We wondered who was at highest risk to leak the news. I nearly hacked my dad’s facebook account to disable it. Riley’s sister was certainly a concern around family. It was impossible to keep the secret from the wedding party in which Riley served as a bridesmaid though one husband thought I had purchased Riley a boob job. Overall, we did a pretty good job keeping the secret safe, despite so many people, including me, wanting to shout it out from the top of a mountain.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above.” – James 1:17"

At about 10 weeks, we had our first ultrasound. I thought I was going to cry when I saw the image appear on the screen. Our little meatball was just wiggling and jiggling around, dancing to the rhythm of that little heartbeat. And the music of that heartbeat made our hearts melt when the doctor amplified it in the room. Everything was in order and we’ll be back in 4 weeks for another routine checkup.

Thus, with the 10 week prenatal visit complete, we’ve gone viral with the news. We announced it with the help of the Wrigley picture above, a couple creative videos and this blog.

We of course broke the news to the dogs as well, though I am not sure they quite understand the changes that are in store. I am not sure we entirely do yet either. Friends with kids say you never will.

We are so happy and so blessed.

Nerd Alert

I love math. I'm wicked awesome at Suduko. I keep a scorecard when I attend baseball games. I can file taxes by hand. I'm handy with Excel, SQL, SPSS and SAS. In other words, 100% nerd. I dressed the part this morning for church, wearing the first bow tie I've ever owned thanks to tagging along on a trip to Belk with Riley. And while I am a Star Wars fanboy and an avid Xboxer with a decorated gaming past that includes modded maps on Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 and successful city planning in Sim City 2, I am not Geek enough to mount a TV on our wall. I am always looking for chances to prove to Roo (and her dad) that I can be handy around the house with chores a little more difficult than changing a light bulb. With Google at my fingertips, I can learn just about anything in mere minutes (like how to make the perfect meatball, tie a bowtie or when Sons of Anarchy Season 4 will start on FX), but even I knew better than to rely on various do-it-yourself YouTube clips and turn to the pros when we decided to hang our plasma on the wall in our living room. Kind of like the cartoon devil you see on one shoulder, angel on the other or Goofus and Gallant adventures depicted in the latest Highlights magazine, I had no trouble playing out the two scenarios: 1) me hanging the TV and having it rip from the wall and crash to the floor just before we find out how much the lady saved on the latest episode of Extreme Couponing 2) Filing a service warranty in the drawer of important papers with peace of mind that my only concern will be retraining my neck muscles to the new viewing angle. No brainer. In detail, I explained my dilemma and needs at Best Buy, bought the necessary wires and mounting supplies and made the appointment for the Geeksquad's housecall. However, when the men in blakc arrivved sometime between 8am and 4pm for the appointment, of myself, the dogs and the two Geeksquad reps, there weren't 2 feet on the carpet of the room before I was able to sense their hesitancy. Their diagnosis confirmed the notion that this wasn't going to be as easy as it should be or I wanted it to be. They went through the whys and what nexts (no crawlspace means the wires have to go outside the house, remove the vinyl, need an electrician, need longer cables, call us back) and I'm left typing this out as I watch Deangelo Vickers and Michael Scott duke it out...nay, hug it out...on the TV that remains rested on the TV stand. I wonder if they would have taken me more seriously had I been wearing my bow tie.

This past weekend we had the pleasure to host EJ's baby brother's 30th birthday celebration. PJ left this morning for a vacation across the pond to celebrate turning 30 in style. (I hope he brings me back a little William & Kate memorabilia!) We're so glad we were able to kick start his birthday fun with a "Hangover" themed party with family and friends.

I owe Roo. Big time.

I have an amazing wife. Not a question or opinion but fact. I’m a city boy, born and raised in Illinois that converted a small town girl living in a Friday Night Lights world into a full-fledged diehard Chicago Bears fan. So much a great fan that she bought a Bears flag to replace (temporarily) the South Carolina state flag that hangs outside our front door. So much a great wife that for the biggest game for the Chicago Bears in the past 25 years and she was able to get us tickets, the hottest tickets in town in the past 25 years, less than 72 hours before kickoff.

She topped it all off by booking a “free” stay thanks to hotel points; our last minute surprisingly cheap flight came with a free first-class upgrade thanks to her frequent flyer status. Given I write this from my couch and not one of the hundred various Hilton or Marriot properties in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area, the game obviously didn’t go as we would have hoped. But the jet-setter weekend trip to the Windy City was worthy of awarding Riley with Wife of the Year honors in only the third week of January. Arriving on gameday eve, we ate our way through Saturday with the help of Graham Elliot’s Grahamwich and a Girl and the Goat’s roasted pigface.

An added bonus at the Palmer House was that our brief stay coincided with 2011 Soxfest. Now I bleed Cubbie Blue but my cousin Amberly and family were in town from South Bend to let son and dieheard Southsider Sam take in the festivities. So we were able to meet them for Sunday brunch before setting out into the bitter cold.

The key to surviving a Chicago winter is layering and we did just that on Sunday. But even with hand and feet warms placed at all extremities, the cold crept in. Roo was a trooper though, sticking it out from start to finish, complaining only about the numbers on the scoreboard not the ones on the thermometer.

The game came and went, drive after drive of coming so close yet so far away and ended sans the spectacular roar with which it began.

We finished off the day with a deep dish at Giordano’s and Starbucks hot chocolate for desert. The next morning we returned South and I’ve been mourning the Bears season ever since. I will no doubt be pulling for the Steelers today and of course looking forward to the commercials…though, I think I (and12 million other viewers as of 12:42) have already seen the best commercial of the year, if not ever…

PG: Proctor & Gamble - Last: $63.13 ($-1.07/%-1.67)

I’m bald. 40% due to heredity, 60% Bic razor. Ok, maybe its 60-40, the other way. Forget the Oil-Owning Billionaires or Tech-Tycoons, I think the real money is made in shaving products. The evolution of the razor blade has ballooned the man-care industry. When I first started shaving, there were only 3 kinds: electric, disposable and your standard double-blade cartridge. Today, there are more models of the Fusion for me to choose from to shave with than there are standing ovations at a State of the Union address. Next, consider all of the complimentary product they’ve rolled out for men. It used to be just aftershave. My dad used Old Spice. Now there is pre-shave hair softener, dozens of shaving creams and gels, and more flavors of post shave cooling moisturizer than Baskin Robbins has scoops and cones. For the rant it seems I’m on, I admit I use them all. For all the money I’ve saved not needing shampoo and conditioner or trips to the barber, I think I’ve spent just as much if not more making the folks at Gilette filthy…nay…shiny, clean, baby's-bottom-smooth rich.

The good news is that Riley and I have budgeted for my grooming, kind of like we did for the dogs. For 2011, we set a few of the standard New Year’s resolutions. Thanks our Microsoft Kinnect, we haven’t yet given up on our get in shape goal. The second January first usual suspect was to make a meaningful effort to manage our money better. We built a simple Excel spreadsheet, estimated our expenses and have plan to monitor it all monthly. January didn’t go quite as fiscally planned. But for the most part, I am not complaining. We kicked off the New Year at a Chairman of the Board tribute concert, and a few weeks later, took a last minute trip to Chicago for the NFC title game (the outcome is the part were I have a few complaints…but I’m not ready to talk about the game yet, too soon). We booked a February trip to Florida to see my family as well. I think we’ve taken a step in the right direction to managing our money and January was more the exception not the rule. To help the cause though, I cut back on cutting my beard and let my traditional Thanksgiving-to-Christmas beard last well past MLK day this year. Coincidentally, January marks a 3 month low for shares of Proctor and Gamble, the controlling interest of the Gillette Company.

Roo's 2011 Reading List

I like to read. Correction: I LOVE to read. With the start of the new year I've resolved do more of what I love so I shall start with reading. Some of these are recommendations from family and friends and some are ones that have been sitting unread on my bookshelf.

It's time charge the Kindle!

Happy Reading in 2011!!

Happy New Year!

2010 is in the rearview mirror and we are excited about making 2011 a great year from the start. We've got the standard resolutions of losing weight, saving money, being more organized, etc. And while the experts say that 4 out of 5 people won't keep their resolutions, we are incentiving ourselves to make it all happen. For starters, our Christmas gift to each other was the Kinnect for the Xbox...We've already boxed, bowled and mastered Pokerface. We will next take on the EA Active 2 fitness "game." For our finances, we have created a budget spreadsheet to help track spending and saving. We will keep pushing our careers forward while maintaining an important balance. We hope that next year is here for the Cubs. We pray for a healthy and happy year for our family and friends. While we won't hold Max and Kennedy to any resolutions this year (2010: fail), we will reward ourselves along the way for sticking to ours. Most importantly, we will do everything we can to make 2011 a good live, laugh and love year. Happy New Year to all.

Merry Christmas!!!

Where were we?

We are a few months into year 3 of our marriage and as you probably didn't notice, the hustle and bustle of everyday life has set in thus we have only updating this blog every month or so. That is not to say we don’t have our share of bumps, thrills, spills and chills worthy of being blogged, we just haven’t been able to keep up with them ourselves let alone share them with the whole wide world web. In an effort to establish a little continuity (like the “previously on” prologue of your favorite TV series) here are the happenings of the past month or so:

Cancer remains kicked for Roo’s mom. We are awaiting the results of the latest routine biopsy but have no reason to believe that the Lord has changed any plans and won’t continue to bless us with positive news. That could be because the Lord is very busy with one of his newer Angels. We sadly lost Roo’s Aunt last month due to an untreatable brain tumor. She is in a better place know but sorely missed. The outpour of support and love that I witnessed while we were in Scattertown for the funeral is a true testament to the importance and significance of family. We had a mini-family reunion on my mom’s side of the family last month, attending my cousin’s wedding in the northwest ‘burbs of Chicago. My dad, sister, brother and sister-in-law came up from Columbia last to attend the Bears-Panthers game last weekend. It was a long day and I’ll leave it at that for now. Hopefully, this short work week goes by fast as, on Thursday, we are headed to Key West, taking Roo’s sister to celebrate her 21^st birthday. On the East Coast, the summer’s heat extended itself well into the fall, ruining my fall harvest of okra, tomatoes and watermelon. The key limes I thought I was growing turned out to just be weeds. I spent the entire baseball season wasting my twitter account on the Chicago Cubs. Every day, I dedicated a tweet (and a song) to those lovable losers in the hopes of scripting the soundtrack to a World Series season. I’ll wait til next year before mentioning them again.

Hopefully, we’ll have something new to share with the world before then. I am by no means implying that anyone loses sleep by not being updated on our lives but more so noting that I may be disappointed with myself for not doing so. I know that, in 2010, I have trouble remembering what Roo asked me to also pick up at the grocery store as I walk out the door, moments after she just asked. By 2060, the only way I will probably remember how beautifully in love Riley and I spent this past weekend will be because on one Sunday afternoon with the setting sun at my back and a cool 70 degree breeze in my face, while the dogs sleep at my feet and a cardinal seeks out sunflowers seeds at the feeder, with the faint sounds of a distant lawnmower being drowned out by the barks and shrills of the kids of the cul-de-sac, I remembered to write it down.

NY better than Chicago? Forgetaboutit!

I love food, most of it at least. And I am a man, most days. So it makes perfect sense, then, that I love Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel. It’s the show where Brooklyn native Adam Richman heads out across the globe tasting local treats then taking on an eating challenge of some sort. Down 50 Naga Jolokia wings in 30 minutes or ingest a twelve egg omelet topped with 1 pound of bacon, 2 and pounds of cheese without throwing up. I caught an episode this week where he was visiting Chicago. In case you’ve forgotten because we post here with a frequency just short of Haley’s comet passing, I am from Chicago and it’s a favorite travel destination of EJ and Roo given we live down South. In his tour of the town, he stopped at Gino’s East to try a deep dish pizza. While some Windy City folks will tell you thin crust is truly Chicago’s best pie, the deep dish is world-renowned and as synonymous with the Second City as are Harry Caray’s glasses. If you go to Chicago, get a deep dish. It’s worth the wait. If you are waiting for one at Gino’s East and are sitting upstairs and outside on the patio, look for our graffiti.

So back to Adam. Brooklyn guy. In the episode, he is clearly blown away by the Chicago style pie but mostly avoids making any comparison to the east coast style NY slice. He clearly doesn’t want to lose rep in his hometown but it’s that he is intrigued by the Chicago version (but then if he is a culinary guru that has “held every job in the business”, do we really believe that this is the first time he has had deep-dish?) He stopped just short of crowning Chicago’s pizza king, strategically I assume. Where he stopped, I will continue. There is no comparison. There is no way you can argue that a floppy, greasy NY triangle compared to the sophisticated, succulent pie that is a deep dish pizza. It’s like comparing Al Capone to Regis Philbin. Se determined was I to remind myself how great a deep-dish pizza really is, that I decided to make my own. I researched a few recipes on-line and came up with my own version.

Delicious. It’s not the real thing but close enough to remind that it is the best. Now, if I can just find a recipe for that 12 egg omelet.

Oh Monday, Monday...

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, not to say we’ve haven’t had much to say…we’ve just been so wrapped up in the gulf oil spill, LeBron James free agency and Lindsay Lohan rehab watch that we haven’t had the time to focus on anything else. But not much has changed since last time. Typical Monday today that’s for sure, after a great weekend celebrating Roo’s birthday and her cousin’s wedding, I don’t want to be at work...and I’ve only been here for an hour. Fairly standard start: report requests needed yesterday that won’t be used for a meeting tomorrow but if I could make them my first priority today “That’d be great” and another lame corporate email reminding everyone that the green-outlined parking spots are for hybrid cars and carpoolers only. Sigh. My only saving grace today is that the Bachelorette is on tonight. No, I’m not quite the fan I used to be circa Trista and Ryan. As each new season passes, I am less intrigued. With each “perfect” match that falls apart, I am less surprised. The more I think about it, the more I believe the show is better suited for the Food Network because it’s the perfect recipe for relationship disaster. Think about it, you take a handful of successful, attractive people and put them into a luxurious mansion. You wine and dine them and fly them around the country and world for a couple months until two of them fall in “love” with each other. Instead, they fall in love with a fantasy lifestyle. I liken the courting session to be about as real as the Real World on MTV. If ABC wants to spawn a truly perfect match for one lucky guy and gal, don’t send them cliff diving in Trinidad and Tobago, put them in a 2 bedroom apartment for a weekend and have one do the taxes while the other does the laundry. Have the guy ruin at least two of her shirts and have her erase last night’s season finale of Entourage off the DVR. Make them eat leftovers for dinner and drink water from the refrigerator instead of caviar and wine. Make the guy go on a date with her after a 10 hour work day instead of 10 hours of lounging by the pool. Make her do her own hair and makeup. But instead, ABC creates an infatuated lifestyle for a couple that can’t sustain once the cameras stop rolling. And yet US Weekly pumps out “shocking” tales of why the storybook couple fell apart. No, I get excited when the Bachelorette comes on because I know I get an hour or two to unwide with the Xbox. Ironically, I am playing NCAA 11, where I created myself as an All-American quarterback for a top 25 program. Speaking of fantasy…

24 months!

"Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart."

Happy Two Year Anniversary to us.

I have taken up smoking

I am on the last day of my 5-day weekend that started with a trip to Atlanta to meet Roo for lunch (and while I was there also take in a couple Cubs games at Turner Field). I decided to wrap up the week with a feast, smoking ribs on the grill. Here's how I utilized the 3-2-1 method:

1. Soak hickory chips in water for 15-30 minutes.

2. Assemble needed ingredients and peel membrane from rib rack.

3. After pat-drying rack with paper towels, generously massage ribs with rub. Save a teaspoon or two or three for the sauce.

4. Prep the grill to set up an indirect heat source. We have a smoker box attached to our Charbroil grill. I use a chimney to quick start a charcoal and hickory wood chunk mix. Chimneys work great for non instant-light charcoal.

5. Once the charcoals are starting to ash but still with some flame, empty the chimney in the smoker box.

6. Heat and maintain a temperature of around 220 degrees F. Place soaked wood chips in smoking container near fire (or place on side of fire mound). Add rack to grill.

7. Set oven timer for 3 hours. Remember to make sure the temp holds around 220 degrees F through out the entire process. And I did flip them once halfway through.

8. Have patience. I probably should have mentioned that the ribs will cook for 6 hours. Naps are not recommended as you'll need to keep an eye on the grill thermometer.

9. Take this time to maybe clean the house, or more appropriately stated, make the house cleaner that it was before. This will not only make the wife happy but also bring you down from a raw meat and fire induced testosterone high. Win win.

10. You can watch the Masters while you clean, to bring the manliness level back up if cleaning brings it down too far.

11. After 3 hours have passed, pull the rack off the grill and quickly double wrap in aluminum foil. Pour some apple juice into your wrap. Leave an opening at the top that will vent the juicy steam.

12. Add more wood chunks as needed to maintain the proper temp.

13. Make sure you have enough wood chips before you start so that you don't have to go buy more mid-smoke. In all, I used 3/4th of a $7.99 bag of hickory wood chunks. You could also use apple or mesquite...but not the pine chunks used to line the bushes.

14. Place the wrapped rack in apple juice back on the grill.

15. Set the oven timer for 2 hours. Don't touch the rack or open the grill during this time. Fire up the Xbox.
16. With about 30 minutes to go in the second phase, now is a good time to prepare a sauce. No need to reinvent the wheel. I mixed Jack Daniel's master blend and their honey smokehouse sauce. I added brown sugar and the leftover rub spice mix. Once 2 hours has passed, remove the foil wrapped rack and apply the sauce to both sides of the rack. Put back on the grill.

17. Set the oven timer for 1 hour. Feel free to flip and brush with more sauce halfway through.

18. While waiting for this hour to pass, be sure you have plenty of napkins ready and time your side dishes to finish just before the ribs. Remove the rack promptly and close the air vents on the smoker box and grill. A folded newspaper can be used to shoo away the neighbors that have gathered at the fence, drawn to the 6 hours of smoky flavorful smell.

19. After cutting the ribs, place your feast before you and take a moment to pat yourself on the back.

20. Enjoy. Leave the dishes in the sink for tomorrow.