Dinner with Gladney Friends and the Bassinet

Mike - We had a wonderful evening (well, up until the car seat installation) with Jane & Greg and Alex! They were kind enough to bring over "the" bassinet (more on that in a bit) and, along with it, a salad, champagne, cheesecake, and lasagna that Alex made herself! (She's very talented for being one year old ;-) ). They are *almost* as thrilled as we are to welcome Baby Daniel. (Although Christy still holds the record for glass shattered over a phone line ;-) ). The bassinet was originally Christy's for Nicholas - Gladney baby number 1 in our little group here in Northern Virginia. Alex, maker of lasagna, was number 2... and Daniel will be number 3!!! (Nicholas needs a nickname to go with Alex's... how about, "Nicholas, wielder of plastic golf clubs"). We are so thrilled to have the special Gladney Northern Virginia bassinet!

Alex (and her parents) got the latest tour of the nursery. The girls drank chardonnay... except for Alex, who knocks back shots of... milk. The men drank diet Coke and Root Beer, though not combined. After a wonderful dinner, with much good conversation (and some thirsty pants), the men repaired to the garage to attempt to install car seats. Alex soon realized that she wanted to get home to some serious sleepytime... 90 minutes later, Mike was still out in the garage w/ the car seats. Turns out the Mazda's latch system is incompatible with the car seat we bought... not that Mike didn't end up sopping wet with sweat trying. So he took the contraption to Holly's car - where it docked in 5 minutes. I ended up using the seatbelt in the Mazda.

Holly had a lot of fun snuggling and kissing Alex (see photo), and really enjoyed being able to relax and enjoy our good friends. Holly says THANKS!!! to Jane and Christy for all the great baby advice. Jane confirmed that Holly has managed to buy PLENTY of nice clothes for Daniel!

Thanks for all the Congratulations

We have been absolutely inundated with e-mails of congratulations from friends and family. So inundated, in fact, that we have not been able to respond individually to most of them. We just want to say that we have read, and savored, ALL of them, and they are ALL very special to us - Thank You for each and every one.

2 Things - Assembling items and Trip to VT

Mike - Well, last night I assembled my very first item for Daniel. One down, Six thousand, one hundred and fifteen to go... ;-) And, in true Dave Barry fashion, the item, a "Snap & Go" stroller (it is basically a frame with wheels tht holds the car seat, allowing one to make the car seat into a very basic stroller to be used for the first few months) came with specific instructions for docking 8 different models of baby car seat... but not ours. Oh, and there are at least 21 possible combinations for positioning the various components of the docking system, including whether you even include certain components. All I can say is... it seems to be working. The second item is the downstairs changing table, which I have finished one out of 6 steps in assembling... the first few steps of Step 1 are fine... but there is definitely a point in the process where one needs a third hand.

I can see Christmas on the horizon... ;-)

Some of this was covered by Holly in a comment, but I wanted to put in in a post. On Friday, Mike M., Vicki, and I travelled down to Tech (that's VIRGINIA Tech, you know, the real Tech for those of you outside of the Old Dominion) for Saturday's game (if that's what you want to call it) against ECU. It was great to see Marcy and Clay - and great to share congratulations on both sides (Marcy - I love the ring and Clay - good job!). Vicki bought us a very cute VT sleeper (the article of clothing to sleep in) with footsies! And a great soft VT ballcap. It was also great to be able to share thoughts and get helpful advice.

We won't talk about the game, other than to say... it resembled a poopy diaper. At least we won. Not that we deserved to.

This was the 1st time I'd been down to Tech since the tradgedy. The memorial is beautiful - dignified, restrained, yet powerful. What struck me harder - harder than I thought - was walking by and around Norris Hall. You can't go in - it's still being treated as a crime scene. It's eerie - you can see desks and full bookshelves in the offices on 3rd floor. The windows still appear to be damaged. And there is plastic ductwork in all of the rooms. As I walked up the steps aprroaching Norris after crossing the drillfield (the sidewalk running between Norris and Burris), the steps visible in every picture on TV, and walking by the grassy area where the escaping students jumped and where responders carried the injured and fallen out...it struck me how I'd walked those very steps and that very path probably every single schoolday for 5 years - either going to my classes in Norris or past Norris to Randolph (or turning left to Robison or Deering or Williams). There was a great Sports Illustrated article in 1999 on that season in which President Torgenson used the word "perturbation" to describe the effect VT had on the college football world that year. Walking around Norris, a different word came to mind - though similarly mathematical. Incongruity. That's how all of this felt. This event was an incongruity. And this place is now an incongruity. They've taken the sign that says "Norris Hall" down - only the small plaque on the building itself identifies it. It's a beautiful Gothic building, with shady trees in front, sitting along a major pedestrian thoroughfare for getting to and from academic buildings. If you don't look through the windows and notice the plastic ductwork, you would never know that this idyllic spot was the site of... you know. Vicki's younger brother, Douglas (who is an amazing young man), is a freshman at Tech and has been down there for all of two weeks or so. While we were there, he said, "This is Norris? I've been walking by here every day! I had no idea."

There were many, many flowers placed at each of the 32 stones of the memorial. Someone had placed a flower on the front steps of Norris. I thought it fitting.

First Grandchild on Both Sides

Do you think Daniel will be spoiled a bit?????? Gram and Pop-Pop (Holly's folks) and Nana and Grandpa (Michael's folks) are incredibly excited!! They've been planning for this for years! Nana already has an entire Peter Rabbit collection and has been cross-stitching something for a while now. Gram has been learning lots of new lullabyes and Pop-Pop has been getting ready for a future golfer in the family. Not to be outdone, Grandpa has already been bursting forth in song....

Scott and Erica (Holly's brother and sister-in-law) are so excited to meet Daniel and welcome him to the family - they already have a special bond since they live in TX where Daniel was born!

Valerie and Eric (Michael's sister and brother-in-law) still do not even know about Daniel because they are on vacation in Norway. They are going to flip out when they get home on Tuesday and hear the news!

Blessings and Love

Michael here - OK, so the news of our joy has spread through much of our church, and we were greeted with joyous hugs from many, many church friends this morning. One of the best parts - it made me veklempt - was during the Prayers of the People when Pastor Becca included a prayer for all the people involved in adoption: the birthmothers, the adoptive parents, the agency workers who help to match parents with babies and birthmothers, and basically thanking God for the entire process. It was so wonderful!! There were many hugs, and all were special, but it felt especially special to share hugs with Pastor Stephen and Paula. OK, and Dave and Joan and Kira and Becca and Scott and Shelly and George... and there were some people we missed with whom we still have to hug!!!

Regarding Daniel's name...

OK, contrary to popular rumor (Greg and Greg you know who you are), Daniel's name is not in any way affiliated with any National Football League players presently or formerly playing in Baltimore. If that were the case, the boy's name might well have been Bertram, which not only is former Colt QB Bert Jones' first name, but actually means "bright raven." ;-)

For those of you who do not know... My full given name is Michael Lewis F, son of Robert Lewis F, son of Harold Lewis F and nephew of Stanley Lewis J.

Now, the fact that Lewis is a significant and recurring name amongst professional football players in Baltimore in the very late 20th and early 21st centuries does not negatively affect Daniel's future sporting allegiances... ;-)

Mike :-)

We Are Over the Moon with Love and Happiness

We are so happy and have so much love and nervous energy that we cannot sleep. We just keep hugging each other and answering calls or emails of congratulations from all our friends and family. Daniel is going to be so loved by everyone that we know.

Holly went shopping last night at Janie and Jack and Gymboree and bought the cutest little baby boy outfits! She decided to go for 3-6 months since we have a quickly growing baby boy. Now she is going to work on the nursery this weekend and figure out what else we need to buy to get ready. The nursery is light green and the bedding is Teddy Bears playing sports (including football) with green and blue colors. Of course Holly bought this back in October 2005 b/c when she saw it she knew that Michael would love it.

Michael is at the VA Tech game today b/c he decided that he might not make any more games this season. Although he is still holding out hope that he will not miss any Ravens Games! Holly gave him a t-shirt that says Ravens Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!