Joy in Motion

Yesterday mom and I had a girls lunch out and brought Mr. Man along.  He sat with us in his little car seat in the booth and didn’t make a peep.  It occured to me again as we were eating how different this place is than the other coast.  20 and 30-somethings sat eating organic veggies and yucca root.  Out the window, a guy rode by on his bike.   As we were leaving, a gal sat outside eating a peaceful lunch with her dog at one of the outdoor tables the restaurant sets up for it’s animal-loving patrons.  It was fun to have a different perspective than all the other diners – to them it was just an everyday place with everyday people. 

Also different is the election.  So many California campaign dollars are spent on environmental issues.  The biggest race in the state is right here in our county for a legislative seat in the state Senate.  According to the local paper today, the candidate most likely to win is the one who’s the most “green”…there have been non-stop campaign ads on TV and in mailers.  Even I (who has been filling my time wiping bottoms and mixing formula) have noticed these two candidates.  Promoting alternative, renewable energy sources is the main crux of the competition between them.  Welcome to California!

By the way, a lot of people don’t like it here at Vandenberg.  They say there isn’t enough to “do”.  In this statement “do” means shopping-preferably in a large city.  The biggest city near us is Santa Barbara and it’s a good jaunt away (45 minutes).  Lompoc and Santa Maria just don’t “do” it for them.  Although, I favor Santa Maria because that’s where John was born:)  There’s a myriad of options for us outdoorsy-types: hiking, biking, canoeing, camping…this morning while walking the dogs, we almost ran into a canoe being lifted atop a car on it’s way to the ocean.  This settles it, I’m a left-coast gal.  Shopping is not my bag.  ”Do” for me involves running shoes and a warm jacket.

Our lives now consist of crying, wiping bottoms, and feeding times.  Bottles are everywhere…on our dresser, in our sink, on the living room couch.  I love it.  Motherhood is way more rewarding than anything else I’ve done.  

Rob’s folks were here for a week and they took lots of photos…check out the photos page for more pics of John.  I had a girlfriend come over last Tuesday and take professional photographs of all of us.  Those should be posted soon. 

Our garage is now officially the “man cave”.  Rob has his little 17″ TV and old ratty couch out there.  He sometimes needs a place to get away from the husband duties.  The bad part is that we can’t park our car in there, but the weather here is mild enough that parking outside year-round shouldn’t be a problem.  

Speaking of weather, Ray and Mary got stuck in West Yellowstone on their drive home to Park City.  This is the state of Idaho’s earliest snow since sometime in the late 1800’s.  I guess Butte got about a foot.   We are still having beautiful weather and I think we’re going on a hayride on Friday night up in Avila Beach.

On Sept 25th, 2008 we welcomed into the world John Daniel Shrader.  

We took our time naming him and finalized an hour before we left the hospital.  We wanted something classic and John seemed to fit.  Rob’s favorite story in the Bible is Daniel and the Lions Den.  Luckily his nursery is lions, tigers and bears so he fits right in.

All the gory details about the delivery and coming home are contained in the pages below. Here’s a cheezy disclaimer to start: what you are about to read may not be appropriate for young children. Or people who don’t like gory details.  Here’s the basics: 7 lbs, 1 oz and 19.5 inches long. He came out with tons of dark hair and big blue eyes.

Click on the pages below for specifics (and gory details).  I’ll be posting photos of the little guy on this website on a (fairly) regular basis, so stop by again.