John Watson's first blog spotting

Hey all:

This is just going to be a quick and simple post of some pictures from early this morning when John Watson was born. Some quick stats: he was born at 2:15 am on 3/13/08, weighed in at 9 lb. 5 oz.and 22 1/4 inches long, and as you can see from the pictures has lots of dark brown, almost black hair. Check out the big hands and feet, he's a big ole' boy! And Katie is doing wonderful, and already looking like she never had a 10 pound baby in her tummy.

More details will come later, so stay tuned.

Bartok the Magnificent

Mary Evelyne has fallen in love with the old school, little-remembered non-Disney princess movie Anastasia. It happened to be on the free movies on Comcast On Demand for about a month in January and then it went off. She has been in withdrawal, so her Mama and Pops found it for her at Target this weekend. It is funny hearing her talk about the story, which actually involves the Romanov dynasty in Russia. She is particularly enthralled with a little bat character in the movie, Bartok, who is Rasputin's sidekick. The picture above is from a little spin-off move from Anastasia starring Bartok (as if Anastasia weren't obscure enough). He is a white vampire bat, but because he does not fit Mary Evelyne's expectations of what a bat looks like, she refuses to call him a bat and refers to him as the "piglyish, rabbityish guy". Yes, she has decided he looks like a mix between a pig and a rabbit and no matter how much her Daddy argues with her, she won't give in to the idea that he is actually a bat. Way to stick to your guns Mary E, even if you're wrong. Just like your mother!

Randomness

Okay, so I don't normally blog about myself, but my wife says I have been tagged and I must compile a list of 10 random things about me. And since I don't consider it wise policy to go around disagreeing with women who are 9 months pregnant, here goes nothing:

1) I suppose I should start with number 1, as in 1/1, as in my birthday: January first. Yes, I'm a New Year's baby, which is only mildly random. But what makes it especially random is that I was born on my father's birthday. Random related anecdote: My mother goes into labor New Years Eve, arrives at the hospital, doctor asks if she wants him to speed things up "so you can get the tax write off for this year?" Needless to say, she passed up the offer and I was born a few hours later on my Dad's birthday. (And did I mention that my Dad turned 58 the day I was born; he's 87 and still going strong).

2) I sweat from the left side of my face when I eat...profusely when it is something spicy, salty or sour. This nifty biological defect makes a fun party trick and was developed courtesy of a benign tumor that was removed from the parotid gland (the largest saliva gland) on the left side of my face, just below my ear, when I was 6 years old. As my face healed from the surgery, the nerves that go to my saliva glands crossed with the ones from my sweat glands, and thus the left side of my face sweats and turns red when I eat. Many years after developing this talent I found out it actually has a name: Frey's syndrome. I'm not kiddin', look it up.

3) I have a dishwasher problem...I cannot tolerate when one is not loaded properly. I promise I am not OCD. This odd condition comes from my youth, when my primary evening chore was loading the dishwasher. From that nightly routine I was instilled with an innate drive to maximize the ergonomics of any dishwasher so as to never leave any dishes remaining in the sink or any dish in a position within the washer which might prevent it or the other dishes from getting completely washed. Be warned, if I see you have loaded the dishwasher improperly, I will go behind you and redo it.

4) Although I now hold two degrees from UGA and have a mild obsession with the gridiron Dawgs (I admit it, I subscribe to the Dawgvent) my most common recurring childhood nightmare was of me being chased through a Scooby-Doo-style haunted mansion by none other than - you guessed it- Uga.

5) Five...that's my lucky number...or 25 (5x5) will do equally as well. Not sure exactly how it came about, but I seem to remember it having something to do with the number 25 jersey I wore as a JV basketball player at MHS. That exact jersey had been worn previously by Steven Goolsby, perhaps the best Blue Devil baller never to live up to his full potential, and I considered myself lucky that I got his old jersey. I try to remember each morning I place 5 quarters in my pocket. I'm not superstitious, it doesn't ruin my day if I forget, but it sure comes in handy when I need a Coke Zero at the courthouse.

6) I aspire to be Automatic for the People. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to go see Weaver. Weaver D's is the finest, most authentic soul food eatery ever established. Dexter Weaver is my friend, he fed me lots of fried pork chops and collard greens during my time in Athens. I was on his meal plan - 20 meals, $100 bucks - every semester of undergrad. The first time I took my wife out to eat - Weavers (she had to pass the collards test if we were going to keep things moving). He catered our rehearsal dinner and his big, shiny, black, bald head is in the frame for a large portion of the video from our wedding ceremony.

7) I am a wheel hog. I love to drive. I do not love to ride shotgun. I despise riding in the back seat. I particularly enjoy driving on long road trips or around places I have never been. I truly believe if I were not an attorney, I would be a long distance trucker.

8) I am a history dork. No really, a huge history dork. The last three books I've read: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abe Lincoln; David McCullough's 1776, and Clarence Thomas' autobiography. Next up on my list: Augustus: Rome's First Emperor. I own Ken Burn's Civil War documentary on DVD, got his WWII documentary for Christmas, and am constantly checking eBay to see if anyone is selling his Jazz documentary at a reasonable price.

9) On a related note: I am all about some public broadcasting. My wife can testify. I think she probably can't remember the last time she got in my car and it wasn't on NPR. I'm a PBS fiend because of Ken Burn's stuff, Frontline and many other programs. I think my attraction to NPR is because I remember what it was like to read good, intelligent journalism during my J-school days in Athens. But I don't have time to read it now, so NPR is the next best thing: its like someone reading the New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal to you while you commute.

10) I am the first male in my family for many generations not to serve in the military. My dad served in the Army during WWII and drove tanks all over Europe; his dad, my Papaw, served in the Army in WWI (and lived to be 99 years old and tell me about it); my mom's brother, my Uncle Dan was the Captain of an aircraft carrier, the USS Kittyhawk; and my brother flew A-6 bombers for the Navy. The only school I ever considered as a serious alternative to UGA was the Naval Academy. Once I met Katie in Athens, she made it clear she was not signing up for military service from day one of our relationship, but I still sometimes struggle with the idea that I probably will never serve my country in the military.

OK, so that was a lot longer than I thought. I guess I need to blog about myself more often.

Well, the only sucker I can think of who hasn't been tagged is my homeboy Sweetchuck. If I think of some other's I'll edit this and tag 'em up.

Done Been Tagged

Ruth Allen has tagged me (Katie) to list 10 random things about myself that will probably make you question your friendship with me, so here it goes:

1. I have two gross habits (Daniel would probably say I have more): biting my nails and cleaning between my toes. My three year old has been doing both for about a year now with no prompting whatsoever.

2. I am fluent in French (well maybe not quite fluent anymore) and taught highschool French right out of college at Paulding County Highschool.

3. I took piano for 12 years and can now play about 4 songs.

4. I do a weird number thing in my head that is very elaborate and pointless. I have no idea when it started or where I got it. I look at digital numbers, like the ones on a digital clock and count each dash. So, if it is 12:00, there are 19 dashes total. Then, I take the dashes in 19 (which is 8) then in 8 (7) then in 7 (3) then in 3 (5), then in 5 (5). It ends when the number equals the number of dashes (like 5 has 5 dashes). I can now do this process in a matter of seconds. See, I told you that you might not be friends with me after this.

5. I broke up with Daniel the day before our first Valentine's day that we were dating. I think it only lasted a couple of weeks and then we got back together for good. I don't even remember why we broke up now.

6. I have come to realize, especially after having kids, that I really don't like pets. We gave our dog Nellie to Daniel's aunt after Maggie Beth was born and it was like a burden was lifted from my shoulders.

7. My highschool cheerleading squad won the state cheerleading competition my senior year. I can still do the majority of the routine or I will proudly show you the video if you want to see it. I do an exceptional job of the routine pregnant.

8. I am fairly prideful about the fact that I have never had a cavity. Every time I go to the dentist Daniel teases me that I will have one because I generally only brush my teeth once a day and I never floss.

9. I weigh alot more than people think I do.

10. I don't like to see movies or read books twice. This drives my husband, who loves to watch his favorite movies over and over, crazy.

I tag Daniel, Kristi Kay, and Shireen.

Fashion Diva

From the Sunday, January 27th, 2008 Marietta Daily Journal "Lifestyle" (aka Society column) Section:

"Fashion spotlight of the week: Nothing is prettier than a mother who is expecting. And when this one showed up in a simple black sheath and turned her back, she gave new meaning to "expecting" - the strand of pearls she wore was tied with a beautiful, cream satin ribbon - a little surprise that enhanced the simplistic elegance of the look - Katie White of Marietta."

OK, so I am more than flattered that Mrs. Litchfield decided to make me her fasion spotlight of the week (a weekly tradition here in the Marietta society column). It was very sweet and really made me feel so good in the midst of this third pregnancy in as many years, but Daniel and I seriously could not stop laughing since we know the extent of my "wardrobe" and the events leading up to that fashion appearance that night.

So I am almost 8 months pregnant and I have one nice maternity dress that wore out its welcome around Marietta events over Christmas. So, I had two non-maternity dresses that were stretchy and "sort-of" fit (sort-of used very loosesly here). I actually chose the other one and was getting myself ready while also getting the girls ready to go stay at their Mema's (all moms know what level of chaos I am not fully describing here). I send Daniel down with the girls to get them loaded into the car and notice this dress has a hole, yes a large hole in the side (probably where I had forced the zipper over my belly). So, dress #2 is my only option at this point. This dress was purchased at Ross in Paulding County in 2002 when I had to chaperone the Paulding County Highschool prom. This would be the "sheath" that was described. As for the "pearls", which were purchased several years ago at Target, I almost threw them away last year because I got ink all over them while they were on my dresser and a pen leaked, but I finally threw them in some jewelry cleaner and it mostly came off.

I tried to use the article to convince Daniel that I need a larger wardrobe budget to keep up my appearances in Marietta, but he says apparently my current wardrobe is working just fine. Oh well, keep an eye on me Marietta, today I was in fleece pants and a 1998 AOPi t-shirt.

I guess Mary Evelyne gets her fashion sense from me.

SNOW!

One of Mary Evelyne's wishes all winter was that it would snow. When Christmas came and went without snow she would say "It's just not going to snow this year." She knows by heart the two things you need for snow (at least this is the best Mommie could come up with, probably not meteorlogically correct): rain and cold. So, when we left her babysitters after work that Thursday afternoon and flakes were coming down, she started yelling "my wish came true, my wish came true". The only problem is that Mommie was about 7 1/2 months pregnant and baby sister has just learned to walk, not a good combo for playing in the wet snow. So, Daddy came home and saved the day and played in the snow. But, Mary Evelyne's sweats didn't hold up too well making snow angels and throwing snow balls (notice the change in clothes that night). We due to get another dose on Saturday and Daniel was absolutely insistent that she have a waterproof coat, gloves and snow boots. We got home from something Friday night around 9pm and he went back out to Target and returned with the most hideous maroon boots for $4.88. He was hilarious and meant that his girl would be ready for the snow, even if she only needed the coat and boots for that one day. Here's some pics of their fun in the snow. Unfortunately, she insisted on knocking the snow woman down before they came in, so she was short-lived.

Christmas in January

We are a month late getting our holiday photos and memories up on the blog, but we got a new computer and have finally gotten all the pics transferred over. Here's a smorgasbord (?) of White Family Christmas.

Us girls got matching PJs to wear on the Polar Express (see below).

The Whites all went up to North Carolina to the Hemlock Inn the weekend before Christmas to get away and ride the Polar Express to the "north pole". We all wore our PJs (yes, even Daniel), had hot chocolate, met Santa and got a special bell like in the movie. It was special to Daniel to take the girls to the Hemlock Inn because he grew up going there. I was a little skeptical because there are no TVs, playgrounds, etc. but the girls did great and had some good old fashioned fun running around, playing shuffleboard, and, oh yes, watching Cinderella on the portable DVD player. Daniel's parents have 8 grandchildren, Thomas who is 18 being the only boy, so all the girls had fun together. They serve the meals family style and it was good stuff.

We got back and did Christmas with my family Christmas Eve and with Daniel's family Christmas Day. I think we were done with Santa by 7am Christmas morning. We (Maggie Beth) start things early around here.

We also celebrated Uncle Joshy and Pops birthdays before Christmas at the Cheesecake Factory. If there were ever any doubt that our girls look like their grandparents, check this out...Mary Evelyne and Mama and Maggie Beth and Pops.

The Prima Ballerina

Mary Evelyne has been taking ballet/tap class one night a week with other 3-4 year olds at Marietta First Methodist where she goes to pre-school. She had a Christmas Party/Mini-recital last Tuesday and mom, dad, Mama, and lil sis all came to watch.



Lots of Mary E's favorite friends are in her class, including :

Tasha,

Schuyler (on the left),

Mary Cobb,

and her second cousin Georgeanne.

(Group Hug)

It is pretty hilarious to see all those little gals running around in circles before class starts and wondering how the teachers ever get them to focus. But as you will see in the video, they do a good job of keeping the girls engaged and having fun.

Every time Mary Evelyne would hear Silent Night over the last few weeks, she would reveal little bits and pieces of her Christmas dance. We were so happy to finally see the full performance and those precious little ballerinas did not disappoint.




But the best part of the whole night was after the performance and the gift exchange when the teachers let the girls go get some snacks and go talk to their family and friends. They turned the music back on while all that was going on and when Silent Night started playing Mary Evelyne went out and did a completely unprompted solo performance. I'm thinking our little ballerina will be playing Clara in the Nutcracker before too long:

Birthday Cake and Bouncing Zebras

Maggie Beth turned 1 on Nov. 29, and a couple of days later we celebrated at our house with family and friends. The biggest hits of the day as far as Maggie B was concerned were 1) her own little birthday cake, 2) the bouncy zebra. Both feature prominently in the video (one caveat, something on my computer is making the videos really choppy when I upload them, sorry for the annoyance). Enjoy:

Trick or Treat (a little late)

It's only 11 days 'til Christmas and we're just now posting stuff from Halloween. That's pretty sad.





Maggie Beth couldn't really eat any candy, but, as you can see, that didn't stop her from being the cutest Mickey Mouse you've ever seen in your life.

Cinderella, meanwhile, could not locate one of her glass slippers (she must have lost it on the palace steps) so we had to use some old ones that didn't fit her very well. This caused some problems later, including Mary E not being able to spin very well with her buddy Zoe and not wanting to get out of the wagon to walk up to the houses because her feet hurt. After a few houses we decided she was going to end up with zero candy or blistered feet unless she switched to something more comfortable. So for most of the night, our Cinderella was actually sporting pink Crocs.

As you will see in the video, Maggie B would go into a trance everytime her Mickey costume got pulled over her ears, but we were able to fix that and she had a pretty fun night. Cinderella got lots of candy (especially her favorite, "Reece" cups) and most importantly, she got to see three of her best buddies, Zoe, Schuyler and Tasha (who you will see running and screaming down the street with Mary Evelyne at the end of the clip).