Wild Weekend

Dad and Jack made another trip, this time for Nathan's birthday. Mommy had a conference then went to a Husker volleyball game with friends. Here, Jack and Dad check out a pony at MNB's 100-year anniversary party!
Sooooofffttt...
Hanging out in the shade with Dad, ignoring the goings-on. Hard to believe it was 90-some degrees in this picture and not even close today!
Then we went down the huge slide! Jack loved it and by the second time, he was laughing all the way down!
Whheeeee!
At the bottom!
In this picture, I am amazed that the slide held my weight! Ha ha.

And again!
Somebody likes sliding with his dad. (Behind us is Granny Janny's office.)
Tori, Grandma Elaine and Granny Janny stood in the heat while we went down a third time. Then, we called it a day! He was laughing all the way down this time.
Jack loves sliding fo' sho! Sunday, we met Mommy in Hastings for lunch and a trip to Champions. He loved the slides there too!
Can someone explain how Jack's hair turned blond overnight, please? These photos amaze me; his hair is so light!
Again, Dad!? (Thanks for operating the camera, Tori!)

Aunt Missy made Jack look festive at Nathan's party. He's officially not shy at family functions anymore! He had a great time with the other kids...and adults!

(We stole this photo and the ones following from Aunt Missy's blog. I did take some of them, so it's okay, right?)
Matthew and Nathan were getting upset with each other because Matthew wanted to play with the birthday boy's toys. Their mom and I agreed I should let Matthew have his gift a month early so he would leave Nathan alone. So he and Uncle Dave went out to the camper and put his monster outfit on and came back in. It was a hoot! He hammed it up for a minute, then took it off and went over to play with Nathan's toys again. Hmm...just when you think you've outsmarted these kids...
Nathan beside the laptop we gave him. He loved it! Another successful gift purchase! Luke loved his (late) gift too. In fact, I believe his exact words were: "I've been wanting one of these for my birthday for years and now you got it for me!" A little over the top, but very gracious indeed.
Jack was having so much fun playing with his cousins!
Jack had no shirt, Luke had no shirt, Matthew had no shirt and no pants, and Nathan had no pants. Good thing Tori has manners!

Happy 1st Birthday, Nathan!

Happy Birthday, Nathan!

We love love love love love you!

Can't wait to party with you this weekend!

Okay, I promise I'm going to get better about posting birthdays. I missed quite a few, but I'm going to get them all from now on! Sorry if I missed you; I'll get you next year!

Our Week

The yellow ball and red ball were both in the hamper basket. Why not get in?
Playing with his Buzz Lightyear car with Mommy. They were having a great time!
Mommy would put the cow on the car and Jack would make sure the cow fell off and laugh.
Walking around the house without pants and with Daddy's cup in his mouth.
See ya!

Dave Ja Vu Anew

Being A Parent: Sometimes It Is For The Birds

One of the tasks of my most recent gig (yes, there have been a few more than I'm proud of) was spending roughly 15 minutes in the morning unlocking campers on the lot. At the end of the day, we'd make our rounds and lock them back up.

Okay, technically, I can't really say 'we' since I was part of a duo and my partner in crime rarely made his rounds. I looked at it as a chance though to get off my duff and get some fresh air. And if you've seen this duff lately, you know that a little bit of walking could go a long way.

(Check it out sometime. It's quite spectacular really.)

Anyhootie, one early morning, shortly after spring had sprung and the air was fresh as it can be with the exhausting humidity we have 'round this neck o' the prairie, I noticed an ungodly squawking when I sauntered around to the motor homes.

I ignored it as we adults often do when we get our minds buried in the mundane day-to-day gobbledy-snoodle we train our gray matter to which it should pay its attention.

But the squawking became really very un-ignorable after a week or so.

I know this because I tried. I really did.

One morning, when I was much more mentally alert and peppy than usual, I stopped and looked for the source of this screed of insanity. And there was the culprit. The psycho bird was standing on the other side of the chain-link fence cawing and squawking to beat hell. It was pretty put off by the fact that I was standing there.

I moved on.

"Freak," I remember stating aloud--as I've been known to do. (I'm from the school of 'who better to talk to than yourself?' At least your listener agrees most of the time that way.)

Later, though, it was my duty to show one of the motor homes to a pair of gentlemen who came in to kick tires. I remember one of the guys being unusually tall and the other ridiculously short. It was such a noticeable size difference I remember the folks in the office telling a couple of wisenheimers about it later.

So, as Unusually Tall Guy, Ridiculously Short Guy and Average Medium Guy (me) approached the RV where I had been accosted earlier that morn, the bird began its unholy tirade once again.

"Wherever that damned bird is, someone needs to shoot it," the taller gentleman said sarcastically, though obviously annoyed.

Though I hate to admit this now, I wholeheartedly agreed.

I told them the story about how I'd been hearing it day after day, but had just actually noticed the creature making the racket that morning. I didn't actually think they were listening, but it piqued their interest. We investigated.

There about a foot-and-a-half behind the bird, in the landscaping on the other side of the chain divider--the one that separates the rest of the world from RV-Land--we discovered three eggs nestled in a makeshift rock nest under the minimal shade provided by the sparse landscaping. They were camouflaged enough that we didn't notice them for a while, which didn't please our little friend since we were standing far too close to her three little embryonic masterpieces.

Yes indeedy-doodles, we had angered Mama, but now that the source of the problem had been identified, I felt relieved. We finished the Tour de Asphalt Lot and moved inside to the comfort and goodness of air conditioning.

It wasn't until the next day when I started my appointed rounds that I had a parental epiphany of sorts.

I breezed around to the motor homes again and, like every morning for several weeks, the bird began its angry beak-lashing of the geeky guy with the funky duds.

And it was at that very moment that it occurred to me: That bird, the freaking crazy one, and I...weren't all that different. Natch, the bird and I were pretty much one in the same.

(Sure, it was a mama bird, I'm most definitely a papa human, but those might be the only differences at all.)

Since the very conception of my little one, I inherently took on the protector instinct, as do many parents. Yessir, that one kicked in from the very first moment I located that positive pregnancy test sitting atop the washing machine, and it's only gotten stronger every day since. And seeing the miracle of life and the tragedy of loss several different times in the past few years has only heightened my appreciation for the preciousness of the time we have with our chicks (as in the child variety; not like the opposite of dude).

That, and I just turned 30, which I view as the ultimate mental foray out of the mistaken theory of the invincibility of youth and right on into the realization of the concept of mortality. Just you wait, whippersnappers, you'll someday pick up what I'm throwin' down.

But, that's an entirely different post altogether. Back to the bird story.

The bird and I were two species with two of the same missions: parenthood and protection.

We won't get into the egg concept or how I had always called my little one 'Bird' since day numero uno and actually dressed him in a bird costume for Halloween last year. And I won't even mention the fact that I call my wife Lady Bird Vrb sometimes (I also call her June Carter at different times, but only after watching 'Walk The Line' and/or seeing the video for 'Hurt' where she stands behind Johnny at the piano, both of them frail and aged and ponderous and beautiful and provocative and wonderful). All of those things crossed my mind too. (I often imagine my brain--if ever opened up and spelunked--would be found to contain eight pounds of jelly beans, seven Fraggles and numerous PIN numbers.)

No, I couldn't help but laugh about how that crazy bird and I had such a parallel universe.

Take away the feathers and put hair in places where it shouldn't be, and I am that bird most of the time. I might appear crazy at times, but it's only because I take my job as protector very seriously.

As does she.

I gained a new appreciation for the squawking that day and began to look quite forward to it since I could relate. (Pretty sure the bird never did, but birds aren't typically saps who over analyze everything.)

A few weeks later, the squawking was gone. I walked over to the fence and, sure enough, there in the rocks were broken eggshells. They had hatched and mama was off teaching them to make their way in this crazy world, I imagined with beaming pride.

Yep, we parents have our work cut out for us, getting these babies ready to jump the nest and take flight. It's a task many of us take very seriously, but at the same time enjoy immensely.

So forgive us, in advance, for those times when we squawk.

Again? Say It Ain't So...

Stay tuned in to "The Vrbi" for a new feature:

dave

ja

vu

anew

Here's the key to unlock the code to see what the new feature is:
a=A d=D e=E j=J n=N u=U v=V w=W

Best Seat In The House

Dad found this bench on sale at ACE Hardware. The metal on the back is a choo-choo train!
The verdict is in and Jack loves it!
My very own couch!
Checking out the craftsmanship...
...and getting in trouble monkeying around!
Thanks, DAD!

Another Date With Mother Nature

So, we've gone over to see the ducks about three times in the past week. We have a blast, but this time, the ducks were HUNGRY!
They came right up to us and at one point were eating out of my hands. That was cool, but the geese make me nervous. They're psychotic and mean!
Gonna get you ducks!
The ducks really liked my flip flops and jeans. Harmless, but a little bit much...
I told Jack to say 'hi ducks' and he said 'uh-hhhhh shxguxsh'! I think that's a pretty good try.

C'mere you!
He wanted down to chase ducks, so I stayed between him and the pond. I'm much quicker than he is...so far!
Spending some time together.
Jack and Dad got a kick out of the ducks getting so close! They were annoying after we ran out of bread (trying to eat my flip flop), but it was pretty cool having them eat out of my hands.
He really wanted to catch a duck!

As you can see, our bread was a hit! I've never had them eat it out of my hand before! Amy was a little freaked out, so she shot this from the dock!

Fun For The Whole Family: Who Does Jack Look Like?

As Much As I Hate To Admit When I'm Wrong...

A congratulations are in order for my sister, Missy, and her husband Jared. They are expecting another boy to add to their collection! She found out yesterday during her ultrasound and we are very excited for all five of them! Needless to say, she's going to be very busy trying to keep up with all four of those boys!
And thanks to Missy, I'm not 2-for-3 on my predictions thus far. I felt in my gut it was a boy, but guessed a girl ('cause I thought 'what are the odds?') and it turns out I shoulda gone with my gut! I'll refresh your memories on my predictions and throw in a new one for Reagan and Trish since I promised! Here they are again:
Aaron & Cara: BOY (I was right!)
Scott & Vanessa: GIRL (I was right!)
Jared & Missy: BOY (I was WRONG!)
And we won't know the following two until they're born:
Craig & Rebecca: GIRL
Reagan & Trish: GIRL

Better Safe Than Sorry...

They were doing a spot for the television station here this morning with Tri-Cities Safe Kids, stressing the importance of safety restraints and proper installation of them. They had to wait a couple minutes for the cameraman to show up, so I asked Ann to look at my car seat in my car to make sure I installed it correctly.
She asked me how old Jack was and how much he weighed and when she got to the car, she said very kindly "you're going to hate me for this, but Jack's car seat should really be rear-facing still."
I was shocked at first, but she explained to me that Safe Kids Nebraska actually encourages toddlers to remain in car seats for up to 30 pounds or 2 years old--which is totally different from the 'word on the street'!
Her explanation is as follows: Pretend you get into a simple fender bender where another driver bumps into the back of your car. Yes, without a car seat, the child would not have a very good chance of survival at all--even from a fender bender, because of the inertia created by the two cars.
If the car seat is rear facing, it absorbs all the impact for the little one. If it is front-facing, it is like asking a toddler to absorb all the impact just like an adult would--which typically causes very severe internal injuries. She said statistics prove that the survival rate is much higher for a child who is rear facing.
So, needless to say, we moved it right back to rear facing and it will stay that way until Jack gains nine pounds. So...for a while!
I just feel bad because we let Jack ride front facing for such a long time. I'm thankful nothing happened.
The segment was really great and it really 'drove' the point home for me. I know a lot of old yucksters always say "well we didn't have car seats when I was growing up and I turned out just fine!" and they make you feel stupid for buckling your kids in. Well, back then, people didn't travel near as much with kids in the car.
And back then, people didn't have cell phones or computers or other technologies either. We take advantage of those things, but we don't protect our kids? Plus, people back then did a lot of other stupid stuff that we wouldn't do now too. No offense...
We have never NOT buckled Jack into the seat, even for quick trips. Yes, it's inconvenient and sometimes he doesn't want to sit there, but we're the adults and it's our responsibility to protect our chilren. There are times when I'm getting him out and I hit my head and I wrench my back and have to bite my tongue to prevent bad words from flying out, but I think it's worth it.
And I'd rather ride with a screaming child than have them eventually riding in a hearse, thanks.
Buckle up your kids. Make sure they're safe. Whether it's a trip 15 miles away or just down the street. Most of you are great drivers, I've seen you in action, but think about all the other idiots out there who AREN'T!
Here's the website for Nebraska Safe Kids: www.safekidsnebraska.org
They have upcoming car seat safety checks in many areas, including where I grew up. They also have car seats for sale which can save parents hundreds of dollars. Check it out!
And I'm officially OFF my soapbox!

-The Vrbi

Weekend Update

Joann watched Jack while Mommy and Daddy went to a movie on Saturday night. The movie was superGOOD! Thanks, Joann!
Jack hanging out in his bucket o' plastic balls.
What a funny little guy. He's pretty happy despite a slight ear infection...

Red ball, I challenge you to a Stare Off!
Rub a dub dub...
His car says 'buzz lightyear to the rescue' when you push on it. He's working on it!
And the bucket of balls is empty. AlaKazam!

We hope your weekend(s) was/were as fun and great as ours was!
The Vrbi

Jack's Room

By request, a virtual tour of Jack Parker's room...

Where's Your Nose?

I love the fact that I can upload videos THROUGH Blogger now, instead of using another service, encoding it and hoping it works!