10 Months...

Our dear little sprout is 10 months old today and to celebrate, he got up on all fours and crawled! How exciting, huh?

I figured we'd start with that instead of the usual "blah, blah, blah sorry I've not posted" mumbo jumbo you've come to expect with my almost monthly posts. It is my intention (as it always is) to get back into the habit of providing regular updates. Maybe that will happen soon...maybe not. Only the business gods know for sure.

I have been swamped with getting things going with the business. Fun times since I am doing it primarily after normal operating hours and on weekends with Nicholas in tow. Frequently Mark will watch him which is helpful. This week was especially productive since Mark's parents were here to visit for Nicholas' baptism this past weekend and kept watch over him.

The baptism, speaking of which, was so nice. Nicholas was looking quite dapper in his little white tuxedo (there will eventually be pictures to see on his website which I also fully intend to get back up to date - hee hee!). It was a lovely ceremony on Easter Vigil (Saturday night before Easter) at the same church where we were married and where we seem to fit in nicely again despite their split from the Episcopal Church. It's pretty nice to be back in a very conservative church again, I have to admit.

The Easter Vigil ceremony is quite a sight and so it was the perfect time for the baptism. Nicholas once again stole the show (there were two other candidates who hadn't a chance) by getting fussy right as his turn "on stage" came. He started being quite figety, whiny, etc. So, the priest suggested Mark hand him over. As he read the service, Nicholas intently looked at him and thought about how he would steal his glasses. When he wasn't able to find a way, he went for the program. We have video of most of the service (we'd have it all but I had my brother stop recording in the middle to ensure we wouldn't have a problem with battery power when the actual baptism time came!), I can't wait to see it.

Because the ceremony was in the evening, we decided to have the party to celebrate it at lunch that day. We took all the VIPs to Phantom Canyon Brewery for some tasty vittles. For favors, I'd bought some candies to put in some cutie pie bunny easter baskets I found at Williams Sonoma. I had a big basket with Nicholas' name monogrammed on it for him. These were a big hit even if they were quite obnoxious and kept falling over when we tried to set the table up!

Nicholas has 7 official and one honorary (because he couldn't come to the ceremony) godparents. Our friends Kristie and Mark (Kristie sang at our wedding if you were there), Jennifer and Brent, Lyndsay and Buck and Noheilani (who s a rather recent acquaintance but who ADORES her little "Makana" and was a perfect addition to the line up were able to make the ceremony. Keola, unfortunately didn't make it, but is quite thrilled to be "the Godfather." We have quite a line up godparents-wise for Nicholas and we know they will be great role models.

On Easter Sunday we attended church with Kristie, Mark and their daughter Hannah, then we all joined Mark's parents for brunch at MacKensie's Chop House downtown. It was pretty tasty with all sorts of delectables including shrimp, crab legs, prime rib, ham and lots of other goodies.

Business-wise we are doing pretty well. Mark held down the fort without the retiring doctor for an entire week. About a 1/3 of the normal volume of patients showed up, but we were pleased with that as we know people get very attached to their doctors! Since that week, he's been the only doctor in the office on Wednesday and seems to be doing pretty well at getting a few people in to see him. :) He's slowly building a new patient base and should see an explosion here soon since he's joined a business networking group, the chamber and has been courting several area businesses.

We finally also have a somewhat liveable upstairs. We just need mt parents to come get their couch. :)

Other than that, we have been keeping up with our cutie pie Nick. We've begun introducing him to finger foods and he's loving them. So far we've made a hit with oat cereal (not cheerios, but similar), raisins (today), peas and pear chunks. He's a good little eater and seems to chew well before swallowing!

Other tricks he's got up his sleeves now including clapping and sometimes making the sign for Milk. Sometimes, I think he is waving though! He's grown enought that he's starting to transition into 9/12 month clothing and he has a lot of it. I went a bit nuts at a Macy's sale on MLK, Jr. day and he's pretty much not hurting for clothes for a while!

Other than that, I am toying with the idea of getting into children's photography. I say toying because I'm not quite ready to commit to taking photos of anyone but Nicholas. Part of what's bring the idea to the forefront is my dear MIL who thinks I'd be awesome at it and part of it comes from the fact that I am not having much luck finding a photographer here who does what I want for the price I want. I'm finding it almost amazing that if I want something close to what the photographer I used in the Bay Area offers, I have to pay more than double her cost! I guess it must be a supply and demand thing since the supply of photographers out there is much higher than that here. Who knows, though. One thing is handy - if I decided to do it, I have a pretty nice logo and website graphics designed that could probably be modified ever so slightly to make it work. Of course, the trademark wouldn't be of much use...

And then, I toy every so often with the idea of wedding or event planning here. I've come across so many photographers that are lamenting the lack of good wedding planners they can refer to brides who book with them. I even met one couple who was planning to introduce discounts for brides who had one. I probably would like it out here better, I'm guessing, buuut, I'm not even going to THINK about doing anything of that sort (or if I did, of advertising or whathave you) until Mark's business is up and running fabulously...if for no other reason than I promised the SBA when we applied for our loan. :)

I guess that will do for today. Perhaps I will make it back here before another month has passed. Until then, have a great time!