New upstairs, new rooms

A couple of weeks ago we got fresh new carpet installed upstairs. I pulled out the old carpet and moved furniture... And painted, prepped, cleaned up 20 yr old cat, dog and human pee. Yuck. Anyway, brand new fresh smelling carpet. It looks beautiful. We moved the boys' room from downstairs so that they both have their own rooms upstairs. We installed a couple of heavy duty swiveling baby gates. The kids haven't slept better in their lives. They no longer wake each other up and sleep in much longer. Rachel and I are loving our new home. Their old room downstairs is now our office. Everything looks great and is much more "feng shui."

Dreaming of Hot Dogs

Enjoying the day, thinking about my family. Thinking about Jude and how cute he is. The other evening he and Rachel discussed what he was going to eat for breakfast the next morning. Then the next morning - Rachel already half-way to Seattle - I open Jude & Greyson's door to pick up fussy Greyson. Jude jolts up, out of deep slumber, and declares: "Mom said I can have yogurt, a hot dog and warm milk in the green cup with the green lid for breakfast so I need yogurt, and a hot dog. And warm milk in my green cup. Can we get that *now* daddy?"

Greyson's 1st Birthday

Greyson Zachary and family celebrated his 1st birthday today with lots of family and friends. Festivities were held at Uncle Mitch, Aunt Kelleigh, Grant, and Cole's house in Dallas, Oregon. When we sent out the evite a month ago, I recall I said something like, "We know what you're thinking, 1) didn't a Mardock baby just have his birthday, and 2) where the heck is Dallas, Oregon?"

 The response, which I think is still funny even after writing the evite a month ago, was:

1) The Mardock / Wood / Bellamy pool of kiddos certainly is expanding. But THIS is Greyson's first, and arguably most important birthday celebration. If you happened to go to Jude's 2nd or 3rd birthday, we thank you heartily, but his 1st birthday a couple of years ago was definitely the most critical. Furthermore, we totally get it: there are lots of kids, especially around Sept / Oct. (Note Chris and Jeanne's 2nd baby is expected +/- 2 days from Grey's birthday). We'll probably start to double up on birthdays in the future. But THIS is Greyson's singular day to shine. So we hope you can join in for an hour, two, or more!

2) Dallas, OR is practically a suburb or Portland. Merely 45 minutes south. Party is held at Mitch and Kelleigh Ratzlaff's house. Kelleigh is Rob's sister. Mitch and Kel's house affords everyone rain or shine party success at an affordable rate :-)

Yes, I know Dallas is more like 2x 45 minutes from Portland, but I didn't want to scare away potential guests!

In attendance today were Great Grandpa Mardock (Marvin) and Great Grandma Mardock (Olive), Aunt Dani and Aunt Joanne, Uncle Andy, Uncle Adam, Uncle Josh, Uncle Isaac, Tiffany (our excellent friend from George Fox), Great Uncle Bob, Grandma Linda, and of course a bunch of little toddlers and little boys: Grant, Cole, Isaac (another one), and Carter.

Greyson, we love you. We have high hopes for you and we are excited for your future. Here's to another 79+ years, you little tiger, you!

Nehalem Bay State Park

The Oregon State Park system owns a few dozen yurts that you can rent for a reasonable overnight rate. However demand far exceeds supply and you have to reserve about a year in advance. That's exactly what we did about one year ago: rented a yurt near Manzanita, OR for the weekend. Now, at the time the weather forecast showed clear skies. Who could have foreseen that one year later the weekend would be one of the wettest in months...


At one point I recall Rachel suggesting that we just rent a hotel. But we stuck with it. Mitch, Kel, Grant, and Cole met us there for one evening. We enjoyed great family time. The boys wrestled in the small space, Greyson was typical Greyson (he woke everyone up at 3am). Despite the rain, we went to the beach, ate at Mo's, drank coffee at sleepy monk, and even visited the tillamook cheese factory. Tue next day the sun rose for our long and relatively peaceful drive back to Tacoma.


This was our first time camping, and although it was in the posh confines of a yurt on the Oregon coast, it was still a little challenging. Thankfully it just gets easier from here. Maybe I should reserve the yurt for next year...


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Vehicle Repair: Maintain vs Cut Your Losses

Maintaining a failing vehicle is a good analogy to stewardship in a corporate finance setting. Consider: in 2006 we bought a beautiful rebuilt (aka ‘salvaged’) 2004 Honda CRV with only 5,000 miles for $14k. At the time, the blue book value for a similar CRV not salvaged was close to $25k.
Considerations for taking this risk:
1) We desperately needed a car. And we strongly prefer to have a small SUV like a CRV, Rav4, etc…
2) We don’t have much money. A year earlier we had left the Peace Corps with hardly any financial assets.
3) We’re highly materialistic people so buying an old beat-up 1980s Mazda just wasn’t an option.
We saved ourselves over $10k and we had a beautiful car that we otherwise could never afford.

Here come the financial considerations. At what point would you, as a financial professional, “maintain the asset” or “cut your losses”?
1) 1 year after we bought the car, we finally check out the growling noise emanating from under the hood. Turns out it’s the transmission, and it needs to be replaced.

• Cost = $2500.
• Decision = Maintain the asset. I just bought this car. I’m ticked off. But since smashing the car with a baseball bat isn’t an option, I pay up.

2) 2 years after we bought the car. The transmission starts to growl again. Clearly the disreputable mechanic didn’t do a very good job of rebuilding the transmission.

• Cost = Not sure but probably another $2500 since we don’t have a warranty
• Decision = Do nothing. Let the transmission run into the ground.

3) 4 years after we bought the car, the radiator starts to leak on a barren highway between Bend and Portland. Scared and nervous, we manage to keep going with a $3 bottle of “bars leaks.” Upon returning to Tacoma, we get the car checked out. Indeed, we need a new radiator, pipes and thermostat.

• Cost = $900.
• Decision = Do nothing. I’d rather keep plugging up the leaking radiator with “bars leaks.”

4) 5 years after we bought the car, something stinky (literally “smelly”) is going on. Not only is the radiator still leaking, but the water pump is leaking, tubes are leaking and the thermostat thinks that everything is hunky dory. Prognosis: still need a new radiator, and also water pump, tubes, serpentine belt, and a couple of other belts.

• Cost = $1500.
• Decision = Maintain the asset. We had gotten over a year more of run time on the old radiator. And it isn’t uncommon for a vehicle with over 100k miles to need a new water pump. Pay up.

5) 2-5 years (at the same time) the transmission is growling louder, people start to tell us “wow you should get that looked at” (our response: “no, we know what it is already.”), it starts to sputter, and finally, in year 5, it starts to hum. The hum is loud, like a fog horn coming from under the passenger’s feet. Prognosis: the current transmission specialist says it best: “you got a crappy transmission. It needs to be replaced.

• Cost = $2500
• Decision = ? What would you do? $2500 would keep the car running for likely another 5 years, at which time it’s definitely time to get a new car. Keep in mind that other than a brake replacement and new tires, no other work has been done on the CRV. No tune up, no timing belt. It runs really well.

In the corporate finance setting, it would be asked, “has the asset been fully depreciated.” Answer = not really. It was paid through a low student loan interest rate, which we’re slowly paying off over the next 20 years. Next the finance person would say, “what are my alternatives”? The alternative, as we see it, is to invest in a new car for our new life stage: ie, a bigger SUV capable of hauling around 2 boys and their soccer gear. Cost = $40,000. Loan term = 5 years at 5% interest. Monthly payment = $700. Breakeven analysis: getting the transmission repaired will pay for itself after 4 months of new car payments.

In the corporate setting, they would likely continue to maintain the asset. But it still stings. The only true way to solve this dilemma is to make a time machine and decide not to buy the car in the first place. But even then… even then… even then… after all the repairs, we’re still cheaper than if we had bought a new CRV in 2006.

Summer Vacation 2011

Yessir, finally! Were on the road with the two boys. First stop is Portland and a night at Chris & Jeannes place. Highlights = putting the two boys plus Daylon down to sleep and ordering Urban Fondu desert takeout. Then this morning Jude and I went out to get coffee and breakfast for everyone else. Driving through Portland's Forest Park, Jude asks me to stop so we can find bears. So... That's what we did. We found a turnoff and explored Wildwood Trail for a half hour. No bears, but Jude and dad discovered that he has an innate love of the outdoors. This is gonna be a fun boy to raise. Greyson will love the outdoors too, I'm sure...

Day 2: Salem (Dallas) with Mitch, Kel, Grant and Cole. Absolutely loving the family time, the BBQ, and watching Jude, Grant and Cole wrestle each other. Grant and Cole treat Jude with great "delicacy" (delicateness?) as they play the night away. Jude loves his older and wiser cousins, and the four parents realize we really must make annual plans to rent a vacation home for a long weekend.
Day 3: Bandon (S. Oregon Coast) driving through the Willamette Valley between Salem and Corvallis reminds me why I love Oregon. Lush woody hills, vineyards, creeks, lavender farms, fruit stands, orchards. It's a beautiful place. Grey slept a good 3.5 hours on our way across the coastal range to Bandon. Once in Bandon, we check into our inexpensive motel with a room literally overlooking the famous sea stacks and cliffs. After dinner, Jude and I drive Grandpa Don to the tiny airport where don has his Cessna tied down. Jude watched ad Grandpa Don took off into the sky. Quite a memorable moment for Jude, seeing him fly off into the clouds. Back at the motel, we put the kids to sleep and Grandma Linda keeps an eye on them as Rachel and I walk hand in hand on the cliffs as the sun drowns out over the horizon.

Tomorrow, breakfast, then off to Medford!
Day 4: Bandon to Medford. It's 9:15 am and Jude is still asleep. What's up with this kid? Is this the beginning of a stage on life (also known as the rest of his life)? ...

The remainder of the day is spent in the car driving the tiny road between Bandon and Roseberg with grandma in the front seat and Rachel wedged between the two car seats in the back (not sure if we've me filmed this but when our CRV eventually dies were getting a bigger suv). Greyson, once again, sleeps the entire ride from Bandon to Medford (3.5 hrs). Upon arriving in Medford, we fire up the backyard BBQ and grill some protein. Linda's yard looks great, good job landscaping over the last fee years! After the kiddos go to bed, we watch a mildly entertaining Liam niesen action flick.

Day 5: Medford. Jude and grey wake up pretty early from an already poor nights sleep. Linda goes to work and it's time for Grey's mid-morning nap. When he finally wakes up it's about 11am. By this time, rob and Rachel are in dire need of good coffee. We dive over to Jacksonville and spend an hour at Pony Espresso. Rachel logs onto her work computer to check her email and belatedly turn on her out of office notification (oops). Jude has been a good boy at Pony Espresso so as a reward he and dad visit two playgrounds. The first one he "don't like it the wood chips" (he didn't like the wood chip surface). The second park he liked the school bus, but the flirty jr highers are hogging the drivers seat. Later that night, Rachel and rob enjoy a humble date playing mini golf and racing each other in go carts.

Day 6: Crater Lake. Unfortunately I've let the story lapse by a couple of weeks and I'm finishing up this story 2 weeks after it ended (it's currently July 28th). If I recall, Day 6 was our last day in Medford. The sun decided to shine that day - ostensibly because we no longer had the time to swim in Don and Linda's pristine pool, the sun decided to mock us. Around mid-morning, we packed up and visited Del Rio Vineyards in Gold Hill, Oregon. Had a great time visiting Delores, one of Linda's great friends and one of Rachel's old friends and mentors for her days living in Medford as a child. From Gold Hill we trekked through the state and national forests to the rim of Crater Lake. On cue, both kids squaked, complained and cried as we pulled into our parking spot from the long journey. This caused our Day 6 sight seeing to prematurely end, and we departed to our small, tiny, rustic and downright uncomfortable Mazama Village Cabin. At this point on our trip, both boys are tired. Mom and dad haven't slept well in several days, and we're beginning to get tired. Just when we start to feel a little cranky, we grab an incredibly satisfying dinner buffet at the Annie Creek Restaurant in Mazama Village. I'm not sure why they don't market this place, but it's fantastic. Definitely worth a stop if you happen to be on highway 62 in the middle of nowhere. I wish we could say we slept well that night, but it was actually the worst night of all. Not because the place was small or uncomfortable... just because the two boys were miserably omnipresent through the night.

Day 7: Bend. The next morning we packed up and drove the 6 miles back up to the rim. We once again oooh'ed at the lake's beauty and serenity. Then scooped up the boys and drove up the highway again. Our destination this time was Bend. Our hotel wasn't ready so we stopped at the Lava ... Something.. national monument. Not sure why I can't recall its name, but it had the word Lava in it, and it was an over-sized lava dome right off the highway. Very fun, very scenic, lots of pictures. Jude enjoyed chasing the squirrels. We arrived in Bend at a beautiful, overpriced, and rather lifeless inn with a view of the Deschuttes River. If I recall, that night spent an hour at the play ground, finally letting Jude swing and slide. Funny how no matter how nice and swanky you plan your vacation to be, if you have a toddler, they just don't care. They only care about the play ground. Lesson learned. After the park we found good Thai food and settled down in our big, fancy, clean, beautiful hotel room. Incidentally the boys slept well that night, leading me to believe that the environment does influence their attitudes and endurance.

Day 8: Back home. But not yet. First, we awoke, visited our favorite Bend coffee shop (Thump), and drove down south to the High Desert Museum. This was a winner. We really enjoyed the variety of things to do and see here. It was very toddler friendly, and interesting enough to keep the parents curiosity going. When both kids were worn out, we loaded them up and drove the long distance back to either Portland or Seattle (we decided it depended on how the kids were doing). About 2-3 hours after we left Bend, both kids had still not fallen asleep for their naps. It was getting bad. Jude had gone from loopy to plain mean. And Greyson swung between quiet angel and beastly infant. But then, around Mount Hood, both boys fell hard into deep sleep. Rachel and I decided if the boys were still asleep we would continue on home to Tacoma. And incredibly, thankfully, and mercifully, both boys were asleep for 3 hours between Mt Hood and around Tacoma. Back home in Tacoma, we unpacked, enjoyed our familiar home, took Jude to a park, and got ready for my parents to arrive that evening from Austin, TX. Yes! The adventure continues!

I'm not sure what sort of family vacation we will do next year, but it will undoubtedly be NW local, and will involve playgrounds, swings, slides and fields to run in.

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Tell Me About Your Day Today

Jude, my adorable toddler, recent graduate to the 3-5 year old room at daycare (he's about 2 3/4 yrs), uses cunning and skill to keep me in his room as long as possible at bed time. His recent trick is to ask me how my day was (no doubt a play on the same question I had asked him over the past few months). So inevitably, because the question is so cute and because he is so directly asking me to respond, I answer: "well after I dropped you off at school I drove up to seattle..." Jude: "Seattle? That's where the base-a-ball is, the the Mariners." Dad: "that's right, Jude, good job!" [10 second pause] Jude: "Tell me about your day today daddy."


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Extreme Busyness to an Unnecessarily High Degree

The other day was typical in a day in the life of Rob and Rachel. At 5:30pm, Rachel calls me to explain that a realtor is showing our home in 90 minutes.

Now a couple of notes here: 1) I'm still at work in Seattle. 2) Rachel had just gotten home from a long day working in Seattle and had just picked up the kids in daycare. 3) We live 60 minutes from Seattle in Tacoma. 4) Our home is on the market and could be shown at a moments notice (it's been on the market for over a year).

Back to the story, I fly home and arrive 60 minutes later to see my lovely wife literally wiping down the counters with a whiny toddler in the other hand and an infant strapped to her chest in a baby bjorn. One part incredibly impressed, and another part a little bitter about life, I can't think of what else to say but, "wow, Rachel. Thanks for cleaning the house and watching two boys and starting to make the dinner that we now can't eat for another 1 1/2 hours and for doing it all after you worked for 9 hours and commuted for 2 hours."

We didn't think we would have our home on the market for over a year. We thought it would be a couple of months. So at the time we started looking for a church in the community we intended to move to. And we found a great church. In Bellevue. 60 minutes away. And we enjoy our small group that we attend, 45 minutes away. So that's commuting 5 days a week plus twice on Thursday and again on Sunday.

Even though Rachel and I work a mile away from each other in Seattle, we can't commute together because our daycare - like all others - has a 10 hour limit per day. So Rachel wakes up at 5:00am (I sleep in until 5:30) and she leaves the house at 6:20. I stay and take the kids at 7:30. Rachel returns to Tacoma in time to pick up the boys by 5:30, and I try to get back home by 6:30.

Rachel was just offered her third promotion at work (she declined the first two) and she is now a manager of accounting with people, project and budget responsibilities.

We would love to have time to do a hobby, jog or get more involved, but few social activities meet between 11:45 and 12:15 noon weekdays...

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Little Boys

Here are a couple of cute pics of the boys, Jude (2 3/4 yrs) and Greyson (9 months). The like each other a lot. Grey cracks Jude up constantly, and Jude is a caring and nurturing older brother.


J and G in a typical ham-ish pose.


Another typical pose: Jude slightly annoying Grey.

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Obligatory June Update

In the last few months a lot has transpired, but unfortunately I've done a poor job of documenting this. Jude is a hoot - he's speaking complex sentences, using new verb tenses and counting into the teens. Greyson is sitting up and can stand with a little help. Rachel has transitioned back to work from 4 months on maternity leave, and Rob was promoted to the next level at work. The house was recently refinanced and we save a couple hundred dollars per month on our mortgage, and we've made our backyard look lovely with a new patio set and a Traeger wood pellet grille.

In July we're tentatively scheduled to vacation for a week in Oregon, and later in July mom and dad Mardock are coming to visit for a week from Texas.

Lots of specifics... hopefully I can start providing more interesting and humorous details to come...

Hamilton Pool (Austin, TX)

Jealous of my family in Austin. The picture below is my niece, Natalie (daughter of Matt & Jen) at Hamilton Pool, south-west of Austin. We lived in Austin, knew about Hamilton Pool, and still never went. Next time we're there...

Bedrooms

A quick note to memorialize an important milestone: Greyson's first night in his room, away from mom and dad. Jude and Grey both share a room now. Mom and dad can finally have a quiet conversation without fearing of waking up the infant. Jude pretty much enjoys his new roomie. We hope this relatively easy transition continues!


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Simple Faith and Sinking Islands

The other day as I traveled yet another hour from home to work, I listened to a moderately interesting article on NPR about the tiny South Pacific island nation of Kiribati. Almost entirely Christian, its inhabitants pray every day that tsunamis and climate change won't sink their country for all eternity. Their prayers are so focused, so humble and so sincere: "lord we ask that you come to Kiribati and lift up our islands so that your children don't sink into the vast ocean. Protect our country and lift it up [literally]."

I'm not sure why, but it struck me immediately that to the people of Kiribati this was not only a personal prayer of protection, but it was also a prayer of significant geo-political consequence. "Protect us from actions that are often beyond our control. Help people in distant lands to understand that their environmental impact has a direct correlation to the survival of our country and our very existence."

I thought: this really puts into context the valid yet fear-laden, vociferous and over-discussed geo-political prayers among some in America who pray intensely for things that in the end - I believe - are of lesser significance to the lord: the prophetic notion of the caliphate, the presidents anti-Christian theories about universal *access* to healthcare, and the infallibility of Israel's earthly leaders.

I may change my thoughts in a month or two, but right now my belief is: focus your prayers on the hints that matter most: be thankful for the gifts of grace and mercy. Be thankful that we have a place in the lord's kingdom. And pray for protection for your family against the sin, temptation and separation from his word.

http://m.npr.org/story/133650679?url=/2011/02/16/133650679/climate-change-and-faith-collide-in-kiribati

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Goings On + Mom's Visit

Jude is speaking in full and complex sentences. Very cool. Greyson is a gigantic infant. At 4 months he is almost 18 pounds. He's in 9-12 month clothes, and he's growing out of his sleep sacks. Greyson still sleeps in our room bc we're afraid to put he and Jude in the same room (selfishly we are only concerned about our own sleep). Jude got a warning at daycare today to "be gentle" after he pushed Garret down for no reason.

Rachel started work last week after a 4-month maternity leave. During that time her office moved from 3 miles away to 36 miles away. Major bummer. However... Two big positive results of the move are that the company felt bad about making 1000 people drive 2 hrs a day so everyone gets 1-2 days a week to work at home. And, rachel's in a vanpool with 5 other super nice ladies that leaves just down the street at 6:30 am, and leaving the office at 3:55 pm. When a meeting is about to go long, Rachel can say - in all seriousness - "I'm sorry I've got to leave to catch my carpool." I would love those 2 small luxuries but my schedule isn't too bad (qtr-end earnings release not withstanding).

Finally, mom (Carol) has been up here with is for 2 weeks. She's leaving tomorrow, and we are already very sad. She has been helping out during the critical transition from rachel's maternity to her starting work. And with Greyson's daycare not ready for him we absolutely needed her to be up here. Mom very graciously offered her time for two weeks, and it sounds like she's loved every minute bonding with Jude and Greyson. Jude lover her very much. And Greyson feels very protected, comforted and loved by her. We love you mom (grandma) and appreciate your time here from Texas. Thanks dad for giving her up for these two weeks.


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Closing out 2010

Yes, we know it's February, but this post is dedicated to the last couple of fun events of 2010: Christmas, and New Years Beach Blast.

Christmas: We let Jude open one give per night starting two days before Christmas. This was done "not" because we lack patience, but from prior year learnings we knew that Jude needed to understand that inside the pretty paper were some nifty gifts. Unfortunately it still didn't quite work this way.

Christmas morning came, Jude and Greyson wore matching pj's, mom and dad made a hearty breakfast and relaxed (just the four of us). When it came time for presents, Jude became fixated on each gift. When we opened an Elmo DVD, Jude wanted to watch the entire thing - no longer caring that there could potentially be other exciting Elmo products under the tree. In the end, I think we continued to open Jude's gifts up until New Year's Eve.

New Years Beach Blast: We celebrated the annual "Bellamy" Beach Blast this year in Pacific City, Oregon in a giant 3 story, 8 bedroom house. Okay, I'm not positive it had 8 bedrooms, but it "officially" slept 30 people, and unofficially it could comfortably sleep probably 80. Normally our family - with all the new noisy kiddos - fills a house to above capacity. Not this time. It was an uncomfortably huge house with a surprisingly teenie-tiny kitchen. Overall the trip was a resounding success with lots of great memories. Mitch and Kel came and some of us went to the beach, climbed the dunes and scanned the immense horizon (it was uncharacteristically clear that week, not a cloud in the sky). Lots of board games, Jude played in the tide pools.

For me though, the highlight was driving on the beach in Josh's new 4x4, then getting impossibly stuck in a sand dune. Jude and Heather tried to help as much as they could but eventually Chris picked them up at a gas station. Josh and I stayed, on our bellies, under the truck, trying to scoop sand from under the entire area. Sand was well above the axles. Over an hour later in the pitch black night, Josh and I (with the help of 4 local boys) plowed the truck free. It was an exhilarating moment for us all and will remain a great bonding story for decades to come.

Whew! Now that these stories have been recalled, we can focus on the new year and family news to come.

A moment to reflect

Literally. I have a free moment. What do I do with it? Rachel and Grey are up in Seattle and Jude is down for a nap. I just trimmed the hedges and made myself a chocolate Abyss (stout) milkshake. The house is "show-ready" clean. Now I pause and reflect. Should I chop some wood? Clean the fireplace? Paint a wall in the basement? Or just enjoy a moment to enjoy the quietness...


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The Adventures of Polo and Jude

Dad: What do you want to read tonight?
Jude: I want to read Polo and the Dragon
D: Okay, but this time you tell me what’s going on in the story.
J: Okay

D: Alright, let’s see. Polo goes out on an adventure … his boat gets stuck in the ice … He can’t get out. He’s stuck, oh no! What happens next?
J: yeah!
D: Polo looks in back of him and what does he find?
J: a treasure chest
D: and Polo opens the treasure chest and what does he find?
J: a marker!
D: that’s right. He takes out the market and what does he draw?
J: a door!
D: and he opens the door and where does he go?
J: yeah… … … in a jungle!
D: that’s right. He’s walking through the jungle and guess what he finds?
J: a … a cave!
D: and inside the cave he finds a table. What’s on the table?
J: food, the dragon’s food!

It’s fun for us to see the wheels and cogs turn in Jude’s head. Thanks to Kate J. for introducing us to the adventurous dog and his many animal friends. Thanks to Polo the evening bedtime ritual is consistent and always enjoyable.

Jude-isms

Jude’s English skills have come along nicely since his first word “banana” about 6-8 months ago. Jude now speaks in complete sentences, such as “I want to go to the beach,” and “Mom, the baby has poop in his pants! That’s funny,” and “Where did Aunt Heather and Uncle Josh go?” Below are a few notable Jude-isms that help his parents know exactly what is on his mind:

• How about. He says it in front of just about everything to express his desires. As in, “how about milk? How about candy? How about read a book?”
• Dump it out. That is to say, “I want to help prepare food with mom or dad, specifically in the blender or mixer.”
• Milky. Aka milk. Not sure why he calls it this but I suspect it’s a bad influence at daycare
• One three, one three, one three, five! This is how Jude counts
• Have it in the microwave. Jude love his milky, but if it isn’t at least ceremonially and momentarily placed in the microwave, it isn’t yet ready to drink.
• BIG (barrel voiced with hands wide open) … *little* (tiny voice with fingers pinched together). Followed by infectious belly laugh.

Snowy Adventures to Walla Walla

Lest we forget to record our favorite memories of 2010 for all eternity, we here briefly reminisce about a fun adventure to Walla Walla. A huge winter storm for the ages struck the Northwest a couple of days before Thanksgiving, threatening our long-planned trip with Jude and Greyson to Walla Walla. We never seriously entertained the idea of staying home though. There was too much family to see, too many people to introduce Greyson to, and too much food to eat to stay in Tacoma. Instead Rob ensured he could install snow chains (if needed) and we packed up and departed across the treacherous Cascades. With Chris, Jeanne and Daylon in tow, our two cars conquered the passes with minimal slippage. A few long hour later we arrived at our half-way point at Glory and Blake's house in Yakima. The next morning we finished our journey on uncleared icy highways between the tri-cities and Walla^2.

The rest of the time at the huge concrete mansion was spent playing games, eating, watching movies, and taking care of our two sick boys (yes I neglected to speak about that extra burdensome variable).

Overall a fantastic trip, Greyson's first road trip, and a great and memorable Thanksgiving adventure in (and to/from) Walla Walla.

Can Rob actually install snow chains properly? Check!

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A Very Proctor (Tacoma) Halloween

This little community we live in just seems to get cooler and cooler. Early on Halloween Day, Jude's nap and Greyson's incessant need for milk kept us from going to the local Tacoma zoo for family-friendly trick-or-treating. As the afternoon drew on our options grew more limited to the point that we said, "let's just walk to Starbucks." On a total hunch we also discovered that Tacoma’s Proctor District shuts down and all the stores hand out candy to kids. We quickly dressed up Jude into his lion costume (roar!), and Greyson into his Pea In The Pod costume and strolled our Bob Duallie up the street to the Proctor Starbucks.

We were so impressed by our little community. Families and kids were everywhere in Proctor. If we can’t manage to sell our house for another year we won’t be too disappointed.

The afternoon was a crisp and clear fall day. Leaves falling, blue skies, it was gorgeous. Greyson did such a great job of sleeping the whole time! After a just a few stores, Jude figured out to put his bag out in front of him so that people could drop candy inside. On the way home Jude practiced roaring like a lion. Later in the evening Jude helped hand out candy to trick-or-treaters as mom and dad enjoyed a warm mug of Romanian style “vin fiert” (spiced / mulled red wine).

Jude helped dad carve three pumpkins. He helped by pulling out the innards and throwing them into the trash.


Our adorable little Pea in the Pod: Greyson at 1 month and 2 days old.

Dad and Jude walking through the Proctor District old town shopping area gathering Halloween Candy. We’ll definitely do this again next year if we’re still in the area.

Jude having a great time roaring at all the other residents. In his simple lion costume, Jude made quite the impression.

3 Weeks In...

Three weeks after little Grey came home from the hospital and it appears we've got a pretty decent routine working. Jude has really stepped up to the plate. He has shown a loving interest in his new little brother and is sure to include him in his daily activities. Although only 3 weeks old, we can already tell that Grey has a much more easy going personality than his intense and colicy older brother when he was 3 weeks. Grey's constant feeding cycle is to he expected. Rachel tries to get rest on Wed-Fri as Jude stays home now on Mon-Tue. Dad has taken over parent duties for Jude's unpredictable nights.

This tiny phone makes lengthy appreciations more difficult, but we are both very thankful, beyond words, that Linda could stay with us for 3 weeks before Greyson was born and after. And this weekend Carol is going to stay with Rachel for the week. This means a lot to us and we are very thankful.


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Greyson Zachary

We are proud parents tonight. Welcome Greyson. Born tonight at Swedish at 7:18 pm. 8 lbs 6 oz and 20 in long. A healthy and beautiful baby boy.






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Last Quiet Night

Were scheduled to have Greyson tomorrow. This feels like the night before you get married. Lots of thoughts going through our heads, including, "wow this is going to be the last good nights sleep for about a year."


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I Want Pants ... Well Who Doesnt!?

The other day Rachel handed me a half-dressed Jude (shirt and diaper). However, at the same time I had planned on quickly running to the backyard to fix something. Therefore, I quickly threw some shoes on half-dressed Jude to take him outside with me. Upon fastening his shoes, Jude protested: "I want pants. I want pants. I want pants" until I understood what he was saying. "You want pants?" I repeated. "Yeah." And, slowly but surely father and son are learning to communicate with each other.

Jude's Octopus Cake

(Aka Jude's Second Birthday). On August 30th, Jude celebrated his second birthday with friends and family at the Portland Children's Museum. It was very cute watching over a dozen small children (mostly toddlers) waddling, running and tripping all over the room. A big thank you to all the little kids whose moms and dads let eat octopus cake with Jude: Grant, Cole, Drew, Isaac, Macy, Ayla, Evan, Joel, Addi, Pailey, and Daylon. All super cute and loads of energy!

Also a big kudos to Jeanne and Rachel for making the coolest octopus cake ever. After researching them online, Rachel decided she could make her own, but better and cheaper. Between she and Jeanne, it was pretty brilliant.

(more pictures soon)



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Greyson on His Way

I am the happy and proud soon-to-be father of Greyson TBD Mardock. Sometime between September 25 and October 5, Grey will complete the Mardock family: dad, lovely wife, and two spry little boys. I can’t wait. Greyson, we’re waiting with great anticipation for your birth in the next few weeks! Love, Dad

The Ferrari of Tricycles

This past Saturday we woke up with a great idea to buy Jude a simple tricycle for his 2nd birthday. Novel, says I; nothing says easy lovin’ than getting a simple ready-to-ride trike from Toys R Us. This from the family who researches so long into what kind of baby carrier to buy that by the time we get it he’s too big for it. But oh, life for the Mardocks isn’t as easy as simply going to Toys R Us and getting a $20 Radio Flyer.

At Toys R Us we discover that tricycles have actually “devolved” over the past 20 years into cheap, breakable plastic garbage heaps and cost $60 and up. (Of course when I was a kid, they were American-made solid steal and rubber). Rachel and I reconsidered the simple notion of buying a trike. We decided to search around the Tacoma area for other options to no avail. All garbage. Then we discovered there was this uber-fancy German trike company called Kettler. Hand forged by real Teutonic engineers, with all the bells and whistles. The particular one we were interested, I called the “Ferrari of Tricycles.” The Air Navigator. This bad boy has real air-filled tires, plus a push handle for the parents. But then it gets better: the Air Navigator's petite frame belies the fact that it’s approved for up to a 400 pound human. Its rear wheels swivel like a shopping cart so that the parents can push the trike seamlessly without lifting and repositioning the trike (lest it veer off the sidewalk and maim the poor child). And lastly, its front wheel locks so that the wheel is always pointed straight ahead. Another must as parents push the lazy child up and down the block.

I must tell you, I had stars in my eyes. Clearly I wanted this trike so much more than Jude could ever care. At $250 though, it was just a hard justification to make. Didn’t we wake up that morning just wanting a simple $20 trike? How did we get from Junker to Ferrari? After much introspection and consideration about whether the trike should be a family heirloom or just a toy, we decided to keep the money and get the trike from Toys R Us. At $60, it’s still more than we want to pay, but I feel like we avoided an epic frivolous purchase. Certainly Jude would appreciate that money towards his college savings plan. Although with a weight limit of 400 pounds he could still easily ride the trike to college.

So ends our trike story, and onto another story: whether or not Rob and Rachel will invest $700 on the swankiest duallie stroller on the market, or whether we’ll ever get it through out heads that humans have been raising babies for millennia without the aircraft aluminum frames, Baby Bjorn carriers, and video baby monitors…

Big Boy Bed

This morning at 1:30 Rachel and I awoke to a toddler-sized sneeze, mere inches from our heads. Both startled out of our sleeps, we looked over to find Jude just watching us. Clearly he had arisen from his big-boy bed, walked silently down the hall, and was waiting for an opportunity to get our attention.

Jude took to his big-boy bed much better than we could have anticipated. A couple of days after setting it up in his room, Adam and Dani put him down for a nap, not knowing we weren’t yet using the bed (we were more just getting Jude used to the idea of having it in his room). Later that night we were having a heck of a time getting Jude to sleep in his crib. Out of exhaustion, Rachel sat down on his bed to hold him, but Jude quickly slipped out of her arms onto the bed and he promptly fell asleep for the night. And that is the story of how Jude transitioned to his big-boy bed. All the discussion, concern and scenario-planning and he simply took to it like a fish takes to water.

The crib is now ready for little baby Greyson (ETA Sept 25 – Oct 5). We hope that Grey sleeps better than Jude. We like to think of Jude as being borderline colicky as it helps us justify how tired we were for the first year; and they say your second child will have the opposite level of difficultness from your first. We shall soon see…

Begin Microblog

1: Please pardon my brevity and typos, I'm writing with my thumbs
2: Whereas 99.9% of my after-hours computer time is on my phone, and it doesn't look likely to change anytime soon, expect to see brief and incorrectly spelled blog posts
3: I've been thinking more and more about getting a tiny Bluetooth keyboard
4: Next week is my busy week - with long nights to boot. I love my wife. And I'm also thrilled that Heather is coming up to keep Rachel company for a couple of days.
5: Jude is an absolute ham and doll. I look forward to seeing him when I'm at work
6: Rachel is tickled pink at the thought of having little Greyson. She's confirmed on numerous occasions that "no more, never. I hate being pregnant."
7: We're still trying to agree on Greyson's middle name. We're now thinking Charles or Alexander... But it could change tomorrow.
8: That is all!

Pleasant Day in Bellevue

The three of us spent a warm day checking out the Eastside of Seattle today (Aka Bellevue) as part of our preliminary scouting of possible places to live. Yes, as soon as our home sells, which could be in a month or in a year, we will be moving into a rental on the East side of Lake Washington. We recently found a church that we've been attending. The people are pretty cool and the message is smart (a rare combo). The next thing to consider in a move is daycare. As Rachel and I will still be working, and as we have no family within a hundred miles, well be using full time daycare for our two boys. That equals about $2500 per month, or effectively $30,000 a year. That equals the take-home salary of someone making about $40,000 (40,000 *[1-25% tax] = 30,000). I am awestruck at how people can afford this. It makes so much more sense to invest that money. And the govt doesn't give parents hardly any tax assistance for daycare as they do for small potato expenses like a mortgage payment. What does a parent do...

Please forgive my run-on sentences and typos as I'm writing from my iPhone.

On the Market

A little over two years ago, Rachel and I found a cute old Craftsman home in the tony area of Proctor, Tacoma that we could afford, knowing that much work needed to be done. Over the past couple of years, we've textured walls, painted everything, de-popcorned the ceiling, tiled, added appliances and a fireplace insert, ripped out a yard and put a new one in, installed lots of random lights and fixtures, and who knows what else... I've lost track of it all. All said and done probably over $10,000 of improvements. During this time, Rachel's company decided to move forward their move-date to Seattle 3 years from 2013 to 2010. So to make a long story short, we decided that although we put tons of hard work into our great little Craftsman, it just isn't going to be possible to commute with babies in the back seat up to Seattle and back to Tacoma every day for a total of 2.5 hours ... every day. Hence, our home is on the market (how's that for back-story)

We will be taking a loss on the property given how much in transaction fees we're paying, but if we can get close to what we're asking, then Rachel and I can start fresh in a new place closer to our two offices in Seattle without breaking the bank. We're really excited that in a few months (or more, who knows) we'll be living 30 miles north in Seattle / Bellevue.

In the meantime, check out our home listing. See the improvements we've made. I think there's even a link to the original listing from the previous owner in a previous blog post that you could compare our improvements to.

Click here ... or ... click here.

More exciting news coming your way soon!

It worked. Now I'm sad because...

If I knew how easy it was to post from my phone, I would have updated much sooner. The fact is, between working a long hard day, commuting from Seattle to Tacoma, renovating our home, and raising a baby / toddler, I have no time other than the few moments I sit in bed on my iPhone prior to lights out. This changes everything! I'm so sad that I've blogged only about 6 times in the past year. Darn you Facebook for stealing my pithiest of one liners and for synopsizing my family's life experiences into one-line status updates when they deserved so much more color, context and verbiage.

So some news of the day includes this: we're selling our home. Oh yes! It turns out the company Rachel works for is moving to Seattle 3 years sooner than they anticipated. We can't both commute to Seattle with a baby in the back seat, so were selling our beautiful home and moving closer to work. We'll post the MLS listing in the next few days. The real estate market is pretty bad, but our house is really great and really decently priced, so who knows. It could sell in one week or one year!

Testing Nifty iPhone App

As about 95% of my non-work related computer time is spent on an iPhone, and as I truly am wanting to get back into a normal blogging routine (because facebook is such a bad historical family record!), I'm testing out this nifty iPhone app to see if it acurately posts to our blog. Clearly what is lost by using this app is Microsoft Word's spell and syntax check, because that last sentence was a whopper of a run-on!


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Jude's First Haircut

Jude officially traversed the blurry line from babyhood to toddlerhood several months ago when he picked himself off the rug and took his first primordial steps (with Also Sprach Zarathustra playing in the background – at least as I recall it). However, we were further reminded of Jude’s non-babyness the other day when we got his golden locks trimmed for the very first time. At one point prior to the appointment, we discussed whether all three of us were psychologically ready for this rite of passage. In the end, we concluded that either now or three years from now would be the idea time. Three years from now represents when a toddler begins to no longer fear for his life at the hands of a barber or hairstylist. Imagining Jude with 5 years worth of hair convinced us that now was the time.

In my mind, toddler haircuts are reminiscent of the 70s and early 80s, as has been documented below:



Notice the horribly uncomfortable atmosphere. Comfort was definitely not a priority – function was key. Fast forward to today. These kiddos have their own salons, with beautiful lighting and wallpaper, barber chairs in the shape of Jeeps and rocket ships, and TVs playing Elmo & Friends:


Overall, Jude did excellent for 2/3 of his visit. Then, he politely waved his hands back in forth to signal “all done,” put his sucker down, pulled off his smock, and clearly exclaimed “aah” (which is Judeian for “up”). He fussed when we didn’t respond to his command, but even during his fussiness, he was a pretty well behaved little guy. Kudos to the stylist, and kudos to Jude for passing this important milestone. Your hair now reminds us clearly that you are a little man. No more old ladies exclaiming what a cute little girl we have. And for those of you curious: yes, Jude’s hair is still a little curly at the bottom. Hopefully his curls last into his teens, because they’re awfully cute (and girls really seem to like them!)

Long Overdue Update

... a long update? Not really. But I've felt convicted to update the blog for about two months. Such is our life now that we use Facebook so frequently. Its "status updates" have usurped the more meaningful and descriptive blog stories. We'll try to change that going forward; if for no other reason than for Jude. I'm sure he'll want a running log of our lives to refer back to when he's dealing with his midlife crisis. He'll want to know "what were we thinking"?

• As the prior story mentioned, we replaced our yard. I shoveled Tagro (essentially purified manure) throughout the front yard, and spread grass seeds. The grass grew a couple of inches before the bitter cold came and frosted the ground. It should be okay through the winter; but if not, at least the old yard is gone and we can easily fix whatever Jack Frost throws our way when Spring comes.
  
• Rachel and I flew to Kauai and stayed for 3 nights in Poipu at the Grand Hyatt, 3 nights in Princeville at the St Regis, and 1 night on Alaska Air. We regret much that we didn't immediately summarize this amazing trip sooner. It was a "once every 10 years" kind of trip. Amazing, beautiful, relaxing. Lots of sun, lots of fun. Jude stayed home with his grandma Linda. As we neared the end of our trip, we were really looking forward to seeing Jude again. It made coming back to cold and wet Seattle very enjoyable.
• Jude got the H1N1 flu back in November. He was out of school (daycare) for 7 days! At several points his feaver was up to 104, which was scary and a little amazing. I didn't think feavers got that high. I was always under the impression that around 104 and 105, that's when you're pretty much dead. But Jude fluxuated between 100 and 104 for about 6 days. He was a trooper. A real great kid.
  
• As I mentioned in our Christmas card letter, around the time that Jude got over his flu, his personality really took off. He started talking and interacting at a much more interpersonal level. He laughed at us and did things he knew would make us laugh. He runs around, chases Jackson, puts objects in specific orders and in specific places - it's absolutely bizarre seeing him develop in such intentional and incremental ways. There's no way he could do 3 months ago what he's doing today. Just tonight he literally stopped what he was doing when I told him "no." Wheels are turning up there. What a good kid.
• Thanksgiving with Chris and Jeanne was a blast. After Turkey Day, Rachel and I got to spend a day with Adam and Dani at their new place in Longview. Mitch and Kel came up and met us there, as Longview is half way between Tacoma and Salem, OR. It's great to have family so close to us up here.
• Christmas is fast approaching. We have an awesome Turkish fir in our living room that we cut down at a "u-cut" tree farm. The house is decorated, presents are under the tree, and the annual Rescue Christmas CD is in its music rotation. Rachel and I bought each other a door clicker unit for our CR-V, but other than that, gifts are a surprise.

2009 was a momentous, long, and tiring year! We will definitely look back at this year with a combination of great memories, and a little bit of shock that we pulled it all off with such little sleep.

Ben Folds Live (pt 2)

As a follow-up to a concert we attended in Houston back in 2006 (link here), Andy, Joanne, Heather, Brock, Rachel and I attended the Ben Folds + Seattle Symphony concert two days ago. Amazing! I can't get over what an incredible performer he is. The sound quality with the Houston Symphony was substantially better, but this performance was much more fun. Ben told stories about the meaning of his songs, and made up a song right on the spot. At the end of his performance, Ben played 1 encore song with the symphony (Narcolepsy) and 3 encoure songs after the symphony existed stage (Army, Rockin' the Suburbs, and one that I call, "Ode to the Seattle ^*&# Symphony")

Andy Bellamy credited with photo

Replacing the Front Lawn

...a much bigger project than it sounds. And "replacing the front lawn" doesn't even sound small. Below is one "before" photo taken about 2 years ago before we lived here. Our phase 1 (demolition) is now complete and we have a few pictures below. Next comes phase 2 (renewal). We're not entirely sure when phase 2 will commence but we expect it will be much less physical work than phase 1.



Ironic, but true: multiple neighbors told me how much better the lawn looked after it was gone and only dirt remained. Oh the wonders of a simple extreme makeover.








Hopefully there will be more to come!

Highlights from Jude's 1st Birthday

Aug 30, 2009 marked 1 solid year of Jude's existence on this good planet. And what a doll he's been. It seems like only yesterday he was 1 mo old suffering from both the consternation of painful gas and the humiliation of his parents dressing him as a pea pod. But now, at the age of 1, our little guy is a walking, talking (at least he thinks he's talking), grinning, laughing, and personable young man. We celebrated his big "o-one" with friends and family down in Portland (as virtually none live up in Seattle save for the Steeles). At Cook Park, we enjoyed great food and fellowship, culminating in ceramonial rites of passage such as "blowing out of the first candle" and "stuffing the face with cake." As this was Jude's first and last taste of sugar until his second birthday, we wanted him to really get into it and enjoy it. As you can see from the pictures below, Jude didn't disappoint. At first he gingerly picked at the frosting, moving to a delicate finger swipe, then on to full-force fists and wrists mashing and molding the cake into a lump of unidentifiable sugar-stuff. Enjoy these chronological photos from the afternoon party!

Jude's beautiful Costco cake. Thanks to Heather's connections, we got Costco to make a special duck design.

Happy Family.

Rob and Rachel blowing out the candle before Jude could grab the flame.

Jude considering the texture.



Fist in the cake!





Happy Birthday Jude!

Random Filler Stories

For those keeping up with world events, yes, we are alive. We survived Seattle’s hottest day in the history of the universe, all without air conditioning. Since records began in the late 1800s, the temperature has never exceeded 100F. Wouldn’t you know it we move here from hot hot Texas and Seattle blows past its record with a whopping 103F. It felt like Texas (or more specifically like Riverside, CA on a hot smoggy day). Except unlike Texas, the infrastructure in the NW is grossly unprepared for temperatures above the low 80s. Rachel, Jude and I spent three evenings at the lovely Tacoma mall. One evening we took Andy and Joanne – visiting from Florida – out to dinner. After-dinner weather was still essentially magma in vapor form, so we drove 45 minutes away to Sonic for a refreshing cherry limeade. Lovely.

In other news, 1) Rachel and I have enjoyed many a game of Ticket to Ride with Jordan this summer. Our cousin Jordan had a JAG internship at Ft Lewis and we offered him our upstairs. Best of luck in year 2 of law school! 2) Chris and Jeanne welcomed their blessed baby angel Daylon into their amazing family. Lucky kid. He doesn’t know how lucky he is. Or he's just feigning ignorance as infants often do. Then again neither do Jude and Liam know how lucky they are. 3) Hawaii! Rachel and I are uber excited for our once-every-seven-year vacation to Kauai this October. I must gloat: we’re staying 3 nights at the new St Regis in Princeville and 3 nights at the Grand Hyatt in Poipu. More fun stories of this in October. In the meantime, Rachel and I must try to contain our excitement and anticipation by perfecting mai tai recipes over the weekends. 4) Very excited to visit the Mardock clan in Austin over Labor Day. More fun stories when we return in September.

Smallif

I just learned a handy Excel trick to create just about any type of conditional formula. For context, right now Excel offers pre-built formulas that lets you sum up an array given a specific criteria (sum up all of column B whenever its value in Column A = Texas). Excel calls this "sumif." But what if you want to find the minimum, maximum, or rank given a specific criteria?

• First, check out this website.
• Then check out this clever "smallif" example: I have 10 people scattered throughout column A (100 times). Each person has several different values listed in column B. I want to rank the values for each person from smallest to largest. Try this: {=SMALL(IF($A$1:$A$100="John",$B$1:$B$100),1)}. Note that the brackets {} are automatically inserted by pressing CNTRL+SHIFT+ENTER at the end of your formula. Repeat this formula as many times as you need, entering ,2, 3, 4, 5, ..., n for as many values as you have (in order to rank them from 1 to n)
  

Jude Across the Pond (pt 2)

More photos! Stories coming soon:

Jude in the shoebox-sized bassinet on the British Airways flight to London (the leg of the trip without Rachel).

British Museum

Mummies!

High Tea at Fortnum and Masons

Put me to bed! I'm so tired!

Jude Across the Pond (pt 1)

When Rachel’s two-week business trip to London was confirmed, we agreed that I would watch Jude in Tacoma with Grandma’s help (Linda), and then fly to London with Jude for the second week. The first week was hard on Rachel, but with the help of Skype we were able to see each other and chat as if we were in the next room. Linda helped tremendously, and the party grew even bigger when Jeanne and Heather came up the road to stay for a few days. During that first week, I (Robert) worked during the day and took over Jude’s evening and night duties that included playing, feeding, changing, reading, putting to sleep, and feeding again every 4-6 hours. Looking back, I have to say that my one on one time with Jude was probably the best time I’ve had with the little guy so far in his brief life. I loved learning how to listen to him and understanding more of his personality. He likes to be read to each night – I read him two books, one of which is always the same. I noticed that each night he leaned forward to touch the same small picture in the book. And he learned too! He learned that I don’t pick him up after I put him to bed, so there’s no use fussing (I use the 15 minute fuss rule … he’s out before he reaches 15 minutes).

On Friday afternoon, Linda, Jude and I left for the airport – Linda to return to Medford, and Jude and me to London. With the exception of a nasty old man sitting next to us (and I know who you are! I looked you up on LinkedIn) the flight to London went great. Jude slept and played the entire time. When we arrived in London, the three of us (with Rachel now) spent the rest of the day touring around the city rather than sleeping. By the time night arrived, Jude was more than ready to sleep for the night. And just like that – Jude was acclimated to Greenwich Mean Time (+8 hours from Seattle).

Here are a few pictures we took during that initial 3 day weekend (Memorial Day in the US = random “Bank Holiday” in UK):

Rachel & Jude at Tower of London (it's more than just a tower)

Rob and Jude at Tower Bridge (insured as a boat by Lloyds of London)

Jude making faces in random park to the side of Parliament

Rachel and Jude across the River Thames

Rachel and Jude with Parliament

Rachel and Jude with Parliament and Big Ben

Jude, Rob and Ben

Jude attacking Rachel

Rachel and Jude at Harrods

Random cute Jude photo

Rachel and Jude at Buckingham Palace