Waiting

I'm not a huge "quote" person, but there are a few that I find meaningful. One of those is John Lennon's "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." I've always tried to keep this in mind, as it is very easy for me to plan for the future at the expense of really living in the moment. It helps keep me grounded.

That's been on my mind a bit lately, because I feel like I'm in a bit of a couple week "holding pattern" before all the excitement for the year happens. Here are a few things I'm excited about:
-March 20: First day of spring. Take that winter!
-March 20: March Madness begins;
-March 28 & 29: teaching the Good Sense seminar at church;
-March 31: Cubs opening day (Go Cubs Go!);
-April 5-11: Grandma Dayton in town to watch Sophie so Nancy can write (and we get to go on a date or 2)
-April 12: Grove's wedding;
-April 18 &19: I'm taking a motorcycle riding class (seriously);
-April 26 & 27: Disc golf tournament with my brother Mike and his friends Nick & Eric.
-May 3: Going to the Kentucky Derby for the third time (and coming out ahead, I hope);
-May 16-18: Weekend trip to the Tussey's lakehouse;
-June 3: My third anniversary of turning 29;
-June 12-15: Sophie's first trip to Wrigley Field and Kelsey's graduation party;
-June 28-July 1: Our first family vacation with just the 3 of us and our 8th Anniversary;
-July 2-6: Camp with Daytons;
-July 8: Nancy officially gets old.

Meanwhile, I have loads of work to do. Sophie has words to learn. Nancy has a book to write and coffee to drink. I have to cut down the stupid maiden grass. Oh, how I hate cutting down the maiden grass. It's my nemesis.

You'll notice that Easter and the end of lent did NOT make the list. This is not because I'm not excited about it. I'm planning a crazy cookie/chocolate/pizza/pop orgy that will be the stuff legends are made of. Still, throughout lent I have been re-studying the spiritual disciplines with my friend Dan. This has been equal measures challenging, enjoyable, frustrating and rewarding. Most of all, it has reawakened a spiritual awareness in me, one that hadn't exactly fallen away, but was in need of refreshing. I think that at the end of the day, that is what lent is all about. The cookies or other trivial sacrifices we make are essentially meaningless, but when they are accompanied by real spiritual change, they take on a profound significance. So, am I excited for Easter and excited for the end of lent? Yes! But I'm more excited to keep learning and growing now and hope that growth stays doesn't get swept away with the Dr. Pepper.

Grandma's Week

Thanks so much for your help Mom D! You gave me a break and a renewed enthusiasm to work on my dissertation (this is saying something.) Sophie is already missing you...

A Fun Week

We're back from our vacation and have lots of catching up to do...

Today is Nancy's 29th birthday. She now has only 365 more days to make fun of me for being 30, and it appears as though she is going to take advantage of that opportunity. Nonetheless, Nancy has a husband and a daughter who think she is the best wife and mother in the world.

In case you missed the match this morning, Roger Federer won Wimbledon for the fifth time in a row, beating Rafael Nadal in an amazing 5 set final. I can't say this was the best he's ever played, but it is the best he's had to play at Wimbledon. There are few things in life that I enjoy more than watching this guy play the game of tennis, and as it turns out, I get plenty of opportunity. He has made the last 9 grand slam finals. Not only is this a record, the next closest, 7, happened 70 years ago. He is dominating our sport in a way that that lacks any kind of comparison.

We had a very, very nice vacation, with the highlights as follows:
-Nancy & I spent our anniversary weekend in Chicago, taking in the town and going to a Cub game (as discussed in our previous post). This was the longest, and first overnight, that we had been away from Sophie. We really made the most of our time there; our 30 hour trip seemed more like a week. Thank you so much to both of our parents for watching Sophie and allowing us this opportunity!
-I played plenty of disc golf, getting smoked on a daily basis by my brother. I think I am going to have to start cheating like crazy. If anyone is aware of a performance enhancing drug of some kind that helps with disc golf, I am most definitely not interested, but may have a friend who is... I was also able to reconnect with Dan Weiss and get in a couple of rounds and a lunch with him. It's amazing how easy it is to let even the best people fall out of your life. I am very thankful for the opportunity to reestablish that friendship and hope that I don't let that or any other friendships vanish out of inconvenience. God is working in and through Dan & his family, and I'm excited to see what else He has in store for them in the future.
-We were also able to visit with Jason & Andrea Gingerich for a brief time on Thursday afternoon. I try to hook up with Jason every time I'm back in town, but when we saw them at Christmas, they weren't able to see Sophie. So, we decided to try to get both of our families together, which we were able to do. After visiting a bit, Jason, Asher & I went to see Transformers (which I highly recommend). Good times.-On Friday, we went to casa Peterson and visited Matt, Carrie, Brian, Carrie II, Corrie, Oliver, Dan & Linda (whew). The babies swam in the baby pool with the coolest mechanical fish, while the adults talked about the babies swimming in the baby pool with the mechanical fish (among other things). I always enjoy visiting with Matt, if for no reason other than the unpredictability of it. Love you brother!
-The highest highlight of the trip was watching Sophie interact with our families. It was such a joy to see her spend time with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-grandparents, great-aunts & uncles, first cousins once removed, second cousins, and all of the above-in laws. Considering the limited amount of time we have to spend with our families, it is such a relief to see her enjoying and bonding with them. Hopefully she can have much more time with them in the future!

Catching Up

It’s been a while since our last blog post, so there are a few things to catch up on. Many of them stem from…

1. My Mom and sister have been in town visiting since Thursday night. They left this morning. Between Nancy, Mom, Kelsey, Sophie, and Phoebo, I was severely overwhelmed by Erickson women. We had a great time hanging out with them, and Sophie got a lot of valuable Grandma time.

2. As we had people staying at the house who were simply dying to have alone time with the baby, Nancy and I were able to actually get out and go on a date Friday night. Turns out that wife of mine is a nice lady who I really enjoy hanging out with. I think I’ll keep her. Anyway, we decided to start our date by visiting the UK Arboretum. In almost 7 years of living here, we had not only never gone there, but never even thought about going there. We definitely won’t wait 7 more years. At over 100 acres and 2 miles of walking trails, this shrine to Kentucky’s native plant life is probably the most beautiful place in Lexington (no small feat given how beautiful of a city we live in). The evening provided a much needed break from the heat & humidity we had been experiencing of late, so it was the perfect occasion for a walk through the flowers and trees. I don’t know anything about flowers or plant-life in general, but I do know that they are pretty and that girls like them, which is a plus on date night. So, if you are in Lexington on a beautiful summer night and are looking for a free and different romantic activity, I highly recommend the Arboretum. (Note to UK Arboretum: Make the check out to “Sophie Erickson college fund.”) After the Arboretum, we hung out at Barnes & Noble for a while and then the Half-Price bookstore. We then enjoyed a late dinner and movie. Since we were spending an evening out away from our own baby, it only made sense to see a movie about somebody else’s, so we saw Knocked Up. My one sentence review: As funny as it is inappropriate, and it is plenty of both. All in all, it was a wonderful night.

3. The free babysitting service also allowed Nancy to get out and do some work on her dissertation. We have actually been hiring a babysitter a couple of afternoons a week to help facilitate the research & writing process, but any additional help in that department is always welcome.

4. Kelsey visited IU on the way down to see us and UK while she was here. It has long been our hope that she picks UK. As she is my sister and I love her, we would very much like to have her nearby. I’m not going to lie though- it’s mostly about the babysitting.

5. I just finished The Blind Side, by Michael Lewis, who also wrote Moneyball, which I discussed here. Ostensibly, this is a book about how the economics of football have changed to emphasize the importance of the left tackle position. It discusses the history of how football has become increasingly reliant on the pass (and on offense in general) and how this has lead to a reprioritization of certain positions. This is all interesting enough, but the real value in the book comes from the story of Ole Miss left tackle Michael Oher. In fact, most of the book is concerned with Oher’s background and how he came to be a near sure-fire first round NFL draft pick. Oher was essentially discovered at 15 years old as if he had been dropped onto Earth from another planet altogether. He had no education (no exaggeration), no possessions of any kind, no food, only the clothes he was wearing, apparently no personal history, and a 6’5” 300+ lb freakishly athletic body. He was taken in by a rich white family, put into private school, and was essentially not allowed to fail. This story sounded only somewhat interesting to me before I read the book, but it is really fascinating. This book is an intriguing look into modern inner-city life, modern upper-class life, class & racial struggles, and what it takes to make a star athlete these days.

6. We are leaving for vacation after work on Friday and are very excited. We will be heading up to Indiana to visit family and friends and generally crash for a week. The pre-vacation vacation highlights include: Nancy and I going to Chicago for the weekend alone; going to a Cubs game on Sunday (birthday present from the Daytons); disc-golf with Dan Weiss on Monday (let the trash talk begin: You’re going down Dan!); visiting with Jason & Andrea Gingerich and their children; seeing Matt Peterson who will be in town for a wedding; Sophie’s first fireworks; my cousin Jason Bilbrey’s wedding; a Dad Dayton cheeseburger; the Transformers movie; & repeatedly losing to my brother Mike in disc golf. This should be a good time.

7. Just in case this post led to the impression that we are all about ditching Sophie, here are a few pictures of the cutest baby in the world. We sure do like her…

The Ericksons

Sophie got to meet her Great Grandparents this Friday. She had met them before, but was only a baby then, so she didn't remember them. She is MUCH more aware of her surroundings now though...

Disc Golf

My brother Mike came down for the weekend to play in the Lexington Open disc golf tournament and brought his friend Nick Nowak. As I like to look at all of life as a chance to learn something, here is what we learned:
1. I am bad at disc golf, but have flashes of being OK.
2. There are a lot of very good players out there who take these events very seriously.
3. Mike learned about point 2 first hand when he was forced to play in the advanced division. Let's just say that we both have a lot of room for improvement.
4. Nick had a pretty good tournament and I think this event may have lit a fire for the sport inside of him. Go Nick! Win one for me!

In last year's Lexington Open, although I did not technically finish in last place, I was last among those who: 1. did not quit, & 2. were neither kids or women. So, my simple goal for this year was to finish in NOT last place among that group, which I accomplished, although by the very slimmest of margins. Sometimes when you set your goals low enough, you can actually accomplish them...

Keeneland

It was chilly, really chilly (note the empty seats next to us), but we braved the cold weather for a few races. Thanks for visiting Amy!

(Sophie and her horsie.)

Mom and Dad Dayton

Mom and Dad drove in from Granger on Friday and brought the snow with them. It was a winter wonderland in Lexington while they were here. Good thing Dad brought some more Borkholder wood with him so that Sophie could stay warm and cook some more marshmallows! It was so nice to have family in town and, we took advantage of it and went on a date. Old habits found us quickly--lunch, a trip to B & N, and a movie (Night at the Museum is really fun.) Apparently Sophie had a great time while we were out and talked Grandma and Grandpa's ears off.

the weekend

In Dan's words (Re: the Ice Bowl,) "It was cold and we did bad." (But they obviously had a good time.) The next tournament is in April.



Sophie sported a Bears t-shirt on Sunday (compliments of Grandpa Allen) long enough for Daddy to take a picture but the rest of the night she was rooting for the Colts.





A friend (Kelsey's boyfriend's Aunt, I think) gave us this cute handmade sweater and hat. Sophie doesn't really like to wear hats--hence the disconcerting look.



Flying...

Our Year in Review

For those of you with nothing better to do...
January
January is typically Dan’s busiest month at work (so many companies, so many year ends…) and Nancy was trying to get her teeth into her final semester of classwork as a PhD student. Mostly, January in Kentucky is cold (but not too cold) and drab. There is a reasonable chance you don’t see the sun for the entire month. Good times.

In church news, after opening our new facility on Christmas Eve, we began a Saturday evening celebration in January. Nancy and I had been among the team to “plant” the early service several years earlier, so we thought it would be fun to do the same for the Saturday service. Although it started out a bit slow, we have really come to enjoy going to church on Saturday nights!

February
In the first weekend of the month, Nancy’s parents came to visit, and a wonderful time was had by all. Later in the month, there was Valentine’s Day, and in what I can only imagine is a coincidence, Nancy got pregnant.

March
On the first Saturday in March, Nancy & I were fortunate enough to have tickets to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. They played a mixed (read: somewhat random) selection, but it was well performed and we enjoyed getting a little culture for a change.

As a follow up to the February entry, March was the month that we received the wonderful news that Nancy was pregnant. Although we had been trying for a while, I was nonetheless surprised to hear the news on that Sunday morning. The rest of the week can only be described as “blurry.”

April
For the first weekend of Spring Break, Dan’s Mom and sister Kelsey came down to visit. The highlight was undoubtedly Mom’s first trip to the disc golf course. For several years now she had heard Dan & Mike talk about their new-found love for the game and she wanted to see what it was all about. She had a reasonably successful first outing, and she is now a (somewhat) regular playing partner with Mike.

On April 19 Nancy had her first doctor’s appointment with her OB/GYN since we found out she was pregnant. Not only did Doctor Slone confirm the pregnancy, but we were surprised that we also received an ultrasound at this early stage. At best, the baby could be described as some sort of strange looking peanut. The word that seemed to most appropriately describe her appearance at the early state, however, was “blob.” Thus was born Sophie’s first nickname. So well did this appellative stick, that she was referred to as “The Blob” until quite literally the day she was born.

On April 22 & 23 the Mikes (Erickson & Grove) came down to Kentucky. We played in a Supertour Disc Golf tournament, which may have been a bit much to bite off for our first tournament. Of course, we played in the lowest division available, which helped to minimize the embarrassment. Mike Erickson actually finished high enough to get prizes (in this case, discs and disc paraphernalia). Mike Grove finished somewhat in the bottom half of the middle. Dan, however, had the very prestigious honor of finishing last among the adult players who actually finished the tournament. Apparently I am only better than kids and quitters. Sheesh.

May
The big news in the beginning of May was Derby weekend. Through some business friends, Dan was lucky enough to be able to buy a box for the Derby. So, splitting the box with Jan & Drew Deener, we decided to go for it. We knew that Nancy’s sister Amy had for years longed for a chance to go to the Derby, as horses have been a passion of hers since she was a little girl. It was our pleasure to be able to invite her along, and an even greater pleasure to see the look in her eyes at the event itself. In advance of the Derby, Dan was also invited to spend the day with work friends at the Kentucky Oaks on Friday. Between the two days, that was a once in a lifetime type opportunity that I will never forget (although I certainly hope that it won’t be once in a lifetime!).

To celebrate Nancy finishing her PhD coursework, we spent a weekend at the Tussey’s lakehouse in Danville. We love to sneak away there for the occasional weekend and can’t even begin to thank Lyne & Bob enough for letting us use it. The best part of the trip is always sitting in their enormous screened in porch at night. It is a little cool at the lake at night, and it invariably rains at least one night while we are there. As we sit on the porch, all we hear is the mooing of unseen cows echoing off of the limestone cliffs that make up the shoreline of Herrington Lake. As the cows fall silent, we get the first smell of the advancing storm. Nancy & I sit close together on the covered couch in the eclectic collection of patio furniture and soak up every minute of the storm. In these moments, time has no meaning. A weekend at the cottage is like a week anywhere else.

June
On June 3rd, Dan celebrated his first annual 29th birthday. Nancy claims that Dan ate all of the birthday chocolate birthday pie, but I specifically remember her getting at least one piece. In any case, you are all invited to Dan’s second annual 29th birthday party next year. I think with some positive word of mouth, we could really turn this thing into a real event.

Later in the month, we made a brief trip to Indiana and Michigan. In a few short days, we witnessed the wedding of Nancy’s cousin Steven to his lovely bride Yvonne, visited South Haven (where we honeymooned so long ago), hung out at the beach, played disc with Mike & Mom, and celebrated Dan’s step-brother Nick’s high school graduation.
At the end of the month, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. As we fancy ourselves both traditional and modern we split the difference and got each other both iron and wood gifts. I was hoping this would mean a complete set of golf clubs for me, but it was apparently not meant to be.

July
We spent the first 5 days of July camping with Nancy’s family at Turkey Run. As far as I can recall, Dan won the annual fishing contest. Strange that there are no pictures of me with any fish, but I’m sure I won… We also celebrated Nancy’s cousin Faith’s half birthday, celebrated Nancy’s 28th birthday, reintroduced Nancy’s family to disc golf (Dad had to walk extra far that day), played croquet, and most certainly did not play any Jarts. That would be illegal.

The highlight of the month was the ultrasound on the 11th. Not only did the Blob resemble a human person, but we received the wonderful news that she would be a she. Although we briefly toyed with “Blobette,” we decided that Blob was a gender indeterminate name and would continue to work just fine.

Late in the month, Dan spent most of his time at the annual Fifth Third Tennis tournament. This is a Challenger level pro event that Lexington is fortunate enough to have in town. As the presenting sponsor for the doubles, Dan presented the trophies and tried not to act like a goofy sponsor type and talk peoples’ ears off. Dan’s Mom, Allen, & Kelsey were in town during part of the event and got their first taste of pro tennis.

August
On August 9, always a surreal day for me, we had our next ultrasound, which included the amazing 4-D ultrasound. This was the best 45 minutes of television I have ever seen. That weekend, we saw an opportunity to sneak away, and made another short lakehouse trip. Well worth doing while Nancy still could!

In the middle of August the Cincinnati Masters Series tennis tournament takes place. Aside from the Grand Slams, the Masters Series are the biggest, richest, and most prestigious tournaments in professional tennis. Every player in the top 50 in the world is required to play them. Although Dan has spent at least one day at this tournament for many years now, we began a new tradition in 2005. Dan typically takes a busload of members from the Tennis Club up to the tournament. Nancy will drive up later in the day, and after seeing the members off, Dan will join her for an evening in Cincinnati. We’ll then spend the next day at the tournament together. It’s a good time with tons of amazing tennis.

September
We kicked off the month with our final vacation as a childless couple, and chose Chicago, an old stomping ground of ours. Nancy made her second trip to Wrigley Field, although it was her first actual Cub’s game. The matchup was a classic- the Cub’s &Pirates were the worst and second to worst teams in the league. Still, a night game at Wrigley field is better than a night doing anything else.

I’ve always said that Nancy is a dork. As she is apparently a career student, this always seemed a defensible position, and as I work in sports and played sports, I must then be a jock. This trip proved, however, that we are both dorks, as we both spent and enjoyed virtually every minute of it trying to learn and soak in as much as we can. We spent one entire day at the Field Museum (very highly recommended), another day at the Adler Planetarium (incredible), and a day at the Brookfield Zoo. Of course, we also made some time for Chicago’s fine dining establishments, as well as the not so fine dining at Navy Pier, and a small chocolate shop very near our hotel in the heart of the Magnificent Mile.

On the back end of the trip, we spent several days in Indiana. Nancy was showered with baby gifts from our families, and I spent the day tailgating and watching Notre Dame’s only truly impressive outing of the season, as they whooped up on Penn State.

Two weeks later we spent a Saturday being educated on the ins and outs of childbirth. For those of you who have not spent 8 hours on a beautiful Saturday in September learning about effacing, dilating, & pushing, rest assured that it is every bit as boring as it sounds.

October
By the time most women are 8 months pregnant, they typically begin to slow down a bit. Nancy however, had it in her mind that this would be the ideal time to sit through 3 eight hour long comprehensive exams (Hebrew/Biblical Criticism, Akkadian, & History/Archaeology). Most students who finish their coursework in May, as Nancy did, wait until at least March of the following year to take their exams (and most do not pass all 3 even then). With the pregnancy, however, she wanted to try to squeeze them in before the baby came. I suppose that if someone continues to do amazing things one should no longer be amazed that they do, but we were nonetheless amazed when her results came back. She received a High Pass grade (a significant achievement) and is now officially ABD (All But Dissertation).

After passing her dork tests, Nancy was showered with gifts from friends at church and we had a couples shower with friends from the Tennis Club. Many thanks to Amber & Jan organizing the showers and also to everyone who came or sent gifts. Our baby is officially spoiled thanks to you all!

November
Finally, the month we had been waiting for all year arrived. This was to be the month when the Blob turned into a real person. Sure enough, we found ourselves heading off to the maternity ward in the middle of the month, but NOT to have the baby! Nancy was involved in a head-on collision just two weeks before the baby’s due date. Of course, the doctors wanted her to come in to monitor the baby, and they ended up keeping us in the maternity ward overnight. Although it was a disconcerting day, it did give us sort of a “dry run” at the hospital, which gave us a comfort level for when the real deal actually arrived.

And arrived it did. After a follow up appointment, Dr. Slone determined that the Blob was ready to make her grand entrance to the world. Nancy was quite simply amazing through the entire birthing process, which ended up as a Caesarian Section delivery. Almost a Thanksgiving baby, Sophie Lyne Erickson was born November 22 at 11:45 pm. By 11:46 pm she had me wrapped around her little finger. A belated apology to all of those whom I called at 12:30 am on Thanksgiving morning, but there is some news that one can simply not keep inside.

As it was Thanksgiving, Nancy’s parents were coming into town that night anyway to spend the holiday weekend with us. Having them there the very next morning to see us and (let’s be honest here) Sophie was wonderful. As joyful as the birth of a child is, I couldn’t imagine going through that experience without family close by. We love Kentucky, but we miss sharing our lives with our families, so having them there to see us in the hospital on Thanksgiving morning was so special for both Nancy & me.

The Dayton’s left on Sunday morning and passed Dan’s Mom, who was making her way down to Kentucky the same day. Not only was she a wonderful help, but she glowed with an unrestrained excitement that helped keep our energy up in those early days.

December
Nancy’s Mom was back to help out for the first few days of December. Not only did she keep us well fed while she was there, it will take us the rest of the month to go through all of the food she prepared for us and froze.

Both of our Mom’s were such a big help in those early days. Most importantly, they freed up Dan to get back to work and let Nancy have no responsibility other than learning to be a Mommy. Maybe it’s because Sophie was born at Thanksgiving, but we can’t stop being thankful for her and for all the help and support we’ve received from family and friends. We love you!

If you’ve made it this far (and if you have, you have too much free time), thank you for reading about our adventurous year. It’s been easy to see God working in our lives, both in the previous years and in this one. I know we will enjoy, and hope you do as well, celebrating the birth of our savior this Christmas. For the first time, it will mean something even more special to us.

Turkey Run SP

Buddy "saves" Mom in the lake

19 weeks

Croquet

On the boat