Jack's First Year

It has been WAY too long since I last put words to web. There has been a lot going on and I guess it's been a little difficult for me to find the time to sit down and reflect on all of it. So, here's what's a brief overview of the current life and times of Robert "Flash" Gordon.

First off, married life is wonderful and family life makes it even better. Steph, Jack, and I went to the Georgia Aquarium for Valentine's Day/Jack's birthday. I hate to say it, because I was really looking forward to the trip and everything, but the Georgia Aquarium is a bit disappointing. For one thing, it has more of a flashy mall mixed with a night club feel than that of an aquarium. Also, the design is horrible. The way it's set up, you come into a main lobby area and then the exhibits all shoot off from there. So, it doesn't sound like a big deal, but it leads to bottlenecking at the entrances and exits of each exhibit, giving a very chlostraphobic feel. Also, most of the exhibits were the same as the exhibits inside the Tennessee Aquarium, so it wasn't like we were seeing anything really new. The one saving grace, though, was the beluga whales. They were gorgeous. Jack seemed to really enjoy them.

In case you didn't pick it up from the previous paragraph, Jack had his 1 year birthday. His official birthday was last Monday but he had his family birthday party that Saturday which he shared with his cousin, Allie. The theme was 1st Birthday/Tinkerbell, so some of the pictures might be misleading. We did not have a Tinkerbell party for Jack. Steph is very gender neutral, but I think she could even agree that a Tinkerbell-themed party for a 1st birthday would be going a little too far. He had his first encounter with real sweets, a chocolate cake. The sugar rush lasted three days. Ever since then, he has been talking up a storm - I mean, it's gibberish, but you can tell he wants to get some kind of message across. In fact, he gets very frustrated because he wants to be understood, even though we are obviously not speaking the same language. I fear he has my temper. But the most exciting/frightening new discovery is that he has started walking. He's clumsily making his way around the house and causing many a skipped heart beat on the tile and hardwood floors. He kills me because he refusess to walk unless he has everyon's undivided attention. Then, once he walks to his destination, he plops on his rear and begins clapping, which is a cue for everyone else to start clapping. Anyway, for part of his birthday present, Steph and I both made little videos chronicling Jack's first year. Below is the video I made. There are some things I would have liked to have done differently, but I'm still very proud of how it turned out.