The Fashion Four

At lunch today we realized all members of Scott's fashion SWAT team were present, and he was wearing one of the ensembles they put together for him. Hilarious.

Memorial Day Mountain/ Metzl Trip

Spent Memorial Day weekend in W. Jefferson (Ashe County) with the Metzl family. Had a ton of fun, including attending a volunteer firefighter BBQ fundraiser in Lansing where we took these pictures with Josh. Memorable moments: the smell of brimstone when we turned on the water the first time, carpenter ants swarming on the inside walls, and beating the broken thermostat. Other (more positive) moments included Josh with the water house Monday, the clogger-man in white shiny shoes Saturday, and those awesome steaks Saturday night.

Emily is starting to show - a lot!

It was a little disappointing for the first few months that Emily didn't look like she was pregnant. Then sometime in early May she started looking, well, something, but it wasn't quite pregnant. We're pretty sure Zipper was stretching (constantly) sideways in Emily's belly. Emily looked very cute, but it was hardly a no-brainer that she was pregnant. Last week Zipper started laying a little more comfortably I guess, because Emily really popped - it's maternity clothes only from here on.

The first pictures was May 1, 2007 (week 15) - showing a little, but disturbingly ambiguous.

















This is the week of May 15, 2007 (baby week 18). Again, showing a little, but mostly poking out on the sides and not in the front. Poor Emily - she thinks people who don't know she's pregnant just think she's putting on weight.
















The week of May 30, 2007 (baby week 20). Finally, unmistakeably pregnant and showing!

It's a girl!

We found out May 15 that Baby Fink is a girl! The reality of becoming parents really started to sink in with the pictures of the ultrasound. Wow - she was A-C-T-I-V-E! The ultrasound showed that she was doing cartwheels in the womb, and by a quirk of strange etymological connections we decided to nickname her "Zipper" until we settle on a more permanent name.

One fun tool that we've been playing with RE: finding a name is The Baby Name Wizard's Name Voyager. It graphically shows the popularity of names each year for the past 100 years or so.

I got a new job, Christmas was great, Emily got a new job, David & Erin were married, We're having a baby, and Grandpap Gathagan passed away

I'm newly motivated to try to share info and pictures through this blog so a quick update:

1. I'm now working at Merrifield Partners, still doing commercial real estate development and also leasing (office, industrial, a little retail) and property management;
2. Thanksgiving and Christmas were really great with very little traveling;
3. Emily got a new job in Community Development at the Charlotte YMCA;
4. David and Erin got married - really sweet, and fun, wedding;
5. We're having a baby! Found out the morning of David and Erin's wedding, but kept it secret for a couple of weeks;
6. My mother's father passed away in April and I grieved a lot more than I expected, but enjoyed seeing all the family and old friends in Hollentown (a small village in Reade Township, Pennsylvania).

Hiking

Went hiking with John and Michael at Mount Rogers NF and had a blast.

One of the fun discoveries was the poo station. Don't forget the duff!















We also stumbled across some wild ponies...














...ate lunch at Scales...














...found a great place to camp at Rhododendron Gap...















...and had some awesome views.