Luke's Dinner

Luke enjoys his mealtimes and still manages to make it an extremely messy affair on occasion.  Spaghetti night was no exception.  He's gotten a lot better with a spoon and fork, but sometimes this is still the result...

Leo

It's been a while since I've had a Leo update on here, so this post is mostly an excuse to put up a few pictures of the little guy.  He's doing great!  He's starting to do better on his naps and we've been able to get him down for bed at night earlier to have some free time to ourselves.  And Luke is being such a good big brother, always wanting to give Leo kisses!

The first picture is of Leo and his Grandma.  As you can see from all 3 pictures, the chubby cheeks are coming along quite well!

That's some serious snow...

In the last 18 hours or so, we've basically been hit with about 2 feet of snow!  This is by far the biggest storm we've had here in Charlottesville in the 2.5 years we've been here.  And the snow is still falling!  So we haven't done much of anything today, but Luke did get out to play in the snow a bit.  In some places, the snow was as high as his chest! 

   

Luke has style

So one afternoon a few weeks ago, Courtney went in to get Luke out of his crib after a nap... and this is what she found.... 

Yeah... pants off on the floor and one arm out of his shirt... lookin' good, Luke.

Done!

Phew!  Done with finals!  I don't know who is more relieved between Courtney and I... I'm of course happy to not have to study all day, but Courtney seems to get even more excited than me when exams are over.  In any event, it's now time to catch up on some things on the blog...

Finals!

We had a great Thanksgiving with my parents and sister in town!  I'll update the blog later, but for now... the title of this post says it all...

It's that time of year...

It's getting to be that time of year when I have to start picking up the studying as finals are approaching (less than 2 weeks!).  Fortunately, this third year hasn't been as intense.  My parents are coming this week for Thanksgiving, so that should be fun!  I'm sure Luke and Leo will enjoy having their grandparents in town! 

Good Pals

Luke just loves Leo! He's always saying Leo's name and saying "hi" to Leo and wanting to give him kisses, even though Leo doesn't say much in return. He's been such a good big brother so far!

A Week in the Life of Leo

Leo is one week old today! It's been a great week, though it'll take some getting used to saying that we're now a family of 4! Here are some pictures from Leo's first week:

Batman!

Luke was Batman for Halloween yesterday. I must say he looked pretty cute. Courtney did a great job on his costume. We took him to the Downtown Mall for some trick-or-treating around the stores (this was also Leo's first outing!). Later last night, we took him around our apartment complex for some more trick-or-treating. My sister, Kari, came to stay with us for the weekend, and she took care of Leo while we were out.

Tomorrow, I'll try to get some more pics up of little Leo. He's doing great!

He's here!

Leo Stratton Riddles, born October 26, 2009 (8 days early), 8 lbs. 2 oz.

Courtney and Leo are both doing great! More details to follow... :)

Plans for the Future

A brief conversation that Luke and I had this evening...

Me: Hey Luke, are you going to go to Duke or to BYU?

Luke: Cougar!

Well, I guess we all know where he stands right now! And we'd be happy with either choice.

In all fairness to Duke, though, he finds it much easier to say Cougar than Blue Devil right now. In fact, whether I'm wearing a Duke shirt or a BYU shirt, he always points to the mascot and says "Cougar." Good times.

Getting Ready for Bed

Just a couple quick pictures of Luke and Mommy right before bedtime...

Carter Mountain

This morning, we went to the Carter Mountain Apple Orchard over by Monticello, which is about 15 minutes from where we live. We had a great time picking apples, though Luke got right down to business. We helped him pick an apple, which he grabbed and then immediately began to eat. It must have been a good apple, because he held on to it and munched at it for quite a while... until it was completely gone. And when I say completely gone, I mean it; he ate the core and everything! We also went on a hay ride and got some tasty apple donuts. Being able to do things like this is one of the many great things about living here in Charlottesville.

U2!

Last Thursday, Courtney and I went to the U2 concert here in Charlottesville at UVA's football stadium. It was awesome! Neither of us had really been to a concert before, so it was quite the introduction. We enjoyed the music, the atmosphere, and overall, just had a great time. Unfortunately, though, we somehow managed to forget our camera. This is a friend's picture from a different vantage point, but you get the idea.

In other news, it's Fall Break now, meaning I get a few days off of school. Luke has had a bad cold the last few days, but I think he's starting to get over it now.

The Cable TV Saga

About 3 weeks ago, we decided that we were going to upgrade our cable. Before, we were just getting the network channels on a basic cable plan. Some of the higher channels came through, but they were fuzzy. One of these fuzzy channels in question was ESPN (aka the Duke Basketball Channel during college basketball season). Last year, though the picture wasn't that great, it was good enough to tolerate watching. But when we came back from summer break, the picture was worse than before, seriously jeopardizing our Duke basketball viewing enjoyment! Comcast had a decent 6 month deal for a digital cable upgrade, so we decided to go with it. Then we found out DVR would only be another $6.95 a month... long story short we are now happily enjoying our DVR and getting a clear picture beyond just the network stations.

It has been a bit of a long story, though... the cable guy came by on September 8 and got us upgraded to digital cable, but he said that they were all out of DVR boxes. He said he'd schedule us in for an appointment two weeks later to install a DVR box. That was fine; besides our short stint in Cleveland this past summer, we've never had DVR anyway, so another two weeks wouldn't hurt. Fast forward two week later... we wait around at home "between 2-5pm" and no one ever shows up or calls. So that evening I call Comcast to find out what happened. The guy on the other end of the line wasn't very helpful, and to be honest, was bordering on being rude. He basically said, "we're still out of the DVR boxes... I don't know when we'll get any... if you don't hear from us in another two weeks or so, give us a call again..." Predictably, I wasn't too happy, particularly since no one bothered to tell us they weren't going to be showing up "between 2-5pm" that day. But if the story ended here, I would've gotten over it and accepted the fact that while the guy on the phone wasn't very "friendly" about it, if they didn't have any DVR boxes, there was nothing to be done.

Of course, the story doesn't end there. After I got off the phone, I decided to get on the Comcast website and try again to see what the deal was by using their "live chat" feature. It was like a total 180 from the phone experience. The guy on the chat was not only very personable and helpful, he gave us a $20 credit on our bill since no one showed up and set up an appointment for 2 days later for someone to come install our DVR box. That was a pleasant surprise. I was still a bit skeptical, since the guy on the phone flatly said they didn't have any DVR boxes, but sure enough, 2 days later, a technician showed up right at 2pm, installed our DVR box, and the rest is history!

I guess this became a pretty long post about something quite mundane, but it was just a really interesting experience to have been treated so differently by Comcast, with the only difference being the person I interacted with. Anyway, so all is well now. :)

Playin' in the Rain

Courtney had some activities this afternoon and evening at church, leaving us boys at home. Luke and I had a good time, though it was a bit of a challenge considering it was pouring down rain the whole time and we didn't have a car. Luke insisted on wanting to go outside, though, so we got our rain gear on and headed out. Luke really wanted to be out in the rain, but only on the condition that I hold him. So we took a lap around the apartment complex in the rain, as he held out his hand to catch the rain... it was quality father/son time. :)

Luke is a cool dude

Luke loves putting on our sunglasses, and he was pretty happy when he found this pair of baby sunglasses that one of his friends accidentally left at our apartment.

As a segue to talking about sports, we took this picture during the BYU-Tulane game today. It was supposed to be an easy game for BYU, and so it's good that it turned out to be easy, with a solid 54-3 win. Duke also got a win today against Army, so it was a great day of football! UVA lost, unfortunately, but they lost to TCU, one of the strongest teams BYU has left on its schedule, so it'll make a BYU win that much more impressive if TCU is also ranked high when they play. Anyway...

It's official...

...we're going to Cleveland! I received an offer to return full-time to Jones Day in Cleveland a few weeks ago, and this past week we got the official offer letter in the mail. I called this morning to formally accept. Especially in this economic climate, we feel really happy to have this opportunity and to know where we'll be after I graduate from law school next May. As hard as it is to believe, one day I'll actually be done with school!

(And I realize this is yet another post without Luke pictures... I hope you don't mind too much.) ;)

BYU 14 Oklahoma 13

Woohoo! Ok, this blog will get back to its regularly scheduled programming soon, but for now, we pause in celebration of BYU's big victory against Oklahoma. Go Cougars!

Football!

College football season is upon us. Finally. We're pretty big sports fans around here, particularly when it comes to college football and of course, college basketball. If anyone was to doubt how big of a Duke fan I am, the fact that I'm pumped about Duke football should say it all. David Cutcliffe is turning that program around, but it'll still take some time. I'm thinking a record of 5-7 is possible and maybe we'll go bowling in the next 2-3 years. And of course, there's Courtney's alma mater, BYU... they're playing Oklahoma tomorrow night at the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium on ESPN. I'm hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. We'll see!

The Last First Day of School

This past Wednesday was my last first day of school. The student life has been good, and we'll make the most out of this coming year, but we're also looking forward to getting out into the "real world." It'll certainly be an eventful year, as we await the arrival of Luke's little brother.

Luke likes bath time

The picture says it all...

Luke the Musician

Lately, Luke has really been into wanting to climb up on the piano bench so he can "play" the piano.

Gettysburg

This past week was quite a momentous one. It was the first time Courtney and I left Luke with someone else overnight. Of course, I've been away from him when I had job interviews, etc., but this was the first time that Courtney has ever done this. We drove up to Altoona on Tuesday and then left Luke there with Courtney's parents on Wednesday and Thursday while we took a trip to Gettysburg. We had a great time, and we were happy to hear that Luke had a great time, too! So it was a win-win situation for everyone.

Gettysburg was quite the experience. Spending time there really gets you thinking about the sacrifices that so many made so this country could be united and strong as it is today. We got there after lunch on Wednesday and spent the afternoon at the new visitor center and museum, which included a film and a cyclorama, apparently the largest painting in America. On Thursday, we toured the battlefield park itself in our car. It was a 24 mile long route with periodic stops where we got out and could learn about what happened at that particular spot. We also went on two park ranger-guided talks, including one which was probably our favorite part of the trip. A ranger led a tour and talked about Pickett's Charge, showing us all the intricacies of what happened. We also saw where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address.

But anyway, we're now back in C'ville getting settled in before school starts up again in a week and a half. It's been a good summer.

...And since the main attraction of this family blog is Luke, here are a couple recent pictures of him. The first is with his cousins, and the second shows him in his daddy's hat (he loves putting on this hat).

"The boys..."

...That's what we'll be calling our kids when the second one comes along, because we just found out yesterday that Luke is going to have a little brother! Since we were gone all summer, we put off having the detailed ultrasound until now, so there's actually less than 3 months to go. And the baby is measuring about 9 days ahead of his due date (Nov. 3), so who knows. After Luke came 4 weeks early, we don't know what to expect!

Heading Back Home

Our (very short) time in Cleveland has come to an end. Courtney and Luke are leaving tomorrow to spend a couple days in Altoona before coming home. I'll be leaving in the rental car Tuesday morning for C'ville. It's been a fun summer and things went well with my internships, but we're ready to get home.

Yesterday, we went to the "Farm Park." It's basically a mini-zoo with a bunch of farm animals (sheep, goats, cows, pigs, chickens, etc.) all over the place. All in all, Luke liked it, though he was sometimes a bit wary of getting too close to the loud sheep.


Here is Luke with "Tonya" the turkey. They became pretty good friends:

And then here's a totally random picture of Luke enjoying a particularly messy dinner: