We're Slackers

Okay, we haven't updated our blog in about two years. We're slackers, alright? Actually, we think that Nate Harper is so good looking that everyone would want to log on and see him first. Plans are in the mix to put his profile up on our banner. I am completely kidding.

The real story is that we are currently compiling pictures from the Thanksgiving season, which are on several different cameras. In the meantime, here is a picture of Jon & Karen Mitchell with Mary Kate. Jon and I were friends at Toccoa Falls College. He and his wife Karen stopped by to visit us on their way back to Birmingham on the Sunday following Thanksgiving. Shots of Jon's sister Rachel and her awesome husband Nathan are forthcoming.

MK Meets Uncle Nate

Mary Kate got to meet another of our friends from college on Wednesday night. Nate Harper, one of my roommates for two years of college, stopped by after a shopping trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond (I didn't ask why he chose that store...)



There are many things we know about Nate: He's a hit with the ladies. He has a heart for serving others. He knows much about Islam and the Middle East. He is a Steelers fan, having grown up in the shadow of Three Rivers Stadium. He is the best ultimate frisbee player to come out of Toccoa Falls College. He lived in Mexico for a while. But as they say, you learn something new everyday, and we learned this: Nate is VERY good with babies. He held MK for almost an hour, carrying her around the house like he had done it for years. While doing so, he shared a story from the time he lived in the slums of inner-city Philadelphia doing mission work among the urban poor. He told of caring for a newborn baby whose mother was a crack addict, and how he fed, bathed, and cared for the baby for a few months. He tells this story, I see how good he is with my daughter, and I'm thinking, "This is the guy who ran across the TFC campus naked to win a bet?" We had a great time of fellowship as always, and after getting his cigar, Nate headed back to Toccoa and the wonderful world of social work (his current ministry). I'm glad he finally got to see MK.

Carol Byars Brinson, Rest in Peace

Last Saturday, the Bojo's lost a dear family friend to cancer. Carol and my mother met in junior high, and were best friends for 38 years - through high school, college, grad school, teaching the same high school subjects, church, my sister being born on Carol's birthday, living in the same neighborhood, giving wedding and baby showers for Jenny and my sister, the works. Carol lost her nearly one year battle with cancer this past Saturday around 8:00pm at the age of 50. Aunt Carol leaves behind her husband of 24 years, Chester - a great man of God who needs our prayers desperately in this time. At the graveside, Chester's brother Allen told me that he planned to get Chester out on their hogs for a week-long bike trip. I hope that gives him some good time to reflect and pray. The whole thing seems surreal...like the next time Jenny and I go to church with my parents at Fellowship Baptist Church, we will grab lunch afterwards with Carol & Chester at Gondolier's just like always. But alas, 'tis nevermore to be. Life sucks sometimes.

On a positive note, MK got to meet some of her family she hadn't met before and see some she already knew. Here's MK with her cousin Owen from Arizona:



Click here for more crazy stories about the antics of Owen and the rest of the Starr family.

Here she is with my maternal grandmother, Charlotte Britt:



And my maternal grandfather, John Britt. This rounds out the great-grandparent tour: MK has now met all six out of her six living g-gparents.



And, she met her Aunt Jennifer for the first time. See more of Jennifer's life, kids, and creativy here.



Next, my Uncle Tom:



My cousin Ann Marie also came over, but refused to hold MK. "I'm dirty from basketball practice" she said. I gave her hell for it, since that's what Bojo cousins do to each other.



MK got to spend lots of time with her Pops, who this time wasn't so scared of breaking her:



And her Nana, too. MK and Owen both lit up her life after losing such a great friend:



Here's a shot of me, Jenny & Owen. This picture is proof that the deer-in-headlights look runs in the Bojo family:



Here is one of those pic's we will hang onto forever: Owen, Grandma Bojo (Pops' mother), MK, and my cousin Rebekah:



One last shot of Aunt Jennifer, MK, & Owen:

Hot Stuff for Halloween

For Mary Kate's first Halloween, we dressed her up as...(drumroll)...a chili pepper. No, I'm not kidding.

Great Grandparents are....Still Great

Yesterday MK met her fourth great-grandparent - My paternal grandmother, Catherine Bojo. I suppose now is the time to mention that her mother, Katherine Sokol, is where we got MK's middle name.



Grandma came to visit Jenny during the day, and has that mystical power over babies that all great-grandmothers seem to have: Getting her to sleep in no time. Jenny tells me she offered Grandma the spare bedroom. Also on the trip was my Aunt Joan and little Cousin Rebekah:



It was great for them to come. MK has tons of family, and we can't wait for her to meet all of them in time. Here's a shot of Jenny and the baby, put here for no other reason than it is good for my heart to look up from whatever I am reading to see this:



One last shot of our little bundle, showing the world her "getting ready to wail" face:

Meet the Firm

I realized earlier today that in all the hustle and bustle surrounding MK, I haven't taken the opportunity to introduce everyone to the hardworking paralegals and staff of our fine law firm. I feel privileged to work with each one of them. Since we have four offices, not everyone was in today, so we will begin with four of our best.

This is Amonya, one of our secretaries:



Noted for her fashion sense and kindly demeanor, we never hesitate to put our clients into her hands, and they are always well treated. Except when they misbehave, whereupon she commences a serious beat-down.

Next, we meet one of our top paralegals, Randy:



A faithful husband, loving father, and pillar of his church, we send him after clients who don't pay us (his butcher knife is not pictured).

Next: Nadine, another paralegal:



In her own description, she's an ol' country girl from Alabama. Yes, I think stereotypes are a horrible thing. Clients feel right at home with her on the phone. Her hat gets compliments all the time, believe me.

Lastly, Carmen, our receptionist:



Bilingual, extremely friendly, and a big smile is what greets folks when they come in the door to Fuller & McKay. People love the ribbon in the braids, too.

As you can imagine, when we're not eating, we stay in stitches here. Oh, and we practice a little bit of law every now and again too...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

MK's First Houseguests

This weekend, Jenny and I had some friends from college visit - Richard & Leslie Mitchell, along with their 5-month old, Caleb. When we told MK they were coming, she was speechless:



Here is Leslie holding MK, and Richard with Caleb:



Caleb turned out to be a big fan of the camera:



And already, I need to keep an eye on him when he gets around my daughter (this picture doesn't show me in the background cleaning my shotgun):



MK took to Richard very well:



And Leslie:



Meanwhile, Aggie made a new friend in Caleb. Her vision for her life is to get everyone on earth to love her, and she is very effective at accomplishing this, one person at a time:



When the Mitchell's headed for the Ham on Sunday afternoon, MK's reaction was one of disappointment that they left, one of seeming exhaustion.

Rosa Parks, Rest in Peace

Yesterday, we lost an American Hero. Considered by some to be the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks gained notoriety when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955. This action spurred the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was organized under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr..

This is the picture of her getting booked after her arrest for refusing to give up her seat:



I have always admired Parks, who suffered unquestionable injustice and refused to acquiesce, despite her socially unwelcome position as a black woman in the 1950's south. Her memory and example will live on, especially in my house, as I will one day tell my daughter the story of the brave little seamstress from Tuskegee, Alabama who changed the course and history of the civilization in which she lived with her courageous action.

Tummy Time III: The Daddy

Another day, another tummy session. It's like clockwork now. We're praying for the day when we can lay her on her stomach to sleep at night. Since Aggie has gotten into the game, I thought I would join her too:





How cool is it to spend time with you daughter like this? Nose to nose, I and she, she and I...then Mommy shows up with a camera. I sure am glad she did...

Great Grandparents are....Great

Yesterday Mary Kate met her third great-grandparent. Since we're into family history and heritage and all that stuff, we were thrilled:





This is Milly Gentry, Jenny's grandmother, who lives in Warner Robins GA and was an Air Force wife for over 30 years. We enjoy every chance we get to spend time with her, and our only regret is that Grandpa couldn't be here to see the baby. He passed away Oct 2, 2004 and is sorely missed. Rest assured, MK will hear ALL about him - how her Daddy misses spending time with him, drinking beer and watching old cowboy movies, discussing foreign policy and American military history.

Besides Grandma Gentry, MK still has five living G-GParents, including Jenny's Dad's parents, Walter & Mardell Hosch. MK met them in the hospital:





Since I have three living grandparents, there will be more photos to come. Like Jenny's Grandpa, I wish my grandfather could have lived to see MK. Losing him was like losing a championship game that goes back and forth (think Notre Dame/USC this year, and you're ND)...you know it's possible, but it doesn't sink and hit you in the gut in until the buzzer sounds and you're behind. Life sucks for a while, then you get to the point where you become thankful and appreciative that you were able to play the game in the first place, and try to set into stone those lessons that learned from the season and move forward a better man. For me and Jenny, both of our grandfathers gave that to us, and we will always be thankful for it. We will bore MK to death with the stories...

Come Thou Fount of Mary Katherine

For the past few days, our sweet little girl has entered the spit-up phase, and let me just tell you, the kid has pretty good range. Two nights ago, she nailed my forearm from a good 8 inches away! I know this is part of what babies do, but I still can't get over the satisfied look she has on her face after she does it.

Also, she might be in her 3-week growth spurt (I say might, because how should we know? We're first timers!), which might explain her newfound desire to stay awake between the hours of 9pm and midnight. I stay up with her for part of that time b/c I don't get to see her during the day. It's great time, when she's not crying...

Shadow Boxing

Here is a picture of a shadowbox Jenny and her Mother made last week:



Items in the box include (from top to bottom): The pink label that was on MK's bassinette in the hospital nursery, MK's little hospital bracelet-thingy, one of the skully's she wore in the hospital (Daddy's little girl!), the pink bow on the skully came from the pink bow on our front door, her first formal picture (taken in the hospital), and a dried rose given to Jenny while in the hospital.

GREAT job, and great to remember those precious first days of her life. Or, her "little life", as I've learned that it's alot cuter to add "little" to anything related to the baby, e.g., instead of "Honey, look at the baby sleep", it's "Honey, look at the LITTLE baby sleep in her LITTLE bouncy seat, with her LITTLE blanket," etc., though we have both found that when your heart melts, the "L" phoneme becomes a "W", i.e. "wittle feet" (NOT the wittle like with wood, that's "whittle", and in any event no sharp objects can come near the baby), and the above thought becomes "Wook at the Wittle baby sWeep". Perhaps a later post will include detailed instructions on adding "ie" or "y" to the end of anything regarding MK, such as her "leggy" or, from an earlier post, "jammy's" (which is a tough one, because "jammys" includes dropping the prefix "pa"). Sometimes I've found it is proper linguistically to add an "s" before the "ie" ending, e.g. "footsies", which, when combined with symptoms of heart-melting syndrome, can be considered "wittle footsies"...OK, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, I'LL STOP!

Nana & Pops Visit

In what is quickly becoming a Sunday afternoon tradition, MK's Nana & Pops (translation: Brian's parents) came to visit. Here you can see Nana holding her third granddaughter:



Here's a shot of both of them, doing what they love - Nana holding her granddaughter, Pops editing something I've written:



Their visit culminated with MK's very first shopping trip! Not much excitement; Mommy needed some clothes since she is already back to pre-pregnancy weight (and hated by most women for it), and Mary Kate slept the entire time. If only she would sleep every time in her life when we take her to the mall...

Tummy Time, pt. 2

This past weekend, we had another tummy time session. MK likes to be on her belly, at least after her initial shock of going down like that. This time Aggie wanted to join her with the whole laying on your belly thing:

Rubber Ducky, You're the One

Aside from the occassional trouble falling asleep, Mary Kate is a pretty content baby. All of that changes when she gets a bath, whereupon she goes beyond screaming and approaches the threshold of wailing. This might be because she hates being naked and exposed, which Jenny and I sincerely hope will last well into high school and college years and on to her wedding day. Most likely, she just gets really really cold, so Jenny got the idea to actually fill up her baby tub and immerse her in warm water, rather than do the sponge bath thing. Mary Kate likes this much better, which means she backed up to uncomfortable sniffling instead of yelling:



When she comes out of her nice warm bath, she is inevitably blasted with another draft of cold air, which brings on another bout of crying. So we wrap her in a soft fluffy towel and head for the changing table to install a diaper and pajamas (or "jammys" as I am told they are called until the child reaches puberty). Fortunately, any crying that takes place at that point can be erased by Daddy's little finger, which acts as a natural pacifier (Thank you, Baby Owner's Manual, p. 55):



Maybe by our fourth child, we'll have this down to a science. By the way, the Baby Owner's Manual has been my salvation more than once, and I recommend it to any new parent, especially new Dads.

"Tummy Time"

Yesterday, we began Phase 1 of tummy training - teaching MK to enjoy laying on her stomach. We think it went pretty well, which means she didn't scream when Jenny put her down that way.



Actually, we think she might have enjoyed it. Her tummy session led to a long nap on Daddy's chest later that afternoon (as you might be able to tell from the picture, Daddy was napping too)-



As I have said, her favorite thing to do thus far is to sleep. Our favorite thing for her to do (other than sleep, of course) is to wake up so we can watch her stretch.