Zach Dotsey

I’m told that at about 5:00 this morning, Harvey busted in to the guestroom, cone around his head and all, and said, “Hey, Mack!  It’s 5:00!  Wanna go play?”  Then Mack jumped up and said, “Yeah!”

At least that’s how Jessica tells the story.  I suspect it’s not far from the truth.

Milly was asleep when the Lambeths got here last night, but she got to see them this morning.  She and Graelyn are a little out of sync with their schedules though, so they haven’t had a whole lot of interaction time, not that either is at an age where they interact a whole awful lot with other babies anyway.  Still, watching them, I couldn’t help but look forward to a time when they’re big enough to play together or hang out together on visits.  Later on we went to meet Ella-Jane Clark, and I thought about Graelyn coming to visit and Milly taking her to hang out with her friends at the beach or something.  It’s just fun to think about the future.

After breakfast and a short trip the Lambeths took to the local branch of the company Ben works for (where he used to work for them) we all went to the mall to grab some food and, mainly, so the ladies could look at baby clothes.  Milly and Graelyn got matching outfits from Baby Gap and are expected to have pictures taken in them tomorrow at the beach.

I was, for the record, checking my email regularly and answered a few calls from clients.  Fortunately, it wasn’t a very busy day.

After the mall we went to the Port City Java on Shipyard, where I used to often go while working when we lived in Sunset Park, just to kill some time before going to see Elliot, Melissa and Ella.  For the record, her name is Ella-Jane Ryan Clark, whereas I though before that Jane was her middle name.  So they did like we did in combining two names to make up the first name, but where we just combined them for Meliamae, they hyphenated.  I still wish we’d capitalized the second M to make it easier for people to figure the name out.  MeliaMae.  Then again, that doesn’t look at good typed out, does it?

We stopped to pick up some dinner for Elliot and Melissa then headed on over.  Ella was born three weeks early, and she’s so tiny!  I saw some pictures of her and thought she looked like a little gnome.  She’s so tiny that premie clothes are loose on her.  We hung out there for a while and caught up with Elliot and Melissa then headed out when Milly started getting a little fussy.

We got back home and the ladies worked on food while I worked on some work then fed Milly after she napped.  She had fallen asleep on the way home and I put her right down when we got in, and she really didn’t seem to want to get up when I did get her up to feed her.  Nick, Amy and Eli came over and all three kids were fed and put to bed before the adults had dinner and played Puerto Rico.  In order to accommodate six players we took a few pieces from Nick and Amy’s game.  I just read that there is a six player setup, and we were pretty close to it.  Amanda won by a good bit, followed by Nick or Amy, me, then Ben or Jessica.

Zach Dotsey

On Friday I noticed a text message from Elliot Clark from sometime after 2:00 in the morning letting the world know that his and Melissa’s baby, Ella, would be here soon.  I hadn’t heard anything since (and I didn’t want to put anything on here since I didn’t know what was going on), so I texted him and asked how everything was going.  He called this evening and told us that mom and baby were fine.  Melissa’s water had broken but they didn’t think it was what it was until just a little later.  To my understanding, Ella, who was early, wasn’t turned right.  They had actually been scheduled to turn her anyway, and when they couldn’t get it done at the hospital they went ahead and had a c-section.  So, welcome to the world, Ella Jane Clark!  We’re excited about another little friend for Milly.

Amanda and Karen’s big adventure was to go to a place where they could blow glass and make their own things with the Frazelle ladies.  I think Amanda said she made a bowl and Karen made a vase.  Sounds like they had a fun time.

The morning was pretty much just me and Milly.  Amanda’s grandparents, Peggy and Earl Lemons, got here with a kitchen new sink for us.  Well, it wasn’t entirely new, but it was gently used.  They go it from their church, which just got a new sink.  It’s a bit deeper than the one we had, plus the fixtures work much better.  On our old one, you had to push the handle up pretty hard and the sprayer was all gunked up.  The nice thing about that was that even though the spray only came out of one hole, it had a lot of pressure, so it was pretty good for cleaning.

Anyway, they got here around 12:30 I think.  I was watching Carolina play a close game with Boston College to help determine which of them was going to be tied for second last in the ACC.  Fortunately, the Eagles were able to pull out the win.  NC State had a big upset over Wake Forest after that, but for most of those two games Earl and I were working on getting the sink installed.  Michael came over early in the second game while his grandpa and I were on a run to Lowe’s and Amanda and Karen got back just as we were finishing up.  Earl had said to me that he wondered what Amanda might give me tonight if she was really pleased with the sink.  I thought that was hilarious.

Amanda went to a jewelry party thing at the Cains’ house while their other half came over just as everyone else was leaving here.  We flipped around the TV a bit and settled on watching the Winter Olympic sport of curling.  People make fun of it, but we really got wrapped up in it.

Zach Dotsey

Looking at others sometimes gives you a different perspective of yourself.  My first little sister turned 30 today.  It’s one thing to turn 30 yourself, but when someone you’ve always associated with the word “younger” turns 30, it makes you think a bit.  Not that 30 is old by any means, but it is the number of an age where you start to consider that the person should be mature and grown up, but to me (not saying Erin isn’t either of those) she’s still my little sister, and there’s no way she should be 30 years old already.

Today was a busy day.  We finished a website and published it and are just about done on a redesign that’s been in the works for a week or two.  I’ve got another one I was trying to finish up this week, but I don’t think that will happen.  I also had a meeting with a potential new client this afternoon.  I think it went well, and I sincerely enjoyed listening to the man.  I like the way he talks about his business, and I can tell he takes pride in it.

Today was also Melissa Nicholson’s (I think she’s hyphenated the last name to Nicholson-Clark now, but I’m not sure so we’ll stick with Nicholson) 30th birthday.  Milly’s cousin (well, Amanda’s cousin, Milly’s second cousin) Hannah Frazelle came over and babysat tonight her for the first time tonight while Amanda and I went to Indochine for Melissa’s birthday and had a good time with people there.  Elliot did a really nice job putting together a surprise party for her.

Amanda and I considered leaving to go to Rougemont today, but with all I had going on it just wasn’t a good idea.  Adam headed up there to surprise Erin, but he’ll be leaving in the morning so we won’t see him.  Andra got there yesterday.

On the Duke message board there are what’s called avatar bets for the Duke-Carolina games.  Each person can have a picture under their username which is called an avatar, and you pair off UNC fans and  Duke fans, and the fan of the team who won gets to pick the avatar for their counterpart.  I tried to get in on it last year, but we ran out of Heels.  I did get into it this year though, and the avatar I created and gave to my counterpart was very well received.  I got a request to make another one for someone else, which I think is also a pretty good one.  Keep in mind that as cheesy as they are, that’s the point.  The Carolina people have to look at these every time they post a message.

It’s supposed to snow an inch or two this weekend here in Wilmington.  I assume that being in Rougemont, we’ll still get to see some and maybe have a chance to get some pictures of Milly in it.

Zach Dotsey

We used the GPS that my parents gave us for Christmas for the first time today.  We weren’t going far, in fact we were just going to a baby shower for Elliot and Melissa that was being held in a neighborhood not far from us, but it’s easy to get turned around in the neighborhoods between Gordon and Market with all the little winding roads and cul de sacs and whatnot.  In fact, the place we were going is so new it wasn’t on Google Maps, Mapquest or the GPS itself, and the maps on that were updated very recently.

The baby shower was nice and we got to catch up with a number of friends and meet some new people.  One of them, a lady from Raleigh, watched after Milly for us for a while.  We relieved her at one point but she asked if she could hold her again a little later.  Milly spent most of her time with her trying to eat her necklace.  Milly was passed around quite a bit and didn’t ever seem to mind.  She’s very sociable.

There was one girl, I think she was four years old and named Tyler, who was very intrigued by Milly.  We let her hold her a couple times, one of those being on a couch.  They seemed to be back far enough on the couch to not worry too much about them, but Milly leaned forward and Tyler didn’t have hold her tight enough and Milly fell headfirst off the couch.  Luckily I was right there and I caught her by pressing her against the couch with my leg.  She cried a good bit, but it was from being scared.

After we got home and put Milly down for a nap (she hadn’t had one except on the short ride to the baby shower) we watched Duke take on Boston College.  I was a little worried because BC is a middle of the pack ACC team that Duke beat by 20 points earlier in the season, but they’d just had a great game at home against Georgia Tech and Carolina is coming up on Wednesday, so I thought it might be a trap game for them.  Well, they got pretty far ahead but only ended up winning by three.  Despite that, I was happy for the win.  Next up, the Tar Heels.

There was a lot of good basketball on today.  Lots of close games.

I talked to several family members today.  I caught up with Aunt Robbie this morning and Uncle Roy this evening then Mom and Dad.  Dad had gone up to Rochester this weekend because Mom’s back was bothering her and she didn’t think she’d be comfortable riding on a plane.  They went out and about, saw It’s Complicated and it just sounded like they had a nice time together.

Zach Dotsey

Didn’t Amanda do a great job of writing a post tonight?  I tried to get her to write while she was pregnant with Milly, but I never could get her to do it.

There’s not much I can add to it, except that I was a little stressed out with work towards the end of the day.  The phone seemed to ring incessantly for the last hour.  I’m planning on putting in a little work tomorrow.

Amanda’s grandpa, Earl Lemons, called me today with a pretty big surprise, which Amanda may or may not have figured out.  (She did.)  It’ll be here Monday.  I felt bad because he wanted to talk to me about it, but it was during the absolute most stressful time of my day.  I’m extremely grateful for what he’s doing, and I hope my stress didn’t keep him from realizing it.

It was really great catching up with the old small group, though I wish Elliot could have been there.  Melissa and Lisa are pregnant, so from what I could tell, a lot of the girls’ conversation centered around that.  Mike, Justin and I mostly talked sports.  How stereotypical is all that?

Everyone seemed to really enjoy holding Milly, and aside from making some screeching noises before she was fed, she was very well behaved.

Zach Dotsey

Amanda stubbed her right little toe on the trunk by the door this morning.  Doesn’t seem to be broken, but it’s swollen and she’s not looking forward to putting a shoe on that foot again in the morning.

Milly’s nose didn’t seem as stuffy overall today, but when Amanda got home I walked to the store to drop off the recycling, get a few things for dinner and pick up some baby-friendly saline spray.  I ended up having to walk to the drug store across College though, because there was nothing at Lowe’s that specified that it was for babies.

Milly’s certainly no fan of the nasal spray, but it has helped and she calms down pretty fast once we finish sucking everything out of her nose.  If she’d just learn to blow her nose like her mom keeps suggesting….

Lots of excitement and buzz going on in the Duke world.  Kyrie Irving has announced that he’ll announce his school of choice on ESPNU tomorrow, meaning he won’t be taking his visits to Georgia Tech or Seton Hall.  That leaves (as he has also said) Duke, Kentucky and Texas A&M.  Duke’s long been thought a leader, and everyone feels pretty confident that he’ll commit to Duke tomorrow.  News has even leaked that he has already committed to Duke, but he denied that.  Of course, it could just be because he wants to announce it himself.  A lot of people were miffed that a report already came out about it.

There’s also a rumor that he’ll be in Durham this weekend, which is also the weekend that Harrison Barnes, the top recruit of next year who most people think will choose either Duke or UNC, will be having his official visit.  Irving and Barnes are known to be good friends, so the fact that Irving is set to announce tomorrow, the day before Barnes’ visit starts, is thought to be a strategic thing.  However it shakes out though, Harrison Barnes is not expected to declare for another few weeks.

Elliot Clark gave me a call right before dinner tonight to chat for a minute, which I thought was great.  His sister had her baby, a boy, yesterday.  He and Melissa found out this week that they’re having a girl.  He talked about all the worried that news gave him, and I knew exactly what he was talking about.

Zach Dotsey

Yikes.

So, there’s this discussion going on on the Facebook page of a family member and I thought I’d brush up on a bit of governmental policy circa World War II.  I found a forum where people were discussing a a few systems of government, and after reading a few posts I thought, “This isn’t sounding quite right.”  I took a second glance at the URL then clicked around a few pages and realized I was on what I think was a Neo-Nazi website.  Yikes and yuck!

So, other than that Amanda and I did the usual every other Sunday thing- woke up, went to church, dropped Milly off at Grow Zone then helped out there ourselves.  Amanda told me afterwards that they were short on people in the two-year-old room, so she ended up helping out there.

I had a good time with my three-year-old room.  I was playing with blocks with a couple boys, then one of them decided he wanted to play hopscotch on some carpet squares.  That was fine until a few other kids wanted to jump from square to square (which is really all they were doing), but then it got crowded and they wouldn’t line up to just jump in one direction and, while nobody bumped into anyone else, it got messy.  After craft time even more kids wanted to play hopscotch, but this time I told them I had an idea to make it better.  I put all the carpet squares in a circle, and they all started hopping in in line one after another, and all in one direction.  One kid even told me that it was better than it was before.

We ran into some friends we haven’t seen in a bit and found out that they’re pregnant.  They find out the sex of the baby in a week or two I think.  Very excited for them!

We didn’t do much after getting home.  I really should have messed with the porch, but I just didn’t.  I don’t have a good excuse.  I did walk to the grocery store to take the recycling and pick up a few things though.  I called my baby sister, Andra Sawyer, on the way home to wish her a happy birthday.  She’s 24.  Wow, my baby sister is 24.

I’d tried calling earlier, even calling my parents since I knew they were visiting her in Gastonia this weekend, but they’d already left and were heading back to the Rouge.  At any rate, I did talk to Andra for a good bit.  I talked to Jackson a little bit, but he ended up mostly making loud noises to try to get Addison to make noises.  He was too busy doing that to tell me goodbye when I told him it was time for me to eat dinner.

It’s Seth Holloman’s birthday today too, so if you read this, Seth, happy birthday!

Amanda and I watched last night’s Saturday Night Live, hosted by Megan Fox.  The good: Megan Fox was a better actress than I’d have though.  The bad: pretty weak episode, overall, especially for a season premiere.

After we put Milly to bed we also watched Supernatural, though we watched it online and had some issues with the video hanging up here and there.  We’ve watched a few things on that website over the past couple weeks and this was the first time we had an issue with it.

In Duke news, Kyrie Irving, a much sought after point guard prospect for Duke, had his official visit this weekend.  All signs point to it having been a great trip, and most expect him to commit to Duke sometime in the next day or so.  All fans who follow recruiting are extremely excited.  Aside from getting a crazy-good point, it’s also thought that his commitment might help cause a domino effect and get commits from other prospects such as Harrison Barnes (who is thought to be split between Duke and Carolina right now) and Austin Rivers (who committed early to Florida but wanted to look around and loved his unofficial visit to Duke last week), as well as possibly others.

Zach Dotsey