Irapalooza!!!!!!!

The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy so I haven't posted in awhile. But, believe me, I'm going to make it up to you. I've got quite a few pictures and two really great videos for you.

You're welcome.


One reason I didn't post last weekend: we had some visitors staying with us. Ira's Poppy, Nonny, and Uncle Jo came to Nashville to celebrate my birthday.

At least that's what they said they were here for. Secretly, I think they just came to see Ira. Not that I blame them.

He is the world's most beautiful baby.

Ira with Poppy and Uncle Jo in the Arcade, Downtown Nashville.



Ira and Nonny in the Arcade.



Ira and Uncle Jo relaxing at home.







After our guests left, we celebrated my birthday by taking a big nap.

And then we went to the Frist Art Museum for Free Day. There were so many people there we didn't get into the main exhibit, but we did get to walk around the Aaron Douglas exhibit upstairs. That's where we are in this blurry picture.




Ira took a passing interest in the art but was more interested in getting back home to nap some more.




Two weeks ago we took pictures of Ira in the snow. Yesterday we went to Centennial Park to enjoy some beautiful spring weather.

It's been crazy.

Our sinuses have gone on strike to protest the extreme weather discrepancies. Nevertheless, we had a great time at the park.

Ira was mystified by his first encounter with grass.







Today Ira went to two birthday parties with Kirsten. This picture is from one of the parties.

Could he be any cuter?



To answer that last question: Yes, he could be cuter. Just watch these videos. The first is Ira playing with some Easter eggs.

Notice anything?

That's right, he's sitting up on his own. Genius.




The second video is extra cute. Ubercute, even. If hurricanes were powered by cuteness, Hurricane Ira would be a category six.

It's really cute.

Snowtastic!

Even though last weekend was perfect T-shirt weather, last night it snowed; in fact it was the most snow Kirsten and I have seen since we've been in Nashville. Ira's not quite ready for snow angels or snow ball fights, but he did get to spend a little time with Mommy out in the snow. As you can see from the pictures, he was kind of interested by the snow but also kind of confused and kind of frustrated. They were just outside long enough to snap a few photos. Maybe next year we can build a snow man.

Video 'Splosion

I made some cool videos with Ira today. The first one is him rolling over. He is a professional roller-over, on par with some of the best roller-overs in the world. What poise. What finesse. I'd even go so far as to use the phrase "gossamer-like grace." He's that good. Just watch. The other two videos were made after Ira rolled over. In one he stares at the camera and then blows a big spit bubble. Awesome. And in the other he sticks his tongue out over and over again. If you know of anyone who's holding a "Cutest Baby in the World" contest, go ahead and tell them that it's already over. We have our winner.











Also, while we're here, we took Ira to JC Penny and got some pictures made. I don't need to remind you how beautiful he is. The pictures do that on their own. Here's a few of them.








Alright. I'll admit that this last one is a little goofy.



You can see the rest of the set at:

https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0461104654JCPSHR

Use Kirsten Holley as the customer name. If you want, you can order pictures for yourself.

It's been over two weeks now since my last post, and I have to apologize. I feel like a dead beat dad, neglecting my parental duties. Sure this isn't technically a "parental duty," but if I want to be Dad2.0 I've gotta keep up, right? But I do have a bit of an excuse. Ira has started rolling over, and we wanted to have an awesome video to post so everyone could share in the joy of watching the world's smartest baby perform his awe-inspiring feats of amazement. Unfortunately, catching Ira rolling over on video is like capturing footage of the elusive Chupacabra. We'd film Ira lying on the floor staring at the camera for what seemed like hours, and then, just after we'd stop filming, he'd roll. Parenting is going to get much easier when we can communicate together verbally. But you're not here to listen to my excuses or hear all about the videos you're not going to get to see, are you? I'll stop wasting your time and get to the good stuff.

This is Ira and me at Grimey's, a record store here in Nashville. We went to see a band whose name I can't remember. They weren't very good, but it was nice to get out and hear some live music in the middle of the afternoon with our son. I wish there were more options for outings like this.

Here's Ira and Kirsten reading a book together. Tennessee might not have the best education system in the country, but they do have a great program called Books from Birth. Until Ira turns five, he'll get a new, free book in the mail every month. This fabulous idea was thought up by none other than Dolly Parton, truly a great Tennessean.

Here's some video of Kirsten tickling Ira, and Ira trying to pull Kirsten's hair.

Get Notified

There will come a point when I stop feeling motivated to update as regularly as I have been. When that time comes, you might not want to check the blog every day just to look at the same old pictures and videos (although I could look at those pictures everyday, and I know Kirsten does). If you look to the the right you'll see something that says, "Tell me when this blog is updated." Put in your email address and click on "Keep it fresh." You'll be taken to the blogarithm web site and instructed to create an account. After you do this, you'll receive an email notification every time the blog gets updated. Nice, huh? If you're a little more tech savvy you can get an RSS feed sent to your feed reader, but if you know what that means, you probably already know how to do that.

Now that we've taken care of that business, here's a picture of Ira doing some transcendental meditation.

Happy Baby Fun Time!

We were watching the Super Bowl tonight, but it wasn't nearly as super as the show Ira put on for us. Check out these videos of Ira being the best baby ever.

Cutie Pie Overload!!!!!!!!

Maybe its just a fury of excitement over joining the world of digital journaling, but here we are just days after my first post, and I'm already posting again. You're so lucky. Don't expect this kind of dedication forever.





Here we have a picture of Ira eating green beans. Because he's eating vegetables and cereal, he's started sleeping longer at night. I can't tell you how happy that's made us. I don't think either of us realized how tired we'd been.






Everyday Ira gets a little more playful and a lot more tactile. It was interesting watching him learn how to make his hands grab the things he wanted, like his toes in the picture above or me in the picture below. For awhile, his hands would flail around, and he would get frustrated watching them move without being able to control them. But it didn't take him long to develop a little coordination. He can even grab a toy and put it in his mouth fairly easily. He is the smartest baby in the world.