I'm back home!

(Note: I wrote this a week ago, saved it as a draft, and am just now getting around to posting it. Sorry, busy times.)

I was gone six days. Evey is 80 days old today. That's 8% of her life I missed just now, while working in California.

Yes, it's good to be home.

I walked into the house at 1:45 a.m. Sunday morning. It was snowing pretty hard for the drive home, making my drive a little nerve-wracking. I woke up Adrianne and gave her a kiss. She was sleeping with the TV on, so I had some light in our room. Evey was sound asleep in her bassinet, with her little hands balled up into fists beside her head. I gave her a kiss, and then I couldn't resist -- I picked her up and held her. She didn't wake up, just kept sleeping, looking like an angel.

Evey's first Valentine!

OK, you *have* to click the image to read Grey Heiman's sweet Valentine he sent to our daughter...

Happy birthday Lervy!

The Godfather turns... 29? Today.

Lego Vader

Had dinner at the House of Blues tonight... and ran into an old ally, Darth Vader, at the Lego store.

Tuesday in Anaheim

Well, I called home a couple times today.

The best one was when I called Adrianne, asked how Evey was doing. "She's been crying a lot," Adro said. "Does she miss her daddy?" I asked. Adrianne said she did.

So I tried talking to her over the cell phone, but she wanted nothing to do with it. But then Adrianne took her to the changing table to check her diaper, and she settled down. So we tried again.

So I was outside the Anaheim Marriott making goo-goo and bee-bee-bee noises to my baby, trying to do my best to communicate with my beloved 11-week-old daughter over the phone.

And then Adrianne came back on. "She was smiling the whole time!" Adrianne said.

I suddenly felt validated.

Oh, I miss my girls...

California bound

How am I going to make it a week away from this beautiful baby?

All-Star Weekend

Just got done watching Gerald Green high-fly to the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk Championship... watched it with my Dad here, too, something we used to do together all the time when I was a kid.

Evey's Great-Grandma Virginia visited us this morning. Evey hammed it up for her, too. Photo above.

And this evening, we celebrated the Chinese New Year (Year of the Pig) with the Nunn Family. Mrs. Nunn hooked up everything -- egg rolls, broccoli and beef, cashew chicken, General Tso's chicken... oh, man, good stuff! And the Nunns even gave Evey her first Chinese New Year gift, too -- the kind we can tuck away for her college tuition! Boo-yeah!

Cheers, Big Chris

Much more than the "KU recruit who lost his leg."

Like, the witty dude who always kidded with people. The fluent Spanish speaker. The big brother with the dog he just loved. Fun-loving. Charming, charismtaic. A FRIEND.

Cheers, Big Chris.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/feb/15/former_ku_recruit_who_lost_his_foot_has_died/?sports

The Sweetens

My buddy Travis liked the idea of the family blog so much that he decided to make his own: http://thesweetens.blogspot.com/

Me and Travis have a lot in common. We're both family men (huh... first time I've ever written that). We're both comic book junkies. We both love Big 12 basketball (he's an OSU Cowboy). We both like to read, and like unusual words. And we both write our hearts out for Pulp Legacy.

And now we both have a blog.

Included with this post is a photo of Trav and Heather's two adorable kids, Emery and Emma. Add "having kids with names that start with the letter E" to our list of commonalities.

And while we're at it, here is my buddy Brad's blog page, he's an artist and video game producer that lives in that great expanse of land known as Canada (Fort Erie, Ontario).

And here is my buddy Will's blog page, he's an international photographer located in Bangkok and also was the best man in my wedding.

And here is the blog site of my buddy Jason, who likes to create his own comix, and lives here in good ol' Lawrence.

Oh, and finally, the bar stool philosopher, if you need some philosophy mixed with that Miller Light.

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!

My daughter is only 10 weeks old (as of today) and she already has a boy chasing after her to be his Valentine.

Sigh.

But it's actually OK, because the little boy is Grey Heiman, son of my college roommate Jeff. Grey is what, 9 months old now? And I told Evey, if she was going to be someone's Valentine, it might as well be Greyson... his dad, after all, is one of the smartest and nicest guys I know, and also happens to be a successful Lawrence-area attorney. And his mom Kendall is really Jeff's "better half."

So yeah, Evey. Stay away from the rock 'n' roll bad boys. Stick to potential future lawyers. That's OK with daddy.

Grey even mailed Evey a Valentine. So, so cute.

The photo is of Evey and Grey during their first meeting (or date, as she'll say years later) and moms Adro and Kendall.

Evey's first KU game!

I'm kicking myself!

Evey went to her first KU game tonight -- versus Mizzou at Allen Fieldhouse.

Big Jay came and sat with us! We were on the jumbo-tron! Evey was smiling the whole time! She loved watching the KU women run up and down the floor!

AND I HAD NO CAMERA!!!

I couldn't find my camera. But Judy had hers. But the batteries were dead! I went to see if the KU bookstore inside Allen sold double As -- nope. Stymied, all around.

BUT! Kerrianne Aulet came by to say hello. And I told her about my predicament. She had her husband grab their camera for us, so at least there is a photo of me and Judy and Evey at Evey's first Kansas basketball game. (Adro couldn't make it to the game, she had to work late)

So, anyway, we had a great time at the game, even though the Lady Jayhawks lost. I'll add that photo of me, Evey and Judy at the game once I get it.

Evey, on the jumbotron -- her smile 15-feet wide for all to see. I was so proud!

Baptism photos

Yes, "Especially Evey" takes requests...

This one goes out to Thomas Lervik Jr., AKA the Godfather, in Charlotte, N.C. That's him with my sister (and Evey's Godmother) Jessica, on the day of her baptism.

Snow day!

We got a couple inches of snow here in Lawrence, over night.

Me and Evey are staying inside where it's warm. Grandma Judy had school cancelled (she's a librarian at Perry Middle School, maybe 15 miles outside Lawrence) so she's going to come over and hang out too. Evey and me are excited; Judy is always a big help.

Adrianne's FMS group at work had an afternoon bowling event yesterday, so I joined her (what else have I got to do?) and took Evey on her first trip to the bowling alley. She was mesmerized and astonished by the bowling alley and all it's various smells. A photo of Evey with her new little buddy, Julian Confer (and his mom Stephanie) is included here.

What was exciting about today?

Today I broke through and added "former presidents" to my list of successful interviews.

George H. W. Bush's aide emailed me this morning with the answers to my questions I submitted for President Bush.

Yes, it was over email, which is a bummer, but it still counts! The questions were about his golf game, for an upcoming issue of GCM. Not bad for a guy taking four weeks off to be at home with his baby to then come up with an interview with the former leader of the free world, eh?

Parting shot

And two photos of Evey from today (Saturday) to wrap up my day.

Evey slept most of the day. I think all the excitement of being over at Great-Grandma's yesterday wore her out.

Jayhawks won big over Mizzou, like I thought they would. Had a 24-point lead at one point, settled on 18 points. Julian Wright with a career high 33 points. Great two-handed dunk in the first half. I bet he had 6, maybe 8 points off dunks. It's an easy game when you can score 33 points from within 5 feet of the basket.

I also saw that Kentucky shot 1 of 19 from the three-point line in a loss to Florida. Ouch.

Oh, and that was one of the worst episodes of Saturday Night Live that I've seen in a while. Forest Whitaker was the host. Just awful.

Elton John (the cat), RIP

It's with great sadness that I report that we lost our good friend Elton John recently.

Elton was Adrianne's favorite cat. He had three legs. He was a bit skittish, but the three legs thing gave him a certain charm.

I'm not fond of cats. But I liked Elton John. We got along. And I wasn't allergic to him.

Elton was about 10 years old. He died of natural causes.

My favorite Elton John memory? When I proposed to Adrianne, I did so in the form of a comic I drew. I stayed up late to get it done. Elton was in the next room, meowing and causing a ruckus. Well, we weren't supposed to have cats in our house, but I let him into (what was then) my office so he would settle down. And he just sat there by me at my drawing board, listening to my music and chilling out. So I drew him into the last panel.

Anyway, I cleaned out his room today. He was Adro's cat, but like I said, he had a charm. Made me miss him. That cat had a majesty about him, and you have to give it to any animal that can get hit by a car, lose a major appendage out of the deal and survive.

Cheers, Elton John.

New toy

I put this together for me and Evey today... I'm pumped. They don't advise we go for a jog until she's 6 months, and that puts us right in the middle of summer.

E-mail marketing

I just sent out the following e-mail to 57 people...

Hello friends,

I don't know if I'm killing some people with too many baby photos while leaving other friends totally out of the loop, so, for your one-stop shop of baby pics go to:

http://especiallyevey.blogspot.com/

It's a LOT of Evey baby photos, some commentary, who knows what else. It's a journal. It's rambling. But Evey is so cute...

Don't worry, I won't ever bother you about Evey's blog page again. If you may be interested in it, bookmark it and come visit the site at your leisure.

Have a great weekend!

Seth

So, now, essentially, we're live. If the above e-mail got you here, feel free to click below and say hello! And thanks for coming by to see our baby! As you can tell, we're very proud of her.

I believe in miracles

Lately, me and Evey have been jamming to Pearl Jam's "Live at Benaroya Hall, Oct. 22., 2003." It's a two-disc live CD, almost all acoustic. They pull out a lot of the lesser known PJ songs, a few of Binaural, a few B-sides, and even a few covers (including Johnny Cash's "25 Minutes to Go").

Anyway, my favorite track off the whole set is probably disc one track 11 -- "I Believe in Miracles," a cover of a Ramones song. Lyrics follow:

i used to be on an endless run

believed in miracles 'cause i'm one

i have been blessed with the power to survive

after all these years i'm still alive

i'm out here kickin' with the band

suddenly i'm a solitary man

every day my time runs out

lived like a fool, that's what i was about

oh i believe in miracles

oh i believe in a better world for me and you

oh-oh-oh, i believe in miracles

hey i believe in a better world for me and you

tattooed your name on my arm

i always said my girl's a good luck charm

if she can find a reason to forgive

then i can find a reason to live

i used to be on an endless run

believed in miracles 'cause i'm one

i have been blessed with the power to survive

after all these years i'm still alive

oh i believe in miracles

oh i believe in a better world for me and you

oh-oh-oh, i believe in miracles

oh i believe in a better world for me and you

i close my eyes and think how it might be

the future's here today

it's not too late

it's not too late, no!

oh i believe in miracles

oh i believe in a better world for me and you

oh-oh-oh, i believe in miracles

oh i believe in a better world for me and you

alright!

I don't know any Ramones off-hand, I probably would if someone told me what they sang. But this is just a great song, the one I have stuck in my head these days.

Weird hours

Strange, the baby sleeps through the night, but Dad's sleep hours have become erratic.

For the second night in a row, I find myself awake at the 3 a.m. hour. Last night I was up from about 2 a.m. to almost 5 a.m., and I just layed there in bed, tossing and turning, watching Evey sleep... like a baby.

Tonight, I've decided to fight the power, and get up, see if moving around can help my plight. It doesn't help that I've got an upset stomach though. Dolor de mi estomago, aye aye aye.

We've been lucky, the Jones Family, when it comes to lots of things. From what I'm told, sleep is a big one. Evey has been sleeping through the nights since about week two or three. She usually wakes up around 3:30 a.m. or so for her midnight snack, and then gets back to bed for another good three, four hours. I think she gets her love for sleepy time from her Mom and Grandma. My Mom is well known for keeping erratic hours, and I was a night owl before I met Adrianne. But Evey's Romero blood allows her to find sleepy time even among a mild commotion -- and that makes it easy on these parents.

So, good luck and good night.

Rock Chalk!

A more appropriate photo...

KU vs. Mizzou tomorrow

We should roll them pretty good. See what we did to K-State? 85-58, that's my prediction.

Attached is another Evey photo. Because I need to catch up!

I'm having fun with this blog already... hope I can keep putting up new material.

Dinner with the Neutebooms

Friday night, me and my lady went out for a beer and dinner.

See, I took Evey over to Great-Grandma Virginia's for a few hours of babysitting. And then Grandma Judy showed up too. So, since the Neutebooms and Paul and his son were going to be at the Red Lyon, I talked Adro into coming with me for a quick beer or two. (Specifically, four Budweisers for me, two Diet Cokes for Adro.)

And then the Neutebooms (Eric and Trish, pictured above, with a day-old Evey) suggested dinner, and we all went to Bambino's. GOOD! And, to top it all off, Adro bought for me! Whooo-hooo! Trish bought for Eric, too, so there was some serious love for the guys tonight. Good times.

No photos from Great-Grandma's or from Bambino's (forgive me, I'm new at this). BUT -- this photo is from 20 minutes ago. A quick self-portrait of the Jones Family.

Evey loved hanging out at the Romero's house tonight. She was smiling at Great-Grandma and everything. This girl is a charmer -- watch out!

Evey the comic geek

This photo really created a stir at work.

I took it as a fluke. I had just changed Evey, and since she was in new clothes, I thought, might as well take a photo of her. And then I saw the baby comb. And all that hair.

So I spiked her hair, set her up on the couch and then grabbed a library book I'd been cruising through. Wouldn't you know, my daughter was mesmerized by an image in the book? And we got this great photo out of the deal.

The image, it turns out, was that of a 1940s "Famous Funnies" issue with a Bugs Bunny knock-off.

So I sent it along to Adrianne and my mother-in-law, Judy. And Adro forwarded it to a few people at work. And those people forwarded it to a few people. So now, everyone knows that I'm at home trying to turn my newborn baby girl into a comic book geek.

Tuesday walk

Here's a pic of me and Evey from Tuesday. The temperature got up in the 50s, so we went to Hastings for the short walk.

Evey likes Hastings, especially the biography section.

Especially Evey

Hello.

As I type this, it's 12:10 p.m. on a Friday. I'm still in my pajamas. I've got the alternative rock TV channel playing in the background. And most important, I have my 9-week-old daughter Evey, wrapped up in one arm, sleeping.

A friend passed along the idea that we (me and Adrianne, my wife, pictured above with Evey) should have a Web site for our family and friends. I decided to give this a try. We'll see how it goes.

I just did a freelance story for Latino University magazine about how to succeed on the internet. I contacted three in-the-know sources. Long-time colleague Jonah Weiland, creator of comicbookresources.com, told me to "know what you want to write about." To find your focus, and never stray. Good advice.

The blog will surely not adhere to that advice. There will be a lot of baby pictures. But there may be also be a review of the piece of crap movie we just rented from Hastings, too. A run-down of the previous evening's Jayhawks game. Merriam-Webster's word of the day. A bad joke.

But there will especially be Evey.