Bragg Family South

It's hard to believe this is the 101st posting we've done on this blog...I hope y'all have gotten as much out of it as we have. We also really appreciate the efforts everyone else puts into their blogs--it allows us to feel connected to the family, even though we're a thousand miles away. Here's a couple more pix of the new baby--don't worry, I'll soon try to post a gallery of larger, higher quality images on the pix link to this blog. Pictures, of course, are no substitute for face-to-face time, so I'll put down some thoughts about our planned trip in October. I have a meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, from October 9-12, so we plan to drive up to lower Michigan the weekend before. We'll visit Hope's family during the first part of this trip, then I'll go to Cleveland while Hope and the kids remain at her parents' house. On Friday, October 12, we plan to meet in northern Ohio and head westward to Madison, with the intention of dining at M...

The cool kid in the kooky floppy hat and shades is, of course, our son Kenny (the short one on the left, not the hairy one on the right). This picture is of Kenny and his "Bumpa" just before we went up to pick up baby Stephen from the hospital. It hardly seems possible, but it was only a few years ago that we were picking Kenny up from the same hospital. Today, Kenny proudly marched off to his next big adventure--kindergarten. This was the scene as we were preparing to get in the minivan this morning to drive him to his first day of school. Beth may look happy in this picture, but she's been rather crabby with the prospects of not having her big brother around. And his momma, well, let's just say Hope was emotional about watching her firstborn trot into the school. We didn't take any still pictures of this departure, just some video, but contrary to some of mom's worst fears, I'm sure he is having the time of his life. Let's just hope his enthusiasm f...

Hope just called from the hospital saying that both she and Stephen will be released, probably by this afternoon. I'm going to take Kenny to get his first-day-of-kindergarten haircut, then we'll head up to the hospital. A proud grandfather... The three amigos! Kenny's looking forward to big fun with Stephen... Beth is thrilled with her new baby brother! Mom + milk = contentment!!

Stephen Charles Bragg born ~7 pm, August 12, 2007 11 pounds, 3.6 ounces (really!) 23.5 inches long Mom and baby are fine Relief is soon to come, Hope!!

Before I forget, today is Brother Bob's birthday, 11 days from now is Sister Lisa's, and 15 days from now is Brother Bill's birthday. I'll wish y'all a happy birthday now, and I'll try to give y'all a jingle, but forgive us if we don't quite make it--Lunker Larry seems to be trying to have an August birthday, rather than his September one...

I'm not sure if people will remember this particular Simpsons episode (for those of you that don't know, the Simpsons is a cartoon about a somewhat dysfunctional but persistent family), but there is an episode where the Simpson family is gathered around their home and they start looking through some photo albums. There are plenty of pictures of Homer (the dad), Marge (the mom), Bart (the son), and Lisa (the older daughter), but none of the youngest child, Maggie. Bart and Lisa ask why not, and Homer and Marge provide a long explanation of why, which constitutes the bulk of the episode. The details aren't important, but the long and short of the story is that they had plenty of pictures of Maggie, which Homer kept at his dead-end job to motivate him. It's actually a charming episode, one that we kind of relived this week... We had just shut off the TV for a break from its droning. I suggested we look through some of our older photo albums. I just grabbed a couple from ...

My younger sister Laurie (affectionately known as "Lulu") has finally hopped on the blogging bandwagon: http://lululives.blogspot.com/ Now all we have to do is get Brother Bob online, and the kids will be digital! p.s. Laurie--I have found adjusting to heat and humidity easier than expected, having lived in Arkansas for a while now. The key is to have a comfortable working environment and an air conditioner that cools off the room you sleep in...after that, you can tolerate a lot! Hope, of course, would beg to differ, but she suffers the heat worse that I, being pregnant... For the curious, check out Monticello's 10-day forecast: http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/golf/tenday/71655?from=36hr_topnav_golf . Note the temperatures are as measured with a thermometer--with our humidity, you can probably add at least 5 to 10 degrees for the heat index.