Name that baby

I took this picture 2 weeks ago and got such a kick out of it 

that I thought I should show it to you.

I don't like taking pictures of Orin when he is sad, 

and very rarely post them,

so you are probably wondering what's going on, right?

But now I am going to tell you that this is the same picture,

I just zoomed out a little...

And then we have the modern-day shot, aged 25 years,

but still the same people...

my sister is only slightly less scary to me now.

So everybody said from day one that Orin looked just like his daddy.

And maybe he does...

but he looks a little like me too when his feathers are ruffled.

Lets see that first pic again...

Followed by the man himself.

What do you think?

The Other Tidbits

On Saturday, we headed over to Sheree and Ed's house to watch 

Katie and Tony open their wedding gifts.

During the unwrapping and thanking process we

consumed copious quantities of meat.

Not just any meat, though.

Meat cooked on a Traeger.

Ed's Traeger.

Here is Tony, hanging out with his father and 

enjoying his first day of husband-status.

Cousin Matt and his (very cool) girlfriend, whose name I have -like always- already forgotten, but Casey will remind me and I will edit it in later.

Orin got the opportunity to be spoiled with attention for the fifth day in a row.

I just hope that the bar of his standards for affection has not risen too high.

Although, Relk looks like the happier of the two in this picture :)

On Sunday, Casey and I parted ways:

Casey went dirt biking with Kenny and Steven

(We decided that Orin wasn't quite ready to tag along yet,

although he did look great on a bike)

And I spent the afternoon hanging out with Chris 

and his new baby boy, Brady,

who is exactly 3 weeks older than Orin.

The boys seemed to get along pretty well,

although at one point Brady got upset that 

he didn't have a super-cool dirt bike hoodie like Orin's.

But everything was resolved by lunch,

just in time for the boys to settle in for a nap in the shade.

After Chris and Brady left, I headed to Portland to see my friend Jon.

We walked around the city, did a little shopping for Orin,

(check out his global warming onesie)

and ate dinner.

For those of you more interested in Casey's day,

he has promised that he will write a blog about it soon.

On Monday, we spent the afternoon looking at land outside of the city.

You guessed it,

we have something new up our sleeve,

but you are going to have to wait a little while before I can reveal what it is.

There is a baby to be attended to.

Another Happy Ending

Months ago, when Katie first revealed her wedding colors, 

I decided that I would be thrifty and wear the same dress 

that I had worn to my best friend's wedding the previous summer. 

It was perfect, I thought, the color would even match Casey's tie.

The only problem with my plan was that I never anticipated the 

extent to which having a baby would play havoc with my former figure. 

Needless to say, the dress no longer fit.

Orin in his rock-star bow-tie that I made for him

So my mother and I made a dress... more specifically I cut out the pieces 

and then hung out in the sewing room 

while my mother preformed all of the skilled labor 

(Thank you again, mom)

But everything turned out okay and the dress was lovely, 

a state which I believed it would stay in until the wedding. 

Once again, it turns out I was naive. 

At four o'clock (plus a baby-dysfunctionality factor of about thirty minutes) 

we arrived at the ceremony site for some pre-wedding pictures. 

The last of the Zawicki's

Steven and Lacey

One for the Miss America pageant

Nana Sheree and the newest addition

Orin was being a litle fussy, so I decided to walk around with him in the front pack.

Katie and Grandpa George

Best Man, Kenny, and Bridesmaid, Dez

Bridesmaid Kara

About thirty minutes before kick-off I noticed a warm feeling on my belly

 and realized, to my dismay, that Orin's trusty diapers 

had failed him in a pretty major sort of way.

 So I took him back to the changing room to try to dry the enormous stain

 on the front of my dress. 

I also took the opportunity to feed him... just to make sure his belly 

would be full for the ceremony.

Behind-the-scenes-action in the dressing room 

And it was full. 

Too full, in fact. 

So he let a little of the excess go right down the side of my dress. 

Strike two. 

But the show had to go on, so I wrapped Orin loosely in a blanket,

 letting the extra fabric drape over the urine/ vomit stains, 

and walked with confidence to my seat.

Orin was quiet just long enough for us to watch the brothers give Katie away at the alter. 

(Regardless of how often I fed him, 

he always manages to get hungry at inconvenient times)

By the time Casey slid into the seat next to me, 

Orin was in his if-you-ignore-me-any-longer-this-is-going-to-get-loud mode.

 So I whispered to Casey to take some pictures and we ducked out.

But it was okay. 

Casey had the camera. 

He would capture all of the best moments for me. 

Or he would just take a picture of his shoes...

really, the contrast of his socks, he later informed me.

But he did get some great shots, 

so I can say without hesitation that the ceremony was beautiful...

and so too was Katie, 

who looked just like a living version of my favorite childhood character. 

It is up to you to decide.

But that, of course, would make Tony Prince Charming.

After the wedding, there were some pretty funny toasts to the new bride and groom.

Followed by quite a lot of dancing and merriment.

Father- daughter dance

Orin's big moment

After a fantastic evening all around, we bid goodbye 

as the newlyweds disappeared into the night.

Congratulations you two.

Best Wishes.

Leaving Town

Last week Casey and I began preparations for our upcoming trip to Portland.

.

First, we packed a completely inordinate amount of 

baby gear, clothes, toys, etc. into the van and drove to Williamstown,

where we would be dumping the troublemakers (pictured below)

at their Grandpa's house for the week.

No matter how many things you bring for a baby,

you are always at least one short.

This time, we lacked our trusty bathtub and were forced to improvise.

Orin was less than amused at this degrading treatment,

but we found it pretty funny.

After everything was ready ( and 45 minutes later than we meant to leave)

we said a hasty good-bye-until-Christmas to my sister

and took off in a cloud of dust for the airport...

and, yes, the van can, in fact, move fast enough to produce clouds of dust. 

Even after our late arrival, were able to board the plane early enough

so that Orin could review the safety pamphlet before his first flight.

He was a little weary of the water-landing instructions,

but we convinced him that everything would go smoothly.

He was so confident in our assertions that he did not even bother to stay awake.

Upon arriving in Portland, we were greeted by Katie and her husband-to-be, Tony.

The following two days were spent in a blur of wedding preparations 

and baby-family introductions.

Here are a couple of the highlights:

This is Orin hanging out with his Uncle Steven and Aunt Lacey.

The feelings of love-at-first-sight appear to be mutual.

And here is Orin meeting his Grandpa Ed.

You really should click on the picture to enlarge it 

so you can see his enormous grin.

Ed must have just told him about the shiny blue bicycle he bought for Orin

 to use when he gets a little bigger.
On Thursday, the guys tried on their tuxes for the wedding.

Here is the most wonderful husband in the entire world looking

as gorgeous as ever.

And Steven, who might have come in second for the cutest boy in the room...

had it not been for Orin, stealing the show in his super-cool sunhat.

After the tuxes, we turned our attention to the bride-to-be and her final dress fitting.

Casey, Orin, and I got to go behind the scenes to learn the detailed process of pinning up the train so that Katie could dance at the reception.

I have to say, dress-makers don't make it easy.

The next morning we all met at the wedding site for a walk through of the ceremony.

Here are the siblings, making their way down the path to the alter.

In the next blog, this picture will be repeated, 

but with significantly different outfits.

See you then.