Christian's buddies

This is Megan my play date on Tuesdays

My mom, Jenny, Lincoln, and me. Lincoln is only two weeks younger than me.

Meeting my cousin Logan. Logan is two months older than me

Cowboy Christian

Cowboy Logan

Cowboy Nathan

Ryan the Rabbit, Nathan the Lion, and Jaron the Elephant.

Playing with the Sheriff's car. Boy, I bet the Sheriff is going to be mad when he finds out!!!

Updates on Christian

I like my blanket and my thumb when I get tired!

I'm getting so big!

Playing in the saucer

Luke, I won't let you fall!

Getting our picture taken.

Look who can sit up now!

Look out, here comes trouble!!

cute pictures of Christian

Laying on Grandma's bed.

Getting ready for bed at Grandma's house. I love my baths at her house.

Jumping with uncle Greg. I really like the high jumps.

Uncle Greg is my buddy!

My first attempts at real food. Grandma told my mom to feed me vegetables first and then fruits next. But grandma gave in to me when I was wanting the watermelon. I loved every minute of it.

A closer picture of me eating watermelon

Passed 070-290

Today I took and passed Microsoft exam 070-290. This was after a delay caused by an issue with the NDA(Non Disclosure Agreement: a legal document saying you won't tell others exact details or questions on the exam, supposedly maintains the integrity of the credential, but I know there is plenty of cheating going on out there)timing out on me. The testing center called Prometric and got the appointment reset but it was really interesting. Its almost as if they don't want you to read the agreement. The only reason that I read it was because sometimes you are prompted to indicate that you have read and agreed. I think it would make more sense if you could read the agreement before scheduling the exam, then you could do it on your own time without being nervous or rushed. I honestly don't think that most people read those things anyway. I suppose I am strange in doing so. The test seemed difficult yet passable. At the end I wasn't sure if I passed or not but ended up with a 771/900, where 700 is the passing score. Not pretty but passing is nice. Greg, Heather's brother came and helped with Christian while I took the test. Heather just had surgery Monday and I suppose I should have done a blog about that, however I was just too busy changing diapers and getting things for both Heather and Christian, that I barely had time to study let alone post to the blog. I have a goal of completing the remaining four exams for MCSE(Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) by the end of 2008. There is going to be an opening with my company somewhere around the end of the year for a Desktop Support Tech, and I definitely want to have a shot at it.

Interesting occurrence

Well, I had originally planned to take a Microsoft certification test(070-290) this weekend at a testing center I have found to be open on Saturdays. Last time I took a test at this center it took forever for them to get my registration paper work ready prior to taking my test. So I thought I would be proactive and call the day before to give them a heads up. Good thing I did. I found out that the testing center wasn't going to be open and there was a miscommunication with Prometric regarding their availability. I found this whole situation to be rather interesting. I wasn't feeling too prepared for the exam even though I have read almost two books worth of material and spent plenty of time working with Windows 2003 Server. A similar thing happened to me last time I took a Microsoft exam. I went to the testing site, feeling unprepared and Prometric just happened to be having problems with their servers that day. I rescheduled my exam, took a few more days for preparation, and passed the test. I hope that is what will happen again this semester. Someone might consider these little bumps in the road as annoying or inconvenient, but I think they are heaven sent. I am not the type to drop out of a class or postpone an exam because I don't feel ready, so I feel like God is helping me on my way to do better. Even if I don't pass the exam the first time, I feel more prepared now than yesterday in taking the exam. We shall see, but I really feel good about what happened. The bad part was I really wanted to go and see my family and because gas prices are so high and Heather wasn't feeling well(besides the fact she has surgery on Monday), we elected not to go. I will get to see my family at our house later this week, but in some ways it is not the same. I guess there has to be a downside to everything.

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend was nice for us. We were able to spend time together and get other things done also. On Saturday I was able to repair the rest of the roof. We have a few places where individual shingles have either broken or came off. I spent more time than I should up on the roof as I have a test less than a week away, but I feel better knowing that it is done and there isn't anymore tar paper showing. There is a spot on the roof I might redo. When I initially tried to fix the roof I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. I still don't know much, but at least my eyes are accustomed to how the shingles are supposed to lay. I don't think I will have any problems with leaks right away, but it bothers me it wasn't done better. I have other things to worry about. Heather was able to get a lot of laundry done and is trying to get better so she can have gall bladder surgery the first week in June. Christian is just a little character. He always wants to be on his feet. Even tonight as we tried to bathe him, he refused to sit down. He would push back again me as I held him and stand up. It took both of us to bathe him. In thinking about the poll we had a while back on our blog, I believe that Christian will likely walk by 1o months. If he already puts that much weight on his legs now, I don't think he will have any trouble walking by that time. We are the ones who are going to have trouble. Heather is going to be way tired chasing after this little squirt. Who knows maybe something will happen and Christian won't walk that young, which could be a real blessing. Yesterday, on Sunday we went and saw some of the graves of family and also one of my best friends growing up. Because we are concerned with security we elected not to post the pics of the family graves, but I did want to post the pictures of Caleb's grave because there no inherent link between us . The oddest thing about the whole matter is that Heather's deceased family and Caleb are buried in the same graveyard though Heather and I grew up almost 300 miles away.

Christian bonding with his car seat.

Christian's latest game

Having fun......

Here are some recent pictures. We have been having fun lately but haven't updated our blog very often.

Heather shows off one of Christian's monkey blankets

Christian enjoys sucking on some tasty plastic beads, definitely high in food value.

Christian sits up by himself for at least a moment or two.

Christian in his walker, feet on the floor and ready to go