February 2012
5 posts
Game Day
Tonight is the first UNC-Duke game of the year. It’s always my favorite - the 9pm start time, the build up of anticipation, and oh-so-many of the recent games have been so close. In fact, I saw this amazing stat this week - if you look at the last 75 combined games between UNC and Duke, UNC has won 38 and Duke 37. In aggregate, the combined scores in these games is Duke 5,558 - UNC 5,557....
Charlotte Laughs
We caught this great video of Charlotte giggling tonight
Makes us think of a similar video of Miller from a couple years ago (when Miller wasn’t quite 3 months old):
Some more pics
From the last week or so:
tiny feet
big boy
daddy/daughter // mommy/daughter
January 2012
19 posts
Belated birthday party
On Sunday afternoon we attended the belated (by a little more than a month) birthday party for our niece Janie Grace. We had a blast and there will be more pics to come but just got this one from Jason and loved it.
3 Months!
Charlotte was 3 months old as of 1/22. She’s growing up fast!
And just because it’s fun, a pic from when Miller was about the same age:
Happy Birthday Jason!
Today is my brother-in-law Jason’s birthday, which makes it a great day to mention what a great dude he is and how thankful I am that we’re part of the same family.
I doubt Jason knows exactly how much I’ve gleaned from watching him over the years and looking up to him as a man a few years my elder. Jason and Tracy’s sister Jennifer married the year Tracy and I...
hmmmm....
Mommy just said she’s “smitten”. Anyone know what “smitten” means?
Pics from Dallas
As noted a while back, Tracy and Charlotte took a weekend trip to Dallas and did a mini-reunion/baby shower weekend with a bunch of old friends from our church from NYC. While in Texas, our friend and budding professional photographer Katie Markquart took some great pics. Here are a few - and if you’re in NYC and looking for someone to take family or baby pics, you should check out...
Tebow Fever
The talk of the sports world is most definitely Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos and their thrilling OT victory over the Steelers. During the game, Miller showed a little Tebow Fever.
Travel Weekend
Tracy and Charlotte hopped on a plane Friday morning headed to Dallas, Republic of Texas for the weekend. They are meeting up with a bunch of other girls (and a few babies) who were in our small group Bible study in NYC a couple years ago and to surprise our friend Shannon, who is very close to having her first child.
This was obviously Charlotte’s first flight so we were interested to see...
"The Best and Stupidest Thing We've Ever Done"
In college I had the distinct privilege of living at a place called “The Overlook”. In form, the Overlook was a sort of duplex-townhouse complex composed of eight 6 bedroom units which were side by side. In function, the Overlook turned into an unofficial, quasi-fraternity brotherhood. You see, junior year I lived at the Overlook with 7 other guys and right next door was a house of...
Happy New Year!
There was no crazy party for us this year as we celebrated the turn of 2011 into 2012. Instead, we got together with some friends for an “early” New Years Eve party. We had pizza and kids were there and we had our own countdown sometime around 8:00pm so we could make loud noises, blow those little kazoo things and ring in the New Year.
While it was different than years past, it...
Resolve 2012
We’ve just rung in 2012 and it’s time to set some resolutions for the year. A couple years back I shared my resolutions using a theme of “Running and Reading”. It was probably the first and only time that I’ve ever come up with a defined set of resolutions that I actually kept - I did meet my goal of reading 25 books that year and ended up running a ton of miles and...
New Toy
Miller is loving his new garbage truck
December 2011
26 posts
Christmas Rewind
We enjoyed a lovely Christmas, spending time with both families, and taking in all the fun that is Christmas-time with little ones. This was really Miller’s first Christmas to understand enough to get jazzed about what was going on. He was VERY into opening the gifts (both his and anyone else’s who would let him) - though he cared much less about what was inside the package as he did...
Shooting Hoops!
This weekend we all went over to Chapel Hill for the UNC game. It was technically Miller’s 2nd time in the Dean Dome - he was a spectator as a 20 day old for a game but spent it all in an Ergo Baby attached to Tracy. We were interested to see his reaction.
It took a little while for Miller to warm up to the loud noises and all the people. But eventually he seemed to enjoy it and even...
Doctor Appointments
We doubled down this morning on doctor appointments - did the 2 month check up for Charlotte at the same time as Miller’s 2 year old visit. It’s always fun to get the heights/weights and both kids did great. It was especially crazy to think about how different and older Miller felt compared to his visit just 6 months ago. And we are beyond grateful that we have two very healthy...
Sweater Day 2011
For those who have been following this blog for a long time, you’re familiar with The Sweater Fraternity. This group started in 2007 when I, along with a couple other guys at work, convinced people to wear sweaters on a particular day. ”Sweater Day” at the Bank was designed to be a celebration of all kinds of sweaters - good and bad, expensive and ugly - and a kick off to the...
Champions!
Yesterday afternoon we were glued to the TV watching the UNC Men’s Soccer team win its 2nd National Championship, a 1-0 thriller of a victory vs. Charlotte. The UNC program has been so close the last 3 years so it was fantastic to see them do everything necessary (including staving off an incredible barrage of shots in the final 5 minutes) to win the championship.
Photo credit: Marvin...
Buy toys that MATTER this Christmas
A little more than two years ago I shared a post about our friends Will and Rachel Haughey, who each launched separate entrepreneurial ventures with a few months of each other. Rachel’s coffee shop in Darien, CT is still going strong. And Will’s toy company, Tegu, has continued to grow and today is much stronger than ever before.
Every so often I am able to catch up with Will and...
More beautiful everyday
Happy Birthday Kelly!
Late November/early December is birthday season in the Mansfield family. In an 8 day span we’ve seen me turn 30, Miller’s 2nd and now my sister Kelly’s birthday, December 7th. We’re so excited that Kelly has been living in Chapel Hill and the fact that we’ve gotten to see her so much more lately. It’s a blast to be able to pop over and see “Aunt...
Char Char and Miller
We noted a while back that Miller has been smitten with his little sister since the first time they met. This relationship has, thankfully, continued to be very positive. “Char Char” - as Miller calls her - is very loved not only by her parents, but also by her big brother.
Pretty much every day when Miller wakes up in the morning he will get out of his bed, turn off his noisemaker,...
Janie Grace is 1!
Exactly one year ago, our niece Janie Grace Huitsing was born.
We rejoiced at her birth.
But we knew from the start that things would not be easy with Janie Grace. She came to the world with a known condition (a heart defect that would need to be fixed). And Janie G also has Down’s Syndrome.
We didn’t know what to expect.
All we knew is that it wouldn’t be the same....
Birthday song from Austin
We got a lot of phone calls and texts last weekend from people wishing Miller a happy birthday. But our favorite well wish came from Miller’s pal Austin from NYC (the son of our good friends Jordan and Trevor Smith). Austin was born about 3 months before Miller and the two were great buddies during the 7 months we lived in the city before moving. Miller has followed Austin’s path in...
Look who's starting to smile
Birthday Weekend!
Miller turned 2 this weekend. It was a wonderful, sweet, and busy weekend of celebrating our little boy. But before we get to the festivities, let me pause to say it’s a real joy to be able to share so many of our memories here on the blog. In recent weeks, with the addition of Char Char to the mix, this blog has taken a decidedly photoblog turn, with less updates on what’s going on...
double stoller
Today, Tracy had to go to a few stores at the mall. Which meant pulling out the double stroller for the first time of extended use with both kids. And since Charlotte isn’t old enough/big enough to sit normally yet, we had to use the car seat adapter. Which put Miller in the not quite as comfortable back seat.
We were worried he’d hate it. But judging by this pic, he seemed to be...
