see Sam sick

Sam has had a terrible cough for the past week. He looks all cute and happy... and then he gets to coughing one of those deep hacking coughs, and you'd swear he sounds like a grown-up. I guess there's no such thing as a baby cough.

Taking it easy on Sunday morning.

Even when he feels sick, he's almost smiling.

Sam's first day sick.
It was probably the Cowboys bib that got him gagging.

Chowing down a Ritz.

It's hard to tell in this photo, but Sam hates the Dallas Cowboys. He's just wearing this bib because his Uncle Jonathan gave it to him for Christmas... and he's sick, so if he barfs all over it, it's sort of a blessing. (Just kidding Jonathan!)

"Touchdown!" For whoever Dallas is playing, of course.
Sam has great dreams.

In other news... we're smack dab in the middle of our last week in Kirksville. We've had a few months to mentally prepare, but it always seemed several weeks off. Now that it's almost upon us and we're counting down the days and having some final farewells with friends and co-workers, it's beginning to sink in. I don't think it'll fully hit us until Monday and Tuesday next week when the packers and movers arrive. Hopefully Sam will be feeling better by then.

We're blessed that we have a home to move to. We had become frustrated in our house hunting and had temporarily put our efforts on-hold when a beautiful home that was well out of our price range had a tremendous price drop. It's nicer and bigger than we need, and we don't have near enough furniture to fill it. But maybe we'll find a used pool table somewhere and make a game room in the basement!

We're also blessed that my dad has made several trips to our new home to get it cleaned and ready for us. Our family can attest that if Dad's lawyer career hadn't worked out, he could've been a professional cleaner... a real professional cleaner. He drove over at 6 this morning to unlock the doors so our carpets could be professionally cleaned. And then he stuck around all day so he could take apart the oven and refrigerator and clean every square inch. Then he went through all the kitchen cabinets and pulled out all the old contact paper. He called me at work around 5 this afternoon -- he was just then heading back home -- and he told me everything he'd accomplished. Dad has always struggled to say, "I love you" but he sure knows how to show it. Hopefully I'll find a way to pay him back. Or pay it forward to someone else.

I'm also blessed that Michele has put in so much time and effort to get our current home ready for sale. (It's still available if you know anyone interested.) She's also spent several days going through our closets and cleaning things out. We're amazed at how much stuff we've accumulated in 10 years of marriage. We're donating everything we don't need to a local mission. We like our local mission because they don't charge folks anything. People are just welcome to come and take anything they need.

Meanwhile I'm spending long days at work training my replacement here. We'll be back at the beginning of February so I can walk him through another month-end financial close. It's a lot for anyone to learn, and through it all I'm learning to be more patient.

We'll do our best to share our new address with everyone via e-mail, but if we accidentally overlook anyone, please send me a note at rgasaway@hotmail.com Thanks!