Check out our new front door, letting in lots of nice light (featuring the international supermodel, Holly).

Honey, now about those shelves I was talking about…

Benjamin is always trying his hardest to sit up. Grunting and loudly complaining if he is anything except for bolt upright. So today I decided to crack open the bumbo and see what he thought of it….He was a little surprised and first, and then spent the next 5 minutes trying to figure out how to get out of it. More grunting and letting his feelings be heard!

I love my lamb!! It’s nose is now well worn in with love – all matted and wet and the beginnings of a bald spot.

Holding Dad’s favorite toy from when he was a baby – the coloured ball.

I have been playing with a phone app called Polarize that my new sister-in-law Alexis recommended to me, it’s kinda funky and fun!

Today (two months and three weeks old) was the first day that Benjamin successfully reached for something and managed to grab it. Sure it was a bit of a shaky grab, but it still counts!!! As a side note I think he is going to be a righty as the left hand was not as quick off the blocks.

…and of course as with anything Benjamin, it had to involve his mouth!

November has come and gone so quickly, most of it being spent getting used to our new schedule (or lack there of!) with Benjamin and the chaos we leave in our wake. The night feedings are getting more tolerable, the days are full of giggles and smiles. He is a strong little man, always trying to get somewhere. We are having to buckle him into everything now, and not leave him alone on anything for a second as he inches off things pretty quickly now – I break into a sweat just thinking about when he starts to crawl as I know that Benjamin will never be one to sit still…just like his Dad and Grandy! He has discovered his fists, drools like a champ, and has decided that naps during the daytime are for sissies. His personality is coming out stronger every day, and we are finding a very determined, yet smiley and goodnatured little lad that is always ready to smile and burrow his head into the crook of your neck.

We are learning all about the joys of reflux, gluten intolerance and food allergies. Thank goodness for Mark’s sisters Stephanie and Diana who have been a wealth of knowledge for us. Stephanie has first hand experience with gluten sensitivity, and we are very grateful for her lead in this confusing world of tests, genetics and learning a new way of eating. In spite of all these new challenges for Ben, he is growing at a rate of knots! At two months, he now clocks in at 14 pounds 4 ounces, and is very tall at 24 3/4 inches! He is in the 90+% for all of his measurements which is wonderful!  In one old lady’s words “he sure is husky!” And indeed he is.

Hamming it up:

Learning the indignity of bad hats (on a side note, Benjamin is totally going to be that kid who gets his tongue frozen to the lamp post):

Copy Cat:

Bedtime stories:

Nap attack! If Holly knew how close she was lying to Benjamin, she would have had a heart attack:

It’s not too late to do your grocery shopping — and if you’re looking for gluten-free alternatives, don’t miss her Thanksgiving Guide. The cranberry apple pie is delish!

It felt a little silly to dress Benjamin up for Halloween this year as he is so small, however we were given this hand knitted adorable little pumpkin hat and I could not resist getting the poor guy out there for a mini photo shoot in it with Mark’s carved pumpkin. Benjamin looks very unamused, and I am sure this is a photo that will resurface in years to come ie. 21st birthday praps! It turns out there is a very similar photograph of Mark taken with a pumpkin when he was a little older than Benjamin, so I am going to have to dig that out to do a little father-son comparison. Watch this space!

Now the next series of photos are not to be misunderstood! I want to point out that contrary to how it may look, we are NOT getting a lot of sleep at all. In fact, all that these photos show is that he is a darn cute and has a sweet fat tummy that I can’t resist. Enjoy!

Of course we have to start with Holly…

Daddy time:

Play time:

We have been totally spoilt by family and friends with the most generous gifts. Check out the beautiful handmade quilt from the Nanster!!! She made two miniature ones just in case we lose one and a crisis evolves! Good thinking!

Baby shoes, baby shoes, baby shoes – you can’t beat them:

Happy family – happy Mom…

happy Dad…

happy baby …

and it all falls apart when we get to the golden retriever! Poor thing, life is a little challenging for her at the moment. She can’t quite understand what all the fuss is about.

We were lucky enough to have Mark’s Mom Rosemary to stay for a few days. She was on official baby duty dashing between our house and Mark’s sister Stephanie’s house, as Stephanie had a gorgeous little girl called Sarah just two days before Benjamin arrived. Thank you for all your amazing help Rosemary, you made it all seem far less daunting!

The first bath!!! It took an awful lot of convincing to get me to give Benjamin his first bath, which we did when he was 1 week 1 day old. I didn’t want to wash off his newborn smell, but I knew I eventually would have to cave and do it! Luckily Rosemary  was here to show us the ropes. Benjamin was not as opposed to the water as I thought he would be, and he loved the olive oil massage afterwards. Much to all of our surprise, he came out blonde! His hair color reminds me of my Mum’s hair and I see a lot of my brother Myles in him.

Here are some random pics from around and about getting used to life with Benjamin.

Hanging with dad…

Almost caught that smile…..

From our site’s first post:

This is the new web-based home of Jude & Mark. Our family has recently expanded and now includes an aging golden retriever and three-mode newborn baby boy, Benjamin.

We’ve got family and friends scattered around the world, and we will be using this fancy little website to broadcast news, photography, and more from our home at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Enjoy!

In Saratoga Springs, New York, reports The Saratogian, controversy has erupted over the Marino family’s desire to let son Adam ride his bike to Maple Avenue Middle School.

Before the first day of classes last week, officials actually placed calls telling parents not to permit kids to bike or walk. The Marinos, regular bike riders, defied the “rule” — school officials can’t dictate how kids get to school any more than they can tell parents which make of car to drive. They were greeted outside by school personnel and a New York state trooper.

World Changing continues with more ridiculousness.

The Marinos aren’t alone. A recent New York Times back-to-school piece profiles similar cases in which parents who permit their kids to walk and bike are met with raised eyebrows, or worse. One mother in Mississippi was threatened with a child endangerment charge for letting her 10-year-old walk a mile to soccer practice after passersby saw the boy and called 911. Another in Vancouver, British Columbia, was left waiting and worrying for her first grader after school officials prevented him from walking himself home — a distance of six houses.

I vividly remember walking to and from school each day from first to sixth grade with my younger brother, and loved every minute of it. Perhaps my mother was worried about the two of us being abducted. I know I’ll worry about Benjamin when it’s his turn. Looking back, it felt like a five mile walk. Google Maps tells me the route is only 0.6 miles — 12 quick minutes! The fresh New Hampshire air early in the morning was energizing as a little guy, and nothing felt better at the end of the day than breaking free from the nuns that taught us social studies and geometry.

It is sad to see schools feel the need to put these types of rules in place. These days, it’s more important than ever to get kids outside away from the dreaded television, video games, and Internet… walking, riding or chasing each other down the street. The trick, of course, is moving to a house that leads to school up-hill both ways.

Weighing in at 8 pounds 12 ounces (3.9kg), 23.5 inches long (59.69 cm), he is a healthy and hefty little boy. He is a lot bigger than I expected (although it explained my enormous stomach) and our doula said she had never seen such a long baby delivered before! He is just beautiful and has us totally enchanted.  We feel so blessed that he is not only finally with us, but is also so healthy and strong.

What a blessing indeed!

We’ve got family and friends scattered around the world, and we will be using this fancy little website to broadcast news, photography, and more from our home at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Enjoy!

I’ve been listening to Joe on Red Sox radio my whole life, and with any luck, he’ll keep covering the games long into my unborn child’s life — similarly to how Johnny Most covered the Celtics until he practically couldn’t talk anymore. We’re still a month away from meeting Baby Healey, but I’m of the opinion you can never start preparing someone too early to become a member of Red Sox Nation.

I’m very proud to share that she has just launched a brand-new version of her successful website featuring a new design, fresh navigation, new sections, and even a shop. Stop on by at glutenfreebynature.com, and let her know what you think of the new digs.

ALA #270 has more work-from-home tips, including links to web-based tools, pre-fab home office buildings for your yard, and more.

How on earth do I actually create really delicious food without the gluten ? Food that is still fun to share with the people you love – even the non-celiacs?! This blog has become a chronicle of my culinary journey. This is how much I care about food. About my family. About what a privilege it is to create something in the kitchen that can be shared with the people you love.

Stephanie’s an excellent chef, and these recipes are no doubt winners. They’re quick, easy, healthy and wholesome. We tried her beer bread and lemon dill dip today — yum.

Diabetes is treatable with the proper medication, but you cannot beat it nor can you erase the effects it has on your body.

Diabetes is anything but minor. It wreaks havoc on the entire body, affecting everything from hearing and vision to sexual function, mental health and sleep. It is the leading cause of blindness, amputations and kidney failure, and it can triple the risk for heart attack and stroke.

“It is a disease that does have the ability to eat you alive,� said Dr. John B. Buse, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine who is the diabetes association’s president for medicine and science. “It can be just awful — it’s almost unimaginable how bad it can be.�

More at well.blogs.nytimes.com.

Our inflation is now over 1 million %. Cash exchange rate was yesterday sitting around Z$865,000,000 to 1 US$, and I expect it will be higher today. We now have “banknotes” in 5, 25, and 50 billion $ denominations. Zim is in a crazy mixed up state.

Zimbabwe’s presidential election was held this past Saturday and media organizations around the world are widely reporting the end is possibly near for the country’s ruthless dictator, President Robert Mugabe. Although it’s entirely unclear what transpired this Tuesday, one thing is for sure: all of us anxiously awaiting the results of the election are forced to wait yet again.

Both sides — the ZANU-PF and MDC — are still playing against one another. Some high-ranking ZANU-PF officers have told reporters that Mugabe is meeting with aides and the MDC to determine an “exit strategy” while the MDC spokesman says he has heard nothing of such meetings. (Surprise, surprise.)

Judes and I are watching closely on the BBC and other world news sites, and have our champagne on ice if Mugabe’s day has finally come.

The NY Times reports:

The government of President Robert G. Mugabe, battered by hyperinflation, said it would begin issuing new currency beginning Friday: $1 million, $5 million and $10 million notes. The highest existing note, introduced just last month, is $750,000. The new $10 million note is the equivalent of about $4 in American currency [emphasis added, Ed.] at the black market exchange rate used by most Zimbabweans. A hamburger at an ordinary cafe costs about $15 million in Zimbabwe money, or $6 American. Cash has dried up and long lines have become a feature at banks and A.T.M.’s.

We’ve got family visiting with us this week between African hunting and safari shows in Dallas and Reno, and they’re returning to Zimbabwe at the end of January after being in the States for nearly a month. How things have changed since they left.

Early this morning, Zimbabwe time, my wife’s mother, Jane, passed away. While we struggle to grasp the events that have transpired since we went to sleep last night, we’ve spent the past 4 hours on this beautiful Thursday morning crying, laughing, and remembering a life not lived, but truly lived. Jane McCallum, 68, was, in a word, magnificent. And she will be missed. We travel back to Africa tomorrow to say goodbye and to celebrate a life of love.

Jude and I traveled to Zimbabwe earlier this year; here’s a brief collection of some great photographs of Jane from that trip.

Of course, it wasn’t until March 20, 2003 when I finally realized something wasn’t quite right. From that day until now, I’ve never been able to connect the dots between Osama bin Laden’s agenda¹ and Haliburton’s bottom line. I don’t intend to turn this into a political argument about why Allied countries invaded Iraq, and I’m never going to. But when I woke up this morning, poured myself a cup of coffee and caught some of the national headlines, one story in particular caught my attention.

I’ve been to Arlington National Cemetery. I’ve run my hands across some of the 58,000 names on the black granite wall in Washington. I’ve walked on Omaha Beach and stood amongst the 9,387 white marble crosses atop that cliff in Normandy. I’ve met a handful of war veterans. I’ve heard a Virginia man, who was on Omaha Beach in June 1944, tell the most horrific stories of events that transpired on that cloudy day no one could ever truly recreate, not even Spielberg. One of my best friends was a soldier in both Afghanistan and Iraq. I have a tremendous respect for those men and women who have served or continue to serve in our Armed Forces.

Which is why the story of The Hubbard family, of Clovis, California, turns my stomach. Jeff and Peggy Hubbard have three sons, two of which have died in Iraq. The third son, who was ordered in to secure the scene of a helicopter crash in which his brother, Nathan, was a victim, was sent home last week as part of the Army’s Sole Survivor policy. Nathan was just 30 days from returning home for good.

It’s a tragic story, one similar to that of the Niland Brothers which Spielberg loosely used for Saving Private Ryan. I can only hope George W. Bush, and other policy makers, try — no matter how impossible it actually must be — to imagine what it must be like for Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard this week. Maybe then they’ll realize lives can’t be bought (not at any price), and we should end this war before it’s too late.

1. I watched a show on the National Geographic Channel a few night’s ago entitled, “Inside 9/11.” At the end of the 2-hour episode, Osama bin Laden was shown hiding in the mountains of Pakistan. With sounds of American bombs exploding in the distance, a western reporter interviewed him. Bin Laden’s last sentence, translated on-screen as a subtitle, read something like this: “Americans love life. We love death. That’s the major difference between us, and the reason we will win.”↩

David Pogue, from the NYTimes, wrote:

With 525 million photos posted so far, Flickr may be the largest photo site. But its strengths are social interaction and personal expression, like a visual blog. For example, 75 percent of Flickr photos have been made available for public browsing, commenting, downloading and subscribing.

People are weird. Simply put. In the past twenty-four hours, we’ve come across a handful of Flickr users who’ve marked some of our (and some of our friend’s) photos as favorites. Now, let it be known these aren’t photographs capturing beautiful sunsets or the views from a 14,000’ peak or us sitting on a bench in our garden laughing. Conversely, nor are they “Miss New Jersey� style shots or anything otherwise compromising to our integrity – they’re frozen moments in time in which the focus happens to be on a female. And that’s where it gets creepy.

Entire Flickr accounts are dedicated to saving photographs of women – old, young, tall, short, skinny, overweight, blonde, brunette, clothed, nude, sitting, standing – as their favorites. Their profile thumbnails are commonly flaming pitchforks or skulls and crossbones.

I chased down some help topics on Flickr looking for an answer. This made all of us generally uncomfortable. Ironically enough, we’re not alone. Unfortunately, Flickr doesn’t offer much in terms of shelter. You can block the person, but does that really protect someone?

We ultimately decided to immediately lock down our entire Flickr account and limit it to friends and family only. To see what photographs we’ve taken, we have to invite you to be one of our contacts. And how sad this is. Especially when 1) it’s fun to share, 2) it’s fun to be part of such a large community of talented photographers, and 3) there’s a ton of people out there making a lot of money by doing nothing on Flickr.

Proceed with caution.

It’s been an absolutely shocking few weeks in Zimbabwe. And the last few days on the news wire has revealed a country not in desperation but in complete chaos. It started when President Robert Mugabe decided to force retailers, grocery stores, gas stations — every person or business that sells something — to cut their prices back to levels found a month before. In nearly every case, this meant slashing prices by as much as 75% forcing business owners to take tremendous losses on their products.

Inflation in June reached 10,000%. Now the middle of July inflation is reported to have reached 20,000%. Mugabe doesn’t practice “bookish economics” — instead his own version which employs new tactics to stave off inflation. Of course, it’s having the reverse effect. In light of recent economic changes (to put it mildly), Mugabe has stated his government will no longer be releasing economic data to stave off embarrassment.

I read this morning widescreen HDTVs at Makro (think Sam’s Club or Costco) which were selling for $800 million Zimbabwean previously could be had for as little as Z$1 million.

Car dealerships are getting hit the hardest. A US$30,000 car was selling for US$60 (if you’re exchanging money on the black market).

Just a few weeks ago, simple purchases like a bus fare across Harare (the capital city) cost riders more than they could earn in a week. People waiting in queues to buy goods held their breath hoping the price wouldn’t change dramatically by the time they reached register. A tire salesman could only quote in 30-minute intervals; the value of the money was changing too quickly.

Anyone trying to turn a profit — or sell their goods at a break-even price — during the indefinite price cuts imposed by Mugabe’s government is arrested. Hundreds were jailed last week alone. Police line the aisles at grocery stores enforcing — in some cases with brute force — Mugabe’s orders.

Just when we think it’s impossible for the country to slip further into the world’s deepest economic recession — ever — Zimbabwe’s Mugabe pulls another rabbit out of his hat and shocks the world with his stupidity and callous treatment of humankind.

I hate to see children suffer, but in the hope of spreading some good news, try this: U.S. to Expel Zanu PF Chiefs’ Children

I wonder what will happen next. And, when people will start caring enough to actually step in and save this magical country and it’s starving people.

On the road again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been
Seein’ things that I may never see again,
And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

My wife and I have decided to leave our beloved home in Charleston for the foothills of the Rocky Mountains — Boulder Colorado. It’s with much excitement we embark on this journey, indeed it’s a brand-new chapter in our lives. Reading this, you might be wondering why I’d leave my post as “UI guy” at SPAWAR Systems Center Charleston. I’ve wondered myself. After all, it is a good job and the office is full of good people. But I’m ready for a change. And my wife, Jude, is ready, too.

I was fortunate during my super-short job search — which lasted only 5 days — I didn’t actually have to do all that much. I loaded up Word, updated myself on paper, saved as a PDF, and hit AuthenticJobs.com to see what was out there. When I was writing a short note to a company in Boulder with my resume attached, I hadn’t any idea just a few days later I’d be sitting in a room with a mountain view listening to a man offer me a new job. What’s funnier is it took my wife and I only a day or so to accept the position and to start readying to uproot our lives.

I start as the newest member of the design and development team at Wall Street On Demand in early July.

So we leave for Boulder early next week. We’ll go this way (see map), camping in off-the-beaten-path locations in the mountains and in the plains. We can’t wait.

See you on the other side. For now, we say au revoir — but not goodbye — to Charleston. We will be back.

My wife and I just returned — on the 20th of May — from 17 of the most glorious days one could hope to experience. Our travels brought us once again to the heart — and desperately slow heartbeat — of southern Africa: Zimbabwe. Those of you who know us well are familiar with our travel habits; this trip to Zim is nearly an annual occurrence and one we look quite forward to each and every time. Tales of misadventure aside — which include a destructive elephant and disgruntled hippo in separate attacks — Zimbabwe was different this time.

We kicked off our journey back on the 4th of May taking off from Charleston for London (via Washington). We’d planned a few nights in the U.K. to see some friends and to break up the long-haul flights on both the outbound and inbound trips — and this turned out to be the perfect plan. It’s just over 18,000 miles en route¹ when flying from the southeast United States north through Europe and then down the length of the African continent. Just over 20 hours in the air.

When we arrived in Harare around 9am local time, Judes and I queued for our Zim visas (one of the cash-strapped government’s legal ways of collecting foreign currency), grabbed our over-stuffed bags, paid Z$10,000² for parking, and headed off into the Blue.

On the airport road into Harare, passing under the Independence Arch erected in 1980, Judes and I remarked there was a different feeling in the country this time. As the country’s Tourism Authority says:

“Zimbabwe calls upon you for a moment, to reflect on the wonders of human creativity and civilisation.”

We couldn’t agree more. And no one knows it better than my wife, Jude. (She was born and raised in the country.) The landscapes and offerings of Zimbabwe are no doubt some of the best in the world.

It’s coming into winter in the southern hemisphere — a beautiful time of the year to be in Africa. But there were less cars on the road. There were fewer people around. It seemed less chaotic. Less desperate. It was almost calm. We’re unsure why though. The city of Harare — in fact, the entire country of Zimbabwe — is starving. Food is short. Cash is even shorter. Fuel is nearly impossible to obtain. There’s a dire need for foreign exchange to purchase essentials. Robert Mugabe’s failure as president and recent bad press³ has spawned new resolve in the people of Zimbabwe. They love their country and they want it back.

This was our holiday after all, and we intended it to be just that. There’s much happening in our lives at the moment — which I’ll write more about later — so Jude and I were much in need of a few days disconnected from it all. For myself especially, a trip to a land so distant is a welcome respite. Here in America, everyone is ever-connected to their computers, televisions, mobile phones, text messages, flashing billboards. Zimbabwe certainly has these — natch, some of these — facilities, but we push ourselves to steer clear of any temptation to check email, voice mail or even the news. Zimbabwe’s vast countryside is one of the last remaining places on this planet where one can truly escape — not a single soul possessing the ability to find you — unless you want to be found, of course.

We spent our first few nights northwest of Harare with family before lightly re-packing our bags, hitching up the boat, and grabbing our Tilleys heading off to Lake Kariba. Kariba is purely majestic in nearly every regard. It is a man-made lake covering an area 2,150 square miles (5,580 sq km). It is 140 miles long and over 20 miles wide, and supports 200 billion tons of water behind the hydroelectric plant built into the Kariba Dam wall.⁴ Both Zimbabwe and Zambia share the lake’s borders –Zim on the south and Zambia to the north. It’s clear, however, most of the fervent wildlife around Kariba is on the Zimbabwean side. One can find almost every type of bird — some 300 species — or animal imaginable there; from the cormorant to the Nile crocodile and from the fish eagle to the African bush elephant or buffalo. In our few trips to Kariba, including this most recent one, we’ve been lucky enough to see it all.

Throughout the rest of our time in Zim, we enjoyed our days and nights close with family. Indeed, those were the best of days. Jude’s brother, Myles — notably one of Zimbabwe’s best hunters and safari guides — and his wife have a new baby girl. She’s just a few months old now, but she’s certainly filling her shoes!

Pictures speak 1,000 words

While I could write countless pages detailing our many stories from this trip, I’ll let the photography speak for itself. Visit JudeAndMark.com for the slideshow.

1. According to TerraPass.com’s cool carbon emissions flight calculator. 18,500 miles each way. ↩
2. When we arrived in Zimbabwe, the unofficial exchange rate was US$1 to Z$32,000. Parking was US$0.33.↩
3. Mugabe’s cronies have arrested, assaulted and otherwise abused members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the only opposition party in Zimbabwe. Also, Australia’s PM, John Howard, banned his country’s cricket team from traveling to Zimbabwe in September 2007 because of the downward spiral caused by President Mugabe. Howard also called the 83-year-old a “grubby dictator.” Yeah, there’s more, too.↩
4. Source: Wikipedia ↩

The Marine Corp Times has the story.

Shortly after I finished writing this post, I heard through the grapevine this friend of mine received “the exception,” and is not being reactivated. Phew.