A Blog about the Blog

I'm so relieved that we have caught up to the present (or at least the very recent past) that I feel compelled to blog about something in the present tense. So. . .today is Saturday, 20 October 2007, and it's 12:25 IST. We had my usual Saturday pancake breakfast this morning, and I drank 5 large cups of coffee before noon. Feeling a bit jittery if you must know.

I'm also relieved to have a normal Saturday today. Last Saturday, I was called away on a case and I was taken out of town on several new cases this week, including one that had me out until nearly 10 pm last night. Since our return in July, our casework at the office has taken off. So, today will, I hope, be a day filled with Junior Monopoly, bike rides and diaper changes for Genius.

Much love, Philip

PS: Just in case it would violate blogging protocol not to post a picture, I have attached Auburn munching on Tim Tebow in the Florida game. I mildly enjoyed the reports of Auburn's win over Florida. I'm hoping my buddy Wade will have his Slingbox working so that we can watch Auburn-LSU this weekend.

Charles William Cubbon

I really don't understand what all the fuss is about. I thought we were clear that Houston had named this baby Mr. Genius yet my email inbox has been overflowing with..."so what's his name?" Mom arrived in Bangalore this past Saturday morning and she's been dying to know what to call him since she came. We are all, however, perfectly content to continue calling him all the derivations of Mr. Genius that exist...Genius, Geniosity, M.R., etc. But we did finally announce his name and thought we'd share with the rest of our friends and family...

Charles William Cubbon is named for two of our modern day heroes and one hero from history. Three heroes for one little boy. What a way to start out a life!

Charles is for my brother, Chase, who, humbly follows our God wherever He leads.


His faithfulness and gentleness are present in whatever he puts his hands to and we are constantly learning from his marriage, his parenting and the way he handles his friendships. I especially love watching Chase with the broken, the old or the small people of the world and the dignity and laughter that they have when they're with him. Just for the record, we also happen to think that he is one of the funniest men alive. We love you, Chase, and hope our little one has lots of time in your presence to both learn from you and enjoy you!

William is for my brother, Will, who also humbly follows God wherever He leads.


Will has been, and continues to be, such a faithful friend to Philip and me, and to each of our children. "Will is a 'noticer," as one of our kids astutely put it, and he is also a giver. He shows his care for us in the most thoughtful of ways. At the time we often are totally unaware, but our rearview mirror is full of moments in which Will is noticing our needs and quietly serving us in one way or another. Thank you, Will, for loving us so well and for your tremendous example of faith in Jesus that I hope your little namesake will learn from you. We love you!

Cubbon is for a man named, Sir Mark Cubbon, who was the longest reigning high commissioner in the Mysore kingdom of India.


Cubbon made Bangalore the capital of the Mysore kingdom and is credited with freeing the people of Mysore from serfdom. He was well loved by the people he governed and one of our major parks in Bangalore is named for him.

So there you have it! And what are we calling him? Well, that's for another post...(ie: we don't know!)

Mr. Genius Arrives!

Tuesday, October 9th at 10:13pm, Mr. Genius arrived! Six days late and weighing in at 3.4 kgs, it took us some time to do the conversion and officially tag his weight at 7lbs, 5oz...

It was obvious how many prayers were surrounding us as every detail went better than we could have planned. Labor began around 7pm and the kids were in bed and asleep shortly thereafter. Our friend Paige was able to get to our house and ride with us to the hospital. We had two fantastic interns, Keith and Wade, staying with us as well as Blair Burns, who was in from Chennai and staying overnight. That's three dads who took over the house, washed the supper dishes, made and packed lunch boxes, fixed breakfast the next day, and got everyone dressed and off to the hospital for a quick peek at Mr. Genius before school. Adelaide even arrived in a dress with her hair put up - impressive! These guys were amazing!

We did not leave for the hospital until later as labor had started rather slowly. We arrived at the hospital, with no traffic issues, at 9:30 and 43 minutes later we were happily holding our new little boy! Our OB handled everything beautifully and let us have the "American" delivery we were hoping for. We had been concerned about getting a private room for recovery and realized, after delivery, they were all full. We gambled and chose to stay in the "general ward" that has four beds and shared bathroom in it as it was empty that night. It turned out that the general ward stayed empty throughout our stay and was the (very large) "private" room we'd been praying for!

The next morning the kids came for a visit and that was priceless! Everyone was beaming as they headed out the door to tell their friends at school the news. We left the hospital early, after a check up from the OB and Pediatrician, and were home by 3pm - a total of 15 hours in the hospital. It was so nice to be at home to recover.

His name is yet to be announced...

Here are some of the pics...

First Day of School!

August 27th was a much anticipated day in the Langford home this year. It would be the first day of school for Eleanor (5th grade), Houston (2nd), and Drew (K) and excitement was mixed with slight anxiety. We had run into Houston and Eleanor's teachers, Gary and Kristee Boyd, at a bookshop just a week before and loved them both, not realizing they would be their teachers! Gary, Eleanor's teacher, is from Scotland and Kristee, Houston's teacher, is from Australia. They've been teaching at different international schools for the past ten years and have just come to India from an international school in Shanghai. They both seem fantastic. We got to meet Drew's teacher(s) at orientation day the Thursday before school started and were also thrilled with "Ms. Lily."

I tried not to be an obnoxious paparazzi mom, but I'm afraid I failed...

Train Trip to Chennai: August 10-12

Bangalore Welcoming Committee

 

When we arrived to our Bangalore home, we were greeted by thousands of honey bees that had made their home on the ceiling of one of our balconies. Before poisoning them, we enjoyed throwing tennis balls through their center before dashing back in the house for cover.

Sadly, none of the mice that were waiting for us agreed to pose for a photograph.

Paris: The Remix -- 3-4 July 2007

Home at Last! Phase III: June 3rd - July 3rd, 2007