Hello from Cincinnati! We arrived Sunday in the early afternoon and had a nice day filled with family and friends for the remainder of the day. We left Denver on Thursday evening and drove the 1,200 miles over the course of the next few days. Our first night was spent in Hays, Kansas. We didn’t get there until late in the evening and our stay was limited to our hotel room and a brief breakfast in the hotel.

Friday we arrived in Kansas City, Missouri in the middle of the afternoon. We met up with our friend Doni and her parents at one of my old favorites, the 75th Street Brewery. After a nice lunch we checked into our hotel and then later met up with Doni and more of our friends at the Brooksider for a beer. The noise level inside quickly got to Trey, so we moved down the street to our friend Susan’s house for some carry out Waldo Pizza and a couple of Boulevard beers.

Saturday was our longest day on the road as we covered the seven hours or so between Kansas City and Terre Haute, Indiana. We only stopped a couple of times along the way so it was still a pretty easy drive. We wanted to get as far as we could on this day so we didn’t have a long way to drive on Easter Sunday to get to Cincinnati. We had a nice dinner out in Terre Haute at M. Moggers and even managed to spend some time at the pool hotel, which Trey really enjoyed.

It has already been so nice to have our family around as Kim is transitioning back to full-time work. The days have already had more rain than I think we had in Denver in four years, but it is worth it to see Trey smiling more and more each day.

Sunday was our official going away party that some friends of ours put together  for us at Wash Park. The weather was a little cloudy but it never rained, though it has been a little rainier than usual recently. Mostly it was just a windy day with on and off sunshine. We were able to bring Trey to meet many of our friends for the first time, and overall he was pretty well-behaved. One thing we haven’t been able to figure out is how to get him to nap even with so much activity going on. That caused him to get a little fussy for a bit, but eventually he did fall asleep for a couple of hours. It was great seeing so many people come to send us off with one last party. We had plenty of food and lots of Denver Pale Ale on tap. As I posted on my  Facebook  and Twitter after the party, “Thank you Denver for being such a cool city and opening my eyes to the world. I will miss you but will visit often.”

Kim put some more pictures of Trey on our family website.  Some of these are nearly a month old and it’s amazing for me to see just how much he continues to change with each passing moment.  These days he prefers to be sitting or standing up (with help) rather than lying around.  If he is laying down he needs to be either actively entertained or sleeping.  He is  increasingly  vocal and seems to expand his “vocabulary” every couple of days.  It’s hard to believe that he is already over three months old.  I have a feeling the rest of his first year of life is really going to fly by.

One week from today will be my last day as a Denver resident. It will be a sad day for me as I have really grown to love this city. But at the same time I am very happy and excited for the next chapter of my life. I hope that I have some free time to enjoy the fine things the city has to offer before leaving, but I fear that we have so much left to do before we can pack the car and be on our way. This next week is surely going to be very busy and don’t be surprised if my blogging takes a slight hit. I’ll try to update each day but I don’t have much to write about other than our move as it is completely taking control of all of my free time.

Our upcoming move is really in motion now. Our current home in Denver is under contract and if everything else goes smoothly, we will close the sale on May 2nd. If you were waiting to put your bid in, well you waited too long. We also spent this past weekend in Cincinnati on a house hunting trip. We’ve been paying close attention to the market and available properties in our chosen neighborhood of Hyde Park over the past couple of months, so we had a small list of seven homes to go through with our Realtor. Of the seven properties we visited on Saturday, we clearly had 2 favorites, and they were actually both on the same street. Our Realtor is actually the listing agent for our top choice. We told him the highest we were willing to go on the house, and after he talked with the owners they have accepted this verbal offer. We are now working to get all the paperwork in order, but again things are looking very good on the purchase of a new house.

We took Trey to the zoo on Sunday afternoon. Visits to the zoo were a common thing when I was growing up, and I’d like the same to be true for our son. On this visit he slept most of the time, though he did wake up to see the gorillas. The gorillas were always my favorite part of the zoo as well. He decided he wanted to eat at that time, so I fed him a bottle as we watched for more gorillas in their outdoor enclosure. He also seemed to enjoy the bears and the arctic wolves too. It was an easy-going day full of sunshine and leisurely strolls.

Writing on my blog while connected to work has become a bit of a pain.   My website is being blocked  by websense because they have categorized it as Social Networking.   I think that’s a bit of a stretch.   I’ve emailed them to get it corrected.

Anyway, Kim and I took Trey to the doctor today for his two month check-up.   Everything went well and he is a growing boy.   Details of the visit are on kimandedjr.com.

One thing that has really struck me is that every time  they ask if he is doing something, whether it be putting weight on his legs or laughing, the answer always seems to be  yes.   He not only loves to put weight on his legs, he even tries to walk up our torsos.   Not only does he giggle, smile, and coo all the time, he put on a nice little display for the doctor full of every noise he knows.   Our little guy is advancing quickly.

Grandparents With Trey

My parents made their first trip to see Trey this weekend, bringing along my brother and his girlfriend.   They arrived Thursday afternoon and were already visiting with Kim and Trey by the time I had made it home from work.   I took Friday off to fully enjoy their trip with them.   And just as I thought it was over, we may get the chance to see them again tonight, since their flight back was canceled and they can’t get another one until tomorrow.   Eventually when they are back in town, my mom will have a ton of pictures to share, but here are a few I stole from her for now.

Tim And Melissa With Trey

I combined a couple of video clips from Trey’s first few minutes of life.   He was very vocal at the beginning, but once he settled down his eyes were already wide open and taking in his new world.   I repeat, he was very vocal at the beginning, so you may want to adjust your speakers before playing.   You have been warned…

Kim’s parents and brother Nick flew into town last night and will be visiting for the weekend.   Their visit reminded me that I neglected to mention some sad news that happened the same day that our son was born.   Kim’s cousin Patrick lost his long battle with cystic fibrosis around the same time as Trey’s birth on Sunday, January 9.   You may recall our participation in the Run Like Hell races the last couple of years, a 5K race on Halloween that benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.   With Patrick’s disease confining him to the hospital so often, these events were some of the few times that I got to spend with him.   Despite only knowing him for a few years, I will admit that he was one of the strongest people who I will ever know.

DIERSING  Patrick T., Beloved son of Jay and Denise Ryan Diersing. Devoted brother of Brad (Jennifer Kroger) Teeters and Dennis Diersing. Loving uncle of Riley Teeters, Harley Kist  and Emma Diersing. Dear grandson of the late Elmer & Lucille Diersing  and Florence & Thomas Ryan. Passed away Sunday, January 9, 2011. Residence Harrison OH. Age 21. Visitation in the John C. Brater  Funeral Home, 201 S. Vine St. Harrison OH 45030 Friday, January 14 from 9 AM until time of the funeral blessing at 11:30 AM. Memorials may be made to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 4420 Carver Woods, Cincinnati OH 45242.