Today, we went back down town to Waterfront Park. Our intention was to go to Charlestowne Landing, but got there 45 minutes before it closed. Who knew a state park closed at 5pm? Here are some of the best pictures. You can see them all on my flickr page.

Do you think putting our 10 day old on a roller coaster was a bad idea? Is 10 days too young?

Whoa!

Here are some more pictures of Parker’s adventures in his first nine days:

Parker in Mommy’s car:

Parker’s first doctor’s appointment:

Parker at the beach with Gigi and Papaw:

…and a nap, of course.

Parker went so many places this week and had so many visitors. Here are some of the highlights:

First we went to the beach:

Mimi came to visit:

We went to Hymans:

Bonner brought us food:

And Parker took a nap:

For more pictures, visit my flickr page here.

The answer to “WhereisJohnWilson” today is “taking a nap.” Parker (who is starting to get the nickname “Bubbie”) has started a culture of napping at the Wilson household. We’ve done some serious powernapping, and it seem that whomever is holding him gets infected with the nap. Here’s the proof:

Shhhh…. for the full set visit my flickr page.

Click here for the whole set.

Welcome to the world (John) Parker Wilson. You gave your mom one heck of a time not wanting to come out, but at 3:47 today Dr. Oakman pulled you out via C-section. You weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and were 19.75 inches long.

For the whole set of pictures (I haven’t erased any, so there are alot to see) go to my flickr page.

This page will change often as I edit pictures. Check back often!

If you know me, you know I’m not very patient. Waiting for the birth of our son has been a long process full of ups and downs. At first we thought he was coming at Week 36. My wife has gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia, and the doctor thought we’d be real lucky to make it to 36 weeks. This was the last week of January and my wife’s doctor said that he could come at any time, and she’d be real excited if he made it to 37 weeks. At this time I had to stop traveling (traveling is basically my job) and wait it out.

Thirty-seven weeks and came and went without even a serious contraction. Which became a problem. We had one scare when Parker decided it’d be a good idea to take a day off from beating up mom’s insides which caused a trip to the Emergency Room. Everything was ok, and still no Parker.

If you’re Parker, why would you want to come out? You don’t know how bored you are. It’s warm, you don’t have to wash the dishes and you have free food coming in all day (no chewing required). If you can keep from rolling over on your umbilical cord then life is golden. Personally, I don’t blame him.

Week 38 and 39 have been super slow. Technically, after 37 weeks you’re full term, so all the growing now is just gravy. The doctor thinks he’ll be around 8 pounds (of pure muscle) which I’ve learned is a pretty good size kid.

Because of Amanda’s high blood pressure she hasn’t been allowed to work and was basically on what I call, “house arrest.” The only exercise she got was running to the bathroom 40 times a day. I took advantage of this time to try to give Parker mini pep-talks. I started by asking him nicely to come out and play with us. I was encouraging and and kept my voice quiet. Then I tried talking to him like a football player, “You can do it! Let’s go man, pick up the pace.” When that didn’t work, I got religious on him, “Run to the light.” Nothing.

I found out this morning that Parker is holding my wife’s bladder hostage. He says he’s not coming out until all of his terms are met, and he’ll keep squeezing every 45 minutes until we do. Boy do we have a surprise for him on Wednesday!

To see the most up to date pictures, stay tuned to this website on Wednesday!

All pictures taken by me! See the whole set here or my entire collection here.

Dear South Carolina,

I hope this letter finds you well. Other than the Governor and his soon-to-be ex-wife on the television a bunch, things here in the “Low Country” have been going well. We’re getting our very own Boeing plant, the South East Wildlife Expo this weekend marks the beginning of the tourist season, and the recent oyster festival was one of the biggest yet. Not only those state-wide events, but something in the water caused my wife to get pregnant and now we’re expecting our first child, who will be a native!

I’m writing you today because I need to ask some questions about the pact we made when I moved down here. I promised you I’d pay my ridiculous tax rate, put up with the 107 degree summer days (it’s a wet heat), and learn to eat fish and all you had to do was hold up your end of the bargain.

You see, South Carolina, when all of my friends and family up north ask why I moved down here, I tell them it’s because it never gets below 50 in the winter. They’re buried in snow up to their eyeballs and I’m going for a jog in my shorts. I love to send them pictures of palm trees, and they think it’s funny when I tell them my friends from “down here” put on their heavy coats when the temperature goes below 50.

Now here’s the part I don’t understand. All the great times we’ve spent together, and when I’m not looking, you let it snow. LET IT SNOW?! Not to mention it is 30 degrees. You know no one knows how to drive when it gets like this, and you know that my Facebook page is going to be full of people who haven’t seen snow in ten years building snowmen and I’m going to have to say how cute their kids look… but I have to fake the smile because all I can think about is the fact that YOU LIED! I don’t even know if my house can stand up to this snow, the pipes could be bursting, the shingles could be falling off, my tree is already shedding branches…

South Carolina, do you know that they canceled school yesterday at 1:30pm because it was going to snow at 9pm? That is what I am dealing with down here. In West Virginia they go to school as long as the kids can see over the snow drifts. I swear the super-sized mortgage payment I pay each month has a “no snow” clause. I’m not even sure my hybrid car will turn on. I haven’t “warmed up” a car in five years and I don’t own a shovel, a scraper or a bag of salt.

To say I’m mad at you is an overstatement. Let’s call it “disappointed.” You promised me things that you haven’t been able to deliver on, and I’m not one to forget quickly. I can’t wait til it floods downtown Charleston today.

Cold with wet feet,
John Wilson

P.S. DirecTv doesn’t work in the snow. Lame.

See the rest of the photos at my flickr page here.

Today I took my wife with me on the photowalk. On the way downtown we stopped at the Ritz Photo. It was like Christmas. I got:

• Tripod
• Neutral Density Filter
• Multi Coated UV Filter
• Circular Polarizer

I also figured out I have a huge passion for chasing squirrels around parks and taking their pictures. The squirrels at Battery Park are especially fun, because they aren’t afraid of humans.

View the shots below in the slideshow and post your favorite in the comments. I will pick one reader at random to receive a print of their favorite in the mail.

You can view the whole set here.
Here are a few of my favorites: