Arabelle found her first love. Her eyes light up every time she sees it. While her mother and I cannot get a real smile out of her, it seems to work every time. The ceiling fan is Arabelle's first love, and she is smitten. It is quite funny to watch her face. We do not have a true giggle out of her yet, but the smiles are awesome.

Next weekend, all three of us will finally meet Alice. It still blows my mind we had a child only six days after my sister and her husband. Alice will be baptized at our home church, St. Leo's of Winston-Salem. Marian asked me to serve as a God Father (there will be two, as I will share the duty with Darryl's brother Ken). Hopefully Marian realizes what a true honor this is. My little niece will grow to be an amazing young woman, and we are thrilled to finally meet her.

If you do not watch Breaking Bad on AMC, you are missing out. Go to amazon and order the seasons. It is a fantastic show. So well written, so dramatic. As much of a fan as I am of Mad Men, I do think Breaking Bad may be the best written show on tv. Ridiculous it took me until this past summer to realize this. AMC makes great shows. We are pumped for The Walking Dead, which returns this Sunday. Zombies really aren't Courtney's thing, but she loves the show. AMC has a new show, Hell on Wheels, which looks promising too. Needless to say, I will watch any series they put on the network.

After a 0-2 start, the Dawgs head to Nashville 4-2. Hopefully they pick up the win, utilize the bye week to rest some guys and head to Jacksonville with momentum. There was hope we would take the little one to Nashville to meet some of our good friends in the area. Nashville still holds a special place in our hearts, and we will take her there one day. With the visit to NC the very next week, the calm weekend ahead without travel will be nice.

Mama Olin came over for dinner tonight with our nephew, Chance. We probably do not say this enough to any of our parents, but we have been so well supported through these first 8 weeks of parenthood. All 6 of Arabelle's grandparents have been thoughtful, caring and responsive. We are lucky children, and Arabelle is a lucky little grandbaby.

Only two more weeks at home for Courtney. We've talked about it some, but not much. For obvious reasons she really does not enjoy discussing it. I get it. I struggled leaving them after only two weeks. Since she has been home all eight weeks, I imagine it will be more difficult. We have a great daycare picked out. The real challenge will be juggling our schedules now.

Anyone want to start an American Pickers/Storage Wars business with me? Those shows strike a cord, and I'm not quite sure why. Courtney would say it is because lit eans on my pack-rat tendencies. No argument there, but it is also quite interesting to learn the history behind the items they find. Traveling back roads of Georgia, I've been tempted to stop and do something similar.

Date night with my girls tomorrow. Courtney and I haven't been to dinner with Arabelle by ourselves. We've gone out a few times but always with friends or family. Friday night will be our little date night. We need to get out of the house a little, it is an away game weekend and we want to prove Arabelle isn't land-locking us. We hear mixed messages from friends who are parents ... some do not dare do it, others take their kids everywhere. Certainly age and temperament are factors. While she cannot walk or really talk, we are going to take advantage.

Today, Mom and Dad celebrate 36 years of marriage. Research is not my thing, but it would be interesting to know the amount of marriages which make it that long. Let's be honest though, can you really be married to someone for 36 years without bumps in the road?

My parents were raised in the "old school." Family is important, and you do what is needed to protect it. Mom and Dad raised us to work hard and respect our elders, as that is what they were taught growing up. They both made countless sacrifices to be a couple and raise a family. They've never told us about their sacrifices, but one has to imagine there are quite a few. Courtney and I are learning that now as we begin to raise little Arabelle.

Years of sacrifice provided great opportunities for us. We attended St. Leo's, a private catholic grade school in Winston-Salem. Erase the thoughts you might have of a 900-year-old nun beating us with giant rulers. It didn't happen. We learned a great deal about respecting our classmates and community. Religion aside, it was a fantastic experience which cost them time and money. Mom and Dad made those sacrifices so we could have strong educations and be in a controlled environment.

Time and money also went into the countless family vacations. We weren't the type to go "tropical" on our vacations. We hit the beach almost every summer, but there was a hint of history tied to the rest of our vacations. Multiple trips to Washington, DC, as well as so many visits to civil war battle sites. Mom and Dad have tried to provide as much culture as possible.

Sports, music, extracurricular activities ... they allowed us to attempt anything we wanted. Well, expect baseball. It always interfered with soccer. Silly rec sport scheduling. Regardless, we were encouraged to try things. Even to this day, Mom and Dad encourage us with our careers and outside interests. My role in ARGUS would have died long ago without their encouragement.

Sacrifices were also made in order to provide us with cars and tuition for college. One could argue we were spoiled. There could be some truth. Older now, we realize they provided so we had opportunity. In so many ways, we were and still are a fortunate family.

So 36 years are marked today. Despite any little bump in the road, any argument, Mom and Dad can be thankful. They raised two (fairly) well-adjusted kids. Those kids have gone on to careers they enjoy, married their loves and now had kids of their own.

Mom and Dad, congratulations on 36 years. We love you, and are thankful for creating this family.