Hot off the press

My children's book, "The Big Black Dog and the Big Blue Sea" got some really nice press in the current edition of Kansas Alumni Magazine.

As a Shocker it pains me to say that I may have to change my opinion about the Jayhawks, the Wildcats on the other hand …

Baby Rawson is here!

We are thrilled to welcome our new little niece to the world! Maisy Lou Rawson was born this morning by C-section in Kansas City. Erin looks fantastic considering what she's been through and Scott seems amazingly calm and very proud. Kailey is one excited big sister, too.

Maisy weighed in at an impressive 9 lbs. 8 oz. and is 20 1/2 inches long -- did we mention she was two weeks early? She has dark brown hair and slept through being passed among 13 eager visitors soon after her birth.

Pictures to come soon.

We have so much to be thankful for. We love you, Maisy!

Aunt Carrie, uncle Craig and cousin Park

Crib Notes: Month 6

Park turns seven months next week so it seems like a good time to finally get the six-month post up! As we blogged earlier, the sixth month was a big one for the little guy. While it was filled with firsts, it also still included lots of squeals (at high octaves and volume), using his hands more and more, and thinking about rolling over and then deciding to just stay where he is.

Here's the first visit to the pumpkin patch. Park was more excited about sitting in grass for the first time than he was the pumpkin.


Solid foods were a big hit. He got bored with the rice cereal and was happy to move on to veggies, though.


For the first time, Team Grandpa got to take care of Park and everyone survived just fine. Too bad no one got a nap, though.


Then there was the Phoenix trip: first time in a new time zone, first time to stay at a hotel, first time to swim and first time to travel in a minivan. Park was a fantastic traveler and we have no excuses not to travel with him in the future.




To see more pictures from the sixth month, visit Craig's online photo gallery. Password is "Peas" with a capital "P."

34 Years Young

What do Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Kimmel and Craig Lindeman all have in common?

A. All three have hosted or appeared on a talk show.
B. All of them are funny, or think they're funny, and get paid for it.
C. All three share the same birthday today.

If you guessed "C," you are correct!

As much as I love celebrating birthdays and enjoy the challenge of trying to surprise Craig one way or another, it's pretty much impossible to top the big 30 bash four years ago. In fact, four years ago tonight, this is what we were doing:



Our hair may be a little longer and we may look a little younger, but that's us in the front row at the U2 concert in Miami. The best birthday present a 30-year-old U2 fanatic could ask for. So how do you top that? You don't. It's pointless to even try. So Park and I settled on getting the old guy a new cell phone that he wouldn't be embarrassed to whip out and text with or tweet from. He'll also feel a little more globally responsible with every call ... or at least when he's ready to recycle it. Check out the new Samsung Reclaim. I'm sure Craig will share more about it in a later post. It's pretty cute and 80% recyclable. I also like the nature ring tones.



With the new phone in his pocket, Craig seemed to have a fairly decent birthday: work, volunteering at the Humane Society, dinner with family, homemade chocolate cake and some one-on-one time with the kid over lunch. And though he didn't have a front row view of U2 this year, he did have the pretty cool gift of being a dad.



Happy 34, Craig. Here's to many more.

Sabado Gigante

Saturday turned out to be a pretty big day for the whole Lindeman family.

First off, I had my big book signing for "The Big Black Dog and the Big Blue Sea" at Watermark Books here in Wichita and the event exceeded all of my expectations (thanks to reserve sales, I sold out of all of the copies I had within 18 minutes and as result had several people place orders).

Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us, Joey and I really appreciated it.



Then, after a few naps, Carrie and I took Park to his very first Wichita State basketball game. We'd been talking about it for at least a year, so it was weird to actually be carrying him into the arena. The little guy did great in spite of tip off coming right at bedtime and a huge assortment of new, extremely loud sounds (the next time we go we may need some headphones or ear plugs).



As Ice Cube would say, it was a good day.

Leaving his mark

If you're going to be in the neighborhood tomorrow (Saturday), Craig is having his first book signing of "The Big Black Dog and the Big Blue Sea" at Watermark Books (corner of Oliver and Douglas) between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Johanna, the illustrator, will also be there.

Stop by for a book, stay for lunch at the Cafe.