1)  We moved if you didn’t know prior to this notice.  We moved from Cary, North Carolina to Greenville, North Carolina at the end of the year.

2)  I got a new job as a teaching instructor at East Carolina University in the College of Business teaching accounting.  I absolutely love my new job and I love the new hours I keep.  I teach Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and have office hours Mondays and Wednesdays.  I start my day at 8 am and end it at 3:30 pm on my “long” days and on Fridays, I’m done at noon.  I will start doing tax work tomorrow on Tuesdays and Thursdays and half day on Saturdays.  I’m looking forward to this work as well and learning new things!

3)  Brian got a new job.  He will be teaching social studies at North Lenoir High School, which is actually his alma mater.  He starts as soon as he gets through all the paperwork which he is currently trying to expedite along by driving what he has completed to the Board of Education tomorrow.

4)  Gwyn started walking, about 90% of the time.  She has been walking for a while now, like since Christmas… holding someone’s hand or the wall.  She has progressively gotten more confident and hasn’t fallen too much.  She was flying around the house last week but was still leery to let go the wall, until this weekend when she just took off walking all over the place!

5)  Gwyn is going to be either a belly dancer, football referee, or an engineer when she grows up.  She LOVES to dance and I don’t think it could ever be the ballerina type dancing… she’s got way too much rhythm.  My guess is that she will be a belly dancer or something along those lines… see video at the end of the post!  So if she isn’t a dancer, then maybe a football referee as Brian has taught her to signal a touchdown.  So if you say “TOUCHDOWN!”, Gwyn puts her arms straight up in the air over her head!  Too cute in my opinion.

And if neither of those two occupations work out, then she is sure to be an engineer.  I was worried about having a girl… I wouldn’t know what to do with a girly girl.  Well, problem solved (or I hope so) because Gwyn doesn’t seem to be a girly girl!  She LOVES to examine things and anything new that she hasn’t seen before.  She will spend 30 plus minutes examining something new!  She doesn’t care too much for stuff animals or dolls.  Brian put a stuffed animal in her stroller she got for Christmas.  She immediately chucked the stuffed animal across the room and tried to put things like building blocks in the seat instead.

6)  Gwyn started daycare today.  I really like this in-home daycare facility that we chose and I’m looking forward to her time there.  Today was her first day, so nap time didn’t go too well considering how she has never had to nap at any certain time and has always done so in her crib.  Today was from noon – 2pm and on a cot.  I think that she will get used to it by the week’s end.  We have at least been trying to get her to nap from noon – 2 pm this past week in preparation.

7)  We are still unpacking and probably won’t post pictures of our new digs for quite some time.  We are hoping to get a storage building this weekend to help make room for storage type things outside and room for normal type stuff inside.  I’m sick of having a mountain bike in our dining room!  I’m also quite sick of eating on the couch!  This place is tiny!  I miss our old house.  The dogs and cats are always under our feet… and now add to that a 1 year old who is starting to walk.  Did I mention this place is way too small for 2 grown people, a one year old, 2 dogs and 3 cats?

So with that… you can see that we are extremely busy and trying to get settled in, and why it has taken us two months to post again.  We are enjoying being closer to Brian’s parents and sister’s family.  We have already taken in a very exciting youth basketball game, in which both teams were undefeated and Lexie was the only girl player on either team.  Lexie’s team won 36 to 35.  Needless to say, I was on the edge of my seat the entire game.  To boot… Gwyn loved to watch them play!

In other news, it snowed here last week.  So the great schedule I have for work was even better due to the snow – only worked 1 day last week… oh poor me!  However, now I am behind in class and trying to figure out where I can make up the days.

Here are a few videos of Gwyn and all her new adventures!  Also some pictures of the snow… until next time!



Gwyn can walk! from Brian Brassine on Vimeo


Shake Shake Shake from Brian Brassine on Vimeo

Christmas in Kinston and a few pictures from our short time in Greenville:

Bath Time with Gwyn in her new bathtub:

Remember that you can click on these Slide.com slideshows and see bigger versions, including each individual picture.

Students leave a mark on you that words cannot describe, a new life experience each and every day you step into the classroom. I really enjoyed my experience student teaching, and was verbally offered a job by the school system where I worked, but we had already decided to move closer to family in order to start our family.

But then August came and went with no teaching job offers for myself, something that is both very disappointing and frustrating since moving to Wake County almost two years ago. Now that another school year has started without any job offers, with word that Wake County, “hardly ever hires anyone without anything less than 2 years experience”, I find myself looking elsewhere.

August was a fun month despite the lack of job offers, with trips to Topsail Beach to visit Rachel’s family, a trip to Kinston for my niece’s 1 year birthday party and a trip to Louisville, KY at the end of the month to visit friends we met while living in Charlotte. Rachel has posted about all of these events, but I wanted to say that it was a lot of fun and look forward to more of the same next summer, though maybe it will be a little cooler in Louisville the next visit.

I have been trying to find time to read again when I am not hanging out with family or friends, or playing Rock Band or (released yesterday) Rock Band 2 with friends via my Xbox 360. I read the Watchmen graphic novel while at Topsail Beach and was blown away by the story and artwork; the movie (coming out early next year) looks to be amazing by early accounts. Kevin Smith saw an early viewing and said, “I saw Watchmen. It’s f*%@ing astounding.” ‘Nuff said, indeed.

I have also started to re-read book 11 of the late Robert Jordan’s ‘Wheel of Time’ series, A Knife of Dreams, a book I started when it was released in October of 2005. I could never find time to finish it with graduate classes, student teaching, moving and eventually the birth of Gwyn. I am looking forward to the last book of the ‘Wheel of Time’ series, to be written by another fantasy author named Brandon Sanderson, handpicked by Jordan’s widow. Sanderson will have Jordan’s detailed notes, audio recordings from his hospital bed and a ton of help to fill some very big shoes in tying up a great series that started over 16 years ago!

I mentioned gaming and politics, one being easier to talk about with friends and family, but both interests of mine as a 34 year old self proclaimed geek. You might be saying, “No, Brian… you aren’t a geek!” but then you would see our computer desk fitted with a Star Wars desktop daily calendar, a Spider-Spud Mr. Potato Head, Troll the Skull from PvPOnline.com fame and a Star Trek coffee mug full of pencils and comically nod to yourself.

A couple of weeks ago Rock the Vote! started a very interesting campaign that allows, “Xbox 360 owners to register to vote, participate in presidential polls and voice their opinions to the presidential candidates.” Xbox 360 owners can download a “gamerpic” of their candidate of choice, or even one that says you are undecided.

You can see my gamertag here, my candidate of choice should have been obvious to most, but I am not one to beat you over the head with the why and how of who I support, but I do suggest that if you think something being said is questionable on both sides of the campaign, to go here and read for yourself: http://www.factcheck.org

I think this is remarkable, and if I were actually teaching right now I would use this in one of my lessons. The 2008 election is not only historical in that we are guaranteed either a female Vice President or a black President; it is reaching out to people in new and exciting ways to get them to be a part of the whole election process. Something I believe is far more important than a “Power of Pride” bumper sticker or a ribbon car magnet made in China.

Finally, what you truly came here to see and read about is Gwyn, and I will not disappoint what small readership we have here at our little blog. Gwyneth is getting bigger every day, still giving “kisses” with a gentle headbutt and still having trouble with separation anxiety when we put her to bed at night. She is starting to cruise more along the couch, ottoman and cabinets in the kitchen, and has recently started to “dance” when listening to music (80s channel) or when Scott and I play Rock Band here at the house.

Tonight she was crawling around the floor when Rachel got home from work, and I was lucky enough to catch her having a grand old time when she set her sights on the cats in the kitchen. (I apologize for the quality – this was taken with my cell phone)

Make sure your speakers are turned up to hear what has become my favorite sound of all time…

Gwyn and the Cats from Brian Brassine on Vimeo.