the town of or

This was in our mailroom at work today. Nice tagline.

This week has me realizing how fragile we are. We recently got word that our friend Protik Mia has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Pro's our age and has two young kids and a happy marriage with another friend of ours, Becky. If you know Pro, and want to follow along and wish him well...he's keeping a blog of his family adventures, as well as his diagnosis and fight at: pro's blog.

Less than a week after hearing this crappy news, we also received a note that another friend of ours, Mike Vitti - the photographer at our wedding - had a sudden heart attack and couldn't be revived. WTF! His NY Times obituary is at: vitti obituary.

Pro/Becky and Mike are all friends from ultimate frisbee...not surprising since so many of our friends came through years of playing the sport. As a small tribute to Mike's life, the following is a picture he took of me and a friend Alex Kaplan "skying" for a disc in Prospect Park years ago. Rest in Peace, Mike!

The following quote is being attributed to many different people, ranging from rapper JayZ to an elected official in Lousiana. It appeared on our blog a few months ago, but the following youtube video puts a whole new perspective on it. You must check it out!

Bainbridge received a rare bit of snow. Jake and Daddy couldn't resist:

Shopping for holiday gifts mid-week (thanks to maternity/paternity leave), we realized there was NO line to visit with Santa Claus. Eli sure looks small next to the jolly elf.

Jake has a new favorite song:

Jake is behaving (so far, at least) like a really sweet "big brother" to Eli. He gives him gentle hugs and kisses and doesn't seem too worse for the wear, although he did direct Ben with "Daddy - Go over there and take Eli with you!" recently, so that he could have a little solo time with his Mama. We've posted a few new photos on our photo gallery site for those of you who want to follow along at home.

Click here if you'd like to see more first-day photos of the little guy.

Welcome to our word, Eli!
Eli Maxwell Timmins Klasky - whom his older brother has been calling "Max" in utero - came into the world yesterday in quick fashion. Lisa called Ben at 3:30pm to say that contractions had just started. Ben's parents were on call, and picked up Jake from daycare. Lisa and Ben (together with doula extraordinaire Carol Hasko) rushed to make the 4:35 ferry to Seattle, and Eli was born only two hours later.

Eli's Vitals

Jake took Mom, Dad, and Kitt to the Woodland Park Zoo today. The animals played along nicely.

When I was just a baby, my mother propped me up in my older sister's lap and snapped a picture of us holding a newspaper with the headline "Man Lands on the Moon!" Jake is only 2 and a half years old, and won't remember this week's election - but I felt it was worth capturing the moment for posterity. This feels like a really special time to me.

The following are a few of my favorite quotes, celebrating the occasion: