Jack and Amelia 2024

Amelia is 16 and attending the same high school I did forty-two years ago; the school is about a mile from the house; Amelia has interests such as astronomy and environmental science. Amelia plays piano and composes pieces, which her teacher lets her play in their recitals - I always wondered if that was allowed, and it is in this case. Amelia is a runner and will take off and run ten miles. She is likely switching to cross country from softball this year. Our son Jack turned 14 on the 20th of January. He is the engineering-minded person in the family. He is fascinated with roller coasters and designs coasters via programs online and with physical models. I hand Jack any furniture building. He attends a private school in the west part of Atlanta.

Amelia and Jack 2019

Amelia and Jack at Six Flags Over Georgia

Returning to this blog site for the first time in nine years, here are Amelia and Jack as they are in 2019. Amelia is now 11 years old, and Jack is 9, neither is "Itty Bitty." This blog site goes back to the days before social media became prevalent with the masses. Jack's birth in 2010 was announced on Facebook, but Amelia's was not. I joined Facebook in November 2007, a few months after Amelia's arrival. I kept up with this page up until 2010 and then let it rest. 

Jack is two weeks old.

Jack is now two weeks old. He is doing the normal infant things at this point, eating, sleeping and keeping odd hours. Mostly the story can be told through pictures so be sure to view the flickr site. I have another week before returning to Emory for work.

Go Saints!

I don’t watch a lot of football on TV; my dad didn’t watch much either, if he did it would be teams we had a connection with, such as the Falcons, Arizona State or Tulane. Last night, in perhaps a true guy bonding moment, I sat and watched the New Orleans Saints win the NFC Championship game with my newborn son in my arms. If sports can be good for community’s spirit, then New Orleans has been given that gift and Jack and I were a part of that spirit.

Jack Witte arrives 1/20/2010

Jack Christian Witte was born January 20, 2010 at 1:03 PM at Northtside Hospital in Atlanta, GA. He was 7 pounds and 9 ounces and was 20 ½ inches in length.

Jack came home to our house from the hospital on Friday, January 22, 2010. Our daughter Amelia, now two years old, is adjusting to her sudden new world with a brother to contend with. On Saturday Amelia feed her brother a bottle briefly and she was very pleased with herself. We not have gotten much sleep which is of course expected; I should be asleep now in fact. Anna’s mother, Ann Gillis, is assisting us with the transition to a larger family life.

When Amelia was born in August of 2007, this blog was a valuable resource to friends and family who wanted to follow our life with a new born. Over time the postings to he blog became less, there was only one posting in all of 2009, however with the birth of Jack Witte new postings will resume here. On this page there is a link to our flickr.com photo site. While our Facebook pages will occasionally have photos of our life with Amelia and Jack, there will be more photos posted at the flickr site. While it seems the entire world is involved in social networking nowadays, such as Facebook or Twitter, many people are not on such media sites and this blog will be accessible to those individuals.

The link to photos will always be on the right side of the blog page, but meanwhile here is the link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/switte

Enjoy!

Amelia takes on the holidays

Amelia entered into the New Year of 2009 in good sprites, but with some teething pains. Her holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, were spread out between Chicago, Waycross, GA, Jacksonville, FL, and Atlanta. Check out the Flickr.com site here to see pictures of the month’s past events.

While in the Chicago area for Thanksgiving, she received excellent care from her Mimi and two sets of aunts and uncles over a couple of days, thus allowing her parents some time to shop and explore in downtown Chicago. She got to see her cousins who enjoyed playing with her. Amelia is certainly a social creature and loves a crowd.

Christmastime included a trip to see Santa at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta. On Santa’s lap, she enjoyed pointing to the lights, cameraman and the sights of the mall. The cameraman had Santa distract her just long enough to get her arm down for the annual photo.

On the 20th of December, her grandmother Mimi flew in to join us for Christmas. Mimi and she spent time looking at books and going to the park to swing. On Christmas Eve we all left for Waycross, GA. Once in Waycross, Amelia spent time seeing relatives and opening gifts. She had fun walking up and down the halls of the Pond View Inn in downtown Waycross where we stayed. The day after Christmas, Amelia with her parents, Mimi, Big Mamma and Big Daddy, went an hour or so southeast of Waycross to Jacksonville, FL. She lunched with everyone in the San Marco area before heading to take a nap in her Uncle Tot’s new hip loft space. She stayed up late for dinner at the Chart House Restaurant in Jacksonville before mostly giggling her way back to Waycross. The next day, she wasn’t keen on sleeping during the 250 plus mile trip home until about a mile from the house when she finally couldn’t resist sleep, but she returned to her happy toddler life in Atlanta.

Amelia at fourteen months

Amelia is walking now. So far we can keep up with her. She babbles and she points at everything. Many objects are known as "bee" or "baa". She must be southern because she sometimes likes to say "Bubba". This month she traveled to Amelia Island in Flordia once again. Next month she takes her second plane trip,this time north to Chicago. Please see the new photos on flickr.com website.