A new arrival

Everyone, say hello to Raymond Seth Granger, whom we will call Seth.

Seth arrived on Nov. 17 at 7 lbs, 7 oz. and 20.5 inches long and is the son of Jason (Elizabeth's brother) and Brandy Granger of Ruston.

All of us are very relieved with the arrival of a healthy baby boy, although Seth remains in the hospital with a slight case of jaundice. For those of you who don't know, shortly after Elizabeth and I began dating nearly four years ago, Brandy and Jason lost their first baby boy, Nathan, at full term. Caleb, Seth's older brother, also had complications during his birth and was born six weeks premature. Needless to say, all of us were a little concerned there might be problems with Seth. But, despite being taken about a month early, everything seems OK with him.

It's always a joyous occassion when there's a new arrival in the family -- especially when said new arrival is another baby boy who I'll be able to play sports with as he grows up! This makes nephew No. 4 for me!!! It also means, with four nephews, including one on my side of the family tree, that my parents and in-laws aren't looking towards Elizabeth and me to add branches to the family tree anytime soon. We can enjoy being aunt and uncle and not feel rushed to have little ones of our own!

Meanwhile, while Seth occupied Jason and Brandy, Caleb made a visit to Cenla to stay with Granny and Pawpaw Granger. So, of course, Uncle Bret and Aunt Bee (as she's known to Caleb) have gone over every night to visit. Caleb's at an interesting time right now at 2 1/2 where he's learning so much and really picking up on things. He's repeating things, except Elizabeth's name, which for some reason he just won't say. She's Bee. I'm Uncle Bret. She's Bee. And the kid can count. I'm not lying. He can count to 10 by himself, and then he repeated 11 through 20 back after Elizabeth said them.

But the funnest part was yesterday's trip to the zoo. Elizabeth wasn't feeling well after church, so she stayed at home while I met the Grangers and Caleb at the Alexandria Zoo. If you've never been to the zoo with a 2-year-old, I'd suggest you add that to your priority list of things to do. It's tons of fun.

Let me see if I can run down a highlight list from the zoo. Perhaps the funniest thing happened when two white tigers were napping on a rock. It didn't compute with Caleb. How were they taking a nap when they didn't have a blanket? No joke. He said they couldn't be taking a nap; they didn't have a blanket. In the mind of a 2-year-old, that makes complete and total sense. Later, after visiting a few monkeys, we came back to the tigers -- who he yelled at to "Wake up!" Great stuff.

When one of the monkeys wanted to play and Granny told it to sit still so she could take a picture, Caleb scolds the monkey to "Sit still!" Whenever he saw a tiger or lion, "Rarrr!" He saw a cougar and said "Meow." When PawPaw said he thought the cougar did a little more than meow, Caleb said "Rarrr!"

There were many more highlights, including Caleb's complete fascination with the train. From the moment we walked into the zoo, he talked about going on the train. After we got off the train, he wanted to ride it again. He just loves the choo choo!

Overall, it was a great day. It's so much fun to be around the simple joy of a child at the zoo. Hopefully, I'll have the chance to visit a zoo with my other three nephews sometime soon!