N - My 'little' man

Mary took Joel to the doctor for his 2 month appointment today although he is actually 75 days old.  By the way I'm not sure whether to refer to his age in weeks or months so I'm rebelling and using days.  Joel weighs 12 lbs and 4 ounces.  That puts him in the 50th percentile for weight.  He is in the 25th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for head circumference.

Joel is a little under the weather after getting his shots.  Apparently there is a big secret about giving your kid Tylenol before he gets shots that you're supposed to know about.  Now we know, after his shots, but hey that's cool.  :)

Here are several pictures of the little guy.  He sure is cute, isn't he?

I'm gonna be mobile soon . . . watch out world!

This is the life

There you are mommy

Snug as a bug in a rug

I'm not messin' around here

N - Hairspray, Homer Simpson and Bath Time

Several evenings ago Mary went to the video rental store to get a movie for us to watch together.  She returned with Hairspray.  Yeah, that Hairspray where John Travolta plays a woman!  About 5 minutes into the movie I asked her, "so you were at the store and you thought to yourself 'what movie would Neil really like to watch?  I know Hairspray!'".  It reminded me of when Homer got Marge a bowling ball with "Homer" engraved on it for her birthday!

Joel is really enjoying bath time now.  Mary is usually able to get some really good smiles out of him.  I tried to get a picture of that but Joel kept getting distracted by the flash.

N - Woah, that's a long time ago

With Hillary and Mitt surging after victories in Nevada, let's look back one more time.  The overwhelming majority of FFF blog voters said 1952 was the last year without an incumbent President or Vice President in the election.  In 1952 the Korean War was dragging into its 3rd year and President Harry S. Truman's popularity was dwindling rapidly.  Truman lost the New Hampshire primary to Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver and shortly thereafter decided not to seek reelection.  However Truman's Vice President, Alben W. Barkley stayed in the race for the democratic nomination but he lost to Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson.

As best as I can tell, the last time we had a presidential election without an incumbent President or Vice President was 1920.  The unpopular and, at that point, invalid Woodrow Wilson had just finished his 2nd term.  Wilson's Vice President was a fellow named Thomas Riley Marshall.  Marshall had served two full terms as Vice President, although he and Wilson didn't get along particularly well.  Marshall was a quick wit who was known to greet visitors on the White House tour by asking them to "be kind enough to throw peanuts at me".  Marshall didn't seek election but went back to Indiana and resumed his law practice.

There you go.  Enjoy the primaries and I'll get back to Joel next time since that's why my 3 loyal readers are here anyway!

N - Room full of underdogs

I would describe myself as someone who is only marginally interested in politics. For me it's kind of the same as professional sports, I don't care that much until playoff time - in this case when it's time to elect a president. I can remember "my first" presidential election. I was in fifth grade and my class voted between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. There was one kid in the ENTIRE class who voted for Mondale and I remember thinking he was crazy! But I digress . . .

I was thinking about the presidential primary races this morning on the way to work. It seems like this race is completely wide open on both the Republican side and the Democrat side. It is truly anybody's game at this point. Why is that?

Well, it occurred to me that there is no incumbent President or Vice President in the race. That didn't seem too unusual at first until I got to thinking back through the elections.  In 2004 there was obviously the incumbent George W. Bush; 2000 - Al Gore (VP); 1996 - Bill Clinton (Pres); 1992 - George Bush; etc. I couldn't think of the last time there was not an incumbent President or Vice President running for President.

So when was it?  Does anybody know?  I'll post the answer in a few days.