Earth to Cubs fans: Bryant is here.

Excuse the break from the recent (3 year) run of belly and baby pics for this brief statement on the Chicago Cubs. EJ is a lifelong and huge Cubs fan and wanted to document this potentially historical date.

On April 17^th, 1970, Apollo 13 returned to Earth after a troubled and ultimately failed mission to the moon. Today, the 17^th of April in the year 2015, a seemingly cosmic event is underway;  heralded and highly rated prospect Kris Bryant has been called up to the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs drafted the third basemen as the second overall pick in MLB’s 2013 June amateur draft from the University of San Diego. His minor league stats in two minor league seasons (plus one week this season) are outstanding. According to Baseball Reference.com, in 181 games across six levels of the minor leagues, Bryant has compiled 212 hits (55 of which are home runs) along with a .327 BA and 1.092 OPS. These stats, combined with a century plus World Series drought on the North Side, have fueled expectations and a hype train that could travel from downtown to O’Hare in about 20 seconds. Folks attending this afternoon’s game versus the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field should expect to see Bryant’s statue already under construction on the corner of Clark and Addison. The Cubs are rumored to have taken out extra insurance on the new left field scoreboard to protect against a Bryant barrage.

Expectations of Bryant are so high that the people of Chicago should start considering his impact beyond just a World Series ring. Here are ten additional ways Bryant may affect not only the city of Chicago but also entire galaxies:

1. Coach Quenneville is considering starting Bryant in goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday versus the Nashville Predators.

2. Bryant may be able to successfully negotiate a peace treaty between the team and the rooftop owners. 

3. The city of Chicago may hold another mayoral runoff election pitting Bryant against Rahm Emanuel.

4.  The Dos Equis guy finds Kris Bryant most interesting.

5. Doug is reopening his hot dog joint and renaming it Hot Kris’s.

6. LeBron, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade are considering bringing their talent to Oak Street Beach.

7. The IOC may reconsider Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid.

8. Donald will replace his name with Bryant’s on Chicago’s Trump Tower.

9. Steve Bartman is given a lifetime season ticket in aisle 4, row 8, seat 113 along with a formal, written apology from each and every fan that somehow still blames him for 2003.

10. J.J. Abrams and George Lucas are considering Bryant for a lead role in Star Wars Episode VIII.

Cubs fans have historically been waiting for next year. They've had their fair share of hyped hope to take the team to the promised-land: Ernie Broglio, Jerome Walton, Corey Patterson, Felix Pie, Alfonso Soriano. This year might not be “next year” but Kris Bryant, in the way he carries himself and a bat, appears to be the real deal and next big thing. Whether he launches his fist hit into orbit today or not, it may take some time for Cubs fans’ expectations of Bryant to come back down to Earth. 

AMJ One Year Old

Sweet Amelia,

Happy first birthday! From your first cry when you entered this world and our lives, to your first steps that expanded your world and everything in between, it is amazing how fast 365 days can go by. It is amazing how many memories you’ve created for us in those 365 days as we've watched you grow and learn and live and love. Plenty of those memories happened in the past month. You've expanded your vocabulary by saying "uh oh","bye bye" and "Max." You also like to make animal noises. You are our little monkey as you love bananas for breakfast and even more so love to climb on chairs. You started drinking cow's milk this month but still aren't sleeping in the crib. We won't tell Dr. P., for now, as a tummy bug postponed your check up as well as your first dentist appointment. You are so sweet, you probably give us cavities. Daddy missed you for a couple days as he had to travel to Washington DC for work, but you had extra time with him as Mommy went to Charleston for the weekend with Aunt Jessica. You watched football with Daddy and Aubrey and plenty of Barney and Elmo too, they are your favorites. You took a trip to Columbia for a dress fitting and had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa.We'll have a lot of time with family next month at both Aunt Kate and Aunt Jessica's weddings. We are very excited for these special events and also our trip to Disney World. Mommy and Daddy are so very excited for all of the memories the future holds for our family. The next few months will be busy but we took special time to stop and celebrate your sparkle at your first birthday. We can't help but look back at the past year and feel so lucky and blessed and loved because of every giggle, smile and snuggle that you have given us... and so much more. 

AMJ Year One Video

"...sweet Amelia Mae taught me that my heart has an infinite capacity for love." - Mommy

AMJ Eleven Months Old

"There's nothing fancy about the way I love you, but I love you as hard as I can.
  There's no good reason for the way you love me, but you're my waking dream come true.
  There's no good reason for the way you love me, but I thank God that you do."

These are lyrics to a song we heard at a wedding this month and they immediately speak to us and our relationship with you. You are such a sweet blessing and good and perfect gift from God (James 1:17). The love we give you pales in comparison to the exuberant amount of joy with which you fill our hearts. And that joy grows on a daily basis, as fast as the days seem to go by. As hard as it is to believe you are already 11 months old, with each new development and inch you grow, it becomes harder to remember you were ever a little baby. This month was no different than your previous 10, filled with adventures and new tricks. Your communication skills are primed to grow exponentially. You've started signing for "more", "milk" and waving hello or goodbye. You point and squeal or grunt to signal specific wants or needs. Along with telling us what a lion and monkey say, you call us by name now: "MaMa", "DaDa", "Max" and "Aw" (for Aubrey), you can say "snack" to ask for food. Watermelon is by far your favorite new treat but you also enjoy a waffle at breakfast and pureed pouches of other fruits and veggies. When we go out to eat, you are exposed to even more new tastes and treats. Mommy created a summer bucket list for you and your sister, which included a workday lunch date with Daddy. We celebrated your sweet friend Cora's church dedication with friends at lunch at the Fish Market. Other celebrations took place this month...we wished Mommy a Happy Birthday and went bowling for Aunt Jessica's wedding shower. There were a few experiences this month we would have liked to wish away too. Daddy had to come home early from a work trip to Chicago because you were sick and ended up spending a day in the hospital. You had fever and diarrhea, stopped nursing and had become dehydrated. We later found out you had salmonella. Sadly, we also had to say goodbye to Kennedy this month. You referred to her as "dog" (one of your first words). She'll always have a place in our hearts but in that situation or any other time we feel sad, stressed or sick, it only takes a smile or a hug or a kiss from our sweet Amelia to warm our souls. We are overwhelmed by the extraordinary amount of light and love you bring into our lives even as it seems there is nothing fancy about the way we love you.

AMJ Ten Months Old

Sweet Amelia. We are in the dog days of summer so it is appropriate that you have mastered the word "Max." This month, we celebrated the 4th of July at a cookout at Stella and Bailey's. Accordingly, we watched you increasingly learn to play independently. You will sit very contently on the floor and play with toys, intently and imaginatively. You may partly prefer to play alone because Aubrey has the tendency to play a little rough with you. But you also are developing a sense of curiosity so tend to engage with her and whatever she is doing. In the past few months, your exploration was based on the new places you could get by crawling. Now you seem to be exploring the finer details of your surroundings. Don't worry, even though you can be more than content on the floor playing with the Little People Cinderella's castle, Mommy and Daddy continue to take you out into the world for more experiences. After tagging along to do some shopping for boots for Aunt Jessica's wedding, you took another trip to the zoo. You road the train and the carousel.  At Pelicans, Aubrey took Daddy's snow cone so he shared hers with you...just don't tell Mommy. This month, you also had playdates with Madeline and Durham and played in the church nursery.Unfortunately, it wasn't all fun this month. You have been crying in the nursery at times, having a little separation anxiety from Mommy. You caught hand, foot and mouth so we were forced to miss both Durham and Bailey's birthday parties. Also, when we came back from the beach, the AC was broken so it was very hot in our house. We all camped out in the family room that night. It has been a relatively mild summer but it was still quite warm that night. Fall, winter, spring, summer...you warm our hearts more and more every season.

AMJ Nine Months Old

At 9 month's old, it is safe to say you are no longer an infant and now a sweet baby girl...or a toddler if based upon your height and weight, which as of today's 9 month check up has you at the size of the average 15 month old. Not only is your body growing but your personality and skills are growing as well. You wave bye-bye and blow kisses. You've mastered crawling and can even pull yourself up to stand which has significantly expanded the world that is accessible to you. As such, you love to point and talk and laugh to share your excitement about every new learning and discovery. You have at last one top tooth coming through and unfortunately you've literally left your (bite) mark on Mommy and your sister. You love hugging and playing with Aubrey and her toys too and now that school is out, you'll have more time to spend with her during the week. We kicked off summertime with our annual family trip to Edisto. This was your first trip to the beach and you loved putting your toes in the water and fingers in the sand but maybe most of all you may have enjoyed rides on the golf cart, with you hair flowing in the wind. It was a long car ride to get there but given your growth, we've upgraded you to a bigger car seat. Unfortunately, you seem to save poops for car rides still. Your diet continues to grow as well, you've eaten watermelon, grits and enjoyed afternoon popsicles on the front step with Aubrey and Mommy. All of these new eats have created new and sticky messes and this month you upgraded to the big girl bath tub. Bedtime is after bath and while we've lowered the mattress in your crib, you still end up in bed with Mommy and Daddy at some point in the night. Every morning before leaving for work, Daddy likes to take a moment and look at how peacefully you and Mommy are sleeping...usually you are on top of Mommy or have her pushed to the edge of the bed. You get your rest though because you wake up every day a very happy and playful baby. You'll need the energy this summer if we stay as busy as we were this past month. You went to Greenville with Mommy for a charity awareness walk, you are the social butterfly in the church nursery and we took our first summer trip to Uncle P's pool. It was your first swimming trip and you loved splashing as you sat in your floatee. You also had some Daddy-daughter time this month when Mommy took Aubrey to her first gymnastics class. Daddy really enjoyed this 1-1 time with you. Appropriately, we celebrated Father's Day this month and Daddy can't believe how much more special of a Daddy you make him feel like with each day you grow, each smile you share, each exclamation and full-body laugh that fills our house with more love than we ever thought possible.