The Kotters have moved from Provo, Utah to Arlington, Virginia! On August 22, we boarded a plane in Salt Lake City headed for Washington, D.C. Oliver did just fine on the plan ride. In fact, as we exited in the plane at the Dulles airport, a couple directly behind us exclaimed, “Wow, you have a little baby! We didn’t even know there was a baby sitting in front of us!”

Our move was a little more adventurous than we had intended. We had agreed to rent a home from an older widow who lived in the Falls Church ward. Unfortunately, on the day after we shipped our belongings she called us up and told us that she had changed her mind and wasn’t comfortable renting her home. That left us in a bit of a bind! We arranged to have our stuff stored at a warehouse in Baltimore while we looked for an apartment.

Luckily, one of our friends called to let us know that there was a vacancy in their apartment complex in Arlington. The price was within our budget, so we went to check it out. The apartments are older, but well maintained and many ward members live here. We liked the apartment and we loved the location, so we signed a contract two days after we flew into Virginia!

Oliver handled the move the best out of all three of us. He seemed to have no trouble adjusting to a new time zone and a new location. He is still sleeping all the way through the night! He gets bigger each day and Mom and Dad love to see what new tricks he learns. Right now, he loves to grab anything within reach and put it in his mouth.

Kay has been a great support to Jason throughout the entire move process. She unpacked all of the boxes and has turned our empty apartment into our new home. Unfortunately, the house that we thought we were going to rent was furnished so we shipped our stuff without any of our furniture (except our bed and crib and Kay’s art desk). We picked up some living room furniture at IKEA, but Kay has done an amazing job at turning some of our packing boxes into bedside tables and dressers. (Which we may have to make do with for a while, because rent is pretty expensive here!)

Jason has started work with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. He was taking the metro to work (It’s about a 15 minute walk from our house to the Metro Stop which makes for a 40 minute commute door to door) but he recently discovered that he can get to work in about 20 minutes by taking the bus. It has been a little overwhelming to try and get acclimated to a new job. He is the only married research assistant in the International Finance Division (much less the only one with a child); additionally, he is the only one who doesn’t drink so it is a chance to be a good example. One of his weekly duties includes a report that is sent to Chairman Bernanke! (He may never read it, but hey, it still goes to his desk!)

We are settling in to our new home, but we miss our family and friends a lot! Consequently, we would love to get email, regular mail, and phone calls often!

Oliver is now nearly two months old. He is growing very quickly and currently weighs 12 pounds, 9 ounces. He recently learned how to smile and he now keeps his parents entertained by smiling at them often. Mom and Dad love to see what new things Oliver will learn each day. Mom went to the Provo Library and checked out a DVD of Baby Bach by Baby Einstein. Oliver now loves to dance around the living room with Dad while listening to Bach! His favorite song seems to be Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring. Every time we turn the DVD to this song, Oliver calms down quickly—even if he was screaming before that!

On 1 July Oliver received a name and a blessing from his father. It was a wonderful day! Mom borrowed a white baby tuxedo from her sister Sue for Oliver to wear on his special day. Mom and Dad were pretty worried that Oliver would cry through his blessing because he wouldn’t eat anything before church started. (Maybe he just knew it was fast Sunday!) There was no need to worry, however, because Oliver was perfect throughout the entire blessing.

Kay is doing an unbelievable job as a new mother. Oliver was very fussy for the first four weeks of his life, and both Mom and Dad were feeling pretty discouraged. At the suggestion of a nurse, Kay checked out a video from the library called The Happiest Baby on the Block. Kay also borrowed the book Baby Wise from our next-door neighbors. She has diligently followed the suggestions from the movie and the book; as a result, Oliver is a changed baby! He even sleeps 6-7 hours during the night! In addition to taking care of Oliver, Kay has received many compliments on her recently updated web site. If you haven’t seen it, please take a moment and look at kaykotter.com.

Jason has been busy transferring all of his computer files to a new computer. He is finally done and so he can update this web site again! Currently, his most pressing challenge is finding an apartment to live in Washington, D.C. Rent prices are very expensive in that area. He is hoping to find a 2-bedroom apartment for $1200/month; however, this has proved difficult to do! Even with the high rent prices, Jason is very excited to move his family to D.C. and begin his new job at the Federal Reserve.

Overall, the Kotter family is doing superbly! We would love to hear from you, so send us an email and let us know how you are doing.

Oliver Jason Kotter was born on Thursday, May 17, 2007 at about 4:50 pm in the Orem Community Hospital, Orem, Utah. Oliver weighed in at 8 pounds 5 ounces and he was 21 inches long. He is now nearly two weeks old and is doing great! He loves to eat about every 3 hours and he mostly sleeps in between–except, of course, at night!

Kay did a phenomenal job throughout labor. We went to the hospital at about 4:00 am on Thursday morning after several hours of regular contractions. Kay had not dilated enough to be admitted, so the nurse called Dr. Young to see what he advised. Since Kay was already two days past her due date, the doctor gave Kay the choice of staying and being induced or going home and waiting it out. Kay decided to head home and see what happened. After a shower and a bit of rest, Kay and Jason headed back to the hospital at about 9:30 am. Orem Community Hospital is surrounded by a park with a mile long walking path and Kay and Jason decided to walk the path to see if it would help labor along. After a very slow, painful walk around the trail, Kay went back into the hospital at about 11:00 am. She had dilated to a four and so they immediately admitted her. During labor itself, Kay kept in good spirits by watching Remember the Titans and Even Stevens. When the nurse told her it was time, Kay pushed Oliver out in about ten minutes. Now that she is home, Kay is loving life as a mom.

Jason is thrilled to be a father and he thinks that Oliver is the cutest baby ever. Right now he is keeping busy changing diapers, helping with dinner, taking lots of pictures of his new baby, and working as a staff employee for the BYU Economics department to pay the bills.