Happy Anniversary!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
First Comes Love, then Comes Marriage...
...then three years later comes a baby who loves his new red shoes!
Three Years Already?
My has time flown! We're trying to squeeze in some anniversary celebrations on this hectic Wednesday in Groeber-land! Mostly, we're just thinking about how grateful we are to have been chosen for this amazing vocation.
Here's a classic from the vault: November, 2004 at Notre Dame! In the early days of our courtship, I already knew Cody was the one! Despite the awful overcoat he found at Goodwill. Or maybe because of the overcoat? And because he was chivalrous enough to lend me his scarf.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Trip to the Beach Pt. II
Last weekend we took our first "real" trip to the beach with swimsuits, sunblock, swimming and sand...all over! Here are some highlights (thanks to aunt meg for the trunks and aunt Denise for the Tshirt!):
Placed on a beachtowel when we first arrived, Sean promptly crawled off the towel to sit directly on the sand...
... which he then ate. a lot of. The next morning I had the pleasure of changing a sandy diaper. ew.
At just ten months old Sean is all boy. He loved digging this hole dad helped start. Yes, that is dad sunning his long leg in the background.
All boy, but still a mama's boy.
About mid-afternoon Sean decided he'd help himself to a snack.
Here is our new baby-friend Gabe on his first trip to the beach! For all you domers, this is professor Amy Barrett's newest nephew. He was a champ at the beach... which means he slept the whole time and let mom and dad relax. Sean loves babies and when he noticed Gabe in the seat he tried to get at him over and over until we distracted him with more sand and another banana.
QUESTION: Has anyone out there had any luck with Little Swimmers diapers? We used them under the trunks and they were a disaster... wet within five minutes (and not from going in the water). Any better ideas for beach diaper wear?
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Happy Mother's Day!
I am so grateful on this Mother's Day that I have been chosen for this wonderful vocation. Have I mentioned how much I love being a mom?
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Didn't Your Mother Ever Tell You It Was Rude to Point?
Look closely for a common theme in all these pictures... This is how SB spends about 90% of his time these days:
Going to the Beach
We are a few weeks behind here on the blog, but I wanted to post these sweet pictures of our trip to the beach of a few weeks ago when Mama Peggy was here for Easter. It was still pretty cold by the water, but SB had fun looking at everything and feeling the sand and the wind.
Cool baby and cool dad :)
Cool baby, cool Dad and cool Grandma :)
SO excited to walk in the sand... in socks!
What we didn't capture on camera was SB's finger going directly into his mouth after drawing in the sand. Mmmm. However, I am proud to report he only ate sand once-- he learned his lesson the first time--we're so proud!
Baby's first... Jellyfish? Yes, lets just say I was happy Sean got the urge to put things in his mouth out of his system before Cody showed him this wonder of nature.
A fun little jaunt to the beach! We hope to go again this weekend, sans sweatshirts this time.
Cool baby and cool dad :)
Cool baby, cool Dad and cool Grandma :)
SO excited to walk in the sand... in socks!
What we didn't capture on camera was SB's finger going directly into his mouth after drawing in the sand. Mmmm. However, I am proud to report he only ate sand once-- he learned his lesson the first time--we're so proud!
Baby's first... Jellyfish? Yes, lets just say I was happy Sean got the urge to put things in his mouth out of his system before Cody showed him this wonder of nature.
A fun little jaunt to the beach! We hope to go again this weekend, sans sweatshirts this time.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Per Eva's Request...
My wonderful niece, Eva (10 years old) requested/demanded in the comments of another post yesterday: "write a new post!" Eva is observant that I have been quite absent from the blogosphere in the last week or two. My apologies to Eva and all other readers who have craved cute pictures of SBG.
Unfortunately, you'll have to do without pictures, and accept an all-word post as an update on the life of the Charleston Groebers. Here goes:
1. Sean is amazing, but no news there. He is now fully crawling on hands and knees, crawling with one toy in hand and crawling up the stairs. He can pull himself up on any furniture and maintains a personal best record of standing without hands for three seconds. His favorite activity is to place a toy on a piece of furniture, remove it, place in on the floor, pick it up, place it on the piece of furniture, remove it, place it on the floor...etc etc for up to ten minutes at a time.
2. Sean's teething on the crib rail of his bed reached new heights of mom-frustration when I found him after an afternoon nap with a big smile and paint chips all over his mouth. We then entered into a few days of a very unproductive cycle where I would lay him down as soon as he stood up, he would cry, stand up again, I would lay him down, etc etc... it was not productive in breaking his habit or healthy sleep habits. BUT, our update is a good one! I have since duct-taped an old sheet around the crib rail and he chews on that. I have learned compromise in the project-- if I let him chew for a few minutes, he will be asleep on his own within five minutes of me leaving. Whereas if I try to control his standing and chewing, the cycle of frustrated baby and mom will continue for 30 minutes. I just had to let go and let him be his own man to find a peaceful resolution. I have found out they make products for this exact problem of teething on the crib rail, but I decided to go for the less-chic look of duct tape and folded sheets. it works.
3. Sean started co-babysitting with our baby friend Greta a few weeks ago. Some days are good-- he expresses concern when Greta cries and likes to touch her foot in a friendly gesture which she seems to appreciate. Other days he is still surprised that Valerie can give her attention to another baby, and he lets her know that he rightfully deserves all the attention, not to mention all the bottles. This summer we hope to have our newest baby friend, Gabe, join Sean and Greta for tri-babysitting fun :). It is a transition that needs some work, but in the long run I think it will be really good for the babes to be around each other when they are little. It will prepare them for the shock of new siblings later.
4. In the last few weeks I have had a number of health-related issues to figure out which in part accounts for my absence on the blog. It turns out pregnancy is a "huge immunological event" according to my doctors, and my body didn't do so well with the event. My thyroid has not been functioning for some time (due to a condition call Hashimoto's disease) and the doctors also found an abnormal growth on it, which is apparently unrelated to the Hashimoto's. In any event, I have started medicine to regulate the thyroid production, which will hopefully help control the exercised induced anaphylaxis I am still experiencing. The doctors say they can't guarantee the two are related, but they might be, so I am hopeful and optimistic! In the meantime, I will have surgery in two weeks to remove half of my thyroid so to biopsy the unwelcomed growth. I am not too worried... I think it will all turn out fine, but prayers are, as always, appreciated. I have been pretty tired, but otherwise feeling OK. Mostly, we are trying not to become overwhelmed with all the possibilities.
In the meantime cody and I are both enjoying our jobs and loving our little life. Thanks for reading the update, please drop us a comment or an email with an update from where you are! And thank you, Eva, for prodding me to be more active on the blog!
Unfortunately, you'll have to do without pictures, and accept an all-word post as an update on the life of the Charleston Groebers. Here goes:
1. Sean is amazing, but no news there. He is now fully crawling on hands and knees, crawling with one toy in hand and crawling up the stairs. He can pull himself up on any furniture and maintains a personal best record of standing without hands for three seconds. His favorite activity is to place a toy on a piece of furniture, remove it, place in on the floor, pick it up, place it on the piece of furniture, remove it, place it on the floor...etc etc for up to ten minutes at a time.
2. Sean's teething on the crib rail of his bed reached new heights of mom-frustration when I found him after an afternoon nap with a big smile and paint chips all over his mouth. We then entered into a few days of a very unproductive cycle where I would lay him down as soon as he stood up, he would cry, stand up again, I would lay him down, etc etc... it was not productive in breaking his habit or healthy sleep habits. BUT, our update is a good one! I have since duct-taped an old sheet around the crib rail and he chews on that. I have learned compromise in the project-- if I let him chew for a few minutes, he will be asleep on his own within five minutes of me leaving. Whereas if I try to control his standing and chewing, the cycle of frustrated baby and mom will continue for 30 minutes. I just had to let go and let him be his own man to find a peaceful resolution. I have found out they make products for this exact problem of teething on the crib rail, but I decided to go for the less-chic look of duct tape and folded sheets. it works.
3. Sean started co-babysitting with our baby friend Greta a few weeks ago. Some days are good-- he expresses concern when Greta cries and likes to touch her foot in a friendly gesture which she seems to appreciate. Other days he is still surprised that Valerie can give her attention to another baby, and he lets her know that he rightfully deserves all the attention, not to mention all the bottles. This summer we hope to have our newest baby friend, Gabe, join Sean and Greta for tri-babysitting fun :). It is a transition that needs some work, but in the long run I think it will be really good for the babes to be around each other when they are little. It will prepare them for the shock of new siblings later.
4. In the last few weeks I have had a number of health-related issues to figure out which in part accounts for my absence on the blog. It turns out pregnancy is a "huge immunological event" according to my doctors, and my body didn't do so well with the event. My thyroid has not been functioning for some time (due to a condition call Hashimoto's disease) and the doctors also found an abnormal growth on it, which is apparently unrelated to the Hashimoto's. In any event, I have started medicine to regulate the thyroid production, which will hopefully help control the exercised induced anaphylaxis I am still experiencing. The doctors say they can't guarantee the two are related, but they might be, so I am hopeful and optimistic! In the meantime, I will have surgery in two weeks to remove half of my thyroid so to biopsy the unwelcomed growth. I am not too worried... I think it will all turn out fine, but prayers are, as always, appreciated. I have been pretty tired, but otherwise feeling OK. Mostly, we are trying not to become overwhelmed with all the possibilities.
In the meantime cody and I are both enjoying our jobs and loving our little life. Thanks for reading the update, please drop us a comment or an email with an update from where you are! And thank you, Eva, for prodding me to be more active on the blog!
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