Groeber Babies

A little mid-week inspiration

2012-01-26T14:35:00.000-05:00

For all of us who love being at home with our kids and logically know its the best thing to do for them, but feel, um, a little worn sometimes.... enjoy this read I just poached from an old law school friends' FB page. (Thanks Amy B!)

http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2012/01/thomas-stay-at-home-mom-blues/

Jamesie Mamesie at 21 Months

2012-01-23T14:49:00.000-05:00

Sean was 21 months old when I had Jamesie. Its really hard to believe, because looking back on it, Sean seemed so old, and Jamesie still seems like such a baby. Sean was in a big-boy bed already, and Jamesie sort of loves his crib. Of course, Sean had glasses already which made him seem like a mini Doogie Howser, and Jamesie barely has whisps of hair growing in. I think the biggest difference is Sean was chatting with real words and some little sentences at 21 months, and Jamesie has yet to really get the hang of talking, or saying any words at all.

But, even though they are so different at this age, we love our Jamesie-Baby so much, and I for one am thankful he's still so baby-ish. He lets me rock him at night, he cuddles us, he kisses us, and he actually still lets us feed him because he's pretty luke-warm toward using a spoon for himself still. Although he has chosen not to talk, the pediatrician says it is very normal at this age when there is a --chatty-- older sibling in the house. Once when I was asking Jamesie if he wanted more milk Sean answered for him, as usual, saying, "no, he doesn't need anymore." I said "Sean, we need to let Jamesie answer, please don't answer for him." To which he aptly responded, "well, he doesn't know how to say the words." (True...but...). Anyway, even though he doesn't really talk, he communicates with us all the time, and mostly through sign language. We did baby-signing with Sean, and he responded very well to it, but we were certainly done with it by this age. I am really glad we are doing it with J, because its his main mode of communication these days. The nurse at my OB office asked me if he was deaf the other day, and I'm pretty sure the ladies at the grocery store just assume he is. I have been absolutely amazed at the signs he does regularly and what he can tell us-- for instance:
He can tell us if he wants eggs or cereal for breakfast;
More milk (that's an easy one around here);
He tells us when he had a poop;
When he wants a bath;
When he sees a dog, horse, lion (in a book, not around the neighborhood) and many many other animals;
When he sees or hears (long before we do) an airplane or a truck;
When he wants cheese, crackers, or cookies (our grocery store gives out free cookies to the kiddos and he is now conditioned to do the sign for cookie as soon as we pull in the parking lot);
He does his sign for his frog when he wants to go to sleep, then asks for a book when we get upstairs;
He tells me when he wants to see Daddy or Seannie (brother);
He tells me when he sees a little boy or girl or baby when we're out, and always promptly reports if he sees someone within a 100 yard radius wearing a hat;
He can ask for his music (a play CD player);
And ask for Ketchup (about 50x per dinner).

There are a lot more in our day to day interactions, but these are the ones I can think of sitting here right now. Its been awesome to watch. And he actually does have a few spoken words, but his pattern is to try out a word for a few days then never say it again. Or, in the case of the person most near to him most of the day, his mother, to never even try to say her name. Maybe by the time he goes to school he'll be able to identify me.

Some other things Jamesie is into these days:
His favorite toy in the world is an empty plastic water bottle and its lid. He will be a happy camper for even the longest car ride with an old Dasani bottle. At home its empty milk bottles and their lids. gross.

He does not like TV. Again, at this age Sean could sit for an hour long show and be glued to the TV. Jamesie once sat with me for two minutes to watch Curious George, but that's his record. Most days if Sean is watching a show, Jamesie just goes about his business sweeping, using Sean's toys, rearranging the recycling (empty bottles).

He is quick and quiet. He's a very sweet little baby, but you have to be careful. He can climb stairs quicker than anyone, then silently poor out a bottle of shampoo on the bathroom floor with a sweet little glint in his eye. Or pour powdered make up into my shoes, or draw with marker on the back of his head. All silently. Cody thinks he has a future in the CIA.

He loves stickers and is adept at putting them all over himself. He looks like this so often that I usually forget to take the face-stickers off before we go out somewhere.

He likes our governor, Nikki Haley.

He LOVES anything that's Sean's, but especially Sean's marker jar. Quick and Quiet.

He loves all things DOG. We got him a very realistic looking stuffed dog from Melissa and Doug for Christmas, and here he is pulling the dog onto his lap. Jamesie also had no fear around real animals-- while Sean still runs and screams from animals of any size, Jamesie goes right for their faces usually. He is totally comfortable in a dog's face, and last month at the zoo showed the same attitude toward a giraffe when he got in its face and let the giraffe lick his hand. I'm pretty sure if he did meet a real lion on the street he would rub its nose and poke its eyes.

I love Jamesie's soft whispy hair. Its so baby-ish. Cody unfairly thinks it needs to be cut and has threatened to cut it while I'm taking a nap one day (while I really don't want it cut, this threat has done nothing to cut down on my rate of nap-taking). I think its sweet, even if it hangs over his ears a little bit. What do you think?

Still have the same opinion?

Our littlest love is such a sweet, cuddly, soft little baby. I joke about him not talking, but he's done fine with his sign language and impressed us with his level of understanding. He still holds his breath to the point of passing out once in a while (he did it at a friends' house at brunch yesterday-- or choked on a cracker--we're still not sure--it was scary either way). He is fiercly independent though, preferring to count his own fingers or climb stairs on his own instead of playing with other kids if they are over at our house. If another kid (his friend Adelaide) wants a toy he's playing with, he will passively give it up and move on to the next one. Or just walk into the corner to examine his shoes while she plays with his things. I do wonder how much he will change when the new baby comes, but we have a few months for that. The next big thing will be moving him into a big-boy bed in Sean's room. I'm sure he will LOVE being with Sean full-time, I just hope they sleep at some point.

God's Gift to Women, and Baseball

2012-01-19T16:46:00.000-05:00

Sean has a staggering amount of confidence these days. Here are two actual conversations we've had this week:

First--before nap the other day:
Erin: Sean, you are so special. Do you know how special you are? You are so special that God made you just for me and Daddy. God said, "What kind of boy does Erin and Cody need? Oh, I know, I'll give them Seannie." God made you specially just for us.
Sean: And God made me specially for Greta, and Royce (school girlfriend), and Maggie (summer girlfriend), and Gaia (cousin).

Second-- riding in the car to school:
(Sean has been really interested in all my old trophies and ribbons and medals lately since there's a big box of them sitting in the garage. He occasionally picks one out to bring inside--most recently he's been attached to the Romeo Peachfest U-14 Girls Soccer Champions trophy).

Sean: Mommy, why do you have sooooo many soccer trophies?
Erin: Well, i've been on a lot of soccer teams that won a lot of soccer games, and sometimes you get a trophy for it. Would you like to be on a soccer team one day?
Sean: No, soccer is just for ladies and girls to play.
Erin: No its not, boys and men play soccer too, and I bet you would be a really good soccer player.
Sean: Well, I'm a really good baseball player, so I'm just going to play baseball for the Cardinal Birds (i.e., the St. Louis Cardinals, World Champions).

Super Mario Brothers Duck Hunt

2012-01-18T13:35:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we were graciously invited up to our friends Stephanie and Preston's parents' house (did I get all the apostrophes right on that? not likely) for Cody to join the men on a duck hunt. I had no interest in duck hunting and pregnant Stephanie and I stayed in the warm house with the babies. Sean was very interested in the ducks and asked to have one for dinner later that night. We actually do have some in our freezer right now, but it will require further research on how to cook it. Here are some fun hunting shots from the weekend:

My husband in camo. As long as I never have to see the boys in it.

Mmmm duck.

Me: "do not touch that. do not touch that. no, no. do not touch. do not touch."

Cody and Preston with their winnings

Daddy! you shot me some ducks! Yea!

Surprised by Joy

2012-01-04T13:38:00.000-05:00

(Not a reference to the C.S. Lewis book, but an excuse for my month-long absence from our blog)...

In a previous post I mentioned that Sean asked me if I had a baby in the belly and I said that God hadn't put one there right now. Well, I guess Sean has some sort of ESP, because about a week later God did put another baby in my belly! And boy were we surprised! Shocked, yet surprised by the great joy God provides with these little ones and our expanding family. So, I am now 12 weeks, we have seen the baby's heartbeat, and I am nice and sick to confirm our little one's presence....praise God! We definitely still have some things to figure out (moving Jamesie into a big boy bed in Sean's room, finding a car to fit 3 carseats, etc), but our anxieties are turning into joys every day thinking about our wee little one. And here are some commonly asked questions and answers and random thoughts to satisfy and curious minds out there....feel free to comment:

What's your due date? July 17, 2012, my uncle John's birthday. My due dates tend to get moved up though, so stay tuned.

Are you "finding out?" For those of you not familiar with pregnancy-speak, this means will we find out if the baby is a boy or a girl, information usually available at about 20 weeks. And the answer is, we don't know. We're still in negotiations about it. I like surprises, and drama, but it would be nice to know if I can get some hot pink curtains for the nursery or start picking out 3-way matching boy outfits.

How are you feeling? Like crud. Thankfully. My "morning" sickness is always a welcome sign the baby is healthy and a not-so-welcome-omg-i'm so miserable i'm never having another baby-sign at the same time. This baby seems to be following the same pattern as the last two--i feel constantly nauseous most of the first trimester then just as I'm about to finish the first trimester I'll say to someone, "I'm almost out of it, and I haven't thrown up yet, maybe I won't throw up with this one," and then I start throwing up at about 10-11 weeks. (PS throwing up is my least favorite thing in the world...if I were a POW they could make me throw up and I would give up all the national secrets to prevent it). True to form, on Dec 23 I mentioned to my mom after dinner, "I feel sick, but I haven't thrown up yet, maybe I won't with this one." (why, oh why do I ever say this anymore?) On Christmas Eve shortly after saying hello to my sister's husband, I ran to the bathroom to let the puking begin. Repeat performance on New Years Eve-- right on cue--11 weeks. This is cruel in itself for puking reasons, but crueler b/c everything one could possible read about pregnancy says the nausea and puking will stop at about 12 weeks--- NOT TRUE! Sean's pregnancy was the same timing as this one, almost exactly and I threw up from New Years past Easter. One time when I was 12-13 weeks someone said to me at a party, "Oh, so you're starting to feel better now, its always good when you get out of the first trimester." I almost punched her in the nose. Instead, I went home and puked in my in-laws kitchen sink in front of my brother-in-law and his (then) new girlfriend. Welcome to the family.

Are you tired? Oh yes. Here is a list of the places I have fallen asleep in the last 2 or so months:
-The ottoman (couldn't make it to the couch) in the family room while cody fed the boys lunch.
-The floor of the family room, in the middle of the day while other people milled about-- twice.
-The floor of the living room.
-Sitting up at our desk waiting for the computer to start up.
-In the car too many times to count.
-In my bed at 7:20 p.m.

Any cool food cravings? If by "cravings" you mean "aversions," then yes. If by "cravings" you mean food I actually want to eat, then no. Nothing sounds good, but especially not sweets, which is crazy for me. I actually asked Cody to move his bowl of ice cream away from me the other night so I wouldn't have to look at it or smell it. FYI, every other day of my life, except the beginning of pregnancy, I eat ice cream while watching TV at night. Also consistent with my other pregnancies.

Don't you have like Thyroid problems, or that weird exercise thing? I have hypo-thyroidism, and a symptom of the specific disease is exercise-induced anaphylaxis. Most days I can control it with thyroid medication and anti-histmaines, but when you're pregnant, your body uses more thyroid hormone than usual. Since I'm starting at 0 thyroid hormone, I go into a greater deficit, which means I display the symptoms of hypo-thyroidism more. This makes me freezing cold all the time (sleeping in full long sleeve sweats, with socks and an extra blanket), and extremely tired all the time (see above). Fortunately, I have a great doctor who gets me in right away after the first pregnancy test to change my medication levels. So far, its been fairly well managed. There is an increased risk of miscarriage with hypo-thyroidism, so we feel very grateful to be at 12 weeks and have seen the baby's heartbeat. And that I'm throwing up.

Well, that's all I can think of for now, mostly because I'm getting hungry again. I'll post some updates of our wonderful Christmas soon and start taking some belly shots soon too. We are really happy--Sean loves talking about the baby in mommy's belly (and told his whole preschool class), and if Jamesie could talk, I'm sure he would too. He has poked my belly a few times to communicate his affection. Cody and I are figuring things out, but confident in the Lord's plan for our family that it will not only "work out," but that we will be happier than ever with this new addition. We are grateful for any prayers in the meantime!

Big Brother, Little Brother

2011-12-07T09:33:00.000-05:00

Its hard to keep Jamesie away from Sean these days. Whatever Sean is doing, Jamesie is trying to do it. Sometimes this creates severe conflict, like when Sean is playing with a specific toy and Jamesie has to have it too. But most of the time its just so cute, seeing Little follow Big around the house. Jamesie still doesn't have many (any?) spoken words, but when Sean gets on a roll yelling about something (a squirrel out the window, Daddy's home, etc), James will mimic the tone and inflection of the sound, just without the words. If Jamesie happens to wake up from nap before Sean does, I have to keep bring him downstairs and keep the baby gates locked to keep him from barging into Sean's room on his own. Meanwhile, he does the sign for "brother" about 5000 times before Sean wakes up.

Then, we get this upon Sean waking from his nap:

My Dream Job

2011-12-05T14:55:00.000-05:00

I have a dream job, but I will get to that in a moment. First, let me preface this thought with a portrait of my childhood home: My dad was our youth soccer coach, back when Goalie was a coveted position because you got to wear a special shirt. At practices my dad would ask "who wants to play goalie?" and while 10 other little girls bounced up and down yelling "me, me, me!" Mary Beth (who lived across the street and was used to my dad's quirks) and I waited patiently and then confidently said "I do." The red shirt was ours to split. A good lesson that good grammar can get you what you want.

When I was 10 my mom told me she would pay me a dollar if I ever caught her in a written or spoken grammatical error. When I was 23 she had enjoyed a glass or two of wine while watching the World Series and commented that the Tigers were playing "real good." I put out my hand and demanded my dollar. 13 years I waited for it. A good lesson that good grammar can be lucrative. My parents put a premium on good grammar growing up. It might sound like a strange or demanding way to grow up, but my sister is now earning her PhD in English and I make a living by writing on behalf of other people. Good grammar can be lucrative. So, when I began to ask a certain little boy of ours how he slept last night and he answered "good," I had to take action. Every morning at breakfast I would make him repeat "I slept very well," until that became the stock answer. While there are a lot of things I like about living in the south, the repetitive abuse of the adverb is not one of them, and my children will not fall victim to it.

Back to my dream job. I would love to run a company where I am hired by small businesses to come in and just take a quick grammatical look around their operations. My insides cringe when I see unnecessary apostrophes and nonsensical quotation marks in public places. My chiropractor closes early on Friday's. Tip's are welcome at the local coffee shop (although they won't be getting any from me until they change the sign). They're There and Their on a menu. Or, my recent favorite, the park vendor serving "Beef" Hot Dogs and Chees Pizza. AH! I'm not saying my grammar or even spelling is always perfect. I get into a rhythm especially when typing online, like we all do, and I miss things here and there. But this is not my livelihood. If you are running your own business, please, do the grammarfreaks like my family and me (yes, it is "me," you wouldn't say "like I") a favor and quickly scan the published word which you are presenting to the world as a reflection of your trade. Or, hire someone, LIKE ME!, to do it for you. Hourly rate is negotiable. I can work on site or you can send me a draft of your menu/publication over email. I guarantee you will have more business from people like my parents.

Sorry for the Delay...

2011-12-02T15:47:00.000-05:00

....we've been swamped around here with travelling for thanksgiving, getting new wood floors (awesome), a little extra work for me and a trial for Cody. Survival mode. Here's a little tidbit to get my creativity flowing again and sate your need for cute Sean quotes.

Today at lunch:

Sean: Mommy, why is your brain in your head?
Erin: That's the center of everything you do and think. Your brain is what tells your body to do everything, and your brain is where you think about stuff.
Sean: Well I think about Greta.

Tonsil Recap

2011-11-16T20:29:00.000-05:00

A little run-down of our day, this time in pictures:

9:00 a.m., arrive at the surgery center, Thomas and Percy in hand. Wearing lucky shirt saved for special occassions.

9:30 a.m.: check in-- receive wristband for Sean, one for Beth and one for Oli. Beth and Oli were even allowed to go back in the O.R. with Sean, so its a good thing they had wristbands, so the doctors knew which person to operate on.

10:00 a.m., head back to surgery.

11:00 a.m., wake up--scared, confused, sad. We only stayed in the recovery room for about 15 minutes before they let us go home. Sean then fell asleep on the 4 minute drive home.

And fell asleep again on the couch as soon as we got inside. I sort of loved it b/c he was so baby-ish again and I just got to hold him for an hour. I may have even taken a little rest myself with him while Cody and Jamesie picked up meds at the drug store.

Meanwhile, Jamesie was extremely curious about what was going on and why Seannie looked so strange. He kept trying to walk to him, talk to him, poke him, get him to jump on the couch....and Sean slept.

12:30 p.m. wake up, have some apple juice with Dad, then ask to go have a nap at 1:00 p.m. Before his nap though, Cody gave him a new Berenstain Bears book and a new water-color Thomas book. Cody said we could read the B.B. today and then maybe if Sean felt better tomorrow or the next day he could do the painting book. When I put him to bed he said, "Mommy, I'm feeling better now....I think I can do painting after nap."

3:30 p.m., Dad wakes Sean up from nap and the first thing Sean says is, "I'm all better now, Dad. I can do some painting." Meanwhile, Jamesie remains curious.

5:00 p.m., discover that the nurse gave Mom a whole sheet of Thomas stickers! Decorating himself with all but two of them--one for Mom and one for Jamesie.

6:00: Dinner: oatmeal. We're on a soft-food diet (nothing that has to be chewed) for 2 full weeks! Any ideas? We did a smoothie and oatmeal today--but that just about covers all of my ideas...with 13 days to go.

7:00: Bath, apply new Notre Dame tattoo to hand, and bed.

So far, so good--he even talked to both of his grandmothers on the phone today, and they were both amazed at how good he sounded. The Doc warned us that some kids seem to do extremely well the first couple of days though and then hit a wall a few days in, so we'll keep you updated how the rest of the recovery goes. Thanks again for all your prayers!

Update on Seannie

2011-11-16T12:52:00.000-05:00

Sean made it through the surgery very well and we are already at home! Sean is in and out of naps on the couch, and currently listening to Cody read Pinnocchio to him. The nurses all said he was very brave and did extremely well. He was very confused and sad when he woke up, but seems to be coming around now-- enough to try to some ice cream for lunch at least :). We'll keep you updated with more later...thank you for all your prayers!

Goodbye (and Good Riddance) Tonsils!

2011-11-15T21:35:00.000-05:00

Sean's tonsils have about 12 hours left in their current home, then we say goodbye for good! If you've been anywhere near Sean while he sleeps you'll know that he snores like an old man. This summer on vacation Cody had to sleep on the couch because our 3 years old's snoring was keeping him up. The real problem, however, is that he has been having apnea episodes as he snores, which make for a very bad night sleep and a tired little boy for the rest of the day. At nearly 3 1/2 he still indulges in a 2-3 hour nap most afternoons.

The Big Event will happen tomorrow morning at 9:30, and we would all appreciate prayers at that time for a safe and successful operation and recovery! Thank you in advance!

To get ready for the big day tomorrow Seannie and I made a cake (he requested blue cake with blue writing) this afternoon to wish his tonsils good luck on their new voyage. Sean got to pick what he had for dinner (he chose a hot dog) and have as much of the cake and ice cream as he wanted as he won't be able to eat in the morning. Here are some sweet pics of our celebratory dinner:

Showning his tonsils. If you ask him about his tonsils or say "wow, they look big," he'll correct you and say "oh no, no, no, they're nasty." He told the ENT they're nasty when the doc first looked at them.

Blue cake, blue writing and a blue candle. We all sang "goodbye tonsils for you..." to the tune of Happy Birthday--it was pretty silly.

Digging in! Notice Jamesie's prefered way of getting cake.

Close up.

Mmmm.

Jamesie with his old-man muffin-top-belly after all that cake!

So, goodbye tonsils! We hope to never hear from you again!

Nifty Nicknames

2011-11-15T10:38:00.000-05:00

So the other day after school Sean said the following to me:

"Mommy, my children (he refers to the children in his class as "my children") don't know how to say "-eee." Because they can't say my whole name, they just call me 'Sean.'"

That is to say, they don't call him "Seannie" at school, and he was upset by this. He then asked me to have a talk with his teacher about calling him Seannie instead of Sean (because its his whole name). I had the requested talk, and he came home and reported that the teacher did just fine, except she forgot one time at lunch and called him "Sean."

This got me thinking about how fun nicknames are-- they give you a special connection with your child/spouse/friend that makes that person feel special and worthy of your creative thoughts. My dad calls my sister's husband (Michael Crews) M.C. Hammer. My uncles regularly call Cody "Code Red" or "Zippy" (short for Zip Code) or "Agent Cody Banks." Our Cousin Brendan has gone by "Soup" for years, which is short for Super Man, just because his parents think he's super.

While Seannie usually just goes by Seannie (or, when he was talking in 3rd person, he would go by "SeannieSeannie" which we still like to use), Jamesie's names around this house have gotten pretty creative. For posterity sake, here's a list of all the names you are likely to hear him called on any given day around our house:

Jamesie (duh)
Mames (this is how Sean pronounced his name when he was a baby)
Mamesie (see above)
Mimzy
Mimzer
Jimmer (developed during last year's March Madness tournament)

We love our little Seannie and Mimzy!

Mames, Coburg and Seannie Seannie.

De-Caffing My Life: Week 1 Update

2011-11-14T14:01:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who left comments, emailed, facebooked, etc to help me start the process of getting of the caffeinated wagon. A week into it and I am proudly (albeit groggily) making progress. I haven't had an afternoon pick-me-up in about 10 days now (record), and the morning juice is cut down to about 1/2-1 small cup of coffee. This weekend I even went de-caf on the morning cup (and took 2 naps that day).

I'm feeling really ambitious, but I think I might finish out this week with my regular small cup, and then try to step down even further next week. I don't want to do anything foolish. I can't say I feel "good" and full of "natual energy" yet, but I'm hoping it will come...right?

Tiffany's Table Manners for Three-Year-Olds...

2011-11-09T14:52:00.001-05:00

In the car today...

Sean: "Another kick....Another kick...Another kick...Mommy, what's that thing again...Another kick?
Erin: I'm not sure what you're talking about. You want to do another kick?
Sean: No no no. Like what Mama Peggy said about when you toot at the dinner table or when you don't walk across another person's tennis court. What's that thing called?
Erin: Etiquette!
Sean: Yeah yeah yeah... Mama Peggy says its good to say "I tooted!" when you're at the table.
Erin: I think she said its good etiquette not to tell everyone you tooted when you're at the table.
Sean: No, its good to tell.

Not our particular conversation today, but here we are in the middle of another deep conversation last weekend, likely dominated by the word WHY?

Yes, sean is wearing a US flag-type patch on his ND jersey...because he wanted to. 3 year olds are fun and funny and whimsical and just neat to be around. We really like our's.

I Need Help

2011-11-07T14:09:00.000-05:00

I somehow got through college without caffeine. Of course I'd have the occassional Mountain Dew (Code Red) here and there during finals or before a big night out, but as for the daily cup of joe-- I totally did without. HOWEVER, for about the last 7 years, I have been in a major battle with caffeine. I started drinking coffee when I started dating Cody (to be honest, I usually enjoyed a cup a day when I worked at Wachovia before law school) because he did, and it smelled really good, and we walked by Starbucks every day on the way to school. Then it was fun having a warm cup of coffee with him in the cold, snowy South Bend afternoons when you had nothing but pages of reading to look forward to for the rest of the day.

Coffee (and caffeine in other forms) became like a drug to me. Oh wait, it is a drug. And I am addicted. Cody always tells me to just accept it, yet I've never been comfortable with such a needy dependance on it (or anything for that matter). So, for the last 7 years or so, I have been an addict, but an uncomfortable one. Every few months I vow I'm going to kick the habit, but then I get a headache and Cody rolls his eyes and brews me another cup or hands me a Diet Coke. I'm serious now though, I'm going to do it. I'm healthy, I don't have to be at work early in the morning, and have the afternoon to take a power nap if needed. Now is my time...I know it. I don't have to be a slave to this drug for the rest of my life--now is my chance to get out!

But, HOW? HOW DO YOU GET OFF OF CAFFEINE?!!! PLEASE---If you have done this---please give me some advice. Leave a comment, email, call, whatever... what can I do? Right now I'm on about 1-2 cups in the morning plus a caffeinated soda (or tea) in the afternoon. More if I have a headache. How do I stop?

Montessori Education at Work

2011-11-03T14:53:00.000-04:00

The other day Sean asked to help me vacuum. I discovered that is not a chore that lends itself to helping hands. Either you do it or you don't---its really hard to "help" vacuuming. So, a few days later when he asked to help again, I found this smaller sized vacuum in the garage and let him have a go at it himself. He loved it. Practical "work" learning. I love it.

In underpants...even better.

After the carpet was clean he asked how the vacuum worked....

And spent a good 10-15 minutes like this.

Happy All-Hallow's Eve

2011-10-31T15:16:00.000-04:00

A very scary-looking jack-o-lantern adorning our front door, courtesy of Sean.

You might know that I love Halloween. No "Fall Festivals" over here-- we LOVE dressing up. As a kid my mom and sister and I often worked on creating the perfect costume for weeks. In my school days I proudly dressed as the Statue of Liberty, a full-sized teddy bear, Raggedy Anne and Andy, Pippi Longstockings, an Indian Maiden with full leather fringe and baby-carrying papoose, the Notre Dame Leprachaun....the list goes on. In college I once went to a party dressed as Mary Catherine Gallagher, but the real feat was staying in character the entire night. For the last two or three years I have thought about and worked on the kids' costumes for about a good month before the big day. I will say, we don't do gruesome or creepy, just good, creative costumes. I love creating, I appreciate a good pun, and I love getting reactions to some good costumes (you'll remember last year Sean was the Pope... he is still known around town for that one)

This year, we are living it up--- today will be our third day wearing costumes, and I couldn't be happier with so much wear. So, without further delay, enjoy Groeber Halloween 2011....

Can you guess?

Sean is "An Ingenious Scientist." (He asked me if Papa wore his hair like this, I said, sort of, yeah.)

And Jamesie, his lab rat. Poor taste? We think its kind of funny. We just hope Jamesie thinks so too in a few years. We love you. (pictured here enduring his own experiment....what will happen if I pull off my own tail?)

Eh, I don't know if you want to do that, Jamesie.

Sean showing off his "experiements" (olive oil and colored water), before we went downtown for a city-wide Halloween Party at Hampton Park on Friday.

A few hours later, here are my boys showing off their First Prize Pumpkin for "Cutest Costume(s)" ! The park officials actually added a "most creative" category at the last minute, and I thought we might have a shot at that one (given the judges weren't memers of PETA), but I was actually so much happier with "Cutest Costumes" because its a reflection of the boys, not just my handiwork. There were at least 150 kids at this thing. Yes, Jamesie is holding an actual rat-feeder from my dad's lab, along with his milk.

And the next day, this is what Sean wanted to turn his prize-pumpkin into. He recently watched Fantasia for the first time (he is very into "classical music" and Mickey Mouse, so I thought he would like it, which he did....he LOVED it), so he requested a Mickey Mouse with stars and a moon, and a broom.

Our other pumpkin.

And just for kicks, Mom and Daddy got to go to an adult Halloween Party for the first time...ever... Can you guess who we are? Hint, a fashion dream come true for me :). Don't mind the HUGE scary zomby in the back. Its not our house, i promise.

Thanks to my dad for the scientific inspiration, as well as a number of real-lab props like the lab coat, test tubes and rat feeder (but not the lab rat).

Tree Frog or Spider Monkey....

2011-10-30T21:08:00.000-04:00

I can't tell which creature he reminds me of here....

Either way, he's looooong.

Welcome Fall!

2011-10-28T09:39:00.000-04:00

Thanks, Sean.

2011-10-27T15:12:00.000-04:00

Twice in the last few weeks Sean has said the following statement to me, in a public place, while pointing at Jamesie:

"Mommy, don't forget your little buddy."

Once at the doctor and once at pre-school--- as if I regularly forget "my little buddy" when I'm getting ready to leave a public place when we're out running errands! Both times were in clear earshot of the doctor/teacher, whom, I might add are under mandatory-reporting statutes if they suspect child abuse or neglect.

Dressing for Dinner

2011-10-20T13:56:00.000-04:00

In Jane Austen novels the characters always have to "dress for dinner," as if the full-length gown they've been wearing all day isn't nice enough to sit and eat in and then sit and cross-stitch in the drawing room for an hour. I always sort of chuckled at that, but then I started to notice, that a lot of times we do the same thing... we've been at the beach or on the boat all day on vacation, and even though we're only having pizza or burgers outside for dinner, I go put on cute shorts and a sweater or tank top. Maybe throw on some earrings or a necklace.

Two days ago it was pretty humid here, and I was cooking dinner with Sean in a plain cotton skirt and t-shirt. Cody called to say he was on his way home. After Sean and I tidied up the family room I told him I was going to run upstairs and put my jeans on "so I can look cute for Daddy." I also put a little make up on and brushed my hair.

Yesterday we had friends from the neighborhood over for dinner, who have two sweet daughter, MK (4) and Vivi (1.5). Sean LOVES MK, and tried to have Meg name her baby after her. The night before they came over as I was putting Sean to bed he told me, "I have to wear my jeans for dinner tomorrow when MK comes over." Completely forgetting my earlier statements, I had no clue why he was talking about what he would wear for dinner the next night. After he told me about 2 or 3 more times, it clicked, and I said, "Oh, you want to wear a special outfit for dinner so you can look cute for MK?" he said, "yeah, yeah yeah. Oh, I know, maybe my jeans and my Mickey Mouse tank top." Sure, I said, do you want me to lay out your outfit for you to put on after nap tomorrow? "yeah yeah yeah."

So, sure enough the next day (yesterday), Sean didn't ask to wear his jeans and mickey mouse cank-top when he woke up, but he did ask to lay it out before nap so he could "change into it." I was laughing to myself the whole time. I actually had to run downtown to the office before he woke up from nap, and when I came home, he was decked out "looking cute" for MK.

MK and Sean then enjoyed a romantic (LED) candle-lit (per sean's request) dinner at the picnic table in the family room. We can consider it their first date, so I'm very glad Sean changed into his dinner clothes to "look cute" for it.

How Was Your Day?

2011-10-19T13:48:00.000-04:00

Sean spends a lot of time listening to us, even when we don't know it. Recently, he's starting asking at dinner, "Cody, how was your day?" Cody will answer, then Sean will say something like, "ask me how my day was," or he'll just wait for the return question. He usually says "good," but here are some of the other answers we've heard over the last few weeks:

Cody: "Sean, how was your day?"
Sean: "Crazy."

Cody: "Sean, how was your day?"
Sean: "Long."

Cody: "Sean, how was your day?"
Sean: "Busy."

I can't help but laugh when I hear this. Its been a long, crazy, busy day of naps, puzzles, books, mickey mouse and watching mom vacuum. Oh, we did go to the grocery store, so maybe that's what put the day over the edge.

Sean has also been asking a lot about babies in the belly recently. Today he said,

"Mommy, are you and Daddy going to have another baby?"
"Hopefully we will one day, but not now."
"Why not?"
"Well, we have to wait for God to put another baby in my belly."
"But, when will you and Daddy get married again for that to happen?"

I guess he's gotten the message that you get married then have a baby. I just failed to explain that doesn't happen every time. At least he's got the order down.

These pictures have nothing to do with this post, but I thought they were funny. Above, Jamesie trying to read a book on Sean's bed.

Maybe it will go better if I wear Sean's glasses.

Forget it, I'll just snuggle with Sean in his bed! (This scene happens most morning and after naps in the afternoon. Next, Jamesie will get off the bed, toddle into his room, get Frogger out of his crib, toddle back into Sean's room, climb back on the bed and lay down and suck his thumb with Frogger while Sean sucks his thumb with Oli.)

Far-Away Friends

2011-10-18T15:34:00.001-04:00

Charleston is a wonderful place to live, but unfortunately it's often a transient place to live (with a medical school and a law school) and a professional soccer team :)), which means we have met, and said goodbye to, a number of wonderful friends down here. Combine this with my family living hundreds of miles away, I thought a good way to introduce these facts of life to sean would be through talking about "far-away friends." This summer he met a number of far-away friends at Denise's wedding (e.g., Baby Mckenna, his second cousin) and at the cottage, not to mention first cousins and uncle who live in Michigan. We now have a huge map of the U.S. in our dining room with pictures of far-away friends dotting the landscape.

We were so lucky to have a number of far-away friends come back to Charleston to visit us last weekend. Two of the featured map-friends actually came and saw Sean's map which was so fun. Our very first friends we made in Charleston, Luke and Andrea, and Paul and Gretchen were here with their respective progeny, along with Jenny and Roman who have since moved to Orlando, and their two muffin-pies. I did not take enough pictures. At brunch on Sunday there were 14 children here, plus their parents, and Sean was the oldest. In fact, sean was the only 3 year old! Sean is a hospitable, social child and he loved having all of his friends at his house at once. It was a lot of fun. Here are some of the few shots from the weekend:

Yes, other friends came to visit last weekend, but Greta (and those related to her) hold a special spot in Sean's heart, therefore, they got a sign.

I mentioned in a previous post that at times while they were playing Sean would just stop, hug Greta, close his eyes and drink in her Greta-ness. I am lucky enough to actually have found a picture of this event. Greta was kind enough to tolerate it!

Just catching up.

As I said, Sean was the oldest of the crew all weekend-- a role he very much enjoyed. "Guys, this is how you unlock the door to let yourself out onto the balcony."

Sean and Greta with their old Nanny, Valerie, who was also in town for the weekend, sort of, during her world travels. Val kept these two when they were itty-bitty---it is wonderful that she gets to see them grow every so often like this!

Not even all of the ladies and babies-- just a random shot of who was around at the moment. there were many more babies and ladies.

Practicing driving his lady on the handle bars.

The original 3 Amigos. These guys just picked up where they left off.

For some reason, our group is really boy-heavy right now. Here's Greta surrounded by her subjects.

My how we've grown (2007 below, 2011 above--note that both of these pictures were taken with a timer and I recall much laughing and several attempts at getting everyone in a shot both times. Note also that I'm glad having two kids has taught Paul how to smile :).)

we LOVED having our far-away and our in-town friends all so close last weekend! Lets do it again soon!

October 2011-- What are we up to?

2011-10-14T17:02:00.000-04:00

What are we....

Eating: Tonight, mozz and tomato pizza and salad. Jamesie's been eating a lot of yogurt, applesauce and oatmeal, given his swallowing hazards lately, and Sean holds strong to his PB/banana sandwiches, for about the last year or so.

Reading: Cody: Cormac McCarthy's border trilogy, although I honestly can't say which one he's on right now. Denise's hubby Michael is writing his dissertation on McCarthy, so Cody's diving in so he can add to the conversation at Christmas.
Erin: I just finished North and South by Elizabeth Gaskins, and I give it an A+. I just got the 2004 BBC miniseries from the library and I am so excited to watch it. I was sad to finish the book--its similar to an Austen novel in time and romance, but a little more complex in the social and economic issues of the day. Since finishing that last week I am reading Under the Banner of Heaven for fun (fascinating), Parenting with Love and Logic for bookclub, and Montessori from the Start for our educational reading. I really like these last two books so far as well, and we are making a lot of changes around the house for Jamesie that are more in line with the Montessori philosophy Sean is experiencing at pre-school. So far they have both responded really well.
Sean: Berenstain Bears anything. They are the "it" guys right now, and you will usually find him at home or out in public with BB book in hand. Like when he brought "Too Much Birthday" to lunch today.
Jamesie: the Brown Brown Brown Bear What Do You See phase has hit J hard. He signs "book" after every nap and insists on sitting in his rocking chair for a turn of Brown Bear upon waking. He's also really enjoying Baby Come to Church lately as well.

Talking About:
Cody and Erin: Mormons, Montessori, and the Detroit Tigers. Plus some Republican primary hooplah-- Are our choices really coming down to Rick Perry and Herman Cain?
Sean: Greta's visit, Mickey Mouse, books. Aubrey Anne has been staying with us the last few days and this morning as she was bringing him downstairs I hear him say "Aub, my voice is better than your voice in the morning." He also told us "Tim is a Mormon," and the other day he told me out of the blue, "sometimes DaDa comes here by himself, and sometimes he brings a girl." When asked later who the girl is that DaDa sometimes brings he said "G.G." He also likes starting sentences these days with "Don't you know...," so yesterday he said, "Mommy, don't you know that Aub sleeps in her clothes sometimes?" He's spilling all the family secrets.
Jamesie: "br-be" (Brown Bear), '"ba" (Banana), "baaa" (ball). He's also (finally) signing "Please" which is adorable, plus he's picked up the signs for a few other animals and requests. Previously his universal sign was "help," which in his version was putting both hands on top of his head. Unfortunately he used this sign mostly at meals when his hands were covered in food. We've been having baths much more frequently lately.

Praying For:
Cody and Erin: Guidance on our next moves in family, career and life. Also for some special babies in the belly (not my belly).
Sean: "Ms. Martha" at the exclusion of anyone else he usally prays for. (he finishes his prayers with "and that's all, and no one else."
Jamesie: He is now praying with his hands at dinner (more like clapping), and still sees and talks to Jesus all day long.

Grateful For:
Erin: A responsible, good looking husband who makes me coffee every morning and lets me sleep in until 7 every morning. Jamesie's recovery from choking, which included a normal swallow-test. My new soccer team in the Charleston rec-league--its really fun.
Cody: Cooler weather, two boys who can walk and breathe, family members who like to hang out with us and come visit us.
Sean: Vanilla Wafers and Cheeze-its at snack time at pre school (these are both usually a treat at our house, so when he is freely given them at school he thinks he's hit the jackpot).
Jamesie: One on one time with Mommy while Seannie is at school, and snuggle time with Seannie when he gets home.

Milestones and Accomplishments:
Cody: Shaving his beard and looking hot.
Erin: I scored in each of our last two soccer games, and I have been baking real bread with yeast and everything!
Sean: Going potty by himself (i.e., taking himself without our help in the bathroom); taking naps in underpants, sounding out more and more words in books. Also, thanks to his Montessori training at school, Sean is now setting his and Jamesie's places at the table himself, washing his dishes, using a cup (not a Bop), and in general is SO much more independent and willing to help do things himself! Sean also taught himself to whistle about 2 weeks ago.
Jamesie: WALKING! ALL THE TIME! Plus, he turned 1 1/2 yesterday, and had his Barium swallow-study yesterday which appeared normal at first glance. (The doctors said he was the best 18mo old they had ever had. smile.) Since deciding to walk he has exploded in ability and understanding it seems. He follows directions amazingly, and has started imitating Sean setting the table and climbing up on his stool at the kitchen sink. The Montessori book is making me realize how much more he is capable of than we thought. I am slowing incorporating new "work" and activities for him so he can challenge himself in tasks rather than mindlessly play with toys that don't challenge him at all. So far he loves pushing poker chips through a small slit in a shoe box and then dumping them out again, he loves carrying things to and from across the family room, and climbing in and out of the armchairs. He LOVES getting out sean's cups and plates and bowls and stacking them and going up and down the stairs.

Challenges?
Cody: The next step in life.
Erin: I think the Love and Logic principles seem really great, but I'm a little overwhelmed at all the things I'm not supposed to or supposed to say to Sean to keep his fragile self-esteem in tact, so not to produce a teenager scouring the streets for drugs after disrespecting his teachers and failiing out school--drunk. I'm just a little overwhelmed. I'm sure I'll "get" the system soon, but even now I can hear myself telling him things all day long I know I'm not supposed to. Also, I really really want to go to Ireland for the Notre Dame/Navy game next september, or to teach college there for a year, and I'm trying to figure out how to do either of those things. Its not looking hopeful.
Sean: For all his newly-gained independence, he can't stand the thought of having to get undressed by himself at the end of the day and will usually resort to crying before trying to take his own shirt off.
Jamesie: Instructions at meals. His favorite thing to do is to wear his empty bowl or plate as a hat. He gets really mad when we instruct him not to.

Getting ready for their first day of college.

Post-nap brother snuggling time.

Mundane Trauma

2011-10-11T15:18:00.000-04:00

It seems like everytime I get on a roll posting on a semi-regular basis life catches up with me and throws me off pace. Yes, we had the trauma with Jamesie's choking 2 weeks ago, and I sincerely thank everyone who has thought about us and/or dropped me a note or a nice word about the incident. His choking incident(s) have resulted in a battery of doctor's appointments since the first E.R. trip, including a barium-swallow-study to be performed in the next few days. But, aside from that trauma, our life has been pretty mundane the last two weeks, and its just been the normalcy of pre-school--dishes--laundry--dinner--bedtimes--work that has caught up with me. A few quick takes of the more interesting moments in the last couple of weeks will have to suffice:

-I am reading Jon Krackaur's Under the Banner of Heaven, which is about Mormon fundamentalists. It is a fascinating book. I guess Cody and I are talking about it a lot, because last night at dinner Sean told us "Tim is a Mormon." Tim who? "Meg's Tim." (not true).

-Jamesie is now preferring to walk (WOW!). Just before his 18 month birthday (this Thursday, he'll celebrate it with a taste of Barium) he has actually decided to get around via foot instead of knees and hands. Its so cute it is unbelievable. He rarely sits down when awake now, which has led to some super-long naps in the morning and afternoon. Sweet boy.

-Sean has been really into calling people on the phone "to say hey." My dad seems to be the lucky winner right now and gets a few of these calls per week. If you haven't received one yet, just wait, I'm sure you will soon.

- I am playing in a rec soccer league and it is really fun. Most of the women have played at a high-ish level before, but clearly don't have the same skills (or fitness) they did in their glory days. I fit right in. Last Thursday I did two flip throws, after about a 5 year hiatus from that skill. I am happy to report both were on target, but it was one of the more foolish, and unnecessary, things I've ever done.

-Sean's BFF Greta visted from Minnesota this week. I'll get some pictures up soon, but most of the cuteness was too awesome to capture on camera. Several times while playing he would hug her and put his head on her and close his eyes as if he were just soaking up her Greta-ness. Unfortunately, when they left yesterday Sean pinched his finger in his ga-noculars at the same time, so their parting adieau was less than memorable, and included lots of crying and finger-holding.

-Jamesie has been on a roll with his sign language and is even using a (select) few real words. He signs book, all done, airplane, food (sometimes), milk, help, please, bath, and a few animals (bear, dog, cat). He says Mama (yea!), and answers "Yeah," to just about everything. He tries to say "Brown Bear" ("ba-ba"). He understands almost everything we say now and can respond to directions really well.

All for now, I promise to get out of the mundane-funk and get some good material up soon.

I Love the Sound of a Crying Baby

2011-09-29T14:13:00.000-04:00

Remember that old adage that you should always wear a clean pair of underwear in case you had to go to the hospital for an emergency? (at least that's how I remember it). I'll get to that part of this story later.

Yesterday the boys and I were enjoying a peaceful morning with our friend Bridget (who used to be Sean's Nanny, and comes in 2nd place to Beth the Girl as to favorite people in the world) at her apartment complex's pool. The boys were hungry, so we started lunch there on the pool deck-- PB&J and grapes (the grapes were cut). Jamesie was "inhaling" the grapes. Then he did inhale a grape--right into his trachea. At first he coughed and gagged a little, then he was silent--no air in or out--no crying, no gagging, but struggling and panicking. I finger-swooped him --he tends to gag on things, so we finger swoop him a lot. Nothing happened, so in a panic I nearly threw him at Bridget (who was holding her own baby on her lap at the time), with the instruction "do something!" Bridget is an R.N., and has more medical knowledge in her trachea-swooping pinky finger than I ever could. She finger swooped, nothing happened. Then, the dreaded words of her telling me to start calling for an ambulance. I fumbled for my phone and was barely able to dial 911 for my shaking hands, as Jamesie then lost conciousness and passed out-- blue and purple. I was a mess, he was limp, Sean was staring at him, and by this time Bridget was administering the Baby-Heimlich, which includes back-blows between his shoulder blades. I was shaking and shouting into the phone, "My baby is choking!"

Thank God for Jamesie's Guardian Angel who might very well be named Bridget. The grape eventually dislodged itself, but Jamesie was then spitting up blood, and while he was breathing, it was very labored and we could hear that the breathing passage was still somewhat blocked--I was scared with any breath the grape could get stuck again. I think because his breathing was so labored his hands and feet remained blue and he just slumped over in my arms, as I kept his head facing down somewhat so he didnt choke on the blood coming up. He was recovering from losing consciousness when EMT came, but his color was finally back, and he was breathing normally by then--although very limp and lethargic for the lack of oxygen. Apparently, if the Heimlich is performed on a baby that size he qualifies for an automatic trip to the emergency room to check for broken bones and other internal damage. Plus, we never saw the grape come back out, so they needed to see if it was actually in a lung. So, Jamesie and I got an exciting ride to the E.R. in a blaring ambulance, and Sean got to spend the afternoon with Bridget. Sean was an absolute champ--he was completely quiet and calm throughout the entire event, and just said "I love you" when we left. Later that evening he gave us a minute-by-minute account of the whole day and interrupted at dinner to say, "Excuse me Mommy, you have to tell Daddy about the grape in Jamesie's lung." Oh, yes, thank you for reminding me about that!

A few hours after our EMT encounter and he checked out (mostly) A-OK at the ER. A trip to the pediatrician this morning showed he was definitely A-OK. While at the ER Jamesie's Guardian Angel pulled a few more strings, as both of our attending docs were Notre Dame grads (might be common in a Chicago ER, but rarely do you meet an ND grad in Charleston, SC, much less two at the same time, who are in charge of your son's medical care).

And now let me rewind to the beginning of our day. Cody was out of town at a PD Conference (and had to high-tail it back to Charleston after my 911 text), and I was feeling quite lazy and relaxed in the morning. We had a busy few days with preschool and running the home by myself, so I decidedly took things slow on this particular morning. That meant Jamesie had his morning nap in his jammies and Sean had breakfast in just underpants (per his request). Seeing as we were just going to Bridget's pool right after the morning nap, what would be the sense in changing the child into clothes just to change him into swim trunks as soon as we got there? Besides, its just Bridget's.

3 hours later I am in the E.R. with my naked baby, wearing just a diaper. I think-- they're performing chest exams on him, its normal not wear any clothes, right? Well, then he started getting cold, and what do I have to dress the child in? Jammies. ***I swear, this is the first time in the last 17 1/2 months he has ever gone out of the house in pajamas. This would happen. We looked like complete hobos-- no shoes, no socks, just football-themed pajamas in the middle of the afternoon. When Cody picked us up from the hospital at about 3:00 pm he was considerate enough of my delicate emotional state to decide not to mention our son's attire. Also, when the ambulance came to the pool, I got into it in just my swimming suit, until the nice lady-EMT said, "do you want to get any clothes before we go to the hospital?" Yes, I do. Thank you for thinking for me.

So, yesterday evening as the boys slept peacefully in their beds we thanked God for our Guardian Angels, for Bridget and for our boys. In a matter of minutes the outcome could have been completely different and we could have been having a very different sort of night. I am shaken to the core thinking about it, but as my grandmother reminded me last night, "I'm sure you are scared, but its over now, and you have to stop thinking about it and move on. You start over again tomorrow." That's the wisdom of someone who successfully raised 5 boys into adulthood.

Oh, and just to comment on the title of this post, the sweetest sound yesterday was hearing his little wimpering cry after he could breathe again. Unfortunately, Jamesie is also a breath-holder when he cries, so we actually witness him pass out from not breathing about once every week or two. As I was telling the EMTs--this isn't the way he normally passes out, and usually when he passes out he comes back much quicker. While the pediatrician assures us he is not doing any neurological damage when he cry-passes out, it is still completely unnerving for a mother to watch her son turn blue, purple, then fall over with his eyes rolling back. I hate it, and I always rejoice when I hear his little cry come back.

Guardian Angels, pray for us and protect us!

And, just in case you need a refresher on what to do in a choking-baby situation:

http://children.webmd.com/guide/choking-rescue-procedure-baby-younger-than-1-year

I recommend you read the WebMD instructions, but this is what the back-blows should look like. Although, the doctor explained it to me with his head sideways. There are also front compressions to do, which you can see on the WebMD explanation.

Smushy-face and other sweet shots

2011-09-22T15:04:00.000-04:00

I can't help it, these pics are just too cute not to share. From Labor Day weekend with the Groebers in Anderson--enjoy!

Those smushy little lips are so kissable!

I love the ears folded forward. hehe.

This is Jamesie's headshot for his milk commercial audition. Or, Cody forgot a spoon and is trying to feed him yogurt off of a banana. It worked surprisingly well.

Sweet cuddly baby James.

Air!

Big brother was getting a little jealous of the attention given to Jamesie's arms in the air. Lately whenever we swoon over something Jamesie does Sean is quick to show us he can do it too, no matter how remedial-- like saying the word "ball," or pointing and grunting at something he wants. Or putting his hands in the air.

This is what heaven will be for me-- a baby resting on my chest while on a boat on a lake in the summer.

times two.

Sweet Seannie

2011-09-21T13:43:00.000-04:00

This morning:

Erin: Hey Sean, you want me to sit down and watch Cat in the Hat with you for a few mintues?
Sean: No, I want you to watch with me allllll of the minutes.

With God, All Things are Possible

2011-09-16T13:23:00.003-04:00

Althought its a bit early for Halloween, Sean and I have been brainstorming some theme-costumes for the family lately. We haven't decided on anything. This was one of Sean's ideas yesterday though:

Sean: Maybe I can be Bono for Halloween, and then I will go inside yours and Daddy's radio [pointing to the Ipod] and I can sing, and then God and Jesus can bring me back out again. Do you think that would be a good idea Mommy?

Yes, good idea.

And, while I'm at it, I'll share this conversation from yesterday too:

(Tucking Sean in for his nap):
Sean: When I grow up I'm going to sleep in bed with Mommy and Daddy.
Erin: No, when you grow up you'll sleep in a bed with your wife, or just by yourself.
Sean: Why will I sleep in a bed with a wife?
Erin: That's what Mommies and Daddies do when they get married. So, when you get married to a girl, you will share a bed with her.
Sean: [perplexed look]
Erin: [preparing myself for a long-winded talk about vocations] You can get married to a girl-- like Greta, or Cora, or Maggie...
Sean: [Dead-pan serious face]: Or Beth.
[Vocations talk will wait until later].

Sorry, Micah.

St. Gianna Beretta Molla

2011-09-14T14:15:00.003-04:00

This month our bookclub is reading St. Gianna Beretta Molla: A Woman's Life by Giuliana Pelucchi. I usually don't like to discuss bookclub readings before the meeting, but this book made such an impact on me I would feel remiss if I didn't recommend it to all of you. This book gripped me right from the beginning--it took me one day to read, and I am not a fast reader.

St. Gianna is a modern day saint (1922-1962). She married when she was 33, had 3 children, and during her fourth pregnancy doctors discovered a large tumor on her uterus. She instructed the doctors to remove the tumor, but not the uterus, and if medical treatment required a decision, her baby's life was to be saved before her own. The initial surgery was succesful and she carried the baby to term, delivering a healthy baby girl. However, complications from the tumor and delivery caused her to die days after delivery. The other option on the earlier surgery was to remove the entire uterus which would have surely saved her life but killed the baby inside. She was decidedly against this route.

For a few years I have known the brief 1-2 sentence story of St. Gianna--she sacrificed her life for her unborn child and her name is a favorite among Catholic babies recently-- but I knew little else. This book focuses mostly on her life prior to her sacrificial decision, a life that is one of an every day saint. She prayed incessently, visited the Blessed Sacrament (if not mass) daily, and was so practiced in making decisions according to God's will, not her own, in her daily life, the big decisions later on came easily. In everyday life she lived to serve others, her husband, her children, the poor in her community, her parents, her siblings, her friends-- that when she was asked to die for another, she was able to peacefully submit. She was an everyday, ordinary saint who was also ultimately heroic.

Perhaps the most surprising fact about St. Gianna (for me), was that this pious, devout wife and mother was also a full-time practicing physician. She had a relatively late vocation, getting married at 33, and when she met her husband she already had an established practice of her own and loved the work. She continued working after they were married, after their first, second, and third baby. All the while, the description of her home was warm, welcoming and organized. I truly feel like I could not manage to work full time and mother full time (much less keep a warm, welcoming and organized, ahem, functioning, home), so this woman doing both in the 1950's is an amazing and inspiring picture of a strong wife and Christian. I think we are sometimes too quick to put people into boxes--I know when I first heard of St. Gianna-- the saint of pregnant women, wives and mothers-- the possibility of her working full time didn't even cross my mind--of course she had to be a stay-at-home mother to be a saint. This is proof that God works in everyone, and sainthood is not reserved to those women who choose to work or choose to stay home. Women can be eachother's worst (most judgmental) critics-- so we would all do well to remember that God does not discriminate between stay at home moms and working moms.

Often people ask whether St. Gianna's decision to give her life to spare her unborn baby's was in fact an unjust decision, given that it left 3 other children motherless (not to mention a husband left to raise 4 babies on his own). Is it a moral decision to save one if it means abandoning three (plus husband)? Some argue not. This is how I think of it though: If I were playing with my children outside and one ran into the road, where a car were about to hit him (excuse the male pronoun, but I only know boy-babies), I don't think I would hesitate to throw myself in front of the car to save him. I daresay any mother out there would throw herself into the line of danger to save her child. Why should that decision be any different because the baby is still inside you? If you believe that the child inside is just as much his own human person as your other children (which I do), would you not make the same sacrificial decision for that child? As for St. Gianna, I think the calculus was actually a little more optimistic--there was at least a chance both she and the child would survive after the initial surgery. Being a skilled doctor though, many say that she knew the full weight of her situation as she made her decision.

In addition to being a heroic picture of sacrificial motherhood, and a full-time doctor, St. Gianna was pretty! She was very attractive, she wore nice, trendy, feminine clothes and string of pearls. She was athletic and fit--she skied and hiked regularly. She loved her husband passionately and often wrote him letters expressing her love in no uncertain terms. The pearls, the athleticism and the passionate love for your man, I can all relate to. I think these little details make her more accessible to me, and make me want to follow her daily example of prayer and sacrifice for others that much more (or at least make me think that I can be more like her). A string of pearls or a detail of her marriage make her seem more real, and less saint-like to me.

Yet, I have found myself wondering this week how a saint, however "real" to me, actually ran a home. I wonder if St. Gianna's "firm" voice when disciplining her children ever crossed that line of frustration and turned into yelling, or if she ever turned her back on a full sink of dishes, or left hair in the bathroom sink when she knew her husband hated that. Did she ever leave a basket of clean laundry in their bedroom for a week and get dressed out of its contents? Did she hate brushing the baby's teeth, or have a "hot spot" of clutter on the kitchen counter where the day's and week's junk mail, kaleidascopes, baby hairbrushes and markers gathered? She was real, yes, but did she encounter the daily failures that I do everyday, or did this "everyday saint" have a different way of approaching these seemingly trivial, yet very trying details? Whatever the reality of her home was, I can keep her simple joy as an example in my daily life, and I can do a better job to make my work my prayer and joyfully submit to it, knowing that I am serving my family and fulfilling God's vocation for me. Even when brushing the baby's teeth.

Years before her ultimate decision, St. Gianna said, "Our task is to make the truth visible and loveable in ourselves, offering ourselves as an attractive, and if possible, heroic example." Living fully and joyfully we can indeed make the truth of God's love visible to others, even in our most mundane and tiresome daily tasks.

St. Gianna, pray for us!

He's DONE IT!

2011-09-12T21:01:00.000-04:00

Just a day shy of his 17-month birthday, 5 months after learning how to crawl, I think I can finally, officially, unreservedly say that Jamesie WALKED! Now, this of course is different than Jamesie "is walking," but it is a HUGE *step* in the right direction over here.

Jamesie obviously takes his sweet time reaching his milestones, and he very much eases into them. He tried out crawling about four steps at a time for about a month before he decided to actually crawl. He has been cruising furniture for months, without actually letting go to try it on his own. He tries words out for a week and then we won't hear them again (ever). He just eases into things. So, Jamesie actually took his first step the day after my birthday, on August 23. I know his tendency to try things out and decide he doesn't like it though, so I didn't get too excited. True to form, in the 3 weeks since August 23 he has taken 2 steps on 5 occassions. I can confidently say at least the first three times he did not like it. In fact, when we would pick him up and balance him by holding his hand and try to make him repeat it, he would adamently sit down, kick his legs and scream.

Then, yesterday he did repeat, and he kept going, to make it 4 steps while going after a ball. We all clapped and cheered for him and he genuinely liked the attention. Again, I didn't get too excited, thinking we might have a repeat performance by Christmas. BUT, today when it was just Jamesie and me together, he pursued the baseball I was holding for a full 8 steps before he realized what had happened and decidedly sat down and crawled the rest of the way to me.

Here he is trying out standing for one of the first times by himself. Yes, the boat is moving, and yes, that is his lifejacket on the floor next to him.

Walking is so liberating!

Sean loves to help Jamesie walk. Jamesie on the other hand could live without it. Yes, Sean is wearing a toddler size bathrobe.

I should note that Jamesie is very tall for his age, so he looks like a HUGE baby when he crawls. He is the average height of a 24-month old, so he gets a few stares when he crawls. He does not need to be crawling anymore--and now we are just a little closer to making that happen!

Game Day!

2011-09-10T16:25:00.000-04:00

GO IRISH!

Summer 2011 Catch-Up Part 2

2011-09-10T10:18:00.000-04:00

I'm still catching up on all the wonderful events of our summer, including a pretty big one-- Sean's birthday. I realize this post is about 2 months late, but it was such a wonderful day I had to document it--better late than never.

If you've lost track of how old Seannie turned on his birthday this year-- see the next few photos. This has been his pose for most of the summer:

Still can't fingure it out? He turned f-wee. That comes after two, and is officially big-boy territory. For weeks leading up to the big-3 he had been telling us that when he's 3 he'll stop sucking his thumb. On his 3rd birthday he did not suck his thumb during his nap. His nap was drastically shortened because he couldn't get back to sleep, but I was really impressed with his self-will not to give in. That lasted one afternoon. For the next 2 weeks at every nap and every night-time he said, "I will stop sucking my thumb tomorrow." We've been waiting for "tomorrow" for 2 months now.

Some shots from his party:

Sean asked for very few things for his birthday, but one was a George Cake. This was the final decision after waffling between a George Cake, a Rosary Cake, a Tank-Top Cake and a Shark Cake. I was happy with his decision.

Sean with his presents, and the inspiration for a "Tank Top Cake."

After a George Cake, Sean asked for only two things for his birthday, a kaleidascope and a fishing pole.

What a lucky little boy!

Carrying on a tradition my siblings had, I had Sean pick out a present for Jamesie on Sean's birthday, as a way to say "I love you." Sean had it in his head that we would get Jamesie a Little Lamb. We looked and looked and looked, and finally, on the last display in Barnes n Noble, on the last day before the party, we found a soft little lamb. I just thought his idea was so sweet. And Jamesie loves on his little lamb still-- he kisses and hugs it all the time, even if he throws it out of the crib every night in favor of one on one time with Frogger.

And of course, perhaps one of the best birthday presents for Sean was seeing Beth the Girl. Although, I think he's catching on that Jamesie likes her too (and maybe Micah).

What does your laundry say about your life?

2011-09-06T14:54:00.000-04:00

Our's says its officially football season:

These are actual stacks of laundry in our family room right now-- not staged. Thanks to Tom and Colleen for a family's supply of The Shirt from Notre Dame this year!

Sean's First Day of School

2011-09-06T10:06:00.000-04:00

Even as I write the title to this post, I can scarcely believe our baby is off to pre-school today. When did this happen? When did he learn how to talk to other children and other adults himself, and go potty, and choose his own toys, and eat lunch by himself?! Not only is this a milestone of his growth thus far though, today marks the first day that he will be learning something other than what Cody and I have taught him. I keep thinking about that and it definitely pulls on my separation-anxiety heartstrings a little bit. One day (maybe today!) he will come home and know something we did not teach him. Someone else will impart knowledge and wisdom to him, from today until he's done with school, maybe 20 years from now.

I think I had more nervous excitement than Sean did today-- I actually got up when our alarm went off (or very soon afterwards), and had a whole to-do list for the morning that was done 20 minutes before we had to leave for school! I was trying not to make him nervous, and he seemed to be genuinely excited. We practiced saying "Goodbye, I love you" in the car on the way there, and I packed a little picture of our family in his backpack just in case he wanted to look at it. Drop off when really well, and now Jamesie is snoozing in his crib as I enjoy another cup of coffee in a very quiet home this morning.

Sean really wanted to hold the flag for his picture.

Just to give some perspective to how I feel today, here are Sean and I on the same porch steps just a few months ago. Oh wow, I mean 4 years ago.

Cody had to be in court at 9:00 this morning, and school drop off is at 8:45. Last night he kept trying to figure out a way to be there at drop off and still make it to court on time (including a trip to his office to get his files). It just wasn't going to happen. But, other mornings Cody will definitely get his turn, plus he will be able to pick up a few afternoons after lunch on his way to the jail.

Sean's pre-school is at an Anglican/Episcopal church downtown. The parish is very close to Roman Catholicism in its liturgy and beliefs, and the parish as a whole has many Catholic charisms and traditions. We felt very much at home during our visits.

The pre-school is a Montessori program, which I have been reading up on the last few days, and very much believe in. My niece Eva finished her sixth grade at a Montessori school, and my mom has always advocated the philosophy. As part of this Montessori program the school does Catechesis of the Good Shepard, which is a Montessori-based religious education. We had good friends participate (and teach) this program when we were in South Bend, and the results seem phenomenal, so we are very excited about Sean having this opportunity. Even though it is a great program, they seem to be scarce around the country, so we were extatic when we found one here!

The other children in Sean's class came to the door to greet him this morning. I think this went a long way in actually getting him in the door. I have read that the Montessori program puts great emphasis on being caring toward the other children in one's class, and I definitely felt that today. The director of the preschool had to give me a little talk last week about being able to say goodbye, then leave. do not go in the classroom. I did it today, and I have to say I did very well, despite wanting to run in their with him and play with him. Jamesie and I just turned around and scooted out of there, leaving Sean to work and learn on his own! Incidentally, Jamesie got very mad when we left because he wanted to stay and play with the children. He put up a little stink when he caught on that we were leaving.

Happy Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-03T09:09:00.004-04:00

***This post was supposed to auto-publish on saturday morning, but it didn't. Enjoy it now!**

Happy End of Summer :(.... Just a few cute shots of our patriotic duo to get through the weekend. Stay tuned for a First Day of Preschool update after Labor Day...very exciting happenings over here!

This shot actually took a lot of work--waving a ball in the air for them both to look at. You'd never know they're looking at something, right?

Even though this one is blurry, this is the shot I was going for from Jamesie. When I brought out the camera he would flash me a smile (recognizing the camera for the first time today), then as soon as I could snap the picture he would turn into the baby in the above two pictures.

Here's another shot of smiling baby--he's doing the fake baby-smile that toddlers learn to do when they see mom and dad's camera. I have always thought its hilarious when kids do that, and Jamesie just started it today-- I was pretty surprised when I saw him intentionally smile.

The other thing he started doing today is exploring the fireplace hearth by crawling all over it like a cat. He thinks its his personal play space. Maybe b/c Sean is disinterested in the hearth, so Jamesie finds solace and peace there for once.

And...just in case it rains inside today, Sean is prepared. The hurricane last week got him pretty excited and he's been sort of attached to his rain boots and umbrella since then, in hopes of another hurricane soon.

Second Child Syndrome

2011-09-01T14:36:00.000-04:00

I have this awful fear that because Jamesie is a second child, no one will ever take pictures of him, or notice him, or talk about him, or fawn over how cute he is. I fear that he doesn't walk at nearly 17 months because I pay too much attention to Sean, and he has next to no words because I don't work on language with him. In reality he has no reason to walk because Sean gets him anything he wants, and he has no reason to talk (or sign) because Sean tells me anything he needs ("Mommy, Jamesie dropped his milk. Mommy Jamesie wants more food. Mommy, I think Jamesie is tired and wants to see Frogger."). I need to remember that every child develops at his own pace, Jamesie does not read "What to Expect the First Year," so he doesn't know when he's "supposed to" crawl, and that I cannot control his pace of development.

I can however, control how many pictures are taken of him, and I will admit that sometimes I go a little overboard trying to compensate for my fear of no one taking pictures of him (if it is my fault he doesn't walk, at least he'll look back and say, wow, you really thought I was cute.):

Super cute...who, me?

Yes, I do think you are super cute, and most days I can't stop kissing you!

Mother! I love you too!

Jamesie did finally learn how to go up stairs this week-- apparently that was on a developmental checklist for 12-15 months, so I feel like 16 months isn't too bad, right? The only problem is he doesn't know how to go down them yet, and I keep forgetting to close the babygate (we haven't had to use it in so long I take it for granted!)

Music Man

2011-08-29T09:58:00.000-04:00

For the last two days Sean has been "writing songs" about the goings-on around him. Its so sweet to hear his little voice and hear his little thoughts put to tune--

Last night we had some friends over for dinner and he politely interrupted, saying,

"Excuse me, Mommy--I wrote a song about Mommies." Here it is:
(to any musical tune, as his changes from performance to performance):
"Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy, may I have some more milk please Mommy?"

Then he was duly excused from dinner and went to play with Jamesie--only to return to the table a few minutes later to report,
"Excuse me Mommy-I wrote a song about Jamesies" Here it is:
"Jamesie Jamesie Jamesie--No! No! No!"

Apparently the song about Jamesies and song about Mommies share the common thread of the most frequent thing he says to each of us: begging me for more milk and telling Jamesie "no no."

This morning we drove Cody into work and on the way home Sean informed me, "I wrote a song about cars and trucks" Here it is (with appropriate pronunciation):
"Ca-hs and trucks are going so fast, Ca-hs and trucks are going so fast, that means its time to say good-moyning."

Then, without announcing this song, I heard him singing:
"Twinkle twinkle little star, I know what you are, up above the sky, you are like a diamond and a square and a rectangle."

Sean also wrote a song about Daddies, but it just goes "Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy." Still working on creativity.

Just for fun

2011-08-28T15:55:00.001-04:00

Our camera was broken over Easter, and I just got this picture from a friend....enjoy:

Summer 2011 Catch-up

2011-08-27T16:06:00.000-04:00

I realized a startling fact today--Labor Day is NEXT weekend. Summer is over already! When did that happen!? Denise's wedding was right before Memorial Day, the start of the summer, and that was oh, maybe two weeks ago, so how can it be the end of summer already?? Wow, does time fly when you're sweltering in 100 degree weather.

Speaking of weather, we made it through Hurricane Irene just fine yesterday--on the beach nonetheless. High winds and awesome waves were about all we got--Cody even got in the waves and we let Sean put his feet in the water during what was supposed to be the worst of it, which wasn't much. (FYI, if you're following Aubrey Anne's international travels at all, she did make it through Irene in Nassau, Bahamas unscathed... we are told all is well without many more details.) We'll be watching the coverage at it moves up the east coast tonight though, and praying for all of our cousins from Maryland to Connecticut!

Speaking of cousins, this summer was full of them, and what a wonderful bunch of cousins we have. From seeing piles of first, second and third cousins from both my mom and dad's sides at D's wedding, to roaming the waters of Lake Ontario with a Gaggle of Galloway cousins, to spending a glorious week at the beach with Sean and James' only first cousin, Eva, we have LOVED this summer of cousins. I'll be doing a few summer updates, but in the interest of whittling down some of the 100's of pictures to a definable category-- here are some of the boys and their cousins--of many varying degrees:

First we have my cousin Bridget (aka "Bridget Girl" by sean, to distinguish her from our friend in Charleston Bridget) trying to teach Jamesie how to walk. This was a main goal of most of the cousins at Knobby Knoll this year. Unfortunately, goal was not met.

Here we have Bridget Girl otherwise transporting Jamesie. Bridget is 7. Many parenting norms went out the window this summer at different times.

Next, Bridget's sister Meghan takes a try with Jamesie. Good luck, Meg. BTW, Meghan is on the U.S. National Juniors Rowing team. She is amazing.

We all gathered in Northern New York this year for my cousin Kaitlyn's wedding. She was a beautiful bride, and I loved her colors (hot pink :)).

Sean and Uncle Gabriel (aka "Unc") with their friend St. Francis. Seannie and Unc may be in seminary together one day. Sean's saving a spot for him at the Vatican.

Jamesie wore this face much of our vacations this summer-- he didn't particularly take to being passed around. But he's so cute.

Two Brendans! Sean Brendan and Brendan Joseph (Joseph Sean will be pictured below to complete the Trifecta).

Not a cousin, but 2 uncles. I just loved this pic anyway. Shortly hereafter Uncle Tom sprayed some of his "smell nice" on Jamesie, and my baby smelled like my Junior Prom the rest of the week.

Joseph Sean and Sean Brendan discussing old-man things like the weather and Sponge Bob Squarepants (aka "Bob the Sponge" to Sean).

A gaggle.

A gaggle in the water.

A 13 year old cousin! For those of you who read this blog and were at my 16th birthday party at Fox Hills Pool (first, stop and leave a comment, I want to know who you are!), you may remember that my brother and his wife had their baby girl the very day of my Sweet Sixteen Party (August 21, 1998). Sweet Eva. This is that baby, becomming a teenager. Yes, unreal. We just got back from a week out at the beach with my mom and Pete and Miss Eva...it was awesome. The weather was great, the cousin time was fantastic (Eva is their only first cousin so far), and Cody and I caught up on all the iCarly we missed since last year, plus some rockin new series on ABC Family.

Rockin.

Thanks to all who made this summer a fantastic success! We (well, the kids and I) made a new record by taking a total of 4 week-long vacations...precisely what you need when you live in the Lowcountry in the summer. More to come...

Defeated by three letters....

2011-08-11T09:30:00.000-04:00

W-H-Y. The little word has hit our family hard lately. Of course Sean asked "why" a lot before, but ever since he turned 3 it takes up at least half of his vocabulary, and I can't keep up. I frequently find my answers getting back to the origin of the food we're eating ("the farm"), or just back to "because that's how God made it." I mean, several times a day we get back to Genesis.

Yesterday on a ten minute drive home from church I fielded the following questions (not including the tangential "why's" that follow up any given answer):

"Mommy, why does a sled gliiiiide through the snow?" (mind you, it is 100 degrees here in charleston currently)
"Mommy, why do we only swish water in our mouths?"
"What does water do?"
"Mommy, why do lizards sometimes fall off of very high ladders?"
"Why don't you know?"

Two days ago we visted our new Trader Joes grocery store (yessss!), and as I zoned out looking at all the different frozen fish options, I absent mindedly was answering sean's questions. I am pretty sure I scandalized a number of the crunchier customers who overheard our conversation:

"Mommy, can we get that sea turtle" (TJ's has a stuffed sea-turtle hidden somewhere in the store)
Ok, sure.
"Mommy, can we bring that sea turtle home?"
Maybe one day we can do that.
"Can we bring that sea turtle home for dinner?"
Sure, we can try that some day.
"Can we eat a sea turtle for dinner?"
Yeah, sure we can try that. WAIT! what? no, we can't do that!
Why can't we eat a sea turtle for dinner?

The other day Sean fell asleep for his nap while we were on my dad's boat. Upon waking in a confused stupor, he immediately picked up where he left off, in rapid fire succession:

"Why don't we eat starfish?"
"Can we eat a crab?"
"How does a crab walk?"
"why does a crab walk with his legs?"
"How does a starfish walk?"
"Why are you 'llergic to crab?"
"Is I 'llergic to crab?"

Sometimes I just feel defeated by the questions, especially WHY. Sometimes sean almost seems tired of it too, like he's tired of not knowing so much in the world. As he progresses through the layers of a string of "why's" he gets this voice where he takes a big sigh, then asks in a tired monotone, "w..h...y....?" Like, how long am I going to have to ask "why?" until I know all the answers. Its a daunting thing growing up and realizing just how much you don't know.

As For Me and My House...

2011-07-27T20:35:00.000-04:00

Sean and Jamesie have been very prayerful lately. We all know that Sean wants to be a Pope when he grows up, (actually, the other day he told me he wanted to be "a altar-surfer, a priest, and a pope, and all of those things"), so he's been practicing his traditional Catholic prayer life:

So sweet-- Seannie and Daddy saying prayers at night. The picture over his night stand is actually a Pope Calendar. And, well, the other decorations complete our shrine to our most beloved Catholic University.

Even very holy men sometimes have to sneak a peak at mommy.

Practicing Lexio Divino-- meditating on holy scripture. This is Sean's "story about Jesus" which he requests every night before bed. His favorites are "The Cured Man," "When Jesus helps the Little Girl," and "Jesus and His Guys on the Boat." And, yes, sucking his thumb helps him meditate on the Sacred Word.

And even very holy men need to give their Daddys some love before night night.

Meanwhile--Jamesie's prayer life has been a bit more "Eastern" lately:

Jamesie practicing Baby Yoga. If you say "Jamesie do a Baby Yoga?" he will assume this position and giggle. He does it by himself several times throughout the day and it is just adorable.

Our baby-Yogi practicing sans shirt while Daddy and Seannie read poetry in the background. Its been a very peaceful home lately.

Not to worry, Jamesie also says "Jesus" for about 80% of his spoken words these days. Just this afternoon Sean said to me, "Mommy, why does Jamesie sometimes call me Jesus?" In a voice that connotated just how hard it is to be confused with Our Savior sometimes. Jamesie also brings a small statue of Mary to his high chair tray during every meal lately. He could choose worse lunch-guests.

Dancing in the Park

2011-07-26T15:46:00.000-04:00

I've been having fun with action sequences lately. We laughed pretty hard at this one:

Thank You, Miss Austen

2011-07-19T15:01:00.002-04:00

Jamesie turned 15 months last week (and no, he's still not walking-- but he seems to at least be more interested in it these days). This coincided with my finishing the last Jane Austen novel on my reading list. While I originally started reading all of Miss Austen's works --6 novels in all (plus Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte) --as something to do during breastfeeding sessions with Jamesie, he finished his nursing tenure before I finished reading. But, I loved it so much I just kept reading, determined to round out the works. I didn't win any prizes for speed-- I kept a slow and steady pace (in fact, I really tried to slow down even more on the last one b/c I didn't want it to be over!), but I haven't enjoyed reading like this since probably 11th grade British Literature with Mrs. Volpe.

I know Jane Austen is super pop-culture lately, but I highly recommend all of her novels for anyone looking for some good literature, good instruction on manners and propriety, and a little intellectual boost to your day. So, with that said, I will offer my very brief run-down of thoughts on her works as a whole:

Best story: Persuasion: I also thought this was her most "mature" novel-- delving more into the feelings and internal struggles of the characters, rather than merely tracking the social expectations of them. Who can resist a story of separated love that never dies, and reunites even stronger after years of torment? Plus, the "old maid" who had "lost her bloom" at the old age of seven-and-twenty is classic. Maybe it seemed like more "mature" writing because this is her oldest heroine.

Best writing: Pride and Prejudice - there is literally not one place in the entire book where you can "put it down." I read it in HS and have seen the movies a million times, but reading it again now made me appreciate how masterful the writing is, and how funny it is! I think a lot of the humor and irony is lost in film productions.

Best Characters: Emma: Jane Austen is often praised for her ability to create memorable characters. I thought Mr. Woodhouse, Emma's father, was the most hilarious character I've read in a long time. Every time he had dialogue I just giggled. Plus, in case you didn't know, one of the most iconic characters of my adolescence-- Cher from "Clueless"-- is based on Emma Woodhouse (the movie is based on the novel). Miss Austen gave mid-90's Beverly Hills a lot to work with in her characters. Brilliant.

I hate to do this, but just in case you want to skip any, or want to know if you can avoid any of the books--

Worst Novel: Northanger Abby. It was really immature, focused almost exclusively on the social scene of Bath, and the misunderstandings of the characters amongst themselves, while the reader can figure out said misunderstanding almost instantly. It was still pretty good, just not my favorite.

Favorite Movie Character: Edward Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility: I know I'm supposed to say Colin Firth in the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, but every time I think about Sense and Sensibility I think of young Hugh Grant playing the charmingly bashful Edward Ferrars. I think it was a perfect role for Hugh Grant, and his role in Bridget Jones' Diary as the modern-day Wyckham (the scoundral from P and P) is way off. Edward Ferrars is unasuming, honest, shy and kind of bumbling where Wyckham is deceitful, slick, selfish, flirtatious and conniving. Couldn't these two different casting directors coordinate their Austen men? 2 thumbs up to Hugh Grant in the first role.

The only novel I have failed to mention is Mansfield Park. It was just fine. My sister says the movie is nothing like the book though, so I forwent watching the movie. This is a good novel on the subject of propriety in young relationships, modesty and humility, and it has a pretty good story line too.

I also read the Jane Austen Book Club and watched the recent movie Becomming Jane starring Anne Hathaway as Miss Austen (I thought she was good enough for the role, but I questioned whether she really appreciated Jane Austen enough to play her-- did she deserve to have this role? I don't know...), along with the movie versions of Pride and Prejudice (the newer one, with Kiera Knightley--I'm waiting to watch my sister's copy of the BBC version again), Sense and Sensibility, Emma and Persuasion. All very good, but they don't hold a candle to the books. Now that my year with Miss Austen is complete I feel sad, like I'm saying goodbye to a good friend. I've sort of been moping around at night unwilling to start another author, but upset I have no more Austen to read-- I think Cody's ready for me to move on from my imaginary friendships with Jane Austen's characters as he actually picked out a new book for me to read the other night. I suppose I'll have to start it soon. In the meantime, please feel free to chime in on any of the above judgments--I'd love to hear another perspective!

Humble Parenting Pie

2011-07-17T21:02:00.000-04:00

Sean never went through the Terrible Twos. Now that he's 3 though, he's severely testing our limits. In one of my poor-er moments as a parent (I was seriously at the end of my rope after being bossed around all day and I thought I might lose my mind if I heard the word N-O one more time), I said to Sean, "Sean, your backtalk is giving me gray hairs."

About three days later, while Jamesie was having his morning nap and Sean and I were sharing some peaceful one-on-one time, Sean disappeared into the family room while I finished cleaning the kitchen from breakfast. I could hear him whispering to himself, which he often does when he hears a new word or phrase, to practice it. Then, calm as can be, he came back in the kitchen and declared, "Mommy, all of the words that you say to me (waving his hand around in a circle to indicate the fullness of ALLLL the words) give me gray hairs." He also showed me a "gray hair" he had taken out of his head, which was apparently invisible to the rest of the world.

A good lesson to treat my three-year-old (and speak to him) as I would like to be treated.

Romper Room

2011-07-16T10:31:00.000-04:00

Cody and I have been noticing a certain trend cropping up among young women lately-- the Romper (a one-piece shorts/tank suit). My apologies to our more trendy friends, but we've decided rompers should really be confined to a baby's wardrobe. Maybe I'm just not bold enough to try it myself. Or, maybe our little baby boy just looks so cute in a Baby-romper I can't imagine the transition to grown woman. If you are pro-grown up-romper, read on-- you might find a friend in Sean.

First, the catalogue of Baby-Rompers on Jamesie:

And, a bonus feature below-- Sean inherited a size 3T "Romper" from generous friends of ours at church. I'm pretty sure it still had tags on it. Cody is completely anti-romper on anyone big enough to walk, talk and go potty by themselves (including the population of young women in Charleston). Cody has strickly forbidden the inherited romper on Sean, now that he is a self-proclaimed Big Boy. Therefore, I was graciously retiring the size 3T romper to Jamesie's closet the other day so to minimize Cody's irritation when he saw it in Sean's closet, when Sean caught sight of it and declared (1) it is NOT baby clothes, (2) he likes it, and (3) he still wears it ("stil"-- he has never worn it). So, he ended up wearing it all day, including accompanying me to a chiropractor appointment where everyone commented. He's just so tall and thin it really does look sort of funny and out of place. Here you go:

Happy rompering!

Holy Cereal, Batman!

2011-07-08T15:37:00.000-04:00

I have no further insight into this morning's conversation about breakfast than you might have, so here it is:

Cody: Sean, what do you want for breakfast?
Sean: The cereal the Bishop gave me.
Cody: (confused, thinking), hmm... ok.
Erin (in other room): Did you say you want cereal the Bishop gave you?
Sean: Yep.
Erin: When did he give you cereal?
Sean: At church.
Erin: What kind of cereal?
Sean: Its very colorful.
Erin: What kind is it?
Sean: The kind the Bishop gave me.
Erin: Was it a big box or a little box of cereal?
Sean: A big box of colorful cereal.
Erin: Where did he give it to you?
Sean (impatiently): at church.
Erin: inside the church or outside on the grass?
Sean: Inside the church.
Erin: So the Bishop gave you a big box of colorful cereal inside church one day, and that's what you want for breakfast?
Sean: Yep.

He was also asked if this was a dream, to which he promptly and tersely answered "no." He ended up having oatmeal because none of our actual cereal choices were colorful enough.

Baseball! (Well, Law-League Softball)

2011-07-05T19:49:00.000-04:00

With summer comes 100+ degree days and Law-League Softball around here. We have played on the Public Defender Softball team for 4 years now-- I went to the first game 9 months prego and sat on a lawn chair--and now we tote our two little sluggers with us (nearly) every week. Last year we decided to cut our losses and only have one of us play at a time while the other stayed with the babies, so we switched off games last year, but this year its just easier for Cody to play and me to hang with the boys, which I don't mind at all.

Cheering for the PDs-- James and Sean with No. 1 fans Ms. Martha and Mr. Rhett. Sean loves Ms. Martha because she gives him things like stickers and markers and Chinese-language work books.

"Go Daddy!" Sean is studious watching Cody play.

Sean is actually using his binoculars looking for Cody, who is coaching first base. Also pictured is the dugout, or as Sean calls it, "the baseball cave."

Modern dad on the go.

Keeping score and parenting at the same time.

And again the next week.

Watching Dad at bat... serious business.

Sean inventing some sort of baseball-related game with a golf ball while James gets ready to eat dirt.

And yes, if at all possible, I try to dress them alike for every game.

Seersucker Sunday

2011-06-27T15:54:00.000-04:00

Get on Your Boots!

2011-06-24T15:02:00.001-04:00

Cody and I are just back from our whirlwind 36 hour trip to Baltimore to see our all-time favorite band in live action-- U2. A big thanks to GG who let us indulge this fancy as she stayed home with the boys-- who did GREAT while we were gone. James has fallen into a not-so-cute habit of throwing Frogger overboard (out of his crib) before every nap and every night, requiring us to go in and re-place him in the crib over and over until he's tired enough to go to sleep. Its so frustrating that I was consulting Tom and Colleen this weekend about how to break the cycle. Little did I know-- while I was gone GG went to work with her baby-whispering skills, and amazingly, miraculously (I don't know her trick), the child has not thrown the frog overboard for two full days (that's 2 naps a day and a night time---6 times in a row!). Sean went poop on the potty the whole time we were gone --- we just need to call her in more often to work her grandmotherly magic. If any of you are having baby behavior troubles, just call GG and she will have the problem solved in 36 hours or less.

Back to our trip--it was amazing and wonderful. The concert was awesome. They played mostly old stuff-- even though their latest album (No Line on the Horizon) is really good, I think they only played 3 songs from it, and the rest classic U2. They played for 2 1/2 hours, YET, I felt like they would have had to play for another 2 1/2 to get in all the great songs in their library. The set included classics like Mysterious Ways, One, Sunday Bloody Sunday (which the drunk Irishmen in front of us loved), Beautiful Day (with a special sattelite appearance from Gabriel Gifford's husband, relaying the words from outer space--wild), Until the End of the World, Where the Streets Have No Name, With or Without You, and some of our modern favs like Sexy Boots, Moment of Surrender, I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight, Elevation and Walk On. Not included were some of my favorites such as Sweetest Thing, Angel of Harlem, or In a Little While (not surprising, but would have been a nice treat), but thrown in was a special rendition of Amazing Grace at the end. Beautiful.

We have since heard that the set for this concert was the most expensive set ever made for a world tour, takes about a week from start to finish to build and tear down, and the tour is the highest grossing tour ever. The stage was unbelievable-- the whole show was 360 degrees, with a huge (HUGE) LCD screen in the round, suspended above the stage from which they played videos, streamed the show, and featured guests such as Giffords and some other world-political figures. Bono seemed great--classic running around and dancing, but he seemed to show his age a bit more than when we saw them about 6 years ago--the running was slower, dancing more controlled, and longer catching-your-breath breaks in between songs. Yet, still amazing and you could tell he put his all into the show.

Our tickets were General Field Admission, which means we stood with the masses on the field at Raven's Stadium for about 4 hours. It was awesome because we were about 50 yards from the stage, could see everything and rock out with the most intense fans. There were 80,000 people at the concert, the largest crowd ever in Raven's Stadium (since they filled the field with people as well as all the seats). Towards the end of the concert I was severely conflicted between not wanting to the show to be over, but not wanting to endure any more back/foot/shin pain from standing for so long. I found when the show did finally end, I was more dissapointed about that than the pain!

We spent the rest of the next day at Club Galloway, or Tom and Colleen's house, sleeping in, eating, swimming, playing bocce and just visiting. We got back last night and concluded it was quite a perfect little trip. I love my husband-- what a gem to do this for us! I'm just so sad its already over. Here are some memories:

Here you can see some of the set, while Florence and the Machine was playing before U2. Her face is on the gigantic LCD screen.

I haven't been to a concert in so long, since smart phones were invented, that I was just sort of amazed at what happened as soon as the band came out. How many phone screens can you see in this shot? The entire field exploded wiht lit-up phone screens.

As Bono and the guys came out from under the stage, we watched on the big screen.

Yet, we were close enough to enjoy the show w/out the big screen. Here are Bono and The Edge-- a shot from my own camera. I feel giddy thinking about that.

The Edge, Larry, Bono and Adam. Great show.

And here we are the next day, Kacie, Cody and Tom enjoying a Fake-Saturday on a Thursday morning. Thanks guys for making the most of our 36 hours!

Heard Around the House

2011-06-15T14:27:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, upon waking up from naps, with Jamesie sitting on Sean's bed, Sean declared:

"Jamesie smells so delicious when he is in his jammies."

Thanks to Meg's blog for the picture! http://www.megandtimputnam.blogspot.com/

Swinging and Sliding

2011-06-13T15:30:00.000-04:00

Two of our favorite activities around here lately! Here are some great shots of both swinging and sliding in many forms from our week with the Groebers:

Up until a few weeks ago Jamesie was very nervous and uncomfortable in a swing. Now he is totally relaxed and I can't get enough of his smushy little face!

With GG and DaDa. I would like to point out that the swing Seannie is in (in which is is perpendicular to the ground!) does NOT have any sort of strap in it. Seriously. Who thought of this?

At a playground near the mountain house Sean went wild with slides for about 45 minutes one night after dinner. He and I made the most welcomed discovery that he can climb the stairs and come down even the highest and twistiest slide all by himself now, which he did about 30 times in a row before helping Jamesie down his very first slide ride!

Mommy with the boys on the slide! Yea! A point of interest to other moms and dads: we have one friend who's 2 yo daughter sprained her ankle and another friend who's 2 yo son broke his leg, both by going down a slide on an adult's lap-- there is a danger of the little feet getting stuck on the slide, and the momentum of the bodies going forward is very unforgiving. So, I have heard NOT to ride with the kiddos on the slide. I, however, did take J down, and was very careful to lift his feet up, literally in the air, so that his back was against me as we slid down.

Sean had his very own swing installed at the Mountain House last year for his 2nd birthday. He was SO excited to reunite with it this year. So much so that more than 50% of his waking time was spent on the swing, and the adults just took turns standing and pushing....luckily it is set up on the gorgeous porch where we mostly congregated, so the designated pusher didn't have to miss much adult conversation. Here is a great series which illustrates Sean's stamina for swinging that clearly outpaced the adults' attention span for pushing:

More sliding: there is a great place in the mountains called Sliding Rock that I've been hearing about from Cody for years, but we hadn't made it there until now. It is a gorgeous waterfall that empties into a shallow little brook that was just the right depth for sean to walk around in by himself (with lifejacket).

The rock under the waterfall is so smooth that you can actually slide down it like a waterslide without anything but your rear! Its very slippery business getting up there, but Cody and Sean hiked all the way up like champs!

Next is scooting over into the water....very slippery--I don't know how Cody did this with Sean.

Oh that's cold.

They did it! Sean's usual M.O. for adventures like this is to be too scared to try it, then once he does (like most of us), he realizes how fun it is and does it over and over. For some reason, the exact opposite thing happened at Sliding Rock---he immediately wanted to try it, laughed his way down, loved it, and then didn't want to do it at any more. I guess he figured he proved himself--no need for further showing off. There was also a group of three 15-yo boys there that took about an hour to build up the courage to go down the fall-- I couldn't resist telling them that they had just missed Sean doing it. One kid said, "What? He's like 3!" I said, "actually, he's 2. You can do it if a 2 year old did it."

Here are Beth and me getting ready to go down-- mostly just getting used to the cold mountain water, and discussing who would go first. I volunteered her.

I don't know if you can see my face in this one, but it represents pure terror. Probably the same face I made the day Cody pretended to propose to me in the law school computer lab after 12 hours of studying. Terror.

In these situations I'm usually not scared of the actual feat, but have a huge fear of anaphylacting in the cold water at the end of the feat. Cody had to stand next to the pool and promise he would pull me out if I anaphylacted. I didn't. It was really fun.

And then I got this prize at the end. Pure sweet.

GG, Dada, young Groebers (us), Micah and Bef. (One of the 15 to boys is standing at the top of the fall in the background, contemplating his options. he would do this and then walk down about 10 times before actually riding it.)

And, so that one day when our kids look back on these pictures, they'll know that there parents were cool at some point, Cody and I got in another little swing while the kids were napping one afternoon:

And finally, a few cute shots from swinging and sliding here at home at the park around the corner:

Concentration.

And pure beauty, truth and excellence in baby form.

Gone Fishin'

2011-06-08T16:23:00.000-04:00

While in the mountains last week I took a ton of pictures. Too many to document at one time. Also while in the mountains last week Sean went fishing for the first time, and the pictures from that experience are unbelievably cute, and managable.

In the back of Uncle Micah's truck getting the gear ready.

So happy to be hanging out with the guys.

Seannie with his "fishing poole." He's hoping for a Seannie-sized one to come his way around July 2.

So Sean and I actually sat on a blanket on the river bank while Cody, Micah and Aubrey Anne fished. He still thought the whole experience was "fishing." Here he is watching the fisherpeople through is "ga-noculars." We also touched worms and read Berenstain Bears on the blanket, first with me, then with a very obliging DaDa while I read a little Jane Austen and smelled the awesome country air.

Watching Aub through the ganoculars.

After Cody fished for a while he came back up and let Sean be a more active participant. I love this picture.

Just because I couldn't help it.

Sean has been talking up a storm about fishing. Especially after he heard Micah tell Beth that he would catch her a trout and bring it home to cook for their dinner ("I caught you a delicious bass."). Adorably, he gets the words "trout" and "Detroit" mixed up (they sound alike and we talk about both) and told someone yesterday he caught a "Rainbow 'Troit" (which he did not.). Today I took the boys downtown and we walked around Waterfront Park a little, looking for dolphins. Sean said, "Mommy, you catch a dolphin and bring it home to cook up for our lunch." Someone call PETA.

Ear Infection?

2011-06-08T09:23:00.000-04:00

We think Jamesie might be fighting his first ear infection, but we're really not sure. One would think that after a combined 4 years of parenting babies I would be able to spot an ear infection, but neither of our kids have ever had them, so I'm really clueless in this area. It makes me realize how lucky we have been with their health! Anyway, J has a fever and red ears and he's irritable (crying and whining). He had 2 molars come in last week, and they are still working their way through his gums, so that might be it as well. No other symptoms like snot, grabbing his ears, sleeplessness (he slept great last night). Anyone out there with ear infection experience have thoughts? could it be teething or a virus? We're all ears. hehe.

Guy Smiley

2011-06-07T21:24:00.000-04:00

If you've seen Jamesie at all in the last few months, more than likely he's had this expression on his face:

While I generally notice my kiddos hitting personality-milestones around 3 month marks (at 3-6-9-12 mo they always seem to turn a corner and a new part of their personality takes off), I have to say that the 13.5 month mark has done wonders for Jamesie's disposition. While he used to have the above expression about 80% of the time, it has given way to this adorable little face in the last week or two:

The Sweetest Thing...

2011-05-27T09:25:00.000-04:00

5 years. Wow. And look what we've done:

It just keeps getting better-- because of big things like babies and weddings, but also because of the little things that keep us growing closer-- becoming better friends, better parents, better people everyday because of each other. Bringing eachother coffee in the morning, packing a lunch with a special treat in it, knowing eachother's moods without ever talking about it, shamelessly watching American Idol together every week (even though we swore we wouldn't), sharing a joke with just a look across a whole room of people. Its really fun, and its only getting better.

And my husband keeps getting better. He took charge of the boys all weekend during the wedding while I was off tending Sister. Every time I came back after hours away the boys were fed, dressed, changed and ready for a nap or already asleep--without me saying "there's X, Y, or Z in the fridge for them to eat--- their diapers are on the bed-- J has a little rash-- I laid out a sweatshirt in case he gets cold...etc etc" It was just done, by my handsome man. The sense of relief and security of having Cody there with the boys just made me fall in love with him even more.

Then, after being on his A+ game all week, he dropped the 5-year-anniversary bomb on me first thing this morning: 2 tickets to the U2 concert in Baltimore next month. WHAT!!!?????? We saw U2 together in Chicago 6 years ago, and at the time we ranked that day as one of the best of our lives (the concert was preceded by a dinner at Chipotle...yesss). That rank was quickly supplanted by our engagement, wedding, sean's birth, james' birth, etc, but I would still put it in our top 10. Cody got these tickets months ago, and since then he has said about 3 or 4 times, "do you think we'll ever have a chance to see U2 again?" and I would wistfully say "maybe one day...who knows...at least we got to see them once."

I am amazed, I am in love, and it is fantastic! Glory to God for giving us this unbelievable vocation.

Denise and Michael, part 2

2011-05-26T13:26:00.000-04:00

For more pics of the wedding, from a different perspective, visit our cousin McKenna's Blog (or as Sean calls her, "Baby Ka-Kenna," or as he yelled out in the middle of my dad's Father of the Bride toast, "I see Baby Kenna!"):

http://newkummerfamily.blogspot.com/2011/05/michigan-trip-2011.html

Thanks Shannon!

The Wedding of the Decade

2011-05-25T20:00:00.000-04:00

We're back and Sister is married! Success! The weekend that was actually a week (due to a delayed flight our stay ended up being Tuesday-Tuesday) was AMAZING!! Busy, fun, exciting, emotional, beautiful. So, here it is (some of it...there will certainly be more later!):

There Were Toasts:

Friday afternoon rehearsal dinner, Michael giving a wonderful toast to Denise, in which he praised her commitment to excellence, beauty, and truth. Wonderful.

A few minutes later I toasted Michael for perservering through my email stalking and making it to the wedding day.

There Were Parties (many):

Friday night welcome party-- the Bride looking radiant as usual. Also were a Thursday night "personals" shower, and Friday morning family shower, a Friday afternoon rehearsal party, a Saturday lunch, the Big Pary Saturday night, and a Sunday brunch. Wowzas.

There Were Relative from Afar:

Baby Jamesie with Aunt Sue and Uncle Jerry

There was a Beautiful Bride:

About an hour before the wedding--the picture of cool and confidence.

There Were Babies in Tuxedos. Enough Said.

There Was a Walk by a Ringbearer....

A walk that, after months of practicing, was supposed to look like this--

But due to a last minute case of the Mommys, ended up looking like this. I loved it anyway.

And... the moment you've been waiting for...

There was a Beautiful Denise in a Beautiful Dress with her Handsome Husband!

Just call me Pippa.

Sean told me today that his favorite part of the whole trip to Michigan was "holding Mommy's flowers for her," and his next favorite part was "Neece's beautiful dress."

Our pictures are a little bit biased.

I promise more to come... the wedding party (in our awesome dresses and awesome flowers), cousins, aunts, uncles, dancing, all the details.... stay tuned!

The Groebers: Reinforcing gender stereotypes since 2010

2011-05-12T13:52:00.000-04:00

Yesterday on Cat in the Hat (cartoon on PBS), the Cat took his buddies to Africa where they visited a Hippo-- one of Sean's favorite animals lately. Sean's comments:

"Its a Hippo, Mommy! Its a girl hippo. But where is the man hippo? He's probably at the office."

Our man isn't actually always at the office. Here's Sean and Daddy reading a few weeks ago.

Daily Parenting Wisdom

2011-05-11T15:03:00.000-04:00

The other day I got such a nice thank-you note in the mail from a friend of mine who's expecting her first baby. She said she looks at our blog regularly to pick up any (unintentional) pearls of parenting wisdom. So, here's one just for you, Carrie: When your 2 1/2 year old spontaneously says, "I didn't have a pee-pee in my underpants" -- he's lying. When he spontaneously says "I don't have to go pee-pee" -- he's lying. Both good opportunities to talk about the concept of telling the truth.

Getting Ready...

2011-05-10T16:14:00.000-04:00

We're getting ready for the Big Day: Denise and Michael's wedding in just over a week! Step One for our adorable ring bearer is to become Super-Handsome with a real haircut at a real barber shop. Enjoy:

BEFORE

AFTER!

And a few in between:

Seannie on his throne. He was great through the whole process-- he just got nervous right when we first tried to get him in the chair, but a prepared Mommy thought to bring Georgio, who sat with him the whole cut, and a savvy haircutter (Ms. Debbie) promised Sean a popsicle if he was a good boy. That sealed the deal.

Look at the concentration! Can you believe he is only 2 and sitting still like this!?

Right across from Seannie's chair he could watch Daddio going through the same process, which helped a lot. They also promised Cody a popsicle, so he was pretty still the whole time too.

Our good boy with a shot of the spectators in the mirror. Jamesie is gnawing on his popsicle which he won when he fell out of his stroller--face first-- onto the floor. The sweetest thing was Sean was concentrating so hard on sitting still, but the next time I put Jamesie in the stroller he yelled out in a concerned voice: "Is Jamesie strapped in!?" There was one other customer in the Shop this whole time who got to witness our free-for-all of babies falling, Sean crying, bribery, etc etc. At one point Sean pointed to him and said, "Does he have a wedding too?" (Because why else would you need to get your haircut?)

Yes, he is strapped in this time. With a nice little goose egg on the forehead. We're so sorry. Here's a graham cracker to follow that popsicle.

Seannie is super-handsome?

Yes, he is! Three men outside the Barber Shop- 2 haircuts, 2 popsicles and one bumped head later!

Hot Mama!

2011-05-07T15:55:00.001-04:00

It's a day early, but I wanted to post something while Erin is away getting a massage. She deserves a post from her loving and doting husband every once in a while, after all. I titled this post this way because it aptly describes Erin these days, as this picture and the others will show.

As I'm sure you know, Erin is a great lover of the babies...all babies. As you may or may not know, the fact that she could suffer from Post Partum Depression (PPD) is probably one of her top three fears. So far, that fear has been unrealized, thank the Lord.

This morning, we got up early with the boys for a race. It was a nice 5-K that was aimed at raising awareness (and some funds) for a local PPD non-profit. It seemed a fitting race for us, especially Erin, considering her fears.

Also, if you have been following our Blog, you know about Erin's travails with Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis (EIA) . This was her first race back since our move to Charleston four years ago this month. Since then, exercise (and specifically running) has had to take a back seat for Erin. The EIA as well as three pregnancies have really limited her running.

That has been very tough for Erin, as many of you know.

Today was a long awaited return to exercise, and for Erin, competition.

We were the only double jogging stroller that I saw, although there were quite a few singles there. Our boys were great the whole time.

Before we got there, Erin had been plotting strategy. If they had a stroller division, we were going to see if we thought one of us could take it. It turns out they did not, which meant--under Erin's strategery--that she would be running alone and leave me with the boys. That was just fine for me, because it meant I didn't have to actually try to keep up with Erin.

So, after scoping out the female competition, and trying to guess women's ages (something I didn't dare do audibly), we lined up at the start. Some young females next to us (early 20s I'ld guess) were talking to each other and one complained about "not wanted to get caught behind all of the strollers." That was all I needed for motivation!

Erin needed no such push, and had her strategy all laid out.

As the race went on, I was able to at least keep Erin in my sights . . . and some of her competition. She did a great job, although at times I was wishing I could walkie talkie her or something: "Blue shoes coming up fast!"; "Red shorts looks like she'll fade at the end, just keep her close". Let's just say she didn't need my help.

After the race, we had to wait a bit for the results. Here is Erin enjoying some Starbucks; this was by far, for me, the best part of the race.

But not for Erin . . . because . . .

she one FIRST PLACE in her division (20-29), and third place over all! And she got a medal to show off! Those of you who know how competitive Erin can be understand how awesome that is for her. I was pretty proud that she competed, much less won.

It was a lot of fun for all of us, and I just wanted to share with y'all this fun accomplishment.

I am so blessed to have such a great woman as my wife and mother to my boys! And did I mention she is hot too!

Happy Mother's Day!

Finally!

2011-05-06T15:27:00.000-04:00

At 12.5 months our remedially-mobile child has decided to give crawling a try. These pics are a bit late, because it really happened all at once on Easter Sunday. We were at a friends house for brunch, where Jamesie was army-crawling, came home for naps, and when he woke up from his nap he just got up on his knees and fully crawled! He had tried it out a few times before, but never more than three or so steps. But, something happened in his nap on Easter, and he because a full-time crawler!

Jamesie usually crawls with a toy or ball in his hand. Sean used to do that, but used the toy like a peg-leg, where Jamesie prefers to use the back of his hand.

What's the big deal? I'm crawling. so what?

And a few more cute pics I just couldn't resist:

Could there be anything cuter than a little boy-baby in overalls? don't think so.

Jamesie has also started playing on his kness and pulling up to standing, which makes him look like such a little boy instead of a baby! I'm just glad he still doesn't have too much hair so he still resembles a baby.

Sweet Cornelius Brown

Crawling has opened up a whole new world of curiousity for this child. Areas of the house, tables, books, corners, furniture he never noticed before he is now all over, just exploring. Its so neat to watch him want to explore more and just check things out, in his sweet, quiet way.

New Babies!

2011-05-06T10:29:00.000-04:00

Spring has sprung, and with it, all of our friends' springtime babies are making their appearances! The other night our great friends David and Amanda had a little girl, a welcome addition to our current group of baby-friends which, prior to May 3, had a boy:girl ratio of 6:1. Yesterday we met her big brother, BFF Gabe for a bookstore story-time to give him something to do as mom and dad were getting situated with Baby Girl. On the way Sean was asking about the new baby and having babies in general:

Sean: Gabe's baby came out of Ms. Amanda's belly?
Erin: Yep, she got here yesterday.
Sean: Where is the baby?
Erin: She's at the hospital still with Ms. Amanda and David.
Sean: Why is she at the hos-i-p-ital?
Erin: Well, its hard work coming out of a mommy's belly, so babies usually have to stay there to get taken care of for a day or two before they go home. When Mommy had Seannie and Jamesie you stayed at the hospital for a day or two.
Sean: When Seannie came out of Mommy's belly?
Erin: Yep.
Sean: Seannie was wearing his blue running shoes when he came out of Mommy's belly?
Erin: No, you weren't wearing running shoes.
Sean: Seannie was wearing clothes?
Erin: No, you weren't wearing any clothes.
Sean: Seannie was naked when he drove in the car with mommy and daddy to the hos-ip-it-al?
Erin: Yes, because you were still in my belly.

About 30 minutes later:

Sean: Gabe's baby was wearing running shoes when she came out of Ms. Amanda's belly?

In The Name of The...

2011-04-28T13:29:00.002-04:00

Father,

The Son,

(must touch belly button each time, or else he starts over--his own rule-- we usually average about 3 tries before he can move on to...)

The Holy

Spirit

(In this picture, still saying Ho-weeeee, before 'Peer-it)

AMEN!

(resounding clap of the hands!)

The Good Housewife

2011-04-26T08:00:00.001-04:00

So you may have seen this 1955 piece from Good Housekeeping sometime in your liberal arts education in college (if not, ask for your money back-- what did you learn in Sociology 101 anyway?). When we first saw it in Civicus in the early 2000s it seemed appalingly ridiculous. Women treated as slaves. Or animals. Degrading, sexist, archaic. And then I fell in love and got married, and here comes the big However....

HOWEVER, now that I am a housewife, and naturally, if i'm going to be something, I want to be a good something, a few of these notes have some value to them (a few of them are still ridiculous, see the last one). Things like "Try to make sure your home is a place of peace" or "Be happy to see him" are reasonable enough and truly speak to a homemaker's goals. Lately I've been focusing on an effort embodied in the second tip, (I don't know if you can read this), that says, "Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives [i love that part]. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in your hair [wow, they must be writing this just to me!] and be fresh-looking. He's [husband] just been with a lot of work-weary people."

Since I've been staying at home for the last year (not including immediate post-partum time), I have tried to put my best face on for Cody when he comes home. Afterall, he's the one who has to work, and I get to be at home. I feel bad for him. But, I also want him to know that I love him and that I want to look nice when he sees me. In law school when we were dating, of course I would make sure that my hair looked nice, my make up was flattering and I was rockin a sweet outfit whenever I saw him. Why should that be any different now? I'm still in love with him, I want to impress him when he comes home and I want him to think, wow, she loves me so much she got pretty for me! Some other things I do just out of courtesy for a person I love dearly and know well. I know that Cody gets stressed out when the kitchen is a mess. If I have some extra time, I make sure the kitchen is put back together after preparing dinner. Now, cleaning the kitchen ranks exactly LAST on my favorite chore list. I would rather do 10 loads of laundry and vacuum the entire house twice. But, I know Cody likes a clean kitchen and I know he receives love though acts of service, so I try to keep that in mind. (Full disclosure, this doesn't get done nearly as often as I woud like-- I just cleaned the kitchen top to bottom for my Good Friday penance. enough said).

Back to getting refreshed for Hubby-- Sean usually wakes up a little bit before Cody comes home, and every so often he comes into my room with me as I "get ready for Daddy." Now, I certainly don't do this everyday. Some days Cody comes home early from the Jail and we go for a family run together, or I've just gotten back from a run when he pulls up. But, on days that I'm just putzing around the house cleaning up, etc, I like to touch up my make up, but a ribbon in my hair and but a nice(r) outfit on. Sean's really taken to the idea, and a few of his comments lately make me wonder if we've taken it too far. For example:

-One day I last week I woke him up from his nap and I was still wearing running shorts from our walk earlier. He said in his groggy post-nap state, "Mommy, go put a skirt on for Daddy." Hmm...

This one was so sweet-- we often talk about what Sean will be when he grows up, whether he will be a priest or have a family and be a Daddy. He hasn't decided yet. But, the other day he said, "Maybe Seannie's family will get pretty for him when he comes home one day." The tenses were all mixed up, and I couldn't quite figure out what he was getting at, but after he said it a few times, I got it, and all I could do was hug him and think how sweet is this boy?

Yesterday Sean saw some of our more familiar neighbors walking their familiar dog whom Sean loves, Maggie Rose. As they were walking away from our near-daily meeting, I said, "Maggie Rose is a pretty dog." Sean said, "Maggie Rose is a pretty black dog. Is she wearing make up, Mommy?"

Here's to the good housewife, raising little boys who want pretty wives of their own. Have I just contributed to another generation of sexism? I just want my boys to fall in love with women who love them enough to want to look pretty for them, that's all. Or they can be priests. Or the Pope.

Wedding Fever

2011-04-25T09:54:00.001-04:00

I don't know about you, but we're getting Wedding Fever over here! With less than a week to go before the Royal Wedding and less than a month before the Sister's Wedding, wedded bliss is on our minds! William and Kate have taken over nearly every station on the TV these days, and I can't seem to pull Cody away from yet another Wills & Kate: A Royal Romance documentary special every night.

Will you watch the Royal Wedding? Will you tune in at 4 or 5 a.m., or wait for the repeat coverage later in the day?

Yesterday after Easter mass (hopefully photos to come, once a friend sends me hers as our camera is broken....again), a nice woman came up to me and said, "my friend and I saw you in mass, and we said how you were just like Kate Middleton!" Boy, did this ever make my day! I was wearing a royal blue dress and a peacock feather "topper" in the British tradition. Right after this woman complimented me such I saw that she was wearing the faux-saphire Princess Diana/Princess Catherine engagement ring. Awesome.

Closer to home, we are gearing up for another important wedding day in Holland, Michigan. Sean talks about "Neece's wedding" in some context nearly every day. He has been practicing his walk with a little blue pillow, and he and Jamesie and Uncle will be donning matching tuxedos. I can't wait. The Royal pages will have nothing on this little one. I doubt if any of their outfits will include electric blue glasses which will match the wedding colors. Expect a full panorama of pictures later next month after the Royals of Baylor wedding.

Little Big

2011-04-22T14:02:00.000-04:00

We just had Jamesie's One Year appointment, which went well except for him screaming and trying to (belly) crawl all over the dirty floor (in just a diaper) the entire time. Luckily, our pediatrician is exceedingly patient and has developed quite the skill of being able to talk technical-medical jargon to parents over two toddlers talking, yelling, crying, laughing, looking for cars, crayons and stealing stethescopes, simultaneously, in a 6' x 10' room. God bless him. Here's our littlest's stats:

Height: 32 inches: off the chart (same as Sean's height at 12 mo)
Weight: 21 lb 4 oz: a measely 25th percentile. The child eats meat, whole milk, whole milk yogurt, whole milk cheese, avocados, and butter incesantly. Our doctor assured me that he's using what we're giving him, he's just using it to grow tall, not fat. Oh well. he's still so darn cute... even if his limbs aren't so much fat as they are blowing in the wind.

Sean has been on a kick lately that Jamesie is "not little, he's big, mommy!" Any time I say something to my "little baby," which is often, because, well, he is, I'm quickly corrected by his big brother. "He's not a little baby. He's a BIG baby." Not a Big Boy, that distinction lies exclusively with Sean and others who can walk on their own, but a Big Baby. Sean has a little friend named Dominic who was a baby when we first met him. For months Sean called him "Baby Dominic" Now he's about 18 months and can walk, and when Sean first saw him walk he said, "He's not baby Dominic, he's Big Boy Dominic now." When Sean saw Uncle Gabriel walking on Skype a few months ago, he prayed later that night for "Baby Uncle, no, Big Boy Uncle Gabriel." Yesterday we went over to Dominic's house for lunch, but stopped at the glasses store first. The Lady at the Place said, "where are you going for lunch today, Sean?" and he said, "Big Boy Dominic's house." She said, "oh, is that your friend?" Sean said, "Yes. And Gabe and Greta are Seannie's friends."

These pics are from Jamesie's birthday... When I brought him down to say goodnight to everyone he insisted on hanging upside down over the edge of the couch to look at micah. Beth and Meg had to hold onto his (long) legs and arms to keep him from falling, but everytime we sat him up he would fall backwards to do it again! He's just so long.

Prayerfully Yours,

2011-04-21T09:35:00.000-04:00

Sean likes praying, which warms our heart. His first word was Jesus, and he has told me at different times that when he grows up he wants to be "a Pope," "a Priest," "Fr. Jeremy," and most recently, "An altar server." Last night he was in a particularly reflective mood. He led us in prayer for grace before dinner, which was:

"Dear Jesus, Thank You for this food. I love Greta. Amen."

For nighttime prayers, after we go through our usual routine, we always ask Sean who he wants to pray for. 95% of the time it goes like this, "Aub, Neece, Michael..." then some variation of Meg, Tim, Jake and Lexi. Last night, however, when asked "Sean, who do you want to pray for?" he answered:

"Pray for all of the football teams."

Hmmm....?

More Birthday Fun

2011-04-19T09:52:00.000-04:00

The Groeber clan all came down to Charleston the week before Jamesie's birthday to celebrate, so we've been basking in birthday bliss for a good 1/2 month now. Sean has been telling everyone "Jamesie's One," and actually started asking "when's seannie's birthday?" I think we've exhausted the birthday potential, but not before I leave a few more pics of Jamesie's first cake and present experience:

For the entire week before Jamesie's "party" Sean worked on this sign every day for his art activity. I outlined the letters, and he did all the painting. I was so impressed with his determination and ability to stay in the lines especially while wielding a 12" long adult paintbrush.

Our 12-months of Jamesie tribute.

The boys had bff Gabe over for the party-- Sean and Gabe spent most of the time blowing bubbles and spilling bubble solution all over their clothes.

A cheeseburger for the birthday boy for dinner! James loves meat and ate almost a 1/2 of a big-sized adult burger. He could eat nothing but meat at every meal.

Jamesie's special sleeping toy is a frog (named Frogger), and he has a few other stuffed frogs around, so Sean and I decided he would like a frog-cake for his birthday. The inside is strawberry, which gave him a few bumps around his mouth, so we'll hold off on trying strawberries again for a few weeks. On his real birthday we let him have some ice cream, but he actually really did not like it at all. I think it was too cold for him because he just cried and cried everytime he tried it.

Oohhh... fire. I will touch it.

yesssssssssss.

Proud parents. I love the way James and Cody are looking at each other in this picture with such affection. So sweet.

Jamesie, I mean, Sean and Gabe, enjoying his presents.

I asked Sean what he wanted to get James for his birthday, and he didn't really know. So, we brainstormed together things Jamesie likes, and sean came up with "Frogs and balls." Very astute, actually. So, he then said he wanted to buy Jamesie a ball with a frog on it (I am amazed by the child's imagination and logic skills). Unfortunately, we couldn't find such a ball, so he picked out this basketball for Jamesie. This basketball was perhaps J's favorite gift the whole day. He lit up when he saw it and immediately picked it up, licked it (affection), held it, rolled it and drummed on it. Way to go Sean, maybe his love language is actually gifts.

I *think* this concludes our birthday coverage.

Son of a Lawyer

2011-04-16T21:18:00.000-04:00

Last night in the car on the way home from dinner:

Sean: "Daddy, there's an ambli-lance!"
Cody: "Yeah, I see it."
Sean: "Chase it!"

I can see the back-of-the-phone-book-ad now...

12 months (plus some) of Sweet Baby James

2011-04-14T17:00:00.001-04:00

Happy First Birthday Jamesie!

2011-04-13T11:13:00.002-04:00

One year ago we first held our little Jamesie- I can't believe it!

On April 12 last year I had an *overdue* doctor's appointment-- first thing Monday morning. Since the little guy was late and I was heading toward complete physical misery, I asked Cody to come with me, and said I would drop him off at work afterwards. Well, at this routine appointment it was discovered (not by me!) that my water had broken at some point earlier! I only had 2 cm (out of 10) of fluid left for the baby, so my doctor said, "go home and get your things, I'll meet you at the hospital-- we're having the baby!" I said, "today? right now?" Although I had really wanted to avoid an induction, I was OK with it at this point b/c I knew the Baby couldn't stay in there without fluid and that we had a serious risk of infection at this point.

We came home and while Cody gathered our bag I snuck off to have a last meal b/c I knew they wouldn't let me eat once I got to the hospital (I would later tell a nurse when I was alone with her, "I won't tell anyone if you go get me a chick-fil-a sandwich right now"). We hugged Sean as our family of 3 one last time and bounced into the car, giddy with excitement. I texted and called all I could on the 5 minute (bumpy) ride to the hospital. Once there, Cody carrying 2 pillows, the Bose and iPod, two overnight bags and the Boppy pillow, I told everyone we saw, "we're having a baby!" Master of the obvious.

We settled into our room nicely, and began the induction just after 12. However, things did not go well, and before I knew it we were descended upon by a team of doctors and nurses, manhandling me into every imaginable (and some unimaginable) positions, saying the baby's heartrate had droppped too much-- maybe he was on the cord, or maybe the contractions were just too much. They quickly stopped the pitocin, gave me a shot of something to stop the contractions and we waited for Baby to recover. Later, I was told we had 5 minutes to get his heartrate back to normal, and he responded at about 4 minutes... about 60 seconds away from another c-section, which likely would have meant c-sections the rest of my life. We were praying to St. Gerard with everything we had, and he interceded for us! I also felt the prayers of all of our family and friends we had enlisted earlier in the day--thank you!

After the first try, we couldn't try pitocin again until the operating room was available in case I had to be rushed in for the dreaded surgery. The OR opened up around 4, so we started again about 4:30. For the next 4 hours, we watched movies (17 Again with Zac Efron--when you're in labor you get the remote!), watched Jeopardy, did the sunday crossword puzzle, chatted on the phone, and didn't really feel much more than the Braxton-Hicks I had been having at home. At 8:00 Law and Order came on, and I can usually easily lose an hour in an LnO episode. But, despite the compelling drama and realistic court scenes, at 8:30 I strangely wanted to turn it off b/c my contractions had become too distracting and too intense to think about anything else. I rocked in the rocking chair, sat on the birthing ball with cody in front of me and my mom behind me. During the intense contractions I would count with Cody, tap my feet and my fingers until it was over, and just tried to let my body do its thing without my mind getting in the way. It felt like knives were ripping my stomach open. Then, after about 40-60 seconds, it would be gone, and Mom, Cody and I would go back to talking about high school, family, tennis, telling old stories, wherever the conversation had dropped off 40 seconds ago.

During all of this we had Elton John on the iPod-- familiar enough music that I didn't have to think about it, but the lyrics were just enough to distract me. At 10:00 pm, the doctor on call said I was about 3 cm, and I lost it, collapsing on the bed, sobbing-- how could all that work only bring me to 3 cm? 7 to go? Impossible. I gritted my teeth and dug in for a little longer though. At midnight I started throwing up from the pain. I begged someone to check me and tell me it would be over soon. A nurse said I was 6 cm at 12:15 a.m. At that point i begged for an epidural-- picturing myself laboring like this until the morning. I was exhausted and literally shaking with pain-- in between vomitting. My mom and Cody for some reason didn't believe me that I really wanted drugs. I went to the bathroom and came out, determined to sound sane and calm, and in my most reasoned, logical voice said, "I have thought about my decision, and i stand by it. I would like an epidural now." by "now," I meant, within the next 90 seconds, because I am not doing this one more time.

I sat down on the edge of the bed, determined not to look at the co-conspirators who were keeping the drugs from me until the anesthesiologist arrived. At one point I said (in very calm and reasoned voice), "I know a lot of very tough women who have had epidurals," and "An epidural will not make my birth experience any less beautiful." I was laying it on thick. I dare cody to try to talk me out of it now. Vomit.

However, while sitting on the bed waiting for the magic man (anesthesiologist) to appear, I all of a sudden felt a baby trying to come out of me. I said, "um, something's not right. Something is coming out of me!" and a swarm of nurses descended on me again. I didn't even know anyone else was in the room...it was like they had bugged the room and heard me from outside and ran in. Someone said, "do you have the urge to push" to which I responded "Oh Yes." I heard Cody say, "my son is not coming into the world listening to Elton John," and he changed the iPod to James Taylor. It still hadn't registered that the Baby was coming NOW, so I was still begging anyone who would listen for drugs. My mom had to explain in no uncertain terms, "there's not time, the baby's coming now!" To which I said, "I can't do this!" She said, "yes you can!" I turned to cody, "I can't do this!" He said, "yes you can!" At this moment I was not looking for encouragement. I was looking for someone to believe me, someone to say, "you're right, this is crazy, there's no way you can do this. Lets figure out a better way." Unfortunately, the nurse did not say this either.

At this point the Resident doctor on call came in. She was my age, with long brown hair, and reminded me so much of BFF Jamie Chioini, who was at the time chief resident of her group, and was also delivering babies. In my laboring stupor, all I could think was, I played soccer with Jamie in high school. She's my age. This girl played soccer with someone in high school, she's my age. (FYI, I would have been infinitely more happy to have had Jamie deliver the baby). As I'm having this thought, I say to Ms. Resident, "I want my doctor." Ms. Resident then puts a plastic bag over her hands (I later found out it was to go on the bottom of the bed), and says, "I have to deliver this baby now." Lucky for her, I had a contraction at that moment and couldn't vocalize, "oh hell no-- you are not delivering my baby into a plastic bag." Cody read my face though and knew exactly what I was thinking. I started hyperventilating, and someone put the oxygen mask on me. I refused to push the baby into Ms. Resident's plastic bag. Asthma attack on the horizon.

Just then Dr. Villers, doctor extraordinaire, our savior, came into the room, with an air of relaxation and calm that changed the entire tone of the room. Cody described it as "She could have been sitting in our back yard drinking a martini she was so calm." I figured, if she's this calm, I guess nothing is wrong. Up to that point I was sure that I was in so much pain it couldn't be normal, an something was drastically wrong. Dr. V said something very wise which helped me a ton. She said, "I'm going to ask you to push and its going to hurt. You're not going to want to push because its going to hurt, but you just need to do what might seem counterintuitive-- you're going to have to push against the pain when I tell you to." That helped, because, oh boy did it hurt, and oh boy, i did not want to push. I understood what she was saying, but I responded, "If I pass out, can you pull the baby out yourself?" At that moment, I wasn't making sure they could do it if I hyperventilated too much, but that was actually my PLAN-- hold my breath, pass out, the pain is gone, they pull the baby out without any effort on my part. Wake up, baby is here. Dr. V responded, "I'm not answering that." Thank you.

I started pushing at 12:30, and Jamesie was here at 12:57. It was honestly the quickest 27 minutes of my life, except maybe the World Cup game I saw in France in 1998--that went by really fast. In between pushes I said to Cody, "I can understand getting pregnant again by accident, but never again on purpose." Pushing was scary (terrifying) and painful and a blur, but it happened really fast and I realized the harder I worked the faster it would be over--kind of like running a really long race. When they put Jamesie on my chest, I laughed hysterically. Then I cried/laughed...tears and snot and sweat all over my face, but laughing like I'd never laughed before, and shaking all over! He was here and he was beautiful! 30 minutes later I was already saying, "next time, lets do X, Y or Z." I didn't let anyone hold my dear boy for a good hour while I enjoyed him. Finally they weighed him and passed him around the room-- I thought he had to be the most beautiful baby any of these doctors or nurses had ever seen. They must be incredibily jealous of me.

12 hours later Cody and I each wrote down our top five names--first and middle-- and passed them to eachother. The only one that appeared on both of our lists was James Martin Groeber. It was perfect for our sweet baby. Cody turned the iPod back on and 'Sweet Baby James' was the first song that played, unintentionally on our part.

It was a beautiful day. I swore I would never describe that terrifying and excrutiating experience as "beautiful," but it was, and that's all I think when I reflect back on it. That, and how blessed we were with God's protection. I had a VBAC, with Pitocin, with a crazy exercise-induced-anaphylaxis issue. From the moment we found out we were pregnant back in July '09, I entrusted the pregnancy to Our Lady, and asked that she shield us with her cloak of protection. I felt her through our "beautiful," terrible, wonderful experience and today I say, Thank you, God for my little baby!

*update*: We went to mass today to celebrate Jamesie, and I told Sean we were going to say "Thank you, God for Jamesie." A few times throughout mass he asked me "We going to say Thank you God for Jamesie?" I said, yes yes, we will. At the very quiet moment after the Eucharistic prayer and before we go up for communion, Sean decided, well, no one else is saying it, so I guess its up to me, and yelled: "Thank you God, for Jamesie!!!!" That just about sums it up!

Its 7 O Clock on the Dot, I'm in my Drop top...

2011-04-11T14:24:00.001-04:00

They call me S-E-A-N-B-R-E-N-D-A-N

As it turns out, its incredibly fun to dress babies as if they were appearing in an Usher video. That is, if Usher drank milk out of Bops in his videos. You can't tell from this pic, but Sean's new jeans are incredibly trendy and faded/ripped in just the right places (and bought a size big for the purpose of fitting next year, but attain the unintended result of showing off his Gap boxer-briefs on the more demanding dance moves) and his new Adidas kicks are spotless. He's ready for his solo dance feature. He's even got the obligatory protege to appear in the video-- Lil J.

Yes, it looks like a Mickey Mouse Bop full of milk, but its really a bottle of Dom he's getting ready to pour out for his homies. This one's for you, Greta.

Our Crunchy-Con Lifestyle: Element 1--Cloth Diapers

2011-04-06T15:00:00.000-04:00

As you may know, we are unashamedly conservative over here. However, many people don't know that we have a little granola-flair to our everyday lifestyle as well. Among other things, we drive a Subaru, we listen to NPR (no, Dad, our radio is not broken, we choose to), we're fairly left-leaning on certain topics such as immigration (sorry GG), Cody is a public defender because we believe in the work, we are diligent recyclers and composters, and we use cloth diapers. A short-sighted view of our lifestyle might see a contradiction of sorts (someone in college once said to me, "you recycle? but you're a Republican." sigh. Another time a fellow campaign volunteer said, "Wait, you're a Catholic? But you're a Republican" double sigh), but we just try to live as we believe, whether those beliefs are red or blue. The result might be characterized by the term "Crunchy-con"-- conservatives who have a crunchy flair. I don't read enough of the actual crunchy-con stuff to know if we align with all the same values and beliefs, and my guess is that we don't. However, I think our lifestyle is fun and unique and worthwhile and when I get too Con and Cody gets too crunchy we balance eachother out nicely. Perhaps I'll write more about different elements of our con and our crunch over time, but today i'm focusing on one: cloth diapers.

Lately (maybe over the last year or so) a number of people have asked me about our cloth-diapering, and I have ended up writing a handful of very long winded emails about what works for us and how we do things around here so friends who are interested in it don't have to re-invent the diaper wheel. I have researched, tried, and erred in this area so much that I want to put our knowledge down on e-paper in one place so anyone can refer to it later. Usually when I do cloth diapering research online I find that cloth-diaper-ers tend to be lumped together with extended breastfeeding on demand and co-sleeping in a family bed. I have breastfed both of our boys on a parent-determined schedule and we have strict sleep schedules around here, and not once have the babies slept in our bed with us (exhausted newborn naptimes excluded). We believe in cloth diapers because once you commit to it, its a whole lot more economical, and yes, they are in fact much better for the environment. Again, we go against the typical cloth-diaper-mold, but I'm here to say that cloth diapers can be for everyone! If you are interested in what has worked for us, here are our thoughts:

Brands and Types of Diapers:
I have tried several brands and combinations of cloth diapering, including (but not limited to) the following:

Bum Genius (all in ones and pocket diapers, 3.0 and 4.0) both velcro and snap closure
Pre-folds with Prowraps, Happy Heinys, Bummis Whisper Wrap, Tiny Heinys, Thirsties and other covers
Rumparooz (pocket diaper)
Fuzzi Bunz (pocket diaper)
Bumkins (all in one, plus insert)
Kissaluvs (all in one)
Happy Heinys (pocket diaper)

I have definite opinions on all of them, but the clear winner for both me and Cody is BumGenius pocket diaper (either 3.0 or 4.0). We start the babes in BG about 2 or 3 months old, when they can first fit into them and when their bowel movements get a little more spaced out.

For the newborn phase we use a prefold (old fashioned diaper) with a Snappi and a Prorap cover. We use any brand of prefold they have at Target, and order the Snappi online. For extra tiny bums we usually fold the prefold in half and put it on long-ways. Proraps are the cheapest cover (about $8 per), but after trying SEVERAL different covers, we have discovered that they are by far the best quality as well. The newborn size fits our average-to-large babies for about 6-8 weeks, and has an umbilical cord cutout. We have about 2-3 prowraps in NB, Small and Medium. We have 2 snappis and one always seems to be lost. Newborns require about 12 diaper changes a day, and we keep about 36 prefolds on hand (also used for burpcloths). I just could not stomach using 12 'sposies a day, and I didn't really want to go through 12 bumgenius a day either. In the newborn phase the child poops incessantly, and he doesn't really move that much, so you don't need a diaper that "keeps up with him," you just need a diaper to catch poop.

After the prefold stage we love BumGenius. They have just moved to a 4.0, of which we have a couple, after using 3.0 for a long time. 4.0 seems to be very similar, just a little roomier, which is fitting Jamesie better as he approaches 1 year. We opt for the velcro closures, which have been criticized for getting too dull and not working after a while, over the snap-button closure. We try to clean out lint and hair from the velcro every so often, and they seem to be working fine still for us. We have had a harder time finding the exact right fit with a snap closure, and they can get too bulky with the snap as well. The velcro closure, once all assembled mimics the shape of a 'sposie so well even teenage babysitters can figure out how to put it on. Be wary of the Bumgenius all-in-one, which comes in specific size (S, M, L), as opposed to the one-size-fits-all adjustable 4.0. It seems incredibly user friendly at first, which it is, but because you can't remove the inside liner, it starts to stink after awhile and no amount of baking soda or bleach makes it better. ick.

Washing, Storage and Assembly
A fact of parenthood: You will be dealing with poop and it will stink and it will get on your hands. A truism whether you use cloth or disposable. Here's our routine--we're open to new ideas that work for anyone else!

When taking off a dirty diaper take the inside-stuffers out and put all the elements in the diaper pail. We use a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot for our garbage pail. I occassionally sprinkle some baking soda in it, but for the most part it is dry. We do use a lid, although I know some people don't. If a poop is pretty solid I shake it into the toilet first, but runny poops go right into the pail then the wash. I know a number of people who have attached a sprayer to their toilet to spray poop off before putting it in the pail, but we are far too plumbing-incompetent to do that.

I do diaper wash every other day. More than that is cumbersome, and less makes for diapers too stinky to deal with. I dump all the diaps in the machine, run one rinse, then one full cycle on hot with very little detergent (about 1/2 of what you would use for a small load of clothes), then one more rinse cycle. Throw all elements in the dryer. Occassionally I will put a few tablespoons of bleach in the wash or first rinse cycle if it is a particularly stinky day. I will also occassionally dry all the wraps outside for a sun-bleach.

We "stuff diapers" while we watch TV at night. We put a big insert and a little insert in each diaper and have them all assembled before they go up to the nursery so we can just grab them as needed up there. I actually timed myself the other day and it took less than 10 minutes, while simultaneously chatting to cody and wrangling Sean away from James.

Cost and Quantity
A nice BumGenius 4.0 can run about $20. My suggestion is to ask for them as gifts and put the word out that you are going to cloth diaper before baby comes. Put them on your registry, and find a cloth-diaper specific website to register on. Let other friends and family who have cloth diapered know that you intend to as well. We have received all of our diaps as gifts or hand-me-downs....we are very fortunate!

We survive on about 12 BumGenius, plus a few other diaps in different brands that I don't like as much but will use for an hour or so around the house if we are out of BG. At this stage, and for the last several month, James predictably goes through 6 diapers a day. Any unpredictable need is handled by a prefold (for a big baby we use 2 prefolds and use a size Medium prowrap) or spare other brand.

If you can use your cloth diaps for 2 babies or more (see pics below) you will really see the investment start to pay off.

When You Need a Break
If you choose to do cloth diapers, remember that you can't single-handedly save the Earth, but that the amount of waste you are saving from a landfill is significant. That said, there are times you'll need a break, and that's OK! Even our most committed cloth diapering friend has a pack of 'sposies at the ready.

We use a disposable diaper at night--I know, we are not purists, but its what works for us. Our kids sleep 12+ hours a night, and this makes life easier on us. We use 'sposies on trips so not to burden our hosts' washing machine, and occassionally on an extended errand-run around town, although I've become much more confident leaving the house with just a cloth. If you choose cloth, remember that guests, caregivers and grandparents might not be as comfortable with it as you are, so try to relax when Baby comes downstairs in a 'sposie, despite the clean stack of cloth right next to the changing table.

Random Thoughts:
*I thought Cody would be a tough sell to cloth diapers, but he really likes them now. He has even given cloth diaps to male friends as a baby-gift and is very well versed in how to efficiently use a cloth diapering system. Not only can husbands do cloth diapers, but they can very much like it.

*If you have a c-section and you are cloth diapering right from the get-go, have hubby carry the diaper pail to the laundry room and get the load started for at least the first 6-8 weeks, no matter how good you feel.

*Most all-in-ones and pocket diapers say you can't use diaper-rash cream with them. I rarely use Desitin or Triple-paste, but on the occassion that I need to, I put the baby in either a pre-fold or a 'sposie. I use it at the first sight of a rash, just one or two red bumps, and its usually gone within one or two diaper changes.

*We didn't come into all this information overnight--it took a lot of trial and error to find what works for our family, which may not work for your family. The first week of Sean's life we didn't have any snappys, diaper pins or pro-wraps. I had bought some "rubber pants" right before he was born, but it turns out those are more for training a 2 year old than putting on a newborn with toothpick size legs. We brought sean to his first pediatrician appointment with a prefold cloth diaper, held on with masking tape wrapped around his waist (!!!!!!!!) and rubber pants with about 2 inches of free space around the entire leg!!!!!! Our pediatrician must have had a mild heart attack when he saw this and then another when we said we were both attorneys. We have since redeemed ourselves as normal, good parents. Anyway, we haven't always had it together in this area!

Happy Diapering! Please let us know any other ideas or routines that have worked for your family or any other cloth diap you love!

Jamesie, c. Feb 2011 in BumGenius 3.0

Sean, c. Dec 2008 in same BG 3.0

Itty bitty newborn Sean and his tooth-pick-legs in Rubber Pants. Not recommended.

One-year-old Sean in a Bumkins all-in-one

1-mo old Sean in a prefold and Bummis Whisper Wrap, thanks to friends of ours who sent their leftover cloth diapering materials!

Superhero Status

2011-04-05T10:00:00.000-04:00

Little boys love their Mamas, which I get to re-discover in new ways everyday. Sean loves picking pink flowers and finding red leaves for me outside and presenting them to me to keep with me all day (often asking hours later, "where's mommy's flower?!"). Jamesie does a fantastic nose-dive into my arms, and if I walk into a room and walk past him without giving him due attention, the tears start to flow. To think, I was actually scared of having boys at one point-- I had know idea they would be this s-w-e-e-t!

However, no matter how much they love their mama, a certain Daddy around here has been elevated to Superhero-Status lately. I love the sweet affection they give me, but I also really love watching Sean look up to Cody and starting to experience little boy Daddy-awe. Here are a few examples:

-The other day at lunch we were listening to some country music radio and the old song "Daddy's Hands" came on. The lyrics are something like, "Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was crying... hard as steel when I'd done something wrong...etc etc." (I don't think its Dolly Parton, but the voice has a Dolly-feel to it)Unprompted Sean said, "Seannie's Daddy's hands are huge."

-Cody plays basketball in the Charleston County Bar Association Basketball League. All lawyers, mostly 30-40 somethings, half-court games. The guys get pretty competitive, but we're not talking March-Madness skill level. I have taken the boys to two of his games, and Sean loves it. Last week we were getting ready to go watch a game and sean asked, "Daddy's basketball game going to be on T.V.?" Unfortunately, coverage of the Final Four took precedent over the law-league in Charleston, SC.

-Last night we were saying bedtime prayers and Cody was going through Sean's personal saint litanny. Cody will list the saint and sean will respond "pray for us." He's been doing it forever, so he knows the routine and knows which saints to listen for. Last night:

Cody: Saint Brendan
Sean: pray for us.
Cody: Saint Martin
Sean: pray for us.
Cody: Saint James
Sean: pray for us ..... Saint Daddy?
(maybe one day).

Benjamin Button

2011-03-22T13:20:00.000-04:00

Sean's outfit yesterday made him look like a little collegiate--every time I looked at him all I could think was how he simultaneously looked so grown up and so cute! He looked so collegiate that Cody and I kept saying how much he reminded us of my cousin Ben, a sophomore at ND right now...what do you think? (sorry for the facebook-picture-poaching, ben--you do look very "collegiate" in this pic!)

the full effect:

I can't get enough...

2011-03-21T22:25:00.000-04:00

More and more posts seem to be Seannie-isms lately, but every day he says something that just cracks me up. Today:

Erin: Wow, I think you're growing out of your running shoes...do they feel too tight for you?
Sean: Uh-huh, they are too little.
Erin: Hmm, we'll have to go back to the adidas store and see if they have some shoes for you.
Sean (very seriously): And then we will buy bouncy-shoes for Seannie.

*"Bouncy-shoes" are often a "mousketool" on Mickey-Mouse Club House (ugh), and are usually used for moon-exploration or jumping 20-40 feet in the air to retrieve something stuck in a tree. I don't know how to break it to him they aren't for sale outside the Clubhouse.

Another favorite that gave me that awful "I'm so mad but trying not to laugh" feeling:

Jamesie is crying, all of a sudden, after peacefully playing with Sean.
Erin (incredulously): Sean, did you poke him in the face with that stick?
Sean: No.
Erin: You didn't poke him in the face?
Sean: No.
Erin: Did you poke him?
Sean (casually): Uh huh.
Erin: Where did you poke him?
Sean (matter of factly): In the teeth.

Oh brother.

One of those days...

2011-03-21T14:05:00.000-04:00

The upstairs smells like toddler poop, our once-tidy family room is now a hurricane of laundry, the kitchen is an explosion of peanut butter, yogurt and bananas, I have nothing planned for dinner, and I spent two hours at my doctor's office with two bored, hungry, antsy boys this morning. Frazzled and tired, I just spent way more time than necessary wrangling the big boy upstairs for his nap while trying to appease the little boy until I could get him into his crib. Deep breath...Life. Monday. Then, on our way to naps, how could I help but smile and giggle at this:

Even on the most Monday-ish of Mondays, I have to admit i'm pretty lucky in this life.

Baby Showers

2011-03-18T08:55:00.000-04:00

Babies seem to be born in waves, and a number of our friends are currently gestating spring babies. Sean LOVES babies, so I've involved him in picking out a few presents lately. In Target yesterday he picked out pink hairbows for "mommy's friend Carrie's girl-baby" (because every girl-baby should have pink hairbows-- thank you, Greta). He also wanted to get Carrie's girl-baby some hangers for her closet, but I convinced him that Carrie would buy those herself. The other day Sean found a little alligator rattle toy in his room and said he was going to give it to Gabe's little sister who is in Ms. Amanda's belly right now. He's got the gifts down for the girl-babies. Boy-babies might be a little more difficult though. Yesterday I said,

Erin: "Ms. Lauren is going to have a little boy--what do you think we should give him for a present?"
Sean: "eh?"
Erin: "Evelyn is going to have a baby brother soon. What do you think he would like for a present?"
Sean: "hmmmm [thinking].... some breastmilk."

Apparently, what all boy-babies want.

I love boy-babies!