Happy Halloween!

We dressed Sean up this morning for Halloween in the monkey suit that his Godfather gave him. He loves it, and as you will see, Sean was indeed HAPPY it is Halloween.

Complete with Monkey Growl at the end!

What a Morning!

This morning Cody and I both had to be in Court at 9:00 a.m. Funny enough, before the same judge, but on totally unrelated matters, and my matter took much longer than expected which completely derailed Cody and his colleagues from getting in their pleas. Sorry!

With a very busy morning for both of us, we asked Valerie the Nanny to come over a few minutes early so we could get out the door and court-ready in time. About 15 minutes before we need to leave I (in my law-suit) go to change baby and I am not exaggerating when I say he had poop up to his hair. and somehow on his arms. and then his feet. He thought the whole affair was hilarious. So, recognizing that no baby-wipe in the world will fix this mess, I put a bathrobe on over my law-suit, dunked Sean in an emergency bath, dried him off and diapered him up while Cody made our eggs and sandwiches, and off to court we went!

Not Amused.

Mom, what are you doing to me?

Come On In!

When we were home in Anderson this past weekend we visited our friends Allen and Jill and their one-year-old Eddie. In the barage of new-mom questions Jill asked "What does Sean's room look like?" I thought that was a great question, and tonight before bed Sean was willing to give everyone a little tour...

This is my big chair and Notre Dame pillow. I'm just learning how to sit. My library is in the background.

This is what we see when we walk in my room. Mom and Dad painted the whole room and the furniture about 3 days before I came!

Here I am with Mom looking in my mirror standing in front of my table of religious items. In the background you can see my crib and part of my changing table. I am only wearing a diaper here.

Time for bed -- saying goodnight to St. Francis and my mobile animals. Thanks for coming on my tour!

T.G.I.Wednesday!

A baby, a coffee and some responsive pleadings... I love work-from-home wednesdays!

I Have Some New Shoes to Show You...

Thanks to Groeber Cousins Kristen, Tony, Frankie and Colin for the sweet shoes!

Help! Is this Normal?

Sean suffers from the condition known as flat-head-due-to-back-sleeping. I know pediatricians have just started recommending back sleeping in the last few years and we all slept on our fronts and had nice round heads to show for it. All the mothers in my life who had front-sleeping babies can't stand Sean's head! And this is a C-Section head!

Other new moms out there-- do your babies have flat heads like this too? Am I to take solace knowing that there will be at least one generation of flat-headed babies and Sean will have classmates with similar headshape? Does it get round again at some point? Or is Sean in a football-head league of his own? Help!

A New Attitude

If you have been in touch with us during either of our pregnancies (Baby Oliver, June/July 07 and Sean Brendan), you probably know that I experienced a very strange thing whenever i tried to exercise. Starting when we moved down here (which coincided with baby Oliver), whenever I exercised I broke out into terrible burning hives on my legs. I literally couldn't move sometimes it hurt so much. One time Cody and I got stuck on top of a bridge we were running because I couldn't go any further without crying. If you know me, you know that I am an athlete, so needless to say, this condition has been a little disconcerting. My O.B. had no clue where to start with this and even though it seemed to be related to the pregnancies, she had never heard of it before. Eventually, we stopped looking into it b/c I couldn't exercise due to other pregnancy complications anyway.

Fast forward 2 months after SBG was born. I am super excited to exercise again -- in fact I went for a run about an hour after my 6 week appointment when my Doc told me i could work out again! And guess what... the hives are still there. So, off to the allergist I went about a month ago.

Fortunately and unfortunately, the allergist knew what it was. I had been experiencing some other symptoms that I would never have related to the exercise-hives (migraines, hypotension, asthma), and taken together, they all pointed to exercise-induced anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis as in a life threatening allergic reaction, more commonly associated with bee stings, shell fish and peanuts. For some reason (still unknown), my body is having an anaphylactic reaction to exercise. He said it is extremely rare, only diagnosable since the mid-80's, usually in former elite athletes (i'm not claiming to have been an elite level athlete... just avid!), and the genesis is pretty much unknown. the allergist said the cases he has seen can be fatal, so for now, I am relegated to the sidelines.

So, ever since this diagnosis i have pretty much sulked and felt sorry for myself picturing a sedentary lifestyle for the rest of my days. I couldn't even talk about other people exercising. I have been upset, confused, jealous, annoyed and irritable. to sum it up-- self-pitying.

Until... the other day when i got the most encouraging note from my great friend Jamie. Jamie is also an *avid* athlete and took the time to think about all the reasons we love exercising, and where i can find fulfillment in other areas of my life to fill the desire to exercise. She even helped me think of ways i can stay "in shape" without going for a run.

So, thanks to this wonderfully encouraging and challening note, I am committed to having a new attitude about the whole thing. Starting yesterday i strapped SBG into the Baby Bjorn for some lunges, toe lifts, wall sits, and then started my regimine of sit ups and push ups. None of the exercises were long enough to cause the reaction, and I felt great after all of it! I am going to have to look at this as a challenge now-- i can't do what i love, but i can find other ways to stay fit and keep my energy and attitude up! Cody was very proud (and probably relieved!) of my new attitude, so he snapped some pics of my pseudo-work out with Sean. Please keep us in your prayers-- that the doctors can figure out a way to get me back in the game and that we can keep our patience in the meantime.

Sunday = Beach Day

It was absolutely gorgeous after church this Sunday so Cody, Sean and I packed up and took our first day-trip to the beach. C and I were a little nervous about how we would do with all the baby stuff and how SBG would do with the sand, sun and wind. overall, it was a total success. Don't get me wrong, there is still a lot of stuff to bring to the beach with a baby, but we made it in only one trip from the car. Sean slept most of the time in his seat where he was blocked from the wind and sun.



The men had a great time on Folly Beach






Yep, right there on the beach. And guess what-- the family right next to us had 4 kids, including a 7-week old. Her mom and I were feeding the little ones at the same time and laughing about it! Can't beat the convenience!


Our sweet little beach bunny.

Saturday = Game Day

Around here Saturday means one thing- College Football. Specifically, Irish football, but lately we've been forced to branch out a bit. Don't worry, Sean still only wears Irish gear on saturdays (unless we're in Clemson), but he's been introduced to Gamecock football by my boss, Peter.


Cody and Sean in ND outfits and hats-- thanks to Mrs. Sullivan!


Peter and Mary had us over to watch the games this weekend (his big flatscreen and surround sound is a little nicer than our old static box). Peter is a big softy for SBG and is awesome about having him around the office on slow afternoons--- however, i have caught Peter whispering "Gamecocks Gamecocks" in sean's ear before.



Uh-OH! Ole' Miss scored! But, not to worry, everyone went home happy this Saturday :)

... And Tim!

There was one Uncle conspicuously missing from the last post... TIM! How could I have left out our hilarious Tim Tam Slam? Tim is great-- after dating for a few years Meg and Tim got married this past May (17) up in the mountains of N.C. on a glorious weekend. Tim has fit right into our family with the characteristically even-keeled, steady, hidden-humor personality that compliments a Groeber-woman so well. I have never seen Meg more genuinely herself than when she is around Tim-- rather than marriage "tying them down," Meg and Tim's marriage has given each a beautiful freedom to live fully as themselves and fully in love. It is a joy to watch and just fun to be around. So, here is a tribute to Tim...


Meg and Tim with Baby on baptism weekend,


Meg and Tim at their rehearsal dinner in May,


Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Putnam are announced,

Tim and Meg looking for apples in N.C., and

Tim working in the wheat fields.