Per Eva's Request...

My wonderful niece, Eva (10 years old) requested/demanded in the comments of another post yesterday: "write a new post!" Eva is observant that I have been quite absent from the blogosphere in the last week or two. My apologies to Eva and all other readers who have craved cute pictures of SBG.

Unfortunately, you'll have to do without pictures, and accept an all-word post as an update on the life of the Charleston Groebers. Here goes:

1. Sean is amazing, but no news there. He is now fully crawling on hands and knees, crawling with one toy in hand and crawling up the stairs. He can pull himself up on any furniture and maintains a personal best record of standing without hands for three seconds. His favorite activity is to place a toy on a piece of furniture, remove it, place in on the floor, pick it up, place it on the piece of furniture, remove it, place it on the floor...etc etc for up to ten minutes at a time.

2. Sean's teething on the crib rail of his bed reached new heights of mom-frustration when I found him after an afternoon nap with a big smile and paint chips all over his mouth. We then entered into a few days of a very unproductive cycle where I would lay him down as soon as he stood up, he would cry, stand up again, I would lay him down, etc etc... it was not productive in breaking his habit or healthy sleep habits. BUT, our update is a good one! I have since duct-taped an old sheet around the crib rail and he chews on that. I have learned compromise in the project-- if I let him chew for a few minutes, he will be asleep on his own within five minutes of me leaving. Whereas if I try to control his standing and chewing, the cycle of frustrated baby and mom will continue for 30 minutes. I just had to let go and let him be his own man to find a peaceful resolution. I have found out they make products for this exact problem of teething on the crib rail, but I decided to go for the less-chic look of duct tape and folded sheets. it works.

3. Sean started co-babysitting with our baby friend Greta a few weeks ago. Some days are good-- he expresses concern when Greta cries and likes to touch her foot in a friendly gesture which she seems to appreciate. Other days he is still surprised that Valerie can give her attention to another baby, and he lets her know that he rightfully deserves all the attention, not to mention all the bottles. This summer we hope to have our newest baby friend, Gabe, join Sean and Greta for tri-babysitting fun :). It is a transition that needs some work, but in the long run I think it will be really good for the babes to be around each other when they are little. It will prepare them for the shock of new siblings later.

4. In the last few weeks I have had a number of health-related issues to figure out which in part accounts for my absence on the blog. It turns out pregnancy is a "huge immunological event" according to my doctors, and my body didn't do so well with the event. My thyroid has not been functioning for some time (due to a condition call Hashimoto's disease) and the doctors also found an abnormal growth on it, which is apparently unrelated to the Hashimoto's. In any event, I have started medicine to regulate the thyroid production, which will hopefully help control the exercised induced anaphylaxis I am still experiencing. The doctors say they can't guarantee the two are related, but they might be, so I am hopeful and optimistic! In the meantime, I will have surgery in two weeks to remove half of my thyroid so to biopsy the unwelcomed growth. I am not too worried... I think it will all turn out fine, but prayers are, as always, appreciated. I have been pretty tired, but otherwise feeling OK. Mostly, we are trying not to become overwhelmed with all the possibilities.

In the meantime cody and I are both enjoying our jobs and loving our little life. Thanks for reading the update, please drop us a comment or an email with an update from where you are! And thank you, Eva, for prodding me to be more active on the blog!