A little Something

Compound Words

2011-10-31T10:22:00.004-04:00

Sean often, very often, will call me "Momdee" or "Dadmee." Maybe I'm not spelling it correctly, but do you know what I mean? He combines "Mommy" and "Daddy" by saying about half of each word.

He calls Josh the same concoctions of mommy and daddy. He mushes both words together and makes it a compound word.

Beyond the language hiccup, does it reflect the way he understands his mother and father? Does he think of us as two halves of the same coin, the name of one is also the name of the other? It certainly is not something he has come up with from example; I don't call Josh or myself "Momdee" when talking to Sean. I try to make it a point to model proper words and grammar so that Sean will learn the correct use of language.

If it does reflect his understanding, isn't it a lesson to us? A child's parents are one. It reaffirms what God already tells us; two become one in marriage. The married couple sets the foundation for a family.

Or have I taken this too far? Is it just the imperfect language skills of a two-year-old? Maybe. But even in the little things, I think God reminds us of his plan for us. Reminds us that a husband and wife become one.

2011-10-28T08:28:00.003-04:00

Last night Josh had a meeting so I had to get the boys to bed by myself. I am not always so good about getting them in bed on time when Josh isn't around. Sean asked to sleep in my bed, I was tired, so I said yes. So we all laid down in my bed: Sean, Paul and I.

Sean decided to sing to Paul, which he has done before. Sean sang the songs he knows to Paul: ABC's, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, You are My Sunshine, and Wee Willie Winkie, (the version we sing to him where the little boy's name is Sean instead of John).

Sean doesn't get all the words correct, but he gets almost all of them. And it is so sweet to see Sean care about and love on Paul.

As folks have asked me how it is having two boys now, I have realized that I think it is easier having two boys than only one. At least in some ways. Sean is such a help in little ways. Sean can talk to and comfort Paul when I can't be because I'm fixing something hot on the stove or in the bathroom, etc. Sean will often throw away Paul's dirty diaper for me. He will almost always pick up Paul's pacifier, only touching the edges, when it falls out of reach. He will give Paul his pacifier if Paul gets upset. I have even caught Sean talking to Paul, singing to him, giving him a hug and telling Paul they are best friends. That makes a momma's heart melt. I really hope they will be.

The Rosary...

2011-08-02T13:52:00.001-04:00

Since Paul was born, I have been trying to be more prayerful. The first week we had Paul at home, I prayed a Rosary almost every day. In the mornings when Mary and Paul were ready to get up, I would take Paul and pace around the house praying. Sean would follow me around sometimes with his Rosary in hand. The past two weeks I haven't been as good at saying a daily Rosary, but I would get one in here and there.

Today, after lunch Paul was kind of upset and didn't want to nurse. Mary asked me to walk him a little. As soon as I started walking with him, Sean says "Daddy, need your Rosary." It wasn't a question. He went and got my Rosary from my room and gave it to me. I have to admit that I really wasn't feeling like praying a Rosary right at that moment, but I did, and I feel better somehow. I wasn't feeling bad beforehand, but I do feel better.

It is amazing the power of prayer, and even more so are the ways that God reminds us. I never would have imagined my two year old being the one to remind me of the power of prayer!

Going to the fair...

2011-08-01T09:43:00.004-04:00

Ah, the fair, what fun!

This boy just can't hold still.

Look... Bunnies!

Chickens?

Tractors are awesome.

Dad, you are weird!

More Summer Fun

2011-08-01T09:31:00.003-04:00

Sean and Paul having a good time some morning.

We boys trying a bottle.

Fire. Fire. Yeah, fire! Well, just the pit.

Mama and Paul lounging.

I got it! I got it!

Long walk... short story...

2011-07-29T12:51:00.001-04:00

So Sean and I have been taking some short walks lately. He really likes to be outside and I need the exercise. On Wednesday we walked (or rather I walked and he rode in a stroller) to the nearby speedway for a treat. Round trip was about 2 miles (we took a scenic route) and took us an hour.

This morning Sean says he wants to go for another walk. I am thinking ok, this will be good, but I don't want to go to speedway again. We had some library books due soon, and we live in town, or the edge of town anyway, so I think a little walk to the library will be nothing. It never takes very long in the car, how far can it really be?

2.5 hours and just over 5 miles later we got back home. It was a long walk. I got the distance from Google maps, I think I should start checking the maps and distance before I leave. Then again I may start talking myself out of walks because of the distance. What's that old saying - ignorance is bliss. In today's case though, ignorance is blisters - on my feet.

-J

Project...

2011-07-20T13:55:00.001-04:00

So as with most things, everything tends to happen all at once. We had Paul and shortly there after I was given two new refinishing projects. An old library table and a china cabinet.

I enjoy the hands on projects and it gave me something to do while everyone was napping in the afternoons. I started with the table because it just needed to have a veneer removed, then sand, then finish. The china cabinet has several layers of high quality, most likely lead based paint and is going to take a bit more work.

Anyway. I have finished the table. The veneer took almost three days to get off - due to the quality old fashioned construction. It took another two days to sand, what with all of the corners and various edges and the different levels of sandpaper I used. One day to stain it, a beautiful dark kona wood. Then three coats of polyurethane done throughout the course of a single day - early morning, late evening, and 10 o'clock at night (that was last night.)

The polyurethane has dried, but it needs a few more days to cure. I have moved it inside to help it out. There is much less humidity in the AC. Here are some pictures from the project ad well as a shot of the china cabinet. Just thought I would share.

Paul Romulus

2011-07-10T22:14:00.003-04:00

Mommy, Sean and Paul - not quite napping!

Big Brother is Watching! (I think he is surprised?)

I think Sean likes him.

"Awww. Him just a wittle guy!"

What are you doing to me?

OK... Well... I thought I knew how to use blogger, but rather than go back and switch all of the photos around in the order I thought they would be I just left them how they turned out. And no, they are not just pictures of Paul, but the whole family. The last one is just Paul (Please remember that it was supposed to be first.)

I am uber happy to report that everyone is doing well. Apart from a little sleep deprivation at the moment that is. Sean is still adjusting to having the little guy around. He keeps wanting to run around and bump and be as rough and tough as ever. It is kind of hard for him to "take it easy." Don't worry though, he will get there.

Mary is amazing, awesome, wonderful ... I can go on, really I can ... superb, fantastic, marvelous ... I think you are getting the idea. I am just thankful that she is doing so well, and everything went so well for her.

Praise God for healthy babies, wonderful families, super wives, and supportive friends and family. Thank you everyone for your well wishes, cards, flowers, and help.

Will try to post more soon, but I am still getting used to the new little guy too. ;)

He's here!!!!!

2011-07-06T19:06:00.001-04:00

I have always admired punctuality and this little guy shows up early. How awesome is that?

Anyway, born at 9:13 in the AM, weighing in at 6 pounds and 2 ounces and only 19 inches, Paul Romulus!

Mom and baby are both doing well.

More to come! :D

-J

I don't know what to say...

2011-06-28T17:23:00.001-04:00

Fun at the Park

2011-06-27T10:34:00.001-04:00

Sean and I had a great morning. I rode my bike with him over to a park about 3/4 a mile away. We played on the slides and monkeyed around for a while. Sean really liked the swings, but when I tried to swing he kept saying I was too big :( oh well! We still had a good time.

We rode back, and then Sean rode his bike to the end of the street and back. He does a great job even though he could barely reach the pedals on the downturn.

We cooled off inside for a while then got Mary and my room ready for the baby (due in just THREE more weeks!) Dropped the bed to the floor so it is easier to get into for Mary and got the crib set up next to the bed so Mary can reach the baby in the middle of the night.

I think this may be the longest post I have had yet! I guess there is just a lot going on. More soon.

Swashbuckling...

2011-06-15T16:55:00.001-04:00

Potty Training Fun...

2011-06-15T09:31:00.001-04:00

So yesterday we started to potty train Sean. We may be a little behind the curve on this, but it needed to be done sometime.

We had a good number of accidents yesterday morning but he made it through his nap dry. We did have one more accident right after his nap, then we were dry the rest of the day. He is such a big boy and is doing really well with everything.

So far today, NO accidents! We are having a lot of fun too. We built a big fort in the living room which we are playing in a lot.

The "method" we are using claims a perfectly potty trained child in just three days, so just one day to go after this one. I think Sean is doing great, but I am not sure he will be completely trained by the end of the day tomorrow. We shall see.

Hope everyone out there is doing great and enjoying the excellent weather we are having right now. I will post again soon. ;)

More Summer Fun...

2011-06-07T19:08:00.001-04:00

I am not really the blogging type, but I am trying and slowly learning the ins and outs. Mostly I guess I am not always sure about WHAT to post. Anyway, as the summer goes on I will probably start posting less and less pictures of Sean in a pool, but for now I think it is not only a great way to pass the time, but a good way to keep people satisfied with pictures of Sean (and come July, the new little guy - so exciting). So with out further ado, more pictures of Sean in a pool.

Summertime is here...

2011-06-03T16:21:00.001-04:00

Finally, summertime is here. School is out, the weather is warm, and we got Sean a little pool to hang out in. Okay, so maybe I will hang out there too, but I have to be a good parent and supervise him. I don't want anything bad to happen.

What a little ham he is. ;)

Paintball...

2011-05-28T12:22:00.001-04:00

even little children like it...sort of.

My Birthday!

2011-05-26T14:48:00.001-04:00

What a wonderful day ... OK, work wasn't much fun, but the day started with Sean waking me up and Mary coaching him to tell me happy birthday. He did, and so very well. He even sang happy birthday while he ate his cheerios. We ended with dinner out with Mom and Dad, which Sean loves cause we don't usually see grandma and grandpa during the week. Here are Sean and I at the restaurant. Really, just being with family made the day spectacular.

A morning at Grandma and Grandpa's

2011-05-21T12:57:00.001-04:00

Went over to my mom and dad's today and as usual, Sean loved it. After visiting with the real cows outside he played play farm inside. Grandma was having fun too.

Summer Blogging

2011-05-14T09:10:00.001-04:00

OK. So we haven't been blogging much lately. It is amazing what time and energy we put into so many other aspects of our lives. I just wanted to let everyone know they can start to expect more posts now and through the summer. And to start things off, here is a picture of Sean messing around one morning.

-J

Some Sunday

2010-10-24T21:58:00.001-04:00

After church one Sunday.

Josh with his long beard.

Sean with a smug grin.

Sean in the Fall

2010-10-10T22:05:00.000-04:00

2010-10-07T07:21:00.000-04:00

Sean the Brave!

2010-09-27T21:37:00.000-04:00

This summer's Celtic Festival

Good Buddies

2010-09-27T21:21:00.001-04:00

Little Sister

2010-09-26T21:34:00.001-04:00

Me with my sister when she was visiting this summer. She gets prettier every year. I wish she was able to visit more often - I miss her!

Sweeping

2010-09-24T21:29:00.002-04:00

Sean came to love sweeping, somehow.

Letting him have a broom in the house was getting dangerous, so we headed outside.

Look at that little worker!

I would sweep the leaves away from the door, and he would end up sweeping them back to the door.

It was hard work, but we got it done!

Steers

2010-08-30T21:16:00.002-04:00

"mama"

"papa"

"cow"

(bends down to touch his leg)

The first time Sean tried to string together several words and tell me a story about the time he was at his grandma & grandpa's house when the steers licked his leg.

He talks about them everytime we are there and even tells them goodnight when he leaves.

Upsidedown

2010-08-25T07:32:00.000-04:00

Future Basketball Player

2010-08-24T16:51:00.002-04:00

We did NOT set this up!

He doesn't know how to play the game, but he is practicing his sports picture pose.

The Scene?

2010-08-20T22:36:00.001-04:00

The living room. The overhead fan gently blows air down and around the room. Josh lounges on the sofa. I lay on the love-seat with my feet propped up on the arm, a square pillow under my head at the other end. Sean is playing on the floor with a balloon.

Sean decides to sit on the couch with me and begins his climb-up-on-something-that-is-too-big-for-me-but-I-can-do-it routine. I am in his way, but I was here first! I'll help him up but I'm not ready to move from my comfortable spot just yet.

I offer my hand. Denied. Sean continues to try to make his way up without my help.

But wait! He isn't trying to get up on the couch!

He is bobbing his head on my belly. He has exposed my belly button - he is blowing raspberries on my belly!

Sean is laughing and I am laughing. Sean is doing it again!

I grab Sean and pull him up on the couch, giving him raspberries on his belly.

Fair

2010-08-20T07:03:00.001-04:00

Sean had fun petting the bunny...

petting a sheep...

"Ooooooooo, how exciting!!"

"Wow! A trophy! Maybe I'll get one someday, too!"

For now, we just have to work on remembering not to pick up the chips that fall on the ground at the fair.

How do you Pose?

2010-08-19T12:11:00.000-04:00

Sometimes

posing

is difficult

to get

right

Some Sleepy Morning...

2010-08-18T07:59:00.000-04:00

Laundry

2010-08-12T00:56:00.001-04:00

Sean helps with the laundry. He knows what to do if you ask him to put his clothes in the dirty clothes basket. He will help me put clothes into the washer. I give him the wet clothes from the washer and he puts them in the dryer. He'll even help get clothes out of the dryer sometimes. Impressisve for a 1-year old.

P.S. He's not so good at folding clothes... yet

Mind = ???

2010-08-04T15:05:00.003-04:00

Do you have days when you...

don't know which end is up?

lost your marbles?

forget everything ?

can't get anything done?

Today is one of those days. The fire alarm went off at 9:30 this morning and my day was off-kilter from there. It is only 3:13 p.m.

~funny face~

Piano Man

2010-07-30T23:35:00.000-04:00

"Sean, play us a song!"

"Mom, please don't bother me. I'm playing here!"

Could Sean be the next Mozart? Look at how he holds his hands on the keys!!

Horsey!

2010-07-29T23:25:00.000-04:00

Sean has great fun riding on Josh's back. He really likes it when the ride is so wobbly that he falls off!

At it already!

2010-07-29T18:22:00.001-04:00

I told you they were scheming something!

Friends

2010-07-28T23:29:00.000-04:00

I have a feeling these two are going to be good pals as they grow up. They look so cute, but I think they are scheming something not so cute!

Some Favorite People

2010-07-27T23:21:00.002-04:00

Sean enjoys visiting Dan and Ellen. They are some of his favorite people. Can you guess why?

He likes the meals Ellen makes. And he likes to play with their cats. And they play with him. Dan plays rowdy with him and he likes to play rowdy.

Thanks for a great evening, Dan & Ellen!

Cats

2010-07-27T23:19:00.001-04:00

We visited Dan and Ellen. We visited Homer and Gershwin. Gershwin peered at Sean from the top of the staircase. He was not hoodwinked by curiosity at this little person who invaded his home.

Homer didn't care so much. He was laid back about it and let Sean pet him and poke him and pull his tail.

SV: Beach Pictures

2010-07-22T21:27:00.001-04:00

One day at the ocean the boys got their buckets together and built...

...a sand castle. It was more like a fort, really.

They dug a trench out to the ocean to let the waves make a mote around the fort.

Sean never helped building the fort. He was more interested in shoveling sand to fling up... up... up anywhere. The first day at the beach he had a small pile of sand on his head and in his hair. He would happen to touch his face, get sand in his eye, then rub his eyes with his sand-covered hands. Josh would lather Sean in sunscreen before we got to the beach, so the sand was especially prone to stick to his skin. I tried to stay relatively free of sand so I could help clean the sand off other people, but that plan didn't work too well most of the time. I had to play in the sand, too!

Sand. It can be messy, but it sure is fun! :)

Welcome Home

2010-07-21T23:17:00.000-04:00

When I arrived home from work that first dreaded day back from our lovely vacation, I found these on the table waiting for me. Dinner was ready just a few minutes later.

You should try this

2010-07-18T23:04:00.005-04:00

It is delicious. I was skeptical the first time my grandma made it for me. I don't eat a lot of tomato. I usually eat tomatoes after they are cooked and canned and made into spaghetti sauce, chili soup, or salsa. I usually don't eat fresh tomatoes on a salad. They can be very messy to eat and I tend to avoid foods that are messy to eat. It's the same reason I seldom eat fried chicken. What can I say? I'm a girl and I don't want to get dirty.

But this sandwich is delicious. Even if you get a little messy, it is worth it. So give it try this summer.

Here is what you need:
~a nice plump tomato from your garden (red or yellow, whatever you prefer)
~two slices of homemade bread (a sturdy loaf of you buy it from the store, but you should really try making your own bread sometime - it is infinitely better)
~a slice of cheese (muenster is my favorite for this sandwich, but use what you have handy)
~butter
~mayonnaise

Here is what you do:

Heat a skillet to a medium heat. Generously butter the outside of the bread. Place bread butter side down in the skillet, placing cheese on one piece to melt. Slice your tomato and set aside. When the bread is nice and grilled, transfer both slices to a plate. Put mayo on the piece of bread that does not have cheese. Lay your juicy tomato on the bread and put both sides of the sandwich together.

You will have enjoyed a delightful experience of summer. Your hands will get greasy and juice from the tomato will drip. It is okay. Eat over your plate and wash your hands when you are finished. You will enjoy it - your husband and toddler will, too!

P.S. The tomato was from our garden. The bread was homemade, just not by me - thank you, Mom!

SV - Cool Dude!

2010-07-08T22:36:00.001-04:00

Sean rockin' it red, white, and blue for Independence Day.

He was trying to do thumb's up but doesn't quite get it. It looks more like finger pistols. But hey, he tries!

Just for a laugh

2010-07-08T22:28:00.001-04:00

These pictures are not what I intended to capture, but I got a laugh out of them!

Hope you do, too!

SV - Pirates

2010-07-08T22:22:00.001-04:00

Don't ask me what day it was... but we found some pirates on vacation! The boys played on the playground until it got dark. Sean did great climbing up the steps and going down the slide by himself. It seemed a little big for him, but he loved it! Then we watched fireworks!

SV - Day Five

2010-07-02T14:33:00.002-04:00

Well, not much happening on day five. RAIN! Oh well. We had a good time anyway. We played some games, played some Wii and in general, just kind of enjoyed ourselves. Once the rain cleared up, it was time for naps.

Thursday night was our night out. Laura and Carl took Sean for the evening so Mary and I could have a night to ourselves. We drove down to near the end of the island by the lighthouse. We had dinner at the Topside restaurant, which carries fresh caught fish and seafood. It was delicious! Afterwards, we just tootled around down there, checking out the shops and enjoying the company of one another without having to worry about what Sean was doing or where he was. Thank you again Laura and Carl for the trip and the night out. :D

SV - Day Four

2010-07-01T08:26:00.002-04:00

Man oh man, was yesterday a busy day, but like all of the others, it was fun. We decided to go to the beach again - but this time we brought a lot less stuff and planned to stay only 2 or so hours. even with planning the shorter trip, and getting out to the beach before 11, we didn't eat lunch until 2:30 in the afternoon - it is weird how time doesn't seem normal down here, I guess it is because of how much fun we are all having. Sean really loved the waves yesterday. He would go out with me and just go up and down with them. Sometimes there would be a particularly largish one and it would splash up into his face and he would just laugh and think it the coolest thing in the world. Got Mary into the water too this time. The resort we are at has these beach wheelchairs that have huge rubber wheels to make it easy to push on the sand. Well, we went ahead and pushed her right into the water. We couldn't go too far, because those wheels also floated pretty well, and as far as we did go, I had to hang on to the chair because the waves rocked it pretty good. It was a great time.

After lunch (and naps) we went back over to Laura and Carl's for dinner. They were watching Tim and Janelle's boys, so we all went down to the pool for an evening swim. Sean was loving it all over again. He really is turning into a water bug. The rest of the evening was quiet and relaxing. Lots of fun, and more tomorrow.

SV - Day Three

2010-06-30T14:14:00.004-04:00

OK. OK. I forgot to post last night, or rather, we were up late and I just didn't get around to it. OK, so yesterday was the first day to the beach, and you saw some pictures there. Then we all took long afternoon naps - the hot sun and waves really took it out of everyone. After dinner, Disney had a pirate party and we all got dressed up and went down for the fun. All of the boys, and some of us adults got pirate bandannas, eye patches, and even some tattoos (don't worry, they were the rub on kind). Once we were all pirated out, there were fireworks. Sean absolutely loved the fireworks. With a little prompting, he would say "boom" with me when the fireworks would explode. It was really cool.

I know that you want to see pictures, but the connection here has slowed down a lot for some reason, and it is not uploading the pictures. Sorry, I guess you will have to wait until we get home to see all of the fun pics we got.

But don't worry, the important thing is that everyone is having fun. Sean is really turning into a water bug - he loves it.

Talk soon. -J

SV - Pictures!!

2010-06-29T16:43:00.002-04:00

OK, like I promised, here are some pictures from out vacation so far. Nothing fancy or special, just some things from driving, last night, and a few from today at the beach.

Here is the happy little family, just chilling at the beach - if you can say that you chill at a beach, I thought it was kind of hot. ;)

Here is Janelle and Mary with the 5 boys. Man did they have fun digging in the sand. At one point, I dug a hole as deep as my arm is long and the boys thought that was cool.

I am not sure about this one. It is either after dinner last night, or after breakfast today. Either way, Sean just loves hanging out with his cousins. And I have no idea what they were looking at - Tim?

And of course, here is Sean, sleeping in the car yesterday during our last stretch of driving. I can only hope that the trip home goes just as well.

I guess that is all for now. I hope that everyone is enjoying the day by day action of our vacation like we are. See you all soon - J

Bath

2010-06-29T13:09:00.003-04:00

Some of the best pictures are of Sean in the bathtub!

That pointy tongue -this one is my favorite!

SV - Day Two

2010-06-28T21:32:00.003-04:00

What a wonderful day. Just a few short hours of driving, and of course, Sean realized that it was just better to sleep - in fact, I think he was only awake about 45 minutes during our not quite 4 hour drive. Oh well, we made to the island just fine.

It was going to be a couple of hours before we could get into our rooms, so we took a short tour of the island with Mary's aunt and uncle (who we owe this trip to - Thank you so much!), played on the playground near by for a bit, then their room came available, so we relaxed inside until our rooms came available. It was quite a nice, easy paced afternoon.

Once settle into the room, though, it was non-stop fun. Of course Sean has to check out anything and everything that is new to him, which is cool. Then we got dressed for the pool (lot's of sunscreen here) and headed down. I was hoping to really cool off in the water, but I forgot that it had spent all day warming up in the sun. Even though it was a little warm for my liking it was still very nice, and with the breeze blowing, who could ask for more.

After swimming, it was time to grill out for dinner. Chicken and corn on the cob. Here we had another first, up until now, Sean had only eaten the corn cut off the cob, but he really wanted it on tonight, so we let him have it. Now, we didn't think to give him the fat end, and gave him the skinny end instead. Sean, eating the only way he knew how, bit off the end and started chewing away. We tried to get him to spit out the cob, but he was just loving it. So we made sure he chewed real well and got it all down OK - they say it is good to have fiber in your diet, right? We had a little more time for Sean to play with his cousins and then it was time to go back to our room and say good night.

What a great day, and I can't wait for tomorrow. Hopefully we will post some pictures tomorrow, of trip and Sean swimming, and who knows what else. Bye for now. -J

FEED ME!!

2010-06-28T17:05:00.002-04:00

The other night, we had a friend over for dinner, and for some reason, Sean started acting a little funny. After we sat down for dinner, Sean just made this face (see picture) whenever he wanted something to eat. Never before has he acted this way, and we haven't seen it again, but man was it hilarious.

Summer Vacation - Day One

2010-06-27T22:10:00.002-04:00

Today was the first day of our first vacation with our son. A lot of firsts today. We drove about 500 miles in just under 7 hours and still have about 4 hours to go tomorrow - CRAZY, but hopefully worth it in the end. Sean did OK? in the car. It was a long trip for him to be strapped into his car seat - he is, in general, a very active boy. The first section of the trip took about 2.5 hours - no problem, he took a nap. Part two, close to three hours, not so good. He wanted to play and was getting tired of the few toys that were available to him. Sorry about your luck, son, but we have got to keep going. Part three was pretty good, he played a little, ate a little, and even slept a little before we got to Spartanburg, SC for our one night stay.

Seven hours in a car is a very long time, even for Mary and I. So we got changed and headed to the pool, for a short relaxing swim - it was very nice. Now it is time for bed, and we need to rest up for another exciting day tomorrow.

Good night, and I will post again soon.

A Sleepover

2010-06-25T23:15:00.004-04:00

I have been chastised recently for inconsistently posting on the blog. I apologize and will make an attempt to "catch up" and then stay more up to date. Josh may help fill in the blanks since he has time off this summer - yay! (I am jealous).

Around Memorial Day, Sean had a friend over for a sleepover! Luckily, Simon is also his cousin so they can be friends for life! Simon is great with Sean - having his own little brother helps him know what to do with a little guy!

They had lots of fun together. I missed a good shot of them playing together one. By the time I thought to grab the camera Josh and Simon sat down for a movie. Not to be left out, Sean climbed up on the couch to sit by Simon.

Happy Family - no, not the Chinese buffet

2010-05-27T22:15:00.001-04:00

G.I. Joe knows how to get dirty!

2010-05-13T22:46:00.004-04:00

A 5-year old boy's birthday party. Camouflage, rubber-band guns, boot camp, wounded soldiers, medics, and missions -- it was awesome! Sean wore his camo vest and had a blast in the dirt!

Sean got dirt everywhere - his nose was running mud the next morning even after his bath!

Leaving

2010-04-26T13:13:00.003-04:00

Sean did not want to leave the house today. He is usually pretty happy to go anywhere; today I had to convince him with a cookie. For the first time, he did not want to leave me when I dropped him off at his babysitter's house. He is usually happy to go with the sitter and play with the other children. At the least, he has appeared indifferent to the interchange. I was sorry I had to leave him as he reached out his hand to me, the sitter carrying him to the house. I pulled out of the driveway feeling sad.

As I drove to work, I thought about how Sean's behavior had changed from last night to this morning. Last night he barely wanted anything to do with me. Josh is his favorite now; he chooses Josh when he has the choice. That is okay... he is a boy and wants to learn how to grow into a man from his father. They have so much fun playing together.

What a difference -- ignoring me to not wanting to leave me. I'll take it. I'll always take it. He's my little boy and I love him.

14 Years

2010-04-01T12:02:00.003-04:00

Learn from the past, don’t dwell in it.

Hope for tomorrow.

Live today. Today is a beautiful day.

Haircut

2010-03-25T09:54:00.002-04:00

One last look...

2010-03-17T22:49:00.004-04:00

Eating

2010-03-09T22:34:00.003-05:00

What a ham.

He reminds of his cousin Benjamin in this picture

Squished banana... yum!

Curls, Teeth, and a Frowny-Face

2010-02-24T22:23:00.011-05:00

This is Sean after a recent bath. Crazy, curly, baby hair.

Brushing his teeth...

Brushing your teeth is hard work...

...or is that a frowny-face?!?

Brushing his teeth is not really that hard. Sean discovered how to make a frowny-face and likes to show anyone who cares to look long enough. Enjoy!

Decorations

2009-12-22T21:29:00.001-05:00

Josh got a lovely picture of the tree. Isn't Christmas magical?

I am more excited about Christmas this year than I have been in a long time - this is Sean's first Christmas!

We are in our own house this year, too! Josh has always enjoyed putting lights up at his parent's house with his dad and was excited to have the opportunity to put lights up outside at our house.

We decorated for Christmas inside. Out tree looks a lot better than it did last year (I had no motivation to help last year being in the last month of pregnancy). I wondered how hard it would be to keep Sean away from the Christmas tree. We got the tree up and most of the ornaments on when he was napping. When Josh brought him out from his nap he looked at the tree, put his hands in the air, and said "OOOOOHHHH!" He stood there and looked at it for a while, grinned at both of us, and walked across the room to find his toys. I was amazed!! Then I remembered - the babysitter has had a tree up for at least a week, now - he already knows he shouldn't touch it!

Since we have had the tree up a little while now, Sean has gotten interested in touching some ornaments, but especially the beads. He thinks it is cool that the bead swing when he touches them, so we are working on that. I don't think the baby sitter temps the children with decorations and beads that so obviously want to touched!

Hats

2009-12-21T21:02:00.003-05:00

Sean likes hats.

He is rather funny when wearing them.

He will keep walking even if it falls over his head.

And then he thinks it is sooooo funny.

Just another cute picture. :)

What I see when I look down

2009-12-21T20:54:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving Trends

2009-12-07T12:14:00.003-05:00

It seems like not a lot of new exciting things are happening... to us any way... which is just fine with me. I appreciate the periods without drama! Drama can really suck the life right out of me.

There are new and exciting things happening to other people, which is a lot of fun, because I can be excited for them! People are having babies!!! And I really enjoy seeing little newborn babies so much more than I used to before I had Sean. Josh and I both have cousins who recently and will soon be having babies. Yipee!

I noticed at Thanksgiving this year a shift from years past. I used to hear stories of the cousins' after-Thanksgiving-party activities (there are some videos floating around if you know where to find them) that lasted into the wee hours of the night and across the tri-county area. The first few years Josh and I were together I don't think we left the party until 11:30 and I think it was usually later than that.

Fast-forward to this year. Some of the single and married couples without children were not there. More of us older grandchildren are married and have children, so there wasn't as much drinking and card playing. There were quite a few little children running around along with parents running after them. And by 9:00 p.m. Josh and I were on our way home. And I thought we were out late.

What a shift! But it is ok - I was tired. And things will change again.

Dressed up with nowhere to go

2009-11-03T11:09:00.001-05:00

What does a baby do for Halloween?

Not much, except look cute. No candy for Sean this year, but that's ok! Josh passed out candy to the grand total of 4 kids who came. Josh dressed up so Sean wouldn't feel left out.

Sean got pretty excited about being a pumpkin!

He wanted somewhere to go (even if he didn't get any candy) so we crashed a "girls only" party to show off the 'lil pumpkin.

Sean likes necklaces. He looked for a necklace on every pretty lady that he met.

Steps, Baby Steps

2009-10-28T22:55:00.003-04:00

Sean is now a walkin' boy. He likes his independence.

He also like to play with his daddy. :)

Sigh, he's growing up so fast.

Bath Time!

2009-10-23T21:04:00.005-04:00

Sean really enjoys his bath time. He loves his rubber ducky.

Josh gives him baths in the bathtub, but it is easier for me to manage Sean in the kitchen sink. BUt then anytime I'm washing dishes, Sean thinks he is getting a bath.

It is easier to just wash dishes after he is in bed. I can actually get the dishes washed if I do it that way.

These photos are about a month old, but still... he's quite the ham for the camera.

9 Months

2009-10-19T11:27:00.005-04:00

Sean is 9 months old! He is standing and taking a few steps already! The last 9 months has flown by, but at the same time, how did life exist without him? I love being his mom and getting to be that special person to him. It is such a joy to watch him learn new things, to play with him and teach him. And he is so cute! I don't ever get tired of his chubby cheeks!

He generally wants me... that is... at night when he is tired he wants me. If he is not tired, he wants Josh. Yeah, funny story about our trip to the store this weekend.

Josh carried Sean when we went into the store. Sean's just taking everything in, being a good little baby. We got to the aisle we were looking for and Josh wanted his hands free to select and compare the merchandise, so he started handing Sean to me.

I hold out my hands to him and say "Hey, Sean, come to Mama!" Sean turns away from me, holding on to Josh. Rejected!

Josh gives him to me anyway, and Sean starts fussing and squirming to get back to Josh.

He calmed down and was fine sitting with me as long as we were moving. So my theory is that he prefers the higher perspective that was afforded him when Josh, standing, held him verses the lower perspective he is offered when he sits with me. And I don't blame him -- I would prefer a higher perspective, too!

I think it is less about how much he likes Josh or I and more about the perspective we offer him.

'Cause at night when he is tired, he almost always prefers to be with me.

It's a bird! It's a monkey, It's...SEAN?

2009-10-19T11:21:00.006-04:00

I've realized that Sean really likes to climb up on things. Here are some photos of some of his monkey-boy climbing adventures.

Pants. Who needs pants?
I don't need no stinkin' pants!

And don't worry! Josh was right there the whole time! He's a good daddy! :)

The Sean Toy

2009-10-17T10:11:00.004-04:00

We have a bench that opens that we use as Sean's toy box. We will open the lid, stand him at the side and let him pull out toys.

One day, after setting him by the toy box, I looked back and saw this.

Swimming

2009-10-14T19:51:00.004-04:00

Again, I've gotten far behind in blogging. I'll back up and give you some photos of events since we moved into our new house.

This was back in August.

Sean really seemed to enjoy his baths, so we were excited to get him to a pool to see what he thought of that.

A friend was house-sitting for a family with a beautifully landscaped swimming pool and asked us to join her for an afternoon.

Sean liked it, but it is hard to tell from the photos because he kept squinting from the bright sun.

He was comfortable at this point, blowing bubbles and kicking in the water.

Sean really liked being out of the floaty and with Josh in the water. He splashed himself and had a great time.

More Teeth!

2009-09-11T14:50:00.002-04:00

Sean's top front two teeth came through! Yeah!! The bad news is that the incisor that came in first has really grown down, so you can see that one on top and the two on bottom, but not the front two on top yet! Let's just hope it doesn't take too long for the other incisor to come in or he won't have symmetrical teeth. We'll just have to wait and see.

He has done very well teething. He's had a very slight fever. He had a few times of crankiness that I attributed to teething pains, but luckily it was hours not days and teething tablets did the trick.

I was worried about Sean biting as his top teeth came in. After he got his first two teeth (the bottom two) I had trouble with him biting me. He was 4 1/2 months and he had a hard time getting it when I told him 'no.' After about a week of struggling and a few tears, Sean got over the newness of his little pearly whites and stopped biting.

With all the new teeth popping out on his top gums, I was worried that Sean would want to try out his new teeth on everything, including me. But it wasn't a problem until the third upper tooth came through. He's older now and understands what 'no' means. This time, it only took one day to get him to quite biting. Yay!

Sean is really so much fun to be around. He plays on his own. When I go from one room to another he follows me.

He usually doesn't get tired of me. What I mean is that when you hold another person's baby, after a while they are ready to do something else or be with someone else and don't necessarily want you later. They want their parents.

It is fun to be the parent. Sean will usually come to me if I want him, and sometimes he seeks me out. That is just one of the joys of being a mom for the first time, I guess. I love it!

Bear Crawl

2009-09-04T19:01:00.006-04:00

**I wrote this back around Labor Day, but I was having trouble getting the right video uploaded, and then forgot about the blog for a while. So here it is, finally.**

Sean has been crawling in the traditional fashion for a while now. Until this week.

This week he decided that he is too big for crawling - that he is just ready to walk. Problem is, he isn't strong enough or coodinated enough to walk. But for Sean, that is no problem, he improvises.

He does a "bear crawl" on his hands and feet, instead of his hands and knees.

Another Tooth

2009-09-01T13:33:00.003-04:00

Sean has another tooth, his first one on the top. It popped through a week and a half ago without much trouble at all. The funny thing is, the tooth that popped through is not a front tooth! It is the one to the left, an incisor. I keep watching for a couple more to come through because I can see them so close to the surface. I'm hoping the front two teeth on top will come through soon so he doesn't start looking like an hillbilly! But it may be in his genes, too!

Sean - The Next Bach?

2009-08-30T21:45:00.003-04:00

Late on Saturday night, after Sean had his second dinner, my dad got ahold of him and brought him over to the piano. It wasn't long before Dad had him banging away on the keys - one hand anyway. Sean really seemed to enjoy it! Who knows, he might just be the next piano prodigy (certainly didn't get those genes from me)

-J

Peek! Here I am!

2009-08-13T22:40:00.004-04:00

We've been busy!

Sean has reached some important milestones:

By the 4th of July he learned to sit up on his own well. He was also starting to crawl. He had this way of doing "the worm" or belly flop style where he would scramble his feet forward and then flop down on his belly. He really didn't get that he could move his hands forward to keep himself up. It was quite funny. I thought it was going to be a few days of "the worm" before he figured out how to crawl normally, but he started doing it the end of June and by the middle of July would flop himself around the living room to the kitchen. It might have been the natural progression, but it also helped Sean had more space to explore after we moved into a house.

Yep, we moved into a sweet little house!

I digress.... I was talking about Sean's increased mobility.

So after we moved, the 15th of July, Sean would flop-crawl around, chewing on a shoe here and there.

Last week he would accidentally crawl in the traditional style when he wasn't trying to get anywhere. And then this week, he just crawls normally all the time. He was fast before, but he can really move quickly now!

It wasssn't me occifer! ~hic~

2009-07-09T21:33:00.000-04:00

Again, how cute is this boy? No, really?

-J

I don't like you!

2009-06-10T22:50:00.003-04:00

This week Sean's regular sitter is on vacation and we found other people to watch him - his godmother one day and my cousin the other days.

Today when I picked him up, my cousin's wife, Anna, brought Sean out to me right away.

"He's be so upset today. When he looks at Jesse he puckers his lip and starts to cry. So I'm bringing him out to you to get him happy."

Then she goes back in the house and brings the rest of his gear to my car. And sit with Sean and get him to smile. And he was hungry, so I fed him.

Anna and I chatted while I fed him. She said:

"I guess Jesse hasn't been home when Sean was here before. I didn't think about that. Jesse got home early today and took Sean for me. He got scared and started all-out crying. I took him outside to get him to calm down."

I laugh. Silly boy!

"When I took him back in Sean would look over at Jesse, pucker out that lip and wimper. I kept telling him, 'Quit looking at him!'"

I guess Sean is used to men with beards. Sorry Jesse!

Take What You Get

2009-06-06T13:09:00.004-04:00

Here are some photos of Sean.

I was inspired by the PW's style of using lots of pictures and few words.

I was out with Sean at a restaurant last night. It was a beautiful day and we sat outside for a while until the sun went down.

Once inside, I glanced over the menu and had a friend put in my order. Clam chowder. It was not my usual, but quite delicious.

Some older women were in a booth nearby called out to me:

"You have such a cute baby."

"And he is such a good baby. He is so quiet."

"There was another baby in here earlier, and she was not quiet."

It was nice to receive a compliment.

Shortly after the two women left, Sean got tired. And fussy. And loud.

You take what you can get, right?

Roll Over!

2009-06-06T11:49:00.005-04:00

This week Sean rolled over from back to belly. Now he can roll both directions.

What a cutie! I'm biased. I know.

Two Toofers!!

2009-05-27T19:30:00.004-04:00

Holy Moly!! Sean is just over four months old, and he is growing so, so, so fast, it is just unbelievable. So far our little guy has rolled over, is starting to sit up, can stick his tongue out and make farty noises, and then last night POP! A tiny, little toofer (that's tooth for non-baby readers) poked through on the bottom. We were so excited, it was really neat to see his little toofer, and of course, I warned Mary to look out whenever she fed him. The little guy can't have just one, and sure enough by this afternoon he had another toofer poking out right next to the first. The little guy is just growing so fast! I can hardly believe it, but he is something special. Just wanted to let everyone know about his two toofers! Talk to you later. -J

Happy Birthday!

2009-05-25T13:21:00.004-04:00

Happy Birthday, Josh!!!

I love you. You are the most wonderful husband I could imagine. You are such a good father and husband. I cannot complain one bit.

Everyone else is starting to realize how wonderful you are, too. Not only are you the only one in your internship class who got an job interview, you have interviewed with 3 schools so far. One school thought you were so great (I could have told them, but they didn't ask me), they offered you a job. And another school really thinks you are something special, too - they asked you to come for a second interview. They really like you. I think they might even fight over you!! Ha ha!

Wow. You are popular. Congratulations, my dear!

Happy Birthday, Josh! I love you.

Blogging

2009-05-25T13:09:00.002-04:00

I enjoy reading blog posts very much. I really do. It has become something of an addiction. But I excuse it because how long does it really take to read a post? Not that long. And I'm keeping up with the lives of people I know. Well, most of the blogs I read are written by people I know. Some of them are pure strangers. But they let me share in their lives by putting their stories out there in cyberspace and I feel like I've gotten to know them. Who knows, maybe they feel the same way about me?

Probably not. But who's counting?

Anyway.

It is so much more difficult to keep my blog updated than to read a post. I want to, and I often think of ideas to write about. And then it just doesn't happen. It doesn't get written. The words just swim around in my head getting dizzy. I'm rather busy at work these days, which makes for a week that seems to fly by. And I struggle to get the essential chores done before it is time to go to bed. And the words of the blog post go to dreamland with me.

So what am I trying to say? Well, that all of you who can find the time to write, I will read it! And I'm sorry to you who want to read mine and are continually disappointed that my posts are so infrequent. I'll try to do better. But I'm not making promises.

Mother's Day

2009-05-12T11:36:00.003-04:00

I hope all the mom's out there had a very Happy Mother's Day. We planned to. It didn't work out quite like I'd hoped.

Saturday night we had dinner with Josh's family. It was a nice meal we bought from the Legion. For dessert, Josh's mom made a scrumptious pineapple upside down cake that she is working on to enter in the fair. Yum, yum. It was awfully sweet of her to make it, since it was for Mother's Day and all - and she even made it from scratch!

It was a very nice night.

Then Sunday, my first official Mama's Day with Sean, the scratchy throat and sniffle in my nose I had Saturday decided it wanted to be a full-fledged cold. And poor little Sean got it, too. So our plans to visit mom's and grandmom's went out the door while we sat in the recliner and tried not to use every tissue in the house all at once.

The worst part was that Sean has never been sick before, and that he got sick is all my fault. At least, I think if I hadn't gotten sick, he would not have either. But he was still a happy baby, and for that I am thankful.

Josh told me I should stay home Monday to rest and get better. Boy, I'm glad he convinced me! Yesterday was full of the same misery as Sunday. It's the watery eyes that is the worst. Stuffy nose or nunny nose, sure, it's annoying. But it's the watery eyes that make me utterly worthless for anything productive. I can feel the teard coming on, I know it is coming, and I can't stop it. And it's not that I'm temporarily blinded by the onset of tears. It's that the tears also aggrevate the nose, as well. So it is the tears and the nose.

But really. It was just a cold the way I get them. Not that bad, just annoying.

So this morning I know I'm not as bad as yesterday, I'm hoping that the watery eyes are done or at least mostly done. As I'm getting my clothes out, my phone rings. It's the sitter. She is sick.

So do I still go to work, when I'm still sick? I'm on the road to getting better, but still not feeling well... na!

So I enjoyed a second day at home. With Sean. There are definite perks to having a sick day!

In the meantime

2009-04-30T22:34:00.006-04:00

Well, I seem to have no time to blog. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I have a full-time job, a 3-month old baby, and husband. I wanted to have the birth story written out to share, but it is still very much a work in progress. I'll keep working on it.

But I don't want to wait until I have that story finished to share other stories and tidbits of my life. So here is a quick one:

Babies sometimes remind me of other things...

such as an elf or a frog or a bird...or a French Pea!

My compliments to Jean Claude!

What about a birth story?

2009-04-21T14:54:00.003-04:00

A girl I know had a baby recently, and I noticed that I was much more interested in the nitty-gritty details of her labor and delivery than I have been before. I’m all-ears when it comes to a pregnant woman’s plight or a new mom’s tales. Since having my own experience to relate it to, stories that include phrases like “completely effaced,” “ready to push,” and “she was exhausted” take on a whole new meaning. I almost tear up when I think about Sean’s birth.

I haven’t shared much about Sean’s birth on this blog; do you want to know how it went? I don’t want to share details if that isn’t your thing, and don’t worry, I won’t be offended if you’d rather not know.

If you are having trouble deciding if you want to know or not, I’ll give you some hints to help you make your decision:

I had Sean at a hospital,
I had him naturally (well, I had a little outside intervention, but no epidural),
I think of the experience fondly, and
I’m so proud of myself for having that sweet little boy!

So, let me know! :)

-McBorn

Busy Baby Sleeps Well

2009-03-25T21:28:00.000-04:00

Sean is growing and growing, bigger and bigger. It is just amazing how quickly he has grown, and all that growing requires a lot of sleep. I must say that he is the absolutely most adorable sleeping baby ever. And if you don't believe me, just look at the pictures. (Yes, I am a little biased, but still, how cute is he?!?)

Not only is all of that growing tiring him out, but other milestones in a baby's life as well. That's right, just the other day, Sean rolled over!! It was so cool. I layed him down for belly-time and he just whoop!, flipped right over. He hasn't done it again yet, but it was still pretty cool.

As for bath time, well every baby needs to take a bath. Not much else to say there.

Tune in again soon for another update!!

2 Months

2009-03-21T09:53:00.004-04:00

Sean's two month check-up was this week. I was interested to see how much he weighs because he has grown too big for most of the 0-3 month clothes. The 3-6 months sizes usually starts at 12.5 lbs and that is what I've been transitioning him into in the past few weeks. He first started growing out of the smaller sizes in the feet! Seems like he's on his way to size 13 shoes like his daddy. :)

He weighs 13 lbs 1.5 oz. and that should be accurate because they took his diaper off and everything. He was about 24 inches long, wow! He is growing well!

I was going to post some pictures, but unfortunately my computer would not read the camera's memory card. All the pictures on there from the past few weeks are lost and I had to reformat the card. :(

So we took a new picture, and we managed to catch a smile.

Josh likes to wear ties; Sean wanted to, too. Isn't he too cute in this painted on tie?!

My birthday and back to Work

2009-03-09T13:09:00.000-04:00

I had a very nice birthday recently. Nothing too special, but my sister wrote a very sweet blog for me. We had roast beef for dinner, which I enjoyed very much (beef is usually my favorite meat, but ground beef is always my default because it is easy to fix). My mom was visiting and we took Sean out shopping. Sean was great; he slept the entire time. I had wanted to go to a few different stores and maybe even stop in to get my hair cut, but I got tired by the time we were done at the first store. I seem to enjoy shopping less and less as I get older and have more things to do, and I simply wanted to be at home where I could relax.

The most special thing about my birthday was that it was the last day completely free from work at home with my family. The next day I took Sean with me into work for a couple hours. I went around and let people hold Sean, and after he fell asleep, I went to my office and sifted through the pile of mail that had waited patiently for me. I didn't actually spend much time working, which was good, I just had a peak into what I was getting back into.

Then last week I went into work Tuesday and Thursday and left Sean. I think I was more anxious about leaving him the week before I left him than when I actually left him. I set up with my boss and HR to return from my maternity leave working part-time for 4 weeks. That way Sean and I have some time to get used to being apart and establish a good schedule. So last week I set up my part-time schedule to include 5 hours of work time with a long lunch in the middle. So I went to work late, took my lunch to go nurse and visit Sean, and then returned in the afternoon for a couple hours and left early. That way, I was only away from Sean for 2 1/2 or 3 hours at a time. It made it much easier to leave him when I said, "I'll see you in less than 3 hours." And when I was at work I spent probably spent more time than I should have talking to people about him.

Then there was a meeting Friday that I thought I should attend. With easily attained approval from my boss, I brought Sean in with me for the meeting Friday. It was the third day at work that week, but it was the best, because Sean was with me. While leaving him wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be, sometimes I wish I was still pregnant so that he would always be with me. :)

4 weeks

2009-02-13T23:03:00.001-05:00

Wow, Sean is now four weeks old! He is growing and getting chubbier everyday.

There are some things that I want to remember about Sean up to this point. I know that if I don't write down these little tidbits somewhere, there is a real chance I may forget some of them as time goes by.

Especially in the first couple weeks, Sean liked to fall asleep laying on my chest. He would bring his little skinny legs up and place his hands under his head - purposely resting his head on his hands. It is just too cute. I love how he snuggles before he drifts off to sleep.

In the last week or so I can tell that he recognizes me. He swivels his head around to follow me when I go by him.

He is starting to lose the baby hair on his head right in front. I think a lot of newborn babies, including Sean, look like old men. He's got a great receding hairline to improve his old man-ish style.

He smiles and sometimes even laughs in his sleep. In the last few days he will pull a smirk when he is awake, so he is getting it figured out. I was looking at a snapshot of shortly after he was born when I gave a I'm-completely-exhausted-but-entirely-happy grin and it reminded me of Sean's sleepy smiles.

He is so peaceful when he is asleep. He is beautiful.

And he likes me the best! (at least for now, and I'll take it!)

Growing up already

2009-02-05T21:47:00.007-05:00

Sean is three weeks old and he sure is growing. He seems to me like he is half grown already! Well, not really, but I'm not done enjoying his newborn days and he is turning into a chubby baby.

When we left the hospital his discharge weight was 8lbs 3oz and when we took him to the doctor at two weeks old he was 9lbs 10oz. Aside from that, I can tell he is gaining weight because his hands are filling out and getting chubby. His eyelashes have grown, though they are still hard to see. I'm packing away the newborn size clothes, already.

It is such a mom thing to say - he's growing up too fast!

TA - DA! Here he is!

2009-01-20T10:53:00.001-05:00

A great philosopher once said....

Hey everybody. Sorry we have been silent for so long - it just takes a while to get adjusted to everything. Anyway, we wanted to share a couple of photos of the little one with everybody. Hope to post again soon. Enjoy. :D
- J

Just a cute picture :P

It's a Boy!

2009-01-18T22:15:00.002-05:00

Sean was born on January 16th at 11:14 a.m. He weighted 8lbs. 13.8 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long.

I just wanted to give a super-quick update. I'll work on uploading some pictures and some of the birth story tomorrow.

We are all home from the hospital and doing well. Sean is a happy baby and doing great. We are all still exhausted. I need a lot of help, relatively, so I think Josh is a bit more worn out than most new fathers. He is making sure I take it easy and don't do too much; he is such a wonderful husband. I am blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

The Next Day

2009-01-16T07:56:00.003-05:00

Whew! What a night! I guess I didn't fully realize how everything would happen. First a mix up at the registration desk - nothing major, just a new nurse ;) Then you get all hooked up to a baby heart monitor, a contraction monitor, and an IV. Then MORE waiting. The redeeming value here is two-fold: 1) we are having the baby soon 2) we get to listen to the baby's heartbeat constantly.

All through the night, nurses in and out, checking things, looking things over, adjusting things, asking Mary to roll over or whatever - roughly ever half hour, which does not make for a good night's sleep. But, on the bright side, the nurse who was taking care of us was really great. She was nice and listened to us when we needed something and was always offering to help in any way she could - truly makes things a lot nicer and easier.

Fun times ahead! :D -J

On the Eve of Being a Daddy

2009-01-15T23:06:00.003-05:00

Well, here we are, the day before we have the baby (most likely) - YEAH! For the past week, we have been on pins and needles - waiting, hoping, expecting - eagerly anticipating the new arrival. Not really knowing when or how was probably the thing that made it so difficult to wait. At our last doctor visit this morning, we decided that it would be better to not wait any longer. So we got scheduled to come in to the hospital and have an induction tomorrow morning - which means we are having the baby soon - no more waiting.

This is what we have been praying for, waiting for. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and waiting with us - your support has been great. We will let you know soon - Boy? or Girl?

-J

The NST

2009-01-13T22:07:00.003-05:00

We went in today for the first Non-Stress Test. It was easy enough; I sat there with two monitors on my belly. I had one good contraction while on the monitor and the baby did fine with it. The baby’s heartbeat was around a baseline of 120 and would usually increase to 145 or so when it moved. The midwife said the baby seemed good!

She also checked me. She estimated that I’m around 50% effaced and 1cm dilated. She said she could feel the baby’s head, so she thought it had moved down a little to -3 station. Progress!! Not huge progress, but progress, and that is very encouraging.

I'll see the doctor on Thursday for another NST, unless I'm having the baby, of course.

I can be a little patient knowing that I am getting closer to holding the baby! I'm so excited!!!