Now I lay me down to sleep...

Oh dear. I remember once my mom telling me that if we are lucky, when we get really old, we'll forget that we've become forgetful.

Well...I'm not really old yet, so I can remember quite clearly that I've forgotten things. I just can't always remember what those things were. I am therefore very grateful for electronic calendars, voice mail (I call and e-mail myself awfully darn frequently to make sure I don't forget important things) and of course I'm grateful for my much younger wife who remembers lots.

So my latest technique for remembering things is to visualize when I'm drifting off, that I've released an imaginary "roomba", (you know the robot vacuum cleaner that just roams the house cleaning all day) in my brain. I tell it to feel free to scour the deepest passages of my mind to help me wake up refreshed and suddenly clear on something I couldn't quite remember.

This actually works remarkably well for me. I'd give you some examples of things I've drummed up after a good night's sleep, but, well, I can't really think of anything to share.

I'll release the "imaginary vacuum" hound tonight again and let you know tomorrow.

Ummm...I've got to go now so I can call my voice mail. ;-)

-Monica

Is his eyebrow slightly raised?

What do you mean Milka Chocolate is not in the "Super Baby Food" book?

Manna...or maybe Milka...from heaven!

What a day, oh what a day! So yesterday the package arrived! We never know exactly when the package will come, but when it does, it is filled with a huge stack of candy bars. German Milka bars to be exact. For those unfamiliar with this delicacy, I can only recommend that you run right out and find some right now. (Check out Aldi, World Market and other stores with European foods.)

Now, if you knew the full story or our annual "Milka" day of joy you'd probably think I should get my head examined. You see there is a very nice, handsome young man in Germany who met Su about 10 years ago while studying abroad in the US. I'll call him Franz. Well Franz has conistently for many years now sent Su a huge box with Milka candy bars in it for her birthday. Sometimes they come before the big day and sometimes after. One time they came on a very slow boat from Europe we are pretty sure, because the box was much worse for the wear.

Anyway, the boxes always come with no note. We are quite sure he spends more on shipping them to the U.S. than he spends on the chocolate itself. But here's the thing. He and Susanne don't keep in touch otherwise. Su exchanges letters and e-mails from his his sister periodically (who was also studying abroad in the U.S. at the same time) so we sort of know what he's up to, but he and Su haven't really talked in years.

He never replies to the thank you e-mails Su sends even though we are pretty sure he gets them. So every year we assume that will be the last of it. But no! Another box of 15 or so bars at our door! Happy happy joy joy!

Another friend of ours once explained to me that he thought that maybe Franz had a crush on Su. That hadn't occured to me (although maybe it should have?) Regardless, being so very secure in my relationship, and so very secure in my love for Milka chocolate, I love Franz. Never met him but he's okay in my book. Is anyone else hungry now??????? ;-) -Monica

Back home where my heart is!

Greeting gentle readers. I'm am just now back from a quick trip to Toronto, and have these couple of deep thoughts which I'll call my top 5 reasons I prefer not to travel for work:

5. I really miss Su and Danny (even if my trip is for only a few days)

4. CINNABONS! Damn you Cinnabons! Your sweet, sweet scent lures me into your evil lair every time I enter an airport. Eating your delicious treats before sitting on a plane for hours is just not an intelligent choice. And I do it EVERY TIME!

3. Hotel bathroom mirrors. (See reason 4.) They are often huge, spanning an entire section of the room. Utterly depressing. And the lighting doesn't help either generally speaking. I think I would seriously pay more to stay at a hotel that featured circus fun house mirrors (the good kind of course!)

2. Airport toilets that think they know when I'm done and start flushing. It scares me every time. I don't know what it is about my "hovercraft" positioning that fools them so consistently. And lastly...

Drumroll please...

1. I really, really missed my Su and Danny (and damn you Cinnabons!)

Thanks to all who sent comments letting me know that things would go perfectly fine on my first day "home alone" with Danny. We ended up not going out in the rain which was my ploy to distract him (it was torrential at times!) but we had a perfectly fun day playing and hanging out at home.

This weekend we got to go to the birthday party of my friend Mandy's 3 year old identical twin girls and it was great fun. It's amazing how different their personalities are. And from the very same egg. How does that happen? Same genetics, same environment. They are both wonderful little girls and Danny had a lot of fun "playing" with all the big kids.

Then on Sunday we had a wonderful time at our friends' Mikki and Kelly's house. Their little girl is quite the superstar. She crawls everywhere and, no lie, said, "that's okay" or some sounds to that effect at one point to Danny. She's just turned 9 months old and she's very impressive in all areas of her development. Oh, and since our hostesses were convinced that they'd only ever fed us pizza when we'd come in the past they made and amazing meal. It was like Thankgiving in February!

Today I get to see how Danny will respond to me after I've kind of been "out of the scene" for a few days. I've got a short business trip that I'll leave on today which means for the next two nights and mornings, I'm not really going to be around. Hmmmm...will he squeal with delight when he sees me Wednesday? Or will he shun me? Time will tell. I prefer to think that he and his creative mama will make confetti and have a ticker tape parade of sorts. But now I have to ask myself this. Will Susanne squeal with delight when she sees me? Or will SHE too shun me? ;-)

Delight, Delight, Delight, Delight, Delight, Delight, Delight, Delight, Delight, Delight, Delight! -Monica

Home alone...

In the 8 months of Danny's thus far wonderful life, he's been taken care of by his mama and now since she's gone back to work, by our friend Jenni several days a week. I've never spent an entire day alone with just me and Danny. As I write, I can hear him roaring like a "Danosaur" up in his crib since his nice long morning nap is now coming to an end.

Su's usually off on Fridays but has to work today because the beginning of each month is a super busy time for her job. I'm scheduled to be off every other Friday, but again, it's always with Su.

So...Am I worried? Maybe a little bit. The boy loves me to pieces. I'm the goofy mommy who gets him up in the morning, sings silly songs and comes home when it's dark. I'm the one who often feeds him his supper and throws him in the air and rolls around on the floor with him. What I don't usually do is give him a bottle. Why would I? Su is our instant source of all warmth, love and nourishment. But now I've got three cold bottles of breast milk in the refrigerator (yes, I know to warm them in hot water first.)

So, today is going to be an interruption to his system. An odd day. His day care provider Jenni feeds him bottles all the time. So he's used to the bottle from her. But when he's at her house he also gets to play all day with little Oscar. So now he gets a bottle from me and no Oscar? I just think he might be confused as to where the "regular people" are today.

So...we're going out. Forget about the rain. Forget about the cold. If it's going to be an odd day anyway, we are going down to the DC city office where we can finally pick up his birth certificate which was reissued by court order after I was able to legally adopt him. That's my plan. Distract him. Good thing my shoulder is feeling better today. Wait, the "Danosaur" roareth again--this time for real. Gotta go. Wish me luck! -Monica

What have you done with the regular people mommy? (Photo courtesy of Jenni!)

Day 4 of the Hunchback Crisis

Ow. It hurts to type. It hurts to turn my head. It hurts to say it hurts.

Somehow I did something funny to my right shoulder/neck on Monday. For four days now I've whined, complained, practically worn a heating pad everywhere, and self-medicated with what might be called a more than prudent amount of ibuprofin. Now my stomach hurts.

Am I still whining?

Good Question!

"Are you a good husband to your wife, ma'am?"

I was asked this by a flower vendor yesterday. You see, we gay people don't just "come out" once. Common misconception. We decide every day in ways large and small whether it feels safe to disclose our sexual orientation to people.

As time goes by I feel more and more free to just state the facts. Not care what others might think. And being a gay parent pretty much forces you out of the closet anyway. Susanne and I are "out" to basically everyone we know, but often we can just "see the wheels turning" as people who meet us try and make sense of everything.

So yesterday I was walking home from work and decided to buy my sweetie some flowers. A very nice vendor, originally I'm guessing from central Europe, was chit chatting with me as I looked over all the bouquets. Out of the blue he asked me "who are these for?" I think he wanted to know to help me pick based on what he figured a mom or grandma or whomever might like.

"They are for my partner" I said, then more bravely "for my wife". (I didn't want him to think I was a lawyer and they were for a partner in a law firm after all ;-)

He stopped his chatter, looked me straight in the eye and asked me "Are you a good husband to your wife, ma'am?"

How do you answer that? I could have gotten into the fact that we are each other's wives--no need for the word husband etc.. but that wasn't necessary. His question was very sweet and genuine. So I said, "well, I'm buying her flowers, so I think the answer is yes!" He selected a beautiful bouquet of white and red roses and then added two more as he wrapped them up.

"These are for your wife, ma'am."

Who knows, maybe he has a gay child? Maybe he himself is a closeted gay man? Maybe he just thought it was just another way that we "wacky Americans" are? Maybe none of the above. I don't know. But I know that we both left the conversation happy and smiling. I felt simply...you know...gay!

(As an additional note I'll add that the picture of flowers in this post was taken by Su in Dublin. Doesn't it make you smile too?) -Monica

Babies ARE Us now

This weekend we had dinner with some great friends who Su has known for years. Most of them worked together for a transitional housing program and it seems whenever we are all together it just seems so comfortable. Tom made his amazing vegetarian coconut based soup and chai and other great dishes. Christy, Rowan, David, Robb and Lara and I just sat around enjoying the food and the two tykes - 8 month old Danny and ADORABLE nearly 10 month old Toby who is Robb and Lara's son.

Robb is like myself an "older" first time parent. I think he's 49 and I'm 47. He's a physics professor at university here and gets to spend lots of time at home--particulary in the summers. I asked him if he was having any unexpected aches and or pains since Toby's arrival, and after we chatted breifly about heads, shoulders, knees and toes (okay, maybe some other body parts) he turned to me with his eyes shining and said "no one ever told me it would be this much fun! Good point I thought. In all actuality though, no one could have ever told me how how much fun this would be.

So, without further ado, I offer our eight month installment of slides of our Danny--the most fun I've ever had! -Monica

Our boy hits the big 08 (months that is!)

Wow! What's the protocol here?

Most bloggers as you know (since you're reading a blog) have a blogroll somewhere on their site where they put links to blogs they read regularly. In our case, some are friends IRL (which means in real life, tricky huh?) and others are blogs that you've found that you just really like a lot.

Anyway, this week we got a comment from the author of Mom-101! The woman who writes it is hysterically funny and out of the blue she commented on our blog post with our family picture.

I've got to tell you, it is such an honor. And a few months ago another incredibly funny blogger named Swistle (who is also on our blog sidebar) wrote us a comment. These bloggers are the real deal. When they write blog posts they get dozens, sometimes hundreds of comments. We are lucky if we get one or two. I'm just saying that they both seem to really strike a chord with people and I guess I feel so flattered that they noticed in their stats that we'd put a link to their sites. They both have babies who are the same age as Danny which is how I first came across them and if you haven't read them before, I encourage you to do so now.

So here is my dilema. When someone comments, you publish it (if you want to). Often you can't reply to what they've written to protect their real identity. So...do you write a follow up to their comment in your own comment box? This really won't work if they never look at your site again (and why would they?) Or do you go onto their blog and when they write about something that you can connect to do you then post a comment to their blog? Oh, it's all so confusing. I guess everyone just likes to feel connected.

So...if Mom-101 or Swistle or Casey from Dancing on the Edge or Jenn from Arcane Matters, if any of you ever read this post, please know that you make the day go faster for us all by being such fun writers. That's all I'm saying! -Monica

Still shaking my head...

I don’t know how many of you caught this news story from earlier this month. President Bush took a trip to the Mideast and visited the Sea of Galilee. The AP reported the following:

After touring the Mount of Beatitudes, overlooking banana groves, a grinning Bush held hands with two elderly nuns, laughing with them and posing for pictures with their digital camera. A larger group of nuns later gave Bush a crystal statue inscribed with words from the fabled Sermon on the Mount, recounted in Matthew Chapter 5: "Blessed are those who are peacemakers for they will be called children of God."

I was very much struck by this and saddened in all honestly. The opposite of a peacemaker is a warmaker. Funny how my spell check will let me write “peacemaker” but not “warmaker”.

I also found myself wondering how this beatitude would have to be changed to something like “damned are those who are warmakers…you get the picture.

I heard yesterday that Dennis Kucinich had dropped out of the race for president and even though I hadn’t really learned much about his campaign it was mentioned that he had had the idea to make a Department of Peace. I thought that was pretty cool. What did Einstein once say? “You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.” Profound I say. -Monica

Quick, is there Paparazzi in the house?

As I mentioned our trip to Minnesota was brief but one visit we did make was to our friend Amy's house. Amy was one of my high school students in the 1980s when I was a teacher and we've always stayed in touch. She invited several of her former classmates over and it was a blast! I loved teaching those kids. I can't believe they are in their 30s now (yes, I know that means I'm in my 40s now!) Later after my fourth year of teaching I joined Peace Corps and they went off to college so it's sort of like we all graduated together or something.

Anyway, at one point Amy says to her husband Matt, "honey, why don't you take a family picture?" I'd of course forgotten that Matt is a professional photographer so he trooped us upstairs into his impromptu studio that he only uses for family and friends and started clicking away. I could almost hear the song "VOGUE!"

Lo and behold, even though tired and sleepy Danny refused to smile once (preferring his "Mr. Crankypants" cool look) and we didn't even comb our hair, nor dress in any special way for the occasion, Matt caught this--our first real picture of the family. Thanks Amy! Thanks Matt!

Cough, cough

Or I guess it would be more appropriate to say "blow, blow" (insert the sound of elephants calling here). You see I got sick with a bad cold last Thursday and Susanne eventually caught it which means that we've both now gone through several trees worth of Kleenex. The sound of noseblowing now scares our little guy. Sorry little buddy. But if you sniff instead of blow when you're that congested you end up with chronic earaches (I speak from experience here.)

We managed to pop home to Minnesota for two days during all of this which was great fun seeing family and a few friends, but let's face it, the temperature was 12 below when we landed. I'll write more about our adventures there later.

Today, we were really touched to see a very sweet post from our friend Jenni who watches Danny several days a week in addition to caring for her own son Oscar. It has a cute picture of her "boys". Seems she thinks Danny is quite a good problem solver at the ripe old age of (almost) 8 months. Anyway, thanks Jenni, that was fun to read! Have a great day everybody. -Monica

Top 5 things that made me laugh this week...

5. A comic strip where a woman is sitting in her car after a minor accident and the deployed airbag has an ad on it that says “Need a Lawyer? Call 800-555-5555”

4. Watching our son nod his head vigorously at everything and everybody we passed while on a stroller ride yesterday. “Hello, Mr. Garbage Truck!”, “Hello Nice Neighbor Lady!” You get the picture.

3. Hearing Su’s longtime friend Connie tell her over the phone that she reads our blog and that she’s “glad that Monica writes because she’s always been the funny one.” Susanne said “thank you Connie. I think.” (Hi Connie!)

2. While sitting on our couch Danny fell gently forward on to sleepy CJ who didn’t budge. Their faces mere inches apart, Danny opened his mouth, leaned in and and proceeded to try and take a taste of the kitty cat's snout. And CJ was going to let him (until I intervened!) Dear Lord, we know what’s been in CJ's mouth!

Drumroll please...

1. “Oh you hate your job too? There’s a group for that. It’s called Everybody, and they meet at the bar.” (I believe this one can be attributed to Drew Carey.)

Have a good one Everybody! (tee, hee!) -Monica

What the what?

So we have these nice knives that we got for our wedding (thank you Erin and Eduardo) that we use a lot. Susanne has asked me, more than once, to NOT put them in the dishwasher. You see it's best to hand wash them immediately, dry them well, and put them away. We last had this discussion more than a week ago and I have been very careful and am almost certain that I have NOT put any of the good knives in the dishwasher.

So last night as I was unloading the machine I spied our little paring knife. Yes, one of the special ones. It had just been washed. Aha!!! I turned to Susanne who was feeding Danny and let her know that I DID NOT under any circumstances put that knife in there, and that the only other possible answer could be that she had done it. Come on now. We really couldn't blame this one on Danny could we?

"Well" she said, "it definitely wasn't me—that would leave you".

So now I figure we are totally in a "she said, she said" kind of thing where we'd never really come to any final resolution.

"How can you be so sure you didn't put it in the dishwasher? It could have been you, you know" I argued.

She turned to me smiling sweetly and said "no, because I haven't put anything in the dishwasher in weeks".

"Huh? What the heckle and jeckle?"

I'm thinking maybe we should now be engaged in a very different argument ;-) -Monica

Roll call please

Sugar pie, honey pie, sweetie pie, sweetie, chicky monkey, chunky monkey, buddy, sweetheart, bubby (not to be confused with Bubba), punkin’, punky, Punky Brewster, Danny Boy, Buster Brown, amor de mi vida, dueno de mi corozon, mein Schatz, unser suesser Sohn, our boy, baby, my love, dreamy boy, Danno, Danimal, the Danosaur, the Daninator and of course our favorite name that is known only to me and Susanne and our little angel. Gosh, I just made up another nickname! Stop me. Stop me now! -Monica

Photo Courtesy of Jenni--daycare provider extraordinaire!

Maybe I'll forget how forgetful I'm getting...

So if you take your infant away for the weekend to New England (in January) and don't bring any blanket nor winter outerwear nor, gulp, a stroller, are you really not very bright parents?

Yes, we took Danny to Massachusetts, first to to visit my aunt near Boston, and then to beautiful and snowy Northhampton to hang out with our fabulous friend Liz who was a Peace Corps Volunteer with me. It was great fun and Danny turned on his charm with that silly smile of his. I think everyone was quiet smitten.

You know, it seemed so warm when we left DC. We really did mean to take his favorite blanket but it got left behind when we carried the other millions of items out to the car the morning we left. His jacket was a pretty good one, but not really a winter coat. And no stroller? Well, we've got no defense for that one. I guess he seems so grown up now we sort of forgot he can't walk. Good thing he only weighs 15 pounds. And that we could pick up a cheap umbrella stroller at the store.

We're going to Minnesota to visit my family soon. Maybe we should revise our packing list? (Sadly, we really did use a packing list for our Massachusetts trip.) Oh well. Maybe it will be warm in Minnesota? Not likely. -Monica

P.S. No child (particularly not ours) was harmed in the making of this movie...er...blogpost about our trip to the northland ;-)

From our 2006 trip to Peru

The Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa

This stone wall on an island near Lake Titicaca has no cement. Awesome!


And of course we went to Machu Picchu. It was gorgeous!

All photo credits go to Susanne (of course!) But I carried all our stuff while she took 'em! ;-) Ciao! -Monica

Laptops and Routers and Cables, Oh My!

What a great day! You see three days a week Danny hangs out with little friend Oscar under the watchful eye of mom Jenni and every Friday he’s with Su since she is on a 4 day schedule. That left one day a week where we had to problem solve. Viola! We both got permission to telework every Wednesday and this was our first day. Armed with our work laptops we prepared for this big moment first thing this morning. Susanne basically dismanteled our whole upstairs desktop system and moved the router and splitter and cables and what not downstairs so we could both connect our laptops and work from our dining room table.

It was ugly. There were purple and yellow wires and message boxes the kept popping up saying we werent’ properly connected. It would be so much easier if we could go into our Virtual Private Networks wirelessly, but that’s not possible for security purposes. Then there was an online chat with Verizon to solve a problem, password “issues” and peripherals to attach. Believe it or not, Su just realized that Danny now knows that you have to reach for the mouse to do stuff on the computer. Scary huh? (I know, one could do everything with tab keys and shortcuts but basically he sees us using the mouse all the time!) Now he goes for it at every opportunity.

Anyway, So our dining room floor looks something like the picture here. (Okay, it looks nothing like this but there ARE a bunch of wires everywhere!) We’ll come up with a better solution soon, but for now, at least everything works as it should. And as an added bonus, our cats love the new wiring!

It’s a gorgeous day so we have been able to take him outside on his swing which has been fun, and so far it’s been no problem taking periodic breaks to “trade him off”. He’s a pretty content little guy so he’ll jump around in his Exersaucer or play with his toys, and he’s also a good napper so that helps a lot. And let’s face it—it’s fun to put him right here in his high chair next to us and let him eat/play with his Cherrios. M&Ms for babies I say!

Well, I’d better get back to my real work. I must admit that it’s sort of embarrassing to be the Director of a Federal University for Information Technology and yet be so pathetic (or is it apathetic?) about all this technical stuff. Thanks for doing everything Susanne! –Monica

P.S. I guess I didn’t have to write that since she’s sitting right here across from me! I LOVE this!

ACHOO!

Fortunately both Danny and Susanne are doing better after a rather dreary weekend that included one stretch where I changed Danny 4 times within an 8 hour period. I'm not just talking diapers either. Let's just say we did several loads of wash using the hottest water possible this weekend.

But now that all is well, I thought I'd write about what I believe to be a fascinating observation. Apparently Danny has ACHOO (autosomal dominant compulsive helio-ophthalmic outbursts of sneezing syndrome). I'd never even heard of it before but according to Scientific American, 18-35% of the population has it. What does it mean? He sneezes at light. Consistently. Without fail. Like when I go to him in the morning once he's started fussing, and turn on the light to change him...you guessed it. Achoo, achoo, achoo!

In part the article cited here says:

“Its genetic nature has been known for at least the last 25 years; it is periodically discussed in the medical literature and lay press. Observations that emerging from dim light into sunlight or turning to face directly into the sun commonly triggers the reflex prompted early inquiries into the trait. The number of induced sneezes--which seems to be genetically mediated and can be predicted within a family--is constant from episode to episode and typically numbers two or three.”

I even start saying "God Bless You" before I turn on the light now (he always sneezes 3 times by the way). I once blogged about how Susanne is a serial sneezer but I never attributed it to light. Maybe it is the light? I always thought it was allergies. And she usually sneezes 3 times (occasionally more.) Danny's sneezing occurs from turning on lights indoors (only from complete darkness to bright light.) We'll have to pay more attention when we take him outdoors to see if the sun triggers it for him too.

What can I say? This would fall on the "nature" side of the "nature vs. nurture" debate. It doesn't seem to hurt him, and it just seems so, so, CUTE when he does it. And I do like to say "God Bless You" as often as I can so it really works out for me! -Monica

Here I thought it was his first little yawn and he was probably sneezing instead!

My poor babies...

I was just going to blog somthing longer but Susanne called and asked me if I could come home a bit early. Danny got sick yesterday and although he seems to be improving from his gastrointestinal troubles, Su is sick now. My poor babies. I'm on my way!!!

And the winner is....

Danny! With a tie score of 4-4 it appears that our Daniel is adorable no matter how you look at it. (And sis you were right. Su prefers the "slicked down" while I prefer the parted which she thinks makes him look like a 40 year old man.)

Maybe she just doesn't want him to grow up too fast. ;-)

Thanks to everyone who cast a ballot. And now for your edification...one last look at the winner!

Voting will close at COB tomorrow (that's "close of business" to us government types) on yesterday's opinion poll as to whether Danny's hair looks cuter with a part or brushed down. It's a close race as of this moment...one style has a one vote lead. The suspense is killing me ;-)

Anyway, on to something new. So, for Christmas my mother in law got me this really cool wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer. You hang a sensor outside and the device with the indoor sensor and the monitor for both stays indoors. At a glance you can see what the temps are both indoors and out.

Well, I decided to put the monitor in Danny's room since I'm a little psycho about how cold it gets overnight. (Fortuntely it's not dropped below 64 degrees so I'm not too worried about the temp there now.) But a funny thing happened last night. You see, when the outside temperature drops below 32 degrees the monitor starts flashing a green light to warn that it's below freezing. Yes, my device has a "freeze alert".

Susanne had gone into Danny's room to nurse him around 3 am and was mystified as to where the flashing green light was coming from. We're not sure if it's what woke him up, but there he was in his crib being bathed in intermittent green light. Su thought the light might be coming from outside, (new police green lights?). She really had no idea until she got her hands on the monitor on the shelf. Fortunately she found this to be humorous as opposed to finding that it made her murderous (of me of course.)

The moral of this story? Ummm....that we should move somewhere warmer? Right? Have a great day everyone. And sweet dreams! -Monica

You make the "do" call!

Happy New Year again dear readers. Susanne and I would like your help in settling a little difference of opinion we have about our dear boy's hairstyle. One of us thinks it looks most adorable when his hair is brushed forward and the other much prefers a little part on the side. I'm not going to say who exactly prefers which, but we'd love to get your opinion. We'll post the winner shortly.

This is not to say that he's going to start going with one style over another--just to say that I'm right and perhaps Su is a bit mistaken on what is his best look ;-) Hereeeeee's Danny!














Parted













Brushed Forward

Happy 2008!

Danny snuggled up to grandpa when he came to visit last week. Too sweet huh? We've put together a short slide show to capture his 7th month that you can see by clicking on this link (or on the sidebar.)

Honestly, I can't imagine how any year could be better than this one has been for me and Susanne. But somehow we think it's only going to get better and better! Happy New Year everyone. Blessings and blissings. -Monica and Susanne and Daniel

Laughing All The Way!!!

Danny and his lovely mama smile for the camera!

Danny's first Christmas was tremendous. As the youngest member of Luther Place church Danny was invited by Pastor Robin (as a sort of a spur of the moment idea) to lay baby Jesus into the Nativity scene at the altar while all the children gathered around to sing Away in a Manger. He happily complied--taking Baby Jesus into his little hand, but then proceeded to try and eat him. I suppose it's what we do at Communion every week if you look at it that way! ;-) Mommy helped him out, and after church it was time to head home for Christmas Eve present opening and our traditional German dinner.

As you can see here, Danny and mama had lots of fun with all his amazing presents including his rocking duck. Yes, you read that right. A rocking duck. He LOVES it! All the presents were very exciting! In fact when Susanne nursed him before putting him to sleep, she said that he drowsily looked up at her and laughed. When she came downstairs she asked me and her mom to listen up the stairs, and sure enough, he was in his crib laughing. What a beautiful sound!

Hope everyone had as merry a time as our little boy did. And thanks for all the gifts family and friends. They are all perfect! Merry Christmas! -Monica (and Susanne and Danny)

Merry First Christmas Dreamy Boy! Love, your Moms

What is the Secret Sound?

True story. Yesterday Susanne was out Christmas shopping with almost 7 months old Danny at Michaels, and he was in an extremely happy mood. Apparently he was “vocalizing” quite loudly—an amazing assortment of enthusiastic yips, yaps, grunts and “EHHHHS”!

A woman shopping smiled at Susanne and said “I’ve never heard a baby make sounds like that!”

She continued… “and I’m a pediatrician.”

Gulp. Our boy makes unique sounds. Hey. Maybe we could put him on one of those radio shows where they have the “secret sounds”. I can only imagine what listeners might come up with.

1. Baby sea lion discovering food for first time.
2. George of the Jungle playing with Curious George.
3. Old LP 33 record of Wolfman Jack being played backwards (while skipping).

Aw... It's not that loud nor grunty. Did I mention that we find his happy noises ADORABLE! Merry Christmas everyone! Love, Monica and Susanne and Danny

Go mbeannai Dia duit

The Cliffs or Moher

St. Stephen's Green in Dublin

A coffee shop in Cashel

Today I decided to share a few lovely pictures that my sweetie Susanne took on our 2004 trip to Ireland.

Do you think a new camera will help her be a better photographer? Is that really possible? We'll have to see about that. Mmmmm...coffee. Gotta run. -Monica

P.S. Go mbeannai Dia duit means May God Bless You.

So proud of Susanne

So a week or so ago Su was watching local TV news and saw this very short story that said that the DC Birth Center (part of the The Developing Families Center) was in danger of closing unless emergency funding legislation was passed by the DC City Council early the next week to help with their incredibly high malpractice insurance bill. For those who don’t know, the only other two nearby area birth centers closed this spring because of the exact same issue.

We are big proponents of natural birth and believe all women who don’t want to have a hospital setting and prefer natural birth with midwives either at home or in a birth center should have that option. And just as importantly, the DC Birth Center is the major health facility for many, many low income women in DC. The midwives can either “catch babies” at the center in a birthing room or at Washington Hospital Center where they have privileges, so the flexibility of choice is another great feature of this place. (Most midwives think that it’s the moms who actually deliver the babies—sounds about right to me.)

The midwives at the DC Birth Center are awesome and they accept all patients regardless of ones ability to pay. The fine care afforded to women there improves birth outcomes and saves the government a lot of money by simply being proactive and preventative. The thing I like most about this place is the community based experience we had. All pregnant women are grouped with other women due around the same time, so from early on in a pregnancy, everyone comes together monthly to learn from the midwives and each other, before branching off to their individual appointments. It is a very cool model.

Anyway, Susanne saw this little news piece, immediately contacted the director of the clinic and offered to help in any way possible. I guess her social worker/advocacy/moral outrage sensors kicked in.

The director wrote back that she really needed help getting a message crafted and out to get people to write to their DC Council members and time was of the essence. The emergency legislation (co-sponsored by our local council member since the center is in our ward) was asking for $300,000 as a stop gap to solve the short term problem. Without this influx of money the Center would in all likelihood have to close immediately. This shortfall is not for lack of planning. It’s due directly to skyrocketing malpractice insurance costs that seem to be out of control. As I understand it there may be a way for several medical clinics to collectively address this for future, but this emergency legislation was being proposed because this had become a true emergency—threatening the existence of the Center.

Dang if Susanne didn’t write this awesome template for people to use to contact their council member. She ran it by the Director and then she got it out via e-mail to tons of people we know and asked them to forward it. She got it out on a bunch of list serves. It started spreading like crazy as apparently it struck a chord for many. In addition past and current patients at the center were asked to sign the letters for delivery to their Council members.

Apparently a lot of people followed up and sent letters (we were cc'd on several and it was really touching to see what people wrote when they learned that the center was in danger of closing.) I’m very happy to report that the director called our house last night to let Su know that the legislation PASSED. And several council members wrote her this morning thanking her for her letter to them and letting her know that it passed.

That was cool. Anyway, I guess I’m just trying to say I’m really proud of Susanne. She’s always makes everything better. Not just for me and Danny. For everyone.

This picture was taken about an hour after Danny was born.
We'll always be grateful for our midwife Lisa from the DC Birth Center who was with us every step of the way.

Play Dates!

This week Danny had many friends over. On Sunday Bailey came with her moms, and the kids had great fun playing. Danny loves to watch what Bailey can do so he can try and imitate her later.

Then on Monday Su hosted a play date for a few friends who are all new moms and little Danny, Genevieve, Rowan, Tobias and Oscar got to play while their moms Janna, Vicky, Lara and Jenni got to know each other.

It was great fun but I've decided to post this special picture of Oscar and his mom Jenni taken at yesterday's play date because I think he looks a bit self-satisfied. You see his mom had just blogged about all the troubles he's been giving his parents with the whole sleeping thing lately, and that very night (last night as a matter of fact) Danny had the most sleepless night of his young life. So Oscar? What did you two talk about in that baby talk of yours? Inquiring minds want to know. ;-)

When Su heads back to work next month Jenni (and Oscar ;-) will take care of Danny (which we are thrilled about) and I'm curious to see what these two boys will come up with to torment us all. Aw, heck. When they are this cute it's hard to call it "torment" right? Except maybe at 2 am, 3 am, 4am...you get the picture.

Have a great day everybody! -Monica

My Left Shoulder

You probably remember the movie My Left Foot, that famous film from Ireland. Well, stand back! I can top that left foot! You see, it’s all about My Left Shoulder.

Our 6 month old son, being a breast fed boy, has a very natural affinity for being held by his other mother Susanne (especially when there is a “snack” involved) but at just about any other time, if he’s whiney, fidgety, cranky, crabby or just in a mood to “winge” (you of Irish descent out there know what I’m talking about) he gets hoisted up over My Left Shoulder and all is right with the world. (Pay no attention to the photo in my previous blog post where he is sitting on my right shoulder. That was only to get the star up!)

Anyway, as I recall, this began on the day he was born and has never changed. He kind of sinks into my body and not unlike a king, surveys all his dominion from there his lofty perch.

It’s really pretty amazing. Susanne’s shoulders don't work—NO ONE ELSE’S do. And even my right shoulder cannot do the trick. (Left leaning boy eh?) Anyway, he stops all his complaining and either becomes contemplatively quiet or actually begins to laugh as soon as I hoist him on up!

Is it because My Left Shoulder is closest to my heart which is pretty much perpetually bursting with love for him? What else could it be? Yes, I guess that’s it.

All I know is that I love that I can comfort him in a way no one else can. But...as he gets bigger though, I’ve got to find a way to teach him to come to appreciate sitting on My Left Knee. Have a great day everybody! -Monica

Just a little bit higher and to the right buddy!

Register, Vote, Repeat

In 1998 Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a former professional wrestler, became the 38th governor of Minnesota much to the shock of many Minnesotans. After being elected he announced that he was now Jesse “The Mind” Ventura (by the way I grew up in the Twin Cities so even though I live in DC, believe me I heard a lot about this election from family and friends.)

How did he do it? He fired up a large block of voters who historically didn’t get involved. Young voters (the biggest demographic was young men in their 20s) not only registered to vote to support him, but actually went to the polls. He was totally appealing as an All Star Wrestler!

The sheer number of their votes made the difference and he was elected even though many "regular" voters scoffed at the very notion that this independent had a chance to win. They were wrong. Governor Ventura served a full term but did not run for a second term, as his original high popularity plummeted after a few quirky things he said and did, but he was indeed elected by the people.

Why do I bring this up? OprahWinfrey! She is an amazing motivator and I’m guessing that large blocks of voters from virtually all demographic groups will be inspired to follow her lead in supporting Barack Obama for President.

I mean, look at her book club? This woman has inspired millions to read dozens of books including Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina! Think about it. This tome was written in the 1800s. And in Russian. Wow. She has single handedly turned people, who refused to read much of anything in school, on fire for Tolstoy. That’s pretty amazing. I can’t think of a single other famous person who can energize people like she can.

This is going to be a very interesting primary don’t you think?

Hallo Patrick und Onkel Norbert!

During our October trip to Germany Danny's cousin Patrick took a few shots of our boy. Danke für die Bilder von Danny, Patrick! Tschüß! ;-)

-Monica and Susanne

And the runner is...safe!

Here's Danny a few weeks ago practicing his baseball fundamentals.

(And he thought he was just having fun on his swing! ;-)

And now, a public service annoucement...

This is our son.

This is our son on bananas.

Any questions?

Lessons Learned

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it does it make a sound?

Some might say that this is a “philosophical riddle that raises questions regarding observation and knowledge of reality.”

Well, I’m here to tell you the answer is YES!

You see, using my deductive capabilities and cunning ability to analogize (is that even a word?) I can tell you without a doubt that I know that the answer is YES because this statement is also true:

If a baby cries in his crib and no one is there to hear him does he make a sound?

Sigh…can you ever forgive us Danny?

Let me start from the beginning. You see, two nights ago Danny slept like a champ---9.5 hours before waking to nurse and then another few hours after that. It was like heaven. It was just last week that we started putting him to bed in his crib which is about 5 steps down the hall from our bedroom and he’s been able to sleep longer and longer every night. (His yummy dinner and full tummy also help I’m sure.)

So, we put him to bed upstairs around 7:00, put on the monitor in his room and down the basement where we ususally hang out at night, and when we go to bed later we turn off all the monitors because, again, we are very near to him when we are all upstairs. Anyway, we leave our door open and his room doesn’t yet have door so we hear him at night, but not his every sound.

Well last night when I went to bed I was telling Susanne about how a door that keeps our cats secluded in the basement at night wasn’t closing properly. I guess I closed our door to see for myself as I explained how it should work. We then both proceeded to sort of forgot about the door and went to sleep. At 5 am Susanne jumped out of bed because she could hear Danny crying. Again, he’s very close so if he’d been really screaming we think we would have heard him, but I guess we’ll never really know whether he slept pretty peacefully for 10 straight hours like he’d done recently, or whether he'd been pathetically crying hoping we’d come comfort him. Can you imagine how terrible we felt?

Thank goodness, he seemed quite fine this morning. He was his ususal smiley self after he nursed for a good long time. Then we all slept a few more hours. I’m trying not to beat myself up over this because we’ll just never know if he truly was distressed. So I've been working on managing my anxiety the best I can this morning.

But then Susanne gave me a call at work a few minutes ago and asked me if there was any chance I’d changed the channel on the monitor in his bedroom. I didn’t even know that there were different channels! (Apparently there are two in case a nearby neighbor has monitors on the same frequency so you can avoid overlap.)

Anyway, she'd just noticed the channel problem because she thought there was so much extra static in the basement as he napped upstairs. (Or so she thought.) When she got it to the proper frequency she could hear him muttering away. Not in distress. Just babbling. Geez! I probably messed it up last night when I was groping in the dark to get it turned on right.

Crap. Alright. So, I guess we call these lessons learned. Danny, we’re sorry and I promise to do better. I can’t do much worse right? Love you baby. -Mommy Monica

A touch of spring

Since it's icy and cold here in DC I thought I'd warm things up by pulling out a few of my favorite foliage pics that my talented wife has taken over the past few years. The Gingko was taken in Germany, the Wisteria in South Carolina and the Orchid???? Honey??? My brain is full. Can't remember. Oh well, enjoy everybody! -Monica

Ode to the serial Forwarders...

When I first started started using e-mail (I'd been working overseas for a long time and didn't really get a "desk job" until the 1990s,) there was a guy in my agency named Cliff who seemed to take it upon himself to forward every "funny" and joke that came along. Some were really funny, some were quite "deleteable", but I never minded getting them. I decided that maybe every one had a Cliff. Do you think that's true?

We'll I lost touch with Cliff after switching jobs, but never fear--my new "Cliff" became Dennis and Ruth. We met many years ago when were Peace Corps volunteers in the same little town in Guatemala. This married couple was a lot older than me--I was in my 20s and they'd already raised a family and retired. Fast forward 20 more years to today and Dennis and Ruth (now REALLY retired) forward me and Susanne messages all the time. (I don't know where they get this stuff. Maybe they have serial forwarders in their lives too?)

Anyway truth be told some of Dennis's messages tick me off because we have very different views on politics. Don't get me wrong. I love the cantankerous Billy Goat Gruff that is Dennis (and he's quite proud of his reputation). But it's his wife Ruth's e-mails that make me smile.

For example, in the past few weeks we've gotten:

Fw: VIDEO: THIS Ballet IS A MUST SEE!!!!!!!!!
Fw: Twisted Halloween Pumpkins..
Fw: 10 Fun Pictures
Fw: Hummingbirds ---
Fw: Thoughts
Fw: Beautiful Song and Photos

Sweet right? I don't always look at them right away, and some I think are sort of silly, but some are really cool (and yes, I do look at what Dennis sends too.) My point though is that when Dennis and Ruth send us e-mails they are just trying to stay connected. And I appreciate their intention. I guess I'm saying I hope everyone has a Cliff or a Dennis or a Ruth. -Monica

What You Talking 'Bout Mom?

"And then there is this stuff called giblets that you have to dig out first..."

Mmmm...Turkey

We never did post any pics from Thanksgiving so here is a classic moment from Danny's first Turkey Day. I think we may now be raising an accidental vegetarian. (Not that there's anything wrong with that of course! ;-)

Anyway, we realized that we have suddenly gotten very behind in keeping up with Danny's monthly slide shows, so we now proudly present Danny's 5th month (with pictures of Germany) and Danny's 6th Month. The shows will also show up on the sidebar of our blog. Is it possible for this boy to get cuter? Are we biased? Have a great day everybody! -Monica (and Susanne)

In an Instant

This morning I was reading the paper while Danny played beside me on the floor with his favorite toys. He’d just woken up (very early as usual) and was filled with his usual energy and curiosity.

My eye spied a story that immediately made me sit up and take notice. Two 15 month old twin boys had drowned in a bathtub together about a month ago in a town not too far from us. The curious toddlers had gotten past a safety gate that wasn’t properly latched and got the water running in the tub. Apparently the family knew they’d figured out how to do this, and put towels or shirts over the water faucets to try and keep them from messing with the controls. Tragically it was the cloth that kept the water from draining properly and both boys were discovered unconscious by their sister. They died the same day at a nearby hospital.

I tell you my heart just broke reading that story. Tears streamed down my face and I picked up little Danny and held him close. Usually when he’s not very tired the last thing he wants to do is cuddle sweetly—he’d rather push away and keep exploring—craning his little neck around the room to see what’s happening.

But this morning Danny must have sensed something was wrong. He pulled back and looked at me. Then he touched my tearstained face and buried his head in my neck and stayed right there. I guess he knew something was wrong. As I held and rocked him, I promised him I’d do everything in my power always to keep him safe. And then I cried some more because I’m sure all parents vow this to their children.

The father of the twins ended the article by saying that "I wish there was something that I could say that was profound," he said, pausing to think. "I wish that this could, if nothing else, be a cautionary tale. I don't know if there is anything profound except to say it can happen. It can happen in an instant."

My heart and prayers go out to this family. And to all families who have suffered such unimaginable loss. –Monica