Wakey Wakey little sub-conscious...

So I'd say 99.9% of the time when I wake up in the night I look at the clock, breathe a sigh of relief that Danny is sleeping soundly and THEN hear Danny start squawking.

He doesn't wake up often any more but it seems a bit uncanny to me that I always wake up an instant before he starts to cry. Or has he already made a "wakey wakey" sound that registered in my brain on some level I didn't quite comprehend?

The chicken or the egg indeed. ( I always pick the chicken by the way. And I'm always won over by my opponent's argument that it has to be the egg.) Until I have the conversation later of course ;-)

Have a great day everyone. And sleep well would ya? (That means you too Bubby.) -Monica

The DO grow up so fast...

It has been so much fun to document this first year of our little Danny's life. I'm pretty sure that we'll start doing the slide shows much less frequently after he turns one (otherwise the side bar of our blog would stretch on for miles). I just hope that if and when we are blessed with a second child we'll do the same for him or her.

You know, it seems pretty unfathomable that a year ago this month Danny came into the world. Our baby will be a toddler soon. He's already cruising, pulling up on everything, crawling quickly and easily and can walk along with a little push toy. I predict he'll be walking by the end of the month. Guess you'll just have to wait til his season finale12 month slide show to see huh? Anyway, without further ado, here is Danny's 11th month slide show. Enjoy! -Monica

Risky Business

In project management, one is always looking at threats and opportunities. To do so you basically think of all the things that could possibly happen to affect your project and then try and figure out what the probability is that this thing could happen. Then you ask yourself, if it did happen what would be the impact? If you're looking at risks, you then need to decide whether to mitigate, transfer, avoid or accept the risk.

Sounds pretty dry huh? But it's not. Once you identify things that have a very high probability of happening that would have a high impact on your project, now you know where to start to focus. Like in the matrix above, anything in box 4 would be important because the chances were so high it might happen and the results so devastating that you'd want to begin focusing on those things right away.

So, the reason for this little primer? Yesterday Jenni brought little Oscar over to our house so she could watch both boys while I teleworked. (Su and I recently decided that Danny was getting too active to really watch and telework together so he is now officially in Jenni's hands on Wednesday too.) Anyway, we were enjoying a nice morning, me typing away on my laptop in the dining room, while Jenni, from the couch in the living room fed Danny his morning bottle. Oscar happily played at his mom's feet.

Suddenly our baby cat CJ who often wanders up on the front window ledge to watch the birds etc...got all excited by a fly or something on the glass. She jumped up and started to squeeze herself between the glass and a huge plant that we've had at that spot for over 5 years now. It was a "mother-in-law's toungue" plant. Jenni and I looked on in stunned silence as CJ clawed and pushed at the window. The plant started to rock, and as if in slow motion but really in an instant it plummeted to the ground onto the play area below. It broke into several pieces and I have to tell you it was heart-stopping.

The plant, pot and soil probably weighed 30 lbs or more and would have seriouly injured anyone hit by them. Oscar was pretty non-plussed but Danny, who'd been drifting off, was really scared by it. Of course it didn't help that Jenni and I were both understandably shaken by it.

I've tried not to, but I've played the scene over and over again in my mind. I've been so unbelievably grateful to God that neither sweet little Oscar nor Danny was there in that moment. Unbelievably grateful. And I can't help but believe that this is a cautionary tale in this for us all. We often think that as long as our kids can't reach or move something stable, that they're safe. I'd never thought of a cat or other animal doing the knocking down for them.

I know I can't freak out and see danger everywhere. But I also know that I will do any and everything in my power to keep Danny safe. Danny and any child who comes to our house.

So...on my matrix above, the probability of that plant falling was so low it was off my radar screen. Five straight years with no incident. But the impact if it were to fall is/was tremendously high. Box number 3 I'm looking at you. As maybe we all should.

Danny, you are the most important "project" that your mama and I will ever manage. We're learning and growing too and we love you more than you will ever know.

Signed, a very, very grateful mom. -Monica

P.S. This picture of Danny playing with our neighbors last week gives a good view of the plant that fell.

Deep thought for the day

Our little Danny bears a resemblence to Susanne’s mom especially across his eyes. (Let's just say that some times he gives me these looks that REALLY remind me of how my mother-in-law looks at me ;-) It's all good by the way.

But anyway, since we have a toddler age photo of Danny’s biological male donor in our possession, we can see some similarities between the two of them in terms of coloring etc…but clearly Danny definitely has a good bit of Su’s look in him and, again, Su’s mom’s eyes.

Which leads me to my deep thought. If through the generations, babies are born with such strong similarities to biological family members, does that mean that 50, 100, 500 years or more ago, there were people walking the face of this earth who looked pretty much just like we do now? (Or I guess I should say that we look just like them now?)

Their lives would have been so incredibly different, but their faces must have been so, so similar to what we see when we spot our own reflections in the mirror. That’s kind of cool.

Once while visiting Ireland I saw a man on a street in Dublin who made me stop in my tracks. He was the SPITTING IMAGE of my brother Paul. Same, build, same gait, same mannerisms, same hair, everything. It was only when I got closer to him and heard him speak that I could shake the feeling that Paul had not somehow come to surprise me (that was actually not even close to possible, but I still was in a complete state of incredulousness I couldn't rule it out.) So, since my biological family's lineage is from Ireland perhaps this guy was a long lost relative? Who knows?

I guess I just wonder if one day long ago in Germany or Estonia, where Su’s family is from, a little boy who was Danny’s spitting image sat by a fire and clapped his hands the same way Danny Boy does now, and melted everyone’s hearts with his antics.

And will one day, generations from now, some other lucky parents get to raise a child who will carry on the magic that is Danny? Deep, deep thought.

P.S. This is just a random photo from internet of relatives showing off a family resemblance.
P.P.S. Where in the heck do you think that the phrase "spitting image" came from?

Danny is 11 months old -- any words of wisdom for us son?

Note to self: It's not an inhaler

As Susanne once aptly put it, our roles in terms of caring for Danny can be boiled down to this basic generalization; she's in charge of what goes into him, and I'm in charge of what comes out. This means she plans for, does most of the shopping for and cooks almost everything he eats. All I have to do is monitor the diaper situation and keep him high and dry. Sounds like I got the easy part right?

Well that would be true, if only I didn't keep forgetting that now that he's almost completely weaned and eating regular food, he doesn't really smell like a rose anymore (if you get what I'm saying.)

But for some reason whenever I think it's time to take a whiff to ascertain whether he needs a new diaper, I always hold him up and inhale way too deeply. "Ah yes--his bum is not an inhaler. (And truth be told, I could probably tell by just holding him up an arms length from my face.)

As you'll probably agree, there is no compelling need to add a photo to this particular post ;-)

Have a great day everybody! -M

Do foul balls hurt moms? I think I see one coming now...

Hello dear readers. I just realized that I conveniently forgot to mention that Danny's winning streak with the Washington Nationals came to a sad end a week or two ago when we went to our first game in the new stadium. The Nats were trounced 10-1 on a cold and dismal afternoon but Danny had a great time.

Except when the crowd roared.

Which happened every time a big play happened.

The National's one run would have been manageable, but all those Atlanta home runs etc... made the crowd go wild. Which made Danny screw up his little face and cry. Fortunately we were very close to a concourse and could step into a quiet space with him pretty easily. I try to think back to when I was a kid if the change from quiet to sudden applause or loud sounds would scare me. I guess I can't really remember. He'll get used to this as time goes by. What if we all burst out crying whenever a crowd applauded? That would be something to see huh?

We have another game on Friday night and can't wait. It's too bad that the start times for the evening games are so late though. 7:30 is not that far away from his usual bedtime so we're guessing that we won't make it to the end or we'll find a relatively quiet place where he'll sleep on one of us. The commute is great though. One block from the stadium we catch a train that brings us right near our house without having to change again. Very cool.

Doesn't he look so grow up? And keeping an eye out for us too. You're still our charm little man! -Monica

Endearing

Greetings all. I was just thinking this morning about the word "endearing". Why you may ask? Well, because of course my little lamb went and endeared himself to me--again.

We were just rocking in the chair near his crib having his first snack of the day when he very sleepily began to hold the bottle (which he loves to do). But then he changed his mind and instead held my finger tightly but gently, the whole time. He only does this when he's really sleepy and every time it makes me melt. It feels like he's saying "don't even think about going anywhere--you're with me!"

An endearing dear indeed! Love you baby! -Mommy Monica

BFF Ginni (Best Folder Forever)

I like to believe I’m an organized and efficient person who, at all times, can lay my hands on important documents, e-mails and project plans. I’ve even got a credential that says that I’m a Project Management Professional, which again, should mean that I’m VERY organized. So…it’s with a bit of embarrassment that I would like to introduce you to an e-mail folder named Ginni.

You see I had a very nice boss a few years ago (yes, Ginni) who has since retired. Back in the day, Ginni cc’d me on so much stuff that I decided to just name one folder Ginni and dump all those e-mails in there.

You’d think that with her long ago retirement that the Ginni folder would be retired too, but no. That folder—the “Ginni” Folder—has stayed, and in fact, in an odd way, has become one of my closest friends. Whenever I’m uncertain as to what to do when purging my inbox I find that I automatically move things into the “Ginni” Folder. I’m pretty sure that this is NOT a best practice.

Ironically I still get e-mails from Ginni once in a while. And where do you think I file them? That’s right. In my “Personal” Folder. That is irony right? -Monica

Soggy yet fun weekend!

Wow, did we get some rain this weekend here in DC. In fact, it's still sort of coming down for the third straight day. It's always nice to get rain, but maybe in smaller doses?

This weekend Danny had a wonderful time at little Bailey's first birthday party! He got a little scared of the roar of tons of singing and clapping friends and relatives singing happy birthday (especially Karen's cool version) but Bailey loved it. She dug into her cake and although I don't have pictures to post yet, she sort of waved her cake blanketed hand at the crowd with a look that said "talk to the hand people!" It was all very fun and M&K you threw a great party--your Bailey is a riot.

Then on Sunday we had a fun lunch at Panera's with a woman who we've gotten to know via the blogosphere. We knew Renee lived somewhere in the DC area so we had written back and forth a few times and decided to grab lunch somewhere in between our two cities. It was really interesting to meet someone who in many respects is a stranger but through blogging we seemed to already know so much about each other's lives. Danny really enjoyed meeting Renee as she was happy to share her bread which really made him smile (all six teeth worth). It turns out that Su and Renee both knew some people in common because when Su did her social work practicu a few years ago, it was at a place that Renee is now connected to. Small world huh?

Oh, and I've decided I have to get back on weight watchers because Renee inspired me! I'd lost 18 pounds about a year ago (and unfortunatlely found it again) but Renee had far more success and shared a "before" picture that was amazing. So Renee, thanks for inspring me. And all three of us hope that the weeks and months to come for you will be postive and wonderful. We look forward to seeing you again too.

Alrighty then. I guess I'd best get back to that thing they pay me for. Right. My job. Have a great day everybody! -Monica

Ravenous!

As you can see, Danny simply consumes books. Some might say he's got a ravenous appetite for the written word. Here he enjoys a children's book written in German which translates to "Hello Dear Polar bear!"

I wonder if when he stops teething he'll be into reading them instead of just eating them? We can always hope!

Have a great weekend everybody! -Monica

A blink of an eye...

Greetings all. I just returned from a short business trip that ran from Sunday until Wednesday, and I have to tell you--my little baby just morphed from a "curious, tentative little scoocher" into a "full steam ahead crawling MACHINE". He's got the cutest little "crab" shuffle (I promise I'll post pictures soon) and he literally zooms from room to room with no fear whatsover. (Thank you Susanne for being in charge of everything for so long. I promise I'll make it up to you!)

Anyway, yesterday he discovered the wire to a speaker that ran under our living room radiator. It no longer does (we made that change happen, not him.) He later found a power cord in the dining room wall which he decided was quite useful to start pulling himself up. We also put a stop to that fun.

Ah yes...cat food. Maybe we should invent kibbles for babies? I don't believe he's actually gotten a taste of that yummy IAMS yet, but he's working on it. Sheessshhh. I was gone three day. Just three days.

There are other changes too. Not one, not two, not three, but four little white teeth popping out of his upper gums. And when you hold him in your arms to give him a bottle instead of snuggling in, he will lull you into a relaxed state and then without a moments notice decide it's time to show off his abs of steel. He executes a perfect 90 degree sit up that you never saw coming. This does not lend itself to settling down for nap nap nor night night time.

So...it may sound like I find all of this distressing? Well, I will admit on some level I'm anxious that he will get hurt. That no matter how well we childproof and do all the right things he'll get hurt. And I remind myself that we all fall down when we are learning.

Then I think about how much more careful we must be from now on. No more rubber bands from the newpapers or twisty ties that the cats love to play with laying around. Then I remind myself that we can do this. We must do this.

We're teaching him as best you can teach a 10 month old. And we're making the safest environment we can. Another thing of course we want to do is keep him safe from the sun. So while on travel I picked up a little boys sun hat for him. We put it on him this morning and I kept thinking he reminded me of someone. Hmmmmm...who....????


Oh God. He looked a little bit like Blossom. Ummm...nothing against Blossom, but I think we'll stick with baseball caps for Danny from now on ;-) Have a great day everybody. Can't wait to go home and play defense! -Monica

Careful is as careful does...

Has this ever happened to you? The baby has finally gone to sleep and for some crazy reason you decide that you simply must tidy up his little play area before turning in.

And no matter how careful you try to be, it is inevitable that you will accidentally nudge a toy. One of THOSE toys. The ones that sing or dance or spout annoying sounds.

So you don't mean to, but you end up dramatically throwing your body over the evildoer like it's a live grenade or something. And this of course makes ALL of the toys activate simultaneously.

Danny loves that!!!! :-(

-Monica

A shout out to Erin's Mom (hi Joan!)

My dear friend Erin was in town this week with her beautiful 18 month old daughter, and as soon as I download some photos I'll show our clever tykes getting along oh so well in "Dannyland" (that's what we call the area of our living room that has the alphabet mat.)

Anyway, Joan, I know you've always loved keeping up with the exploits of little Danny via our blog but I understand that things are getting a little tougher for you now as your illness seems to be progressing. So, three things.

1. We are so glad to hear that you and Erin's dad have moved back to the area and are closer to family.

2. You have the most wonderful children and grandchildren, and if they'd a had blogs back when you were raising those kids I would have stolen every nugget of wisdom you'd have written. Great job!

3. Danny would love to come visit you when you are feeling better and it looks like Erin will help coordinate that at some point. We find he's very theraputic for all that ails ya. (Isn't that true for all little kids?)

Alrighty then. Here's a picture of him from a few weeks ago keeping an eye on me, just like I know everyone in your family is keeping an eye on you. Just to clarify, we werent driving, just waiting in the car for a while. Have a wonderful and blessed weekend okay? Hope to see you soon. -Monica (and Susanne and Danny)

Self-fulfilling prophesy?

Hello there friends and family. I just got to thinking today about how there are some blogs in the blogosphere that have the most depressing names. I can't even write any of them here because I wouldn't want to offend anyone, but maybe someone out there knows what I'm talking about?

It makes me think about the concepts of feng shui--you know, trying to bring good energy, or at the very least, unblocking the paths for existing positive energy to flow.

I of course realize that my interpretation of what constitutes a negative name is all relative. I read a bunch of books on feng shui once and was intrigued about the idea that you can sort of "will" what you are looking for into your life. Often the person writing the book would diagnose someone's living space and see pictures of desolte, lonely people on the walls when they wanted so much to meet that special someone. You know, stuff like that.

So anyway, that's just my thought for the day. Until next time. -Monica

Happy Birthday Mom!

Odd as it may seem, even though I just blogged yesterday about it being my dad's birthday, today is actually my mom's special day. Fortunately she is alive and well and living in MN, so I don't have any eulogy to share. Whew. But maybe we should hear more praise when we are alive. So, okay mom, here are a few words I'm going to throw out there to describe you. Loving, beautiful, funny, clever, open-minded and...what's that word?...wonderful. But I am biased as you know. Mom, I hope you have a lovely, fabulous birthday today. We love you.

But speaking of moms and dads, I must share that our 10 month old son, the child of two lesbian women, has decided that his first and loudest sounds will be a repetition of "DA DA DA DA DA DA!" I was telling Susanne that it almost makes me wish I were his dad. He'd so clearly be calling for me all the time!

We keep trying to get him to say "MA MA MA MA MA MA" which we know he can do, but he prefers DADA.

It's okay. He seems to know that Susanne is mama--at least he looks at her when we ask (in English or German) "where's mama?". I'm mommy, but mostly Su and I just call each other "mom" around him. This works fine until people sometimes hear Su say something like "mom, can you get me a diaper" or something like that and people assume that I'm Su's mom. Yes, I'm older. Yes, I have more gray hair. And yes, it doesn't dawn on everybody that we are a couple so they are just trying to make sense of what they are observing. (Two women who clearly adore this cutie pie shopping, traveling, whatever with him.)

But I'm not bitter about this. Well, I might be a little bitter because I don't assume I'll look younger over time. Okay, I'm over it. Not bitter anymore. Well maybe a teeny bit bitter...

Alrighty then. Back to the daily grind. Why does saying that always make me want to go get a cup of coffee???? Not too bitter of course ;-) -Monica

For Dad

Today is April 8, 2008. This would have been my dad’s 78th birthday, but in 2002 he passed away from cancer after surviving for about 7 years after his initial diagnosis. Oh how we still miss him. (And I'll always regret that he died before I even knew Susanne so they never got to meet.)

He was goofy and silly and loving and smart. I thought that today in honor of dad I’d include a part of the eulogy I shared at his burial mass…
_________________________________

Good morning everyone. On behalf of my mom, brothers, sisters, nieces and grand nieces I’d like to thank you all very much for coming here today to honor our dad’s life….

…I want to share with you a few things that dad literally carried with him most of the days of his life, because if you want to know what someone really values or treasures, you don’t really need to look much farther than that.

Like most of us, dad carried his keys. For him they symbolized something wonderful. Home. He loved the fact that he owned a place where he could raise seven kids and he also really loved to just putter about from room to room, to the porch, the basement—wherever. He definitely treasured his home and his ability to provide for us. He took special care in these last few years to make sure that mom would be financially OK. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

When we looked in dad’s wallet last week we saw that he carried with him two pictures. They were of the littlest among us—his 4 ½ year old granddaughter Janna and his almost two year old great-granddaughter Cassie. Dad, (and mom I might add) loved babies. I suspect that over the years pictures of all of us lived in that wallet, because dad treasured all of us--his children, grandchildren and his lovely “great”. It was always so comforting to know this.

Dad’s wallet contained a library card. As a kid in Boston he was allowed to check out 4 books at a time and all of his life he held on to that behavior. He really taught us all a life-long love of reading I remember thinking once when I went to the library with him that he must have already read everything there at least once. That was Poppi. Sitting at the dining room table, drinking his omnipresent cup of coffee and going “ah huh” to any and all questions including “hey dad, can I have a million dollars?”

The last item I’ll mention the wedding ring that mom put on his finger back on September 15, 1956. It was a simple gold band—simple like dad, and he was rightly proud of the fact that he never took it off. Simply put, Poppi always felt like he was the luckiest man in the world because as dad would say “the beautiful Mary Ellen” married him. If you know our mom, you’ll understand why he thought that…

…I’ll end by saying that I recently figured out that dad’s greatest gift was the ability to interact with all of us in a completely different way, and so for each of us he loved us equally but specially. Not everyone has this gift. During his last week of life he found a special way to say goodbye to each of us…

I won’t share the rest of the eulogy in this blog post, but I guess I just felt compelled to honor my dad today. God bless you Poppi. We still miss you. Love, Monica

Hmmmm....???

I know I put that boy down somewhere? Hmmmm...there's the cat...oh, hello Danny Boy!

Note to self: (Maybe we need to dress him in solids more often? Or maybe I need to go see the eye doctor ;-) -Monica

Key word fun

Happy Friday everyone. As you may have noticed, there is a little icon on the lower right side of our blog page called a "Stat Counter" . It's a free add on that Susanne put on our site when we first started it, and it's pretty fun to check out once in a while. We can see all kinds of stuff--how many people visited our blog, info on where they came from, IP addresses, etc...

It's often fun to guess stuff like "look, Vermont! Must be Raquel." Or, "look honey, a visitor from Australia. Do you think it's Kitze and Priya? Or maybe Lisa E?" You know stuff like that.

But another thing you can check out is the "key words" that people put in to a search engine that land them on your blog page.

Just for fun I took a peek at that statistic today and was interested to learn that yesterday two strangers, one from the Ukraine and one from Fort Meyers, Florida landed on our site because they put in respectively the following key words - "sclera therapy" and "spiderlike veins."

You see back on July 25th I'd written this post on going to see my dermatologist about some spider veins. How could I have ever known that the post would lead so many to our site? Why do I find this all mildly depressing?

I'll have to insert some more interesting words in to future posts. Can't think of any just yet.

But speaking of words, I once heard Alan Alda being interviewed on the radio and he told a story about when he was Hawkey Peirce on MASH on the '70s the writers tried to insert the word "virgin" into a script and the censors made them take it out. He thought it was rediculous as did the script writers. So on the very next show they sneaked this line in for him...

"We've got a young seargent here whose got some injuries. Says on his paperwork he's from the Virgin Islands."

Ha ha. You gotta agree that's pretty funny right? Have a good weekend everybody. -Monica

P.S. If you hover over the number on our stat counter and click it takes you to the stat counter site where you can figure out how to add one to your own blog if you want. It's fun!

In my mind’s eye

This morning at about 8:15 a woman walking across a busy street in DC was struck by a Metro bus. I can only imagine that she was just hurrying along to work—maybe worried that she was running late, and just pretty preoccupied. I guess I'll never know.

I was sitting on the bus that hit her. I had my head buried in a mindless novel, and I was running a little late for work myself is what I remember.

We’d just entered an intersection on busy K street—heading straight, and I remember feeling more than hearing some screeching, then a bump and the bus driver who was about 2 feet away from me screaming “oh my God!”

Having been a first aid trainer for many years, I turned to see what I could and was already dialing 911. A large crowd had gathered around the woman to help--she was conscious and crying. She insisted on crawling to the curb even though everyone tried to tell her to lie still, but she was pretty distressed and determined.

I told her my name, that I was trained in first aid and that help was on the way. This made her sob even more as she kept saying that she didn’t have the money to pay for an ambulance. We all tried to comfort her and tell her not to think a thing about that.

I asked her if there was anyone she wanted me to call and she gave me the number of her employer. I called and explained what was happening and they were of course very concerned. That seemed to make the poor woman feel somewhat better but the longer we sat, clearly everything was hurting her more especially her shoulder and side. As we waited, someone asked if there was anyone else we should call and she just so sadly said “I don’t have anybody”. Several of us assured her that we'd wait with her and that she was not alone.

The ambulance arrived about 5 minutes later and the crowd dispersed. As I walked the rest of the way to work, I called Susanne and, although I think I'd been pretty stoic up til then and didn't mean to, I just cried and cried while telling her all about it.

In retrospect I cried about a health care system where this poor woman who’d just been HIT BY A BUS, was more worried about how she’d pay for the bills when they came than about her injuries. I cried for the driver who was herself so shaken. I don’t know whose fault the accident was. I didn’t really see it. But regardless, hitting another human being has to be just awful.

I cried for the fact that she said “I don’t have anybody”. I know that I’m always so grateful for Susanne, but never more than when I remember all the years before we met that I would have probably said the same thing.

And I cried for her. Her pain. Her fear. What lies ahead. Because even though she was conscious, she was indeed injured.

The phrase “in my mind’s eye” means “one’s visual imagination or memory”. Those who know me well know that I was at the scene of a horrific bus accident in Honduras in 1989, where many people died or were critically injured that day, and me and my friends David S. and David D. did what we could to pull people out. There was no 911 on the way that day in that place. So what I witnessed today can't really compare. But it sure did open my mind’s eye. I pray that I can close it again. Soon.

And I hope that the young woman who was hit today and the bus driver come through this without too much damage. Please.

-Monica

Presenting Alice and Ralph Cramden

Okay, it's not really the cast of the Honeymooners, but it will be fun to see how these two adorable neighbors will get along, say, 15 years from now! -Monica

The charm continues...

On Saturday night the Nationals beat the Orioles in an exhibition game 3-0 and the very next day beat the Atlanta Braves at the big home opener 3-2 that was televised on national TV. That's pretty exciting stuff.

As you may recall, Danny is the Nationals lucky charm, and, it appears his powers are even greater than we thought. You see, he brought them luck while resting comfortably with our neighbors Melissa and Norman and their girls on Saturday night.

You see our poor boy started running a temp on Saturday morning (we have strong suspicions that teething is to blame.) Anyway, there was no way in heck we were going to bring him out to a night game with temps in the 40s. We were all set to not go to the game, or to figure out a way for one of us to stay home while the other invited a friend, but our lovely neighbors nixed that planning by graciously offering to keep Danny for a few hours. It was perfect. A great (if not freezing) win by the Nationals in their gorgeous new home, and then upon our return, a relaxing hour drinking wine and shooting the breeze with M&N while all the babies slept soundly upstairs.

Danny started to feel better Monday night and we are all excited for the weather to get warmer and for Danny to see the new stadium soon. Go Nats! -Monica

I fight technology - technology always wins

(Please hum the title above to the tune of "I fight authority, authority always wins" as you continue reading)

Password5 (must have between 6-8 characters--this has 9)

psword5 (must have a capital letter and symbol)

Password#5 (what part did you not understand about needing it to be between 6-8 characters?)

Asswo#5 (this might actually work.)

“We’re sorry. That password is taken. Please select another.”

How's this for a password?

Or better yet. About a month after you finally select and remember a password you get this message,

“Your password has expired. Please create new password.”

Ummm...

Uh oh Jenni!

Our fabulous friend Jenni watches Danny 3 days a week which is perfect because she's a wonderful mom and because Danny and her son Oscar have a great time together. They are about the same age and just recently Oscar started to crawl. Just last night I got to see him do this great "arm pulling belly slide".

Danny had remained pretty solidly planted on his butt...until today that is. Apparently his preferred style for going after things is to get up on all fours and push off with both knees, (a bit like a headfirst dive into home plate.)

So it looks like both boys are officially mobile. Jenni, life just got very interesting. Here's a slide show of Danny's 10th month. Or shall I call it "the good old days!" Have a great weekend everybody! -Monica

P.S. If you ever want to encourage a kid to move, put a cell phone or TV remote just our of his reach. What's wrong with me? ;-)

Ten months old already? Danny, you're our joy!

It's that most wonderful time of the year...

The first baby gift we ever got was from our friend Amy and her family. They gave us the softest, sweetest baby blanket with puppy dogs that, to this day, lives in Danny's crib. He loves it. But the best part was the card where little six year old Alice wrote something like "Baby, you're the Charm!"

Is that not so sweet? And she was oh so right. (It's uncanny how she knew our baby would be a charm when Su hadn't even reached her 8th week of pregnancy yet!)

Yes, Alice. Danny is a charm. And not just our charm--turns out he's a charm for the Washington Nationals too. Last year we took him to 6 games and they won all six. (This pic to the left was taken at the Nat's final game at RFK in September.)

So Saturday night, the Nationals will play the Baltimore Orioles in an exhibition game at our brand new Nationals Stadium. We'll be there with "the Charm" and can't wait. Maybe if they keep winning the Nationals will start paying us to go?

No pressure Danny. No pressure. Just keep being your charming self! -Monica

Five things I know...

5. Nine month old Danny is figuring me and Susanne out. I wonder if someday he’ll share with us what he knows?

4. When I hang up the phone I always say “See you soon.” Everybody else says “See you later”. It must be my audacity of hope.

3. That even though my wife and I have the same sized feet, we do not have the same shaped feet. This means that we can never wear each others Birkenstocks. Never. (I learned that the bloody hard way. Literally.)

2. When the financial markets are doing poorly, we’re simply “buying low”. The same $$ that comes out of our paychecks now buys more shares than before. And those additional shares will eventually be worth more—like for our retirement. Or so I assuage myself.

and...drumroll please...

1. That I really don’t want a blue bird of happiness to land on my shoulder. As romantic as that may sound, in reality, if any bird landed on my shoulder I’d probably die of a heart attack.

-Monica

Cheese Danny!

Do you know Wallace and Gromit? Well if you don't, I highly recommend watching a few episodes of those wacky characters. Being quite the cheese lover myself, I particularly admire their love of cheese! "Cheese Gromit!", silly Wallace always says to his silent but clever dog.

This weekend when we gave Danny a little appetizer of equal parts bread and cheese before he had his real supper, he carefully ate all the yogurt cheese cubes first before digging into his bread. "Cheese Danny!" and I thought "how wonderful!"

I must add that my happy feelings about W&G are related peripherally to my dad. He used to watch it with his then 2 year old granddaughter Janna when he was undergoing chemotherapy and his head looked amazingly like Wallace's bald head. Poppi and Janna thought it was hilarious. He'd be so proud of his cheese eating number one grandson! It's hard to believe it's been almost six years now since dad passed away. I'm glad that memories like this make me smile now rather than feel that sharp pain I felt for so long.

Dad, you'd really have loved this little guy. He's got a little fat head and is the happiest baby in the whole wide world. Yes, I know that sounds cheesy, but the rest of the family knows exactly what I mean ;-) - Love, Monica

In the eye of the beholder...

Thank you Susanne for always seeming to capture beauty wherever we go.

For me, there is nothing like a flower in bloom to remind me of the beauty of Easter. Have a wonderful weekend everyone. I hope it's glorious! -Monica

Rut Roh!

Stepping off the scale this morning, I had a revelation that in the almost 10 months since Danny’s birth, he and I have gained the same amount of weight—pretty much in tandem.


Hmmm…thinking thinking...

OH CRAP! –Monica

Rainy Days and Sundays...

On Sunday we had a great time hanging out with dear friends Tracy and Natalie who live in a beautiful place in Maryland. We had planned a picnic, but with all the rain we got the night before, we decided to stay in for our picnic--it was fabulous!

Funny thing is that I can remember a night several years ago before Susanne and I ever started going out, enjoying a fun evening hanging out with Tracy and Nat at Susanne's house because rain had canceled other plans. That night we roasted marshmallows over candles in the living room and had so much fun. Wow, it's pretty amazing to imagine how our lives have changed so much from that time. Amazing and wonderful.

Anyway, this time with 9 month old Danny we hung out in front of a real fire at Tracy and Nats. We later fashioned a "pack and play" or maybe I should call it a "fort" out of pillows so he could nap a bit, but instead of napping he kept rolling from side to side and laughing. Exploring, 10 points - Napping, 0 points!

Anyway, later did get a chance to go for a walk and swing at the playground. He thought they had an amazing pool outside the house, but we explained to him that it was actually the Chesapeake Bay. Thanks for such a fun and relaxing Sunday friends! -Monica and Su and Danny

We Can and We Will!

On Saturday morning we had to go to the DC Department of Motor Vehicles to get Su's driver's license renewed since they expire here every 5 years, so Danny and I hung out in the car to wait while she went inside.

Looking out the window toward nearby Anthony Bowen Elementary School, Danny internalized the school's awesome motto which is "We Can and We Will" (which is fabulously similar to a current presidential candidate's motto.) He also had a great time watching with delight as the window fogged up EVERY TIME he breathed! Isn't it a beautiful thing to watch babies learn?

I on the other hand simply learned that we really need to wash our car. Look at those windows will ya? -Monica

Whoa!

"The squirrels here at grandpa's house are way cooler than the ones at our house moms!"

Cat got your...?

So one night this week I was trying to tidy up the living room. While doing so, I noticed that our baby cat CJ had parked herself in our recycling basket. I then tried to coax her out so that I could dump in some new stuff, but she wouldn't budge.

Not wanting to lose face in this "war of wills" with baby cat, I began to gently deposit the papers anyway. So, I guess I "won". She stayed this way for another hour.


My questions are these. Is this normal? And, will I need to take a parenting class before engaging in any battle of wills with Danny? -Monica

Just a walk in the park...

Three generations smile for the camera on our trip to visit Danny's grandpa yesterday. "Say cheese!"

It's like watching "the reveal"!

This week I got an e-mail from my wonderful niece Missy who is excitedly expecting her first child. She and her husband David are thrilled, and in her e-mail she sent along a picture of the 12 week ultrasound picture of their little one. I found that I was really excited to study it and see if I could imagine what their little boy or girl will look like. (He or she undoubtedly will be beautiful with such gorgeous parents.)

Anyway, the whole thing got me thinking about our little guy. Could we have imagined what our little Danny could look like just from an ultrasound?

I don't think we scanned our 12 week one, but perhaps this one is more telling anyway. What do you think? Here he is at 7 months "en utero ", and again today at 9 months. I don't know about you all, but I'm totally seeing it!


Oh, and while I've got my squirmy worm on my lap right now, he'd like to say a few words...

jmnnyuyjhlkk n gn m87nh

Have a great weekend everybody! -Monica (and Su and Danny)

Arizona Dreaming...

A few years ago Su and I visited some of my Peace Corps buddies in Arizona. The first two pics were taken in Sedona. It was gorgeous of course. But one of our favorite pics was taken on an old country road between Meadview and Kingman. This tumbleweed was bigger than our rental car, so we stopped and snapped this shot out the window before it started moving again.

We're planning a trip back to see Dennis and Ruth this fall. You don't think we'll need to worry about a toddler exploring the wonderful world of the desert do you? ;-)

Cookie Scene Investigation

So even though today is my usual telework day, I had to go into the building for a few hours to host some high school students who came to my federal agency to learn more about careers in IT. We had fun, and when they finished up and got on their big yellow bus, I hop, skipped, and jumped down to the Metro to join Susanne at home. Since I'd left her with Danny alone all morning (when she had a ton to do for work) I thought I might be able to make amends by also stopping at Au Bon Pain to get her favorite macaroon cookies which are dipped in chocolate.

Later in the afternoon we ate them while while tapping away on our laptops and I have a VAGUE recollection of a little bit of my cookie falling off somewhere. Apparently the yummy and gooey crumbs fell landed on my shirt. How did we come to realize this? Well, apparently with my excellent parenting skills, I'd picked up, hugged and toted Danny around quite a few times between eating my macaroon and finding more macarron. In his mouth.

Yes, there was a transfer from my shirt to his little outfit. I may have even noticed this dark brown splotch, but figured it was a cute little puppy or something. But then Su spotted him eating his "puppy". In my defense, he seemed really happy.

He is also starting to move around all over the place. He pulled himself up from laying down to standing up in his crib, so now the matress has been placed way down to its very lowest level. And most frighteningly, he was on the wood floor in our office (which is pretty slippery and slick) and somehow slid himself half way across the room on his butt. He found a really fun thing to pull on which turned out to be the cord to our iron (which was unwisely placed on a high shelf with the cord hanging down.) I almost had a heart attack. This laptop is lucky to still be functioning. That's how quickly I tossed it aside and got to that iron. He hadn't pulled it yet, but was VERY close. No more time now to wait on any childproofing measures now.

Alrighty then. Time to start dinner. Maybe something coco nutty? -M

Tick Tock Tick Tock

I'm not watching the clock... Oh wait, now I am...

Snot gonna happen...

If only it were possible to temporarily remove Danny's nose from his face to give him saline drops or suction it out. Our poor boy has been super congested for about 3 days now. No fever, but lots of snot which we know has to keep moving. So we use the vaporizer, the Pedia Care plug ins etc...but sometimes you just have to reach for the saline spray and suction bulb

We've learned that Danny is very fast, very determined, and very much not in favor of us trying any of the things listed above.

He's like a awesome hockey goalie when it comes to blocking us. If we don't have his arms securely tucked under our armpits while bracing his beautiful little unhappy face, he's gotten both mitts up in time more than once. That while pinning him into a reverse quarter nelson. (Okay we don't really use wrestling holds on him.)

I've stayed home with him today and I think he seems to be breathing better. Let's hope so. One thing I'll say for Danny though, when he's sick, and you're not trying to shove strange things up his nose, he does tend to still be a smiley boy. Speaking of the smiley boy, I can hear him now just waking up from his nap so I guess I'll sign off.

Maybe we'll get him a Mr. Potato head for his birthday. He has a removable nose and seems quite happy with it! -Monica

Oh...Pruning!

Mommy and I are watching mama outside who is on a ladder doing something they call "pruning" to our tree. Hmmm...I guess that must be where they get all those prunes for me. "Okay mama, you've been outside long enough! Come back in now!" -Love, Danny

Good old fashioned fun!

In this corner, weighing in at 17 pounds 0 ounces, Danny the Danosaur....

And in the other corner, coming in at 19 pound 2 ounces the infamous Oscarelli!

Isn't it great that the boys have so much fun every day? I especially love the use of practical toys like plastic bowls. Next thing you know, they'll be outside with friends playing "sandlot" baseball where there are no adults around to umpire. Brilliant I say!

Jenni, thanks for sending us this and the other fun pics of the boys. We are so blessed to be able to leave our baby--our most treasured Danny--in your capable care 3 days a week.

Have a great day everybody!!!! -Monica

Who knew!

One beautiful March day in the early 1970s something really amazing happened on the edge of the Black Forest...my beautiful Susanne came into the world.

What was I doing that day? Let's see? Probably nothing special. She was born around 5 pm German time so it was late morning in Minnesota. I was 13 years old and on that crisp Sunday morning I'm sure I was on my bike delivering the St. Paul Pioneer Press to everyone on my paper route. How could I have known then that in that magical window of time, the most amazing, wonderful sweetheart, who would one day become the love of my life, was being welcomed into into the world half a world away?

It was the best day of my life and I didn't even know it! Well I know it now. I love you honey.

--Happy Birthday from your Monica and our little boy Danny