Don't be scared (nor scarred!)

Wow. Sorry I haven’t written in a bit. I am the project manager for two fairly large events that took place yesterday, and they’ve been keeping me really busy. But not too busy to log on and say hello!

Not only has work been crazy, we’ve been keeping really busy this summer with lots of visitors and activities. One thing we did recently was to go to this really great park called Watkins Regional Park in Upper Marlboro, MD for little two year old Max’s birthday party. It was great fun! Max has two dads who we know from our church. They both wonderful guys and tremendous parents--Max is a very lucky little guy. Actually there were 5 kids there who had gay parents which was really neat. What beautiful families all. This place was great too. It had a train ride, a nature walk (with real animals!) a carousel, mini golf, a great playground…totally awesome!

As you can see in this picture, Danny thought that maybe we should get off the carousel, but if we’d just snapped photos for another 10 seconds or so, you would have seen that he was suddenly really, really happy to go for a ride. Kids huh? I do call him “Morpheus” sometimes for his uncanny ability to go from smiling to grimacing to his “muy serio” look. What a kid!

Let’s see? What’s coming up? Go see grandma, have fun friends from MN and NY visit, have Danny baptized…yes, the fun never ends. My sister Mary and I are going to sing a duet for his big day and I can’t wait!

This morning a social worker visited us for the first time in regard to my petition to legally adopt Danny. It went very well, and we already have one preliminary court date for September before the judge. Danny will have to be 6 months old before the decree can be finalized so I’ll just do all of the papers etc...that they ask me for and we’ll hope for the best come November.

Alright. Back to number 11 on my list of 17 things to get done today. Onward and upward. (I always thought I was a human being, but lately I think I’m a human doing!) -Monica

Special moments...

Isn’t it a beautiful thing to witness a baby transition from wakefulness to slumber? I was feeding the baby a bottle of expressed milk the other night, and he was very awake at first—I think he was making sure I wouldn’t try to remove this nectar of the Gods before he took in every last drop. In fact he was staring at me intently with those gorgeous blue eyes which of course made me stare right back!

But after about 10 minutes he started to waver. His eyelids became so heavy and I watched his beautiful eyes glaze over with a sweet, sweet peacefulness.

I wondered about that moment of change. The poem with the line “slipped the surly bonds of earth” speaks of that moment of transitioning from one realm to another. Maybe it’s like the space between our heartbeats? Just a transition to the next beat.

All I know is that I loved holding my son in that moment as his little body melted into mine.

And don’t let me get started on how Susanne and I adore watching him in the morning as he moves from being “groggy boy” to “bright-eyed smiley boy”. I do believe that if we could capture the kilowatts generated by his smile we could somehow reduce our energy consumption!

Have a great day everybody! -Monica

True Story

So Danny arrived two weeks earlier than we'd expected him in May. Do you think we'd washed up any of his little "onsies" yet? Nope, not a one.

The day we came home from the hospital I pulled out all of the 0-3 month sized outfits and tossed them all in the wash. After putting them in the dryer though Su and I realized that the tons of little snaps on the bottoms were all pinging wildly.

"It sounds like we won the jackpot honey!"

No truer words have ever been spoken. ;-) Have a great weekend everyone! -Monica

On a day like today...

I really miss Minnesota winters...

But the Nationals won!

Since the game didn't start until 10:15 eastern time, we couldn’t really stay up late enough to see Barry Bonds break the home run record last night. And even though I feel a bit ambivalent about the whole controversy surrounding his achievement, I was mostly happy that despite the milestone homerun, the Nationals actually won the game. So they’ve won something like 7 out of their last 8. And it’s a little known fact that Danny is their good luck charm. He’s been to three games and the Nationals have won all three!

Here he is last Friday night with Screech when the Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals. Do you think that the Nationals might start paying us to come to their games instead of the other way around now maybe?

Oh, I guess you can see from my wife’s previous post I sort of messed up Danny’s height and weight stats. Well, I am an embellisher it’s true! But only because I get SO enthusiastic about things. Is that so wrong? I think not!

Last night our friend Jenn came to for dinner and unfortunately Danny got really cranky after being all smiley for her. He got his vaccinations on Monday and the information we got said that some babies are fussy for 1-3 days after the DPT. Our poor baby. All he wanted was to be carried on one of our shoulders and patted pretty firmly on the back. No sitting, nor shirking of the “patting” duties allowed. He was really crying like we’d not heard from him before and we did our best to comfort him until he finally fell asleep. (He also didn’t really sleep much at all during the day yesterday so perhaps he was overtired?)

He’s feeling better this morning which is great news. And poor Jenn, she thinks she made him crabby. Not true Jenn. Although you are a big Cleveland Indians fan ;-)

Have a great day everyone. -Monica

Mommy's Always Been Known to Exaggerate

Just to set the record straight -- At 10 weeks Danny weighs 10 pounds, 10 ounces and is 23 inches long.

... and while I'm at it ... it was a lovely anniversary and even though she likes to stretch the truth, it is no exaggeration to say that Danny's Mommy is the most fabulously wonderful wife on the whole planet! -- Susanne

Two beauties! (Or four?)

This weekend we had a wonderful visit with dear friend Erin and got to introduce 11 month Anna Grace and our Danny boy. Here everyone mugs for the camera. It was so fun to see Erin who I used to work with at Peace Corps headquarters, especially since she and her family have moved down to Florida. Hopefully they'll come back to DC soon.

Erin told me that her mom Joan actually logs in and reads our blog pretty regularly and so we wanted to send a special hello out to Joan. "HELLOOOOOO!!!!" Your granddaughter is precious by the way, and it seems like only yesterday she was Danny's size. They grow up so quickly don't they???

Speaking of Danny's size, he had his two month checkup and is now 10 lbs 11 oz. and 24 inches tall. I believe that the doctor used the word "perfect" several times as he examined him. We did have to endure the heartbreak of having Danny get his first vaccinations. Oh the look of shock and then pain on his face. He really wasn't himself most of the day although we gave him baby Tylenol as directed and I have to tell you, I really HATED seeing him hurting even though it was for a good cause.

I guess I don't understand how we can put a man on the moon but we can't find a way to innoculate children without stabbing them. There has got to be a better way. When I was a health volunteer in Guatemala years ago I adminsitered vaccines too and it just hurts my heart I tell you. Fortunately Danny seems to be back to his old smiley self this morning, but jeeezzz. Something very protective in me welled up yesterday.

But on to happier times. We also went to a very fun birthday party for a two year old at a regional park on Saturday. Over all it was a very good weekend and anniversary except for those $%*@# shots. Oh well. Better this than whooping cough or rotovirus right?

I've got tons going on at work this week so it's time to sign off. Hasta la vista. And Joan, thanks for reading our blog. Erin said you actually really ENJOY it, and that made us feel really happy! Ciao everybody! -Monica

My Everything

On June 18, 2004 Susanne said "ack!" (This actually meant yes, but I'd surprised her so much that all she could say was "ack" when she realized what was happening.) That was the happiest day of my life.

On August 6, 2005 were married, holding hands as we entered a garden surrounded by just about everyone we loved. I didn't think I could ever feel the way I did that day. So lucky, so blessed, so comfortable and so very loved. Again, I experienced the happiest day of my life.

On May 28, 2007 I walked, completely confused, into an operating room at Washington Hospital Center and saw a little baby to my left being attended to by many people all scurrying about. What was happening? They were going to come get me when they were done prepping Susanne for the C-Section so I could be there when they took our little baby out. It had been a long, long night but Susanne had been so stong and amazing through everything.

I remembered thinking that I must have walked into someone else's operation. Then I saw Susanne on the table looking back at me and I was instantly filled with joy which was instantly followed by fear. I felt frozen in place. "Is it a boy or girl?" Su was asking me.

"I don't know."

"Go see!"

I walked over and still couldn't quite believe that this perfect little baby who was now squawking away was really ours.

"It's a boy", I remember saying. "We have a Daniel!"

I went to sit on a stool by Susanne's head and took her hand. I was so filled with tremendous relief that she was okay. I just wanted to lay my cheek on hers and never be parted from her again, not for even a minute. She'd been through more of an ordeal than I ever could have imagined and all I wanted to do was to be with her. We knew that she was going in for an unplanned section, but apparently it suddenly became an emergency section when the baby's heartrate dropped when they administered the epidural.

As I sat on the stool with her I could see the baby on the other side of the room but she couldn't. He wasn't alone--the nurses were giving him eye drops and weighing him but she didn't know that. I'll never forget how she turned to me with those beautiful brown eyes and asked me so quietly "can you go be with him?" That really made me tear up. By that time they'd swaddled him and when I got up to go to him they instead handed him to me. Together we three sat all together for the first time as a family, as they sewed Su back up.

This was the happiest day of my life. And the scariest. And the best.

Happy Anniversary honey. You are my everything, and Danny and I are so lucky to have you.

So to review:
Would I die for you? YES
Would I walk across hot coals for you? YES
Would I donate my organs to you? YES
Would I get the dirty dishes that you left upstairs? Awwwww...I guess so!

All my love. Forever. -Your Monica

Just for some lighthearted fun...

So, some days you just have to have fun right? I thought I'd share one of my all time favorite ways to do so.

First of all, you have to pretend (for just a few minutes) that you are the Queen of England. (It's best if you also pretend that you are wearing your crown or tiarra.)

Then you simply have to grab your Sunday paper and settle in with the Wedding Annoucements section.

Make sure you use your most regal voice, and now read aloud to your partner or whoever will bear with you (like maybe your 2 month old son.) You get extra points for vivid displays of ostentatiousness. Let's give it a try now SHALL we?

The gown featured off-the-shoulder straps and a semi-dropped waist with an A-line skirt. The skirt cascaded into a chapel length train. She wore an elbow length veil of georgette made by her mother. The bouquet contained white and pink roses accented with green hypericum berries grown in her grandfather's greenhouse.

The bride’s attendants wore two-piece, light pink, satin A-line dresses that featured a square neckline and a sweep train. They carried bouquets of white and pink roses, pink calla lilies, and purple stock. The flower girl wore a white, handmade, satin, ankle length dress with a pink organza sash.

Oh, oh! It's even better if the announcment lists every family member going back to the great grandparents including where THEY went to school and what they wore. And extra bonus points ALWAYS if both people in the couple have multiple graduate degrees and it almost seems as if there is a competition going on. ;-)

Enjoy! I know I always do (and Su still puts up with me!) -Monica

Right Brain? Left Brain? No Brain?

So does anyone else struggle with this too? Making the split second decision as to which one of these symbols means,

"if I press this one, the elevator door will magically and welcomingly open!" ;-)

and which means,

"if I press this one the door will unmercifully slam itself shut on the poor soul begging me to help them out there" :-(

I mean I can't even tell by looking at this picture now which is which. Lately I just start going "ah, ah, ah, ah," and dramatically pretend to press buttons while loudly mumbling "SORRY!" There has got to be a better way no? -Monica

Question: Who's going to be a happy camper?

Of course Danny will not be nearly as interested in the smores as we'll be. He'll just be happy that campsites generally tend to be breastfeeding friendly! He's gonna love camping I predict.

And I'm guessing he'll be just about as useful at setting up the tent as I am. ;-) -Monica

We're tripping...

Does anyone else out there get stressed trying to plan a trip? Susanne and I love to travel. We get practically doe-eyed just imagining fun trips to distant lands—in fact, one of the very first things we did after Danny was born was to get him a passport. (It arrived in the mail just two weeks after submitting the application by the way which was a real shocker.)

So…what was I talking about? Travel? No that wasn’t it. Ah yes, stress.

You see, when it comes to actually making the reservations and committing to the dates of travel etc…our doe-like eyes become a bit satanic. There are so many things to consider. And now that we’ve got our little guy, we’d really like to get to wherever we are going in the shortest time possible. Easier said than done.

Case in point. This fall we plan to go visit family in Germany. What fun! Except how many airlines in the whole world do you think travel directly from the Capital of the United States of America to Frankfurt, Germany? That would be one. United. So our options are a 17+ hour flight on another airline with at least one stop (mainly in London-I shudder at that scenario) or an 8 hour flight on United. And of course, not all airlines charge full fare for infants, but United does. Full fare! Even if they are lap babies!

Let’s see…if we mortgaged the house, cashed out our retirement plan... Okay, I’m exaggerating a little. But until we come up with a better idea, we’ll be traveling to Berlin. Berlin, Maryland that is. I’ll fill you in on how this saga gets resolved later. -Monica

Danny's 2 Months Old! Oh, Happy Day!

Congratulations Neighbors!!!!!

Welcome to the world little Calla! We are so excited for our dear neighbors who gave birth yesteday to a gorgeous little girl. Calla weighed in a bit over 9 pounds so it was fun to see her next to 2-month old Danny. They look about the same size, but oh how precious the sights, sounds and touch of a newborn! Susanne and I both marveled at how soft and sweet she was. Awwwww.... (don't worry Danny, you're still precious too ;-)

Calla's older sister Josie who is almost 2 now, was born 3 weeks early, while Calla came a week late. What a difference a month makes. Dad remarked that it took Josie 3 months to weigh what her sister did at birth. Whew!

Josie is going to love having a baby sister--once she gets used to it. Congrats again neighbors. Ya done good!!!!! -Monica and Susanne and Danny

Vanity of Vanities

So we all have veins, but are we all vein about our veins? Good question. As a redhead with rather fair skin, I’ve managed to stay pretty pasty white throughout the years, and about 10 years ago, I noticed some insidious blue spider-like veins on both my legs. So whenever I’d sit down in shorts, in my “oh so ladylike” crossed-legged position, I was constantly reminded that I have insidious blue spider-like veins.

Ten years ago I decided that this just wouldn’t do, and I met with a dermatologist who specialized in laser and sclera therapies. He zapped those little capillaries with a laser and true to his word, the ones he zapped never came back. But he did mention that new ones might someday make an appearance. Apparently these veins and capillaries aren’t really functional anymore anyway, and by treating them you destroy them and your body gleefully swooshes them away over time.

Fast forward to now. Yes, for a while now I’ve been aware that my new “little buddies” have made themselves at home in pretty much the same places as my spider veins of old. So, cleverly remembering my doctor’s name, I contacted his office and went for a consultation today.

He recommended the sclera therapy (saline injections) this time for a few reasons (more veins than capillaries involved this time around) and I got to watch him put the solution in. This was very different than having a laser trace the vessels to sort of “burn” the underlying tissues. It was AMAZING. The network of dark purple blood vessels magically disappeared before my eyes, as the injected solution traveled much like water spreading through the roots of a tree.

They haven’t disappeared permanently yet though. My body will have to heal and flush out the now destroyed vessels, so in a month or so I should see real improvement. Right now it just looks like a whole network of bruises. But for those magical moments the purple lines were filled with clear solution--it was SO cathartic. It’s not cheap however and most definitely my insurance doesn’t cover it. But Susanne and I decided that if this bit of cosmetic surgery would make me feel better, than once every 10 years of so we can go for it.

I don’t think I’m too vein really (you should see my wardrobe and my messy hair most days.) But in this case I think that I liked that I could do something about an issue that bothered me. I can’t make my darn knees stop their creaking when I bend them, but I can make those spider veins go away. I can’t control that I’m always going to be a lot older than my wife, but I can make those spider veins go away. I can’t always control that once in a while people might assume that I’m Danny’s grandmother, but I can make those spider veins go away.

Anyway, I wrote this blog entry just to prove I can write without mentioning Danny. Oh, I did already? Whoops. Well, now that I’ve already done so, you should have seen how cute it was this morning when Harley the 15 pound cat put his head under Danny’s tiny outstretched hand and proceeded to move his head up and down in such a way as to make himself be petted. And I thought I had control issues. Priceless! -Monica

It's a zoo out there!

It IS a zoo out there. But if you're our little guy you'd never know it. When cousin Janna was in town recently, we all took the metro to the National Zoo (5 min walk to train plus 20 minute ride), saw all of the animals (about 1.5 - 2 hours of roaming) then made our way back home on the train again. Danny slept the ENTIRE time.

Here he is on the Metro. Oh well, looking at the bright side, at least he can look at the pictures on the brochure later right? I'm just sorry he didn't get to see the stork that looked just like the one that visited us a few short weeks ago ;-) -Monica

They are SO CUTE!

Danny and Mama are thrilled by the National's 3-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday. (Aren't they adorable?) By the way, Danny's "thrilled look" is a bit tempered by the fact that when thousands of people all cheer at once, it's a BIT loud.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day for a ball game and Danny really seemed to have fun (at least he didn't cry or anything.) And the National's did not disappoint. In fact, then won again on Sunday which was also very sweet.

At our Saturday game, an adorable 5 year old sitting in front of us was mesmerized by Danny and couldn't stop saying "HE'S SO CUTE!" She had fun asking us lots of questions as the game wore on.

At one point she she asked me "are you his mom?" I figured she'd asked me since I'd bottle fed him some expressed milk right after we arrived. Susanne answered "we are both his moms."

She thought about it for a second and then asked, "so you both raise him?"

I thought that was a pretty good use of the verb "to raise" for a 5 years old.

"Yup, we both raise him."

"HE'S SO CUTE!"

Her parents were of course listening to the whole conversation and smiled as she babbled away. Score one for teaching tolerance!

Our next game will be in two weeks and we can't wait. Have a great day everybody!

P.S. You know you've lived in DC too long when someone asks you what the CR on the players' hats stands for, and when you explain "Colorado Rockies" they say "oh" and confide that they thought it might be for Continuing Resolution. (True story.)

Baseball Fever!

If you were a two month old going to your first major league game this weekend would you be afraid of the National's mascot Screech? Or would you be more afraid of how the Nationals might play? Hmmm...that's a tough one. We'll let you know what Danny thought about the game next time we post! Have a great weekend y'all! -Monica, Susanne and Daniel

What time is it?

So last night we were all pretty sleepy and Susanne made a rather interesting observation. Danny can make us yawn, but we can’t make him yawn.

Now we all know that yawns are “contagious”, but at what age does that begin to happen? Whenever he stretches out and gives us a big yawn we are both unable to stop ourselves from yawning too. For fun we kept looking at him and yawning to see if we could get him to do so, and nothing. Of course then neither Su nor I could stop yawning—what a vicious cycle we started.

And Danny’s thoughts on this? It’s hard to tell, but I’m guessing he thought his moms were crazy. Is it me or are my eyelids feeling droopy? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ -Monica

Baby love...

Our friend Lucy came to visit last week and snapped some photos of Danny including this one of us just hanging out. (Thanks Lucy!) Sometimes I just can't believe how lucky and blessed Susanne and I are have to have such a wonderful little boy.

Someone asked me recently to come up with some adjectives to describe our little guy, and I think that there might not be enough adjectives in the world to do so. But I'll try ;-) How about sweet, inquisitive, beautiful, funny, delightful, clever, adorable, observant and dear? Hmmm...those are the same words I use to describe his mama. Yes, my dear wife and our son have a lot in common. How completely FABULOUS is that!!!

Having a baby just opens up all your senses I think. I especially love how it feels to hold Danny. I think there is something special about how your own baby just "fits" right. Whether I've hoisted him up on my shoulder (which he loves) or have him on my lap playing together he just feels so perfect there. He sort of melts right in sometimes-how sweet it is.

Oh I was going to follow up a bit on the saga of Harley and his stress over having so many visitors this month. Su ended up taking him to the vet yesterday and he doesn't have an infection which is the good news. We got some recommendations for stuff to get for him at Petco and hopefully this peeing outside the litterbox will completely come to an end. That would be good. That would be REALLY good. Have a great day everybody! -Monica

Harley's Summer Vacation

We’ve had visitors staying with us for something like 15 out of the last 18 days and as fun as it’s been, I think our cat Harley is up to here with it. What gives us that idea? Well, if you were an irate cat, what could you possibly do to express your displeasure? Ah yes…ignore your litter box. What the heck, make the whole house your litter box!

Poor Harley was just getting used to the fact that little Danny is here to stay, when suddenly his days were filled with Dominic, Daniella, grandma, Carrie, Paul, Camille, Isabelle, Christina, Alvina, Liz, Alice and Janna (not all at the same time mind you). Some of these people are even small children who love to shower Harley with affection much to his chagrin. What a stressful couple of weeks it's been for our feline boy.

We have hope now though as the last of our wonderful visitors goes home tomorrow that Harley will get back to being his old self. His wonderfully potty trained cat self. Interestingly he’s decided to make his “deposits” at our front door 3 different times now (you guessed it--all different kinds of deposits). We don’t know if he’s signaling that HE wants to leave, or if he just wants the others to go. He does this at night, so we are treated to an oh so pleasant morning whiff when we come downstairs. PeeeEwwww!

Since he didn’t pull this trick last night, (much to our relief) we are going to hold off one more day on taking him to the vet for a checkup since he seems otherwise healthy. Hopefully we can avoid the vet all together. Poor Harley.

Other than that, the weekend was great. I’ll post tomorrow with a picture or two of Danny’s first trip to the zoo this weekend. Cousin Janna took great care of Danny and she is a real natural around babies. It was very sweet to see. Alrighty then. Until next time. -Monica

Here comes hurricane Janna!

In my mind, my niece Janna will always be about this old. Wasn't she the cutest little baby ever? (Well, almost the cutest... ahem, you remember Danny right?) Anyway, when she was 11 months old my mom and I accompanied my sister Alice to China when she adopted her. What a wonderful, powerful experience!

I'll never forget how I felt holding this beautiful little girl who had been abandoned and left to live in an orphanage, and silently promising her that her life was going to be one filled with love and light. And thanks to my sister it has been.

Janna is no longer that little toddler. She's practically all grown up now that she's almost 10 years old! Tomorrow she and her mom will fly to DC from the Twin Cities so she can meet her new little cousin Danny and she is very excited I gathered from the phone call I got last night. Janna is an amazing ball of energy and Danny has no idea what's in store for him these next few days ;-)

When Alice brought Janna home we'd never had an adopted baby in our family before. I think on some level we were all curious about the nature/nurture thing and how life would be with this new little one. Let me tell you. That little Janna completely STOLE everybody's heart, particularly my parents' hearts. They were Janna's daycare providers for several years before Janna started school. I think because of this experience, it's been pretty easy for my family to really see Danny as my son--not just as the child Susanne gave birth to. So I feel pretty grateful to my sister and niece for that. Thanks guys!

"Oh Danny"... there will be no sleeping! Didn't I tell you your famous cousin Hurricane Janna is almost here? -Mommy

Thought for the day...

What you resist persists. -Carl Jung

Deep thoughts at six weeks...

So I have a question. Do I have to raise my hand when I have a question? No? Okay.

So...does this delicious breastmilk I get from mama every day come in different flavors? Chocolate or mango perhaps ?

And most importantly...since I weigh over 8 lbs now, how many quarter pounders am I equal to? Just wondering...

WHOA. STOP THE PRESSES! Susanne just called from her post natal appt. with our midwife and they thought it would be fun to weigh Danny while they were there. NINE POUNDS! He's soon going to be the size of a butterball turkey. NINE POUNDS. No wonder I'm getting triceps of steel! -Mommy Monica

Well our big Peace Corps reunion over this past 4 days was a rousing success. About a dozen or so of us who were volunteers in Guatemala from 1987-1989 all gathered in DC to rehash old stories, eat tons of food and see how much we had all NOT changed a bit. It was GREAT FUN! Our poor spouses however had to hear the same stories over and over and over and over...you get the picture. They did take us for better or for worse in our defense.

Here Danny and Su and I hang out at Uncle David's house, where all the fun began on Wednesday.

Danny was the youngest participant and for that reason we decided to pass on the trip down to the Mall for the 4th of July fireworks (I will always be grateful that we didn't go too.) Apparently although it wasn't blistering hot (like it is today) there was that severe weather warning that cleared the mall in the afternoon, and tons of walking (which was fine for the adults but not so much fun for all the 5 year olds in attendance.)

We hosted friends Carrie and Paul and their two daughters (Camille 5 and Isabelle 1) and our friend Liz. Carrie, Liz and I were all health workers and even though the big parties with the larger group were great fun, it was also wonderful to have quieter and deeper conversations throughout our time together when we were back at our house. Another of our health worker friends, Alvina, came by for a shorter time and it was great to see her. We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends.


As you can see by the pic here, the threat of a tornado didn't phase the group at all. Yup, 20 years later and still crazy. Can't wait for the next gathering. But I think I'll refrain from eating refried beans at every meal if you know what I'm saying ;-) Ciao! -Monica

Swing time!

With lots of Peace Corps buddies in town for our reunion, Susanne and Danny and I spent some time this morning with 5 year old Camille and her family at our nearby park. Danny's the one inside of the Baby Bjorn. (We think he liked it!)

As I write this, Su and I are home with Danny while rain pours outside. We decided it was going to be a little too hot and crowded for a 5 week old to head down to the Washington Mall where the rest of our motley crew headed a few hours ago. Turns out they've been evacuated along with everyone else because of severe weather threats. It remains to be seen whether the fireworks will go on. But one way or another I'm sure everyone will have fun! Happy 4th of July everybody. -Monica (Su and Danny)

Sing along now everyone...

" One of these things is not like the other--one of these things just doesn't belong--can you guess which thing is not like the other--by the time I finish my song?"

I hope you're all humming away now. Susanne and I were working on an arts and crafts project that will eventually include a picture of our adorable son and this was one idea.

We had a wonderful weekend--the temperatures here in DC have been phenomonally cool. It was downright cold yesterday morning. Have you ever heard of a 55 degree July day in Washington? We love it, and Danny sleeps like a baby in the cools temps. Yes, pun intended ;-)

We had a great time hanging out with our visitors this weekend and yesterday visited 2 week old Oscar. What a beautiful little guy he is. We know Oscar's parents from our Birth Works class and as of yesterday 6 out of the 7 babies due had arrived (congrats to Diana and Richard on their beautiful son born Saturday!) That makes it 5 boys and 1 girl so far. What are the odds of that?

This week promises even more fun. It's been 20 years I joined the Peace Corps (I served 2 years in Guatemala) and really bonded with a bunch of wonderful friends who started their service at the same time. Those of us who live in the area thought the time was ripe to hold a reunion here and we've got tons of people flying in for 4 days of "fiesta!!" Yeah!

This means I have a short work week, lots of time to spend with my wife and son and the chance to catch up with dear friends. Sounds like a winner of a week to me. Hasta la vista y'all! -Monica

P.S. Our little guy was 8 lbs. 2 oz. yesterday which officially makes him bigger than our cat CJ. (But still smaller than our cat Harley's leg. ;-)

Happy Day!

Ha, ha! Both of my moms are home today! What a great day. And they made a new slide show of pictures of my first month which is on the side bar.

Do you think they'll do this every month? I mean it's going to be really embarrassing when I'm in 7th grade don't you think?

Have a great day everybody. I sure am!!!!! -D

Ahem!

Eh, eh, eh, eh. EH, EH, EH, EH! Danny has the funniest way of crying. He does these short staccato bursts which sound sort of like “hey” without the “h”.

Each series is about a half step higher than the last one, and his volume generally increases incrementally as well. We can usually tell when he’s going to “serenade” us by watching his little face begin to scrunch up. As I mentioned before he’s pretty mellow except for when he’s hungry or needs a new diaper. Lately we think he’s going through a bit of a growth spurt as he seems to be able to eat a ton and then before too long we hear the little “eh, eh, eh, eh” begin again. Since we are usually pretty quick to attend to his needs this doesn’t go on for too long.

He’s definitely putting on weight which is wonderful and now, to even better serve his every need, Su’s been able to pump her breast milk so I get to feed him too in the evening when I come home from work. It kind of cracks me up because he gets this look of wonder on his face that something SO delicious could be coming from a bottle. And as he stares lovingly into my eyes, I think he suspects that I am sort of a Goddess ;-)

But then we both sort of glance over at Susanne and we both know who the real Goddess is!

Yippie Skippy!

Only 3 minutes, 32 seconds until I get to go home and see Susanne and Danny. Only 3 minutes 21 seconds until I get to go home and see Susanne and Danny (hmmm…I wonder if I can improve my time by copying and pasting?)

Only 3 minutes, 17 seconds until I get to go home and see Susanne and Danny. Only 3 minutes, 15 seconds until I get to go home and see Susanne and Danny. Yup.

Time to gather up my things and skip on home! –Monica

P.S. And yes I know I look ridiculous skipping down the streets of Washington, DC.

It's almost like swimming!

Although he is trying to deny it in this picture, Danny really does like bathtime. Our neighbor Taj give us the cutest little baby bathtub she used with her boys when they were little, and Danny can sort of swing in a hammock, partially immersed in water while we merrily clean him up.

We do the bathtub/baby massage routine every few days. But if you think about it, how dirty can a 3 week old baby get?

And we have a new tradition. My dad used to love an Irish Folk singer named Mary O'Hara and I ended up with his CD of her music after he passed away in 2002. We've been using that music for bathtime and are happy to have started a great (and meaningful) tradition for our little guy. She even sings the Gartan Mother's Lullaby which is one of my all time favorites! As my dad would have said, by the time he's finished with his bath, we have the "cleanest baby in the whole wide world!" ;-)

This weekend we have the best plans of all--no plans! Hope everyone else has a great weekend. I'm looking forward to the best two days ever! -Monica

For the love of...

So my moms keep going on and on about what a quiet baby I am. You know, how "so far" I only really make a lot of noise when I need a diaper change or when I'm hungry. Okay, I admit it. I'm a pretty mellow guy. "SO FAR!"

But if the truth were to be told, it's not that I'm really so quiet, it's that I'm finding it hard to get a word in edgewise. Have you met my mommy? Now my mama is more like me--sort of on the quiet side, but mommy (the one with the red hair) whewww...can she talk!

What's a guy gotta do to get a little rest around here??? -Love, Danny (my "first" blog post!)

P.S. Oh, what I meant to say is that I adore the sounds of both my moms' voices.

Speaking of Children...

So recently I've been thinking back to a lazy Saturday years ago when my best friend David and I spent the day discussing a wonderful book I’d never heard of before called “The Prophet”. It was written by Kahlil Gibran, a poet, philosopher and artist originally from Lebanon and I loved it.

For some reason today I was compelled to look up again what Gibran wrote through his character the Prophet about his insights on children. I guess really had no recollection at all as to what he would have written, but as I suspected, I was once again delighted. Maybe you will be too?

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,

"Speak to us of Children." And he said:

"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.”

Tuesday

What better way to say thank you to a group of co-workers who send a box of gifts than to take a picture of your baby surrounded by them? Then send them all an e-mail with the pic attached? I thought it was clever.

Here our little Danny waves thanks to Meg and Dagne and Lois and Janet and Doris. Thanks everybody! The book "Tuesday" is like nothing I'd ever seen before. It hasn't got one word in it. Apparently you have to use your imagination to describe what is going on. Frogs are flying everywhere! What will they think of next?

So you may be wondering how my first (and now my second) day back to work is going? Okay I guess. Apparently Danny was awake the entire morning on Monday. He wasn't crying or anything. Just cooing and looking around. I deduced that it must bore him to have me home ;-)

Susanne is keeping busy but seemed very happy to see me when I got home last night. Come to think of it, we all seemed very happy to see each other when I got home last night! Only 1.5 more hours and I'll get to do it again! CIAO! -Monica

So Blessed...

This past few weeks we've been so amazed by the generosity of our family and friends in terms of the gifts we've gotten for little Danny. With so many people contributing a thing or two we've pretty much got everything we could possibly need (or gift cards to get what we haven't thought of yet.) We feel very blessed.

This whole lovely experience has got me thinking about the power of collectivism. After I finished my Peace Corps service I studied intercultural relations in graduate school and learned a great deal about how different value systems really shape how we see the world and live together in the world.

Once a U.S, college student told me a story about going on a trip to Ireland where she visited pubs with her new Irish friends. She was very impressed by how whenever one friend would smoke the friend would offer everyone there a cigarette. (This was back before smoking was outlawed in public places in Ireland.) Anyway, she'd happily accepted this gift and yet when she wanted to smoke she'd sort of sneak one out of her own pack without offering. She figured if people wanted to share that was their choice. She remembered thinking she'd go broke and have no cigarettes at all if she shared her meager supply so her behavior was logical to her then.

She soon found out that her new friends were miffed with her and thought she was quite selfish. She didn't understand that in a lot of culture, when people all share what they have then everybody gets something each and every time. But when one person plays by different "rules" it messes everything up. She valued individualism and then valued collectivism. It was an interesting story and lesson she shared.

I do see a beauty is collectivism. Some say the story of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes was really not a miracle of creating something from nothing, rather it was the miracle of inspiring everyone to open their coats which concealed their hidden treasures in order to share with everybody. I like that interpretation.

Perhaps this is why the idea of socialized medicine and universal health care appeal to me so much. We have so much wealth in our nation but so many have no access to any of it.

When I was a kid I rember going to Burger King and being shocked to notice that the same little container of milk like we got every day in our classroom for 2 cents cost 50 cents at Burger King. I was outraged! "Dad, look at this! What a rip off! Why are they charging so much money?" Dad explained to me that the 2 cents we paid at school every day was actually made available through subsidies. Burger King was charging what it really cost them (with I'm sure some profit) but without government subsidies, many children in our public schools could not have afforded their morning milk. This resonated with me.

I also remember my mom telling us that even people who didn't have kids paid for the school buses through their taxes. That was a new idea to me. I thought at the time that you'd only pay for the stuff that would benefit you personally. I think both of my parents helped me learn important lessons and I thank them both for that.

Susanne and I look forward to sharing things like this with our son too. A friend we know who is a Lutheran Pastor once told me that it's far better to see a sermon than to listen to one. Amen to that I say. -Monica

Awww...back to work I go soon...

Danny and Susanne and I have really had fun these past 3 weeks but now it's almost time for me to head back to work. I'm hoping to change my schedule to what we call and Alternate Work Schedule in the federal government so that every other week I'll get to have a day off. Of course this means working 9 hours instead of 8 most of the other days, but we think that having a 3 day weekend together every two weeks will be great.

Since my job in downtown DC is only about a 20 minute ride on the metro from our house (or a 15 minute drive) we have a great idea to have lunch all together downtown once a week. Hey...what about Monday? ;-)

Danny and I read "On the Day You Were Born" together for the first time yesterday. Although he looks completely immersed in my storytelling in this picture, we suspect that he was just trying to figure out a way to get the whole book into his mouth. ;-)

Alrighty then. Time to give my undivided attention to my little guy and my wonderful partner for a few more days. Have a great weekend everybody! -Monica

Oh the places we'll go!

Lest anyone think that the only thing we blog about any more is our little 2 week old son, rest assured that is not the case. As a matter of fact, today I will blog about some of the wonderful places that we will one day take Danny.

Hey Danny, your mama took this picture a year ago when we took a trip to Peru. It was taken in a beautiful convent in Arequipa called Santa Catalina. When you get a bit older you can even climb tall mountains and stuff. Yes, I think you'll like Peru!

And when your mama and I went to Europe in 2004 with our moms (AKA your grandmothers) we visited all the family in Germany of course, but also had great fun visiting Ireland. Maybe we'll go there again too. Wait til you see the Cliffs of Mohr! You think it's windy here in DC? Just you wait little guy!

Of course there are tons of places we haven't even been to yet. I guess we'll have to wait until the day comes that you can talk to us and you'll let us know where you want to go. And no Danny, the Good Humor Ice Cream Truck is not a country. ;-)

For Wendy

So yesterday Su and I took the baby to Su's workplace to meet her very excited co-workers. Always funny Wendy was at the front of the line to get to hold him and excitedly blurted out that "your blog is really interesting now that Daniel has come along!"

I proudly agreed that of course it was, and then found myself wondering how boring it really had been before ;-) She was sufficiently mortified by how her comment came out, so today's blog entry is dedicated to Wendy. Here's what it's all about. Adorable baby pictures! Heeeerrrreeeessssss....DANNY!!!!!


P.S. Special bonus pic of Grandpa and grandson sizing each other up.

Outstanding!

Top 5 things I'm grateful for today...

5. Danny is back to his birth weight and we don't have to wake him up in the night to make sure he's getting enough to stay hydrated. Apparently he is doing just fine in that regard.

4. Susanne has been making a remarkable recovery from her C-section. She's not even taking her pain medication any more can do just about everything (except lift heavy things and drive our clutch.) She's also losing her weight really rapidly as you can see in this photo--in fact she now weighs less than me. Again. (You go honey!)

3. SO FAR...we've not had any long crying jags to deal with. We know that this is a distinct possibility, but these first few weeks of adjustment have been really calm.

2. I'm grateful that the midwives at the DC Birth Center are awesome. Yes--I'll be eternally grateful for that.

1. Drumroll please... I'm beyond grateful for the fact that my beautiful wife Susanne and our son are both amazing, wonderful, lovely and healthy. Yes, I am grateful and blessed. -Monica

What a beautiful day!

It's about 9:00 in the morning here in DC and the weather is gorgeous. After enduring a stifling hot Friday and Saturday, things have cooled off considerably and it's now about 70 degrees and breezy. Ahhh... Danny is downstairs having a bite to eat with mama (ummm...perhaps I shouldn't use the word "bite" to describe the ingestion of nutrition by a 2 week old breast fed baby?)

Susanne and I are really enjoying this time we have home together with Danny. It's fun to sort of amble through our days slowly. Our flow of visitors has continued and this weekend friends Wilfredo and Paul who LOVE babies came and held Danny for about two hours and yesterday Su's best friend Rachel who she met in junior high stopped by after getting over her cold last week. She was lucky to catch him at his most alert and playful. What a baby! I keep thinking of the book Charlotte's Web. Some Baby! Terrific! We continue to be delighted by his funny faces and I've decided that when he looks at us, it's as though he is an "old soul" and has wisdom beyond his years (er...days).

On Sunday we took Danny on a little "Rainbow Tour" down the block and visited some neighbors. One couple who are both octogenarians regaled us with stories of taking care of babies (the husband was one of 16!) and overall it was a very fun outing. Our other neighbors have an almost two year old who is enthralled by Danny and our cat Harley. She just goes from one to the other alternately petting each and smiling!

Today we'll return to Danny's pediatrician's office to have a weigh in, and also follow up on his jaundice. Since he's been eating really well and, shall we say, expelling his body fluids quite regularly, we're pretty optimistic that his bilirubin count will be excellent.

So...until next time, I'm off to enjoy this marvelous day with my two favorite people! -Monica

Moonlight seranade

Little Danny didn' t even know yet that his uncle Paul is an amazing guitar player. Here Danny is treated to "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" which made him just relax into grandma's arms. Awwwww....

Family Fun

Little Danny is doing great and is currently being adored by grandma (Monica's side this time) and uncle Paul. They traveled in from MN yesterday for a brief stay. Grandpa (Su's side) will be in town today too. Yes, the adoration doesn't seem to end which is very nice.

Danny continues to delight us. Seems that from around 9 am - 11 am he's most awake and cracks us up with his explorations of the world around him (at least with his eyes). Yesterday we took him to a baby massage class which was very fun. Since Su is breastfeeding him we thought it might be fun for me to have my own special ritual with him and he seemed to love it. We focused on legs, feet and mostly tummies yesterday. The funniest part though was when the instructor had the parents all just undo the sides of their babies' diapers to do a gentle massage of their bums at the end and I got to thinking that the "oil" on my hand seemed really warm and runny. Oopps. It was also not oil if you get my drift ;-)

You've gotta love babies. We sure do! Su and I are SO blessed!!! -Monica

CJ makes a break for freedom...

So yesterday while I was hanging out on the couch with our little guy reading the paper I heard a "sort of loud" sound coming from the next room. I figured one of our cats had done something and as it turns out I was right. Seems the little birds on the first floor deck right outside the window were taunting CJ. We'd noticed the screen there was starting to tear just a little bit and would need repair at some point, but I never imagined our cat would burst though. I imagine she looked like a high school football player bursting on to the field running through a big banner.

As Danny and I pondered what the loud noise might have been I was soon distracted by his loveliness and it took another 5 minutes or so to wander into the next room with the baby. EGADS! I quickly called Su to hold the baby, corralled our big boy cat Harley to make sure he didn't also try to run out and soon got out the door onto the deck. CJ with her 5 minute long opportunity at freedom was just hanging out. I think she seemed glad to see me.

Whew... I told Danny he could expect plenty of antics from those two. Our little guy is now 9 days old and we've settled into a nice routine. Yesterday he even had his first trip to Target as we returned some duplicate gifts we'd gotten. He seemed awfully darn content. We even have a few photos to share now of Danny's First Week. Enjoy! The other thing we did in his first week was to take 5 seconds of video of him on the couch next to one of Su's old stuffed animals--a cute little bear. We'll repeat the 5 second clip every month (on the same tape obviously) and in about a year it will be fun to watch our "Watch Danny Grow" video. He is definitely dwarfed now by the bear. I wonder at what age he'll pass it up?

Anyway, I'm enjoying the 3 weeks that I've taken off work very much. Especially since Su is breastfeeding and gave birth to him, she has a bond with him that is unique and special (and a joy to watch). So I think this intensive amount of time he's been getting to know me in these first few weeks is important too. He definitely responds to my voice, ESPECIALLY my silly songs ;-) Have I mentioned how much we love our little boy? Have a great day everyone. -Monica

Our Little Blue Light Special

Little Danny seems to be quite a draw. Su’s mom is in town until tomorrow and then later in the week my mom and brother plan to fly in for a short visit. Oh… and you may be wondering how our cats are handling his arrival? CJ the little girl cat couldn’t be more aloof. She hasn’t gone anywhere near him. And Harley came over for a little sniff the first day we came home, but when Danny yawned Harley jumped back and raced out of the room. Now he likes to sit wherever Su is feeding Danny and sort of keep guard I guess. It’s all very cute!

Our Danny ended up having what a lot of babies have—jaundice. The word comes from the French word for yellow I believe, and basically it refers to the yellow color of the skin and the whites of the eyes caused by bilirubin in the blood.

Although it’s fairly common, it can be a concern if the bilirubin level gets too high so in addition to very regular feeding to increase hydration and help pass it from the body, often babies are treated with phototherapy - treatment with a special light (usually blue) that helps rid the body of the bilirubin by altering it or making it easier for the liver to get rid of it. We first noticed when Danny was 2 days old that he seemed to be getting a bit yellow and blood tests confirmed it. So…here is our little guy in his space-aged “bili bed” which the hospital had us use for the first 24 hours or so of treatment. (Cute pic huh? Think maybe he'll become an astronaut one day? His grandma thinks so ;-)

He later ended up in the nursery under even stronger lights except for when we had him out for his feedings. He handled being under the big lights without too much fuss and on Friday he got the green light to come home—yeah! Today we visited his pediatrician for the first time and according to her he’s looking great. He gained some weight which is great too! I’m in our living room on my laptop with Daniel right next to me swaddled tight and making faces like he’s blowing bubbles. Happy Day! -Monica