Happy Birthday Mommy!!!

We love you SOOOOO much!!

-- Susanne & Danny

It's not easy being green...

Stop the music!

“I don’t want to work. I just want to bang on my drum all day.”

Does anyone else remember this song by Todd Rungren? Does anyone else have an "earworm" now?

We had a lovely weekend at our favorite B&B but it ended all too soon. We also caught a Nats game yesterday and I’d like to report that our son’s winning streak remains intact. He’s been to 4 games and the Nationals have won all four. We’ll go again tomorrow and see if the streak continues.

What was that? Ah yes…

“I don’t want to work. I just want to bang on my drum all day”. -Monica

What time is it Danny?

So we've been singing the song for weeks now...

"And the first one said to the little one then roll over, roll over"

Well about 10 minutes ago our little guy went from flat on his back to this very comfortable position. We didn't think he was ready for the big crib yet, but heck, he sure looks comfy. Time to get that bumper put on.

Just looking at this picture makes me think so much of my dad who passed away in 2002. If Poppy were here today, I know he'd be crowing,

"What time is it baby?" All together now family--"It's nap nap time!" Sleep tight buddy!! Love, your Moms

It's about that time again...

Top 5 things I’ve come to appreciate over the past few months…

5. Hospital basinets that are made of clear plastic so you can actually see your little newborn at all times. Brilliant idea I say. Brilliant.

4. Little sleepers (with feet of course) that have zippers instead of snaps. Hard to find, but worth it. It’s so much easier to stealthily change a baby’s diaper (especially at night) or get a sleepy baby ready for bed when he doesn’t get jostled so much.

3. The amazing love and generosity of our family and friends. We’ve received gifts, calls, e-mails, visitors…so many people care about our little Danny. And that feels wonderful.

2. My job. Gosh, I never thought I’d put that on a list like this one. I’ve always had a nagging feeling that the work I do is not my “life’s work”, but ever since Susanne got pregnant, I’ve had such an attitude shift. I guess I now know that my life’s work was just born a few months ago, so now my job is more of a means to an end, rather than an end unto itself. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always felt blessed by the opportunities and responsibilities that I’ve been given, and I have a tremendous boss, but everything is better now than it was before!

Last but not least…

1. My beautiful wife. To see Susanne love and take care of our son is very, very special to me. She has the most wonderful way with him, and it somehow makes me feel warm and secure just knowing how warm and secure he is. How sweet they are!!! -Monica

Happy 3 month birthday son!

Today our little Danny is 3 months old! It truly seems as though he's always been with us. I can't believe I get to wake up every day to smiles and little giggles--oh wait, that's not Danny, that's us! (Okay, some days there is some grumpiness on the parts of all parties involved, but most commonly smiles and giggles!)

He truly is our treasure and I'm fairly certain that there are no words in any language that can describe the joy he has brought into our lives. Danny, someday when you're old enough you'll read this (you'll probably grimace) but please know always how much you mama and I love and adore you.

Oh, and next time your little buddy Oscar (who will soon hit 3 months) comes for dinner with his parents, could you guys ease up on the "dueling banjos" method of crying?

First Danny "WA, WA, WA, WA, WA, WA, WA, WA, WA"

Then Oscar "wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa"

All together now "Wa, wa, WA, wa, WA, wa, WA, wa, WA, wa, WA, wa, WA, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

But it was kind of funny! -Love, Mom

P.S. Many congratulations to Vicky and Sam on the birth of little Rowan!!!

Hi Buddy!

Grown ups are so funny! They hang little toys above my head and think that I'll crack up. But seriously, aren't these little bears funny!!!!!

My moms and I had a fun weekend. We went to Baltimore and saw my friend Bailey and later we went to the aquarium and on Saturday we had a picnic! So even though we spent a long time in the car, it was okay because my mama made these really cool colorful sheets of paper with fun designs to hang up across from my carseat so I can see fun stuff all the time.

Oh, and our friends John and Andres and Tony came from out of town and we went to the Kennedy Center for the free Millenium Stage concert (there is a free show every night!) I LOVED the lights and colors and music, and my moms loved that the show was free!

Yes, life is great. Aren't these little bears funny???? -Danny

Congratulations Kelly!

In May our friend Mikki became the legal mom of daughter Bailey. On August 24, 2007 our friend Kelly will become the legal mom of daughter Bailey. But legal, shmeagle. Bailey has always known who her mothers are.

So congratulations Kelly for tomorrow becoming what you've always been. A mom, and a gosh darn great one too I might add! Hasta la vista mamacitas!!!!

Oh Jeez!

So last week when the social worker came for her first of three home visits, Su and I had a lovely chat with her. She thought Danny was beautiful of course, and was amazed at how young he was. Apparently most of the adoptions and foster parent placements she does are with older kids. So our situation was a bit different than that. We definitely got a very good feeling that as long as I can get all the forms properly filled out and turned in, that we shouldn’t run into any surprises when the judge issues her final decree when Danny turns 6 months old. Then I’ll legally be his mom too which will be wonderful!

So here’s a funny story. After going over all the paperwork I’ll need to collect, we toured around the house so the social worker could I guess verify that we were not raising Danny in a falling down shack or anything. Su stayed with Danny while I began the tour.

She was genuinely impressed by some of the rooms and I, of course, began bragging about how handy and wonderful Susanne is with all that. In just about every room we entered I’d start with “well Susanne designed these built in bookshelves and built them out of MDF” or, “well Su tore out this wall in the kitchen and measured and tiled the floor and…” you get the picture.

The social worker was duly impressed and wondered aloud who had the green thumb, what with all the beautiful plants everywhere.

“That would be Susanne—she can make any thing grow….” On and on I blubbered.

Then noting our pretty well equipped kitchen she innocently asked “so who’s the cook in the family?”

“Well that would be Susanne….”

Oh jeez. By this time I was starting to get a little worried that maybe I (the prospective adoptive parent) wasn’t making too good of an impression. (Say…do I sound like Marge in Fargo when I say “Oh jeez”? I am from Minnesota after all. ;-)

I think the social worker sensed my concern because when I started to say that I really DID have some talents and skills and also helped A LOT with all of our home renovations, she smiled and said “from what I can tell here, it looks like you compliment each other perfectly!”

Whew… Good thing I don’t sweat the small things huh?

Miss me little mister?

We took a trip to visit grandma Ulli this weekend--Danny's first long car ride of, well, his life. (He did great by the way except for that hunger thing once in a while ;-)

I, sadly, had to fly back Monday to get back to this "earning our daily bread" thing, but Su and Danny are staying til Thursday when grandma will come back to DC with them. So...even though I HATE being away from my wonderful Susanne and baby, as you can see, Danny seems to be handling life at grandma's just fine. Is he a living doll or what?

Why do I get the sense he's not missing me? How can I compete with the buzzy bee and bright red lady bugs and that AMAZING ceiling fan???? See you soon sweeties!!!!!! Love you - Monica

Thanks Lucy!

Susanne and I have a friend named Lucy who is a very bright, reflective, and sweet woman who is just starting her senior year of college. We first came to know her about three years ago when she contacted a church group that I'd belonged to which was very supportive of gay Catholics and their families.

She'd "come out" to her family already and she'd hoped to find someone who could explain to her mom that everything was going to be okay. Unfortunately it doesn't really work like that. Her mom was going to have to go on a journey of sorts. In many ways a journey of grieving. Parents suffer the death of the dream of what they thought their child's life was going to be like. And it can hurt like hell.

Lucy and Susanne and I struck up an easy friendship with Lucy--e-mails and visits when she's home from school. She has intersting and deep thoughts about gender roles and society and culture. She thinks it's great that Susanne and I have created exactly the kind of family we wanted to have regardless of what anyone else thinks.

Lucy's doing great. Her mom seems to come up with these amazing comments that seem to show that slowly but surely she's accepting her daughter just as she is. And maybe even respecting her strength? I think so.

And last week she told us that she tells friends she has some really fun Lesbian Godmothers. Isn't that cool! Thanks Lucy. And like I told you before, you can just call us your Fairy Godmothers if you want.

Some conversations are just totally blogworthy right???? :-) -Monica

Did you know?

Did you know that 72% of all statistics are made up on the spot?

Think about that for a while ;-)

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.