"Can we go back to Germy Mommy?"

"Well not for a while baby, and actually the country is called Germany."

Danny still asks after his favorite cousins Jannis and Jonna. Their names are pronounced like "Yannis and Yonna" (rhymes with Mona).

Next time we go, little Ben will be able to take part in all the adventures! Sounds Spaß to me! -Monica

And so it begins...

Eating us out of house and home that is. Welcome to the world of solid food Benjamin! ;-)

I guess you could say that's true...

We just had a great weekend, taking a trip to NY to celebrate our cousin Briana's Bat Mitzah on Long Island. It was great fun and I loved witnessing the beauty of this Jewish right of passage that is not that familiar to me.

In addition to the Bat Mitzvah we spent two days in Manhattan with a dear friend of ours who has a 17 month old. Gerri's husband was out of town so although we missed seeing him, we had a fantastic (albeit tiring) time with the 3 little ones. The hit of the weekend was probably our trip to the NY Aquarium on Coney Island. Danny was mezmerized by the shark sand loved the sea lion show. The best part was that kids 2 and under got in free, so even though he's been practicing saying he's "3" his birthday is not until Friday so we were hoping he wouldn't bring his age up at the ticket counter. (He didn't and no one questioned his age anyway.)

One of the funniest things that happened on our trip though might gross you all out but I'll share anyway. We stopped at a very empty Den*ny's restaurant on the way home and I guess the many hours of traveling caught up with Danny. Before our food arrived, he started coughing and before we knew it, he was--um--sick all over.

Fortunately we had our suitcase of extra clothes and in short order had him cleaned up. He told us he felt better even though he'd never mentioned he wasn't feeling well. So we proceeded with our dinner. On the way out I took him back to the bathroom where I'd changed him earlier and as he began to wash his hands, he looked at me and said "that's mine!"

"Huh?" I said, "what's yours Danny?"

"In the sink, that's mine from my tummy when I got sick".

Sure enough, in the drain where I'd rinsed off his shirt was a miniscule piece of something of his. (And I might add I had cleaned it out earlier.)

We recleaned the sink and the rest of the trip went fine. I do think that he's taken toddlerhood to a whole new level though. ;-)  Have a wonderful day everybody! -Monica

That's good...

Apparently we praise Benjamin quite liberally for all the wonderful things he does. His smiles, his rolling over (and over and over)--even his fledging attempts to sit up (with a little help but he can sort of do it.)

I know we praise him a lot because whatever we say, Danny says.

And apparently we talk to our five month old a bit like one might talk to a four footed friend. And by this I mean we seem to say "good boy!" an awful lot.

The funniest thing is that Danny, being the clever almost three year old that he is has taken to smiling mischeviously and patting people on the head repeating, "good boy, good boy!"

He does know the difference between boys and girls but no matter -- "good boy!" he smiles.

Our pastor, his grandmothers, our cat, his parents, basically everyone he's come into contact with lately has been treated to a pat and a "good boy."

He even says it to Benjamin, but just this morning when Benji was rolling in a direction Danny did not approve of he yelled "No Benji, no!"

Where in the heck did he learn that one? ;-) -Monica

Benji is 5 months old today!

Can you believe it? We can't. Anyway, this means that it's time for a slide show. The pictures speak for themselves. My goal was to get these up on May 17th and it looks like I made it with a half hour to spare. Better late than never! Have a great evening everyone. -M

P.S.  A sneak peak at our little charmer!

Benjamin's baptism on May 9, 2010 -- a beautiful day for a beautiful boy

A happy 90th birthday it was indeed

One impetus for our trip to Germany in April was because Susanne's paternal grandfather was turning 90. His wife passed away around a year ago, and it's been a time of transition for him. He didn't want a big party but we spent several days visiting--going for walks and enjoying the gorgeous weather, and had a nice dinner in town.

I think that the pictures here will attest to the fact that Opa was delighted to see his us (and in particular, his great-grandsons.) Clearly the feeling was mutual! Happy Birthday Opa!

Still going and going and going...

Wonderful two week trip to Germany - check

Arrive back home as family members fly in for Benjamin's baptism - check

Have a beautiful baptism ceremony on Sunday (host brunch and shuttle family members from hotel to church to house and back again) - check

Get ready for trip to Chicago for work tomorrow -check

Discover that the flight is actually not tomorrow, it is today in about 3 hours - check

Fortunately lovely niece lives in Chicago and they are delighted I can stay the night with them (cuz, I kinda forgot to get a hotel room for tonight since I thought I was flying tomorrow.) - Check

I am known for this kind of thing. - check

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Yes, it's been a VERY BUSY 3 weeks now but now I must stop typing because I have to get on an airplane! Bye! -Monica

Forget Paris in springtime...try Köln

A week ago today, we were able to catch one of the first flights to leave the US for Europe for our long planned trip to Germany. Thank goodness the flight restrictions because of the volcano were lifted. We were pretty anxious about whether we'd really get to go or not. In fact, the day before we flew Su's dad's flight here was cancelled which made us even more nervous.

But we got very lucky and our flight took off as planned. We have had a wonderful time in Germany thus far. We've all had a bit of jet lag but on the bright side, the first night we were here we all slept for more than 10 straight hours. Su slept some on the redeye flight but I did not so she was somewhat more alert than I was. I was sure that one or both of the boys would be up fussing but nope, everyone crashed. Alleluia!

The boys' great grandfather turned 90 yesterday and we had a nice time visiting him and now we are continuing our tour visiting the other 30 some cousins, aunts and uncles who are all equally delighted to see us (well mostly the boys of course!)

My German language skills are still horrible but it does not seem to stop me from talking (in German even :-) The food here is wonderful, the weather cool but lovely and overall on a scale of 1-10 this trip is about an 11.

I'll write more when we return. This German keyboard confuses me!! -M

Oops we did it again...

Got married that is. This time legally. It was very informal and great fun. More later! -M

Guess who is four months old today!

You are correct! The gentleman in red.

To see more cute pictures of our darling Benji (and some guest appearances by his sidekick Danny) click here. You don't have to have a log in or anything. Just click "View Album" then "Play Slide Show". Hasta la vista babies! -Mommy and Mama

We leave Danny and Benji alone downstairs for one short minute....

...and this is what we find. What does it mean? Does he want Benji to put on shoes and play with him? Was he trying to cover him up? I guess we'll never know. Just glad he must have placed them gently. If he hadn't we surely would have heard about it from Benjamin. Kids. Sheeesssss.

Random thoughts for a Thursday

Danny is on the mend we think—the burn cleaning and bandaging is the worst part but he is remarkably resilient.

Benjamin picked today to roll over for the very first time! We all know that kids have lots of milestones as they grow, but there is something very special about that first roll over. It’s as if this little being is saying “enough”! “I’m busting out!” I love it.

We will be leaving soon on a long planned trip to Germany to see Su’s family. The boys’ great grandfather will turn 90 this month and we’d promised we’d bring Danny back when Opa hit the the big Nine Oh. Added bonus point? He’ll get to know adorable little Benji now too.

And finally, before leaving for Germany, Susanne and I will officially “tie our knot” on Monday night. Our pastor will come by the house for dinner and we will become officially married. Maybe our dinner should have “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”? Well, maybe not the something too old ;-)

-M

"I want this boo boo to go away"

“Me too baby, me too” I thought as my eyes filled with tears. He was exhausted from crying and fought me as I continued to awkwardly hold him to keep his burned arm under the water in the sink of our hotel bathroom.

It all happened so fast. Yesterday morning at around 7 am we were at a beautiful hotel on the Chesapeake Bay, a place my agency holds a conference every year. This year we decided to make it a “workcation” and Su and the boys came along.

I remember putting the single cup coffee cup into the little machine and letting him stand on our cooler to watch it drip. What was I thinking? That those hotel coffee pots always made tepid coffee so it couldn’t be hot? That at the age of two he would actually listen to me when I told him not to touch anything?

I was turned away from him putting something into a bag. Su was nursing Benji across the room.

His scream was blood curdling. I remember racing to him and pulling is long sleeved shirt off of him. That’s when we realized that the skin on his forearm was coming off too.

Ambulance, ER, Tylenol with codeine, changing the bandage several times, debriding the wound more.

The burn is the most painful kind—a second degree (in his case over most of the top of his forearm below the elbow to the wrist.) Thankfully the joints were spared.  I remember thinking in the ER that I wished he did not suck his thumb. All he wanted to do was to suck his left thumb for relief but as it was the arm that was burned, it was hard to do so without a great deal of pain.

With first degree the skin is not broken and yes it hurts but it gets better with topical remedies. Third degrees are by far the most serious but they actually burn so badly that the nerve endings are destroyed and the permanent damage is horrific. Our hope is that by cooling it under running water for the 20 minutes until the EMTs arrived we avoided that. So he has the second degree. Open, susceptible to infection, in a word—painful. Our job is to keep it clean and prevent infection.

We are on our way in a few minutes to see our pediatrician for follow up. Danny has been a trooper. The pain medication helps I’m sure, but for the most part he’s his usual self except when we have to change the dressing and wash the area before applying a special antibiotic crème, he cries and cries. I would too.
   
We are pretty shaken up too. It all happened in an instant. Hug your babies extra close today friends. We sure are.

Baby love

That's what friends are for

Act 1, Scene 1 : Danny playing in sandbox.

Danny - "I saw a kitty cat!"
Mommy - "You did! That's great sweetie? Awwww.... where's the kitty cat now honey? What sounds did he make? Meow, meow? Was he a big kitty or a little kitty?"...on and on ad nauseum.


Act 1, Scene 2 : Danny playing in the sandbox later that day with 5 year old friend.

Danny Danny - "I saw a kitty cat!"
Five year old friend - "Don't worry about it".

Caption this!

*Disclaimer - No infants were injured by the near "head butt" seen in the photo above.

See?

Here come the brides. Again.

Imagine that you had the wedding of your dreams. Virtually everyone you loved was there, and you just floated on cloud nine all day.

The weather was perfect (albeit a bit hot) the music was wonderful, the readings so touching, the toasts so loving, the reception such a great party--perfection. And without a doubt, the spirit of that higher power who brought this love of your life to you was everywhere that day.

Then imagine that this wedding was everything but legal. You were married for all intents and purposes but your marriage was not recognized as legally binding nor acceptable to your church or government.

Well, imagine no more. This was our wedding story that took place on August 6th, 2005. The most beautiful day of our lives. But because we are a gay couple, it did not "count" in our church nor state.

Fast forward 5 years and the times are changing. The church we now belong to has taken bold strides to be a welcoming congregation and after spirited discussions and back and forth with the larger body of that church structure has now said that they will marry us.  And in an amazing turn of events, the progressive city that we live in (which is not a state but a district) has jumped through all kinds of hoops to finally make it possible for gay couples to get legally married.

So later this month my beloved Susanne and I will be legally  married. To be clear, we will not have another wedding. That glorious event in 2005 will always be our wedding day. But in a simple gathering of just us, our little boys and our pastor, we will renew our vows and with a stroke of a pen become legally married.

I don't know which appeals to me more. Letting little Danny and Benji be a part of this monumental step? Knowing that the love Susanne and I share will be more widely accepted to the world around us? Or knowing that I won't have to try and fit into my wedding dress again? ;-)

We'll be sharing the original readings from our 2005 wedding with our pastor as we prepare to legally wed and as much as I loved them all, this is the one that now five years later sort of chokes me up. I think it's the mention of the children we might someday have. I could not then have imagined these beautiful sons that we have been blessed with. For those who don't know the "Blessing of the Hands" I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. -Monica

“These are the hands of your best friend, strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever. 

These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future. 

These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other. 

These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind. 

These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow, and tears of joy. 

These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children.

These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one.

These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it. 

And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.”

P.S. The words of this reading are so true. Except of course that last part about when we are old and wrinkled. Check back with you in a few years on that! -M

Happy Easter!

ummm...do I look like I work at Trader Joe's in this shirt?