2 Month Checkup

Genevieve had her two-month checkup this morning. She weighs 12 pounds, 10 ounces, and she is 24.5 inches long. She is as fit as a fiddle. She got her first round of vaccinations (3 shots in total). She was upset for a few seconds, then promptly forgot what all the fuss was about.

Last Friday evening we met up at a great little local bookstore. Alex loves to play on the huge pirate ship.

The End (of summer) is Near

Oktoberfest and a cute girl with a weed whacker

The leaves are beginning to turn and fall from the branches in our neighborhood. This morning Dana and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. We dropped off Alex with his "steady" babysitter Priya at 9:30, which is becoming our regular routine. Then Genevieve, Dana, and I went up to Old Town to have breakfast at the Silver Grill. Genevieve was very cooperative and slept the entire time as we enjoyed a little slice of tranquility. We reminisced, reminded ourselves of how lucky we have been, and realized just how much more we value our time now! It had been at least 5 years, and probably more like 6, since we'd eaten at the Silver Grill. Back in those days we just took it for granted that we could stumble out of bed late and enjoy a nice brunch out on a Sunday morning. No kids, no babysitters, no logistical high-jumps to go through. Now every occasion such as this is a minor miracle, and prized more highly than any material gift we could have given one another this weekend.

The Fall is starting to shape up. We're heading to San Diego for Dana's 15th high school reunion next month. My folks are visiting sometime this month, and Michael and Moira are probably going to be able to make it out in early November. What a great lineup! For thanksgiving my sister and Eric are coming to visit. (Note: It is going to get a lot harder to get us to visit in the next few years, but everyone is welcome to visit us!!)

Changes in Attitudes

I did an investigation of what it would take to rebuild the foundation for our house. It is expensive, but I didn't know it would be upwards of $50k. So that pretty much closes the door on us doing any more significant work on the house. We're going to move as soon as Dana graduates and/or gets a job, and/or we sell the house.

We also learned a valuable lesson this week about sick kid etiquette. People don't want to have sick kids around, and it's important to respect that! At the moment both of the kids have a cold, and so do I. I'm determined to try not to use my army of virus dispensers to infect other people.

Now, here are some more pictures...

Here Genevieve is about to smile
And BINGO! A smile!

Last weekend we walked over to our Saturday farmer's market. I caught these great pictures of Alex and Dana walking together.

We're still working with Alex on crossing the street. MOST of the time he remembers to stop at the corner and wait for somebody to hold his hand.

Walking in downtown Berthoud

Alex loves to run!

Labor Day

On Labor Day (last Monday) we decided to drive up the hill to Estes Park. I had the idea that we could go listen to the elk bugling after sundown in Rocky Mountain National Park.

We arrived in town just in time for the dinner rush hour. The BBQ restaurant we wanted to try had a 35 minute wait, so we ended up at our old standby, the Estes Park Brewery. They never fail to please. The free beer downstairs is a huge plus. For those who have never been to the Estes Park Brewery, and even for those who have but have not been there with a two year old boy, there is one important fact to note: It is situated immediately adjacent to a go cart track.

What's more, we were seated at a table with an unobstructed view of said go cart track. This turned out to be a big win for us, because it kept Alex occupied (distracted) through most of dinner. The CSU-CU football game helped keep me distracted too, but we had a good time. At least it wasn't a Cal game. The one trade-off was that we promised Alex that if the go carts were still open after dinner, we would go ride them.

Daddy and Alex turning some hot laps at Fun City:





After that we drove up into Rocky Mountain National Park -- which seemed to be offering free admission for the holiday -- at least nobody was at the ranger station. We stopped a few miles up the road and got out to listen for the elk. I heard them; I think Dana did too. But about that time Genevieve decided she had had enough of all this nature. She let us have it. She started screaming, and she didn't stop until we were about halfway back down the mountain along US 34. I am beginning to think she is not much of a nature girl.


Earlier in the weekend, Dana gave Genevieve a bath in her little blue bathtub. Alex calls this her "boat," and it's a pretty apt description, except the water is inside-out.



Later that day, Dana and Alex engaged in a rousing game of Connect Four:

Note: Before you assume that our son is a total genius, look carefully at the arrangement of checkers - there are no actual 4-in-a-rows there... maybe in another year

Now here are some gratuitous pictures of Genevieve:

Cute baby...

This is what we call "Elvis lip"

Here's contemplative Genevieve

Here's surprised Genevieve?

Because of Dana's class schedule this semester, Tuesday and Thursday evenings have become my time alone with the kids. I have been enjoying this time with them. I get to hold Genevieve and try to manage Alex as best I can. It's also a good chance to boost my confidence that I really can handle two at a time. But in the 10-20 minutes before I pick them up from Ryanne, I have found myself getting absolutely terrified, for no good reason. I just start thinking, "Holy crap, what am I going to do with these kids for 3 hours straight?!?" It's the same feeling I used to get when I was in the Cal Marching Band, in the moments in the North Tunnel of Memorial Stadium right before a football game. We'd all be standing around, jumping up and down, psyching each other up for the pregame show, but the whole while thinking "I don't know what I'm doing! I haven't practiced enough! There's 20,000 people out there who are going to watch me single-handedly destroy this show! Aaaaaaaaarrgh!" For those who have not had the privilege, it is a bit like climbing to the top of the roller coaster, spending a few milliseconds staring down the other side in abject terror - yet longing for it, wanting it to come every bit as much as you're dreading it.

Maybe the feeling will subside eventually and I'll be completely comfortable handling two kids at once. Someday I'll probably laugh it off, thinking it's trivial.

Lazy days

It's funny that most people ignore the natural wonders right in their backyard. We are no exception. On this mild, sunny late summer morning we find ourselves again at the bounce house. Oh well. It is a safe, easy way to get your two year old to burn off a couple thousand calories and be REALLY tired for his afternoon nap!

Also there is a high concentration of other kids, which vastly increases energy expenditure :-)

While I'm thinking about it, I want to note the few remaining words that Alex still mispronounces. They're so cute, and he's becoming such a good speaker that I'm afraid they'll be lost and gone forever soon:

'murdercycle' for motorcycle
'murderhome' for motorhome
'pasghetti' for spaghetti - the classic! We didn't even learn this one until we had spaghetti for dinner on Friday for the first time in about 4 years
'kool' for school

In fact he omits almost every leading 's' in words. So smash becomes 'mash', 'scratch' becomes 'cratch', smile becomes 'mile', and so on. It's adorable.

Notable exceptions to omitting the leading 's' include:
'shaka brah' - Hawaiin expression meaning "all right, brother!" - his auntoh Alison taught him this, complete with the accompanying hand gesture (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka_sign)
'Chicago' - Ok, not exactly an exception. I guess the 'SH' sound is easier for him to get right.

He also frequently transposes the first syllables of names and words. The character Ramone in the movie Cars is known as 'Mah-rhone'. Ryanne's youngest sister Melody has a new nickname, 'Medaly'.

Also he has a habit of placing huge emphasis on the first syllable of words that are important or noteworth to him. So when he greets Ryanne in the morning he might say "Hi, RYY-anne". He loves to talk about his MAAAHN-ster trucks (monster trucks).

One notable and adorable exception to the above is when he was first learning the difference between Grandma and Grandpa, he heavily favored the word 'grandma'. So when he first began to address Grandpa, he would say "Grand (pause) PAAAAH". (And was very clearly satisfied to have properly identified the man).

We realized over dinner on Friday night just how infectious these speech patterns are. Dana, Ryanne and I were all inadvertently using Alex-isms while talking amongst each other at dinner. Yikes. Let's hope it wears off sometime after Alex grows out of it!

Other Phrases We Love:
"Other buddy" = everybody
"biter" = spider
"ahind" = behind
"gob truck" = garbage truck (now Alex corrects me if I use his cute phrase)
"get for" = forget
"auto-cado" = avocado

Still Here

Let me catch up on a few details since my last blog posting. First, here are a few pictures I took from Ryanne and Lucas' wedding last month in Illinois. Ryanne and Lucas' first dance:


We were so happy to see Alex's first Mandarin Chinese teacher Christine at the wedding! She and Alex had a really good time and it was wonderful to catch up with her.


And here is the blushing bride with "that other guy"


Here is Daddy and his little girl. It scares me to think someday she'll be the one in the white gown

Sometime after we got back from the wedding, somebody snapped this picture of me. It pretty well sums up how I've felt lately:
We had a lot of fun in Chicago. Traveling with two kids is a real challenge. It was definitely not a relaxing vacation, but it was an exhilarating adventure, and helped us feel more confident in our abilities to know that we are capable of managing travel logistics together while keeping the kids in tow.

The day after we returned from Chicago, my parents came out for a great visit. My Dad and Alex helped me finish up the rest of the siding on the new trailer:

Genevieve thought that was pretty boring

Alex has been warming up slowly to Genevieve. He's still not that interested in her most of the time, but he's at least indifferent, if not affectionate. Believe me, with a rambunctious 2 year old, that's saying a lot!

A two-part video I took of Alex shows him in one of his more affectionate moods:





Here is a very painful looking shot of Genevieve all tucked in in her car seat. This crazy 90-degree neck angle doesn't seem to bother her one bit:


Genevieve does really well in the car. She sleeps mostly. Alex did not enjoy car rides for his first several months, so we were hoping G. would do better!

On the subject of sleeping, Alex is a really dedicated nap-taker. He takes a 2-hour nap very consistently starting sometime between 12pm-2pm every day. But very rarely, he can't seem to fall asleep and wants to get up and talk or play or read. In these cases we often leave him in his room and let him wind down on his own when he's ready. One afternoon a couple of weeks ago, Dana found these unbelievably cute scene:
Alex had gotten up, played, wandered around upstairs for a few minutes, then "passed out" at the doorstep to his room, too exhausted even to turn the knob and open the door.

I'm closer still to finishing my plumbing project on the North side of the house. A couple of Fridays ago I took the day off and rented a concrete saw to straighten up the edges of the area I had to jackhammer up to replace the sewer elbow.
Alex has been at his new preschool for two weeks. He LOVES it, and so do we. He is there all day Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. He spends Tuesdays and Thursdays with Ryanne and Genevieve. So far it seems to be working out beautifully.

Dana also started school two weeks ago, beginning her second-to-last semester at law school. She has classes Tuesday and Thursday from about 2:30-7:30pm. She's taking Antitrust Law, a Civil Litigation practicum, and a bar review class.

Genevieve spends weekdays with Ryanne. They have become fast friends, as far as I can tell. Genevieve still sleeps an awful lot during the day, so that probably helps.

Genevieve has also learned to sleep through most of the night. She dozes off around 11pm and wakes up around 2am and 4am for snacks. She gets up around 7am. Remarkably she's still getting easily 6-8 hours of sleep during the days. The hardest part is making sure that WE get to bed at the same time she does! Otherwise we get a pretty short night's sleep.

Work has been hectic, but I'm quite happy to still be employed. It seems like everything is changing, but at least there's never a dull moment.


In other news Gene's Airline has taken delivery of it's first aircraft, complete with its new livery!


We are eagerly awaiting our first visit by Glasair of Grandma & Grandpa Stangel!