Warm Weather

Susan and the kids are out enjoying warm weather even as I type. Yesterday upon arriving home they were playing out in the back yard. I got to play a little "soccer" with Andrew. Mari sat in the swing, just as Andrew used to do. When Andrew was Mari's age we used to spend countless minutes in the backyard swinging. I don't get that opportunity with Mari, partially because there are two kids now, partially because it is almost Winter.

Barbecue chicken pizza for dinner tonight. Andrew suggested we make it because Susan asked about it a week ago and he has been asking for it ever since. It is interesting to see his concept of time develop as his memory does. Last night we were trying to explain the meaning of "Happy New Year" to him, which was complicated by the fact that he did not know what a year was. I think he can understand a day, because of the sun. A year is harder.

Last night was Andrew's first night without his night-time diaper. Since he has been potty trained he has barely ever gone in the night. We have been lucky up to this point, but I know we will have to deal with some waterbeds.

Mari has started a new game: filling her pajamas with blocks. Andrew likes to get in on the fun as well. It is pretty funny to see their legs appear swollen, saggy, and with sharp corners. They keep the blocks in until they start to hurt too much, which takes longer than one would think.

Andrew likes to sing Jingle Bells. So does Mari.

I like to sing "Christmas in Hollis."

I don't know what Susan likes to sing. I bet she would do a good Silent Night.

Oh My Gosh. . .

I can't believe it has been so long. Blogging is a funny thing. Sometimes I want everything to be out there, sometimes I don't want to put anything. I think that when things get crazy I just need some time to process.

That being said, things have not been so crazy lately. A little crazy, yes, but not too crazy.

I made a list of things I think I need to write about, so I will go in that order.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We headed to Des Moines the Sunday before and made it back the Sunday after. It was our first trip in our minivan and things went pretty well. The biggest difference in taking the minivan instead of our car (other than the gas mileage) is that in our minivan there is no third seat in the middle row, so we can't sit with the kids. Normally one of us is sitting in the back seat the whole time.

We had a great time in Des Moines. Before we left our friends Sarah, Kevin & Samuel stayed with us for a few days. Aside from leaving our house cleaner than we usually leave it, they also prepared some great meals for us before they left, which was definitely a great surprise to come home to. Coming back from Des Moines is always a little challenging for the kids and it was nice to be able to devote a little more time to them to help them settle back into the daily routine.

For Christmas we are making the kids a set of playstands. It is going OK so far and tonight we are going to put the first one together. I am a little nervous because I know that things will not be perfectly flush and level, but I am excited to have a finished product.

There was some good commentary on NPR about James Kim. Since becoming a parent touching stories like this get to me a lot more than they used to. I heard this Saturday morning on the way to get an oil change and I almost started to cry. I think that having a wife and kids of my own has allowed me to love and connect like never before.

Speaking of my wife and kids:

Mari is doing well. She still likes: getting up early, shoes, taking things in and out of bags. She is liking more and more: playing with Andrew, reading books, talking, running. She is definitely fun to have around. I usually get a good hour with her in the morning before Andrew wakes up, which I really enjoy.

Andrew is still Andrew. His enthusiasm for things appears to be growing. He understands more about the world than ever before, which makes him want things differently than before. He likes to eat out, to go out alone with people other than his parents (which he does not do very often), and to do things. His excitement with these things has seemed a little different lately than it used to be.

Susan is about thirty-one weeks pregnant now and things continue to progress well. She has had to watch her carbs lately, which is a challenge. Now that we are in the third trimester, protein is all the rage. Objectively, I would say that she is understandably tired. I think I would be two if I had to stay home with two kids all day, nurse, and be pregnant.

I am doing fine. I am really excited for the coming year, as I think that 2007 will be a great time with a lot of challenging growth. It can be a little stressful, but there will be some fun changes.

Our house is still for sale. We haven't had a showing since before Thanksgiving, and I think that we may as well settle into Cincinnati for the winter and hope to see an increase in the Spring. The good thing is that we are really in no hurry to move. There is no reason why we need to move anytime soon.

I think that's it. If you made it this far, you have a better attention span than I do. I will try to write more often.

New Pics

I put some new pics up. You can check them out at our picture page. All of our photos are password protected, so if you want the password, drop me a line.

Stabilization

Things appear to be stabilizing a bit at home. We have the kids on a pretty good schedule again. Andrew is still whiny for no reason and Mari is still extra-tired. Her teeth may be bothering her. Her teeth come in very slowly. Mari's mystery rash has finally faded away.

Our cloth diaper adventures continue. Last week I order 24 children's washcloths online to use as wet wipes. They are working very well. I think that we also finally have a good cloth diaper system to use at night. With Andrew out of diapers it has given us a little more breathing room to experiment.

Dr Update

Susan just called me after the dr and said that the Dr did a strep test, which we will find out about tomorrow. She said that her throat looked a little red, but it was not too bad.

Still Struggling

We are still struggling to find our feet. We thought we had the kids back on their schedule a few days ago, but Andrew took another nap yesterday (is he still sick?) so he was up late. Neither of them have a fever anymore, but Mari is going to the Dr this afternoon because she has developed a strange rash.

We are supposed to have a La Leche League pot luck tonight, but Susan and Andrew may have to go alone, depending on what happens with Mari's rash.

The weekend looks busy enough. I have a soccer game and Susan starts her prenatal yoga tomorrow morning. Hopefully we will have some good weather so that we can spend some time outside.

More Than Just The Time Has Changed

I was not looking forward to the time change. Mari had been getting up earlier and earlier every day. Then, the dreaded weekend was upon us. Friday night we were up late celebrating Holly's birthday. I was optimistic that this would help them adjust to the time change. They were both up early on Saturday. Mari may have slept in, but Andrew was yelling "I need someone to put lemon juice on my stomach" at 6:15 in the morning. We got him his lemon juice and everything appeared to be back to normal. No big deal.

We were up late again on Saturday night, at BYOP (Bring Your Own Pumpkin). We stayed out late into the wee hours of the night (8:30 PM) carving pumpkins and eating cheesecake. At 2 in the morning Andrew was awake, this time with a fever. We got him some medicine and spent the rest of the night in the basement.

Since then we have been going to bed late (because when Andrew is sick he usually takes a nap, which causes him to stay up late) and getting up early. This morning Mari and I didn't get up until 6, which is pretty good. Andrew slept until around 7:30. He appears to be getting better, but Mari is getting worse. She was back to bed by ten this morning and she now has the fever that Andrew had on Sunday. Hopefully this will all pass over the next couple days and we will return to our normal existence.

What else has been going on? Hmmm. . .

• Susan doesn't have gestational diabetes
• Andrew's potty training has been going OK. Sometimes he gets a little lazy, but he does well for the most part
• Mari is totally cool
• Soccer season won't seem to end
• Andrew is going to be a clown for Halloween
• Mari is going to be some type of bird (I forget if it is a duck or chick costume)
• Our house is still for sale
• We are still enjoying the new minivan
• Susan is still on a special diet, where she doesn't eat yeast and is avoiding refined sugars. This means at in general we are eating less pizza, which makes all of us sad
• I just order Mari's one-year photo book, which is something that we are trying to get for all of our kids
• I am about to up for another year of Tracfone, our pay-as-you-go cellphone provider
• Susan and Andrew just finished up the fall session of Parents and Tots at the Cincinnati Waldorf School
• The Bengals are idiots, but I am doing OK in the Reagen Ranch football pool
• Susan and I are trying to figure out when we are going to be headed out West for the upcoming holidays
• Ani Difranco is apparently pregnant, which we were way out of the loop on

I think that's it for now. Enjoy.

Make it Two

Andrew had another accidentless day yesterday. I am not sure if he made it all night without peeing in his diaper, but I am sure that he woke us up at 1:23 because he had to pee.

Yesterday we went to the Northside Farmers Market because Susan's La Leche League group was selling baked goods, books and knit goods. It was one of those moments as a parent when I could just sit back (for a minute or two) and enjoy watching the kids learn and explore. Andrew and Mari are at a point right now where things are pretty predicatable. They have a good routine and are fairly trustworthy.

There were four deer eating breakfast in our back yard this morning. They would go behind the bushes and Mari would say "hiding." When they came back out she would say "peak-a-boo!" I wonder if they even knew they were playing.

Tonight we are going to the Roman's to share some pizza in celebration of Gabe's 4th birthday. When we first met Gabe Susan was pregnant with Andrew and Gabe wasn't even one yet. It is amazing to see how things have evolved over the past few years. I think these are thoughts I am supposed to have on my kids' birthdays (and I do), but I also think that memories of Gabe will always persist because of my exposure to him while I was still in my parental infancy.

One Down

Yesterday was Andrew's first day going an entire day without a diaper and without an accident. To top it off, he woke up this morning and the first thing he did was go to the bathroom. He did not go once in his night-time diaper, which is the second time he has done that. Things are going so well that Susan and I worry that he is going to regress.

Big Changes

It has been a while, which sometimes means that there has been a lot going on, and sometimes, not so much. This time, it is the former.

The past few weeks have been very busy. A few weekends ago we went on our first family camping trip, which was both fun and successful. The kids slept well and had a good time. There were no major problems and I think it is fair to say that a good time was had by all. It was our first time using our tent which we got last Christmas. With the new baby due in Feb, it looks like it could be a while before we go camping again.

Susan's parents came to visit the next week. They came in on a Thursday and left the following Wednesday. While they were here we had a great time. Our exploits included a trip to a pumpkin patch and catching a short view of the Tall Stacks parade. We couldn't stay long because once one of the boats blew their whistles Andrew informed us that he had seen enough.

Susan parents were also in town for another big event: Andrew's third birthday. It is hard to believe that it has been three years. Andrew was very excited about his birthday. He now takes great pride in telling people he is three. Just this morning he told me that he is still growing and that he isn't going to stop until he is as big as I am. I told him to take his time.

Along with turning three, Andrew has also decided that he is ready to start potty training. He is doing very well with it. Right now we usually have about one accident a day. Sunday was his first day without wearing any diapers and he did very well. He even managed to pee at the zoo, which was his first time peeing in a public restroom.

Mari continues to amaze me with her speech and how well she understands us. She seems to be picking up new words every day. She is getting much more social and loves to play with Andrew.

Susan's belly has finally started to protrude. The other day I got to feel the baby moving around. Susan is doing well. Yoga starts in a few weeks, which will hopefully help keep her back from hurting.

We are still trying to sell our house and actually just took down our 'For Sale By Owner' sign and signed up with a Realtor. Hopefully the extra exposure will help us. In the 2.5 months that we were doing it ourselves we only had three people look at the house.

That's all for now. I hope to get some new pics up soon.

Some Early Pics of #3

face	profile	foot

We had our ultrasound this morning, which is always exciting. No, we did not find out the sex, but we did get to see the normal array of strange pics. The coolest part this morning was seeing how active the baby was and seeing limbs move across the screen. Andrew and Mari were both present. Andrew watched very intently and was interested in what was going on. Mari was not as interested, but every now and then she would point to the monitor and say "baby."

1997 Hyundai Sonata

After about a week, Craig's List came through for us and we found a buyer for the car. We are down to two cars now, which is good.

We are going to be meeting with some realtors early next week to talk about the house and see what kind of services they can offer (& for how much).

2001 Mazda MPV

After years of waiting, I finally have my minivan. I have been wanting a minivan for a while now, and Susan and I finally bought a 2001 Mazda MPV.






We had to get a minivan because when we have another kid in Feb we need to have room for all of the carseats.

Things have been very busy lately. We are still trying to sell our house, and now we are also trying to sell Susan's Sonata. Neither of these processes are going very fast. We are thinking about getting a realtor soon, to help the house go faster.

Mari is walking. She finally kicked it into gear about ten days ago and loves to walk. She loves to go outside and walk down the sidewalk.

I put some new pics up.

Susan is starting to show a little bit.

I think that's it for now. We'll keep you updated.

Mari Walking

It is taking her a while to catch on, but Mari is walking more and more every day. Here is a short little video of one of her latest attempts.

New Videos

I put a video out there (you know, in cyberspace) of Andrew reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?.

There is also one out there that I call Potato.

Liesland Number 5

As I am sure anyone who reads this knows by now, Susan is pregant again, and we are all geared up for a new baby in February. Susan and I are really excited, Andrew has no clue (we think), and Mari really has no clue. Susan has been feeling well most of the time. She is tired, which she is apparently OK with, since she has been tired since she was pregnant with Andrew. She went through a brief period where should would have waves of nausea, but that time appears to have passed.

We are coming off of a couple weeks of sick kids. Mari was sick last week, and Andrew is just recovering from being sick for a few days. Hopefully we will go a while without being sick again, because this wasn't much fun.

Mari is getting cuter and cuter everyday. She will now take a few steps in a row and will be walking full-out soon. She is finally starting to warm up to strangers (aka, our friends) and loves to play with Andrew. As she gets older and more mobile it is great to see her and Andrew play together.

2911 Montclair

You may have heard the rumors, and they are true: we are selling our house. We are selling "For Sale By Owner" and we anticipate it will take a long time. If you like, you can check out our website, 2911Montclair.com. We just put the sign up a week ago and are slowly building a marketing campaign.

After the house sells, I hope to find a new job in Des Moines and we will move out West to check things out.

In other exciting news, we have had some radical shifts in our sleeping situation. Our bed used to be composed of two twin mattresses and a crib mattress on a platform, all put together. Andrew slept on the crib mattress and Susan, Mari and I shared whatever was left. Mari has been taking up more space, which makes everyone sleep poorly, so we decided to change things up. We moved Andrew's old mattress on a platform to my side, for Mari to sleep on, Susan and I share the two twin mattresses, and Andrew has moved to a crib mattress on the floor next to our bed. It is a little sad, as he takes another step toward having his own bed, in his own room.

Mari has learned ot stand on her own. About two weeks ago I witnessed her going from sitting on the floor to a standing position, without holding on to anything. It is pretty cool. In the past few days we have witnessed her taking a couple small steps, but she still has a ways to go.

Mari has had a fever the past few days, and has been very fussy. We took her to the Dr yesterday, who said her ears look great and she probably has Roseola or a urinary tract infection, so we need to see what happens over the next couple days.

Since my last post, we also went on a fun trip to Des Moines. Being there in the summer is a blast because there is always something to do. Andrew is finally getting a little more into playing in the water, which I also enjoy. While we were there he also went down a huge slide, that he thought about going down again, but decided once was enough.

I think that is it for now. We'll keep you updated.

Settling In & Moving Out

Settling In
A few days later, we are still getting settled in to our new names. We have changed most of the important stuff. I still catch myself using the name "Hyland" too often, but I think that I am getting better.

Moving Out
After two and a half months of fun and fellowship, our friend Julie is moving out of our basement. When she moved in it was agreed that she would stay for just a couple months, and so now it is time for her to move on. It has been a lot of fun living with her and we are glad that she was able to subject herself to the joy of the early-morning pitter-patter of footsteps.

On the Go
Mari is moving around marvelously. She is a very good crawler and she has just recently learned to turn around and back down from steps and furniture (though she has yet to master the stairs). Her signing is also progressing. She is working on more, eat, and down.

Trying to Go
Andrew's potty exploits continue. He has a long way to go, but he keeps trying. I would say that the success rate is increasing ever-so-slightly.

Fresh Pics

I just posted some new pics of the family on the photo section of our website. Check 'em out.

It's Official! ! !

After months (technically years) of conversations, brain-storming sessions, and deliberations, we have officially changed our last name to LIESLAND ! ! !

Susan and I got married a couple years ago, she kept her name and I kept mine; we decided to hyphenate the kids' names. We have never been too thrilled about the name situation, and we began kicking around the idea of changing all of our names to one common name. Over time the idea gained momentum, until finally, this summer, we decided to do something about it.

Rather than picking one of our last names, or using a hyphenated name, we decided that we wanted to go with a suitable and ear-pleasing combo. "Liesland" sounded the best to us, so we went with it. Along with the fact that we like the name, it is also a great way to represent the joining of the Liesses and the Hylands, which is manifested in our marriage.

Andrew Pooped in the Toilet

Andrew pooped in the toilet yesterday. We would like to believe that is a step in the right direction.

Teenagers

Something strange must be in the water at our house (my mom would say it is probably just hormones). Ever since Andrew stopped taking a nap he has been consistently sleepy at 8 in the evening. For the past week or so, he has gone to bed in less than ten minutes. Well, I guess he has had enough of that. Last night I took him upstairs at 8:15, and at 8:30 I decided I was wasting my time. We went back downstairs and played until abuot 9:30. He has been this way for the past two days. Not only is he going to bed late, but he slept in today until 8:45.

Mari has been having some slep adventures of her own lately. She just can't decide on a firm routine. Last night she fell asleep in the sling on our walk at around 7:30. I tried to lay her down, but she refused and eventually woke up and was up until 10.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: experts always say that kids need consistency, but I think that parents need the consistency. I wish that my kids would just make up their minds already.

The Heat Is On

Some hot weather has greeted as as we get back into the swing of things after our trip to Des Moines. Susan and the kids were out there for a week; I made it out by lunchtime on Friday. It was a pretty busy weekend, with Mari's 1st b-day party on Friday night, a brunch (which Susan attended) on Sat morning, followed by the World Cup game, mass, and Susan's ten-year high school reunion. We left Des Moines Sunday morning and made it back to Cincinnati just before dark. I should have some pics up soon.

Things are getting a little back to normal in our house. The kids' sleep schedules are still off from the trip, but hopefully we will get them back on track tonight. Andrew is much more fun to hang out with when he is sleeping right.

Speaking of the World Cup, which I did a little bit ago, the US is still hanging in there. We need a win on Thursday combined with an Italy win to advance to the round of 16. There are actually other ways in which we could advance, but they are a real stretch.

Mari is moving around really well. In Des Moines she learned to go up the stairs. She pulls herself up a lot and likes to stand now, which is a radical shift from a month ago. She also learned the sign for "more," which she puts to use a lot. She also likes to wave "hi" and "bye." She even occassionally waves at cars as they drive past.

Susan is going to the Ani Difranco concert tomorrow night. It should be a great show and it is at a cool outdoor venue. I really wanted to go, but Mari and Andrew are still a little too demanding these days when it comes to bedtime.

I am headed to the Pearl Jam concert on Saturday with Holly. It is in Cincinnati, which is nice. Last time they were supposed to play here (my birthday, 2003) it got cancelled because the venue was flooded. Hopefully they will play a good make-up show.

Julie is out of town taking her massage boards so that she can be a licensed masseuse in Ohio. She will be gone until Friday. I just noticed that Susan and I haven't watched a movie since May, so maybe we will be able to get one in this week, if the kids ever go to bed on time.

Catch ya later!

Welcome to the Blogosphere

Two years after we joined the fray, the Reagens are on board with a blog of their own: Reagen Blog: Random Notes from the Reagen Southern Division.

Susan had Wild Women Wednesday last night, and it must have been wild since she was out past ten. This afforded me the opportunity/challenge of getting both kids to sleep, by myself. I had done this once before, and was very successful. Last night I was again fortunate and the kids were asleep within twenty minutes. I fear that sometime they are going to stage rebellion, and I am going to fall down the stairs crying.

In other useless news, our hummingbird feeders are doing well. We don't get too many hummingbirds, but we have seen consistent activity at our front hummingbird feeder, and yesterday Susan saw our first hummingbird at the back hummingbird feeder. Exciting stuff, I know.

In baseball news, the Reds just swept their second straight series and are now tied for first place in the NL Central with the St. Louis Cardinals. They now have a ten-game homestand and hopefully I will be able to make it out for a game while Susan and the kids are in Des Moines.

Did I forget to mention that Susan and the kids are headed to Des Moines? We are going to meet Nate at his old elementary school in Normal, IL for the handoff on Sunday. I get to come back to Cincinnati and work while Susan vacations in Des Moines.

The chicken or the egg?

The past few weeks have been pretty exciting, a little too exciting in fact for my lack of entries.

We just got back from an awesome trip to Chicago for our friends Sara & Clark's wedding. I will have some pics up soon. We got to spend a lot of quality time with Susan's friends from college, which doesn't happen very often. It is also the first time that most of them got to meet Mari. We will see Susan's high school friends in a couple weeks for her ten-year high school reunion.

We left Cincinnati around lunch time on Friday and the festivities started off with the rehearsal dinner on the lake Friday night. The wedding itself was great. Sara and Clark both just finished up their studies at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), which is where the wedding was. The ceremony was full of beautiful ritual accented with some great personal touches. The reception was a blast also. There was plenty of dancing for everyone. For the second time in two weddings, Mari fell asleep on the dance floor, which is pretty funny. Andrew danced his heart out, until he was exhausted.

The week before the wedding our friend Stephanie (of Stephanie & Terry, also Julie's sister) and her two kids, Terry and Julia, were staying with us. Stephanie and family moved to Cleveland a couple years ago so it was great to hang out.

My friend Nick, from college & St. Louis, also stopped by for a night last week. He is a Cardinals fan, but we fed him anyway.

This takes us back to our anniversary weekend, which you might think of as Memorial Day weekend. We started of the weekend with a barbecue at Eric's parents' house. Eric is a friend from college who is headed into life as a Jesuit. Saturday night we had our traditional anniversary dinner at the same location as our wedding reception. Then we headed of to a couple's shower for Holly & Alex. Sunday we relaxed at home. Monday we tried to do something special in the morning for our anniversary, but Mari wasn't cooperating, so we chilled at home until we went to another Holly & Alex shower/family party at my aunt & uncles.

The beginning of this week took me to Detroit for a great Pearl Jam concert. I see them again in a couple weeks with Holly in Cincinnati.

So, that is what has been going on. Here is what is going on now. We finally got our vegetable garden planted. Holly was nice enough to buy most of our plants for us, saving us the trouble. This year we have some garlic, onions, yellow tomatoes, red tomatoes, green peppers, and pickling cucumbers (from right to left). Should be fun.

Julie still lives in the basement.

Mari is crawling very well and pulling up on things. She often pulls up to stand up and then gets frustrated because she doesn't know how to sit down. She still doesn't know how to roll from her back to her stomach, so she 'turtles' a lot.

Andrew is Andrew. He is still really cute, except when he is tired, then he is just frustrated.

Soccer season is over. The World Cup is about to begin. This is where the chicken and the egg come to play. Do you think that the US needs to care more about soccer in order to win the World Cup, or do you think that people won't care until we win the World Cup? I would love to win it, but I think the rest of the world would be pretty angry if we do, since most Americans don't even care.

For a limited time, if you go to google.com and search for "Eddie Vedder" a picture of me and Eddie from 2003 comes up. My sister, Jill, discovered this and it is pretty cool. I am not sure how long this will be the case, so check it out now.

We have some friends, Jeff and Rebecca, who live in Washington (state) and both have pretty cool jobs. They keep a blog, which has some good entries. Even he is amazed at how cool his job is. I am not amazed at how cool my job is (though I do like it) but there are times when I just look at my family and think "Wow! Could it get any better?"

Fillin' Up

I'm not talking about gas. I'm talking about our house. Erin, Nate, & Ian are visiting right now, which means that we are just about filled to capacity. With Julie in the basement and kids all over the place, we don't have room for many more people.

The Reagens (E, N, & I) got into town on Saturday for a quick little visit. So far we haven't gotten around to doing much, with so many naps taking place. I think that they were going to try to do something today, but I am at work, so I don't really know.

The kids are well. Mari is eating more and more. Andrew is Andrew.

Susan is Susan. I think that she is trying to take up knitting, but I am not sure if that will catch on. I don't quite know if the embroidering wave has passed yet.

That's all I got.

Liesland.com

Let's just say that some change is on the way. We are not exactly sure when, but it is coming.

The past few weeks have been pretty good to us. Mari finally got over the hump and has started crawling. We are working on some video, but it seems like whenever we get the camera out she stops crawling. She appears to like getting around, which works out well most of the time. It does present some problems, such as it being easier for her to get into Andrew's things.

Andrew continues to do well. He is always surprising us with how much he is learning.

Susan made some great May Crowns for the kids' May Festival at the Waldorf School. I will get some pics up in the photo section soon and put up some links when I do. They turned out great. Next up: knitting. We tried to figure it out the other day from a book, but we didn't get too far.

I have been up to the same old stuff lately. I go to work. I have been running several times a week, which is great. Soccer is going well. We just have a few more games left.

Julie finally moved in. Wait a second, Julie? "Who is that?" you might be wondering. Julie is our friend who is going to be living with us for a few months. She finally moved in this week and her presence in the house will certainly add a little twist on the everyday routine.

That's all for now. Check back soon for some great video of Mari getting around and some pics of the May Crowns.

UPDATE: I put some video of Mari crawling on the cute kids page and I added some Easter and May Crown pics to our photo page.

Down the Drain

Having kids is crazy. I think that most of the people who read this have kids, but if you don't have kids then there is one thing you need to know: it is crazy.

The past few weeks have not been an exception.

Anyways, here we are near then end of April. Mari is getting cuter and cuter. The more she does, the cuter she is. Andrew is awesome. He has his downtimes, but in general, he is awesome. Nothing makes me happier these days than seeing Andrew and Mari play together. Maybe happy isn't the right emotion. Maybe it is.

Susan and I had a great relationship with a jogging stroller for a couple of weeks, but we had to give it back. Our hearts are broken. Mostly it was nice because it allowed us to run together. We are on the lookout for another one.

We recently added some good stuff to our movie review page.

The Reds are doing OK.

PJ played their first show of the season last night.

My soccer team is 1-1, with the chance to avenge our loss tomorrow.

FIFA World Cup 2006 starts in a few weeks.

Should we join the zoo or renew our children's museum membership?

Ear Infection Reprise

Yesterday's post didn't quite cut it, so I will try again:

Mari has her first ear infection. She has been a little fussy/clingy for a while. Susan and I kept lieing to ourselves and saying that it was her teeth, but eventually she forced our hand. Two nights ago she cried, which she doesn't do very often. We finally gave her some Tylenol and she had one of her best sleeping nights ever. Yesterday morning she was still fussy, so we took her in. We paid the obligatory $25 to have someone look in her ear and say, "Yep, she has an ear infection." Then we paid the obligatory $10 for the amoxicillin, and we are on our way. This morning she was back to her old self: smiling, sitting in her seat for more than three minutes, eating cheerios. Only 27 more doses and we are in the clear.

Spring. I love Spring. Who doesn't? Maybe people who make their living shoveling snow; but I bet they like the break. This Spring has me a little more excited than usual.

Our Kids:
I was talking with one of my friends who is finishing up here at Xavier. He was telling me about how he spent his Spring Break in Costa Rica, and all of the things he did. He asked me what I have been up to. I said, "Nothing." Sounds pretty boring, but now that I have kids "Nothing" is pretty exciting. Having kids makes even the most mundane things interesting, exciting, and fun. As the weather gets nicer I look forward to walks, playing in the backyard and at the park, eating dinner outside on our picnic table.

Visitors:
We love having visitors. Susan's sister, Mary, Mary's son, Luke, and Susan's mom, Kathie, just left after visiting for a few days. Susan's dad, Gary, comes to town tomorrow night, and Susan's mom comes back Monday.

Weddings:
The next six months bring five weddings in our direction, starting in May: three in Cincinnati, one is Chicago, and one in Denver. Along with these weddings come several wedding showers.


Those are the big ticket items. Here are the small ones:

• Soccer starts Saturday
  
• Reds' Opening Day is April 3rd
  
• Pearl Jam in Detroit on May 22nd
  
• Our second anniversary
  
• Getting to use our new tent (Simon and Rachel's backyard, here we come!)
  

I think that will do.

Ear Infection

Mari has her first ear infection. She cried a lot last night. We were finally able to get her to go to bed by giving her some Tylenol and she actually had one of her best sleeping nights ever. She was still fussy this morning so we took her in. At least now we know what is wrong.

This Spring will be an exciting time around our house. There is no big news, but there is a lot happening. Susan's sister, Mary, Mary's son, Luke, and Kathie just left after visiting a few days. Gary is coming to town this weekend, and Kathie flies back in on Monday. We also have soccer starting up, weddings, showers, PJ in Detroit. Our weekends are filling up fast. Hopefully we will still have plenty of time to enjoy our back yard. I also can't wait to put our tent to use.

That's all for now.

Stuffy Noses

Andrew and Mari both have little colds. For the past two nights Susan and I have spent a lot of time lying there wondering if we are going to have to get up. Both nights I have come very close to trying to give Mari medicine. Andrew sleeps through his stuffiness ok, as does Mari; but for the past two nights Mari has had long fits of coughing. She does not wake up and I don't know how. Crazy.

We also think that Andrew's cold is making him a little whiney. Last night, instead of joining us for dinner, he laid on the couch trying to collect himself. After we were finished he insisted on eating a granola bar for dinner, which we insisted on not doing. Finally, we let him get some yogurt out of the fridge. He complained for about five minutes becuase the spoon that Susan was trying to give him to eat his yogurt with was his spoon. Finally we convinced him that Susan was giving it to him. Then he was mad because there was a lot of yogurt on the spoon. We got him a fresh spoon and he did ok for a few minutes, before he accidentally got a lot of yogurt on the spoon again. This put him over the top, so I called it and we put him to bed.

He did go to bed a little early, which was nice because it allowed Susan and I to watch Related, which we had taped from the night before. This show is really growing on me.

After Related we watched Scrubs, which is always a little wacky/enjoyable. Last night's show was a good one for me. I had been stressed out all day because Pearl Jam announced Leg 1 of their tour schedule. I was pretty annoyed because they weren't coming very close to Cincinnati and since the other parts of the tour have not been announced yet, it is hard to plan. Note: Leg 2 of the tour has already been leaked and it looks like they are still not coming close to Cincy. From the looks of things they are not playing in regions that supported Bush in '04. Weird and stupid, I think. Anyway, at the end of Scrubs they played Long Road, a good PJ song. Coincidences are weird. Sure, it was a coincidence, but it was also a connection. Isn't that what life is about? Maybe, maybe not. Something to think about.

Who wants to go to Cleveland on May 20th? I think that I am.

Warmer weather and rain are on the way. Mr. Schweppes' cute little purple & white lawn flowers are popping up, a sure sign of Spring.

Wild Women Wednesday (or something like that) tonight. Clogging tomorrow night. PJ tickets on Friday at 10 AM PST.

We've added some movies to the movie review page.

I think that is all for now. We'll keep you updated. . .

Steel Tires

It has been a while, I know. I'm sorry. I said "I'm sorry." Is that not good enough for you? You are never satisfied.

Anyways, we just got back from a good trip to Des Moines. It was kinda' spur-of-the-moment, which we don't get much of anymore, so it was nice. The kids slept really well, which is always a treat. I guess I could have stayed up past 9 PM, but you never know when we are going to be up in the middle of the night. (That's not necessarily true. Sometimes I know I am going to be up in the middle of the night. I guess it would be more correct to say "You never know when you are going to get a full nights sleep.) There, that's better.

Good time was had by all in Des Moines. It is always fun to hang out with the Western Extension of our family. Good weather. Good walks. Good cheesecake. I will never forget the Vanilla Ice/Ton Loc concert. OK, so we didn't go to the concert, but just the fact that there was one makes me happy.

Let's see. Backwards. Hung out with the fam. Went to Church. Leftover pizza. Colin's basketball game. Rural Illinoisite came one whole hour early to pick up the R-cade. Pizza. Starbucks. Playground. Walk. Lunch at Mary's. Panera. Figure Skating (though I cheated and knew who won.) Burritos. HyVee. Jason's Deli. Tuna Casserole. Now I am just confused. It was fun.

We decided to go on Sunday, hit the road on Monday after I got off work. Andrew fell asleep right away (at 5:15 PM). We hit some strange dead animal around eight. Got a flat tire 5 minutes later. Spent the night at a Super 8, which is also where we stayed when we got stuck in a snowstorm in 2004. We had the tire replaced the next morning and were on the road again by 9.

Previous to this trip, we have all been trying to get over weird sicknesses. We all seem to be stuck with perpetual colds. This of course led to Andrew having an ear infection, and pink eye. Mari is also very clogged up. I think that we need some spring, and some sleep.

I am ready for spring. Walks after dinner. The playground. Open windows. Flowers. Shorts & sandals. Baseball. Soccer. Should be a fun one with Mari and Andrew.

New Pearl Jam album May 2.

I'll keep you updated.

9-1-1

I thought that the main subject of this post was going to be the fact that Andrew peed in the toilet for the first time this weekend, but Mari just trumped that one. Susan just called and said that the police just stopped by our house to check in on a 9-1-1 hang-up. Susan thinks that Mari must have been the culprit.

Anyways, Andrew peed in the toilet this weekend. I did not witness it, but I believe that Susan is telling the truth. On Sunday morning he stood in the dining room and said "Here comes by poop!" I tried to convince him to go use the toilet, but he responded with "No, it's my poop." OK.

Mari's cold is trailing off. I am in the middle of mine. I can't tell you what is going on with Susan's. She wasn't feeling too well yesterday, but she says that she is feeling better today.

We are coming off a good weekend, though it is hard to tell since we all feel like zombies. We got some yardwork done (spring-cleaning in January), hung out with some friends, and then on Sunday we got things re-organized around the house, which was nice.

I'll keep you updated. . .

Movie Review Page Added

I added another page to the For Fun section today: a movie review page. Susan and I watch a lot of movies at night, so I thought maybe we should add a little more purpose to it and put some reviews out here for others to see what we thought.

I also added some more pics to the photo page.

Mari has a cold.

Susan is still running, though her ankle hurts.

I am tired, but not too tired.

The Tiredest Day of the Year

I heard on the news this morning (at around 3:30 AM) that today is supposed to be the "Gloomiest Day of the Year." Scientists "determined" this based on a number of factors, including weather, New Year's resolutions, and the holidays. I don't know if today will turn out to be the gloomiest day of our year, but hopefully it will be one of our tiredest. Mari's sleep patterns have continued to decline. Last night I was up with her a lot, as was Susan. On top of that, Andrew was up early due to all the commotion. Mari and Andrew were both very congested, and she had a very little fever. Hopefully she is just working on some teeth.

Other than last night, things have been going well. We had a fun visit to the Contemporary Arts Center where we saw some cool exhibits and Andrew got to play in the "Unmuseum."

Susan, Andrew and Mari made their way to Parents and Tots this morning. Susan says that Andrew is really cute and he tries to sing all the songs and do all the motions, even when he has no clue what they are. Mari was really tired this morning, so I can't imagine that she was much fun. She really likes her personal space when she is tired, and that is hard to come by when you are a baby.

I hope to get some updated pics up soon, though we don't have many.

Finally! ! !

After working for a couple of weeks, I have finally converted the website into its new form. This was partially because I was tired of the old scheme and partially in celebration of buying susanandrob.com. I have had the .org address for a while, but I finally got the .com, so I figured I better do something good.

Things are going well in Cincinnati right now. It is nice to have a little slow-down after the holidays so that Andrew, Mari, Susan, and I can spend more hanging-out time together.

The new year hasn't brought too many changes. Andrew, Mari, and Susan began attending Parents and Tots again at the Cincinnati Waldorf School. I have been trying to run more. Susan has also started running again. We are looking for a double stroller so that we can run together. I guess we have a few more months before more kid-friendly running weather, but it has been so warm lately that we have had plenty of opportunities.

As always, we'll keep you updated.

Where are you?

Wondering why there haven't been any updates in a while? I am currently working on an entirely new look and feel for our website, so I haven't had much time to mess with the blog. I expect to be finished in a week or two, so please check back later and see the new digs.

I'll keep you updated.