Titus's First Birthday

On Novemeber 25th, we celebrated our nephew, Titus', first birthday.

Here is the super-cute birthday boy playing on his tractor just after waking up from a nap. 

 

And the moment you've ALL been waiting for...the cake.  If you don't know much about Titus when it comes to food--and why wouldn't you know much about the eating habits of a child who you likely have never met--feed him fruit and you'll be a friend for life.  Feed him spoiled, uncooked meat and he will probably get sick.  In this big piece of chocolate cake with icing and all, he immediately found the embedded strawberries and ate all of them.  There was no spoiled, uncooked meat in the cake.  It wasn't until his father, my brother, Paul, put the cake to Titus' lips that Titus realized how much better manufactured sweets are than the natural stuff.  Love was felt.

 

Rewinding back to the actual day when he was born, I think of all the excitment, joy, and love that was felt that day.

 

We visited with Titus and his parents at the hospital and left wanting more.  And we've been truly blessed to spend so much time with Titus in his first year.  He is a happy guy who is constantly on the move, exploring and chatting away.  Titus has a reputation of being a toy and food stealer from his friends because he thinks what they have is always more awesome than the last thing he just took from them.  And then when you tell him that stealing wasn't nice (or Matthew yells at him) he cries which is really sweet because it shows that he just wants to be right in the action!  And then two minutes later he's often back to the same belligerent behavior.  When he's not committing petty theft, he's got some of the cutest facial expressions you've ever seen, including his mean mug and more recently his monkey face "ooo ooo."  He loves to be with people and when Matthew and Titus play it's such joy to watch: they follow each other, talk to each other, shake heads at one another, and just this week played hide and seek.  The in-game strategy was breathtaking.  Titus has brought great joy to our whole family.  I can't wait to continue watching him grow up!

20 Week Ultrasound

On Thursday, we had our 20-week ultrasound.  Let's allow the pictures to tell the tale:

This is Deuce's face.  The large circle in the middle is the skull and the two dark circles below it are the eye sockets.

Deuce's feet!

My favorite: the spine.  Amazing to see all those vertebrae that have been created.

And last but not least, a picture for those wanting to participate in the gender-guessing game.  Below is a picture of the Deuce's belly and then legs, ankles (which are crossed) and feet.  Now if you look between the legs, you will just see a black space.  What does that mean?!?!  Girl?  Hiding male genitals?  Or... we have no idea what we're looking at so who knows!?!?!?

So, yeah, we actually showed the discipline to follow through on our desire to not find out the gender.  Neither of us is happy about it.  It was especially weird when the ultrasound tech told us she knew what it was because, well, we didn't and that's weird.  She also never wrote down the gender, and she told us she does 25 ultrasounds a day, so at this point no one knows because she doesn't care forgot.

Side note, 25 ultrasounds a day?  Every day?  How does she maintain her focus and professionalism?  It has to get incredibly mundane.  I find it hard to believe that there hasn't been at least one time where an excited, first-time pregnant couple came in, nervous and hopeful, telling the ultrasound tech they didn't want to know the gender.  Having not listened to a word the couple said, she then quickly ran the monitor across the belly, deadpanned "head, arms, hands, ding-dong, feet, see you later" and walked out of the room.

On the hand, that whole "this is the miracle of life" thing probably keeps it pretty exciting.

The Deuce pregnancy has been an entirely different emotional experience from the Matthew pregnancy.  We just don't really think about it much, primarily because we are so focused on Matthew, but also because to some extent it feels like we've "been here before".  In some ways, it's nice--the decreased anxiety is fantastic--but in other ways, there is a hint of guilt.  Deuce is every bit as important to us as Matthew is, and sometimes it feels like we don't recognize that.  The ultrasound was a wonderful experience because it was every bit as meaningful as it was with Matthew.  There was our beautiful child--a child that, like with Matthew, has been blessed with perfect health and development thus far.  We could not be more thankful for our gifts from God.

I Guess Reading Does Matter

A couple nights ago when Matthew decided he was not ready for bed until 10pm (read: awesome), we spent more time reading to him.  We followed the reading with some singing (jealous you weren't there to hear us sing? We know).  We started with the ABC's and The Wheels on the Bus, and then moved to Eight Little Monkeys.  By the time six monkeys were jumping on the bed, Matthew stood up and walked to his book bin.  He grabbed the book Eight Little Monkeys, came back and handed us the book!  The fact that he connected the song and the book took us to a state of total awe.

And then this morning, Matthew went to his book bin and grabbed a book we really don't read that often, Hop on Pop.  He brought it to me saying "Pop Pop."

While probably boring to most of you, we have been amazed at the learning and growth of our little boy.  Just incredible to observe cognitive development as it was not too long ago that he was laying on his activity mat just starring at the toys above with no real awareness of his environment.

Trip to NY

Last weekend, we went to NY to visit with my family.  A swell time was had by one and all.  My dad, brother and I went to a football game at West Point; I have wanted to do so for years but never had the chance.  It is a truly amazing experience, right up until the point they start playing football, at which point it is a less enjoyable experience.  It is a bit surreal to watch individuals get beaten to a proverbial pulp on the gridiron when, if challenged by the same opponents to a game of, say, paintball or hand-to-hand combat, would beat them to a literal pulp.  While we watched the great historic football power that is Temple University thoroughly disrespect the kids who will keep them free, my mom and E had girl time with my mom's friends.  Matthew served as the conversation piece.

Family Dinner at Hudson's

On Sunday night, E and I ventured to Manhattan to stay with our friends, Billy and Hillary.  It was at Billy's and Hillary's apartment that Matthew spent some quality time with Boy's Best Friend, Fergie, a Chocolate Lab.  They had a fantastic 18 hours of playing throw, catch and repeatedly bull-rush Matthew into the door frame.  Matthew has the heart of a lion, seeks thrills like a daredevil and apparently was born with alarmingly dull nerve endings, so he was happier than a pig in plop.

At 2:00 on Monday, I sent the wife and kid home.  To Glenview.  There was basketball to be watched.  Billy and I headed to Brooklyn to see Indiana play Georgia.  In spite of shooting terribly for a half, we obviously won.  Take that, Uncle Mark and all other Georgia alums.



On Tuesday, Billy and I grabbed breakfast at a greasy spoon (CORNED BEEF HASH NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM), visited many historical sites in NYC I've been wanting to see for years (see below), went to Shake Shack for lunch (AS AWESOME AS IT SOUNDS NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM), The Strip House for dinner (a dignified nom nom nom nom nom for the restaurant that is rated one of the best steakhouses in the city), and then another IU basketball game, where we beat Georgetown in overtime.  Let the record show that during my time in NYC, I also bought a hot dog off a street vendor, ate two slices of pizza from holes in the wall, and had a falafel and hummus sandwich from an Israeli restaurant.  That said, I did not get a potato knish from a street vendor and I will never forgive myself.

Central Park

The Dakota.  John Lennon was shot behind those gates.

John Lennon Memorial in Central Park

9/11 Firefighters' Memorial

New World Trade Center

9/11 World Trade Center Memorial - Truly incredible; monumental yet understated

Occupy Wall Street. I mean, the New York Stock Exchange.

For those inquiring, I did not wear my candy stripe pants to the games.  I have been told by a number of people that I am 31.  I've also been reminded when I wear my hat backwards that I am 31.  I fail to see the connection.

hi im matthew and im walking

it took me a few weeks but now im really good

 

look mom no pants

 

i like to walk but sometimes i get tired and like a stand and tv watch

 

Weaning Matthew

Matthew has been fully weaned from breastfeeding since November 9th.  We made it a full
year which was something I had a strong desire to do because of its medical, emotional,
nutritional, and developmental benefits including reducing the risk of cancer, providing
the child with better eye sight, and giving the child a higher IQ.

I had mixed feelings about weaning.  I knew it was an important developemental step for Matthew in gaining independence and research has not suggested that there are medical benefits to nursing beyond a year (not that breastfeeding beyond a year is not of value, it just hasn't been shown to be as important as feeding in the first year).  People often mentioned that Matthew would eventually "feel" too old or that I would want to stop for my own freedom, however, I never experienced these thoughts or feelings.  Eating is eating and people get freaked out by nursing an "older" baby and I just didn't see feeding Matthew that way.  And as far as my own independence, I was only nursing Matthew 3 times a day so it was far from a burden and because he was a year of age, he could always get whole milk if I was not present.  This is no so much the case with a 3 week old baby.  In conclusion, I could have kept nursing Matthew, but knew that it was time and it would always be hard to stop because of the connections made while breastfeeding.

I didn't expect for Matthew to have any of the problems with weaning that some do because he's always adapted to new things so well (a bottle, sippy cup, food).  That said, I'm a boy scout; "always prepared," so I read a lot about weaning (how to, potential problems).  The first feeding that we dropped was the daytime feeding.  He took to drinking the whole milk from the sippy cup wonderfully, but...he started waking up during the night (the one night Mike was out of town, Matthew was up for 3 hours and sobbed every time I tried to put him down), he was very clingy during the day, and was more fussy.  There was another night when Matthew woke up crying with a face wet with tears. I went and got Matthew but after a few minutes I handed Mattthew to Mike so that I could go the bathroom.  The entire time, Matthew was hysterically crying and lunging towards my side of the bed longing for me.  He stopped crying immediately when I took him back, fell asleep in my arms and was back in bed 30 minutes later. 

At our one year appointment, our pediatrician said that we did not need to stop breastfeeding, which was invaluable feedback because it allowed us to feel as though we could move forward at that pace which both Matthew and I were comfortable, rather than completing the task in a set number of days because it was "time."  Accordingly, we didn't drop another feeding for two weeks. 

I was really nervous about dropping the next feeding because the morning and night feedings seemed to be the ones that he needed most for connecting with me.  We decided to drop the night feeding, which most people save for last because it is a special time.  However, I felt as though the morning feeding was most important to Matthew, so we saved that one for last.  With complete trepidation, I sat down in the nursing chair with Matthew in my lap and placed the sippy cup down.  There is just something about going from cuddling with your precious son to handing him a cup.  And then, there was God.  As always.  Matthew picked up the cup himself and went to town.  Then, per usual, he got down from the chair and began to play.  Went to sleep shortly thereafter and slept through the night. 

Matthew did great with dropping the night feeding so, when I was physically comfortable a week later, we dropped the last feeding.  The morning feeding was the one that he longed for most from a nutritional perspective, for obvious reasons.  That first morning, when handed his cup of milk, he refused to drink it and just hugged me for 10 minutes and gave me a kiss (1 of 2 that he has ever given me) when tears fell down my cheeks.  He didn't drink anything until about noon but he ate his Raisin Bran.  He didn't drink anything, milk or water, the next day until about noon as well, but the third day he did.  And the whole time, he seemed to be getting enough fluids during the day and was not clingy and not waking up at night, so we were finished with breastfeeding and all was well.

Below are a couple of websites that I came across in my preparation phase that I loved:

http://www.letthebabydrive.com/letthebabydrive/THE_BOOTIES_PRINCIPLES.html
http://www.lalecheleague.org/nb/nbjanfeb04p4.html#.UJCJ4CKJH7Y.mailto

A Revealing: The Name of Our Second Child

It's Deuce.*

And an update on Mr./Ms. Deuce... baby's heart rate was 145 which is great and growth and health are right on track.  Lots to be grateful for. 

Next appointment is in two weeks when we go in for our ultrasound at 21 weeks where we will not be finding out the gender of Deuce.  Unless we "by accident" do find out in which case we will have no choice but to retaliate by burning every last Dr. Seuss book.  Starting with those at the doctor's office.  EVERY.  LAST.  ONE.

*Note: If you didn't know this already, Matthew was nicknamed "Stink" and "Stinker" while in the hospital right after he was born. Apparently, we're into poop.