Three (attempted pool visits)

Summer is finally here. It seemed it would never come and then just in time for my aunt and cousin's visit-- we had 90 degree heat and the unrelenting jet engine of our air conditioner. We did get to take them downtown to see the Lake and some of Chicago's great parks. Henry had wanted to see Buckingham fountain ("big water" by Silas' naming) and they had a lot of fun in the Crown Fountain-- doing a bit of splashing. JT bundled them home for naps and the rest of us did some walking on Michigan Avenue and then took the Architecture tour on the Chicago river. It was hot and sweaty, but fun to get downtown. I do have to say that until Silas is another year or two older i think that was the one big "downtown" outing for the summer.

He wanted in the stroller, or out, or to walk, or to be carried, or none of the above. He had fun but he also was grumpy and he's just impossible to reason with. I can only presume he'll at least get more rational as he gets older but i guess i should be prepared that his stubbornness will not subside.

Today we took the boys to the park for a bit before Tammie and Morgan headed off to the airport. Then i took Henry to swim lessons (i'll write more about that next time) and after naps i took both boys to the baby pool. Now i'm sufficiently exhausted and ready to get the boys to bed, eat dinner with JT and catch up on a few tv shows and 6 enormous baskets of laundry!

On the Road

I wrote this while traveling and didn't get a chance to post until now that i'm back home; for 12 hours at least:

I think I hinted earlier at how busy things were getting; we’re now in the thick of it. We had a wonderful visit with Oma and Opa this past weekend and enjoyed an outing to the zoo and another to the farmers’ market and many, many books read. The boys both enjoyed having them hear immensely and were happy to hear they’d be back at Christmas.

The day after they left I spent the morning at a meeting downtown and then headed straight to the airport for a flight to CA. I’m doing a site visit to an organization out here in San Jose and had the luck to be able to stay with my friend Kai and her husband Andrey from way back on Guam days. They have a beautiful house and I loved sleeping with the windows open and getting the cool night air, as well as run this morning (got to love jet lag when you travel to the west coast) checking out all the flora and fauna that either died awhile ago, or doesn’t grow in Chicago climate.

Tonight I’m hoping to meet up with my high school friend Tom that lives in this area, and tomorrow Kai and I are headed up to have breakfast with college friends and then explore San Francisco before I fly back home Thursday afternoon.

The fun doesn’t stop there though, as I’ll return to a houseguest who’s splitting his time over the next week between staying with us and our friends Marc and Jessica. I’m taking Friday off (phew) so I can unpack, deal with whatever wreckage has occurred in the house, and repack for Saturdays’ trip with the boys to meet my Dad in OK and drive out to stay with my country grandparents for the weekend.

There’s lots more I want to write about things like what I learned about vegetable gardening this year, how my cabinet refinishing went, what the boys are up to, and more but you’ll just have to wait until I can catch a few minutes with a power source and my computer.

Jungle Party

Henry and Silas' Oma and Opa joined us for a long weekend visit and were mucho help getting everything ready for Henry and Silas' birthday party. Especially with JT mostly down for the count, we took full advantage of the two able bodies. I have to say that i think the party was a success. The weather was cool and a little overcast, but nothing stopping little kids from playing outside some.


I had tried to prepare activities and organized games for the kids but somehow once most kids made an animal headband/mask free play pretty much ruled the party for the rest of the time. I did lead one round of jungle animal charades which was extremely amusing. I had cards with jungle animals on them and i would show one child the card and the idea is they would make sounds and act like that animal while everyone else guessed. Most of them would say the name of the animal outloud and if they needed help with the sounds and you whispered what an elephant sounds like they would repeat the sound in whisper form. Classic. After everyone had a turn-- and Henry had gone twice the kiddos were released back to playing. Guess we'll have to book a clown next year ;)


Henry got the cake i think he was hoping for-- chocolate with "lots of animals" and a dinosaur. It was huge, heavy and delicious. He was the recipient of some beautiful paintings, cards and drawings and one pass for hide and seek which he intends to cash in at his earliest opportunity. Although we didn't do gifts at the party, he got plenty of fun presents from family. He's already made use of his new paints (with drawings coming as thank-yous to many of you), he's been practicing spelling with his new magnetic letters and board-- playing grocery store with his scanner and shopping game, and reading the coolest pop-up books over and over and over that include sounds and tell you all about the ocean and night creatures. JT and I gave Henry and Silas a joint gift-- a wagon that seats both of them. Although it has seat-belts, i'm not sure Silas is ready for it just yet but i have a feeling by this summer he and Henry will be toodling around in it quite happily.


His presents were drawn out a few days and he received his wagon on Friday along with some additional gifts from Oma and Opa. He was very excited to say the least and immediately went out on a wagon ride with Opa bringing along his new curious George flaslight so "he could see." I think it was 6 pm but you never know when there's going to be a total eclipse.

3 Weeks, 2 Days/ 2 Years, 2 Days

Things are continuing to roll on at our household. Henry has been home enjoying spending time with his Oma and Opa. It actually worked out pretty well, because his col has been back and especially yesterday, i'm not sure he could have gone to daycare. He took a 4 hour nap yesterday and slept in today which i think is helping him. Unfortunately, i feel like i'm coming down with his cold and Silas was up closer to every two hours last night.

My back is feeling considerably better which is definitely a good thing. I go for another adjustment this afternoon.

Henry had a great actual birthday on Tuesday. We had balloons tied to his chair when he woke up for breakfast and in the evening we went to dinner out a nearby Mexican restaurant. You can see the trains go by from where we sat, so Henry was in heaven. The waitress really liked Henry and when she found out it was his birthday she brought him a yummy piece of cake with a birthday candle in it. He was stumped about blowing it out but once we showed him what to do he was pretty excited. We opened his birthday gifts when we got back to the house and then headed to bed. We're looking forward to his party on Saturday and hope the weather cooperates.

Quick Update before bed

I'm a little too sleepy to work out everyone's respective ages, but i wanted to post something quickly before i head to bed.

We bid farewell to my parents today and it went better than expected. I wasn't sure how Henry would react, because he really bonded with them and "Nonna" became the most frequent refrain in our house in the last week. JT and Henry drove them to the train station and although he asked about them a couple times, he seemed okay with the explanation that they were getting on an airplane to their house. I know he'll look forward to seeing them later this summer, and will also enjoy the privilege of spending time with his Oma and Opa in just a few weeks as well.

Thankfully JT is still off this week and potentially part of next week, assuming he can get some work done at home. Henry is heading back to daycare tomorrow though, as i think we'll all have more time to bond with Silas and Henry will have the stimulation of all his friends and his caretakers.

Silas has been going 3-4 hours between feedings at night, but occasionally wakes up after just 2 hours like last night. I make it through by sleeping in until about 10 in the mornings. Tomorrow Jt will take Henry to daycare and Silas will stay home with me while JT's out, so hopefully that routine will continue.

5 Days/ 23 Months 2 Weeks, 1 Day

We're really enjoying being at home, discovering a routine with Silas and Henry, and having a lot of help from my parents. Henry is absolutely ecstatic that his Gran and Nonna are here. They've been taking walks outside, coloring and playing inside and in general keeping Henry more than entertained.

Henry is getting more interested in Silas, but is very sweet with him. He likes to lean in over his bouncy seat and sweetly say "hi!" Right now he just calls him "baby," we're working on "Silas." We do have to monitor Henry closely when Silas is in the swing. Henry likes to turn the swing up to it's highest setting and Silas looks like he's about ready to launch.

We're doing really well with Silas so far. The first night home was the roughest because we hadn't gotten much sleep in the hospital that day and Silas was wanting to eat almost every hour. I did discover that he will take the pacifier and actually does a decent job of holding on to it. Each night since has been a little better. First 2-3 hour breaks between eating, and then consistently 3 and last night he went almost 5 hours between meals. Since you time from the start of one feeding to the next, and eating takes awhile when he keeps falling asleep, it doesn't work out to quite 5 hours of sleep-- but still i'll take it for a 5-day old!

We had his 4-day checkup yesterday and everything was absolutely perfect. He had a bilirubin level of 0 (indicative of jaundice) which is so unusual they tested it twice to make sure. We discussed all the different medical issues Henry has had and so far Silas looks clear of all of them. Although it can definitely still develop, at this point Silas isn't much of a spitter and doesn't show any signs of the pyloric stenosis stomach problem that Henry had. We're also enjoying his calm temperment and general sleepiness. I remember that Henry's fussiness developed more as he got closer to 3 weeks so in a sense i'm still waiting for the other shoe to fall, but for now he's a very "good" baby that's been pretty easy to integrate into our family.

I'll post some pictures soon but wanted to get this update posted.

21 Months, 6 Days

You may notice that the last several posts have been copies of the "baby roundtable" missives i've been sending to a group of new and experienced parents. I posted them
all to my blog and then created permanent links to these posts so that they will be a resource to other parents that aren't participating in the "live" version of the roundtable. You can find the links by looking in the sidebar on the right.

Henry will have quite a treat when i pick him up from Ms. Brenda's today. My mom spent Sunday with us and then headed out to the suburbs where she's been attending a conference. The conference wrapped up this afternoon so she's on her way out to stay with us tonight. Henry has added "Nonna" to the list of people that he asks about so i know he'll be exited to see her. It's funny though because he has a tounge twist when he says "Nonna"-- literally. I can't do the pronunciation justice in writing but it's pretty fun to watch.

20 Months, 2 Weeks, 1 Day

We enjoyed a mix of activity and a quiet ringing in of the new year this weekend and appreciated very much having the extra day together. We were hosting out-of-town friends on Friday night and turned it in to a dinner party for 8 adults and 4 kids based on who knew our friends when they were in Chicago. JT cooked up a storm, and we had the best kind of dinner guests-- those that pitched right in and did almost all of the dishes!

We ran around doing shopping and errands on Saturday and then Sunday night went out to an early dinner with all three of us. The restaurant we had planned to go to was closed so we went to another one right up the street. It was quite good but a tiny bit fancier than the one we had planned to visit. They had highchairs, so it wasn't like the time we went to the sushi place and they didn't even have highchairs and everything was upholstered in white-- this place was just a bit quieter than the normal restaurant we frequent with Henry. He did really, really well and was super quiet, even if during dessert he was occupying himself by dipping a sugar cube in butter and moisturizing his face with it.

Sunday night we did last until midnight, but we didn't watch the ball drop. Instead we looked at Henry's baby pictures and talked about what the new year holds for our family.

20 Months, 1 Week, 5 Days

We're semi-back into our normal routine. Henry went to daycare on Wednesday, stayed home with JT Thursday, and is back there today until i pick him up early about 3:30. He's loved being at home and exploring all of his new toys. He seems to particularly be enamoured of all his new train stuff (thanks to so many people!) and his kitchen. I was worried that after a full-house and always someone to play with, he might have a hard time adjusting to independent play again. I think all the new toys certainly made the transition easier because we'll find ourselves busily putting away dishes or doing other chores and suddenly thinking-- where's Henry? Only to find him happily and quietly playing away in his playroom.

We're looking forward to the second round of our holiday-hosting today. When friends from law school come to visit and stay the night. We're having a dinner party for 8 adults and 4 kids in their honor so JT is home and cooking all day. I'm getting some last bits of work done so that i can enjoy the 3-day weekend and be in good shape for the new year.

Speaking of the new year, starting next week we need to start getting some things ready for the little baby, who we plan to name Silas.

You might remember that we were tight-lipped about Henry's name, and didn't reveal it to anyone until he was born. We settled on Silas pretty early and decided this time around we weren't so worried about whether people liked it or not, so it wasn't a big deal to go ahead and reveal the name. It's been interesting going this route. On the one hand when we constantly refer to the baby by his name, he seems like more of a real person, and it just augments the clearer understanding i have this time that a real-life human baby is growing in my belly and will soon emerge as Henry's little brother with his own personality and temperament. I think those are all good things.

On the other hand, even though i think we're pretty certain about the name-- telling everyone makes it feel locked in, and sometimes i want to feel like we're still debating, still not sure who this little one will be.

But there you have it Silas Bloch will be making his debut in March-- hopefully nearer the end than the beginning of the month!

18 Months, 1 Week, 4 Days

Henry had a full weekend. He has enjoyed the visit with his grandparents immensely and invented his own little games and interactions with each of them. We made use of a really beautiful fall day today by heading to the park where Henry did really, really well. Just a few of his accomplishments include going down the slide on his own, and getting much more confident walking up the ramp and up and over the bridge. By the last time on the bridge he walked without holding on to either my hand or the railing and did a wonderful cautious job. The easy part of his park "therapy" is getting him to walk around on the grass and to transition from grass to sidewalk. We're supposed to get him used to walking and transitioning among different surfaces but he just loves all the leaves covering the grass so much that it's not work at all to get him to cooperate. I know come therapy Wednesday our big issue is going to be going down stairs which he still absolutely hates and will protest against with all his might.

Henry did seem a bit off his game today however. He had some kind of stomach bug yesterday which affected his digestive tract but not really his mood. Today his teeth really seemed to be bothering him and he was really congested. He was just cranky and not very cooperative and there were quite a few full-blown tantrums. We're hoping a good night's sleep helps so that he'll be back to normal on Monday.

JT and i did get to enjoy a really wonderful dinner out while Henry's Grandparents babysat. Unfortunately Henry has gotten to the age when he's really aware we aren't there and from all accounts he had a pretty rough night until bedtime. Tonight JT wasn't feeling well and went up to bed before Henry. You could tell Henry was confused and worried about where JT had gone and really wanted to make sure that i was staying put.

17 Weeks, 3 Days

Henry's cold seems to have come back. We noticed his nose was really running over the weekend and by Monday he also seemed more tired and run-down. He went to bed right at 7 pm last night (an hour early) and slept until about 7 this morning. He seemed to be doing okay tonight, but still a little on the tired side, so we put him to bed early tonight as well.

Otherwise we had a quiet evening. I feel like i've heard him trying to imitate words recently but they sound so similar to his other "jabberish" that i can't tell if i'm hallucinating or not.

Henry babbles all the time, but we rarely understand any words in his jabbering. He does however have a pretty keen sense of hearing and has gotten to where he not only understands what's said directly to him, but he picks up on when we're talking about him or something related to him in conversation.

This weekend my folks were visiting and i was telling them that we hadn't played with crayons much lately because last time i left him coloring i came back and he was munching on the crayons. He hardly ever puts stuff in his mouth so afterwards i emphasized the page from his "Yummy Yucky" book about "Mommy's cookies are yummy, crayon's are YUCKY." This used to be one of his favorite books, but he hadn't read it in at least a couple weeks. He was playing in the kitchen with us while we were talking.

He toddled off to his room and from his entire shelf of books picked "Yummy Yucky" out and brought it right to us to read!

16 month pictures are up on yahoo...

17 Months, 3 Weeks

(first let me apologize. I thought this posted Sunday night, and now that i'm here settling in to my work week, i see i got an error that it never posted. Sorry about that!)


Sorry for the posting lapse. We had a busy end of week, but have just enjoyed a really wonderful fall weekend. Saturday the weather was beautiful-- sunny and warm, so we took advantage and headed over to the zoo. Henry had his first carousel ride (even if it was on the boring bench) and seemed to enjoy the monkeys the most. Many of the animals he either displayed mild interest or some fear of, but the monkeys really held his interest. He kept asking to see more after we moved on to another exhibit.

Today he had a good time playing around the house and going for a few short walks outside. He was quite the helper while we cooked and baked, and sharpened his laundry skills by putting clothes in the dryer.

I bought him a little kitchen set for Christmas and it came with a washer/dryer/ironing board unit. I decided to give him the laundry center now and he seemed excited for it (especially when he first spied it), but he didn't quite "get" it. I realized that he hadn't probably seen me using the washer and dryer since his cognitive skills started to sharpen because they're in the basement and that is not a place for little kiddos to play. We brought him down there today while we were pow-wowing around the washer we're going to have to replace, he helped us transfer water-logged clothes to the dryer. Now he understands his washer and dryer, and i've been finding all kinds of goodies in them.

Finished! At least the kitchen...

They've completed the work on the kitchen, effective this pm. I kept thinking i would post the pictures i took last night-- but JT was fully using the kitchen (he made traditional vietnamese soup (Pho) and lime granita last night) and things looked a bit cluttered. They are just about done loading all their tools in the van so i decided to wait and show you the gleaming kitchen shots.

Although we've had a functional kitchen for a week now, it's going to be really nice not to have grit as our secret ingredient for all dishes. They're off on another job for a week and then they'll be back to work on the bathroom. I think it turned out absolutely beautiful!

We have houseguests coming into town tomorrow. Our friends Matt and Marisa who we vacationed with last summer in CO. We haven't seen them since and we're really looking forward to catching up with them and introducing them to the much happier Young Master Bloch. When they spent time with him last summer he was at his peak of crying, crying and a little bit of sleeping. Thankfully he does a LOT more now and there's very little crying (although some whining which we're trying to address).

16 Months, 3 Days

We've had a fun weekend catching up with a friend from DC before he moves out to California. Henry was 3 months old the last time he saw Ben, so they've had some catching up to do. We all headed over to friends house for a BBQ on Saturday and then after Henry and dad went home for a boys' night, I got to stay out to play poker with the adults. I only lost 40 cents so it wasn't too shabby for me. Today we took advantage of the absolutely beautiful weather and headed out to the Lake. Henry was really happy to sit on the blanket with the rest of us eating strawberries and chips and playing with empty cups-- really there is no better way to pass an afternoon.

Henry walked a couple times with his "Push Along Happy Elephant" toy. It's not a walker, but a popcorn popper-type toy. There's no stability to it at all, just something akin to Dumbo's feather. He's gotten more brave about standing on his own as well and figured out how to get DOWN the stairs after mastering going up several weeks ago. Unfortunately, he also suffered his first real injury. He put his hand on an envelope as he started to crawl and his hand slid out from under him. He bruised his chin pretty badly, and i know it really hurt, which makes me feel terrible everytime i look at it.

We were completely excited to have both our countertops and sinks installed on Friday. The countertop installation went smoothly and our contractors finished with their other job a day early and were here to supervise the counter installation and get back to work on the kitchen. I think i finally picked a winner for paint and we decided to select some tile for a backsplash so hopefully we're pretty much done making decisions on the kitchen. I'll take pictures soon.