Monday, July 30, 2012

Meet Jack Calvin

I know my newest nephew is about five weeks old, I want to show him off. C+D didn't know if they were having a boy or a girl, and I was waiting by the phone for the news. It came on June 18. First, I received an email from mom that morning saying that Casey was on her way to the hospital (the baby's due date was the 16th). I thought, OK, first baby, we have plenty of time to wait until the baby has arrived. Imagine my shock when we received the news about 9:30 that very morning! Casey had a labor to make any mom jealous--and she did it all natural! I give her all the credit in the world for doing that. Anyway, D called and said the baby has arrived! He asked me what I thought it was. I said I think it's a boy but I'm hoping it's a girl. And you can tell by the title of this post that the baby is a boy. His name was to be doled out in another day.

Luckily Phil's mom was visiting us, so I asked her if I could go meet my new nephew. She agreed to keep an eye on our kids (Phil was working), and off I went. I met up with my dad at his house, and we went together. By the time we got to the room, my mom was in there with Casey's mom, who had flown in for the birth. And that is where I got to meet my little nephew. Oh, I just melted! I didn't get any pictures of me with Jack because I was too busy holding him.

Newly minted Jack.



Sweet boy.

Happy family.

He did this on his own.
 Funny side note is that both kids wrote notes to C+D and the baby. Riley's said "Even though you had a boy, I still love you." Jeremy's said "Is your baby's name Doesn't Have a Name?" Hilarious.
Riley meeting Jack.

Wide-eyed Jack.

I think he loves his cousin.

Uncle D played some Trouble with Jeremy.

And Aunt Casey did her wonderful French braids.

Sleeping on his favorite aunt from Illinois.

Jeremy and Jack.

Cousins and Casey.

The cousins.

Riley was fighting me to hold him.

Sweet boy.
Since then, the kids and I went to visit him once and hung out with all three of them. I am over the moon that all three of them are in the city and we can go see them. Phil was able to meet Jack after the Sox game in July. And in just a few weeks, I'm co-hosting a meet-the-baby party at my parents' house. I cannot wait to watch this little guy grow up.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Not All Sunshine and Roses

I know in my last post I mentioned how I would be missing the kids once this summer is over. And it's true. I lamented to my mom today that I have no idea how she was able to get things done when my brother and I were home from school. My mom has always been a woman in motion, even to this day. She and Dad were over today, and while outside looking at our garden, she began weeding!

There have been times this summer that have been rough. Right when summer began, the kids and I went to the pool with Grandma when she was up for a visit. The following day, Jeremy didn't feel well. I chalked it up to too much sunshine. For the next five days he was very ill. I had never seen him so sick, and this is taking into consideration a time when he almost had bronchitis and pneumonia. He threw up and had diarrhea during those five days. He was puking up water, and at one point he threw up seven times on the way to the bathroom. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and I did both. Every day we thought he was getting better, and then he'd relapse. 

The fifth day was the first day of Bible school, and I finally ended up getting him into the doctor. The doctor asked a few questions: Have you been to a public pool recently? And if so, did he drink the water. The answer to both was: Yes. Turns out Jeremy had rotovirus, which is a bacteria that affects the intestines. The smell that came out of that poor boy was toxic, and it made both of us gag. Luckily the virus left his poor body right after the doctor's visit, but it was a rough few days.

And then Miss Riley. The four of us were sitting in the living room about two weeks ago, all doing our own thing. Riley and Jeremy were sitting on the couch reading, I was answering some emails and Phil was working on his computer. All of the sudden Riley flips out and starts screaming. We all tried to calm her down and get her to explain what happened. Jeremy starts crying because he's scared, and by this time Riley is inconsolable. I convince her to try to go take a shower to calm down, but she doesn't want to. She keeps grabbing her ear saying there's something in her ear. We're finally able to look in her ear and tell her we see nothing. 

I end up taking her upstairs, and on the way up, I see the culprit on the wall: a wasp. Turns out the poor girl was bitten by a wasp on her ear. We have no idea how that happened, considering we were all inside and Jeremy was sitting right next to her. Nobody heard a bee buzz by. Luckily the stinger wasn't still in her ear--I can only imagine what a disaster that would have been.

Other than that, we're just dealing with the day-to-day aspects of parenting kids and dealing with the summertime blues. The kids are outside kids, and luckily we've had a bit of a break in the weather, so we've been able to venture outside a bit more. The kids are still super involved in sports, which is helping them to run off some energy. It's hard to believe there are only 3.5 weeks left until school starts!
 

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Ah Summertime

I wish I could say that the living is easy in the summertime, but it's been anything but, as evidence by my lack of posting. I knew this summer would be more challenging than the ones in years' past, but this one is certainly taking the cake. The kids are both getting on each others' nerves (and mine at times!) by doing things to antagonize the other (something I know D and I did on more than one occasion...), Phil is working from home all the time, and the weather has been way too hot for us to even burn any energy off outside. The kids are outdoor kids, yet the excessive heat has even been too much for me to bear, and I LOVE the heat and summer!

But now we have about 6 weeks left of summer, and I know I'm going to miss the kids. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to be all smiles when they board that bus for the first day, but it's been fun having them around most of the time. We've headed to the zoo together, visited baby Jack (seriously, he is one cute kid!), went to the Sox game for the first time, gone to soccer/hockey/baseball together, headed up to Wisconsin to visit our cousins, gone to the pool and just hung out. I love them dearly, and I keep reminding myself that this will not last. I don't have many years left of "making" them come with me all the time. I'm trying to cherish this time together. The times they want to sit on my lap even though they have their wet swimsuits on, the times when they want to play a game with me on the floor, the time they want to help me make dinner. It's not always going to be this way.

Before I get too mushy, why don't I dump a few pics of the kids on here. Maybe one of these days I'll be a little better about posting, but for now I'm off to enjoy a cold beer while the kids are in bed.

Mother's Day at Mom and Dad's.

My little soccer star.

Memorial Day with my girl.

Kids with Uncle D.

The fam (minus Casey who wasn't feeling well) for Memorial Day.

My other soccer star with Papa and Nana.