Mr. & Mrs. Gubbins & Sons

Advent Memories

2012-02-06T19:30:00.001-06:00

Time for a little more catch-up on the blog, I decided. I guess I'm in the mood to finish and wrap things up--haven't just turned my dissertation in to my committee! I'm not technically done until after my defense, but my it feels good to have the writing done :-)

A few memories from Advent 2011:

Grandma Marilyn helped Theodore play in the snow for the first time!

The boys had a blast helping decorate for Christmas.

Andy and his folks took the boys to their farm to pick out and cut down a Christmas tree. Here they are on the walk up the hill...

...and with the tree (actually top of a tree) they picked!

Simon is in Sunday School this year for the first time, which meant he got to be part of the Christmas program at church. The Beginners (what they call their 3-4 year old class) stand in the front during the finale--here is Simon "singing" Joy to the World with all the kids. (How much singing actually came out of the Beginner's mouths is anyone's guess!) He did great.

Would anyone other than pastor's kids play peek-a-boo under the altar?

Family photo after the Christmas program.

Its hard to catch a close up of Theodore when he's not in motion--I love this one :-)

The boys got some very special gifts from our Nanny just before Christmas, including plush chipmunks--Theodore for Theodore, and Simon for Simon, of course. They have become favorites!

Forced Day Off

2012-01-12T08:16:00.001-06:00

Well, after the stomach flu passed through 3/4 of our family, it got to our nanny. So today is a forced day off for me--the inconvenience of falling behind with work aside, not such a bad thing all in all, as I get a little time to just enjoy my boys playing!

5 in 24

2012-01-07T00:09:00.001-06:00

Well, you wouldn't know it from this picture taken earlier today (both boys thought it was a good idea to wear winter hats along with their jammies this morning), but little Theodore has the flu or something similar. Since last night around this time, when he threw up for the first time, we have changed his outfit and sheets five times--that's 5 crib sheets in 24 hours, which is definitely a new record for us. (We have also been doing a lit of laundry today!) Thankfully, aside from the actual throwing up and subsequent cleaning up, Theodore seems to be taking it mostly in stride. We are hoping it's just a 24-hour bug!

Birthday Boy Simon

2011-12-30T12:47:00.001-06:00

Here he is, four years old today!

The Boys' Favorite New Pastime

2011-12-24T15:24:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving Fun

2011-12-24T15:02:00.002-06:00

Well, here I have arrived at Christmas Eve without posting our Thanksgiving photos. The best laid plans...

But as the boys watch a 1950s-era Rudolph show, I suppose I can spare a few minutes to upload some!

I hope you are all enjoying a very Merry Christmas!

Our Thanksgiving Fun:

All but one of the kiddos (Olivia): Abbie, Theodore, Izzie, Simon, & Emelia, checking out the view from the cabin deck.

What would a hiking trip with Andy and Alex be if they didn't find something ridiculously large to throw in the river? (I mean, what's the difference between a "stick" and a "log" anyway?)

A hiking we will go...

...a hiking we will go!

Mmmm...Thanksgiving feast! (and there's little Olivia!)

The whole gang :-)

Before heading out of BackBone State Park, we stopped to take a photo of Simon and I by this bittersweet...

...because four (!) years ago he and I posed in the same spot!

Cleaning Boys

2011-12-23T09:13:00.001-06:00

Oh, to always have boys fighting over who gets to sweep!

Holiday Catch-Up: Halloween

2011-12-13T18:58:00.000-06:00

As we are fast approaching Christmas, I decided perhaps it was time to make time to catch up on the blog. We're two major holidays behind, after all!

Simon helped with the pumpkin scooping...

...under expert supervision, of course.

Jess got in on the carving action as well.

Here we are with our pumpkins--Simon's designed by himself, carved by Daddy, Theodore's designed and carved by Daddy, and Mommy's designed and carved by herself!

Theodore went trick or treating for the first time this year. He was dressed as a jester, and Simon as Superman (thanks Ellie & Ben for passing on your old costumes!)

The boys loved trick-or-treating. It was as though the bucket was glued to Theodore's hand--he just thought it was brilliant that he could stand in front of someone's door and they would give him candy!

Here are the triumphant candy-gatherers, nearing the end of their journey.

So...Happy late Halloween everyone!

Headache Woes

2011-11-22T09:21:00.001-06:00

We had a lovely Halloween, and a very stressful month since, which is why I have yet to post any Halloween photos.

In academic news, I wrote and turned in a (very rough) draft of my dissertation to my advisor! Yay! And I have a date set for the dissertation defense: March 5th. Between now and then there will be lots and lots of finishing and revising to do...but for the moment I've decided to take a break from it and not even look at it again until I hear back from my advisor with her thoughts on the draft. Why spend time fixing it up if she's going to tell me to scrap a whole section, right?

In the meantime I am more than busy enough keeping up with my two classes this semester and now thinking about two classes next semester. I was for a brief time pleasantly caught up...that would have lasted, given the break-from-dissertation, if it weren't for some very pesky migraines I've been dealing with lately. They have ramped up in frequency, intensity, and duration this fall. It just doesn't seem fair. I was coping okay when I used to get them once every month or two. Now I have had three in a month and a half. And they used to last 3-4 days. These past three have lasted 7 days, 14 days, and--well, I'm currently in day 3 of this one. So just when I think I have a shot at getting or being caught up with work, along comes a migraine to wipe out several days of work time and make several more days much less productive than they should be.

Do the fates think I didn't have enough to juggle with two young kids, teaching two classes a long commute away, and trying to write a dissertation, or what?! And, well, it would be just lovely if I actually got to see my husband more than in passing and as we fall asleep!

Ah. Okay, done complaining. Back to work.

Photo Catch-Up

2011-10-29T10:40:00.001-05:00

My last couple of posts have been from my ipod, where I don't have access to most of our photos--so here's a little catch-up of photos from things mentioned in our last few posts:

Simon, ready for his first day of preschool

Simon also got to start Sunday School this fall--all the 3 year olds get a "bible bag" to color...some make a few strokes and are done, but as you can see, Simon was the last little kid there--he colored every inch!

Thanks to some generous overnight babysitting by Grandma & Grandpa, and free lodging in Andy's Aunt & Uncle's cabin, Andy and Jess were able to get away for two nights to celebrate their 7th anniversary, at the end of August

We found a lovely Italian-Persian-Greek-and-American fare restaurant!

Andy helped Jess do a little fishing from the dock while at the cabin!

These photos are from our first letterboxing adventure--we started off with a picnic.

Simon and Andy found the letterbox, just slightly off the trail

And Jess supervised the stamping effort (if you don't know much about letterboxing, check out :

http://www.letterboxing.org/ )

Here's our first stamp in a logbook!

This is the second one we've found--just a couple weekends later.

This particular letterbox we had seen before, as Jen, Nathan & family had found it on one of their visits. We took some time to flip through the logbook, and found their stamp, dated 7-20-2010!

This is one of many attempts we've had to replicate an adorable photo of Andy & Peter in their jammies on the back of a sofa--this one was actually spontaneous, or started out that way (then we made them stay there to try and get a photo with both looking at the camera).

Whenever Andy has time on a Monday, he and the boys try to visit Great-Grandpa Hubert & Great-Grandma Audrey in Red Wing.

Here we are in the CROP walk!

Both boys riding...

And Andy doing double duty with both boys "riding"!

That's all for now!

Walking, planting, letterboxing...

2011-10-08T22:22:00.001-05:00

We wanted to thank everyone who sponsored us in the CROP walk, which was this past Sunday. We walked the whole way--Theodore was surprisingly content in the stroller (with a 45 min nap in the middle, which helped!), and Simon was...well, less content. Our pace varied quite a bit depending on Simon's mood--he wanted to walk, but was slow and got bored/tired pretty quickly. So he rotated between walking, riding in the stroller, and riding on Daddy's shoulders. All in all it went very well, and we were proud to have raised $330.25 to fight hunger--so thank you everyone!

We have been trying to get outside to enjoy the nice weather (while it lasts), especially on those rare occasions when all four of is are able to spend some time together. The past few weekends we've been able to get outside as a family--finding our first two letterboxes (thanks to Jen, Nathan, Ellie, and Ben for getting us started!), and just today planting some trees in the neighborhood. Well, Andy and Simon helped plant trees, while Jess & Theodore played at a nearby playground. They got these spectacular tie-dye shirts, which Simon was VERY excited about, as green is his favorite color.

Here's hoping all of you are finding ways to get outside and enjoy the weather too!

Our Preschooler

2011-10-06T20:26:00.001-05:00

It's official, we have a preschooler in the house!

Simon is truly enjoying his first year of preschool. He goes two mornings a week. Every day after signing in, the kids practice writing their names on little dry erase boards--something that has Simon pause his first day (there were almost, but not quite, tears). And just a couple weeks later, look how proud he is of the excellent job he did writing "Simon"!

Our Summer Part 3B: Fun With Grandma & Grandpa--In Madison!

2011-09-13T20:01:00.000-05:00

Just after our weekend in Red Wing, Jess and the boys spent a long weekend in Madison, while Andy led a youth mission trip. We had a lovely time!

Kitchen Orchestra:

The boys enjoyed practicing their percussive skills with the kitchenware!

There were several days of chalk creations, as it kept raining...we'd draw one day, and have a clean slate the next!

This is Grandma's beautiful drawing of Grandma & Simon :-)

On our last full day, we went to a dreampark (read: playground on steroids) in Monona--it was LOTS of castle-themed fun!

Here the boys took a little ride on Nessy

Theodore's favorite spot in the climber was a little sloped bridge he could slide down on his stomach

"What a fantastic time!" thinks Sir Simon, honorable knight :-)

Our Summer, Part 3A: August Fun with Grandma & Grandpa

2011-09-13T19:25:00.002-05:00

We had lots of fun in August on small weekend excursions. The kids were able to see lots of Steve & Marilyn, starting with a little birthday celebration for Marilyn at a nearby state park:

Theodore demonstrates his understanding of "where's your tongue?!"

Simon helped Grandma blow out the candles

A little later, while Andy enjoyed a weekend getaway with friends, Jess and the kids spent a weekend in Red Wing. We all got to go for a ride in Great-Grandpa Roy's old fishing boat! Simon loved it. Theodore seemed to like it at first (steering was fun!), but got less content as the journey continued.

Captain Theodore takes the wheel...

...and Captain Simon, too!

it was a lovely time...

...though Theodore probably preferred his later play time in the pool

We also enjoyed dinner with Ron and Rose, and a stop to feed the fish in Plum City, WI.

Mmmm...breadcrumbs? Don't mind if I do, thinks Theodore as he aims for his mouth rather than the fish.

It was hard to tear the kids away, even after the breadcrumbs were all gone!

We ended the weekend with the River City Days Parade, which Simon especially enjoyed. Not only did HE get candy, but Uncle Peter and the very nice boy next to him (whose name I forget already) helped ensure Simon and Theodore got "enough" candy (and trust me, they got plenty!).

Our Summer, Part 2A: July, cont'd

2011-09-05T19:27:00.002-05:00

After our two big week-long trips, to Denver & Seaside, we had several other mini-adventures in July, including...

A Camping Trip with Jen, Adam, Zoe, & Henry!
We certainly have missed these folks as they were in Valpo during the school year--it was great to get to see them again this summer, and we are hoping to make family camping with them a yearly tradition.

Here Zoe (3) shows off some local flora

Andy and Adam, responding to my prompt "and HOW much do you like playing with fire?!"

Here are Jen and Henry, watching the fire progress

...and speaking of Theodore, we happened to find this "Tot Spot" camping chair at a garage sale for $1 just a week or so before camping--definitely a dollar well spent!

There was a little swimming beach at Whitewater State Park, where we camped. There someone thought it would be just hilarious to bury my foot...we won't point any fingers here, but lets just say his first name starts with a common grammatical conjunction....and ends with "y" :-P.

We were gifted with a used double jogger this summer--we already have a double stroller, and weren't sure whether we'd ever pull this one out--but we took it camping, and it was GREAT. Its now our go-to stroller for hikes/camping, whereas the other double (front/back) is awesome for anything guaranteed to be on pavement (not so useful with the off-roading). On our way to and from the beach, a few people asked if Henry and Theodore were twins :-).

The County Fair

So it turns out that in Minnesota--at least outside of the Cities--county fairs are well-attended events. Coming from the Cities, we assumed that whenever anyone asked if you went to "THE Fair," they meant the MN State Fair...and I (Jess) have never been to a county fair before in my life...but here in Rochester we found they were actually asking about the Olmsted County Fair--you know, the fair--anytime anyone asked "so, have you been to the fair yet?". Only Andy made it last year, so we figured we better get the kids and Jess to it this year. Steve, Marilyn, & Peter came along for the fun!

Theodore's favorite was petting animals--here he got his hands on a sheep, along with Simon (who, if you look closely at the blurry photo, is actually pulling Theodore's hand away--hard to say if he was trying to "protect" Theodore from the sheep, "protect" the sheep from Theodore, or just get himself a bigger piece of the action!

Simon was VERY excited about a Ferris wheel ride--he enjoyed it, though he was not too keen on looking over the edge, or moving out of his seated position at all.

Simon played the fishing game and won a prize! He was very excited. Maybe when he's older we'll explain the difference between all of the games we shoo-ed him past and the "everyone wins" game we steered him towards...or maybe we'll just let him figure it out on his own.

He was pretty adventurous, trying several different kiddie rides--this was a 4-wheeler/ATV one...

...and his favorite was probably the helicopter ride, as he talked for days afterwards about how he "flewed a helicopter!"

Our Summer, Part 2: Seaside

2011-09-05T18:02:00.000-05:00

We had an unusual summer this year in that it involved two cross-country trips--first to Denver, and then to Seaside, Oregon, where we spent a week with Jen, Nathan, Ellie, & Ben at Jess's aunt and uncle's place (a huge thank you to them for having us out there!)

Simon is now under the unfortunate impression that plane rides should occur about every month--as he's asked numerous times since July, "when do we go on the next plane ride?" as if its as regular an event as driving up to Red Wing!

We attended an Independence Day parade in Seaside--the first real parade for both our kids. The thrill of catching thrown candy was palpable for at least one of them!

Here Simon, Ellie, and Ben lead the rest of us down to the beach for a little play time before supper.

Theodore crawls off into the sunset, reveling in the chance to play in as much sand AND as much water as he has ever imagined!

Cousins!

Simon spend a good deal of time "mowing" the beach with this crab-shaped sand sifter.

Theodore, meanwhile, enjoyed getting a real taste (sadly, not figuratively!) of the beach.

Sparklers! Andy got to introduce his son to the joy of lighting explosive devices...

We also got to see a few historic Lewis & Clark sites. Here three of the cousins found handy shelves to crawl into at Fort Canby.

Andy does double-duty carrying both kids on a hike up to see a lighthouse.

The lighthouse at/near Fort Canby!

Simon posing at the overlook by the lighthouse.

Ben & Ellie enjoyed dressing up in period costumes at the Lewis & Clark National Park.

We are hoping to see more of the Spandes now that they are stateside again!

Video Message From Theodore

2011-08-27T23:44:00.003-05:00

This video was taken earlier in the summer...I just now put it together into a little series here, because it seemed fitting for the occasion: Simon & Theodore are heading to Grandma & Grandpa's for a couple nights, to give Andy & Jess a little alone time to celebrate their anniversary!

I Want Grandma & Grandpa! (~ 2 min):

So, Theodore, you get just what you hoped for!

(THANK YOU to Steve & Marilyn for some much-needed couple time!)

Now where were we?

2011-08-23T20:42:00.006-05:00

...oh yes, way back in May, when Theodore turned 1 year old. Well, a whole summer of things has happened since then! There's no way I can possibly catch up before school starts in *gulp* two weeks, unless I do some serious editing...and so, here we have just a few highlights from our summer adventures.

The Gubbins' Summer, part 1: June

Trip #1: Denver

June started with a bang, as we got to take an airplane (!!!) ride out to Denver. Simon doesn't remember the previous two airplane rides he has taken, and so was VERY excited.

Theodore, though he didn't have the calmest of flights, was also not as fussy as he could have been, so we considered his first flights a success.

Why go to Denver? Why, to see my dear friend Sarah get married, of course! Here she is with her honey--Josh.

Okay, so we did more than "see" her get married. I was pleased as punch to be the matron of honor, and Andy officiated the ceremony! It was a whole family affair :).

Aubrey, Sarah, and Jess--together again after a LONG time!

We weren't alone in Denver--my folks, and Andy's folks too, came along! My parents and I spent some time driving around our old neighborhood (we lived in Littleton, CO for 8 years)--here they are in front of our old house.

We told Simon we would see mountains in Denver, and he immediately asked if he could climb one. Knowing the mountains are actually a bit of a drive from Denver itself, and that we'd be pretty busy with the wedding, we were hesitant to promise anything, but he kept asking and asking. Luckily, on our last day, we took a little trip up to Idaho Springs to eat at Beau Jo's Pizza--and passed a little hiking spot along the way. So Simon DID get to climb his mountain--in fact, he led the whole group of us all the way to the top!

Grandma Marilyn & Grandpa Steve with the boys, atop the mountain

We had a lovely trip to Denver, and were so happy to be a part of Sarah and Josh's wedding! Now we just need to figure out a time to get back there to visit them again...

That brings us to mid-June, when we took a family camping trip. Like the airplane ride, Simon didn't really remember the last time we went camping (he was under 2), and was VERY excited by the idea. The experience did not disappoint! (Well, maybe it disappointed Theodore, who was crawling all over but not yet standing or walking much, and therefore was covered in mud and dirt anytime we let him roam...which meant we limited those times, and that was not exactly what his ideal camping trip would consist of!

Just getting camp set up

Simon at the playground at the State Park

Two happy campers :-)

The end of June and early July brought a couple of sad goodbyes...

...to Miss Lisa, our daycare provider, who decided to return to work in the corporate world rather than continue her family daycare business

...and to Paloma, Leif, and Kai (about 6 months old here), who have headed off to California to pursue life (and employment!) post-PhD

That's all for now, folks!

Next chance I get, I'll let you know about all the exciting things we did in July...but no guarantees on how soon that post will be out :-).

News Flash: First Steps!

2011-07-18T10:15:00.002-05:00

We interrupt our regular several-weeks-behind-the-times blogging schedule to bring you this breaking news: Theodore took his first steps yesterday!

Look Who's Walking (0:51)

One Year...ish

2011-07-09T17:31:00.003-05:00

Well, he's 14 mo6n3ths .already3..3.an.d 3"he2l

3p.ing me type"..

.can you tell?.

....................................................a few 0b3ela20.ted photos from

the

party:

Easter 2011

2011-05-28T11:30:00.002-05:00

After Easter services in Rochester, we headed to Red Wing to celebrate there:

Grandma Marilyn & Theodore sitting at the farm

Grandpa teaches Simon how to make paper rockets fly!

Aunt Karlie & Theodore

The Gubbins Family

Simon, with one basket hunting eggs, finds his Easter basket!

Even Theodore got to hunt for eggs

Happy Guys :-)

Theodore's Easter basket was waiting for him on the deck

One Month Later...A Lot Has Happened!

2011-05-28T11:26:00.002-05:00

Since we last posted about a month ago:

We celebrated Theodore's first birthday

Theodore started doing more exciting things like pulling to a stand & cruising

The semester ended for Jessica...and summer session started

Andy & the kids were in an accident that totaled our van (just this Monday)

So it's been an exciting few weeks, and a we are a bit behind on posting! We'll see if we can make up for lost time in the next few days here...

Week in Madison

2011-04-27T22:15:00.006-05:00

Happy 90th (Great-)Grandma Carole!
(can you believe she's 90? She doesn't look a day older than 70!)

After a weekend in the Dells, Andy headed back home to work while Jess and the boys headed to Madison for a week. We wanted to attend my grandmother's 90th birthday celebration the weekend following, and since I spend most of my week working from home anyway, it seemed silly to drive all the way back to Rochester on Monday, just to drive all the way back to Wisconsin on Friday.

So, we enjoyed a lovely week with my folks in Madison in the interim--we even got to see Aunt Liz, who happened to be in town for a wedding. Unfortunately, Theodore was sick and miserable for much of the week...which means the rest of us were fairly miserable as well, trying to keep a sick baby at least relatively content while Mommy had to do (at least some) work! He had his highest fever yet, actually, peaking at just over 103 degrees one night--poor guy.

Of course, we managed to have fun despite the illness, and even Theodore enjoyed himself as he was on the mend towards the end of our stay. A few photos:

playing at the playground with Grandpa

at Grandma Carole's birthday party, Simon and Theodore enjoyed getting to see some of their second cousins

lots of "Go Fish!" was played

a fun new addition to Grandma & Grandpa's toy selection was a pop-up play tent and tunnel

the tent portion soon became Simon's restaurant!

And he's off!

2011-04-23T22:28:00.002-05:00

Theodore is now a little crawling machine. Here is some footage from his first day or two (double the speed, and you can imagine what he's like now, two weeks later!):

Theodore Crawling (19 sec):

Belated Congrats to Dave & Kristin

2011-04-23T22:04:00.005-05:00

We have been traveling recently and have a backlog of photos and updates to share...I think roughly chronological order will be easiest for my little mind to remember, so here we go--two weekends ago:

We celebrated Dave & Kristin's wedding about a year late, with a weekend in the Dells with good friends. It was a lovely, relaxing time, with plenty of antics from the five children present!

Simon was given a game of "Go Fish" for Christmas, and he just loves it. We have played a LOT of Go Fish recently--Carl was kind enough to join us one evening.

We have learned that when Theodore gets cranky, giving him a little water to play in can work wonders...and I just love that look on his face--what is he thinking???

Out for a walk with Carl

Theodore's first trips down a slide were very popular :).

The Gubbins Family

Brothers on the playground

"Hi Carl...mind if I grab at your face for a little while?"

Here is the whole gang who was there for the weekend--the four of us plus Carl, Dave & Kristin, and Alex, Katie, Abbie, Izzie, & Emelia

Lots of good times in the pool--here Alex takes Emelia for a ride down the slide

Theodore and I ventured in one afternoon, but despite his love of playing in the bathtub and any sink or pan of water he can get his hands on, he was rather overwhelmed at the pool, so we didn't stay long.

Simon, however, LOVED it, including going down the waterslide all by himself.

Tunneling at the playground

Congrats again Dave! We hope to see you and Kristin again soon :-)

p.s. Over the weekend Theodore also started crawling--tummy off the floor--but that footage will have to wait for another post!

On your mark, get set....babyproof!

2011-03-31T16:07:00.001-05:00

Well, it didn't take long until he figured it out (this video was taken five days after the video in our "wanting to crawl" post)...first we saw him inching along, with great effort...

The inchworm crawl (43 seconds):

And within days (this video was taken two days later) he had upgraded to what our child care provider calls the "army" crawl (with his belly still on the ground)...watch out forbidden objects! I guess its time for us to (re-)babyproof!

The army crawl (19 seconds):

Our favorite part is seeing how pleased he is with himself when he gets whatever he's after!

Visit from Grandma & Grandpa

2011-03-30T14:41:00.003-05:00

A couple weekends ago we enjoyed a visit from Jess's folks. Here are a few photos from around that time...

We got the non-finger paints back out! Simon has made quite a few creations in the past couple of weeks...

...the train set also moved up from the basement for a while, and has been very popular...and not just with Simon :). We've made lots of creative tracks, like this one!

Grandma Phyllis accompanied Simon and I on a chilly and windy walk to a neighborhood playground.

this was a new one for us--we have several playgrounds within a 10-block radius of our house and had never been to this one before

Grandpa John helped Simon plant some seeds for his root viewer--a birthday gift we never quite got around to setting up until now (all that snow melting just made me feel like planting something!). The shoots have already sprouted...

Thanks for coming to visit, Grandma & Grandpa!

Wanting to Crawl...

2011-03-22T21:12:00.002-05:00

Theodore says:

Look at me! I'm so ready to start crawling...but haven't quite got it figured out yet...

Weekend in Red Wing

2011-02-27T22:47:00.003-06:00

Last weekend Andy spent the weekend in Ohio. Simon, Theodore, and I headed to Red Wing...and since we had the camera, you'll all just have to wonder what happened in Ohio when Andy, Pete, and Alex got together! ;-) Here's a look at what we did:

Simon got to help Grandma Marilyn make some waffles.

The highlight of the weekend, for Simon and I, was a trip to the Children's Theater in Minneapolis, to see Babe with Grandma Marilyn and Uncle Peter. We both really enjoyed it--thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Theodore had fun too--while we were at the show, he and Grandpa Steve went to the Como Conservatory. And later he got to play a little piano with Grandma.

A few weekends ago (I'm losing track now of the days...) we joined Andy's extended family for their annual ice skating party. Jess didn't get a chance to skate this year, but she and Theodore headed down to watch for a while.

Andy skated, and Aunt Colleen loaned us some skates for Simon to try, but he was a bit afraid, I think. He did have a blast being pulled around on the ice in his sled, though! We're hoping to get out skating somewhere in town before winter's done so he can have another chance to try it.

In other news, we got a breadmaker--it was a Christmas gift from Andy's grandparents, but we just recently got around to picking the model we wanted and actually had it shipped to us. So we've been having fun trying it out:

We had homemade pizza Saturday night--dough courtesy of the breadmaker...

...and toppings courtesy of Simon (with more than a little guidance, so that we didn't have one BIG pile of toppings right in the middle!

We've also baked three loaves of bread in the past few days--this was the very first! Yum!

Our Imaginative Simon

2011-02-17T20:59:00.005-06:00

These days, Simon's pretend play is nonstop. Literally from morning till night, he directs us all in our roles and what we are to do in whichever imaginary land or alternate reality we happen to be inhabiting at the moment.

Some of the themes come from daycare--as he comes home knowing all about characters that we have never exposed him to, like Buzz Lightyear and the Toy Story gang:

To Infinity, and...Veyon? (7 sec):

(by the way, if at the end of this clip you are grimacing in preparation for the spill that appears to be on the way, you are correct...slammed right into the carpet...but then hopped right back up to fly again!)

Other play themes come from everyday life--recently we have done a LOT of playing house. Sometimes the roles switch around, but for a few weeks now he's been pretty consistent with his roles: he is the baby, Theodore is the big brother, I (Mom) am Daddy, and Dad is Mommy. Occasionally someone gets to be a sister...and the other day Theodore got to be Mommy, while I was the big brother.

What most amazes us is how readily he adapts stories--that he has JUST been exposed to--into his play. After choosing to read The Lorax with Daddy one morning, he then declared "let's play The Lorax!" It was a Saturday morning and I was holed up in our bedroom trying to write a lecture, but instead was enjoying overhearing "hmmm, I'm going to chop down this tree...CHOP...CHOP...hey! what's that?!" from Andy, followed by "I am the Lorax!" and "I speak for the trees!" from Simon.

About a month ago, Theodore received a book in the mail from the Imagination Library--one of my new all-time favorite children's books, actually--called A Mother for Choco. I read it to Simon ONE time and he looked up at the end and said "let's play Choco! You are the mother bear and I am Choco...".

Just this week a mysterious package arrived for us from New Jersey. Mysterious mostly because we don't think we know anyone in New Jersey--but there it was, hand written address and everything. We opened it up and -surprise!- Halloween costumes passed on to us from Ellie and Ben, presumably via their friends in NJ, who must have kids older than ours but younger than Ellie and Ben! Simon was very excited...thankfully, one of them fit him (barely). So immediately we were playing "Dragon":

Dragon Play (~1 min):

Thank you Ben & Ellie for the costumes!

As for Theodore, aside from a nasty cold-turned-ear-infection the past couple of weeks, he is doing well. I finally got a shot of the tooth a couple weeks ago (but you have to look pretty closely)--and now there are two down there, actually.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Daily Life with the Gubbins Family

2011-02-03T15:47:00.003-06:00

Our day-to-day lives are pretty busy these days. Andy tends to be at work about 6 days a week, and has evening meetings about 4 nights a week. Jess is teaching two evening classes and trying to do data analyses for her dissertation. This means Simon and Theodore are both at daycare full time for the semester, and during the week tend to spend the evening with one or the other parent...those relaxed family meals together are (sigh) hard to come by these days!

Here are some updates on the kiddos...

We tend to let Simon's hair grow until its hanging down in his eyes enough that we notice him swatting it away on a daily basis. Then we go to CostCutters in the mall (because its right next to the mall play area, so he can play while we are waiting for our turn), and get it cut there. They are pretty good with him the few times he's been there--I imagine they get lots of practice with reluctant and squirmy kids. After adding in a tip, his haircuts usually cost about $15. Its not a lot, but as a girl who always had long(ish) hair, cut straight across by my mother or sister, it sometimes pains me to hand over the money, knowing we'll just be back when his hair has grown another 2 inches! I'm not used to this whole boys-hair-cut thing.

So a few weeks ago we started mentioning to Simon that he would need his hair cut soon...and he surprised me by asking, not once but several times, "when can we cut my hair at home?" Huh. I hadn't really considered that option. He asked persistently enough that I began to seriously consider it, and then decided to give it a try. I bought a cheapish hair trimming set for $15 (about the cost of one haircut, I figured, so if it was a total disaster I just wouldn't use it again and it wouldn't be much of a waste). Unfortunately, I had no one to practice on, as Andy wasn't terribly interested in having me practice on him...its as if he has to make public appearances on a daily basis or something, and doesn't want to risk a disastrous haircut! Theodore doesn't have any hair yet, so he wasn't really an option either...so, Simon it was! For my very first time, with a very-cooperative-for-a-three-year-old-but-still-a-three-year-old client, I am pretty happy with the results. Not perfect, but good enough. I figure by starting now, by the time he's old enough to actually care what his hair looks like, I'll have enough practice to make it even better!

Simon, after his first at-home haircut

Theodore is nine months old today--at his well-child visit we learned that he's a little peanut compared to his peers--below the 3rd percentile for weight! But he is doing well. In the past two weeks, his first two teeth have come in (he won't cooperate for photos of them, though). And, he loves to stand...he needs support, either leaning against something or having someone hold him, but he LOVES to stand. At times when we try to get him to sit he just stiffens his body and refuses to bend at the waist...of course this tends to happen when we NEED to set him down, so it results in our laying him down which does NOT make him happy. But so it goes--I've tried explaining that if he would just bend at the hips he could sit and reach his toys, but he seems quite determined. Oh, and as far as we can tell, he has no interest in crawling.

Theodore, happily standing/leaning against the now-resurrected-from-the-basement activity table

Simon's most recent accomplishment is becoming (mostly) potty trained. This seemed to take forever...seriously, we've been potty training in some form for over six months, in fits and starts (i.e. a week or two of serious effort, before the semester started, then over Thanksgiving break, then over Christmas break, with little progress, followed by a month or so of less-intense-effort). Granted, I know that is normal. But it was still rather frustrating--not so much because we thought he had to be out of diapers, but because he had decided both that he did NOT want to use a potty AND that he did not want his diaper changed. Not a good combination! In any case, we are over the hump in terms of training...he has spent the past week in big boy undies during the day, and is doing quite well overall. He seems to go about two days totally dry and then have an accident, but is getting much better at actually telling us he needs to go (rather than "staying dry" because we made him try every hour). We used a variety of reward schemes over the past six months--the most recent (and last) involved a chart where he got to color in squares for various kinds of successes, and pick prizes from different boxes...little things like a sticker for attempting to go, and bigger things for more difficult tasks, like staying dry all day. I dug through our toys and found a bunch of things we had bought for him but never actually used or given to him, and some old toys of mine, and threw them into the various prize boxes, so it was actually a virtually free prize system for us, which was nice.

Simon using his finger paints, a prize he picked after staying dry all day (one of those things I bought about a year ago and then forgot about...)

So that's the news from Gubbinsland, where all the women are stressed, all the men are stressed, and all the children are adorable (and we hope not too stressed)!

Christmas, and Christmas, and Birthday, and Christmas, and Birthday, and Christmas

2011-01-26T21:10:00.007-06:00

FAIR WARNING: There are a LOT of photos below...so proceed with caution.

Our Christmas celebrations last about two weeks, and span three to four cities, covering four "holidays": Christmas, Andy's birthday, Simon's birthday, and New Year's. So there's a whole lotta celebrating, as you can see...

Round 1: Christmas (the actual day), in Rochester

Simon is thrilled to discover Christmas socks in his stocking

Theodore is thrilled to have a tag and string to play with on his stocking

Simon helped Theodore open everything, beginning with the stocking--he got a cool new teether

Marilyn, Steve, Peter, & Karlie joined us on Christmas day

Peter, opening a gift

And Simon, opening one of many gifts

Grandpa Steve, showing Theodore how his new toys work

Round 2: "Christmas" in Madison

Theodore loved all of his gifts...especially those with ribbons to suck on...

...and paper to crinkle!

Simon and Uncle David play with one of Simon's new toys

Round 3: "Christmas" with Jess's extended family in Muskego, WI

We didn't actually take many photos there, but Simon especially had a blast playing with his...cousins? second cousins?...Jess's cousins' kids, whatever they are called in relation to Simon. Here some of them are crawling behind a sofa

Round 4: Back in Madison, Simon & Andy's birthday

Simon had lots of fun decorating a giant gingerbread man with Grandma Phyllis

Happy 3rd birthday, Simon!

...from everyone! (Including our friends Ashley & Ian, with their boys Wayne and Kai, who were in town visiting from DC!)

Who's having fun decorating cookies? Anyone?

(Sidenote: We did also celebrate Andy's birthday, but it was a slightly less photogenic affair)

Round 5: Red Wing, Simon & Andy's birthdays, take 2

Marilyn and Steve got very creative with these cute penguin cupcakes

Simon got his first board game--Candyland--which he has had lots of fun playing with the family

(Again, Andy's birthday was a bit overshadowed, but not forgotten!...just not photographed)

Round 6: "Christmas" on New Year's, with Andy's extended family, in Red Wing

We already posted a video of Simon's first bowling outing...here's the part he really loved the best!

Theodore enjoys one of his gifts while sitting inside one of ours!

...and Simon got some good quality time with his godfather, Aaron!

Phew. There you have it, the short version of a couple of joyous holiday weeks!

A Word from Andy

2011-01-14T21:48:00.003-06:00

AHHH!! Baby on my FACE!!

Mmmm....pine sap. Wanna try some?

So, we've had a bit of snow around here. A bit.

Just chillin.

(Ha! Get it? Seriously...it was cold in there)

Getting our Gubbins on.

Video Break

2011-01-09T16:14:00.003-06:00

I just downloaded all of our photos from the month of December and first week of January...just over 400 of them! My goodness, we do take enough photos, don't we? Of course, with little kids, 3 out of 4 are blurry or not what you intended to take a picture of, so its probably more like 100 decent photos...still, too overwhelming for me to sort through tonight, when I have to teach tomorrow. Instead, I'll upload a couple of videos from our holiday travels:

As is a tradition in Grandma Marilyn's family, when they gather to celebrate Christmas (around New Year's), they often go bowling or ice skating. This year was bowling--Simon's first time. I stayed back with Theodore, napping, so I didn't get to witness this momentus occasion, but I'm told he had quite a blast. Here he is, in action:

Simon's First Bowling Outing:

And, as you might have guessed with Simon's and Andy's birthdays both the week after Christmas, there was a LOT of celebrating...sweets, cupcakes, cookies, presents...and balloons. The kids LOVED the balloons, and not just Simon...

Theodore and the Balloon:

Someday I'll get around to posting some of our photos, as well. In the mean time, good luck to all you academics out there facing a new semester! Just remember, only 4 months until summer break...

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

2010-12-16T15:35:00.000-06:00

...so I thought perhaps we could all use a little pick-me-up from some adorable children!

Theodore loves his toes. I wish it were summer so we could let him hang around naked and he could play with them more--once we put clothes on him he seems to forget they are there.

Simon being pulled in the sled, at Grandma & Grandpa's farm, where we recently went to pick out a Christmas tree.

Simon and Daddy show off their rosy cheeks after working hard out in the cold. Simon is big fan of shoveling, and now that we have plenty of snow, he always asks on he way home from daycare if he can shovel when we get home!

Look at that! Our little boy is sitting. To be fair, shortly after I took this photo he toppled over backwards...but that was a few weeks ago already and he's gotten much more stable since then :).

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-12T10:40:00.000-06:00

We are snowed in! Well, not technically...Andy is at church. In fact, he went to church last night also, in the midst of the blizzard conditions, and was the only pastor to make it in for the Saturday night service (he could walk/stomp 6 blocks through the snow, while the other pastors would have to dig out and drive on un-plowed roads to get there). When he returned last night he had to shovel his way to the back door just to get inside! The kids and I decided it was not worth the hassle of getting out and to church this morning, with all the snow and Simon and I coming down with some sort of minor ailment that has left us coughing and whiny. Right now a napping Theodore and Simon watching his daily "movie" means I have a few minutes to update the blog!

We enjoyed a long Thanksgiving weekend with the Kalizabems at Backbone State Park in Iowa. Simon and the older girls played together beautifully, with Emelia and Theodore occasionally joining in the fun, but more often entertaining the adults.

Katie reads to Abbie (5) and Izzie (3).

Here's the cabin--we went for a more deluxe version this time, as we had three more children between us than the last time we went to Backbone State Park! The cabin was great--lots of room, and very comfortable.

Abbie, Simon, and Izzie, resting and enjoying a snack after a long hike up a hill--these three were great hikers and loved being outside.

Family photo time--the Gubbins...Theodore is strapped in there, as evidenced by the dangling arms and legs.

...and the Kalizabems! (ditto on the dangling arms/legs as evidence of Emelia's presence!)

Happy Thanksgiving :-)

2010-11-23T22:00:00.003-06:00

We are getting ready for an extended weekend of celebrating Thanksgiving with the Kalizabems. Since our return will bring with it the beginning of Advent and the Christmas rush, I thought we should at least share a few photos now, before all the festivities begin:

Grandma Phyllis & Grandpa John recently visited--Theodore enjoyed some extra attention over the weekend...

...and Simon loved having some extra playmates! (And, not pictured, Mama loved getting to take a nap on Saturday while the kids were occupied!)

Simon's lovely spaghetti face. No special reason, I just thought I should share :)

A couple weekends ago now, I was able to fly out to Denver to visit these fine folks, standing here in front if their new house! It was a brief but lovely trip, long overdue. The next time I see them will be just days before they say their "I do's"!

Half a Year

2010-11-07T13:54:00.003-06:00

What occasion would prompt this, my first experience with solid food?

Well, my half-year birthday, naturally!

Happy Six Months to me! (Love, Theodore)

Halloween Fun

2010-11-05T16:43:00.004-05:00

A few photos of our Halloween fun--it was Simon's first time carving pumpkins, and second time trick-or-treating.

We decided to tackle his--the biggest--pumpkin first.

He made an excellent "pumpkin goo scooper"

Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Peter, came down from Red Wing

We gave Simon the option of getting a different costume this year, but he declined--he wanted to be a bumblebee again. Here he is with our jack-o-lanterns (one for each of us, clockwise: Simon's, Theodore's, Daddy's, and Mommy's), ready to head out trick-or-treating.

The plan was to bring Theodore out too, in his little skeleton sleeper costume, but he has been sick and he zonked out just as Simon was about ready to head out.

Simon enjoyed trick-or-treating last year, but was rather timid and unsure of the whole thing. This year he LOVED it. He did a great job of saying "trick or treat!," of helping us find the houses with lights on, and at times even said "thank you."

Once we were done trick or treating, Simon also loved handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. All in all it was a success!

Fall

2010-10-24T17:11:00.003-05:00

We have been busy this semester--too busy for blogging much. Here are a few photos to catch up--looking at these, it seems we have all sorts of time for playing together as a family...I do wish that were the case! Unfortunately, most of our busy-ness has been with work, and we find ourselves with evening commitments several nights a week, and of course Andy works weekends...so the time we have for family downtime is far less than we'd like. Still, we occasionally find time for fun :).

Theodore is five months old! Well, now almost six actually.

Leaves! We are lucky to have beautiful maple trees in our yard, that Simon has just LOVED playing in.

What cuties...and what BIG pumpkins! Simon got to pick out pumpkins from Grandma & Grandpa's farm a few weeks ago. I'm not sure yet if we're going to attempt carving up that giant one...

Theodore is working hard on that tummy time...still not his favorite activity, but its more tolerable now that he can see and reach for toys while doing it.

Brothers :-)

An editorial comment by Theodore

2010-10-22T12:57:00.005-05:00

WHAT?! Write a SERMON? On a gorgeous day like today??"

Well, Father, here's what I think of that...

Sure you wouldn't rather play with ME?

Sooooooo BUSY

2010-09-20T15:22:00.000-05:00

The beginning of the school year means its busy-time for the Gubbins...and we don't even have school-aged children yet! Andy has been busy at work with fall programming starting up at church, and Jess' semester started in late August--she is teaching one class as an adjunct about an hour's drive away...this means Theodore is now in child care Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Simon on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Due to Simon's care provider not offering part time care for infants, they actually go to two different places...but its working out, at least well enough for this semester. We are planning to shuffle things for the spring, but for now this will have to do.

It seems we had something nearly every weekend the last month and a half, including the kids and I spending last weekend in Madison and Milwaukee for my cousin's wedding. Here are a few photos of some of our other adventures as summer drew to a close (and some just slipped the cracks in terms of making it to the blog)...

We all enjoyed a visit from Sprocketplug just a couple weeks ago...Simon was particularly fond of him.

Theodore was baptized on September 5th--here he is in his little outfit (thanks Grandma Phyllis!)

With godparents Marc & Kathryn, getting his nap in before the big event!

We got to celebrate our 6th anniversary with a little trip up to Duluth--we even got a night without children!

(Don't worry, the children had their own fun with Grandma Marilyn & Grandpa Steve, here making homemade ice cream with/for Simon!)

Ready, Set, SMILE! (and other Theodore faces)

2010-09-15T09:15:00.000-05:00

More Gardening Adventures

2010-08-25T21:52:00.000-05:00

mmm...tomatoes & cucumbers...and zucchini...

Andy, playing the "how many squash can I hold at one time?" game

watering his garden...again (for about the fifth time in 10 minutes)

jack-o-lantern-to-be!

string beans!

mmmm...beets. Andy decided to plant beets because he likes canned beets...

...turns out canning is quite the process! The end result: 3 jars of beets, and three containers of beet soup...worth the hard work? Hmmm...ask us when we eat them :)

Mama Fresh

2010-08-18T15:30:00.001-05:00

Andy working in the garden isn't the only way we've been producing over here--Jess has been producing breastmilk all summer!

Since Theodore was a preemie, they started me on a pumping regimen in the hospital (many preemies don't suck strongly enough to keep up the mother's milk supply, so they have you pump after every feeding to keep up your supply)--over the weeks and months since then, I've been weaning back the pumping, with a few hiccups along the way (plugged ducts, mastitis = no fun!). All that pumping early on filled our freezer fast, so I decided to donate it. I had looked into donation with Simon, but never had pumped enough (most milk banks require a minimum of 100 or 150 ounces to donate). I always thought if I had another baby, I'd pump more, sooner, so that I could donate--and now I had pumped WAY more, WAY sooner than I ever expected, so it seemed like the natural thing to do with our surplus.

It was a bit of a process getting approved, but once I did, the cooler arrived and I filled it up and sent it on. It felt good to be doing something useful with all the milk--we had run out of freezer space and if we didn't clear some out I would have had to start dumping what I pumped, which would have been a real waste! All told, I donated 401 ounces of breastmilk to the Mother's Milk Bank.

Thanks for sharing your supply, little Theodore! Some babies out there in California will be better off because of it :-).

Garden Fresh

2010-08-16T16:10:00.001-05:00

We have been enjoying fresh produce from the garden this summer! As someone who didn't really grow up in a gardening family, this is still new to me, but I like it! :)

Simon's garden features a variety of stuff, some identifiable and some not so much...he loves to water it...and water it...and water it...its less for harvesting, and more for the pure joy of dirt, water, and growing things!

Here is half of Andy's garden, about a month or so ago...

...and the other half. He says its too overcrowded and he needs to plan the space a little better for next year. You should see it now--the squash and pumpkin end is HUGE, and string beans have grown up along the fence in the back.

Theodore, posing with a zucchini about his size!

Simon helped Daddy turn some of those zucchini into yummy zucchini bread!

the first crop of patty pan squash--which I'd never even heard of, actually!

Andy found a recipe online for "Squash Volcanoes" that used patty pan squash--don't be fooled by Simon's grin here...though he loves the idea of eating food from the garden, and requests it, he rarely actually eats it, except for tomatoes! He has yet to try even a bit of zucchini, squash, cucumber, onion, or carrot from the garden...but he does love those tomatoes...and he did eat a wee bit of string bean one evening :).

Cousins!

2010-08-09T19:14:00.004-05:00

After a week in Madison, we also got to show Jen, Nathan, Ben & Ellie around our neck of the woods here in Rochester. Though they had their share of sibling-like fights, all in all the cousins seemed to really enjoy each others' company.

Ellie (6), Ben (5), and Simon (2) crossing a footbridge at Quarry Hill Nature Center

We went for a little hike at Quarry Hill...

...to go letterboxing! Here they all are, having just found the letterbox :-)

Mmmmm...yummy lunch after a nice hike

Simon particularly enjoyed getting to swim with them just before saying goodbye. The "hotel swimming pool" has featured prominently in his pretend play ever since!

Madison Week: Photos Galore

2010-08-06T21:18:00.007-05:00

In mid-July, the kids & I spent a week in Madison while Andy was away at confirmation camp. My sister Jen and her family were in from Chile, so my sister Liz and her husband flew in from DC, too. We all met at my folks house...

Ellie & Ben were both excited to meet their new cousin.

Theodore also got to meet Aunts Jen and Liz, and Uncles Nathan & David.

We spent a day in Appleton to visit my grandparents, and the kids got to play at the children's museum there.

Playing on a giant pizza...

three sisters :)

meeting Great-Grandma Carole

...and Great-Grandpa Howard

Four generations...minus Andy :(

meeting Uncle David

We all went to a Madison Mallards game. Simon wasn't so interested in the game, but he loved the big sandbox!

Liz & David with their niece and nephews

picnic lunch at the zoo in Madison

Ben & Ellie race down the slip-n-slide.

Grandma Phyllis & Grandpa John, with their four grandkids.

We stayed a bit longer, since Andy was away at confirmation camp anyway, and got to go to concerts on the square...

...make playdoh with Grandma...

...and play Grandpa's bean game (well, Simon's version of it anyway).

Thanks for a fun week, Grandma & Grandpa!

Fun in Red Wing over the Fourth

2010-07-23T14:49:00.004-05:00

We spent a lovely long weekend in Red Wing over the 4th of July. A quick recap:

We all attended a wedding of a friend of the family--there's Andy up front, co-officiating, which he finds himself doing about every other weekend, it seems!

Theodore gets some playtime with Grandpa Steve...

...and a little nourishment from Grandma Marilyn.

Simon had a great time, in addition to general playtime at the house & local parks, Grandpa helped him create the classic 'volcano' science experiment!

And Grandma Marilyn took some time to splash in the puddles with him--what a lucky boy!

We also attended a family reunion that weekend, but apparently I didn't bring the camera along to that. Lots of new faces there--it was great to see Great-Grandpa Hubert together with his only living sibling, in particular (they are the two youngest in the family, now both in their 90s, I believe!). We are looking forward to some more fun times in Red Wing in the near future!

Brothers

2010-07-17T21:34:00.001-05:00

We've been super busy traveling and visiting familyt on both sides the past several weeks--photos from our visits to come as we have time. For now, a few brotherly photos:

Simon likes to give Theodore hugs and kisses...mostly gently :)

The kids are now sharing a room, ostensibly (though Theodore is still in the cosleeper in our room most of the night). We found a toddler bed on Craigslist for Simon, which is small enough to fit in his current room (which was to be Theodore's room) along with the crib. Once we had the big boy bed in the same room he was used to, Simon did great with the transition, and sleeps in it without any trouble!

Mama Jess and her boys

holding baby brother

Visitors

2010-07-06T21:03:00.006-05:00

We've been a bit less diligent in taking photos of every visitor who comes to meet Theodore, than we were with Simon...second baby, you know :). Still, we have a backlog of photos of various visitors, so I thought I'd just put them all in one post here--of course everyone is just as excited to meet Theodore as they were to meet Simon...Mom just has fewer free hands to carry a camera around with!

Most recently, this past weekend, my good friend Aubrey & her husband Vahid got to meet Theodore. Look how big he's gotten! We have his 2-month check-up tomorrow so we'll find out how big he is then.

We got to meet an even newer baby last week--here's Zoe's new little brother, Henry at about one week old, and Theodore at about 7 weeks...you know, just chillin' while the rest of us ate dinner. (Thanks to Jen for the photo!)

A couple weeks ago Andy, Simon, and Uncle Peter went to a Honkers baseball game for "Take Dad Out to the Ballgame" through church. They had lots of fun, despite rainy weather--Simon's favorite part seemed to be eating a soft pretzel for much of the time, and watching the mascot run around.

Dads & their second-borns...we finally got to meet Donnie--who was almost 6 months old when he visited us, along with dad, Alex, and sister, Elsie. I love how clearly this photo shows how much babies grow in their first six months, comparing Theodore & Donnie!

Grandma Phyllis has been down several times to help out since Theodore was born. He's probably yawning, but it certainly looks like Theodore is laughing in this one.

Grandpa John came up too, and met Theodore when he was a couple weeks old. He helped us take our new (new-to-us, that is, purchased on Craigslist) double stroller out for its first spin. So far we love the double stroller--and later, when Simon decides he doesn't want to sit contentedly in the back, it converts to a sit'n'stand!

Grandpa John & Theodore

We've seen Steve & Marilyn too many times to count! They've been a huge help as we learn how to function as a family of four, and as Andy deals with what is turning out to be an insanely busy summer at work. Here's a photo with Grandma Marilyn from Theodore's first visit to Red Wing.

Also his first visit to Red Wing, curled up with Grandpa Steve in the recliner (what a life!).

Four generations...that's Great-Grandpa Hubert, Grandma Marilyn, Dad Andy, Simon & Theodore...they are the only two great-grandchildren on Marilyn's side of the family; on Steve's side, they will soon be joined by two more next fall...(and there are almost too many to count in both of Jess's families).

Our (working-hard-to-be-a-) Big Boy Simon

2010-06-17T21:01:00.006-05:00

I suppose its Simon's turn for an update now! He is just ten days shy of two and a half years old--much more a little boy now than a toddler. His language has just taken off in the past months. He regularly speaks in complete sentences, which we've found recently catches us off guard in that it makes him seem more mature than he really is. We have to remind ourselves at times that reasoning with him (or attempting to) is still reasoning with a toddler, just a well-spoken one!

our novice gardener

Andy's first project for his two-week paternity leave was to plant a garden--something he had been hoping to do for several years now. We finally have a yard we own to do it in, and we will be in the same place at both the beginning and end of summer--hooray! I found these kid-sized garden tools so that Simon could help with the gardening--he thought they were pretty fabulous.

Simon's Garden--full of mystery seeds and so much fun to dig in!

This big planter was designated Simon's very own garden, so that Andy could make neat rows in his garden :-). This is what it looked like just a week or so after planting--its now sprouting all sorts of things. All sorts because Andy would just pass the seed packets to Simon once he was done with them--so it will be quite interesting to see what took root in there!

Step Stool Use #12: Checking on baby brother

It may have been a gradual realization that spent days or weeks percolating in his little mind, but behaviorally it happened overnight. One day the step stool lived in the bathroom for washing hands, and the next day Simon carried it from room to room using it to get access to a whole new level of un-toddler-proofed items! Now we have three step stools floating around, and he's always running off to go get one so that he can do or reach something himself rather than having us do or get it for him. One handy use of the step stool: getting a better view of Theodore!

Showing off the sheets his picked out for his big boy bed

We decided things were going smoothly enough with having a baby brother around, that we could move ahead with a few other changes. First on the docket: big boy bed. This one trumps potty training because Simon really could care less about potty training right now, whereas he has been getting frustrated with his crib, and just a couple weeks ago figured out how to climb out. We know other toddlers start doing that at a year and a half, and feel rather lucky that we've had him staying put so long! Still, it was time...we cleared out the room, rearranged some furniture (never did get to finishing the painting, maybe someday...), and let him pick out some new sheets at the store.

First night in the big boy bed, sound asleep

That first night went great! It took him a LONG time to fall asleep, but he was content, and stayed in bed the whole time. The second night went even smoother. The third night he asked for his crib, and nearly burst into tears when we hesitated...we don't want his big boy room to seem like a punishment, so for now we let him choose each night if he will sleep in his crib or his bed. He always chooses the crib. We've tried a few things to make the big boy room more attractive, like moving all his clothes & books down there, and limiting what is allowed in the crib...but he still chooses the crib. Finally I asked him the other day if he would like his big boy bed if it were upstairs. Yes, he said. An emphatic yes. Sigh...flaw of the house, we have two rooms upstairs (ours & the nursery), one bedroom on the main floor (the big boy room), and one bedroom in the basement (guest room). So we are in sort of a pickle for the moment--for now we are sticking with the "big boy room is awesome!" theme and letting Simon choose where he sleeps, while promoting the big boy room in subtle ways, hoping that with time he'll get used to it. (We have had another night or two in that bed, which went okay, but then he's back to the crib.) If he doesn't start liking it soon we may have to consider other options, like swapping him & Theodore (but then Theodore is so far away!), or having them share a room (but the nursery is so tiny, we're not sure we could pull that off).

And, to finish off what has become a rather lengthy post, we took this video on a recent drive up to the north side of the Cities (for Andy's cousin's wedding). We took it without Simon knowing so that he wouldn't stop singing. My favorite part of the way he sings the alphabet song is that he changes "Now I know my ABCs" to "Now I know your ABCs"...which makes perfect sense if you think about how we use the terms my and your in other contexts: When I say "my" and he repeats me, of course he should change it to "your" to make it correct when he's saying it!

The Alphabet Song:

A month of Theodore

2010-06-09T20:55:00.005-05:00

I thought I'd start our attempt at catching up here with some photos of the littlest one, as he is changing the most quickly. Here's a glimpse at Theodore's first month:

Just home from the hospital--look, my hand is still blue (and such skinny little fingers)! You can also see I'm still coping with the jaundice here, as I'm a bit yellow. This blanket was donated by a class of kindergarten or 1st graders to the nursery for preemies, so the nurses sent it home with me as a gift!

Asleep in my own bed--a mini co-sleeper, for now--do you like the hat Mom knit for me?

Mom and Dad love the big "gassy" smiles I occasionally give them.

This was my first bath at home. They sent me home with my very own "Tiny Tub" so that I could get swaddle baths just like in the hospital...I'm about a week old in this photo. Now, a month old, Mom thinks I've probably already outgrown it already--I fill it head to toe--so I may have to suffer through the chill of real baths soon!

Look at me, one week old!

"Hey! Anybody over there?"

...and two weeks old. I had a weight check-in on my two-week birthday. I was 7 lbs 3 oz--over my birth weight already! Woohoo!

Daddies are so comfy.

Ooooh. Mom and Dad love when I make this little face, pursing my lips together. It often means they'll be changing a diaper soon...

Post-nursing relaxation. Aaaaaahhh.

So one day, when I was almost 4 weeks old, Mom put me on my blanket for some tummy time, and then left the room to go do something. When she came back, she found me like this--not on my tummy anymore! Just like my big brother Simon, I dislike tummy time enough to flip myself over, at just 4 weeks old! (Mom tells me I'll lose that ability soon, as I gain a little more weight...)

Here I am tucked in to the double-stroller, at the park so my big brother can play. Mom was keeping an eye on me while Grandma Phyllis watched Simon and caught me making this face--do you like my Elvis snarl?

Hey everybody, look at me! I'm a month old already, and doing great--those little fingers and legs aren't so skinny anymore, I'm not yellow or blue, and I'm even starting to develop cheeks that jiggle on car rides :-).

Still here...

2010-06-07T21:12:00.002-05:00

Hello! I just wanted to confirm that yes, we are still here despite our delay in posting. Life with a newborn and a 2.5 year old doesn't allow for much downtime, as you might imagine. One of these days I'll get some photos downloaded, though...

Theodore's Birth & Hospital Stay

2010-05-14T15:36:00.006-05:00

Well, I've told the story in email and in person to some of you, but it seems some version of it ought to go on the blog too! The story of Theodore's birth...

Theodore was born early, at 36 weeks, 1 day gestation. His was a non-emergency, but unplanned C-section. That is, we were planning to have a C-section when he reached full-term the following week, but my bleeding (due to the low-lying placenta) got worse, so I checked into the hospital on May 2nd, my birthday. Everything was calm bleeding-wise during the day, so I went to bed expecting to be kept for observation for the week, and to have the C-section on May 10th, as planned. However, the bleeding picked up overnight, and the doctors decided I couldn't lose blood at that rate for a whole week, and that at this late in the pregnancy it was probably safer for baby to be out than in. Mostly, they said, they wanted to avoid having to do a true emergency C-section. Better to do it now than to wait and suddenly things could get out of hand. So at around 3:15 am on May 3rd I called Andy (who was home with Simon, and who I'd been updating from the hospital) and told him to come in. He dropped Simon off with our daycare provider and tucked him in to bed there, then hurried over to the hospital. I was getting my spinal put in when I saw through the operating room window that he had arrived and was in scrubs, ready to come in...but they sent him back to the room to wait, and said he could come in in a little while.

Unfortunately, while the spinal mostly worked, it didn't quite work well enough--the numbness wasn't spreading high enough on my abdomen. They kept angling the operating table to lower my head and get it to spread "up" but it just didn't get far enough. It seemed like forever that they tried and waited--I kept asking when Andy could come in. There I was, laid out on the table, under anesthesia, all covered in surgical drapes just like in the little video they show you--once you get covered in sterile drapes, that's when they let the birth partner in (or so I thought!). But they wouldn't let him in, not yet :-(. Finally they gave up on the spinal and said they needed to use general anesthesia, so I would be unconscious for the whole thing...no feeling weird tugging and pulling sensations (okay with me), but also no hearing my baby's first cry, learning with Andy whether it was a boy or a girl, or getting to hold and start nursing in the recovery room (NOT okay with me!). I started crying...and still they wouldn't let Andy in. Not until they made the first incision, they said...which meant not until I was unconscious...so under I went.

When I woke up a few hours later in the recovery room, Andy was there with our little boy. The first hours are sort of a blur as I was very groggy. Eventually I heard the story of how little Theodore's was a difficult birth, because of how he was lodged in there and kept trying to exit arm-first! The doctor had to shove his arm back in several times (in some photos you'll notice his left arm is blue--it is bruised from the manipulating), and tried to get him to turn head down--eventually they were able to pull him out feet first, instead. Andy caught a little video clip including the actual exit on our camera--poor little babe was totally limp coming out. His one-minute Apgar score was only 2! But, they cleared his lungs, puffed a little oxygen in, and he came to right away--his five-minute score was a healthy 8. All fingers, toes, and a penis were present--he was declared a boy and then whisked away to be checked out.

Because I was unconscious anyway, Andy didn't have to choose between staying to comfort me and going with Theodore--so off he went, and took photos for me to see later. They did all the usual things, footprints, measurements, etc., but also hooked him up to heart rate, breathing, and oxygen monitors, and put him in a cozy little incubator (above) for a little while. He weighed in at a healthy 6 lbs 14 oz--rather hefty for being born a month preterm.

Theodore was born at 4:40 am...it wasn't until around noon that I finally got to hold him, try nursing, and do a little kangaroo care with him. I had seen him for just a few seconds in a very groggy state of mind in the recovery room as Andy held him down to my face and told me it was a boy, and then they whisked him away. I have to say the whole thing felt quite surreal until I finally got to hold him myself.

Because he was "late preterm" or "near term," Theodore was automatically sent to the Intermediate Special Care Nursery, or ISCN. We had been told by the doctor earlier that it would be a mandatory 12-24 hour stay there, but that if he was doing fine they would probably let him come room in with us after that. Unfortunately, that doctor (on the OB staff, not the neonatology staff) was not the best informed, as they had just recently changed their policy, and any preterm baby was now to stay in the ISCN until discharge. Luckily, because I was wanting to breastfeed and couldn't yet get out of bed, this meant that a nurse would bring Theodore down to my room every three hours to try nursing--so I did get to see and hold him every three hours, day and night--and Andy could go down to him room anytime. They also had a camera on him that showed on a private channel in my room, so he was constantly on the tv as well, and we could see when he was sleeping, being changed, etc. Andy went back and forth between our rooms, and between home and work as well, as we hadn't exactly planned for the birth to happen when it did and he couldn't quite drop everything to just stay with me 24/7.

Because he is preterm, we had a little less say in some things than we did with Simon's birth. He was not in our room, for one thing. They also started topping him off with formula (special preemie blend) right from the beginning--they would bring him in to try nursing, and then give him a bottle. They also had me pumping from the start--every 2 hours they wanted me to pump, plus try and feed him. They still have me pumping every time after he eats, despite the fact that he is nursing quite well, to make sure my milk supply stays up...if our freezer is any indication, there is currently NO problem with my milk supply! He was down to 6 lbs 4.5 oz upon discharge Thursday evening, and when we returned for a check-up on Monday, he was up to 6 lbs 8.4 oz, right on track for reaching his birth weight by two weeks, as they hoped. We have another check-up scheduled for about two weeks from now, and if all is well then, we can stop doing some of these preemie-precautionary measures (like pumping like mad!) and start treating him more like a normal newborn, nursing on demand, etc.

Theodore had only a few minor hiccups in his time in the ISCN. The first day, he had a brief apnic episode--that is, he stopped breathing briefly, as people do who have sleep apnea. But he recovered himself, without intervention, and never had another episode. He also had some jaundice, but his highest bilirubin levels weren't enough to require phototherapy, so all was well with that as long as he kept eating. Turns out his biggest hurdle was the car seat! Preemies and small babies have to take what they call an "angle test" where basically they have to sit, strapped into their car seat, for 90 minutes, without having any problems--steady heartrate, oxygen saturation, breathing, etc. I guess the angle of the seat can cause them to slump a bit, which can cut off the airways. Theodore failed his test twice, before finally passing the third time--we waited half a day after I was discharged for him to retake it, hoping he would get to go home with us (and eventually, he did!). Both times he failed his oxygen saturation levels dropped below 90--both times he recovered on his own, without intervention, so they weren't terribly worried (the nurses were quick to point out that its entirely possible full-term healthy babies do the same thing all the time, we just don't know because they aren't hooked up to monitors--same with the earlier apnic episode that resolved itself)...still, they wouldn't let him go until he passed. And, finally, he did :-).

Well, it is much later than I planned to be awake tonight--if I don't get to bed soon, it will just be time to feed Theodore again before I even fall asleep! What remains are some photos from our time in the hospital--visitors and the like. Enjoy!

Aunt Karlie giving Theodore a kiss

Grandma Phyllis came down Monday night and stayed to take care of Simon while I was in the hospital

The whole family!

Simon got to peek at Theodore in his bassinet the evening after he was born, and the next day got to see him in our room--here he is "holding" him...he wasn't quite sure what to think, but was very good at being gentle

Grandma Marilyn, recently arrived from Switzerland, met Theodore on Tuesday night

...as did Grandpa Steve

strapped into his car seat, all ready to go home on Thursday night!

A Word from Big Brother

2010-05-10T21:41:00.002-05:00

We have lots of photos of Theodore's first week, which I intend to post once I get them downloaded. In the meantime, we have a couple cute Simon stories from this past week!

Children's Sermon Responses
Simon spent the night--without the rest of us--at Grandma & Grandpa's house in Red Wing this Saturday night. It was his first night away from home! Back when we thought we'd be having the C-section today, we were planning for him to spend Friday night there to give us a date night before baby arrives, and a chance to get the house in order. As it happened, baby arrived with the house not in order and no date night, and this was a nice chance for us to have a little break, as Andy needed to work on Sunday and I'm not exactly in a position to deal with both kiddos! So away he went--I cried to see him go, seeming so grown up (he did not cry, he was pretty excited)...and then once I was done crying, I had a lovely, relaxed, and quiet evening home with Andy and Theodore. We may have to make this a habit ;-).

For his part, Simon had a fabulous time--you know, ice cream at Dairy Queen on the way there, and all sorts of fun grandparent attention. He was also very well behaved--he tends to be for people other than us. He reportedly did very well in church, in particular, and actually participated in the children's sermon for the first time ever! It was Mother's Day, and the pastor was asking the children what kinds of things mother's do (or something like that--sorry if I'm butchering the story!). One child said that Moms clean, another said that they cook...and then Simon chimed in with "my Mom cooks" and after a pause..."and my Dad cooks too!" That's right, lets not forget about the Dads and their hard work!

Saying Prayers
Simon has been a bit on edge the past few days--lots of excitement, lots of people in and out, new baby brother, exhausted parents, you know...nothing not to be expected. Overall he's doing quite well, we think, but his threshold for throwing a fit over something (anything) is definitely lower than it used to be. Tonight at bedtime was one such instance...however, he settled eventually and Andy reported a shocking new twist to Simon's prayer time suggestions. When we say prayers at night, we always ask Simon "who should we pray for tonight?" He lists some people--typically going through several if not all of his relatives, actually, and then we say a prayer something along the lines of "God, thank you for Grandpa Steve, and Grandma Marilyn..." etc. Tonight, instead of just naming names, Simon said he wanted to pray for "grandpas, like Grandpa Steve...and uncles, like Uncle Nathan and Uncle Peter and Uncle David...and mamas, like Mom...and Dadas, like you...and boys, like me and Ty-Ty and CJ and Thee-dore..."! Can you believe it?! When does he make these cognitive leaps, suddenly demonstrating that he understands all the categories we use to talk about people?! It must be when I'm not looking ;-).

Poppy/TaterTot has arrived!

2010-05-04T18:20:00.003-05:00

(I don't know why it won't load this photo sideways!)

We are pleased to announce the birth of our second son, Theodore John. Theodore arrived via C-section at 4:40 am the morning of Monday, May 3rd. He weighed in at 6 lbs, 14 oz, and was 19.5 inches long. Baby and Mama are both recovering well, and hope to go home together this Thursday!

Telling Jokes

2010-05-02T09:26:00.002-05:00

Simon has recently acquired a joke repertoire. Here Andy caught his two most reliable jokes on camera--the first is thanks the Andy, the second thanks to daycare. In case you have trouble interpreting, here's how the jokes are supposed to go:

Q: Where does a General keep his Armies?

A: In his sleevies!

1: Knock knock

2: Who's there?

1: Boo

2: Boo who?

1: Don't cry, its just a joke!

(clearly the back-and-forth nature of this one is lost on Simon, who likes to recite the entire thing as quickly as possible, over and over and over and over...)

In baby news, we have a date set for C-section: May 10th. So, assuming all goes well (never a guarantee of course), we'll be welcoming our new little one a week from tomorrow. If all does not go well, we'll probably be welcoming our new little one a bit sooner than that. Today we are at 36 weeks gestation, which was kind of the goal from the doctor's point of view (we wanted to wait as long as possible, so he agreed to scheduling the section at 37 weeks, 1 day, but his ideal timeframe was/is anywhere in the 36-37 week range, as the still don't want me going into labor for risk of bleeding)...so I'm guessing that if anything exciting (serious contractions, etc.) were to happen now, they would probably just deliver the baby rather than try to postpone one more week. We're crossing our fingers that doesn't happen, but it is reassuring to know that we're far enough along that baby should be just fine whenever s/he arrives.

A Few Easter Photos

2010-04-13T21:03:00.005-05:00

Well, now we know first-hand what everyone had told us--Easter really is the busiest season of the year for pastors! We survived holy week, however, and had a lovely time celebrating Easter, though our celebrations were time and space limited, as I'm still not supposed to leave the local area, and Andy was plenty busy with services. Andy's family joined us to help celebrate!

Dying easter eggs on Saturday

Simon was quite fond of the whole process, though as we discovered its actually a rather difficult activity for little kids to participate in directly--short of dipping his hand right in the dye, he couldn't really manipulate the little scoop well enough to retrieve eggs--and his release skills could have used a more nuanced touch as well, as inevitably the egg would hit the bottom of the cup with a crack!

found: one basket!

Sunday morning Andy was preaching the sunrise service, while Simon and I slept in :-). The first order of business was finding his Easter basket and present (when I was growing up, we always got one gift on Easter, and candy and eggs in our basket, both hidden in two different places). Its rather nice having just one child, with no older siblings to tell "how things are" and set up expectations that might be disappointed. His basket was little and had just a few things in it (candy in some plastic eggs), and he thought is was great--he got to pick one egg of candy to eat with each meal for the next day, and was just thrilled.

found: Easter present! (books about Easter)

I bought the simplest and cheapest egg-dying kit I saw, knowing that anything that turned the eggs colors would be satisfying for Simon. It came with stickers to put on the eggs, too, which I also thought he would like--unfortunately, they weren't exactly high-quality stickers, and definitely weren't designed for little hands. They were tiny, difficult to peel from the sheet, and wouldn't stick--at least not to cold eggs. So I was glad when Simon seemed to accept as fact the idea that each egg just needed one sticker--not to be covered in them.

Sunday morning--setting our dyed eggs into little holders for the sticker-ing process

Showing off the completed eggs--this is how Simon "smiles" for the camera these days...shows off his gray front tooth nicely, doesn't it? (A nasty bonk a couple months ago caused that, and prompted his first trip to the dentist!)

goodies from a second Easter basket!

Marilyn, Steve, Peter, & Karlie brought with them all sorts of fun, including more easter baskets. Simon got this beautiful water globe/music box with a little boy holding an umbrella. We all went to the late service together, as Andy had warned that the two earlier services were insanely busy. After church, Andy got to come home, exhausted, and we enjoyed a lovely Easter dinner before getting Simon down for a late nap.

family photo time--the 3-almost-4 Gubbinses

with Peter & Karlie too!

While naptimes are a lovely break in the day, and I hope Simon keeps taking an afternoon nap for YEARS to come, they do make it difficult to plan activities and family get-togethers. Everyone had someplace to be by evening, it seemed, and with Andy at church all morning and a later-than-usual nap, that meant that it was just the three of us there for the Easter egg hunt once Simon woke up. He loved it! We probably could have re-hid the eggs a few times and he would have just kept on going, but it was already dinner time so he just found them once.

egg in the cupholder...

"show me all the eggs you found, Simon!"

We took several video clips during the hunt...this one is my favorite for two reasons: 1) I love the joy of "finding" eggs that fell out of the basket as he ran, and 2) the cute way he kept talking himself through it..."I lookin' for couple more...I lookin' for one more..."

Hunting for Eggs (1 minute):

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T20:02:00.002-05:00

Fun with Visitors

2010-04-01T11:36:00.003-05:00

We have had lots of visitors recently--a great help to Jess & Andy, in keeping our household running, and lots of fun for Simon! A few of our recent guests:

Grandpa Steve & Grandma Marilyn have graciously made the drive to/from Red Wing at least a dozen times in the past few weeks on our behalf. One day, Grandpa brought a little project for Simon to help with--making a "bread bear" from a frozen loaf of bread dough. Simon's favorite part was putting raisins on for eyes and buttons...and he rather enjoyed eating it for snack later, too!

Grandma Phyllis came for most of a week to help out as needed--she brought with her dinners and a home-made apple pie....mmmmmm (It was delicious!).

Grandma was kind enough to do some of the non-essential tasks at home that we hadn't gotten to for a while, like cleaning parts of the house other than the table we eat at. Here Simon was very eager to help her sweep the stairs. Thanks Grandma (and see you again soon)!

We had a special visit one morning from Simon's godfather, Aaron. Aaron lives in Hong Kong and comes to the US about twice a year, so we are always very excited when we get to see him again! Esther came along as well, and once he warmed up to them, Simon had a great morning playing :).

Aaron brought with him a sheet of stickers for Simon, which were a big hit. Eventually the sticker peeling-and-sticking turned into a giggly game of chase/tickle with Simon and Aaron...

VIDEO: Get the Sticker! (27 seconds):

Most recently, last weekend Grandpa John drove over from Madison to join Grandma Phyllis. We hadn't seen him since November, so it was a great treat that he could take the time to drive over! Simon surely loves his Grandpas...his Grandmas and others too, of course, but he just loves having playtime with Grandpa Steve or Grandpa John!

Our Marvelous Two-Year Old

2010-03-21T20:55:00.005-05:00

Its time to share a few entertaining tidbits from life with Simon. I'll start with Winnie the Pooh...here's a photo for reference--this is what our little Winnie the Pooh ice pack looks like. Whenever there is a bump or bruise bad enough to cause tears, Simon cries out for Winnie. Winnie probably ranks just under Mom and Dad, in fact, in the order of things needed to sooth an injured Simon. Despite our best efforts, however, Winnie rarely actually does his job of numbing the site of the wound--he's much too interesting to just hold in one spot, he has to be touched and squeezed and tasted, being so oddly cold!

Just last night, the following exchange occurred at bedtime:

Simon (from crib): I want Winnie!
Andy: Oh, well, Winnie is for when you get an owie. We leave Winnie in the freezer so he's nice and cold in case you get an owie and need him.
Simon: (turns to wall and bangs his head against it several times)...I need Winnie!

He is quickly becoming too clever for his own good!

I have been truly enjoying the warm spring days and being home this past week! I haven't been outside much, as I'm not quite up to long walks or chasing after Simon at the park...but we have been making use of our fenced in back yard. The evening I got home from the hospital, Andy dug out our camping chairs so we could sit outside while Simon played. It was strange to remember that when I was admitted to the hospital, there was over a foot of snow on the ground, and five days later it was completely melted already. Simon made it quite easy to play with him from my chair--in what was a self-created game of fetch, essentially.

Simon-directed playtime:

He, like all toddlers, just loves being able to control his little world! So hooray for toddler autonomy...especially on the rare instances when it means I get to take it easy and make him happy, too!

Operation Big Boy: Phase...Never Mind

2010-03-21T20:10:00.002-05:00

Being graced with a relatively easygoing kid like Simon, so far most of our momentous changes from baby-dom to "big boy" have been surprisingly uneventful. He took weaning from both pacifier and breast like a champ last fall, for instance. Still on the list: switch from crib to bed, and toilet learning.

With a new baby on the way, we decided we'd just have the switch from crib to bed coincide with a new room for Simon--and to make it seem like less of a being-forced-out and more of a special upgrade, we decided to repaint the formerly drab office on our main floor so it would really be Simon's own new space.

the former office, as it was--a nondescript sort of beige-brown color (this is where Simon used to watch Sesame Street clips on the computer!)

I bought paint back in January, and finally a few weeks ago we got around to painting--Andy, that is. He was in charge of painting the background colors, and then Jess is going to be adding details (we're sort of doing a landscape-mural-thing, so there are trees and clouds to add).

the color of hillside, don't you think?

Here's that corner where the computer used to be--now with lovely light blue sky and green hillside; it makes for a MUCH cheerier space!

Of course, just as soon as the background painting was finished, we had all the hospital excitement...and decided upon my discharge that I should really start sleeping on the same floor as a bathroom, both to lessen the amount of stair-climbing I have to do this late in the pregnancy (and with my "take it easy" orders from the doctor), and because its looking like I'll be recovering from a C-section post-baby, and from what I've read they suggest avoiding stairs for a while afterwards. So "Simon's new room" has suddenly become "Mommy's room." Luckily, though he would go play on his big boy bed and talked about it as his new room, Simon didn't really seem to have any qualms letting Mommy use "his" room "for now." So as for the switch from crib to bed...well, he has yet to climb out of his crib and doesn't complain about it, so...never mind. We'll get to it post-baby, I guess (it will be several months before baby really needs to be in the crib rather than bassinet/pack'n'play anyway, right?).

The other big boy challenge: toilet learning. Our original plan was not to really tackle this until post-baby as well, knowing that recently-trained kids often regress when a new sibling arrives, and Simon will just be 2 1/2 this summer. However, about a month or so ago our child care provider told us he sat on the potty at her place! She had just casually asked while changing his diaper if he wanted to try, and he did. After a few more such incidents, we thought maybe we should take advantage of his interest and go ahead with potty training now, rather than miss a possible window of opportunity...and here's what we accomplished:

this is the one, and so far only, time that Simon has sat bare-bottomed on his potty chair at home

He is absolutely not interested in using the potty at home. At Miss Lisa's he'll often try sitting on the potty, and has even successfully used it a few times now...but not at home. So while the potty chair and all the little potty books are out and available, again we are saying "never mind" for now. Maybe Miss Lisa will potty train him for us :-). Or maybe we'll deal with that post-baby, too.

In other news, Poppy/TaterTot has reached 30 weeks gestation today--hooray! We are still home (doctor's appointment in the morning to check in and see how things are going), and have had lots of visits from Grandma Marilyn & Grandpa Steve this past week, plus Paloma, to help take care of Simon...and we've enjoyed some delicious pre-prepared meals from our friends in the Cities. Thanks for all of your help everyone!

Home from the Hospital

2010-03-17T11:08:00.003-05:00

Just a quick post for those of you not on Facebook as well--they let me go home Monday afternoon! So I have been enjoying fresh air, my own home, and most of all, spending time with Simon and Andy :-). Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes! We will be crossing our fingers for no more excitement on the pregnancy front, for quite a while!

New Routines

2010-03-14T15:37:00.003-05:00

Well, this photo was on the list to post, and then all the hospital excitement happened--so here's a little pre-hospital belly shot for you:

Simon wanted to show his belly too!

This was taken on March 4, so about 27.5 weeks along

Of course, since Wednesday's shocker of hospital admission for an indefinite amount of time, we've had to scramble to make some adjustments. Over the past several days, though, we managed to get into a little hospital-visit routine with Simon, and he seems to be handling things okay. Simon was able to come visit me every night between dinner and bedtime, with Andy coming some other times as well when he could get away from work, and a few other visitors too. Its good to know that if we do end up back in the hospital, possibly long term, we can come up with some semblance of a normal routine for Simon.

After Wednesday and Thursday visits ending with too-late bedtimes, Friday night Andy and Simon brought some dinner along to eat in my room with me rather than eating at home first

reading stories in Mama's hospital bed

thanks to everyone for the lovely flowers, gifts, and many offers of help--whether I'm in the hospital or home from here on in, I'm to take it easy, so we really appreciate all the continued offers of help!

Just today, Simon and Andy came over after church. The plan had been to just come later tonight, but when Simon asked where I was, I am told the conversation went something like this:

Simon: "where's Mommy?"

Andy: "Mommy is at the hospital. We'll go see her after naptime."

Simon: "No, go see Mommy now"

Andy: "You think we should go see Mommy right now?" (considering...)

Simon: "yes, that's a good idea."

...so they packed some lunch fixin's and came over after church :).

We have good news from the doctors this morning--I have been stable enough that they let me go sans IV, and say that if I have another quiet day & night, I can probably go home in the morning! If I have any significant bleeding I'll need to come right back of course, but since we live close to the hospital (so we could get here quickly), and my previa is only partial (so its less likely to result in serious hemorrhaging than a complete previa), they are willing to consider my going home and taking it easy there instead of taking it easy here in the hospital. We are very glad, and hope all goes well tonight so I can go home tomorrow!

Quick Update: Baby & Mama

2010-03-12T21:59:00.003-06:00

Well, TaterTot/Poppy and I are camped out in the hospital, for at least several more days, and possibly until it is time to deliver. The current best-case scenario would be that Poppy stays put, and they would deliver via C-section at about 36 weeks--pre-term, but late enough in the pregnancy that the chance of complications for the baby would be very low (full term is considered 37 weeks), and early enough that I won't have gone into labor (which could be dangerous in terms of bleeding).

our little Poppy/TaterTot on Wednesday--28 weeks, 3 days gestation, developing beautifully

Blogging from the Hospital

2010-03-10T21:28:00.002-06:00

Well folks, I'm typing this email from the comfort of my adjustable hospital bed here at Mayo Clinic.

In fact, I've been here all day...at the clinic that is, not checked into a hospital bed until late this afternoon. Here's the general order of medical-related events today:

10:30 am--I check in and drink the oh-so-sugary solution for standard glucose screening test
11:30 am--blood draw (glucose screening and other standard stuff)
around 1:00 pm--our follow-up ultrasound to check up on little Poppy/TaterTot, and more particularly, on the placenta previa
1:30 pm--chatting with doctor and no, previa has NOT resolved itself...also, the minor bleeding I've been having the past day or so is enough to concern the doctors, so...

3:00 pm--I'm checked in for what will be a minimum 24-hour observation; another blood draw, hooked up to fetal monitors, and an injection of steroids to speed up baby's lung development, in case of preterm labor
7:00 pm--taken off the monitors (yay!) and switched to an antenatal care room for over night (no longer in labor & delivery)

To come tomorrow--another steroid shot, about 24 hours after the first, more fetal monitoring, and surely a whole host of doctors in and out...this is Mayo Clinic, after all. Its rather unclear which doctor/resident/fellow is actually in charge of my care, though there are certainly enough of them involved. We couldn't really get a straight answer about how long we'd be here--you know, anywhere from "24 hours" to "until you deliver". And for those of you who are counting, I'm only 28 weeks along in this pregnancy...so hoping for a not-preterm delivery, that last option would mean being here for 9 or 10 weeks to get me to term!

Let me just say, for the record, that this is NOT how I planned to spend the evening, much less the next many weeks! But then again, maybe they'll discharge me tomorrow night already...I can hope, right :-).

p.s. on the plus side, Poppy is doing just fine!

Exploring our own backyard

2010-03-05T11:40:00.004-06:00

Sometimes it takes having visitors to get out and see the things in your own neighborhood/city! We were lucky enough last week to have Brian, Natalie, Toby (age 4), and Sophie (age 2) come to visit on a relatively warm day, which was enough to prompt us to finally check out a local nature center we had heard good things about but not yet explored. It was great--and free! Here are a few photos...

Andy & Simon, as we explored one of the many trails

Toby got to try out cross-country skiing. I was so impressed--I never would have guessed that a 4-year old would be able to stay upright and actually manuever skis as well as he did! Sophie really wanted to try too, but they didn't have any boots or skis to rent small enough for a 2-year old.

Inside the nature center is basically a mini-museum, but better: you can touch everything! Here Simon got to explore various rocks, pieces of wood, and fossils. They even have a life-size model of a T-rex skull with a sign by it that says "please touch gently".

Sophie, checking out some of the big fish in aquariums lining the walls--they also had snakes, turtles, and other creatures to watch.

Simon was inspired by Toby skiing, and all the cross-country skiers on the trail, to try it out himself--all on his own he found himself some sticks to use as ski poles and starting "skiing":

(For those of you unaccustomed to Simonese--he says "Hi Mommy, I skiing with these sticks")

So next time you come to visit, remind us to take you to the nature center!

Family Portraits

2010-02-24T13:50:00.003-06:00

Commissioned, Directed, & Color Selection By: Simon

Artist: Mommy

Medium: Crayola marker on whiteboard

*side note: Simon has new slippers, thanks to Grandma & Grandpa! He loves them. And, I found washable dry-erase markers (but Simon loves the others so much we haven't swapped them)--Board Dudes brand, set of 4, sold at ShopKo, in case any other toddler-parents out there are searching :).

Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T20:30:00.003-06:00

We got to share Valentine's weekend with Jen, Zoe, & Adam!

our church had a Valentine's dinner we all went to together...

Simon is a little less cooperative than Zoe when it comes to posing for the camera!

this photo was taken to complement a photo of Jen and I standing back to back ten years ago, when we were freshmen in college...ten years ago! I don't have a digital copy of that photo to post (this is a good thing), but I'll just say that we thought the double-pregnant bellies and toddlers-on-hips contrasted nicely with what we were holding in our last photo, (which was taken at a party...) to show how 10 years changes your lifestyle and maturity level a bit :-)

smile, Zoe! love the pigtails!

awwww...Zoe was free-flowing with the good-bye hugs; Simon was a little more reticent

Thanks for coming to visit us--we miss you guys!

And, on the Valentine theme--you grandparents, aunts, and uncles out there may have received a Valentine from Simon in the mail--we thought we'd give you a window into his creative process:

Making Valentines:

Hi Grandma!

2010-02-05T13:17:00.003-06:00

We were lucky enough to spend this past weekend with Grandpa Phyllis. We were mixing business (training up on a new coding system) with pleasure, so we didn't have the camera out much, but did get a few photos from the extended weekend.

One of the weekend's tasks was getting Simon a haircut--he's been brushing it away from his eyes for weeks now! Though he clearly didn't enjoy the experience, he was very patient and sat very still for the whole thing.

We also searched for a few difficult to find Simon-related items. The first, washable dry-erase markers, we did not find (they do exist, I swear!)...but I did discover/decide that plain old washable markers would be fine for his easel whiteboard, as they come off the board with water--so they aren't dry erase, but they are washable (from clothes) and "wet erase". The second item we also didn't find--new slippers for Simon. I would like to just sit down and knit him some, but I have too many projects ongoing already, and I think that knit slippers are a bit too similar to socks for them to effectively tear him away from his too-small monkey slippers. You would think these would be easy to find...but every place either had only super girly slippers (Disney princesses and the like), or older-kid character/violent boy slippers (transformers, spiderman), or the few we found that were neither of those didn't have his size. Grrr. We did find Cars slippers in his size, but they are HUGE--like an extra few inches all the way around the foot, so they are shaped like cars--I just can't imagine him not falling every two seconds while wearing those. All I want are some little gender-neutral, non-violent animal slippers in a toddler size 6 or 7--is that too much to ask?!?!

having a snack with Grandma at the mall

We also introduced Grandma to bananagrams...its our new go-to game :). It seems every couple years we stumble across or are introduced to a new game we like, and that's all we play for several months (you know, in all that free time we have to play games!)...Grandma seemed to enjoy it too :).

Thanks for coming up, Grandma, and especially for subjecting yourself to an annoying training process for coding!

The Life Aquatic, with Simon Zissou

2010-01-21T20:30:00.004-06:00

Simon has recently taken to choosing his own outfits. This practice was limited to pajamas just a couple months ago, but recently it has extended to ALL clothing--including footwear and outerwear. Of course, at times we have to refuse something he really wants to wear, but that generally results in tears, so we try to avoid it if possible. Here is what he wore to child care yesterday...it reminded us of Steve Zissou (he has recently discovered this hat--one of Jess's that is a little tight on her--and has been wearing it 24/7!):

Most awesome-ist outfit of recent memory: "Mommy's hat," terry cloth swim shirt (you know, for that beach weather we're experiencing...), almost-too-small brown pants, too-small monkey slippers, and a onesie somewhere under there (and yes, he wore a coat and mittens before actually leaving the house, and we sent boots and a sweater along to child care, too!)

And, in other news, little TaterTot just keeps on keeping-on...now kicking Jess on and off throughout the day, and causing me to eat enough to feed 3 normal adults (or so it seems on some days!). A couple weeks ago we had a 20-week ultrasound, and baby is a-okay :).

So this view is a little creepy, because it looks like Poppy has a bionic eye...in actuality, that circle is the lens of the eye. Andy and I thought it was pretty amazing that we could see the lens of our little one's eye on the ultrasound!

And here's your more traditional side view--the bubble is Poppy's stomach, filled with amniotic fluid which means s/he has been practicing swallowing.

Christmas Recap

2010-01-15T18:33:00.007-06:00

We are getting around to taking our Christmas decorations down this weekend, so I thought I should probably get around to blogging about Christmas, too, before its all a distance memory with the day-to-day stresses of the semester (starting next week).

For us, Christmas Eve and Christmas were a bit different, as its the first year we've been a pastor's family--Andy was quite busy with 4 different Christmas Eve services, followed by Christmas morning, and then due to the timing of Christmas this year, Saturday night & Sunday morning services immediately following Christmas.

While he was busy working Christmas Eve, Simon and I busied ourselves making some sugar cookies! Simon helped with every step, except those involving the hot oven...and he had quite the wonderful time, right up until it was time to put the sprinkles away because we were out of cookies to decorate. Then the mini-tantrum started. But until that part, it was a lovely time :).

Steve, Marilyn, Karlie, & Peter came to stay with us Christmas Eve and through Christmas Day. We went to church, opened presents, slept, opened stockings, went to church, ate, opened presents...hmmm...there was a lot of present opening, wasn't there? We decided to follow a tradition my family had when growing up far from our extended family--on Christmas Eve we got to open the "out of town" gifts. So all those gifts that had been sent by grandparents and others collected under the tree until Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas day more gifts from each other and Santa appeared under the tree.

Mom & Simon, at stocking time

Karlie & Steve...I'm guessing it had been a few years since they had last opened stockings!

Peter modeling one of his Christmas gifts

Simon got a basketball hoop! Here he is helping everyone try it out by passing the ball around so we could each take a shot.

We went to Appleton to see Jess' extended family, as well. While we were there, we went to a great children's museum with Jess' cousins and their kids. One room was full of balls and air-powered tubes for the balls to travel through, with levers and other settings the kids could change to alter the paths the balls took once in the system. Simon mostly liked collecting as many balls as he could hold...but Andy and Jess thought the room itself was pretty awesome.

Simon and Clara playing in the water room.

The motivation for our trip was to attend Jess's cousin, Jim's, wedding reception--here are Erin & David, and Jim & Ally (married abroad over Thanksgiving).

After Appleton it was back to Rochester briefly (with Sarah & Josh in tow), and then on to Red Wing for another Christmas celebration. Here Peter is checking out his gift from cousin Aaron--a HUGE octopus kite from China!

One of the most unusual, and as it turns out, beloved, gifts that Simon received was this huge stuffed fish from Uncle Mark. He loves to cuddle/tackle it! (If you ask what the fish is named, he'll say Dorothy...he hasn't quite gotten the idea of naming stuffed animals yet, but Elmo's fish is named Dorothy, so I think when he was first asked he was a little confused by the question and came up with the only fish name he knows--but it has stuck, and Dorothy now lives on our futon!)

2 and 29

2010-01-07T12:10:00.010-06:00

I will eventually blog about Christmas, but I decided to go in reverse order and start with the birthdays--Andy turned 29 on December 29th, and Simon turned 2 on December 30th. Most of the fanfare was directed at Simon...

Out to eat in Appleton, WI with Jess' extended family on the 29th, everyone surprised Simon and Andy with a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" and...

...ice cream sundaes! Simon, in particular, thought this was an awesome way to end dinner.

In Red Wing on January 2nd, the boys were treated to a birthday breakfast and present opening. Here Simon is opening a wooden train set! We still need to figure out a good way to set it up (i.e. a low, flat, stable surface that isn't the middle of the dining room floor), so in the meantime we set up a mini-version (a one-loop track and train, no bridges, mountains, or other cool accessories that came with it) on the carpet in the basement. Simon has been busy experimenting and learning that if the magnetic train cars don't "stick" one way, he can just turn the car around and try the magnet on the other end.

Simon received many wonderful gifts for his birthday--here he's playing with a wooden birthday cake, made by Melissa & Doug. We love Melissa & Doug toys (he also got their Stamp & Sort Mailbox and unit blocks)! They are sturdy, non-battery-operated, and clever--this cake can be "sliced" thanks to velcro holding the pieces together, and different toppings and candles can be put on top via velcro spots. (Simon's godmother Sarah came to visit and was here for all the birthday festivities!)

Here I am, melting chocolate for the (non-wooden) birthday cake--actually, this was the first cake I've EVER baked, so I was a little concerned it might not turn out...but all the party-goers seemed to approve :). (Also, check out that belly! We are in full maternity-wear mode over here.)

Simon's party was the afternoon of the 2nd--it was very loosely based on Blue's Clues, in that I had made a treasure hunt with pawprints labeling the clues (the last clue led to a little treat bag). Here he is excited to find his first clue, hanging on top of his stocking. Due to our unfortunate last-minute no-shows (we hope you are all healthy now!), Simon actually did multiple treasure hunts, since I had them already made and he got such a kick out of it.

Of course Andy was a birthday boy to, so he had a treasure hunt as well...his clues were slightly more difficult than Simon's. Here he is giving me a quizzical look because he can't figure out his next clue!

Not your average two-year-old's birthday meal--while we had planned on just ordering a pizza, Josh (Sarah's boyfriend who was also visiting) offered to make homemade fettuccine alfredo--how could we say no?! It was delicious.

Due to timing right after the holidays and last minute illness, none of the invited kids were actually able to make it to the party--luckily, at age 2, Simon didn't mind having a small party and full attention from all the adults. Here he and Miss Lisa (his daycare provider) are looking at our birthday gift to him--a farmer doll that Jess knit.

The finished cake!

Blowing out candles...or attempting, at least. His aim is generally quite off when it comes to blowing out candles--this was actually taken right after they were magically extinguished by a nearby adult!

Happy birthday Simon!

And of course, playtime with all the new toys...being so close to Christmas, we actually had to clear all the Christmas presents out and relocate them to the basement and upstairs to make room for new birthday toys we knew were on their way! After the excitement and newness wears off in a week or so, we'll sneak some away and go back to our usual rotating-toy system, where we swap out toys every month or so from our closet rather than overwhelming Simon (and our house!) with all of them out at once.

Fun Video Day

2010-01-07T09:26:00.000-06:00

Well, this was going to be a catch-you-up-on-our-holiday-adventures post...but as I was going through photos I came across this video gem that didn't make it to the blog earlier. As some of you know, Simon has been sick (fever since Sunday--finally down to 99.8 degrees last night), and the poor thing has been rather miserable. So I thought it would do Andy and I some good to have a reminder of the happy, goofy Simon we've been missing the past few days!

New Trick--Blowing Raspberries (a.k.a. "I am SO hilarious!"):

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2009-12-20T15:10:00.000-06:00

Well, here we are, at Christmas week. Andy has been and continues to be very busy, as would be predicted of a pastor in Advent. Jess has been busy trying to wrap up the semester. She has one more final exam to give and lots of grading to do. Meanwhile, Simon has been enjoying learning about this time we call Advent!

Simon "helped" Jess decorate the house...this started out well, as he was awed by each new thing that came out of our decorations box...but ended in tears as he quickly forgot the pre-agreed-upon rule that "some decorations are okay to play with, but others are not" (and its up to Mommy to decide which in which). In short, he was inexplicably drawn to whatever was most fragile, and was nearly inconsolable when he was not allowed to play with EVERYTHING. Lesson for next year: Maybe we should pack two boxes of Christmas decorations...one for the kids to help with, and one to pull out after they are in bed :).

We picked out a live tree from the Lion's Club here in Rochester this year. It is lovely, and it is fun to have a live tree...though every year the increasing price tag makes me question how long it will be before we just buy an artificial one to save some money in the long-term!

Simon helped to hang ornaments on the tree--again, this was a mixed blessing. He enjoyed helping, until he decided he would rather play with the ornaments off of the tree...and he got very frustrated with not being able to hang the ornaments himself. Inevitably he would choose one with a tiny little loop to hang from, and would not be able to get it on a branch--whatever large-looped, more easily hung ornament Mom suggested was generally scoffed at.

Simon also got to meet Santa this year! And look what happened...are you sensing a theme yet? Of course, now I more fully understand why the tears-on-Santa's-lap phenomenon happens with toddlers. If they would simply tell you they didn't want to sit there, you wouldn't make them...but they get very excited at the idea of meeting Santa, and are okay sitting on his lap for approximately the length of time it takes you to get the camera turned on and ready, and then...snap! Pouts and tears just in time for the photo. (We did recover quickly from this little trauma when Mom came in for a picture with Santa, too.)

I guess given those descriptions, it sounds like this has been a trying time for Simon! That really isn't the case. Once decorations were up, and the fragile things were out of reach, he has had a great time playing with the decorations he is allowed to touch. He loves the Christmas tree lights, and for the first time we have outdoor Christmas lights, too! Andy put up a lighted wreath and some icicle lights across the front roofline of the house--unfortunately, I haven't brought the camera out in the snow to get a photo yet. So Simon is loving the lights, on our house and others, and of course can't get enough of the snow, even when its absolutely freezing outside.

He is also enjoying following along with an advent calendar (he gets a sticker every day--I decided since he didn't know any different, we could wait on filling it with candy or other goodies), and loves doing nightly advent devotions, or as he calls it, "can-dews!" (candles). We got a great kid's devotion book at church that has hidden pictures for him to find each night, and his favorite Christmas song has become "O Come, O Come Emanuel" which we sing before blowing out the candles. And then there is blowing out the candles--that is his job, and he loves it, though he has only gotten about two blown out by himself. His current style (and he is not interested in pointers for how to improve it!) includes about as much spit as air, and is often aimed below the actual flame, so it isn't terribly effective. But he either hasn't really noticed, or just doesn't mind, when one of us adds a little air-power to finally get the candles out.

We have a busy couple of weeks ahead, full of lots of church (especially for Andy--four Christmas Eve services, oh boy!), lots of family, and lots of friends...plus, of course, Andy and Simon's birthdays to boot!

Merry Christmas everyone :).

Thanksgiving Memories

2009-12-14T19:08:00.004-06:00

Well, we are so belated in our Thanksgiving post, that it does seem like a memory now, as Christmas is almost here! We were lucky enough to be graced with a visit from the Kalizabs...or should we say Kalizabems, now that little Emelia is here?

A few photos from our wonderful holiday weekend:

Having Abbie & Izzie around meant more than a few lessons in sharing...

We made our first turkey! It may not be picture-perfect, but it certainly tasted yummy :-)

Here's the clearest shot I got of little Emelia...doing something she's very good at: sleeping while cuddled up with Mommy

Andy and Alex, mid-flight, at the park (they set such a good example for the kiddos, don't they? You could just be content swinging...or, you could try to jump off the swing instead!)

We had a fun time at the playland in the mall one evening

Just think...they went to middle school, high school, and college together, and here they are now, with 4 kids between them (plus one on the way)

Thanks for another wonderful Thanksgiving, Kalizabems!