New Year's Eve

Today started with snow around 7:30 AM. It lasted for about 3 hours, long enough to make me think that getting out of the house with the kids would not be a great idea. Luckily, one of Gram's friends invited him to go bowling (real bowling, not Wii bowling) and they picked him up so Mo and I had some quiet time. She fell asleep while eating in her swing so I got a brief nap today. However, the worl pretty much does not want me to nap. I have had any number of phone calls waking me when I try to squeeze in a nap. Today it was an ambulance screaming down the street right outside our house. Everyone is asleep now (except for me!) and it is snowing again. It should be pretty outside tomorrow morning.

New Year and New Schedule A-Comin'

As 2009 fades away in a very chilly fashion here, I am getting myself mentally prepared (as much as I can) for what lies ahead next week. Mornings of getting all 4 of us ready to leave the house by 8 AM. I'll be walking the boy to school most mornings and then turning back down the street to my classroom. We were doing this before my leave, but on those mornings Beth and Mo were just hanging around the house, not busily getting themselves ready. Not that Mo will be much help getting herself ready, but you know what I mean. Gram and I will leave about 10 till 8 and I'll be in my room about 5 after 8. Beth will leave right after us to take Mo to her day care. The afternoons? Well, we don't have that completely figured out yet. Gram will spend some days at the after care at his school, I'll spend some days getting him and Mo before Beth comes home, and some days Mo will be at the day care until Beth gets her after 5. Long days for a short girl.

Fitting in Gram's homework, my homework, making dinner, etc. It's a routine that tons of families have to deal with. It's just a new one for us and it'll be interesting to see how we work it out.

The cold is pretty severe this week by our standards. A few days of sub-freezing weather and strong winds have kept me and Mo away from our usual rounds of the downtown businesses, so we are spending more time cooped up at home. The good news is that she is fully on the bottle routine with me now as long as I feed her in the correct chair. The day care ladies will be happy to hear this.

Overdue Snow Photos

Back out in the world

So, last night, as I was getting ready for bed, I realized that no one in the family had even left the apartment yesterday. Our Friday newspaper was sitting on the sidewalk and we had spent the day in our pajamas. This morning, I went back into the world and played 4 mediocre games of basketball. My team won once with little help from me. The weather is turning lousy here but I am determined that we will not just stare at the Wii all day again. We'll see how successful I am.

A long happy day

Success

Gram declared today to be the best day of his life and it wasn't even 9 AM yet when he made this proclamation. A Wii console and the Mario Kart Wii game prompted this sentiment. We are officially, and deeply, immersed in the world of video games now. Beth figures that today is the first time since she was in high school that she will have played a video game. I tried a few rounds with Gram already. I beat him at bowling but he beat me at tennis and boxing. I must admit that I am a bit confused by how to control the actions of the game. It's not a natural environment for me and it makes my eyes hurt. I suppose that, if I want to continue to be an active part of Gram's world, that I will need to come to some sort of peace with the video games. Mo was up before 5 and just finished her customary 30 minute morning nap. Christmas photos coming soon!

White Christmas

Well, it almost certainly won't be snowing on Christmas day, but with all of the snow still piled up from last week we will have a white Christmas here. Gram is on vacation and my vacation time (as opposed to daddy time) has officially begun. Winter started late here this year but we keep hearing that it will be a long and snowy one. I certainly hope that the common wisdom is wrong on this one.

Beth and I are in the process of finishing our annual CD and a batch will go in the mail tomorrow. Once again, we missed a Christmas arrival. We've been passing a bit of a bug around the house the past week. Beth got sick last Thursday, I passed out on the couch before 7:30 on Friday night and Gram woke up last night throwing up around 1 in the morning. He seems fine now, but we kept him out of his last half day of school. Mo's patience is wearing thin with all of the holiday based errands we have been running and I think she is as sad as I am that the weather in the morning has made our walks almost impossible. This has meant more car rides and that means more of Mo screaming at me. She DOES NOT LIKE THE CAR.

We hope everyone will have a wonderful holiday and we will write more soon.

Counting Down

So, Gram has 2 and a half days of school next week and my school ends today. I guess my daddy leave is over and my winter break starts today. Above is my favorite current photo of me and the kids.

Rhythm Interrupted

So, Mo and I had settled into a pretty nice rhythm for awhile there. We would walk together in the morning, usually heading to the Y where I could work out and she would hang out in the kid room there. Well, the last week has seen some actual winter weather starting and our morning walk is not happening now. Today the wind chill is in the teens and I can barely stand it, I am certain that it would be too tough on her. So, we have been in the car and in the living room more than either of us would prefer to be.

First Snow of the year

So, we finally had our first snow day here. After a drizzly morning, around 1:30 PM today we started seeing some of the rain turn to snow. By 2:30 it was a full-on snow and it has not stopped yet. I originally thought that none of it would stick because of the early rain, but we are covered outside right now. I'll take some photos in the morning and post them soon. Beth and Mo never made it out of the house today, so it was a tough day for Mo. She was pretty cranky by dinnertime. We started a new family tradition. On Fridays when we are home we have pizza and movie night. Gram gets to pick the film (this week it was Garfield- The Movie) and he eats some white pizza. Beth and I had some buffalo chicken pizza and did our best to pretend to be amused/interested in the movie. Tonight we had family game night. We played BINGO with a game Gram bought from a local Goodwill type of store. It is called Caged BINGO and has a cool spinning ball that you use to select the BINGO numbers. We also played a card game he learned at school which helps him with his addition facts. A pretty fun night for the family on a snowy evening.

Settling In

So, after a few days of winterish weather we had temperatures in the 60s today. Word is we'll pay for it with our first snow this weekend. By this time last year we had already had a few snow days off of school.

So, Mo and I have settled into a pretty nice routine. We leave the house around 9 and walk to the Y. I pick her up from the kid room around 10 after I work up a sweat and then we walk our way home, stopping in a few downtown shops on the way. Today I had the chance to chat with the indie kid who works at the local record shop while Mo just smiled and gurgled. We usually get home around 11 and Beth gets home noonish. The afternoons are tough since the sun sets shortly after 4 these days. She's fine up to the point where we go get Gram from school. The stretch from 4 on is pretty rough.

Tomorrow's another day...

December - Winter is Arriving

A cold day today as Mo and I went for our morning walk. Here are some photos, finally. The top two photos are from Halloween and the bottom two are from a beautiful day drive we took recently to a cute nearby town.

Thanksgiving Day

Last year it was cold and we hosted our pals Doris and Christopher. We brined our turkey in a garbage can (with a liner, don't worry) outside our kitchen window on the roof so it stayed cool overnight. That would not have worked so well this year as winter has not yet arrived here. We had already had a few snow days by this time last year, but I don't know if we have been below freezing yet.

This year we are spending the afternoon with local friends and thinking about not so local ones and family spread far and wide. It's been a big year for us. As I was leaving the Y yesterday (I have still made it to exercise every weekday since I started my daddy day care routine) someone looked at Mo asleep in her stroller and said, "You sure have a lot to be thankful for this year." She's right, and Mo is only part of the story. We hope that all of our friends and family (who we don't see often enough and don't speak to often enough) have a wonderful holiday and that they know we are thinking about them.


Photos up soon, I promise!

One Week In

So, the early results were mixed on whether Mo was going to be at all happy with me being home. On Tuesday last week she cried non-stop from 1 until 4 in the afternoon when she finally passed out from exhaustion. Since then, she has spent less time each day crying. On Friday and today she spent less than an hour each day yelling at me. Progress, for sure. I have to figure out when she will get hungry and make sure I am in a place where I can feed her before the frustration sets in for her. I have to mix that need with the need to keep her moving and to change scenes often enough. Taking her for a walk is pretty much a sure thing everytime, but it makes it hard to feed her. I feel weird not working and being across the street from the action, but Mo is keeping me busy enough that I don't feel like I am on vacation.

I have also made it to the gym every weekday, plus playing ball on Saturday mornings, so I am keeping my word to myself so far. I fully intend to be in MUCH better shape when I return to work. My body is complaining a bit about weight lifting, but I know it'll get better. I need to be stronger and have more endurance in the spring when I get back to work and we begin the real craziness of balancing two jobs, two kids, day care for one, after school care for the other, my dissertation work, church commitments, etc etc etc

Daddy Duty

So, as of this past Monday, I am on daddy leave from school. Beth has been back at work for a week and a half. This at home adventure is going to be MUCH tougher than working every day. I'm loading up more photos soon and I'm going to try and write every day. We'll see how it goes...

Wow ... Some Unintended Consequences

SO, our schedule change has made it very difficult to keep up with this blog. SO sorry about that.

In an effort to help me keep coherent in the classroom, we moved Mo to our guest room/office so I can sleep through the night. What this has meant is that I am rarely able to use the home computer compared to how I used to utilize it. I am currently uploading a boatload of new photos and I will post a handful when that process is done.

Gram is settling into 1st grade, I am getting to know my students, fall is here, our house heater doesn't work reliably, I am tutoring two nights a week, the baseball playoffs are here, and on and on and on. Life has been busy. Oh yeah, we also watched all of Ken Burns' National Parks video and Gram was really hooked. He watched about 30 miuntes each night and is developing a list of parks he needs to go to now. Top of his list is Death Valley due to the name and the cracked mudflats that he saw.

Mo is terrific during the day (other than sundown) but she is still struggling with sleeping through the night. She actually had a stretch of about 6 hours one night and she has been able to fall asleep more efficiently when she does wake up, but Beth ends up away from our bed most of the night.

Photos in a few minutes.

New Schedules for All

Well, another grandma week has come and gone so we are on our own again as a foursome here. We were treated to great meals, help with organizing, fun stories for Gram and an extra lap for Mo. Gram started 1st grade and I started another year of teaching (my 23rd!)

Gram's school is a block away from mine so we walk together in the mornings (which I'll be able to do about half the time) and I can get him in the afternoon and bring him by school to visit the girls there.

It's almost midnight now and Beth and I are each up trying to convince Mo to sleep. I chaperoned a dance and came home expecting to find everyone asleep and Gram was the only one lucky enough to be snoozing.

Gram and I are off to Yankee Stadium tomorrow!

more soon...

Catching Up

I'll start again with Mo picture and a comparable Gram picture It's crazy to me how much they look alike at this stage.

I started work again this past Monday but, although with the way this summer unfolded, the main difference is that I am leaving the house every morning instead of writing emails and making phone calls routinely. Mo's sleeping is starting to stabilize a bit. Unfortunately, stable means waking up every three hours or so at night. Beth told me to sleep in our guest room Monday night, so I got the first uninterrupted night of sleep I've had since my mom left. She slept with Mo one night while we passed out and slept until the morning.

Summer appears to have ended here, we've had morning temperatures in the 50s a couple of times this week. I hope we have a long fall instead of marching right into a winter like we did last year. In 2008 it snowed before Halloween and snowed off and on until the middle of April. We don't need another season like that. Gram got a postcard from his first grade teacher in the mail yesterday. We are in countdown mode now until he starts elementary school.

Mad Men (...and a mad woman)

So, our heat wave has resumed after a few moderate days and Beth, Mo, and I have been a little stir crazy staying in one of the few air conditioned rooms in the house. Beth has caught the Mad Men fever from reading about the new season and she has been watching old episodes through our On Demand service. Meanwhile, Mo continues to make me regret talking about how peaceful she seemed the day after she was born. She has long stretches of the day where she is observant and kind of calm, but boy does she have a temper already. Tonight she passed out from the effort of screaming at me after dinner. She has had a few outings lately like visiting church and the mall on Sunday. Her normal response to such adventures is to sleep. Perhaps a 3 AM car ride is the answer to some of our late night troubles...

Quick quiz - One of the photos above is of Gram, the other is Mo. Can you guess which is which?

Heat

It's our dog day of the summer. The first over 90 degree day this summer. A nice hot, muggy one at that. When we walked outside together today sometime after noon, Jim commented that today reminded him of being in Florida. I reminded him that walking out of our house in Lake Worth in August usually felt like you were opening a hot oven rather than just the front door. This was not that. Later today when our downstairs a/c unit blew a fuse (our only a/c unit downstairs) and we retreated to an upstairs bedroom for some a/c relief, I was reminded of what it was like living through the series of hurricanes we lived through in 2004 and 2005, when we lost power for 7-15 days at a time. While the air conditioned rooms remain comfortable, leaving them to walk through the rest of the house is a definite shock. Maureen is handling the "heat wave" fairly well. Gram took little notice of it. He was more interested in watching some of the programs on "Hurricane Week" on the weather channel. Tonight, the program was about 2004's Hurricane Ivan. Memories!
Oh yeah, Mo just had her followup appointment and she has gained a pound since birth. That's my girl!

A New Adventure Begins

Today Gram and I took grandma to the airport and now we get to start figuring out our lives here as a four person family. No one to lean on now, so we get to take care of Mo and each other. So far, she has been up at 3:30 every morning and last night she was up from about 2 until 6 AM. Below is the first photo (I think) of the four of us together.

Catching Up

Above are photos of Mo with her big brother Gram and with her grandma who is here helping out until this weekend. We are experiencing the closest thing that New Jersey has to real summer heat (at least since we've been here) so we have been a bit homebound. Mo went with Beth to visit the Y office two days ago and today we took her to Short Hill Mall. We all were able to eat in peace while Mo took in the surroundings. It felt like a big hurdle to get her out in the world today. We escaped the house since we had a plumber doing some major work on our downstairs bathroom.

She's been doing reasonably well at night in her crib now and we are beginning to settle into a routine, I hope. I am remembering how little help dad can provide at times to the baby, so I've been concentrating on cooking and looking after Gram as best I can.

A long night, a peaceful day...

So, Mo gave us quite a night last night. We got kind of spoiled by nurses taking her away to a nursery for short bursts where we could nap. Last night she kept us up and woke Gram up as well. Speaking of big brother, here is a shot of Maureen that Gram took today followed by my favorite from Gram's birthday party last month.

Quick Question

Should her nickname be Mo or Moe? I keep going back and forth on this one. I've been using Mo, but I may be easily swayed.

Mo's First Few Days

There's been a demand for some Mo Doherty images already, so here are a quick few. We'll have a little more breathing time tomorrow and Wednesday, so more photos will appear then.

First photo of mom and her baby girl

Big brother Gram is helping out already

Mo looking at daddy

Gram helping wheel Maureen out of the delivery room over to our home for the first two days.

More to come

Thanks for the love coming our way, I am sure that Maureen is feeling it already!

We're Four Now (People in the Family, That is...)

Just got home today with baby Maureen (likely to be Mo as long as she lets us call her that) and I am ready to commit to some more regular blogging than I was able to accomplish the last time I tried this. I (we, really) will use this space to think out loud, to keep friends and family updated, to share photos of the family, and to generally try and keep connected to the world outside of our home in Summit, NJ.

Photos up soon, promise!