Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Videos are working now
I didn't do the right thing with You Tube earlier. So, now you should be able to see MJ playing football and Joey on the slide.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Weekend at ND
Our family was fortunate to be able to travel last weekend to ND again. We can't go too long without making a trip, and we had a good reason to go. Our friends Kate and Austin were getting married at the Basilica (where Mario and I were married almost 5 years ago). The boys and I drove 6 hours to Cleveland to get Mario from the airport and then we all drove to South Bend together (another 4 hours). We did the same thing on the way back, but stayed overnight Sunday night in Cleveland. I got to try out Joey's new car seat (the one he was using - MJs old seat- broke). And this was Joey's first long car trip forward facing. The boys did great, and because we split our trip up, they made the whole trip without watching a single movie in the car.
Friday the boys and I hung out while Mario worked in Panera and the hotel. He was on calls all day (man, the guys works hard- and he is so good at what he does... I have an impressive husband). Friday night we went to the awesome rehearsal dinner at the College Football Hall of Fame. We feel it helped reignite MJs love of football. Besides playing in the sports area and seeing the whole museum, they also had a lovely (lent-friendly) dinner and a cute video of Kate and Austin's life played on the theatre screen. We had a great time.
Friday the boys and I hung out while Mario worked in Panera and the hotel. He was on calls all day (man, the guys works hard- and he is so good at what he does... I have an impressive husband). Friday night we went to the awesome rehearsal dinner at the College Football Hall of Fame. We feel it helped reignite MJs love of football. Besides playing in the sports area and seeing the whole museum, they also had a lovely (lent-friendly) dinner and a cute video of Kate and Austin's life played on the theatre screen. We had a great time.
The Last Lecture
A friend sent this on to me. It's a lecture about life given by a professor who is dying. It's only about 11 minutes long, but I thought it was pretty good. I'm sorry I can't upload the video here. There are versions of this on YouTube but they were either longer or not as good. So, I guess you'll have to cut and paste.
http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ithct48cqw
http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ithct48cqw
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Chirst be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
---St.Patrick 385 to 461AD
We took this using the self-timer... I'm impressed that Joey was looking and smiling at the camera.Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
---St.Patrick 385 to 461AD
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Thoughts from the last few weeks
In no particular order:
*MJ is learning Spanish. I can't believe I didn't blog this sooner (maybe I have). The kid's vocabulary is just amazing so I thought he could pick up words in other languages too. I think I know where all of my brain power is escaping. He doesn't know that many words, but picks up whatever we are working on rather quickly. Now when he tries to debate with me about getting something like a cookie. He says
"Me gusta dulces" (since we haven't taught him cookie yet) and,
"You can't say 'no' Mommy. You have to say yes. Say yes in Spanish, "Si." Can you say yes in Spanish Mommy?"
Boy, I'm in trouble.
*Joey is the slowest teething baby I have ever known! I'd say he has 5 teeth, (3 on top, 2 on bottom) but none of them are actually all the way in. Wow, this is definitely something he's gotten from Mario.
*Do you remember when MJ would "attack" people as a baby. I remember at least one Aunt Teresa incident. Well, it seems this move runs in the family. Joey is quite happy tackling people. He has a slightly different technique... I think MJ has been training him.
*MJ is into 2 more shows. My Friends Tigger and Pooh, and Bob the Builder. I don't want to sound like we watch TV all the time. We just wanted some variety in the approx. 25 minutes of TV we watch a day. And these are age-appropriate, commercial-free, and usually some how creative or problem-solving, so it's really helped MJ's imagination (and given me a break to shower or keep him from climbing on the walls when he hasn't had a nap). I was at a consignment sale and saw some Bob the Builder toys but reminded myself that MJ is able to imagine those toys out of his construction equiptment that he already has. And it is so much more fun seeing him pretend like that. We don't have a "Bob" but he pretends that this small green dinosaur is Bob who plays with the digger, bulldozer, crane...etc. He even sings the theme song while he's playing. I'll have to get a video of that.
*Both MJ and Joey are getting so good at playing with other kids. It's fun to watch MJ play imaginary games with his friends. It's interesting how when he plays with the girls there is a different tone to the game (someone always needs to be rescued). I remember MJ could get overwhelmed by large groups of people. I think lots of noise is just the norm for Joey. In fact, Joey has been awake for over an hour now without MJ, and I think he looks rather bored.
*I'll have to say this again, having 2 kids seems so much easier than one. But I wonder if this is because one of them is old enough to talk to me and dictate what Joey is doing. I think any mother gets a level of comfort with having a child in a different room. You learn to listen for happy playing noises and destructive/dangerous ones. It's nice when I hear an unusual noise and I can ask MJ what Joey is doing. MJ is pretty good at giving me the play by play. It saves me a bit of time.
*Joey and MJ are so very close to sharing a room. They still can't fall asleep together (unless they are very tired and I am close by monitoring quietness), but they have survived sleeping through each other's noises in the night.
*MJ is learning Spanish. I can't believe I didn't blog this sooner (maybe I have). The kid's vocabulary is just amazing so I thought he could pick up words in other languages too. I think I know where all of my brain power is escaping. He doesn't know that many words, but picks up whatever we are working on rather quickly. Now when he tries to debate with me about getting something like a cookie. He says
"Me gusta dulces" (since we haven't taught him cookie yet) and,
"You can't say 'no' Mommy. You have to say yes. Say yes in Spanish, "Si." Can you say yes in Spanish Mommy?"
Boy, I'm in trouble.
*Joey is the slowest teething baby I have ever known! I'd say he has 5 teeth, (3 on top, 2 on bottom) but none of them are actually all the way in. Wow, this is definitely something he's gotten from Mario.
*Do you remember when MJ would "attack" people as a baby. I remember at least one Aunt Teresa incident. Well, it seems this move runs in the family. Joey is quite happy tackling people. He has a slightly different technique... I think MJ has been training him.
*MJ is into 2 more shows. My Friends Tigger and Pooh, and Bob the Builder. I don't want to sound like we watch TV all the time. We just wanted some variety in the approx. 25 minutes of TV we watch a day. And these are age-appropriate, commercial-free, and usually some how creative or problem-solving, so it's really helped MJ's imagination (and given me a break to shower or keep him from climbing on the walls when he hasn't had a nap). I was at a consignment sale and saw some Bob the Builder toys but reminded myself that MJ is able to imagine those toys out of his construction equiptment that he already has. And it is so much more fun seeing him pretend like that. We don't have a "Bob" but he pretends that this small green dinosaur is Bob who plays with the digger, bulldozer, crane...etc. He even sings the theme song while he's playing. I'll have to get a video of that.
*Both MJ and Joey are getting so good at playing with other kids. It's fun to watch MJ play imaginary games with his friends. It's interesting how when he plays with the girls there is a different tone to the game (someone always needs to be rescued). I remember MJ could get overwhelmed by large groups of people. I think lots of noise is just the norm for Joey. In fact, Joey has been awake for over an hour now without MJ, and I think he looks rather bored.
*I'll have to say this again, having 2 kids seems so much easier than one. But I wonder if this is because one of them is old enough to talk to me and dictate what Joey is doing. I think any mother gets a level of comfort with having a child in a different room. You learn to listen for happy playing noises and destructive/dangerous ones. It's nice when I hear an unusual noise and I can ask MJ what Joey is doing. MJ is pretty good at giving me the play by play. It saves me a bit of time.
*Joey and MJ are so very close to sharing a room. They still can't fall asleep together (unless they are very tired and I am close by monitoring quietness), but they have survived sleeping through each other's noises in the night.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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