'Tis Summer...finally!!!

Howdy all and welcome back. As the post title says, summer has finally made an appearance here in the lovely Pacific Northwest. What looked like a beautiful early spring in March turned dismal, drab and cold for April, May and most of June. But (as is typical of the area) summer made it's appearance with the 4th of July and boy has it been nice. However, those of you back home would laugh at what we consider summer here...while your enjoying 90 degree heat, massive humidity and violent thunderstorms (all the hallmarks of a lovely Michigan summer...). Here we're enjoying beautiful blue skies, lovely views of the Cascades and Olympics (and occasional appearances of Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier) and average temperatures in the high 60's to the mid 70's (I think we've had 3 days at 80 or higher...) These beautiful summer months are the reason that we can put up with 6+ months of near constant rain a year...it's just perfect.

On to familial type things...which is the only thing anybody really wants to read anyway. I just put the rest of it in there to frustrate you...



What can I say...the kids are doing just great. They're both so smart and so active that Dad just can't keep up with them. So we called in reinforcements. Grandma works for a school district back in Michigan and gets the summer months off, so she's out here for a while to help keep the peace...not that she isn't having a blast herself or anything.

So in a fit of moderate creative inspiration (yes, my head almost exploded) I've decided to do a kinda, sorta, somewhat two part post for this one...the first post will feature pictures exclusively from Grandma's camera while a follow up post will come in the next week or so with pictures and video from my camera. Soooo...here we go.



Eilish is turning into a little lady. Here speaking skills are still rapidly developing, much less gibberish and much more comprehensive language. She's still struggles with complex consonant sounds like "ch", "th" and "sh" but for the most part she is clear and understandable. You just got to watch her though, one of her nannies was from Peru and was teaching her Spanish...so sometimes she lapses into using English and Spanish in the same sentence causing her poor Daddy (who took German in high school) to just stare at her stupidly. And her courtesy skills are just off the charts..."please" and "thank you" is almost automatic. She usually asks nicely for everything and isn't pushy and demanding. Usually being the key word...she may be an amazing kid, but she is still just 3, so the occasionally possessive, demanding moment is inevitable...I mean I do call her "Bratlish" for a reason.

She has her ABC's pretty much down, at least reciting them. We're working on her actually recognizing the letter shapes now...she can probably do 10 or so pretty consistently...same thing with numbers, she can count to 10 without thinking so now we're working on recognition. Mostly (like any 3 year old) it's a concentration thing. If you can keep her focused, she does really well...but keeping her focused is the trick.

She finally seems to be growing some too...up to 27.5 lbs on Daddy's completely unscientific home scale (from 26ish in February) and up about 1 inch on Daddy's completely unscientific "Let's mark your height on the wall" system. Considering she only grew about 4 inches and 5 lbs from the time she turned 1 to the time she turned 3 that's real progress!!! Just to further reinforce the point...she's just now growing out of some of her larger cut (Gymboree...) 18-24 month clothes...and 2T's are fitting her really well...3T's are still pretty big for the most part.









The Mooser is growing too...and growing...and growing. I didn't get him in for his 6 month appointment until last week (8 months old) due to some issues between his doctor and my insurance company. But here are his current measurables: 27.5in, 19lbs 4.5oz (Eilish was 31 inches and 21lbs at 1...he's got 4 months to catch her). The kid is a horse! He has his two bottom front teeth already (you may recall that he got those back in March), but I guess decided that getting two at a time was a little too slow for him, so he's now cutting all 6 of his other front teeth at the same time!!! Poor kid is miserable, but for the most part just soldiers on. The only time he really lets you know is if he accidentally chews on one of his hard toys.

The kid still develops new skills faster than I can possibly comprehend. The freaky part is you only have to show him something once and shortly after that, he'll be off to the races. So...his new and improved skills:

1) He can't crawl...we'll he can for short bursts...but he does this thing where he looks like an inch worm moving across the floor. Thing is he can go so fast doing it, that he might as well be crawling...the boy is across a room in a flash.
2) About a week after he started learning to do the inch worm thing, he figured out how to sit himself up out of a crawling position...and boy did that freak his pediatrician out when I told her.
3) After being shown once...he's been trying to pull himself up on anything and everything he can get his hands on. Just today he managed to pull himself into a standing position holding on to his piano. Yes, he is only 8 months old.
4) He's eating like a big boy! We got him a high chair and so far his palette consists of bananas, peaches, pears and sweet potatoes...although the sweet potatoes are still a negotiation in progress.











As for me...more of the same. Life sucks, I'm so lonely it hurts, and if I didn't have my kids I wouldn't know what to do with myself. They are the best and brightest part of my day. On the positive side, I've weaned myself off of my addiction to coke (the pop...stop thinking like that!) and am drinking copious amounts of water instead. I feel much better and have finally started to lose a little weight. I won't tell you how much I actually weigh...nobody believes me when I tell them anyway...but I've lost about 18 lbs from what I weighed when Cavan was born.

Yes, I really do have children!!

For those of you that have been waiting for an update on the kids, I apologize. I've had the pictures ready for this for a while...I've just held off for selfish reasons. I didn't want to open my Internet browser and not see a picture of Christy waiting for me.

The kids are doing wonderfully...as usual. Enjoying the weather...getting out and playing more. For some reason, I don't have a whole lot of pictures of Eily...not sure why, but I will correct that as time goes on. As usual though, she's doing wonderfully....her vocabulary expanding in leaps and bounds. Really starting to put long thought out sentences together now.

Cavan has decided that he's tired of progressing slowly too...so in the last 3 weeks hes:
1) Started to hold his own bottle
2) Learned to sit up on his own...absolutely loves playing on the floor with a bunch of toys arrayed around him.
3) Rolled from back to belly
4) Rolled from belly to back
5) Is desperately trying to crawl. And let me tell you...he's really good at digging his toes in to try and scoot. If he ever learns how to get his legs underneath him...I'm in so much trouble.

...and yes he's only turning 7 months old this week...

Below is a video of the very first time that I set him on the floor and let him play. He lasted about 10 minutes then...now he can go for a good 1/2 hour...45 minutes.

We were all sick...these guys had it the worst though...poor babies.


Cav started to really like the doorway jumper...but I've put it away because he kept catching his arm between it and the wall...


The eternally curious big sister...


He even fell asleep in it the very first time he played in it.


Eily out enjoying the day...


Wow...what am I doing????


Aren't I cool!


Dad...what are you doing???



Remember...video next.

It has to be Mother's Day...doesn't it?

Hey all...I figure with it being Mother's Day and all, now would be a good time for a post that I've been putting off. One that the very thought of has wrenched my heart for a while now...but I can't think of a more appropriate time to post it than now...



Hard to believe it's been almost 6 months...1/2 a year since I last held my wife. It seems like it's been forever...and just yesterday at the same time. Sometimes, I still expect to come home from work and hear her asking me how my day was. I just can't believe that she's gone...it's so unfair.



Let me tell you about the Christy that I knew...

The Christy that I knew was a kind and selfless soul...she would give every bit of herself to help someone else, without lifting a finger to help or defend herself. Whether it was helping some of her friends cope with a loss through the creative use of scrapbooking, donations and kind words, or volunteering to help babysit anywhere, any situation, any time. Whether it was putting a lot of extra time in to ensure that the mothers of the children in her room at the child care that she worked at had every minute of their childrens day documented (project, scrapbooks, etc) to something as little as the extra little touches she would put on thank you or holiday cards, she was at her best when she was watching out for others.

The Christy that I knew had a presence about her...I felt it the first time I met her. There was something that just drew you to her (especially children and animals...). I don't really know how to describe it, but you felt better just being around her. It's what drew me to her...made me look past the boyish haircut, baggy fleece shirt and much too big second hand jeans and see the incredible woman that was inside of her.

The Christy that I knew was born for one thing...to be a mother. From the dolls that she played with as a girl (many of which I still have in a box...all of which have real diapers on...) to the kitty cat that she got when she was 9 years old and dressed in doll clothes and pushed around in a stroller (I'm not kidding...one day I may scan in and post the pictures). This is a girl who knew from a very young age exactly what she wanted in life...and prepared herself for it in everyway. From helping to raise her beloved brother, to the way she treated the cat, to all the babysitting jobs that she had, moving on to being the night nurse for a couple of wonderful children with special needs and finally getting her degree in Early Childhood Education, her life was always pointed in one direction...motherhood. Heck...we weren't dating 3 months and she was already regalling me with stories of what she wanted to name her children (she already had several baby name books...she was only 20 years old!) When she finally got the children she so desperatly wanted, nothing in this world could wipe the smile from her face. I'm so happy that I was the one who got to share in the fullfillment of this dream for her.

















The Christy that I knew was the light of my life. She wasn't perfect, we had our differences and disagreements and sometimes she drove me absolutly nuts. But I loved her more than anything in this world and I would give anything to still be with her. The funniest thing about that was that this is a relationship that almost never happened. Now...most of you who actually know me know that if you look up shy in the dictionary, my picture is right next to the definition. To say that I'm painfully shy would be the understatement of a lifetime. I dated a little in high school...nothing ever serious...college was 5 years of hang-ups, trying to work 25 hours a week and go to school...didn't really date at all. So here I am studying for my last finals (literally...last term of college before graduation) and my mom (who was going back to school at the time) has a classmate of hers come home to work on a take home final with her. This was Christy. As I said earlier...there was just something about this girl that I couldn't figure out...well, the day goes on, I don't really say 2 words to her and she's gone. A week or so later, we get a Christmas card from her...in it she says something to the effect of, "I really enjoyed meeting your husband and son (hint, hint)". So here it is, she laid it out plain...and it still took me almost two weeks to ask her out...when I knew she wouldn't say no!! So...that's the first way that things almost never got started...

As I said...it had been 5 years since I had really been on any kind of real date, so I was absolutly terrified about how to handle it. I knew that there was something special about this girl and I didn't want to do anything to mess it up...so I resolved myself to not do anything that would appear to forward. Didn't want to scare her off...some plan. Two and a half weeks or so after our first date...I still wouldn't hold her hand or hug her unless bidden. Kiss her, HA! Yeah right. Well, all my brilliant plan succedded in doing was confusing the heck out of the poor girl. So she came to my house with every intention of telling me off and leaving...but (thankfully) decided to give me one more chance. We ended up having a very long talk, were I managed to explain myself properly (and she ended up late for work...sorry Tina!) and things finally took off from there.









This is my wife as I knew her.

Christy, my love, Happy Mother's Day...I wish we could share it with you.

Eily's 3rd, Cavy's firsts and Daddy's rants and raves...

Fair warning...this is likely to be long. It's been a month since I posted, I have a lot to say and not all of it is about the kids.

First...as to why it's been so long between posts. My apologies, I intended to post much more frequently in the last month, especially considering there are so many things going on. However that is the very thing that has kept me from posting. Between work, kids, family visits and other such things life has been non-stop for a long time.

On to the good things...

As many of you know, Eily's third birthday just passed. She had an absolute blast...even though she was spiking a pretty good fever at the time. It seems as if she is finally getting her two year molars...she hasn't been able to get her fingers out of her mouth since the fever started. To add to the festivities, Eily's grandma and grandpa (my mother and father) were able to come visit for a week and a half and were here for her birthday!!! Eilish had an absolute blast, from waking up to a mountain of presents (and balloons) to having her birthday extended as the packages from family and friends have rolled in (for those of you that have sent stuff and I have not personally said thank you...thank you!!!). I think the most entertaining part of this whole experience was as she opened her gifts...she got mostly clothes (she needed them...Daddy hadn't been able to convince himself to go to the mall and get her spring/summer clothes...)...but she so badly wanted to get some new toys that she just threw all the cloths aside..."More clothes..." It was hilarious. I will of course have some pictures below. Another great part of the whole experience was this dress and hat that her grandma found for her. It is so pretty. Well one day they finally get around to trying it on and Eilish walks around talking about how she's a princess and starts curtsying!!! I'm serious...there is a picture of it that I'm going to post. I have no clue were she learned it...the kid almost never wears dresses. Then she starts dancing, so I kicked on some tunes for her and she went nuts. There are two videos of her dancing that I will post below.

She's such a big girl and I am so proud of her...and so scared that I'm going to somehow hinder her development. I know what to do with Cavan...I've been through all that already. But, Christy was the one who steered Eilish into new frontiers...she was the one who always had the magic touch of knowing exactly when to do what with her...I just followed her lead. A lot of times, I feel completely at a loss as to the direction to try and steer her.

It's somebodies birthday!!!



Yeah...it's my birthday...aren't I cool???



Oh yeah!!! Birthday Cake!!!



Isn't my new dress pretty???



Told you I could curtsy!



I'm to cute for words...



Cavan is growing so fast. He had his 4 month check-up recently and was 25.5" long and 14lbs 7.5oz. That's right folks, an inch and a half and 2 lbs in 6 weeks...also, that means that he doubled his birth weight at 4 1/2 months. Crazy kid!!! Developmentally the child is a whiz kid. He can grab his paci...take it out of his mouth, play with it and put it back in. If he drops it, he can (sometimes) find it and put it back. He's already adept with toys and plays well with them...rattles, toy car keys, big soft squishy blocks...he may not be able to creatively play with them yet, but boy is he good at picking them up...shaking the crud out of them and eating them. He also has become adept with the exersaucer...he no longer needs blanket support to stay upright...he can turn the seat completely around...and that pesky giraffe that he couldn't figure out in the last post...he can eat it now. The kid is amazing. He's had some other really big firsts in the last few weeks. First...he's cutting his first teeth! The two bottom front teeth are so tantalizingly close to through...the left one is most of the way through, with just a bit in the middle left to go, the one on the right is just got both corners poking up...but you can see the whole top edge of the tooth through the gums...so I imagine it's gonna pop quick. The poor kid has been miserable the whole time. His other big first was...he tried real food! Baby food...whatever...on his sisters birthday he got his first taste of fruit. Boy was it entertaining. Some great pictures below.

Got you, you pesky giraffe!!



Ugh!! What's this?!?!



Still not real sure about this...



Aren't I cute?



Yeah...I'm a stud!



Some great combo shots...







Now on to me...at this point, I would imagine quite a few of you would like to just skip down below this post for the videos...feel free. Just so you know...I'm going to rip the media, remember my wife and destroy the people who killed her. Read on...if your interested.

First...

As most of you know, I've been working my tail off for the last two months. Huge hours, lots of working at home and on weekends, stress and agony. Many of you may also have seen the news reports about the 787 (which for those who haven't really heard the details is the plane that I'm working on). For those of you that missed it...it was recently speculated that the 787 was going to face a 6 month delay due to structural issues with the "center wing box". This would be the part of the airplane that I work on. While I admit we've had some technical challenges, these news reports are patently false. It is a wonderful example of the sensational nature of the news media. There are a lot of issues with this aircraft...as with anything that is this new (this aircraft is revolutionary...it's more than 50% plastic and 20% more fuel efficient than any plane it's size flying), when you put it together for the first time it doesn't quite work the way it should. Car companies get around it by ignoring it and dealing with recalls later. You can't do that in the aerospace industry. You have exactly one chance to get it right...if you screw it up, billions of dollars of development money go down the drain. There are many other parts of the aircraft that have much greater challenges than we do, but because we are the part that "holds the wings on" (as so many news outlets so blithely reported) they used this news to scare the bejesus out of everybody. Currently, the economy is on the precipice of a cliff and the bloody news media is doing everything they can to shove it and everyone in this country off that cliff like so many lemmings. It's ridiculous, when they could run so many other stories that would warm peoples hearts and give people confidence in where they live and how they live, instead they choose to use freedom of the press to try and destroy the very country that grants them that right. Forget Osama bin Laden...the media is doing his job for him...

I now step down off my first soapbox...

I miss Christy. I miss her so much, it kills me. I wish I could describe the feeling...but I just can't. The best I can come up with is try to imagine the one thing in your life that fuels you and drives you. The one thing that makes it worth getting up in the morning...the one thing that makes you want to be the best person you could possibly be. Now imagine that that is taken away from you...and you will never get it back. That is how I feel. I love my children more than life itself...I will do anything to ensure that they have the best life they possibly can. But my wife was what made my life worth living. She was the absolute center of my universe. And she's gone. What good would this planet be without the sun? A frozen chunk of rock floating aimlessly through space without a purpose. That is how I feel.

Those of you who read this and truly love your spouse...I urge you to look at them everyday and remember how much you love them...make sure that they know it. I live in fear that Christy died not knowing how much I loved her. I won't bore you with the whole story...but many of you know that this last pregnancy was really rough on Christy. And I mean, really rough. She was brutally ill from the middle of May until about the middle of October...so bad that a lot of the time she was nearly incapacitated. Most of it was stress and anxiety related...as I said, I won't go into the details, but suffice to say...Christy convinced herself back in May that she was dying and nothing that anyone would say, me...doctors...anybody could convince her otherwise. It took months for her to overcome this. So after months of enduring this, she gets what seems like a cold 2 1/2 weeks after Cavan is born...I was just getting over one, so I thought nothing of it...she on the other hand starts stressing out about it. After spending a lot of time trying to calm her down...I started to get upset...suffice to say, I wasn't as nice and loving to her as I could of been. Possibly understandable given prior circumstances...but none the less poorly timed...she died 12 hours later. I'm so terrified that she died thinking that I hated her. So learn a lesson from me...don't make the same mistake I did...you and your spouse will have disagreements...there will be times where you are angry with each other...but don't let that make you forget how much you love each other...you may end up regretting it...forever.

Speaking of the topic...I have finally managed to nail down the "official" cause of her death. Sepsis induced by a post-partum infection...yes, that's right. She died because some idiot doctor or nurse didn't keep themselves or their hospital clean enough. Things like this are not supposed to happen anymore. My children lost their mother...their wonderful, sweet mother because somebody messed up. I'm here to tell you...the people who cared about her most...that this will not go unpunished. I will have the collective heads of the people responsible for this. I will not let them do this to someone else.

Ok...stepping down off of soapbox number two...

Remember...videos after this.