A New Paige

I am going to go multiple directions with this one:

The new baby Paige When I talk about Paige my instinct is to compare her to Lucy. I hope to avoid either of the girls ever getting sick of being compared to each other, but I am going to go with it for the moment. Paige was born smaller then Lucy and has put on weight slower. With that said we have been excited to watch the development of a belly, leg and neck rolls, and round cheeks.

Paige seemed to be more of a natural latcher then Lucy, but I am sure that mom’s experience helped. Paige is also a natural at filling diapers. Not only have I been amazed at the amount of poop she produces for someone on a 100% liquid diet, but the sounds and facial expressions with which she does it.

Paige, we love having you in the family and we look forward to your story to continue to unfold. It has been amazing to watch so far.

A new page in our family
We are starting to get settled in as a family of four. Lucy has been a great older sister and continues to be very interested in Paige. She loves to look at Paige, sing to her, and insists on knowing which Sesame Street character is in the diaper we are putting on Paige during a diaper change. Lucy also likes to give Paige kisses and talk to her. Lucy has been heard saying the below quotes to Paige:

• “Hey You”
• “Big Sister Here”
• “Don’t cry Paigie”
• “When you get older:
o We will eat ice cream together
o We will play on the swing set
o We will go swimming

Lib has been amazing with all the demands of the two girls. Although Lucy has been great to Paige she has been a bit sensitive about her mommy time. Paige is naturally demanding with her need to eat ever 3 to 4 hours around the clock. Lib you are my hero!

Fatigue is a natural part of having a new baby in the house. Below is an embarrassing picture that I will forever contend simple captured a blink. Nonetheless the pic captures how we have all occasionally felt over the first month as a family of four.
It may be time for me to turn the page on the name of my blog and go with “DAZE from the Homefront!”

A newer Paige
Lib told me she recently read a newborn is the fussiest around week 6. Paige has verifying to us that she agrees with that statistic. To say she is colicky would be to way over state her mood. She continues to be an overall good baby; she just has been working her lungs out more frequently in the last week. My unmedical opinion is that she is becoming more aware of her surroundings (more sensitive), but doesn't yet know how to deal with her new feelings.

For example, we went to the zoo earlier this week. We left our house around 9AM and returned around 12:30. During this three and a half hour trip, Paige ate twice (30 minutes each), slept for 15 minutes, and screamed the rest of the time. Now that is a lung workout! She apparently wanted to see the animals.
Lucy said her favorite was the monkeys and she is very interested in returning to the zoo.

With this new fussiness our new nightly routine has become walking laps around our living room and kitchen. We take turns “singing” until she falls asleep.

Paige, I look foward to being there as the numerous pages of your story are written! (I couldn't resist including one more cheesy page/Paige reference!?!?!?!?!)

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

Mommy turns 30 today!

We love you and are luck to call you our mommy and wife.

Thank you for all that you do for us.

You are beautiful!

We are looking forward to enjoying the next 30 years (and the 30 after that) with you.

DUDE REPORT: Correction

I wanted to briefly post a correct to my "Let's hear it for Nellie" post. Although it worked well for my story, Nellie (the rapper) did not sing The Thong Song.

I want to first apologize to Sisqo, the real artist of The Thong Song. I also want to apologize to the readers of this blog, for posting incorrect information and for mentioning The Thong Song in multiple blog posts!?!?!!?

Spring has Sprung

When I was growing up we were trained that during March and April you should always be on the lookout for signs of spring. It was always a proud moment when we saw our first robin or a flower blooming or drove past an open golf course.

With Lucy’s assistance I have documented some proof that spring has arrived.

First Sign of Proof: Getting ice cream after a family walk
After a walk earlier this week, we stopped at the ice cream shop on the way home. Lucy's smile says it pretty well, but she really likes ice cream. To drive the point home that it was a warm spring day, Lucy went pants free to eat her ice cream.

Second Sign: Tulip bulbs on the verge of blooming
Last fall, shortly after we moved into the house, Grandma (my mom) and Lucy planted Tulip bulbs in our yard. It has been fun to watch them pop up this spring. Within a week we should have some colorful flowers.

Lucy and I have been discussing what color the flowers will be. The color guessing discussion with Lucy reminded me of my silblings and I discusing what colored sweater vest Mr. Rogers was going to wear each day. I would love to know if anyone else ever played the "guess Mr. Rogers vest color game". For those of you who don't remember Mr. Rogers would start every show by taking off his coat and boots and putting on a sweater vest and shoes. I always guessed blue. He is not a sign of spring, but I pictured him anyway.

Third Sign: Successful worm hunt
After a heavy rain one night this week, Lucy and I walked outside and looked on the street for worms. As you can see from the pictures we were successful. I was also very proud of Lucy for her willingness to touch and hold the worms.

She did ask why worms go on the road when it rains. If anyone knows I would love to provide her (and myself with a real answer). I believe I mumbled something about the rain taking the air out of the dirt (which was met with a blank stare and a "why?"). I then went with because the dirt gets cold and the road is warmer during a rain storm!??!?!

There were a lot of squished worms in the middle of the road. I took the opportunity to reminder her that is why we have to watch for cars and why we don't play in the street. This lesson may have fallen on deaf ears though because she was really into her worms!

Fourth Sign: Spring fashion

Lucy announced what will be the popular fashions this season for two year olds. She went with a classic look. The look has been worn by two year old who love to run faster then their coordination can keep up with for generations. It is the multiple band aid look. To date she has been sticking with Dora band aids, but they seem to be running out fast.

Happy Spring!

DUDE REPORT: Let’s hear it for Nellie

It is ok to admit it that if after reading the headline to this post that you started humming the Thong Song. Although I am still trying to recover from having that song stuck in my head from early 2000 through 2001, I do like Nelly the rapper. Although Cornell Haynes, Jr. (Nelly’s real name) isn’t the focus of this DUDE REPORT he does have some athletic ties. Not only did he make a great catch and hit a monster homerun in the 2009 Legends and Celebrities Softball game at the MLB All Star game, he is also part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. (In the hyperlinked clips Nelly’s highlights both happen around 2:35. I would be remised if I didn’t mention Rena Walker appearing in the softball game. Spoiler Alert: It was a rough episode of 24 for her last night, and I was sad to see her go.)

Another area where I appreciate Nelly the rapper is when I am running. When I get tired on a run, Nelly’s Heart of a Championship is one of the two songs I use to get pumped back up. The other is Stronger by Kanye West. I would love any suggestions that you have for songs that pump you up. I haven’t gone for a run for over a month (not a coincidence that Paige is one month old today), and when I do get back out there I am sure I will have a lot of these out of energy moments.

The other Nellie, Don Nelson, is the current head coach of the Golden State Warriors and on April 7th, with little fanfare, he became the winningest coach in NBA history. Ironically, it took me four paragraphs to mention his name in a post where my goal is to communicate that his story was unjustly lost in the shuffle!?!?!?

Before I go any further I should point out that Chris Ballard on the back page of the April 5th Sports Illustrated in an article titled, “Genius of the Mad Scientist” wrote about Nelson approaching the wins record. I point this article out for two reasons. The first reason is in case anyone from SI is reading by blog (I wish) I wanted to make sure I gave credit where credit is due. The other reason that I am mentioned Ballard’s article is because, although I consider myself someone who follows sports closely, if I wouldn’t have read this article I would have missed Nelson's milestone accomplishment.

Some argument this accomplishment means less because Nelson has never won a championship as a coach (he did win 5 as a player), or because his Golden State team is terrible this year, or because he has coached for so long many say he should have accrued 1333 wins much sooner.

All of these arguments fall along the wayside when the magnitude of the accomplishment is considered. Also when you consider the coverage that records such as Favre breaking Marino’s career passing yard record, Eric Gange’s pursuit of the consecutive saves record, and the extremely overhyped coverage of McGuire, Sosa and Bond's pursuit of the single season homerun record. While all of these records have their merits, having the most wins ever in a major sport like basketball seems to deserve more attention.

Nellie, you can rest a sure that after today’s post the handful of readers of my blog will now know what you have achieved. Congrats from the 8 of us!?!?!

The media’s current coverage of sports is to blame for Nelson’s achievement being overlooked. First the media, much like the NBA, NFL, and MLB themselves, has a disproportionate focus on large markets. I get it that the money is in New York and LA, but do we need to spend the first 20 minutes of every SportsCenter breaking down Kobe’s ankle injury, the Red Sox’s bullpen, and playing "Can you name which New York Giant got arrested this weekend?". This leaves little time to discuss what else is going on in the sports world. While Nelson’s Warriors do play in California, I still feel this 25 win team with no stars and a legendary coach is marginalized by a disproportionately large amount of coverage given to a handful of other teams.

The second critic of the media goes beyond the coverage of sports. Fox News, CNN, and all the others spend more time covering which Senators yelled “You lie” or “baby killer” in the Senate, then providing us with substance and factual information about real issues. SportsCenter and other sports shows, when not talking about the Yankees or Red Soxs, fill up their time discussing Tim Tebow’s arm angle, Ben Rothlisberger’s latest night club incident, and the Dallas Cowboys old stadium blowing up. While all of these issues are related to sports and could have an impact, they are all off the field topics. I think a sports purist would rather know if the NBA wins record is about to be broken versus hearing 18 analyst’s reaction to the latest Tiger Woods press conference.

My solution is to have Nelly the rapper make a song about Nellie the coach as catchy at the Thong Song. Then none of us would ever be able to forget who the winningest coach in NBA history is!?!?!?!?!?!?


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Wade Philips: While Don Nelson has just become the winningest coach in NBA history, Wade gets the award for most confused looking coach in NFL history.

A big hand (and some fingers) for Nana

Lucy calls Lib’s parents Nana and Papa. With today’s post I want to give three cheers to Nana.

Cheer #1: I wanted to give a big thanks to Nana and Papa for the extra set of hands that they provided to us during our first week with Paige. As Paige approaches one month of age, we are starting to get a routine figured out. We certainly didn’t have a routine during the first week and their assistance was priceless and greatly appreciated.

Cheer #2: During Nana’s time here she worked with Lucy to make a flower. To make the flower they traced Lib, Lucy, and Paige’s hands. We have it up in our kitchen now and I have enjoyed walking past it and seeing all of “my girls” hands. Nothing like a colorful spring flower that doesn’t wilt!
Cheer #3: Nana also found time to teach Lucy a song you may have heard of to help her learn the names of her fingers. Some of the lyrics are “Where is Thumbkins? Where is Thumbkins? Here I am. Here I am. How are you today, sir? Very well I thank you. Run away. Run away.”

The song continues through the rest of the fingers of the hand. The song has stuck with Lucy and there have been multiple times that I have overheard Lucy looking at her fingers and singing to herself. One memorable encounter was when I walked into our bedroom and Lucy was quietly singing to her shadow on the wall. A real cute image right...except for the fact that she was flying the double bird and singing “Here is middleman! Here is middleman!”

In Nana’s defense she did say you need to be careful with Middleman. I guess Lucy forgot that part of the song!?!?!?

Best laid plans

On March 3rd, in my first dude report, I mentioned that I wanted to start two additional posting folders/categories before the end of March. Ten days later Paige was born. Not only did I not fulfill my goal of two additional category posts, I didn't post at all the rest of the month. Now that I am blogging again, with the 2 and a half year old and 4 week old taking care of themselves HA!HA!HA!, I hope to get both of these categories started before the end of April.

Lucy also made some plans that we have yet to complete, although she is further along than I. Before the recent warm weather her and I were have some "chalk talk" about what we were going to do when it got nice outside. She laid out her plan for a big party in the backyard. The progress that she has made since our meeting is that she has not only put in some quality hours on the swing set, but she has done it with some of the friend pictured. We are still working on how to get all pictured attendees to the summer party.

First, I will walk you through the layout of the plan. On the left hand side of the chalk board is the swing set. Party attendees that are pictures on the swing set included Lucy, Ari, Clara, Tom, Vivi, Dad, Baby (now referred to as Paige) and some others. To this point, the plan seems reasonable. Some of the friends live out of town, but it isn't outside the realm of possibilities to get them to town to play.

The lower right part of the picture is the table on our patio. Although the table appears very overcrowded, it is mommies drinking wine. (This is as good of time as any to remind you that this is a plan Lucy thought up) Up the hill we have some neighbors (Cooka, Big John, Noah, and Suzie) climbing the tree on the left. Still seems to be a reasonable plan...

After that is were executing her best laid plan will be as likely as Harry Carey getting Albert Einstein on to his show. (Harry doesn't mention Albert until 4:34 into the clip, but if your schedule permits I would recommend taking in the whole video) The right tree has Dora the Explorer and her best friend Boots and the blue blob to the right of the swing set is Maria from the Sound of Music. Tracking down a couple of animated characters and an Austrian nanny from the 1930's will be challenging.

On the other hand, we have tracked Dora down once before (Mall of America last Christmas Season, pictured below) and my updated blog posts could wait another month as I try to get on Julie Andrews schedule to invite her to our party!??!

Horse named Blog

It has been a while since I posted, so the purpose of the post tonight is to prove to myself that I have time to blog once in a while. Also, I like to post so when go to sleep tonight and sleep from around 11:30 until 3:30 (Paige will need a diaper change at that time), I can be pleased to have got back into blogging...or back on the horse named blog. Picture illustration of me on my horse named Blog below.




In actuality I don't think I am following the "Get back on the horse the bucked you" quote accurately. It isn't like my blog "bucked" me from my regular blogging routine. It was the arrive of Paige three and a half weeks ago.

First family shot on record!

It has been a lot of fun getting to know Paige. Naturally with a new born it is also a lot of work. Libby has been amazing, not only taking care of the dependent newborn around the clock, but also working with Lucy. Lucy has been a great older sister to Paige, but is still figuring out life with a little less exclusive mom time.

Lucy hasn't regressed at all with her potty training, which both Lib and I are pleasantly surprised by. Knock on wood, but I feel close to using the work trained to describe Lucy's potty situation. Sometimes it take a portable potty, Sesame Street, and a bag of Cheetos, but I guess that all still beats her going in her pants.


Although our house is a complete disaster and we are all fighting fatigue, we feel very blessed by Paige's arrival. I will close with a shot of the girls (a term I am still getting use to saying) "rocking" their tie-dye outfits.