Amazed daily

That is probably the best way to describe Steph's and my reaction to Jordan.  It is amazing how fast he is developing and how fast he is learning.  Only weeks ago, he was just learning how to sit up.  Now he goes from his stomach to sitting to crawling to sitting much faster than I could.

At times, I believe that our perspective is skewed because he is our only child, and we just haven't been around a lot of babies as they are developing, but "he is so smart." And by smart, I mean that the Pavlovian principles of classical conditioning apply to him perfectly.  However, I believe that Jordan is starting to grasp the idea of object permanence, usually not grasped until 8-12 months.  This is just one example.

I hope we don't end up becoming the parents that think their child is good at everything, and smarter than everyone else, and cuter than everyone else, and more skilled than everyone else, and more creative than everyone else, and more intuitive than everyone else, and more humble than everyone else, and I think you get the point.  Because if you haven't, I'm sure Jordan already has.  (haha - insert sarcasm here)

But then again, one of his favorite toys is an old cheese puff bag.

Welcome Back

I know. I know.  Its been awhile.  Things have been moving so fast.  Today at church I saw a seven week old baby.  I turned to Steph and asked her if Jordan was ever that small, and she said yes.  And for the first time in 6 months, I was blown away by how fast time has passed since Jordan was born.

This past week was my Spring Break.  10 straight days at home (for the most part) with Jordan.  I took him to daycare once to go get my haircut, have lunch with friends and go to a movie.  And it was one of the first times that thought about him constantly when I was gone.  Other than that, it was a lot of time at home.    Jordan loves his Johnny Jump Up.  If you haven't seen the video I posted on facebook yet, you should.  He also loves to explore.  He is "crawling" around everywhere, and he is fast.  His "crawling" consists of pulling himself around and using his left leg to push himself.  I can only assume that crawling is right around the corner.  Steph and I started to babyproof, but there are a few more things to do.

He has one tooth coming in.  We can only assume that the recent fussiness and frequent breaks in sleep are a result of that.  The other constant nuisance has been his eczema.  We have been trying a number of different things in combination that have had varying degrees of success.  One of the things we won't try is something a friend's grandmother suggested: urine.

Jordan loves his real food.  We have pretty much run the gamete of fruits and vegetables.  He isn't too fond of blueberries, but everything else he seems to enjoy.  He is also starting to take juice from a sippy cup, but that hasn't been going to well lately, maybe because of the teething.

Sorry that this entry isn't very entertaining or insightful, but knew I needed to try and get back into the swing of things.

Year in Review- Fall

The fall really was marked by one event:  the birth of Jordan.  I have already posted a lot about those first days and weeks.  Please feel free to go back and read through them (if you haven't already).

For me, it was back to school.  All of it is manageable because I have tennis to look forward to when the bell rings.  Our girls season went well, much better than I thought given the youth of our team.  Another year of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) started, this year I was flying solo as the advisor after last years' "co-leader" moved to Lakeville.  I really like the group of kids we have year.  They are taking a lot more responsibility in years past, which is a good thing, but has left some things moving slower than normal.

For Steph, it was not back to work.  She was able to take 6 weeks off.  She really enjoyed it, and would love to stay home if she could.  But we are blessed to have friends doing daycare.  Jeremy and Carisa have a 2 year old boy of their own.  They end up splitting daycare duty, which is fabulous because we know he is in a place where he will be safe and loved.  After the six weeks, Steph returned to work.  Her co-workers were ecstatic, but because of weak sales numbers (even though Steph kept up her numbers on the phone) things started to take a toll, and she began looking for a new job.

Year in Review- Summer

Summer was a busy time for me and a stressful time for Steph.

My summer was marked by two big events.  The first was my mission trip to Haiti in early July.  I went with my senior high youth group from church.  There were a total of 12 students and 6 adults.  Despite our limited time (a week) I feel like we were really able to make a difference in the people we came across when we were down there.  They are so appreciative of so little.  We spent our time handing out food, praying for people, playing with the kids at the orphanage we stayed at, and putting on Vacation Bible School in the remote areas of southwestern Haiti.  I could go on and on, but I won't.  If you want to know more you can feel free to ask.  There are also a number of pictures on my facebook page.

The other big event for me this summer was our church's junior high bible camp.  Although it is a jr high camp, I am able to work with a number of the senior high students who go there to work.  Our role is to basically make sure the whole week runs smoothly and the kids are having fun.  After the campers go to sleep, we plan for the next day and have our own small group time.  This kept us up til 4am some nights.  It was totally worth it though and I was able to enter in to the lives and minds of those high school students.  It was an amazing time, and in many ways much more powerful than my trip to Haiti.  Incredible to think that God could affect me more in Wisconsin than he could in Haiti.

While I was preparing to go to Haiti , Steph was preparing to welcome a new family member to the house. And apparently being 7-9 months pregnant in the middle of summer with a marginally functional air-conditioner is not pleasant.  None of that compared to challenge of having optic neuritis. Don't know what that is?  Basically, she lost vision in her left eye.  The doctors didn't know why and couldn't give a good clue of when it would come back, their best guess is that it would probably come back after the pregnancy. It started to come back when I was in Haiti and fully returned shortly thereafter.  We had an appointment with a neurologist, which was didn't resolve anything.  He said that he thought she might have Multiple Sclerosis.  The optic neuritis would qualify as one scleroses, but he had no clear evidence that there was more than one.  We have yet to go back for a follow up after the pregnancy, but since Steph has not had any other episodes, we se no reason to go back yet.

To recap:  so far... outdoor Twins baseball, conference championship, new house, 1st anniversary, trip to Haiti, and temporary blindess- and Jordan hasn't even been born yet.

Year in Review- Spring

Our year started off with the news that Steph and I would be parents.  It was a moment that I had been waiting, and in some regards preparing, for most of my life.  I think it was this, in large part, that kept me grounded through the whole process.

I fast forward to the Spring though, because that's when things really started to heat up...

I am now moving into the last trimester of my 3rd year as a special education paraprofessional at Spring Lake Park High School.  I work in the EBD Dept. (Emotional Behavior Disorders- draw what conclusions you want).  I am not in love with my job, but it gets me a good foothold at SLP.  I am in the building everyday and get to see a lot of my tennis players.  I also am able to connect with students who I work with as the staff advisor for the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes).

At this point (foreshadowing), Steph is in her 12th year at Together Dating.  She has a lot of positive relationships there, but the negatives are really starting to add up.

On April 15th, I attended my first game at Target Field.  A friend and I went in together and bought a 20 game season ticket plan.  (It sure does help when your wife is a Twins fan!)  The first game that Steph and I made it to was April 18th.  Spring is always a busy time for me because of coaching tennis, and this Spring the weather was very uncooperative for an outdoor sport.

May was a pretty crazy month.  On the 17th, the boys tennis team that I coach beat Benilde-St. Margaret's to win their first Conference Championship in 11 years.  It was a very proud moment for me, as it was something that I really worked for.  I am more proud of the guys on my team.  It was a special group of guys who were led by three outstanding captains.  6 days later, Steph and I moved into our new house in Brooklyn Park.  It was a move that made sense for a lot of reasons, first and foremost was the addition to our family.  It also made sense for us financially in the long run.  7 days after that, Steph and I celebrated our 1st anniversary (at the Twins game - we even got our names on the big screen- a benefit of being a season ticket holder).

It was a Spring of transition, and the metaphor fit our family perfectly.

Tomorrow: Summer.

Traditions

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.


So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a mager, because there was no guest room available for them.
 
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all th people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
 
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
 
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
 
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
 
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,  and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

{More than 25 years ago, I memorized those lines.  Every Christmas Eve, I would walk up the stairs from the basement of Christ Chapel at Gustavus Adolphus College. I would enter the larger than life sanctuary- the equivalent to the Colusseum for a 6 year old.  I would stand and wait by the fount that sat at the beginning of the aisle and restrain myself from splashing the water.  As I walked down the aisle, I would gaze back towards the choir balcony to see the gigantic pipe organ.  I never remembered much about the service, but I always looked forward to what awaited us afterward.  We were always given a paper sack which contained a candy bar (usually a Snickers), orange, apple, and best of all: salted-in-shell peanuts.}

This tradition continued until I was confirmed.  Then it continued as I taught 1st graders to memorize the same lines.  And I led them up the same steps.  And I handed them the same paper sacks that were handed to me 10 years before.


Traditions are amazing things.  Sometimes they are deep with meaning and richness.  Sometimes, they arise out of necessity.  Sometimes they arise accidentally.  Traditions are meaningful.  But usually only to those who live them.  Sometimes they lead to laughter.  Sometimes they lead to tears.  But always, they are embraced.  They are not let go of easily.  And when they are, they can leave a hole in your heart.


{When we got home, we would eat dinner- something mom usually put in the oven before we left for church.  After dinner (or supper as it is called in my parents' house), we would open presents.  After presents, we would walk over to grandma's house.  (No matter how cold or snowy it was, we could always make that 100 foot walk.)  Then it was an evening of more food, family, and more presents.  And it was an evening of pulling the string that dangled from the Santa head "music box" that hung on the frame of the living room arch.  When my sister and I were the youngest, we would always pass out the presents to everyone.  When we grew up and great-grandchildren entered the festivities, my sister and I would watch as they took over that responsibility.  And as my sister and I got older, toys turned to clothes, and then clothes turned to money.}


When grandma entered the nursing home, some of those traditions ended.  We never had a contingency plan.  There was never a concerted effort to keep them going.  Some traditions fade over time.  Not because we don't care, but because we just move forward.  Now that I am married, I must share some traditions.  Together, we have to decide who goes where and who does what.  We have to balance time and distance.  And we have to prioritize.  Not by importance, but out of necessity.  


I don't know if steak and crab legs rank high on the all-time list of Christmas traditions, but it has for Steph's family.  And because of that, me too.  I don't know if the barrage of sarcastic quips towards Grandma Vita ranks high on the list of yuletide cheer, but it does makes us laugh.  I don't know if Don looks anything like Santa Claus, but the child-like joy of giving sure does resemble St. Nick.


When grandma entered the nursing home, the tradition of Christmas at Grandma's ended.  But out of that, new traditions for all of the kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids started.  Families change and families evolve.  New traditions emerge.  Steph and I will eventually settle in to our Christmas routine.  (Wherever that may be.)  We will establish new traditions for our family.  And hopefully those traditions will mean something to all those involved.  Hopefully they will be so significant that they will give birth to new traditions as well.


{Last night, Steph held Jordan and I told the Christmas story.   Just like I did over 25 years ago.  And Jordan smiled.}

Santa Baby

More photos to come with my Year in Review