Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Brothers
Sweet Baby Chase (am I going to have to give up this nickname pretty soon -- he's really not much of a baby anymore...) woke up before his brother today. After Casey had gotten Chase out of bed and dressed, he put Chase down and he went off running... straight to Riley's room. As Riley had gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom by himself (as an aside, you know you have racked up one small victory as a parent when you hear the pitter-patter of your 4-year-old's feet come out of his bedroom, down the hallway, to the bathroom and back into bed without any requests for assistance in the middle of the night), his door was a crack open, facilitating what was to come. To hear Riley re-tell it in the car on the way to school today was priceless. Chase apparently came into Riley's dark room, found his way over to Riley's bed where he was still asleep, and started babbling on in a language only Chase can understand. Riley then got out of bed, helped Chase into bed, helped him get under the covers, and then they both laid there silently for a few minutes snuggling. Oh to have been a fly on the wall for that one! I asked Riley if he liked having a brother. His reply: "Yes, it's awesome. I love Chase. He has really soft hair."
Friday, January 10, 2014
New Year, New Resolve
Keeping up with Riley and Chase feels like a full time job... on top of my full time job, which is the lame reason I haven't posted much in the last year and a half. I am reminded each day, however, that they will be grown before I can blink an eye, so I resolve to make this blog a priority again in 2014. There isn't much that I enjoy more than talking about the funny, exciting, maddening and incredible things they do on a daily basis.
My last post was way back in October. About a million things have happened since then. "A million" is probably fairly accurate, actually, but I use that quantifier mostly because it is what Riley uses to describe everything these days.
Numerous holidays have come and gone since October. There was Halloween, of course. Riley wanted to be -- you guessed it -- a baseball player. He insisted on being Jacoby Ellsbury, not because Jacoby is/was his favorite player, but because he wears eye black and Riley was convinced eye black was an important component of his costume. His favorite player is Will Middlebrooks and he wore his jersey, but still when asked, he was Jacoby. Apparently being authentic was important, and Will does not wear eye black. Chase was an elephant, mostly because it was the only costume we had on hand that fit him. Being the opinionated little guy that he is, I was certain getting him into a two-piece elephant costume was going to be a disaster, and that keeping him in the costume, particularly the snap-on head/hood, would be an impossible task. He didn't even bat an eye. He thought the elephant's trunk and tail were a lot of fun to play with... he never ceases to surprise me.
Thanksgiving was spent in Turks & Caicos at an amazing oceanfront home on Grace Bay. Riley spent most of his time hanging out with his cousins and trying to master swimming across the pool. I feel like we didn't see him much since he wanted to be with the "big kids" and not his boring ol' parents, which is proof-positive that documenting the moments that he DOES want to spend with us should be a priority. These moments, however fleeting they start to become, are priceless and will not last forever. Chase, on the other hand, spent Thanksgiving practically glued to our sides. I think I probably clung to Chase just as much as he clung to me in order to compensate for Riley's budding independence. I have to admit that the highlight of the trip for me was when Chase was not feeling his best and I took him down to the beach -- just him and me -- to calm him down. I took about two steps down the beach and he fell asleep in my arms. Even now, almost two months later, I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. He was so at peace in my arms as the ocean breeze whipped through our hair. There was not another soul in sight, just our own private, peaceful moment two hours of silence on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Two days in a row I got this privilege and I think I will remember watching his sweet little sleeping face forever. After that, try as I might, he would not fall asleep in my arms on the beach anymore. I guess that's what feeling better will do to a toddler. Instead, he was in constant motion wanting to either climb up and down the stairs in the house to say hi over and over to the "ishies" (fish paintings) or do lap after lap around the perimeter of the house "hunting" for lizards. We would say, "Here leezard, leezard, leezard" and his face would light up like a Christmas tree. If we found a lizard, he'd get down on his hands and knees and try his absolute hardest to touch it. Imagine his delight when we took a boat trip to "Iguana Island," a beautiful, deserted island where random pretty large iquanas roam free. Chase was fearless -- the only one of the five cousins that would even get close to an iquana -- and had a big time. Riley was more comfortable on the boat itself watching as a pod of dolphins played in the waves around our boat (I have to admit, that was pretty amazing).
For Christmas, we had the unusual experience of getting pretty close to a week with my family in Chicago since Christmas day feel right in the middle of the week. My favorite memory from our time at my sister's house was when Casey, Riley, Chase, my sister and me ended up down in the basement. Chase asked for "I Will" (that's what he calls "I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons -- his favorite song) and we blasted the song on Cody's speaker while Riley played the drums, my sister and Casey rocked out with some guitars, I sang into a microphone and all of us jumped up and down throughout the process like wild musicians. It was one of those moments where you simultaneously think, "I wish I could freeze this moment in time" and "Wow, I hope no one stumbles upon this scene." As it turns out, I can only freeze the moment in my head and unfortunately, someone (Ed) did stumble upon the scene and will probably never get that image out of his head (or let us live it down).
While in Chicago we also had the amazing experience of my entire family staying for a night at The Drake and then walking around the city together the next day. There were a lot of highlights in 2013, but probably the biggest was spending that time with my family at The Drake. We all hung out in my parents' suite for a few hours, had some drinks and snacks, watched the Blackhawks game on TV and just enjoyed quality time all together when no one had to be doing dishes or making food or any of the things that come when you host the same people at your own home. After the kids (minus Cody who is now old enough to be "one of the adults") were tucked into their beds, my parents, Jen and Ed, Cody, and Casey and me all went down to Coq d'Or, a really cool bar at The Drake and sat in a big booth listening to live music and having a few drinks. One of the most relaxed "adult" experiences I have ever had with my family. Ever. And the beauty of it was that we even got to do it at all... knowing that the course of my Dad's heart issues could have ended drastically differently had they not been dealt with when they were.
All in all, a good holiday season, and an amazing end to 2013. So now here we are in 2014. I hope it is a year of many more blessings, a whole lot of fun and very little heartache.
My last post was way back in October. About a million things have happened since then. "A million" is probably fairly accurate, actually, but I use that quantifier mostly because it is what Riley uses to describe everything these days.
Numerous holidays have come and gone since October. There was Halloween, of course. Riley wanted to be -- you guessed it -- a baseball player. He insisted on being Jacoby Ellsbury, not because Jacoby is/was his favorite player, but because he wears eye black and Riley was convinced eye black was an important component of his costume. His favorite player is Will Middlebrooks and he wore his jersey, but still when asked, he was Jacoby. Apparently being authentic was important, and Will does not wear eye black. Chase was an elephant, mostly because it was the only costume we had on hand that fit him. Being the opinionated little guy that he is, I was certain getting him into a two-piece elephant costume was going to be a disaster, and that keeping him in the costume, particularly the snap-on head/hood, would be an impossible task. He didn't even bat an eye. He thought the elephant's trunk and tail were a lot of fun to play with... he never ceases to surprise me.
Thanksgiving was spent in Turks & Caicos at an amazing oceanfront home on Grace Bay. Riley spent most of his time hanging out with his cousins and trying to master swimming across the pool. I feel like we didn't see him much since he wanted to be with the "big kids" and not his boring ol' parents, which is proof-positive that documenting the moments that he DOES want to spend with us should be a priority. These moments, however fleeting they start to become, are priceless and will not last forever. Chase, on the other hand, spent Thanksgiving practically glued to our sides. I think I probably clung to Chase just as much as he clung to me in order to compensate for Riley's budding independence. I have to admit that the highlight of the trip for me was when Chase was not feeling his best and I took him down to the beach -- just him and me -- to calm him down. I took about two steps down the beach and he fell asleep in my arms. Even now, almost two months later, I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. He was so at peace in my arms as the ocean breeze whipped through our hair. There was not another soul in sight, just our own private, peaceful moment two hours of silence on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Two days in a row I got this privilege and I think I will remember watching his sweet little sleeping face forever. After that, try as I might, he would not fall asleep in my arms on the beach anymore. I guess that's what feeling better will do to a toddler. Instead, he was in constant motion wanting to either climb up and down the stairs in the house to say hi over and over to the "ishies" (fish paintings) or do lap after lap around the perimeter of the house "hunting" for lizards. We would say, "Here leezard, leezard, leezard" and his face would light up like a Christmas tree. If we found a lizard, he'd get down on his hands and knees and try his absolute hardest to touch it. Imagine his delight when we took a boat trip to "Iguana Island," a beautiful, deserted island where random pretty large iquanas roam free. Chase was fearless -- the only one of the five cousins that would even get close to an iquana -- and had a big time. Riley was more comfortable on the boat itself watching as a pod of dolphins played in the waves around our boat (I have to admit, that was pretty amazing).
For Christmas, we had the unusual experience of getting pretty close to a week with my family in Chicago since Christmas day feel right in the middle of the week. My favorite memory from our time at my sister's house was when Casey, Riley, Chase, my sister and me ended up down in the basement. Chase asked for "I Will" (that's what he calls "I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons -- his favorite song) and we blasted the song on Cody's speaker while Riley played the drums, my sister and Casey rocked out with some guitars, I sang into a microphone and all of us jumped up and down throughout the process like wild musicians. It was one of those moments where you simultaneously think, "I wish I could freeze this moment in time" and "Wow, I hope no one stumbles upon this scene." As it turns out, I can only freeze the moment in my head and unfortunately, someone (Ed) did stumble upon the scene and will probably never get that image out of his head (or let us live it down).
While in Chicago we also had the amazing experience of my entire family staying for a night at The Drake and then walking around the city together the next day. There were a lot of highlights in 2013, but probably the biggest was spending that time with my family at The Drake. We all hung out in my parents' suite for a few hours, had some drinks and snacks, watched the Blackhawks game on TV and just enjoyed quality time all together when no one had to be doing dishes or making food or any of the things that come when you host the same people at your own home. After the kids (minus Cody who is now old enough to be "one of the adults") were tucked into their beds, my parents, Jen and Ed, Cody, and Casey and me all went down to Coq d'Or, a really cool bar at The Drake and sat in a big booth listening to live music and having a few drinks. One of the most relaxed "adult" experiences I have ever had with my family. Ever. And the beauty of it was that we even got to do it at all... knowing that the course of my Dad's heart issues could have ended drastically differently had they not been dealt with when they were.
All in all, a good holiday season, and an amazing end to 2013. So now here we are in 2014. I hope it is a year of many more blessings, a whole lot of fun and very little heartache.
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