Christmas Eve in Hawaii

The three of us went to the Hawaii Bowl yesterday and watched Hawaii get thrashed by Notre Dame. We didn't really care who won, but it was fun to get out of the house and do a new activity with the little buddy. I think Daniel thoroughly enjoyed his first live football game. He actually fell asleep at one point, a deep sleep that I'm unable to achieve when he's in our quiet house in his vibrating chair. Maybe I should invite the large woman who was sitting near us over to scream profanities every now and then (if you look closely in the first picture, you can actually see her, standing up and yelling). Whatever it takes to help him sleep!

The cutest baby around:

When the score was about 35-14, Daniel was much more interesting than the action on the field:

Zach put on the nursing cover as a sun shield while Daniel slept:

Daniel has a new cousin

Congratulations to Zach's brother, Lee, and his wife, Cassandra! Davis William Rashman was born today in Missouri, weighing in at 7 pounds 1 ounce. Daniel is very excited that Corinne now has a little brother (Corinne, Daniel, and Davis are within 13 months of age with each other, so we'll have to keep a close eye on them when they're together!). What a perfect Hanukkah/Christmas present--a healthy new baby!

Childhood obesity....

Apparently, it's an epidemic and it's striking the very young:

One year ago today...

Zach and I found out we were having a baby! And look at us now--proud parents of the cutest little guy around!

We were in Buffalo and Zach's cousin Deirdre had won a bunch of tickets to the Bills-Giants game a couple of days before Christmas. So we went with her and his brother Tom and the other cousins (Anna, Leah, Emily). It was a beautiful Buffalo winter day--33 degrees, drizzling rain, high winds. Everyone in the family pooled their clothing resources so Zach and I wouldn't freeze at the game, hence the non-matching layers in the picture above.

The game was pretty fun, but the weather was terrible and I started feeling sicker and sicker as the day went on. I just knew that I was getting strep throat, which is a pretty miserable feeling when you're on vacation. We all left the game at halftime and I went back to the hotel to cover up in layers of bedding to try and thaw out. Swallowing became almost impossible, so I called Zach's mom and said that I was going to go to the VA hospital to get some medicine.

Zach, Mary Ellen, and I headed over to the VA hospital and sat around in the ER for a little while before I was able to be seen. Sure enough, I had strep throat, so I mentioned to the doctor that we were trying to have a baby, and there was a very slight chance that I could be pregnant, so he had me take a test before prescribing me anything. As you might imagine, not that many people get pregnancy tests at VA hospitals (their usual clientele is mostly older men), so it took awhile.

The doctor called me in and told me the happy news. I went back out to the waiting room and had to wake Zach up (too much fun at the Bills game!) so that he and Mary Ellen could hear the news. And that's our "how we found out" story!

Fast forward one year: we have beautiful Daniel and Mary Ellen is now a nurse at that hospital. What a difference a year makes!

Zach demands a recount!

According to a website sent to me by Lisa (of Shields' in the City fame), Daniel looks like Zach and me equally. Hmmmm.....anyone who has seen Zach's baby pictures would probably disagree! I think he's about 70% Zach, 30% me. Maybe I'll try this site with different pictures to see what it comes up with!

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Mr. Mom

Zach's on his predeployment leave, so he's been the primary caregiver for Daniel during the day when I'm at work. I think he was kind of nervous before the week started, but he's doing a fabulous job! They go for walks, play on the floor, and read books. Dan doesn't mind taking the bottle, so the freezer full of milk is coming in very handy.

I don't even like to think about what life is going to be like when Zach deploys. This is our fourth 7-month deployment in five years of marriage. With all of the other ones, I was gone a lot of the time too, so the months flew by. For this one, I'll be home the whole time. The other big difference, of course, is Daniel. Zach will leave when he's four months old and will come back just before his 1st birthday. So many changes will happen and we won't be able to watch them together. Zach should be able to check the blog, so I'll have to be very vigilant about posting so Daddy can keep up with his son.

When Jean was here, she used her super-fancy camera to take over 500 pictures. I don't plan on posting all of them, but check out our Shutterfly site if you want to see a ton of pictures (mostly of Daniel, of course!). Some of the shots she got are so good that I'm using them on our annual holiday card. Since I don't plan on paying her, I thought I should acknowledge her great pictures here!

Very excited on a car ride:

Zach and Daniel at the farmer's market:

At the USS Arizona Memorial:

Daniel's first boat ride (on a US Navy boat, appropriately):

My boys, doing what they do best:

Mahalo, Aunt Jean!

A big, huge, gigantic thank you to Jean for staying with us for the last two and a half weeks. She was amazing with Daniel and the two of them became very good buddies while I was making the transition back to work. I had absolutely no anxiety leaving him every day because I knew he was in very good hands.

Because of Jean, we now know that Daniel loves to have someone sing in his ear--Robin in the Rain is a favorite, as well as selected show tunes. I think I need to Netflix a few musicals because Daniel is a big fan.

We dropped off Jean at the airport today and everyone was very sad to see her go back home to Buffalo. It's time for her to get back to Bob and the sisters and her daughters. Leah and Anna, your (future) children are very lucky to have a grandmother as wonderful as Jean!