The Lieslands

I thought that the main subject of this post was going to be the fact that Andrew peed in the toilet for the first time this weekend, but Mari just trumped that one. Susan just called and said that the police just stopped by our house to check in on a 9-1-1 hang-up. Susan thinks that Mari must have been the culprit.

Anyways, Andrew peed in the toilet this weekend. I did not witness it, but I believe that Susan is telling the truth. On Sunday morning he stood in the dining room and said “Here comes by poop!” I tried to convince him to go use the toilet, but he responded with “No, it’s my poop.” OK.

Mari’s cold is trailing off. I am in the middle of mine. I can’t tell you what is going on with Susan’s. She wasn’t feeling too well yesterday, but she says that she is feeling better today.

We are coming off a good weekend, though it is hard to tell since we all feel like zombies. We got some yardwork done (spring-cleaning in January), hung out with some friends, and then on Sunday we got things re-organized around the house, which was nice.

I’ll keep you updated. . .

I added another page to the For Fun section today: a movie review page. Susan and I watch a lot of movies at night, so I thought maybe we should add a little more purpose to it and put some reviews out here for others to see what we thought.

I also added some more pics to the photo page.

Mari has a cold.

Susan is still running, though her ankle hurts.

I am tired, but not too tired.

I heard on the news this morning (at around 3:30 AM) that today is supposed to be the “Gloomiest Day of the Year.” Scientists “determined” this based on a number of factors, including weather, New Year’s resolutions, and the holidays. I don’t know if today will turn out to be the gloomiest day of our year, but hopefully it will be one of our tiredest. Mari’s sleep patterns have continued to decline. Last night I was up with her a lot, as was Susan. On top of that, Andrew was up early due to all the commotion. Mari and Andrew were both very congested, and she had a very little fever. Hopefully she is just working on some teeth.

Other than last night, things have been going well. We had a fun visit to the Contemporary Arts Center where we saw some cool exhibits and Andrew got to play in the “Unmuseum.”

Susan, Andrew and Mari made their way to Parents and Tots this morning. Susan says that Andrew is really cute and he tries to sing all the songs and do all the motions, even when he has no clue what they are. Mari was really tired this morning, so I can’t imagine that she was much fun. She really likes her personal space when she is tired, and that is hard to come by when you are a baby.

I hope to get some updated pics up soon, though we don’t have many.

After working for a couple of weeks, I have finally converted the website into its new form. This was partially because I was tired of the old scheme and partially in celebration of buying susanandrob.com. I have had the .org address for a while, but I finally got the .com, so I figured I better do something good.

Things are going well in Cincinnati right now. It is nice to have a little slow-down after the holidays so that Andrew, Mari, Susan, and I can spend more hanging-out time together.

The new year hasn’t brought too many changes. Andrew, Mari, and Susan began attending Parents and Tots again at the Cincinnati Waldorf School. I have been trying to run more. Susan has also started running again. We are looking for a double stroller so that we can run together. I guess we have a few more months before more kid-friendly running weather, but it has been so warm lately that we have had plenty of opportunities.

As always, we’ll keep you updated.

Wondering why there haven’t been any updates in a while? I am currently working on an entirely new look and feel for our website, so I haven’t had much time to mess with the blog. I expect to be finished in a week or two, so please check back later and see the new digs.

I’ll keep you updated.

Now that Mari is officially 6 months old, we have officially begun to feed her. Her first food was sweet potato, and yesterday Susan gave her a little rice cereal. Before we know it, I’m sure she’ll be eating pizza with the rest of us.

The holidays have brought some busy times upon us, as we have more to do than usual. We took last Sunday off, and didn’t leave the house one time. I think I should have at least gone to the grocery store. Oh well.

Andrew finally found his way into the recording studio. If you want to hear some of his work, check out the Cute Kids page on our website.

We’ll keep you updated.

After droolling for months, Mari finally has some teeth poking through. In a few weeks we will start to get her some food, which is always exciting.

We had our first big snowfall yesterday, which was nice. It did take me one-and-a-half hours to get home from work, but I’ll take it considering it took some of my coworkers even longer.

Kathie is in town for a week, which means a clean house, some good cooking, and Andrew has someone else to play with.

We have a few holiday parties this weekend, which should be fun.

I put some new pics up at our picture website. Click here to check them out.

I thought it would be fun to tell you what our daily weekday schedule is like. Here you go:

Mari usually wakes up between 6:00 and 7:30. I take her downstairs, and Susan rolls over to nurse Andrew, who is still sleeping. Mari and I hang out downstairs, washing diapers, cleaning the kitchen, showering, listening to NPR, and listening for Andrew. Usually Mari falls asleep after about 45 minutes, and I am able to lay her down. If Andrew wakes up before she goes down for nap 1, then she is usually up longer. Andrew usually gets out of bed between 7 and 8.

Once Andrew is up, I get a lot less done. Usually we eat some breakfast. If Mari is still awake, then this is usually when she falls asleep. Then we all read/build a train/play with toys. I wake Susan up between 8:20 and 8:30, then it is off to work for me. Mari’s first nap usually only lasts about 45 minutes, so she is usually up before I head off to work.

Susan and the kids usually do one out-of-the-house activity in the morning. This could include going to the library, museum, zoo, or a friends house. They come home, eat some lunch, and then it is time for naps. Mari falls asleep first, then Susan has to get Andrew to bed before Mari wakes up, which could be anywhere from 30 to 45 mins. Once they are all awake, they usually just hang out, playing, wandering around the neighborhood.

I work until 4:30, so I am home by five. We make dinner, eat it, and then we usually do an evening activity. This could include visiting family or friends, shopping, or walking. By 8:30 we usually head upstairs and put some diapers and pajamas on the kids. I rock Andrew to bed, while Susan gets Mari to sleep downstairs. After the kids are asleep, we usually watch TV for an hour or two, then head to bed ourselves, to do it all again.

Other random notes:

• Mari and Andrew are now wearing the same size disposable diaper
  
• Andrew still loves to sing, and Mari loves to hear it
  
• That’s all I have for now. Until next time . . .

• Andrew & Mari
• Andrew’s message to Mimi and Papa
• Susan & Mari
• Andrew’s Sign Language
• Andrew Singing
• More of Andrew Singing

Also, check out the new pics.

I know what you are thinking (“Of course you did, you have two kids.”) We bought a cell phone. I have been an active opponent to cell-phone use (or over-use) for a while, especially when someone is on my couch, but I caved. Susan and I decided that it would be nice to be reachable when we are out on a date (and I like her having the extra bit of security during her normal existence). I would post the number, but we only have 268 minutes left for the whole year.

We have all really enjoyed the warm weather the past week has brought, but that is about to come to an end, which means more time inside, and maybe more time playing in the toy department at Target. It was great weather for gathering/playing-with leaves and destinationless walks around our block.

As winter approaches I am more excited about next spring’s outdoor projects than this winter’s indoor ones. Maybe I need to come up with a more concrete plan for the winter.

Mari is in the early stages of sitting. She is getting stronger and stronger every day. Her coordination is improving.

Andrew is still Andrew. Still loves pizza, Simon & Rachel, and Pony Rides. Counting is getting better. He hated his last haircut(means), as well as mine(end).

Nothing like getting up at 4:30 in the morning, before Morning Edition, before the local news shows start in the morning, and long before The Home Depot even opens. Before work today I managed to: dry the diapers, watch some TV, take a nap (for about 15 minutes), go to the grocery store, clean up from last nights dinner, eat breakfast, get Mari down for not one, but two naps, and go to the bank. Not bad for a Tuesday morning. The only thing that I didn’t get done this morning was a little reading, but I guess that is my fault for opting to nap, which is always a good idea at 5:15.

Other than getting up early (and going to bed early) things are going well. Andrew had a fun/cute halloween, although he was very tired. He is starting this thing where when he gets tired at night he looks like a bored student in a three-hour class. He kinda slouches/hunches/nods into a strange state of awakenessitude.

Mari is getting bigger at an alarming rate. She is interacting a lot more and is playing with some toys. She will shortly be wearing the same size diaper as Andrew.

1. Mari made Andrew cry this morning.

2. You can see video of a similar incident here.

2b. Here is another video.