Fun weekend in Iowa City

We spent the past three days in Iowa City, hanging out with my brother and some of my great grad school friends and their families. The time went too fast, and as expected, it was a lot harder working "catch up time" around two kids than when we head over there alone. It was a different kind of trip to IC than we usually take; most often Mike and I go to relax and have time away, leaving kids with grandparents. It's often about eating out at adult restaurants and staying up late with friends we rarely see. This time we took both children, so it was a child-centered trip for sure. We hit the Children's Museum, the mall play area, the carousel, the ped mall park, and several kid-friendly restaurants (though really, what restaurant is truly child-friendly when your kid insists of throwing vegetables and rice all over the floor?). We spent LOTS of time at the hotel pool, and their water slide was a hit. I have gotten so bad at thinking to take photos recently, so I have none of Sarah or Lexi, and only one of Carrie (and that's really of the kids at the museum). I guess that those relaxing, adult moments come so rarely these days that I enjoy them rather than document them. Anyway, here are a few photos I did manage to take (arguably child-centered) this weekend:

Uncy Adam was Jack's favorite part of the trip. He went down the slide with Adam dozens of times. He kept telling me he was going to go to Iowa City to see "Uncy Adam, Sarah, and Santa Claus." Hmm.


It was Benjamin's first time swimming, and he loved it. He splashed and screamed and was quite the little fish.



The mall carousel was a big hit. He rode it several times over the span of 2 days.


Jack and Eleanor shopping at the Children's Museum (oh, wait, there's Carrie and Rob, too! :)


Future puppeteer?





Benjamin is now 11-months-old and I've started thinking I may need to give more thought to his first birthday party. I believe by the time Jack turned 11 months, I had already sent out the invites! Poor second child. We'll probably go smaller this year, given that it's his first bday and he doesn't truly have any "friends" yet. Most likely just family and a cake. Hopefully the weather will be nice so we can do it at the park. Who knows, though, seeing that we had a smallish blizzard on April 5th!

He had a particularly rough day recently:

odds and ends

We had a weekend filled with fun company, un-fun colds, and prepping for our increased family size.

Benjamin managed to climb our stairway when we weren't watching, thus up went yet ANOTHER baby gate. 3 gates in one home...it's a little looney. You can't get anywhere, it seems, without passing a check point. Here is the little man helping put up the baby gate that is supposedly keeping him from climbing the stairs:


We finally ate our words and bought a double stroller. We considered for a few moments getting one that fits 3 (anyone heard of the Joovy Big Caboose? Sounded nice for our upcoming situation...but we just couldn't bite on something SO BIG).


Aren't they cute when they're sleeping?


Nothing like terrorizing your little brother:


My high school friends and I had our monthly gathering but this time included spouses/children. Benjamin got to see his buddy, Asia, who he'd met this summer at my friend Alicia's wedding. They were re-smitten with one another.

Life is what happens when you're busy making plans

This is a phrase my friend Carrie recited to me not too long ago when I found myself mulling over all the things I wanted my life to be and wasn't finding. How true of a statement it is. It has never been more true for me than it has in the past few months as I've found myself dealing with a whole new shock to the juggling act I've created for myself this year. Just when I think I've got a good plan for finishing my dissertation and shifting my focus to other things, I find out we're expecting...again! It's been a loooooooooong adjustment. One that started with disbelief and transitioned to dismay and stagnated in denial for awhile. But I think we've all finally wrapped our heads around the face that Case Haub #3 will be coming about 2-3 years sooner than we had in our "plans." We told my family today, and so I figure with that out of the way, I might as well start owning it and sharing it with friends, too. And so, there it is!

My plan is still to finish a full draft of my dissertation by September, which coincidentally will be good timing, as our due date is somewhere at the end of September/beginning of October. The Universe has clearly concocted a way for me to maintain my goal and keep it this time. I guess the revisions process and actual defense/graduation will include a little body strapped to my back, but as long as I can crank out the entire draft before (s)he arrives, I plan to feel okay about that. Our heads are spinning with images of minivans (really, how else will we fit 3 car seats and any extra stuff in one vehicle?) and double (triple?) strollers and three kids in three years. My "plan" was never to rush the process of having kids, despite all the feedback I'm getting about "getting diapers out of the way at once" and "getting it all over with early on." I had hoped to have a break from pregnancy long enough to look forward to doing it again, and to miss having a baby. None of this seems to have panned out....but like I said, I'm trying to own it at this point! So now I'm eager to just enjoy the remaining 6 months of this pregnancy rather than continue in my anxiousness. There were undoubtedly be challenges, but it is what it is....and I'm sure when I look into the eyes of our new little one, I'll forget all my worries.

On a very sweet note (which you who have children will probably tell me I'm crazy), I have felt the baby move twice in the last few days. I just passed the first trimester so it seems unlikely, but being that I've done this a couple times before, I'm positive those flutters were something more than gas. I did a little google searching and found several discussions that included women on their 3rd and 4th pregnancies who swear they felt movements as early as 10 or 11 weeks. So I'm trusting myself that I'm not mistaken :) We'll see what the midwife says.

To add a little stress to our family's lives and a bit to ours because of their's, we're following our hearts this time rather than the mainstream and planning a homebirth. I'm very comfortable with the CNM I'm seeing (certified nurse midwife) and have hopes that all will remain low risk and normal so that we can go awhead with the plan. I haven't yet checked into the rates of renting a birthing tub or hiring a doula, but so far it seems that trying to simplify birth by keeping it out of a hospital means a greater financial burden to many families--our insurance won't pay a dime since we're going to be "out of network," so that means we'll play quadruple for a homebirth than we would for a hospital one. As much as that irks me, I don't want to fold to $3,000. Birth is so powerful and I learned well from my previous ones that memories--both good and bad-- of how it went will stay with you, so I want to make it count as much as possible this time around. I guess we'll see how it goes!

So, humph. Got that all off my chest. It's kind of nice to share the "secret" that I was so worried to unleash ;)

Onto non-baby news, we finally took Jack to fly a kite today. He's been talking kites for months, and hearing "when the snow melts, Jack can fly a kite." We came through on our promise and he had a good time. Bring on spring!






Benjamin got to enjoy walking behind a push toy outside with real (hand me down) shoes on. He's also been jumping into the world of solid food like never before. He resisted solids for a long time, maybe till about a month and a half ago. And now he's taking food right off our plates. He dove into my chicken and rice the other night. Out the door went my stipulations about introducing one food at a time to be cautious about food allergies.... he wants to eat what we are eating. Maybe he never meant to resist solids at all; but just preferred hamburgers to pureed beets?

just another pretty face

Benjamin is 10 months old now, and both his hair and teeth are coming in like crazy. I had to put up some more photos of the babe.

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Ay Ay Ay!

We had a really great weekend, beginning Friday afternoon and lasting until about two hours ago. A dear friend of our's from Austalia (whom we met on our honeymoon) came to visit. Sonia is the most prolific person I know, and it's nearly impossible to keep up with where she is and when and how..... Ask her a question like, "Have you been to Amsterdam?" And she answers, "Ah, yes, three times last year." She's been working as a chef for a tour company in Europe, traveling with the tours and making them every meal, every day. She loves cooking and will whip up meals based on the countries they are staying in (chicken in white wine sauce in France, homemade ravioli in Italy, etc.) Her biggest problem these days is forgetting what country she's in when she wakes up. Sheesh, rough life, right? She's been living in the UK for a couple years, and now has a work visa for Canada, but just took a 6-month job in Rome to be stationed there as a cook for several tours that come through a specific campground. She plans to get married in South Africa in a year or so and then move back to Australia to start a family. Sonia and her brother visited Mike and I in New York when we lived there and we had a blast. This visit, of course, was more low key since we had kids to work around, but we still managed 4 meals out, which is unheard of these days for us (three of which were with no kids....ahh, heaven). We got to take her around to the hot spots of Des Moines, and do a lot of catching up. She's from an Italian family and she made us a huge Italian feast last night for dinner, from bruschetta to tiramusu. I'm so full I may have to detox this week with nothing but broccoli and clear broth. I've not drank so much tea in the last few months as I did this weekend. Good times had by all, that's for sure! I was pathetic and only took two photos the whole trip. I guess I saw her taking a good number and didn't bother with my own camera.

Dinner at Cafe Su in Valley Junction:


Enjoying full tummies after a HUGE cinnamon roll and breakfast at the Iowa Machine Shed:


Now Sonia is gone and Natali is here so I can work. I'm finding it hard to go from a weekend of leisure to the basement lair of working. Last week I had both a break down and a break through on the theory front with my dissertation. I had a little epiphany of what I thought might work for theoretical structure and was looking forward to a full 8 hours of work on Thursday to work it out on paper and get somewhere. Unfortunately Natali was sick and couldn't come, so now I'm starting my afternoon today trying to figure out how to get that "ah ha" back and get going with it. I wanted to finish this intro chapter by my birthday, but being that I've got only a week and a half left, I'm guessing it won't happen. Hopefully in 3 weeks I can do it.
Off to work!

$ Tree?

This week has brought lots of fun our way, not the least of which is a new addition to our kitchen:

A week ago I went to bake a frozen pizza, and when the timer went off I opened the oven door to see-- a raw pizza. Nice. I believe our oven was probably the one installed at the time the house was built 20 years ago, so I suppose it had to go at some time. Given that our fridge shelled out 8 months ago, now the oven, and the dishwasher seems to be following quickly behind, I'm thinking we're hitting that weird black hole that appliances all seem to reach at the same time, where EVERYthing goes at once and you have to replace the whole dang kitchen. It will be a fun race to see if the dishwasher or the water heater demands to be replaced first..... I know you'll all be dying to be kept up on that.

The other great financial news is that the Geo (my first car, a '97 Prizm with about 110,000 miles on it) is starting to sputter. We're trying to make it last as long as possible, but most likely in the next several months we'll be looking at a new vehicle, too. Yippee, another car payment! If anyone knows where to find a money tree, would you mind sharing the directions? Or save yourself the trouble and just give me the address and I'll Mapquest it.

Benjamin has finally hit that 9-month separation anxiety phase. If you even consider leaving the room, you break his heart. Screaming, crying, tears everywhere. Just in a 30 second absence. Needless to say this is wearing a little thin for the new nanny. She, however, is doing great and I love having her around.

Why is it winter again?

I guess I'll end this with a conglomeration of random photos from the past couple weeks, as I usually do. Enjoy.

Benj is a killer hair puller


and Jack just freezes when it happens to him. This is my new favorite photo. "Little Brother strikes back." I love the pure joy on Benj's face as Jack crumbles.


Ben is everywhere these days, including trying to steal food off Jack's tray.


This was a rare and quiet moment--Jack with a book, *not* pleading for someone to read it to him. He was reading it to himself out loud and it was very cute.


Benjamin is still fighting sleep, and many evenings can be found bouncing with daddy, wrapped in a blanket. This particular evening he was quite mischievious, and kept peeking out of his blanket hole and giggling at me as Mike tried to lure him into sleep.

Spring's a comin.

This we know from the melting snow and sopping wet socks and pants that we've been wringing out lately.



Benjamin continues to give me grief at night by waking frequently. He was such a good sleeper for so long, and I guess he's now making up for it by acting like a newborn. I suppose it has to do with his racing mind and restlessness due to all the new things he's doing. He's now walking behind push toys and will try to stand up in the middle of the room. If this kid turns out to be a 9-month-old walker, I'm going to have my hands full. Oh, scratch that-- Natali will have her hands full :) We met her one more time for a familiarization session before she starts on Monday for her first 8-hour shift. I'm still trying to find something wrong with her. She wants to do our grocery shopping for an excuse to get out of the house with the kids. She wants to learn about some of the eco-friendly things we do to incorporate into her own home. She thinks Benjamin is the cutest thing. Seriously, nanny from heaven? I think so. I guess the only thing wrong with her so far is that she's leaving at the end of May, when her husband begins his pediatry rotations in Washington. But we'll take her for as long as we can!

Some other fun pics I took recently:

My favorite men:


I've got toothers!


Note the beginning of a peeling away of the diaper on his right side...


Half-way through the job...


Success: diaper free baby.

owie owie ow ow.

as part of our new membership to accel fitness i received 4 free personal training sessions. i was excited since i've always thought personal training would be the way to go to kick me in the butt and make me answer to someone on my health trail. well, session 2 was today. session 1 was no exercise--just body measurements, etc. ("oh, you mean my body is 1/3 fat?") but today we did arm machines. for 25 minutes. that's all. and i'm dead. literally, i cannot lift my hairbrush. how i'm going to take care of 2 children tonight while mike works the late shift, i have no idea.

she said yes!

Woo hoo! We got our nanny! Soooooo relieved and excited. Granted, we've only met her once, but we really felt an immediate click. We'll see her again tomorrow for a brief training, and then she'll start Monday. I can see the dissertation pages falling out of the printer as I type.... heh heh. I'm hoping things will work out well. This should be a good start. No more driving Jack across town and feeling terrible when he doesn't want to stay at daycare. At least I'll be around (which will be a challenge in and of itself, but I'm willing to negotiate that). Here's hoping!

P.S. Sorry, Jaxson, Jack won't see you at the Kids' Room anymore. We'll have to plan more get togethers. Of course, once it's nicer out consistently again, you'll see each other outside all the time!

Bits and pieces

I just figured I should write a little update since it's been awhile. Uh, let's see. Highlights:

1) Benj will be 9-months-old tomorrow. He's finally starting to do solids, though still not whole-heartedly. He likes Cheerios, though. He has the cutest little cupie rooster tail that is always sticking up on top of his head. I just love it. He's at such a fun age. He's constantly saying "Ma ma ma" and "Ba pa ba pa" and other cute little baby babbles. He's got the sweetest little baby voice.


2) Jack has been enjoying the 50-degree weather by puddle stomping whenever possible. I finally decided he needed some rubber boots, so he and I went on a Target run yesterday to buy boots. Then we went on a mommy&Jack date to Caribou coffee. He was so well-behaved. He got to sit in the leather chair with his feet up on the bear ottoman. The coffee dudes gave him a cup of animal crackers and made sure our Hot Apple Blast wasn't too hot. Good times. I think these little one-on-one dates will have to continue happening with me and each of the kids as they grow. I don't want to lose that time even when our family is larger.

3) Mike and I got to enjoy a nice dinner out at a new restaurant in the downtown East Village called Alba. I'd heard good things, and wow, were they ever right. We took every single one of our server's recommendations on food, right down to dessert, and he was DEAD ON every time. I have not been that happy with a meal for a long time. My absolute favorite was the soup: a huge bowl, where the chef lined it with marshmallows sprinkled with cinnamon, then torched them so they melted into the bowl. Then he put diced sour apples at the bottom of the bowl, and the server poured piping hot butternut squash soup into it. I practically licked that bowl.

4) We are in the process of trying to find a nanny. Well, actually, we found one. We offered her the job. She's still deciding. It's killing me. She would be perfect. We need someone to work 8-4, 3 days a week. The part-time daycare for Jack isn't working well and Benj is so active now that I can't get much done even when I'm home with just him. I don't want him to go to daycare, so the nanny thing seems to make more sense. We interviewed 3 people and weren't comfortable with the first 2, but the third was so great we offered it to her right then. We should know by the end of the week.... I'm keeping all fingers and toes crossed. This should make a big difference in my ability to get good progress made on the diss.

5) I've yet to hear back from my adviser on the chapter I sent her. Maybe this is good. Ignorance is bliss? In some ways I don't expect to hear back. We'll see.