prutopia

ma's birthday

2008-07-20T18:28:00.001-05:00

the girls and i drove to columbus for my mom's 60th birthday. the drive went fine (god bless in car dvd players). our only real meltdown came from eve about 10 minutes from my parents' house. typical. the birthday party started at 4:00, and we arrived right on time. eve was crabby from the crying and only wanted daddy, until the end of the party when she became slap-happy. then the ham in her came out. olivia spent most of the time playing by herself when she wasn't monopolizing ma's time.

neither of the girls were terribly excited by the fire truck and paramedics, but all the other kids sure were. no, there wasn't a fire from all the candles (sorry mom), my mom works for the upper arlington fire department. they came out for her. the party was a lot of fun (nice work, wendy), but we will not speak of the horrible karaoke.

the rest of the weekend was fun. we were all glad we got to see ma and pa and all the cousins. one the way home, we even stopped in indianapolis to see gigi. we had fun, but boy were we glad to get home to mommy.

here are some pictures from the weekend.

happy 4th!

2008-07-20T17:47:00.001-05:00

more belated tales. this one of a family walking in the oak park 4th of july parade. i have a long-standing dislike of parades (as well as festivals, street fairs, etc), but as a father, one must make sacrifices. so, now that i have sufficiently established my martyrdom, i will say (begrudgingly) that we had a good time.

we were invited to walk in the parade by the proprietors of a toy store in oak park, geppetto's toy box. i'm going to pretend that our invitation had nothing to do with the fact that my lovely bride buys every single birthday present from the store. coincidence that they just expanded? i kid. truly, the store is fantastic. it's what a toy store should be.

anyway, we walked the entire 1.5 mile parade route, and the girls didn't tire. daddy carried both for a portion of the parade, but mostly to keep us from falling behind. fortunately for us, there was a tap dance group following us. they stopped periodically to dance, so we didn't hold up the parade.

olivia and eve took turns riding on daddy's shoulders, pushing a baby stroller, and riding in the wagon. eve was a big hit as she walked along carrying her flag waving to the crowd wishing everyone a "happy 4th of july". good times.

so, yes... i had a good time at a parade. well, until i realized that daddy had to walk the 1.5 miles back to get the car. did i mention that i'm old and fat?

anywho... here are some pictures. i hope everyone else had a wonderful 4th.

geneva 2.0.1

2008-07-20T17:17:00.001-05:00

ok... bad daddy. these are long overdue. by "these", i mean pictures from eve's 2nd 2nd birthday. not a typo, eve had 2 parties. this one was 8 days after her birthday. we had it at My Gym in river forest, just down the road from our house. i think all the kids had a good time. i know eve did.

check out the pictures.

geneva 2.0

2008-06-25T22:16:00.002-05:00

yup... it happened. my baby turned two.

two.

wow.

she still seems like such a little baby, much more than olivia did at age two... maybe because we want her to be. unfortunately, she's not going to stay that way much longer. i swear she grew a couple inches and matured a couple years in the week i was gone.

anyway, we celebrated her birthday in fine style in indy. gigi and papa had a bouncy thing for all the kids, a huge fancy cake and lots of family came to share in the festivities. eve opened her presents late in the day saying "oh my gosh, oh my gosh". what a cutie!

here's a link to the pictures from the day. enjoy!

happy birthday, geneva grace. i love you.

wedding pics

2008-06-24T23:27:00.003-05:00

well, my brain is still functioning, albeit at about 65%. i still can't tell if it was the alcohol or the sun stroke that's causing my slurred speech and my newfound narcolepsy. either way, i'm sure it will clear up just fine.

i hope everybody made it home okay. after a brief redirection to Columbus, GA (d'oh!), i made it just in time for my baby's birthday party. i will be sharing those pictures in a subsequent blog entry, but my purpose for this entry is to share with you the results of my (sometimes annoying) camera work down in key west.

the pictures in the albums have been unaltered and unedited, and there is some partial nudity. so, you'll see some blurry pictures, some poorly lit pictures, and possibly some unflattering pictures. most of all (hopefully), you'll see some great shots of great friends and family having an incredible time. oh, and remember, you all signed waivers. no, really. you did. i swear.

have fun with these pictures. all the thumbnails have been scaled down (as far as file size goes), but you can download the higher resolution version by clicking - ready for this - the "download file" link on each individual picture's page. there is also a link (click on the printer icon) that will upload each picture to shutterfly.com (4X6 at best, though) in case you want to order prints easily. feel free to use the pictures when and wherever you would like. just mail me a check for $3,000,000 for each picture used.

anyway, thanks to everybody (especially sean and katie) for a wonderful time. i hope to see you all again soon! here are the links:

wednesday
thursday
friday

please leave comments to let me know what you think or if you have any questions. enjoy!!!

happy mother's day... ER style

2008-05-11T12:28:00.004-05:00

if there was any doubt that olivia was my daughter, it was put to rest today. she got her first (eight) stitches this morning.

while adjusting her blankets on the couch, she lost her balance and... SMACK! forehead into the coffee table. mommy was awakened to daddy yelling from downstairs that we were taking a family trip to the emergency room. fortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of blood, so we took the longer trip to children's hospital... well worth it. they were great, and the stitches were well done (as you can see below).

olivia handled it like a champ. we had some tears, but that wasn't unexpected. i think most of it was fear of the unknown... but that's better than being an old pro, right!?! anyway, any trauma was soon cooled by an orange popsicle, a stuffed duck (karen wally... named after the doctors that took care of her), and a couple of stickers.

at the end of it all, we came out okay. olivia's in good spirits, and she told me, "i'm never going to do THAT again." mommy and daddy are quite tired, and eve... well, i'm not sure she has a clue that anything actually happened other than a fun trip to something called a hospital.

so, happy mother's day all!!!

enjoy, and watch your head.

Happy National Moisturizer Day

2008-03-02T14:31:00.000-06:00

unbeknownst to mommy and daddy, sunday was a holiday... National Moisturizer Day!!! i know, i know. how could we have possibly have forgotten what with all the crass commercialism that surrounds this sacred day. all the decorations and the special displays in the drug stores. well, leave it to the innocence of youth to remind us how wonderful and unexpected this day truly is.

as you can see by the pictures below, the girls started National Moisturizer Day off with a bang. olivia took the lead before mommy and daddy even woke up (what a go-getter). with careful precision and the skill of a licensed hair stylist, olivia emptied about a half of a bottle of mosturizer and lathered it thoroughly through her hair and spread it generously around her face. talk about holiday spirit!!! of course, olivia played it off. "why did you put lotion in your hair," her befuddled parents asked. "to make it curly," she said. i guess she's a little worried about being on of "those people" who go overboard on the holidays.

not one to exclude, olivia made sure her sister got into the act. ever the mentor, olivia started applying the same techniques on eve that she used on herself. of course, eve was thrilled.

somehow, though, mommy and daddy were not. call it the cynicism that age brings, but National Moisturizer Day just doesn't touch my soul like it once did. sometimes, i wish it did. at least my skin would be smoother... and maybe my hair would be curlier.

so, Happy (or is it Merry?) National Moisturizer Day. We got a late start, so you'll be getting your cards a little later than usual this year.

i have to sign off now... we're going down to the spa to sing carols.

snow day

2008-01-21T22:34:00.000-06:00

the new year started out right. good friends and good snow. olivia and anya tramped around every inch of the yard, making snow angels,throwing snow balls, and even playing snow soccer. the girls had a great time and finished it off - naturally - with nice hot cups of cocoa. enjoy the pictures.

my little senorita

2008-01-21T21:57:00.000-06:00

i've been a little lax in posting lately... sorry. so, i'm starting off a round of entries with eve playing dress-up, south-of-the-border style.

cousins

2007-12-05T21:32:00.000-06:00

the cousins got together at thanksgiving, and we took some pictures. enjoy!

bed-head? what's bed-head?

2007-11-25T11:28:00.000-06:00

olivia 3.0

2007-11-07T23:33:00.000-06:00

okay, so i'm a little delayed in posting these pictures. sorry. i guess part of me hasn't come to terms with my baby being three. ouch. it doesn't get any easier. she certainly gets cuter, though.

enjoy these pictures from her ice cream birthday party.

trick or treat 2007

2007-11-01T21:05:00.000-05:00

another year, another successful halloween. eve got to join in this year. she was apprehensive for about 2 seconds at the first house, but as soon as she took hold of her first piece of candy, she was hooked. oh, and she seemed to like her kitty cat costume (she started meowing right after i put it on her).

olivia and anya worked the neighborhood with ruthless efficiency. well, as ruthlessly efficient as a princess and a fairy can be. they were very excited, but they were fantastic with their lines: "trick or treat", "thank you" and "happy halloween".

fortunately for the adults, the girls all started to run out of steam after about an hour. but, they went home happy and finished up the evening with a viewing of It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

happy halloween! enjoy the pictures.

summer concert series

2007-08-19T15:16:00.000-05:00

olivia's summer performances were a couple of saturdays ago. we started with her school performance in the morning. it was held at a local senior citizen home. the show was fantastic. the choreography was outstanding and the costumes were crazy cute. i'm still not sure if olivia was a parakeet or a chicken. i am sure that she was adorable. all the kids seemed to have a great time, especially olivia and anya. they continued dancing for a good 15 minutes after the show ended.

later in the afternoon, olivia performed her 2nd piano recital. it was just as amazing as the first. she played "old macdonald had a band" and accompanied her teacher on "isty bitsy spider". the kid's a natural. even more amazing than her piano skills was the fact that she did the whole day on no naps with no meltdowns. oh, the little joys of life. good job olivia! mommy and daddy are so proud of you!

enjoy some pics

chopsticks

2007-07-21T17:09:00.001-05:00

the kid ate her whole meal with chopsticks. not bad for a two year
old, huh!?!

cubs redux

2007-07-15T18:04:00.000-05:00

took olivia to her second cubs game. the seats weren't near as good as the game last year, and the train ride was ridiculous (hour and a half), but we had a great time. we were joined by angela and anya who were kind enough not be fuming over our half hour plus tardiness. anyway, the cubs pummeled the astros 9-1. ted lilly pitched. on being informed of this, olivia commented that there's a lily in her talking words factory dvd. i guarantee pat hughes and ron santo didn't bring that up on air.

we got to our seats at the top of the 4th and stayed to the top of the 8th... a much better performance than last year's 2 innings. olivia even got to sing take me out to the ballgame this time. i think that may have been her favorite part (a true cubs fan).

i think we'll try to catch one more game this year. maybe a playoff game? sorry, optimism and cubdom don't mix.

haylee's wedding

2007-07-04T16:11:00.000-05:00

we were in florida this past weekend for my cousin haylee's wedding. it was our first trip via airplane with both girls, so there was a little trepidation that preceded our departure. and well-deserved trepidation it was. getting both girls and all of our stuff to the gate was quite a chore, especially if you're out of shape... which i am. as usual, we were running a bit late. no worries on parking, though, as we decided to valet. that was pretty quick and extremely painless. until the parking guy told us to go up to the 4th floor and go straight to get to the terminal. not having gone through the airport valet process before, we followed his instructions. the problem was, that led to no terminal, only more parking. so, either the guy misspoke, has communication issues, or is just a(n) (insert degrading expletive here). i'm going with number 3.

after finding our way to the terminal, we stood in line to check our bags only to be told that since we checked in online, we had to go down to the other end of the ticketing area. reluctantly, we obeyed (as i mumbled a few choice words audible enough to turn a couple of heads). after checking our bags with the hyper-efficient united employees (insert sarcasm here), we stood at the back of the security line to present our IDs and boarding passes.

when we reached about the 5th spot from the front of that line, the line behind us split as another airport employee came to help diminish the ever-growing line. strangely, the gal in charge of our line disappeared. it was as if the 10 or so folks in our line were part of an elaborate yet simple candid camera/punk'd prank. fortunately, i am an amazingly patient man (more sarcasm). once we got past the disappearing lady, however, security breezed by. 'twas a good thing too since we were 1 minute from our scheduled boarding time and an entire terminal's length from our gate. so, we had to rush to our gate without being able to feed the girls.

when we finally got to gate B-20 sweaty, sore, and frustrated, we were greeted with information for a flight to vancouver. reasonably sure that the city of west palm beach had not changed its name, i prepared for another sprint through o'hare holiday congestion. then, we caught our first "break". our flight was merely delayed. the vancouver flight had just not taken off yet. true to airline efficiency, however, we were informed in 10 minute intervals that they would inform us about our flight in 15 minutes. so, we caught our breath and hunted down food for our increasingly tired and restless children.

we finally boarded. not early, mind you, as united's ted apparently does not board "passengers traveling with small children" early, unlike most airlines i'm aware of (or ted for that matter, as we had the opportunity to do so on our way back). the rest of the travel was dotted with similar small yet aggravating details, but we survived.

the weekend itself was worth the trouble, though. it was great seeing family i hadn't seen in a couple of years. many of them had never had the pleasure of meeting the girls, so it was fun introducing them. the wedding was fantastic. my uncle larry and aunt leslie threw an extravagant yet laid-back affair, and that's hard to do. like me, larry's the father of only girls, so i can relate. unlike me, he handles it pretty well. i had to walk away from the father/daughter dance. can't even think about that yet.

anyway, congratulations haylee and alek. we wish you all the happiness in the world. special thanks to don and kathleen for letting us stay at your house. much appreciated. to the rest of the family, come on up to chicago soon. love you!

see pictures from the wedding here. as always, enjoy.

my new glasses

2007-07-04T12:11:00.000-05:00

little eve went to the eye doctor a couple weeks ago, and was fitted for glasses. we noticed that her right eye goes a little crossed now and again. the glasses are supposed to correct it. she also has to wear a patch over the left lens to help as well.

is it possible that she's even cuter in the glasses!?!

eve in pictures

2007-07-04T12:05:00.000-05:00

well, the day came and went. eve turned one. now, she's walking all over the place. yikes.

anyway, i wanted to share some photos from the weekend that was...

happy birthday, eve!

2007-06-21T06:04:00.000-05:00

well, it has finally happened. my little baby eve has turned one. it's been fun watching her turn into a little person. she's not quite the talker that her sister was, but she makes up for it in personality... and dance moves. i can't wait to see what the next year brings.

happy birthday, geneva grace. daddy loves you.

Liverace

2007-05-22T22:08:00.001-05:00

for all you music fans out there, a star is born... a star of unparalleled talent and charisma. all who witness will remember where they were when they first heard the majesty of "eating fruit is good for me".

enjoy. listen. believe.

happy easter!

2007-04-09T23:54:00.000-05:00

our first easter at home. it was a tad bit different not traveling, but we were happy not to be stuck in traffic on sunday night. fear not, we were not alone. some of our good friends joined us for easter dinner. all total, we had eight adults and 5 kids. i put a leaf in the dining room table, and we even busted out a separate kids table. now that, my friends, is a holiday dinner. a good time was had by all (unless somebody lied to me).

i've included a couple of pictures of the girls from easter morning, and you can see the rest of the pics here.

i'm so excited!

2007-04-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

excitement... eighties style!!!

olivia the artist

2007-02-24T10:45:00.000-06:00

just wanted to show off my 2 year-old's artistry...

eve crawls... sort of

2007-02-03T13:04:00.001-06:00

i know it's been a while since the last post. i've been slacking. sorry. but, i figured i'd make up for it with a video of little eve commando crawling on the floor. she's getting pretty good. she's almost completely mobile. yikes!

enjoy.

miss you mommie!

2007-01-13T16:49:00.000-06:00

just thought we'd make sure you got to see us this weekend.

come back soon!!!

christmas, part 1

2007-01-02T21:25:00.001-06:00

well, the christmas season has come again. as always, we've had a busy one. this is the first post of many. on thursday before christmas, we celebrated at home with the girls. olivia reluctantly resisted the urge to play with each present and made quick work of her bounty. eve watched bemused. a few pics of the night's events can be found here.

on saturday in indianapolis, we took olivia to the yuletide celebration - a stage show chock full of christmas songs and dancing santas. olivia seemed to have a good time. the day concluded with a carriage ride around the downtown area, during which olivia yelled "MERRY CHRISTMAS" to any and every pedestrian she spied. pictures from saturday can be found here.

stay tuned for more updates in the coming days. happy new year!

daddy's girls

2006-12-03T22:19:00.000-06:00

i am a lucky man...

Eve meets the Urologist

2006-11-08T12:35:00.000-06:00

I took Eve to see the Urologist today. She is a fairly young doctor with a 16 month old daughter. Infant girls are her speciality. I really liked her.

They switched Eve to Bactrim (from Amoxicillian) - which is a more wide range Antibiotic. She will need to take it once a day. It is also better for bowel bacteria and will hopefully cause fewer problems than any others (i.e. constipation and yeast infections). Plus you can get it filled for a month (instead of 2 weeks) and it does not have to go in the fridge ... That is all good.

I had them give her a cath to check her urine again today because I really FEEL like she is not herself and I want to make sure she does not have an infection that we are not properly treating right now. We should have prelim results this afternoon and the final results in 2 days.

Reflux is graded 1-5 with 1 being almost non noticeable and 5 being extremely severe. Eve's reflux is a grade 2 so that is good. They really think it may correct itself - which would be ideal. If it is not gone by her first birthday, she will need surgery.

She needs a urine test every 2-3 months to make sure she does not have a break through infection. If she does not have any trouble then we do not go back to the Urologist until she turns One and then we get her re-tested.

We need to have Olivia tested - there is a 40% change that she could have the same problem. This will NOT be fun.

But all in all things look good. We are on the right track and doing what we need to do to make sure she stays healthy.

Sorry no pictures but I know many of you have been concerned and I wanted to update the blog or those who read it. We thank you for all your kind thoughts and prayers. Please keep sending them.

trick or treat

2006-11-01T22:53:00.000-06:00

halloween is so much fun. we had a great time. there wasn't a whole lot of build-up to the big night. we probably won't ever be a house that goes crazy with halloween decorations, maybe a pumpkin or two (this, or course, could change). i don't think mommy or daddy has the energy for it. but, we didn't want olivia to miss out on anything this year, so mommy bought her a two-year-old sized pumpkin, and on monday, olivia decorated it with a mr potato princess themed kit. she loved it. good job mommy.

olivia was definitely in the spirit. when daddy got home tuesday afternoon, olivia was awake from her nap (that she probably didn't really take) and shot out of a cannon. she was wound up tighter than an eight day clock. she gave a new meaning to the term "slap-happy". giggling, belly laughing, running around like a crazy person. she was in semi-rare form (i say "semi" because she's "slightly" crazy).
our friends angela and boomer can confirm all this as they brought their daughter anya over to go trick or treating with olivia. they were equally amazed and amused by my wacky kid.

in any case, we quickly dressed the girls in the costumes. olivia donned her kitty cat outfit, eve went as a fairy princess, and anya showed up in her ladybug garb. the words "super" and "cute" don't even begin to describe the girls. after a quick photo shoot, we were on our way.

now, we're new to the neighborhood. in our old neighborhood, the trick-or-treating was haphazard at best. we got a handful of kids the first year, and the numbers dwindled each successive year. we would dress olivia up, take a few pictures with the neighbors' kids, and that was that. on tuesday, we were pleased to find a very different scene. lots of kids, decorations, and halloween spirit. many people sat on their porches the whole night to greet the kids that came by. impressive even when it's waremer than a paltry 40 degrees. we couldn't have been happier.

olivia was a machine. she attacked trick or treating with a laser like focus not seen in your average two year old. okay, so i'm exaggerating, but not by much. she was really all business. she said "trick or treat" at every door that opened, and "thank you" after receiving each piece of candy. okay, big deal, right? but, seriously... c'mon, she's only 2! trust me, it was impressive.

olivia and anya hung in there for 4 or 5 blocks, and definitely brought home a good haul for their age bracket. olivia's spaz-fest continued all the way to bedtime with no tantrum to be seen. she even had her first peice of candy, a miniature reese's peanut butter cup (yes, she enjoyed it very much). angela, boomer, and any left around 1:30am. okay, that's not true, but mommy and daddy were so tired, 8:30 sure seemed like 1:30.

the night was quite a success. i can't wait for eve to join in the fun! as always, we took a bunch of pictures, and you can find them here.

happy halloween!

The Adventures of Eve

2006-10-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

*DISCLAIMER* This is my first blog post ever ... Anyone who attended our wedding knows that Todd is a far better writer than I am. With that in mind, I am positive that his blog entries will be better than mine, but I am going to give this a shot and I hope you are not disappointed.

Growing Way To Fast
Little Miss Eve is amazing. She is growing so fast and learning so much every day.
Just yesterday she held her own bottle for the first time - I could NOT believe it.

Olivia never held her own bottle. Of course, we never encouraged it since we liked holding our little baby and having her cuddle with us. I had no intention of encouraging Eve to hold her bottle either, but the little bugger decided to do it totally on her own at a whopping 4 months and 6 days old. I think we are in trouble with this one!

I just love this picture. She is looking at me like "Um, Momma, I am trying to get a work out while I eat and that flash is a tad bit distracting. Would you mind not taking pictures?"

Eve's First Halloween
I got both girls Trick or Treat Bags with their names on it. Yes, I know that they will not be eating candy for ages but I thought they were so cute and could not pass them up.

For some strange reason, Eve's pumpkin bag is much larger than Olivia's kitty cat bag (you will see pictures of it after Halloween) ... So large in fact that I thought she might fit IN it, and she did! Teehee.

Being put inside a cotton bag did not seem to bother her much. Of course, she is always happy. I am one lucky Momma and I am having so much fun with her!

pull up a chair!

2006-10-28T21:29:00.000-05:00

daddy daughter adventure #3

2006-10-20T00:49:00.000-05:00

this past sunday, olivia and daddy went to the shedd aquarium for a work related outing. there was music, food, face painting... all kinds of stuff that appeals to a 2 year old. it certainly appealed to olivia. she was soooo excited to "go see the fishies". after eating our lunch and hanging out in the hospitality tent, we toured the aquarium. it was a very fast-paced tour. my oldest daughter is not one to soak in the sights. she wants more, more, more. see one yellow fish, and it's "wanna see more yellow fishies". the kid's crazy.

we made it through about 5 minutes of the dolphin show. they did a bunch of jumps at the beginning, but digressed into educational talk. definitely not an attention grabber for a 2 year old. so, we ducked out to go check out the penguins (our second viewing of the day). they weren't really doing anything, but she loved them.

all in all, it was a successful visit. she saw lots of fish, turtles, sharks, frogs and other assorted aquatic life... and she saw it all quickly. i fully expected her to crash on the way to our second destination of the day, our friends' house for the celebration of their youngest daughter's baptism. they have a great playroom setup in their basement, and olivia played with every single toy.

i was doubly convinced that she would crash on the way home, what with all the activity and no nap. she almost did... about a quarter of a mile from our house, but i quickly woke her. nope, she was going to make through dinner all the way to bedtime if i had to prop her eyeballs open. no need, though. she was so jazzed from the day, she sailed right through.

one funny note on the day... when we got out of the car, she made a great 2 year old logic statement. refering to the dolphin painted on her cheek (courtesy of the face painter at the shedd), olivia looked at me and said, "you're a dolphin because you have a dolphin on your face". can't argue with that. that statement's probably true the majority of the time.

anyway, sunday definitely went down as a top ten day for me. i think olivia had fun too. here are some pictures from the day...

as always... enjoy.

on the move!!!

2006-10-16T21:23:00.000-05:00

eve showed us that she won't stay in anyone's shadow. on saturday of olivia's big birthday weekend, eve (with much cajoling and cheering) rolled over for the very first time in front of 6 or 7 people. my little scene stealer!

way to go eve!

(click on the picture to watch the video)

happy birthday, olivia!

2006-10-13T23:52:00.000-05:00

okay, i'm a little late with the post, but it's been a long week. olivia's 2nd birthday was this past sunday (october 8). what a weekend it was! all kinds of family came into town, and the kid was wound up more than ever. we had her party at gymboree, and she had a ball. she nearly sprinted into the play area and started "tumbling". the "tumbling" consisted of running, turning around backwards and falling on her butt. 'twas hilarious.

anyway, she had a wonderful birthday (good job mommy), and she loved seeing her family. she now has way too many toys, is still a little wound up, and is 2 years old. mommy and daddy are a little stunned as we watch this amazing little girl grow up. we love you, olivia!

here are a few pics from her birthday... as always, enjoy!

sisters

2006-10-01T23:39:00.000-05:00

okay, i know it's been a while, and for that, i apologize. to get back in the swing of things, i thought i'd dip back into the archives for a little side-by-side comparison. that's olivia on top and eve on the bottom. what do you think? they look like sisters to me! both shots were taken right around the 3 month mark. fun, huh!?! i think this will be the first installment in a new feature here on prutopia.

as an added bonus, i've included a couple of recent pictures of the girls together. enjoy!

take me out to the ball game

2006-08-23T23:55:00.000-05:00

what a night! daddy took olivia to her first cubs game on monday night. we only stayed 2 innings, but, boy, did we have fun.

the night started out with a ride on the el (quickly rising up the charts as one of olivia's favorite activities). when we got off at the addison stop, olivia seemed to get more and more excited as the crowd grew. "going to the cubs game wif daddy!!!" she said with enthusiasm as we reached the street. i knew then that things were going to go well.

after we got our ticket, program, and found our seat. olivia was wide-eyed. of course, one should be wide-eyed if their tickets are in the second row behind the cubs dugout for their first baseball game (handy tip: if you want a good seat at wrigley, buy 1 ticket. their are single seats available all the way up until game time). she was definitely soaking in the sights.

i tried to explain to her what was going on... pointing to the pitcher and telling her that he was going to throw the ball and the batter was going to try to hit the ball... telling her when to yell out "good eye"... explaining what a foul ball is and the importance of hustling down to first base to try to prevent the double play. i wasn't sure how much she understood, but i was sure how much fun i had explaining.

in the middle of the first inning, olivia said, "go see mommy and eve". that was the reality check. as much fun and as interesting as the experience was, i knew that the endeavor ultimately rested on her mood (i.e. no meltdown). i asked her to hang on for a little while longer. this exchange repeated a few more times, each instance ending in her pleasant aquiescence. but, i knew i could only push it so far.

so, at the end of the second inning with the score tied at 0-0, we made our exit. we stopped to get a soft pretzel because i couldn't leave a baseball game without getting my baby some ballpark food. okay, i should have gotten her a hot dog, but would you want to fight that battle with heather? me neither. (i love you, honey) being her first soft pretzel, livvy was a little wary, but she soon decided that inhaling them was the desirable method of consumption.

before we reached the left field gate, something fantastic happened. a random cubs employee walked up to us and handed a baseball... one used in the game. how cool is that!?! first game, get a ball. you couldn't ask for anything more.

then to end the night, we rode the bus home. olivia's second favorite mode of transportation. i think it's mostly because of the crazy people. on sunday, some random guy started making all kinds of wacky bird sounds to entertain her. this night, some guy on the bus was arguing and/or discussing life issues with his t-shirt. i'm not kidding either. the guy was actually talking to his shirt. i didn't get many details, but i'm pretty sure he's a fan of pro wrestling. man, i love this city!

when we arrived home, olivia rushed in to tell mommy all about her adventure. she told mommy everything including the fact that "ronny cedano threw the ball and hit the ball". yeah, she picked that up along the way. later, when daddy was putting her to bed she remembered that "john hit the ball too". referring of course to journeyman john mabry. we have since gone over the lineup, and my 22 month old child can tell you that aramis ramirez plays third base, ronny cedano plays second base, and john mabry plays first base (we're working on pronouncing cesar izturis). the kid's amazing.

anyway, thanks livvy. you made your daddy very happy. now if the cubs can find a manger or general manager as smart as you, but that's another topic entirely.

daddy daughter adventure #2

2006-08-20T14:57:00.000-05:00

another sunday, another adventure. olivia and daddy took another trip on the el. this time, we went down to millennium park. olivia got to see the "bean", the crown fountain, and the snake bridge. we also took a walk down to grant park so liv could see buckingham fountain. she seemed to have a good time. see the pictures here.

stay tuned because daddy's taking her to her first cubs game tomorrow night.

naps

2006-08-13T22:28:00.000-05:00

sshhhhh... don't wake a sleeping daddy!

we try to take advantage of eve's naps whenever we can... here are some more pics.

daddy daughter adventure #1

2006-08-06T23:33:00.000-05:00

well, sunday was another fun daddy-daughter day. i took olivia down to navy pier. we did it native style, taking the red line down from our place and then hoofing it from the stop at grand.

the tall ships are in town, so the little stage inside navy pier had some weird pirate show going on. i'm going to come right out and admit that i'm not a great judge of the arts, but i'll make the bold prediction that it's not ending up on broadway anytime soon. my daughter, on the other hand, disagreed. it apparently moved her... literally. she was dancing along in my arms. mercifully, she allowed me to skip the encore .

we moved along to a store filled with thomas the train engine where olivia got to play with the merchandise. she also did a fantastic job of sharing with the other kids that were also hovering around the table.

after that i got sucked into the make-a-bear store. they are very evil people. the position of the store makes it nearly impossible to avoid. i had to make the false promise of re-visting the store on the way out. sorry, olivia... it was for your own good.

next came the highlight of the trip. the merry-go-round. olivia picked out a horsey that went up and down, and we had a blast. so much so that i didn't even mind the $5 charge for 30 seconds of merry-go-rounding. god bless the american way!

olivia also had her eyes on the giant swings, but i had to explain to her that she was too little. i dread the day when she actually understands what that means. we also skipped the ferris wheel, but with the wary eye that olivia gave it, i don't think she was too upset about it.

after that, it was lunchtime. you'd be surprised how many restaurants don't serve any kind of fruit. but here's a handy tip. if the place has a bar, the probably have orange slices. that will do in a pinch. olivia sure enjoyed them. she also enjoyed the main course, chicken strips and french fries. complete with ketchup, of course. i must interject here to metion that watching my daughter eat french fries with ketchup is one of the cutest things in this whole world. dainty and kid-like all at the same time. love it!

although it probably doesn't seem like much, we were ready to go. walking for 5+ miles while carrying 2 bags and a stroller or 30 pound kid at varying times will tend to tire a 34 year old 200+ pound, out-of-shape, gimpy dad 9 times out of 10. fortunately, the trip home was worth every last bit of fatigue.

whether on bus (her first bus ride!) or train, olivia charmed and entertained every last person she rode with. one point as we pulled away from the addison stop (where wrigley field is for you out-of-towners), she started singing "take me out to the ballgame" at the top of her lungs. she got a little shy when she realized that everybody was staring at her, but it was priceless.

as i suspected, the show on the train was due mostly to her slap-happiness, and she conked out on the walk home about 5 minutes from our house. she made a good transition from the stroller to the crib, and both daughter and daddy took a nice nap... with smiles from a good morning.

a fun monday

2006-08-04T22:02:00.000-05:00

just some shots from a fun monday. angela and anya were over to play with the girls. daddy took advantage of the opportunity and got out his camera.

eve's baptism

2006-07-30T16:44:00.000-05:00

well, after a long week, we went to indianapolis for eve's baptism. timing wise, it wasn't the best, but it was very nice to see all three families gather. it was especially fun seeing all the cousins playing together. olivia did very well... until she met the hotel pool. then it was melt-down city. but, overall she had a very good time. eve just laid around, but she was awfully cute doing it.

so, after a long delay, i've gotten the albums fixed. the newest one is from eve's baptism weekend. enjoy!

coping... sort of

2006-07-26T23:22:00.000-05:00

it's been over a week now without nikki, and it's been anything but easy. i feel like i'm barely holding it together... how do you cope with losing your shadow? the only way i'm doing it is by leaning on heather and the girls. of course, heather's having a hard time too. she's come a long way from being the cat person she was when we met. nikki had that effect on a lot of people.

fortunately, the kids are too young to be hurt by all this. olivia knows that "nikki's happy now. nikki's in heaven." she seems to be at peace with it, and anytime she mentions nikki, she smiles.

as they say, time heals all wounds, but this one's going to take a while. in the meantime, so many people have offered their condolences and sympathy. thank you. i apologize for not thanking you all individually, it's just hard for me to talk (or think) about it. i've lost track of the number of times i've broken down this week (i even have a lump in my throat as i compose this entry).

i take some solace in the fact that she's not suffering... but, man do i miss her.

goodnight, nikki. you're a good girl.

p.s. i'm gonna try to make this my last weepy post. i've got too many happy stories and pictures of my girls to share.

goodbye

2006-07-18T22:40:00.000-05:00

around 8:30 tonight, my best friend nikki passed away after a long battle with a degenerative nerve disease. along with taking away her mobility, the disease was also eating away at her spirit. her condition took a turn for the worse in the last 3 weeks, and she was ready to go. she passed quietly and peacefully in my arms. she was an incredible friend, and i will miss her terribly.

if you have the chance, say a prayer or think a good thought for her. she leaves behind a long list of friends and family whose lives are better for having known her. she lived a good 14 1/2 years, but it didn't seem like quite enough.

goodbye nikki, i will never forget you...

baby torture?

2006-06-29T23:47:00.000-05:00

rumor has it this is what has been going on down in guantanamo...

forgive us, eve...

(click on the picture to watch the video)

random shots from eve's first week

2006-06-28T16:14:00.000-05:00

it's been a week since eve was born, and i haven't posted any more pictures. i'm still working on rebuilding the album template that was lost when my hard drive died a few weeks ago, so for the interim, i'll just have to post the pics. anyway, here are a few more shots of the past week.

(p.s. olivia's slowly warming to the idea of being a big sister)

all about eve

2006-06-21T13:33:00.000-05:00

well, folks... the wait is over. geneva grace arrived at 10:40am this morning weighing in at 7lbs 9oz and around 19 inches. eve already showed how much she loves her mother by taking it easy on her. heather's water broke around 12:15am and the contractions started in earnest a couple hours later. she got her epidural about an hour or so after getting to the hospital, and it was pretty much smooth sailing after that. to top it off, heather only had to push for about 5 minutes. she's an amazing woman.

mommy and baby are resting right now, and daddy's going to take olivia to see her little sister in a few hours. in the meantime, enjoy these shots... i know i have been.

comments, please

2006-06-06T23:35:00.000-05:00

hi. no pictures this post... just a little note to cajole some comments out of you. i've had this blog going for about 2 months now, and the posts have garnered a total of 2 comments.

this is the point where a single tear rolls down my right cheek as the impact of the quiet rejection hits me.

okay, now that i've put out that wave of guilt, let's get serious. if you enjoy the pictures (or text) and if you have a couple of extra minutes or if you just want to taunt or berate me, please leave a comment. a word or two or three or #fill in your own number#. there's no obligation, of course, but i'd like to know who's stopping by. plus, i'm an insecure person at my core, and it will do wonders to my ego.

for those newbies out there, leaving comments is easy. just click the "comments" link at the bottom of each post. on the subsequent page, just type in your comments, click either "anonymous" or "other", and (finally) click "Login and Publish". yes, IT'S THAT EASY!!! now you know. and, as the soldiers of GI Joe preach, knowing is half the battle.

i look forward to reading...

child abuse?

2006-06-06T22:36:00.000-05:00

i guess a picture's worth a thousand words.
sorry, olivia... we'll skip the photo booth next time.

cousins!

2006-05-31T20:27:00.000-05:00

what a fun holiday weekend! uncle scott, aunt jen, delaney and dylan came up to chicago, and we all got together on saturday night at jen's parents' house (thanks for the hospitality and good eats jim and frieda!). olivia and delaney hit it off immediately and played together really for the first time (they saw each other at christmas, but olivia was still a bit too little).

the girls did a lot of chalk drawing, golf, watering plants, and a whole lot of running around like crazy people. they did a great job of sharing, and we got some great pictures of the two of them together. by the end of the night, the two girls were completely slap-happy and running around in cirlces. what a sight.

olivia loved seeing her cousin dylan as well. she didn't get to do anything but stare at him, but her mommy and daddy are hoping that she'll react as well to her sister (due very, very soon).

on the way home, daddy noted to mommy that we should all watch out. the two girls are going to be causing trouble at every family gathering from here on out (especially with cousin hanna directing them). i can't wait.

check out the pictures from the weekend here.

taking the train to the zoo

2006-05-24T22:44:00.000-05:00

olivia and daddy had the day to themselves on saturday. and what a day it was. after a morning of gymboree music class and a nice loonnnggggggg nap, olivia got to ride the el for the first time. okay, technically, it wasn't the actual first time, but it was the first time when she was aware of it. so aware that she got freaked out when the train started moving and wanted to get back in her stroller. she calmed down, though, once she started paying attention to the sights passing by the windows. she was fascinated by the big buildings. much to daddy's chagrin, she barely acknowledged the existence of wrigley field.

so, liv and daddy rode the red line down to the fullerton stop. from there, it was a quick walk to the lincoln park zoo! okay, the walk wasn't that quick. in fact, the whole trip took over an hour, and i thought olivia was going to fade. at one point, she said, "livy tired". an admission she rarely makes. constant reminders of our destination got us through it. olivia knew where we were going, so her excitement level never waned.

when we first walked in, however, i was afraid that she was going to be very disappointed. why? well, no animals. no animals in the first section we toured. no bears (polar or otherwise), no warthogs, no penguins, nothing. okay, one animal, but i tend not include squirrels in my zoo animal count. fortunately for me, livy likes squirrels...

daddy was even more fortunate to discover that there were a few more animals besides the squirrels once we ventured deeper into the zoo. we saw some zebras, some camels, a couple of yak-like things, a gazelle/african deer type thing, and a few birds. but, by far, olivia liked the cats... the snow leopard (that's yeapawd in olivia speak) and the tiger.

we went back to visit the snow leopard twice.

the trip was a success! olivia had a great time. and to top it off, mommy came to pick us up. i don't know that we would have made it through the return trip, so than you, mommy. we'll probably make a return trip this summer when (hopefully) all the animals will be out... even the squirrels.

hands

2006-05-21T23:02:00.000-05:00

olivia's getting so big...

...but it's nice to know she still has a long way to go.

kiss my belly!

2006-05-15T00:48:00.000-05:00

olivia getting in a belly smooch before baby eve arrives!

happy mother's day, mommy!

2006-05-14T13:34:00.000-05:00

olivia and daddy went shopping last night. olivia picked out a picture frame, and daddy made a t-shirt with baby eve's picture on it. we then took a picture of the girls to give to mommy for mother's day.

mommy liked her present very much.

happy mother's day, mommy!

big weekend (part 2)

2006-05-13T13:53:00.000-05:00

here are a few shots of olivia with her gigi and papa. these are more pictures from the same baby shower weekend (5/5-7). olivia had such a good time, she didn't even seem to mind the 5 hour (yuck) trip back to chicago.

we took somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 pictures, so more posts are likely.

pretty in peach

2006-05-13T13:45:00.000-05:00

just a few shots from a couple of weeks ago of olivia talking on daddy's phone.

big weekend (part 1)

2006-05-08T22:24:00.000-05:00

olivia had a big weekend. we visited heather's parents (aka "gigi and papa") in indianapolis where olivia got to spend time with 2 of her 3 sets of grandparents. my parents (aka "ma and pa") drove up for the day on saturday to spend a rare 2nd weekend in a row with us. while all the adult women spent most of saturday at a baby shower for heather, olivia spent it charming her daddy, pa, and papa. she watered and picked lots of flowers, spent some time on the swing and trampoline next door and did a really good job of tiring herself out.

this first set of pictures are from the morning shortly after ma and pa arrived. olivia played a little hide and seek with ma and took a ride on pa's shoulders.

the cutest little baby face

2006-05-04T22:55:00.000-05:00

well, today was a good day. today we went for an ultrasound. the doctor wants to monitor the size of our pending delivery to make sure she doesn't get too big for her mommy to push out. no worries, we're old pros at the ultrasound game. but, apparently we haven't seen everything...

while searching around for the necessary measurements, the technician came upon our baby's head. but, this was different... unlike the skull shots we've seen in the past. could it be? yes, that's our baby's face! unbelievable. i saw my unborn daughter's face. my eve.

my heart heaved and swelled to a slightly larger size.

yes, i'm in love again.

the picture the technician printed out does not do the experience justice, but you can still make out that lovely visage. check it out!

btw, notice the lips... just like olivia's. cripes! daddy's gonna have to lock 'em both up.

not so way back machine...

2006-05-02T21:45:00.000-05:00

okay, i'm breaking the chronological order, but i've got a backlog of pictures. starting with this post, we're going to go backwards in time every once in a while. so as not to shock our systems, we're only going a couple of weeks back. this picture is from a two day set where we were trying out the new camera on our favorite subject. this picture of olivia by her toy box prompted the quote from my dad, "geez, she doesn't look like a baby anymore. she looks like a little kid." scary, but true.

anyway, enjoy the snaps!

anya mae visits!

2006-04-30T18:38:00.000-05:00

another action packed day! by pleasant surprise, olivia's friend anya mae came over to play while aunt la la and uncle boomer went to the symphony. it was a day chock full of playing, singing, dancing, book reading, and tickling. other than a few tense sharing issues early on, the day was quite a success in the annals of 1 1/2 year old/ 2 1/2 year old relations. however, the day did claim the energy of two very tired parents. with baby eve coming at the end of june, it is quite apparent that we are hosed.

great pic

2006-04-29T19:18:00.000-05:00

sorry, couldn't resist posting one of the best pictures... ever.
find this picture and more here.

ma and pa

2006-04-29T12:21:00.000-05:00

ma and pa came to visit this weekend, and olivia couldn't be happier. we took a really long walk, saw some squirrels, picked some flowers, and had a really good time. the one downer of the day was the cancellation of the gymboree music class. but, the folks there were nice enough to let olivia run around and play during the 15 minutes between classes. the kid's a riot... running from one apparatus to another. needless to say, we are going to have one tired olivia by the time ma and pa leave.

more from the door

2006-04-24T22:30:00.000-05:00

i'm still working out the kinks with the albums, but i'm not going to let that keep me from posting more pics of my girl. i put up some photos from sunday. i know, there's a strange continuing put-on-shoes-in-the-door motif going on here. what can i say? the kid likes doors and shoes.

more changes/improvements/tweaks to come for the albums. i also plan on updating the design of all the "sister" sites, so we'll have all kinds eye candy and info for the viewing public. until then... enjoy!

oh, and yes... we need to clean our door.

v 1.0 photo album

2006-04-23T23:57:00.000-05:00

okay, i've got a semi-working album published. the photos are from this past saturday and the set includes the one from the previous post.

changes to come include new navigation icons (current ones = yuck) and an album index. currently missing from the photo album section is a link back to prutopia's home page, so if you get lost, just remember prutopia.net.

barefoot in overalls

2006-04-22T14:54:00.000-05:00

While mommy napped, liv and daddy had a little photo shoot. Once I get the album section up and running, you'll be able to view more shots. Until then, enjoy this one!

olivia's 2nd easter

2006-04-18T00:12:00.000-05:00

It was a big weekend filled with eggs, bunnies, a trip to the zoo, visits with family, and 1 llama. Everything an 18th month old could hope for. The weekend also featured Olivia's first skinned knee... and her second... and a little crying. Yes, quite the weekend, the theme of which was "find nutha easta bunny", no matter how creepy he may be. Olivia will tell you all about the swimming polar bear and the walrus and that she rode the train. The mind-boggling, less-than-scenic, bilk-the-zoo-guests train that showed a few giraffe, 1 elephant and the maintenance buildings. In the end, though, a fine weekend was had by all. As always, Olivia kept us all entertained. More photos to come...