Wow, April has been a slow month for the blog! So much happening and so little time to write it all down.

We have returned from our desert vacation to find the prairie in bloom! Lots of rain while we were gone made everything green and brought a gorgeous display of rhododendron on our front stoop. We're having fun with our first spring in the new house--much to discover. Also much to trim back, but that's not really the fun part. Before we left the magnolias blossomed so I taught Ed to identify them. Now of course the beautiful flowers are strewn about under the trees, but we're enjoying pink and white crab apples and will see what comes next.

But on to the Arizona adventure. For those out of the loop, we planned the trip around Colleen's Confirmation and First Communion, which was Saturday. (For those really out of the loop, Colleen is my brother P.J.'s second daughter; other characters in this tale are her older sister Katie, younger sister Molly, brother Sean, who is 9-months older than Edward, and my sister-in-law Diana.) John and I are Colleen' godparents and we wanted to be there for this special day. Plus we thought the kids would have fun together and, except for my trip to assist when Molly was born just weeks after they'd moved, we'd never visited them in the five years they've lived there (we've had a few other things going on in those five years!)

I selected flights based on routes that avoided O'Hare, shortest total travel time, and mid-day (nap time) in the air. There was no way I was dragging the kids (and us!) out of bed at 4 for a 6 a.m. flight, although it would have given us more time there. We had to draw the line somewhere. We left at noon Friday after a very easy check-in and security check at the Cedar Rapids airport. I really love everything about this airport, except that you really can't fly anywhere non-stop. We had a layover in Dallas.

The first glitch came when the flight attendant informed me I couldn't hold Daniel in my lap but had to give him to John. No explanation--just the directive and then she moved down the aisle. When she swept past again, I asked if this was just for take-off or for the whole flight. "The whole flight," she said and walked away again. The plane had one seat on one side of the aisle and two on the other. So this left John with Edward by the window and holding a squirming Daniel. This was not a good scene. Luckily, there were some empty seats on the plane and the two people behind John and Ed offered to switch so I ended up with seats for both myself and Daniel behind John. (Later it was explained that on the side with the single seat there is only one oxygen mask so a lap child can't sit there. Wish someone had brought this up before we were seated! We were able to ask the ticket agent for a different configuration on the way home to avoid this.)

I really thought Daniel would sleep at this time since he has been known to fall asleep standing up at daycare if I am even a few minutes later than my usual 12:10 pick-up. When he's tired he just drops. But I guess the new surroundings were enough to overpower this because he didn't start falling asleep until we were landing in Dallas. The DFW airport has a cool train system to move you between terminals. Ed was thrilled to ride a train AND a plane in the same day. The airport also has children's play areas in all terminals, so we made good use of this during our two-hour layover. The kids were both exhausted (and a good three hours beyond even their latest usual nap time) so they slept for most of the flight to Phoenix.

Daniel woke up toward the end and I soon realized that he was soaking himself. More liquid than usual on the trip to help with the ear pressure. The woman next to me helped me pull off his pants and shirt and he exited the plane in just his super-saturated diaper. What a sight! A quick change and we were on our way to baggage and rental car, but not before Edward asked, "Where's Sean?" and we had to explain that yes, we are in Phoenix now, but no, Sean doesn't live at the airport. At that point it was clear that we would not wait until morning for the first visit.

We arrived at our townhouse (a stroke of luck and last-minute deal-making--SO much better than a hotel room!) unloaded, put Daniel to bed, and then Ed and I went over to SEE SEAN!! It was a good first meeting--they bonded instantly at Sean's train table. We didn't stay too long though as it was well beyond bedtime according to our body clocks and we still had to make a grocery stop for some essentials.

Good thing we did, because the next day started well before dawn. Daniel got up at 4:15 with no idea that he was in a different time zone. Oy. This was one of the times that having a townhouse was a lifesaver. I got up with him and let John and Ed keep sleeping. Ed got up around 5, but we were still able to stay in the kitchen and away from the stairs leading to the bedrooms so that John could sleep. (Don't worry--we alternated this duty as it continued through the entire trip! Daniel added a "mid" morning (aka 8 a.m.) 30-45 minute nap to his routine and the rest of us made do with an afternoon siesta.)

The kids had a great time playing together--lots of vehicles to drive on the back patio and a swing set in the yard. We never made it into the pool as it was a beautiful, temperate mid-80s while we were there. We visited several fabulous parks and had endless fun climbing, running, swinging, jumping, sliding. One of the parks had a kid-sized road system mapped out in one section so we brought the bikes and they drove around. Another had a train to ride on and several full-sized engines and cars to admire. Edward and Sean were pretty much a blur, racing around and up and down. Daniel, a little slower but no less daring, charged up and slid down as fast as his little legs could carry him. Mother's Helper Colleen was always right behind him, an angel here on Earth!

On Monday when the big kids went to school and P.J. went to work, the rest of us headed for the zoo. Diana's expert navigation took us to all the major exhibits (except birds!) and the temps were cool enough in the morning that most of the animals were out for viewing. A favorite part was Monkey Village, which allows you to see them up close jumping from tree to tree. Daniel giggled and Ed and Sean raced to see where they would go next. Daniel was also quite pleased with the hand washing station on leaving the exhibit (apparently monkeys pee on everything--ew!) We ended that excursion with some playtime in the tree house and then headed home for naps. Whew! The kids slept three or more hours each afternoon and we were not far behind!

Some memorable moments: P.J. came down to the kitchen dressed for Colleen's Confirmation Mass and her first comment was, "Are you going to wear that pin???" pointing to the "Donate Life Arizona" lapel pin on his jacket. Priceless!

Daniel was so thirsty that we decided not to buy regular diapers but the super absorbent overnight diapers he usually only wears to bed. We still had to change him every two hours and each diaper was as heavy as if he'd been in a pool. At every turn he was holding out his hand squeezing and saying "Mek, mek" or "Duse (juice!)"

Edward was amused by the GPS in our rental car (hooray for Hertz and this bonus feature!) Every time we got in the car he asked, "Is it going to say, 'Arizona, Yes!'" (when plugging in your destination it started at the state level and worked down to city and then street.) He also decided that he could make the stoplights change by shouting, "right now!" while we waited. Daniel joined in the fun. Ed got it close enough to the actual change just often enough that he fully believes he has some powers in this area.

Details of the return flights are probably the only things we would classify as "lowlights" on the trip. We were all tired, the kids didn't nap and the time change somehow was worse going East. A sans-nap Edward was nearly impossible to control on the Dallas-Cedar Rapids flight and I ended up sitting next to him with Daniel in my lap for about half the flight because he and John were just pushing each other's buttons. At about the mid point, the sun was almost down and I realized Daniel's shorts were wet. Time for a change to the pajamas I'd packed in the carry-on. When I got back to the seat, Ed was sprawled across both and covered in his Thomas blanket, seemingly ready to sleep (finally--this was 8 p.m.) John got settled in the seat next to him with Edward laying on him and I sat back down with Daniel, who also fell asleep once he had a paci to hold as well as suck.

We made it to CR, but waking up was very hard to do. Both kids just cried as we gathered up our things and carried them off the plane to the waiting stroller (hooray for gate check and our double stroller and my sister Nora for telling me I should take the double stroller even though I was worried it would be too big to check!) We got our bags and got back to our car only to discover that we could not find our parking ticket. Ugh! We drove up to the exit, explained that we'd lost it and filled out the form that the attendant gave us including the time/date we entered. (Yes, we were honest.) He told us there was a $4 lost-ticket fee and then our total charge: $29.

Can I say again how much I LOVE the Cedar Rapids airport? Daily parking max of $5!

We got home around 10 p.m. and headed to bed. Thankfully, I had scheduled myself for vacation the following day as well, knowing that I'd need time to get us back on track--laundry, groceries, unpacking, etc. The kids slept in, sort of, until about 7:30. I took them to daycare and set about my tasks. I went back to work today and found it busy, but not overwhelming.

We had a great time, but we're glad to be home! Video to come in a future post.

I'm at a danger point with this chronicle. I've allowed too much time to elapse since the last post so that every time I think of sitting down to write an update the task feels overwhelming and I can easily find something else to do. I'll start from the weekend with the goal of working back to Easter and just see how things go.

Team Kenyon was in full force on Saturday morning for the March for Babies. We had more walkers than ever before and including people and dogs we got close to my goal of 40 walkers in honor of John's 40th birthday in December. It was such an honor to have so many friends and family with us. I did feel bad for dragging everyone out so early on a Saturday only to be pelted by rain about 10 minutes after the walk started. We had about one hour of daytime rain over the weekend, coordinated exactly with the walk time. A few intrepid walkers made it the whole route, but we left the boys with my parents at the library (about half way through the route loop) and then cut straight back to the park instead of following the whole loop. If not for the kids, it wouldn't have been bad to keep going--it wasn't super cold and it wasn't a driving rain. But I think we made the right choice.

My sisters surprised me by digging through the family archives to unearth two t-shirts from a long-forgotten era during which the Geraghty family attended summer picnics wearing matching green t-shirts with "Geraghty Gang" emblazoned on them. You probably had to be there, but I almost fell over laughing when I saw them walking toward me.

This month at daycare they are celebrating "The Month of the Young Child" with special activities each day. Some are simple, like the various color days (wear red one day, green the next, blue, etc.) One of the days this last week was "Dress like mom or dad day." Some boys wore their dads' ties, but John doesn't really have enough to spare and our kids don't have that kind of button down shirt anyway. We decided they could all wear long sleeve polo collar shirts and do just fine (even though I sprung it on John at the last minute and he had to go iron a different shirt.) Ed was pleased with the outcome and didn't seem to notice or care that John's shirts lacked stripes--a fashion lesson he is bound to learn for himself later in life.

I'm not even sure what to say about this picture except I hope we are not stifling Edward's musical abilities with this ghetto instrument. You are not mistaken: that is a cookie tin with its lid duct-taped shut holding an elastic band that was used to secure the monitoring devices for my many stress tests during pregnancy. The drumsticks are spoons and the headgear will just have to speak for itself.

OK, on to Easter. We started the morning with 8 a.m. mass. This may seem crazy, but since our kids don't differentiate between weekends and weekdays in terms of sleeping patterns, it actually meant we just followed our usual M-F routine and went together to church instead of work/daycare. Ed was pretty excited about Daniel and Dad coming with us. Usually they stay home. We managed to snap this family picture before we left. The angle is a little weird since we had to set the camera on a stool, but it's passable. We told Edward the Easter Bunny would come while we were at church, just as Santa Claus did back in December. The baskets were a hit--sunglasses, wiffle balls and bat, coloring tools (markers for Ed, crayons for Dan) and the all-important plastic eggs with jelly beans (Ed) and teddy grahams (Dan.) And, yes, Daniel's "basket" is a bike helmet. What can I say?In preparation for Easter dinner with Grandma and Grandpa, the boys "helped" me make a cake. Lesson learned in the process: the expiration date on a cake mix is actually important. John had to be dispatched for another mix after the first cake didn't rise. Still tasted pretty good, but I didn't think it was presentable as dessert.
I think we're all caught up now. I leave you with a video John prepped a couple of days ago showing some of the boys' latest antics. And I think you know that includes all three of them!

We've kind of been back and forth between indoor and outdoor play of late. Here we were saying good-bye to one of our last moving boxes, which had morphed into a toy, but was finally just too bedraggled to keep around. We had lots of fun with it though, proving once again that no matter how much you spend on toys, the free box is tops. There is one more left now and it's on its last legs, as it is caving in, having most recently served as a diving platform (feet first only of course) for both boys.

Outside, we were thrilled to discover clusters of crocuses in bloom when we went out last week. I think being snowed on just makes them more vibrant. Daniel even got in on the excitement repeating "purple, purple" after Edward and I took an inventory of color. Now he points at a lot of things (purple and otherwise) and says "purple" but still, it's fun to hear these emerging words. He's also saying "thank you" or a version of it that sounds like "day-doo!" I remember Ed doing this and it's no less cute the second time around! The other recent addition to the vocabulary is "milk." He's been signing milk for some time now, but over the weekend he was squeezing his hand for the sign and started saying something like "mek, mek." It took us a couple of beats to realize what was happening, but we were pretty excited once we caught on.

Things kind of went downhill for Daniel as the weekend drew to a close however. He had a cough/congestion and was not sleeping well. We did two nights of this before I decided he should see the doctor on Tuesday. I was waiting for the nurse to return my call and schedule an appointment when Daniel's teacher called to report that he had refused to eat breakfast so they took his temp (what other reason could there be for him not eating?) and it was over 100. At the doctor, no surprise, they discovered an ear infection and prescribed Augmentin since he'd been on Amoxicilin so recently. Let's hope this knocks it out. We really don't want to start a pattern of one after another. The only silver lining is that this happened now and not two weeks from now when we're headed out to Phoenix!

The boys got a surprise package in the mail last week. Gram sent two new books--hooray! One is poems and the other is classic fairy tales like "Little Red Riding Hood," "The Three Little Pigs," and "The Gingerbread Man." Edward loves them! And we're quite pleased as well as each story is relatively short and he's satisfied with two or three before bed. Everybody wins.



We are only 10 days away from our Walk for Babies with the March of Dimes, and I have to say there is virtually no chance that the boys will make it with us for the whole route. I've been out with the stroller a few times in the last week, and I must report that 60 pounds of boy really slows the pace and strains the back/legs/etc. (Daniel weighed in at 27 pounds at the doctor yesterday and Edward usually measures 33 when he plays on our bathroom scale.) Edward can walk some, but I would say it is likely that they will spend the bulk of the walk in the park with Gram and PopPop, weather permitting. Not a bad trade for either pair.

After a brief taste of spring, we dipped back into some chilly, wet weather over the last week, including snow on Saturday. Not too much though, and luckily, at this time of year, it doesn't linger. I think it's not truly spring until you've seen snow on the crocuses!

(Note: Edward's shiner came when his momentum carried him into the couch after flopping backward on this floor rocker, which put a damper on a favorite game.)

To combat the cabin fever, I pulled out a few items that had been spirited away amid the Christmas hubbub for just such an occasion. With Christmas and both birthdays in one two-week mid-winter stretch, it can all be a bit overwhelming. I've done this every year and Edward never notices the missing items, but is thrilled with their unexpected reappearance.

Edward now has the "ramp" pieces that go with his Cars (the movie) vehicles. He's had the vehicles out for a few weeks already but John reminded me that there was more to the set. These can be taken apart and put together in several configurations. I think he will quickly learn to manipulate the pieces on his own because asking me for help also draws Daniel's attention and then Daniel absconds with one or more of the pieces. He generally brings them back or drops them within only a few minutes because he truly has no use for them, but it's still very frustrating for Edward.

Daniel got some cars that you can pull back and release to scoot across the floor. He crawls all over pushing and pulling them, only occasionally letting go. Then he chases the car/truck/taxi across the room with gleeful giggles.

Inside or out, Daniel is all about the climbing. He loves the park, but even lacking any playground equipment with stairs to climb, he finds any waist-high surface and works to hoist himself up. Outside in the yard, he climbs up the low retaining wall next to our patio (all part of last fall's basement waterproofing excavation project.) Then he trot through the as-yet-unplanted garden area, steps carefully over the garden edging and runs back down the grass to the patio to start over. I do mean "down"--the project created a gentle slope to direct water away from the house. Daniel is not all that agile with uneven surfaces so often ends up propelling himself faster than his legs can keep up and tumbles down into the grass. No worries though--he just picks himself right up and keeps trotting.

Here's the indoor version of this game:



This video also brings up a curious point about Edward's linguistic tendencies. Namely, where did an Iowa-born kid with two Midwestern parents pick up a southern twang? You can hear him asking "where's my bay-at?" (baseball bat) over and over. He also does this sometimes with "day-ad" (dad) and a few other words. He can say them all normally (note, my definition of "normal" is "the way I say it") but every once in a while he reverts to the twang. He did have a teacher with a pretty strong Southern accent from about 18-months to 2-years, but she has since left the daycare and he hasn't seen her in more than a year. I'm trying to figure out if there's a pattern--like all words with that short 'a' sound or, perhaps, primarily when he's feeling whiny/needy. We'll see.

With apologies to Daniel's fan club, this is an all-Edward post. What can I say? He's had a noteworthy couple of days. The first came on St. Joseph's Day (that's March 18 to most of us). Edward decided on a whim (as if he decides anything on something other than that) to play firefighter. He put on his Halloween costume and headed into the living room to get on his firetruck (the couch). But he decided to do something different and narrates a completely contradictory set of actions. For those who watch until the end, the outstretched hand and the noise that approximates the sound of a tire loosing air is him using a firehose to put out a fire. The rest of the video is a game he created where I toss him onto a chair covered by a blanket, thus covering him as he sinks into it. Trust me, this is hilarious.



Today he went to a birthday party at the Iowa City GymNest, a place that offers gymnastics lessons and training, and, we learned today, great birthday parties. It's essentially a giant padded room filled with things for kids to jump onto and off of. Ed and the rest of his buddies spent an hour running, jumping, playing and laughing, and then ended with cake and ice cream. Not a bad way to spend 90 minutes if you're 3.

Most of my photos and video from it are centered around the place Edward spent the most time: A pit full of six-inch cubes of firm foam rubber that the kids jumped into. Ed first jumped off the side, then off a pad about two feet high and finally from a platform about six feet above the pit. Each time he squealed with delight and headed for the side for more. He had an absolute ball, and so did I.



At one point he grabbed a block from the pit and held it up to me: "I found a berry!" he said. It took me a moment, but I believe he was reliving a moment from Jamberry, a favorite book, where the bear and the boy are covered with berries (the page below isn't the right one, but it's the closest I could find online.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! And what a glorious day it was--mid-70s and sunny. It surely is the warmest St. Patrick's Day in my life. Where were these warm breezes when we were seated along the Chicago parade route basking in the glory of the 1980s?

Anyway, we had a fun day. Our early morning photo shoot was a bit frenetic as I tried to capture the festive t-shirts before whatever might befall them at daycare. (They actually made it through relatively unscathed.) During naptime I pulled out the grill and wiped down the patio table for our "Irish picnic" dinner--first grilled burgers of the season! I also converted our stroller to give Ed the option to sit or stand--one of the features that led to its selection last year. He still wanted to sit, but was more willing to walk along for a bit knowing he could get in and out easily. We took it for a spin up to the park for a little while and enjoyed lots of climbing and sliding. Daniel accidentally tackled a little girl--first time he's made a girl (other than his mom) cry. She definitely wasn't hurt, and her dad said she was "sensitive," but I still felt bad. He just lost his balance near her and ended up falling on her. I had him blow her a kiss while her dad held her for a few minutes and she seemed to recover, though she would not go near him again.

We blocked off the porch door with a sturdy patio chair so the kids would not be tempted to leave the porch while the coals were heating on the grill. (Mom: no worries, I was right there the whole time; the chair was just the visual reminder that we were staying in.) This basketball shot shows (I think) the full glory of Ed's outfit, including shamrock sweats recovered from the "archives" at my parents' house over the weekend. The elastic isn't quite as stretchy as it might have been once, but the drawstring keeps them up. He was very impressed with himself, though he did decide to change to shorts once John got home.

While I was getting dinner together, playtime apparently devolved to belly rubbing. Guess you gotta go with your strengths when it comes to sporting endeavors.


Dinner was great, though Daniel was more into the bun (and chips) than the hamburger. Ed still calls them "han-ga-burgers" and devoured his along with tons of carrots. Guess all the fresh air makes them hungry. Tired, too, if these photos are any indication. All in all, a great day. Looking forward to many more as the weather stays nicer. 50s forecast the rest of the week--not exactly tropical, but definitely no longer winter. A note at daycare telling parents to take all winter gear (snow pants, extra hats/mittens, etc.) home truly signals the onset of spring.

As mentioned, we spent the weekend with my parents and had fun with them as well as visiting aunts, uncle and cousins. Saturday morning we went for a ride on the "el" because Edward has been saying for weeks that he wanted to ride on a train. He frequently asks if we can go to the dry cleaner on the way home from daycare because that route involves three separate train crossings. I used to dread the lowering of the gates and the flashing lights, but now I'm actually driving out of my way to try to find them. Anyway, he was definitely interested in the train experience, but didn't gush with excitement. I think it was a lot to take in. We only rode five stops north and then got off and waited on the other side of the platform for the southbound return. The park at the end might have been a highlight. We'd never seen a spinner quite like this one, but Ed got a kick out of it. His cousin Katherine wasn't too sure. Nora almost got blackmail video of John trying it out, but he saw the camera too soon. For more weekend photos, check out my sister's blog.

We've hit the highlights; now for the lowlight. While we were there I came down with strep throat. AGAIN! Ugh! This was Saturday night and not severe enough for an ER trip, so my dad made me some tea and I found some (unexpired) Tylenol and went to bed. Daniel was also suffering with an ear infection that had been diagnosed on Thursday. Since he wasn't running a fever they recommended just treating the pain with topical anesthetic ear drops, but gave us an antibiotic prescription in case that didn't do the trick. Sunday morning, after two nights of multiple scream-fests, we sent PopPop to Walgreens to fill the prescription. Sunday night he slept like a baby...which, of course, he is. Wish we'd just filled it right away, but I do understand that not everything needs to be treated this way.

I went to the doctor Monday morning and once again the "15-minute" rapid strep test was showing positive in less than five minutes. Amoxicilin this time and things are improving. I like that it's only a twice a day med. This bout definitely was not as bad as the last, but I have no need to keep repeating this pattern just to prove I can survive it.

This week is the university's spring break, which does not mean staff holiday, but which does mean a week off from my class. It reminds me of what I like about NOT being in school. I kind of feel like it's over since I'm not thinking about homework or planning my week around the Thursday night away from home. However, we still have four weeks to go. I'll survive--statistics is boring, but at least it's formulaic.

We had a couple of warm days last week and enjoyed some time in the back yard. It was still a little muddy in spots, but for the most part, a great space for running, jumping, throwing balls, finding sticks, and a host of other wonders. You can see this tends to make a boy thirsty. The mud will certainly be with us for a while after about two inches of rain over the weekend left our yard looking like a lake in spots. More rain tonight. We didn't have as much snow this year, but people are still on edge worrying about flooding.

Daniel was doing pretty well with keeping the hat on. He tried pulling it off a couple of times, but was easily distracted into forgetting he was wearing it. We also made sure he saw that Ed was wearing his. It reminds me of teaching Ed to keep his hat on in his first summer "on the go" and it eventually became habit. It's a necessary fashion accessory for the thin of hair.

Inside, anything and everything can be made into a hat. For a few months now, since we took him to see a local country/folk/family band at a fundraiser, Ed has used the blue hat Daniel is wearing above as his "Mike Finders hat." (Mike was wearing a cowboy hat with a dangling chin string during the performance, so I guess this hat's strap is an acceptable substitute for Edward.) The first time I saw him take the arm cover for our couch and put it on his head I nearly fell over laughing. My sisters (and maybe my brother, but not sure he'll own up to it) used to do this all the time. We girls pretended it was long hair, since we were never allowed to keep our hair long. Sometimes they were veils, as we saw on the nuns in our elementary school. Ed hasn't specified any particular function, but still finds it all amusing.

You may recall Edward's snowplow preference. His latest distinction is based on the type of lights atop our local police cars. He noticed that some have "square" lights and some have "rectangle" and has registered a clear preference for square. In case you didn't know that there actually were different kinds of lights, I will attempt to describe. The "square" lights look like a series of individual lights in a row, or maybe a slight 'v' shape on top of the car. The "rectangle" lights are all in one bar across the top. Apparently this just ruins the aesthetic.

Yesterday in the 45 minutes between the end of dinner and bath time, Daniel stumbled or tumbled about six times. He's either in a growth spurt or has some sort of inner-ear imbalance thing going on. Some of these incidents are clearly a case of his overestimating his own physical prowess, such as when he stood on the step between the dining room and library and thought he could bend over from the waist and pick something up from the lower step. That resulted in a head-over-heels tumble down the two steps. Other times, he's just walking and either falls or crashes into something. Maybe it's a depth-perception thing...Hmmm. I guess we'll just watch and see. Maybe he'll get more coordinated with time. Lucky for him, most of his spills are easy to bounce back from. It's the rare one (like the steps) that result in lengthy consolation.

He's actually mastered the steps (with the rare exception noted above) so that we don't have to chase him down and body block when he's headed toward them. We still go with, but he now dutifully turns himself around (sometimes several feet before the edge of the step) and scoots down on his belly. This means we can keep the door open between the dining room and library for access to a full "loop." We do a lot of walking in circles now.

Daniel also has been "singing" a version of "Row, row, row your boat" to our endless amusement. Edward taught us all a new verse that is "Row, row, row your boat underneath the stream. Ha ha, fooled you! I'm a submarine!" If we start with "row row row" Daniel will chime in with "Ha ha ha" and then continue on his own "row row; ha ha ha!" and then clap for himself.

Oh, and a note for posterity: Daniel has given up his bottles. He had been down to just one a day, before bed, and drinking the rest of the time from sippy cups. After about a week of nightly soaking due to over-capacity overnight diapers, we decided that we had to cut this pre-bed liquid. He actually did fine with the transition (about two weeks ago)--a little crying and some extra snuggles on the first two nights, but now he has a paci while we read some stories and then goes to bed with little fuss. Yet another passageway from "baby" to "toddler." Now, what do I do with all the bottles?

I knew we were short on photos this week so we took the camera to Grandma and Grandpa's on Saturday night hoping for a few choice moments. We were not disappointed. You, however, will be, as we left the camera there and opted not to make a special trip for its retrieval since we'll be back again on Tuesday.

So I'll take this opportunity to share two old photos, joined together to illustrate our continuing journey with the March of Dimes.


Many of you know that we have been involved with the March of Dimes since Will's death. Each spring we join the March for Babies, a nationwide fundraiser for the organization's work to give all babies a healthy start to life. We have been so grateful for the support of so many family and friends along this journey. We have always been deliberate in our requests for whatever support you can offer--whether physical (walking with us), moral (cheering us as we prep for and complete the walk) or financial (direct contributions to the March of Dimes in the name of Team Kenyon.) This year we're putting special emphasis on the physical.

In 2009 we will celebrate 40 years since John's birth, three weeks early at a tiny four pounds on December 5, 1969; 2009 will also mark five years since Will was born, October 26, 2004, fifteen and a half weeks early.

In honor of these two milestones, we are hoping to have 40 members of Team Kenyon, walking 5 miles in the March for Babies.

We've never had more than about 15, so we are aware that this is an ambitious goal. However, we don't think we'd have trouble getting 40 people to come out for a party, and since John would sooner divorce me than let me throw a birthday party, we thought this might be the best alternative.

We'll walk in Iowa City on Saturday, April 18, starting in City Park at 8:30 a.m. We'd love to have as many as possible join us here, but there are walks all over the country so there's no need to travel.

Click here to join Team Kenyon and then click on "walk with me" just under the photo. There's also a "sponsor my walk" link there or on John's page.

Hope to see you there. Who knows...maybe this will be the year we finally plan ahead enough to get our own team t-shirts!