Mamaroneck Moons

Basketball Hall of Fame

2012-01-21T22:09:00.000-05:00

I I find it hard to believe that it has been two months since we last posted, but alas, here we are. So, as I promised last time, we went to the NBA Hall of Fame. Beckett and Ciaran learned very quickly that they had some big shoes to fill.

Dawnell was excited to see her favorite player (a/k/a the clock)

The babies had fun chilling in their stroller. One of them is hiding out in the back.

When we got home they looked cute together. But anyway, let's get back to the Hall of Fame.

They had Stockton jerseys there, and three Stockton basketballs. This one was for most games with one franchise. The other two were for the assist and steals records that he still holds.

Beckett is a huge Jazz fan. Mostly because we tell him he is, but he's a good sport.

From Stockton to Malone...

Here's daddy standing next to the warm-up jerseys of the 1944? national champion Utah Utes. I may or may not have broken into a rousing chorus of Utah Man at the Hall of Fame.

Michael Jordan was admitted to the Hall of Fame in 2009 (overshadowing the great Jerry Sloan and the great John Stockton), and the Hall of Fame has had a Nike-sponsored exhibit ever since. I think it actually may have finally closed, but it hadn't yet. Here are all of the Air Jordans. I have one of the Air Jordan V, and I'd love to pick up a pair of the VI.

Here's Beckett with the tallest and shortest guys to ever play in the NBA. He's not quite Muggsy yet, but I think he's closer to Muggsy than Muggsy was to Manute.

At the end of the Hall of Fame they had various basketball hoops to shoot at. They had some lower ones for Beckett to shoot at, and they had a peach basket for me to shoot at. Pretty cool stuff.

We had lots of fun, and then the boys wanted to go home. So that was the end of our vacation.

Hartford Children's Museum

2011-11-20T22:35:00.001-05:00

During Chris' week in between jobs we decided that we were going to take a vacation. Come heck or high water, we were going to spend a night away from home with all four children. Of course, knowing that we only had 3 days away (and a limited budget) our options of where to go were somewhat limited.

For day one we decided to just start driving north, stop at the Hartford Children's Museum, and then keep heading north. We figured going to a children's museum combined Dawnell's love of museums with our practical inability to go anywhere else with four kids under the age of 5.

I must say, we all had a lot of fun at the Museum. It's a bit older and some of the stuff could use some updating and repairs, but all in all they do a nice job.

This is a huge whale in front of the museum. It's a pretty cool way to get introduced to the learning.

Here's Beckett in the belly of the whale. I should probably mention here that Beckett's favorite bible story is Jonah and the Whale, so he was pretty impressed.

When we were there at the museum I made Beckett hide under the ballet dress of this statue. At the time I thought this was Angelina Ballerina, but I guess our lack of a daughter misled me, because google tells me that Angelina Ballerina is a mouse, and this looks to me like a ballet cow. I guess I don't know who it is.

Here we are at the turtle room of the museum. Beckett is under a turtle shell. Ciaran has the better idea and is sitting on the shell.

Here is Ciaran flying around. The boys' favorite exhibit at the museum was the flight simulators.

We didn't go to the space show, but I made Beckett pretend to be an astronaut anyway.

Here is Beckett all dressed up to go paleontologing.

Yea, Beckett! Looks like you found footprints!

So, I guess most of those pics were of Beckett, but the twins were asleep and Ciaran won't stay still for more than two seconds.

Here's our best chance to get a pic of him, with Ciaran looking up at the motel TV when we stopped for the day in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The babies also enjoyed hanging out in the motel room.

Ahh, look at how cute they are sleeping together. Okay, this wasn't actually from our trip, it was from a couple weeks before, but it was cute.

Ah, there we go. Ciaran panned for gold at the Children's Museum.

Tune in tomorrow for the Basketball Hall of Fame!

Primary Program

2011-10-24T12:01:00.004-04:00

Our ward had the annual Primary Program on Sunday. The last time that Beckett gave a talk in Primary he had ended up refusing to give the talk, so we were a little apprehensive when Beckett was the Sunbeam they selected to do a talk instead of the one line that everyone else got. With lots of practice he was able to do a great job. We're very proud of him.

In other news, the twins (both of whom are over 14 lbs. now) always look adorable before church, but by the end of church they are both exhausted and look a little more disheveled.

Here's some cute pics...

This adorable little chunk monster is Lachlan.

This adorable not quite as chunk monster is Aidric. You might notice that he's just wearing a sweater vest, with nothing underneath. That's the result of a blowout, not of us deciding to showcase his muscles.

Here they are side by side. Lach on the left and Drickity on the right.

Beckett and Ciaran dressed up in their church clothes with fall leaves laying around.

I'm in between jobs this week, and we've decided to try to get out of town for the next 3-4 days. Wish us luck!

Random Assortment

2011-10-02T13:49:00.006-04:00

First of all, here are some cute baby pictures. They currently love to eat their hands. Delicious!

Aidric

Lachlan

And here is a random reason why I hate hurricanes and all the wet weather we've had. We have a smurf village in our front yard. I hate all the mushrooms. Ciaran calls them flowers and picks them to bring to me. One looked suspiciously like it had a bite taken out of it, but I couldn't be sure. I saved that stupid mushroom for 2 weeks in case I had to rush him to the emergency room and have his stomach pumped.

This is just a small shot of the field of mushrooms in our front yard. They sprout up overnight. I feel like if I stared at them I could literally watch them grow. And then here is a pile of mushrooms we picked and threw in the street, because that's fun and evidently we're on Team Gargamel.

Finally, here is how we survived general conference. And sadly, it was "surviving" as opposed to enjoying. I know it's shocking, but 2 and 4 year olds don't like to sit quietly and listen to men in their 70's.

We called it, the "Snack Wagon".

If you look closely you can see that Hiro is pulling a train car filled with Froot Loops. Our Hiro has more oomph than Thomas so he was upgraded for a special assignment as a really useful engine. The boys would send in the snack wagon and I'd fill it up with treats and send it back. It was a pretty good system and we all had fun.

Our new addition

2011-09-28T23:19:00.005-04:00

I have been wanting a spinning wheel for years--literally over a decade. I first wanted one when I learned to weave and then like a gateway drug learned to spin. But then I was a poor college student and couldn't afford a wheel. Fast forward years and I learn to knit and that leads me back to my spinning love. But now I'm paying off being a poor college student and have 4 children. So I saved bits and bobs of cash here and there hoping one day I'd find something great. And Friday morning thanks to a nice man on Craigslist who realized he should just stick to knitting, a 2010 Ashford Traditional walked through my door for a very affordable price. It also came with a ton of wonderful wool to spin. My boys think I bought them a pirate wheel to drive so I'm going to have to lock it away from their grubby little fingers. But I probably will try and teach them to spin a little. Beckett keep treadling and telling me, "Mom, I'm making yarn!" I need to oil it and adjust the drive band that you can see hanging off, but I took these pictures as soon as it arrived. I'm in love!!!

He had already spun a little and left this on the bobbin since there is more of this wool to spin.

All the great fiber and a niddy noddy for making skeins.

3 Months

2011-09-03T20:36:00.006-04:00

The twins turn 3 months old tomorrow, which is super exciting. We'd share with you all the pictures of our exciting adventures, but we have 4 kids 4 and under, so we're pretty much stuck at home most of the day. Dawnell tells me that she did get to the opening of a JoAnn's near us on Friday. Yea Dawnell!

Last week there was a huge fight between the twins. As you can see, they both thought that they were the #1 baby. Turns out they were both right, and it was a TIE! I couldn't figure out which picture I liked the best out of these three, so here they all are...

Ciaran and Beckett got a haircut today. For Beckett, not such a huge event, but for Ciaran it was the official transition from baby hair to toddler hair. Here are some really cute pics that I took at the park the other day of Ciaran in his swing. Let's call these the "before" pictures.

And here are the after pictures. Still so cute, but the curls are gone for now.

Dawnell's editorial insert--And this is why you should never send your child to a barber with your husband alone if you only want a trim on his curls so he doesn't look like a girl. The plan was not to shear him entirely. And they didn't even save a curl for me. I actually cried when he walked in the door. Devastating.

Here's one of Beckett. No before picture necessary.

Drickity and Lockers did not get a haircut today. But they are still cute. Here are a couple of pics. Picture #1 is Aidric and Picture #2 is Lachlan.

Hopefully we'll have some fun labor day adventures to share with everyone.

The babysitter is back

2011-08-29T13:30:00.002-04:00

We have power!! The children did a happy jumping power dance and ran around flipping on lights. Then they asked for tv and to play Mario Kart. They are so sweetly quiet as Backyardigans plays in the background. Ah, tv. Most of our freezer items were saved by my friend. We'll probably lose a few things on the freezer door, but really we were inconvenienced and not much else. We're safe, our house is safe, and all is well after the storm.

Hurricane

2011-08-26T17:00:00.003-04:00

Here is an update for all of our friends and family in the west. Areas of Mamaroneck are being evacuated as a result of Hurricane Irene. We are in a safe zone and thankfully in a position with our basement to shelter some friends who are in the evacuation zone. We have a propane stove (thanks mom and dad), canned food (and a non electric can opener), water, flashlights and an car insurance policy that covers hurricanes. All devices are charged to the fullest, but if lines are knocked down we don't know when we can communicate. We'll keep you updated as long as possible. Right now we are pretty prepared to weather the storm. Love to you all.

Playing with the New Phone

2011-08-11T23:00:00.001-04:00

Dawnell and I picked up new android telephones a couple of weeks ago. They both have pretty nice cameras on them, and I was excited to see that there is a blogger app, so now we can even blog on the go.

I was trying the settings on my camera the other day, and Beckett didn't like the idea of being a dot person. I got one of him anyway, so take that. And as you can see, the twins are starting to smile pretty regularly, which is cute and precious and etc. etc. etc.

Mystic Aquarium

2011-07-25T23:12:00.004-04:00

This picture is cute.

We got a new set of twins! See... Okay, just kidding, these "twins" are totally different. One is the 2004 Toyota Sienna owned by Dawnell's parents. The other is a completely different 2005 Toyota Sienna that we bought last month.

The first thing that Dawnell said after we found out we were having twins was that we needed a new car. And she was factually correct. Our trusty Camry was not going to work for a family of six.

Ironically, even our new minivan didn't work for our first big weekend family excursion, since we took along my parents. We ended up having to borrow a minivan from our friends, because our new minivan fits 7 and we needed it to fit 8. We decided to try to make a trip to Mystic, Connecticut (perhaps best known for that Pizza movie starring that toothy gal). Mystic also has the best aquarium in Connecticut, so off we went.

I think Beckett's favorite animals were the penguins. They were pretty cool.

I think Dawnell's favorite part was trying to instill the joys of archaeology in Beckett and Ciaran.

Ciaran's favorite part was sitting in the stroller drinking juice. He also enjoyed sitting on this huge fake turtle. It took us like five minutes to get him to leave the exhibit.

Here's one of the twins. They held up pretty well for their first big trip. Their favorite part was getting held by grandparents, especially once they got matching Mystic Aquarium swag.

At the end of the trip we stopped at a shack for lobster rolls. Literally, Lobster Landing is just a shack next to the water that sells lobster rolls. Since I'm not a fan of the seafood, I can't speak of the quality, but the foodie message boards are pretty unanimous in singing its praises.

All in all, a fun weekend journey.

Baby Blessing(s)

2011-07-19T20:52:00.006-04:00

Well, as you can see, Aidric and Lachlan were blessed on the first Sunday of July. The guy on top of this picture is Aidric, with Lachlan on the bottom. The picture above is pretty much the best one that we got of both the boys together.

It was the last Sunday that Dawnell's parents were in town, so we were glad that they were able to be there. We had one really cute blessing outfit (what with already having two boys) so the day before we went out looking for another outfit. We also picked up some really cute church outfits for the big brothers. Yea for toddlers dressed up in four piece outfits!

We got some pictures, but the difficulties in getting a good picture seems to raise exponentially with every child that is added to the picture.

For instance, it's clear that Beckett was quite proud of his new outfit, and some of these turned out good. He's a ham for the camera (always has been) so he was more than willing to smile for us.

Beckett showing off his fancy clothes.

Beckster kept trying, but the other three weren't cooperating for My Four Sons poses.

But in the end we were able to commemorate the occasion with some nice pics. Starting at church, where the babies of honor were asleep at the time...

And hey, is that a picture with everyone smiling (or, in the case of the babies, not crying)? Why yes, it is! Yea! Okay, maybe my baby is crying.

And everyone was proud. Proud mama, proud daddy, proud grandpa, and proud grandparents.

VBAC Attack!

2011-07-11T14:24:00.005-04:00

The babies are sleeping, Grandma and Grandpa took the big boys on an adventure and I find myself with a quiet moment in which to try and record the adventure of the twins birth.

For all of you who aren't up on obstetrical terminology a VBAC is a vaginal birth after Cesarian. They're a pretty safe procedure now days since most c-sections don't require the giant up and down stem to stern cut they used to give. The lovely "low transverse" scar I have is ideal for a VBAC. In fact when they were going to operate to save tiny Ciaran I specifically told the OB that I would have more children and to cut me so a VBAC was possible. She did, so things were looking good this pregnancy. Until I found out I was pregnant with twins. And one of them decided to be breech (feet first). And then vertex (head down). And then breech. And then transverse (lying sideways). Some of these during the same ultrasound. Lachlan "Baby B" was quite the flipper. Even at the end when supposedly they have no more room to move he was flipping around. Finally they decided to assign his position as an "unstable lie". Aidric "Baby A" was smooshed down and locked into his position early on in the pregnancy by his brother's antics. And thank goodness he was because if he had been breech it would have meant the knife for sure.

Lachlan's moving didn't seem like a big problem. It was more interesting to feel physically how he was thrashing around in there. My midwives were fine with continuing my care, although if Baby B did continue in his breech position one of their back up OB's would be present at the birth so that they could either try and turn him or deliver him breech. See, even though the American College of Gynecologists have declared that they don't like breech deliveries for a singleton baby or for a Baby A, it's still within professional guidelines to deliver a Baby B breech. Basically all systems are go as the first baby has already cleared a path as it were. I'd done my due diligence, I'd gone to my VBAC consult with my midwives back up OB's with an exhaustive 5 page question list (there were spaces to write down the answers so it's not quite as huge as it sounds) and all things were on track for the delivery even if Lachlan stayed breech. That is until about 32 weeks into my pregnancy.

I had been emailing with another woman in my exact situation; same care providers, pregnant with twins, Baby B breech. She managed to find out that in fact things were not as peachy as we had been told. After much digging by her and by our very startled midwives we were told that of the 5 doctors in their back up OB practice 2 of them would not deliver a breech Baby B. One wouldn't even try and turn the second twin. And the icing on the cake was that none of the other doctors would commit themselves to being available for the delivery. It was all a lot of, "You can call and if I'm free I could try and attend the birth." blah blah. So much for being a unified practice and all your physicians offering the same level of care. Good job Sleepy Hollow Medical Group. So I then had to decide if gambling with the on call lottery was worth staying with my midwives who I love LOVE LOVE or attempting to switch to a new provider with roughly 8 weeks left in my pregnancy. Or maybe just 4 since lots of twins can be born around 36 weeks.

I met with a couple of providers and was encountering the same problem of some will, some won't. Thanks to ACOG changing their breech guidelines medical schools are no longer teaching breech birth so even though there was no reason I shouldn't have the second twin breech doctors don't know how to handle it so they opt for the knife. Because heavens knows major abdominal surgery for the second time with its risks of bowel and bladder damage, infection, injury to one of the babies, oh and DEATH is no big deal.

Then one night I tearfully typed an email to my doulas telling them I still didn't know what to do. And my doulas did the single greatest thing they did during my entire pregnancy and delivery. They gave me a name. Don't get me wrong, I'm so glad that Jen was in the delivery room with me, but had she and Barbara not told me about Dr. McGroary things could have gone very differently. They too had had a former client in my situation, as had a colleague of theirs and both people had left their former practices and transferred to the practice of Dr. Dennis McGroary and Dr. Susan Malley.

So I saddled up once more and pulled out the old 5 page questionnaire and made the almost hour long drive up to Yorktown. That almost dissuaded me, but the minute I started asking questions Dr. McGroary kept giving me the answers I wanted to hear. But with real facts from their practice to back them up. He believed in VBAC! He believed in twins going past 36 weeks! (It probably helped that his wife delivered twins in her 39th week.) He believed in doulas! He even knew my doulas! He wanted me to write a birth plan for him! I could catch my own baby! (Turns out Aidric was born so fast this wasn't possible, but who cares, he said I could do it.) He went to medical school before the guidelines changed and was very comfortable delivering breech babies! And Dr. Malley felt the same. And since they were the only 2 who had a chance of delivering my baby I knew things would end up going the way I wanted. So at 33 weeks I made the very painful decision to leave my midwives (again, since I'd had to leave due to all Ciaran's complications).

And things chugged along and the babies grew and I was fantastically healthy with zero complications and ridiculously uncomfortable and at 39+ weeks despairing that these babies would ever be born. I'd been at 4-5 cm dilated for almost 2 weeks with only little contractions that petered out quick.

And then at roughly 2:30am on June 4 I awoke with some painful cramping every 2-3 minutes....

Below is the log that my doula recorded of events. The entire log. The sum total of high points of the delivery. Awesome!

3:05am – Dawnell calls to say she is in labor and that they are on the way to the hospital

4:00am – I arrive in the L&D room at NWH

4:25am – Dawnell and her husband Chris arrive

5:10am – Dr. McGroary performs a vaginal exam and reports that Dawnell’s cervix is dilated to 9cm; baby A is vertex and baby B is breech

5:56am – Dr. McGroary performs another vaginal exam and tells Dawnell that her cervix is fully dilated. He is concerned about some decelerations that are picked up on the external fetal monitor and suggests that its time to deliver the babies. Nurses transport Dawnell to an OR for birthing (this had been previously agreed upon by Dawnell and Dr. McGroary because of the VBAC/Multiple scenario).

6:21am – Baby A is born: 6 lbs, 12 oz

6:34am – Baby B is born (double footling breech, compound presentation): 6 lbs, 11 oz)

Did you check out those times? The first part sounded right to me, but I'm pretty sure I pushed for about 9 hours and the ring of fire lasted for about 6 of those. No says Chris. Alarmingly fast says Chris. My time warp perception is undoubtedly because as I so eloquently and understatedly recall saying during delivery, "This hurts really bad." Also because of that little extra nugget of information under the 6:34am entry. Double footling breech, meaning all 10 of Lachalan's tiny little toes were coming down and out and that second bit, "compound presentation" means his hand was up by his face. So not only was the biggest, ouchiest part of him saved for last, he decided to stick his hand up and increase his head circumference. Thanks son.

And then there they were. Both of them peeing up a storm upon entry and pink and perfect.

And that is why all the nurses knew who I was. Evidently twin VBAC breech no drug deliveries don't come along every day and I was considered something of a stud. Which, if I do say so myself, I am.

This is as close a picture as I can get to the day I delivered. Everyone told me that I should get a picture of myself on the day I delivered to remember how huge I was. However, as you may have noticed from the above description of delivery day, things happened pretty quickly and I was a little more concerned about not having an even more exciting story about giving birth in the car.

Size wise things are feeling a lot better now. Although it did take a week to feel like my organs were back where they should be. As Beckett likes to ask me, "Mom, can you run fast now? Mom, can you bend over and pick stuff up now?" To which I respond, "YES, I CAN!"

More Pictures

2011-06-30T15:39:00.003-04:00

My friend and visiting teacher is a professional photographer. She came over the other morning to take some pictures of the twins. Of course instead of napping they decided to stay awake and pee on everything. However, as a consummate professional she did manage to snap some adorable pictures. If you're in the market for a photographer in the Westchester County area you should get in touch with Elisa Perry.

Happy Birthday and More Twins!

2011-06-09T10:50:00.007-04:00

The Twins have been getting all of the attention lately, but this little trooper has been handling things great. He loves his new brothers a lot. After going through a relatively "normal" birth,* we think back to the difficult birth of Ciaran, which happened a couple of months early on this day two years ago. My tiny little Boodle is doing great now, as you can see from the picture below. Always happy and smiling, except when he's screaming for more cracker fish (goldfish crackers for those who don't speak Ciaranese). So Happy 2nd Birthday Ciaran, we'll try to carve out some time to celebrate!

*Actually, Dawnell was famous in the maternity ward for her "normal" birth, but I'll let her tell the story in more detail if she wants to do so, since she did for the first two.

Well, the twins are home. If only they could learn to sleep at the same time at night I think we'd be doing okay. Here are some more pics of the babies:

Here's old what's his face getting ready to go home. We'll call him Lachlan and change the post if Dawnell tells me I was wrong.

Here's that one dude. Again, we'll go with Aidric unless told otherwise.

While they were in the hospital the boys shared one of those nursery cribs. This was precious and adorable, but also made for some cramped quarters, as the picture below makes clear...

However, now they have the luxury of sharing their huge crib together, complete with homemade quilts as decoration (thanks Grandma)

Beckett also loves his new brothers and is always looking for ways to help. Here he is with both of them, which is convenient, since now I don't have to try to figure out which is which.

Meet the Twins

2011-06-04T11:00:00.006-04:00

Say hello to Aidric Christopher and Lachlan Michael, who arrived in the early morning on Saturday, June 4th. In the pictures below, Baby Boy "A" is Aidric, born at 6:21 a.m., and Baby Boy "B" is Lachlan, born at 6:34 a.m. Both babies are healthy and a good size, especially for twins: Aidric is 6 lbs. 12oz. and Lachlan is 6 lbs. 11 oz.

Dawnell is tired but doing fine, talking on the phone to a friend as I speak (yea for in-room wi-fi!).

.(Edited to add the date of birth, good suggestion Breanna)

39 weeks

2011-06-01T20:08:00.000-04:00

And still pregnant.

Officially 38 weeks

2011-05-26T20:01:00.002-04:00

I've made it to my goal. I wanted to officially be 38 weeks when I had these twinners. I was 38 weeks as of yesterday so you can imagine my disappointment when I didn't spontaneously go into labor at 12:01am Wednesday morning. Oh well. I had a doctor's appointment today and he is not expecting me to make it to our next appointment on Wednesday. He's not really expecting me to make it past the weekend. Although I will beat the naysayer perinatologist and make it to the ultrasound with him tomorrow. Oh, he didn't expect me to make it and said, "Don't make an appointment, just call me if you make it to 38 weeks and I'll fit you in." I said, "I'm making the appointment today and I'll see you then." And I will. I don't care if I am in labor I am showing up at that appointment and saying hello tomorrow.

So cast your guess into the ring, you can't do worse that the prognostications I've already heard. When do you think these babies will be born??

37 weeks and 5 days

2011-05-23T20:20:00.007-04:00

Dawnell says that I can't claim that we are 38 weeks in yet, but we will be on Wednesday. Baby A and Baby B continue to progress nicely. We're pleased that both babies are pointing head down, at least as of this afternoon.

For those of you who have been asking, here are some pictures of Dawnell, also as of today.

And, for those of you who come for dude pictures, here is one of Ciaran and one of Ciaran and Beckett together. Hopefully it isn't too obvious that Ciaran continued smiling because we shoved fruit snacks into his cheeks.

36 weeks

2011-05-12T15:05:00.000-04:00

Today I had another super fancy ultrasound. The babies have finally decided to have a little bit of discordance in their growth. However, it's only a 6% difference so no one is terribly worried about it. Baby A has an estimated weight of 5lb 9oz which is in the 32 percentile for a singleton baby. Baby B has an estimated weight of 5lb 14oz (gaining a full, exact, 2 pounds in 4 weeks) and is in the 48 percentile for singleton babies. This is very good for twins, in fact we're almost average for a singleton. Additionally at this appointment I brought along Beckett and Ciaran to take a look at the babies. Grandma came along too so that there was not quite as much chaos. Beckett was such a good boy. He really paid attention and kept asking which baby was which and what body part we were looking at. The perinatologist was happy to see Ciaran again and was amazed at his growth and progress. He kept saying, "I can't believe that's the same little guy."

With so much baby going on some people have asked what I am looking like these days. Here are some pictures from around 30 weeks pregnant. Sadly, I am so much bigger now. A friend of ours is starting a photography business http://ryanreidphotography.com/ and took some lovely pictures of our family. That's where Beckett's awesome Zoolander picture came from.

Beckett lovin' on his babies.

And my personal favorite.

Beckett Turns 4!

2011-04-30T19:34:00.004-04:00

Beckett turned 4 on Easter this year. Not wanting to fight the Easter Bunny for party guests, we ended up having the birthday party the week before Easter.

This year's theme was The Cat in the Hat! Dawnell made this incredible cake for the birthday boy. It tasted just as delicious as it looked.

Here you get a pretty good view of all of Beckett's friends wearing their "hats" at the party. It looks like Ciaran and Beckett are the only two without hats on. I'm raising a family full of contrarians.

Don't worry though, we made them both wear appropriate attire for the event. Here they are in their Cat shirts.
Oh, and Beckett the cool dude had a real "Cat in the Hat" hat. Here he is modeling the hat.
And here's one more of the 4 year old dude all dressed up.

We played pin the fish in the fishbowl, ate cake, and read from Dr. Seuss. I think all the kids had lots of fun.

Watch Out Derek Zoolander

2011-04-10T21:30:00.005-04:00

Blue Steele is no longer the power look. Watch out for "Vogue".

I guess this, and 40 other crazy pictures, is what happens when you let your child watch one episode of America's Next Top Model with you.

Ciaran Videos

2011-04-01T08:36:00.000-04:00

Here are some videos of Ciaran. He's such a cute talker lately. I decided I had to record some of his sayings even if I had to artificially induce him to say them.

But first, here is Ciaran dancing and "jumping".

Here are some of Ciaran's favorite words.

And a few more.

Beckett tells us about his babies

2011-03-29T14:25:00.001-04:00

Beckett likes to go to the midwives with me. They let him hold the doppler and help listen for the babies heartbeats. So one day after my last appointment he started playing baby. He's telling me right now that his babies were just born and they are twins and both boys. And they can jump. "Jumping babies in the house. Jumping babies in the house today!" is the chant he is currently singing. I hope he's not too disappointed when our babies don't immediately jump after birth.

I also just learned that Beckett bought his twins from the baby store. "All of them are so cute but you have to be soft to them and not hurt them."

V is for Vertex

2011-03-24T19:11:00.004-04:00

This is currently my favorite picture in the world. Why?, you ask. It looks rather similar to a sort of boring picture of circles you posted a few weeks ago. Well, this time it shows two HEAD DOWN babies. They've wiggled around and are no longer in bunk beds. I thought I felt some big movements going on. Now they're next to each other so I can expand width wise instead of them trying to reach my chin. At any rate with Baby A head down that means I'm on track for the VBAC. I am thrilled. I'm 29 weeks so there is less chance that they are going to flip into breech as there is just going to be less and less room from here on out.

Their estimated weights are 2 lb 12 oz and 2 lb 13 oz. So they're still about the same size which is great. All heads, bellies, arms and legs are still the sizes they should be. The babies are in about the 40th percentile and that is based on singleton measurements. This is around the time when they start falling off the singleton growth curve so our doctor is very pleased with their size and growth and says they're doing great for twins, and really for any baby. In fact our perinatologist mentioned to me that this pregnancy must be a lot less stressful for me than the last one even though it's twins. He said, "I know twins are 'high risk', but they're not really high risk high risk like you had last time." I know that well and I am amazed that at 29 weeks 2 babies are the size of my 32.5 week baby. They're doing so well he doesn't need to see me again for 3 weeks. Alright! Grow babies, grow!

The babies are already learning to take turns. This week Baby A wanted to be the star of the photo shoot and Baby B only got one shot.

3-D shot of Baby A's face.

Baby A profile.
Baby B's hand. He was shy and didn't want to take pictures this week.

**Update** I just returned from my latest prenatal visit and my glucose levels were perfect at my diabetes test. Yes! Another complication dodged. I am a little bit anemic. However, this is the point when babies are reaching peak blood volume so I am within the acceptable dip they expect to see at this point. I am already taking iron, but I'll up it to two pills a day and see if that can't bump me up a little more.

A Warm Day

2011-03-12T15:56:00.005-05:00

It finally felt like spring might actually be on its way. After days of rain and some random bitterly cold temperatures we had a day when it was a pleasure to be outside.

We played golf. We kicked the soccer ball around. We found the garden tools in the garden where they'd gotten buried by snow during winter and then dug. We even found little green shoots heralding the spring that is to come.

One of the best things though was the walk we had around our neighborhood. As Beckett walked ahead of us, I held one of Ciaran's hands, and we all walked down the sidewalk together. Suddenly it hit me that this was the first family walk we'd ever had where everyone was walking. Ciaran had progressed enough that he could walk along the uneven sidewalk with me and had the stamina to do it not only that walk, but later as we followed Beckett riding his bike around. It was a wonderful moment. I was so happy that my little low tone guy who was so uninterested in being upright was loving being up on his own two feet.

And here is our Beckett bike riding dude.

Good News and Bad News

2011-03-04T12:27:00.002-05:00

Poor Ciaran has a double ear infection. Oddly this is the first ear infection either of my children have ever had. It's pretty miserable. Ciaran was a mess, so grumpy and out of sorts. My weaned child nursed for a half hour before his nap yesterday, that's how awful he felt. But after two doses of amoxicillin he's his happy self again. We'll take it easy this weekend, but hooray for antibiotics!!

On to the good news. We got into the Mamaroneck Avenue Pre-K Program!! Lest you think I am the mother named Moon in the Nursery University documentary, I am not. This program is free! Hooray! We got a call yesterday saying it turns out they did have enough space for all the kids and we don't have to enter the lottery. We'll be getting information about what session/times he'll be attending in the next week or two. We've had friends attend this program, our landlord's children did, and Ciaran's PT's kids have gone there. They have all had wonderful things to say about it. So not only is free good, but he'll actually learn stuff too. It is a relief with two extra little friends coming along that we won't have the expense of Pre-K and I won't have to deal with trying to do a Joy School type situation when I am crazy with fatigue.

Dancing and Knock Knock Jokes

2011-02-24T17:20:00.005-05:00

We had fun with the video camera today. Beckett is enamored of knock knock jokes and Ciaran is getting into them too. He kind of gets the formula of what you say, if not the actual content. But don't ask him knock knock, he has not mastered, "Who's there?"

Ciaran attempts a knock knock joke while simultaneously attempting to dive into the camera and watch himself telling the joke.

Beckett enthusiastically tells a joke. I'll spare you the video where he tells a joke with half masticated bagel in his mouth that falls out which he proceeds to pick up and eat.

And here are the boys dancing. Unfortunately I missed Ciaran's shakey leg dance at the height of its glory but he rocks it a little bit.

24 Weeks

2011-02-18T09:18:00.001-05:00

I had another ultrasound yesterday to check how the babies are growing. They are doing great. They are right on target and heads, bellies, legs and arms are all the sizes they should be. I got cleared to wait another 4 weeks for the next ultrasound. At that point I'll be 28 weeks along and that's generally when one twin starts to outstrip the other in size. Then I'll probably be going in every 2-3 weeks to monitor them. Baby A is 1lb 7 oz and Baby B is 1lb 5oz. I have as much baby in me now as I did when Ciaran was born! This is kind of a meaningless size difference and doesn't count as one baby getting larger than the other. Right now they're hanging out bunk bed style which explains why my right ribs have been taking a beating from top bunker Baby B. It also reveals why at 23 weeks I measured the size of someone 31 weeks pregnant. They are stretching up, up, up which happens to be the way they measure things instead of chilling next to each other and stretching around. Oh, and they are both still boys.

Baby A was a little shy and kept turning away from the camera so we only managed one picture of him.

Baby B was showing off and cutely taking little drinks of fluid opening and closing his mouth so he got a lot of picture time.

We tried to get a picture of them together but due to their positioning it's really just a picture of circles since we're looking at the tops of their heads.

Smile!

2011-02-15T21:33:00.005-05:00

Just to mess with you guys this time, here is Baby Boy B first and Baby Boy A 2nd. As you can see from the top right corner, these were actually taken on January 20th, which unbelievably is 4 weeks ago now. Dawnell was 20 weeks along at this appointment and BBB measured at 2o weeks 2 days, narrowly beating out BBA's 20 weeks, 1 day. Both babies looked normal and healthy. Since this appointment Dawnell had an appointment with her doctors and both heartbeats sounded great, so onwards and upwards.

We walked into the bedroom the other day to check on the boys to see that Boodle had practically disrobed himself. Always a hilarious phase.

Also a hilarious phase? The cool Mr. Potato Head Lips phase
Which just doesn't grow old!

And in what we consider to be some great news, Ciaran is finally starting to walk pretty regularly. Here he is wobbling after me. We've got another great video of Beckett singing, but it's 106 mb, so I've got to figure out how to edit a video by chopping part of it up.

And the answer is....

2011-01-23T15:07:00.006-05:00

Defying mathematical odds we somehow managed to get ourselves two more boys. As soon as they said, "Baby A is a boy." I knew that they were both going to be. I thought that A was a girl and B was a boy. That is precisely what Beckett thought even though I never told him my theory. He was very upset. When we told him he said, "No! I want to change. I want one boy and one girl." Every time we tell someone else he gets mad and tell us that he wants a boy AND a girl. Sorry dude. You and Daddy both are pretty broken up.

Now we get the fun question of are they identical or fraternal. Given their womb set up the doctor told us there's about a 25% chance that they're identical.

They are both growing well and measuring appropriately for their age of 20 weeks and 1 day as of the test day. They measured one day apart, one baby was a whopping 20 weeks and TWO days. However, at this point that is a pretty meaningless distinction since an unconscious muscle twitch while doing the ultrasound measurements will give you a days difference of growth. Evidently they stay about the same size until around 28 weeks and then generally one twin starts getting larger. (Unless you're some freaky symmetrical growth twins. You know who you are.) We are periodically seeing the perinatologist that followed Ciaran's growth since he knows the whole story. He was very pleased with the size and set up of the babies and all their test results and said he didn't need to see me again for a month. Great! I may start going every two weeks once we hit that 28 week mark, but the doctor is happy, as are we, with how everyone is growing and progressing.

What kind of babies will we get?

2011-01-20T08:09:00.002-05:00

We're going to find out soon (provided they cooperate), the genders of the twins. Please vote in our poll. I know my guess and Beckett has his, but I don't want to tell you lest we prejudice your vote.

Sledding

2011-01-01T17:53:00.006-05:00

It seems that thanks to the wonders of Facebook no one else will comment on our Black Friday post so we might as well move on. We had a big blizzard come through last Sunday which left us with many inches of snow. This year instead of attempting to slide down the hill at the end of our street on the lid to our outdoor storage box, we ponied up the $5.99 at Target for a saucer.

Best. $5.99. We. Ever. Spent.

(You know, as an amount unto itself. Not as like part of say paying to feed our children or paying for tuition or a medical bill or something.)

Both of our children turned out to be sledding freaks. I should have known Ciaran would love it since he is a slide fanatic and sledding is basically just a faster, longer, colder slide. So now the world can have proof that our poor parenting skills didn't end with feeding Beckett a pop rock. We also allowed our 18 month old to hurl down a "mountain" (made out of a molehill).

Here's a video of Beckett and Daddy sledding. You can hear Ciaran screaming in the background. That is because he was enraged whenever he had to stop sledding and let Beckett have a turn.

And here is Ciaran sledding. You can see, as he speeds by, the joy on his face.

And here the kids are playing in the snow a day or two after it fell. This picture reminds me of the kid from A Christmas Story.

You know, Ralphie's unimportant brother. Not that Ciaran is the unimportant brother, just that he was so bundled like that child that the snow angel was about all he could manage.

Evidently there is not much else as fun as kicking snow. Except perhaps sledding.

Black Friday Christmas Gifts

2010-12-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, granted, we haven't been the most active bloggers lately, but I was distressed to see that we haven't had a post reach double figure comments in a while. So let's see if we can change that.

Dawnell's favorite holiday isn't Christmas, or her birthday, or the Fourth of July. Rather, given her love of a good sale, sometimes it seems as though Dawnell's favorite holiday is the day after Thanksgiving, a.k.a. Black Friday. And so it was that we packed up Beckett and Ciaran to go out on Black Friday to see what kinds of deals we could find...

Check out the awesome "buy one get one free" deal we got!

Say hello to Baby A. We knew we were getting this one on Black Friday.

But we were unaware that they were having a sale. Buy Baby A, get Baby B for free!

And here they are gift wrapped together. Estimated date to unwrap these gifts? June 8, 2011.

2nd dude, 1st haircut

2010-12-19T21:11:00.004-05:00

Ciaran got his first haircut! After 18 months of crazy fine wombhair he finally is going to start growing some locks of love.

Here he is getting prepared... He doesn't quite know why he has been forced to wear a cape.

Baby mullet eradicated!

Oh no! Not the baby mullet!

Baby wombhair afro!

Beckett also got a haircut, and here's my awesome idea to take pictures of their cuteness right next to vertical blinds. Spectacular lighting results!

The Belated Pumpkins

2010-12-05T20:47:00.005-05:00

With Dawnell and the kids in Utah for a couple of weeks, I'm looking back at our cute pics for the past couple of months. And lucky for all of you I'll share.

Dawnell and the kids went pumpkin picking. This gives us the chance to organically place them around pumpkins once again for photo opportunities. Ah fall. Considering it is freezing today I already miss you.

Ciaran looking into the distance...

Okay, this picture is just ridiculous, but I put it here to point out that it's the best of the five from D's attempts to get one of Beckett and Ciaran sitting together. Beckett's scrunched-up "cheese" face and Ciaran looking away. The folks at Kiddie Kandids have tougher jobs than you'd think...

As usual, Beckett was accompanied by Anna. And I'll be darned if this isn't the cutest picture I've ever seen...

We went to the Hudson Valley "Blaze"

http://www.hudsonvalley.org/content/view/195/198/

As the website says, it is a jack o'lantern event with over 4,000 hand-carved illuminated pumpkins.

We all had an enjoyable time, but I think I enjoyed the Norwalk Aquarium's pumpkin event quite a bit more. A bit more whimsy, and the Hudson Valley event had us quite a ways away from most of the pumpkins. For us the events are about the same distance too, so we'll probably try the Norwalk one again before we try this one again. It was fun, but not as fun as the other one.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-14T09:30:00.006-05:00

Somehow we don't have any pictures of Ciaran from Halloween festivities. He was an adorable froggie in a costume that Dawnell hand made. Luckily for all of you Dawnell chronicles her projects and she had taken some adorable pics of Ciaran after she completed the froggie costume.

Beckett decided that he wanted to be a doctor for Halloween, through no prompting by us. My understanding is that one of his friends has a doctor play set, so Beckett probably thought he could get some cool toys if he dressed up like a doctor. Alas, we have connections who have real equipment (nurse grandparents) so he got the real thing.

Here's Beckett the pediatrician checking out his Ciaran patient. Notice the look on Ciaran's face. I think he'd much rather see a real expert.

Last year Beckett and his best friend Anna dressed up Hansel and Gretel. You can go check out our blog entries for late October and early November of last year for that cuteness. This year Anna was Little Bo Peep, so no costume coordination. Still super cute together. And I think Anna thought Beckett was still her sheep.

Lots of potential posts in the cue, with adorable pumpkin-picking adventures, to our trip to the carved pumpkin festival, to Dawnell's knitting adventure...

Orchard

2010-10-22T21:24:00.004-04:00

Beckett and Ciaran went apple picking with their friends. They also ended up sitting in a pumpkin patch. Looks like it was a lot of fun. Here are some pics:

Beckett and a halfway hidden Ciaran with the usual crew, Anna, Hannah, and Sydney

Here's a couple of Beckett Appleseed

Beckster and Ciaran sitting in the pumpkin patch:

Very cute. Maybe I'll try photoshopping in some open eyes.

Car Boodle

2010-09-29T20:09:00.004-04:00

Ciaran is enjoying life these days. These pictures of him on his little push car ended up really cute. These are all pretty similar, but different. I can't quite decide which is my favorite. Probably the 3rd one. And I liked the video down at the bottom also.

First Day of Preschool!

2010-09-14T18:01:00.005-04:00

For the past two weeks Beckett has been hounding me about going to preschool. "Are we going to preschool today?" "I want to go to preschool right NOW!" Today was finally the day. We got an email yesterday from his teacher telling us he should wear his favorite color. He choose blue and decided he needed to wear his filthy Jazz shirt that he was wearing at that very moment. Thanks to a washing machine we managed to make that happen after a last minute batch thrown in last night.

We carpooled with Anna so the day started out even better.

These are genuine excited faces. No coaching for pretty first day of school pictures for us. Err, the coaching failed.

Today we learned about colors and started the day by playing with pristine playdoh. (Side note, do you know that if you don't spell playdoh correctly, as there, spell checker gives you both playboy and Playboy as an alternative. Really? I mean I know it's corrected proper/brand names for me before and it can obviously give me a proper name as an alternative. I guess in the field of brand recognition children's toys have nothing on naked ladies.) It soon succumbed to three year old color experimentation, but it was a rare treat for a few moments.

Lots of other exciting things happened, but I don't think you all really need a rundown on the reading tent, play time and decorating bags. Suffice it to say we have a great teacher and Beckett is thrilled to be going to preschool.

Just Cute Kids

2010-09-07T09:25:00.001-04:00

I'm Back!

2010-08-20T11:48:00.008-04:00

Oops. This was supposed to go on my knitting blog but I obviously selected the wrong one on the blogger sign in page. Oh well.

After a long and lovely trip to Utah to visit the fam I am back in New York and attempting to get life back together. While I was in Utah I did lots of knitting and almost completely finished a project from Wacky Baby Knits. I now need to find 17 buttons to finish it off. Surprisingly, that is taking a long time. It would probably help if I took the outfit with me when I was looking for buttons.

One good reason to be back is that I was in time to catch the going out of business sale of the local yarn/quilt store. I managed to score this haul for $18! Those two sets of dpn's would cost more than that.

While in Utah I also ran into Joann's clearance for the yarns that were being discontinued. Thank goodness my husband packed light and brought a big suitcase. I just barely managed to get it all home.

Utah!

2010-08-17T23:11:00.005-04:00

It seems as though all of our vacations are trips to visit the family back in Utah. Not sure how many of these we'll be able to afford once we need to buy 4 plane tickets, but for now it's a fun trip every year or so. And even though Dawnell was back there for a month, we still didn't end up with any pictures from the Utah Shakespearean Festival, or our one night in Vegas without the kids, or of our visit to Carson, Beckett's best friend in utero.

This is Cedar Breaks National Monument. Here is Dawnell and Ciaran. They are cute in front of gorgeous and scary scenery.

Beckett at "Point Supreme." What a stud.

Gorgeous

Beckett went to the zoo. Here he is sitting on top of a vanquished Cougar, because that is what all Utes do these days, lord over the top of their vanquished Cougar foes. Good times.

Beckett also enjoyed fishing. Don't worry, we'll work on curing him of this defect.

Here's Beckster in front of something at the zoo.

While we were in Utah we had family photos with all of Dawnell's family. Dawnell has 5 older sisters who combined have a total of 19 kids (our two are numbers 17 and 19 on the list). We had professional photographs taken since all of the sisters were in town and all of the cousins (except for the cousin who lives out of state and is already married) were also there. We decided to dress with our part of the larger family in a theme. Here are me and my two boys in our Jazz jerseys. Dawnell, who took this picture, did not wear a Jazz jersey, but her green shirt matched mine nicely. And now all of our jerseys are retro jerseys since the Jazz introduced new uniforms yesterday. We're hipster cool like that.

We tried to have happy family love time by going to visit Temple Square. After three minutes of Beckett screaming bloody murder we changed plans and visited the closer Jordan River Temple. We took some family pictures there, but trust me when I say none of them turned out that great.

Here's the best of the bunch, just Beckett.

Home Trigonomics

2010-08-07T21:02:00.004-04:00

(Click to enlarge)

Goodbye Jolly

2010-07-07T14:14:00.003-04:00

Today was a very, very sad day. Ciaran has been in physical therapy since he came home from the hospital. Westchester County has an exceptional early intervention program and as a preemie Ciaran got on the fast track for services. Out of an amazing program we managed to get the most premier, excellent, wonderful physical therapist of the whole bunch.

Her name is Anjali, but Beckett always called her Jolly. It was very fitting. She was always so encouraging and happy and helpful. She knew just how hard to push Ciaran to make him work, but not make him break down. She always brought an extra toy for Beckett to play with during therapy so he didn't feel left out. He will miss those bowling animals. She did a great job explaining to me what I needed to be doing at home to help Ciaran achieve his physical goals. She was the first person I called when he finally rolled from his back to his tummy. (Sorry Chris.) Unfortunately for our family she is moving far away and today was our last session together. I am beside myself. We will miss her so much.

Beckett actually took this picture for us. It's a little blurry, but not bad.

Highland Games

2010-07-03T19:25:00.016-04:00

Today we went to the Highland Games in Norwalk, CT. This is the 87th year it has been in existence. It's the third oldest games in the US. It was as fun as anything with two small children can be.

We made our way through all the clan tents learning about them and getting stamps in our passports. We learned their war cries and made up our own. Mommy's war cry is, "Those are my rules!" Daddy's war cry is "Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolaso, aso aso!" Beckett's war cry varies greatly. The latest incarnation was, "I see a red rose!" (Which if you're going to go all Lancastrian or something is a pretty good war cry. Or I guess it would be more York since they wanted to kill the red roses....I digress.) Personally I liked, "I like to play Smash Brothers!"

One clan tent with a very good reference book and nice chart did manage to find our poor little, defunct Somerville Clan. Our beast is a dragon shooting fire out of BOTH ends. Well done Lord Somerville for slaying that "worm".

(Another not so helpful clan guy told me it didn't matter if we were StUArts or StEWarts they were all the same. I'm not so sure my ancestors would agree.)

Chris inadvertently wore Clan Macpherson shorts. We're not so sure which clan Beckett inadvertently wore.

We watched some dancing...a fling or a reel or something. It kind of involved swords so that was neat.

We also spent a good amount of time watching a couple of the "heavy" events. I will steal from Wikipedia and explain. (Our hot, crying children forced us to leave before the caber toss. Sad.)

Scottish hammer throw: This event is similar to the hammer throw as seen in modern-day track and field competitions, though with some differences. In the Scottish event, a round metal ball (weighing 16 or 22 lb for men or 12 or 16 lb for women) is attached to the end of a shaft about 4 feet in length and made out of wood, bamboo, rattan, or plastic. With the feet in a fixed position, the hammer is whirled about one's head and thrown for distance over the shoulder. Hammer throwers sometimes employ specially designed footwear with flat blades to dig into the turf to maintain their balance and resist the centrifugal forces of the implement as it is whirled about the head. This substantially increases the distance attainable in the throw.

We almost get an up kilt shot.

Chris got this great video of a hammer toss in action.

Weight over the bar, also known as weight for height. The athletes attempt to toss a 56 pound (4 stone) weight with an attached handle over a horizontal bar using only one hand. Each athlete is allowed three attempts at each height. Successful clearance of the height allows the athlete to advance into the next round at a greater height. The competition is determined by the highest successful toss with fewest misses being used to break tie scores.

The sound of pipe bands and their piping competition filled the background constantly, but I don't think we got any videos of it. We ate scotch eggs and shrimp and chips (for some reason I wanted shrimp not fish). I didn't go for the Irn Bru because it was $3 for a little bottle and that made my penny pinching Scots blood boil. Beckett golfed and won 2 prizes and cheated at the ring toss, but they still let him have 3 prizes for that and fishing. He is in love with his dragon necklace and I think is going to fight to wear it to church tomorrow.

And here are some random "flavor" shots.

Beckett Pulls Ciaran in a Wagon

2010-06-30T11:12:00.003-04:00

The one year check up

2010-06-22T14:53:00.002-04:00

As you can see Ciaran is 18 lb 5oz. Unfortunately this is still not on the charts but it is really close.

If you peek at the bottom right of the picture you can see he's also 27.5 inches tall. This is also not on the charts but it's like right below the line. So close to touching.

His head is 18 inches in circumference which is on the charts. It's the 25%. Ah, my big head kids.

He's still growing well and following his own growth curve. Hopefully by his 15 month appointment all of him will be on the charts.

Ciaran is ONE!

2010-06-09T21:02:00.012-04:00

Our tiny little Ciaran is a giant, grande one year old. I can't wait for his one year appointment on June 18. I don't know how big he is, but it's a whole lot bigger than this:

Quite a contrast to this active little guy
(Okay this is Beckett's crown, but poor Ciaran is really getting the raw end of the second child stick with about zero birthday preparations on our part, so I put the crown on him for festive purposes.)

And Chris and I continue to prove that we are inhuman monsters and the worst parents alive as we allow our second child to have demon sugar.

(And that monkey on my back was delicious. Red velvet cake from Juniors.)

In developmentally appropriate fashion Ciaran attempts to eat his presents open. Thank you Grandma.

Mommy and Ciaran.

Daddy and Ciaran.

Singing Happy Birthday, which thanks to Beckett we did about 7 times.

And yes, Beckett is running around in only underwear. Potty training is tough.

And finally, we attempt to get Ciaran to say "Da, da" which he normally does rather well, but we can't stop him making satisfied, "Mmm, cake" noises.

You must read

2010-06-08T15:11:00.004-04:00

My brother-in-law wrote a very beautiful piece on his blog today. I can't explain how wonderful and faith and life affirming it is. He and my sister have had many struggles due to his vision problems but they always soldier on. He had a little miracle and it was wonderful. Please go to his blog and read in his own words. I'm so proud of him and my sister. We're very lucky to have them in our family.

Beckett By a Creek

2010-05-23T22:46:00.004-04:00

We went to our friends' house this afternoon for a bbq. They have a really nice backyard that has a small creek running past. Beckett loved to throw rocks into the water. Later, there was a duck couple that came up from the water and we were able to feed them some crackers. I took a couple of pictures of Beckett in this idyllic setting that turned out pretty nice, even though it was just with my cracked iPhone's camera. I guess we can thank Beckett for that, since he's looking pretty awesome in his church shirts, which he refused to take off after church.

How is this news?

2010-05-23T22:29:00.002-04:00

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/05/23/baby-beckett-tastes-pop-rocks/

Somehow our 2 year old video of Beckett eating poprocks has gone viral. It has over 131,000 views. Several major websites have randomly featured it and we've had requests from others like Cheezburger to feature it still more. Youtube told us we could monetize it somehow and G4 TV's Web Soup Show asked us if they could feature it. We said no. Well, actually we said nothing, which when you need a release, is a no. For the most part people are positive, but there are people who think we should have our children taken away from us for the horrible child abuse we perpetrated on defenseless Beckett. And evidently my off the cuff, "In the name of experimental parenting" has had way too much read into it. So we have removed all our videos from Youtube, except the poprocks video because quite frankly we are now a little interested to see how many hits it will get before it inevitably goes back into the faceless anonymity of cyberspace where we meant for it to stay. This means that if you look at old videos on our blog that are Youtube videos they will no longer be there. We are one step away from a private blog...

Beckett on a bike

2010-05-19T19:21:00.003-04:00

It's warm enough now that we can finally get some good use out of the bike Beckett got for Christmas.

He loves his bike. You can tell from his crazy love eyes.

As long as someone is pushing him that is.

He's not a fan of that whole pedaling thing.

About 4 minutes into our idyllic, Norman Rockwell, teach your child to ride a bike, wholesome family evening he said, "How about we play basketball."

New Blog Launch

2010-05-12T23:05:00.002-04:00

Instead of taking up precious child adoration space with my worthless achievements ;-) I've decided to start a new blog. I am working my way through my knitting library. If you're interested check out the new

knitmylibrary.blogspot.com

One more sweater

2010-05-03T15:28:00.007-04:00

This one actually fits Ciaran.

Too bad it's 90 degrees and 90% humidity. Hopefully it still fits in a year. I'd give it away but I'm not pleased with how the sleeves turned out. (I turned it out that way weird, they do both point the same direction. It's another issue that is noticeable to me in person.)

I do love those cute buttons though.

Ode to me

2010-04-27T10:55:00.003-04:00

I have been in a knitting fervor recently and I'm proud of my efforts. I made this jacket for Ciaran. Unfortunately I didn't really check the yarn I was using against the yarn recommended in the pattern. This means I actually just made Beckett a jacket.

I love the bear claw buttons.

Also I belong to a website called Ravelry. It's pretty big in the crafting world. It has over a hundred thousand patterns on it. You can post your work and link it to patterns from books, etc that they have in their database. Well I got a new book and noticed that the book wasn't in their database. The book was a 2010 publication so I guess people hadn't gotten around to making any of the patterns yet. So I hurried and made one of the patterns super fast and submitted it to Ravelry. Now they have that book linked because of me and they asked to use the picture of my item for the page on their site. So anytime someone looks up that pattern my creation will pop up. So cool! I know it may not sound that cool, but I was really proud of myself. Thank you Cheepy Chick.

Captain Danger Pants

2010-04-16T23:27:00.003-04:00

I called Beckett Captain Danger Pants one day when he was jumping on my bed and attempting to fall off and break his leg. Evidently he loved the name because he's referenced it to me several times since, although when he says it it sounds like Captain Ginger Pants. Luckily a good friend of mine gave us a super hero book and we could outfit the Captain appropriately.

Watch out for that hynotic gaze, evil doers.

Swoop action.

After he swooped about for a while he told me that he needed a cave. What super hero doesn't need a lair to hide in? So we set one up.

And FYI, in our crime fighting family Ciaran is Captain Space or Captain Space Baby. I am Ladybug Superhero or Captain Green ("Like me mom!" because his mask is green.) And Daddy is....Dad! Very creative.

Easter

2010-04-14T14:22:00.002-04:00

We celebrated Easter by stealing ideas from other people. I decided to do our Easter baskets on Saturday like my sister does. That way Sunday is about Jesus and Saturday is about all the secular holiday stuff. Then I stole the idea of hiding the baskets from my friend. (Although I think she may hide her kids presents from Santa.) At any rate I did a little hunt for Beckett to find his basket and he loved it.

Ciaran enjoyed watching the hunt.

And here is the loot!

Yummy candy that Beckett insisted on licking instead of biting.

Mmmm, new vibrating rattle for the teething baby.

The festivities continued after the baskets were located. The Michael's store in our area was offering a free activity where you could decorate a basket. We went up there and Beckett made his own basket which is handily a bucket and shovel so we can get beach use out of it as well.

This is the pose he gave me when I asked him to smile.

Then at the conference break we got to go to Anna's house for an Easter egg hunt. Each child had their own color and it really stopped the chaos. Beckett and his friends were very good about sticking to their assigned color and leaving the other eggs alone. Beckett was yellow.

Ciaran likes watermelon so he finally got an Easter treat.

It was a wonderful Easter holiday.

Popsicles

2010-04-07T17:22:00.004-04:00

After a long hot afternoon at the park Beckett and I decided it was time for a popsicle break at home. Ciaran decided he want to have a try as well and Beckett very kindly shared.

He liked it as you can see from the red chin of stolen mommy popsicle bites.

Be not afraid, Ciaran is not crying because Beckett was shoving the popsicle down his throat or because he hated it. He was crying because we weren't feeding him bites fast enough.

He finally calmed down when I bit off little pieces and put them in his mouth.

Then Beckett said, "Brother is dirty." and ran to his room to get a wipe. He rather adorably wiped off Ciaran's popsicle face.

They're such little loves.

March truly has gone mad

2010-04-05T23:42:00.002-04:00

I won the March Madness tournament at Chris' office. Ya, that's right, this is me, Dawnell, typing. My hastily thrown together, non researched, random guess, not even based on mascots or uniforms, etc bracket won the pool. That means I just won $125. SWEET!!!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. This is my winning bracket. It's pretty hard to see, but you can read Duke at the top. 'nuff said.

In further craziness Beckett won the bracket that my brother-in-law ran. He gave a bonus for upsets in the first round and Beckett picked some crazy upsets. And he truly did pick them. I just read him the names of the schools in the game and he picked the winner. Hence San Go Diego Go and his love of B for Beckett Baylor and Butler. Those first round points made him impossible to catch. Who knew that B for Beckett Butler would end up playing for the national championship? To be fair Beckett did have them losing in the final four to San Go Diego Go, but still, some impressive work. I came in second in that tournament.

************I must update. It turns out that with Duke winning I actually managed to beat Beckett at the other bracket. I won it as well and Beckett took second. Still an amazing run for both of us. It does not dimish the craziness for this tournament.**************

What do The Moons drink?

2010-04-05T09:51:00.002-04:00

Beckett received this new Thomas oil car in his Easter basket.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture but it has liquid inside that sloshes around so it looks like a real oil car.

He was playing in the corner last night and Chris and I noticed what he was saying in the midst of all his kid chatter, "It's Diet Coke. I'm the Diet Coke guy." We were confused until we realized that he was playing with the oil car. I guess in his Thomas world it's the Diet Coke car. Who wants to drink oil? Of course, who wants to drink Diet Coke? We are a Coke Zero family. Oh well, it's hilarious nonetheless.

Like Father, Like Son

2010-04-03T20:29:00.003-04:00

This was not posed. I was in the kitchen cooking and walked into the living room to see the below vignette. Luckily the camera was out because we were documenting our morning of Easter festivities. I think this candid shot may be better than all the Easter pictures combined.

Easter Egg Dyeing

2010-03-31T13:45:00.008-04:00

In anticipation of Easter and our big Easter egg hunt on Saturday we dyed eggs today. Why I thought it was a good idea to give a not even 3 year old colors the entire point of which are permanence is beyond me. He's not even allowed markers and here I go giving him sloshy bins full of dye. Oh well, we had a good time.

Here he is nicely holding his egg on the holder.

Here is what generally happened. Fingers in the mix.

And here are the colored hands to prove it.

I'm not entirely sure why he's pretending to eat this egg.

He can't wait for Saturday and keeps talking about finding eggs. We dyed over a dozen and filled 3 dozen with candy today. Combine that with our friends and this hunt should be one major haul.

Ciaran is also anticipating Easter. He grew two teeth in the hope that he'd be able to eat some candy.

Maple Fest 2k10

2010-03-28T22:04:00.008-04:00

Last year Beckett and Anna took their mothers to a Maple Festival somewhere in the area. I'm not exactly sure where they went, because I was enlisted in teaching the Communications Merit Badge at a seminar. Lucky for me, this year's Maple Festival trip was scheduled for the week after my annual teaching sojourn.

But first, here's Ciaran looking super cute.

And back to the festival. This tiny little festival was like 80 miles away from our town, which ended up being about 40 miles further than it was worth. Fun, but, yea, a bit too far. Good maple syrup and good pancakes though.

Here's me and Beckett. I got a haircut last week. Beckett still needs one. Not to complain, but it was like freezing outside 3 days after it was 60 degrees. Bad timing Mother Nature! Weekends are supposed to be nice weather, not weekdays.

There was a horse cart that was giving rides around the fairgrounds of Dutchess County. Somehow we didn't get any pictures of the horses, but here's Beckett hanging off the back.

Prior to the cart ride we had crafts with the local girl scout troop. Beckett (i.e. Dawnell) made a soccer bracelet. Here Beckett and Anna are coloring and gluing on maple leafs.

This is a working sugar house where they make maple syrup. We got a nice tour. As you can see, Beckett was particularly intrigued by the rocks on the outside of the sugar house.

And through it all Ciaran stayed cute. Mommy too.

Candyland or "Daddy suckin' the yellow one"

2010-03-23T14:00:00.000-04:00

Beckett has a little trouble clearly articulating Daddy's Candyland predicament.

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-19T19:45:00.008-04:00

Or in honor of my brother-in-law St. Daddy's Day. Did we already miss St. Maren's day?

Beckett's best buddy invited him to decorate cookies for St. Patrick's Day. Chris tried to make a case for it being weird that non Irish people celebrate this holiday. I in turn pointed out that when you name a child CIARAN you can probably wear a green shirt and eat cookies with shamrock sprinkles without looking like too much of a poser.

This picture is so deceptive. It looks like he was trying to place the decorations on with such precision and care. Really it happened more like: Eat an m&m, grab a handful of sprinkles and eat them, lick the sprinkles out of the cracks between your fingers, shove your finger in frosting and lick it off, grab more sprinkles, lick your whole hand because it's wet from the prior snacking and all the sprinkles are sticking, cry for your hands to be washed, get them washed and dried, rinse, repeat.

The sticky paw ever ready to grab more sprinkles.

And the finished, completely kid decorated cookies.

Enjoying the fruits of your labors i.e. licking the sprinkles glued together with frosting off the top of the cookie. Yum!

Beckett was so involved he even sprinkled his hair. He was sporting a shamrock for a while but evidently it fell out between me grabbing the camera and snapping the pick of the sprinkle curls.

I realize portions of this video will look coached, because they are. I swear Beckett had been declaring vociferously on his own, "Sprinkles are my favorite!" And when I randomly said at one point just to mess with him, "Sprinkles are my favorite." He said, "Oh mommy, they're my favorite too." Then of course he wouldn't talk with the camera on.

I've been working on the railroad...

2010-02-23T22:00:00.010-05:00

...because if your child builds a railroad to nowhere, but desperately wants that hanging ledge of track teetering on the edge of the train table to reach the ground, you have to help him.

That first bridge is a doozy.

Thomas and Co make it safely to the ground.

And go back for more.

Meanwhile, as I'm busy with feats of engineering, Ciaran is discovering that hitting his fish is absolutely hilarious.

He also loves to be a big boy sitting up in a big kid high chair.

Olympic Fever

2010-02-23T21:42:00.008-05:00

Beckett has become obsessed with curling. At first he called it hockey. Now he calls it hopscotch. In any case if he sees it on he desperately wants to watch it. "We USA, 'merica. We're red." It gets a little confusing if we're throwing yellow rocks in that round or if we've changed to blue shirts, but as long as we stick with cheering for America we do alright. As we watched the other day we decided to try some curling on our own. Beckett started throwing my slippers down the living room and then grabbed his little mop. Living room curling was born.

Skip Beckett ready for the throw with draw weight and smooth release and other curling jargon.

We rotate and it's Mommy's turn to throw.

Sweep, Beckett, sweep!!!!

Ciaran is practicing to join the Olympic jumping team.

A blue so blue

2010-02-19T21:21:00.006-05:00

Beckett has a story book titled, "A Blue So Blue." A little boy dreams of a beautiful blue color and spends his time trying to find that perfect blue in the real world. He goes to a museum, he goes to the ocean, he goes to the desert to see Bedouin indigo head wraps, he listens to the blues and dips his brush in the blue notes, but it's never right. Then he goes home and realizes that it's his mother's beautiful blue eyes. Or in our house I guess he'd have to look at his dad or in the mirror. In any case I think the little boy was way off the mark because I can't think of any blue more perfect than this...

Unless maybe it's two of these little boxes staring at you like the most perfect set of eyes ever.

All I can say is, he didn't go to Jared!

A Decade

2010-02-17T08:29:00.000-05:00

Who are these young kids? Why, it's Chris and Dawnell on February 17, 2000. I sure hope they know what they are getting into. (Spoiler alert: I didn't, but lucky for me it has turned out even better than I could have expected).

And a decade later, after journeys together halfway around the world and all the way across the country, we've doubled our fun. Here's our family, version 2k10.

(by the way, this was going to be our Christmas card picture this year, but we never quite got around to getting those done. Still, thought we should eventually share this awesome picture).

And so, on our 10th Anniversary, I celebrate my love for a wonderful wife, mother and friend with two eloquent quotes, one from a 20th century British novelist, and the other from the greatest movie of the 20th century.

The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one’s relationship has a growing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life.

Hugh Walpole, Sr.

Happy anniversary, happy anniversary, happy anniversary, happy anniversary! Happy happy happy happy happy anniversary! Happy happy happy happy happy aniversary. Happy happy happy happy happy an....SHUT IT!

How true! Our love is the most wonderful of all things, and, eh, it could have been worse. So won't you join me in wishing Dawnell a happy, happy, happy, happy, happy anniversary!

Happy Tenth Anniversary, Love.

2010-02-17T00:01:00.019-05:00

From Your, For the Next 7 Months, Hot Younger Wife

Nothing says, "I love you uniquely," like stealing another's ideas to express your own feelings. However, I see from the post below that I am in good company. And since I was delighted by the stolen sentiments I received I can only hope that you, Chris will feel the same.

SONETO XVII

No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio
o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego:
te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras,
secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma.

Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva
dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores,
y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo
el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra.

Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,

sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.

Pablo Neruda, 1959

...so I love you because I know no other way

*****Editor's note, Chris was sad that his awesome post with video got bumped by my sedate non English post because he was sneaky and set his to post immediately at 12:01am. So I moved him up to the top. A picture is worth a thousand words after all.*****

The new symbol of Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T19:22:00.005-05:00

Beckett came down with an awful stomach bug a few days ago and it's been decimating our family ever since. Ciaran woke up throwing up and I was down for the count all day as well. Chris also feels yucky but somehow managed to be the healthiest person over age 2 in the house. Of course today Beckett feels great and wants to play all day. Chris gave me the best Valentine's Day present ever which was a day filled with sleep and limited movement so I didn't puke. He was a trooper with the kids, especially since our day started pretty early with the upchucking Boodle. In the immortal words of the ecard Chris sent me:

"You make me feel like a pudgy, naked, winged child has shot an arrow into my chest cavity.

Hopefully that arrow contains anti-viral medication for all of us."

Louis' Lunch

2010-02-13T09:08:00.004-05:00

The Travel Channel had what they called a "Chowdown Countdown" the past few weeks in which they counted down the 100 best places in the country to "chow down." Now, granted, any list that doesn't include Salt Lake's Red Iguana is flawed, but we were intrigued when the #1 place in the entire country was in New Haven, CT - a short 60 mile trip up I-95 from us.

And so it was that we packed up on a Saturday in February to visit Louis' Lunch, allegedly the best place to chowdown in the country.

The reason that Louis takes the top spot is that they are, according to lore, the place that invented the hamburger. I have a hard time believing that nobody else had ever thought of placing meatloaf inside Earl of Sandwich's invention, but whatever.

Louis cooks their hamburgers in a broiler standing up. This is how they have done it since 1895, when they invented the hamburger. And they still do it the same way, with a hamburger patty placed between two pieces of white bread and your choice of limited toppings, including tomato, onion, and cheese.

Here's a picture of the broiler:

Here's Dawnell, the Dude, and the Boodle all waiting for their hamburgers. Louis is small. Very small. I realize it's the same building since the early 1900's, but still, a bit too small.

And here they are in front of the place...

Afterwards we stopped off at the New Haven Ikea and almost convinced ourselves to purchase a kid's bedroom storage system. I also feel in love with the Hopen bedroom collection

Beckett was exhausted after his long day and feel asleep on his soccer ball.

So, was it the best place to Chowdown? No, obviously not. The burgers were barely average, but it certainly felt like we were partaking of Americana. If you are truly looking for the "best" hamburger I've ever had, might I suggest Crown Burger or The Shake Shack.

Beckett loves to help brother

2010-02-02T20:41:00.005-05:00

The other day I left the room for a moment and came back to find Beckett helping his brother. I had been concerned that Ciaran was a little constipated so I had tried giving him a bottle of water the night before. I had left it on the bedside table that morning and didn't think any more about it until I saw this:

"Beckett," I say, "What are you doing?" "I feedin' brother," he replies.

Ah, that makes perfect sense.

He got distracted since I was in there asking questions and the bottle slipped. Ciaran wanted big brother to get on the ball.

So close...it's almost in my mouth!
Beckett pays attention and we have success.

Messy and Cute, Clean and Cute

2010-01-23T08:07:00.004-05:00

My (Chris) birthday was last week. We had a fun time but didn't take a lot of pictures of the actual birthday. Dawnell took me out to eat at a restaurant here in Mamaroneck which just opened up a couple of months ago. The name of the restaurant is Roasted Peppers.

We started with the table side guacamole. Dawnell appreciated that the texture of the fried plantains that were provided in addition to tortilla chips. The restaurant also provided a "pre-appetizer" of grilled bread with a roasted pepper hummus and a pepper infused olive oil. Much as I dislike hominy, I should probably mention that Dawnell dislikes peppers. But she ate up the hummus and loved the bread. For our main dishes I had a skirt steak with a side of black beans and rice and a side of avocado and tomatoes. The dish was delicious and well=seasoned. Dawnell got the lobster mac and cheese with shitake mushrooms. She was in heaven.

Overall, Roasted Peppers was a good choice. It's reasonably priced and high quality American cuisine with some Mexican flavor influences. We'd probably go there again, if only so that I could try the jalepeno brownie with coconut ice cream.

Ciaran got a cute new outfit and was smiling up a storm. He's like a picture voodoo genius though, because he always stops smiling when I take the picture. Maybe he gets hypnotized by the pre-flash on the camera. In any event, still really cute.

Beckett enjoyed my birthday cake quite a bit, which was the aptly named Chocobomb. It appears that a chocobomb blew up on Beckett's face.

Hominy, Kale, and Chorizo Soup

2010-01-23T08:01:00.002-05:00

Dawnell went on a spending binge at the local grocery stores the past couple weeks, which should end up saving us money in the long run. She likes to claim that she is only a passable cook, but I'd put her up against Julie and/or Julia any day of the week.

This soup she made is so good that I took pictures of it. It is a Hominy, Kale, and Chorizo Soup. There is also some chicken, onion, and other yummy flavors. The spiciness of the chorizo really infused into the broth perfectly. I'm not even a fan of kale or hominy in general, but the textures of both were a perfect compliment to the proteins in this dish. A wonderfully hearty January meal.

Lots of Catching Up to Do

2010-01-14T23:54:00.008-05:00

We've been out of commission since right after Christmas. We've had big computer problems and we still don't quite know what's wrong with the old one but we decided that as our last computer purchase was made about 85 years ago in computer years we should just go ahead and get a new one. Here is a quick run down of what's been going on.

Beckett has become an apiarist.

Ciaran made his first trip into the city for Chris' New Year's kids work party.

Ciaran has started solid foods.

And he likes them. Too bad he can only have cereal--his pediatrician doesn't want him to fill up on all those empty fruit and vegetable calories. He still needs to have lots of calories and fat to catch up so he gets yummy fortified cereals, but I still sneak him in some tastes of other things with the cereal.

Beckett finally got to make a real snowman--you know, the kind you make by actually rolling the snow and that is spherical instead of just a sad, piled up heap.

It worked so well we managed to make our whole family. Can you guess who's who?

We decimated our lawn's snow, but it was well worth it.

Beckett loves his snow Daddy. (Okay that picture was totally posed.)

Moon Top 10 Albums of the Decade

2009-12-31T09:06:00.001-05:00

The best thing I ever did for my music listening this decade was to start the decade off on the right foot by marrying Dawnell. Adding her CD collection to my home broadened my horizons and introduced me to some spectacular music. Knowing that I had been unaware of such great music led me to increasingly seek out more. Before I begin this list, there are two caveats: 1) I'm a busy guy, there is a ridiculous amount of music that I haven't listened to; and 2) Some of the stuff that I just realized ruled this decade doesn't make the list because it was released earlier, so even though I've fallen in love with The Stone Roses' eponymous debut album, it isn't making this list because it was released in 1989.

And so, with apologies to Fountains of Wayne, Vampire Weekend, Eminem, Kanye West, The Strokes, Mana, Cerys Matthews, Julieta Venegas, the Police, and Natalia y La Forquetina, here are my Top 10 Albums of the Decade (I'd apologize to a couple other people as well, but they already have a spot in the top 10...)

10. Equally Cursed and Blessed by Catatonia

The music I listen to skews across the pond and across the border. The Spanish language albums make sense, as I learned the language while serving a mission in Argentina. The love of all things British I blame on Dawnell, who spent a year as a foreign exchange student in Wales, bringing back a nose ring and tons of great CDs.

International Velvet is my favorite Catatonia album by quite a bit, but this is still a great pop rock album, with the crashing abruptness of Londoninium giving way to the soaring heights ofValerian. Great stuff.

9.Home by the Dixie Chicks

I promise I won't compare every album on this list with an album by the same artist, but sometimes the Grammys are just stupid. You shouldn't give album of the year to a band just because they say they don't like George W. Bush. Oh, and you should never nominate Lady Gaga or the Black Eyed Peas for anything. Anyway, the Dixie Chicks' 2002 country album was great. If only they had chosen to rip on W in 2006 maybe they wouldn't have needed to try out the pop stuff. Well, given their core audience maybe not.

8. Un Dia Normal by Juanes

It was a coin flip for my favorite Latin album of the decade, and maybe Juanes is #8 because I thought it was weird that I would have had 3 female acts then 7 male acts. Iif you had asked me at the start of the decade if I would have had any Latin acts in my top 10 at the end of the decade I would have answered in the affirmative. However, I'm sure I would have been anticipating new stuff by the artist formerly known to me as Shakira or upcoming albums by Mana, whose stuff this decade was great, but not as good as this spectacular album full of hits by the Colombian superstar Juanes.

7. Gozo Poderoso by Aterciopelados

And Juanes was not as good as Aterciopelados. Thank you Colombia, for providing me with two of my top 10 albums of the decade as well as memories of the good Shakira.

Here is what Amazon has to say about this album:

There's an alternately ethereal and electric power pulsing through Gozo Poderoso, the stellar fifth album from Colombian duo Aterciopelados. Maybe that's because the team of vocalist-guitarist Andrea Echeverri and bassist Hector Buitrago have rooted their sound in traditional rhythms while deftly dipping it in some of today's most exciting genres. Each track on the album flows effortlessly into the next, but there's nary a hint of repetition. It's all tied together by intricate production and a spiritual intelligence that flows through many of the song lyrics. "Luz Azul," "Esmeralda," and "El Album" (the first single) are stand-outs, anchored by Echeverri's slyly seductive vocals. Cumbia, salsa, and vallenato intermingle with alt-rock riffs, electronica flourishes, and bossa nova rhythms. It's an intoxicating mix that's impossible to classify--and resist. --Joey Guerra

6. Hot Fuss by the Killers

What can I say...I got soul, but I'm not a soldier.

5. High Fidelity Soundtrack by Various Artists

Is it fair to include a soundtrack in the best albums of the decade? Probably, as a lot of the lists I've seen have included the soundtracks to Juno or O, Brother, Where Art Thou? What if most of the songs were recorded decades ago? I say yes. One of my favorite movies of the decade, about a man who owns a record store and loves to make Top 5 lists, provided me with an introduction to The Velvet Underground and Stevie Wonder that doesn't suck.

The only thing this album is missing is the haunting cover of Baby I Love Your Way by Cosby kid Lisa Bonet, which is in a perpetual battle with Alive by Joey Lauren Adams (from Chasing Amy) for "best song from a good movie sung by an actress that you had no idea could sing so awesome."

4. Silent Alarm by Bloc Party

This rocks. Then it doesn't. Then it mid-level rocks. But it is always challenging.

3. Gold by Ryan Adams

True story: in 2000/2001 I attended an Alanis Morrissette concert and Ryan Adams was the opening act. Even in Salt Lake there must have been hundreds of folks who were there just to see Ryan and who were trying to spread the word, handing out fliers about this album. And the entire time I made (admittedly humorous) jokes about how I wanted him to sing Summer of 69 or Everything I Do I Do It For You.

A couple of years later I realized I was a musical idiot when I rediscovered this album, and I've kept coming back all decade.

2. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco

Paste Magazine has a Top 50 Albums of the Decade that is great. Here's the link to their Top 10 And here's what they say about their #2 album of the decade, which is also my #2. Click the link for the full review...

"By now, the story of this album has become rock ’n’ roll lore like Brian Wilson’s sandbox and “Paul is dead.” In brief: Once upon a time, the acclaimed Chicago rock band Wilco delivered an album called Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to Reprise, its longtime label, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Terrified by the album’s squalling feedback and abstract songcraft, Reprise executives ran screaming from the room. Ultimately, they decided to let the band go. Soon after, Wilco streamed the record for free online. The album was met with raves from both fans and critics, and was eventually picked up by Nonesuch, an artier subsidiary of the same parent company. “There was a common perception and irony,” Nonesuch senior VP David Bither says today, “of one Warner label passing on the record and letting the band go out of its contract for very little cost, and another Warner label picking it up and putting it out. In other words, paying for it twice.”

1. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not by the Arctic Monkeys

These guys were, apparently, the next big thing in Great Britain. I don't know, I missed the hype. All I know is that Alex Turner has the confidence to start this album by telling everyone that "anticipation has the habit to set you up for disappointment," then proceed to show everyone that one night out on the town can result in 13 songs ranging from "The View From the Afternoon" to "A Certain Romance." And if I were to do a top 10 songs of the decade, probably half of them would be from this album.

I'm not a club-goer from England, so it doesn't speak to me as though it were talking about me, but then again, a perfect story doesn't need to talk about me, it just needs to tell me the story of them. And so the Arctic Monkeys did, with 4 minute stories of guys telling their "Fake Tales of San Francisco" and "Mardy Bums" and menacing gentleman who change when the sun goes down. And through it all they had the wit to observe that music as art is challenged every day by those who believe that "there's only music, so that there's new ringtones."

That's why this is my album of the decade.

Edit to add p.s. - This list doesn't speak for Dawnell, but I believe our choice at the top is unanimous.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T10:27:00.008-05:00

It was a good year at the Moon house. Between Black Friday, mommy getting better at sewing and knitting, and lots of involved and loving relatives the kids made out pretty well for Christmas.

But before we get to Christmas we have to give you the count down to it.

Thanks again to Olivia Beckett decided we needed a tree topper. I agree, we did need that, but I hadn't been able to find one I liked. However, it was really bugging Beckett that we didn't have a star on our tree like Olivia. So on December 23 Beckett and Daddy went out in an attempt to find a tree topper. As you can imagine pickings are a little slim at that date. However they returned triumphant, kind of, with one giant and one tiny option.

Mommy decided bigger was better so I switched them later.

Christmas Eve we went to our friend's house and had a lovely and ENORMOUS dinner with three other couples. (None of whom are pictured as we were too busy eating to photograph people. Here's a little menu sampler: bacon wrapped dates, spinach artichoke dip, garlic cheese bread, enchilada dip, meatballs, twice baked potatoes, sausage stuffed pears, butternut squash soup and yummy salad, fruit and vegetables.)

After our big party we went home to bed and before you know it, we awoke and it was

Christmas Morning

Here is the big loot.

And here is the moment when Beckett first sees it all. (In a side note I made his pajamas and I think they turned out pretty cute.)

Ciaran was in a festive mood.

He enjoyed his new jumper, but didn't do a ton of jumping. He took a nap for most of the present opening.

Beckett declared, "I am the king!" as soon as he put this crown on.

He likes his new bike (that I got FREE!!! Now we just need warmer weather or a longer hall.)

Here's a new fun playmat he got and in the corner by the bouncy chair you can see this cute car caddy I made from a pattern my friend Jill had. I am quite proud of it.

Beckett immediately asked to take a bath when he opened his bath basketball set. We got him to wait until we had finished opening presents, but then he disappeared and I found him in the bathroom with his pants off and the diaper half off. We agreed to his wish for a bath at that point.

Chris and I actually managed some presents in the midst of all this too. Thank you to all of you who sent such wonderful and thoughtful gifts. It's been a wonderful day, but we miss you terribly.

Love, Chris Dawnell, Beckett and Ciaran.

Happy Mouth Snowman

2009-12-22T15:43:00.003-05:00

Beckett loves the "Olivia Helps With Christmas" book. We read it every night. And every night when we get to the part of the story where Olivia builds a snowman Beckett says, "I wanna build a happy mouth snowman." As you can see from the image below the snowman Olivia builds is less than jolly.

We had snow on Saturday night and we tried to build on Sunday but it didn't work. The snow was light and fluffy and not at all sticky. So we thought we'd give it a couple of days and try again. The snow still didn't want to stick but we made a valiant effort to stack the snow since rolling balls was out. Here are the results.

The stacking commences.

Nose insertion.

These lips came from a snow woman kit my sister Jil sent me last year. Beckett deemed them happy enough to adorn our snowman.

Hat placement.

"He needs shoes, he needs shoes!"

Dead garden stick arms.

The final product.

Jazz Buddies

2009-12-17T20:50:00.003-05:00

Chris opted out of attending the Jazz/Nets game but of course he had to watch. And if you're going to support your team you might as well wear team regalia. Beckett is learning this lesson early. When he saw Daddy in his jersey and shorts he had to run and get clothes to put on over his pajamas so they matched.

They're Boodle and the Dude

2009-12-13T20:29:00.005-05:00

Ciaran was being a bundle of energy this afternoon, talking up a storm. Finally I decided to get the camera and take some video and pictures. As soon as I returned from retrieving the camera he began to cry and get fussy for naptime. So, some good pics, but not nearly as many as I thought I'd get...

These two turned out pretty cute.

I even tried going to black and white and letting Boodle play with a ball to get him happy again. That led to a series of pictures with a ball in front of Boodle's face. In case you haven't noticed, we've taken to calling Ciaran by the nickname Boodle.

This is the only b&w that turned out okay.

Here's one of Beckett with two of his favorite things, his baby brother and his "meat." That's what he calls his blanket. Ciaran's pretty cute here, but Beckett looks like he's still halfway asleep.

And here's one from a week ago of Beckett looking cool on his way to the playground.

December and the Dudes

2009-12-13T16:16:00.004-05:00

Busy life, busy world, and kids that keep getting cuter and cuter. Ciaran had his 6 month appointment this past week and the news continues to be good. Ciaran is up to 13 and 1/2 pounds. He's still not quite big enough to get onto the 6 month charts, but his head is down in the bottom 10%, so he's slowly catching up.

Here are some pictures of the adorable hat dudes...

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday. Lighting wasn't very great so we didn't get a lot of pictures. Ciaran dressed up as an elf.

Somehow the only picture I got of Beckett at the party occurred right after he had eaten a green sugar cookie. He isn't really ill, he just looks like it.

Earlier this same day, we went to visit a ward member who has a really cool train setup at his house. As you can see, Beckett thought it was awesome. Our friend had lots of levers set up around the tracks and he let Beckett play with the levers, dumping little peppermint logs and turning on Christmas tree lights. Lots of fun.

Ciaran and mom didn't quite know what was going on, but they were cute.

Our friend has a train set that includes a boxcar for all 50 states. Dawnell and I are in agreement with this train.

Beckett was certainly happy after playing with the trains.

Baby #2 Blessing

2009-11-21T16:06:00.008-05:00

Ciaran Gio Moon had his baby blessing on November 1, 2009. Here's some adorable pictures of him in the same adorable outfit that his brother was blessed in two years earlier.

He does this smiling thing all the time now. Too cute!

Here's the proud mother with her first dude, all dressed up for the blessing. If you look above them you'll see a poster of Beckett's blessing in the right hand corner.

Here's the proud big brother, hamming it up

I'm almost positive that we had several pictures taken that weren't on our camera. I'm not sure what happened, but my best evidence of non-existent photos is that this (not so great) picture that my mom took with her camera has us looking off to the side because we were looking at our camera.

Brother

Proud grandpa

Proud grandma's knee

Cool dudes

If you want to compare Beckett's pictures to see just how adorable he was when he was blessed then click HERE. You will either be happy or disappointed to hear that we did not subject Ciaran to the same lame looking hat that Beckett was forced to wear.

Halloween 2k9

2009-11-12T12:06:00.007-05:00

Happy Belated Halloween Everyone! Dawnell was away for a couple of weeks, and then my parents came in from out of town, but we're looking forward to sharing more bloggable cuteness in the weeks ahead now that we'll have more time to take pictures.

Speaking of cuteness, here is Beckett with his best friend Anna, a.k.a. Hansel and Gretel.

Beckett with Hannah (R) and Anna (L). It's a constant source of confusion for him. Oops, reverse that. See, very confusing.

Here Hansel and Gretel traipse down a path holding hands. This was at the Norwalk Aquarium. Good times were had by all who could go. We visited the Aquarium last year to see their Pumpkins. We blogged about it, I'm not going to post the link, but it was cool, so go look at those pumpkin pics after you are done with these.

Later that evening (day before Halloween) I was able to meet up with Hansel and the gingerbread man Ciaran for a trunk or treat at our church.

Gretel's mom made a gingerbread house. Spectacular idea.

This is actually after they went trick or treating the next night, but it fits in with the dark lighting of the last two, and the other Halloween night pics didn't turn out great, again, because it was dark.

Halloween day we went to some farm in Stamford, CT. Here is lovely fall foliage. Dawnell and Ciaran are in the bottom right corner of one of these pics.

Beckett and Anna, just hanging out on the porch swing.

Cheese!

Fun maze they got to run through

You may think that this is also part of the farm trip, but it is not. This is from the trip to Utah. Not a lot of pics from that trip, but Dawnell did take Beckett to a pumpkin patch.

He also got to go to the Dino museum with Carson. These guys would have been best friends for a couple of years if their parents had had kids during the first year of law school, but now they only get to meet up in Utah when their mothers abandon their fathers to go visit family.

And Ciaran liked to hang out at gramp's house while in Utah.

Coming next, Ciaran's baby blessing!

And bringing back an even fatter one

2009-11-11T13:24:00.007-05:00

One thing about Ciaran has finally hit the charts for a regular five month old....drum roll please....his big head. I wasn't really surprised. Have you seen my husband and Beckett? His head is now in the fifth percentile for five month olds. Not bad since he's essentially a 3 month old.

He is creeping closer to the charts with his weight, 12lb 7 oz.

His height is also gaining, but is lagging furthest behind at 22 1/2 inches.

This is pretty normal growth. The brain takes the lion's share, then the body and organs want a nice layer of fat and then finally the poor limbs get the dregs to try and make you taller. He keeps gaining in all areas which is great so one day he'll be right where he should be.

Watch out Utah...

2009-10-06T21:03:00.002-04:00

I'm bringing home a fat baby.

And a boy who loves his new green combat boots. Or Boots the Monkey boots. He almost chose the red ones, but at the last minute opted for green. I kept trying to get him to show off his boots but he did this by dancing so it made for rather blurry pictures.

Shaving Fun

2009-10-04T13:15:00.003-04:00

It's time to get ready to go to our conference break lunch. Daddy had to shave and a mature Beckett needed to as well.

Smile!

2009-09-28T20:46:00.003-04:00

Ciaran is going to have a complex. 3.5 months in and we probably have 2% as many pictures of him as we did of Beckett. Some of that is living half his life in a hospital, some of that is daddy at work all day, some of that is apparently Dawnell not taking the camera with her everywhere she goes, and some of that is Beckett making it a little tougher to concentrate on dude2 for more than five seconds.

But at least until he becomes a teenager he can be a smiling little Ciar dude.

And for those of you looking for a Beckett fix, here he is with best friend Anna at the indoor playground at the Stamford Mall. Yea, they're hanging out on genetically mutated corn. Beckett's the one on the left, not the one in the middle.

Three Month Check-up

2009-09-10T15:00:00.002-04:00

Ciaran is doing great. He's still below the charts for his age, but he made a nice gain in the past month. As you can see above he's now 9 pounds 2.5 ounces and he's 20 1/2 inches long.