Kissing Nap Time Goodbye

Well, I never thought I would say it, but life is a lot easier now that Cal and I aren't always arguing about him going down for a nap! That's right, I gave it up. I never thought I would be able to do it, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Having previously thought of myself as sort of a Nap Nazi, I knew I needed that time to myself in the middle of the day and I trembled at the inevitability of it not being there anymore. But a few weeks ago I started realizing that, day after day, our afternoons were each turning into one long battle that just wasn't worth it. So now I won't even let myself hope that he's going to fall asleep,.. I have to expect that he's going to be awake and with me, and squeeze my stuff in around that. Besides his little body getting so tired every day right around dinner time (hence the picture), the results have been much more positive than I expected. It's helped me be a lot more flexible and remember that... this is life. It's what I signed up for when I became a mom! I have to make a conscious decision not to stress out about "everything that needs to get done" and enjoy the quality time that I get to spend with my son.

Our Trip to the Dunes

Here are some pictures from the Sand Dunes. We had a lot of fun even though it was HOT! (the sand, that is...) We were all in sandals in the blazing hot sand, so we didn't wind up staying as long as we were planning. Jeff hiked up one of them while the kids and I just watched and dug for treasure. Cal really liked playing in the creek. Monica, however, was pretty disgusted with the whole prospect. She spent the whole time on someone's shoulders. But we were so glad we got to go! It's always so amazing to visit a wonder of nature that is truly spectacular. It just makes me think of how many interesting and beautiful places there are on our planet. We look forward to taking our kids back and maybe camping

there... maybe when they're a little bit older and we're a little more prepared with our footware.

Yea!!! The Geoffy's Back!

Today, I hate to admit it but I was CRABBY... Or at least I should say, I was trying all day to ward off the crabbiness and not doing the greatest job. Something about being really big and tight and uncomfortable...and tired...and alone. Jeff's been in Alamosa all week and I was expecting him back Friday afternoon. I talked to him briefly at about 8:30 this evening, but he said his phone was about to die and he'd call me a little later. Well, at 10:45 PM tonight, I heard our garage door open! He'd gotten off of work a day early to attend a medical presentation this evening and he doesn't have to go back tomorrow. The best surprise ever! Anyway, it was amazing how quickly the crabbiness vanished. Everything feels a lot more right with the world.

Belly Pics

Okay, so here are the belly pics as promised.

This is at 34 1/2 weeks.

Colorado Gators

The kids and I have been visiting Jeff while he does a rotation in rural medicine in Alamosa, CO. Last week we went to see the Colorado Gators, which is an alligator farm just north of Alamosa and one of the only tourist attractions close by. It was pretty wild! We had a lot of fun. Here are some more pics:

Natalie Raye

Hey, blokies! Here are some cool ultrasounds of our baby #3.

The 2nd picture is a little harder to make out,
but it's her little face with her eyes open.
Hi, Natalie! We already love you!
(Belly pictures coming soon.)
(Sheesh, am I really going to have three kids??)

Monica Jayne

I love getting this little girl out of bed in the morning because she smiles at me through these insanely cute curly locks that spring out everywhere in her face and she can't see anything. She's started doing this thing where she brushes them out of her face with the back of her hand, which makes her look much older than she is...kind of like a teenager except for the binky in her mouth. And the hairstyle perfectly matches her personality: one wild woman. She is so cute and so cuddly with a distinct sense of humor, but she's also VERY independent. At almost 20 months, she wants to do what she wants to do, and she wants to do it by herself: putting on her shoes, buckling her car seat, climbing and going down any slide at any playground, etc. If I try to help her she says emphatically, "No Mommy!" or "No, me!"

The list of words she knows how to say gets longer every day, which is fun. For example, this evening at dinner we were having broccoli and she kept insisting the Jeff give her "Mo bocky," which is more broccoli. I didn't even know she knew how to say broccoli! Where did that come from? And with the increase in verbal vocab you know she's understanding almost anything you tell her.

Another joy is that the older she gets, the more she likes playing with Cal and he enjoys playing with her, too. Yesterday they were playing "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command," which is from another of Cal's favorite movies. He kept calling her Space Ranger Mira Nova and telling her what to do. "Space Ranger Mira Nova, report!" And she just followed him around and went along with it for a long time. Then the other day we were playing hide and seek. She wanted her own turn counting, of course. It was so cute to see her come around the corner to look behind the couch saying, "Cow? Cow?" (how she says Cal...) He doesn't quite understand the purpose behind keeping one's hiding place a secret, so he called out, "Monica, I'm in the pantry!" She promptly said, "oh!", turned around, and headed that direction. Since my hiding place was still a secret I got to watch this, and I thought 'You know, she's really a big girl. She can play these games now. When did that happen?'

So with my sweet Monica, too, this childhood thing seems to be going very fast. That makes me grateful that even with all her independence, she loves her binky and blankies and when she has them, she'll snuggle for a long time on my lap. I'll take that for as long as I can get it.

Callahan Michael

Hey Everyone. I promised you some video/pics of Cal a while ago, and thanks (again) to my fabulous sister-in-law Wendi, I have some really cute pictures of the kiddos to share with you. Here are a few of Cal that I love, and while you're looking at them, let me just tell you a bit about my favorite little boy.

Cal is 3 1/2. His favorite pastime is finding little "treasures" around the house, which could be anything from pennies to pieces of ribbon, little beads, google eyes, jingle bells, rocks, etc. and sticking them into little containers like plastic eggs. He still loves playing with sticks he finds outside, which double as swords, spears, bows, etc. In fact, he refuses to wear pants or shorts with no belt loops because there'll be no place to put his stick. He LOVES the movies that he loves, and if he were to tell you his list of favorite movies, you might think it was kind of long...for a three-year-old: Tarzan, Mulan, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, The Dark Crystal, David and Goliath, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, and James and the Giant Peach are some of them, and yes, he's a movie quoter. I didn't know it was a genetic trait, but turns out he got it from my family. Besides this, he really has good ideas and loves making things. He'll often be heard to say, "Oh, I have a brilliant idea..." or "I'm just trying to figure this out..." He's very observant and I'm constantly amazed at things he notices (like when two words rhyme) and recognizes (like where we are when we're driving, which I'm sure I wouldn't have paid attention to when I was that age). As with any 3 1/2- year old, we have our moments of course, but overall he has a sweet disposition and is a great big brother to Monica. He's a sensitive little guy and hates being in trouble. A lot of the time when I have to discipline him he says, "Mom, you need to talk happier!" Anyway, I'm really enjoying being his mom and getting to know him as his own person. This evening I left him in the nursery during an enrichment activity, and when I picked him up I could have sworn he'd grown up just a little more. I know I'm just imagining but I can't believe how fast it's going.

I'll write about Monica tomorrow. Gotta go to bed.

Kicking the Bottle

Pediatricians recommend that you wean your baby off the bottle by age 12 months. With Cal, I postponed it to 15 and of course, as a first-time mom, I was paranoid about it and felt a little guilty. This time around, which seems like much more than just two years later, I let my little girl hang onto her bottle until 18 months with no regrets. It was just so convenient and she loved it so much...why be in a rush to give up something so good? In fact, part of me still wonders, "What's wrong with letting her have a bottle until age two? Can't we just push it back to age two? I think I know a couple of two-year-olds who carry a bottle around, right?" However, my conscience got the better of me and after several weeks of half-heartedly talking to her about "throwing her bottles away," a ceremonial ritual that seemed to work well with Cal, I decided on Monday to go ahead and do it. And I've got to tell you something...it ain't going so well.
I guess I was thinking she was good enough on a sippee cup that it would be a pretty smooth transition. Wrong. I was forgetting how much of drinking a bottle is a comfort to an 18-month-old. While the first day of sippees may have seemed like a novelty to her, she has since realized that she's supposed to get ALL of her milk from a sippee cup from now on and is pretty sad about it, especially at nap time and bed time. Thankfully she likes to drink water out of an open cup sometimes. I say thankfully since my primary worry about her during this has been dehydration. In fact, this morning at breakfast I was sitting across the table from her. She had an open up of water on one side of her and the new sippee I'd bought her on the other side, full of milk. In a telling moment, I watched her look from one to the other two or three times. Then she reached for the water. Maybe this means we'll skip the sippee stage altogether!

Winnie The Pooh

Some of you haven't seen our kids for a long time, so here's a recent video of Monica.
I'll try to post one of Cal in the near future. (No promises...)
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It's a Girl! (Definitely, No Doubt About It!)

Dear World,

As many of you know, at the end of March we found out we were "probably" having a girl. The doctor told us she was about %80 sure. Well, I just wanted you all to know that we had another ultrasound on Wednesday and it's been confirmed. Little Baby Girl #2! The funny thing is that I didn't really announce to anyone when we knew we were "probably" having a girl... I was holding out that my initial impression that it was a boy might still be right. After all, I was correct in guessing both of my other two kids--doesn't that have to count for something? But it turns out it was just luck! Oh well, I'm totally happy to be wrong, we would be thrilled either way. But on Wednesday I realized that the thing that was weirding me out most about having another girl was that we didn't have a name picked out already. We had a strong boy name, but for a girl--nothing. We picked out names for Cal and Monica pretty early in the game...like, when we were engaged, so not having a name for kid #3 was unsettling. But I'm happy to announce that we now have a couple of front-running names so...everything's going to be alright. ;)

Lots 'o' Cousins!

This week I've been in Utah staying with my sister Ellen who just had a baby. This is her 7th little babe, and he's cute as ever. His name is Emmett Odell. Look how buff he is:

But besides being around a newborn, it's been so fun thinking of things to do with her older kids. Actually, I haven't been the one thinking of the ideas. It's more fun going along with the ideas they come up with. For example, the morning after we arrived, Gilbert (her 11-year-old) said, "Hey, I really want to take the little kids to Cabelas and show them the fish tanks there." Huh. We all considered that for awhile, and we figured, why not? We thought we looked pretty funny parading 8 kids past all the burly hunting men since we weren't there to buy anything, but besides that, it was really fun. I had never been in that store before and it was really cool! There was tons of stuff for little kids to look at, and there was even a place to feed the fish. (So I take it back about not buying anything...we spent .25 for fish food!) Here are some pictures:

The three buds.
Did I mention that Cal is totally having the
TIME OF HIS LIFE around all these older kids?

My Hubby Makes Me Laugh!

Hey guys. I just thought this picture was funny.
After putting the kids down the other night,
I went into our bedroom to find Jeff like this:

Reflection of a Musician:

Staying Young at Heart

I just got back from an orchestra rehearsal for a concert tomorrow that I'm pretty excited about. We're playing an all-Russian program and I have family coming, so it will be really fun. I enjoy playing in this orchestra, and I'm grateful for the chance it gives me to get my cello out at least once a week. All the same, after tonight's rehearsal I couldn't help but dwell on one observation.

We sound, well ... old.

This post isn't meant to be a soapbox rant--I say it observationally... and affectionately. It sounds a bit like we've all been working our full-time jobs all day and have too many things to do and not enough time to do them, and like we're all pretty tired. Why is that? Oh, I guess it's because it's all true. When we come to rehearsal, we are so worried about staying together and hitting the right notes that there's no time to rehearse the expression. I think we also consider ourselves "experienced musicians" so maybe we think we're already expressing when we're not. Or we expect the piece to do it for us.

I remember being in orchestras during summer camps where our conductors would talk about how great it was working with "young people." They said we were full of life and energy. I didn't really know what they were talking about. Now I know that it's totally true. What is it about being a young musician? Is it that you're playing your best because you're trying to one-up your stand partner? Or impress the conductor? Is it that you just have more time to practice? (I don't remember there ever being enough time to practice...) Or is it that young people are actually more in tune with what a new piece of music has to offer? I think that because they're still discovering their own musicality, they pick up more on the expressiveness that's written into the piece. They also don't have the problem of thinking they've already "arrived," so they're still trying to be expressive.

The problem with playing like the above-depicted "experienced musician" is this: Music-making is not just about the notes. I know we say that a lot, but all too often we forget that the notes on that page are really just a tool for the composer to communicate something fantastic. He/she wants you to express something to the audience. Once we forget that, and we make "hitting the notes" or "staying together" our primary objective, we are missing the point. Don't get me wrong--hitting the notes is important. But I am a firm believer that the audience will forgive a few wrong notes if they are made to feel something. Without the expression though, what's the point?

I know this post is full of sterotypes, and we all fall somewhere different on the spectrum, but I think we "old musicians" would benefit from playing like we're a little younger, like we still have energy. We may not we have the energy, but if we can create the illusion, we'll probably get a lot more out of the music. And the audience will, too.

Hello, World!

After taking a brief (okay, three-month) hiatus from posting on my blog, I return to you full of new ideas and enthusiasm. Just kidding...I can't make any promises. It seems that blogging comes and goes in spurts with me. I have a lot to post, but this is the most important thing for those of you who don't know:

Yeaaaa!!!!!!

I finally went to the doctor on Monday and everything is going great! I'm already about 11 weeks. I guess that's one of the advantages of starting the doctor visits a little later. Jeff and I are both very excited to add this new little guy (or girl) to our family. By default I say guy because I think it's a boy, but Cal is set on girl for some reason. I guess only time will tell. I would be thrilled with either.

(What you're seeing is the head on the right and his little belly on the left. The little dots on the sides are his arms waving around.)

Monica Walking!

.

And here's the evidence.

Back In Black...

...And loving it, baby!  This morning I got to play in a children's concert with the Arapahoe Philharmonic.  Last Friday was my first evening concert with them.  I sure am enjoying being a cellist again.  It's so fun to be surrounded by cool people playing really great music.  (Hmmm...this concert black looks suspiciously like my X-men costume...)

Halloween Pics

Hey everyone! Hope you had a great Halloween.
Here are the pictures of our family.
Monica was an Oreo:

Cally-Wag was Superman:

And Jeff and I...

...were Wolverine and Jean Grey from X-Men. I don't think I've officially dressed up for Halloween since...maybe junior high? But we had to dress up for a work party. It was actually really fun! Mostly because Jeff made such a convincing Wolverine!

Here are a few more pics of our Jack-o-lanterns.

Livin' in Up in the Breck...

This weekend Jeff and I got to spend a fun weekend getaway at the Breck Inn in Breckenridge, CO. Jeff arranged an opportunity to go up and listen to one of those time-share spiels. Athough we weren't interested in owning a timeshare, they hooked us up with some nice deals...on our hotel room and a yummy fondue dinner. Here are a few pics. HUGE thanks to Mickey, Margaret, and Megan for taking our kiddos for the weekend. It's so nice to be able to leave your kids with people they love being with! And even bigger thanks to my sweet hubby for setting it all up. It was a much needed break for both of us!