Believing

For some people believing in things is very difficult. They have to have tangible "proof" that something exists before they will believe. Even when they have proof they still can't believe that something exists. It happens daily. It happens to a lot of people. Do you believe?

The power of the intangible can be impressive to say the least. The belief in Santa Claus make us all smile at the holidays. We do our best to perpetuate that belief in our children for as long as we can.

The belief in God drops believers to their knees. It leads fanatics to extremes. It provides solace for millions who need something more in their lives. It causes wars. It creates peace. It effects every one of us in one way or another.

One of the things you learn as a parent is to believe. You believe in your love for your spouse. Believe in the unconditional love that your children have for you. Believe in your family as the single most important thing in your life. Love is intangible. We don't need pictures. We don't need proof because we know it exisits. You can't see it or taste it or touch it. But we all know Love is there and hopefully all around us. The belief in love makes us work hard to provide for our families. It makes us ache when a family memeber is sick. It makes us cry when a family member passes on. It breaks our heart when it goes away and makes us do anything we can to keep it from leaving us.

Many people have asked about the picture in the prior post. "Is it real? Did that really happen?". We have all lost people in our lives. Most of us have felt the presence of those people, especially the ones who loved us very much, around us after they have died. The people we love and who loved us never really go away. They are in our thoughts. In our actions and words. Incorporated into our lives in one way or another. They are all around us, in our personalities, in our childrens smiles. Watching us from a distance while we do our best to make them proud. We hope they are watching us when we are at our best and are looking the other way when we are doing something wrong.

Hopefully the picture reminded you to not forget about those people who are no longer in your lives. To remember that they are there even though you dont see them. You don't need a picture to remind you to believe in them.

or do you?

Freaked out

Yes we are a little freaked out by the picture of Shelby in the hallway below. We uploaded the pictures last night and never even took second look at them as did most people. Dad isn't sure if its the reflection of the light or flash or dust or something but it is a little odd.

Hotel Mt. Washington

Yes the hotel was as scary as we thought. While it is a throwback to a by gone era, we are happy to keep it left to an era without us. Of course we read all about room 425 and how haunted the hotel was. We both joked around about what we would say if they gave us room 425 upon check in. Luckily we didn't get room 425. Instead we got room 421. First thing dad says to mom, "do ghosts go through walls?"

We did see the people who checked into room 425. Poor folks. They had no idea what they were in for. We quickly threw our stuff in the room and it was down to the bar we went for lunch and to relax. Luckily after a few cocktails it was less scary. We had a great time out in the cold on a country sleigh ride. Afterwards dad got a massage and mom took a quick nap before dinner.

We had a great time and really enjoyed having a night away. Dinner was wonderful and breakfast was great. The service at the hotel was impeccable. Of course it was tough to be without Charlotte for a night. We kept worrying if Charlotte was going to keep Kelly and Dave awake all night long. Mom tossed and turned. As did dad. Worrying about ghosts and having the TV black out in the middle of the night were a little spooky. Of course the one chance we get to get a great nights sleep and we were not able to take advantage of it.


Despite the night away we were happy to get back and see our daughter. Kelly and Dave did an amazing job. She was in one piece when we went to pick her up, just like we left her. Thanks guys.

Sunday we had Jena and Pauls babyshower at our house. Every had a very good time, although we dont have any pictures unfortunately. We can't wait for them to join the parent club! Only a few more months!

Polish Girl

Tonight Charlotte ate for dinner:
a. Blueberries. Thats all she ever eats.
b. Buffalo wings with dad. His favorite.
c. 2lbs of Polska Kielbasa
d. Baby food.

The answer is c. Of course none of this ever happens when mom is home to verify the true quantity, however it seemed like 2 pounds, if not more, of Kielbasa. Thank you Bullock for passing your love of Kielbasa to your great grand daughter. We should have known this was going to happen after she enjoyed Shelby's meatloaf almost as much as you did. Let's hope she never has to try muskrat. She would probably love that as well. I'm drawing the line at hunting. That she is not allowed to do. Sorry.

Mom and dad are abandoning Charlotte on Saturday for a night away at the Hotel Mt. Washington. Of course the realization is setting in that we are not going to have her for a night which is really getting to mom. Not that we are worried about her being cared for by Kelly, Dave, Mason, & Brodie....she will be fine. We worry about them. We just hope she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night fussy like she did to us last night. We hope she doesn't decide 4 am is a good time to wake up instead of 6 am. We even went so far as to set up her pack and play in her room tonight (and put her in it to sleep) just to get her used to it so it won't be such a big deal on Saturday night. Yes we are neurotic, but what parents aren't?

We are expecting little sleep on Saturday night. On top of being worried about Charlotte driving Kelly and Dave crazy, we have to contend with being in a haunted hotel. Yes, the hotel Mt. Washington IS where the Shining was filmed...which makes it spooky in itself. However it is also known to be haunted by ghosts. We didn't really believe that, but started reading the reviews on TripAdvisor and are now even more freaked out! Wish us luck. Dad is going to bring his Proton Gun.

Climbing

Much like a Koala climbs a eucalyptus tree, slow and calculating, Charlotte climbs the couch and chair. Fist pulling herself up on the ottoman....the sliding slowly across to the chair. Calm, cool, and collected. However, just as a Koala eats the Eucalyptus leaves and gets plastered, Charlotte stands on the chair and gets punch drunk. Wobbling, laughing, her balance barely holding her in the chair. She will stay there for and hour playing, looking over the edge, standing, giggling, smiling. She cracks herself up and screeches and screams with excitement of sitting in the chair on her own. She is a spaz and we are not sure where she gets that from.

Morning Chatter

Charlotte crying in the background as mom and dad lay comfortably asleep in their bed.

Dad: "You going to get her or am I?"
Mom: "Let her cry." Mom reaches over and turns down the monitor.

Crying now seeping into the room through the walls and door.

Dad: "You going to ger her or am I?" (hoping mom will get up and get her}
Mom: "Lets flip for it."
Dad: "I got her yesterday and friday."
Mom: "You are going to watch the game tonight and not want to wake up early tomorrow"
Dad: "Are you sure you don't want to get up?"
Mom: silence

Sorry Charlotte. When you are older and have children you will understand that getting up at 6am on a Sunday is not fun.

Being a father

A fathers duty is to protect and care for his family. To Cherish his wife and make her understand she is the most beautiful woman in the world. To hold her close at night in strong arms when it's dark and cold. To constantly tell her how wonderful her cooking is. More importantly to tell her daily what an amazing mother she has become.

A fathers duty is to set an example for his children. To be a man of his word. To show that ethics is not something to study but to practice. To work until the job is done and provide as much as he can for his children. To be there in times of need and in times of joy. To leave a legacy of compassion, responsibility, and hard work.

It's not easy being a father. It takes work and constant practice, knowing that everything you do and say becomes magnified by your children. I hope one day Charlotte wants to hear from me how proud I am of her. Just like I hear from my father. I hope she talks to me every day just as Shelby does with her father. I have some pretty big shoes to fill.

Bedhead

This is an actual picture of Charlottes hair in the morning. No gel. No hairspray. No mousse (do they still make mousse?) Just pure bedhead.






We did lose power on Monday night. Mom and dad were in bed watching tv when the room suddenly turned black. Dad smiled. Finally he would get his chance to fire up the generator! The plan was to throw some warm clothes on and sleep through the night. In the morning he would get the fireplace going and then play with the generator. He was so excited.

Around 2am mom and dad woke to the lights and television suddenly flashing on. Dad was upset. The power was back. He still fired up the generator Tuesday night just to make sure it was ready to go. It worked. He was happy.

Below photos from WMUR.

Weekend of Nothing

Our weekend was spent doing a lot of nothing and loving every moment. Charlotte was feeling much better and seems to be fine. Her molars are coming in so her gums and mouth hurts....causing excessive drooling. At times she looks like a St. Bernard, long lines of saliva pouring out of the corners of her mouth. Dad thinks it is cute.

Applying Baby Oral Gel to her gums has become some what challenging. Her front teeth are very sharp and her mouth suddenly has super human strength, clamping down on your finger with what feels like 100lbs of pressure. Usually dad tortures her until she starts crying and wailing. When that mouth is wide open screaming, in goes the finger covered in Oral Gel, swabbing the numbing lotion all over her swollen gums. She hates it but it works wonders.

Sunday Charlotte got to play over at Paul and Jena's house while dad enjoyed watching football with the guys. We played zone coverage. Mom covering the kitchen. Dad covering the living room. It was nice because we both only had to watch her half of the time. She would run into one room....play.....then run back to the other room. We highly recommend zone coverage over man-to-baby coverage.



Today we got an ice storm but still managed to have power. Dad was secretly hoping the power would go out so he could fire up the generator for the first time. It didn't happen. All of the streets leading into town had no power....but the town center itself (where we live) has all of its lights. Figures he buys a generator because the power kept going out and the power is now suddenly super reliable.

de-lurking week

Its official. This is delurking week. A week devoted to nothing but finding out who is lurking on our blog. Please post a comment and tell us something about yourself that we don't already know. If we don't know you then tell us anything because we won't know the difference.

A night to remember

Last night we had an elaborate plan to deal with Charlotte waking every 20 minutes due to her high fever. The only way she would fall asleep was either rocking in the glider chair (in which the lack of cusions would make your ass and legs fall asleep while the wood spindles stuck in your spine) or by falling alseep on top of you while laying in bed (a little too much info but Shelby's body temperature is so hot while she sleeps dad can barely touch her, therefore having a baby with a 104 fever on top of her just adds fuel to the fire, not recommended). So dad thought it would be a great idea to rejuvinate the life of the Lazy Boy recliner by putting it in the bedroom. A perfect alternative to the glider. Soft and cushiony and wide enough to fit mom and baby comfortably. Plus Shelby made him "hide it" in basement since she thinks its so ugly. So dad lugged the 200lb giant chair up two flights of stairs knowing damn well its not coming down any time soon. The plan was simple. Shelby and Michael would split the night into two "shifts" to watch Charlotte. 8pm to 1am was the first shift. 1am to 6am was the second shift. The person working the first shift would be in our bedroom. With the ability to either sleep in the bed or rock in the lazy boy chair. Meanwhile the other person would be alseep in the guest bedroom. At 1am we would switch.

Mom decided to take the first shift since she wasn't tired at 8pm. Dad was exhausted so it was off to the guest bedroom. Just at that moment Charlotte awoke. Mom went and got her and cuddled her in the Lazy Boy. Somewhere around 2am dad woke up in the guest bedroom. He was late for his shift. He was going to be in trouble. He tip toed into the bedroom to find Charlotte sound asleep on mom's lap, fully reclined in the Lazy Boy. Of course he didn't want to wake them (as mom would say, never wake a sleeping baby) so it was back to the guest bedroom. This shift thing worked out in his favor.

At 6am Charlotte's screaming woke dad up. She was burning up again and this time vomiting. Not really what a father wants to wake up to. He took her from mom and rushed her downstairs so Shelby could get a little more sleep.

Through out the morning Charlotte continued to have a fever. 101.7, 100.7, 102, 101.1, 103 . Every 30 minutes he wrote the time and temperature on the whiteboard on the refrigerator. Why? Who knows, but it made him feel better.

Her doctor saw her at 10:30. He asked a bunch of questions and reviewed both her urine and blood tests. All showed negative for bacterial infection. His thoughts were that of a virus. Roseola hopefully. Symptoms include 3-5 days of high fever. Then the fever breaking followed by a rash that covers your body another 2-3 days. He was still concerned and will be watching the blood and urine samples for any further changes but that was his thought. He also took some blood from her finger to test for Lead and Anemia. Totally unrelated but figured since he had her he would test her.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Charlottes fever lingered causing her to walk wobbly and fall down a lot. Her muscles must be sore and her body must ache. Every time she fell she would cry. And she fell every time she tried to walk. Mostly we just held her close which seemed to comfort her and make her feel better.

We are prepared for another long night. We are hoping her fever has broke or will be breaking in the middle of the night. We pray that we wake up to find our child covered in a horrible rash so we can just blame it on a simple virus.

104.8

Was the reading on the thermometer in the middle of the night. We stripped her down and gave her a bath in lukewarm water. As a treat we topped her off with some Tylenol. Then tried to get her back to sleep. That was not happening. The Disney Channel is horrible in the middle of the night. I think we watched Hanna Montana. Where the hell are the wiggles when we needed them? The last thing we wanted to watch was some child starlet who would end up knocked up and in rehab like the rest. All we wanted was some peacefull Aussies in colorfull shirts. We would have even settled for a purple dinosaur.

We would get Charlotte to fall asleep, but the second, literally the second she touched the coldness of her mattress instead of the warmth of our body she awoke. Each time more pissed off than the first. How often and at what time she woke up was just a blur. One thing for certain she was awake more than asleep. We all were awake more than asleep.

Dad had to visit some customers in Boston for 9am. Which means he had to spill out of the house around 7:30am. Mom was nice enough to let him sleep by taking Charlotte downstairs around 5am. Mom was in rough shape but was a trooper. As dad came down the stairs into the living room....there Charlotte was playing as if nothing happened. Mom laying on the couch exhausted and defeated.

At the doctors in the morning Charlotte didnt have a fever. They catheterized her to check for a urinary tract infection. Not a fun process and dad was glad he was not there to witness it. They said if the fever came back they would have to draw blood. Dad came straight home after his meetings to find mom parked in the driveway. Charlotte asleep in her car seat in the back of the minivan.

It didnt last long. About 15 minutes later she woke up. Dad got her out of her seat. She was drenched in sweat. He took her inside and they took her temperature. 103. She was wobbling around the house, groggy, falling all over the place. It didn't take long for dad to lose his cool. Quickly they packed up and he was driving back to the doctors with everyone. They would see him whether they liked it or not.

They did see us. They confirmed the temperature and sent us to the hospital to have her blood drawn. I won't describe the hospital experience but I will say trying to keep calm a 13 month old with a 103 fever FOR OVER AN HOUR IS (please insert expletives of your choice, I used them all) RIDICULOUS!

The doctors office ordered the results stat. On our drive home they called with one of the results which came back normal. The answer they gave us was "give her Motrin and keep her hydrated". We have another appointment tomorrow. Hopefully the rest of the tests will come back and everything will be ok.

There is something about the sound of a baby in pain, who is afraid, uncomfortable, hot. It pierces your ears and rips through your heart rattling around in there until you begin to sweat, panic, and begin to be afraid. It's a horrible feeling that no one but parents will ever understand.

Its Never Good

Its never good when dad calls mom while he is out with the guys watching freestyle motorcross at the stadium, drinking beers, and mom says, "You had to call me? Now I am going to have to tell you."

"Tell me what?" dad says.
"About Charlotte" mom replies. Horrible thoughts race through dads head until he relizes mom is at home and she isn't hysterically crying...so it can't be that bad. "What happened?" he asks.
"I don't want you to worry. But she has a 103.3 fever and I just got off the phone with the Nurse on call at the hospital". Great. This is where you can just stop the fun. No matter where you are or what you are doing when you find out your child is sick the fun is over.
"Michael she is fine. I just talked to them and they said to just keep watching her and making sure the fever goes down after I give her Motrin. Are you having fun?"

Yes she actually asked if I was having fun. If you call drinking beers, eating sausage and peppers and watching guys on dirt bikes doing backflips 30 feet in the air fun...then yes I was having fun. A lot of fun. Obviously that ended quickly.

When I got home Charlotte was awake but crying. We took her into our bed. She cried. Her skin was boiling. Finally after an hour of crying she fell asleep. For about an hour. Then dad took her. Needless to say there was little to no sleep on Saturday night for mom or dad. What sleep we did catch was full of worry and concern.

Charlottes fever started around 3pm before dad left but it was low. After dad left her temperature kept increasing. Mom says she was acting normal despite her fever. However dad found the following pictures on the digital camera the next morning.






Nothing normal about Charlotte playing with her shoes in the toilet or a mother actually sitting back taking pictures while her daughter played with her shoes in the toilet. I blame it on her fever.

Oh and then there was Charlotte in her tu-tu and tiara all with a 102 fever. Definately not normal.

New Year New Posts

So far 2007 has been uneventful. Granted we are only 4 days in but we are very very VERY happy that not a whole lot has happened. We are looking forward to a quiet uneventful year. That is dad's New Years Resolution...to have nothing exciting happen. Only 361 days left to go!!!

Mom got the bright idea last night to bring Charlotte into bed with us when she woke up screaming around midnight. More of her teeth are coming in and they are really bothering her. So since it was "mom's night" to comfort her if she woke up...she decided to pick the screaming child out of her crib and bring her into bed with us. So we had a screaming child in bed with us. So much fun. The pillow over dads head did little to block the earpiercing screams. However while crying Charlotte did find some solace in jumping on the pillow on dad's head. Jump, cry, jump, cry. Stand up in bed. Fall down in bed. Cry. Roll around. Cry. What a wonderful way for dad to sleep. You knew it was bad when mom actually asked dad, "Michael, what should I do?".

Well dear leaving the screaming princess in her crib would have been a $&#$'n start have you tried a warm bottle and rocking her to sleep? Mom gave it a shot and what do you know? It worked!

Other than the horrible sleeping lately, we are running into some horribly poor eating habits. Charlotte will eat bread and cheese. Thats it. Oh and frozen blueberries and cherries that make a complete mess...staining her hands and face. Literally that is about all she will eat. How much nutrition is in frozen blueberries? Well click the link to find out. BLUEBERRIES
And do you know there is a whole website dedicated to blueberries? www.blueberry.org. I think I am going to write to them to see if they would like to do a study of the health effects of a 13 month old who eats nothing but blueberries.

New Year 2007

New Years with children makes for an interesting night. Last year 2005 we slept through the ball drop and nonsense hoopla of the festivities. This year we swore we were going to welcome in the New Year like everyone else in this world over the age of 11...forcing ourselves to stay up until midnight. Not an easy feat when you are used to being asleep by 10pm every night...and when you are awoken bright and early no later than 6am by a crying beauty.




Dad trained his body all week by staying up later and later every night. Like a marathon runner trains for a race by running as far as possible a few days before the race, dad trained by keeping himself up to watch the 11pm news. He knew if he could make it through the news he could make it to the balldrop. By Friday night he was able to make it through the news and catch the beginning of Late Night with David Letter. He was now prepared for New Year's Eve 2006.

The night was spent at Kelly and Dave's house. We brought Charlotte. Lisa and Ryan brought Colin. All of the kids played together for hours exhausting themselves. The adults mixed cocktails and gorged themselves on appetizers (last chance before the resolutions get set). Unfortunately we brought a digital camera with a dead battery so we have no evidence of the evening or that mom and dad actually stayed awake until Midnight. Not to worry. Pictures will be up once Lisa and Kelly email them to us. We will provide proof that 'old man Ronan rocked in the new year like everyone else...watching Dick Clarks ball drop then watching Rhianna shaking her ass out of her skirt on national television.

Around midnight the reality set in that Charlotte would be awake in six hours. Around 1am panic started setting in for dad since he agreed to be the one to get up with her. At 1:30am we made it home and into bed. 4 and a half hours later dad woke up to the angelic sound of his daughter vying for his attention. First a whimper...dad rolls over and pretends he didn't hear it. Then another whimper. Louder and louder until it turns into a full on cry. The sound piercing the pillow over his head like a knife in the eye. Reluctantly he got out of bed, made a bottle, got her out of the crib, then it was downstairs to "play". Good thing he didn't do those Tequila shots that Kelly was trying to talk him into at midnight. Good thing he didn't take swigs of Jameson like Ryan did. There would have been no getting out of bed.

Mom finally rolled out of bed around 9am. She came downstairs to find Charlotte sitting on dad's lap intently watching Elmo on Sesame Street in dads arms on the couch. They got dressed then headed back down the street to Kelly and Daves to catch the early breakfast special.

When they returned around noon, Charlotte went right down for a nap. Dad layed on the bed to "rest" and was asleep in seconds. Mom joined him. Nothing better then a two hour New Years day nap. Even when they all woke up the napping idea seemed like a lot of fun. Dad figured he would grab every pillow in the house and put then on the floor in the living room for him to continue napping on Charlotte to play with. Ahhh the excitement of New Years Day. Welcome to 2007 Charlotte.








Here is a picture of the painted Kitchen. We still need new appliances, but its a start: