Maya at two months

Maya had her two month appointment with Dr. Rosa yesterday. Our favorite pediatrician thought she looked great. Maya is now 13 lbs and 23 1/2 inches; in the 90th and 81st percentile, respectively.

While there, Maya got her DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, aka whooping cough) and Rotavirus immunizations. Owen held her hand and told her everything would be all right, that Dr. Rosa is a very good doctor.

Her checkup comes on the heels of a very busy weekend with my family. Daniel and Erica flew in from Massachusetts for a long Memorial Day weekend visit. They drove down to Normal with my mom and dad on Friday afternoon to meet Maya and get some good playing time in with Owen.

Maya was all comfortable and napping, in no mood to put on a show, but Owen was on his A-game. He ran around the house, played shy with his Aunt Erica (who he seems eager to impress), and showed everyone how fast he can pedal his big wheel.

We took family photos on Saturday morning then headed up to my folks' house for some more time together. Our first overnight with both kids was made easier by many hands eager to help out with busy little bodies.

Maya is becoming much more alert. She's happy to sit and watch things, soaking in her surroundings. Like Owen was as a baby, she was fascinated with the light fixture in my parents' entryway.

She has also showed major interest in watching her brother play. She took a real shine to watching him construct some Lego toys with his uncle Daniel. She did the same last night when he was putting some new things together with us at home.

And, of course, she got a lot of good cuddle time in with everyone, including Uncle Daniel and her great aunt Lorie.

A great big brother

Amy and my mom were sitting at the kitchen table when they heard Owen around the corner tending to his little sister. She wasn't crying or fussing when he began. Just needing entertainment ...

This is so sweet.

Owen's Senior Picture

Take a look at this terrific shot by Owen's day care teacher, Kim. It's honestly better than any of my senior pictures (which I would be glad to share with you had the FCC not placed a ban on that much pastel pink plaid, even though we all know it was quite trendy at the time.)

Never too proud to brag, I'll follow that with this shot of our little smiling Maya.


And this video which is just one OK Go! song from being a broadcast-worthy vehicle ad.

Vroom, vroom!

At home, everyone seems to be getting better.

Owen's birthday weekend brought a houseful of guests, in addition to snuffly noses and coughs to all of the Aalberts who hadn't already spent 36 hours in the hospital last week. We're all breathing much more freely today, though, and I think feeling better despite what can only be described as a poor weekend for sleep.

Most importantly, Amy's energy continues to improve. And with only three antibiotic pills to go (followed by an as-yet-unspecified detox to get the meds through her system), she's looking forward to continuing her routine nursing Maya.

As I said, it was a fun weekend. Grampie and Grammie Ives left on Friday night just as the grandparents Aalberts arrived. Owen's birthday celebration continued with new toys to play with, including the Big Wheel (again, see above), Lego's ...

And the T-Ball set which Dad promptly broke with one swing, thereby denying himself "Father of the Year" honors for another 12 months.

Owen felt special as we put a lit candle into practically anything he was eating, toasting him with another chorus of "Happy Birthday" whenever the opportunity presented itself.

He had fun.

Grammie Ives left this morning, replaced by Nana Aalberts, both generously offering to help Amy stay on top of her recovery. Owen and Maya (and us as well)are very lucky to have such good help.

The trifecta, part 2

The Owen is 3 party continues ...

And good news! Mom came home from the hospital today! The pneumonia was (and is) severe and she begins a prescription for a heavy-duty antibiotic in the morning, ending all nursing of Maya for a week. We picked up some formula today to tide us over, and Amy will pump and dump until she's ready to nurse again. (Good thing the Aalberts men have already had such good a experience giving Maya her first bottles the past couple days ...)

Still, Owen's birthday-cake-candle wishes worked and Mom is back. We're all very happy.

We really had a good birthday celebration, despite the peculiar circumstances. We began the day with a special donut breakfast and his first birthday party of the day ... at the hospital.

Our celebration garnered a lot of attention from patients and staff, who weren't expecting to see a new toy mower and a Mylar balloon in their wing today.

While we were at the party, Amy's doctor came in to tell her he thought she could go home.

It was an added treat to bring Mom home at the end of the morning. When we got to our house, Owen had some lunch then went to daycare for the afternoon to have a nap, play with his friends, and enjoy some special birthday Dilly Bars we brought as a special treat for all of the kids.

When we got home tonight, he played with his mower outside and we had dinner and opened a few more packages. The partying will continue into the weekend as all of his grandparents will be coming to town to toast the birthday boy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OWEN!

Mr. Three!

Owen is three years old today!

It's a happy birthday, save for the fact that Mom is sick in the hospital with pneumonia, pleurisy, and a host of other issues. It won't be a conventional birthday celebration today, with part of the party moving to a hospital room, but Owen will get lots of additional attention from Dad who's taking some time from work to take care of Mom and all the kids, as well as from his grandpa and grandma Ives who've come to town to help out.

It should be noted Maya is also ready to party!

Owen has had a very good second year, documented in part on this blog which also turns a year old today. He's grown, learned so much, become an excellent big brother, and charmed his loving parents every day.

Let's look back at how he looked on his first and second birthday ... and more updates will follow from today's celebration soon.

I did a bad, bad thing

Let's start things off with a really cute picture of Maya sleeping.

Adorable, no? And hopefully this glimpse of our little beauty will make up for the really mean trick we (meaning I; although Amy is partially responsible for leaving this around where I could find it) played on her with a novelty pacifier my friend Janis sent us when Owen was born.

I can already feel the grandmothers cringing.

That said, this is a prank that will never happen again. Well, at least not until she exacts her revenge years from now when I'm in a nursing home ...

Maya: Remember, honey, I have it coming. Give me your best.

Anyway, Maya has been sleeping well (a five hour chunk last night) and Owen has been Mr. Busy. We've been enjoying our weekly trips to the pool. Owen has also been helping in the kitchen. And his Grandpa Aalberts will be delighted to learn Owen thinks it's fun when he gets to help us wash dishes.

Owen has also taken a shine to bringing water to the ducks who live in the creek in our back yard. And yes, we indulged him by letting him actually pour some water for them to drink into the creek.

Sure, I know it's environmentally questionable. But hopefully it's an energy we can re-channel into something more beneficial to nature. We'll try again today. There are new ducklings out back who I'm sure we're going to have to check on soon.

Amtrak to the Shedd

All aboard!

On Monday, Amy, Owen, Maya, and I boarded the Amtrak train for a day at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. It was an adventure from the get-go. The train ride was probably the highlight of the day as Owen, a huge Thomas fan and lover of all things large and mechanical, always has his ear out for the train whistle and is eager to rush and see one whenever we're close enough to the tracks when it passes our house.

We left Normal at 7:30 am and arrived at Chicago's Union Station just before 11. We took a cab to the aquarium, bought our tickets, changed a couple of diapers, and grabbed some lunch, which was another highlight because Owen could see the Navy Pier lighthouse (lighthouses are another fascination) from the window.

Maya, meanwhile, was delighted that her favorite restaurant had followed her to the aquarium.

After lunch, Maya threw up on me. Somehow my outfit remained unscathed (carrying her in a wrap on my chest, the cloth I'd put between her and my shirt ended up catching everything), but by the time I got her change and found Amy and Owen downstairs looking at the penguins and the underwater view of the beluga whales, it was clear nap time had come.

Owen was so tired. We watched a bit of the dolphin show and looked at a few iridescent frogs ...

... but that was pretty much the day. He was absolutely exhausted and within 35 minutes he was laid out on a bench.

So I called Amtrak and rebooked our return train to the 5:15 instead of the 7 pm. We looked at a few more fish and, wouldn't you know it, he perked up a bit more in the gift shop.

We packed ourselves up and took a cab to a Whole Foods near the train station, where we bought some gluten free food for Owen to eat on our trip home, as well as some sushi for Amy and me.

Traveling home, we ran out of diapers for Owen and had Maya in just a sweater and pants, as every onesie we'd packed was toast. But the return trip still provided the day's highlight for me.

Owen, like most kids, is fascinated by cabooses, and as far as he was concerned our position in the final car of the train meant that's where we were. As we approached Normal, the crew member who had been sitting behind us opened the back door of the train to look out. I brought Owen back and asked if we could stand outside with him and look at the tracks receding. It was cool out and windy, but the sight of the view disappearing into the horizon was pretty spectacular.

All in all, it was an uneven but entirely memorable day. Fun to go, but also good to be home ...