Climbing back on the blogging bandwagon

Hi, all,

"Where's the buddy boy? Where did he go?" I occasionally put my baseball cap on Ben's head and then ask him that. Maybe you've been asking the same question about me. Or not - "huh, did you go somewhere? Didn't notice..." Yes, as a matter of fact, we did. We went home (Minnesota) for a couple months and then came back. Took a hiatus from everything. If you don't know why already, you soon will.

So I fell off the blogging bandwagon, but now I'm crawling back on. And there's so much to report!! Where to begin? Well for those in the know, you know there really is only one place to begin:

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We had a baby! Meet Genevieve Eliana, born December 10th, 2008 in St. Paul Minnesota, at the same hospital where Ben was born. 8 lbs, 4 oz.

Yes, the name is kind of a mishmash and a mouthful, but that's what happens when both parents have an idea for the first name. I liked Genevieve because it sounds like "Geneva" and "St Genis" and it's French and it sounds lovely. Plus then her first name can rhyme with her brother's. K liked "Eliana" because it sounds lovely too and reminds us of our favorite babysitter, and it means "My God has answered." Finally, the possibilities for nicknames are numerous. "Gen" or "Genna" (with a j sound), "Evie", "the Vievester", "Ellie", "Ana", "Lia", "Hey you", "Whatchername"...


Her birth was amazingly fast once the labor started. From start to finish it was one hour and 37 minutes. We think it's because of the instant oatmeal and pop tarts K made for her breakfast that morning.

Staying at my mother's house was actually the best thing we could have done. Thanks Ma for all the assistance with the kids, we couldn't have done it without you.

Since we've gotten back here we find that Gen is growing rapidly.

We've been told that, like Ben, Gen is in the 97th percentile for weight and height at her age. We grow 'em big. We're not going for the whole basketball team, though, I think we'll just stop at pairs tennis. Together we can call them the Beegees...

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Ben for his part certainly didn't know what to make of this new addition, at first. He was dismayed to find he was no longer the only noisemaker in the household.

But slowly he's grown accustomed to her crying, as long as it gets taken care of with some modicum of alacrity. He seems to understand that one must be gentle with the baby. And for her part Gen loves watching Ben and his antics. He's easy entertainment for her. Or is it the other way around?

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Both the kids did fabulously on our plane rides back - hoo boy, that's a story unto itself. Where Ben was terrified of takeoffs and landings on the way home, this time he handled them like a pro. Yep he was reading the Journal, Starbucks coffee in hand, and ignoring the safety instructions just like all the rest of us.

When we got back people also noticed how much Ben had grown as well in his absence. And that he's much more mobile. His level of mischief has elevated about 2-3 feet off the floor. Now he defenestrates the video shelf two up from the bottom, as high as he can reach. He managed to pull a glass off the counter and shatter it. So now we have an accordionable plastic garden trellis that we use to block his path into the kitchen and it works like a charm.

And to our great surprise he has picked up a couple of hand signs (he watches a "Signing Time" video twice a day) and a couple of words too! He knows what "eat" means, and when it's mealtime he pulls himself up to standing by the dining room table and says "eeeeeat!" several times.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

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By delivery day K had reached the dimensions of a small house (for her sake I shall not post pictures, you know where to find them), so she was very glad to finally get it over with and "get her body back".

K of course has her hands full with two now; both of us do. I help when I can in the mornings and evenings, but during the day K has them both to herself. She still manages to get Ben to his therapies, and she takes him to the CERN Toddler's Club (what I like to call "Toddler's Anonymous"). But I think you can tell from the videos that she loves to see progress in the little ones' lives, and she likes being a mommy. She compares notes with the other mommies at church.

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As for myself, the break was welcome, and it sure was wonderful to connect again with family...

and with old friends...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
I liked the way we arranged our travel this time. Stay overnight in Philly both coming and going, separate the international from domestic travel that way. Aside from Ben's initial terror, the flights back home were largely uneventful. Our return flight to Philly, on the other hand: not so routine. Times are estimated, the airline is Northwurst:

• 9:00a.m. - arrive at the airport in Minneapolis on one of the coldest days of the winter - sunny and subzero (Fahrenheit) temperatures. Find out that our flight was cancelled and replaced with another flight leaving at the same time (~10:00) -okay...apparently there had been a 7a.m. flight that was canceled and they needed a bigger plane to accommodate the extra people.
• 9:45 a.m. - told that the airplane door cannot be opened. They have to call the mechanics.
• 10:15 a.m. - Mechanics got the door open, say the plane is okay for travel. I think to myself: "keep those mechanics around, because the door won't close." However, the crew we had is no longer "fresh" so they have to get a new captain and we have to wait.
• 10:45 a.m. - We're told the captain is looking for a parking spot so they can board us now. We board the plane.
• 11:30 a.m. - They've gone through the checklist and tried to close the door and it won't close, surprise surprise. They have to call the mechanics again. Meanwhile the door has to remain open with this frigid air coming in; fortunately we're in very the back row.
• 12:15 p.m. - Turns out this bigger airplane came straight from the repair shop, and they used the wrong part on the door, a "left" where there should have been a "right". They have to get another part...By this time I've called my in-laws, as we had arranged to be picked up at 1:30 p.m. EST in Philly by K's sister, who was driving all the way from Harrisburg.
• 1:00 p.m. - Well they tried another part on but it wouldn't fit. They have no idea how long at this point it would take to get the right part. At this point they're saying "Our reservation number is 1-800-225-2525, or you can speak to an agent about booking another flight." Half the people get off the plane.
• 1:15 p.m. - They decided that this plane will not be used at all today, so everybody off the plane. We gathered our kids and our stuff and got back off the plane; thankfully we got our double stroller back. Turns out that they were getting another plane of the same type (also had been sitting on the tarmac overnight) at the next gate over, and the estimated time of departure was 2:00 p.m. My sister-in-law called as we were getting off and we told her what was going on. Then we scurried to Quiznos and grabbed lunch.
• 1:45 p.m. - They board the new plane and hand us $100 vouchers per ticket for the next time we fly as compensation for our trouble.
• 2:00 p.m. - Once we're boarded they tell us that, once again, we have no captain. We have a first officer who's starting the checklist, but we need a new captain.
• 2:30 p.m. - We're told the captain is making his way through security, so hold tight.
• 3:00 p.m. - We're told by the captain that, unfortunately, there's a problem with the radar display so there's additional paperwork they have to file, so sit tight. By this time, they had turned up the heat in the plan to the blast furnace setting, and Gen woke up and started crying because she was too hot. Turns out one of the stewardesses (excuse me: "flight attendants") up front had turned up the heat because she had been sitting on the old plane right in front of the door that couldn't be closed, with her skirt and high heels. K invited her to sit back in the cabin with the rest of us, since there were more than enough seats and heat, but for some reason (rules and regulations?) she insisted on sitting once again up front with a blanket wrapped around her legs. They turned the heat back down.
• 3:40 p.m. - They finally pushed away from the gate. I pushed the send button on a text message to my sister-in-law I'd composed long before, saying, "see you in 2+ hours" and turned off my cell phone...
• 4:45 p.m. - the sun is setting and they're finally done de-icing the plane! Had to get all that snow off that was crusted on the plane from chilling on the tarmac overnight. We take off...
• 6:00 p.m. - midflight they decided to turn the heat back on, and despite K's protestations, they do not turn it back off. They came down the aisle with our snack boxes, still charging $5.00 for each (!!!) but I knew that if we asked they would give it to us for free, and so we got two that way.
• 8:00 p.m. EST - we land at Philly and find K's sister and nephew, who had been waiting at the airport for seven hours. They couldn't leave because they kept bumping the expected arrival time by an hour or so each time.
• 9:30 p.m. - we've got the bags in her van and gassed up for the trip back to Harrisburg (~2 hours).
• 11:30 p.m. - Ben can't take it any longer and melts down. Sure took him a long time, but the kid was already 2+ hours past his bedtime and didn't have his full nap anyway.
• 12:00 midnight - we arrive at our destination. As soon as we get Ben out of the car he recovers.

All told, the total transit time actually exceeded the total transit time from Philly to our apartment in France, which, once again, was mostly uneventful, although I've decided I don't like Heathrow much. They take your stroller away, they don't have luggage carts, and they don't let you use wheelchairs; and as soon as you step off the plane, you're in an unsecure zone so you have to go through security again even though you're in the same terminal.

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Enough for now, I'll save the CERN update for the next entry...

Take care,

-PKBGD