Oh yeah...

Almost forgot.
We are looking for names for sock monkey...
My current favorite is Harvey...

I am not dead, I am not sick, I am just busy...

Wow, I can't believe how time flies...

So, Josef is growing in leaps and bounds, it is hard to believe that a year ago I got pregnant, with my joking suspicion being that I got pregnant at prom. Josef, ironically, will be one of my dates at prom this year, as will my Schatzy. Yes, I plan to get prom pictures of the three of us. How many babies can say that their first professional pictures was taken at a dance...
I do hope that Josef has a good sense of humor!

Also, my in-laws and some friends have been visiting us for a while. Amazing how time consuming that can be... plus they seem to be under the idea that I speak German much better than I do... and that I understand their dialect to boot! In time I suppose.

I have been looking at a potential school for Josef that offers not only German, but Spanish in an immersion format and that also offers an international baccalaureate...
I may have found one (or rather mama Schatz may have), but I have not heard back from my email to the one Schatzy's mom found for us. I hope I did not delete it thinking it was spam.

My grandmother is in the hospital, she got a strep infection in her knee, which is very unusual. Well, when they tried to treat the infection, her kidneys shut down. She is doing well now and I had a nice two hour visit with her last night.
That is only the tip of the iceberg as far as what is going on, and why I have been sooooooooo absent... though I have checked up on my blog friends out there.


Josef with yet another gift of Austrian hand made candies for me.


Josef and his cousin Jacob.

Josef's first work of art

Josef's first work of art
Originally uploaded by Blair Necessities.

This was something for The Umbrella Project.

Sock Monkey

Josef met his very own sock monkey yesterday, it looks like they just might be friends.

the crud

OK, there should be a law agains mom's being sick at the same time as her husband and children! Or there should be a provision to at least allow them time to go get a "wee bit of the creature".

Malcom update

Malcom Update! This was Josef's room mate in NICU for my new readers!
I am so delighted that we have a tentative baby play date set for sometime this summer!

Josef and I will always be grateful to Malcom and his mommy, because they helped NICU not be so scary. They actually made me laugh loud enough to get in trouble with a nurse for hanging out with them! (Yes, I still feel a bit guilty for being too loud) but it was probably the best sound for the babies that were there (it was not a set up where Josef and Malcom shared a room with just each other, but there were tons of babies in there, I think the room held over 30 beds... usually almost full).
But, I knew about Malcom before Josef went in, so they went down that dark scary road alone, but held a light for us... I am grateful, still.
In some ways those were very dark days for me, though I am sure it was in part because I had such a bizarre pregnancy and was getting used to so much. Malcom was a bringer of light to that experience, in part because he was so good and he had been there for a while...
Oh Malcom, I wish you had not had to show the light, that you had not been premature, but I am so grateful that you were there to make the road so much brighter for Josef.
Thank you little one! I love you!

daddy

daddy
Originally uploaded by Blair Necessities.

sigh
=D

the kiss

the kiss
Originally uploaded by Blair Necessities.

Yet another blurry picture that I like.

Everything they didn't tell me in mommy school

OK, just some things....

I can't believe how much I love motherhood.
Forget the ARMY, motherhood is the toughest job you could ever love.
I could just watch the squink grow every minute of every day...

We are going through another rough patch, sleep-wise.
He has allergies (we had a lot of rain here this year) and I think he might be getting a cold. He is coughing quite a bit... but he continues to smile through all this, those special smiles that babies can give as their precious present to the world, that give people hope that all will be well.

I can't believe how much he is growing... and his personality is great. I think I will be able to really have a great relationship with my son (teen years excluded I am sure) on many levels. I look forward to his adult years when he will have an old lady mom and he is not embarrassed about her anymore when I can sit with him and discuss things like the book his grandmother wrote, the influence of my family on the state we live in, the role his father played in shaping who he is... all sort of deep esoteric thoughts that make being a thinking human so magnificent. Of course, seeing as he is barely 15 weeks old I have a ways to wait and joy's and turmoil's to go through before that can happen.

I am excited about being a mom today, there is so much promise in what he can contribute to the world. My only wish is that he lets me share in his curiosity of life, that he embraces my eccentricities as fun ways to live life with out caring too much about "appearances" things like; it being OK to wear a clown nose when you drive a car around town, you know it is making someone other than yourself smile (I only do this when a clown nose comes in to my life, which has been twice in the last five years).

Saturday

Yes, I really am saving his nail clippings!


I love to rub his eyebrows.

Getting some zzzzzz

I am pretty lucky, my Squink loves to sleep and the only downside is that I usually only get to take pictures of him sleeping!

night time

night time
Originally uploaded by Blair Necessities.

This takes the "right light or angle" to view, but I thought it was a cool picture of Squink!

nail clipping

Went rather well, and he was awake through it to boot!
In our fit of first child nostalgia, we have saved said clippings for his baby book!
Bless my poor son! His mommy is a goofball!

UW Madison

A gift from Cousin Bernhard who studied there and was the first European family member that was able to visit Josef!
Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers...
I just had to paraphrase Blazing Saddles... I have nothing against badgers...

an interactive meme of sorts

I issued a challenge over at Nettie’s place and the challenge was met. I really still want to devote this blog to the bairn… at least for a bit longer. She was willing to humor me...

Nettie's email

OK, I am meeting your challenge! 1. What was the most annoying website you came across during bed rest? 2. What is Josef going to be for his first Halloween? 3. What's the worst kind of diaper? 4. Is Josef going to like banana pudding? 5. If you rearrange the letters in NICU what new words can you get? And the rules are, you post the answers on your site, and when people comment, you ask them five questions and they post the answers. Make sense? Nettie

1. The most annoying website that I came across while I was on bed rest was:
I did not find an annoying website really. As an observer of the human condition who was temporarily removed from joining in with society I found everything to be interesting. This one sorta hurt my feelings, but then I was taking everything way too personally, heck, it is not even about me.

2. Josef will probably be one of the following for Halloween:

• a bee
• a cowboy
• Indiana Jones
• Nothing, I will be to tired to do anything and he would have no clue about what is going on.

3. The worst kind of diaper is the one you don’t get on in time.

4. Josef will like banana pudding and when he gets older he will require chocolate (just like his mom!)

5. NICU can spell
UCIN
UCNI
UINC
UICN
UNIC
UNCI
CUIN
CUNI
CIUN
CINU
CNIU
CNUI
ICUN
ICNU
INCU
INUC
IUNC
IUCN
NIUC
NUIC
NUCI
NCIU
NCUI
However, I am pretty sure none of them are words.

Comments?