A week for watery eyes...

I suppose I can tie this into Justin, but moreso its about me. Today is the tenth anniversary of the death of the Cubs legendary broadcaster Harry Caray. Justin and I spent the last hour or so watching Harry's last game, which also happened to be Ryne Sandberg's last game, an 11-3 Cubs victory over the Phillies. I was telling Justin how great Harry was and finding YouTube clips for him to watch. I still get teary-eyed watching and listening to old Harry clips, which always remind me of those "simpler times", or maybe just of being a kid, which is certainly much better than being an adult. Cars are nice, but Little League is better. The nice this is that in time I get the opportunity to be for Justin what my Dad was for me. I get to throw him hundreds of grounders in the backyard and buy him his first bicycle. I get to buy him the Blackhawks tickets for his birthday. I think I'll defer to Grandpa when teaching him free throws, but maybe down the line I'll build a rink in the backyard and teach him the beauty of the glove save.

Last night we stayed over at my parents house in Crystal Lake and let Justin hang out with Grandma and Grandpa. Tina and I got some much needed free-time. We spent a large part of the night going through Grandpa Lynch's (mom's dad) Word War II scrapbook. It was nice to go back and see all the pictures, but in the end it made me terribly sad that he didn't live a few more months to meet his Great-Grandson. I went to bed last night thinking about his funeral Mass and how I held it together the whole way through, then right when Monsignor Dan turned to leave and the choir started into "On Eagle's Wings" I lost it. I mean just really lost it. I buried my face into Tina's belly and cried uncontrollably because I finally grasped what was going on. Or maybe I understood the whole time and had blocked it out and the dam just burst. It really is one of those cruel things to lose a grandfather months before gaining a son, and even though some people consoled us with the "losing one, gaining another" it just doesn't work that way.

In one final thing, I have been meaning to write something about what happened at my alma mater, Northern Illinois University. Being a teacher, the schools shootings have always been something that we not only see on TV and read about in newspapers, but something we study from all different angles in classrooms. Then something like this happens where there is really no motive whatsoever, and it happens in a place that I am familiar with. I remember getting the first warning email right before I shut down my computer in Barrington and driving home with a very bizarre feeling. I took two classes in Cole Hall when I was at NIU, one in the auditorium the incident happened in. Tina and I sat on Thursday watching the coverage and I kept on pointing out all the landmarks from the helicopter camera view. How many hours I sat there, or walked over the bridge to the Union, or toward Zulauf from the parking deck.

I really am sad about the deaths. I sat and soaked up all the information, waiting for names and motives, hoping that the number would stay at two... then four... then five. I spent many moments fighting back tears when I scroll through the well-wishes and prayers from other colleges on Facebook. Hearing the Huskie Fight Song means so much more now than points scored.

Then I see Justin and he smiles and squeaks or grabs my face and tries to bite my nose and I tear up for reasons completely opposite of everything I just wrote.

So many tears... just one of those weeks I suppose.

Babies R Us is Petland for babies...

You can bring babies into Babies R Us and go shopping with them, just like bringing puppies to Petland. Crazy. Reminds me of the story from Crystal Lake this past weekend where a lady brought her little kids to Petland to run interference on the store clerks while she lifted a Boston Terrier. Got me to thinking that I'll bring Oscar and Bailey to Babies R Us to run interference on the clerks while I steal a breast pump for Tina. Don't tell anyone.

I'm watching the Blackhawks/Canucks game, so bear with me... its tied 1-1 in the 3rd.

The weekend was pretty mundane. We don't do a whole heck of a lot these days. Friday I went to teach and came home. I tried to explain to Justin why we aren't allowed to eat meat on Fridays during Lent but I don't think he really got into it. Of course he doesn't fall under that law because he is under the age of 13, so I told him he should take advantage and have some leftover tater-tot casserole that Grandma Osmun made. Again, he kind of just looked at me in a cross way, grunted, and pooped his pants. Another metaphor for something. I think he's a prophet-of-action... though he knows how to speak in tongues.

Saturday was a rough morning because the boy was finicky. Tina ended up sleeping until well after noon, but I was up early because I'm getting back into "teacher mode". Kendra came over and we watched college hoops for a bit. We talked about teaching, high school sports, and the housing market. It was good to have her around so Tina and I could communicate with someone who knows English for a change. Justin, I am convinced, speaks only in Afrikaans.

The other highlight of Saturday afternoon was the bath. Justin loves the bath. He loves the bath so much he decided to show his excitement by peeing all over me. Then when it was time to get out of the bath, he showed his displeasure by pooping in the tub. I think his waste elimination is his way of communicating emotions to us. I am slowly starting to understand. I told him this was not a good way to communicate with me, because I have much better control of my faculties than he has over his. Again, language barrier.

Saturday night we went to Grandma and Grandpa Osmun's for dinner. Grandma figured out that if she makes chili that Tina will come running no matter how much snow is falling or how hard the wind is blowing. We still haven't put the baby platform in the Escape for the car seat, so we slid up Randall in the Civic to Crystal Lake. We ate chili and watched basketball. I think Justin enjoys sleeping to basketball games as long as it isn't the NBA. The NBA causes bowel movements in both of us. Especially as Bulls fans.

Sunday was church day. Justin decided that he didn't need scripture or a homily today and proceeded to feed through much of the Liturgy of the Word. He decided to cry through the Preparation and Eucharistic Prayer, but when we started walking for Communion, he paid attention. Fr. Geoff blessed him and he seemed to be mesmerized by the lights and stained glass. I don't even know if he can see that far, but I thought he was really into it. We stopped by the font and did a mini-blessing on our way out because Justin loves water. After Mass we were supposed to head out to Rockford for Tina's Rite of Election with Bishop Doran. Fr. Geoff decided that it was far too cold (-3°F) to caravan up I-90, which was good because I forgot the I-Pass at home. So instead we went to Wienerville and got cheese fries. I suppose we could have had Beef-a-Roo if we made the trip to Rockford, but this was fine as well and we didn't need to spend money on gas.

That reminds me, gas is going for $2.93/gal at the 66 station on the corner of Randall and Algonquin, so if you're in the LITH/Algonquin area, thats where you're going to want to go. its the only place I've seen it under $3.00 and I'm now kicking myself for not stopping on the way back from CL.

Lets see... oh yeah, so we came home, I took a nap (a.k.a. cheese fry coma) and then we trekked out to Schaumburg and went to Babies R Us. Nice store, nice people.

So that is the weekend roundup. Next weekend we are having a "Meet the Baby" for the HS friend crew. Should be good.

The Blackhawks just scored late, so I am going to watch the last four minutes and hope they hold on.

Godspeed!



*next morning edit*

Naturally, the Blackhawks gave up the game-tying goal with a minute left in the game and then lost the shootout. I thought this was going to be the season they got over the hump, but apparently they had other ideas. I think they are purposely losing because Tina and I haven't gone to a game yet this year. If thats how its going to be, fine. Be that way. I don't care if you lose a million games, jerks. No Blackhawks will be invited to my birthday party.

Baby Ducky, You're the One

Justin had his first bath on Monday. Luckily for us, he likes baths MUCH more than tummy time. No screaming, no thrashing, no tsunamis...just squeaks of delight. Yes, Justin is a little squeaker. He pretty much sounds just like a dog toy. He squeaks while sleeping, while pooping, and I guess now while bathing. It's pretty entertaining to be watching a movie with Bill and to hear a totally random squeak coming from the bassinet. Anyways, we were very happy to finally be able to bathe him on his 2 week anniversary of being alive. He was starting to get a little gamey. The sponge baths weren't cutting it. He also entered "snake mode" recently, starting to shed his first layer of skin. I guess babies do this during their first month because they were so used to being soaked in amniotic fluid and their skin needs to learn how to breathe. Scarily, this reminds me of Bull Durham, which Bill has made me watch more times than imaginable, with the whole "breathe through your eyelids" thing. The bath helped reduce his flakiness, so that's good. Here's a picture of Justin post-bath. I wanted to take some pictures of him in the bath, but then felt like the mean mom who would be busting out the naked baby pictures 15 years from now to entertain his future girlfriend. So, I decided to take some nice censored photos instead. Now I'm kind of regretting not capturing the first bath on film. Maybe next time I won't feel guilty. :-)


I also found another great picture of him with his Grandma Osmun from last week in Bill's photo archives I think you will enjoy.