Tag Archives: michele

Some important kid milestones

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I keep forgetting to mention some important kid milestones that have happened lately. A few weeks ago while staying at her parents’ house, Michele managed to finally convince Brinley to give up using a pacifier. This is big news because Maddie (our puppy) loves eating pacifiers and we only had one pacifier left for Brinley to use. It’s great to not have to keep track of pacifiers for her and to ensure that we have one on hand wherever we go. Cohen’s the only way with a pacifier now.

Another big milestone occurred yesterday when Michele gave Cohen his first haircut. He looks really cute with shorter hair. He is growing up so fast. Many people assume that he and Brinley are twins. He is a big kid, very strong and physical, but with a generally happy disposition.

I think that the next big milestone will be getting Brinley potty-trained. I can’t wait for the time when there will be no more dirty diapers. While I’m dreaming, why not long for the day when we can get rid of one of the three — yes, count ‘em, three — car seats!

Father’s Day present

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Last weekend Michele and I went with the kids to some nearby garden centers to look for hanging baskets for the front porch. We found a place called Ritchie’s Greenhouse near Muncie that had fantastic plant stock, some of the nicest I have ever seen. And, just about everything was on sale. Needless to say, I got pretty excited. To my surprise, Michele also got excited and told me to just go ahead and purchase whatever I liked. I’m like a kid in the candy shop when it comes to garden plants! We settled on four beautiful hanging baskets filled with apple blossom begonias, each mixed with spike plant and cascading ivy for contrast. We also bought several large-sized perennials such as daylilies, delphiniums, russian sage (I’ve always wanted one of those!), and lupines. I love lupines because they remind me of the South Island of New Zealand where they grow in wild profusion in the foothills of the Southern Alps, near Mt. Cook. (Anyone who has seen the recent Lord of the Rings movies will remember the gorgeous mountain scenery in the movies. Those scenes and backdrops are mostly the Southern Alps of New Zealand.) We also bought some annuals like spider flower (cleome) and some lovely wave petunias.

On the way home, with a van full of plants, I was on a “high.” That’s when Michele told me, “Guess what, that’s your Father’s Day present!” What a great idea!

From ER to Green Bay

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We spent part of this weekend travelling to a wedding in Green Bay, Wisconsin. On our way there we stopped at my in-law’s in Illinois. We shopped briefly at a local Target to get some things for the trip, and Brinley fell against the edge of the shopping cart and split open her head. She was bleeding all over the place and we rushed her to the nearest emergency room. The wound in her head required five stitches. It was pretty rough to watch her going through this whole thing but she actually seems none the worse for it all. The wound is healing nicely and she should have her stitches out later this week. Michele and I hope she doesn’t have much of a scar.

The wedding was for one of my wife’s cousins. It was a great time, I really admired the bride and groom for the emphasis on Christ throughout the ceremony as well as the reception. E.g. in lieu of the traditional clanging on glasses to get the bride and groom to kiss during the reception, they asked that people come up to a microphone and share their testimonies. It was good to see quite a few of Michele’s father’s side of the family.