Do you ever feel incredibly busy, yet also feel like you are not getting anything done?  That describes my life the past couple of weeks.  The boys are doing great, but there is just so much more work with two.  A friend described it this way: with one child, the parents are able to employ a “double coverage” defense; with two you go to “man to man”; and once you have three or more you go straight to a “zone/prevent” defense.  Really, we’ve been doing great, but it just takes us twice as long to get anything done.

Dad was able to make it out for a long weekend a few weeks back (you may recall me saying something about the Eagles!!!) 

We had a great time relaxing and explored Lookout Mountain a bit.  We took a ride on the Incline Railway, the steepest passenger railway in the world.  Jonathan loved it (surprised?) and everytime we drive by it at the bottom of the mountain he has to look for “that new fun train.”  He’s really been quite a trip lately.  Though he is going through a bit of a whiny/needy phase, he just says and does some of the funniest things.

We’d really like to video some of the things he does, because they are much more hilarious when they are caught in the act, rather than described in words.  Just yesterday I gave him a little bag of Cheezits and he offered one to me.  Then he kind of held his hands out, palms up, and said in an apologetic voice, “They’re all squares, Daddy.  There aren’t any rectangles.”  I tried not to be too disappointed, as rectangular cheesy crackers do taste much better than the boring square ones, but I managed.

Jonathan is also starting to give up his afternoon naps.  Which he is not allowed to do, because afternoon nap time is also known as “halftime” in the aforementioned game of parenting.  We’ve told him that if he doesn’t want to sleep that he can bring some books into bed to read, but he needs to be in there by himself for a while every afternoon.  Normally we’ll here him playing with some cars or trains on the bed and telling one of them not to be mean to the other one or they will have to go sit in the naughty spot.  I took the following picture when I went in to wake him up from an actual nap.

He had gone down from his bed, went over to his bookshelf and then brought his piggy bank, bulldog paperweight, and a stone polar bear back to his bed, presumably played with them for a bit, and then lined them up looking at him while he took a nap.  Seriously, our child is the strangest kid I’ve ever been around.  It’d be great to have an invisible camerman just follow him around to capture everything, because he turns into such a ham when we turn the camera on him.  He gets loud and starts speaking gibberish and wants to see the video played back on the screen. (Aside: isn’t it unbelievable that kids under 10 don’t even understand the concept of taking a picture, and actually having to wait several days/weeks until finding out what it looked like?)  Anyway, he’s a really good big brother and helper.

Gabe is doing great, he just went for his month/six week checkup and was a whopping 9lbs, 12oz.  Jonathan was 9lbs, 3oz at 2 months.  We’ve got a porker on our hands.  The picture to the left is of Gabe snoozing in Mommy’s arms shortly after giving himself a hickey on his arm.  He’s definitely going to be a thumb sucker when he has the brain power to actually remember where his thumb is and take it out of his fist and get it to his mouth.  He’s been such a good baby though…sleeping pretty good, rarely fussy, eats well.  We think he’s starting to smile, which is encouraging.  When you have a 3 year old who won’t stop talking (seriously, he talks in his sleep), it sometimes feels like nobody’s home upstairs with Gabe.  But he’s starting to interact and it’s fun.

Ahhh. And Rover.  So, I was on my way to WalMart with Jonathan the day Dad was leaving to go get him the new Eagles CD (since, you know, we saw them two days earlier), and as I get down the mountain and am driving on the 45 mph highway, a dog darts across right in front of me, ran into the drivers side door and got clipped under the back tire.  I didn’t know what to do-Jonathan asks me what happened, I said there was a bump in the road, I see the dog rolling around on the road before getting up and limping off.  I couldn’t bear the thought of stopping to scrape the stupid mutt off the highway with Jonathan there, unforgiving because I killed a dog, so I kept going.  I ended up going back–there was actually a Sheriff Deputy right near there (not the nicest part of Chattanooga) who heard from someone who saw it that the dog went home and the owner took him to the vet with what looked like a broken foot/leg.  Sheesh.  No fun.  What would you do-traumatize your son or leave the dog with a death wish to suffer the consequences of his foolish decision?

Anyway, Renee’s mom came down here for a week because I leave tomorrow to go to a Student Development conference in Cedarville, OH.  It will be a great time of hanging out with our staff, being challenged with new ideas, networking, and being around other folks who truly do understand what your job is-even if you can’t succinctly sum it up in a two sentence description.  I’m looking forward to it.

New pictures were added here.

At or near the top of my bucket list since about 1995 has been to go see an Eagles concert with my dad.  Well, a few months back I realized they were going to be in Atlanta shortly after Gabe was born, so I quick called my dad up and said, “Hey, you want to come out in May and meet Gabe and see the Eagles?”  He said yes and I purchased tickets roughly 2 minutes later.  Last night we took off for the new Verizon Wireless Amphiteatre in Atlanta and after finding our way through an unexpected detour because of traffic, we finally made it to the parking lot and took the shuttle over to the Amphitheatre.  Now, it was just time to wait for them to start.

The Eagles are currently out touring in support of their new CD Long Road Out of Eden (available exclusively at Walmart) and they opened with their first single from that album, “How Long.”  They pushed through a couple other new songs from LROOE and then a fantasticly haunting trumpet solo went on for a few minutes.  As the sound slowly faded, there it was–the most distinct B-minor chord in musical history–”Hotel California.”  The crowd, which had been going nuts since the lights darkened right before the concert started, went crazy.  Glenn Frey dedicated “Lyin’ Eyes” to his first wife, also known as “Plaintiff.”  They went through and nailed a bunch more classics and took a brief intermission.

After intermission they planted themselves on the front of the stage on stools a la Hell Freezes Over and went through a few more new songs. They started with their tight harmonies on the new “No More Walks in the Wood” and though I would have preferred “Seven Bridges Road” to highlight their vocal maneuvering, it was impressive nonetheless.  They mixed in some old songs, some new ones, and some from both Don Henley and Joe Walsh’s solo careers.  They ended with “Life in the Fast Lane” and then came out for two encores before the night was over.

It was amazing.  These guys can still bring it.  I couldn’t believe Joe Walsh’s fingers could still move that fast (or that he could remember the songs).  I couldn’t believe Don Henley could still hit those notes.  I couldn’t believe how well guitar player Steuart Smith fills Don Felder’s shoes.  It was a blast.  Dad and I sang along to all the songs (quietly to ourselves, unlike the folks behind us who were determined to hit every note that Don Henley did.  It sounded like cats in heat).  Best concert ever?  I think so…I think I was just in disbelief that I was sitting there on the lawn with Dad listening to the Eagles play for 3 hours.  If ever they should return, I will be there.  With Renee, as she was incredibly jealous of us both.  We tried not to rub it in too hard.  Actually, we didn’t try hard at all.  But she’s a good sport.

Oh, just an FYI.  Running a marathon is also on my bucket list.  I hope to get back on my running routine this week after a couple weeks off.

5 out of 5 stars

Setlist

• How Long
• Busy Being Fabulous
• Don’t Want to Hear
• Guilty of the Crime
• Hotel California
• Peaceful Easy Feeling
• I Can’t Tell You Why
• Witchy Woman
• Lyin’ Eyes
• Boys of Summer (Don Henley)
• In the City
• The Long Run

Intermission

• No More Walks in the Wood
• Waiting in the Weeds
• No More Cloudy Days
• Love Will Keep Us Alive
• Take It to the Limit
• Long Road Out of Eden
• Somebody
• Walk Away (Joe Walsh)
• One of These Nights
• Life’s Been Good (Joe Walsh)
• Dirty Laundry (Don Henley)
• Funk #49 (Joe Walsh)
• Heartache Tonight
• Life in the Fast Lane

Encore #1

• Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh)
• All She Wants to Do Is Dance (Don Henley)

Encore #2

• Take It Easy
• Desperado

At 9:30 am today, April 18th, Gabriel Drew Litscher was welcomed into the world at 7 lbs, 12 oz & 20 inches long.  After months of waiting and praying, Baby Brother was finally introduced to his family.  He’s got a good bit of red hair and the general consensus is that he closely resembles Papa Phil. Renee had an appointment for an induction at 5:00am this morning, so we got up dark and early and made our way down the mountain to the hospital.  By 6:00 she was started on pitocin, by 7:00 she had her water broken, by 8:00 she had an epidural, by 9:00 she was pushing, and after a couple big pushes Gabe made his appearance.

Renee and Gabe are doing great…she feels 20 times better this time than she did after Jonathan, and Gabe has been a good eater and sleeper so far.  Jonathan was SO excited to meet his baby brother and absolutely adores him.  He was so good holding him and stroking his face and giving him kisses.  He wants him to come home to play cars with him Both the boys are doing great and we can’t be more thankful.  Well, enough with the story…here’s the rest of the pictures from Gabriel Drew’s Birth Day!

• Changed layout and style
• Made it more ‘dummy proof’
• Back end redesign to run faster and more efficiently

Some of the future updates I plan on making are

• Add a widget to enable display in sidebar
• Make compatible to pre-WP 2.5 installations
• Make compatible with YouTube.co.uk, etc.
• Other back end changes to enable higher efficiency

So, any thoughts so far? I’m surprised by the number of people who have downloaded it and would like some feedback. Anything you’d like that is missing? Anything you wish was changed? Anybody tweak the css and like it better than how it comes? I’m all ears!

Jonathan was born one week and one day before his due date. Today is one week and one day before baby brother’s due date. We’ve been incredibly antsy and impatient this time around. We were still setting up the crib a few days before Jonathan was born. Now we just look at each other and say, “why won’t this kid come out?” Last Tuesday Renee had a doctor appointment and when the doctor checked her he first said, “My goodness, how are you walking?” Then he said that she was 3-4 cm’s dilated and her membranes (amniotic sac) were “bulging like an old tire about to blow.” Yes, our doctor is a hillbilly.

We were so convinced her water was going to break next time she sneezed we had Renee’s mom fly in on Thursday afternoon. It’s been great since she’s been here, but still no baby. We go in again on Tuesday to see what’s going on.

In other news, I’m back on the wagon again. Running that is. I gained the freshmen fifteen (again) when we moved back onto a college campus and started eating cafeteria food again. The freshmen fifteen quickly turned into 25 and I finally got frustrated with creeping back up towards the weight I was at a year and a half ago. So, no competition this time to get me on a strict diet and exercise routine, but I did make a New Year’s Resolution (in mid-March) to run 500 miles in 2008 or give up watching LOST. You can see the progress in my monthly goals in the red box to the right. So far I’m over 10% done.

Welp, I think that’s it. I’ll be sure to get pictures and info up as soon as baby brother gets here, so keep checking! Thanks for praying we’ll have PATIENCE these last few days! Last belly pics here.

As far as the pregnancy goes, Renee is moving along just fine. We had another ultrasound a few weeks back-I’ve added the pictures to the Ultrasound gallery. She’s 37 3/7 weeks along and the doctor says she can go really anytime now. Everything that needs to be soft is soft and everything that needs to tip is tipped. She’s been at 1cm for the past couple weeks and she’s ready to get going. The baby has dropped some, so she’s pretty uncomfortable and gets up to pee at least 3 times a night. But she’s a trooper and is into a hyper-nesting phase. Everything in the house is clean, it seems like the laundry gets done every other day and she when she sits down to rest she’s antsy to start doing something else. They say once the baby drops and the extreme nesting phase kicks in it could be only a few more days, so we may meet Baby Brother soon! Renee also got her hair cut yesterday. Let’s just say I wasn’t expecting it to be as short as it was and didn’t have a reaction appropriate for a pregnant woman you’ve been married 6 years to. There were tears. The lesson, as always, I am an idiot.

Things at work have been pretty busy for me and will only get busier these next few weeks. Now that RA’s have been hired for next year we have a leadership conference this weekend, we’ve just kicked off the housing scramble (also known as “Get Your Feelings Hurt 2008″), we’re interviewing candidates for open RD and ARD positions and at some point we’ll be having a baby. I sat down and figured out that April 12th would be the best day for that. It’s on the schedule.

And the little rugrat is doing good too. He’s been in a better mood lately-he seems to go in phases these days. He had fun on Easter doing an Egg hunt here at home. Then he got to go to the Aquarium the next day because he had 10 gold sticks. Too hard to explain right now, but he gets a gold stick each day for being a good boy and helping do chores. Once he gets 10 he gets a special treat-it may be a new matchbox car, or a trip to the mall play place, or to the Aquarium to see the fishies.

When giving me a kiss on the cheek when I haven’t shaved in a few days: Ouch! Your face is crunchy.

We were taking his shirt off and putting his PJ’s on and Jonathan wondered what the two spots on his chest where. After being told they were nipples, it was time for bed and we were tucking him in. He said he wanted to feel my face to see if it was crunchy, and then followed with: I want to feel your nibbles.

And: You have big nibbles, Daddy.

Yeah, Renee and I lost it (I didn’t actually let him feel them).  More belly pictures here and some recent pictures from March here.

Unless you’ve been tucked away in a hole the past week, you’ve likely heard (repeatedly) that Green Bay Packer quarterback Brett Favre has retired from the NFL. And unless you happened upon this post by random chance, you know that I am a die-hard cheesehead and, when cut, I bleed green and gold. As such, it’s been a sad week in the Litscher household.

I love football. LOVE it. Early on in my childhood baseball (and the Brewers) had a firm grip on my heart-but there was still plenty of room there for the Packers. After the baseball strike of 1994, it was all football. Nevertheless, I have many memories of the Packers, pre-Brett Favre.

I remember when the Packers where terrible. Awful. When they couldn’t beat anyone and Randy Wright was slinging the ball around.

I remember when we had the second pick in the 1989 draft and we selected a can’t miss prospect-Tony Mandarich from Michigan State. The Packers went on to a 10-6 record that year due to the combination of Coach Lindy Infante, Don Majkowski (The Majik Man!) and Sterling Sharpe.

I remember that all being a fluke. Mandarich did, in fact, miss. Lindy Infante was fine, but no genius. The Majik Man had no other Pro Bowl seasons. A new regime was coming.

I remember arguing with my neighbors about whether or not Sterling Sharpe was the best receiver in the NFL. He sure seemed like it with the new QB slinging him the ball. Some guy name Favre (but it was pronounced Farve). Had a rocket arm but threw a ton of interceptions. The Packers started winning though.

I remember the excitement when Reggie White joined the Packers. Perhaps the biggest free agent ever, it did a lot to show that the Packers were a team on the rise and that Green Bay was a good location for black NFL players. Others followed and the defense improved to match the offense. If only we could get past the Cowboys in the playoffs.

I remember Antonio Freeman’s amazing catch against the Vikings.

I remember the excitement when the Packers made it to Super Bowl, which they went on to win. My junior year of high school. We watched the playoffs at Brigitte’s dad’s house in Mayville. We watched the Super Bowl at ours. I remember going crazy when the Packers scored. I remember jumping up and down with my dad when they won. It was amazing.

I remember them flying through the season and the playoffs the next year. 11 1/2 point favorites over the Broncos. I worked at the movie theater the day of the Super Bowl. We had already indicated that we would be closed for the evening movies, but we had matinée shows. Probably 50 people showed up that afternoon. You should realize, Titanic had opened 2 months earlier. I went to my girlfriends house to watch the game with all of our friends.

I remember Elway’s helicopter dive. And Holmgren letting them score so we could get the ball back. And us not scoring. And just like that, it was over and we lost. There was silence in that basement TV room for a good 10 minutes before we packed up and left.

I remember Holmgren leaving the next year and the forgettable Ray Rhodes season.

I remember living in Chicagoland during college and having to put up with Bear fans…and being thankful we had the Bear-slayer lining up behind center.

I remember when Favre’s dad died and he played the Oakland Raiders on Monday night the following day. I remember him slinging the ball like none other, just trusting that his receivers would bail him out (they did). I remember the Cardinals beating the Vikings while the Packers beat the Broncos on the last game of the season that year…sending the Packers to the playoffs. Mom and Dad and Kati and Josh were out for Christmas and we were screaming in the basement. It was destiny. We beat the Seahawks “We want the ball and we’re gonna score.” We were beating the Eagles…and then came 4th and 26.

I remember 4-12. And everyone saying Favre was done. Will he retire or won’t he?

I remember 8-8. And everyone saying Favre was done. Will he retire or won’t he?

I remember 13-3. And seeing vintage Favre. He wasn’t done. Not even close. I remember the records…they just kept coming. Wins. Touchdowns. Yards. Interceptions (fitting). He took the youngest team in the league and carried them when they couldn’t find an identity. And they carried him too. It was an amazing season. I remember being incredibly jealous that my dad was at the Snow Game against the Seahawks in the playoffs. The stumbling shovel pass. It was amazing.

And, I remember the next week too. The magic just wasn’t there. Favre didn’t come through when we needed him. It just didn’t happen. And that was that.

Everyone thought he’d come back, but I really didn’t. I was already preparing for LAF (Life After Favre) and while I was disappointed he retired, I wasn’t surprised. He just didn’t feel like he could live up to Brett Favre anymore. He felt like after this season, anything less than a Super Bowl win next year would be unsuccessful, and the pressure was too much. He just didn’t want to play anymore. I don’t blame him.

It was a great 16 years. I have had the privilege of watching one of the best NFL players of all time just about every week he played. And I’ll be thankful for that. This post has grown too long for everything I intended to say about him, so I’ll have to continue it in another one (this may be called “therapy” for some ). Anyway, though I’ve seen this all week, I’ll chime in myself.

Thanks for the memories, Brett.

Okay, I’ve done it. They are finally up. Sorry I’ve been such a slacker getting Renee’s belly shots up here. I’ve been badgered enough, and here they are. Also included are a bunch of the pictures from Baby Brother’s ultrasounds. We’re going in for another one next week, so keep checking back. While Renee feels like she’s huge, you still can’t even tell she’s pregnant from behind. Or from the front apparently…we’ve had a bunch of maintenance guys in our apartment this week fixing a few things and after talking with Renee for a few minutes, she turned around to look at something and one of the guys eye’s went wide. He didn’t even know she was pregnant until he saw her profile.

In other news, apparently Jonathan has saved his terribleness for three instead of two. He hasn’t been horrible, but he’s definitely more ornery and strong willed now than he was even a month or so ago. We’re embarking on a new discipline and structure program a friend of ours developed, so we’ll see how it goes. He has been supremely goofy lately though. He now thinks that he and I also have babies in our bellies. At first I thought he was poking fun at the “freshman fifteen” I have put on since coming back to college, but now he believes he has a baby sister in his belly. In fact, he told us the other day that he needed to eat all of his noodles because baby sister was hungry. He also likes to ask random women if they have a baby in their belly. Awkward. Some other quotes from recent days:

Telling the painter in our apartment what he just got done doing: “I just went poopy. It was stinky. Yecchhh!”

Renee and I were introducing ourselves to a Covenant professor at the local pizza joint, and he pipes up and says, “I’m Jonathan and I’m three. I’m not two anymore.”

There were a few others that I’ve now forgotten, but I believe Renee wrote down. Leave ‘em wanting more, right?

We left the day after Jonathan’s birthday and flew right out of Chattanooga to St. Pete/Clearwater airport. It was only a hour and ten minute flight… somewhat of a luxury compared to the 2.5 hour flights we were used to out of Denver. Jonathan was a great traveler and he LOVED every minute of being on the plane. He sat right by the window and never stopped talking the whole time.

Papa and Nanny picked us up and then we drove the hour or so to their park in Frostproof. We had absolutely beautiful weather the whole time we were there… pretty much 80’s and sunny. It was a little toasty for the pregnant mommy at times, but I wasn’t going to complain too much because last year when we went it was 50’s and cold. Jonathan had a great time swimming in the pool at the park and also going in the “hot bath” as he called it. Jack was excited to see us, but I think he may have been a little worn out near the end of our stay from all the lovin’ from Jonathan. Papa and Nanny take such good care of Jack (thank you!!!), and he has gotten used to the slower-paced lifestyle free from a 3 year old.

We were able to do a lot of fun things while we were there (seeing the goats, making OJ with Papa, making brownies with Nanny, swimming, shopping, going to the park and the library, out to eat, etc…) but one of the highlights of the trip for Jonathan was going to Sea World for the first time. He had no clue who Shamu was prior to our trip, but once he arrived at the park he was VERY excited! We watched the sea lion and dolphin shows first and then went to see “Shampoo” after that. Jonathan sat completely still on Papa’s lap (as he did for all the other shows) and laughed with complete glee once Shamu came out and did a big jump. It was so cute! The only part he was very concerned about was when Shamu splashed all the people in the front rows… Nanny and I explained to him that those people wanted to get wet, and then Papa told him that when he gets bigger and comes back with Daddy that Daddy will sit in the Splash Zone with him. He made sure to tell Daddy all about it on the phone that night.

Those of you who know our son well, know that he sometimes gets fixated on some interesting things… Like he has a stinky blankie, he loves goats, he has to run and jump into his bed every night, etc… well, he was very interested in the Park Map. He had to have his own copy and would sit in the stroller and talk about where we had gone and where we should go next. We took home extra maps and the entire rest of the week he would take it out and tell us everything we had seen, including which bridges we had walked over and where we had eaten lunch. He was also very happy about getting his Kid’s Meal for lunch in a Shamu lunchbox. He carried it around the rest of the day at Sea World and is still carrying it around at home. It did get searched in airport security when we were coming home, and he was very concerned that the men weren’t going to give Shamu back. The TSA people did chuckle a little bit to find it full of tractors and matchbox cars.

On our tickets we had gotten a second day free so we went back for a second day just to see the Shamu show again and to see some other things we had missed the first time around.

We had a great time visiting Papa and Nanny… and thank you to them for hosting us for ten days!! Daddy was definitely ready for us to come home and we were excited to see him too. One of my favorite and most precious moments as a mother happened at the airport when we were getting off the plane. I had Jonathan in the stroller and told him to be looking for Daddy… well, he spotted Ken from probably 50 feet away and started calling “Daddy - Daddy- Daddy!” Then as soon as I pushed the stroller to where Ken was, Jonathan was crying big tears down his cheeks and yet laughing all at the same time, still calling his Daddy’s name. It was so special to see his absolute joy and excitement to see his Daddy - who he hadn’t seen for 10 days.

Ken has also been bugging me about writing about the pregnancy… It has gone very well, and I am feeling great. I am still working about once a week and it is nice to stay busy and active. We will be 31 weeks along tomorrow and so things are closing in fast for baby brudder’s arrival. I went about a week early with Jonathan and so my doctor is thinking it will probably be either the same again or a little earlier this time. We are actually a bit more prepared this time than with Jonathan. I think Ken finished Jonathan’s crib and we got it all set up about the week before he was born. The crib is actually ready and waiting this time… and it has been for about a month or so. Jonathan is sleeping in the queen size bed in his room and is very excited to have his big boy bed right next to brother’s bed. Ken has been itching to put up some pictures of my belly so I am sure those will be coming soon.

Well, Ken is giving me grief that this post is longer than anything he has ever posted before so I better wrap it up…. but like I said at the top, it may be awhile before you hear from me again… Ken is very busy the next few weeks with interviewing RA staff for next year… he and the other RD’s have 55 one-hour interviews to do between tomorrow and next week Tuesday. But he is still loving his job and as a family, it has been a great place for all of us. Love to you all!

Here is a link to the rest of the Florida pictures if you are interested.

Had a great weekend. I just barely made it into Chicago before a big snow storm hit…we tried to land three times before the pilot could see enough to put the plane on the ground. Thursday was spent on campus at Trinity Christian College (TCC) for an alumni event, Friday was day long meetings for the Alumni Association Board of Directors and then a banquet that night for the Alumni of the Year awards. Saturday was breakfast with a great friend, Jeremy Junkin and then hanging out all day with Doug and Kim (with whom I was staying) , Keith who flew up from Ft. Lauderdale (and waited a good 45 minutes to complain about the weather), Brian and Matt. Good times (and deep dish pizza) were had by all.

I made it back in time to watch the Super Bowl (I was hoping to see the Packers…grr). ‘Twas a great game and I was excited to see the Patriots choke in the end. After the game I went to ESPN.com to start reading all of the analysis, when I was greeted by a familiar face…in fact, one that I had seen all weekend in Chicago. The Trinity Christian College Troll. There, on the front page of ESPN.com, was the mascot of the school I had just returned from. Great free advertising for a small Christian school in the suburbs of Chicago. The article focused on great, weird, unknown team names for college basketball teams. Was pretty cool to see.

In other news, Renee and Jonathan are having a great time in Florida with her folks. Jonathan is being a good boy and yesterday they all went to Sea World in Orlando. He was so excited to tell me how “Shampoo” splashed the people at the show and Renee said that he was very upset Shampoo did that until he was told that they wanted to get wet. He carried around a Shampoo bag all day and told everyone he met about it. They are down there until next Sunday enjoying the lovely weather while I play bachelor again up here. So far so good, but I’m starting to wish they were around again. It’s okay. I’ll be tough.

It is truly a sickness I have. I won’t walk out of a terrible movie in the theater, I don’t turn off a TV show I’ve never watched before until it’s done, I don’t fall asleep during movies, and I can’t go to bed if I’m enjoying a good book. I just HATE not knowing what comes next (I also NEVER read the ending before I’m done with the book–who does that?). So, after toiling through Don Quixote, it was a welcome relief to read a page turner like The Kite Runner.

The story is written from the perspective of Amir, an American immigrant from Afghanistan. While living in San Francisco in 2001, he receives a phone call that forces him to deal with his past. The story then unfolds on the streets of Kabul in 1975. Amir tells of his father, Baba, the rich, benevolent hulk of a man who is disappointed in his son’s relative weakness. Then there are Ali, the crippled Hazara servant who grew up with Baba and his hare-lipped son, Hassan.

Hassan and Amir are inseparable, even though there was a social stigma of a Pashtun socializing with a Hazara. The boys are around 12 years old and spend time doing the things 12 year old boys do. Reading stories, climbing trees and fighting kites take up most of their leisure time until the day of the kite fighting tournament. After competing in the tournament, both Amir and Hassan’s lives change forever when Amir betrays Hassan in a frighteningly cruel way. Shortly after this the Russians invade Afghanistan and Amir and Baba flee to America.

The story continues in America with Amir marrying and living a relatively normal life as an author until he receives that phone call from Pakistan in 2001. He goes to visit his father’s old friend who tells him of “a way to be good again.” Amir’s quest for redemption takes him to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan where through a couple of convenient twists of fate, redemption comes.

I am a sucker for redemption storylines. My favorite movies are Braveheart, Good Will Hunting, and Shawshank Redemption. The books I’d have to take on a deserted island: Les Miserables, The Lord of the Rings, and The Chronicles of Narnia. The Kite Runner is very well done, gives a great picture of what Afghanistan used to be like before it was thrust into the national news, as well as a disgusting picture of what it was during the Taliban’s rule. Some of the later coincidences may test the novel’s believability, but all in all, it was a great read.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Jonathan turned three on Tuesday and had a great birthday party. We invited a bunch of friends from the college and our new neighbors, the Owens’, and partook of a fantastic cake Renee made with Kelli’s mom. Seriously, it was gorgeous. Check out the pictures here. Anyway, Jonathan had a ton of fun, though he made sure to point out to everyone that even though his party was on Monday, he “was still 2, he’s not 3 yet.” He finally turned 3 on Tuesday and spent the night sleeping in the big queen-sized bed in his room. And didn’t fall out…which is a miracle the way he sleeps. Then he got to go on a plane on Wednesday, is hanging out with Papa and Nanny and Jack now and is going to Sea World in a few days. I don’t know if he’s had a better week before.

Renee and I also had a little bit of a start when we realized that Baby Brother will be coming in about 10 weeks. Sheesh, that seems awful soon. I don’t know if it was the stress of the first trimester, but it really seems like this pregnancy is flying by. Jonathan still wants Baby Brother to come out now, and I think Renee is starting to be about ready as well. In fact, she could probably write about how everything is going herself, but might need a little encouragement. So, if you’re getting sick of hearing from me about everything, why don’t you go ahead and start badgering Renee to start posting on here.

“I want to watch a movie right now, Daddy. Do you want to sit in the naughty spot? You don’t want to do that.”

Jonathan has apparently heard several variations of this phrase recently, and tried to see if they worked the same on Daddy as they did on him.

A few more of our favorites from the past few months:

While sitting on the potty, taking his time…

Daddy: “What are you doing Jonathan?”

Jonathan: “Just looking at my penis.”

When we told him he was going to have a cake for his birthday…

Mommy:  “You’re going to have a Thomas cake for your birthday!”

Jonathan:  “That will be AMAZING Mommy!”

And during Christmas season when we would read the story of Jesus’ birth every night…

Jonathan: “I want Baby Brother to come now.”

Mommy: “Baby Brother needs to get bigger now. What do you want Baby Brother’s name to be?”

Jonathan: “Baby Jesus.”

We’re pretty sure it’s not heretical if it comes from a two-year old.