Vicarage Placement

By now, I think most of our readers know that Michael was placed at St. John's Lutheran Church in Chester, IL.
While it is a MUCH smaller town than either of us are used to, we are both very much looking forward to it. The vicarage itself seems wonderful and the town looks lovely and (I think) quite interesting. We are very excited about the year we will spend there.

What a pious little boy...

So Brendan's new word is "amen". He pronounces it "AHHHH-main". He says it quite often, too. Sometimes even at the end of prayers. Sometimes during quiet parts of church services. Mostly just at completely random moments throughout the day. And usually many, many times in a row.
He learned to fold his hands a few days ago. I was really impressed with that as we had never even tried to show him how to do that. I happened to glance at him during bedtime prayers a few nights ago and he had his hands folded. As soon as he saw I was looking, he stopped. But since then he folds his hands at least at the beginning of every prayer.

More!

Today I taught Brendan the sign for 'more'. Actually, I started teaching it to him yesterday and he caught on today. He's incredibly proud of himself. Every time he did it he started clapping!

Here we come Platteville, Wisconsin!

Apostles Lutheran Church, Platteville, Wisconsin, Here we come!

The week before vicarage assignments, the outbound vicars get together at the seminary and throw darts at a map of the United States. This is done to "tell the vicarage/placement office where you want to go". There is a competition to see who is the closest to their assignment and who is the furthest from their assignment. It's all fun and games, nothing serious. My dart landed on Platteville, Wisconsin. We'll see on Tuesday night how close (or far) I am from my actual assignment.

A very helpful big brother!

Brendan has been quite "helpful" of late. Besides trying to help change Luke's diapers by tugging on the buttons of his shirt and then wiping him down (clothes and everything) with baby wipes. Yesterday, he took an empty water bottle (one of Brendan's favorite toys) and was holding it up to Luke's mouth so that he could take a drink. He also took one of his toy cups and a fork that he had taken from the dinner table and pretended to feed Luke whatever was in the toy cup. It was cute because he even made sure to scrape it out like Mama and Daddy do when they feed Brendan something. Today, he also took turns talking on the mouse with Luke. Brendan talked for a bit then put it next to Luke's ear, then back and forth.


When Luke is fussy, one of us will try to offer him our pinky to suck on, since he doesn't take a nuk. Today, Kira got this picture of Brendan helping to calm Luke down by offering Luke a taste of a Brendan finger.


Here is a different angle, but it looks slightly more violent to me. For some reason the other one looks much more gentle and this one looks like Brendan is jamming his finger in Luke's mouth (maybe that is what happened).


Brendan has also helped with entertaining Luke by demonstrating the toys for him.

We are still here, tired and everything. We're all looking forward to the vicarage placement service next week. Tomorrow, we have the dart toss to tell the placement office where we want to go. The closest and furthest darts from their placement receive prizes! I would aim for Mongolia, but it's just a map of the US.

Happy Easter! (from michael)

Brendan has been getting more and more helpful lately. Lately, he has been trying to change Luke's diaper. He'll tug on Luke's outfit and then use baby wipes to wipe the outside of the diaper and Luke's tummy. Hopefully, he'll start doing diapers in no time.


Brendan has also been sharing some of his toys. Yesterday, he even shared his mouse with Luke and let him use it as a telephone. Brendan held it up to Luke and then Brendan proceeded to have the conversation for him. It was so adorable!


Kira went to the store on Saturday and picked up a stroller that her mother was getting for us. Brendan really likes it a lot. I'm surprised how much he likes crawling in it and pushing it around. I haven't seen him this excited in a while.


I guess Brendan was hinting that he wants a bunny, or he was feeding his pretend bunny (or pretending to feed the bunnies that live in our yard?). He took his straw cup upside down and kept shaking it a bit so a few drops came out at a time.


Last night, we all went to the Easter Vigil service at church. It started at 7pm and went until about 9pm. I'm not sure how, but Brendan survived it awake (Bedtime is usually just after 7pm). Luke did fine too, but as long as he has Mama, he's fine.


He was very tired when we got him home, until Daddy took off his socks and shoes. He perked up a lot after that (although you can't tell in the picture very well). He seemed to get some of the energy back until bedtime.


Since Mama is under the weather, Brendan split dinner with Daddy. This is a picture of his first pasty. We'll have to record this in his baby book. This is a passage of rite for any quarter-blooded Finn. Hopefully we'll get him his first sauna soon too.
Oh, and don't worry! Although Brendan is full of sisu, we would never impose Lutefisk (a.k.a. lipeäkala) on him.


Luke has been pretty good today. He curled up with Kira a couple of times and I'm sure that helped to cheer her up.



Brendan has rediscovered the baby swing. He climbed up in it today and rocked himself back and forth.


A blessed Eastertide to all! I pray this the day of our Lord's Resurrection would bring you and your's peace.

Happy Easter

I have the flu. Michael has been wonderful though, taking care of the boys for me.
Today Brendan started using a new sign. Change. He's known it for awhile, but today he used it to ask for a diaper change. I was feeding Luke on the couch when Brendan sat down on the changing pad, laid down, pulled his shirt up and looked at me. I asked if he wanted a change and he responded with the sign. Well, his version of the sign. I was sooo proud of him!
If I'm feeling well enough tomorrow, Brendan may be getting his first hair cut. I think I've put it off as long as I can.

Rediscovering old toys

Brendan has been rediscovering his old toys. We have been taking them out for Luke, but Brendan still likes to get in on the fun.

Here is another example with the activity gym.

Then 05/11/05: Here is Brendan playing under the gym almost a year ago.

Now 04/12/06: Here are these two from yesterday. Brendan was crawling in and out and up and down the activity gym and even crawled through the one side. He's such a goof.




Then 04/17/05: Although Brendan could reach the toys to make them make noises, he found it more fun to kick the side to make them rattle enough to make noise and play some music.

Now 04/12/06: This is the closest picture that we got to catching him in the act. Just after this picture he kicked out his legs to shake the gym to make it make noise. He's a goof, but a cute goof.




Then 01/23/05: Daddy fell asleep holding the sleeping baby Brendan.


Now 04/10/06: Daddy fell asleep holding the sleeping baby Luke. I mean, Daddy was checking his eyelids for leaks.




When I was little, I remember teasing my father about falling asleep on the couch, in a chair, etc. Now I'm starting to realize more and more by the day that my ole man was pretty smart after all. Who would have thought?
While I'm at it... No Dad, I still don't know what I was thinking. Yes Dad, I did think that money grew on tress. Speaking of which, where can I get one of those money trees? I'm starting to learn that "Dad always pays" applies to me too.


Just so everyone knows, Brendan is doing great. He resumed his duties as daredevil before bedtime on Tuesday night (he didn't learn his lesson) and took over where he left off on Wednesday.

Luke is still doing great. He and Mama are sleeping right now.

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Update 04/13/06 @ 11:11PM: I witched the pictures back to "normal." I hosted them off of the new standfest.biz domain because of the hosting problems with standfest.org. Unfortunately, standfest.biz was just registered on Monday, so not all ISPs' DNS servers would have updated so everyone could access them. Within a week tops, the standfest.biz should be available to all.

I spoke with my father this morning and since he liked the previous picture so much...

Goodnight Dad! (and Brendan from 12/25/04)

Brendan is ok

We had a little scare today. Brendan fell and bumped his head. We called the doctor and she told us to take him to the ER for a CT. He's ok. We just need to keep an eye on him overnight and tomorrow. Four or so hours later when we finally got home, the first thing Brendan did when we got home was to find Luke and give him a kiss. It was very sweet. I guess that was his way of making sure Luke knew everything was ok?!

Brendan is starting to try and "help out" more with Luke. This afternoon Kira was starting to change Luke's diaper and Brendan got a wipe and started tugging on the buttons on Luke's outfit (to take them off like Mama and Daddy do). They are both such sweet boys.

Picture troubles..

Our web hosting company has had some major issues this past week. As a result, the pictures on this page and the http://standfest.org/pictures page haven't been loading most of the week. I am working on fixing this problem and should have it resolved by the end of the week.


The reason Brendan is upset in this picture is because our web hosting company stinks!

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Update 04/10/06 @ 10:09PM: If you are unable to reach the album, visit http://standfest.biz/pictures.

Where's Brendan?

Where did Brendan go? I was taking some pictures of Kira and Luke today on the couch. They looked so cute. Brendan let me take one picture and saw the camera and came running over. I guess he had to be in the picture too.

After seeing Mama and Luke curled up, I thought that I would give it a try. He's very cuddly and it was nice to lie down and take a break.

Brendan decided to come over and give me a very drooly kiss. It was cute. He's also been giving Luke more kisses lately.

Here is Luke curled up in an afghan because Brendan spilled his sippy in the swing. Luke didn't seem to mind very much.

I guess this is Brendan's editorial comment on how much sleep we have been getting lately. Normally, Brendan is in the pack and play first thing in the morning for his Baby Einstein movie while I get ready for the day. This morning I found Brendan curled up with his Teddy, sucking his thumb and asleep.

Similarities? Who knows...

So far I have survived this week, but one day to go. Exams are over, back to lectures for a day and then I'll have a week off for Spring Break!

I've been looking back at Brendan and trying to find some similarities between him and Luke, so far I have found a few pictures that are alike.

Then, 01/15/05: Here is Brendan sitting on Mama.


Now, 04/04/06: Here is a similar picture with Luke sitting on Mama.


Then, 01/05/05: Here is Brendan first picture with the activity gym. He really liked playing with it.


Now, 04/06/06: Here Brendan is still playing with the activity gym in Luke's first picture with it.


Brendan is doing pretty good. He is still getting used to Luke and the idea of "gentle touches." He's doing a pretty good job of it, much better than I would have thought since Brendan is only 15 1/2 months old.


The force [in his neck] is strong with this young one.

Luke is still being his cute, adorable, cuddly self.

We're still sleep deprived. Good night!

Kiss, kiss!

This morning I had Luke lying across my lap for a little bit and Brendan came over to say hi to him. He does that alot, I guess he's waiting for Luke to say hi back. Then he did the sweetest, cutest thing! He leaned over and gave Luke a kiss! He gave him probably four kisses before running off to play and later he came back to give him another one. It made me so proud of him to see him being so sweet to Luke. He's not always the most gentle with his little brother, but he sure does love him.

You Know You're A Parent When... #2

You put a t-shirt in the washing machine and find a wooden piece of your son's railroad track drop out into the washer with it.

The kid are doing well. Brendan is teething, but everything else is going well with the kids.

Mom and Dad are sleep deprived. I guess there is only so long you can go before it sets in. Good thing next week is Spring Break.

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately. This week is my mid-terms and I need to spend time studying for the exams. Towards the end of this week and into next week, I will be sure to post again.

You Know You're A Parent When... #1

...You pick up a pile of dirty laundry and your son's yellow rubber ball falls out of it.
I know he was playing with the ball earlier today, and the pile of laundry has been there all day, so he must have put the ball into the pile at some point. Why?