Almost 1!

I can hardly believe that Shane will be ONE this week - where has the year gone? I am going to try and post some pictures on his birthday so I will leave most of the reminiscing for the 10th, but WOW I can't believe my little man is going to be one! In some ways, I feel like he has been here forever & I wonder how I ever lived without him. In other ways, it feels like he was just born yesterday!
Anyway, on to life since I last blogged! Well, I have been crazy busy with my editing work. I am counting down the days until I am done - mid April! I can't wait to have nothing to do but take care of Shane and the house! We are also busy planning Shane's birthday bash next weekend & enjoying the thaw outside!
We celebrated Dan's Dad's 75th birthday last Saturday - his birthday was Monday, but the party was Saturday! We all met at a restaurant and had a great time. Shane loved hanging out with his family and he especially loved the cake! The food was delicious and it was great to see family! Here are some of the many pictures from the day. I had trouble with the lighting in the room - it was dim so the pictures either have us all with devil eyes or they are dark. Aunt Jeannie gave Shane some garlic toast and he LOVED it! Here you can see Jack and Grandma Carolyn, Shane chomping away, Megan, Bill & Liam, & Danny & Tommy.





This next set of photos includes the birthday boy - Grandpa Bob & Colleen, a picture I love of Shane & Dan, Grandpa Bob & Uncle John, Great Aunt Margaret & Great Aunt Bernadette, & Uncle John & Great Aunt Geri.





And then there was cake!!! As you can see by the three pictures of Shane - he likes to eat. He especially likes cake! He ate his whole piece and half of mine! You can also see a picture of Uncle Bob and Jack and Grandpa Bob relaxing after his big meal!





And more pictures! Here are Grandpa Bob and Grandma Carolyn by themselves and with their favorite grandson (It's my blog - I get to say that), Colleen, Jack & Shane, Grandpa Bob with his 3 sons & Aunt Jeanne & Megan discussing all of the great gifts Grandpa Bob got!





This is the last round of party pictures! Here is Grandpa Bob with his sister and sisters-in-law, and all of his grandchildren - plus one great grandchild (Liam), Liam by himself (how cute is he!) and finally a picture of Dan & his mom!




The party was a great time! Shane loves his grandpa very much & can't wait for his next birthday (and more cake!)
Last weekend I realized that February was almost over - I know, no great shock - and I had no outside winter pictures of Shane in the snow. With the weather starting to thaw and our winter wonderland melting faster than a popsicle in the summer, we got Shane outside ASAP. The poor little guy was thrown in wet snow and asked to smile. He liked it enough and we got a few good pictures of his first winter.



In other news, I think Shane truly is starting to think he is a dog! His new trick, taught to him by Thunder, is to carry his toys in his mouth as he crawls! Here are the pictures I took of my little puppy!


On Tuesday Shane's buddy Augie came over to play! The boys have a great time together& play so nicely. Augie is 15 months and walking up a storm. I told him he needed to teach Shane to walk & he's working on it!

Here Shane is sharing! Mommy likes to see that!

And here is is trying to use Augie to help him stand up! If you can't lean on your friends, who can you lean on?

Here is just one of Shane looking adorable!

Dan came home from work on Tuesday with a box of 4 brownies from an amazing bakery for Shane! The teachers at Dan's school are so amazing to us! Another teacher had books for Shane's first birthday! Anyway, back to the brownies. We froze 2 - Shane can only eat so many and I did not want to eat them myself! Shane LOVED the brownies! Between the birthday cake last week, the brownies, and the ice cream we got him yesterday at the train restaurant, he is more than ready for his birthday cake! He has a sweet tooth just like mommy and daddy! The pictures show different outfits because he had brownies 2 nights in a row! The first night he had brownie in the middle of his dinner (Dan finished before Shane and I did & got out the brownies) - how dumb was I to think that he would eat applesauce after brownies? By night 2 I learned my lesson, no brownies until he finished his dinner!



Yesterday Dan and I met our friends Cathy and Dan and their son Alex at Choo Choo Johnnies. It is a restaurant where you sit around a counter and the food comes out in a train - http://www.choochoojohnnysfranchise.com/ It was adorable and Shane liked looking at the trains. He also like playing with Alex! He wore his train conductor outfit and it was warm enough for him to wear his Thomas the Train coat! I'd love to show you pictures from the restaurant, but we forgot our camera and so did Cathy. Next time. We did take pictures when we got home!


Thanks to all who emailed or called about our Sun-Times article! Don, Shane & I were really excited about it! Not a typo - the article called Dan by his right name, but the picture calls him Don! :-)

Sun-Times Article

Life has gotten crazy and though I have so much to post - it will have to be tomorrow. Here is a quick view of the Chicago Sun-Times article from The March 3rd paper featuring our family and Dr. Haney whose Trans-Abdominal Cerclage allowed Shane to arrive here safely. You can click on the article to enlarge it. A real update is coming soon - I promise!

Shane's Hebrew Naming & Catholic Baptism & his 1st Valentine's Day!

Yes, I know it has been way too long since my last post. Life has gotten crazy again!
Let me start with the biggest event since I last blogged - Shane was baptized and given his Hebrew name. The ceremony was February 7th - Super Bowl Sunday! It was beautiful and so special. As usual, we are doing things differently, in our own way, as we decided to raise Shane in both of our faiths. He will not be Catholic. He will not be Jewish. He is both Jewish & Catholic. One of the things that I love the most about my relationship with Dan is that while we are so different, we find similarities in those differences and love each other and embrace our differences. I was born on the North side of the city as a avid Cubs fan. Dan, a Southsider and Sox fan. Dan was raised Catholic and I was raised Jewish. Dan has only brothers and I only have a sister. Dan was raised with a large extended family while mine is much smaller. Dan is an outgoing life of the party while I am a more reserved homebody. Dan lives for Bruce Springsteen music & I am more of a Bon Jovi girl! But, we bring out the best in one another. We celebrate both of our faiths - Dan has a terrific Hanukkah tie and I can decorate the Christmas tree like a pro. We like the Sox and Cubs (unless they are playing each other), I have learned to be more outgoing and Dan has learned that it can be a lot of fun to hang out at home. Dan's family is my family and vice versa. I like a good Bruce Springsteen show and Dan, though he may not admit it in front of some friends, likes Bon Jovi. When it came time to start our married life together we had a true intermarriage with a rabbi and priest and members of both of our families joined together. When it came time to buy a house, we did not move to the south or the north, nope we found a place in the middle - middle of nowhere that is - that was ours. We are not all different, no there are many similarities; we both love animals, especially our dog Thunder. We both value friendships and family. We can't wait for Friday pizza night and we even love the same pizza places. We are both teachers and we both love to learn. Most importantly, we both feel our greatest accomplishment in life so far is our amazing son Shane. This brings me back to Shane's Baptism and Naming Ceremony. Shane is part Dan and part me so why not raise him that way? I feel so lucky that Dan agreed and that we found The Interfaith Union, a dedicated group of interfaith couples who designed this ceremony and that hold monthly meetings and have an interfaith school. It will be so nice to have the support of that group as we move through this journey.
OK, now on to the ceremony! Shane wore the beautiful Christening gown that Dan and his brothers as well as most of Shane's cousins have worn. We were a little worried that he would not fit into it since he is 11 months old and 24 pounds. However, he did and he looked so cute. He also wore a Yamulke which my parents got him and I sewed ribbon on so we could tie it around his head! Here are some pictures of Shane getting dressed with one of his Godmother's Aunt Geri.



The first part of the ceremony was the naming ceremony. Dan and I chose the name Migdal Matan for Shane. We chose Migdal because it is the Hebrew male translation of Madeleine. Migdal means tower or strength. Matan another 'M' name honored my grandpa, Maurice. The name Matan means gift and so does Daniel. Shane is truly a gift sent from above so the name was very fitting. Hebrew names are used in Jewish ceremonies such as Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and giving a child a Hebrew name welcomes him into the Jewish faith. Here is a picture of the naming ceremony. I like the second one because you can see the priest and the rabbi together.


The next part of the ceremony were two readings. We were fortunate enough to be allowed to share the readings with another family participating in the ceremony. There were 3 babies who received names and were baptized, but only two of us attended the meeting so we shared the honor of having a family member read. We wanted to involve both of our families so we asked the other family if they would mind sharing the readings. That allowed us to ask my dad and Dan's mom to read. Here are pictures of our parents reading. Dan's mom and her reading partner split the reading and my dad and his reader read chorally so that is why you see other people in the photo.


Shane loved seeing his grandparents up there and clapped in delight. It was too cute! Next, the priest and rabbi spoke. Shane was hamming it up and clapped for them as well. They both mentioned how happy he was! Here is a clapping photo - it is blurry, but that is because he would not stop moving!

The next part of the service was the baptism. We chose Shane's Aunt Geri & Uncle John & his Aunt Jorie as Godparents. The ritual of baptism is the entrance into the Catholic faith. As the child is dunked in the water, it symbolizes the end of life before Catholicism, and as they come up, we celebrate the birth of the new faith. We were sooo lucky because Shane's Great Uncle Jack & Great Aunt Tina just came back from a 40 day cruise to the Middle East - you should see their amazing pictures! Anyway, they brought back water from the Jordan River and oil from Bethlehem for Shane's baptism. The priest used it directly, we thought he might have to mix it in with his holy water, but he didn't. It was so nice of them to send it! We all expected Shane to be upset with the water being poured over him (no one is actually dunked), but he was a champ! Here is a picture of Dan and I with Shane and his Godparents.

After that the ceremony was over. We took some pictures on the alter with Shane and his Godparents. Here they are.



There was another ceremony starting so we had to leave the church. It wasn't until we got home that we realized we didn't get any pictures of Shane with his grandparents, cousins, his other aunt and uncle, our friends that were there - ARRRGGGGHHH! It is so frustrating when that happens. Fortunately most of them came back to out house so we re-dressed Shane and had a photo shoot in the dining room. Here are the photos - you can see Shane with his grandparents, Jorie & Jason, & Debbie! Colleen & Liam were there, but somehow I missed getting their picture with Shane. Unfortunately, Kristine & Connor, Jack, Bob, Jeanne, Megan & Tommy, Aunt Joan & Andrea did not come back to the house - so no pictures with them. :-(




OK, other Shane news! Shane now has 8 teeth! It is crazy, within 6 weeks, he gained 6 teeth! They just keep coming! Hair on the other hand is still quite limited! He is loving playing with his Daddy who is frankly way more fun than his Mommy. Dan plays games like "Giant Drop" and "Pendulum" - I am sure you can picture how they go - and those games are not my style, but Shane LOVES them. He gets so excited when Dan comes home from work. It is really cute! Here is a picture of them cuddling and playing in bed.


Shane has also started crawling up the stairs! He got up 6 yesterday. Unfortunately, I am always hovering when he is climbing and have not got a picture yet. He only attempts stairs when he sees Thunder at the top. He will not climb them to get to Dan or me, but Thunder is his favorite and he wants to be wherever Thunder is. Shane is also standing and letting go. My parents were here today and they said Shane stood drinking his bottle for a few minutes. I have only seen him stand without holding on for 45 seconds or so, so he is obviously getting better! He is also enjoying walking with a push toy that Dan's aunt Margaret & cousins John & Cathy gave him for Christmas & Hanukkah! The first time he walked with it I was upstairs at the computer working and Dan was downstairs with Shane. Dan yelled that Shane was walking! I got so excited and ran downstairs thinking he was walking alone. Dan was so excited and it was so cute! Here is the video I took.

Shane also celebrated his first Valentine's Day. Dan and I made the day about shane because he is our Valentine! Dan bought him a cute teddy bear and a bathtub bubble machine from us. What a great Daddy! Here he is with his "My Mommy is My Valentine" shirt. Can you believe how cute he is???

In other news, make sure to get a copy of The Chicago Sun Times on March 3rd. They have a health insert & are doing a story about Dr. Haney - the amazing University of Chicago Trans-Abdominal Cerclage surgeon who performed my Trans-abdominal cerclage (TAC). Dr. Haney's office called me earlier this week and asked me if I would be willing to be interviewed for the story. I was happy to share my story, especially if I can help other women in my position. The writer asked for pictures of us all! I am so excited that the word will be out there about this procedure which is rarely done on women with Cervical Incompetence, but should be standard treatment! OK, I am off my soap box for now, but my TAC is the reason that Shane was born full term and healthy!
Here is one final picture of my adorable man!