Is this normal? Tell me no!

So, my Harrison, my lovely, easy, sleeps anytime he's horizontal 18 m/o has stopped napping. Just up and stopped. About 6 weeks ago he was cutting all four molars (or whatever those big ones are) and I think that's where the trouble started. But he's gone from two long naps a day to ... nothing. I want to try having him nap with his brother instead of in his PNP in our bathroom, but he will literally scream bloody murder for sometimes 25 minutes, then wake up screaming, or he will scream for over an hour. Why??? Is it possible to go from two long naps to no naps at all? I know he's tired, as he'll fall asleep in the car at nap time. What is going on?

more attempts at a picture

hey Santa, help a kid out!

O Christmas Card, O Christmas Card!

We do not have good luck with our Christmas cards. By that I mean, we never have a decent picture of all of us to put on it. Nothing recent, anyway. A nice family shot from January doesn't cut it. Two years ago, I put separate ones of Seth and me with Brice on the card and Seth thought it looked like we were divorced. Last year we tried, oh how we tried, to get a group shot. Didn't happen. This year we have been trying to get a shot of the boys together. It's like trying to direct water bugs. They just won't sit still/smile/cooperate/stop smacking each other. We don't even really have great shots of them individually. The best one I have of Brice he is wearing a diaper on his head and Harry always has some toy hanging out of his mouth. Oh well.

Big day for a little boy

We finally cut Harry's hair.
I had trimmed it a few times, but it got to the point where it was looking seriously raggedy and needed a proper cut. I was hesitant because Harry does not like it when people mess with him--wash him, change his diaper, dress him, etc. Most diaper changes end with me breaking a sweat and whining about a possible sprained wrist.
We took him to KidSnips on Clybourn and he actually did really well. There were a few tears (good for pictures!) but no major tantrums or fits. Good job, Harrison!

Yo ho ho!!!!

Brice dressed up as a pirate for his preschool Halloween party.
kinda precious, eh?

Bathtime fun

Estes Park

The cousins: Luke, Brice, and Harry

My dear friend, Lindsay. She now lives in Denver and tackled the mountains to come for a visit. This shot is for Richard!

Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. We look kinda outdoorsy, eh?

Brice was wild about the elk, so we went elk watching almost every day.

Harry checks over the safety instructions when he hears we're in an exit row!

sleeping

About six weeks ago, we put the boys in the same room together. Finally. Harry slept in a pack n play in our bathroom for over a year. We even bought him a nice little mattress that fit in it because we (I) felt so badly for him. We weren't sure what to expect. At the time, Harry took about a half hour to go down. As soon as i'd put him down, he stand up and yell and scream and finally wear himself out. When we put Brice down, he'd toss everything out of his crib and then wail and whine till we went in and retrieved it all. We tried being tough and making him sleep in an empty crib and the child screamed for two hours. Ugh.

So, we put Harry's pnp in Brice's room for the first two weeks while we waited for his crib to arrive. The first few nights Harry wailed for an hour in the middle of the night. Brice never woke up. Amazing. Then, Brice learned how to climb out of his crib. One morning Seth got up and found them both in Harry's pnp. Harry was chewing on a straw Brice had retrieved for him and Brice was quietly clipping his nails with a clipper he had snatched from who knows where? Anyway, we quickly ordered a crib tent and Brice loves it. I think he feels cozy in it. He can't throw anything out, so he actually goes to sleep immediately. And Harry, now that he's snug in his crib with Brice nearby, falls asleep right away too. No more crying, no more wailing and whining and screaming. We put them down together and they sleep for 11 to 12 hours a night.

Thank you, Jesus.

Maestro

Brice loves music. So far, it's the only thing we've found that will calm and focus him. Last year, we were watching the inauguration and Brice was bouncing off the walls. When Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma played, he sat and was enrapt for the entire time. We bought him a DVD of them playing Dvorak in Prague and he watches it everyday. He has the entire thing memorized. He stands and conducts. He stares when the soprano sings. And until recently, he used every random thing he could find to pretend he was playing violin like Perlman. Last week we bought him his very own violin--albeit a toy one. And he loves it. Loves it.

Free at last, Free at last!!!

We are done. Through! Hooray!!

Yes, you guessed it, we saying BUH-BYE to law firm life. This past Wednesday Seth accepted an in-house position with a company in the western suburbs of Chicago. It's been a long time coming. When we first got married, we lived in NYC, where Seth was a corporate attorney with a huge firm. We never saw each other. Never. We went two months without having dinner together. We decided if we wanted a chance at making it, we had to move out of NYC. So, Seth has been with a firm in Chicago for the past three and half years. It's been better. Slightly. But the nature of law firm life--you're always on call; when you're on a deal, you work until it's done; late late nights, weekends, etc. We have had exactly one vacation since we got married. I love my husband and family, but we haven't exactly had a normal family life.

All that's about to change.

And so it begins...

Anybody that has spoken to me for more than five minutes in the past three years knows that we have had housing issues. Big ones. Here's the story:

Seth and I bought this lovely, second floor condo in the West Loop of Chicago. Walking distance from where Seth works (the Sears/Willis Tower). We were SO excited. We had an inspector come and check it out (all the while being trailed by our developer and his agent, no more than two feet behind us at all times). The inspector pointed out that the corner of the wall at the bottom was all wet, the drywall was mushy. The developer promised us this was because they hadn't finished sealing the deck above us. We believed them and signed the papers.
We fought tooth and nail with our developer for the next year to complete the punch list. Legally, they had to have it done within two months. It took a year; I won't bore you with the huge list of things to be completed and fixed.

Anyway, one month after they finally replaced the moldy floorboard, I notice that water was dripping into our place from the wood above the sliding door. One month later, it's gushing into the basement of our first floor neighbor's place.
So, a few months later, we learn that we (and our three other neighbors) have to have our front wall ripped out because it was full of mold. This was two months before I gave birth to Harry. This is not good news. So, they rip our wall out and put plastic sheeting up. The sheeting was only supposed to be up for a week or so. The developer promised they would fix the leak issue and rebuild the inside of our place. Well, after a little tinkering, everyone realized the problem was much much larger and wildly more expensive to fix than originally thought.

It kept leaking. The developer disappeared. The plastic sheeting was up for five months. We had no sunshine in our place for the entire spring and summer last year. And the entire front of our building looked like someone rubbed it with chalk.

Harry naps in our super depressing living room.

Brice, not knowing the ulcer this is causing his mother, thinks it's kinda fun, really.

The construction site outside our building. Our neighbors, who are trying to sell, are none too pleased.

Like I said, after five months, we finally took the plastic sheeting down when we realized it wasn't going to get fixed anytime soon. We had drywall up, but no molding. We hired a company to come tell us what the problem was and they produced a huge binder with a detailed description of the problem and solutions. Turns out the condo was built in the winter (not great for brick work), wasn't built by masons, had wax paper (basically) for flashing. There's more, but that's when it gets technical. Anyway, we hired a local company to basically rip the front off and rebuild it. Now, we actually have a hope of being able to sell this place. Believe me, it'll be the sturdiest condo on the block.

Priming the Pump

It's been awhile, I know. Lots has been going on, but i've not posted a peep. Here's why:
Harry chewed up my USB cord and what's a post without a picture?
BUT I am off to get one today, because....
Construction has started on our house! Why construction, you ask? Well, that's a long story, involving a lawsuit and a crooked developer and our fear that posting the saga could scare off future buyers (Seth's fear, not mine; I assume about four people read this blog anyway!)
Anyway, the front of our building is being sawed off and it's really quite impressive looking. Sort of like a European Cathedral.
And there's more... but I can't post about it quite yet.

(no, i'm not prego)

My own little Chatty Cathy doll

One year ago, Brice wasn't talking much. We had read that kids should have at least one word by the time they are 18 months. Brice had a sort of elegant grunt that Seth and I could usually decipher. That was it. Oh, how times change! The kid talks all day long now. Really, all day. A constant stream of words, patched together thoughts and sentences. He repeats things; he narrates things; he tells on Harry; he makes requests; he complains; but most of all, he tries to get my attention. The child talks more than Oprah. Seth and I have checked on him in his sleep and sometimes he'll even say a few words while he is out cold.

Talk about making up for lost time!

Goodbye, old friend

You will be missed, especially in the morning.

Getting the shot

Got it!!!

More pics from the weekend

Harry's first birthday cake

Getting a little love from Brice

My sweet little guy; so much more cuddly than his brother. I love him for it.

Brice, despite all warning and threats, splashes Harry.

Harry would not sit still for a picture.

Harry's First Birthday, or We Made It!!!!!

This past weekend we celebrated Harry's first birthday (which actually took place on June 30th). I still can't quite believe we made it. I really can't believe it's been a year!!! I remember bringing him home from the hospital, Seth driving and me and Harry in back. It was lovely in Chicago and Harry was snoozing and I thought, "this is as peaceful as it's going to be for a while." And while, yes, I tend to look on the not-so-bright side of life at times, I was right on that one!

Harry was colicky just like his brother, and Brice, who has never been easy or remotely mild-mannered, took his tempers and attitude to new, dizzying heights. It was rough, rough going for a while. Even after Harry stopped crying, Brice kept on raging. In January we enrolled him (not even two years old!) in preschool. More for my sanity and to extend Brice's life expectancy than anything else. But it's done us all a world of good and it seems that his tantrums and raging are waning. He actually likes his brother, now, too. He hated Harry for a long time and we weren't able to get a picture of them together for nine months. NINE months!!!

Harry is the sweetest, happiest little guy now. He eats like a teenager and only screams if you put him in his highchair without immediately putting a dish full of food in front of him. I'm telling you, the boy can eat!!!! He only weighs just over 20 pounds (12%; not that we care) and he's in the 68% for height (really, we're not keeping track). He's only in the 40% for head circumference, though (but who remembers the percentiles anyway, right?) He's not walking, but he pulls up on everything and everyone and he babbles all day long.

We are hugely grateful to God and to everyone who helped us all get through this year: my parents who helped out whenever they could, especially my mom who came at the drop of a hat when I didn't think I could go on; Seth's parents who prayed us through this year and took over all care of the boys, the house, and myself when they came to visit; Caitlin, our part-time nanny who is the loveliest, most patient person you could hope to have helping care for your kids.
And here's a quick shout-out to the inanimate objects that we couldn't have done without, too: the BOB Duallie, the Ergo, and of course...Elmo!!

My cutie pies

I'm not crazy!

I was talking to my downstairs neighbor the other day and she asked if everything was okay with Brice. "Fine," I replied. As fine as they can be with a two year old. She went on to say that last Sunday, early afternoon, her husband came out of the office and said he could hear Brice upstairs. "Wow, poor Danielle," he said. Yes, I remember it well. We had just returned from church and Brice had one bee or another in his bonnet and was throwing one heck of a fit. Nothing out of the ordinary for him. It was so loud that the light fixture in the downstairs office was shaking!
I should have been embarrassed. Mortified.
I was elated. I felt justified. I've been telling people how Brice has these tantrums--not everyday, but just about--that just blow your eardrums. He screams uncontrollably. He thrashes. He wails. He goes completely over the edge and can't calm down. Sometimes Seth and I can talk him down from the ledge. Sometimes we can maintain our calm and let him scream it out (it can take as little as 15 minutes, or can go on for over an hour). Sometimes we jump off the cliff with him and we all end up screaming and crying.
This has been going on for over a year. We are tired. Someday this will change, people tell us. Sometimes we believe them.
But in the meantime, it's nice to have other people taste the madness and tell us we're not crazy.

Four years!!!

Four years ago today we took the plunge in Grand Rapids and got hitched. It's been the busiest, craziest, happiest four years of my life. Herewith, our marriage in numbers:

Two cities (NYC and Chicago)
Three homes
Two water leaks
One lawsuit (more on that at some point)
Two babies
Eight months of screaming (the kids that is)
Three jobs
Four strollers
Four carseats

Lots of traveling
Lots of visiting
Lots of family
Lots of meeting
Lots of leaving

Lots of Love

Happy Anniversary, baby!

Springtime in Chicago

Seth and Brice running in the field outside the Nature Museum.

Harry catching the breeze outside the Nature Museum.

The Diehl men enjoying a Boynton classic.

Sidewalk chalk on the balcony. What a city kid!!

Snuggling with my boys.