The Lieslands

It is a sad day when I start to check my own blog for updates, so I thought that I better make some.

Susan: Susan is doing great. She is a having a little trouble sleeping, but I would say that she is doing very well (she may say something else). In case you haven’t checked our countdown page lately, she is due any day now, although we don’t expect any activity until next week, or the week after.

Andrew: Andrew is also doing well. He is building his vocabulary and his ability to climb. He is extra-clingy, probably in anticipation of the impending doom that will enter his life (but believe me, he has no clue what is coming).

Rob: I am doing well. Trying to finalize some things at work before I have to take a few days off. I have also been doing a lot in the yard, including putting together and sealing our new picnic table, which has been a lengthy process for Susan and I.

Not much planned over the next few weeks, except having a kid. If you are reading this, then you are probably on the email list, but if you think that you may not be, drop us a line, and we will make sure that you are.

It has been a long time since our last post. Nothing major happening lately.

Susan and I have begun final preparations for newbie, who will be arriving in a few weeks. We still have a few more things to get ready, but we are almost there.

Andrew is doing well and is cuter than ever. He loves to play outside, in the car, and in other people’s yards. He also has a new outside swing that he really enjoys.

Susan has her last class in a few hours, and then all she needs to do to be certified is take the PRAXIS.

The rain barrel is doing well. It seems to be either feast or famine when it comes to getting it filled.

We’ll keep you informed.

After weeks of planning and agonizing, it is finally ready: The Rain Barrel. I got a free 55-gallon barrel from Meier’s Wine Cellars (under the advising of Linda) and put some hardware in it, put up a gutter (with some help from Alex), and finally put the two together. Now, all I need is some rain.

After being told about this project people have said, “That’s great Rob, but what are you going to do with the water?” We are going to water our garden (that doesn’t exist yet, but is the next project (after we paint our living room this saturday)).

Other than that, I am excited for Red’s Opening Day.

Susan is still blossoming and Andrew is almost tall enough to open all the doors in our house.

We are all excited for some great Spring weather that has finally descended upon us (after a cold March). Andrew has a great time chasing around balls in the back yard (except for when I throw them on the roof or in the neighbor’s yard).

Keep it real (and sorry about all the parentheses in this post)!

After a nice trip to Des Moines, Susan, Andrew, and I are back in Cincinnati. We came back to a very wet city, but the good weather is here now (though maybe not for long).

We had a great trip to Des Moines, even though Andrew had a few rough days. My biggest fear on this trip is always the drive and this was the most successful trip we have had yet, in that regard. On the way home we only had to stop once and made it in 8:45 (you do the math).

Now that we are back we have our hands full with things to do around the house. We need to get things ready for the new kid and also start doing some maintenance outside now that spring is here. Since there was a creek in our laundry room when we returned, one of the first things we need to do is get up a gutter over our back porch which will hook into a rain barrel.

That’s it for now. Thanks for checkin’ in.

After many months with the same blog template, I finally decided to take a chance on my own. Let me know if you notice anything weird.

You know where to reach me: in my cubicle.

It has been a long time, but there is a reason for that: I am lazy.

That, and nothing major in the past few weeks. Susan, Andrew, and I have been busy hanging out with friends, getting the house ready for the new kid, and getting ready to have the new kid. In case you didn’t know, Susan and I are into natural childbirth. More specifically, the Bradley Method. We are also going to be enlisting the services of a doula this time around, to help us out.

As for around the house, we finally moved the TV to the basement and got another twin bed for the upstairs bedroom. We have no clue who is going to sleep there, but it seems fairly likely that someone will. In April we need to paint one more room and a hallway. We should probably paint another wall also, but I am not too sure how much time we are going to have to get all this done. Especially since I am eager to start doing some work outside. I need to get our compost pile set up better and I also want to install a rain barrel in our back yard.

Susan is going to be finishing up her classes in May, so we can already count on two (2) hands the total number of classes she has left. She is also taking a prenatal yoga class on Saturdays that seems pretty nice.

Susan and Andrew have also begun the Parents & Tots Program at the Cincinnati Waldorf School. They have only been to one class so far, and Susan already accidentally left her folder there and took someone else’s felt egg. I hope they don’t get expelled.

Andrew is beginning to talk a lot more. He isn’t quite ready for Hamlet’s soliloquy yet, but he is definitely learning to get his point across. One really cute thing he did recently was when we were on a walk in the park a few days ago. He was picking up leaves and trying to put them back on the trees.

Drop us a line. (It’s the least you can do. Unless you are one of Susan’s friends and you call all the time, but she never calls you back, in which case, sorry.) UPDATE: I told Susan about this comment, and she said that if you want to know what is going on then call me, because I will call you back. The downside to this is that you will have to talk with me, which is not quite the same.

After several days of hard work (mostly by Susan’s Dad) our once worn and dirty kitchen walls have been transformed into. . . . well. . . . something better. We took down the old wall paper and applied some fresh paint to create a much more inviting space. Walking into our kitchen this morning was certainly a pleasant experience.

Aside from all the work it was a nice visit from Susan’s parents who were in town since last Saturday.

In case you missed the above link, click here to view some pics of the kitchen.

Per Kathie’s request, I have added some recent pics of Andrew to his photo page.

Enjoy! ! !

In other news, I think Andrew snapped himself with a hair rubberband this morning, which could have gone over better.

I have recently developed the habit of going to bed at 9:30 and washing diapers without soap.

Susan has gone to work at the BP down the street so that we can afford to send Andrew, et al, to the Cincinnati Waldorf School.

In a stunning fashion, our volleyball team actually won last night.

It was a rough start as the other team took a commanding lead in the first game (Don’t ask me what it was. I only remember that they just kept scoring.), but our team stayed strong and got our act together. We took the first game and then ran away with the second. It was truly inspiring, and I guess a little painful. I served the final point and before I served one of the girls working at the scorer’s table asked me to “get this thing over with quickly.” Turns out her boyfriend was the umpire, I assume, since Holly caught them exchanging lustful glances and they left the arena together. OK, so it wasn’t really an arena, more of a gym, but still.

Go, Team, Go! ! ! !

Well, for the past few weeks, we have been on cruise control. Andrew is feeling better and acting like it. He is even beginning to sleep better of late, which could change at any time.

Susan’s belly is popping out. Our Dr. told us that it is time to start working our birth plan, which is always fun.

Susan’s classes are going.

We have some major changes planned for our house in the coming months, including, but not limited to: painting, moving furniture, and (my favorite part) setting up our stereo in a better place. Hopefully our TV is going to make its way downstairs, which would be nice. Maybe the computer should go with it? just a thought.

Anyway, nothin’ major coming up. Hopefully Susan’s parents are going to come visit soon, which is always fun.

Volleyball starts tonight for my team from work. We got bounced from the preseason tournament pretty quickly, so hopefully we will do better in league play.

Well, after a rough week and a half, Susan, Andrew and I are settling back into our normal existence. Andrew welcomed us back to Cincinnati by throwing up in bed, twice, and then pooping in the bath tub. I think that he was trying to tell us that he was not feeling well.

So last week was hell. He didn’t really want to sleep and was always in a fussy mood. The good side of all this: his ears came out unscathed, so maybe they are on an upswing (hopefully to never come back down, but I doubt it!).

Another good thing that has come out of the last week is that Susan and I have been reminded of how truly blessed we are by Andrew. Now that he is well again he is a lot of fun to be around and to play with.

So there is a little Andrew update.

Susan’s classes have started again. Today we made the semi-annual trip to the bookstore to see what she needed. Her one book was $100, so we went to the internet, where we found it for $70. Gotta love BigWords.com.

I have just been getting settled back in at work. Normal stuff.

After getting our tire fixed, Susan, Andrew and I have made it back from Des Moines. We spent the week after Christmas hanging out with her family. There was much celebrating: Christmas, New Years, and Ian’s 1st Birthday Party. By far my favorite part of the trip was doing the Sesame Street Exercise record. Yes, record. We have survived yet another holiday season and are now trying to get ready for Susan’s last semester of school.

Andrew is walking better than ever and his speech patterns seem to be developing. Not sure what language he speaks, but we will figure it out.

Tomorrow we are hosting the computer science reunion at our house, which should be a good time.

Other than that, just working on the house and playing with Andrew.