Happy Birthday Jen

Jen turns 27 today. Here are 10 things you might not know about her.

10. During Jen's early years she made up her own swim stroke called the quinn. Since she is the only person able to do it she wins every time she challenges some one to race.
9. When my sister Susan first met Jen she thought Jen was deaf because of her strong Boston accent. Jen pronounces the word "arm" like "ahm".
8. Two years ago Jen learned how to play euchre. She still has a lot to learn.
7. Recently Jen went to see Justin Timberlake perform on his home turf of Memphis. Not even the searing hot pain of passing a kidney stone could keep her from going.
6. Jen has a very strange food palate. She hates dessert but will eat anything else as long its smothered in ketchup. She can also out eat most people, including me, at Texas De Brazil.
5. Jen is addicted to Starbucks. Her favorite barista Brooks knows when Jen is coming in and has her order ready for her. Jen doesn't own stock in Starbucks but she should. Jen's frugal husband Damon has asked her to cut back on Starbucks, but Jen threatened to cut him off.
4. Jen has a twin brother. They are not identical. They can communicate with each other using a secret twin language.
3. While growing up Jen was very small for her age. Her parents told us that one time a stiff breeze actually blew her down the street. After that they kept her chained to a tree in the backyard.
2. Jen is the Queen of gossip magazines. Each week she reads Us Weekly, OK!, In Touch and Star. After she is done reading it she tears out all the articles and pastes them into individual scrapbooks, one for each celebrity.
1. Since getting her new Buick Rendezvous last year, Jen has been pulled over 8 times by the cops for suspicion of vehicle theft. Each time Jen has to prove to the police officer that a 26 year old actually owns a Buick and that she didn't steal it from an old lady.

Happy Birthday Isabelle

Libby's best friend Belle (as Libby calls her) turns 2 today. Here are 5 things you might not know about her:

5. Since the ripe old age of 18 months Isabelle has been hooked on Starbucks coffee. The Baristas know her by name and get her her favorite grande latte with two shots of espresso and whipped cream.
4. Isabelle was the most advanced baby in the world when it comes to motor skills. She was crawling at 4 months and walking at 7 months. She loves to dance also, she started break dancing at 13 months but is still trying to master the Samba and West Coast Swing.
3. Isabelle has never played with any toy that isn't made by LeapFrog. Her parents think that she will have a leg-up on other kids when it comes time to apply for college.
2. Isabelle doesn't like to eat. The only time she will take any nourishment is when Libby shoves food into her cake-hole.
1. Isabelle hates to ride in the car. The longest car ride she has ever taken was when her parents took her 40 miles south of Memphis to Tunica, MS (the Vegas of the South) to go gambling. Little did her parents know that you can't bring infants into a casino.

Thank-You

A big thank-you goes out to all of you who called Libby today on her 2nd birthday. It meant so much to her that you would call and let her know you are thinking about her and lover her. The calls came in this order:
Uncle Rudi-Saturday 4:30 p.m. (Sunday 7:30 a.m. Brisbane, Australia)
Uncle Dan, Aunt Kris, Matt, Andy, and Steve-O-Sunday 8:12 a.m.
Aunt Errin-Sunday 8:57 a.m.
Papa-Sunday 1:15 p.m.
Aunt Susan, Uncle Kevin, Gabe, Allie, and Bender-Sunday 2:14 p.m.
Aunt Jen, Uncle Damon, Isabelle, and Carly-Sunday 2:48 p.m.
Uncle Will-Sunday 3:21 p.m
Uncle Dave, Aunt Happy, Nate, Maddie, and Em-Sunday 6:19 p.m.

For those of you who forgot you can call back on her next 2nd birthday I guess.

On a completely different subject, was there a cellphone outage in Chicago today?

FoHawk

Here is Libby imitating her cousin Nate. Not sure she looks as good in her mohawk as Nate does.

Happy Birthday Libby

Libby turns 2 years old today. Here are 5 things you might not know about her.
5. Libby loves food. Her favorite meal of the day is lunch. She sometimes tries to get me to serve her lunch starting at 11 a.m. She always has cheese and crackers and then either ham, turkey, chicken or a hot dog. Her favorite fruits are dried cranberries and raisins, but she also enjoys apricots, apples, peaches and grapes. If she has been good she also gets some potato chips, pretzels or Cheetos. Her favorite restaurant is Texas de Brazil which is were her Uncle Dave took her when he was in town last week. Libby dined on Lobster bisque and Fillet Mignon.
4. Libby is master at drawing out her bedtime. It started with having momma and daddy come in to kiss her goodnight, then we had to start kissing her favorite baby, which turned into kissing all three babies and the stuffed wiener dog she sleeps with. Now we have to kiss Libby, 3 dolls, 1 dog and 3 blankets. I drew the line at having to kiss Baby Tad.
3. Libby is a firm believer in the 8 second (formerly 5 second) rule. Whether it is her food or someone else's, if she is at the airport or the zoo, if she sees food on the ground and it looks appetizing she will attempt to eat it if we don't get to her first.
2. Libby loves to play with toys and make a huge mess. This makes me crazy. Everyday she takes out every toy out of every color coded bin and jumbles them all together. So twice a day, at lunch and bedtime, I have to sort every toy into the correct bin. Sometimes I think she makes the mess on purpose just to bug me. Libby also loves to rough-house, she loves to give body slams (bobby-sam) and have her feet slapped.
1. Libby is VERY smart. She can pick out any family member (grandparents, cousins, aunts, or uncles) from her picture book. She can sing her ABC's and count to five (and understands the concept of counting). She can perform multiple tasks if I ask her to do them, like throw away the diaper in the trash, shirt into the hamper and get a beer from the refrigerator. She knows the words to over 20 songs, most she learned watching Noogin. She already knows about manipulation, she knows to always ask mom for things she isn't suppose to have because mom is a sucker. For all these reasons I say poo-poo to the Journal of Pediatrics and their article on children not watching TV before the age of two.

Errin's Favorite Sign

Awkward

To remember this sign, think of a person who is "unsteady on his feet."

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I Partied with the Party Guy

Will, also known as the 4th Kurt brother, is getting married in in February of 2008. His bachelor party, better known as Willapalooza, is taking place in Las Vegas in October. My brother Dave is planning the whole thing. One of the many fun things that will be happening is we will all be wearing matching shirts. Dave is trying to come up with some good ideas so I thought I would post some pictures of my friend Rich's tee-shirt. I am one of a few people with this limited edition Party Guy tee-shirt.

The picture on the front is of Fat Rich, sadly he is now thin Rich. Sorry the shirt is so wrinkled, it was stuffed in the bottom of my shirt drawer.

Birthday Call

At 4:30 p.m. Memphis time Uncle Rudi called from Australia and became the first person to wish Libby a happy 2nd birthday.

Australian Academy Awards

Saturday night marked the 27th Annual Australian Academy Awards show. Because Rudi's company was sponsoring it he got tickets. He got to meet tons of Australian celebrities. Above he is pictured with Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban.

Happy Birthday Dan

My oldest brother turns FORTY today. It is hard to believe as young as I am that I have a FORTY year old brother. Here are 10 things you might not know about him:

10. Dan hated his siblings growing up. The nicest thing he ever did for us was let us have sleep overs in his room with him. Not until he met his lovely wife Kris did he start to pretend to like us.
9. His nickname growing up was "Butthole"
8. Dan tucks all of his shirts in. Whether it is a turtleneck, a sweater, football jersey or a tee shirt, it is always tucked in. And just to be extra sure that it isn't going to become un-tucked he tucks it into his underwear.
7. Dan was the first of us in our family to get his Eagle Scout Award. He made us call him Gerald (as in Gerald Ford) for a few months after.
6. Dan loves to get his brothers inappropriate tee shirts that we could never wear out in public when he goes on business trips. For the last 2 months of Beth's pregnancy she wore my Korean Hooters tee shirt to bed.
5. Dan is the least tech savvy of the Kurt brothers. He is still rocking a 19 inch tube TV. Last year we finally talked him into getting a TIVO, it changed his life.
4. Dan loves new vehicles. Instead of washing or vacuuming out a van he will just trade it in for a new one. Because of the discount he gets at work he feels the need to drive the worlds ugliest mini-van.
3. Dan does not ever wrestle with his kids. Nor is he big into foot-slapping them.
2. Dan use to wear the worlds largest glasses. In his wedding photo the frames are so large that they covered most of his face and the glare from the lenses blinded the photographer. He recently got the Lasik procedure, and can now see through walls.
1. Dan and I look a lot alike, especially to Libby. At family gatherings she will run up to Dan with a huge smile on her face which quickly turns to a look of horror when she figures out that it is Uncle Dan. Apparently Dan is a hard word for Libby to say, especially Happy Birthday Dan, so she just says "Happy Dam".

Another Collage

Here is another collage of cute/odd Reagan pictures. They are odd mostly because I took them at a strange angle. They are cute because she is one cute little monkey.

Saturday Monrning

Nothing did I enjoy more growing up then watching cartoons (toon-cars as Susan use to say) and eating cereal on a Saturday morning. We are starting the tradition early with these two.

Australian Factoid #1

Back in 1797 Britain sent 13 sheep over to Australia, thus starting the largest wool industry in the world.

I expect a handsome wool sweater from Rudi as my Australia souvenir.

Rudi and the Roos

After work today Rudi walked to the Australia Zoo, which was Steve Irwin's zoo before he died. As a matter of fact he is buried there. While there he saw tons of cool animals native to Australia, luckily no dingos ate his baby. Above you can see him standing very close to a flyer and its joey. As always Rudi has a brew in his hand.

Great Work If You Can Get It

Dan emailed me this interesting article he tore out and scanned from USA Today. It talks about the trials and tribulations of being a stay-at-home Dad.

Don't call him Mr. Mom

MORE DADS MINDING THE KIDS

A rising number of U.S. fathers are home full time with their children:

1996: 49,000
2006: 159,000

Source: U.S. Census
By Marilyn Elias, USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — Nice work if you can get it. That's the consensus of fairly affluent, well-educated fathers who stay home full time with their children, according to a pioneering study released over the weekend.

About 159,000 men in the USA are full-time fathers, more than triple the number a decade ago, Census data show. "Just don't call them 'Mr. Mom.' They really don't like it," says Aaron Rochlen of the University of Texas-Austin. He spoke at a panel on cutting-edge research about fathers at the American Psychological Association meeting.

Rochlen co-wrote a study of 213 men who became fathers, on average, in their late 30s after such diverse jobs as computer techie, bouncer and soldier. Career-focused wives who could bring home the filet mignon, and an anti-nanny outlook, encouraged their job change. Their satisfaction and marital happiness were as high as traditional parents, says co-author Ryan McKelley. They felt confident and good-humored about the challenges.

Many reported being ostracized on the playground and excluded from parent support groups; the men overall had less social support than men living more traditional lives, McKelley says. And they weren't male Martha Stewarts. Many had passionate interests in sports and traditional male pursuits such as fishing and fixing cars. "They don't fit any stereotypes," McKelley says.

I agree about feeling ostracized at times, when I have been to the mall play area during the week all the mom's look at me like I have a third eye or poop on my shirt. Also I prefer to be call a Rebel Dad.

Many Faces

 

Here are some of the many (and not always cute) faces of Reagan.

New Hat

Libby got a new hat (and matching sandals) from her cousin Elises's Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday. Since she was being extra good the day the package arrived we let her open it early. Usually she hates anything on her head, but this one she insists on wearing all the time. She has worn it to dinner, to the grocery store and to the zoo. When she tries to wear it to the bathtub we will have to put our foot down.

Sisters

As we were getting ready to take some pictures of Reagan, Libby got all offended that we didn't want her in the pictures. So to appease her we took some pictures of the two of them together first.

In this picture you can really see how much Reagan has grown, she has quite the belly on her and quite a few extra chins. Her cheeks are very pinchable, but not quite as big as her cousin Julia...yet.

Afterwards Libby tried to help out by feeding Reagan one of her babydoll bottles. Reagan appreciated it not at all.

Baby on the Grow

The picture on the left was taken when Reagan was 3 weeks old and the one on the right was taken today (almost 11 weeks old).

Life on the Beach

Rudi finally got around to emailing me the pictures from his beach excursion. He is the lower right hand corner wearing a speedo.

Cheap Gas

The Fifth Wiggle

Rudi called me to and he sounded giddy as a squirrel in a convenience store. Apparently his company had given him tickets and a backstage pass to see the hit Australian children's musical group The Wiggles. Rudi went, not knowing what to expect but it turned out to be an awesome time. He got to meet Sam, Murray, Jeff and Anthony and have a beer with them (he drank bud light instead of Fosters). Rudi also told me that Brisbane is a haven for celebrities and he should be sending me many more pictures of himself with other Australian stars.
Also keep up the phone calls. He is really missing everyone and hearing from you guys is making the time go by much faster.

Well I talked to Rudi again today and he wanted me to give all you another update on how his Outback adventure is going. He is sorry he can't do it himself but is having language problems and is unable to get online because as he says "the internet here is upside down".
Rudi finally got to spend some time at the water today. He went north of Brisbane to the town of Noosa where some of the guys from the nightclub last night taught him some fun Australian games. His favorites were "hide the boomerang" and "shock the koala". The weather was cool, only in the 60's but the sun was out and he had a great time.

Rudi has moved into his apartment, it is a bit sparse but has alot of room. He plans on decorating it to look like a tiki hut.
He mentioned that he is missing everyone and would love to get your phone calls. Feel free to call him on his cellphone the number is the same. He said if he answers that means he likes you and if he dosen't that means he wants nothing to do with you ever again. Kind of harsh I thought, but that is how Rudi rolls.

Happy Birthday Stephen

My nephew Stephen turns 7 tomorrow. Here are a five facts you might not know about him.

1. Stephen is the second pickiest eater I know, the first is my "bil" Paul. If eating gogurts and Cheerios was cool, Stephen would be Miles Davis.
2. Stephen loves watching TV. I have patterned my TV watching after Stephen and because of him we allow Libby to watch as much TV as she would like.
3. If all of my nephews were to try out for So You Think You Can Dance, the hit reality show on Fox, Stephen would have the best chance of making it and quite possibly winning.
4. Stephen is a bit of a rebel. He refuses to wear turtle necks like his mother or tuck his shirt into his underwear like his father.
5. Stephen is the only one of Beth's nieces or nephews that she helped deliver. I would have been there but had the almost impossible job of babysitting his two older brothers.

Happy Birthday Steve-O!

He Arrives, He Arrives Indeed

Rudi made it safely to Australia after 30 hours of traveling. He left on Monday but because of the time change and International Date Line he arrived the Thursday before he left. Rudi's company wanted to spent over $9000 to fly him out there Business Class, but because Rudi is so thrifty he convinced them to let him book his own flight and got himself a Coach seat for just under $1700. He said the worst part of the flight, other then having no leg room and because squished between two 400 lb women was that they only served Vegemite sandwiches for meals. He watched The Notebook six times, not because he had to or the lack of other movies, but because he loves that movie so much.
Rudi plans on hitting The Beat Nightclub over in Fortitude Valleyt tonight. He figures that since his internal clock is all messed up with the time changes he might as well do what he loves best, which is to: Dance, Dance Dance.
I will keep you updated on Rudi's going ons as I hear about them.

Coincidence?

My brother-in-law Rudi left for Australia today. He will be working in Brisbane for the next three months on some top secret project. The saddest part of this all is he left without even saying "Good-bye". Also last week MTV started a new season of "The Real World" and it is taking place in Australia.

Miss Obvious

Libby, the master of the obvious, Reagan and I were sitting on the couch this morning watching Libby's favorite new show Hi-5 when Reagan started to scream her little head off. Libby leans over and pats my leg and says "Daddy, Reagan's crying".

Reagan's Bath

Libby has taken a huge interest in helping out with Reagan. She gets us diapers and wipes for us, tries to feed Reagan her bottle (which usually ends up with Reagan getting the bottle jammed into her face) and also burping her. Libby's new way of helping now is at bath time.

She washes and rinses Reagan's toes, arms and belly. Libby usually ends up just as wet as Reagan.

Sitting Up

Reggie is starting to use her bumbo much more now. She is really getting the hang of keeping her head up.

In the year 2037

Beth's brother-in-law Rudi's wife Errin has a friend from high school named Anne. She recently got a cat named Lucy from the Humane Society. After seeing how lonely the cat was without any siblings, Anne went back to see if they had any dogs available. I can only assume they didn't because she ended up getting another cat named Callie.
So I thought it would be fun to extrapolate out what Anne's life will be like in 30 years. I made this video to show her what could happen if she keeps getting cats at this rate.

And apparently Anne will be speaking Russian by then.

Miss Manners

Guest Blogger Beth

Lately we have been working with Libby on improving her manners. This is my "conversation" with Libby:

Libby: (yawns and looks at me expectantly) Bless you Libby!
Me: (confused why a yawn justifies a "bless you") Oh, Bless you Libby
Libby: You're Welcome!
Me: (toots)
Libby: Bless you Mama
Me: Uh, thank you Libby

Jon thinks we still have some work to do with this whole manners thing. I think Jon should bless me all the time when I toot.

How to Save a Life...

The other day Beth heard from a friend from residency who is now practicing up in Alaska. She was attending a Pediatric Hospitalist Conference and one of the talks she went to was "Top 10 articles in Pediatric Hospital Medicine". Beth's article which was published in Pediatrics last year (you can read the article here) was one of the articles presented because it was felt that it would change the way that pediatric medicine is practiced. Beth was excited and amazed that people actually read the article, since she usually throws her medical journals away.

2 Month Appointment

As Beth was leaving for work this morning around 8 a.m. she told me about Reagan's 2 month doctor appointment that I was suppose to take her to at 10 a.m.

This was the first time I had to bring both kids to an appointment and at first Libby was scared because she thought she would be getting shots also. After she figured out that she was just along for the ride she was good as gold and played with the stickers she was given.
Reagan was also a model patient. She weighed in at 10 lbs 6 oz (50th percentile, she is 22 inches long (50th percentile) and her head is 38 cm around (30th percentile). Reagan impressed the doctor with her tracking abilities and how high and long she can hold her head up. She got 2 shots in each leg and is reminding me about them constantly with her crying.

Tee-Pee

This weekend Libby got herself a new tee-pee. She loves to sit in there and play with all of her toys and also enjoys it when the dogs stop by to say hello. Since Libby isn't big into sharing, we let Reagan play in the tee-pee after Libby went to bed.

Hot

Gosh it hot out. The past few weeks it has been in the high 90's everyday and Wednesday it is suppose to get into the 100's. Maybe Al was right, either that or it is just summertime in Memphis.

I'm it

Susan tagged me so here it goes:
10 Random things about me

1. I can fold a piece of paper in half 9 times
2. I use to be a runway model for JCPennys
3. My right nipple has much more hair around it then my left
4. I watch more television in a week then any three people you know added together.
5. I am a bit of a shoe whore. My newest addition are this pair of Keens. They make Birkenstocks and Borns feel like your wearing shoes full of spikes on your feet.
6. My feet never stink, no matter how sweaty the rest of me gets or what pair of shoes I'm wearing
7. I must read before I go to bed and I can read any James Patterson book in one evening.
8. My favorite NBA player is Rudy Gay because he has the same name as my brother-in-law Rudi. And so you don't have to ask, Rudi is not gay.
   
9. I won't eat any "white sauce" like mayo, sour cream, cream cheese, or cottage cheese. I use to be able to say that I was lactose intolerant, but after going to see a doctor about it and drinking a cup full of lactose and not reacting to it, proved me wrong.
10. The one joke that I think never gets old is "How to you make a hormone?". Oddly enough Beth is quite sick of the joke

I am now tagging Rudi and Laura.

Finally

Reagan has finally figured out that nighttime is for sleeping. She has been going 4 -4 1/2 hours between feeds at night. This is a huge improvement from waking up every 2 hours. The other night, I was so exhausted that Beth said while she was burping Reagan after a feeding, I started burping Stretch who was sleeping next to me.

Smiley Baby

Reagan has such a great smile and I love her spikey hair.