Curtains for Charlie Brown

Well, Charlie Brown closed last Sunday and we have been trying to return to normalcy all week since. What a fun run we had! Here are a few photos of the kids on closing night.

   

The strike party after the show was in a big, cold, loud warehouse space, but the environment didn't dampen the fun for the kids. Even Donny had a good time with his improvized pants/hat.
 

I love my little Round Headed Kid!
  

Also, last week was a baby shower/girls night out for my sister Beth who is expecting her second baby, Katie Twist, next month. We went to beaches and had a nice, low-key evening over Beaches' House Salad, chicken pizza and dessert (I ordered the bananas foster which was good, but not at all like any other bananas foster I've heard of).
  

Donny is trying to sit up on his own these days. Unfortunately, though he seems to have the muscles to do it, he still has to learn the balance side of sitting. We prop him up and he sits happily for a few seconds then falls one way or the other - all the time with a big grin on his face, as if nothing happened. He can sit for quite a while on the couch without falling. Eventually, though, he ends up on his face or side. 

    

We hope you are having a blessed holiday. Ours is promising to be busy, but a good time of connecting with family and friends.

On a different note, my Grandma (Whittaker) Borovec passed away in her sleep yesterday. We got to see her this summer and twice this fall. She was getting weaker and her mind was getting more fuzzy, but she seemed in good health. What a blessing that she was able to remain independent and healthy for her whole life. We will miss our little grandma. She was a gentle and hospitable woman with lots of love to give... and the first adult we could out-grow! She was never quite five foot tall, so her grandkids loved to measure next to her since she made us feel so tall. I'm going to miss having her around... and I'm sad that my kids won't remember her. Days like this make me think a lot more about my own mortality. It reminds me to cherish each moment and relationship.

 

Charlie Brown

Last night was opening night for our very first CYT show in East Portland! The kids were excited and our audience was blown away. The artistic team was as proud of our cast as we could be. There were 337 tickets sold - almost a hundred of them at the door!

We have a state of the art theater, but a not so great green room space to get ready in. It is the scene shop which is right off of the stage. It's cold and not so aesthetically pleasing... but it works! Next weekend we will have a better room when the college theater kids aren't using the dressing rooms. (They have a show in the black box theater this weekend so they got to use the dressing rooms for this weekend.)

 

The first circle up before a show happened in the cafeteria. We got to do the power squeeze, sing I Love You Lord, give some notes, and celebrate the moment we have all been working so hard for. Tyler, my assistant director, told the kids all to really cherish these moments. Everyone always talks about the first show in a new area. The bonds these kids are building now are going to last a lifetime. It feels so historic!

  

Here is a shot of our first audience! 

 

And our very first curtain call! They did so good! And they were flying high all the way to the cast party at La Carretta, a local Mexican restaurant. And they deserved to feel proud. The show was very good, the audience loved them!

  

Donny's Five Months!

We are having so much fun with Donny these days! He is getting stronger and smarter all the time. This week he has started to respond as if he understands a couple of words. He understands "kiss." I have a routine with him when I pick him up out of his crib. I whisper "kiss kiss kiss" to him, then I kiss his cheeks and mouth. He will sometimes offer his open mouth for kissing, and when he is in someone else's arms and I say "Give Mama a kiss!" He wiggles with excitement and turns to me with a big smile and waits.

He also knows the word hungry. If he is hungry, but still acting happy and I ask him "Are you hungry?" He starts up with his "feed me now!" whimpering. SO CUTE! Of course, if he isn't hungry, he doesn't respond to the word at all - so I'm not positive he really knows the word.... maybe it's just the context and tone of voice?

We have started some cereal with him in the last few weeks. He takes it really well, but then doesn't know how to swallow it. At Thanksgiving we let him suck on a pickle and an olive, and he had no reaction at all! Either he has no taste buds, or he just likes pickles and olives. He's not too steady being strapped into the high chair yet, but he liked it when we put him in it.

  

Thanksgiving was fun. Lots of good food, and a baby to show off and be thankful for. Not to mention spending time with my family!

       

Can you see the triptaphan at work?
  

Now Christmas is on the way, and Donny loves to look at the Christmas tree... but he likes jumping in his jumperoo more! Here are his monthly Girafferoo pictures. Sorry about the toes in two of them. I didn't realize they were there - and the pictures of him were too cute to not share anyway.

    

All in a day's Urp

I thought I'd give you all a picture of my little laundry problem. Today I documented the many outfits of Donny. 

Here is outfit number one. He woke up in this one:
 

Here is outfit number two. He needed this change by the time he had his first nap at 8:45am. I don't like to put him in bed with a wet neckline and sleeves.
 

Here is outfit number three. I had to put him in this one because he peed all over the last one while I was changing his diaper after the nap.
 

Here is number four. He spit up profusely all over this one within five minutes of putting it on. Can you see the puddles of spit up on his pants?
 

Number five. This one got coated in drool (see the previous post for details)
 

Six. We went out in public in this one. I took him out of the carseat and could hardly stand to hold him, he was so wet in all the places the straps didn't cover. (the strap covers are now in the laundry too.)
 

And finally seven. I tucked him into bed in this one. It will probably still be dry in the morning thanks to the swaddling he is wrapped in.
 

I just did the laundry. Here is his changing table all stocked. By Sunday it will be mostly empty, and I will be folding little sleepers again.
 

Some people have suggested bibs. That only helps short term, since his spit up is projectile and ends up all over his pants as well as his sleeves and his Daddy...and the couch/carpet/changing table/whatever is closer than three feet away from him at any given moment.

The doctor insists he'll grow out of it... and since he is fully sixteen pounds, we aren't worried that he's managing to absorb enough calories to keep himself plump and growing. This Thanksgiving I am grateful for all those who have given us a plethora of clothing. We have enough to clothe sextuplets next time if they don't spit up.

That dreaded first cold

Poor baby!

 

Donny is in the midst of his first cold. He woke me up last Friday night at 10:30 with a fever of 101.8 and a hoarse voice. I gave him Tylenol, stripped him down to his diaper, and tried to cheer him up without cuddling him so my body heat wouldn't keep the temp up. Within 15 minutes his temp was down to 100.1 and he was cooing and smiling at me as if nothing was wrong. I called the doctor to make sure I was doing the right thing, and steeled myself for the next few days of the sickies.

We had a restless few nights and one day of lots of whimpering (and almost no napping), but he is on the mend now. He is still coughing and sneezing, and taking longer naps, but otherwise, he is back to his normal tricks. Not quite normal... but close. Today he entertained himself for a while with stuffing his fist in his mouth and repeatedly flinging mucusy slobber all over the couch and me. It was so funny to watch that I didn't stop him, just tried to catch the liquid with a couple of baby blankets.

I, of course, am sick too (Andy somehow escaped it). It has made the whole ordeal harder when we are both suffering with sore throats, fevers, and runny noses/sinus achiness. The good news is that we have been able to stay home for almost a week straight. We went to Fred Meyers and the bank today just so we could get out of the house for a minute.

Here's a great shot of my listless boy on day two of the cold. He was still enough that I could keep a blanket on him. I even let him watch TV for most of the morning since it seemed to help the time pass for him so he wasn't so miserable.
 

Learning to Sit

Donny has really been working hard on those stomach muscles. He tries to pull himself up into a sitting position when I lay him on the floor - of course, he doesn't get any further than lifting his head off the floor! Here he is in the position I found him in one evening when I got home. Andy said he sat like this for more than 45 minutes watching football.

 

Look how proud he is of himself!
 

A Starbucks Tradition

Saturday mornings have been a fun time for me the last few weeks. It started with an accidental meeting at a central Starbucks on the way to rehearsals. I ran into my friend Rhonda who was also heading to her own rehearsal. In the drive through were two other artistic team members. And a dream was born. Why don't we all meet at this same place we are all coming anyway at the same time each Saturday morning? And so we do!

Below is a picture of the three directors: Jeff McHenry directing Annie, Kristi Foster directing Joseph, and Me directing Charlie Brown.
 

Here are the assistant directors, choreographers and music directors for our fall CYT musicals:
 

It is fun to feel a bit like one big family before we go our separate ways!

The Dirty Deed is Done

Well, we survived another round of immunizations. He screamed like he's never screamed before, but seemed to be recovering well after some food and a nap. 

So, the stats:

Height: 24 inches - 25th percentile (up from the 10th percentile at 2 months)
Weight: 15lb, 11oz (on an empty stomach) - 75th percentile (if I'd fed him he would have weighed in at 16lb, 4oz)
Head size: 55th percentile

So he averages out to be average in every way... but short and chubby!

The doctor says that the spit up problem is a laundry issue, not a concern, so I should just keep doing what I'm doing unless he seems distressed or loses weight. Oh, and it seems he has teeth coming... not that he's complained, but the doctor says they are just about ready to break through!

The Dirty Deed is Done

Well, we survived another round of immunizations. He screamed like he's never screamed before, but seemed to be recovering well after some food and a nap. 

So, the stats:

Height: 24 inches - 25th percentile (up from the 10th percentile at 2 months)
Weight: 15lb, 11oz (on an empty stomach) - 75th percentile (if I'd fed him he would have weighed in at 16lb, 4oz)
Head size: 55th percentile

So he averages out to be average in every way... but short and chubby!

The doctor says that the spit up problem is a laundry issue, not a concern, so I should just keep doing what I'm doing unless he seems distressed or loses weight. Oh, and it seems he has teeth coming... not that he's complained, but the doctor says they are just about ready to break through!

4:01 pm

Yummy Halloween!

 

Well, we "celebrated" our first Halloween with Donny yesterday. He got to wear his hot dog costume and answer the door with candy for the neighbor kids. Very low key, but it was fun to show him off to our neighbors. We did make one trip to our next door neighbor's home. They have a little girl who is 7 months old and weighs less than Donny! We left the candy on the porch for the five minutes we were gone, knowing that all the kids in the neighborhood so far had been supervised. We missed the one group of 10-13 year old boys. All that was left were the laffy taffys when we got back. Those were 4 happy kiddos! I didn't mind too much, because I was bored with the trick or treaters and I was ready to go dark and ignore them. Andy was upset because he wanted to eat the leftovers. So, he had to eat the hot dog instead!

 

I will post later to let you know how much he weighs. Today is the dreaded day when we have to go in for his 4 month check/immunizations. I am also going to check with the doctor about help for his projectile spit up problems.