News updates

Needless to say, I've spent a lot of free moments Googling my aunt's name and looking for any possible updates on her story.

This morning I came across this headline: Accused ATM killer caught from The State, which also did a good job of finally talking to people who knew Lynne about what kind of person she was. That story is here. It paints a good picture of the woman I remember. There's some honesty in there about divorce proceedings, and that's never a fun topic. But I'm choosing to remember Lynne as a woman who knew my parents before they were married and always seemed happy to be with me and my family. Plans are for me to go south for Sunday's memorial service, and I really hope our family's presence can be good for Jesse.

Death in the family

I pride myself on being able to express myself through words. And maybe if I sat at this keyboard all night, I'd come up with something profound. But the fact is my aunt was killed today while trying to get money from an ATM near her home. If you need or want details, there's a pretty complete story here courtesy of a local TV station.

I appreciate the sympathy that's come my way, but for those inclined to pray, please remember my cousin, Jesse, who is a college freshman and probably doesn't know which way is up today. He's a strong kid and I love him a lot, even though we don't see each other too often. I hope his network of friends and family will support him in this dark hour.

Sometimes this is a wicked, wicked world. I spent a lot of time yesterday basking in the glow of our new president and his practical optimism. But that is and was more metaphoric than anything. The events of today are real and directly impacting some of the people I love most. I can't even begin to comprehend, and I don't even know where to start.

I go to bed tonight with an old hymn in my heart and a lesson taught me once about its origin. Thanks to the Internet, I can give you the quick story here.

I wish you peace, love and the comfort of family. And though I know it can't be so, I wish to wake tomorrow and find this all untrue.

Bathtime

Last night as Max was watching Jack take a bath, he threw Jack's snow boot in the tub. Why? The world will never know. Jack then threw it back out, with all the water in it. Suffice it to say that Max needed a new outfit and the bathroom floor just got washed.

Early mornings and late nights

My beautiful boys, whom I love very much, woke up at 3:30 and 5:00 this morning. Max went back to sleep at 5:30 and Jack stayed awake. Max is just now settling down for bed. But, they did sleep in the car today and Max took a 2 1/2-hour nap in the middle of the day, so that helps my sanity.

Max is now waving hello to people on occasion (mostly the occasion is whether or not he feels like it) and is quite pleased with himself when he plays peek-a-boo. He is also quite happy to discover all of the fun stuff that How's house has in it.

Jack has a good big brother streak in him after all. Today, he decided he wanted Max to play up in his room with him, so he held onto Max's outfit all the way up the steps (did I mention Max loves to climb steps?) and then shut the door behind them so they could play (without me, as Jack instructed me to leave them alone). Since I'm not crazy, I kept checking in with them and it turns out that Jack went into his storage closet and got out the bead maze and the Fisher Price farm for Max to play with. They stayed up there and played, alone, for at least 20 minutes before Jack came back downstairs and told me Max was "bothering" him. So, I went back upstairs and although Jack's room looks like a catergory 5 hurricane just shot through there, everything else was good. Amazing.

Nice. Hair.

Who doesn't love static season?

From Hollands at Home

Feeling old and feeling young

Column originally published Jan. 13, 2009

You know you're getting — or at least feeling — old when ...

♦ You look at your wedding album — which isn't even 7 years old — and express amazement at how young you look.

♦ You can barely keep your eyes open after 10 p.m., but one of your kids is wide awake.

♦ You curse snow because it means shoveling and bad driving conditions. Newspaper offices don't have snow days.

♦ You no longer look forward to getting the mail each day.

♦ You still happily subscribe to two daily newspapers.

♦ You pass on fast food because you just can't bear the thought of consuming that much grease.

♦ You look at the new Pepsi artwork and it makes you think of when you used to drink the stuff from glass bottles.

Continue reading "Feeling old and feeling young."

What's Max up to?

Max is climbing. And he knows how to get down, too. This means the boy is unstoppable. Ok, well, that's not true, but he does repeatedly climb on our couch and recliner, using the antique trunk as a step. Then, once he gets up there, he is the happiest boy on the planet, until he realizes he hasn't conquered the end table yet. So, onto the end table he goes. This is usually met by a stern no from Jack and a "no babies on the table" yelp from me, and back onto the floor he goes. Undeterred, Max will climb up on the couch again. When he's tired of the couch, he has shown me today (after a week or two of just falling off and clunking his head or other body parts on the floor and whatever toy happened to be there, including one lucky fall when instead of hitting the floor his head fell right on the soft, stuffed cubs ball from Aunt Cheryl) that he can now swing his legs around and slide off the couch landing on his feet. Pretty smooth little man, he is. And, did I mention he can cruise along the couch to the trunk to the recliner, etc., all with out crawling... and he loves opening and shutting doors. The only problem is when the door latches shut (not all ours do) and he can't get it back open. That ticks the little guy off. And he loves pulling up on the doors and pushing them shut while standing up. Good times.

Max's other favorite activities include taking the door off that covers the inputs on the front of the TV and the door that covers the smart card on the dish receiver off and chewing on them, then throwing them on the floor. Max and Jack have started to rough house (sp?) a little. More instigated by Jack than Max. Jack will go over to Max while he's on the couch and grab him around the middle similiar to how he grabs the cats and move him somewhere else. Max does one of two things: a) He cries as if to say "How could you possibly pick me up and move me, I was perfectly happy and now you have ruined my play time" or b) Laughs, squeals and goes crawling right back to Jack, as if to say "Do it again" and "you are so fun, big brother."

The little doodle (that's Max for those who haven't heard us use the nickname) also is usually sleeping part of the time in our bed... this so far has proved to be easiest way for us all to get the most amount of sleep. He's not a sound sleeper and cannot, I repeat, cannot self-soothe back to sleep. So, we can either stay up with him in the rocking chair, or we can all just go back to sleep. We choose the second one. Although I have a feeling I will pay for this later. But, he starts the night out in his crib, and some nights does stay there all night. And all his naps are in his crib. In some ways, I'm just thankful we got him out of his carseat!

He is now eating solids three times a day consistently (and poops just as many if not more, seriously, I don't know how he grows). He prefers fruit and cereal (apples, pears, apples & cherries, pear pinapple are the preferred fruit -- bananas are a no go) but will eat carrots and sweet potatoes for lunch. We tried a chicken noodle dinner the other day. That is NOT a hit. All sorts of funny faces and instead of spitting it out, he tries to swallow it and gags. Then, he lets the next bite just dribble back out of his mouth. We tried for about 5 or 6 bites. Then I gave up when he started crying. We are still on 5-ounce bottles... we tried 6 ounces, but after a massive spit-up, we decided 5 was still good for now.

Also, Max still does not particularly care for the car unless we feed him a bottle and it's naptime so he can sleep. (Jack on the other hand, still konks out almost immediately).

That's the story of the Moose... doing well, hitting milestones (at his nine-month check-up, he was 16 lbs 6 oz, 28 inches, which is all in less than the 10th percentile, so he's little I guess) but I know he's grown taller since then, since we just put away the one-piece 12-month outfits in favor of the 18-month one-piece outfits. Still in 12-month two-pieces, but he did out grow his little snow suit and is now wearing a big boy coat. It's a puffy one, so he doesn't really move in it, so I think that ticks him off, but he's really cute. And that's one of our favorite parts about him. He's really, really cute! (Not that I'm biased.)

Hey look! A block!

From Hollands at Home

The youngest employees

From Pops and K's

Here's a short film of Max attempting to wreak havoc on part of my mom's Holland Safety Equipment filing system. It kept him happy for quite a while, and all he ever really took out was some paper clips. But once he went in for the first file folder, play time ended abruptly.



And...

From Pops and K's

Here is a video, which you'll have to view sideways, of Jack and the makeshift drum set he built in the HSE warehouse (my parents' basement) earlier today. He decided to play shadow to Sharon, the only nonfamily employee, while she did all of her packing stuff. (Sharon is the worker who uses the laptop on weekdays that Jack plays with when he comes on weekends. Amazingly, he is very gracious about sharing this computer. It's probably because there's a few others in the house he can use, but still, any sharing is a small victory for us.)

Conversations with Jack

This is an almost word-for-word recount of a short talk Jack and I had while I took a shower at my parents' house Monday morning.

Jack: Dad?
Me: Yeah?
Jack: Are you in there?
Me: Am I in here?
Jack: Yeah, are you in there?
Me: No.
(brief, almost perfect pause...)
Jack: Then who is it?

Honestly, when his sarcasm detector kicks in, we're all going to have lots more fun together. But I'll miss the total obliviousness with which he wanders around sometimes.

Fulton connection

Nice to see my old paper produce this video regarding a tribute to the longtime basketball coach at Fulton High, who happened to be a member of the church we went to while we lived in Fulton-Clinton.

Happy Friday

For anyone who can use a chuckle... a picture of Max in a sombrero and sweater vest.

From Pops and K's

Parenting changes perspective of world

Column originally published Jan. 6, 2009... first since Nov. 11, 2008

One of the interesting things about being a parent — and there are many, to be sure — is how it shapes your view of the world.

I recall an incident from this summer when I had the baby out for our nightly walk, which was the only way to keep him happy between 7 and 9 p.m. It was the week of Riverfest, which meant our usual quiet stroll around the river was anything but placid. Still, it was a good time since neon lights have a seemingly hypnotic effect on Max.

As we were heading back toward home, we approached a group of kids — probably about 13 years old but trying to come off as closer to 17. One of their age-enhancing tactics, one I recall clearly from junior high, was using as many obscenities as possible in their conversation, regardless of if they actually added anything to the dialogue.

Part of me identified with the young scruffs. They were just trying to look old. They don't yet realize or care how uneducated constant profanity makes them sound and, to their credit, at least they weren't smoking. But the part of me pushing a 4-month-old boy in a stroller wanted to yell at them to clean up their language and ask a higher power if there would be any way for my boys to skip adolescence altogether.

That's not the only time I've been at war with myself. When I was in college, we'd see high school students come through on campus tours and wonder why the girls we went to high school with didn't dress "like that." As I age, I become more appalled at the way certain clothes and lifestyles are marketed to teen and preteen females. And so far, there are no baby girls at my house to keep sheltered from such a future.

Just recently in this paper I read about a new Illinois law that will hold parents liable for $20,000 when their child vandalizes property, $30,000 when it is part a pattern of vandalism.

As a property owner, I think this is spectacular. As the parent of boys who seem to delight in destruction, I'm not so sure.

Continue reading "Parenting changes perspective of world."

House project

Some shots I grabbed over the weekend, along with my descriptions:

I stood under the willow tree to take this picture. Lots of ladders still in the back yard.

From House Project

The parking pad along the driveway is covered with the contractors' materials and waste, including the old front door, which is kind of sad to see as you stand at the kitchen sink.

From House Project

We love the new front door. I'm also a big fan of the new mailbox location, although I've been told it's not permanent.

From House Project

Standing near the neighbor's yard. Note the lovely ice sheet in the driveway, the result of heavy rain before the gutters were installed and a sump pump that ran about three straight days.

From House Project

I took this shot from the from the side to show the west side of the house. Still strikingly exposed since the pine tree went away, and it's jarring to see the windowbox planter gone.

From House Project

I should have taken this picture when the grass was green, but here's the new fire pit area. The pit itself is impressively deep.

From House Project

Christmas in Libertyville

Scenes from our Jan. 3 Christmas celebration with Pops, K & Kim.

Jack shows off his first present. He did much better about not "hating" his gifts. Until he opened pajamas, that is. The idea of clothes for Christmas isn't popular until at least high school.


It's tough to get both boys in one shot with no tears.


The expression on his face is coincidental, but priceless.


It took Jack about three Christmases to grasp the concept of opening presents as well as Max.


Kim is showing Jack how to play with animal dominoes. Maggie is nosing in, because she gets jealous when Kim plays with little people.

Max keeps busy

This is where I found Max when I went to refill my plate Saturday night in my parents' kitchen.

From Pops and K's

More Libertyville stuff

I won't post the whole text, but here is a Sun-Times News Group article on the Adlai Stevenson home in Mettawa, which I found quite interesting.

Libertyville connection

Four things happening at this precise moment:

Max is napping.

Jack is "playing" with Pops.

K, Kristie and Kim are at a baby shower for Micah Peterson (Stephanie & Rick's new arrival).

I am going through my old file of Google alerts.

Anyhow, came across this Libertyville Review article about Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher and his apparent boundless generosity when it comes to the owner of a Libertyville shop he and his fiancee have befriended.

Libertyville shop owner gets to know No. 54, a real 'teddy bear'
By Diana Newton

Kristine Knutson never expected to see Brian Urlacher standing inside her Libertyville house talking sports and golf with her son. But it happened.

One of the toughest linebackers in pro football really is just "the sweetest teddy bear alive," Knutson said.

Urlacher, No. 54 for the Chicago Bears, and his fiancee, Jenner Evans, got to know Knutson after ordering wedding invitations through her downtown Libertyville shop, How Impressive!, a personalized stationery and gift shop.

Urlacher and Evans learned that Knutson's husband had lost his job six months ago and that the family was struggling financially and worried about losing their home and the shop. Knutson said she and Evans often have friendly chats, and that's how Evans found out about the family's struggles.

"Jenner is just so nice and real and family oriented," Knutson said. "She told me she didn't want me to lose the shop."

Ever since learning of the Knutsons' rough year, Urlacher and Evans have gone out of their way to help -- including buying gifts for the two Knutson children and sending customers to the shop. The couple also did something for the family that Knutson described as "extremely generous."

She didn't want to say what that was, but was eager to tell the world one thing: "They are the most wonderful people."

Urlacher isn't exactly known as a teddy bear, but that's just what he is, Knutson insisted.

'Regular Joe'

"He's just a regular Joe," she said.

When Urlacher, a father, found out that Knutson's son was in need of tennis shoes, he personally went to Foot Locker at Westfield Hawthorn Center in Vernon Hills and bought two bags full.

Evans and Urlacher then arrived at the Knutson's home to deliver them. They also had a $100 gift card to the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing store for Knutson's daughter for her 14th birthday.

Evans brought the shoes to the door, but Knutson asked, "Is he in the car?" When she found out Urlacher was outside, Knutson walked to the car to greet the famous Bear and tell him, "You can't do this.'"

Urlacher and Evans ended up coming into the house and staying 45 minutes, asking the kids how they were doing in school and talking about sports. Knutson has met Urlacher's children in her shop and said he is great with them.

"It was really wild," Knutson said of his visit to her home. "He told my son, 'When I was growing up, I had one pair of tennis shoes. I want to do this for you.' My son is a golfer. Brian asked Billy if he ever wanted to golf with him. That's where Billy's eyes lit up."

Billy, 12, averages an 89, and Urlacher joked that Billy could teach him some things about golf. For Halloween, Urlacher gave Billy one of his personal playing jerseys to wear, which he autographed.

"It was his own jersey so it was form fitting, and he even gave Billy the black tape that goes under the eyes," Knutson said. "Billy wore it to his Halloween party. Nobody believed him when he told them where he got it!"

Knutson said she wanted to repay the kindness Urlacher and Evans have shown her family for months now. On Dec. 18, Knutson attended a holiday luncheon event held by the Bears Care Foundation for children helped through the American Brain Tumor Association, Children's Memorial Hospital and Lutheran General. Knutson, with help from the Libertyville community, was able to bring 75 Webkinz stuffed pets and Kooky Klicker Pens as gifts for all the children there.

Seeing children suffering from brain tumors really put things in perspective.

"We have our health, our family, our friends -- you can't buy any of that," Knutson said.

What else can I dig up in my e-mail?

Kohawk update

I didn't get much of a chance to watch Coe grad Fred Jackson this year (although I did see him gain at least 20 yards on one play twice during the season), but followed him by having him on both of my fantasy football teams. I also read a lot about him via my Google alerts for Coe. Here's a typical piece of glowing praise:

Bills fans should be thankful for Jackson before being sad for season
By Anthony Bialy

Naturally and as usual, the New England Patriots toyed with the Buffalo Bills on their way to forcing a suitably frustrating conclusion to an embarrassing year for the latter. But there is obviously plenty of time for fans of the eternally sub-mediocre Bills to dissect the train wreck of a plane crash the 2008 NFL season became. So why not enjoy one happy event from one meaningless finale?

A game that was thankfully over by 10 minutes to 4 featured a single aspect the Bills can celebrate, namely the futile yet still valiant effort of running back Fred Jackson to get his team to .500 on his own. His carries served as the last fun moments for backers to appreciate, so Buffalo may as well briefly cherish his toils before offseason misery sets in for good.

When the Bills gained a yard in Sunday's 13-0 loss, there was almost a 50/50 chance it was Jackson doing the gaining: He picked up 136 of Buffalo’s 276 net yards on his 27 carries. What the box score should also feature is the highest wind gust of the day. Conditions made the game take on the character of one played during a very chilly hurricane, and only those who sat through the overwhelming drafts will remember them as the forgettable game’s defining characteristic even a few months from now.

Those who saw it will also know that the rusher didn’t exactly sneak his way to some cheap pickups. The Patriots deployed the sort of defense that would be typically be used to counter a freeze option, stuffing the box with every player available as if they were facing Oklahoma in 1970. New England’s first- and third-highest unassisted tacklers on the day were safeties James Sanders and Brandon Meriweather, respectively, and the shutout the Pats pitched reflects the way their deep secondary didn’t play deep at all but rather hung close to the line to slow the otherwise relentless Jackson.

The fact Trent Edwards threw 25 times was only a byproduct of late desperation to get at least some points; in retrospect, this offense would have been better off snapping straight to Jackson and replacing the quarterback with a tight end, eligible tackle or other non-throwing, all-blocking option. Call it the "Wildcat," but the Bills should have just called it practical.

Jackson's 12 rushes for 40 yards over the first quarter’s course into the extraordinary gusts equals the hardest-earned three and one-third yards per carry imaginable; the only thing more impressive is that he averaged over 5 yards per rush by day’s end. Facing 11 single-minded defenders, the Texas native still got to 103 yards by halftime, including a career-long jaunt of 32 on the play after the two-minute warning. The way the offense consequently engaged in time management that makes W. Axl Rose look punctual by comparison on the rest of the drive is an unavoidable reality, but, with the season sunk, it’s best to remember happy times on the road to ruin.

More remarkable than the fantastically large amount of ground Jackson gained is how little he lost: The Coe College man ended up with only a single attempt that went backward. That one 2-yard loss to go along with three no-gain carries meant that, even with New England’s linebackers, safeties and sometimes cornerbacks ready to pulverize him, he still largely refused to hit the turf without first making a forward struggle.

Jackson’s one-game performance ranks with linebacker Kawika Mitchell’s unassisted effort to stop the San Diego Chargers in the team’s sixth matchup as the best game by a Bill this season. And the rusher of course exerted dominance over a long period of snaps: Instead of a handful of spectacular plays, Jackson’s consistent effort in the face of a cyclone of opposition led to a cumulatively spectacular afternoon.

The Patriots knew what the running back was going to try to do, and he did it most of the time anyway, even if he couldn’t single-handedly will his team to points. Feel despondent about the Bills’ 2008 tomorrow and appreciate the work of the league’s best backup in Jackson today.

See the post in its original home here.

Ten months old

One of the things about babies is how they consume every aspect of your life, to the point where you look at the calendar and realize the kid is 10 months old (yesterday, when the picture below was taken), which means a full year ago, he was still two months away from being born. How is it possible? Sure, we first found out we were having Baby Two just after Father's Day 2007. So he's been a concept for more than a year and a half. But for people without kids, or even (I imagine) people with older kids, it's easy to look back 10 months and not see a whole lot of changes.

Not so with us, for Max and other reasons. But mainly Max and Jack, who are at the center of nearly everything we do. And that's how it should be. Anyhow, here's a shot of a still-toothless baby I took lat night. The little man knows how to smile, and it gives me such a great feeling just to think about how much I love him and his big brother.

From Pops and K's