Visit from Katie's parents - May 2013

For the weeks of May 13 and May 20, we had quite a lot of activity going on in the Mowry household. Charlie had back to back week-long trips for work, so Katie's mom decided to come visit and help out with Brady and Griffey for those 2 weeks.  And it was perfect timing to have the extra help because Katie came down with a terrible stomach virus that lasted 4 days.   So Grandma Carico did what she does best and took care of Brady to help prevent the virus from spreading to him.  And good thing because he never caught the virus.  Katie had all these plans of projects that she wanted to get done with the help of her mom, but unfortunately the virus kinda put things on hold.  The weekend in between Charlie's two trips, we got to have 2 nights out while Grandma Carico babysat.  On friday night, we went to our first dinner and a movie since before Brady was born.  We ended up eating at this crappy little restaurant called El's Kitchen across the street from the theater....definitely would not recommend it.  However, we put our bad restaurant experience behind us and walked across the street to the theater to see Iron Man 3.  We both gave it two thumbs up.  On Saturday evening, one of Katie's friend's from college who now lives in London was in town visiting with her boyfriend, so we met them and bunch of her friends at a street festival in Lakeview.  Chicagoans love their street festivals and there are many to choose from.  The one we went to was called May Fest and had a band called Two White Crew....which played some great cover songs from our high school days and it was really fun to see Shannon.

Katie's mom actually shared a ride up to Chicago with one of their family friends who also has a daughter that lives in Chicago so Bob, Katie's dad, drove up by himself during the 2nd week to hang out with Brady and take a very tired and worn out Grandma Carico home.

When Grandpa Bob got here, we all went out to D'Agostino's for pizza over on Southport Ave.

It was so nice having Grandma Carico stay with us for 2 weeks and help take care of Brady while Katie was sick.  We just hope that we didn't wear her out too much.

Mother's Day - May 12th

Everyone told me that becoming a mother changes your life, but I never fully understood the depth of that statement until last August 1st when Brayden Stephen Mowry came into our lives.  I remember during those 9 months of pregnancy speculating about how our little baby would look and his personality and how things would change in our lives.  However none of my speculations even came close to true,  he is so much cuter than I ever imagined and Brady definitely wins the best personality, he is the happiest and most easy going baby.  I felt so grateful when he was born a healthy baby boy and every day since have enjoyed every minute of seeing him grow.  I have quickly learned that there seems to be an endless amount of things to do like cleaning bottles and laundry.  My free time has gone from being able to take long trips to the mall for myself any time to carefully selecting and scheduling a brief shopping trip for myself.  But even though there seems to be so much work that goes along with parenting, I never knew how awesome it would feel when he smiles up at you or giggles into your neck and makes the long 9 months of pregnancy, the 17 hours of labor and the endless diapers all worth it.  

For my first Mother's Day, I wanted to spend a relaxing day with my 2 favorite boys, so we decided to go to the Lincoln Park zoo for the first time.  Brady seemed to really enjoy looking around at all the animals and it was really fun for us to watch his reactions.  It is extremely nice to be so close to a zoo and we were surprised to find out that admission is free, you just have to pay for parking.   Brady and Griffey even surprised me by getting me flowers and a nice card (with the help of Daddy of course).

Reds vs Cubs - Friday, May 3

On Friday May 3rd, Charlie decided to take the day off of work and bring Brady and I to the Reds vs Cubs game at Wrigley Field.  We had a rough start to this week because Brady got sent home from daycare with a stomach virus and then passed it to Katie so by Friday Katie was really ready to get out of the house and enjoy a nice afternoon...however the Windy City had another idea and decided to bring winter back.  Even though it was rainy and 40 degrees, we tried to go to the game anyways and just bundled up.  However, after 2 innings it was too cold to sit there with Brady so we walked home and watched the rest of the game on TV...lucky for us we only have to walk a short 2 blocks to get home.

On Saturday Charlie went to the game with one of his high school friends and a college buddy and the weather cooperated much better for them.  And I believe the Reds swept the Cubs that series so that made Charlie (and Brady) very happy.

Park: Wrigley Field (2nd time)
Friday, May 3, 2013

Score: Reds 6, Cubs 5

Winning Pitcher: Mike Leake

Brady's Reds record: 2-0

Brady's Home team record: 0-2

Charlie & Team In Training - The Chicago Marathon

I (Charlie) recently began training for the Chicago Marathon.  Not only that, but I'm also raising money for Team in Training (TNT), which is the biggest sponsor for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).  Basically, TNT helps train groups of runners all over the country for various endurance events.  You can sign up to prepare for just about any half-marathon, full marathon, or triathlon you can think of.  And probably some over types events I don't even know about.

You also sign up to raise money for LLS.  The minimum amount you're required to raise depends on your event.  If you live in the city of your host event - that amount isn't nearly as high as if they need to fly you out to, say, San Diego and pay for a 2-night stay there (San Diego was another one of the options some people pick).

I think most folks do the running events, and for the group in Chicago I'm running with the most people do the Chicago Marathon.  It's one of the most famous marathons in America, probably right behind Boston and New York.  I'm excited to get back into running - it had been too long.  I broke my ankle 4 or 5 years ago when I was about halfway through training for the Marine Corps Marathon.  I'd signed up and everything!  Since then, I really haven't run continuously until now.

I'm excited to be running, but I'm even more excited that it's for a good cause.  LLS does just about everything you can think of to contribute to the battle against cancer - specifically blood cancers.  They fund research, support patients, support families of patients, and promote public awareness.  When I was looking into doing this - I was particularly touched by the stories of children battling the disease.  When you become a parent, things like that hit home and it makes me very thankful for the health of our son.  Well, relative health - these first few months of Brady going to daycare take a toll on all of us illness-wise.  But a cold or a stomach virus pales in comparison with cancer!

Some of the runners know someone who has or has died from Leukemia, Lymphoma or Myeloma.  Some are even survivors.  Before yesterday's run, one runner shared a story about her dad, who has cancer and they just moved him to hospice.  She told the story of how much research can help - her dad not only lived longer because of strides made in fighting the disease, but he had a better quality of life for that time.

Many of the runners are just like me and don't have a direct connection to this particular cause.  Most everyone knows someone who died of cancer, but not necessarily from blood cancer.  Like me they may have been looking for some combination of a) incentive and help to train for a marathon, b) a way to meet new people, and c) a way to contribute to a good cause.

The group has Saturday runs to get you ready for the event, and even some mid-week runs as well.  It hasn't been the easiest road thus far.  I came down with a really bad cold/flu at the start of the first week, so that put me behind a bit.  But I'm "back in the saddle" and doing OK so far.  I'm up to 50 minutes (a little over 5 miles) as of yesterday's run.

I'll try to update on the blog how I'm doing.  In the meantime - check out my fundraising page and donate if you can.  There's even a cute picture of me and Brady right after we walked up those 80 flight of steps (he doesn't seem very tired :) ).  If you're reading this, I'll probably send you an email at some point anyways asking for help.  My fundraising minimum is $1,250 and I set a personal goal of $1,500 - some people set goals much higher, but I'm happy to contribute in any way.  This is a cause that means a lot

College Reunion Trip to Oxford - April 6th Weekend

April was a very big month for the Mowry household.  Brady started daycare on April 1st and within 2 days got sick.  Everyone had warned us that once you send them to daycare, they will get sick lots more but they will be building their immune system.  We were definitely not prepared for the amount of sickness though, it seemed like as soon as he got over something, he immediately got something new.  Despite the getting sick part, he does seem to like daycare though.  The first day was incredibly hard (probably more for Katie) but Brady started crying when he got dropped off (which then caused Katie to cry) but after a few days, the teachers said he warmed right up and now has a smile on his face as soon as we drop him off.  He got put on Amoxicillin that first week of April and luckily that started working so that we could still make our trip to Oxford the first weekend in April.

Thursday evening, we drove to Eaton after Charlie got home from work....another late arrival but it seems to work for Brady because he just sleeps.  Griffey was getting to stay at Grandma and Grandpa Carico's house for the weekend while the three of us went to Oxford to see Katie's college friends.  Katie was so excited for this trip because it was the first time Brady was going to meet several of her college friends and their kids.  Katie lived with 14 girls her junior and senior year in a house that they called The Labrynth and most of them have stayed in good contact.  This was our first reunion weekend with spouses and kids and we all agreed that it is definitely going to be an annual event from now on.  We had a great turn out with 18 adults and 10 kids/babies.  We stayed at the Hueston Woods lodge, which is 15 minutes outside of Oxford.  Now that a lot of us have kids, being back in Oxford was quite different from the old days.  Instead of pub crawling and getting late night food at Bagel and Deli, we went stroller crawling through campus, took the kids to Bagel and Deli for lunch and had an early dinner at 5pm at Steinkellar's.  It was quite the scene with 10 strollers marching through campus and we lined up at the Upham Arch to take lots of photos.  After our early dinner, we went back to Hueston Woods to put the kids to bed.  The girls went down to the hotel bar, Johnny Appleseed, while the husbands stayed back in one of the hotel rooms to keep an ear on the babies through baby monitors that we all brought.  Of course Johnny Appleseed was no Attractions or First Run, but we made do with the juke box playing as many of the non-country songs that we could find.  Of course, Katie would have picked the country songs, but she was out-numbered.   

Sunday morning, we all had brunch in the Lodge and then we all parted ways.  It was a wonderful weekend seeing so many of the Labrynth girls (and husbands) and introducing our kids was priceless.  

Katie is already counting down the days till next year's trip.  

St. Patrick's Day and Catching Up

I know we are really behind on this again.  Charlie has been super busy at work and Katie has been busy searching for a job and interviewing.  Most of our days and nights just revolve around Brady.  He makes us smile everyday. He is 8 months old now and still no teeth and not quite crawling.  He likes to pivot around in circles on his belly and pushes himself backwards, but still thinking about the going forward part.

We were very excited to have a babysitter for St Patrick's Day (one of the girls that Katie had interviewed back in January) and get out of the house. This year St. Patrick's Day was on a Sunday, so most people probably celebrated on Saturday, including us.   One of Charlie's fraternity brothers was having a party.  Supposedly the party is a tradition and use to start early in the morning, but now that most of us have babies, we didn't arrive until noon.  Katie made some Sausage Sauerkraut Balls for an appetizer which seemed to be a big hit.  And we stayed for about 5 hours until we had to go relieve our babysitter.  It was a lot of fun catching up with friends we have here in Chicago and meeting some new people as well.

Brady's Baptism Weekend - March 10th

The weekend of March 10th was Brady's baptism weekend in Cincinnati and we had lots of stuff planned while in Cincinnati.  

We drove down to Cincinnati on Thursday after Charlie got home from work, so we ended up arriving to Cincy around 1am, which was sort of rough for the two of us but Brady seemed just fine with it.  He slept the whole way and then of course when we got there he was wide awake and didn't want to go back to sleep.

Friday during the day Charlie worked remotely and Katie and Brady just relaxed and hung out with Grandma Leslie.  Friday evening, Leslie arranged for us to have a night out and reserved a table for us at her women's club where they were putting on an "Irish Night" with dinner and music.  She even secured 3 doctors-in-training to babysit Brady (and Griffey)....other wise known as Charlie's sister (Abby) and her 2 friends from medical college.  The 3 girls seemed to enjoy the night with Brady and Griffey and from what he heard both kids were on their best behavior.

Leslie is the president of the Cincinnati Women's Club so her and Tom had to sit at the head table and Charlie and I sat at a table with Grumpa (that's what we call Charlie's Grandfather).  The dinner was very good and they even served green beer.  Afterwords they had a men's glee club called The Friendly Sons of St Patrick perform in their big auditorium.  We enjoyed it very much and in fact it made us want to visit Ireland.

Saturday morning, Abby and Charlie woke up early to run a local 5K race that Wyoming was putting on.  Leslie and I were hoping that they would run by the house, but luckily it was only a block away.  So Leslie, Tom, Griffey, Brady and I walked over to cheer them on.  Afterwords the two runners were starving so we all went for a big breakfast at the yummy Half Day Cafe right next to Charlie's parents house.   

After the big breakfast, Katie had plans to meet 2 of her college roommates, Ali and Lisa, for lunch and pedicures.  She really enjoyed the girl time.  Meanwhile, Charlie had plans to meet up with several of his old college friends.  I'm (Katie is writing this) not quite sure what all trouble they were getting into during the day but Katie went to pick up Charlie later in the evening at a "corn-hole" tournament....which was quite the scene.  I think Charlie and his friends had high hopes of winning a couple rounds but this tournament was not for the weak.  It was technically located right on the dividing border of east/west cincinnati but since legend has it that "corn-hole" originated on the West side of Cincinnati, those west-siders take it very seriously and from what I saw, Charlie and his friends didn't stand a chance.  It seemed like they had a lot of fun anyways though.  And Brady and Griffey had plans to hang out with Grandma Leslie, Grandpa Tom and Aunt Abby. 

And then finally it was Sunday, the whole reason we came to Cincinnati.  We were quite nervous about how Brady was going to act during the baptism ceremony but he could not have been more perfect.  We got there a little early to meet with the Pastor and Brady fell asleep in Daddy's arms, which was right on cue for his morning nap anyways.  He slept thru the beginning of the church service until the first hymn when the choir members big voices woke him up.  Right after the first hymn, we were called up to the front for the baptism ceremony and he was awake the whole time and just took it all in.  The Pastor even carried him up and down the aisle to introduce him to his church family and he seemed to love smiling and greeting all the people.  After the baptism ceremony, we sat back down for the remainder of the church service and Brady got mentioned in the sermon and even babbled out right on que as if to say "amen".   This weekend reminded us of how truly blessed and thankful we are for such a healthy and happy baby and it seems with each day our love for him grows even stronger.