Believing is Seeing

First, we would like to thank everyone for their support on our decision to move back to Chicago.  The response has been over-whelming and helps to reaffirm our choice.  However, they’re are quite a few who seem to be questioning our sanity regarding our timing of the move!  So we can answer it with a resounding:  ‘Yes, we know its cold.  And, yes, we know there is loads of snow!’  And we can follow up with a ‘We will take it every day of the week and twice on Sunday as oppose to the earthquakes!’

Notice the plurality of that last statement – earthquakeS – as in multiple.  Obviously, there was the larger one that occurred this past summer prior to Reily’s birth in which marked our first California earthquake.  The experience was rather unnerving as I am a particular for having the ground be rather stable under my feet.  I suppose I just a stickler for certain things!  But everyone assured us that it will become second nature and you’ll learn to not even notice them.

This past Thursday just before I was putting Reily down for his nap, I noticed another little rumbling.  An event that was barely covered in the local news as it only measured 3.4 and originated in ‘the valley’ which I only explain to Midwesterners as a ‘who cares’ if Ann Arbor, Michigan would suddenly fall off the map.  But I felt in never the less.  Last night, having just returned from meeting some high school friends out, we experienced another one.  This time, it was more like a car drove into our apartment complex causing the entire foundation to jump for a brief second.  Prompting Christine to run from the kitchen into the living room asking me ‘what did you do?’  (See I’m married and have learned to where the sacred jacket of blame that seems to materialize shortly after your first year of marriage!)  After a few seconds, we realized what that probably was and had a quick laugh where Christine summed it best with ‘I’m so ready for the snow!’

Last night’s earthquake was centered in Marina Del Rey, a mere 3 miles from Santa Monica and registered 3.4 again.  A mild aftershock was actually centered in Santa Monica but wasn’t really felt (1.9).  It was enough for both of us to long for the sub-zero temperatures that seem to be gripping the midwest.  As we both agree that this is one thing that we don’t really want to ever adjust to – its not that we spend hours worrying about it but we certainly aren’t embracing it either.

So, we say ‘bring on the snow!’  And we’ll simply pack on the layers.  We are about 20 days out from our move and are feverishly putting the plans in motion; fully expecting some things to flop and others to be exactly as planned.  One thing that we’ve learned is to just focus on controlling the controllables…and nature isn’t one of those!

We can now ‘officially’ release our news – we are moving back to Chicago!  There are many details to coodinate and all of them will be dealt with accordingly but for the moment, we are embracing our decision to move back.  Christine and I have thoroughly enjoyed our time out here in California.  And as a couple, it has been wonderful and brought us closer together.  But as a family, we need more than just the constant sunshine!

We’ve experienced more in the past 9 months than in the previous 9 years of our relationship (how about that for a thought – 9 years together!  But I do still own baseball hats that are older than our relationship; just throwing that out there.).  We pushed each other to move beyond our comfort zones, to experience new cultures, and to make new friends.  We hiked, bought in bulk, and learned the importance of having a dream and not letting anyone stand in your way of achieving it.  We bought gas north of $5/gallon, experienced a new definition of highway congestion, and traveled the PCH to San Fran leading to some of the most breath-taking views we’ll ever see.  We stretched and breathed our way into being small business owners; expanding our appreciation for a more peaceful and harmonious existance with the world that we are apart of.  We ate and drank with actors, expanded our definition of liberal politics, and learned that sometimes even government can’t print enough money to pay its bills.  We surfed with the dolphins, experienced the instability of the ground below our feet, and the smell of campfires as the annual ‘fire season’ engulfed the surrounding areas.  We ate too little and drank too much at parties, walked countless miles hand-in-hand along the beach gawking as the sun slowly fell off the page, and finally remembered to carry our camera at all times to document what can’t be captured in words alone.  And all of these experiences are a mere drop in the proverbial bucket when we were blessed with becoming parents!

They say everything changes when you have a child.  And while this is true, and words can’t really express this to people who have yet to experience it, its not nearly as monumental as being a father (or mother)! Nothing.  Nothing will prepare you for the shift that you will immediately make the moment your recognize that it is no longer about you.  When it happens is completely up to the individual but, for me, it happened the very second that I held his hand.  Only moments into this world and he had already moved mountains as he plugged a void that I hadn’t even recognized that I had.  He’s reminded me that life is about living and embracing the details – and to do so with passion and commitment.  That failure is a state, the same as success – both of which are always temporary.  That laughing can cure any ailment and is best shared with someone else.  And that you can never hug someone you love too much.

We don’t know where this next stage of our journey will take us but we know that this decision is what feels right.  We traveled 2000 miles in search of something and we found him.  Rather, he found us and allowed us the opportunity to find ourselves.  Now we are going to bring him back to be with a city we love and spent 7 years calling home.

No one said life was easy – nor should it be!  But we are going back to the start – to rebuild.  Utilizing the lessons that we have learned and having faith in ourselves and each other that we are capable of so much more.  To have the strength to follow our heart and trust in our decisions.  To remember that decisions are as permanent as we want them to be.  And to recognize that the situation that we are in is a direct result of the actions that we took.  This experience has been the best decision that we have ever made and we are eternally grateful for having the courage to have lived it.

Stay tuned for all the details!

As we briefly talked about in the previous post, Reily got a new favorite ‘toy’ for Christmas. The ‘Neglect-o-Center’ is a 3 staged activity center that, according to the manufacturer, is designed for ages ‘baby to 24 months.’ The first stage is simply a mat and few things that hang over head for the baby to bat around. We just completely ignored this stage as Reily is dying to be on his feet. The second stage, more appropriately geared for pre-walkers (6+ months), is a stationary center that he can sit/stand in and the seat moves in circles allowing him to rotate around the center console and play at each station. (This is the current phase that he is in). The final stage is just where it acts like a little table area that he can hold himself up and walk around it to play with all the toys. It is really a great toy.

Well, Reily has been at the early stages of teething and subsequently is infatuated with putting everything and anything in his mouth. As of late, he has grown increasingly frustrated while in the ‘Neglect-o-Center’ because he is to short to chew on the toys around the console. He tries and tries to bring his mouth to the toys in order to soothe his incoming chompers. Today, he tried a new approach. And I don’t think that the manufacturers ever anticipated such a young child to have the power necessary to accomplish this feet. And he can do it repeatedly! Its days like today that Christine and I realize just how much trouble we are in for in the future! Enjoy the show:

As we usher in a new year, it seems as though a healthy dose of ‘change’ is running afoot. From a macro-level, we are about to see history made with the swearing in of the ‘Buddy Christ’ President and the ‘America Wow’ campaign. (Reference Check – Dogma) And while that may be impressive and certainly deserves the media’s attention, its most important to remember that words have meaning and, when it comes to leadership (also read as ‘parenting’), are not meant merely to be structured poetically. All that aside, we are much more focused on the little things.

Things that we could very easily look over as just yet another moment but when evaluated as a collective piece in the ‘History of Reily’ are so much more. Admittedly, it has been some time since our last post. And in that time, we’ve seen him grow so much and want to share a few of those moments with all of you.

• Reily met his baby cousin, Jonah William, who blessed the family with an early arrival – born 3 weeks ahead of schedule but healthy as can be. Jonah and family are doing great and we wish them the best as they too are figuring out all the joys of parenting!
• Reily received the ‘greatest Christmas gift ever’ – The ‘Exersaucer’ which has been renamed in our household to the ‘Neglect-o-Center’. This damn gift from G-ma and Poohbah came in about 500 different pieces complete with springs and million tiny screws that needed to go into locations that Reily’s hand couldn’t even fit in. After a long battle, I was finally victorious and Reily was able to really get this thing going.
• Our New Year’s was incredibly uneventful; which seems to be a reoccurring theme that we are actually welcoming as of late! We hung out as a family, watching movies, and anxiously awaited for the ball in New York to drop. When the magical moment was quickly approaching, we flipped the channel only to be flabbergasted that the west coast apparently doesn’t televise the event live given that it occurs at 9pm here. In utter disbelief, we quickly scoured the internet to find a web-broadcast of the event. And with 35 seconds until Reily ushered in his first New Year, we realized that we needed to wake him up for the event. So with a drowsy baby and a laptop in hand, we ushered in 2009!
• We did quite a bit of traveling over the past month. The first trip was a long drive from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, NM – an 800 mile drive lasting 15 hours that brought us through a few deserts and even more indian reservations. Those two details are important as it indicates that there is virtually no radio stations and even few opportunities for cellphone reception! So we listened to what was given to us and enjoyed the view nonetheless. The second trip was Reily’s first trip to Chicago. For this one, we flew, another first for Reily – LAX to ORD. The trip was laden with firsts for Reily – first time meeting his Godfather (which Reily screamed every time he picked him up – apparently he’s not a fan of Marquette soccer!), first time seeing snow (and I mean snow – 12 inches in total feel during our brief trip there), first trip to O’Leary’s Public House to meet the old gang, first time riding in a cab, first time riding the ‘L’. Reily proved again to be a fantastic traveler – on the flight, we fed him for the first 15 minutes during take off and the last 15 minutes landing. The rest of the time he slept!
• Reily was also cleared for solid foods by his doctor. And this represented a whole new chapter in his life. So last night was the first experience for Reily with real food – I am not sure how rice cereal is classified as either a solid or real food but it was certainly entertaining nevertheless:

Change – its more than just a word! For us, its constant and we are learning to really embrace it. We can only capture the moments and cherish them for what they are and not for what they aren’t. We are embracing 2009 and back to running with scissors! Hope all is well in your lives and that you can take a few moments out of each day and embrace them for tomorrow it will be different. And if your a parent, you realize how quickly things happen and in flash those moments are gone. So burn them into your memory and share them often! God bless!

We have some other information that we are extremely excited about as well but that will have to wait for another post. Until that time, please enjoy the photos and check back soon as we are starting to get back into a groove which will allow for some more frequent posts and photos to be shared.