George turned two yesterday.  No gifts or cake yet; we just hugged him and sang to him.  On Saturday, we'll be having a joint party for him and Francis (if you're reading this and didn't get your invitation, you should come anyway - 10 to 1).

As the second child, George's milestones sometimes arrive with little fanfare.  Let's review some of his exploits here.

George is a climbing fiend.  Not only can he get into a high chair by himself, but he started climbing out of the crib a couple weeks ago.

George also loves books.  The other day, he crawled out of his crib, grabbed two books, put them into his crib, then climbed back in and examined them.

George is very loving, and also very physical.  He gives hugs and kisses freely, but just this evening, he followed up a hug to Sally with (1) a vicious head-butt and (2) gloating laughter.

George's favorite food is probably either waffles or pancakes.  He will eat two very large pancakes, pausing only to demand, "need more butter" several times per cake.

George loves the color green, so much so that he sometimes identifies other colors as green.

If you ask George if he loves his daddy, he will usually reply, "no.  Mommy."

George hates changing clothes.  It's not just the action of changing; he actually prefers the clothes he's been wearing.  He fights to prevent their removal and then tries to put them back on.  This applies to both pajamas and day clothes.  Yesterday, he wore his pajama top all day -- the result of a deal in which he consented to changing his pants.

We love you, George.  Keep up the good work.

Happy Birthday Francis!

Today, Francis turns 4. She awoke this morning to find streamers, balloons, and birthday banner in her bedroom -- constructed by Sally as Francis slept. She's in for a big surprise tonight. We're going to Kiddieland.

The girl is really growing up. For example, from the backseat a few days ago, she said:

"F you, guys."

Sally and I looked at each other, startled. We had been noticing that Francis picks up saucy language at school, but so far it's been of the "nanny nanny boo boo" variety. Hearing an actual F-bomb, even an implied/truncated one, from our 3.95 year old was very troubling.

What did you say, Francis?

"'F,' you guys," she said, as she pointed to the capital "F" in the book she was reading.

Oh. I see.

Baby George is now Boy George

GeorgeBirthday-1482.jpg
Originally uploaded by Sally Carns.

On extremely short notice, we had a handful of friends over on Sunday to eat Dominick's pizza (not Domino's, but Dominick's, right out of the deli fridge) and eat cake and celebrate George's first year.

Francis, our self-appointed baking advisor, said that George needed a tiger cake so that's what he got. While it was a happy tiger, George was still pretty startled by the sight. But unlike his sister on the occasion of her first birthday, he did not SCREAM while we sang Happy Birthday.

Matt made balloon animals, perhaps starting a new Gulde birthday party tradition. In his first turn at balloon sculpture, he built a repertoire of four varieties: poodle, dachsund, giraffe, and hat. (Please, please click on that "hat" link. It's the best picture in the lot).

Thanks to all our friends who were able to make it with only a few hours' notice, giving our little guy his best birthday yet.

Trial Period Officially Over

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Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

One year ago today, our sweet little Georgie joined our family. Being 9 days overdue, like Francis, we scheduled an induction for the following day. However, smarty pants George got wind of the eviction and decided to come out on his own. When I got to the hospital, I was 7 centimeters. And after getting a glorious epidural (God bless the women that do it without) and one big push, Georgie showed up just a few hours later.

It has been a wonderful year. I know I'm his mom, but I think I can say with some objectivity that he is a great baby. He was sleeping through the night at about 3 months and continues to sleep from 7:30 - 7:30. (As a parent, you just can't ask for more than that.) He climbs EVERYTHING. He's starting to stand on his own, but still no walking...soon I think. He loves milk, and eats just about everything you put in front of him. He loves taking a bath and gets fussy when you take him out. He spends most of his nights being lullabied to sleep with the sound of his daddy singing Danny Boy, Loch Lomond, Notre Dame Our Mother, or of course, the ND fight song. It's funny, I've tried my best to sing them to him, but I think he finds daddy's voice more soothing. Go figure. (This coming from a girl who didn't make 5th grade choir. Who doesn't make 5th grade choir?!) He says, "Da-Da, Ma-Ma, and I swear, he says "Fan-cis."

He is the sweetest and most cuddly boy these Guldes have ever seen. So... we've decided to keep him.

Happy 1st Birthday, my precious son.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Francis

Francis's 3rd Birthday
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Last weekend we celebrated Francis's 3rd birthday. It sounds so darn cliche, but geez... they grow up so fast. She is so smart and so sweet. Her favorite color is blue (and has informed me that George's is green), she can count to 16-ish, she absolutely loves books, going to the pool, riding her bike, coloring on the sidewalk and watching movies (current fav: Sound of Music). Her favorite food is steak. Her favorite drink is milk.

After she wakes up in the morning she reads quietly in her bed, and later in the afternoon when she wants to avoid naptime, she says "Do you think maybe we could watch a little bit of TV and snuggle wuggle on the couch?" (she knows I can't say no to that) And today when I asked her if she needed to go pee-pee she said, "No, do you?" She's just fun.

For about a month leading up to her birthday she made it very clear that she wanted a tiger cake. She said "Mommy gets a lion cake, I want a tiger cake and Georgie gets an elephant cake." That is, until the day before. She had a quick change of heart and decided she wanted a Nemo cake - and to be totally honest, I was pretty bummed. I really didn't want her to want a commercial character thingy, but at the end of the day, I had a fun time making it and when she saw it for the first time, I got over my consumerism hang ups. She loved it and that is all that matters to me. There is nothing better than the jaw dropping gasp of your 3 year old daughter.

Francis, I love you and am so proud you. I am so blessed to be your mommy. It breaks my heart that you'll never be 2 again, but I know year 3 has great things in store for us.

p.s. thanks to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Denise for the bike! She was absolutely out of her mind excited and hasn't gone a day without riding her bike around the block since.

Happy Birthday, Sally

During the first autumn of our relationship, Sally was startled at my obsession with Notre Dame football. The poor girl, you see, grew up in a home unaccustomed to the ritual of watching college or pro football. Then, later that year, she was surprised by my interest in watching every televised Notre Dame basketball game. Once, when I happened to be channel-surfing past a soccer game, she noticed and said, "you CANNOT TELL ME that you watch Notre Dame play soccer, too."

As any fanatical follower of a team can tell you, losses are painful, sometimes nauseating. In that first fall with Sally, though, I noticed something different about my fanaticism. Losses stopped bothering me as much. The Irish opened 0-3 to start the year, and lost to terrible Stanford and Boston College teams. After each disturbing game, I would look at Sally and remember that life was good.

I told her, "I love you to such a degree that I don't mind as much when Notre Dame loses." Profound, I thought, but I don't think she understood the depth of the statement at the time. It's even truer now, as I am reminded by the 2007 Notre Dame Football Ticket Lottery. Once again, I've been shut out. I sent them a big check and asked to be considered for attendance at five of their games. They said no, no, no, no, and no. This was not a loss by Notre Dame as much as a personal loss, and yet, I still feel the warm sun on my face and know that my sweet wife is at home loving me.

Today is her birthday, and I'm going to go home now. Then we're going to put frosting on the cupcakes that Francis made for her. And then we're going to put the kids down and go have an adult dinner to talk about the state of Notre Dame football recruiting.

Happy birthday, Sally. I love you more than the Irish.

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Beautiful Cowboy Cake
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Today was Charlie Donoghue's first birthday. For those of you who don't know, Charlie is our godson. We are happy to report that little Charlie can throw quite a cowboy celebration. Not only did he have the greatest chocolate cowboys and indians cake (designed by his Auntie Sarah), but both Matt and I walked away with over a dozen taquitos in our bellies.

Be sure to click the cake photo to see just how much fun we had. Happy Birthday Charlie, we love you.

Happy Birthday Scout!

Happy Birthday Scout on Vimeo

Scout's Birthday on Vimeo

Every year on MLK day, we celebrate Scout's birthday. Sure it's not the same date every year, but Scout doesn't know any better.

On Martin Luther King day 2003, I took off from work early, and Sally and I went to the Anti-Cruelty Society to pick out a dog. We quickly narrowed it down to a litter of five dogs in the top row of cages near the entrance. Four of the five puppies were dark brown, and looked like chocolate labs. Scout was unique among his siblings - colored like a german shepherd. We took Scout out of his cage to get to know him, and he hid underneath a bench. Despite his furry charm, we weren't completely sold on him until we set him back into his cage. As soon as we shut the door, he wet the entire cage, and we knew he was a considerate dog. Considerate and unique.

Because of the shelter's policy to neuter dogs before allowing their adoption, it wasn't until the next day that we actually got to pick up our dog. In the meantime, we tried out different names. We tried Flash, Fletch, The Nose, Navin R. Johnson. In the end, he just seemed like a Scout (although some have attributed his name to an attempt to derail Sally's effort to name a human child Scout). When we got his tags, we labeled them "Scout C. Gulde."

The total cost for obtaining this dog was $105.00: $55.00 in fees to the shelter, and one $50.00 ticket from the city for overstaying our meter. Considerate, unique, and economical.

Four years and two babies later, Scout has been a constant in our household. He makes our lives better in every way but one: we could do wihout the shedding. Regardless, here's to our dog. May he find dog treats in unexpected places.

Eoin's Second Birthday

Eoin's 2nd Birthday
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Our good friend Eoin (that's pronounced "Owen" for those of you unfamiliar with traditional Irish spellings) recently turned two years old and had a ball-themed party on Saturday. George enjoyed his first party, and Francis loved the cake, the bubbles, the pool full of balls, and all of Eoin's presents.

Happy birthday Eoin!

Happy Birthday Sweet Francis!

Mmm... icing!
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Otter cake, "F" and star pancakes (see pictures), an early morning call from Grammie, painting, new books, new clothes, new toys, and pizza with the Breits. Add all of those things together and you come up with a pretty good second birthday.

This birthday was Francis's last without a little brother breaking her toys. So here's to your last few days of only-childhood, little girl. When that little guy is messing up all of your things, just remember that you were here first, and you had an otter cake.

Why I love being a mommy, reason #71,506

The Otter Cake!
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Francis's 2nd birthday was yesterday and when asked a couple of weeks ago what kind of cake she wanted, she responded "Otter Cake!" That's what I get for taking her to the zoo every week. I was going to pretend I hadn't heard that, and thought a lion cake or, heaven forbid, an Elmo cake might be more my speed -- something that actually had a pre-made cake pan would be ideal (considering that I can count the number of cakes I've made on my fingers). I mentioned her request to Matt and expected to share a good giggle about it, but instead Matt challenged me to the task. And as many of you know, I have a hard time turning down a challenge.

So, the research began. After several Internet searches and a handful of pep talks from friends, I plunged in. Click the photo to see an entire set of pictures documenting the otter cake experience.

I gotta tell ya, as crazy as it may sound, this is the most fun I've had in a while. I just smiled the entire time. I was able to tap into all of my creative stuff and not touch a computer. It was like painting. I sketched out what I was going to draw, mixed the icing colors, thought about texture, type, etc. I'm laughing at myself writing this, but it was so much fun! I love that my daughter brings otter cake challenges to my life. I'm already excited to hear what she asks for next year.

Fun in the Courtroom

So I was surfing the web looking for an easel to buy Francis for her birthday and came across this gem. For only $425.00 Francis can play "courtroom" with Daddy. (I mean, Daddy is undefeated afterall. :) ) Geez, who buys this stuff? Click on the title to see the Amazon listing.

Birthday!!

ND cheerleader/bookworm
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

OK, so Francis's birthday isn't for another couple of weeks, but these packages arrived from the ND bookstore, and we couldn't help ourselves. We opened them to find a cheerleader outfit from my mom and a sweatshirt and backpack from Jeff and Denise. Francis LOVES them. She spent half an hour walking around our block collecting sticks to put in her backpack.

Happy 32nd Birthday Best Friend!

Porch Destruction
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Today is Matt's birthday.

When I stop and really think about what today means I get a little teary eyed. It's not about cake and ice cream...frankly in my prego state these days everyday is about cake and ice cream, but rather.... it's about celebrating the birth and existence of my sweet husband.

What would I do, who would I be without this guy? Where would we all be without his ND fanaticism, his love for male chorale, his giddyness upon seeing all things mechanical, his disturbing love for grammer (ha... gotcha, honey) grammAr, his work ethic, his artistic talent, his left cheek dimple, his kindness and patience to strangers, and his incredible loyalty and love for his friends and family.

Man, I love this guy. And I know I'm not the only one. Matt, Happy Birthday best friend. I'm so glad you were born. I'm so glad you are in my life. Thank you for being you. Hope today is extra special.

Birthdays

Matt and his brother, Jeff
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

While we were in Amarillo, we celebrated early birthdays for Jeff and Denise. This was a milestone birthday for Jeff: 40 years. We were too early for the big surprise party, but we were happy to share dinner and cake with the birthday kids.

Birthday Terror

Francis's First Birthday Party
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

I didn't want anyone to miss this picture, which is buried in the middle of 150 other birthday photos.

Francis's First Birthday Party

Francis's First Birthday Party
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

You only turn one once. Francis's first birthday was certainly memorable, although she won't be the one to remember it. When do kids start developing lasting memories, by the way?

Anyway, we had this party on Saturday and it was more fun than we could have imagined. There was a donkey pinata! (congratulations to Noah Breit for emptying the donkey of his sweet candy innards). There was swimming! There was a tent! (On that one, I have to emphasize "was" because the wind destroyed the tent yesterday). There was cake! (cake that we baked in our neighbors' oven because ours doesn't work. Thanks Ben and Maureen!). There were gifts! Thank you all who came and celebrated with us. We'll remember Saturday always.

As for Francis, she laughed (when she got frilly dresses from Grammie), she cried (when we sang Happy Birthday to her), and she slept (like a rock after most of the people left).

It was a particular pleasure to have such great representation of the Carlsson Clan there. Carl "Babe" Carlsson was my dad's roommate at N.D. from 1950 - 1952. Despite the distance between Texas and Illinois, our families have been close ever since. In this set of pictures, you'll notice a family picture of three generations of Carlssons (which now includes Lucases and LeCocqs as well). Thanks for coming, guys!

Kicking Off Francis's Birthday Weekend

Francis's Birthday Weekend
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Francis had some visitors this weekend. Matt and Jennie came from Atlanta on Thursday night, and Mom Gulde came up from Amarillo on Friday morning (at 1:40 a.m., to be exact, thanks to a SWA delay).

The whole crew came downtown on Friday afternoon after exploring Oak Park in the morning. Here are some pictures of the group in my office (where we had the good fortune of sharing birthday cake with my coworker Diane), at the Sears Tower, at Giordano's getting some deep dish, and finally at home putting in the curlers.

Matt's Birthday

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Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

One of the problems with getting older is the fact that eventually I will reach all those ages at which famous people did the things that they're famous for.

Albert Einstein let the world in on special relativity when he was 26. Also at 26, Orson Wells wrote, directed, and starred in Citizen Kane. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting at 25 and 26, respectively. Tom Brady's already won three superbowls and he's 27.

Well I've got at least 4 years on those guys and what have I ever done?

See what I mean? Birthdays can get you down if you think this way. For every milestone you hit, there's another thousand guys who can say they made their first million by that age.

My own damn wife won a Grammy at age 26.

Listen, I don't want to get you down. At least, I don't want to get those non-millionaires, non-grammy winners, and non-nobel prize winners among you down. So let us not sneer at these prodigious successes. Let us not point out that Orson Wells eventually did voice work on Magnum P.I. and Ben Affleck made Gigli. Why not find inspiration in these examples instead?

Let's go get 'em.

Happy Irthday Grammie!

Happy Birthday Grammie!
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Happy 70th Birthday Grammie! We love you SOOOO much and wish we could be there to celebrate with you. We hope that today is extra special! Sending you big hugs!