BREWERS WIN! And The Girls Celebrate

How fitting, in so many ways, that, on the last game of the season, the Milwaukee Brewers would defeat the Chicago Cubs to clinch their first post-season birth in 26 years. Being the die hard fan, this was clearly the most elctrifying sporting event I've attended (although the Packers/Carolina Panthers NFC Championship Game in 1996 came real close).

Being a Brewers Fan this year required a lot of patience and a lot of hope. For me, many an evening was spent with Hope and Grace curled up in my arms watching the games. This was great daddy time and a special way for us three to bond.

I was fortunate enough to be part of the celebration and discharged a cannon full of streamers. I videoed this below.

Perhaps the coolest thing about today for me, however, wasn't Braun's go ahead homer or CC's complete game masterpiece, but rather Jeni sending me a picture message on my phone of Hope holding up a sign reading, "Way to Go Brewers!"

Regardless of what happens from here on out, this season will go down as one chucked full of awesome memories,




View from the Upper Deck after I discharged a streamer cannon.













Grace (left) and Hope (right) say goodbye to Daddy before he heads to Miller Park for the game.








Me and my friend Keith with the giant streamer cannons

Hope and Grace have caught "Brewers Fever" from their Daddy.

Double Digit Hopester

Our girls got weighed today, and Hope is officially 10 pounds! Gracie is 8 pounds 4 ounces. The home nurse described both girls' progress as advanced given their adjusted-gestational age, as the girls are becoming increasingly interested in their hands and thumbs, and enjoy putting their hands together. Yeah! Enjoy the picture of the girls in their "Baby Elephants" (aka their elephant sleepers- fitting bedtime attire seeing that the girls are getting 'big').


Our baby elephants, Hope (background) and Grace (foreground)

Brewers Fan Dad's Baseball Thoughts

Throughout the existence of this blog, I've had lots of comments from friends, family, co-workers, and even quiet lurkers who read this site about how I bleed blue, gold and white as a Brewers fan. With plenty of people asking me about my thoughts about the recent September collapse (and even some requests for me to do a Brewers post), I thought I'd take a moment to reflect, share some thoughts, and perhaps for just this once, use the girls as a backdrop to the Brewers, rather than vice versa.

My friend Bryon from Pittsburgh (the guy who made the infamous "sweep broom") commented in a phone conversation this weekend about how watching the Brewers right now was like watching a family pet on its last legs. While I don't want to be that dramatic, I think there is a decent amount of merit to Bryon's analogy. Being a die-hard fan who can say that I've followed all 150 of the Brewers games up until this point, you grow attached to the team, the season and the prospect of post-season ball. You get excited when they win, disappointed when they lose, and, at times, default into the role of arm-chair (or, in my case rocker) manager, second guessing decisions made during the games. But, hey, that's all part of being a fan.

I would be lying if I would come on here and say that I haven't been disappointed about the recent slide, as any good fan would probably agree. But, at the same time, let's think big picture about the whole thing. Can I not say that I have ever experienced a more fun and exciting baseball season (aside from the '82 season when I was 4 and barely remember much aside from my father letting me stay up and adjusting my nap schedule in order to watch the games against St. Louis)? The answer to that is emphatically, no!

The '92 season comes close. That was the last season I remember attending over 20 games. However, at that time, all 20+ games were with my dad. I remember, on the last day of the season, sitting in the lower level of County Stadium and watching the last outs as the season came to a close, and, as an 8th grader, looking at my dad and saying with a tear in my eye, "I'm sad- I didn't want this season to end." Incidentally, that was the last season that my dad and I would attend that many games together and the last season that I would collect baseball cards. When I got into high school, dating, playing sports, student government, friends, social outings and rock concerts usurped America's Pastime as my preferable leisure activities. While I followed the team throughout the mid and late '90's, I would maybe go to 2-4 games a year. There was not a whole lot of excitement surrounding the team, and the Packers and my college home team, the Wisconsin Badgers would soon provide me with my sports fix.

My resurgence into baseball came when I left college. That is a transition time for so many young people, including myself, and with the building of Miller Park, I found myself back into a routine of attending multiple games each year. Like in the '92 season and the years before it, baseball helped me connect with my father during a time in my life when I was trying to develop into my own person and he and I didn't always share the same interests. Aside from my dad, few friends would even venture with me to a game during those lean times. My bobble head collection had started, however, and it was during those games in 2002, 2o03, and 2004 that baseball really started making a comeback.

Fast-forwarding to this season, baseball has once again taken a preeminent role in my friend group. When Yost got fired yesterday, I received at least 10 emails and 10 text messages regarding it, not including a slew of phone calls. During tonight's game I got some text messages that read "stick a fork in 'em," and "I'll CC you next year." I certainly don't fault my friends for sending them, but, at the same time, I responded consistently with "keep the faith."

Win, lose, or draw, this baseball season has meant more to me than perhaps any other I can remember. This was the season that the Brewers so often served as my source of distraction at a time when the girls were in the NICU and the early, scarier days when they were at home on constant watch with apnea monitors. Now, the girls are growing bigger, cooing, smiling, and squawking up a storm when hey want to eat. They are acting like babies of their same adjusted-gestational age. When Gracie, Hope and I watch the Brewers' games together at home, it is a special time when I get to hold my girls, play with them and talk to them about the game (they are great fans too, as they never disagree with Dad's positive attitude... no "26 years and counting" text messages from the Snuggle Sisters- frankly, they just like the time with their Dad, and I love the time with them).

So, if this post ever reaches the Brewers players, the message I want to send is this... thank you for an exiting season. Thank you for working hard. Thank you for hustling on the base paths and for providing me and 3 million+ fans who have entered Miller Park this season with exciting baseball. Thank you for providing Brewer Nation with meaningful baseball in September. And, for me, on a personal level, thank you for being Will's Pastime, and for always being there throughout this journey from learning that our girls were twins until now, and thank you for being there next season (regardless of what happens in the next 11 games) so that I can take my daughters to a game and introduce them to the joys of baseball. While I wish you the best of luck and want, more than just about any fan, for you to reach the post-season, please know that I will cheer for you just as loud if you are playoff bound or not when I attend the last game of the season on September 28th. Like at the end of the '92 season, I will look at Steve, my season-ticket buddy and newly married man, and say, "I don't want this season to end."

School, Smiles, and Away Over Night

This week marked Jeni's first week of her "Mommy Leave," and also marked the first week that the girls began smiling A LOT. Gracie and Hope are thinking that everything is funny these days (especially when they spit up on Mommy or Daddy or when they need their diapers changed). We've had reports from grandparents that they, too, have noticed the Snuggle Sisters smiling and giggling when changed. Perhaps they are learning very early to be merry pranksters like their dad :).

As a teacher, the beginning of the school year brings with it a plethora of perennial traditions. Among them are "Open House Night" which we call "Back to School Night" at my school and picture day (which occurs tomorrow, in fact). I've caught myself, almost daily, reflecting on being a parent and what that means. During my "Back to School Night" presentations, I referenced the picture of Hope and Grace that I proudly display on my desk and talked about how watching children grow has always been something I delight in professionally, but now is something I'm blessed to delight in personally as well. I can empathize more with parents who are transitioning from their children being in self-contained elementary school classrooms to rotating classes in a middle school model. If packing up the preemie clothes can get me a bit reminiscent I can hardly fathom what it will be like when the girls are 10 and moving from Lower to Middle School. We've got a ways to go before then, however.

On the topic of picture day, I had the pleasure of sharing the pictures below with my students as a way to show them how a great smile can really light up a photo. Below, Enjoy smiling happy girls decked out in their Badger game day gear from this past Saturday!

On a final note, this past weekend was the wedding of Steven and Cindy, two very dear friends of ours, and this marked the first time Jeni and I spent a night away from home without the girls since their arrival at home on June 24th. We opted to stay in a hotel rather than driving back in an effort to get a good night sleep. This, however, was not in the cards. The hotel room was blazing hot. Being someone who tries to be environmentally conscious, I hated the idea of cranking the air conditioner on full blast, when the temperature outside was in the low 60's, but it was so stuffy in the hotel. On top of that, all I could think about was the girls. By 10:30 the next morning we were at home, and greeted Jeni's mom and dad, who were all smiles... so were our girls and Maggie too! Speaking of smiles, the wedding was just fantastic, and I've never seen Steven and Cindy smile more than they did that night. I'm jealous the two of them are enjoying a honeymoon in Hawaii right now.


Hope and Grace enjoy getting ready for the Badger game, decked out in the colors of their mom and dad's alma matter. Grandad Don enjoyed this picture too, as he too, was a UW grad,

Does life get any better than hanging out with Mommy and Daddy? I don't think so, laughs Gracie!

A Late Night Feeding Debacle And More!

At school I like to think of myself as a person who metaphorically wears a lot of different hats. First and foremost, I have my advisor hat- I enjoy being an advisor to my homeroom students, and, especially at the beginning of the year, helping guide my young advisees through middle school. Then I have my social studies teacher hat, my dean of students hat, my flag football coach hat, and my student council advisor hat. This year, however, there is one hat that I feel most proud to wear (and no, I'm not talking about my retro Brewers cap)! I feel like I am developing a whole new identity as Hope and Grace's father. Each day I am asked countless times by other teachers, staff members, kids and parents how the girls are doing, and it gives me such joy to smile and tell them the truth- the girls are doing great!

With our crazy schedules and school in full swing, it has become harder to break away and take time to write and post photos, so I am hoping to take somewhat of a retrospective approach, highlighting some marvelous moments, and, in this case a rather funny story, from the past week.

Gracie Wants Seconds! (Or does she????)

Last Thursday morning, I awoke at 3:30 a.m. to the shrill cries of my ravenous daughters. Jeni and I try to take turns doing the "graveyard shift" and this was my night. Groggily, I left the warm confines of our bed, stumbled into the nursery and found the girls screaming with their eyes shut and their mouths open as wide as can be. Once I got there though and they heard my voice, their shrieks died down a bit. I changed Hope and Grace, put them in their Boppy pillows, attached bibs around their sets of chins and proceeded to feed them their bottles. Hope is up to 4 ounces these days and Gracie is at 3 and a half. Grace in particular acted like she was starving and took down her entire bottle in about five minutes. Now, to give some back story here, Grace is traditionally our pokier eater, who will sometimes take 30-45 minutes to finish a bottle, so for her to throw the bottle down that quickly meant one thing and one thing only (at least as far as I could tell). Gracie was signaling to me that she wanted me to go tell the chef that she wanted seconds. I went to the fridge, retrieved another bottle, and happily obliged. Wow, I thought to myself, Gracie is really starting to take off with her growth. She's eating like a champ! By the time that Hope had finished her meal, Gracie seemed to slow with her feeding as well. All in all she took down 4.75 ounces. A new record for Gracie.

I couldn't have been more proud of my daughter at that point, although, when she was finished, she really looked stuffed (not unlike John Candy's character in the movie The Great Outdoors after he took down the 'Old '96er). Could I have overfed Gracie, I thought to myself briefly? Nah, how could I, she only ate 4.75 ounces, that's not that much. I went to burp Gracie, and almost immediately her mouth opened and at least half of her feeding came flying back out all over my face, chest, lap and our couch. At this point there was only one thing I could do, and that was to yell, "JENI!" as loud as I could, waking my wife from her slumber, exactly what I didn't want to do given that I was doing the "graveyard shift."

I am not a morning person, but Jeni is even less so, so seeing her rub her eyes and stumble into the room was not a pretty site. Jeni looked dumbfounded, after being woken up suddenly only to see her husband covered with spit up, along with her daughter, who, incidentally thought this whole thing was funny and smiling. Hope just grunted in the Boppy pillow beside her sister. It was her only defense. This clearly was a sight for sore eyes, and not the way anyone, least of all Jeni, would want to to see in the wee hours of the morning after just being startled from her sleep.

Needless to say, I learned a lesson here. Sometimes babies need their nook to suck on after their feeding and not be given a whole other bottle! For an adult, 4.75 ounces is not much, but for Gracie, it was as if she ate a robust steak. While spit-up-covered dad didn't take any pictures of this charade, I found a video of the John Candy scene from The Great Outdoors that can give you the general picture of this story.



In other, non-spit-up related news...
Here are some super-cute photos of "The Hopester" from this past week. The girls are starting to smile a lot. On top of that, we are now taking them to a park near our house for picnics on Saturdays. The family picnic is especially fun as Maggie is getting more used to the girls and enjoys smelling their feet while we enjoy our sandwiches and "tummy time" on the blanket.