FEBRUARY, MARCH, APRIL - THE CLIFF NOTES

I haven't felt much like blogging lately. Cancer has been touching our lives a bit. At the end of January we lost Uncle Allan, Aunt Kathy's husband, to brain cancer. He was diagnosed just before Thanksgiving, preventing them from coming to San Francisco to meet Keenan and be part of the family reunion. We miss you, Uncle Allan.

Granny Ernestine had some skin cancer on her face, but the Mohs surgery went quite well and she looks great!

I had some elevated blood work numbers and weird symptoms, but a CT scan didn't show any tumors, so I'm doing fine. Thank you, God! Maybe it was one or more of the viruses that seem to be plaguing the family, but it was a sobering reminder that life is precious.

This week I read an obituary for a friend in Seattle. She was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer after we moved to California. She had four small children.

I celebrated my 43rd birthday this year with my husband of 19 years and our two children, in our new family friendly house. It was awesome! I am reminded that this was the last birthday my brother Michael celebrated, with two small sons, and I am ever thankful to be cancer free. My nightly prayer is of thanks to God that I am a mama.

Medical stuff aside, the children are a daily delight and a great deal of entertainment. Keenan is 8 months old and walking a little bit and talking a little, too. Everything about this little person is impressive.

His physique has gone from the 5th percentile in months 1, 2, and 3 to the 75th percentile in month 6. It's the barrel chest and powerpacked quads and glutes. He is a Brick House! Not fat, just stout and coiled to spring.

He's been able to stand since birth, holding onto our fingers, but at 7 months he started pulling himself up to standing the middle of the floor, then doing squats - one! two! three! - up, down, up down, up down. Coach Hoyt tried to follow Keenan's workout, and couldn't keep up. This baby is a stud!

He has taken a step or two, but now he drops down on his hands and bear crawls to where ever he needs to go. No knees for this crawler - he uses his hands and toes. So now, if I leave the room, I hear him huffing and puffing and beatboxing down the hall after me, with an unmistakeable look of satisfaction.

Our little he-man can also say a few words: Mama, Dada, bottle (not ba-ba), bath, and hi. I swear he said diaper today on the changing table. Maybe he has some other words - he sure does talk a lot with the most adorable, upbeat inflection in his voice - but I tend to only give credit for true English words, not baby versions of words. Whatever the case, he's a very happy, chatty guy.

Vanessa is developing her vocabulary, too. This week she was using the word "approaching" in verious ways with me and Daddio. We both found that... curious. Not sure where that one came from. "Milo is approaching me to smell my food," she'd complain. Okay. She is trying to write her letters and loves to use a knife to cut things. She can do addition and subtraction up to around five or six, not on paper, in her head. We think she knows the alphabet and her numbers, but we aren't quizzing her on anything and we're not pushing her. She seems to dabble with concepts for awhile, then WHOOSH! master them all at once. Interesting kid.

Since we moved into this new house February 1st, we've been busy unpacking and getting settled. We lost our water for two days (eek!), discovered termites, hung curtains, moved furniture, seeded the lawn and repaired the sprinkler system. (See friends Jennifer and AJ in this photo, taken the weekend we moved in.)

We have also blown a lot of noses and hosted many guests, including "Auntie" Sarah, Cousin Sarah and Katsu, Granny Ernestine, Uncle Jimmy and Auntie Susan, And our French student Fleur and her family, who came through on their spring vacation in the American West. We hope to host Keenan's mother Nicole and sister Zoey this month.

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It takes me hours to write the blog, so instead I've been posting pictures on Facebook, which I can do one-handed in just minutes. See more pics there!

NOV, DEC, JAN - THE CLIFF NOTES

Are you still checking the blog? We're alive! November and December were a whirlwind, and January is well, eventful too.

In November we had wonderful visits with Steph and Neil, Uncle Mark and the Magic Aunt, and Rob and Sofia. We then had Thanksgiving with nearly all of the Hoyt clan. We also got in visits with Seattleites Maribeth, Allan, Duncan, Beckett, and Allan's family, and the Masters and DeCristofaros as well. Keenan met loads of relatives and friends and passed around some viruses and strep.

In December Grandma Patty came when Daddio was in Orlando for some fancy coaching conference, then he had two weeks off for the holidays. Vanessa turned 3 with friends AJ, Jennifer and Sara in attendance: we all wore pink and ate pink cake with pink ice cream in a room full of pink streamers and pink balloons. We had Christmas at home, here, and then dinner with ALL of the Stearns cousins in town. Then, for New Year's, we had a happy visit from Keenan's bio-peeps, Nicole and Zoey, for New Year's.

Keenan is growing up big and fat on formula. Thank you, Nestle Good Start with bifidus. I'm still nursing, but that's just dessert these days. This week we started dressing him in 6 month sized clothing, and he'll be six months old next week, so I'm pretty dang pleased with his progress.

Keen-wah (as Van calls him) has the most cheerful disposition. He looks at me the way my grandfather used to - he cracks into a giant grin just because I'm there. Let me tell you, that goes a long way towards keeping me ticking. His ameliorative ways make me a much saner mother. (photo by VH1)

Developmentally, our son is laughing and fascinated with his feet. Jack and I both heard him say, "Hi," then "Hello" on the same day. He can stand holding onto something - we don't have to spot him, but we do. He loves shower time and he adores VanNannerkins. I think he'd sleep through the night pretty well, except he's always catching Vanessa's colds. What a cold and flu season!

Vanessa has had lots of sick days every month. Her new favorite tv show is Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo. She and AJ put on tu-tus and symphony music and twirl and leap through the living room for us. Van stuns us with her, um, insights, which we pick up on through her commentary and behavior. On Christmas morning Daddio said, "Don't forget to thank Santa for that gift" and Nanners stopped everything, bolted to the fireplace and hollered, "THANK YOU SANTA!" up the chimney. She did that for every present marked "from Santa."

Grandma Patty and Nanners made cupcakes, a gingerbread house, and Christmas cookies during the rainstorms, Christmas carols blaring and fire in the fireplace. Grandma also changed diapers and administered warm bottles at the crack of dawn and throughout the day.

Daddio interviewed for a few head coaching jobs this past summer/fall, including the one at Cal Poly. In December we heard that his office mate and close friend, Mark (of triplet fame) got the job. Mark, an Olympic marathoner and fellow cancer survivor, has been at Cal Poly for fifteen years and doing a great job. We think it was the right hire, and we are not at all upset. Jack will continue to look at Division I head coaching jobs as they become available, but they only come up in the summer and there aren't very many, so we could be here for many more years, happily.

This season of interviewing has been quite a roller coaster, though. Coaching jobs are few and hard to get, and when you do get an offer you pretty much "Start Monday." So I've been checking housing all over the U.S., thinking we might have to uproot suddenly. Instead, we gave our notice here at our little * ocean view * rental on January 1st, deciding we needed something different for the family. We are moving across town to a bigger, less expensive family home and we're all pleased. No more sights and sounds of the Pacific, Daddio will have to break down and drive to his surf spots now, and we shall dearly miss our neighbors, but other than that we are okay with closing the chapter entitled The House by the Sea (as friend Chel called it). Here Vanessa took her first steps, called us Mama and Daddy for the first time (sniff), ate her first food, potty trained, and welcomed her baby brother Keen-wah into the family.

So that, my dears, is the quick report. Imagine us packing up and moving across town in two weeks and know that feels like a huge amount of time, compared with our last two moves!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We had some real holiday fun around here! Ever since the Easter Bunny hid colorful eggs all over the back yard, Vanessa has been locked in to the exciting rituals of each holiday.

"What are you going to be for Halloween?" people have been asking Van.

"A Why On," she'd say. "And Keenan is going to be a Wep Odd."

Maybe she's have her R's and L's down next year.

This was the third year in a row that our two year old wore her lion costume and got stares and comments where ever she went. It doesn't hurt that her hair blends convincingly with the costume's mane.

I found a 0-3 month sized leopard costume for Keenan on eBay. It has a tail and pockets and fits him perfectly. He rode around in the Baby Bjorn, sleeping, then woke up and stared silently at the mayhem. Such an angel leopard.

We were lucky to have our friend Brad and his (adopted) daughter Amanda come to play for a couple days. We havent' seen them in two years. Five year old Amanda and two year old Vanessa hit it off like two old ladies catching up over a cup of tea. They trick-or-treated at the Thursday night Farmer's Market Halloween fair.

We don't think Nanners remembered the drills from years past. She took her role very seriously and Amanda took her hand and showed her all around. Van was perfectly able to receive candy, but not able to say "trick or treat."

Amanda has a very big personality and does not shy away from taking charge where ever she goes. Nanners was totally up for the game, but she did show signs of toddler wear and tear by the end of the highly stimulating evening out, and we don't even think she had that much sugar yet.

On Friday, Daddio, Brad and Amanda were able to see Vanners in her very first stage performance, at school. Let's just say the littlest pre-schooler brought up the rear of the line, stood in the center of it all, and lost her train of concentration first.

Keenan and I stayed home, but, after seeing these pictures, I had to wonder if maybe she was in over her head, in the advanced pre-school class. But I ran into her teacher, the sage and fabulous Miss Carmen, and she assured me Vanessa would be "bored" in the younger class. "She's right where she should be," Miss Carmen reassured me. Phew.

On Saturday, Halloween, we woke up with Brad and Amanda, bid them a very fond farewell, and looked forward to seeing them a lot more, since Brad's step daugther Alli has just moved to Monterey with her husband and they are expecting a baby this month.

Vanessa and Daddio got ready for the third and final Halloween trick-or-treat tour in our little neighborhood. BFF AJ came by and was acting all non-chalant about this holiday, until we badgered her into dressing up - "You're ten!" I chided her. "Are you giving up trick-or-treating already?" She dressed as a gypsy and Daddio dressed as a surfer (duh!) and together they took Vanessa around our two closest blocks. They filled up their buckets so full Vanny could barely carry it, and they even got full sized Snickers bars, bags of Dorito's and a hot grilled hot dog on the route. AJ's mom, Jen and I and Keenan stayed home and guarded the candy and caught up.

On Sunday, AJ came by to make us cheese pancakes, then "Auntie" Nell, "Auntie" Shea-Shea and friend Bridgette - all Jack's athletes - came by to say hello and see baby Keenan. What a fun Halloween holiday weekend we had!

On Wednesday morning Daddio has his third round of interviews for the Cal Poly job. Saturday Uncle Mark and the Magic Aunt (Debbie) come for four days. Woo hoo!

KEENAN IS 3 MONTHS OLD

Hello, all. So much is going on and also, so little. Mostly, I feel I have my backside glued to the recliner, rocking, rocking, nursing, nursing, our wee son, Keenanikins (rhymes with Shenanigans, with irony, since he's a perfect angel). Days and nights blur together, however, as I do my triple shifts in an effort to let Daddio sleep through the night so at least one of us is sane by day. We were trying to think when the last time I had 4 hours of sleep in a row was. We think it was summer 2005, when I was first pregnant.

Both kidlets have been some kind of sick for oh, two months. All illness is low-grade, so I'm not bringing them to the pediatrician. Also, I don't get out so much because baby Keenan *loathes* the car seat and anything to do with the car. It is highly stressful taking big sister Vanessa to her preschool three times per week, since that means six trips in the car per week for Keenan, screaming, choking, and yes, vomiting. I think he might get motion sickness on top of whatever is ailing him.

But other than that, I was telling someone yesterday that Keenan is a much easier baby than Vanessa, partly because she was our first child, but also quite definitely because he is not as grouchy, vocal, and hungry as Vanessa. She nursed every hour on the hour and Keenan is more of a normal eater, going 3 and even 4 hours between feedings. I guess that's the difference between our 95th percentile daughter and our 5th percentile son, in terms of growing.

Keenan just wants to be held, as Grandma Patty says, and he's happy as a lark. Well, he mostly wants to be held by me in the evenings, but others can hold him other times of the day. Daddio gets lots of good times with his son, and Keenan has started cranking his neck around and smiling at the manliest member of our family when he walks by. Yep, Daddio sure is a head-turner.

Granny Ernestine graced our home this month, and Keenan was delighted to spend time with her. Keenan's birthmom's mother, Grandma Debbie, also came to visit with her boyfriend, Doc, who was a Viet Nam Army medic. Vanessa loves them, too.

I was telling someone else this week that the transition from only child to big sister has gone relatively well for VanNannerkins. Swimmingly well, really. The experts all warned she would likely regress in many areas, but no, not our frozen tot. In the past three months, she has fully potty trained except for a diaper during the night, she has moved from our bed to her own big bed in her own room (although I have to lie down with her to get her to sleep), and she has weaned except for about 10 minutes of nursing per week, down from 5 times per day. We think she looks at Keenan and thinks, "Now that's a real baby - I'm big." Her preschool teacher, Miss Carmen, also reports a bit of a transformation to more responsibility.

Vanny is not jealous, rather she gets frustrated when she cannot hold her new baby brother. For a little girl who loves her dolls and thinks she's a mommy, a live baby doll in the house is mighty interesting. But, especially when she's sick (and he's sick) she does need some old, familiar lap time with Mama, which is hardly available. My gosh, Van used to have full access to my lap and my hugs, and now I can scarcely give her any affection. We have to be more intentional about our affection and attention, with designated Girl Time, no boys allowed, of course. Usually that means we take a bubble bath together. So far, so good.

When we're not having Girl Time, Nanners entertains herself or hangs out with Daddio.

At three months old, Keenan is smiling, cooing, sitting up, standing if we hold his underarms a little, and he even crawled four inches. He also rolled over from his belly to his back, but that was at one month and I haven't had the nerve to let him practice any more. We mark the calendar every time he has a poop, since it happens about once every 5-8 days. He's almost ready to move from Newborn sized clothes to the 0-3 months size.

On the rare occasions I do get Keenan out in public, he is absolutely mobbed by admirers. Most think he is a newborn, because he weighs approximately 9 lbs., but all agree he is gorgeous. We had to take him to the E.R. when his temperature was elevated (the E.R. doctor diagnosed him with influenza and said, "The CDC advises us to treat all influenza as the swine flu," but the next day our ped said it wasn't) and the nurses freaked out about Keenan, declaring him to be the most gorgeous baby they had ever seen. We didn't argue.

In other news, our cousins Pete and Becky welcomed their new baby into the world, Veronica Jennings. We can't wait to meet her!

Sadly, we have lost two great prayer warriors and devoted Vanessa advocates. Sophie Bandur, who was housebound and prayed her socks off for unborn Vanessa and for me - every day for years - passed away after 2 years of illness. And, soon after Sophie, we lost Grandma Liz - Elizabeth Jordan - Granny Ernestine's best friend for forty years. Anyone who has ever known Grandma Liz has been struck by her radiant love and amazing smile. She, too, has been ill for two years. Both grandmothers were older than 85 and married. We pray for their husbands and their whole families now, and thank God for Sophie and Elizabeth in our lives.

We continue to wait to hear about Jack's job. He has gone through two sets of interviews by phone and awaits the final round of interviews, in person, at Cal Poly next week. He also got a call from the University of Oregon coach, who needs to hire a crackerjack multi-event coach. That lead is cold, but, all leads have been felt by the family, as we wait and wonder where we will be this time next year.

There are three video clips from the news that I wanted to post. First, "Auntie" Nell went to Japan for a month to star in Tokyo's video bid for the Olympics. See her, on youtube.com if you search "Tokyo bid for Olympics."

Next, the October 18th 60-Minutes broadcast covered troops in Afghanistan. I wanted to post a link to the news piece that shows our nephew, Andy, in a close-up (right after a Viagra commercial). But I can't access it any more. Andy's reports from the war are surprisingly upbeat. His mom, Auntie Anne, says Andy has been so hot that he's woken up in an inch of sweat. None of is USMC platoon have been lost - Andy is one of 4 Navy medics. He is due home mid-November. Thank you for your prayers.

And here is the video clip from Lifetime Adoption. It's 9 minutes long and features our beloved birthmom, Nicole, and a few clips and quotes from us, too. You can go to youtube.com and search Lifetime Adoption. Select the video called "One World" with Jack's face on it, uploaded in the past month.

http://www.youtube.com/watcht?v=T6JzE4hAQK0

I'll leave you with the following quotes by Vanessa, in no particular order:

"Daddio? Can you turn my little brother into a Zombie now?"

"Mama, tell me a story about two princesses named Mama and Vanessa." (every single night)

"God takes old people and sick people." Where does he take them? "Around the world."

"Does God die?"

"I have on my birthday suit. It's pink."

"So if I took off all my skin, my muscles would fall out and no one would be able to fix me forever." (after I explain what's under our skin.)

"I think I'm a baby house-wife. Like you, Mama." I like that you are like me, honey, and I'm glad you are like your dad, too. "I am like Daddy: I'm cute and friendly." That's like your mom (Jack says). "Oh. Well I'm cute and smart - just like Daddy."