Brightwood Lights

DISCLAIMER: This post is written with grandparents and others with an unusually high level of interest in our children in mind, so unless you fall into that category, please feel free to deem it boring and move on. If you do choose to continue reading, consider yourself forewarned.

The past few weeks have alternated between quiet days spent mostly at home, adjusting to being a family of five, and busy days in Peachtree City, celebrating, eating, and enjoying the company of extended family.

Some highlights of the days at home include:

- Maria growing more alert

- Simona having fun with Alleia and Andreas

- Andreas hiding with his friend Teddy

Some highlights of our holidays included:

- Spending lots of time with Grandma Lo & Grandpa Bob

- Simona learning to ride her bike without training wheels (after practicing all fall, it finally clicked. Love the proud smile!)

- Andreas getting into the holiday spirit

- Simona LIVING in her new ballet outfit . . . except when she dressed up as a “bride”

- Santa Maria celebrating her first Christmas

- Andreas turning TWO!!

Other updates on the kids:
Maria continues to be a sweet little baby with a quiet disposition. She’s learning to cry to express her needs but otherwise is very content. She was always most active around 10PM before she was born and continues to be a late-night party girl, but we’re working on getting to bed a bit earlier.

Andreas is TWO! He weighed in at 26 pounds and 32.5 inches at his check-up, keeping him on the short end (11th %) and but somewhat higher than he’s been in weight (24th%). He’s expressing more of a temper these days, but he’s still a cuddly, sweet boy. His current funny phrase is, “Nein, wollte nicht . . . sagen,” (translation: “No, didn’t want to say. . .”) whenever we say anything that does not line up with what he’s thinking. He has been obsessed with the donkey from my parents’ manger scene this past month, but of course fish and airplanes are still his all-time favorites. The boy is constantly on the move but is getting somewhat better at obeying. He loves coloring and is starting to sit still for (slightly) longer intervals to focus on books or coloring.

Simona is our little girly girl, obsessed with pink, purple, princesses, ballerinas, etc. She has worn ballet slippers and leotards nearly non-stop since she got them. Sharing is sometimes hard for her, but overall she is a sweet and empathetic person. She has learned to play some basic board games but also loves creative and imaginative play. We constantly are assigned “roles” (ie, “Mama, your name is Anna and you are 12 years old”). Her most common refrain is, “Erzaehle mir eine Geschichte, bitte!” (“Tell me a story, please!”). Besides dancing around the apartment, she spends time coloring, cutting papers up with her scissors, playing with her dolls, and reading books with any obliging adult.

Caleb and I are savoring the last two weeks of vacation before his classes start up in full swing again. I’ll be taking the continuation of the chemistry class I took in the fall, so we’ll be a busy household very shortly. Caleb’s job search should pick up in intensity starting in February, and we’re beginning to think of what will come next for our family. For now, though, we’re ringing in the new year by being thankful for our health, our families and friends, and our good fortune.

For those that have been asking, more pictures are up on the photos page.  Here’s a sampling:

Enjoy!

While some of you may have heard bits and pieces of this story already, please consider those tidbits to be pure speculation, conjecture, and rumor.  Here is the official account of the events leading up to Maria Joy’s arrival (times are exact unless otherwise noted) …

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

8.25 pm (approximately): Caleb and Simona call Grandpa Brenneman so Simona can sing her rendition of “Happy Birthday.”  After catching up for a bit, Caleb and Grandpa have a good chuckle about how quickly the baby would need to come in order to still arrive on his birthday.  If they only knew  …

Thursday, December 9

1.30 pm: Nancy attends a routine weekly appointment with the OBGYN as she approaches the end of her 40th week of pregnancy.  After waiting the obligatory hour and fifteen minutes for her 10-minute appointment, she is seen by the doctor.  The doctor insists that she schedule next week’s appointment for Tuesday so we can discuss an induction if the baby has not yet arrived.

This strikes Nancy as a bit over-eager, since her due date is Saturday, December 11, and Tuesday will only be 72 hours “overdue”, so to speak.

3.05 pm: Nancy arrives home just as Caleb presses “Send” to submit his last final of the semester.  Caleb is glad the baby has held off this long.

11.00 pm (approximately): Nancy and Caleb turn the lights out for the night.  Nancy mentally wills the baby to come so that she will not have to face an induction next week.  We’ve always known Nancy is “strong-willed” …

Friday, December 10

3.37 am: Nancy wakes up with a mild contraction.  She gets out of bed, walks around the apartment for a few minutes, and packs some cookies baked earlier last night into a tupperware container.  No more contractions seem to be coming.

3.47 am: Nancy returns to bed.

4.23 am: Nancy wakes again with a contraction that is somewhat painful.  She gets up and walks around the apartment for a few more minutes and starts to get the final things together for the hospital.  Contractions now seem to be coming regularly and with increasing intensity, so she decides to wake Caleb.

4.34 am: Nancy wakes Caleb and says it is time.  Asked how far apart the contractions are, Nancy says, “About four minutes,” without really knowing for sure.  Four minutes freaks Caleb out a bit.  Think about how much more he would have been freaked out if he had known the real answer was “two minutes.”

4.36 am: Caleb calls the doctor and is on hold for two minutes before the answering service picks up.  Oh those precious two minutes …  The answering service says the on-call doctor will call us back soon.  I guess that depends on your definition of soon …

4.40 am: Caleb speaks with Nancy’s mom, Pat, and tells her we are going to the hospital.  Pat is coming to be home with Simona and Andreas.  She says she will be out the door in 10 minutes (with a 40 minute drive ahead of her).

4.41 am: Next, Caleb calls Laryn, a good friend from DC.  Laryn and Janel moved to Atlanta from DC this summer and live across the courtyard in the same apartment complex.  They’ve agreed to be on-call to watch the kids if we need a stop-gap before one of Nancy’s parents can be here.  Something in Caleb’s voice tells Laryn that they need him ASAP, so he doesn’t even bother to change out of his PJ’s.

4.47 am: Caleb and Nancy pass Laryn on the stairs on their way out of the building, and Laryn wishes them good luck.  Nancy has a major contraction in the courtyard while Caleb puts the things in the car, gets it started, and pulls it around.

4.51 am: The mad-dash drive to Atlanta Medical Center begins.  There are eight stoplights between our apartment and the hospital.  All eight are red.  Caleb runs every one of them.  Nancy is yelling (to herself), “Don’t push!  Don’t push!”  Caleb drives faster.

4.56 am: After going around to the wrong side of the building for the off-hours entrance, we park right in front of the Emergency Room doors.  Caleb overhears the security guard radioing for another security officer to bring a wheelchair.

4.57 am: The wheelchair is arriving as Caleb and Nancy enter the emergency waiting area.  The guard from the door asks Caleb if he can move the car over to the lane farthest from the entrance.  Caleb drops the things in the waiting area and waves to Nancy to go ahead.

4.58 am: Caleb dashes back inside, retrieves the bag from the waiting room floor and heads for the elevator.  Nancy and her security guard escort have already made their way to the 7th floor.  The elevator seems to take forEVER.

5.00 am: Nancy, being wheeled down the corridor by the security guard, has an incredibly hard contraction.  She cannot resist the urge to push any longer, and decides it will be OK to just give one push since they are almost there.  Then she feels something coming.  She reaches down, lowers her McIntosh cross country sweat pants, and cradles her newborn baby.  The security guard stops in his tracks, not sure of what to do, and the nurses from the nearby nurse’s station jump up to assist.

5.00 am: Caleb arrives on the 7th floor, reads the directional sign, and heads left for Labor and Delivery.  He hears a baby crying, and thinks it strange to hear that sound before being inside the L&D double-doors.  Then he sees some blood on the floor and a lot of commotion at the nurses’ station ahead.

Caleb comes around the corner to see Nancy sitting in a wheelchair, holding a baby.  With a slightly bewildered look, Nancy says, “Our baby is here!”  Caleb does not remember what he said (if anything) … he does remember the security guard saying only “Congratulations …” as he excused himself as quickly as possible.

Epilogue: after a few more minutes, we were escorted to an actual labor and delivery room.  The midwife on duty showed up shortly and checked everyone over.  Everyone was well – stunned, but well.  Caleb and Nancy found it a bit ironic that one of the forms they were asked to sign about an hour later was a “Consent for Vaginal Birth”.  Fantastic.

So, in summary, a few key stats:

26: Minutes between Caleb waking up and Maria being born

At least 3: Security guards who got a good laugh at their colleague’s expense

8: Red lights run on the way to the hospital

1: Times Nancy pushed

Still counting: Minutes until the doctor called back

27: Minutes between birth and being offered a smashed PBJ sandwich and a bag of Lay’s chips (yum)

Either 85 or 400: Interstate where Maria would have been born if we were going to Northside Hospital, where Nancy was initially scheduled to deliver.

5: Times Nancy has been asked “So YOU’RE the one who delivered in the wheelchair?”

1: Precious addition to our family with a great story to go along

It is our pleasure to announce the arrival of Maria Joy Brenneman!

Maria was born at 5.00 this morning in Atlanta, GA.  She is a healthy 7 lbs. 1 oz (about 3,200 grams) and 20.5 inches long (52 cm).  Nancy and Maria are both doing well, and Simona is VERY excited to have a sister.

Here are some pictures from the first day …

Her arrival was somewhat dramatic – we’ll post the storyline here shortly.

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts, prayers, and support!

Joyfully,

Caleb & Nancy, Simona, Andreas, and Maria

KK, the youngest of the sisters, and Mike were the last to be married in the “great year of weddings.” Their wedding took place in the Finger Lakes region of New York on September 25, 2010.

Festivities to celebrate KK’s big day officially began on home turf, though: Her bridal shower and bachelorette weekend took place here in Georgia. Since I’m currently back to being a Georgia Peach, I was the lucky one who didn’t have to travel this time!

The shower was down in Peachtree City, so the night before, we had an old-school family dinner- Mom, Dad, and 3 of the 4 sisters! I don’t know when the last time was we all sat in our “assigned seats” and ate mom’s cooking without any spouses/friends/kids/others at the table. It was just too bad Janice couldn’t be there. . . then again, Oregon is a long way from Georgia. . .

. . . Little did KK know, though, that Janice actually WAS en route to surprise her and attend the festivities. She arrived on Saturday morning while KK was “out and about” with bridesmaid Anamanda.

The surprise!

The shower was beautiful, and KK opened great gifts, including one that was bound to please Mike:

Next, the party pared down to the “bachelorette” crew, who completed a fun video scavenger hunt before heading up to Atlanta for a night of good food and fun.

Matron of honor Linda had arranged for a great dinner, dessert, and night in a beautiful hotel with a rooftop pool in Midtown.

The next three weeks flew by, and before we knew it, we were all in Ithaca, NY for the big day! We stayed at the same house in Brooktondale we had rented for KK’s graduation, so it was fun to have the family mostly together. Simona and Andreas enjoyed some down time with Uromi.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the rehearsal dinner or Polterabend, which took place at Mike’s parents’ house. It was a great evening, including delicious roasted pig, a bonfire, ice cream, and, of course, the requisite plate breaking and sweeping.

The next morning, we headed up to the beautiful Aurora Inn, located on the shores of Cayuga Lake. Though the day was windy and cool with occasional raindrops, it was anything but drab. (And actually, that’s exactly my favorite kind of weather- like a good fall day along the Elbe River in Schleswig Holstein!)

The bride was beautiful, and the bright colors she had chosen contrasted beautifully with the gray sky.

The ceremony took place at a church a few doors down and was followed by a salute from KK & Mike’s crew friends. (I should also note that the groom himself rowed in a race (with his bride watching) THAT MORNING!)

(I should note that the flower girl was QUITE practiced for the event and performed marvelously, once again. She will be available as a consultant-for-hire to train any upcoming flowergirls for a reasonable fee. Please contact us if you are interested in her services!)

After that, it was back to the Aurora Inn for a night of dancing and fun.

The newlyweds honeymooned in Hawaii before settling down in their current home in Nashua, NH. We’re so happy for you, Mike & KK! Congratulations!