Arwen and Bryan's twins were born early this morning! Linus Michael and Ambrose John are 5 1/2 pounds each and doing well, though they'll be in the NICU until it's clear that they have all the skills necessary to handle life outside, since they were born at just over 34 weeks. I am hanging out with Camilla and Blaise until the twins come home, and then I'll be back after Bryan goes back to work. I love being a grandma!
Showing posts with label Camilla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camilla. Show all posts
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Friday, March 05, 2010
Seven Quick Takes -- Wow, Two weeks Goes Fast!
1) As I updated my last post, our friend Fr. Paul died on Saturday the 20th. Since Roger is his executor, that swept us into a whirlwind of funeral arrangements usually dealt with by the family. (His niece was here, and two of his nephews were able to make it for the funeral, but we were the "local people" and had all the paperwork.) Archbishop Vigneron was able to come and say the funeral mass. There were another bishop and twelve priests concelebrating, plus a deacon to read the Gospel, and combined choirs from local parishes sang. At first I was disappointed at the size of the congregation, which looked about like 8AM mass on a Sunday. But the archbishop assured us that for a priest who had been officially retired for almost 20 years, the turnout was huge. I don't think anyone who knew Fr. Paul could help but love him, and as many as possible came out to demonstrate that.
2) The tiring part of dealing with Fr. Paul's death was not the visitation or the funeral. It was cleaning out his "apartment" at the senior care facility. The St. Vincent dePaul folks came and hauled away much of his furniture and any clothes and linens that were worth donating, but somebody (us plus his niece, nephew, and the nephew's wife) had to sort it, decide what to donate, what was trash, and what somebody might want. The nephew and his wife left with a van packed full of audio classes on CD and assorted decorative and sentimental items, some of which they were going to pass along to the other nephew, who couldn't stay that long. The niece took as much as she could cram into her suitcase for the flight. WE still have several boxes of photos and such which we are planning to distribute to local friends of Fr. Paul.
3) Cleaning out his apartment meant that I had no time to spend on organizing all the "stuff" in OUR basement, which I have determined to do by Easter. On the upside, I now have two more bookcases to fill. On the downside, I now have five more boxes of books to sort. I am hoping to donate a number of books to the Friends of the Library ( mostly Roger's collection of "airport books"), but all of Fr. Paul's books that nobody wanted have already been donated. I'm going to need those bookcases!
4) On a related note, I'm actually wistfully hoping to be able to BUY two bookcases to set in our living room corner. We have a couple that would do for the space, but I found some assemble-it-yourself ones for a great price, and I'd love to have something matching and new. We'll see! To this end I have measured all the shelves of our current bookcases, and when I sort the books I intend to measure the linear feet they will take up. If I need the new bookcases I will buy them..... somehow.
5) I do have a little bit of money toward a bookcase, a birthday gift from my mother-in-law. I turned 59 (!) last Saturday. I'm not a big fan of cake, although Roger offered to make one, but I did get to celebrate. A local musical group played for a contra dance in a parish gym in town, and for only the second or third time in our marriage, Roger and I went dancing! Full disclaimer: neither one of us really cares for "regular" dancing, and we've gone every time we were free if there was square or contra dancing. When I was single and lived in Ohio, a bunch of us used to go to square dances almost every weekend in some Grange hall or other, and just like riding a bicycle, lots of it came back quickly. There was some talk of repeating the dance on a quarterly basis or so, and if they do, we'll be there. (There is a video on the link to the band. Roger and I are at the right end of the gym; I'm wearing a green skirt. We show up at about 1:53 into it.)
6) Since our son-in-law Bryan had to make a business trip, Arwen and Camilla and Blaise came to visit from Monday through Wednesday. Blaise has apparently inherited Roger's "morning person" personality, since he seems to think that 5:30AM is a perfectly reasonable time for a one-year-old to start the day. Arwen was very glad to hand him off to Grandpa and go back to sleep! Camilla at the same age used to sleep until 9, so Blaise has been kind of a shock. ;-D I'm always glad to see them, but this time I heaved a tiny sigh. Arwen has been decluttering her house for Lent (40 Bags in 40 Days), and she brought back a great big plastic bin of books they have borrowed from us. (The first time I typed the last sentence, I inadvertently hit Caps Lock, and everything from "brought" came out in caps. I considered leaving it that way........)
7) Yesterday was our LAST EVER Quiz Bowl league tournament. Arwen started playing in 6th grade in 1994 (our town has a middle school league), and one or more kids have been involved at some level ever since. We know which teams have the buzzer system that makes that annoying "Brrrzat" noise, we know most of the coaches by sight, and we know how to find the restrooms in every school in the league. We also know a lot about how the league trophy looks, since it spends most of its time at our school!
Yesterday was no exception. Kelson's team had already come in first in the league (19 wins, 2 losses) and won a tournament sponsored by the local community college. They won the league tournament as well! I must admit I wish they didn't have a penchant for winning double-elimination competitions by working their way up the losers bracket. We could have been home an hour sooner if they hadn't had to beat the last team twice.
Now it's on to states, where they will do an acceptable job and come home in the middle of the second day. Many schools in the more urban areas make Quiz Bowl a regular class, where the teams study assorted topics and get graded on their performance. In our league it's strictly extra-curricular, and the kids play with the knowledge they bring to it just from pursuing their own interests. I like the perspective Arwen had when she played in her first state tournament -- "I think we had more fun losing than they had winning!" That's the way I want my kids to view knowledge and study; as a game, not a chore. I think they get it.
Seven Quick Takes are hosted at Conversion Diary.
2) The tiring part of dealing with Fr. Paul's death was not the visitation or the funeral. It was cleaning out his "apartment" at the senior care facility. The St. Vincent dePaul folks came and hauled away much of his furniture and any clothes and linens that were worth donating, but somebody (us plus his niece, nephew, and the nephew's wife) had to sort it, decide what to donate, what was trash, and what somebody might want. The nephew and his wife left with a van packed full of audio classes on CD and assorted decorative and sentimental items, some of which they were going to pass along to the other nephew, who couldn't stay that long. The niece took as much as she could cram into her suitcase for the flight. WE still have several boxes of photos and such which we are planning to distribute to local friends of Fr. Paul.
3) Cleaning out his apartment meant that I had no time to spend on organizing all the "stuff" in OUR basement, which I have determined to do by Easter. On the upside, I now have two more bookcases to fill. On the downside, I now have five more boxes of books to sort. I am hoping to donate a number of books to the Friends of the Library ( mostly Roger's collection of "airport books"), but all of Fr. Paul's books that nobody wanted have already been donated. I'm going to need those bookcases!
4) On a related note, I'm actually wistfully hoping to be able to BUY two bookcases to set in our living room corner. We have a couple that would do for the space, but I found some assemble-it-yourself ones for a great price, and I'd love to have something matching and new. We'll see! To this end I have measured all the shelves of our current bookcases, and when I sort the books I intend to measure the linear feet they will take up. If I need the new bookcases I will buy them..... somehow.
5) I do have a little bit of money toward a bookcase, a birthday gift from my mother-in-law. I turned 59 (!) last Saturday. I'm not a big fan of cake, although Roger offered to make one, but I did get to celebrate. A local musical group played for a contra dance in a parish gym in town, and for only the second or third time in our marriage, Roger and I went dancing! Full disclaimer: neither one of us really cares for "regular" dancing, and we've gone every time we were free if there was square or contra dancing. When I was single and lived in Ohio, a bunch of us used to go to square dances almost every weekend in some Grange hall or other, and just like riding a bicycle, lots of it came back quickly. There was some talk of repeating the dance on a quarterly basis or so, and if they do, we'll be there. (There is a video on the link to the band. Roger and I are at the right end of the gym; I'm wearing a green skirt. We show up at about 1:53 into it.)
6) Since our son-in-law Bryan had to make a business trip, Arwen and Camilla and Blaise came to visit from Monday through Wednesday. Blaise has apparently inherited Roger's "morning person" personality, since he seems to think that 5:30AM is a perfectly reasonable time for a one-year-old to start the day. Arwen was very glad to hand him off to Grandpa and go back to sleep! Camilla at the same age used to sleep until 9, so Blaise has been kind of a shock. ;-D I'm always glad to see them, but this time I heaved a tiny sigh. Arwen has been decluttering her house for Lent (40 Bags in 40 Days), and she brought back a great big plastic bin of books they have borrowed from us. (The first time I typed the last sentence, I inadvertently hit Caps Lock, and everything from "brought" came out in caps. I considered leaving it that way........)
7) Yesterday was our LAST EVER Quiz Bowl league tournament. Arwen started playing in 6th grade in 1994 (our town has a middle school league), and one or more kids have been involved at some level ever since. We know which teams have the buzzer system that makes that annoying "Brrrzat" noise, we know most of the coaches by sight, and we know how to find the restrooms in every school in the league. We also know a lot about how the league trophy looks, since it spends most of its time at our school!
Yesterday was no exception. Kelson's team had already come in first in the league (19 wins, 2 losses) and won a tournament sponsored by the local community college. They won the league tournament as well! I must admit I wish they didn't have a penchant for winning double-elimination competitions by working their way up the losers bracket. We could have been home an hour sooner if they hadn't had to beat the last team twice.
Now it's on to states, where they will do an acceptable job and come home in the middle of the second day. Many schools in the more urban areas make Quiz Bowl a regular class, where the teams study assorted topics and get graded on their performance. In our league it's strictly extra-curricular, and the kids play with the knowledge they bring to it just from pursuing their own interests. I like the perspective Arwen had when she played in her first state tournament -- "I think we had more fun losing than they had winning!" That's the way I want my kids to view knowledge and study; as a game, not a chore. I think they get it.
Seven Quick Takes are hosted at Conversion Diary.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Coming Clean
(This is the post I would have done on Friday if my computer hadn't been kidnapped.)
As most of you know, I use my real name here, and also my husband's name, but except for Arwen, who uses her real name at her blog -- which I think is how most of you got here-- I've been using pseudonyms for the rest of my family. Since Arwen has been using real names on her blog bit by bit, and all my kids are active online, in the interests of simplicity I'm going to give you "The Name Post."
In order of appearance my children are:
Arwen Elizabeth (you knew that ;-) ) ,
Branwen Elanor ("Rosie" -- Rose is her confirmation name, and her husband "Anthony" is really Larry),
Miriel Margaret ("Maggie"),
Brandon Ransom ("George" -- confirmation name again),
Tirienne Anne ("Katie" -- confirmation name Catherine) and
Kelson Reuel ("Tommy" -- our last name is Thomas.)
I actually have been using our grandchildren's real names, so Daniel, Camilla, Matthew and Blaise they remain.
The names are mostly all from Tolkien and Lewis. "Arwen Elizabeth" scans the same as "Arwen Undomiel". (And if you're not a total Lord of the Rings geek and don't know this already, "ennorath" in Arwen's blog URL is Quenya (Elvish) for "Middle Earth".)
The name Branwen is used a lot in the Brother Cadfael novels of Ellis Peters, and is the name of a major character in the Wrinkle in Time books. Elanor is both Samwise and Rose's daughter in LOTR and a tiny white flower of Middle Earth.
Miriel was both an Elf (the mother of Feanor - Silmarillion)) and the last ruling queen of Numenor (read the appendices of LOTR). Margaret just sounded good with that, AND we were trying to give the kids one "normal-sounding" sorta-kinda-saint's name to use if desired. (Elanor sounds like Eleanor).
Brandon's name snuck in there when we weren't looking -- we wanted something that sounded good with "Ransom" (Elwin Ransom is the main character in Lewis' Space Trilogy. The name became popular about 17 seconds after we picked it!
Tirienne is named for Tirian, the last King of Narnia. We loved it, but didn't think you could do that to a boy, so we feminized it. It's pronounced "Tee-ree-ENNE". (Or, as we told my dad when he struggled with it, think of a letter N crying -- a "teary N".)
Kelson is the main character in the first-written trilogy of Chronicles of the Deryni by Katherine Kurtz. And Reuel is for John Ronald REUEL Tolkien. I guess we'd given up on the "normal" by then, although Reuel is a Biblical name meaning "Servant of God."
I realize this is a lot of information packed into a small post, but I thought I'd head off the most obvious questions in advance. Feel free to comment, and be aware that I'll be using real names from now on!
As most of you know, I use my real name here, and also my husband's name, but except for Arwen, who uses her real name at her blog -- which I think is how most of you got here-- I've been using pseudonyms for the rest of my family. Since Arwen has been using real names on her blog bit by bit, and all my kids are active online, in the interests of simplicity I'm going to give you "The Name Post."
In order of appearance my children are:
Arwen Elizabeth (you knew that ;-) ) ,
Branwen Elanor ("Rosie" -- Rose is her confirmation name, and her husband "Anthony" is really Larry),
Miriel Margaret ("Maggie"),
Brandon Ransom ("George" -- confirmation name again),
Tirienne Anne ("Katie" -- confirmation name Catherine) and
Kelson Reuel ("Tommy" -- our last name is Thomas.)
I actually have been using our grandchildren's real names, so Daniel, Camilla, Matthew and Blaise they remain.
The names are mostly all from Tolkien and Lewis. "Arwen Elizabeth" scans the same as "Arwen Undomiel". (And if you're not a total Lord of the Rings geek and don't know this already, "ennorath" in Arwen's blog URL is Quenya (Elvish) for "Middle Earth".)
The name Branwen is used a lot in the Brother Cadfael novels of Ellis Peters, and is the name of a major character in the Wrinkle in Time books. Elanor is both Samwise and Rose's daughter in LOTR and a tiny white flower of Middle Earth.
Miriel was both an Elf (the mother of Feanor - Silmarillion)) and the last ruling queen of Numenor (read the appendices of LOTR). Margaret just sounded good with that, AND we were trying to give the kids one "normal-sounding" sorta-kinda-saint's name to use if desired. (Elanor sounds like Eleanor).
Brandon's name snuck in there when we weren't looking -- we wanted something that sounded good with "Ransom" (Elwin Ransom is the main character in Lewis' Space Trilogy. The name became popular about 17 seconds after we picked it!
Tirienne is named for Tirian, the last King of Narnia. We loved it, but didn't think you could do that to a boy, so we feminized it. It's pronounced "Tee-ree-ENNE". (Or, as we told my dad when he struggled with it, think of a letter N crying -- a "teary N".)
Kelson is the main character in the first-written trilogy of Chronicles of the Deryni by Katherine Kurtz. And Reuel is for John Ronald REUEL Tolkien. I guess we'd given up on the "normal" by then, although Reuel is a Biblical name meaning "Servant of God."
I realize this is a lot of information packed into a small post, but I thought I'd head off the most obvious questions in advance. Feel free to comment, and be aware that I'll be using real names from now on!
Monday, February 09, 2009
Grandma Update
Well, it turns out that even Grandma was an optimist. Blaise finally got out of the hospital yesterday. He was always "getting better"; it just takes a long time for such tiny ones to get their oxygen levels up. He and Arwen are now trying to get this "normal living" thing down.
I had to come home on Friday, but Katie took my place, and Arwen's good friend Lauren flew in for a couple of days, since Bryan was already into negative vacation days. I am ever-so-slightly jealous, since they are going to get the new-baby-cuddling fun that I missed, but Camilla needed me last week, so I just need to suck it up. But I may need to go and visit again soon.
I will have a regular post up in the next day or so, but I just wanted to reassure and thank those of you who have been wondering and praying.
I had to come home on Friday, but Katie took my place, and Arwen's good friend Lauren flew in for a couple of days, since Bryan was already into negative vacation days. I am ever-so-slightly jealous, since they are going to get the new-baby-cuddling fun that I missed, but Camilla needed me last week, so I just need to suck it up. But I may need to go and visit again soon.
I will have a regular post up in the next day or so, but I just wanted to reassure and thank those of you who have been wondering and praying.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Unsettled
Don't worry, the title doesn't refer to me! It refers to the "things" that I expected to settle down ten days ago when I last posted. I was expecting to be helping Arwen settle into life with two kids, having a great time hanging out with her and Rosie (and Bryan and Anthony) and the grandkids. But. . .
As some of you know from reading Arwen's blog and Twitter, it hasn't been quite that way. The week before Blaise was born, Camilla spent some time in the emergency room with croup. Since her oxygen levels were fine, they gave her steroids and sent her home. She was still feverish and sniffly for the rest of the week, but better by the weekend. Unfortunately, she had been playing with her cousins right before getting sick, and by the time Blaise was born, both Matthew and Daniel were working on "sick and miserable."
Arwen and Blaise were released from the hospital last Wednesday, and Katie and Tommy -- who had a bad cold of his own -- came down to pick me up, since Bryan had two weeks of paternity leave and the plan was (and still is) for me to spend the third week there. By the time they arrived, both of Rosie's boys were so miserable, and Rosie was so exhausted, that Katie immediately volunteered to stay and help. Which was good because...
On Thursday Matthew was admitted to the hospital with a rollicking case of RSV, which kept him there through Monday. Roger and I (and a sick Tommy, who spent most of the weekend exiled to the basement computer room) went down to help. We returned home late Saturday because Katie and I had a commitment to sing at mass. Meanwhile, Daniel was diagnosed with an ear infection secondary to the RSV and put on antibiotics. And Camilla, who was feeling bad again, also got antibiotics for a mild pneumonia.
Roger and I had a separate commitment out of the area for Sunday through Wednesday, and although Katie went down again Sunday evening through Monday, and Tommy missed school on Monday, we all heaved a sigh of relief that things were on the upswing. Until Thursday morning early, when Blaise was hospitalized (in a different hospital) with RSV. Roger went down again Thursday through Friday to help Rosie with the three recovering kids, and right now Bryan's mom is there for the weekend.
The good news is that Blaise does NOT have anything bacterial, and they have already been able to reduce his supplemental oxygen, which means that he's working on being able to come home. Since I am a realist rather than an optimist (when I can keep myself from being a pessimist), I predict that he'll be out of the hospital by Tuesday -- the feast of Saint Blaise. And I'll be down there to help this new family settle in.
And God willing, all our lives will be boring and routine for a long time to come!!
As some of you know from reading Arwen's blog and Twitter, it hasn't been quite that way. The week before Blaise was born, Camilla spent some time in the emergency room with croup. Since her oxygen levels were fine, they gave her steroids and sent her home. She was still feverish and sniffly for the rest of the week, but better by the weekend. Unfortunately, she had been playing with her cousins right before getting sick, and by the time Blaise was born, both Matthew and Daniel were working on "sick and miserable."
Arwen and Blaise were released from the hospital last Wednesday, and Katie and Tommy -- who had a bad cold of his own -- came down to pick me up, since Bryan had two weeks of paternity leave and the plan was (and still is) for me to spend the third week there. By the time they arrived, both of Rosie's boys were so miserable, and Rosie was so exhausted, that Katie immediately volunteered to stay and help. Which was good because...
On Thursday Matthew was admitted to the hospital with a rollicking case of RSV, which kept him there through Monday. Roger and I (and a sick Tommy, who spent most of the weekend exiled to the basement computer room) went down to help. We returned home late Saturday because Katie and I had a commitment to sing at mass. Meanwhile, Daniel was diagnosed with an ear infection secondary to the RSV and put on antibiotics. And Camilla, who was feeling bad again, also got antibiotics for a mild pneumonia.
Roger and I had a separate commitment out of the area for Sunday through Wednesday, and although Katie went down again Sunday evening through Monday, and Tommy missed school on Monday, we all heaved a sigh of relief that things were on the upswing. Until Thursday morning early, when Blaise was hospitalized (in a different hospital) with RSV. Roger went down again Thursday through Friday to help Rosie with the three recovering kids, and right now Bryan's mom is there for the weekend.
The good news is that Blaise does NOT have anything bacterial, and they have already been able to reduce his supplemental oxygen, which means that he's working on being able to come home. Since I am a realist rather than an optimist (when I can keep myself from being a pessimist), I predict that he'll be out of the hospital by Tuesday -- the feast of Saint Blaise. And I'll be down there to help this new family settle in.
And God willing, all our lives will be boring and routine for a long time to come!!
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Just in Case You Didn't Notice . . . .
When I got home from the weekend, I was too tired out from having fun with Daniel and Camilla to do a proper post. But I did manage to change my blog header. Did you notice?
I am now the grandmother of FOUR! Arwen and Bryan let us know that Camilla will have a sibling, due in February. Hurrah! Rosie and I wouldn't mind at all if we had to share our birthday. Maggie thinks that she should get to share hers, since we already have someone to share with. Actually, any February birthday will be fine! (And as Tommy's birthday is at the end of January, that's a possibility too.)
New grandbaby! Thank You, God!
I am now the grandmother of FOUR! Arwen and Bryan let us know that Camilla will have a sibling, due in February. Hurrah! Rosie and I wouldn't mind at all if we had to share our birthday. Maggie thinks that she should get to share hers, since we already have someone to share with. Actually, any February birthday will be fine! (And as Tommy's birthday is at the end of January, that's a possibility too.)
New grandbaby! Thank You, God!
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Where I'm spending my weekend
I have an actual post percolating, but I hurt my finger while trying to modify a $6 lampshade to fit an antique lamp that only $60 lampshades fit, and I'm typing with three fingers instead of my usual four. But I'm going to have a great weekend hanging out with these folks and their parents, and will be back next week, unless Daniel's baby sister or brother arrives!
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