Christmas Day 2009

Christmas Eve 2009

Koen turns TWO!

So Koen is not a big fan of the snow, or of cold weather in general. I essentially had to bribe him to go outside in the snow and go sledding with promising he could have his Elmo cake when he came back inside. If you saw the last post, you can see that my bribe worked!

First big snow 2009

(ok, really first big snow since 2006 when we got to Germany)

It's a .........

Well, I guess it should be obvious from the photo, but if not, then I can report that the Dr. thought it had more girlish parts than boyish parts.

Halloween 2009

OK, sorry for the long delay in posting anything. After we returned from the states end of August, we have had a run of visitors essentially the entire time except for 5 days (during which I was on call). We had a blast with all of them, and I promise we'll catch you up on all the photos, as soon as we catch up on some sleep and laundry! Hope the Halloween pics hold you over until more photos are posted... the kids had a blast trick or treating, and Andy and I are having a blast eating it (the kids are only allowed 1 per day, so it has to go somewhere!) Is that where all of our candy went when we were kids???

Introducing the newest Pazdan Beaver

From

The little bean was confirmed today to have a heartbeat, and was kicking around those little leg limb buds! Due date is April 8, 2010.

August 2009

Summer Fun

Tuscany, June 2009

Tour de "Mosel"

The Germans are great.  They love their roads and they love to drive, but they are not afraid to close down 140km of major thoroughfare to cars so that families can bike.  We did a 42km trip.  That's right, 42km (26 miles) with 8 adults and 4 kids ages 3 and under.  Eliot was a trooper riding tandem with mom -- helped me pedal (and I even took some breaks!) And Michael (Eliot's friend, age 4) rode 20km on his own 2 wheeler!!!  We had an awesome time.

The Elusive "perfect" Family Photo

Andy's 34 th birthday

Making the cake

Gee.  That's a lot of candles.  Does someone have a fire extinguisher handy?  The worst part of 34 is that Eliot still has a lisp with his "th" so it sounds like he is saying "44".  Like we need an extra decade added on!!!  

Easter 2009

Time for a photo update!

Sorry we have been crazy delinquent... please do not give up on us!  We still do take photos, and we promise we will eventually share them with you!

Eliot is up to all sorts of new tricks...



Tumbling...



Easter Egg Hunting...



Tandem biking...

Koen Walks

Koen starting walking about 3 weeks ago.  We now spend all of our time chasing him around... and seem to have very little time to post photos and videos.  We should have more time available once we get him off to college.

Koen's first haircut

Um, guys... what is she doing to me?

OK, enough Mr. Nice Guy... now I just want my mommy!!!

Scotland Feb 2009

Eliot "Lion Face"

One of Eliot's school teachers got a new face painting kit in preparation for Fasching (aka Carnival, Mardi Gras).  She tested it out on a few kids, and Eliot was transformed into a ferocious lion.  Check him out...

More Family Visit Photos (Nov 08)

Christmas 

2008

Renee's Trip to the States, Visitors to Germany, and Fun in the Snow

Koen's B-Day Videos

From Koen 1st B-Day

From Koen 1st B-Day

From Koen 1st B-Day

Koen's B-Day  

Here are some phots from Koen's 1st B-Day

Chamonix, France

We just got back from a quick trip to the French Alps where Eliot tried out skiing for the 1st time. He really seemed to enjoy it.

Halloween 2008

 

Our frog seems somewhat concerned to be surrounded by ferrocious sharks and bumblebees

 

This is before we explained that bees sting with their butts and not their mouths

 

 

Eliot, Koen, Michael, and Spencer ready to go.

He Rides

Michael left his peddle bike at our place when he went home for a nap.  Couldn't hurt to give it a try. Click each picture to see the video.

From 2008_10_25

From 2008_10_25

Strasbourg, France

Eliot seems to be somewhat unimpressed by another European Cathedral

Spencer, Eliot, Koen, and Renee

Garage Work Resumes

After having to take a bit of a break on the work on our garage due to the road work out front, Arno has resumed in full force. How is he going to make up for all of that lost time? Extra help of course. Who do you think is driving the small red wheelbarrow at the bottom of the picture.

Eliot was in heaven the whole time. I wonder where he got his love of digging from?

Sorry it took us so long to post, but here are highlights of our fabulous vacation (with 3 generations of Beavers) to Greece.

Note. If the embedded slideshow is causing troubles, you can click the "Greece 2008" label above to view it in a separate window. The pictures should be a little higher quality there as well.

Venice, Italy.

In hindsight, I remember hearing the splash...


The fact that I didn't even look up from whatever vendor's wares I was perusing tells you how unlikely I thought it was that Renee or anyone else for that matter would fall into the canals of Venice. It's a shame that I didn't look up earlier, because I would have gotten better photos. In this photo, you can see the scene of the crime. You can just make out the wet footprints leading away from the stairs to the left. That would be from Renee.


More evidence of the mishap in the soaking wet jeans. No injuries, just a badly bruised ego as she had quite the audience of onlookers.


We went back the next day for another look. Renee says that 3rd step is slippier than it looks.

Another Illini Fan on the Way!

Gramma and Grampa's visit

Happy 3rd Eliot!

Look at that awesome cement truck cake. Toni rocks!




The artist at work.





The Bouncy Castle

More Bouncy Castle

He who controls the M&Ms......

Ice cream trip. Eliot had been looking forward to this promised trip to the ice cream shop all day. At some points, he was out of control. In the end, he got his ice cream, but really didn't enjoy as much as expected.

 

Hey, what is this..... a hand me down? it's got like 20 km on it already.

Cruising Mode

Funky basket swing at the K-Town Dinosaur Park

Hey, I've got teeth too.

Koen - Showing off his two front teeth. They're brand new.

In Training Already

Eliot has been telling Koen about his legendary "Fast Lap".

Koen's First Hearty Meal



Well, maybe "hearty" isn't the right word for it, but it was at least something different from "Mommy's milk" as Eliot calls it. It was an avocado that Renee purchased in a market in Barcelona. She actually got a pretty funny tongue lashing from the stand owner because she squeezed the avocado prior to purchase. We both knew the absolute "DO NOT TOUCH!" rule here in Europe. She just forgot. Oh well.

Koen liked the avocado mildly. I think that he was just disappointed that he didn't get any of the tasty prosciutto that the rest of us were eating.

Happy 1/2 B-Day Koen!

If you would care to compare, here's a link to Eliot's 1/2 b-day post.

Eliot doing some learning on Koen

Is this a hat thief caught red handed?

Mr. Wobble Legs in action.

Koen's developed this funny wrinkle nose grin. This isn't quite it, but it's close.
Happy
Happier

Garage Construction in Full Swing
Our great landlords are moving full speed ahead on the construction of our new garage. Eliot loves spending Saturdays watching them work. They worked all day today to get the foundation poured. They mixed the whole thing in a little rotating drum themselves.
Nothing like vibrant Crocs to protect you from the cement moat.

Herr Schultz helps Eliot leave his mark. Notice that he didn't have on his vibrant Crocs. Consequently, he eventually succumbed to the depths of the concrete moat. We will think of him fondly as we park our car in the new garage.

Barcelona

Here is a slideshow from our trip to Barcelona last weekend. We were excited to resume traveling, but as you might have guessed, it is more difficult juggling 2 little ones.

Patio Progress
- So I took Eliot out of school the other day to watch the excavator working on our patio. As you might have guessed, he was thrilled. I didn't have the heart to tell him that his sunglasses were on upside down all day.

Koen - I'm sure his hair is going to turn brown one of these days......

Japanese Garden

The boys had a great time with the laughing, big bellied Buddha!

More zoo... more goats

Eliot has been dealing with some personal space issues lately. "Too many friends" has been a common saying for him at school. That comment may be appropriate here too!

Ed (Michael's Dad) is now back from his deployment to Qatar. "Four months in the desert and all I got is this damn goat!"

Cheap thrills. 50 euro cents to be exact. (I wish I could keep Andy entertained for that amount too!)

Mother's Day 2008

This is actually the first mother's day I have gotten to spend with my family -- the last 2 years I was away taking board exams. This year was so lovely, however, that I think it made up for lost time! The weather was gorgeous, so we went on a long walk in the morning, and spent the afternoon at the "Dinosaur Park" (which also houses alligators, as you may notice). The boys (all 3 of them) were in a great mood... what more could a mom ask for!

From our US trip

We know that we haven't posted any from our US trip yet. Here are some raw ones. Hopefully we'll add more and annotate them soon.

Amy, Derek and their boys (Alexander and Anthony)
Visit on their way to Poland

Eliot had the best 24 hrs -- two live in friends for a day - Alexander (age 4) and Anthony (almost 2). The three of them ran circles around us and they had a blast doing it (and we had a blast watching them!) And little Koen just looked on, yearning for the day he could run with the other "Wild things"!

These three fellows look as if they are incapable of mischief...Um... guys.... they're kinda swarming me here... I can't really move quite yet - anyone wanna help me out?

Gulp... HELP!

Eliot the Thug

Koen Blowing Bubbles

GOATS


Can we take this one home?


2 at once

Easter Fun

An Innocent Bystander



The boys had just come in from a wet outing on their bicyles. They really enjoyed it. Both were both sopping wet from riding through mud puddles. Here Eliot is checking out the damage to Michaels back side.



Uh oh. This looks like a couple of guilty boys.



Yep. It seems that some pushing ensued and poor Koen caught a dirty rear end to the face. Honestly, it was just mud. He didn't seem to mind too much.

No more tongue tie!

Koen had surgery (very minor - snip, snip) today to free up his tongue. Impressive to see about 6 hrs of paperwork and documentation just for a procedure that takes approx 2 minutes (ok, 10-15min TOTAL with anesthesia, from pre-op waiting area to recovery room). Glad to see our medical system is efficient :)

Can't stick my tongue out :^!

Soon enough, little one... soon enough.

Smiles

Cooking with Grandma

Apparently Eliot has got quite the skills with the butter knife-- he quartered all of the mushrooms for a stir fry! We think he's almost ready for Iron Chef.

More Koen Close-ups

Wiesia, Ludwik, and Babcia's visit

Mitch and Molly's visit

Meeting Grandma and Grampa

Trying to get out a goofy grin

Koen goofy grin

I think we need a bit more practice :)

Babcia and Dziadek meet Koen
Eliot having fun with Dziadek

Sleepy time for Koen

Rough week

Sorry for the lack of postings in the last week, but the entire Pazdan Beaver Family has been run down with a nasty virus. Koen was the last and hardest hit victim, and given that he is only 5 weeks old ended up spending a night in the hospital. He is doing much better, and came home today. We'll try to post some more pictures soon, but in the meantime, we will all simply be catching up on sleep!
I swear Eliot is going in for a kiss on Koen's head here, and not just trying to smother him!

Brothers just hanging out together (this is after Eliot got over his illness and before Koen got his... back when life was peaceful and happy!)

Eliot Rides

So Eliot got this super cool 2 wheel bicycle/ scooter thing for Christmas. With the weather warming up a bit, he's had a couple of opportunities to ride outside. He is surprisingly good at it already. The two clips below showing off his growing riding prowess as well as his disdain for the paparazzi that are always hounding him.

Chilling out on the couch

Would you believe that my parents make me sleep in the laundry hamper? That's the problem with being child number two...
Whatcha lookin' at, mom?
(Koen at 1 month old)

Andy and the boys

Taking a timeout for some afternoon zzzzzz's

Wow, this baby toy is kinda cool!

Upgrade to the Double Wide

We gave in and got the double stroller... and we are now contemplating the practicalities of a minivan. I think we are now officially old.

More of Merichel's visit

Merichel looking very cute








Eliot trying to impress Mer with his Frenchy "I'm too cool" look








Eliot saying goodbye to Merichel.

Eliot at 5 weeks old

Koen at 3 weeks old

OK, so maybe they do look more alike than I thought!

Bathtime again

Eliot scored another bath with Merichel. You may remember his last Turkish bath with her.
How they have grown. Do you think it's coincidence that the one with glasses always has the smile on his or her face?

2 Weeks Already

It's hard to believe that Koen is already 2 weeks old. It goes by fast. Here are some shots of his 1st bath and one that shows how generous Eliot has been. He is sharing his most prized possession with him.

At your request...

Some more photos of Koen, and his "superdad", Andy.

Sleeping Beauty

Care to compare.

Here's a link to some day 4 photos of Eliot if you'd care to compare.

Day 2 at home.

First night was.... tough, but I guess ok for the 1st night. Eliot continues to be very sweet. Koen sleeps and eats a lot and that's about it.

Homecoming


As expected, Koen and Renee came home from the hospital today. Both are doing fabulous. Eliot has also taken a keen interest in baby Koen. He has really been very sweet with him and has already shared his two most prized possessions; his blanky and tag book.

5 minutes of fame

If you happened to be watching the 5:00 news in Chicago yesterday, you might have caught a glimpse of Renee, Eliot, and Koen.

If not, here's a link to the clip.

Koen Pazdan Beaver

Today we welcomed our second son to the family.
Koen Pazdan Beaver was born at 6:15 AM on Dec 21st at the Landstuhl Army Hospital in Germany.

7-1/2 lbs and 19.5 in long

Some things get worse before they get better...

So Eliot is well over the "going down the drain" fear, but his worry about the "bees" has grown. We have now added a layer of tape to the window barrier, as well as a "no bee" nightlight (a lion nightlight, chosen specifically by Eliot to keep bees out no doubt due to the ferocious roar), and the most recent addition to the arsenal is the fly/"bee" swatter, as you see pictured here. Mind you, we have not seen a fly, let alone a bee in months, but don't let that fool you! They could be just around the corner trying to get in...

Giddy-up, cowboy!

Virtual chillin' with the GP's

Bird's eye view

This is what I see when I look down. I never had the challenge of having to try to tie shoes last time, given that I was on bedrest at the end of my pregnancy, and it was the middle of summer so all I wore was flip flops. This time has been different, and much more difficult, until I found these:
That's right, "wooly" crocs. Comfy and warm, and NO SHOELACES! It's amazing how much such a little thing can improve ones quality of life. I may never wear real shoes again.

Milestones

Today, I hit 35 weeks of gestation, and had the LAST of my weekly progesterone injections. No more needles, YAY! But the bigger milestone of today was Eliot overcoming his bathtub drain fear... the tape started to come off during his bath, but he became brave and decided to pull it off altogether. Then he stood in the bathtub and watched the water go down, until it drained completely. He kept saying "water and bubbles go down the drain, not Eliot", and then would prove to himself that he was too big by trying to shove a toe down the drain (which of course did not fit). So, to all of you who were worried with Eliot that he might go down the drain, have no fear, we have now confirmed that he, indeed, is too big to go down with the water and bubbles. We have yet to see if tape is again needed for the next bath...

Party boy

Eliot trekking off to his friend's birthday party



Enjoying some pizza at the party...


Hey, where did everyone go? I'm still eating!!!




Having fun at the indoor playland after a hefty dose of sugar disguised as a cupcake.

33 & 5/7

Why is this number important? Because today I am 33 weeks and 5 days pregnant, which is exactly how old (in gestational age) Eliot was when he decided he had gestated enough and wanted out (well, he actually wanted out 4 weeks before that, and I got to be on bedrest for 4 weeks keeping my legs crossed trying to keep him in!) So Eliot's little brother has apparently decided he's staying in, and I'm hoping it's for the long haul (til Jan 2nd, or if you ask Andy, no later than Dec 31). A big thanks goes out to my MFM doc here in Germany, my MFM consulting doc in California (who gets to answer many questions and I never get a bill!), and to a weekly progesterone injection which prevents recurrent preterm labor.

The picture above was taken on Saturday night... we went out to this fabulous restaurant in Kaiserslautern, you know, the type with a 5 course menu and glasses and linen on the table... places we don't get out to very often and with baby #2 on the way this type of treat will be even fewer and more far between. We like to consider this our last supper :)
This is just proof that I actually wore boots with high heels at 7 1/2 months pregnant. Did I mention that pregnancy makes you lose your mind sometimes?


And these are US pictures of the little guy taken last Friday. Some more face shots, not quite as clear as the last ones, but I'll have you know that he appears to be rubbing his eyes as if sleepy. We continue to have high hopes he will be as good of a sleeper as Eliot (with the realization that this is probably an unrealistic expectation!)

The Solution

So bathtime had become rather challenging, as Eliot decided that there was a significant risk in the possibility of "going down the drain". He and Andy went through many scientific experiments of how only water and bubbles can fit down the drain, not toys or people, and certainly not Eliot, mommy, or daddy. He understood this and could say it, yet would REFUSE to get into the tub (or shower for that matter). But we came up with a solution... TAPE!!! He now tapes over the drain, making it safe to bathe, and he can enjoy bathtime once again. We recently discovered a similar solution to keeping "the bees" out of his room at night, by putting up a curtain... made bedtime much easier and much less scary. If only all of life's problems could have such simple solutions.

Oktoberfest in Munich

Here are some photos from our somewhat recent trip to Munich where we met Carey and Jon for the day after opening day at Oktoberfest...which is primarily in September. Even we questioned the wisdom of taking a 2 year old to the festival of all festivals. Eliot did fabulous and seemed to enjoy himself thouroughly.

Yes, it was alchoholfrei.

Eliot and Jon after 1 too many liters

2 too many liters

More of Eliot's "animal noises" repertoire

We had a little bit of time to kill today in the car, as we drove to Belgium to go furniture shopping. Eliot decided to entertain us all on our way out there by demonstrating some other animal sounds (in addition to the ferocious lion "roar" you have already heard). On the way home, he talked non-stop for almost 2 hours. We will not torture you with that video.

Eliot's Halloween


Eliot had been practicing his "ROAR" for weeks and had it perfected. So we went out trick or treating, and SILENCE! Eliot lost his "ROAR". Guess he had a bit of stage fright. Here's a video of him at his best (post trick or treating, back home, and a bit high on sugar).

The Courageous Lion

Eating his stash of Halloween candy...














This is what happens after too much candy!

My Busy Beavers

Eliot loves to help his dad!

The Big Move

There was a fungus among us... and it kept growing... and growing... and growing...
And finally it found it's way to the kitchen. So after our landlord not taking care of the problem for 6 months, we decided it was time to move. The fungus got the best of us! As Eliot puts it, our old house is "broken".

So, the main reason (besides an awesome trip to Munich/Salzburg for a week to see Carey and Jon - pictures to follow) that we have been completely out of the loop and not posting anything is that we suddenly had to move out of our house, find a new place to live, move, unpack, and set up new German utilities. For those new to our blog, please go back to our posts from 1 year ago to review how efficient the Germans are with their installation of telephone and DSL service. This time, we are happy to say, it only took 2 weeks instead of 2 months to get internet access!!!

So we had some great adventures. Fortunately, Mitch and Molly were here to help with the move. And all of us (Mitch and Molly) stayed with our very gracious neighbors (Ed, Toni, and their son (and Eliot's best friend) Michael). We found a place pretty quickly and are now finally starting to settle in... nice place, overall more space than our old place (especially storage space!), 5 min. closer to work, awesome landlords, well built house... not quite as much character and we wish we could have brought our neighbors with us, but this place is suiting us quite well. And for all of you who are planning to visit, no worries, there are more guest bedroom options here!

We will eventually take photos of the place with our stuff inside, but in the meantime here is a link to a page the landlord had set up; there are two indexes of photos with pictures, you can alternate at the top of the page, and view in slide show mode if you click on the photo directly:
Click here for photos

Also, Andy has at least quadrupled his office space, and now has the entire 3rd floor of the house planned as a "man room" with his multiple computers, foosball table, and a flat screen TV and comfy couch on the way. I'm just worried that once the couch and TV arrive, he may go into early retirement/hibernation mode! I think just the shock of having a TV after a year without one may put him into a beer coma (especially during football season, then it rolls right into college basketball season, etc).

So that's our saga. We promise to be much better from here on out about posting again, and there are more Eliot photos to come.

Back from Turkey

We had a very nice time in Turkey. Very different from our first trip to Istanbul, but also very relaxing. We spent a lot of time either around water or in the water.

More Ultrasound Photos

Another B-Day Present for Eliot

Thanks Dave and Kim!