If that mysterious lump in our Christmas photo didn’t give away our big news for the year, we welcomed a son into our household this year. Isaac Radcliffe Birgen was born on September 13th (Friday the 13th) weighing nearly nine pounds. Zac has been doing what babies do best, eating, sleeping and growing. He is wearing the six month size of clothes and does a wonderful job of putting Mom and Dad’s arms to sleep when they hold him. Jeri has embraced the new addition to our household (literally as well as figuratively). Jeri loves to hold Zac and give him kisses. She helps get clothes and diapers for Zac in the morning. She has even been willing to share her favorite teddy bear (the one she has affectionately pulled all the fuzz out of).
Jeri is growing up right before our eyes. It is scary how much she understands. When driving down the street she informs us from the back seat that, “Green means ‘Go’. Red means ‘Stop’. Yellow means ‘Be Careful’.” She has reached the dangerous “Why?” phase. Sometimes she asks why for entertainment and sometimes she is actually curious, and if Mom and Dad aren’t careful and give a smart-aleck answer they will have some serious reprogramming to do at a later date. Jeri loves to sing, partially thanks to a local Kindermusik program. She sings her ABC’s, she sings Alleluia, she sings “The eensy weensy spider”. The only problem occurs when she sings her ABC’s at church when everyone else is singing Alleluia.
In April Mariah had to make a trip out to California to say good-bye to her grandfather. Grandpa Stub died at the age of 89; he was Mariah’s last living grandparent. A month later Jeri accompanied Mariah to the funeral. The driving wind and buckets of rain at the funeral make us suspect that he didn’t really agree with what everyone had to say. We have inherited some nice antique furniture that would look great in our house, unfortunately it is all still in California waiting for us to retrieve it.
We had some nice trips this Summer. We went to Boston at the end of May to see Mariah’s brother, Torrey, graduate from MIT. The Ph.D. wasn’t actually finished until October, but Torrey went through the ceremony for his Master’s. Jeri had a lot of fun feeding ducks and riding Boston’s subway trains with Torrey’s girlfriend Ange. We are happy to report that Torrey did manage to find a job (The Aerospace Corporation). Considering that much of his higher education is a direct result of not bothering to look for a job, we are all pleased.
After a substantial potty training session, we made a trip to Terre Haute, Indiana to celebrate the 25th Jubilee for Brian’s sister Judy with the Sisters of Providence (Sister Judy! Get it?!?). Jeri had fun playing with her many cousins; she worked very hard to keep up with them. Her 5 year old cousin Katie was her favorite. Jeri refers to the guest house where we stayed as ‘Katie’s house’.
We took a trip out to California for an education conference. Jeri stayed at Grandma Judy’s house in Capitola. Jeri had a lot of fun visiting, even though Grandma didn’t know that only Jeri is allowed to flush the toilet after she uses it. Grandma’s job is to admire Jeri’s handiwork, nothing more. The conference was good, but all Brian remembers is the wine tasting and the Thai food. Mariah remembers more, because she was very pregnant and not drinking much.
At the end of Summer, we busied ourselves with getting ready for the new baby and the new school year. We had a procession of grandparents visiting to help out with the new baby: Grandma and Grampa Birgen followed by Grandma Judy followed by Grampa Don. After six weeks of maternity leave from school Mariah and Zac came back to work. We had arranged our schedules so we never taught at the time, that way one of us could be with Zac at all times. The many students who frequent our building also took turns holding and playing with Zac. It has kept us busy, but Zac has been very mellow and easy-going about the whole thing.
At Thanksgiving Ben and Bill (and their families) descended on Waverly and ate everything we could throw at them. It was great fun to have the three of us together. It helps that the Birgen boys have low standards of hospitality (silverware is not required). We also celebrated Zac’s baptism that weekend, with Bill and Natalya serving as godparents. Zac was very well behaved through the whole process, even when he was stripped naked and dunked in the water.
This summer we finished fixing the guest room, so anyone who visits has a comfortable space. We hope you consider filling it in the next year. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good (if a bit sleepless) night.