June 2011

This month seems to have flown by, but as I read the previous “May 2011” posting it feels like forever ago. Each day is a new adventure, but we have gotten some consistency with Allison and are beginning to understand her needs a little more. She has gotten into a decent routine where she will eat between 9 and 10 at night and sleep until 3 or 4 in the morning. She will usually sleep after that until 6:30AM and that appears to be what we will need later in July when Deb goes back to work. She has been doing so well at night (knock on wood!) that Deb has been able to not nap much during the day and although her energy for a full work day will take time to re-adjust, it appears we have been very lucky with a pretty easy baby (again, knock on wood!).
As mentioned in a previous post, Allison was baptized this month. We had a great weekend with some of Deb’s family coming in from WV (Randy, Anna, Julie, Barbs, Taylor) along with some of our family in Indy (Mom, Vandervaarts, Wahmans, Mark, Caslers). Fr. Bonke performed the baptism and it was a small ceremony on a Saturday. It was followed by a small brunch at a hotel in town. That evening, we attended mass and went back to the hotel for a cookout. We had Fr. Bonke over for dinner later in the month to say “thanks” for doing the baptism.

Father’s day was bittersweet this year, as it being my first as a dad and the first without my dad. Deb got a picture of Allison and I “fist-bumping” developed along with a picture from her baptism with Allison’s footprints. I’m sure as the years go by, Father’s Day will be a much happier day, but it was tough this year. Deb also made waffles for breakfast “McGonagle” style, which is a waffle with an egg on top of it, along with syrup and butter. Needless to say, I had breakfast this way for a few days since there was extra waffle batter! Allison had her 2 month appointment. She is growing and gained 2 more pounds and grew another inch, so she is 10 lbs 7ozs and is 23 inches long. Everything appears to be going well, except for something called torticollis. The simple way to describe it is that Allison just looks to her right too much, so that can cause her neck muscles to be tight and also have a flat head on her right side. Anyway, we had a physical therapy appointment today and it sounds like we just need to do some exercises each day and it should take care of itself. No one appears to be too concerned about it, except for Deb and I, who are probably just dealing with our first “big worry” being first time parents and probably just need to get used to this feeling and do our best to relax. A few more items from this month:
**Pete and Laura were able to take their new son home in early June and seem to be doing well. I’m sure by the time you are on your third kid, you either have enough confidence to not worry about the small things or just don’t have the time!
**Beth moved back from Tennessee this month! She is living about a mile away from us in Broad Ripple and has a very nice apartment. She is excited to be back and is enjoying her time before she starts working full-time.
**My mom moved out of our house on Rowin Road and we enjoyed a final lunch. We all had fun, shared some stories/memories and walked out together. Her new condo is great. It is on the water, has very little maintenance and offers her (and all of us) the fresh start we need. Although it was tough to leave the house, this is a better situation for the long-term.
**We attended the Carroll Summer Reunion this month. It was great to see our extended family and the weather cooperated enough for everyone to enjoy the food, conversation and company.
**Deb and I have ventured out to dinner a few times. We went with Allison to the Monon Food Company and Fire restaurants here in Broad Ripple. We also were able to go to Sullivan’s Steakhouse for a belated anniversary dinner (mom babysat for us).