The Hohnstadt Family

We're Moving!!

2008-02-25T21:36:00.002-06:00

Well, we're not ACTUALLY moving but our blog is! Today is the day to make the big move over to our new wordpress blog. There are going to be some nice features with that new blog that I think everybody will enjoy. But, you'll have to go there to find out about all the great stuff. So, hop on over to the new blog: cjhohnstadt.wordpress.com This blog will still be up for a bit but I won't be posting on it anymore after today. See you all at the new address!

Valentine's Day and other miscellaneous events

2008-02-20T08:02:00.003-06:00

Well, I've done it again. I post almost once a day on this blog (in my head) but rarely find time to get it down on the computer. Oh well, I'll get there. In the meantime, here's what we've been doing this past week.

Valentine's day was lots of fun. It was a big day for us as we hired our first non-family babysitter to watch Anna while Cedric and I went out for dinner and a concert. Shaye, one of my old students who graduated last year, did a FABULOUS job with Anna and even cleaned up the kitchen by washing dishes and all. I was very impressed and Cedric and I had a great time as well. (the concert, in case you're wondering, was a St. Paul Chamber Orchestra concert...very nice and very close seat to see one of my favorite instruments...the tympani).

The weekend after Valentine's Day we took some time to celebrate family. We had a special dinner for my Mom at her house on Friday and then ventured off to Fairmont via Waterville to visit with Cedric's parents and sister. The day in Waterville with Cedric's parents was nice and Anna got a chance to explore the farmhouse more as she's becoming even more mobile everyday. We spent the night at Sandra's in Fairmont and while the company and time was fun, the night was not exactly on our list of best times had. Anna woke up about 2-3 hours after we put her to bed crying and would not settle back down (I think due to sleeping in a pack-n-play smaller than her crib in a strange room. We finally got her up with us for a bit until we all went to bed around 11. She still wouldn't settle so Cedric and I brought her in bed with us. That's something we basically don't do, ever, but desperate times call for desperate measures. We didn't want her to wake Sandra or the other neighbors in her apartment building so did what we needed to do to keep her quiet. Once she got into bed with us she wasn't crying but she also wasn't quiet. It was like a switch got flipped and she just started talking and babbling and laughing. We kept trying to get her to lay down and she would but she wouldn't stop talking, either. Finally we laid her back in her pack-n-play and just steeled ourselves to wait out the inevitable crying until she would settle down and go to sleep. We were both surprised to discover that just about as soon as we laid her down she hit the deck and slept soundly until 7:30 the next morning. But, since she didn't finally get to sleep until almost 1:30 we all were a little tired the next day. In the following couple days she's taken 2 hour naps and slept 12 hours at night to get caught up.

Even with all that we enjoyed spending the time with Sandra and had a great time playing Tri Ominos (my Valentine's gift from Cedric :-D) and helping her decide where to hang pictures in her apartment.

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

I have no words to express the tragedy...

2008-02-12T21:13:00.003-06:00

In my journey so far as a mother I've realized that there are LOTS of other things besides my philosophy of parenting that have been affected by Anna's arrival. Not the least of these things is the large amounts of compassion I feel for any child that is suffering. While this blog has mainly been about our family, I feel a change in the wind and will be adding more of my own thoughts to the blogroll mixed in among Anna's amazing accomplishments. So, on that note, here is today's thought on a recent news story...

On my way home from a meeting at school today I had the radio going in the background. I managed to just catch the tail end of a story about officials finding a four year old little boy in a garbage bag who had been beaten to death. I thought that was bad enough. Later in the evening I learned the whole story. I'm not going to go into the details because I can't fathom what would bring a person to do this to a child but for those of you who want to read the actual news article click here.

Hearing the story and the brutality that this little boy endured before his life ended just sickens me. What kind of society do we have where this happens to little ones? I know there are more stories than can be told of abuse to children but I think what really frightened me about this one was that the mother used her own children to help hold down this little boy (who apparently was her cousin) while she was beating him. Isn't it bad enough that they had to watch that happen, much less be a part of it? The other thing that I just don't understand is that afterwards the woman was afraid she was going to get into trouble and so she hid the body and claimed he had been abducted. Did she feel remorse for what she had done or did she simply realize she had gone too far and was going to get into trouble?

I am simply speechless about the whole thing and I just held Anna a little tighter tonight as I got her ready for bed and prayed that those who reach such a place with the children that they have in their care will have the sense to get help before their anger becomes destructive.

While this all sounds a bit rantish, let this be an encouragement to all of us with children in our lives to slow down, take a deep breath and above all remember to tell them just how special they are not just with our words but with our love.

Almost 14 months...where does the time go?!?

2008-02-10T22:27:00.000-06:00

Wow, I can't believe I've been so delinquent in keeping this blog updated. I suppose it's not any consolation to you, my readers, (if there even are any of you :-) that I compose blog posts at least once or twice a day in my head. However, the reality of keeping house, keeping up with Anna and just keeping up in general doesn't allow for the computer time I once enjoyed. I have put together a few web galleries of photos for you to enjoy so here you go:

Anna's 1st Birthday
December 2007 family fun
Anna's 1 year photos

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the wonderful photos we had taken of Anna when she turned one were done by my good friend Shannon Tacheny (check out her site here). She does wonders with a camera and has started a thriving business specializing in child/family photography with an artistic flair.

Well, while there's lots more going on here that's all I have time for right now. Things to look for in the future...

The announcement that Anna is walking (no, it hasn't happened yet :-D)
Some great video of Anna laughing and playing
Our favorite photo of her "funny face" as we call it
And, last but not least, a move for this blog from our present address to wordpress...more to follow on that soon.

Hope all is well with you and yours and I'll be back again soon (I promise)

11 months old - can you BELIEVE it?

2007-11-16T14:42:00.001-06:00

Hello all,

I know, I know....long time no post. What can I say? Things around here have been pretty hectic. I won't bore you with the details. I'm working on restoring our laptop so that I can post pictures of our trip to Chicago. It was really fun! Getting to see Tim and Monica was really great and it was loads of fun to see the girls finally be able to play together. Anna had (somewhat) mastered crawling when we went and was just learning to pull herself on up things. Auntie Monica sent back an activity table that Lauren had outgrown and Anna just LOVES it. There's lots for her to do on it and it keeps her pretty occupied.

Our latest find, however, has been Duplos. Not that I didn't know what they were...I just thought she might still be a little young for them. Boy, was I wrong. She has little table that I picked up during a spring cleaning day here in Bloomington (for free!) that had a top that looked like it was made for Duplos. Since I wasn't sure, the last time Cedric and I were at the Mall of America we stopped by LEGO Land to pick up a little Duplos starter kit to give the table a try. The Duplos work great with the table and Anna's favorite thing to do is to pull them all off the table and then try to put them back up. We're working on getting some more Duplos cheap (LEGO land isn't exactly the cheapest place to find LEGOs) so we can have even more fun!

Anna's latest developmental milestone has been mastering pulling herself up and exploring her world. She can also walk along with a little baby walker and it is SO CUTE! Here is a little video of her walking...no sound since the camera we were using doesn't record sound (sorry!)

10 months old

2007-10-17T21:51:00.000-05:00

It goes without saying it's been awhile since I've posted. I could give you a list of things I've been up to (celebrating Cedric's birthday, installing a new computer lab at school, turning 30, catching up with my crawling baby, helping my sister get ready for a wedding celebration in January, visiting family in Dallas, celebrating our second wedding anniversary) but that would be boring. Instead I'll brag about my husband and baby...

First for Cedric: he's been working harder than I've ever seen a person work and the last two Saturdays have been a bit of a reward for his labors. He's been working as a character designer for NBC's new Saturday morning cartoon show 3-2-1 Penguins. The first episode aired Oct. 6th and I was ecstactic to see Cedric's name listed second among the character designers. In Cedric's words "I was ignored by millions of people this morning!" I LOVE THAT MAN! If you want to see what Cedric's been working so hard on, check your local listings and look for 3-2-1 Penguins on NBC's Saturday morning Qubo cartoon lineup. Oh yeah, and for our anniversary Cedric gave me half a day of his time so that we could install a new closet in our bedroom. It was a GREAT anniversary and a GREAT gift. (He did also get me flowers, a card and dinner out, for those of you wondering if we've lost the romance :-)

Now for the little one...Anna's been changing literally by the day the past week and a half. She started crawling three days ago (on her 10 month birthday) and hasn't stopped moving since. I'm so proud of her and all she can do. She's loving exploring and Mommy and Daddy are loving seeing her move and also loving the playpen we now have in the living room. Having the playpen for Anna allows her to explore in a safe place and also time for me to clean and cook without chasing a baby so that I have more time to play with my baby (out of the playpen, of course). Anna's also doing a great job learning about being "gentle" as she plays with my necklaces but no longer almost jerks them off my neck to see them. Now that she has four teeth she's working more at learning to eat "like a big girl" but still does better with pureed foods with just a few chunks. She is, however, a fiend when it comes to Cheerios and gets more than a little excited when she sees the classic yellow container coming out of the cupboard. I also found out this afternoon that her new favorite food is peach yogurt. I actually had to hide it back in the refrigerator so that she would finish her veggies before the yogurt.

Having brought you up to date on what we've been doing, check out this photo slideshow to see more of what we've been up to...

The Nutcracking Escapade

2007-09-10T09:53:00.000-05:00

I love my husband. I love that he works so hard to provide for our family but I also love how silly we can get at times. Last night's adventure was no different. We managed to get Anna to bed early and then set to work on our computers in the studio. After a bit he grabbed the bag of unshelled macadamia nuts that we had gotten as a present when his brother returned from his honeymoon in Hawaii and he headed to the garage. Well, I'm not one to miss the action so I trailed along. The instructions on the bag of nuts said to "tap nuts with hammer." They weren't kidding. The first couple taps with a hammer sent the nuts careening across the floor with not a crack to be seen in the shell. Not wanting to miss any of the fun I grabbed a hammer myself and gave a whack. Aparently I had had my Wheaties that morning as not only did I manage to crack the nut but in the process crushed half the meat inside. Guess I better forget whacking and go back to tapping. We found out that if you keep hitting the nut with light taps eventually they will crack. But, that took too long for us so we eventually discovered that if you hit the nut somewhere between a tap and a whack you can manage to crack it open on the first shot. It was fun to be out in the garage with Cedric cracking nuts and it was even better when our well-placed tap-whack still managed to send a nut flying across the floor. We had a great time and the nuts weren't too bad, either.

What a week!

2007-09-07T15:30:00.000-05:00

We've had quite the interesting week here at our house. Last weekend Anna and I went up to Northern Minnesota to help with the wedding of a close family friend. We had a great time but were glad to be back home. Before we even made it home we had a stopover at my new sister-in-law's house for their gift opening. As we were leaving the gift opening with my in-laws in the car behind us our car overheated. To make a long story short, we ended up needing the head gasket replaced on the car along with the thermostat, water pump and probably a bunch of other stuff. Well, that bill wasn't cheap but we've been thankful that Cedric's work load has provided for us to be able to cover that. When we got home we realized that our plumbing problem is getting worse (let's just leave it at an old house with trees that like to use our pipes as a home for their roots). Anyway, to make that story more fun as I was cleaning up from a project my wonderful husband completed this weekend in the kitchen I managed to make a hole in the pipe under the kitchen sink. Yup, you read that right. When we took the pipe apart to go get replacement parts we found that the metal had corroded away to the point where it was almost paper thin. Anyway, I was glad that it happened when I was looking right at it rather than have it happen and not know it until the flood issued from under the kitchen sink. All that to say, it seems that after last weekend when Cedric stayed home from the wedding up North to get house projects done we seem to have created even more this week without even trying. Oh well.

As I said, the wedding was beautiful and you can check out some of the pictures on my friend Shannon's blog here.

Power Outage...again

2007-08-28T10:33:00.000-05:00

Well, we had another BIG storm here last night. The way the winds came up in such a hurry woke me up at 3am. I had only gone to bed at 1 so was impressed anything woke me as I was pretty tired. Anyway, I heard the winds come up and scrambled for my glasses and a robe. I met Cedric in the hall as I rushed first to the living room to look outside and then as we heard the warnings of possible funnel rotations in the storm went down the hall to get Anna as Cedric was checking out what was going on outside and calling Excel to report a power outage. We spent probably 30 minutes in our bathroom during the worst of it and could hear the wind whipping around outside and the sides of the house being pelted with rain. Anna didn't sleep through this storm like she did the last one so she was a bit cranky she was out of bed but still tired. Finally the winds died down enough where we felt safe putting her back to bed but the lighting was still flashing at regular intervals (enough so that we almost didn't need flashlights in the house). As I was surveying what had happened and checking on our picnic table, etc. in the backyard I noticed a light near the electric pole in our backyard. Knowing the power was already out and that there wasn't a light on that pole, I called Cedric to see what he thought the problem could be but I already had a guess....fire. Yup, that's right. One of the branches that had fallen off a nearby tree was still on the power line which was causing it to burn. Actually smolder would be a better term. As we walked out onto our screened-in porch to check it out I realized that everything was totally sopping wet under my feet. I couldn't believe how hard it had rained. The cooler I had placed on the back porch to "dry out" was now filled with 1-2 inches of water, and that was just from what had rained sideways into the porch and then managed to collect in the cooler. Anyway, the branch was still smoldering and we realized that our next door neighbor was out watching things to make sure nothing more dramatic happened. That's when we noticed that there was a really big branch next to the side of his house that had knocked out his telephone line and knocked over some of his chain link fence. What a mess! Eventually as we were watching the power line either burned through or gave way but it broke with a big noise and that was the end of the fire.

But, we still weren't done with our fun for the night. Since we didn't have power and Cedric had a couple deadlines for the next day, we packed up what we needed for the next few hours and traipsed over to my Mom's house to set up shop and put Anna to bed. Just as we were leaving our block our neighbor was on his way back from investigating the damage. Power was out on our side of town for at least 10 blocks to the West of us and trees were down everywhere. We found out about the trees being down as we were pulling away from talking to our neighbor and there was a HUGE tree almost completely blocking the road in front of us. Yikes! As we surveyed the damage driving to my Mom's we just felt very fortunate and thankful to God that He had protected us and our property. Looking at what some others have faced, it could have been much worse.

I must say, though, this relocating to my Mom's is starting to get a little old as we would just like the power to stay on at our house. My Mom is great for putting up with us and secretly I think Grandma likes having little Anna come for an impromptu visit. We are thankful that Cedric has someplace to go that allows him to keep to his deadlines and Anna and I have a place that has air conditioning and isn't so humid.

Well, that's my thoughts for now. I was hoping to go back and get some pictures of the damage to post for you all but I'm coming down with a bit of a cold and was told by my protective husband that my jobs today are to take care of Anna and to sleep. I must say a day in bed does sound refreshing.

Weddings are a lot of work!

2007-08-27T22:31:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in the last post, Cedric's brother got married this weekend. They say pictures say a thousand words so I'll give you pics and keep my thoughts for another time :-)

Here is Anna after we took half a day to visit Grandma Mary downtown after dropping off the last of the programs and meal cards at the reception hall two days before the wedding. She was exhausted but such a good girl the whole time!

Anna, Andrew (Betsy's son) and Lillee (the flower girl) found a few moments to hang out on the grass outside the church during pictures

Lillee offered for Anna to hold her flowers (which were done by my good friend Luda)

Here is Larry (Cedric's dad) and his sister Cora at the reception. Anna is just nuts about her Grandpa Larry (and he's pretty fond of her as well)

Anna takes a few moments at the reception with Grandpa Larry and Grandma Cathy

Cedric and I take a minute to pose for our own photo

One of my favorites...the new Hohnstadt clan parented by Larry and Cathy

It was sooo good to see family at the wedding. Even though we didn't get a chance to sit down and catch up with everyone, it was fun to catch up with those we could.

They're married!!!

2007-08-25T23:36:00.000-05:00

Well, Cedric and I just got home from Sean & Betsy's wedding. (Sean is Cedric's brother) The wedding was beautiful and Cedric was given the privilege to stand up front with the group while I was able to serve the couple by acting as Betsy's personal attendant. Anna was an angel the entire ceremony and was cute as a button (pictures will be coming soon, I promise). It's just so crazy to imagine that Sean's married now. We couldn't be happier about welcoming Betsy and her son Andrew into the family so all we can say is...we love you guys! While there is lots more to say about the event, for now I'm going to answer the call my bed is making and will post more with pictures soon.

I'm Invisible

2007-08-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

I received the following in an e-mail forwarded from a friend. I don't usually take time to read e-mail forwards but this one caught my eye and I thought it was worthy of passing on....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm invisible.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?" Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going she's going . she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully w rapped package, and said, "I brought you this."

It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he s a w a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it."

And the workman replied, "Because God sees."

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become."

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. I t is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there."

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great Job, MOM

I'm Content

2007-08-23T09:10:00.001-05:00

It's funny how many things we can find to complain about in a day. "That guy just cut me off," "Can't that cashier move any faster?" "Why don't the slow people in the store move over for those of us that have some place to be?"

I'm not happy to acknowledge that I hang out with "the complainers" more often than I would like to admit. The other day I had a chance to spend some time with someone who looks at the negative more often than the positive. It was a good reminder to me how unattractive that personality characteristic can be when it takes over who we are. As I was thinking through all this today here is what I realized:

My laundry desperately needs to be done, I haven't finished the wedding programs for my brother-in-law and I'm meeting with them tomorrow, my bathroom hasn't been cleaned in weeks, my kitchen really needs a little attention, the stains in the carpet in the living room just aren't going away by themselves, the computer lab at work needs to be rebuilt and I don't have the hours I'd like to get that job done....

All of that could be a reason for me to complain that there's too much to do, HOWEVER-I have a wonderful, caring husband who works so hard I'm often worried he works TOO HARD to provide for all we need and have, I have a beautiful, healthy daughter who daily adds joy to our lives, I live in a beautiful home with a HUGE backyard and am blessed with really great neighbors who truly care about each other, I have a family (and family-in-law) who loves me and accepts me for who I am (flaws and all) and on top of all of that the thought that Jesus died on the cross for MY sins is AMAZING.

So...the work will be there tomorrow but today I'm content to do my best, spend as much time as I can with my family and be someone who tries to give a smile rather than a frown.

Baby Belly Laughs

2007-08-19T17:05:00.000-05:00

I don't think there's anything quite so sweet in this world as baby belly laughs. Anna is a very happy baby by nature and this video clip I caught of her playing with Grandma Mary is a great example of what fun we have with her. I also love this video because (as all you parents out there know) it also shows "object permanence" is starting for Anna. In other words, when an object goes out of sight, Anna realizes that doesn't mean the object fails to exist. Instead, she knows it's just hidden from view. You'll see her looking for her toy behind the pillow. Here's the video...enjoy!

Our beautiful blue-eyed girl

2007-08-15T09:49:00.000-05:00

When my sister, Monica, was here at the end of July she took some photos of Anna for me. Monica's not a photographer by trade but she has a great eye and LOTS of patience when it comes to photographing little ones. Here are some photos she took of Anna and Lauren. Lauren wasn't as happy about the photos as Anna but there are a couple really cute ones of the girls together.

The storms of the summer

2007-08-15T09:25:00.000-05:00

This last week of storms has been wicked in the Cities. We've managed to come through them without too much trouble. Unlike much of Bloomington, our property didn't sustain any damage (there were TONS of trees down all over the place) and we were pretty lucky with the power outage issues. Our power was out for only about 20 hours (from midnight Monday until about 8pm Tuesday). We were able to pack up what we needed along with Cedric's studio and move into my Mom's house for the day so Cedric could keep working and Anna and I were able to enjoy some air conditioning. Oh, we did lose service on our studio phone from the weekend storm and it took two trips from the Qwest people to get that fixed. Unfortunately for the guy who came yesterday and actually fixed the phone...he found out the problem was a big bee's nest at the top of the phone pole. From his report, the bees weren't too happy he was there to fix the "problem."

I really LOVE thunder storms so it was pretty cozy when we were home for this latest storm (Friday night we were down at Cedric's parents' farm in southern Minnesota). This latest storm, however, did prompt us to grab Anna and head for our bathroom to hunker down for about 40 minutes while the worst of the storm raged overhead. I had definite "parenty" feelings when I heard the winds start to come up and we decided to grab Anna and keep her close until we knew the trouble was past. Anna didn't seem to mind too much, she was so tired she slept on my chest for a bit but then wiggled and squirmed so I made her an impromptu little baby bed in the bathroom and just laid her down on a pillow from the bed. She curled right up and went soundly to sleep. I was wishing I could have gotten a photo of that as she was so cute but it was dark (first to keep her from waking up and then because there was no power). Oh well, you'll just have to imagine an angel with sweet little cherub cheeks all curled up. She is SUCH a good baby!

And, lest I forget to mention, Anna turned 8 months yesterday. I can't believe it! My little girl is definitely getting bigger and can now sit all by herself for long periods of time and is working to start moving herself towards objects she wants. She'll be crawling soon. We've already prepared ourselves by getting outlet covers put in place and thinking about what needs to be done to "babyproof".

Here's a photo of Anna and Grandma Mary: (I'm not too sure Anna liked being thrown in with the laundry :-D)

A Busy Couple of Months

2007-08-05T21:51:00.000-05:00

Well, it's probably cliche for the summer for just about anybody nowadays but it's been a busy couple of months around here. We had family vist from Florida and visited with family up North. Cedric's family has an annual reunion in Backus, MN and we enjoyed catching up with everyone. This was the first year we had Anna there as well and it was fun to introduce her to those who hadn't met her yet. One of the most exciting things about that weekend was that Anna started sitting up on her own. Here's a photo of Anna with Grandma Cathy and me showing off her new skills.

After the reunion on Cedric's side we were able to spend a couple of days up at a friend's cabin along with my Mom, sister and niece. It was fun seeing Monica and Lauren and an amazing thing to see Lauren walking around! I can't believe our little peanut is over a year old and doing great. It's fun to see Monica and Tim raising Lauren and watching her personality develop. The girls had lots of fun playing together and, as both of them LOVE the water, we just couldn't resist setting up a kiddie pool out on the deck. Here are the girls just hanging out and cooling off.

One of my favorite things about the weekend up at the cabin was the chance to play a few games of "39 be darned" with my Mom and sister and teaching Cedric the game. The game brought back great memories as we used to play that game all the time with my Grandma Esther. Anna really enjoyed playing the game with her Auntie Monica.

Here's a photo of Cedric and I with the girls....

I can't believe that summer's almost over but there's still lots of fun to be had! My brother-in-law is getting married the end of August so we're all looking forward to that. There are still a couple trips that Cedric and I would like to take and then there's FALL!!! My favorite time of year is just around the corner and I just can't wait! Yippee!

Ear Infection...icky!

2007-06-28T00:11:00.000-05:00

Well, it's happened. Our first official ear infection as parents. Childhood illnesses are just part of the job with little ones but someone forgot to warn me that they can also happen to Mommy and Daddy! Yup, that's right...it's not Anna with the ear infection, it's me. And, being the overachiever that I am, I have infections in both ears. I think I've been pretty lucky and mostly feel "stuffed up" in my ear (which is a TOTALLY different feeling than being stuffed up in the nose) and don't have too much pain. The worst night was Friday night and I remember telling Cedric that it's probably not a terrible thing that I have an ear infection since now I'll know how Anna feels when she gets one. I don't remember having them as a child but my Mom tells me that I did when I was little. My sister had them all the time and I can remember Mom putting stuff in her ears to help her out and all the times she had surgery on her ears. Cedric had TERRIBLE ear aches when he was little and also had to have tubes put in his ears so he was very loving and sensitive towards me as I experienced this totally new thing. (That now makes ear infections AND heartburn that I'd never experienced until becoming a parent).

The craziest part is that in doing research online there wasn't much about adult ear infections since they're not that common and happen much more often in the little tykes. My favorite part was where they mention that nursing infants tend to get less ear infections than those who don't nurse...so, like, it doesn't work that way for nursing moms?!?

Suffice it to say that by tomorrow morning I should be feeling oh so much better as I went to a minute clinic this morning to get checked out. What a deal! For only $49 (plus the cost of the prescription, which was under $10) I was able to get diagnosed, get a prescription and get out of there all in under an hour and no headache trying to make an appointment. I have a feeling we'll be at our local minute clinic again as our insurance basically doesn't kick in until our high deductible is met so everything is out of pocket until then. The good thing about this kind of policy has been that we've become very conscientious medical consumers and ask questions first rather than pay for it later.

Baby on the Loose!

2007-06-26T13:42:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

Just couldn't resist this one. Mom and I were shopping the other day and Anna just wanted to ride the tractor. Too cute!

"Hey you guys...where does my bottle go on this thing?"

Six Months

2007-06-14T21:34:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been six months since Anna was born. I can't believe the changes in Anna and in our household. We now look forward to her waking up every morning to see her smiling face and get a chance to play with her and we're glad when she goes to sleep at night as it gives a few hours (especially to me) for us to catch up on the day's work that just didn't seem to get done during the day. Anna is a happy, easy-going baby. Here are some of her big milestones since she was born: she can smile, talk, eat her feet, grab for objects with one or two hands, she listens for sounds (especially Cedric's voice) and likes to follow things as they move around the room. She's just a little ways from rolling over and LOVES to stand when someone holds her balanced. The big news around here this week is the appearance of not one but TWO teeth. Yup, her bottom teeth have DEFINITELY come in and she did really, really well with the whole thing. Just a night or two where she was a little more fussy but no noticible fever, rash, etc. I know these are the first two so I'm cautiously optimistic but hoping that all the rest come in just as easy. She's still not too into baby food but we try just a little every day and hope she'll catch onto it soon. As I'm typing this it's an hour past her bedtime and she's still up with us in the studio talking and making noise since she refused to go to sleep. (Cedric's actually had to pause the MASH video he was watching since she's noisier than the TV :-) We love it. Here's a few photos and videos of what we've been up to...

Anna and Grandma Mary during a recent trip to the library

We spent last weekend at Cedric's parents' farm. Anna was eager to play with Cedric and couldn't wait for him to get up

Anna loves to sit with Cedric at his drawing board (I think Daddy loves it too :-)

We found a pool on the curbside at the recent Spring cleanup days. So far we've had it out once and took this cute snapshot of Anna.

Here are a couple videos:

Anna's faces when she eats are SOOO funny. They just make us laugh

After eating, Anna gets to her favorite activity: playing!

Family Vacation

2007-06-07T21:34:00.000-05:00

I know it's been quite some time since I've posted and I can't believe we've been home from Florida for a couple weeks already! We had such a great time in Florida! I've put up a couple photos of our trip here on the blog but to see a slideshow of more of our photos, click here.

Anna hangs out on the plane in her own seat while Cedric makes a trip to the bathroom.

For those of you who don't know...here's the low-down on our trip: we traveled to Orlando for a long Memorial Day weekend (Thursday to Monday) and had the opportunity to stay with my Uncle Rich and Aunt Susan who live in Altamonte Springs, north of Orlando. Cedric spent most of the time hanging out with his cartoonist peers at the National Cartoonist Society annual Reuben convention. The highlight of the time for Cedric (besides the black tie dinner) was a chance to meet a couple cartoonists that he's admired since he was young.

Here is Cedric with a local Cities artist Tom Richmond. Doesn't Cedric look handsome?!? I had hoped to make it to the Reuben's dinner with Cedric as a fun time for us to dress up together but that just didn't pan out. I did get to see him when he came home and I was reminded of what a handsome man I've married.

I was able to spend time hanging out with my family at their home located on one of Orlando's many lakes. We had a very nice time and got to see my cousin Sarah along with her sons Luke and Wade. The boys were so cute with Anna and Luke discovered that if he sang to Anna she would quiet down and stop fussing. Too cute!

Here's a video of Wade playing with Anna:

Probably the highlight of the time for us as a family was the chance to go to Sea World together. Cedric was able to take few hours out of his busy convention schedule to come to Sea World with my Aunt Susan, Sarah and the boys. We had a GREAT time and the dolphin show was by far my favorite thing to see. Anna even came home with a little stuffed Shamu to remember her time at Sea World (okay, so she's too young to remember ANYTHING of her time at Sea World but we just couldn't resist! :-)

Check out the video below of the dolphin show:

My favorite trick they performed was when one of the trainers was pushed underwater by balancing each of his feet on the nose of a dolphin. That in and of itself was impressive but during one of the tricks I realized that the dolphins were doing a corkscrew along with the trainer. Amazing! Here's a photo of the trick:

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that while we were in Florida Anna learned how to grab onto her toes and eat them (yup, it's official...I'm hopelessly a first-time parent!) It's so funny the little milestones that you celebrate with your children. Anna had been grabbing her toes before we left for Florida but didn't figure out they were something that she could eat until we were in Florida. Here's a photo of her at work with her toes while she's on Aunt Susan's lap:

Thought for the day

2007-05-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

At some point in the past (I can't remember exactly when) I was given a pad with little encouraging sayings that could be stuck in strategic places or put in a lunch bag/box etc. Well, Anna hasn't taken to eating her lunch out of a sack yet and since Cedric works at home I thought I'd share the little sayings with you. Here's the one for today (and one I thought very appropriate for a mother with a small child :-)

"Every day we are called to small things with great love." - Mother Teresa

Mother's Day and Pool Fun

2007-05-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a little while since I posted and Anna is getting cuter by the second. Last weekend was a lot of fun as I celebrated my first true Mother's Day (I was pregnant last Mother's Day). We had a great time as all our family came here to our house and we were able to host dinner for them all as well as celebrate my soon-to-be sister-in-law Betsy's birthday. Apart from being Mother's Day it was also a big day in our family. My niece Lauren took her first real steps on Mother's Day (check out my sister Monica's blog for video of that event) and Anna got to taste baby cereal for the first time. Here are some pictures of Anna eating. She wasn't sure what to think about the cereal and she made some classic faces. As Mommy I wasn't sure how I felt about the whole thing. I'm excited that she is getting bigger and it is so much fun to see her in each of her new stages but at the same time I know that she won't be this little ever again. Like aging gracefully, I'll try to be a graceful mother of a growing baby and not try to keep her back but encourage her in each of her little endeavors. But enough of my ramblings...on with the photos!

One of her newest things is to be frightened of people (it seems to be more men than women). Although, she's a little hard to figure out as she was giving the biggest smiles to the guy behind us in the line at the post office, even though the guy didn't seem to want much to do with babies. (He looked a little grumpy to me so I hoped a little baby smile would cheer him up). Anyway, she gave a fuss when Uncle Sean held her on Mother's Day. We tried reasoning with her but that doesn't work for kids until they're at least a year old. (wink, wink :-D) Here she is with Sean and the second photo is of Sean and Anna along with Sean's fiance Betsy and her son Andrew (we get to have them as "official" members of the family when Sean and Betsy get married August 25th).

While talking about weddings...I was able to help Sean and Betsy design and put together their wedding invitations. After a few unforeseen headaches with our new printer, I was able to get those off in the mail today and that's a great feeling. Just a few addresses to tweak and the rest will be out soon. Yippee! In the middle of invitation fiascos and redesigning the website for the school I work for (watch for the unveiling soon) Cedric and I were able to take a little time out of our schedules to go to a local pool and do a little swimming with Anna. Grandma Mary was there and showed us how to play water games (I was rustier than I thought). Here's a photo and video from our time in the pool. (Anna wasn't too sure about the water, even though she really likes bath time. I think the water might have been a little chilly)

We'll see how Anna does with water when we go to Florida this weekend for a Cartoonist Society Convention for Cedric and spend time with my Aunt and Uncle in Orlando. (watch for pictures to come)

And to end off the post, here's a really cute photo of Anna that we took on Sunday. She looked so funny in my Mom's glasses that I just couldn't help snapping a shot. She looks so smart, don't you think?

Modeling and Medica

2007-05-10T22:44:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a very busy few days here at our house...

Yesterday Cedric and I took Anna to a modeling agency here to see about whether or not she would be a good model. We really could have cared less about it other than we were curious if something would come. So many people have commented that we should think about getting her into modeling that we thought we'd at least give it a shot just to say we tried it. Well, I did a phone interview with the agent and then we met yesterday with him in person after checking out the agency's website to make sure they were legit. My friend Shannon gave me some great advice about modeling agencies before we went (Shannon's a professional photographer...you can check out her website here where she's even posted tips on getting into modeling). So, here's what happened...

We got into the room and the guy does a great job telling us how cute Anna is and how well behaved she is and what they do there at the agency. It looked like they have had some kids make it really big (Huggies bought the exclusive rights to one of their kids that now has his face all over their packaging). After we talked for a bit he asked if we had any questions. ANY QUESTIONS!?! Yeah, just a few like... what did they expect of us...how much time would be involved...what kind of commitment they wanted from us...how soon would magazines be banging down our door for a chance to take Anna's picture? (okay, the last one didn't really make it to the meeting :-) After answering a few of our questions it came down to big decision time, and here's where the red flags started waving wildly. I'll put it this way...

Don't go with a modeling agency if...
1. They require money up front (to the tune of almost $600)
2. They require that you make a decision there on the spot and won't let you go home to think it over
3. They require that you use their photographer (if they suggest a photographer to you but are okay if you use someone else that's okay)
4. They tell you it's more important about getting your kids' picture in print rather than trying to make some money (if this was really their philosophy why are they asking you for money at all?)
5. They tell you that the money you pay will cover the first five years and if your child gets at least one job with them in the first five years then you get the second five years free (that should tell you something right there)

Okay, that's at least five flags waving in our faces. (Did I forget to mention that after we pay the $600 and Anna does just happen to get a job, they take a 30% cut of all she makes?) I think my favorite moment was when the guy told us that it shouldn't be about the money (I guess he was hoping that we'd forget he just asked us to give him $600 with no promise of anything to come of it) but should be about seeing Anna's face in print. That printed page would last forever, long after Anna grew up, he urged. Cedric looked at him and told him that Cedric's art is in print all over the place with different ad agencies and such and so if we couldn't have a good shot at making at least a little money off of Anna's modeling (at least enough to cover the $600 fee to break even) we weren't really swayed by the thought of seeing Anna in print. I think that's when the interview was essentially over. We walked out of there with just the tiniest bit of disappointment about the whole thing but what I found even more sad was the fact that the man we had just talked to for over half an hour was counting on the fact that he could make his living off of the hopes and dreams of parents just like us. For the record, kids.com is not a recommended modeling agency in our household. If you are interested in getting into modeling, feel free to check out Shannon's website. She gives lots of great advice there and is willing to meet with you to discuss your options further.

Now, just a quick note about our battles with Medica...

Many of you know that after Anna was born we started receiving bills for services we had been told would be covered by our insurance company. To make a VERY long story short...the time and effort I (and a few others along the way) put into getting Medica to back up their promise to pay 100% of our hospital stay was finally rewarded this week when I got the final notice from the hospital that all our bills were paid off. Hooray! It turns out that while Medica was trying to make it my problem that they told me the wrong info, they had actually been informed a month before I was inquiring about my benefits that they would be changing and never updated their system info. So, they did the right thing and gave us a benefit exception to cover all the costs we were told would be covered. That was a nice thing to have off our shoulders and now Anna is ours since she's all paid off :-) (it only took five months...if she were a car or house that would be some kind of record or something, wouldn't it?).

Well, now that I've gotten that off my mind, here are a few pics of Anna to close out the post...

This is how I found her when we got home from my Mom's this evening. She was talking almost all the way home in the car and literally one second she was talking and the next she was fast asleep. I thought it was so cute how she kept hold of her toy...what a busy little girl!

Here she is when I woke her up from a nap yesterday. This is pretty much what I see every time I get her out of her crib. It's such a precious smile that I wanted to share it with you all. Hope it brightens your day just as much as it does mine :-)

Life around here...

2007-05-08T12:28:00.000-05:00

Here's a few pics of what we've been up to in the past week...

Cedric takes Anna outside to experience grass and sun firsthand (I took this one from the house as I didn't want to intrude on a Daddy and daughter moment :-)

When they came back to the house Anna had turned into a flower child (she likes flowers just like her Mommy!) Aren't those toes cute?!?

My Uncle Rich came through town for a day and he and Anna had a great time together. Rich is an accomplished seaplane pilot and can handle a panel of knobs and switches in the plane but wasn't quite sure what the buttons on a baby were for :-)

When Rich was here a dinner on the porch prompted us to get out the highchair for Anna (her first time in the highchair!). Yet another milestone to remind us she's getting bigger by the day.

Cedric tells Anna all about the yummy food she'll get to taste when she gets a little bigger (she did try a little mashed potato that night...she wasn't too phased by it but wasn't real excited about the ice cream Grandpa Larry offered her this weekend. She wrinkled her nose at that cold stuff on the end of a spoon and shook her head side to side a few times - quite a sight!)

All that growing up makes a girl sleepy and there's no better place to curl up for a little catnap than on Daddy's chest.

What Family is All About...

2007-05-08T11:14:00.000-05:00

I don't have any pictures ready to post today but an event happened yesterday in our house that prompted me to sit down and write a blog entry. Here's what happened...

I was unloading groceries in the kitchen with Cedric when I noticed the postman carrying a rather large box up to our front door. I get pretty excited about any package coming to the house so I was intrigued to find out what was in the box. Cedric answered the door and I heard the postman say "and here's another one..." Another one? You mean there's TWO boxes? Yippeee!!

My excitement turned to shock to joy to overwhelming feelings of gratitude as I started the process of figuring out who the boxes were from and what was in them. It turns out the boxes were from Cedric's cousin Charlie in Idaho. They had decided to send along some of the clothes that their daughter Lauren had grown out of for Anna to wear. I couldn't believe the amount of clothes people I've never met sent for our daughter! The clothes were beautiful and in wonderful condition. Along with the clothes there was a box of shoes to match the outfits. How fun! The clothes were all about 18 months to 2 years so it will be awhile before Anna is able to wear them but with my niece Lauren having just turned a year, my sister Monica was in need of clothes for her for this fall. Many of the clothes in the box will be just what our Lauren needs having been provided by sweet Lauren and her parents in Idaho.

As I sat on the couch and emptied the box (feeling like it was Christmas all over again!) I couldn't help it as tears welled up in my eyes as I thought of the wonderful provisions God had arranged for us. This gift of clothes from family will allow us to bless my sister with clothes for Lauren for fall and then ensure that Anna will have clothes for next summer and fall. The phrase that kept running through my mind all day yesterday was..."this is what family is all about."

Lunch on the town

2007-05-01T10:47:00.000-05:00

Last Friday Anna and I went downtown to have lunch with Grandma Mary and meet Joey Q. a little guy who is two weeks younger than Anna. (Joey's Mom Colleen and I had due dates one day apart but the babies (and doctors) had other ideas about when they should be born :-D).

Lunch was fun and it was nice to see everybody and I know Colleen and I enjoyed showing off our babies. I thought Anna was such a tall baby until I saw Joey...he's got a couple inches on her already it looks like. Anna was a little cranky during the photo shoot as it was time for a nap. I'm still working on finding that good balance between getting out of the house early enough so that we don't edge into nap time and realizing that when you put a four-month-old baby in the car for over 1/2 an hour the car fatigue sets in and they get a little sleepy, even if it isn't nap time. Anna does great most times, however, so I don't have much to worry about...after all, there's a reason we use the phrase "cry like a baby"....I guess that's just what they do :-)

I'm four months old!

2007-04-22T22:30:00.000-05:00

Hello all! Anna here...I thought it was time to update you on the progress I've been making. Did you know these hand things are pretty cool? Guess what I can do? I can put them together and put them in my mouth and I've just discovered in the past week or so that these little things on the end of my hands (Mommy calls them fingers) can hold onto things. What's even better is that if I keep holding onto things I can manage to get them into my mouth. Isn't that cool!?! So far my favorite things to get in my mouth are my rattle and my hand. Mommy says I'm going to be a thumb sucker but I'm still not sure, there's so many fingers to choose from so I just keep trying out different combinations to see what I like best.

I've also discovered that when I make noises (Daddy calls it "talking") that I can get someone's attention. My grandparents are especially good at talking to me and I like to tell them all kinds of stories. If Mommy is busy in the kitchen and I need her to pay attention to me, all I have to do is make some noise. Mommy says she doesn't mind the interruptions too much since I give her a nice big smile when she looks at me. I sometimes do get a little shy when people talk to me and I'll tuck my head down after I give a little smile and then peek again to see if they're still watching.

Tonight I tried something new for the first time. Mommy calls it a "bouncy seat". I'm not sure why it's called that since it doesn't bounce but maybe that part comes later. I like it because I can hold onto the straps while I supervise what Mommy is doing in the kitchen. Daddy likes to lay on the floor next to me and talk to me. It's lots of fun! Here's a video of me in the bouncy seat.

Note from Mom:
Here are a few pictures of Anna in her bouncy seat. I tried to pick my favorite but just couldn't do it so here are all the ones we took :-)

Lauren's First Birthday

2007-04-14T20:13:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we celebrated my niece, Lauren's, first birthday. We had a great time and Lauren was so cute! You can click here to see the account on Monica's blog. Below are a few pictures from the party:

Lauren loved opening her presents. The books she got were almost her favorite but the Cheerios from Uncle Dean and Aunt Barb won out.

Here are Monica and Tim and Lauren

"Is all this cake for MEEEE???"

Here is my friend Luda with her goddaughter, Anna.

Anna really likes her Uncle Tim

My best friend Shannon and her husband, Tim, came and brought their daughter Delia and their son Hunter (he's three months younger than Anna) to the party. Here they are with Anna and Lauren.

All that glitters is not gold...

2007-04-13T21:53:00.000-05:00

Lest you think that all we can do is dote on our precious daughter...we have found it is possible to have a life beyond parenting :-) Last night Cedric took me to the new Guthrie Theatre to see Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice". Larry and Cathy (Cedric's parents) were kind enough to come up and watch Anna for the evening so we were free to hit the town.

We both had a great time as we had dinner at Rudolph's downtown (famous for their ribs and Key Lime pie - we tried both) before the show. It was a good thing dinner was worth it as neither Cedric nor I are as familiar with downtown as we should be seeing as how we only live about 20 minutes away and we managed to circle the place where the restaurant was three times before we realized we were in the vicinity AND we were able to find a place to park. As I said, however, the food was GREAT and it was lots of fun to try a new place (thanks to the Happenings book we bought we got one entree free).

The new Guthrie is AMAZING in its new location overlooking the river and it was fun to see a Shakespeare play I'd not seen before (or read the text either, to be frank). The production was well done and I enjoyed immensely getting to see the production. The Guthrie always does everything so well! Cedric had gotten excellent tickets (again, half off through some offer we were sent in an e-mail) and ended up only four rows from the front, stage left (for those of you who don't know, stage left is to your right when you're looking directly at the stage from the audience). We didn't get much of a chance to tour the building as our ramblings downtown trying to find the restaurant put us a little behind schedule and we arrived just in time to take our seats. The set was simple but amazing in how it all tied together. The floor was the most amazing piece of the set as it had a beautiful design inlaid and then a huge copper wall in the background with at least six sets of doors that operated at different times depending on the scene. Did you know that the Guthrie custom-builds a stage floor for each production? I didn't either but it explains how they could get away with such an intricate inlaid design on the floor for this production as I could imagine it wouldn't quite work for every production in that space.

To see a clip from the play, click here

If you're interested in seeing a good cultural piece, I certainly recommend going. If you do decide to go, my ever-resourceful husband discovered that you can reserve your parking in advance and pay $2 less than their event rate. Check out the Guthrie website for more information.

Oh, and we hear that Anna was a great little girl for Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Larry. She was an angel for us today after spending the evening with Grandma and Grandpa so we're not sure if they had too much fun and wore her out or if they told her that if she was a good girl for Mommy and Daddy that they would come again soon to visit...at any rate, Anna told us all about it this morning when she woke up...now all I need to do is find a translator...

Easter 2007

2007-04-08T14:05:00.000-05:00

Between the Easter baskets, church and getting two little girls ready for church, we just had to stop to take some photos of the girls to share with family that couldn't be with us today. Here is what we've been up to so far...

Anna's Art Education

2007-03-30T13:31:00.000-05:00

As Anna has gotten older and can take in more of the world around her we have loved showing her all the new things she can experience. It's a little of a joke in our house that Daddy's instinct is to show her the world around her and teach her to take risks while Mommy's instinct is to protect and shelter. This provides an interesting balance for Anna and she seems to thrive. She loves when Daddy has something new to show her. Yesterday Cedric got a new animal character design book in the mail and before I could turn around they had the book open and were checking out the great characters. (For more info about the book, check out Cedric's blog at cedricstudio.blogspot.com) Anna loved hearing all Cedric's explanations about the characters. She already has a little person sized easel in the shed waiting for the day when she will take up pen and paper and perhaps follow in her Daddy's footsteps. But who knows? She may be a teacher like Mommy or maybe something we have yet to dream up. It's just so exciting to see her develop and become her own little person with her own talents and interests.

And, lest we forget. Anna still has it figured out that we're wrapped around her little finger. Here she is just after an impromtu bath because her diaper exploded (literally). I've come to figure out that generic diapers just aren't worth the hassle. Even the best diapers leak...just not as often.

Stop and smell the roses

2007-03-27T21:57:00.000-05:00

The record temperatures yesterday prompted Cedric and I to put Anna in the stroller and take a walk. We walked to the nearby convenience store where Cedric surprised me by getting Anna and I some flowers. When we got home, Anna got a chance to smell the flowers for the first time. It really is fun to see everything new through the eyes of your baby! Each little thing is a new discovery. This weeks' new adventure for Anna (apart from sunshine, grass, flowers and wind) was the discovery of her vocal cords. She now regales us with her vocal symphony with concerts at least three times a day :-D

Ain't Technology Grand!?!?

2007-03-27T21:46:00.000-05:00

Cedric and I are always looking for new and better ways to use technology to our advantage. My sister Monica and I just happened on a great way to share our growing babies with family far away...it requires a combination of an account with Photobucket and a digital video camera that records video. Since we already had the digital video camera, it only took me a couple minutes to set up an account with photobucket. Below are the grand results! (Yes, I KNOW the video of Anna is more than two months old but I was so excited about this new opportunity and Anna was already in bed for the night that I decided an old video of a baby doing something would be more exciting than a new video of a baby sleeping :-) Enjoy!

A walk in the park...

2007-03-25T22:58:00.000-05:00

Here are a few photos from our walk to the park today. It was such a NICE day (almost 70 degrees) that going out for a walk seemed like just the thing to do with the baby.

We have a stroller and baby "snugglie" for her to ride in but there's nothing quite so much fun as riding in Daddy's arms

Mommy and Anna take a couple minutes to just enjoy the day and see what the world looks like from the bottom of a slide

Daddy showed Anna the slide and all the fun she can have when she gets bigger

Anna thought the swing would be fun but wasn't so sure after she had gone back and forth a few times :-)

Good thing Grandma Mary was there to help make things better

Babywise

2007-03-25T22:06:00.000-05:00

**Warning - this will be a long post but if you're interested at all in the book "Babywise" I think it will be worth the read**

Normally I (Jennie) am not much of a "do-it-by-the-book" kind of person (unless you're talking about following the Ten Commandments, in which case I whole-heartedly agree). Before Anna was born my friend Shannon gave us a copy of the book "Babywise - Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nightime Sleep". (The subtitle should really be "Giving Yourself the Gift of a Sleeping Baby and Sanity for the Entire Family). But I get ahead of myself...

(The premise of the book, for those of you who aren't familiar, is that if you follow a few key guidelines you will get the results you want - a baby who sleeps through the night.)

I'm not much of a "do-it-by-the-book" kind of person so when Shannon told me about this book when her daughter Delia was born I was skeptical that babies could be put on a schedule or that something that works for one baby could work for all of them. So, when Shannon gave me the book before Anna was born I was interested but again, skeptical, that this could work for us. I dutifully read the book during the month before Anna was born, highlighting and underlining and feeling like I was just another person helping to feed the "self-help" book craze. Much of the book seemed like it was taking a page or more to say what could be said in just a few lines. The extreme use of extra words left me feeling confused and frustrated as I just wanted to know what the authors recommended in a concise summary rather than chapter upon chapter. I didn't get a chance to finish the book as Anna arrived a couple weeks early and we were thrown into parenting. "No problem," I thought, "how hard can it be to do something that people have been doing for centuries?" Little did I know...

The first few weeks weren't too bad as Anna was on a schedule dictated by her jaundice and needing to eat every two hours. Apart from not getting more than an hour or two of sleep at a time I was enjoying every aspect of being a Mom. I was excited when Anna weighed in over 7 pounds and her jaudice was improving because the doctor then said that I could put her on a schedule with her feedings a little farther apart. At this stage I started trying to put "Babywise" into action. Needless to say, it didn't seem to be working for us. I would rock Anna to sleep and then when I put her in her bed she would start wailing and we'd start the whole process over again. A few times after more than an hour had gone by and Anna still wasn't asleep I would grab the book and try to skim over the pages in order to figure out what I was doing "wrong" since all I wanted was a baby that would sleep peacefully.

Finally one night Cedric and I were at our wits' end. I wasn't getting the good sleep I needed at night and feeling like I was a failure at trying to get the principles of the book to work for me (after all, I had seen it work with other babies...why not mine?) Cedric didn't like to see me struggle and we both agreed a different plan of action was needed so that we could all reduce a little nighttime stress (did I mention I had thrown the book across the room a couple times in the whole process of me trying to be a "good" Mom?). It had actually gotten to the point where I dreaded nighttimes (even though by that stage Anna was sleeping almost 5 hours at a stretch) because it was such trouble to get Anna to go down. Not to mention during the day most of my time was taken up with rocking a baby to sleep, putting her in her crib just to hear her wake up and start to cry again and then starting the rocking all over again. (Most veteran parents at this stage would say it doesn't hurt them to cry a little...I had heard that but our family practice doctor had recommended to us at an early visit that if the baby is crying before 4 months of age it's because she needs something and we shouldn't ignore it. The translation that made it into our brains was "don't let your baby cry herself to sleep.")

So, here Cedric and I are trying to decide what to do and I mention (not thinking it will make any difference since it hasn't seemed to so far) "we could look at this book "Babywise" and see what they have to say. Again, I didn't think it would make any difference but Cedric hadn't gotten a chance to look the book over and I figured that if there was something there I was missing (which at that point was a distinct possibility since I was majorly sleep-deprived) that Cedric would be able to sort through all the superfluous writing and come up with a good summary). The course of action we decided on has really changed the direction of our family and has certainly reduced our stress level when it comes to sleep time for Anna. Here's what the book recommends that has worked for us:

Don't rock your baby to sleep (that was the first no-no I was doing on a regular basis)
Don't be afraid to let your baby cry a little when they go down to sleep (babies, like us "big people", need to de-stress and any parent knows what trouble can come from overstimulating their infant)
Do comfort your child if they seem to be crying for longer than recommended for their age or if their cry is an urgent-can't-hardly-breathe type of cry (you get to know your own baby and come to recognize a mad cry from a hungry cry from a distressed cry)
Do feed your baby right after they wake up from a nap
Don't wait until they are tired to give them their feeding since a sleepy baby won't get a full feeding and will wake up before they are fully rested because they are hungry which will result in a hungry, crabby, tired baby
Get to know your own child's schedule (they have a suggested schedule to follow for different age babies) and then tailor the schedule to work for you rather than feel like you are bound to the schedule.

Those are a few of the guidelines to follow (I may be forgetting one or two) and one of the biggest is to get the schedule to work for you rather than feeling like your life is being dicatated by the schedule.

We put the principles of "Babywise" into action for us when Anna was between two and three months old. What was a big help to us was the fact that Anna had just learned how to suck on her hand when she was going to sleep when we put "Babywise" into practice. Before that she had needed a pacifier but the pacifier always seemed to be getting in the way and she would lose it every time she turned her head which made the whole process of falling asleep even longer.

Here is what life is life for us now...
Anna wakes up somewhere between 5 and 7 am (depending on when she went to bed and if she's in the middle of a growth spurt) for a feeding. After the morning feeding she goes right back to sleep until 10 am regardless of what time she woke up (I can almost set a clock by her most days). At 10 she has another feeding and then plays for awhile (usually her wake times aren't much more than 1 1/2 hours). She'll usually go down about 11:30 and then is up again by 1:00 for another feeding. Down again by 2:30 and up at 4 for another feeding. Down by 5:30 and then up at 7 for another feeding. In just the last week or so Anna's wake time in the evening has gotten longer so after her 7pm feeding we play for an hour or so and then have a bath somewhere between 8 and 8:30. Then she has her last feeding of the night and is down somewhere between 9:15 and 9:30 (the later I mange to get her down the longer she will sleep.) After she is down around 9:30 she will sleep until she wakes up somewhere between 5 and 7am. Of course there are multiple variations to that pattern but the result has been that I can know today about the times Anna will be taking a nap next week so I can plan ahead for events that I would like to attend (like coffee out with friends or a quick trip to the mall). It has also given me a great chance to catch up on sleep and get a good 6-7 hours of sleep after I finish a few household tasks after Anna is in bed. The best part is that Anna is a happy baby who sleeps well and seems to be thriving on the new routine.

As to the part about letting your baby cry...yes, that is part of the plan and it is a little different for every baby. For Anna, after about the first week of adjusting to the new routine where she would give a tired cry for about 20 minutes, it is unusual for her to cry much longer than 5 minutes (unless she's been overstimulated or is overtired) and more often than not she will go down without too much fuss at all. Now I realize that a lot of that could be that I seem to have been blessed with a very good baby but the truth is that I know her pattern so if she changes from that I am able to assess what is wrong and intervene (there have been a few times where a feeding didn't seem to satisfy her and a few more minutes eating did the trick nicely and she went right to bed with no fuss).

Well, I could continue this rant but suffice it to say, we found the book to work for us when we took the principles, mixed with a good dose of common sense, and put them into action. I will also say for the record that I don't know that this book is for EVERYONE but I would say to not be afraid to let your baby cry a little at night or naptime if you know they have been well-fed and are clean and dry. You might be surprised at the results and if you're able to help your child learn to settle themselves to sleep, you will have given your whole family the gift of nighttime sleep for many years to come.

3 Months Old

2007-03-22T18:43:00.000-05:00

It's been three months now since I came to live with my Mom and Dad. It took me a couple months to figure out this computer thing but now I'm going to give it a try. I've heard people say a picture is worth a thousand words and since I'm not too verbal yet (my Mommy and Daddy grin from ear to ear when I manage to get out a "gaga" in response to them) I'm going to tell you what I've been up to in pictures. So, here goes....

I've learned how to bring my hands up to my face when I go to sleep and suck on my hand. My favorite finger to suck on is my right index finger.

Earlier this month my Mommy was pretty excited about all the snow that fell. Daddy and I took a quick trip next door for me to get to see the snow and meet our neighbor, Mrs. Adamson. The air felt a little cold on my face but Mommy says that soon it will be nice enough for me to go outside and see blue sky and sun.

My Daddy's friends Todd and Deb Randall from Fargo came to visit and I got to meet them for the first time.

My Aunt Monica and my cousin Lauren came to visit this month as well. Lauren and I are already becoming fast friends. Lauren knows so much about the world and tells me which toys are the really fun ones to play with. While Lauren was here we played a lot and took a bath together.

After my bath I get all dolled up in my bathrobe...has anyone seen my hairbrush?

I love to spend time with my Grandma Cathy and my Grandpa Larry. Grandma Cathy knows just what I want and tells me all about Daddy when he was little. Grandpa Larry makes all sorts of fun faces and I like to smile and laugh with him.

Sometimes at night Daddy lets me watch a couple minutes of TV with him. The other night we got to watch a little bit of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast". (That's Mommy's favorite Disney movie)

Today Mommy and Daddy took me for a walk. It was such a nice day and Daddy told me all about the sun and sky and those white things up there that he called "clouds". I was nice and cozy in my stroller with my blanket from Auntie Monica and my stylish fleece jacket from Auntie Sandra...don't I have Aunties with GREAT fashion sense?

After all that activity I just can't keep my eyes open any more. I like to sleep a lot (which makes Mommy smile). I get cozy with Grandma Mary to take a little catnap and then Mommy puts me in my crib where I have learned to "scoot" around. I love getting my face all cozy...if only I could figure out how to get my covers and socks to come with me!

45 Problems with "The Lost Tomb of Jesus"

2007-03-19T07:17:00.000-05:00

In case you saw the Discovery Chanel special "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" (where a documentary filmmaker claims to have found the bones of Jesus Christ buried with his mother, wife, and daughter), here are 45 problems with the arguements presented.

One Month Old

2007-01-15T18:48:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Anna turned one month old. We can hardly believe it's been four weeks already since Anna arrived. So much has happened with the holidays and adjusting to life with a new baby! While there have been a few challenges (lack of sleep, jaundice, etc.) they are far outweighed by the joy of having our little girl here with us. Most of my (Jennie's) favorite moments so far have been watching Cedric with Anna as he interacts with her. He makes such great faces and I can hardly wait for the day when Anna will start to respond to his antics! Cedric has shown himself to be the great father I knew he would be as he helps with feedings, sometimes letting me sleep up to four or five hours as he takes over duties and gives Anna a bottle so I can sleep. The other great moment, besides just spending time with Anna, is sharing her with family and friends. It was very special over the holiday season as both Cedric and I had a chance to spend time with our parents and watch them with the baby. Larry and Cathy now seem to find all sorts of reasons to come up to the Cities to spend a few hours. My Mom enjoys stopping by after work and getting her weekly dose of Anna kisses. My Dad was fun to watch as he just couldn't seem to get enough of just watching Anna and taking her all in.

I've posted a couple of photos below and when I get a chance next I'll post some from Christmas and times with family.

We were blessed to receive some girl clothes from a family at church. Here Anna models one of her favorite dresses.

The wheels are turning as Anna wonders "what is that thing over there? Is that connected to me?" She'll soon learn that's her hand :-D

Anna Louise Hohnstadt

2006-12-15T09:57:00.000-06:00

That's right, our boy turned out to be a girl...to our great surprise (and delight). Anna was born at 5:55pm on Thursday, Dec. 14 2006. She is 19.5" long and weighed 6lbs. 4oz.

[EDIT: Her name is Anna, not Annie. That was a typo that is now fixed.]

Above is a photo of the happy family. For a slideshow of more photos, CLICK HERE.

We will be staying at the St. Francis hospital in Shakopee, MN until sometime on Saturday. Then Cedric will drive the family home, provided he can get himself unwound from around Anna's little finger.

Baby News

2006-12-12T06:05:00.000-06:00

Jennie took some tests over the weekend, and based on the results the hospital has recommended that we induce the baby early. So we have an appointment for Wednesday Dec. 13 at 7:30am. Assuming everything goes well, our little boy could be born as early as Wed. evening. Or as late as Friday, it's hard to predict. But definitely very soon!

We'll be at St. Francis Medical Center in Shakopee, MN, and will let everyone know as soon as our little guy makes his grand entrance.

We're so excited we can hardly sleep! I'd better go buy some cigars....

Clever Advertising in a Bowling Alley

2006-12-12T06:04:00.000-06:00

This really made me laugh. Thanks to Ernie Schenck for the link.

Ikaw ba ay mabuting tao?

2006-12-11T06:53:00.000-06:00

That's "Are You a Good Person?" in Tagalog, a language of the Philippines. Let me explain:

About a year ago I illustrated a cartoon gospel tract called "Are You a Good Person?" for a ministry called Living Waters. I gave it to them for free, under the condition that it remain copyright-free so that I can offer it to any ministry that wants to print them. I don't make a dime off it, and don't want to. The tract has been very well-received. So far almost a million copies(!) have been printed in English, and translations have recently been completed in French, Spanish, and Tagalog (a language in the Philippines). That's more than I would have ever dreamed. But it's nothing compared to all the hard work being done by full-time missionaries around the world who have comitted their lives to the gospel. I'm just a yutz at a drawing board. They're the ones on the front lines.

Anyway....today I received word that the first Tagalog tracts were distributed at a Christmas party in a slum in the Philippines by Jeff and Mary Ann Anderson, missionaries with Action International. Jeff and Mary Ann are doing tremendous work, be sure to visit their blog. They were kind enough to send me photos of the tracts being distributed at the party. Mary Ann writes:

I'm really excited to tell you that we had our first Christmas party for children in a squatter area today. This was the first time we distributed the "Ikaw ba ay mabuting tao?" tracts. I wanted to send you a few pictures that I took. The first picture shows you about how many kids were there (more than in the photo) and the surroundings. The next two pictures are Jeff talking with kids as he was handing them out. The other pictures show how the kids immediately began reading the tracts. Everyone wanted one. We must have given out about 150 or more at this one party.

We are now praying that God will use the pictures throughout our distribution and Christmas parties this season. Our missionaries are asking for more copies they can hand out.

Is this cool or what?

And please, remember to pray for Christian missionaries throughout the world. They've given up everything to advance the gospel, and it's hard work. They need our encouragement and support.

It's a.....Bear?!?

2006-11-18T01:31:00.000-06:00

Tonight Jennie and I went to Target to spend our baby shower money. (Until Jennie got pregnant I didn't know Target even had a baby section!) Among other things we bought a baby stroller that doubles as a car seat. I put it together and Jennie snapped a few photos. We also tried out the car seat cover that my Mom bought for us. Of course no stroller is complete without a baby, so we used a teddy bear as a stand-in. It's starting to feel more and more real--pretty soon there is going to be a humn being for whom we are totally responsible. What is this world coming to?

It's 2am as I write this, so forgive the silly captions.

"Time for some bicep curls..."

"I'll have this thing put together and poppin' wheelies in no time."

"I think I see the head..."

Cedric practices greeting people on the street. "Hi there. I'm a new dad. I just changed my first diaper."

How Rich Are You?

2006-10-24T08:33:00.000-05:00

Wow. This really puts it in perspective.

(Thanks to Mirosław Urbaniak for the link.)

FallCon and NCS Pics

2006-10-11T09:31:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was the annual meeting of the North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society. The meeting was set to coincide with FallCon here in Minneapolis. Two weekend cartoon events for the price of one. It was a blast! I had a great time catching up with some old art buddies and making a few new ones.

This weekend was also our first wedding anniversary. And my wife's birthday was the day before. Fortunately I have the most supporive wife an artist could ask for. I made it up to her with a Gondola ride Sunday night and plans for a weekend getaway at a friend's cabin later this month.

Here's a few pics from the weekend events. The NCS chapter meeting kicked off Friday night with an art show at MCAD.

MAD Magazine artist Tom Richmond calls for backup.

Guest lecturer Michael Jantze (The Norm) asks, "Where'd you get that sweet hunting jacket?"

Ken Alvine and Dave Phipps admire a lifelike statue of Mike Edholm.

Illustrator extraordinaire Bucky Jones talks shop with one of the artist's wives.

Terry Beatty (left) is an instructor at MCAD and the inker on The Batman Strikes. And he has a killer goatee.

Saturday afternoon I took part in a panel discussion on cartooning with fellow NCS members Tom Richmond, Michael Jantze, and Jerry Van Amerongen.

Bill Brewer emceed the discussion: "How many cartoonists does it take to change a light bulb....?"

Tom dozes off as I ramble on.

Back on the show floor, Batman's cape is stuck in his car door. "This looks like a job for Superman!"

My lovely wife Jennie helps me man my table at the Con.

Michael Jantze had the tidiest table at the convention.

Bucky Jones (center) and Dave Phipps (right) man the NCS table. Dave has a weekend radio show devoted to cartooning.

Kelly McNutt and Mike Edholm. No bald jokes, please.

My Dad collects old comic books (especially westerns). So he and Mom stopped by the Con to say "hi" and pose for a few pics:

Incidentally, Dad is running for Le Sueur County Commissioner. If he wins, he gets to ride one of these in the parade:

(In the background, a policeman gives Batman a speeding ticket.)

The weekend was loads of fun. Big-time kudos to Tom Richmond and the gang for pulling it all together.

Coming Soon: FallCon and Nat'l Cartoonist Society

2006-09-27T14:19:00.000-05:00

(Posted by Cedric)

Fallcon is Minnesota's premier comic book convention, and it's always a lot of fun. I am usually there with a table promoting my illustration work. Except for last year, when I couldn't attend because I was getting married to my lovely and beautiful wife Jennie. That means that this year FallCon is happening the same weekend as our first anniversary!

It's also the same weekend as the annual meeting for the North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonist's Society, which is being held in Minneapolis this year. The NCS will be having a panel discussion/Q&A at FallCon called, "Ask the Cartoonists: Cartoonology 101", and I have been invited to be one of the panelists. I am honored to join the other panel members Michael Jantze (The Norm), Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine), and Jerry Van Amerongen (Ballard Street). We will be discussing the business of cartooning, where the industry is headed, and answering questions from the audience. The discussion will be at 1:00pm on Saturday, Oct. 7 in the FallCon auditorium/meeting room. So if you are planning to attend FallCon, come check it out!

I've also been coordinating an art show at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design featuring over 80 pieces of work from NCS chapter members. The exhibit (called "EyeTunes") will run in the MCAD gallery from October 6-22. There is also a special reception where you can meet the artists on Friday, Oct. 6 from 6-8pm. So come to FallCon, then head on over to the MCAD gallery!

Then on Saturday night come back to MCAD at 7:30 p.m. for show-and-tell presentations in the Auditorium by Tom Richmond, Michael Jantze, and Jerry Van Amerongen. I've seen Tom give his presentation before, and if you have any interest in cartooning this will be well worth your time. And it's free!

It's going to be a very full weekend. What a time to have a wedding anniversary! Fortunately I have a very understanding wife, and I'm planning a special anniversary celebration for us on the following weekend to make it up to her. I luv ya, Honey! You're the best!

Our Niece

2006-09-18T22:07:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been five months already but before she gets much bigger I wanted to take a couple of minutes to brag on our niece. My sister, Monica and her fiance, Tim, have the most adorable baby! Lauren Caroline entered the world early (2 months premature) but was a pretty strong little girl from the beginning. Starting at 3 lbs 15 oz. (see picture below) she is now reaching 13 pounds and doing great!

Lauren spent the first 6 weeks or so in the hospital getting bigger and stronger and then, thanks to the quick thinking of her mommy and daddy, weathered a pretty severe infection that put her back in the hospital for an extra 10 days the day after she was first discharged. With all that behind them, Monica and Tim love Lauren like crazy. Having Monica, Tim and Lauren in Chicago has been a challenge for us all as we love spending time together and watching Lauren grow. No matter how much we coax here in Minnesota, they just won't pack Lauren in a box and ship her UPS to hang out with Grandma Mary, Uncle Cedric and Aunt Jennie for awhile.

Just because she's so cute I'm going to use most of this post to share pictures and a couple of favorite memories of her first few months.

This one was taken while Lauren was "talking" to Grandma Mary. She's quite the talker and my favorite thing when we see her is to lay her on her back and watch her kick her legs and wave her arms and mimic my facial expressions.

I love this one because it's a great picture of both Monica and Lauren. Monica has settled into her new role as mother and with my own baby on the way in a few months I'm really excited to be sharing "mommy tips" with my sister!

Here I am taking a couple minutes of quiet time with my niece while at the shower we held for her and Monica. It was great to see so many friends and family but it was also hard to share such a cute baby! Lauren was a trooper getting to see all those people and Monica had a great time. Thanks to family friends Sue, Shannon, Erin and Ashley for hosting such a fun event!

Even though she's getting to be a "big girl" there are still a few things for her to grow into!

This is a picture I got just today but it makes me smile and laugh every time I see it. Lauren is a very happy baby and apart from being a little demanding about her bottles being ready on time, she's pretty easy going. This picture shows her personality in a fun way and I can see both her mommy and daddy in her face as she's getting older.

The Path to 9/11

2006-09-12T02:06:00.000-05:00

It's been five years since the terrorists have had a successful attack on America. As a result, it's tempting to think that the war on terror has pretty much been won. Can't it all just be over already?

No, it can't. And now I understand why.

Over the last two nights my wife and I watched "The Path to 9/11", a two-part mini-series on ABC. There has been a lot of controversy and finger-pointing surrounding the mini-series, so there's no need for me to talk about that here. Rather, I want to focus on the bigger picture.

It was riveting, much better than I expected it to be. A tense, tightly woven tale with high production values. It did more than entertain me, it educated me. And I didn't mind a bit. "The Path to 9/11" illustrated vividly the fanatical hatred the terrorists feel toward us, and how fiercely dedicated they are to destroying America. Their threat now feels more real to me than it ever did before.

It also helped me to understand that this is not a traditonal war. Al Queda is not a country, they do not have troops or borders. This enemy fights not in battlefields and beaches but in the underground, the black market, and the back alleys of the world. They are sly, they are sneaky, and they could care less about the Geneva Convention or any other so-called "rules" of war. I'd heard about the terrorists' zeal for violence, but now I understand how real the threat truly is. And it won't be going away any time soon. There is no negotiating with these people. They will stop at nothing short of destroying America as a world power.

This is not a battle of ideologies, this is a real war, and like all wars it is sometimes very bloody and very messy. I used to roll my eyes at hearing news about the war on terror. Now I see we need to roll up our sleeves. My eyes have been opened and my resolve has been strengthened.

I've heard rumors that "The Path for 9/11" will soon be avaiable as a free download on iTunes. No matter what your political leanings are, I highly recommend that you watch it. Even if you have to pay for the download, it will be well worth the money.

The Miniature Earth

2006-09-11T00:25:00.000-05:00

I recently stumbled upon a very thought-provoking Flash presentation. If the world's population were simplified to only 100 people, this is about how it would look. Powerful stuff, really makes you think. We Americans are probably a lot more spoiled than we would like to admit.

So appreciate what you have. And maybe do something to share your blessings.

New Job, New Apartment for Sandra

2006-08-29T14:34:00.000-05:00

Cedric's sister Sandra recently took a teaching job at Cygnus Academy, a charter school in Anoka, MN. Several relatives helped her move from Waterville into her new apartment in Anoka. It's a cozy two-bedroom and she's settling in nicely. With Sandra in town now all of Cedric's siblings live in the Twin Cities area. If you'd like Sandra's new address, send Cedric an e-mail.

Sandra is excited about her new teaching job, but once a week she will still have to drive all the way to Mankato for classes as she finishes up her Masters degree. Best wishes to Sandra as she opens a new and exciting chapter in her life.

Also, Sandra asked us to pass on her deepest thanks to everyone who helped with the move.

VeggieTales Coming to NBC

2006-08-29T14:22:00.000-05:00

Phil Visher, co-creator of VeggieTales, has announced that America's favorite cartoon vegetables are coming to NBC Saturday mornings this fall. I'm very excited to see such a quality Christian product getting a wider exposure. Unfortunately, NBC wants the show's religious content be watered down or even removed altogether. In other words, these veggies might be lacking in nutritional value. Vischer is not thrilled with the decision, but it sounds like he didn't have much choice. Here's how he describes it:

"At first we were told everything was 'okay' except the Bible verse at the end. Frankly, that news really surprised me, because, heck, we're talking about NBC here. God on Saturday morning? It didn't seem likely. Since we've started actually producing the episodes, though, NBC has gotten a little more restrictive. (I think they actually sat down and started watching a few VeggieTales videos. "Hey wait - these are religious.") So it's gotten trickier, and we're having to do a little more editing. More than I'm comfortable with? Frankly, yes. But I had already committed to helping Big Idea with this, and I really didn't want to leave them in a tight spot. Plus, the new stuff we're coming up with is really fun, and at least some new kids will meet Bob and Larry on NBC, and maybe wander into Wal-Mart and buy a video with all the God still in. So it could be better, but overall it's not a total loss. The new stuff is really cute. You'll like it."

Let's hope the anti-religious editing isn't too extreme. The first episode is tentatively scheduled to air Saturday, Sept. 9 at 10am EST. Then at 11am EST NBC will air more Big Idea programming, either Larryboy or 3-2-1 Penguins!. Be sure to watch. It might also be a good idea to contact NBC and let them know you support VeggieTales, Bible verses and all.

No Wait....It's a BOY!!!

2006-08-11T23:04:00.000-05:00

Today Jennie had her first "official" ultrasound at St. Francis Hospital in Shakopee. (The earlier ultrasounds were just for the staff at Amnion Crisis Pregnancy Center to get some practice). At our last ultrasound we were told that it is "probably" a girl, though it was too early to say for sure. Soon friends started giving us used girl clothes. Cedric began to wonder if he would have to start drawing unicorns and fairies. Our thoughts turned to sugar and spice and everything nice.

So we were surpirsed to learn that we "definitely" have a boy on the way. It's going to take some getting used to, but we couldn't be more excited. So now it's snips and snails and puppy dog tails. (Just what is a "snip" anyway?)

Here's the latest ultrasound. Out little guy is 21 weeks along, half-way to lift off.

Jennie's sister Monica has a baby shower coming up, so female relatives came from all over. From Left to Right: Monica (Jennie's sister from Chicago), Kay (Jennie's Grandma from Texas), Jennie, Cedric, Cathy (Cedric's Mom from Waterville), Barb (Jennie's Aunt from Burnsville), and Mary (Jennie's Mom from here in Bloomington). The cute little baby is Lauren, Monica's 4-month-old bundle of joy.

After the ultrasound we celebrated with dinner at Applebee's, then sadly we had to rush off to the funeral of Dick Sheehan, the secondary principal and Bible teacher at Bethany Acadamy. Bethany was Jennie's high school, and after graduating college she taught there for two years. So Dick was her teacher, boss, and friend. He will be sorely missed, but the funeral was very moving. Instead of traditional eulogies we heard audio recordings from Dick's wife, his eldest daughter, and a farewell audio message from Dick himself.

Dick was a devoted servant of his Savior, Jesus Christ. Words fail to express how comforting it is to know that Dick had repented of his sins and found forgiveness and new life in Christ. Because of that, we know he is in the glory of heaven where there is no more tears or sickness or mourning or pain. "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). The Pastor challenged us that when death finally comes, will we have lived for temporary things like hunting or football or television or art, or will we have lived for Christ, who was punished for our sins so that we could have eternal life? On the day of judgment will we stand before God ashamed because we have lived selfishly, or will Jesus look to us and say "Well done, my good and faithful servant"? (Matthew 25:21).

After the funeral we drove to Target to buy some bedding and a couple of "boy toys" in celebration of our little guy. It's been an emotional day.

Tomorrow we move Sandra into her new apartment in Anoka, MN where she will start teaching this fall. Time to give thanks and then flop into bed for some much needed rest.

Da Plane! Da Plane!

2006-07-30T21:47:00.000-05:00

Jennie's uncle Rich recently purchased a Maule M7-420 Turbine jet plane, and flew up from Florida to visit his relatives in Minnesota. Earlier this summer Rich spent two months in Alaska flying fishermen from point to point. We just got back from viewing the plane and it's a nice piece of machinery. It has new floats installed that let the plane land on land or in the water. Last summer Rich gave us a short flight in one of his planes it was pretty amazing. The view was incredible, way better than anything you see out of a tiny window on a big airliner. Cedric did get a little airsick, but he can see why so many people become pilots. It's an amazing experience!

Cedric Attends Comic-Con!

2006-07-30T21:38:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I was in San Diego attending Comic-Con, the gigantic convention for comic book and animation nerds. This year was record attendance, an estimated 130,000 people. I attended some great art-related seminars and networked with some very talented artists from around the country. I also showed my portfolio to a children's book publisher and they basically offered me a project on the spot (although it won't start for 2-3 months). I also had a portfolio review with Glen McIntosh, an art director from ILM (George Lucas's special effects house). He said he was impressed and encouraged me to send samples to animation studios such as Disney and Dreamworks and see if I could find work. I also heard the same thing from a couple of artists who work at Disney. So that was super encouraging.

You can view photos and more details from the event on Cedric's art blog here.

It's a Girl! (Maybe)

2006-07-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

Jennie and I had another ultrasound yesterday, this time with a professional baby-gender-finder-outer (at least I think that's the technical name for it.) Normally you have to wait until about 20 weeks before you can confidently tell whether the baby is a boy or a girl. We are only at week 16, but we were told with "about 65% accuracy" that it looks like we have a girl! But we aren't going to paint the room pink just yet. Jennie and I are of course very excited, but we will wait to find out for sure after our next ultrasound in August. In the mean time, Cedric is learning how to draw butterflies, fairies, and unicorns, and practicing intimidating facial expressions for use on his daughter's future boyfriends.

Ultrasound #3

2006-07-08T06:30:00.000-05:00

Here's the best ultrasound video yet, taken in mid-June. Our baby squirms, kicks, wiggles, and even stands on it's head. Click on the picture to watch. (Requires Quicktime plug-in to view).

I've Been Tagged!

2006-06-06T00:15:00.000-05:00

My friend Abraham tagged me, so I thought I'd post my answers. If you've been dying to know my deepest, darkest secrets...well, that's for another day. But if you want some mundane trivia about me, here ya go.

--Cedric

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. School bus driver
2. Grocery store night manager
3. Sanitation at a factory
4. Bookstore clerk

Four movies I could watch over and over:
1. Toy Story 2
2. The Shawshank Redemption
3. The Passion of the Christ
4. Beauty and the Beast

Four places I have lived:
1. Cleveland, MN
2. Waterville, MN (Bullhead Capital of the World!)
3. Moorhead, MN
4. Bloomington, MN

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. M*A*S*H
2. Monk
3. Everybody Loves Raymond
4. Inside the Actor's Studio

Four places I have been to:
1. Los Angeles, CA
2. Washington, DC
3. Phoenix, AZ
4. Colorado Springs, CO

Four websites I visit daily:
1. Blogger.com (Lots of art blogs!)
2. WorldMag.com (news of the day)
3. apple.com/trailers (movie trailers)
4. drawingboard.org (art forums)

Four of my favorite foods:
1. BBQ ribs
2. granola mixed with yogurt
3. string cheese
4. jelly beans

Four places I would like to visit:
1. Hollywood/Los Angeles (been there once but would love to go back)
2. The art museums of Europe
3. Sites from Colonial American history.
4. New York city

Watch It Wiggle: First Online Video of Our Baby!

2006-05-24T06:28:00.000-05:00

My friend Rob sent us a fun little pregnancy book called Boy or Girl? 50 Fun Ways to Find Out. The craziest method? Put two pillows on the floor. Hide a fork under one and a spoon under the other. Then invite Mom into the room and ask her to pick a pillow to sit on. If she sits on the fork, it's a girl. If she sits on the spoon a boy is on the way.

Also, last week Jennie and I went in for our second ultrasound, and I got some video of our child kicking its legs and wiggling its torso. Our baby is only about 1/2" long so it's pretty much a gray blob, but if you squint you can make out the arms and legs. Proud parents that we are, we uploaded a short 28-second video that you can watch (click here). Note: You will probably need the Quicktime plug-in if you don't already have it.

I'm off to find some pillows and silverware...

-Cedric

Cedric at MicroCon

2006-05-02T15:57:00.000-05:00

Cedric had a great time this weekend at MicroCon, Minnesota's second-largest comic book convention. Besides promoting his work, he got to chat with some very talented local artists including Sherwin Schwartzrock (ArmorQuest), Chris Jones (Batman Strikes!) and the talented gang at Big Time Attic. Dad and Sandra also stopped by and he did a couple of sketches for some fans.

And of course, what's a comic book convention without at least one guy in spandex?

First Ultrasound

2006-04-27T08:26:00.000-05:00

As some of you know, on Easter Sunday we learned Jennie is pregnant! Jennie's Mom volunteers at a local crisis pregnancy center and they need practice using their ultrasound machine. So yesterday we got a free ultrasound. I never thought I could get so emotionally attached to something so small. Our baby is only about the size of a grain of rice, but that little speck is our baby! The miracle of life is truly amazing.

We also learned that the baby's approximate due date is around Dec. 24-27. Looks like Cedric will be giving out cigars for stocking stuffers this year.

Welcome!

2006-04-27T08:15:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the official blog of Cedric and Jennie Hohnstadt. Get ready to taste the adventure! Experience thrills and chills! Grab on to the edge of your seat, because your in for the ride of your LIFE!!!!

Well, not really.

But you can check back here for regular news, updates, and thoughts from our little corner of the world. Or, if you have an RSS reader you can subscribe to our blog for free and it will automatically let you know when we've added more stuff. You can also join the fun by posting your own comments.

Pretty neat, huh?