Church and Baptism

As many of you know we have been somewhat schizophrenic in our church going.  Some weeks we would attend First Baptist and other weekends St. Ignatius Catholic.  With Arianna now able to go to church we have decided it is time to pick one church and stick with it.  We also decided we wanted to either baptize or christen her depending on the church we chose.  After much thought and prayer we have decided to join the Catholic church and have Arianna baptized Catholic.  Her Baptism is set for March 5 and her Godparents are my brother Kevin's wife Kristy and my cousin Chuck. 

Chuck is coming down for the Baptism and we will have someone stand in for Kristy who is coming a few weeks later to visit and we will do something special then to introduce Arianna to her godmother.  We are also planning to get our marriage blessed by the church in the next several weeks.  We have been attending baptism classes for Arianna and are looking forward to her big day in just a little over a month.  Here she is in her church outfit this morning.  She started talking during the sermon today as if to agree with the Priest as he told us all to be more mindful of the Beatitudes in our lives.

Reading Time

We have rearranged the alcove in our master bedroom moving stuff over to the upstairs guest room which will become the nursery.  Katie can now do reading time with Arianna in the alcove in the rocking chair and Gypsy likes to participate.

Arianna at Eleven Weeks

Arianna turns eleven weeks old today.  Here are some photos from this morning.  On a very sad note, the Cayman Islands are in mourning as the Premier's daughter who was only 30 years old died suddenly this morning of a heart attack.  She leaves a young daughter who is classmates with the son of our business manager.  Please keep her family and relatives in your thoughts and prayers.

National Heroes Day

One of our co-workers gave Arianna a pool and here she is relaxing in it over the weekend.  Today is a national holiday here in the Cayman Islands celebrating National Heroes Day.  Prior to today there were two national heroes of the Cayman Islands, one of whom James Bodden is connected to the college as he donated the land on which it sits.  Five new national heroes are being formally recognised today.  Here is the link with information on them.

CI Government Release on New National Heroes

Katie is spending the day working on her Masters capstone and I am on baby watching duty.  We are both a little down after the Bears loss yesterday.  Me because I am a fan, Katie because we had pseudo talked about going back to DFW for the Super Bowl if the Bears made it so I could try and attend and Katie's family could see her and Arianna.  Oh well at least for a day Katie was a big Bears fan.

Saturday at the Beach

This morning the weather was nice and warm so we decided to try getting Arianna into the water again.  We went to Smith's Cove first but the water was chilly and way too rough.  We decided to head up to Seven Mile and see if the water was a little warmer and maybe not as wavy.  We went to Cemetery Beach in West Bay and the water was warmer though just as rough.  Arianna is definitely going to be a swimmer when she gets old enough as she loved the water and was not happy when she had to get out.  She was exhausted by the end but has learned a new activity that she will be engaging in often.

Arianna at Ten Weeks

Arianna is ten weeks old today.  Here are a few of the ten week photos.

Doing Fine

First of all, thanks to all who sent me good wishes for a speedy recovery.  The scans showed that there were no disc issues just some muscle spasms that with a few days of rest and some physical therapy have gotten a lot better.  It gave me a great excuse to catch up on some reading and I finished the Lou Cannon biography of Reagan's years as Governor of California.  I was back at work today and should be OK going forward.  I did get a chance to watch the Bears game yesterday and am looking forward to the NFC championship game next Sunday.  Katie finally pushed me onto facebook so I suppose you can now follow along there though her page will still be best place to go for pictures etc.  Arianna is ten weeks old tomorrow and already has the tips of her top teeth peeking out of her gums.  She continues to grow like a reed.

Scott's leg

Please keep Scott in your thoughts and prayers. Since before Christmas Scott has been having some pain in his lower back and leg. It started off just a teeny twinge in his lower back when we would do our walks but over the course of the past few weeks has turned into more. Last week he was complaining of pain in his right shin. It seemed to come and go and most of the time he was okay. Then Sunday night he got up to get Arianna in the middle of the night and it was too much for him to stand. He felt better when he woke up but after a long day of being on his feet, the pain was back again. Since this was the first week of classes he was too busy at the beginning of the week to get in to see the doctor. Finally he got an appointment for yesterday morning. He was at the hospital most of yesterday talking to the doctor, getting x-rays and a CT scan done, and talking with the physical therapist.

He had a physical therapy appointment this morning. I know he was hopeful that it was going to be like the last time and the physical therapist would take one look at him, pop something back into place, and he would feel good as new. Unfortunately that isn't what happened this time. The physical therapist isn't sure and doesn't want to do anything intensive without knowing the results from the x-ray and CT scan. Scott has another appointment with the doctor tomorrow morning and then will see the physical therapist Monday morning.

He is just in a lot of pain right now so please keep in your thoughts and prayers.

Meeting Madeleine

Yesterday Arianna turned two months old and got to meet her "twin" sister Madeleine.  We met Ian and Tanya during our Lamaze class and later discovered that we had the same Doctor and due dates within two weeks of each other.  Then when our Doctor was heading off island around the time of our mutual due dates, we both ironically decided to induce on the same day.  The evening before induction we saw each other at the Doctors office to put in the catheter.  Then on the day we went in for Arianna's birth there was Ian and Tanya in the waiting room and later in the next delivery room and finally in the next maternity room.  Their daughter Madeleine took a little longer than Arianna in coming waiting until about 2 in the morning on the 10th some four hours after Arianna.  Yesterday they held a christening party and we headed over to congratulate them and introduce the two young girls to each other.

Our new term begins today at the college and Katie is furiously working on her proposal for her Masters Capstone course so it will be a busy week down here.

Graduation

With Daddy in his regalia

Thursday night was our graduation ceremony and with over 700 people in attendance.  It was also Arianna's ICCI debut and many of the students and people in attendance took time cooing over her.  She did very well and at one point even started talking during the ceremony as names were announced as if to say she approved. 

With Mommy and a graduate

Papu and Public Debut

This week Arianna got to meet her paternal grandfather.  Although he was actually on island shortly after her birth, John was unable to see her because he was down with a bad cold.  This week he is on island for the college's graduation and got to be introduced to grand child number five.  Tonight is the ceremony and Arianna is making her ICCI debut.  So many teachers, students and board members have asked about Arianna attending that it almost seems like a coming out party for her.  Will post how it all goes tomorrow.  We are also picking up our second car this week.  With Katie and the baby home during day and me at work we didn't want to have them with no vehicle so we took an advance on our salary and also split the cost with my father who will use it when he is on island and got a nice cheap small Honda Life (similar to our old Daihatsu) for me to use going to work.

Eight Weeks Old

Arianna turns eight weeks old today. This is a busy week at the college even with no classes as we have a faculty meeting, new student orientation and of course commencement.  On Thursday, Arianna will make her ICCI debut at the college graduation ceremony.  We tried swimming again yesterday at Smith's Cove but even though the water was warmer then Christmas, it was still too cold to put her in so her first swim will still have to wait.

Happy New Year

We rung in 2011 about 4 minutes after midnight when a slew of fireworks in our neighborhood woke up Arianna and forced us to wake up as well to feed her and calm her down.  Arianna is big enough now to use her bouncy chair so she used it for the first time.  It was a little to chilly to go swimming so Arianna's next venture into the Caribbean will wait for some warmer weather.  My father is in town this week for the college's graduation and we start the winter term on the tenth so the next few days will be very busy.  Happy New Year to all our friends and relatives.  We look forward to seeing many of you over the course of the next year.