Greeting All Family Types and Others. Solomon here. Sorry about
missing last month's installment of our life. We were busy taking care
of our own new installment of life into our life. Here is a snapshot
of our joyous existence. Cirdan is doing well. Unfortunately he's
had a very bad diaper rash for the past month which is only just
clearing up thanks to a combination of Tirah's diet, new and better
paper diapers, and a magic minty baby-butt cream. But aside from his
rash and the fact that August has hit us like a breath of hazy, hot and
humid air, he's doing well. He's starting to see us more, and
recognize us as Beings. He is smiling a lot, and is insanely cute.
Thea just turned 18 months today! She's a year and a half already!!!
She is blossoming into a wonderful little girl. She is now walking.
It was really just after Cirdan was born that she decided it was time.
She picked it up pretty quickly and is now running around the house,
falling flat on her nose, getting up and running again. Her
vocabulary is coming along nicely. Aside from "Mama" and "Papa," she
has a limited amount of words that she uses, based on a few of her
favorite things. What follows is a list of her favorite things and
her own pronunciations of those things in quotation marks: Ball:
"Bah" (silent "LL" also pronounced "Mabah" which means "my ball"),
Flower: "Row-wah" (she absolutely loves flowers!), Moon "Moom"
(right now this includes the sun) Binky (Pacifier): "Didy", as well
as several others that I can't think of right now. She then applies
this vocabulary to just about everything she comes across. For
example: Fans are flowers. All plants are flowers. Anything
spherical is a ball, this includes apples and oranges. And of course
if it is a bright whitish ball of any sort, it is a "Moom." She also
knows a few sign language signs. She can say "Please," "Hungry," and
"More." She's also made up a few of her own like "Done" (vigorously
shaking hands), "Walk" (moving her hands up and down like feet), and
"Bath" (squeezing her hands together: based on me filling my hands with
water and squirting it at her in the bath.) There are so many cute
things she does, I could go on forever... but I must continue.
Tirah is doing well. She will be starting to work for Carl (Smith)
Hobson soon. He will be launching is own small business any day now,
and Tirah is going to do some office work for him. Tirah is very
excited about this and hopes that it will work out. Being a mother of
two is very different than being a mother of one, but she is doing
fabulously!
I am slowly but steadily learning how to use my music software. I'm
hoping to have my website up and running soon. I'm also researching
music schools that offer online or correspondence courses. So far I've
found two schools that look promising: Berklee Music School, and the
Audio Institute of America. Both of these offer diplomas for courses
completed, which would be great to have were I to look for a job at a
music studio. But most of all with the idea that I will start my own
studio.
Anyway... that's our life. May the Lord bless you all. Love, the
Keals (a family of four)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Keal Family Letter, June 2004
Hello All. Solomon here. I am happy to announce, for all of you
that don't know yet, that we had a baby boy on Sunday June 13th! We
had him here at home. His name is Cirdan Ewan Keal. (Cirdan is
pronounced "Keer-dan," and Ewan is pronounced "You-an." Cirdan is
the name of an elf from J.R.R. Tolkien's books. It means "Ship
builder." Ewan is a form of the name John. In a sense he is
named after both of his grandfathers: John Clark Echols and Ian Keal
(Ian also being a form of John). He was born at 8:22 pm, and he was
8 lbs 8 oz, and 20 and 1/2 inches long. He is doing very well; he's
nursing very well. He still thinks that day is for sleeping and night
is for waking, but hopefully (yawn) that will change soon. Tirah is
doing very well. Over all it was about a 10 hour labor, but only
hard labor for about 4 hours. She only pushed for 5 minutes!
Recovery is going very well... much better than with Thea. Thea is
having a hard time adjusting to Mama not being around very much and not
being able to pick her up. She's throwing a lot of tantrums. But
when she comes in to see Cirdan she's very gentle and fascinated. She
understands that this is a little tiny person... even littler that she
is. Thea has taken her first steps. She walks... when she feels
like it. Right now she still prefers to hold on to Papa's fingers.
Well, gotta go. We'll be sending out photos of Cirdan soon.
See ya! - Solomon
that don't know yet, that we had a baby boy on Sunday June 13th! We
had him here at home. His name is Cirdan Ewan Keal. (Cirdan is
pronounced "Keer-dan," and Ewan is pronounced "You-an." Cirdan is
the name of an elf from J.R.R. Tolkien's books. It means "Ship
builder." Ewan is a form of the name John. In a sense he is
named after both of his grandfathers: John Clark Echols and Ian Keal
(Ian also being a form of John). He was born at 8:22 pm, and he was
8 lbs 8 oz, and 20 and 1/2 inches long. He is doing very well; he's
nursing very well. He still thinks that day is for sleeping and night
is for waking, but hopefully (yawn) that will change soon. Tirah is
doing very well. Over all it was about a 10 hour labor, but only
hard labor for about 4 hours. She only pushed for 5 minutes!
Recovery is going very well... much better than with Thea. Thea is
having a hard time adjusting to Mama not being around very much and not
being able to pick her up. She's throwing a lot of tantrums. But
when she comes in to see Cirdan she's very gentle and fascinated. She
understands that this is a little tiny person... even littler that she
is. Thea has taken her first steps. She walks... when she feels
like it. Right now she still prefers to hold on to Papa's fingers.
Well, gotta go. We'll be sending out photos of Cirdan soon.
See ya! - Solomon
Keal Family Letter, May 2004
Hello Family and Friends, Solomon here. We've reached that
"Springy" time of year when we have the combined fresh air smells of
April Showers and May Flowers. We've all been enjoying the outdoors
a lot. It's been fun watching Thea as she discovers grass, and
dandylions, and little birds that fly across the blue sky. More and
more, the sounds she makes sound like the words we say to her. She is
able to stand and balance all by herself (no hands) for probably 30
seconds, and loves it when we clap and applaud her. Clapping has
become her new sign of happiness. She's been teething quite a bit
lately with nasty old molars coming in. It's been very sad to see her
in so much pain, but her cheerful self comes back very quickly.
One month until our next little bundle of joy is due. We both think
it's a boy, but who knows? Pregnancies always differ from each other.
Just this morning we found out that the baby is not in the right
position for it's last month. The baby should be head down, but he
(she) is lying side-ways (transverse). We're not too worried at this
point. There are plenty of things that Tirah can do to get the baby in
the right position. The trick will be to get the baby to stay head
down by the time Tirah goes into labor. Most medical people see the
only option for a transverse baby at the time of birth to be C-section,
which we do not want at all. But we are hopeful and praying that
everything will be fine.
Tirah just recently was offered a job working for Carl Hobson (once
Carl Smith). He will be starting his own business this July, and
asked Tirah he she wanted to do some secretarial work for him. It
would be a great situation. Tirah could do all her work right at home
on Carl's laptop. It would be a great help financially for us, as
well as helping out an entrepreneurial close friend. Very likely an
answer to two prayers.
It's taken about a month, but I finally got my music software up and
running, and I am able to use it's basic functions fairly well. I
worked through all of it's tutorials, and am now working on recording
one of my songs. It is a boat-load of fun! It will be quite a while
before I've read through the two inch thick (all English) manual. It
is a strange situation to be learning something new where I'm very
aware of what I could and will know, but don't know yet. I know that
there are some functions that the software can do, that I haven't even
seen to be needed yet. But as always, I love learning new things.
The last week this month, I will be taking off from my day job, to work
on our house. We will be knocking out a wall in Mom's massage room to
make the whole room bigger. That will allow us to change the location
of the bottom of Mom and Dad's stairs. Right now they come out in the
kitchen, but we're going to turn them the other way so that they come
out in the massage room. One small step in the giant plan to turn
this old house into two houses. If we have time we'll be doing some
more painting and other odd jobs that we didn't get to last summer.
Hopefully we will get it all done before the baby comes. (When I say
"We" I really mean "I")
Well that's our life right now. Busy as ever. But full of an ever
increasing awareness of the Lord's Providence in all things. Next
month's letter could be late, as we could be in labor. (When I say
"We" I really mean "Tirah") Be excellent to each other, and party
on dudes! - Solomon.
"Springy" time of year when we have the combined fresh air smells of
April Showers and May Flowers. We've all been enjoying the outdoors
a lot. It's been fun watching Thea as she discovers grass, and
dandylions, and little birds that fly across the blue sky. More and
more, the sounds she makes sound like the words we say to her. She is
able to stand and balance all by herself (no hands) for probably 30
seconds, and loves it when we clap and applaud her. Clapping has
become her new sign of happiness. She's been teething quite a bit
lately with nasty old molars coming in. It's been very sad to see her
in so much pain, but her cheerful self comes back very quickly.
One month until our next little bundle of joy is due. We both think
it's a boy, but who knows? Pregnancies always differ from each other.
Just this morning we found out that the baby is not in the right
position for it's last month. The baby should be head down, but he
(she) is lying side-ways (transverse). We're not too worried at this
point. There are plenty of things that Tirah can do to get the baby in
the right position. The trick will be to get the baby to stay head
down by the time Tirah goes into labor. Most medical people see the
only option for a transverse baby at the time of birth to be C-section,
which we do not want at all. But we are hopeful and praying that
everything will be fine.
Tirah just recently was offered a job working for Carl Hobson (once
Carl Smith). He will be starting his own business this July, and
asked Tirah he she wanted to do some secretarial work for him. It
would be a great situation. Tirah could do all her work right at home
on Carl's laptop. It would be a great help financially for us, as
well as helping out an entrepreneurial close friend. Very likely an
answer to two prayers.
It's taken about a month, but I finally got my music software up and
running, and I am able to use it's basic functions fairly well. I
worked through all of it's tutorials, and am now working on recording
one of my songs. It is a boat-load of fun! It will be quite a while
before I've read through the two inch thick (all English) manual. It
is a strange situation to be learning something new where I'm very
aware of what I could and will know, but don't know yet. I know that
there are some functions that the software can do, that I haven't even
seen to be needed yet. But as always, I love learning new things.
The last week this month, I will be taking off from my day job, to work
on our house. We will be knocking out a wall in Mom's massage room to
make the whole room bigger. That will allow us to change the location
of the bottom of Mom and Dad's stairs. Right now they come out in the
kitchen, but we're going to turn them the other way so that they come
out in the massage room. One small step in the giant plan to turn
this old house into two houses. If we have time we'll be doing some
more painting and other odd jobs that we didn't get to last summer.
Hopefully we will get it all done before the baby comes. (When I say
"We" I really mean "I")
Well that's our life right now. Busy as ever. But full of an ever
increasing awareness of the Lord's Providence in all things. Next
month's letter could be late, as we could be in labor. (When I say
"We" I really mean "Tirah") Be excellent to each other, and party
on dudes! - Solomon.
Keal Family Letter, April 2004
Hi all! Solomon here. We've entered April, and today (the 5th)
proved to be one of the coldest days I can remember all winter. We
even got snow here in Kempton! But the snow melted later on in the
day, so I guess spring is just around the corner.
We are all well in the Keal family. We are just getting over our
spring colds. Thea keeps progressing in her intelligence, and obvious
understanding of us... if only we could understand her. Not a word
yet. Well, that's not really true. She says Mama with what seems to
be a certain amount of understanding of it being a name for Tirah. If
we say "What does a duck say?" She will respond with short little
"Ah!" sort of like "Quack" without the q,u,c, or k. If she feels
like it, she can almost say "Ball," though without the double L at the
end. The other day she said what sounded almost like "Papa" but very
quietly whispered, as sort of "pahpah." As far as communicated goes,
she seems to be of the mindset that as long as she can get our
attention by screaming, why talk? Ah, the joys of parenthood. :)
She's getting very comfortable and stable when standing without holding
on to something, especially when we're not trying to get her to do it.
The other day she walked a few steps while I held on to her hands.
She is making slow and steady progress in all things, as she's always
done. We'll probably wake up one morning and have her walk into our
room and say "Wake up Mama and Papa! Today, I've decided to start
walking and talking!"
Tirah has recently been looking around at possibilities for how to earn
some extra money working from home. She looked at some "stuffing
envelopes" type jobs, but it looks like she's settled on developing a
home-made crafts type of business. She bought a whole bunch of yarn
(what is a "bunch" of yarn? Is it a "gaggle" of yarn? Or a "Tangle"
of yarn? Or is there no descriptive plural for yarn, since yarn is
really just one strand? These are Questions that I don't really wonder
about.) and she has already made one Afghan lap blanket, and is
working on a second. She will then try to sell these at craft sales.
She is very happy with this decision for her business.
As for me... this year is an exciting year for music. We have our tax
refund, and I have found the right music software, and I will probably
buy it as soon as I am done this letter. Also... My piano CDs are
finally available to buy online! They can be bough from three
different locations: Fountain Publishing, New Church Radio, and most
recently, CD Baby, which is an online music store for independent
musicians. Check them out! (www.fountainpublishing.com
www.newchurchradio.org www.cdbaby.com) The other exciting news
is that Peter and Roxanne just bought me a year's subscription to Taxi,
which is an independent A&R company. (A&R meaning Artist and
Repertoire.) They are basically middle-men, or talent scouts. They
communicate with big name artists who are looking for songs to sing,
and then pass that information along to "nobody" songwriters like me.
It's a lot more complicated than that, but I'll go into it later.
Anyway it's very cool and exciting. So as soon as I have my software
set up, I'll be able to make demo CDs of the songs I've written, and
then send them in to Taxi, who will potentially send them to some
artist who wants to sing my song!
Well, enough for tonight. Tune in next month for an update on home
renovations, and the final month before the new baby! - Solomon.
proved to be one of the coldest days I can remember all winter. We
even got snow here in Kempton! But the snow melted later on in the
day, so I guess spring is just around the corner.
We are all well in the Keal family. We are just getting over our
spring colds. Thea keeps progressing in her intelligence, and obvious
understanding of us... if only we could understand her. Not a word
yet. Well, that's not really true. She says Mama with what seems to
be a certain amount of understanding of it being a name for Tirah. If
we say "What does a duck say?" She will respond with short little
"Ah!" sort of like "Quack" without the q,u,c, or k. If she feels
like it, she can almost say "Ball," though without the double L at the
end. The other day she said what sounded almost like "Papa" but very
quietly whispered, as sort of "pahpah." As far as communicated goes,
she seems to be of the mindset that as long as she can get our
attention by screaming, why talk? Ah, the joys of parenthood. :)
She's getting very comfortable and stable when standing without holding
on to something, especially when we're not trying to get her to do it.
The other day she walked a few steps while I held on to her hands.
She is making slow and steady progress in all things, as she's always
done. We'll probably wake up one morning and have her walk into our
room and say "Wake up Mama and Papa! Today, I've decided to start
walking and talking!"
Tirah has recently been looking around at possibilities for how to earn
some extra money working from home. She looked at some "stuffing
envelopes" type jobs, but it looks like she's settled on developing a
home-made crafts type of business. She bought a whole bunch of yarn
(what is a "bunch" of yarn? Is it a "gaggle" of yarn? Or a "Tangle"
of yarn? Or is there no descriptive plural for yarn, since yarn is
really just one strand? These are Questions that I don't really wonder
about.) and she has already made one Afghan lap blanket, and is
working on a second. She will then try to sell these at craft sales.
She is very happy with this decision for her business.
As for me... this year is an exciting year for music. We have our tax
refund, and I have found the right music software, and I will probably
buy it as soon as I am done this letter. Also... My piano CDs are
finally available to buy online! They can be bough from three
different locations: Fountain Publishing, New Church Radio, and most
recently, CD Baby, which is an online music store for independent
musicians. Check them out! (www.fountainpublishing.com
www.newchurchradio.org www.cdbaby.com) The other exciting news
is that Peter and Roxanne just bought me a year's subscription to Taxi,
which is an independent A&R company. (A&R meaning Artist and
Repertoire.) They are basically middle-men, or talent scouts. They
communicate with big name artists who are looking for songs to sing,
and then pass that information along to "nobody" songwriters like me.
It's a lot more complicated than that, but I'll go into it later.
Anyway it's very cool and exciting. So as soon as I have my software
set up, I'll be able to make demo CDs of the songs I've written, and
then send them in to Taxi, who will potentially send them to some
artist who wants to sing my song!
Well, enough for tonight. Tune in next month for an update on home
renovations, and the final month before the new baby! - Solomon.
Keal Family Letter, March 2004
Hello, Solomon here.
March has arrived. In my family it is something of a birthday
month with my Grandma's birthday on the 2nd, my birthday on the 10th,
Caleb Genzlinger's birthday on the 14th (turning One), my Mom's
birthday on the 20th, and my sister Roxanne's birthday on the 26th.
March also brings the much anticipated promise of Spring. We can now
look forward to evening walks without a jacket, more light in the
morning and evening, and that wonderful smell of new life in the ground.
February was a bit of a rough month for us financially. I was sick
several days and missed work ( and therefore pay) in a month that is
already hard enough with it's nasty habit of being so short. Not only
is February a Dreary month, but it is also the eternal curse of all of
us Hourly Wage workers to earn less money, but still have to pay the
same monthly bills. This galactic unfairness is very frustrating to
me. Fortunately, things are looking up. Because of having Thea as a
dependent, and Tirah not having income, we are getting a very large tax
refund which will save our dusty bank account.
This tax refund (money that we should have had all along... but I don't
want to get into that) will be a great help. It will let me to buy
the music software that I've been wanting to get for a while, which
will enable me to record music at home on my keyboard and computer. It
will also help us pay off a good part of our new car that we got on the
last day of the year 2003. It is a Subaru Outback, and we love it.
Thea will be 13 months old tomorrow. She hasn't said any words yet,
but she still talks a lot and is as cute as ever. Tirah is getting
rounder. Baby Turtle kicks a little more now, or at least I can feel
the kicks more now.
We are starting to think about the next stage in our house renovations
for the summer. But more on that next time.
May the Lord bless you all! TTFN Ta Ta For Now. - Solomon.
March has arrived. In my family it is something of a birthday
month with my Grandma's birthday on the 2nd, my birthday on the 10th,
Caleb Genzlinger's birthday on the 14th (turning One), my Mom's
birthday on the 20th, and my sister Roxanne's birthday on the 26th.
March also brings the much anticipated promise of Spring. We can now
look forward to evening walks without a jacket, more light in the
morning and evening, and that wonderful smell of new life in the ground.
February was a bit of a rough month for us financially. I was sick
several days and missed work ( and therefore pay) in a month that is
already hard enough with it's nasty habit of being so short. Not only
is February a Dreary month, but it is also the eternal curse of all of
us Hourly Wage workers to earn less money, but still have to pay the
same monthly bills. This galactic unfairness is very frustrating to
me. Fortunately, things are looking up. Because of having Thea as a
dependent, and Tirah not having income, we are getting a very large tax
refund which will save our dusty bank account.
This tax refund (money that we should have had all along... but I don't
want to get into that) will be a great help. It will let me to buy
the music software that I've been wanting to get for a while, which
will enable me to record music at home on my keyboard and computer. It
will also help us pay off a good part of our new car that we got on the
last day of the year 2003. It is a Subaru Outback, and we love it.
Thea will be 13 months old tomorrow. She hasn't said any words yet,
but she still talks a lot and is as cute as ever. Tirah is getting
rounder. Baby Turtle kicks a little more now, or at least I can feel
the kicks more now.
We are starting to think about the next stage in our house renovations
for the summer. But more on that next time.
May the Lord bless you all! TTFN Ta Ta For Now. - Solomon.
Valentine's Day, February 2004
This just in. It seems that the Rover on Mars has picked up a signal
coming from one of the planets in the Alpha Centauri system. The
signal was relayed back to earth where it was deciphered into a
message. The message, as it turns out, is from an alien on that
planet! Our first contact with an alien life-form! This, as you can
imagine, is earth shattering news! NASA has delivered the message to
top government officials all over the world. This message will then be
broadcast to every man, woman, and child on our own dear earth.
I happened to get this news ahead of the scheduled broadcast, and so
you selected few individuals have the exclusive privilege of hearing
this extraterrestrial news first.
Now unfortunately I was unable to obtain the actual contents of the
message, but I was able to get a paraphrased summary of this
extraordinary alien narrative, which I will now relate to you:
It seems this alien has a wife, on his planet. As it turns out his
wife's name is Betsy. The message also tells us that they also
(coincidentally) celebrate Valentine's Day, although they celebrate it
on January 14th not in February. But because of the great distance
that this message has traveled, the news (yet again coincidentally) has
arrived with us on our own Valentine's Day. Now, to celebrate their
Valentine's Day, this alien (Fred, as it turns out) decided to name a
star after his wife as a thoughtful and romantic present. Strangely
enough, the star he picked to name after his wife (Betsy) was our own
dear sun! Now because this romantic gift is actually officially logged
into their alien astronomical charts and documents, in the interest of
galactic peace, they advise us to do the same. Therefore we are now to
refer to our own sun, from here on, as Betsy.
This, as you can probably imagine, will have a vast impact on our
culture. Sunrise and Sunset will now be known as Betsyrise and
Betsyset. The sun will no longer hide behind the clouds, but Betsy
will. In the summertime everyone will be wearing Betsyglasses and
enjoying the Betsyshine. At the beach everyone will be wearing
Betsyblock so that they don't get Betsyburned. Our morning eggs will
have to be cooked Betsy-side up. And we'll have to remind our children
to not look directly at Betsy. Our world will quickly become one of
the strangest places under the Betsy.
But then I suppose it's all just some sort of elaborate revenge. After
all, Fred and Betsy have to deal with a sun named Alpha Centauri.
Happy Valentine's Day! - Solomon.
coming from one of the planets in the Alpha Centauri system. The
signal was relayed back to earth where it was deciphered into a
message. The message, as it turns out, is from an alien on that
planet! Our first contact with an alien life-form! This, as you can
imagine, is earth shattering news! NASA has delivered the message to
top government officials all over the world. This message will then be
broadcast to every man, woman, and child on our own dear earth.
I happened to get this news ahead of the scheduled broadcast, and so
you selected few individuals have the exclusive privilege of hearing
this extraterrestrial news first.
Now unfortunately I was unable to obtain the actual contents of the
message, but I was able to get a paraphrased summary of this
extraordinary alien narrative, which I will now relate to you:
It seems this alien has a wife, on his planet. As it turns out his
wife's name is Betsy. The message also tells us that they also
(coincidentally) celebrate Valentine's Day, although they celebrate it
on January 14th not in February. But because of the great distance
that this message has traveled, the news (yet again coincidentally) has
arrived with us on our own Valentine's Day. Now, to celebrate their
Valentine's Day, this alien (Fred, as it turns out) decided to name a
star after his wife as a thoughtful and romantic present. Strangely
enough, the star he picked to name after his wife (Betsy) was our own
dear sun! Now because this romantic gift is actually officially logged
into their alien astronomical charts and documents, in the interest of
galactic peace, they advise us to do the same. Therefore we are now to
refer to our own sun, from here on, as Betsy.
This, as you can probably imagine, will have a vast impact on our
culture. Sunrise and Sunset will now be known as Betsyrise and
Betsyset. The sun will no longer hide behind the clouds, but Betsy
will. In the summertime everyone will be wearing Betsyglasses and
enjoying the Betsyshine. At the beach everyone will be wearing
Betsyblock so that they don't get Betsyburned. Our morning eggs will
have to be cooked Betsy-side up. And we'll have to remind our children
to not look directly at Betsy. Our world will quickly become one of
the strangest places under the Betsy.
But then I suppose it's all just some sort of elaborate revenge. After
all, Fred and Betsy have to deal with a sun named Alpha Centauri.
Happy Valentine's Day! - Solomon.
Keal Family Letter, February 2004
Hello Family,
This is Solomon, and I am beginning a new resolution to stay more
connected with our extended family. It is my intention that you will
hence forth receive One Letter every month from the Solomon and Tirah
Keal family, which will be explicitly designed to inform and enlighten
you on the multiple complexities of our budding family life. And I
think that is plenty of "a-do" for now, so without any further use of
it, I will delve into the present joys, hopes, dreams, struggles,
achievements, diapers, anxieties, concerns, and stuff of ours.
Starting with the newest member of our family: Tirah is, as many of
you know, pregnant with our second child, and she is due sometime in
June. It's amazing how quickly one goes from being a first time parent
to being... not a first time parent. Um, or in other words: When
Tirah was pregnant with Thea you would hear this: "So, how far along
are you?" "Oh, 6 and 1/2 months give or take a week depending on when
you count from, you see some doctors count from..." Or "So, when
are you due?" "February 2nd." But now when we're asked how far
along we are, the answer is "Oh, about half way." Or if we're asked
when we're due? "Oh, sometime in June." Don't get me wrong, we
are still very excited, but we've sort of settled into more of a
"normalcy" that just wasn't there with our first pregnancy. Just the
other day I felt Turtle (the baby) kick for the first time, and believe
me, it was just as amazingly reassuring and real as the first time I
felt Thea kick. We're suspicious that this one is a boy. Of course
we have no real evidence to support this suspicion but it's fun to
guess anyway.
Thea just turned One Year Old today (February 2nd)! She is our
little bundle of joy! She is capable of standing up on her own if she
can hold onto something like a coffee table, or the side of the couch,
or Papa's face when Papa is lying on the floor. She is learning to
eat more and more grown-up food, and desiring more and more of the
exact food that Mama and Papa are eating (not the same kind of food,
but the food that I'm about to put into my mouth). One of her
favorites is scrabbled eggs or "Eggy" as we call it. It even seems
like she sometimes tries to say "Eggy" when she knows we're making eggs
for her. Her sounds are becoming much more complex and always the
cutest thing ever to fall across our ears. She also likes chicken
(and yes, in Thea's case, the chicken did come before the egg.) We
used to grind up the chicken in a baby food grinder, but now, with two
teeth on top and two teeth on the bottom, she is capable of chewing
almost anything (except for maybe a sirloin steak, but she would
certainly give it her best shot) Thea just recently figured out how
to climb up stairs, but not down stairs yet. Some of her favorite
things include: eyelashes, lights, CD Player buttons, baths, a big
stuffed Panda bear, pulling out drawers, and laughing.
Tirah is frustrated with her present, pregnant size, but she is ever
and always the most beautiful woman in the world. In her free time
(which neither of us have very much of) she enjoys reading, listening
to books on tape, helping my Mom with a Pre-School music class,
quilting, cross-stitching, visiting with friends and family, organizing
our photos on the computer, doing so much to help me around the house,
and of course date nights with me. We've made it a habit, which we
think is essential to the health of our marriage, to go on regular date
nights, at this point they are weekly. We love going to movies, or to
dinner, or to coffee, or even just window shopping. We consider the
expense a worthy use of our money and we budget for it.
Tirah and I have a regular weekly evening schedule. After I get home
from work, I spend as much time with Thea as I can, before she goes to
bed, simultaneously giving Tirah a break. We eat dinner, and then I
put Thea to bed, usually around seven. After that we have a different
thing planned for every night. Monday nights are "cave" nights for
me. A time for me to do whatever I want for a couple of hours, just by
myself. I usually read or look at things on the internet. Again,
something we think is important to the health of a marriage. It's a
nice little break from the responsibilities of being a husband and
father which then gives me the energy to get back into it. Tuesday
and Thursday nights are music nights for me. Wednesday night is
family night, when Tirah and I do something together all night.
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays remained unplanned (unplannable). At
around 10, we check e-mail, and then read from a nightly rotation of
books. These books include the Word, a book of the Writings
(presently Heaven and Hell, the New Century Edition), some other
spiritual book (presently the Doctrine of the Wife by Leon James) and
for the time being we've thrown in a Bradley birthing book to prepare
for Turtle's birth. Then we try to be in bed by 11 o'clock. We
find, (especially I find) that it's nice to have everything that we
Want to do scheduled into our life, so that we never feel like we never
get to do what we want to do.
Lastly, before I have to go, a little about me. I currently work for
Brandon Junge, a carpenter contractor in the church here in Kempton.
That's my job, and I enjoy aspects of it, but it's not what I really
want to be doing. I really want to be doing something with music.
Thus the Tuesday and Thursday nights that are devoted to music. I am
working to become a Songwriter by profession. This is a job in which I
could be writing music for a living, and conceivably working from home.
I learn something new every day about the music industry, and though
it may take quite some time to build up the recognition needed to make
a living, I am making progress. But more about this later, it is past
10 o'clock and I must be going. Until next month.... Solomon,
over and out.
This is Solomon, and I am beginning a new resolution to stay more
connected with our extended family. It is my intention that you will
hence forth receive One Letter every month from the Solomon and Tirah
Keal family, which will be explicitly designed to inform and enlighten
you on the multiple complexities of our budding family life. And I
think that is plenty of "a-do" for now, so without any further use of
it, I will delve into the present joys, hopes, dreams, struggles,
achievements, diapers, anxieties, concerns, and stuff of ours.
Starting with the newest member of our family: Tirah is, as many of
you know, pregnant with our second child, and she is due sometime in
June. It's amazing how quickly one goes from being a first time parent
to being... not a first time parent. Um, or in other words: When
Tirah was pregnant with Thea you would hear this: "So, how far along
are you?" "Oh, 6 and 1/2 months give or take a week depending on when
you count from, you see some doctors count from..." Or "So, when
are you due?" "February 2nd." But now when we're asked how far
along we are, the answer is "Oh, about half way." Or if we're asked
when we're due? "Oh, sometime in June." Don't get me wrong, we
are still very excited, but we've sort of settled into more of a
"normalcy" that just wasn't there with our first pregnancy. Just the
other day I felt Turtle (the baby) kick for the first time, and believe
me, it was just as amazingly reassuring and real as the first time I
felt Thea kick. We're suspicious that this one is a boy. Of course
we have no real evidence to support this suspicion but it's fun to
guess anyway.
Thea just turned One Year Old today (February 2nd)! She is our
little bundle of joy! She is capable of standing up on her own if she
can hold onto something like a coffee table, or the side of the couch,
or Papa's face when Papa is lying on the floor. She is learning to
eat more and more grown-up food, and desiring more and more of the
exact food that Mama and Papa are eating (not the same kind of food,
but the food that I'm about to put into my mouth). One of her
favorites is scrabbled eggs or "Eggy" as we call it. It even seems
like she sometimes tries to say "Eggy" when she knows we're making eggs
for her. Her sounds are becoming much more complex and always the
cutest thing ever to fall across our ears. She also likes chicken
(and yes, in Thea's case, the chicken did come before the egg.) We
used to grind up the chicken in a baby food grinder, but now, with two
teeth on top and two teeth on the bottom, she is capable of chewing
almost anything (except for maybe a sirloin steak, but she would
certainly give it her best shot) Thea just recently figured out how
to climb up stairs, but not down stairs yet. Some of her favorite
things include: eyelashes, lights, CD Player buttons, baths, a big
stuffed Panda bear, pulling out drawers, and laughing.
Tirah is frustrated with her present, pregnant size, but she is ever
and always the most beautiful woman in the world. In her free time
(which neither of us have very much of) she enjoys reading, listening
to books on tape, helping my Mom with a Pre-School music class,
quilting, cross-stitching, visiting with friends and family, organizing
our photos on the computer, doing so much to help me around the house,
and of course date nights with me. We've made it a habit, which we
think is essential to the health of our marriage, to go on regular date
nights, at this point they are weekly. We love going to movies, or to
dinner, or to coffee, or even just window shopping. We consider the
expense a worthy use of our money and we budget for it.
Tirah and I have a regular weekly evening schedule. After I get home
from work, I spend as much time with Thea as I can, before she goes to
bed, simultaneously giving Tirah a break. We eat dinner, and then I
put Thea to bed, usually around seven. After that we have a different
thing planned for every night. Monday nights are "cave" nights for
me. A time for me to do whatever I want for a couple of hours, just by
myself. I usually read or look at things on the internet. Again,
something we think is important to the health of a marriage. It's a
nice little break from the responsibilities of being a husband and
father which then gives me the energy to get back into it. Tuesday
and Thursday nights are music nights for me. Wednesday night is
family night, when Tirah and I do something together all night.
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays remained unplanned (unplannable). At
around 10, we check e-mail, and then read from a nightly rotation of
books. These books include the Word, a book of the Writings
(presently Heaven and Hell, the New Century Edition), some other
spiritual book (presently the Doctrine of the Wife by Leon James) and
for the time being we've thrown in a Bradley birthing book to prepare
for Turtle's birth. Then we try to be in bed by 11 o'clock. We
find, (especially I find) that it's nice to have everything that we
Want to do scheduled into our life, so that we never feel like we never
get to do what we want to do.
Lastly, before I have to go, a little about me. I currently work for
Brandon Junge, a carpenter contractor in the church here in Kempton.
That's my job, and I enjoy aspects of it, but it's not what I really
want to be doing. I really want to be doing something with music.
Thus the Tuesday and Thursday nights that are devoted to music. I am
working to become a Songwriter by profession. This is a job in which I
could be writing music for a living, and conceivably working from home.
I learn something new every day about the music industry, and though
it may take quite some time to build up the recognition needed to make
a living, I am making progress. But more about this later, it is past
10 o'clock and I must be going. Until next month.... Solomon,
over and out.
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