Have you met all the Dependants?

As you can see from the picture there are a lot of dependants to love this Valentine's Day! Oscar, Polly and Liam kept me company while Richard is traveling in Boston. It's been a crazy couple of days with pipes bursting at the condo and more snow in Chicago than we have seen in a long time. My hats off to single moms...not sure how they do this full time..between working, tending to the doggies, shoveling snow, assessing condo damage and most importantly..spending as much time with Liam as possible - I feel wiped out!

It makes me appreciate Richard all the more. This life is truly a partnership and I miss my partner. The good thing is that Liam is doing great, he really seems to be learning lots at day care. He has made all kinds of new friends and when we drop him off in the morning all the little ones now shout "baby!"-it's very sweet. Liam is the youngest there and Anne, the day care owner and provider, says that Liam is like a little sponge..he just takes it all in....she said that sometimes he doesn't nap because he is so busy taking it all in! She also claims that he is rather advanced for a 12 week old, of course we knew he was destined to be a smarty pants . With a dad like Richard he is bound to have some IT, database, coding, geek genes in there somewhere!

All in all the last 12 weeks have been a blur but Richard and I are trying to take lots of opportunity to stop and take it all in. People keep telling us that Liam will grow up so fast, and you what? they are right! The best part about today...Liam had a really good giggle...a real heart felt giggle because I was pretended to sniff his feet and telling him they were stinky! I called Richard so that he could hear him....makes it all worth it..

Perfect Timing!

Liam may only be 11 weeks old but he sure is smart and he knows how to get into mommy and daddy's good books.

About 4 nights ago, in perfect timing for the end of Dani's maternity leave, Liam decided to put in regular 7-8 hours of sleep each night! Hooray! It's like he knew all along that he could only keep us up when one of us doesn't have to work the next day. So far we have had 3 nights of 8 hour sleep (10:30pm-6:30am) and one night of 6 hours followed by a 3 hour sleep period.

Fingers crossed for the next few days - this doesn't mean it's gonna be perfect every night but at least things are moving in teh right direction!

..and then there was Liam. We thank our family and friends

On November 21st 2006 at 1:28pm, weighing 7lb&4oz and measuring 21.5" our son Liam J. T. was born. Danielle and I are very proud parents at the moment and walk around with constant smiles across our faces; we can't believe we actually did it. Liam currently weighs approximately 13lb and is around 9 weeks of age. He is growing fast and is a big "grubber" as is grandad calls him.

We would like to thank from the bottom of our hearts, all our family and friends who stayed or visited with us to help us through the grueling first few weeks. You made it so much more bearable for us and we can't thank you enough.

At first we had my parents and sister decorating, gardening and repairing our new home, and babysitting for us so Danielle and I could get out of the house. Then Tony arrived and formed an incredible bond with Liam to the point where Liam's face would light up whenever Tony entered the room. Brendan visited for Christmas and we all had fun hanging out at home (with the occasional visit to the pub and/or Mexican restaurant for margarita's). Brendan left the day before New Year but Tony extended his stay an extra week to help Danielle while I was away in North Carolina (thanks Tony!!).

Now, Maria arrived and is currently down stairs feeding Liam yet another 5oz of mommas finest. She has been fantastic helping me to share the work load of looking after Liam this week while DT is away in Vegas partying at the BO sales kickoff (apparently CSO & founder enjoys a $15G/night suite at the Belagio - nice) - Thank you so much Maria.

Finally as I write this entry I hear that Chris and Anita are about to give birth to their baby tonight. Anita is going in for a c-section and is a little nervous - don't worry Anita - everything will be just fine!! Thanks guys for helping us through - we can't believe generosity you have showed us over the last few weeks; from cooking us soups and baking us casseroles to baby sitting the dogs and just simply hanging out with us. We love you both dearly.

Thanks to all other friends and family for the support, generosity and warmth you have showed us for the arrival of our son Liam. Here's to the future!

All our love

Richard and Danielle.

Opening Comments

This is the first post in hopefully many on our new Dick & Dani blog.

We will try to post excerpts of our life from time to time; between juggling our new baby (Liam), 10-12hr a day jobs, 2 dogs, 2 houses and other random stuff sent to us by The Man to test us. Our intention is to use this blog as a digital diary of our lives, interconnecting the blogs of other people we know with this one. We will primarily talk about our kid(s?), dogs, family, friends, vacations, etc so read on at your own peril. You will become extremely bored if you don't know us ;0)

I (Richard) open the blog sitting in front of NBC's Today program (yawn) with the 2 pugs (Oscar & Polly) sitting close by. Maria is snuggling Liam in the spare room (apparently his little hands were cold). All is well with the world. Danielle (aka. Dani) is out in Las Vegas boring herself to tears at the Business Objects 2007 Sales Kickoff - where they will be pumping her full of company Coolaid until she pukes.

I am trying to figure out what to do today since I quit my job at SAS 8 days ago and have 2 to go. Nothing much really going on as nobody wants to give me new projects. Hence the new Blog.

So here endeth the 1st post. Feel free to post comments and random funnies...