But a Cold Sounds so Innocuous

Since we've returned to California from Illinois, Kathleen has had a cold. Kids get colds all the time, I know. I also know that some children get far more serious illnesses, and I really am grateful that my daughter is as healthy as she is. That having been said, "Kathleen has had a cold" does not nearly communicate the misery that is my sick toddler.

Kathleen has had a seriously runny nose and a cough worthy of a tuberculosis ward. They've been so distressing to see or hear that we even tried giving Kathleen some cold medicine, despite having read an article in the New York Times a few months ago linking infants' and children's cold medicines to strokes (because I really needed another thing to worry about). Our affair with cold medicine was short-lived, however, because as far as I could tell it didn't stop the runny nose or the coughing, but instead made Kathleen slightly more miserable than she'd been without it. And making Kathleen more miserable was really going some.

When Kathleen's sick, she doesn't sleep more, she sleeps less. She'll simply refuse to nap and then will wake earlier and earlier in the morning. So her discomfort is complicated by pretty severe sleep deprivation. That makes for a very whiny, unhappy toddler. And an unhappy toddler makes a very unhappy mommy.

Kathleen must have known that I was just about to leave her out for the gypsies, because she has finally started to recover, at least a little. She's begun eating again (thankfully my baby is large enough to carry a five or six-day hunger strike without much impact). After she began to eat, she began to sleep a bit more and whine a bit less. And, so though she's still very sniffly and cough-y, Kathleen's acting much more like herself. Thank goodness for that!

A Big Week for Daddy

While Kathleen and Mommy and the next-Golby-to-be were cruising around Illinois, Daddy was having a pretty big week in Iraq. We thought that, even though this page is supposed to be about what it's like to grow up as a Golby, we'd take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to share a little bit about what the head of our household's doing.

On Monday Daddy took command of a company of about 170 soldiers. (I'm leaving out the details about which unit, since technically I'd need permission from his commander, and I'm not sure that it would matter to most our dear readers, anyway. Feel free to e-mail if you want the full scoop.) Thanks to the miracle of technology, we had photographs of the change of command ceremony by Monday evening. Here's Daddy taking the guidon from his battalion commander:


We're really, really proud of him!

The very next day was Daddy's birthday. His first full day of command AND his birthday. I don't think you get to enjoy your birthday very much when you've just taken command of a company... But Daddy reported that the First Sergeant and the training room made sure he had some pizza and cake, and that the birthday box we'd sent arrived in time. That might be all you can hope for when you're deployed on your birthday.

Even though Daddy couldn't celebrate much, we did some celebrating on his behalf while we were Illinois. We made his favorite kind of cake, and got the "other" Jim Golby and all the grandkids to pose with it:

We enjoyed the cake, but we'd have enjoyed it a whole lot more if Daddy had been with us!

And as if that weren't enough for one week, today is our fifth anniversary. Funny how deployment can seem so long, when it hardly seems possible that we've been married five years...

We love you and we miss you, Daddy! We can't wait for you to come home to your girls.

Crazy for her Cousins

Kathleen's new favorite word-sign combination is "cousins." We'd been in Illinois for about twelve hours (and for most of that she'd been asleep) when she started using the sign for cousins and a very strong "C" sound to indicate those amazingly fun children who seemed nearly as excited about her as she was about them.

Our adventure to the midwest was great fun. We got to see Kathleen's Golby grandparents and her aunts and uncles and, of course, the cousins. We stayed the first few days in Dwight, with Aunt Katherine, Uncle Eric, Sarah, Ethan, Melissa, and Kathleen's newest favorite canine, Belle. While in Dwight we had gorgeous warm weather, and we took full advantage of the sunshine. Here are Kathleen and her Aunt Katherine relaxing in the backyard:

There was a lot more playing in the backyard with the cousins; Kathleen loved the swingset and all the people to help her with it. We also watched Melissa's t-ball game (she got three hits!) and had a cookout with the whole family. After the cookout we had the opportunity to go the gymnasium where cousins Sarah and Melissa take tumbling and gymnastics. Melissa's class gave an exhibition, and after that Sarah showed off some of her skills, too. (The last time Jim and I saw her compete we weren't even married! We'll have to make it to some meets when we move back to the mainland.) Kathleen even got to try out some of the equipment, which delighted her. Here she is practicing for the 2020 summer Olympics:

After our time in Dwight, we jumped into a minivan with Uncle Craig, Aunt Margaret, Matt, Alison, and Elizabeth and moved to Kewanee. There, we continued to play outside in the sunshine. Here's Kathleen shooting some hoops with her cousins:

We all went to mass together, ate out together, had some more cookouts, and played and laughed a lot. Aunt Annie came up from Peoria and added to the fun -- especially when she brought along her Wii for everyone to try out! We had a delicious lunch in historic Bishop Hill with the grandparents, Aunt Margaret, and Rosie Pratt. Kathleen loved racing around the house with the doll stroller and climbing in out of the play house. She also loved riding around the neighborhood in the wagon, as her cousins pulled her. She and her co-conspirators agreed to pause for a quick photo:

If Kathleen looks slightly less smiley in her photos than usual, that's only because she was truly exhausted. She ran herself ragged with her cousins and wasn't willing to miss a minute of playing with them, even for a nap. Of course, that exhaustion worked out pretty well for Mommy, since Kathleen slept for almost two hours on the plane back to San Francisco!

Thanks to the whole family for making our visit to Illinois such a success. As always, it was too short! We miss you already and can't wait until the four of us can come back to visit together.

Mother's Day

Mom, Kathleen, and a wagon
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Our little family spent last Mother's Day at the polo field on Oahu's North Shore... It was a beautiful day and an amazing way to spend my very first Mother's Day. I knew that this year would be different with Jim away, and a part of me dreaded it a little. But even though we missed him very, very much, he and my family made this Mother's Day very special, too.

Jim somehow managed (even though he's in the midst of change-of-command inventories) to have purchased an incredible collection of potions and lotions and other goodies from Origins and have them sent to my parents' house, along with some framed photographs of me and Kathleen. The gifts made me feel so pampered! But even better than the presents was that Jim managed to call. Being able to talk to him and hold our little girl (girls, really, I suppose) was the best gift of all. My parents were equally generous in recognizing my second Mother's Day, and we, along with my sister Caroline and her husband Craig, enjoyed a very tasty brunch.

This afternoon Grandma, Kathleen, and I took a walk with the wagon. Kathleen loved being pulled around and seeing the other folks out walking their dogs, riding their bicycles, and enjoying the sun and views of the San Francisco Bay. After walking for a while, we stopped and Kathleen ran off a bundle of energy, kicking her ball. (I can hardly wait until she's old enough to enroll in youth soccer. She's a natural, which obviously comes from her father, and not from me!) Kathleen also discovered ladybugs, which fascinated her. She loved letting the ladybug crawl along her arm and laughed when the ladybug tried to fly away but instead ran into her cheek - twice! When the ladybug was finally successful in its escape, Kathleen inspected the grass quite intently, hoping to find another. She makes me laugh!

Kathleen is such a joy to me. She's funny and inquisitive and sweet and stubborn and fiery and smart. Being her mother is more of a blessing and more of a challenge than I ever could have dreamed. And each morning when I pick up my smiling, giggling girl and each evening when I snuggle and sing with my tired toddler, I know that this is the best and hardest job in the world, the only one I've ever wanted, and the only one I'll ever really love.

We Made It!

A Plane!
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen and I successfully made the trip from Oahu to Northern California... There were some stressful (and exhausting) moments, of course, but overall our journey was extraordinarily smooth.

Kathleen was very excited to be in the airport, as it was filled with fascinating people and giant windows for watching planes. She was equally excited to be on the airplane -- at least at first! We were blessed to have a seat for her, so she was strapped into her comfy carseat for all but maybe ten minutes of the flight. She napped for about an hour and a half (what a huge relief for Mama!), and played nicely with her toys for the rest of the trip. The biggest challenge was retrieving the toys that Kathleen dropped; it's getting more and more difficult to lean over my own stomach!

As smooth as the trip was, we were thrilled to get off the plane and find Grandma and Grandpa O'Connor waiting for us at baggage claim. (Reinforcements! Hooray! ) We're grateful to have had a safe trip and hope that we're equally blessed when we fly to Illinois next week.

Growing Up Too Quickly...

Kathleen and Joshua
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen is growing more quickly than I ever could have imagined. Every day she becomes more independent; every day she looks and acts more like a toddler. She's using a few words, although she still prefers to sign. So far, her favorite words are hat, sit, cat, car, and ball. She also makes an impressive "woof-woof" sound when she sees dogs, and "ack-ack" (quack-quack) for ducks. She climbs into and out of every chair she sees, unassisted. When I lay Kathleen down at night in her crib, she happily waves goodbye when I close the door. I've recently begun putting her wispy blonde hair into little pigtails, which makes her look even older -- at least to me.

On Sunday, Kathleen played in the church nursery during worship. When I left her there, she didn't cry at all, which delighted me. (She's been extremely reluctant to leave me lately.) When I returned to pick Kathleen up, I was equally delighted to find that she was still playing happily. Kathleen was sitting at a little table with her friend Joshua and, as I walked in the nursery door, she leaned across the table and kissed Joshua right on the lips! That's when I knew that she was growing up far too quickly for me!!

Life's a Beach

Snacking at Ko Olina
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

This photo is from last week, but Kathleen and I spent the day at Ko Olina again today. We don't have any photographs from today's adventure, but it looked a lot like last week's. (We even wore the same clothes! A swimsuit and a sunhat are always acceptable at the beach!)

Today we went to the beach with our friend Amy and her children Luke and Grace, who are five and three. Kathleen just loved following Luke and Grace around, and she tried to do everything they did. She loved sitting in the wagon with Grace and she tried to swim in the water just like Luke! Kathleen certainly isn't letting her age hold her back!

The day was sunny and breezy - perfect for sitting on the sand or playing in the water, and we did both. We saw some snails and some fish and even a little hermit crab. We had lots and lots of fun, and when we came home, both Mama and Kathleen had a nice, long afternoon nap!