Chicago Seidlers

With two writers for parents, Mathias is due to have an intimate relationship with the written word. We’re well stocked with baby classics thanks to friends and family, and we’ve started reading to him from time to time. He doesn’t quite seem to get what’s going on, but he’s patient, and the colors seem to be more and more intriguing.

Here are some photos of a recent wrestle with the classics. At the very least, they may give Mathias something to laugh at in the future, when books have been entirely replaced by the feelies.

Dad sweats through some Goodnight Gorilla.

Hopefully this doesn't give Mathias any ideas for his first visit to the zoo.

Going for something a little meatier...

He's looking to mom for a rescue.

Here’s a video of us posing with the Bard. As you can see, Mathias is drooling with anticipation.

Mathias is starting to figure out how to use his mitts. Of course, there’s a bit of a learning curve..

While we spend a lot of time charting the dude’s milestones, Mathias isn’t the only getting older. (Thankfully, he is the only one hitting the 97th percentile for weight relative to his age group.)

As these photos show, James celebrated his 30th birthday in July with a quiet night at home. It was a lot of fun, even if Mathias’ first birthday celebration promises to be more wild.

Lori handled the presents; Mathias baked the cake.

The dude was partied out before the cake appeared.

Candles from New Year's 2003, you have found another use!

Lori’s mom came in for an extended visit in July, which was lots of fun, especially since it also served as some extended “life on easy street” for Lori and I. Mary was eager to get up for 5 a.m. feedings, change every diaper that came her way and spend more time holding Mathias than seemed possible in a single day.

Mathias knows he's safe and sound with Oma.

Lori’s uncle was in town too, between a fun stint at camp, and all of us had a great time hanging out. Unfortunately, we didn’t seem to take too many pictures! I know Mary took more; hopefully Lori can get them when she goes down to visit later in the month.

Here’s a good one of Mathias rocking a Beatles onesie from Uncle Dave and Aunt Lenora. As you can see in the video below, Lori and her mom tried to get him to weigh in on the eternal Beatles/Stones question, but he decided to stay above the fray.

Mary’s visit also gave us some much-needed time on the town, including a weekend at the Pitchfork Music Festival and a night out to see Lori’s favorite band of all time: Hole.

Lori was just a little excited.

Courtney Love leads the sing-along.

What do you do when you don’t feel like lugging the stroller around but you do feel like sweating profusely? Situations like that are what the Baby Bjorn is tailor-made for! You just strap that baby on and roam free, checking the connections every step to make sure he doesn’t tumble right down onto the sidewalk.

In all seriousness, the Baby Bjorn is very handy, provided you’re smart enough not to wear it on a scorching July day. (The Baby “Stay Home and Drink a Cold Beer” is much more appropriate for those conditions.)

Securing Mathias in our apartment (he's wearing my hat)....I just realized that's the last time I saw that hat. Hmm.

The dude is safely sequestered beneath his own hat as we walk through Welles Park.

Naturally, he was asleep.

We celebrated Independence Day by heading out to Naperville to visit our friends Paul and Taryn. Their son Liam was celebrating his first birthday, and we had a good time scarfing down cake (although Liam had an even better time).

Fireworks greeted us upon our arrival home (the neighbors had taken over the Aldi parking lot with about a grand’s worth of ordinance), but the dude slept right through them. He must be a real Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Kristin, Brendan and I enjoyed the Fraggle Puppets more than Mathias did. (Note that the dude is sporting a patriotic outfit.)

Liam digs into his first birthday cake with mom and dad!

Baby one and baby two: the next generation.

We’re continuing to make the round with the little guy. Earlier in the month we met up with some college friends for a nice summer barbecue. The guys were some of my roommates at Notre Dame; we’ve all since moved to Chicago, and each of us has a nice little family going. Here you can see all of the kids: Mathias is the youngest, although Danny (center) will have a little sibling soon.

Mathias, Danny and Cara meet for the first time.

Here are the fellas with their children. Maybe we can get them all together at a Notre Dame tailgate this fall.

Dads and babies...a long way from Notre Dame Avenue.

I snagged this photo from my cousin Susie – she and Lori met up a couple weeks ago for lunch, enabling cousins Mathias Seidler and Eamonn Kelly to meet for the first time. The little guys are separated by a week (and a generation; Sue is actually my mom’s cousin), but they showed plenty of shared interest in sleeping, eating and pooping…a sound foundation for a lifelong friendship.

A couple weeks ago, Lori took Mathias to the Sichtermann homestead outside Hobart to meet his great-grandmother. As you can see, she was pretty fond of the newest member of the family.

Soon afterward we headed back into Indiana for a reunion of that side of the family. There the little guy got to bask in the love of Lori’s Aunt Linda and Cousin Becky.

There are still plenty more family members for him to hug for the first time. We’re hoping to post them all here after it happens!

It’s been great hanging out at home with the dude, but after a month, it’s easy to get twitchy for a dive bar and a good band. Luckily, our friends Geoff and Joy were kind enough to agree to watch Mathias for a couple hours so we could see our friends the Art Holes play at Phyllis’ Musical Inn.

As soon as our babysitters walked though the door, we buried them in a gravel pit of pointers and contingency plans. Luckily, they hung in there despite our rambling, and Mathias ended up sleeping the whole time anyway!

Mathias ended up snoozing the night away...good baby!

The band we saw, the Art Holes, is made up of a bunch of friends James made in the proto punk ensemble at the Old Town School of Folk Music. They play a lot of fun punk/proto punk covers, and they even knocked out their first original song at this Phyllis’ show.

The Art Holes, with friend Nayla guesting on vocals.

We got to see lots of great friends and enjoy some adult beverages. Mathias was still snoozing when we got home.

It felt good to get out for a while.