More Family Holiday Time

Visiting Great Granddad

Grandma feeds Dylan

Greg naps with his boy on their favorite bed


Chewing Great Granddad's Shoes

Aunt Katie helps a sleepy Dylan

Belated Christmas at Grandma's House

Princess Aunt Jennifer
Zammy needs a breathing treatment...
...and a hug.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve at Roses

Zammy hangs with Audrey, Zach, and Noah

Z meets his godmother, Cousin Maggy, and Betsy

"Christmas is Cool. Heeeeeyyy"

Barbara and Katie beat on Malcolm

Zambrano gets to open his Grabbag gift first!

The Story of Our Christmas Card

I emailed David Kaplan at WGN and told him we wanted our Zambrano to meet Carlos. I asked him to forward the email to someone at the Cubs. I eventually got an email from an intern who said we could do it on a day he wasn’t pitching. I gave her a list of dates we had tickets, and they eventually (I did have to follow up a few times) got back to me with a good date (coincidentally, my birthday). If you remember the stories about the baby being named Wrigley Fields, you will remember that the Cubs knew of babies being named for Ryne Sandberg and Carlos Zambrano. This trip is the reason the Cubs knew of a baby Zambrano.

We had to be there at about 430p, and met at the gate near the Cubs’ dugout, where we were eventually placed in the Cubs’ dugout. It was wild to be that close to the team as they took batting practice, and seeing Lou Piniella kibitz with media types. We said hello to Len Kasper.

A couple minutes later, Carlos jogged in from shagging balls in the outfield and was approached by another Cubs’ employee, who looked like he explained the situation to Carlos for the first time. Carlos looked a bit surprised to say the least, and walked up to say hello. He could not have been friendlier, and was more than willing to cooperate with our photo requests. A bit of a bummer was the fact that Zammy got some shots earlier in the day so he was not his normal smiley self. Carlos had no problem holding Zammy and tried to get him to smile. Very cute.

All in all, everything exceeded our expectations.

Tania's Gall Bladder Who?

Remember this old SNL bit?

Chevy Chase (as a doctor): Knock knock.

Gilda Radner (as Babs): Who's there?

Chevy: Bab's uvula.

Gilda: Bab's uvula who?

Chevy: I don't know, Babs. But I do know this... your uvula is on the fritz.

Well, I was instantly reminded of it when I got the news about Tania's Gall Bladder.

To make a long story short, Tania had had several episodes of excruciating stomach pain since Zambrano was born, the worst of which was this past early Thursday morning. I asked her if she wanted to take a cab or an ambulance to the hospital. She picked the cab.

The ultrasound dictated surgery, which was on Friday afternoon. Dr. An told me afterwards that if they wished to be aggressive, she could go home Friday. I said no to that. Apprarently the gall bladder, like the appendix, is superfluous.

Grandma Judy flew in Saturday, and Tania came home that afternoon. The pain she is having is from the surgery rather than the pre-surgery pain, and the pain meds are starting to help. The big side effect is how sleepy it makes her. It was odd how quiet the house was Sunday. Usually when Tania is that quiet, I am in BIG trouble.

Today, she is feeling better, and I think we have turned the corner.

Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers.