Tieche February Newsletter

Editor's Note: Every month, Nicole's grandparents (who are in their 80s) send out a monthly update about their lives. The email string has turned into a family sharing session, of sorts. I thought I'd post my latest monthly update, along with a few pics.

Well, I'm busy getting ready for the spectacle that is Super Bowl Sunday – a national holiday of sorts where we, as Americans put aside all our differences, come together and celebrate the meaningless distraction that is professional sports, feed our already-great addiction to entertainment, and actually celebrate and encourage the vices of gluttony and intoxication!

But it’s fun! BTW - for a fun flashback, you can see the Top 10 Most Famous Commercials here.

January Update:
The Tieche Clan spent the first part of the month in sunny, tropical Michigan, where the only thing lower than the temperatures is the public’s trust in Detroit’s mayor. But it was fun hanging out with Nicole’s family.

One of the best parts was that out closest friends, the Zimans, drove in from Chicago (where Jonathan is going to seminary) with their little girls to spend four days with us. This meant that we had a house with five children under the age of five. The kids played well together, and it was really cool making snow men with them, playing hide-and-seek, wrestling and building forts and the like.

Justus:
Justus tried to impress the ladies by crooning into his play microphone, which was a Christmas gift from Bumpa (his grandpa, otherwise known as Bob/Brad/Dad). The girls were unimpressed, so Justus just turned up the volume. They remained unimpressed.

I have to work with him on courting techniques. I’ve tried telling him that the ladies love guys that are funny, but the only joke he knows is “chicken banana.” He says the words “chicken banana” and then laughs hysterically. He understands that they don’t go together at all – and that his verbal word play is an exercise in absurdity. It’s very developed and nuanced humor, if you think about it. The problem is, it’s not really that funny. So.

Jaelle:
Jaelle is growing, though not as fast as her brother. Justus was in the high 90s in height percentiles for his age – still is. But Jaelle is in the 19th percentile, which means she is “petite.” I was hoping she’d be about 6’1” with a killer jump serve and a great net game, but apparently that dream is now dead. That’s okay. I suppose it’s better for the girl in the family to be short and petite and for the boy to be big and tall. It’s better socially. I definitely wouldn’t want Justus to be petite. He’d have to overcompensate and would turn out like Prince, or perhaps Tom Cruise. And then he’d have to either wear lace shirts or give millions to Scientology. And that’s not the kind of life you want for your boy.

Jaelle is learning to eat solid foods, and by solid foods I mean “really mushy foods that aren’t really solid at all, so I don’t know why doctors refer to them by such a scientifically inaccurate label.” She is doing better, though her mastication is messy. And after a solid month of not sleeping through the night, we moved her to her own crib in another room, and now she’s sleeping through the night. Which is good for everyone, and GREAT for Nicole.

NICOLE:
Speaking of Nicole – she is doing quite excellently at her job. She did so well, in fact, that the president of PartyLite USA, the President of this multi-national company, flew into Sacramento to meet with some leaders and requested to meet Nicole and have her talk about what she’s doing to be so successful. Nicole was then asked to train a whole region of leaders about some aspects of the business. Keep in mind, this is a company with 40,000 employees, and the President singles out Nicole. Pretty rad.

This month, Nicole and I are going on three dates (!) which makes me more than ecstatic.

So that’s life with the Tieches.

Picture Time!

Shown here, my daughter attempting to choke down some rice cereal. Most of it ended up on her bib.


Justus attempting to take a bath in his baby sister's ducky bath tub.


Shown here, Michaela is checking the status of Justus' intestines with a pen light.


My son, the Fonz. Notice underneath his shirt, my son is wearing his green Diego pajamas, which he refused to take off when dressing that morning.


Left to Right (ironically, from youngest to oldest) - Jaelle, Brielle, Justus, Michaela, Eliana. I don't think you can handle this much cuteness.


Frosty, the anorexic snowman.