Recently in Family Category

Ain't he cute? Someday i'll get around to prettying up this blog. But in the meantime, I'll be sure to post the occasional picture.

By the way, if you like the hat, you can buy it at Jenny's Etsy store.

(Oh, and yes, I have forgiven Charlie for last week's act of aggression.)

I was playing with 8 month old Baby Tony like a good poppy should. Perched on my shoulders was the lad as I bounced up and down, chatting with my dear wife.

Suddenly a war cry pierced the calm evening air.

"I GO TO GET YOU!"

I pivoted my waist just in time to see 2 1/2 year old Charlie turn the corner with a smile on his face and fire in his eyes.

"YYYEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!"

I could not recall receiving an invitation to a wrestling match, but I had no time to raise the issue. Charlie, 30 some pounds of pure muscle mass, ran full force into my leg. I reached down with one hand to grab him, but as I did, Little Tony teetered on my shoulders, so I had to release Charlie, who took advantage of my helplessness to deliver three swift lefts to an area where no man ought ever strike another man. I filled the house with my own cry:

"AAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHHKKKHHKKHGHGHGGGGHHHH!"

Most men have at one time or another taken one in the privates, and I am no different. In 7th grade -- Mr. Matsumoto's class -- some classmates were teasing a girl named Mona about having peach fuzz on her lip. Understandably, the young lady did not appreciate this type of attention so she, with the cunning one only finds in a junior high girl, distracted her persecutors by pointing out that Tara, another girl in our class, wore fuzz about a shade darker on her chin. Now, Tara was my friend, on whom I'd long had a secret, burning crush, so I stepped in and did what any gallant 13 year old boy would do when the object of his affection is being hazed by the adolescent mob --

I tickled her chin and said, "Ooohh! Tara has some manly hair on her chin!"

Not only did this delicate flower, light of my 7th grade life, knee me where it counts, she also picked up a text book -- judging by the weight I'd say Houghton-Mifflin's American history -- and brought it down on my head which, my hands clutching elsewhere at the moment, I had left undefended. I closed my eyes, and whether my friends were staring dumbfounded at the sight or whether I had lost consciousness, I cannot say, I only know I heard nothing. I think we can all agree that I deserved what I had got.

Contrast that with the present circumstances, won't you? Here I am, fulfilling the role of loving father like a pro. When unexpected and, I should think, unwarranted, I receive the same treatment. And not, mind you, from a middle school girl nursing a shattered self-esteem. No. The debilitation was inflicted by my own flesh and blood, who Wahoo-ed and Yahah-ed while assaulting my unmentionables.

To my knees I went, mercifully cushioned by the carpet. I tried to steady myself, but I still had a baby mounted on the back of neck. I pled for mercy.

"Charlie! Wait!"

Again, too late. He was coming round for another go.

"Take the baby!" I grunted in what my disoriented mind calculated was my wife's general direction.

Charlie pounced on my back.

"YAAAHAAAA!! I get you! I get you! HYAH!"

Jenny relieved me of the writhing burden I still held on my shoulders, but by the time we completed the transaction and I regained use of my hands, I could not employ them to defend against Charlie as he had succeeded in pushing me forward, creating an urgent need for me to defend my face against the carpet. I let out another groan upon impact, and while I lay, gasping for breath in a fog of shock and awe, Charlie stood up -- to do what I know not, but it felt like a jig. And there I rested: helpless, humiliated, howling.

Please, if you have a moment, say a prayer for the repose of the soul of my deceased aunt, Filomena Lugo, who passed away yesterday evening.

It's a special kind of terror that strikes ones heart when one hears one's 4 year old and 2 year old scream excitedly, "I peed standing up!"

Without getting into too much detail, I'll just say the words "arc," and "vector," and let your imagination fill in the rest.

From my wife, on the phone:

I have to go -- the boys are fighting and they have hammers.

La-di-da, la-di-dy
I sure love AskMeFi

A bit belated, but you get the picture!

To be Baptized in the Roman Catholic Church!

If you're going to the vigil tonight, say a prayer for Tony D, who will be Baptized this evening.

Me: hey bro,

Some dude named Hector Lu- in Philly wants to be my friend. Is he actually related to us? It's not Tio Hector...

Bro: No, it seems our name is a lot more common than you think. He's adding all the people with our surname and planning reuinions, calling us family. I'm waiting for him to hit me up for money.

For the record, I did know how common our last name is -- I've googled it and seen all of the police records...

"What's that Matthew?"

"It's my Hehcut!"

"What? Is it a plane?"

"Yeah! It's my Hehcut"

"Oh. I see. Hey, you drew it from two different angles! There's the side view and there's the view from above! That's really great! Is it a fighter plane?"

"Yeah! It's my Hehcut"

"Okay.... Babe, do you know what a 'hehcut' is?

"No, let me see... oh... did you see this on Babo's 'Dogfights' DVD?"

"Yeah! Do you like my Hehcut?"

"Yes it's great! Are you saying 'Hellcat?'"

"Yeah, that's right! It's my Hellcat!"

Of course you can, Pumpkin.

This one's for Aunt Criss -- the boys are thrilled with their baby brother.

Born January 30, 2008 at 11:15 AM

7 lbs 8 oz -- 20 in long -- brown hair, brown eyes

Delivered by some guy named Dr. Smith because our midwife couldn't get there in time. Jenny couldn't hold back and the baby was already crowned, so our nurse grabbed an off duty doctor who was standing in the hall who came into our room wearing a Hawaiian shirt to -- as he put it -- "make sure the baby didn't fall on the floor."

Little Tony is happy and healthy, though he spent most of his first 6 hours sound asleep,nursing just once! Mama-Lu was once again incredibly strong and brave, and is resting with the baby in the hospital.

We'll be home Friday. Matthew and Charlie should be home sometime after that to meet their baby brother.

Oh, and if you think he looks familiar it's because he could be Charlie's twin.

UPDATE: We're coming home today! Our hospital changed its policy sometime in the past week so that beta strep positive mothers' babies can be discharged after 24 hours!

Pray for us! I'll post pictures when I can.

1. They light up too!
   I believe it's plainly obvious that our society/culture is completely batsh*t insane. But if you need proof, drive around your neighborhood and count the number of artificial outdoor snowmen. Yeah, think about it.

2. In other words, "Slow down, Poppy!"
   3 year old: "WOW! It's kind of like a racecar!

3. It's about 50/50
   3 year old: "Me and God... we know everything."

Me, to armor-clad 3-year old: Wow! You look dangerous!

3yo: No! I look coooool!

Tracy can relate.

....Gramma Webb gets.

More here.

Your two year old shooting you with the rosary decade ring he wrapped around his toes during the 5th sorrowful mystery.

3 year old, as I'm emptying his potty into the toilet: "Are you amazed at my poop?!"

Hmmm... someday the boy will bring a young lady home, and instead of whipping out a photo album, I'm going to load my blog archives!

3-year old, after falling off bed: "Did you see my trick?"

3 year old: "Father Anthony hunts? With a gun?

3-yr old: Charlie, do you speak English?
1-yr old: No
3yo: Yeah! You speak English!
1yo: No
3yo: Say, "Matthew"
1yo: No
3yo: Say "Box"
1yo: No
3yo: Say "Feet"
1yo: No
3yo: Saaaaaaaaay "No"
1yo: No
3yo: Yeah! See? You speak English!
1yo: No

Hello again everybody!

I'm still inside Mama here, growing and growing. It's dark and kinda scary, but my guardian angel takes good care of me. Sometimes I feel Poppy's hand on Mama's tummy trying to find me. Sometimes I hide and make him keep trying, because I like when he says, "Where are you, baby?" Sometimes I do kick, but he can't always feel it because I'm still really little. But when I kick in just the right place, he laughs and laughs and says "Hi Baby!"

I have two brothers, and boy are they loud! I wonder if I'll be as crazy as they are! The one they call "Charlie-Jo" tries to jump on top of me sometimes, but Mama makes him get off. I think I'll have lots of fun with them once I get born.

Oh yeah, remember, I'm supposed to be born at the end of January. Poppy says it'll be early February because my brothers were both late. I don't think Mama likes it when he says that. I don't know why! Please pray for Mama and me so that everything goes well.

I can't wait to meet you!

A certain 3-year old, hanging his Cub hat on the post of his new bed:

"I'm going to put this here so I have nice Cubbie dreams."

This will only be of interest to those related to me by blood, but anyone else is welcome to click below:

The Lu- clan is off to the Third Annual Northern Camping Extravaganza. See ya next week!

Until then, read everything that Fr. Mark writes and check out Sonitus Sanctus, for all the Catholic-ish* mp3s you could ever want. On a lighter note, you could check out Breakfast of the Gods - a web comic book featuring all of the cereal mascots you grew up with. Rated PG-13 for language and violence.

* - by "-ish" I don't mean to imply they're not orthodox, just that there some stuff there that, though good, is not explicitly Catholic.

They actually let us go through with it! We have a house!

...we become homeowners on Monday.

Well, not so much homeowners as homeowers. We'll really own it in 30 years.

I look forward to meeting you early next year!

Me: "Matthew did you just fart?"

The 3-yr old: "No, I made a sound like a locomotive!"

Me: "Matthew, what are you supposed to do after you fart?"

The 3-yr old: "Chugga chugga choo choo!"

For the curious, he did eventually do what he was supposed to do - say excuse me and then go to the potty.

Last summer, The family took a trip to California. I started to blog on it, but after slogging through the unpleasant memories of getting ill at the end of the trip, I took a break and never got back to it. I was cleaning out unpublished posts and decided to go ahead and post the gruesome part. Here it is, for the morbidly curious.

Part 2

There's still time! Oh, and here's part 1 if you missed it.

Dale Price has a post devoted to St. Boniface, who feast day is today.

If you read this, please pray for us, as we're going to see a house that we're very optimistic about today. We're hoping St. Boniface is going to hook us up, as he unfailingly has in the past.

Oh, and while you're here, won't you say a prayer for Matthew Boniface:

Many of our friends and family know that we're looking to by a house this spring.

This is a little bit late, but we're praying a novena to St. Joseph and we'd be delighted if any of you would like to join us in asking for his help.

We're praying the following novena prayer, but if you could just add us to your intentions, that would be more than enough!

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I am confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God.

And no, we will not be burying a statue of him upside down anywhere!

When your toddler wakes up and tells you, "I dreamed about God!"

Just for the heck of it, and to please the masses in Chicago and Ohio, here's some more pics of the boys:

Christmas Morning:

Charlie partaking of 1st birthday cake:

The boys fingerpainting:

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Mama-Lu and I were in a wedding. Here's pictures of the boys from that evening that I thought I ought to share on account of my boys are studs:

The only problem here is, can anybody who knows my sister look at that picture of Matthew without seeing her?

Or: How to Avoid the Couch

When your King Arthur-obsessed 2 1/2 year old hands your wife a sword and tells her to be the Lady of the Lake, you better be darned sure she's seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail before you call her "my watery tart."

P.S. I did not actually get relegated to the couch, but the initial look I received when I made the comment was enough to ensure the mistake won't be repeated... for, you know, a few days.

P.P.S. In case you're wondering why I haven't posted any pics of the boys in a while, well, you see, we have this problem of losing technology. Don't worry, Rosie, we found the camera. The cell phone, on the other hand...

P.P.P.S. The purpose of this last note is solely to ensure that the picture of Matthew doesn't spill over on top of the post below.

:) (for good measure)

This is a very busy and exciting weekend for us. Tonight we're heded out of town to stand up in a very special family wedding. And then on Sunday, we get to be the Godparents at Baby Michael's baptism.

It is certainly an honor in both instances, and we ask you to please join us in praying for the happy couple and for Michael and his proud parents.

Has it only been one year?

Witness my son's love/terror relationship with my brother's pugle, Diego. You can catch a glimpse of both mama and papa in the picture.

And here's another one that pretty much tells you all you need to know about Diego:

or "Gaming the system with Catholicism."

One of the great things about celebrating Christmas starting on Christmas Day instead of for the 2 months leading up to it is walking into Menards on the 19th and walking out with a six foot tree for three bucks.

Take that, Amy!

Here is a list of words that sound like the f-bomb when spoken by Matthew:

fork
frog
fix it
smoke

Needless to say, his extended family finds this hilarious.

Well, the Lu-family is in the middle of our first major family purchase. We're buying a station wagon to haul the family around in. It's a white 97 Volvo with the old-school third row of seating that faces the rear. We went up to Chicago to see it and leave a down payment on Saturday. On Monday morning, I'm going to swing by the bank and get our loan which we got approved for and then we're going to head back up north to pick up the new Loogy-Mobile!

Happy Feast Day, Matthew Boniface!

Party at my parish after mass this evening!

Catholic Encyclopedia entry for St. Matthew.

Check out more pictures of Matthew and Charles dating from ~January to August here.

Somebody let me know if you have to login. You shouldn't have to.

Enjoy!

Sitting here listening to the sweet, sweet sound of Matthew tickling Charlie's toes:

M: "Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki!"
C: "YAAAAAAA HAHAHA YAAAAAAHAHAHA"

It strikes me that they could quite happily do this all day. In which case, maybe Mama-Lu and I could sneak out out for dinner and a movie....

To the folks at DCFS: Just kidding!

3 years ago today...

When we bound ourselves together, I could have not have imagined our life could be so rich in only three short years.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

To celebrate (and to satiate the masses), here are a few photos of the boys, dating back to January:

We had a meeting at our parish on Tuesday, and afterwards, I wanted to check out our new adoration chapel. After some confusion over how to get in (try the door, dummy!), I walked Matthew in and knelt with him in front of the monstrance while Mama-Lu held Charlie. There were two other people in there, including an elderly woman, so I whispered to Matthew that Jesus was there, and he whispered "Hi."

Next I said we were going to say a prayer, so we made the sign of the cross and I prayed the Hail Mary while Matthew stood with his head down, hands together and whispering, which is how he prays. You really need to see it to understand how cute it is.

Then I said we had to leave and asked Matthew to say bye. He forgot to whisper and said in his normal voice, "Bye-bye Jeez!" At this, the woman, seated behind us, let out an audible gasp. I thought she was going to pass out. I turned around and she was all smiles.

I'm used to Matthew and Charles filling my day with joy (well, when they're not filling it with rage). There are a thousand hidden moments that Jenny and I have experienced together with our children in the quiet of our home - moments of kindness, or exceptional feats of agility, strength or just plain cuteness - that approximate moments of spiritual conversion in the joy they bring. It makes me happy and yes, just a bit proud to be abe able to share some of that happiness with others.

Regina Marie, do not read this post.

Well, it's been a while since I've had something about the boys up here, so here's a little anecdote for you.

As with many toddlers, Matthew seems to grasp "b" words fastest. Words like, to grab three at random, baby, bump and the name of a friend of ours, who for privacy's sake I'll call "Betty."

Well, Betty is pregnant, and since Matthew loves babies, we told him she was having a baby. Oh how happy he was that day! "Betty, Betty, Betty, baby, baby, baby!" he repeated all day.

And then we made a mistake. We told him that BeTTY (thanks Lisa) was going to have a "baby bump" because her and her husband, who I'll call Jim, were having a baby.

You see a bump, to my son, is when you run into something, or fall and hit your head. A small mound is not a bump to him yet.

So how did this information process in his mind?

Well, first he was knocking himself on the head saying "Betty, bump baby."

No, we explained, Jim and Betty are having a baby... baby bump, etc.

Well, after some more mental wheel-turning, Matthew's final conclusion was that Jim had somehow "bumped" Betty and now she's pregnant.

And that, my friends, is how a euphemism is born.

Well, we're back from California.

I speculated on whether the retreat center would be still standing after my boys stormed it, and yes it is.

I however, am not.

It seems a bug of some sort swept through town, smiting both Matthew and me. He caught it Monday, puking all over himself after we went to the beach just north (I think) of San Pedro, and he's had diarrhea ever since.

Tuesday night, Jenny's aunt from Encino took us to Santa Monica and to a Mexican restaurant, Mariasol, that sits on a pier. They bill themselves as the closest to the sunset, which we could have seen if the waiter had remembered to put our order in and we hadn't waited a half hour or so for our appetizers alone. Anyway, after missing the sunset (it was a nice view anyway), we were driving home when my tummy start feeling funny. I asked Aunt Criss to pull over, and I got out, walked around, paid $2.50 for a Sprite and felt better. I got back in the car, Criss got back on the freeway, and about 20 minutes later, my tummy was back at it. As she was pulling off, I opened my mouth to ask her to pull over again, but what came out was not words, if you catch my drift. It was carnitas, shredded and half-digested. All over her car; all over me. Blaow.

We got home to the convent at 10 PM and of course it was all locked up, mercifully, Sr. Mary Louise had left us a note saying we could page her and she would let us in, which we did. And then I crawled into bed and woke up feeling 100% better.

Well, no, actually I went in, collapsed on the bathroom floor, and spent the next 6 hours being "prolificly ill," to euphemize the situation.

Wednesday morning, Jenny got on the phone to try to postpone our flights to give me some recovery time, and we found out that it would cost us over $1,000 to get on the same flights the next day. So at 10 AM, we loaded up the Carmelite's van and Jenny's sister drove us to the airport. Our flights went fairly well, but except for some apple slices in the morning I didn't eat a thing the whole day for fear of puking in my seat. Mama-Lu was a saint and a soldier, doing most of the heavy lifting so I could get by with just pushing the stroller around the airports.

So here I am, still sick, home an extra day from work. (I'm still trying to justify in my head how sitting at a computer blogging is different from sitting at a computer approving purchase orders and doing portfolio reviews.)

Up to the moment when I got violently and debilitatingly ill, the trip had gone marvelously wonderfully. The St. Joseph's Retreat Center is absolutely beautiful.

We're outta here!

The entire Lu-clan is going on a 5 day jaunt to sunny California (because you know, June is when you want to be heading south) to visit my sister-in-law, whom I've only met once.

"Why only once?" you ask. Because she is a Carmelite Sister of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles! We're going to Alhambra for a visit and will be staying with the Carmelites.

This is my first trip west of the Grand Canyon, so I'n pretty psyched for it, and word on the street is the Carmelites can't wait to meet my two boys. Here's hoping the place is still standing next week!

We're leaving first thing Saturday A.M. and will be gone until Thursday. Alert the media and hold all my calls.

And a special thanks goes out to Lisa (who is sitting in my living room talking to Mama-Lu right now) for making the tickets happen!

Today is a high feast day for my family. It is the name day of our firstborn, Matthew Boniface as well as a kind of foundational feast day for the Lu-Clan.

Who is St. Boniface?
Here's his Catholic Encyclopedia entry.

Here's a 17th century biography.

Here are the letters of St. Boniface.

Guys,

If you come home late from work for the nth time this week (where n can be any positive integer, less than 8) and you bring your caffeine-deprived wife some soda as a peace offering, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, drink said offering while she is putting your first-born to bed that very same evening. Don't do it, just DON'T DO IT. Even if in your mind you can justify it because you know she won't drink it that night and you can run out and replace it in the morning before she knows what you've done, don't do it. It's not worth it on any level whatsoever. Your wicked deed will be discovered, and you will pay.

This has been a public service announcement from Papa-Lu.

Today is Charles Joseph's baptism. Won't you please say a prayer today for my son as he becomes God's adopted son and a member of Christ's Church?