Somewhere Over The Rainbow

March 2010

2010-07-31T19:13:00.001-07:00

We took the kids to see Disney on Ice. Really it was more for Sydney than for Brody, but B was still under 2 and free, so we brought him along.

I took Syd to Sheer Madness to get all gussied up for the event. They did her hair like Cinderella at her request, and painted her nails and put on lots of glittery makeup. She felt like she was getting ready for the ball, or her wedding, or something HUGE like that. It was pretty cute how serious she took it.

She got to see all the princesses at the pre-show event.

This picture makes me giggle....striking a pose.

The next day we were snowed in, so I just cuddled with the kids on the couch. I think I smother Brody too much....he looks a little annoyed with me here.

But how could I ever resist this little doll face????Mr. Fix It

He goes into the battery drawer and gets out the little screwdrivers and pretends he's fixing toys. Guess he's seen me change a battery or two on some beloved toys.

This is what I love about having babes in the house....they're allowed to get away with showing so much more skin than we are! If Jeff went outside in his undies with nothing else on but tennis-shoes and a rain coat, I'd sign us up for marriage counseling! But, when my kids do it, I grab the camera.

Kitty, formerly known as Sweet Pea, or "Maow-maow" by Brody

Kitty and Brody had a special bond. He's the only one who truly loved that cat. Honestly, he is an animal lover...no matter where we go who who's animal it is.

We had to put ole'Kitty down in June. She was 17 years old, if memory serves, and was losing her sight....had trouble finding her food and water. I hope we provided her a good and loving home. She will be missed (but not too badly-isn't that awful!). We have a neighbor cat that looks just like her and she's an outdoor cat, so the kids can play with her whenever they want.

It totally looks like Brody is nursing this baby doll-LOL!

I keep telling Sydney that she needs to be super nice to Brody because one day he'll be bigger than her and then its payback time.....its all fun and games for now though.

Brody thought he could fit in this little basket with the kitty, but it left him covered with hair so it was a "No-No!".

And...this is Brody after being told "No-No!" by Mommy.

When I say this, it makes me sound like a bad mom, but whatever.....My kids LOVE McDonald's and will do almost anything for it. Its not that they love the food so much, but the whole Happy Meal experience must just do it for them.

I can use McD's to bribe them into being good, cleaning the house, riding in the car for 9 hours, taking shots at the doc, being good at the dentist...almost anything imaginable.

February 2010

2010-07-31T18:10:00.001-07:00

Maybe February was a slow months for us....but honestly I can't remember at this point. I did start a new job in January, so maybe that's the cause.....I'm with ADP now. No longer in transportation, and since this blog is so far outdated I'll go ahead and update you that it is going very well!

Nonetheless, here's some picts of the kids coloring at the table one weekend evening. Sydney decorated Brody with princess stickers. This is just one of the many things they do well together.

We are already preparing our kids for a full college experience. They will be well trained in all the necessary skills for survival. Beer Bottle Whistling is just one of the many skills we will be refining!

January 2010-Sydney's 4th Birthday

2010-07-31T08:29:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Sydney's 4th birthday at Monkey Bizness. Since the previous April she'd been inviting EVERYONE in her preschool class to her party, so we knew it would be a big one this year and that there was no way I was willing to host it at our house!

Here they are getting the rules & instructions for the party. It was SUPER nice to have extra help included with the party package. I wasn't responsible for any hurt kids....not even my own (lol!)

There was a tot area for Brody and the other younger siblings, but it didn't hold him for long.Sydney LOVES Monkey Bizness, and since the inflatables are big enough for adults too, so do I!

Sydney & Maddie Stowell

Even though she's a big ol' 4 year old now, she's still not too old to be scared of the rock wall. Can you tell how high she was willing to go?

My little "monkey" swinging.

Just like the first born that she is, Sydney helped organize (aka: "boss") everyone for a picture.

All that jumping & running around made the kiddos thirsty & hungry!

Sydney & Nathan Ogden

Here's a tip for those parents out there who haven't done a birthday party with 20+ kids and only 30 minutes to eat, have cake, and open gifts......Open the gifts at home!!! We had to rush her through the presents so fast it was exhausting. She didn't get to eat her lunch before we had to start opening. We were so pushed for time a the end that the givers of the last opened gifts were in tears making sure that theirs got opened in time. I think Sydney liked being overwhelmed with gifts, but I wasn't prepared for it. Maybe next year I'll request donations to her college fund instead!

Sydney's last day as a 3 year old:

Just some random Brody video so when I check this in the future I'll be stunned at how little he is!

For all concerned, I was driving safely while this movie was filmed. I didn't actually watch him anymore than I would have been trying to keep him awake regardless of the flip camera being in my hand

December 2009

2010-04-05T20:56:00.000-07:00

So, here's my plan to get back on the blogging wagon. If I do the months since Thanksgiving (my last post) one at a time, and not by individual event, then maybe I can get caught up w/out depriving myself of too much sleep.

As I've said many times before, this is really just for the Grandparents. Especially, since I've only blogged like 3 times in the past year, no one is checking this anymore. Heck- I'm the photographer, author, and publisher-and even I'd given up on it!

(And, for the sake of time & my sanity, these pictures loaded in reverse chronological order, and I don't have it in me to rearrange them one by one)

We ended December back in KC. We celebrated our 2nd Christmas just as a 4-some, since Santa came to our house while we were gone and the gifts from the rest of the family didn't fit into the car for the round trip.

It was a quick & dirty job, Santa only put bows on most of the gifts since he knew we'd be tired from our trip when we arrived (what a thoughtful guy!).

Brody likes to stare right into the camera & take advantage of a Sydney free moment.

Sydney has been just ticked to have her own personalized luggage.

Now that we have The Hunchback of Notre Dame Syd likes to dance around like Esmeralda.

The DVD player keeps Sydney quite in the car while Brody naps. Seriously, what did people do on road trips before DVD players? Oh, that's right, the kids weren't in car seats & they bounced all over the car. At least, that's what we did!

Happy travelers!

Jeff, gettin' some Brody lovin'This train set was the coolest gift Brody had ever wished for. Too bad it was for Trevor! We had to break it to him easy. There were tears.His "CAR-CAR" (said with a loud, gruff voice) was a good distraction and he hardly missed the train.Isn't Christmas Grand!

Brody couldn't wait till after we opened gifts to eat breakfast. He was getting crabby, so I fed him donuts. Who isn't happier when they've got 2 of the glazed rounds from heaven in their belly?Sydney's big gift from us this year was to go to gymnastics. I've signed her up for the full year (which is probably a lifetime, or at least until she's old enough to decide if she doesn't' want to do it anymore). She begged to go to gymnastics since last April when she started preschool and saw the "flipping" girls do cool tricks on the swing set.We bought her a few leotards to get her started, and she immediately stripped down & put one on. Then she showed us some of her moves, as if by wearing the leotard she transformed into a trained gymnast with all the moves.

Brody got a CARS dish set from Santa & he immediately needed to drink from the cup, just to see how cool it was.More super-cool gymnast moves from Sydney

We did Christmas Eve at Sharon's house. At UPS everyone, and I mean everyone, works Christmas Eve. Luckily, I volunteered to take a mis-routed package to Columbia, MO around 10:30 am, and we were able to leave in time to stay ahead of the weather and get to Sharon's in time to put on our best duds and join the celebration.

Better than toys, is trash! Well, when you're one and people gently throw balls of wrapping paper your way so you can dunk them in the trash bag.Sydney had to use her new Princess blanket right away. Drew got the matching one. Wish I would have snapped a picture of the two of them together with their blankies. These snap around you like a snuggie.

Santa came to the Christmas dinner at church. Sydney wasn't shy at all. Brody wasn't into to Santa that much. He was content to watch Sydney from the safety of his eating chair.We celebrated the season at Micah & Beth's house with the Hunt & Wilson clans. Between Sydney & Addie Sue, you couldn't possibly get 2 little girls with more personality & spunk-it just isn't possible.If Sydney was a penguin...

The girls decorate a ginger bread house every year. This year was the messiest by far!Such princesses!

Brody's the only little boy around most of the time. I'm sure he would have played princess dress up with the girls had he been invited, but luckily Aaron was willing to hammer the balls with him.

Let me begin this next segment by stating that I know every parent things their child is a star, especially the first born. I do often remember to check myself & not get carried away when she gets praise from teachers or other adults. I know that I'm bias. So, when her teachers told me before the preschool Christmas program that Sydney was their "little star-because she knows all the words and isn't shy and sings the loudest" I didn't think much of it. I was totally unprepared for how she stole the show. I only wish I had a longer clip of video as proof. I don't think anyone would contest. She was so dominating that I laughed until I had tears rolling down my face.They sang the "12 letters of the school year" instead of the 12 days of Christmas.This is when they said "Baaa-Ba-Ba-Beeeee" (where "5 golden rings" would have been sung). Are you starting to see what I was talking about? I'm pretty sure she's singing as loud as she possibly can. I'm laughing now just looking at this & remembering!

This is Brody's Kindermusik class, that ended in December. Miss Laura, whom my children (and I) LOVE, is taking time off to stay with her new twin boys. Check out my guy making a break for it. This is why I always have more pictures of Syd than of Brody. The child never holds still!

For the 2nd year in a row Syd has had her own tree in her room. She took extra pride in decorating it this year and didn't let me help a bit.

For the Christmas program at our church, Sydney wasn't the only shiningg star. Actually, they were all shiny advent candles. Aren't they just adorable!

Despite the appearance of this picture, Brody did actually enjoy the evening.

Thanksgiving in Florida

2009-11-29T13:23:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

B is for Brody

2009-11-18T08:12:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

Brody's 1 Year Photo's

2009-06-08T20:36:00.001-07:00

Its been so long since I've posted, that I think the first person to check this blog should get an award! Leave a comment so I know someones still checking. (If not, I'll just mass email this out so you know I'm trying to make time in my life for this again)

Here's about 1/2 of the pictures we had taken at Brody's 1 year photo shoot. Some are the good ones we got prints of, but some are just pretty funny. We couldn't get Brody to hold still long enough to take a picture-he's a handful! He kept trying to pry himself loose from Sydney, but she was a very patient big sister. He's got 1 of 4 molars, and must be cutting the rest now because it was hard to keep his hands & everything else out of his mouth. He even tried to bite the soccer ball & made his mouth bleed. Got blood all over me, and I was wearing white....so we only had a few select family-of-four pictures to pick from (the pre-bleed shots).

Enjoy! One day I'll catch up on what we've missed since Christmas.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Time Flys......

2008-12-16T19:42:00.001-08:00

The explanations & stores are going to be brief, since I'm so far behind on blogging. Here's what we've been up to for the last 6 weeks:

Brody's first taste of rice cereal. He ate 3 bowls!

Sydney enjoying a witches hat (ice cream cone) at the Halloween Party

Enjoying a donut at the party

My littlest pumpkin

Sydney trying to win the contest to eat a donut w/out using her hands. She was so dedicated that I almost felt bad for her. It was super windy & cold outside, so all the other kids gave up and went inside...but she kept on brushing her hair out of her face & trying again. I finally just gave it to her & told her she won so we could go inside. God bless her little heart!

all the big kids

Sydney made me a cake for my 30th birthday. Can you tell she put the sprinkles on all by herself?

This crown has been a favorite accessory since VBS this summer. The feather wreath was out for Brooke's baby shower, and Syd like to dance with it as a tutu.

This scratch on her face is from a fit she threw at Paula's. She was having a hard time adjusting to my new work schedule, but I think we're doing better now.

Tanner came over to spend an evening with us. They were so cute in their (almost) matching pj's.

I let them take a shower together for some good "clean" fun. I can't show most of the pictures in case any weirdos look at this page, but I'm sure you can imagine how much squealing & fun they had! They were in there so long we totally ran out of hot water!Brody is such a good cuddle baby

Learning to sit up. He really figured this out right after Thanksgiving & now sits like a champ!

One afternoon, right before I went back to work, I left Syd playing while I put Brody down for his nap. When I came back out, she'd just fallen asleep in the middle of her toys & inside of this pop-out ice cream truck. She's such an angel when she's asleep!

My cutie in her Strawberry Shortcake outfit waiting for me to get ready in the morning.

My boys in brown

This is a common scene...Brody pulling Syd's hair

And me prying open his grabby hands to free her

What a funny expression!

5 month pict November 4, 2008: Brody's shirt predicts him to be the future president. Not this year bub, Mr. Obama's the winner-hooray!

Clean ducky

Sydney sang "Twinkle twinkle Christmas Star" in her debut appearance in the annual Christmas program at church. She made me so proud & sang ever word very seriously!

The "Christmas Moose" is very entertaining to my kids (really its a reindeer that sings & dances, but Syd thinks its a moose)

Sydney got her very own big-girl Christmas tree this year. Cousin Trevor has one in his room, and she was very jealous of it after our Thanksgiving visit.

Jumping for joy

See those teeth? Razor sharp! He's bit me half a dozen times, yikes!

Its really hard to stay mad at this face though

First snow! Jeff showed Syd how to catch it on her tongue.

Try as he may, Jeff is still learning that there is no sleeping in with babies in the bed

Syd practicing her photography skills. See how nice Jeff's teeth look? He's nearly done with his invisaline (quite an investment!)

Our last trip was Sydney's first time to sleep without the Pack N Play. She outgrew it a while back, but we kept using it anyway. For her 2nd birthday, Addie Sue got her this inflatable Dora bed. She was so excited to use it. We practiced the night before we left town to make sure there weren't any surprises. It worked like a charm!

Brody enjoyed it too (which means he tried to eat it)

Gram got this gift when Brody was born. He & Sydney both really appreciate it. I've been pleasantly surprised at how many toys they can enjoy together.

Who can resist a naked baby bum?

Brody enjoys his feet most of all. When he's naked, I can't hardly keep them out of his mouth long enough to wash them.

6 month picts

he always tries to eat the elephant

And his shirt...he's such an oral baby. This probably means I need to baby proof soon. Syd never put things in her mouth, so I'm probably in trouble this time!

I will post again, soon!

2008-11-16T21:13:00.001-08:00

I promise I will post again soon.....maybe Monday night if I'm lucky! I started back to work 2 weeks ago at UPS, converting my old DHL customers through the US shut down. Kinda a sad time seeing the company I worked for for 5 years shrink down to a fraction of the size & everyone I knew scatter in the wind. I feel lucky to have a job, especially given these economic times............but I miss my kids horribly & nearly all other aspects of my life are being neglected.

On top of all this Jeff has volleyball 4 nights a week and the last 2 Saturdays were full 8 hour days at the gym for try-outs!

I think we're finally getting into a routine & figuring things out. I have actually managed to take some pictures of my kids in the last couple of weeks......so.....more to come soon!

Christmas Shopping

2008-10-31T13:51:00.001-07:00

Imagine if everyone had this on their wishlist:

http://adventconspiracy.org/

Sydney's Glasses

2008-10-22T09:57:00.001-07:00

So, we officially got Syd's glasses on Friday afternoon. I was a little nervous that it was going to be a long weekend of battling her over them, but my wonderful daughter amazed us by not complaining once. I think the trouble at first in the office is that they were teaching her the proper way to put them on, take them off, & put them away all by herself. She's just not quite ready for that yet, so as long as one of us do it for her all is good. Her favorite part of having glasses is putting them to bed each night in thier "suit case".

I tried to get some side shots so you could check out the decor on the sides of the arms. Miss Liz, our glass consultant, said that this new trend is all the rave.
I've been getting asked a lot how we knew she needed glasses at such a young age. It started more than a year ago that she would close one eye while she was eating, or sometimes when she was talking with someone sitting beside her. Or, I would catch her looking at her food cross eyed. Doc said she's farsighted & that she was having double vision when she focused up close. Her Rx is not a strong one, 1.5 in both eyes, but I guess it was enough that I don't see her crossing anymore. Doc also said that everyone is born farsighted, some more than others, and that this adjusts with age. He anticipated that she'd outgrow the need for glasses at around 9 or 10 years of age.
Brody got his first tooth yesterday. I haven't got a picture of this razor in his drooly mouth yet, but I'll try again tomorrow. He's obsessed with running his tongue over it and I can't get him to move it so I can see the tooth very often.

Fall is my favorite time of year in KC

2008-10-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a month, so this is a long one folks!

My kids at bedtime, all pj'd up. Brody fell over.....Syd was there to catch him.

How can you tell when Brody's tired???? He rubs his eyes.
And yawns real big.
A few weekends ago we went to Tanner's 3rd birthday party. He got every little kids dream....pony rides! Gabrielle is the little girl in the picture below with Syd. She & her older sister, Isabelle, go to church with us. Sydney always asks where the "dirls" are and calls them "Dabrielle & the other Dabrielle". They are both so sweet with her!

A feeble attempt at a group picture.
Brody with his cowboy hat & cowboy face on.

We went to RenFest again this year. I actually think we've gone every year that we've lived in KC. The last few years we struggled with mud, but the weather was perfect this year. Sydney is really into pretend play and she's usually a princess or a fairy. This day she was a fairy princess. Its so real in her little mind! When I put on her wings she said "Mommy, when do I get little so I can fly around?". How darling! She honestly thought the wings would be like magic and make her small like Tinker Bell so she could fly around. I had to let her down easy-don't want to crush that imagination.The unicorn princess/fairy (above) gave Syd a magic jewel. It was hot pink & she loved it. In fact, she carried it around for nearly a week until it was sadly misplaced. Before Syd could play in the fairy house with Addie Sue, she had to tuck it safely in her pocket.

The girls loved these cute little pod looking things. They would swing it around by the ropes holding it up. Since Sydney got wings her first RenFest, we decided that Brody needed a hat. Lucky for him, Aunt Meghan was there to treat him. Sydney thought he looked like royalty in his hat.A brother this cute deserves a kiss!Meghan took this picture from her phone while she was here. I feel awful that we didn't even get any pictures of her with the kids. I'm usually the picture taker, but my hands are so busy & full these days that I've let it slip a lot! Meghan, we'll get you with the kiddos at Thanksgiving!An early Halloween Treat. Jeff is the king of treats & sweets. Hardly a day goes by that he doesn't bring her something home from work.
Apparently I gave Brody a little of the "deer in the headlights" affect here.
Crown Center had a Pumpkin Patch festival thingie to raise money for TLC (http://www.kidstlc.org/). It was great fun. Syd made a ghost out of a Tootsie Roll Pop. The ghost decor lasted about 45 seconds, and the she asked if she could eat it.Syd, not so sure about the Blue Crayon.Lovin' the pony ride.This is how Brody enjoyed the festivities!You might not be able to tell in this shot as much, but my boys look just a like! Especially this day, since they both had on black.We picnic lunched it at Jeff's office afterwards. His building connects to Crown Center, so it worked out perfectly.Our pick:My skeleton man, just cause he's so cute....and I don't always get enough pictures of him since he sleeps through a lot.Jeff prides himself on pumpkin carving. We decided not to do a demonic pumpkin this year, since Syd's imagination often goes overboard and she gets scared. I'm not sure why she doesn't have pants on in this picture....probably because she'd gone potty by herself and decided that they weren't necessary as long as underware were on.

I wanted to get a shot of it lit at night, but I tried several settings on the camera so the flash didn't drown out the inside light....my attempts are below.

Yes, I'm still waiting to take a photography class!

Its so sad, but I think this might be the first time in 5 months that I've taken a picture with both my kids. We usually play a man-on-man defense between Jeff and me.

More....just because I love them so much. And, because I don't always get things documented elsewhere before I forget, I'll make a few notes here. Sydney got glasses on Friday. I haven't taken a picture of her in them yet (outside of the ones in my camera), but I will soon & get it posted. Her prescription isn't real strong, but she's farsighted enough that she was having trouble focusing. She was getting double vision on closer items, and it was most apparent at meal time when she had to close one eye to focus on her food. She has done a wonderful job of keeping them on. It makes Jeff and I a little sad because she looks like such a big girl in them. Anyway, more on that later!
Brody rolled over for the first time on Friday. He's only done it once, but it was still exciting. He was on our bed (in the middle, with pillows around the sides so he wouldn't fall off) and I was getting ready. I put him down on his tummy (like the picture below) and the next time I glanced over he was on his back! I cheered so much that I think I might have scared him a little. Later that night, after bathtime, he was naked in his towel & laying on the floor when he discovered his feet. A baby playing with their feet is one of my favorite things. He kept trying to put them in his mouth, but couldn't quite get them there yet.

American Prayer

2008-10-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.myamericanprayer.com/video.html

Please make sure you are registered to vote!

Brody at 4 months

2008-10-03T23:14:00.000-07:00

Brody Parade:

5 days1 month 2 months
3 months

4 months Brody's stats:
Weight- 16lbs 4oz, 75%
Length- 26 3/4", 96%
Head- 17", 75%
He's tall & skinny! Hardly any of those baby rolls that are so hard to keep clean, but he does have those cute little dimples on his kuckles.

Checking out his ceiling fan

Sportin' a cowboy hat at Tanner's Birthday Party
Posin' with his sister

Big yawn...time for bed!

Brody diddies:

He laughs hysterically when you cough
Gets scared and cries when I sneeze, especially if I'm nursing him
Takes a bottle like a champ, on the rare occasion he's given the opportunity (unlike his sister at this age)
Drools like nobody's business. Sometimes he goes through 2 or 3 shirts a day because I just can't keep him dry
Likes to have raspberries blown on his stomach
Loves being naked
Slams his feet down on the bed to make loud noise when he's in his bed by himself trying to fall asleep (Sydney did the same thing)
Prefers sleeping with his head tilted to the right, hence the huge flat spot on this side of his head. I go in once or twice before I call it a night to push his head to the other side, but it doesn't seem to be helping.
Can hold his rattle and get it into his mouth
Typically goes to bed easily around 7 or 7:30, but likes to wake up at 2 am for some company. I don't feed him, but I can't let him make noise for too long or Sydney wakes up & then the day is crabby for everyone. So, usually Jeff or I check his diaper, sooth him, give him a binkie, and leave hoping he falls back asleep or stays quite enough for Syd to stay asleep. He goes right back to sleep, so I'm not sure why he's bothering to wake up at this time...although, maybe its for the reason below:
HATES being dirty or wet in his nether region. I understand the not wanting to be soiled, but he doesn't even like being wet. He doesn't tolerate a used diaper for very long.
Loves to stand up on your lap and look you in the eye. He usually tries to open mouth kiss while standing on your lap
Thinks Sydney is the greatest thing in our house, only second to me sometimes (feeding times). I hope she's a good influence on him, because he already wants to follow her around and can't take his eyes off her

Last weekend: my leg & the kiddos

2008-09-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

On Friday I had a varicose vein in my left leg fixed. Basically, they go in from the bottom with a catheter & laser it from the top. The vein collapses & becomes obsolete-problem solved. However, the part of the vein that was visible & all stretched out had to come out. I'll spare you the details, but the doc was wrestling my calf for a good 20 min trying to get all the bad vein out through tiny little incisions. I was VERY glad I was numbed up well.

I had to wear a multi-layer pressure wrap on my leg until Monday morning, so that meant no showering. It was so thick & tight that I felt like I had a cast on. I was also supposed to keep it elevated to chest level & only get up once an hour to use the bathroom or get something to eat. Yeah, that was pretty tricky! Here, Sydney is decorating it with stickers to help my boo-boo get better. Syd was really impressed because it was the biggest band aid she's ever seen & she's really into band aids.
And like all boo-boos in our house, kisses were needed.
Last week I got out the exersaucer for Brody (aka Bubba, or BaBaBooie) He's got pretty good head control, but a little wobbly around his trunk, so I padded him with a blanket.

I was super surprised to see him reaching for the toys & interacting with it so much. He LOVES it, and I LOVE that he loves it! What did moms do before these things????

Sydney being a little mommy. Her baby is in the exersaucer & wolfie is getting a binkie.

This is exactly why I can't cut her hair. Seriously, she's 2 1/2 and never had a trim! I'm not sure whats going to happen. Its ridiculously long & gets mad tangles every day. I think I'd just ball for days if I cut the curls off.
Look how crazy long this ringlet is!
Jeff doing his bedtime duties. As a side note to you parents out there-if you ever have trouble getting your little ones to put their pj's on, just get them glow-in-the-dark pj's. Syd LOVES these & never protests one bit on the nights she gets to wear them.And, this is my leg today. The little strip marks are where the incisions are from pulling out the bad vein. I'm impressed that I'm not bruised more since the nurse told me to expect to be blue from my hip to my toes. I am sore from my hip to my toes, but its fairly mild & livable. I wear a support stocking 24/7 till further instructions on Friday's follow up visit.

I try not to get political, but sometimes I can't help myself

2008-09-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

(I recieved this in an email today)

We are facing a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression, but there's something you can do to make your voice heard right now:

http://my.barackobama.com/econrecovery

The Obama campaign is asking folks to support a responsible recovery plan that is fair to taxpayers and will fix our broken economic policies moving forward.

It's actually a very simple plan:

* No Golden Parachutes -- Taxpayer dollars should not be used to reward the irresponsible Wall Street executives who helmed this disaster.

* Main Street, Not Just Wall Street -- Any bailout plan must include a payback strategy for taxpayers who are footing the bill and aid to innocent homeowners who are facing foreclosure.

* Bipartisan Oversight -- The staggering amount of taxpayer money involved demands a bipartisan board to ensure accountability and oversight.

Join me and support these principles for economic recovery:

http://my.barackobama.com/econrecovery

Brody's 3 month Photoshoot

2008-09-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

These are a little late, but still as adorable as can be. It was just Jeff and Brody at this picture session, and I am very impressed with how well they turned out & how good of a job Jeff did in picking out the prints.

Below are some of our faves (w/out editing, like they do at the store before you print):

Here's a slide show of all the pictures taken. I left the "bad" ones in because I think they're funny & still cute. I laugh out loud at a few because I know Brody is just so funny sometimes! (ps-I couldn't get photoshow to work, and I'm not a fan of this smilebox thing, but it was all I had patience for)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Stinkin' Cute!

2008-09-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

These are just some random pictures from the last few weeks. Every day I can't get over how cute my kids are. They just do the most adorable & hilarious things.

We went to Deanna Rose last week. I didn't' get many pictures of Sydney with the animals (probably because my hands were busy with Brody & cranking out food for the dirt balls).

I did get these picts of her as a cow farmer:

I couldn't help myself, I put the kids in their Halloween outfits already. I could only get a 2T for Sydney, and I wanted to make sure I could get it on her before it was too late to make a change. We actually bought Brody's outfit last year, before we knew he was a "he". They didn't have a matching one in Syd's size, so that's why they don't match exactly. The body fits her fine, but the hat is no where close. I think I might cut the back & make some "mommy adjustments" if I can't find a larger one soon. Jeff and I will probably be gardeners, tending our pumpkin patch.

Sydney, on the last day of summer.
I just love this little outfit on Brody. He almost never got to wear it, but we had a lucky cool snap last week. He's totally outgrown it, so I had to go & get one in a larger size for this fall.
Another number he's outgrown. I have such a hard time parting with the clothes as my kids grow out of them......sounds weird to me, but its totally true.
Sydney "reading" up on Baby Bargains.

PROTECT OUR CHILDREN!!!!!!

2008-09-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

Because I love my kids so much, and I want the innocence they possess to remain unharmed......

Help Pass Senate Bill 1738—The PROTECT Our Children Act

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080911_tows_predators

I was honestly physically ill watching this show. Its unbelievable what evils are out there, right around the corner, on our computers, and we don't even know it.

Please click the link to find the email addresses of your local Senators & ask, beg them to PASS BILL 1738 before September 26th!!!!!

This bill has been passed by the House & it is to provide law enforcement more money to track & arrest these pedophiles.

My heart breaks tonight as I go to bed thinking of the thousands of innocent children out there, younger than Sydney even, who are being exploited online.

While Jeff was in surgery.....

2008-08-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

This is what the kids & I did on Friday while Jeff was having his hernia repaired:

Batting practice: These are some mad skills shown below! Watch out MLB, here she comes!

Choking up on the bat
Notice Syd's perfect form. Can you tell her mother's been the one coaching her!

Bam! Its outta here!
Oh, maybe not. Should I go get it?

(This is how far most of her hits go. Sometimes the "T" goes with it)She thinks this is so funny! I don't know what to do about it. She starts giggling every time she sticks her finger in her nose & its so contagious that we all start giggling too. Not really the way to curb the behavior. I tell her its gross & it makes her hands dirty & spreads germs....she couldn't care less about any of those things.

If at first you don't succeed.....(talk to the ball)
Try & try again! Contact!

Running around the bases, or rather the piles of grass Jeff started to thatch before deciding it didn't agree with his hernia.I love action shots, they make me giggle.Sydney's finally starting to show some interest in pedaling herself. Many of her peers got this a while back, buy my girl's been perfectly happy to be pushed around effortlessly since getting the trike at Christmas. She tends to get caught up in turning the trike with her feet instead of using them for motion & her hands for turning.Litter Bug! BTW: Sydney woke up this morning & picked out her own clothes. I usually give her options, but she beat me to it this time. She also aided me in her hair style, so its a little on the wild side. She's little miss Independent about tasks, but not so much into being away from us for long amounts of time. Her separation anxiety kicked in again when Brody came along. Brody chilled in his bouncy chair during Syd's batting practice. We LOVE this bouncy chair & used it a TON when Syd was little too. For any of you new or expecting moms that check this blog-this is a MUST have! I know its a little on the girlie side with its birds & butterflies, but I keep assuring myself its okay since its primarily yellow & blue. This little birdie is one of his favorite friends. He gets all 4 limbs going when I make it spin around & he often talks to it in quite in depth conversations.So, we're pretty much living in the basement right now since Jeff is fairly immobile. Both my kids took HUGE afternoon naps today, so I took this opportunity to snooze a little myself. Syd was naughty this morning & lost her buddy as punishment. Lucky for me it was perfect for my snooze. Jeff thought it was just too funny & snapped this pict.

At times, Sydney does such a wonderful job of taking on her big sister role. Here's my kids on the bed while I got dressed for the day. She's "reading" Brody a sticker book of Mickey Mouse.Syd was randomly coloring at the island while I fixed dinner. I heard her say, "Look, Momma. "S" for Sydney." I looked over & sure enough, she'd drawn an "S". I didn't think anyone would believe me, so I snapped a pict. Unfortunately, she'd proceeded to scribble over it before I got the camera out. Do you see it below? Not sure if this was entirely intentional or not, but I was pretty impress nonetheless, as any mother would be.

Brody at 3 months

2008-08-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

This is my big man stretching out during a diaper change tonight. Its amazing how much he's changing. This is when it really starts to get fun! He's sleeping better, laughing more, and smiling all the time. He really loves his family, even his crazy sister! He just gives us the best smiles & just brightens up our home.
Brody at 5 days
1 month

2 months

3 months

I weighed my little man today on the home scale & he was 15.2 lbs. We don't have a doc appt till he's 4 months, so that will have to do for now. I haven't measured him yet, but hopefully I'll get around to it tomorrow while we play hookie from church.

Brody diddies:

Slept for 8 hours last night. Hooray! What's amazing about that is that we've been "crying it out" for a week now & his sleep had been progressively getting worse & worse. I think this is because he has a bad habit of swallowing air when he's fussy which gives him chest pain until he's burped. I wimped out & decided that this wasn't making any of our lives better (completely opposite of how I was with Sydney). I held him for about 2 minutes (that's how long it took him to fall asleep since he's exhausted from the week of not sleeping well) and he was out until 5:30 this morning!
He still takes a binkie when falling asleep, but it is a very brief affair & we pretty much limit it to the bed now.
He thinks Sydney is the coolest thing since sliced bread. I predict this interest increasing for the next 3-5 years.
He sleeps in his carseat, which we place in his bed. I think this sounds totally unorthodox, but it actually came at the recommendation of our nurse. I discharged the idea when first presented to me, but after I got off my high-horse & tried it I was impressed. It really seems to be the trick for him. It helps him not do that "I'm falling from outer-space" jump when I lay him down & must help his reflux (which I'm still not convinced he has because the medicine doesn't seem to make a difference-and thus I often forget to give it to him until he's already asleep)
He is such a trooper during bathtime with Sydney. I've been amazed since day 1 how calm & relaxed he is in the water. Maybe he's the next Michael Phelps! I bought a new mesh bath chair for him so its easier for them to bathe together. He slides off of it, wasn't a great purchase, but it works as long as I keep a hand on him at all times (which I should do anyway in a big tub with a big sister splashing around).
His evening fussiness went away while we were in Florida & he started sleeping right through dinner time. He would actually sleep 7-8 hours then, but it started too early for me to count it as "night sleep"
He is totally ticklish nearly everywere, but especially under his chin & around his collar bones, on his ribs, and the tops of his thighs.
I think he totally has a blankie already. I know, I'm breaking all the rules this time. I drape a blanket over him while he's in his chair at night, just over his bottom half, I admit it. He prefers this chenille green blanket, that actually used to be Sydneys. It was one of the only non-pink things I could re-use. If he's awake when I give it to him he eagerly grabs it & rubs it on his mouth. He does not do this with any other blankets. We'll see if it sticks, but its pretty cute for now.

I love my boy & can't get enough of him & those soft little cheeks.

FLORIDA (in reverse)

2008-08-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

This post is just entirely too long for me to organize the pictures in chronological order, so this is how I loaded them. Its basically in reverse order.

We visited Pensacola's Naval Air Station, as we always do. This was Sydney's 3rd trip to NAS & she basically gave us the guided tour herself. She wasted no time going to exactly what she wanted, which was the planes she could "drive". (So he doesn't feel left-out someday when reading this historic blog, Brody was there too, but slept the entire time in his stroller. Although super cute, it wasn't necessarily picture worthy)

(Jeff showing off his legs...one of his best assets!)

Reece had this talking bird in his room. Sydney thought it was the best thing ever-someone who likes to talk as much as she does! It repeats everything that you say twice while flapping its wings. She managed to wear the batteries out in a single morning.

The drive between Pensacola & Destin is about 45 minutes-1.5 hours depending upon traffic. We were lucky enough to borrow Ally's minivan while in town. Syd loves this because she knows she gets to watch movies in this van-a special treat! Its a nice treat for Jeff and I as well. This is one of the few times she is quiet.While walking on the beach one morning in Destin, we came across a Great Blue Heron. Well, it was more like he came upon us. There was a school of fish just off shore & he was eyeing it. He let us get surprisingly close before flying off.

Sydney liked chasing the birds on the beach.

No matter how fast she ran, they always managed to escape her.

Brody enjoyed walks on the beach as well. In fact, he enjoyed them so much that he slept the entire walk!

Sydney can talk her Papa into almost anything: jumping on the bed, extra ice cream, saying up past bedtime, and the old "1-2-3 swing" move shown below. I think they got a good work out that morning!
My girl loves the beach! Funny story, so sorry I don't have pictures to correlate: after an afternoon of sandcastle building in her swimsuit, we came back inside for dinner. I decided it was a good idea to change her into clothes before eating, so I started to strip her 1-piece off. As I peeled it down her tummy, I noticed some sand inside, so I took her outside on the balcony to finish the job. Little did I know that there was literally an entire bucket full of sand crammed in the bottom of the suit & in the bottom of my little girl. She had a sand wedgie! She didn't mind the sand until I tried to remove it. We left the pile of sand out on the balcony & I took her to the shower to wash all her unmentionable places. I could have used a bidet, but I had to make do.

We took family pictures on the beach in coordinating blue shirts, similar to 2 years ago. We had to go a little earlier this year because of the kids mealtimes & bedtimes, so the sun wasn't as ideal, but we're a good lookin' bunch none the less. The pictures leave a little to be desired. If we were ever going to hire a professional to do the job, this would have been the year to do it. Getting 4 kids under 4 to cooperate for a family picture is pretty much impossible, especially when they're hungry!

Speaking of good looking, here's Reece practicing self photography. The "Big" kids being troopers as the sun burns their retinas.

Brody wasn't really a fan of smiling for the camera. He was thinking this was more like his meal time. Here's me in one of my not-so-fine moments. Who knows what I'm saying...I'm probably barking an order at my husband or daughter from the looks of it.
Meghan, Ryan, Jeff
My handsome father, the amature photographer
Brody giving up on trying to figure us crazy adults out. What the heck are we doing out here anyway!!!???
The Hunts: There were less kids for this picture, so the odds were in our favor.

The Morgans: 4 kids + lack of professional photographer = (see below)

We'll go back in 2 years & do it again. Brody will be the youngest (unless someone is VERY surprised between now & then), and he'll be 2, so I'm sure we'll get a stellar picture next time.
The KC 4some:
Sydney, feeling similar to Brody... are we done yet? Can we go now please?? A mid-week storm brought in jelly fish, but the pool was enjoyed by all. This float was one of my best summer purchases ($15 @ walmart). Since the middle is just mesh, it fills up with water & Sydney thinks she's in her own little pool. This night it was a boat being rocked by Jeff & Meghan.
This was a close as Brody got to the pool. Too bad that bar was right in the way of the picture. I can't believe I walked around in a bathing suit with my postpartum body. One day I'll use the pictures of me as my "before" pictures in my weight-loss story!My dad was the martini making king for the week.

Trevor & Sydney had so much fun playing together throughout the week. Its nice to have cousins so close in age. Trevor is 16 months older than Syd, so she admires everything he does & wants to have the exact same things as him. Drew is 11 months younger than Syd, and the girls are starting to play together more & more.

Jen Cross gave me this shirt & it was just too funny not to wear! Sydney should have had a shirt that said "Caution, my butt will eat sand!"And infant sandals.....adorable! (They stayed on for a total of 27 seconds!) The morning before we flew out: You can see our house was an upheaval of laundry in preparation. Good thing Jeff stayed home a few days after us to clean up! Yes, that's right, I flew down & back with both kids by myself. Yes, I'm on crack. Okay, that's not funny, but I must be crazy. Sydney's wearing a monkey backpack w/ a tail for a leash. It was actually not that bad (on the way down). The kids were both wonderfully behaved & totally made me proud. I just needed a few more arms & hands to hold bags, her tail, and push the stroller. The way home got a little u-g-l-y. The kids were tired from 13 days of vacationing & we flew in the afternoon, which is totally Syd's naptime. To top it all off, we had to change concourses in Atlanta. Syd had a meltdown while carrying her buddy & tripping on it. She refused to wear her shoes (I didn't have spare hands to enforce it). I ended up carrying her while pushing Brody in the stroller. Brody's ears had trouble popping during the landing & he wouldn't nurse, so he just screamed uncontrollably for a few minutes. Boy, were we happy to see Jeff when we landed in KC!
Jeff changing a nice poopy diaper. Oddly, they both have a similar grin on their faces.

Brody, chillin' in the swing.
Sydney & Brody's first bath together.

A clean & happy boy

Blog 3 year anniversary

2008-07-30T11:37:00.001-07:00

Well, July 8th made it 3 years since we first started this blog. I am always in amazement at how many people come up to me & tell me they've been keeping tabs on us. I'm sure there are many others I'm still unaware of.

Here's what sitemeter has on us as of today (I implemented this a few months ago):

VISITS:

Total
3,369

Average Per Day
28

Average Visit Length
1:15

Last Hour
3

Today
11

This Week
196

PAGE VIEWS:

Total
5,274

Average Per Day
41

Average Per Visit
1.4

Last Hour
7

Today
17

This Week
284

So, here's a shout out to you.....our international audience of family & friends! Thanks for sticking with us as I went multiple weeks w/out posting any kid pictures a few too many times.

Maybe we can make the comments for this blog like a "guest book" and you can all let me know who visits.

Brody at 2 months

2008-07-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

Lets start out of a few sweet pictures of me soothing my boy. We do lots of this on the "not so good nights". I'm pretty sure he couldn't be any cuter

Brody Parade:

5 days

1 month
2 months

Some diddies about the little man of the house:

coo's & ah-goo's after bath time, when you say "hi", and when you make a kissing noise at him

laughed out loud for the first time on Monday

loves to sleep everywhere except for his own bed

hasn't had an "episode" in a month (hooray!). He's on Axid for reflux & got another Rx today for bowel spasms that is "as needed". We try it for the first time tomorrow, so we'll see if that eases him any. He's really not that crabby, just 3-4 nights a week we can't get him to sleep for 5+ hours because he's too uncomfortable and then he gets all overstimulated from being up for so long.

is "lazy" at tummy-time according to our pediatrician (apparently the "lazy" gross motor gene has struck again. you may recall Syd being a little delayed in this department & having months of therapy. I'm not as freaked out about it this time)

fits well into his 3-6 months clothes. some 0-3 month clothes still fit, but none of the sleepers or onsies do, and none of the little socks we have fit his feet anymore (bet you can't guess who he inherited the big feet from!)

is still fussy in the evenings & waking up 1 or 2 times at night to eat. Syd was sleeping through the night at this point, but we had also implemented a strict sleep schedule on her & were letting her cry-it-out to go to sleep. because of the earlier drama with Brody, we've decided not to do sleep training until after our Florida vacation

loves to be outside. this is one of the cures for fussiness, we take walks when it cools off late in the evening

He's a big boy! Stats: weight = 13 lbs 3.6oz @90%, length = 24 1/2" @ 90%, head = 16" @ 60%

still takes a pacifier (binkie) when he's tired, with some encouragement usually. I said if he liked them past 2 months I'd switch from the green soothie kind the hospital gives you to the more fashionable mums. He seemed not to mind the switch.

makes goat noises when he plays, poops, or is unhappy

has blue/gray eyes. sydney's were much darker than his at this point, so I'm wondering if he'll end up with my hazel eyes instead of Jeff's brown

Family Time

2008-07-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago it was VBS. Technically Sydney was 6 months too young for the 3 year old class, but they were nice enough to make an exception for her since I was co-MC and help with decorations. The week really took a toll on all 4 of us, but she had so much fun that it was well worth it. One of the little treats she brought home from class was this crown w/ her name on it. She hasn't taken it off since! Seriously, she wears it every minute!

My cousin Lauren married Larry last Saturday. It was a beautiful wedding, but weddings can be tricky with two kids! You just never know when one of them won't be able to keep quiet & have an outburst, so we sat in the back near an exit door just in case.

Here Katelyn (Syd's 2nd cousin I believe??) helps her pull rose petals off for decoration.
Addie Sue helped decorate too.
Sydney pushing her buddy around. They are still as close as ever. I think she's going to be one of those kids who takes her blankie with her to college!
The cousins playing a little b-ball
After Lauren's wedding we went to a KC Explorers Tennis event. It was a first for the 4 of us. Reece (my little step-bro for those who don't know) is big time into tennis. He got to meet the Bryan Brothers & owner Mel...I think this was the highlight of his trip to KC!
Brody got a little bath time. He sure loves to be naked & sudsy!

He just talked & talked to me afterwards. My dad was quick with the camera & grabbed a few shots of him cooing & a-gooing a way. Too bad the video camera wasn't handier.
(You'll have to excuse me, I'd just gotten out of the shower myself. Nothing more humbling than seeing yourself w/ all your baby-weight, no makeup & wet hair!)

Papa enjoying a little Brody time.

Kindermusik Star

2008-07-21T11:44:00.001-07:00

Its been a while since I was on the website, but look who's made the Kindermusik page:

http://www.musicalfootsteps.com/page16/ourtime/ourtime.html

Independence Day

2008-07-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

We went to St Louis to celebrate the 4th. The kids had a blast at the parade. They awaited the firetrucks with plugged ears.They waived their flags in celebration.They ate so much candy they puked. Okay, only Sydney puked. She's always been a puker at the slightest little thing. She bumps her head & pukes. She cries & pukes. She tries a new food she doesn't like & pukes. She takes too big of a bite & pukes. And, as of this past 4th, she eats too much candy & pukes. Thankfully I packed a backup dress in the diaper bag so she didn't have to wear the puke clothes home. The people's yard we'd borrowed for the morning were nice enough to lend us a hose to clean up the brightly colored mess. I felt like such a bad parent! Who lets their kid eat so much candy that she pukes! I honestly didn't realize she'd had that much, jeeze!Brody peacefully enjoyed the trees above the parade, puke free. Cold or not, here I come. The girls enjoyed a freezing wading pool.After some encouragement, Trevor joined the fun.Aunt Meghan does such a good job keeping the kids happy & out of trouble. Maybe she should have come with us to the parade so we didn't let Syd eat so much candy!

And this is exactly why we don't do ketchup in our house! Our view of the fireworks. This was Sydney's first year going & she loved them. She asked for them constantly for the next 3 days & made everyone look up at the sky in search of them.

They are growing up so fast! Trevor taught Sydney how to use his Leap Pad. She loved it so much there is probably going to be one in our house soon.
I played a little game called "baby-in-my-lap Mario Cart"! I'm pretty bad at it when I use two hands. so you imagine how comical my driving was with just one hand!
We didn't eat any watermelon on the 4th, and its just not Independence Day without it, so we carved some up when we got home. Its the new hot item on Sydney's favorite foods list.

These pair are now known as Jeff & Little Jeff.

My beautiful brown eyed girl.

Brody at 1 month

2008-06-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

I was playing around with the camera & Brody during Sydney's nap one afternoon. The result is below. I'd really like to take a class on photography & learn how to use Photoshop, so maybe I'll take advantage of my time off work & see if I can find a summer class. I haven't Photoshopped any of these, its just the raw stuff. I barely have time to get this blog up, let alone edit pictures ahead of time!

Brody didn't like the swing the first week or two, but it gets a lot of use these days as long as he's in the swinging position & not the rocking position.

This is the only bath picture that didn't have his twig & berries in the shot. He loves baths & being naked afterwards. This is when he does most of his coo-ing.Big Sister & Baby Brother

Brody Parade:

5 days1 month
At Brody's 1 month check up, here were his stats:

10 lbs 8 oz (up from 7 lbs 2.8 oz on 5/28), 75th%
22 1/4 in long, 75th%
15 in head circumference, 50th%

I was surprised to learn that his head was only in the 50th percentile, since that was always Sydney's largest measurement. But, it totally makes sense since it took me an hour & 45 min to push her out & only 15 min to push him out!

I described Brody's episodes to the doc & he thought it sounded like reflux, especially how he arches his back & holds his breath. He doesn't typically prescribe meds for reflux unless the baby is having trouble gaining weight (which he's definitely not), but since he got all "squirrly" on us & had to be checked out he gave us an Rx. I was hopeful we were past the episodes, & if not that the meds would help ensure that. Much to my dismay, we're not (read the end of the post).

A common site in our house. He usually falls asleep while being burped & I don't want to give him up afterwards.

Brody's first big walk outside in the double stroller.

Tummy time on the play mat I call this the baby gym. I have the ladybug & the duck hanging just right for him to hit them while kicking & swinging his limbs around. He gets all excited when the music starts & the light show mesmerizes him. When it stops, he starts kicking & swinging again.
The ladybug is by far his favorite (or he's extremely preferential to his right side, but its pretty early for that to emerge). He got ahold of it here & managed to get a leg into his mouth. He wasn't really sure what to do with it after that, so he swung & the music light show started again.

Prayer request:

Brody had another chocking episode yesterday. I was home by myself & Sydney was napping. I held him for a while after feeding him, and then laid him down for his nap propped on the couch next to me. I got up for a second, and it must have been just long enough for him to spit up a considerable amount. I heard a weird noise, turned back to look at him and saw that his nose & mouth were full & his eyes were bulging. I picked him up, flipped him over, and started what has come to be my normal ritual of fixes. He would cry & gasp for air from his mouth, but when he tried to breath from his nose he couldn't because it was totally full of spit up, or whatever mucusy stuff comes up when these episodes happen. This went on for the better part of 30 minutes, gradually getting better & better each time he screamed & tried to breathe. He never went more than 5 seconds without taking a breath, so I assured myself that he was okay since the docs have said 15-20 seconds is okay for an infant. Still, its awful to see him struggling so bad. Now Jeff and I are a little nervous about laying him down to sleep, so we slept last night with his bouncy chair in our bed & he was propped up on his side in the sleep positioner. This seems really high maintenance, and I'm totally in to low-maintenance babies, but this is the only solution we were comfortable with enough to go to sleep ourselves. Besides being a little cramped in bed, the night went fine & was the same as normal as far as his waking up.

I'm sure he'll outgrow this, but we've been keeping him by one of our sides, or in our arms, at all times. Please keep our little man in your prayers so we can avoid any more of these horrific episodes & all get a good nights sleep.

Catching up

2008-06-17T20:01:00.001-07:00

On May 22nd, the day before I was induced, we went to lunch with my maternal grandparents, who live in Durango. Sydney was not into sitting at the table & entertaining herself. Instead she played photographer & took pictures of us at the table. Here is Brody belly up to my lunch.Mommy, smile! This is what I look like if you're 3 feet tall.

Instead of saying "take my picture", Sydney says "Take a 'cheese' of me!"
This was another "Take a 'cheese' of me" moment at home.
Aunt Deb came down for a visit as well. She & Brody had some good bonding time.

Sydney trying on Brody's clothes.
Sydney falling asleep at lunch.
Since Brody & I can't get out & go to the big pool yet, I've improvised & we have a little let up on the deck for Sydney. Its kinda like being at the beach; a little water to wade in & a little sand to play in. Silly girl playing with the cup on her foot...
and dunking her hat in the water. She was so excited about the pool that she got in while the tap water was still running from the hose. COLD! In our house, the little corner of your mouth where your cheek begins is called the "Punum", don't ask me why. Jeff has taught Syd this & here he is pointing to his punum & asking for a kiss.

One of Syd's big sister gifts was a waterpaint set. She loves it!
Brody really enjoys bath time. I've given him most of his baths while Jeff is at work, so I'm too nervous to take pictures of him while he's in the water, so I decided to try to take some picts while I was drying him off afterwards. Its hard to take a picture of a baby while you're holding them at the same time!
Sydney has thoroughly enjoyed reacquainting herself with the baby toys she once enjoyed. I'm not sure what the weight limit is on the bouncy chair, but it held all 32 lbs of her!

I've been getting on to Jeff because there are hardly any pictures of Brody & I together. Maybe this is because I'm spending 1/2 my life feeding him right now! Here is a little proof that I do spend time with my snuggly boy.
This is the view of his sweet face that I spend most of my day admiring.
Sydney had quit the binkie by now, but Brody will still take one when he's gassy or tired. He spits it out just as he's falling asleep, just like Syd did. Here he is showing off his head control by finding the binkie all by himself....funny face! My kids together in the wagon. Jeff wasn't home yet & Sydney really wanted to play outside & take a walk. We didn't have a double stroller yet, so this carseat in the wagon was my brainchild. Sydney loves to touch Brody's face & give him lots of kisses.

Brody's skinny little chicken legs. I'm sure they'll be chubby enough soon. He was 9 lbs 8 oz dressed on June 12th (his actual due date). They say they gain 2 1/2 lbs the last month of pregnancy, so my guess is that he would have had another 1-2 lbs to go, plus the 8oz he lost after birth. I'm thinking that I'm lucky he was early, or else Brody could have been a 9+ pounder! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have had a 10 lb baby, he was so low he would have just fallen out before he got that big! Sydney being cute in her PJ's. She loves this little chair, which was actually purchased for VBS decorating but I think I'm going to keep it instead of turn in the receipt.

Sydney "holding" Brody.

Jackson, who has a new baby brother as well, came over for a playdate & PBJ sandwiches.
This was the only picture we took on Father's Day. We had dinner at Outback. Sydney has on hospital gloves (I'll explain in a minute).

So, the drama is that Brody has given us 2 good scares. Since he's totally fine, I'll give you the quick version. Two Sundays ago I decided to go ahead & start giving him infant vitamins (our ped recommends it for everyone). The preface to this story is that Sydney hated Polyvisol & threw it up nearly every single time we gave it to her. So, instead of giving him a full dose, I thought I'd just put the empty dropper in his mouth & see how he reacted to the taste. He immediately started to gag & proceeded by not breathing for at least 8-10 seconds. Then he gagged, gasped, and didn't breath again for longer than I was comfortable with. At this point I've got him flipped over & I'm swatting his back like they taught us in infant CPR. I calmly call Jeff into the room, I'm still not confident that he's breathing well, if much at all, so I have him call 911. Brody's little body was all tense, his head was thrown back, and to me it seemed like he was struggling to get air. As the ambulance pulled into our drive way, he got a little mucus bubble out & his body relaxed and his breathing returned to normal. What seemed like 10 minutes to me, was probably more like 3-5, but still long enough to FREAK Jeff and me out! We chucked this up to an isolated event & decided he didn't ever have to take his vitamins if he didn't want to.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, he did it again...only no vitamins this time, he just spit up & then the same episode followed. Since I didn't want to wait until I was sure he wasn't going to breathe, I did the same methods & Jeff called the EMTs. Brody was still pretty worked up by the time they got into the house, but he was crying a little more regularly then so we all knew he could breath enough to get by. Once he returned to normal, they recommended that we not wait till Monday to see our doc, but that either they or we take him to the ER to be seen today. So to the ER we went. 6 hours later we saw the doc & were transferred to Children's Mercy to be observed for the night. He didn't have any episodes there, so they had to rely on our parental observations of the incidents. Doc was pretty sure it wasn't a seizure. They did an EKG & a chest xray, all came back fine & normal. However, they did confirm that he is a VERY gassy baby & could see his swollen bowels on film. What a wonderful Father's Day gift for Jeff, assurance that his son is healthy & normal. We left with the assumption that he had aspirated some of his own spitup & his body's reaction to the reflux & the pain was to hold his breath. Its totally normal for an infant to stop breathing for 15 solid seconds, however I challenge you to hold your 15 day old who turns purple & doesn't breath for 15 seconds repeatedly and not call 911!

Well, that did seem like the long version instead of the short one, didn't it.

Brody had his first bottle Tuesday night. Technically it was his 2nd bottle. He was not breathing well enough after birth to nurse until he was 15 hours old, so at hour 12 they had to give him some formula to bring his blood sugar back up. But, this is the first one we're counting. He loved it right away, sucked down 4 oz, and fell right to sleep. What a good baby!

Sydney's first movie: The Panda Movie (Kung Fu Panda)

2008-06-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to the early showing of Kung Fu Panda. It was Syd's first flick in the theater. She was very excited to go, very excited to see the larger-than-life Panda, Po, in the lobby, very excited to get popcorn, very excited to eat & share popcorn, but not very excited about the actual movie itself. We had to get down & walk around the hallway a bit because she got bored.

As with TV, she zombied out as soon as the pre-views started. Here I am trying to get a shot of the 2 of us while Jeff got refreshments.
Syd happy about the refreshments.
Bad timing w/ the little camera, but she really was thrilled about seeing Po.

In the lobby there was a Dance Dance Revolution machine. Syd thought he little bars were swings-probably her favorite thing of the day!

Next time we'll just hang out in the lobby & eat popcorn!

FYI: This was Brody's first flick as well, but he slept through the whole thing with the exception of a meal & a soiled diaper. I was afraid it was a little loud for him, so I had his ears covered w/ a blanket while he slept in his carseat.

Brody's First Photo Shoot

2008-06-09T18:23:00.001-07:00

Since the jaundice is gone & he doesn't have any baby acne yet (and hopefully he won't) we decided now was a good time to go ahead & get Brody's pictures done professionally. The copies I have are the raw pictures, before the pro edits & does fancy stuff, but they're still pretty good. Since there were so many, I've loaded them into a photo show for you. Here are a few of our faves!

Brody's First Week

2008-06-04T14:14:00.000-07:00

Today Brody is 12 days told. Part of me is still shocked that he's here already & even more shocked how fast this is all going by. Maybe its because every single task isn't a joyfully painful learning experience, as it is with your first child, that has made the last 12 days just fly.

Here are a few random picts from his first week home. I don't get picture ready most days, so there aren't really any of me in the mix. When I'm alone w/ both kids, I don't have a free hand or a free minute to snap a pict of my cuties, so I'm sorely disappointed in the volume of my picture taking. However, we are taking Brody in for newborn picts on Friday, so hopefully we'll get some good family shots too.

Brody & Papa
My dad was kind enough to come & stay with us for 6 days. This was unbelievably helpful since I was in the hospital for 4 of these days. Brody had a little jaundice his first 9 days out, but not enough that he needed the light treatment. You can really tell by his color in the picture below. This is why in the last post by Jeff we had him outside in is diaper. We really weren't going for "White Trash Family of the Year", but indirect sunlight helps break down the bilirubin.

Brody going down for the count.....its hard to tell with him sometimes, because he likes to sleep with his eyes slightly open-totally freaks me out! Jeff does it sometimes too!
Brody & I both down for the count. He's had his days & nights confused a bit, but last night he let me sleep for 6 hours straight! I thought this was remarkable since every night prior to this he's been wanting to eat every 2.5 hours! This cute little elephant is going to be Brody's Baby Parade marker. Jeff took this pict when he was 5 days old.
More sleeping....
First bath at home...and he's not a fan. This picture is the only one where the family jewels aren't wildly flashing the camera. They were still pretty raw, so we couldn't cover them up with a washcloth yet. Our little man hardly ever cries (I know this may/will change), except for when cold (bathtime & some changings). To get my attention or protest a situation he makes this grunting noise that reminds me of a baby goat.
Sydney was happy to help with the bath & show him how to splash the water. Can you tell she's a proud big sis?My BP is still dropping & so is my level of medication, so this is good. Doc thinks one more week & I won't even need the meds. Brody was back up to his birthweight by week one, so he's well ahead of schedule. His umbilical cord fell off a few days ago, and I think its healed up enough to give him a tub bath.

I've put my work search on "hold" for the next few weeks, and I can feel myself growing pickier each moment I'm home with my two kids. This 7 month break is going to make it extra hard to go back to work, especially to a new job with new people & all new stuff to learn. Hopefully I'll be able to fit back into my old suits next month so I can start interviewing again.

More of the little Man

2008-05-29T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here are more pics of the little man. I just post pictures. Brenna is the one that has stories for them but we've been "yelled" at to put more pics up.

Just hanging out with Dad underneath the umbrella

Welcome Broderick Hunter Morgan

2008-05-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

Here is our little man. He was born at at 4:30 (guestimate) He weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long. When he first came out he looked exactly like Syd. We will put up some comparison pics of both of their first days to show the similarity.

He is doing fine but he is grunting alittle which means he is using alot of energy to try to breath. The doctors say that his numbers are fine but the transition is just taking some time.

Brenna is a freaking champ. She did wonderful and I am very proud of her. Labor was cut in half compared to Syd and she only pushed for 15 mins. We will have more pics up soon.

Friday's the Big Day

2008-05-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

Well folks, I'm going in at 7am tomorrow to be induced. With any luck he'll be here by dinner time, and with even more he'll be here by lunch (Syd was 16 hours in labor so anything shy of that will make me happy)! He'll be 37 weeks according to my original due date, so hopefully he won't have to spend any time in the NICU. This also means that today is my last day of bedrest...which has me taking a modified approach to my resting situation. I have Jeff running all sorts of errands & I feel the nesting bug full force. Unfortunately, its going to have to wait until I come home & recover.

Here's the belly as of last night. Our visit went well yesterday, but my BP is still high. And just for fun, here's Sydney sporting her pink polka dot bikini last weekend while Jeff did yard work.

One shot of that cold water was enough to make her go running. However, she kept going back again & again only to have the same result.

SURPRISE!!

2008-05-06T12:55:00.001-07:00

Much to our surprise, some of our bestest friends got together & threw a couple's baby shower for both Darin & Jackie and us! We were so unsuspecting that Jeff was mowing the lawn, Sydney was hanging out in her undies, and I was in paint-the-house clothes. As I sat cutting coupons from the Sunday paper to go grocery shopping that night, the phone rang & we were invited over for BBQ dinner. We were ready to back out, but we both though...."What the heck!". We quickly threw on clothes & walked into this:It was a great party! Thanks guys! The kids had a blast playing in the backyard. Even Sydney was lucky enough to get some "big-sister" gifts out of the deal. Here she is sporting one from her boyfriend Jackson (one of her boyfriends. I believe Tanner & Nicholas make the list too, although Nicholas gets most of the kisses & hand holding).We had a close call with a tornado a few weeks back. This is us up past bedtime hanging out in the basement. I'm freaking out that the satellite isn't working to get the news updates, so I took a picture of the screen to show Jeff (who was in the car driving home in the middle of the storm). Sydney thought it was great to be up so late!The terrible 2's have hit our girl full speed ahead. We've really been trying to focus on the positive behavior so she doesn't act out negatively for attention. Jeff tends to reward with food. She was a super good girl after Kindermusik last week, so we stopped by McD's on the way home for ice cream. If there is one thing this girl takes seriously, its ice cream. She'll down an adult sized vanilla cone before it has a chance to melt.
More good times & focusing on the good behavior!

We had a playdate with Brooklan. The girls played so well together & their personalities are very similar.

I watched Audrey over the last 2 weeks (her normal sitter is on honeymoon). She is 8 months old, and she and Sydney couldn't take their eyes off eachother. Sydney wanted to change her diapers over & over again, like we do her dolls (I just let her stick the tabs on) and Audrey would hardly eat because she couldn't quit following Sydney around the room (baby food & formula were everywhere!). Here Sydney is "holding" her.
We busted out the baby toys, figured they'll be making a debut soon enough anyway. Sydney instantly reverted to baby-mode & laid down on the play mat. She also wanted in the swing, but couldn't get in herself. I didn't let her in b/c I have no idea what the weight limit is for those, but I'm pretty sure 31-32 lbs is over the limit. Too bad they don't make them big enough to sooth your toddler....big girls need some soothing time too! Speaking of boyfriends, the LOVE of Sydney's life is Chuck E Cheese! I had no idea what we were getting into when we first went a few weeks ago. We've been back once since, and there were fewer tears the 2nd time, but I still spent a lot of time explaining where Chuck goes & what he does when we are away. She sticks out her bottom lip & says with tears welling up in her eyes "Where's my mouse?". On the weekday mornings, the place is pretty much empty, so she gets to have a dance party all by herself.

The bus is one of our favorite rides!
She discovered this drum thing that lights up overhead when you pound. I guess that Kindermusik is paying off because she wasn't half bad.

We went to a Luau surprise party for Sarah's 30th birthday. The basement was kid-central. Here are Syd, Ashley, & Tanner on the swing. (Don't ask how many pictures I took trying to get one where they were all looking!)

Syd saw Camryn in her swing, and instantly wanted a turn. I wasn't sure it could hold big girls, but Camryn isn't so small herself, so in she went. It took some coaxing to get her out when the rain started.
Towards the end of the party, all the kids were on Baby Einstein, or "baby crack". They were zombies & nearly drooling at the mouth. The mom's appreciated the down time!
Just hangin' around the house. Sydney still loves her easel & loves to paint. In fact, we're about out of paint....so I need to get some more before WW3 starts if she finds out we're out. (The TV was on in the background, so I couldn't get her to look at the camera) Sydney stays dry about 60% of the time during her nap w/ out a diaper. The other 40% lead to lots of laundry. Her blankie, Buddie, is part of the wash. She's learned that she can watch the first 1/2 of the cycle in the washing machine before the door has to be closed to continue. Each time Buddie pops up from below she squeals "BUDDIE SEE MY BUDDIE!"

Brother Update:

I haven't taken any more belly pictures, but do have some news on baby brother. My BP has been high, and they really didn't like my numbers on Wednesday. I was told to lay on my left side for 4 hours a day & come back Friday for another urine & BP check. If the numbers weren't good then, then she wanted to induce. The good news is that he passed the non-stress test & is still measuring on track (externally) and he's active. I've felt like he was very low, and wasn't surprised when doc confirmed that. I was surprised to learn that I was 2-3 cm dilated. She asked if I'd been having contractions, and I have for months, but nothing regular or serious. Her reaction was "Well, looks like we might be having a baby soon!"

On Friday my doc was off, so I saw another, who was much more stern with my activity level & my BP numbers. He wants me on total bedrest until I deliver. I'm doing a 24 hour urine collection (fun!) & have to check my BP from home. He insisted that if I didn't think I could do this, then he would admit me & they would monitor me over the weekend. I agreed to be a good girl & obey doctor's orders. He didn't see any reason to wait longer to deliver the baby. This totally freaks me out. My original due date is June 12th, so I was 36 weeks on Friday. My chart says June 5th based on my 2nd ultrasound on January 2nd, so they are considering me 37 weeks now. I know when certain things happened (to spare you the details) and June 12th is the correct date. He just happened to measure big in January. My doc wanted 1 more week out of him so we could avoid NICU time. I go back on Wednesday for an ultrasound, NST, and regular appointment. My guess is that they're going to want me to pick an induction date then. I'm hoping to make it to Friday, the 23rd. According to me, this will be 37 weeks & hopefully that puts the odds better in our favor. I am concerned about him being extra small since he's early & his growth has slowed down. I was measuring 3-4 weeks ahead externally until last month, and now he's just measuring right-on-track.

Keep us in your prayers & we'll have news, either way, soon!

Correction-35 Weeks (what the __!)

2008-05-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

Apparently I live in total denial these days. I had a doc appt yesterday & discovered that I was 34 weeks & 6 days. I've just lost 2 weeks of prep time! This explains why I feel like he's so low & I'm moving so slow! It also makes me feel a bit more on target w/ my weight gain. How did I lose count of my weeks??

My BP was up pretty high, but no protein in my urine, so they're going to give me 2 weeks for it to come back down before they take action. I am starting to swell, but they didn't think it was significant enough.

Just before bed Jeff took this picture last night. He was crazy active yesterday. I wish I would have gotten it on video.

33 weeks, you've got to be kidding me!

2008-04-30T09:45:00.001-07:00

Here's what pregnancy weekly has to say:

How your baby's growing: This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark(actually, at my last ultrasound in March he weighed over 4 lbs. Sydney measured big & wasn't, so I'm not worried. Its probably his extra large head throwing off the chart. Syd's extra large head is a cute one, so here's hoping his is as well!). He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

And if Jeff would blog, here's what he would have to say:

My wife snores like a grizzly bear when she's pregnant. Two nights ago I had to sleep on the basement couch just to get away from the noise. I really think its sad when the baby gets the hiccups & don't like to feel that. I wish Brenna would go ahead and agree on his name, this is getting ridiculous! I've had my mind made up for months now.

And my 2 cents:

I really like being pregnant, despite the waddling & backaches, not to mention the weight gain. I'm flabergasted at how fast this one has gone by. I totally feel like he's low & trying to come out already. I have braxton hicks contractions all the time, and have actually had a few hard-core contractions (you know, the ones that are like bombs going off inside you), but nothing to get excited about....its WAY too early for that. He's quite responsive to poking & prodding and will kick back & play with me most of the time. Having a being inside you is such a crazy & remarkable thing. I'm a little freaked out about not having everything ready by the time he gets here, but babies don't care & so I know he'll be fine.

Here are some "in progress" picts of his room. I'm putting together his closet, so the rooms a bit messy right now.

I forgot to have Jeff take a belly pict of me last night, but I'll post one soon. I guess its been quite a while since I took one. I was looking back & it was around 26 weeks last time. Man, I'm huge now compared to that!!!

April in Review

2008-04-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

Bad, Bad Blogger! I know, I know. I must be in survival mode because all I seem to do is eat & sleep.

These picts actually go back to the end of March, but here's a quick catch up on what we've been up to:

Sydney loves to pretend she's driving the ice cream truck. Its actually one of those pop up tent deals that looks like an ice cream truck. She sells it to her imaginary friends & makes them pay. She serves vanilla (banilla) and strawberry, sprinkles are extra. Oh, and you have to give the ice cream back before she drives off.
This little smirk she has on her face here is the exact same one she gives me when she's in trouble & being defiant. Its hard not to laugh, but she sure knows how to push my buttons lately. Sometimes she eats the ice cream when you give it back before she "drives" off.

One day at home, it was just the 2 of us hanging out. She helped me make Friendship Bread (she's great at stirring). I put on my apron, but didn't have one to fit her, so I have her an old shirt of mine instead. She wore it all day saying "Look! See my pretty new dress!". Ah, 2 can be so easy to please! Give her another 15 years and her pretty new dresses will cost as much as a car payment!
We gave Sydney her b-day gift late because you can't really enjoy outdoor toys in January in Kansas. We were afraid having it sit in the garage for 3 months would just be too much for her to handle.

Here is Sydney on the hood of her little red Corvette.
This is just hysterical to me. When she presses on the gas it throws her back into the seat & she can no longer reach the peddle. So, Jeff's solution was to press the "gas" for her with the shovel handle while she attempted to steer. Thank goodness we live on a court, because she was a wild driver! I think we might owe our neighbors a new mailbox, yikes! Mostly she likes to sit in the car, turn the wheel, listen to the radio, & press the horn.

Last weekend Papa & Dally came to visit. Sydney couldn't have been more thrilled. In fact, she was so excited that we totally lost all 3.5 months of potty training skills for 1 day. I was totally beside myself that here we'd been diaper free since a few days into 2008 and she had a total of 4 accidents the first day they were here. In a weird way, it should make Papa & Dally feel special & loved. We were back on track after that & all was well.

Here's Syd making blueberry muffins.
Papa & Dally spoiled her rotten all weekend. We went to the mall & rode the carousel. I think she was a little dizzy in this picture! (taken on camera phone so a little blurry)Speaking of spoiled....Papa & Dally splurged on this awesome sand & water table for our little digger to play in. Dad noticed that when we went to the park she played in the mulch. When we were in the back yard she dug in the landscaping. He asked her "Do you need a sand box?" and she kept repeating "I need a sand box. I need a sand box." She loves it! Thanks Papa!

We had the rest of the family over to visit. Addie Sue & Sydney played very well together. Gosh, these girls are getting so big! Time is flying!

Yesterday we went to Deanna Rose Farmstead. Notice the jackets everyone has on.....we had a very late cold snap & everyone is pissy about it because its nearly May & way too late for this sort of thing. We hadn't been in a year & I was amazed how brave Syd was around all the animals.Ashley was enjoying the park as well. Here's our little digger again. Digging must have been the theme for the weekend!

Petting the big goats.
Bottle feeding the baby goats. Sydney couldn't have been more into this! I helped her at first because last time the goats were aggressive & I had to hold Syd so they didn't eat her clothes.

She really wanted to feed the smaller ones & kept asking for the baby, but the larger white one bullied his way to the bottle.
When her bottle was empty she ventured out on her own. Apparently the goats knew her bottle was empty because they were leaving her alone, but she didn't & kept trying to feed them.
Dally came to the rescue with another bottle & this time she fed them all by herself.
Again, notice the aggressive white one. The rest decided that the bows on her pockets looked easier & just as tasty. She had 2 eating her jacket & one eating her pants before she decided it was time to get out of there & call Mommy in for back up.
We topped the day off with lunch at McDonald's. Now, believe me, my girl is no stranger to McD's (or E-I-O's as its called in our house-get it!) however, this was our first time experiencing the Play Place. I've always been afraid of the other kids & their germs before. This one looked nice & the other parents were attentive, so out she ventured. She really had no fear, just couldn't quite figure out how all the tubes connected once she got to the tippy-top. After about her 8th time climbing up there she finally ventured into the maze & then she was lost in her own little world just as happy as a clam. We bribed her with ice cream to get her back into the car to go home. She ate an entire full adult sized vanilla cone. Papa thought he might get some, but she wasn't about to let it out of her possession. She quickly passed out for her nap when we got home, as you can imagine!
We've got some paint on baby brother's walls & the furniture is in the room. I need to take picts of that & my ever-growing belly tonight & post those.

Prayer Request (this breaks my heart)

2008-04-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

Kelli Wright attends our church in Olathe. Her youngest son is Sydney's age, so this hits close to home since we were pregnant at the same time & discuss our children often. Her mother is our devoted church secretary & the two of them volunteer countless hours towards church activities.

Less than a year ago Kelli was diagnosed with cancer (uterine I believe). She has gone through aggressive treatment, but it spread regardless. The final straw is that now her bowels are not functioning. She is in extreme pain & cannot digest food in order to gain nutrients.

The below email describes the situation as of this morning:

Kelli has decided not to go home. She went today to Hospice House at 12000 S. Wornall Rd , Kansas City , MO (It's about 2 miles South of I-435). Kelli is doing well and they will keep her comfortable. She needs to conserve her strength now to be able to spend time with Jeff and the boys. She has her laptop with her and would enjoy hearing from you by e-mail, her address is elinzacksmom@aol.com. Thanks for all of your prayers, we're praying now that her pain will be eased enough that she can enjoy her family during the time she has left.

Sharon

Please take a moment to think of Kelli & her young family as they pray for a miracle. If you have a moment to send an email, even though you may not know her, to let them all know that many people are praying for their family.

Make a Donation!!!!

2008-03-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.active.com/donate/tntmida/BlairGentile

The above link is to support Blair Gentile in her marathon run for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

As many of you know, we have close ties to the society through Jeff's beloved father. Please take a moment & help save a life!

Hoppy Easter!

2008-03-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

We went to see the Easter Bunny at Oak Park on Thursday with Jackson. We rode the carousel & ate lunch at Rain Forest Cafe. Quite the big day if you're 2!

I was surprised that she wasn't shy of the bunny. She gave him 5 & hopped right on his lap. I had to prompt her to tell him what she wanted (I'm assuming that this visit is like a Santa visit), so she asked for eggs. This isn't the professional pict, but just a quick one I snuck by the actual photographers.Neither kid ate 1 bite of food. They were so mesmerized by the jungle activity & the waterfall we sat directly in front of (hence the humidity rings in the picture). Saturday was the McLisenby's St Patty's Day Parade. Its just a neighborhood parade where you bust out your wagon or trike & wish luck on those you pass. It was cold, as you can see, and Jeff was spreading his luck to KU. Saturday night Courtney taught Syd the Rock Chalk Jayhawk chant & she was thrilled with herself (http://www.ku.edu/about/traditions/chant.shtml). I'll see if I can get a video of it soon.

The glasses, which Sydney made herself by popping out the lenses, were the best green accessory we had!

Easter morning, sportin' the flower headband that Mommy made her wear. She loved this little fishy-magnet game & we play it daily now. She still cheats quite a bit to get her "bait" to land on the right part of the fish. Its hard to be patient when you're 2. You can see some of her other treats scattered around the floor. She went straight for her basket & threw everything out as fast as she could.

Easter lunch was at Dave & Wanda Talcotts. They're basically our family here in KC. Wanda made Bunny cupcakes, which Syd didn't hesitate diving right into.
We finally started on the new nursery. We sold the daybed on Saturday, but I'd still like to sell the bedding as it was the most expensive part. Jeff primed the walls (the smell was too much for me), and Syd helped out a bit. She was SUPER excited to do the little bit of painting that we allowed. She likes helping me get stuff ready for him, so we're encouraging that as much as possible. I'm excited to take her to the ultrasound on the 2nd. I really think she gets the idea of what's going on inside me. She keeps saying "Mommy gets bigger, and bigger, and bigger! Peanut gets bigger, and bigger, and bigger!" When we see a little one, I say "Should we bring a baby home to our house like that? So you can have a baby brother?" and she replies "Oh, that would be wonderful!". No joke.....But she also thinks BPJ's are wonderful, as well as new shoes.
Here's a picture of the crib he'll be snoozing in (if we're lucky). We've got the matching dresser as well.

As for the bedding, here is what my heart was set on. It was ridiculously expensive & taken out of such an adorable room, the bedding wasn't quite as fabulous as I was thinking. I'm still in-love with the mobile, but I'm dealing with my grief.This is what Jeff wanted. I wasn't a fan of the brown & off-white.Here is the bedding we were able to come to terms on. It does have a cute mobile as well, but it was out of stock & I'm waiting for it to come in. We didn't even get a mobile for Syd. The one that came with her set was Teddy Bears & I wasn't a fan. For some reason I can't live without a sailboat mobile this time!Wish us, and by us I pretty much mean Jeff, luck with the painting. I picked up 50 blue swatches today, so if we can make a decision on the color(s) then when Jeff has time off from volleyball, we'll get crackin' on that as well. Then it will start to fee real. I think we'll stay away from vertical stripes this time around (http://jeffamorgan.blogspot.com/2005/10/preparing-nursery.html#links)....we learned how hard that was on Syd's room. However, we may copy off Addie Sue's nursery & go for 3 bold horizontal stripes divided by white (http://micahandbeth.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html). As a side note, Sydney's nursery was painted, had furniture, and bedding by this time in my pregnancy with her. I'm going to blame the fact that his room isn't done yet on Jeff being in full-swing volleyball mode, Sydney isn't that great of a painter helper, and I've been sick with one virus after another since November. At least Jeff will be done with volleyball in about 5 weeks & we get him all to ourselves (minus work) until November.

Pictures, finally!

2008-03-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

Blogger hasn't let me post picts for a few weeks, but tonight it was like magic!

Here's Syd at our hotel in Omaha putting on Daddy's deodorant. She loved the smell & wanted to rub it all over her tummy, face, & arms. (She's nude, so I blacked out the girlie part)
Eating an apple & jumping on the chair in our hotel room. Sydney was super excited about the hotel's pool (no pictures of that). Every night when she went to bed she'd say "I go to sleep. I close my eyes. I wake up and its pool day!"Here's the belly on 2/26, so I'm around 25 weeks. At my last 2 appts my external measurements were 3 weeks ahead, so I get to have another ultrasound in April. I'm super excited about this because we've only seen this little guy twice, once was so early he was still a blob with a beating heart. We had nearly 13 or 14 with Sydney, so I'm anxious to make sure the parts are still "twig & berries" and not a "hot-dog-bun". I know we said we'd have pictures of the nursery soon, but I'm ashamed to say that we haven't started yet. We're selling this bed to make room. Email me if interested. I'm posting it on Craigs list too. I'll do a separate post on this because Jeff and I are in a heated debate about which bedding is best (and most affordable).

Sydney went bowling for the first time at Jackson's birthday party. For the 2 year old set, they were more interested in eating pizza, squeezing juice boxes, and running up & down the ramp. Syd & Jackson chased eachother for at least an hour. She was EXHAUSTED by the time we got home.

We had a wonderful Valentine's day. In light of my recent unemployed status, we decided to get creative this year & not spend any money. Jeff & Sydney surprised me with breakfast in bed. Sydney is cuter than me when we wake up in the morning, so only she is pictured here.

My cutie pie!

Sydney is learning to whistle. She gets a little noise going, but she inhales & exhales rapidly, so we're still working on a constant exhale whistle. She's pretty proud of herself when the noise starts, and she starts smiling making it hard to whistle again.
Sydney helping me make out the March calendar. Needless to say, I had to finish after she went to bed. She's topless because dry-erase markers are not washable. We learned this the hard way. If anyone knows of a washable dry-erase marker, please let me know!
A few weeks ago we had a much needed warm day. Sydney was thrilled to get out her wagon & take a walk to the park.

Sydney had her first trip to Zonkers. We went on a week-day morning & basically had the place to ourselves. Riding this ride is a HUGE step for my girl. Last fall we tried to put her on a few rides at the Old Settlers Festival, and she was much too scared. (Picts are bad quality, but the ride was moving pretty fast & the lights were dim & flashing)

1 month Rewind

2008-02-19T09:00:00.001-08:00

Sydney, as of late:

Will only eat brown M & M's.
Starts any tasks with an "I do it" demand.
If she can't do it herself, says "Help me, help me, help me" in a little mouse voice.
The sicker she is, the more blankies, or buddies, she requires for sleeping.
Thinks its thrilling to eat in a "big girl chair" and not her booster seat.
When drinking from an open cup, if she tips it too fast & its spills, she gets very sad and starts crying while saying "I made a big mess" (picture her bottom lip fully pushed out).
Says "Go Hide" when she's hiding & wants you to find her.
Her word for "fork" is insanely obscene & used in public restaurants (replace the "or" with "uc").
Loves to watch videos of herself on my phone.
Has my morning mantra memorized so when I'm dropping her off, she says to me "I be nice. I share with Nick. I tell Paula I peepee on the potty. Okay."
When leaving, or when someone else leaves, says the following "Dood bye. See you later. Asta myiana." (spelled as pronounced)
Refuses to brush her teeth 50% of the time.
Eats an entire banana when I grocery shop & she sits in the car-cart (they are the first thing we pass & pick up), and then usually another one on the way home.
Likes to help me cut coupons from the newspaper.
Combines & shortens long words (belly button=bellytin, Debby Lally=Delally, Hickory Dickory=Hicky Dicky, you get the idea).
Is daytime potty trained, but has started to say "NO!" when asked if she needs to go potty & its not always true. She always says her panties are "nice & warm & dry" when I check on her.
Insists that her baby brother's name is "Peanut"which sometimes sounds like his genitalia.
Won't walk outside on snow because its "sippy".
Has discovered the Wiggles.
Will kiss Jeff obsessively if he makes an Elvis lip.
Thinks its funny to run & hide while I'm trying to dress her. I don't think this is funny.
Had her first time-out at Paula's 2 weeks ago for hitting Nicholas on the head w/ a toy.
Likes to take her interactive babydoll & beat it against the wall (yikes!). The doll thinks this is a clapping sound & will start to clap which just reinforces the beatings (sorry, Peanut).
Opens every book & starts reading with "Once upon a time there was a mommy bear, a daddy bear, and a baby bear"

Bad News/Good News

2008-02-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

Bad news first: Today DHL laid off 600 employees. I was one of those employees.

Good news: I have more time to play with my favorite 2-year old, decorate baby brother's nursery, and find something that I truely love to get up in the morning & do.

Bad news: There wasn't much of a package offered to those of us who got cut. I'm not sure if anyone would really hire a 6-month preggers lady.

Good news: I could possibly be at home till Labor Day kissing my kiddos & organizing our sock drawers. (bad news if we can't keep paying our bills!)

Wish us luck!!! We're writing a new chapter in the Jeff & Brenna saga.

Baby Brother Peanut

2008-02-08T15:24:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday I had an appointment w/ my OB to check our progress. I think the appointment lasted all of 5 minutes, which I'm totally fine w/ since I don't really have questions much this time. I already know that if my hernia pops again (which some days I think it has) that they cant' fix it until 6 months postpartum, and that the ugly vein in my leg will have to wait as well....so there's really no need for my complaining about them.

I weighed in (not my favorite part) and I think I've hit the 10 pound mark for gain this time already. I gained 27 w/ Syd total and was pretty happy w/ myself and I'm hoping to stay close to that mark again. I turned 23 weeks and I just can't believe how fast this is going!!!!!

These picts are from 1/2/08, when we found out he was a "he". I'm just now getting them scanned & into my computer (big surprise there).

As of now, we're not scheduled to have any other ultrasounds. My doc said she's trying her hardest to build a case so that she can find an excuse to have my insurance pay for at least one more. I do the glucose test next month, so they can't do one then. Maybe we'll get lucky and get to see him in April. If not, we might do the 3D one again & just pay for it out of pocket-it was lots of fun last time.

Yep, here are the family jewels. There are 2 things as a fetus & an infant that are totally open to the public that totally aren't when your an adult: your private parts & your weight gain. In fact, most parents are pretty proud of both.

He still measured big according to the height of my uterus (I didn't ask how big). She assured me that she didn't think I'd have a 9 pounder (whew!) but that would definitely help give her an excuse for more ultrasounds.

So, we're doing well. He's very active & I just find it so funny. I love that his whole world is me right now & that I'm the special one that gets to feel his every movement. It took me a while to start buying blue clothes w/out lace & frills, but now I can't stop buying polos, swim trunks, dress shirts & slacks, and sports wear (like he's a little jock already). Jeff is already making plans to start taking him to the gym at age 12 to start working out. I guess you could say we're pretty excited & its starting to set in.

Still no name. Give me a few more weeks and we might be ready...(don't hold your breath).

Popularity of Baby Names

2008-02-06T08:28:00.000-08:00

Jeff found this link, and we've found it very helpful in picking out Peanut's name.

We think we've got it narrowed down....but no announcements yet!

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/

For all my friends who aren't registered to vote

2008-02-05T15:54:00.000-08:00

For those living in Johnson County, KS:
http://www.jocoelection.org/voters/VoterRegistration.htm

Everywhere else:
http://www.justvote.org/

Sydney turns 2!

2008-02-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

First things first....Jeff's gotten a few comments that I'm not "showing" yet based on our blog pictures. Oh, contraire! Maybe I just need to take another picture this week, because even the one below doesn't do it justice. This pict was taken on the 16th, so I should be 19/20 weeks along (I'm 21/22 weeks now). I can no longer fit into my non-maternity pants. He's kicking like a crazy person. We still don't have a name and I'm starting to stress out. If I get desperate enough, I'll post our list & let you vote on it. I told Jeff over breakfast this morning that he was coming home from the hospital "Baby Boy Morgan". We have several more house projects I'd like to get finished before we start on his room, but we've got a good idea of what we want & hopefully I'll have pictures for you in a few weeks of how its coming.
Here's what Pregnancy Weekly has to say:
Fetal Development
Your baby weighs approximately 10.5 ounces and is about 7.2 inches from head to rump and is busy moving within your uterus, surrounded by amniotic fluid. He or she is learning how its arms and legs move, and using its hands to feel its facial features, which you may be able to see on an ultrasound. Most clinics and hospitals offer to videotape your ultrasound for a nominal charge; it's a great keepsake!

Here's another random picture taken this same week. I look much more chubbo here, or as I like to think of it "with child".

When we were in St Louis, we saw Daniel (who I believe would be Syd's 2nd cousin since he's Jeff's first cousin....is that how you do it??) Daniel is 3-4 weeks younger than Syd I believe, but he's like the Jolly Green Giant. Not a big surprise since his daddy is taller than Jeff! Can you see the size difference here? Granted, he's got on good shoes & Syd has on slippers, but still. He's about to grow out of his 3T clothes!!

Jeff got a little x-box Halo action in during our down time. Sydney was practicing right along w/ him, even holding the controller just like her Daddy. (Notice how Jeff's mouth is open when he's concentrating. Syd gets this trademark move from him)On her actual birthday, we did a little cupcake action in the morning. She'd been fevered, so she didn't even eat much of it. She actually didn't eat much for 4 days straight. When I took her temp in her armpit it maxed out at 103, so she was pretty miserable. It turns out it may have been higher than this (I wasn't sure how accurate the armpit was b/c our doc says its not a good reading). On the 4th day of fever I took her in at 99 (based on my armpit reading) and the nurse got her at 101 in her ear. There was like a 20 minute time difference between the readings, so it may have just gone up that much. I got a little nervous because 105 is when you take a little trip to the ER, and if I was 2 degrees low at 103, then we may have needed more urgent attention. Regardless, it was a random virus & just threatening it with a doc visit was enough to scare it away within an hour & it never reared its ugly head again.We had her party on the 26th, and our church was nice enough to let us use the gym so 10 2-year olds weren't running around my house!

(the next 3 pictures were edited because they were too dark to see well, so the colors might look a little funny)
Syd was a little slow opening her gifts. A bit of stage fright I believe. It was a group effort, and luckily she didn't mind too much.If I haven't mentioned it before, we totally think Sydney has a crush on Jason. She always asks for him to come over & play. If we happen to see some of our friends & he's not there, she asks where he is. While opening gifts, she totally insisted on giving him this card, for whatever random reason.She liked this dress so much she wanted to put it on right then. After a little convincing that we didn't want to get it dirty just yet, she conceeded & moved on to another gift.
Really, all the girl needs is a bag w/ some tissue paper. She was equally thrilled by this as she was by any of her more thoughtful & expensive gifts. She didn't even want me to show her what was inside, she just threw it over her shoulder & tried to take off.
Tanner & Brooke decorating cupcakes.
Maddie & Jackie decorating too.
Sydney just wanting to eat icing.

Happy about the extra attention.....
Not so happy about the extra attention.....The stage fright took on full affect when it came time to blow out her candle. Its so funny to me because she blows out all the candles in our house (if she can reach them), and at some of our friends houses too. I guess she just couldnt' handle all the pressure!
It was a great party, because she's blessed with such great friends & family that love her dearly.

FYI

2008-01-15T08:15:00.000-08:00

I've been getting asked a lot about when & where the services for Chris are, so I thought I'd post this:

Updated**
Wake: 6-8 Thursday
Kirkwood United Methodist
http://www.kirkwoodumc.org/im_new

Service: 1:00 PM Friday
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
2900 Sheridan RoadSt. Louis, MO 63125(314) 260-8720

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Chris' honor to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society:
https://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_donate?item_id=8072

(However, I know some folks will want to send flowers. That is okay too...anything done to honor Chris will make us smile!)

Thank you all for your thoughts & prayers.....they mean so much!

A Hard Goodbye

2008-01-13T07:24:00.000-08:00

After a 3 1/2 year fight, John Christopher Morgan passed away at 4:10 this morning. Chris was a beloved father, husband, grandfather, and big brother of 7, a Vietnam Vet with a Purple Heart, and a 20+ year cop. According to Jeff, he was a lover of astrology and opera.

Chris, you will be missed but we are happy to know that your body is at peace and you will always be in our hearts.232;=728=743=XROQDF>2323733<9<5<8ot1lsi.jpeg">
232;=728=743=XROQDF>2323733<9<:65ot1lsi.jpeg">
232;=728=743=XROQDF>2323733<9<:67ot1lsi.jpeg">

Christmas, New Year's, & BIG News! -crazy long post!

2008-01-06T10:43:00.000-08:00

The Christmas celebration started for us on the 16th at the Wilson home. Rowan, Addie Sue, and Sydney had a blast playing Ring-Around-the-Rosie.

The "We All Fall DOWN!" part is everyone's favorite!

Aunt Debbie got them a gingerbread house to decorate. We thought it would be good to make this an annual event & see how skilled they become over the years. As you can see, Sydney was quite diligent in decorating her side.She did try a few bites of candy, but I was surprised she didn't eat more.This was our attempt to get all 3 girls by the house for a keepsake moment, not so good!
Next we flew to Florida to have Christmas w/ my Dad & family. It was GREAT having family around to play with Sydney while we did other things-things we never get to do like....sleep in while Papa reads her books, get dressed in peace, have a cup of coffee in the morning, wrap gifts w/out them being unwrapped in the process, let someone else change her diapers. You know, the simple things in life you forget about when you have a 23 month old!Christmas Eve

There is a great park almost in their back yard. We made a few trips just to get out of the house & enjoy the weather.
Papa & Sydney tried to make a snowman out of sand.We went to the beach for a few Hallmark moments before the sun went down. Its not as cold as it looks. Its always windy on the beach, so that makes it a good 10 degrees cooler. And, Sydney LOVES this hat & wears it inside & out, no matter what the weather. We called this orange shovel her Ducky Foot.

There were a few tears when we had to leave. Sydney didn't want to stop playing with her bucket. It was a deal all week long! "Where's bucket?" and "(sad face) My bucket!" and "(holding hands outward) I want to hold bucket." I'm sure the fact that she was sleep deprived didn't play any roll in that (wink).

A perfect sunset on Christmas Eve.Papa reading everyone the Night Before Christmas.

Its a new tradition of ours that we all open PJ's on Christmas Eve. We decided this after we saw how ratty we looked in our pictures from last year. Sydney inherited Jeff's lazy eye habit of looking sleepy in pictures, or closing her eyes entirely, so we only have this head shot picture. Not so much of our new PJ's, but a happy family nonetheless.

Christmas Day

Sydney getting into her stocking.

She found chocolate, and LOTS of it!!!! (from Mommy's stocking). Unfortunately, so did Abby(dog) and she got a little sick on the rug. Apparently this is her annual Christmas tradition!I wore Sydney's necklaces, and she wore the stickers from Daddy's new jeans! (notice her eating more chocolate)And, as if she hadn't had enough sugar yet......we decorated a Gingerbread Christmas Tree from Uncle Jamie!She was less into decorating this time & more into eating the candy. Maybe her breakfast of chocolate w/ chocolate on top wet her appetite for the day!Ta-da! The finished product (minus a dozen little sugar balls that Syd ate, and 6 oz of icing that she licked off)!Everyone's set for Christmas Dinner!This was a common scene while we were in Florida. This rocking chair was just her size, and she'd snuggle in w/ Ducky & sing him ni-night songs.Dad got me a new "little" camera to replace my one that broke 2 months ago. This is the first shot I took on it.In Sydney's eyes, there are multiple things that make Papa & Dally's house better than hers. This is one at the top of the list. She can open & close most of the doors on her own (they don't stick as hard as ours do). She must have gone in & out for 90 minutes. It was great self-entertainment!My friend Gia (back from good ole' Ferry Pass Middle School) came over w/ her family for a visit. We catch up annually, so we had lots of chatting to do.Zoe, Gia's daughter, was a BIG hit w/ Sydney. She even woke up the next morning asking for her! "Where my Zoe?" "Where Zoe at?"

Another AM hit, while mom & dad lazed around the house.....Papa & Dally putting together her oversized animal puzzle.

We went to Sabrina & Allen's new house (well, new to us anyway) for dinner, and Sydney got to play with Graci. I forgot to take pictures, so as we were leaving, I snapped this quick one~at least they're beside each other...proves we were there.We went to NAS again, but didn't take nearly as many picts this time (the CF card on my new "little" camera was getting full). Just as before, Syd loved the airplanes & loved "driving" them.We're big into doing our "traditional" things. This was lunch at the Fish House. We didn't get to sit in the room w/ the huge fish tanks, so this time we took pictures outside w/ a view of the boats in the background. Sydney was being a goof-ball & wouldn't hold still for the shot.Home Sweet Home
We got home on the night of the 28th, about 3 hours later then we planned. Syd's nap was cut short by our afternoon flight time, and she ever quite got back to sleep. So, this little booger was parting like a rock star at 10pm at KCI. She finally fell asleep in the car at 10:30, and I didn't even bother to put her in PJ's once we were home. But, I did for the sake of Christmas pictures the next morning.
Another tradition, started last year, is that Sydney gets her own ornament for the tree. These will be her's to take with her when she's all grown up & gets a place of her own (sniffle, sniffle). This year's ornament was a little, silver, piggy bank.The piano was a big hit, for all of us. It has a microphone attached & we all rock out to twinkle twinkle, or Ally Bally, or ABC's.Snow boots! She wore these until nap time, over top of her footie pj's!St Louis
We did Christmas on the 29th. If you're counting, this was Sydney's 3rd Christmas Day & by now she's starting to expect presents every single morning! She got spill proof paints & brushes to go w/ her new easel.Trevor helped me open my gifts. He wanted to make sure I knew how to do it, just right, incase I hadn't had enough years of experience.Trevor was very good at sharing his new Sit N' Spin with both Sydney & Drew. He was busy with his drum, so it worked out well. It was such a hit, that Syd has one coming for her Birthday! (shhhh, don't tell her)Sydney's new "bitickle"from Aunt Meghan.This is what we found Sydney doing as we were getting ready one morning. She's got my hat on, the baggage claim stickers from our FL flight, and tape long enough to be belted around her a few times. Playing w/ Trevor & the new talking bear.We go to breakfast in our PJ's. Jeff and I started it here, years ago, when we'd to go IHOP hung-over. We don't have so many hung-over mornings anymore, but we do like to laze around in our PJ's until mid-day. So this means, if you go out to breakfast, then you do it in your PJ's! The habit has carried over to the Kirkwood family as well. Notice Syd wearing boots over footie pj's again, classy!
This is the only picture we got of Drew. I'm going to say that this is because most of the action happened while she was napping or in her highchair. She'll be walking any day now, so I'm sure our next visit will have lots of Drew play time.

Peanut

We keep forgetting to take belly pictures, so we snapped this quick one over New Years. I believe I'm 16 weeks in the picture. I'd just gotten out of bed, so I cropped my head out of the shot. Also, we're only taking side-view shots this time since I'm not fond of my hernia scar. I really do look pregnant, but my bladder & stomach were empty this morning so I just look "thick" and not so much "with child".

And the big news is.......PEANUT IS A BOY!!!!!!!

I had an ultrasound on the 2nd, and he was quite cooperative. He showed us the family jewels several times. Jeff figured it out before she officially told us, but I was almost too scared to make a guess. It was the neatest thing to see him going crazy & wiggling around the whole time we were in there. The first thing we saw were his feet, and they were the cutest darn things I've ever seen! If I ever had a doubt that I could love another child as much as I love Sydney, those doubts are gone. We're thrilled as can be!!!! Now we get to experience the best of both worlds.

Doc was thinking of moving my due date to June 5th, because he measured a little big for 17 weeks. I'm sticking w/ June 12th, since they told me Syd was big too (not big enough to change the date), and she was just the right size for me. And, I don't want to get my hopes up, since I probably won't go into labor on my own this time either.

I'm feeling him move pretty regularly now. Jeff hasn't felt it yet, but it took until like 21 weeks before he could really feel Sydney kicking. Everytime I feel him move, I think....."oh, no! I think this boy is going to be crazy!!!". That was the feed back we got from our sonographer & my doc has mentioned it twice because he's moving so fast they can hardly track him down for measurements & heartrate. YIKES!

Link to more detailed Chris information

2007-12-27T20:17:00.001-08:00

I just realized that Ryan & Christy have started updating their blog with more details on Jeff's dad.

http://rmorgan.blogspot.com/

This information is much better than the 4th party, truncated, information that gets passed to me via Ryan & then via Jeff.

We head home tomorrow, and then to STL Saturday afternoon. I'll try to get Christmas pictures up before we leave.

More News

2007-12-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

Chris ended up having a rough Christmas. His heart rate accelerated while his blood pressure dropped and then his heart stopped, so they had to shock him to get it going again. After that, he was stable throughout the night.

Jeff might head back to St Louis early (this is a tough travel week) while Syd & I take the original flight home & then drive over w/ the rest of the Christmas presents.

Please keep us all in your prayers as we heal & travel!

Christmas Miracle

2007-12-24T18:22:00.001-08:00

Chris is still hanging in there. He is breathing on his own, and that is good news. We're in a bit of a holding pattern, but stable is good...considering.

In the mean time, we are thoroughly enjoying our visit in Florida. I can't post pictures until we get home, but we've got some cute ones of us at the beach today (yes, I said the beach). Its funny because if you didn't' know better, the white sand looks like snow. Papa & Sydney even tried to make a snowman out of sand today, but that didn't work so well.

We started our Christmas tradition of opening a book & new PJ's on the Eve. Sydney didn't quite understand why she could only open 2 presents when there were so many left under the tree. The concept of "tomorrow" is still lost on her.

Tonight was Jeff's first meal at McGuire's Irish Pub, and we stapled a dollar to the wall w/ Sydney's name on it. See the link to understand why: http://www.mcguiresirishpub.com/about1.html.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas! I'll post pictures as soon as we return!

Chris Update

2007-12-20T19:51:00.000-08:00

I don't want to leave you all w/ just that last post before leaving town for the holidays.

Chris is still hanging in there. I haven't been given any details, but last I knew the situation was still the same (only he'd past the 24 hour threshold) and they were thinking about taking the intubation out to see if he could breath enough on his own.

Sorry I don't have more, but at this point we're going with "no news is good news".

Thank you all for your support & prayers. Keep them coming, he's not out of the woods yet.

Have a safe & merry Christmas!

Prayer Request

2007-12-19T07:39:00.001-08:00

Jeff's dad, Chris, has been in the hospital with double pneumonia.

Last night, or early this morning, his lungs & kidneys went into failure.

We will know in the next 24 hours if he is responding to the meds. This type of illness is typical of bone marrow transplant patients. We are on stand by to go to St Louis at a moments notice.

Please keep Chris & our entire family in your prayers!

P is for Peanut

2007-12-08T10:46:00.001-08:00

Baby Peanut that is.

Can you read the message on Sydney's shirt?
That's right, I'm pregnant! Here are the answers to the usual run of questions:

Q: When am I due?
A: June 12

Q: How have I been feeling?
A: Good, other than the 5th disease and stomach virus

Q: Are you going to find out the sex?
A: Yes, the next ultrasound is schedule for January 2nd

Q: Do you have any names picked out?
A: No, we're pretty indecisive. We've got a few girl's names, but we're clueless for boys.

Q: Are you going to make Sydney's room the nursery & get her a new room?
A: No, Sydney's room is her room. We'll turn the guest room into another nursery especially designed for this little peanut.

Q: Why do you call the baby "Peanut"
A: That is what Sydney decided to name the baby from the first moment we told her there was a baby inside my tummy. She also thinks she has a baby inside her tummy now too.

Q: Are you crazy???
A: Probably, and also extremely fertile.

So, wish us luck!! We're super excited and feel very blessed! It will be an interesting & great adventure I'm sure!

Christmas Cuteness

2007-12-06T20:03:00.000-08:00

I had off last Friday, so I got out Syd's new sweater in preparation of visiting Jeff at the office later that afternoon.

I took a few shots of her by the tree since Jeff was jealous of our being home together and sent them to him. It turns out, these are going to be the pictures for the card this year-if I even get to doing one.

Since Monday Syd has had 2 major encounters with the floor via her head. She now has to large goose egg bruises and a scraped up eye (I'll post some picts after the first one, I haven't taken more since the 2nd). I thought her eye would turn black, but it didn't'.

A few people suggested putting makeup on her marks, or using photoshop. Both of these sound too painful to me, so she'll have to wear her pretty Christmas dress on Christmas day instead.

Here's a picture a friend sent me of Syd & I at a party last Saturday night. This is the dress I'd intended for her to wear in the pictures this year. She felt so pretty in the dress, and kept fluffing her skirt all night long, twirling, and saying "party dress"! She even wore it to church the next morning too!

Sydney VS Asphalt

Sydney 0

Asphalt 2

Here she is after boo-boo #1. Boo-boo #2 is on the right side of her forehead, so she's got the whole thing covered now. Looks like she's been in a car wreck or something. Not quite, just plain clumsy! The scratches beside her eye formed a nice thick scab that turned black & fell off somewhere today. I think it was when we were at WalMart picking out a sled (yes, we got snow today). Everywhere we go, people comment on her bruises & scrapes. She doesn't seem to notice, unless I'm squeezing her clothes on & off her head. And when she looks in the mirror to brush her teeth, she points & gets all upset like she's ruined for life. I tell her that its getting better & that she needs to be more careful. We say that all the time now, "Be Careful! Be Safe!"

Giving Thanks

2007-11-29T08:05:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving in St Louis this year. We got a cold snap on Wednesday, and even a little snow. That didn't stop the kids from playing outside.

Sydney & Trevor had lots of cousin-bonding time. Here they're enjoying a little pre-bedtime Curious George.
We actually had the turkey dinner on Friday instead, because of scheduling conflicts. We spent Thursday eating appetizers & drinking beer. Here is Jeff at about 6pm. T & Syd enjoying a little Graham Cracker snack.
Its kind of a tradition for us to put up Sharon's tree if we're in St Louis this time of year. Its also tradition for the disc shooter to make its annual debut. This was Syd's first real experience with it, and she totally didn't mind having Jeff shoot at her for a solid 30 minutes while she went around collecting the discs, returning them to Jeff, only to be shot at all over again.

Here's Jeff lying down again w/ the disc shooter in hand. Are you noticing a theme here? He's lying down in every picture!

A Visit from Aunt Debbie (Omaha)

2007-11-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

I have 2 aunt Debbies (one on each side). My whole life I've always separated them by location. One's in Omaha, and the other is here in KC. Well, the Omaha Aunt Debbie came down the weekend before Thanksgiving. She brought Josie with her.

Here Debbie is "saving" Syd from crazy Josie.

This is Sydney's favorite hat. It was lost for a little while, but we found it in the closet when we were bringing out the Christmas stuff. Now she wears it around the house all the time.
A pass time that I enjoy thoroughly is letting Sydney "paint" the house. She keeps a stash of little paint brushes in the kitchen cabinet, and will often dry paint the house & furniture to pass the time. This is such a beautiful thing when I am cooking dinner. Sometimes, if she can be really good, I give her a little bit of water to dip the paint brushes in & she gets to paint the kitchen tiles & fridge.

Syd is getting to be a faster runner (maybe like her mommy?), but she doesn't hold a candle to Josie's speed.
Trying to "walk" Josie.
Givin' a little puppy love.

A Day at Home with Fifth Disease

2007-11-28T11:01:00.000-08:00

Again, I'm awful at getting the pictures from the CF card onto the computer. Here are a few picts Jeff snapped during breakfast while we were all sick at home with Fifth Disease. Syd is the only one who really got the pink cheeks. This is the 2nd day, so they weren't quite as pink here.