Beggar's Night

Miss Kieren aka Tinkerbell. Her loot bag is so heavy she

had to drag it on the ground. I guess getting candy is easy

when you're that cute!!

Mark took Ian to the neighbors to show off his Monkey costume.

The cutest Monkey ever!!!

When they got back, Ian discovered this plastic pumpkin.

He loved it! He played for the longest time and got really

upset when my Mom tried to take it away from him.

The Pumpkin Patch

Check out the pumpkin we found in the pumpkin patch!


I love this picture. Both Alex and Cullen have such
indulgent looks on their faces as Kieren tells them her story.
This picture is what happens when you photograph a toddler,
an infant and 2 active boys. (I took 14 photos to get this one!!!)


Gotta love those pigtails and the pumpkin that looks
like it is sitting on her head!!



Ian was more interested in watching where Dad was than
having his picture taken. (Mark came home on Thursday night.
He and Ian have been attached to each other ever since.)

Ian and Kieren took their very first trip to the pumpkin farm this past Saturday. I think they both had a pretty good time. They were the center of attention for not only our entire group, but the rest of the people at the farm. After the pumpkin farm, Mark and I took Alex, Cullen and Ian to Young's for ice cream. (Sam and Andy took Kieren home so she could get a nap. Lucky me, Ian naps wherever he is right now!) After Youngs, we headed home so Alex and Cullen could play video games like a couple of teenagers holed up in their room. (In this case, they took over my dining room and declared it a "no Aunt Heather zone". Fine with me, I took a nap while they played and Ian slept.)

 

And the rice cereal saga continues....

I think this one should be titled: Anticipation

Don't ya just love a good mess?!?!

All finished, bring on the bottle!

Well, this morning's attempt to feed Ian rice cereal went a little better. Yesterday, I followed the advice of the experts. Today, I did my own thing and it worked a little better. Instead of giving him 1/2 of his bottle, I gave him the rice cereal first then the bottle. I also made the cereal a little bit thicker. And what will we do tomorrow... I'm not sure, I will have to think about further changes. Maybe we will try dinner time instead of breakfast. This is obviously a work in progress and a learning curve for all three of us. Who knew that I would be gathering all this new knowledge as this point in my life?

Rice Cereal and Other Musings

Well, Ian had his first bit of rice cereal today. Let me just say, Mark and I laughed until we practically cried. I can hardly wait until tomorrow to give him some more to see what he does. Sorry no pictures of the event, the camera battery died before I could get them uploaded.

The adventure started with Mark giving him about 1/2 of his bottle. If there is one thing that will make Ian cry, it is taking his bottle out of his mouth. He hates it when he has to burp. I think he is making himself learn to hold his bottle so that we can't take it away from him. So, the minute the bottle came out, Ian let out a wail. We then put him in his bouncy chair to try the cereal. I spooned in the first bit, he stopped crying and pouted his bottom lip out when I pulled out the spoon. I thought: Great, he really likes this eating stuff!! Well, silly me I should have waited 2 more seconds before having that thought. By pushing his lip out, it caused almost all of the cereal to come out too! So, I tried again and again and again and again. Each time more cereal ended up on his chin, bib and my hand then in his mouth. The harder Mark and I laughed, the more came out! This is going to be a real challenge. At least we didn't end up wearing the stuff!! God help us when he learns to spit it back at us!

My stove is fixed according to the repairman for a mere $250. I have not used it yet, so I am not completely convinced that it is working properly. I will be making a pan of cookies later as a test run. I will keep you posted. Keep your fingers crossed.

The landscape guy is supposed to be here this Saturday to fix the yard. He agreed that we should add dirt, level it off, seed it and call it a day. His quote was a lot better than the $2000 French drain the other guy suggested!! Next I get to nurse new grass to life as we are going into winter in Ohio with a new baby in the house. That should be real fun!!

And finally, Anson is still holding his own. He has lost a bit of weight, but that is to be expected. (Ian lost more than 1/2 of a pound before he came home from the hospital.) Anson did take in 12oz of breastmilk today so that is even better than yesterday. They increased the caffiene they are giving him to keep him stimulated in the hopes of stopping the sleep apnea problem. But, overall he is doing very well for being so small and so early. He really is a cutie!! Like his anxious parents, I can hardly wait until we can hold and love on him.

I'm off to make some cookies. I think it won't really matter if the stove is working or not. The cookies will still disappear in this house. Some days I wonder why I even think about baking them!

Some more photos

Anson on his C-Pap machine. For perspective, that's Dave's

hand on the left and Chrissy's fingers on the right.

A lovely shot of his adorable face!!!

Updates

Update #1

Ian had his 4 month shots yesterday. I did a lot better this time. I only shed 2 tears instead of crying as hard as he did. The nurse gave him the first of 3 shots and he let out a scream of epic proportions at the end of the first one. The screaming continued for about 5 minutes and then he slept for 2 hours!!! When he woke up, you could tell he just didn't feel good. He did the little wimpering, wrestling around routine. He couldn't get comfortable and just couldn't figure it out. It was so pitiful! I hate shots!!!

The doctor declared him a long skinny bean. He weighs 13lbs. 10oz. and is 24 1/2 inches long! The doctor asked me if we were having trouble fitting clothes on him. I said absolutely! Anything that fits lengthwise, is huge in the middle because he is skinny. The doctor laughed and said just keep doing what your doing because, he's perfect. (BTW, those measurements put him in the 75% for height, but only the 25% for weight!)

The doctor also suggested starting him on some rice cereal later this week. That should be an adventure all it's own. Maybe I can get Mark to be the first guinea pig to get the stuff spit back at him. Hmmmm...... I'll keep you posted.

Update #2
Anson is doing fine. He is still on the breathing machine but David says he is growing already. Mark and I are on our way to see him this afternoon. So hopefully, I will have some new pictures to share when I get back. (BTW Ian weighs exactly 10lbs. more than his new cousin!)

Update #3
Mark finally made it home at about 1:00 this morning. The plane was delayed and then had a mechanical issue. So, they had to get another plane and he finally made it here at 1:00. He is exhausted and being a pain the butt to deal with today. Just what I needed after spending the evening and night dealing with grumpy boy!

Update #4
They are coming tomorrow to fix my stove. I can hardly wait!! But, after it's done I probably won't want to cook anymore. It's one of those things where you want to use it when you can't and when you can, you don't want to.

Update#5
Another landscape guy is coming tomorrow to give us a quote to fix the yard. We'll see what he says...

More later when we get back from the hospital.

My New Nephew

I have a new nephew this evening. I am so excited!!!

Here are the stats:

Anson Walter Bertram
Born at 4:28 PM on October 17, 2006
Weight: 3lbs. 10oz.
Length: 16.5 inches long

He is about 8 weeks premature. But, is doing very well. We got to see him in the incubator bed as they took him to the NICU. He is absolutely beautiful!!!

He was pink and breathing on his own right after birth. He even treated his parents to a good cry when he was born. As of this evening, he is on a C-Pap machine to help with his breathing. The drs. do this so that he doesn't get too worn out just trying to breath. But, otherwise he is doing great.

His proud parents are also doing well this evening. They got to see him just a little bit ago in the NICU. (They only got to see him for a minute or two in the operating room before they whisked him away to the NICU.) Chrissy is in a bit of pain which is to be expected. David is floating about 2 feet off the floor.

Congrats to Aunt Chrissy and Uncle Dave!! Welcome to the world, Anson!!! We love you all!

Ian is 4 months old!!!

I wanted to get this posted yesterday which was the official 4 month mark, but the forces of nature were working against me. I am trying to get ready for the local Apple Butter Festival this coming weekend. I am the President of the Lioness Club which has a booth in the festival and I am a member of the women of the church which also has a booth. Each year, Beth, Sam and I make a huge amount of fudge to sell at the Lioness booth. And, Beth and I make about 16-20 pies and cookies to sell at the church booth. Well, this year the fudge is finished, the cookies are finished, but the pies are a complete "no go". Why you ask??? My oven died on Monday! The repairman was out yesterday at the cost of $75 to tell me that he could fix it in about 2 weeks for about $500!!! So, much for pies this year. Darn, that also means my ability to make dinner is seriously compromised too! The church gets matching funds from Thrivent for their fundraisers, so I am going to contribute some money to help them get there and call it a day.

Meanwhile, the tree trimmer got his truck stuck in my very wet back yard last week. That has led me on a mission to figure out why the yard is so wet. I have talked to landscapers, contractors who install septic tanks and the head of the village water department. Finally conclusion: Fill the holes and move on with life. That's a lot better than $2000 for a French Drain which one of the landscapers suggested!

On top of it all, Ian continues to grow up! How do I slow that down? I love the age he is right now. Every day is a new adventure. He discovers he can make a new sound or can move his little finger which he never knew he had until that day. It is so much fun to see the achievements each day, I don't want him to grow up!!

Ian riding Whiskey as a horse yesterday!

Whiskey was very patient, but not thrilled.

Mark was wondering when Ian's teeth would come in.
What do you think?!?!

Mark found this pacifier at the Halloween shop earlier this month.

I hate Halloween, but this picture is hysterical!

Don't you wish you could sleep so peacefully in the middle of chaos?

Ian is sleeping in his bouncy chair in the kitchen while I make fudge.

A new skill he is working on. He really wants to hold his own bottle.

I think it's because he thinks he can keep you from taking it away from him!

He usually sleeps with his hands above his head. But, this time I caught

him lounging with them behind his head. Life is so good!!

An Unsolicited Piece of Advice

I have the following completely unsolicited piece of advice to offer to everyone:
If you need to say something to someone, do it. Don't wait, thinking you will have plenty of time. Life is short and time is not on your side.

I have had a very emotionally taxing day. Can you tell? My family is in conflict about an issue that has evolved into a huge mess over the past three weeks. So, I spent today talking to my parents in the attempt to resolve at least my feelings about the problem. We didn't get it resolved and we didn't even discuss some of it. And, in the middle of all that turmoil, I found out that my biological father died.

This is a strange situation. I had no relationship with him. My earliest memories include him. But, I didn't know him and didn't necessarily want to know him. Having said that, I am very angry. There were things that I would have liked to have said to him if I ever saw him again, that I can't say now. Not necesarily angry things, but stuff that I didn't realize was even important. And, now I am angry that I am angry. I thought I had dealt with being angry. But, clearly I did not. And, so that makes me angry too. What a vicious cycle....

So, that's why the advice above is the topic of this post. Don't wait to tell someone what you think. You may not have the chance later.

Busy Weekend

We left D.C. on Friday at about 2:30 PM. We finally arrived at home at about 11:30PM. Ian slept the entire way home!!! I was very worried that once we got home he would be awake for the rest of the night. But, he took a bottle, told Alex a few stories and went back to sleep. Apparently traveling through the mountains tired him out. (I'll have to remember that.)

Saturday morning, Aunt Jenn and Grandma Radloff came over to make the party favors for Aunt Katie's baby shower. After finishing them up and having some doughnuts, we headed to lunch at Pickety Place. Katie's shower was wonderful. As always, the food at Pickety Place was incredible. She got a lot of really cute pink clothes for Sarah.

I came home and collapsed for the rest of the day. Well not totally, I had to do a bunch of laundry so that Mark could go to work on Sunday. Sunday morning, I continued doing laundry until Uncle Brittney came over to mix up her Buckeyes. After that, Ian, Alex and I took Mark to the airport.

It seems like I had no weekend at all. It's a good thing I rested during my vacation last week. Just in time to start a new hectic week. Great!!!