Warm April Days

Alright--I would like to say this entry is so late because 1) Robby left the camera up North for his boy's weekend (not to mention he didn't even take ONE picture!) and 2) the camera or my computer has issues....

My play group went to the zoo in mid April on a beautiful day. We had a great time--though Ky and I couldn't stay very long because he had ANOTHER ear infection and I had to take him to the doc. At this point we have a consultation scheduled to get tubes put in. The doc said he is becoming immune to the antibiotics, so if he gets another ear infection they will have to administer a painful IV drug to help clear it up. Let's pray it doesn't get to that point.

Rob also got 6th row Brewer tix (last minute) from his boss at work. That was a fun game. You could practically smell the sweaty players. And the usher got Ky a game ball from the bat boy. That was pretty exciting too (Rob was a bit more excited than Ky.) It pays to have a cute child!

Rob and Ky also had their first boys' weekend. They went up to Shawano and met Grandpa, cousins Devan & Jordan for a train show in Green Bay. It was my first weekend without Ky--which was really weird. I had a good time though. I hit 10 stores on Saturday (didn't spend much though.) It is really hard to shop with a toddler and really I was just doing some exploratory shopping for a double stroller and a new crib. I found the baby's new crib at Burlington Coat Factory--click on the link to see it. http://www.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?DeptID=42332&CatID=42332&Grptyp=PRD&ItemId=1479017 I haven't bought it yet, but I have the husband's approval. Ky's bed is also a 4-1, and I think they are well worth the money, if you figure I don' t have to buy a crib, and a toddler bed, and then a full size bed. They are also very nice and look good. I was also getting a couple of other errands done. I ate chinese Saturday night (YUM!) and considered it a good bonding weekend with the new one. And I watched Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea---yes about 400 minutes of video. It was wonderful! I love such optimistic videos and imagination.

The weekend after the "Boy's weekend", we went to Illinois to visit the Great-grandparents and great Uncle & Aunts. We had a very nice time. The weather was great and we spent a fair amount of time watching Ky run in and out of the grandparent's garage door. He would run in and close it, then open it and say "HEllo, Goodbye" then close it. Silly little guy. He did this for a very long time and enjoyed it way more than I ever would have. He also worked on his piano skills with Uncle Tom. He is getting pretty good. He doesn't bang on it, like you would think most toddlers would. Instead he plays one note at a time. My musical little boy...

I guess my other bit of news, is that I have been working with the Mall to build a children's play area. I approached them a month or so ago and they asked me to start a petition to see what kind of interest I would get. Well, within 5 days I had over 500 signatures and the local news calling me. I now have almost 1000 signatures! This is very exciting. Things are looking good to get this children's play area. For those who don't know a play area in the mall is really a place for parents to take their little ones (about 7 yrs and younger) to play and get the wigglies out. It is a benefit for everyone. On extremely hot days, or during winter, or rainy days--it gives parents a free place to take their kids to get some exercise and to interact with other kids. This also benefits the mall as it brings in more shoppers. Everyone wins. So the press did get a hold of this and they did a nice story. The funny thing is--several days after it aired, a local talk radio show trashed me and my "campaign." (Put yourself out there to do something good and you know someone is going to put you down.) Anyways they took a small piece of the story and added a bunch of lies and got people to call in and trash me. They said I wanted the retail stores to pay for an area for parents to drop off their kids so they could shop. This would be free to parents and the stores would have to pay for the childcare. What a bunch of crap! Anyway--I got over that pretty quick. So if you live in South Central Madison, feel free to sign my petition if you support it (I would love to break 1000 signatures), otherwise you can look at it for fun. And I also included the link of my news story. I believe you can see the actual video that aired on the news as well...

http://www.channel3000.com/news/16023098/detail.html

http://www.petitiononline.com/ETMALL/petition.html

18 weeks at this point of time and feeling pretty good. Last week I had another bad episode with this one. I actually ended up breaking blood vessels all over my face. Rob said "It just looks like acne." At least he was honest. They disappeared in a few days though. Right now I am feeling lots of stretching and pulling. 8" from toe to head and not even a half pound now. I am starting to notice wake/sleep periods of the little one too. It is amazing how they develop. In 2 weeks we get our ultrasound. I am excited. It is so neat being able to peek in at your little one.

So everyone wants to know--are you finding out the gender. We didn't with Kylan. With the due date being the end of September, we have decided that financially it will be better for us to find out (can hit the garage sales). And honestly it does reduce a little stress (don't have to find a boy and a girl's name--remember we didn't have a name for Ky when he came.) However, we are not planning on telling anyone--so don't ask. And I will tell you--we are very happy with whatever we find out --girl or boy. Both have great benefits. Ky would have a best friend and more likely to have common interests if it were a boy--and frankly I am a tom boy so it may be easier for me to deal with a boy. However, a girl would even out the family numbers and give us a whole new perspective on just about everything.

What can I say, but we are blessed. Here is a little tid bit of something I have added to my life--perhaps you can add it to. I call it "three in three". When I am driving (which is daily) I take three minutes to pray for three people. The first person is someone I know. The second is someone of influence (which may or may not be someone I know--let's be honest though we are all people of influence from time to time.) The third is someone I don't know. I like to find a victim driving next to me. It's fun--and Ky has really gotten into it too---he especially likes to help out with the "AMEN!" That's all for now--lots more in the next post...

Happy 30th Birthday Daddy!

It was bound to happen....Daddy/Rob got old. Rob had a lot of days of b'day celebration at least. His celebration began on Easter at Pops and Debi (see prior log). He then had a special day with his mom & Jan and Ky. I did not accompany--because--as you probably can figure--I was not feeling well (surprise surprise). They had a nice time from what I was told and the pics that they took. They went to eat at Bluephies--a local Madison diner which was serving brunch. They all had good food and Rob topped his meal with their infamous cookie dough egg rolls. They then walked the streets a bit and fed ducks at the lake. I know Ky had a fabulous time. He loves it when Nana and G'ma Jan come to visit. My favorite part of the day was when they came to the house and gave Rob a cane and a nursing home bag. Ah yes....the humor of turning 30!

So that was Rob's 2nd day of b'day celebration.

The third day was my planned day....And I am going to share the whole story of this day--THE WHOLE STORY...because it took a LOT of work....

So Rob has always wanted to go to an opening day Brewers game. And if you don't know, the tix sell out the moment they go on sale. So back in December I went to find out when the tix went on sale. Turns out they were already sold out! BUMMER! And also ironically, opening day was on Rob's birthday--making it a perfect gift. So then I began the searching. I looked online and people were charging $35-$40 for standing room only tix, and $60+ for nosebleed, outfield seats. INCREDIBLE!!! I wanted something good for my man--yet I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg. So through December I kept looking--and it worked out well. At the end of December I found a guy in New Jersey selling opening day tix on Craigslist. The tix were in the third level, just below the box seats. The seats were extra wide, cushioned, and had waiter service. Did I mention that the seats were in the second row over home plate? How perfect. So I start exchanging emails with him. He wanted half down now and the rest when he got the tix. I did not feel comfortable with such a transaction--since he's in New Jersey, and I was just sending him decent sums of money without any guarantee of the tix. He was a great guy though--and we ended up doing the transaction on EBAY. He put them up as a "Buy Now" item and then called me right before they went on sale (so nobody else could snatch them). And let me say--that for the price I bought them at, somebody else would have snatched them. Anyways I bought him and then waited patiently for the tix to arrive in March.

So March 20th comes and I have heard from NJ boy about the tix. So I send him an email. (Let me also say I was very sick at this time.) He says--they will be there by the end of the week. I wait until the end of the week--no tix. I waited until the following Tuesday and then sent an email. He tells me he has been really busy--he is an accountant, he will get them to me before the weekend. I wait a week and a half. No tix. I email again--seven days before the game. He says, oops--too busy He is putting them in the mail that night and he will send me the Fed Ex tracking number. Sunday--he sends me the tracking number and I check Fed Ex, no such parcel exists. I wait and check again on Monday thinking--perhaps they don't enter the numbers over the weekend. Monday--no parcel exists. I email NJ boy again. He admits that he didn't put the parcel in the box until Sunday night, it won't be picked up by Fed Ex until Monday night--but I should receive by Weds.

Okay now realize, Rob has the day off work. I have been building up this "big" surprise for him for a while now--and now this guy who has my money is really playing with my head---and I am a sick pregnant woman. ARGH! What a rough time! I did get the tix on Weds---Thank goodness...I hugged and kissed them. Boy would that have been a ruined 30th birthday...

So back to the big day.

So Ky and I made homemade cinnamon rolls the day before and we got up early on Dad's b'day to bake them and make cream cheese frosting. I placed the tix under his plate and we woke daddy up. Ky said "Happy Birthday Daddy"--he sings Happy Birthday now too! Anyway we come down to the yummy spread on the table and enjoy a very nice breakfast. Finally I couldn't wait any longer. I said to Rob "Would you like to know what is on your b'day agenda--pick up your plate!" He does--and is a VERY happy 30 year old boy.

So the next hour was rush to get ready and pack what we need. The game is at 1:00 and we need to get there early enough to find parking--and we have no idea what traffic is going to be like.

We end up parking about 15 blocks from the stadium. Traffic wasn't bad until we got near the park. We stopped for subs to carry in as lunch and then also stopped at the nearby playground to let Ky get out some of his wigglies before getting tucked in for the game. Let me say the seats were beautiful. Considering a lot of people go to these games and get plastered--we sat in a season ticket holder section. The people were responsible (not drunks) and loved Kylan. We had a great time. The Brewers won--of course. Ky fell asleep in the 8th inning--I think he felt comfortable enough with the lead--he knew the Brewers couldn't blow it. As always--Ky was great during the game. He sat nicely with us and enjoyed the atmosphere. He especially loved the fireworks.

So after the game we walked very briefly (it was cold) along the lakefront and then went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. This restaurant had rave reviews---and we will say that the food was good--but the restaurant surprisingly empty for a Friday night. I especially enjoyed their guacamole. Ohh...I forgot. Prior to the lake we went to Grand Avenue mall, which is really a dying mall--the worse we have seen yet, and enjoyed chocolate shoppe ice cream. Kylan was especially pumped to have his own cup of ice cream.

So after all that we went back home. That was a very full day. And there was still another day of birthday to go....

So Saturday we decided to relive Friday. Pops and Debi had gotten Rob tickets on to the next Brewer's game--and these tix included free food! So we got up and had cinnamon rolls--I told him that we were going to see a Brewer's game, we quickly packed--and off we went. (This really was like the movie Groundhog day.) So I knew that Pops and Debi had secretly gotten extra tix and were planning to surprise Rob at the game. However, we had to get "our" tix from Pops first. So we met up outside a local pub, and Pops gave a great story about how they were shopping for the rest of the day and had errands to run. I have to say--Pops pulled this off well. I was confused as I thought they were joining us then for the game.

So we are walking in to the gate and Rob notices that the two tickets they gave us are in different rows. How confusing? So I told Rob to call Pops --and sort of ruined the surprise at this point. Oh well. A few minutes later we ran into the whole gang at the front gate.

So we enjoyed game 2 with the Schnake clan and good food. The most interesting part of the game was when two fools ran onto the field and we watched security pounce on them. I hope the guys were intoxicated--because they got pretty roughed up--including some knees to the groin. You can see a pic of all the security guards on them (in red) in one of the above pics.

After that we enjoyed some drinks at a local pub with Pops and the crew.--and then returned home on a long drive.

The next day---oh yes there is still more birthday, we did a special Sunday, after church, birthday brunch. It was very good food! I wish I had been in full pregnancy because I didn't eat as much as I would have liked.

So that was Robby's very long, yet deserving birthday.

On to other things....Ky can now sing the ABC's. He sings all the letters except "k". He is very impressive and very cute. He also likes to sing the "Monkeys jumping in the bed"song. And we just figured out that he is trying to sing the "Signing Time" theme song. Signing Time is the sign language video that he likes to watch, yet rarely watches. We had no idea what he was singing for a long time. It was like "chop chop chop, higher" or something when it should have "Signing time with Alex and Leah". He was also trying to sign with the song---though the signs were far from correct. I do have to say--he has a great memory for sign language. He may not be able to sign everything--but he recognizes a lot more than he can sign. He will also surprise you by trying out a new sign days after he last saw it.

It also looks like Ky is getting tubes put in his ears. Four infections now in four months---and the antibiotics aren't appearing to clearing things up. He appears to be becoming immune to them. His evaluation isn't for several weeks. We are worried he may get another one in that time. And if that happens, the doc mentioned that the next drug we will have to try will be intravenous and very painful. We are praying that things won't come to that.

Baby # 2 is doing well--moving a lot more--especially when I eat cheese. I am visiting the toilet a lot less frequently--yet still a lot more than I feel I should at this point. Our next ultrasound is set up on May 9th. We are excited. I haven't told hardly anyone at work. And funny enough no one has said anything to me. I think they all think I must be getting fat and are trying to be polite. I should tell--but it is kind of fun waiting for someone to say something. I won't be able to fit in my work shirts too much longer so someone better say something soon!

Well I think that is all for now. Stay tuned for next blog! SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Easter & other good stuff!

Yup!

I'm bad...I haven't blogged in a while, but if you look back through the blogs over the last several months you will actually see that I have blogged---I just haven't published.

Hmmm...Why is that?--you ask. Well, if I haven't already told you--baby number 2 is on their way.

The last four months have been rough as I have been often ill--not just from pregnancy, but from bugs that were going around. The end of March I had a really rough week where I was struggling to eat and even get out of bed. Right now--thank goodness--I am just battling with allergies.

So the plan was to tell the family around Easter.

We told Nana (rob's mom) on her birthday. We made it a part of her b'day present--you can read the details of that in the previous blog.--Note there are few pics because I broke the camera. BAD JESS!

We told my mom via a card (you can also read about in the previous card.) Unfortunately--but not surprisingly, my mom didn't understand the card--so I ended up explaining it to her on the phone. She was very happy and her and Terry decided to make a special stop in their truck to visit.

Terry is a trucker and my mom often goes with him now for his trips. It was great that they were able to stop--even for an hour. Ky got to see them--and boy does he love his Grandma. And Grandpa Terry let him sit in his truck. You should have seen how happy he was. Ky loves "big trucks." He is always looking for them on the road. And there he was sitting in the drivers seat. Then Terry had him honk the horn---I think that scared him. It was pretty funny.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat and enjoyed each others company. Ky ate most of Grandma's fruit. Then they were off on the road again.

The day before Easter we decided to let Ky try to dye some eggs---yeah--bad idea. He has begun throwing tantrums--and kicking and screaming toddler around dye is a bad thing. However in the end it worked out to let him put stickers on the eggs---and then he began to bash them on the table---yeah--toddlers and eggs--not a good thing--at least they were hard boiled.

On Easter, I struggled finding something to wear. I needed to look nice, yet most of my pants no longer fit--and I was just starting to get a baby bulge. The plan was to keep it secret until after dinner. Argh--it was a struggle to get dressed. We went to church and enjoyed a nice Easter breakfast and then went home to cram in Ky's nap (and my nap) before we were off to Mlwaukee.

Of course, I then woke up feeling very nauseous--and really hoping to pull this whole thing off. By the time we got to Milwaukee, I was perked up enough to keep good spirits. Debi made a delicious meal--as always and I tried to cleverly avoid the wine, though it appears Debi noticed.

We opened up the resurrection eggs and enjoyed each others company. Ky and Dominic were enjoying playing with each other and getting love and food from everyone. Then came the surprise birthday celebration for Rob and Mike and we ate a yummy three layer chocolate stout (yes--1 can of guinness) that Rob and I had made. It was good--but boy was that sucker heavy!

After dessert--I didn't get quite the forewarning I had hoped for--but Rob handed Pops an Easter Egg. Inside the egg we had written a note saying "A new chick will hatch in September-Grandpa". I didn't get the forewarning I had hope for because I had to get the camera and stuff---and I think I started recording a bit late and yes--no digital camera reaction because of all of that...

I hope this child isn't going to have "Second child syndrome". First we screwed up and broke the camera at Nana's--so we didn't get her reaction. We couldn't get my mom's reaction due to distance. And now we screwed up Pop's and Debi's reaction too. Not to mention we don't get the wide variety of ultrasound pics that we did with Ky and we won't have ultrasound video like we did with Ky (our new healthcare provider doesn't provide it.) And yeah--the ultrasound pic is very hard to scan because they give us the "x-ray" version--not a nice printed picture. What can I say--we try....sorry kid--we love you, luck just hasn't been on our side.

So Pops of course was very happy--but then said something to Debi about her being right. So obviously she had suspected before the reveal. Argh--so much for trying to be sly.

The rest of the night went well--though I will add that Ky was bit by Cinnamon--and I know Pops feels awful about it. But it was a shallow bite and almost invisible now. I think it shook him up (Pops that is). Ky is not afraid of Cinnamon. In fact he keeps asking for him. Silly boy. I think in the future, though, we will need to keep him away from Cinnamon.

So Ky updates---his left ear is still clogged. We went back to the doc and she said that he is probably almost deaf out of his left ear. It actually isn't infected though--which is good. She has mentioned several times now putting tubes in if his ears get infected again. Hopefully they will clear up over time. She said he might be louder since he is deaf in that ear---but he is always loud to us :)

A funny story---So I often ask Ky if he pooped and then check his diaper. Well today he asked me if I had pooped and then attempted to "check" my "diaper." A tad embarassing--but no doubt a memorable story.

So the first pic on this blog is Ky's boogered hair style. Yes, you too can look like that if you wipe snot in your hair. Ahh...kids...The second pic is of Ky and daddy vacuuming. Ky always likes to help out. In fact he always says "baby help mommy" --meaning he wants to do what I am doing. This can be hard as he can't always let him do what we are doing, but we try to find creative ways for him to help out. He really likes cooking--though his helping is eating whatever we are making. As far as speech--Ky always uses words now. There is no gibberish--though sometimes it is hard to make out what he is saying. Most of the time he also uses sentences. He is also getting good with opposites- up vs. down, on vs. off, etc....though pronunciation of on vs. off is sometimes difficult.

So second baby---I am feeling much better. I was really getting worried for a bit because I kept gaining and then losing weight. At 16 weeks now I have gained a solid 5 lbs. YEAH! Because at 14 weeks I had gained maybe 2 lbs. Eating had been a struggle--but now I am hungry again. Also interestingly I have lost my interest in chocolate. Very bizarre. I will eat it--but I prefer vanilla.

It was funny--at the dinner table last night all Ky wanted was MEAT. He kept saying "more meat" and "brussel sprouts". I ate a lot of brussel sprouts and meat when I was pregnant with him. Now--with this kid I wonder if he/she will not care much for chocolate. That will be odd since we are all chocolate lovers. We will have to wait and see. Well that is all for now. Stay tuned for Daddy's big 30th b'day birthday blog! (and be sure to catch up on the last few months you missed!)