We have a 4 year old!

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Kate. However, today it would appear that our precious Kate has had “too much birthday”. :) But it was so fun to watch her delight at her gifts. Tessa’s gift to her was her first pedicure. We decided to give Mom one as well, then Tessa and I decided we may as well get one too. :) Kate loved her first pedicure, but did say that she wished she had a girl paint her toes and about half-way through she wanted to know why “her man was talking so funny.”

Kate picked to eat at IHOP for her birthday dinner. The funny thing is that we have never eaten at IHOP, but she wanted to eat at a pancake house like she did with Grandpa and Grandma. Neither set of grandparents remember taken her to a pancake house. :)

Cake and presents

Some cute ‘lil visitors – don’t mind the scary looking adult in the middle

Just some cuteness!

We’ve become “those” people :)

We appreciated Grandma and Aunt Joyce’s help this week. (We had other helpers, but I didn’t get pictures of everyone.) It may be redundant, but we thank you again to everyone who helped us this week!!

Mike was in Chicago for some continuing education on Tues/Wed of this past week. Kate and Lincoln were not terribly fond of not having Daddy home Tuesday night. They both got up in the night and I had no idea how I’d take care of the baby and them, so even though it is usually against house rules to sleep in Dad and Mom’s bed, I made an exception. However, I ended up with VERY little of the bed. :)

Lincoln loves to sit by Creighton – hard to believe he’s two weeks old already

We are officially “those” people. You know, the ones I’ve looked at and said, “Now, why in the world would you bring a baby to…..fill in the blank.” Last night, we had free tickets to a Chief’s game. One of our banker contacts gave them to us and we even got to sit in the bank’s suite and eat free food. Kate and Lincoln had a blast eating and dancing to the music. They talked our banker’s wife’s ear off asking questions about the game and anything else, but she seemed to enjoy it. It worked out really well to have the stadium seats as well as the suite to go back and forth between. Creighton was super all night.

Lincoln enjoying some fresh watermelon from the Tim Kaiser family

Aunt Lori and Aunt Lisa and Mom Rassi spent the morning helping today. They got so much done! Thanks so much!!

A quick update – I really turned a corner on my recovery yesterday (Thursday). I feel so much better and while I still have to rest often, I am able to be up and around again. I am now able to comfortably go about 7-8 hours between pain pills. Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes!!

Thank You

The past two weeks have been the most difficult I can ever remember having. Before I go on, let me just say that I don’t want you to feel sorry for me or to drop everything and bring us supper. I’m writing now as most of the experience is in the past and I can see light at the end of the recovery tunnel. I’ve heard some annoyance from a number of you about the vagueness of my post last blog post. I imagine I will hear from a few more of you after this one. :) I can’t fully explain my complications and keep this a PG blog. So the short version is simply this: Post delivery I developed significant swelling and a hematoma/blood clot. If you want more detail, you will have to e-mail me. The rest of the short version is that it was the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced, bar none, times 100. Day 8 post delivery my hubby entreated me to call the doctor because something was wrong. Last Thursday I went to the doctor where she discovered the hematoma/clot, gave me some WONDERFUL pain meds, and sent me home with the news that it could take as long as 2-3 more weeks to heal. Now, almost 7 days since that visit, I still have some pain, but it is quite manageable, I walk funny, but I CAN WALK – for 8 days I could barely move without weeping. Anyway, the medical update is not the reason for this post. It has been INCREDIBLY difficult for me to sit on the couch, unable to do much of anything for myself, unable to take care of my family. I’m a Mom, it’s what I’m wired to do, it’s what I LOVE to do. I’ve had to sit and watch my husband cook, clean, change diapers, etc, I’ve had to watch my mom do my laundry and take my daughter to preschool, I’ve had to ask my grandma to make me lunch because it was too painful to get up…some of you may be thinking that it sounds pretty great to be waited on, but I’m pretty sure I was born saying “I can do it myself” and it’s been a real challenge for me. I was struck this morning by how much the words “thank you” lack in this situation. To my husband and mom who have rearranged their lives to help me through this…to those who brought food…to those who have played with Kate/Lincoln…to those who have dropped off and picked up Kate from preschool…to those who have offered to help clean…to those who helped when Mike was away…to all of you who have done any number of small or big things for my family and I over the last two weeks, it is far from adequate, but from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. I pray that should you ever need help, that you will let me return the favor. We are blessed and have truly seen God take our (my) tears and turn them into a beautiful rainbow.

Preschool

Wednesday was Kate’s first day back at Preschool. She is going 3 days a week this year. Hard to believe that next year we will be sending her off to Kindergarten. (In case you wonder about her outfit, I try to be humble enough to let her dress herself.) :)

Kisses good night for baby Creighton

Daily Life

Things have been going pretty well around here. I have had a few unexpected complications that are making my recovery take longer than it normally should, but all in all, we are very blessed. Creighton is a good little baby, we’ve been blessed with lots of good help, Kate and Lincoln LOVE to talk to and hold Creighton, and overall the transition is going well.

We start almost every morning with 30-60 minutes of Creighton getting passed back and forth between Kate and Lincoln.

Painting Outside

Backkbends off the couch

Hospital Day 2

Our second day at the hospital, Kate packed a bag at Grandma’s house and said she was ready to visit baby Creighton at the hospital. However, Grandpa and Grandma were not planning to come to the hospital that day. Uncle Brett and Aunt Tessa graciously picked her up and brought her. We enjoyed their visit, as we were starting to get a little stir crazy in our hospital room.

Can you tell them apart?

Below is a picture of each of our 3 kids as newborns. Can you tell them apart?

Creighton Joe

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our second son, Creighton Joe. We went into the hospital the evening of Aug 10 for an induction. At 9pm they had the pitocin started and at 1:20am Creighton was here. He weighed 6lbs 10 oz (same as Kate) and was 19 inches long. We’re very thankful for the quick delivery and healthy baby. He has been pretty sleepy so far, as most newborns and we have enjoyed the chance to bond with him over the last two days. A big thanks to the Grandma’s for making that possible! We are hoping to be released sometime tomorrow to come home and start adjusting to life as a family of 5. Just looking through the pictures of the past two days I told Mike “I can’t believe we have 3 kids.” Here’s a few pictures from our last couple of days.