Cream of Potato Soup

Happy Thanksgiving! This is a special year for us because we have so much to be thankful for. Our beautiful, healthy, happy baby boy is at the top of our list. It's frightening to think how close we came to losing him, but we are so blessed with the gift of his life and are thankful every day that he is part of our family.

I am also thankful for my husband, who stood by me during this difficult year. We laughed and cried together, and learned how to be parents together. I'm so lucky to have someone amazing like him to share every strange and wonderful twist that our lives take.

I am thankful for our friends and family. There are so many wonderful people in our lives and we love you all. Thanks for giving me rides to the hospital, for doing our laundry, for making sure we had a night out once in a while, for calling and writing and staying in touch. Thanks for welcoming and loving our son just like you love us. It is a real blessing to be able to raise him to know all of you too.

It snowed a lot last night, and the snow continues to fall. But we are warm in our house and we have three places to go for Thanksgiving today--three! That is another thing we are thankful for--our comfortable living, our never being hungry or alone. We are very lucky indeed.

Now, bring on the bird.

Posted by jenny at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're back from a weekend trip to Rochester to see Aunt Jo's house. It was a nice trip, especially since they didn't have any of the snow we had on Friday and Saturday. Evan enjoyed his visit, but did not appreciate the car ride. He's getting to the point where we can't count on a car ride to provide a nice long nap--he did sleep a bit, but wanted to be up and playing for about half the time. Now that he can move around on his own, the car seat is the last place he wants to be.

This week should be fun. It's a short one for Daddy at work, and we're looking forward to spending the holiday with family and friends. And Ev can't wait for his first taste of turkey and stuffing!

Posted by jenny at 09:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evan is 10 months old today. I know, I can't believe it either. That sounds so old to me. The next two months are going to fly by with the holidays, and then Evan will be one. Whoa.

This week I posted my birth story at the Preeclampsia Foundation website. This site is a great resource for people to learn about preeclampsia, and for women to share their stories. There is a possibility that one day they will publish a book with all the stories they have collected and use the proceeds for further preeclampsia research. I definitely wanted to be a part of that, because there is so much more to be learned about this disorder. It is my hope that someday they will figure out why this happens and how to prevent it.

Even though Ev's birth was 10 months ago, I still think about it every day. It was the most wonderful and at the same time most painful and traumatic event of my life. Mike and I are still trying to sort out our feelings and come to terms with what happened to us. I know that may sound strange and a little self serving because we did have a good outcome--Ev is a healthy happy baby and that's what we always hoped for. It was and is such a huge part of us now, and it's something that makes us wonder about Evan's future, and our own plans to have more children. I cried when I wrote that story, because I never looked at it so objectively before. I can't believe how quickly my health deteriorated, and how quickly our vision of our baby and his birth were changed. It's something that I'm still dealing with, that is certain.

Posted by jenny at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, yesterday something happened that will change our lives forever.

Guess what Elmo came to live at our house.

This is an Elmo doll that is as big as Evan, and he talks. If you squeeze one hand, he sings the Elmo's World song. If you squeeze the other, he talks about the subject of the day. Today, it is hats. "Did you know that hats go on your head? That's right!" and "Do hats have frosting? No, but birthday cakes do!". Comments of that nature.

Evan's great uncle brought this toy over last night (and Ev was asleep--sorry UJ). Evan loves it--he smiles at it and touches it. He gets a little freaked when it talks though, but he's getting used to it. I'm trying to teach him how to make it talk himself, but so far no luck. Mike wondered how long it would be before the Elmo's World song makes one of us jump out the window, but so far that's okay too. What matters is that Evan thinks it's super cool.

Our house is now Evan's World, and that includes Elmo.

Posted by jenny at 04:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm still not feeling very well, but thanks to Mike I was able to rest a bit over the weekend. If only he could stay home this week and we could both catch up on sleep! I'll say it again, I'll be glad when I'm done breastfeeding because then I can take over-the-counter drugs again with reckless abandon. Luckily Evan is back to his old self, so we're definitely thankful for that.

Mike took Evan out yesterday morning to run errands (so Mommy could sleep), and at Wal-Mart Daddy showed him the great big Elmo display. Apparently E was fascinated, and jabbered on to Elmo even after Mike walked him away from it. So today we got him a little stuffed Elmo to tide him over until Christmas. E was very happy and talked with his new friend all the way home in the car.

Yesterday we also set up a mini studio in our living room and took Ev's picture for our Christmas cards. We wanted to do something a little different, and I think it turned out great. Mike is an excellent photographer and artist, I must say. You'll all get to see the fruits of our labor in your mailboxes next month.

That was our weekend. We're hoping for a quiet week during which we all return to good health.

Posted by jenny at 09:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I guess I can't really complain, of all the things that Evan has found to get occupied with, I guess being into Elmo isn't that bad. It's funny to watch. He can be in mid-play or mid-cry, but if the big red face comes on the tv, or the radio, he will sit, transfixed, for a few minutes. Elmo's good, I have no beef with Elmo. He teaches about good things, has fun, and is all around good entertainment for our almost-one-year-old. Besides, Jennifer and I were raised on Sesame Street and we turned out pretty well so we can't complain.

Jennifer has come down with a cold of her own this week, and isn't very excited about it. I know all she wants to do (and all she needs) is some sleep but with you-know-who needing attention all the time (and he will yell at you until you give it to him as well), its hard for her to get some rest. I think tonight he and I will be going out, letting Mommy have some rest. We have fun together.

Grandma Mary Jane was in town this week for a few days, and its always nice to see my mom, as well as have her spend some time with Ev. Living 2 hours away must be hard, especially when he's growing so fast lately, but the good thing is she can come in whenever she wants, see Ev, take him shopping, spend time with us, and its a good time. We're planning a trip soon out there to spend some time with them too.

Posted by Mike at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ev is doing better, in fact he slept in his crib with no coughing fits or stuffiness until 4:30. Now he is in our bed with Mike, and I am up having juice and pills because I am sick. I feel like crap, but there's not too much I can do about it. Hopefully it won't get too bad, because from what I've heard, Mommies aren't allowed to get sick.

Posted by jenny at 04:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evan still has a cold. It was so mild at first and he was okay by the end of last week. I thought it was all over, but yesterday he started to get bad again. He was up coughing and sneezing all night last night.

Today Ev and I are covered in snot and puke. And he doesn't like his medicine. It's been a long day already and it's only noon. I hope this is over soon. I hate to see the poor kid suffer.

Posted by jenny at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today is Evan's grandma's birthday! Happy birthday, Grandma! We won't say how old you are.

Last night was Kaitlyn's first birthday party. She was nice enough to share some of her cake with Evan, and he was very pleased. He was a little jealous too, because Kaitlyn got some Elmo toys. Evan loves Elmo. He just sits mesmerized every time he is on tv. But again, she was nice enough to share her toys. It's nice that she and Ev get along now, he used to be afraid of her. I think they're going to be good pals. Before too long they'll be chasing each other around the yard. Isn't that something?

Evan has shoes now. They're little soft shoes, and I think they are adorable. Daddy picked them out. We figured he should have a pair for going out in the cold weather--in the house it's still just socks. Ev doesn't really care for them. He keeps trying to untie them and take them off. Oh well, it keeps him busy!

This morning we're off to the mall with Mikaele and her boys. I think the plan is to let Aidan roam and give Ev and Logan a chance to get caught up! They haven't seen too much of each other lately. For now though, a diaper change is in order.

Posted by jenny at 09:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

9 month doctor visit today. 16 pounds, 7 ounces, 27 inches long, and two shots in the meat. Developmentally right on target, size still at the bottom of the barrel. Ev did very well and the nurses were impressed with how big he is since his last visit. We don't go back in until early February.

We discussed his reflux issues, and were told that if it were causing damage or problems that Ev would not be thriving and he would have lots of ear infections and lung issues from aspirating all that food. So it's still a wait and see thing, but I have to admit it has gotten better over the past few weeks. Most likely all traces of it will be gone by his birthday, which isn't too far away anymore. We also talked about transitioning to table food and that is something we're going to be working on over the next couple of months.

It seems that Ev won't be getting his RSV shot this winter. He's not so small or chronically sick that they would need to give it to him, so hopefully we'll have a healthy few months. That said, Ev does have the beginnings of a cold right now (stuffy nose and a little cough) so they gave us some liquid medicine to clear that up. We already gave him some and it makes him very sleepy. Awesome. I'm hoping he will sleep this away over the next day or so.

That's all the news from here. We're off to bed.

Posted by jenny at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our weekend was a mostly quiet one after the excitement of Halloween. Friday night we went out shopping for a shower gift and some other necessities. Ev was not thrilled about being shuttled around, but was very happy when we stopped by my dad's so he could terrorize the cat.

Saturday was a trip to the mall, where Ev cruised with Daddy while I went shopping with Aunt Beth. The four of us got fed up with the crowd (or three of us, because Ev slept most of the time) and decided to break for lunch at Smokey Bones. Ev really likes it there because they have this thing called the "Sassy seat". I don't know, maybe other restaurants have it too, but it's a little seat that hooks on the table edge so he can sit right at the table. It gives him easy access to rip up placemats and knock over drinks. Pretty cool.

Saturday night was a quiet night in, and Ev decided that he was going to become mobile, dammit. He's good at cruising furniture standing up, but most of our furniture is just a little tall, so he's been stuck in one spot most of the time. But no more. Now he's crawling, but not like you and I know crawling. Ev does this crazy commando style crawl where he creeps along on his belly. He can go fast and far though, so his days of staying in one place are over. Up go the baby gates.

Sunday I went to Lisa's baby shower, so Ev stayed with Daddy and his uncles to watch the Browns/Steelers game. He had a lot of fun there, especially since instead of watching the game he got to chase the kitty around in his walker. Nothing is safe anymore. A quick trip for groceries and we were home and Ev was asleep by 8. He slept in his bed, no waking, until 7 this morning. I was super impressed. Too bad his grandparents showed up around 9 on their way back to Cleveland and were disappointed when they found a sleeping baby.

Now it's Monday, and another week is ahead of us. Tomorrow is Ev's 9 month doctor's appointment, so we'll post another update tomorrow night.

Posted by jenny at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday was Evan's first Halloween, and what an adventure it was. The night started off with Ev just up from a nap and not too pleased about being in his costume. We stopped next door for a visit with cousin Kaitlyn (who was dressed as a lady bug) and then we were off and running.

First we stopped at Evan's grandma's, where he had a little treat and took some pictures. Then it was off to Aunt Louise's for a short visit, more pictures and treats. After that, we stopped by Ev's great-grandpa's and great great aunt's house, where he was greeted with much delight. On to Cara's parent's house for yet more pictures and treats, and lastly up to Grandpa's house. Can you believe we did all that in two hours?

Luckily, Ev caught a nap on a few of the car rides so he wasn't too cranky. He did not appreciate the warm costume though, so we gave him a break at Aunt Louise's and he got to have some naked time at Grandpa's. If I haven't mentioned it before, Ev knows how to take his diaper off, so look out. At Grandpa's he got to look at his loot, and then it was some cereal and his ducky jammies, as it was past his bedtime.

All in all, it was a fun Halloween. I think Evan really had a good time and loved all the attention. He got lots of treats to share with his folks, and we took a ton of pictures. You can admire those here.

Posted by jenny at 07:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)