Up All Night Rocking

Connor's First Communion

2011-05-08T09:59:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was Connor's First Communion Day! Jeff's mom Virginia (Grandma Ginny) came up from Chicago, and my sister Molly (Connor's godmother) came up from Iowa to celebrate his big day with him. Finally we have some beautiful spring weather to enjoy! It was a very special day for Connor. It's hard to believe he's getting so old already.

Connor & Porter:

Jeff, Nancy & Connor

Grandma Joanie, Papa Dan & Connor

Grandma Ginny, Jeff, Nancy, Connor & Porter:

Aunt Molly & Connor:

Connor, Aunt Molly & Porter:

Aunt Molly & Connor:

Aunt Peggy, Peter, Katie, Uncle Steve & Connor:

Connor's Banner:

April (SNOW) Showers...

2011-04-16T18:50:00.004-05:00

bring frozen flowers???

Not sure that's how it's supposed to go, but that's how it is! Luckily most of it has melted by dinnertime. I'm not sure I could handle any snow that stuck for any length of time. This has been such (ok...I accidentally typed suck there!! too true) a horrible winter I am just more than ready to move on. I have this fear that we are going to have a less than stellar summer this year, and I really, really hope that's not the case. My SIL in Dallas said it was 90 degrees there today. Last I checked it was 35 here and so windy it feels like 20. It's just NOT right!!

The boys enjoying the April snow:

We are happy to have Grandma & Papa back from Florida (though I wish they brought the weather home with them!). We had a delicious home-cooked breakfast with them this morning & Connor got an opportunity to pick up a few pointers from Papa in their checkers game!

Connor & Papa playing checkers:

St Pat's 2011

2011-03-17T15:42:00.002-05:00

Ok, I know it's been a long time since I've posted...but we've been busy, and I've probably been posting more photos on Facebook these days.

Connor just turned 8 on March 4th. Porter is 3 1/2 and very feisty. Connor finished his hockey season last weekend and scored 2 goals during their jamboree. Porter had 2 skating lessons which did NOT go well, so we decided to pull him out for now and try swimming lessons instead. I'm hoping they are less painful for everyone involved!

Here are some photos of the kids on St Pat's with our friends the McCartys:

Jack, Connor, Maggie & Porter:

Jack & Connor:

Connor:

Porter:

Connor & Porter:

I'd like to promise that I'm going to do more updates, but I'm not sure I can keep my promise. I'll try though!

Halloween & Fall

2009-11-04T21:35:00.007-06:00

Catching up with fall, though it doesn't really feel like we've had one yet! I think we skipped over summer and had it in September and now we've skipped over fall. I'm still waiting! I really love fall, but it just hasn't been that enjoyable this year. I've had a hard time getting into the season. Both boys were sidelined with H1N1 a couple of weeks ago too. They have completely recovered now, but it wasn't much fun. Poor Porter had a temp of 105.1 one night!

It's not good when you have snow 4 times in October! Though the boys enjoyed it!

We did have a fun bonfire at my brother Steve's farm near Afton Alps. He brings dead trees over to the bonfire with his bobcat, drops them on and whoa baby, it's a BIG fire!

Porter with cousin Katie:

Mmmm...Giant toasted Marshmallow:

Connor and Porter had their pediatrician's check-ups together this year. 2 year check-up for Porter. He weighed in a 30 lbs, which I think is around the 75th%. Connor weighed in at 47.5 lbs which is around 50th% and he was 25th% for height. They both had to get shots. I didn't think Connor had to get shots, so it came as an unpleasant surprise to him! He was a very good big brother though, and read to Porter as we were waiting.

The boys had fun on Halloween. Connor dressed up as Obi Wan Kenobi and Porter was DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba. He refused to wear his hat or glasses on Halloween night, so it's a good thing I got a photo of him with it on the day it arrived in the mail! They got lots of candy, and I've had to exercise great restraint to not raid their candy too much! We paid a visit to the Oakdale Fire Station on Halloween too, and our neighbor Bill who is a volunteer firefighter was kind enough to let us in to look at the trucks!

Connor is Obi Wan:

Porter as DJ Lance Rock:

Random Connor stuff. He's been trying to earn some extra money to buy a lego kit that he really wants. He's been extra helpful, but always at a cost! He even wanted to do some jobs when he was sick with H1N1, but I informed him he wouldn't be doing any jobs besides getting better. Here he is helping to empty the dishwasher:

Finally, he brought this over to Jeff and I, and we both said, "Is that Jesus??" He was so proud of himself, he said "Yep!". Hmmm...Lego Jesus...now I think I've seen everything!!

Here is a video of Porter singing Twinkle Twinkle:

Redwoods and Wineries

2009-10-05T00:16:00.001-05:00

We started out our morning with coffee and pastries at The Flying Goat coffee shop in downtown Santa Rosa, and then we headed northwest to the Armstrong Woods where the big Redwoods are. It was really beautiful and peaceful to walk around in the midst of such majestic trees.

After that we headed to a small vineyard called Porter Creek (which I really only wanted to go to because of the name!), but we ended up buying a couple bottles there. Then we headed to Healdsburg to buy lunch which we planned on eating at the next vineyard, Truett-Hurst. It was really nice and had a lovely spot to eat lunch by a babbling creek. We bought another bottle there. Next we stopped at Dutcher Crossing which had amazing views, and really good Sauvignon Blanc. We signed up for a club which.includes only 2 shipments of 6 bottles each, so we picked out the first six and will get another 6 in 6 mos. We next went to a really beautiful winery called Ferrari-C(something). It looked like a Tuscan Villa and had the most amazing surroundings. Just one bottle there with a pretty label! Next was Sbargia Family and we got 2 bottles there.

One lane bridge on the way to Porter Creek Vineyard:

Creekside lunch at Truett-Hurst Vineyard:

Ferrari-Carano Vineyard:

Beautiful View from Sbragia Family Vineyard:

Lake Sonoma:

Bella Wine Cave:

Grapes at Coppola Winery:

After that we made plans to meet up for dinner in Geyserville with Kate, the anesthesiologist I met yesterday, and her husband Dave. We had a little time to kill before we met them, so we drove up to Lake Sonoma which is a big reservoir. It was really pretty. We briefly stopped at a vineyard called Bella where they do their tastings in a cave. We didn't taste or buy, just looked around in the cave. Last stop before dinner was Francis Ford Coppola's vineyard where we bought one bottle.

We had dinner in Geyserville at Diavola, a great wood-fire oven pizza restaurant which was great. We had a nice time with Kate and Dave, and hopefully will continue that friendship.

We have had a wonderful trip and packed a lot of stuff into just a few days. I would LOVE to come back to this stunning part of the country again. Hopefully we can do that!

Home tomorrow. We might get to do a tiny bit of sightseeing in San Francisco before our flight in the afternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing the boys and getting back home!

Ride Day

2009-10-03T23:33:00.001-05:00

Today was ride day. We started out from our hotel around 7am. It was cool but sunny. We split up after we parked the car, but I did get to see Jeff starting off the race and got a photo. He started off within the first ten minutes or so, which was lucky for him since it took about 35 min total to get everyone out.

Jeff ready to go:

Levi Leipheimer:

Jeff starting the race:

Levi & Odessa taking off:

Jeff at the top of King's Ridge, Thumbs up, he made it!:

At the medical tent there were already 2 paramedic teams in place setting up. Not much to do for me so I got coffee and wandered around. Eventually more folks showed up including Dan, a resident MD, Carla a NP and Kate a retired anesthesiologist whose wit and sarcasm I greatly enjoyed. Kate's husband Dave was also out doing the ride.

Dave & Kate:

We ended up only seeing about 10 patients or so, and mostly minor stuff. We did see a few people with some pretty bad road rash which needed cleaning out and dressing. The EMS said they made 4 runs with ambulances from out in the race. All in all not many injuries which was good. Probably due to the fact that this was not meant to be competitive but more of an enjoyable experience.

Jeff came pretty close to reaching his goal of 103 miles in 6 hours by making it in 6:37. Overall he ended up coming in 268 out of 3,500 riders, so not bad, especially for someone who is not used to doing climbs and descents of this magnitude! I'm proud of him for doing it and for doing so well. I think he really enjoyed it.

Jeff after completing the ride:

This eveving we went to Willi's Wine Bar which was great! We are both tired, but looking forward to hitting some wineries tomorrow!

BTW, the kids are doing fine and are with my mom and dad tonight. Porter had his 2 bottom molars break through right before we left and had a bit of a runny nose, but it doesn't seem to be stopping him. Connor started Fall hockey today. I miss them and will be happy to see them, but I'm also really grateful to our friends the Hollys and my parents for watching our kids and allowing us this wonderful opportunity to get away together!

Night before the big ride

2009-10-03T00:14:00.002-05:00

We had a great day today. Jeff had a good 40 mile ride and met up with 2 other cyclists who are also doing the ride tomorrow, one form Santa Rosa and one from New York. I enjoyed some sun and relaxation while he was on his ride.

When he got back, we went to register for the ride, which was quite a long wait. We then drove West through Sebastapol and to Bodega Bay where we drove out to Bodega Head, a big cliff-like overlook where we could see the Pacific Ocean crashing in. It was super windy and cold, but I still got that wonderful smell of the sea. We went north on Highway 1, or the Pacific Coast Highway which was very narrow and twisty. We ended up in Jenner and had dinner at The River's End, a restaurant at the meeting place of the Russian River and the Pacific Ocean. We arrived around 6 pm and were soon treated to an amazing sunset and a beautiful full moonrise simultaneously. We also had a great meal.

The drive home was a bit more treacherous in the dark, and we had 2 near misses with deer. We are now back at the hotel and getting ready to hit the hay and get some sleep before the big day tomorrow.

Also, Jeff saw some signs along Highway 1 for the race, so they will get a chance to ride along some of the breathtaking coastal beaches and rocky coastlines we got to see today. Oh, and we did see some whales spouting and some sea lions from a distance too!
All in all a pretty great day! We are both looking forward to an amazing experience tomorrow and we look forward to sharing our day later. Hopefully Jeff can stop and take some photos along the way.

Off to bed...

California

2009-10-02T15:34:00.004-05:00

Jeff and I arrived safely in San Francisco yesterday and made our way up to Santa Rosa through some heavy traffic. We were glad to finally reach our hotel, the Fountaingrove Inn, which is very nice, and better yet had a great happy hour which was perfect since neither of us had eaten much all day and it was about 7:30pm Minnesota time. We got some great chicken tacos, sweet potato fries and beers for about 15 bucks including tip. We didn't want to eat too much though since Jeff made dinner reservations for us at the Riviera, a restauran that Levi Leipheimer likes.

Which brings me to why we are here in California in the first place! We are celebrating our 10th anniversary, which really was in July, but better late than never. Also Jeff is doing a 103 mile bike ride put on by professional cyclist Levi Liepheimer who lives in Santa Rosa. I am volunteering my time as a nurse in the medical tent for the race. It could be interesting, and I'm sure I will have stories to tell when I get back! I'm hoping Jeff is not going to be one of my customers! There will be 3,500 riders!

Back to dinner last night. We had a very nice meal at the Riviera, and who should we be sitting 5 feet from, but Levi himself and his whole family! It was pretty cool. Jeff didn't want to talk to him though, so we didn't get to schmooze.

Today we slept in a bit then headed towards downtown to have breakfast at Dierk's which was quite good. We then headed to The Historic Railroad Square where we made a stop at the Santa Rosa Visitor's Bureau to get some maps and info. We also headed to Finley Park, where the race will kick off, so I could sign in and we could figure things out. Next stop was the NoCal Bike Shop where Jeff got a bike map and advice for where to do a 1 hour ride today, which is where he is right now as I lay on a chaise by the pool!! I must admit, I could get used to this! :)

Later we are going to head to the Pacific to see some sea lions, the sunset and grab some dinner!

Big race day all day long tomorrow! I'm taking photos which I will post when I get home. Getting hot...time for a dip!

Happy 2nd Birthday Porter!!

2009-09-29T21:36:00.006-05:00

We had Porter's 2nd Birthday Party on Saturday. He won't actually be 2 until October 4th, but Jeff and I will be in Santa Rosa, California on the 4th celebrating our 10th anniversary and also Jeff will be competing in a 103 mile bike race on the 3rd. To alleviate my Mommy guilt for being gone on his birthday, I had to celebrate it early! :) We had a fun party and Porter enjoyed everyone helping him celebrate, and of course loved getting some new toys (many of which have been enjoyed more by Connor!). Here are some photos from Porter's big day!

Finally, all sacked out after a long, fun day:

Connor's 1st Day of 1st Grade

2009-08-31T22:24:00.004-05:00

Today was Connor's 1st day of 1st Grade. It's hard to believe he's getting so big. His day went really well, and I think he'll have a great year! Connor said a few weeks ago, "I get a warm feeling whenever I think about being in 1st grade, and I don't know what it is." Too funny.

Not happy about going to work/school:

Excited:

Connor & Porter:

So sad about dropping big brother off:

Minnesota State Fair 2009

2009-08-30T21:39:00.004-05:00

OK, I'm way overdue for a blog update. Haven't posted one since before summer started. It's been busy around here with a 6 year old out of school and an almost 2 year old running around and getting into trouble! I promise I will post some of our summer adventures in the weeks ahead (now that I have free time during Porter's naps!).

School starts tomorrow for Connor and I have been really looking forward to him going back, but now I know the real work begins: getting him up, dressed, fed, teeth brushed, homework done and ready for the bus to arrive at 8:07! Porter and I won't know what to do with ourselves all day, but I'm sure we will come up with something! It's hard to believe Connor is starting 1st grade already. I'm hoping he has a great year!

We went to the State Fair last Friday with our friends Greta and Henry. We had a really fun time, ate lots of good Fair food and spent too much money! Here are some photos of our trip to the Fair:

Porter trying to feed his Pronto Pup to his Puppy:

And to his Nuk:

All sacked out after a long day at the Fair:

5 Minutes of Pure Motherhood

2009-05-31T10:06:00.003-05:00

The times I am "Up all night rocking" are few and far between. And mostly I'm quite glad of that, but last night Porter cried out at 4:06am. I went in and found his pacifier for him, but it seemed like something more was troubling him. He held up his arms and said "Rock", so I scooped him up and we sat in the rocking chair. Something about the weight of his head on my shoulder and his sweet baby breath on my neck as he drifted back to sleep was so precious.

I put him back in his crib after he'd fallen back asleep. I stroked his downy hair. When I got back in bed it was 4:11am. Only 5 minutes I'd been up, but they were 5 minutes of Pure Motherhood...and I loved every one of them.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-17T14:18:00.009-05:00

We had a fun Easter this year. The boys loved their baskets. Porter has a major sweet tooth, so he was thrilled to get some candy. Connor got some small Lego kits in his basket, so he couldn't have been happier either. Church was a nightmare though! It's just not very relaxing or enjoyable to go to church with an 18 month old! Someday it will get better :). We had dinner at my Mom & Dad's with my brother Tom, his wife Jenny and their kids Danny & Meghan, and also my sister-in-law Lisa and nephew Michael. My brother Mike and nephew Louie actually were at the Masters! It was a very nice dinner. I was glad to not be working, and to get to enjoy the day with my boys.

There are some other random recent photos as well. Porter is now 18 mos and busy! He has been getting more physically active, climbing up on chairs etc. He has also started some tantrums where he flails himself down on the floor crying. It's really quite comical. I remember Connor doing the same thing around the same age, and you just wonder where it comes from. It's not like they learn by example. How many adults do you see doing that when they don't get their way?? We might feel like it sometimes, but most of us are just not that dramatic! I just have to try to ignore it and not laugh! Also Porter had his 18 month check-up and weighs 27 lbs 13oz which is 75th % and is 90th % for height (though I'm sure that will change given the genetics of his parents :) ).

Connor finally learned to tie his shoes!!! But, he needs to practice a little more to master it. He is also reading better and can read some easy books to us. It's fun seeing some new found skills coming out!

Finally, here is a funny video of Porter going down the stairs. He goes so fast in his little footie pjs. Too cute!

Happy St Patty's Day 2009!

2009-03-17T14:57:00.006-05:00

Jack, Connor & Maggie:

We had a fun St Patrick's Day, just me and Connor. I was very lucky (must be the Irish in me) to get the day off today. Porter went to daycare (didn't feel like dealing with a toddler at the Landmark Center), and Connor and I went down to the Landmark Center to meet our friends the McCartys for some fun, music and an Irish beer or two (just Nancy & I, the kids had juice boxes!). Not sure how many years in a row this is for us, but I know we've been coming since way before we had kids. Connor was here as a 2 week old! Anyway, it's our tradition, so I was very glad to get the day off and celebrate. The kids love to make crafts and we all love to watch the Irish Dancers and listen to the music. We weren't dissapointed. It was a great day to be Irish!

Jack, Connor & Maggie at the "Irish Castle"

Jack, Connor, Maggie & Nancy @ Irish Castle:

Connor's face painting:

Connor & his craft:

Connor, Jack & Maggie's crafts:

Connor & Nancy:

Irish Dancers:

Jack & Connor in 2004 at the "Irish Castle":

Connor is 6!!! Jeff is 40!!! Porter is 17 mos!!!

2009-03-12T15:23:00.007-05:00

Happy Birthday to Connor! Can't believe he is 6 already! He had a really fun party at Lookout Ridge in Woodbury with 10 of his friends from school. On his actual birthday he got to have his friend JJ ride the bus home with him from school, have a play date and have him over for dinner. Grandma & Papa also came over and dropped off a present for him. Porter and I had lunch with him at school on his birthday too. It was a good day for him I think. He also got a very sugary white cake with blue frosting per his request. Here are some photos of his party and his big day:

Connor & JJ:

Connor with Grandma Joanie & Papa Dan:

Here are some pictures of Connor's Mite Jamboree, the end of the hockey season. They didn't turn out so well through the glass. The second photo is of him getting his trophy. He was super excited about it. So much so that he promptly dropped it on the ground and it broke in two! Thank God for Daddy and Super Glue.

And finally, my honey is now 40! Happy Birthday Jeff! I'm glad you get to take the big step before me!

A couple of photos of Porter too. He's now 17 mos:

Marquette Game

2009-03-01T11:23:00.007-06:00

Marquette vs UConn:

Jeff & Connor at the game:

We had a brief but eventful trip to Milwaukee this week. We drove there on Wednesday to see Marquette play UConn in Basketball. We arrived in the afternoon, checked in to our hotel and met up with our friends the Horners and Sippels for dinner at Capone's. My friend Margaret, who lives in Milwaukee also joined us for a bit before we headed to the game. It was a sold out game, and was televised on ESPN. It was really loud and everyone was all pumped up. Unfortunately Marquette lost, but we all had a fun time. Connor thought it was too loud and didn't like how high up we were, but Porter seemed to take it all in, despite the fact that he was going on 20 min of sleep all day and it was past his bedtime! On Thursday we went to Marquette's campus, bought some stuff in the campus store, checked out Joan of Arc Chapel and the Engineering Building and then had lunch at Kopp's, Jeff's favorite burger & custard place. We then headed back to Minnesota and into a treacherous winter storm which was really quite frightening at times. The boys both did great in the car both ways. It took us about 2 hours longer to get home than it normally would have. I'm glad we all made it home in one piece and didn't end up in the ditch or in an accident!

Ben, Porter & Connor in the hotel lobby:

Going up and down the ramp:

Nancy and Porter at the game:

Snuggling in the hotel bed:

Mmmm....room service!

St Joan of Arc Chapel on Marquette's campus:

The Engineering Building at Marquette:

Lunch at Kopp's:

Mmmm...Kopp's frozen custard:

Hamming it up for the camera:

Porter really liked the custard:

The treacherous road trip:

Other big news, Connor got a new bike for his 6th birthday, which is coming up next Wednesday. He now has hand brakes and 6 gears! He's very excited as you can see by the photos. His party with school friends is today. They are going to Lookout Ridge in Woodbury and he will be joined by 10 of his pals from school. It should be a fun time, and I will post photos later.

Connor and his new bike:

Playdate for Porter

2009-02-24T22:32:00.003-06:00

I had a fun thing happen. A woman who I had met a long time ago (summer of 2006) at a Resolve infertility support group sent me an e-mail. She said she had been going through her e-mail address list cleaning it up and came across my address and was just wondering how I was doing. Turns out she has a 16 month old son as well! I just thought that was such a great coincidence that we both succeeded down different paths of infertility. It was really neat to see a photo of her and her son and to hear what she's been up to. She's now expecting her second baby due in August, and I couldn't be happier for her. At any rate, we decided to get our boys together for a playdate, and it was really fun. I hoping we can continue to do this once a month or so. Here are some photos of our day at the Eagle's Nest in New Brighton with our new friend Dutcher and his mom Elizabeth:

Dutcher & Porter:

Porter 16 months

2009-02-24T22:16:00.006-06:00

I am trying to catch up on missed posts here, so bear with me. Porter turned 16 months on Feb 4th, and is almost 17 months now, but here are some photos from the beginning of February. We also celebrated my Dad's 82nd birthday at Pino's in Oakdale with my brother Steve and his family, so I have a photo of that as well.

Super cool baby:

16 month tub shots:

Rocky, rocky:

Dad's 82nd B-day:

Goofy Connor:

Handsome guy:

Porter likes to have cereal every day (Honey Bunches of Oats) just like Daddy, so here they are sharing their breakfast ritual together. Porter even takes his spoon and mixes up the cereal in the milk just like Jeff. It's pretty funny:

Mexico

2009-02-24T21:55:00.005-06:00

Well, it's been about a month since I returned from Mexico for my girls trip, and I am finally getting around to posting my photos. We really had a wonderful time. It was too short of course, but it was still great to get away from it all and enjoy some gorgeous weather as well as the company of 5 women who have been my dear friends for 25 years now. I am so blessed to have such a great network of friends. There were a few who couldn't come too, but hopefully next time. A beach vacation is really my favorite kind, and I did exactly what I wanted to do: read my book on the beach, listen to music and drink tropical drinks! It was perfect! We ended up going to an all-inclusive place which ended up being really great. We didn't have to worry about splitting up the bill or figuring out the exchange rate, and we didn't have to worry about being on a schedule or leaving the hotel for meals. The food and all the drinks were really good too. It would be great to do with the kids and Jeff someday. I know they would love it too. We had such a great time it almost makes it worthwhile to turn 40! (Almost). I've got a few months left though, so until then I'm hanging on to 39 for dear life!

My Amigas:
Nancy, Margaret, Me, Michele, Kristin & Andrea

The poolside bar at Riu Yucatan:

Hanging by the pool bar:

Andrea & Me:

Beautiful waves:

Some of the locals:

Ahhh, the feeling of sand between my toes:

The beach scene at the Riu Yucatan:

A coatamundi:

Sickness, Sledding & Syrup

2009-01-19T11:06:00.004-06:00

Well, we've had a fun couple of weeks. Porter got a stomach virus (probably from ECFE). It started the day he was at my parents house. They were watching him because our daycare provider's mother died. He was sick a few times at their house and really just didn't feel well all day. I was working that weekend. Jeff had him the next day and he was still not feeling that great. That night Jeff started not feeling too well, so I stayed home from work the next day. My parents called that morning and said they were both up all night throwing up and having diarrhea (sorry for that). I felt really bad that Porter got them sick, but hey, what can you do? At this point Connor and I both still felt fine and I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Jeff stayed home from work on Monday and on Tuesday with Porter while I worked. Porter was still having diarrhea (sorry again) and was getting a really sore butt. Jeff said he got the gold star for the lunchtime diaper change on Tuesday. Jeff was only sick for a couple of days, and luckily not to the extent that my parents were sick. I think now Porter is finally back to normal and his poor butt is mostly healed. Connor mostly escaped, though on Wednesday last week he threw up on the bus just before it arrived at our house. Poor kid. I hope he's not labeled now as "the kid who threw up on the bus"! He assured me that Jonah threw up on the bus once too, so at least he has company. He threw up 2 more times within an hour and then was pretty much fine. I think I dodged this bullet completely. Must be my superior immune system!! There aren't too many infected body fluids I haven't been exposed to over the course of my life thus far.

My 2 sick boys:

Cheese:

So, in the midst of all the sickness, we were able to get outside and enjoy the frigid Minnesota climate. Porter seemed to like his first sledding experience and said "Wheee!" when we were going down our itty bitty slope in the backyard. He really likes being outside, or maybe it's just that he was glad to be doing what his big brother was doing instead of being left behind. I included a photo of Connor in the same hat/coat from January 2004 for fun.

Porter 15 mos:

Connor 10 mos:

The third part of my entry title refers to my foiled attempt to get Jeff REAL maple syrup. I made a grocery store trip last night after putting Porter to bed. It was so peaceful to be in the store Sunday evening with hardly anyone else there. I almost enjoyed myself. I spent a few minutes comparing prices and finally settled on the big glass jug of REAL maple syrup. Finally I'm hope lugging the groceries in when WHAM the handles break, the bag drops, the bottle breaks, the syrup oozes all over everything. Right on the garage floor. $@%*!!!! And the part that really pisses me off...I'm out $16 with nothing to show but a sticky driveway. Guess he'll have to deal with the FAKE stuff for a while.

Finally, Porter had his 15 month check up last week. He was down on his weight, due to his illness. He's now 23 lbs 9.8oz which is between the 25th-50th%. Last time he was 50th-75th%. I'm sure he'll make a comeback though, he's a good eater. He was not however thrilled with being weighed or getting shots!

Talk to the hand:

Christmas photos

2009-01-02T20:57:00.004-06:00

I'm kind of glad the holidays are behind us. We had a really nice Christmas and spent lots of time with my family, which was great. It's just all the stress of making sure that you've bought all the presents you are supposed to that makes me feel crazy. Also, I was working a lot before Christmas, and then we had a small Christmas celebration at our house on Christmas Day, so just cleaning and getting ready felt a little crazy. Luckily Jeff had some time off, and really did a great job of getting all the food bought and prepared. He made a delicious leg of lamb, red wine mint jelly, roasted potatoes and fennel and a really yummy pannetone/chocolate mascarpone trifle. I'm really glad he loves to cook and is good at it. It takes a lot of the heat off me! My mom also pulled through by bringing a great salad and some shrimp for an appetizer. We got together at my brother Tom & Jenny's house on Christmas Eve with everyone, so there were 20 of us. We had a really nice time, but weren't able to stay all that late because Porter needed to go to bed. Oh well, he'll be able to last longer in a few years!

Connor got a Wii for Christmas, and was pretty excited, but I think he might have liked the SpongeBob toothbrush he got in his stocking better! We've been having fun playing the Wii and are starting to figure out how to play Lego Indiana Jones.

We went out with a group of neighbors for New Years Eve, and I told Connor he was going to have a babysitter. He said "Why?" I said, because we are going out to dinner". He said, "Can I come?". I said, "No, it's just grown-ups". He said, "Why, does everything have booze in it?". That kid cracks me up. Actually they ended up staying at my parents' house overnight and did great. It was really nice of my mom to do that since New Years Eve is her birthday! The kids had fun and I think Grandma and Papa really liked having them spend the night too. We had a really nice dinner at the Downtowner and hung out with neighborhood friends til around 1am or so, just long enough to ring in the New Year and suffer a tiny bit of a hangover the next day. It was nice not having to get up with kids and to sleep in a bit.

Happy 2009!

Visit with Santa

2008-12-08T21:50:00.004-06:00

Visit with Santa:

So we made our annual journey to Gerten's to pick out our Christmas tree and to visit with Santa. I don't think we visited with Santa last year. Maybe he wasn't there the day we got our tree, or maybe I didn't want to bother with Porter being 2 mos old. Who knows. I'm fairly certain that Connor was ok with not seeing Santa since he was pretty afraid of him. This year he said he'd go, but he was not going to sit on his lap. He would just stand near him and tell him what he wanted. So, we got in line to see Santa, and Connor said to me "I've changed my mind. I don't want to go see Santa." Well, I told him that Porter was going to see him and he could just wait in line with us. He did change his mind again, and went up to see Santa. It was pretty cute too. Connor had been planning on telling Santa he wanted a Nintendo Wii, but chickened out when he got up there and told him he wanted some Bakugans. I told him he could ask for more stuff, so he did tell him he wanted a Nintendo Wii then. Santa said he couldn't make any promises, and told Connor he needed to not argue, to listen to Mom & Dad, go to bed when he is told and to turn the TV off when he is told. He just nodded solemnly while Santa was talking. Meanwhile, Porter was happy as a clam sitting on Santa's lap listening to this exchange between Santa and his big brother. Next year, we'll see.....

Getting our tree at Gerten's:

Mmmm, donuts:

Could life get any better?:

Connor's first hockey game:

Holiday Makeover

2008-12-01T21:42:00.004-06:00

Whew, it's been a while since I last posted. I think everyone is busy right now. We have also been getting over illnesses here too. Porter had a bad cold for a week or so, and also got about 5 new teeth! He's been pretty fun to be around! Jeff caught some kind of virus and was sick on Thanksgiving and all weekend. Not much of a fun holiday, but we are all better now. Something to be Thankful for!

Porter has been walking all over the place and is really getting good. He hardly ever crawls anymore. He's also been making lots of animal sounds, like Baa and meow, and is starting to say a few words. He now says baby, and I think he says puppy, but it comes out more like doppy. He says mi for milk. I'm sure there are a lot more words that I just don't understand yet. It must be so frustrating to not be understood. I suppose a lot like a stroke victim who knows in their brain what they are trying to say, and it's just not coming out that way. He speaks lots of gibberish which sounds just like a very complex conversation. It's really cute. He's starting to dance too, and gives sloppy wet kisses when he feels like it. When he does peek-a-boo, he covers his ears instead of his eyes! Very fun. We all say "Oh no, where has Porter gone? He must have gone to Porterville". He thinks this is so funny. He loves to laugh and will laugh loud when something unbeknowst to us amuses him. He keeps us all entertained.

Cruising around:

Being Goofy:

Brushing:

Playing hockey:

Mugging for the camera:

Climbing on the train table:

Peek-a-boo, Where's Porter:

Baby Yoga:

Connor is doing great in kindergarten. He seems to be enjoying school and making lots of friends there. We were recently at the Spagetti Dinner and Connor was working the room saying hi to everyone he knows. It was pretty funny. He started playing hockey and is in Mites 2. His team is the Wild this year. He has a few friends from his team last year on this years team, and also has quite a few friends from school and the bus who are on his team. He has really been learning a lot of words and is able to read and write quite a few of them. He is always asking how things are spelled. He loves drawing fighter planes, Indiana Jones stuff and Star Wars stuff. He is obsessively into Legos right now and loves watching SpongeBob. He's hoping to learn how to snowboard this winter.

Tub time:

I am on a little vacation from work right now and am just enjoying having some time off. We are waiting for a visit from the accreditation organization for hospitals at work and everyone has been nervous about their visit. It's like a black cloud hanging over all of us. I just wish they'd come (preferably while I'm on vacation!).

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my parents. It was small this year, just us, my parents and my brother Mike, sil Lisa and their 2 boys. It was a little hectic with Porter and with Jeff there but not feeling well. I think we can all recall how relaxing holidays with one-year olds are! Oh well, someday I'll get to sit down and have a relaxing glass of wine!

Mom working hard:

Nellie hoping for a taste:

Jeff not feeling his best:

Reading with Aunt Lisa:

Reading with Papa:

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T09:37:00.006-05:00

Happy Halloween everyone! Connor had a blast trick or treating last night. He was dressed up as Indiana Jones, and Porter was a somewhat reluctant Incredible Hulk. We did finally get him to put on his hat and got a few photos. My mom came over and brought us KFC for dinner, some treats for the kids, and got to see them in their costumes. Papa is away on a hunting trip. We also got a shot of Connor and our neighbor girls Caroline and Cecelia who are twins. For fun I am posting a photo from 2005 of the 3 of them too (when they were 2 1/2 and 2). It's fun to see them getting so big. The girls are having their 5th birthday party today!

Indiana Jones:

The menacing Indiana Jones:

An Unhappy Hulk:

A happier Hulk with Grandma Joanie:

Family photo:

Connor, Caroline & Cecelia in 2005:

Caroline, Connor, Porter & Cecelia 2008:

The loot:

And lastly, a man who vacuums stairs! Gotta love it ;)

Look Who's Walking!!

2008-10-29T14:49:00.002-05:00

Check it out:

Yay Porter! We are so proud of you!!!

Fall in Minnesota

2008-10-28T13:52:00.006-05:00

Fall is in full swing here. We had a beautiful week last week and got to enjoy the outdoors. We did some jumping in leaves and also got to enjoy a beautiful day at Afton Alps Ski Resort where Jeff had a Cyclocross race on Saturday.

Jeff jumping barriers:

The next Ingham cyclist:

Connor in his race:

Porter had his 12 month check up not long ago, and is now 23lbs 6oz which is between the 50th and 75th %, he's 31in long (75-90%) and 18 3/4 in head (75%). He measures about a pound heavier than Connor did at 12 mos, and I think the length and head are about the same. He's still not walking, but will stand alone briefly and cruises around everything. He'd much rather crawl since he is so fast. When we try to get him to walk he sometimes will do it while holding our hand, but if he's not in the mood he goes all jelly bones on us. He's definitely got an opinion about what he wants to do. He has started saying baby, and said puppy once or twice for me. He makes a woof woof noise when he sees a puppy or just about any other animal as well. He has also said "Miaa" for a kitty but also says woof woof. It's getting a little frustrating sometimes because if he wants something he just says "ME ME" or points at things. If he's trying to tell you about something he says "Didi". He occasionally says Mommy or Mi-ommy, but says Dada a lot. He's has cut his first 1 year molar last week and is battling a cold right now.

Connor & his lovey "Puppy"

Baby Jedi:

Connor is doing well in kindergarten. He seems to be learning a lot, and is constantly asking how words are spelled, or what the sum is of 2 numbers. He seems to be making friends at school and likes going. He is looking forward to starting hockey soon, and loves being outside whenever he can. He competed in the kids race on Saturday and did pretty well, though he had a hard time lifting his bike over the barrier.

We are looking forward to Halloween on Friday. Connor is going to be Indiana Jones and Porter is going to be the Incredible Hulk. I'll post photos after the big day.

Little Monkey

2008-10-12T22:02:00.006-05:00

Here are some recent photos of my little one year old monkey. He's a sneaky little devil, and I have to be on top of him every second. When Jeff's mom was here, we were talking in the living room, and he snuck into the pantry and helped himself to his Puffs!

A nice photo of Porter with Grandma Ginny:

Here is a photo of Connor with the giant bear that Porter got from Uncle Steve and Aunt Peggy:

Connor had his last day of soccer practice for the season today. We got some action shots, and some photos of Porter feeding Jeff a goldfish. He loves to feed us stuff lately.

Don't you wonder what they were talking about??:

My sister Molly and her fiance Jim were here for the weekend. My brother Steve had his big annual bonfire out at his farm this weekend. It was a fun time. There was a brief bit of rain and lots of distant lightning and thunder adding a bit of drama to the night sky. Porter did finally fall asleep in the sling, so we were able to stay a little later. I don't have too many photos from the bonfire though, but my sister got one of me holding Porter in the sling that is cute. I'll have to post it if she sends it to me. We also went to Stillwater for lunch on Saturday with my mom, Molly & Jim. Jeff had bike races both Saturday and Sunday, so he missed out on lunch at the Freight House. It was an absolutely gorgeous day that felt more like July than October. We had fun watching the boats on the St Croix, and even got to see the Lift Bridge go up and down.

Aunt Molly & Connor:

The 3 girls:

Pensive boy:

Lift Bridge:

Grandma Joanie & Connor:

Molly & Jim:

Happy 1st Birthday Porter!!!

2008-10-05T21:21:00.009-05:00

Birthday Boy & family:

The Birthday Boy & Mama:

Porter's Cake:

Get this thing off me!! Porter with Greta & Connor:

Still a little unhappy:

Mmmm frosting:

Porter's 1st birthday has finally arrived! We had a fun party at our house joined by 2 of my brothers and their families, my parents, our good friends the Holly family, and Jeff's mom, brother Dave and sister-in-law Yuri all came from Chicago. The weather was beautiful for a fall day in Minnesota, and the food was great. Jeff made his famous pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans and some great cole slaw.

Uncle Steve, Katie, Aunt Peggy & Grandma Virginia:

Crazy Uncles:

Uncle Dave & Porter:

Grandma Joanie & Porter:

Porter was a bit overwhelmed by all the attention and company at our house. He liked eating the cake I think, but seemed to be very neat about it. He doesn't really like getting too messy though. He really liked the little Blues Clues dog and got mad if we tried to take it away from him! He also like the noisemakers (not sure if that is what they are called or not).

He really liked all of his presents, but especially the Fisher Price puzzles from Aunt Jana, Uncle Marty, Jaclyn & Matthew in Seattle, and also the drum & musical instrument kit from Aunt Angie, Uncle Steve, Jonathan & Allison in Chicago. They were both big hits. He also got a gigantic stuffed bear from Aunt Peggy, Uncle Steve, Katie & Peter, and he loved that as well. He had lots of fun opening his presents and playing with all the stuff. So did Connor, who seems to be enjoying Porter's presents every bit as much as Porter is!

Fisher Price puzzles from Aunt Jana & Uncle Marty:

Connor showing Porter how to play with his toys:

Looking at books from Aunt Molly:

Playing drums with Henry:

Catching up!

2008-09-23T20:54:00.004-05:00

Porter 11 months

Feeding himself:

Wow, life seems really busy lately with work and Connor being in school every day. I'm not sure where the time goes some weeks! I can definitely feel it when I look around my cluttery house. Jeff is starting cyclocross racing season now too, so our free weekends will be filled up with bike races. Some of them are actually pretty fun to go watch, and they are usually only around an hour long, so at least they don't take up the whole day.

To catch up with the last several weeks, Porter turned 11 mos old on Sept 4th, the day after Connor started kindergarten. Porter loves taking a bath, and you will see my attempts at putting his age up in foam letters are becoming more futile. He loves to stand up in the tub, which is one of the only ways I can really scrub him well too! He also likes to throw stuff out of the tub, usually half-full of water. He thrashes and splashes and just has a really good time. His favorite things to do are to bang things together to make noise (coasters, measuring cups, blocks, or whatever he can get his hands on, the louder the better), he loves to get the remote (which we often take the batteries out of so he can play with it) and the phone. He has started saying "Hi Da" when he picks up the phone, and knows to put it up to his ear. He is also learning how to feed himself with a spoon which has been a messy task. He's very proud of his accomplishments though. He has been doing great drinking from a cup now and only rarely gets a bottle anymore. Just in the past three days I have cut down to only nursing at bedtime, getting ready for the big wean when he turns one (only a week and a half away!!). So far I am not feeling any sad emotions over weaning, I think I am pretty much ready to be done. I am definitely glad to have reached my own goal of nursing for a year, and feel good that I have been able to do this for both kids. It's time to be done though. I haven't needed to pump at work for the past couple of days, so it's been great not having to drag my pump back and forth to work too! Porter is still not taking steps on his own, but is cruising around everything and pulling up on everything. He has started to stand for a few seconds on his own though, so I don't think it will be too much longer until he is walking on his own.

Porter's big party is going to be on his actual birthday, October 4th, which happens to fall on a Saturday this year. Jeff's brother Dave and his wife Yuri are coming up, and Jeff's mom is coming up from Chicago too! I am so glad she is coming to visit, especially since October 5th is her birthday, and we will be able to celebrate with her as well. Dave's birthday is the 1st, so we will celebrate his too. My sister Molly is on the 8th, our nephew Tyler in Texas is on the 6th, and our nephew Danny here is on the 15th! Lots of October birthdays in our families!

Fall is arriving in Minnesota too, which is really one of my favorite seasons. I love the changing leaves, love going to the apple orchard, getting ready for Halloween, celebrating Oktoberfest, and just love the tiniest feeling of crispness in the air. I'm not thrilled about winter approaching, but I do love autumn.

Connor is doing pretty well adjusting to kindergarten. His teacher sends a communication sheet home back and forth each day and puts a smiley face, straight face or a frown on each day. So far he has gotten one straight face each week, for a variety of reasons, talking too loudly, not keeping his hands to himself and running in the classroom. So far this week 2 smiley faces, so we are shooting for a whole week. He's starting to figure out what the kids names are, and I think he is making some friends. He already has been to one friend's birthday party too. He started soccer a few weekends ago, just on Sundays and it will only last 3 more weeks. I think it will be good to keep his weekends free for a while until hockey starts up again in November.

Mutual admiration society:

The boys brushing their teeth:

Porter & our babysitter & friend Greta:

That's enough catching up for now! I will probably post again after Porter's birthday!

Connor's First Day of Kindergarten!!

2008-09-04T10:07:00.005-05:00

Mmm Reese's puffs & Rice krispies:

Kindergarten Day breakfast:

Hug with Mom:

Connor's Big Day:

Connor & Greta:

Connor started kindergarten yesterday, and all of us survived! I shed a few tears at the bus stop (Jeff thought I was wacko, but he's not a mother!). Luckily our friend and babysitter, Greta came over to ride the bus with Connor and it was a great comfort to me to know that he wouldn't be alone, and that she would introduce him to some of her friends so he will have a friendly face on future bus rides. The night before I asked him how he was feeling about starting school, and he said "scared". It just ripped at my mother's heart. Poor guy. He was worried, but he did just great. I think he had a pretty good day, though he said he didn't make any friends. Normally he is quite social and always will ask a kid what their name is, but I'm sure he just needs to get in his comfort zone first. I tried to encourage him to meet 3 kids today, so we'll see how that goes.

The only thing that he was upset about, and frankly I was too, is that they had rest time, and some kids had a towel to lay on, but we were never told to bring one, so he had to lie on the floor. He was rather upset about this, and then I felt terrible and started to get teary about it and so did he. So there we are sitting at the table after school boo-hooing about him not having a towel to lay on! Well, he has one in his backpack today, so life should be ok. Also, he was miffed that he only got one graham cracker for snack yesterday morning!

Today I brought him to Extended Day Care since he will be going 3 days a week on the days I am working. He will have breakfast there and then go into his class when school starts. Today he was off and playing before I had a chance to say goodbye. Our neighbors Carter & Olivia were there too, so that helped.

So, he's come to the beginning of his school career and he did great. Gosh, he will be in school for the next 12-16 years!! Glad he got off to a good start!

Waiting at the bus stop:

Waving goodbye:

Getting on the bus: (this is where mom was getting teary)

Getting off the bus at school:

Going in to school:

Hayward Cabin & other fun

2008-08-26T22:05:00.009-05:00

Warning: Long post with lots of pictures!

We spent last week in Hayward, Wisconsin with Jeff's brother Steve and his family. We had a really fun time and stayed in a beautiful cabin the Totagatic Lodge, which we rented from a family who happen to live about a mile and a half from us. It was quite large and could easily fit my whole side of the family which now numbers 20. It faces westward, so we saw beautiful sunsets every evening. We also enjoyed daily campfires thanks to my nephew Jonathan, did some fishing, went boating and swam at an island called Sand Island (which you will see from the photos is aptly named). We went into Hayward a couple of days and ate lunch, shopped and went mini-golfing. It was a perfect 2 hour and 10 min drive for us, but a bit longer for Steve & Angie who came up to our house first from Chicago. It is definitely a place I would consider renting again, especially if there were more people to share the cost with.

The Totagatic Lodge

Angie & Steve enjoying the sunset

The great kitchen (and better yet, Jeff cooking!)

living room

Connor (note his favorite pose in all photos!)

Jonathan & Allie on the water trampoline

Beautiful sunsets

Jeff & Connor on Sand Island

Jonathan & Allison on Sand Island

Porter & Jeff snuggling by the campfire

Ghost stories about Jim O'Shea (inside joke)

Jeff & his handicap

Family photo

Connor sinking a putt

Jeff in Porter's glasses

Allie at the wheel

Other things we have been doing lately:

We went to the Minnesota State Fair last Friday after we returned from Hayward. I love going to the fair which I believe is the largest State Fair in the country. It's really the same thing year after year, but I just love the tradition of it. We didn't stay as long as I would have liked (darn those kids messing up my life!! :)) but it was still fun! We also checked out Woodbury Days on Sunday and had quite a fun time there too.

Too much walking

Mmmm ice cream

Connor loved the ride but said it hurt his crotch!

We are getting ready for Connor to start kindergarten next week! We had an Open House at school tonight and found out who his teacher is and who will be in his class. He was hoping that his friend Nick from hockey and his girlfriend Emma from preschool would be in his class, but they got in the other kindergarten teacher's class. Our neighbor and good friend Olivia is in his class though, and also a friend Noah who he met at a Lifetime Fitness camp the last couple of summers. It so happens that Noah's parents went to Creighton University with me and his dad graduated the same year! Crazy. There will be a kindergarten family picnic tomorrow, so we will get a chance to know some of the families and teachers a bit better. I'm sure that will make us all feel a bit more comfortable about Connor's first days at kindergarten, though the open house tonight helped to answer some of my questions and allay some fears.

Porter has started clapping and waving hi and bye bye and it is just so cute. I think he is cutting his 8th tooth too, so he's been a bit clingy and grumpy the past couple of days. He's very active and busy and is crawling everywhere very quickly. His new nickname is Mr. Speedy. He often is getting into Connor's Legos which need to be moved to higher ground!

Making out with Glow baby

Porter and his brother (who we found at the concentration camp)

Whew! Thanks for scrolling all the way through. I gotta go to bed now!

Porter is 10 months old!

2008-08-10T10:30:00.005-05:00

Porter is 10 months old now! He's pulling up and cruising around everything, which also means getting into his brother's Legos! He had his 9 month check-up and weighed 21 lbs 10.5 oz which is between the 75th and 90th percentile. He's had two new teeth come in, so now has 6 total, 3 on the top and 3 on the bottom. He loves to eat all kinds of finger food, and is figuring out how to drink from a cup and use a fork. This morning he woke up and was crying, and then said "Mama, Dada"! He's been saying both of those a lot on & off, but I'm sure he said them with purpose today, and it was really cool. I'm trying to figure out if he has a word for Connor, and he does say Nana sometimes, but I'm not sure if that's what he means. It will be fun having him start saying words more now. He still takes 2 naps a day in the morning and afternoon, for about 1 1/2 hours each, and is still nursing about 4-5 times a day, but also takes formula and juice.

We spent last weekend up at our friends the Freelands' cabin near Fergus Falls. They have a gorgeous cabin and we had a great weekend. Connor went tubing for the first time (NOT a big hit) and also ride a 4-wheeler (big hit). Porter loved the water and we had fun swinging in the hammock.

When Connor was 10 months old I took a photo of him standing by the tub with his cute little buns showing, so I had to take one of Porter also. The first one is Connor and the second Porter. Sometimes people say they look alike, but I still think they don't. Still, it's fun to compare them at the same age.

So, we have a busy August ahead of us. We are renting a cabin in Hayward, Wisconsin next week with Jeff's brother Steve and his family. I am taking vacation the next week, which is the week before school starts for Connor, and also the week of the Minnesota State Fair. I'm sure we will go to the Fair at least once. It will be Porter's first time going. We got all of Connor's school supplies yesterday, but still need to get him his school uniforms. I can't believe he will be starting kindergarten in a couple of weeks!

Porter's Room

2008-07-21T10:22:00.003-05:00

I think I finally have Porter's room done! Well, we still need to get the computer out of there, but that may take a while since Jeff was gone this last weekend, and I will be working all of next weekend. At any rate, I'm really pleased with how it has turned out. I think Jeff thinks it is a little psychadelic with all the circles, but Porter seems to like them. I still have some rearranging to do to make it just how I want it though.

So, tomorrow is my last birthday in my 30s!! I can't believe that I will be 40 in one year. It's a little crazy. I guess I don't really mind it too much, except for the fact that if I want to have a 3rd child, the clock is ticking very loudly. I think it's probably pretty unlikely considering my history, but part of me would secretly love to have a surprise pregnancy (one that didn't require months of ultrasounds, injections, doctor's appointments, timing and emotional rollercoasters). If it doesn't happen of course I'm thrilled to death with my 2 wonderful, healthy boys! As for celebrating, Jeff and I and the boys went to Stone's in Stillwater for a very nice dinner on their patio last night. Tomorrow my friend Teresa will be in town for business and is going to stay overnight with us. I think I will request Jeff's delicious flank steak sandwiches for dinner. Tonight I am supposed to get together with Derham Hall friends for a drink.

Porter has his 9 month appointment with his pediatrician today. I don't recall if he has to get shots today or not. Hopefully he will do just fine, and I will post stats later.

Look out folks, we have a crawler!

2008-07-19T15:37:00.006-05:00

A Day at Lake Elmo Park:

Porter started crawling last weekend! Now he's a little speed demon. I had to run around finding all of the outlet covers, and telling Connor we have to be extra careful now about little lego pieces and magnetix. Luckily now that Connor's room is redone we have a place for all his little toys.

Jeff & I have been busy getting Porter's room painted, and my mom came over to hang valances in each of the boys' rooms. They are finally starting to come together. Porter's room is green now with a green gingham valance. My next project will be to paint some tan circles and stencil his name on some of them. I will post a photo of the finished product, and hopefully it will turn out well.

Porter's new valance:

Goofy Connor:

Some of Porter's new tricks:

Note the nuk on the floor:

Connor got his hair cut today and the boy next to him got a faux-hawk painted blue. Connor thought it was cool, so of course wanted his own painted Vikings purple. The hairdresser thought Porter should have one too, so his is green. Porter's nickname for some time besides Bubba, Tex and Chief, has been Baby Hulkie. When he is frustrated, he balls up his fists, turns beet red and hollers. He looks like a mini Incredible Hulk, and that's what we are thinking of dressing him as for Halloween. The green faux-hawk just gave me some more ideas for his costume. I think he looks so darn cute!

Connor's faux-hawk:

Baby Hulkie:

Faux-hawk boys:

Blowing raspberries:

So big:

Little crawler:

Happy 4th/Porter is 9 months old!

2008-07-07T22:14:00.008-05:00

Porter had his first haircut, a whole year and four months before his brother had to have his first haircut! I figured it was time when a woman at the grocery store said "Your little girl is so cute!" He just got a little trim at Kids Hair. He does look a lot more little boyish now!

Before:

During:

After:

Hmm, I think I'll just eat this sticker:

What do you do with this thing?

Oh, I'll just eat it:

We celebrated the 4th of July by going over to our neighbors to swim, and then a barbeque at my parents' house. We just watched fireworks from our windows at home. Oh, and Porter was 9 months old on the 4th. He's almost crawling and starting to do lots of fun tricks like shaking his head "No, no, no", blowing, doing Wild Indian noises with his mouth, and doing "So Big". He is still a crazy man in the tub and I feel like I need a wet suit to bathe him. He splashes all over and just loves the water. He has had fun in the pool too. As you can see he is quite actively teething as well. He wants to chomp on anything that he can get remotely close to his mouth.

Connor flying off the slide:

Porter splashing:

The boys with Daddy in the hot tub:

Boys with Papa Dan:

I'm going to eat the edge of the tub too:

wrecking Mom's display:

Almost crawling:

Trying to pull up on the table, but mostly trying to eat it:

Jeff worked hard all weekend getting Connor's room painted. He rearranged the furniture last weekend. We still need to add a few finishing touches like a valance and some wall art, but I think it looks great. He did a great job and Connor really likes his "new room". At least we finally got rid of the pink wall in his room!

Our next big project is to get Porter's room finished. We still have the computer in there and are planning on painting it green with tan circles. I will post an after picture when we are done.

Before Porter's room redo:

And finally, a funny Connor story. He was driving me nuts the other day, and I said "You're going to give me a nervous breakdown. He said "what's a breakdown?" I said "I would need to go to a mental hospital for some peace and quiet". He said "Could we visit you there?". Gotta love that kid. He keeps me entertained that's for sure!

Porter 8 1/2 months!

2008-06-23T22:01:00.008-05:00

OK, so it has taken me a while to post, so long in fact that I have to title my post Porter 8 1/2 months instead of a flat 8! Even though the post is late the photos above were taken at 8 mos! I guess we've been busy!

We went to Chicago at the beginning of the month to visit Jeff's family, and especially to say farewell to Jeff's sister Claudia and her family who moved to Dallas a few days after we left. We will greatly miss having them just a short 6 hours from us, and Connor will miss having his cousins so close. It will be nice to have a warm place to visit during our cold Minnesota winters though, and I'm sure we will see them as much as we can. We had a fun time seeing everyone, and even got in a visit to our family favorite pizza place Sanfratello's, or as Connor called it "Sanpotatoes"! We had some great southside deep dish pizza and got to go to DQ for dessert! We also had fun staying at Steve & Angie's house in Arlington Heights and had some great cannolis from Angie's mom Shirley who got them at a neighborhood place called Martini's I think. They are always amazing! There was a lot of bad weather during our trip, but luckily we were able to make it back through Wisconsin despite the fact that Lake Delton had disappeared. By the way, Jeff was able to race in the State Tournament the day we left for Chicago, and came in second in his category! Even got a medal!

Here are some pictures from our visit:

Nicholas & Porter:

All 5 boys: (Nicholas (7), Porter (8 1/2 mos), Connor (5), Tyler (2 1/2), Daniel (8 1/2)

Jeff & a snuggly Porter:

Porter & Aunt Angie getting snuggly:

Jonathan getting some air on his skateboard:

Connor on the scooter:

Upon our return home we had 4 members of a cycling team Team Kenda Tire staying with us for 5 days while they competed in the Great Rivers Cycling Festival which is a 5 day stage race around the Twin Cities area. It was fun and I think we would definitely do it again next year. It helps to have the basement finished so that everyone had some private space. They were very respectful and grateful, so it didn't feel like an intrusion at all. Of course I worked 2 of the days over the weekend, so I wasn't around. Luckily I got to be on call for 3pm-7pm both Saturday and Sunday so I could celebrate Father's Day with my Dad and Jeff at my brother Tom's house for a barbeque on Saturday, and just at home with Jeff and the kids on Sunday.

Here are some photos of my brother's backyard. They had a pond put in with 2 sets of waterfalls. It looks amazing. They are going to be on the tour of ponds coming up in July. It's hard to believe their house is just a few miles from downtown Minneapolis. It looks like it is up north! The kids & dog actually swim in the pond, and there are probably 30 large koi swimming around in there too!

Connor swimming in the pond:

Porter & Uncle Steve:

Porter & Aunt Peggy:

This week my Aunt Sara, and cousins Tim & Molly were in town from Atlanta and Nashville, and also my nephew Nick was up from Iowa with his girlfriend Megan. It was several days of lots of family, but was great to see everyone. We got to go to the zoo with Nick and Megan and my mom, so we got to spend several hours with them. We also got to go out to dinner the next night, and even though it was supposed to be adults only and I got a babysitter (Jeff was going out with some co-workers, so he wasn't with me), I ended up sitting at the end of the table with my cousin Bridget's kids helping them eat their pasta and drink their pop! I really missed out on most of the adult conversation and getting more of a chance to talk with Nick & Megan and my cousin Tim. Oh well, I did get a chance to talk with my cousins Katie & Bridget, so that was fun. The girl cousins and Aunt Sara also went out to lunch on Saturday and then over to Uncle Doc's house on Saturday night for pizza with kids & spouses. It was fun to get a chance to see Molly a little more. We spent many summers of our youth going to Hilton Head, SC together, and have a ton of fun when we see each other. Our next big project is to arrange another girls getaway and also maybe a big family reunion in a couple of years.

Connor at the zoo:

Nick, Tim D, Steve, Katie & Tim F:

Whew, that was a lot of catching up. Gotta go to bed and get up early to work tomorrow!

Porter is 8 months!

2008-06-06T23:07:00.002-05:00

Wow time is really flying by! I haven't had a chance to take a tub photo of Porter at 8mos. I seem to be missing some of my tub letters, so that is preventing me from getting the job done. I did want to post some 8 month photos of him though.

Here he is at 8 mos:

He might kill me over this one someday, but I couldn't resist:

The last photo is a picture of a picture. I know it looks weird, I just didn't know how to share it, but I wanted to. Porter & I got some black and whites done at a photographers and I thought they turned out really neat. Wish I had done it with Connor. I got a free 5x7 from my doctor, but of course ended up spending lots more to get this compilation. I think it's worth it though.

So, we are off to Chicago tomorrow. Jeff was planning on racing in the Cycling State Championship in the morning, and he's been training really hard for it all year. Anyway, he did something to screw up his bike, and now that it's Friday night and the race is in the morning, he's pretty sure he won't be able to get it fixed or race for that matter. I'm sure he's really bummed and probably mad too. Oh well, we might leave earlier for Chicago.

Tom's 50th Birthday

2008-06-02T22:48:00.003-05:00

Here is a slideshow from my brother Tom's 5oth Birthday
which we celebrated recently at my parents' house. It was
fun to get all 5 sibs and our families together.

Spa Getaway!

2008-06-02T22:28:00.008-05:00

I just got back from a wonderful overnight getaway with 3 of my high school girlfriends. We went to Sundara Spa in the Wisconsin Dells and it was fabulous! I wish I could have been gone longer, but I felt like that was all I could squeeze in since I worked last weekend and it wouldn't be fair to Jeff for me to have been away longer. At any rate, I was still able to relax and enjoy. I got a thermal wrap treatment with a facial when I arrived and a pedicure a few hours later. We stayed in a gorgeous villa nestled in the pines. There was a great pool and bar area and the weather was beautiful, so we really got to enjoy it. We just had a great time and enjoyed getting away for a bit.

The dining/living room of our suite:

Dining Room/Kitchen:

Kitchen/Living Room:

Master Suite:

Me, Nancy, Margaret & Kristin:

Me & Margaret:

Nancy & Kristin:

Enjoying the firepit by the pool:

Connor's Preschool Graduation!

2008-05-15T14:28:00.006-05:00

Connor's Preschool graduation was yesterday. Here are a few photos. I can't believe that he is done with preschool now and will be starting kindergarten in the fall! Time sure flies. It's hard to believe that we won't be back at preschool until Porter is almost 4 years old. I'm sure that will feel like it flies by too.

Here are some photos of Porter including his 6 month photos:

Nice drool huh? His top tooth will be coming through soon:

Connor inside of his blankie:

Connor & Porter in matching jammies:

Connor at his preschool picnic:

Connor's best buddies Henry & Liam:

Liam, Emma (Connor's "girlfriend"), & Connor:

Porter is 7 months old!

2008-05-06T19:38:00.004-05:00

Porter turned 7 mos old on Sunday. I was working all day and Porter has had a bad cold since Friday, so I finally got around to taking some photos.

Not a great photo, but you can see his two teeth:

Such amazing flexibility:

I'm afraid I jinxed myself by commenting on what a good sleeper he's been. He had been doing really well for about 3-4 weeks sleeping through the night, or waking but going back to sleep if I gave him his nuk. Well, for the last week and a half he's been up numerous times, and I've gone back to nursing him a time or two during the night. Now I know part of this is due to his cold and will hopefully improve when he's feeling better. Still, I was hoping I could count on a full-nights rest, and that seems to be elusive for now. I know I'll get back to that point sometime, but I think I will have to do some more crying it out when I have a stretch of nights off and have enough energy to deal with it. Hopefully it will go well since he seemed to do well when we did it before.

Connor wanted to know why Porter was already 7 when he's still 5! Hasn't quite grasped the months vs years concept I guess. He was kind of whiny last night and wanted to go ride his bike when we were about to sit down to dinner. I said "Well, I'd like to go to Tahiti, but that's not going to happen right now either". He said "Mommmmm, riding my bike is not that complicated". Outta the mouths of babes.

Connor's tub photo:

Porter has been starting to eat some finger foods. He had little pieces of mango and some pieces of blueberry muffin this morning and cheerios and kiwi at lunch time. He also likes the mesh feeder with some frozen peaches in it. It feels good to chomp down on the cold fruit I think. He's starting to get better with the pincer grasp, but still kind of rakes stuff up into his fist. When he's on his tummy he puts his bottom up in the air and tries to scoot around a little. He's still not real close to crawling though. He's still not much of a roller at all. He's fairly content sitting with toys surrounding him and can keep himself busy if I'm doing dishes or getting meals ready. He's still a very happy and good natured baby and he's a lot of fun to have around. I'm hoping he feels better soon because he's not really himself right now.

Connor has been busy with playdates with his friends from preschool and also his friend Nick from Hockey who will be going to kindergarten with him in the fall. He has his preschool graduation next week! Should be cute. I'm a little sad for him to be ending preschool, but hopefully he will stay in contact with his good buddies.

Sunshine & Snow

2008-04-27T14:02:00.005-05:00

It seems we are having a typical Minnesota Spring here. Last Monday it was in the 70s and gorgeous outside. Connor and his friend Henry were outside riding their bikes and I was out letting Porter experience grass for the first time. He was raking it with his hands and trying to shove fistfuls of dry grass in his mouth. He seemed to enjoy it.

Fast forward to yesterday and we had a snowstorm all day and a very cold and windy day in the 30s with it feeling much colder due to the windchill. Sometimes I wonder why we live in Minnesota, but then again there are many reasons that we do. I guess you have to take the good with the bad sometimes when you live in the Upper Midwest. There are certainly many beautiful days, and I'm hoping they are on their way soon!

Yesterday:

Porter enjoying a nice spring day last Monday:

Mmm this grass is tasty:

Connor is so funny!:

Enough pictures Mom!:

Connor practicing his photography (not bad!). Nancy & Porter:

Porter playing with his xylophone:

Snuggly Sunday morning:

April update

2008-04-19T14:26:00.001-05:00

Porter's 6 month check up

2008-04-12T20:21:00.004-05:00

Porter had his 6 month check up last week. He now weighs in at 19 lbs 1.5oz and is 27 3/4in long. He is 83rd% for weight and 92nd % for length. He got some shots and cried of course, but got over it quickly. He's healthy and doing great. His doctor said his flat spot was mild and strictly positional due to the fact that he is still sleeping on his back.

Here is a better shot of his 2 teeth:

I have started to let him cry it out (CIO) at night for the past week or so. He's done really well. The first night he only cried for about 10 min one time and settled back down with his nuk. The second night he cried a little harder. I'm sure he was thinking "Hey, I remember this from last night and it didn't exactly go how I wanted it to". However he still only cried for 5-10 min but was up twice. The third night he slept through the night. The next 3 nights he woke up once per night but went right back to sleep when I went in and gave him his nuk, and last night he slept through the night again. I'm hoping that I'm on my way to full nights of sleep again! He's really so easy to put to bed at night. I just plop him in his crib, tuck his blanket around him, give him his little dog lovey and his nuk and he is out in 5 min or less. Much easier than Connor was, but I think that was probably our fault. Oh well, the parent learning curve! Gotta figure it out somehow!

Porter & Jeff:

Connor's doing swimming lessons again, and is really enjoying them. I got a few photos, but most of them were just the top of his head underwater!

Glad to have my parents back too! They came over for dinner the other night, and I have already utilized my mom's babysitting services last week when Connor had kindergarten round-up!!!! I can't believe he's already going to be starting kindergarten soon! He had a fun time and knows 4 of the kids in his class already. I'm excited for him to be starting on this next part of his life, and also for us to get to know some more of the families from our church/school.

Papa Dan & Connor playing Candyland:

Grandma Joanie & Porter:

Also, I am in the process of making over my blog. My co-worker Nicole and I were trying to figure it out and she helped me change my template. It's a work in progress since I am working all weekend I don't have much time to dedicate to it. It all started with Rachel, a BabyCenter friend who did a blog makeover and turned us all on to The Cutest Blog on the Block who offers free blog templates, or will custom-make a page for you for $20-30. I still haven't changed my header yet, but I hear Scrapblog.com is the place to go for that. Check out some of my other blog links to see some really cute designs!

Porter is 6 months old!

2008-04-05T11:36:00.004-05:00

Porter is 6 months old! I can't believe half a year has passed already since he was born! Time flies. He now has 2 teeth and is just a drool machine. He can shove his whole fist in his mouth trying to chew on it. It now hurts to let him gnaw on your finger. It's like he has sharp little puppy teeth! He's sitting up really well now. He will have his 6 month check-up on Monday. The only thing I'm a little concerned about is the flat spot on the back of his head. He still sleeps only on his back. I'm also a little concerned about him not rolling so much. He could care less about it. He still hasn't rolled from back to front, and he really doesn't roll from front to back much either. I suppose I have been spending more time having him sit than doing tummy time though, so maybe I should put him on his tummy more. He barfs a lot on his tummy so sometimes that's why I don't put him on it as much.

My parents are finally back from Florida and are coming over for dinner tonight. I talked with them on the phone a lot, but I really missed having them around. I missed having them see the boys too, so I'm looking forward to having them see what they are up to. I really am so blessed to have them 10 minutes away from us. Not that I want to think about it, but you never know when they won't be here any longer. My Dad is 81 and my mom is 76, and they are both in great health, but I never want to take that for granted. I'm just so lucky they can be a part of my boys lives and that my boys can get to know their grandparents. I wish they could see Jeff's mom more. We need to get down to Chicago again soon. Jeff's sister and family are moving to Dallas in June I think, and we will really miss having them only 6 hours away. I'm sure we will plan a trip to Chicago before they move.

Finally the weather is getting nicer here in MN. We had a huge snowstorm on March 31st and now we have had some nice weather and most of the snow has melted. I think it might have reached the 60s yesterday and will probably today again too. Connor has been out on his bike a few times and has been enjoying getting outside more. Jeff is out on his bike as I type and I know he's looking forward to bike racing season. He's planning on buying a new time trial bike this year. Oh joy, one more bike in our garage!

Here is our deck on Monday:

Easter 2008

2008-03-25T14:19:00.005-05:00

Here are some Easter photos. I was at work Easter morning, so I have Jeff to thank for being such a great photojournalist and capturing the moments for me! Connor looked behind the chair first since that is where the Easter Bunny hid his basket last year. Note the snowy deck in the background! Gotta love Minnesota! Connor was thrilled to get some Star Wars guys and Sponge Bob candy as well as an Easter Bunny Pez dispenser. He also helped Porter find his basket.

Hmm, not back there:

Yeah, success!!

Cool, Star Wars guys!

All right, Sponge Bob candy!

Here's Porter's basket:

Easter Bunny Pez:

Porter in a bunny outfit:

In other big news in our household, here are some photos of Porter sitting up. He's doing much better with his balance and can sit up for several minutes before toppling over. Jeff said he figured out how to use his hand to prop himself this weekend. Still not rolling over from back to front, and only occasionally from front to back. Also, I see a tiny gray pearl of a tooth popping through today!! Can't really feel it yet, but I can see it trying to come in. Explains why I've had a little grumpalumpagus on my hands today!

Trying peaches:

Look at me sitting!!:

If you look real close you can see a tiny tooth coming in:

St Patrick's Day!

2008-03-15T20:05:00.006-05:00

So today was the St Patrick's Day parade in St Paul. A group of my friends marched in honor of my friend Firg who died in November. Firg's real name was Barbara Fitzpatrick, and both of us are Irish and loved celebrating St Patrick's Day together, which all of us did for many years. We usually would go to the Landmark Center, watch the parade and go enjoy some Irish cultural stuff like Irish Dancing and singing etc. We usually had a beer or two as well, so that's what we all did today. It was a lot of fun. My friend Michele's husband Bob, who is actually from Scotland came along fully dressed in his garb and played the bagpipes while we were walking the parade route. Firg would have loved it! I really missed having her there with us today.

Porter & me at the Landmark:

Friends O' Firg:

Porter ready for St Pat's:

The "Irish Castle":

Bob playing the bagpipes:

Finally a few birthday photos of Jeff & Connor. We celebrated Jeff's birthday on Saturday March 8th, which is his birthday, but also Connor got in on extending his birthday which was March 4th. My brother Mike, sister-in-law Lisa and their boys Louie & Michael came over to help us celebrate, as well as my sister-in-law Peggy and niece Katie who left early to watch Katie's high school team, Hill-Murray win the State High School Hockey Tournament!! Yeah Hill-Murray!

Jeff & Connor celebrating their birthdays:

My nephews Louie & Michael with Porter & Connor:

Porter 5 mos and Connor is 5!!

2008-03-07T12:12:00.003-06:00

Well, it's been a big week at our house. Connor turned 5 on Tuesday and had a really fun birthday party with 7 of his friends at Club Just Jump in Woodbury. He insisted he wasn't turning 5 until his party actually started. He had a blast and so did his friends. They wore themselves out jumping around, then had pizza, cake and opened presents. Later that night we went to one of Connor's favorite restaurants, Tavern on Grand so he could have his favorite meal, the Walleye Basket. I think I might have overdone it that day though because I ended up with a fever of 101.3 again that night. More on that later. We had to get a new camera though because we were getting error messages on our old one. We took tons of birthday photos, and I am literally on the verge of crying now because I think I somehow managed to delete them, including movies of singing Happy Birthday etc. I am really sick about it and don't think there is anyway to fix this. They are just plain lost forever. Although I really love having a digital camera, it's situations like this that make me hate them. Well, we are having my bros & families over tomorrow for Jeff's b-day & Connor's b-day, so I guess I will have to reshoot. I'm just so bummed that I didn't get photos of his friends including his cute little "girlfriend" Emma.

So, Porter turned 5 mos the same day Connor turned 5. His big news is that he finally rolled over from front to back the night before. He hasn't done it much since, but at least he's accomplished that feat. Otherwise he's doing great. I had to switch to some new antibiotics last Friday, and they are not compatible with breastfeeding, so for the last week I have had to pump my milk, dump it out and formula-feed Porter. It's a lot of work, but he seems to be doing fine with it. I am really hopeful that he will have no problem with the transition back to nursing in 5 more days when the antibiotics are out of my system. In some ways this has been a relief to me since I was really feeling like I wasn't making enough milk for his needs while I was trying to recover from the pneumonia. At least I know he is getting enough food now, and he seems to be sleeping better with the formula. Jeff has helped out with a couple of nighttime feedings too, so that's been nice for a change.

So, I am feeling like I am finally getting a little bit better. It has taken a long time. I still feel weak and tired, and I get short of breath after climbing up stairs etc. I don't have a really bad cough, just occasionally. As of last night I'm not running a fever either, so that makes me feel a little more normal. The antibiotics have wreaked havoc on my gastrointestinal tract though, and yesterday I could hardly eat anything because of the horrible cramps I would get. I got to stop one of the antibiotics, and started taking some acidophillus capsules, and that seems to be helping. I had a repeat chest x-ray today and the pneumonia is still there, but about 50% improved. I am due to return to work on Tues, and got work restrictions from the doctor to only work 8 hour shifts next week. I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be able to survive a 12 hour shift just yet, so hopefully the 8 hour shifts will be manageable. The boys are at daycare today, so I am planning on resting as much as I can.

I'm still so sick about Connor's b-day photos I could scream. Anyway, here are some of Porter at 5 mos:

Bad Blogger Update

2008-02-27T08:25:00.004-06:00

So, I haven't updated for a while. I've just been a little more busy since returning back to work, and also have been fighting illness, first Porter, then me.

Poor Porter was sick last week with a cough, low-grade fever and stuffy nose. He started getting sick last Wednesday, but really had a horrible night Friday into Saturday. He didn't sleep longer than a 2 hour stretch all night (which means we didn't either!). I brought him in the next morning to the clinic and they basically just said he has a cold and his left ear was a bit red. He gave me a prescription of Amoxicillin to fill just in case, and I went ahead and filled it because he still didn't seem like he was any better. Poor thing, he just moaned all night long and slept only for the 2 hours following a tylenol dose. He's up to 17lbs 11.5oz now too. Luckily he seems to be getting better, with just a little congestion now. He's really been working on rolling over, and can get his upper body turned, but is still working on the legs. Also he has been grabbing his toes and loves to have no clothes on so he can get a better grip on them. He's also been a lot more vocal lately and curls up his tongue and talks. Very cute. He's doing well with cereal and fruits and veggies. He still sometimes wants to suck on the spoon to get the food, but he's getting better at it.

So, on to my medical update. We went out on Monday to pick up Jeff's car from the dealership (it didn't want to start for him on Friday so he had to have them look at it). We went out to dinner on our way home, and I asked Jeff if it was drafty where we were sitting because I was so cold. I didn't even take my winter coat off when we sat down. I progressively became more chilled, and couldn't wait to get home and get in bed with the heating pad. My temp went up to 103.3 at the highest. I was really feeling miserable. I took some Advil, and it was starting to come down, but I called the doctor anyway since my mom had tested positive for Influenza B, and I had been exposed to her. He called in a prescription for Tamiflu which Jeff went to pick up. I took that around 10pm and went to bed. I woke up around 2am and vomited, and it looked like there was blood in it, and also when I coughed, it was bright red blood. I was a little freaked out by that. I threw up several more times during the night and continued to run a fever. I had called in sick the evening before, and Jeff brought the kids to daycare in the morning. I called the doctor and was able to get in at 8:45 to be seen. She did a chest x-ray, bloodwork and a urine test, and also swabbed my nose for Influenza, which came back negative. Turns out, I have bacterial pneumonia! I was really surprised, because it all came on so suddenly. I have had a bit of a productive cough lately, but nothing I was really bothered by. Very strange. Anyway, my whole right side of my back where the pneumonia is, is soooo painful. It's a little better today now that my Z-pack has kicked in a bit. I could hardly take a deep breath, and even yawning hurt. My daycare provider was kind enough to rearrange rides to preschool so we could send the kids again today and let me rest up. I will not be coming to work tomorrow or Friday, and of course I am scheduled all weekend too. I am going to wait and see how I feel for Saturday. I also don't want to expose any of my patients or co-workers either, but also want to make sure I can weather a 12 hour shift or 2! I'm still coughing up blood today too, so I'm not sure how much longer that will last. It's a little freaky.

Connor is turning 5 (!!!!) on Tuesday next week! I can hardly believe it. He wanted to have his party on his actual birthday, so we are going to Club Just Jump, an inflatable jumping place in Woodbury. We have invited 6 of his friends from preschool/daycare including his little girlfriend Emma! I've got to get some photos. They are too cute. They will also be going to kindergarten together next year at Transfiguration Catholic School. I had to send in his registration last week. I can't believe I'm getting my baby ready for kindergarten. I think he will really like it, but he says he doesn't want to go to all day kindergarten. When I told him he would be there all day anyway on the days I am working he seemed resigned to it. I think he will like doing before and after school care there because he has lots of friends from our neighborhood and from his hockey team who will be there as well. He has his last practices for hockey this weekend. Next I think we will do more swimming lessons, and explore soccer or t-ball depending on what he's interested in.

I will add pictures later when I have downloaded.

Porter is 4 months old!

2008-02-06T14:22:00.000-06:00

Wow, time feels like it is really flying! Porter was 4 months old on Monday and had his 4 month check-up today. He weighs 16lbs 15oz which is between the 90th and 95th %. His head and length measurements were both in the 75th %. He is a big, healthy, strapping boy! Dr Delahunty said it was ok to start cereal, which I am grateful for since it might help him not need as much food overnight. Overall he has been doing pretty well, but last night was up every 3 hours to eat! That's pretty hard to manage when I have to work 12 hour shifts the next day. She said he should be able to go 8 hour stretches (which he usually does about once a week, so I know he is capable), so we could start letting him cry it out when he wakes before 4am. I might tackle that after my weekend stretch is over this weekend. He got some shots too, so hopefully they won't bother him as much as they did last time. He was just really fussy. This time I gave him some tylenol right after the shots and will keep giving him a dose every 4 hours until he goes to bed tonight. He still hasn't rolled over yet, so we are waiting for that to happen. He's still got everything in his mouth whenever he can get his hands on things, and if not then his hands are in his mouth. Dr D says she doesn't feel any imminent teeth though, so it could be a while.

Funny Connor story:

He had his friend Henry over the other day to play, and I had to feed Porter. I went up in the baby's room hoping they wouldn't come up, but of course they did. I had a blanket over Porter just in case, and Henry says "Is the baby under there?" "What is he doing?" I said he was eating, and he said "How does he eat from your tummy?". Connor whips up his shirt, points to his nipple and says "Outta here, only WAY bigger". I could have died laughing, but waited until they left the room. It was pretty hilarious. Hopefully Henry isn't traumatized by the newfound knowledge that he has, but he seemed like it wasn't a big deal. You just never know what's going to come out of their mouths sometimes!

Brothers

2008-01-28T16:32:00.001-06:00

It's been so fun lately having 2 boys. I'm sure this would be true if Porter had been a girl too, just seeing what a good big brother Connor has been. He loves to entertain Porter and make him smile and laugh, and it seems like Porter is really noticing Connor more lately. Connor being a goofball is finally paying off for him, and he has an audience who appreciates him. It's just fun to see the two of them interacting with each other. I hope they will be best buddies for life!

As for Porter, he has really started drooling and wanting to put everything in his mouth. I remember Connor doing this around 4 months and he didn't get his first tooth until he was nearly 8 mos old. I don't feel anything in his mouth yet, but he sure wants to chomp on everything.

We got his high chair out because he seems to get fussy during dinner time, and either Jeff or I end up holding him on our laps during dinner because he wants to be in on the action. He seems to be content in the high chair, and enjoys being part of dinner with us even if he isn't eating table food yet. He has his 4 month appointment with the pediatrician next week, and I'm sure she will say he can start with the cereal, so it won't be long. It will be interesting to see if he likes it, but I have a feeling he will.

Here is a photo of Porter sitting in the Bumbo. He really tries to sit up when he laying down. You can see him trying to crunch up those tummy muscles!

Here's Connor at hockey this week, and Porter all bundled up to watch his brother:
Connor has been skating well, and has improved so much from when he started in November. He was goalie yesterday and made some really good saves.

Porter's 3 month photos & more

2008-01-22T19:24:00.001-06:00

So, all is going well with me being back at work. I feel like we are starting to get into a routine. Jeff is doing great with the boys on the nights when I work until 8pm. He's doing the drop-off in the morning, and the pick up at night, getting dinner ready and getting the boys ready for bed. I get home at 8pm and help out with bedtime. It's nice to see the boys when I get home! Porter is such a happy guy, and Connor has been doing better at daycare now that Porter is there with him. I dropped them both off today for a free day for myself, since I only work an 8 hour shift on Friday this week. Marylee and I negotiated that I would only have to pay her for 2 days instead of 3 during the week that I only work once. This way I get a day to run errands etc. Connor was totally fine today. No whining, no clinging. I think it just really helps that Porter is there with him.

Jeff & boys reading Horton Hatches the Egg:

Jeff and Connor asleep:

My cute boys:

Connor's new use for the Bumbo: (or as Jeff calls it, the Bimbo)

I had Porter's 3 month photos taken last week. They turned out really well. I need to go and order them tomorrow. I took photos of the proofs that she gave me. The quality isn't too good, and the big C in the photo is for Copyrighted. I will post the real ones later and I'm sure they will look better. He has just been so much fun lately. He is smiley almost all the time and has been laughing really hard too which is so fun! For the most part he is a pretty easy baby. He goes to bed much more easily than Connor did too. If only I had known when I had Connor, to just put him in his bed and let him put himself to sleep! Guess you have to be dumb the first time around.

Oh, and my friends Keri and Dean delivered a healthy baby boy, Griffin Dean today!! He weighed 9lbs 6oz!!! I will be working on Friday, so I will for sure see him then, but may try to get down to the hospital and see them all sooner. Congratulations Keri & Dean!!!

Update

2008-01-08T12:32:00.000-06:00

Well, my breast ultrasound went well. They did see a fluid-filled cyst on ultrasound, but no intervention needs to be done unless it becomes painful, then they can do a needle aspiration if needed. So, I was hoping it would be nothing. I'm glad I went in to get it checked out, and am relieved that it's nothing major.

I am currently at work, and so far it is going ok. Jeff said getting them to daycare went fine today. I spoke with my daycare provider, and she said Porter has not taken more than 2 oz of milk yet today as of lunch time. Hopefully he will if he gets hungry enough. I'm sure there will be an adjustment period, and then he will do ok when he figures out that's the only way he will get food when he's there. She said he wasn't too fussy and was going down for naps fine.

So far I haven't been too emotional at work yet, but I did wear waterproof mascara just in case! I have had my emotions pretty close to the surface for the past 2 days and have been tearing up on and off. It's just so hard when you have carried a baby in your body for 9 months and then been with them pretty much 24/7 for the next 3 mos. I just felt pretty sad about being separated from him. Connor & I were both a little weepy last night at bedtime. He wanted to know why I was sad about going back to work, and I just said "because I'm going to miss you guys", but I could hardly get it out. I don't really want him to see me like that because then he gets sad, but I couldn't help it. Jeff doesn't get it, but I guess it's a mom thing.

Porter did well last night sleeping. He went to bed at around 9 and got up around 3 and then 5:40am which was fine because then I got a chance to feed him before going to work. I would have gotten a nice stretch of sleep but Connor woke up around 11 screaming. See, Murphy's Law of Mothers really does happen! He gets night terrors sometimes, and I think sometimes they happen when he has to go to the bathroom. He was only up for about 10 min though and then went back to bed. Hopefully I will get more rest tonight.

I hope the going back to work thing continues to go well, and that Porter starts eating normally at Marylee's.

Porter is 3 mos old

2008-01-06T19:25:00.000-06:00

Porter was 3 mos old on Friday. Here is a photo of him:

I only have one day left of freedom before going back to work! I'm spending it taking Connor to preschool, then running downtown to have a breast ultrasound because I have a lump that I need to have checked out. I'm hoping it's just lumpy because of breastfeeding, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. After that I have to pick Connor back up from preschool, have lunch and then bring him to the dentist. Not too exciting, just part of our normal routine. Hopefully me being back at work will become routine for us too. I can help being sad about leaving Porter. I haven't really been separated from him for more than a couple of hours yet, so I'm sure it will be hard on me. I'm sure he will do just fine at Marylee's with Connor. When I went back to work after having Connor, I had to return on a night shift, and it happened to be my birthday that night. That was a big bummer. Now no more night shifts at least.

I've been feeling fairly reminiscent of my whole IVF experience lately because I am coming up on the one year anniversary of doing IVF when we got pregnant with Porter. Also, I've been doing a lot of thinking about infertility and just how lucky and blessed I feel to have Porter. Any misgivings or reservations I had about doing IVF (and there were many both financial, emotional, moral and probably others I can't come up with right now) they all go out the window when I look into my beautiful baby's gorgeous blue eyes and he bursts into a smile just because he sees me! Oh how that melts my heart and makes the whole horrible 2 1/2 years of infertility struggle, countless shots, ultrasounds, lab draws, heartbreaks, crazy emotions, procedures, a surgery and more appointments than I could keep track of, all seem worthwhile to me. It was hard to know if I would ever see then end of it, and I did come close to giving up on doing fertility treatments because I felt like I was hitting rock bottom emotionally. I ended up needing to see a therapist to help me figure out where I was going with everything and to help dig me out of depression after a failed IVF cycle. I needed to take some time off from trying to conceive, and that really helped me. I also switched doctors to get a second opinion since my previous doctor told us he thought another IVF cycle had a 50% chance of failing again, but couldn't really tell us why ours failed. Eventually I felt prepared to try again. We decided to do the shared risk program where you pay for 3 cycles and you would get 70% of your money back if you weren't able to get pg in the 3 cycles. Of course as luck would have it, we got pg the very first cycle with the new doctor. Not that I can complain about that! I feel more fortunate than I can even express, especially when I know there are many couples out there who may never be able to have a biological child, much less two. I'm fairly certain I will never undergo IVF or any other infertility treatments again. If I were able to get pg on my own I would be thrilled to have another child, but if not, I am certainly pleased to have two healthy boys. For one thing, I am not as young as I once was and might not qualify for certain treatments, and for another thing I just don't think I could handle any more emotional rollercoaster that infertility brings.

Anyway, just my musings on infertility since my positive pregnancy anniversary is coming up at the end of the month. Just think, a year ago I was injecting myself with hormones!

Here's wishing that my return to work goes well and is painless for everyone. I also hope my breast ultrasound is unremarkable. Will update when I have results.

Porter's Baptism

2007-12-31T10:44:00.000-06:00

Porter's Baptism was yesterday, and we ended up having a really nice day and a nice party at our house. Porter was a very good baby during the baptism and hardly cried. Connor on the other hand was fairly naughty during mass and kept saying "I'm bored. Really, really bored". Of course we were sitting in the front row, right in front of the priest! To his credit he was very tired from all the hard playing he has been doing for almost the last week straight with his cousins. They all left to go home this morning. It's very quiet in our house all of the sudden! Hopefully they will have a safe trip back to Chicago today, and won't have as much snow and treacherous driving as they had on the way up here.

It's hard to believe that Porter is almost 3 mos old already, and that I am going back to work in just 8 days. I'm not sure if I'm totally ready for it. It would be nice to have another month, but what can you do. I don't have as much benefit time as I had when I had Connor. Somehow those kids just suck up your sick time!

Here are photos from Porter's big day:

Claudia & Grandma dressing Porter in the Ingham family baptism gown:

Godmother Claudia, Porter and cousin Daniel:

The whole gang around the baptismal font:

Porter being baptized:

Jeff, Nancy, Father Bob, Porter, Godfather Steve Dolan & Godmother Claudia Roberts:

Porter in his baptism gown:

Porter with his two Grandmas:

Porter with Papa Dan:

Big smile:

Christmas in Chicago

2007-12-27T22:10:00.001-06:00

We survived our trip to Chicago. Actually the boys did really well on both the trip there and the return trip. The worst part was the fog on the way down to Chicago. The visibility was really bad at some points, but we made it there and back safely. We had a fun Christmas holiday with our cousins, aunts & uncles and Grandma Ginny. On Christmas Eve it was just Virginia, Jeff & I and Connor & Porter. We went to mass at 4pm at Claudia & Dave's church. We ended up sitting on the floor in the vestibule area. Connor was so tired he fell asleep in my lap! We then went back to Claudia & Dave's and made shrimp pesto pasta and had a nice meal together. We had Christmas Day dinner at Claudia & Dave's house. We had yummy Gumbo and appetizers courtesy of Steve & Virginia, and a great steak dinner that Claudia & Dave made. Yuri & Dave brought yummy desserts from Deerfield Bakery, and Virginia brought some cookies she made, as well as a cake that Steve & Angie made. Connor has so much fun seeing his Chicago cousins. They all had a blast together, even poor Allison who was the only girl there! There is a boy every 2 years from Daniel all the way down to Porter now, so 5 in a row. I'm sure when Porter is big enough he will be right in the mix.

So now Claudia, Dave, the 3 boys and Grandma are making the road trip here to Minnesota for Porter's baptism on Sunday. Hopefully they will have good weather and a safe trip. I'm sure the boys will continue to have more fun together.

Here are some photos of our Christmas:

Porter's First Christmas:

Grandma Ginny & Porter:

The boys opening presents together:

Mommy & Porter napping together:

Connor & Porter opening presents:

Jeff & boys:

Porter in Snowman outfit:

Tyler & his buses:

Claudia playing Guitar Hero:

Christmas craze

2007-12-18T19:44:00.000-06:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am ready to just get on with the holidays! There always seems to be one more gift that you should buy, and it makes me feel nuts just thinking about it.

We are packing up and going to Chicago to spend Christmas with Jeff's family. Jeff said something about a snowstorm there on Saturday which is when we were planning on leaving, so I guess we'll play our departure by ear depending on the weather. It will be Porter's first roadtrip. I hope he does well.

He has been a champ lately in the sleep department, so I'm psyched about that. He has had 5 nights in a row where he has slept 5-6 hour stretches!! I think I'm safe saying that now and not jinxing myself since there have been several nights in a row. Of course a few of those nights I have been woken up by Connor during the big stretch, so I haven't gotten 5-6 hours. Must be some sort of Mommy Murphy's Law or something, that when your baby starts sleeping through the night your other child will awaken you! Anyway, I feel like we are falling into some sort of rhythm and getting a bit of a schedule, which I'm sure my daycare provider will appreciate!

After we return from Chicago, some of Jeff's family will be coming up for Porter's baptism on December 30th. So, we will have a busy but fun holiday season, and before you know it my return to work day will be here on January 8th. It's hard to believe. I keep saying that, but I feel like Porter's babyhood is going by so fast. I'm sure he'll do fine at Marylee's (my daycare provider), and I know Connor will love having him there with him. He's very proud of him and wants to show him to everyone when we are at preschool or daycare.

Here is our Christmas photo:

And here are a few cute photos of Porter in the shirt that my friend Keri gave him:

He has just been so fun and smiley lately and he is really getting "talkative" with all the cooing. It's fun to see his little personality emerge. I could just smooch him up!

Our Elf e-card

2007-12-10T20:19:00.000-06:00

OK, so I fell victim to the cute "I elfed myself" trend, and I made a card for us.
Here it is:

I elfed myself

Not the greatest photo of Jeff, but he probably doesn't care about it anyway!

Here are some more recent photos of Connor & Porter.

I caught Connor trying out my breast pump:

Some serious rolls going on (sorry about the nudie shot!):

Check out those eyelashes!:

Smiling at Mama:

Porter's 2 month check-up

2007-12-05T15:26:00.001-06:00

Porter had his 2 month check-up with Dr Delahunty today. He was 90th% for length, 70th% for head, and he's off the charts for weight. Actually she said 97th%. He weighed 14lbs 6oz!! He is 1lb 3oz bigger than Connor was at 2 mos, and Connor was 90th%. Well, I guess there are no concerns about failure to thrive! He's not missing any meals. Otherwise his check-up was good. He had to get 3 shots, and was not too happy about that, poor guy. He also got an oral rotovirus vaccine, which I think tasted terrible, but he managed to keep it down.

He's been a bit on the fussy side for the past couple of evenings, and it's bringing back memories of marching around the house trying to keep Connor content in the evening. Good thing this won't last forever. Hopefully it will be over quickly. It's so hard when you don't know what to do for them. He doesn't want to eat, he isn't falling asleep when he's put in his crib, he doesn't seem to need to burp, he just wants to be held and walked around. At least I can have Jeff help me by taking turns. Good thing he's so darn cute!

Dr D listened to Connor's lungs and said they sound great, so hopefully he is mostly over his cold/cough. He still needs to continue with his breathing treatments, but hopefully only for a week or so more.

Not much else to report. I think we got more snow yesterday than we did on Sunday. It's pretty cold today though, so I'm not too excited to get outside with Connor.

Porter is 2 months old!

2007-12-04T14:02:00.000-06:00

Porter is 2 mos old today! I can't believe how quickly it's come. I suppose we have had a lot going on in the past 2 mos though, but time sure flies! I'm sure my return to work date will be here before I know it too, and Porter will be 3 mos old.

We had his follow-up appt with the pediatric surgeon today, and basically we are still just in a wait and see pattern with his hemangioma. He wants to see us again in 6 mos. He said he would probably get an MRI at some point, but most likely when he's around 18 mos since he would be able to get a sedative then. He also said he thinks it will need to be surgically excised at some point, mostly due to cosmetic reasons, or because it has gotten uncomfortable. To me it seems to have not changed much in appearance, though it is lighter colored and he definitely has more fat on him now! I guess I hardly notice it anymore. Porter has his 2 mo well visit and shots :( tomorrow. He did great last night with feeding intervals, and did his first 5 hour stretch! Yeah Porter! Keep up the good work!

Connor has been on antibiotics and doing twice daily breathing treatments since last week for his cough and upper respiratory infection. He seems to be getting a bit better, but I will probably have Dr Delahunty take a listen to his lungs when we are there with Porter tomorrow anyway. Of course I caught the cough too, and will be glad when it's gone!

Here is a really funny post I got from a Babycenter friend about a baby's perspective on crying it out:

Baby's Perspective on Sleep Training
"OK, here's my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 7 months. The first few months were great--I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened.

Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep thru the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I've talked to other babies, and it seems like it's pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 6 months.

Here's the thing: these Mommies don't really need to sleep. It's just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep – they just don't need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan.
I call it the Crybaby Shuffle.

It goes like this:
Night 1--cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it's hard. It's hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying.

Just keep reminding yourself, it's for her own good.

Night 2--cry every 2 hours until you get fed.

Night 3--every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours,
shhhh-ing. Don't give in. I cannot stress this enough:
CONSISTENCY IS KEY!!

If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT'S HARD!

But she really does not need the sleep, she is just resisting the change.

If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it. Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it.

BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with:

My sleep sack tickled my foot.
I felt a wrinkle under the sheet.
My mobile made a shadow on the wall.
I burped, and it tasted like pears (I hadn't eaten pears since lunch - what's up with that?)
The dog said "woof" (I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL.)
Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room.
Too hot, too cold, just right--doesn't matter! Keep crying!!

It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am.

You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies' internal clocks.

P.S. Don't let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, NO milk will come out! Trust me.