New Floors

We have just finished putting hard wood floors in our downstairs.  The linoleum wasn’t the worst, but carpet in the bathroom, nasty.  The carpet in the front entry was getting pretty hammered too.  We love the floors, and it was fun putting them in.  I had lots of help, and after a very brief instructional period, the helpers just went to town.  I’m glad we have family and friends full of craftsmen.  We spent 37% of what the cost estimate was for the work we did. 

Dinning area before destruction

Kitchen before destruction

All the little parts around the edges took the most time.

Doesn't that look good.

 Bean couldn't get his hands off the tools, and he always went for the saw, chisel, or power tools first

You can always judge a good project by the mess you make.

The front hallway.

 The new look of the kitchen. 

 Some people just couldn't keep up.

Story Time

Just like all good parents, we enjoy reading books to LE before she goes to bed.  Lately, Ba has started telling her stories.  Now LE likes those stories best.  Tonight I gave LE the chance to tell her own story about when “she was little.”  After being asked, LE said she wanted to tell a story about “going shopping for clothes with mommy.”  The audio is pretty funny, but super hard to understand, so I just typed it out.  Spoiler alert: the following story only briefly mentions shopping, and nothing about clothes…

Ellie: So when I was little...  Once upon a time, we wanted to go, so we drove in your car, Sarah-car. And we met our friends. Shane and great.  And we met them, and we didn’t know their mommies name.  So we asked her and she said “yes”.  And then my mommy asked her, and she said Goah.

Ry: What was the other mommies name again?”

Ellie: Goah. Then it was raining, on top of the store roof, and we got a cart.  And we drove, and there were two seats.  So BayK stand on it with me, she is a girl. And she sit next to me, we were best friends.  And then it starts raining, and snowing.  It was doing both.  We couldn’t get out.  There was snow on the ground, and snow on the roof, and snow on the ground, and snow on the road.  We couldn’t get out.  We were stuck.  We were stuck when we drived.  And then it stopped snowing.  So we drove to our home.  And then we heard a noise.  KohKeh.  What was that?  It was the monster.  It was a nice monster, not a mean one.  It was lots of monsters.  Some were nice and some were mean. 

Ry: Did you have a party with the monsters?

Ellie: No, they played with us.  We didn’t have lots of car seats.  So we took Shaner out, and put him in the back.  And our friend, she had two car seats.  They had lots of car seats.  We had one in the front.  Sit right here.  The monster said lets sit.  DomDom.  And then, that was my mommas watch, the ding ding.  Oh, my momma said.  Until it was raining and snowing.  So we drove fast, and got home.  And we went inside our home.  And then, it rained on top of our roof, and it rained outside.  It was still raining.  Shaner cried.  Me and Shaner cried.

Ry: So you cried because of the rain, and not the monsters

Ellie: No, the monsters were sleeping with me.  The monsters were not crying.  I didn’t cry, the monsters didn’t cry.  Shaner cried.  They were little bitty tiny baby monsters.  There are big ones and little ones.  They wanted to sleep with me.  Can you hold them?  Be careful with them.  

Getting bigger

We have not posted any pictures of our little Bean for awhile.

Just a few thing about him as you look at these cute pics. He is such a sweet baby, not sure how we ended up with two such wonderful children. 

 He only cries when hunger, tired. 

 He loves to watch LE play and run around.  She can really get him laughing when she is silly. 

He loves Hair- so watch out. 

 He has it timed to the dot how long it takes Ba to leave his room and have her head hit the pillow before he starts to cry in the night. With that said he is a good sleeper, but still wakes up 3 to 2 times at night. 

We still are in hibornation for at least another month. But have loved the warm weather. 

He loves his soft dog he got from an old neighbor when he was in the NICU and an elephant that was also given to him in the NICU. Most of all moms water bottle (it is with us all the time). 

7 months old pics. 

                                                                    Not loving the hat

 Ry and Ba went up to Logan to pertisapate in a little Tri the univeristy was putting on.  One of Bas good friends watch LE and Bean while we were gone.  Here is Bean holding hands with Gwen, she is one month older.

                                                 Dad LOVEs to put him in funny places.

 Eating for the first time. He enjoy his solids very, very much.  We like to joke that he is already breaking the bank with how much he eats. 

 Sitting up, watching what is going on around him and playing with his toys is a favorite pass time for Bean.  Rolling and tummy time are at the bottom.

                                                    Who doesn't love a naked baby!

                                Just look at that smile and big blue eyes, isn't your heart just melting?

 We had to add in Ry birthday, he turned 29!!!! This last month, just look at all those caddles.

Sledding

We have loved playing in the snow; which we have had a lot of this winter.  We built snowmen, forts, castles, slides, a race track, tunnels and just had some good times.

Blessing

A few weeks ago we blessed Bean, it was a very nice day and we enjoyed family that were able to come and support us.  These past few month have not been the easiest but we are so grateful for all the prayers and fast that have been in our behave.  I know that we have been watched over and given special help.

 LE was giving a 'special' dress along with Beans 'special' outfit.  It is pink since she wanted to name Bean Pink before he was born.  She dosen't like to smile and look at the camera these days.

 Proud Grandparents

Great Grandpa, what a guy.  He is 96 and still drives, remolds homes, and goes fishing.  It was special to have him come down to see Bean.  

 

 LE getting better at holding Bean.  We must say, she is such a good helper, and when I say that I mean a real helper.  She will run and get his pacifier if he is crying.  If he spits up she will get a brup cloth, and is always willing to help give him a bath. We are very happy she loves Bean and wants to help him so much.

  Look at those two handsome guys :) So glad to have them both in my life.

 We were very excited it was such a nice day, so that family could eat outside. 

Baby and House Update

It was brought to our attention that we have not posted for some time, and quite a few things have happened.  Bean is almost 2 months old, and he has a great big sister.  Maybe next post will have some fun videos of the two interacting.  I'm sure if LE was writting this post it would go something like this... "I like baby brother most of the time, but he takes my mom away several times a day." When she first saw him she smiled and started playing around.  The first time we gave Bean a bath, LE went wild, and was litteraly bouncing off the walls.  It sure is nice that we aren't going to the NICU any more.  Bean is not crazy fragile anymore, but he is still a newborn so we are being cautious about exposing him to the world.

Lets get to what you really care about, pictures.

The first day at our new house we said LE could run through the sprinklers.  She stripped down and streaked around the house.  I guess we are a classic example of "weird-neighbors-moved-in" phenomenon.

The people before us gave up on yard work, and we didn't start for a bit so our grass in the back got up to a foot and a half long.  This is LE holding up a flower.  You can barely see her.

We had the actual birthday, and a month later, the day we felt that we had a baby.  This is us leaving the hospital about three weeks ago.

We had to get a special car seat to handle babies under 5lbs for the drive home.  To answer your question, no the car seat is the same size as a regular one, the contents are just a bit smaller.

We have pictures of him scrunched in Ry's benie, but he wasn't too happy, so we went with this one.  Ry also has a huge head, so that may throw off the picture.

LE likes being a big sister.  Most of the time she is very soft.

We have learned that the catch position is much better than the hug position (as seen above) for when LE wants to hold Shane.  Don't you like the white shirt and tie?  Ba is opposed to white socks but does that apply if you don't wear pants?

As you can see LE likes to help feed Bean.

Ry has found this new hobbie to hidding Bean in random places like on top of the fridge.

The first time we used the phrase "Go outside and play" LE fell off the monkey bars and sprained her foot.  We happy that she isn't scared to try new things, but that could be bad.

"That boy is a rock star"

Barb, the head nurse that is in charge of all 50+ babies in the NICU, told us that Bean was a rock star.  We didn't realize this until we went to a discharge class, and everyone was expressing how things were not going very well.  Bean has been doing great.  So good as a matter of fact, that he is now living at our apartment.  That will change in a week when we move to our house, but that is just a technicality.  One senior nurse said she can only think of a few babies out of several hundred that were able to go home at 35 weeks.  We are happy that the driving has ended, but a little sad the sleepless nights are beginning.

There are several things to consider when dealing with a premature baby that are  little different than full term babies...

1. They have no immune system.  This means that if Bean gets sick, a visit to the hospital is certain (and that is best case scenario).  This is why we are discouraging visitors right now.

2. They don't have very much energy.  Just eating gets Bean exhausted.  Most babies eat until they are full, but Bean gets too tired to eat until he is tired.  Just holding him tires him out, and we want all those extra calories to go to weight gain (wouldn't that be nice if we all had that problem).  This is why we are discouraging visitors right now.

3. They like to have their hands by their faces.  No burrito wrap for Bean.

4. They can't be bounced or stroked.  They get soothed by just holding.

5. They have a hard time breathing.  Bean has to have his chin up and head straight, otherwise, he starts to have a hard time breathing and it takes a lot of effort (See note 2).

Even though you may not see us for two months, we can answer our phones, and we still like you.  We just need to be paranoid parents and make sure Bean has a good start to life.  Bring out the soap and disinfectant.