Happy 8th Birthday Jared...

I've realized that all of my "pre-preemie" deliveries were pretty uneventful! But that's a good thing. Jared came in the early morning. Brandon and I went to the hospital in the early evening and I was dilated, but not enough...I could walk the halls of the hospital or go home and come back later. We opted to walk for a while and see if that did any good - it did a little, but still not enough. Finally our doctor did us a "favor" and ordered a scalp monitor for Jared - which broke my water - which meant we'd stay until he was born. It was only a few hours later when we got to meet Jared for the first time.

I don't have (or can't find) hospital pictures. I know we have some because we had borrowed my parent's digital camera (Jared was our first digital baby). I'll add them if I find them - for now I have these...

Hmmm, seems like we just shared a picture like this...I guess when you have birthday's in almost every month of the year - odds are you'll have just as many pictures of your doctor with your newborn!



10 Days Old -



What a little man - where did my "baby" go?



Now we venture in to new things - Cub Scouts and Legos being the 2 newest things that he's excited about. Of course he still loves his GameBoy and his GameCube. He's our Gamer, that's for sure!

We love you, Jared - thank you for 8 years of love and laughter and happiness! We're looking forward to many, many more!

"How's your baby?"

Meredith is doing just great! She's 7wks old on Sunday and is doing everything a "normal baby" would be doing. She sleeps well, she's a good little eater, she's very content...she's wonderful! We figured her weight to be near 9 pounds. She won't have an official ped appointment for another couple of weeks.

These aren't great pictures of her - for some reason I'm doing a very poor job of taking pictures around here lately. Hopefully, for now they'll do though.

Road Trip

Is it possible for Yakima WA to be a pleasant memory for anyone? Amazingly enough, it is. I spent several summers in Yakima with my dad's aunt and uncle when I was young. I truly enjoyed those visits.

My dad's aunt passed away several years ago - and just this last week, his uncle passed away. There was only one surviving son, my dad's cousin Don. I don't know if my dad could even remember the last time he saw Don - but he has a ton of memories from growing up together.

On a whim, we decided to take the family (mom, dad, sister and me...and Meredi) and road trip to the funeral service. And we realized that this trip was the first time dad had seen Meredi - he works out of town and schedules have been hectic. So here they are, meeting for the first time.



We were excited for dad to see and spend time with his cousin - maybe even more so than he was. But once we got to town and called Don (and realized that we were coincidentally staying in the same hotel) dad was anxious to visit with his cousin...which gave mom and Lindsay and me time to go see the old landmarks that we remember.



I truly don't expect anyone to spend much time on this entry. It's just a bunch of dusty memories of mine - silly places that stand out in my memory from a time that I enjoyed as a child.


Of course we start with the house on Tieton Drive...



From that bay window to your right was a perfectly framed view of Mt. Adams. Imagine my surprise when I found out, on this trip, that it wasn't Mt. Rainier like I had thought it was my whole life! lol

Just down the road is Eisenhower High School...



I always thought it was funny when my uncle would refer to the school as "Ike" - of course I understand it now, but when I was young "Ike" was a funny word. We also played AAU Basketball games here - back when I could run up and down a basketball court more than once without fainting!

The laundromat...



I'd spend summer days with aunt Delores while she managed this laundromat. I'm glad I was young b/c it seemed cool at the time. I got to push the big old broom around the machines and help her get the coins from the machines and detergent vending machines.

Chesterly Field...





This was once acres of apple and cherry orchards owned by my great grandparents. There is still a Juniper tree standing in the park that was a "shrub" outside of their house.

Miner's!


(Pardon the bug guts through the windshield)



This was Meredith's first trip to Miner's - a greasy burger joint that has been around since the beginning of time. Burgers the size of your head - it's just disgusting...in a good sort of way!

Dad! You can dress him up...



...but don't leave him alone in the elevator with the luggage cart. Just when you think your parents are wise and mature they do things like this.

Stop and pose for a family picture!



We truly stink at having family pictures taken - in fact, we've never had a professional picture taken of the four of us. Maybe it's just as well! Can I just say that self portraits are NEVER flattering! And it always looks like the person who took the picture has 4 chins (ok, in this case, it's true, but I've noticed it in others as well!)

And back home for Auntie Joy to meet Meredi for the first time too...



Wow what a trip - I have a ton of other pictures I could have shared, but these will more than do, I'm sure! I'll miss having a reason to go to Yakima. Sure, it's been years since I've been there...but I always "could" go if I wanted to and I had connections there. Now it's just a place on the map...thanks for the wonderful memories Marlan and Delores.

Playing with a 2 year old!

Remember the Memory Game (lol, sorry, that was kind of funny) - the game where you turn cards over and try to match two. Joseph has invented a modified version of the game.

A couple of days ago, he came up to me with the following objects in his hand. I had no clue what they were - and with Joseph's limited vocabulary, it was a cinch I wasn't going to find out from him.

I looked at them for the longest time and just couldn't match them to where they belonged. They were heavy metal pieces, so I knew they weren't toys.



Finally, I coaxed him into to showing me where they came from. He excitedly lead me toward their home...




Apparently he had climbed into the tub and unscrewed the pieces from the stopper. I never would have guessed where they were from on my own. Why should I have to guess things like that? Oh yeah, because I have a curious 2 year old on my hands now - yikes!

Happy Should-Have-Been-Your Birthday, Meredith!

April 26 - Today is the day that Meredith was supposed to be born! This is the day we were supposed to meet her for the first time. Instead, she is 6 weeks old. As much as we would have loved to have avoided NICU and the stress and fear that comes with it - we wouldn't change a thing! I told Brandon that today is her "supposed to be birthday" and he said, "I'm so glad we're not at the hospital today." You do what you have to do, when you have to do it - obviously. It was emotional, it was frightening, it was aggravating, it was physically draining...but it was for Meredi - and we'd do it all again for her without batting an eye.

So here are some of the pictures from her birth that I didn't share when she was born. I think I edited the gory surgery ones out for those who have a weak constitution.

This would have been our entry today - if we hadn't already shared the joy and excitement of her arrival six weeks ago!


This is Lois - she is one of our "old favorites" NICU nurse. She worked nights and I was always so relieved when I'd find out she had our preemie...when we wheeled in to the OR for Meredi's delivery, this masked nurse came in and I said, "Hey, are you Lois?" A familiar face was so comforting - but it was the middle of the day, and by chance, she had come in to cover for someone otherwise she wouldn't have been there.



This is my doctor on the right - the resident on the left. Lois at the left of my feet and Kellie my L&D nurse on the right. Kellie is the one who made the call to rush to the OR - what she feared wasn't really what was happening, thankfully - but it was b/c of it all that my doctor did an ultra sound and said the uterine lining was simply too thin to continue laboring, even with medication...and we prepped to meet Meredith.



And here she is - we have 2 or 3 c/section delivery pictures like this - I don't know why my doctor insists on leaning backward out of the shot!



Love at first site - Meredith has been such a peaceful baby, since the moment she was born. She'll either add a new ingredient to our family - or she'll surprise us all when she breaks out of her shell with pipes and an attitude!!



Daddy gets to hold his 5th darling daughter -



Then mommy finally got her hands on her baby girlie hours later in NICU.



Feels like this all happened so very long ago. Meredith is just part of the family - like she's always been here. What a blessing this sweet angel girl is!

A day of winners!

Friday was Race Day at Jared's school. He finished 5th and came home sporting this fancy pants medal. It's been around his neck for the last 24 hours. I wonder if it will go with his attire come High School? Seriously though, we are so proud of him. Way to go, Jared!!



Later Friday evening, Jacob attended his annual Math Competition at a nearby high school.

Jacob won "The Best in School" - which was the top scoring individual from the 16 kids that went from his own school. He also won 4th Place Individual - which was, as it sounds, the 4th of all 176 kids from his division.



Of the 44 teams, his school scored 4th place, earning them the right to send a team to The Masters Tournament in May.



Sports and Academics - good to see that the gene pools from both parents were well represented today!!

Time on my hands...

Sometimes there are things that strike me funny that may not do the same to others...this may be an example of such a thing.



And while I was uploading that valuable expenditure of time, I found this one from Joseph's birthday. Megan & Jacob had gone upstairs and poured the balloons down on Joseph, Malorie, Melanie & Jared...they loved it. Did it over and over and over!

Dirt!

Low and behold - we do have dirt under all of this snow! We had almost forgotten that there is more to our existence out here than just coldness and whiteness! We were able to get out and go on a walk a few nights ago - and it was joyous! It was a short walk (which was mom's fault) but it was fun!


This was mom's view the entire walk - the back side of everyone else! I brought up the rear the entire time...well, Meredi and I did. She enjoyed every second of the walk tucked up in the sling!!



Jason and Jacob couldn't resit a quick King of the Mountain (Hill)!




Jasper and Jypsy followed us the entire time (yes, we know Gypsy is spelled with a G...but boys in our family all have J names so we opted to spell it funky just for fun)...



Then they tried to tangle up Melanie's feet when we got back to the driveway!



When we passed the creek, the kids saw a beaver. Of course by the time I got there with the camera, it was gone (both times) - so don't strain looking for the beaver, he's not in the picture - but this is where he lives!



I took this picture of a moose and her calf as I was heading to town the day Meredith came home from the hospital - the mom is HUGE! I took several pictures and then I realized she was staring me down and I figured if she took me on in the Jeep, she'd win...so I left!

2 YEARS!

So it was right about this time, 2 years ago, that I was sitting in my living room with my dear friend Amy. I had just had my 35wk OB appointment and after spending the entire day thinking I was in labor, my doctor told me I wasn't - at least as far as dilating, etc. I remember telling Amy something along the lines of, "I don't know what I'm going to do when I really am in labor b/c I thought I was all day and I'm not..." Just 7 hours later...we met little Joseph Barry!




(Little did we know then that 2 years later, he'd still have that same death grip on his binkie!)



We had a party for him today - what a card!



Here's his cake...






And here's the shot where mom blew out the candles just a split second before Joseph burned his eyebrows off!




2 years - man, a lot has happened!
Happy Birthday Joseph - Enjoy today and all of your tomorrows. We love you more than you will ever know!

Our trip to town...

Wednesday was my first follow up OB appointment. Brandon took the day off and stayed home with Malorie, Melanie and Joseph - Meredi and I made an afternoon of it.

It was nice to get in to the office and see everyone again. It was Wednesday, which is normally Angie the nurse's day off...but she was there! Whew! Then as we were leaving, Teri (u/s tech) came down the hallway and met up with us for a minute. AND...Katrina was back! She's a receptionist who has been there for years and just left to work at a dentist office...luckily, she hated it and came back. I kind of felt like Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz when she wakes up and says, "And you were there, and you were there, and you were there..." The only person who wasn't there officially was Chryssee the receptionist and she was gone b/c she just had her baby.



After we left the doctor's office we stopped by to see Auntie Lindsay at her work. She and Meredi hadn't seen eachother since Meredi was about 3 days old.



On the way home we stopped at the grocery - and when we were done there, we were DONE. Both of us were exhausted! It was nice to go out, but not as nice as it's been to stay home. Apparently we still need a couple weeks of recovery before we're 100%...ok, MOM - mom needs a couple of weeks! :)

Happy Birthday Joley

"She, we have a little Joel David here at the hospital..." I remember my Uncle Dave calling me and saying that to me when my cousin Joel had been born. I must have been 11'ish...right at the beginning of the "I LOVE BABIES" phase of my life...(which hasn't ended yet)...and I couldn't get changed and to the hospital fast enough!

I thought a lot about Joel today - it's his birthday. Sadly, he's not here to celebrate this day with us. He passed in an auto accident almost six years ago. Boy, that 4am phone call was sure a blow. I was expecting Malorie at the time - my mom called from the ER and told me that Joel had been in an accident and wasn't going to make it. I remember hanging up the phone and thinking, "This doesn't happen in OUR family!" Minutes later I was on the phone with my Aunt Joy and we were making plans to drive to Joel's parent's home.



I don't want to focus on his passing today - his life was wonderful. He was a bubbly, blue eyed toe-head! Always laughing, always smiling, always loving!



There is a marker on the side of the highway where his accident occurred. For the longest time I hated it - I could never drive home to my parent's place without passing it and being reminded that THIS is the place...right here. I don't know if I've softened or grown up or just changed my thinking - but now I enjoy the reminder of Joel when I drive home. And I enjoy that he's the last thought that I have when I leave town too...I miss you Joley Poley!

Kids Say The Darnedest Things

Brandon will play a game with the kids now and then where he sits at the piano and challenges them to "Name 10 songs" and then he will play "kid friendly" songs until they name ten of them.

Last night I heard him play Winnie the Pooh, Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, etc...then he played "If you're happy and you know it".

Melanie piped up and said, "If you're happy in your nose, clap your hands." I guess it could sound like that to 3yr old ears.

We sure enjoy Jaynie!

We're still around!

Who are you voting for?

I love my cousin, Mardi! LOL She sent me this email today and it made me laugh, then sigh, then nod my head, then shake my head...then almost cry! LOL

Now, a quick update for anyone who didn't leave, offended by the picture and comments up there...

We're doing well. Miss Meredi is doing just wonderfully! She's becoming quickly aquainted with everyone - and everyone with her. She and Joseph still seem to have a love/hate relationship going on, but I'm sure they'll move past it.

She has already figured out that being "down" is bad and being "up" is good - and having someone hold you while they are sitting barely counts - standing is much better! But we don't mind - 7 pounds and being as cute as a bug makes it really hard to complain when you "have to hold the baby".

She went out on her first big date with mom and dad Saturday night - a wedding reception for a good family friend of ours. (There's a better way to word that...we're good friends with the family...the son of a family we're good friends with...etc etc...I'm sure you get it - and I doubt you even care that much!)

We had a beautiful weekend where we hit almost 70 degrees! The kids couldn't get in to shorts fast enough. All of the bikes were taken down off the hooks in the garage. They spent hours outside. Today it's 44 degrees, the shorts are all in a pile in the laundry waiting for me, the bikes look like war carnage in the yard, and the kids are in the house - nintendo/trampolining/air hockey'ing/etc. Boy, we sure hope that weather will be back soon!

This is week four of my recovery and I'll admit, this one has been my hardest c/section yet. I still have a lot of discomfort - but it's better than it was, so maybe I was just really lucky the four times before and healed really fast - now number five is going to linger! But I managed a trip to the grocery today - I have a pot of potato soup on the stove...a lemon cake just came out of the oven - we might get back to normal after all! (I'm sure I'll be paying for all of this tomorrow when I wake up and won't be able to roll my large self out of bed!)

We'll get some pictures taken this week. Funny how for the last three weeks, all I had was pictures...ever day! Now that we're home, I am not even sure that I can think of where the camera is off hand!

Accidental Masterpiece

I just happened to be holding the camera last night when Jason came into my room and picked up Gracie...I snapped this quickie picture and looking at it today I realized it's my oldest baby and my youngest baby...so much has happened in between them! What a lucky little girl to have such a wonderful big brother - and what a lucky big brother, to have such a tender little sister - - oh, and of course, what a lucky mother to have been blessed with an amazing Oldest and Youngest and all the in-betweens!!

Here's how it went...

Saturday we were told that we could take Meredith home on Sunday "with a heart/resp monitor" OR we could wait until Monday (the very next day) and she could go home "wireless"...Of course the thought of taking our baby home without wires was amazing - but we were a little puzzled at the magic of just one day. Would she REALLY be ok to take home if we waited just hours vs taking her home Sunday needing a monitor???? Finally Bran and I decided the best thing to do was to get her the heck out of the hospital and get her in to our wonderful pediatrician and let HIM call the shots from here on out!!

So Meredi came home with a monitor that she wears around her chest at night and in the car seat - and any time nobody is with her (like THAT ever happens). We saw Dr. O (ped) yesterday and it was so reassuring to talk with someone who has cared for our children for over a decade! He's calling the monitoring company and having them come out this week to swap monitors so they can get a download of any apneas or hi/lo heart rates that it recorded in the last 48 hrs. We think she's doing great - a typical newborn! We don't mind the monitor, and if our ped thought it would be wise to continue using it another week or two, it really wouldn't be a big deal!

So that's how we decided to get home - and here's what happened when we actually GOT home! I called Bran from my cell when I pulled into the drive way. He met me in the garage and carried Meredi into the house behind me - I went in with my camera locked and loaded!

Maddie caught us in the mudroom before we made it to the kitchen table (where everyone else was) - she got teary eyed - so I got teary eyed...lol. And then this



(Oh, and an apology to Steve Bates who had called as we were walking in - Maddie was holding the phone to give Brandon and I took it from her so I could get pictures of Bran with the baby and kids - I just held the phone in one hand and took pictures with the other - probably for almost a minute before Maddie said, "Mom, the phone is for dad..." and by then he had given up on me and hung up and called back! Sorry!)



After the initial shock was over, everyone got their turn holding the sister.

Jason


Madilyn


Jacob


Megan


Jared


Malorie


Melanie


Joseph

I think it's unanimous around here - Meredith is a keeper!

She has been just a joy. She is still on a 4 hour schedule which has been really nice. There's no doubt that being at home is the right place for her! The care we received in the NICU was amazing. And we will be forever grateful for everything that was done for Meredi - now we're being equally as impressed by the power of nurturing and love...the medicine that no doctor can administer!