Our Year in Review

Well Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This blog post is just about as timely as our Christmas cards! Unfortunately our last month has been busy with doctor appointments and illness, so this got pushed to the back burner. But its all good now as 2015 is our year of health, wealth, and blessings!

Before I get ahead of myself I will give you a highlight of our year! It has been quite an amazing one, so I will try to not let this get too lengthy! 

A few of our family highlights were:

We started out the year finding out that we had baby # 2 on the way! We were overjoyed at least for the first 6 weeks, then everyone else remained overjoyed and I became sick. The road was all too familiar, but I tried to stay on top of it and find tricks to get me through the days. It didn't seem quite as bad, but maybe that was because I had Ezekiel to run after! 

The following weeks were kind of a blur for me as it was mainly about survival! :-p But we were all anxiously awaiting our Family Trip to California, aka #schwarzbemisvaca! After our long and crazy cold winter it was so nice to head out to California in May, though the weather was starting to get nice here in Minnesota, there is just something different about the California sunshine! We went with my family, so my parents, my brother and his family, and our wonderful nanny, the beloved Ms. Jacqui! We also were so excited to have Mikes brother and his family meet us out there. I began to write about our trip and it became WAY to lengthy so I just made another post about it, so you can read about it HERE, I am hoping to add more detail and pictures soon! But it was such an amazingly fun trip, Ezekiel had a blast and we created so many amazing family memories! I can't wait to do it again soon!!!

After the super rainy spring that we had, we spent everyday outside! Ezekiel loved riding his trike and roller coaster (his big wheel, which got the name roller coaster after going to Disneyland) with Dada, Pah, and all the neighbor kids! Like all the previous summers we were out for walks all the time, either to the park or up to see the carwash (he loves to just watch the cars drive through the carwash)! And of course after playing on the beach in California we had to increase the size of his sand box and he spent hours everyday out there! He also overcame his unsureness of water this summer! Atleast once a week if not twice, we would go to the outdoor pool at the gym. He started the summer out not wanting to go into the water very far or get very wet to splashing, putting his head underwater, and jumping to Mike in the deeper water! It was such a fun progression to see!

Ezekiel, celebrated his 3rd birthday with friends and family and a major storm that knocked the power out at our home as guests were driving up! LOL! It was still a successful party, it was just a bit dim! :-) Ezekiel also had the honor of being a Ring Bear in Ms. Jacqui's wedding, he looked so cute in his little tux. He was a bit unsure of all the attention, but we successfully got him down the aisle, both ways...but barely!!!

At the beginning of September, Ezekiel and I took a quick trip to Chicago with my family. It was such a fun trip as Chicago is such a fun city to go to with young kids! We did the Bean, Navy Pier and the ferris wheel, lunch on top of the John Hancock building, Buckingham fountain, a boat tour, and the zoo! Ezekiel was in heaven because he got to ride on a plane, train, trolley, boat, and bus all in the matter of 4 days! :-) I called it my "buddy moon" as most people take a "baby moon" before their babies are born, this was a very special trip for me as I was able to have so much one on one time with Ezekiel (which was also exhausting!) and was able to have some special time with him before the baby came.

And little did we know that 10 days later Griffin would come into the world! He was born 7 weeks early and no one had any clue that this was going to happen until about an hour before it did! There were no warning signs along the way. For the full story you can read about it HERE, otherwise the short version is that I had some bleeding at 4 pm on the 16th, after a bunch of test they realized we were both in distress and he had to come right now. So in for a c-section we went and then off to the NCU Griffin and Mike went, where Griffin stayed for 21 days. It ended up that I had a abrubtion (sp) of my placenta and it was 50-75% detached, which is very serious and if it would of been just a couple hours later we both could of died! Thank God for his protection!

Everything since then has been a bit of a whirlwind! Griffin did great in the hospital after his first couple of days. He just needed to learn to breathe on his own and figure out eating, just like he would of in the womb. It was a hard few weeks, leaving him every night, but it was also hard to be away from Ezekiel too. We were very happy when he was able to come home 3 weeks later. Ezekiel was so excited to have his little brother come home, until Griffin cried for the first time! Then he was a bit unsure about him, it took him about a week to come around and now he is in complete awe of him and loves to be the special big brother helper!

Griffin ended up needing surgery to repair bilateral inguinal hernias that he had, they were causing him a lot of discomfort and digestion issues, so we were happy to have it taken care of. Though it was hard to see him have to go through a surgery. It is a very routine surgery and actually quite common in preemie boys. he bounced back in just a couple of days and only had to stay in the hospital one night. He unfortunately also ended up with pneumonia, we caught it right away so he wasn't under any distress, but they just wanted us to stay one night in the hospital for observation. Other than those bumps in the road, Griffin has been the best baby! He is such a sweet and peaceful baby who loves to cuddle, take baths and get his legs rubbed by Mah (my mom)! He has been such a blessing to our family and is just the perfect addition! He has learned to smile and coo and is doing them both all the time! I think he will be finding his feet soon and is trying to roll over, though I think it will be a bit yet until that last one happens! He is such a good sleeper and has slept through the night since his pediatrician gave us the green light to let him decide when he wants to eat! He is such an amazing and strong little boy and are so thankful that God chose us to be his Dada and Mama!

Ezekiel started preschool this last fall and it has been such an amazing thing for him! They continue to remind us of how smart he is, which we know as he blows us away every day with the things he talks about! He has really matured and is becoming a big boy (what happened to my baby)! His teacher said that he really has a big heart and cares of his friends and classmates and take the time to help them out or take them under his wing. I have always seen that in him and I love that it is coming out when he is away from home too. He has such a sweet and caring heart! He loved everything about this Christmas season, the lights, the music, learning about baby Jesus and celebrating his birthday, giving and receiving (of course) gifts, and spending time with family!

I am sure there were so many more things that happened this year that I failed to mention! We were beyond blessed in 2014 and we know that God will provide such an amazing year for us in 2015! And we pray the same for each and every one of you and your families!

(sorry for the lack of pictures and any grammar or spelling errors! i will try to come back and update it soon!)

#schwarzbemisvaca

I really wanted to take the time to document our trip in words as well as visually. I knew I wouldn't have the energy to do it while we were on vacation so I am going to try to do it now. There will be a post for each day and they will probably be rather detailed and slightly boring to anyone else. But this was our first MAJOR family vacation that was mostly for kidos, which also means, they won't remember much of it so I want to be able to have something to look back to and show Ezekiel some day about how wonderful of a time we had and how much he enjoyed our trip!

When we first started talking about this trip, I feel like it was over a year ago, Darek was not in favor of the idea of taking the boys to Disney at such a young age, because they wouldn't remember it. And though I totally agree, but my defense was that this trip was more for us and to see they excitement and joy on their faces as everything that they had seen in the movies has come life right before their eyes. And then we would continue to do Disney trips as the boys grow up and other kidos join our family!

And can I just say that this vacation was EVERYTHING that I hoped it would be and so much more!!! Everything worked out pretty much perfectly and we made so many wonderful memories!!!

Soooo here we go...

We flew out early Saturday morning the 16th of May. We had to be at the airport by 4:30, so that meant waking Ezekiel up at 3:40, we never have had to wake up him that early for anything, so we weren't sure how it was going to go, but he was ok with it once we reminded him that we were going to fly on a BIG airplane! Everything went great and smooth at the airport and boarding the plane. I should mention as well who we were traveling with...of course, myself, Mike, and Ezekiel, also my dad and mom (Pah and Mah), my brother and his family (Darek, Steph, Toby, and Carina), and then our and my brother's families' wonderful and amazing nanny, Jacqui! We had a quick layover in Denver, which did work out well for us, because then Zeke got a chance to run around a little bit and gave me a chance to settle as well. Because going into this trip I was 16 weeks pregnant and feeling the "all day" sickness, the motion for the plane or exacerbated the queasiness and needless to say after the flight I was in search of the nearest bathroom, or garbage can! The second flight wasn't as bad, but I was happy to be arriving in CA!

We flew into San Diego, and spent 4 days there, which consisted of Sea World, walking La Jolla beach, time in Coronado, and a lot of playing on the beach! I loved everything about Coronado and Ezekiel LOVED playing in the sand and he had the opprotunity to dip his feet in the ocean for the first time!

From there the girls headed up to Anaheim to visit my Great Aunt Shirley, it was so nice to see her again. While the guys headed to the Padres game as they were playing the Twins; the Twins actually won, so that was a nice perk!

The next day was the day the boys had been waiting for (and me too :-D), DISNEYLAND!! We apparently picked one the slowest times of year to go, so it was beyond perfect! We spent the first day in the Disneyland park and with in minutes of walking into the park all of the characters came out right in that main area and were available to meet and take pictures with! It was such a HUGE blessing as we were able to get pictures with all the main characters right then with only waiting in line for 5 minutes, if at all! I have heard that some people wait in line for hours for a picture with just one of the characters. The boys absolutely loved meeting all of the characters, those are moments that I will never forget! And I got to meet Mary Poppins, who is my favorite, so my day was triple made! We had just gotten done getting out picture taken with Mary Poppins I think and Donald duck was walking out to take his spot and we started following him and he grabbed both Ezekiel and Toby's hands to walk with!! It was beyond picture perfect!

We spent the rest of the day, seeing the castle, getting his Mickey ears, getting the Mickey Mouse chocolate covered ice cream, and of course riding all the rides!! The highlight was that Ezekiel rode Space Mountain with all the grown ups! He was 40 1/2" so he was tall enough, though he was only 2 years old! Just call us parents of the year! He loved driving the race cars and riding on the spaceships, he rode the Tea Cups with Mike and Ms. Jacqui and he LOVED that! Ezekiel crashed on Mike's shoulder so he got a nap in the stroller for a bit! We also made reservations to eat dinner at Goofy's Kitchen, which is a character dinner. So it is served buffet style, but as you eat, a bunch of different characters come around and interact with you. Ezekiel was a bit nervous at first but then warmed up as the dinner went on. Though he never really warmed up to Goofy! The other characters that joined us at dinner were Minnie, Chip and Dale, and Alice, I think that was all.

After dinner we took the monorail back to the park and we got to ride in the front with the conductor, Ezekiel was beyond thrilled! Right after we got off, the parade was about to start, so we watched that. It was so fun even though a lot of those character Ezekiel didn't know as they were more "old school" Disney characters (i.e. Lion King, Aladdin, Mary Poppins, ect) , but he still enjoyed it! After that we rode one more ride and then headed back to the hotel were some more of our California family was there to visit. This time it was my grandma's brother, his wife, their son and his family! They are so nice and it was so nice to see them again, though it was a short visit as Ezekiel was DONE!

The next day we headed to the California Adventure Park! This park was a bit more up the boys' alley as it has more of the Pixar and Disney Junior characters, which is most of the movies that they watch. We headed straight for Carsland, of course, before it got too busy. Ezekiel just thought it was so awesome that it looked just like Radiator Springs in the movie (which it really did! It was amazing)! We were able to meet Lightening McQueen, Mater, and Red, which was so fun! To see the look on his face when he saw them for the first time was beyond priceless! Ezekiel go to ride on the Radiator Springs Racers, he was a bit startled the first time, but then went on it two more times after that, so apparently he liked it! He also got to go on Luigi's Flying Tires and the Mater and the Tractors ride! We watched the Disney Junior Live show, which was so  much fun because Ezekiel had been watching those shows right up to our trip. We went on the Monsters Inc ride and A Bugs Life rides, there also was this really cool flight simulator ride that he really liked and was very cool! They had a parade with all the Pixar characters and it was so fun because Ezekiel knew most of them and was so excited to see them all! We opened and closed the park that day, to say we were tired is an understatement!!

The next morning we did another Character meal, this one was with Mickey and we also got to have visits, from Daisy, Stitch, Minnie, and Pluto! Those are by far the coolest way to meet the characters as they take the time to interact with each child! After that we did a little bit of shopping in Downtown Disney and then headed to the airport.

A lot of people had said that they boys were too young to go and they are right that they probably won't remember much about it, but as I told Mike, this trip was more for us than them. It was beyond amazing to go at when they were this age, we will definitely be doing many more Disney trips in the futur

Griffin Mark Bemis' Birthstory

So of course the question of the hour is what happened that caused Griffin to be born so early?!?! So here is the whole story of how Griffin came into the world!!! (Its kind of lengthy!)

On Tuesday,  September 16th, I got up and went to work like any normal day. Griffin was pretty active in my belly that day, though that was pretty normal as he was always moving during the day. There was nothing out of the ordinary about how I was feeling or what I was experiencing, that is until about 4:00 that afternoon. I went to the bathroom and to my surprise I was having some bleeding. I thought it was rather odd, but since it wasn't a ton (but also wasn't just spotting) I really wasn't going to do much about it. But, of course, I first took to Dr. Google to see what he had to say...after most everything there saying to at least call your OB office. I figured that I could at least do that especially since it was already 4:00 and they would be closing in an hour and then it can be tricky sometimes to get someone's opinion after hours. 

So I headed out from work to pick up Ezekiel at preschool around 4:30. Got on the phone during my drive and talked with the triage nurse and she said that I should probably head in to labor and delivery at the hospital to just be checked and monitored. She said that she would call them and tell them I was coming and then hung up, if she wouldn't of said that I probably wouldn't of gone in. I am usually not one to make a big fuss out of things, and this was borderline for me. I probably just would of headed home to chill out and relax on the couch and see what happened. 

So I told Mike to meet us at the hospital in Waconia, I swung by, picked up Ezekiel and we headed through to the hospital. We got there,  got checked in and Mike was there moments later. Of course Ezekiel was starving (because really when is he not!) so while they are trying to ask me a million questions we are trying to dig through my purse to find snacks for him! And I will say this a million times, but everyone at the hospital is so great and so they took Mike and Ezekiel to find the kitchen to get some snacks!! 

During that time they did a few test on me, honestly I can't really remember what they all did in what time frame. But I feel like every test they did at that time came back with 'well that doesn't necessarily give us a good answer of what is going on and what we should do'. Then they decided to send me down for an ultrasound to see how he was doing. He wasn't quite as active as they would like him to be, I thought that meant there would be a greater push to keep him in to grow and develop more, as there was already talk of taking him that night (which at that time I did not want at all), but it actually ended up being another reason why they should move forward with getting him out as he probably wasn't getting the oxygen and nutrients that he needed. During my ultrasound we called my mom and had her come and pick up Ezekiel as it was already 7:30 and it was starting to show that this wasn't going to be done anytime soon. 

When I came up from my ultrasound my midwife Jamie was there, they said she decided to come over to evaluate for herself what was going on. She gave me a look as I came down the hall and I knew something was brewing. She evaluated me and did some more tests all along I was hooked up to the fetal monitoring. She said she was in contact with the on call doctor and would be consulting with her as to what to do because my body really had her stumped at this point! After a bit Jamie came back in my room and said that the on call doctor Dr. Larson, was coming in to evaluate for herself because she just couldn't figure it out either.

I am not a worrier, but when I was told that and then felt like 2.3 second later she was there busting into my room, lets just say my concerns grew! As I feel a lot of MDs are, she was more urgent and bold with everything that we discussed which was a bit overwhelming for me! Especially going from my midwife, Jamie, who is cool as a cucumber, calm, and peaceful as it gets! At this point Jamie told me that the decision now is ultimately up to Dr. Larson and Mike and I as to what we will do. Even Dr. Larson didn't really know what was going on, but after asking me a million questions again, she said that I am way to healthy of a person for something like this to be happening, so it is definetly a cause for concern. Sothis is a run down of what all the tests were saying:

*the ultrasound showed that he wasn't as active as they like him, which could mean that he is either sleeping or in distress.

*the fetal monitoring showed that his heart rate was exactly where it needed to be and he was good, other than having little one second dips every once in while, which meant that he was probablly rolling onto the umbillical cord, which could be cutting off his oxygen and nutrients. And it also was showing that I was having some regular contractions, though I couldn't feel them at all yet.

*the pelvic exam said that I was starting to dialate, but only to a 1, which can happen at 33 weeks.

*one test, not sure which one, showed that either my water broke and had been slowly draining without me realizing, or he wasn't getting proper nutrients which resulted in him not making enough ammniotic fluid. I was down to a level of 4 which meant there was no keeping him in there longer than a few days.

*another test showed that some of his blood was getting in with mine, which should really never happen. 

So at this point Dr. Larson gave me two choices:

A) take the baby right away Tuesday night and I could either do a c-section or be induced and try for a natural labor. The only thing with a natural labor is that she said they can't use a vacuum or forceps since he is premature, they need to protect his eyes and head. Which then could end up in an emergency c-section which is just messier and more stress on everyone.

B) wait until morning, because they had given me a steroid shot which would help develop his lungs, and even just having that work for 12 hours can make a difference. And then either do a c-section or try for a natural labor with the same applying for a natural labor as in option A.

We asked a few questions and then everyone stepped out of the room to give us a chance to talk, Jamie stayed back for a second to see if I was ok and I asked her opinion. Her thoughts were pretty in line with mine, lets give it until morning and then probably do a c-section, as to not put Griffin in distress during a natural labor. 

Jamie left the room, and that was my first moment to let my guard down and not try to act like I had it all together. I literally just broke down sobbing crying, I am a planner and I know how this was all supposed to go...and this definetly wasn't it! The minor hiccups that I had during my pregnancy, labor, and delivery with Ezekiel, I was taking proper steps through this pregnancy so I wouldn't have those issues. Having my baby at 33 weeks and probably by c-section was about as far away from "the plan" as you could get! I was mad, upset, and down right ticked off that I was down to these 2 choices. I was having a pity party moment, as this isn't the way I wanted it to go and I wasn't ready for this! There was still so much we needed to do and afterall the craziness that our life has been the last year and half, we were just finding our "normal" again, which was nice to have before the baby came! 

Mike so sweetly comforted me, we dicussed our options, and we had come to a decision, prayed, and then Dr. Larson and Jamie came back into the room. Dr. Larson said my blood test just came back and it showed that my blood was clotting, which meant then my body was definetly in distress and it was probably an abrubtion of some sort. So whatever decision we had come to didn't matter because that meant it was go time right now and by c-section. 

I felt like the second those words came out of her mouth, hundreds of people came bombarding through the door (ok, it was probably only like 10, but it felt like so many)! As the anesthiologist was talking me through the spinal block, a nurse was taking another blood sample, another nurse was asking me questions, I was mostly wondering how our baby would be and what would happen with him, so they called up the nurse practitioner from the NCU because that is where he would go right after he was born. 

I was so overwhelmed! I must of had a deer in the headlights look going on because I think everyone could tell I was starting to get overwhelmed and started to slow things down or ran through things again for me. Like I said already I am a planner! I need to know what is going to happen! And since a c-section was not even in the same ballpark as my plan, I really had no idea what to expect because honestly I would just skip over all of those parts in the birthing books or those articles online. Because frankly, I was pretty much NEVER going to have one...until right 'the freaking goodness' NOW!!! WHAT?!?!

And all of a sudden it was go time!! We prayed again and they took me away to the OR for my spinal block and to get prepped. Once everything was prepped then Mike could come in after he changed into his scrubs. As I got in the OR, I instantly started shaking! A combo of being nervous and it being as cold as the freaking polar ice caps in there!!! They did my spinal block, which was the part that I was most nervous about (as a reference, my dislike of needles is so high, that I would rather give birth naturally, than to of had an epidural!), it really wasn't that bad though. So as the lower half of my body started to go numb they prepped me and got everything ready. They brought Mike in and it was almost GO time...right before Dr. Larson made the incision she pinched my belly pretty hard and I could still feel it and could actuallly still wiggle my toes a bit! YIKES!!! So they sent Mike out of the room took everything down and did another spinal block, just be sure! They re-prepped me and brought Mike back in again, and this time I thankfully couldn't feel anything! 

So it was offically GO time!

Dr. Larson and the rest of the staff started to do their thing, I couldn't feel any pain but you can definetlly feel someone rummaging around in your guts! And my word does it not feel good at all!!! Mike was sitting there by my head holding my hand and I just remember squeezing it super hard as they tore my stomach apart, literally as she said she prefers to make a small insicion and then stretch everything from there!!! Ugh!!! To toot my own horn a bit, as Dr. Larson was making the insicion she was impressed with how nice of abs that I had (and may I point out, WHAT SHE WAS CUTTING THOUGH!), so that is always nice to hear! Well within just a handful of minutes, all of a sudden a nurse said you are going to feel some pressure now (just starting now?), I barely was able to process what she said and all of a sudden she was pushing on the top of my stomach. Then the Doctor said that he had a lot of hair and then moments later here was out! 

They suctioned out his mouth and he started crying right away! The second I heard him cry I started crying...a lot! They showed him to me over the curtian, he was so tiny, but perfect!!!! Then they took him into a room that is right off of the OR, one that they keep a lot warmer! Mike went in there with him and was able to cut the umbilical cord and take some first pictures of him. I could still hear him crying, which everyone was so surprised about since he was so early. I truly have no idea what they were all doing in there for him. But after a bit they had him in a mobile NCU bed and they brought him back out to see me, and then took him over the the NCU. Mike said good bye and they were out the door! Again, defintly not the way I had planned it to go! But feeling relieved that he was good! I later found out that he was born 4 pounds 11 ounces and 17.5 inches! Everyone was surprised at how big he was for onlly being 33 weeks and how small I looked! He's a strong boy and such a fighter!

So then there I was getting cleaned up and stitched back up. As Dr. Larson looked through things she said that my placenta was detached between 50-70%! So that explained everything! She also said that some of the detached tissue and the blood was old, like a couple of days, which meant this had been occuring for a couple of days already! It was again confirmed that this was the best choice was made for both Griffin and myself! As a ruptured placenta can kill the mother very quickly and probably do the same to the baby! They were all very surprised that I didn't have any pain or cramping or really any other signs or symptoms that this was occuring. With the placenta not being attached all the way, Griffin was not getting nutritents or oxygen through the placenta and if/when he was roll on to the umbillical cord he was cutting everything off! Its scary to think that if he would of ended up laying on the umbilical cord for any length of time he would of been stillborn! 

And as for his name, we pick first names that have a great meaning and middle names that are family names. So Griffin means strong, which is the perfect name for him, because that is exactly what he is!!! He is proving to be SO strong!!! And his middle name, Mark, it is my uncle's name, my dad's brother. He is such a wonderful man of God and loves and cares about all of his great nephews and niece like they are his own, which is so special because he doesn't have any kids of his own, so we wanted to pass his name on!

We are so blessed to have such an amazing God that watches over us and protects us from evil! Through it all my brain was going crazy as this wasn't my plan, but I had peace in my heart and spirit and knew that this is what we needed to do and that everything was going to be just fine! There is so much more to this that I think I will write about in the future, as this post is getting so long. We just know that this little boy is SO blessed and will do amazing things with his life!!! 

We have been so blessed with the love and support of all our family and friends! We truly appreciate the prayers for Griffin and the rest of us, we are seeing God answering our prayers every day with how amazing Griffin is progressing! We appreciate all the gifts and baby items, as we were not at all ready for him and still had a lot to buy and get ready! The biggest helps has been all the amazing meals and snacks that so many of our amazing friends have provided for us! Its so nice to take one thing off our plate and not have to think about what to make for dinner after a long day of juggling our normal lives plus trying to spend as much time as possible with Griffin at the hospital! Thank you to every one! We love you all!!

Zeke-isms :-)

Ezekiel has started saying different things that just make me shake my head in amazement. Now they aren't the funniest things (though some are), they aren't the most theologically thought out things, they are just things that come from his amazing little mind and answer the question I have had for so long..."I wonder what he is thinking about?" It's quite a wake up mama moment when I suddenly ALWAYS know what he's thinking about! And I love every minute of it!

I am really just writing this post because I wanted to document the things he has been saying, as I want to remember them forever!

* The other day Steph, Ellie, and I were asking Ezekiel and Toby what their names were and Toby said, "Tobiah Shorts (Schwarz)!" I turned to Ezekiel and asked him what his name was and he sd "Ezekiel Pants!" We were all so confused and it took me a long time to figure out what he did there, but when I did I laughed so hard I cried!!

*Then a few days later I asked him what Toby's name is and he said, "Toby Shorts" and then my dad asked him, "Well what is your name then?" and he again said "Ezekiel Pants!"

* The other night he was bouncing on his horse (the one that was Mike's when he was a kid), and he was chatting about something and I could only catch bits and pieces of what he was saying over the noise of the springs. Finally I figured out he was talking about the movie Frozen (which we have just recently jump on the bandwagon for). He then asked, "What was your favorite part, Pah (my dad)?" and he answered with "The snowman." Then he proceeded to ask each of us (Mike, my mom, and myself) which part of the movie was our favorite! I thought it was so sweet and very thoughtful for him to of asked!

*A week or two ago my dad was watching Ezekiel during the day for us and Ezekiel got in his head that he had to put stickers on some VeggieTales flash cards that we have. My dad said that as he was doing it he first said that he was going to make one for me and he said "I know she will just love it!" How stinking cute is that!!!! And of course I totally did love it!!! And then he proceeded to make one for everyone else in the house! He's such a thoughtful lil guy!

* This morning I he was a little crabby upon waking (I wonder who he gets that from!) so I was tickling him and he kept on saying, "That's so funny mama! That's so funny!" as he giggled and giggled!

* Also everything these days is "I do by myself, all by myself!"

* I also love his choice of vocabulary! When he eats something that he likes he will either said, "Mmmmm tasty!" or "This is delicious!"

* In past years, while he has been swinging in his swing outside he has never really showed much excitement. The only way you know that he likes it is that he wouldn't want to stop. This year he continues to say, "This is so much fun!" and then he will tell us stories while he is in there or tell us what he sees when he swings high enough to see over the fence!

I could go on and on, but I will end here! Ezekiel just continues to amaze us, make us laugh, and bring joy to our lives every day!



The Birthday Boy! 2 years old!!!

Oh my! So I know I haven't been on here, in well forever! And I am sorry! Life has just been so crazy, but I had to pause and jump on here to update about a momentous occasion!

We now have a 2 year old in our home! Spare us the "terrible 2s" stuff, :-p we are going in with the attitude of "Terrific 2s" and will take care of the rest as it comes! :-)

Ezekiel James is such an amazing little boy and I know all parents say that (and they should!), but this little kid has brought so much joy and laughter to our lives. I can't soak in enough of his amazing spirit! As I have said before, I am not here to brag, I am here to update our family and friends and also to log his life and accomplishments as a form of a baby book! So with that...

What Ezekiel James is up to these days:

• He LOVES to be outside! Whether its going for a walk, to the park, playing in the yard; he just loves to be outside!
• He has the best little manners; makes this mama proud! I love when he says, "More (insert whatever he's asking for here), pease mama. (we give it to him) Kank you, mama." Love this kid!
• He is quite the talker and has a pretty impressive vocabulary! He will say pretty much anything that he hears, quite clearly at that!
• He is constantly asking, "What's that?" when he sees or hears something that he is unfamiliar with or "What you doing?" when we are doing something that he hasn't seen us do before.
• With that he then remembers what we tell him and then tells us the next time he comes across that object or event again!
• He knows a ton of animal noises.
• He knows all of his body parts, including random ones like his elbow and chin
• He can identify all of his upper and lower case letters and knows what sound a lot of them make!
• He can identity/read a few words that he learned from Word World, like pie, cake, rocket, and box.
• He has been so goofy lately, just running around in circles, laughing, and then he will run up to one of us and hug our legs! I know it seems so silly, but it just makes my day!
• He is pretty much obsessed with trucks and tractors of any shape or size! His favorite thing to do is to go for a walk to the highway and then watch all the trucks and tractors drive by! Mike has been teaching him the arm movement to get the trucks to honk, he gets SO excited!
• He also LOVES airplanes!!! He loved his first experience on an airplane, he kept on saying, "Weeeeeeeee!"
• He had his first blackeye this year! But you should of seen the other guy! ;-)
• He LOVES his cousin Ellie and his big bro Jaxon Bear!
• He takes the time to stop and smell the flowers and help water them!
• I love when he does this...when I get dressed up (aka not scrubs (work clothes), sweat pants, or workout clothes) and come out of our room he says, "Ooooh, mama...Prrrretty! Pretty!" Makes my day!
• He still loves to watch Word World and learns SO much from it!
• He is an expert at running our iPhones! He knows which folder his apps are in, he knows how to watch Word World or Mickey Mouse, or play Peak-a-boo pets, or just play music and specifically the songs that he likes! And I love that he listens (99% of the time) when we tell him "music only", which means no games or shows.
• He is the best little dancer! He gets all into it and dances to the beat, its so cute!
• He is OBSESSED with the carwash, he loves to talk about it, walk to it, he knows where it is, he knows cars get clean when they go through, he pretends boxes at home and carwashes and drives his trucks through, when anyone is not at home they are always at the carwash in his mind; but its so funny because he does NOT like going through the carwash in the himself!
• He loves all things FedEx, their trucks, airplanes, drop boxes!
• He loves all of his family and his buddies!
• He knows which way to go to different people's houses or to the different stores.
• He LOVES fruit snacks, toast with peanut butter, freeze dried peas, pizza, fruit, cheese, sauce (to dip different foods in)...umm really most any foods! Have you seen the kid recently? You don't get a body like that without eating frequently!
• He LOVES football! Whenever he sees a Vikings logo he points it out and then he will say, "Go, go, goooo Vikings! Go! Go!" And before he grew out of all of his Vikings clothes he would wear a Vikings shirt or sweatshirt 5 out of 7 days a week!
• He is starting the love baseball too, he will pretend he has a baseball bat and pretend to swing it!
• I love when he is in the other room playing and things get quite, I know he is in there reading books! He still loves to read!
• He loves to sing songs and knows the words to quite a few songs, I love hearing him sing them by himself! Its so sweet!
• He is best form of punishment is a good ol' timeout! And when one is necessary he is a changed little boy after he has one!
• He can count to 10 like nobody's business and to 20 for the most part, sometimes he may miss a number.
• He also knows the alphabet for the most part too!!!!
• He is becoming more and more cuddly and affectionate on his own!

I could go on and on!!!!!

Ezekiel James,

Your dada and I just want you to know that you are the most amazing and special little boy that this world has seen! You have such an amazing and joyful spirit! We promise (with God's help) to do everything that we know is best and right for you so you can grow up to be who God create you to be! Never stop being who you are as you make everyone's day a better when you cross their path because you are so caring of other people! We know we will make mistakes and get frustrated but we pray that God continues to grow us to become the best parents for you! Our family has been SO blessed by you, you have brought us so much joy! You made us dada and mama and to that we are forever grateful and blessed! We love you more than you will ever know!

Love,
Dada and Mama

Rounding out 18 months!

Ezekiel James is rounding out 18 months old this Friday!

He is growing and changing so fast and we are continuing to enjoy every stage! He continues to bless us more than I have ever thought possible! He is such a joyful little boy and he is so good at already passing that joy onto other people! Of course he has his melt downs and tantrums but I am feeling blessed to this point and they are always short and reletivly painless! I know some of you are saying, "oh just wait..." and that I will! I will take what we have and pray for the best moving forward! I know no child is perfect (and neither am I!) but I do my best to stay as patient as possible with him and not get frustrated, even tho it definetly does happen from time to time :-)

Ezekiel continues to talk up a storm! He LOVES letters/the alphabet and he now can identify the letter "O" which just blows my mind! Just the other day we were at Costco and we had him in the cart and on the handle of the cart it says "Costco" and he leaned forward and was looking at it and pointed to the "O" in Costco and said "O"! The other night he said his first 3 word sentence and it was after I got done changing his diaper and he said "Thank you mama"! How blessed am I! And he said it out of the blue too, without being promted or anything! On that note, he says "thank you" ALL the time, I think this is God blessing us for withstand the "NO, NO, NO" phase! lol! We were out for dinner this last friday night and when the waiter would bring anything over to our table Ezekiel would say thank you every single time! Its SO sweet; and he says it very applicably! Pretty much anytime one could say thank you he says it! He says a ton of words, I can't even keep up with all the words he knows anymore! One of my favs was from this last Friday; we got together with Steph and Toby, and a couple of our girlfriends and their babes, Carissa and Caleb and Katie and Lena. As we were walking out to the car Carissa said to Ezekiel, "Have a good day!" and he responded with "Good day!" Gosh he just cracks me up! My least favorite and quickest reminder that we need to watch what we say around him was 2 Sundays ago during the Vikings and Packers game Mike got frustrated with the Vikes (I think Ponder had just thrown another interception, shocker!) and Mike said "GOSH!" and like clock work, guess what came out of Ezekiel's mouth, you guessed it "GOSH!". Thankfully we don't swear, but still "GOSH" doesn't sound that awesome coming out of the mouth of your almost 18 month old! :-) He has offically named Grandpa Bear "PAH" and Grandma Bear "MAH" and he is also saying Uncle Joe, we continue to work on the rest of the family! Every where we go he is always saying hi to everyone and he will continue to say hi to someone until they say hi back! I love that he can make the crabbiest person smile by making them say hi to him! I love that he is already making a difference in the world, even if it is just something so small as saying hi to someone at the store! It may of just made their day!

He is starting to drop some of his sign langauge usage, but that is just because he is using his verbal language so much more. Sign language has been a huge life saver for us! I was just telling Mike the other day, what do people do when they don't know that their kid wants more or wants a drink! :-P Its nice to not have to just guess what he wants! And its cute to see him say/sign more when he is having fun doing something and wants to do more of it!

Ezekiel continues to be a great sleeper and a great eater the majority of the time! He has gotten a pretty handle on the fork and knife concept and insists on using them himself during meals! Which means our mealtime is getting slower and messier, but I guess how else will he learn!

He has several teeth coming in, so I am now afriad to stick my finger in and check on because last time I got bit pretty hard by some teeth that I didn't know where there! :-) Jaxon Bear probably remains as his favorite family member!

Though he has been quite giving of his "Jaxon Bear hugs" to the rest of us lately and I will take them all day long! He is continuing to love tractors, trucks, and books! Close second are his balls and the football! Recently we pulled out all of the Little People toys that Mike's cousin Helene so generously gave to us and he has been having so much fun playing with all of them, though the farm set and the animals are his favorite! He also love to watch Word World on PBS and Baby Einstein is still a favorite too, though it is so fun to watch it with him now because he will name all the different animals and say their sounds! He does this new thing where if something was there but now is gone he will shrug his shoulders and hold his arms out like where did it go. Lol! It's so cute!

He loves to play hide and seek, chase, and any thrill seeking activity that Dada comes up with! He also is still loving music and dancing along to the music! He has got some pretty sweet moves if I do say so myself! lol!

He also has taken a liking it coloring and finger painting. It's nice now when we go out to resturants because he can be occupied with coloring until our food comes!

The first finger painting experience was fun and he was a little unsure about it but created 2 masterpieces!

The Christmas Season has been beyond amazing and we are only half way through! I have always heard the saying "Christmas through the eyes of a child" and "knew" what it meant, but now I can say I fully understand it! I am loving every moment and new experience that he is encountering during this special time of year. My parents got us all tickets in the hot seats at the Holidazzle Parade and both Ezekiel and Toby LOVED it!

I think I took more time watching Ezekiel than I did watching the parade, it was priceless to be able to see the look on his face as he watched the floats go by!

I truly hope this becomes a yearly tradition for our family! He has loved seeing all the Christmas lights through out our house and through out the neighborhoods! We have driven around a couple times looking at lights, and he just "Oooo"s and "Aahhh"s while looking at them, it is so precious! He had a blast with our first real snowfall of the year this last Sunday! He wasn't overly opposed to bundling up and then when we put him in his sled and took him for a ride he enjoyed it so much!

He would ask for more anytime that we would stop!

 Then he had enough of that and wanted to get out and walk in it and he had a blast tromping through the snow and didn't want to go back home!

We got him a shovel so he could held Dada and Pa and that was fun but short lived! He wasn't too excited about tromping through the snow in the backyard that was up to his knees so Mike built a quick snowman for him and actually it looked more like a snow puppy! :-)

Later that evening we went over to Uncle Darek, Auntie Steppy, and Toby's house to try out some real sledding down the hill in their backyard! Both boys thought that was the best thing ever so needless to say we made several trips up the hill and back down again!

Though it was totally worth it to see the expressions on their faces! Can't wait to do it again!

Sorry for the long post again! Time just goes to fast and its hard to keep up with everything! This year again the thoughts that I wrote about in this blog, Mary, did you know?, continue to flood my mind! I won't go on about it as it will just be a repeat of that post! We are just beyond blessed by our little man!

If I don't get back here before Christmas, Merry Christmas to you and yours! We truly hope that this season blesses you as much as it is blessing us!

Playing catch up!

I have been such a slacker in the blogging world and I super sorry for that! Summer just took off like crazy and then starting to chase after a toddler came right after and things haven't slowed down since! But I have been really wanting to blog, so I can of course catch all our family and friends up on our happenings and Ezekiel's growing up, but I to also have documentation of all that he is doing these days!

After Ezekiel took off running (literally) shortly after his 1st birthday so did his vocabulary both verbally and in signs! For those that don't know sign language is something that is commonly taught to babies and toddlers these days as it has been discovered that they can and want to communicate with us, but their verbal language just hasn't caught up. So they can catch on to sign language a lot easier and then are able to communicate!

We started by teaching Ezekiel just a couple signs, more and eat. I tried for a long time to get him to sign drink but he wasn't getting it. Then as his love for books took over he became so intersted in these sign language books that Mike's cousin gave to us; he literally studied those books! And one day as we were reading them he started to do almost all of the signs that are in the books! I was so amazed!

Around the same time frame he became infatuated with the garbage truck as it would come every Monday during breakfast, he quickly became so excited over every truck he saw. So we taught him the sign for truck and he quickly caught onto that one! It was so neat to go for walks and have him sign truck and then look up and surely enough there would be a truck coming! He also seemed to like motorcycles, so we taught him the sign for motorcycle and taught him to say "Vroom vroom!" We then got him a book of trucks and in that book was also a tractor and he has since become obsessed with tractors! Never in my life did I ever think I would have a kid that would love tractors SO much! We were just at Fleet Farm (I know, right!) the other day and of course their toy section has a whole aisle of tractors, so he was totally in heaven running up and down the aisle grabbing a tractor and continuously saying "Tractor, tractor, tractor!" He even broke down Grandma enough to buy him one, surprise surprise! ;-P And it was a toy tractor and book in one, he LOVES it!

There will be days when every book will b out of the basket and have been read and every single toy is still in place! I am telling you thise boy loves books SO much! He will run and get a book and bring it back to us and want to sit on our lap as we read it and then there are other times where he will just go over to his basket and start reading them himself! I love the cuddle time, but I also love to hear him read! We never really pushed reading on him, but we are both so happy now that he has developed a love for it and are definetly going to continue to encourage it. Leaders are readers and we would rather have him be a leader than a follower!

We also believe because of his love for reading that it has jump started his vocabulary imensly! When we went in for his 15 month appt the doctor asked how many words he knew and I sd maybe 10-20 and then 10-15 signs and he said he would of been very happy with 3 or 4! I had no idea what the norm was for his age, so I was quite impressed with our little man!

And speaking of 15 month appt, his stats came in at 28 pounds 4 ounces and 33 3/4 inches both are at the 95%! Which means we are finally back on the chart for height and weight! LOL! The doctor said he is very impressed with his growth and he is perfect, of course!

He is crawling on all the furniture, goes down the stairs facing forward while holding on the wall and goes up the stairs the same way, LOVES to dance, LOVES his big brother Jaxon Bear! He loves to do anything and everything outside, which is started to get hard now that winter is coming. He is really good about putting his coat and shoes on, hat not so much, thank gooness for hoodies! Gives the best hugs and kisses, but only on his terms, unless your name is Jaxon Bear then they come countlessly! And I have been working on nose kisses with him too, he just laughs when I do it! He doesn't watch much TV but when he does he loves Word World and neighborhood animals! He loves to clean the floor with either the broom, swiffer, or a wet wipe and he also loves to help vaccum, mow the lawn (with his lawn mower), and push the cart at the store. He is an expert at brushing his teeth and combing his hair, and speaking of hair, we are working on growing out a mullet! (not on purpose of course, I just can't bare the cut his hair!) When you give him a football he runs (it in for a touchdown) and then spikes the ball and spins in a circle with his fingers point up (giving God the glory) says "whoooo"! (I'll let u guess who taught him that!) When we turn onto the road to go to Target he says "nana?" and has we pull into the Target parking lot he says "nana!" and we let him down as we are going through the doors and he runs in and runs right to the bananas! And actually when we pulled into the parking lot of a different Target he said "nana!"

I know most of you don't really care the specifics of the words and signs that he knows, but I am going to list them because I want to have the documentation for his baby book! So here it goes first with the words he can actually say:
hi, mama, dada, truck, tractor, nana (banana), Bigsby, moon, cheese, peas, grandpa, grandma, bye, night night, more, no (unfortunately), boop (which means sit), tickle tickle, yes, Ellie, dog, fish, zebra, Ezekiel, car, football, E I E I O. There are probably more, but these are all that come to mind right now.

And the signs that he knows:
more, please (so happy about this one!), drink, eat, moon, stars, light, bath, book, blanket, truck, motorcycle, hear, airplane (kind of, we are still working on this one), apple, all done, hi/bye, ice cream, hot, cheerio, bird, motorcycle, elephant, gorilla, I think there are more but that is all that I can remember for right now.

The sounds that he knows are:
motorcycle, rocketship, dog, elephant, eagle, owl, lion, monkey, gorilla, firetruck, cow, horse. Again, there are probably more.

Everyday he is growing and changing so much and he continues to impress us so much! I know that every kid is so smart and I know every parent feels like their kid is the smartest kid in the world and I too feel the same way! I think its because you see them develope from this teeny tiny little blob (an adorable blob of course) to a functioning person! It truly blows my mind every time I see him do or learn something new! We have loved every stage that he has gone through and that is still the case right now. I am just trying so hard to make the most of every moment I have with him (while still being a responsible adult) because he is already going up too quickly! I just try my best to remember to put down the things that don't need to be done now and just sit and read books with him and kiss his cheeks! I just love everything about him, we are beyond blessed with the most amazing little boy!

We have had such a fun fall, I hope to blog more about our trip to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch and playing in the leaves!