Snow Day Cookies

For most of January, we've seen weather in the 40s and 50s. Not that I've minded, but I've really been looking forward to seeing Ian enjoy snow this winter.
As if to answer my wish, God sent us some beautiful snow! Lots of it too, and I'm quite excited. However, at a mere 19 degrees (Yesterday was 54!) I thought it best to keep my little guy warm inside.  This doesn't mean we didn't have fun though.
After his nap today, Ian helped me make Snow Day Cookies!

Of course, above you only see pictures of the finished product, but there was quite a bit of fun in the baking process.

As Mommy was mixing the batter, Ian figured he would contemplate the cookie topping. Sprinkles look pretty good.  I rolled out the cookies, and Ian figured he would help me decorate. I won't explain...just watch. :D

After that snafu, we got a batch baked, and Ian could finally eat his cookie. (Can you tell which one was his from the first set of pictures. p.s. - It isn't the really big one). I thought he would shove the whole thing in his mouth like he typically does with cookies. He sure surprised me.

He started picking the sprinkles off the cookie! I guess he really liked those sprinkles! After he got them off, he decided to poke at the cookie. Haha. Silly guy.

Although I've made quite a few cookies in my time, I don't know if I've had this much fun doing so in a long time. When you have a 1 1/2 year old as your assistant, I suppose he will make everything more enjoyable. I think sprinkle face had fun with it too. :D

The Great Battle of the Nap

I know this video is dark, but let me set the stage for you. Right now, Ian is supposed to be laying down for his nap. You are looking at his door. Hopefully you can hear a little bit of the activity of what's going on inside. This little boy is a trip.  Enjoy...

This is probably the 5th time I've caught him out of bed at nap time.  Oh, the times of transitioning from a crib to a toddler bed. I tell you what...it's something else. I have to keep reminding myself not to laugh at his antics, thus reinforcing his nap evasion behavior. It is kind of funny though to see what he tries to come up with to fight off sleep.

I will say though, that last night went better than the first night. The first night, between the hours of 4 and 6:30 am, Ian decided he wanted to get out of bed every 10-20 minutes and run into Mommy and Daddy's room.  Daddy finally camped out with him, because he wouldn't stay in bed any other way.  Last night, we put him down around 9 pm, and didn't hear a peep from his little pitter pattering feet until almost 9:30 this morning!  

I'm just hoping nap time today doesn't reflect what tonight is going to look like.

The joys of parenting - even with all these "battles", I wouldn't have it any other way.

Just for Fun

Ian has mastered a new word...

So far it's mostly cute. Let's just hope he doesn't get all sassy with it. :-)

A Letter from Mommy

Hi Ian.

It's a couple days before Christmas, and I just wanted to take a moment or two to write you a note and try to tell you just how much I LOVE You!

Christmas is one of my very favorite times of year, Ian. I think you will like it a lot too as you get older.  As you know, it's a time when we get to celebrate Jesus' birthday.  I hope that Daddy and I will properly convey to you as you grow just how incredible it was that Jesus came as a little baby to live with us - and how awesome it is to be able to celebrate Him!
I also love Christmas for the love that surrounds the season. The time we spend intentionally thinking of others, the time to spend with family (like grandpas, grandmas, aunts, uncles, and of course each other!), the effort put forth to beautify the house by decorating with trees and ornaments, stockings and lights.  It's a beautiful time of year.

I know this is your 2nd Christmas, Ian. And from the first day I knew of you, I've always seen you as my gift from God.  My boy, you make mommy SO happy, and I love you more than words can describe. I love to watch you grow and to spend time with you. I love what you are learning and love watching you explore your world.  You are truly a gift - I think that every single day, even days when you're a stinker. :]
Although I am always see you as a gift, I've been particularly thankful for you in this Christmas season.  We've told you a little bit about Adaiah. I know you are too young to understand now, and that's ok.  Mommy misses Adaiah, buddy. Even though he/she wouldn't have been with us yet this Christmas even if he/she were alive, I still miss having our little baby around for this holiday.  I would have loved to celebrate with Adaiah. Maybe you would get "big brother" things. Maybe you could help us decorate a new nursery for your new little brother/sister.  I know you would have had a lot of fun - and I know you will make a GREAT big brother someday.
Ian, even though Mommy misses Adaiah, I am extra thankful for you because of the joy that you bring.  I thank God extra for you, because if I didn't have my Ian-gift, I think I would be a great big mess (even more than I already am).  I am so thankful that I have you to hold and cuddle, to play with, to sing to, to read to, to go for walks with, to feed, to change diapers, to go on car rides with - to enjoy every moment of the brightness you bring to my life.

I will tell you every single day that I love you. I promise to convey to you every day what an incredible gift from God you are. And I promise to do my very best to help you appreciate the meaning of Christmas - the love that brought Jesus down to be a baby, (just like you were), so that we can know God and enjoy all the incredible gifts He's given to us.

Merry Christmas, Ian!

Love,
Mommy

Halloween Fun

I realize I'm a little late on this, but we had quite a bit of fun this Halloween season.

Our little pumpkin hit up 2 trunk or treats (yes, I spelled that right) and the city's Safe Halloween. He has more candy than any 17 month old would ever know what to do with!

He loved playing the trunk or treat games.  Especially the washer one; he kept going back again and again.

Now the trick is, keeping him from eating way too many treats. I have to find all these new and innovative ways to hide the basket. Ian sniffs it out like a pro!

On a different note - I've been trying to do much better with taking pictures, so hopefully I'll be more consistent with posting Ian's Antics. He's an active little boy, so I won't promise posts every day or anything, but I'm at least aiming for more than once a month. :-)

Young Love

So, Ian has this adorable little girlfriend.

Ian doesn't look really happy in this photo, but that's only because he was tired. He's a big fan of little H. Too bad we're leaving Janesville.  However, with her protective Daddy, maybe it's better for Ian. He snuck a kiss today, as well as laying on the hugs pretty thick. He knows a pretty lady when he sees one.  :)  

I think it's funny that we "arrange" things like this for our kids.  But it's fun and, seriously, I know Ian is the cutest little boy every, and H. is a top contender for cutest little girl ever. I think they'd make a good match. ;-)  

Do the Potty Dance!

Two nights ago, we bought Ian a potty chair.  Yes, he's just shy of 16 months, so perhaps it's a little early, but we wanted to give it a try.  Yesterday, we started him out just by getting him used to sitting on the chair. Mostly just with clothes on, but a couple times without.  He wasn't so sure about the whole experience at first, but then he figured out this potty chair was his chair and he loved it.
Tonight, we set him on the potty for a little bit before he went to bed.  It seemed like he was just going to sit there and play around. After a little while, he went to get up (he still needs a little help getting off the potty). As I picked him up, I saw he went pee in the potty!  Way to go Ian!!!  So we threw him a small little party. High fives, hugs and cheers all around. :)
I know there's still a looong way to go before we reach "potty trained" status, but it's one small step. So exciting.
He's getting so big. Proud of my boy.

Flying Time

I realize I haven't posted here forever.  I blame it on no regular internet connection.  So, here is a short post just to catch everyone up.

Ian is now just over 13 months. (I know, crazy, right?!)

Things he can do: Walk, run, babble (he isn't a quiet little guy), put objects into containers (he's working on shape sorting toys), play hide and seek, pick out the object we ask him to find, climb furniture...probably others, but at the moment, that's what I can think of.

He's a big fan of dancing, playing in water, looking at trees (or most anything outside), and making music - mostly with drums, but he has recently discovered the piano.  I wouldn't say he's any Mozart or anything, but he sure has fun making sounds. :-)

I have so many pictures it's a little ridiculous. I cannot post them all here, but I do have quite a few on facebook, as does Ryan.

Anyway, I know this is super short and there is much that is missing between this and my last post. I will try to be consistent again. Ian is growing up  quite quickly after all.

Conversations with Daddy

Hey, You with the Face

Seriously...just look at this kid.  Way too cute.

A little worried about what that little black thing is that's being held in front of my face.

 I have found my fingers, and I enjoy eating them.

Ian's Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

The Croup Monster

I really wish I knew, as a mommy, all the ailments my little boy might face.  Sure, we've mastered the sniffles and gassy tummy. However, I was not prepared to be woken in the middle of the night to my baby boy sounding like an old man suffering from emphysema.  This is for those new mommies who have never yet fought the croup monster off.  Take heart, you can make it through!

I woke up to Ian coughing around 1:30 a.m.  It wasn't a typical cough though; it was dry sounding and had almost no power behind it.  I went in to pick him up and I was terrified at the way he was breathing. It sounded so horrible, like he was congested, but about 10x worse.  It also didn't help any that it seemed he was fighting for every breath.  And his cry...oh that sad little cry...he knew something wasn't right with his body.  But his cry sounded so weak, I was sure there was something very wrong with my son.
Ryan tried to calm me, but just listening to Ian breath...I had to take him to the E.R. if for no other reason than my peace of mind.  Fortunately, the ER doc couldn't tell us what was ailing Ian. He did tell us that he was getting plenty of oxygen though, so we left with that and scheduled an appointment with Dr. Julie in the morning. 

Oh Dr. Julie.  I love this woman. You can really tell when someone likes their job. If you are in the Janesville area, I highly recommend her. Anyway...I digress.
She looks at Ian for about 30 seconds (no kidding) and says, "Sounds like he's got croup."  Well, there you have it. Problem is identified, which means a solution is near at hand.  Ian is given some steriods and a breathing treatment from this cool dinosaur breathing mask.

Granted, Ian did not much enjoy the cold vapor coming through the said mask, but it was awfully cute even in a distressing time.  

Now the assignment is to get a filter for our humidifier, as I am told that helps a lot.  Also steamy rooms, or taking the child out in chilly air.  Again, I just want to be helpful for any of you new mamas who might stumble across this monster.  

So thankfully, with the help of a cool pediatrician, a little dinosaur mask, and some helpful tips and tricks to try at home, I expect The Croup Monster to be defeated.  Whew...

2 Videos

Just thought I would post a couple videos for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

                                          

7/22/2010 - Ian on his first trip on an airplane. Headed for Family Camp in Wisconsin!

7/22/2010 - Ian giving his update after his two month check-up.

2 Month Update

Can you believe it?  Ian will be 2 months old tomorrow!  I would save this post for then, but we will be leaving for Texarkana tomorrow for the weekend, and I didn't want to forget to get all this great info up here.

So yes; 2 months!  We went in for Ian's well visit today.  The little guy did great. There was the typical measurements of weight and length. You won't believe this!

This is Ian's growth chart for his weight. I don't know if you can see the bold, red line, but that's where he is at for 2 months.  He shot up from about the 50th percentile at his 2 week visit to about the 95th percentile today!  So help me, if one more person makes a comment about me having a starving baby...well, I'll just show them his chart!

                                                                         

These next two are his charts for his head circumference (he's a tad over 50%) and for his length (he's pretty much right at 50%).

What all that breaks down to for those of you who don't understand the percentile thing (don't feel bad, I don't totally get it either) is that Ian now weighs 14 lbs, 4.5 oz.; he is 22 inches long, and his head circumference is now 40 cm (I think it was 40 anyway...).  Basically, he's a big boy.  It's funny hearing everyones comments about his rolls. He certainly has plenty of them.  Good pinch-able cheeks too. :D

This has been a big month for Ian though. Ian experienced his first major holiday (July 4th).  We went to a family friend's house and shot of fireworks.  Ian was quite intrigued.  Here is a picture of him though beating the heat at the July 4th church picnic.

                                          

The biggest thing probably is that we went on our first family vacation to Sky Lodge Christian Camp in Montello, WI.  That's a long way from Albuquerque, so we got to fly.  Yes, Ian has his wings.

                                              

He did so well! From Albuquerque to Wisconsin, he pretty much slept through both flights. On the way back, he was awake for most of the trip, but he just looked around like the curious little guy he is. Mommy and Daddy were proud of their little man.

Family Camp was a ton of fun, and Ian got to meet (and be held by) lots of great people; friends we love and miss dearly.  He got to see Grandpa Doug and Uncle Kevin again too. We think he enjoyed the whole experience.

If you want to see our pictures from that week, you can check out Ryan's facebook page.

                                     

First family photo taken at Sky Lodge Christian Camp. We hope to have more taken in the future!

I think that's about all for my update right now.  I do try to post more pictures on my facebook page, so if you're getting antsy to see pictures, or if you want to see the wider collection of them, please check in there often.  

As always, thanks for checking in with us.  'Til next time!

Growin' On Up

Ian is 5 weeks and 1 day old now. I can't believe it!  Time certainly flies.

Here's a picture of our little guy at 1 month.

At 1 month old, Ian was 11.8 pounds and 22 inches long.  He's definitely getting bigger, and giving me a workout whenever I hold him. :)  He's getting stronger though too.  He's holding up his head so well. You can see it in the picture.  

He's starting to grasp things too.  The other day, Ryan was changing his diaper, and Ian reached out and picked up the bottle of hand sanitizer that was on the changing table.  He usually gets a pretty good grasp on our shirt collars too when we're trying to put him in bed.  It's like he doesn't want to go to sleep or something...

Speaking of sleep, things are going pretty well most nights.  He's gotten to the point when he will sleep for about 4 hours at a time.  On Father's Day, we started putting him in the nursery for the night instead of in our room.  It was kind of a rough adjustment for me at first, but I'm getting used to it.  I think it helps both him and Ryan & I sleep better.  And I now know that I can definitely trust our monitor.  Actually, I have learned that I can trust Ryan to hear Ian on the monitor, go to the nursery to get him and bring him in to our room so I can feed him. :)  It's a pretty good system.

We're having lots of fun as he grows up though.  He sat in his Bumbo chair for the first time today. He did so well!  See for yourself...

Hopefully I will be better about posting on here. With family here and just getting adjusted to having a baby, I haven't wanted to spend a whole lot of time on the computer, so I haven't.  But now with a new video camera (thanks again, Dad) hopefully we'll have some fun videos to post. And of course there will be lots of pictures.

We created a site on Shutterfly that I can upload all my pictures and videos of Ian to. If you want the website, please leave a comment or contact me and I will give you the site and the password.

Oh, and the nursery is done now. Dad helped get Ian's name on the wall. (I had them painted a few weeks ago, just never hung them up.)  I will do my best to get pictures of that up soon.

So there you have it.  Our boy is growing away.  I keep telling him to slow down, but he doesn't listen. :)  It's ok, we still love him.  And actually, we are really enjoying watching him grow, but it really is going by fast.

A Birth Story

Now that Ian is one week old, I suppose it's about time that I update with details about his birth.

I guess things really started Saturday night.  Ryan, Janet and I were playing Scattergories; having a good ol' time.  I was having some cramps, but nothing unusual. However, when I stood up to get ready to go to bed, I found I couldn't bend over at all.  I finally made it into bed, but it seemed like as soon as I laid down, I started getting contractions.  They seemed regular enough, so I had Ryan start timing them. It was just after 11 pm.
We went into the hospital at 1:30 am after contractions were consistently 5-6 minutes apart.  Unfortunately, all those contractions weren't really doing anything. After several hours at the hospital, they sent me home until I got into more active labor.  So at 5:30 we went home to try to get some sleep.  Unfortunately for Ryan, he had to get up to be at church, so he went the rest of this adventure with practically no sleep.

I was able to sleep a couple of hours without waking up from the contractions.  Then at 9:30 my water broke, and we knew we were in active labor.  This was it.  Back to the hospital we went.
Honestly, I can't really give too many details as to what happened the rest of the day. It was pretty much a blur.  I got checked in, had lots of contractions, tried to sleep in between them, and the day just sort of went on.
I do remember having lots of back labor because Ian was a little booger and was turned face forward.  He finally turned around before making his appearance, but it wasn't until almost the very end of labor.  I did ask for some pain medication for my back, but other than that Ian came all naturally.

I have to say though, there was no way I could have done it without Ryan and Janet.  Poor Ryan went all day with no sleep, and Janet didn't have much either. But there was never a time when at least one of them wasn't with me.  They were both my heroes though and I was so thankful for them for sticking with me through 8 hours of active labor.

But yes, finally, at 5:29 pm, Ian Gabriel was born and I got to hold him for the very first time. It was sweet relief to finally be done, but even sweeter to see my boy.

Now he is a week old, and I have loved every single day we've had with him so far. I really have not minded getting up in the middle of the night several times for feedings or diaper changes. I love being a mom. I love just watching my son.  I love to see Ryan with him. I love that this little boy is so loved. He is a miracle and a joy in our lives.  We are truly blessed.

I'll leave you with a few pictures. There are much more between Ryan's and my facebook pages. You can also look at the grandma's pages (Becky Traxler and Jayme Barry) for other pictures.  Enjoy them!

He's Here!!!

I don't have pictures at the moment, but they are coming soon.  But...

Ian Gabriel Klein is here!
We welcomed him at 5:29 pm on Sunday, May 23rd.   He weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces and was 20 inches long.

He's a beautiful little boy and I can't wait to show you all pictures.  Be looking for some soon. :-D

Nursery!

So the nursery is 99% ready, and I have pictures to post!

The only reason I say 99% is that we got the letters in Mooner's real name to hang and put right above the crib, but we can't put those up until he's here, lest we spoil the surprise.

So, without further ado...  Mooner's nursery.

View from the doorway

 

This wall is Ryan's pride and joy. Lots of baseball stuff. :)

Sitting space. The futon also makes this our guest bedroom. (Don't worry though, we have a play pen so our guests won't have to stay up with a crying baby. So please come visit.) :)

The crib.  His name will go between those two pieces of wall art, and it's going to be super cute. 

If you want to see more pictures, and a few from different angles, you can check out Ryan's facebook page. He's getting pretty excited about having Mooner here too, as you can tell by the fact that he's much better about getting the pictures up than I am.  

A quick update on me and Mooner:

All is going well. We're having weekly dr. visits now, and so far everything has been pretty much routine. He's still getting bigger, and though he's not doing the flips in the womb like before, he's still pretty active.  

I know he's not due for another couple of weeks, but I keep telling him that especially since I'm done working and the nursery is ready, Mommy and Daddy really wouldn't mind if he came any day now. :)  Soon enough, I suppose. We're just really close and I can't wait!

I will try to get at least one more belly bump shot for you all.  If not though, be tuned in here because he's coming in the near future. So hopefully soon you'll get to see some photos of Mooner himself. :)

Showered

Admittedly, I've been pretty bad at updating this lately.  So sorry, but hopefully this post will make up for it. There's quite a few pictures to share, and a few exciting things to tell.

Since I haven't posted one for almost a month, here are the most recent belly bump shots.

This is what I see every time I look down.  No feet and a growing belly bump. I know it's not the typical profile shot, but I thought at least one from a different perspective would be fun. This was at 34 weeks and 3 days.

Here is your profile shot at 35 weeks.  Mooner is getting bigger and bigger all the time. Just so you know, that belly of mine is 11 squares of toilet paper all the way around. (I know because of one of the shower games, to be discussed later)

On to the nursery! It's a work in progress, but I do have pictures of our crib and changing table at least.  As we get sheets and things put on, I will post more pictures of what the room as a whole looks like, but for now you can admire the furniture. :)

Fortunately, our birth coach noticed that the mattress we borrowed was not quite big enough for the crib. Honestly, I hadn't taken too much time to look at it closely, so I'm glad she did. We now have a new mattress (with the correct measurements) on the way. We do have sheets to put on the mattress to, but we figured we should wait for the mattress to put them on.  Anyway, more nursery stuff will be coming soon, as Mooner is only 5 weeks away from arriving!  

Ryan and I have been doing birthing classes for a couple weeks now. We have a great lady from our church helping us out. It's nice that it's a more personalized experience and we can move at our own pace since we're not in one of the hospital classes.  

Anyway, I've now got some breathing techniques down (well, I'm practicing anyway) and some other coping mechanisms. It's helped take a little of the edge off as far as me being nervous about this whole labor thing goes.  

On a different note, here is the latest update from our midwife. *Fresh off the press, I just got back from the appointment about 20 minutes ago*

Baby is healthy. He is currently in the head down position which is a good thing. We got a really strong heart beat at about 141 beats per minute.  I'm measuring well, at 36 cm. I also asked her about a weight estimate, and she is guessing that right now he's just under 5 pounds.  He'll probably gain 2 to 2.5 pounds over the next month, so it sounds like he'll be a pretty average size baby (at least from all I've heard).

I had my first baby shower this past Saturday. Although the turnout was somewhat small, we really had a blast.  Kelley throws a great shower. Here are a few pictures and tales from that day.

Minus Conee's daughter, Ashlee, here are the people who were in attendance. Kelley (the hostess) is on the far left. I'm the one with the big belly and the "Mom to Be" pin. Beside me are Conee and Kathy.

First game - Memorize the 20 baby items in the tray. Write down as many as you can after looking at them for 1 minute.  I did pretty good with 16. Kathy took the prize though, remembering 17. It's harder than it sounds people. 

Next was "Baby Ailment Pictionary." Fun game, and also helped create a handy resource book of sorts for my future use. Isn't that clever? (P.S. - I won this game.)  

Guess my belly size. (Ok, I already told you above)  I came in at 11 t.p. squares around. Not too bad. Especially since I sometimes feel more like double that. 

Guess What Baby Ate Game.  6 diapers - 6 different candy bars melted into the diapers. Whoever guesses the most right wins. I may or may not have tasted one of the chocolates in this game trying to get a firm conclusion. However, Ashlee didn't even want to look at the diapers. Between me and her, I'm pretty sure we were all crying from laughing so hard.

End with a bottle chugging contest. 4 ounces through what I'm pretty sure is the smallest nipple in existence. Conee won this one, but I was a close second. However, my lips felt indented by the bottle for the rest of the day. Very weird.

It was a good time though. Probably one of the most fun baby showers I've ever been to. So kudos to Kelley for being awesome and helping us all have a really fun time.

Sorry they're sideways. I couldn't get them to rotate. However, these were the super cute cookies Kelley had made for the shower.  Little baby hands and feet. Loved em. And they were really delicious too. So if you want to know where to get good cookies in Albuquerque, go to the ABC Cake Shop. 

I think that's it as far as this post goes. I hope the length of it made up for the long time in between posts.  

Overall, I'm feeling good. Just a little more uncomfortable than usual, but it's only for a few more weeks. I can't believe how close we are.  Unbelievable.  

Stay tuned. May is sure to be a whirlwind month, and hopefully we'll still have plenty to post before Mooner arrives.

What to Say?

Sorry it's been a couple weeks. I feel like we're sort of getting to the point where there isn't much to report. We've been going in for our bi-weekly appointments, and everything is right on track and healthy.  Next time I'm going to ask and see if our midwife has a rough weight estimate for us.  According to measurements, my uterus is on the large side of normal at 35 cm at 33 weeks.

I feel like Mooner is getting bigger every single day. I see this week, it's entirely possible that he's grown a whole inch!  And he's supposedly gaining 1/2 lb each week from here on out.
Unfortunately, I still have no outie to show for any of this growth, but I feel like my stretch marks have stretch marks.  I'd rather have a popped belly button, but oh well.

I have to get some pictures taken. Sorry I'm a little behind on that lately.  Hopefully the next post will come with and updated belly bump and some nursery pictures.  We will at least have the furniture up.
I'm excited because next weekend I get my first baby shower! I'm pretty pumped to start getting stuff to fill Mooner's room.

Personally, I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to be done being pregnant. It's harder to move, sleep, breathe, etc...  Don't get me wrong. I have loved this experience, but I'm ready to carry my son in my arms. So, for my sake, please be praying this little one doesn't come late!