Berg Blogger

Kendall's words

2011-09-23T19:42:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to document the words that we hear from Kendall at 18 months:

13 words:
Mama
Dada
Rah = Riley
no
uhh (with head nod) = yes
down
pup = up
bye bye
night night
wa wa = water/waffle
coo coo = cookie
nose
ball

4 signs:
please
thank you
milk
more

2 sounds:
snort = pig
roar = lion

So, we're not seeing the language delays that Riley had, thank the Lord. And as a teaser for my next Riley post, it looks like he's done with speech therapy. Can I get an amen??!!

Shelby

18 months

2011-09-18T22:00:00.000-06:00

Time sure does fly. It seems almost inconceivable that our girl is 18 months old. She is changing constantly, so here are some updates.

Communication

Kendall is starting to use a words more often and is pairing them at times with sign language and gestures. Her communication skills are definitely improving, although her answer to almost any question is, "No." She does say yes when she really wants something though.

Wednesday when I picked her up from daycare I didn't have Riley with me and she looked at me and said, "Rah?" and held her hand out palm up in a questioning gesture. She was wondering where her brother was.

A week or so ago I was sitting in the kitchen having lunch and she came in, pulled out a container of animal crackers, brought them to me and said, "Coh Coh" while signing please. I was overcome with her cuteness so of course she got cookies. She has since started calling cookies, "Coo Coo."

She is also pointing at things all over the place and saying, "Dah?" This can mean any number of things many of which are undecipherable.

Communication is such a blessing and it is great to start seeing two way conversations beginning with our girl.

Shoes

Kendall recently got her first pair of shoes that were made for walking. At first all she did was cry and try to take them off, but now she loves them and gets excited when we go to put them on. It's kind of funny, she fights me over putting pants on, but she holds her foot out for me to put her shoes on. She's also starting to put on and take off shoes on the stairs like her big brother. She does a little dance of excitement every time.

Kendall and her new shoes

I get a real kick out of watching her walk. She is no longer tentative and can really move out. She doesn't really walk like a toddler any more and she's actually starting to run. We're having to keep an eye on her in the driveway...

Play

Kendall shows very little fear in play areas. She's willing to go down slides if you're there beside her and is starting to climb. She has this habit of always wanting to be in the most dangerous spot possible. Frequently this is at the exit of a tube slide. The bigger kids come down quickly and she loves to climb in as far as she can get. Drives Daddy crazy! I suppose she'll take her bumps and bruises and come out fine. Daddy will do OK too.

Kendall is a social girl and the reports I get from daycare are that she gets along with the other kids and they all love to play together.

When she's playing alone at home she's a fairly normal toddler who loves to pull all the toys out and spread them everywhere. Her favorite lately is a gumball machine Shelby got for the kids:

Brother

Kendall adores her brother and is frequently found by his side. If he's playing Legos she will sit in the middle of what he's building (which does NOT make him happy.) If he's playing with a toy she wants to play with it too. She wants to check out and usually do everything he does. Fortunately Riley is very good with his sister. It's fun to hear him calling her in to his bedroom to play with him. His room is one of her favorite places to be. I've always hoped that my kids would be close. So far, so good.

Development

If you look at Kendall's 16 month blog you'll see what Kendall is doing. Eating, sleeping and napping are all the same. Mealtime is less of a battle, but still can be challenging. She's still a peanut; at her 18 month appointment with the peditrician she was at 45th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height. Mom and Dad aren't tall so that's no surprise. She's a healthy girl and is growing and developing just fine.

She is a Momma's girl. She doesn't like it when Mom leaves her sight and will cry nearly every time, at least if she can't follow. She is NOT like this with Daddy, for better or worse.

It's amazing to me that a year and a half have already gone by with our Kendall Girl. Watching her grow and change is a joy. She's a strong willed girl with a sweet side and we love her like crazy. With her our family feels complete.

We love our Kendall Girl!

Jonathan

ambivalence

2011-08-12T15:46:00.014-06:00

Today is my last day of unemployment. After a prolonged search to find a treasury position locally, I expanded my search to south Denver (40 miles away) and was offered a position earlier this week. I thought I'd be ready to receive more than an unemployment check and get busy paying off the moving debt. After 10 months at home however, I am going to miss the laid back schedule and time to explore, run trails and get household chores/projects done. It's going to be a rude re-awakening to the stress of balancing work and home demands.

As I deal with my trepidation, I reflect on several things that I believe to be true:

1) God in his infinite wisdom has arranged things so that I need employment in order to pay off moving debts and provide adequate health insurance coverage for our family. His hands weren't tied here, He could have eliminated this need for me to work outside of the home. He knew that my intense hatred of debt and desire to be free from its shackles would trump my desire to stay home. I have to believe that for right now, He wants me to work.

2) Because I believe God has called me to work, He is going to use this situation to mature and change me in ways that wouldn't be possible by staying home. I'm sure this is part of my hesitation -- I know this refining process is going to be tough at times. I'm thankful that God never brings us into the storm without going there with us and assuring us that He will help us through it. I pray that I'll avail myself of His provision and not seek to manage it all on my own.

3) At the appointed time -- when His work is done -- He will lead me to another job or situation that is right for our family. I only need to wait on Him and make the most of what He has called me to do right now. Oh, that perennial lesson of trust... These unchosen scenarios always point out my arrogance in assuming that I know what's best for me and mine by fretting about whether God's going to "get it right". Have mercy, O Lord.

Discerning the will of God can be tricky, but I've come to realize in recent years that His guidance is something He does as well as something He gives. Sometimes His guidance is clear -- "Do not steal". However, in the case of whether or not to work outside the home, it's not so black and white. While God is altogether sovereign over the events of the world, our choices do matter. I don't understand how it works, but Scripture says it's "both/and", not "either/or". He uses our desires and subsequent decisions to accomplish His purposes. I know that there are moms in similar situations that choose to stay home when carrying similar debt loads. Their desire to be the sole caregiver for their children trumps even the desire for eliminating debt. I would conclude that if they have peace about it, then it is God's calling for them and right for their family.

One of the reasons I have peace with this choice is that God has provided caregivers for our children with whom we feel very comfortable with. Riley attends a Lutheran preschool near our home and the bus picks him up each afternoon to take him to his SpEd speech class at the elementary school. He's made friends there, even identifying his besties, and his social skills continue to improve. Kendall is taken care of by a mom of three grown kids who absolutely adores her, the only girl among several little boys she takes care of. Kendall lights up every time I bring her to over and obviously enjoys her time there. Knowing that our kids are getting social and learning experiences that they would not get at home makes leaving them easier. And it goes without saying that I cherish my evenings and weekends with them even more, as a result.

In preparation for my big change, I've been meditating on Psalm 25:

In you, LORD my God,
I put my trust.

I trust in you;
do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
No one who hopes in you
will ever be put to shame...

Show me your ways, LORD,
teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long...

Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.
All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful
toward those who keep the demands of his covenant...

The LORD confides in those who fear him;
he makes his covenant known to them.
My eyes are ever on the LORD,
for only he will release my feet from the snare...

Guard my life and rescue me;
do not let me be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because my hope, LORD, is in you.

Thank you to all who have prayed for us during this year of tremendous change for our family. These prayers have certainly been felt, and our faith has been strengthened by seeing the Lord provide all that we need month after month. I would covet any additional prayers as I start my new job, that I'd be faithful to my calling and trust in Him for all that I need.

Let the crazy-busy days begin!

Shelby

Potty Trained (officially and completely)

2011-07-31T12:57:00.013-06:00

Last year -- June 8th to be exact -- we blogged that Riley had a renewed interest in using the toilet after he started preschool. After seeing his classmates using the toilet, he had all the motivation needed to be day-trained. After a disastrous attempt to go cold-turkey about five months before, I'm glad I took the advise of moms that say to wait until your child wants to. Most kids till bow to peer pressure -- I mean, no kid gets on the kindergarten bus in diapers, right?

At that time, I didn't even bother with the night training, since he always had a wet diaper in the morning, even after I cut off his liquids late in the afternoon and peeing before bed. He's a very heavy sleeper and so it seemed he couldn't wake up during the night. No biggie -- one nighttime diaper was fine with me.

Fast forward to May of this year -- Riley began talking about wearing his underwear to bed and as he was sometimes dry in the morning, I began letting him do so. Initially, I was getting him up at least once or twice to pee, since he still couldn't wake up on his own when the urge was there. I was still having to change both the waterproof top sheet as well as the waterproof mattress cover, not how I want to spend my early morning hours. To avoid this, I would get him up just before I went to bed around 11p and again around 5:30a when Jonathan got up for work.

Then, at the beginning of June, I only got him up once, just before I went to bed. He continued to keep his pants dry for the rest of the month, except for one night when he was up late at a friends and his schedule was off.

He was doing so well that starting in July, I stopped getting him up at 11p to see if he could stay dry. Well, I'm happy to report he has been dry every morning since and has been able to wake up in the early morning hours when he's felt the urge to pee. We were putting stickers on his calendar and giving him a reward of two chocolate chips as something to look forward to. Here's a picture of his calendar at the end of the month:

And as a reward to reaching such a big milestone, we took him and Kendall to a splash park in Denver called the Pirates Cove. Doesn't this look fun??

Both kids had a blast and so did we! This is a city-owned park that has something for all ages. Several zero-depth areas for young toddlers as well as shallow pools and play equipment for Riley's age and older. After five hours they were wiped, but Riley was still sad to have to leave.

The only pics we managed to get were during one of our rest periods. Here Riley's drinking the rest of my sweet tea:

Kendall prefers Riley's water bottle to her own:

Note the man in the green shirt. Kendall was waving to him all afternoon. He said it made his day. My girl already knows how to "work it" with the men...

One of her many waves to Mr. Green Shirt:

and again...

I've said it before... I love seeing my kids grow up and mature. The expense of the diapers has never been a big issue for me (I buy cheap Target ones, for starters); I get great delight in seeing them reach milestones and this is a BIG one. I'm glad that I was able to let go and allow him to reach this at his own pace, rather than pressuring him when he clearly wasn't ready and making us both frustrated. Once he decided he wanted to be like his friends, it was really rather easy.

We're both so proud of our Riley-boy!!

(one down, one to go!)

Shelby

16 months

2011-07-18T14:28:00.008-06:00

Now that she's 1/3 of the way through her second year of life, time again to report on how our baby girl is growing up and changing...

We mentioned that at 14 months, she started walking. Now she's zipping around the house and climbing up anything she can -- stairs, couch, beds, boxes etc. She's an active one and not one to stay in one place too long. My days of snuggling with her are over, it seems.

The latest milestone is talking. She says "mama", "dada", "no", "bye bye", "night-night", "ball" and "all done". She can sign "more", "please" and "all done" as well. We're working on signing "thank-you" at the moment. She will shake her head no or yes as well as grunt and point to let her wishes be made known. It's great to be able to communicate more with her now.

My girl LOVES the water. No fear of it whatsoever. She enjoys playing in Riley's pool as well as at the splash park downtown.

She continues to prefer pureed foods over most table food, with the exception of mac-n-cheese, waffles, scrambled eggs and pasta with grated cheese on top. With the exception of bananas and blueberries, she only eats fruits/veggies if they're pureed -- like applesauce. She still gets at least 2 servings of yogurt a day which helps to keep her weight up. Dairy is a favorite -- she loves whole milk cheese & will devour a whole milkshake. She particularly enjoys the Peach shake from Chick-fil-A that's out right now (as so we!).

She's also got a taste for my sweet tea and asks for it every time she sees me drinking it. Since it's half-caffeinated, I've started hiding my glass from her. She seems to think anything that I have is better than what she has, it seems.

She still takes two naps a day, tho she can survive on one if necessary. She sleeps 11-12 hours each night, for which we continue to be thankful for.

She has had two additional teeth come in, for a total of 10. There's at least two more that are about to erupt. She was a little cranky for a couple of weeks because of it, but seemed to take it in stride for the most part.

She's had a number of first experiences in the past month, such as joining the family bike rides (in the trailer), going kayaking and having her first ice cream cone (loved it!).

She's taken a great interest in the telephone and now grabs the one on J's nightstand and walks around babbling into it.

She also grabs her brush and comb and attempts to primp herself with it -- so cute.

I bought her a little baby doll and bottle and it's sweet how she tried to feed it and hug it.

Like her brother, she loves to be tickled and is quick to join in the family wrestling match.

We're seeing more of her desire to play with Riley and do what he's doing. Riley for the most part enjoys engaging her though he's quick to tattle when she messes up something or grabs a toy that he wants. Ah, the first of many, many years of refereeing their disagreements. Today, he announced that Kendall was his best friend, which put a big smile on his mama's face.

We continue to be thankful for the blessing of having Kendall in our family. She brings so much joy and laughter to our home. We love our Kendall Girl!

father's day 2011

2011-06-19T21:20:00.004-06:00

Last year I posted my thoughts about our kids. I like the idea of doing that annually, so here are my thoughts for 2011.

Riley-Boy

Riley is still the sweet, laid back kid that I said he was a year ago. There have been changes over the last year though...

He's become more willful (which proves he's normal) and if given choices is more likely to pick the one he thinks you wouldn't. Like almost every kid his age he's constantly testing the boundaries to see where they are. He also frequently crosses over them... It seemed like the day he turned three he started to push the limits. Interesting though that he almost seems relieved (and happy!) when he finds a hard boundary. As much as I hate discipline, I love my son and I like seeing this response to it.

One of the biggest challenges our boy has faced this year has been having a sister. He does have his jealous or selfish times and doesn't like when Kendall's presence nullifies his plans. This being said he seems to love his sister and is willing at worst to at least tolerate her presence. He also doesn't realize how special Kendall thinks he is. She wants to be part of everything he does. This is generally when we hear, "No Kendall!"

Riley is also far more emotional now than he has been in the past. Tears flow frequently over things like not being part of getting the mail or not being able to be the one who opens the microwave door. It would appear that he's his Daddy's boy in this respect...I've always been very emotional for a male. I'd prefer to have a son who is in touch with his emotions, but I don't know if I'll be saying that when the teen years come. The upside of this is that he's a very affectionate kid who loves to have me sit next to him, loves to come and sit in my lap and still comes up to me and says, "Will you hold me?" It scores a lot of points with his touchy-feely Daddy.

Legos and his new doll house are the most popular toys Riley has. He shows little interest in trucks or trains, but he's always wanting to build things like houses and furniture. And with his dollhouse he usually wants to move everything out of it in his "moving truck" (the car that came with it) and take it all to the "Sultan's Palace." Thanks Backyardagains for hours of playtime ideas. It is interesting to see how his mind works. He is curious about how things work and it makes us wonder if we've got an engineer on our hands.

School has almost always been something Riley has enjoyed. He had a short time after we moved here to Colorado when he didn't want to go, and to be honest we weren't very happy with the preschool that he was enrolled in. We've since switched him to a preshool at a Lutheran church nearby and he loves it. He also loved the vacation bible school they had there and is always wanting to play / sing and dance along with the CD that they gave him. It's really cool to see him loving music and I like the lyrics that he's learning as well. Cool stuff.

He isn't going to the public preschool this summer, which is a testament to how much better he's talking. It means they don't think he'll regress over the summer. It's cool to be able to communicate so much better with my son and I actually love the fact that he talks so very much. It's a blessing. Except at dinner time.

I love the fact that Riley always wants to help me with stuff. He particularly loves to come out to the garage if I'm working on stuff at the workbench. He's actually sat riveted while I rebuilt a mountain bike pedal, which took 90 minutes. He even gave the suggestion of a light to use to see better which probably cut a good 20 minutes off the project. It's fun to have him around during stuff like that and I try to find as many parts of it for him to do as I can. For instance, when putting the pedals back together he screwed the bolts in almost all the way by himself. Hopefully he'll be mechanical like his Dad. It comes in handy.

Riley still loves doing stuff outdoors, loves play and particularly playing with others and still loves reading books. He's an active boy and he loves playgrounds, both the regular kind and at Chik-Fil-A. He's a very social kid, and is learning more about what that means as he becomes better with his words.

One of the things I love most that he does right now is that he stands in his bedroom window and waves to me as I am leaving for work. It's fun seeing him up there every morning.

If I had to sum up my son in one sentence: Riley is my fun boy.

Kendall-Girl

Kendall Baby has gone through a lot of changes as well. There are things that I saw in her last year that have come out even more as the year has gone on though.

Kendall is her Mom's girl in that she is very organized (she's already putting things away where they belong) and she likes things in their place. She's very particular about her sippy cup and where it is supposed to be while she eats (in the cupholder on her tray.)

She also makes what she wants known and isn't redirected as easily as her brother has been. She is showing signs of having the same tenacious attitude her Mom has when she has decided what she wants. That strong willed attitude will likely make things more challenging when she turns three (and I don't even want to think about the teenage years...) I've seen the advantages that personality trait can bring with it as an adult though and I hope my girl will use it well.

Kendall has become a lot more fun as she's become more aware of what's going on around her. She's fun to play with and I love watching her toddle around the house. She's also become A LOT more affectionate. She will go off and play on her own for a while then come back an check in with me, sitting on my lap or laying down on my leg an looking up at me. She also gives big sloppy open mouthed tongue sticking out kisses. She's a sweet girl and although she prefers her Mom in most circumstances (I don't blame her, so do I...) she still loves her Daddy and we have fun together.

Especially fun is our new afternoon routine of coming home, going down to the basment playroom and eating blueberries (Daddy and Riley eat grapes.) Funny, she can't get enough of them nor can she get them quickly enough in the playroom, but she won't eat them anywhere else. They are a "location food."

The one challenge with our girl is eating. She's usually pretty good at breakfast, lunch is hit and miss, but dinner is what we refer to as, "The Ordeal." (This is true for Riley as well, BTW.) Kendall spends more time with her fingers in her mouth than with food in her mouth. It's a battle nearly every night. Crazy.

Kendall is proving to be good with more adventurous stuff. We've taken her out biking in the trailer and kayaking this weekend and she handled them both very well. She seemed to have a great time. This pleases us to no end of course, since being unable to do anything like that over the last year was difficult for us. We got used to how easy it was to do outdoor activities with our boy. It seems our girl likes them as well.

Kendall also has a great love of music. She plays songs over and over and dances along with them. She is riveted if you start to sing. I bet that she'll be singing as soon as she starts talking. Riley always has liked music, but Kendall is transfixed by it. It makes it really fun to sing to her.

Overall Kendall is a happy girl, she loves being tickled and is already showing a love of books. She sleeps well and isn't overly anxious when we leave her with other care providers. In fact, she LOVES Miss Marie who provides day care for her. She seems to be very social and has the boys at day care chasing after her. And interestingly, I think SHE is going to be the athlete in the family. I can't wait to get her on a bike.

If I had to sum up my daughter in one sentence: Kendall is my sweet but strong girl.

Fatherhood is one of the great joys of my life. I am continually amazed at the love that I feel for my children. I've described the initial experience as feeling like I got hit by, "The 20 ton sledgehammer of love." But it doesn't stop there. The feeling, and the actions that go with it, continue to grow. I enjoy my time with them more than almost anything that I can think of. I am so very grateful to God for the opportunity to be called Daddy by these two sweet kids. I know that the childhood years fly past in the blink of an eye. I'm doing my best to be fully engaged. It's good work if you can get it. I'm glad I did.

Jonathan

four

2011-05-23T22:31:00.008-06:00

It's hard to believe, but it's been four years since I became Daddy. The time seems like it's flown by. At the same time it seems like I can't even remember what it was like not having Riley-Boy around. It's been such a wonderful gift to have Riley in our family.

Three was a year of big changes. Riley started school, which led to potty training and much improved talking skills. Here are some of the highlights and where Riley is right now.

School

Riley started preschool the day after his third birthday. What's more, he went by bus! Shelby and I were kind of freaked out, but Riley was very excited. He has always loved school buses.

In the public preschool Riley continued the speech therapy that he had been getting through Early Intervention. Within a month he had started his "speech explosion." Riley can now talk a blue streak and the sound couldn't be sweeter in our ears. For all the parents who think that it would be great if their kids would be quiet all the time, trust me...it wouldn't be. We love our talking boy. Even if it takes him forever to eat dinner because he can't stop talking.

There are still things that need to be worked on, things like learning letter blends, getting used to starting words with the correct consonant and correct grammar. Minor stuff compared to silence. The biggest concern right now is social development where he is a bit behind. He doesn't always know what to say in social situations and sometimes will just ask questions he already knows the answer to just so that he will have something to say. We're working on social skills a lot at home and we hope he'll learn to use what we teach him outside the home, and particularly at school.

Another thing that came out of school was potty training. Riley wasn't really all that interested in it until he started school and saw all the other kids using the potty. It was a done deal shortly after. Sometimes peer pressure is a good thing. The most recent development here is that he is now diaper free at night as well. Shelby has been getting him up a couple of times in the night to use the potty, which has helped him to stay dry at night. It's great to have one kid entirely out of diapers.

With our move to Colorado Springs Riley found himself in new schools (he's always been in an afternoon preschool as well) and he has continued to work on language. He's progressed enough that he doesn't have to be part of the public preschool during the summer, as they don't think he'll regress without the continued work. Good news. He started a new preschool this week at a Lutheran school and really likes it, which is a relief because he didn't like the KinderCare school he had been going to. Neither did we as they were very disorganized. It seems like the new school will be a good place for him.

Brotherhood

One of the biggest changes of the past year has been that Riley has been learning what it means to be a big brother. Part of that transition has meant losing a lot of attention that he had been getting before. As you can imagine it hasn't been easy for him, although overall I think he's handled it pretty well. He does seem to love Kendall, but I can already hear, "Stop looking at me! Dad, she's touching me! Stay on YOUR side of the car!" etc. (all things I remember well from childhood...) Some things won't be avoided I guess. We're also starting what will likely be long term lessons in sharing, which are not currently appreciated. These things take time. He does, however, love sharing when it means sharing something of someone else's. He enjoys asking me to share my food with him if it's something he likes.

Homebody

Our boy love his home (especially when Mommy is there...) Given a choice he would never leave. As a matter of fact, lately we have to FORCE him to leave so that we can go out to do things that are fun. Not surprising since he's got a great variety of toys and lots of space to play with them. And even more now that he's gotten the doll house he wanted for his birthday. Sometimes I think he would never leave the house if we didn't make him.

One way that you can be sure to get him out of the house though...tell him you're taking him to Chick-Fil-A. He loves the playground, chicken nuggets and sweet tea. You'd think the kid was southern.

But he still loves the outdoors

Once we get Riley out he still loves doing stuff outside. Since we've been here we've been to Garden of the Gods, the Manitou Incline (Mom and boy), biking on the Santa Fe trail (Dad and boy) and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (Mom, boy and his class.) He still loves it once you get him out there, although he's not crazy about giraffes.

Helpful Boy

Riley LOVES to help us do things. Things around the house, stuff in the yard, laundry, opening the microwave and anything that I'm going to do in the garage. I'm hoping this is more than a stage...but it certainly is fun right now.

Play

Riley fits a stove, chair, humidifier, washer and air compressor into his house

Like any other four year old, our boy loves to play. He seems to be a budding architect or builder. Legos are back on the list of favorite toys and he loves to build floor plans and fill them with furniture. For his birthday he got a doll house (which he wanted more than a tool bench.) He loves to rearrange the furniture, or knock it all down and put it in the "moving truck" so that he can take it to the "Sultan's palace" (a Backyardagains video reference.) He moves the "Arabian things" into the Sultan's palace and sets them up. Definitely not the way a girl would play with a doll house.

Riley still loves playgrounds of any sort, enjoys riding on my back like I'm a horse while looking for monsters for us to kill, he loves games, especially matching games, and also loves board games. A big hit for his birthday has been the Busytown game, which is actually fun for his parents to play with him. Sports are not really on the map yet, even biking which he really enjoys more from the trailer...

Birthday

So this past weekend we had his fourth birthday party. It was a Curious George theme with bananas holding down the balloons and even a place the butterfly in the Curious George picture game (like pin the tail on the donkey...)

It was a small party since most everyone was at a graduation party or away, and of course the majority of our friends are 2000 miles away. A good time was had by all though, and the hardest part of the whole thing was keeping our birthday boy in the party. He kept wanting to sneak off to play with his doll house.

Happy Birthday Video

So our boy is four. I'm sure that there will be at least as many changes this year as last. Although there is a certain amount of an ache in my heart at the thought of him growing up, I do enjoy seeing the boy Riley is becoming.

Shelby and I love Riley to distraction and we are so very grateful that the Lord has allowed us to be his parents. He was worth waiting all those years for. Happy four Riley Boy!

Jonathan

14 things at 14 months

2011-05-18T15:46:00.013-06:00

Our baby girl turned 14 months old today. She's at that age where she seems to be rapidly changing, so we wanted to capture 14 things about her that we want to share (and remember!):

1. She has gained 2 lbs in two months (21 lbs), thanks to the full fat greek yogurt we've been feeding her. She has a little belly now and recently graduated to a front facing car seat.

2. She had her first hair trim as her bangs were falling into her eyes. It took two of us to hold her steady but managed to get the job done.

Now we can see her eyes and her beautiful full brows!

3. She still takes two naps per day (approx 3 hours total) and sleeps from 7p - 6am. We're grateful to have such a good sleeper.

4. We don't have a champion eater, however. While she loves her some carbs such as baby cereal with pureed fruit, cheerios, crackers and cheese or fruit puffs, everything else she eats is hit and miss. Right now, she's usually eating peanut butter, avocado, banana, semi-soft cheese, cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, waffles, hummus, pasta w/graded cheese & whole milk. She tried chili last night and took several bites of that, so we continue to encourage her closer to eating table food only. With 8 teeth in her mouth, I'm ready to be done with pureed food!

This is what we get when she's "done" eating:

5. The biggest news is that Kendall girl has started walking. She started standing on her own about 10 days ago and then began trying a step or two about a week ago. Now, she's taking 10+ steps at a time:

6. She loves her daycare provider Miss Marie, who lives in our neighborhood and with three grown daughters has been taking care of kids for over 20 yrs. Kendall has a "boyfriend" named Tyus who is similar in age and they follow each other around everywhere. So cute.

7. She loves her brother and is interested in whatever he's playing with. Riley's getting a lot of practice in learning how to share and help his sister to enjoy their toys together. Still a work in progress, but I look forward to seeing them play together more as they get older.

8. She's doing a lot of babbling, but no recognizable words yet. She says mum, nah and da and points to things that she likes, such as lights. I've been showing her the signs for eating & all done and I've seen her try to use them a few times recently.

9. She claps and waves bye bye (to herself) when we say bye to Riley in the morning. She started clicking her tongue a few days ago and seems pretty pleased with her new found skill.

10. She's really enjoying peekaboo now and will use a cloth to try and cover her own head to hide from me.

Playing peekaboo from behind the coffee table:

11. Kendall's going to be a musician, I suspect. She loves music, even more than Riley does and moves to it by swaying back and forth and playing her rhythm instruments.

12. She takes after her mother in that she loves to climb -- on people, playthings, furniture etc. She's not much of a snuggler, she is very active and once you pick her up, she keep moving to climb over your back. I suppose gymnastics or dance will be in her future!

13. At this age, she's hearing us say "No, no Kendall don't touch/that's not for babies!". Unlike Riley, who at this age would just ignore us, Kendall turns around, looks at us with this coy little smile and slowly turns back and continues her mission. So that makes four sinners in the house in need of some discipline... (sigh).

Enjoying some of mama's sweet tea:

14. Lastly, when I ask for a kiss, Kendall opens her mouth, sticks out her tongue and proceeds to lick me. So she gives cheek kisses for now. Hoping she'll figure out the less-slobbery method soon, but it's sweet nonetheless.

Walking opens up a whole new world of discovery:

We love our sweet baby girl and it's exciting to see her grow up and change from a baby to a toddler. She is such a delight to us and has added something really special to our family.

We love you Kendall girl!!

Stay tuned... Riley's turning 4 next week...More to come!!

did you know I had a birthday? (by Kendall)

2011-03-30T10:46:00.026-06:00

Hi everyone! This is Kendall, and since mama is way overdue on blogging about my birthday, I'm gonna do it myself. Since it's been awhile, it's gonna be a long one... I've got lots to tell ya!

As some of you know, my first birthday was on March 18th. It wasn't as much fun however, because I got a fever the day before that lasted for 3 days, before I got a roseola rash. So I did a lot of sleeping and didn't eat very much during the festivities. Mama invited our good friends from Longmont, the Cornwells over for the weekend and they enjoyed eating cupcakes and singing to me.

Usually, I LOVE to eat sweet things, but not this day:

I got some neat presents, like a box of squeaky eggs, a play piggy bank and picnic basket that talk and sing and a tambourine, because I love music and rhythm. I have enjoyed playing with them since last week when I got over my sickness. Here's a video of me listening to one of my toys that plays fun music:

I just saw the doctor today and he told me that I am 18.5 lbs and I'm still 10th percentile. My height is 50% percentile though mama can't tell me how tall I am.

Now that I am one, I'm doing lots a cool things that "toddlers" do. I love to pull myself into a standing position and have started taking a step or two towards cruising. I still like to crawl because I'm really fast so I'm not ready to start trying to walk yet.

I wasn't too excited about eating solids, I like my bottle much better, but mama insisted that I start eating like a big girl, now that I live in Colorado. So, I've been eating pureed baby food, fruits and veggies along with finger foods like puffed rice and yogurt melts.

My favorite thing to eat in the whole wide world is yogurt, though. Mama gives me full-fat plain greek yogurt with honey on top and I love it!!

I'm not too good with the sippy cup yet, but mama lets me practice at each meal and I take a few sips of whole milk usually. When I began eating solids I started to have constipation, which mama got rid of fast by giving me diluted prune juice. We learned though that you can't have too much prune juice or you have the opposite problem which is very painful and requires a lot of diaper cream to relieve!

My brother Riley likes to take initiative and help feed me when mama walks away for a minute. He usually gives me bigger bites than mama does and it spills a bit. Mama thanks him for being a good helper but prefers to feed me herself.

Now that I am old enough, I don't have to use the baby bathtub anymore. Sometimes, I get to take a bath with Riley, which is a lot of fun. I love the water -- I try and put my hands in the toilet whenever I can!

Mama lets me watch a little Baby Einstein now, but I don't watch for long. I have too many other things I want to play with.

We have two playrooms in our house -- one is upstairs in the sunroom and the other is in the basement. I usually play in the sunroom, where mama can watch me better. However, I have discovered a third playroom: the kitchen! Mama has a drawer of sippy cups and I love to play in there! I also like the pots & pans cabinet and the lazy susan where the plastic bowls are kept.

One of my favorite toys is this one from G'ma Berg. There's a little hole where the on/off switch is and I like to put my finger in it. Here you can see the four teeth that I had as of last month. Now I have two more on top and two more coming in on bottom for a total of eight!

This toy is one of my favorites because it has a microphone so I can sing and let everyone hear! Here's my first music video:

I really enjoy playing with my brother in the sunroom...

but as soon as mama shows up with the camera, I high-tail it over to her. She thinks it's because I want to be held, but really I just want the camera.

I'm always reaching for electronics:

another place I like to play is mama & daddy's walk-in closet. So many cool things in there!

Our house has some big windows in it and it's fun to look out and see the mountains and the people that walk by:

I think being one is pretty cool. Mama and daddy can't believe how big I am already. Mama says it seems like yesterday I was coming out of her tummy. I tell her that's the way it is with kids -- we grow up much too fast!

Well, that's all from me. I hope you enjoyed my blog -- now I see why mama & daddy haven't had time to do one. It's a lot of work and time, especially when you have a lot to report.

Hugs,

Kendall

colorado

2011-02-13T21:51:00.013-07:00

It's been a while since we've gotten a blog post up. A lot has happened.

On February 1st the moving truck came and took our stuff away. The cars had already been shipped the previous weekend. It was really happening.

As has been true every time that I've moved it was really odd to see the empty house once we were done cleaning up. There is always a sadness for me with a move. I think about all the things that happened in my life at that place. Stuff like Riley learning to walk and talk, and welcoming our sweet little Kendall Girl into the world.

This move is different though, because we're not just moving to a new house. We've moved to a new state 2000 miles away. To say it's been tough is an understatement. I've left the place I considered my permanent home. We've left behind almost all of our closest friends.

As the plane took off from Logan I had tears streaming down my face. The sense of loss is very profound, and the pain of missing people has actually intensified over the last few days. It's the worst on Sunday when we go to church. We miss everyone very much.

I keep coming back to the story of Abram. God said to him, “'Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you...I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others'...So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed." (Genesis 12:1-4, my edit.)

It took a lot of faith for Abram to pick up and go. I feel like our departure has been similar in some ways. We've moved to a place that we've never been to before and I'm starting a job that will be very different from what I've done before. We've left all of our friends and family behind. With the speed that things have progressed at we have no doubt that God's hand is in this. We are taking a leap of faith, trusting that He has a plan at work here for us, and work for us to do.

In many ways we are already feeling his blessing.

The trip started with a one way plane ride to Denver. Riley and Kendall did great on the plane. Riley in particular is an old hand at traveling, since his first trip on a plane was taken before he was three months old and he's been to Alaska twice and Seattle three times.

Riley loves the Jet Blue TV's, but is confused by the fact that they don't have touch screens...

Kendall got some play time on the floor preflight

Since we're not the type of people who like to wallow in our sadness we've been throwing ourselves into our new environment. We registered the cars, got new drivers licenses and finally signed a lease on a house. Riley has started school. We've even gotten library cards.

Our new home

We're working very hard at finding the things that we like (or love) about living here. It really helps to make the transition easier, especially since neither Shelby or I had any real desire to leave Boston. The snow out there helped to give us a shove out of town, and we're really enjoying how much less snow there is here in the Springs.

We've explored a little. We had a fun date night Friday at a theater in downtown that sells beer, wine and all kinds of coffees to go along with popcorn. I love watching a movie with a beer instead of a soda. There was a nice coffee shop down the street too that was a perfect post movie stop.

Yesterday we did our first bit of exploring in the outdoors and outside of the Springs. We went to Garden of the Gods and Manitou Springs. Here's a slide show:

It was great to get out and see a bit of the natural beauty, as well as explore a little of the local culture. We also finally realized that we have acclimated to the altitude...bring on the bikes!

I want to mention that this entire move and the last week and a half here in Colorado would have been very different if we had not had the blessing of some very special people in our lives. Shelby has friends from when she was a teen who live here in Colorado Springs. Phil and Margene have opened up their house to us, allowing us to stay in their very nice finished basement for a time that has become much longer than was originally thought. A roof over our heads has been a very great blessing, but their friendship has been a gift that has been priceless. It has given us a sense of normalcy in day to day life that would have been extremely difficult to do without. I feel less of a "stranger in a strange land" because of them and I thank God for the great blessing of their friendship.

So I want to end for now with some pictures of the kids. They've adapted quite well...

Kendall and Margene have become fast friends

Baby Girl is now pulling herself up on furniture and crawling a little...

Kendall has made a new friend in Timbre...she especially loves his tags.

The kids (as kids do...) sometimes take over the living room at play time

Riley and Kendall are getting lots of quality time with Dad (and Mom too...)

Work starts Tuesday, the movers get here Thursday. It'll be a big week.

We're excited about getting on with every day life.

Jonathan

a ten month old girl!

2011-01-25T19:57:00.003-07:00

With the move there is not a lot of time for posting stuff on the blog unfortunately. I really wanted to have something up to document Kendall being ten months old though. So here's one of my favorite pictures I've seen in a while; Riley and Kendall in "The Boat."

I love them.

Jonathan

a lot can change in 3 1/2 months...

2011-01-21T07:42:00.015-07:00

Due to the will of God, our lives have been turned upside down during the past few months. It's been and continues to be a practice in trusting in God's provision for our family. We know God is powerful and sovereign over the events of our lives, but is He still good and loving, even when it feels so awful? We answer a resounding YES! and want to share the time line of events and how God worked through the circumstances we found ourselves in:

Oct 4 -- I am laid off from my job, but given a 7 month severance package that includes help from career transition services group. J was able to use the resume & interview materials to market himself more effectively to the military for one of the few staff chiropractor positions available.

Nov 11 -- J applies for a position with the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Since the government moves at a snail's pace, we figure we won't hear anything for a month or two. In the meantime, I'm finding it hard to even get an interview despite several treasury analyst positions within commuting distance. I take my search nationwide, assuming that I'll have an easier time getting hired since there's more jobs for me than him.

Nov 30 -- J gets an email from the recruiter for the USAFA requesting a phone interview. This was the one and only response from the 6 or so positions that he applied for around the country. One position with the VA had 140 applicants! Since most chiropactors have to be self-employed, these military positions are highly sought after.

Dec 2 -- First phone interview goes very well. He's told that they will decide who progresses to round 2 by the next day.

Dec 7 -- No word from the recruiter and we are really struggling to accept what appears to be a door slamming shut. We're praying through our tears as our faith in God's goodness is tested.

Dec 8 -- J sends an email to the recruiter who informs him that the military just gave them their decision and they want to interview J by phone, along with 4 others. My first thought when he told me was "God is giving him this job.". Meanwhile, I have a defense contractor in DC that's interested in bringing me down for an interview, but no date set.

Dec 14 -- J has a phone interview with the Lt Col who would be his boss, which goes well. We wonder if he'll be called out for a face-to-face interview the following week -- while we're on vacation in Seattle. Much to our surprise, the recruiter calls back 4 hours later and offers him the job. The Lt Col selected him because he came across to her as someone that would be easy to get along with. We figured that with all the qualified candidates this would be the thing that would give him the edge. Those of us who know J know that he IS easy to get along with and a team player. God enabled him to communicate this effectively to the Lt Col.

Dec 17 -- We meet with our realtor, Deb, and she strongly suggests that we get the house ready to show prior to our vacation since it will be empty. Since we are leaving in two days, I start scrambling to declutter & clean until late in the night and miss the Berg family Christmas gathering the next day.

Dec 19 -- We're still getting the last of the cleaning done an hour before we need to leave for the airport, so we begin packing for our 10 day trip to see my family. Though it seems like a bad time to leave, we're really excited to see my whole family since it had been a year & a half since our last visit.

Dec 22 -- Deb lists our home on MLS at a very attractive price in order to move it quickly, since we have no desire to be landlords. The market is down and values have dropped over 20% in the past 3 years. Will the Lord do the impossible and bring us a buyer in six weeks?

Dec 29 -- Our flight back to Boston is canceled due to residual problems from the blizzard a few days before. We lose 4 more days of getting ready for our move. We finally get home on New Years.

Jan 5 -- After advertising his practice at a very low price, it turns out that all three people interested in purchasing it have no bank financing or money to put down if we were to self-finance it. So he tries to sell his office assets, but gets very little for them. It appears that the Lord just wants him to give them away and close down.

I'm reminded of Phil 3:7-8 in which Paul writes that whatever was to his profit he considered loss for the sake of Christ. "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ". Somehow in all this, J was going to know Christ more by donating / trashing his assets and shutting down his practice, it seems. It's not what we would have chosen, but our Father knows best what we need, and we rest in that.

Jan 6 -- A couple in Wakefield wants to see our house ahead of our open house on the 9th, in an effort to get ahead of the competition. This is the third couple who asked for a showing and being the only 3 bdrm home in our price range, it's attractive to first-time home buyers. They came in and LOVED the house (as we did) and since they had no realtor of their own, they are very open with Deb about their strong desire to make an offer. Deb said that this is the best couple to show a house to because they want a home, more than they want a good deal. They aren't nitpicky and critical, but see all the best things about the house and are very motivated to buy. They are dubbed the "Thursday couple". Deb puts them in touch with a mortgage lender that we know and he begins the process of prequalifying them for a loan.

Jan 9 -- The Thursday couple is the first to arrive at the open house and they stay the entire time, eventually making themselves at home on our living room couch. Dad and baby fall asleep on our couch and they continue to show great enthusiasm in buying our home. There's a few snags in the prequal process that the woman is working hard to fix as they want to move in by March at the latest. Four other couples attend the open house and one in particular asks to come back the next day to see it with their realtor. Could we end up with a bidding war?

Jan 19 -- It's 10 more days of waiting before the first offer comes in. The Thursday couple is very close to getting their prequal letter, but the other couple puts in an offer late in the evening that is significantly less than we're willing to accept.

Jan 20 -- Deb leans on the Thursday couple to see if she can get them in the game so we can get the highest price possible. In the meantime, we counter with the other couple -- for our full asking price. As we expected the Thursday couple to offer full asking price, Deb tells the other broker that another couple is going to make an offer that afternoon and that we were only prepared to accept a full-price offer.

So... the other couple counter-counters 7k less than our asking price and we wait for the Thursday couple's offer. It comes in 2 hours later at FULL ASKING PRICE and they want to close by the end of Feb! Deb said this is the best scenario that we could have hoped for and we are all thrilled. God indeed prepared a buyer for our house and made them very motivated to own our home, just as we had prayed for.

With Jonathan closing his practice last week and vacating his office space this week, we are ready to pack up and move on the 1st of February. As we suffer through the painful goodbyes to family & friends, we know that God wants us in the Springs and we're excited to look ahead and see what He has in store for us there.

Our God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing our God cannot do!

Shelby

christmas(s) 2010

2010-12-28T23:05:00.004-07:00

Christmas is one of those holidays where family gatherings are very important to most of us. This year is a bit different for us. With a new job starting for me in February I'm not going to be in a position to travel for a while. That means our planned trip to Washington in March is out. So we quickly booked flights for December. That means TWO family gatherings this year.

First up was a trip to CT and my family gathering. With our trip to Washington starting the next day and a house needing prep work for sale it meant the kids and I left Shelby at home to work while we went to my Mom's house. It was great to see my Mom, brothers and their kids. Here's a slide show of the festivities:

The next day, after cleaning and straightening the house all day, we got a flight out of Boston to Seattle. Shelby's brothers and their families live in the Seattle area, and her parents were coming to town for a visit. Mom and Dad didn't know we'd be there though...and it was a great surprise. Here's a longer slide show of the week and a half we've been here:

Christmas this year is a season full of a multitude of emotions. We are really excited about my new job in Colorado Springs. It seems like it will be a really cool place to live and fortunately we already have some friends there which will ease the transition a bit.

At the same time there is terrific anxiety over trying to make a fast sale of both our home and my practice. It seems like a nearly impossible task and there is so very much to do. We are going to be very busy for the next six weeks, and until things get resolved we'll likely be living with upset stomachs from the stress.

There is also a sadness that comes with knowing that we'll be leaving behind friends, some of which we've known for decades. There are so many people that we will miss so very much. And for me there is leaving the area that has always been home.

Add to this the joy of seeing family and of sharing our kids with them. It is truly a crazy time emotionally.

A time like this is one where I lean very heavily on my Lord and God. I know that I can't handle all of this by myself and I'm grateful for the promises God gives us of His provision. I fall back on Matthew 6:25-34. I especially love two parts, "your heavenly Father already knows all your needs." And also, "So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today."

So the "Christmas Season" brings us a great hope, joy and love. The hope of a Father who knows our needs and cares for us, taking care of them. The joy of the Spirit, who guides us and "prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words." And the love of the Son, that tiny babe who was born to save us from our sin by suffering and sacrificing so much, in fact sacrificing everything for us.

It is these truths that enable me to keep going when things are so crazy. And it is also these truths that make me so grateful for the tiny babe whose coming enabled the healing of our relationship with our great God.

The reason for the season. Praise God.

Jonathan

all things job related...

2010-12-14T19:47:00.002-07:00

There have been a lot of job related happenings in the Berg family over the last couple of months. Shelby wrote of her layoff back in the beginning of October. That actually gave us a shove in a direction we had really been wanting to go for a long time.

We've been wishing that Shelby could stay home with the kids, or at least work a minimal number of hours and be home more. In this area that's a tough thing to do. With the layoff we BOTH started looking diligently into other employment and possibly a move. That search payed off today...for me.

I've been mainly looking into chiropractic jobs with the federal government. One of the spots I applied to was with the Air Force Academy. The job seemed like it was made just for me. Colorado Springs looks like an awesome place to live. We even have friends out there already.

I had my second interview today and at the end of the day I was offered the job! It's hard to leave New England, but I am really excited about this job and what it means for my family. There is still a lot to do; I'm going to sell my practice and we need to sell the house. And then there's moving of course...but it is one really great opportunity.

So here's a note of thanks, to my friends who have offered support and especially for all of you who were praying hard for me today, but also to our great God who answers those prayers. Thank you friends and praise you Lord!

As Shelby did in her post on the layoff, I want to close with the last verse of "All Must Be Well" which takes on a different meaning for me now:

We expect a bright tomorrow; All will be well
Faith can sing through days of sorrow, All is well
On our Father's love relying
Jesus every need supplying
Yes in living or in dying
All must be well

Jonathan

christmas tree day

2010-12-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

One of our family "traditions" (it's only a few years old) is that we get and decorate our Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving. The tradition is filling out a little with time and it's becoming a full, fun day. Here's a little video I put together which shows you how we spent the day.

We love Christmas tree day. It just gets to be more and more fun.

Jonathan

8 months...she's mobile!

2010-11-30T19:56:00.004-07:00

It's been a while since our last blog post. Suffice to say that we've been VERY busy with non-blogworthy things and until recently were without a decent camera. Thanks to a very generous birthday present (Thank you Michael & Cheryl!) we're back at it again.

Kendall is growing stronger every day. She is now perfectly happy to sit up and will play with her toys for a long time while she does:

Sitting and playing

The other news is that she is now MOBILE! We didn't get much time where we could just put her down to play and not worry about her moving. She is now scootching around military style:

Kendall loves the jumper and spends time in it several times a day. It takes very little to encourage her to start jumping...

Jumping Girl

Riley loves his sister (I love the way he says her name when he says hello to her) and she loves him too. She watches him constantly. Here's a picture of them on Riley's rocking horse after we took it down from the attic for him. Riley turned and said, "Kendall get on" and pointed to the spot behind him. He's such a sweet kid.

Ride 'em cowpokes!

All in all our girl is growing up. She's becoming more fun each and every day.

We love our Kendall Girl!

Jonathan

7 Months old!!

2010-10-18T18:28:00.014-06:00

Our baby girl is getting bigger by the week it seems. This is such a fun time when her development really seems to be taking off and she's changing so much during the month. Here's some of what she's up to right now:

She's reaching and grabbing at everything now. I can't sit at the computer with her without her reaching for the keyboard, mouse and any papers that we have on the desk. Everything goes into the mouth for oral examination so we keep the electronics well out of reach.

She's doing better at sitting up unassisted, but still needs something soft for falling on -- the maximum time I've seen her sit up is about 2 min. While on her belly, she slithers around and manages to travel quite a bit, so I don't think that crawling will be too far off.

She gets daily practice at sitting up (I'm really anxious for this milestone to be reached). Here's hoping we'll be there by 8 months!

Video of Sitting Practice

Standing is still her favorite posture:

As far as food, well she's not to interested in solids yet, so we're still working on that. I've offered her applesauce, yogurt, butternut squash & peanut butter and had the best success with the PB. I guess that particular food love continues to run in the family; also it doesn't fall out of her mouth as easily.

And if anyone's gasping at my offering PB at this age -- the biggest risk factor is genetics. Since there's no nut allergies in our family, I gave it a try. No worries.

I gave her a couple of baby feeders and she seems to like them. Works nicely as a chew toy too:

Otherwise, she's now weaned and taking 4 bottles of formula a day of approx 30 oz total.

Still hates her car seat...but has learned to live with it (and I have learned to live with the fact that pink will be a primary color in her wardrobe):

We're beginning to hear some babbling (something like nigh-nigh and da-da) that's terribly sweet, but mostly she coos and sighs. She's ticklish on her belly & neck and squeals whenever we tickle her there.

It's hard to believe she's seven month's old already. The next seven hold quite a few milestones.

We love our Kendall girl!

Shelby

acadia 2010

2010-10-14T19:44:00.000-06:00

Columbus Day weekend meant our annual trip to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor. This year marked Shelby's eleventh trip and my seventh. Amazing.

We knew going into the trip that this year that it would be on the low key side. Just as when Riley was an infant Kendall would change all things. That together with my bike rack breaking as I was loading the car to leave meant that there would be much less activity this time around.

Travel is different now too. Riley is an active boy and so we need to take some time along the way to let him run off some of his excess energy. This meant stopping (in both directions) at a really great new playground in Portland. The playground is in a park that Shelby spent a lot of time in when she lived in Portland so while Riley got to play she got a chance to reminisce.

It's always great to hang with the cousins. Erica and Riley always have a great time together as well. Shelby's Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Jim were also along which was nice because they got to meet our Kendall Girl.

We hit some of our regular faves: Cafe This Way, the Jordan Pond House, Hunter's Beach and the Morning Glory Bakery. The rest will best be told by pictures and video. If a picture is worth a thousand words then what follows will be book-worthy.

It was a fun trip, as usual, but I'm looking forward to being able to take Kendall out in the kayak, in the bike trailer and in the backpack. Future trips should be very different. So here's the aforementioned pictures and video:

Days one and two:

Days three and four:

Jonathan

ch-ch-ch-changes

2010-10-13T19:51:00.020-06:00

Exodus 33:14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

This verse has been banging around in my head for the past 10 days -- ever since I got called into the Treasurer's office and informed that my career at IG was over. Just like that. After 8 years, my routine is now all out of whack; it feels strange not to be going there anymore. It took me almost 90 min to get myself packed up and out of there and I still forgot things that I had to go back for. If you've ever been through a layoff, then maybe you understand the fog that I was in.

Since we were leaving for Acadia a few days later, I didn't do anything related to job hunting that first week. Just enjoyed a little extra time with my kids and doing household stuff while they were at daycare & preschool.

Everyone that knows me knows I'm the "worst-case scenario" girl -- I imagine the worst, work really hard to try to keep it from happening, fret about the things I have no control over and then breathe a sigh of relief when reality turns out to be better than I feared. While I still think about what my take on the worst case might look like, I'm finding that this time around I've been able to theologize my way out of the dark place it usually leads me. It involves reminding myself of the things that I believe to be true because of what God tells me about himself. Things like this:

1. He didn't spare his Son for you, so won't He give you everything else that you need in life? (Rom 8:32)

2. God delights in those that hope in Him (Ps 147:11)

3. Everything is ordained and works for my good and God's glory (Rom 8:28)

Besides praying more (Shouldn't I be praying this much all the time?!), I've been reading the story of the Israelites and their exodus out of Egypt, their wanderings in the desert and their journey to the Promised Land. For reasons I won't go into here, I've been identifying with them in their longing for change and their doubts about God's resolve to bring that change about and lead them to a better place. Every time they're facing impossible circumstances and it seems that God has reneged, He uses it to show them how much he loves them, how powerful He really is and that He keeps all of his promises.

So now I'm faced with unemployment at a time when it's harder to get employed and J's business is suffering a slowdown. Already, I see God's provision in that I received a decent severance package, so we're not relying on unemployment benefits to pay the mortgage currently. The rest of the provision has yet to be revealed. I suppose the only way my faith gets tested & strengthened is in these times of uncertainty. I'm so glad that I have a God that doesn't treat me as my sins deserve and knows my struggles and meets me in the midst of them (Ps 103:10-13).

I love the last verse of "All Must Be Well":

We expect a bright tomorrow; All will be well
Faith can sing through days of sorrow, All is well
On our Father's love relying
Jesus every need supplying
Yes in living or in dying
All must be well

Shelby

kendall is 6 months old!

2010-09-18T17:22:00.025-06:00

Happy Half-Birthday, Baby Girl!

We say it over and over but it's so true how time flies. It's hard to believe that it's been six whole months since Kendall came into our world. I didn't feel like we were missing someone prior to her arrival, and yet now I can't imagine our family without her. With her, we "The Boston Bergs" seem complete.

The only vitals I got at her doc's appt is weight -- 14.8 lbs (20th percentile). She continues to get 5 meals of mama's milk a day. However, now that she's hit the 6 month mark, I'm going to start giving her formula while I'm at work, so I don't have to pump. I'll continue to nurse her morning and night and pump an extra bottle as long as I have the supply.

I'm going to delay solids for another few weeks as she doesn't seem ready for spoon feeding quite yet. She still thrusts her tongue out, so nothing seems to go down her throat. I'll try again in a week or two and see if she's ready. I've started giving her a sippy cup to practice on, tho' right now she just gnaws on it.

As reported last month, her bottom front teeth are coming in.

She rolls back and forth easily and has been sleeping on her belly for a couple of months now. Her neck is strong, but her back is still wobbly. Her arms are strong though, and she's started using them while on her belly to scootch herself forward a little bit. She is also doing something on her belly that looks a bit like crawling when she pushes her chest completely off the floor and flexes her knees. Since her next big milestone will be sitting up unassisted, I'm giving her practice doing the tripod sitting:

Her hand-eye coordination is improving and she can transfer an object from one hand to the other, but she doesn't hold objects for more than about 15-20 seconds usually. She's gotten good enough to grab one of the animals of her crib mobile, so I think we'll be taking that down before she busts it (since it's promised to a friend).

She took her first ride in an outdoor swing last week. At first she held on to both bars and then she just got herself into a relaxed position and enjoyed the ride. Note the placement of her feet...

One thing that has really struck me this time around is how much Kendall (and Riley) will choose interaction with people over any toy offered. Kendall enjoys the jumper, but when Riley comes over to play too, all she wants to do is watch him. So cute.

I wasn't sure if Kendall was going to be ticklish like Riley is, but in the last month, I've discovered she is quite sensitive on her neck and around her belly button. I've exploited it to my fullest advantage, just to hear her giggles!

As if you didn't know I love my Kendall-girl (as does Daddy & Riley too!) and we're so grateful for these first 6 months with her.

We're looking forward to the next six months with all of it's amazing changes as she starts eating solids, saying first words and goes mobile. Look out world, here she comes!

Shelby

labor day

2010-09-07T17:03:00.001-06:00

Labor Day weekend is usually a time we spend visiting my family and also taking a trip into New York City. This year was a little different since NYC wouldn't have been as much fun while caring for a five month old. So we spent this year in CT. Our friends the Davis's moved about 20 minutes away from my Mom, so we were able to pay a visit to them as well.

The weekend was fairly low key, highlights were a killer breakfast by Dea, a very cool wooden playground Riley got to play in and a visit from my brother Drew and his family, with Riley getting to have some fun with his cousins. The only low point was Riley waking up (for good) at 4:45 am on Saturday at the Davis's. At least it was because he was exhibiting exceptional potty training habits...

There are the highlights. Pictures and video can fill in some of the details:

Labor Day Weekend 2010

It was a great weekend. Hopefully we'll be able to head back to NYC next year though. Kendall has to get her first taste of the Big Apple!

Jonathan

making the most of the end of summer

2010-08-31T20:55:00.000-06:00

With the end of summer coming fast we got a lot of outdoor activity crammed into the last week of August. There were so many pictures and videos that I put together slideshow / videos so this post wouldn't be 20 feet long... Here we go.

Splash Park at Beaver Brook Reservation in Belmont

Mom took part of a day off from work to take Riley over to this fun and...free...splash park. Riley had a great time, you can tell because he does his "Happy Dance" when his Mom asks him if he's having fun:

Davis Farmland

Davis Farmland is an amusement park with a farm theme (it's actually on a working farm) which is specifically for small children. It has a combination of attractions as you'll see in the videos; it's a large petting zoo, splash park and playground all in one. Kid heaven. We'll break this into three videos:

The Animals

The Splash Park

The Playground

This was an incredibly fun day made easier by our getting a babysitter for Kendall so that Riley could take full advantage of the park. He had a great day (as did his parents...)

Crane Beach

On the last day of August Shelby took the day off so that she and Riley could join a bunch of friends at Crane Beach in Ipswich. It was a perfect beach day and a great way to see August off for another year:

A Day At Crane Beach

We have had a great summer here this year. Perfect for outdoor fun. This was a perfect way to end it!

Jonathan

...and another one coming!

2010-08-26T15:54:00.003-06:00

Discovered today that Kendall's bottom right tooth is just barely starting to erupt, -- it's still a teeny spec of white, but appears to be the reason why baby girl is gnawing on her fingers like there's no tomorrow.

Can't wait to see that toothy grin in the coming weeks!

Shelby

first tooth!

2010-08-24T19:18:00.001-06:00

I was laying in bed with Kendall this morning and as is her custom, she grabbed my finger to put it in her mouth and chew on. I felt something sharp this morning and lo and behold my 5 month old is cutting her first tooth!

It's the bottom left one. I wasn't expecting it yet, since Riley got his first tooth at 9 months. Also, she wasn't drooling, cranky or plagued with diaper rash. If only it would stay this way...

Shelby

hometown fun

2010-08-21T16:58:00.015-06:00

Today, while Jonathan was helping some friends with their move, I ventured out with the kids to Wakefield's annual Safety Day in our Town Common. Each year, local DPW & safety vehicles are brought in, so the kids can explore and ask questions of the personnel. Riley enjoyed it as much as his favorite playground!

The bucket truck where he got a "hard" hat:

Driving the back hoe:

"Naughty" Riley in the back of the police cruiser:

"Helper" Riley received a Junior EMT sticker after being in the ambulance:

Driving the Fire Truck:

Climbing on top of the Fire Truck and enjoying the view:

Giving Sparky the Fire Dog a hug:

Climbing up the ladder truck and sporting his new Fire hat:

We even got to ride in an antique fire truck:

Kendall, who had been napping, was not amused by the clanging bell -- she screamed pretty much the whole ride:

In addition to free burgers & slushies, Riley had his picture and fingerprints taken for his ID card, courtesy of the Molly Bish Foundation:

It was a fun couple of hours and both kids did really well. I look forward to next year when J can join us and Riley can spend even more time exploring the vehicles. But it was worth it to give J up for the day so the Four Zs could complete their transition to Somerville. We excited to play with them more now that they're closer!

Shelby

Kendall is 5 months old!

2010-08-18T17:50:00.011-06:00

Can't hardly believe that another month has passed already. Not a lot has changed, but I think Kendall looks a little older this month:

She weighs 13.9 lbs and continues to drink mama's milk 5x per day.

She sleeps a lot in comparison to Riley -- at least 18-19 hrs a day. Riley was sleeping less than 15 hrs at this age.

She has good neck control now and doesn't squawk during tummy time. Now that she can roll both ways, she just changes position. After rolling on to her tummy consistently, we began putting her to sleep that way. This is how she soothes herself to sleep:

Now she's aware of the TV, I don't bother nursing her during one of my Netflix shows. She's way too distracted. Look what happened when I put her down to put Veggie Tales on for Riley. She was totally in to it (don't worry I didn't let her watch it!).

Now that her neck is strong and her back is getting stronger, she's started playing in the exersaucer at daycare and the jumper at home. She loves it -- until she's ready for her next nap.

She loves to stand so I tried setting her up against the back of the couch. She kept herself upright for 5-10 seconds. Not bad!

But you never know when those legs are going to give way, though!

This is her standard "look" nowadays. She loves sucking on her two left fingers.

When she's awake, she's a happy girl and a lot of fun to be around. I was a bit worried that she might end up being the exact opposite of Riley -- our perfectly contented baby boy. While her excessive napping (and strong preference for her bed) do keep us home more than we'd like, she seems to have a sweet disposition.

It's finally beginning to feel like she's always been here. We love our sweet baby girl and are so thankful that she's a part of our family!

Shelby

summertime fun

2010-07-31T19:12:00.005-06:00

Some random snaps of the kids from the past month:

Riley likes to call himself "Baby Riley" right now, looking for more attention from mama and daddy:

Daddy snuggling with his kiddos:

Backyard fun with our neighbors, Jack & Gracie:

Riley loves playing in the dirt...

...and climbing!

Our boy has no fear of heights:

One of the brief play times with Kendall when she's not napping (this kid sleeps a lot!):

She doesn't mind this at all...

Our pretty Girl!

target practice

2010-07-25T18:47:00.004-06:00

This is the way we give a 3 yr old boy something to aim at:

I love my cheerios too much to toss them in the toilet. And while I like the food coloring idea of turning blue to green and red to orange, this is cheaper and works just as well!

Shelby

Kendall is 4 months old!

2010-07-18T17:53:00.023-06:00

How much things can change in 30 days. When we compare Kendall's 3 month and 4 month snaps, three observations are made:

Kendall at 3 months

Kendall at four months

1.) While she doesn't look a whole lot bigger in size, she's actually moved on from wearing 3 month to 6 month clothes in the past week. So yes, she is growing. She gained a little more than a pound in the past month (12 lbs, 14 oz), which is 32nd percentile. Pretty consistent with what we've been seeing so far. My little peanut.

2) Notice her left hand? This hand is constantly grabbing for her foot. This is where she's obtaining her hand-eye coordination -- her own homegrown toy that goes with her everywhere. She can hold a toy and slowly put it in her mouth, but it's still pretty uncoordinated. She has much better luck with her fingers, which have completely replaced her binky. (Hallelujah -- No need to re-bink our crying baby!)

3) Lastly, you can get a sense of how much her personality is emerging now. She smiles and talks all day long. She wakes up and gives us smiles and gives them to me before bedtime. It's a happy thing to see. Sometimes she talks so loud that I can't hear Jonathan, Riley or the TV over her. The girl must be heard. It's a relief to see that she didn't end up being the exact opposite of her contented and easy-going brother as we feared. She's quite a lot of fun to have around.

I have to say that since weaning her off the nipple shield, I've finally come to enjoy nursing. Now that I'm back at work and nursing only morning and evening, I usually do so in bed which is so comfortable and relaxing. Remember those Calgon commercials -- "Calgon, take me away!". Well, I look forward to my little "Calgon Time" with Kendall each day. Other than that, she gets three bottles of expressed milk during the day for a total of 5 feedings.

As far as sleep is concerned, we couldn't be more happy. Our girl is a good sleeper. She goes to bed around 7p each night and I wake her up at 5am for her first feeding. After that, she goes back to bed and sleeps until 9:00 or 9:30 when J gives her her first bottle. After that, she takes another 3 naps during the day, usually 90-120 min each. Now that she sucks her fingers, any resistance to being put down in her crib lasts a minute or two at most. It took almost 3 months for her to learn to soothe herself to sleep, but we're relieved that she developed that skill for everyone's benefit, especially hers.

Besides when she's tired, the only time she cries is when she gets put in her car seat. She doesn't like it at all. But she usually accepts her fate and starts sucking her fingers and if tired, will take a cat nap. She can't nap when we get to where we're going unless she's really wiped out. She's way too interested in what's going on or just cries because she's tired due to her need for a lot of sleep. So we don't schlep her around quite as much as we did with Riley -- we respect her need for sleep and save ourselves the headache.

We reported last month that she can roll from belly to back -- its her way of getting out of tummy time. Now she's rolling from back to belly according to our daycare provider. Watch out world, this girl's on the move!

Riley still loves on his sister and now has taken to pretending to be a baby to get more of our attention. He'll say "Baby Riley" and come crawling up to us for some lovin'. Very cute.

A short video of Kendall showing us her gift of gab:

"Baby Riley" has always been a great blessing to his parents. Baby Kendall is too. We love our sweet, happy, talkative girl!

Shelby

born to run

2010-07-17T12:24:00.035-06:00

I've been running off and on for the past 25 years. I wasn't consistent with it until the last 7, when I discovered a park with wooded trails close to work. That's when I fell in love with trail running and acquired the motivation to do it several times each week.

I love running for many reasons. First, it's easy. It doesn't require a special skill or piece of equipment. All you need is a pair of shoes -- and the proponents of barefoot running would say you don't even need those. Second, it's versatile and can be done in any season. I like the fact that my legs can take me just about anywhere I want to go -- whether it's the beach, downtown Boston or Lynn Woods reservation -- I can run wherever I want, unimpeded. I love the freedom in that.

Early on, I ran a few 5k and 10k races as I trained periodically. I didn't really catch the running bug however, I just did it to compensate for my poor eating habits. When I was 28, I was inspired to do a marathon and ran the Chicago Marathon in the fall of '98. It was a great experience on many levels and exciting to see just what my body could do if I trained it properly. Now, every time I watch "Spirit of the Marathon" I get all giddy about running that race again.

(If you're interested, you can check out the trailer here. I get all emotional when I see the runners moving up the starting line... ok, deep breath.)

One of the things that keeps me running today is the curiosity of what my God-given body with it's special characteristics (that being short & muscular with 40 yr old joints) can still do. Though I'm slow, I like to race periodically to get a sense of my pace and how it compares to how I did as a sporadic runner or prior to getting pregnant.

Today, I ran my first race since last fall. It was the Seacoast Seven Road Race in Gloucester and temps were in the low-mid 80's. In other words, HOT. Not the temps I'm used to since I run in the early morning hours. But, with my family to cheer me on at the starting line, I battled the heat & hills and finished the course in 1 hr, 12 min at a 10:19 pace. With the heat and 10 remaining pregnancy pounds, I figured I'd be slower than last year, which was at a 9:27 pace.

The thing that struck me today was how much I dislike road running. It just doesn't compare to running in the woods. I got my first case of shin splints in years -- that didn't help things. The dirt trails give enough cushion that injuries haven't been an issue. So while it's great to have the competition of other runners to spur me to run faster and have a measured course to track my time, I'll be thrilled to get back to the trees, dirt, rocks and bugs of my well worn trails.

Some pics from the day:

Mama at the starting line

My support crew

Nearing the finish line

Riley giving me his sippy cup for my Camelbak bottle

The reward -- Almond Joy pancakes from Sugar Magnolias!

J showing the chocolate & coconut on the bottom!

Oh yeah, and the pineapple fritters and tangy sauce to dip them in...mmm good!

After every run, I thank God for legs that work and for the joy that I get from pounding the dirt. After losing my mobility during two pregnancies, it feels good to have my body back -- even if it is a slower one that takes longer to recover from grueling runs.

I like what runner Eric Liddell said in the movie Chariots of Fire, "When I run, I feel His pleasure". Amen and amen!

Shelby

celebrating five years

2010-07-11T17:30:00.001-06:00

It's hard to believe that it's been five years since Shelby and were married. In some respects it seems like just yesterday, and in others like she has always been with me. Praise God for the amnesia he has blessed me with so that I seem to forget all those painful, lonely years.

Now that we have two kids it is very unusual that we go out on a date, just Mama and Daddy. It has been a while, and mostly because of the cost of babysitting. It's just been prohibitive. That is, until our babysitter needed chiropractic care...

So just in time for anniversary number five we find ourselves able to spend some quality time together sans children. We decided to head to Cambridge, where there are a large number of great places to eat and drink as well as fun places to just hang out.

I've come to have a great love of "having tea" as long as it means tea as a meal, not just a drink. We've been to Alice's Tea Cup in NYC a number of times, and decided to start our afternoon / evening out with tea at Upstairs On the Square. Some pictures:

To get Upstairs you enter downstairs...

My beautiful date enjoying her tea

The interior decorating was fun if kind of crazy

The food was very tasty

The Happy Couple

Anniversary Turtle

The food was excellent. Tasty, different...with extremely small portions. It was an appetizer that cost like a very good meal. (Very different from Alice's!) It was a fun place though, and thankfully the cost was defrayed by an anniversary gift card from Shelby's folks (thanks Mom & Dad!) It did leave us looking for more to eat though, so on we went...

The next stop was another spot in Harvard Square that we had been told had VERY good coffee. The Crema Cafe also had some very tasty desserts to help us make it through to dinner. Some pictures:

Crema Cafe

Inside

Yummy Crema stuff

I had the Orange Rhubarb Cobbler on the left, and Shelby had the Lemon Chiffon Cupcake on the right. Yummy stuff indeed.

Once we had enough food to sustain us for a bit we headed off to do a bit of browsing in the stores. We missed the Curious George store (got there 5 minutes after it closed) but we did get to spend some time in Eastern Mountain Sports where Shelby got to try on the latest in fashion footwear:

Five Finger trail running shoes

Very attractive. We'll see if she ever takes up 'barefoot' running. These will be what she needs if so.

Next it was time for a snack. There was a chocolate theme that ran through the evening, with Burdick's Cafe being the most obvious part. Burdick's is amazing chocolate. We also had hot chocolate which is not like hot cocoa. If you ever had a Chantico at Starbuck's this is similar...but better. Kind of like drinking a melted chocolate bar. Wow.

This is how you do hot chocolate.

After a bit more wandering around Cambridge it was time for our final stop of the night: Finale. Finale is a restaurant that specializes in desserts. It is the place that I got Shelby's birthday cake from, and we've never had anything from the place that hasn't been amazing. In particular they have a special dinner and dessert special that we decided to take advantage of. The highlights:

Continuing on the theme of chocolate, the Chocolate Martini...

Which was greatly enjoyed

Continuing on the theme of small portions, this is the Shrimp and Avocado Salad. One shrimp.

That was a MAIN COURSE folks. The white pizza I had was better, but still small. The desserts, however, were portioned well.

Molten Chocolate

Lemon Pound Cake

The night ended with a visit with our friends the Zivans who were house sitting (enabling us to have a nice place to park close by...) I almost had a chance to finally get my fill when they offered homemade Thai food...but we had to leave. So sad.

It was a great night out and it was really great to get some alone time with my bride. It's something that will be at a premium for a while now. It makes the time spent that much more special.

Five years. I still haven't hit one of those times that our pastor talks about during weddings, the one where you wonder what you got married for. I've had five really good years. Better than I would have expected marriage to be. God blessed me with a good wife, and as I told her, I've had five years and I want more. Many, many more.

I guess sometimes good things do come to those who wait. I'm very grateful.

Jonathan

the explosion

2010-07-10T05:12:00.024-06:00

Our son is talking our ears off and we couldn't be more thrilled.

We think Riley's speech explosion has finally begun. In the past month, he has gone from saying 2 word combos to 3 or more word sentences. Yesterday, his preschool teacher told me that he imitated the other kids by asking, "May I have more milk please?". Normally, he'd say "more milk please", when prompted. Unprompted he would just say "milk". He said it for me again later -- it's slow, but understandable and I am so proud of my boy for having the courage to try it.

Some of the phrases he's been saying the past week are:

"Clean up the mess"
"Shut the door"
"Hello Doctor Soul" -- said to his neurologist, who was quite impressed with his speech progress since his last visit in January.
"Daddy, wake up!"
"Five A/Cs, window"

Now that he's learning the phrase "May I have", we're beginning to add other common phrases at the beginning and endings of his current sentences as well as verbs, articles & prepositions to help fill them out. "Five A/Cs in window" becomes "We have five A/Cs in the windows". It helps to break it up into three parts so that he says all the words. "Sit!" becomes "Will you sit with me?". I'm using this last one as a springboard to inviting a child to play with him, since he doesn't know how to do this appropriately yet. He usually does something to get their attention that they don't appreciate (knock over their toy or smacking them on the arm). Empathy has yet to be learned!

All this leaves us feeling very encouraged about Riley's anticipated ability to converse at the level of his peers. As we mentioned in our previous blog, the larger concern is in the area of socialization. We're hoping that his preschool time and developing speech skills will aid him in maturing in this area. He's such a friendly & outgoing child that we're hoping that the instruction he receives and positive role models will be all that he needs.

I recall last year that some folks in an effort to encourage us would tell us that having a talkative child can be exhausting. In other words, count your blessings if you have a quieter child. What they don't realize is that when you're faced with the possibility that your child may not be able to communicate and might be ostracized at school, it changes your perspective. We want our son to know the blessing of real friendship and being able to converse is so important to that. So while interacting with a talkative child IS emotionally exhausting, it's such a gift to be able to know what's going on in their mind. We have longed to know more of Riley's thoughts and hear how he's processing things in his world. To hear him talking all day long (even if he repeats the same thought) is such a joy to us. We'll take that emotional tiredness for the silence that we've had for the past two years, any day.

So bring on the speech explosion, we're ready for it!

Shelby

speech improvements

2010-07-02T20:52:00.004-06:00

We've noted that in the past few months, Riley's speech has been improving. He's putting two and three word sentences together now and is talking all day long. His articulation is improving as well, so his words are more understandable to non-parents he comes in contact with.

Two words that have been difficult for him to pronounce are "up" ("pup") & "off" ("bah"). I noticed today that as he was reciting his opposites (one of his favorite things to do) he was clearly saying both words. The other impressive thing was that he was saying "up/down" & "on/off" with no pause or hesitation as he did previously. It's as though the memory paths are forming and he's able to say these words automatically, without having to think about it so much. Very encouraging.

He started his regular 3-day-a-week preschool last week, which lasts from 9 until 5. The teachers have commented on what a sweet boy he is and he clearly enjoys going there. Since he will also attend the SpEd program at the elementary school, we call his regular preschool the "red" school as the schoolhouse is red. He'll start attending both next week, so our boy will have a full schedule of learning and activities. Our hope is that as he continues to interact with other children that he will be encouraged to say more and learn how to socialize with them. We're learning to trust God with this area of social interaction as that's the larger concern with his language delay.

Here's some video I took today where Riley demonstrates his emerging skills:

Shelby

learning about time

2010-07-02T18:59:00.004-06:00

Now that Riley's moved on from the alphabet and has learned to count to 10, I thought I'd start to introduce him to the concept of time. I thought that a weekly calendar would be a good place to start, so I started googling (is that a verb now??) kids weekly calendars to see what was out there since my graphic arts skills are pathetic, at best.

I found a magnetic calendar by a company called 2fish kids that I thought would be something enjoyable for Riley to use. It came in the mail today and I'm so excited about it, I just had to share.

It uses magnets for various holidays, activities and special events that are common as well as a dry erase marker for writing in other noteworthy events or to-dos. In addition, they can use the seasonal magnets to learn about the longer periods of time such as months as well as magnets to denote the weather for the day. It even has magnets for today, tomorrow and yesterday to help with understanding past and future days. Cool!

While I'm a little concerned that some of the pieces may go missing, but I think it's worth the trade-off if it helps him understand these concepts.

Anyway, just wanted to share about our latest learning tool!

Shelby

a day out with thomas / edaville

2010-06-27T19:28:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday we and our friends the Zivans took the kids for a trip down to Carver, MA to a small amusement park they have there. The draw: A ride on Thomas the Tank Engine. The park centers around a narrow gauge railroad that they have there, but for the 2 -6 year old crowd there's much more. (Actually, the parents can have fun too...)

Riley, it turns out, LOVES amusement park rides. He went on all the big rides and wanted more at each one. He started with the airplane ride that was one of the first as you head into the park. Once he found out that pulling back on the lever inside the plane took the plane higher he went as high as he could go and stayed there.

Natural born pilot? It is in his bloodline...

He went on a Ferris Wheel, Tilt-A-Whirl, Space Capsule, Merry-Go-Round and Flying Jumbo the Elephant ride, as well as the airplane and, of course, Thomas.

The video tells the tale, but there were some highlights. First was the Tilt-A-Whirl. Riley was hooting and hollering along with his Mom and Dad and didn't want to get off. It was actually the one ride that was truly adult style in the place. I loved how much HE loved it. Second, look for Riley sticking his head in the drum at the music tent to find the tambourine inside. He is a curious boy. Finally, Kendall didn't have much of a reaction to the place (being three months old) although she did look really cute while enjoying being held on the train ride. She HATED the train horn though. Poor girl. She took a cute picture though.

Funny, we went there for the "Day Out With Thomas" and that was the part Riley was least excited about. I guess he's just an adrenaline junky like his parents (who both LOVE rides!)

Here's the video:

We'll definitely be back to this place, Thomas or no.

Jonathan

father's day

2010-06-20T19:47:00.009-06:00

Father's Day has always been a day that has brought up a lot of emotion for me. Prior to being married it was a day that reminded me of my singleness and all of my unfulfilled desires. Once I was married there was a sense of nearness to the fulfillment of my dreams that was actually quite sweet.

That sweetness was nothing compared to the joy that fatherhood has brought me. My first Father's Day was a couple of weeks after we finally took Riley home from the hospital. Sweet indeed.

Father's Day now is full of that sweetness, and a sense of completion for the longings I had for so many years. But it's tempered by sadness as I always, quite keenly, feel the loss of my Dad. His is a good act to attempt to follow though.

Dad & I - I was seven

What I really want to write down right now however, are the impressions I have of my kids at this point in their lives. And also the things I love most about them.

Riley Boy

Riley is a kid with a really sweet disposition. He's easy going and really fun to hang out with.

I love his inquisitive nature (even if it means that he frequently destroys stuff trying to figure out how it works.) It makes him really fun to show things. Today I took him on a hunt in the back yard to find out where ants have their house. He saw the little holes that they crawl in and out of and, most exciting, got to see an ant carrying food back home. His excitement at this type of "discovery" is an incredibly joyful thing for me.

He loves to play and will instantly insert himself into any group of kids that he comes upon. It's so funny to see him go and sit right in the middle of a big group of girls. But even more he loves to play with his parents. One of my favorite things is when he pats the floor or ground next to him and says, "Sit." If I have ANY time at all I'll give it to him when he does this.

He is a very bright boy; he learned to read by 2 yrs. 9 mos., he knows his colors and can count to eleven. He currently loves to count things (members of the family, houses on our street up to ours, A/C units...) He mastered jigsaw puzzles long ago, leaving therapists who were testing him for his speech delay in amazement.

He has always loved books and has been reading (or at least looking at) them for as long as I can remember. Reading books to him is one of my favorite activities and we have done so in many different locations...even when on mountain bike rides (great rest period at the top of a killer hill.)

Riley loves TV and video, which we do try to limit to a certain degree. That has been tougher with Kendall's presence though, as watching a video will keep him from pulling at Mom or acting out when his baby sister needs Mom's full attention to eat. His current favorites are Blue's Clues and Winnie-the-Pooh. He also loves all the Pixar movies and the occasional Bob the Builder or Backyardagains. Something I love is to see when he starts interacting with Steve on Blue's Clues. It's fun to watch him.

He's an adventurous boy, seemingly without fear when climbing but also one who enjoys things like fast bike riding with Daddy in the woods and our newest discovery...amusement park rides. I can't wait until he's big enough for Six Flags! He also loves swimming, hiking and kayaking. One of the things I love best about my son is that he's someone who is fun to DO things with.

Riley is a very independent boy. He always wants to do things himself if he can and he rarely asks for help. I have to ask him several times if he needs help with something before he'll respond.

He is also showing a depth of emotion that has surprised me at times. Once when he was with me at the office he was being very difficult and actually a bit mean to me. I sat down in a chair across from him and asked him what was going on and why he was being mean to me. I told him that it made me sad (which it had.) He stopped cold and sat quietly for a moment. I then saw a tear coming out of the corner of his eye. My first thought was that I had upset him or angered him further. Not so. He got out of the chair, climbed into my lap and gave me a big hug with tears streaming down his face. It made him sad that he had made ME sad. And I didn't think that I could love him any more...

I LOVE the fact that Riley keeps showing me that there is a lot more to him than I think there is (and I think there's a lot...) He keeps me on my toes.

Kendall Girl

This is one of my favorite pictures of her. Why? She was smiling at ME when the picture was taken...

Baby girl is still small enough that there's a lot less to say about her than her brother. She is starting to show some personality though, and I have to say that I'm liking what I see.

She's a very cute girl and this shows up most when she smiles. Lately this has been more and more frequent. She generally wakes in a sweet mood with big smiles. I love singing silly little songs and talking to her while I make lunch or whatever task I am doing in the morning. She is for the most part happy to just hang out with you...as long as she can see you. I put her in the bouncy seat or the portable swing and she's good to go. It's nice having her sitting there very contentedly.

Kendall is starting to babble a bit, and I really love listening to her start to give her voice some use. She does cry a bit (of course) but most of the time I know what she wants as her cries have become almost like language.

She does let us know what she wants more than her brother did. Kendall knows what she wants (for the most part) and stops sounding off pretty much as soon as she gets it. I think one of the things I get the biggest kick out of is the approximately 5 seconds of crying she does after I give her an adjustment. She lets loose and then just suddenly stops. Just wants to let me know she didn't like it.

With Mama heading back to work I get to hang out (and doze) with my baby girl in bed for a little while in the morning. It's a time that I really love, even if I'm only giving her a bink and occasionally rubbing her tummy to help relax her and send her off to her morning nap. It's generally a very peaceful time and I love to just lay there and look at her. She is such a cutie and I feel my love for her growing stronger with each passing day.

I have to say that before Kendall was born I really wondered if I could ever love another child as much as I love Riley. It was hard to imagine, even though everyone (including me) knew that I would. I can say now that I know I can. It simply amazes me.

I'm very grateful for the precious gift the God has given me in my family. There is sometimes truth to the old adage that good things come to those who wait. The wait was long but worth it. The depth of love I have for these people stuns me at times. My hope though, is that at the end of my life my kids will know that I loved them as much as I know my Dad loved me. If that's true then I'll have done a good job. Like I said, he was a good act to attempt to follow.

Jonathan

three months

2010-06-18T08:32:00.019-06:00

Our baby girl is 3 months old today! Here's some of what's going on with her and what she's up to:

* She weighs 11 lbs 12 oz, which as of a month ago, she was in the 35th percentile for weight.

* She's nursing 6x per day starting at 5am with the last feeding around 7pm. I was able to wean her off of the nipple shield about two weeks ago, so her feedings are lasting between 30-40 min rather than the 60 min it was previously taking.

* She's sleeping about 8-9 hours at night, usually waking between 3:30am - 5am. When she wakes earlier than her first day's feeding, I bring her into bed and offer her a binky, which puts her back to sleep until 5am.

* Her daytime naps vary from 30 - 90 min usually, now that she's more interested in what's going on around her.

* She began turning herself 180 degrees in the crib through contorting her body this way and that. This led us to believe she might roll herself over while swaddled, so we stopped swaddling her and now use the sleepsack instead.

* Speaking of rolling, she began rolling from belly to back about 10 days ago, so tummy time doesn't last very long now!

* She also uses her heels to propel herself backwards so I often find her head up against her crib slats even though I put her in the center of the crib.

* She sucks on her hands all the time now and is using her hands to bat at her playgym animals and to grasp toys (briefly) that we put within reach. She'll put her blankets or burp clothes in her mouth when they're within reach too.

* She smiles and talks to us a lot now. I get big smiles from her first thing in the morning, which makes waking up at 5am easier!

Here's some of the latest snaps of our little beauty:

Just about to roll over...

...so she can play with her playgym animals

Talking to mama whilst in the Bumbo

Rattle play

Whatcha talking about mama??

We had the kid's pictures taken last week, but none of the pics of the two of them together came out, so we did it ourselves:

In short, Kendall is a sweet little girl who is a delight to her whole family. We're so thankful that God gave her to us and we look forward to getting to know her more!

Shelby

cupcakes and purple houses

2010-06-14T18:47:00.009-06:00

huh??

These are the topics that Riley has been fixated on for the past week and the inspiration for his first 3-word sentences.

A little background... Up until a few months ago, Riley spoke only single words. With the help of his EI therapist, he began using some simple two-word combinations such as "Blue House", "More Bear" or "Ball Please". He didn't use these spontaneously, but would do so when prompted.

By the time his third birthday rolled around last month, he was using two word combinations without prompting. Usually these words were descriptive words -- and adjective and a noun such as "Big Mall" and his vocabulary seemed to increase by the week. We were very encouraged that he was on the brink of his speech explosion now that two word combos and two syllable words were coming out of his mouth throughout the day.

Well, ever since his birthday he has been talking about cupcakes -- a word that he says very well and enjoys saying (as well as eating!). He asks for them for breakfast, lunch and dinner on a regular basis and I remind him that they are for special occasions, such as birthdays.

Last Saturday, his friend CeCe was turning 4 and Riley was invited to her birthday party. I told him several days before that he would have cupcakes at CeCe's party. For the rest of the week he would say over and over "CeCe house cupcake!". When I realized later that the party would be at a local park he revised it to "CeCe park cupcake!". I'm pretty sure this is the first 3 word sentence that he's uttered. All it took was some sweet inspiration!

This sentence has given birth to others since then. We hung out at CeCe's house after the party and he made two observations that he has been talking about ever since. He noted that they had two A/C units ("CeCe A/C two!") and that her house is purple ("CeCe House Purple!"). I would answer back that yes, CeCe's house IS purple to try and help him complete the sentence structure. He answered back "Riley House Red!". Then he continued with "Mama car white!" and "Daddy car black!", so he's beginning to get an understanding of how to put words together in sentence form.

We're still working on the verbs as he is more interested in labeling with adjectives and nouns right now. But we're encouraged by all the words that he is spontaneously uttering and his willingness to try new words. After being such a quiet child, it's great to hear him talking all day long and to enjoy the sound of his own voice.

Besides counting things, he's getting into rhyming now. He came home from school about a week ago and started rhyming with words that end with the "op" sound: Hop, Pop, Cop, Mop, Stop. He'll start off with a word such as "bat", then pause and say "hat" and I'll add "mat" and he'll say "cat" and on and on. I can see him searching for consonant sounds to put with the "at" ending so his knowledge of the alphabet is coming in handy.

The other thing he's interested in now is opposites. He'll say "up/down", "top/bottom","front/back", "tall/short", "big/small" and his favorite: "inside/outside". I'm trying to think of others so he gets those relationships as he doesn't have a book that's specific to this topic... he's just figured it out recently and enjoys saying them back to back.

In closing, here's a short sample of the kind of things he's saying right now. He's naming off the members of our family and counting how many there are:

We love our talking boy!!

Shelby

rollin', rollin', rollin'...

2010-06-09T20:05:00.002-06:00

Keep movin', movin', movin'. So the song goes...

At 2 months and 22 days, our baby girl started rolling from tummy to back. This is how she got out of her neck & upper back exercises today:

I suspect that we have yet another athlete in the family if she's this anxious to get moving. Maybe I'll have a running partner after all!

Way to go Kendall-girl!

Shelby

potty training reprise

2010-06-08T06:51:00.009-06:00

Back on January 16th, we blogged about our first attempt to potty train Riley. After 30 days of trying, it seemed clear that he just wasn't ready for it. One of the assurances that I had was that no child gets on the bus in diapers, so he had plenty of time to reach this milestone.

Well, I was wrong. On May 24th, Riley did get on the bus wearing a diaper as he started his preschool SpEd program that day. However, he was not destined to stay in diapers once he saw the other kids taking their potty breaks. Within days, he was taking off his wet diapers and handing them to me and asking Jonathan to let him sit on the potty while he was with him at the office.

So we figured we should exploit this opportunity to go cold-turkey and see if he was ready to give diapers up for good. Starting last week, I began letting him wear his trainers in the afternoons -- with success, mostly. I think that because he was going back & forth between diapers and trainers he would possibly get confused and that was the cause of the accidents that he had.

One thing that became clear is that he did not like to be wet and as soon as he started leaking, he'd have this worried look on his face and let us know he was wet. Another thing we saw was that he would sense that he had to go and sit on the potty all on his own -- he didn't wait for me to ask him if he needed to go. These were two more indicators that he was ready, as we did not see this back in Dec/Jan when we first tried training him.

So last Friday at 11am I told him that we would be taking his diaper off and he would wear underwear from now on. We restarted the award system in which he got to reach into the trail mix jar and pick 1 treat for pee and 2 treats for poo. In the first 24 hours he had several accidents, mainly due to getting used to not automatically going in his pants like he did with his diapers. After the first couple of accidents, he did great. The relapse occurred again on Saturday morning -- as he wears a diaper overnight still -- when he needed to remember to stop himself from going in his pants. Again, after an accident or two, he did great the rest of the day.

He has been accident-free since Saturday morning -- and it's now Tuesday morning. Can I get a WOO HOO??!!

I should also mention that Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, he was gone from home at least 3-4 hours at a time and stayed dry the whole time! He's always been finicky about using public toilets, so this was a big step forward. He prefers his child-size potty to the big one, so I've purchased an insert so he can fit on it better. He still doesn't like to use it as he feels like he's going to fall in, I think. He does like using his Cars potty seat however, so we now keep that in the car and just stick it in a bag for him to use. Whatever keeps his pants dry is what we're willing to do.

We are so proud of our son taking this step forward and doing so well. It's just one of the changes we're seeing now that he's started preschool. His language skills are improving too. But more on that in a future blog.

Shelby

the many faces of kendall

2010-06-04T18:48:00.000-06:00

J made a slide show of Kendall's expressions captured a couple of weeks ago...

We love our l'il cutie pie!

Shelby

kendall (by request)

2010-06-01T18:19:00.007-06:00

A certain relative of mine informed me that there was a lack of Kendall pics and videos being posted, so this entry is to try and remedy that situation. As so much seems to be going on in Riley's life for the past several weeks, I suppose he has dominated the news as of late. There hasn't been much to report on Kendall -- newborns just don't do much -- but we have been taking pictures and making notes of some of the changes we're beginning to see with her.

For starters, she's not sleeping as much during the day. Her naps tend to be naplets of 30-60 min max, if that. So she's spending a little more time in the swing, for instance. She didn't like it at all at first, but now she good with it. I usually put her in it in the late afternoon where she intersperses mile-long stares with short snoozes.

When Kendall's not sleeping or on one of her marathon feeding sessions (45 - 60 min!), she's often sitting in the bumbo while I'm busy with Riley or doing some housework. Now that she can sit straight in it, she enjoys it more.

Kendall's last check up was about a week ago. She weighed 10.7 lbs and moved up from the 26th percentile to the 35th in weight.

Probably the biggest change in her life is that she's graduated up to her crib, which means she gets to enjoy her mobile now. We got this awesome mobile from a friend called Symphony in Motion and both of our kids loved it. Besides the mobile, this picture also captures one of her new discoveries -- sucking on her hands:

Like Riley, Kendall stills needs to be swaddled to calm down and go to sleep at night. She is a magnificent squirmer however and on two occasions managed to move completely off her sleep positioner. This is how I found her in the morning:

She's taking notice of her brother too. Riley still dotes on his sister and I was reminded again of why I can't leave them alone together in the room quite yet. The other day I left Kendall in her bouncy seat to get myself a glass of water when Riley took her out of it to move her to the activity mat for tummy time. I hear this cry from Kendall and after running back to the living room, she's lying there on her belly with her face planted nose-first on the ground and crying. Riley looked surprised as though he didn't expect things to go so awry. That's my helpful boy. Well, that won't be the last time he inadvertently makes her cry now, will it??

Please don't be fooled... Riley's not stroking Kendall's hair but rather he's sticking his thumb into her ear. She let out a holler as I was taking the picture to let him know she didn't like it.

(You may have noticed that Riley's naked as a jaybird in these snaps. Well, he's showing an interest in the potty again so I let him run around naked that afternoon as he was practicing his potty skills. He's mostly done very well, so we're going cold turkey again this weekend to see if this time we can ditch the diaps for good during the day. More on that later...)

Lastly, baby girl is showing us her strong neck & back muscles and will consent to tummy time for more than a couple of minutes now. Check her out:

We love our baby girl!!

Shelby

memorial day weekend

2010-05-31T18:44:00.011-06:00

The summer season is finally upon us. After a winter filled with pregnancy and a spring of having a newborn we've been feeling some cabin fever.

The first big weekend of the summer gives us three days to rest and recreate. Well, at least recreate. We filled up our time pretty well.

On Saturday we did an exercise in finding out how much activity we can jam into one day before our entire family melts down. The day started with Mom & Dad trading off exercise sessions. Here's a shot from Daddy's bike ride:

Flawless weather and Lynn Woods, it doesn't get any better!

The next activity on the schedule was swim lessons for Riley. Since he started preschool this week Monday mornings are out for swimming, so we're finishing out the term on Saturday. Riley did very well with a different teacher and class structure.

Waiting in line...for the first time

After swimming we went home to get the rest of the family and we all headed off to Boston for a trip to the Museum of Science. Shelby has taken Riley there several times in the past and he always enjoys the place.

Magnet Boy

The high point of the trip for Riley was riding the escalator with Daddy. We went up and down over and over... I had taken some very funny video of this, but unfortunately no longer have my camera. Last seen in the nursing room where we met up with Mama and Kendall just before leaving it was already gone five minutes later when I came back for it. I can only hope someone returns it.

Oddly, the place closed down at 5 PM on Saturday (!) something we did not know. We left without getting our fill of the place.

Next was a visit to see our friends the Reinbolds who live not far from the museum. We had a good (if short) visit, but at this point the kids were showing signs of cracking. Riley appears very comfy in this shot though:

He loves sitting in boxes. This is a toy box.

After stopping for gas on the way home things fell apart. Kendall started crying because she was hungry and Riley (our easy going, do anything boy) went into a total, over the top meltdown. He finally calmed with a promise of some food and a liberal quantity of Winnie-the Pooh. Everyone got in bed earlier than usual.

The next day found us still exhausted. When just getting ready for church seemed like too much of a trial we decided to scale back plans for the day and just come home after church, as much as it pained us to miss our friend Sam's wedding ceremony. It seemed better than having two screaming kids in the sanctuary as they said vows though...

So we had a rest day and prepared for our Memorial Day trip to Newcastle, NH to meet up with Shelby's cousins.

Great Island Common, Newcastle NH - Great place!

Feeling much more rested the day was a treat. The weather was cool and sunny, and the park was well appointed (especially for kids) and a pretty place. A perfect day and place for a picnic.

We've talked before about how much Riley enjoys his cousin Erica. The feeling is quite mutual and despite the fact that Riley is three and Erica twelve they have the greatest time playing together. Some pictures:

Heavy equipment

Sand, action shot

Jumping, action shot

Burying Erica's legs

Burying another kid (the kid asked him to.)

Erica pushes Riley on the swing, Riley pretends to sleep

Riley LOVES Erica

Kendall enjoyed the picnic too

Here's a nice shot of Kendall wide awake!

Erica, Riley and Shelby on the jetty

Riley just had to climb (well, be placed in) this tree

It was a fun day. And since it was at a point equidistant between the cousins and us, we'll definitely be back. It was also a day that ended much earlier than Saturday...I think we've probably learned that lesson. This summer will likely be a bit less active than the last two have been. Babies change that quite a bit. Kendall does pretty well with the active lifestyle though.

I think it will still be a very full summer.

Jonathan

preschool...and the bus

2010-05-28T19:26:00.004-06:00

With Riley's third birthday came a switch from daycare to preschool. His full schedule of preschool won't start until Shelby heads back to work in June but morning preschool in the town school system, where he'll be getting speech lessons now, began Monday.

We're excited that Riley will be getting more therapy than he was getting before. And it's great that he is going to have a lot more interaction with other kids. (That's already paying off in other ways...but that's a topic for another blog.) The most challenging part of the whole thing is that he goes to preschool on a BUS! Well, it was challenging for us as parents, but not for our boy.

Waiting for the bus

Riley has for some reason always loved buses and especially school buses. (Here's an example.) So it's no big surprise that he had absolutely no problem with getting on a school bus all alone to go off to school. What a big adventure! Here are pictures and the video of him getting on the bus:

Here comes the bus!

Getting on the bus

On the bus

Funny, at first he kind of looks at us as if saying, "Aren't you coming too?" Then he's perfectly fine and ready to go by himself. Our big boy! He was quite happy. Mom and Dad were all weepy.

The house was way too quiet with him gone. It just seemed wrong. I mean, he's THREE.

So I got ready for work and did a basement bike ride. Shelby went out for a run. She cut it a little close to when Riley was getting back though, and had to kick it into high gear to get home in time. She cut a minute a mile off her previous best since her return to running after Kendall's arrival. Runners will know what a big deal that is, but for those who don't it is a huge difference. The motivation of a loving mom is an amazing thing.

So Riley got back home. I think that he missed the bus more than us after it left. Hah! Here's a picture and the video of his triumphant return:

I'm home!

Getting off the bus

Over the first week of preschool Riley has brought home various art projects, has had to do his first show and tell and has had his first speech lessons. He looks forward to school (and the bus) each day. He looks like such a big boy with his backpack on. We're very proud of how he's handled himself. He's such a good boy.

There are a lot of milestones in parenthood. Going off to school rates up there amongst the biggest. It's tough enough when your kid is five, but at three it's nerve racking. We've been blessed with a boy who not only took it in stride, but loved it. That certainly makes sending him off each morning much easier.

But not easy.

Way to go Riley Boy!

Jonathan

three

2010-05-24T08:41:00.009-06:00

When you get a chance to sit down and look at where you suddenly are in life it can be absolutely stunning. That's the feeling I get when I stop and look at the fact that I've now got a three year old son. After years of being single I look at how things are now and think, "How did that happen?"

Such is the way time flows when you are busy and as a whole, quite happy.

Riley turned three on Sunday, but we actually celebrated his birthday in stages for three days (appropriate...) with the biggest celebration happening on Saturday with his party.

Stage one started things off on Friday. We needed cupcakes for the party on Saturday, and Riley had a big part in making them:

Putting the cups in the pan

Chef Riley does the mixing

Stage two was on Saturday. This was really the big celebration day, since we were having his party in the afternoon.

The day started with Riley and Mama having a cupcake breakfast. (This also led to Riley wanting cupcakes f0r every meal for the next two days.)

Cupcakes for breakfast...

After breakfast it was time for Riley to play with his first gift, the Fisher-Price Playhouse. This is a vintage toy that Shelby remembers playing with (and loving) as a child. With Riley's all encompassing love of houses it was bound to be a hit. All the work it took for Shelby to put the thing together (via eBay) was worth it. He LOVES it:

Riley's Playhouse

He loves it!

After some play time Daddy got up and it was time for a regular breakfast. Banana strawberry pancakes:

He had two

After breakfast there was time for some activities:

Reading Mother Goose with Mama

A little birthday Blue's Clues

Next it was party time! We had his party at the Burlington Mall Playground, a place that the kids love that is in the food court. So we could put some tables together and get some pizzas from Pizzeria Regina for the celebration (Riley, after at first being unsure if he wanted it, LOVED the pizza.)

Riley was really funny, once we got the table set up with balloons and the cupcakes and presents were out he didn't want to leave to play in the playground. He just sat at the table...as though he was going to miss something if he left. I suppose he didn't entirely understand that the whole thing was for him. Here's a video of the party:

Riley's Third Birthday Party

The celebration continued with stage three on Sunday, although a lot lower key. The day did start off with another gift, the Fisher-Price Barn. Another of Shelby's faves as a kid, and it was a big hit with our boy. After breakfast we took it out to the living room where for at least five minutes I heard him say, "Barn...barn...barn...barn..." He finally stopped when he saw me bring out the camera to video him.

Riley loves the Barn (...barn...barn...barn..)

After church we went to the playground nearby to spend some time with friends who had their baby girl baptized. Riley, of course, has never met a playground he hasn't liked:

In the window

He loves ANY slide

Comfy spot

In case you didn't know, he's three...

Kendall napped

After starting home we realized we were far to exhausted from the weekend to head out to our community group, so we went home for good. The rest of the day was LOWER key:

We tested out the Bubble Blasting Plane

Bubble Blasting Plane video

Riley got his introduction to Winnie The Pooh

The final cupcakes were eaten...upside down

It was a great weekend and a wonderful way to celebrate our boy. Being three is going to bring all kinds of changes. More on that in future blogs though. For now we just want to say how much we love this boy that God has blessed us with. He has been and continues to be a great joy to us, even with the challenges that being three brings. He is on a whole a sweet, loving boy who makes us proud to be his parents. Happy Birthday Riley-Boy!

Jonathan

miss irma

2010-05-21T18:57:00.001-06:00

For the last year and a half Riley has been getting speech therapy from Early Intervention. For the entire time he's been working with a woman named Irma.

Speech therapy it has been, but it's been playtime for our boy and he has always looked forward to it. It's been easy to tell that Irma has enjoyed working with Riley as well.

Irma hard at work

Riley and Miss Irma

Riley has made great strides in the past year and a half. He has gone from having only a handful of mostly single syllable words that he would use to saying multi-syllable words and combinations of words. It's actually starting to feel like we are having two way conversations with our son rather than just talking to him.

Much of this progress is due to the work that he has done with, "Miss Irma." Irma has been absolutely wonderful with Riley, doing her job with patience as well as competence. She's also developed a bond with our son, so it's sad to see this phase of his therapy coming to an end.

With his third birthday comes a switch over to services provided by the town which he'll get while attending a morning preschool. Monday brings that big change, but for now I just want to express gratitude for what we've had. Thanks Irma for teaching our boy, and for loving him. You have a gift for what you do that we really appreciate. You'll be missed!

Jonathan

randomness

2010-05-20T19:06:00.004-06:00

Now that life is full of the stuff of newborns, I find pics that I meant to put up here that are weeks old. Better late than never, right? Here goes...

I first put Kendall in the Bumbo seat when she was around 6 weeks old. She looked so cute in it and did a pretty good job of not collapsing sideways with that jelly spine of hers:

After a couple of minutes she was done, so Riley (who is now interested in all of her things) sat himself in it. Man, did he look big!

Around that same time, I got serious about getting back into my old clothes as I'm currently in-between wardrobes. I'm totally into salads now, at least if they have the avocados, hard-boiled eggs, almonds, feta & fruit on top. Here Kendall supervises the building of the salad-to-salivate for:

As Riley will start with the SpEd preschool next Monday, we've been talking up going to school. He was pretty excited about getting a backpack and struts around in it, proud as a peacock. Since there is bus service, we've signed up for it and he seems to look forward to riding it. I hope that when he realizes that he's riding without us that he will still enjoy it.

I still haven't processed the fact that my baby boy is now jumping on a bus and going to school. This "letting go" seems harder than leaving him with a daycare provider. How someone parents a child without the knowledge that a sovereign, loving God is caring for them is beyond me. It's scary enough knowing that God loves my son more than I do and nothing will happen that He hasn't ordained. Nothing has shown me how little control I actually have than having a child. Downright terrifying at times, until I beat the truth back into my brain.

My nearly 3 yr old preschooler...Doesn't he look like a big boy?!

Well, we have lots happening in the next few days, so you may just get a few timely blogs as Riley finishes up with E.I., celebrates his 3rd birthday and starts preschool. Stay tuned!

Shelby

unbreakable sippy cups

2010-05-19T19:37:00.003-06:00

Due to Riley's oral hyposentivity (he requires extra stimulation), we have gone through 6-10 sippy cups, trying to find the one with a straw that he can't bite through. Since he drinks a lot of water throughout the day, he needed something spillproof that he could carry around. I finally resorted to buying a little juicebox size tupperware container with a hard-plastic straw. He eventually bit through that one as the plastic wasn't that thick.

Well, lo and behold I was at Babies R Us, shopping for a couple of things for Kendall and found that they were stocking two new sippy cups that looked like they could withstand the oral abuse that my son would give them:

The first is the Thermos Foogo Phases Sippy Cup:

The other is the Tommee Tippee Explora Drinking Cup, which we use for his yogurt milk:

After more than two months of use, both cups are still in great shape. So if you or someone you know has a kid who bites through straws, we highly recommend these sippy cups.

Shelby

kendall is two months old!

2010-05-18T19:04:00.022-06:00

Our baby girl is two months old today. It's hard to believe she's been with us for that long already -- the time is going by so fast. She is now 10 lbs, 3 oz and continues to nurse approximately every 3 hours during the day. At night, she goes to bed around 7:30p and wakes up around 5:30a with a dream feed from daddy at 11p.

She's still not a voracious eater, but since she seems content, continues to gain weight and have regular eliminations, we're not concerned at the point. We'll see what the doc has to say when both kids get their checkups next week.

We're grateful that she's a good night sleeper, though it should be said that most times we lay her down she fusses for 5-15 min before settling down to sleep. We continue to swaddle her and offer her the binky if she's interested in sucking. I'm hoping that she continues to wake between 5:30 and 6a each morning, as that's when I will be feeding her prior to going back to work on June 21st.

She naps very well in the mornings, so well in fact that it's like a continuation of her night sleep. Once I feed her in the morning, she pretty much goes back down and doesn't wake up for at least a couple of hours. Her afternoon naps are more like catnaps, though if I'm not running errands, she does sleep a bit better.

Check out the red eyebrows...she's got light reddish-brown hair, we think from her G'pa Berg:

She prefers motion when in her car seat. She cries when we put her in it, but once we rock it or pick it up to carry her out to the car, she is quiet. It's funny also that when the car's in motion she's quiet, but woe to us if we come to a stop for any reason and she's still not asleep -- she starts hollering until the car's in motion again. Fortunately, once we get on the highway, she usually falls asleep so we don't have that kind of "alarm" going off the entire car ride.

She's started enjoying her swing more:

Some of the developmental things we're beginning to see:

1) She smiles. This is most often seen just after a feeding, but I've also seen them when she's just gotten up from a nap and I have her on the changing table.

2) She's now tracking me across the room as I'm walking around, which makes me feel special.

3) She will put her fist in her mouth and suck on it. It appears deliberate rather than just a random act of driving it into her mouth. This usually happens just after I've fed her and she's having her 15-30 min of contentedness before she becomes tired.

4) We also see her trying to grasp at her toys. She still pretty much bats at them, but can hold a toy for a minute or so when it's placed in her hand.

5) Like Riley, she doesn't like tummy time, but her neck strength seems good as she loves to be held looking over my shoulder. She straightens her legs out and stands straight up to get a good look around. This has made using the Ergo baby carrier more challenging as she doesn't want to keep her legs in a froggy position -- she tries to stand up and her feet appear under the waist band. I've started putting her in the bumbo seat for a few minutes at a time and she does very well as keeping her back straight and not falling over to the side.

I love how it looks like they're chattering away, in their own little world:

We'll close with some misc snaps of our girl hanging with the family:

Riley loves to join her on the activity mat:

Daddy's girl:

Riley loves his baby sister:

Not surprisingly, Kendall is more vocal than her brother was, but it's nice to see her enjoy her playtime more and get interested in the world around her. So far, she's not the malcontent that we feared we may get, after having such a easygoing baby in Riley. We look forward to seeing her personality emerge and see the ways in which she is different from her brother.

Two months have gone by pretty fast. Having two little ones around the house definitely is more of a challenge. Even so we love having our baby girl. Happy two months Kendall!

Shelby

mother's day(s)

2010-05-17T18:39:00.007-06:00

We actually celebrate Mother's Day in two stages. The first is on Mother's Day weekend when we take a trip down to CT to see my Mom and the second is the following weekend when we do a 'celebration' just for Shelby.

This year we added on a side trip with a stop to visit some friends who have recently relocated to CT not too far from Mom. We miss the Davis family very much and it's great to have an excuse to get together. We also got to show off our baby girl, and Riley got a chance to play with Ivy who was beyond excited to see him (her mom told us she was saying, "He's my boy!")

Riley also had his first, 'sleepover' on the inflatable mattress with Ivy. Ivy wasn't quite ready for Riley's desire to snuggle with her (our boy has no knowledge of what personal space is and actually likes being as close as is possible to other kids.) She didn't want to abandon the bed with Riley however:

Tired kids after a late night play time

Baby girl had a sleepover too

The kids played together nearly every moment we were there. Ivy was also kind enough to lend Riley her pink sweatshirt on a colder than expected morning... Here's a picture and some video of jumping onto the inflatable mattress:

Nice air!

One, two, three...

After an amazing breakfast the next morning we were off to Mom's house. This was my Mom's first chance to see her new granddaughter and she was, to say the least, quite excited.

Grandma & Kendall

It was also the first chance for Kendall to meet her CT uncles Bruce and Drew (Bruce has an amazing way with babies) and also hang with her cousin Daniella:

Daniella and Binky Girl

It was a nice weekend and a great chance to show off our baby girl.

Mother's Day part two took place this weekend. I've always been of a mindset that there are a couple of celebrations where Shelby needs to have the focus on her alone. The first is her birthday (which is really close to Christmas. No Christmas / birthday celebrations allowed.) The second is Mother's Day. She does get a shared celebration at Mom's house, but I like to do something the following week as well.

For my Sweetie, any celebration means sushi! We went to Sato II, one of our favorite local spots. One of the things that we love about this place (aside from the great food) is how really sweet the waitresses are. They always dote on Riley and were equally as excited to see Kendall. How many restaurants are happy to see infants and small children? We love this place. Here are some pictures:

Mama and her boy

Daddy and his girl, who thankfully slept...

Mama's delicious lunch:

Seaweed salad

Sushi feast (with the best spicy tuna we've ever had)

Watch for little hands stealing fish eggs...

I'm thankful for the wonderful women the Lord has placed in my life. I have a mother who loves me and believes in me beyond anything I would ever expect. And I have a wife who exceeds any expectations I ever had of how a mom should raise her kids. Shelby loves our kids with the same kind of passion that I see in my Mom. My children and I have truly been blessed.

Jonathan

two years

2010-05-10T19:05:00.003-06:00

Two years ago on May 6th life as I had known it came to an end. To some this may sound a bit melodramatic, but it's true for me on a great many levels. May 6th was the day my Dad died.

Most of my thoughts and feelings are the same as they were two years ago, although many of the emotions are at a lower level or come up less frequently now. Thankfully. Living in that kind of emotional flux for an extended period would be too difficult.

There are some things that have changed though, and this is the reason for the melodrama. My thought patterns were re-shaped in some ways by Dad's passing. There is a a certain amount of innocence, or maybe naivete that left me that day. For better or worse I don't know.

I've always been a fairly positive sort. I guess I inherited my Dad's "rose colored glasses." I've usually been good at putting a positive spin on things and, unfortunately sometimes, at seeing things as potentially more positive than they will end up being. The world has always been a mostly good place that I felt quite at home in.

When Dad died for the first time I came to see the 'wrongness' of this world and to realize that it really isn't the 'home' that I've been made for or that I long for. Until Dad's death I always struggled with the concept of not being "of this world." I now feel it keenly.

There's a passage of scripture that sums up what I'm feeling. 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (NLT), which says:

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

As the passage says, it's not that I want to die and get on with things spiritually. I'd like to live a long and full life, especially giving all that I can to my family. But with Dad's passing I'm that much more conscious of the "groans and sighs" that are part of life, as well as the imperfections of life as we know it. Death is the biggest of these in my opinion. And there is a growing part of me that longs for the eternal. God has prepared me for this indeed.

I'll end with a link to the eulogy I gave for Dad. He was a great man who I hope to emulate. The pain I still feel over his passing is only tolerable because of the promise of eternity spent with him. I miss him very much.

Jonathan

IEP update

2010-05-03T14:37:00.010-06:00

Today, we met with a team of therapists and educators from Wakefield Schools to discuss Riley's Individualized Education Program (IEP) which is to begin after he turns three. This is the final step in transitioning Riley's speech therapy from Early Intervention to the school district. We've been anxious to hear what they would offer to provide for him within their morning preschool special education (SPE) program.

With budget cuts affecting so many schools in this current economic environment, we didn't expect them to propose the number of individual sessions that was recommended by the SLP at Children's Hospital. She had recommended 2 individual sessions and 1 group session per week. Well, we were delighted to hear that the school district is going to give him what Children's recommended. Praise God! Even our EI therapist (who was present at the meeting) was surprised at what was offered for Riley. We walked out of the meeting feeling encouraged that our son will be given the tools needed to succeed in his language development.

He will start SPE on May 24th, the day after his birthday. He will attend 5 days per week from 8:15a - 10:45a. Each day has a different main activity such as going to gym class, doing show & tell or visiting the school library to check out a book for the week. His teacher told us that even when Riley is not in therapy, all the activities within the class are language-based activities. The other 3 year olds will have varying language skills so some of them will be modelers for him. There are a number of different preschool classes geared towards a variety of disabilities, so Riley's will be one of the higher functioning classes and the language is geared towards functional communication.

So things will be changing yet again for our boy as he gears up for SPE in May and "regular" preschool in June. Three days a week, he'll be going from SPE to preschool until I pick him up after work. The other two days he will continue to join Jonathan at the office as the "Associate Chiropractor" -- providing his own special adjustments, handing out ice packs and providing general entertainment for the patients.

I'm excited to see our son get exposed to so many new things and get the opportunity to develop in ways that he can't while being home with me. And yet, there is a sadness at seeing him exit another season of life now that he is our big boy going off to school. I do cherish this time that I have with him right now as it won't happen again (yep, this IS my last maternity leave). So I guess there's an ambivalence that I feel as these changes are about to take place.

Another thought that has come to me recently is how God led us to Wakefield, which has such a good reputation in taking good care of their SPE kids and families. Riley was only 9 months when we moved here, so we had no idea what a good school district this could be for him. Our EI contacts spoke very highly of the people they have worked with in Wakefield and so far, J and I have been impressed at their commitment to giving their best for the kids.

As God has provided so much for our son in bringing us here and giving us a great team of caring educators, we believe that Riley will begin to close the speech gap between himself and his peers. We're already seeing him try and say almost everything that we ask him to, including two-word combinations and multi-syllable words. That language explosion could be just around the corner!

We wrote that he is talking, babbling and singing all day long now. Did we mention that he is now saying his name for the first time? If you ask him his name, he'll tell you it's "Rah Rah". Articulation will come later -- we're just thrilled to hear him trying out new and difficult words.

We love our Riley-boy!

Shelby

3 firsts at 6 weeks

2010-05-02T15:40:00.010-06:00

1) Kendall's starting to give us social smiles. I tried to capture it on camera, but this was the best I could do:

2) She has started tracking me as I walk around the room.

3) She did a pushup today during tummytime and got up on her knees. Hmmm... early crawler?

I tried unsuccessfully to get a brother-sister snap just before Kendall's naptime. What was I thinking?? Kendall went straight as a board and screamed. Riley was pretty much unaffected.

Shelby

random updates...

2010-04-24T20:27:00.002-06:00

Just some random updates on all of us:

Sick Days:

Sickness has hit the Berg household in the past couple of weeks. First of all, Riley appears to have gotten a fever blister under his nose, so his appearance will be altered for the next week or so:

Poor kid. I've read that having one under the nose rather than the mouth is more painful. Of course, he can't stop picking at the scab so it may last longer than it normally would.

I got strep two weeks ago. I had this nasty sore throat that wouldn't go away, coupled with chills and night sweats. This let to taking antibiotics for the first time since the mid-90's. I hate having to use them, but had to do whatever was necessary to function. I'm now on a round of probiotics to try and restore all the good bacteria I killed off in the past 10 days.

Now Jonathan's got a cold. Not surprising since he's scheduled on the church music team next Sunday. He always seems to get congested just before he has to sing.

And with the warm spring weather we've been having, come the allergies. I used to deal with them in Nashville but seemed to develop an immunity to them over time. The past couple of years however, the sinus congestion and familiar itchy sneezes have returned. I chock it up to getting older and waning immunity. Maybe my years of getting just a couple of colds per year are finally over... so sad.

None of this has helped make the adjustment to life with two kids any easier. Someone told us that "one is fun and two is work" and we've certainly found that to be true. (I wish I had the energy that I had at 25!) Kendall requires more assistance in getting to sleep than Riley did -- all I had to do was swaddle him and lay him in his crib. With Kendall, we've resorted to using the swing, the binky & lying in bed with her if that's what it takes to help her to calm down and go to sleep. I'm not a fan of sleep props, so I hope we can wean her off of these things before she gets too dependent on them. But she is just 5 weeks old with more "stabilizing" to do, so we have some time.

Breastfeeding:

B/f is going fine, though I am still using a nipple shield to help Kendall to latch on. I've started taking it off during the last 5-10 min of the feed to get more direct stimulation. Thankfully, my milk supply is good and I've been pumping some extra each day that I'm putting in the freezer for future use. Since my supply went down after I went back to work, I'm preparing for a possible repeat of that occurrence again this summer.

Playtime:

Kendall's daily rhythm is eating -- playing -- sleeping. The past week or so she's been enjoying her playtime more and not just crying to be held. I'll put her on the playmat or in her bouncy chair and she'll find something to fix her gaze on and stay content for 15-30 min before she starts to show signs of tiredness. At that point, she is put in the swing or her bed to sleep.

Now that it's getting a bit easier to put Kendall down and have her only cry for 5-10 min before falling asleep, that leaves more time to play with Riley. I've been able to give him a little more mama time on those days that I have both kids in the afternoons. For those that don't know, Jonathan goes into the office at 12:30, so I have his help in the morning. On T & TH afternoons, Riley goes to the office with Jonathan -- an advantage of having your own practice and an open-concept office setup. This serves a dual purpose of giving me a break and giving Riley an alternate environment. The patients enjoy seeing him and he serves as Dr. Berg's helper.

On the days that Riley's in the office, I try and get out with him for a "date" in the morning. Sometimes I take him along on an errand, other times we go to the playground or get a treat somewhere. But he gets me all to himself and he seems to be ok with leaving me for the afternoon if I do this beforehand. It makes me feel better too as I really miss time with my boy.

Riley's Speech:

He's talking all the time now and willing to try more and more words. Riley's saying more two-word combinations now. He only had a handful that he would say before now, but lately he's been willing to mimic almost everything we ask him to. Sometimes they even come out spontaneously. We're encouraged.

Mama's recovery:

I'm nearing the end of my 6 wk postpartum period this coming Thursday. Physically, I'm able to do whatever I was doing prior to pregnancy, with the exception of exercise. I've been feeling good enough to be walking 45-60 min (slowly) and starting at 4 wks postpartum, began some slow jogging every other day for about 30 min. While it feels like a hard workout aerobically, I'm being careful not to overdo it.

I feel like the one time I'm really in tune with my body is when I'm working out. I've been running for so long I know how I should feel to get the kind of workout I want. So as long as I work out at that intensity, my speed automatically increases as my fitness improves. Running increases my fitness like nothing else, so coupled with good eating habits, I hope to be back in pre-pregnancy shape in the next 6 months or so.

Dad & his bike:

Jonathan's been missing his mountain biking a lot as this past winter didn't offer as much good riding and the obvious scheduling complications of having a newborn once the conditions improved. He has gotten out for a couple of good rides for the past month, of which I'm happy to indulge him. While he misses all the riding he used to do (alone and with Riley), he loves being a dad even more and is keeping it in perspective. This season will pass and soon he'll be taking Kendall out in the bike trailer in the morning, while Riley is in preschool. He'll introduce her to the fun of riding in the woods in hope of grooming another riding partner in the family.

In closing, here's some photos of Kendall's first picnic at Lake Q this afternoon:

Did we mention how much we LOVE our Phil & Ted's double stroller?

In addition to climbing, sliding and swinging at the playground... Riley likes to put the wood chip pieces through the holes...

Thanks to Kristy C. I get to use an Ergo to tote Kendall around. My back is grateful!

Ergo Sleep

Shelby

our girl is baptized

2010-04-18T17:11:00.001-06:00

Today Kendall was baptized at CTK. Baptism brings with it an element of mystery and hope bound up in a wrapping of faith and grace. In baptism Shelby and I are stating that Kendall belongs to God, to a believing family and to God’s church. We’re also acknowledging that we need to lean on promises God gives in connecting our girl to Jesus in this way. We’ve promised to raise Kendall in the church, to set a Godly example for her, and to pray with and for her.

Most importantly, we acknowledge the need that our daughter has for God’s grace through the cleansing blood of Christ, and we have promised to teach Kendall of the need she has for our Savior, the God who loves her so dearly. We look forward in faith to the day when our girl will profess her own faith. As part of the ceremony all of the church members promise to help us in this endeavor. I’m so glad we’re not in this alone, and I think that I feel the weight of this even more with two children than I did when we only had Riley.

Here’s video of Kendall being baptized for those who were not able to be there:

We love our God, and we love our girl.

Jonathan

one month old!

2010-04-18T16:40:00.005-06:00

It's hard to believe that Kendall has been with us for a full month already. We continue to get used to our new "normal" and get adjusted to the changes that her presence has brought. We also note the similarities and differences between our experiences with both of our kids as newborns.

Since Kendall's day is pretty much divided up into three categories, we'll give you the lowdown on each at one month:

Eating:
Kendall weighs about 8 lbs 11 oz, up from her birth weight of 7 lbs 14 oz. While she's not a voracious eater, the doc is fine with her rate of weight gain, especially since her number of daily eliminations are satisfactory. (They seem far beyond satisfactory to me...) Using a baby scale we were given, we can see that she's taking in at least 3 oz per feeding, which is fine for this age.

She eats at least 7 times per day at approximately 3 hour intervals, with two of the feedings (the late evening & overnight ones) by bottle as she can't stay awake long enough to get her fill. So mom is still pumping a couple of times a day, but that's not a problem, especially since I'm able to feed her the bottle.

Sleeping:
Kendall seems to have gotten her night sleep organized pretty quickly as she's pretty much out from about 9pm - 6am. (Pretty Much. She's fighting sleep as I write.) We give her a late eve "dream" feed of 5 oz to tank her up for the night and she'll sleep anywhere from 4-6 hours before she cries out for another feeding. I'll give her another 5 oz using milk that mom expressed the night before. This will usually carry her through until 6-7 am when the normal feeds start up again. So we're getting about 7 hrs sleep in two blocks of 2 - 5 hrs depending on how early big brother wakes in the morning. The deprivation catches up with us pretty quickly though, so we're looking forward to her dropping that overnight feed in the next month. Hopefully Riley will get back to sleeping until 7 am again as well.

Kendall is particularly adept at 'de-swaddling' herself. The ability to extricate oneself from a tight swaddle seems to be in our genes as Riley was good at this as well. Kendall seems to be far more of a squirm than even Riley was, so we find her mostly unwrapped when she starts squawking at feed time.

My Squirmest Girl

Waking hours:
It seemed that for the first 4 weeks Kendall was either sleeping, eating or crying. While she likes being held (like most babies), in the past few days she has starting to enjoy her after-meal "waketime" a little more. She has started to have some tummy time resting on a Boppy and has begun to spend some time lying on a play mat. She enjoys looking at the lights in the room and will also look at the toys that hang from the bar on the play mat if you shake them so they make noise. She sometimes enjoys the baby swing (Riley likes it better I think) but she isn't crazy about the bouncy seat. She falls asleep quickly in a stroller and car seat, thoough she hollers when we first put her in either of these.

Interestingly, so far the place that Kendall cries least frequently is church. She seems to enjoy the music and is generally quiet while we're there. She didn't cry during her baptism yesterday (more in a future entry) and I definitely did not expect that.

Kendall is definitely more spirited than Riley was at this age. She isn't a quiet girl, but I don't think she cries an abnormal amount either. She cries more than Riley, but that's not surprising since he rarely cried at all. She lets us know when she wants something that we're not giving her and will not stop talking until she gets it. The girl knows what she wants. Sometimes though, we don't. So this can lead to periods of crying for what seems to be 'no reason' that must have some cause. Hopefully this will tail off a bit as she gets older, or we'll figure out what it is that she's looking for.

Riley really seems to love his sister. He always wants to give her a kiss goodnight, and when we're out together and I tell him we're going home to see Mama, he will always say "Keh Ko" to ensure we include her too. Kendall seems to have fit into her place in the family quickly, even from her brother's viewpoint.

I'll close with some pictures:

Cutie in a carseat

Which she doesn't always like...

The binky and the bouncy seat just slay me for some reason.

She does well in the Phil & Ted's stroller...it has this handy sleeping configuration.

Fun on the play mat

She's starting to notice stuff!

Kendall is mostly OK with the swing...

But Riley is obsessed with it, at least when Kendall is in it.

Tummy Time!

Sleepy thumb sicking girl

The new normal. It's different, hard at times but mostly good.

Jonathan

the first two weeks

2010-04-04T13:24:00.009-06:00

Well here we are with two weeks of being a family of four behind us. Things certainly have been different.

Our first week back at home we were fortunate to still have Shelby's Mom here with us. She was a huge help, especially with Riley. She and Riley really bonded and they had a great time together. A couple of pictures:

Grammy showed Riley how to "paint with water." He loved it.

This picture was taken about 20 seconds after Grammy said goodbye to Riley at the airport. Speaks a thousand words, huh?

As you might guess we are more frazzled and less rested now than we were a few weeks back. Life now seems like a constant stream of baby feeds with occasional naps thrown in (ours and hers both.) Overall things are going well though.

It's interesting that the child who is more work is actually Riley and not Kendall. Caring for Kendall is simple if monotonous. Feed, change, hold, sleep, repeat... Although she's not as easy (so far) as Riley was (he was the world's easiest baby) she's not all that difficult either. Aside from sometimes endless feeds because she eats so slowly she's not really that demanding. Things have been a little tougher for Riley.

Riley is having to adjust to having less of Mama's undivided attention. That's made things difficult at times as he'll start to act out a bit when he's not getting enough attention. He's also gotten very clingy. He wants to follow his Mom everywhere. With only rare exceptions he stopped napping months ago so on weekdays Shelby doesn't get much of a break. It gets harder as Riley gets bored too.

On top of all that there is the sleep deprivation that comes with having a newborn. We've been in virgin territory over the last couple of weeks since Riley spent his first two weeks in the hospital. Having no routine and having to wake up every two to four hours keeps the fatigue level high. (In fact, I fell asleep at the computer for over an hour while writing this.) Add to that the fact that Riley has started waking up somewhere between 5:15 and 5:45 am and things are getting pretty ragged.

On the upside, Kendall has gotten back to her birth weight (on day 16) and is starting to eat a little more normally. She has slept a little longer overnight the last few nights which is helping us to feel a little more rested. Overall she is a healthy girl who doesn't cry excessively, at least if we're not changing her diaper...

Riley loves his sister. He is almost always very gentle with her and he loves helping out with taking care of her in any way he can. It's really sweet to see him giving her a kiss on the head or lightly patting her on the head. Also, when he and I are out and I say, "Let's go home and see Mama" he always says, "Keh-kah", which is how he says her name. It's been nice to see his kindness toward his sister. Especially since she's taking so much of his Mama time. I really hope that our kids are going to be close.

So overall things are going well. We'll close this out with a bunch of pictures.

We're seeing plenty of this, although we hope to be having more of it at night when we can't see...

Our helpful boy:

Riley helping Daddy to burp Kendall

He also helps Mama pump milk...

Some obligatory sibling shots:

I love this picture

You can definitely tell these two are part of the same family

Riley enjoys mimicking Kendall

Riley loves Kendall

Kisses on the feet

Our girl has had some outdoor activity:

Her first stroll by the lake with Mama

Out for a nice walk at Breakheart with the Zivans

Some purely Riley happenings:

Riley is still swimming. Here's video of him using a noodle for the first time:

Our boy loves his mini tramp...to hang from

And watch TV from

High bar routine on video:

Riley got his first shiner when he fell into his table in the living room, I guess it was just a matter of time...

Riley has a new love: Play-Doh

Ever since watching Veggie Tales "Madame Blueberry" Riley loves to make houses. On Trees. Here he is finishing the house Daddy drew on top of his tree by putting on the chimney.

I'll end with our latest family shot. We love our boy and girl!

Jonathan

day 4 -- the hospital stay is coming to a close...

2010-03-21T18:23:00.003-06:00

Today was a far different day than yesterday. We had a car seat, a little more sleep, and our girl was crying pretty much only when hungry (and sleeping frequently.) It was a good way to start.

The biggest challenge right now is in getting our girl fed without torturing her Mama. Fortunately the lactation consultant and all of the nurses have said that things look very good, so it's just a matter of practice and Shelby's body parts toughening up with the hard use. Hopefully after a week or so the current painful feeds will live on only in our memories.

Shelby's pain level has been a little higher at times, but this is mostly due to the change in medications from IV to oral. She's an amazingly fast healer so I suspect this will change quickly. She's been doing her laps around the corridor and really looks amazingly good.

Riley and Grammy came for a visit again today. We got some great pictures of Riley with Kendall on his lap. He is such a sweet boy and really seems to care for his sister. I think he understands that Kendall will be coming to live with us, and I hope he understands that we'll all be coming home to stay tomorrow. Some pictures:

Riley and Grammy drawing a house

Big Brother and his new Sister

Riley gives Kendall a kiss

The last few days have been tough ones for our boy. He's had times when he's been separated from Mama for a few days but he's never had this kind of separation from both of us. Fortunately Shelby's Mom has been there to take care of him and it seems that a bond has truly developed between the two of them. He's been for the most part his usual, happy go lucky self. Shelby and I both miss him dearly and are looking forward to being back home as a full family unit.

The other happening during our blur of infant feedings today was a visit from our pastor, Rick Downs as well as Chad and Kathryn Baldanza. The three were visiting another couple who have a son in the hospital (who is doing well.) Rick was actually calling me to see if we were home. It was a nice surprise for all that we were still here. Having visitors is a wonderful thing during times like this. Yesterday we were treated to a visit with our friends Alecia and Aimee. It's great to be able to share the excitement of having a new baby with our friends and it makes the day more fun. For me it makes it seem less like the walls are closing in on me when I have fresh faces around.

I have to say that the stay here at Beverly Hospital has been very pleasant. The staff here has been tremendous. In particular the nurses in the "Beautiful Beginnings" maternity ward have been a joy and have delivered service above and beyond the call of duty. From extra help with nursing problems to bringing around a "snack cart" in the evening these ladies have been nothing short of amazing. We've now had two very different experiences here (fortunately this one was different) but both were very positive. Thank you all very, very much.

The last surprise that we got here was something new since our last visit. On a couple's last night here they are given a "Celebration Dinner". This is a meal worthy of any good restaurant delivered to the mom and dad on their last night at the hospital. We had antipasto, Shelby had Beef Wellington with pesto mashed potatoes and perfectly cooked asparagus, and I had baked scallops with broccoli and seasoned rice with veggies. Shelby had Merlot, and I had a tasty Fisherman's Ale. Spring water and rolls were included. The meal finished with a delicious Molten Chocolate Cake. Yum! It was a great way to cap off a great experience.

Celebration Dinner

Great Dessert!

So tomorrow it's off to establish the new normal. Although this is something that has filled us full of trepidation at times, we're looking forward to seeing what it will be like. We're definitely ready to be back sleeping in our own bed once again.

Off to a new adventure. Stay tuned...

Jonathan & Shelby

day 3 -- postpartum ups & downs

2010-03-20T20:07:00.007-06:00

(stress + meltdown = hypertension) + prayer = (provision + gratitude + peace)

Shelby's pregnancy-induced hypertension returned with a roar overnight last night. This morning it was even higher. It didn't take long for us to realize that the stress of healing from major surgery, postpartum hormonal changes, missing her firstborn, breastfeeding challenges and adjusting to a baby who cries a lot more than Riley was finally taking its toll. After the visiting pediatrician told her that she should begin nursing Kendall every 2 hours rather than 3, that pretty much did it for her. Those of you who know of the pain of nursing in the early days can feel her dread at the thought of doing it 12x per day instead of 8. All this produced a meltdown around mid-morning...not long before our first visitors were due to arrive.

The highest blood pressure reading occurred just after she found out that our infant car seat could not be found. Neither of us can figure out what happened to it as it wasn't something that we loaned out and we have all the other parts that go with the car seat, such as the base, headrest & stroller. Her BP was 150/110, a far cry from the 120/80 or less that she normally has.

Finding out that Riley shed a few tears over the thought that he might not get to see his mama didn't help (his trip was delayed today, not canceled). She makes a great effort to pay attention to him when he comes and it broke her heart that he was missing her enough to shed some quiet tears over it. Seeing how much my boy loves his mama, made me love him even more.

So prayers were needed to a) find a car seat that could replace our missing one and b) peace over the other things for which we have little to no control over.

She did have the sense to ignore the (male) doctor who would be insensitive and short-sighted enough to add yet another burden on to a new mother. Even the nurses were rolling their eyes at his suggestion that she nurse more frequently. Newborns have a normal drop in body weight prior to a mother's milk coming in on day 3-5, so Kendall's was totally normal. Even if it had been a dramatic loss (it wasn't), we would have been fine with supplementing with formula for a couple of days to bring Kendall's weight up.

By the early evening, our prayers for a car seat were answered when two of our friends offered to let us use theirs. One is being delivered tonight (thank you Lisa!).

Additionally, Shelby enjoyed a long visit with Riley this afternoon and Kendall was a more content baby. I was able to employ some of the "Happiest Baby on the Block" techniques that were never needed with Riley, but seem to help with Kendall.

Shelby also got some encouraging feedback from the lactation consultant so this is helping her though the first week of breastfeeding in which it can be quite painful. Kendall seems to be taking to it well, so we expect that things will get better in the coming days.

By the end of the day, Shelby's blood pressure had fallen to 118/72, a sure sign that her stress level had also fallen as these prayers were answered.

Even though the experience of having a child is far easier this time than last (we actually spend our days doing normal stuff rather than in intensive care) we're still finding ourselves stretched thin. There are plenty of good parts to the day, but even so it seems that the stress level can push into the 'red zone' very easily. During the 'downs' we are very glad to know a God who tells us that He will never give us more than we can handle. For that, and for His workings in everything we do we are very, very grateful.

Jonathan & Shelby

day 2 updates

2010-03-19T19:04:00.008-06:00

Things are going well for the Berg family as we get acquainted with our newest addition. Kendall is already proving to be a girl who knows how to speak her mind. (Now, to learn how to interpret her cues...) All of her checkups and evaluations look great so we're thankful to have so far avoided the drama that accompanied Riley's birth. She's learning the fine art of breastfeeding and Mama hopes to avoid using some of the props that were needed with Riley in order to sustain it longer than the 5 months before her milk supply ran out.

Shelby continues to heal more rapidly than the last "section" she underwent. She was able to walk around the corridor last night and today, the nurse took her off the IV pole and removed her catheter. She was anxious to have the freedom to walk around and get her circulation moving and has done four laps total around the unit in addition to her many trips to the bathroom. She had the nurses amazed at how well she was doing just one day after her surgery. Her nurse said she was a "model section", which made her day. She did feel a little more pain at her incision in the late-afternoon -- probably due to that extra lap that she did around lunchtime.

Tonight, she will get the last of her pain-meds via IV and it will be removed. She's looking forward to a shower with no foreign objects stuck in her body. Her blood pressure has fallen to normal levels so there's no more concern of pre-enclampsia. Now, she's just trying to flush out the excess fluid which will relieve the carpel tunnel that has been plaguing her for over three months.

Shelby's Mom and Riley have been coming to visit for a few hours in which Grammy gets her Kendall time and Riley gets his mama/daddy time. We sure do miss him and look forward to being together in the house starting next week. It's sweet to see Riley give Kendall good-bye kisses, last night he did it totally unsolicited. When Grammy asked him today who they were going to see, he answered "dall", mama, dada!! So Kendall's already first in the list. That's our sweet boy.

We'll leave you with a couple of pictures:

Kendall, day two

Daddy time

Jonathan & Shelby