2/28/2010 - John gets his first tooth! Bottom center two are coming in together, but one finally pokes through!
3/1/10 - John crawls for the first time! He has been doing what we call the Walrus Crawl for a while - he pushes his upper body up with his arms then leans forward until he flops on the ground, then stretches his arms out in front again and pulls/pushes his body up and forward until he flops again. That has been his MO for weeks...and he is quite good at it. But he finally CRAWLED for REAL (one knee in front of the other, one hand in front of the other)! He is going to be really mobile really fast! He already can truck from one end of the living room to the other without stopping.
3/2/10- Doug picked John up and John looked him right in the face and said, "Da-Da!"
3/2/10- He pulled himself to a standing position over and over again for an hour in the evening. Several times over the last week he has pulled himself to a standing position on furniture, toys, the cat....well, just about anything he can get a grip on. HE IS ONLY 7 MONTHS OLD! Heaven help us...this is going to get crazy!
.,....and we found out yesterday that he can wave! We haven't seen it very much yet, but the daycare workers say he's been doing it for a while. Who knew?
So...that's the update on John! (Also known as: Johnathan, Pork Chop, Fatty, Fatty McTavish, Baby Brudder, Mama's Baby Boy, Butterball, "the little man", John-Jacob-Jingleheimer-Schmidt, PJ Jr (Papa Jerry Junior) and "the chunk.")
John is SO CLOSE to crawling I can't even explain it. He is super strong and determined to be mobile. But, much to his dismay, all he has mastered so far is going backwards. If I leave him alone in the middle of the living room floor for a few minutes, I inevitably find him wedged against a wall or piece of furniture by the time I get back. Several times now, however, I have found him wedged UNDER my antique table. It has a cut-out front and it is just high-enough to get his lower body under it, but not his gigantic upper body. :) So, after walking out of the room, I hear squawking and eventually angry bellowing and I enter the room to find this:
All joking aside...I owe a GREAT BIG Thank You to both my Mom (aka: Nana) and Grandma (aka: Gramma Berniss) for all the help they gave as I went back to work from maternity leave. I was a nervous wreck. But- Mom came for the first two weeks and watched John here at my house so I wouldn't have to take him to daycare at 8wks old. Then Grandma came every single morning for 2 more weeks and basically held and rocked John until after lunch so I could get a full morning of work in without interruption. Those four weeks made a HUGE difference in being ready to take my little guy to daycare. The truth is I have the BEST daycare in the WORLD...but it is still hard that it isn't me that gets to hold him every day.
Oh - and the help I get from this guy isn't half bad either. :) THANK YOU!!!!!!!
You see, I have zero coordination. This is not news to any of you who have spent time with me. But on Sunday, Nov 8th, it manifested in a very scary moment for both Mommy and son.
Doug was preaching all three services at the Edinboro campus for church, so we had decided that we would attend Saturday evening together, and then I would stay home with the kids Sunday morning. This would work out well because we were going to be celebrating Grandma Andrew's 80th birthday for lunch on Sunday, and if I stayed home with the kids, I could get everyone ready, fed, and packed for the babysitter.
In case we haven't mentioned it before...John is a barfer. He barfs on us all the time. The poor little man has acid reflux, and just in general he spits up non-stop. It is a given that you don't put any clothes on that you actually intend to wear out of the house until seconds before departure because otherwise John will ruin your clothes.
So...picture it....I'm home alone on Sunday morning trying to get both children fed and dressed and packed for the day...and then John hits me with a 1-2 punch. First he drowns his outfit in barf, then before I can even get him changed, he poops up his back and down his legs and in between his toes...well...it's ugly. As I attempt to change his diaper, it becomes clear that this is a mess that will require a bath. So I finish wiping him up and then I take the cute little naked man into the bathroom and lay him on the floor on a towel so that I can run the bath water in the tub.
I reach up to grab our shower head (which is the kind that is on a hose) in order to rinse out the tub before filling it, and I bobble it and it starts to fall. My immediate response is to grab it before it falls and hits John. As my arms shoot up above my head to catch it, my elbow hits a medium sized wooden shelf that hangs on the wall and knocks it off. As my arms are going UP, the shelf is now coming DOWN, along with all the jars and bottles that were displayed on it. My brain recognizes what is happening a split second too late as my eyes drop to see the shelf land on John's head and face and the large ceramic jar hit the floor a foot away from him and explode into a million pieces. I scream as I see it happen.
John lets out a blood-curdling scream. His eyebrow instantly starts to bleed and swell.
There are now tiny little ceramic shards covering the entire bathroom like a powder, and larger sharp chunks and slivers lying everywhere. The tub is filled with them. John is covered in what looks like powder there are so many on him. I can't wipe them off...they will cut him. I can't put him in the tub to rinse him off...it is filled with more. I am shaking...John is crying...and less than 2 seconds have passed since this all began.
I scoop him up and run into the kitchen. I pull the dishes out of the sink that I had begun washing and I put his chubby little naked body in there and begin rinsing him with plenty of warm water. In a few seconds I have established that his eye is okay and that he is only cut in a few tiny places. Other than that, he is mostly scared. Now Mommy is scared. I take a deep breath and try to figure out what to do next. What if he has a head injury? How do you know on a 3-month old baby?
I call our amazing pediatrician, Dr. Russo...she answers her on-call cell phone and I start to sob. I LOVE Dr. Russo...and she is so amazing. She calms me down and I walk her thru what happened and she walks me thru the different things she needs me to look for. She tells me that she thinks he is fine, but gives me a list of things to watch for as the day progresses. And then she says this, "I think baby is going to be okay, but I think this was harder on mommy than it was on him. You call me back if you have any questions...any questions at all...even if you just need to talk, okay?"
Seriously....how did I get such a wonderful pediatrician for my kids???? She is fantastic. And poor John...he survived just fine. After his sink-bath and some warm clothes, he was back to smiling and cooing. I took some pictures of the swollen eye. Poor kid. First shiner at 3 months old...and he got it from his mom.
We managed to pull ourselves together and make it to Grandma's lunch on time. But I can do without that kind of excitement, just for the record. I prefer normal, boring mornings over that any day!
There is just something about a baby - they are so cuddly and snuggly and warm....and just plain fun to hold. Especially a happy one like John. :) They just sleep....and sleep....and sleep. (except at night. Then not so much.) The funny part is that they often make the person doing the holding fall asleep as well....they are like a little sleeping drug. And I have pictures to prove it. :)
And here's the biggest druggie of them all....
Nana loves her babies. :) She just can't get enough....definitely an addict. :)
If any of you need a fix, feel free to stop by. I'll let you hold John for a small fee.
Doug does not like sweat, crowds, cities, crowds, sand, or crowds. Did I mention Doug doesn't like crowds?
John was born July 28th. And every year Erie holds it's biggest down-town festival mid-August. It is a huge event called "Celebrate Erie" and they always have at least one really big concert with a well-known band. This year, the Saturday night band was Three Dog Night. (Sat Aug 15, 2009)
So...imagine my surprise when my crowd-averse husband said that he would like to go to the concert. I was shocked! And excited! I love going to that festival, and if he wanted to go, I was IN!
We called Dana, arranged for him to watch Danika...and off we went...the three of us. Doug, myself...and our 2-week old son. :)
What a GREAT time we had...I felt great and it was a wonderful night to get out of the house and enjoy the summertime. The weather was warm and breezy...truly a perfect summer night. We parked the car, strapped John into the snugli, slung the diaperbag on my back for balance and off we went. We walked the "chalk-walk" and enjoyed people watching. We ran into people we knew and got to introduce them to John. And we made our way pretty far up in the crowd to find a place closer to the stage with a barrier I could lean on for the concert. And little John was so cute...he slept the entire time...from the moment we got out of the van until the moment we got back in, that kid was out like a light. He just rode around in that snugli strapped to his mommy and was as content as a baby can be. I covered his little ears tightly during the concert to make sure it wasn't too loud for him, and he never stirred. :) The concert was a blast..the music was so fun and it was just a great time. Doug and I both completely enjoyed the evening...I'm so glad we went.
Here's a few pictures of our first adventure with baby #2!!!!!
oh, and just a hilarious side-note, we ended up near 2 of the tallest men I've ever seen in my life...if you notice that it looks like I'm a dwarf compared to the guy behind me in the picture...I was. :)
When Danika was born, I kind of made it known to my wonderful hubby that I would really like a piece of nice jewelry that I could pass down to her someday. :) I wanted something that would be meaningful.... that I could hand to her someday and tell her, "Your Dad bought this for me and gave it to me the day you were born...and now I'm giving it to you." I love jewelry, and I just really wanted to be able to share something meaningful with my daughter like that.
So...being the fantastic man that he is - my hubby gave me this when Danika came into the world. I love it. I wear it often, and it always reminds me of this precious little life that changed our lives forever when she danced into the world on December 29, 2006. I hope it means as much to her someday as it does to me.
So, when we found out this next little bundle was going to be a boy, my mind started racing...what do you give a man that he can pass down to his son? I wanted to return the sentiment to Doug and give him a gift when this precious little boy made his entrance that would be meaningful for a father and son. But considering my husband doesn't even wear a wedding band, jewelry was out of the question. A gun was actually the first thing to come to mind. In a hunting family like ours, that would be very appropriate and meaningful. But my budget was a little modest to get something like I would really want, so I kept pondering....and I decided on a knife.
If you know Doug - he is obsessed with pocket knives. He loves them. He carries one ALL THE TIME. He had one in his tuxedo pocket when we got married...to this day, he has one in his pocket when he works, when he preaches, when we travel, when we are just hanging out at home...he always has a pocket knife. And he is picky about them...he likes certain features and brands. It is just one of those things that makes Doug "Doug".
As a matter of fact - a pocket knife is the very first gift he ever gave me. :) June 2002 - We had only been dating a few weeks and I was coming home with him to meet his parents for the first time before I left on a long trip for the summer. In the car, he pulled out this little package and gave me my very first pocket knife. It may not sound romantic to you, but it was actually this very unique, cool, personal thing that could not have been more meaningful to me. It was just so "him." I still have this great knife...I have carried it often, and it completely reminds me of this man who protects me and loves me and gives of himself so much for me.
Anyway - the more I thought about it, the more that it settled in my mind that a great knife would be perfect. I found one that was similar to the one he gave me in 2002....a little bigger, a different color, but the same brand and style he loves. But I wanted to engrave something on it. I really wanted this to be meaningful...and I was somewhat stumped as to what to do. Engraving John's birthdate didn't seem like what I was looking for...and something that only had meaning for Doug would defeat the purpose of the "passing down" of the gift...so I had to think. I started searching scripture for a passage that seemed right.
Proverbs 23:15-16 "My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad; my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right."
This is the passage that resonated with my heart on many levels. Someday, I know that this is what we both would want to say to our son. We want him to know how important it is to be wise and to "speak what is right." We want him to wisely choose to know and love the God who made him and died for him... to live his life in a way that speaks with his actions and his words that God's Truth is the only treasure that matters in this life and it is the only thing we will take with us to the next.
I also chose this scripture because I have no doubt in my mind or heart that this is what Doug's parents have communicated to him and have seen come to fruition. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that his Dad is proud of him...that his Mom was proud of him...because he has embodied these words as an adult. I know that when I met his family that first time in 2002 they both just beamed when they talked about him because they were so proud of the man he had become...a man who honored God, chose wisely to follow him, and who spoke rightly of God's Truth with his lips and his actions. I know that all the way to her core, Susan rejoiced at the man Doug became. I know Dana's heart is glad to have a son who has chosen rightly to honor God with his life. When I read these verses for the first time, they resonated so deeply within me because I saw the passing down from one generation to the next of this wisdom and joy already: from Doug's parents, to him, and someday to our children. I pray it continues for generations to come.
When Doug's mom was first diagnosed with cancer, I remember very specifically her looking me in the eye and saying, "How can I be upset? I have lived long enough to see my daughter become a godly woman, marry a godly man, and live a life serving Him. I have seen my son become a godly man, marry a godly woman, and live a life serving Him. I have total peace not only about where I am going when I die, but about the family I would leave behind. Anything else is just a bonus." When I read Proverbs 23:15-16, it was like I could hear Susan speaking it: "My son, because your heart is wise, my heart is glad; my inmost being rejoices when your lips speak what is right." There was no doubt - it had to be that passage for the engraving.
On July 28th, we went to the hospital for a planned c-section and Johnathan Douglas Bierer entered the world. It was a fantastic day. And when we got settled back in a room and they brought John to me, I gave Doug his gift. It was so fun. He loved it...and everything was just so cool.
And then he had to totally out-do me. :) He pulled this box out of his bag and gave it to me and told me he loved me. I opened it and there was the most beautiful ruby bracelet I have ever seen. It was perfect...my husband just knows me so well. It was completely my style...as if I had picked it out myself. And it was meaningful on many levels. Rubies are John's birthstone for July. Doug also knew that when his mom died his sister graciously let me have a ruby ring that had belonged to Susan. The bracelet would look beautiful with it. It was just the perfect symbol to tie together John's birth and Susan's life and to remember this emotional roller-coaster summer that we have survived hand-in-hand together. Awesome gift.
The bracelet.
The ring. John and my very emotional and meaningful jewelry.
Thank you Doug for the lovely, fitting gift. I hope yours meant to you even a portion of what mine meant to me.
Thank you, God, for the blessings of family, marriage and kids. Sometimes I'm not as grateful as I should be.
How is it that it was only a little over 7 months ago Danika was opening her birthday gifts and got to this one....
...and now we have this adorable little guy???
In some ways it seems like those months have flown by - but in other ways it seems like a lifetime has passed. I am fairly certain that this year will go down as one of our most difficult......I pray that when we look back, we can honestly say that we navigated it well and that our marriage and family are closer for it.
Thank you, God, for all you have brought into our path. It has not all been pleasant, but I pray it has made us more like you.
Can I just say that the second kid is so much less scary as a parent? You feel like all these "firsts" are familiar...like you are less likely to totally screw up and damage the child for life. I can honestly say I don't miss the fear that went with figuring everything out as a first-time parent. I like that I feel more confident this time around. I can also say that someday Danika will likely be in counseling for all the "practice" we did on her so that we could get it "right" for her little brother. :) That would be the flip side of what John will be in counseling for - the fact that his parents were so laid back for him as the second child that he is convinced we were negligent with him. But that is for a different time.
Today's entry is about the first bath. :) John wasn't real impressed with the whole ordeal...but he was all better once it was over and he got to cuddle with Daddy. I have to say - the cuddling is the best part of this stage. It is great. :)
After we got home from the hospital with John, my Dad arrived to spend the weekend. Mom was already here so Dad rode out on the Amtrak. He said it was an interesting experience. :)
Anyway - after he got some rest and we all got a little stir crazy from being in the house, we thought that it would be fun to get out of the house and go down to the beach to watch the sunset one night.
I love the beach and the sunset and these kids and my family. What a fun night!
My little beach bum. Danika and Papa Jerry. Danika loves having Nana and Papa Jerry around. She gets spoiled! The beach isn't Doug's favorite thing, but he was kind and we all went together.
SUCH a Daddy's girl! So far we have had no jealousy - she just loves her baby brother. That's been pretty cool, too.
