Introducing Johnathan Douglas Bierer

Johnathan Douglas Bierer was born on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 9:12am. He weighed in at 7lbs 11oz and was 19.25 inches long.

Johnathan was born by planned c-section, but apparently he had planned to be born that day whether we were ready or not, because my water broke about 15 minutes before surgery. :) Talk about timing!



Doug got to be there, our doctors and nurses were wonderful, and the whole experience could not have been better! Unlike Danika's birth, there were no complications, nothing unexpected (except the water breaking!) and the recovery has been a breeze so far. Not that it is without pain, but compared to complications last time, this is a piece of cake! :) As soon as they let me get out of bed (24 hours after the surgery) I felt GREAT. I even convinced them to let me out of the hospital a full day early because I was feeling so wonderful. It was great to be home and to have our little family of four all under one roof.




Danika ADORES her baby brother. She loves to kiss him and pat him and she has been really gentle with him. We are so proud of her. She loves to be Mommy's helper and wants to help change diapers and assist in putting his binky back in when it falls out. :) Yesterday she crawled up next to me leaned over, gently put her hands on both sides of Johnathan's face and softly said, "I love you baby John. You are my best friend." Talk about melting a Mommy's heart.
I feel so blessed I am just beyond amazed at this precious gift times two. To be entrusted by God to care for these two precious lives and to raise them to love Him...it overwhelms me sometimes.


And speaking of being overwhelmed...I have the most amazing husband. I will post more about it later, but for now let's just say I love that man. He was just fantastic through the birth and the subsequent days in the hospital and now that we are home, I just couldn't ask for more support or help than I get from him. He is just fantastic.

John is doing great...already gained back all of his birthweight and then some. He is a great eater, and sleeps in decent chunks, so I'm tired but not falling apart. He is easy going and pretty easy to appease...so far so good!






So....the adventure shifts to a new chapter as the little Bierer family becomes four instead of three. Thanks for tuning in! :)

Drama

Talk about drama.


Danika stopped walking on Sunday. Not just kind of stopped being active...stopped using her legs. It was so bizarre. We narrowed it down to one specific ankle. If we touched it, she cried in pain. We decided we better take her to the doctor...and she sent us to the ER.


We spent 6 hours in the ER on Monday night and had some very nervous conversations with doctors...long and short of it they were really nervous about a very serious internal infection. But...as long as she doesn't spike a fever, and eventually starts to use it again, everything should be okay.


It has been a stressful couple of weeks at our home.

Josephine Rose Hoffman

Josephine Rose Hoffman was born Thursday, February 7th in Toledo, Ohio. Everyone was healthy, my sister Joanie and her husband Cory were thrilled and it was killing me that I couldn't be there!

Doug and I were planning to drive to Detroit to see my new niece, but Joanie and Cory decided to come visit Cory's parents in Cleveland, so we met them there instead. Brock is adjusting to his new little sister already! He is becoming protective and can't stop kissing her head. It is so stinking cute! And Danika wasn't quite sure what to think...but she wasn't a big fan of her mom holding this other creature. :)

Welcome, little Josie! Your Aunt Andrea loves you!

Susan's Surgery

Doug's mom had surgery on Wednesday, February 6th. Doug, Danika and I were there for most of the day. While surgery is never fun, Susan did really well, there were no complications, and this went way easier than the major surgeries she has had in the past.

Susan was supposed to be able to go home that night, but they decided that she had to stay. They said if any complications developed, they wanted her already at the hospital, not 2+ hours away.

We had Danika with us, so we kind of "moved in" to the hospital room. :) You can see Danika and all her toys camped out on the oversized window ledge.

We are grateful to God for the way He has provided for our family and for the way He has protected Susan. Thank you to all who have prayed for us and for her....it is appreciated more than we could ever put into words. God has been so good to us over this four year journey...He has taught us so much, and He has continued to provide exactly what we need each step of the way. Thank you for your love and support!

SHE TURNS ONE!

December 29, 2007

Danika Kay Bierer's First Birthday

There are no words to describe how much I love this little girl. I can NOT believe she is already a year old! It seems impossible. I know people say this all the time...but it is so true. I feel like she was just born...there is no way that could have been a year ago! But it was. And she is crawling like a speed demon and thisclose to walking. My Endicott cousin's went together and got her a beautiful dress to wear for her party...but alas, my munchkin is only 17lbs and still wearing 6 mos clothing....most 9 mos clothing just falls off her. So, the 12mos dress was way too big. But...we were able to exchange it for a really cute "Birthday Girl" t-shirt that fit perfect, and a "Birthday Princess" tiara that made the whole outfit. :) Of course, this is MY daughter we are talking about here....so both the shirt and the hat sparkled like mad. As did her shoes. There can never be enough glitter in the world. :)

Doug and I have been debating what to get her for her birthday...we knew she would be getting lots of toys from other people and tried to think of something she would like, but would be a little special. Back in October when we went to visit Kristen and Dave, Danika fell in love with Julie's lady-bug folding chair. It is a munchkin sized folding chair, and Danika just climbed in and out of it the whole time we were there. So....Doug and I talked about it and thought that a Danika-sized chair would be the perfect gift...but we wanted to find one that was well paded and very hard to tip over because our little wild-child is a climber and absolutely fearless. So, the search began.

I found the perfect chair at Target on sale right after Christmas. It was this adorable pink fuzzy upholstered chair just her size...a little wider than it was tall, so it looked hard to tip over. I bought it, and we kept it in the van until her party.

Danika's party was at Grandma Andrew's house since our little house is so tiny. That was such a blessing because Grandma's house has lots of room for people, food, and tiny little munchkins to run around and play. It was perfect. When it was time to open gifts, we brought the chair out first covered with a blanket. When Doug sat it down and pulled the blanket off, Danika's eyes got HUGE and she sqealed and immediately dove into it. We captured the look on her face as soon as she turned around. That pretty much says it all! It felt so good to get her something she liked that much!!!

I have to thank all our family for the gifts they got her...each and every toy was a PERFECT choice for her...I can't think of a single toy that she received that isn't a "favorite". The whole party and every single gift was just one of those moments in life where you know God is smiling as He watches...everything was just about as perfect as a person could ask for. All the kids played great together, the adults got to enjoy wonderful time together, and at least for this Mom, a wonderful memory was made.

Thanks for celebrating as our little girl turns one!!!!

Christmas 2007 - Ohio Trip

Well, Christmas was wonderful. We got to spend five days at hom in Ohio with my Mom and Dad(which was WONDERFUL), and then came back to Erie to celebrate the holidays with Doug's side of the family (which was also WONDERFUL!). It was just an incredible holiday season filled with great food and fantastic family.

It did seem at times that the celebrations would never end! But what a wonderful thing to be able to say. This was really the first time in years that we have been able to be home in Ohio for Christmas. We got to see my Endicott cousins first...that was just great! I love them all so much and wish I could see them more often. The party was held at my Unlce Aaron's house. I can't say enough about how much I love my family and how much I miss them. Getting to visit for such a short period of time always makes me wish it was longer. But I am thrilled that we all were able to get together.

Here are a few pictures...as you can see, there was a visit from Santa. Danika wasn't very impressed. :)

There is also a very, very large annoying child who wouldn't stop harrassing Santa. :)

This is Uncle Aaron, his wife Patti, and Danika.

All the grandkids together.

Who knew it was so difficult to get two children to look at the camera at the same time???

We got to celebrate Christmas Day at Mom and Dad's house with Joanie, Cory and Brock. Aunt Jane was there as well. It was just a wonderful, relaxed day with great food and tons of laughter.

Danika couldn't decide if it was more fun to open the packages or sit on them.

Danika got a barn from Nana and Paw-Paw. (SHE LOVES IT!)

Joanie, Cory and Brock in thier "Christmas" pajamas. :) Doesn't my pregnant sister just look adorable?

Merry Christmas! Now back to Erie to celebrate with Doug's side!

Update on Us - July 2007

Originally posted on Facebook July 31, 2007

Doug and I have had all sorts of crazy changes over the last several months, so this seems like a good place to keep you all updated. Obviously, having a baby was kind of a big one. :)

Danika Kay was born December 29, 2006 and so far this whole parenting thing has been one fun ride. She is just a blast...even if she has no respect for her parents need to sleep.

Not long after Danika was born, while still on maternity leave, I was offered this great promotion that now allows me to work from an office at home. I love what I do...it is practically a job that was made for me. Nobody really dreams of working for a state-funded highway safety grant when they grow up...but as weird as it sounds, it is perfect for me. I've been in the field for 5 years...but my new promotion basically got rid of the crappy parts of the job and now I get nothing but the best parts of the job with an awesome boss just to add icing to the cake. I get to learn new things all the time, I am constantly being challenged...I work with the media, law enforcement, government officials...you name it. One day I might be wearing a suit and holding meetings for all the District Judges in a county, the next I could be dressed in high-vis yellow-green standing next to a roadway at 2am helping with a DUI checkpoint...the next I might be judging teenagers who participate in a closed course driving competition..and then another day I might be on a live interview with the local TV station about the increased speed enforcement we are funding for our local police department to reduce aggressive driving. It is the best parts of everything college trained me for... people skills, poise, professionalism, organization, computer skills...I really, really love what I do. It is a great feeling to say that. I am responsible for 15 counties in my new position and travel frequently, but it is awesome. The only bummer is that even thought I work at home, Danika still had to go to daycare. I can't get anything done if she is home with me....and it kind of kills the professionalism thing when you are trying to negotiate with a police chief and there is a baby crying into the receiver. :) But since I work from home and daycare is only 1 mile away, I normally go up for my lunch and feed her myself...that makes it seem like we aren't really apart that long.

Danika goes to daycare at Bethel Christian School and we are extremely grateful for the wonderful people who take such great care of her there. They seriously love on her more than I could if I had her home. I feel so safe with her there...I love all the workers and couldn't ask for a better situation.

Our biggest life change has to do with Doug. In April Doug announced that he was resigning from the Associate Pastor position at Bethel Baptist Church. Lots of reasons...but most of all, he really needed a change. He is currently working with his Dad remodeling houses. So far, he loves the increased physical activity and the satisfaction of building things with his hands. Doug is wired for physical work...sitting behind a desk, as meaningful and wonderful as his job was...really was killing him. I see such a change even in the few months he has been away from it....it's like he is relaxing for the first time in 4+years. I'm so proud of him for making the change...I know it was a hard decision and he was very afraid of letting people down. But it was the right choice...and not a doubt in either of our minds that it was the one God wanted us to make this year.

With Doug’s resignation we felt that we needed to leave the church entirely and find a new church home so that we would not hinder the process of Bethel finding a new associate, or be an obstacle to that person once hired. We pray that God brings the perfect fit for an Associate Pastor to Bethel. So…as I write this, we are looking for a new church home. That's been a wild ride too! We started at Bethel the week after we got married...we love the people there and that has been our "family" ever since we came to Erie. It was so emotional to leave. But at the same time...we have tried to communicate how much we love them all and want to stay in touch...and I believe we can do that. As we have been visiting churches, it has been amazing seeing how many wonderful churches are out there and it has been an incredible encouragement. Everyweek we have worshipped with a different body of christians who just love Jesus and want to share that love with us...if that doesn't just make you feel better about the community you live in, I don't know what will. With all the churches we have been in, it gives you a much, much better appreciation of what God is doing in Erie, not just at Bethel Baptist Church. We have really enjoyed the search and hope to settle into a new "family" this fall.

Whew! Talk about a lot of change in a few short months! We sometimes still feel like our world is spinning, but things are starting to calm down and we are settling in to all our new roles. We appreciate your many prayers and encouragement as we have entered this new phase of our lives. Thanks. So, with that...I guess I'll end this long update. Just wanted to give you all a feel for where we are at.

Talk to you soon!