Sorry the Bierer Buzz quit buzzing - we have been a little preoccupied. New baby and all...mommy was feeling a little overwhelmed. We will see if we can get caught up.
I'll try to post a few things that happened over the last three months since John's arrival on the scene, but we will see.
John is 3 months old this week. He is doing great - a wonderful little chunky monkey. :) 15lbs already - he is going to catch Danika before we know it.
Danika is still my petite little tinkerbell. Only weighs in at 24 or 25lbs. Bright red hair, size 18 mos clothes...she is a shrimp. We MAY have just graduated into 24mos clothes in the last week or so - waiting to see if the new pants I bought stay up or fall off her non-existent booty.
Doug is busy with all sorts of carpentry work.
I'm back to work full-time and honestly feeling very overwhelmed at times, but we are doing well.
I'll try to get caught up, but no major promises. I can only do so much! :)
Sept 3, 2009 Danika & the Meerkats My precious little girl - we went to the zoo a lot while I was off work on maternity leave. It was really so much fun!
On this particular day, we were at the zoo and when we got to this display, she asked what the animals were called. I told her they were "meerkats".... at which point she started to laugh and yell "Come here cats!" for 10 minutes. ;) We were pretty much alone at the zoo that day, so I let her have fun. It was cracking me up. :) And then the one little creature just started mirroring her and running back and forth whenever she did. I watched thinking that it couldn't last long...but when they kept playing their little game with each other, I pulled out my cell phone and filmed this short clip. John was sound asleep in his snugli strapped to my chest, and it was just a wonderful "mommy" kind of day. I love watching this because I just remember how much fun we had together that day.
Oh - and those little shorts and shirt she is wearing? Yes - those would be 12 months clothing. She is 2 1/2 years old. Will she ever grow?
I'm sorry to leave you all hanging on what's up with my Dad. He was able to be treated at the Melanoma Research Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They had his second surgery there on August 21st and they were able to remove all the melanoma. The prognosis is VERY good, but the doctor told him to thank his daughters for torturing him to have it looked at. According to the doc, that saved his life.
I think he owes us big for this, right Joanie? :)
Here's a picture of his poor little head - they had to remove such a large portion of skin that it was a tight squeeze to put it back together without a graft. We have been teasing him that this is NOT the way to go about getting a face lift. :)
Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement...it has been a huge help.
***WARNING - This post could make you sick - WARNING - Grossness to follow - WARNING***
August 18th - 4:30pm The call came to my cell phone - it was Daycare - Danika was sick and had just thrown up on one of the workers.
It was almost time to get her anyway, so I rushed over to daycare as fast as a mom juggling a newborn infant can, and scooped her up. She was acting as if she didn't feel quite right...but she seemed "better" after getting it out of her system.
On the way home, I snapped this picture to send to her Daddy and tell him she was sick. 5:00pm As we pulled into our driveway I hear that dreaded sound that no mother wants to hear. We were still in the car - she was still strapped in her seat...there was nothing I could do but sit and watch it happen and wait for it to be over.
5:10pm
When she finished tossing her cookies, there was so much mess, I just unbuckled the car seat and pulled her and the seat out of the van still strapped in it. I sat her on the ground and snapped a picture and texted it to her Dad so he would know what to expect when he pulled in from work. Then I left her strapped there while I went in the house to get a bucket of soapy water and some towels and washclothes...and then we worked on extricating her from the seat and cleaning the poor little thing up. She was so pitiful....she just sat there, without complaint, and looking really sad.
She was fine after that, although I kept her home for a day from daycare just to be safe. But it was definitely one of my more disgusting "mom moments" since becoming a parent. That was one nasty smelling little girl, and cleaning her up was an exercise in gag suppression.
God makes them cute so you don't toss them out and start over. ;) Just kidding. I love that little girl!
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. :)
That is what Danika loves to say about her Daddy. She looks at me and says, "Daddy is a good boy. I like 'im."
Well, Danika, I like 'im too.
Here's a couple of recent pics of that wonderful man.
I have been hoping for a new frame to put my porch swing out in the yard. We got engaged on that swing when it used to hang on my Mom & Dad's porch, and they recently gave it to us to keep. The week after John was born, Doug was determined to get it built so I would have it to swing on with the kids while off work on maternity leave.
However, the day he was finally assembling it, the weather did NOT cooperate and it was POURING. Here is a picture of that wonderful man braving the elements & soaked to the bone, but finishing my swing frame. I use it EVERY SINGLE day now. Thank you honey! And this pic was taken as he walked in the door from an exceptionally hard day at work. It was a very dirty job kind of day. But how I love that man for being such a hard worker. You're the best! :)
My Mom was here to visit - we were standing in the kitchen talking, and suddenly Doug looks at me and says: "I think that we should let Martin outside"....as he holds the door open and the cat darts into freedom.
And as I stood there with my mouth hanging open and Doug grinning from ear to ear.....that was the end of the discussion.
Martin is now an outdoor cat. He is a VERY happy cat. Pretty much he sleeps in our bed, lounges on our furniture when he feels like it, has a warm house to sleep in, but gets to run and exercise and hunt outside every day.
From what we can tell he is on a one-chipmunk-a-day diet. We find the mutilated remnants all over the place on our porch and drive-way. It is a regular Rodent house of horrors when you step outside our house.
And as happy as Martin is, I am a little less than impressed with the "gifts" he leaves for me. I'll write more about that another time, but trust me, it has NOT been pleasant.
