Memorial Day Weekend (picture overload)

We went on our annual Memorial Day trip with the Janes and Rachuts this past Memorial Day. Each year we pick a cabin in a remote area and spend a long weekend 'camping'. Which basically means we don't give up any of the moder necessities like plumbing, air conditioning and beds but we do have a campfire each night.

The past two years, Camden was the only child who was able to join in. But this year we muliplied the number of children by four!

Left to Right: Kade, Cherri, Camden, Grace, Jill, Beth, Abby.

Both Beth and Jill's girls just turned one in May. To say we had our hands full was an understatement at time! We look forward to a few years from now when they will all play together so well.

Our first night at the cabin we made sushi. We fed the kids "normal" food and put them in bed then made sushi for the adults. It was fun!

Apparently I forgot to bring my camera to all of the other activities we did because I don't have pictures at most of them.

Saturday morning we went into Decorah and did a little shopping and went to the Farmers Market. Then we headed to the new brewery for the guys to sample some micro-brews. The kids got a little rowdy as it approached nap time. But luckily we were the only ones in the place so we weren't disturbing anyone. After the brewery experience we headed back to the cabin for naps.

When the kids woke up from naps we took them back into Decorah and let them play at a park. They had a blast and burned off some energy!

This is as good as family pictures get now days.

We caught a good family picture of the Rachuts, though.

Even the grown-ups had fun on the playground.

Abby and Grace loved the slide (although their faces don't necessarily show it).

When we got home from the park, we had supper. Then we gave the kids apple juice popsicles. We stripped them down to diapers and set them on the deck for this treat.

After popsicles we put the girls in the bath together, trying to speed up the process with only one tub. It was a disaster! Abby and Grace took turns screaming while Camden sat in the back of the tub shivering.

Our second full day at the cabin we visited a winery and ice cream shop. I have no pictures of either one.

Here's Camden and Grace on our final morning before heading home. Notice Camden has a hawkeye shirt on and Grace has an ISU shirt on. Camden is trying to explain to Grace why the Hawkeyes are better than the Cyclones.
The three youngest sitting in their diapers.

What a fun weekend! We were exhausted by the time we got home, but looking forward to next year's trip :)

I Cubs Game

Derek scored some free tickets to an ICubs game for Friday night. So we packed up the kids and headed to the ballpark hoping to catch a few innings of the game before the kids got restless.

When I told Camden that we were going to the ball game, she insisted she take her pink glove along with her. She was so proud of her glove and held it with pride through the first inning, before she got distracted by cotton candy, hot dogs, ice cream and juice!

I would like to show you a picture of Camden with Cubbie Bear, but unfortunately they weren't near each other for more than a few seconds. Cubbie walked up to Camden from behind. Camden let out a high-pitched shriek and jumped and Cubbie jumped as well. They took off in opposite directions! There was no hope of getting a picture of them together. Cubbie scared Camden, but I think Camden might have scared Cubbie even more!

Camden thought she wanted to go home after the Cubbie incident, but we talked her into staying and she was glad she did. But she kept looking over her shoulder for Cubbie the rest of the game.

The highlight of the game came early when we got a foul ball. We didn't actually catch it, but one of my former coworkers who we happened to see there got it and gave it to Camden. She thought that was pretty cool!

The kids made it through the entire game and Camden really wanted to stay to watch the fireworks after the game. So we stayed through all of it and they were both wide awake. Kade zonked out as soon as we were in the car. By the time we got home, it was 10pm and we had two exhausted kids and the Cubs had a Win!

(Excuse the picture quality. They were all taken with my cell phone, with the exception of the picture of Cubbie which I got from the ICubs page. As previously stated, Cubbie wsn't around long enough to get a picture!)

9 months

I'm a little late at posting Kade's 9-month pictures. We took them on the day, but I've been so busy that I just haven't had time to get it done. With recovery from surgery and traveling out of state for work for 4 days, I've just fallen behind. But here are the pictures.

We took these pictures on Kade's actual 9-month birthday. So this was one 1 1/2 days post surgery for the little guy. So please excuse the pajamas, but that's what he was most comfortable in.

The ninth month has brought a much more active little man. He now crawls everywhere and pulls up to standing on everything! He constantly has a bump or bruise of some sort and usually it's on his head.

Nothing is safe from this little guy any longer!

He is a mover!

Meet Reagan

We have a new niece in the family!

Blair and Tarryn welcomed Reagan Elizabeth to the family. We took a drive to meet Reagan last weekend and she is a cutie!

Reagan Elizabeth

May 4, 2010

7 pounds 3 ounces

20 inches long

Camden and Kade love their new cousin!

On the road to Recovery

After a long, LONG day yesterday, we are home with a little boy whose recovering.
We had to be at the hospital at 10:30 yesterday morning. We got checked in a they had us dress Kade in a gown. The nurse came in to check his vitals and get the his hospital bands on. And then the waiting started. She let us know right away that the first surgery of the day took longer than expected so he was running behind.

At about 11:00 they came in to tell us that it was going to be 3:00 before we would get to see the doctor. The gave us the option of rescheduling or waiting until 3. We chose to wait. Poor Kade hadn't eaten or drank anything since a bottle at 4am. By the time 3:00 came, he was getting crabby! But who can blame him?!? I was getting crabby too!

Finally at 3:15 the dr. stopped by to see us. He told us that he had to run to Emergency for 30 minutes and then he'd be back to do Kade's surgery. In the meantime, we met with the anesthesiologist and the nurse that would be caring for Kade during surgery. Kade loved the nurse. He was full of smiles for her!

At 3:50 the nurse finally took him back for his surgery. He was happy to go to her and smiled at us all the way down the hall until we couldn't see him any longer. The nurse came out to tell us he was just as happy as can be the entire time. At 5:20 we met with the doctor. He told us all went well and that Kade would be headed to recovery and we'd be able to see him soon. They called us back to recover shortly after that and we finally got to see him around 5:45.

He was in a lot of pain when we first saw him. He was inconsolable at first. But soon after he just crashed in our arms. We held him in recovery until about 7:15 when they discharged us to go home. By the time we stopped for his perscription and went through a drive-thru for some supper (we hadn't eaten since 8am either!) we made it home around 8:00.

Poor Kade was just exhausted. He slept very well overnight! We woke him up every 4 hours to give him his pain medication and a bottle. He couldn't take the medication on an empty stomach and he needed to replenish those fluids he missed out on from not drinking anything for 15 hours. Each time we woke him up for medication and a bottle, he took it and went right back to sleep. When we woke him up about 6:15 this morning, he managed to get a couple smiles out for Mom and Dad. We were very happy to see those!

He has spent most of today sleeping as well. The time that he has been awake, he's been pretty content and wants to play. We are praying for a speedy recovery for our little guy.

Surgery is on

I took Kade for yet another pre-op physical on Monday. This time we got the all-clear to go ahead with surgery on Monday (assuming he doesn’t get sick between now and then). Since he will be 9-months old next Wednesday, our pediatrician went ahead with his 9-month Well Baby visit at the same time. He checked out good all around.

--Stats--
Weight: 20 pounds 11 ounces (52nd percentile)
Height: 29 ¾ inches long (84th percentile)
Head: 16 ½ inches (70th percentile)

He has really slowed down on his weight gain. He has dropped from about the 80th percentile down to the 50th. We credit that to the mobility. He is so much more active that he is really slimming down! He was starting to look like a King, but now that he's slimming down, I think he's going to be a Wilson just like his sister.

We also got the okay to start feeding him table food and to phase out the baby food. He’s not so sure about the table food just yet. He likes to eat it, but he still thinks he needs to be fed with a spoon. But then again we’ve only been doing it for a day now, so I’m sure it will improve with time!

Weekend Recap

We had a very busy weekend, but it ws so much fun. On Saturday my cousin Brandi got married. We were honored to be there to witness her special day. Here's a picture of Brandi and her Daddy dancing. Congratulations, Brandi. You were a beautiful bride!

Camden and her cousin Emmett has so much fun dancing at the reception. They were so cute together!

Even Ella let loose and danced!

This is what happens when you as a 2 and 3 year old to smile for a picture.

Kade looked so handsome all dressed up. And he had fun snuggling with Mema.

While Grandpa showed Camden how to blow bubbles.

We stayed the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house. In the morning we took Camden to the playground for a while. She appreciated the alone time with Mommy and Daddy.

After the park it was time for Grandma's 90th Birthday Party. Most of the family was able to make it and Grandma was so happy to see everyone. Here's half of the great-grandkids. I could only fit half into a picture at a time. I think it goes without saying, there were a lot of kids there!

And here's Grandma with four of her five children and a few spouses. From left to right - Steve, Larry, Kathy, Mom, Dad and Gary
Happy 90th Birthday Grandma!