Where is Daddy?

Last night as Jon put the kids to bed, they could not have known what this day would bring for them. Today was Jon's first day at his new job. He got up early, well relatively early. He had an hour of work in before anyone else in the house had stirred. I got Taylor up around 8 so he would be ready for his first appointment. The Early education teacher, Mary, who works with Taylor everyother week showed up right on time at 8:30. Livi was fast asleep still, so we got a rare oppurtunity to play one on one with Taylor.

Mary has a ball toy that he is supposed to put the balls in and then push a lever to get the balls back out. This toy used to puzzle him, and rather than pushing the lever, he would just pick the whole thing up, and the balls would fall out the bottom. Not so today! She handed him one ball, he threw it in the top, took the second ball, threw it in the top, and then pushed the lever and both balls came rolling out. He looked up at Mary, and grinned ear to ear... smarty pants! :) It amazes me week to week how much he learns! He even decided that this would be a good week to show Mary how he can sit up from laying on his tummy, all by himself! I have been trying to get him to show that for a month.

While Taylor was having a super session, Livi was waking up. I got her up just in time for Mary to leave. Livi was really dissapointed to see her go so soon. Shortly after Mary left, I got Taylor up in his new stander. Its a beast! I will post a picture later... He hasn't been tolerating this one as well because he actually has to do more of the work. So he only usually gets about 15 minutes at anyone time, for now. Today he did a little better... and we got about 18 min. As I was putting him in though, he hit the tray which was leaning on the box next to it. The tray fell over on top of Livi, and she got a jelly bean sized bump right on her little noggen!

Livi and Taylor had juicy little blackberries for breakfast today. They had little purple faces and Livi had little purple hands!!! It was super messy, but super cute. Taylor gave us his usual disgusted look, but didn't gag or puke, so I guess that is a keeper! Just before they went down for their naps, Terra noticed that Livi had a long scratch on her arm. I have no idea what it is from. So on our first day without daddy, Taylor did great, and Livi ended up with a bump and a scratch!!!

I won't know how Daddy's first day went until I see him tomorrow after he gets home from work... maybe he will post...

House of Healing

So at our house, we are all on the mend these days. Livi is finally pretty much back to her usual moody self. She/they, perform for crowds of admirers and smile big for strangers, especially old ladies... and she cries and cries for attention at home. Especially the attention from Jon. If he even appears in the same room without picking her up, oh all hell breaks loose! The nerve of him! Taylor is pretty happy most of the time. He continues to spin around and around on his little tushy. Each time around, he looks up at us and just giggles. It seems that Livi has caught his nasty teeth grinding habit. They love to play peek-a-boo with anyone and any object that might be between you. This morning I was working on the computer and Livi was on the couch in front of the computer. Nothing was more fun than hiding behind the computer screen, and jumping up just at the moment that I wasn't expecting it! She would just squeel with glee. Taylor goes to bed every night playing peek with Daddy and his blanket. This is definately one of the funnest times with them. They are starting to really understand all those little baby games, and it is so much fun to watch them figure it out. I love when Livi sings the Monkey song with me by making the motions. Even though she knows them by heart, she gets so excited that all the different motions for all the songs that she knows burst out at once. It is truly adorable.

Jon is starting his new job this Thursday. I am dragging my feet towards the day, as I know that my life is going to change dramatically. I must say that I have been spoiled having him at home all this time. We are scrambling to finish all the loose ends that we wanted to accomplish before this day came. We are also just beginning production of our first large photo order. These last few days of tweeking have been trying, mostly because we are so anxious to see a finished product. So life continues to be busy busy.

Yesterday we spent the morning at a housewarming party for a couple of very good friends of ours. I left for work shortly after 2, but I would find out later that the "fun" was just beginning. As the day unfolded, their beloved pet bird decided to fly away. Frantically they tried to retreive the bird, injuring themselves in the process, but had little success. The bird ended up spending the night in a neighboring tree... intilling panic and worry into the hearts of her owners. Fortunately, they were able to retrieve the bird in the morning. So besides panic, anxiety, loss of sleep, and a fair bit of physical pain... all is ok there now.

This morning (well afternoon since we were all out late bird-searching etc) we invited them over for breakfast (technically lunch). We served french toast made with homemade Amish bread that we picked up from the farmers market Saturday morning. With that we also enjoyed some homemade "butter" (Pumpkin-Apple Butter, Spiced Pumpkin-Peacon Butter, and Strawberry Butter) and fresh strawberries for toppings. It was a nice relaxing morning following a night of chaos!

Walk 2007

Jon and I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who contributed money in the name of Team Stanis for the 2007 March of Dimes Walk America! As a team, our Nine members (including our little miracles) collected $547 with only a little over a two months time. We are so proud to say that we were able to collect for such a good cause. We are super excited to be gearing up for Walk America 2008! Our goal is to double our number of team members as well as our funds. Please consider walking with us for 2008 and collecting from your collegues, friends, family, and whomever might be willing to save babies. You can walk for Team Stanis even if you cannot walk here in Wisconsin. March of Dimes hosts a number of walks all over the country on different days in the spring. You can find a walk near you by visiting their website: www.marchofdimes.com

Thanks once again to all of our 2007 Sponsers and Walkers!!! You are awesome!

Sans Employment

Since I doubt that Jon intends to make any sort of official statement or announcement, I thought I would end all of your suspense! Jon has officially taken a position with ASI in Green Bay, WI. It will be a little bit of a commute, but nothing like Milwaukee. The position was the best oppurtunity that he was given as it combines both the design experience that he has been using and the project management that he is looking to get into. Lets hope that it provides a good challange for him. Officially, I am very happy for him, however, I am really going to miss having him around whenever I really need him :( Tear, tear.

House of Ail

What a difference four days can make! In my last post, I blogged that Alivya was pretty much over her cold... WRONG! Thursday morning we woke after a long night of coughing and hacking, to Livi breathing very heavy and retracting. I haven't seen her retract this way since she was just a few months old. We decided to take her in, and she was given two breathing treatments in office and had a chest x-ray. I had to leave about half way through the appointment to take Taylor to his scheduled GI appointment. So Jon told me that the doctor saw something on x-ray, but she wasn't comfortable calling it pneumonia because we did not measure a fever at home. The fact is that I didn't actually take her temperature. I knew that she had a fever from feeling how warm she was, so we just gave her some Tylenol. So the lesson here is to take the temp anyway, since the doctor might make her whole diagnosis based on that measurement. (Oh and make sure you have an accurate thermometer too!) So she was sent home with a diagnosis of possible pneumonia, possible partially collapsed lung and breathing difficulties. We were told to give her breathing treatments every three to four hours as needed, and prednisone daily for five days. She also wanted to see Livi again the next day. I had told the doctor before I left that Livi had been pulling on her ears... but Jon said that she looked and saw nothing. Well the next day she looked and saw a pretty big infection. So now we have added an antibiotic to the mix.

Taylor, for a change, is doing really well. His newest trick is spinning on his butt! He sits and lifts one leg which he uses like a propeller to turn himself around and around. I don't think he has realized it yet, but while he is doing this he tends to scoot just slightly forward. His PT is not as pleased with this as I am, but she is looking at it from a therapist standpoint. As his mother, I am just happy to see him move in any means. We will continue to encourage him to move on his tummy and hands and knees, but if he chooses just to scoot, then that is what we will have to accept.

As for us, Jon and I spent the last week outside in the heat... landscaping! We planted a couple of trees and four bushes. Just finally getting to a couple of things that we have been talking about doing since we moved in. Hopefully our less than green thumbs won't kill it all though :) Jon found out yesterday that the job he was offered, that he thought was contract to hire, is actually direct hire. This is really good news, and has him leaning even more towards accepting that offer. We are expecting an offer from the company in Missouri by Monday. It will have to be a very compelling offer at this point to justify picking up and moving 10 hours away. Jon seems much more excited about the opportunity in Green Bay than Missouri too. So I think it is highly unlikely that we will be moving.

So I guess we will know more by Tuesday!

Interview

I realized this morning that we have been home for over a week... doesn't really feel like it. Maybe some of this is because we have been so very busy! Jon was laid off from work effective the day before we left for California, so this past week he spent interviewing... interview after interview after interview. In fact, I think that the interviewing process has been more time consuming than when he had a full time job. Just this morning he left for Missouri, where he is, yet again, interviewing. Ugh. I really hope at the end of all this madness he ends up with a position that he loves, making the kind of money he deserves. (and a little bit of sanity in our home would be appreciated too;)

Me, well I have been working. Today I get a break after a five day stretch. I don't expect a medal or anything, its just that I work part time... theoretically... When I am not at work, I am working here at home, desperately trying to get things put away and cleaned up. We did take a few hours for ourselves last Friday though. MIL gave us tickets to the Lion King stage production for Christmas last year. She watched the kiddos so we could go out for dinner first and then see the show. We have seen the show before, but I would see it a hundred more times just to get a few hours of "us time". Besides, each production is unique, that is the power of live performances! I personally enjoyed watching Symba scramble when Nala took off his head during "Can you feel the love tonight". He recovered pretty good considering. The adult Nala, by the way, was absolutely outstanding that evening. The power in her voice sent chills up my spine, and after seeing the show three times, I am still impressed by several technical aspects of the show. I love how they do the sun effect and the water drying up. I also love the stampeed and Mufasa's ghost scenes.

The kids are doing well... well healing I guess. Livi is pretty much over the cold that she acquired (and faithfully shared with all of us). She has not been wearing her glasses well though. It doesn't help that we have been too busy and can't keep putting them back on. She lost three pounds since she was last weighed, so we added some Peda Sure to her daily intake... she love it. Yesterday Jon said that she just closed her eyes and sucked it down like she was in little baby heaven on earth! She has also started to say Dada... meaningfully.

Taylor is sort of in the thick of his illness now. Initially he had only a runny nose, and I thought we were going to get lucky. Spoke too soon! On Sunday he had a huge buildup of thick yellow gunk in his left ear... on Monday his right ear began oozing thin yellow gunk... so I called his ENT. Now he has drops twice a day for an ear infection. His nose continues to drip, slowly... and gets better as the day goes on.

Home Sweet Home

We arrived home on Monday morning at 8:30 local time... after flying for almost six hours over night. Ugh. The children slept most of the trip from Seattle, but were awake for most of the second leg of the return trip. When we finally got home, the kids crashed for almost six hours. We were totally exhausted. Unfortunately, Alivya began to cough on Friday night, by Saturday night she had a constant runny nose and was barking like a dog. Taylor's nose also began to run. By Sunday morning Livi had rosy red cheeks, fever, lethargic, and really working to breath. We have been treating her with Tylenol and her inhalers... praying that she gets better soon. I did get her to take two bottles tonight, so I think things are looking up. However, I started feeling really congested, and dry dry mouth... now its nearly midnight, and I can't sleep. Go figure. So we are looking forward to getting back on our own time zone. I personally am looking forward to all the laundry being done, and getting my house back together! I don't think that we will be traveling again soon.

Before I go, after boarding and deplaning five times in the past ten days with two nearly 18 month toddlers and only two adults... I would just like to say, that this is one family who will NOT be flying NORTHWEST again... We will gladly fly ALASKA again though. So if there are any Alaska employees out there, thank you for making one of our five flights as relaxing and enjoyable as possible. Your assistance was greatly appreciated and did not go unnoticed. Northwest... you need some serious work on customer service!