Fall happenings

With a new baby, it's all about firsts all over again, which is especially fun heading into the holiday season.  We got our first "first" under our belts, with a successful Halloween.  Harry Potter, a cute kitty cat, and our little baby lion joined their butterfly cousin Gracie and trick-or-treated our small neighborhood, and then Harry and the kitty cat drove to a much larger neighborhood to trick or treat with friends, while mom and baby lion stayed home to hand out candy.

SAVE ME!!!!

Jackson and Mackenzie wrapped up successful soccer seasons.  Jackson scored several goals and played great defense for the Lightning, and Mackenzie had fun in her first season of soccer for the Geckos!

And everyone is having a blast with Grady.  He has a colorful personality, and loves flashing his smile to his family.  He loves looking at art, especially the picture of the elephant over his changing table, which makes changing diapers a fun time.  He has already rolled over on his own, before he even reached 12 weeks old!

First bottle from big brother

Meeting great grandma!

Back to the Future

Tonight we attempted to recreate an updated version of one of my all time favorite pictures of the kids. Enjoy the sequel!

Big Brother and little sister, July 2006

Big brother, big/little sister, little brother, September 2012

Party of 5!

On Wednesday, August 22nd we welcomed Grady David Werner into our world!  13 days later, in many ways it seems like he welcomed us into his world.

Grady was scheduled to join us on Thursday the 23rd, but of course he had other plans.  At around 1:30AM on Wednesday, Steph woke me to ask for a piece of paper and a pencil.  I assumed she had been lying awake at night, and decided to make a list of things for me to do the next day.  To the contrary, she wanted to track the timing of the contractions she had started feeling 15 minutes earlier.  I filled her request and laid back down, confident she was imagining things.  10 minutes later, she was on the phone with the doctor, who told us to come to the hospital right away.

We scrambled to get packed up for the hospital (I had steadily depleted my "go bag" over the prior few days), called Grandma Marsha to come watch the kids and woke Cameron and told him to sleep in our room in case the kids woke before Grandma made it up.  I turned the shower on, eliciting a prompt response from Steph "YOU ARE NOT TAKING A SHOWER".  "Of course not...  I was just rinsing the drain"

With contractions 6 minutes apart, we raced to the hospital.  As an aside, Steph was not exactly appreciative of the chance to experience labor again before her scheduled C-Section.  Fortunately I had the clarity of mind to snap this photo of one of her last ever contractions, which got me yelled at by Steph, but I know she'll be glad to have it down the road...

Once checked in, things went very quickly, and in just under 3 hours, we went from Steph being jolted awake by her first contraction at 1:16AM to meeting Grady at 4:14AM!

After a few hours of recovery, and some needed snoozing by all, the kids arrived to meet their baby brother!  They had been eagerly anticipating this moment for months and we are so excited to see how they have bonded with the little fella.

These first couple of weeks have been a whirlwind!  Within a couple of nights, Grady found his groove with the nighttime sleeping routine.  He sleeps well in between feedings such that we are generally getting up only twice per night to feed him.  He rarely cries without a good reason, and loves to be held by anyone in his family.  He is an outstanding eater, and never gives Mom problems with his feedings.  In fact, between his first pediatrician appointment on Monday the 27th and his next appointment 4 days later, he gained 3/4ths of a pound.  That's an 11% weight increase in 4 days!!  Sadly, we are seeing his newborn wrinkles filling in before our very eyes... they grow up too fast!!

Our little wrinkle boy

In the months leading up to his birth, we often wondered how he would differ from Jackson and Mackenzie.  They were both so similar in appearance as newborns that we just knew there would be something about Grady that was drastically new.  Judge for yourselves:

WHICH BABY IS WHICH????

And of course, the big question on everyone's mind was whether Grady would be born with a full head of hair like his brother and sister.  I think he could be in shampoo commercials!!

One last item to note:  it is common for babies to frequently have hiccups, but Grady is a hiccuping machine!  Fortunately, he is a very cute hiccuper:

Well that's our update through 13 days... more to come!!!

Leavenworth

For the last week of July I took a staycation, one week off to hang with the kids and celebrate Kenzie's birthday.  With Steph eight months pregnant, camping was pretty much off the table, so we did the next best thing, finding a cabin on the Chiwawa River near Leavenworth!  Our rental pretty much included every camping activity other than sleeping on a mat over dirt and rocks, which Steph was quite okay with.

Activities included hiking, fishing, campfires, horseshoes, giant chess, foosball, and playing in the icy cold river.  We also brought Jackson's bow and arrow that he got for his birthday, polishing our archery skills in advance of the Olympics!

The kids most enjoyed hiking, hot tubbing, and marshmellow roasting around the campfire, and in general were just excited to spend 4 uninterrupted days together.  They also surprisingly had fun on a day trip to Leavenworth, where we enjoyed Bavarian food and shopping. 

Professional relaxers

Exploring an old growth forest

Jackson, Kenzie, Steph and Baby ?? enjoy a nice break during our hike to Hidden Lake

Hidden Lake, Unhidden Smiles

Smoke dog poses for his glamour shot

Didn't catch any fish but they did catch 2 dragonflies.  And we watched another kid catch a fish and then an otter came up and stole it!

Giant chess






Archery!





Corey scores a bullseye!

Tooth Fairy Tales

Last night marked likely the last visit to the tooth fairy to our home for a while, as Mackenzie lost what I think is the last of her first round of baby teeth.  At least I think... there may be one more that I'm not aware of.

I am happy to report that the tooth fairy has never failed to deliver a shiny gold dollar for each of our kids' lost teeth.  This is good, because both kids, Mackenzie especially, get really excited about the tooth fairy.  Jackson was a little slower to pick up on the concept, as he didn't have an older sibling through whom he could live vicariously.  Mackenzie knew what to expect and eagerly, impatiently awaited the day she could put her first tooth under her pillow.

So our saga began with Jackson's first tooth, which came flying out of his mouth after he tripped in our kitchen, followed by him crying and begging his mother to put the tooth back in the hole in his mouth.  By contrast, his sister's first tooth came via self extraction, when she one day quietly slipped into a bathroom and worked her first loose tooth back and forth, didn't fret over the blood coming out, and finally pulled the tooth out with her bare hands.  Yesterday, Mackenzie found a clever way to get that last tooth out, while abiding by the new "no pulling" rules.   She jumped toward the couch and landed on her forearms, leveraging physics to use her own momentum to pop the tooth out with the sudden deceleration.

At bedtime she put the tooth under her pillow in a baggie, per her usual routine.  As I sang her songs, I deftly moved the bag close to the edge of her pillow, so the tooth fairy could access the tooth without waking her, which has always been a major challenge.   My well intentioned idea was foiled, however.  When the tooth fairy came to make the exchange, Mackenzie had a vice grip on the bag with the tooth in it... as if she had her own version of an old phrase: "you can have my tooth when you pry it from my cold, sleeping hands".   Fortunately the tooth fairy is an old pro, and was able to wrestle it away from Kenzie.  I can't wait to hear all about it when I get home tonight!

Softball Slugger

Despite our assumptions that she would make a career of dance and gymnastics, Mackenzie has declared that softball is her favorite activity.   After a rocky first practice, when she cried and didn't want to leave my side, she now counts the days to softball, loves her black and silver "Rebels" uniform, and is eagerly anticipating her first game this Saturday.

We are happy to see her get such joy out of her first team sport, and love the pride she shows.  My favorite example is that when they finally got their hats, she insisted on writing her own name in her hat, and penned her name as meticulously as I have ever seen her write it.

After just a handful of practices, Mackenzie has quickly developed a nice, fundamental throwing form, is putting together some nice swings on the ball, is getting more consistent with her batting stance, and as soon as her little hands get big enough to squeeze her mitt over the ball, I'm certain she will be a stellar fielder!

 We are looking forward to a fun season!

GO REBELS!!!