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Birthday Fun…

October 9, 2008 by 1 Comment

Yesterday I got a little closer to being 32 and 3 days old….according to my best compilation of star charts, moon calendars, desert sand grains, and Incan clocks; I should reach that mark tomorrow. 

I headed home right after getting off of work and arrived to find a decorated house and an Ahna and an Ezra that were excited to start the celebration with me. Not long thereafter, we opened some cards and gifts…I say we because Ezra had a halloween gift to open (from Grandparents Bersagel; it was a book, and he loved reading it) and he then assisted me in opening my gifts. It was a ton of fun to see him reach out and grab the paper and pull it away from the gift…I know that all he wanted to do was eat it, but we can pretend that he was trying to get inside to see what the surprise was. 

Following the gift opening, we headed down to my parent’s neighborhood to go for a walk (we go down there every once in a while just to get a different place to look at), or so I thought. Ahna and my Mom had arranged for her to hang out with Ezra for a while so Ahna could take me out to lunch. It was a wonderful surprise by someone who historically isn’t that great at surprises (spills the beans too easily). It also was only the second time since Ezra was born that we spent time as the two of us – and the first time was so stressed because he was 1 week old that it only lasted about 45 minutes. This time was completely different and it was great to reconnect with her on that level. 

One of my requests for the day was to go swimming with Ezra and we managed to pull it off using the hot tub at my parent’s house. He really enjoyed swimming again, this time having fun floating in the water in a standing position, on his belly, and on his back. For the first time, I dunked Ezra’s head under the water…I was the creation of the reaction – by pulling him back up at a slight angle, it allowed some water to get in his nose…thus creating a moment of panic by Ezra. He was over it in just a minute or two, and I promised him that I would do it right next time.

We went to evening services for Yom Kippur, so we went out to dinner with my parents beforehand. Ahna arranged for us to go to The Old Blinking light in Highlands Ranch…a restaurant that we both really enjoy, and a place that isn’t too far from where services were being held. 

Overall, I could not have asked for a better or more fulfilling day. Oh, the gift that I got this year? Everyone chipped in to get me a season ski pass for Arapahoe Basin. I should be able to order it tomorrow and keep your fingers crossed, use it in about two weeks.

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The 4 Month Stats

October 7, 2008 by 1 Comment

The doctor’s visit went extremely well….Dr. Sheehan is awesome. Everything looked great as far as his development, health, and activity. The Dr. answered a slew of questions that we had (does everyone have this, or is it just us?) and we had a very comforting conversation about Ezra and what we were doing. Immediately following the well-baby check, Ezra got two vaccinations this month (we are doing Dr. Sears’ recommended alternative vaccination schedule)….the rotavirus and the Dtap. This is the second in the series of these vaccinations for Ezra and he responded very well to them both times. The rotavirus vaccination comes as a liquid, so that one is simple and painless. The Dtap is a shot in the thigh, and as soon as the nurse gave the shot, Ezra gave the ‘what the….?’ look, then proceeded to smile. Seriously – he smiled. The nurse was so shocked that he smiled – and even said that she had never seen that before – that she said that she was going to tell everyone else in the office. Now, I’m sure that plenty of other kids do the same thing…but make no mistake, it makes for some proud parents. 

Also, I can’t remember if I wrote this in an earlier post or not, but on his 4-month birthday, Ezra decided to roll over for the first time from his back to his stomach! He has done it one other time since, and has come close a ton more times. Things are about to change again. Here’s the goods:

Head: 16.5″, 50th percentile

Weight: 16 pounds 2 ounces, 75th percentile

Height: 25.5″, 75th percentile

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2/3 Of The Way To 6 Months (!)

October 5, 2008 by 1 Comment

I suppose that the easier way to say that would be to tell you that Ezra turned 4 months old on Sunday…but the other way somehow is more shocking – at least to me. 

We celebrated his birthday with a trip to Denver for Wee Worship at church, then an afternoon cheering for the Broncos as they beat Tampa Bay. The day was topped off with the monthly phone call from Ezra’s Great-Grandmother in Florida, and the obligatory 4 kisses (I wonder what will happen in a few years…that’s a lot of kisses). 

We head into the doctor’s office tomorrow, so more statistics then. But for now, here are some pictures (it was supposed to be colder today, thus the hat) and the traditional list of numbers:

4 – number of months that Ezra is old

2 – including this one; number of statistics in this list

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One Year Ago

September 27, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Roughly one year ago (we don’t have the exact date, but it was during the last week of Sept) we found out that we were pregnant. Wow, that’s weird to think about. Sometime in our previous lives we used to judge years by when school let out for summer, or when the Super Bowl was, or when the choir season began, or when a new lease was to be signed, or when our work performance evaluations were due, or when ski season started…now life itself is the determining factor of time. 

Don’t worry, this won’t be a ‘year in review’ post, but we will revisit last Sept quickly. For several reasons we were extremely excited and very nervous about the news last September. We decided to tell just our parents and immediate family that we were expecting…Ahna reminded me yesterday that we told our parents on my birthday. We waited to tell our friends until after the first trimester was complete just to make sure that everything was on the up and up. Boy was it ever. We remember one ultrasound where Ezra was jumping up and down and doing head-over-heel flips…full of anticipation,  we wondered what it would be like to see it in person. 

We talked a lot about the expected changes in life, during the next 10 months as well as afterwards….but one thing that we discussed a lot was how much we enjoyed and celebrated it being the two of us. We intenionally spent a lot of time together doing things that we didn’t think that we would be able to do once Ezra was born. But one thing that we couldn’t have anticipated was how much joy we would get from involving Ezra in our adventures. We thought it would be cool, but had no idea about the fulfillment that we feel. 

It seems like 10 years and 4 lives have passed since last September. It’s hard to remember life without Ezra (either expecting or after birth). It’s strange to think that our home hasn’t changed, our friends haven’t changed, our work hasn’t changed, our families haven’t changes…yet everything changed. 

Here’s the first and the latest pictures of Ezra:

Filed Under: Ezra!, Life in General, Photos Included

A Quick Photo Dump…pt 2

September 25, 2008 by 1 Comment

Here’s the rest of the photos…I think they were worth waiting for.

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A Quick Photo Dump…pt 1

September 24, 2008 by 1 Comment

Part two will probably come tomorrow, all from the same photo sequence. 

The toe grabbing is in full force, as is the refusal to sleep…it’s been a little frustrating recently. Of course as I say that, he is sleeping.

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Can I Change Your Socks?

September 21, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Okay, it’s a favorite line from a movie (not very good one) to quote and for some reason came to mind with thinking about this post. 

Two days ago Ezra found his feet with his hands for the first time. He started to reach out and grab ahold of his toes while laying on his back…most frequently during diaper changes, which doesn’t make that job any easier. I was at work when it happened, which was the first time that Ezra has done something for the first time while I have been at work. I know that every parent has to experience that at some point, but not being able to go home and seen it until the following morning was a little reminder of the downside to the schedule that I have.

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Swimming, Take 2

September 18, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Yesterday morning the three of us headed to the pool for a second attempt at the pool. This time we were able to go to the recreation center (so we were indoors and not fighting with the sun) and we timed it a little better around his naps in order to give him the best shot at a positive outcome. It worked. We hung out in the shallow end of the zero-entrance pool where it was 1 foot deep and after a minute or two of him figuring out what the water was, he started to enjoy himself: standing in the water, sitting in the water, watching other kids, bouncing, etc. We stayed for almost 30 minutes (including the mandatory under-18 timeout of 10 minutes) and to the best of our understanding, he enjoyed all of it. 

Last evening we started the interview process for a day care placement. We are looking for in-home day care, and have had a little tougher time finding options than we anticipated. The place that we visited with yesterday came recommended from a few of Ahna’s co-workers at school. It’s located up in Parker and really close to school which has some positives and negatives….but since we are aiming to only put Ezra in day care on the days that both of us work, it is mostly positive in relation to location. We were pretty satisfied with the visit and are comfortable if we chose to go with her; but we are going to continue to look around so we have a good idea of what is out there (including a commercial center for the reference). 

Oh, remember that post about Ezra starting to sleep through the night? Remember how I referenced the hesitation in broadcasting the news around for fear of jinxing the trend? Well, apparently that is exactly what happened. The last week or so Ezra has been hitting that 3am wake-up again…and we can’t figure out why. He has started ‘marching’ in the night – which equates to him bucking with both legs and smacking the co-sleeper. It wakes us up, and soon after wakes him up….I suppose that the answer lies somewhere between growing, exploring his body, and gas. Keep you fingers crossed that it doesn’t last too long….

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VH1 Presents: Behind The Announcement

September 17, 2008 by Leave a Comment

It seems as though the announcements have reached their destination coast-to-coast, so it’s time to post it here for all of you who we would love to share it with, but don’t have addresses. 

The quick story: the photos were taken on Dave and Mary Jo’s couch while we were back in Wisconsin for Ezra’s baptism and Bestemore’s birthday. A little of finishing done in Photoshop and they were ready for their big debut. We searched the web for announcements that we liked and chose a couple of designs and colors, eventually settling on a combination of a few of those. I created it in Photoshop using a 4×6 format so we could print it off at a local photo printing shop and so that it would fit into a normal envelope. We are pretty happy with the result…one more thing: the toughest part of the design wasn’t the pictures, or the colors, or the layout…it was the font choice. I went through a bunch of options not being satisfied with any of them – but then I remembered a movie and a design story…so the font on the announcement is Helvetica. 

Filed Under: Ezra!, Life in General, Photos Included

Laughter = +8

September 16, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Changing diapers has become a fun time to spend with Ezra: he really enjoys the direct interaction and returns it in full force. Now, it seems that the quickest diaper changes still take 10 minutes…just because they are fun. A couple of nights ago we were up there doing the business, and we were playing with him…kissing, tickling, etc….and he started to laugh/giggle. It was the first time that he has done it (and hasn’t really done it since then)…but we finally get it. We love to watch the TV show “Inside the Actors Studio.” At the end of the show, the host (James Lipton) asks all of the guests the same couple of questions (your favorite curse word, what other job you would like to try, etc) and one of those questions is “tell me you favorite sound.” I think that the most popular answer is “the laugh of my child.” Yea, we both would answer that question that way – no matter how cheesy. It’s life affirming.

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