Destination Dagobah

Promises

2011-04-09T12:51:00.006-05:00

This is a blog post that has been rattling around in my brain for quite some time and I just haven't had time to post it.

The background: For any readers who don't know, Bill and I spend time in Mazatlan Mexico with the Vineyard Church there running outreach clinics for the poor. We have been going down for 5+years. The story of how we got started is a blog post for another day but the bottom line is that we both feel as if this is where God wants us. Bill heard God say that this is what we should do so we have done it. Three times a year for a week for the past 5 years we have assembled teams, bought meds, traveled, served, worked, sweated, laughed, loved with our now great friends who live and serve in Mazatlan. We have had teams of 4 with us being the only medical providers (shout out to Cam and Steve) and teams of 27. When I got pregnant, some thought our mission would change. I did miss one trip when Lucas was 4 weeks go but starting at 5 mo, we just took Lucas along. I find no better way to grow up than knowing that serving the poor is just part of life. Being in Mexico with Mommy and Daddy is just part of life.

The issue: Mexico is getting more dangerous. Th

e drug cartels are creating violence in this beloved city of ours. Mazatlan is having escalation in violence. Most of the violence is drug on drug with very few bystander casualties (if any) and the only way we would be hurt is if we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. To be honest, that is how you can get hurt or killed anywhere. I had been really struggling with continuing to take Lucas and my parents. Bill and I have 'bought into' this vision we have from God; the volunteers we take on our team know the risks but Lucas is just an innocent little child who we 'drag' there. My folks only come to take care of Lucas and I wrestled with the notion that I was being selfish. Putting my beloved child and parents in harms way seems some days like too big a risk. Leaving Lucas at home is an option but we now go for 2 weeks twice a year and that means missing a month of his life every year and I'm just not cool with that. So this is where I found myself and my heart a few weeks ago. I started to pray. What am I really afraid of? What does all this boil down to? Should we continue to go?

The heart of the matter: I realized I am fearful and don't trust God enough to take care of my child. I realized I don't actually believe that God loves Lucas more than I do. I realized I don't actually believe that anyone loves their child with the painful all consuming love that I love Lucas with. I know that sounds crazy. I see my friends with their kids or even my parents with me and I think 'surely they love their kids but they cannot possibly love their kids like I love Lucas'. I realized I was treating God like a buffet line; picking and choosing where I wanted to believe and where I wanted him and where I just wanted to pass and do it all myself. I am terrified of something happening to Lucas. I am terrified.of.living.my.life.without.him. The fear is IMMOBILIZING.

From that thought to today: So I started sharing with those I trusted the most and asked for prayer. I shared with a woman in Mazatlan who we work very closely with about my fears. She wrote me back an email that made me cry out to God. We don't serve a God of fear, she said. Tell Jesus to take your fear and don't live it in, she said. You have to believe that God knows the days you have with Lucas either one more or a zillion more, she said. Trust God who does love Lucas more, she said. God gave you your mother's heart and trust him with all your love for Lucas, she said. So I started. I started while running telling God that I trusted him and that I will not be afraid. The fears eased a bit slowly I felt my tight grip on Lucas in my heart loosening.

Then Bill and I started to read Romans together for Lent. I remember exactly where I was when I reread Romans 4:20-21 out loud " (speaking about Abraham) For he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promises of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised" So I am there. I am fully persuaded that God has power to do what He had promised. I know my God is mighty. My faith was coming back stronger than before. I started to repeat this verse in my head. Then I started to remember what God promises and what God doesn't promise. He doesn't promise that I won't get shot in drug related cross fire in Mexico when I am trying to serve the poor. He doesn't promise that my child will live a healthy long life free of pain or sorrow. He doesn't promise that my child will outlive me. He doesn't promise that I won't die in a plane crash. He doesn't promise that a drunk driver won't hop the curve and hit me when I'm out for a run or that someone not paying attention backs over my shopping cart carrying Lucas at HyVee. He doesn't promise me that Lucas won't get kidnapped walking two blocks home from school or that I don't get snatched out running even in daylight. He doesn't promise that I won't get hit by lightening or blown away in a tornado. He doesn't promise me that a pissed off patient who really wanted narcotics won't shoot me at work or come to my house and light it on fire. But what He does promise is to.be.with.us.always.period.

So in two weeks we will pack up Lucas, enough fruit snacks to feed a small nation, medicine, every DVD with elmo or thomas in it, our team, birthday presents, a new tricycle, running clothes, old shoes, my parents, sand toys, thomas themed birthday paraphernalia, enough chocolate to satisfy my lenten fast, treats for our ex-pat friends and we will head to Mazatlan. We will spend two weeks serving, loving, laughing, sweating in Mazatlan. We will celebrate Lucas' 2nd birthday there. We will be smart about going out after dark. We will stick close to our hotel. We will pray for safety and hold on to the promise of Christ that He.is.with.us.always.

We leave on Easter Sunday and that fact is not lost on me. We serve a God who is alive and on the move. He is here and there and with us and before us. He promises His Holy Spirit to guide us and live in us. He has risen from the grave. He has beaten death. He has overcome the dark powers of this world.

For I will not waver through unbelief regarding the promises of God, but will be strengthened in my faith giving glory to God being fully persuaded that God has power to do what He has promised.

houston we have a problem

2011-03-24T21:05:00.002-05:00

a naked problem. lucas has learned how to take his clothes off. sunday night he unzipped his pjs, took off his diaper and fell asleep, junk hanging out just peeing at will. luckily i noticed this when i checked on him before i went to bed so the pee damage was minimal. we thought we had 'solved' the problem by putting 'big boy underwear' over his diaper. total genius, right? got the idea from my mom who is a total genius; that fact has long been established. two nights, no unzipping peep show.
today i receive a picture from daycare. lucas pantless standing in the pack-n-play where he naps. he had taken off his pants and diaper. ah ha a new trick taking off his pants. ms lisa and ms robin were laughing and calling him a 'hot mess' so apparently he spent the rest of the afternoon calling himself a 'hot mess'.
tonight we get him ready for bed and go out to our house group. i get a picture from our babysitter who is ms robin from daycare. a picture of lucas naked in his crib. he was apparently banging on the wall and making all sorts of noise so she went up. he looked a bit startled to see her and then just say 'hi ray ray, i naked'. hi-larious.
i scoffed at the idea of using duct tape to hold on his diaper but i just may have to do it. i think he is getting ready for potty training as he always tells me when he is going but i am holding off until after we get back from mexico which is just another month but i have a more pressing problem. what do i dress him in? invest in hard to get off overalls? is that my only option? until then i just may have a naked little boy running around. please send "pee from carpet" removal tips.

The Elmo Cracker Videos

2011-02-14T08:28:00.001-06:00

Lucas only wanted to eat Elmo crackers this night for supper. Even funnier than his search is Bill's off camera running commentary about the state of our lives, commercialism etc. Enjoy!

Who's entertaining whom?

2011-02-14T08:26:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T08:14:00.009-06:00

I know one thing no one is thankful for this holiday is my frequent blog updates :-) I have been just terrible updating the blog. To apologize and promise to be better just seems lame at this point. I will just push through the introduction and update everyone on what is happening around these parts. I am at work today so I can't upload any pics but I'll add them after the fact

1. new set of wheels... Legolas, my taurus, died. Bill and I set a price in our heads of the money we would put into him. It turned out to be too expensive to fix. He sat in the driveway dead for about a month. Bill's Honda Civic, Gimli, did a great job being our main car and it wasn't as bad as expected to share a car for a while. It made our carbon footprint a lot less which is good because our new set of wheels eats carbon like no one's business. Bill really wanted a pickup truck. We borrow our friend's truck enough times a year that we wanted one for ourselves. Also for our fireplace Bill is always picking up wood so the trunks of our cars are nasty and full of dirt and wood chips etc. We test drove the Honda Ridgeline which we really liked but that was until we drove the Ford F150. That is such a great truck and now it is ours. We bought a midnight blue giant 4 door Ford F150 which is just a beast. We love it. She/He has yet to be named.

2. Lucas...At times I think I am the only parent who feels this way about their child and then I realize everyone feels this way. I can't really even put into words my love and delight in him. He is such a good boy. He started walking at 17 mo and 3 weeks-- 8 days before he would have been considered 'developmentally delayed'. He has just been a slow mover. He started crawling after his 1st birthday in early May. We did have him evaluated by physical therapy and they thought he was fine and just progressing on his own time. He has kick ass fine motor skills. He has ever since the beginning - he loves to put things in containers and take them out. He loves to take pen caps off and recap them. He especially loves to cap and uncap blistex tubes. He loves to takes things apart and try to put them together again. I think he may be an engineer like Grandpa Joe. Anyway he started cruising well in July, climbing up stairs and just got better and better at moving but with support. On Oct 21st a few hours after I arrived home from a 3 day work trip to Baltimore, Lucas was cruising in the front hall when all of a sudden he let go of the door and kept on going. Bill and I had been working on getting him to go a step or two between us which he had done so those may technically have been his first steps but I'm counting the ones I saw on 10/21 as his first. He has just gotten better and better on his feet. He has started talking too; he says dada, mama, up, down, cookie, milk, more, please, what's that?, open, ball and will repeat anything we saw. He talks ALL the time- I wonder where he got that from- only part of it can we understand. He understands us and will go get things when asked- find his shoes, his snuzzle blanket, his snack. It is so sweet to say, "Lukey go get your shoes" and he toddles off and comes back with them. He makes a 'puppy' sound when he sees a dog and can moo like a cow. He mimics a lot of animal motions.

He is becoming very strong willed. He hates his car seat and we had a total screaming fit in the car last week on the way to Walmart. I say 'we' because he was screaming in the carseat and I was yelling in the front 'I will not be held hostage by your screaming'. Not my finest moment of parenting. Yesterday he woke up from his nap just screaming and didn't calm down for almost an hour. It was really weird. I finally got him calmed down and we were watching a video in the basement. He said 'up' so we went back upstairs. Then he walked to get his sippy cup, brought it to me. Then he got my diet coke and brought it to me. Then he went to get his snacks. I didn't know what he wanted to do with all three; he didn't want to eat or drink. He started screaming again so I put him in his crib for a time out (mainly for me). I went to get him in 2 minutes and then he took his sippy to the basement stairs. My sweet little man wanted to take his drink and snacks back downstairs to watch his show and he was thoughtful enough to include my diet coke in this plan. I started to cry; he had such a great idea but I couldn't figure it out and had 'punished' him for screaming in frustration. Also not my best parenting moment. Lucky for me, he seems to love me no matter what and I can't believe how lucky I am to have him. He toddles over to me, stops at my legs and says 'up' and I actually may melt one of these days. I am the luckiest lady ever to have lived because I get to be Lucas' mom.

That is a long enough update for today. I do want to blog about the amazing two week trip we had to Mexico. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

bug's got some mad spoon skills

2010-10-16T19:47:00.002-05:00

Lucas is getting better and better with feeding himself. I just to love watching him learn new skills.

a musical genius

2010-10-16T19:35:00.003-05:00

i like how he changes the song in the middle to one he likes better. i wonder where he gets that from. he did this for about 10 minutes this afternoon and due to camera issues i only caught the tail end of it when he was getting 'all done' and ready to move on

jumping bug

2010-09-11T09:55:00.003-05:00

I was hoping to get a video of happy jumping bug for my mom's birthday on Tuesday but he woke up covered in his own semi-dried vomit that day so we had to postpone. He sure looked cute on Wednesday getting up from his nap and was all smiles and jumps.

How could you not be in love with this little guy?

A tribute to the best mom and grandma around

2010-09-06T19:28:00.003-05:00

Today is my mom's birthday. Though it says Sept 6 2010 on the top of this post that is because I uploaded the pics on my birthday but waited around to type until my mom's special day. I know everyone loves their mom and I know I'm biased but I know I have the best mom out there. She is so supportive and loving and helpful and sacrificial and kind. I love that she laughs a lot when she gets tired like me and Lucas do. She was such a terrific mom to me and my brothers; I can only hope and pray that I am just as good of a mom to Lucas. She always knew she wanted kids and I am so lucky to have been one of them. She waited a long time for me to have a child and she just loves on Lucas like no one else. I have to constantly remind her that I am her baby and that Lucas is my baby :-) They had such a great time together at our visit home. He just lights up when he sees her and points to the computer all day here hoping her face will pop up on the screen when we skype. I just love this series of shots
Grandma kisses are the best
Mom- I love love love love love you. I know you are sad today the first birthday without your mom. I hope and pray you had a great day. Lucas and I wish we were in your kitchen to give you kisses. There are no words to describe how much to mean to us or how lucky I am to have a mom like you. Please come visit soon, we miss you like crazy.

Enchanted Forest Water Safari where the fun never stops

2010-09-06T19:14:00.004-05:00

And another tradition now on our trips to Manlius is a day adventure to Enchanted Forest Water Safari where the fun never stops. Again this year my brother David and niece Madison came for the day; that that you can tell by this post because Lucas was the star of the paparazzi. It was Bill's first trip. He admitted he thought it was going to be 'dinky' but he had a great time and loved the rides I dragged him on.

He just loved the water

No day off for Grandma's boot camp

family shot with Paul Bunyan, a must

peter peter pumpkin eater

Cinderellas carriage

one of the 3 blind mice

We had a great great great day! Weather was awesome and the lines were super short! We also had a great fried Pied Piper lunch to round out the wonderful day.

the Great New York State Fair

2010-09-06T19:02:00.004-05:00

The great thing about going home in late August was the chance to take Lucas to the Great New York State Fair. Bill went into thinking the Iowa State Fair is better but we won him over with the roasted corn and the fried dough. :-) Lucas had a grand ol time. He had his first cup of cold NYS chocolate milk, got his first cow eraser and tasted his first fried dough. My mom, Madison and I won him a teddy bear by throwing darts at balloons on our first try-- it only cost us $5.

Lucas wasn't so sure of the goats. Right before this shot, he touched this goat but I missed it.
ready to get our milk

yummy

NYS's super cool ass butter sculpture -- it was great this year.

Measuring Lucas in the dairy building

and my favorite shot of the day...

ahh the fair was awesome; the food was great. so great in fact that two days after we went, i paid $10 to get in to just buy us some more roasted corn and fried dough. they should really have a take-out service available... people waiting at the gate for food orders so you don't have to pay for admission.

Our time in Manlius

2010-09-06T18:58:00.003-05:00

We had a great trip home to see my folks. little Bug just loved Grandma's boot camp -- lots of walking causing increased fatigue which then in turn caused long naps. Mommy and Daddy liked that part of being home as well. Right when we got off the plane, our friends, the Walls who went to college with me and Mexico with us last spring, came for a visit. We hit the Manlius highlights. Pavones, the Swan Pond and Sno Top.

I love this picture of Lucas looking out over Manlius

yummy Pavones
looking at the fish and ducks in the Swan Pond

first bite of Sno Top

super yums

helping Grandma and Daddy unload the dishwasher-- he climbed up there all on his own when their backs were turned

ahh being home on Candy Lane was just glorious. my most favorite week of the year!!!

fun with grandma and grandpa

2010-08-16T19:40:00.003-05:00

I have a ton of pictures from our time with my folks -- these are actually from my mom's camera of times we had out and about. Soon I'll try to post some pictures of Lucas' tricked out wagon.

A smiley picture Grandma sent me at work

trying to enjoy the swing- lasted for about a minute
cruising about at tot time

coloring at Chilis while out to lunch

bug likes to drink from a straw

out at Atlas. wow we really do look alike.

we had such a fabulous time with my folks. Lucas misses Grandma and Grandpa so much. We'll see them again next week--- yipppeeeedddddooo!

first hair cut

2010-08-16T18:41:00.004-05:00

I am way behind on blogging I know. Now I have 100s of pictures from our visit with my folks so it seems a bit overwhelming to get back on track but I'm working on it. Last night Lucas had his first hair cut by Bill. Bill's granddad was a barber so apparently it is an Iverson tradition that Dad gives the kids their first hair cuts. Lucas was a bit squirmy and almost got his eye poked out a few times :-)

Here are a few before shots -- long curls in the back, not much on the sides

long hair in the front
what are you doing daddy?

trimmed

time for the back

looks less shaggy

i saved his sweet curls, of course. i'm a mom that's what we do.

now in 25 years i can find this envelope, show Lucas and he can say 'oh gross Mom' ... just wait until I start to collect his teeth !

a tribute

2010-08-08T13:24:00.004-05:00

This is what I read at my grandmother's service. It is a tribute to both of my grandparents really and the lessons they taught me.

Five years ago when I was married, I remember looking out over the sea of witnesses congregated there; all the examples of marriage and love and life long friendships assembled. I was starkly aware of on couple who was missing; my grandpa scott too ill to travel and my grandma scott who never left his side-- in my estimation, my grandparents had an epic love story. As I said my vows, I thought about how for my life, they had put flesh and bones to these words and showed me such a wonderful real living example of marriage. They truly loved well and loved much.

For better or for worse-

for worse- they met and married, yes, during the prime of their youth but also during perhaps the worst of times. A world war raging with an uncertain future; married before d-day planning had even started; they had no idea how it would turn out-- maybe that is why grandma was a german major. Grandpa in the navy; would he be shipped into harm's way? would he come back alive? how long would this war last? how many friends would be lost?

for better- raising 5 such uniquely wonderful children; summers at sand spring; weekends at the farm; traveling the world together. And then seriously, life couldn't get much better than when the parade of grandchildren stated to arrive. After all, we are a smart, overly attractive bunch, aren't we?

For richer, for poorer-

From the days of having boarders when grandpa worked for Sherwin Williams selling paint to the success and wealth they enjoyed as grandpa rose in tenure at Ford.

In sickness and in health-

They had many many years together in good health but for us, grandkids, it was the times after grandma got sick that we remember most. Her frustration with not being able to communicate fully yet her saying "Oh Will" with just the right tone or the right look spoke volumes to grandpa. How she would say 'yes' three times when she got excited usually over shopping or a Tiger's victory. Their enjoyment of life together did not seem to diminish after she got sick; I remember just as much laughter in the house after as before

To love and to cherish-

My childhood is filled with funny stories and memories of my grandparents, but what I remember most is their love for each other. They did not only love each other; they cherished each other just like their vows had said. I remember sitting in the living room when grandpa gave grandma a card, it must have been their anniversary. He read it to her and it was filled with just as much of the glow of that one true love that was contained in the telegrams he sent to her while they were dating that I found in the basement last night. They starred at each other like they were the only two in the room and his words were filled with such emotion. I know their lives had hard times but they made the decision to love through them and I believe their marriage just grew stronger and stronger right up until death do us part. And now they are together again. Their love and devotion to each other spoke volumes to me growing up and their marriage stands as true testament to us all.

We would all do well in our lives to live and love like they did; for better and for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do us part. Not only in our marriages, but in our friendships and in our families, with our siblings and our children. Their love story was truly epic; one of an old time Hollywood movie. Their legacy will be carried on in us and will never die when we choose to love like they loved.

bug's love affair with his phone

2010-07-18T19:44:00.004-05:00

Lucas loves his phone. This is his 4th old cell phone. He has two identical phones and loves to pretend to text. He also is a big fan of dialing a number and hearing the recorded Verizon lady talking to him. He thinks it is hilarious. these days a phone, snuzzle, milk and some goldfish is all this little bug needs to be happy

hold on, gotta get a swig, be right back

different day, same position

wait gotta grab a goldfish

texting at the table

oh my little bug is getting so big and cuter by the minute!

medals all around...

2010-07-18T19:38:00.003-05:00

Today we ran the West Liberty 5K Fun Run. It was actually 3.25 miles and it was super super hot and humid. Oh it was humid. All of our times were slow because of the extra distance and humidity but we all went home with medals.

Susie- Bill's sister- got 1st in her age group!!

I got 3rd in my age group
Bill got 2nd in his age group-- he is really happy...just on the inside.

Big smiles after the morning of suffering

the family iverson are winners!!

it was a great morning. lucas did wonderful at home and we are thankful our babysitter agreed to come over at 615 am!

look at this face

2010-07-07T13:41:00.001-05:00

new trick caught on tape!

2010-07-07T13:35:00.002-05:00

look at my new trick and don't mind the pathetic

crying I do afterwards.

new and old tricks

2010-07-07T08:13:00.002-05:00

Bug is up to some of his old tricks with some new ones too.

Old Trick #1 : smiling so cute that mom wants to just fall to pieces on the inside so happy to hav such a great little boy

New Trick #1: crossing his chubby feet when he sits. isn't it just adorable?

back to the old trick of laughing with Daddy
Best NEW TRICK EVER: pulling himself up

he is getting more attached to his snuzzle blankets

here we go again pulling up to a stand

and again

action shots:

and he's up

all that before naptime this morning no wonder he went down so well. he was tired! yesterday was the first time he pulled up unprompted by me and without some help/spotting. he is learning to 'let go' and fall softer which is good. he got a fat lip from a hard release last week at day care. i can't believe how big he is getting.

what started 12/26/08 ended 6/26/10

2010-06-26T18:50:00.003-05:00

So the Lego Death Star is finally complete. I started it on 12/26/08 and finished it today. Of course in that time I had a baby and I honestly haven't worked on it for 7-8 months. I lego'd a few hours the past three nights and it is finished. It looks really cool.view from the other side
the 'left over' pieces. lego always packs some extra but i was a bit surprised i had this many extra. i was one dark gray piece short i had to substitute with a black one of the same size so somewhere i used gray instead of black. if that is my only mistake, i'm in good shape.

Obiwan turning off the tractor beam

Luke and Han in stormtrooper garb bringing Chewie up to the detention level to free 'the princess'

Luke and Vader face off with the emperor looking on. You can't tell really but the emperor has cool 'lightening' coming out of his hands

Luke and Leia swing to safety just after she kisses him on the cheek for luck. Ahhh sisterly affection

Stuck in the trash compactor with the nasty monster

After I finish blogging and facebooking and cleaning up the kitchen I am going to rearrange/clean up my lego shelves to give the Death Star a place of honor or honour as Phil would spell it.

bug update

2010-06-26T18:38:00.002-05:00

Not much is new with Bug. I know I haven't been updating the blog that well. I always want to take tons of cute pictures but once I get the camera out, he starts crawling over to me to grab it stopping the cute thing he was doing. He is pulling up to his knees all the time and just in the last few days is making a small effort to try to get his feet flat on the ground. He gets himself stuck in a 'bear crawl' type pose. I supposed that is progress. We are totally off bottles and formula. He is drinking milk like a champ and it is amazing what a difference a month makes. He is drinking from all sorts of sippy cups, straws, regular cups etc. I was so so so worried about all of that during the transition off formula and bottles but he has gotten the hang of it for sure.He doesn't really like to get his hands sticky or messy; however, yesterday he started grabbing for the yogurt container and made quite the mess. He didn't know really what to do when he got his hands full of yogurt but like the good role model I am I taught him how to stick them in his mouth to lick off. It was our first really messy meal.

Here he is today coming to get the camera. He still doesn't seem to be growing any hair on the sides of his head so his mohawk is getting more and more pronounced.

He has been saying mama and dada appropriately for a while. He has started to point to things he wants and is getting better at trying to help us understand what he needs. He started to say uh-oh when he drops something. I think 'bir' means bird because he only says it when he is at his high chair and able to look out the window. It has been too hot to try out our new bike seat but hopefully this week.

Well that is about all in the land of Bug.

pushing my culinary skills

2010-06-11T20:03:00.003-05:00

Today Nile turns 14. I asked him on Wednesday night what he wanted for his birthday. He said lemon meringue pie. Seriously, lemon meringue pie. That is pushing all my culinary skills to their limits. Couldn't he have said, chocolate cake? oh no, so lemon meringue pie it is. I read a zillion reviews of the recipe I found on line, asked advice from my sister in law's grandma and a gal at work, got step by step instructions and I was off. I made it from scratch. No box lemon mix for me. I made it late last night because I was not attempting meringue in high humidity today. Here are some pictures step by step. My meringue- can't really see the tall stiff peaks but they are there
and out of the oven

looks great

review from the birthday boy and family: rubbery. priceless.

First day at the pool

2010-06-11T19:56:00.003-05:00

Bug and I went to the pool with 'those crazy "why did we have all these kids" Lemans'. It was a glorious day. We had a picnic outside in the park with yummy PB&J and then into the pool we went. I got a sunburn on the spot on my back that I couldn't reach but not, Mr Bug, no sunburn for him because his obsessive mom and even more obsessed grandma got him his fun sun suit. He really enjoyed sitting in the pool just splashing in the water. It was such a fun day.

Wet clothes off and naked for the car ride home

those crazy Lemans and two of their kids

I can see many more days with the Lemans at the pool.

days with bug

2010-06-11T19:49:00.002-05:00

It has been a great few weeks with Bug since I posted pictures. Doesn't he look adorable in his 'bugs rule' shirt? He is getting really really fast with crawling and good at pulling up to his knees. He even pulled himself up to his feet the other day but then was kind of bent in half and stuck and didn't know exactly what to do. He's getting there. It's my puppy

He likes to carry it around in his mouth so his hands are free for crawling or climbing on mommy.

He's just growing up so fast. I can't believe how big my baby is. I am going to be saying that every day I think until I go to heaven.

Arms up

2010-06-05T21:43:00.002-05:00

one semester of Spanish

2010-05-31T10:21:00.001-05:00

I started reading a blog of someone I don't know but the address was in the browser history at the computer I am sitting at work today. They had this video posted. It is hilarious to me and pretty much sums up what I am able to communicate when we go to Mexico. Enjoy!

How can you hate packing tape?

2010-05-29T19:54:00.002-05:00

We have figured out that Lucas has an aversion to packing tape. The sound of it being ripped off a box. The sound of it being put on a box. On Monday when Bill picked up Lucas from day care, Ms Lisa mentioned that he had just finished having a fit when she was opening a box. Bill didn't think anything of it because he was happy when Bill was there. Today Bill brings a box into the playroom where we are playing and starts to open it. Screams. Tears. I put him on my lap with his snuzzle and instantly he is better. Then Bill remembers what Ms Lisa had said. Weird, I thought and then forgot about it because about an hour later I was prepping some graduation presents with packing tape in the kitchen and as I pull the tape off I hear Bug start to scream. I can see him in the play room. Nothing is happening, he didn't fall or get his finger smushed. Bill yells from the other room, 'see he hates packing tape'. It is so odd. I rush to him, pick him up, console him and he almost instantly calms down again. I wait a little bit, he is busy playing with something, his music is on and I press my luck. I pull off another piece and screaming again. So finally I listen to my kid and put the packing tape away.

We head to Walmart to buy him a bike helmet-- this will be fun knowing his total aversion to hats-- needless to say, he cried anytime I put one on. He was calm, I am holding him, I go over to an employee stocking shelves and ask if there are any other smaller bike helmets for babies, right when I get my question out, she starts to open a box. Screaming. Seriously, this kid hates packing tape. It is so weird. Who hates packing tape?

What a little personality already.

Iowa Cubs 5 Mile "Fun" Run

2010-05-23T13:45:00.006-05:00

This past Sunday (pictures loaded on Sunday, took a few days to get the text done :-) ) we went to Des Moines to run the Iowa Cubs 5 mile fun run. I have never run pushing Lucas before and it is unclear why on an 80 degree humid muggy morning I picked a 5 MILE run as my first go. Regardless, we did it. Lucas got some sunscreen on and was all strapped into his stroller covered in a lap full of toys attached by rings. I had two different sippy cups full of water, a small container of graham goldfish and we were on our way.It was SO FREAKIN' HARD! It was so hot. I ran really slow, had to stop a bunch to retrieve thrown toys or to get Lucas to drink-- at the 4 mile mark I poured some water on his head to cool him down which made him not so pleased-- his crying made me run that much faster. I mastered the one handed goldfish feed. Daddy did much better than us and was a welcome sight about 1/4 mile from the finish. Lucas guzzled down some cold water out of this regular cup after the race. I guess he was hot.

I am so proud of myself and of Lucas; we accomplished a great feat.

All smiles after the race.

We finished 30th out of 40 women in my age group. We finished 102 out of 166 for women overall. Not too shabby.

I don't know if I'll ever run with Lucas again in a race but now I know we can do it. One for the record books!

when? how?

2010-05-18T07:24:00.003-05:00

I have a head full of when? and how? questions. I feel like I have no idea what I am doing with Lucas. He is not drinking enough milk out of a sippy so we haven't been able to transition him from bottles. How are we ever going to get him to drink 18 ounces of milk a day? I am so frustrated that he can't say anything or tell us what he wants; he is becoming a picky eater and his only real way to communicate is to scream/whine and that is beginning to grate on my nerves. I don't think his tummy is upset because he'll hammer down his snacks. I am so hyper vigilant that he gets enough nutrients/day that I am driving myself crazy. All he really wants to eat is goldfish and yogurt. He has started waking up at 530 am. My sleep book would say to put him to bed earlier but I can't put him down much earlier than 6. Some nights it takes him an hour to fall asleep. He is still taking two good naps/day. I am getting too tired; last night I went to be at 8 pm. When is he going to stop hating his car seat? When is he going to start saying a few words? When is he going to start to walk or even cruise? It is hard to have so many friends with babies around the same age because all I do is compare Lucas to them.

Ugh. My whining is irritating. I need coffee.

He's on the move

2010-05-09T21:06:00.002-05:00

Lucas started crawling this weekend. It is a game changer. We finally bought a baby gate today, Bill baby proofed the play room when I was at work yesterday. He is so adorable when he crawls. I just want to eat him up. Mother's Day reflections to come...

Party time!!

2010-05-03T10:52:00.011-05:00

We had such a great great great birthday party for Lucas. As we are now a stocking only Christmas family, birthdays have been and will be a big deal in our house. Lucas' first was no exception. It was great to have my mom and dad in town and it wouldn't have been the same without them.

My mom and I made 'swampy' the cupcake alligator. It was so fun to make. My mom did all the frosting decorating channelling in her old baskin robbins cake decorating skills of old. Ol Swampy turned out wonderful. He was a crowd pleaser.

We made Lucas his own cake-- too bad he wanted no part of it when the time came.
Party time!

Swampy on the table

Up from his nap and ready to party. My little man.

Auntie Fran came over early to hang out.

A great shot of us three

trying to get a good shot outside but Bug was too interested in the birds

the fam

getting ready for cake

but Lucas hates hats

once he calmed down we tried the cake

Lucas touched his cake once and then was all done. it was so anticlimactic.

Auntie Fran read a sweet poem that made everyone cry

present time

maybe his new activity table will help him learn to stand

out in his new swing from grandma and grandpa in the backyard

my party was so tiring, i need a nap

What a day we all had! Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate. Happy 1st Birthday, my little bug.

Bug and Grandma

2010-05-03T10:36:00.002-05:00

I don't know who had more fun over the last 10 days- my mom or the Bug. They had such a great time together. I think she will really follow through on her promise to retire now.

Lucas started being really 'coy' this week-- it is adorable.

enjoying facing forward in his car seat- the prize for turning 1 and being chubby.

I refuse to smile knowing that Grandma is leaving.

Hurry Back Grandma. I miss you so much already.

Bug does mexico #3

2010-05-03T10:11:00.005-05:00

We had another great trip in Mazatlan. Bug did great. He and grandma had a fabulous time playing every day that we ran clinics. He got a bit off his schedule, had to miss a few morning naps but it didn't seem to faze him. He is back on his schedule now and probably in grandma withdrawal right now at Ms Lisa's house.

My mom and Bug set up 'shop' in the extra room at 3 of the colonias we went too. My mom laid down a big tarp and towel and they sat and played all day. Bug took great naps in his pack-n-play.

Intake and triage at Villa Union
We did an outdoor clinic at Miguel Hidalgo and Lucas was a big hit in his pack-n-play under his mosquito netting.

we got to spend some time in the pool and he looked adorable in his SPF gear

and he hated his sunglasses

My folks bought him an awesome suntent that we set up at the pool. He loved it.

and they bought him this cool floaty pool thing. he loved that too.

our 'iowa city team'- including the Wall family from Rochester, Derik and Mel, the newlyweds, us and my folks

'I'm just chillaxin' in the pool'

Bug loves to 'swim'

So long Mazatlan. See you in November.

We talked about it several times but we are SO incredibly blessed with an easy baby who has made three trips now to Mazatlan and has done great on all the trips. We couldn't do it without my folks help. We are so lucky Lucas can sleep anywhere and is really flexible in terms of his schedule and food and surroundings. Even though I always planned on taking him, I didn't really think it would be as easy or as fun as it has been. Lucas is a great traveler and we are blessed to be able to continue our mission work.

Happy Birthday Bug!

2010-04-29T11:58:00.003-05:00

Today is my sweet Lucas' first birthday. We got in from Mexico at 230 am and we are a bit out of sorts trying to get back into life. I plan to post more later including pictures. His party is on Saturday.

Lucas - you are such a gift and blessing in my life. I never knew life could be as sweet as it is right now. I wish I could bottle you up and hold onto your baby days forever. Your laugh is contagious. Your smile makes me feel this deep sense of peace and calm. Your chubby little body makes me want to just nibble you up. Know that you are 100% loved by me and your father as well as all our friends and family. God knew we needed you in our lives and we are forever grateful.

bug v. teething biscuit

2010-04-17T20:57:00.003-05:00

Funny slobbery smile

yum

where'd my biscuit go?

nasty drool drip chin

watching tv while knawing

he was so sticky and nasty afterwards. good thing it was bath night.

bug's alphabet cards

2010-04-17T20:47:00.004-05:00

I made these alphabet cards for Lucas' first birthday. The alphabet Iverson style. All they need is to be laminated and then they are ready for my bug on his big day.

best shirt ever

2010-04-16T19:59:00.001-05:00

Thanks Tammy!

bill iverson, superhero

2010-04-16T18:27:00.002-05:00

awesome!

wedding pics

2010-04-16T18:24:00.001-05:00

5 years and counting...

2010-04-16T09:03:00.002-05:00

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it has been 5 years. Bill and I got each other the same anniversary present... an infant and two teenagers and we are still on the same wavelength. I have had some trouble uploading pics to my blog but will try to put on some from our wedding tonight.

Every year on our wedding anniversary I want to put my dress back on and dance to our song, "Feels like home". 5 years and I still haven't done this yet. year 1 was easter and we had the big kids and then went right out of town for the night after we took them home. year 2 we were in washington dc at a VA conference Bill got an award at. We spent most of our anniversary watching footage from the VT shootings. year 3 was a wed night and we had the kids so didn't get to celebrate on that date. year 4 i was 39 weeks pregnant and in no mood for dancing. today we both work, the big kids come over at 5, gabby is having a slumber party. So my dress and dance will have to wait another year. Maybe year 6 is a charm.

We have definitely been through trials. We have definitely had our share of joy and sorrow. I couldn't picture my life with anyone else. I truly live a blessed life. I love you, Bill, today, tomorrow and forever. Happy Anniversary Boogs!

I just love his laugh

2010-04-09T12:57:00.002-05:00

Wolf style

2010-04-05T17:56:00.002-05:00

Daddy and Bug are hilarious together!

Overhead this weekend

2010-04-05T10:15:00.001-05:00

Gabby:
"When I come home from college, I am going to take Bug out for ice cream and to the children's museum so we can play around"

He is Risen indeed!

2010-04-04T12:32:00.005-05:00

I didn't get to post yesterday mainly because Blogger wouldn't let me upload pictures and secondarily I was preoccupied with eating and catching up on facebook. It was such a glorious day. Our church has been having a lot of cross cultural sharing/worship in the past year celebrating the cultures and countries of origin of our congregation. Yesterday we heard about Easter traditions in Uruguay, Brazil, Cameroon, black America. We sang songs in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili and English. We did the tradition call and response, Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed also in English, Spanish and French. It was so wonderful. Our community is really blessed to have people from all over the world. Hearing of people's memories of Easters growing up, I was flooded with memories of my own childhood and thought a lot about the childhood I am helping create for Lucas.

In my childhood, we went to mass at the big cathedral downtown each Easter. They have this amazing pipe organ and trumpeters would play the Hallelujah chorus. I have been to bigger, more impressive cathedrals all over the world but Cathedral of Immaculate Conception at Columbus Circle in Syracuse is by far my favorite and a place which holds such memories for me as child. After mass we would walk down to the Hotel Syracuse for fancy brunch; ice sculptures and omelet stations and towers of desserts. We made that walk in sunshine, rain and snow because you never know what the weather will be like in Syracuse on Easter Sunday. While waiting for our table, we would read the NY Times. Brian used to put baggies on his hands so the newspaper ink wouldn't make them dirty. We would sit at our table eating and laughing and many years planning our summer vacations. Thanks Mom and Dad for always making our family a priority and for filling our childhood with such wonderful memories.

Today we got to take Lucas to church, worship in several different languages and celebrate the Lord's resurrection with our Vineyard family. Having Gabby and Nile with us made Bill's Easter complete. Everyone enjoyed their baskets and after Lucas' nap we went out for pizza at Sam's so Bill could break his beer fast. We ended up not only eating pizza but cheese fries, fried cheese balls and jalapeno poppers; nothing says Happy Easter likes piles of fried cheese. We have been going to Sam's on Easter Sunday for three years now and it has become our family tradition. Bug got two little homemade rabbits in his Easter basket that Bill's mom made for him as a child. I can't wait until we can go on a Easter egg hunt next year with him. It is a heady responsibility, being in charge of some one's childhood. I can only pray and hope that I can give Bug a childhood worth of amazing memories like I have of my own.

He looked ridiculously adorable in his Easter outfit-- thanks to the McDonalds who gave it to us. Hopefully Terri and Kate are still checking my blog.

The hat didn't stay on long

Bill with his kids- he is such a proud Papa.
Bug investigating his basket

The money shot of the day... ahhh I just love my little bug!

Bug's basket

2010-04-03T19:06:00.001-05:00

got bug's easter basket done. those two little stuffed bugs vibrate/shake when you pull strings on them; he's going to love them. that sweet little white bunny in overalls is from Bill's easter baskets as a kid; it was made by his mom, Bug's Grandma Barb whom he will meet in heaven.

the difference a year makes

2010-04-03T12:25:00.005-05:00

Remember the beginning of City Slickers where Billy Crystal's mom calls him at 5 am on his birthday and tells him again the story of his birth. I may be that type of mother. It doesn't help that three of my friends are about to have babies so I am confronted with their bellies now but having it just turned April, Easter being tomorrow, I am being bombarded with memories about what it was like last year at this time. My baby boy is almost one. I can't believe it. I can't wait to wake him up at 1:09 am every year on 4/29 to tell him about how he came into this world and was so pissed to be taken from his warm home that he peed on everyone. As I continue to fight those last 6-8 pounds, I am bringing back some pictures to remind myself of when I get all nostalgic for being pregnant and about to have Lucas, how incredibly distorted and fat I was this time last year and how much I have truly lost and gotten back to normal.

these were taken on 3/30/09

these were taken on my due date, 4/20/09
seriously I was gigantic

and these taken today 4/3/10

my, my... these same grey sweatpants look a bit saggy on me now after being stretched to the max over my 40 week prego body

the way a woman's body can transform to bring a life into the world is truly amazing. I never thought I would look anything close to normal again, but I am living proof that delivering a 8lb 13 ounce baby and revisiting my best friend, portion control, makes all the difference.

fasting

2010-04-03T11:52:00.003-05:00

Well it is Holy Saturday, one more day left in my Lenten fast. Though no one really needs to know or believe me except me and Jesus, I haven't cheated once. I haven't logged onto my facebook page at all. I am proud of myself. I don't know what my facebook fast really accomplished besides just the discipline of fasting which I know is the whole point. I had all thses goals and plans and not much got accomplished in my 'facebook void time'. I really do feel disconnected from some friends; especially friends on the west coast who due to our time zone difference are harder to connect with on the phone. With having kids, I find it hard to connect with a lot of people over the phone b/c by the time I get someone on the phone, my kid has woken up or their kid has thrown up or something. I really miss my outer circle of friends whom I am only really connected through facebook; high school and college friends whom I enjoy being part of their cyber-lives. A friend from the old neighborhood (makes me sound like I grew up a Southy doesn't it?) died yesterday and I don't know any details; I know exactly who to ask on facebook but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I have missed people's reaction to current events; obama comes to iowa city, lickliter gets fired, oh yeah I picked cornell, st marys, old dominion, russell gets the best of boston rob in survivor, what the hell is Lost even about anymore?, Fran is the new Man in Iowa City, Wickham secedes from the union.

I think I just traded facebook for textsfromlastnight.com and the crazy press citizen comments to all the Iowa City School District Redistricting madness. But with that said, I set out to fast and sacrifice during Lent to in some way partake of the experience with Jesus and I fasted and I sacrificed. Facebook fasting was harder than I thought because it is such a habit to quickly just log on and check it. I have been thinking about my first post for tomorrow morning for about a week. It has to be the right mix of clever and cool. aaahhhh only about 24 more hours until I can post. Bill and I have decided you can't have what you fasted from until right after the worship leader at church tomorrow announces, Christ is Risen. The year I gave up diet coke, I quickly opened a bottle and started chugging it during the first worship song. I don't think our church has wi-fi which is good because I would be tempted to check on my ipod during service.

I have learned about myself this Lent, my connectedness to people, how hard it is to truly break a habit. I am thankful for this experience that as Christians we are called to take part in this holy season. I am anxiously awaiting Easter Sunday. Lucas' first easter basket and a cute little outfit that hopefully his stomach flu will not get the best of. I can get back on facebook. Bill can pound down a few beers over pizza at Sams. But really above all of that I am looking forward to worshiping with our awesome church tomorrow morning that Christ has Risen indeed. Our sins are paid in full. It is finished and He has conquered death so that we may have eternal life. Amen!

healing hand and ego

2010-04-03T11:21:00.004-05:00

So in preparation for the 5 mile 'Run for the Egg' I was supposed to do this morning, I have been training extra hard this week. Last Sunday we ran a 5K, I ran 4.2 miles at work on Monday and 5.1 miles after work on Wednesday. It was our first 'hot' day. It was 80+ when I ran and for all the winter running I have done, nothing could have prepared me for the heat. But if this day had been in late July we would have been celebrating its pleasantness but in March, it was just hot. Right before the 3 mile mark I stopped at our friend's, Greg and Dani, house for a glass of water. I may have freaked them out a bit panting at their door... can.... i .... have.... a .... glass .... of ..... water? .... it.... is..... really....hot....out.... I was going to stop at my bosom friend Ali's house which is two blocks away from Dani's but I know I would have collapsed on her floor and begged her to drive me home. I knew I would have more 'self control' at Dani's just to get water and keep going. So keep going I did. 3 miles, 4 miles, and I am about to make the turn for home. I am getting really tired at this point and not picking up my feet like I should; I catch my toe on an uneven part of the sidewalk and totally sprawl out. I break my fall with my R hand and now I'm bleeding and bruised and covered in dirt and leaves. I am laying on the grass shoulder between the sidewalk and the road with my mind alternating between 'i wonder why no one is stopping to help' and 'oh please let no one stop to help, it is too embarrassing'. I was luckily on a side street so no cars passed me by as I am laid out. I am still over a mile from home. I got up, brushed the dried season old leaves off me the best I could, braced my sore, throbbing, bloody hand and started off again. Up Court Street hill, left on Summit and home I arrived. Bill was sympathetic getting me ice and ibuprofen and commiserating that he has caught his toe plenty of times and almost fallen. To that, Gabby chimes in, 'who falls when they run? seriously?'. Always helpful at age 15. Well that was Wednesday, I have some healing road rash on my hand and a bruise on my palm. My shoulder is sore. My bruised ego is quickly repairing itself. I am very grateful I didn't hurt myself any more than I did.

Here is a shot of my hand today

the bruise doesn't show up well
as the west side-east side-north corridor debate continues to rage in the school board and in the papers, I wouldn't trade my east side uneven, in need of repair sidewalks for any double wide smooth bike/running trails they have on 'that' side of town :-) even with healing road rash and ego.

Home sick

2010-04-03T08:49:00.005-05:00

Lucas has a small case of the pukes, I think. He puked/spit up all over himself and in his shoes at day care yesterday and came home smelly nasty of sour milk. Some mysterious force placed smelly chunks of last nights dinner all over his crib and in his hair to be found by a surprised set of parents this morning. Bill and I were supposed to run a race this morning in Des Moines. We got about three blocks away and between Lucas' whining and the color commentary from Nile in the front seat, I couldn't take it and we turned around. Bill went to the race. Bug hasn't puked yet today. He has been fussy, took an early nap and now is the master of his silly town-- I think he may be feeling better. I feel an adventure to the Starbucks drivethru coming soon for Mommy.

Out on our new lawn

2010-03-31T20:20:00.003-05:00

Today Bug and I spent sometime in our backyard. We were so blessed to have our yard totally redone after our addition last fall and it was the first day where the weather was nice enough to enjoy sitting in the shade. Bug gives me his 'stink eye'
Shaking these are hard work

but fun

super fun

what is that noise?

watching the cardinals in the tree

i love it when he makes this face

I knew it

2010-03-27T18:39:00.004-05:00

I knew I voted for him for a reason.

(taken at Prairie Lights bookstore in Iowa City where Pres Obama stopped after his speech- he mentioning them several times in his speech as a small business who will be helped by his health care plan) May the force be with you, Mr President.

Sweet Baby James

2010-03-27T18:18:00.004-05:00

Today I hosted a shower for Cara who is our friend from church and Lucas' pediatrician. It was a fancy shin-dig. Peep hors d'ouvres on a silver platter I got for my wedding.Amy outdid herself with the bookworm cake-- it was book themed shower.

I went totally crafty and made a diaper cake that we put on a fancy cake plate another friend, Jen, had gotten for wedding and never used. I told you this was a stylish shindig.

Cara is on the right. Holly on the left is due the day before her and Kim in the middle is due next week-- Holly and Kim are having their 2nd and 3rd respectively so they are 'so over' showers :-)

Little Ethan found a comfy seat on top of Kim's belly.

Ethan's twin brother Peter fell asleep using his cheeks as pillows in mom's lap. Being the cutest babies at a baby shower is a lot of hard work.

We just had a great time. Protect our friends, Jesus, and their sweet little ones to come.

Obama and Clayborn

2010-03-27T18:09:00.002-05:00

Here are some pics from our great day on Thursday. These were our tickets. Obama coming out to speak

it wouldn't be Iowa City without some protesters.

and on the way back to work I met Adrian Clayborn.

He was walking out of the student health building where my office is. Here was our conversation

Me: "Are you Adrian Clayborn?"

AC: "yeah"

Me: cue verbal diarrhea "Can I take your picture? and shake your hand? I have my camera because I am just coming back from hearing Obama. That orange bowl game was so great, wasn't it just so great? I mean we were freaking out, it was so great, i mean wasn't it just so great?"

AC: "yeah it was great"

I snap a picture and shake his hand

Me: "Thanks so much. Thanks for staying next year. It is going to be so great. Go Hawks"

Seriously how many more times could I have said, 'so great'. I am sure he thought I was an idiot. He did seem to walk to his scooter awfully fast to make his getaway. I can't believe I forgot to ask for his autograph. All I had on my was my Obama tickets but just imagine if Adrian Clayborn signed my Obama ticket. I would have to frame that in bullet proof glass and invest in one of those cool museum spotlights.

if i was on facebook today...

2010-03-25T13:58:00.001-05:00

if I was on facebook today I would say that I just listened to a landmark address from our 44th president AND on the way back to work I ran into Adrian Clayborne outside student health, shook his hand, took his picture, thanked him for staying next year and said Go Hawks. what a glorious day! pics to post later.

if i was on facebook today

2010-03-25T10:32:00.001-05:00

i would post that i am about to walk over to stand in line to get a secret service pat down with Bill to hear Obama speak. excited to see Obama. happier to have a 'date' with my husband in the middle of the day.

If I was on facebook today...

2010-03-24T14:28:00.002-05:00

if I was on facebook today, I would have posted that I just picked up Obama tickets for tomorrow's "stumping-for-my-health-care-plan-in-a-packed-arena-of-small-town-midwest- democratic-voters-so-they-won't-boo-me-and-won't- it-look-just-fabulous -on-the-evening news?" speech.

Go Orange!

2010-03-21T19:24:00.002-05:00

Lucas getting ready for the big game today trying to poke out Jimmy's eyes. The Syracuse orange mascot is called Otto but I named my stuffed orange, Jimmy after our beloved coach. Now I have my 'Cuse gear on and am all ready!And during my nap they won!!!!!!!!!!! yipppeeeeee!!!!! Punch our ticket to the sweet sixteen!

Timbits

2010-03-21T19:23:00.002-05:00

Yesterday these arrived at work. YUM! My co-worker's inlaws live in Canada and after one brief conversation with his mother-in-law of my constant love and longing for donuts and current life in no donut land, they bring me timbits. Nothing makes a 12 hour shift better then 20 donut holes fresh from the great white north!

a brand man

2010-03-19T20:27:00.003-05:00

Lucas really likes yogurt. He is becoming a brand man already. He gets so excited when I get the little yogurt, take off the top and stir it up. He gets a huge smile on his face. When I try to feed him yogurt and vegetables he seems to know when the spoon leaves the vegetables and he turns his head away. I have started pouring veggies into his yogurt so he is eating pear and green bean yogurt-- yuck!-- but he eats it. Yesterday after yogurt was all gone he was turning his head from eating bananas which he really likes. It wasn't like he was getting peas or peaches-- both of which he hates. I poured the bananas into the empty yogurt container and he ate them right up. Is it lying to just keep this little container washed and to continue to put offensive foods in it? How at 11 months is my genius kid so smart?

an actual milestone

2010-03-17T16:23:00.004-05:00

there is no sticker for that

2010-03-17T16:21:00.003-05:00

I have one of those year long fill in calendars with stickers to mark Lucas' milestones. Today has been a milestone day. I just changed Lucas' diaper and he just had his first corn poop. Now there is no sticker for that but that won't stop me from putting it on his calendar.

my days with bug

2010-03-13T21:01:00.003-06:00

Bug and I like to play. We have had two glorious days together- yesterday included three naps

:-) He is doing better scooting backward but mainly just likes to sit, play and smile.
It was chilly in the house with no fire yesterday so he got to wear his syracuse sweatshirt from the NYS Fair for the first time... thanks Grandma. An elusive shot of his only two teeth that we call his toofers

"Hey did you just take a picture of my two toofers?"

And the money shot from today.

"I am so big"

Dylan's dad died

2010-03-13T20:48:00.003-06:00

My favorite 90210 episode was on last night... dylan's dad is dead. I had to take some shots. Just to catch you up. Here is what is happening here.

D: brenda you know if this hadn't happened i wouldn't be welcome here because you are still so pissed that i chose kelly over you after you two girls made me make a decision. it isn't my fault your dad wouldn't let you come to the party to welcome my convict dad home so when only kelly showed up we went swimming and made out.

B: you and kelly hurt me really bad but it is nothing compared to what you are going through. well actually it may be worse but for right now we'll let your grief be the center to attention and really in the years to come, i'll just be some girl you knew in high school and you'll go on to marry the daughter of the guy who off'd your dad and then she gets killed by her dad's own hitman and it turns out your dad isn't really dead and has been living in witness protection and you'll see him on the news one night randomly getting off a plane and find out all your years of grief, misery and alcoholism are for nothing so yeah maybe my grief is worse because it will turn out to actually be real

after 'the image of me that no one else can see or hear' turns into dylan as a young boy, the sweet refrain of 'can't cry hard enough' comes on and young dylan, the dylan inside the real dylan starts to cry

then real dylan turns his attention from the urn holding his car bomb exploded dad who really isn't dead to the dylan inside of himself crying

then they hug
"it's going to be ok, we're going to be ok" real life dylan whispers to the young dylan inside of himself

seriously best episode ever.

Finally caught on tape

2010-03-13T20:41:00.003-06:00

This is Lucas' new trick... finally caught on tape. A few weekends ago the BG boys were over for a play date--- really Ali and I were desperate for conversations--- anyway being older and smarter than Lucas, they were using all his toys actually the right way and were putting anything that rolls down Lucas' plastic tree slide thing. Lucas had never really caught on to putting stuff at the top of the slide. Well all it took was some bigger and cooler boys to show him how and he got the hang of it. I have been trying to capture it on film but he never seems to perform for the camera... i'm working on that :-) disclaimer- watch in on mute, i sound like an idiot!

Tater tot feeds himself

2010-03-07T13:45:00.002-06:00

Lucas finally got the hang of it. First self fed puff Friday 3/5 at Auntie Kim's house and by Saturday he was eating like an old pro. Way to go, Bug.

Laughing with Daddy

2010-03-05T19:12:00.003-06:00

Don't go Daddy, tickle me some more.

Gosh I got a funny happy life!

Darth Baby

2010-03-05T19:06:00.004-06:00

This is the best onesie ever. I am glad I captured these pictures because a. i think it is too small and b. right after the last picture was snapped, he puked on himself.
Wow Mommy is right. My belly is chubby. I am shaped like a tater tot.

We made it (I hope)!

2010-03-05T18:58:00.002-06:00

Well we may have made it through winter. Bug and I have been desperate for a walk. Today it was about 40 degrees and sunny so we went for it. During nap time I unlocked, uncovered and resupplied the stroller. Once Bug woke up, we got all bundled and off we went. The fresh air, the bright sun, a trip to the library.... ahhhh it was delightful. Winter, you may have depressed us but you didn't defeat us.

He's on the move

2010-03-05T18:54:00.002-06:00

Lucas has gotten quite good at pushing himself backwards. I know my life will forever be altered when he actually starts to move with purpose but I can't help myself, I can't wait!

what i'm missing

2010-03-02T07:23:00.002-06:00

what i'm missing this morning is what my facebook friends have to say about the bachelor's choice and the new cast of dancing with the stars. i also missing being able to put up the video of steve alford swearing at an opposing player and making a comment like 'i would rather have losing seasons with lickliter than win a national championship with this jerk'. work blocked facebook so even if it wasn't for my lenten fast, i probably couldn't be doing what i missed this morning. oh wait, my ipod touch can connect through guestnet and get on... don't tell the powers that be, there is a facebook loophole :-)

these last seven pounds

2010-02-28T18:32:00.003-06:00

here is a conversation from today
bill: hey i'm cleaning out the car, i found the receipt from the two fountain pops, doritos and cheetos puffs. do you need it?
me: (damn! he caught me) no
bill: that's what i thought (smile on his face through the phone)

guess i'm not that serious yet about losing these last 7 lbs. :-)

Reason #56

2010-02-28T07:13:00.002-06:00

Reason #56 that being done with pregnancy and breastfeeding is a good thing... you are able to FINALLY after 18 MONTHS take as much cough/cold medication as you want :-) yippee!!

We are all his servants.

2010-02-25T20:15:00.002-06:00

This is how Lucas eats puffs. He can pick them up but doesn't know to put them in his mouth. He knows I won't feed it to him so he has figured out a way to still get them. The voices in the background are my folks. We were skyping at dinner time tonight. Little tatertot likes us to be his servants.

and then it was time for bed...

What my life has become

2010-02-24T18:45:00.003-06:00

This is what my life has become. Today Lucas and I are playing on the floor in the play room. Stacking cups, shaking our rattle balls etc. Just a fine afternoon. Then I start to smell a little stink. Someone has poop. Here's a hint; it wasn't me. I decide rather than stand up lugging my 20lb sack-of-potato child and creating havoc on my knees while transporting him to the designated diaper change area that I would just change his diaper laying on the playmat. You see I've done this before; the wipes and diapers are close and handy. So I begin the process. Pants off, onesie unsnapped and then I am faced with a large amount of poop that has gotten everywhere. From now on in this story, I will be calling the poop crap because it was really crappy. Lucas has crap now up his back and on his onesie. I think I am holding his legs up high enough to avoid his back crap from getting anywhere else but turns out I'm not and his back crap got on the playmat -- the letters C and K to be exact (we have that form alphabet puzzle mat on the floor to protect the carpet from such days). Ok so now I am using one hand to hold up his legs and the other hand to wipe his butt and the playmat to get all the crap off. He starts to wiggle. He decides to roll over. Not a bad idea I thought because now I have better access to wiping the crap off his back and butt. So half naked but wiped Lucas is on this tummy playing with some toys while I finished wiping up the playmat crap and wrap up the diaper. I go to turn him to his back to get his new diaper on and realize that he has taken it upon himself and his new found half naked freedom to pee while he was on his tummy. So now on the letters L and H, I have a steamy puddle of pee. UGH! So I grab a wipe which doesn't really help but find a stray burp cloth that I use to mop up the pee. I finally get Lucas into his diaper and decide he is just going to have to stay naked until bedtime because I have too much to disinfect to possibly go upstairs to get more clothes.

First I call Bill because I think my story is hilarious. He has germ issues-- I keep forgetting-- so he doesn't think it is too funny. I pull up the letters L (U to be safe) and C from the top row that spells LUCAS and the H (W to be safe) and K from the second row that spells HAWK without the A because I used the 'a' in the top row to spell Lucas. I have all six letters in the kitchen when I notice the wet spot on the carpet. Dang, the pee got loose. Crap, Bill is going to flip. I quickly call Kim, she says hot water and soap for carpet pee... she also says welcome to motherhood; you're arrived. Then I soak the foam letters in the sink. I call my friend who is thinking about trying to get pregnant just to warn her about days like this. Then I call my friend Ali who isn't home yet but get her husband who is the stay at home parent; I tell him and he finds it as hilarious as I did all those minutes ago. Meanwhile diaper and shoes only Lucas continues to play like nothing has really happened.

These pictures were taken before the playmat was disassembled for cleaning. He looks completely unfazed and quite shaped like a tatertot, doesn't he?

Finally I throw a sweatshirt on him and put him in his highchair for dinner. I call my friend Sarah who has four kids and I know will find my story hilarious. She does and recommends pet-zyme to get the pee stink out of the carpet. She said she cleaned up a puddle of pee herself today; she said when they are potty training they come to you wet and you get to go hunting for the pee puddle--yippee! Oh and then she says pet-zyme works really well on vomit; 'just wait' she says with a chuckle.
aaaahhhh what my life has become!

Facebook Fast

2010-02-22T09:55:00.004-06:00

Well it has been less than a week of my facebook fast. It has been really hard. It is just such a habit to log into facebook when at the computer checking my email. I honestly thought I would have cheated by now but I haven't** disclaimer, I hacked into my mother's facebook account when she was on vacation in Aruba to send a message to a friend who's email I was without to ask her to email me because I had some questions; this was after an unanswered phone message so I felt as if it was my last resort**. It has been a productive few days both in my house and in my mind. I have had some goals of what to do without facebook.
Firstly I have spent some time praying and processing through several of my current issues and have come to some nice peaceful conclusions and fixes about my attitudes etc. I can't go into that more on this public blog but feel free to ask me about my epiphanies.
Secondly I ordered reprints and finished the georgia road trip of 2008 collage. I am only one vacation collage behind and I plan to reprint those pics on Wed and get it done this weekend (wednesday is 9 cent reprint day at Walmart so the day I do all my pictures- Loretta would be proud :-) ).
Thirdly I connected on the phone with 3 'long lost' friends this weekend; those calls I always intend to make, but something gets in the way (perhaps it was Facebook).
Fourthly I organized the junk drawer during a nap time. Then got three boxes of Lucas hand-me-downs ready destined for other homes.
Fifthly I got all our CDs onto Itunes and then packed away for the basement.

Today I am working from home as Lucas is ill. I plan to tackle not only questions for the GI quarterly exam but the giant pile of crap on the kitchen table that just keeps getting pushed around.

I do miss a lot about facebook. I miss seeing my friend Amanda's sister Laura's posts about her crafts and her kids. I miss seeing what David Hemmer is going to say to every move of Obama and the democratic majority in Congress. I miss Karen Nichols' links on how cool Iowa City is. I miss getting updates from friends who have babies about the same age as Lucas. I miss responding to TV shows or funny commercials or olympic victories or crazy outfits (aka the Russian jungle native ice dancers).

So I don't have any grand plan to be done with Facebook forever; I can't wait to sign on again. It has been harder than even I thought it would be but then again it is supposed to be. So until Easter, I'll blog. I'll organize. I'll clean. I'll talk on the phone. I'll fast.

Ash Wednesday

2010-02-17T16:12:00.003-06:00

So I gave up facebook for Lent. Today is Day 1. I will say it has been a bit painful. This morning when the boys were sleeping and I was having breakfast, it felt silly not to 'be able' to check my facebook. But Ash Wednesday is not the day to decide your Lenten fast is silly and go back on it. I wouldn't have made it even 12 hours. So I have decided to set some goals for my Lent; things to accomplish when I could be facebooking.

1. spend morning time praying and reading my Bible
2. send more cards, arrange more lunch dates, have more phone chats
3. organize all my photos
4. finish downloading my cds onto itunes
5. make backup of said itunes
6. do the vacation collages from georgia 2008, london 2009

Alphabet cards

2010-02-13T13:59:00.002-06:00

I got an idea off the internet to make personalized alphabet flash cards for your child. So I am making a set for Lucas for his birthday. If you have to learn your ABCs, you may as well learn them about things you will grow to know and love. Here is Lucas' personal alphabet
a. aunts --susie, melissa and michelle
b. brother-- nile
c. cousins-- madison, lauren, megan and drake
d. dad
e. ewoks
f. fran and jordan --his godparents
g. grandma and grandpa
h. herky
i. iowa
j. jabba the hut and jawas
k. kinnick stadium
l. lucas
m. mom
n. new york
o. otto the orange --syracuse's mascot
p. penguins
q. quarterback -- ricky stanzi
r. r2d2 and his friend c3Po
s. sister-- gabby
t. tusken raiders and tautans
u. uncles-- david, brian, tim, tom and michael
v. vineyard church
w. wookies
x. xwing
z. zuzu's petals

i have them 1/2 assembled. I have gathered pictures for every letter and tonight at the womens' craft and chili night at church I am going to continue to assemble. Then off to get laminated, trimmed and put on a big ring together. Then all I have to do is wait for his birthday.

cuddle

2010-02-13T13:58:00.003-06:00

Yesterday while Bug and I were hanging out after having an afternoon bottle, he started to cuddle up next to my chest like he did when he was an infant. It was delightful. I just love my little guy.

Being busy is better

2010-02-09T10:11:00.003-06:00

Work has been slow. Like super slow. Like watching movies on my ipod touch slow. I usually don't mind not having work to do. But knowing that I am doing exactly NOTHING makes me feel so guilty knowing that Lucas is in daycare and I can't go and spend time with him. When it is busy, I don't mind working so much. But this slower-than-slow thing is really getting to me. I can't leave early because 1. it may get busier and 2. i don't have the vacation hours to 'waste'. I can't stop working because I have loans and bills to pay. Being a total stay at home mom isn't the answer either. Most weeks working three days is great. But I had to work an extra last week and an extra this week so I am tired. When I hand Lucas to Ms Lisa at daycare he cuddles up on her chest. He doesn't do that with me. My mom says that it is better than him screaming when I leave. After I get over my theory that he doesn't like me and is mad he never gets to see me because I work all the time, my real theory is that she has a little more cushion than me so maybe it is comfy for him. I am just tired and bored and feeling sorry for myself and want to squeeze my little guy. Tomorrow. Me and him all day tomorrow. Can't wait!

is it progress?

2010-02-04T08:00:00.006-06:00

Lucas hasn't quite figured out the concept of feeding himself. He really likes to eat Cheerios and those little puffs, but won't put them in his mouth once they are in his hand. We were at church play group yesterday and Oliver who is younger than Lucas was feeding himself so I thought I'd try again. "Here Lucas", I said and put three Cheerios in my hand, "have a Cheerio". He opened his mouth like he was expecting Communion. I continued to coax him to try to pick one up. Instead Lucas bent his head down, put his face in my hand and licked it off. Hilarious. At least he is 'feeding himself'. I guess I'll call that progress.

thought to remember

2010-01-31T12:30:00.003-06:00

there is an article about a young pastor in Texas with a brain tumor. he is quoted to have said, "this has not surprised God. He is not in panic mode right now trying to figure out what to do with me and this disease" i was really struck by the simple truth of it. whatever is happening today, will happen tomorrow, good or bad, it doesn't surprise God.

thankful

2010-01-29T12:02:00.004-06:00

I have been following two 'caring pages' for people whom I don't know but have gotten through other friends to pray for their babies in the NICU. One baby died last week. One baby is dying right now being held by his mother. I think daily of our friends who lost their son and another friend who lost one of her twins at birth. I sit here watching Lucas kick off one of his socks and throw his stacking cups and I can't find the words to express my joy, awe and thankfulness for the life I have right this minute.

well he did it

2010-01-29T09:06:00.003-06:00

Lucas totally weaned himself this morning, the day he turned 9 mo old. I know it has been coming. I stopped pumping a few weeks ago and he was getting all formula bottles at day care. Then at home last week he didn't want to seem to nurse during the day so I fed him bottles. Then three days ago he didn't want to nurse before bed so he got a bottle and this morning he wasn't interested in nursing either. I honestly thought he'd keep his morning feeding for a while- despite my fatigue that was my favorite. So sniggly and hungry in the morning. Bill and a few friends have asked if I'm sad. Honestly it is hard not to be a little sad. I know Lucas isn't rejecting me or doing it on purpose to be mean. I know he is just growing up. But mixed with my sadness is 9 months of success. For 9 months I have basically fed him every three hours. When I was at work, I pumped for him every three hours. For those first 6-8 weeks I was up every three hours. I nourished my son, gave him the best of everything I had.

I think back to like day 2-3 when I had scabs that Lucas would pull off and I would bleed and his spit up was blood tinged and I was on the phone sobbing with the lactation lady and my mom was sitting next to me rubbing my back as I sobbed. And how for the first 3 weeks I followed Aunt Mary's advice and bit down on a burb cloth as he latched on as not to howl in pain. And how after that, just like everyone said, it got so much better. So easy. So natural. I just love sitting with him in the rocker with both his hands holding on while he is eating. He was such a good nurser from hour 1.

I will cherish my memories. How he would fall off, turn his head to look up and smile as if to make sure I was still there or as if to say 'Thanks Mom' and then he would go right back to eating. Or sometimes he would just unlatch, chuckle a bit as if to say 'my life is so great right now' and then go back to eating. How many hours I got to sit quiet and still with my son, rubbing his back, reading him books. I didn't know if any of this 'mom stuff' was for me when I was pregnant. I didn't put much thought into breast feeding or not; I just assumed I would. I am so glad I did. My initial goal was 4 mo and I made it to 9 and I would keep going but Lucas has decided he's done. I am so proud of what I have accomplished. I know a lot of moms who want to and can't so I consider myself lucky. I am trying to remind myself of all the positives today. Now I can have fully caffeinated beverages, as much as I want in a 24 hour period. I haven't had that freedom for 18 months. I am looking forward to Erica's promise that these last 5-8 lbs will come off now that I am not nursing. Now I have more freedom and am totally free of the pump. I can get rid of my nursing bras. But with listing all those, I am still sad. And I think that is more than OK, I think that is normal.

getting ready

2010-01-27T20:28:00.002-06:00

I am getting ready for my Facebook Fast for Lent and trying to remember to post more pics and video here. Here is a good start.

These are from today

from last week

from Christmas

keeping it on the front burner

2010-01-19T10:52:00.004-06:00

Bill and I have talked since before we had Lucas about trying to hold sacred 'our time'; even just a little bit of 'our time'. We wanted to make sure we kept this on the front burner while our life changed so we wouldn't wait until Lucas was 2 or 4 or 6 to realize our marriage had suffered perhaps beyond repair. That is one reason we have been so strict about Lucas' schedule and bedtime. Firstly it makes for a happier, not overtired baby but also we have our evenings together. I will admit we are not great at spending this time together every evening. A lot of times the minute Lucas sticks his thumb in his mouth and rolls onto his side asleep for the night, we are in two different directions. I may head out to run errands or take a run or do charts or catch up on facebook or veg out to watch some mindless TV. We may be getting a sitter and running to a school concert, the free medical clinic or a basketball game. We became aware of this a few months ago and started to have 'in home' date nights. I'll admit we are not that great at these either but we are keeping them on the front burner. We have spent a few nights playing a game together or watching a movie. I am proud of us for at least trying to keep it on the front burner. We did want to try to get away for a night. At first this was a weekend but then we decided that was too long to be away. Aunt Susie graciously said she'd watch the bug so we could get away for the night. We got a hotel room about a mile away from Susie and planned our 'time away'. It was a perfect 24 hours.

First we dropped of the bug with a TON of things which is ridiculous b/c he is so little. I gave Susie like a TON of instructions which is also ridiculous b/c she's a way better, more seasoned mom than I'll ever be but she graciously listened to it all. Then we headed to Scott County Park and ran the Frostbite Footrace. It is a 8K race outside running around this beautiful park. Bill ran it two years ago when it was -1F without the windchill. This year it was 30F with no wind. It was great weather to run in. Bill ran in shorts. I have never run that far before but one foot in front of the other and I made it. Bill beat his best 8K time ever and got 3rd in his age group. I beat the time I had in my head by 11 minutes and ran under 10 minute miles which was my goal. I am running about 8:50 miles when I run a 5K at race pace so my goal was under 10 minute miles for the 8K. I did it. Finished in 48:50. After the race we went to Tantra which is a favorite restaurant of mine (thanks Fran). I had mango coconut fried rice with tofu-- freakin' yumilicious. Then we stopped at Toys-r-us for a little shopping. Checked into the hotel. Took a nap. Hit Target for more shopping and then Biaggi's for dinner. We had to wait for our table for about 30 minutes and it was just great to sit and chat. We looked at pics on my ipod touch and challenged each other to a game of Twiddle (thanks Jordan). Dinner was great. Biaggi's has my favorite, white chocolate bread pudding-- freakin' yumilicious round 2. Then we headed back to the hotel. Watched some TV, read and got great night of sleep. We headed back to get the bug about 11 am and it was so great to see his smiling face and flapping penguin arms of excitement when walked in.

I am proud of us for keeping 'our time' on the front burner and for making the effort to get away even for the night. It is so much easier to talk about than to actually do. It was great to have the time to reconnect with Bill. It was wonderful to have Lucas so well taken care of. Thanks Aunt Susie-- you're the best!

Emotions and guilt

2010-01-15T10:54:00.005-06:00

The Haitian earthquake, I think, is the first real 'tragedy' that I have faced while being a mom. Things are just different when you are a mom, they strike you differently, you react differently. That doesn't mean I didn't feel compassion deeply before I was a mom. But having a child just changes everything. I guess it is human nature to put yourself in the shoes of the affected trying to know what it may feel like and then have survivor's (or non-affected) guilt that you feel happy it isn't happening to you. I remember when my friend's mom died in junior high. At the calling hours, I was so sad but really I was sad thinking about my mom dying. I felt guilty being happy it wasn't my mom. I think I processed that through with my folks and they said it was normal to feel that way. I remember crying and crying over footage of Columbine really sad for them and even sadder thinking of any of my high school friends at Canastota going through such an event. I can't stop watching the footage from Haiti. I shouldn't have watched Sanjay Gupta and that 15 day old baby yesterday on the news. I could barely keep it together while watching it but then again couldn't turn it off. Lucas has been teething and has a cold and has been really fussy. He has screamed for the past week whenever he was in his car seat. He has really gotten on my last nerve. But then I turn on the news. And the guilt begins. I am not in Haiti. I have no lost my home, family, child, leg. Then the Hippocratic oath kicks in. Should I try to go? I know I could help? Two docs from our ER have gone. I am a bit jealous that I can't go but then I'm a bit relieved that I have an 'excuse'. I can't leave my infant while still breast feeding. Then I feel guilty for being happy I have an excuse not to go. Jesus would go, He is already there. He would swim there if he had to in order to love and save his children.

Oh the layers upon layers of emotions and guilt. I guess that is what you get from being raised Catholic and now being a mom who has taken the Hippocratic oath :-)

Liberation

2010-01-14T19:26:00.000-06:00

Today was my first day not pumping and there are no words to describe the sense of liberation I felt.

Permission

2010-01-08T20:35:00.003-06:00

So I have a hate hate relationship with my breast pump. I hate it. It probably hates me. Pumping every 3 hours at work is really time consuming and irritating. I only do it because I love my child. But it is really the most stressful thing about being a mom; more stressful than little sleep or anything. The stress of maybe not having enough milk for the next day. I don't get much when I pump so he has been getting 1/2 milk 1/2 formula bottles for a few months anyway. I am so done with pumping that I have been thinking of weaning him but don't really want to give up until he is a year. I only work three days a week; if I worked 5 I would have given up a long time ago. I have been thinking of stopping pumping but am worried I will lose all my milk. I spoke with a good friend from church who is also a doctor this week. She said she never pumped because it wasn't productive for her. She breast fed her kids way past 12 months too. I talked with her about thinking about stopping pumping and giving him just formula at daycare and feeding him when I am with him. She thinks that is a great idea. She says my milk should be fine. Then she said this, "I give you permission to stop pumping". I almost cried. I am so wound up tight about it that just hearing someone say that felt like I had been untwisted and set free. Bug had a full formula bottle at daycare on Thursday and did fine. I think I am going to pump just once a day for the next few weeks and give him some milk in his bottles when I can. I am no longer going to be stressed about it. I am doing my best for him the best I can.

the bug does mexico this time with grandma

2010-01-06T15:36:00.004-06:00

I had a great time in Mexico. Let me tell you what I did.

On our day off I hung out by the pool with Grandma and Mom. I chewed my stingray toy.

Grandma is my new favorite
Grandma got this picture of the sunset one night, I was already in bed.

Here is our team on our last day. Everyone worked really hard, that is what Daddy said.

I love to eat

I played a lot in my pack n play. Here it is set up at Miguel Hidalgo which was a new place for a clinic. We set up outside.

Seriously Mom, another clinic day. I'm getting tired.

Grandma makes me smile

I like to play with Daddy's head

Nile played soccer with the local kids

Oh wait here i am playing again in my pack-n-play

Grandma took me for a walk

Nile helped Daddy run the pharmacy

That's about it. I'm outta here.

New pics

2010-01-04T14:45:00.003-06:00

Gosh I am better than my word :-)

Here are the stockings I made. Lucas' has a little bug on it :-)

the bug with his godparents- Fran and Jordan

laughing at Daddy

with Gabby on Christmas Day

opening presents from my family

wearing his cute bug bib which was replicated on his stocking

New blog for a new year

2010-01-04T14:14:00.002-06:00

I have been TERRIBLE about blogging. I am going to change that. I have fans (oh I mean friends :-) ) that rely on me to brighten their days at work with my witty sarcastic take on life. I apologize for taking you for granted and for the two plus months that you have been bored with no blog consistent entries from me. I have been posting pictures and videos of TBL on Facebook but I am preparing to give Facebook up for Lent which will make this blog as important as Defcon 1.

First I started with a new layout. Nothing fancy, but it feels fresh.

Here is a rough update on what I have been up to.

It is cold here, butt freakin' cold. We have a new fire place in our addition which has been awesome. Once my 'oh i can handle it' husband learned how to build a fire without smoking out the house, things have improved. To his defense because our house is three stories and our addition is one story when building a fire the house acts like a chimney pulling the smoke into it rather than up the chimney. After a visit from the fireplace guy, Bill's bad attitude where he said 'we should have just gotten gas' and fire-place-saving-sage-advice from our friend, Greg, as long as one window in the addition is open and the doors connecting the addition to the house are closed, there is enough draft to pull the smoke up the chimney. It shouldn't be that difficult but then again no one said building a fire is easy. ask anyone on survivor.

We just got back from Mexico- TBL made his second trip. Nile came with us and my parents joined us. It was a great trip. Nile did great. TBL did great. Grandma couldn't have been happier. We saw a ton of patients. Success. We are moving into our 5th year of doing our trips and getting more efficient and having more fun each time we go.

Christmas was nice- a bit stressful with terrible weather and having to get our team out of the Minneapolis airport to Mexico. Thank you Iowa DOT road condition map. We flew a charter, terrible idea. Terrible charges and flight times -right during bed time for TBL- he screamed for about 2 hours of the flight down. Screamed so much that I just started to sob holding him. He did much better on the way home- we got an empty seat between us and laid him down- he slept the entire time. Note to self-- just buy the kid his own seat. It is really worth the extra cash.

We did stockings only this year. Both Bill and I went over budget on each others-- he did worse than me. The kids didn't seem to suffer any mortal peril by only getting a stocking worth of presents, but then again I'm sure it will be something to make Bill feel more guilty later on in life. Bill is not able to donate blood because he has hemochromatosis which is an iron overload disease- he covets the 'I bleed black and gold' shirts they sometimes give to blood donors. They were offering the shirts for donors over the holidays so I donated blood and got Bill a shirt. I think he was really touched by my sacrifice but now feels too guilty to wear it. Seriously? Just wear the damn shirt. I did make everyone homemade stockings this year. My mom made them for me and my brothers and I wanted to make some for TBL and realized I couldn't leave Gabby and Nile out and then just made them for all of us.

The Hawkeyes play in the orange bowl tomorrow- yum! can't wait. Ricky Stanzi is the man-zi and word on the streets of Miami and that he is healthy and ready to go. Watching our entire season get 'ruined' in a 3 second high ankle sprain turned fumble turned touchdown turned see-you-later-undefeated-record was painful and I still can't talk much about it.

Work is work- when I am not at work, TBL and I hang out. We play with all sorts of things and we run errands. We always seem to end up at Auntie Kim's house because she has cold diet coke and candy in her fridge. Strange how all errands take us right by her house? I am not that eager to have him on the move so we don't do much tummy time. He has showed no real progress in crawling. He loves to eat and laugh. He gets really giggly when he is tired just like his Mama. He sleeps like a hibernating bear -- well not that I have ever been that close but assume they sleep and sleep and when they are hungry they wake up and make noise-- exactly like TBL. He looks delicious in his snow suit. He loves when his dad sings him the 'pee pee diap' song. He is doing well at Ms Lisa's where he goes for daycare-- we'll see what report he gets today- after being with mom and grandma and the mexico team for the past 10 days he has gotten more than his share of attention.

I was really into Kit Kats, couldn't live without them about two months ago, then I got over them. Then it was 3 Musketeers bars. I'm over those too but looking to my new candy of obsession.

That is enough mundane information for now. I will post some pictures soon but then again you've heard that line before. :-)

Iverson year-in-review

2009-11-27T11:32:00.012-06:00

Happy Holidays from the Iversons! We decided to do a green Christmas card again this year and put our letter on the blog. So hopefully you received this picture in your mailbox prompting you to come to our blog to read all about how the Iverson's spent the last year of the first decade of the new millennium. I still can't believe we got this shot of every kid smiling -- we only had to take about 15 pictures and that is not bad with a 7 mo old. I think I'll retell the highlights of our year in chronological order. In February, Bill and I hopped 'the pond' for a week trip to Cambridge, England where Bill was working with a medical student educator. Bill and a colleague are doing a joint venture with the medical school in Cambridge changing how communication skills are taught to medical students. We had a great time. It was Bill's first trip outside the Western Hemisphere. Turns out weather.com lied to us and we packed for pleasant 40 degrees and England got it's worse snow in 20 years. At the last minute I did throw in hats and gloves luckily, but we were without our real winter coats-- brrr! But we did all sorts of sightseeing anyhow and Cambridge after a fresh snow is one of the most magical places I have ever seen. I did lots of walking/waddling (I was about 28 weeks pregnant at the time) around town while Bill was working. We did have time in London on both ends of the trip for sightseeing and spent time with our great friends, Lizzie and Phil whom I had seen married in London 10/08. Here we are with the famous tower bridge.

In March the entire clan with my folks was supposed to go on a Caribbean cruise for spring break but I was TPTC-- too pregnant to cruise :-). So off the rest of the family went, my folks came to Iowa to be with me in case of early labor (I was dreaming). Bill and the kids flew out of Chicago and got to meet up with my parents driving east as my folks drove west and they had a nice quick visit on I-88. My mom bought the kids candy supplies for the trip. They had a great time on the cruise and it ended up being a wonderful for the three of them to be together before the arrival of the baby.

They snorkeled, ziplined and toured Mayan ruins. They tanned and ate and dressed up and got along (most of the time) -- success!

I dreamt of going early. I dreamt of going on my due date, 4/20/09. I dreamt of going on a perfect square date, 4/25/09. But alas, the Baby Lucas had other plans and I was induced at 41 weeks and a day on 4/28 and he still took almost an entire day to arrive. By slightly emergent C-section after 18 hours in labor and 4+ hours of pushing, Lucas Hawk Iverson arrived at 1:09 am on 4/29/09. My sweet boy weighed in at 8 lb 13.5 oz. He was face up and turned funny so his head was stuck. After my Ob pulled him out, she remarked... 'you never would have got this guy out by pushing, he was really stuck'. I never knew life could be so sweet as it has been since I had my son. Here is a shot of him right when we got to meet each other in recovery - he spent less than an hr in the NICU for observation. My sweet child was holding on to his mommy with both hands.

Later that day he got to meet his sister and brother. They both have done remarkably well with him around.

And Lucas met his biggest fan, Grandma, a few days after he arrived. Bill took a team to Mexico without me in late May and my mom came to help me with Lucas. It was such a fantastic time. I know not everyone has a great and helpful mom, but my mom is dynamite! and Lucas just loves her. It was a hard transition and the fatigue of having a newborn was overwhelming at times. I am so thankful not only for my parents but for my aunts and sisters-in-laws and friends near and far. I will never be able to fully extend my gratitude for everyone's support getting me through especially those first really hard six weeks. Bill's sister, Susie, did babysit this summer when I went back to work so Lucas didn't go into daycare until August and that was such a blessing.

Because our 'family vacation' was really the cruise, we didn't go anywhere this summer except I took Lucas, who's nickname is the bug, home to NY for a visit in July. Flying alone with a three month old is not for the faint of heart. I almost collapsed into my mom's arms out of sheer exhaustion when we arrived in Syracuse, but turns out she just wanted to hold the baby and not me :-) It was such a fun trip home and I got to show the bug all around my hometown--- I look forward to continuing those traditions in summers to come. Here we are at the famous Manlius Swan Pond.

Summer left and school started. Gabby is in 10th grade and Nile is now in 8th. Nile is still playing soccer and this summer he got pretty serious about playing golf. He and Bill tried to play a few times, but they are just so competitive that it doesn't work out. They compromised and Bill drove Nile around the golf course and then they both enjoyed the day.

Over Labor Day weekend, the Hawkeyes had their season opener. My folks were visiting so my mom stayed in the motor home that we tailgate at with the bug. Nile and I came out at halftime for a visit so I could feed him. Bug got decked out in his Hawkeye gear for each game and what a season we had. We were one high ankle sprain away from perhaps a perfect season. Stanzi is the man-zi! It is a good year (like all years) to be a Hawkeye.

For Father's Day, Nile bought Bill tickets to a Chicago Fire game in August. They went for an overnight and had a great time. Nile has been playing on a club team here in Iowa City and has been getting into watching professional soccer. We got to buy him some Arsenal gear while in England which is his favorite team.

Gabby ran cross country again this fall. She was injured most of last season so never really got in her groove. Did she ever get in her groove this year! She and her teammates trained really hard over the summer and throughout the fall and finished 3rd at State which was held on Halloween. Gabby is smart and doesn't work too hard in school so to watch her work so hard and succeed at something was really awesome - even she'll say this is the first thing she has ever worked for. Bill was bursting with pride at the meet. She was so proud of herself and the work she put in. She got the flu the week before state and didn't train much; she even missed the district meet. She ran her heart out at state, left it all on the course. She usually finished 3rd or 4th on her team, but at state she finished 5th. However if Gabby had not run, they would not have placed 3rd because the top 5 scores count and the 6th girl for Gabby's team was far enough back that the 4th place team would have gotten 3rd. That may all be confusing but suffice to say, Gabby helped her team get it done. Here is a shot of her coming down to the finish.

I have never seen Gabby smile so big as she did on this day after the race and when they got their awards. It was so fun to be there.

The day was only made better by Nile's play by play of Iowa's stunning win over Indiana on the phone- he should be a sportscaster when he grows up.

They are both doing really well in school. Gabby has doubled up in science taking both bio and chem this year so she will have time to take AP biology her senior year. She is enjoying her classes and especially likes Chemistry. She just got cast as Gretel in the Sound of Music which is this year's musical. She will tell you that she is excited her height is finally paying off :-) She is enjoying practice and getting to act like a five year old. The musical is in late February.

Nile is enjoying 8th grade. He doubled up in math and is already a year ahead so that means one of his math classes is the same as Gabby's. Thankfully they have it different periods.

Bill's work is going fine as is mine. I took a 40% faculty job at the PA program in September and am now 50% in the ER. It is a few more days a month at work but the PA days are only 8 hour days so I can get Lucas from the sitter and put him to bed. The 12 hour shifts in the ER were getting to be too much as a new mom- I was never seeing Lucas. I am now working 3 days a week and one weekend a month which is much better for all of us.

We continue our medical work in Mexico and did take Lucas for the first time on our trip in September - he was a champ! He did great with the travel, the insane heat and humidity and the disruption to his schedule. His new favorite toy was a cold water bottle from the ice cooler that he would hug and lick- it was hilarious... poor little guy getting dragged all over the world by his crazy parents. My folks are coming on our trip over New Years to help me with Lucas and I am praying he hasn't started crawling by then or we might be in trouble :-).

Our families are all well. All of our nieces and one lone nephew are delightful and growing up too quickly. My brother David's daughter Madison who lives in Syracuse is totally enthralled with the bug -she's 11- and we have really enjoyed our visits with her when we were home this summer and in early November.

There are alot more pictures and updates from our year on this blog so feel free to browse the archives. How quickly our lives have become sippy cups, teething rings and footed pj's :-). We are so blessed that everyone has been healthy this year. I am thankful for how much Gabby and Nile love their brother and how easy that transition has been. We have put a lot of thought and effort and prayer in how our new family functions. My complete joy at being a mom is boundless and my cup is overflowing with blessings.

Thanks for reading our year-in-review- feel free to leave a comment so I know you visited. We pray that your cup is overflowing as well with blessings and that you and your family have a safe and happy holiday and 2010. I can't begin to imagine what the first year of the second decade of the new millennium will bring the Iversons but we are ready (I hope).

All the best to you and yours,

Katie

thankful

2009-11-26T07:35:00.002-06:00

i have a whole host of things to be thankful for this and every year (my consistent blogging is not one of them :-) ). however with a colleague at work having a still born child on tuesday, i think i'll make my thankful list just one. i am thankful for my healthy happy baby. i never thought life could be this great. God knew i needed my sweet baby Lucas and for him i am forever thankful. the thought of my complete happiness makes me weep with joy.

Mr Photogenic

2009-11-12T15:52:00.003-06:00

So I haven't blogged in forever. I am going to get back to blogging really soon but wanted to put these pictures up. We are at my folks house for the week and we went to JCPenney for TBL's first photo shot. We thought we'd only buy just a 'few' but came out like $125 later--- i can't wait to paste these pictures all over my house!! The only thing I do regret is that I bought this outfit weeks ago, weeks before our entire football season came down to a game with OSU -- I realize, thanks for Molly, these are Buckeye colors and a Jim Tressel (gasp!) vest. Regardless, the Hawks will beat the Buckeyes and TBL's pictures came out super cute!

hope frames are 50% off at Hobby Lobby next week because we are going to need a lot!

hot stuff

2009-10-14T20:53:00.002-05:00

today we tried on bug's halloween costume for size. i was lusting after the baby yoda costume for $29.99 but our friends found us this one for $3 and once i put him in it, it was like yoda who? i don't like chili peppers much but this is one that i would eat up if i could. how cute is he??

Our God is in charge, alive and on the move

2009-10-14T12:18:00.004-05:00

I have been meaning to post this when we got back from Mexico but the time has just gotten away from me. TBL is napping so I'm trying to get caught up on some things. All of our efforts for our last Mexico trip was made worth it by one of the last patients we saw. The whole trip would have been worth it just for helping his lady and her son. It is evidence that the God I serve is alive and on the move.

In the fall of 2006 we took our second trip to Mazatlan. Our friends, Amber, Toni and Lance were with us on that trip. One of the clinics we ran was at a colonia called Tres Palmas. The church built a school in this colonia as the city did not feel it needed a school to educate the children of the 'dump scroungers'. The church stepped in and built the school for them. One of the patients we saw that day was a young woman whose chief complaint was 'my arm won't move'. Well I am always a bit cynical and in my head thought, 'of course it moves, it may hurt but it moves. everyone's arm moves'. Turns out I was wrong. This gal is unable to move her arm. She was hit by a car crossing the major highway in front of the colonia and must have injured her brachial plexus (the nerves that run basically through your armpit and control your arm). There is nothing that could be done for her. Even with the best physical therapy in the States she probably wouldn't have regained much if any movement.

Two years ago or so the government in the form of trucks of armed policeman showed up at Tres Palmas and told everyone they had to leave. No one actually owned the land they were living on and apparently someone bought it so the government was going to relocate the 'squatters' to another place. The people were given very little time to pack up their entire lives and move (I think less than an hour). The church quickly found out about it from a teacher at the school and took action. They went out with vehicles and manpower to help people move. The people were told they were being relocated to land that had been developed with power and sewage and divided into lots. When the people were taken to their new colonia called Loma Bonita (pretty hills) they were essentially dropped off in a field with nothing the government had promised. The church ran the mobile kitchen for months to help feed the people and they continued the school under plastic tarps. The residents of the new Loma Bonita are a resilent bunch and just started building their houses all over again. We now run clinics at Loma Bonita.

Back to the lady who can't move her arm, so now she lives at Loma Bonita. Last January we were there and she and I were both pregnant. We discussed when our babies were due and were excited to see each other again in the fall so our children could meet. So on our last day of clinic, here she comes pushing a baby carriage with her son in it. She came right over to me and was so excited to see Lucas. Her son was sick and needed to be seen. Apparently he was seen the day before at the hospital but she cannot afford the medicine and the breathing machine they recommended he use. He was having trouble breathing and had a bad cough. He saw our pediatrician, Dr Cara, and she knew exactly what he needed. If God wasn't with us before, here is where He showed up.
--we had the exact right inhaler to give him; we never buy inhalers as they are too expensive but take down some donated ones from time to time so our supply is always questionable.
--an infant needs a spacer which is an air chamber device to help deliver the medication from the inhaler. for the three clinics before this our pharmacist, Angie, was making spacers out small cardboard neosporin boxes that she rigged with tape. earlier this morning our nurse Roxie was cleaning out the triage box and found a spacer. we have had it in there for a few years and never remember we have it until after we actually need it. not today. Roxie had probably 30 minutes before this lady came found the spacer and gave it to Angie. they laughed about how helpful this would have been yesterday when Angie was making spacers like MacGyver. but if we had found it earlier, we would have surely given it away and not had it for this little boy
--the child also needed some steriod which we didn't have in liquid form but also quite randomly had in pill form. Angie had asked Bill before we left if she should bring her mortar and pestle with her. Bill kind of laughed knowing what a slip shot pharmacy we actually have and that Angie would not be compounding medications. well Angie didn't listen to Bill and brought it anyway. so now she was able to crush the medication safely for mom to give to the baby

as all this was going on I was watching it unfold and had this innate sense of this being the reason we had come. sure, we had seen 100s of other patients but it seemed like it all came down to this lady and her ill son. maybe it is because i have a son now the same age and can't imagine how helpless you must feel to have him be sick and without resources to help him. maybe it is because i remember her from that clinic long ago and have seen how she has coped with her disability. God knew exactly what we needed to treat this little boy. it is just the way He works ... how everything came together from the inhaler to the discovery of the lost spacer to the mortar and pestle.

this encounter gave our whole tired, weary, hot team the much needed boost. it reconfirmed our mission in Mexico and reenergized my faith. this i know...

God is in charge, his Son, Jesus, is alive risen from the dead and the Holy Spirit is on the move. sure the mystery of the Trinity is theologically confusing, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work.

another video

2009-10-09T14:17:00.001-05:00

this one is off my camera and i think this is easier

Lucas playing

2009-10-09T13:50:00.000-05:00

This is my first attempt to export from the video camera to the computer and the blog via youtube.

baby yoda or a sheep?

2009-10-07T20:34:00.002-05:00

we got this great shot of lucas today when his onesie was half way on. hilarious. he looks like baby yoda or a sheep. i have decided not to post tons of pictures on the blog as my blog storage space is being quickly used up; rather i am going to be putting most of my pictures on facebook. for those of you who follow my blog and are not on facebook, please let me know your email addresses and i can give you access to those photo albums if you would like.