Love You Forever

"I'll love you forever / I'll love you for always / As long as I'm living / My baby you'll be."

A room of her own

For 10 months, Leah has graciously shared her bedroom with the family. Lately, though, she hasn't been too happy about the click clack of the keyboard while she tries to sleep. As a result, Gary and I took advantage of the 3-day weekend to move our office to the basement.

We think her room was once actually the original kitchen to our home - which would explain all the counter high plug ins! It has served us as a spare bedroom/TV room/den until Leah arrived. Now, though, it is truly a little girl's room.





We were also able to put our play kitchen in Leah's room. Chase has been asking me to bring it upstairs for a few weeks. I figured that the urge to bring it up was due to the fact that we found some awesome kitchen toys at a rummage sale. Nope, sorry, Mom. It was so that he could put his bad Transformers in the oven. I've said it before and I'll say it again, ugh.

The Little Mrs.

The kids at day care staged a wedding of Chase and Taryn. I love their expressions as well as the Scotch tape used to keep their flowers in place.

The last photo is even better since Chase has been giving Gary and me grief lately for kissing on the lips when we leave for work!

Mother's Day Weekend

Part of my Mother's Day gift was a trip home to see my mom. As an added bonus, I got to see my nephew, Ben, from Iowa. He turned nine on the 4th so we got to celebrate a belated birthday with him. He came up to help his dad, John, open up the family cabin out at Wood Lake. John took Gary, Chase and me on a boat ride around the lake. Since it had snowed that morning it was s a little strange to be on a boat that afternoon!

(Happy birthday, Ben, you little cutie - double digits next year!)

Fake smile or cold, I can't tell the difference.

The next day was beautiful, though, and we took the opportunity to break out Grandma's sidewalk chalk. This photo was taken shortly after Leah head butted her brother for not letting her color in his drawing. She holds her own. Having an older brother, too, it's hard to punish her for things like that. I may just try that the next time I see Todd.

On our way home, Chase and I entertained ourselves with some pipe cleaners. I tried to teach him a new (classic) joke along the way...you know, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" His reply every time, "What chicken?".

Caution, my baby is smart

While at the zoo yesterday, Leah referred to all the animals as "diddy", which is baby for kitty. I'm going through a stage right now where everything she says and does is cute.

Last week I told her I really liked the way she colored with the blue chalk which promptly made Chase see green. As I was going through the photos on our camera I had to chuckle at the one below - first, because I hadn't seen before, and second, because I knew exactly why it was there. See the previous post titled, "Mobile baby".

Anyway, back to the zoo. I love our local zoo. I think it is because I feel at home among the wild animals.

9 Months!

The photographer was really able to capture the true Leah. She is a happy, smiley baby.

(My favorite)

Call me crazy, I had us all dress in white.

Little Animals

A $1.00 fish bowl find a rummage sale yesterday turned into an additional $10.50 for a fish, fish food, and bottle of water treatment. The newest member of our family went through a few names, such as: Sharky, Hulk, Thing, Batman, Doc Oc, Carnage, Venom, Dr. Doom, Wolverine, etc. After about the 15th name, Chase said, "How about Davey Jones?" to which Gary and I wholeheartedly agreed should be (and remain) his name.

Meet our Beta fish, Davey Jones...

The fish is Chase's (he wanted to take it bed with him), but Leah is my animal lover. She especially likes cats - real or not real.

Chase is finally on the mend from a week and a half of clostridium difficile colitis. He fell asleep on Tuesday at 5:30 and didn't wake up until 10:30. He was sleeping upright for part of that time!

His appetite is back and his blood sugars are finally returning to normal. We had a few scary low numbers since we wasn't digesting his food properly. His doctor said that clostridium difficile colitis is rather rare in our community so where he picked it up from has us scratching our heads. Leave it to Chase!

101

Grandpa Art celebrated his 101st birthday yesterday. I feel a little guilty having missed it, but we did get to see him the prior weekend. He's a pretty amazing guy. Happy 101, Grandpa!

In other news, on Saturday I took part in the Great American Bike race. I ended up raising $235 to help families buy adaptive equipment for their children with cerebral palsy. My team had so much fun that we are already planning what we will do next year! Hopefully, my butt will have recovered by then. Funny how just 25 minutes on a stationary bike can equate to three Tylenol later. I don't normally like to post pictures of myself, especially if I'm all sweaty and red faced, but this is proof for my friend Jackson that I didn't use his $20 donation to go and buy coffee. (Starbucks had a booth with free coffee, henceforth, I'll be doing this again next year.)




On Sunday we took time to appreciate the unseasonably nice weather. Here is Leah in the sandbox for the very first time. Chase was concerned that she'd eat the sand, but I told him that my mom let me eat dirt and she says that is why I'm taller than my sister and her. Since somebody asked recently if Leah was 6 months (she'll be 9 on the 16th), I figure she should eat a handful.

We also took part in our diabetes support group on Sunday. The group meets twice a year and it has been great for Chase to be around other kids that wear insulin pumps. He was still talking about the kids today. Below is Maysil, his diabetes nurse, who just recently retired, but luckily for us, is still taking part in the group.

"Do it for the kids!"

I've been meaning for over two years to help raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I even had good intentions of participating in the Minnesota chapter's walk in January but as it always does, life got in the way.

So I actually surprised myself a few weeks ago when a co-worker asked me if I'd like to participate in the Great American Bike Race and I said, "Yes!" I feel blessed to have 2 healthy children and I've been looking for a way to show how grateful I am for my munchkins. And, as an added bonus, it is sponsored by Medcenter One which has the best pediatricians hands down!

The GABR raises money for kids with cerebral palsy. It is estimated that 1 out of every 500 babies, and one to three premature babies, are affected to some extent. A family who has a child with even a mild form of cerebral palsy has many expenses that are above and beyond what their insurance has already covered.

My team is called "Team Jose" in honor of our co-worker Yvette's little guy who has CP. She adopted Jose, who was born premature, from Guatemala when he was an infant. He is now three years old and uses a walker to get around (quite well to hear his mom talk!).

Each team member is asked to raise $50. Maybe it's the competitive nature in me (Scrabble anyone?), but $50 seems too low. Our team would like to raise $1,000. If you're interested in contributing, here's a link to our web page: http://www.firstgiving.com/susanstockert.

I'll keep you posted on how we did. The race is on the 12th of April and I've already raised $135 to date!