Will's fist doctor visit

Last Tuesday we took Will to his 2-week doctor's appointment. It was quite the adventure for the little guy as he hasn't really done much other than sleep, eat, get his diaper changed, and lie around. He has continued to impress us with how calm and good-natured he is. I'm sure there are going to be plenty of circumstances in the future where he and his sister will have us pulling our hair out, but I must say that Katherine and I both are amazed and appreciative of what a calm baby he is. Especially given all the things we've had to deal with in the past three weeks.

Given how good of a baby and now toddler Lyla has been, we were expecting (and our friends were secretly wishing) that Will would be more difficult. If anything, he's better than even Lyla was. I'm not sure why we're so lucky, we definitely don't deserve it but we also not complaining. It's just one more thing on a long list of wonderful attributes of our beautiful children.

Here are the pictures from the visit to the doctor's.

Getting ready to go... Will sure doesn't like being put in his carseat.
LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!! LET ME... (tuck him in with a fuzzy blanket) ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..............

He awakens in a strange place... hmm, this can't be good.

Hey, Beardy! What's going on? Where am I? Where's Lyla?

What the deuce?!?! That thing is freezing! Where are my clothes?

Oh, mom's finger! Excellent, I'll use this to call Lyla. She's come rescue me!

Seriously, Bearded Guy. What the heck is going on here. p.s. Do you have your tickets?... To the GUN SHOW? POW POW!!

Okay, that wasn't so bad. I got my shirt and socks back. I guess we'll go home soon, nothing else is going to happen to me.... wait, why does that guy have a needle?

Ow. That really hurt. Do you not see how scrawny my legs are? Why would you give me a shot in one? And I don't even get a Snoopy band-aid. What the heck!

Mom, you and the Bearded Guy better take me back to Lyla. I'm so over this place.

According to the measurements, Will has already grown an inch and a half and gained about a pound and a half. Surprise, surprise he's going to be tall. Who knew?

Last weekend

Last weekend, Katherine's mom (who had been in Grand Rapids since Will had been born) went home to Marion, IN and took Lyla with her. When she asked if Katherine and Iwanted her to take Lyla for the weekend, we were conflicted and had mixed feelings. Katherine's never been away from Lyla for multiple days, while I have had to be away for days at time before for work. So we both didn't want her to go because we knew we'd miss her. On the other hand, Katherine was still recovering and the idea of taking care of Katherine, Will and Lyla was daunting. So in the end, we decided to let our little bird fly and spent Thursday through Monday just me, Katherine and Will.

While we did miss Lyla a lot (I mean A LOT!), it was a relief to have some low-energy, quiet time. In fact, one day at lunch Will was sleeping and I said to Katherine, "The lack of noise is almost deafening. What did we used to do before Lyla?" Her answer: talk to each other... seems vaguely familiar.

The weather was somewhat nice a few of the days so we did get outside for a short walk up to the corner and back. Here we are at the apex of our walk:
Here's Katherine and Will getting ready.

Here's Will in the awesome hoodie that Mandy loaned us (Ian sure is a stylish kiddo).

Another shot of cute Will.

And here's our first thought as to what Will could wear if we took him outside. Unfortunately it was bigger than we needed. Which is too bad because he sure is cute in it. It reminds me of another cute kid I know...

We'd been doing so well.

Staving off colds, remaining healthy despite Old Man Winter throwing everything he could at us. But all three of us seem to be a bit under the weather (just like everyone else in Michigan it seems).

This doesn't really have any medicinal qualities but it sure brings a smile to my face. That's something, isn't it?
(You need to turn the sound on your computer on... but not too loud.)

Snow + freezing weather + direct sunshine = icicles

So it's been ridiculously cold the past two weeks. I mean, anytime you hear the phrase "... feels like negative..." when someone is telling you the temperature, you know you're in trouble. The weird thing is that over the past 4 our 5 days it hasn't snowed at all, and when the sun comes out, it melts the 2+ feet of snow that has accumulated everywhere, but because it's so cold out, the melted snow doesn't stay melted that long but instead forms icicles. And not just little, candy-cane sized icicles; I'm talking, the honkin' suckers that would do some serious damage if they fell on you icicles.

Keeping with tradition, I was able to grab one and we took pictures of it next to Lyla for comparison. You can see last year's version here. And now, this year's:



And a video of Lyla trying to figure out what the heck that thing is:

Snow days

So, last year was a record year of snow fall in Grand Rapids. This year is headed toward equal (if not greater) amounts of snow. Our friend commented the other day that we've already seen the same amount of snow in November and December that GR would typically see in an entire winter (November through March)!

That, combined with the sub-frigid temperatures, combined with the fact that Katherine is 32 weeks pregnant are all forces conspiring to keep us inside. So we've been making a serious effort to get outside on days that we're able in order to take walks. We spend equal amounts of time getting ready as we do actually outside. All in all it is quite an ordeal, but it's also been a lot of fun and totally worth it.

Here's pictures of Lyla putting on her snowsuit:




Here's pictures of me and Lyla waiting for Katherine to come out:




Here we are walking in the snow! Happy winter, everyone!

It's that time of year

Freaking winter!! I tell ya. I love the changing seasons, the trees, the crispness of the air, that winter smell. I even like snow. But one major difference between here and San Diego is how many freaking time we get sick because of how freaking cold it is. I think last winter I got a total of five severe colds. It isn't even November and I've already had one... and it's turned into a sinus infection. Ugh! Nothing quite like having your teeth hurt because of a sinus infection.

I will tell you, the only thing worse than having a cold is having a young child with a cold. So here's a recap of our last two weeks. Ready? Katherine gets sick, down for three days. Kevin gets sick, down for three days. Katherine gets food poisoning, down for two days. Lyla get's sick, down for three days. It was a dark dark time. Especially because when you weren't sick, you were worn down by having to take care of a sick spouse and a baby. Not fun. Fortunately, we're on the road to recovery.


I think the hardest was dealing with sick Lyla. She's never been sick like this and she just seemed so helpless. Especially at night because she was uncomfortable and thus didn't want to sleep. Which meant, no sleep for us. Fortunately the recommended treatment for a baby with a cold really worked. It is: steam, salt water, and suction. After the first night of being up with her, I wasn't shy about administering it (even though Lyla really didn't like it).


For us, steam was either running the humidifier and trying to get her in the path of its vent or taking her in the shower and letting it run hot. So over the last few days, Lyla took three showers, which she liked moderately more than her baths so it may become part of the routine. For salt water, we bough a nose sprayer designed for children. Of course Lyla did not like the intrusion of me jamming it in her nostril and had to be held down to administer it. Though I think she recognized the good it was doing because she would lean forward to line her nose up to it, but then she'd turn away when it got near her face as if she had suddenly realized what was about to happen.

Suction consisted of post-salt water, sticking an aspirator (a rubber bulb with a nozzle on one end... kind of like a tiny turkey baster) in a nostril, releasing the squeeze bulb and drawing out... (what's the polite word for snot? mucous?) mucous. That girl had a lot of mucous. She also had no hesitation about how much she dislikes the aspirator. Not fun trying to pin her down and jam something in her nose. All while being gentle and reassuring. Especially when your reward is mucous. But despite the discomfort and potential trauma, Lyla's health improved quickly and she's almost past it (she is sleeping through the night again).

So the pictures are of Lyla up late because she couldn't sleep. Sad because of the cold and being tired, yet somehow still in a good mood. Glad to be reading books with mom and dad.

And this picture is just a taste of all the cute pictures of Lyla in winter gear that you can expect over the coming months.


Also, Friday is Lyla's first Halloween and I guarantee you that if you check back in in the coming days you will not be disappointed by how freaking cute she is in her costume. Yay baby costumes!!! Oooh, Lyla's going to be 11 months next week. Do I have to stop referring to her as a baby?

Final count: 4 uses of the word "freaking"; 4 uses of the word "mucous". I smell a Pulitzer... actually I don't smell anything. Freaking mucous!