More baby tales

Karsten will be 5 weeks old in just 2 days and I can't believe how fast the past month has gone. I have realized that when people say that the time goes faster when you have kids is true. Pretty much every day it feels as if I wake up and 5 minutes later I'm crawling back into bed.

Karsten's colic is now getting under control. Brice was recommended a book by one of his co-workers called The Happiest Baby on the Block. It gives a pretty fool-proof way to calm babies with colic and it works amazingly! The first step is to swaddle the baby really tight with arms to the side to keep the arms from flailing about (which he does quite a bit when he is angry) and then doing rocking, bouncing, laying on the side or stomach and sucking on a nook. He is getting so used to the tight swaddling that now all I have to do is lay him on the blanket and he quiets down. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a colicky baby because it really has been a godsend for us.

Karsten is also starting to have the beginnings of cooing. He is now making small noises and his tired cries sound much different than the loud, angry cries he had before. I have found that during the day he likes to nap right on my shoulder as I try to carry him around (he is actually napping on my shoulder as I type this). It's difficult to put him down because the minute I do, he wakes up and ends up being more tired in the end. I have hoped that all of this being awake during the day would come out to sleeping more at night but it has not. I think he is going to be an awake at the crack of dawn baby because the past few nights when he has gotten up for his 4 or 5am feeding he stays awake for almost 2 hours and it is impossible for me to get him to sleep. Hopefully within the next few weeks he starts to stretch out his sleeping hours a little more so we can all start getting a few more hours of sleep in a row.

Of course, I can't end my blog posting without a few pictures to brag about our pride an joy!

This is proof that the swaddling makes a happy baby!

This is what happens every time he goes in his swing.

I call this my abominable snow baby.

All decked out in his Old Navy Baby overalls.

This is what happens when he falls asleep in his swing with a bib on and then moves his arms around while he sleeps.

This is prior to falling asleep in his swing.

Baby's first Thanksgiving

Karsten had his very first Thanksgiving this week. We were a little worried about how he would handle the trip to Stillwater to Brice's aunt's house because he has gotten a little colicky in the past week. He actually handled the trip there and back like a pro and woke up in time to eat while we were still there before having to pack everything up and head home. Brice had to work a shift that day so we could only stay a couple of hours and then I had my first night alone with Karsten all to myself. Of course, him being as inconsolable as he had been lately, I knew it would be an issue. He finally woke up from his nap around 6pm and pretty much screamed for a good 6 hours before he finally decided he was just exhausted and fell asleep. Of course, by then I was completely frazzled because there was no way I could calm my child and all I wanted to do was go to bed myself. By yesterday Brice and I finally decided that we can't keep letting Karsten be so miserable and we invested in some gas drops which, so far, seem to be working. We actually had a happy baby last night that was awake and alert and didn't cry....of course, for me, one night too late. Hopefully gas was his only issue and we don't have a colicky baby forever.

Hey, mom, get that camera out of my face!

Why do I always sleep through the cute picture ops?

Mom, dad and I at Thanksgiving....and I'm sleeping again!

Thanks for getting me those gas drops Dad, I feel so much better!

12 days old

Things we have learned about Karsten thus far....

When he gets upset, he pants like a puppy before he lets out the cry. He is a pig! He can sometimes eat 4oz of formula at one sitting....he should only be eating half of that (he'll gain all of his weight back and then some in no time!) He is overall a good baby; right now all he does is eat, sleep and do a little fussing inbetween.

Being cute sleeping in his bouncy chair. A big thanks to Donna for this gift, he loves it!


His first trip to a sit down restaurant while my parents were here this past weekend.


Napping in his swing (a gift from grandparents Koppinger while they were here this weekend) still decked out in his church clothes.


All else seems to be going well. I am finally starting to feel much more back to normal and can actually venture around the house to get some chores done so Brice doesn't have to do it all. I'm looking forward to finally digging out my normal clothes this week and getting back into them. I'm still venturing around the house in my maternity pants for fear of zippers at my incision site until it heals completely. We are looking forward to the time when he is awake for more of the day so we get to see what his personality is like when he's not hungry or needs a diaper change.

Karsten Brice has arrived!

As you all know, we were scheduled to go in for an induction on thursday to have the first of 2 medications administered. Once the nurses got me all situated and checked my cervix, they found that I was already almost 4cm dilated and having contractions (which I couldn't feel) and the medication would not be needed then. They said we could go home and come back early the next morning to get the pitocin started but I was not going to do that again since they already had an iv in and I just wanted to stay and wait it out. Around 5am on Friday the nurse woke us up so she could get Karsten's heart rate on the monitor for a while before starting the iv up. It was actually a lot slower than they wanted it (in the 110's) so they had the doctor come and break my water so that they could put a probe on his skull and see if the heart rate was better that way....it turned out the heart rate wasn't better and when doctor Hirt broke my water, he found out that Karsten had his first poop inside which is not good. After about 45 minutes of talking with the doctor about what we could do or couldn't do, we decided that I would have a c-section. That was really nerve-wracking for me because I get really nervous about stuff like that and they wouldn't let Brice in the OR until right before they were ready to start. Thankfully, they never told me when they started so I had no idea what was going on and I couldn't feel a thing with the epidural. He was born at 7:25am and weighed 8lbs 10oz and was 21 inches long. Hearing his first cry was so amazing, it's impossible to put into words! I just wish that I was able to hold him right away and take care of him like I wanted to. They did let me hold him for about a minute before they had Brice take him to the nursery to get checked out and for the doctor's to close me up to go to recovery. That was the longest wait! By the time Brice got back to recovery, I had already been there about a half an hour and I still hadn't seen Karsten all cleaned up. They did finally bring him in and I got to hold him and tried to feed him right away but since I couldn't sit up it really didn't work. We then went up to our room and they sent Karsten to get a bath so that he was all clean for us. After that, we had to wait for him for about an hour and a half because the nursery was backed up on baths and I wanted to hold him so bad! After that, everything seemed to go smoothly. He did loose a pound while we were at the hospital and also had a little jaundice so we have to take him to the doctor tomorrow to get him checked out and make sure he is doing better. He seems to be eating much better today now that the nurses aren't always bugging him. Here are a few of his first pictures. I hope you all enjoy them as much as we enjoyed taking them!

Tomorrow is the day!

We took another trip to the doctor today which I was kind of dreading but kind of excited about at the same time because I know that the end is near. One of the first things out of her mouth was that she had already scheduled me for induction on Friday when I hadn't called to say I was in labor. We will be going into the hospital tomorrow night at 7pm so that they can administer one drug overnight while we are sleeping after which they will give me the second drug by early Friday morning. If all goes well, we should have Karsten in our arms by late Friday afternoon. I am going to be so excited to not be pregnant anymore and to have him in my arms. The only bad thing is that I have to eat a really good meal before we go to the hospital tomorrow and after that I can't eat anything but popsicles and ice chips so Brice is going to take me out for my last pregnant dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then all we have to do is go up the block to the hospital and have this kid. We should be able to come home by monday after which we should have a lot of pictures to post. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during this exciting time for us.

Still miserabely pregnant....

Yup, you read it right, this kid refuses to come out. He is now 3 days late and I honestly feel like he's not coming out on his own. If I make it to my appointment on wednesday, my doc will probably be inducing me on thursday so we should still have a baby by the end of the week but I'm so tired of all of the waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. Hopefully my body decides that it's finally going to go into labor by itself because I would much rather it do that than have to be induced.

The last update

As many of you already know, we made a trip to the hospital on Friday thinking I was in active labor when it turns out to be what they call prodromal labor....I guess it's the pre-labor of labor and people like to call it false labor but it does actually have a purpose. Since then I just really have not felt much like myself, had my birthday on Saturday and we just spent it together inside the house. I really don't feel at all like talking to people so if anybody has tried calling me, I have kind of purposefully not answered my phone - I just really want to spend some time by myself and will update after we actually have some good news. Until then, I don't think I will be blogging at all, I just really have absolutely no desire or anything real to talk about.

Still nothing

I took a trip to the doctor again today and still have absolutely nothing to report. The doc said there really hasn't been any change and he stripped my membranes again - hopefully this time it will work! All of this waiting is killing me and I'm starting to get really impatient. I just want to get it all over with! Of course, it isn't going to be any easier after the doctor said that he would like to see me delivered by this time next week. I guess only time will tell. Please send some labor prayers my way because I am totally stir crazy and I REALLY don't want to keep going to work and getting all of the "you're still here?" comments.

Nothing new to report

The waiting continues! We still have no baby to report and I am getting so tired of waiting - I would say that this waiting is much worse than waiting for the positive pregnancy test months ago. The ladies I work with were convinced that Karsten would be coming out this weekend but obviously, they were wrong yet again. We went to the OB on Wednesday and there had really been no change. He did strip my membranes which works on some women to help them go into labor....I'm obviously one of the women that it doesn't work on! The doc we've been seeing since my doc is on maternity leave had his weekend on call and I was kind of hoping it would be this weekend so we could have him but it's Sunday now and I have had no contractions....not even one! Last weekend I at least had a couple a day but ever since then I've had nothing. I think I've come to realize that I'm not really upset that he hasn't decided to come out yet, I'm more upset about having to show my face at work tomorrow when I would much rather wait out the rest of my time at home. I guess I'll just make the best out of it - hopefully the days will go faster by having to get up in the morning and go somewhere. I'll keep the updates coming....hopefully the next one will be pictures of the baby.

Another trip to the orchard

Brice and I decided to go on another trip to the orchard to get another staple of fresh apples. This time we decided to go to an orchard that he used to go to with his parents called Minnesota Harvest. I'm not quite sure if it is my favorite orchard to visit although there are lots of horses and ponys and a small petting zoo. The orchard is quite a bit larger than Emma Krumbees and they take you on a tractor ride into the orchard to pick which was fun but the didn't have any farmers market kind of stuff that I was kind of hoping to see. I really wanted to either get some gordes or mums for our front walk but they had nothing like that except pumpkins. I do have to say that their bakery items were really good! I decided to get a carmel apple crunch pastry - it was almost as big as a large to go container. Don't believe me? Here's the proof!

Here are some pictures of us out in the orchard. I was so proud of myself because I actually remembered the camera for once!





After we got home, Brice decided to declare war on all of the box elder bugs that have decided to come back terribly again this year. He sprayed all of the ones we had inside with a home made mixture of dishsoap and water which surprisingly works. After doing that he made his way outside but I'm not quite sure what good it did but to make them all mad and now we have even more that have somehow come into the house. That will be an on-going battle until it gets cold enough to kill all of the bugs.

The baby is trying to make his way out, it might be a little slower than I would like but I'm positive that it won't be much longer. I did get woken up a couple of times this morning with a mild contraction but there have been no others. We took a walk around the neighborhood again tonight to help get him moving down - I'm hoping that it actually works. I know that something is working because I do have a lot more pressure in my pelvis which is a good sign! I'm hoping he decides he's done cooking soon because I don't know if I can honestly hold up until the 26th. We will keep everyone updated!

Another doc appointment

Brice and I made another trip to the OB today to check my progress. Everything still looks good, heart rate is good, head is down and can be felt by the doc and I am now almost 3cm (he had to call it 2+ because it's not quite there) dilated. I can, at this point, go into labor at any time and the baby should be just fine, there is no risk of him being pre-mature. We'll be doing a lot of walking and chores around the house to help gravity out a little bit (because, it would be lovely if he decided he was done cooking early!). Other than that, there is really nothing to report other than getting a flu shot (my arm is feeling the after-effects) and not really having any real contractions under my belt, just the fake ones that basically do crap. My bag at this point is all packed and ready to go except for the last minute items like my eye glasses and the camera so we should be all set there. I am so anxious I just can't stand it anymore....I want him to come out!!!!

Spend the money on a good haircut....JUST DO IT!!!!

I decided that I needed to get a trim so that my hair isn't in my way while I'm in labor. So, since Games by James is in the Burnsville Mall and I had to stop there I decided to go to Mastercuts and get my hair cut....boy was that a HUGE mistake. I just made the assumption that because I have gotten really great haircuts at their other locations that I would get the same great service there....nope, not even close. I go in there, tell the girl what I want done, not only that but I point to how short I want it. So, she starts cutting and keeps cutting and cutting and cutting and I'm wondering, what in the world is taking so long? Then, she gets to the front of my head and she only leavs about an inch and a half of hair at the top on the right side but leaves a good 2 and a half to 3 inches on the top on the right. Not only that but it's really short on the top with this god awful long hair sticking out of the bottom. So after she was done, I made her cut it again and cut all of the long hair off. So by now of course, I am PISSED off because I have absolutely no hair left and she starts curling it so I can at least go out into the mall and do what I need to do. Yea, BIG MISTAKE!!!!! She burnt my ear on the curling iron so bad that I have a blister!!!!! She gets "done" and I realize that it doesn't look any different than it would if she would have just dried it. I made sure I told her many times that it was MUCH shorter than I had ever told her to cut it in the first place and I DID NOT give her a tip. It's bad enough that I had to pay $20 for a haircut that I hate. I was so mad after that that there was no way I could go out into the mall to get my game that I left to go home to try to figure out what in the world I can do to make my hair look presentable. I wet down my hair and tried to blow dry it....it's so short in the back that it won't curl and the very top layer is longer than the middle. Then since the left was longer than the right, I had to get my sissor out and try to make it look like the 2 sides are at least related. Then on the right, I had a very short piece on the top and a very long piece right below so I had to blend all of that together. I finally got done with all of that and decided that it didn't look terrible when I found out why the 2 sides still weren't matching one another. There was a whole piece on the left that wasn't even layered!!!! So after cutting that off and blowdrying again I think it's going to be as good as it's going to get until it grows out a bit. To top it all off, since it is so short in the back all of my haircolor was cut off so now I have to take the time this weekend and put some color in it so that the front and the back match.

I think I have finally learned my lesson. No more $20 haircuts because they are cheap. I'll gladly spend the $60 that the salon up the road charges if I can at least get a haircut that I don't have to correct when I get home.

2 headed turtle

Two-headed turtle goes on display in Pa.

Thu Sep 27, 9:50 PM ET

A pet store has bought a two-headed turtle from a collector and plans to keep it on display, the store manager said. The 2-month-old turtle, actually conjoined red-eared slider twins, fits on a silver dollar.

It has two heads sticking out from opposite ends of its shell, along with a pair of front feet on each side. But there is just one set of back feet and one tail.

The turtle is apparently healthy, and the species can live 15 to 20 years, said Jay Jacoby, manager of Big Al's Aquarium Supercenter in East Norriton. The turtle has not yet been named.

The store would not disclose how much it paid.

The same exotic-turtle collector sold another Big Al's store a conjoined-twin turtle about 20 years ago, Jacoby said. The man lives in Florida, but he declined to identify him.

The countdown begins.....

I had another doctor appointment today and everything looks good. I am already 2cm dilated - the doc said that because I have such an early start I won't have to worry about being late but it also sounds like there is a good chance that I may be early. The only thing he could really pinpoint for me is that I should have at least another 2 weeks. If this is true, I need to get going and get my bag packed and all of my last minute stuff done (I have a few clothing items to wash along with the crib sheets, the pacifiers need to be sterilized and the car seat installed in both cars). The room is now pretty much done. We put the rocking chair together on Sunday (thanks to my mom and dad for that purchase), I got the pictures hung yesterday along with all of the toys put away in the book shelf. I realized after hanging all of the pictures that we don't have enough! There is a great big naked piece of the wall between the dresser and the crib so Brice is going to go find a picture to hang there.

Since everyone has been asking for pictures of the nursery, no need to wait any longer....I finally took some today!






I think I'm going to be off to bed real early tonight. For some odd reason I'm completely wiped out and by back is killing me. Uncomfortable? I think that's and understatement.

Want more Smitty?

I found some pics of the Smitty concert from Saturday on the KTIS website and thought you all might enjoy to see them.

Aaron Shust opens up.


Smitty and band.


Last but not least, Smitty himself.

Homecoming 2007 and Smitty

Yesterday was really busy for us. We got up early and had to be over to Concordia for the all choir reunion any time after 8:30....we left about 8:15 and got there right before 9 so we made some pretty good time from here. We had breakfast there with some of my old choir mates and then we headed over to the chapel where we were having a massed choir rehearsal before the dedication of the new chapel addition. I have to admit it looks pretty spectacular....there is even air conditioning in the addition now but not so much yet for the actual chapel, it was really warm in there! Not only did they add to the chapel but they actually did some remodeling inside....ripped out the old gymnasium tile and put in some hardwood floors, framed all of the stained glass windows so that they stand out better and hid all of the radiators with actual radiator boxes. The rehearsal and chapel service was pretty fun because a couple of the old choir directors came back and got to direct as well. I have to say that there is a definate difference between the directing that we learned in school and what these old directors did....it is very miniscule and really nothing much to it which made it very hard to follow. But, it was still a great time! After that we headed back to the theatre building where the street party was starting. We had wristbands that got us unlimited food, drinks, carnival rides and beer in the alumni tent. Yea, I was a little bummed about having to miss out on the beer but Brice was really excited because he got a good Summit Ocktoberfest to go with his brats.

Here are a few pictures from the afternoon. We will start with a picture of the pit where 3 dorms and a house used to be. Early this fall they tore them all down to build this huge 4 floor apartment style dormatory (why couldn't they have had that when I was there????)

This next one is the front of the chapel addition.

Me petting a little calf at the petting zoo. Brice didn't tell me when he was snapping the picture so I look a little wierd.

A self portrait of us after just having downed a bag of mini donuts.

And last but not least, I'm going to call this my ode to Josh Huber.

So, after having done all of this, we left around 4pm to head down to Eden Prairie because we had tickets to see Michael W. Smith at Grace church. Since we got there so early we decided to stop at the mall and do a little window shopping and get a snack before we headed down to the church for the concert. We really had a great time....the show ended up being sold out so I'm glad I got tickets when I did. I was a little perterbed with people though because when we got the tickets in the mail there was an insert that said there was no photography allowed so being the good person that I am, I did not take the camera in. Obviously, this didn't stop people from taking a million pictures but now I'm mad that I have nothing to show for being there....grrrrrr..... Anyways, the concert was more like Smitty unplugged. He did a lot of worship and praise music and only a small set of actual Smitty originals. We were a little disappointed that it wasn't a bigger, less accoustic concert but with Smitty you can't go wrong. This guy is a freakin' genious! I would be happy with half of the talent that he's got. He was talking about his new Christmas album that's coming out in a couple of weeks and I'm really excited to hear it. He got to record it at Abby Road in London and all the pieces are original and John Williams-eske. Just think, Smitty meets John Williams.....I can't think of anything more music geeky than that!

Today, we went to church and in the bulletin they were advertising for an open worship leader for their new Threshold services that are geared directly to young adults. I'm seriously thinking about applying for it - it's a part time position and it would allow me to actually use my degree (YES!!!!) and do something different that I have always wanted to do (get more into the contemporary music scene). I have a lot to think and pray about regarding that.

I'll close with a picture of a present that was waiting for me when I got home from work on Friday afternoon.

Where are all the crazies coming from?

I just found this article posted on Yahoo and thought I would share it with all of you. Where does this lady get the idea that governments can force upon people the length of a marriage....come on people!

Glamorous politician wants law to allow 7-year itch

By Madeline ChambersFri Sep 21, 4:00 AM ET

Bavaria's most glamorous politician -- a flame-haired motorcyclist who helped bring down state premier Edmund Stoiber -- has shocked the Catholic state in Germany by suggesting marriage should last just 7 years.

Gabriele Pauli, who poses on her web site in motorcycle leathers, is standing for the leadership of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) -- sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) -- in a vote next week.

She told reporters at the launch of her campaign manifesto on Wednesday she wanted marriage to expire after seven years and accused the CSU, which promotes traditional family values, of nurturing ideals of marriage which are wide of the mark.

"The basic approach is wrong ... many marriages last just because people believe they are safe," she told reporters. "My suggestion is that marriages expire after seven years."

After that time, couples should either agree to extend their marriage or it should be automatically dissolved, she said.

Fifty-year-old Pauli, twice divorced, is a maverick intent on shaking up her male-dominated and mainly Catholic party which has dominated Bavarian politics since World War Two.

"This is about bringing ideas into the CSU and starting a discussion," she told German television on Thursday after she had unleashed a wave of criticism from other politicians.

Former foe Stoiber said she did not belong in the CSU and European lawmaker Ingo Freidrich dismissed her views.

"She is diametrically contradicting our Christian, ethical values," Freidrich said.

Peter Ramsauer, head of the CSU in Germany's parliament, compared Pauli's ideas to "the dirt under your fingernails".

Pauli, who attracted attention earlier this year when she posed for a magazine wearing long black latex gloves, was at the centre of a snooping scandal which eventually led to Stoiber, Bavarian premier for 14 years, saying he would stand down early.

She said his office tried to obtain details about lovers and alcohol consumption to use against her.

The CSU will elect Stoiber's successor as party head at a conference next week. He will be replaced as state premier in early October.

Viewed as a party rebel, Pauli stands almost no chance of winning next week's vote. The contest has been fought mainly between Bavarian state economy minister Erwin Huber and German Consumer Minister Horst Seehofer.

The popularity of Seehofer, a 58-year-old married father of three, has suffered from the disclosure that he had been having an affair with a younger woman who recently had his baby.

Almost finished!

So, Brice and I had our last child birth class on monday which ended up being very informative because one of the pediatritians from the practice we are choosing came in to speak to the class. Talk about overload of information! There is so much to talk about but not enough time to talk about it so we got a brief overview of what to expect after giving birth and all that good stuff. The lady giving the class was so nice that she bought a cake and treats for our last day....she called it celebrating a birthday although nobody was close to giving birth yet.

Last night, we took a tour of the hospital's maternity ward. For those of you interested, we will be having the baby at Fairview Southdale. We have decided that we aren't going to have any visitors there since we really won't be there very long and honestly, I don't want to be around anybody after just giving birth. Once we are home though we are expecting gads of people to come over to the house to visit. The one good thing is that the hospital has wireless internet for the patients to use while there so we will be able to blog and post pictures pretty much right away so there should be no having to wait for your baby fix! I am pretty much done with everything that needs to get done....I filled out the pre-reg form and faxed that in this morning and the only thing left is to get a few essentials for my hospital bag and to actually pack my bag and I'm ready. I'm going to be prepared long in advance because I don't want to be caught off guard.

Saturday review

I had a pretty good day today. Woke up around 8 and watched some news, ate some cheerios and watched a little fun animal shows and a little bit of Mythbusters (this is our favorite show.....if you have never seen Mythbusters on Discovery, I highly recommend it, it is a show the whole family will enjoy). I finally decided to get out of my comfy flannel pj's which almost don't fit around my belly anymore and got ready for a baby shower that my friend Donna held for me at her house. She had wonderful food! She decided to go with brunch and made this egg bake that had croissants for crust, eggs, potatoes, cheese and sausage in it.....mmmmm, that was really tasty! She also had all of the decorations, plates and napkins all Noah's Ark - it was so cute! Of course, I forgot my camera because Brice was rushing me out of the door so fast that I don't have any pictures. There were just a few people that showed up but it was a fun time. I got to see my aunt Barb and my cousin Courtney and my friend Allison who I have not seen in forever so that was really nice. Since I didn't get any pictures of the shower, I decided to take a picture of one of the gifts that I got. Donna got this great bouncy seat for the baby that actually vibrates and plays music. I decided to put it together once I got home and it is so cute!


Brice and I decided to make beer can chicken on the grill tonight for dinner. Of course, I go out to check it after an hour and there is no flame left in the grill and we were 5 degrees away from it being done so we had to bring it in the house and finish it in the oven but it turned out really well.

Brice decided that he wanted pictures of his hand, stitches and all, to put up on his blog. I promised him that I would not post them here so if any of you want, I am going to send you over to his blog to check it out.

Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow is church day and after that I'm going to spend some time in Karsten's room and hopefully get everything done....I have curtains to hang, the rug to vacuum, the furniture put where it goes and pictures to hang. Hopefully I can get that done and post pictures of the finished product for you all to see.

Baby and Daddy

First line of business today is baby. We had another appointment yesterday and had an ultrasound to measure my little guy to make sure he wasn't too big since I'm measuring weeks ahead of what I should be. The ultrasound estimated his weight to be 5lbs and 4oz and he ranks in the 61st percentile. He has a head that is on the large side of average, his tummy measurements are dead on and his leg measurements are on the small side of average. The doc said if it weren't for the size of his head that he would be dead on at the 50th percentile. We got a few pictures of him, one of the bottom of his foot, his leg and one of the side of his face with his hands in front of his mouth which he would not move so we could get a good look at his face (he wasn't liking the ultrasound much!). I don't have pictures to post now because our printer is well, doing what printers do best so I'll try to get those up soon. Also, the ultrasound tech said that we are absolutely having a boy, all parts are there as expected! Brice can now stop saying what would happen if we have a girl.

Second line of business is Brice. He did his first dressing change last night and finally counted all of the stitches.....there are 22 total! He's of course, having problems doing everyday things because it is on his right hand and he is right handed. I had to put his shoes on for him yesterday, pick him up at home to go to the doctor, make dinner, do the dishes, wash and fold all of his laundry.....I was pretty exhausted last night after all of that. Today he is going to try to venture out for a while with the car; hopefully he is careful to try to not use his right hand much. He said that he's been in a lot of pain this morning but he took some medicine and should be feeling better.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully there will be nothing exciting to say from now until Saturday which marks the very last baby shower that is on my schedule. Hopefully we get lots of stuff that we still desperately need!

A late night in the ER

Well, we had to take our first trip to the ER last night as a married couple! Brice was washing dishes and broke a casserole dish and cut himself really bad from his wrist up to his pinky finger on his right hand. I quickly put his shoes on for him and drove him over to the ER for stitches. We left the house around 9pm and he got done in the ER right around 11 after which we had to go to Walgreens and get some antibiotics and pain meds filled along with some dressing changes. After we got home we had to clean up the evidence and get ready for bed (I think I went to bed around 12:30 and got up at 5am for work so I'm pretty sleepy today). He cut himself so bad that he has at least 15 stitches (he said he didn't count them because he couldn't watch.....there is something about being ok watching other people go through traumatic situations but is different when it is him) and the cut down by his wrist is down to the bone. They put him in a splint so he can't move his finger at all and blow the stitches and he can't go to work for a week. I feel so bad for him and helpless that I really can't help him when I'm stuck at work. I'll try to take a picture of his splint tonight and post it so you all can see how bad it is. Please keep him in your prayers because he's having a tough time (I believe) but he just won't admit it.

Weekend and Pavarotti

It's been a pretty long and busy weekend! Friday was the usual get to work, put in your 8 hours and you are so glad to go home. Before the end of the day though I had a meeting with my supervisor to figure out some of this maternity leave stuff. After having a lengthy discussion with him about how things in our department need to change or I have to leave actually made me feel a little better. He is totally on my side with everything and dosen't see why all of this is even an issue. He said that when him and his wife decide to start their family he is going to ask for exactly the same things that I am. So now, we have to try and talk the other managers of our department into being a little more flexible. We'll see where all of this goes.

On Saturday morning we woke up and realized there was nothing for breakfast so we went to Perkins to have a hearty one (there is something about sleeping in and going for a late breakfast at Perkins on the weekend that is just satisfying). We went back home and Brice decided to do some cleaning and I went up to Wal-mart to get some shopping done. I had to go take a couple of duplicate gifts back that we got for the baby and got one of those warm sacks for taking the baby outside during the winter....he'll be nice and warm in that. After coming home I decided to tackle all of the clothing items that we had gotten for Karsten. I went through everything, took off the tags on the stuff he can wear right away, unwrapped all the blankets and unpackaged everything else that needed to be washed and I washed it all. There was so much stuff that I ended up with 2 large loads of laundry....for a baby! I was amazed at how much stuff there was. Everything is so fluffy that it took a little longer than normal to dry in the dryer and there was a TON of fuzz to deal with. So, everything is washed and put away in the dresser ready to go unless I get more. After looking at what clothes we had and didn't have we realized that he only had one pair of cord pants and a pair of jean overalls and the rest were all jammie type pants. There were also a LOT of short sleeved onsies but only one zip up sweater that he can wear over the top. So, after church today we took a trip to Target and found him 3 pairs of pants and a knitted zip up sweater. We also found a small bookshelf to put in his room that was on clearance so now we have MORE furniture to put together. Back to Saturday, we cut up some of the apples that we got at the apple orchard last weekend and made this totally yummy carmel apple bar recipe....it is SOOOOO good! I have a feeling that I will make more because we have a good 10 pounds of apples left.

Tonight we went over to the VFW for dinner because the fire department was having it's annual chicken fry. I don't quite understand the connection between firemen and being good at grilling but it sure makes a great combo. The food was wonderful and our money went to a good cause.

There was this amazing article in the StarTribune today about Pavarotti....it says completely what all of us musicians strive for but can never quite grasp completely but Pavarotti had it all. I enjoyed reading it and I think I'll have to hang a copy of it up in my cube or on the fridge or something because it is truely inspiring.

John Timpane: His talent really was that rare
There are three unusual abilities that must be wedded to become the singer he was.

John Timpane

Published: September 09, 2007

Luciano Pavarotti once sang a song of mine.
I wasn't there; I had to wait for the video on PBS. He didn't sing lead; he came in on the choruses. But the way he performed even this relatively humble musical task -- compared with the mammoth spectaculars, the Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti heroics for which he had become famous -- taught me what it takes to make a Pavarotti. It's more than meets eye or ear, and that says a lot for so big a man.

Along with Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, and a tiny group of others, Pavarotti married three singular, extremely rare talents. To have a Pavarotti, you need all of them; without any one, you might have a pretty good thing, but not the human miracle in such a singer.

Thing 1: The Voice. This is the province of the Creator, and only if it pleases Him/Her/Them. You know that truism about "You can either play in the NBA or you can't"? The Pavarotti-level voice is much, much rarer than the man or woman who can dunk. Maybe a few thousand people around the world can play professional basketball. How many Pavarottis are there at one time?

Thing 2: Musicianship. People think singers like Pavarotti stride on to the stage, take their stance and just belt it out. Not so. To be a singer at that level, you must be a musician. You must learn your instrument through and through (including the athletics of it, the exercise, the preparation, the competition, the mentors and coaches). You must grow expert in the history of music, the rules, the legacies of thousands of other performers. It's a religion. It's slavery.

But then the hard part. Thing 2B. You must somehow reach through all that training and use music to explore reality, human emotion, the situation of human beings in the world.

You must learn how to challenge, touch, enlighten others. Some of this can be taught. Much can't. You have to have lived in the world with your eyes and spirit wide open. No true musician is only a technician, only a plumber with facts and techniques. You can study music all your life -- thousands do -- and "know everything about music" (thousands do) and still not have what I'm talking about. Pavarotti had the unteachables. He would have been a wondrous musician no matter his voice.

Thing 3: An entertainer's sense to match voice and musicianship. Pavarotti was the hammiest of hams, far beyond the bourgeoise overacting of the operatic tradition: He seldom hesitated to milk the moment, search the funny bone, prompt the reach for the hankies. He also, however, was a professional who honored what the entertainer does: assess the mood and needs of the audience and work to realize them. Entertainment, whether classical music or dime dancer, is a generous act, outerly, other-oriented. Watch a Pavarotti performance sometime. Watch his eyes, his body language. He's reading the audience because he needs them to need him.

Many people have one of these things -- an exquisite physical gift; mastery of music; audience connection. Almost no one, and maybe only a handful in the world in any one generation, has them all. Pavarotti had them all.

I am proud and thrilled to have helped write a song on which Pavarotti actually sang. The event was a 1995 "Pavarotti and Friends" benefit concert in Modena for the orphans left by the bloody conflict in Bosnia. The Croatian musician Nenad Bach asked me to work with him on the lyrics to a song -- "Can We Go Higher?" -- that asked whether humanity could ever live in peace, ever transcend its legacy of tribal violence. Nenad sang lead, I recall, but Pavarotti sat in on the choruses -- and he did what he always did, pitched for the home team, took that stance we all know so well and just blasted out the music -- but with earned emotion, eyes traveling the crowd, calling them in. He probably had heard the song maybe a few hours before, and yet he was laying out all his resources on its behalf, as though it were Beethoven. It was a benefit; he was either not getting paid or not getting his normal check. And there he was, not even the lead, working his work.

He did the same thing for many causes, political and musical. He was the best salesman classical music ever had, just by being himself. Remember: The miracle in a musician is mostly invisible. The miracle you hear is the miracle he or she has lived. I am glad that, if only for the slenderest of moments, I got a chance to see him live it.

John Timpane is a musician and the associate editor of the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He wrote this for the Hartford Courant.

Decisions

Well, Brice and I have been talking about what to do after the baby is born. I decided to go on our site at work where all the current open positions are and found a few jobs that I could work full time from home which would solve all of our problems. We decided that I should try and apply for one while I am waiting on a response from the department that I work for. I ran into our department head today and he is still planning on meeting with me sometime this week to see if there is something that can be worked out. And to think, all of this could have been avoided if they would just have said that I could work 4 days rather than 5. I'll keep everyone updated as to what ends up happening

On another work note, please keep my co-worker Kay in your prayers. She ended up going home early yesterday because she wasn't feeling right and ended up having emergency brain surgery because the doctor's found a tumor.

Motherhood....trials and tribulations

Everything had been going so well and we thought we would start our wonderful role as parents with not a care in the world....until I hit the brick wall. I had to have a meeting this week with a couple of the managers at work so that they could give me a verbal warning about being sick too many times....yea you heard me right, what kind of crap is that???? #1 - I get sick quite often #2 - I have a personal philosophy that you don't go to work when you are sick so you don't spread it to other people and #3 - I'm pregnant, I have to take care of myself and I can't use all of the possible energy I have when I'm not feeling well to go to work and then who knows what would happen? I'm not going to put my unborn child at that kind of a risk. So at this "meeting" I was told that I shouldn't come to work when I'm sick but that I SHOULD come to work anyway if I'm sick.....ummmm, yea, whatever. So then I decide to ask what is going to happen before and after my maternity leave. I asked very politely to spend the last week or two working at home and I got the "No because if we do it for you we have to do it for everyone else"....ummm, I'm the only one in my department pregnant. Then I got the, "well, we can't have you working at home because it's a HIPPA violation"....yea, I'm not giving you credit on this one either because it's not any more a HIPPA violation to work in an office building than it is in a home. So then, I asked to work 4 ten hour days when I come back from leave and I got the same crap excuse....yea I got a big fat pile of poop at work yesterday and I have not been happy about it because it screws up all of the plans that Brice and I had set to take care of the baby.

All of this of course, makes me feel like crap and I feel like it is all my fault and it's impossible for me not to be upset about it (of course, the horomones probably don't help the situation any). I feel lied to and used at work....I took that job because I knew that we would be starting a family and the options were there for flexible working hours and possibly working from home only to find out now that apparently the office I work in doesn't follow those corporate policies. So, of course, that gets the wheels turning - is it worth to continue to work after the baby is born if I can't have what I thought I was going to? Do I try to transfer to a different department that would allow me to have a more flexible schedule? Do I try going down to part time? What is going to be the best situation for all of us? I wish that I could just stop working for now but that just isn't going to be possible because we don't have enough income coming from Brice in order to pay all of the bills and be able to eat (ah, the crummy income of a paramedic!) so I have to keep working. Do I keep my job or do I decide that I'm going to stop working for corporate America to work for a more mommie friendly company? Am I over-reacting? Is the stress of there only being 8 weeks left getting the best of me? I don't know what the answers to all of those questions are. All of this is tough enough for me but then I have to deal with my always worrying about having enough money of a husband and with the fact that my short term disability policy at work only pays for 6 weeks of wages when I get a total of 12 off through FMLA....where is the cash for an extra 6 weeks off of work going to come from???? It's been a rough couple of days.

I have so many things going through my head right now that I don't know what I should be feeling. I already feel as though I have failed my son because I thought I had everything all set and ready for his arrival. I feel as though my employer has let me down and I have lost hope of ever enjoying my work again. I feel angry and upset that we now have to come up with an alternate way of taking care of the baby when both of us are at work (nanny or daycare?) when all we wanted to do was to take care of him ourselves. Will things eventually work out? Yes, but not without a little extra cash out of the wallet and a little less time watching my son grow. I think that is what is upsetting me the most....I just want to be there for him day in and day out and watch the little miracle that we created explore, learn and grow. I know that I'll probably always feel that way but I think this is the most difficult thing I have had to deal with my whole life. I can't wait for him to make his appearance but I don't think I'm going to want to leave him after that.

A quick note

Just thought I would blog a little note to let everyone know that Brice and I are off for a weekend trip to North Dakota to spend some time with my family before the baby is born. It might be a difficult one for me since I have been at home sick (AGAIN!!!) for the past 2 days. I feel terrible in more ways than just being sick because I want so bad to be able to be at work and actually be productive but when you have body aches, hot/cold flashes, a fever and a sore throat you really shouldn't be doing much but resting anyway. I'm happy to know that my son is obviously oblivious to the fact that I have a cold right now because he has been kicking me non-stop since about 4am. I'm going to try to do as much resting as possible while we are there because I want to get better; and with only 2 months left, I want to stay healthy! Brice is working an overnight tonight and will probably be home around 5:30 tomorrow morning after very little sleep I'm sure so the trip might be difficult for both of us. At least he's planning on making a good pancake breakfast in the morning to get us going. Well, I guess that's all for now. I'll post some pictures of the trip when we get back.

A festive day

One of my friends from work got married today and I had the pleasure of attending the wonderful occasion. Unfortunately, Brice wasn't able to come since he had to work this afternoon but I had fun without him. I thought that we had a lot of cake leftover when we got married but they are going to have even more! They had one small round cake for each table which is a good idea but everyone at our table had a pretty good sized piece and there was half of it left in the end. There were some tables I saw on my way out that just had a couple of pieces eaten out of them. The ceremony was at a very old Catholic church in Stillwater (close to the downtown area) and the reception was at the country club in Sommerset, WI. To get from the church to the country club, I had to go over the lift bridge and I have to say that I understand why people are afraid of that bridge....it's all rusty and doesn't look all that safe anymore. Here are a couple of pictures from the evening.

A busy weekend

So, as the title states, Brice and I had a very busy weekend. Friday we actually stayed home and went to get some ice cream. Our busy-ness started on Saturday with first stop of the day being Caribou Coffee to get Brice some must have java. After sitting there with the brew of the day and reading the paper for about an hour, we took a trip to Northwestern bookstore and were there a really long time. I love going to that store and I could always find something to take home with me but Brice can do nothing but walk around for HOURS and still be perfectly happy. I have about an hour and a half limit on bookstores before I get bored. After that, we drove to Eagan where our baby shower was being held at Brice's dad's house but we were really early so we decided to take a stop at Target to waste some more time. While we were driving around, we saw a lot of trees down over there from the early morning storm on Saturday. We must not have gotten the worst of the storm down here because we really didn't have anything but a few small branches fall off the trees by the pond. Oh, the pond....Friday it was completely devoid of water and with all of the rain we've had this weekend, it is completely full again! That makes me glad because then the ducks will come back. Anyway, back to the shower. We got there and opened up lots of presents and got to visit with a lot of Brice's mom's side of the family who we ususally don't see more than once a year so that was really nice. We heard a sad story when talking to Brice's great aunt Barb. They had this really nice golden retriever (probably one of the best dogs I have ever seen) who one day, went outside to do his business, started barking at the dog next door and just fell over and died....it's so sad! Brice said that at least he died happy while he was barking. So now, they have a new golden retriever and he is just a little puppy so we are going to have to go over there and visit to see him! After we got the car all packed up with all of the goodies that we had to bring home, we got caught driving through another storm! We were about a mile from home, pulling onto main street when it started pouring in sheets and hailing. I pulled into the gas station to get underneath the awning until it let up a little bit. After about 5 minutes it decided to stop hailing and let up enough so we could see for the rest of the drive home and we finally got here. We had to wait about an hour or so before we could actually unload the car because it was pouring.

Today, of course, started with church with a trip to Babies R Us right afterward. We decided to buy the last 2 larger purchases that were absolute necessities for the baby (the carseat/stroller combo and a dresser for his room). We were just able to squeeze the box for the carseat and stroller in the back seat of Brice's car but he has to go back with his dad on Tuesday to pick up the dresser because the box is way to big to fit in any of our vehicles. After tuesday we will have the crib and the dresser and we should be able to finally start putting clothes away and finding places for everything. After our trip to Babies R Us was a stop at MOA for a short walk and another stop at Caribou Coffee for Brice. We then met my college roommate and her family for a late lunch across the street from there at Chevy's. It was really nice getting to catch up with everything going on with them because we don't get to see them a whole lot. Of course, they had to bring us a present too which was very nice of them!

Tonight has just been the normal doing the dishes, the laundry kind of stuff and now Brice is out on the porch reading a book and I need to go fold some laundry. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend as did we (although we have no pictures to prove it...I took the camera everywhere but never took it out).

A couple random items

I was watching the news the other day and they were talking about this video on YouTube about a laughing baby so I had to check it out for myself. This baby has the best laugh I have ever heard - Brice and I had a lot of fun watching it. Here it is for your watching enjoyment.




My second random item is that it is Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen. You can go to DQ today and buy a blizzard and all the proceeds go to the Children's Miracle Network. I already took my trip today and got a cookie dough blizzard with a shot of peanut butter in it and it was really good that way. I highly recommend everyone trying it that way because it was REALLY good!

Brice is working tonight so I have a quiet night of relaxing at home by myself. Well, I guess I'm not really by myself, my very active son reminds me of that every time he moves around. It sounds like they are getting farther on the search for the missing people from the bridge collapse. When I was getting out of the car after work I heard that they for sure found 2 bodies with a possibility of a third. Hopefully the families will be able to have some closure.

Lake Life

I love living by the lake! When we lived in Bloomington we had lots of critters that would stop by because there were 3 great big pine trees by our front and patio door so there were always a wide variety of birds and groundsquirls that would come and live every year (we even had a mamma with 10 babies one summer). Today, we had an even better visitor! We went to Chipotle to grab a bite to eat before Brice had to leave to go to work. Well, as we were walking from the car to the front door, we have a visitor waiting for us on the sidewalk. It turns out to be a small turtle so of course, we had to get out the camera to take a couple of shots.


So, after putting the camera away, Brice and I decide that he needs to go down to the pond so he doesn't get run over (we have had frogs run over before in our driveway) so I pick him up and we start walking down the driveway. We didn't get very far and he comes out of the shell and starts wiggling his legs a lot I put him down in the grass. Brice still thought that we should take him down to the pond (which, by the way, is completely empty because of the lack of rain) so both of us tried picking him up again but he was not very fond of us by then and started hissing and decided to get up the gumption to walk away from us (he was getting along pretty good!). So, hopefully he stays in the grass and I don't see him tomorrow stuck to the road somewhere.

Catching up on photos

So I haven't posted any pictures in a long time because our stupid internet just decided not to work in a long time (that's what we get for relying on a public Wi-Fi feed). Well, it has actually been working lately so I could finally upload some pictures!

The first one has a story behind it. I was sitting here watching a moview one Saturday night after I had attended a baby shower for a lady I used to work with (Brice was at work). All of a sudden I see what looks like a giant bug on the patio screen. Turns out, it was a frog! I grabbed the camera and took some pictures. Here is one of them.


A week or two after that Brice and I took a trip to Fountain City Wisconsin to spend a weekend at Hawkesview Cottages (Brice's dad had gotten us a gift certificate). The cottage was up on this steep hill overlooking the Mississippi River. There was this tiny little parking lot at the bottom of the hill and we had to climb 117 stairs to get to our cottage (of course, it had to be the one at the very top). Here is a picture climbing the stairs.

And here is a picture of the cottage we stayed in.

Of course, I realized just today that I never took any pictures of our view from the top or of the cottage once we were inside. It is a very relaxing place to stay, lots of birds to watch and quiet time together. On our way down there we took some pictures of the shoreline; here are a couple of them.



Today I finally went up to the baby's room to take some pictures now that the paint and wallpaper is up on the walls. Here is a corner that shows both colors that we put up.
Here is a close up of the wallpaper.

And here is the name plate that we made together of Karsten's name.


I'll take some more pictures once we get the crib over here and set up. Brice's dad was very generous and bought it for us and it is still over at his place. I also have a video of us climbing the stairs to our cottage when we were at Hawkesview but for some odd reason it wouldn't fully upload so I'll keep trying. There are much more pictures that I didn't post here on my Photobucket album....there is a link directly there on the right side of the page.