Daddy does it all

Cracking up

Dennis has been very interactive recently. He has been smiling and following you with his eyes for some time now. But, one evening, I heard Ryan laughing in the other room so I came running to find that Dennis was laughing too. I caught the very tail end on tape.

Laying down on the job

We think Buster is the best dog in the world. Today, Ryan had the task of cutting his nails. Check out how he got Buster to stay still.

Dennis wants to say...

I LOVE YOU! to...
Nonnie & Pappa
Grandma Robyn & Grandpa Ron
G G June

watch the video for his message:

Thanksgiving and Beyond

Here is my big boy- 3 months old now!- standing all by himself- with one hand for balance.

We went to Minnesota for Thanksgiving. Dennis had so much fun getting to meet some of his relatives for the first time. And as always, he loved being with grandma & grandpa. Here he is with his mom, grandma and great-grandma.Here is Dennis with his new cousin, Jory

Working MOM

I went back to work a week ago Friday. It was so great... the students couldn't wait for me to return... the sub couldn't wait for me to return... and let's be honest, I was excited too! I work at Metro High School- the #1 school in Missouri and 22nd (or something) in the nation- my kids are brilliant and I love them. I missed their sassiness, spontineaty, energy, and drive to do whatever they had to in order to get a good grade. The only thing about going back to work that I wasn't excited about was leaving Dennis. I was very blessed to have a friend who I trust very much offer to watch him, making it easier to return to work. The first couple of days were great. Then the routine set in... Dennis would wake up, I would feed him, then we would go. Dennis would enjoy his morning playing with his new best friend, watching baby einstein, and exploring the world while I was at work. I would pick him up after school was out, feed him again and he would crash... until dinner and then crash again for the night. I was missing out on his life, a reality that I have to get used to. With our financial situation, I have to work... and I love my job... But, I love my baby. It's a no win situation. Today (Saturday) I have a whole day full of surprises! I finally see the improvements that Dennis has been making all week long. He can spit up tons, and his strength and alertness are so much more. I love this boy.

About a week ago, I noticed Dennis's belly button was looking wierd (see below), we called the doctor and found out that he has a hernia that is pushing out his belly button. Luckily, its not painful and the internet doctor said that it is really common in premiees and usually goes away on its own. So, for now, Dennis looks funny under his shirt. Thank goodness its winter. :)

Here are a couple of pictures of my handsome little one.

Enjoy this video.

Privacy

We are going to make our blog private- Please leave a comment with your email address if you want to continue to see updates on our family. :) Thanks!

For the love of.... frisbee

Ryan took a hard one playing ultimate on Saturday. He was playing defense and got in the way of a wild follow through. About 15 minutes after the hit, his vision had gotten so bad that he was only able to see light and dark... nothing else. Never having such an extreme hit in the eye before and knowing all of the worst-case scenarios from medical school, I took him to the ER. He spent the whole afternoon there and found out that he had an infra-orbital fracture. For those non medical people like myself, that means he got a fracture in the bone that surrounds the eyeball. Because there is an open communication between his nasal sinuses and orbit, he's on a lot of drugs to keep it from getting infected and to reduce pain. Poor boy.

I'm just glad that it was an innocent attack. We had a friend who got jumped walking home from school last year and got a shiner like Ryan's. I feel much better about our story.

all smiles

On Holloween, Dennis showed us his smile. And, he discovered his hands.

FLORIDA

Dennis and I went to visit my parents is Florida for a couple of days. Dennis was such a good traveler. We flew down there and drove back with grandma Robyn and grandpa Ron.

We did a little shopping...
He enjoyed the sunsets with grandpa.
took a couple of good naps... We thought he was so cute... we had to do a little photo shoot. Here are a couple of them.

This is as close as we got to the water. It was quite cold there and Dennis is a little young still to enjoy the water.

We celebrated Holloween! Dennis was a good sport and wore his costume all day long. He also had a pumpkin hat that was adorable.

We were practicing rolling over onto our stomach and back again with a little help from gram.

Don't you just love that face! I can't get enough of it.

We are now back in St. Louis working on finishing a room in the basement.

BIG BOY CLOTHES

This past weekend, Dennis has had a couple of occasions to dress up in real outfits not just pj's. The first one is his first day going to church... he wasn't so happy that we left early. This second picture was right before his "Welcome to the World Party". He is totally decked out right down to his shoes.

Dennis and I are going to Florida tomorrow...We will miss you, daddy!

Obama

With the elections coming soon, I have been doing some research on the candidates (very much inspired by Andrew Marshall) and found this interesting article that I thought I would share with all of you. I have a hard time gathering all of the information and forming my own opinion so I think this article sums it up as good as I ever could. I also have a tendency to not talk about politics with people mostly because I generally lean left and most people I interact with lean right. I am not a good debater and lots of times I am unable to support what I think with those around me, but this rarely changes my views. One of my biggest pet pieves is when people vote party and not person- its like saying, "I'm catholic because I was born catholic" or "I'm mormon because I was born mormon".

http://thinkinginamarrowbone.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/why-mormons-should-consider-backing-obama/

With this article in explanation, hopefully I will not hear any responses like I have in the past when talking of politics, "are you mormon? and you lean left?" Yes, and I am not the only one. Like Andrew, I totally respect you and your views as long as you have done your own research and picked the best candidate for you.

hungry much? or is it pure butter?

So, Dennis went to the doctor today for his 2nd Hep B shot and I asked them to weigh him just for fun. With his clothes and dirty diaper on, he weighed 8 lbs 8 oz!!!!! On average he is gaining almost 2 oz a day! He definately was going through a growth spirt yesterday. I didn't get a single thing done because Dennis didn't sleep. eat, burp, eat, burp... I was surprised that I was still producing... I wonder if I am turning into a cow. I could win at the state fair.

I tried to capture him dreaming of eating but I never could get it on film. Here is a video of his peaceful sleep (thank heavens he slept today- we needed groceries!)

"1 day old"

Yesterday was supposed to be when Dennis was born. We were so busy that we forgot to take pictures yesterday so I took some today. First, here is what Dennis looked like the first time that we saw him (not in the OR). Here he is the following morning when we woke up.
Here he is today...

I feel very blessed to have had an extra 7 weeks with my newborn baby.

Our sweet setup: So that I don't go insane, Ryan and I have set up a routine where I go to bed around 8:00 and sleep through Dennis's 12:00 feeding and wakeup to Dennis's cries after that. Some nights I sleep until 4:00! That's 8 hours of sleep. Some nights however, I don't go to sleep until 10:00 or 11:00 and then have to get up at 1:30 like this morning. That's only 3 hours. It's very flexible, and I am sooooo grateful for those 8 hour nights. Hopefully, we will be able to get Dennis to sleep through the night before I go back to work. Here are a couple of pictures of

Ryan's daddy time with Dennis.

This one was taken in the day but this would not be unusual for the middle of the night. Ryan plans to wake up to Dennis by sleeping right next to him in a different room, closing the doors in between. But, I will always wake up before Ryan if he falls asleep.

We didn't manage to get a picure of pappa and Dennis in the last blog-Aren't they handsome!

The Funks

We had Ryan's mom, dad and sister come out to visit these past few days and boy did we have fun. Dennis had lots and lots of lovins... and so did Buster.

Here is a picture of Kristen getting some quality time in with her new nephew, who is sporting the cute outfit that she picked out.

The first day we went to the zoo. This is my favorite part- the hippos.
Kevin, Maree and Kristen went up in the arch...
...while Dennis and I waved from below.
We found the best spot to take pictures infront of the arch. I have spent hours and hours hanging out on the river front watching people attempting to find the best picture taking spot of the arch... not because I was a river bum, but because I used to drive the horse carriages. For all of those that will be going to the arch, have the people stand on the bench accross the street and the camera man crouched down. You too can have such a marvelous picture as this.
We ran into all of my carriage buddies... and Jeff gave us a wonderful ride around downtown with Larry. Dennis's favorite spot was the climatron in the Botanical gardens. Dennis was wide eyed and hanging around.
Ryan loved feeding the huge carp in the Japanese gardens. While watching the fish for quite a while, a group of kids came up and I heard one say, "holy carp". I had to laugh. Thank you for such a wonderful visit, Nonnie & Pappa!