Happy Halloween

I don't know what it is about Halloween, but it is just such a kid-friendly holiday you can't help but go a little crazy about it. We have been doing quite a few things this year so wanted to cover everything. Prepare for a long post. :)

Friends

We got the kids together Wednesday to make sure we got some good pics of our group together, just in case it doesn't work out Sunday evening, plus we were not sure if we would end up bringing Makin to trick or treat. The little guy had been awake for 4 hours straight, and just before picture taking time, zonked out completely for us...so we have a sleeping banana. I just cherish this group of kids and love that Lorelei gets to enjoy Halloween with them. As you can see we made sure to get a "babies" pic. I had to include the one with Leah as she decided Makin looked like a good snack. This is extra humorous to me because the only real food she has eaten so far is a banana! She was thinking she was in for a pretty huge snack. :)

Cute Stuff

Carving Pumpkins

Our fourth year of major pumpkin carving! We have a lot of fun with this activity as it is enjoyable for everyone, and Brad likes being able to use his artistic side just a bit. I think next year we will have to let Lorelei paint one so she can be a bit more involved. She LOVES her pumpkin and really enjoyed pulling the "guts" out to prepare it for getting carved.
As usual, Brad worked very hard on the pumpkins. We started at 8:30 AM on Friday and by the end of the day, he only ended up getting the little pumpkin carved and the two big pumpkins gutted, so we could work on baking the seeds the next day. Then he worked on the "mommy and daddy pumpkins" throughout the day on Saturday.
This year it was a lot of fun to see Lorelei's reaction. She said "oh wow" many times during the start of carving her pumpkin. She also took a big whiff of the guts in the bowl...they definitely have a distinctive smell! :)

Throughout the process she enjoyed playing with the seeds in the bowl...really all she could do since Brad wouldn't let her near the carving tools! :) She stirred the seeds and made "seed soup" but my favorite moment was when Brad all of a sudden realized she had been putting the discard chunks and mixing them with the seeds when he wasn't looking. :)

Just to show how much she loves her pumpkin...today we were talking about where we were going and she likes to find out who all is going along...she was going through the list of the family "Daddy go, May go, Mommy go" and then my favorite "puh puh go?" :) We had to explain that the pumpkin was not going along on our family outing. :)

We always love our jack o lanterns and I'm so happy that Brad enjoys doing it! Just wait till you see them, he's a pro!

A sweet moment during the start of the carving and I'm kicking myself for not writing down exactly what she said but hoping I remembered accurately. She was running around excited about the pumpkins and then stopped to visit Makin in his bouncy seat and said "May! May! Puh! Puh!" (Makin! Makin! Pumpkins! Pumpkins!) So cute!








Finished product. The web started falling apart a bit, but it was originally all in one piece. :)













Lorelei and her beloved pumpkin. I should also note that Brad made it look like her pumpkin shirt, per my request. So cute!

Halloween Day

We got to chat with Grandma and Grandpa on the webcam so they could see their monkey and banana grandkids! :)

More Cute Stuff

Lorelei Monkey

Just helps show how fitting her costume is I suppose...just thought you would like the "bloopers" I got when attempting to get her to look at the camera and smile. :)

Monkey and Banana

So I think Lorelei's look says "Oh my GOSH my mom is taking ANOTHER picture!" and Makin's look says "Ahhh I'm going to get eaten by a monkey!"

Trick Or Treat

Sara got this picture I believe during an attempt to get the whole group and Lorelei just walked right in front of her. :) Such a cute one and totally shows her attitude lately! "I will do what I want, when I want to...so there!" :) Plus her happy spirit of course. :) Love it!

As for trick or treating, it was a lot more fun this year! Lorelei definitely got more into it. Brad opted to stay home with Makin to let him just sleep and eat in his own house rather than walk around in a stroller and mess with the syringe feedings at Melissa's place. Don't think it bothered Dad too much to get in some extra TV time either. ;)

It was fun to be back to just Lorelei and I for just one evening. Of course you can see the best version of yet another group picture attempt. At least they are all sort of looking up. :) Then we got a friends picture which Lorelei refused to be a part of as well. :) OH well!

As for Lorelei's reaction to the whole experience, it was so fun! At the first house, the lady gave her her piece of candy and Lorelei looked at her and her huge bowl like "well, what about the rest of that candy?" But as soon as we got to the next house she had it figured out. As we walked away from each house she then said, "More candy!" There were a few scarey masks she was not a fan of so we definitely had that aspect of it, but for the most part she just had a lot of fun. She also preferred to walk with Mike or Sara much of the time (no surprise of course) but at least I got to take Lily around for a bit as well.
Speaking of Lily, had to include the pic of her using the portable potty in the middle of the street! Ahhh gotta love it. I'm so glad I get to learn from these other two mom's on what to bring with me to trick or treat next year. :)

After listening to Lorelei scream for more candy all the way home (after I let her have ONE piece) we finally got home, let her raid her bucket for one more piece, then bathed her and put her to bed. The next day she wanted a piece of candy in the morning and I explained she could have one after lunch (remember to this girl every bit of eating is considered "snack") so she then immediately told me she was hungry and wanted a bar. Then she ate the bar in about two seconds and with a mouthful of bar then said "Candy!?" Yeah, I just let her have a piece early. :)

We had a fun time and looking forward to next year when Brad and Makin can join us!

Note: Well after getting all of these downloaded I discovered we have 966 pictures in our October 2010 folder. Guess there is a reason my daughter won't look at the camera...

Bergey's Breadbasket

Saturday morning we decided to venture out despite our syringe feeding obstacle and enjoy some family time together. At least its much easier with both parents to manage the feeding and keep Lorelei happy too.

Melissa had recommended this little bakery/deli called Bergey's Breadbasket, so we decided to give it a try. We ran behind of course, but had to take the chance to get some cute pictures. It was a chilly day only getting to the mid 60's, so I wanted to make sure both kids had plenty of layers. This meant I broke out the adorable (and more importantly warm) flannel shirt that Makin inherited from Chase. Just had to catch some pictures in it complete with the 99 cent shoes I found this summer. What a cute little man!

I know, too cute for words. :)



















Even got some sibling pics, but still not the perfect one! :)



Then we finally got on the road to enjoy the chilly fall day outside.

This was an actual farm where they also have their little bakery with lots of treats to choose from. I was told that the cinnamon rolls were wonderful so we had prepped Lorelei for having that when we got there. She loved it and then we headed out to play on the hay for a while. We had decided to attempt the corn maze, but needed to feed our little guy first. We went to the car to do this and Lorelei had a major melt down, but she eventually was happy and distracted when Brad took her to the barn that was full of fun activities from a mini hay-bale maze, sand box (aka dust box according to Brad), the game corn hole, and most importantly, COWS. Then I got there just in time to catch the latest hayride out to the corn maze.

Fun in the hay...she liked to climb "higher" and did get to the top bale once but wanted us behind her. Of course sitting on the bale she said "yee haw!" Then also her eating the yummy cinnamon roll and checking out an old combine. Had to include the hand in the pocket...she LOVES when she has pockets. :)

They had "treasure boxes" in three different locations in the maze to give the kids something to find. When we told Lorelei we were looking for treasure boxes she said "arrrr!" and I got to explain to the lady in charge that that was her pirate noise. :) She got a pretty good kick out of that. We found two of the three boxes but it was basically a chance for Lorelei to let loose a lot of that energy. She even wanted to be carried some of the time. Makin stayed asleep, but at first was not willing to sleep in the Bjorn. After he was out from me just carrying him I was able to put him back so I could walk a bit easier. One of Lorelei's favorite things would have to be finding the corn and putting the kernels in her pocket.


We finished off our trip with another visit to the cows (this girl loves cows), which also included Lor getting bitten by a chicken, which she actually seemed to find funny, while Brad went and got our sandwiches with homemade bread and some kind of special homemade cheese. They were delicious but we ate them at home to avoid another melt down. I am going to have to go back to try their homemade ice cream as we didn't get a chance to do that! :)

Was a fun but exhausting morning, but of course Lorelei had a great time because we got outside, so that is the important thing! :)

Little Teacher

I promise I did not set this up...well I did make her do it AGAIN for a pic, but she did it totally on her own before that. I have a picture like this with my sister and its one of my favs. Just love it. What a good big sis she is!

Sibling Pics...my attempts and mostly failures :)

Eyes closed, turned around, both looking in opposite directions, Lor chewing on her pants strings...yeah, these are my attempts at sibling pics these days. It went so well the first week...:) But as my mom pointed out, its possible Lorelei may be a tad sick of getting her picture taken...nah, what is she talking about?! :) I will keep trying.

A few more pics to share...at least I can still get some good ones if they are by themselves. :)

Messy face as usual. :)

He loves his bouncy seat!

First Smile

Okay, so I know you can't see the full smile in these pics, but really what do you expect from a 7 week old!?
Wednesday was a big day for Makin. It was his 2 week recovery milestone, as well as when he turned 7 weeks...AND his first smile!
It was just one of those moments worth cherishing that you will never forget. I had Makin on my legs (one leg across the other so it makes a great little seat, one of my favorite ways to veg with kiddos) and Lorelei had climbed onto the chair with us so I was actually managing to hold both kids on my lap at the same time. She was giving hugs and I was just enjoying it so much, then Makin topped it all off with giving us his first big grin! :) First he smiled at me and then turned and smiled at Lorelei. We were so crazy excited and kept trying to get him to smile some more. He did a bit and also smiled for us some more later that evening. We keep working on getting more smiles. I cannot wait until we get to see them more often. Love it!

Dr. Magee and Dr. Bob

Just had to share this in light of the 2 week recovery milestone.

One of our first reactions after Makin's 20 week ultrasound was "we will get him the best doctors we can get." This reaction is especially true of Brad. Must be that "fix it" male mentality. :) We were blessed and amazed to find out that "the best" were honestly right here in Norfolk, VA. There is no doubt in my mind this is why God has kept us here even when we thought we were ready to leave. We have the best of the best.

Dr. Magee has done somewhere between 5,000-8,000 cleft lip and palate surgeries. He goes to other countries to perform these surgeries and is a co-founder of Operation Smile...which he started in 1982, the year I was born! Talk about doing this a long time. :)

We feel like he tries to make sure and get as much done as he can to help you have as few surgeries as possible. When we asked how long the surgery would take he said "I just take as long as I have to to get it as perfect as I can."

We can't say enough about him, but I just wanted those of you who care enough to read this blog to get a feel for the surgeon we have such confidence in. He is popular enough we just so happen to have a clip of him on You Tube. :) We saw him on the TV the evening after Makin's surgery, which gave me the idea to find that news clip, but then we found this one which was much better. Hope you enjoy.




We also can't say enough about the other surgeon who did the surgery with Dr. Magee, Dr. Bajnrauh. We can't really pronounce his name, so we call him Dr. Bob to our friends. :) He is the nicest doctor I have ever met and we are so blessed to have him as well. He has been there for all the follow up appointments as Dr. M has been gone. He makes sure to make you feel like you are his most important and only patient, and that you aren't driving him nuts being a crazy mom who is worried about her baby. :) I only wish we could share a video of him, but he is awesome! :)

Again, we are so blessed!

2 Weeks After Surgery

And looking great. :) These are the official pictures taken on Wednesday, exactly two weeks after the surgery. Got some great pics a day or two before, but I'm weird and wanted pictures THAT DAY. :) The bruising is better and a lot of the liquid stitches have come off with a little help of Neosporin (per the docs recommendation) but still quite a bit left to come off.

We are absolutely counting the days until we can use a bottle. Some days are better than others with feedings and Makin's trouble with gas. The drops have helped a lot and we also are giving him some meds the pediatrician prescribed to help. We just try and take each day as we can. Thankfully this entire week we had visitors and help to get us through the feedings as its pretty hard to multitask with the syringe. We just recently moved up to 3 oz per feeding, which means two syringes to prepare at a time, but also THANK GOODNESS we usually get to wait 3 hours in between feedings. That is a HUGE help and making me much more sane.

We honestly couldn't ask for Makin to be doing any better for all that he has gone through. Here is hoping he starts feeling a lot better when we start that bottle.

Mirinda and Isabelle Visit

Sunday evening we got a visit from some girls we have not seen in about 7 months! Mirinda and Isabelle came up from Florida to see Jon (aka husband and dad to them) while he is taking some classes and stopped by to meet up with various friends along the way. The last time we had seen Miss Isabelle she was only about 3 months old, so this was a HUGE change for us. :)

Lorelei LOVED having her around to play. They both enjoyed copying each other, which we found quite amusing. I couldn't help but look forward to when Makin gets around this age and our two kids will be able to enjoy each other this much. :) Will be so much fun!

We enjoyed the rest of the Husker game and some pizza and the girls played Saturday night. Then we just hung out a bit Sunday morning as well. Later that week they came by again and kept Lorelei entertained on Thursday, which was MUCH needed as Makin was having one of those days where he just wanted Mom to hold him all afternoon. Thanks for the visit girls!

Bathtime Husker Style

We got a fun package in the mail from the Sr Stahls and one of the items was a Husker puppy towel! :) First you have Brad showing it off and then you can see it on the girl it was meant for. :) Thanks so much to Grandma and Grandpa!

Miss You Nana

Here I am back writing another blog to thank another wonderful lady in our life. How blessed we are that we have such incredible moms that they will fly all the way here just to help us out. Mom, we honestly could not have done it without you.

Nobody wants to have to give their baby over to surgeons when he is one month old and have to leave their two year old behind yet again to stay at the hospital. I can't explain how much easier it made it to have my mom here to watch Lorelei for us and be there to support us through some of the worst and certainly most stressful few days or our life so far really. I didn't have to worry about Lorelei because I knew she was in such great hands, and we were able to just worry about getting Makin through his hospital visit. Then even more days were added on as we had to stay in the PICU and Lorelei continued to miss her parents and also wake up extra early and take nice short naps. ;) Yet we still had our house nice and orderly when we came home and even cookies to take back with us...which usually ended up being my breakfast. :) I'm still trying to figure out how to do dishes and make coffee in the morning before both kids wake up...guess I have been spoiled just a bit in the past 7 weeks. :)

Mom - I am so glad we finally got to spend some better time with you. Can't wait until the next visit under less stressful circumstances. :) We will drink more wine and margaritas. ;)

Miss you!

"OKLAHOMA"

The kiss part is when she is trying to say the "Ma" part of the word...if you didn't figure that out. :) Love it. :)

Lor Is A Cat

So this may seem a bit odd but it was funny nonetheless. Lorelei likes to pretend to be animals of course, and when she is a cat she licks her hand. Sometimes she gives you a lick even when you don't know she is pretending. ;) Anyway, I'm saying "still not clean" because that is off of an episode of Elmo's World where he pretends to be a cat and says that. Then he coughs and says "hairball!" :) I know...but you can't choose whether they learn to be a cat or their ABC's..:)

Look What Lorelei Can Do...

Can you tell what my reaction was? ;)

Starbucks!

Starbucks is a treat any day in my book, but it is especially a treat for my mom. Most of you know I grew up where the nearest Walmart is at least 20 minutes away, and Starbucks just do not exist there, so it was very fun to get to go spend some time relaxing over some pumpkin spice lattes on Friday morning.

Since Lorelei doesn't go to school, we had to pack up her new, super-cute kitty backpack and take that with us with some snacks and entertainment. She loved showing it off and loves to hold her hands over the straps. She actually stayed very happy while we were there between eating some snacks and playing with stickers and crayons in her sticker book. Makin stayed asleep for us once again. :)

This was my THIRD coffee of the morning and I was still ready to sleep at nap time. Lets just say right now we can't get enough coffee! Thanks for the yummy coffee and scones Mom! :)

Sandbridge and Red Robin

Thursday we headed out to Sandbridge to play on their playground and enjoy a little fun in the sand. My mom had never been there, but had seen lots of pics from our other trips, so I was excited for her to see our favorite spot in person. Of course Lorelei was thrilled and we had a nice morning playing in the sand. Makin slept through all of it!

On the way home we enjoyed a lunch at Red Robin. Yum! :) Again, Makin slept through all of it. :) We had grand plans to try and get some pumpkins after this, but by then it was Lorelei's nap time and we were having melt downs in the car, so I ran to get the pumpkins during nap.

Was great to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Makin Loves...

bath time!

Lorelei Loves...

books read by Nana.

First Official Girls Night Out

After things settled down a bit we tried to get in as much fun as possible while Nana was still here for a visit. Our first fun thing being girls night out. I thought it would be fun to start this as a tradition for us girls in the family. Hopefully Aunt Heather can join us next time! :)

The plan for tonight was to go to a little place called "Just Cupcakes" and get a cupcake treat. After checking out their menu and directions we thought we were set until we finally found it and it was closed! Try explaining this to a 2 year old at her normal bedtime in the car who has been promised a cupcake! :) Thankfully I knew of a cupcake place in the mall so we headed over there.

When we showed up there was even a line...we quickly discovered why...it was happy hour! Apparently Wednesday night has a happy hour and you get your cupcakes for $1! Yay for us. Lorelei was excited to try her Elmo cupcake. She ended up really only eating his eyeballs and a bit more frosting as she was too wound up from being out at night. She gets very excited when we are out at dark and having fun.

Then we took some more escalator rides (she LOVES escalators) to get to the carousel. She took a ride around with Nana and had so much fun. She also enjoyed playing on the ice cream truck and other rides they have out at the mall, and then of course followed up with more escalators. :) On the way home we had a few melt downs but eventually she requested I turn on the light inside so she could read her I Spy book...whatever makes her happy! :)

It was wonderful to get out of the house and spend some girl time together. Looking forward to the next one with my favorite girls!

1 Week After Surgery

And looking so handsome! :)

Things have finally settled down a bit. Tuesday we went in to have the packing cut out of the roof of his mouth, which was a pretty easy trip. Then we had a bit of a scare Tuesday night as we thought he was having trouble breathing, but thankfully he was okay. We made sure to take him back in to the surgeon again the next day for a look over and then also got a machine we can hook up to check oxygen levels, just in case we get worried, but as I suspected we have not hooked it up and he is breathing much better.

The main challenge has been feeding. We could not figure out what the problem was but Makin was screaming during a majority of his feedings. The final conclusion has been that he was having very bad gas which is just provoked by his feedings. The pediatrician recommended a new formula and then also doing gas drops before and after every feeding (we are just doing before because he eats a million times a day...actually every 2 hrs so that would be too many drops) and although he hated the new formula so we are not using that, the drops seem to have helped significantly. We are counting down the days until we get to use bottles and pacis again! :)

We have our next appointment November 9th so hopefully until then it is smooth sailing! :)

Back At Home...Again :)

Mr. Makin glad to be home! Notice the Dino outfit Uncle AJ! :)

















Our very popular activity, the sandbox! Lorelei wants to go out first thing in the morning, and any time after that. Right now the sand is wet (we realized why people buy a real sandbox...a lid!) so she loves molding sandcastles (and crashing them) but she also needs a major brush off before getting back into the house. We also got a great craigslist deal on the turtle box so we are excited to have a lid!












What do you do when you wake up totally exhausted? Watch Caillou on the Ipad first thing in the morning and catch a little cuddle time.











I See The Moon...Lorelei is big into the moon lately. She gets super excited when she spots it outside. This evening they went out to enjoy the view and she insisted on bringing out her own chairs so she could sit back and enjoy it.

Out of PICU!

And ready for the Husker game! Too bad they lost...but exciting day for us nonetheless. :)


Our digs for the night. They brought in an extra chair which unfolded into the hardest bed I've ever slept on, but at least we had a bed. :)

Makin did great though the night and then we got to go home the next morning.

"Lets get outta here guys!"

"Makin The Brave"

This would be my new name for our sweet boy after all he has gone through the last few days. He is so much tougher and braver than I would ever be and we are amazed at how strong he is.

This first picture was the first one taken on the day of his surgery, probably taken early evening after, which is why he looks pretty swollen.



A few pictures to give you an idea how Makin has changed. As you can see it is a huge difference. Honestly the only part of him I feel like I recognize are his eyes...which are beautiful by the way. :) You may notice the his left nostril looks a bit bigger than the right. They do that intentionally and it will go down after some time. This is also the case with the top lip. As the muscles of his palate grow together and heal they will move down and settle (this is what Brad is relaying since he is WAY better at remembering what the doctors say! :) ) Hope that makes sense. What it sounds like is that he will just have somewhat of a scar but will look pretty normal other than that. Gonna have to work on a good scar story for him to tell. ;)

We are still in the PICU right now and he is doing pretty good. Thanks for all the prayers!

These are the pis we took today.

Makin's Baptism

We were excited to have Makin baptized on Sunday. He even wore Brad's outfit from his baptism!



Highlights included:
The pastor saying something about Makin having peace, and all the while he was screaming his little head off. :)
When he poured the water Lorelei said "me too!"
(Lorelei back in the pew) "Wet hair" :)

Okay going to head off to give Makin a bath and pack before the big day tomorrow. Lots of prayers.

Welcome Nana!

Saturday afternoon just after nap we headed to the airport to pick up Nana! Lorelei was excited. I think since we had just had Grandma for a visit, she seemed to get the idea that there was going to be a lot of fun in it for her. She was also excited about going to the airport and kept saying "Port, Pane, and fy." We got there in plenty of time and enjoyed the escalators, walking whatever they are called (pictured) as well as a little play area to kill time while we were waiting.

Nana arrived a bit late, but we all survived the airport fun until she got there. Lorelei even gave her a hug right away and warmed up very quickly. We are so thankful she is here to help for Makin's surgery and Lorelei is already having a ball with her around. :)