Even though we have a really cute new baby, we still decided to keep our first. I figured, since he's still our kid, I should write a blog post about him.
He has been going to preschool at a Methodist church near our house. There's been an interesting mix of kid time and religious time. It's been interesting to see what new habits he has acquired because of the differences between Methodist and Mormon customs.
The first change was when he informed us that Miss Cindy (one of his teachers) doesn't fold her arms -- she puts her hands together to pray. As he seems to always doubt our intelligence, but firmly believes his teachers to be infallible (more on this later), he decided he would do that for some time whenever we pray.
Then there was his's first song. He's gone to Primary at our church for years where they have singing time. However, he never had much interest in learning the words or the music. He had stage fright the one time he went up with the Primary to sing in Sacrament meeting. We just figured he'd grow into it. Well, at his preschool, they pushed singing a lot harder (or better (or both)). He finally decided about halfway through the year that he liked singing. The following was the song that he sang continually for several weeks:
Oh the Lord's been good to me,
And so I'll thank the Lord
For giving me
The things I need:
The sun, and the rain, and the apple seed.
The Lord's been good to me!
He called it the "Johnny Appleseed Song" (because it talks about apple seeds partway through). I just decided to look up the words on the internet, and found the following page which gives some slightly different lyrics (http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activity/the-lord-is-good-to-me.html). Since that page says "apple tree" instead, I'm inclined to believe that he attached Johnny Appleseed to the song after mixing up the words.
It's been quite nice because since that song, he is willing to learn the words to all kinds of songs. A wonderful change: He used to scream at me if I sang along with songs on TV (The Wiggles) or the radio (my music).
About teachers versus parents: It'll be interesting going forward to see how we're able to handle this. He is absolutely convinced that everything his teachers say is absolute truth. It's actually a bit worse than that, because he's convinced that his memory of what his teachers said is absolute truth. It's a fairly common occurrence for Heather or I to say something and have him respond with "But my teacher said XXXX". It's particularly fun when his memory of what his teacher said is obviously false. I'm sure this is just the beginning of many years of him informing us that we've always been wrong because his teacher told him differently.
During the week before Easter, they talked a lot about Christ's death on the cross and the empty tomb. I really liked the crafts that he came home with that week -- especially a coloring page with a rock that could roll away to show a tomb with just an angel in it (the rock was a brown construction-paper circle connected to the picture with a brad).
They also gave him a little cross that says "God is Love" which he decided was for the baby. He really took that cross to heart as evidenced by some little things he's done. For instance, he had two pieces of blue painter's tape (we always have some of that because we're never done painting walls). He decided he had to put them somewhere, so he put them on the back door of our house and informed us that it is "the cross of Jesus".
All said, I'm really glad that he has been able to go to preschool this past year. I'm sure he's far more ready for kindergarten next year (7:30-2:30!) because of his time in preschool. Because of his teacher's infallibility, they've been able to get him to work on sitting still (something he never listens to me about) and several other important public school things.
Now we just need to find a way to survive the three months this summer where he doesn't go to any school at all...
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Look What the Easter Bunny Brought!
This little bundle was exactly two weeks old on Easter Sunday. Amidst the weariness and chaos of the day, I managed a spark of creativity and Jeremy and I set this picture up. I personally think my baby is adorable. You should too.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Liam Jesse Wendt has entered the building
Sorry it's been a long while since a new post. We've been busy with a million things, and exhausted because of all of the extra work required to prepare for a baby.
That said... We now have a new baby!
Liam Jesse Wendt was born Sunday, 29 March 2009 at 10:57PM. He was 7 lbs, 7 oz and 20 inches long.
It seems most people want the entire story...
Friday-to-Saturday night, Heather woke up with contractions around 2AM. She had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions (small contractions that are common) continually for weeks; these were something far stronger -- and very painful. After a somewhat sleepless night (we were both pretty anxious to have the baby) of consistent 15 minute contractions, the contractions went away at 10AM.
Saturday-to-Sunday night, Heather woke up with contractions around 12:15AM. They were stronger than Braxton-Hicks again. They were again 15 minutes apart. We were again somewhat excited -- although a bit more tempered by exhaustion and unfulfilled expectations from the night before.
However, the contractions did not go away that morning. So at noon, we shipped John off to a friend's house, Heather got a blessing, and we timed the contractions for real. We knew to look for 5 minutes apart. We were surprised to see that they were often closer than that. So, we went to the hospital. At that point, they immediately became less frequent. Heather wasn't dilated at all. They sent us home.
We were pretty frustrated and tired at this point. Heather stayed home to sleep some more. I went to church to pick up John and give Heather some peace and quiet.
After church, the contractions had continued, but were still around 10 minutes apart. John and I played outside much of the remaining part of the afternoon so that Heather could have a quiet home. At 6:00PM, we realized these contractions were getting closer together, stronger, etc., so we found accommodations for John for the night -- expecting to have a late night and early morning at the hospital.
At 7:30, with John now at a friend's house to sleep -- with a way to school in the morning, I sat down to time contractions. We had received strict instructions not to come in until we had more than 1 hour's worth of contractions approximately 5 minutes apart. Between 7:30 and 8:30, Heather paced around our little island in our kitchen, stopping every 3-4 minutes to moan in pain.
I called the hospital to tell them how things were progressing. They were leery about sending us home again so they told Heather to take a hot shower and not come in unless they were still that close together at 9:30. At 9:10, the contractions were as close together as ever (and perhaps closer). We got Heather out of the shower and drove -- slowly -- to the hospital.
They wheeled Heather up to Labor and Delivery while I went to park the car. I got to the triage room only moments after Heather had (they had wheeled her quite slowly). The midwife arrived in the room and immediately told us we were going across the hall to the delivery room. It had been a productive afternoon: Heather was at 6cm.
Heather was hopeful that they could get an anesthesiologist in quickly. However, she was ready to push by the time the nurse had put in her IV -- before any anesthesiologist could arrive. (FOOTNOTE: Heather wins for the best quote: As she was pushing, she yelled, "I DIDN'T WANT A NATURAL LABOR!") She was fully dilated within 30 minutes of arriving, even though her water still hadn't broken. The midwife took care of that pretty easily.
Heather pushed like a trooper, and our little Liam arrived 45 minutes later: His head and body arriving at once in one strong push.
We are both so thrilled with our new baby. We had been quite concerned after all of the complications involved with John's birth that this one would be a repeat (John was induced a full month early because Heather experienced HELLP -- a deadly form of preeclampsia). We prayed fervently that this baby's pregnancy and birth would be far more "normal". We are so grateful that Heavenly Father answered our prayers with a "yes".
His name reflects our experience. "Liam" means "protection" (see http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Liam.html) and "Jesse" means "gift" (see http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Jesse.html). We are all so thrilled with our protected gift: Liam Jesse.
(Admittedly, we're pretty tired, too).
That said... We now have a new baby!
Liam Jesse Wendt was born Sunday, 29 March 2009 at 10:57PM. He was 7 lbs, 7 oz and 20 inches long.
It seems most people want the entire story...
Friday-to-Saturday night, Heather woke up with contractions around 2AM. She had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions (small contractions that are common) continually for weeks; these were something far stronger -- and very painful. After a somewhat sleepless night (we were both pretty anxious to have the baby) of consistent 15 minute contractions, the contractions went away at 10AM.
Saturday-to-Sunday night, Heather woke up with contractions around 12:15AM. They were stronger than Braxton-Hicks again. They were again 15 minutes apart. We were again somewhat excited -- although a bit more tempered by exhaustion and unfulfilled expectations from the night before.
However, the contractions did not go away that morning. So at noon, we shipped John off to a friend's house, Heather got a blessing, and we timed the contractions for real. We knew to look for 5 minutes apart. We were surprised to see that they were often closer than that. So, we went to the hospital. At that point, they immediately became less frequent. Heather wasn't dilated at all. They sent us home.
We were pretty frustrated and tired at this point. Heather stayed home to sleep some more. I went to church to pick up John and give Heather some peace and quiet.
After church, the contractions had continued, but were still around 10 minutes apart. John and I played outside much of the remaining part of the afternoon so that Heather could have a quiet home. At 6:00PM, we realized these contractions were getting closer together, stronger, etc., so we found accommodations for John for the night -- expecting to have a late night and early morning at the hospital.
At 7:30, with John now at a friend's house to sleep -- with a way to school in the morning, I sat down to time contractions. We had received strict instructions not to come in until we had more than 1 hour's worth of contractions approximately 5 minutes apart. Between 7:30 and 8:30, Heather paced around our little island in our kitchen, stopping every 3-4 minutes to moan in pain.
I called the hospital to tell them how things were progressing. They were leery about sending us home again so they told Heather to take a hot shower and not come in unless they were still that close together at 9:30. At 9:10, the contractions were as close together as ever (and perhaps closer). We got Heather out of the shower and drove -- slowly -- to the hospital.
They wheeled Heather up to Labor and Delivery while I went to park the car. I got to the triage room only moments after Heather had (they had wheeled her quite slowly). The midwife arrived in the room and immediately told us we were going across the hall to the delivery room. It had been a productive afternoon: Heather was at 6cm.
Heather was hopeful that they could get an anesthesiologist in quickly. However, she was ready to push by the time the nurse had put in her IV -- before any anesthesiologist could arrive. (FOOTNOTE: Heather wins for the best quote: As she was pushing, she yelled, "I DIDN'T WANT A NATURAL LABOR!") She was fully dilated within 30 minutes of arriving, even though her water still hadn't broken. The midwife took care of that pretty easily.
Heather pushed like a trooper, and our little Liam arrived 45 minutes later: His head and body arriving at once in one strong push.
We are both so thrilled with our new baby. We had been quite concerned after all of the complications involved with John's birth that this one would be a repeat (John was induced a full month early because Heather experienced HELLP -- a deadly form of preeclampsia). We prayed fervently that this baby's pregnancy and birth would be far more "normal". We are so grateful that Heavenly Father answered our prayers with a "yes".
His name reflects our experience. "Liam" means "protection" (see http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Liam.html) and "Jesse" means "gift" (see http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Jesse.html). We are all so thrilled with our protected gift: Liam Jesse.
(Admittedly, we're pretty tired, too).
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