Brett at 6.5 months

Oh, so you're bored with Brett's new winter hat? That photo contains enough cuteness to sustain you for at least six months, but if you insist on more cuteness, here you go. :)

Brett's new hat

Brett is loving his new winter hat...

Brett's Halloween

Brett ninja'ed it up big for Halloween!




Grandpa! Do not reveal my secret identity!


Even kung fu masters get sleepy sometimes...


Brett joined his cousins in the Halloween fun!

Halloween preview

Here's a sneak peek at Brett in his Halloween costume...He is "Brett (not Bruce) Lee, the Little Dragon."

The second picture is from our Home Group social last Tuesday where the kiddos dressed up!

A Hard Days' Night of the Living Dead

In honor of Halloween, here's a trailer to what must have been a classic horror film...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIWsMKZt3Eg

Brett in nature

My parents grow these plants called elephant ears that have really huge leaves. They'd been talking about wanting to clip one and take Brett's picture on it, because the leaves are about as big as him! Here are the super-cute results...

What's up in Brett's world

So I haven't updated for a while...doc says that one of Brett's hips is normal now, and the other needs just a bit more time in the brace to mature, so he's going to keep wearing the brace at night until mid-Oct., then stop. Then he'll have an x-ray at 6 months and another at one year to make sure everything is still OK.

He went to his first Royals game...

Daddy bought him his own Bumbo chair...

He made his first visit to Home Depot with Daddy...

This is where the term "dead asleep" came from...

Trip to the lake

We went to Table Rock Lake weekend before last with Tim, Ashley and Crosby.


Brett and Crosby let us embarrass them by dressing them in matching outfits...

...for a little while, anyway!

Ready to swim!

God will provide

You always hear that "God will provide," and if you're naturally skeptical like me (or maybe it would be better described in this case as "not very imaginative"), you wonder how on earth it will happen since no one owes me a large sum of money. But maybe it's little things like this. I went to Target today and for some reason they had 84-packs of size 1 Luvs on clearance. For $4.24. It would normally be around $15. No other size was even on sale. There were two packs there, but I did'nt know until I got to the checkout that they were on clearance. Then, it was too late to get the other one without leaving Brett at the checkout, but I got out to the car, drove out of the parking lot, then decided it would be dumb not to get the other one too, so I went back. 168 diapers for like 9 bucks. Indeed, God will provide.

Here are some cute pics I took today:

First shots

Brett had his 8-week check-up today (OK, so he's 10 weeks old, apparently it doesn't matter that much!), which means he had to have 4 shots for vaccinations! I was explaining it to him yesterday and I told him that typically we have a "no needles in the baby" policy, but that we had to waive it for today because the shots were for his own good. He took the first one like a champ, mostly because he was really hungry and they'd just given him an oral vaccine, which worked out well, but then he definitely protested the other three. He has his first little Band-aids. I can't imagine how hard it will be to watch someday when he's in major physical pain, because it was hard enough to watch this. Oh, how I wish there was a way to keep him from ever feeling physical or emotional pain. But, I guess that wouldn't be a normal life.

As an update, he weighed 11 pounds and half an ounce, so he's still doing well gaining weight. His height was 23.5 inches, although neither Craig nor I thought the nurse stretched his legs out all the way, so who knows on that one!

Brett's brace

So we went back to have our second ultrasounds of Brett's hips today and to see the ortohpedic doctor again. He would like Brett to wear the brace, but he only has to wear it at night for right now. Yeah! Then we'll have ultrasounds once a month for the next few months to see if his hips are maturing (How do you know if your hips are immature? Do they make bad choices?) Incidentally, Brett also rolled over for the first time on the doctor's table while we were trying to entertain him for the hour and a half we waited for the doctor. It was totally by accident and I'm not sure he knows how to repeat it, but it was fun!

Here are a couple pics of him in the brace. I can't remember if it was Ashley or Craig who I asked if they thought I could decoupage it. :)

Job decision...

Well, the long-awaited and much-discussed job decision has been made and was officially announced at PV today...I'm going to stay home with Brett full-time! It has been a tough decision. Craig and I have both wanted me to be able to stay home with him, because both our moms were able to stay home and we knew we had benefitted from it, but I so believe it what we're doing at PV that it was really hard to imagine not being a part of the staff anymore.

I am so looking forward to being able to devote myself to Brett full-time, but I never thought that deciding to stay home would be the scarier decision for me. I mean, working full-time is what I know how to do, what I know I'm good at, and where I get a lot of the affirmation in my life. Now it's a whole new ball game. But it is a privilege to be able to take this time to devote totally to Brett, and I hope I never forget that!

Hip dysplasia update

We saw the orthopedic doctor Tuesday, and he'd like to repeat Brett's ultrasounds to be sure he really really needs to have to wear a brace. He said he does not have a hip dislocation, which is more severe, but that his hips are just not maturely developed yet. So, next Tuesday we'll get more ultrasounds, then meet with the doc to see what he'd like to do. He said it would probably look like him wearing this all the time for six weeks to three months. Hopefully he has the same sassy attitude about it as the kid in the picture. That's the next step in our adventure!
This was taken when we took Brett to meet his great-grandma Swanson. Brett has 4 great-grandmas and a great-grandpa. Lucky boy!

Seriously...

...is this kid delightful or what?

Brett's weight update

We went to the doctor yesterday for yet another weight check, and good news! He now weighs 9 lbs 7 oz, which means he's gained 40 ounces per day over the last two weeks, and our doctor likes babies to gain 30 ounces per day. So that means he's gaining what he should as well as catching up some to where he should be. This is probably mostly due to the fact that I've given up breastfeeding, and we are giving him all formula. That was a really hard decision, but it's what's best for him. It's weird, because breastmilk is what's supposed to be best for him, but in this case, what was "best" wasn't actually best because he wasn't getting enough. But he's on track now.

Other less great news is that Brett does indeed have hip dysplasia, which is when the top of the femur bone doesn't attach into the hip joint like it's supposed to. It's because he was breech, and his legs weren't at the correct angle in his hip joints at the time all that was developing. So, we're going to the orthopedic doctor at Children's Mercy next Tuesday for him to tell us what we need to do to correct it. Our pediatrician has said it will likely mean he needs to wear a splint or brace at night for some amount of time. I really hope he doesn't have to wear this (which can be a typical treatment for hip dysplasia). But, as I keep reminding myself, there are parents out there whose children have cancer, so I'm sure as heck not going to complain about this!

Fun at Emily and Josh's wedding

He's a natural!
It takes a village...
Brett decided to make his "evil" face in this one!
Brett! DO NOT spit up on the bride!

Productivity

I was just reading a post on Ashley's friend Sara's blog, and it really struck a chord with me. Sara and her husband just adopted so are going through the same kind of "new parent" adjustments I am right now, and she blogged about productivity, or the seeming lack of it, with a new baby.

I'd have to say I agree that's one of the hard adjustments I'm going through right now too. It is absolutely incredible to me what I haven't been able to get done in the last six weeks, and it's also incredible to me why I care when I have a wonderful, amazing, beautiful boy to spend every day caring for. I would so love to have the perspective to be able to not care whether the house is clean, laundry's done, dishes washed or whatever. But just today I was feeling totally overwhelmed about it again.

Someone I very much respect has told me that if she had one thing to do over again with her kids, she would rock them more. I try to remember that when I get stressed out, but it's not easy. So, let me help my conscience a bit by saying THANK YOU to those people who have given gifts, brought meals or done other nice things for which you have not yet received a thank-you note (it's on the to-do list), thanks for humoring me for my poor judgement in insisting on a complicated birth announcement, those of you who have not yet received one (they're going out in waves), and if you come to our house, please overlook the clutter and dog hair.

pictures of Brett

Hey Swell, there's something new on here finally! :)

A few weeks ago, we had pictures taken of Brett...here is a link to a slideshow the photographer, Alison Demski, put together with some of the pictures. She did a great job, the only question is how we're going to afford all the pictures we want to buy!

Baby Brett is here!

Thank you for the support, visits and prayers surrounding baby Brett's birth! It's good to be home and we are working on getting adjusted to being mom and dad!

We've been mostly just staying at home in the eating-sleeping-diaper change cycle, but we've taken a couple of outings to places that will become important in Brett's life...

Target

`

Chipotle

Baby coming soon!

Here's the update...if Baby Swanson hasn't come on his own by Monday, we'll go in Monday night to prepare for baby to be induced on Tuesday morning. We joked that we'll give him the full 40 weeks to make his own decision, but then we have to start being the parents and laying down some boundaries for him. Hopefully this will set a good precedent. So this time next week we should be back home with baby!

Winding it up

I'm working on winding up work this week...weird to think I have only 5 days left at PV for a few months or for much longer than that. Plans for what is possible for my job position as far as part-time options are supposed to be made during the first part of the summer and I am to decide whether I want to choose that option or stay home by July 16. I don't know how I will feel about all this at that point, but I know I want to make a choice that makes baby the priority of my time, and I give you permission to keep me accountable to that decision.

I think it will become very clear to me what I want to do after baby is here, whichever way it goes, so I'm trying not to worry too much about it. For those of you who have listened to me worry about it for the past 6 months or so, you didn't miss anything, I just decided to start not worrying. :)

Welcome to Life 2.0

I've decided "Life 2.0" is a good way to describe what we are about to embark on with the birth of baby. It will definitely be a whole new version of the old program, with many upgrades and improvements, but undoubtedly some bugs and glitches that we'll have to work out. (As a matter of fact, that would have been a super-cute theme to do for baby announcements...oh well, too late! Anyone else should feel free to use that idea!)

It's just undescribably weird to me not to have any idea what life is going to be like after the baby is born. I no longer know what an average day in my own life is going to be like. I know it won't take long to figure it out, but standing on this side of the situation, it's very odd. I don't feel like I can make commitments for "A.B." (after birth) because I don't know what will be good times to do things and what will be bad times, or what I can expect as far as how much control I'll have over what I can and can't do. When I went to my dentist last and they wanted to set my next appointment for July, they asked if 10:30am was an OK time, and I thought "I have no earthly clue." Sounds great, but what if that's the middle of naptime or feeding time?

I told Craig and a few others that I think there are some things that are so big and overwhelming in life that God must just make it so our brains can't take it all in and comprehend the full magnitude of it. Otherwise, how could I be sitting here acting relatively normal and working on work stuff knowing that we'll be parents in a week and a half? When I say, "we're having a baby in a week and a half," that registers almost no emotion, like I don't even understand the words. The only explanation I can think of for this is God's gracious protection for my emotional health! Apart from that having no theological basis, I believe it! :)

Progress!

So I went to the doctor today and she said I was dilated to almost a 2 (out of 10). She said "rough guess...I'd say a week. Or your due date. Probably won't be this weekend." As excited as I've been to hear a prediction of progress, I almost wish she wouldn't have said that, because I know everything at this point is a total guess and I don't want to get my hopes up. Not to mention that "a week or my due date" is 11 days different. But she did bet us a Diet Coke that it was a boy just from examining me before we had our ultrasound, so who knows?

Waiting...

This waiting to have a baby is weird. I know I'm still 3 weeks (2 weeks and 6 days) out, but technically it could be any time. I've never had a major medical anything, so the idea that labor will happen at any moment makes me feel a lot like a ticking time bomb.

It's funny how it changes the way I look at things. I feel more compelled to pick up around the house with the thought that it might be the last time I leave the house for a couple of days and other people might be there while I'm gone. It makes me want to get loose ends tied up and over-communicate about everything at work, in case it's the last day I'm there maybe for a few months or maybe forever.

It makes me think...isn't this the way we are supposed to live as followers of Christ? Not the obsessive house-cleaning part, but the part about living as though we aren't guaranteed tomorrow to finish things up? Keeping loose ends tied up in life and in relationships, not waiting to have conversations we know we need to have, etc.? Hmmmm...interesting.

Where are they now?

If you were asking this question about Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, here's the answer:

http://tv.msn.com/dearcorey

Apparently, these two have their own advice column now through MSN where you can go an ask them about life's greatest questions. And they're going to have a reality show on A&E. Maybe I could ask them what we should name our baby?

Hiccups

The last week or so the baby has been getting hiccups a lot. At least I think that's what they are. If not, then he has an incredible sense of rhythm to his kicks. I feel bad for him because he's probably thinking "what in the world is happening to me" as I often do when I have hiccups. I wish I could tell him that hiccups were the only thing in life that happen to you that are beyond your control, but I think we all know that's not true!

It's so alien...I'm looking down at my shirt and it is moving by itself. That is one of the neatest and most bizarre parts about being pregnant!

Cleaning resources

Here's a couple of resources that have jumped out to me since the cleaning post...maybe these will help those of us who are challenged:

Real Simple daily plan that allegedly allows you to maintain a "sparkling house in just 19 minutes a day."

Real Simple's definitive cleaning schedule, aka the "periodic table of cleaning." Incidentally, I think I've had a copy of this on my fridge since it was originally in the magazine, and that doesn't help. You have to actually follow it. Just FYI.

Let's talk about cleaning

I've had this conversation with a few of you before, but this efficient housekeeping gene was never installed for me. I feel like I spend so much of my free time at home cleaning or picking up or something, but there's got to be a leak in my system somewhere, because I can still walk into our kitchen or bedroom at any given time and chances are, it's a disaster of clutter and needs to be vacuumed, dusted, something. I have paid enough attention to confirm that this is a real problem and not just the "one thing's out of place so the house is a mess" sort of syndrome. I'm not sure if it's a discipline problem, a systems problem or what. Do you guys have tips, ideas, thoughts, routines, that help you? Emily, can I just follow you around for a few days and see how you do it? :)

The infamous window boxes are done!

Tonight I finished another decoupage project for the nursery...these are boxes that will go at the top of the nursery windows instead of fabric valances. After months and months of thinking about this, I still really like the stripes, which is kind of a miracle in itself!! Thanks again to super-creative Hannah for coming up with this idea!

Miranda on Guiding Light

Here's a shot from Miranda's latest soap opera appearance...she's the one in the middle with curly hair. I also have a video of it if anyone wants to see!

Nursery decor

Many of you have heard me attempt to describe what I am doing with nursery decor involving scrapbook paper, and I now have some pictures to show what in the world I've been thinking. One of the things I wanted to do was decoupage some wooden storage bins with some of the paper I like, and I've got them done! It's true that these aren't done in the famous striped paper that started this whole idea, but I'll be using plenty of that soon too! Here are before and after pics.

thisisbroken.com

Whenever I need a mental break from work — you know, once every six months or so :) — I like to check out the blog thisisbroken.com for some comic relief. It's a site where people can submit pictures of signs, products, computer screen shots, etc. where things are just funny or don't make sense. Parking signs right next to each other that contradict each other, foreign translations that just don't quite translate, etc. Check it out.

Fun on Starbucks.com

Hee hee hee, I'm posting about Starbucks on my blog...luckily I don't think Craig ever reads it!

My friend Amy sent me a link to the Starbucks website, where you can design your own custom drink and it will create a graphic representation of it designed by fashion designer Mychael Knight. To the left, you will see my current drink, a grande decaf nonfat dry hazelnut cappucino with an extra shot. I would never actually order all those options at once because I'd feel a little too yuppy, but that is how I like to roll. (Remove the decaf after baby.) If you get lucky, you could get your drink on one of their limited edition T-shirts, but seems like they go quick.

Go here to make your own drink illustration! (Communication types: how's this for fun, interactive viral web content that educates people about your product?)

My sister's TV debut

My sister Miranda, the aspiring actress, has had her network television debut! She was an extra in an episode of One Life to Live that aired on Feb. 12. The picture below is a still shot from one of the scenes where you can see her best...she's the one in the background in the black dress. She got onscreen shots four or five times, but this was the best one. She'll also be "girl who gets flirted with in a diner" on OLTL March 1, and then she'll be "girl mistaken for a main character's deceased daughter" on Guiding Light March 7. Set your DVRs!

PS, Technically, I guess I can't say she's an "aspiring" actress anymore because, well, she has been on TV! :)

When will winter be over?

So as you noticed, since I haven't blogged in a long time I just threw up a desperation post of the top ten facts about Jack Bauer, copied from an email. These are admittedly very funny, but it seems to be cheating. I think I haven't been in the blogging mood lately in part because this whole winter thing is really getting to me this year. Cold makes me miserable. I don't like not being able to go outside very much. I don't know if I'm just getting old, but this winter is definitely making me crochety.

A few bright spots:

I was sitting by the big window in our living room on a recent Saturday morning and I could hear birds chirping, and it was like there was a little hole in winter and spring was peeking through.

Most of the snow and ice is finally almost totally melted from our front yard and sidewalk. This is especially good, since because the way the sun hits our street, our neighbors across the street haven't had snow in their yards for days and days.

Those few hours, was it last Tuesday? It was 52 degrees. I went outside at work and stood in the sun for a few seconds without my coat. As I went back inside to get back to work, I believed especially that humans were not meant to work in offices with no windows in front of computers.

Wow, so this was uplifting, wasn't it? I just wanted you all to wallow in my wintry misery with me for a few minutes. :) Thanks for indulging.

Top Ten Facts About Jack Bauer

For my 24-watching friends, this is pretty amusing...

1. If Jack Bauer was in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Nina Meyers, and he had a gun with 2 bullets, he'd shoot Nina twice.
   
2. Jack Bauer once forgot where he put his keys. He then spent the next half-hour torturing himself until he gave up the location of the keys.
   
3. Jack Bauer doesn't miss. If he didn't hit you it's because he was shooting at another terrorist twelve miles away.
   
4. If Jack says "I just want to talk to him/her" and that him/her is you -- well amigo, you're in trouble.
   
5. Killing Jack Bauer doesn't make him dead. It just makes him angry.
   
6. Jack Bauer does not sleep. The only rest he needs is what he gets when he's knocked out or temporarily killed.
   
7. As a child, Jack Bauer's first words were "There's no time!"
   
8. Jack Bauer's family threw him a surprise birthday party when he was a child. Once.
   
9. Everytime Jack Bauer yells "NOW!" at the end of a sentence, a terrorist dies.
   
10. If you send someone to kill Jack Bauer, the only thing you accomplish is supplying him a fresh set of weapons to kill you with.

Zen clock

Emily sent this link to a cool clock today. The clock shows the year, month, date, day, hour, minute and second at once. It gives me somewhat of a "Zen peace everything is aligned in the universe" sort of feel to look at it. Then again, it's the end of the day so maybe anything that's not associated with real work gives me that feeling. Who knows. Check it out.


http://home.tiscali.nl/annejan/swf/timeline.swf

Web searching and shopping for the common good

Today I attended the monthly meeting of a group of church communicators from the KC area. It's a great group and so good to get together with people facing the same joys and challenges in their jobs as I do. One of the people there, Jennifer, showed us two websites I thought I'd share:

www.igive.com / You can shop here at your favorite web retailers and they will donate a percentage of your purchase to a non-profit of your choice.

www.goodsearch.com / Use this site as a search engine (it's powered by Yahoo!) and Yahoo! will donate money to the non-profit you choose from a list. You can also list your non-profit here to receive donations.

Pregnancy etiquette, part 1

So far, it's been a joy to be pregnant. As a brief baby update, he (yes, he!) is doing very well and seems to still be a quite active and squirmy young one.

But what I'd really like to blog about today is one of the things that is not a joy about being pregnant, and that is when people knowingly or unknowingly breach the bounds of what I'll call pregnancy etiquette. So let this be a helpful guide for things not to do or say to people who are pregnant. For the record, I don't believe any of the people I know read this blog have committed any of these offenses, so don't be concerned that this is a veiled attempt to tell you anything!

I invite any of my pregnant or have-been-pregnant friends to contribute other ideas in the comments.

We'll start with a classic...

Uninvited tummy-touching. Now, I admit, there is a bit of gray area here. Not all tummy-touching is unwelcome, even if it is uninvited. For example, Emily is a tummy-toucher, but that doesn't bother me in the slightest becuase she is a close friend, and that's just who she is. But if you don't know someone that well, I'd recommend asking first.

Calling her fat. Why, oh why, would this be OK? But I really did have someone tell me "you're getting fat!" I think this was meant in the way of "you are starting to show," but still not appropriate under any circumstances. Think about it. A pregnant woman has like 25-30 pounds of weight gain in front of her that she really has no control over. And she gets weighed by a doctor once and month, and said weight is going to be commented on whether it's too much, not enough or just right. And everyone she walks up to who knows she's pregnant looks at her face and then her stomach (not necessarily in that order). And she needs people calling her fat? Other people are perhaps less sensitive than me, but in my world this also goes for "wow, you're really starting to show," "You're getting really big," or "You're huge!" (which hasn't been said to me yet but I've heard it said to others. I'm sure my time will come.)

Asking her if her pregnancy was planned. Yes, really. This has happened to me several times, the lastest being today and prompting this rant about pregnancy etiquette. I can't believe anyone would think it appropriate to ask this. I think I'd be slightly taken aback if even a close friend asked me that, but so far none of the people who have asked me (that I can recall) have been on a friendship level that would allow for that sort of question. Craig and I did plan our pregnancy and this question offends me, so I can only imagine if the pregnancy was not planned, you were a bit upset about it and you were trying to put your best face forward, and some yahoo has to come right out and ask you. So don't do it.

I believe this may become a series of blog posts as the pregnancy progresses, but we'll see! And just so it doesn't sound like I'm down on being pregnant (which I have loved so far), here are some of the joys of pregnancy:

seeing/hearing/feeling the baby move
anticipation of meeting the little one
an even more meaningful reason to eat right and exercise
an excitement added to each and every day
anticipation of change
the increased bond between you and your husband
sharing baby news and seeing your friends' excitement
wearing elastic waistbands and still being hip
and many others!