Crazy Jeff

Our friend Jeff is crazy enough to jump into Lake St Louis again this year for the Polar Bear Plunge. I've put up a fundraising button on the side of the blog if you would like to donate in support of Special Olympics. Last year his team of jumpers won the "Schools" category and he is hoping to take it again this year. Go Jeff!

Big Boy Bed, Phone

Quick update, I'll be back tomorrow with pictures because it is LATE. We bought the big boy mattress today and put it in his new room. He is so SO excited about it! And so are we!

The whole way home, we talked about how this was a new big boy bed for William to have. He was SO excited about it when we got home! When we walked in the door he said "My bed! Sleep! Blankets, pillows, big boy bed!" and he ran off to get some blankets to put on his bed Right Away so he could go to sleep. Very funny, only it was time to eat dinner and he wasn't happy about having to wait.
After we ate, we finished cleaning out his new room, put up the curtains and put the sheets on his new bed. Then we practiced using it. Here I am in bed with my babies reading books! We're going to take a few days this week to just talk about it and lay in the bed before we start actually using it. I am looking forward to having him out of the crib, but totally dreading the fact that he will be able to get out of the bed all by himself from now on. His room is going to be empty for a while until I can trust him not to injury himself on other pieces of furniture.

In other news, the phone problems have been worked out. We both have the same phone numbers and both of us have phones. However, if you call one of us for the next week or so, you'll be talking to me. After my phone was lost, we gave everyone John's phone number. John doesn't have access to his phone at work, so I'll be keeping his here for the time being to field insurance company calls.

And, just for fun, a few other pictures from this week!

William got Mr Potato Head for Christmas this year (which he LOVES). His favorite part about Mr Potato Head? The glasses. He loves to wear the glasses.
More glasses
Pushing the glasses up - maybe they need to be adjusted?
How funny (and true!) is this shirt? Thank you to Aunt Sheila and Uncle Bobby who picked this one up for William at the Grand Forks airport.
The belly button is starting to pop out...and the light was good the other day in our living room. William was not cooperating with my photo shoot ideas, so I had to turn the camera to NewBaby.
William saw the cat in the basket and decided he wanted to try to get in....
Turns out it was hard work to fit such a big boy into a little basket! Funny thing about those red socks: we're working on William making some of his own choices. We present (when time allows) two clothing options and he gets to choose one. Any time the red socks are an option, he picks them. Guaranteed. Every single time.
William's nest. I'm not sure how this one started (Daddy maybe?), but now we have to take all the available pillows and put them into a circle around William to make a "nest". After the nest is constructed you need to carefully sit in it and crow about your beautiful nest.

Craft Area/Big Boy Room Progress

These pictures are old. Probably at least a month old, but we got busy with other stuff. We haven't really be able to do anything in the last few weeks with everything else we've been having going on.

The start of William's big boy room. The room is emptied, painted, curtains are purchased as is the sheets and comforters. I have some fun stuff in mind to hang on the walls, but I don't have it figured out right now. And I'm not telling you what it is in case I change my mind (sometimes I do that) All that is missing is some furniture and...the big boy.

More big boy room. Please note, we do believe in outlet covers. Just not while painting. The covers are now back on.

The desk is moved in and now....we've made the other side a crafty area! John hung up these shelves for me to organize my craftiness and supplies.
The crafty corner. I have a cutting/ironing table, a sewing table and beautiful shelves on the wall. I've already spent many hours happily crafting away my Christmas projects this year.

2008, A year in Review

What a [mostly] great year! Here it is in order.....

23 months old: December 25th
22 Months Old: November 26
21 Months Old: October 26
20 Months Old: September 26

19 Months Old: August 26
18 Months Old: July 26th
17 Months Old: June 29th

16 Months Old: May 31st
15 Months Old: April 27th
14 Months Old: March 26th

13 Months Old: February 27th

12 Months Old! January 26

12th Night Party

We were invited to a 12th Night party ages ago and responded we would be there. Although it has been kind of a crazy few weeks, there didn't seem to be any reason why hanging out with some friends and acquaintances wouldn't be a good time this last weekend. We attended this same party and were a little overwhelmed when the hosts two teen aged sons greeted us at the door with full out black tuxedos. So this year we stepped it up a little and made more of an effort towards "formal". And then we booked a babysitter. Yay us!

What 28 weeks pregnant looks like on me. Rocking the almost double chin. Note to self: Lay off the brownies starting next week. Several people at the party did a very noticeable double take when I mentioned my due date is at the end of March. Although they did restrain themselves and not ask about the possibility of twins in there. I promise, there aren't two in there. Just Newbaby and my best friends brownies, cookies and ice cream.

Kelly and John sort of dressed up. This is John's current hand splint situation. Makes shirts tricky - otherwise I'm sure he would have been in tails. Or not. With the picture enlarged, you can see the beginnings of my outy belly button. Sure does make getting the lint out easier.

Organizer

The posts are all out of order. When we got home last week, I made a list of close to 14 blog entries that were missing. That makes me crabby. So, I've made a helpful little table of contents to help you sort it all out and read it in order. Makes me happy, how 'bout you?

* You could just start reading, but the posts are really mixed up

December 19th: The long missing post regarding my short lived hatred of dogs

December 20th: The accident in brief

December 20th: The [very much] expanded version of the aftermath of the accident.

**WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS PICTURES OF BOTH OUR CAR AND OUR INJURIES. THIS MAY BE UPSETTING/GRAPHIC TO YOUR DAY.**

December 23rd: A Hospital Update An update from the hospital after John's surgery

December 23rd: A Rochester McGarry Christmas Celebrating Christmas with my family the day of John's discharge

December 24th: A Grand Forks Wennersten Christmas

December 25th: A Grand Forks McGarry Christmas

December 26th: A Rochester Heidt Christmas Celebrating Christmas with John's family

December 27th: Things I have Cried About this Week: A hormonal trip through my emotional week

December 27th: Car Shopping What cars we looked at, how I felt about the cars and dealerships, hormonal/emotional breakdowns guaranteed.

December 28th: Holding Cana Christine Holding my best friend's new baby girl!

December 29ths: Happy 7 Year Anniversary! We celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary quietly in Rochester.

December 30th: Our New Van Pictures of our New van

December 31st: More Family Updates

December 31st: Happy New Year! We celebrate New Year's Eve quietly with our Rochester friends.

January 1st: We're Home! We're finally home!

January 2nd: Crafting Revealed I got my craft on this holiday season. See what I made for my family.

January 3rd: Continued Updates A current update about how our family is doing

Lasting Effects, Updates

First, a rant: with everything our family has been through in the last few weeks, I thought by now things would be getting easier. How long would you guess it would take to make an appointment to have 7-10 stitches removed? Answer: four days and over 3 hours on the phone arguing with different doctor's offices.

John: His recovery is going well. He had the staples removed from his head almost a week ago and it is looking much better. He is working very hard at becoming independent again. He is able to do almost everything for himself that is needed with a few small exceptions (driving, putting some types of shirts on, cutting up meat while eating). His physical therapy program (done at home) is going very well and he is working hard at keeping his fingers moving as directed by the physical therapist. We do have an appointment this next week to get the stitches removed from his fingers.

Kelly: Completely boring and uneventful. Neck and upper back are still sore. Baby inside is kicking and active as normal. Has regular boring OB appointment this next week. Bruises and bumps are all gone.

William: Totally spoiled by time at Grandma's house. Bumps and bruises are all healed. Has started asking questions about owies. Daddy owie? Daddy hurt? Mama hurt? Mama okay? Is it as a result from the accident? Hard to say. We haven't had any trouble getting him to ride in his carseat at all although he had kind of an odd freak out at the car wash yesterday. Again hard to say if it would have happened anyways.